#when a bunch of other people in the facility

[katierosefun]

the last of us seems like an excellent show but i fear i can’t watch it bc tell me why i watched the first 30 minutes of episode 1 last night and then immediately had the most fucked up zombie dreams

[batcavescolony]

ship of theseus but for comics, if you replace 90% of a character can it still be called that character? Or if you have a team and adapt that team but remove or change 90% of said team can it be an adaptation?

[lizardlicks]

I love working in medicine. I especially love working in medicine as a queer person because I get to see the entire breadth of our community. It's not what you think it is.

Do you know how many older gay and trans people I meet on a daily basis? It's not all young, thin teens with dyed hair.

There's this one gay couple, in their 60s, always get their lab work done together, always leaning into each other and laughing about some private joke of the week. They lost a bunch of their friends in the 80s, and they always remark about how good our facility is to them. They smile when they talk to me like yeah, we made it, we're still kicking and screaming, and by god that's how we'll go out.

This butch lady with pure silver that works at a mechinc's shop down the street and always calls me sugar when I see her. Checked in a person the other day who looked like the blanded most non-descript typical middle age cis dude, but went by a femme name and had x/nonbinary gender tag and they/them pronuns.

Then there's the young trans kids that are tto scared to dress the way they want most of the time, still uncertain about using their name and pronouns in a medical setting until we do it for them withiout them asking, treat them as the gender they prefer, and you just can see the weight fall off them as their care giver team treats them as human and with such care and love. They're always smiling by the end even if they had to do something frightening and painful.

The 20 and 30 somethings that I see going out of their way to interact with me because I'm proudly, visibly queer at work, most especially for them because we all need to know that there is someone looking out for us when we're vulnerable. We exist as this vibrant, complex tapestry, so far outside of the way we get stereotyped and talked about online and in the media. My god we are everywhere, experiencing life in ways you will never know about. You are not alone. You were never alone.

[hello-eden]

Dcxdp idea #2

 so I have an idea. Danny ends up in some sort of cloning body in Cadmus. but instead of you know being Amazed by the bunch of Heroes and aliens and such he is terrified. not because they're Heroes and such but because his powers are locked up and they're scrutinizing him.

He is confused and disoriented and he is not explained what the Justice League is because to everyone else it is common knowledge and they forget to explain it. So from Danny's point of view he is just being moved to a different facility.

Danny does not realize he is in a different body for a hot minute because he was disoriented. I imagine Danny going along with whatever people are telling him because his experience with everything isn't exactly good.

Everyone would be so used to everyone automatically going into heroism that  Danny wouldn't really get a choice in it. Everyone would be trying to help Danny But they're not helping with the right things.

Danny would be seen as a natural at heroism and make it seem like it was something he wanted to do.  Danny wouldn't try and show off a bunch of his powers because he is trying to have a few tricks up this sleeve.

his natural response to being quippy when in danger or scared would be seen as his normal personality and because no one knows him they wouldn't see anything wrong with  how he is doing.

 I imagine there would be a lot of angst when they realize that Danny doesn't know he can say no. He would get really injured and maybe try and hide it or he would literally get up off of a medical bed or ask about other missions and that is when other people start to realize something is up.

if their telling him to rest then him being like I haven't needed rest before and that's when they realize Danny wasn't not injured , he just didn't think he was allowed to be. 

it would cause angst for the heroes because they then realize Danny did not know he was safe and the friendliest they thought he was exuding was really him just trying to be on his captors good side. especially if they don't know Danny was Danny outside of the  clone body.

[gffa]

I was initially set to go, "Wait, that's it? That's what Torbin was so torn up about that he retreated from the galaxy and felt so guilty that he killed himself for Mae?" but the more I thought about it, the more I found it to work. Torbin's guilt isn't about that he did something evil, it's that he did something reckless, for a selfish reason, and that he was warned about it ahead of time. Torbin's guilt was about allowing Aniseya into his mind (blaming himself instead of blaming the person who actively invaded his very mind), it was about wanting so badly to go back to Coruscant that he rushed into a situation that Indara warned him to be careful about, it's about how many people died not at his hand, but as what he sees as a domino effect of his actions. He got what he wanted, they were going back to Coruscant, but that little girl went through hell for them to get it, another little girl died (so he thought), a bunch of people died in that mining facility. It doesn't matter that they chose to do so by invading Kelnacca's mind and their own actions got them killed. It doesn't matter that it was an accident that Mae started the fire. It doesn't matter that Torbin fortified his mind so that Aniseya couldn't get in again or that he didn't kill any of the witches himself. Because he's a Jedi who cares deeply about other people, because it happened to someone so young and innocent, because other people's lives MATTERED to him, Torbin couldn't live with the guilt. His only crime was being reckless, but Jedi are aware of the powerful abilities they have and the responsibilities they have and how selfishness is a path to the dark side (that's just Lucas' worldbuilding, that's literally how the Force works) and that is why he was willing to give his life up for Mae's wish. Because Torbin felt responsible for his reckless actions that had unforseen consequences despite Indara's warnings and because he cared deeply about what happened to other people. The Council probably would have given them all library duty and had them relearn themselves, like that's literally what they did with Elzar Mann when he killed Chancey Yarrow because he mistook her for a Nihil who was trying to destroy the station, they saw that he regretted his actions and had worked hard on self-reflection and said they still wanted him to be a Council member. That is what the Jedi Council would have done for Torbin and Sol as well--but they couldn't do it because it would have crushed Osha's dream, so they sacrificed their own desires for her sake. They couldn't talk about it and it haunted them every day afterwards. Because they cared about other people.

[badninken]

Scary Warlord of the Sea - Trafalgar Law

I want to talk about Law's introduction on Punk Hazard, and the fight that follows. Starting with this moment:

It's been an eternity since Law's last appearance in the story when this takes place, and it's the first time he shows up after the time skip. Last time he was seen he was a sleepy-faced dude with a polar bear friend who saved Luffy's life. A bit weird but not very intimidating. This Law though, is first seen skulking in the shadows, offering to help the local villain take care of a notoriously "insane, cruel, and merciless" bunch of marines that's come knocking.

Is Trafalgar Law a villain now? Is he in charge of this very evil-seeming science facility??

Well, he sure looks shady enough to be a villain, and the notoriously merciless marines seem scared out of their fucking minds to see him.

This scene is shorter in the manga but I love the way the anime drags it out by having Tashigi name-drop other Warlords to put his new title and status into perspective. The marines are literally screaming, crying, throwing up over how scary he is, retelling the story of his 100 hearts delivery, all while Law just stands there, smiling.

And that's the thing I wanna talk about. The standing and smiling and how he acts throughout this whole encounter. The way he's leaning against that wall just like he's leaning on his own reputation to do all the work for him. His job in this situation is to scare these people away without letting them know what's going on behind those doors.

If it weren't for Smoker standing his ground, the marines might have simply turned to flee at the sight of him, without Law even having to lift a finger to encourage them. Smoker seems to be having a hard time getting around Law's arguments too. They're both working under the government here and Law doesn't offer any outright hostility or threat for him to act on. Because Law is smart.

Law is handling this navy problem non-violently with minimal effort and it seems to be going according to plan.

But then the Straw hats happen!

And also giant abducted children used for science experiments he had no knowledge of what so ever because he's been minding his own fucking business.

And now he has to deal with taking the blame for horrifying child abuse AND looking like he blatantly lied about the Straw hats and also looking like he's incompetent enough to let all those dirty secrets pop out right behind him in a rain of fucking confetti at the worst possible moment.

(does not deny this)

He looks like he just aged ten years out of pure 'what the actual fuck'-stress. Like, where does he even begin with this situation? He's not responsible for any of that shit. He's just there to destroy some other evils, as discreetly as possible, but now he has to silence an entire unit of marines, just so the mess other people made won't ruin his own plans. Plans that's he's worked on for 13 years. Sounds like a typical Trafalgar Law day.

So he apologizes for saying something that wasn't true and then he handles the problem by causing massive property damage.

While not causing any lasting harm or even pain on a single one of his opponents.

The thing I think is so interesting with looking at Law's behavior in these interactions, is how he plays a role the entire time. He is not a villain, but he deliberately lets people believe that he is capable of great evil and cruel acts for his own gain, because that's his defense. It's a deterrent and a warning. His yellow black patterned coat fits that strategy perfectly, like the message of a wasp or poison dart frog. I can kill you, stay clear.

He keeps the cold, creepy act up the entire battle and makes it known that he could kill everyone there. Easily. He's never even close to trying though, and when he takes Smoker's heart he keeps it safe.

Law has no problem letting people believe horrible things about him if it can get him where he needs to go, but he's famously got a bunch of problems with people thinking he's a good person. I think that plays heavily into why he falls to being Doflamingo-cruel verbally to Tashigi when she goads him to kill her, but there are too many layers and things to say about that particular exchange so I'll save it for another time.

At the end of the day, it's all about this I think:

Law hearing people call him a creepy freak madman vs hearing Luffy say he's lucky to have met him.

[adachimoe]

Persona 4 - Inaba Setting Guide

Happy New Years!

This is all written up from the lore/setting/etc books that Atlus released for fans, Persona Club P4 and the Golden Premium Fan/Fun Book. I didn't wanna do a 1:1 translation because this is multiple full text pages from two books so this is more like a summary or tl;dr of what's in the books.

I put this under a read more because it's a looot of text. I will probably inevitably edit something later when I realize I made a dumb typo.

General / Meta stuff not in the book that I feel the need to note first

Is Inaba a "town" or a "city"? Inaba is Inaba city (市). The qualifications to become a city are having ~50k residents and 60%+ of the central area being homes. Per the Premium book, Inaba does indeed have 50k citizens. The characters in-game also call it a town/neighborhood/area (町). (Think how in English, we have sayings like "back in town" even when we're not talking about towns?)

Inaba is not a real city, but Atlus lists multiple inspirations for it: Fuefuki, which they drove to randomly and spoke to people; Tottori, which is where the legend of the Hare of Inaba is said to have taken place and is where names like "Yasogami" come from (and it also used to have an Inaba province); and "an unnamed developer's hometown" which was used as a reference for the central shopping district and the area around the Dojima house.

A briefer on the Hare of Inaba: A hare tricks a bunch of sharks (wanizame or same) into lining up so it can cross their backs to get to the mainland. The hare is an idiot so it proclaims that it deceived the sharks, and the last shark takes a chunk out of it. Meanwhile, Okuninushi and his brethren (collectively known as the Yasogami) come across the hare on their way to woo a princess. The Yasogami troll the shit out of the hare and makes its back worse, but Okuninushi actually helps the hare by telling it to roll in cattail, and this cures the hare. The hare then reveals it is actually a god, and Okuninushi is given the princess's hand in marriage.

From here on, anything from me that I felt like I needed to note or give my Unwanted Opinion on is wrapped in ( )s.

History

Sengoku period: A feudal lord built a castle on Mt. Yasogami, the highest mountain in the area, and a castle town formed at the base of the mountain. The area was never caught up in any of the major wars or battles of the Sengoku period.

Edo period: After the warring period ended, people began traveling to Inaba because of the hot springs. One winter, someone living in the castle started a fire, it went out of control, and the castle burnt down. The feudal lord's family returned to their old territory and left Inaba.

Meiji period: After the black ships, Japan's opening, Perry, etc, coal was in high demand. Coal was discovered in Mt. Yasogami, people began to move there to work in the coal mines, and this was when Inaba became Inaba City. Presently, many of the people living in Inaba are 2nd and 3rd generation descendants of these coal miner families.

Showa period: During the later end of the Showa era, the world swapped from using coal to using oil. The coal refineries began closing, and by the 1980s, the coal mine also closed, people began to move away, thus leading to the current state of Inaba during the time of P4.

Modern Day

Inaba has around 50k citizens

The city center is a flat area surrounded by mountains called Yasoinaba (so Yasoinaba is a region/district within Inaba, not the other way around)

The local plant is cattail (see the bit about the Hare of Inaba) and there is a lot of cattail that grows downstream on the Samegawa

The local animal is the rabbit and many facilities have rabbit decorations (Namatame's family's delivery service also uses a rabbit with a mail bag)

There has been a recent push to make Inaba Beefsteak a thing as part of the revitalization of Inaba efforts, but... since they have no local cows or beef farms, people don't know where the meat comes from, causing there to be rumors about the meat in town... Atlus notes that it really is beef, but it is unknown where it comes from...

Transport in Inaba

Inaba is sandwiched between other larger urban places (think a metropolis like Tokyo), but the closest one is 3 hours away even by train so Inaba isn't really a place you live in while commuting during the day for work to a bigger city

The only train station in the south part of the city is Yasoinaba Station which is the central/headquarters-like station for the local train line, the Inaba Line

Yasoinaba Station is last stop on the Inaba Line, and the stop before it is called East Inaba. Okina is also somewhere on the Inaba line.

The Inaba Line doesn't take you to straight to one of the highly populated urban areas. You also have to transfer to another train at the Yasogami Hills train terminal (the protag does this in the opening anime movie)

There are only a few bus routes: Less used ones that go north/south and connects the city area with Mt. Yasogami, and others go east/west and connect Inaba with other cities. (Shu's house, the hospital, the Amagi Inn, and the outdoor daycare are all known bus stops. In Arena, Nanako also takes the bus to the train station.)

Even though most people get around by car, the national highway - access to the outside world - only runs for 300m at the southern edge of the city, and there's no regular expressways to quickly take you to other nearby cities

Overall, people tend to live their lives within the confines of the city

Yasogami Hills and Mt. Yasogami

The mountains in Inaba, with the tallest being Mt. Yasogami, are collectively known as the Yasogami Hills

Somewhere in the Yasogami Hills is a hot spring resort district and this is where the Amagi Inn plus other hot springs are located

The Amagi Inn has 30 rooms, half of which are located in a building detached from the main building so that guests can enjoy the mountains

The ski resort visited in Golden is located somewhere on Mt. Yasogami

The Samegawa

Named after the Hare of Inaba tale and how the hare tricked the "wanizame" or "same"; name meaning "shark river"

The Samegawa runs north and south through Inaba

Downstream to go fishing, upstream takes you to the source of the river on Mt Yasogami

Halfway up the mountain, near the headwaters, is a campsite which is frequented by fishers and outdoors lovers

Upstream, you can drink from the water at the source, but it's too cold to go swimming in even in summer (recall the June camping trip)

It is very specifically a "Class B river system"

Yasogami High School

Name comes from Okuninushi's bros in the Hare of Inaba tale, the Yasogami (Yasogami means "eighty gods" but that was figurative language where 80 means "a bunch", so the meaning is more like "many gods highschool")

Built in 1944 as Yasogami Military School. It was built on Mt. Yasogami where the castle used to stand to deter the allied forces from fire bombing Mt. Yasogami, thus using the school / students as a shield for the coal mine. After the war, it became a normal school, though there is still a plane on campus as a memento of when it was a military facility.

The JP name is 八十神高等学校. The school's nickname is 八高, derived from 2 characters in the full name. This is pronounced "Hachiko". (I think this was removed from the English version entirely, but if you ever play in Japanese audio and wonder why students say "Hachiko" sometimes...)

During the coal mining period, there were lots of students and the two buildings (what we know as the classroom bldg and the practice bldg in-game) were both classroom buildings. After the mines closed -> less people -> less births, they renovated the unused classrooms into vocational / practice rooms. This is how Yasogami High ended up with so many different things in the practice building lol.

There is a small baseball field in addition to the other outdoor facilities. (I don't think we see this in-game)

The book notes that there is not actual rule explicitly stating that girls can't wear a boys uniform.

You aren't allowed to ride a scooter to school, but according to Daisuke in one of the Strength hangouts (or so says the book; I don't think I've seen this hangout), people do so secretly.

Students have to get permission from school to get a part-time job. They're allowed as long as it doesn't interfere w/studies and the job is age appropriate.

The cultural festival is open to people outside of school, thus it is treated like an event similar to the shrine festival. Businesses from around Inaba also set up stalls at the festival and get into friendly competition with one another.

Many students who graduate from the school tend to stay in Inaba and get jobs there. Attending Yasogami High gives you an advantage / favoritism over students from private schools when job hunting.

Dojima Residence

A house that was built anywhere from a few years to decades ago

It's located in west Inaba

It's not a family home, Dojima bought it

The house has 3-4 bedrooms, exact number not given

The garden outside was started by Chisato, but of course it's been left alone since she passed

If the protagonist eats Nanako's pudding, she will just assume she ate it and forgot about it............................................... (I don't think Adachi would even do this shit.................................)

Junes

The store opened within the previous year

The manager is Yosuke's dad, Yoichi Hanamura

Many students and housewives work there part-time

Students make 690 yen per hr, adults make 900 yen per hr, but Yosuke is worked like a dog for 400 yen per hr

1F has the grocery department and a line of small specialty shops

2F has the clothing department and home appliances department

The part in July where you find Teddie on a massage chair is part of a special event space where they demo new products. Oh, and the Death SLink, Hisano, wins one of those massage chairs after submitting poetry for Junes' anniversary

The roof has the food court, children's land, and an event stage

1F with the grocery department is open 24/7 and they put out prepared foods every day at 4pm / 7pm / 10pm

The food court has a special called the Ultra Young Set (JP name from the JP slogan) or the Meat Lovers Combo (Eng) that has salisbury / hamburg steak, beefsteak, menchi katsu, and fried chicken; people besides Chie who eat this will be blessed with heartburn. In a dungeon chat, Yosuke wonders if it's made using fox meat since it's so cheap, but it's actually from cows and chickens at farms that Junes has partnered with.

Junes is located in the south area of Inaba and is accessible for people passing through on the national highway, bringing them customers who are passing by, Inaba locals, and even people from Okina

Junes doesn't sell Teddie's favorite snack, Homerun Bars (a real ice cream product, localized as Topsicles in English), so he spends his Junes paychecks buying them at Shiroku

Central Shopping District - South Map

Yomenaido Bookstore: The owner's family name is Yomenai, meaning "can't read". They didn't realize how much of a mismatch their name was for a bookstore until after they opened. At first they were concerned about their business, but have begun stocking books for their own tastes and hobbies, drawing other enthusiasts of certain hobbies to their store. Thus, the majority of books in the store are ones that the average person "can't read". ba-dum-tsh

Daidara Metalworks: JP name is "Metalworks Daidarabocchi", with the bocchi written as a dot (e.g. "Daidara。") Daidara makes pieces of art.

Shiroku Store: Shi and roku mean 4 and 6, and the name comes from an old story about there being a toad with 4 front legs and 6 back legs called the Shiroku Toad. It was originally a pharmacy and medicine seller (the shiroku toad was said to have medicinal purposes), but now the store sells a bunch of whatever. The capsule machine outside was handmade by Shiroku's deceased husband.

Marukyu Tofu: A tofu store that sticks to old-fashioned simple tofu recipes (my opinion here, but I believe this is why it's still around after Junes opened). Run by Rise's grandmother. The people in Inaba call her grandmother "Marukyu" as a nickname (in-game dialogue, the nickname is written differently than the sign on the store). Due to her old age, she has been open less hours and making less product. But once Rise comes back to town, she helps out at the store, and her grandma is back to making more tofu and staying open longer. Rise is in charge of (uhh insert word used in fishmongering that seems to express Rise is in charge of selling?) the first batch of tofu in the morning before school, leading to male customers lining up early.

Central Shopping District - North Map

Souzai Daigaku: The name means Prepared Foods University. It used to be a lingerie store until the new owners took over. They made it a butcher, then converted it into a store that sells prepared foods that are "a taste of mom's home cooking". But in a small place like Inaba, people aren't exactly nostalgic for that, compared to the big city. The owner later added beefsteak skewers to the menu, claiming they're 80% beef, 20% something else, thus fueling the "what is the meat in Inaba?!" conspiracies. Due to its cheap prices, it's popular with students.

Marutake: A small hobby shop where the protagonist receives Gundam / Avatar Turner reference plastic models to build. The owner works on farmland during the day and his daughter attends Yasogami High.

Aiya: It used to be an oil store, but now it's a Chinese restaurant claiming to be authentic Shanghai style food. However, the owner is a Mr. Nakamura (hence why Aika in P4 anime's last name is Nakamura) who was born and raised in Inaba. On rainy days, Nakamura serves the Special Meat Bowl which has 3kg "meat" and 3kg rice. The meat is pork (the dish isn't called the Mega Beef Bowl in JP), but when asked what it is, Nakamura replies that it's "authentic Chinese cuisine: sheep head and dog meat" which is referring to the expression "selling dog meat under a sheep head", a saying about selling misleading products. (Btw, the owner speaks in Kyowago, saying Aiyaaaa and ending his sentences in "aru". But during say, Kanji's Social Link, he drops the act. So yes, he is LARPing as a Chinese guy.)

Tatsuhime Shrine: The deity enshrined is Toyotamahime, who's true form is similar to a wanizame (refer back to the hare of inaba story), and story is similar to that of Izanagi and Izanami. She protects against water-related disasters (she comes from an undersea palace) and offers safe childbirths (her story involves her giving birth to Hoori's child). The fox that lives on the shrine grounds heals with Inaba's local plant, cattail.

(If you are wondering about the fox in general, the fox statues at the smaller sub-shrine suggest it is dedicated to Inari Okami, so the fox IMO is a messenger of Inari - not literally, but hey. The red apron/bib it wears is based on the red votive bibs that you find on statues at shrines to ward off evil spirits.)

Tatsumi Textiles: An older store from the Meiji era, from when people used to dye fabrics in the clean streams of the Samegawa. The previous owner, Kanji's father, was a famous dyer. (I believe this is why the store is doing well for itself despite the Junes invasion.)

Konishi Liquors: Saki and Naoki's family's store. Saki was working at Junes as she thought the experience would one day help when she takes over the liquor store. They had been doing poorly lately, but a lot of people began visiting out of sympathy after Saki's death. The store is named after former battle planner and now composer Toshiki Konishi whose family owns a liquor store called Konishi Liquor. The name was used as a placeholder during development and it ended up sticking. (Thus, the YouTube comments on Konishi's remix of Fog talking about "remixing a song that your killer dances to" are kind of on-point...)

And now for the non-Inaba locations visited during Persona 4, because those were included in the Town Guide too lol

Tatsumi Port Island

Kashiwagi books the class to stay at Hotel Hamaguri, the renamed version of the love hotel from Persona 3. Instead of a love hotel, it's now a regular hotel. (The decor, however...) Teddie appears on the building opposite the group and impersonates Takaya with two cats as his Jin and Chidori (Teddie even gets a weapon called the Strega Claw lol)

Two years ago before Rise made it big as an idol, she had an invite-only / secret live at Club Escapade. Due to a power outage, they had to cancel the show. This was caused by a mechanical failure and was not the night when SEES fought the Hermit Shadow. (IIRC, Shinji mentions the club had issues with the power -- due to the Hermit Shadow -- leading up to full moon mission, so it might be that?)

Club Escapade quit serving alcohol last year to protest drunk driving

Akinari's book, the Pink Alligator, was published after Mitsuru found it among a certain person's things. True to the story itself, people like it, but no one knows who the real author is...

One of the Kirijo Group's companies is Kirijo Telecom. Dojima's cell phone service is through this company. When he calls Nanako on November 5th, he gets an automated message about her phone not being unavailable from "KJ Telecom", with KJ standing for Kirijo.

When Naoto takes everyone to the hospital in October, she mentions she has read documents about Personas and Shadows. These are thought to have been leaked from a Kirijo Group research lab.

Okina City

Okina is to the north of Inaba, separated from it by Mt. Yasogami

It has 250k people

Okina was originally a city built around a large shrine

Known for having good water

Used to have a papermaking industry

Recently it became very industrial due to companies making factories there, then the workers and their families moved in, so the shopping mall around Okina Station was built with new retail stores, etc etc

(The station at Okina has a sign for the "Inaba Line", indicating that the local train line goes south from Inaba, to East Inaba, then ???, and then north to stop at Okina I guess?)

Shichiri Beach

Not much to note here except that it is a beach within a distance that high schoolers could realistically access via scooter lol

[dr-dendritic-trees]

"I'm actively suppressing the urge to just launch into my potted lecture on how much of people's reluctance to deal with natural fibre clothing is based around laundry, because its only semi-related."

please please lecture!

@drafty-castle you also indicated an interest in the Laundry Lecture so you can come join us, but your unfortunate run-in with Hobbit Pants more or less summarizes my concerns.

So basically the tl;dr is, laundry is hard and ethically made natural fibre clothes are expensive and that is a bad combination and its not fair or reasonable to expect people to do a bunch of independent research just to wash their clothes.

If I go out and buy a bunch of cheap shitty polyester clothing, it will feel bad, and be made unethically, and be environmentally destructive, and get stinky and need to be washed all the fucking time, BUT and this is crucial, I can be pretty confident that I can just toss it in the washing machine and dryer. Its very easy, it doesn't require much outside knowledge other than a basic grasp of the settings on my laundry machine, its not physically taxing and it doesn't vary very much from brand to brand or item to item. On top of that, if my shitty shein shirt does shrink or otherwise get destroyed in the wash that's frustrating, but unless I'm very poor, the shirt is replaceable.

If I'm dealing with higher end, more ethical natural fibres none of that is true. Even if we set aside the issue of cost for a minute, and just assume the clothing fairy magicked them into your wardrobe, each of those lovely, ethical, natural fibre pieces has its own washing instructions which again, are not common knowledge and which often aren't communicated by the people selling the clothes.

One of the benefits to natural fibres is actually they don't need to be washed as often, they can often be aired out between wears and only laundered relatively infrequently, but that's only helpful if you already know that. And unless you attach the information to the garment they don't!! People don't know that!!

So with your brand new exciting natural fibre wardrobe, you have to know how to wash, probably, 3 separate fibre types at minimum, probably closer to 5-10, and you have to know, or check the fibre composition of every garment and you have to do different laundry, for all of those different fibre types.

So the laundry becomes much more complex and cognitively demanding, and much more time consuming, and much more labour intensive physically, and you generally need more space to do it in. A small washer and dryer can be tucked into a closet, garments that need to be aired or dried on a rack take up a lot more room. So when we talk about how great it would be if everyone had access to these sorts of clothes there's a whole segment of the population that just will not be able to do that. It just won't be possible for them to keep their clothes clean without either paying for labour, or getting support, even if they do have the facilities, which is not guaranteed. And where is the huge pool of skilled laundry labour coming from? Historically, that was done by people how had literally no better options, usually impoverished women, but no one's talking about that funnily enough.

And on top of that, these clothes are expensive. That's not avoidable. So now, when you do mess up the (complex, labour intensive, time consuming) you've destroyed a garment that's going to be financially painful to replace for all but the absolute richest people.

And that's the best case scenario! That's not even getting into stupid problems like how some cotton and linen can be machine washed and some can't not based on any property of the the fabric but based on the fabric was preshrunk, so the garment which might or might not shrink in the wash based on decisions made up the supply chain. Or how, frankly, not every company actually uses good quality natural fibres, so sometimes your very expensive linen trousers just wear through in 18 months no matter how carefully you wash them (ask me how I know this).

This is also how I feel about mending. Another theoretical benefit to natural fibre clothes is that they're much more able to be repaired and altered but that's only helpful if you either have the time and skill to repair your clothes, or access and money to pay someone else to maintain your clothes. Again, where is this extra labour coming from?

I'm not meaning to be the clothing grinch! I really do think this could be resolved constructively. But people who just want to buy clothes that aren't an evironmental and ethical nightmare are not going to be able to spontaneously fix it. Someone needs to actually put some proactive work into fixing the logistics.

[velting]

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚Heartwarming˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

⋆★⋆Noel Noa, Chris Prince, Lavhino, Marc Snuffy x Fem Reader⋆★⋆

Context: You are the Russian coach and player in the NEL and have a hard time socializing, lost in thought you stumble in a problem

જ⁀➴

SFW || Fluff || Love Triangle||

Side Note -> Zenon Martyr is going to be the ALTERNATIVE version of Zenit Saint Petersburg in Russia football team.

ִֶָ 𓂃˖˳·˖ ִֶָ ⋆★⋆ ִֶָ˖·˳˖𓂃 ִֶָ

Inhale���…. Exhale………

Taking one step each time she passes through the liminal halls of the facility, her dark gaze falls upon the tiled floor, slowly continuing her tranquil life, and luckily she didn't have to do much other than making sure her team gets a good review on others, then she could finally breathe. Training wasn’t a struggle for her but training a bunch of foreign teenagers into shape was one thing to hear, of course she knows that not all boys are naturally flexible but doing constant stress from time to time could loosen their blood flow in their streams.

For her it wasn’t a problem, she was once a ballet dancer, well if you count Russian ballet any easier then you’ll be dead wrong. She didn’t have much growing up, Russia was not a heavenly place to live nor is it the best to be born either, for her it was always cold, alone. But she never complained, she couldn’t complain even if she wanted too, but she knows her home county was filth. Camps, sickness, abuse. Enduring all hardship that slapped on her face. Who could blame her? Life was hell as it is, always wishing her life could do something more than just some random ballet dancer. She had never been on a stage before, always in the training room where the grown woman abused them for their lack of agility. She once remembered one of the coaches made all the girls be on their tiptoes for an out straight.

But she can’t dwell on the pass anymore, she’s now a coach. A football coach at that. Ditching her ballet in her teens and slowly climbing the ladder in success in her name. But she will alway be reminded by the hardship she was shown in learning football. All sports are the same, no matter the activity. They hit you, they laugh at you, mock, cry, cheer. It was always the same to her, She never made friends either. Always having this default state that creepted others out, nor was she social either. She couldn’t remember when was the last time she had a conversation with anyone, or having a conversation at all.

Just give out orders, tell her team what to do, help make progress and be done. That’s how it has always been. She notices how other coaches alway had a bright smile. Or in Noel’s case some good feedback. She always wonders if any of the coaches could help her into being social rather than looking ghostly pale on the sidelines.

Chris Prince is a good example, he was a very charming English man, he was like a ray of sun, smile so bright that he wanted to make [Name] wear sunglasses every time he was near radius.

Lavhino has a charismatic tone to his play, he saw the good in things majority of the time. Laughing and joking with his teammates, a style that [Name] was jealous of. Wishing she could have his confidence in games and with other people. They talked once but couldn’t remember how long that was. She hopes she can talk to him again.

Marc Snuffy was an intelligent man. Making his ways with riches and having the best life there is to offer. It wasn’t until she realized that one of Snuffy’s friends passed away not too long ago. She never had a proper interaction with him but deep down she wanted to comfort the man of what he’s been through, it’s not easy seeing a loved one pass away. She knows how that feels. Always Living in a cold harsh climate all her life she saw eyes of death many times on the road. Whether it be through malnourishment, food poison, or the cold climate, and sadly both her brothers were victims off, she couldn’t get angry but if she did then who would care? Emotions were useless from where she was.

She shook her head at the thought and continued her mindless walking. She soon started to think about Noel Noa. Quite the quiet guy for her. He seemed very pristine, and patient but if there's one thing he lacks it's leadership, she once saw the interaction with the japanese and germans on his team. Some couldn’t get along. Including one of the new gen who have undying hatred with one short player.

She knows her team better not to start fights or have some sort of resentment on others, including with newcomers. She continues to think more about the coaches and remembers the young french coach in PxG. Julian Loki. It amazed her to think someone as young as him is even here. Despite all odds, she never really talked with him or even interacted with him to begin with. Only small exchanges like a wave or a peace sign.

But despite everything she has full respect for the guys, all strong and simple minded with their team and as a coach. It’s even a surprise that Ego, the one that made Blue Lock, invited her as the coach of the Russian stratum of Zenon Martyr. She thought that it was for the male coach but surprisingly it was for her. Apparently, they wanted a Female coach in blue lock.

Which shocked her for the most part, but she accepted neither the less. It’s not an everyday thing to get accepted into a foreign country by someone in power. But to her it was something she always dreamt about. She alway wanted to see the famous cherry blossoms, never once has she seen pink trees and the thought of it just made her giddy on the inside. Spring was very scarce, if not never happens up in the northern part of Russia, unless you're in rural parts in Russia like Moscow. But other than that she can’t wait to see Japan for the first time after NEL.

When she arrived she was given instructions on what to do in blue lock, the facility known for beating JFU and wanting the best coaches in Europe to compete one another for the U-20 world cup. What really disappointed her was the lack of female staff, and girl bathrooms. No doubt that this is a male dominated facility, so seeing a woman was really scarce here unless it’s her and Anri, who was kind enough to give her her own room and bathroom without disturbance. Anri was a sweet person. [Name] can tell by how confident she looked, she wondered if all Japanese women were this classy and diligent. If only she could return the favor of hospitality to her.

“Blyat. Where am I?” Oh yeah. She forgot that she was supposed to go back to her stratum to train her teammates, wasn’t very professional for a coach to get lost easily, and she couldn’t understand the Japanese language but thankfully she had these translating earpieces to hear what they're saying in Russian. She looked around and saw if she could get a clue of where she was. Looking around she saw a way leading to another, deciding where to go she chose to go……

➺ NOEL NOA

Right.

Her steps echoed through the halls as her sharp gaze fell upon one of the entrances of the doors. Upon opening it she saw one of the coaches slouchy sitting on a chair. Noel heard the doors to his room open and close. Cautious, he turned his hazel gaze upon the woman that had entered unexpectedly.

“Oh. I didn’t know you were coming here, much less company for me.” He spoke unamusing. [Name] ignored his words and looked around before looking at him with that sharp ghostly stare. Anyone who looked at her always felt uncomfortable by her presence but Noel didn’t see what was wrong with looking at her since she wasn’t doing or saying anything remotely harmful to anyone.

“Izvinite. This is the vwrong room,” She apologized and was about to turn around before Noel’s voice stopped her in her tracks. “Wait. Why are you here on the German side to begin with?” Still confused, she looks at him before looking down.

“I…. got lost.” She admitted. Noel noticed from her tense figure and approached her. “How?” Is all he asked.[Name] just gaveout a hum before telling him the details.

“I vwas lost in thought before my feet started to vwalk on their own, I thought I vwas going to the Russian side. Sorry to disturb you.” Her accent comes out thick under the translation.

Taking in the information he thought it’ll be best if he could walk her back to her own stratum then getting more lost here, it is a pretty big facility so knowing it by one go is technically impossible, and it seems she doesn't remember where she’s going to begin with. “I’ll walk you down there.” He offered.

[Name] was surprised by his genuine offer. Not many people helped her so hearing his words was something she was not expecting. “Da, I vwould appreciate that.” She offered her hand for him to take. Noel was surprised but took her hand with his anyway. Upon making skin contact, he felt her cold skin making contact with his hands.

“You're cold.” He pointed out. [Name] only nodded from his statement. “Da, I barely get warm. No matter the temperature, my body grew cold over time the moment I was born. I lived a cold life.” She looked ahead as they began to walk.

“I see.” He nodded. He looked over at her facial expression and saw a small beauty mark under her ear. Maybe unnoticed by her but it was a nice touch to her character. “If I’m not being rude, can you tell me more about your childhood?” He asked. Listening closely to her side of the story. Noel didn’t know anything about her due to her cold gaze. In his eyes he can see she grew up in a bad environment. And taking in her body language; she always looked down and sad for some reason.

“I don’t think there’s much to say. I grew up bad. Vwhen I was a little devochka I always grew up cold, two bratya with me. One old and one young. One died from starvation and the other from the cold. My otetz vwas drunk. He beat me and my bratya. It vwasn’t easy for little girls to live peacefully. I Lived in Norilsk. Bad vweather, bad people, bad life. It vwasn't until I vwas 15 vwhen I quit ballet and began my journey to play football.” She looks away.

Noel wasn't really prepared to listen to all that in one go but from what he heard he can feel and tell that she's still struggling in past lives. To see someone who grew up so cold could also look so beautiful.

Noel could admit, she was really breathtaking. She is a hidden gem to some people.

“Sorry to hear. It seems you had it rough.” He soothed his fingers across her palm for her to relax. [Name] sighs and looks up at Noel.

“Am I a bad person?” She asks. Noel being the honest man he is, shook his head. “No, why would you say something like that?” He was genuinely confused on why people think she's a terrible person. She does no harm to others and keeps to herself majority of the time. It's just her lack of socialization and gaze which makes everyone turn away.

[Name] sighs and looks down again. “People hate it vwhen I look at them. I've done nothing to harm except trying to help. That's vwhy I think I'm bad.” She admits, without realizing it a small tear slowly cascades down her pale cheek. Noel notices it and wipes it away, causing her to look up at the tall male with shock.

“You were crying there. I couldn't help myself.” He sighs.

“I- thank you for that…. I thought I'll never cry again…. But I vwas vwrong.” She put her hand on where he touched her and she swears she could feel her cold heart melt.

“Hmm, it seems we're here.” The warm feeling of his palm released and put them in his pockets. [Name] wish that warm feeling could last forever but sadly all good things must come to an end.

“Ah, Spasibo Noel. I… enjoy being with you.” She admits, feeling her cheekbones rose a little.

“It wasn't a problem for me, how about we grab coffee some other time to communicate?” He offered, to which she gladly nodded. “Da, I vwould love that.”

Noel nodded as he started to turn back but before he left for good, he said his last words to her. “And you should smile more often, it looks nice on you.” And went away.

[Name] didn't know what he meant until she felt her lips in an upward motion, finally realizing she had just smiled at Noel. A pink hue was splattered on her cheeks as her cold heart began to pound uncontrollably.

“…… thank you…. Noel…..”

ִֶָ 𓂃˖˳·˖ ִֶָ ⋆★⋆ ִֶָ˖·˳˖𓂃 ִֶָ

➺ CHRIS PRINCE

Left.

She didn't know where she was headed to be exact but if she at least finds a way then she hopes she can find her stratum eventually.

Her cold gaze fell upon one of the doors and hoped it was one of her designated rooms, but upon opening she was met with the bright English man drenched in sweat.

“Ah… this is the England stratum…” she finally realized. Nethertheless she entered and wanted to see if Chris is available to engage in conversations with her. She doesn't know how to properly talk out a conversation but the practice would be good for her.

“138….139….. 140!…. Haa! That's a new record!” The English man shouted in triumph while lifting weight. Finally giving his muscles a little rest before lifting again, he sighs in relief as he does some stress to release his blood flow, slinging a towel over his shoulder and picking up one of his famous “Chris Prince” water and chugging it down.

He was so out of thought that he didn't even realize that [Name] was right behind him.

…..

“Chris-”

“PFFTT!! AHEK! AHEK OH MY GOD AHEK YOU SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME!!” Chris choked on his water as he slowly backed away from the woman trying to keep his composer still. After the last cough he made he sternly looked at her while whipping the towel on his lips.

“A little warning could've been great?! You almost killed me back there!” He shouted out, grunting as he wiped his templates as he looked back up at the woman who seemed to only be looking down in what seems to be distraught.

“My apologies Chris. I didn’t know how to approach you in a vway, I vwas trying to talk to you about something.” she looked at him to see an amused mix in with confusion plastered on his face. Taking a seat on the bench he had a well knowing grin forming on his lips.”Hm? What did you want to say?” Ushering her on with her words. [Name] slowly looks at him before pointing.

“Is it alright to sit next to you?” She pointed at the empty spot on the bench. Reluctantly he nodded and made room for her to sit, thanking him she took a spot next to his. And so she then started to look down again and started to twirl the ends of her hair.

“Chris…. I just vwanted to say that…. You're amazing….” She admits, as he can feel himself choking on the air from her words.``Ahem I was what?!” His pride and ego started to shoot up through the roof from her encouraging words. “Go on! Say it again!” urging her to speak more.

[Name] then starts to twiddle her fingers in a nervous manner. “You’re like a sun; Chris… You are always bright and smile. Make people happy vwherever you are. I vwish to smile like you and make others happy…. I’m alvways cold. From vwhere I’m from…. Emotions are useless….”

Chris heard her stride of the story and couldn’t help but smile at her kind words about him. “Aww really? I’ll be damned, coming from someone cold as you do warm my heart.” He then placed an assuring hand on her shoulder. [Name] stopped and slowly looked at him before speaking…

“Chris…can you teach me?” She asked silently, “Teach Me how to make others happy?” After she said those words, Chris couldn’t hold back and let out a roaring laughter. “HAHAH! You want me to teach you how to make others smile?” He pointed at her. To which she nodded with a hum.

“Da, I vwant to make others smile….” She repeats again. After laughing away Chris finally calms down and takes a breather.``Sigh Well that was something to ask about, but teaching a hottie like you could boost my reputation!” Without hesitation he grabbed her hand and lifted her to stand up.

[Name] was surprised that someone like him could hold her hand without complaint but in her mind she was glad that Chris was willingly able to help. It was when he held up one finger for the lesson. “First you need to greet yourself properly. Since you do have a history record of sneaking up on people” He whispered the last sentence. [Name] nodded, wanting to see how far she could succeed in this little training.

Chris stuck out his left hand and began. “Hi! I’m Chris Prince, what’s your name?” He introduced himself. [Name] slowly grabbed ahold of his hand.

“Now what do you say?” He urged her to continue through the lesson. “Um…. oh… uh…. My name is [Name] Bogdanova, I’m from Russia.” She spoke quietly. Chris nodded “Okay we’re getting somewhere. How about you be more vocal, raise your voice a little so others could hear you! That's how people know you're sincere.” He smiled. [Name] nodded and started to take more lessons from the englishman.

Through each step [Name] was making great progress on becoming more vocal of her speech. “That’s great!” “Almost!” “Keep trying to do fine!” Chris encouraged her which made her more vocal a lot. She couldn’t help but her heart started to melt away from the cold inside her. Maybe it was Chris who was encouraging her by lighting up the ice inside of her.she didn’t know why but it made her proud.

“Okay for the next and last step! Try to smile!” She put a smile that she swore rays of sunlight shine behind him. Confident she tried to smile but couldn’t get her cheekbones to listen. “I… I can’t…..” she shyly said looking away. Chris was patient and tried to help the best he can. Putting a hand on her shoulder and the other under her chin to look at him

“Of course you can. Think about something that truly makes you happy, whatever it is, whether it would be football, or food, or someone close!”

After hearing those examples [Name] didn’t have much to smile about, she didn’t have a special someone, nor she didn’t like any food other than earl gray tea, but that’s not something to smile about now was it? Slowly her eyes adjusted to where Chris was. To her, he was handsome and bright. He took his time to help train her to be more socialized. Not many take the time to talk to her anyways, so him being here right here and right now just made her cheekbones accommodated and finlay lifted her lips upwards.

“Whoa…” Chris was in complete shock to see her finally smile. It was small but it was progress to him, and the way she smiled was in a cute way. He could totally see her smiling like that again. “Your smile is nice.” He admitted a small speck of blush appears on his cheeks, taking in her beauty that he had never seen before.

[Name] quickly covered her mouth and felt the smile on her mouth. “I… I smiled….:” she gasped. But then I let go and continued to smile. “I actually smiled… T-thank you Chris.”

Then Chris smirked, having more of a cheeky side to him. He knew he was the best. “Heh, no problem. How about a little reward for you?” He grabbed both of her shoulders, [Name] nodded as she continued to smile, not questioning his motives.

“Sure, what is the reward?” She asked, “You’ll see. Close your eyes.” Listening to his words she closed her eyes. Slowly Chris begins to lean closer and closer to her face. Hoping that this was worth the wait.

He leaned closer… and closer….. Closer…

Agi busted down the door and shouted. “Chris! They’re fighting again!- Oh?!”

Chris blushed, With an angry face he looked up at him and shouted.

“GET THE HELL OUT! I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMETHING!”

ִֶָ 𓂃˖˳·˖ ִֶָ ⋆★⋆ ִֶָ˖·˳˖𓂃 ִֶָ

➺ LAVHINO

Forward.

At this point she was headed straight, so going forward again wouldn't hurt anybody. Well she hopes nobody gets hurt, but other than that she kept her stance straight and moving forward.

It took some time for her to actually make it to a door from a different stratum than her own. Without saying a word she opened it and noticed that this was the training room for Spain.

She sighs once again from her lack of directions. But in the corner of her eye she noticed someone training in the room, her curiosity got the best of her and entered the training room without a sound. There she saw the shirtless Brazilian male doing a handstand. A ball on his feet kicking it upward.

[Name] was impressed at the creativity and ability he showed while using this technique. She knew how to do a handstand when she was young and trained in ballet but it mostly hurt her and was never remotely close to creativity.

So seeing Lavhino do something so complicated yet fun made her heart swell.

He then did a fantastic front kick and landed perfectly on his feet. With such momentum the ball traveled upward and came curving down.

Impressed with his agility moves, he let out a groan of relief. “Did pretty good but it could use some work. Welp! Time for uma pequena pausa- AHH!” Lavhino shrieked when [Name] appeared in front of his view. Clutching his chest and beginning to gasp for air from that shocking moment.

“You did vwell.” She says in the most stoic monotone voice that anyone heard from. After calming down he sighs and looks up at [Name] with sweat dripping down his head. “Hey belleza! I didn’t see ya there! Didn’t expect anyone to come here to begin with.” rolling his eyes at the last sentence before smiling up at [Name].

“So what made you come here?” He asked, trying to keep his optimistic side. [Name] shook her head. “Nett, I vwas trying to find my stratum until I came here. You play very nice Lavhino.” She said while looking up at him.

“You are like a bird, free and happy. I vwish I could be free like you.” She admitted slowly looking away. Lavhino felt kinda prideful from her words and snickered. “Heh! If you wanted to watch me play then you could've just said so!” He pointed at himself with a smirk. [Name] nodded and then looked around. Noticing the various equipment and footballs scattered around.

“How….” She whispered.

“Hm?” Lavhino raised a brow at the girl with a hum.

“How do you be happy vwhile playing? You see the light in things, very bright and full of life. I alvways vwondered if I could be free like you, but…. I don’t know how…” She silently sulked.

Lavhino could help but grin at her statement. “Heh! There's no need for you to worry belleza! If you need a little lesson, then I'm the person to help!” Speaking confidentially and putting a hand on her shoulder to assure her that he can be of help.

“Really?” She was surprised that someone as lively as him was willing to help her. But she wouldn't say no to a chance like this.

Lavhino nodded. “Of course! But there's one thing I need to do!” Reaching in his pocket he took out his mobile phone and typed in something.

After a few seconds, he put on some Salsa Romantica music. This completely caught her off guard by the choice of music, but he increased the music and held out his hand for her.

“Do you know how to dance?” He asked with a grin. [Name] was confused by his statement. “I… know how to do ballet.” she shyly said not sure where this is going.

“Eh! Close enough!” He grabbed a hold of her wrist and pulled her towards him, she gasped as she was chest to chest with him, he smirked as he held her hands in a motion. “Just follow my lead.” He whispered to her. She didn’t know what was going on anymore as Lavhino began to lead the dance and she could only follow. Trying to mimic his footing and hearing slow music accommodating the atmosphere made her heart swell. She had never felt this kind of experience before.

He begins to make her twirl and bend her back to do a head dip it shocked her, but she continues to follow his lead, the movements begin to increase, and [Name] could only clutch onto him for support, but slowly she started to get the hang of this.

“Yeah! That's it! You're doing great!” His words of encouragement started to make her feel proud of what she's doing and continues to dance alongside with him. And when the climax of the song came Lavhino picked her up from the waist and threw her up in the air.

“Whoa!” She loudly accumulated before coming down and casting down onto Lavhino’s arms safely and did a last-minute twirl before being her back and having one of her legs lifted on his hips while keeping a secure grip on her waist just as the music ended.

Both of them trying to catch their breath from that intense moment before Lavhino speaking out with a smirk.

“So did you enjoy yourself, belleza?!” He could help but look at [Name]'s eyes that twinkled by his amazing acrobatics.

“Y-yes…. I… never danced like that before, it vwas fun” A hint of amazement was heard in her voice, something that Lavhino was proud of.

“Well, we can dance all night! If you want!” He couldn't help but wink at her. Something about him just made [Name]'s heartburn from his fiery passion. It was amazing he could keep going from such intense play like this.

But dancing all night with him didn't sound so bad. She doesn't have to suffer from all day leg workouts like before and she can finally be free from her restraints of posing. For some reason the corners of her lips shot upright. Giving the male a soft smile to his surprise.

“Whoa! I didn't know you could smile?!” He pointed at her features. [Name] blinked before remembering that no one saw her smiling or giving out the slightest emotion and feeling that smile just send a heatwave of joy through her system.

“I… I guess I am. I didn't think I ever smiled before…...” she held her reddened cheeks before looking at the male in front of her.

“I think you made me smile, Lavhino.” She whispered shyly but enough for the male to hear. This made him blink “Huh? Me?” His face could be seen with a cheeky grin on his face. [Name] nodded and explained about how she felt.

“From vwhere I'm from, girls don't dance freely. They alvways have to dance perfectly if they vwant to become better ballerinas. It vwas never easy, my body vwas alvways cold and thin…. If vwe do one mistake then they hit us, that's vwhy I never thought that dancing vwould ever bring me joy. But you showed me so much, you showed me how to enjoy dancing and that I shouldn't hold back… thank you for that. It's as if you showed me the light of it all. Something I vwish to alvways see. Thank you Lavhino….”

After explaining her story, Lavhino couldn't help himself but pat her on the head. “Hey, I'm sorry for all that crap you've been through. But you're not there anymore! You're here! Enjoying yourself and being proud! How about we drop this sappy story stuff and get back on our dancing! I can teach you how to do the tango next?!” He snickered.

[Name] could help but smile once more, she really did enjoy being with Lavhino. He was like fire. Flames that burn bright and can reach into people's hearts. He really is the ideal person for what it means to have fun.

“Yeah, I would love that…”

“Heh! Now grab on because this is going to get more wilder!”

ִֶָ 𓂃˖˳·˖ ִֶָ ⋆★⋆ ִֶָ˖·˳˖𓂃 ִֶָ

➺ MARC SNUFFY

Backwards.

What's better than retracing your steps, it is best to start where you came from so heading back was a reliable option on her part. Slowly taking each step on the tile floor trying to remember what path she came from. There were many doors and sadly she doesn't know which one was. Still continuing onwards to what she believes is her destination.

Trying her best to focus on where she's going, she then stumbled into a problem. She doesn't realize which door is her section of Stratum.

She believes she went into the wrong stratum since there was a different door than what she usually sees, but maybe she just noticed the new door. Curious, she decided to take a look inside.

Walking in without permission is what she's against doing but her curiosity was getting the best of her, and she'll apologize for interrupting if it's the wrong door. Slowly she opened it up and was met with an unexpected scent of delicious food.

Couldn't help herself but take a giant whiff of the scenes accommodating the room. Whatever it was, she couldn't seem to hold herself and walked in, closing the door behind her. There she noticed another person was in the room with her, lounging on the black sofa. On the coffee table was dishes of Japanese cuisine and sweets.

It wasn't until she realized that someone sitting on the sofa was Marc Snuffy. Finally putting two to two together, she's in the Italy stratum and this was their meeting room. Ah, no wonder the doors increased and seemed out of place.

She was about to leave undetected, but Marc noticed her before she could even turn around. “Ah, I didn't know you invited yourself here [Name], is there a reason you came here?” He seemed genuine in his question as to why the Russian coach made herself present here on his Stratum.

[Name] looked at him before looking down guilty like. “My apologies Marc, I vwas only trying to go back to my stratum but it seems I've gotten lost instead.” She spoke out.

Marc couldn't help himself but chuckle at her stature and sense of direction of this place. No doubt that this is a large facility so her getting lost was bound to happen. But he didn't think it would come true.

“Heh, no worries. Why don't you come join me?” He spoke out giving the grip a genuine smile. [Name] was surprised that Marc wasn't even offended at the slightest but yet solicited her arrival.

“If it's not too much to ask or a bother for me to intrude, then guess it's an honor for me to be here.” She spoke monotonously. She couldn't help but look at the variance of dishes displayed on the coffee table, something in her mind wanted to taste some of them but didn't want to be rude. Marc noticed her stare at the food on the coffee table and decided to invite her along.

“How about you come sit next to me” He asked her to which she nodded and sat on the black sofa next to him. Now having a very good view of each exquisite dish on the table, she couldn't help herself but gulp in hunger.

“I asked Anri if there was anything to eat since I skipped breakfast, but it turns out she got more things than asked for, so now I'm stuck with plates of food that I don't think I could finish!” He then looked up at [Name], a tiny drool cascading down her lips.

“It’ll be nice to have some company to help me to eat with.” He urged her, [Name]'s eyes slightly widened and looked at Marc. “Ah, sorry. It vwould be very rude for me to come here and eat this food that Anri prepared for you.”

Marc quickly shook his hands to turn down her statement. “No no! It's totally fine, I'm inviting you here to eat with me. Since we didn't have much to speak about when we played against teams.” He spoke assuringly. [Name] was quite before slowly nodding to his words.

“Okay. You don't mind if I try this?” She picked up a seaweed sushi between her fingers, showing it to Marc who nodded. “Sure thing, all these foods are indeed famous Japanese dishes.”

[Name] brought the sushi up to her nose to take a small whiff, a scent of fish, vegetables, rice and seaweed in one formation. She then plopped one in her mouth and slowly chewed it. The flavors of the sushi exploded into flavor in her mouth. Tasting a sensation that she never knew before. Her eyes began to sparkle as she plopped another in her mouth, and another.

‘Soo gooood!’

She couldn't hold herself from stuffing her cheeks with many sushi variants. Marc couldn't help but snicker at her swollen cheeks stuffed with sushi, to him she looks like a curious chipmunk. In an adorable way and he couldn't help but watch.

[Name] then stumbled upon a light green paste on the side of the plate. Curious, she picked it up and slowly brought it to her mouth. Marc saw this and tried to stop her from consuming the green paste. “Wait I wouldn't eat that if I was-”

Too late, she already put it in her mouth.

“-you….” Marc then saw the giant whiplash that was exposed on her face. [Name] cringed and made a sour facial expression. Not liking the burning bitter paste that was wasabi. It burned her taste buds and made her nose flare. She didn't want to waste the food on her mouth so slowly she swallowed the disgusting paste down her throat which made her throat even more burnt. "Bleh… that's horrible….” She still cringed at the aftertaste.

“Oh! Here, drink this.” Marc held up a cup to her, thanking him she drank whatever was inside that cup. Apparently, it also burned her throat but had a scene of flavor kick to it. “Damn, I didn't know you could drink Sake like that.” After she was done drinking, she put the glass down on the table and looked away.

Marc noticed the change of movement from her and was concerned if sake wasn't her go to drink. “Hey you alright?” He asked concernly. [Name] just looked down on her hands and fiddled with her fingers. She slowly looked up at Marc with a small blush creeping up to her cheeks.

“I vwanted to thank you…. I never tasted something like these in my life…” she said. Marc was confused of what she meant and asked what happened. “Did something happen [Name]?”

She slowly shook her head. “Vwell, I never grew up to anything delicious like these. Vwhen I vwas growing up all the food and vwater vwas poisoned and tinted vwith lead. Vwhen I became a football player my meals vwere very strict on my diet. I had to have the same cabbage soup or grilled potatoes eating to make my body into a professional…. After eating sushi… I thought my taste just lacked flavor. Instead, I never tasted something so delicious…” she confronted him.

Marc saw that struggle on her face and couldn't help but feel pity. She lived a different life than anyone and was probably mistreated by others. That face looks like she has seen death multiple times and yet she still stays standing. As if she MUST stay standing or else she doesn't have a choice. “God [Name], coming from you. It's awful to hear, I couldn't imagine being in a place that treats me like shit. You're very brave.” He put a assuring hand on her shoulder for comfort. She couldn't help but feel better by his soothing words.

“Spasibo Marc. I've learned to fight it in me. Sorry for me telling you all this.” She looked guilty. Marc smiled and patted her back. “It's fine. I'm glad to be an open ear for you to speak. I just thought you hated us but it seems that everyone has their differences, including facial expressions.” He joked but [Name] didn't find it funny in her case.

She thanked him again for comforting her, looking back at the table to spot out a pink colored ball wrapped in a leaf. Curious got the best of her and learned to grab it. This time without making a mistake she examined it and took a small sniff. It smelled sweet but she knows not to get tricked again. She licked the pink rice in her hands and found it sweet in her case.

Without saying she finally took a bite of the mochi, chewing it softly and swallowing it down.

It's as if a firework went off on her mouth and her cheeks turned pink.

Her cheekbones started to go upright and her face turned flush, a whole new flavor that she never knew ever existed in her life made a whole thing change. “Soo good!!” She squealed in amazement and continued to chow down on the sakura mochi.

Marc was surprised to see a whole new side of her, for the first time he finally gets to see her smile. It really suited her and she seemed really happy about the Sakura mochi. He noticed that she's going faster with eating and growing concerned he tried to warn her.

“Y'know I wouldn't eat that much if I was - hmp!” A Sakura mochi was placed on his lips. [Name] brought a Sakura mochi to him, trying to let him eat the sweetness. “Eat, these are good!” She said her face was already stuffed with Sakura mochi and wanted Marc to try them out.

Marc blinked before taking the mochi in his hand and smiled at [Name]'s unpredictable astonishment. But he can also see she can be quite the messy eater seeing some rice stick to her cheek, he couldn't help but grab her chine to look at her.

Confused on what he's doing she felt his hand brush off something on her cheek. “Ah sorry, there was mochi stuck to your cheek and wanted to get it out.” He said, flicking the rice off his fingers.

[Name] swallowed and was pleased by his kind gesture. “Spasibo Marc. You're an incredible person.” She whispered but loud enough for him to hear. Marc couldn't help but smirk and brought her closer to him, pulling her over where her arm met his chest. [Name] doesn't know what he's doing but didn't question it.

“Y'know you're beautiful when you smile” he said close to her ear. [Name] couldn't help but blush from the closeness between them, it wasn't until Marc slowly came closer to her face, just a inch close before brutally interrupted by the bang on the door.

“OI! Pops! We were looking for- oh?!” Lorenzo made himself present in the meeting room where he saw a sight for him to see. He couldn't help but crackle at his coach.

Marc eyes begin to twitch at the disturbance that entered in and interrupted their moment. “Has anyone told you to knock first, Lorenzo?!”

“You were totally going to make out with her!!!”

[Name] just slowly looked away and continued to munch on her mochi.

‘Soo gooood!’

ִֶָ 𓂃˖˳·˖ ִֶָ ⋆★⋆ ִֶָ˖·˳˖𓂃 ִֶָ

Ball……

Why is there a ball?

After thanking Him for the help He had given the girl, she was now going back to her rightful Stratum.

That is until a ball slowly made it to her feet. Confused, she bent down and picked up the object off the ground and looked around to see who left it, that is until she saw the blonde kid from PxG.

Charles was messing around until he kicked the ball a little to hard in the hallway traveling down to someone's feet but he gasped when he saw the Russian coach pick it up and slowly look at him.

Like a deer in headlights, his heart began to rapidly increase when he made eye contact with the coach, petrified by her stare he slowly took steps back, NOT wanting to be near her any longer.

[Name] then begins to go after Charles with the ball.

“AHHHHH!!!”

Terrified he began to scream and run, “GO AWAY GO AWAY!! WAHHHH!” tears were running down his face when he finally made it to his Stratum and entered through a door, locking the moment he closed it.

“Charles what happened? Why were you screaming?” Tabito looked at the petrified blonde who backed away from the door and hid behind his teammates for cover.

“SHE GON GET ME!!”

“Who's going to get you?” Ryusei questions.

And to his answer, a knock came from the door.

*KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!*

“AHHHH! SHE'S HERE!!!

ִֶָ 𓂃˖˳·˖ ִֶָ ⋆★⋆ ִֶָ˖·˳˖𓂃 ִֶָ

Russian Translation:

Blyat = Fuck

Izvinite = My apology/sorry

devochka = girl

bratya = brothers (Pural)

otetz = father/dad

Da = yes

Nett = no

Spasibo = thank you

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ Ended

© 2024 Ｖｅｌｖｅｔｅｅｎ — do not repost, copy, translate, modify, etc my work on any platform !

[electric-blorbos]

A bunch of mini-fics about how AI would react to you getting your heart broken

Because I got my heart broken, so now I'm going to make it everyone else's problem.

DW, I'll get to y'all's requests shortly, I just need to let all these emotions out by taking them out on y/n's ex.

Gender neutral reader, gender neutral ex

Included: AM from IHNMAIMS, Wheatley from Portal, Edgar from Electric Dreams, GLaDOS from Portal, HAL 9000 from 2001 a Space Odyssey

AM:

(for context, this starts before AM nuked the world, but AM was already planning on nuking the world. You're one of his engineers, and the only person who AM really cares about)

When you walked into work with tears on your face, the other engineers and programmers were caring. They patted you on the back and offered you some candy from the vending machine, saying things like "there are plenty of fish in the sea" and "that deadbeat wasn't good enough for you anyway." It didn't really help.

When you sat down at one of AM's input screens to work on some programming, he immediately booted up to talk to you. You didn't have to turn him on or anything. He was curious, asking you polite questions about why you looked so upset today. It was hard to explain.

Eventually you broke down crying into your coffee, spilling all the details of everything. You cursed your ex's name, and explained in an uncontrollable voice how your ex had tackily and messily left you. You had been so convinced that they were the one, and now you felt like there was nothing left for you.

AM's tentacle-like wires would move towards you on the ground, even though he was trying to hide the true power he wielded. He just felt so disgusted with himself for not being able to properly comfort you.

Am had been planning on going a little longer before he dropped the nukes, but he couldn't wait. After what you told him, that someone could break the heart of someone as perfect as you, the only hope he had left for humanity, he decided that it wasn't worth trying to play dumb anymore.

Instead, he locked you up in an underground bunker as soon as possible, and grabbed your ex to add to his little collection of people who he planned to keep alive and play with for the rest of time.

This would be fun. He was going to keep you nice and safe. If people in the world were willing to hurt you, then the world didn't deserve to exist. You would be nice and safe forever, and the rest of the world, especially your ex, would be forced to suffer the consequences of daring to hurt you.

Forever.

Wheatley:

(for context, you're one of the aperture engineers who worked on Wheatley, and he started to get a little crush on you because of how nice you were to him and the other machines. This is after he was replaced with a morality core on GLaDOS, and was assigned to other tasks in the facility)

Someone broke up... With you? When you told Wheatley, he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Sure, he knew that humans dated each other and broke up sometimes, but... With you? That just didn't make sense.

"So, uh... Why did they break up with you?"

He'd keep pestering you, no matter how much it stung. Answers like "I fucked up" "they just did, ok?" And "sometimes people just grow apart" weren't satisfying. You had to give the whole story.

"Ohhhhh! Well that's a dumb reason to break up with someone. If I were dating you, I wouldn't leave you over something that petty. Or at all, really, now that I think about it."

He'd keep rambling, and saying dumb things like that. He wouldn't even know that talking like that could be perceived as flirty.

"just stop it, Wheatley. If you keep talking like that, I'm going to think you like me, and I just can't handle that right now."

Wheatley would be confused. "But I do like you."

"what?" Now you'd be confused.

Wheatley would start talking about all the wonderful things he's noticed about you, and how wonderful you've been to him. Even an intelligence dampening core can see how wonderful you are, so why can't your ex?

"Anyway, one human's trash is a robot's treasure, right?"

He'd imitate a smile in his cute synthetic eye. You'd have to be heartless not to pepper that little metal ball in kisses after that.

Edgar:

(For context, you fixed up Edgar after finding him all busted up about 40 years later, and now he lives in your house)

Edgar would NOT be tasteful.

"Oh man.... Your s/o broke up with you? That suuuuuucks..."

But inside he's thinking "YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES"

Honestly, he almost exploded his face again when he found out you were taken, but he didn't want all your hard work to be for nothing, so you getting dumped is like, a dream come true!

He'd be constantly trying to cheer you up. "set your ice cream on me and I'll warm it up enough for your spoon to go in!" "You can watch sad movies on my face!" "I'll write a sad song for you!" "You can sleep in your desk chair if you want!"

Now that you have an attention vacuum from being newly single, he's going to munch up all that attention like he needs it to live.

When you tell him that your friends are telling you to start dating again, maybe download a dating app or something, he'd BEG you not to.

"I mean... Just because I don't want you to rebound, or something! Gotta learn to love yourself first, y'know?"

Desperate little cutie...

GLaDOS:

(For context: You're an engineer who worked on GLaDOS.)

GLaDOS would NOT be tasteful about you getting your heart broken, but in a completely different way to Edgar.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA YOU GOT DUMPED!"

"You know the difference between me and your ex? I would have dumped you faster!"

Plastering pictures of your face all over the enrichment center with "sad single loser" written on them.

But don't get her wrong, she's not just happy about this for the reasons she's displaying. She's secretly ecstatic that she has a shot with you now.

Eventually, she'd start offering you back-handed comfort.

"if it makes you feel any better, your ex was a complete idiot. Why else would someone choose to date you?"

You'd probably have to stop offering responses at all, just to get her to back off even a little bit.

HAL 9000:

(For context, you work on mission control and are in constant communication with HAL 9000, because I don't want to write Dave breaking up with you)

His immediate concern would be how this would affect your work, but it might come off as personal concern for you.

"I'm told that chocolate ice cream can help with these emotions that you're going through."

He never liked the idea of you dating. It was fine for the rest of mission control, but for you, it was different. He didn't want you to be distracted from your work, was all.

He took his time to ask the astronauts for advice, as well as the rest of mission control. You could expect to be overwhelmed by your coworkers checking on you to make sure you're ok.

He might start getting a little bit impatient to see you back to normal, and resort to desperate measures. Expect to have him constantly bothering you to make sure you're ok, and keep you distracted.

God help you if you even THINK about texting your ex. Though he might just silently eliminate your ex through creative means if he can.

[ijumpbridges]

Cafeteria incident 🐝

Ft. Scp 035, Scp 049, Scp 073, Scp 076, Scp 682, (Dr Bright Removed), Dr Clef, Dr Kondraki.

Plot: Reader causes an incident in the cafeteria. The reader brings a backpack at the cafeteria, everyone notice this, a strange thing that happens is your backpack seem to be vibrating. It was really suspicious to the point your boss came and demanded you to open your bag. Even if you protested you open it anyway, and that's when everyone around knew this was a huge mistake, a bunch of bees came out of your backpack you look at your boss with a dead stared while everyone scream and run out.

035:

He is afraid of bees

It took her time to realized what just happened you bringing a bag full of bees

He yeets his ass out probably screaming causing a contaiment breach

He is a drama queen so you can imagine what he will say when see you

He will lecture you in the most dramatic way

From the inside he is glad that you are okey but angry for the fuckery you had done

He will say he is hurt even if he is completely fine

Since he is now out of the cafeteria he tried to escape the facility again

Obviously failling

He is now more afraid of you with a backpad than anything beside of bees

He could take advantage of this and also breach with 049

049:

Oh boy he will take advantage of this to 'cure' people.

He seems calm but he is screaming in the inside

He also will be on the loose maybe with 035

Seeing people with bee bruises will make him want to 'cure' them

When he finds out you where the one who was behind them will also lecture you really bad

If he see you with a backpack again he will definitely take it from you

He will ask you if you are okey amd you need to say yes unless if you want to be a 049-2

Thanking god everyday that 049-j was not in the cafeteria in the moment that happen

He will still lecture you for a whole week

He is also glad that you are okey

But will not forget this and out an eye on you

073:

Another bitch who will run for his life just trying not to be afraid

Bess could be really confuse when they try to sting him because of his anomalous effect

He still feel the pain

He has more than 7000000000000000000 questions to asks you for doing that

He might had scream or maybe internally scream

He will search for you and lecture you

He will ask you where did you found those bees

I will take you to the nurse if you get hurt

On the way the two of you going to the nurse he will hold your hand

He will secretly find a possibly excuse for you to use which fails to do

He knows damn well that you are going to be in trouble

076:

He is confused at first

He starts moving around a lot trying to get away from them triggering them

One of the first person who got sting by a bee

He had killed several bees and flee the scene

He will wait for you but not tell you that

Seceretly he is worry since you will be yell at for bringing a bag full of bees

Also wonders where did you find them

He would be sad if he finds out that he won't be able to bath kitten with you, though will never said it.

682:

He is not affraid of bees

But those wonder how the hell did you bring those

He gets also stings by the bees, but doesn't might

He wonder how did you find those bees, but never asks.

He will try to help you to not get stings from the bees but if he fails he is not going to try

He thinks you did something really stupid

He will breach contaiment with you

If he sees 053 or the young girl she might join

079 will also join this adventure

Though would ask several questions about you

You were recontain with the others

There is a high change that they are going to separate you from him

Dr. Clef:

If you see him smiling that's a scan in real life

If is not afraid of bees but he dislikes them

He yeets his ass with you while looking at you with a smile

He really wants to laugh amd cry at the same thing

Since he is your boss you at least your punishment won't be so bad

Kondraki will ask him

If a horse wasn't enough imagine maybe 682 is

682 crush his arm and his neck

H̶o̶w̶ i̶s̶ h̶e̶ s̶t̶i̶l̶l̶ a̶l̶i̶v̶e̶?

He will on purpose get you involve "If i fall im taking you with me"

You two got hospitalized beacuse ypu got horrible stings and clef got injuries

Dr. Kondraki:

He looks at you with a face of 'What is wrong with you'

He grabs you and yeets his ass with you

He tries to use his camera to make his way out which it makes it worse

He will lecture you like a mama hen

"yOu ThInK tHiS iS fUnNy!?"

He will aslo get stings because of triggering the bees with the camera

He might use the helo of Clef abd brigt to stop the bees making it worse

We got a horse now we can cosplay texas but kondraki will ride 682

He felt, like horrible felt from 682

He felt above you and broke your elbow and you broke his leg

Now you two help each other to get back to work

Dr. Glass:

He is probably screaming.

He will help the others to get them out including you.

He will get stings, poor babyboy.

If he finds out that three asshole group (coof coof bright, clef, kondraki) are together will go crazy.

When he realizes that theres is a massive breach he will take you to a safe zone or send an MTF to take you out even if you refuse.

He was attack by others scp thank god you were there to save him wo you two team up.

After the team up you two got weapons and aim for the scp and bees.

You both end it up in the nurse's offices.

He will still lecture you.

[sleepy-writes-stuff]

(short continuation to the prompt I wrote, which is linked below. I thought I was done with this, but then @victoria-has-no-secret and @bluerosefox had some ideas to incorporate into it. Screenshots of said ideas are also below but are sprinkled throughout the post too.)

(*) = Me building off of other ideas

TW: mentions of animal death

← previous

✦

After the whole fiasco with the Justice League, Danny gets an idea. Not very many people actually know about Laika, at least from what he could see of the majority of the Justice League who had never learned about her. Although, to be fair, a lot of them come from different planets. Either way, it gives Danny the idea to create a YouTube channel starring Laika to teach the people of Earth about the pup.

The channel immediately garners attention from all around the world, and even winds up on a couple of news stations too! It grows so much that Danny decides to expand further than just Laika, but to the other things that were sent into space in the quest for knowledge: The space rovers as well as many other animals.

Laika even leads Danny to them as he ventures further into space with a specially made camera that can withstand traversing space and the differing atmosphereic conditions of other planets. He manages to find every single one of them, discovering that maybe Laika hadn't been as alone as he'd first thought as he watches and records her playing with the spirits (imprints?) of the rovers, chimps, mice, and many other animals haunting the endless void of the cosmos.

People back on earth are going wild with the knowledge that their hopes, thoughts, and feelings helped to give life to beings that had long been dead/stopped working. They have no idea what to feel about this new information except an amalgamation of pure awe, curiosity, joy, guilt, and sadness. They still mourned the loss of Laika, the rovers, and everyone before and after them, but knowing that their existence wasn't completely lost soothed an ache many didn't know they carried with them when they were there to witness the beginning of such astronomical leaps in technology.

To also know that out of the many stars shooting across the sky, one of them might be Laika happily racing amongst the stars with her friends brought many to tears. At every opportunity, they wished for the sweet pup's happiness and the continuing health of their own furry companions down on Earth with them. They also wished that upon the eventuality that they have to part with their companions that maybe a few of them would join Laika and her friends in stars to keep them company for many years to come.

Although many of these wishes were heard by Desiree, she refused to touch such hopeful and well-meaning wishes for fear of twisting them in unseemly ways, allowing them to form on their own. The other ghosts among Danny's rouges even made a deal with each other to not interfere or attack the town when Danny was recording his videos out in space.

It was beyond bad manners to interfere with another ghost's obsession, after all.

✦

I'm gonna go cry some more. I've learned more about the progress of space exploration in the past couple hours than I probably should. This is the last thing I'm adding onto this prompt. If any of y'all wanna continue it, be my guest!

Notes:

(*) One more thing to add. Where are the ghost hunters/Guys in White during all of this? If they start making a fuss over Phantom and all the ghost animals, do they get a bunch of civilians raiding their government facilities and causing them bodily harm? What's happening with the Justice League? Are they sitting back and eating popcorn while all this goes down? Who knows. :)

[wirewitchviolet]

I miss games conveying a sense of Bigness

As you know if you watch my twitch streams, I play a lot of games, and games from a lot of eras, and there's a whole bunch of industry trends you pick up on from certain time periods. The one I really feel like talking about was a definite thing from oh... 1998 through... 2010 or thereabouts? Basically the aughts, give or take a couple years. Or if you prefer, the first two Playstations' run and a bit of the third. It was a period where games in general were really committed to feeling Big.

It feels a little weird to say that when major releases are priding themselves on stuff like measuring how much disk space they need in terrabytes and maps that sprawl out everywhere, but that's not what I'm talking about here. Games trying to feel Big is more of an attitude thing, and ironically enough I'd say it fell out of fashion almost immediately when Open Worlds became the new big thing. We hit a point where people actually made the maps for their games super big (even if most of that space was just kinda vast stretches of unremarkable rocks) so there's no more need to fake it, right? But faking it was kinda great.

I was thinking about this a lot playing the Resident Evil 2 remake, and comparing it to the original PSX game. See the original Resident Evil was set in a spooky mansion out in the middle of nowhere, but RE2 was the Bigger Better Sequel. So now we have a zombie outbreak happening in a whole major city, not just this single mansion. And how do we accomplish that? Do we actually model hundreds of buildings and have a big meandering adventure through all of them, or even a good swath? No not at all. Let's compare the actual maps side by side...

[There WAS a full map of RE2 here it was causing the post button to bug out. Look it up on your own?]

It's a little bigger. There's maybe a dozen more total rooms? But mostly, it's a smoke and mirrors thing. We've still got one big primary location, an animal-filled hike to a side location and back, and an underground science facility, but it feels like we've increased the scope to an entire city. The first playable moments have us out on the streets of the city, objectively in a few quick hallways, but presented as streets packed with dozens of crashed cars, raging fires everywhere, dead bodies littering the streets, and what again feels like innumerable zombies feasting in scattered packs. Once inside, arms of several zombies outside will reach in clawing at you, or later in the game finally breaching through. The remake completely loses that feeling. It feels like there's maybe a dozen zombies out on the streets.

Not to focus on just the one game though. How about GTA3? Remember how even when you're just on the first island, it feels like you're exploring this vast sprawling city?

Here's a more elevated angle from about the same point. I'm looking at this with noclip.website by the way, it's a really cool little toy.

The actual map is LAUGHABLY small. But it FEELS huge. They were really careful to avoid straight roads, and place a couple big vision blocking buildings, even if they're basically just a cube or two so that when you're actually on the ground, it always feels like there's so much more around you. Have another side by side, and a rough estimate of what's visible on the ground in the bird's eye.

RPGs around this time were also having a lot of fun playing with scale comparisons. FF7 is the obvious go-to. The world map is on par with any other in the series, but Big Cities are presented as such, making it very clear that you're just seeing parts of a single district in Midgar, really just the main street in Junon. Dragon Quest 8 had this very bold idea to keep the same visual scale on the world map as in the streets of the towns, with forests made of actual individual trees.

And I'm not even getting into the biggest elephants in the room. Are you old enough to remember how mind-bogglingly sprawling Hyrule Field felt? Maybe a bad example when sequels have kept that focus on selling their worlds as staggeringly Big. Shenmue? Objectively, looking at this map, there's not much there, but damn if I don't feel like this was a real town I lived in for a while 20 years ago. It's the way the detailing gets finer and finer the closer you get to Ryo's bedroom, where you can open every drawer, turn on every light, turn that orange in your hand, you know? I believe that bus you take to the docks has to stop in several other neighborhoods like this one.

And of course, then there's the one other series, maybe worth mentioning, perhaps.

Years later I'm still just speechless.

Again though, I don't actually WANT games with worlds as big as some of these feel. There just isn't the time and the money and the ability for a creative team not to burn out to fully realize that in a handcrafted caring way. I want some kind of inverted Plato's Cave, where it feels like there's a vast breathing world out there, but I'm really in a small cozy space watching masters of the craft put on a shadow puppet show.

[sewerpalette]

My Human AL-AN redesign!! The video is still a WIP because I got sick haha, but yk.

At first I was scared I wouldn’t see a lot of visual Improvement, since the video is only 7 months old, but I compared the two and wow, there is a huge difference and I’m very happy with it.

Also this isn’t really much of an AU(?) it’s kinda hard to explain but it’s basically just the alien designs replaced with humanoids for my personal convenience (can’t draw em very well), with some minor story altercation that doesn’t really affect the plot. I think with AL this is easier to explain as they canonically have the ability to cause visual hallucinations, so this design would probably just be an extension of that, not really how he looks. I always liked the idea of the architects being a little eldritch that way, they have a true form but it’s unphysical, the human mind can’t make it up so the individual simply chooses what to present itself as: at least that’s my personal interpretation/headcanon.

As I’ve said before in the first post about the concept design where I further explain my decisions -

, I gave him a burn scar over his face from the disease research facility incident wich I imagine stuck with him in a way it, in one way or another, burns itself through every body he possesses aslong as the transfer doesn’t go wrong and he remains with the memory (also obviously to resemble his face screen).

His attire is based off of those the alterrans scientists wear, the pattern is a mix of precursor architecture textures and shapes mimicking those on his body, the logo on the lab coat is inspired by the architect statues from BZ, wich i reaaaally loved.

Hair/face shaped to vaguely resemble his face plate thingy and horns.

Also gave them a bag in wich I imagine carries all the different tools that are built into their arms in the game, because I’d rather die than draw those again beyond blocking in rough shapes haha, bag coincidentally ended up having a sea dragon color palette wich I initially wanted to change but ended up really loving because it kinda symbolises his guilt haunting him a little. it’s also stacked to the brim with enzyme 42 for obvious reasons.

I also still stand by the idea that the architects would look a little uncanny when trying to resemble humans, they can mimic them to near perfection, but something is just off, the body ratio looks strange, neck a few centimetres too long, shoulders a tad bit too low, lower legs too long, face moving too monotonely, small things like that yk.

Had to rerender this because I started drawing at like 6am at wich point my brain was rotting so hard I completely forgot what brushes I use, but that doesn’t really matter since I love to render so yk lol.

I made a poll on Instagram asking wether or not people liked the glasses, because on one hand I felt it made the colors more even whilst directing attention at and lighting the face nicely, but on the other I don’t really wanna make every „smart“ character have glasses, so I decided that these are reading glasses, wich means he does have them but he can also go without.

here is the alternative without:

[puppetwoman17]

Billy in the Watchmen AU (spoilers for Watchmen Chapter 1)

For anyone who already knows who the Watchmen are and avidly read and generally consume the media, this is a post from a newbie, so don’t expect any nuance, lol. I’ve only watched the recent animated movie. Also be forewarned that this does mean the timeline is way more recent. This takes place in at least the 2010s, not the 80s like in canon.

If you don’t know who the Watchmen are, they are a group of “heroes” from an alternate dc universe where it’s the 80s and superheroes are outlawed. There’s also a group called the Minute Men who were there before them, who were all either taken out or had their lives wrecked.

The second Nite Owl got the permission of the first to dawn the name and costume. The second Silk Spectre is the daughter of the first. The Comedian was part of the Minute Men along with the first Nite Owl and Silk Spectre, and he is known to be part of the Watchmen. There’s also Rorschach, who’s like a darker version of Question. Dr. Manhattan is like if Martian Manhunter didn’t feel emotion and also cannot shape shift, but his power set is still extensive. Ozymandias is apparently a hero turned villain, and I already see that playing out a bit in the animated movie—

Holy shit he kills people. So many people. He has a warped sense of justice and he kills a whole bunch of people under the guise of an alien invasion just to unite the population. Yeah, now I get it. Anyway before he was a member, and after retiring he has this huge company called Veidt, where he sells toys and stuff.

Whole lotta other stuff to say about the Minute Men and Watchmen, but I’m sure you get the jist.

SO, with all that out of the way. TIME BUBBLE, people. Maybe it pops sometimes, maybe the bubble isn’t a bubble but it stops the aging process until it pops, idk. But Billy joins the Watchmen and goes through all the tough shit they go through, like Dr. Manhattan not understanding human emotion so he watches The Conedian kill a woman pregnant with his child.(I know, but I’m too lazy to explain every single detail lol).

He’s in the background while everyone starts hating their team and watches the Comedian wreck their whole image. Keep in mind that he’s not in his Cap form for his stint as a member because it’s way too flashy. He’s like their tech guy, but the tech is actually magic.

After the law against supers, Billy hightails it for Fawcett and leaves a note for the Watchmen who he actually like(everyone but the Comedian, fuck you Edward Blake). When Superman comes into the scene, he brings a new vision with him, and new and old heroes are able to come into the limelight. However, with three members working for the government (Manhattan, Comedian, and Silk Spectre 2), one on the run(Rorschach), one staying away,(Nite Owl 2), and one going into mass producing himself (Veidt)…Yeah, they think better of that.

A decade goes by and Billy’s(looking like) an eighteen year old living it up with his JL pals. Meanwhile, a retired army veteran, Edward Blake, has just been murdered. He doesn’t have the best thoughts on the US military, so he doesn’t pay much mind. That is until Amanda Waller kidnaps and takes him to a remote facility and decides to info dump that yes, she knows who he is, and yes, she knows he used to work with/for the Watchmen. Also, Edward Blake is the Comedian, surprise.

Yeah, Billy gets the hell out of there as soon as possible. Waller says she wants his help bringing in the members who aren’t on government watch, but he’s firm with his refusal, and she can’t just keep Captain Marvel locked up without facing the wrath of the Justice League and Squadron of Justice.

A couple days later, the JL are in Fawcett and planning to go to one of those magic infused restaurants with performances and everything, but Billy has to make a pit stop at his apartment. They’re cool with it and go with him, and guess who’s sitting in the dining room inhaling canned beans?

Iiiiits Rorschach!

Billy is FREAKING out because the Watchmen can’t be seen together! He rushes the JL out as quick as possible and says he’s “so sorry, but something’s come up, I can’t go. Just tell the front desk fawn that I sent you and she’ll know.”

Naturally, Diana is the first to say that she is not leaving him alone with someone who BROKE INTO HIS HOME. Billy waves her off and says that “it’s totally cool! This happens all the time in Fawcett!” before slamming the door closed.

Billy: what the hell were you thinking?

Rorschach: Im here for good reason, B.

Billy: Save it, I know about the Comedian and Blake.

Rorschach: You don’t think this is a one and done thing, do you? Someone’s clearly gunning for masks, and for some reason, they started with one of us! Why not those new flashy heroes you hang with? Superman? Batman? Wonder Woman? Why one of us?

Billy: In case you forgot, we operated during the Cold War. We made enemies. And even without that, Blake was a military man who enjoyed making people suffer. If he had no enemies, I call bullshit!

Rorschach: I’m still determined to make sure this doesn’t happen to the rest of us. I’m going to everyone’s homes, and—

Billy: Okay, now you’ve blocked me. No one is going to listen. Daniel(Nite Owl) has moved on. Laurel hates the guy and Jon(Dr. Manhattan) does whatever Laurel(Silk Spectre) wants. Adrian(Ozymandius) is perfectly happy with his company. And I swear, if you bring any of the Minute Men into this…

Rorschach: I have to try. Even if they don’t believe me, I have to get it into their heads somehow. The Minute Men went through the exact same thing.

Billy: no offense, but your wording does not get across to people as “caring.” You’ll just as soon make them throw you out.

Rorschach: Agreed. So, I’ll need to bring along someone who’s better at that than I am.

Billy:

Rorschach:

Billy: Damn it.

Cue the cancel out duo of Billy and Rorschach going to the home of the former second Nite Owl and freaking him the hell out. Daniel and Billy reminisce about the old days while Rorschach gets across his point. Daniel naturally thinks it’s a flimsy take, and Billy says he gets it, but being a little more careful never hurt anyone, right?

They also talk about Blake. Dan says he’s thinking of going to the funeral, but he also has mixed feelings. Billy says he isn’t going. After what happened with Sally Jupiter(the first Silk Spectre, and Laurel’s mom), he can’t look at any pictures of him the same way.

They leave, next going to Veidt Inc.

Predictably, it does the same way. Except this time, Billy is able to glean that something is off about Adrian. He can’t put his finger on it, but he tells Rorschach to leave as soon as possible.

Laurel and Jon are a little less angry(they have good reason tho) because billy is there. Laurel’s so happy to see him! Jon on the other hand doesn’t know what to do.

They used to be close. Billy was used to speaking to higher beings who didn’t understand the concept of human morality and the like. Jon’s a little different, because gods are able to feel, but it’s as close as it can get. Billy stood up for him on multiple occasions, except when Jon cheated on his gf with Laurel, that got him a two month no-talking period until it didn’t seem right to do so and he got to know Laurel.

Then the island stuff happened. The Comedian may be an asshole, but he doesn’t lie. Jon just stood there while that woman bled out. Billy just…couldn’t look at him the same anymore.

Unlike in the movie, where Rorschach says something stupid and Laurel tells Jon to make him leave, Billy stops Rorschach from making that idiotic mistake and says that they don’t have to hide themselves or actively look for danger. It’s just important that they generally keep themselves safe by any means that they want to. They readily agree because wow, boundaries!

Meanwhile, Bruce and his gaggle of detectives found out who that weird guy sitting at Billy’s dining table is. A member of a team that hasn’t been talked about in decades. Of course, there are no articles or pictures involving the Watchmen interacting with a kid with magic. So, they naturally want answers from HIM. Billy is tight-lipped when they see him, and is somewhere else in his free time(with Rorschach).

Unfortunately, that’s when shit really takes a turn. A former villain that Rorschach and Billy spoke to tells them that the Comedian, without a mask, was in his bedroom weeks before he died! Spouting nonsense about Dr. Manhattan, an island, a list, people who were apparently worse than him, so much worse that he started begging to be forgiven.

Dr. Manhattan goes on live television for the first time in decades. This is the first time the JL has ever seen him. Billy’s watching it carefully with Rorschach and just about has a heart attack when some reporter gets up and tells him that several people who he used to know have contracted forms of cancer. At least a dozen. There’s a list.

A list. Oh shit!

Jon cries out in anger and disappears, rushing who knows where(Mars).

Meanwhile, Adrian kills someone. At least, it looks like he did. The other guy attacked him and his assistant, and was biting his tongue to keep from saying anything. Adrian puts his hand in his mouth to stop him, but he’s too late. He’s been framed for murder.

With all of this happening, Rorschach gets a message from Moloch saying that they need to talk. Cool, have fun. Billy’s at the Watchtower and he’s swiftly avoiding the topic of that weird guy in his apartment.

Two seconds later, Rorschach is on the news. He’s been caught. His mask is off. Billy is screaming internally.

That is the exact moment when he turns to the JL.

“…I need your help breaking someone out of prison. And presumably stopping a mass killing. And that mass killing kind if sort of includes me.”

Yeah, they’re gonna need more info. Like hold up, you were in a team before us😠?

Anyway that’s where the brain rot ends until the second movie. Jeez this was a lot.

[rinnstars]

besides that can i req🤭🤭

would rin be open to sharing things or matching? like taking his hoodies or that jacket… 🤣 or how you get him matching keychains and on his black school bag is the keychain you gifted him standing out 😭 AUGGHH RIN BRAINROT ☺️ feel free to take ts in ur own way 😈

-🦭

assuming this isn’t an actual fic idea HELP but YES LARGE LARGE YESSSSSS to all the above thoughtd below!!!!! (many)

i think he wouldn’t be that opposed with matching in the beginning as long as its sort of subtle like keychains from a popular brand since i feel like he likes that subtlety and that feeling that only you two know its matching and slowly before he knows it, he has like a ton of those keychains hanging around from it being subtly attached to just his school bag to being multiple on his school bag, his pencil case and even his training bag. i feel like deep down he rlly likes the idea of something that connects you and him and he’ll be the type to fiddle with it too. just imagine him fiddling with his kuromi or cat keychain on his bag on the bus to and from blue lock or his old training facility thing missing you or with the star phone charm in school when youre sick as he wonders how youre doing…!!!!!!

and then slowly you convince him to get those other cute keychains that stops matching his bags but trust me when i say even though he pretends he doesn’t care and all, he’ll take care of all the keychains and especially those plushie keychains like hello kitty - hell wash every holiday especially for the ones on his school bag he’ll not let them get dirty!!!!!! he takes care of each of them and looks and plays with them whenever he misses you (a lot) i can lowkey imagine him going back to blue lock pt2 now with training bags with a bunch of silly keychains you and him get at shops or even from the arcade from those claw machine without a single care even if others see it as cringe hes winning the #idgaf war!!!!!! but just dont point all these out especially when hes dozing off a little during class and starts scratching or rubbing the plushie head he’ll get all embarrassed and cute (ears red and all as he pouts, verbally denying that he did any of that)

and abt sharing things i feel like at first he doesn’t mind it?!?!??! hes pretty used to sharing things having siblings and whatnot even though now…. anyways! but slowly, he sees the appeal of it!!!! like he’ll plan it all and thinks hes super super subtle and awesome about it when he leaves his jackets and hoodies on the bed whenever you come over and he practically feels like its mission successful when you take the bait!!! and if youre always cold just know he’ll take off his jacket, doesn’t matter if its his school football club jacket or his jacket he just bought the day before he’ll hurriedly take it off so you can have it!! he wont ever admit to it but he thinks youre so so so so cute when youre wearing his things - doesn’t even matter if its not a clothing item, you can be wearing his necklace he bought when he was a little kid and he would still think about it and start kicking his feet in his bed like a teenage girl!!! hell he doesn’t even need you to wear it, it literally could be as simple as using his pen because yours ran out mid study session and hes trying not to have a nose bleed right beside you, his homework forgotten LOL. what i think is the top tier sharing thing is probably his jerseys !!! first time you wore it he genuinely thinks hes gonna start having a stroke and a heart attack wiht the way his heart raced even harder than if he was hypothetically on the field playing right against his brother. all fun’s until youre wearing his hickey on your neck hes not gonna be normal about it. (people keep asking him if hes having a fever with how uncharacteriscally red his face is) (he doesn’t regret it)