#yeah... it goes from bad to “oh... FUCK.” when my lore is added

[rainbowgod666]

Oh it actually bleeds huh

When you’re scrolling thru mobile in public and you see smth nsfw so you gotta scroll back up a bit to prepare your thumb to launch you through the nsfw fast enough so that no one sees it

[anonymousgayrobot]

A not fact checked FIXATION RANT:: FALLOUT 4

GOD does anybody else feel like fallout 4’s self insert mc was a wasted opportunity?? LIKE WHY DO WE GET TO PLAY A LITERAL VETERAN FROM THE ANNEXATION OF CANADA, THE THING YOU ONLY GET TO HEAR ABOUT IN PAST GAMES

AND ITS NEVER BROUGHT UP AGAIN

like why give the self insert character lore if you’re never going to mention it again or feel any repercussions or sentiments from the past? the sole survivor never mourns, is never the one opening up to other characters (which makes the romances appear very one-sided)— like can’t we get any flashbacks?? anything??? in this weird mixture of having a self insert and a protagonist, you wind up with this very bland character that breaks any kind of immersion. and why make a self insert character if there’s always going to be a set background? that defeats the purpose.

really bad examples for context? comparison?? ((AND I KNOW ITS KINDA FUCKED COMPARING A 2015 GAME TO SHIT THAT CAME OUT IN THE 20’S, BUT IT SHOULD BE BASIC KNOWLEDGE KNOW-HOW ON HOW TO DEVELOP AN IMMERSIVE SELF INSERTED PROTAGONIST EVEN WITH TECHNOLOGICAL SETBACKS??))

anyways, so in Cyberpunk2077, you are given past options THAT AFFECT LATER DETAILS OF THE GAME; do they alter the PATH that the game goes? no, but it creates a sense of immersion because you are now a person with past experience and knowledge with a uniquely spoken narrative and perspective.

in BG3, particularly the Durge route I found to be the most immersive, you begin with amnesia and the nautliod with the other protagonists. right there’s a reasonable excuse for not having a concrete lore, and it haunts you throughout the game with sparse hints until the big reveal of your history— which isn’t even explicitly + visually shown, but it’s spoken through other characters and makes it feel more like a solid, 3 dimensional character outside of being a self insert mc.

And to make Nora ‘just a lawyer’ just seems so unfair lorewise because her husband IS A WARCRIMINAL. godddd, but even still bethesda could’ve compensated for that with flashbacks from her civilian perspective, perhaps with dealing with Nate while raising Shawn, that stress, discovering his crimes, whatever. Same goes for Nate. FUCK YOU BETHESDA. oh my goddhf.

‘oh yeah i served :T’

SERVED FUCKING WHAT? SERVED CUNT?SAY FUCKINN CANADA YOU SUBURBAN LOSER. BUT THATS ALL WE FUCKING GOTTT AND ALL WE’RE EVER GETTING AAAAAAAAAGGHHHHH

one detail however I really like, is one of Sole’s sarcastic comments in the Nuka World dlc. They reminisce ABOUT GOD FUCKIGN GINGER..,:; TO PUT IN TEA. but continuing this, they mention adding a lot of brandy. who the fuck does that. WHO FUCKING ENJOYS SPICED HOT TODDYS??? (name of the drink described by sole;; psa: it nasty((to me.) and the ginger tea is typically to aid in sickness, colds, ‘soothing’. Stressed out lawyer and mother, PTSD-riddled veteran and father, makes sense, adds up. but the addition of ‘a lot of brandy’ can add more personality to such an otherwise one dimensional character. but they don’t describe enjoying a spiced hot toddy in particular,, they merely describe adding brandy to their otherwise normal-recipe-d tea. That’s it. Soothing aid with the addition of ‘a lot’ of alcohol; what does that say about a character? a better and more used example, is when a character is shown pouring alcohol into their coffee, often to demonstrate how stressed they are and how they are forced to cope, using alcohol. THIS IS THE ONLYY GLIMPSE OF INSIGHT WE GET ON THE SOLE SURVIVOR. FUCK. LIKE SURE THE SURVIVOR HAS THEIR ANGRY MOMENTS WHEN THE GAME FIRST BEGINS IN THE CRYO CHAMBER,, ADDRESSING KELLOGG, SOME MOMENTS WITH THE FATHER— BUT ITS ALL ANGER. ANGER WITH NO OTHERWISE MEANS OF EXPRESSION THAT POP UP AND ARE EASILY MISSABLE. THERE’S NO IDLE COMMENTS THAT CAN RESPOND TO COMPANIONS, NO SENSE OF CHARACTER COMPLEXITY, CAMARADERIE WITH TRAVELING COMPANIONS OR INTENTIONALLY-WRITTEN INTERNAL DILEMMA.

AND THIS IS ALL WE WILL EVER FUCKIN GET. FUCK

i know this uh ‘turmoil’ is kinda my own fault for falling in love with analyzing classic literature books starting in highschool which it then set my standard for writing, and now everything is Not Fun anymore. IT FUCKING SUCKS BRO😭😭 BUT AT WHAT COSTTTTTT WHAT COSSSSTTTTTTTTTTT

[jymwahuwu]

No because you are so real on the HCQ quest. One don't even need to play the quest itself to already understand what the fuck is happening because of the lore and bits from the artifact. It's like they just make the quest for the sake of the people who don't get deep into lore, only adding some renheng bits to satisfy people💀(don't get me wrong I love when blade talks about it during the quest and the battle between him and Jingliu is sick af-AND WHEN JY JUST LOOKING AT THEM PAINFULLY LIKE AAAAA MY HUBBY PLS DON'T CRY) But yeah the story was shit, sorry people😔. Also it turns out the one who wrote that story was the one who wrote the Inazuma story quest☠️no wonder it was so shit. They could've just put a scene where all the shit goes down (Baiheng sacrifice or yingxing/DF doing the experiment) BUT NO they are just glorifying the lore that's already there.

They really just made Jingliu into some crazy girl that men would enjoy ('I can fix her' type of girl), and I genuinely feel bad for it.

Also when are we getting Jing Yuan and Blade companion quests I'm dying for their content.😭

Yes!! Actually all my expectations for High Cloud Quintet disappeared after reading it. I would rather the official put relevant information in the game text to give me some room for speculation and imagination? This is really bad now, I just want to separate the five of them immediately. The past is not worth remembering, really. You are not close friends at all.

My heart aches for Jing Yuan too. He just stood there and witnessed the fight…

Wait, is the person who wrote this the same person who wrote Inazuma's mission? Oh, that really explains a lot T-T

I'm also looking forward to the companion missions of Jing Yuan and Blade, especially Blade's because Jing Yuan is already familiar with us in the plot, but… Blade still doesn't know us very well…

[katyspersonal]

How me reblogging some fanart goes:

*scrolls*

There is nothing special about this drawing, nothing to stand out, simply academical level perfect painting with perfect shading of just character in Environment, so I won't give it attention

*scrolls*

There is nothing special about this drawing either but the artist is clearly beginner and is currently ignored, I wish to support them!!! *reblogs*

*scrolls*

I could've forgiven drawing his arm turning into tentacles because although it isn't accurate it is still funny and should have been canon, but his hair is black and waving, not brown and straight! Ignored.

*scrolls*

Her ribbon is not like this at all, but this is a cute interaction! Fine, I will reblog..

*scrolls*

OH MY GOD RARE CHARACTER RARE CHARACTER NO ONE ELSE DRAWS HFHFJVGJ IT IS RARE CHARACTER OH MY GOD BLESS YOU OP I LOVE THAT YOU'VE NOTICED THIS RARE CHARACTER VFUYFJFJ BARK BARK WOOF WOOF 🐕 *chews the post a little before reblogging* *+10 HP*

*scrolls*

Ah, funny mem- VARGRAM ERASURE GOD FUCKING DAMMIT VARGRAM ERASURE DO NOT LAUGH RETREAT RETREAT!!!!!!!! Ugh how the HECK even lore-obsessed freaks like me are still doing this?! I don't care that you enjoy neglecting minor characters, Vargram's set is NOT a covenant set!!!!

*scrolls*

Shit, wtf? Why this person still haven't blocked me, after how negative they've been to my friend? Okay scroll carefully to not accidentally press like on Tumblr mobile.... scroll past carefully.... very slowly...... please mobile don't fuck this up...

*scrolls*

This fanart is really inaccurate visually but the concept is perfectly lore accurate! I am definitely supporting this! *reblogs*

*scrolls*

This person's uncolored doodle got 800+ notes in 3 hours when my best and most detailed works are lucky to cross 50 notes... I am worthless and should quit art, the girls clearly like my lore posts more than my ugly art... *sniffs* No wonder, I draw like a child, my faces are ugly, my anatomy is broken, shading makes no sense... *sobs* I bet fans of the characters I draw have cringe attacks when I touch them... God I remember how back in my Mico simping days other Mico simps side-eyed my fanart of him, and it was clear it is because it is ugly... It isn't even a matter of "they want to prettyfy him" because they do reblog and like "ugly" art of him, they just hate MY style in particular because I am a TERRIBLE artist.... *sobs*

*scrolls*

.....what. the. FUCK. Why THE fuck this perfect, amazing, fully colored drawing with hella effort in it barely has notes? Fuck this fandom, I hate this fandom! Nevermind, my art isn't bad, this fandom is just too stingy for support! *reblogs*

*scrolls*

Haha, nice o- VARGRAM ERASURE VARGRAM ERASURE RETREAT RETREAT

*scrolls*

Wow, these sketches are lovely, I want to reblog- *sees the caption like 'some sketches from insta'* Nah, I do not want to interact with artists who otherwise hang out on another site (which sucks and is very toxic to artists btw) and just use Tumblr as a dumping ground or portfolio. I only like people who actually USE this site.

*scrolls*

Good and quality art, but nothing special about this design. It feels like they drew fanart of the fanon! Could have added their own unique vision smh.

*scrolls*

Oh my god, finally! Finally, fanart of the ship I love so much! I've been- wait wait wait. Why Brador is wearing his beast hyde while Laurence is still alive? Brador's beast hyde is explicitly stated to be that of a Cleric Beast, and Laurence was the FIRST Cleric Beast! No yeah, beggars CAN be choosers. Ignored.

*scrolls*

Oh, good art- wait, why this character's eyes are blue? This character has grey eyes! But also this is such a rare character to draw... Fine. *reblogs but points out the eye color is wrong in the tags*

*scrolls*

Good art, but caption is hostile. No one wants to know that you hate this character under the art of this character. Ignored.

*scrolls*

Good art, reblogged.

*scrolls*

Very well done art, but her chest is not that big! In fact, she is boobless. Maybe next time.

*scrolls*

I want to reblog this fanart, but also despite doing so much work on detail and lighting, they forgot those cute accessories by each side of her big brooch! It could not be the laziness, it obviously was using other fanarts as the reference instead of actual ingame screenshots and model!

*scrolls*

Wh... what... oh my god... Oh my god this person drew the idea I suggested.... I've inspired someone? Oh God. Wait a second. Oh no. I need like a full week to articulate my emotions. Oh God I can't. I didn't just contribute something good in the fandom. Oh no *crying cat*

*scrolls*

I feel nothing for this ship, but this fandom is obnoxious when the female character without canon sexuality they've DECIDED is a lesbian is shipped with male character, so I will support this person. *reblogs*

*scrolls*

Good art, but they have this dumb DNI caption under their post. I don't even fit the criteria, I just don't want to carry the whole "panic about contact with ImPuRiTy" attitude with the drawing! When will people learn that some bad person liking their art is not the end of the world? 🤔

*scrolls*

Wow, good drawing!!! *the tags are the wall of passive aggression towards fans with "wrong" headcanons* Well now I am not reblogging it.

*scrolls*

Goddamit, Crow, I know you are desperate for at least any art of your blorbo, but why would you reblog something that is so careless? They clearly like what they could make out of character instead of actual character's appearance! You were just passionately approving of posts like "stop removing his wrinkles!" or "stop giving her huge honkers!" and now this? 🐓🐓🐓

*scrolls*

CROW YOU REBLOGGED VARGRAM ERASURE I THOUGHT YOU WERE BASED BUT YOU...... YOU ARE C R I N G E 🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓

[hotxcheeto]

Chloe as a mom hc’s pls 🤟🤟🤞🤞 I think the idea is cute

━ 𝐂𝐇𝐋𝐎𝐄 𝐀𝐒 𝐀 𝐌𝐎𝐌

𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜(𝙨) - Chloe Price x G/N!Reader

𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 - Cursing?, a lot of fluff y'all I just kept adding to it, slight angst in parts but nothing bad at all, alludes to pregnancy ig? i don't really know?

𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 ? - Yeah/Nope

𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧'𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙚 - i love babies sm.. also ty for the request!!

first things first, i don't ever see her actually choosing to mother

but if you have a kid? and she likes you? she also likes your kid

chloe probably meets you later in life, she's matured ( kinda) and explored places she's always wanted and finally she comes across you and that thing.. the little gremlin that's attached to your hip with big eyes and a grand smile

step-father chloe y'all ( nah jk... unless )

she is childish herself and lowkey selfish which is why she for sure questions her parental abilities and never wanted kids young or even at all when she thought about, but you just sprung up and how could she deny herself yours, hers and that little ankle biters happiness

but she's for sure the fun parent, the one that will let your child stay up passed bedtime and eat so much ice cream while watching R rated movies and promising not to tell you

and then you get home, catch them and suddenly everybody getting a time out

including her and probably the cat too

she probably has very loose parenting as well, her main ideas is if there's nothing to rebel against, what's the point in doing the bad stuff?

meaning she is just a very open parent in the sense that she doesn't hide the word from her kids or shelter them, she's honest and let's them choose their own path in life with her soft guidance

and she's just open in general about her opinions on things

you ask? she'll answer, same goes for the little one who has all the questions in the world and she's sure to answer

even if it's 'are unicorns real?'

they sure fucking are kid, and so are leprechauns

speaking of which, her imagination is unreal

remember how she'd play pirates with max? oh yeah, grab your eyepatch, you're in for a long ride with this one

her playtime with baby has lore, bullet point, highlighted text and a few video essays and a whole lot of story telling they have to explain to you

then you have your toddler clapping at you to keep up and chloe trying to throw you into her world of sparkles and sea monsters and you just wanted to know what they wanted for dinner

she's so cool to all of your child's friends as well, she's the cool parent with different colored hair and tats that totally have those prissy moms side eyeing her hard and don't give a single damn

lets them do what they want at your house because they're safe and that's what matters at the end of the day, even if they're getting up to shit in their rooms

if your child wants colored hair she'll get them those fake hair clip ins and temporary die just so they can look more like her and oh my god it's adorable

also the fake tattoos you get at like grocery stores or dollar stores in those machines? your kid will always compare them to mama chloe's or yours if you have tattoos

shows them off and tells people she's matching with her mama

has great bedtime stories

big cuddler too, she's a clinger

when your child is still a baby she just loves to hold them and i mean LOVES too, the baby don't even care about being held chloe just don't wanna put them down

doesn't believe in baby talk

she speaks to her baby like they a grown man and that's it there's not another way

she be talking to it like it understands her while it just stares and drools while giggling because chloe is a very animated and entertaining talker, even you catch yourself listening aimlessly

she loves being and parenting though, even the stresses

sometimes though she feels like she's gonna fail at it but you just have to give her the slight reminder and that she's her fathers and mothers daughter, and they were both was a wonderful people and parents

joyce adores your child, whether you had them before or after chloe, she's in love and spoils them as much as she possibly can

chloe even jokes that joyce loves the kid more than her

which may or may not be true

max also loves them so much, loves taking pictures which actually helps capture a lot of memories free of you freaking out to grab your phone, she never posts them or anything, she actually gives them to most times to keep in the baby book

everybody loves the small human okay

chloe saves so much money up to give you and them the best holdiays ever and birthdays, even if you're struggling with money, she makes it all worth while

handy man of the house as well, will fix toys and put together cribs and bedframes well into the night while you're passed out with your body pillow and noise machine my man

she loves taking care of her family, that's all

but chloe most of all, is both scared and enamored that your little human thinks you and her are the entire world, and she doesn't plan on making that world fall apart like it did for her when her dad passed

yeah, that's not happening

[sammywolfgirl]

Fuck it ok black sugar swan thoughts for my au thing

So little context beforehand: sugar swan is millennial trees wife (and this considers wind archer her kid though idk at the moment if she was involved in his creation, it’s a solid maybe atm) and is sort of like in contrast to Millie being a being of all magic Swan is a bringer of life, herald of the seasons, life, blooms, all that’s needed for something to grow.

Currently the dessert paradise guardian test whatever event story wise goes as it does in the game, if I do tweak anything it’s just the sugar swan lore and maybe a comment about how the bird of paradise cookies aren’t the same as the Aether Heart’s guardian harpy. Or other harpy cookies idk.

Anyways

Plot wise- currently I don’t think I’m changing much for the black sugar swan event. Other than maybe wind archers involvement. My au does go kingdom first lore wise so if this happens while he’s in beast yeast he’s not going to be able to help. Idk who would take his place if that’s the case, just someone who can also sense the vibes are off and is trusted to help like the cookiemals trust wind archer. Idk if you made me choose right now I’d uhhh either say maybe a Aether heart harpy because I can see those birds knowing the wind god, they get around, or maybe a super epic Proto elemental equivalent for wind archer (like sherbet to frost queen or stardust to moonlight) but unless the game releases one later I’d have to make an oc most likely and I do not got the worms for that.

Anyways onto black sugar swan. What is she in this context?

She’s the other side of the coin to sugar swan.

Yes she’s going to guard the dessert paradise while sugar swan is away, but if sugar swan is a bringer of life, black sugar swan is a bringer/herald of death.

Here’s what I’m thinking. Black sugar duck kinda did an ascension when she stole the eternal sweetness, and even when giving up its power ans returning it you can’t just un ascend. So this is a thing I’m tweaking from the plot. I’m adding a few days for black sugar duck to recover, and in that time sugar swan sorta has her somewhat indisposed since the duck was asking for penance but sugar swan is a merciful queen and went “for your penance you gotta stay in bed and heal” whipped cream still visits because that’s his bestie (who he may or may not kiss idk I’m incredibly neutral on that ship)

Anyways it’s during that time that sugar swan both keeps an eye on things to make sure the balance isn’t all out of wack, and think on black sugar duck’s words. Even if she has a duty, she is leaving the paradise on its own for a lot of the year. She was able to return now but had she never found out things could have gone really bad.

It needs a more permanent guardian.

So uh few days later here’s what she returns with to offer. For Black sugar duck to become a new guardian of the dessert paradise. She’s already got the magic in her form to become a legendary proper, with a little nudging from sugar swan’s own magic black sugar duck gains access to her black swan form again and whoop Boop sugar swan has her official counterpart.

Also she kinda just goes ‘you’re my sister now’ and everyone just has to deal with it lmAO.

I do think she hangs around a bit longer, mostly for millie to show uo and also make sure balance is okay and all that. There’s already a beast situation we don’t need his wife to get hurt too. But he hears about what’s going on, checks on black sugar swan (who’s maybe still a bit of a diva but is less egotistical about it? Whipped cream is helping) and after giving a slight warning not to do that again, is more than happy to accept the new guardian of balance.

He probably gives her like the lore lecture tm and black sugar swan is like “oh fuck what did I sign up for” but it’s fiiiiiiiiine

Uhhh anyways so yeah black sugar swan is the destruction/decay to sugar swans creation/life. Though she can still make those black roses, her magic is more offensive where sugar swan’s is support.

Uh honorable mention to the idea of whipped cream dating black sugar swan, I’m unsure if that’s a thing but on paper it’s really funny to me because I do canonically have whipped cream as dark choco’s ex. (Whipped cream might be someone who’s got a semi immortality thing going on? Idk being blessed by the sugar swan might just give you a super long lifespan idk) and I just think the idea that his type are edgelords is so good. Good for him

[autumnbrambleagain]

Earlier Elder Scrolls titles: So yeah the tsaesci were gold-scaled snake naga vampire immortals

Later Elder Scrolls: Actually those were just translation errors mostly! Tsaesci just look like Japanese people

like i appreciate doing the "oh historical accounts exaggerated things in metaphor and people took it seriously" but consider this instead, Todd Howard,

when choosing between a "snake-bodied immortal gold-scaled vampire samurai", and "Japanese people but they're a different species called asian" you picked not only the shitty out-dated racist version,

but you picked the BORING one

on TES lore forums back in the early 00s i used to hang out with the old developers of the games and they had a saying "that's boring and therefore wrong" and it's stuck with me in world design and storytelling ever since

i love morrowind, and it's the only game of its kind that lets me either spend all day playing Animal Crossing and decorating my house OR going on walking simulator adventures OR having intense battles with complex magic systems,

but god honestly so much of it is kidna outta date

i don't mean "oooooh euuuurrr it has plantation slavery in it you can't depict bad things in a game" honestly like no i think morrowind is a pretty good for its time examination of colonialism it's a very colonialism problems the game on purpose it's engaging it's fun

it has lore with rape and stuff in it because yeah it's engaging in the long myth history of the world and there's weird shit in mythology that's fun, modern fantasy stopped engaging with the history of myth and started it over and now it's only in dialogue with the past 30 years of dungeons and dragons and that's boring as FUCK,

but like my standards have improved. morrowind basic bitch too often. morrowind does "this is the species called 'black people'" and that's where it goes "uhhhhhhhhhh." because like holy shit all the cool redguard lore, most of that was added in afterwards and in TR and shit like ooooh buddy

there's so much potential in the sidelore and fans have added fun shit like sloads (giant necromancy slugs with living airships like hell yeah okay that's neat) and the 20 khajiiti forms and TR is supposed ot make the telvanni weird again so like hell yeah but

god so much of morrowind deep down really is just part of the ES tradition of "this species of people are Africans. this species of people are Romans. this species of people are the Japanese." and while it's not as bad as in Oblivion so much of morrowind feels its age where parts are phoned in, where parts are taken for granted, where, like

you know when you're writing you can fall into the trap of writing in stock phrases? so that everything you write is just something someone else said already, cut up and put together? it was a dark and stormy night but like for real using nothing but preconstructed phrases like legos? no real thought or effort put into how you're making the words go?

like that but for a setting is morrowind

gimme a fantasy setting where no one's a human. i don't mean furries i mean make it fucking WEIRD. since when did fantasy stop being weird?

it's become a hollow game of telephone an echo chamber in the literal sense of ideas disintegrating over time and becoming cheap mimicries of mimicries

stop doing "oh look we have elves but we gave them a TWIST" stop fucking putting elves in it entirely

tolkein invented elves off of several fae myths and then everyone went "well fantasy has to have elves for sure"

gimme weirdass rankin bass shit

the message of the movie fucking sUCKS but look at this adventuring party from flight of dragons

two dragons, a knight, a robin hood, a little gnome asshole, and a talking daddy wolf? okay now we're STARTING to get somewhere.

stop giving me "this is a mysterious fantasy race from a mysterious fantasy world... they're called... the Byzantine Empire! they have an emperor and--" stop giving me "the mysterious and haughty elves... but in this setting... they use TECHNOLOGY instead of MAGIC--" no fuck off

fantasy, and human history, extends beyond the release of ADnD

and it can go further in the other direction, too, we can move past it. we can move past "this species is a metaphor for this real life culture, with three unique things added in. no, we aren't doing it to like, do commentary on something in real life we just think Nords are fun SKYRIM BELONGS TO THE NORDS wait oops we released this just before the rise of white nationalism woops"

was it an interesting commentary on the rise of white ethnonationalism? was it even a realistic or engaging look at it? n. no. no not really the actual conflict of the Altmer trying to crush Talos because they want to revert things to the Dawn Era and Talos is decidedly shezzarine i mean you fucking visit sovngarde and see SHOR'S FUCKING THRONE and no one comments on how you're visiting akatosh's dead split personality's house while trying to defeat his """"son""" (alduin should have just been kept as fucking akatosh why did you make him his evil son why did you make it so dragons retroactively haven't been seen in eras THE EMPIRE HAD DRAGONS IN THE TIME OF MORROWIND WHAT THE FUCK you could have had the big hero at the end of oblivion (akatosh) be the bad guy of skyrim and you BABIED OUT OF IT FUCK YOU TODD HOWARD FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU YOU'RE BORING

elder scrolls literally has a species called the bretons, my dude those are LITERALLY JUST IRL FRENCH PEOPLE AND YOU ARE DOING NOTHING WITH IT

EMIL PAGLIARULO I WILL KNIFE FIGHT YOU IN THE STREETS LET'S GO

[beperoncin]

sending u a character rn I want to hear u ramble abt habanero i wanf to hear mor abt habanero ,,

OH YEAH ANOTHER MUTUAL ASKS ME ABOUT A SILLY

ok so i don't have.much i wanna say but i have some pretty dark lore about him...........

and idk if this is for the ask game or not but im assuming it isn't because idk

(if it is i'll reblog with my reply for that game)

ans. um kinda cw?? it's a bit disturbing so i will cut just in case

alright so in my fanon he's actually dead! (actually reborn but whatever) because there's no way a kid that small could survive a fall that high

but he was revived by fire spirit before he got his staff snatched out of his hand by the tiger

so he has a sliver of the power of the dragon's bead and his heart was replaced by that said portion

so his life is controlled by the state of the dragon's valley and as long as it stays burning habanero stays alive

so below the cliff habanero was really suffering. he was exhausted and starving and dehydrated and deprived of sleep and all that is made worse by the fact that he still has his injuries from the fall

he tries to drink the cave water but he has no good way to kill the bacteria in the water so you kinda can predict how that goes

so he just lays there basically incapacitated but he still tries to move

ok so the part where he climbs up the cliff. took many attempts but he made it in the end so!!!

when the tiger finally catches up to him he's basically fucked

although he does not fall again!! he just panics really bad and now he has a pretty bad phobia of tigers!

fire spirit and peperoncino want to keep the fact that habanero died below the cliff a secret but pep is so devastated that he wasn't able to save his son so he kinda just tells cauliflower that and shes like "OH SHIT"

He's okay now because he knows habanero is okay but he's really still guilty about it all

so when he's up on the surface he's in severe pain and eventually he has to be hospitalized for a couple months

so once habanero is rolled to the or the surgeons are like "WHY ARE WE OPERATING ON AN IMMORTAL CHILD"

adding that in because i find it funny

so once hab's out of the hospital he has trouble moving around so pep helps him

sooooooooo. yeah that's basically it. !!!!!!

oh and also if cauliflower ends up telling peperoncino about the dragon's valley cooling down again he'd probably start going apeshit because he doesn't want his kid to die again

[jbdforspence]

THE REVEAL!

😡 I made a video I was gonna put here but reblogs don’t allow that apparently so that sucks

So! You guys voted the lie as:

My first fan account was dedicated to Evan Peters

I am a huge Evan Peters fan!! He kinda got swept to the side when Spencer was added to the picture but yk that’s not important 🥰

Nobody asked me what the fan account was on (😡) for which I would’ve said a TikTok account (which tbh I probably should’ve said that instead idk mb you would’ve voted it less)

I’ve made abt 20 Evan Peters edits (😭) and they were my first ever forms of any editing ever, so some of them are really bad! 😘

Oh yeah I also have a Mr March funko pop 😍

Now from the question @natashasbitxh gave me I’m guessing you guys thought my first ever account would’ve been a while ago, I can confirm it was recently 😭

HOWEVER… my first ever fan account was in fact the one you’re looking at right now!!! YOU WERE CORRECT!!!!!!

I thought yall might’ve noticed that I have no fucking idea how tumblr actually works, and that’s because I’ve had it for less than a year!

Yeah if you know the Kqirva lore I started as an anon on bestie @jovenshires blog, then I gained the confidence from that to post my Spencer edits publicly, and now I’ve grown to having a YouTube comment in a smosh video 😝

Evan peters WOULD’VE been my first fan account, if only I publicly used the internet 😓

So yeah, I lost so @unknownteapot u can now spam my inbox 😝

THE TRUTHS

I have a boyfriend and he is aware of my Smosh accounts + created 1 of my Spence edits

This one was voted as the lie the least, which yk is a little surprising coz if I told myself this from back in even APRIL THIS YEAR I would’ve been so shocked 💀💀

Obviously I can’t really show u my bf coz that goes against the privacy rules of the game but I can confirm he’s very real and incredibly awesome sauce 👍

Okay so he’s seen both my YouTube videos + a scrapped unlisted one never seen to the public! (Ian hecox out of context, I also made a stupid outro which involves him 💀) he is also a subscriber 🥰

He’s also aware of tumblr and of course TikTok which leads to the second part!

So he created the idea for my head over heels beauty break Spencer edit! Love that one very cute ❤️❤️

I was the top person in one of my highschool math classes

😎 HELL YEAH 💪💪💪💪

It was not on purpose 💀 I won’t lie it wasn’t a hard math or anything lmao

You guys are probably mostly American and I’m Australian so our academic system is a little different but in Australia there’s this thing called ATAR which we have instead of a GPA, however it’s not mandatory and taken by people who want to get into university to get like a proper degree

Anyways for any Australians reading this it was math: applications ATAR so yk nothing crazy!

I also have proof for this one so here u go! 🥰

Okay I think I checked the times correctly and this is hopefully happening rn (😭)

[insertdisc5]

Hi!! I wanted to ask, in celebration of Deltarune CH. 2, do you have any updated thoughts and head canons about the game?? Like, y'know, similar to a previous ask about Kris in your Deltarune tag? Thanks!

thoughts on kris part 2 i guess???? (part 1 from ch1 here lol)

spoilers for deltarune like woah. this wont be kris focused just random thoughts on everything. thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk

not that many thoughts for this chapter tbh! EDIT LOL: this was a lie i have a lot of thoughts

-just in general i feel like the player isn't the only one controlling kris... like yes the player forced kris to do what happened in the snowgrave route but AT THE SAME TIME idk it feels like there's someone else too. just because of the terrifying voice i suppose. and also the jerky movement kris does every time they get their soul out? unless there's another reason for it... maybe getting your soul out means you walk weird lol

-BUT ALSO i feel like kris is 100% in control when they create fountains. idk it just makes sense kris would create them. to create another world, a better world, A WORLD WHERE THEIR BROTHER IS HERE PERHAPS? i do wonder why they get their soul out then though. i'm all for it sweetie! do whatever! i support you!

-(i am and will be playing deltarune with only kris' best interests in mind. i will not hurt anyone unless kris wants me to. dont worry my little meow meow im on your side! talk to me! no? okay ill stay under the sink its fine)

-speaking of asriel. SUMMER VACATION COLLEGE WHEN? SUMMER VACATION COLLEGE WHEN? SUMMER (starts crying) V-VACATION COLLEGE WHEN

-kris misses their brother so much it's so sad. if you make kris steal 5$ from asriel they take it "reluctantly"? talking to asriel online so often even alphys knows?? the google search?? GOING INTO ASRIEL'S GOOGLE SEARCH ROOM WITH THEIR EYES CLOSED BECAUSE THEY'RE CONVINCED THEY ALREADY KNOW WHATS IN THERE? THAT ONE IS LESS OF A MISSING THING BUT IM LIKE OH MY GOD

-the city walk with susie at the end makes it clear to me that kris really values susie's friendship... kris even sits with her if you spend long enough near the lake like aaaaah ;_;

-and even in snowgrave you spend your last acts with the final boss calling for your friends like YES there's a way bigger creepy aspect to this (kris as more of a Leader who Commands and commands their subjects to come) but still :'0 (and then noelle answers oh my god noelle im so sorry for the trauma)

-berdly. listen. listen. listen. liste

-berdly sucks but [berdly hurts his arm in the battle against queen if you don't save him because he doesnt want to hurt you] [berdly realizing smg's wrong in snowgrave and immediately taking steps to save noelle] berdly is my little crumb nugget. i will protect him.

-noelle. noelle. girlboss!

-like ooooh listen. hearing about the genocide path for undertale. made me go "that is SO COOL. i HAVE to experience it myself this is great. hehehe killing time" and like no regrets. i was fully enjoying the experience knowing i was an awful person. SNOWGRAVE THOUGH. i will never try this myself its too fucked up. casually grooming your childhood friend to murder people <3 and also acting like a weird stalker towards her <3 stockholm syndrome speedrun i will get all the info i can about this but i will never do this myself

-people remarking the kris/player>noelle relationship is similar to the relationship between player>chara in genocide path is like yes. chefs kiss. don't worry we just are making you stronger and everything will be fine "you made me kill my friend? and for what?" this is fine sweetie don't worry about it!!!!!!

-like the amount of details added to snowgrave, like if you equip noelle's watch she notices later? and her battle animations change as time goes on, she gets an ice shield and stops sighing in relief after battle? oh my god? oh my god.

-(berdly is not awake.) JUST KILL ME RIGHT HERE I HAVEN'T STOPPED THINKING ABOUT BERDLY NOT BEING AWAKE!!!!!

-also why didnt he turn into dust. so many possible reasons. is magic a thing in the normal world and perhaps no magic means no dust (theres graves). maybe he isnt dead. maybe hes braindead. maybe he'll come back. either way that boy is now in the closet big enough to put someone in

-also dess' name probably being december AND THATS WHY NOELLE LOST THE SPELLING BEE?!?!??! FUCK ME UP!!!!! JUST FUCK ME UP!!!!!!! OH MY GOD!!!!!!

-also so many good pixel art this chapter. too many? i didnt need pixel art of cardboard noelle falling on the statue. like thank you but please. please it hurts my game artist brain.

-the expressions in this chapter were also top notch. all the unsettling noelle expressions like (i fall over face first)

-i threw away the ball of junk (which i already tried in ch1) and this time the game was like "ARE YOU SURE BC THIS IS A BAD IDEA" and kris felt bitter :'( (it deletes all your items in the dark world)

-i uh fucked up and skipped the susie+noelle scene bc listen last time ralsei mentionned seeing what susie is doing we missed some PRIMO LORE. turns out it just makes you skip the scene and you dont get anything new. welp

-speaking of ralsei well you know. he exists. but im stuck on him going "i just wonder what being ralsei-like even is...?" ralsei my dude there's so much i could say about this. do you feel like you can't be ralsei-like because you feel like you have to be asriel-like

-but also that makes no sense bc susie hasnt even mentioned ralsei looks like asriel. and i cant imagine asriel being so meek. so WHAT GIVES

-ralsei as kris’ “i wish i was a monster just like my bro and family and i’d look like asriel but with red horns [THE HALLOWEEN COSTUME] and my name would be something cool like ralsei instead of a boring human name like kris and im sweet and cute because thats how i act with asriel because ASRIEL MADE ME” theory because that would be cute.

-ASRIEL GOING TO THE CHURCH TO CONFESS HIS "SINS" WHEN "SINS" AREN'T A THING IN THE ANGEL BELIEF LIKE I KNOW THIS INTERACTION WAS TREATED AS A JOKE BUT WHAT THE FUCK ASRIEL?

-kris definitely has a connection with the big red door in the city, judging by what the kids say they probably went there... i feel like this place's dark world will be the Final Dungeon you KNOW some shit happened there. also the sounds you hear when you go there is the phone dark world call's sound slowed down? AND AFTER SNOWGRAVE APPARENTLY YOU CANT HEAR IT ANYMORE? HUWAH?

-speaking of songs the songs were all so good, My Castle Town rules, the berdly snowgrave music is stuck in my head, flashback is uwah wuahah, Until Next Time is so good, AND ALSO A FRIEND NOTICED THE DARK WORLD CITY THEME IS JUST tHE SONG 74 (MOST NOTICEABLE WITH THE SNOWGRAVE VERSION)?????? WHAT DOES IT MEAN????? it might be just "hey its just reuse" BUT MR FOX YOU KNOW WE'RE GONNA READ INTO THIS IS NOELLE THE ONE SINGING IDK BRO!!!!!!!!!!

-asgore dreemurr fired from the force what happun!!!!! game theory is that asgore is related to dess' death/disappearance but eh who knows

-you start the chapter at lvl2 and get to lvl3 after the final boss, a friend mentioned this is probably because we destroyed a world and im :0

-to go back to kris it's still so interesting to figure out who they are based on how they act/people mention them. like kris shaking the ferris wheel car? yeah makes sense i can imagine a pranking kid do this. kris' dance? yeah thats a little silly but i can buy it. doing cool anime poses? well i dunno this doesnt line up PERFECTLY but sure. BUT EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS IN SNOWGRAVE... especially >proceed like that is such a weird thing that i can't imagine them doing, but i can't completely see the "player" doing either (compare with going to sans -which kris doesnt know- and going "SANS!" because of course the player would know sans), like THATS one of the reasons i feel like there's someone else in there. the weird robotic merciless actions. if im going super meta it feels like there'd be someone else like writing the choices into existence for us to pick you know? gaster probably? god i need to read more gaster theories i completely sidestepped the gaster shit bc i wasnt interested. anyway just spitballing

-(looks at big shot guy) please dont make him the next tumblr guy i beg you

-obligatory "queen was great" mention if only because this part made me laugh a little bit too hard

that was a lot. thank you for letting me talk

[bon-nii]

There's literally no stakes in the anime at all. Its so bland and emotionless. I don't feel anything for these characters. Everything is being handed to them. Give me back my son, Adam. He is far more intelligent than any of these anime characters. They all drank stupid juice.

Yeah, I definitely agree. I'm just watching to see where this ends up at this point (and also to shitpost lmfao)

Every Thursday me and two of my friends (one has read most of the manga, the other is anime-only) watch it on discord, or talk about it on discord and man... my friend who is anime-only is like "yeah, this sucks ass, I need to just read the manga" and is confused with stuff. We just kinda clown on it at this point. It's basically just someone's shitty canon-divergence AU playing out on screen.

Random assortment of thoughts:

I can sympathize with Manga Norman. I can understand WHY he is doing what he is doing and what his motivations are. It is, quite frankly, completely disgusting what he wants to do, but I can get why he wants to do it and I don't hate him. He is a very complex character, trying to make sense/live in a very complex world. Anime Norman on the other hand? I feel nothing for him like, I just Do Not Care. Norman is, imo, the best written out of the three mains and my personal favorite, but they've completely squandered his writing... ugh

I've held strong by this belief: If you are going to adapt TPN, there are 3 major characters who you *cannot afford* to mess up. Isabella, Yuugo, and Norman. (I'd even throw Peter and Leuvis in there as well) Well, Yuugo's gone and if they *do* decide to have him show up his character is completely different (i.e. the out of character note he leaves at the bunker). Norman has next to none of the depth he had in the OG story (I can't remember, but didn't Cislo or Barbara say that he saved the kids at the mass production plants? Uhhh, what?!?!). And Isabella is being built up as the big villain YET AGAIN which does not align with her development at all (though I do think they will still pull a bait-n-switch on us like in the manga) so there goes that.

Peter and Leuvis oh where do I start? Leuvis is my personal favorite villain of the story for multiple reasons (I think I will write an entire post on him sometime) and Peter is the epitome of everything Emma stands against and is essentially the Big Bad. Leuvis is gone, Peter is in the op but has had ZERO screentime thus far, not even any fucking hints to his existence at all. There's 5 eps left so he has to show up at some point, right? He's in the opening soooo... where the hell is he? How are viewers supposed to give a shit about him? He's pretty fucking dangerous and has been influencing the plot since day ONE, but whatever I guess??

Anime Ray is the only one I vibe with rn, and even then he's meh. Anime Emma is on thin fucking ice, and Anime Norman can be fed to the Dropkick Murpheys for all I care.

Infodumps. My god. These bitches be talking like they're reading a wikipedia article.

The literal butchering of Emma's character. Goldy Pond would have been the ep 19 of Demon Slayer of this anime season if they had adapted it, and I stand by that. The amount of HYPE on social media that would have happened after Emma pulls herself from the brink of death to challenge Leuvis would have been insane. There are so few strong, well-written female shonen protagonists... damn shame that the brilliance of Emma is relegated solely to s1 and the pages of the manga, she is a husk of herself in this season.

No character growth. Trio is separate for 90 chapters. That's literally half of the entire manga. There's no feeling of separation, no feeling that they are wildly different people now. These three have spent their entire lives together. Ray and Emma have to struggle without Norman, and Norman has to struggle without Ray and Emma. It's so important. This dynamic *literally* dictates how they grow as characters. When they are finally reunited it is so emotional and amazing, but also a bit unsettling because Norman is *clearly* not the Norman we remember... but in the anime we don't feel any of the impact of those 2 years.

Yuugo and Lucas. Contrasting the love Isabella gave to the kids with the love these two dads give to them. Adds a lot to the story. RIP.

Also RIP Adam and the Gold Pond kids... jeeeeeze there was so much potential.

Anime sacrifices extremely hard-hitting and emotional moments for cheap shock factor (namely, bunker raid and the trio reunion)

Speaking of the trio reunion, why the FUCK does Anime Norman not give a shit about Anime Ray? Hes completely ignored, and it's not like in the manga where he came in later no, like... he's there, seeing Norman at the same time Emma is. There's like, a solid minute and a half of Norman and Emma crying over each other while Ray just stands in the back like 🧍‍♂️and then is added as an afterthought. Emma's like "oh yeah, I brought Ray" GIRL??? And Norman is like "oh hey Ray.." BITCH?!?! YOU KNEW HE WAS GONNA FUCKING KILL HIMSELF AND HAD NO WAY OF KNOWING WHETHER OR NOT EMMA WAS ABLE TO STOP HIS SUICIDE, FOR 2 YEARS??? AND YOU JUST IGNORE HIM?? AND THEN ACKOWLEDGE HIM AS AN AFTERTHOUGHT?? I--okay!

Manga Norman: Emma and Ray are my best friends and I love them more than anything in the world, but Ray understands me in a way that Emma doesn't. They are both important to me.

Anime Norman: who the fuck is ray

Zero suspense. Minimal world building. Very minimal lore building. No mystery.

What the fuck is up with the William Minerva part of the plot like... uh, that's pretty important??? He's been completely dropped and there's zero reason for us to connect him with Norman. Like, he had his phone call in ep 3 and then any mention of him dipped. Disappointing as hell. Don't get to see the parallels drawn between him and Norman. Man...

Yeah idk what else... am I being too critical? Honestly, not sure. I think my criticisms and frustrations are well-founded, but I am definitely basing most of this off of the anime's failure to adapt the manga. Though I suppose, looking from an anime-only standpoint who has no idea just how much of the story has been axed, it might be okay or it might not be? Or it might depend on the person... in any case, I cant fathom how anyone could look at this season and go "Yeah, this feels like the same show as season 1!"

[duhragonball]

Disinterpretation

I finally finished the Sarah Z video about “pro vs. anti”.   It’s pretty long, and I ended up watching it in chunks over several days, but I think it’s worth watching, especially if you’re sort of partially connected to online fandom, but not enough to be aware of all the lingo. 

As I expected, the whole thing was vague and confusing because the people involved in the conflict made it vague and confusing.   In theory, the full terms would be “pro-shipping” and “anti-shipping”, but it seems like it’s more about particular kinds of ships that could be considered controversial.  But that’s a slippery slope, and apparently the whole conflict mutated into both sides deciding that every hypothetical relationship between fictional characters is either equally valid or equally dangerous.  

Long story short, it’s just purity culture, which was what everyone on Tumblr was calling it around 2012.  But now, if you’re a sane person who genuinely asks: “Who gives a fuck about Voltron?”, these people will jump your ass and accuse you of being on the side of their enemies.  “Children have died over the importance of Lotor/Hagger!   Your callous indifference proves that you yourself must have murdered children!” 

I think what Sarah Z really hit upon in this video was that media consumption has become so ingrained in our culture that people feel like it has to go hand-in-hand with our morality.   That is, it’s not enough for me to watch Star Trek, I have to justify Star Trek as evidence that I’m a good person.  Maybe this is where the expression “guilty pleasure” comes from.   Conversely, it’s not enough for me to not watch Dr. Who, I have to somehow convince everyone that Dr. Who was invented by the devil.

I’m pretty sure the Reylo ship has a lot to do with this, since it’s kind of understood to be a dark, problematic concept, and fans either embrace its flaws or recoil in horror because of them.   Star Wars itself is a dumb story about space wizards, so people try to give the debate more weight by linking it to freedom of self expression and/or enabling real world harm.   Suddenly it’s not enough to just think two actors would look cute making out instead of fighting.   Now it’s this battlefield for the soul of civilization or something.

I grew up in the 80′s, when “concerned parents” and grifters would accuse the Smurfs and metal bands of promoting satanism and witchcraft.   I used to hear stories of teens going out into the woods in the middle of the night to do occult stuff, and all I could ever think about was: “Why would anyone bother wandering out in the woods in the middle of the night?”  Which is why “concerned parents” turned their attention to things that were closer to home, like Saturday morning cartoons.   It had nothing to do with the content; it was just about finding a safe, accessible target for their hysteria.   Some people want to go on a crusade without leaving the house, so they pick a fight with Papa Smurf instead of confronting the real evils in the world.  Even as a kid, I knew this was a con, because I’d watched the show for myself and knew it was too saccharine to be threat to anyone.

The pro/anti folks have tried to disguise this with a lot of terminology.   I wondered why they seemed to reluctant to use the full terms “pro-shipper” and “anti-shipper”, and it’s probably a couple of things.   First, the word “shipper” is basically an admission that this is pointless bullshit that doesn’t matter, and they’d like to avoid that connotation.   Second, they seem to have decided that this goes beyond shipping itself, into practically anything else they want it to involve.  It’s all part of the con, which is to make you believe that it’s “us vs. them”, and you can be part of “us” by curating specific attitudes about Steven Universe.

Seriously, “about Steven Universe” is such an incredible punchline.  You can make anything funnier by adding those three words to the end of a sentence.   “Do not interact if you blog about Steven Universe.”   “Hey, what’s up, YouTube, this is SSJ3RyokoLover69, and this is going to be kind of a serious video about Steven Universe.”   “Mrs. Johnson, the results of your biopsy are in, and I have some bad news about Steven Universe.”   It’s a fucking kids show.   “Oh no, all the characters look like the characters in all the other kids shows!”   Yeah, that’s because it’s a kids show.   Marvin looks like Garfield, this isn’t new.

The common denominator here seems to be that both sides try to wrap themselves in the flag of vulnerable groups: impressionable minors, trauma survivors, harassment victims, etc.   The “pros” want to protect those people so that they can feel free to explore weird subject matter on their own terms, and the “antis” want to protect the same people from being exposed to weird subject matter that they might not want to see.   It’s all about establishing a moral high ground.   Back in the day, it was called “sanctimony”. 

But people get roped into this, because at their core, people want approval, and this stupid conflict offers them a sense of community.  As long as you support the cause, whatever it may be, you’ll have this online friend network that appears to support anything you do.   But if you deviate from their norm, you’ll be cast out.    Does this sound familiar?

To use a more familiar example, I still sometimes find people clamoring about Gochi vs. Vegebul.   I’ve never understood this, because both ships were canon, and I never saw much direct evidence of a war between them, but people would still talk about how crazy the Vegebul shippers were, and how crazy the Gochi shippers were, and it was like some huge thing going on just over the hills.   It’s the same idea, since the idea that you could like both or neither never seems to occur to anyone involved.   I never gave a shit, because I used to see the same dumb agendas in the Harry Potter fandom.

Okay, so let me take you back.  It’s 2005 through 2011, and I’m hateblogging all seven Harry Potter novels, because fuck you, that’s why.  The funny thing I encountered was that occasionally fans seemed to want to pretend like my bashing of certain characters was proving them right somehow.    They were like “See?  He hates Ron Weasley too!  That proves that Seamus Finnegan is the coolest guy ever.”   The Slytherin stans would do this all the time, because I would constantly take the piss out of the Gryffindor characters for being self-important dopes.   I think they just liked hearing it from an outside perspective.   But I had to keep reminding them all that I hated all of them.   Every character from Harry Potter sucks ass. Voldemort was my favorite, but only because he was the one guy who wanted to kill all of the others.   But he sucks too because he failed. 

And the shippers were the same way.   I’d say something shitty about Ron, because Ron sucks, and some smartass Joss Whedon fan would be like “Yes!  Boost the signal!  That is why Harry/Hermione is the best ship!”  And I’d be like “No, Harry and Hermione suck at least as bad as Ron does.  They’re all terrible and I hate them.”   I really do think there was some sort of Stockholm Syndrome going on with Harry Potter books, where everyone secretly knows they suck, but the fans sort of latch on to one or two characters and go like “Well, he’s not as shitty as the rest.”   Like finding spaghetti in the trash and picking out the meatball with the least amount of lint on it.   Then you’d go and start a flamewar with some other starving person over whether your meatball is shittier than theirs.  This is what people mean when they say to read another book. 

Anyway, the big thing I picked up from Sarah Z’s video is “disinterpretation”, a term coined by MSNBC columnis Zeeshan Aleem.   The Twitter thread is worth a read, but the short version is that he once remarked that a Julia Louis-Dreyfus routine wasn’t very good, and someone got mad at him for insinuating that women are incapable of being funny.    They just took his dissatisfaction with one performance by one comedian as being a universal condemnation of women comedians in general.  And this sort of thing is all over the internet.   Everyone sees what they want to see and then they take it as permission to overreact.  

I ran into this myself a while back, because someone saw who I interacted with on Twitter and decided that they’re all bad guys and if I have any interaction with them, then that makes me a bad guy too.   At the time I tried to play it cool, but the more I think about it, the more it ticks me off.   And over the course of that conversation, it was said that I don’t talk about myself much, and that’s kind of funny, because all I ever do on social media is write long-ass blog posts like this one.  I don’t expect anyone to memorize them, or even read them all the way through, but when I write all this stuff and someone goes out of their way to say they don’t know anything about me, the message is that they just didn’t pay attention to what I was saying, and they didn’t bother to try.

So I’m a little jaded from that, because I got called out for a bunch of stuff I didn’t even do or say, and apparently that’s just a thing that happens.   People will reject you for completely arbitrary reasons, not because of anything you actually said or did, and you’re left thinking you made some terrible mistake.   Except, no, I’ve seen it happen to other people, people a lore more conscientious than I am, and if they can’t satisfy the bullshit purity standards, then I never stood a chance.   If the game is rigged so I can’t win, then I’m not going to play.  

And it’s that same condition that probably draws people into these online holy wars, because if you declare yourself for the pro or anti side, at least then you’ll have a posse backing you up.   Only they don’t support you, they support your willingness to support them.    Once your commitment to their agenda wavers, even in the slightest, they will turn against you.   

Sarah Z suggests that both sides of the war drop the pro and anti terms, since they lost all meaning long ago.   But that just invites a new set of useless terms to perpetuate the same cycle.   Her more useful advice is for fandom people to broaden their horizons.   She got a lot of flak for tweeting “Go outside” once, but the ironic thing is that it’s sound advice.   I had lunch with my mom yesterday and it was just nice getting away from things for a while.   People need to do that more often, and unfortunately it feels like it’s harder to do than ever before.

But “go outside” isn’t just a literal thing.   It can mean going beyond your usual haunts, reading the same books, watching the same shows, rehashing the same conversations.   I think the reason this stuff always revolves around “shipping” is because there seems to be this deep-seated compulsion to pair fictional characters off like this, and for a lot of folks it’s the only way they can consume a story, so they do.   And they do it lot, and there’s a lot of them, and they do it the same way every time, and lo and behold the same old conflicts start up.   So maybe “go outside” should mean “go outside of that cycle once in a while.”   Just a thought. 

[beevean]

preach it <3

NFCV is not fun to analyze because the writing just tells you everything. These people do nothing but talk! And sometimes fight! But mostly they talk! And say stuff they shouldn't know or shouldn't need to know! Just to do exposition! (related example, shout out to the flashback with Isaac and Dracula where Dracula asks Isaac to tell him about the time he saved him from brigants. dude? you already know this? why are you forcing him to tell you? bro????)

The only time i was remotely interested in reading subtext was with N!Hector and things like his love for dead animals, but that was because Ellis simply didn't care enough him so he left us the job to fill in the holes lol. In his case, he told us through other characters that we were meant to see him as a stupid manchild, just like he told us through N!Alucard that we were meant to see N!Trevor as the haha funny drunk penis man, instead of a tragic victim of persecution who was learning how to still do good as his family creed dictated.

So when the narrative gets me used to the fact that it will often sit me down and patiently hold my hand to tell me in big colorful letters what am I supposed to feel, I don't see lack of explicit information as nuance, but as "the writer didn't care enough".

(example: I still can't even begin to define what the hell N!Hector was feeling for Lenore by S4. Not because the writing was subtly conveying the complexity of being a victim of abuse. because dude stopped being a coherent character and they just made him say things for the sake of plot or Feelings™ :V)

And that's N!Isaac. He's so in your face that it's embarassing. He gets told! Twice! That he has changed! I get it! I'm not fucking stupid! If this asshole last episode was slaughtering people while laughing maniacally, and now he has wasted six weeks burying people, yes I can tell for myself that he has changed!

Imagine if Kojima in this panel:

made Isaac specify that he brought two swords because he wanted to have a fair fight with Hector. No, she doesn't say it! You see the two swords, and you conclude that he wanted a fair fight with his rival! And from that, you can deduce that pre-insanity Isaac was a honorable man despite his loyalty to Dracula!

Or imagine if she showed us this page:

And added some narration that said "Sadly, Isaac was no longer the rational, honorable man he used to be before the Curse got to him..." no shit i can see that!!

Sorry but I just. Ugh. I felt so insulted by this alleged profound writing so much better than the stupid games!

Oh and ofc his “change” is just him being like “eh whatever i want to touch grass now” yeah alright cool uhhhhh anything to say about the mountain of corpses you left behind you? no? kay. even hector in the mangas had the courtesy to feel bad about it. even in game dude almost lets himself die, I can see that he feels profound guilt!!

(as @hypermascbishounen pointed out, wanting to "better a flawed humanity" is still a villainous goal lol. But I didn't even get that impression. He only cares about his own agency and his own power and his own future. It's all about feeling good about himself.)

Anyway. Yes, sadly the mangas are semi-obscure and while they're more or less accessible nowadays, I can imagine that they were less so in 2005, especially PtR which was never translated. The same goes for the Japanese manual of CV3 that has all the lore of that game. But that doesn't mean they're not canon and they should be ignored: again, PtR was written by someone who personally worked on those characters, so it's safe to say her vision is canon and to be considered.

And even not considering it? Even just playing the game vanilla? Isaac is not just a flamboyant leather daddy lol. He implies that he suffered due to Hector's betrayal ("You stripped of my pride, my home"). He immediately calls Abel back as soon as Julia intervenes, instead of attacking Hector while he was distracted. Julia knows that Isaac respected Hector: how does she know that? Death mocks Isaac for his alleged inferiority, which can be seen as a hint in-game of his inferiority complex. He's also much smarter than you would imagine, able to play Hector like a fiddle while telling him nothing but the truth.

The plots in CV are fairly simple on the surface, and sure sometimes they waste some great ideas because the games are not very plot-driven. But they leave you enough room to imagine and interpret, and unlike NFCV, it feels rewarding. CoD doesn't scream in your face that Hector is a parallel to Dracula and that's why he nearly becomes his vessel: it lets you connect the dots with your own intelligence.

And that's one of the biggest tragedies of the show (that and the... well, everything): it could have expanded on elements that the games left in the background. Alucard's childhood. Lisa's personality beyond "Dracula's dead wife". Hector and Isaac's friendship before the betrayal. Julia. Instead its solution was to cut everything and actively worsen things (good god what did it do to Lisa and the relationship betweein the Forgemasters)

oh and n!isaac is little more than jihadist hector. y'all blorbos ain't that special. do not @ me because i'm right.

I'll be honest: going from the Sonic fandom, when fans frequently and eagerly mix up games and "adaptations" that are often Sonic in all but name and fight to see them as canon no matter how much they screw up the timeline or the characters, to people like this in the CV fandom that reject prequels written by people who worked on the main series (I'll let you pass the MF manga, but Prelude to Revenge was written by Ayami Kojima, who's pretty much the characters' co-creator, and sold as promo material along with the OST of the game), fills me with very confusing feelings.

Not that I trust the opinion of someone who apparently read the mangas and believes that "it still results in Isaac being a one note villain". lol. Kojima couldn't have been clearer about the tragedy of Isaac's loss of sanity, and even Kou Sasakura put a lot of emphasis on Isaac's inferiority complex that makes him obsessed with Hector. Just because Isaac is still his fabulous self by CoD doesn't mean they don't add a tridimensionality to his character.

(also even without his background Isaac is infinitely more entertaining than that whiny pretentious prick and i would have paid money to see him kill people with a smile on his face instead of waxing fake deep quotes about insanity <3)

[imnotcameraready]

more than beliefs (5: mother knows best)

A/N: still trying at this ! i still don't own any tables so honestly, writing has been kinda hard :') but i'm still up to a polished chapter 7 and know VERY well what is happening in chapter 8, so we're looking pretty good. i wrote all of chivalry chapter by chapter so.....hoping this goes well :'D

WARNINGS: manipulation, plotting a murder, paranoia description, blunt force trauma, assault, amnesia, blood, graphic description of violence — this chapter’s the first doozy! if i missed anything, please let me know!

Words: 4378

AO3 link!

enjoy!! <3

“Now, this might be a controversial opinion, but the second Little Mermaid movie is a top-tier Disney sequel,” the Director said, idly mixing a teaspoon around in his hot chocolate.

Roman scoffed. He was sitting on the Director’s couch, wrapped in a blanket while they watched 2005’s Just Like Heaven starring Mark Ruffalo and Reese Witherspoon. The Director had suggested they watch something from Disney, but while Roman loved the whole library of Disney movies lining his shelf, he couldn’t choose which one he wanted. To his surprise, the Director didn’t have a favorite, either. He’d said he was fond of the cookie-cutter damsel in distress narrative of older Disney stories, which Roman tried (and failed) to take offense to, but did agree that many modern movies like Big Hero 6 had interestingly complex and developed stories.

“I just prefer the expansion on oceanic lore. And I’m a sucker for a good parental storyline, when the former protag takes on the motherly role.” The Director took a sip of his coffee.

“And here I thought you weren’t one of my creative advisors,” Roman said with a smirk, crossing his arms upon his pillowy throne.

The Director scoffed, and as he rolled his eyes Roman could have sworn that he was blushing. Maybe he was embarrassed. “Just because I’m not David doesn’t mean I can’t have opinions on works of art,” he sounded dejected—Roman guessed that was fair. The Dragon and Damsel and Child, most obviously, had strong opinions on art yet no artistic inclinations.

It was still up in the air if the Thief did. It didn’t seem like he had many opinions on things that weren’t consequential to Roman’s direct safety, but he was very quiet. Roman didn’t rule out the possibility of the Thief just not wanting to share that information with him, which was….well. Unfortunate.

Roman wished he got to know his advisors better. Ever since they were separated from him, Roman feels like he’s been at the grinding stone with them all. The Thief had spent the whole wedding either swearing or screaming suggestions angrily, and when he wasn’t, he was comforting an incredibly distraught Bard. The Damsel and Playwright tried to help the most but... He had barely even seen the Artist outside of their creative sessions. He had barely seen the Dragon or Child, period.

The Director was an interesting one. Roman had everyone’s phone numbers, because, well, he wasn’t about to use carrier pigeons. Though that might be super cool to try one day. But the Director was just about the only advisor to casually reach out to him. He would send Roman memes. How did he even get memes? Roman and Remus had created an Imagination-version of the internet, so it was likely from their co-sponsored Imagination Tumblr or something. The Director putting in the effort and time to think of Roman during such small instances was what made Roman feel more comfortable here, though. That’s what made him trust the Director with these sorts of situations. Almost made them closer...

Was that selfish? To favor one part of oneself over others? Surely not. It was similar to recognizing flaws, or pimples and blemishes. Not to say any of the others were blemishes. Drats, even Roman’s internal monologue was demeaning to himself.

“Do you want any more coffee? I’m going to go refill,” the Director’s voice jolted Roman out of his stupor, and he looked up with wide eyes.

“No, I’m okay,” and after a small beat, he added, “Thank you again for housing me. I can’t imagine what Phillip would want to say after yesterday’s debacle.”

The Director scoffed. Roman snuggled into his blanket more, listening to the Director pour himself another mug and reply. “Anytime, Roman,” he chuckled, then put on one of the most outlandishly fake accents Roman’s ever heard. “I live to serve~”

“Sto-op,” Roman groaned, throwing his head back and shooting the Director a glare—well, glaring at the kitchen door. There were walls around all of the rooms here, unlike the Mind Palace.

The Director laughed even more when he returned, sitting on the couch with his legs crossed on the cushion. He held his mug in his hands for a few seconds before talking, tone much more sober.

“I do have to say. I’m surprised I was the one you came to.” The Director’s voice is a little more quiet. “I thought for sure you would have sought comfort with Cadence or Gavin before me.”

Roman blinks. “I guess….I didn’t want to be judged again.” He looked back down at his lap, at the blankets piled up there and his own coziness. “Every time I come back after an argument, or after making a fool of myself, it seems everyone has an opinion on how poorly I handled a situation. None of them really acknowledge….It must have been….”

He’d been a little confused about it, too. The trust issue.

“Janus has strung my emotions along enough for it to be fair that I don’t trust him,” Roman said, voice soft as he tried to put how he’d been feeling into words. “Right?”

That was as close an explanation as he could get to. Because it all boiled down to the trust issue, in his understanding of the situation. As much as Patton wanted him to let go of the situation, Patton was focusing on the mustache quip rather than the whole trust thing. Janus knew Roman had wanted to go to the callback. But Roman also wanted to be a good person, if that’s what Thomas wanted. Thomas wanted to be a good person so Roman also wanted to be a good person.

But when being a good person directly went against Thomas’ dreams, Janus stepped in. And sure, he argued that they weren’t supposed to be self-sacrificial, but wasn’t that a hero’s job? When did a hero ever get to keep anything before sacrificing everything? Isn’t that what made sense?

Janus didn’t even do a good job at explaining it, not until all the damage had already been done. This was different from just giving Roman the perfect set up for a theater display, this was Janus pretending that he wanted what Roman wanted. This was Janus pretending to be his friend but wanting Thomas to...be a bad person?

He didn’t understand. Maybe Patton was right. Maybe Roman just didn’t understand. And that’s what made his disgruntlement so confusing, because in his heart, Roman knew Janus was trying to help, he knew that, he understood. But then why did it hurt so much?

“Oh, honey, he’s gone way past that. Don’t gaslight yourself into thinking he’s been helpful,” Macbeth’s icy voice cut through the thoughts wrangling Roman’s mind.

The Director was so self-assured. It was comforting. He was sitting on the couch, arms crossed as he explained.

“And Patton, Logan, turning around just to say you should let it go and listen to him after he’s lied nine times out of ten?” the Director threw his head back and let out a sharp “Hah! No, your anger is rational. And defensible.”

“Why won’t any of the others agree with that?”

The Director starred at Roman for a minute. Just a little too long. His eyes seemed to press Roman into a corner, under a box. Scrutinized.

They both knew that “others” wasn’t a reference to the other Sides. The Director kept his distance from Roman’s other advisors, he knew that, but Roman didn’t know how far. The Director wasn’t the kind to just watch them, was he?

“They all have their opinions. About Disney and otherwise.” He took another drink of his coffee then shook his head, standing up, motioning for Roman to follow, “May I show you….something. Without you thinking I’m crazy?”

Now, that’s always a fairly worrying question to hear. “No, no, I trust you,” Roman said with a slight grin.

The Director must have been able to see how it waned, because he chuckled, smiled back. “I think we’re all a little zany. But that’s the charm. Phillip is undoubtedly the scariest, as much as Draco tries. The Prince, Damsel, whichever you want, has a noticeable villain complex.”

Wait, what?

The Director raised his hands in mock defeat. Showing his hands, like he were trying to assure Roman that he wasn’t being suspicious. But the hairs on Roman’s neck rose. He led Roman to the door just besides Roman’s room. When he first started visiting the Director, he explained that this was his study. Roman had never gone in. Because, you know, when you respect someone you also respect their privacy.

“I’ve only ever spoken to Marlowe, but, you know. I’m the Director of players I can never meet. I had to take notes,” he added the final part quietly.

He glanced over the combination button pad on the door. Roman hadn’t noticed that. What room would require a combination lock? And who would be….Was it to keep him out? Or someone else? Maybe the Playwright, the Director mentioned he’d been over before. Keep anyone out, it seemed.

“I….notes?” he was flabbergasted. What the fuck was happening?

“Yeah.” The Director opened the door slowly and motioned for Roman to follow.

Inside were papers. One wall was a large tackboard, photos and sticky notes and papers pinned up, connected with lines of colored yarn. Roman felt his mouth fall open as he inspected it. There were notes on all of his advisors, all seven of the others, even some of people Roman didn’t know. There was someone with four eyes. Someone with antlers. Who were they? How did this all fit together?

Why in Athena’s name did the Director have corkboard notes on the other advisors? That was a lot more than a little weird.

“I...You’re wonderful, Roman. So productive and pristine and princely, as you deserve to be. But there are some areas where you can stand to improve.” Roman was probably only processing some of the Director’s words as he rolled up his sleeves and pulled out a metal stick, one that looked oddly like a wand.

He held it in one hand, and suddenly it extended, until it was a pointer. The Director held both ends of it and watched Roman for a reaction, a response, something.

“I would have to agree,” Roman stumbled over his words a little, eyes still glued to the notes—there were some by the Child that read ‘Naive/Trusting/Problem?’—before he slowly turned back to the Director with a weak grin once again. “I mean, I might be pristinely princely, but those P alliterations don’t include perfect. No one’s perfect.”

“It may be an unattainable dream, but we’re well familiar with those. We can only strive for improvement! And when improving you and yourself, that means making changes to them,” the Director gestured up at the wall of photos, of the parts of Roman’s self, and smacked the Child’s photo with his pointer. “I actually only thought I would be reading these notes, so forgive me for any, er. Sharp language.”

Roman knew that self-improvement meant adopting new mindsets, but he had no idea that putting parts of himself into characters involved changing them as well, though it did make sense. Self-insert characters had to change if you were changing the self that was being inserted. Right?

If he wanted to improve….it made sense. He had to change himself, including the facets of himself.

“That’s fair,” Roman murmured, “Okay. These….You could take these notes to the other advisors. Surely they’d accept it?”

“At this point, I don’t know who would kill me faster,” the Director scoffed, then gestured at the Damsel’s notes, a cluster of sticky notes and drawings and photos of the Damsel at a well enough distance that it was closer to stalker-ish. “Phillip wouldn’t want competition. Marlowe agrees that he can be quite standoffish when threatened, and a newcomer claiming to be one of Roman’s advisors? Someone who doesn’t have his respect in a royal manner?”

The Director pointed to the Thief now, a even more grave expression adorning his face. “And Eric. Tell me you think he would accept a newcomer of any kind. Just tell me. Especially near Gavin. And the Child himself probably wouldn’t like me.”

Well, that sounded off. Roman leaned on the wall besides the door, back against his hands as he continued to inspect the wall. There were notes on the other advisors’ behaviors, their antics.

For some reason, Roman could almost imagine Janus or Logan doing this. It was something close to weird and something else close to endearing. Was that weird?

“Why not? Gavin’s pretty trusting.” Roman didn’t look away from the wall as he replied.

“In fairness, he might like me, but I don’t know if I could ever come around to liking him. He’s the root source of all our issues, especially our present issue with Janus, Patton, Logan. Even past issues with Remus, if I’m remembering them properly. What Gavin represents allows us to be easily swayed.”

That got Roman to look away, look down at the Director. He was glaring up at the Child’s photo with something fierce, which startled Roman enough. I mean, that was a whole child there. What would inspire this much hatred?

“Really now?” Roman wanted to know.

“He gets us to let our guard down. It’s at Gavin’s behest we take chances, but it’s that same honesty that leads us to broken promises, taking in lies like they’re candy. I don’t know what I would do with him,” the Director sounded disappointed.

That was a fair analysis. All of the advisors—the Playwright, the Thief, the Child, Bard, Artist, Dragon, Damsel, Director—they all represented different parts of Roman, similar to how the Sides represented parts of Thomas. In theory, they worked together. In practice, that was far from the truth, but Roman knew for his sake that they were trying their best.

They all oversaw different parts of Roman’s psyche, too. The Playwright, for example, was most similar to Logan in that he represented Roman’s research and organization, on a creative and egotistical level. The Playwright—Marlowe—could be trusted with knowing how many liters of blood were in the human body as well as every one of the Sides’ favorite karaoke songs, even the exact time and date they met Nico.

The Child was Roman’s belief, his ability to dream. It was fair to assume that that made him the most naïve part. Perhaps it was even a fair conclusion that the debacles with Janus were caused by what the Child represented.

Roman hadn’t thought of it like that. The last time he’d talked to the Child, Gavin, about the situation, he had seem incredibly disappointed.

He’d never stopped to ask what the Child was disappointed in, though. Was he disappointed in Roman? Or in himself? Did the Child know he was the one who had pushed Roman to trust Janus? Did….There was no way that this was….the Child’s fault. Was it?

“Huh.” Roman’s voice echoed emptily to himself. A pit opened in his stomach, something difficult to grasp. The root cause of his burdens couldn’t be his ability to dream. His dreams themselves, his hopes, his beliefs. He….he was the daydreamer, the creator. That couldn’t be a flaw, could it?

The Director watched him, but Roman hardly noticed. It was only for a few seconds, too, of stoic silence before the Director interrupted his thoughts with a huff, looked across the board. “This is quite a bit of insight at once. Maybe we should finish the movie.”

“Director?”

Roman and the Director both turned to the open doorway, the later slapping a hand over his own mouth immediately. With a flick of his wrist, the door closed quietly, clicking just loud enough for the both of them to hear. They also heard the Playwright in the living room, footsteps echoing faintly on the stone floor.

“Director?” the Playwright called out again.

“Fuck,” the Director whispered. This must have been an unplanned visit.

“What? We can just go out and say hello,” Roman said back, though his demeanor and body language spoke of worry, almost fear.

The Playwright was well known to be a pacifist. And the Playwright knew about the Director, knew about Roman knowing the Director. He was a little surprised to find that the Playwright didn’t know the Director’s name was Macbeth, but Roman knew the Director to be a man of secrets.

“He doesn’t know I….He doesn’t know you’re here. He barely knows we talk,” the Director looked around the room and pressed a hand to one of the walls, “Fuck. How are we going to get him out?”

The rock beneath the Director’s hand morphs into a doorway and he opens it. The Playwright was standing in the living room, close to the front door to the home. He looked up at them both, eyes widening when he met Roman’s. Before Roman could say anything, even think of something to say, the Playwright spoke with ease.

“Roman’s here? Thank goodness. Virgil’s come looking for him,” he gave Roman a small smile, strained but caring all the same.

“Ah.” Roman stiffened. Virgil came looking for him? In the Imagination? Why? How? He didn’t have his own passage into this space yet, how’d he get here?

He didn’t want to talk to Virgil. As supportive as he’d been, especially when it came to taking care of Thomas, there were still some areas where Roman wanted to be alone, wanted to process his thoughts alone. Virgil was...vindictive. Which was a strong word to use, but an apt one. Virgil’s distaste in Janus made it hard for Roman to form his own thoughts, which was why he often tried away from Virgil as much as Patton.

He wasn’t ready for that kind of confrontation, and the Director must have been able to tell, because he physically looked like he didn’t want Roman to go.

“I actually didn’t expect to find you here, though I’m not entirely surprised,” the Playwright must not have been privy to these feelings, glancing between the Director and Roman, shock still gracing his features.

“Really now,” the Director said, tilting his head, “Why not?”

“I just didn’t know Roman had met you, but of course, even I’m not as omniscient as Creativity himself,” the Playwright stepped closer, reaching toward Roman. “You have to come up, though. Virgil said everyone’s worried.”

Roman starred at the Playwright’s hand, unsure of what to do with the gesture. He knew everyone would be worried, on a baseline. Closed doors didn’t do well around the Mind Palace, especially his, especially after his splitting incident, but that didn’t mean he had to cater to everyone else’s worry. He was allowed privacy.

Before he formulated a response, though, the Director placed a hand in front of Roman. His smile toward the Playwright turned sour, lips pursed in a mix of thought and anger.

“He doesn’t have to go see Virgil if he doesn’t want to.” Roman felt some of the tension in his shoulder alleviate at the Director’s statement, as basic as it was.

The Playwright, on the other hand, didn’t seem to understand. He looked between Roman and the Director again, surprised even further by how familiar they seemed. There had been a fair amount of transparency in Roman’s relationships with all of the other advisors that there must be some dissonance to see him be so familiar with someone he hadn’t even expected Roman to know. Something about that surprise, the bait and switch, the lie, felt fulfilling.

“It wouldn’t be difficult to alleviate Virgil’s worried and tell him to leave again,” the Playwright explained slowly. “I’m sure, if Roman told him he wanted privacy, he would understand.”

“I’m sure, if Virgil could understand that, then he wouldn’t have tread where he shouldn’t. You can’t make him do anything.” The Director’s voice grew darker, hand unwavering.

“Make him?” the Playwright sounded so confused.

Roman was also confused where the Director’s notion came from, but it was validating to hear reminders that Roman’s decisions were his to make. But nothing in the Playwright’s tone was forceful.

For a moment, it seemed as though the Playwright would drop his confusion.

Until he took a step forward, toward the Director and Roman, with one hand outstretched. Roman didn’t know what he’d been planning, but he knew the Playwright wasn’t a sporadic man. He hated adding physicality to situations where debate and discussion could suffice. So, in hindsight, it was likely the Playwright was reaching out to make peace.

The moment passed in mere seconds.

He was taller than the Director by a noticeable few inches, so the Director bent his knees. He pushed Roman behind him with his outstretched arm, acting faster than either Roman or the Playwright could react to. The Director stuck his leg out and grabbed the Playwright by the fabric of his shirt, behind his neck. The Playwright, surprised by the sudden movements, tripped on his leg and let out a sharp gasp of surprise.

Besides them was the living room coffee table. As the Playwright fell, the Director redirected his head toward the table, shoving him away from Roman.

It felt very spur of the moment, and it happened in a true moment. The Playwright let out a scream, sharp and fearful, before his forehead collided with the edge of the metal table. He fell beneath it unconscious. Blood pooled at the Director’s feet as he stood back up.

Roman’s hands shot to his face immediately, as soon as the Playwright started falling, and he could only stare in horror at the scene. The Director, too, seemed shocked at his own reaction. He starred at his blood-stained socks for a little while, breathing heavy enough for Roman to hear. It must be the adrenaline.

“I,” the Director’s voice caught in his throat.

Roman watched. Just watched. The Director swallowed, turning around to face Roman with a mirroring horrified expression, eyes wide with surprise. “You have to make him forget.”

“What?” Roman’s voice was strained, almost a whisper, and he cleared his throat to repeat. “Excuse me?”

What kind of request….?

“If Marlowe remembers this, we’re fucked. He knows you’re here. He’s going to think I attacked him. I-I did attack him,” The Director took a slow breath, turning to look at the body on the ground before shaking his head—unable to look. “David is going to kill me.

“Make him forget. He can stay here. For a bit. We can figure this out,” he put his hands up towards Roman. “We-The other Sides’re gonna follow Virgil. We both know that. And, uh. Only Marlowe knew I was here. So we’ve got time to figure out how to, uh. Play this off.”

Roman starred at him with wide eyes. The past two days had been such a long mess, he didn’t know what to do. Physically, he could remove the Playwright memories. He’d be a blank slate of a character, only backstory. What would that do? The Playwright’s backstory was that he was the Playwright. He didn’t have some elaborate parent-death or chosen-one-esque story that he could fall back on. Poor bastard wasn’t even the one who had Roman’s memories prior.

But the Director was right, in a way. If they wanted more time to think about everything—the other Sides were looking for him? How did Virgil get in here? Why would he be looking for Roman, it wasn’t uncommon for him to stomp away from a verbal duel, why now?—then they couldn’t have the Playwright ratting them out.

When he manipulated the Imagination directly, his powers were red. Remus’ were green. It was distinctive. So when Roman sank down, put a hand on the back of the Playwright’s head, his hand turned red.

It blended in with the blood.

Roman felt vile. He had to do this, or else the others would find him. A quiet, dull part of his mind told him that didn’t matter but….he didn’t want to be found. He didn’t.

He pulled gently, as though tugging the thoughts out, and something glistened red and gold as he did. Then, Roman let it go, and it disappeared. It reminded him a little of Dumbledore pulling his own memories out in Harry Potter. Roman didn’t feel much the chosen one, either, though.

“There,” he said quietly.

The Director let out a soft breath. It didn’t sound like either of them knew what to do, to be fair. Maybe the Director hadn’t even expected this.

“I’ll….here.” The Director looked up and pointed at the wall behind the couch.

The couch scooted forward a little, enough for there to be a walkway behind it, and the room simultaneously pulled away from the couch. Then, a door formed on the wall. It clicked once, then swung open. Another room.

Roman stood still, staring at his hands—was that magic or blood?—while the Director leaned down to pick the Playwright up. The man hadn’t moved since being bludgeoned by the table.

“Under the sink in the bathroom is a first aid kit,” the Director said, voice stoic, taking the reins on the situation, “I’ll make him a bedroom and bandage his head. Then he can stay for a day or two. We must figure out what to do, about the other Sides and about Marlowe.”

That was fair. He’d only stay a little.

Dimly, Roman remembered that this was the Imagination, he mastered this world, so he could technically get rid of the Playwright’s wound. He could get rid of his memory and the wound and send him right back to his home, right back to the Artist, good as normal and none the wiser.

But….something in the back of his head stopped him. And the Director pulled him into the other room faster than Roman could overcome whatever clouded thoughts were plaguing him.

[coweggomelet]

volume 6 lads

from what i remember this one is similar to 4 in that it gives us a bit of an emotional break

don’t get me wrong i know there’s some stuff but i think overall it’s a little less intense

- ahhhh they’re all fighting together againnn it feels so right

- hey. hey yang and blake. i’m gonna need you to stop. cause my little heart can’t take it

- this dude really was challenged once and had a full blown murder tantrum. that’s fragility my guy

- ruby is SO CUTE look at her little happy face

- oh yeah. take a train. you guys have a great track record with trains

- i also keep getting like three versions of the same ad about getting vaccinated and it’s got all these workers from tv & movie sets and it’s so awkward this one guy looks so annoyed during his whole part

- it’s not just the turrets y’all oz is withholding shit once again

- don’t fuckin shove my boy!!

- i love that qrow immediately steps back when ruby comes forward. like he 100% respects not only her authority as a team leader but also her ability to solve situations and talk to people. he knows man. he knows his niece is something else

- MARIAAAAA MY GIRLL YES

- uh oh the train crashed. who could’ve seen that coming

- cinder really is just too angry and spite filled to die isn’t she

- hehe maria you’re funny

- it’s so funny that oz is still refusing to tell them everything knowing that everything is revealed in the next episode

- oh oz. i know he was your friend. but all these kids saw was the insane amount of harm and death he caused. trying to defend him to them is not gonna go well

- oscaarrr i love you!! you’re so good!!

- oooo chills

- uuugghh i love jinn she’s so cool

- oz. my dude. the ship has sailed. you can’t stop this anymore

- this, my friends, is what we call a lore episode

- this whole sequence gives me chills it’s so gooood

- eurgh i hate how the god of darkness moves like i get it it’s part of the aesthetic but you really don’t need to do that it’s creepy

- salem was so smart to use a super powerful sibling rivalry to get what she wanted

- she really didn’t deserve to watch the love of her live just get revived and killed over and over again

- jeez the gods are assholes. they’re all oooohh maintain balance and then they torture a woman who just wanted her husband back by making her live forever. for what??? for daring to be smart?? ugh

- c’mon gods you gotta respect the hustle

- you think that making someone immortal will make them realize the importance of life and death?? idiots

- god her face

- she’s so smart what the FUCK

- “the hearts of men are easily swayed” really reminds me of galadriel’s “the hearts of men are easily corrupted” in lotr

- a couple hundred humans attack them and the god of darkness decides “you know what? i’m gonna eliminate all of humanity. that feels like the right choice. yeah. i feel good about this.”

- the fact that salem wasn’t even like… a real villain until she tried to kill herself in order to escape her torture and suffering and the grimm juice made her Big Mad

- like it wasn’t even her, it was the grimm juice. i really do believe that without that she wouldn’t have become salem the Villain

- i’m sorry i don’t know a ‘deathly hallows’ i only know the relics

- ohhh fuck i forgot about this!!! oh rwby’s totally gonna end with the gods judging humanity when the relics are brought together. maybe not end end but it’s definitely gonna be close to the end and it’ll be a Big Thing where they strategize about how to convince the gods that humanity is good

- obviously the first maidens weren’t their kids but boy is there a theme going on here. and maybe even something plot relevant cause their kids could do magic

- all the main characters being able to witness this and us seeing their reactions is such a good touch like god, the impact of this reality is so much heavier because we get to see the characters actually affected by it react to watching it unfold before them

- ohhh my boy. you didn’t deserve this burden before but now that you know fully what it means you really don’t deserve it. i mean look at him!!!

- oh qrow!!! you are doing good! i mean i get it, your whole world’s been shattered and the man you gave your life to lied to you about a lot of important shit but you are doing good i promise!!

- fuck yeah maria use your sassy wise old lady authority

- oh god emerald you poor thing you’re just a babey— oh god i felt salem’s hand on emerald’s shoulder fuck dude this show is so effective

- truly, this is a master class in manipulation

- uh oh salem your ex is back

- UH OH ITS THE FARM RUN YALL

- i like that weiss is wearing what looks like very thin tights, a strapless dress, a lil jacket thing, and the animators said “here she’s got a scarf she’s warm now”

- ruby didn’t kill torchwood y’all, he got chomped. like a lil bitch

- oh god this episode

- yaaaayyy

- before this episode my friend went “you ready for some horror?” and was grinning

- oh yeeeaaah the corpses. lovely

- god as soon as they opened the door to where the cellar entrance is it immediately started affecting weiss

- oh the DOOR nope no thank you get the fuck OUT

- watching this show with my friend was also the origin of me being sad cause this shit is sad and her going “oh i’m having a great time” and this episode in particular she was enjoying herself WAY TOO MUCH if you ask me

- little jump scares kept getting me and she LAUGHED and said “that got you?!?” YES it DID i’m a WUSS

- oh the journals!!! the way they incorporated that was so interesting and added SUCH good creepiness and suspense without giving it all away or ramping it up too fast

- ruby’s so good i love her!!

- uuugghh it’s getting them already how haven’t they noticed???

- the eyes got me good the first time

- their weird fuckin attitudes were the creepiest part of this episode

- ruby said not my friends you bitches

- mariaaaa i love you you’re so smart

- god when they’re reading from the journal at the very end…

- neo’s so tiny!!

- talk about some girlbosses 

- MARIAAAAA YOURE SUCH A BADASS i love her backstory

- love her outfit too

- OOOO THE FUCKIN CROCODILE CLOCK LADY ooooo this is so cooooool

- the ticking!!!!

- oh maria you poor thing. but also you’re so smart like that was such a good move

- aww haha qrow’s a fan. awww he based his weapon off hers!! we love a fanboy

- “i wanted to be as good as the grimm reaper.” “well, im nothing but a disappointment, so you’re well on your way” DAMN MARIA SAVAGE

- oh nice they made to argus! NOW SHOW ME THE BABY

- “CUTE BOY OZ” me too nora

- THE BAAAABBYYYY

- and jaune’s sister and her wife!! I LOVE THEIR GAY LIL FAMILY

- yang is good with kids. marry me

- YOURE GODDAMN RIGHT THATS A BABY AND I LOVE HIM

- HUN!! god i love saph and terra

- “shut up there’s food!” heh me too ruby

- aahhh cordo

- she and maria are totally exes who had a bad breakup and now they hate each other. a tenzin/lin situation if you will

- jaune… my boy… i know you’re angry but oscar is really trying his best

- “i don’t know anything” me neither ruby

- wait cinder didn’t have her grimm arm yet so how did ruby’s ability trigger?

- uh oh my boy’s missing

- remember when you were having fun being the bad guy emerald. remember that. it’s almost like… it was only fun for you cause cinder was there

- it makes me so sad that not only did emerald actually believe that cinder cared about her, but she actually considered cinder family and her emotional health was so connected to cinder being there

- “all you ever learned was pain and violence and now you’re too afraid to leave it” tyrian excuse me i’m the one with the commentary and analysis that’s rude stay in your lane

- oh god oh fuck. the pyrrha statue is comin up isn’t it

- AH FUCK THE LEAF

- oh there she is. my love

- i still wanna know who this lady is. like she’s even the same voice actor as pyrrha. and she’s got red hair. i don’t think pyrrha ever talked about family members, but my money’s on her mom

- this moment fuckin got me dude. i was doing the full tearing up, lil sniffles, choked up thing. uuuuggghh

- god they love each other so much

- i am NOT gonna cry again

- oh qrow. you poor thing

- THE BABYYYY HI ADRIAN DO YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU

- young man!! you scared us half to death! do you know what time it is??

- his lil outfit i i looovveee hiiimm

- oscarrr!! you’re so sweet!!

- THE CASSEROLE

- FUCK YEAH RUBY TELL HIM

- qrow’s like… damn. ruby’s right

- here we goooo infiltration time

- oh FUCK yeah they kill adam soon

- adrian what a smart babyyyy i love youu

- hehehehehe maria is luggage

- honestly this is such a good plan it just goes to shit cause these kids can’t catch a fuckin break

- y’all need. to stop. looking. at each other. like that.

- qrow stop being emo

- mariaaaa i love youuuu you’re such a great old lady

- uh ohhhh problems with blake

- i would love it if they used qrow’s semblance strategically. like in some sort of heist/infiltration situation, sending him behind enemy lines to fuck up their luck

- ruby’s so good at speeches

- depressed? feeling bad about yourself? feeling emo and riddled with guilt? just get a Ruby Speech(TM) and you'll be cured!

- qrow’s face

- oh yeaaaahhh big metal guy

- cordo

- hey cordo

- are you uh

- maybe takin it a lil too far

- why are so many atlas military people so fuckin intense with maintaining order and big shows of power and controlling other people???

- ADAM YOU BITCH YOURE GONNA DIE

- yeah you’re a source of trauma for her but GUESS WHAT SHE HAS A SUPPORT SYSTEM

- at this point dude it’s real pathetic how obsessed with blake you are

- thank god for auras or falling damage would be a much bigger problem

- cordo can you maybe chill

- weiss earthbended!!

- jaune you’re so smart

- ren said things may be complicated but boy oh boy do i care about that strong lightning lady

- “rightfully in charge??” shut up cordo and go be gay with maria

- noooo her fun coat!!

- oooo Dramatic waterfalls

- YES BITCH IM SO PROUD OF YOU YOUVE LEARNED SO MUCH

- adam i’ll kill you

- YEEEAHHHH WHAT AN ENTRANCE YANG MARRY MEEEE

- aaaaggghh the music holy shit

- i love how the fight scenes progress through the volumes it’s so cool

- the parallels between yang and adam are also really interesting. like their semblances, their tendency to lead with strong emotions. interesting

- ooooo he doesn’t like when they look at each other hehehehehe SHE HAS A GIRLFRIEND NOW BITCH HAHA

- HOLDING HAANDSSS THEYRE SO GAY

- he’s so basic too. like he looks like a frat boy.

- y’all do your jobs. there’s a big water boy coming but you don’t know cause you’re too busy being goddamn bootlickers

- oscar is so smart and ruby is so brave i love themmm

- uh oh cordo it’s a ruby speech watch out

- ya she is nuts

- THEYRE GONNA WIN CAUSE THEYRE IN LOVE

- ya but you’re a bitch adam and yang is fuckin amazing

- I LOVE THIS FIGHTTTT

- yeet the blake

- FUCK YEAH YANG GET HIM

- i fucking love that they killl him with the pieces of blake’s weapon. like there’s something to that. they kill him with the pieces of a thing he destroyed

- if he wasn’t dead enough he got crunched too

- I LOVE THEM

- hahahahaaaaa cordo they got you

- yeah cordo!!! argus is danger cause you were more worried about fucking “proving the might of atlas” or whatever against some teenagers you fool

- ohhhh shiiiittt cinder’s atlas outfit!! they’re going to a super cold snowy place and cinder said you know what i should wear short shorts and a sleeveless top with super tall boots and a lil cape. that’ll work. and she’s right. it does. have i mentioned i love cinder?

- uh oh big boy swims watch out

- cordo shut up this your own fuckin hubris

- god cordo’s desperation is so heartbreaking

- when are people gonna learn to trust ruby and her friends man

- their willingness to keep fighting and risk their lives and also a Ruby Speech(TM) made cordo believe in them which i love

- i love jinn she likes lil ruby and her friends

- hi summerrrr

- cordoooo i’m so proud of you. she gave up part of this insane symbol of atlas’s power to help ruby and her friends. like she put aside her own ego and i’m so proud of her

- fuck yeah!!!

- awww such a good uncle

- damnnn atlas is gorgeous

- even mercury is terrified by salem’s weird grimm shit

- the fuckin wicked witch with her flying gorillas

[seahdalune]

(ok i love both fanfics so much. no need to pit two bad bitches together)

i am bad with words. this will be world spaghetti, and i will go beast mode for one minute.

Eldritch. fuck man it takes the world of Alola and makes the whole world even more vibrant. there's so much added onto the world of Alola, and it really puts the actual games to shame with how vibrant everything is!! and Eldritch only consists of words!!!! what the hell!!! oh i probs shouldn't say that pure words stuff is disadvantageous compared to media with pictures. but with the extra lore and fic-specific settings the author adds with the already really good lore of SuMo, and the thrilling action scenes, and such good character writing, especially with some characters that have an already well established personality...... i can't help myself going AZUUUAOOOOH HOOOAHHHHHH WOOOOO WAHOOOOOO- and i love the main character's writing especially!! usually characters like her are really difficult to write, double with the "specialness", triple with the "voiceless main character", but fuck man the author really knows what they're doing and it's just fan-fuckign-tastic! i really gotta finish it though, i kinda stopped at the midpoint and haven't been able to pick it up in almost a year... it's kind of the curse of being about 65 chapters long (finished, too!!), and how chapter word counts are like, nothing to scoff at. i think the fic goes over

well, a lot of words.

i forgot this was about Being Fit. well i'll just say the author takes the "multimedia crossover" thing to their advantage. they're incredibly good with introducing characters, that even if you didn't know them you'll probably be fine if a different character from a different game appeared because by the end of the chapter you'll probably know them from head to toe, and their home address. source: i don't play Fire Emblem, but thankfully the appearance of Byleth didn't make me struggle too hard with the story. anyways, the writing is sorta batshit, in the greatest way ever. somehow several pieces of lore manages to fit together, and every universe established by every series manages to cog with one another. er. barely. something the writing looks into a lot, as we watch Wii Fit Trainer appear in the wrong place in the right time and somehow swing the public's opinion around with a swing of her... very well composed and balanced body. also, big fan that they put several characters together and establishes a bunch of relationships, not just the main few "mascot" characters, not just a bunch of characters from the same series.... never thought i'd see the day where i'd absolutely enjoy a dynamic between Captain Falcon and Joker, or hell, even Ganon and Isabelle?! but it's like i'm in Subspace Emissary again, where anyone and everyone gets a chance to have a great dynamic onscreen, whether popular or not. also i love the humor. it's great. fantastic. somehow the whole "so, in retrospect..." thing really makes the whole situation funnier. it's far from finished (er, so the author says, which i am amazed considering they just hit chapter 31, word count 124,984!) but holy hell i am so eager to see where this story will go, and i always go and read it when a new chapter gets posted. ooh, it'll be 6 months since the last chapter came out! can't wait for the next!

anyways i'm done. gonna explode now bye please read my favorite fanfi(you are not obligated to especially because of how long these things are but like god i just want more people to see the Really Good Fanfics That I Really Like so like yknow, yeah)

you cannot convince me the best fanfic in the world- aside from, Eldritch- isn't Being Fit.... because it ABSOLUTELY IS THE BEST FANFIC IN THE WORLD