#without the knowledge that its an account acting like a character from the game(?) i could understand all the angry qrts lol

[qqchurch]

of all things to put Heaven Will Be Mine into my radar, it had to be that "t4t is like incest" months old tweet from a bit account dedicated to the game that suddenly blew up out of nowhere (broke containment)

chaser character of all time, probably

[simplyreveries]

Finally found a TWST writing account with their requests open (trust me it’s rare these days to find TWST writing accounts that are taking requests when I need them)… hehehehhe time for a silly request!!

Characters of your choosing (I can’t decide so you get to) with a reader who is self-aware about being in a game. Platonic or romantic, I don’t really care too much. :3 no pressure if you don’t wanna :D

self aware; riddle, azul, malleus

this concept is so interesting to me, thank you!! i did characters i was in the mood to write for!!

riddle rosehearts

he's confused. he doesn't understand you, but he already knows you're from another world, so he doesn't exactly question it. i mean, of course you're going to be different. he admires your seemingly fearless attitude when dealing with what events come your way but hasn't grasped the concept that it's because you already know what's going to happen, so it doesn't exactly phase you when it comes things such as the overblots.

riddle has the befuddled look whenever you compare him to the queen of hearts. though he is flattered because he looks up to her greatly, he doesn't understand why you're so adamant on telling him it all the time. like whenever you laugh and point out he's "based off of" he's so?? what?? or compare the other dorm members as well. he thinks you're trying to be funny or something and not being serious.

whenever he has history class with you, he's always caught off by surprise when you're able to suspiciously answer most of the questions regarding not only the great seven but other figures and places as well! he thought you just studied well and thought it was rather intelligent of you, not that you already knew.

azul ashengrotto

he finds you peculiar, at first, he thought you were easy to manipulate into signing over the contract during the events of chapter 3 and he tried to take over ramshackle away from you. when you did it without much care or thought, he thought was amusing to see! he was too caught up in being able to successfully "deceive" you that he didn't seem to notice the lax "ohh i know what this part is" attitude from you.

azul has only heard of idia at the board game club they're in together talk a little about his favorite tropes "isekai" and stuff like that. he is curious about the world you're from, but whenever you talk about it, it feels so strange to him. and you keep comparing him to the sea witch! which he thinks is nice but believes he has a long way to go with how great she was.

he feels kind of frustrated when you can almost be one step ahead of him because you know how things are to play out! and even how to talk to people around you. he thinks its impressive though- he thinks you can just read other people well.

malleus draconia

he sees how keen you are on things in twisted wonderland, for someone from another world. but doesn't say anything about it for the most part. whenever you talk and almost get excited, talking about the stories of characters like one of the great seven he quietly listens and adds onto what you're saying. it's interesting, your knowledge is abundant, and you've only been here for a few months.

malleus likes by the way you act. though he isn't entirely sure why you're so confident on knowing how things are going to play out he finds your attitude amusing for a human. you commonly would compare him to maleficent and he'd chuckle shake his head and proceed to tell you stories of just how powerful she was.

he tilts his head slightly, looking down at you confused when you seem deep in thought during your nightly outings before the events of chapter 7. you usually seem so calm and collected but he seemed curious as to why you seemed worried and stressed for once about what's to come in the future. still unknowing what you know. he'll smile softly and tell you, "you need not to worry, child of man."

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 3/5/2024

really fucking around in Breath of the Wild and not defeating Ganon, even though i think i am fairly well prepared, which is probably indicative of something or a metaphor for some larger issue. oh well! guess we'll never know!

listening

Rock the Jungle by The Daniel Pemberton TV Orchestra, off an album of music from and inspired by LittleBigPlanet, a video game i have never played. Daniel Pemberton is a remarkably prolific british composer who mostly does film these days but also does a lot of BBC stuff.

this is the kind of scrubby pad to the brain electronica i need sometimes. i think these are heavily filtered and processed kookaburra sounds? at about the minute fifteen mark it adds a rolling, rollicking bassline that is, as im sure we all know by now, fucking catnip to me. at about 2:20 it adds alarm blares that fade in and out of a sort of disco-y organ? it uses its five minute runtime pretty well imo. i think this was off the spotify discover weekly.

-

reading

T Kingfisher's The Clockwork Boys, recced by @rae-being-naughty lo these many months ago, and my library hold finally came in. the goodreads blurb is a remarkably accurate sales pitch so let's yoink that

A paladin, an assassin, a forger, and a scholar ride out of town. It’s not the start of a joke, but rather an espionage mission with deadly serious stakes. T. Kingfisher’s new novel begins the tale of a murderous band of criminals (and a scholar), thrown together in an attempt to unravel the secret of the Clockwork Boys, mechanical soldiers from a neighboring kingdom that promise ruin to the Dowager’s city. If they succeed, rewards and pardons await, but that requires a long journey through enemy territory, directly into the capital. It also requires them to refrain from killing each other along the way! At turns darkly comic and touching, Clockwork Boys puts together a broken group of people trying to make the most of the rest of their lives as they drive forward on their suicide mission.

i had a lot of fun with this! very pratchett-esque in its imperial critique through bureaucratic loopholes thereof, which is catnip to me, but i do think Kingfisher is simply better at writing women. the forger is an only child and it fucking shows.

i think if it were 5% more devoted to Humorous Bits and didn't have some nice character work between the forging accountant and the big sad blond paladin man, i would have gotten frustrated with it. i think it is simply more of a comedy than any of its blurbs suggest, and it can be difficult to ride that line between comedy and character growth through desperate acts without getting a little bit of whiplash. this is me being very depressed and a bit nitpicky though. the line "Time passed, like a kidney stone" is going to stick in my brain for a while. i already have the sequel on hold

-

watching

if you do nothing else today could you please watch this car chase for me? ok thanks

Gunsmith Cats is a three-episode OVA that's a fancam of the american city of chicago and the cool girls that live and shoot and drive there, but let's just yank the MyAnimeList description

In the dangerous suburbs of Chicago, skilled bounty hunters Irene "Rally" Vincent and "Minnie" May Hopkins run Gunsmith Cats, a firearms store of questionable legality. One day, Bill Collins, an agent for the Chicago branch of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, blackmails Rally and May into working with him on a case. The stakes are high, but Rally’s gunmanship and May’s knowledge of explosives are unmatched. As Rally and May unravel the secrets of the case, the two will need to use guns and grenades while being faster, stronger, and better than everyone else in order to stay alive.

all three episodes are free (in really nice quality) on youtube. i pitched this to wendy as "rally is jigen lupinthethird's little sister" and her driving skills and marksmanship... i'm not sure who would win between them but i wouldn't like to live on the difference.

animators, historically, hate animating guns and cars, except for the masochistic ones who use it to flex. there are at least three shots in each episode where i want to stand up and hold my cat above my head and hoot like a fuckin tusken raider. in the first episode, there's a raid on a smuggling warehouse (you know, a warehouse) where the BATF agent and Rally throw each other their guns and have a really cool FALLING OFF A CATWALK back to back shootout. it's hard to describe. watch the episode. i wish there were more than three episodes.

this is an OVA that, aside from the requisite panty shot and WHOOPS my whole shirt tore (one of each per episode per girl) is fairly normal about women? rally and minnie are...roommates. that bicker and eat pizza. they have a cool network of other slightly shady women they interact with a lot, and the big bad for most of the episodes is also a woman. this isn't like a bastion of feminism or anything it's just neat. sort of middling on the ass portion of the Weeb Ass Shit scale. low on the weeb and shit parts too. again this is a fancam of chicago with cool girls

i watched this bc i was trying to use up kanopy credits and came across the precursor to this, Riding Bean, which i did not love for several reasons (the big one being the legitimately pedophilic lesbian relationship) but the creator took the concept of Rally out of that forty minute...experiment? and that led me to Gunsmith Cats. thank u ppl who put free anime on youtube

-

playing

still futzing about in breath of the wild. fucking around with sidequests and a sudden need to at least discover all the shrines.

for example, i did all the labyrinth shrines. underneath the akkala labyrinth is the scariest room in the world, bc six of those fuckers are alive and they will all target you the instant you open that chest.

cannot be bothered with the eventide island shrine yet (the roguelike) bc it frustrates the hell out of me. did the thyplo forest one, which was extremely annoying bc it dimmed my whole TV screen (including the UI) instead of just dimming the game itself. im sure someone thought that would be such a cool detail but instead i found it extremely annoying and vey difficult to swap weapons or start campfires.

and then i trundled through a list of shrine quests, bc i apparently had TWELVE missing?? three were korok trials, one was eventide (apparently it only shows up as a quest if you are on the island or have finished it, bc if u die on the island it kicks you back to a pre-island save lmao) so for the others: three i just had to talk to people to officially start and then immediately complete the quest. remember when i was anxious about softlocking myself out of the jungle dragon shrine quest bc i went right there instead of talking to Kass? never fear, nintendo's got my back

"kay how did you possibly miss reading the giant stone tablet to start this quest--" i am not a clever woman. i go "oh i know what to do!!!" when i see the Orb and hare off without looking around further.

A Brother's Roast i missed bc i forgot to talk to everyone in Goron City after defeating rudania, didn't run across Test of Will (the Goron challenge in the Gerudo highlands) bc i forgot to look off that side of the tower and was very focused on gliding into the labyrinth at the right spot, and didn't run across Guardian Slideshow on the far south beaches bc i hadn't explored there yet.

A Stolen Heirloom was deeply annoying. i had four out of five quests complete to unlock this, but there is an unmarked side quest where you have to go into this lady's house at night to figure out she wants fireflies. maybe she has some ambient daytime barks about this? i have never heard them. this was a little obtuse. also i don't love the stealth in this game. this game's stealth really works when you are well out of detection range bc u have a sniper bow, and i find it works less well for me when i have to follow a target. no i haven't finished the korok stealth trial either.

non-shrine nonsense:

ive been using Stasis as a sort of VATS equivalent. in fallout, i like to hit VATS every once in a while just to see who's out there. how many radroaches are nearby. this also highlights most interactable things which i think is nice of the game

gerudo town stuff: i missed this sand seal racing challenge by SO little the first time which annoyed me so much, it took me six more tries to beat the damn thing. i am very charmed that they actually put in a garden for the kid who was trying to grow a garden!

some beach vegetation mysteries: im really baffled by this singular hearty radish growing in full sun in what is essentially sand with a dusting of palm bark. all the other hearty radishes i have seen are in deep forests with partial sun and lots of leaf litter. what the hell is this then. plus a neat little unique sea wrack? korok circle instead of the usual lilypads.

i didn't know this game knew how to do rainbows at all, let alone double ones!

i will leave you with my many attempts to make stamina potions.

-

making

making things requires both the perfect levels of anxiety (too little anxiety and im out doing normal people things, too much anxiety and i shut down, a medium level means im frantically making things to distract myself. we are at the high end of medium) and some level of income bc i inevitably need one or two things to finish projects. eg we are at the level of anxiety where i am only able to do simple things like repainting a whole bunch of big frames for my maps (procured when i had money) but i need more matboard. so they are sitting, 90% finished, in my office closet.

garden update: more than half my bush beans came up with no leaves and promptly died, which could be due to any number of things but im choosing to believe it's bc my bestie's five year old planted them a little too deeply. so it goes. all the sweet peas are fine, all my normal peas and most of my regular climbing beans came up. a little annoyed bc only a third of my nasturtiums came up even after soaking them for 24h as recommended. the shit i Bought (tomatoes, marigolds, mint, rosemary) is doing fine. the spinach and dill i planted are doing fine too, although the spinach also had about a 50% germination rate. this does mean i don't need to thin them but. Hm. yanno?

[gortashs-skidmark]

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙂𝙖𝙩𝙚'𝙨 𝙈𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝 - ρα૨ƭ 5 ♥ BG3 x READER ♥

Let's pray this bitch let's me fucking talk. Politics, politics, politics yadda yadda ♥ PART 1, PART 2, PART 3, PART 4 This fic involves previous DND knowledge! Such as Grand Duke Ravenguard, The Outer City, Blacksmithing, The Descent, The Zhentarim, Bane, and Enver Gortash.

MORE CHAPTERS ON QUOTEV and Wattpad. under my account ciggysn’milk (Quotev) and sensorycarrot (Wattpad)

-

I hate the Wattpad platform but I will persist. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ Gender Neutral, un-descriptive looks, No name, MATURE THEMES, act 3 spoilers CONTENT WARNING: Cussing, unfriendly behavior, meeting canon characters ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ As Continued...

“A hearty choice of words” this was your chance to leave. Their attention had left you. Gortash was your boastful out “Our dear citizen, Ravenguard will help fiendish blood, but not his own fiendish blood, did you not say?” right as you were about to make a grandeur escape. ---------------- “You did not fucking hear that” you said in disbelief.  “I did, I did, dear. And you did state it, from this far corner?” He jilted at the end in mockery.  “Fuck, I don’t wanna deal with this man! You two can fuck and make up! I’m sure your asses are jealous of your wet hot mouths from and shit you both spew! I don’t give a monkey’s piss. I have business! To… go about…” you said the last part without confidence. You had no business to go about. And you were being mean to Ravenguard, who really didn’t need to be involved in that sentence.   They looked shocked at the blunt vulgarity, the crowd whispered. Even gortash raised both eyebrows high.  “Are they intimate? With each other??” “enemies to lovers?” “Baldur’s Mouth will have a good paper tomorrow” “Their honesty would benefit parliament more than Ravenguard’s” Poor choice of words. You started a rumor that they’re fucking.  “...I suppose I shouldn’t keep you here. I’m sure you have a job that profits the Gate’s trade.” You knew he knew you didn’t. Probably from your clothes. And attitude. How does someone get a job with that sailor’s mouth? Probably sailors. And Chefs. You stocked off immediately, you had no more business, no reason to grace your presence to the crowd. The shit show's over. Curtains closed. You’re never returning to that corner of the Lower City again.  -----------------

You sat in Bloombrige Park. Under a shady tree on a bench. Though, the clouds were still dark, and the light peaked through. You were starving. You don't know how long it'd been since you arrived.

The trees swayed peacefully. This is somewhere that felt like home. It was the same there, and the same here. The wind still blew, the children were still playing with stick swords, it was still beautiful. Just a moment of peace. ------ A blissful hour went by. The wind had started to pick up, and the clouds were ever-graying. You pondered why that fire was blue. Karlach’s fire turned blue, if you had sex with her in the game. You knew that. And it was hot. But that fire wasn’t any fire. It moaned, it ached, it yearned. It was depressing and it told, begged you to touch out to others and make them feel its plea. Perhaps it was Spellplague. It looked like the wispy auras coming out of the cracked cobblestone in the Shadowfell. It certainly felt like it was described.  Your peace was interrupted by an ‘ahem’ and a cough.  “Just pick one sound to get my attention dude” you said. Your gaze followed the noise.   Ah. It was the lordling again. You got a good look at him this time. He was ruggedly built, unconventionally handsome, hair messing up in the wind, and not smiling at you.   “Do you intend to make a fool of me?” He hissed urgently, with spit, in your face. Oh to be spit on by Gortash.  You wiped it off your face pointedly. “No but it’s free speech man, to criticize the government” You’re nationality was shining through, no one would know though.  “You can criticize the government, but you shouldn’t. The strong, leaderly, people have a right to control the weak” “That’s Banite Proverb my guy. It’s also Banite Proverb to fuck off” His posture straightened and he was clearly taken aback “Are you always so familiar with vulgarity?” “I kiss your mom with this mouth” Bad idea, to say that. Really, what’re you thinking? “...” his hands went up in a ‘call it a day’ manner, and his body turned and walked off. 1pt You, 0pts Gort. “You’re the son of a cobbler with those fugly ass shoes?” You shouted as he rounded a corner, still leaving, alone. 2pts You, 0pts Gort.  You turned your head to infront of you, and curled into your previous disassociation posture. It was getting dark, and even bluer from the irritated clouds.  You stood up and walked out of the park, slowly, you didn’t want another run in. Your chilled skin stood up on end, the cold was soaking your bones. You continued to walk astray, avoiding the center of city. Rounding a corner, you felt a heat wave hit your cheeks and nose, and the smell of iron and freshly processed leather wafted through the air. Your head looked up and your eyes felt the warmth of the light. It was the blacksmithing place! Uh the forge. Of. the….you didn’t remember the name. Where Dammon works, or will, or has. You didn’t know what time it was. 

To Be Continued...

[thedeafprophet]

General thoughts on the other Ambition endings?

Ah... making a meme first thing in the morning lmao

didnt specify which Ambition so im assuming 'all the ones you didn't pick here. under the cut for my rambling

Heart's Desire

I think i've posted on how all the endings suck before eh? I've been pretty blatant on why Adoration sucks ass esp for Jamie so i don't think i need the details there. Time brings the inherent horror and sadness that is imortality. Escape is tragically said to me; you can be so close to a return to the surface, but its forever out of your reach, not fully in grasp. and then Power is an inherently immoral choice, joining the masters Bad, you loose ur graps on compassion etc etc.....and also transformation stuff is only horror to me so....yea lmao.

Light Fingers

I'm sure my opinion on the diamond ending comes as no surprise- its quite probably one of the most evil things you can have your character do. I once said on a reddit post along the lines of "You have to draw the line somewhere, and child slavery and drugging people into non-consenting relationships seems a place to draw it"

and i got a response of 'its seems so serious when you say it like that' WELL THATS WHAT IT IS.

Now obviously, i dont care if someone picks that ending, we all love a good fucked up villain, and I have no place to cast judgment.

But someone insisting its 'not a big deal' will make me judgmental. rightfully so.

Nemesis

There's no real right answer to nemesis, whatever ending you pick is what fits most for your character. No matter what, its tragedy all the way down. One could argue the cloak ending is more moral, to bring someone back from the dead without their wish for or knowledge is a messed up act. on the other hand.... to not even try... well.

Nemesis is just angst, no matter you pick.

Bag A Legend

I don't have a lot of strong feelings on BaL tbh. its all pretty much just.... 'yea okay whatever' to me lmao. Like, it was fun, but not super deep. i also speedran it in 4 months from the time i created Rory's account to the end of the ambition.

Of the three options i'd say Surface Veils sparing is the most interesting and fun tbh. great game stuff cool.

I tend to like.... heavily avoid anything to do with the third city because, well, the racism and bad writing there makes me uncomfortable. I think thats understadable, yea? So everything going on with third city veils is of no interest to me.

And then the curator ending is.... interesting. but like. if you pause to think about, you are enslaving a fully sentient being. thats like. pretty fucked up actually. m'just saying. so thats out lol.

[sburbian-sage]

[transmission beginning]

Hello? Is anyone getting this?

Im broadcasting from im attempting to reach my frie , they played some sort of game and hav

Piece of shit machine! *THUD* cmon fucking broadca

Fuck, no no no no! Cmon stabilize please!

Yes! Fuck yes! Cmon baby you can do it!

Alright are we stable? FUCK YEA!

Im broadcasting from my bunker in eastern florida, i believe im now partially underwater, i was supposed to receive some sort of game disk which i now believe may have been responsible for the apocalypse outside my shelter

I managed to retrieve said disk but i am unable to connect properly

Whatever this thing is its huge and programmed almost exclusively in a language i have never seen before

Theres no way a disk can hold as much data as this can so i can only assume that something far above my knowledge level is going on

From what i can tell this was made by fucking skaia-net so i stole shit from one of their local shops before the ground above me collapsed to wire in and hopefully inject data into the disk while it runs but the power consumption is absurd so i cant do it for long

Ever since the exit tunnel collapsed I've been unable to retrieve more resources so I'm running on an extremely limited time frame here

The disk is littered with event flags relating to their names so the current plan is to hardwire an exit back to me from... Wherever they are in this thi

Shit im losing stabil *thud* cmon you piece of shit! fuck im not d no no no NO! CMON! *THUD THUD THUD*

List wherev r you are!

Im com ng for yo

I promi

[transmission complete]

[no response detected]

[data stored]

[repeating transmission]

[broadcast no.432⁶]

[transmission beginning]

Hello? Is anyone getting this?

I hope whoever this was managed to find out what happened to their friends. Or if I'm willing to be a little unrealistic, discovered their own name in the event flags and eventually entered their own version of the game. If it wasn't there already, it was never going to happen.

I also wonder who sent this to me. A lot of improbable stuff happens, people accessing things they should not. Kind of like what I'm doing. But the Replayernet is invite-only. If you don't have the dongle, you don't get in. There are tons of replayers out there without their dongle, drifting in the wind essentially. So either someone found this wayward message and decided to forward it to me for... Some reason. Or I'm to believe that someone on Earth tried to send a message that somehow accessed Pitsblogs and landed in my account personally.

On the improbable chance that this is being done for some greater purpose and it's not a gag, and in the impossibility that this message gets received by its original sender, ignore everything above this paragraph. Read this if you want to survive...

Find a computer and put both the Server, and Client discs in. The Server disc lets you mess with another player's house and deploy items critical to not dying in the apocalypse. The Client disc lets someone do the same to you.

Keep a cool head. Don't act hastily, don't forget to put something inside the flashing ball of light that will appear later, and don't forget that this is a team game.

Try to establish communication channels with your other players. Whatever the kids are using, they'll probably be using that.

Be yourself and have fun. You've displayed a level of canniness which indicates high probability of success.

I could be embarrassing myself by giving critical advice to a dead man or some sort of spoof. Like I'm doing the equivalent of reading a creepypasta and I go into the comments section to make impassioned pleas towards the characters getting killed by The Rake or something. But better safe than sorry. Very strange stuff. If this is some prank, or perhaps some replayernet ARG, I find it to be very tasteless.

[mekatrio]

babbling about iris and a bit about dahlia bc they are awesomely awesome characters

iris is one of The characters ever like takumi accidentally wrote an amazingly compelling morally-grey female character but barely did anything w her (common trend with his characters)

like this is an insane line that everybody just glosses over like.. dahlia's murder of doug swallow + attempted murder of phoenix wright is, by iris' own admission, the first time dahlia had ever acted out without iris' knowledge. and yes iris' line here can be interpreted specifically as "this was the first time dahlia's actions regarding phoenix weren't planned between dahlia and iris", but considering that:

1.) iris knew abt dahlia's faked kidnapping plot

2.) knew that dahlia had poisoned armando, and pretended to be dahlia to try and retrieve the necklace from phoenix in order to protect her

and 3.) hid the fact that she swapped places with a channelled dahlia at the sacred cavern,

im more inclined to believe that this line of hers meant that this is the first time that dahlia had ever acted out without iris' knowledge. which would then imply that every other scheme dahlia had carried out before this, iris has had knowledge of.. which honestly makes sense. like several of dahlia's crimes (faked kidnapping + murder of valerie) took place in close proximity of hazakura temple, and when u take this line into account, its more than likely that iris had played some sort of role in valerie's murder. like.. im sorry its just so mindboggling to me that so many ppl talk abt iris like she's the "good" twin or that she was threatened into helping dahlia bc like.... that just isnt true. if she was actually a "good" person, she wouldve let someone know that terry fawles was being framed, that dahlia had murdered valerie, and tht dahlia had poisoned armando and gave the evidence away to phoenix. cuz like what would dahlia hv done to her? shes a small woman whose preferred method of killing is poison, and even though iris had said this:

dahlia's attempt to kill phoenix was a discrete attempt at poisoning, which relied on him being sick, and failed anyways. her murder of doug swallow was a matter of luck that a dangerous live wire was just dangling around, and her stabbing of valerie is well... lmfao its video game logic so ill ignore that. and also like, dahlia actually cares abt iris. its extremely unlikely she'd ever hurt her, and this is evident in the way that she had never once incriminated iris at any point. she couldve revealed tht iris had known abt the faked kidnapping, had known that she poisoned armando and was planning to kill phoenix, and yet she never does. during 3-5's final trial dahlia calls iris a nuisance and a backstabber, but yet never once does she reveal the extent of iris' complicity. the most she does is privately reveal to phoenix that iris had known abt the faked kidnapping. and she only does this as a channelled spirit, who now harbors a degree of resentment towards iris for her 'betrayals':

but when dahlia was alive? what would she hv done to threaten iris? the most plausible thing she could do is maybe threaten the safety of sister bikini, but yet this possibility is never mentioned at any point. what is more likely is that iris wasnt being threatened into helping dahlia out, and instead helped her out of her own volition bc she loved and cared for her in spite of everything:

and this would also then make this other crazy line from iris make much more sense:

iris, knowing full and well that dahlia cared deeply for her, would use her own well-being as a bargaining chip to protect phoenix. basically, "if you try to kill phoenix i will Kill Myself." and also the fact that she admits that she considered killing her own sister like... DOES THIS SOUND LIKE A "GOOD" TWIN TO YOU??

and say even if iris was being threatened by dahlia... she still continues to keep quiet about everything, even after shes incarcerated and has no means to hurt her. never once does iris reach out to phoenix and tells him "yeah sorry but i was lying to you for 6 months". even when phoenix is right in front of her face, she still doesnt admit this to him. and then she goes on to cover up another murder, this time at the hands of godot, and continues to lie to not just phoenix, but other members of law enforcement. and when faced with dahlia, who is being channelled by maya.. she still chooses to help her, aiding her in deceiving everyone:

oh and did i also mention that she um.. BRUTALLY DESECRATED HER AUNT'S CORPSE...?!?!?

like it really drives me nuts how ppl say that she's the opposite of dahlia, that shes her better half. cuz shes really... really not. shes been an accomplice of dahlia for god knows how long, having kept quiet about her various killings and poisonings, deceived phoenix for 6 months and let him believe for 6 whole years that the woman who loved him was also the woman who tried to kill him, had considered killing her sister, tried to cover up a murder, helped her dead sister deceive everyone, and desecrated her aunt's corpse. and shes an amazing character for that!!! iris is just as dark-hearted as dahlia, and the only difference is that she never took the plunge and took someone's life, though she does admit to having considered doing that. but still, she is an accomplice all the same.

both her and dahlia love each other, but hold feelings of resentment and remorse towards one another. dahlia feels betrayed by iris, and iris knows this. also this post puts this aspect of dahlia's character into words much better than i ever could, so let me just snag it and put it over here:

in order to reduce iris into this "good twin threatened by her evil twin", it requires a disregard and flanderization of both iris' and dahlia's character. and considering how much this fandom loves to beat down dahlia and regard her as this cartoonishly evil character, its no wonder that iris' character is similarly oversimplified; bc people love to make dahlia = bad, then iris must be good! well BZZZT Wrong! both iris and dahlia are amazingly complex characters... who unfortunately exist in ace attorney's universe, where character complexity is secondary to murder mystery, if its even considered at all. and this is why the narrative does the insane decision to frame phoenix's unwavering belief in iris' character as a good thing which is um. Excuse Me? like he has no evidence whatsoever to suggest that the woman he fell in love with isnt the same woman who tried to kill him. but like ok sure he's defended clients in more incriminating situations, so the story is probably drawing a final parallel of Believe In Your Client with phoenix's and iris' dynamic. except the reveal that phoenix's gf did not try to kill him but instead.... lied to him for 6 months, never told him about the danger he was in during this time, left him to believe that she tried to kill him, and continued to deceive him is like. Bro. Hello. nothing about this is admirable and just makes phoenix look like an extremely unhealthily devoted man like....!!!?!?

but anyways YEAH iris is a charmingly complex character who was too good for ace attorney. sniffles. but i see you iris i know you're crazy and i love u!!!

[gamersalad]

32 Hours of VRChat - Your 2nd Reality

Today I will introduce you to the game in the VR Category which is VRChat!

VRChat is a Virtual World social game created by Graham Gaylor and Jesse Joudrey developed and published by VRChat Inc. It was first released on January 16, 2014 as an app for the Oculus Rift then released on Steam on February 1, 2017. It’s a place to meet all kinds of people from around the globe in a virtual environment. VRChat’s content are created by its amazing community creating avatars, worlds, games and more. It’s a game with thousands of games inside it. From scenic worlds to game worlds that will blow your mind. And the best part? It’s free to play!You can play the game even without a VR, with just your PC on desktop mode. You can also play it without a PC using a standalone VR like the Quest 2 or Pico 4.

First up, in VRChat you can be who you want to be! Be your popular anime, game, or movie character. You can choose your own gender from being a girl, boy, and other genders. You can join different types of fandoms and groups from Warhammer, Undertale, FNAF, roleplayers, ravers, hobbyist or tech enthusiasts, no matter your taste you’ll find a place for you. Here you have the freedom to be who you are and find people the same as you.

Next up, VRChat worlds that blow your mind. You’ll find worlds here that can make you appreciate scenes or landscapes that are so beautifully created in 3D. You can also visit VR cities from different parts of the globe like the busy streets of Tokyo to the romantic city of Paris. You can also find worlds that are so mesmerizing, creative, trippy, or out of this world.

Then we go to the games. VRChat has hundreds of games that people can play. From recreated games like Among Us, prop hunting, to games like Prison Escape, Zombie Tag, & Murder Mystery. There’s definitely a lot of unique games to play here. There’s also community created worlds such as Devouring, Pop Escape, Hunni’s Horror Maps and also the Award-Winning game Magic Heist. If you have a game idea you have the freedom to create your own game here as long as you have knowledge of coding, blender and Unity.

And Lastly, In VRChat you can live in the virtual space like you’re in another world. People who want to feel the escapism or people who just want to be themselves can live their life here. People are so immersed that you can find love, marry people, sleep in VR, join rave parties, drink with friends and even join live stage shows. There was a documentary made about a couple that met in VRChat and started a family. Finding love virtually is now made easier in VR because you can see a physical representation of your loved ones.

Since VR is like a 2nd world, you can also find work here and earn money. You can stream yourself, selling your avatar creation, start a service type of business, teach others how to dance, translate other languages, DJ for clubs, create custom worlds or models. People use their talents in music, arts, acting, comedy, games and many more for people’s needs and demands. With this they have created an economy that made VRChat one of the best free to play VR games that has so much potential for the future.

It really shocks me how a lot of people haven’t heard of it before when popular Vtubers such as Filian or Project Melody use VRChat on their videos that are viewed by millions of people. This shows how underrated the game is due to some misconceptions and misunderstanding people have about VRChat.

And here in Gamer Salad, we showcase games and give them their love and glory they so deserve.

If you're interested to try out VRChat yourself: feel free to create an account and login with the link below! I look forward to meeting you.

I am Mark and thank you for reading Gamer Salad!~

🎮---------------🥗

Post by Mark Christian A. Alfante

[yakdeculture]

Granblue Fantasy Relink Review

Okay guys here's the thing. I don't really play the gatcha game lets get that out of the way. You ask me to post grid I'm getting scared. Idk what means like my weapons? I just log in for free rolls man I've had an account for 6 years and I'm on chapter 19 I don't think I read a damn word of the story. I know the popular women I know there's a stupid little fucking twink guy and there's like 5 of him an sometimes he has brown hair but other times he has white hair and hes likes saber fate stay night but for fujoshis but Idk his name and I don't want to know. All that to say I pretty much have no business playing this game. I bought it because my friend tweeted "theres a milf in relink" and i thought it would be funny to reply to that with a receipt of me buying the game. So yeah I went into this with barely any knowledge at all about this series in terms of what the hell is actually going on.

That said if people were being fr about there being people who think the game's story is bad because it's confusing or doesn't explain enough then I don't get where that's coming from. To be honest I kind of thing that idea was made up because some of y'all are way too fucking bored online and you have to invent discord so you put on your little FBI or CIA cap and you say lets go find some completely random idiot off the side of the street who will literally say anything at all so we can qrt them and act like this is a commonly held opinion. Sorry for the tangent but you know what I mean? Like someone will qrt like the craziest person you've ever fucking seen OR a 15 year old and act like whatever they said was the normal default opinion. Listen no offense but I'm 25 if a kid is wrong on the internet its not my fucking problem and I'm not wasting my time thinking about what they think about anything. Randoms do not exist to me. I have no interest in arguing anything at all with anyone. I am happy to give my analysis on some things if I am asked but I don't just think about this shit unprompted.

Anyways with that out of the way yeah the story is very beginner friendly not at all confusing in pretty much any way and also the gameplay goes fucking hard so yeah this is an awesome game. So every I've written everything I've just said before I beat the game, I'm on chapter 8 right now but I can think without having beat it I know the gameplay is fire I know the story as at the very least understandable and is probably pretty good, I don't know how it ends but I've thought it was pretty good so far. Pretty much the only way you could argue this game expects you to have played the gatcha is in the sense they don't try to spend like too much time building up the relationships between the characters, they pretty much just tell you what they are, show them to you in action with like a cute little dialogue scene before the game really start then its kinda like okay you should get the point we can move on now and I think that's true. Like what the fuck else were they gonna do did you want Granblue Origins. Did you want Granblue Fantasy The Animation The Game as a little intro? Look I would play the first however many chapter of the gatcha story as a game like this who wouldn't but I don't think this game is missing anything that prevents you from enjoying the cast. You get the vibes they pass you the joint and you smoke that shit. It's that simple.

Finished the main story, pretty much my only complaint is they fake like its gonna end like 4 times. Like I got places to be man you can't keep doing this you have to end eventually. But yeah the story was great this game has some fantastic set pieces and fights. I don't know how much of a most game this game has, I imagine it must be a lot because you end the game at like level 50 and you can go up to 100 so there must be more shit to do. I don't know if I'm gonna do all that to be honest idk how much I would get out of it. Not saying I'm gonna immediately uninstall the game or anything but I got what I came for and now I'm not sure how much of what is left to do was designed for me considering I was mostly interested in doing the story and meeting the characters and stuff. But hey great game.

[gabrielmtc]

True Narrative and Testimonies

True Narrative is a story, true story is a new home for long non-fiction narratives, it showcases one exceptional essay by one exceptional writer, it is also written based from personal experience offering a vivid report from real life.

Each issue of True story is a small immersion in a larger-like story or experience that makes us think differently about what it means to be human.

Some examples of True Narrative are the following:

-Personal Essays

-Fairy Tales

-Short Stories

-Novels

-Autobiography

-Histories

An example of True Narrative Essay.

● Introduction:

• Title: The Scotty Who Knew Too Much

• Author: James Thurber

• Thesis Statement: "The Scottie Who Knew Too Much" underscores the necessity of humility and curiosity in navigating unfamiliar challenges, cautioning against overconfidence and the failure to seek knowledge before acting.

● Summary: The story follows a confident Scottie dog visiting the countryside, who encounters two unfamiliar animals. Despite warnings, he plunges into confrontations without asking questions or learning about his opponents. His arrogance leads to defeat, emphasizing the lesson of humility and curiosity in navigating new challenges.

● Evaluation:

• The characters, particularly the confident Scottie and the wise farm dog, are well-developed and relatable. Through their interactions, the narrative highlights the consequences of overconfidence and the value of seeking information before acting.

• The plot unfolds in a straightforward yet impactful manner, with each encounter reinforcing the story's central theme. The Scottie's journey from arrogance to humility adds depth to the narrative, allowing readers to connect with the character emotionally.

• Overall, "The Scottie Who Knew Too Much" is a memorable tale that effectively communicates its message while entertaining the reader with its blend of humor and wisdom.

● Conclusion:

• In conclusion, yes, I agree with the thesis that "The Scottie Who Knew Too Much" highlights the importance of humility and curiosity in facing unfamiliar situations. The narrative effectively conveys this message through the Scottie's humorous yet enlightening experiences in the countryside.

● What are Testimonies?

•Testimonies are personal accounts or statements given by individuals to testify about their experiences, beliefs, or observations.

●Examples of testimonies are:

•"After trying countless diets, I finally found success with this meal plan. It's changed my relationship with food and my body for the better."

•"Joining the community garden has been a game-changer for me. It's not just about growing vegetables; it's about connecting with nature and my neighbors."

•"Attending the seminar opened my eyes to new possibilities. I walked away feeling inspired and ready to take on any challenge.

[theggning]

I'm a little late, but if you're still doing them, opinions/thoughts on Nick Valentine? I'm dying to hear you go into detail about him.

Me, gushing about Nick Valentine? Don't mind if I do~

I've been playing FO4 since launch, and from my very first playthrough, Nick has been my favorite character in the game (and really, one of my all-time favs.) This is hardly an unpopular opinion. Everybody, even people who don't like FO4 as a whole seem to love Nick and he's widely lauded as one of the best characters in the series.

I think one of the things that makes Nick stand out is just how remarkably kind he is. I keep using that word on these posts, but I think it applies to Nick more than basically any other character. Nick is an honorable man with uncommon empathy for others and a sophisticated sense of justice-- but also an impressive sense of mercy (he is one of the only companions who approve of you sparing the deathclaw egg and returning it to its parent.) As long as you don't act like a total dickweed around him, he almost immediately treats you as a friend and not a client, caring about your personal well-being and emotional state (he also never even expects payment from you. We find out this is a thing he does fairly often via idle dialogue with NPCs.) He's not self-righteous, he's not arrogant, he doesn't think he's better than other people, and he's not in it for fame or accolades or money. Nick does the right thing because it's right. He helps people because they need it. In many ways, Nick is one of the most humane characters in the wasteland. Which is of course ironic because he's not human at all.

But it is important to note that Nick is in no way a pushover. He is VERY firm on his moral code and his boundaries, and people who push it, treat him poorly for being a synth, act cruelly, or generally act like shitheads are going to hear it. Nick has an admirable amount of patience (far more than he should) but once you cross his very clear line, he spits straight up nuclear fire. His razor wit is best displayed in his clapbacks at bigoted NPCs in the BoS or Vault 81, and in his sharp retorts to some of the sarcastic lines from the Sole Survivor.

(Some people claim Nick dislikes sarcasm, but it's more like... time and place. Nick enjoys jokes and witty banter and he approves of good-natured ribbing from friends, but if the moment is inappropriate or the remark is downright cruel, he will snap back and you'll goddamn deserve it.)

Nick has been around/conscious for a long time now, so he has the wisdom that comes from many years of existence (plus his pre-War knowledge.) He's very mature and grounded, and seems to generally have his shit together. But that's because Nick's conflicts are largely internal. Nick struggles with the fact that his identity doesn't truly belong to him. His mechanical body was constructed by the Institute, His appearance causes people to fear and mistrust him, and he constantly strives to be seen and treated as a person and not another mindless, evil Institute gen-2. (Made especially difficult by the fact that as far as he knows, he is the sole exception to the rule.)

And Nick's personality isn't really "his" either. His intellect, his morals, his interests, and his manner of speech are all remnants of the "original" Nick Valentine whose brainscans were used to create him. Though Nick does express gratitude to have been created from a man who was by all accounts a good person, he also can't help but be resentful. OG!Nick's memories haunt him, and serve as a constant reminder that Nick isn't his own man. He is burdened with the anger and sorrow and grief and guilt of a man who's been dead for 200 years, and there is no way for him to get rid of them without completely erasing his mind.

Nick states that he once tried to separate "himself" out from the memories of OG!Nick-- likely with the aid of Dr. Amari. He alludes to the process putting him in a coma for a month and very nearly killing him. So at some point in the past, Nick was so desperate to get rid of the memories that he was willing to try something that drastic.

Nowadays, Nick has at least somewhat come to terms with the fractured and confusing nature of his identity, and would no longer take such risks. But it is very important, and Nick explicitly states that he does not want to be an "extension" or a "reincarnation" of OG!Nick Valentine. He wants to be his own individual, his own person, and have things in his life that truly belong only to him. By helping him with his personal quest, the Sole Survivor is able to help him come to a realization that he already has things of his own-- the good he has done, the people he has helped, and the friends he has made.

(And then you take him to Far Harbor and Nick gets his wish granted in a far more literal sense, with the introduction of his "brother" DiMA. For better or for worse. Sorry, Nicky... can't pick your family.)

I previously answered an ask about my thoughts on Nick getting a gen-3 body, which you can read here. TL;DR I don't think he'd go for it for myriad reasons.

But I also think Nick has a certain amount of self-consciousness re: his mechanical body. As salty and strong-willed as Nick is, I also think he is... very vulnerable on this front. Like if you really wanted to scorch-earth destroy any kind of association with him, treating him cruelly or insensitively about his body is the way to do it. Don't make him feel like "less than" or like he's lacking something and ESPECIALLY don't treat him like an object. BE NICE TO MY BOY, I SWEAR TO GOD-

Uh. Anyway, on the topic of romance, here is the most accurate shitpost that has ever been made about Nick Valentine:

I completely understand the folks who view Nick as a father figure. He's an exceptionally good one and absolutely the sort of supportive dadfriend that everybody could use.

But I, on the other hand, am one of the sad synthfucking souls who played FO4 at release, reveling in the flirtation and witty banter, the film noir "oh no I've got feelings for my client that I can't act upon" chemistry, the angst and the "finding something to call my own" only to discover at the end of the line that the bastards at Bethesda made it so Nick Valentine wasn't romanceable.

And YEAH I'M ACTUALLY STILL KINDA BITTER

I said on the Deacon post that I understood why, characterization-wise, Deacon isn't available as a romance. But holy shit! Nick's arc leads him DIRECTLY to the point where it makes PERFECT sense to open up a romance with him! I HONESTLY don't understand this one! It makes total sense! Did they think nobody would want to? It's not because he's a synth! You can kiss two other synths and a ghoul, for fuck's sake, but I can't kiss Nick?!

Ahem.

(There is an extremely well-done mod that allows you to kiss Nick. Yes, I've played it. They barely had to touch his dialogue to make it unsubtly flirtatious. A+ highly recommend.)

In conclusion, Nick is a perfect gentlemen, a stylish synth detective, and not only my favorite character in FO4, but one of my favorite vidya character of all time. I love him dearly, I aspire to be as cool as he is someday, and WHY CAN'T I KISS THE ROBOT, TODD?? HE'S BEEN FLIRTING WITH ME CONSTANTLY SINCE THE MOMENT WE MET AND HE- I COULD BE THE SOMETHING TO CALL HIS OWN, BETHESDA, WHY CAN'T I- BETHESDA YOU'RE KILLING ME WHY

PLEASE

LET ME KISS THE ROBOT

Signed, GG (Self-appointed Chapter Head of Synthfuckers United)

[ddarker-dreams]

Pandora’s Box. Yan Chrollo x Reader

Warnings: Medicine mention, descriptions of anxiety, and implied minor character death. Word count: 2.7k.

A simple plan is the best kind to have. 

The less variables at play, the higher your rates of success are. You’ve anticipated some margin of error, a safety net of sorts, to be used if necessary. Everything within your realm of influence has been taken into account. Your friend in a car meeting you at a dead spot, a train ticket purchased with a prepaid visa card on a VPN, and a few precious pieces of jewelry to be pawned off at a later time. Scraping these assets together is a commendable feat, having to skulk around to make it this far.

Nothing feels out of the ordinary, you think. Your preparations are almost complete. All that’s left is to wait to ensure the beast in hiding cannot come for you.

Prayer doesn’t traditionally feel worth the effort -- any god that’d allow you to be subjugated to a hell such as this is no god worth pleading to -- but tonight is different. Tonight you pray to any deity that may spare you some pity, that this plan may succeed without a hitch. The time signals the beginning of the next phase, the most vital aspect. 

Tonight’s soup had an additional ingredient, a generous helping of sleep inducing pills. To avoid suspicion, you partook in the meal as usual, hoping to cancel out the effects later by ingesting a gratuitous amount of energy drinks. It served the original purpose of fending off fatigue, but not without presenting a unique set of problems of its own. The caffeine has served to heighten your anxiety, upping what was already a nerve-wracking experience to a new level. 

Your guts feeling like they’re rearranging themselves, your body not capable of forgoing fidgeting a single moment. No longer can you tell if it’s nausea, stomach pain, or hyperventilation. Maybe it’s everything at once. All you know is that you’ve never had your body working against you more than now. Every nerve is frayed, your senses on high alert to any shadow or noise.

Deep breaths no longer bring you reprieve. Each raggedy breath you manage to squeeze out is an accomplishment, overshadowed by the fear that he might hear you. How irrational a thought, that Chrollo would be capable of picking up on the differences in your breathing from afar. It doesn’t matter how illogical the worry may be. With Chrollo, you’ve learned that nothing is impossible. To expect the unexpected has been the mantra of your mind these past few months. 

Just a bit longer... I need to know he’s asleep for sure. Or else it’s over.

Your foot taps against the ground in a frantic rhythm, ears ringing like funeral tolls. The last time you dared peak into your shared room with Chrollo, he was supposedly fast asleep, out like a light. What should’ve been a cause for victory brought nothing but a fresh wave of dread. A guessing game ensues. Trying to decipher his body language from earlier for hints only serves to make you feel worse. You’ve been so cautious, walking on sheets of thin ice at every move. Chrollo hadn’t acted out of the ordinary to your knowledge. Not that he has a way of acting ‘ordinary’ anyways, your limited understanding of his person having to suffice. 

Should everything be going according to your design, your friend will be in position to pick you up. There’s no more stalling, the point of return ahead of you.

It’s time.

You do a final check over your mental checklist. Your backpack is stocked with the necessities: toiletries, a few changes of clothes, a filtered hydro flask, non perishable foods and your train ticket. To any onlooker it might look like you’re going hiking. Sporting worn sneakers, loose-fitting clothes, and having your hair pulled away from your face. This is really it. The culmination of sneaking around behind Chrollo’s back for months, unfolding before your very eyes. Everything is falling into place as it’s meant to.

You walk to the door. 

Each step you take is quiet as can be. Every shuffle of clothes, or the slightest of creaks from the floorboards, causes you to wince and pause. This penthouse has served as your personal circle of hell for months on end, the walls absorbing your cries and screams. You despise this place with every fiber of your being. The antique décor, the ancient texts that lay strewn about, the scent of sandalwood that you find nauseating. 

Ghosts of the past return to haunt you as you walk through different areas. Swirling around your head, they threaten to consume you, chipping away at your resolve. His hypnotic voice resonates in your mind like whispers of the serpent in the garden, tempting you. Weighing you down. Not even your own mind is a safe haven from his speech that disguises itself as flowery, when the reality is far more sinister. Chrollo’s words are constricting vines, lined with thorns, embedding themselves deeper into your flesh the harder you try to pry them out. 

“Don’t you remember how difficult your life was before me?” 

Another step.

“All those people who left you, who took advantage of you?” 

Your hands shake around your small, homemade EMP. It’s made from spare parts you managed to find around the penthouse, clumsily assembled through trial and error. The pulse it emits is next to nothing. Copper coils threaten to fall loose at any second when you raise it to the security system by the door. Holding your breath, you press down on the trigger. The device lets out rapid clicking sounds, the security monitor flickering before going blank. 

“I know you’ll come around.” 

Finally, come the excessive locks on the door. The compressed air you said you needed for cleaning is next up. The can is cool against your trembling fingers, white specs decorating the locks as you spray them over. With some persistence, they come undone, one after the other. Unshackling you from the depths. You open the door that’s mocked you relentlessly for months, withholding your prized freedom. 

“But even in the event that you don’t...” 

The surrounding world is a blur of colors. Your eyes don’t focus on any object for too long, scanning your surroundings for potential threats. It feels as if your stomach is in your throat when the elevator starts its descent. He had you up on the fiftieth floor? 

You fixate on the screen, numbers not flashing by fast enough for your liking.

40. 

20.

5. 

1.

“Well. There are always ways of overcoming inconveniences such as that.” 

It’s an extravagant lobby. Far more luxurious than you could ever have hoped to afford, this building being one of the most exclusive in Yorknew. The person at the front desk calls out and you ignore it. You must look mighty suspicious, not that you care. The priority now is escape. Running out the revolving door, crisp autumn air greets you. You’ve never felt more grateful for the bustling streets of the city. Even at night the city remains awake, making it easier to blend in. No one out here spares you a second glance as you weave in and out of fast paced crowds. 

23rd street. That’s where you’ll meet up with your friend, who will then transport you to the subway. Glancing up at the signposts, you realize you’ll be in for some walking. There’s no letting your guard down. Constantly looking over your shoulder, all you see are the faces of strangers. You’ve never felt so grateful to be a part of a crowd. 

Finally, after walking for what feels like an eternity, you spot your beacon of hope. A clothing store’s bright neon sign, which your friend sits parked in front of. Since these stores are closed this time of day, the crowd that once surrounded you have thinned out, yet you try not to fixate on the lack of cover. Jay walking across the street doesn’t prove to be an issue. The pollution from the city hides the stars behind a layer of smog, streetlamps your lone source of light.

Heart hammering in your chest, you tap on the window of her car with urgency. “Amelia, it’s me. [First].” 

You hear the doors unlock. 

Taking it as a sign she heard you, you waste no time swinging into the passenger seat of the car. Amelia immediately turns the keys, car humming to life. Your chest heaves with exhaustion from the draining events. This is it. The second to last step before you reclaim your freedom. It’s almost like a dream, the light at the end of a long tunnel. Amelia’s appearance is just as you recalled it. Hazel eyes, tan skin, long black hair, and an average build. Your heart leaps at the sight of her.

“I’ve been so worried about you,” your friend confesses in a hushed whisper. “[First], what... what happened? You completely fell off the face of the Earth for months. Then you contact me out of nowhere? What’s going on?” 

It isn’t easy meeting her eyes, so you don’t. “I... I don’t know if it’s safe to talk about it. The less you know, the better.”

She takes a moment to assess you before sighing. “Alright, I can tell this is serious. Just... I’m glad you’re alright.” 

Amelia begins driving without another word. Silence hangs in the air, offering a time to reflect. Your plan, Chrollo, what you’ll do next... it whirls around your head like a vortex. A gut feeling refuses to leave you alone whenever you picture his face. A dreadful thought that this entire escapade was too easy. Is it just your paranoia? It could very well be. Hugging your backpack closer to you for comfort, you’re startled by Amelia suddenly speaking up.

“The subway station, huh,” she reminiscences aloud, eyes flickering from the road to you. “So you’re leaving Yorknew?” 

There’s no way to continue dodging her questions. “... Yeah, I am.” 

“Where are you going?” 

It’s natural she’d have lots of questions. Had the situation been reversed, you’d have plenty of your own. For her wellbeing you don’t want to indulge more than necessary. Lying to someone who is helping you lives a sour taste in your mouth. It’s for her sake, you remind yourself. Having to involve Amelia in this at all was the last thing you wanted to do. 

“I’m going to Zaban City. I have some extended family there.” 

Amelia hums in confirmation to your story. “Your cousin, right?” 

“Right.” 

She stops pressing that particular subject, likely sensing your apprehension. You take advantage of the peaceful atmosphere and close your eyes. The sleeping pills from earlier are starting to grow more prominent. Losing consciousness is the last thing you need right now, but indulging in some much needed rest sounds too inviting. 

“There was something else I was wondering about.” Amelia starts, earning your attention. Looks like sleep will have to wait for later. You yawn, stretching your weary limbs, and wait for her to continue. She smiles, dark eyelashes fluttering shut in deep thought.

“Oh, sweet [First],” she whispers your name in the gentlest of tones, and looks over at you. “Why are you so selfish?” 

You blink, the words not settling in immediately. “What...?” 

She continues without missing a beat. “You used to be so envious of me. Always pretending to play nice, because you were too passive to say how you really felt. How you hated me.” 

“Amelia? What are you talking about? I... I never hated you, what--” 

“Even now you can’t bring yourself to admit the truth,” she sighs. “Not that I’m surprised. You’ve always cared way too much about what people think. Why would now be any different?” 

Her unexpected attack on your character has you shifting in your seat. Every word that leaves her lips is in her voice, yet feels so different than her normal character. Did something happen in the time Chrollo took you away? Anxiety rears its ugly head at the line of questioning. You take a sudden interest in your fingers, playing with them on your lap. 

“I don’t understand where any of this is coming from.” You admit, eyebrows furrowing together. The shift in atmosphere is tangible. What was once a warm reunion under stressful times has corrupted into a frosty confrontation. These insecurities of hers that laid dormant in your heart... why is she bringing this up now? In your most vulnerable hour? Nothing is making sense. These ugly feelings of yours were only ever confided in one person. 

“You knew it’d be a danger to my life to contact me. You knew that, and still you did it all the same. I wonder why that is. Could it be... that you wouldn’t care if I died? If I was tortured for aiding your escape?” 

Your heart drops. This knowledge... how can she know any of this? Amelia used the word escape, clear as day. Is that a coincidence? You look over at the car door, seeing it’s locked. Something’s not right here, you deduce. I don’t know what it is exactly, but something is very wrong...! 

She continues on. “I really do want to know what your justification for this is. Out of everyone you could’ve picked for help, you specifically chose me, knowing the danger it’d bring. Did you think I’d be spared in some sort of miracle?” 

The spare moonlight streaming in illuminates Amelia’s face, highlighting how pale her skin looks. Veins that would normally not have been so prominent have a blue tint, her lips a similar shade. Your eyes drop to the unnaturally large scarf that surrounds her neck. It’s not that cold out yet, why is she wearing something so cumbersome? Reaching out with unsteady hands, you pull the fabric back. Your gut feels like it’s been punched at the sight, eyes widening in horror. 

On the back of her neck is an antenna, with bat wings on the end. 

Shit! Shit, shit, shit-- 

In a frenzy, you stretch forward, searching for the button to unlock the car door. The second you find it, it’s pressed, and you unbuckle your seatbelt. You hear her speaking up again. Your heart feels like it’s about to burst from your chest as you jump out the car, grateful it isn’t going too fast. Skin meeting asphalt, you hiss at the pain, rolling onto your side. None of that matters now. How did he do it? He has to be nearby, maybe you can still make it to the station in time. Your head hurts from the impact, legs wobbling like jelly. 

It’s difficult to focus. You grit your teeth, utilizing the remnants of your strength to get to your knees. Why did the caffeine have to wear off so soon...? It was going so well. You finally had your chance, your time to take back your life. To go back to how things were. Struggling to get to your feet, you throw your backpack off, praying the lost weight will help you get up. 

“You never answered my questions,” calls a deeper voice. You gulp back acidic bile as a hand is extended in front of you. “I was hoping you would.” 

Your head hangs down. It’s over. For a transgression such as this, you imagine you’re in for quite the punishment. How funny a thing fate is. Similar to streams of rushing water, there are many twists and turns, leading you down paths you never wanted to go. Fingernails dig into the sensitive flesh of your palms, the pain anchoring your wandering mind to reality. All other parts of your body have lost feeling. Numbness is what you’ve come to know. 

The devil incarnate bends over, taking your tearstained face into his fingers, and lifting it to meet his eyes. An abyss of grey stares back at you, devoid of humanity. Taking pleasure in besting you yet again. Disappointment is mixed within an interest to see what you’ll do next. There’s no smile on his face as you’ve come to expect. You see an empty shell of a man glowering down at you, from a place just out of reach. 

“I can’t say I’m too pleased about this, [First]. We’ll need to have a long discussion, don’t you think?” 

[creacherkeeper]

happy sleepover saturday luka!!! hope you’re feeling a little better <3 for dnd asks, all the odd numbers for maxwell?? i am so into his entire deal it’s so good

omg thank u leo. and yes im feeling much better <33

What does your character typically keep in their pockets?

literally who the fuck knows whats in there. he always keeps his tools on him though. his hammer is his arcane focus so that is very close by

3. How do they carry themselves around strangers? Friends/Lovers? Family?

i dont think maxwell tends to have many different modes. what you see is pretty much what you get. he's loud, exuberant, excitable, and curious. but i do think around romantic partners he's a little more quiet and calm and pretty mushy

7. How impulsive is your character?

he is the walking picture of adhd

9. What is their favorite scent?

i think the like. very metallic scent while soldering things

11. How does your character blow off steam?

as much as he is a nerd he is pretty damn twunky and has +4 strength so i think working out and training

13. If they were a body of water, what would they be?

a river that looks super fast and chaotic on top but is actually only a few feet deep and wont actually drown you

17. Does your character swear? What’s their favorite phrase/word?

oh he swears like a sailor yeah. i think his dad always stuck with like. kid friendly swearing. so thats what max knew growing up. and then when he went to the monastery the other kids were like "no check this out &*#%#%*" and max was like. i am a changed man.

19. How does your character act when they want to seem threatening?

i think he's simply so bad at it but mostly very loud cursing and threats about how he's going to crush them with his big hammer and he's going to enjoy it (almost entirely directed at his ex boyfriend)

21. If they were a potion, what would it look like? (Color, glass shape, smell, etc.)

bright but slightly clear yellow/orange/red thats kind of always shifting around even when it should be steady and fizzes like a very carbonated beverage. and i think it smells like ozone and is in a triangle shaped bottle

23. Would your character want to be famous? Why or why not?

oh definitely. he wants to be as renown an inventor as he thinks his dad is

27. If they were a ghost, how would they haunt in the afterlife?

the sound of feet running on stairs and laughter when no one is home

29. What does your character have too much of?

self confidence .....

31. Can your character visualize actual concepts in their head? Or are they just vague thoughts?

i think he thinks like me and its like. systems and diagrams and how things fit together. like i think if someone shows him a math problem he SEES the answer diagrammed not the equation you know ??

33. How do they feel about the unknown?

very excited to make it known

37. What are some ways your character acts silly?

i think he's silly most of the time but i think his silly is very physical. hanging upsidedown from a tree branch. spinning people around in hugs. making funny faces behind peoples backs

39. What does your character believe their party lacks?

he hasn't met them yet but he's hopefully coming in next full party game!!! but probably like. a sense of honest fun

47. Do they consider themselves funny? How do they use humor?

i think maxwell is less one for making jokes and is more one to point out or emphasize humorous aspects of whats already there

49. Do they talk to themselves?

when he talks out loud he's talking to his god. but he does talk out loud a lot. he's very much just like hey bestie burnlow you are getting a running account of literally everything i am doing today Thank You Love You

51. What makes them a hypocrite?

he very much cares about truth and understanding and knowledge but is also very much in denial about literally everything about his dad

53. What does freedom mean to them?

being allowed to live the life you want and be the person you want without having restrictions or danger put on you because of that (he is a trans war refugee lmao)

57. How does the way they act seemingly contradict their ability scores?

he has +5 int and wis but dear god will he ever use that in a practical way. remains to be seen

59. What’s something your character has realized?

that sometimes pride has consequences

61. Who do they go to when they’ve had a nightmare?

definitely his dad. but i think once he joins the party probably seir or jonny g (i think him going to jonny would be funny because he's literally the most normal mild mannered pleasant middle aged man and this absolute chaos goblin 20ish year old being like @n@, jonny,,,, is so funny to me)

63. Which party member would they pull a prank on? Who would they plan a prank with?

he would prank anyone with anyone. literally always down for a prank and consequences? dont know her

67. Selflessness or Self-Preservation?

i think he's never had to choose before. he's always been prioritized and been able to prioritize himself so he's never been in a position where he needs to be selfless

69. Journey or Destination?

destination. he will enjoy the journey but is only doing it to get Answers

[ssurveycorpss]

You can delete this if this isn't allowed, but can I request X for all the warriors?

asking for multiple characters is totally fine (as long as you're not requesting full one shots lol) i'll update my rules! also the layout of these is a little different than the others bc this one is just a little fun lol.

i included zeke, reiner, pieck, porco, and colt. i definitely wont write for the four kiddos or marcel but i can write for annie and bertholdt if you request them.

tags: modern au, cigarette/nicotine mention in zeke's, alcohol mention in colt's, emetophobia warning for colts, mention of car accidents in porco's, sfw, not every single one is romantic lol sorry and colts is missing one headcanon bc i only have two for him

hc game

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

zeke jaeger:

pretentious coffee fan. owns like a 300 dollar espresso maker and refuses to drink starbucks. spends like 8 dollars minimum on a latte and lurks on the coffee subreddits. its almost comical how he drinks fancy coffee and only smokes cigarettes and not e cigs... so pretentious...

acts like he has no interest in social media but spends hours trying to pick a lyric from an obscure band for his caption. has like 3 posts, lots of followers, and less following. will post the occasional story with you in it but otherwise not much going on there.

coaches little league baseball despite not liking kids that much because he doesn't really have time for coaching middle or high schoolers. his kids are fucking ruthless they are like monsters on the field and every other team is terrified of them. you know how they don't keep score for kids softball and stuff like that? zeke does anyways and he tells them every time they win. does well with baseball moms bc their kids could go pro no matter what and hes really good looking and suburban moms could use the eye candy.

more under the cut!

reiner braun:

his favorite music genre is bubblegum kpop. porco groans everytime reiner has the aux bc he just plays really preppy cute songs kpop songs about falling in love after school. he doesn't like... stan any of the groups like he doesn't know every detail of their lives but he casually watches their interviews sometimes and knows all the member names of his favorite groups. he has a photocard from an album you gave him, and it sits in his phone case behind a polaroid of you two. also he learns the dances sometimes.

likes watching cartoons sometimes, he wont binge watch an entire season of them but if he has sometimes he'll throw on a cute mindless cartoon just to relax. he usually watches slice of life and romance tv shows in general, stuff without much tension or drama and is just cute.

good cook, terrible baker. if he bakes something it will look awful and taste kind of bad. but his cooking is really good, once you guys got comfortable together instead of going out to eat you opt for him cooking for you two instead.

pieck finger:

likes to buy her clothes second hand. she's a really well dressed girl but she's not concerned with being overly trendy, so she finds that a lot of stores don't really have things she likes. she likes long hemlines and almost everything is cropped these days, so she opts for thrift stores and vintage stores to get things her style. plus she saves a lot of money. she really suits pearl jewelry and has a timeless sense of fashion.

she has a minivan and will drive anyone anywhere, and she rarely asks for gas money. often picks up zeke porco and reiner when they hang out and will always pick you up for dates. her car is ancient but runs like a charm because shes knowledgeable about maintenance, and super fuel efficient.

has a really old phone with no cracks or scratches or anything. doesn't see the point in getting a new one until one day she notices how convenient porco's brand new up to date iphone is and starts saving up for one, but every time she saves up enough a new one comes out.

porco galliard:

plays volleyball, and is on a scholarship for it. jumps really high and is really lithe and quick, making him a good libero (but this is the extent of my volleyball knowledge so i will not make anymore comment. please let me know what position porco plays.)

gets in (non fatal) car accidents surprisingly often, and speeding tickets even more. marcel is tired of it because it is throwing his insurance costs over the roof and forces him to enroll in lessons but they really don't help.

he is the one to pay for the streaming services and has everyone else plus you leech off his account. he complains abt it but texts the gc every time he changes the password so he doesn't really have the right.

colt grice:

on the blacklist for several frats because he went to their block parties, drank too much, and vomited in someones bed, another person's cat's litterbox, a different persons laundry basket, a different different persons moms sweater, and another frats oven. he's really apologetic and always cleans up and reimburses everyone as much as he can, but he is a menace and is only allowed in if he promises not to drink. on that drinking note if you need advice, go out for drinks with colt. he will get incredibly inebriated, give you the best wisdom and advice you've ever heard, and forget everything the next day.

really bad at video games but really fun to play them with. doesnt get on very often, but will play when he has some free time or is asked by his friends. only on weekends and only for like two hours at a time. the video game system at his house doesnt even belong to him its Falcos.

[im-thinking-arson]

Hi wow depression is a hell of a thing.

I'm sorry for the relative silence here, considering everything that has been going on in the last (roughly) year and a half it has been really hard to focus on any creative outlets. Everything has felt pretty heavy as I have been piecing together what exactly happened to myself and the people I used to share a community with.

Although my former FC is basically non-existent at this point, I feel it is appropriate to say that I no longer associate with its' leader @morganaux (sernoudenet on Twitter and formerly here) and to clarify why.

I have been struggling with what to even say about the situation. There are so many layers that I don't honestly know if any single cross-section could explain all there is to unpack. When it takes multiple people six months to explore everything they know as fact... I think that shows its not so much of a 'he said, they said' scenario as the few people who still support Morgy have tried to claim.

I feel guilty not speaking up sooner, considering this person is a member of the FFXIV community who I'm fairly sure some of my mutuals follow. Its so hard to speak out when he publicly acts innocent, like he has quietly moved on and refuses to acknowledge what he's done.

The reality feels so cold in contrast, with the knowledge I have- that he has done this multiple times before, burning down or wearing down those he has hurt with false sincerity; claiming innocence, claiming people misunderstand the significance of the intentions behind the knives in their backs, claiming he is the truest victim of the mess wrought of his own actions.

He quietly retweets fan art, cute animals, head canons, and all kinds of fandom things- but also others' tweets to identify with their own traumas- the same traumatic thoughts and feelings he incites in others through a mixture of gaslighting, lashing out, and playing the victim. He tweets passive aggressively about people he feels the victim of, (justified or not) even amid posts about his dearly beloved OC.

At this point I should just block him and try to scrape all memory of what I went through from my mind, but un-fucking-fortunately I know him too well to believe it's over when it's over. He still makes passive aggressive tweets about people he hasn't talked to in one, two, ?? years, a person who was a good friend to him for 10 years before he scapegoated them to maintain his own sense of righteousness.

Seeing as I witnessed him maintain not one, not two, not three- FOUR venting channels in his own discord, including at one point one specifically made for sh*tting on a single person, defending it's use and encouraging others to participate saying 'this is how victims cope'...

I know it's not over, and if he had a single shred of...anything... He could leverage against me he would have already tried to 'cancel' me. I'm not turning my back again to see if he decides to throw another knife.

For a long time I wanted to believe I had simply misunderstood the situation, that his intentions weren't so self-serving. The more I saw, the more I heard testimony from others that matched my own, the more I began to un-repress and process my own memories and connect the dots... And the less sense his own account made.

While I tried to maintain my friendship with him I ignored all the red flags, my own rise in anxiety, the isolation I felt. I felt so much pressure to fit into his equation, to be a supportive friend, to keep track of how he was feeling that I stopped taking care of my own mental health.

All the while he got angry for people not checking on him when he asked for space, threw a fit when anyone failed to accommodate his whims, and even accused his three closest friends of purposefully excluding him by taking screenshots without him in them or even hanging out together when he was offline..

And he would have people believe that most of the issues he was involved in centered on his friends not communicating with him. But in my case at least, nothing could be further from the truth.

I told him I felt uncomfortable with the fact his (at the time) friend had publicly lashed out at me in his discord server for stating my opinion. He suggested I work harder to befriend this person, that he couldn't and wouldn't approach his friend about it because he wasn't a FC member and only there as a friend of himself and his two closest friends.

He lashed out at a former friend (and FC mate) of mine -on my behalf- because they wouldn't stop messaging me while I was at work... And when this person subsequently put me on blast thinking I had put him up to it I mentioned considering posting my side of the story- to initially be shamed (by the person mentioned above) for suggesting I protect myself, stating it could make things worse for the people who had already publicly attacked this person...

I approached him about another former friend of his angrily ranting about a character I had though at the time they knew I was planning to RP (I had spoken about it both in-game and in a discord we all shared) because I didn't know them well enough to feel comfortable saying that made me feel uncomfortable and unwelcome in the space. I approached my former friend because I knew from experience he took things like this seriously and he was the one who had invited this character TO role play in the first place.

He reacted by telling this person he had no idea why I was upset, asked them to address an issue they had no context for - prompting them to write an apology, and then reinforced their worry that I hated them by saying I "probably disliked them since [I] hadn't written them an apology" in return. I had thought they both wanted to drop the subject because he stopped responding about the situation.

He decided the situation was resolved and kept inviting us around one another for at least four months while keeping up the illusion that I disliked this person despite me trying to remain friendly- and said nothing about the situation until AFTER he had nuked his FC and almost everyone was done with his bullshit. I had asked him to be honest about the situation and finally got "[name] thinks you dislike him" ???

(I might add more details about these situations because it's honestly much more of a mess than it might seem, but I'd probably have to write a fucking book to explain everything well in-sequence of events.)

But those examples aside, I told him up front that the favoritism he showed and my concerns being glossed over was messing with my head, that I didn't know if I felt safe in his FC, that the whole situation was making me feel like I was losing my grip on reality, that at one point feeling like I was being discouraged from defending myself was beginning to make me feel su*cidal. These are things he knew.

He reacted to this ignoring both cause and effect, ignoring me unless I reached out first or it concerned RP, continually inviting me to hang out with people he knew I felt uncomfortable with (or vice versa) and normally turning down anything I invited him to do otherwise- including several times that I offered to help him with Eden or dungeons he wanted to farm when he previously said he was free to do so. A couple of times he declined saying he was waiting to see if he could convince another friend... and then threw a fit about 'no one wanting to help him' despite declining my offer and not reaching out to me after his other friend declined (I was still online but he decided to vent on discord instead).

Behind my back he talked shit about me, enough that someone who had known him 10 years and was familiar with his behavioral patterns qualified it 'constant' bashing, whenever I came up in conversation. And even included confronting me about the three situations I mentioned above in a plan he was working on to 'fix' his FC, as if he thought I was reaching out to him to stir up drama.

Eventually it came out that the friend I mentioned in the first example was emotionally abusing his friends (and I found out later told him two of them were talking shit about him- prompting HIM to lash out at them). One of them mentioned that person had still been talking shit about me 6 months later on a private account and when I got upset that THREE people I had thought were my friends didn't tell me, I made a few jokes in poor taste (that I do now regret) about the situation to try and prevent myself from having a mental break down.

The person he led to believe I hated left the discord server at that point and he decided to divert some of the blame for (in his words) 'being worried for this person's life' -whom he had attacked over the situation- to me... blaming them leaving and him having trouble contacting them on me.

I told him if this former friend was indeed attacking people and he was so worried we needed to talk about the situation, since in other situations his response was to ignore the hurt caused. He blew up about me messaging him at work, he blamed me for every situation I had brought to his attention. He went to his mods to rant about me and sent one of them to scope out the situation in hopes they could shut me up.

This is the friend of 10 years, who quickly became concerned and not for the reasons he had hoped. They shared a few screenshots of things said to gaslight me behind my back as the conversation progressed. Eventually the other mod jumped in and, knowingly or not proceeded to gaslight me FOR him, based on what they were told. By him.

They reinforced everything he was saying in guise of a neutral perspective and my efforts to prevent a full-scale breakdown failed. I lost all grip on reality for several days- in which at some point I wrote an apology to him for accusing him of several things that were later proven true- and one thing he, himself, proved he'd lied about to the other person involved.

I spent almost two weeks in a self-imposed social break to sort everything out and attempt to cope with what I was told was reality. I fell into the deepest depression I've been in since I had to run away from home, and honestly if it wasn't for my wonderful SO and our house mates, I might have really hurt myself.

It turns out another situation had been brewing parallel to my own. People had been coming to the social mod, the friend of 10 years, with their own worries about him. Almost every. Single. Member. Including at least four people who came forward with fears that if they did a single thing that he interpreted as an insult or threat they would find themselves exiled, called out, and ranted about in a jumbled mix of truth and fictional-malice until their own friends turned on them to support his victim complex.

These four people came forward on the condition that their names be kept anonymous to protect their identity. He didn't take kindly to this, quickly demanding names so they (his mod team) could handle the situation. The mod refused, knowing he has a history of lashing out at any criticism against him and to protect those who were already afraid of bringing the problems up to Morgy.

He reacted by lashing out at this person, claiming they ruined his life, and attempting to weed out those who had spoken out against him by kicking anyone he didn't feel 'safe' being around from his FC. He posted a message in his FC discord about resuming his 'reign of terror'... Which, even if it was a joke, was in in poor taste after pruning his FC of anyone he didn't think could be convinced of his 'good intentions.'

I missed this first culling of his FC members, I assume, because I had apologized and at the time submitted to his version of events. He approached me soon after I noticed the changes in the discord and FC roster; claiming he really wanted to work things out and remain friends- going as far as to say he was so nervous about my reaction that he was shaking.

I wanted to take him at face value despite everything that happened because yeah, I did want to believe he was sincere, that he was a good friend, and that all of it had been an unfortunate misunderstanding. And at first I did until I started talking to other people who knew him and getting their side of the story. Nothing he said added up. Between first-hand testimony and over a hundred screenshots from multiple people the ONLY things that were clear and consistent were that he lied and fit his narrative to whatever he wanted to achieve.

He tried to reduce conflict by omitting information, he controlled people's perception of one another by how he spoke about them and how close he let them to himself and others, he built a support group by polarizing his friends against his 'enemies' and if anyone had a problem with him... They were wrong, and got added to the pile of 'aggressors' he had accumulated over the years, to be bashed and spit on for years to come.

He may have sensed my change in opinion when I directly asked him to help me reach out to the person who thought I disliked them-  managed to come to an understanding and we mutually apologized for the situation... Without his meddling. Or maybe when he realized I was still on talking terms with the people he had lashed out at and directly asked him why he had kicked people who did absolutely nothing to him... Or it could be that I kept in contact with the person who 'ruined his life' by trying to protect his friends from him. I don't know.

While we were still talking he tried to identify with me and bond over the feeling of loosing the FC, a group of people that despite the anxiety, and pain I had felt in the environment he'd built I did deeply respect and care about... Despite the dissolution of that group and the abuse I suffered being -at the core- his own fault. He even went as far as to say my description of the PTSD and fear I was experiencing described exactly how he was feeling, too.

As our conversations further weighed on my mental health I had to take a break from interacting with him. I was honest again, with what I was told, what I knew, and asked him for honesty about the situation... What he had said about me behind my back and why because I wanted to hear it from him. I wanted to see if he would acknowledge the harm he caused both to me and the rest of the (former) FC.

He never did, and probably won't. He asked for some time to tend to his own stress levels and mental health and then blocked me on all social media and discord, and kicked me from his FC without ever making an effort to reach out.

Of the few people who are still close to him, one of them suggested that "maybe he just decided he didn't want to be friends anymore." But after him begging to have a conversation to iron out all the facts, claiming to be so anxious about such a conversation going well that he was 'shaking', admitting that what he did hurt people and that my being wary of him was understandable, asking me -directly- to let him know if he did anything 'shady', and stressing he REALLY wanted this conversation to take place when we were both able to handle it because of how important he felt it was...

I feel like its fair to say that him suddenly cutting off all contact isn't quite so simple. He could have done that at any point. Before pointedly ignoring my concerns, before gaslighting me, before blaming me for the results of his own actions, before accepting an apology for accusing him of things he did legitimately do, and certainly before directly telling me had no real problems with me, that he it was super important to him that we remain friends, and that I deserved his honesty.

I'm not going to try and tell anyone who they should be friends with or not. Frankly, people can change and in a lot of cases experiences with individuals will be different.

But on that same note, if I had known then what I know now I might have saved myself from roughly two years of anxiety and avoided the state of dissonance I now find myself in. I still have moments where I want to doubt the things I experienced first hand. My mind is still trying to repress my own memories to cope.

A part of me still cares about him despite everything because as far as I knew, he was my friend and I am still trying to reconcile what I found to be true.

At this point I feel like I should say please don't harass Morgy if you read this, but honestly? If you have any reason to hold him accountable go for it. He needs it. And if you have any gut feelings about him or anyone in his circle please listen to it. The few supporters he still has are willing to ignore anything he has done previous to the fall of his FC and have shown they are willing to debate and accuse people who speak out about legitimate concerns involving him.

If anyone has any questions I am willing to answer them and share the proof I have.

And in the off chance anyone wants to (further) argue with me about my experiences or whether or not I suffered enough to be considered a victim, please Google some images of a hand giving the middle finger. But if after that you still really want to play stupid games? I can find you some stupid prizes.

I don't owe him my silence. Or peace of mind. The only thing I owe him is to be as entirely, brutally, honest as possible given the information I have. I think it's a fair offer considering the mind-numbing volume of honesty he -still- owes all of us.

- - - - -

I may add more onto this. Unfortunately the entire situation is a lot more complex, but I wanted to get the backbone of my own experiences out there and there is so much bullshit it can't all be seen from any one direction. A lot of the circumstantial evidence loops back into other situations and makes it hard to comprehensively represent everything on any sort of singular timeline. As I said in the beginning there is a reason it took a small group 6 months to piece it together.

I am far from the only person hurt, and the entire situation was a mess with people feeling unnerved or pressured into going along with his agenda. For the most part now that I have more context I don't blame most of the people involved for their own actions. I fully support those who can't or won't come forward about the situation whether they just want out of his drama, or are afraid to come forward.

[notyouraverageeldaryafan]

World Building part 1/5

The History of the Fae World

Hello and welcome to the first post dedicated to explaining how I would rewrite Eldarya! You can find the context to this post here. Before I begin here is your kind reminder that this is just my opinion and that it is subjective and that my version/AU is not better than the original or any other version for that matter, feel free to disagree and even tell me how wrong I am as long as you remain kind and polite. I will assume you are familiar with the game’s plot and so these posts will contain spoilers.

Let’s start with one of the core problems of this game, the world building. The game glosses over it, vaguely explaining it and seldom utilizes it in the plot. The team had a few good ideas, such as the war between the dragons and the aengels and it’s aftermath, but also they fail to take into account some of their decisions and their consequences. I am referring to the fact that the ritual was not completed and thus the food grown on Eldarya isn’t nutritional, it’s interesting in theory but the application is sloppy considering they have to constantly steal food from Earth but are unable to bring the main character back home. I will try to rewrite this origin story as well as a bit more of this world’s history, trying to make it as interesting but without it having so many consequences that are just making things less fun. (warning: this is unnecessarily long) 

The creation:

The birth of Christ was but a few centuries away: humanity was slowly learning how to write, faes were worshiped like gods and everyone lived in harmony. All was good and dandy until The Oracle (yes, the one in the Crystal) foretells a grim future. The Oracle was but a young witch back then, someone very similar to the Oracle of Delphi who could see into the future. She began to tell of a world where there’s only God who’s word is law and where fear of the unknown pushes humanity to persecute and abuse of faes (aka Christianity and unholy amount of persecution they led against witches and pagans). This of course was terrifying to the current leaders of the faes and, despite having some doubts, they still decided to act upon this prophecy. The Oracle offered the solution, the creation of a new world, an escape, so that, if things get out of control, the faes can just escape to this world and close the gates towards Earth guarantying their safety. 

All that was required was to complete a century long ritual, led by none other than the Oracle, where three of the mightiest faes species will have to sacrifice themselves in order to use the power within them to create this new world. These species symbolize what this new world should be like: the Dragons represent its power and might, the Phoenix, its immortality and fairness, the Aengels, its generosity and beauty. But there was a catch. The Oracle was using part of the power released by this sacrifice to become more powerful herself, unbeknownst to the others. Her Apprentice ended up discovering her secret and told the sacrificed about it. They decided to trap her during the last ritual inside of a giant crystal so that she may not use her new found powers against them in the future. And so they did, The Oracle found herself eaten by blue crystals where she stood and as she understood what was happening to her, she cursed this new world that she built: pieces of her Crystal will make faes go insane with greed and power, forcing them on killing sprees, that as much as they will try to keep the crystal in one piece, it will shatter, poisoning the inhabitants reminding them of her wrath. Dumbfounded, the remaining faes didn’t know what to do now, afraid of going in this new and now completed world, none wanting to go insane. The Apprentice stepped up, promising she knew how to appease her late master and thus control the intensity of this curse. 

Thus began something known as the First Wave, only a few thousand faes left for this new world they have created, to understand if it was truly dangerous, led by the Apprentice and much later by her reincarnations. Among these faes were the Original Three (the Dragons, Aengels and Phoenix) who each claimed one of the four main continents, the last one going to The Apprentice and her followers (you can find more details about the geography of this new world here [yet to be written]). At first, the Crystal was easy to control and the cases of Corrupted Faes were few and far between but it couldn’t last forever. (cf:The Fall of the Mightiest and The Return of The Oracle, found below) 

The War between the Dragons and the Aengels, also known as the Rise of the Mightiest:

The Ritual has left the Original Three weak and far less in numbers than they used to be. The Apprentice decided to give up the continent she was assigned, preferring to dedicate her life to dealing with the Oracle than to rule land. Both the Dragons and the Aengels wished to take this now ‘vacant’ continent for themselves. They were unable to compromise lands both wanting the land in its entirety. A war began between the two, The War of The Mighty Two. Meanwhile the Phoenix decided to remain true to their principals and remained neutral and fair, not taking part in this quarrel. They ended up regretting this much later. The war stretched for a couple of centuries until the Aengels disappeared completely from the face of this new world, declaring the Dragons victors and rulers of now three of the four main continents. Thus the Dragons began to change history, changing the name of the Aengels into Daemons and antagonizing them in history books. The Phoenix let them do so out of fear but also because they were afraid of losing their neutral stance. 

Special thanks to @partyinnevarra for helping me perfect this section and giving me the idea for the better reason behind the War between The Dragons and the Aengels, thanks again for your help <3

The Fall of the Mightiest and The Return of the Oracle:

In some sort of divine karma, the Dragons themselves suffered greatly. The Crystal, who had been quiet until then, awoke. The Oracle, who is theorized to have a conscious, waited until the new world was at its weakest to attack. The Dragons were the main victims of the First Corruption, going insane with power and destroying the world they promised to protect. The local faes were overwhelmed and called upon the faes that had remained on Earth to help them, mostly Dragons that have stayed behind. This was know as the Second Wave, starting around the fall of the roman empire and ending around the middle of the Dark Ages. The on-going fight with the Corrupted lasted less of a millennium and is to this day the longest cycle of Corruption to date. It is also good to know that back then, the faes weren’t sure how to fight these Corrupted, even more so that they used to be their saviors and were the strongest faes at the time. 

The easiest way to deal with the Corrupted was to kill them and take the piece of Crystal from their cadavers in order for it not to spread. It was the way that was prioritized for it was the most straight forward one (this technique is still used to this day). Another way is to trap the Corrupted in objects or caves or what-not, anything that can potentially contain something, but it required a lot of skill and maana and thus was deemed too costly (more on how that works here [yet to be written]) (this can also be an interesting villain for an episode, maybe a Dragon from the Dark-Ages trapped in ice or something else being freed by a villain or something) (this technique also explains the monster that could eat knowledge that was released by the main character in one of the episode). The last and perhaps the most efficient way of dealing with the Corrupted is through the Apprentice’s divine powers. The reincarnation of The Apprentice can extract the Crystal piece out of the Corrupted without harming them, this is called the Purification, but it is energy consuming and, well, there has only been 4 reincarnated at a time for thousands of Corrupted, so it is still considered the last viable option. (more information about how the Reincarnated work go here [yet to be written])

The First Corruption led to the almost complete extinction of the Dragons. On one side they were Corrupted and killed, on the other they fought against their brothers to extract the Crystal from them. The few Dragons left on Earth were hunted for sport by the likes of Arthur and his knights. A few unhatched eggs were saved and are kept by the Phoenix, in hopes that one day they will be able to save their species but there have been many debates surrounding the subject, mainly because of the fear that if the Dragons were to return, the Crystal might target them again. 

Aengels, Daemons and The Divine:

The Aengels were not all gone, a few escaped to Earth while the rest went into hiding. The ones on Earth quickly abused the then growing Christianism, becoming the known angels and demons. Despite that, they couldn’t hide from the witch hunts and the industrialization and either disappeared or returned to the fae world during the Final Wave. 

The Final Wave and The Second Corruption:

After the last of the Dragons disappeared, the First Corruption calmed down, the exact details aren’t clear, mostly because the faes that survived were few and traumatized. It took one full century for this new world to heal and for the faes on Earth to figure out that maybe, living in the fear of being Corrupted is better than dying at the hands of angry mods. Because, you guessed it, the Inquisition began followed by the witch hunts as well as the colonization of most of Earth which meant that even the places that were still considered “safe” (places that respected their legends and magical creatures, co-habiting, I’m thinking mostly of native tribes) started being invaded. Thus the last of the faes left Earth and joined the fae world, though a few remained but not enough to be worth being considered. The Second Corruption happened soon after the Final Wave and lasted less than two centuries. This time, everything was managed better, mostly because of the creation of the Guards (one of which the story takes place in), military bases meant to regulate the “bigger” Crystals and be able to predict the amount of Corruption, usually a Reincarnated accompanies the Guard members. 

The Third Corruption:

After a few centuries of moderate silence where the Corrupted were present but not the worst of threats, the Oracle awoke again. And it is at this moment the actual story starts. 

Nota bene:

This version of their history won’t be told to the heroine until much later in the game. At first, she will believe the story the Dragons have crafted, the version where Daemons are the villains and deserved what happened to them. The Oracle is also not seen as the villain for most of the game, mostly because the Oracle and the Crystal are seen as two different entities in the faes’ consciousness. The Oracle is seen as a helping hand, sometimes even worshipped as the goddess of this new world. The Apprentice and her reincarnations pushed forward this deification in an attempt to calm her late master’s wrath, maybe being seen as the goddess she always wanted to be would sooth her (spoilers: it doesn’t). All of this history being hidden would work greatly in the game’s over-arcing theme of lies vs. truths (it’s a theme that was present in the original material: just look at how many things the Guard hides from the protagonist even in A New Era where she is their savior). The fact that most of the faes population believed a lie ties in perfectly into the theme without making characters that the player is supposed to like and sometimes romance lie to the protagonist’s face (idk why for some reason beemoov keeps making their LIs lie to their main character, no one in 2021 finds that hot anymore, not that i think anyone ever found it hot in the first place, also you don’t need to have people lie to each other to create drama pls beemoov im sick of it) (sorry for the rant xD)

Wow!! I’m actually done... this was way to long, thank you so much for reading so far if you did. This is way too fun tho, wish I could do something more with this than just throw it in the void that is tumblr. Oh well. Next time, I’ll try to tackle the gameplay and the dreaded maana system.

Thanks again and have a good day!