#went amnesia route

[sl33py-g4m3r]

OCs from SMT IV that I accidentally created; or 2 but I’m only working on 1 currently I think. Fleshing him out more~~

Is what the larp is, lol. Accidental creation of characters.

Don’t have names for them yet tho.

One is someone from the monastery who’s somehow got access to this site and posts occasionally.

The other is a prentice samurai who completed a mission and unfortunately is now in the infirmary unconscious; with their soul somehow being isekai’d to our world somehow.

Whether he’s just a ghost or can interact with things physically around him is unknown at this time. How it happened is also unknown. Hopefully his soul returns to Mikado once more ~~

Rip new recruit. Shall he meet his end henceforth?

Still with all his equipment, gauntlet, and everything, except his memories of his fellows or what a samurai even is. Hadn’t determined whether he can still use the gauntlet to summon demons in our world or use any magic, or it’s simply cosmetic as he was wearing them in naraku and when he collapsed… remembers not of demons or magic…

Appears if at all, as a transparent figure of himself. Unsure to him if anyone can even see him or what happened. Finds interest in all the ‘magic’ he gets to witness in our time. Or relics as he would’ve known in Mikado.

Hopes to remember who he is, what the gauntlet is for and can do, and where he came from. In hopes that he can eventually get back to help his fellow samurai in Mikado. If he remembers that is.

Now he just has the vague feeling he’s missing and lost something deeply important; but knows not what nor whom. And is saddened by it~~

Thought it was a cool idea but now it sounds really stupid ~~~ as there’s nothing there that could possibly just do that to ones soul while leaving the body unconscious and not actively dying…. But suspension of disbelief I guess… magic doesn’t need to make sense in our world I suppose ~~~

Calling my own ideas and fantasies dumb… unbelievable… it’s supposed to be fun even if it seems stupid ~~~

Wanted to larp for fun but accidentally created characters instead….

For once creative post instead of an ‘I’m anxious darn you anxiety stop ruining my fun’ posts. A creative positive post??? Unbelievable ~~!!! lol.

Hope this is my own thought and I didn’t accidentally steal this from somewhere else cause I’m always afraid I had. Cause there’s an occult saying: “there is nothing new under the sun” so I might’ve picked it up somewhere but maybe I’m just overthinking my own creativity here…

How tf would a 1400’s society keep someone in a coma alive in the infirmary? Of course demons are a thing so…. Who knows…: are his fellows worried sick or too busy on missions to care that he’s vanished from this world? Is thee one that has a crush on him and fails to do missions in the hopes he wakes? Or does Hope make him do missions regardless?

Edit: fixed ‘for motions’ to ‘on missions’ as that’s what I intended to type. Stupid typo

[adviserbylove]

THEY COULD NEVER MAKE ME HATE YOU TOMA!

[duoduotian]

think i'm officially done w/ caramia's routes, time to start kyrie's route on my next off

[spectruminterests]

When you're both you get a double whammy

[kawareo]

Thank you lovely people for giving me a chance to ramble more about something (this is genuine, i mean no shade)

I find it really cool how every character has a parallel with Durge! In general every single romance pairing has reasons for why i think "yeah i could see them being good together", but I love those for Durge especially since I think about Durges way too much

Gale. Prodigy, Chosen of a God(ess) with a relationship that went far past god/Chosen, with him and Mystra being 'lovers' and Durge and Bhaal being 'family'. They were also both groomed to a degree to fulfill a role and have since fallen from grace of their gods.

Lae'zel. Raised in what is essentially a cult, having her entire world fall apart when she learns the truth about Vlaakith and Orpheus (while Durge's world falls apart when they learn about who they are in act 3). Cult has harsh and merciless punishments for those that disappoint, with death and beatings for githyanki and... Well. You know what, for Durge (looking at you, deleted bad ending).

Shadowheart. Having an equivalent of an electric collar on you that her God(ess) can punish her with (for Durge, that punishment isnt so immediate but Bhaal can literally stop their heart if he wants to). Amnesia. Having to choose between leading your cult or leaving everything you thought you knew and being an outcast. Depending on what you do with Shart, they also both kill their parents.

Karlach. Having your body changed without your consent, in drastic ways that you have no control over; the engine for Karlach, lobotomy + Slayer form for Durge (slayer in a more minor way but i will say that even in evil route you dont get a say whether or not you transform the first time). They both hurt people that get close to then without meaning to. They both have someone more powerful who sees them as property. Also, ties to Gortash.

Wyll. Daddy issues! And being rejected and outcast by your Father, wanting to prove yourself that you're still worthy. They were also both given shitty fucking names by their dads. They both at some point chose between power at the cost of freedom and freedom at the cost of literally everything; Wyll when he made a deal with Mizora, Durge at multiple points through the game when it comes to Bhaal. They both struggle with being tied to an evil, manipulative being that wants them isolated and weak and alone. Similar with Karlach, unwilling body modification, but specifically one that turns you into a 'monster'.

Astarion. 'Father'. 'Siblings' that you are in constant and brutal competition with, for momentary approval of your Creator who will never have enough of anything short but the world. Creator who's end goal very much includes you dying for him. Having no bodily autonomy as your Creator can literally violate your mind whenever. Sexual abuse. Struggling with bloodthirst! Your existence itself is violent, you can't live without hurting someone! (Bloodthirst for Ass, Urges for Durge)

Halsin. (Potential) guilt for something you have done, being pushed in a leadership position (Halsin at the grove, Durge with companions) that you may or may not be unsuited for. Being so, so alone, without anyone to care for your feelings. They both also have sides of them that they sometimes can't control, with the Bear and Urges, or more literally, the Slayer.

Minthara. A proud and efficent warrior that got one upped by a person they underestimated. Ties to Orin. Living as someone with the highest social status in a brutal, cruel society. Fanatic worship of an objectively evil god(ess) and then the betrayal that follows, waking up from quite literal brainwashing, seeing how your God(ess) turns against you.

And I could go on! Theyre all so good and interesting and depending on what path you decide to take, there is always something that Durge can relate to on with any companion! I tried to avoid repeating points or talking about my Durge specifically by just talking about what is set in canon for them, and there is still! So! Much!

[chizu117]

Romancing the Emperor on a redeemed Dark Urge is the most hilarious route in the game when you look at it from Gortash's POV.

Imagine:

The weird ass Actual Alien Creature you went through great pains to enslave because it was eating your goons escapes, and a few months later it shows up again and it's rounded up a posse to kick your ass, one of which is your bestie who now has amnesia and has rejected the god that made them. The monster then proceeds to FUCK your bestie, who is now in love with it, has them blow up your foundry, and then kills + robs you.

The disrespect 📈📈📈

[spyderlondon]

An au, where everyone’s memories are lost including the crew thinking they were ever real/humans when they got transported into the digital circus, they all think they are their respective characters and act as their characters personalities, heavily deviating from the ones in the show

Pomni a semi crazy goofy jester

Kinger…. A normal king

Jax, a helpful voice of reason(with a little southern accent)

And so on

A/N: .......evil Caine route? Evil Caine route. Definitely no showtime in this- it'd be far too toxic. There will be a referenced BunnyDoll though.

CW: Mind wiping, mental manipulation, puppeteeing unwilling participants, amnesia, loss of free will

Art by @00belle00lovely00

Pulling All the Strings

Ko-Fi

----

There was a small gasp then a groan as a small woman awoke in a dark room with no light visible aside from a small crack under, what she assumed, was a door, "Ugh... where-where am I...?" She mumbled quietly.

There was an almost unnoticeable dark chuckle from the corner of the room, "Seems my new puppet has awoken from her sleep~" A voice called out as she was forced onto her feet slowly and steadily as if strings were pulling her upwards against her will.

Her eyes widened in fear as she began struggling, attempting to get away. Only to feel her flesh being cut into by the invisible threads. She could only gasp in pain, "Let go! Let me [^^%*&^%] go, you ba-" She cried out as the strings seemed to yank against her neck, threatening to cut deep if she spoke another word.

Once the woman went silent and the figure seemed to feel slowly stop to struggle, he spoke up again, "They always struggle." He sighed as he on the strings once more before loosening them up, "Always struggle, almost always curse. You're all so... human." He hissed out 'human', sounding disgusted by the word. He went silent as he looked down at her, only his glowing narrowed eyes could be seen. It was as if he was examining her, judging her, figuring out who she was, "Hm, yes, you'd make a wonderful jester~" It sounded as if he was grinning, "Let me adjust your mind a tad..."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN AD- Ack!" She was silenced with another pull of the invisible string on her neck, drawing blood.

"Now, now, pet. You needn't worry about a thing..." A hand was placed on top of her head, forcing her to peer up into his heterochromatic eyes that began to quickly flash with dots and strobbing lights. She attempted to shut her eyes to avoid looking into his but that merely resulted in tiny strings taking her eyelids and forcing them open, "Do not look away from your new puppet master." He commanded with a low growl. She whimpered in fear as she had no choice but to submit to him, gazing into his flashing, wide eyes, "Good, my little jester~ Just stay like that..." He mumbled as watched the color from her eyes slowly dull from the bright violet coloration they once had and slowly had the colors separate into blue and red in a pinwheel pattern before her eyes were allowed to flutter shut.

------

"Pomni. Wake up. Time to prepare for the show." A voice spoke out, waking the jester from her sleep.

She rose as if booting up like a computer. She looked up at the floating figure in front of her with blank eyes for a moment as if registering who she was looking at- red coat... white under shirt... black pants... top hat... oh! "Hello! Caine!" She greeted as she jumped out of her bed with a bright, kind've unnatural smile on her face.

Caine hid a smirk as he watched the girl- his new puppet. His new 'AI' smile at him while rocking back and forth on her feet as if waiting orders from him. He hummed as he silently looked her up and down, admiring his work on the jester. She had a black and red color scheme unlike her blue and red eyes but her outfit had entirely changed- she had a hat on that completely covered her hair with the front part of it going down in between her eyes and barely going over the bridge of her nose with little yellow bells on the ends of the liliripes; she had a dark red vest with little purple jewels attached on the lapels; gray long sleeves that had cyan embroidery on it of some swirly patterns as well as the letters 'C&A' on the shoulders; she had dark blue and crimson gloves on her hands; her tights were black and red alternating zig zags; and her shoes were like her gloves dark blue and crimson.

The ringmaster rolled his shoulders a bit, "Hello, my dear." He mused as he greeted her, "I apologize for how I had to force you into sleep mode last night, you were just acting out too much. I had to reprogram you a bit." He explained with a feigned sigh of disappointment, "But, don't you worry, any injuries sustained were patched up Bubble!" He clapped his hands together as if everything was going as normal as always. Pomni's programming simply messed up and had to be fixed after!

"Oh! Sorry for whatever I messed up on, Ringmaster!" The jester apologized with a silly bow before glancing up at him to see him chuckling in amusement, brightening her mood up.

"Ah, it's all okay. No harm, no foul after all, my dear." He waved off, "But we mustn't stand here chatting! Jax and Ragatha's act should be over here soon! You are up next, my dear, the audience mustn't be kept waiting after all!" He urged her to get ready before he zipped off to check on the current act.

----

"You cannot see

How much I long to be free..."

A stiff looking rag doll was spinning on a large music box in the center of the main stage of the circus- she was dancing around as if she was nothing but a decoration on the mechanical contraption.

Near her was a purple rabbit with a yellow light jacket on top of a seafoam green shirt and dark yellow pants. He was moving and dancing around as if under control of an invisible puppetmaster, "Truly Scrumptious~" He sang towards the doll despite how she never glanced his way and remained ever turning, "And if I may seem presumptuous..." He danced over to the mirrors attached to the music box and looked at himself like it was choreographed... until he paused and stared himself in the mirror as if he saw a flaw on himself.

"Turning around-" The doll's eye subtly wandered towards the rabbit and noticed what he was doing, she could tell the audience and the now nearby Caine, were becoming suspicious by the rabbit's actions, "-on this music box that's..." She waited until she rotated closer to him before jolting a tiny to ram his face into the mirror, making him stumble a bit and looked around.

There was laughing from the audience and the rabbit went back to singing, "Never... never... ever..." He wandered back in front of the doll's music box where he saw a hand close to his and he couldn't but use his puppet like movements to get close to trying to give her hand a kiss.

"Wound by a key." Her moved upwards quickly, slapping one of his ears lightly- causing more laughter from the crowd.

"Go away." She made sure her arms and head moved in a perfect, robotic motion as she spun and tried to ignore the blush that tinted her cheeks a little when she saw him try to kiss her hand.

"Yearning..."

"My heart beats so unruly..." The bunny placed a hand on his chest and had it move like a heartbeat.

"Yearning..."

"Because I love you truly..." He opened his arms wide as if to get a hug from the doll.

"While I'm..." The doll sent him a small look that told him to 'stop it'.

"Honest, Truly..." The rabbit hugged himself instead.

"Turning around and around." She suddenly became frozen, the music box no longer turning.

"I do." He halfway flopped downwards, the tips of his ears barely touching the ground.

Once the music ended and there was a roar of cheering amongst the crowd, Caine popped in between two, "...meet me in my office after the show..." He ordered the two of them silently, his eyes glowing a bit as the two of them gave a quick nod before running backstage.

The ringmaster looked up to the audience, "Weren't they wonderful, audience?!" Everyone in the stands cheered loudly, "Hope our next act, the jester can impress us all just as much!" He roused up the crowd, getting them excited for the new jester.

The rag doll and rabbit stared in horror from behind the currents as they heard the announcement of a jester. The doll had to grip the rabbit to keep herself from letting her mask fall, not when another character was so close by, "He got a new person..." She mumbled under her breath, her voice trembling as she watched Pomni make her way up to where the trapeze platform were, "...we have no net to catch her if she falls..." Her face paled, "Jax..." Her grip tightened.

Jax put a hand on hers and tightened it a bit, "Caine can control her, she'll be fine, Rags..." He murmured to her, his own eyes never leaving the sight as well. Especially now that the jester had begun her performance.

-----

Song used in the fic: "Doll on a Music Box" from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

[greml1nb0i]

Hazbin Hotel Rewrite [WIP- this is copy and pasted from my docs; this is old but i wanted to share it anyway]

Rewrite the Characters:

Original +opinions (ooo~ Spicy) :

Charlie - Princess of Hell, Daughter of Lucifer. Sheltered and Cheery.

  I hate that she’s just Disney Princess coded. They could have used the whole sheltered route well but TBF we don't see that either.  We see a weird rendition of that where everyone forgives her for her terrible actions but yet other characters like Husk and Angel Dust are somehow held to a higher sense of accountability for their actions?!

  I also don’t believe whoever raised Charlie could keep her away from the ever growing and changing landscape of Hell. Like if you're going to be a Princess of anything its really important for the next heir to be well acquainted with their kingdom's landscape and history. At the very least talk to the locals and commonwealth. 

 Her design is...ok. It didn't change much from the pilot but tbh i liked her Pilot design, I feel like it makes sense for her to wear hints of red and white, but i wish they added more than just red, i feel like black or gold would have been better or even purple for Biblical accuracy of Pride.

Vaggie - Girlfriend to Charlie and protector of the Hotel, ex-Exorcist. 

 Why did they change the lore? Also why does it feel like the VA hated being there or was just given 0 directions. She sounds dull and plain except for when she’s sounding like she’s angry, which is 99.98% Of Vaggie’s emotions.

  That, an amnesia apparently?! How does vaggie not remember the very weapon that cut out her FUCKING EYE that still makes no sense, like how tf her and Lucifer and even Husk have wings, if wings are going to be used for ANY character why make them seem important to Vaggie when Husk literally has wings, and Lucifer the supposed “fallen Angel” STILL HAS HIS?! Like why? How does this make sense? 

Angel - FemBoy, Sex worker. Deals in Self destruction, self loathing and deep depression while also being flirty and promiscuous. Was in a Mafia family. 1940s timeline. 

 Trauma porn character and just a bunch of gay men stereotypes. As a survivor, his story doesn't hit the way its meant to. There's a good and bad way to show SA and Abuse and while they did it “eh” (im saying this loosely) at first, they were completely unrealistic and downright infantilizing at the end.

  There's no way someone who just went through a beating, an having to almost get drugged and dragged out of bar, is going to forgive the same person who started the stupor in the first place- ESPECIALLY ON THE SAME NIGHT!!!!!

I FUCKING CANT WITH THESE WRITERS THINKING MENTAL HEALTH CAN BE SOLVED IN A 20 MIN EPSIODE, IS THIS A KIDS SHOW ABOUT FRIENDSHIP OR AN ADULT SHOW ABOUT CARTOON DEMONS IN HELL. 

And don’t get me started on that terrible musical number, it’s just soft core rape in a cheery pop tune i fucking hate it!! It doesn't help that Raph, an SA fetishist STORYBOARDED THE DAMN SCENE

WHAT THE FUCK MEDRANO!?

Husk - Angry grump, bar keeper. Contracted to Alastor. Gambler. From the 1970 or 60. 

 The design is a character designer's worst nightmares come to life on the screen. Every furry from the early 2000s clutching their pearls in cringe. It screams “omg rawr xD uwu” era and i think we as a society are way past that, i figured a 30 something year old woman would be too.

[apparently it was her sisters OC that was put into the show, viv why?!]

Alastor - radio show host from the 30s. Cannibal. Half Creole. “Wendigo design”. Cocky and always smile but is "quite dangerous when provoked." [yea ok pal]

  An OC from middle school that should have stayed in middle school. There is a reason so many OCs from artists' early childhood don't make it into their new and growing art style. Most of the time if you keep obsessing over the same OCs you stunt yourself on growing in your art. Tumblr Sexy Man is that exact thing. I like him in concept but, if he was drawn better and actually looked like a man from the 1900s and in his 40s,(or even a half creole man; that's supposedly a Wendigo) I'd have less to complain about. His concept is good and interesting, but its not the first or the last and Alastor def isn't the first. Also give that man a haircut please!

Nifty - Japanese-American. From the 50s Obsessive and a neat freak. Camera shy but psychotic.

  I feel like this is just a racist stereotype waiting to be exposed. The “young psychotic Japanese  girl” trope is so fucking old and repetitive that i cant vibe with a character like Nifty when i know her only purpose is to be used as comedy bait. It doesn't help that Viv didn't give Nifty almost any merch! Like WOW really showing favoritism over the merch sales and that is disgusting.

Sir Pentious - British inventor. Kinda an idiot but is a brilliant machinist.

  We were robbed of a decent villain. I hate that he became part of the cast and became the first redeemed as if Angel wasn't there longer and started showing signs of Redemption sooner, like we got more Redemption scenes of Angel but like NONE of Pentious and we are supposed to believe this weird snake dude is redeemed just cuz he kissed a girl and got himself killed for nothing???? VIVZIE YOUR ASS WRITING IS ASS!!

Also he's a stolen Character...seems to be a trend for Viv..

Lucifer - King of Hell, Father of Charlie, Sin of Pride. Depressed and non-serious, deep self loathing. Complex of some sort. Short King.

 He’s fine..i guess, i mean its freaking Jeremy Jordan VA-ing him…he kind fixes whatever is wrong with Lucifer character wise. [this is for very obvious reasons a joke, while re-reading this i realized some people might not know i'm being sarcastic,oopsies] He’s a terrible character for numerous reasons. He is kinda homophobic if you really think about that “i like girls too” line and then proceeds to call her “MAGGIE”;  Lucifer feels like he is just there to satisfy Viv’s  disney esque “daddy issues” type kink she has for “tragic characters and shitty dads” type characters.

 Designs wise he trash. He looks like jeff the killer but blonde and drawn by your aunt who refused to go to art school

Cherri Bomb - Angels Friend. Arsonist. From the 60s(?). Punk rock.

 Her design is literally traced and just the Addict design…the fans are just stupid. Also i dont like the fact that Viv EXPECTED viewers of her show, to have done homework on who the fuck Cherri is, cuz if you're a new watcher, and didn't read the fucking Vivziepop Bible, you wont know who tf she if or why you should even care about her.

 Why is Angel hanging out with someone like this in the first place, You’d think because Angel is older and from a different time period he wouldn't vibe with Cherri?? But apparently Viv thinks a fem gay man from the 30s would be the best homie to a 20 yr old punk rock Aussie from the 60s, a whole 3 decades of time difference!! Tell us why and how they know each other!! How can these fundamentally very different people even vibe together!! Is it just cus "wow shared trauma of abusive lovers" cuz wow Viv.

(her entire design is also stolen soooooo~)

Mimzy - who?

This one also feels really fucking racist. Idk what it is with Viv but the jewish stereotypes of Mimzie are absolutely atrocious. 

Fix:

Charlie - [TBD]

Vaggie - [TBD]

Angel - [TBD]

Husk - [TBD]

Alastor - [TBD]

Nifty - [TBD]

Sir Pentious - [TDB]

Lucifer - 

 Was an Angel with dreams, and took part in the Creation of All Things.

   However Lucifer was too ambitious and went off course with the designs of Earth’s creatures, causing the other Angels to feel uncomfortable by him and his new creations. 

While the Angels were tolerating him, he was allowed to visit the First Human, but in doing so felt that their lack of knowledge was unfair and so in hopes of helping the other Angels see things his way, he gave the Apple of Knowledge to Adam and Lilith. 

 This didn't go as planned though, Where Lilith became kinder and more empathetic, Adam however became more uptight, and acted as if he was better than Lilith.

 Lucifer defended Lilith against Adam thus causing the Angels attention to be drawn. Seeing what Lucifer had done; Ultimately bringing evil (free will) into the world, They (strangely) cast Lucifer AND Lilith, as well as the creatures Lucifer had created to the dark void;

 The Angels now would call it, Hell. Lucifer, home. 

Lucifer would first land in Hell confused and depressed, Along with Lilith they both begin to freak out as they look into the dark, empty landscape in front of them. Feelings of bitterness begin to reside within Lucifer, that settled into a resilient sense of ignorant Pride. 

Lucifer’s Creations - 

 The demons and most of the Hellborns. Lucifer is treated as the Divine Judge of Hell, His punishment is having to witness all the evil that had been created due to him and He in turn must turn what could never be, into another one of his creations. Though he is given it a process. He has given up on making anymore Hellborns due to them fixing that themselves. Demons that are specifically Dead Humans (The Sinners).

Sins - 

 All of the Sins were once creatures created by Lucifer that began to Form into The 7 Deadly Sins. However the rest of these creatures evolved into lower ranks and a hierarchy was formed. With the Sins and Lucifer being at the top.

 The 7 are special creatures that Lucifer held a special fondness to in particular. More so than some of the other Creations. Each of these Sins were given a mission after the fall and were subsequently turned into the Sins by the Angels, who felt they deserved the same punishment, if not worse, as Lucifer. Forcing each of the Sins to work as their prince/princess of their specific ring unless they want their entire existence to cease. They rather that not happen.

The angels cursed all the sins, and Lucifer himself. that if they ever stop their torment they will cease to exist. Angels thought this was humane but didn't realize or rather didn't care that much at the time how barbaric it actually is. 

Dubbed the Curse of the Angels or Angels Kiss 

(play on Kiss of Death where whomever Death kissed is marked for death, 

here the Sins were “kissed” by the Angels and a “kiss” was once used to symbolize a curse or bad omen onto another)

their "death" however is more than they evaporate into nothing

its their very minds and bodies slowly begin to deteriorate painfully to the point of being empty husks. No expression, No emotions, No sense of self. Nothing. Their consciousness and personality essentially gets erased entirely.

Premise IDEAS for Rewrite: 

1] 

Sinners go through character arc delving into their issues that lead to each one's Redemption

Heaven gets upset over the rise of redemption in Sinner 

 Earthly Denizens of Heaven/ “winners”  attack the Hotel

The Sinners and the Staff defend the Hotel

Heaven’s attackers are turned fallen. 

{END}

so i started this almost a year ago, it was right when i really started to dislike Viv and Helluva Flop Boss. If you wanna give a suggestion on what you think could make this better go for it. It's a WIP- so any advice is welcome and appreciated!!

[saline-coelacanth]

I had a dream last night about Jay and his arc so now I wanna talk about Jay (Spoilers under the cut)

So in my dream, my one major worries ended up happening which was Jay's whole amnesia/villain arc was resolved super quickly. I don't even remember how it went down exactly in my dream, but I remember feeling dread watching the episode and knowing that they were going the quick route with this. And I really hope that doesn't end up happening in the actual show.

Since Jay is my favorite character, I have a lot of thoughts about him and his arc in DR. Personally, I hope that either his amnesia lasts for a while and doesn't get resolved super quickly, OR if he does get his memories back relatively quickly, then he still has to deal with the lasting impact of Shatterspin. I think I made a post about this before about how it would be interesting if Jay got his memories back but still had his personality altered from the Shatterspin due to not being able to fix that yet, but yeah my point still stands.

I want Jay to have at least one season where he gets to be an antagonist for the WHOLE SEASON, not just one episode, but an actual threat for a substantial amount of screen time. Because if the ninja get him back super quickly, then it's gonna feel like all this build up was for nothing. And one more thing that I wanted to talk about, but there's two characters that I think would be interesting if they were included in Jay's arc somehow.

Starting off with what I think is least likely to be a major player, but it's Frak. Just like Jay, Frak was tricked by Ras and was on his side during the tournament. Except Frak realized Ras was evil and never used Shatterspin unlike Jay who did. And Frak is also established to be a huge fan of the ninja, so he'd know who Jay really is. I think it would be interesting if either Frak has more info about the lies Ras told Jay that he can then tell the other ninja about, or if he actually tries to reason with Jay and get him on their side since he was in a similar scenario. But in all honesty, I think Frak is probably gonna be sticking close to Cole's side like how Wyldfyre was basically always with Kai when she first joined the team.

Going into the second character, this was something I only realized after other people had made posts about it, but bringing Arrakore into Jay's arc would be a really cool idea. For one, he's a djinn and Jay has history with a certain djinn. He doesn't remember it, but still, thematically it would make sense. Arrakore has also already met Nya so we also have a link there. And ultimately, if it comes down to it, I think Arrakore might actually end up being the solution to the Jay problem. They can probably just wish for Jay to get his memories back and to undo the Shatterspin. And as long as they don't come to that conclusion super fast and we build up to it, I think I'd be ok with that.

So yeah, those are my Jay thoughts for now. I crave more of him from DR and I hope he gets more attention next season. I truly believe and hope that the writers are building up to something big with him, but we just have to wait and see.

[shifuto]

come here for a second while I psychoanalyze the Sargasso episodes

this is mostly about Astral, but there will be things about Vector and Yuma too (screenshots from episodes 96 to 98)

Vector was terrible, but he was right

if you don't think too deeply about it, you might miss this whole macabre undertone in Astral's very existence

so.. we don't get to know Astral and Yuma are the same person until the last episodes. Their Zexal morph is a very good hint though!

some points to take into consideration regarding them:

Yuma and Astral's relationship is borderline co-dependent (even more so on Yuma's side, considering his age and attachment style);

Astral was shoved on Earth and forced to stay by his side, risking his own life to recover the Numbers. Yuma's dad was the one who set that in motion by modifying Astral's "programming" and giving Yuma the Emperor's Key - that Astral himself gave Kazuma - and the Key set Astral "free" but causing his amnesia;

the fact that they have been one person is not the problem. Now that they are separated, they have lives of their own. Is it "fair" or "right" to mingle those lives, feelings and experiences into a sole unit again though? What happens with their own singular existences?

2 halves of 1 whole means they're both "incomplete"...... or are they?

Astral never had any will of his own. All this time, he's been bound by his mission. I don't think he's "emotionless" because he's from Astral World (plenty of people there as emotional as humans), it's probably because he is a weapon

he learned a lot of typically "positive" emotions through living around humans - more indirectly, by observing and watching in general; and also directly, thanks to Yuma, his friends and family - and, although, he had also experienced typically "negative" emotions, those were quickly shutdown, resolved or reframed

what Vector did, when he planted those seeds of discord, was to get Astral to face those "negative" emotions without any immediate way to diffuse them

what happens when an individual that is supposed to remain pure and impartial, keeping his feelings in check and using neutrality as much as possible, is driven into an emotional corner? What happens when this individual is pushed to experience conflict - and a very harsh one at that - when he's never had the tools or expertise to deal with it, since he was never really allowed to feel it?

Vector calls for Astral's "free will" knowing he had little to none at that point

his manipulation succeeded because, as Astral was the pillar of support in his relationship with Yuma, and Yuma was unstable with the whole betrayal drama - which, ironically, he also did to Astral, although it was more of a "lie by omission" - Astral did not have anyone close enough (other than Yuma) to support him, and Yuma was now a "liar"

Astral was alone, what a mess!

yes, Astral could have simply brushed it aside and thought about it rationally like he always does, conflict resolution is one of his specialties after all, and it works wonderfully when you're able to put emotions aside and use solely logic

in the end of the day, he would understand why Yuma did that, he would take Yuma's point of view, personality and own issues into account, and he would forgive him - as he did anyway!

he would have not looked into himself though so... Vector asking those questions was maleficent in essence, due to his intentions, but it also served to make Astral face his feelings

and Astral breaks, of course he does

...

one thing that really bothers me now, going through these scenes again with a different mind and thoughts, is how they handled Astral after: everything went "back to normal" and when something similar would happen again - Astral imbued with Number 96's Chaos that other time - Astral went the self-sacrifice route (probably part of his "programming", if I were to guess) as he always have done. Little to no regards to his own self

again and again and again he just pushes himself into neutrality and completing a task - hell, he can't even feel anything that isn't the most wholesome and healthy emotions without that throwing him for a loop, with a risk of him going berserk again, who even knows?

also greatly dislike how feelings of anger, being betrayed, sadness and hurt, are painted as "evil", literally

that is the whole premise of Chaos as the "enemy" after all: while Astral World is "pure" with only "acceptable" emotions, Barian World accepts the full scope, focusing on the sadness, the hurt and the anger.. understandably so

this scene is fantastic and really hits the nail on the head:

yes, Astral, Yuma did something terrible

many other terrible things too

you didn't get angry, how could you? After all, Yuma didn't mean it!

there we go: Vector played him like a fiddle

he knew exactly where to go and what buttons to push - for both Yuma and Astral - and he absolutely nailed it

even though it was the Barian power who caused them to split and Astral to lose control. That power is Chaos, it's all these "negative" emotions Astral literally cannot feel fully because they are fatal to him

what's really interesting though? This is his own inner voice:

it was the first time we heard Astral talk to himself like that - notice how deeper it sounds, much like Number's 96 voice (96 would be Astral's Chaos counterpart, I guess)

and then finally...

oh, now this is fun

I can see 2 things here:

Astral wants to become whole and/or

this is pure power lust (since he is stronger as Zexal)

this scene with Yuma bothers me a little but I get it: they're the same guy and Astral is an alien so it makes sense that Yuma would be able to "access" his heart, now... what he does, although it's a very "Yuma thing", also gets on my nerves but we'll get there when we get there...!

his own words - with a nudge from Vector, of course - man, this was so satisfying to see! Astral recognizing his own feelings, his own pain, not having to immediately make peace with it and just...... feeling these emotions

that's growth, baby!

I also love how he experienced splitting (black and white thinking): can't feel bad emotions at all -> can only feel bad emotions. And hyperbole, over-generalizing: "I can't believe in you anymore."

goodness, I love the immediate change in his tone when Yuma calls out to him: he's back using his soft monotone voice, tinged with a bit of curiosity

and he slowly...

... descent into madness...

... as he speaks about his feelings. I dare to say this was the most expressive Astral has ever been (and it's a shame we don't get to see such huge variety in his facial and body expressions for the rest of the show)

Astral goes back and forth in his exchange with Yuma here: a soft tone when answering directly to Yuma's feelings, just to be swept away by his own frenzy again

it's a really lovely contrast, and I wonder if it was on purpose? Even when lost within himself, he still directs gentleness towards Yuma; even when his very words bring Yuma to tears, he does it kindly.. sort of

we love to see it! And it was power lust after all

now.. let's talk about Yuma a bit, shall we?

Yuma is stubborn

that's kind of.. his whole gimmick with his "kattobingu" and everything. He will get what he wants with the power of friendship and being obstinate to the point of annoying. Unsurprisingly, it does work well for him! He managed to change and befriend, virtually, all characters he have met who showed any kind of animosity towards him or someone else

the flip-side is that he will not take "no" for an answer, will he? Like how he managed to break Ryoga in, by being extremely persistent on wanting to be friends...

... or when he jumped off a window to get Astral to stop

he will see the "good" in everyone and he will push his ideals and kindheartedness with no regards for the other person's wishes. It's really bothersome because it's genuine

too much of "too good" can be very toxic though and, ironically, Astral's predicament is good proof of that. But how can he blame Yuma? How can anyone blame him at all?

he did what was "right" in his heart and had no ill-intent. His naive nature makes him extremely easy to manipulate and he can be driven into corners having to make hard choices he will not be able to make (such as which friends will he be able to save? So many of his foes exploited this very weakness of his)

...

at last, forgiveness:

... and we're back to the "good" X "evil" dichotomy...

this is precisely why Astral World is dying (but they will only realize that later in the show), and why the Barians are trying so hard to save their own world: the "villains" are trying to survive, and the "heroes" are imposing their own wishes over everyone else - how ironic, considering the protagonist and main "hero" is famous for doing exactly that aha!

so the lesson to be learned after all this:

yes, that's the point!

this is a good thing, actually. Astral is capable of experiencing emotions, all of them! He grew and he became stronger than before, this is why they managed to evolve their Zexal form

to me, this was a massive step in completely "separating" Astral's existence from Yuma's, meaning: Astral existing as his own person

unfortunately, the show did not explore that development much further, and like I said earlier, everything went "back to normal" in a way or another

I guess.. uhh... it was probably good that Astral went back to Astral World in the end, after all. He was in his own world, not bound by Yuma or the Emperor's Key anymore, and he was living his own life independently

and an addendum: while Zexal 1st was more alike Yuma, Zexal 2nd was more alike Astral! Probably because the scales were tipping to his side more, due to everything that has happened. I think it's interesting and makes me wonder how Astral would look like as a "human" (2nd looks close enough to me)

also big shoutouts to Mizael for hating Vector's gut. Me too, mate, me too LMAO

Vector is probably the most intelligent character in this whole show, he was written brilliantly and the fact that he doubles down and keep on "betraying" people, just makes him so much more interesting

he is vicious and remorseless, and these are some of the things that make him such a wonderful villain. You really get to see him and his fiendish mind shine in these episodes

...

if you read until here, congratulations! You are very cool yay <3

[sl33py-g4m3r]

this turned from a larp into a full blown kind of SMT IV OC writing thing~~

and now I don't know what direction to take.... which is sad cause I feel like I'm hurting my own creativity cause I've got ideas up there~~ perhaps it would be good anyway if there was an accidental contradiction or something somewhere.... it's a fun blog thing not a mystery novel...

I've got ideas but idk where to go.....

do I write about how the prentice got injured and turned up in the infirmary? who found him? does/would he even remember that in arrival of our world? I wrote the last one like he wouldn't and just be confused... but maybe there's pain of an injury or wound that vaguely reminds him of his fate?

who found him? was it the friend whom waits with baited breath for him to awake? whom goes on missions if he has to; but is so worried about his friend that he just sits by his friends infirmary bed when he's not on mission, eating, or asleep? does he even eat or sleep much; or is the worry about his friend almost all consuming?

what happened anyway? close call with a demon? he killing it before being badly wounded as a result? or perhaps simultaneously with the finishing blow? leaving a trail of blood unknowingly as the adrenaline from the spat was still high and he didn't realize he was injured? tried to go to the barracks to rest, as he was exhausted but collapsed before he got there?

or his wake up and confusion in our own world? wondering who could see him if anyone can.... or if Burroughs and the gauntlet still work if he isn't a total amnesiac of course. but the first thing I wrote stated that he was~~~

this turned from a larp for fun into a writing for fun, and maybe throw some larp inn there as well...

I still don't have names so this might get confusing for a while until names are given.....

a bit more (attempt at) world and character building before sleep~~

edit post cause I don't want to make an entirely new post for a random thought just yet~~

If he could take damage in our world; would that be reflected in his body in Mikado? or vice versa? of course if the wound he got in naraku actually hurt him in our world then the answer would be yes...

enjoy my cluster f of writing ideas while I try to flesh out an OC I accidentally created because interesting~~

enjoy the oc rambling as I try to flesh him out more~~ hope this isn't cliche or stupid sounding~~~

I like making characters in my head but never post them much....

[aokozaki]

The whole "Ragnarok spell check 'corrected' to Kangaroo" translation mistake is a classic and all, but there's another similar example of an all time classic editing error worth talking about.

The Visual Novel Ever17 ~ The Out of Infinity features two protagonists observing the same events, as a group of people gets trapped in an underwater theme park.

(It's by writers who'd go on to make Zero Escape or Root Double, and much of the rest of the team went on to do the Science Adventure series at MAGES.

To a modern audience, Ever17 might seem really slowly paced and meandering, but that's because the Infinity Series it's a part of shows a fascinating transition from "romance VN with sci-fi elements" to "straight sci-fi VN", an important stepping stone for the genre.

Ever17 is slow, but the true ending picks up the pace as it interrogates all the lingering threads from the character endings. Anyway...)

One of the two protagonists is a young boy with amnesia, who doesn't even remember his own name. One scene early on both routes has the gang decide to give him a name, for convenience, suggesting several names from previous protagonists of VNs from the same developer, as a little easter egg.

None of them stick, and so the group collectively shrug and decide to just call him "shounen".

Now, E17's translation was a bit of a rush job, with the translator not having enough time for a proper level of polish and care (lines like "naturally I knows the hacker" come to mind), and this lead to a hastily done case of find-and-replace making its way into the released version.

We know that in an earlier draft of the translation, "shounen" was translated as "youth". This both reads a little weirdly in English and missed the intended punchline. Thankfully, before release, they spotted it:

They try the names of several previous protagonists of the developer's VNs, before shrugging and going with "shounen".

Ever17 was developed by Kindle Imagine Develop, or KID for short, so the joke is they should be calling him "kid". Like, y'know, "hey kid", or whatever. With limited time, the translator found "youth" and replaced it with "kid". There, all done, that shouldn't cause any problems.

The find and replace tool used for this game somehow didn't take spaces into account.

Lines like "what do you think?" become "what do kidink?" Phenomenal.

[kachimera]

🌻 >:3c

Ok ok so, I've had this thought for a while on the tv tropes page for Magus and how it said that he got away w his shit way too easily. And while yea one can partially agree (if you're from 600 ad Guardia lmao), most ppl don't realize how his time as the prophet must've been the Torment Nexus.

After decades of plotting his revenge (and having it conveniently sabotaged) he gets thrown back into the exact period where his life went to shit. He's still extremely focused on his goal and so he decides to fight lavos as he appears in this time period, but that means letting the ocean palace be built and put Zeal at risk, instead of using his skill and knowledge to stop the Queen's madness.

And not only that, he ends up making things worse for the few ppl that were kind to him in his past life (and himself, lol) by imprisoning the Gurus, and placing extra pressure on the already exhausted Schala (as in, now that the gurus are gone she's the only one that can run the mammon machine, etc)

But none of this matters since he's gonna kill the damm tick (and as a bonus, Zeal and his sister will be alright) right?

Except he fails. Not only gets KO'd by Lavos and has to see history repeat itself, but it drains him of his magic, the power he's despised and embraced ( long story methinks he has a very complicated relationship w his own magic), and then he has to see Schala, his dear sister who's he's been a jerk with, save him at her own expense. He had his single "second chance" to make things right and he lost it forever.

All im saying is that there is a reason Magus tries to pick a fight with the chrono gang while he's weakened, when he knows they can defeat him at full strength :)

(And this is also why the route of sparing him w Glenn makes me chew on wires. Tfw u see your enemy you've sworn to kill at his absolute lowest bc of his own revenge spiral and decide to spare him bc what's the point :) )

*And i could go on about the dream devourer ending and chrono cross (including the new extra ending). Ah yes fates worse than death and self inflicted amnesia haha

[teecupangel]

Ok, I'll be honest and say I'm scratching the bottom of the barrel as I'm running out of fandoms to throw Desmond in. So, we've had multiple FE ideas, but not Awakening yet. How do you envision the story playing out if Desmond showed up? (Either being found with Robin or when the Future Kids come back to the past.)

I feel like putting Desmond next to Robin when Chrome and the others find them together might muddy the whole ‘Robin has amnesia’ thing and Desmond would have to deal with the fact that (1) he doesn’t know Robin at all and (2) people keep assuming that since they were found together, there must be a connection.

So we’re going a different route and Desmond is found by the river a few months since the end of ‘act 1’. This way, Desmond would have a bit of time to connect with the team in a more or less peaceful situation.

Desmond remains with them because he was found in the same place that Emmeryn fell and some people believe that he might hold a clue to why they haven’t found Emmeryn’s body at all. Desmond doesn’t feign amnesia, instead actually saying that this isn’t his world.

And they believe him because this is a world where magic exists so why not?

So when Act 2 officially starts, Desmond is part of the Shepherds because he’s gotten close to them.

Then Lucina talks to Desmond after she becomes part of the team and tells him that he was summoned by someone she trusted in the bad future she came from.

To be more exact, there was someone who came to their world and helped them travel back in time in exchange for helping him pull Desmond into their world when they travel.

The plan was for Desmond to appear with their benefactor but it seemed that something went wrong and Desmond appeared in another place instead.

Lucina believes that he appeared near where a relative of hers was because her blood was used to pull Desmond from his world before he died. According to Lucina, her blood was necessary for reasons unknown to even her.

(If we go for chrobin route, it’s because Lucina has the blood of Grima running through her veins as Robin was the vessel of Grima. Grima is their connection because Grima is what is the most similar to an Isu, Morgan’s blood was not used because Lucina would not allow her younger brother to bear the pain of being used as part of the summoning ritual)

And the name of their benefactor?

He only told them to call him ‘Clay’.

[oneknightstand-if]

Wait, how did that other anon get that flavor text about the whisper with a amnesiac secret MC? My guess is that's not available for the public demo atm? But I'm so so curious now as someone who's playing that route.

Since it included the code itself, I would think they went code-diving through the game for that. Also, that flavor text is ooooold.

It's part of the original update when the game was first released and uses the old (secret = "amnesia") coding (which I got tired of pretty quick and shortened to just "liar" in more recent sections.

[lover-of-mine]

Anna!!! Any greys thoughts now the season has finished?? 💚

Hi baby, okay, I have thoughts but first I need to say I'm obsessed with the rep of people attracted to multiple genders, Teddy, Amelia, Mills, the peds lady, and the way it's never a big deal, let's gooo love that. But yeah, the last two episodes kinda make the season worth it kapaksoska I love the fast paced drama, I was never big on Catherine, maybe because I really love April and I hate the way she handles the situation when they find out April was pregnant during the divorce, but she really pushed it too far. Firing Meredith, Amelia, Teddy AND Owen is nuts, the chief of surgery, neuro, and trauma on a power trip? What????? Very interested in how that's gonna go especially with Bailey threatening to quit for Lucas. Kinda weirdly invested in the interns drama, the way they keep trying out different pairings, Mills and Yasuda almost kissing was something, I was on the edge of my seat lol, more backstory on Kwan, I'm surprised the fiance is alive but with amnesia, with the way they made him talk about it, I just assumed she was dead, which I guess was kind of the point, but of course greys was gonna go the more over the top route lol, Lucas proving he has the Shepherd brain all tied together with Amelia's empathy was amazing, but can someone address his ADHD again please. Simone needs to stop. Even more with the way she keeps pingponging Lucas. It's not her decision to keep him there and yes, he deserves the recognition for what he learned from his mistakes, but the opportunity with Maggie is too good to pass on for a hospital that's falling apart lol I like the way Amelia and Owen's friendship evolved to that moment of confidence in her, didn't think he had it in him kapakapakaa also LOVED him standing up for Teddy, Teddy and Owen as a relationship and a friendship is all very realistic, I think, I love how their marriage works, even more now that the show remembered they were supposed to be best friends. I am intrigued by Jo deciding to hide the pregnancy, I know they had the kids conversation and Link told her he's not ready, but this is not a hypothetical child anymore and they were doing so well with the communication, I guess they need a conflict. I was surprised Ndugu and peds lady (sorry I can't remember her name to save my life kspakapa) I saw it coming when they were at the bar but it was still surprising kskapakpakaoa. Overall, I think it was a very solid season finale event, the pacing was nice, we were getting a good amount of drama, the surgeries were interesting, it all elevated the season in my opinion. I still don't think it's an amazing season, but it went from just being there to nice, which is a win kspskspskspkaa what about you? Give me your thoughts.