#yeah I am actually under all this

[alevens]

zolu is maybe one of the easiest ships i've ever liked. they're dating, except when they're not, they're best friends even when they're kissing and they're still captain and first mate when they aren't. they hold hands, they hug. they have sex. they don't.

Luffy can hold Zoro's katanas and Zoro can hold Luffy's strawhat and no one bats an eye. one says "You're so cool!" and the other says "You're strong" and it's just another way to say "I see you, this is why I follow you/this is why I trust you". it's not seeing each other for a long time and still knowing how the other's steps sound like against wood and sand. the captain runs and the first mate follows. it's always "Zoro and the others" and "Where's Luffy?"

if they're just friends, if they're something more, if they don't have a label for it, at its core, it's just about how they get each other. they understand how the other's mind works. however you view them, it doesn't erase they fact that they love each other in a way they don't love other people.

[stormyoceans]

LINE READING SO DEVASTATING I NEED TO DIE ABOUT IT

[puppyeared]

i think the reason why im so drawn to spirit tracks and pkmn scarvi is that having the legendary/princess as a companion rather than a goal that marks the games completion makes me feel satisfied the way i would after helping a friend

my brother always teases me about how I still havent finished botw after almost 7 years bc "id rather be out picking flowers" which i wont say is untrue. and yes i know Zeldas been holding off ganon for 100 years, yes i can get some sort of idea what her relationship with link was like by recalling memories and going through her diary. ive always loved botw for its unique storytelling and setting which makes it stand out, because it lets you get to know who you're saving.

but because theyre memories, it only works if theres something for the player to investigate that already happened. its retroactive (but effective nonetheless)

on the other hand, spirit tracks does something similar but instead of having the player try to piece together memories and interpret them as a spectator, you actually have an opportunity to get to know zelda yourself by talking to her and working together. besides making it a gameplay mechanic, giving the player control over how they interact with zelda makes it so much more personable.

and I find that making the goal feel personal instead of an obligation gives me more of a reason to work towards it. I know what kind of person botw zelda was but as the player, shes still very much a stranger to me. but spirit tracks zelda? thats my friend!!!! she invited me to go to the beach after we get her body back!!! i dont want to whip her to make her move faster thats mean :(

you know how hostage negotiators are trained to introduce themselves and get to know the person theyre negotiating with because its harder to hurt someone when you know what their favorite food is? its kinda like that, because it feels like im helping a friend than being told or led to do smth

and although i havent played scarvi myself, i feel an attachment to koraidon and miraidon even just watching playthrough clips because its like!! thats my weird scaly dog!! it loves sandwiches and we're friends!!! you know!!!!!!

[no-light-left-on]

So the Death of the Outsider lacks a chaos system and it makes perfect sense

(I recommend reading my other post on how chaos works in the DH universe first but it is not mandatory.)

The point of the chaos system is, at its core, a reflection of how a world already at its tipping point reacts to the player's actions: Dunwall ridden by the plague and oppressed by the Lord Regent’s rule, Karnaca bloodfly-bitten and slowly torn to shreds by the Duke with people scared after the recent coup.

Billie, however, simply exists as a person once the world has been tipped towards the better, Emily having reclaimed her throne and Karnaca slowly but surely steering towards better times. Her quest is not motivated by politics or by a falling empire. It is entirely personal to her, Daud, and the Outsider.

Billie is an ex-assassin. She puts the world on a tipping point, but she does not decide whether the world rights itself or comes crashing over the edge. She takes jobs from the black market, sometimes killing people for money, because that is all it is to her - a job. And while she may kill innocent people while at it, there is no more terror it can bring atop the cruel rule of the Duke and people dying in the mines. In the end, she will disappear into the shadows. It is just another mugging, another unfortunate murder of a father coming home in the evening. Nothing more, nothing less. No responsibility to take over it after.

She is dedicated to her quest, and that quest is not even hers - it is Daud's, and she is just going along with it out of maybe guilt, maybe old times' sake. She is not even that interested in killing the Outsider herself, has very little stakes in it, and decides to go through with it because it's what Daud wanted. There is no world that can react to her because she is the world that is reacting, in a sense, to Daud's wishes and the Outsider's subtle interventions.

Compared to, say, DH2 which takes place months before the events of DotO, Billie has very little to lose, no place to reclaim, no world to save. The results of her actions, no matter what they might be, won't change how the world is at the end of the game. Emily can choose whether a brilliant doctor lives so she can save lives, she decides whether the Howlers or the Overseers take over Batista, dictates who rules and with how much power, with what level of cruelty. Billie is killing a god, no matter what it takes, and there is little need for consideration of how this result is achieved.

The game does not even have targets, save for one, the Outsider himself. All the missions are about gathering intel and preparing for the job. The structure of the whole game is very different to serve the purpose of the plot and honestly it's a clever choice so that the focus remains on the one thing only - killing the Outsider.

One thing I did not mention in relation to chaos in my other post is that the chaos also influences the Outsider and his speeches at the shrines. Which, fair enough, it is just one more change in dialogue among many. But in the case of DotO, he is directly involved. He is not an observer anymore. He has real reason to be emotionally invested in what is happening and what Billie is doing. He needs to bait her into murder, or change her mind to spare him and free him from his eternal imprisonment. There can't be a change from interest to cynicism as Billie kills more people to get to him, because in the end, he is the target. He wants out of the Void by any means necessary, which means he has to be fully invested at all times. He has no reason to suddenly go soft and make subtle comments. He comes across as so much more malicious in this game, maiming Billie and being so incredibly cruel when he tells her that Daud has passed while she was away. All this because he can't risk her changing her mind, thinking to herself, “Hey, maybe he sucks but he’s not That Bad” and then turning on her heel to leave. He is trying to influence Billie instead, which he didn’t do with his Marked (unless you count his mentions of multiple possible outcomes as influencing, or him telling Daud about Delilah).

So no, the world won't change for you, the player. It won't change because you chose not to kill anyone, not even the contract targets, because if you don't do the dirty work, someone else will. And the Outsider cannot change either, because Billie is not changing the fate of an empire. She is changing the fate of Him, personally, and he cannot afford to let her choose the only bad choice - indifference. So there is no point in a chaos at all.

No matter what Billie does in the end, the outcome will be the same - the Void will change. sShe will change the universe as they know it, but no matter how she goes about it, the change will come. She is not faced with a question of what she wants the world to be. She was guided there by others, expected to do one thing - kill a god. The world has set her up, and now she has to react.

And so she comes to the Void and is met with the only choice that will matter: Is she going to show mercy, or remain the same?

[sn0wbat]

← part 1 🦇

fun fact, they are almost the same age frida was when rune went to sleep. funny how time works

[nordidia]

do you think the turtles have any phobias or anything like that maybe stuff that grosses them out

well as a projector enjoyer i think ur fav turtle has ur phobias u wanna give them by law

as for me, i project my trypanophobia and fear of clowns onto raph LMAO

as for like... stuff beyond projection and like for waht i maybe think about from the show/movie,, i think they each have their own specific fear/things that freak them out, many things, as is normal. but nothing thats like severe enough to name specifically?

just like... normal discomfort around alot of specific things, each their own... i cant reallty think of any specific things

as for severe phobias, other than mikey being scared of paranormal stuff, donnie and beach balls, and raph and rabbits/puppets, im unsure if i headcanon anything specific like that outside of any like.. self-indulgence

[oatbugs]

pls i need to provide updates

[pieceofcec]

Ever wonder how many fics a ship has?

Well, wonder no more! For I have spent the last... 3-4 hours creating a chart to show how many fics a pairing has romantically and platonically!

Some things to keep in mind: fics can have multiple pairings, so the totals per character may not add up perfectly. This also means the averages aren't exact either, but they'll give you an idea of how rare a pairing is. The totals also give an idea of how popular a character is.

Only 2-character pairings are listed - I didn't want to figure out how to list every possible poly combination. I may add poly-units in the future though, but I won't include them in the averaging at all.

Also, fun fact An is the most annoying to search up because her name is within Kohane and Kanade's, so I had to use Shiraishi to search for her instead.

[the-meme-monarch]

do you think kk was just fucking w capn during the 400 bagels scene and was just committing to the bit

[averlym]

HI I DIDNT KNOW YOU WERE INTO ADAMANDI HOLY SHIT. Can’t believe so few people know about this masterpiece of a musical

:OOOOO hai i agree it is criminally (haha yknow bc there are crimes..) underrated!! and really brilliant!!! discovered it literally midway through the week and akdfjgsjhdsjhjgdf

have a doodle of the saints :3

[thattheater-kid]

Being a South Park fictive is so funny because I’m nine years old, so our friends associate me with child things like Hello Kitty, Care Bears, Bluey, Paw Patrol, etc., but if you watch even a second of South Park, Care Bears and Hello Kitty are probably the last things you’d ever associate me with.

-Kenny

[welcometogrouchland]

Not to be deranged on main abt huntlow again but I think there's a little something in how Willow and Hunter both have character arcs of self-determination, specifically centered around the idea that other people tell them what and who to be.

Like it's most obvious with Hunter. Belos wants him to be Caleb 2.0 (no treachery patch update), and forces him into a position where he can't be any of the things he actually wants to be (happy, free, a normal teen, etc). All Hunter can do is repress those desires.

Everybody in the EC sees Hunter as Someone Else: he's their superior, he's competition for Belos' favour, to Darius he's a mockery of what his mentor stood for (Darius gets over this, woo good for him), and y'know. Belos. Self explanatory.

His desire in Hunting Palismen, the life goal that bonds him to flapjack is literally just him wanting to decide his own future. And now in s3 he's changed his hair (presumably to move away from Caleb). This boys whole deal revolves around the idea that people want him to be someone/something that he doesn't want to be.

But there's an element of other people trying to define who Willow is in her arc too, it's just more subtle.

The show starts off with her in a track she doesn't want to be in cause it's what her parents think is best for her, and that episode starts with Amity calling her "half a witch", and then her calling herself that in a moment of panic, before Luz reassures her.

THAT'S THE THING to me too is that Willow viewing herself as "half a witch" was imposed on her by the outside forces of her bullying. She doesn't seem especially bothered by her lack of magic in the flashbacks in Understanding Willow, except when it gets her and Amity in trouble...until Amity says that she's too weak to be her friend. Baby Willow is DEVASTATED. Then in episodes like hootys moving hastle and any sport in a storm, she feels she has to prove herself to the people who doubt her (Amity and Hermonculous), because again- the way other people view Willow has defined her all her life.

The resolution of Understanding Willow only happens because Amity admits that she didn't mean it when she said Willow was weak. And then in labyrinth runners when Amity thinks Willow needs protecting, Willow straight up says "I want you to see who I really am!". Willows character arc isnt about her gaining confidence because she got better at magic- she did get better, but she was always good (except as a baby but. Y'know. She was a baby. What do you want from her). It's just that nobody wanted to acknowledge that, and that affected her self image to the point where she didn't see it.

And that's why I think the motif of Hunter and Willow seeing each other how they wish others saw them (hunter's just a normal kid to Willow and Willow's strong and capable to Hunter), and how they have these accurate understandings of each other for people who haven't known each other that long...blaggh. they're so cute I'm gonna vomit

[thepinkseashell]

long time no see :)

[flovverworks]

thought again how overwhelmingly lonely akira would become after everything while time does its healing. u go from having a twenty-something ppl around u at all times to being alone. no one to knock on ur door in the morning, no ppl going in & out, no chaos of sudden fights. even in the (more likely) case where akira forgets its like. this haunting feeling of having forgotten something u shouldnt have. guy who goes to every social gathering ever to have that chaotic energetic experience of having so many ppl around again

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[fluffypotatey]

Since I very sincerely doubt Uther managed to kill ALL the Dragonlords (they're knights, not the KGB, and it was a lot easier to disappear back then) imagine them returning to Albion from Rome or whatever to find Cousin Balinor's only son is ruling Camelot and the Druids, is best friends with an immortal knight and one dude that's been raised from the fucking dead, is bonded to THEE oldest dragon they've ever heard of (and who is also nuttier than squirrel stew) and a semi-feral hatchling that barely listens to four (4) people max and hisses/bites/claws at the rest, and oh yeah, is married to a fucking Pendragon.

Family dinners must be a hoot and a half.

oh to be a fly on the wall when they finally make an audience in Camelot. oh to see Merlin's face morph from apprehension to wonder to exhaustion to horror because they're telling Arthur everything they know.