#which really fucks me up and makes me feel like I'm misremembering

[tryingahandinholdingapen]

yes exactly you get me. requires very little suspension of belief for locals, it's almost the only/most logical conclusion, with the information they have

"why are there only two of them" is a very important question, as is "how do they know each other" and "okay should we be worried about Why Exactly they immediately get real shifty+evasive whenever we ask about this faraway land?"

I am imagining child!KRS here as a very little kid, like, somewhere between 3 and 10 maybe, probably closer to 3 than 10...so the idea of the particular word 'battle-hardened' is kind of half funny and half really sad. But yes they've both very clearly been Through Some Shit

ooooh they could potentially end up reinforcing the misunderstanding that 'their people' invoked the wrath of a god quite easily I think. mention that neither of them believe in gods, for one. for another, I think part of the way the misunderstandings snowball out of proportion is probably a matter of "everyone assumes they're talking about the same thing and/or everyone has a bit of a tendency to pretend they know more than they actually know in an attempt to probe for more information (but then misinterpret the information they gain through doing this)"

what I'm saying is that at some point someone thinks to themself, okay, there's apparently only two of these people left, so clearly SOMETHING happened, maybe if I pretend I know what it was I will gain more information. so they say something about how it was such a pity what happened to child!KRS + Choi Han's home. they're being quite vague but accidentally stumble across like one or two minor assumptions that make KRS thinks they already know about the whole...monster apocalypse thing. and KRS is internally going okay how the actual FUCK do you know anything about that. externally he says as little as he can to acknowledge what they said (clearly avoiding it ENTIRELY is only raising more questions, which is the last thing he wants) but also shut down the conversation because honestly who would want to talk about that hellish experience if they don't have to

so essentially someone makes an extremely generic statement including one (1) minor guess at the state of...wherever these two used to live....and child!KRS makes some statement like "I don't really want to think about how many people died after the Cataclysm, actually. We managed to get ourselves together eventually. [Extremely conspicuously changes the subject]" and this statement is both extremely alarming and also seems to imply that child!KRS views the "Cataclysm" whatever that is, as common knowledge

I think I may be misremembering things now so feel free to call me out if so but. Shelters were a thing right??? Or was that in a different world they travelled to later? I do not remember

uhhh assuming that was in the same world KRS started off in....we could easily have someone making the assumption that these shelters were temples. which goes hand in hand with the "why are these two the only ones left did they invoke the wrath of a god" to be like "did they somehow simultaneously piss off one or more gods whilst ALSO gaining favour/sanctuary from another? some god(s) inflicting a localised apocalypse on them, some god(s) creating shelters that could not be breached, nor fall, for them?"

Choi Han would of course be extremely unhelpful for everyone ever in trying to get answers since his experiences in Korea do not match up with KRS's experiences at all. However I think we could potentially get around that by having Choi Han at some point mention that after reaching around 17 years old, several decades are just a complete blur for him and he's not very sure what happened then at all <- he is of course referring to the first decades in the Forest of Darkness where he was just hellbent focussed on learning how to survive in that nightmare and days passing were NOT a priority, but I'd be very interested in what theories/assumptions others may come up with about those missing decades of memories

oh!!! I like your suggestions of possible war or gods fury to explain why child!KRS and Choi Han are the only Koreans around, but may I add another possibility

what if people assume what happened in KRS's Korea once happened in their world as well? Here I am thinking about possibly equating abilities such as Record+Instant with Ancient Powers, and also thinking "hey, how do forbidden areas (like the Forest of Darkness, overrun with monsters, like a much smaller scale of the Cataclysm causing so many monsters? maybe??) come into existence, anyway?"

uhhh that's all the thoughts I have for now

I've read several fics in which KRS, instead of ending up as Cale, instead ends up as a child (sometimes specifically a Korean child) in Roan and yk what that makes me really want?

I want a fic where KRS (small Korean child, much older than he looks) and Choi Han (only other Korean person the people of TCF have ever seen, ALSO much older than he looks) are having a bit of a disagreement or argument, and for whatever reason Choi Han tries to pull the age card. Says something like kid I am a hundred years older than you respect your elders, except not exactly that because that wouldnt be IC at all, but something along those lines yk. This does NOT work because KRS is like hello?? you are LESS than a century older than me (if you want to add extra effect let's say for whatever reason KRS is older than usual here (maybe this isn't the first time he's transmigrated?) so KRS himself is like, 70 or smth minimum) most of which doesn't even count because you have JACKSHIT real life experience. also you're not fully grown either! (Choi Han is still physically like 17 which means if his aging wasn't weird he'd probably still have at least one growth spurt ahead of him) stop trying to pull the age card!!! you're not a Real AdultTM either!!!

and whoever is listening/eavesdropping promptly adds 2 and 2 and gets 5 (completely understandably to be fair, with the information they have) because like

okay

as far as I can tell, opinions seem to vary on if/to what extent different ethnicities exist on Nameless? But certainly less than on Earth, and certainly Korean isn't one of the ethnicities they'd recognise, plus there's generally a pretty solid belief that theres the Western Continent and the Eastern Continent and That's It. BUT what they do have are an absolute shit ton of different sapient SPECIES, a lot of whom the average person may never meet or even heard of, either because they're rare as fuck (e.g. dragons) or because they're in hiding (e.g. dark elves). And a lot of the non-human species age completely differently

So what I'm saying is

If someone saw Choi Han and child!KRS, the only Korean people they've ever seen, having an argument that includes reference to Choi Han being 'only' about a century older than KRS, and therefore still a child, which is more likely for them to believe?

Option a) Choi Han + KRS are an ethnicity they've never seen before, either from a place they've never heard of before or from an entire other world, and the age thing is either a lie or a running joke that these two for....some reason...decided to treat seriously even in the middle of an argument <- this option requires breaking several of the character's existing beliefs about the world and requires the assumption that Choi Han + KRS are treating the lie/joke as way more important than whatever argument they're having

Option b) KRS + Choi Han are being serious about the ages, and are some species the character(s) have never heard of that ages differently to humans. specifically one where reaching actual adulthood takes Ages but the children are still fairly mature+capable <- this option doesn't create the weird question of "why would these two treat a joke about age more seriously than their argument" and also doesn't really challenge the character(s)'s understanding of the world. like yes, it does require the assumption that there's a species in the world that the character(s) didn't yet know about/recognise BUT depending on where this is in the timeline and/or which character(s) is doing the eavesdropping (.....and on the assumption that I'm not just getting dark elves + necromancers confused, which I might be, in which case, oope) then they've already had the "well I thought x species/profession was extinct but it turns out they're not" realisation, and could reasonably go "...maybe these two are like that?" Or they could assume that like dragons, whatever species this is is just very rare and tends to isolate themselves. Either way! Wouldn't challenge their perception of the world nearly as much. It'd be fine on the age front as well - Raon is definitely a child at 4 years old but there was also like, zero hesitation on KRS!Cale's part in believing that the kid was mature+capable enough to manage/live on his own, so there's precedent for people at least believing that some of the species that age slower may have children that are nevertheless quite mature, kind of thing

This got really long and I have no idea how coherent I'm being but the short version is I want a fic wherein someone(s) assume that Choi Han and child!KRS are an unknown long living species, and I want this assumption to happen right near the beginning of it all and for that misunderstanding to then snowball/affect a shit ton of other things as time + plot proceeds

[bookhobbit]

I have no idea if this is just like an artifact of What I'm Seeing Lately. So it could be purely bias in what's crossing my view not a real thing. But I've seen such a sharp rise in the last like 2ish years of Girl Power popular media being like "only losers ask you to split the bill! Yuck!" I feel like when I was growing up it was pretty common for Girl Power popular media to be totally okay with splitting the bill as a sign of, like, Equality In Relationships. Is this...an actual change? Is it just a change in what I'm seeing rather than what's out there? Idk. Weirds me out though.

[somuchwatersoclosetohome]

good morning job seekers here are my thoughts on last night's stage/fright!! others have covered the main plot points and points of interest so this is literally ~1000 words of self-indulgent inane drivel that i wrote in my notes app at 1am (so sorry if there's misremembered lines / typos etc.), you're welcome

(will edit as i remember more stuff)

spoilers for stage/fright 22/03 evening show

le general observations

ok first up let me just say the VIBES for this show were IMPECCABLE. as many of you know this is my third watch and i feel like the energy this time was j u i c y

this time and the last time i went were both saturday evenings which i think can be good? like this audience were super engaged but not overly rowdy... it felt the right level of keen-ness that the company were responding to

all of this to say that it definitely looked to me as if the company but especially R&S were 👏 feeling 👏 themselves 👏

also means that when y'all go and see s/f be keeeeen!! they really respond to (the appropriate amount of) whooping and hollering at the right moments. i mean they literally say in the programme "you can't hear smiles" lol and we all know about reece's experiences with the 'corpses' in the producers lmao

speculation.com, i wonder if the company are feeling this but i'm definitely acutely aware that there's <2 weeks left of the run now 🥺 (where did all the time go???), which i'm trying hard not to think about because (1) sad and (2) what will i base my personality on from 6 april 2025

i’m going to cry SO HARD on the final shows

act 1

R&S got a muuuuch longer applause than i've seen previously when they come out in front of the curtain post-hamlet / a house divided scene to introduce the show. like the applause and wooping went on what felt like a solid minute. they looked happy it was cute!!

paul whitehouse was the hostage and lmaoooo did the guy milk it. the bit where they ask him what he's been in he just kept going listing stuff for aaaages

BUT it looked like R&S were having a great time here. i mean tbh reece spent most of this section with his back to the audience or adjusting his moustache bc he was lol'ing so much

an EXCELLENT fast show reference when paul has to do the spanish accent on the phone and len/eddie comes out with "SCORCHIO" iykyk

covered elsewhere but eddie knows paul from gone fisting / gone girl (and one other that i have neglected to remember)

paul whitehouse cannot play the trumpet. like at all. no sound was produced (len/eddie even says "try turning it on" and mimes switching it on haha)

len/eddie/steve's voice goes so high when he says "it's jUst a sTiCK of ceLerY" and tommy/ray/reece visibly loses it cracking up

🚨 jeremy dyson callout 🚨 as paul is leaving he said something about working with the clever/smart one jeremy dyson haha

also from the BCDR wider bit, tommy's voice crack on "you almost died len" was hearTBREAKING reece nailed it 10/10

act 2

let me open this section with HUGO my one true love this character has grown on me so much and he is honestly such a highlight. he needs his own spin-off tbh

reece was also playing hugo turned up to 11 imo

hugo/reece got a full on applause for his elements song dance number i was so happy!! last couple of times i've seen it's just got some laughs but this time people clapped for ages again to the point they had to wait for people to stop clapping before they could continue. YES BBY YOU'RE AMAZING

hugo did the leg amputation bit SO exaggeratedly this time, from the "this one sir?" to dragging the bone saw along the tray when he takes it from madam cragg

in general the p h y s i c a l i t y of reece in this production is just something else. he does it as eddie and hugo and the fucking bunny hops and exaggerated movement are just so good and make such a difference so thank you rs for the commitment to the bit

between the last time i saw s/f and this time i learned about the concept of sleeve garters (i think thanks to @vagueeyes) and now i noticed them on goudron muahah

i'd picked up from others' watches to watch marcus during the trepanning scene and yes! very worth it!! he mouthes along with the lines very nice detail

every time i've seen the musical number R&S have both looked sooo happy and again tonight. honestly petition for both of them but especially r to be in a fully fledged musical bc he smiles so much in this segment man is in his element

standing ovation 💖💖💖

stage door

right ok so first my GOD i have not seen the line this long so far?? like it literally went from the stage door around the corner onto charing cross rd and almost back to the main entrance of the theatre?? and they still came out and signed everything for everyone that was waiting 😭 true kings i'm still in awe at how they just... don't have to do this at all and yet they still do and they're so patient with everyone

i mean i said nothing of note to them bc i was on cloud 9 (hur hur) but just !!! thank you for coming out

i noticed this last time i went but absolute lols how steve is always the always the one carrying all the gift bags etc. from fans and reece is entirely unencumbered (apart from infamous CAT bag) like yas king go off

i overheard someone asking steve if there was going to be a DVD of the show and he said no 😔 but i wonder, who knows if you can trust these jokers... theres_been_a_twist.mp4

and THEN i had A Thought: imagine the concept - a filmed version of stage/fright with a commentary a la TLoG shows..... please simon evans do it for the fans

omg this is so long and i've said like nothing of note hahahaha ok well thanks for sticking with it

(oh also i'm actually writing this from the afterlife because i touched reece's hand)

[dtupdating]

DREAM replied to another Reddit post!

Transcript under the cut!

Ludwig slightly misremembered, and didn't explain in a super fair way imo it makes me sound way worse than what actually happened

tldr;

I dmd ludwig suggesting he make a video, and offering myself for questions

ludwig replied and eventually said that I jokingly called one of his friends a whore

Due to the fact that a friend of Nicolas Cantu's had recently falsely said that "I got slapped at a party for calling a girl a whore", I asked him if that's what it was about.

He said no, and that he can't tell me more information because he doesn't think it's worth resurfacing it for her sake

I replied with a message about that, and then said I'd also provide context to the other situation just in case he was just telling me it's not about that situation (to "protect" the person's identity) even though it was, because I had no idea about any other situation.

Here's the important parts of that message that I sent him:

oh well unfortunately I guess I can't talk about this because I don't know what you're talking about at all, but I will say this as a general statement; A lot of people spread false stuff about me, or exaggerate, and have done it a lot ESPECIALLY during all of this stuff going on, as it's easy to sensationalize things because of how "hated" I seem. Intentionally, OR unintentionally. I have had to clear up so many different false stories of me being weird, or just a total shit bag, because the rumor mill runs super fucking strong when you're getting shit on 24/7. And every time it's just "oh okay that makes sense". It's not always someone lying, but it's almost always someone not realizing that exaggerating and mischaracterizing what they're saying can be a big deal, and isn't something they should do. I have never randomly called someone a whore, I have never called someone a whore derogatorily, and I would never do that.

I will completely and fully say that I have called friends of mine jokingly whore's / sluts / whatever, GUYS ANDS GIRLS, but only with people that joke along with it, or have expressly said they don't care, and again, only with friends of mine. This situation has been a lesson to just never say it at all though, because it's being used to make me out as a bad person. I would never use it that way, never ever meant anything negative when I've ever said it, and never have used it to insult or demean anyone, in any way.

I don't know the situation you're talking about, and obviously it's seemingly a bad look to have "multiple instances" where I called a girl a whore lmao, but I just cannot fathom that I called a stranger a whore, even jokingly, regardless of whether I was drunk or not. If I actually did, I would absolutely want to apologize and clear up anything that I possibly can with them, because it's upsetting to know that I made anyone upset or made them feel badly. I would like to say though, that it's not unreasonable to think that it is a misrepresentation of what actually happened, or is being looked at through a negative tint given recent events, when if this wasn't all going on, it would've been viewed as "oh that's obviously a joke". Given the fact that I have been a bit of a punching bag for a bit online, and you never know what motivations people have to spread things. Idk when this would've been as well, because like I said, the Nicolas stuff was pretty eye opening in a lot of ways, including specifically how people feel about those words in general. Which I never really thought about, and again, I've always been extremely careful and delicate with how I interact with anyone I've just met.

I NEVER would demean or speak down on someone like that. If that did actually happen, it was naivety on my part and not malice, and it's a word I'm removing from my vocabulary, and I hope I get a chance to apologize to them. But again, I have no idea what you're specifically talking about, so I probably won't get a chance, or even confirmation that it happened.

Either way, I understand why he didn't reply (I sent walls of text) and don't fault him for it. Although, the way this was said is annoying!

[scoobydoodean]

hot take ig but… dean wanting to contain jack was not cruel or even a bad idea…

first, it was not just dean’s idea. sam agreed, and cas had basically the same idea, just using the cage instead. but for some reason everybody ignores this!! second, containing dangerous people is what they always do. sam and cas have done so to dean. the s5 finale was all about locking up a dangerous powerful being. and there are other examples! third, jack was the most powerful being in the universe and had no soul meaning no ability to discern right from wrong. he was killing people! and they’ve always seen soulless people as dangerous. dean was willing to let sam die via the process of returning his soul bc he saw that soulless sam was not sam. and sam agreed!

like. yes dean was not handling the situation well, let alone gently, so i understand why sam and cas were frustrated. but his mother had just been killed (and ftr i do think cas was being kind of insensitive about it), and jack was still killing other people. dean’s allowed to be angry. he was being outwardly meaner, but sam was agreeing with him (he said a part of him wanted jack dead!) up until the point that dean actually agreed to kill jack for chuck.

idk i just feel like people really exaggerate dean’s actions in this situation especially in comparison to what sam and cas were saying and/or doing too. so i’m just wondering what you think of all of this? do you think dean was “right” or was he overreacting? or do you think the audience is too hard on dean (as always :/) about this? could this be another version of samdela effect? cause i feel like people misremember what the others were saying/doing in order to put more on dean…

also omg i just realized how long this became, so so sorry for the long rant!! if you can respond, thank you!

*opens my coat* would you care for some memes?

I will take your hot take and flambé it. When it comes to this subject, I don't feel inclined to be patient with fandom or carefully lay anything out piece by piece. I'm sick and tired of hearing about what a betrayal it was to put Jack in the box and how mean and evil and abusive it was blah blah blah cry me a river. I was there watching when that episode aired and saw how stupid everyone was about that episode in real time and it was annoying then and it continues to be annoying that almost no one seems to bother putting a single granule of thought into this episode or what Sam and Dean were thinking or what the stakes actually were. And yeah—it was not just Dean who did that despite the samdela effect hard at work causing people to insist Dean somehow forced Sam to go along with him when that categorically did not happen.

People act like Jack was just standing there shitting rainbows and unicorns out of his ass and Dean turned around and strangled him to death for it. What happened was Soulless Jack killed Sam and Dean's mom and then went off and turned someone into a pillar of salt for being an atheist and filled someone else's body with worms to punish them for not wanting to be turned into an angel. Then he showed up at the bunker trying to make nice in the most hauntingly emotionless way possible—calling killing Mary an accident and then in his next breath saying he snapped and killed her because she threatened to reveal that the manner in which he killed Nick was scary and disturbed. In other words—he made it very clear to Mary's sons that murdering her was not actually a fucking accident at all even while he was calling it one.

Jack: I know -- I know things have been bad. A-And, if it helps, I regret it. The accident. Sam: The -- The accident? Jack: What happened to Mary. She kept talking about my soul, t-that I didn't have a soul, and she kept pushing. Dean: Oh, so she made you do it. Jack: No, it -- it was me, but I didn't want this no-soul thing to become an issue between us. I guess I snapped. Before I knew it, it was all over. Dean: "It" being the accident.

So Sam and Dean tricked him (the most powerful being in all creation) into getting in a box and he sat in there for 10 minutes. Oh no. How horrible.

A lot of the stupid fandom response to this is rooted in the babyfication of Jack that ran rampant within fandom at the time and continues in many circles. I happen to like Jack, and when I say that, I mean that I actually like him, and not the fanon adultbabydestiellovechild the fandom invented who has the emotional and mental capacity of a two year old and can't understand the difference between right and wrong. The real Jack did understand, and the real Jack would be (and was when he returned) horrified by what soulless Jack did (and for more than just how it would impact him). Jack was always an emotional person who struggled to control great power, but he had a strong moral compass and he loved people. That Jack would never have subjected someone to the twisted biblical punishments soulless Jack did for the crime of not believing in god or in him???? That Jack would have thrown Dumah into a wall in a rage for the mere suggestion he kill people over their beliefs and said, "You're hurting people". That Jack also would have wanted Sam and Dean to lock him up to protect others.

Some of the fandom problem with this also has to do the soulless lore as a whole and the constant usage of Donatello as the "soulless people can manage" poster child. Which ignores not only soulless Jack's actual behavior and how deeply dangerous his powers make him, but... pretty much every other soulless person we ever saw in the series, from soulless Sam, to numerous victims of Amara who turned into raging murderers in season 11 after she ate their souls. Hell though—the same people who insist soulless Jack was some poor little baby who just needed gentle parenting probably also think there was nothing wrong with soulless Sam despite the fact that he watched his brother be assaulted multiple times and seemed to actively enjoy it. Just normal Sam things, right? Donatello is the exceptional soulless person—not the rule—and it's because it isn't in his best interest to make trouble.

The idea that soulless Jack could be molded was suggested by Cas, but he also (as you pointed out) ended up inquiring about putting Jack in The Cage, instead of the Ma'lak box (and after the Ma'lak box was destroyed, so it wasn't an option anymore).

Lbr—the misogyny also jumped out in this string of episodes. Countless posts one after the other about how stupid Mary was and how it was all her fault and Jack did nothing wrong. How dare she make Jack angry. God forbid. What a stupid, frail, illogical woman. She deserved to die long before that anyway because she was a terrible mother, right? I mean it was obvious this sort of nonsense would come from the fandom in advance, given how many people had meltdowns over Dean shooting Jack in the back (something that didn't hurt Jack in the least) to get him to stop strangling a black store clerk to death in 13.23. As always, the imagined frail little fee fees of the white adult baby that fans invented must supersede other people's lives. Jack should be allowed to throw whatever tantrums he wants and kill anyone he wants during them and in response, Dean should shush him and start singing lullabies and carry him to a rocking chair to nurse.

[nesta-apologist]

ACOSF would have been bad from Feyre's perspective

If ACOSF had been from Feyre's perspective it would have been really difficult to read (and not really because of Nesta - that situation would just be a contributing factor)

Rhysand is being incredibly pissy and Feyre doesn't know why for a majority of the book. He's just generally grumpy and more protective over her. Yeah she's accepted that pregnancy would be that way ... but even the IC + Nesta thinks it's too much until they find out why, exactly, Rhys is being so difficult

The pregnancy complications, which Rhys isn't sharing with her. Meaning he's holding it all in, and she can't even help, let alone know about her own fate. It's a lose-lose situation for both Feyre and Rhys that he decided not to tell her. Moving on.

Rhys' way of making up with her after arguments is basically never admitting she's right or finding common ground, it's usually just sex and other physical favors. Don't get me wrong, Feyre does seem happy with it, but Rhys isn't actually solving the problems with this, he's just making Feyre less mad at him. Just a big ol' red flag for me

Rhys and Nesta also clash anytime they see each other. I don't need to elaborate on how stressful that is to Feyre, it's so obvious

Above point x2 because Mor and Amren hate Nesta so much

Feyre's concerned about Nesta's recovery. She likely couldn't be as involved as she might have been if it weren't for the pregnancy, but even then she and Nesta are pretty consistently at each other's throats. There was just no room to work on their relationship here. The whole intervention thing was a last resort for Feyre, as she'd wanted to give Nesta time to process, and it didn't seem like she was that convinced this idea would work (it was Rhysand's idea, Feyre just agreed to it under pressure). Especially after Elain went to visit just to get into an argument with Nesta. Yes, Cassian might have been reporting back that she was making progress but even he was definitely still on edge the whole time. Not to mention that everyone (unfairly) treats Nesta like a ticking time bomb. I just imagine this stress was a relatively consistent weight on her shoulders

When Nesta finally fucking tells her about her pregnancy complications, she has to gracefully deal with the emotional fall-out of both realizing that everyone lied to her and that everyone is blaming Nesta for this problem. She literally encourages Cassian to get Nesta out of there just so Rhys can't get to her? Horrible

Feyre is also still pregnant! and the struggles of pregnancy aren't going anywhere just because she's in a near-constant argue/make-up cycle with Rhys

So in conclusion, Feyre was not having an incredibly happy time just because she didn't know about the inevitable birth complications. I can't imagine the whole of ACOSF wasn't incredibly draining for her in the background. It's a wonder to me she holds herself as gracefully as she does this whole time.

I'm sure I'm even missing some stuff because I read the book about a month ago. Feel free to correct me if I misremembered something, but

Everyone talks about how Rhys kind of started to seem like a villain in ACOSF. Peopl say it's just because it's Nesta's POV, but just look at his actions, well-meaning or not (I'm not saying he's good or bad (not here at least) but it's pretty clear he's not being all that helpful here).

ACOSF would have been full of emotional turmoil no matter who's POV it was

[charlie-pippin-faraday]

My danganronpa v3 chapter 6 running commentary:

"MY NAME IS MAKOTO??????"

excuse me you black-haired bitch you're not makoto naegi

bro what the HELL was going on in that cutscene i'm so confused

"if my actions result in your deaths so be it" nah there's something wrong here, that doesn't sound like that keebo i know

keebo's protecting us he's stalling keebo i love you i love you so much

guys i gotta level up my FRIENDSHIP POINTS to move ROCKS

ah shit fam we finally found kokichi's lab. it looks like a door from fallout in a literal tunnel underground lol

kokichi wants to be a batman villain so bad

is kokichi actually the ultimate improv comedian or something what is this

what is the "inconsistency" in the hope's peak academy book that shuichi pointed out but won't tell me? come on now don't leave me hanging. is it that makoto established the academy for normies actually? or is it something to do with the secret DR2 killing game?

i'm not wrong about either of those facts, am i? am i misremembering? didn't makoto say in i think the anime that he wanted to establish the new hope's peak for everyone and not just ultimates? and weren't the events of jabberwock island kept a secret from the general public? the fact that he was trying to rehab the remnants of despair in the neo world program was supposed to be a secret, right? to protect them?? am i wrong about that??

that flashback light only had me more confused

woah you can go outside and watch an action sequence of keebo fighting an exisal that's fucking sick

kokichi has the wax figure of rantaro?? just strung up by his bed?? what the????

oh THAT'S where the caged child document went!

so he really WAS the leader of the ultimate improv comedy group

i bet they do flash mobs

i think a more accurate title for him would be "ultimate little shit"

obsessed with the whiteboard in his room with all our pictures on it. he wrote who murdered whom, then wrote "suspicious" by maki, "weird" by keebo, "trustworthy?" by me, and "annoying" by the monokubs lol

REAL makoto naegi??? in the flashback flesh???

hell yeah we're FINALLY going to rantaro's lab!

...now that i'm in here i instantly regret it i don't like it in here

how did kokichi know about the vaults in rantaro's lab early enough to leave those notes? did HE even leave those notes? and WHY do the vaults have a monokuma USB in them?

is it gonna have that message from rantaro that we saw in a cutscene earlier?

ha i knew it

ultimate survivor? maybe himiko wasn't joking when she said maybe he went on a bunch of game shows lol. get this man to CBS

"i never imagined rantaro the first victim would come up again like this" i mean, *i* could! at least i was hoping. there were way too many unanswered questions about him

the voice of one of these unnamed classmates in this flashback sounds SUSPICIOUSLY like bryce papenbrook. i've learned never to take his presence lightly in these games

cold sleep room?!

aw hey the whole gang back together in the flashback! man it's been awhile since i've seen some of these people

i'm sorry, kaede has a TWIN??????

bro this game actually game overed me because i spent too much time clicking on people to talk to. I WAS TRYING TO BE THOROUGH IN MY INVESTIGATION!!!!!!! i didn't think it would do that to me, i just thought the time limit would be done once i'd completed everything. ffs

...motherkuma?

oh the mastermind just be making flashback lights to include whatever memories they choose? so yeah they all have to be COMPLETE crap

if himiko suddenly reappeared and is once again being super unhelpful about how she escaped the sealed hidden room, i'm guessing that means there's another door to that room

oh shit fam a hidden passage in the girl's bathroom? hm

hey they repaired keebo's ahoge! which was the key to his inner voice clearly

ha i knew those "small bugs" were actually cameras of a sort

"i'll hit them with my 'all your relationships will end up being love triangles' curse!" damn himiko that's cold. i feel like a remnant of despair would enjoy that tho

you know, if you'd asked me to predict who my final group would be, i NEVER would have guessed himiko and tsumugi. maki absolutely, keebo maybe, but never those two. this is such an odd grouping to be the final one

wait how the fuck do you know about jabberwock island, shuichi? or was that less secret than i thought?

i need to know more about this "previous game" rantaro survived

god how i fucking WISH rantaro was the ultimate game show host that would be so funny

your honor my girlfriend kaede was innocent!!!!!!!

are you telling me that the throwaway joke the game grumps made about the shot put ball landing right next to rantaro and not actually hitting him is what ACTUALLY happened???

i knew everyone kind of brushing off that tsumugi went to the bathroom back in chapter 1 was odd

we're doing a closing argument now? we haven't even hit intermission. i assume part 2 of this trial is just gonna be off the rails then

they're literally all begging tsumugi to tell them she's not the mastermind but she can't do it

dude if kokichi were here he would be tearing her apart verbally

junko the 53rd?! new ultimate despair?

is tsumugi just doing a REALLY effective cosplay rn?

they all keep trying to tell me that kokichi was a remnant of despair but i don't believe he was

don't tell me that makoto went back on his promise to have hope's peak be for normies

i like to believe that toko wrote this book

yeah i knew all those memories were fake as shit. we're in like a hunger games arena i'm calling it now

lol they weren't even hope's peak students? i'm willing to be they're not even ultimates at all, and not a single one of their backstories is real

i like to imagine everyone who's died so far is watching this from another room like everyone eliminated from a season of the bachelor or survivor watching the finale episode

the ONLY piece of evidence leading me to believe anything told to us might've been even remotely real is kaito's strange illness. other than that, i'm fairly certain every single thing told to us about the backstory and the outside world is fake. i bet there is no gofer project, there were no meteorites, there is no disease

what the- HAJIME?????

mahiru? okay this is starting to get a little batshit. felt some whiplash when she turned into hiro and then soda

hey don't you DARE turn into makoto naegi that feels disrespectful

bro does this take place in a different universe from the other two games???

this is getting way too meta

i have no idea where this goes from here if this isn't in the same universe as the other games

wait are we actually in a time loop of sorts, like i'd predicted awhile back?

oh dude i just noticed there are little "V"s and "3"s in the eyes when tsumugi is cosplaying

is this girl really blaming her actions on ~society~?

bro this is getting WAY too meta. like, past the point of being fun

shuichi just shouting at them to shut up is my mood rn

is this a roundabout way of saying they're all quote-unquote actors?

damn even that illness was fake huh

bro not her actually becoming soda to make the tenko comparison 😂

guys i'm not really sure what to make of this. idk where to go from here

like i genuinely feel like a bucket of cold water was just poured on me. like. what the fuck is this

guys i'm gonna be real: this fucking sucks. i've never been a fan of "it was a dream this whole time and none of it mattered or was real" storylines. it's lazy writing. and i really feel it here

bro i got the BAD END??

...or maybe not?

oh my god is keebo gonna be my actual savior??

i knew keebo was the only bitch around here i could trust

hang on am i playing as keebo now?? it's my dream. he had an ahoge for a reason! the TRUE true protagonist! this game is starting to redeem itself

lol of course that was an antenna. and he was basically the first person camera for the audience? interesting

you know this means in the final chapter the audience wasn't watching the rest of us running around finding clues for the situation, they were watching keebo fight exisals lol

ULTIMATE HOPE ROBOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

there's always an ultimate hope at the end of these. and it's very interesting that unlike the other games, they didn't have it be the character i was controlling for a majority of the game. and tbh i think that was the correct choice. shuichi you're great and your heart's in the right place but you're not the ultimate hope lol

oh this is now a battle to save keebo's life???????? oh i am putting my ALL into this

the fuck kind of rules are these? even if we win we gotta sacrifice two of us? huh?

speaking of, what happened to the 11 other people in this game? are they actually dead? or not? that feels very unclear now

i gotta fight shuichi in verbal sword battle? i gotta fight essentially myself?

i was never good at the sword minigames i could never figure out the best way to control it

oh man that poor boy is just so clinically depressed

and the fact that we had that sword fight to clair de lune...oh man

shuichi i am unsure about this logic of yours

oh am i shuichi again now?

yes shuichi we stan a weak king

tsumugi don't you dare talk as makoto you're making a mockery of everything he stood for

wait now i get to be himiko too? i better get a turn as maki by the end of this

oh thank god i do

thank goodness i didn't enable the "more time" skill

did they fry keebo?????????? unforgiveable unforgiveable UNFORGIVEABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh my god they took him over i hate this. let me go back to playing as keebo again

THEY ERASED HIS PERSONALITY??????? i'm never forgiving this game. this last chapter is like the finale of how i met your mother

at least he came back to say goodbye 😭

I CAN'T BELIEVE I GOT THIS FAR AND THEY FUCKING TOOK KEEBO FROM ME NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

can't believe i had to fight keebo and not tsumugi in the final battle

"we're friends, aren't we?" oh shut the fuck UP, tsumugi

no votes? thanks keebs

keebo fucking razing the place to the ground and executing everyone else in the process was NOT how i expected this game to end

oh shit they pulled a fast one on me with this epilogue - shuichi and maki and himiko lived?!? damn

they've made it unclear whether or not this is ACTUALLY in the same world as makoto and friends ughhh

i hate that they ripped keebo from me at the last second. they erased his personality and made him self-destruct. he was the hero but at what cost. this is a personal betrayal

could they rebuild him? maybe? all i want is a reunion with keebo and the survivors (VERY small survivor pool this time btw)

i'm going to be thinking about keebo nonstop for days fyi

guys, i gotta be real with you. this was the most unsatisfying horseshit. it felt like nothing mattered, and honestly it felt like they were making a mockery of us for enjoying the previous games and content. i didn't like it. and honestly it felt...lazy? like i had been speculating so much about how this would connect with the rest of the danganronpa plot and how this would build upon the already established story and characters. like you should've seen the theories i had in my head (one of my best ones: tsumugi was a rogue hope's peak student who idolized junko and wanted to do a killing game in her honor. keebo was a plant from makoto and the future foundation/academy to guide the others and eventually help lead to their rescue - that would've been a great plotline tbh). but no, none of that happened, it didn't build on the story, it didn't add to it, it wasn't part of the same story. it was just............nothing. it didn't lead anywhere, it didn't build up to anything. it just went nowhere and did nothing, it wasn't connected. it felt like all the investigating i did to find out the truth was a waste of time, and all the plot twists and turns that happened and all the choices the characters made had no fucking payoff. it was so frustrating. there are so many creative choices they could've made to build on the story in the danganronpa world but...that meta bullshit was not it.

in other news, i have already started writing a fanfiction: an alternate version of v3 that actually takes place in-universe, therefore making all the games connected! and i think what i've thought up is pretty good, ngl. it might be related to that theory i mentioned above. if you're interested in reading, lmk and i'll work to write it faster!

and thus officially concludes my v3 gameplay commentary! i might post here and there about my experiences in the bonus modes as i do them

[feline-evil]

The tattoo removal spot is masterful heat generation, you KNOW that's gonna get AEW fans pissed off at him saying SIKE at respecting the company, i love his spiteful emotionally hurt ass so much. I have no idea what he's leading to or where he's going with this new iteration of self and it makes me both nervous and excited but either way i NEED to see how this all plays out.

And ok out of kayfabe:

Removal not real at all, laser removal takes a long time and multiple sessions and does not look like that, and wouldn't even be able to do much more than fade some parts of that tattoo i believe; which leads me to two possible things here. Either the tattoo was never real, but i find this possibility hard to believe because unless i misremembered did people not spot glimpses of it in photos of him? It'd be too much work to keep reapplying a fake tattoo in his real life just for tiny glimpses right. Maybe i'm wrong but idk. So the other option; tattoo is still there, i mean he has his C.A.P tattoo to honor the wrestling school he went to it wouldn't be out of character to get a tattoo to honor his big break promotion too would it? Now whether that will be worked into an in-kayfabe thing i don't know, maybe that's just for him in his real life- afterall we'll never see it in the ring it's under his boots!! But can you imagine the INSANE storyline pop if hangman tore his boot off mid-match to reveal MJF still had the tat and now had to own up to the fact he DOES care. It would go fucking bananas. I don't think we are getting sympathetic MJF again, and i respect that (I have THOUGHTS about how "fans" react to MJF outside of regular reactions to a wrestler, i imagine its easier to deal w some of that if yr playing a distanced heel than an open and vulnerable face), but man. CAN YOU IMAGINE THE MESSSSS THE DRAMA OF IT ALL THE CINEMAAAAAAAA OF THE MAN WHO SCREAMS THAT HE HATES EVERYONE AND DOESN'T CARE WHAT THEY THINK AND REFUSES TO ACKNOWLEDGE THEIR LOVE BEING FORCED TO RECONCILE W THE FACT THERE IS STILL GOOD AND KINDNESS AND HAPPINESS IN HIS HURTING HEART. OUGH BABYYYYY. It's not gonna happen but a man can salivate at how fucked up of a mind game it would be. God i love him, he's so fantastic, he's so fucked up as a character, he's everything to me. What a guy. Sorry unrelated to the tattoo topic i just need to gush real quick i fucking love this dude sm, i dropped off wrestling but got back into it because of him; he's incredible in and out the ring, I've never seen anyone sell like him, he can do comedic and fun and funny that makes me clap and laugh, he can do serious and bloody which makes me lose my mind, he even can do matches that make u wanna cry w emotion, he's so good. I have been watching through his indie matches, his AEW, as much from him as i can cuz he makes me remember why i love wrestling, its like i can feel HIS passion emanating out from the screen, its infectious. I really hope i get to see him wrestle for many, many more years, nobody's doing it like him. Always gonna be my scumbag, idc

[ebbpettier]

what do you mean with your hc that simon was always a dragon?

okay so this is one of my deepest most self indulgent headcanons because i'm gay and i think he deserves more and sharper teeth but it's extrapolated from a bunch of different details in the series: 1. we don't know what kind of blood davy used in the ritual. lucy couldn't identify it, but it almost definitely wasn't human. killing a dragon is one of the worst things you can do in the WoM and i really think davy isn't above that, at this point. (in terms of what i think the ritual entailed, i don't think he would have killed an adult dragon, either. a son for a son.) 2. simon's false feather wings dissolved in a bloody mess, but his dragon wings did not. iirc, he also had to wish for them, and penelope pointed out that this is fundamentally Not How Magic Works 3. penny also theorized that simon was actually turning INTO a dragon at the moment he got his wings, unless i'm misremembering again? its been a while since my last reread of the series and i have a memory disorder bear with me 4. "you don't kill a dragon unless you're trying to open a portal to hell" davy what did you do. DAVY, WHAT DID YOU DO. 5. once magic stops working on simon at all/after he loses his magic, the wings don't disappear, which makes me think they weren't powered by magic in the first place; they were just a part of his body. 6. margaret almost immediately (probably falsely but still) identifies him as a Kitten. she straight up thinks he's a baby dragon. maybe he smells like one, or feels like one, but i feel like she would be the most qualified to like ... tell? simon insists he isn't, but she seems confused and even a little put off when he tries to say he isn't just a lost dragon-kit. 7. when he's going off his magic is described as very blistery and prickly and black and red, and he glows and smokes and smells like a forest fire. dragon coded as fuuuuck 8. i think it would fucking rule I've never quite decided if i want it to be dragon ancestry, or if he's some kind of changeling via the ritual*, or something else, but the reason i draw the sword of mages with a fancy hilt shaped like a dragon is because i also headcanon that it looks different for everyone who wields it. (in my Baz Is The Heir AU: he summons it as a spada da lato, light as a feather with a handguard that curls like fire in a windstorm, inset with little sapphires) and simon's just ALWAYS been that dragony. i want him to grow more teeth, and they keep growing so he either has to accept them or have them pulled. i want his nails to be hard and sturdy as iron and he just never notices because he's always used them as tools, and he thought everyone's were like that. he bites them off because they break clippers. i want the red scales around the second set of deltoids (the ones on his wings) to start slowly creeping down his back and over his shoulders over time. because i think it would fucking rule. *i subscribe to this one the most, tho. makes sense. also i feel like the mage WouldTM.

[oh-no-its-bird]

4, 14, 17 for the fic ask game!!!

From [THIS] ask game

4, What are some words or phrases you feel like you overuse?

OK SO ACTUALLY I CAN REMEMBER JUST THE OTHER DAY I WAS WRITING AND HAD THE THOUGHT THAT I WAS OVERUSING A SPECIFIC PHRASE, BUT I CANT REMEMBER WHAT IT IS ANYMORE. I do way em-dashes way too much tho, I know I do (oops)

I will say uhh. I don't think I overuse this phrase, but in one part of manic monday, I wrote:

Words floated to Muichuro's ears like shiny little bubbles of sound. Pretty to look at, impossible to understand.

And I did actually end up reusing it somewhere in uhh. I think Stay Soft? (Could be misremembering tho) and It's not really an overuse of it, but just bc it's such a specific and sort of striking phrase, I found myself nervous about whether or not I was "allowed" to use it again. Which is stupid, for the record, I can use my own cool phrases as many times as I want, but yk. Can't control the brain worms

Actually watch me trying to fit this phrase into more fics. Take a shot every time you read the words "shiny bubbles of sound" in a Bird fic, starting now

14, What makes you happiest? New fic comments, kudos, bookmarks, user subscribers, story subscribers, or Tumblr asks?

Oooo this is an impossible question actually, because all of these things make me very happy. Comments and asks probably make me the happiest tho— or bookmarks with comments in them, which are also a special kind of fun just bc they're a persons personal notes to themselves on the fic.

I love feedback !!! I love knowing people are interested in my ideas and what I write!!! It is a drug like no other.

My friends keep railing on me for not being as active in the oc scene anymore but I cant help it when I'm getting so much positive reinforcement here. I probably would not be writing near as much as I do now if not for the people tossing breadcrumbs my way, encouraging me to continue

Looking at the number of people who have subscribed to my fics also fills be with immense joy, I must admit

17, What is something you recently felt proud of in your writing?

FINISHING AND POSTING CHAPTER 1 OF WORKING FOR THE KNIFE!!! IM SO PROUD OF MYSELF!!! ITS ALMOST 11K WORDS THATS CRAZY I COOKED SO HARD !!!!!!!!! SO WELL !!!!!!!!! I'm very very happy with specifically the last scene with Houhua's dad (if u know u know)

The fact that I've also gotten such incredible feedback on ch 1 so far also fills me with pride— Im so so happy that people enjoyed it and that it's (so far) living up to the hype !!! I love feeding the masses with my agenda,,,,

Other than that tho I am very pleased with the fucking giant bible of wolves of the woods lore and plot lines I have hidden away in google docs. I have so much content to write for that, with ch 1 like two thirds done around 7k words (which is way longer than I'd intended it to be, but, I wont complain) Once I finally post that I will actually explode with pride and happiness

[anadrym]

Extended Author's Notes for Left Behind Ch14.

Spoilers!

Chapter title is from "Let It Burn" by Red.

"Probably many other things that her master wants to keep secret" - the Baroness's lab is down here, among other things. The maid (the mole) was down here for that reason.

Vi is, of course, going through it, but poor Cait. The stress of her assignment, running all the way back to the mansion, keeping hidden while trying to find Vi, freeing Vi, fighting off the Baroness's remaining men, dragging Vi out... And all she's eaten is one (1) buttered roll.

Vi, with a migraine, and Caitlyn, using a fucking rifle to fight their way out. No wonder Vi's puking so much. Also, Caitlyn doesn't really know how badly Vi's head hurts.

A few of you pointed out Vi's trauma around being left behind, and I just have to say... It's worse in the next chapter. It's brief, but it's worse. >:)

When they're hiding behind the bushes: Caitlyn asks Vi something (along the lines of "can you do this?") and Vi nods, just to reassure Cait. Later, Caitlyn's ribs are injured and Vi tries to ask her if she's hurt, and Cait says something to reassure Vi. They're both lying. At this point in their relationship, I think they really try to be honest with each other. The reason they're not here is that they're essentially giving each other permission not to be worried about something that they just can't deal with right now. Basically, a "No, I'm not okay, but we can't do anything about it here or we will die. So don't worry about me for now." They'll be honest with each other later, when their lives aren't in immediate danger.

Remember, Vi hasn't had solid food in five years. Everything she's throwing up is bile, saliva, and blood (she's torn her stomach lining by vomitting so much).

AAAHHHHHH, OKAY. I don't know if I'll convey this well but... You lose everything, suddenly and violently. Your home. Your family. Even your name. You're alone and scared and you can never go back to the life you had. Essentially, everything that makes you you is ripped away, leaving you in survival mode. You have to abandon some of your humanity to make it, to keep yourself alive even though you don't know why you're still alive in the first place. And then. AND THEN. You find someone you loved, someone who also survived, someone who reminds you of who you were before you lost everything. And you suddenly have a reason to live again. You have someone to love, you're not alone, you let yourself regain some of that humanity that you gave up, because it doesn't feel like a weakness anymore. You take back your name. You decide to live instead of just survive. But you can never forget what it was like to lose everything. So when someone threatens that loved one, you fucking fight. Tooth and nail. You abandon your humanity again to save your reason for it. You do anything and everything to protect her, regardless of what kind of monster it makes you. You are willing to set the world on fire just to keep her warm.

Anyway, that's why Caitlyn is blowing people's brains out and Vi is cracking some guy's skull open with a rock. :)

So, Vi does hear gunfire nearby at the end of her POV. She's not imagining that. Caitlyn also heard gunfire and a small explosion. At the end of Ch11, the voice on the radio called for someone to "come immediately" because the mansion wasn't well defended. That was the maid that Cait spared in Ch13. She's part of a rebel/resistance group, and her people show up as Cait is getting Vi out. That's also why there weren't more people in the basement. They aren't there to help our girls (as far as they know, Vi is the Baroness's slave and Caitlyn is her newest employee), but they do end up distracting the Baroness's men while Vi and Cait escape.

Thankfully, Caitlyn is a good detective, which means she notices and remembers details. Her anxiety about misremembering the date of the smugglers' return is unwarranted. They do arrive in the next chapter.

Caitlyn: "Vi's hurt. I should hold off on dealing with my emotions until later. This is a great idea. I am the paragon of mental health."

I am never gonna stop using the Bridge. It's symbolic. I don't know how to explain it. A physical connection between Piltover and Zaun (Cait and Vi). A barrier between them. Where Vi lost her parents because they left her and Powder home to keep them safe. Where Vi went back for Caitlyn after Marcus's betrayal. Where she left Jinx behind to get Caitlyn to safety. Where the new rulers of Piltover hang the bodies of their enemies as a warning not to cross them. Where Tobias' body was put on display. Where [REDACTED].

The bodies on the Bridge are hanging from the bridge suspension, not under it. They're supposed to be seen.

Caitlyn recognizes a lot of the bodies from the commemoration ceremony. The two she notices in particular are the ones that she (and Vi) killed on the Baroness's orders.

"And she's not leaving [Vi] behind again" - yeah, Vi's not the only one who's traumatized by that. They both have separation anxiety.

I am fond of the parallel between Vi thinking of what the Baroness might do to Caitlyn and Caitlyn thinking of what the Baroness has done to Vi.

Caitlyn's hands are not shaking because she's terrified (though that is also true); she's got very steady hands due to all of her experience as a sniper. They're actually shaking because she's so hungry and tired.

Caitlyn, still talking to Vi even though Vi can't understand. Vi trusting her. :( I love them.

I apparently have this headcanon that Vi's right knee is weaker than her left? I don't know where it came from, but it shows up in And Oh, Poor Atlas too.

Vi's right knee gives and forces her to put her weight on her left leg, which is where the infection is.

Caitlyn thinks her fingers are freezing because she's comparing their temperature to Vi's, not realizing that Vi has a steadily worsening fever.

Vi keeps trying to say Caitlyn's name. :(

I did originally let Vi hold onto the pistol while Cait went to look for shelter, but there was really no point to it and she really isn't in a good physical state to be handling a gun.

Vi doesn't panic at being left alone in this part because she's not really aware of Caitlyn's departure. She's losing time, so she doesn't even know that Cait left until she was already back.

The girls hiding in the drainage pipe was actually inspired by Watership Down. I can read the tiniest example of whump and store it in the back of my mind for years before I eventually pull it out, dust it off, and shove it onto my own work. One day, someone will be impaled on a piece of rebar, you mark my words.

Caitlyn's ribs are bruised, only one is fractured. It hurts like hell and it makes things a little harder, but she's gonna be fine. She just needs some food, a few painkillers, and a long nap. Petra will also insist on a shower.

Caitlyn doesn't really know how much awareness Vi has right now, but Vi fumbling for her hand confirms that she absolutely knows that it's Caitlyn. Because Cait is the only person she's... Actually, now that I think about it, Vi's really only reached out after Caitlyn initiates. This might be the first time Vi makes the first bid for physical contact?

So, Caitlyn's fear that they're being hunted is valid, but she's wrong about who is searching for them. Some off the Baroness's men survived the fight, but they're pretty much cornered and they're really more concerned about their own survival. The rebels though... They know what Caitlyn and Vi are capable of and they don't really have reason not to believe that they are under the Renata's control.

Ugh, Caitlyn once again giving Vi warning that she's going to touch her and Vi not understanding the words but trusting her completely. :( I'm obsessed with them.

I personally never understand why characters in fiction cut through the fabric to get to a wound that's under clothes? Can't that dull your knife? Also, you're destroying their clothes? Just cut along the seams. It can be repaired later and it's easier to split thread than woven fabrics.

Just to clarify, the infection was already beginning to fester the other day. Caitlyn's less-than-perfect bandaging skills have nothing to do with it, and she knows that. Besides, she has plenty of other things to feel guilty about.

"Shit. Fuck, even." - I love this line. :)

And even at her weakest, Vi reaches out to comfort Caitlyn. To hold her hand, to keep her warm. Is it instinct? Is it more intentional? Cait doesn't know how present Vi is, but it doesn't really matter because it's just so ingrained in who Vi is. She chooses to serve others so much that it becomes a sort of default, a choice she doesn't even have to think about. God, she is The Character of all time to me.

Keeping Caitlyn warm with her own fever-heat also makes me think of that whole "setting yourself on fire to keep someone else warm."

Mmmm, the physical affection. The kiss to the temple. The intertwined hands. The tucking her head against her neck.

You can pry "Dear Friend Across The River" from my cold dead hands. That song was what convinced me to start writing for this fandom. Bookends for the series too. OH, in the first scene of S1E1, Vi rests her head on Vander's shoulder, and in the last scene of S2E9, she rests her head on Caitlyn's! And she does the same thing here! I'm a genius. This was completely intentional on my part and I absolutely did not just now notice it for the first time. ;)

And Caitlyn still gets very little sleep. She's fine. She's doing great.

Teaser for next week:

Vi tips her head back, trying to look for her partner. It's hard to see; Vi's not sure if it's the darkness or her eyes or maybe her brain as it cooks inside the oven that her skull's turned into. Caitlyn is just a vague shape above her, a silhouette bleeding into the shadows, drifting into the dark like the ghost of a memory.

Terror grips her chest so tightly that her lungs seize and her heart skips a few beats. With every ounce of strength she can muster, Vi clutches at Caitlyn's hand and scrapes her brain back together enough to find the words to slur, "D'n... don'... leave?"

Caitlyn makes a ragged noise. When she responds, her voice is thick with tears and guilt and regret, but with an undercurrent of steel resolve. "Never," she says.

[amberinn]

okay thoughts 👏

not a lot of emotionally charged moments

love the little davwhit and charwhit interactions

Whit is actually SOSOSOSO smart and I'm so thrilled to the core as a Whit fan that his thinking process is shown

Like he is SO UNDERSTANDING and good and amazing I love it

Levi is a psychopath 100%

I made a rant about Whit being a sociopath, but he doesn't fit that criteria because he lacks in exploitation behaviours/anger

I'm SURE he has some sort of hidden disorder (Whit) we haven't yet really talked about

im not a psychologist though

let's leave it to that one person headcanon diagnosing Veronika with asocial personality disorder or whatever I do NOT know what that is!

I fucking love this cast, but it's so mentally ill to the core.

Like so many of those fuckers have something wrong with them I can't stand it (affectionate)

Arei and David interaction??? Let's go

They could've been such good friends and Arei is so sweet forreal.

Eden with the fucking fork.

Fucking hell, oh my GOD.

I love the transitions in scrum debate, they're scrumbtastic and I fucking love and hate how they represent things like, hanging, getting thrown and then breaking your neck, the swinging... fuck it makes me sick

Areden could have been so real

Arei's friends being David and Eden... yeah

It could have been good

I hate the parallels between how David got extended that hand to take--- Xander, Arei.

I've an animation idea between the three od them and this is just slipping so well into my understanding of their dynamic (I'm not really analyzing it too deeply thinking of it though... I guess I should)

I'll get to know the real you, I love you, I will be your friend.

I know you for who you are, it makes me relieved, I guess we're both bad humans huh?

But does a good person really exist?

We'll look out for each other... I could be your friend.

Like fuck drdt is David Chiem nightmare especially that "only someone so fucking naive, stupid, jdk, jekcus could have fallen for such an obvious trap" feels like grief

he's just lost another fucking friend of his

scratch that your outburst is reasonable, or maybe I misremember shit

I would also go insane if anyone who was ever willing to love me got murdered one by one

All you ever do is gain and lose people, just like in "Therefore you and me"

As a result of acquiring as a result of losing, huh David Chiem?

It makes sense for him to want to extinguish that

Everyone looks forward to seeing tomorrow, but what are you gaining by it?

Friends you're losing

Maybe it's even harder for him, because Whit has a friend (Charles) he gets to keep, while David keeps on seeing his get murdered over and over again.

It never ends.

That fucked up little glint when Teruko told her secret >>>>>>>>>

ALSOOOO ALSO

whatever drama was going on between Ace and Levi

Levi IS an insanely fucked up person, and I keep thinking over and over about how for me at least there is not one person I could ship Ace with

like damn mf 🙏 he alone af

I want to give Ace Markey such a big hug, like he is a bitch and has teeth which cut through you every 3 seconds, but girl.

girl you DO NOT DESERVE ALL OF THAT 😭😭😭😭

any of that

Ace Markey is like, subtly circling upwards on my favouritism lists he's my wet kitten you don't get him like I do

He's had a friend before who was a guy

something something---

The fact that I even considered thinking of anyone over here as my friend really just tarnishes his image.

He cares about his friend SO MUCH.

It might be STUPID for me, but this reads as gay.

Ok just trust me in on this I'm a boykisser with a similar situation at hand.

girl lover as well, how do you THINK one person figures out that?

I just feel like Ace Markey might've discovered his homosexuality via that friend

that best friend one might say which makes me sososoo insanely CURIOUS about who it was

yk why

bcs id finally get an Ace ship I actually fw

hell ya let's go homies

also I need to add---

I feel like something has REALLY happened with his friend

might be a bit stupid, but I feel like that friend is dead

"tarnishes his image" huh Ace? Ace what does that mean, why would that image be able to be tarnished

did you say had Ace or am I not remembering it?

are you so afraid of everything, because your best friend is dead Ace?

it's kinda a stretch still though, a leap of faith on a suggestion I'm willing to argue about

[blueboyluca]

Trial Recap - Jumping

Overall, not too terrible. Both Marcie and Topaz were quite stressed. Topaz because it was new and Marcie because it was different. They both coped pretty well though, especially Topaz given where she was at last year. She didn't get too upset at any other dogs, and she quieted down barking most of the time. When I ran Marcie, she screamed a lot, which was a bit stressful. I hope as I practice this setup they learn to chill more. I have to leave them throughout the night because I need to help change courses, set bars, etc.

Biggest problem was we measured Topaz and she came in at 38cm which means she had to run at 400. This made things difficult as we haven't done any training at 400. We went straight into our first run after measuring.

All runs were DQs.

Trial 1: Open – Topaz Our first trial run ever. We started off a little shaky, I didn't do much of a lead out because I didn't want to push it, but that meant she got ahead of me and lost her way after no. 3 and took an off course tunnel. Once I got her back, we did the whole course nicely and we layered the distance challenge easily. I thought that was pretty advanced for a first run.

Trial 1: Novice – Marceline She checked out pretty early and started scratching. I got her back to do maybe three jumps in a row but then she stopped again. I decided to call it. She did not run away from me and let me leash her up. That is some minor progress. I will see how she does tomorrow before I make any decisions.

Trial 1: Novice – Topaz I don't remember what went wrong here, I think it was an off course. It might have been the same problem as the first Open run. The rest of it went really well. The judge said it was nicely handled.

Trial 2: Novice – Topaz I thought we had this one. We finished clean and I celebrated, but then it was another DQ. I completely forgot about a jump. Totally missed it. In terms of what we ran, Topaz did perfectly and it was brilliant. However, because I fucked it up we didn't get a clear round.

Trial 2: Open – Topaz This was a difficult one. It almost felt like a Masters course. It ended up being a bit too high level for us and I messed up multiple times. She also ran under two jumps. The problem with suddenly increasing jump height.

So overall thoughts.

The good: Topaz had really good entry/exit routines. She was fine with being unleashed and leashed. She got her tug reward after being leashed. Despite being stressed by the setup, she performed beautifully. Marceline was pretty happy most of the night and didn't just leave the course and avoid me leashing her.

The bad: I am also stressed and overwhelmed by the trial environment myself. Tonight I misremembered courses, got mixed up, all sorts. My handling let us down. I don't know why I have this feeling of pressure. I want to do well so badly. I had the childish dream of getting a clean run first thing. But of course that's not reality. I'm not experienced enough for that. I need to just focus on where we are at. I have a dog now that loves the sport and has great skills. I just need to keep going.

[bogkeep]

more high school reminiscing

i remember the moment when i was first labeled a Feminist (tm). it was my best/only friend in middle school, we were working together to build a small catapult in carpentry class, and due to illness he was absent a lot and i built most of it myself. he called me a feminist for that, somewhat derisively, and i couldn't understand the derision because Yeah. Obviously? also surely i'm misremembering this event because it was a weird thing to call me for finishing our group project, but like. sure. catapults are feminist.

in high school i had fully embraced my status as the Annoying Feminist. weaponised it, even. if anyone said something really shitty and gender essentialist, i was gonna make it sooooooo annoying for them. one guy was gonna make a presentation about some videogame topic, and during a rehearsal for it, his intro talked about how the games women play don't count because they're all casual mobile games or the sims. not on my fucking watch you don't!!!! especially not in *this* class where literally every girl was a hashtag gamer playing hashtag real games by anyone's standards. in my feedback i just straight up told him that if he doesn't scratch that out, i'll be breathing down his neck. maybe not changing hearts and minds, but it worked. (also i hated that guy sooo much. he acted like he had a crush on me, but it was like, some kind of Idealised Version of me, since he clearly had no clue who i even was as a person. maybe it was an elaborate bit he was playing - wouldn't have been the first time someone did that to me.)

so i liked to think of myself as this radical outsider who didn't give a damn about what anyone thought of me, which was obviously not true, it just... manifested in weird ways. we had a new guy in class at some point, and he was like, a Cool Dude. he really did have the vibes of someone who didn't care what others thought of him. he also very early on identified as Not A Feminist, because, as he put it, feminists just want women to be on top instead of men. so i made it my Project to 1) Teach Him What Feminism Is Actually About And How It Benefits Men Also, and 2) earn his respect to prove that feminists are cool and not the man hating stereotype everyone in the early 2010s thought they were!!!!!

anyway it was actually going quite well, i think, like we were kind of friends though never close, and i would have breakthroughs sometimes - like he would say something about "idk why they're making such a big deal about a woman doing X" and i'd be like "no i agree actually" and he'd be like "you do????????" and i'd be like "yeah i think it should be super normalized and expected, it's just a shame that we haven't gotten to that point yet" and i could FEEL the feminist-meter increase. like yes. yes...!!!!! by the time we part ways he will respect the movement...!!!!!!!

except, of course, i put a lot of energy into this Project and he probably didn't give it any thought at all. i'd like to think i made at least a tiny difference, but. who's to say. during a school trip to berlin in our last year, i was in a very animated conversation with some other classmates about the differences between a song of ice and fire and game of thrones, and all the ways the tv show adaptation (which i liked at the time!) was much more sexist, Because Of Course I Was, and then cool anti feminist guy walks past and is like "are you bitching about game of thrones again?"

and that's all it took!!! that's all it took for me to just immediately shut down and leave and sit down in the hotel shower and feel deeply humiliated. just a single moment of being kinda rude to me mid-conversation he wasn't even part of. the worst part is that i had barely been bitching about game of thrones up till then!! i think that's why it stung so hard - no matter how little i 'preached' about my silly little sjw topics, it would always be Too Much and Too Annoying.

that was the moment i gave up on the Project as far as that guy was concerned. BUT THE THING IS. this weird need for respect from guys who clearly didn't see the need to give me any, i kept having it. it's a bit hard to pin down the exact genre of guy, but it was like, someone who didn't Hate women outright, who had female friends and acted chill, but had a Misconception about feminism and social justice. it was like, oh, i can bridge that gap for sure. i just need to prove myself to him!!!!!!!!! show him what a cool girl i am!!!!!!! as if i was not this extremely awkward autistic egg flailing around. EMBARASSING.

and yet! and yet. i still believe in the value of having friendly, humanizing conversations with guys i don't fully agree with - up to a point. the overton window has moved quite a bit in the past decade. and i think i DO have more legit self respect now - even if i still sometimes find a flicker of the same yearning for Some Guy's Validation, but the flavor is less "please respect me even if i'm a girl" and more "please respect me even if i'm trans". i'm just better at not getting hung up on specific Guys.

[queenofliars-inanotherlife]

yourself chihiro or kirigiri you choose. or you can pick one for each

ooc://

2. Favorite Canon Thing about this character?

Celestia Ludenberg:

That she is a nerdy little manga lover. Also that she loves her cat so much.

Chihiro Fujisaki:

I may very well be misremembering or misinterpreting this. BUT

I recall liking the way Chihiro's gender was handled in Danganronpa S Ultimate Summer Camp.

I think a lot of the scenes in Summer Camp felt like nothing scenes to me, you know a lot of inconsequential fluff. But I remember there being some discussion of what type of bathing suit Chihiro would have or want and feeling like that was sort of a correction of the treatment of Chihiro's gender in Trigger Happy Havoc. Like, the stated truth in THH is that Chihiro is a boy who is pretending to be a girl to hide from his weakness, and we can tell this by looking at his body, which is not a narrative that I'm cool with.

But the bathing suit discussion made me feel like the narrative has changed to one where Chihiro's gender is something that can be self-determined, that can be personal and not necessarily binary, and that others aren't entitled to know. Again, I might be misremembering or misinterpreting, but it felt better to me, and it was one of the few places in that game where I was like "oh this is character development, this is someone on a journey of some kind."

If you actually want a simple canon fact, though, I'd say... That Chihiro has a good relationship with his dad.

Kyoko Kirigiri:

I really like her arc in chapter 5-6. Like, I like that she was 100% willing to throw Makoto under the bus and let him die AND that she felt wanted to make up for that by going into danger and saving him. It just adds so much more nuance to her character and their relationship. She is not just a straightforwardly heroic character or a flawless superhero. She's dynamic.

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

Celestia Ludenberg:

I have complicated feelings about her luck. I won't say that I hate it exactly, but it's an extension of my feelings about how luck is treated in Danganronpa in general. It's also part of why I think I initially misinterpreted her character in some big ways.

In short, I think it's weird that Danganronpa generally treats luck as simultaneously something ordinary and not special AND one of the only literal reality-altering superpowers a person can have. That's why I initially thought that Celeste worked hard to learn strategy and win games but lied and said she had the supernatural ability to never lose, but I now think the reverse is more of what they intended to come across; that she had the power to never lose games, but she pretends to be more cunning and strategic than she really is.

Chihiro Fujisaki:

The aforementioned issues with how Chihiro's gender is treated in THH. It's a massive can of worms where just bringing up clearly pisses off a bunch of fans for different reasons. But long story short, I think the game is 100% telling us that Chihiro's gender identity is determined by sex/gender assigned at birth, the game does not consider the possibility of a legitimate trans identity, and sees "getting stronger" as going back to living as a boy and performing traditional masculinity, and I think that's fucked up.

Kyoko Kirigiri:

At the risk of beating a dead horse here... It's how Kyoko serves as the mouthpiece for my problems with how Chihiro's gender is handled in THH. I think the player is meant to see Kyoko as the authoritative voice of what is true in class trials (along with Monokuma *most of the time*) and so she has the final word on Chihiro's gender. It's a bad look.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

Celestia Ludenberg:

I want to believe that, even though it's hard, she would have eventually opened up to her classmates and become a better person if she survived. I think she would have eventually synthesized her two identities into something more authentic, because I don't really think Taeko Yasuhiro or Celestia Ludenberg are exactly right.

Chihiro Fujisaki:

I want to believe that Chihiro is a g-g-g-gaaaaamer!

Kyoko Kirigiri:

I see Kyoko's flat affect as being out of her control. Like, it's not that she has a good poker face, she just isn't naturally able to translate what she's feeling inside into the expression on her face, and it makes people misinterpret her as mysterious or aloof or cold-hearted more than she really is.

[coolcattime]

capsize is kinda like kaede if you think about it a lil

Okay, okay.

So you are so goddamn right for this take, to the point that I'm gonna discuss this on two fronts.

Spoilers for V3 and also Mianite I guess

Though before I go into this. I just want to make something clear for things I will be saying later about V3 will be saying later: V3 is the only one of the main three Danganronpa games where I don't dislike any of the students. I really like the cast as a whole and the worse I feel about any of them is neutral.

Now going into Kaede and Capsize.

They are both trying to take a place in the story that isn't theirs

Kaede begins V3 by literally saying that she is the protagonist of the story. This is a funny little fourth wall break, a nod to the ‘true nature’ of V3, and not fucking true.

The protagonist of V3 is Shuichi. As we the players learn when control switches to him during trial one because Kaede is the blackened of the trial.

And, I think if we were somehow able to watch Mianite from Capsize's POV, I think we'd get a really similar vibe.

Capsize believes herself the person that is meant to save Ianite. She gets to the champions and is confronted by Jordan.

Now Jordan is not Shuichi because (as I'm going to go into later) Shuichi is one of few people who is consistently nice to Kaede and Jordan is not that to Capsize, in fact he's the damn opposite. But he does fit the role of basically taking over her mission and role posthumously and being the one to tell her story.

So like yeah, first part of this take: Capsize got those Kaede vibes because she is essentially the false protagonist of her main mission in life.

Now for my second point where you really got the brainworms going:

Posthumous legacy when the other characters misremember them

Now once again beginning with the obvious character: posthumously Capsize gets remembered as basically Jordan's girlfriend. Her own people are all either dead or disappear from the plot (read every pirate but Capsize in s1), so her story is exclusively told by either Jordan who tells his own not true version of their relationship or characters that never met her like Martha and Mot.

The most obvious way that Kaede is misportrayed post death starts before she actually died and it is the manipulation of Rantaro's death and Kaede's crime by--

AGAIN SERIOUSLY V3 SPOILERS UNDER HERE LIKE STUFF FROM THE LAST CASE AND CONCLUSION OF THE GAME (and let's be honest with how some DR fans don't know what V3 actually stands for I know some of you haven't seen 3-6)

Tsumugi, the Mastermind. Tsumugi is the real killer of Rantaro. And she frames the crime on Kaede and executes her for it.

Now: let me make it very clear. Kaede did fully intend to kill someone. She set up a trap and sprang it with the full intent to kill. However, she failed at this, her shot put ball missing and Tsumugi actually being the one to make the final blow.

Tsumugi takes away all evidence that she committed the murder and that Kaede's plan failed. Kaede is executed, Mugi lives until the end of Chapter Six.

Tsumugi initially taints Kaede's legacy to portray her as a murderer, then later literally tries to start pinning the mastermind role on her as well briefly (by noting that Kaede has a twin, just like Junko, in the final investigation).

But that is kinda par for the course because Mugi is the villain. Like the spends the game manipulating the cast.

But everyone else also kinda remembers Kaede. Because she's kinda portrayed as this guiding light, optimistic Makoto like figure, but basically no one likes Kaede in the first chapter of V3.

Honestly, that might be like a double take of a description, but while Kaede is this upbeat, positive, and optimistic - at least in my eyes one of her main character traits is being heavily bullied.

In her first introduction as the Ultimate Pianist, she says that everyone calls her Piano Freak. Which I think is meant to be a write off joke about how she's that(™) into piano, but it feels like a particularly mean way of putting it.

And then, at two different points in Chapter One, basically the whole cast jump on her and start laying into her. Like the only two I know for sure are never mean to Kaede are Shuichi (who never speaks up to defend her) and Kaito (who no one in the cast respects the opinion of at this point in the story).

(To note, it has been a while since I have played V3 so I cannot for the life of me remember if Tenko and Gonta are ever mean to Kaede. I think they also aren't but I don't want to speed through V3 to check)

There are two quite long scenes of everyone telling Kaede that she is in the wrong. And I mean that Maki literally says that she believes this is Kaede's fault in one of the scenes.

After one of the two scenes, Kaede retreats to her room, cries, and then doesn't know why she's crying. And idk, I know this is inference but it really does read to me that Kaede has been shit on so much throughout her life that she doesn't understand why she's actually upset that everyone is yelling at her.

But suddenly by the end of Chapter One, everyone loves Kaede. They want to stop Kaede from dying.

Unlike Jordan with Capsize, I don't blame Shuichi for the way that he portrays Kaede posthumously. He did really only see the optimistic side of her and she was to him the guiding light that got him to be more optimistic. And frankly he was literally willing to kill himself and fourteen others just to not have to admit that she killed someone (also Claire de Lune still makes me cry and look I just do really love Shuichi's arc), but I do definitely give the side eye to the rest of the cast.

(Genuinely: I really wish that Kokichi's poor Tenko bit towards Himiko had been done about Kaede to the rest of the cast. But I do understand that it was maybe a bit early in the game for that and I wouldn't want to take it away from trial three either)

But to get back to the point, Capsize and Kaede both suffer posthumously from being portrayed as people that they were with relationships that they didn't have.

Had I realised earlier that Capsize has Kaede coding, she honestly might've become the protagonist of my Danganronpa AU. Heck, she might've gotten the Shuichi treatment with Red as a decoy protag. But now I've planned the au with Sonja as a protagonist (though one of my three OC Danganronpa AUs does have Katherine - my OC based on Capsize - as the protagonist with mega Kaede vibes so many I just need to write more of that).

Thank you so much for this ask for just letting me get some brainworms out.