#which is already a little fucked cause her concept was weird

[vulpinesaint]

do professors offer a "got stuck with a stupid partner" condolence grade

[ottosbigtop]

if you have any crumbs to share... about aac raz/lili/bobby dynamic pleeeez ramble to me i want info i'm so into this concept T_T

oh my guy I have so many crumbs for you. These guys have resided in the back of my brain forever but I was usually too embarrassed to say anything about it outside of a couple joke posts. But this is my house so I’m choosing to thrive and frolic.

Also a doodle of the aforementioned three before I enter my tangent :) rambling under the cut

the initial dynamic of these three goes something like

-Lili & Bobby - can’t stand his fake ass. She remembers having to deal with him at whispering rock and clearly is not very good at letting go of grudges from when she was ten. This is, in fact, Bobby’s worst nightmare. He was terrified of working for the psychonauts partially because he didn’t want to run into people he used to know. Surprise! They don’t like each other.

-Raz & Bobby. Raz has the complete opposite problem he literally barely remembers this guy. They interacted for maybe a collective hour one day when he was 10 years old, he only recalls him because Lili clocks him and reminds Raz. Bobby mostly hadn’t thought about him since camp, but did build a little (lot) bit of a resentment after seeing that weird little freak from camp pop up on different True Psychic Tales covers. That on top of Bobby now having to intern under this guy makes their relationship kind of spotty to start, for sure.

-Raz & Lili. Theyre having fun :) After having fun “dating” as real young kids they fall out of touch during their teen years when Raz goes to travel with then circus again to try and reconnect with his family (whole other can of worms for him.) They meet back up during the late teen years and sort of pick up right where they left off, dating off and on for a bit and “officially” dating long term for a little over a year now.

Both their relationships with Bobby evolve over time, naturally. Bobby and Raz have a whooole fucking thing that isn’t fully conceptualized and Is way too long a concept for me to share but their intern/mentor relationship does help them learn to get along with each other. And of course them getting along means Lili having to deal with being around Bobby more often and so it begins.

The whole ~ feelings ~ aspect mostly starts with her and Bobby I think, funnily enough. They hate each other, they want each other dead so bad, but eventually they have to learn to get along for Raz’s sake if nothing else. So they learn! Try to, at least. They’re both really bad at it.

but the “i hate you i want you dead” manages to evolve into that more friendly insulting banter some people have. “I hate you i want you dead” (complimentary.) It gives Raz a headache because it takes him a while to process that they’re usually joking when they’re arguing with each other now.

Lili doesn’t like when she starts to have Feelings about that shitty little freak (tm.) I think she’s somewhere on the Aro spectrum and when Raz wasn’t around she really never. Felt any sort of desire for romance with anyone else. Girl just kind of forgot about it for a bit until he showed up again. Which caused a lot of emotions. And then got used to that until Bobby is introduced into the equation and slowly she starts to feel things toward him that aren’t Rage and Disgust. Which causes a lot of emotions.

Raz I think is entirely oblivious of having any feelings toward him for the longest time. While Lili is a slow “oh god oh fuck” buildup, he’s just really happy he and Bobby are getting along at all that any sort of progress in affection toward him just feels like another big win for friendship. I think it hits him all at once late at night on a random Tuesday and he just sits up in bed and stares at a wall about it.

The whole Raz and Lili communicating abt the concept of polyamory would make this insane post already twice as long and it’s not a part of it all I’ve thought about anyways so we’re going to shelve it for now. But once they do reach the conclusion that they saw this guy from across the bar and they liked his vibe, they both proceed to trip over their own feet for the next however many weeks.

You see, “woman who does not process her emotions” and “guy who needs a twelve step plan for everything” is a prime combination for two people who are pulling some mad scientist shit to try and talk to this guy rather than just inviting him out to eat sometimes. And Bobby is convinced for a little bit that they’re planning to dissect his brain or something because they keep doing that ^

On Bobby’s side of this whole equation the evolution is just his own little torment nexus for a few months.

he initially discovers he’s got a thing for Lili after they start getting along more and it sucks for him. He enjoys their flirty little threats of violence but he’s also close with Raz at this point so I think it just kind of makes him feel . Gross . Like man am I flirting with my friend’s girlfriend I think I am. Oh he’s probably going to hate me. Help.

and that concern for Raz is also a guy in the back of his brain knocking on a door very loudly trying to tell him he’s bisexual but he’s not quite arrived at that conclusion. Give him a few more missions where Raz grabs him while he’s falling to his death and he’ll get there probably.

there’s so many words. These are so many words. I’ll be honest the wacky schenanigans of the “before relationship” era are so funny to me that I’ve not really had any conceptual ideas for them getting into + Being In a Relationship yet. But I hope that you like this at least! This insanely long ass post goes out to you and the one other guy who’s a fan of these three (hi)

[thegamingcatmom]

Evil Dead Rise...but gayer

Okay but imagine Ellie aka Maggot Mommy clapping eyes on you and yes there´s this urge to chase and rip and eat your soul and all (she´s still an evil ancient entity after all) but there´s also something else. And she/it doesn´t know what it is because she/it is an evil ancient entity which absolutely thrives on being a lil shithead just for the fun of it (that´s what I love most about Maggot Mommy and it´s what makes her stand out from other deadites imo).

Anyhow, Maggot Momma sees you, sprints towards you, only to stop inches away from your face and start sniffing you. Like, really sniffing you. All over.

It´s starting to get a bit uncomfortable and weird af actually and maybe now´s a good time to get the f outta there but jokes on you - you´re already being carried off, none too gently mind you (Maggot Momma still gotta learn how to human aight so leave her alone) and promptly plonked onto the floor in Ellie´s apartment. And while Deadite Mommy´s still thinking about her choices here (those being: eating you now or later) you snap out of it and actually try to make a run for it.

Only, you failed to notice there´s a whole fucking family of undead…whatever they are. Leering at you, creeping closer, coming way too close and suddenly they´re on top, all snapping teeth and snarling in your face and JUST when you thought this is it-

Maggot Momma´s set her eyes on you first and she WILL start whoopin some asses if the family even thinks about touching what isn´t theirs to devour.

So as the family scuttles off with their tails between their legs (cause Deadite Momma rules) only you and Deadite Ellie remain. But you´re still alive and kicking (for now), so I guess that´s a good thing (kinda)?

I just really LOVE this concept of evil, otherworldly creatures absolutely thriving on wreaking havoc and committing murder left and right. I LOVE evil entities being truly evil and staying true to who they are and what makes them so ASDFNSADFLASDF. They´re just pure evil and long for utter chaos and destruction…except when it comes to a certain someone. When it comes to them it´s more like (not so) little shit mode activated with a healthy dose of “I licks it, I keeps it” and JUST the right amount of sweetness (that being: looking at you rather unimpressed when you reprimand them for brutally slaughtering someone, again.)

Also, they can be the biggest pain in the ass, my god- (you kinda adore it though, almost).

(Btw, Maggot Mommy trying to bring that eyeball back up looked JUST like my cats when they´re about to absolutely explode after they´ve eaten too much cat grass. it´s actually kind of…adorable? Lmao.)

So here you are and for some reason, this demon has deemed you worthy enough to keep around for a bit longer and maybe it´s your smell that ended up being your saving grace or maybe it´s something totally different. Either way, somehow you´ve found your way right into the clutches of this family of…undead beings (zombies?) and The Mother is quite pleased indeed…

So yeah, I guess you could see this as some kind of Tarzan/Jane story? Just really (really) fucked up? And Deadite Momma is trying (and failing miserably) to human.

But also, there would be lots of sniffing and licking involved, just saying.

But also also:

(Ahem...)

So, after some really, really, really long time has passed you´ve come to realize you might not get munched on after all. Maggot Momma still gotta learn the basics of human behavior though, like personal space wha-? (You indulge her moods most of the time though since you quite like being alive and all and you´d rather it stayed that way…)

And it´s even better when Maggot Momma ain´t realizing she´s doing it. With time, being neck-deep into whatever part of you has become sort of a natural response whenever her human is near. Which happens to be quite often since there´s only so much space to be had when you gotta share it with a family of evil ancient entities who hear and see it all. (Taking a piss has never been more uncomfortable.)

Most times, Maggot Mommy is being extra touchy feely just because she knows it makes you feel hella weirded-out (and some other things) though. She´s still a lil shithead after all and that´s why we love her.

Aight so, things have somewhat calmed down a bit (meaning: you´re not in danger of being eaten alive anymore) and the Deadite!Kids have decided that playing “pranks” on you is a good way to pass time. Pranks that give you nightmares. Like sitting in front of you. In the middle of the night. Unblinking. Wearing a grin rivalling Cheshire Cat´s. And what´s with their neck-

A head´s not supposed to do that.

But fear not, for Momma´s there to soothe your fears. And she´s trying, she really is.

But it doesn´t really help your case when Maggot Momma´s speaking to you oh so sweetly in her dark, sultry, demonic voice while the remains of some poor soul - foolish (or brave?) enough to wander her territory - are still sticking to her face, between her teeth, that breath my god-

So after attempting to calm you down, Momma´s decided now´s a good time for that promised ass whoopin.

Which doesn´t help in calming you down either since Deadite!Momma reprimanding her Deadite!Kids for scaring the absolute crap outta you (something only SHE gets to do) sounds like hell itself has opened up to swallow you whole. In other words: it does not sound pretty, at all.

The kids try to make it up to you though. They start to provide for you, even. Only, leg hasn´t exactly been on the menu for you (yet) and that severed head they brought you today didn´t do much for you either.

You actually excused yourself for a minute to go to the bathroom. You´re not planning on coming back out any time soon.

Meanwhile:

(Patience isn’t exactly Maggot Mommy’s strong suit though, so you better not keep her waiting for too long…)

(2 mins later:)

[yogurts-bullshit]

CW: HAZBIN HOTEL SPOILERS AHEAD

Alright so here's my take on the new Hazbin Hotel season.

Bad. ):

The only good parts were vox/alastors song and the first half of Lucifer's episode. THE WHOLE SHOW IS SO FUCKING LAZY. They stripped everything that made it good. It's not funny anymore, it seems like there was no thought put into it, the placement of the music doesn't make sense a LOT. Sometimes they throw in little throwback jokes to be like "hey remember the pilot? Remember when this show was good?"

And it's so FAST, like the whole thing with the extermination timeframe being cut in half felt like such a lazy cop out. To me in read like they don't think they are gonna get another season and so they knew they only had 6 episodes to shove in all those plot points. Or they just wanted instant gratification for everything and felt like because this show has such a big fan base already they just assumed they didn't NEED to introduce you to these characters, like you should already know they are and have a connection with them. Like Hazbin Hotel thinks because it has a popular pilot it's a legacy show like the Simpsons and doesn't need to introduce anything, you should know it all by now.

And goes by so quick but despite how much time we are supposed to see go by, these characters NEVER FUCKING GROW. They're supposed to! They have groundbreaking realizations about who they are and stuff, and then a second later they are THE SAME PERSON AS BEFORE. And then there is that whole scene in the final episode where Charlie is like "look! Angel Dust has redeemed so much!" But I really feel like he hasn't, and we haven't seen any redemption from him at all. Plus there was this whole song about the similarities between Husk and Angel (Loser, Baby), which don't get me wrong, I loved, but it just really revealed how much of fucking clones they are, which is SO FUCKING LAZY.

Plus all of the "big reveals to keep you hooked and shock you!!!" We're just things that people have theorized about for 8 fucking years since the first concept art was released. Like the whole "vaggie is an exterminator!" or "Husk was a Overlord!" The whole time I got the impression that this was supposed to be a big thing but I was just like... Yeah.... I know.

Oh and Zestiel was also dope as fuck in his 2 minutes for screen time, but I feel like I only liked him because he was acting like what Alastor was SUPPOSED to be, but they made him really nice I feel like. And I understand that Alastor is canonically supposed to be a nice, gentlemanly Mama's boy, but I feel like this show felt like since all of the leaks and lore and stuff released about these characters, it had to show that IMMEDIATELY so instead of that being a slow build up and reveal it dumped it on you instead of showing you who Alastor depicts himself as and it felt like a mockery to the depths of his character. The show didn't earn being able to show how kind Alastor is.

And I feel like that's the reason that I think the show is so lazy because, yes, it has all these big cool reveals and moments, but the show doesn't earn any of those moments. Like there are so many big reveals, like Charlie's big song about her daddy issues, that I feel like could have hit so hard! If we had mentioned her daddy issues more than 2 times beforehand. Or with the whole Carmilla (I might be spelling that wrong) thing with the angel. The angels death could have been such a big story and plot hook and even if they didn't wanna carry it into the next season, they could have made the reveal and big season finale thing. It just felt so weird that instead of it being something big, it was just this lady who we don't even really know, who walked into screen, sang about how she did it, and then we never see her again. Cause I mean like, say what you will about shows with lost of filler early on, but at least they build on everything. You get to know these characters and this setting so that when there are big reveals and songs and moments with them you really feel it. Instead in hazbin all of the moments just feel so unearned and underbaked.

Plus instead of just embracing the fact that there are new voices, they had all the new voices basically do impressions of the old voices, like Blake Roman was basically doing a poor impression of Micheal Kovach the whole time and it brought him down so much. Like, I like Blake Roman, he's a good voice actor, we didn't have to pretend he's Micheal Kovach. 

Really, honestly, I was thinking about it today, and Hazbin Hotel is a show about a bunch of dead people realizing that the heaven and hell system is messed up and trying to fix it and redeem themselves in the process. Y'know what else is a show with the same concept? THE GOOD PLACE. One of my favorite shows, very beautifully written, and every single point and moment Hazbin Hotel makes, The Good Place does 30x better.

so yeah, there's my Hazbin Hotel rant. Did not like the show, really pissed off about it, I'm gonna go rewatch the pilot, and then probably rewatch The Good Place.

[deeply-unserious-fellow]

Non-Binary Vox headcannons because it's Pride Month and I am ANNOYING!!!!!!!!!!

Like I've said before, in my headcannon Vox is AMAB non-binary and is okay with basically any pronouns/gendered terms

That being said he isn't really a fan of it/its just because(I am projecting this headcannon is entirely me projecting) he already has some w e i r d feelings about basically being an object, w/ the TV head and all, and finds them dehumanizing

It took them awhile to get comfortable with using femme-adjacent terms because, despite genuinely liking them, the toxic masculinity of a repressed queer person from the 50s could probably power an entire city block-(assuming homophobia still exists in the Hellaverse? I think I read somewhere that it doesn't but still)

Also the misogyny. I know very little about the 50s, but from what I DO know, misogyny was running fucking RAMPANT back then

That being said, the only person that Vox still doesn't allow to use femme-adjacent terms on them is Val, because Val is. Himself. And makes it really fucking weird-

This moth has MISOTHYNY /ref

"You can refer to me as a woman when you start BEHAVING YOURSELF >:("

Otherwise though Val is actually very supportive of Vox's identity because. It's Val. No way in HELL that man is any type of queerphobic hAVE YOU SEEN HIM!?!?!?!?

Part of why she chose the name Vox when she was establishing herself in Hell is because of the enate enby urge to name yourself some random, cool sounding word

Doesn't matter wether you've realized it or not, the desire will Always Be There

Velvette's the one that told Vox about the concept of non-binary after they went on a drunken rant about their Weird Gender Feelings while the two were hanging out

Also hopping on a hc trend I've seen a couple times- Vox's demon form is sexless, which is part of what really got him thinking about his gender in the first place

Like they had never really considered they could be anything but a man before, but the lack of any real defining masculine features besides their voice caused some really conflicting feelings-

Honestly I think Vox probably has a LOT of really conflicting feelings abt her demon form in general but that's kinda off topic

The reason they had never considered being anything but a man is because they had never actually had the words to describe the feeling of not being a man OR a woman before, and found it easier to just dismiss any thoughts along those lines as insecurities(something they already have a plethora of) & lean harder into their masculinity to cope

But then he died, and all the features he was using as a safety net got stripped away, forcing him to confront all the Weird Gender Feelings

Except not really because they just ended up pushing them down for several more decades lmfao

She generally prefers presenting more masculine because it's what he's the most used to + it's good for brand consistency, but she's DEFINITELY experimented with more femme presentation before

Vox's appearance is very dependant on how they want others to percieve them rather then what they actually want to wear at any given moment. Anything they leave the house wearing is specifically calculated to keep up their image, so that kind of experimenting is just limited to the comfort of their own home.

Aaaaaaaand that's all I got for now. This headcannon is very special to me(because I am projecting. This is, at it's core, me projecting. The only parts that aren't projecting are the bits that are reliant on the cultural context Vox comes from and them being AMAB-), so I'll probably talk about it again. Eventually. But for now these are the thoughts I've actually managed to put into words lmao

[sharpth1ng]

Obviously it doesn't apply to Debaser but I was wondering how you feel about Scream 3 and the narrative that it was all orchestrated by Roman. I feel myself constantly surrounded by people downplaying Billy's and Stu's role (with Roman also claiming Maureen's death) I felt like they take away a lot of our horror husbands' autonomy. When I watched it I feel like Roman gave Billy a hint and the rest was them (it also didn't feel like Billy really used Stu as the guy to take the fall like Roman said.) so idk I feel weird about how people see it and was curious about your thoughts?

Sorry if it's already been asked!

I honestly think Scream 3 is an instance of some pretty bad screen writing in the context of the original trilogy. The dialogue and self-contained plot is mostly fine, I like the concept of the movie taking place on set with the director as the killer, but the reveal also weakens the impact of the first movie, which is still by far the best one in the franchise.

Honestly I dislike even the concept that Roman inspired Billy at all, part of what I like about the original is the fact that the motive isn't grand or justified, it's very much teenage bullshit, even if it matters a lot to Billy. It's petty, it's overkill, and with every murder after Maureen it's very obviously a weak excuse for the killing spree they go on.

The fact is that originally scream wasn't going to be a franchise. Roman was added in after the fact as a cause for the events of the first movie. Saw can pull that shit off because its a soap opera basically, but I expect a tighter plot from scream. I also dislike the way Roman's motivation pulls Maureen back into the situation again, and especially the fact that it ads sexual assault to her backstory. I found that unnecessary.

In context of the themes in the original trilogy I think it would have worked better not to connect Roman's motive back to scream 1 in that way. Scream 1 is a deconstruction of horror, scream 2 is a deconstruction of sequels, so scream 3 should deal with what we tend to see happening when a horror franchise gets popular enough to have 3 movies (and it sort of does? Just not as well as I think it could have).

At that point, it becomes part of the popular culture, its not just a genre flick anymore. We see funko pops and parodic depictions of the killers, knockoff merch, and sometimes we see real life acts of violence being blamed on them (Like with Childs play 3), because they're so omnipresent they're hard to avoid. We already see this happening in Scream 2 with the popularity of the Stab franchise and with Mickey, but I would have taken this a step further for Scream 3.

Roman shouldn't have been related to anyone in the original movie, and that should have been played as plot twist.

Roman's sole motive should have been to make a new movie, and to raise the stakes for the new millennium. In the 2000's we start to see a lot more gore than we got on screen before (think final destination, it comes out the same year as scream 3) and I think making a point of commenting on the need to raise the stakes for a desensitized audience that's already used to the state of play could have worked well.

So yeah, I don't like a lot about scream 3, I do not like Roman's motive or his involvement in the events of the first movie- because you're totally right, it does take Billy and Stu's agency in a way that makes Scream 1 hit a little less hard. Also you're right about the fact that it doesn't really feel like Billy is setting Stu up as a fall guy- because it wasn't a fucking part of the original script, it's a retcon.

Sorry for the rant lmao I have feelings.

[mediumstrength]

SXF MANGA REREAD: CHAPTER 1

The conclusion of the second season has left me alone and bereft please join me as I fill the void.

We start with some bitchin spy action

oh shit

Truly the first few chapters are why I think you see so many people upset about the series settling into a slow burn family comedy. You start off with some juicy Hollywood movie shit here. Assassination! Straight off the bat! Cars careening off bridges! Great stuff.

Now, it’s time for a little quick exposition. We got two countries, they don’t like each other, they are using spies, blah blah.

SHODDY WORLDBUILDING:

In Japanese they are straight up written Eastern Country and Western Country (with “Ostania” and “Westalis”) in furigana. Tatsuya Endo, please.

There is one spy who’s the best tho

Here he is!! It’s our boy!!

He’s bamboozled that bad guy out of those silly pictures!! Time to also be mean to the dude’s daughter.

lol what a dick

A NOTE ON FASHION:

“Robert” is not as fashionable as “Loid,” the double breasted suit was already on the way out in the early 60s (The SXF vibe seems to be early 60s? Except when it isn’t?) being replaced by the single breasted suits we generally see him wearing. Edgar also is wearing a double breasted suit, but he doesn’t seem like the type to worry about fashion trends.

Loid however does seem to really care about looking sharp, and I’m proud of him for that. It’s basically his only non spy-related interest. Maybe someday he will have two interests!

Loid gives Karen a new complex, and then waltzes out of her life. Onto the next mission!

SHODDY WORDBUILDING:

Berlint 😂

On the train to Berlint, Loid learns that he has to become a fake dad for silly bullshit reasons that are vital to world peace. This silly bullshit is called Operation Strix, and it is so, so important. The most important mission ever.

I wonder if there’s some significance to the name Strix? It’s a mythological creature, but also a genus of owl. In Japanese it’s written 梟, which literally means owl, so maybe the mythological part is not intended?? I want to know more.

The early art is weird at times

ON THE SPELLING “LOID”:

I hate it.

The real estate guy asks him if he has a girl or a boy, and he says he doesn’t know yet. I feel like I should hate these jokes where Loid says something mind-blowingly suspicious, but I actually love it every time.

Anyhow! On to step two: secure a child.

Tatsuya Endo has a real talents for making just the most detestable jerks. I love to hate you, drunk shitty orphanage guy!

It’s her!! It’s Anya!! The early art is, again, a little weird here.

The absurdly hard crossword puzzle is such a good gag.

Daughter acquired!

ON THE TRANSLATION “PAPA”:

I love it. There’s no real equivalent to “chichi” in English, so they went with something that means dad, but is also a little weird and a little baby talk-y. Perfect. I watched a couple episodes of a fan sub of the anime, and they translated it as “Daddy” which is cute but is simply not weird enough. Anya is a Weird Little Girl.

Anya immediately begins helping, by acting deeply weird and suspicious. We love it.

I love that Spy Wars is just always on somehow.

Onwards! They go out and do some shopping! Anya is a lot! Loid doesn’t understand her! He goes to his local library about it, which is kind of adorable? And gives an early glimpse into a fundamental aspect of his character. With enough information, Loid can accomplish anything. He is certain of this. He has built his whole life around this concept.

LOID HAS NEVER HAD FUN IN HIS LIFE:

You are accidentally playing hide and seek with your daughter somehow, with no idea that it is even happening. Amazing.

Anyhow he finally barricades her in the fucking house lol

It’s Franky!! I love you, Franky.

He tells Loid that his new kid legally does not exist, and has been returned to the orphanage 4 times, and Loid decides not to look further into any of that. Greatest spy in the west.

Meanwhile Anya is causing problems. I love her.

Edgar is back, which doesn’t make sense because the Edgar stuff was happening in another city, but I guess Edgar is just also in Berlint now for some reason.

We get a brief flashback to Anya’s time as an Eleven-style lab rat, which is sad. What does “studying” entail? I think we will all be sad when we find out ☹️

Loid returns and we are treated to a sick. ass. fight. Loid takes a guy out with a can of tuna. He breaks a chair over a dude’s head. I think there was some commentary from Endo (maybe in Eyes Only?) about how using improvised weapons just hits harder. We know more about cans of tuna than guns or whatever. We can imagine what taking a tuna can to the face would feel like.

What a dick.

Anyhow, Loid bamboozles the same guy with the same trick a second time, bravely rescuing Anya, and now it is time for a sad flashback

Don’t cry, little german boy.

Anyhow, the world where kids don’t cry thing should be so corny, but they really pull it off somehow.

For some reason he decides to walk back into danger and beat those guys up?

When did he have time to set these traps??

Sick

Loid kicks everyone’s asses, and then, there’s Anya waiting for him, and she wants to stay with him. This is the moment. This is the moment where he realized, subconsciously, that he loves her. Consciously is still a work in progress. But like, he already cares about her so much. It’s been been like 2 days, and he’s gone from “I hate kids” to “I can’t abandon this little girl who I callously adopted to use for my own purposes”

(…This is the plot of the Despicable Me, isn’t it?)

This little scene on the streetcar warms my heart. Papa is a cool liar.

Ok, jesus christ this chapter is long. I didn’t realize that we also have getting into Eden happening the first chapter??

Anya takes the entrance exam, her cheating plan, as usual, does not really work out, but she does her best and she passes.

Loid experiences a single moment of relief and collapses 😂 The man is so powered by sheer anxiety that his body doesn’t know how to react.

Anya gets the mail, there is a little cute cuddling, and then, the kicker! We need a mama!!

Chapter rating 4/5

A little too much stuff happens in this first chapter, on reread. The streetcar scene is such a logical ending! The Eden test, and then the subsequent complication of needing 2 parents felt tacked on, almost like that should have been padded out a little and made its own chapter, but also I am eager to get to my girl Yor so 🤷‍♀️

Looking back on some of their earlier interactions, Loid has not been thinking through Strix logically from the start. This kid has no birth certificate, and she has been repeatedly returned to the orphanage like a naughty puppy for no obvious reason. She is (allegedly) 6 and she solved a crossword where one of the words was “symplectomorphism” with no adult assistance?? There are some questions he should be asking here, but instead he’s buying her posters and snacks.

He hasn’t had anything to love in so long, you guys. He’s going to love this kid with everything he has, it’s just going to be a long, long time before he understands that it’s love.

[calamitaswrath]

Cal Lucia plays Fire Emblem Path of Radiance: Chapter 23

Zelgius is staying behind to make sure we have backup and all that. How nice of him :))

Oh, Ike and Elincia share a little moment with each other. It's honestly a bit. . . not much if the writers want to make me see the potential of them as a couple, but it's neat. Also nice to see actual textual acknowledgement of just how much time has passed since the beginning of the game. I just feel you don't really tend to get that in other FE games.

Ranulf's back! Took him long enough!

Ah hey, Ike's actually acknowledging the subtleties of the new alliance with Gallia letting Crimea take the glory for the victories, and- . . .and Ranulf's pointing that out to make fun of him, lol.

Now, for base conversations. A one-star one for Shinon, and a. . . three star one for Soren? Interesting. But let's see what Shinon has to say first.

Ah. Shinon's drunk. And Ike's somehow oblivious to that. . . .Okay, that is great.

And the one with Soren - Ike experiences sexual harrassment. Definitely not what I was expecting with this one, but it ended up in a funny scene with Aimee and Soren. Seriously though, here I thought this'd be setup for Ike and Soren's A support. . .

Oh, speaking of which, that's available now! Neat.

So this is what introduces the concept of Branded? I'm guessing it either doesn't come up in the main story then, or if it does, then the explanation is repeated?

. . .Hold on, I've had Tanith's Sonic Sword for several chapters now and never thought to give it to Mist. I have another Arms Scroll to raise her weapon rank for swords to the necessary B as well.

Huh? Ranulf's bringing up Nasir and says that he was testing Ike?

He was a spy for Gallia as well? I mean, it makes sense, but. . . uh.

Haar's calling Petrine "mom" when waking up. Uhm. . . I do kinda get it, but. . . uhm.

Jesus fucking christ these god damn holes in the bridge

Eyyyy! My name buddy is here!! And some other guy too I guess

Speaking of new characters - Haar! Tbh I didn't realize that this guy was him for a while, cause the German translation renamed him to "Darahan" cause "Haar" is literally German for "hair".

Oh. Allied units. Well, at least they're not completely useless?

And that's the end for Petrine, I guess? She had some interesting dialogue with Soren and Ike, but it still feels weird to have her already be gone. Still, I salute evil hot women with big tits.

Also I would have expected more from a map that had Petrine's holes

Lucia and Elincia. . . 🏳️��🌈👁👁

And Nasir's gone. Intrigue!

[nehswritesstuffs]

Give Me That Seers and Roebuccaneer Aesthetic, If You Please

So you thought you saw the last of this AU setting? Think again!

4736 words; based off of this drawing by @pancakey-haley, which is one of the funniest things I’ve seen recently; takes place in the same continuity as Double-Date from Hell and Dr. Hart-Steeler, so a pseudo-Midwestern American modern AU where there’s no powers but somehow Brook is still a skeleton and Chopper’s a reindeer and other setting-dependent things; shorter than the other two installments but I feel it still is worth a gander

The thing about Tuesday-Thursday classes was at least neither of those days were Monday, Usopp thought thankfully as he trudged into his commercial photography class. Yeah, it was still nine in the morning, but it was Tuesday, and he’d take trudging into class clutching the largest, strongest coffee he could manage then in lieu of doing literally anything before noon on a Monday. He went to his copy of the assignment handout and almost spit out said coffee. [Modern AU where Usopp has an awkward class assignment, the Hearts know things they rather wouldn't, Bepo's cousin is just as precious as he is, and the throwback vibes are strong as everyone comes together to make things a little less shitty. Kinda. Try explaining that to Law.]

The thing about Tuesday-Thursday classes was at least neither of those days were Monday, Usopp thought thankfully as he trudged into his commercial photography class. Yeah, it was still nine in the morning, but it was fucking Tuesday, and he’d take trudging into class clutching the largest, strongest coffee he could manage then in lieu of doing literally anything before noon on a Monday.

“Oh, there you are Sopp-bro!” Usopp blinked heavily and saw Carrot cheerily waving at him from across the room where they both normally sat. “How are you doing this morning?!”

“Same as ever,” he groaned as he sat down. He thought he’d gotten used to chipper highschoolers in college classes that were technically way too advanced for their age with Chopper, but after having met Bepo’s cousin Carrot… well… he wouldn’t trade her cheer for anything but it still tested him. “Do you have the week’s lesson?”

“Yeah, but it’s gonna be a weird one,” she frowned. She took one of the handouts on her desk and passed it to him. “What’s a Seers store?”

He tilted his head, still a bit too tired to fully process why the little voice in the back of his brain was panicking. “It’s a… well, it was a department store. A fancier one that didn’t sell groceries but almost everything else. You know, kinda like in the Christmas movies.”

“Oh yeah! With a whole floor for toys and a cafe and those things that go chok-chunk?”

Things that go chok-chunk…? Ah, a credit card imprinter. Shit, he was too young to know that, technically-speaking.

“Yup. It was a big thing for a long time. I’m surprised you haven’t heard of it considering how important the catalogue was in history class times.” He then went to his copy of the assignment handout and almost spit out his coffee.

Oh fuck no.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

No one at 1000 Sunny Rd was really prepared for Usopp to come home from classes in such a panic. Actually, when they thought about it, it was rather normal for him to come home from class all wound up in a panic, but Tuesday-Thursdays were usually pretty chill, which made today all the more interesting.

“This is bad, you guys!” he shouted the moment he came in through the front door. He barrelled his way into the open-concept living room/kitchen area, where most everyone was already gathered. The only one of the main crew who wasn’t there was Chopper since he had his own classes, and Law was there but only really as a seat for Nami as he napped upright on the couch with his arms around her waist and head resting against her shoulder.

“What’s bad?” Franky wondered. He paused the video game, which caused Luffy and Zoro to both scowl. “It’s super-unlike you to be this panicked mid-week.”

“It’s my stupid photography class,” he whined. “I’ve got to do formal studio portraits!”

“…like school ID pictures?” Zoro grunted.

“No, like Seers portraits and shit,” Usopp sniped. “I gotta do a family portrait and my instructor wants me to do my family.”

“Oooh!” Luffy gasped, sliding off the couch. “Are you gonna take our pictures?!”

“She wants me to take a portrait of me and…” Usopp shuddered, “my dad.”

“…but your dad’s on a shipping freighter in the middle of a fucking giant-ass lake,” Sanji commented from the kitchen. He put a mug of coffee on the island and Usopp took it, hoping the caffeine would help paradoxically calm him. “Did you explain to the lady that your dad works on a fucking freighter and can’t just pop on over?”

“Even if he could… I don’t know…” Usopp looked at his friends and finally noticed Law. “It’s four in the afternoon—why’s the old man napping?”

“Old Man has graveyard shift in the ER this week,” Nami replied. Usopp stared deadpan at her while Law let out a small snore. “Hey, don’t be jealous because I technically never have to work as long as he’s around.”

“Yohoho… I remember when I worked at a Seers and Roebuccaneer, making money by playing music in the appliances and tools because they were too cheap to replace the radio system in the entire building,” Brook mused. He then looked at Usopp curiously. “How many of your esteemed classmates remember Seers?”

“They don’t even remember H-Mart—how many do you think.” Usopp took a long drink of his coffee—yeah, that was the good shit.

“Oh, that’s s bummer,” Franky nodded in commiseration. “Kokoro still thinks it exists and refers to it as Hocker’s.”

“Professor Clover always called it Hocker’s before he passed,” Robin mused idly. She didn’t even look up from her book. “I didn’t realize they were the same store until I was six.”

“Yeah, and how is this going to help the fact that I probably won’t see my dad again in-person for another eight months and in nine days I’ve got a project due with him in it?” Usopp scowled.

“Muniscius comfiance,” Luffy said with all the confidence of an eight-year-old armed with their first dictionary. Everyone stared at him until Zoro grunted in irritation.

“You heard Luff—we’re gonna malicious compliance the bitch,” he translated. “Do you just have to do one of you and your old man?”

“I have to do at least two and one of them has to be that.”

“Alright; get the asshole up on a video call, take a picture of you and your phone, and then we’ll give her, like, fifteen others that’s just us dicking around. That’ll teach her to not give you accommodation.”

“Do you realize how much fucking extra work that’s gonna be, grass-head?” Sanji chided. “He’s trying to get out of work, not make more of it.”

“No, no, he has a point,” Jinbe replied. “We’re all supposed to be here on Saturday and we can have some fun with it. Seers portraits hold a certain nostalgia factor, after all, and if you ever need the skills in the future then this would be the time to practice them with such a large group of people.”

“Yeah!” Luffy beamed. “Plus, since we’re helping, you can say you managed us like you’re the head camera guy! That’s extra credit, right?”

“I don’t know if I even can get extra credit in this class…”

“Oh, I’m sure you can!” Luffy’s eyes then went wide. “That’s right! Carrot’s in your class! She can come over too! And her cousin and the rest of Torao’s friends! It can be a big party!”

“Luffy, I—!”

“Portrait party!” Luffy cheered, signaling Usopp’s doom. “Ooooh, Sanji?! Can you…?!”

“I’m on it, Boss,” the blond smirked. “I’ll have a menu by the end of the night.”

“Guys, it’s just a project—I was planning on submitting a complaint to the department…”

“Nah,” Luffy scoffed, waving it off. “A party’s always better, don’t’cha think?”

No… he really didn’t.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“I can’t believe they did this to me,” Usopp groaned. He was laying on his bed at 1000 Sunny Rd, his phone cradled in his hands as he grimaced at the screen. On the other side of the video call was Kaya, who was similarly situated in her dorm room across the state. “They know this is going to be a rough assignment to begin with.”

“It’s not their fault,” she reminded him. “They just want to help.”

“Yeah, and now it’s going to involve nacho dip and Sanji’s special tzaziki sauce.” He propped up his phone with the help of a pillow and a plush chameleon so that he could almost pretend they were in the same bed. “It’s a shame you’ve got a tournament this weekend or I’d say you should come over and keep me sane.”

“We’re only hosting the high school tournament, nothing else,” she reminded him. “I might be able to take off if Merry will let me.”

“Merry will, but I don’t know if your supervisor agrees.”

“It’s Quizbowl, not the end of the world.”

“You’d be surprised.” Usopp tried not to frown as he thought of Kaya’s family-friend-turned-undergrad-advisor, a sour man who seemed to love every opportunity to cockblock them at every turn. As though there was any cock being had to block! One look at him should have screamed that her innocence was safer with him than with others (coughNamicough), so what really was the problem?!

Okay, he knew the problems—plural—but he wasn’t about to unpack all that at the moment.

“What if you took your portrait with me?” she wondered. Her phone dropped to look at the ceiling as she shuffled around for a way to prop up the device on her end, missing her boyfriend’s deep blush. “I mean, if it wasn’t for the fact that I’m going to school out here…”

“Don’t say that!” Usopp panicked. “We’re not that kind of together!”

“I know,” she smiled, “but it’s just… you are my boyfriend, and lots of couples don’t move it past that even if they are always together.”

“You do have a point…” He felt the blush further darken his complexion as he considered submitting one of his family portraits as just him and his girlfriend. Sure, they were talking about long-term-levels of seriousness, but a portrait of the two of them…? In a style common in family photos? He wasn’t entirely sure his heart (or his ever-suffering libido) would survive. “Maybe when you’re back this way for the summer we can do something like that and see if we can replicate the look with the ring lights.”

“That’d be fun,” she smiled. Kaya settled in under her blankets while hugging a stuffed sheep. “You have to tell me how everyone’s doing. Is Luffy still getting into trouble?”

“We don’t get into trouble with Captain Usopp around,” he bragged. Which… it was at least partly true. They weren’t getting into trouble. Not a lot, anyhow. For the moment. She giggled softly and allowed him to continue, the young man weaving exaggerations into his stories as they continued to talk each other to sleep.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Saturday at 1000 Sunny Rd was shaping up to be an interesting one.

First off, Carrot had stayed the night over so that she could be there bright and early, making it so that there was another kid Chopper’s age that he could conspire with when it came to goading Luffy into antics. It was only eight in the morning and they were already at it, with them jumping around the house in their pajamas. Then, on top of that, the Polar Tang had shown up at some point overnight, complete with Law’s trio of weird friends/coworkers/flunkies/platonic boyfriends/hype squad who were already making use of the pool while Law himself was nowhere to be found. Usopp had barely gotten the question out of his mouth when he heard Nami’s orgasm scream, at which he shuddered.

She was such a fucking traitor, getting action so conspicuously while he was left to dry. What ever happened to bestie solidarity?

“It’s been a rough week at work,” Bepo offered. He was sitting on the edge of the in-ground pool, kicking his feet in the water as he sipped a drink he’d procured from Sanji. “It was like an itch right under his skin since, I dunno, Wednesday.”

“That’s all well and fine but he needs to remember to shut the window,” Usopp sighed. He tried to block out the indecent and ridiculous noises coming from the offending couple and felt the need to be sick. “You guys have any suggestions about how to get back at them?”

“Eh, we can prank ‘em, but pranking Nami is like signing your own death warrant,” Penguin commented from the safety of a pool floatie.

“Oh, come on, I’ve pranked her a thousand times and I’m still alive!” Usopp scoffed. Law’s friends all stared at him, deadpan. “Okay, okay, okay… so maybe more like a handful of times… and I’m lucky to be alive be this point. Then how about Law?”

“Pranking him is hella difficult,” Shachi scoffed. “Dude’s almost always on his toes.”

“Had to be,” Penguin added. “Not gonna get into it, but he didn’t exactly have the most fun childhood.”

“I think you’d be more pressed to find someone here who did have a decent time as a kid,” Usopp replied, rolling his eyes. “Got anything I can work with?”

“Given how long he’s gone without despite a need, I’d say he’s got tw—” Bepo was interrupted by what sounded suspiciously like a strangled sob. “—one more round in him before he gets six and a half solid hours of sleep. Eight is if we’re lucky.”

“Do I even want to know how you know this?”

“Scientific method,” all three pool-goers said in unison. Usopp smacked his forehead and took a deep breath…

…wait a moment…

“Wait, you know I’m going to be roping people into my commercial photography assignment later, right?” Usopp posed. The others simply stared at him. “The assignment calls for imitating the style of a Seers portrait and I was thinking…”

“Oh, fuck, we’re in,” Shachi grinned. He scrambled to get out of the pool and towards his towel, drying off unevenly. “I’ve got just the thing!”

“This is news to me,” Penguin stated. “What the fuck do you have that’s got you like that?”

“All the work shit that’s still in the trunk!”

“Work shit…?” Usopp did not like the sound of that. “What sort of medical torture devices you got in there?”

“Not torture devices,” Shachi insisted. “More like there was this thing at work last week where we wore goofy outfits and took turns playing around in Pedes.” Another verbal confirmation of Nami getting fucked out of her mind cut him off and he grimaced.

“Well, most of us did,” Penguin said, taking over. “Grumpass didn’t, but that’s also, like, the only department he normally steers clear of; most do if they can help it.” He then looked from Usopp to Shachi and back, noting

All of Usopp’s synapses began to fire at once and he began to grin just as manically as Shachi (or Luffy during a particularly tasty meal). A costume cache? Oh, he was fucking in.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Admittedly, Usopp was having a lot of fun with his assignment when he stopped to think about it. He and Carrot were able to set up their impromptu portrait studio in the office area, having pooled their equipment checkout resources and were able to snag enough studio lights and varying accessories to actually function like they were supposed to instead of trying to cobble together some bastardized system using cheap ring lights and Franky’s cell phone (which had genuinely gotten him an A, but never again). They even got some neat gels and a couple softboxes, which they were sure some of the film majors were going to murder them over. Was it worth it? Always.

“So… we’re basically doing a photo booth, but with a Seers portrait vibe,” Nami said as she went through the box of clothes. Usopp did not understand how she was awake and functioning while her manfriend was still dead to the world in her bed, but he figured it was best to not think about it.

“All in the name of malicious compliance,” he replied. “I’ve already got the one with my mom’s wake portrait and the selfie of my dad up on my phone, so…”

“Please tell me it’s the slutty one that Shanks sent you as a joke.”

“His dating profile pic? It’s not like you’re dealing with a fucking amateur, Nami.” He folded his arms across his chest and pouted as he attempted to stand his ground. “Otherwise everyone else is a-go.”

“Is that why the goobers are running around crazier than usual?”

“Define ‘goobers’ in this situation.”

“The ones who kicked me out of my bedroom to ‘get Law ready for his closeup’?”

“Okay, for one, a portrait is not necessarily a closeup, but for two…” Usopp was about to continue when he saw Bepo shuffle into the room, the bear looking nervous as he clutched a vintage coin book in his paws. “Ready?”

“We’ve got ten minutes to get this going before he wakes up,” Penguin said from behind Bepo. The bear moved aside and showed Penguin in nice slacks and a polo shirt—was the penguin on his hat holding a cocktail—helping Shachi, who had found a pair of denim overalls with a duckling on the front to put with his normal sweater—where did he get the propeller for his hat—the pair pulling along a half-asleep Law, perfectly dressed for the occasion.

Usopp swallowed hard; he was going to die.

Quickly, he got the shots he needed of Law, Penguin, and Shachi before allowing the latter to cart the former off before the perfectly weary and pliable sleepiness wore off, Nami snapping a couple pics on her phone as extra insurance before vanishing herself. Bepo then went and got Carrot, the cousins posing for a few different shots before Luffy could not longer be contained and burst his way into the makeshift studio, demanding to be included in the proceedings.

Eventually, it was getting towards the end of the afternoon and both students were beginning to feel the strain of using their newfound skills continually for the entire day. Not only was it remembering f-stops and checking light meters and making sure they didn’t accidentally hit the settings reset button, but also wrangling… oh, the wrangling that they had to do. It honestly was insane. Not only did they have to attempt to control Luffy, but the entire rest of the house as well as they came in and out of the office area, dressed in both costumes and whatever their nicest (or tackiest) clothes on-hand were. It felt as though everyone else at 1000 Sunny Rd was deliberately making it rough for them when it came to actually getting things done.

“You people are going to be the death of me,” Usopp groaned as he melted onto one of the barstools by the kitchen island. A mug of coffee was placed in front of him, and a can of pop in front of Carrot as she joined them, the younger one decidedly more lively.

“I think it’s a lot of fun,” she replied. “We only have a few more to go; using the costumes were a great idea.”

“Speaking of which, I’ve noticed there’s a distinct lack of those weirdos,” he noted. Usopp glanced around—nothing. Sanji scoffed from the other side of the kitchen as he peeled potatoes.

“Nami-swan sent them on an errand, so they took the Tang and bolted ages ago,” he said.

“It’s bad enough she sends the rest of us to do her dirty work, but that’s ridiculous,” Usopp frowned.

“They know better than to invoke Nami-swan’s lovely wrath,” Sanji swooned.

“Is ‘lovely’ the correct word for it, though?” Carrot wondered.

“The simp’s a lost cause,” Usopp deadpanned. Sanji did not hear them, as he was too busy fantasizing to be of much use conversation-wise. “You’d think he would have stopped once Nami started fucking another man, yet here we are.”

“I didn’t know simping could be… uh… platonic…?”

A beat.

“Carrot, nothing about Sanji and women is platonic.”

The younger teen shrugged and grabbed a plate so she could pile on a bunch of the tiny treats that Sanji was still cooking for everyone, making sure to get enough for both her and Usopp, who they both already knew would be denied extras until later. They brought their drinks and the plate back to the office area and began to eat in relative peace and safety, keeping to themselves until they heard the crunch of driveway pebbles under car tires, signaling that whatever errand Nami had Penguin and Shachi on, they had returned from it.

“Good,” Usopp grunted through a mini spanikopita. “Now maybe I can get a real shot of those morons before Law leaves for work.”

“Possibly…? Let’s go see if they need any help!”

“You can; I’ll just stay here and prep for the next group.”

Carrot pouted for a moment before leaving the office area, letting Usopp fiddle with the light stands. He was able to rearrange the setup for a smaller group when he heard a soft knock at the door.

“Master Photographer Usopp is almost ready!” he replied. The door creaked open and he frowned. “Hey, I said I was almost—!”

The words died in his throat as he was shocked to see Kaya standing there, looking at the studio setup as though it was the most technical-looking thing she’d ever seen. She turned back to him just in time to see as he wrapped her in a hug.

“Oh! Usopp!”

“How did you get here?!” he wondered. She pressed a kiss to his lips and giggled.

“Mr. Penguin and Mr. Shachi came to get me,” she admitted. “It was a little weird, and I had to convince my sorority it wasn’t a kidnapping…”

“No… no… I don’t want to know,” Usopp decided. He looked at Kaya and all the stress that had been built up that day seemed to melt away. His mom had always told him that love could break the hold that hardships had on people and make much easier to bear, and it was times like this where he truly believed that. “I’m just glad they didn’t send Sanji as one of the conspirators this time.”

“He meant well.”

“That’s giving him a few too many benefits of the doubt.” It was then that he saw Carrot come in, carrying what looked to be Kaya’s backpack. “Isn’t that right? Letting Sanji loose on a sorority is just asking for trouble.”

“Is that why he went to culinary school and not a regular four-year university like us?” the teen wondered.

“One reason of many.” Usopp froze as Kaya took her backpack and brought out two framed photos—her parents. “Uh… Kaya…?”

“We’re not going to be able to see if the ring lights work as a substitute if we don’t have the real thing to compare it with,” she reasoned.

Okay, so maybe the chaos was worth it after all.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

That night was one of the best party nights Usopp had experienced in a while. It wasn’t the good food (Sanji outdid himself, again) or the friend-based antics (which were always a good time), but it was the fact that he went to bed that night with Kaya, the pair snuggled up together in his bed for the first time in months to combat the night chill with their shared body heat.

Okay, so what if they were fully clothed? And that there was a bedsheet separating them? And there were no bedroom activities other than sleeping going on? They all couldn’t be Nami; be realistic.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Law was honestly nursing one of the worst headaches he’d ever suffered through. It wasn’t quite a migraine—he was not nearly nauseous or light-sensitive enough for that—but it was still making him regret having gone on midnights last-minute the week prior despite the fact he was currently on days. He clutched his coffee cup a little closer—there was something to be said about the hot bean juice that made the world marginally tolerable.

After checking in on a patient he was due to operate on the following day, Law decided to make his way to the nurses’ station to follow up with Bepo. It was there that he saw that his best friend was sitting there with his cousin, the teen happily chatting away as she showed him a bunch of photos from a large manila envelope.

“Is this a personal or business visit?” Law asked as he approached the desk. Carrot caught sight of him and her grin only widened.

“Oh, there you are, Law-bro!” she said merrily. “I was just showing off the prints of the project Sopp-bro and I did last weekend! Do you want to take a look?”

“Sure.” Law sat his coffee down and began to casually flip through the photos. Seas, they looked like the kind of portraits that Cora-san had of him and his parents and brother from back when he was a kid. Everyone was in their silliest… with exceptions, of course. He looked up from the shot of him and Nami, the two of them dressed in high-waisted jeans and frumpy sweaters, to see that Carrot and Bepo were both looking at him expectantly. “Did you get the grades back?”

“Not only did we pass, but we also got extra credit!” Carrot grinned. “Sopp-bro’s also turned in a formal complaint to the department head that’s probably going to escalate.”

“Now that’s what I like to hear.” Law then narrowed his eyes at a package that was sitting on Bepo’s desk, wrapped in brown paper and looking very suspicious. “What’s that?”

“Oh, that’s for Peng-bro and Sach-bro,” Carrot explained. “They paid special for that one.”

“Did they now?” Law didn’t like how the cousins exchanged a wary glance—when they were up to no good, it was genuinely no good. “Now why would they pay special for a school project you and Nose-ya did?”

“A frame and use of the special printer.” Law looked over his shoulder to see Shachi pushing his mobile station to its dock and plugging it in. “Kiddos went and made up a nice family portrait of us.”

“I think you mixed up ‘nice’ with ‘tacky’ again,” Law deadpanned. Shachi waited until Penguin caught up before taking the package from Carrot. “Besides, you sound like Strawhat-ya by saying ‘family’ like that.”

“We’re four of the weirdest brothers and you know it,” Penguin huffed. He looked over Shachi’s shoulder as the other man unwrapped the photo frame, both men’s faces lighting up at the contents. “Oh, Carrot, if you weren’t way too young for me I’d kiss you.”

“It’s all Sopp-bro,” the teen blushed. “It actually was used as one of the examples in class! The professor was very impressed with the composition and technique!”

“Let me see,” Law said. He took the frame from Shachi’s hand and went pale while his friends all started to giggle.

There, in his hand, was a portrait of him with the techs, an enlarged and faded-in insert image of the charge nurse in the upper right-hand corner.

“…did you shits deepfake me…?”

“No, that was all you,” Carrot supplied. “The professor really enjoyed your expression! Said it was exactly the kind of variation the portrait batch needed!”

“When the fuck did you take this?!” Law grimaced, absolutely aghast.

“You were still half-asleep and in the post-nut haze, so we took advantage of it while we could,” Penguin said. Law instead grit his teeth.

“So you took that as permission to put me in a frumpy dress, bonnet, and plastic pearls?”

“Don’t forget the coin collection,” Shachi reminded him. “I bet that was a nice touch.”

“We were the only two students that had portraits with props, so it really was!” Carrot seemed absolutely oblivious to the ire that was building in the surgeon. “He did a really good job on the compositing as well, which made it so Bep-bro’s fur wasn’t too clipped!”

“…and you people thought this was a good idea, how?!”

“It’s just a bit of fun,” Shachi said, taking back the photo frame. “Besides, it’s our family portrait, like I said. Plus it helped some of the Sunny gang.”

“You guys are dead,” Law hissed, the last word through grit teeth. Shachi and Penguin both turned on their heels and bolted, with the surgeon not too far behind after depositing the portrait back in Carrot’s hands. She and Bepo looked at one another for a moment before bursting into giggles, because they knew something Law didn’t:

Hiding underneath the goofy portrait was three others; one was everyone who was there at 1000 Sunny Rd. that day, another of the four friends in less-goofy getups, and one of just Law and Nami—one of the most normal photos taken the entire day. Not only did they have them sitting there layered in the frame, but copies had been set aside for Cora-san and Bell-mère as well.

Ah… what he didn’t know wouldn’t kill him.

[practically-an-x-man]

I saw you reblog the post "send an OC and you tell me which of your OCs would fall in love with them" and had a moment of oh no, how many non-furry/dragon characters do I have. So I'm throwing you a variety!! We're gonna have to put aside the fact that two out of the three here are furry characters. I'm genuinely severely lacking in human people, despite how much I talk about them. (Is this a game show where only the winner out of all of them gets a date, or are they all getting paired off? Up to you!)

CONTESTANT NUMBER ONE

I gotta throw you a character I haven't mentioned before much. Silver Bullet Babe, or just Silver for short, spends a large majority of his time studying magic. Coming from a well off family who encouraged his focus on his studies and seclusion from others, his social skills are lacking at best. On the plus side, though, being with him comes with the added bonus of a very extensive library filled with otherwise forbidden knowledge. He's also very pink with lovely hair.

(I'll never get over how beautiful this commission is, and I'm devastated that I've lost access to the artist since)

CONTESTANT NUMBER TWO

You already know this one. His info post isn't up yet, so his exact details might be blurry, but let me introduce you to the danger to aviation laws himself, Hazard! I don't. I don't have his picture on my laptop, so you're gonna just have to imagine a tall Canadian with the most mid fohawk ever who talks with an accent that is an affront to the concept of language itself. He's a great guy, I promise. Asides from how much danger he puts himself in for his own entertainment, he's a great guy.

CONTESTANT NUMBER THREE

*Shuffles through my characters* fuck okay who else is in here. hm. I feel I've gotta give you another one I haven't talked about before. I'm digging up Doe for this one.

Do you need a girl in your life that doesn't take shit from nobody anymore? Would it be even better if it were impossible to tell if she even liked you or not? Then let me present to you, Doe! I know for a fact she has an anthro design around somewhere, but evidently not here. I don't even have her regular design on this laptop, so we gotta just imagine an orange skywing woman together. What does she have to offer? She's fearless with the strength to back that up. She's punched both Sandwing and Skywing soldiers on two separate occasions. Her boss is, unfortunately for her, also her best friend, so they're a two for one deal, so you'll also be gaining a really weird uncle as well.

Oooooh, introductions to new OCs!! I love this!!

Let's see here...

For Silver, I could see him getting together with Kestrel. They're also super inquisitive and work with magic frequently, so I could definitely see them bonding over that initially. And like... Kestrel's social skills aren't fantastic either, being a changeling who's been told effectively their whole life that the only thing they're good at is causing havoc and distress, so I think those early interactions might be a little awkward. But after that, y'know, it all would work out great!

I think Quinn would probably fall for Hazard in like.... a weird way. Like the "buddy you're just really fucking Odd. I kinda want to punch you in the face but I also kinda want to kiss you and we'll figure out the logistics of that later" kind of way. She's absolutely a daredevil too and would initially be drawn to that thrillseeking side of him, always trying to one-up him until it becomes a weird sort of game, and then that game becomes a weird sort of flirting... they'd be the weirdest, most hazardous (pun not intended) power couple on the planet, but that's my answer.

Doe definitely strikes me as Eris' type - someone who can fire right back to whatever little battles they want to throw at her, who isn't going to flinch, who's good and strong and driven to keep pace. You've heard of people getting along like a house on fire? These two would get along like nuclear fission. This might be The Most Dangerous relationship I have ever come up with, maybe not to the two of them but definitely to everyone else in the immediate vicinity.

[tlgtw]

Aside fromsoft, are there any fantasy game settings/stories you're into?

Like what was the first game that pulled you in and before you realized you were checking dialogue for inconsistencies?

Zoooooomg, I *wish* had any other answer for this but the first game that "pulled me in" indeed WAS a Fromsoft game; and it was Bloodborne.

This came around a few months after it came out, (Meaning I was 14.) and I'd wanted Bloodborne the whole time because of how wicked fucking awesome it looked. (even if perhaps I was a little too young for it.)

I can't remember how, but by some means or another leading up to or concurrently with Bloodborne's initial release I got into all the "Loretubers" from that time, as they're known now.

VaatiVidya of course--most likely he was the first person I ended up watching, but also the other ones. Like the one who wrote that big book about it basically called like "The Paleblood Hunt" or something, and a few others!

The most significant of which I can tell you for a fact was the 'late' Jerks Sans Frontieres.

Her videos shot straight into my spinal cord because she wasn't a summarizer. She, in a similar sense that I am now, was a detective.

At that point I was still purely an audience-member for that latent genre of YouTube videos. As the consumer I enjoyed all of them, but I liked her's best. And I must've rewatched each of her Bloodborne videos at least a half-dozen times before I finally got my hands on the game myself--for my 15th birthday--and I got *so* scared by my experience in Central Yharnam that I think it took me days to pick up the controller again the second time.

I legitimately considered returning it! It was my first FromSoft game. I'd never played something that just, say, *didn't* have background music all the time, for example. I remember it still, clear as day, how unnerving it was just walking around the early areas hearing just your footsteps and the background rumble and when I was unlucky the screaming sounds of the crows and other enemies.

Precisely, when I first came up that ladder to the Central Yharnam checkpoint, when I heard the scream of the Cleric Beast, it scared me out of my wits so goddamn hard that I stopped moving for like 15 seconds.

I was still *just* turned 15, but at that point I had watched all of Bloodborne over and over again like 80 times. I'd watched tutorials and build guides and cheese strats and weapon movesets and everything else I could about that game, before I finally got my hands on it. I thought I would be, at least, ultimately okay. Cause I would still know everything I'd have to do.

I was wrong.

But I did get through it, hahaha.

In-fact I ended up getting through it so hard that by the time I got my hands on the actual DLC, my main save file was in NG++. So the first time I beat The Old Hunters was in NG++.

Fortunately I was very grinded-up so I think ultimately the experience balanced out.

And nowadays I've beaten Bloodborne so many times that I have the entire level of Central Yharnam actually memorized. Until a few years ago could've draw an accurate map of it from memory (and I have).

With Bloodborne being my introduction, as it were, to the concept of Videogame Story Explained Videos, it was also my introduction to the concept of seriously reading a videogame's story in the first place.

What this wasn't, yet, was me actually going in *myself* to actually cross-reference item descriptions and dialogue, for my *own* understanding. You don't do that sorta thing unless you're specifically involved in discussion. And I was involved in *no* discussions in 2015, or 2016, or '17 or '18 or '19 or anything all the way up to until 2022, because online I have the tendencies of a weird hermit.

Although that is me exaggerating. In truth prior to my dealings with Elden Ring I had been a Redditor and I talked (argued) about the story details of Little Nightmares 1 and 2 (My favourite games.) on the subreddit for those games. By then I had already become the kind of person I am still now, most of all in my disinterest in finding any answers regarding a fictional story that can't account for every extant element... of that story. (As you've seen, and will see more of in Episode X of ERwSET. When an idea I have appears to conflict with work in subject, I drop the idea. And develop one that doesn't conflict with it instead. This is opposed to the alternative of making up reasons or justification to keep the initial idea regardless)

No doubt doing that instead would probably make me a lot more content to make money with... Personally, doing so isn't engaging to me, because I am already someone who writes fiction. And in my opinion, "Videogame Story Explained Videos" are fundamentally a non-fiction genre of video, and for me are more interesting in general when they conform to that, because they interface directly with the media itself, and the material that media's author's put into it. Rather than just the individual video creator's personal experience of that media, of that material.

In part this comes from my background as someone who writes poetry and fiction. Of course.

*Of course,* an author who writes and puts meanings into material themselves, finds themselves more interested dissecting the material and creative decisions of *other authors,* who do the same thing, as opposed to the material and creative decisions of just *other readers.* Who most of them don't--generally maintaining more humane professions and areas of expertise instead.

And probably this is rooted into my tendencies as a 'weird hermit,' too. But, from my perspective, if I wanted to see what a fellow member of the audience thinks are the inner working of this character or imagines regarding the off-screen elements of a story, I would read their fanfiction.

...

...

That is of course reductive, but I think saying it like that is really funny, so that's why I'll be still saying it xd.

"Everyone consumes, but not everyone makes," you could say. The same way there are less farmers than people in the world. There are less writers than readers in the world. When I analyze a work of fiction, underneath it all what I'm looking for is to see what decisions the authors made, for *their final product:* "What does that do?" "What does this do?" "If it was different, what would that make?" "What does this matter? Does it?"

"Would I do this too?"

And this interest excludes the question of 'why,' predominantly. I'm not interested so much in wanting to know 'why,' because the only way to learn that is if the author themselves actually decides to share "why." I'm interested just in what the final decisions "are."

"Why'd the author decide to make this character do this?" Well, maybe they were really hungry that day. Or maybe they saw an ad on TV. Or maybe they were talking to their friend about something unrelated and their friend happened to say a phrase in a peculiar and cool way and the author decided he wanted to make use of that, too. And everything else that encompasses the spectrum of the human experience.

"Why" is whatever it wants, it's not like it would change what the final product "is," right?

And of course this doesn't preclude the fact that author's can just *lie* about their motivations too. For that reason, actually trying to find out 'why' is generally an impossible task.

And I'm not interested in pursuing those/I'm not interested in not #winning.

Perhaps this, you could say, then, is the ultimate source of my attitude. Not in the way that it's why I actually decided to write and draw and voice and edit my 80% Elden Ring lore series and 15% weird cartoon; "Elden Ring Explained with Snake-Eyes Teieruji." I did all those for completely circumstantial reasons! (And I go into detail about them in Issue #0 of the Kinda-Monthly Newsletter.)

Nor even in how my show is... the way it is! 'Cause even that is just me being really really slow and meticulous, (as you've no doubt suffered) and anyone can act like that~!

But it is, perhaps, what made me come up with the idea of making such a show as ERwSET, at all, in the first place. (And you can also read about the *second* major exclusion in my recounting here from that same article in Newsletter #0, which was the Sekiro-related project for which Snake-Eyes Teieruji was actually created, that didn't end up going anywhere.)

You'd have be a pretty specific kind of chucklehead to actually think of doing, specifically all this; y'know?

But you may be surprised to learn that I'm normally not like this at all, when I play videogames. Most of my creative energy in such regards are channeled into my poetry, art, and fiction. When I eat games, or movies, or books or TV, I don't really feel a want to find out "exactly what the author did for this character" or "exactly what elements of this scene connect with another scene" because I guess, perhaps, I'm too occupied with enjoying myself...

Hm.

Well, maybe it'll be more accurate to say that what I'm presenting, "of myself" in ERwSET, is effectively extremely extremely scripted and deliberate.

I spend months writing my scripts. (sorry about that.) And those months include the meticulous cross-referencing and fact-checking that gives those videos their noticeable pow.

It's a large amount of *work,* that that is. The desk-jockeying kind. And it's not something that can just do itself when you're relaxing playing any game normally. (I'll never just stop what I'm doing while playing a game to fact-check whether I'm currently right about something, while I'm still in the middle of playing it.

For example in my first playthrough of Elden Ring: I wasn't actually sure how Marika's name was spelled until I had finished my first playthrough. That I wasn't sure if it was "Marika" or "Merika" at the time just legitimately didn't concern to me. I just didn't pay that close of attention whenever I passed a Church of Marika or whatever to actually remember how it spelled her name, afterwards.

I actually kept a journal to keep track of all of my sidequests and stuff for my first playthrough, too! So maybe here's another example, haha:

And here's one more dfbjkskjdbfbkjsdkjbfsjdsf. These are all things I actually wrote down in the middle of playing the game so reading these myself is really fucked up I just remember what I was doing when I wrote them:

What I'm referring to as 'the fucking castle' there is actually what I thought the Siofra Aquaduct was, the first time I saw it, hahaha. I was even a little bummed out when I actually got to it, I'll admit. I thought it was gonna be an entire dungeon.)

In any case;

The experience of *creating* something, and the experience of *consuming* something, are just fundamentally incomparable things.

You could never figure out how houses are built by just living in one, even if you lived in one for a really long time. Right?

It's that very sort of thing; in terms of cross-referencing dialogue and noting game-wide consistencies and inconsistencies for discrepancies and explanations, no playing a game inspired me do that, or could. It was my becoming an author of fiction that inspired me to do that, and my burgeoning desire to understand the decisions *other authors* made, for *their* fiction.

"I wanna know how to do that too." Right?

Eventually this desire lead to me writing poems instead.

Which lead to me (once I finally became good enough at writing to realize--as related in that poem I flashed from highschool in ERwSET1) disavowing the written word entirely! TOO limited for me, I though...!

Pictures have WAY more pow than words!!!

And that's how I got into drawing...

(which are like *way* more powerful than words, right, like it's not even comparable, the only thing words are up-to-down unbeatable at is, indeed, non-fiction... but also in being a trillion times faster than everything else to actually work with. I have returned to the written word, since then, as you might tell. And I'll tell you that writing also has one advantage that no other skill on Earth has--and that's you can practice it using only your head. Every other skill needs equipment, lit only needs words.)

...which is lead me to my foray *now;* the likes of 2-dimensional medias like video! (visual + audio)

:DDD

But that's maybe not the kind of question you were actually asking, either... so...

Y'know... maybe it actually *is* Elden Ring, that's what 'pulled me in'.

I'm pretty far-in-deep right now in this, aren't I? And I've certainly never been this deep in something before!

How... did I get here...!?

I talk all about this in Issue 0 of the Newsletter as well but it's because of how Elden Ring served to combined FromSoftware's skills in atmosphere, the acting of the characters, visuals + audio, and gameplay, with George RR Martin's skills in actually have a coherent plot to present with those elements.

I've stated so before so I'll say so again that earlier FromSoft games such as Bloodborne and (especially) Dark Souls 3 are, to *a* meaningful extent, "not worth" looking into closely from a narrative perspective. In the way that their stories were never purposely finished.

The Soulsborne games have the reputation of having stories that are predominantly based on vibes, and that's not by accident. They are based on vibes.

Gameplay, atmosphere, acting, etc. Those are things that dictate the vibes. But they're not precise. You can't find the definitive answer to a character motivation in their boss theme, that's music.

*Power,* of course, they have in spades, but obviously not any 'precision.'

As we know, Bloodborne had a lot of cut content. And Dark Souls 3.

And as a result of the same internal situations (i.e. real life reasons like time, budget, and workforce) that lead to all that content being cut, a number of the questions you would ask regarding the plot details in those games, literally do not have answers *in* those games.

The stories of Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 are ambiguous. But not in the way that there are multiple answers: In the way that there are *no* answers.

Again, that isn't by accident. The games themselves are obviously, literally, finished products. It was deliberate decisions made during production to *remove* material communicating parts of the story, for variable reasons, from what would become the finished product.

Thus, leading to parts of "the story" being, for the reader; missing.

Most people will frame this as equivalent to "the audience deciding what the truth is." And I think this is completely inaccurate.

"The audience can choose what the truth is" is when there would be multiple possible answers. (Little Nightmares 1 and 2 are my favourite games.)

"The audience can *never* know what the truth is" is when there are no possible answers.

And in my opinion they are completely different narrative outcomes. They shouldn't be equated.

...

...not acknowledging, of course, the *massive* amount of subjective legwork the word 'possible' is doing there, with those vibes-based definitions:

"Possible" as in, coherent with what is (percieved to be) in the text... by the reader?

Or "possible" as in, literally possible to be imagined by someone... such as the reader, whoever that happens to be?

The topic is only more complex from there. (All into academia and shit tho I wouldn't know I'm an art school dropout.)

And... almost definitely that's also not what you asked, either...

Hm...

Well, I ask that you forgive me.

As for *why* Elden Ring was special to me, circumstantially, such that it lead to my actually making ERwSET, the explanation for that will remain in Issue 0 of the Members-Only Kinda-Monthly Newsletter.

As to *what* lead to me becoming this way, as you see before you? (Insane.) I hope I was able to answer it.

As for RECOMMENDATIONS, for games in general, that inspire ME, personally!?!?!? (Specifically, in the way that they inspired me to think about the setting and wonder about how things in there connect. These listing might look random but I'm positive they're exactly what you might mean in you including, specifically, what "settings" I'm into. Albeit, you are getting this from a poet. So... there is that as well. I hope if you end up looking into any of these that you do end up pleased with the experience.)

Hohokum (2014), for PS4 and PC

GRIS (2018), for basically everything

Bloodborne (2015), but note it standing directly *on* Elden Ring

Minute of Islands (2021) for PC and consoles

The surrealist artbook "Codex Serafinianus" by Italian artist Luigi Serafini (originally published in 1981, but still added to by him occasionally with an updated 40th anniversary edition having been released in 2021.)

Gorogoa (2017), for basically everything again

Child of Light (2014), also, for basically everything, somehow

Flower (2009), available on PC (and I really cannot overstate how important 'Flower' is to me, I didn't even know games could *be* like that, before I played this)

And of course, my all-time favourite book "The Vine That Ate the South" by the band The Legendary Shack Shakers's basically only actual member, JD Wilkes. (A book that has all-but baked itself into my genome since I first read it in highschool, and the additional 29 times I've read it since. 'Cause I have been counting. I voraciously recommend the Audible-licensed Recorded Books and RB Digital audiobook version; the narrator T. Ryder Smith's voice is a trillion bucks for that book.)

And y'know what I think I'm wanting to mirror this answer directly into the Kinda-Monthly Newsletter itself. Not all my readers follow me on Tumblr, even fewer'll be online at the right time as to actually *see* this post this before it's buried under everything else I'll post afterwards, and I've just spent the last few hours enjoying the hell out of myself writing all 3100 words of it, gyahahahhahaha!!

So, for those who aren't reading this!

Look forward towards seeing it the first time, in Issue #1 of the T-L-G-T-W Official Fanclub Members-Only Kinda-Monthly Newsletter. (The Issue that'll be available for free.)

My reader, I also hope you don't mind your ask ending up inspiring me to do this. But you might be the first of more, too.

So for now, going forward for any questions and answers such as these asked to me (even anonymously) on Tumblr blog, that activate me like this one has; *they* might just end up in the *next* Issue of the Newsletter, too...!

I can't say for certain I'll announce every that do, ahead of time.

But, maybe... you'll just be able to just... tell. Somehow.

Hm

[yurisorcerer]

What an incredibly frustrating piece of fiction this is shaping up to be.

Where do I even start.

OK, on the one hand, the needlessly esoteric and vibey storytelling is kind of a plus. That's not a thing many anime do anymore and I kind of miss it as someone who was first exposed to the medium in part by very high-concept sci-fi anime. Also the action is great; any time a fight happened I was at least consistently having a good time, the choreography and animation are really good and I absolutely love the combat theme and find it weird how rarely they use it. In general I love how the show looks and it will remain watching for its visuals alone even if nothing else comes together.

Which is good, because everything else is a huge mess at this point. Add it to the list of anime I regret giving the benefit of a doubt.

Everything Metallic Rouge does or tries to do is held back by the fact that Rouge Redstar herself has the morality of a gradeschooler. In the early episodes, this was kind of cute and it seemed like the show would be in large part about her shedding that idealism to become....I don't know, pick one; a hero to the Neans? Some kind of cosmic avenger bound to neither side in this conflict? At least someone who has SOME kind of convictions beyond "I hate fighting!" ?

Code Eve is here revealed to be the work of Rouge's mom(?), a biophysicist, and assistant to her surrogate father, named Dr. Eva Kristella. She is the one who installed the Asimov Code in Neans in the first place, which means that in this universe, all of the oppression that the already-wonky analogue for minorities face was the work of a single person. If you disregard any stab at symbolism here, this is a fine plot twist *in a vacuum*, but when put back in the context of the show it completely defangs anything Metallic Rouge has done or seemed like it wanted to do with this material. Systemic oppression happened because Dr. Kristella did an oopsie and ended up regretting it. That regret was what caused her to make Code Eve, which can somehow disable the Asimov Code, but she didn't activate it herself (maybe she couldn't? This isn't elaborated upon) and instead planted it within the "soul" of Rouge and the other Immortals.

It's kind of impressive how thoroughly that strips out any applicability. There is no way to read anything as subtext anymore, because this is purely a genre thing and has no connection to anything real. Any bite this series might've had is gone.

But OK, fine, let's ignore that and just take it as a weird sci fi thing. Surely at least Rouge recognizes that the Neans are being oppressed to shit is a bad thing and joins the resistance, right? Especially now that Naomi has betrayed her (a plot twist that comes out of fucking nowhere btw) and revealed her true colors? Nope! A decent chunk of episode 8 is taken up by mealy-mouthed moralizing more or less dismissing the Neans' situation because, well, The Immortals Are Violent, so it's impossible to say if they're justified or not. Gene, Rouge's brother, says something to the effect of this not being "the right time" to liberate the Neans and that the inevitable violence of a revolution would only make things worse for them. I'm not crazy for reading this as complete fucking lib shit (a term I don't use lightly), am I? The show seems dead-set on playing Rouge's naivete as something admirable instead of something deeply offputting and inappropriate to the situations she finds herself in.

Like, I'm being A LITTLE uncharitable but honestly not particularly so? I'm mostly just confused, like, what even is the point of any of this? A thing I suppose I had conveniently forgotten about some of those sci-fi shows I mentioned in the opening paragraph is that they're occasionally not actually about much. Sure, the GOOD ones are, but there are plenty that have been mostly forgotten because they don't use the genre to do anything or say anything of note. Metallic Rouge's mix of aesthetics is still interesting---all of the Immortals look really cool, for example---but I would be VERY surprised at this point if the series pulled anything coherent together in its last four episodes.

Then again, who knows, I thought I had this show figured out once before and then episode 5 happened, so honestly who can say. Maybe it WILL find some way to justify its milquetoast politics and Toynbee Tiles-ass worldbuilding in a way that's actually coherent and interesting. I really doubt it, though.

The worst part is that through all of this I STILL don't actually think the show is outright bad. It has enough going for it that I'm going to watch the remaining third of the series and I will probably not completely hate those 2ish hours of remaining story, but it has JUST enough going on that the ways in which its deficient are hugely frustrating instead of being the kind of minor flaw that it's easy to brush off.

At this point my favorite character is probably Cyan, who shows up barely-foreshadowed in these episodes to try to kill Rouge for no obvious reason, but she has a fun design and a clear motive, so that makes her easy to root for, in my book.

[onehundredandeleventropicalfish]

Hello, I really enjoy your blog! Delirium appreciation is always good to see. A question: let's say if hypothetically Del ever got a comic miniseries, what aspects of her character you'd like to see explored? Thank you!

thank you!

and god that's a fun question

some potentials here in no particular order of preference

• i'd love to see more of her realm. the little pieces we get in brief lives and her part of endless nights are both great and really appeal to me on a number of levels and i just wanna see more stuff she's got in there (and just like. the endless' realms inform their character a lot! and del's sundial, tempus frangit, i love everything about that. like, it's a play on tempus fugit, which is a fairly common latin term for time flies - tempus frangit means "time breaks", and she complains about the sundial having stopped, which. a clock can stop. a sundial can't. unless you're already somewhere where time is so broken even the sun has decided to do whatever the fuck it likes. and just, more little things like that, they're so delicious to roll around in my brain)

• del's relationship with the concept of destiny. talked about this a little before, but just because destiny is one of their siblings does not mean the other endless don't also have some weird connection to the threads of fate. and every time in this story that del loses control of herself, forgets where she is, can't quite place what she was trying to do next, her first instinct? pushes another piece of the tragedy into place

she didn't know why it was so important to look for destruction in brief lives, but she couldn't stop until she did. and that led to dream killing orpheus. she loses herself again in kindly ones, isn't sure what she's looking for, but her search leads her into the middle of dream's story again, and leads her to nuala, which convinces nuala to summon dream and dream can't say no and that's the final piece of the trap

and like. on some level, she knows that she does this. she has this scene with dream, which i think about a lot

she's the only one of her siblings, except maybe destiny himself, who understands the ripple effects the endless have on the universe, and i think she knows that she's often pulled around by fate when she least expects it. (this quote is also especially poignant when dream's death caused a reality storm, it was such an impactful moment it momentarily put cracks in the world around it, sending destiny's realm into chaos and leaving echoes splintering back and forwards through time. and del, in her part, was both instrumental to causing it, and was just blindly following the echoes she didn't realise were there)

i can't imagine she enjoys playing that part, but there's also not a lot she can do to change it. and i wanna know how that affects her

• delirium and death interacting. we never really get to see this one! we see how she interacts with all of her other siblings, but this is the only conversation between death and del we ever get. and i just wanna know how that relationship shakes out

on that note...

• del interacting with people who aren't her siblings. so much of the time we see her in the comic it's with one of the other endless, and that's all well and good, i love that, but her siblings know what to expect with her. you really can't beat moments like these for comedy and just general i love her-ness

• exploring the fact that delirium is not a child. like this one we get plenty of already, if you're paying attention to it, but yeah - it's one of her bigger inner conflicts, the way her siblings view her vs the way she actually is, more on that here. but i'm always down to see more of her independence and just what makes her tick

but overall, i'd just wanna see more del! part of what i love about her is i can never predict what she's gonna be up to the next time we see her, or what she's gonna say, and all of my favourite moments with her are ones that surprised me or that i never would have thought of. so just give me more del content where she gets to be herself!

[silverchronicler]

Prime Report for TennoCon (July) 2024 - SPECIAL EDITION

hey what the fuck

Prime Access

SO some stuff happened at TennoCon. Let's talk about what it might mean for the future.

Currently in Prime Access is Protea Prime, along with Velox Prime and Okina Prime. As was revealed at TennoCon, she's slated to be replaced by Sevagoth Prime, alongside Epitaph Prime and Nautilus Prime in August, when they release with The Lotus Eaters, a planned August 2024 update coming to Warframe.

Protea Prime was released on May 1, 2024, making her guaranteed 90 day reign end just about August 1. They've almost all been slated to go a little longer than that though, so it's likely that the update will come out mid August. I'd bet it comes either August 14th or August 21st, but that's just throwing darts at a dart board. Maybe if they have all their ducks in a row we'll get it on the 7th. Most of these dates are less than a month away, so it's best to keep this in mind if you wanted to get her.

This is great. He looks great. But it does raise one question:

Where's Xaku Prime?

Speculation under the cut.

Sevagoth Prime being announced as the next one was a surprise. Mainly because, any way you slice it, he's way out of the order of expectation. Usually they follow a pattern that organizes the Prime warframes by gender, but then goes loosely in release order. Male-Male-Female-Female-Male-Male-etc, with frames being slotted into those slots according to the pattern they were released in loosely, with maybe two being switched around here or there.

Now, Xaku was always going to be an interesting case and exception (sort of) to this, because Xaku is pluriform as they are made up of the remnants of multiple warframes implied to be of multiple genders. But to me this means that they could fit into whatever slot they happen to match to, since they are, in a way, of both/all genders. Xaku was the first frame to come out after Protea, so it'd make sense that they'd be slotted right after her, which is what I've been expecting this whole time since I wrote about it in January.

Instead, Sevagoth is jumping two slots to take the slot after Protea, also jumping over Lavos, who is the next male warframe in line. I'd expect there'd need to be a pretty decent reason for this big of an upset in their pattern. They didn't give much of one, and in fact Xaku wasn't mentioned at all during TennoCon as far as I could tell. I had sort of hoped they'd at least say they were coming back to Xaku but DE made no mention of any other future primes or the frames around Sevagoth in any notable way.

Now, that's not a bad thing necessarily. These patterns have never been officially announced as far as I can tell, but they've been pretty closely followed for the general fairness of the prime process. Following close to a pattern means they aren't playing favorites choosing warframes to prime, and that no frame gets forgotten for getting a Prime. But there could be plenty of reasons for them deciding to or wanting to change it up. Maybe they wound up having a few in process at once and Sevagoth wound up being the one that was far enough in the process to do next, with Xaku and Lavos still needing their concepts refined, something like that.

I know there's been some anxiety in the past around Xaku getting a prime as their whole concept doesn't lend itself easily to the concept of a prime warframe in the same way that almost every other warframe does, but I definitely think if Xaku weren't going to get a prime at all, they would have already told us. They know people are looking forward to Xaku Prime, and with more and more weird and unique warframe concepts being introduced these days, there's no good reason why having a unique concept should keep Xaku from getting a prime. More likely something came up in the development process that caused some hiccups, and I could think of plenty of reasons for this, especially around TennoCon being the reveal of the next prime. We have no reason to think anything other than that Xaku is being pushed back a slot or two, and Lavos as well.

But either way, we have no current info from DE as far as I know, but if that changes then I'll update this somehow.

As for if they'll do something to rectify the gendered slot pattern, it's impossible to say.

Predictions for Future Prime Order: (Bold is already exists)

Grendel Gauss Protea (We are here) Sevagoth (Announced) Xaku Lavos Yareli Gyre Caliban Styanax

Or, if they have decided to eschew double gender order from now on:

Protea Sevagoth Xaku Lavos Yareli Caliban Gyre Styanax

I could also see them switching Xaku and Lavos on either of these lists if for some reason Xaku continues to be a problem. I personally wouldn't get worried about anything unless we get both Lavos and Yareli prime without hearing any news about Xaku prime. At that point I'd be asking some serious questions, but for now this is unexpected but fine. Sevagoth Prime is gonna be cool as hell, and we already know that.

Prime Resurgence

Currently available from Varzia are Nekros Prime with Tigris Prime and Galantine Prime and Harrow Prime with Scourge Prime and Knell Prime, along with relics for their component parts and such. They are slated to stay there until August 1st, at which point they'll be replaced by Mesa Prime and Limbo Prime.

Also available from Varzia until October 24th are Ember Prime with Sicarus Prime and Glaive Prime, and Rhino Prime with Boltor Prime and Ankyros Prime. They and their relics are available to celebrate the Ember Heirloom Collection that launched the morning of TennoCon with DE's new system for Heirloom Collections. If you don't know about the new system, I suggest you look at the Heirloom Collection page on the warframe website to familiarize yourself with it. At TennoCon, they announced that Rhino Prime would be the next Heirloom Collection after Ember, thus why they get to share the space in Varzia's for now. Get them while the getting's good!

Ok I think that's everything! Gonna try to do shorter versions of these more often but when there's more to talk about I feel more motivated to write them so we'll see! Happy Prime Hunting!

[wawawawawawawawawawawawawa]

Working on a fic rn that is killing me, I GOTTA talk about it. Imagine ftm Izaya being asked by Shinra and Celty to be their surrogate bc their options are limited and they assume he wouldn't be able to get attached to the baby bc of his aspd and general disposition (unfair assumption on their part) Izaya only agrees bc he can't stand the idea of disappointing Shinra and proceeds to go through the mental anguish of dysmorphia and carrying a baby that's not even his that he wants to love so much

i. man. ive been presenting this ask to my friends all day because this is such a good fucking idea. this is perhaps the best drr fic of all time by my personal ranking (which also happens to be the correct ranking) and i thought id give you a couple fun little bits of informed mation that could possibly help you with this fic :) one of them is surrogacy related the other is aspd related

SO!!! the first thing i did was show my fiance and i said, well, izaya could keep the baby if he wanted, surrogacy laws are in his favor. but then i thought..... are they? because i was basing that off surrogacy laws in the us..... so i googled it!

surrogacy in japan is um, Extremely Controversial! first off, surrogates do have legal guardianship of the baby, the parents who want the baby have to go thru a formal adoption process, and if it goes to court, courts would most likely side with the surrogate.

BUT!!!!!! the welfare of the child is explicitly stated to be the first and foremost concern. at the end of the day, a married couple could very well win over a single man, especially a single man with antisocial personality disorder, if his diagnosis is on record anywhere. (of course this is all dependent on whether or not izaya GOES to court, and if celty can keep her helmet on and pose as a mute human woman)

either way, this all but confirms that shinra would be izaya's obgyn. imagine at every checkup, shinra is cooing over how well his baby is doing, completely oblivious to how upset izaya is <3 did u know that if you're trans and you get pregnant, you have to stop taking your hrt? too much testosterone can cause miscarriages- very high levels of natural T is actually why i'm infertile </3 so that can be a little extra angst for izaya~ <3

NEXT! THING!!

let me introduce u to the concept of aspd exceptions <3

it's..... kind of like the aspd version of a pwbpd's favorite person? kind of? not really

it's like. sometimes, for one person, the aspd will not be aspding. they're... literally the exception to how your symptoms work. things like empathy and yeah even remorse will work within like, normal operating levels. it's kind of weird tbh and kind of distressing? like, since you're not used to these emotions being there, especially with how strong they are, you have no way to cope with them. it sucks major ass and while it can being people closer together, it also sucks major ass. like.... if you never felt remorse before, suddenly feeling remorse over something you commonly do just because you did it to one Specific Person, leaves you with this very strong, very bad emotion, that you have no way to cope with!

and its not just remorse too, things like empathy fire off at full cylinders, so like... if ur used to just using cognitive empathy and logicing out things, imagine how much itd suck to suddenly be ass blasted by Functioning Normally Affective Empathy

anyway there's this one lady on tiktok who has aspd, and she talks about aspd symptoms a lot. she has a young child, and that child is her exception

get what i'm getting at here? ;) imagine izaya going thru all this then, while already distressed, dysphoric, and hormonal, shit like EMPATHY and strong STRONG emotional ties started kicking in wrt his baby and now he has to deal with extremely strong emotions he is not used to!

(and in case ur wondering, yes i do have exceptions, but who it exactly IS changes from time to time and the feeling ebbs away over time too so sometimes i don't have one)

anyway!!! i love this fic already. PLEASE dm me i need to go absolute ham over this with you. please. please . i can introduce u to my friends so thats like. 3 friends for the price of one

please tell me this ends happily i do not think i would be able to handle it if it did not. please. i am crying and begging and pissing . please.

[earthstellar]

Pathologic IDW Transformers AU Concept

This might be slightly niche, I don’t know. I think this game is popular enough to make an AU for it, lol 

But I got a minute to play a little Pathologic (Мор. Утопия) lately and my brain went “concept time” so here we go!!! 

For those who don’t know what the fuck Pathologic is, it’s an “oh shit the town has plague and it’s REAL BAD” game but it’s excellent 

There are three main characters, and this is massively simplifying things, but Pathologic is a Whole Thing so I’m just going to summarise very roughly here: 

1) Bachelor - Mostly a douchebag/privileged, but actually a doctor. Lots of medical knowledge. 

2) Haruspex - If you don’t know what a haruspex is, it’s someone who divines through manipulating organs of sacrificed animals. Some medical/anatomical knowledge. 

3) Changeling - Arcane magic lady. No or little (scientific) medical knowledge. 

All three do various forms of medicine to try to unfuck the town and the population of said town, but everyone (including them) are, let’s say, “not okay” so this is is difficult. 

So, the Transformers AU concept: 

The Bachelor is Ratchet, the Haruspex is Pharma, the Changeling is Velocity. 

The town that gets fucked by ultra-cosmic-plague is actually not on Cybertron, but is instead a small settlement on Paradron. 

This is to maintain the feeling of 1) everyone sort of having to show up in the middle of all this shit, so there is an element of finding their footing and figuring out what the hell happened and 2) the town in the game is fucked up and possibly trans-dimensional, and Paradron is canonically accessible only via space vortex, which has a similar kind of vibe to it. 

IDK I’m exhausted lmao but I just like the idea of space robot medics solving a spooky fucked up plague situation -- Which they already did in the whole Delphi Arc in MTMTE, but I mean

The vibe of Pathologic is so deeply fucked, it’s genuinely hopeless and weird and I love it, and it would be cool to get a similar drawn out “oh shit we have to defeat the plague” kind of scenario with these three 

It’s not even necessarily the grimness or whatever, but it’s the funky borderline-supernatural shit approached in a fairly realistic way that I like the most about Pathologic, and Transformers has a bunch of cool arcane space lore that is sadly almost never utilised in canon very often 

It would be interesting to see how each of the three different types of scenarios in Pathologic would play out in a Transformers context:

Perhaps due to the arcane nature of this plague, Ratchet’s medical knowledge (as extensive as it is) can only ever be so effective. With his scepticism, he may miss critical signs  or lose certain opportunities to make actual progress towards any kind of true treatment or “cure”. 

Perhaps Pharma’s approach may be slightly more successful, as it uses arcane elements combined with medical knowledge, but at the cost of divining the cure in such a way that causes fatalities in and of itself. 

Perhaps Velocity’s methods of combining cultural knowledge of cityspeaking and reverence of the Primes may allow her to utilise more arcane elements to a greater benefit, but with such methods, is the outcome predictable or even guaranteed? 

I feel like there’s potential for an AU in here somewhere that I might write a little for someday, I’ll put it on my table of like 50 fics I never have time to work on lmao sigh