#you see folk songs aren’t really an option for us

[uluthrek]

i think for next year‘s eurovision, germany should send katy karrenbauer slowly counting to three hundred in angry german with a rammstein instrumental playing in the background and so much pyrotech happening that at least one audience member dies.

[asenvs3000f24]

Unit Seven Blog

What is music really? I’m asking that rhetorically, but also, to be honest, I don’t really know the answer. I have never had a good singing voice, nor have I ever been able to play an instrument, so I am probably not the most qualified person to speak on what music is. I’ll give it my best shot, though. Because I think there can be a very straightforward answer: music is made by singing and or by playing instruments, it can be written or composed ahead of time, or made up on the spot, and it is meant to evoke feelings from the audience. However, I think the alternative answer is that music is much less rigid and can come from any source, so long as the sounds we hear are ones that bring forth some kind of emotion.

It is through that second definition, that I believe music exists in nature. In my opinion, the sounds of nature themselves are very musical—the rustling of a breeze through the treetops, the crunching of leaves on the ground, and, of course, the more literal music of birdsong. Personally, the sounds of nature instill in me a feeling of peace and contentment; does that not make them musical? That these sounds are able to bring forth any emotion in me speaks to their musicality.

As for the inverse, where nature is in music, I once again think there’s a few options. One of the more obvious is just songs that are about nature or use the natural world to describe other things, like “Wildflower and Barley” by Hozier, or “The View Between Villages” by Noah Kahan. But there are also songs that aren’t necessarily about nature but, for one reason or another, remind us of the natural world—whether it’s because remind us of a particular event, contain a couple of lyrics that reference the environment, or bring up the same feelings we experience in nature.

A photo I took when I was fortunate enough to see Noah Kahan in concert and got to see him play "The View Between Villages" live. It certainly was extra powerful to me in that moment.

A great example of nature being represented in music is provided in Virpi Sahi’s article “Using folk traditional music to communicate the sacredness of nature in Finland.” In the article, Sahi reveals many insights about Finnish folk music and poetry, making a very interesting point to discuss all the different ways that these folk songs contribute to nature interpretation, such as by inspiring feeling, channeling shared experiences, and putting into words things that not everyone may know how to say. Specifically, Sahi notes the importance of experiencing these folk songs live, and I think anyone who has been to a live music event or concert can attest to how much more impactful the experience is in real life.

Personally, I can think of many songs that fit into all three of those categories, but one of my favourites is the song “Fear and Friday’s” by Zach Bryan. It’s not a song about nature, but reminds me of a trip I went on with my friends last summer. We went to the Silver Lake State Park in Michigan and listened to this song practically on repeat (not intentionally, but the cell reception was too bad to load any other playlists, and my friend only had one downloaded). The entire trip was spent outdoors—we went to the beach, sat around a campfire, ate breakfast on the patio, and of course, drove around the dunes. Now whenever I listen to that song, I am reminded of flying over the dunes and the pure joy I felt spending that time with my friends. These memories are something I am so grateful for, and I wouldn’t have them if it weren’t for the preservation of natural landscapes like the Silver Lake sand dunes. In my future as a nature interpreter, I hope to instill this kind of gratitude in others. If anyone has been to the Silver Lake sand dunes or would like to share a similar story, I would love to hear what you have to say.

These are two photos I took this past summer in Silver Lake. The image on the left is of some vehicles lined up along the top of one of the dunes. The image on the right is a view of the sunset over Lake Michigan.

[jayahult]

Just to add on, since this is something that me and txt have talked about at some length, I want to elaborate on some of the ideas laid down in that linked post. When we talk about fantasy settings where biology has a loose grasp, it’s useful to look at historical myths, especially ones before the modern invention of race as an idea. When a myth talks about demons, for example, they usually aren’t like… a species. They might procreate and exist, and they might be nasty, or tricky, or ontologically evil, or what have you, but they aren’t really taking any biological cues for why that is. When the folk song Tam Lin calls Tam Lin a shade or a fairy or elf, they aren’t conceiving of him as being totally separate from humans, they don’t see his love for Janet as some kind of bestiality. The reason why he’s like that is magical, but not in any sense biological.

For a slightly more modern example, though a really imperfect one, you might look at the difference between Pathfinder and D&D tieflings. For D&D tieflings, they’re all of a piece after a sense. Their ancestors made deals with the devil, and now they’re all getting horns and red skin forevermore. They’re biologically related to the devils, and that has certain biological advantages and disadvantages.

This can be compared to PFs handling of the idea. While the same basic principles can apply - these people were somehow born in relation to a supernatural evil force - Pathfinder tries to emphasize that every tiefling is sort of a one-off freak, and no two are alike, because evil in Pathfinder is a lot more multifarious and varied than D&D. Part of this is probably because they needed to fill six bestiaries and just wanted more fiends to fill out the roster, but the end result is wild diversity and weirdness. There doesn’t even need to be a fiend directly involved, it can happen simply because the baby was conceived on tainted land. Some of them are born with horns, some without. Some are born looking permanently deathly ill and thin, even when they’re healthy. Some experience what might be described as traumatic Caecilian birth. Some barely look like humanoids at all. This is clumsily translated into mechanics, but there’s a real attempt at something there. The overall result is that they come across as cursed children, born of something truly unknowable and evil, which is much more striking than the simple biological answer.

There are options in SFF within the biological range, but I think this is best done in science fiction, particularly works that are willing to engage heavily with speculative biology. If you want an example of this, I’d suggest Jay Eaton, who manages to convey that the aliens of his imaginative works are truly alien, in body and psychology and sociology. They just don’t work like humans - and that’s fine! You can find his work @jayrockin and I’d highly recommend it even if you aren’t into spec bio.

Her you've talked a lot about fantasy species/races in criticizing d&d (rightfully so!) And I was wondering if you have an example or idea on how those things could be utilized without being very racist or if you think there is too much Orientalist and historical baggage to rescue it, AND if you think other non-human intelligent humanoid species can be used in fiction without being racist. Thank you love your thoughts have a great day!

made a post about some ways in which to approach this topic here!

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

So I (finally!) bought a pair of really good noise cancelling headphones, and it has changed my life! It's the fanciest thing I've bought in years, so to recoup some of the cost, I’ve researched & written a little essay based on my experiences with extreme noise sensitivity.

Hypersensitivity to sound is something I’ve dealt with all of my life, but I only recently found out it's medically known a Hyperacusis. (Please note this is a separate condition from Misophonia.) If you consistently struggle to cope with noise, the info below could be helpful! I’m including a link to my ko-fi, and I will be answering questions in the notes.

(skip to the bottom to read fun facts about my tax return and/or street organs vendettas!)

DISCLAIMER: I am not a professional, this is based solely on my experiences as a patient, and on what I have read and been told by professionals. Please notify me if you have corrections or concerns about accuracy!

BACKGROUND: Sensitivity to sound is a common type of sensory issue. While anyone can experience such issues (most people, for example, might be bothered by loud music in a crowded restaurant), some people are more sensitive than others, to the point it becomes a quality-of-life aka a medical issue.

If you consistently struggle with environmental stimuli that other people aren’t bothered by (background noises, bright lights, certain textures and tastes, etc), to the point it causes daily discomfort or limits the environments you can be in, I recommend reading about Sensory Processing Disorder.

SPD and sound sensitivity are both super common in autistic folks (like me!), but allistic (non-autistic) people can experience them too. Weep, ye prisoners of mortal coil, for none are safe, nothing sacred, not in this thy most accursed tomb of human flesh!

Anyway.

SOUND SENSITIVITY or HYPERACUSIS: Noise issues are particularly difficult to navigate in a world that is increasingly...noisy. The relatively new phenomenon of constant overhead music in restaurants, grocery stores, shopping malls etc—all of this means that public spaces are increasingly inaccessible to people with auditory issues.*

As a kid, nothing quite triggered sensory overload/meltdowns for me like the constant exposure to noise I couldn’t control—the background chatter of other kids in the lunchroom, the constant noise in public spaces, being trapped in the car with the radio on.... I had so many fights with my siblings about the car radio, and who got to choose the music.**

But it’s not just loud sounds that are the problem. As an adult who lives alone and works from home***, I’m lucky enough to be able to avoid loud environments most of the time. This does wonders for my general levels of anxiety and discomfort. But even in a mostly controlled environment, I still experience problems. Because part of sound sensitivity is that even normal or quiet sounds can feel loud and intrusive. Here are some “normal” sounds that can cause me discomfort (ranging from annoyance to outright pain, depending on the day):

refrigerator/AC/ceiling lights humming

dishwasher/washing machine noises

ceiling fan making that damn ceiling fan noise

faint sounds of traffic

riding in a car

other people having a normal conversation in the background

someone talking to me in a perfectly normal inside voice

Unfortunately, even in a “controlled” environment, many triggering noises can’t be controlled. And many parts of life can’t be lived in a controlled environment. This presents...some incredibly freaking annoying problems. Luckily there are solutions!

Sorta.

There are sorta some solutions.

They are imperfect, but they help.

TREATMENT: And now I have something rather shame-faced to admit. In all the years of managing my symptoms, it never once occurred to me to see a hearing specialist for my issues with sound. I wasn’t even aware that treatment options exist, because none of my other doctors mentioned it. Instead, I’ve spent years finding my own coping mechanisms and tools, with help from therapists and psychiatrists, but without ever consulting an audiologist/ENT. It was only while researching this post that I found out that was even an option, holy shit.

So it turns out I am going to be making an appointment with my local ENT practice. shit.

Apparently treatment options include sound/acoustic therapy, systematic desensitization/exposure therapy, cognitive behavior therapy, sound machines, and other options that I had no idea even existed, goddammit.

MANAGEMENT: In the meantime, here are my current coping mechanisms. I’ve relied rather heavily on hearing protection, which is very useful when used in moderation. Unfortunately, it can cause its own problems: it’s important not to overuse hearing protection, because in the long-term this can increase your sensitivity. So again: a useful tool, but be careful not to overdo it.

With that in mind, here are some of the coping strategies I’ve used over the last decade to manage my symptoms. This is not a perfect system and you should contact your local ENT clinic for better, long-term solutions, but in the meantime here are some tips I use to just get myself through the damn day:

Regularly spending time in a quiet controlled environment, to allow my nervous system to decompress.

Wearing earplugs, (I use two different grade, depending on the level of noise prevention I need), and always carrying an extra pair in case I need them unexpectedly. I bought a 50 pack for $7 and put spares in all my bags and jacket pockets.

(I mostly use Mack’s Ultra Soft, but there are so many types and materials and brands, including foam, silicone, wax, custom moldable etc. Even if you have trouble wearing things in your ears, you might be able to find something comfortable.)

Similarly: hearing protection earmuffs, the kind used in gun ranges and on construction sites. I bought mine online for $10. they look like normal wireless headphones, so I've never gotten comments when wearing mine in public (other than “cool heaphones” bc i added skull glitter stickers).

Sometimes I wear the earmuffs on top of earplugs, when life is just too damn LOUD.

Listening to music w/ earbuds or headphones is a great way to balance out background noises, especially if you can find soothing playlists that help you concentrate. Also useful to put in just one earbud when you need to pay attention in class/at work.

Pro tip: if your hair is long enough you can wear wireless earbuds without anyone knowing.

White noise, rain noises, ocean noises etc can be helpful! Some people like whale songs although personally this activates my primal fear response

Active noise cancelling headphones: the reason I wrote this post to begin with—I finally bought a pair! As in, a really good pair! As in, a depressingly expensive pair with noise cancelling technology that actually WORKS, holy shit. I probably need to wear them a little less at home (bc overprotection causes problems in the longterm) but they have absolutely transformed my ability to go out in public and i never ever want to take these suckers off again please take a power screwdriver and nail these to my head, bury me in the sweet sweet shroud of silence. holy canoli and cream puffs I want to marry form a civil partnership with these headphones. Plus they have a bunch of features, like being able to control the level of noise cancellation, so I can hold a conversation or be aware of some ambient noise for safety reasons.

Oh, and also they play music I guess?

Sorry sorry I promise this post wasn’t supposed to be me shilling for Big Electronics. I’m just excited, I’m an excited flabby little ball of expired flubber. ANC headphones aren’t a perfect solution, and I still sometimes wear earplugs underneath, and I will always be uncomfortable some of the time, but for me it’s been a big step.

Unfortunately the cost of good quality ANC technology means this isn’t an option for everyone, and the (much cheaper) gunshot protection earmuffs I mentioned earlier still provide an impressive amount of protection and bang-for-your buck (maybe even an equal amount of protection, if you can find ones that fit well). But if noise consistently prevents you from enjoying public space and life in general, and you’ve already tried earmuffs & earplugs and find they don’t offer enough comfort/convenience/protection, and if you’re in a position to save up for a one time non-necessity purchase of $150+, noise cancelling headphones are an option to be aware of. (Please always check the return policy so you can try before you buy. I ended up buying and returning 2 pairs before finding what worked best for me. And please look for a retailer that offers an extended warranty. You want those motherforkers to last).

There are cheaper options available, including some under $50. The ones I tried didn't work as well as my hearing protection earmuffs, but some people report good experiences, so that is something to consider. it's always good to know your options! Passive noise canceling is another affordable alternative.

Medication: A final tool in my toolbox, which for me personally has helped as much as every other method combined. Like, a lot, it’s helped a lot. It turns out some anti-anxiety medications can also help sensory issues. There’s not much research on this, and I only discovered it firsthand when a medication my doctor prescribed for anxiety ended up significantly helping my sensory issues. I no longer need medication for anxiety, but my psychiatrist still prescribes that same medication off-label for my sensory stuff. Ask your psychiatrist to research your options (they will probably have to do some digging to find relevant research, but you deserve to know all your options, even the obscure ones). Fyi, the medication I use is in the benzodiazepines class, but there are other options for those concerned about dependency or side effects.

(I'm also told anti-anxiety supplements may be helpful, though I haven't tried this yet. If you're on prescription meds, always talk to your doctor about contraindications before taking anything over-the-counter.)

So there you have it, my main coping strategies for sound sensitivity! They are not a replacement for medical treatment (except that last one which is in fact...medical treatment), but I find them helpful and I hope some of you will too! I’ve struggled for a long time, and I’m very pleased to have reached the point where I can just do things in public. Eating out in loud restaurants? I can do that now, and even enjoy it, holy shit! I can comfortably travel in cars for hours at a time, and walk around shopping malls and grocery stores with overhead music, and, and —and just exist. It is so so freeing, to feel like maybe, after everything, you are actually allowed to just exist in a world that wasn’t really designed for you.

Again, be careful not to overuse hearing protection—the goal is to allow you to be less uncomfortable and to function better, but if you find you are becoming more sensitive to noise, it is time to dial it back a notch. Or maybe consider listening to music (at a reasonable volume) to block out background noise instead.

*(This also includes people with hearing loss and related issues, btw. While that’s not my area of knowledge, I would welcome it if any of my HoH followers want to share their experiences.)

**A sign of sensory issues that parents often miss is when a child complains about music being too loud—but has no problem listening to their own music at high volume. This is because music that is already familiar to the listener (and that the listener enjoys) is much easier for the brain to process, since it knows what pattern of sounds to expect. Loud music that they get to control can be soothing for people with sound issues, especially when it blocks out background noise and sensations. This is why repetitively playing the same songs can be a helpful form of stimming.

***(working on this blog, actually. since it’s my only source of income, my 2020 income tax return literally lists my occupation as ‘Tumblr Blogger.’ Oddly, my parent didn’t feel this achievement was worth including in the holiday family newsletter.)

bonus fun fact: Charles Babbage aka “father of the computer” may have been autistic and hypersensitive to sound. He definitely had a huge problem with public noise pollution, and spent his later year waging a war on street musicians (and organ grinders in particular).

(bc like, yeah. screw organ grinders.)

Sometimes when I’m out in public and the overhead music is particularly unbearable, I’ll take a moment to look up to the sky and scream out: “HE TRIED TO WARN US! THE FATHER OF COMPUTERS TRIED TO WARN US!!! we should have listened, sweet heaven we should have listened!”

except i don’t scream it, i say it very quietly under my breath

(i have issues with noise)

so yeah that is my short essay. and here is the ko-fi goal

k ciao i gotta go pick out glitter stickers for my headphones

[idontblushsrry]

SFW Alphabet|| Megumi Fushiguro

A/N: Uhhhh I’m back on my bullshit >:) it’s missing Fushiguro hours folks.

Word Count: 2050

A: Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

(If you want some more in depth affection headcanons click here)

Fushiguro is someone who isn’t big on pda but makes up for it in private. In public, he’ll hold your hand but in private he’s laying i your lap while you massage his scalp. Basically, he’s a big softie that just represses his urge to cuddle until he’s alone with you.

B: Best Friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

Best friend Megumi is literally the president of the Y/N defense squad. If anyone has a problem with you, they have a problem with him. Of course, you have to rein him in sometimes and remind him you can fight your own battles, but just know he’s lookin out for you.

C: Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

Fushiguro loves to cuddle, but he will repress the urge to do so for as long as possible. Because of that, he doesn’t let you go, preferring to cling to you throughout the night. His cuddles are always deceptively loose too. His arms give you just enough wiggle room but the second you try to get up, it’s like fighting two pythons.

D: Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

I don’t think he ever really planned on settling down, Megumi figured that he’d die long before he ever got the chance to settle down. Everyday is pretty much a new experience in terms of domesticity for him, he doesn’t have plans for the future, but as long as you’re with him, he’ll be happy.

E: Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

If he ever had to break up with someone, he’d probably ask for help on how to do so. The first person he’d ask (regrettably) would be Gojo who’d tell Megumi to just ghost the person. After asking around some more, he figured Kugisaki’s approach of getting it over with as bluntly as possible (although less mean) was the best option.

F: Fiance(e) (How would they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

Megumi isn’t really the type for wedding ceremonies. He’s all about commitment (even though working up to marriage for him is longer than most) but he’s not a fan of being the center of attention, so a wedding ceremony/reception wouldn’t be his thing. If you wanted a ceremony, he’d be willing to compromise somewhat but otherwise, he’s perfectly fine with just going to the courthouse.

G: Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

He’s kind of rough around the edges. In private, he can be the sweetest, most tender soul, but in public he’ll put 7 yards of distance between you both if you try to hug him. Basically, he’s very shy, so anything that’ll draw too much attention is a no go (he isn’t opposed to linking pinkies though).

H: Hugs( Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?

At first Megumi really only hugged you when he was missing you, sad, or tired. Over time though, he got better at becoming more open with his affection and he’ll hug you whenever he feels the urge to. Despite that though, his hugs still have an undercurrent of desperation in them. He holds on just as tight each time like he’s afraid you’ll disappear.

I: I love you (How fast do they say the L-word)

He’s operating on a very strict ‘If you don’t say it, I won’t’ policy and as such this man will not say a single thing to you unless prompted. He knows deep down that he loves you and that you set off butterflies in his stomach every time you smile, but he never really thought to verbalize that until you say ‘I love you’ first.

J: Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous)

Megumi doesn’t get jealous, he’s fought side by side with you and he knows you’re more than capable of fending off any unwanted suitors. Megumi put a lot of trust into you by already being in a relationship so to him, it makes no sense to be jealous over you. That all being said, he’s not above the occasional side eye if someone’s getting a little too buddy buddy.

K: Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

On a normal day, his kisses are so natural, he’s so slow and the pressure is just enough to have you thinking you’ve got all the time in the world. In near death/ post-near death circumstances, he’s a little more feral. When he kisses you like that, it feels like it’s the end of the world and he’s trying to make the most of it.

L: Little ones (How are they around children)

Fushiguro isn’t good with kids that aren’t old enough to communicate. Older kids are fine with him, but guessing what a baby needs based on how loud it’s crying? Hard pass for him and he doesn’t even feel bad about it. The last time he had to watch a baby, he tried to leave one of his shikigami to watch it; long  story short, he had to explain to a cackling Gojo why his demon dogs wouldn’t let him leave to go to the bathroom.

M: Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

Mornings with Fushiguro are pretty rare. Most of the time you guys don’t really get to sleep in or even spend mornings together since most of the time there’s missions or trainings you’ll have to go to. When you do get the rare morning off, Fushiguro makes the most of it. He sleeps in and doesn’t wake up before 10 no matter what you try. When he does finally wake up, he loves cooking breakfast with you, he’s not the best cook, but he treasures the experience over anything.

N: Night (How are nights spent with them?)

Nights with Megumi are also rare as most curses come out at night and that’s kinda your guys’ job. If all goes well though, you’ll both come back a little earlier and just go straight to sleep. If it’s a late night where the curse took more out of either of you than expected, yall usually stay up and talk and snack until one of you falls asleep or the sun comes up.

O: Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

It takes him an extremely long time to open up to you about his past. Not because he doesn’t trust you, but because he’s embarrassed and doesn’t want you to think less of him for it (especially during his problem child era). To be honest, you probably find out about certain things from other people. Once he’s cornered confronted, he’ll be completely (albeit a bit grudgingly) honest about it.

P: Patience (How easily angered are they?)

His anger is kind of weird, whereas before, he was a lot quicker to explode, bluntly telling off or even fighting whoever pissed him off, he’s changed. He tries his best to repress his emotions and as such, he comes off as patient, never expressing his true feelings/desires until pushed to the brink. 

Q: Quizzes (How much would they remember about you?  Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

He’s the king of remembering details you mention in passing. His love language is partially acts of service so for him, remembering details about you helps him later. Oh remember that one time you needed a pen/pencil but didn’t have one? Never again, this man has a section of his shadows dedicated solely to pencils because of you. Oh what’s that, you like this random song? Guess what just got added to the playlist he made for you. Basically, while he may not look like it, he’s actually a simp and so if he can make your life easier/ make you happy, it’s worth it.

R: Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

So Megumi is someone who doesn’t play video games but is really good at them for no reason. One day, you’re playing a game of smash bros. and he’s just kicking your ass, like it was sad. Needless to say, after his 4th win, he “accidently” pressed the wrong button and let you win. He thinks you don’t know he did this but when you won, you kissed him and completely flustered him, to the point that he couldn’t play for a solid 5 minutes. 

S: Security (How protective are they? How would they like to be protected?)

Despite knowing and trusting that you can defend yourself, he’s still super protective of you. You’re one of the few people that he cares about in the world and he’d give everything to see you safe and protected. As for how he’d like to be protected, knock some sense into him every once in a while. He has a habit of self sacrificing so if you want to protect him, remind him that you want to keep him alive as much as he wants to keep you alive.

T: Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

On the outside, his dates are very simple. They usually consist of you and him either staying in or just hanging out at stores and the like. Every once in a while, he’ll try to take you somewhere special, like a cove he found or a festival. For most people, these may be simple dates, but Fushiguro puts so much effort into so may aspects of your dates that honestly, anything bigger would lose the personal touch your dates have.

U: Ugly (What are some bad habits of theirs? (I’m gonna add arguments here because they aren’t on the prompt list I found))

One of his worst habits is his self-sacrificing tendencies. Even during a baseball game, he can’t help but sacrifice himself (especially if it means his friends/ you get to get the glory). With time though, he grows out of this and realizes it’s not selfish to want the best for yourself.

V: Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

He’s giving “I woke up like this” and it’s... it’s something. One might think the style is intentional since obviously, the look could only be achieved with gel, and to an extent, it is intentional. He might use gel to spike it a little more but the man legit rolls out of bed and chooses to leave his hair up like that.

W: Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

No, as much as he loves you, Fushiguro is an introvert. He needs time to just be by himself and unwind every once in a while, so he’s got no complaints if you leave him to his own devices or have to be gone for a long time.

X: (E)xes (Any previous relationship experience. How does that factor into your current relationship?)

Megumi has negative zero relationship experience. He’s never found someone that was worth the risk/ worth opening up to, hell, he just barely got friends when he entered high school. Because of this, every part of your relationship is like navigating uncharted waters.

Y: Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner)

He’s less someone to dislike a specific thing/ personality trait, and more someone who doesn’t like different people for different reasons, ex. Todo and Mai. If he had to pick a single trait, it’d probably have to be hypocriticism.

Z: Zzz (What is a sleep habit of theirs?)

He is someone who will fall asleep spread eagle one night and the next be huddled into a tiny little section of the bed. Mercy on you if you try to cuddle because now you’re wrapped up into his unconscious acrobatic routine.

[pharmacyfollies]

Facebook Fiasco

I’m sure if you followed my Pharmacy Follies page on Facebook, you know it’s off line. Apparently, I got suspended from Facebook for some unknown reason. Seriously. I have no idea as to why they suspended my account. I never got any sort of warnings. At most, I would get those music copyright warnings whenever I’d upload a video and it had a song playing in the background but are those really enough to suspend an account? The worst part is not only did it suspend my personal FB profile that I had for 12 years, it also suspended by Instagram account which only had hair and nail pics on there. 

So you get the option to fight it out except there’s one little problem. I do NOT use my real name online. Y’all gotta remember. I’m old as shit. I started using the internet when Netscape and AOL and shit was the way you accessed the internet and if you’re old enough to remember those days, there was ONE thing that was CONSTANTLY drilled into your head: do NOT use your real name online to keep yourself safe. So that’s what I did. I used the same pseudonym across the board, which was pretty much dog boards because I live such an exciting life, that everybody and they mama know me by that name. Needless to say, when Facebook came out, it only made sense for me to sign up with the name that everyone knew me by and it was NEVER an issue. Until now. 

For me, personally, I don’t use a pseudonym for nefarious reasons. I do so in order to prevent people who I don’t want to find me from finding me. This is includes crazies I’ve encountered in life and employees and customers within the company I’m employed in. My personal life is just that, personal. I’d like to keep it that way. Now, there are a lot of serious reasons why people may use pseudonyms. Victims of abuse. Gay folk who haven’t come out. Then you have transgendered folks who go by their new name but haven’t legally changed things over yet. 

Well, it turns out that using a false name is a violation of the TOS of Facebook and in order to verify my Facebook account, they want my government ID. I have a HUGE problem with that. Not only because I use a pseudonym but I don’t feel comfortable uploading ID to a social media account where only God knows what can happen with that information. I’ve NEVER had any other entity require an ID to be uploaded to their website. Not my banking website, not my credit card websites, not my insurances websites and I sure as hell didn’t need to upload my ID when I dropped crazy money on jewelry to ensure it’s really me purchasing such an expensive bauble. So why does Facebook feel they’re deserving of such information? Yeah, I get it’s their entity and they can do what they wish but have they ever taken into account as to WHY some folks aren’t comfortable with using their real names online?

Because my need to socialize and keep in touch with my friends and family is a little greater than my need for privacy, I decided to play the game and upload my ID. It was rejected because the information doesn’t match. The crazy part is for an entity as big as Facebook, their support SUCKS. There’s literally NO WAY to reach out to someone when your account is suspended because you’re NOT given the option to access ANYTHING on Facebook due to a suspended account. I literally had to do some dig deeping just to find email accounts to various Facebook departments in order to explain my situation: My account is suspended, I’m trying to fight it but because my ID does not match the name on the account, I can’t proceed any further. NO response whatsoever. I even tried reaching out on Twitter. Not even an automated response. So I had a friend take my ID and actually do a little magic by putting my false name on it. I submitted that and I’ll be damned, it worked enough to fool the AI to let me disagree with the decision to have only God knows who look over my account to see if I can get it reinstated. 

So why in the hell did I get this email yesterday??!

It’s going on a week since I’ve disagreed with the decision and I’ve yet to hear anything and I get this. Suffice to say, I will probably lose my account. I’m just shocked at how horrible their support is. I’m saddened to lose 12 years of memories and I really enjoyed running Pharmacy Follies. Yeah, I said I can keep it going on here and I even contemplated on taking it to Twitter as well but I’m also at the point where I feel it’s run it’s course. I mean, if I get a lot of people wanting me to keep it going, I’ll entertain the masses and keep giving the ol’ razzle dazzle. It just pissed me off that Facebook did me like this without any sort of warning, explanation and they make it damn near impossible to make things right.

And on that note, am I the only one who experienced this nonsense? Anyone wanna share their experience?

[starrybluez]

Tagged by @astarrynightinparis @music-on-canvas @fatal-plastic-kiss @whats-her-name-virginia-plain @wonhakwoon & @duranarchy-in-the-uk - thank you 💙💛💚💜💙💛

Rules: Answer these 20 questions and then tag 21 people you want to get to know better...

Nickname: I've been called numerous nicknames but I just go by Dina. I think my middle name is prettier and has a much nicer meaning, but no one's going to start calling me that now.

Zodiac Sign: Capricorn

Height: about average

Last movie I watched: “Where The Wild Things Are”. Another movie I wasn't into.

Last thing I googled: "Curacao", just to check if I was spelling it correctly

Favourite musician: Paul McCartney & Duran Duran are the main ones.

Song stuck in my head: “Everybody Is A Star” - Sly & the Family Stone; "Christine" - Siouxsie & the Banshees

Other blogs: @dcdesign-photography: all types of art, design, & photography. Some of it is my own photography with a small amount of art & design. Come give it a follow if you’d like. It’s sooo dead over there.💀👻 If anyone has any suggestions on how I could make it a little more interesting, let me know. And if you happen to have side blogs that are as dead as mine, let me know too! Here's one of my photos below to break up this monster of a post:

Blogs following: The blogs I’m following: 348 tumblrs.

Amount of sleep: I fall asleep, then I wake up and then I fall asleep again. I can’t keep track of that.

Lucky number: Favorite number is 4 but I don’t think it’s been so lucky.

What I am wearing: Comfy casual blue t-shirt, black yoga pants and purple slippers working from home for now.

Dream job: In a perfect world it would be something in design or photography. That’s hard for me to get these days because I’m not really “top of my class” in either of those fields. I still try to do both of them as side gigs though sometimes. If I could just find another office job that would be fine.

Dream Trip: Australia; Spain; Tuscany, Italy; and the English countryside

Favourite food: So many kinds. The best kind? Dark Chocolate.

Play an instrument: It used to be piano, but now it’s just my voice (no “Sing Blue Silver” jokes plz)

Languages: Fluent in English and just over 200 days into learning Italian. I am a long way from being fluent in it though. Both sides of my family are Italian and I still struggle.

Favourite songs: “New Religion” & “A View to A Kill” by Duran Duran; “Maybe I’m Amazed” & “Only Love Remains” by Paul McCartney. Oh but that last song I listed hits differently these days. 

Random fact: Well, I probably should explain why I always write “pls don’t reblog on almost all personal tagged posts like this. It’s mainly because I’d rather not get a bajillion notifications that aren’t even for me but for the people who reblogged it from me. Anything else, it's fine, feel free, duran stuff, any kind of art crap on my art blog, go right on ahead, please. I say this because there were people who thought I didn't want them to reblog anything! 😮 No, anything that doesn't say "don't reblog" is fine. I also noticed that I accidentally turned off my ask option and it was off for I don't know how long. So go ahead, ask away!

Describe yourself in aesthetic things: blue & purple starry stuff, dark blue skies, sunsets, night skies, bright colors, modern art, impressionism, abstract art, old architecture, colorful flowers, animals, lame awkward dad jokes, too many tags, rainbow colors, mostly retro music, vintage (I cringe when anything from the 90's is tagged as "vintage" urrghh let me just crawl under a grave 💀👻 but I have to remember most people on here were either just born then or not even born yet. I still just consider anything up until early 80's to be vintage lol). I think that's about it or at least what I can think of!

I don't know if I can think of 21 people since most of the folks I tag have already tagged me! 😂 I'll tag a few though...to do only if you'd like! Tagging @slashscowboyboots @see--emily-play @soundsof-thunder @sotheredrhodes @sharkeysnight @aprilaady @discreetmusic @musicacuantica @medazzabon @ourfracturedomens and anyone else who wants to do this (if you've already done this just ignore it)!

*pls don't reblog

[haikyuu-scenarios-drabbles]

Unspoken: Chapter One - Oikawa Tooru x f!reader

Oikawa has been in love with you since you became a manager for the university’s volleyball team, but keeps it to himself in fear of what his fan club might do to you if they found out

genre(s): college!au, mutual pining (mostly Oikawa), friends to lovers, angst, eventual smut  words: 3k+

a/n: don’t worry folks, i just got carried away with this fic and felt it would be better to split it up. chapter 2 is complete and will be up tomorrow 💖 with a bonus smut ending if you are a heathen like me. enjoy ~ J ✨ i am also sorry i made the fan club so bitchy

taglist: @takingyouruwus @kurosarium @apollochjld @afterglowkuroo  (lmk if you’d like to be added to my general or a specific taglist!)

Chapter 2 

The Oikawa fan club is definitely not a fan of you, and you certainly aren’t of them. Not because you have a crush on him too but because they’re obnoxious and take the best seats at volleyball games. It also doesn’t help that they outright despise you. They don’t even try to hide it. Snickering in the hallways at school or passing quick remarks whispered amongst them at games. You really aren’t a fan of that. You don’t care, you don’t care, you don’t care—you chant to yourself to keep your tongue locked behind your teeth. It isn’t worth your time or the effort.

Not until you hear one of them hiss today at the game, “What is she even doing up here? I thought she’s the manager,” a scoff. “Guess the team likes Miko better.”

Your fists ball instinctively. You can’t sit down there, as much as you’d like to. If they knew anything deeper about volleyball beyond Oikawa’s killer serve and being obsessed with his ‘pretty hair’ they’d know that you might be a manager but there is a senior manager who outranks you and only one is allowed on the bench down on the court.  

Though you have to admit, sitting up here in the bleachers with the Oikawa ogling brigade in front of you—the manager—fawning over his every move is degrading. You don’t necessarily have to sit directly behind them, but god dammit you want to see the game too and are willing to grin and bear it for the sake of the team. You can’t sit in the normal cheering section crowded with students either since you arrive late and would have to sit at the back of the stands. So, this is the better of two options, even if today the fan club is being particularly petty.

“Or maybe she’s just a wannabe,” another snickers, loud enough that you know she is intending you to hear it.

That pushes you over the edge, making you abruptly stand up. You’re wearing a university volleyball club jacket for fucks sake! Are they really so shallow as to start slinging rumors like that around? They jolt at your sudden movement, glaring back at you, clearly with no intention of apologizing. They so obviously just want you to leave.

You want to watch the game, support the boys you watch work so hard and work hard for yourself, but you don’t want to be around for this bullshit. You know shouldn’t care, but you do, and it fucking ruins the game for you.

Instead of giving them some mean remark like you’re itching to throw at them, you just turn on a heel and go. You stride up the steps and towards the exit right as you hear the crowd gear up for Oikawa’s serve. You stop once you reach the doorway, fists clenched and trembling with anger, furious at yourself for letting them get under your skin. Exactly like they wanted to. You should have stayed as a silent ‘fuck you’ to them, but you can’t stomach going back either. Not like they even care anyways, probably too wrapped up in Oikawa’s serve. Now a sigh escapes you; forcing your hands to unfurl and stretch the ache that formed from how tightly you had them clenched.

You need to take a breath and move on. You have nothing to prove to them, all the matters is that you know where you stand. It also makes you feel better that the team actually knows you, they can pretend it isn’t true all they want but that doesn’t change that you get to spend time with the team, and inevitably, Oikawa. A fact they loathe.

You end up lingering in the hallway near the entrance to the gym, waiting for the game to finish. Usually you can be a part of the between game meetings if you want to, sometimes you can’t get down there fast enough but sitting here in the hallway, you’ll make it today. While you wait, you slide down the wall to sit, leaning against it and pulling your legs close to rest your chin on.

You like to think that you have tough skin and their words can’t hurt you, but they do. And while you may not put the same about of blood, sweat, and tears the boys do into the sport—you put in your fair share for them, and it’s hard to be met with scoffs and sideways glances purely because of jealousy. You’re appreciated enough by those who matter, so why are you so bothered by the fan club?  Shaking your head at the fleeting thought that it has anything to do with Oikawa, you convince yourself it’s just annoyance that you can’t enjoy games like you’d like to.

Interrupting your thoughts, the whistle blows to signal the end of the game and you perk your head up. You’re grateful for the distraction, not really wanting to delve deeper into your thoughts about Oikawa, and peek into the gym. Miko notices your head in the doorway and waves you in to join the huddle.

Ha, take that fan club. Wannabe my ass.

Miko’s movement catches Oikawa’s attention. He looks to where her attention is drawn and watches you beam before throwing the door wide and joining the huddle by Miko’s side. He wonders what you were doing waiting by the door, normally you wait until the last possible moment before bolting from your seat in the bleachers to join the huddle. You never want to miss a single second of the game, which he finds rather endearing. And he can’t remember the last time you skipped out on a game early.

He stares at you, trying to get your attention, but you’re fixated on the coach, no doubt trying to soak up as much information as possible. It makes his mouth curve ever so slightly at how eagerly you listen during these huddles. When you do briefly slide your gaze over to him, he gives you a questioning look to which you just shake your head at and point discretely at the coach.

Ah. Your way of saying, ‘shut up and listen’.

He supposes he likes that about you. Your bluntness.

So, with an eyeroll, he fixes his eyes on the coach, fully intending on pestering you later about it. He tries to grab you before the next game, but you hurry away as soon as the whistle is blown, and his fingers grasp empty air.

The team wins the next set, winning the match without going to the 3rd set. As customary, he lines up with the team to thank the spectators and Oikawa gets the chance to pick you out in the crowd. He spots you off to the side, and he’s noted since meeting you that you don’t sit with the cheering crowd, but rather on your own. It’s never too hard to find you, your face split in two by a smile as you clap for them. It’s then that he notices who is sitting directly in front of you.

He fights the urge to frown. He likes to think he’s a polite guy, having always given attention to his so called ‘fan club’. He got used to it in high school, the constant barrage of placating a group of fans, but had been secretly looking forward to hopefully leaving it behind. Only to have a new one re-emerge within the first few months of school. The other guys on the team weren’t too keen about him for a while after that. It took him forever to convince them to tolerate him again.

And he hates that they give you trouble. Ever since they discovered you interact with him outside of school, it seems they deemed you an enemy. He tries to stay away from you during regular school hours, keeping it limited to volleyball only, but lately the two have started bleeding together. He simply can’t help himself, however selfish that may be. Gathering his things, he wonders if they’re the cause for your weird behavior earlier.

He glances at you helping Miko put away the chairs, a tight feeling constricting his chest. God—if he ever told you how he actually feels about you, what would his fan club do then? How miserable would they make you? But damn him to hell, he’s selfish, and it doesn’t stop him from striding over to you cooing your name.

Without hesitation you reply, “Oikawa-san~,” in the same sing-song voice he uses for you. You don’t even bother to look over your shoulder at him, continuing your task.

“What was with the little peeping tom imitation earlier?”

You’re glad to be facing away from him, your skin prickling with the thought of having to explain to him that his fan club was pissing you off. Surely earning yourself a more prying follow-up question that you definitely do not want to answer. So instead you shrug, brushing off his question, “You guys were so far ahead, and I was sure your serves would end it, so I figured I’d actually be a part of the entire huddle.”

He squints, finding that to be rather out of character for you. “You missed my serves though!” He pouts, deciding it’s better for him to let you off the hook than continue to pry. He doesn’t think you’d tell him anyways, no matter how much he pesters you.

“Oh, big baby. I missed what? Two?”

“What if they were my best yet!” He protests, leaning around you so you can see his impressive pout. It delights him that he elicits a smile from you, peering at him from the corner of your eye, clearly finding his antics amusing. “Guess you’ll have to help me with serving practice to make up for it.”

You stick your tongue out at him, which he hates to admit he watches very closely as you answer, “Fine.” Though, truthfully, he’s not really pulling your leg too much. You like helping him practice.

He can’t help how his mouth turns downward into a frown as another member of the team, a bold freshman, butts into the conversation. “Need any help?”

Though he does find immense delight at the way your face falls to a neutral expression, giving him a curt, “I’m alright, thank you.” You don’t even turn to him, instead tilting your head to look at Oikawa continuing, “Oikawa-san is more than enough help here. Why don’t you see if they need help putting away the net?”

The freshman slinks away and Oikawa has to physically restrain himself from doing a victory lap as you shove a chair into his hands grumbling to yourself. The muttering continues as you move to put away more chairs, loud enough that he catches you say, “Is he ever going to get the hint?”

“What?”

You almost drop the chair you’re holding, turning wide-eyed at Oikawa, not realizing you’d been talking out loud to yourself. “It’s nothing.”

He frowns. “Is he bothering you?”

God he’s talking so loudly, making you nervous that the underclassman might hear him. “Can you talk any louder?” You hiss. Oikawa’s expression doesn’t change, however, and you groan really not wanting to get into this right now. “He’s been at it for a couple weeks now,” you say, trying to play off the situation as best you can. You’ve never had someone as persistent in pursuing you as he is, or someone as oblivious to your subtle rejections either.

You vaguely wonder if this is how Oikawa feels all the time with his fan club.

“Wanna pretend to date for a while?” He suggests harmlessly in your opinion, but very selfishly in his. And while he knows he isn’t joking in the slightest—you certainly think he is and bark out a laugh at the idea of fake dating him to get the underclassman off your back. “What?” He pouts. “Is it so crazy of an idea?”

You’re laughing even harder now, enough that people are beginning to look your way, so you swallow you remaining laughter and wipe your eyes dramatically. “It just don’t want to be murdered in the dead of night by your fan club, that’s all.”

You go back to collapsing chairs and don’t notice Oikawa stiffen. He doesn’t like being reminded that his fan club will literally rip apart any girl he is even remotely interested in. And he isn’t just interested in you. He likes you. A lot.

Clearly not thinking anything of this conversation, you say over your shoulder, “What are all those muscles for if you’re not going to carry more chairs than me?” He blinks back to reality and makes a show of picking up way more chairs than you and putting them away faster too. That only earns him a scowl in response, but he knows it’s only for show.

~

“Oh, pleeeeeease?” Oikawa almost gets on his knees begging you. Practice is done but he wants to stay late and hammer in more serves before the night is over. And sue him if he thinks it’s way more enjoyable if you stay to help him. “You promised last week!” You groan, scrunching your eyes tight, not wanting to look at his stupidly adorable pouting face that usually breaks you. It doesn’t help that you can feel he is standing very close to you. “You’re going to have to open your eyes sometime.”

“Nope, I’ll walk all the way home like this.”

He pleads your name again. “You’re going to miss the rare sight of Oikawa Tooru on his knees for you!”

You don’t budge. “Nice try.”

“I’m serious!” Now he really does get on his knees, dramatically putting his hands together to beg you. “This is a once in a lifetime chance!”

He keeps it to himself that you could definitely get him on his knees for many different reasons.

He’s sure that he’s broken you when you groan loudly and peek an eye open at him. Upon seeing that he is being serious, both of your eyes widen, and you have the audacity to start giggling at him. “I should take a picture.”

That makes him scramble to his feet, sticking his tongue out at you. “You better not.” It just makes you grin and his heart soars at the sight. He can’t help that your smile makes his stomach do somersaults. He takes you by the arm and drags you further into the gym before jogging over to the other side of the court and grabbing a ball from the cart.

He loves that he doesn’t have to tell you what to do. You’re already digging through your bag to find objects to place around the opposite side of the net for him to aim for. He notices that you’ve placed some of them very meanly—some sitting just barely on the outside line, others in spots that he has a record of having trouble hitting. And while it makes his chest swell with pride you even notice his performance, the scowl across his face betrays his annoyance that you aren’t making this easy.

If you’re going to help him—he’s going to have to work for it.

And hell, if that doesn’t drive him wild.

“Those good?” You ask, stepping off to the side, a smug smirk splayed across your lips.

You know exactly what you’re doing.

He levels a look at you that you return with a sickeningly sweet yet utterly terrifying smile. “You’re going to have to do better than that, I’m afraid.”

Your smile transforms into something that makes his stupid fucking shorts tighten, holding his gaze steadily as you challenge, “We’ll see.” Then you tear your eyes from his and he feels like you’ve ripped his chest out with it and like he can barely get enough air into his lungs. He knows the challenge is to drive him to do better, to perform the best of his ability, but damn—he’ll give 110% for the rest of his life if you ask him to.

You will never admit how much you love watching Oikawa play volleyball. Watching him shift from his teasing, easy-going smile, to this intensely serious and calculating gaze that while foreign to you—is also so strangely familiar. You feel lucky to be able to watch him up close, someone who has honed their craft, yet is ever looking to be better. When it comes down to it, you truly admire Oikawa and want to be there to watch him grow and see where he goes. Because to you, the sky’s the limit for him.

Where the hell are those thoughts coming from?

The sound of a volleyball slamming onto the court, sending the notebook you placed on the line skittering across the floor, startles you. “Hey! Pay attention!” Oikawa scolds. You quickly apologize, knowing full well how much a stray volleyball can hurt. “And make sure you’re watching! I’m going to hit every single one of those first try.”

You nod, a bit blankly, still reeling from the thoughts tumbling through your head. He tosses another ball up, his powerful thighs straining as he thrusts his body upwards, hand meeting the ball at the perfect point—the sound of his hand cracking against it almost as loud as the sound that reverberates around the gym when it connects with the floor. It all happens in the blink of an eye, but you feel like you’re watching it in slow motion until his feet touch the floor and you’re jolted back to reality.

God, what the fuck is going on with you tonight?

Oikawa isn’t blind. He knows you’re watching him. And it sends such a thrill down his spine he doesn’t know what to do with himself besides channel as his energy into his serves. Otherwise he’s going to do something very stupid tonight.

You’re uncannily quiet for the remainder of the night. Just watching him serve over and over again, and when he’s finished, helping him pick up the balls and set up the targets so he can start again. He is desperate to know what’s going through your head, but he lets you stew, just as interested in what conclusion you might be coming to on your own.

It’s not his fault that his imagination runs absolutely fucking wild that night. He can’t sleep, theorizing what changed today—if anything did. What were you thinking about as you watched him so intently? What flipped the switch? Are you thinking about him right now, lying awake in bed like he is? It torments him even in his dreams.

~

He does keep you awake that night. You can’t get the image of him out of your head. His voice either. It’s infuriating. You try to convince yourself he’s just a friend. That all those late nights in the gym, all the times he’s walked you home, all the bus rides you’ve fallen asleep on his shoulder, are harmless. He hasn’t wormed his way into your heart, he hasn’t made you fall in love with him slowly and quietly and its only now hitting you like a tidal wave—has he?

Fuck. Has he?

You’re grateful your roommates’ room is down the hall, giving you the freedom to scream into your pillow.

Are you a fucking Oikawa fan girl now?

You don’t know the difference between you and them is that he’s been in love with you a lot longer than you can even imagine.

[curechocolattymilk]

TES V OC Thingie

[Got tagged by @jessaryss​ ! ]

Pause your game! Wherever your OC is in their game currently, tell me about their story so far.

✧✧✧ General

Current Level: 56

Name: Jeer-Tei Perdes

Name Meaning: Literally got it from a name generator lol. But lore wise it was a name gifted to them in honor of an Argonian who served beside Tei’s mother during the Great War

Pronouns: They/Them

Age: Early 30s where they are story wise???

Race(s): Argonian

Place of Origin: Hammerfell

Pick A Theme Song For Them: oof that's tough... From a Crowded Wound or maybe even Firstwake? If you really played around w personal interpretation/the lyrics that is haha

✧✧✧ Locations

Where Did You Begin Their Game?: Argonian Assemblage, Windhelm (Alternative Start)

Where Are They Currently In Your Game?: Whiterun

What Are They Doing There?: Just finished attending a party held in their honor (Post Blood of Kings)

Homes?: Breezehome, Proudspire, Lakeview & Autmnwatch

# of Locations Discovered?: 274

Dungeons Cleared: 104

Misc. Quests Completed: 87

Favorite Areas and/or Locations: Falkreath / Lakewview Manor. Both areas are where Tei heads off to in order to collect their thoughts/feel some sense of calm.

✧✧✧ Main Quest

Are They Dragonborn / Do They Know It At This Point?: Yes & yes

How Do They Feel About Being Dragonborn: It's...complicated, being thrust into the role of savior by gods of the Cult, which in turn are followed by the folk who see you lesser than them. Tei already has a dislike towards the Divines, this doesn't really help lol

Main Quests Completed: 21

Where Are They In The Main Story Line: Alduin's dead, currently trying to ignore the Civil War as long as they can before the Empire forces its hand into forcing them to join their ranks

Dragon Souls Absorbed: In total overall? 147. The amount currently stored in Tei? 45

Words of Power Learned: 64

Shouts Mastered: 21

Favorite Shout: Firebreath / Dragonrend

✧✧✧ Combat

Most Used Weapon(s): Daedric war axe OR Dragonbone battle axe. Tei technically has both on them at all times during adventuring, alongside a shield, so which they used depends on the situation/which they grab fastest.

Combat Style: Two/One-handed tank. Main tactic is to rush in, cause as much damage/chaos as possible to shake up the opponent, & clean up what the ranged attackers of the party (usually Rumarin, Inigo and/or Lucien) weren't able to deal with.

Armor Type / Level In It: HEAVY ARMOR BABYYYYY (Level 100 + 35 extra points via enchantments)

# of Training Sessions: 99 in-game, lore wise its a lot of self-teaching/keeping their skills learned from Hammerfell sharp. Some of these are magic but lore-wise this doesn't happen cus Tei is not a magic user, save for shouts. I just did those in-game for exp OR so I can help Lucien raise his magic skills :'D

Who Taught Them?: In-game?? Fuuuck so many npcs. Lore-wise? They learned this from their schooling in Hammerfell, going off the canon-lore that it's p much expected for everyone to have a grasp on combat & weaponry! Though they did learn a few things from Kaidan & Anum-La.

Favorite Enemy Type: Dragons! Despite the fact Tei does not have the best magic resistance, it's one hell of a challenge they love to meet.

Least Favorite Enemy Type: Automatons, because of a bad experience with them as a child. Also Undead, because they were raised not to disturb them & it just feels so wrong having to fight them/go into tombs.

People Killed: 945

Animals Killed: 749 (Hunterborn makes hunting fun lol)

Undead Killed: 766

Automatons Killed: 105

Daedra Killed: 136

✧✧✧ Magic

Favorite School(s): None, actually. Destruction is okay though....they guess

Most Used Spell(s): Firebreath or Dragon Aspect. Tei doesn't consider shouts spells though. It's totally different guys shut up they ain't no smelly mage gods

Spells Learned: 9 in-game, mainly due to the spells you're kinda forced to learn for some quests/the ones you automatically know

Items Enchanted: 19 (Tei technically doesn't enchant, and wont next playthrough for sure I wont give in this time >:[ )

College of Winterhold Quests Completed: 8

Where Are They At In The Questline?: Main quest is done bcus i dont like seeing unfinished quests in my journal lmao. Tei's involvement is completely different from canon though in my take. Moreso was hired as a guard for the expedition & was, unwillingly, dragged into the rest of the mess. Is not offered the Archmage position, that went straight to Tolfdir.

Opinions on Magical Guilds (Arcane University, Winterhold, Psijics, Synod, Radiant Dark, etc.): As they get older, they tolerate the guild & magic users more n more, BUT, Tei grew up in an environment that frowns upon the practice of magic, & it shows. They mainly mistrust necromancers/illusionists & still hold onto that belief that reliance on magic, especially for combat, is a weakness.

Bold words for someone with shit magic resistance.

✧✧✧ Crime

Current Gold: 10,640

How Did They Acquire Their Gold?: Odd jobs, selling a lot of the items they made/harvested from smithing & hunting (jewelers are their go-to hirers bcus Tei is great at getting things like ivory), Dwemer ruin diving (they refuse to loot the tombs), also yknow....being part of the Dark Brotherhood helps

Largest Bounty On Their Head: 11,240

For...?: Unfortunately they did not stand down when they were being falsely accused of murder in Markarth. First time Tei called down dragons (Sahrotaar, specifically, Tei managed to get command of Miraak's dragons post-Dragonborn) to absolutely smite some fools.

Current Bounty: None! They're good at not getting caught/threatening and/or bribing guards. :)

Locks Picked: 15 i think?

Jail Time: 1, Cidhna Mine

Jail Escapes: 1, teamed up w the Forsworn lol

Murders: 28

Assaults: 307....In their defense people keep getting in their way during dragon attacks

Items Stolen: 37, most of them from the nobles of Windhelm

Thieves Guild Quests Completed: N/A (wont be doing this storyline unless i cant find a mod that'll let me get the shouts locked behind it)

Dark Brotherhood Quests Completed: 20

Where Are They At In Those Questlines?: DB is completed main arc wise!

✧✧✧ Relationships

Relationship Status: Married to two lovely fellas

Current Companions: atm? none

Housecarls: Lydia & Rayya

Friends (outside of party): Zora Fair-Child, Inigo, Lucien, Anum-La, Morndas, Aela the Huntress, Nazir, Babette, Scouts-Many-Marshes, Isobel, Madesi

Children: Khash, Chases-Starlight, Ram-Ku. (going of where Tei is now - Otero & Mei come around later on in Tei's story!)

Romantic Interest(s): Kaidan & Rumarin.

Sexual Orientation:

GAY

✧✧✧ Religion

Pantheon: Yokudan, with a hint of Hircine worship in there

Patron Deity(ies): From the Yokudan pantheon: Tei mainly views HoonDing as their main patron, but also prays to/pays respect to Satakal.

They are also Hircine's champion.

Daedric Quests Completed: 3 (Hircine, Vile, Dagon - the last Tei didn't really help, moreso pissed off)

Aedric Quests Completed: 1 if you count the whole Alduin thing I guess?

How Devout Are They?: Tei is rather devout, esp to their Yokudan patrons, praying or making offerings daily. They aren't the type to really push it in your face though, but have no issues answering questions one might have.

How Do They Feel About Talos Worship?: Deep down they acknowledge & admit trying to ban worship is terrible, but....Tei also lets their bias/experience with Windhelm, the Stormcloaks & especially Ulfric kinda cloud over this. If the Nords want their old ways so damn much, why fight for a divine from the Imperial Cult? Why not go back to the actual old ways? No, this isn't about worship, not to the men leading this so-called rebellion, they just needed something other than their racist bullshit to fool the common man into throwing their lives away for the nobles sitting comfortable in their thrones.

Also during their whole thing of getting into their role of dragonborn, they get a bonus 'fuck this dude actually' towards Talos, Ysmir, whatever the fuck he calls himself. (tldr; it sucks but good luck hearing Tei say that fully)

✧✧✧ Politics

Gray-Mane or Battle-Born?: Neither, ask them again they will punch you for the love of Ruptga they get asked that every time they enter Whiterun.

Stormcloaks or Imperials?: Also neither, Tei hates em both n think they can all choke. Unfortunately they were forced to join the latter due to, yknow, calling dragons & causing massive damage in Imperial territories during isolated fits of rage and the group being more aggressive in wanting something in return for "letting it slide"....oops

Opinion on the Thalmor?: Oh absolutely despises them, they loudly complained having to work with them during the CW & would go out their way to disrupt their plans/piss them off. Sneaking was an option they did not take during the Embassy quest, if it helps paint the picture.

Opinion Of Ulfric Stormcloak?: Tei doens't say they hate people often...but they sure as hell hate Ulfric. Again, their experience in Windhelm added to this heavily, how both the Dunmer & Argonians were treated like shit, with no help whatsoever from the Jarl or guards when the local Nords targeted them. It's still up in the air if I keep this for Tei's story, but I have it where they knew Chases-Starlight's parents, who were killed. When Tei went up & demanded justice/an investigation, only to be brushed off because it "wasn't a priority," it completely destroyed what little empathy or hope they had left for Windhelm as a whole.

Opinion of The Empire?: Cowards too weak to continue fighting back against the Thalmor, in their opinion, & holds these views they grew up with even when being strong-armed into aiding them. If anything they're at least attempting to use their influence to hint towards a rebellion against the Thalmor, but the Empire could also full-on dissolve & they could give less of a shit.

Civil War Quests Completed: 0

✧✧✧ Personal

How Are They Doing? Need Some Juice? A Nap? A Hug?: The whole event of Blood of Kings has fucked with their head, to say the least. It's the starting point of Tei's eventual spiral. So uh...yeah they're not sure how they're doing everything they knew about reality was kinda challenged & they don't rlly have anyone to talk to about it so its cool, its fine, its all good.

A nap is probably needed, not sure about a hug theough they're super flinchy rn

Days Past In Game: 196

Hours of Sleep: 846

Food Items Consumed: 1833

How Many Playthroughs Have You Done With This Character: Tei actually is an older character from the 360 days so uh...maybe 5 at most? This playthrough & their S:EC one coming up when the mod releases being the main ones focusing on their story

Overall How's Your Level Of Fun: Alright I would say! I just been stepping away from Skyrim more often lately to avoid burning out from it

Must Have Mods To Play This Character (for story or other reasons): Ordinator, Wintersun Faiths, Immersive Armors, Sarcastic Player Dialogue, 3DNPC, Inigo, Lucien Flavius, Kaidan 2, Khash the Argonian, Alternative Start, Leviathan Animations, Beast Race Body Paints, Beast HHBB, Apocalypse Magic, Deadly Dragons, Growl: Werewolf Overhaul, Pronouns, uhhh....idk what else without actually listing my current modlist lmao

----

And that's it for Tei! Anyone who wants to do this go on ahead!

[evolutionsvoid]

The Colloscyt is a terrestrial bird that is found primarily in the labyrinthine caverns and tunnels of the Underworld. They can be found in cave systems that are closer to the surface world, but further investigations have shown that these systems are, or were, connected to the Underworld. So it seems they are directly tied to this land down below, which makes sense when you look at these strange beasts. Gone are the wings that give them flight, as their limbs are now specialized for climbing and scrambling across stone. Their legs and arms are now greatly elongated, giving them a better reach as they scale the walls and ceilings of the Underworld. Their eyes have shrunken and lost their focus, now only good for discerning between light and dark. Not only are their eyes reduced, but so are the specialized throat organs that run down their neck. Hold up second, those wouldn't happen to be external larynges, would they? And how about that third pair of limbs that are sprouting from their back? Those structures seem awfully similar to the ones True Sirens have! In fact, they are the same, because the Colloscyt is indeed a True Siren! "Now say there, Chlora," you may say, "if these things are Sirens, then why didn't you say so in the first place?" A fine question! The reason is because we didn't know it was a True Siren for quite some time! Today, we folk on the surface world call these Cave Sirens or Blind Sirens, but we didn't have these names in the past. Since this species is tied to the Underworld, the people up top didn't really have much of a chance to study them or even see them! The conflict between the two worlds made expeditions and research trips quite difficult, so what information we received about this species (and many others, at the time) came directly from the denizens down below. Even with that, the sources were quite limited, as there wasn't a whole lot of demons and shades who were willing to talk to surface dwellers (and not a lot of surface dwellers wanting to talk to these folk in the first place). With that, many species found exclusively in the Underworld were either unknown or had very little information attached to them. The Colloscyts were one of them, as we only had the word of those down below and few measly parts and pieces. The reason I have called them Colloscyts instead of Cave Sirens is because "Colloscyt" is the first name this species had. This was the name given to them by the people of the Underworld, and it was the name they told us when we asked about these creatures. So for a long time, we called them that as well, until relations between the two worlds got a bit better and we could send researchers downstairs. When a welcomed expedition finally got their hands on a Colloscyt specimen, they were immediately like "hey, this is a True Siren!" And I imagine their Underworld guides were like "what is that?" Obviously the people of the Underworld were not familiar with the creatures up above, so why would they follow our naming conventions? Honestly, it is for the best they don't, because, as far as I can tell, they aren't going around calling everything a freaking dragon! Now that we have covered that, we can take a look at the Colloscyt (or Cave Siren) itself! As I mentioned before, the external larynges of the Colloscyt are quite reduced compared to the other members of its family. This is because the Underworld is kind of a funky place when it comes to sounds and noises. In such an enclosed place with such an array of shapes and sizes, the way sound travels and bounces can be quite erratic. Since every part of the Underworld is quite different from each other, tuning oneself to the environment is a bit difficult. With this, the high-energy, specially tuned hypnotic song of the True Siren family is kind of worthless. They could make it work, but it seems the process would take much longer to finesse, which means it would burn way more energy. So it looks like the Colloscyts let their external larynges reduce a bit, losing their ability to create this entrancing tune while still retaining decent mimicry. Though they have lost this song, they have replaced it with something a bit more helpful. With the help of their external larynges and specialized ears, the Colloscyts are capable of using echolocation to help navigate this darkened world. Their vocal chords produce a special sound, which then bounces off the environment and is then picked up by their ears! Quite helpful when sight isn't really an option in such a lightless place.

This ability is useful with navigation, but it also helps them detect prey. Like other True Sirens, Colloscyts hunt prey, but they use a rather different tactic when it comes to subduing and eating these targets. Climbing silently through the darkness, the Colloscyt will move to position themselves directly above their prey. Hanging from up above, they open their beaked maws and vomit forth a shower of sticky nastiness. This species can create an adhesive mucus, which dries quite quickly when exposed to air. They store up copious amounts of it in their crop, unleashing the torrent when prey is within range. When their target is drenched with this saliva, it will quickly ensnare them and make movement difficult. In a short period of time, it will thicken and harden, trapping prey in a solid mound of spit. Before that can happen, the Colloscyt will drop down and grab hold of the struggling victim. With more gooey saliva, the Colloscyt will "spin" their target in a cocoon, ensuring that they are sufficiently covered and bound. Often, the victim will die of asphyxiation, as their breathing orifices are covered in this sticky crud. Once they are neatly wrapped up and the cocoon has properly solidified, the Colloscyt will jab their beak through the thick coating and into the prey. Through their nostrils, the Colloscyt will inject a digestive enzyme that is pumped from a special organ at the base of their beak. This enzyme is meant to break down the insides of the victim, turning all the organs, muscles and whatnot into soup! When it is all melted into a slurry, the beak will be reinserted and their long tongue will help slurp up what is left! When the cocoon is drained of all nourishment, the Colloscyt will retreat, leaving behind a hardened cocoon and a bundle of bones. This sticky saliva of theirs isn't only used for hunting, as it also helps with deterring predators. When they are hanging from up high, another climbing fiend or a beast on the wing may try to attack them. When this happens, the Colloscyt will use its spit to gunk up their limbs and send them tumbling to the stony floor below. In some cases, the Colloscyt may wind up feeding on their own predators! This saliva is also used by mated to pairs to create nests for their eggs. They will climb up to a hard-to-reach place and use their spit to form a basket to hold their precious young. This construction is not a one-time thing, as the two will tend to the nest and add more mucus to keep it strong as time erodes it and their young grow bigger. When their offspring finally leave the nest, the mated pair will abandon it, constructing a new one when mating season comes back around. This vacant space winds up becoming the home of another creature. A lot of different species can take over these empty nests, which is important to keep in mind if you go poking around in them. I saw one during my travels in the Underworld and wanted to take a closer look. My guides were wise and advised me to test the nest before I climbed up close to it. With a few misaimed rock tosses, I succeeded in agitating the occupant of the nest, which turned out to be a rather large and angry female Mound Roach! No clue why it was dwelling up there, but I am sure glad I didn't get my face close to that thing!   This odd creature is known quite well by the denizens of the Underworld, and it should be no surprise that its spit is the star of the show! It's adhesive nature and quick solidification makes it quite useful when it comes to speedy repairs and patch jobs. Those who take excursions into the wilder parts of the Underworld will often keep a hardened bundle of this mucus on them. When equipment breaks or something needs to be glued, they will heat up the solid mass until it becomes gooey again. Apply it to the spot that needs fixing and leave it out to harden! Voila! If they don't have one on them, they can simply collect some from the field. Empty nests and discarded cocoons of previous prey are easy to come by, so they can just get it there. There are some groups down below that even keep a bunch of these birds as livestock, but not for meat! They harvest the spit that comes from them and then sells it as a material or even an ingredient! Turns out that demons and shades have made a dish out of this creature's mucus! "Cocoon Crust Soup" is the name, and it certainly made me curious when I heard about it! A soup made by bird spit? I thought it impossible, but my friends were quick to steer me to a restaurant that served it. I will admit that I was a bit hesitant before I ordered. Having spit in my food is usually something I avoid, and here I was about to order a whole bowlful! But I toughened my roots and gave it a shot! When I tried my first spoonful, I soon realized a problem: Cocoon Crust Soup is a bit too hot for a surface dweller like me! Keep in mind, I am not talking about "spicy" hot, I mean "hot" hot. Like boiling water hot. Turns out this stuff only liquidizes in extreme heat, meaning it must be prepared piping hot to get it to the proper consistency. Since the folk down here aren't put off by blazing temperatures, they serve this soup while its still boiling. One spoonful almost burned a hole in my mouth, so I had to wait for it to cool, which took a long time! Everyone had already eaten by the time I could even get my soup to a tolerable level! Eventually I got to taste it, and it was rather pleasant! A quite unique flavor, though the consistency was a bit gummy. To be fair, that was because I allowed it to cool, and thus it began to solidify. I have to imagine the waiters and cooks thought I was crazy. You get some weird plant person who orders a hot meal and then sits there for an hour and a half until it is stone cold. Sure, I could explain myself by saying "it's too hot," but I am in the Underworld! Who's going to believe me?!   Chlora Myron Dryad Natural Historian ----------------------------------------------------------------- It seems that that one of my go-to species ideas is take an animal that isn't a spider and make it a spider.  

[clumsyclifford]

hello my love <3 ok it is literally the middle of the night so how about 41 ('go back to sleep.') with jalex? ily <333

we have officially moved into atl territory and you KNOW im a slut for sleepy jalex. also more family feels in this because MAYBE im feeling some typa way

read on ao3

-

Jack stirs at the sound of Alex’s voice, muffled but undeniably Alex. Not to mention it couldn’t really be anyone else; this hotel room is his and Alex’s alone.

His eyes flutter open groggily, and he casts a halfway glance around the room. Alex is nowhere to be found. His side of the bed is still kind of warm, which means at least he’d been asleep (Jack always wonders, always worries a little, because Alex has a tendency to get caught up and see sleep as a suggestion rather than a priority — he’s gotten a lot better about it, but Jack still worries). So there’s that.

Jack strains his ears, though all his senses feel foggy with sleep. The voice is coming from outside the room. Alex must have gone out. He’s probably on the phone, then, although with whom, Jack can’t imagine. Not because no one would call at this hour, but because there are quite a few options. It’s no one’s fault; the band moves time zones often enough that it would be ridiculous to expect anyone to keep track. Even Jack doesn’t keep track, and he’s living it. 

Still, though. It’s — Jack shoots a glance at the clock, which is fuzzy without his glasses but legible — two in the morning. 

It might be an emergency. Jack hopes not. Fuck. What if it’s an emergency? What if something’s happened? What if Alex isn’t on the phone, but talking to Rian or Zack or anyone else? Surely they’d have woken Jack if something bad had happened, right? 

As if summoned by Jack’s distressing spiral, the door opens, hallway light silhouetting Alex like an angelic aura as he slips back into the room. Everything is thrown abruptly back into darkness, and Jack blinks against it.

Quietly, Alex pads over the carpet back to the bed. 

“What’s going on?” Jack whispers, and Alex jumps about a mile.

“Motherfucker, you scared me,” he says, hand on his heart. “Jesus Christ, Jack, why are you awake?”

“I heard you talking,” Jack says. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” Alex says, wincing. “Everything’s fine. That was my folks. Just saying their flight was delayed so they might not be able to make the show tomorrow night.”

“Oh,” Jack says. The way Alex says it is so matter-of-fact that anyone else might take it at face value, but Jack knows better. 

“Yeah, no big,” Alex says. “Go back to sleep.”

“You’re going to sleep too, right?” Jack tilts his head. “Not stay up thinking about this?”

Alex crosses his arms. “I’ll come to bed in a little bit.”

“Alex,” Jack says tiredly. “Please just sleep now.”

“I’ve got thoughts,” Alex says. “Song thoughts. I’m just gonna write them down so I don’t forget them.”

“You have song thoughts at the worst times,” Jack mumbles. “How long is a little bit?”

“Just go back to sleep,” Alex repeats. “I’m fine, Jack.”

“See, that’s how I know you’re not.” Jack shifts into a sitting position, crossing his legs and fixing Alex with a look. “I’m sorry your parents aren’t going to make the show.”

“They might. They’re not sure.”

“Okay, then I’m sorry they might miss it. That sucks.”

Alex studies Jack for a minute, then clambers onto the bed and settles in at Jack’s side. It’s not as good as getting him under the covers, but one thing at a time.

“It’s not a big deal,” Alex says, shrugging. “It’s not like they’re not gonna see us this tour. And it’s not even like I’m not gonna see them, since we have a day off after tomorrow. And I don’t know they’re gonna miss it.”

“Still.”

“Yeah,” Alex murmurs, leaning against Jack, head on Jack’s shoulder. Jack lifts a hand to rub Alex’s back, slow, circular motions that leave his palm feeling weird. But Alex slumps over like Jack is easing the strain out of him, so Jack doesn’t stop. “Still, though. I don’t know. It’s nice when they get to see us do a show that isn’t the hometown show, you know? It’s nice when they come to me, instead of me coming to them.” He sighs. “And I know they are coming, but I just…”

“I think it’s just late,” Jack says quietly. “Much easier to let this stuff get to you when it’s late. You should sleep. And I’m not just saying that because I want you to sleep. I really believe that.”

“I know,” Alex sighs. “I know you’re right.”

“Mm, what was that? Can you repeat that?”

“Yeah, I’m not saying it again,” Alex says with a small smile, turning to Jack. He kisses him softly, and in Jack’s dreamy half-asleep state it feels like cotton candy and clouds. Alex’s smile is so bright in the dark of their room. Alex’s presence is so bright. Some of the halo from the hallway light must be clinging to him. Jack could bathe in this light forever.

“So you’ll sleep?” Jack whispers, moving his hand to the back of Alex’s neck and brushing his thumb over Alex’s collarbone, just under the collar of his shirt. Alex almost shudders in his exhale, and he nods. Jack smiles. “Yay. They should call me the Alex Whisperer.”

“Hilarious,” Alex says, deadpan. “Because we’re whispering. Really funny. King of comedy over here. Regular Cosby.”

“Hey,” Jack says. “I take offense to that.”

“No, you’re right, I regretted it the moment I said it. You’re way better than Cosby.”

Jack hums. “Sleep time now.”

“Yeah, sleep time,” Alex concedes, setting his phone on the side table. Wordlessly, they both settle under the covers, Jack shimmying back into Alex’s chest, Alex throwing an arm over Jack’s waist. His cheek is on Jack’s shoulder, and he turns and presses a kiss to the ink peeking out of Jack’s shirt. “Goodnight. Again. Hey, this is nice. I get to say goodnight.”

“You’d get to say goodnight every night if you went to sleep at a semi-normal hour,” Jack whispers, and drops a kiss into Alex’s hair. “But that’s a tall order.”

“How tall, would you say? Six feet, roughly?”

“About that, yeah.” Jack tugs at the ends of Alex’s hair. “Go to sleep, weirdo.”

“You go to sleep, weirdo.”

“Okay, I am. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Alex says, cuddling closer to Jack. “Thanks for…you know. Being rational and patient when I need it.”

Jack smiles even as his eyes fall shut. “Always.”

This time, Jack gets the immense pleasure of drifting off to an already-sleeping Alex, and he feels more at peace than he has in a long time.

[sky-blue-memories]

Deemo II Gameplay Trailer Translations

Alright folks let’s get into the thick of it

(Links to previous instalments: 1 2)

Preface:

Okay no but before we do I have to mention that Rayark posted this trailer on both youtube and bilibili. The thing is, both versions are different. They have different dialogue, different versions of chinese (YT uses traditional, Bili is simplified), the only thing that is the same is the developer commentary. So, I will be lumping the dialogue from both videos together. Just wanted to get that out of the way. I’ll be going through these in the order they appear in the video. Feel free to help me correct any of these.

Goal displayed on UI:

- Find new sheet music and play the pieces, increase areas of sunlight.

Dialogue from people around the station:

- How long will this rain last?

- Do you think the Composer is still alive? Is he going to come back and save us? (Note: the original dialogue calls him the Magician instead, but I decided to use the English name we were already given.)

- If all the trains have stopped, then aren’t all the ticket booths now useless?

- I’m really worried about the situation back at home, but none of the trains are running anymore...

- There hasn’t been an oasis lately, I’m going to grow mouldy... (note: not too sure about this one)

Interacting with the newsstand:

- Echo: It’s been raining every day lately. These books would get mouldy very quickly, wouldn’t they?

Dialogue upon greeting Isaac:

- Oh hello there! Where I was studying abroad, people would kiss each other on the face as a greeting!

- Bonjour! Where I was studying abroad, that means “Hello”!

Dialogue options to Isaac:

- What are you doing

- I want to hear a fun fact

- Let’s talk later

The developer chooses “fun fact” in both videos.

- Isaac: That bird on the clock is actually known as a cuckoo. They will lay their eggs in the nest of other birds, and have those birds raise their children for them. This is known as “brood mimicry”.

- Echo: That’s so cunning!

———————

- Isaac: Birds have their own ‘dialects’, just like us, where we have our own unique way of speaking at each station in each region.

- Echo: For example?

- Isaac: For example, in the mountainous station region, “The Black Beast” is called “The Black Beast”.

- Echo: Ah, I don’t think I can hear the difference...(Note: definitely not as confident on this one sorry)

Interacting with the pile of newspapers on the ground:

- There seems to be something buried underneath? Let’s move away the newspapers and see.

Extra:

Moving away the newspapers uncovers a piece of sheet music, which gives us the song Hanei.

From this it appears the exploration part of the game will be look around, talk to people, uncover sheet music, play the song, unlock new areas to explore, and repeat. Looks to be fairly simple so far, but I hope they add a puzzle or two in there to maybe spice it up.

Another thing to add is that I managed to get screenshot of this:

Now there’s like three character bunched up in that area but I’m willing to bet its this guy

In which case they would also be the owner of the newsstand from this screenshot I took

To be honest at first I thought they were the owner of the barber shop they were literally standing right in front of but you know what, sure.

...By the way, why is there a barber shop in a train station?

[sassyshoulderangel319]

I have some ideas for the Little Mermaid remake (and if I get any of them right I am going to shout “I CALLED IT!” in the theater. Not really but I’ll be thinking it):

Uhm... Samuel L. Jackson as King Triton please?

And Queen Latifah was an inspired cast for Ursula for that ABC version of Little Mermaid and I want her back too. Yes please.

Anyway moving on from casting ‘cuz that’s all I got

Ariel doesn’t even meet Eric before getting legs

Or maybe she does, but, like, she’s only interested in his humaness rather than his attractiveness

Idk i like the idea of Ariel wanting to walk among the humans from more of an anthropologist standpoint lol

Part of Your World isn’t even sung to or about Eric in the original movie, y’all. She just wants to see humanity up close.

Disney’s thrown a little more girl power into their remakes (not always necessarily well but they’re trying ? to address some of the criticisms people endlessly throw) by at least pointing out stronger the female protagonists’ motives. For example Cinderella in the cartoon and remake never went to the ball to have a man save her. She wanted a night off and to go to a party. In the cartoon she didn’t even realize till later the dude she was dancing with was the prince. In the remake she wanted to simply visit a friend. Because the remake did let them establish a bit of an acquaintanceship first which was kinda nice.

So I think for the Little Mermaid remake they should still have Ariel save Eric as an important establishment of his character, but have her be more fascinated than infatuated.

Like, when she gets to land she pokes and prods at his and her legs a lot and discovers that feet can be ticklish and it’s a bonding moment as he laughs but she just... can’t

How this factors into the “you’ve got three days for him to kiss you or you belong to me” thing with Ursula I haven’t quite figured out but I like the idea that their love was a side quest along the way to her getting her dream

She still has the fight with Triton and he busts her grotto but she goes to Ursula more in the state of mind of “he doesn’t understand why I think they’re interesting so I’m going to prove to him they’re not bad” rather than “Dad won’t let me even dream about being with this guy I’m crushing on”

As such, Ursula’s deal is different. More of a “You’ve got three days to find proof humans aren’t barbarians or I’ll take your soul and make you a weed in my garden but I’m still taking your voice so you can’t actually ask anyone anything or interview them like you’re obviously so desperate to” and then when she gets to land Ariel just happens to run into Eric again and be like, “Oh wait hey you! I know you! I dragged your soaked butt out of the storm!” Without actually saying anything of course

And I think maybe on her first day on land, when she’s still getting used to her legs, she’s walking the town of Eric’s kingdom in her hand-me-down sail dress and a little girl runs up to her and gives her a flower or a pretty shell or something. Just because she saw Ariel wandering alone. And maybe the girl’s parents take pity on Ariel, because she can’t speak and looks sad that she can’t thank their daughter, and also because she’s wearing a sail, and let her change into something more suitable

That might be when Eric runs into her and she just lights up and he has no idea why but he humors her because he’s kind and she’s excited

(psst: the shell/flower comes back around at the end of the movie as Ariel’s proof that humans aren’t bad because there’s a flashback somewhere in Triton’s side scenes that show Ariel giving him something similar when she was a wee child and when he understands, he realizes she’s right)

Bring back the thing that was cut from the movie but left in the Broadway musical about Ursula being Triton’s sister and therefore Ariel’s aunt please and thank you. Maybe she’s adopted though IDK. I like it because it brings a little more of a personal grudge between Ursula and Triton rather than just a power-hungry sea witch. The cartoon mentions she lived in the palace but never says in what capacity. In the Broadway musical I really liked that she was his sister

Also don’t write any new songs for the movie, just use the Broadway ones. They’re great. I’ve been wondering why they’re making new songs when the Broadway ones are already there since the Beauty and the Beast remake (though I ain’t complaining about Evermore, I loved Home and If I Can’t Love Her). I loved Speechless in Aladdin but if Beyonce had sung Shadowland from the Broadway Lion King instead of Spirit, I would have actually given that bland excuse of a remake a single kudo. Anyway that’s not the point here. Moving on.

A lot people in the world are professional mermaids/men/folk. Use them as background mers. They’re better at it than rando extras. Also they come equipped with their own tails. Many different options, in some people’s cases

Please use silicone tails for the main merfolk and even convincing fabric tails for background merfolk. Please. CGI is fine but audiences are sophisticated enough to tell when it’s CGI. Particularly when it’s bad (looking at you mermaid tails from Once Upon a Time) because it breaks the immersion of the movie. And silicone specifically will have scale definition and will look much more realistic and fanciful than the mermaids in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (love the movie and the mermaids in it but the tails and their designs could have looked better. Those ultra long caudal fins/flukes probably wouldn’t do as much for proper underwater propulsion as shorter, broader fins would)

kinda all i got for now... if i think of anything else i’ll add it in

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #63: David

Today on Fate and Phantasms, we’re making the killer of Goliath and owner of the world’s most famous nudes, King David! Dave’s a Hunter Ranger/Lore Bard for anti-giant tech and sick harp skills. Yeah, it feels kind of weird to have 0 cleric levels in this, but not every religious person has to be a religious class.

Check out the breakdown below the cut, or the build summary over here!

Race and Background

David’s a Human, giving him +1 to all stats. He’s also the classic rags-to-riches story of a Folk Hero, giving him proficiency in Animal Handling and Survival. You were a shepherd after all.

Stats

Your highest stat is your Wisdom: you’re good with animals, and a pretty good king too. Second is your Charisma, you’re likeable, good with a harp, and a good negotiator. Your Dexterity is pretty high too; you killed a giant with a sling, and that weapon’s terrible. Fourth is Constitution, you’re not super tough, but you’re not one to quit early. Your Intelligence isn’t great, humble beginnings and all, but we’re dumping Strength. You don’t really need it, and the toughest thing you have to hit with your cane is the errant sheep.

Class Levels

1. Ranger 1: We’re using the revised ranger for this build. We’re already kneecapping ourselves with our weapon choice, lets not get too masochistic. When you take this class, you’re proficient in Strength and Dexterity Saves, as well as three ranger skills. Insight will help you get the best deals, Perception keeps your eye on your entire flock, and Nature will help you figure out what’s been eating them.

First level revised rangers gain a Favored Enemy, giving you advantage on Survival and Intelligence checks made in regards to one category of creatures. The Philistines are humans, so pick Humanoid. You also deal an extra 2 damage to all attacks against humanoids, which will help make up for the low damage of your weapon. You’re also a Natural Explorer, giving you a number of travel and movement based benefits. You ignore difficult terrain, get advantage on initiative rolls, and against enemies that have not acted in combat. While traveling, difficult terrain does not slow your group, you can’t become lost except through magical means, you’re alert to danger even if you’re doing something else at the same time, you can stealth at a normal pace by yourself, you can forage twice as much food, and you get extra information about creatures you’re tracking. 

For your weapon, we are of course using a Sling. You could also grab a quarterstaff to act as your crook, but you’re not going to be that good with it in combat.

2. Ranger 2: When you pick your Fighting Style, choose Archery for an extra 2 points to ranged attacks. Goliath’s a big target, but you really don’t want to miss this one. You also learn to cast spells using wisdom as your casting ability. Animal Friendship will keep your flock in line, or help you keep a lion calm enough to sneak an extra hit in. Hunter’s Mark adds an extra 1d6 to your attacks against a target, and it’s easier to find. If it drops before the spell ends, you can switch it over to another creature as a bonus action.

3. Bard 1: When you move into the bard class, you gain proficiency in one skill and one musical instrument. Grab your Harp and Performance so you can play that secret chord that will please the Lord. But if you don’t really care for music, you also get Spells using your Charisma and Bardic Inspiration, d6 which you can give to the rest of your party, adding them to attack rolls, saves, or checks. You start off with a number equal to your Charisma modifier, and you get them back at the end of a long rest.

For spells, True Strike makes every shot count (though it’s not like you’re wanting for ammunition; you’re literally throwing rocks). Mending will help you patch up that tear in your shirt, Cure Wounds and Heroism will give you a literal harp of healing. Identify is pretty much God telling you if you’ve found any cool stuff. Bane forces a bit of divine intervention on your enemies, making them a bit worse at saves and attacks for its duration.

4. Bard 2: You become a Jack of All Trades, adding half your proficiency to checks you aren’t proficient in. A good king knows a little bit of everything. You also learn a Song of Rest, letting you use your harp of healing outside of the fight as well. It’s a d6, and we’re not sticking around long enough for that to get any bigger.

For your spell, Speak with Animals will let you speak with animals. Sometimes they talked back then, biblical times were cool like that.

5. Bard 3: A big reason we’re hanging around this class is to grab spells from other lists, and no college gets us there faster than the college of Lore. Lore bards get three extra proficiencies: You’re a historical and religious figure, so History and Religion are easy picks, and you’re also pretty Persuasive. You also get Expertise in two skills, doubling your proficiency bonus in them. Performance and Animal Handling are your bag, so you should be good with both of those. Finally you get Cutting Words, letting you spend a Bardic Inspiration to subtract it from a creatures attack, check, or damage roll. You’re not one for heckling, so let’s call this divine intervention.

Your spell this level is another one that’s description is right on the tin, Locate Animals or Plants. It tells you the direction and distance to the closest instance of a kind of animal or plant, if it exists within 5 miles of you. You can’t get individuals, but at least you’ll always get the right species.

6. Bard 4: Use your first ASI to round up your Charisma for more inspiration and better saves, and Constitution for more health and concentration. Your weapon has an effective range of 30′, you’ll want to be tougher than the average archer.

For your spells, Light will help your dumb human eyes see in the dark (technically you’re helping everyone, but nobody plays darkvision right) and Zone of Truth... is really just a very clerical spell to grab.

7. Bard 5: Fifth level bards see your Inspiration bump up to a d8, and you become a Font of Inspiration, restoring lost dice on short rests instead of long ones. 

For your spell, Catnap will help you stay rested in the field without letting your flock wander too far.

8. Bard 6: Your last level of bard is the real reason we’re here. Countercharm lets you spend an action to perform a song that gives allies advantage on saves against being charmed or frightened, or maybe even getting possessed by evil spirits. Not actually that last one, sorry. You also learn Additional Magical Secrets, two spells from any spell list, as long as a bard could cast them at sixth level. Guiding Bolt gives you a fancy stone that deals 4d6 Radiant damage and lights up the target, giving the next attack to target it this round advantage. The real start of the show is Magic Stone, which lets you enchant up to three stones as a bonus action, turning them into magic weapons that deal 1d6 plus your charisma modifier in bludgeoning damage. This only affects three stones at a time, and unlike every other damage dealing cantrip, this one doesn’t get better as you level up. At least it’s not concentration.

9. Ranger 3: Back in Ranger Town, you join your conclave. The Hunter Conclave lets you pick a Hunter’s Prey option for extra fighting skill. Colossus Slayer adds 1d8 to an attack you make against a creature with less than max HP once per turn. Giant Killer would have been nice and thematic, but that works with melee attacks, which aren’t your thing. You also have Primeval Awareness, helping you communicate with animals without spells. You can also concentrate for a minute to sense your favored enemies within 5 miles of you. This is where picking humanoids becomes something of a liability. It was great for damage, but now every time you use this feature it’ll be an information overload.

Your new spell, Beast Bond, lets you create a telepathic link with a friendly beast when you can see each other. The beast also gets advantage on attacks against creatures within 5′ of you, making this, weirdly enough, your best melee option at times.

10. Ranger 4: Use your next ASI to bump up your Charisma. Most of your spells are still bardic, and this makes you magic slingstones even more potent and accurate.

11. Ranger 5: You get an Extra Attack, letting you throw two stones per action. With your hunter’s mark active, that’s 4d6+2d8+8(12 if they’re humanoid) Bludgeoning per round, which is pretty dang respectable for an ambidextrous lasso. You also learn Pass Without Trace; your favorite enemy is several times your size; try to get the drop on him.

12. Ranger 6: Speaking of Goliath, sixth level rangers get a Greater Favored Enemy, letting you add Giants to your list of things you want super dead. Your bonus damage ticks up to +4, and you have advantage on saves if they’re caused by giants.

13. Ranger 7: Hunters grab one of three Defensive Tactics. You really don’t back down from anything (Saul had to throw a spear at you three times before you got the hint), so you’ve got a Steel Will. You have advantage against being frightened, which will help you keep your wits about you when you need to break out that countercharm.

You also learn how to create a Healing Spirit, a bit of concentrated healing that you can move around the battlefield to those who need it. Currently it can heal 1d6 four times before it disappears, but you’re getting this spell much later than you would normally, so feel free to upcast it a bit.

14. Ranger 8: You become Fleet of Foot, letting you dash as a bonus action. You have very few melee options, so keeping your distance is a smart idea.

15. Ranger 9: Ninth level rangers get a third level spell. Conjure Barrage lets you create a hailstorm of Sling pebbles to rain down on enemies in a 60′ cone, dealing 3d8 bludgeoning damage. This is barely even a spell, you’re just going absolute ham with that sling.

16. Ranger 10: Tenth level rangers can Hide in Plain Sight, gaining a 10 bonus to hiding as long as you don’t move. Pair this with Pass without Trace to become invisible. Again, stealth isn’t really your thing, but if you’ve got the advantage take it.

17. Ranger 11: Your last hunter gift is your Multiattack option. Volley lets you spend your action to attack every creature in a 10′ radius circle with whatever ammunition you have available. This isn’t as great as it sounds, since you only get three magic shots per turn, but if there’s a bunch of weaker enemies running around, you might as well take them out.

For your spell, Daylight is a beefier version of the light cantrip that will nullify darkness spells. You have the power of god and anime on your side, and a couple of shadows aren’t going to hold you back.

18. Ranger 12: Use your last ASI to bump up your Wisdom for better barrages and tracking.

19. Ranger 13: You get your last spell at this level, and it’s your only 4th level spell. Locate Creature lets you pinpoint the location of a specific creature you’ve seen before within 1000′ of you. I know it’s not exactly fireball, but you’re a shepherd, this is going to be super useful.

20. Ranger 14: Your final level teaches you how to Vanish. You can hide as a bonus action, and you can’t be tracked unless you want to be, or through magical means like Locate Creature.

Pros

You have a lot of skills and features that shine outside of combat, helping your party travel and deal with other people.

You’re not bad as a medic either. Multiclassing left you with some high level spell slots to supercharge your healing when the party really needs it.

You’re really good at demolishing a single target. When everything’s totaled up, you can deal 4d6+2d8+16 per round for less than a single spell slot. Other fighters might be flashier, but you’ll outlast them and keep plugging away round after round.

Cons

You have almost no melee options. You could possibly carry a knife, or have a friendly beast help you out, but really if someone gets close before level 14 you’ll have some problems.

Splitting your casting abilities meant way more of your ASIs went towards making them good, so your nonmagical fighting isn’t very strong. Thankfully your best damage dealing spell is a cantrip. Also, having high level slots is nice, but high level spells would be better.

Using a Sling just isn’t the best option. You can definitely make it work, but even then it eats up your bonus action each turn and limits you to three good shots per round. Honestly this turned out way better than I was expecting-it’s just less effort to use a bow and arrow.

Next up: The second most famous Trojan.

[sinceileftyoublog]

Wobbly Interview: Going for Happy

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Thurston Moore Ensemble/Negativland band member Jon Leidecker has been releasing electronic music under the moniker Wobbly for over two decades now. In Chicago experimental label Hausu Mountain, he seems to have found kindred spirits, matching his far out idiosyncrasies. 2019′s Monitress and its follow-up, Popular Monitress, which came out earlier this month, are albums about and by machines, as Leidecker ran his music into pitch trackers and synth apps on his phones and tablets, embracing the errors and randomness that were produced along the way. While the source material on Monitress was mostly improvised, the songs on Popular Monitress are more structured and composed, resulting in songs like “Authenticated Krell”, which follows a comparatively clean synth arpeggio before being enveloped by texture, or “Lent Foot”, where the various instruments trail each other. It’s remarkable just how familiar certain sounds are even if not traditionally instrumental ones, like the typewriter clacks of “Illiac Ergodos 7!” or the zooming notes of the thumping title track. Blurring the lines between what’s instrument and what’s not, and even further, what’s composed music and what’s not, Popular Monitress is a defining statement for both Leidecker and Hausu.

I was able to ask Leidecker about various songs on the album and their inspirations. Read his answers below!

Since I Left You: You chose to write more structured songs this time around before running them through the pitch tracker. Do those nuggets of recognizable structures make the final product all the more disorienting?

Jon Leidecker: Hopefully! On both albums, the main thing is keeping the focus on just how live those pitch trackers are. It’s Monitress as long as you can hear how they’re listening. For years, it was strictly a piece for live performance--I needed to be improvising myself, and able to respond instantly, to really underline just how spontaneous the machine responses are. So the first record tried to keep more of that sense of flow. Large stretches of it are simply baked down from stereo recordings of concerts & radio performances of it. Overdubbing more layers of trackers seemed legal, as long all the voices were following that one original sound.

Of course, when you play a tune, something composed or even quantized, it definitely becomes easier to hear what they’re doing. The exact same code running on each phone will respond in very different ways to the same source audio, and you get a chorus of individual voices. They play a lot of wrong notes, but oddly, if you feed the trackers lots of consonant, major chords, it stops being dissonance, and you can tell they’re going for happy. You hear these weird things, trying to sing in unison, and..the result is just pure delight. Weirdly emotional! What’s a mistake? What’s music?

SILY: How did you come up with the song titles? For instance, is there anything particularly Appalachian about "Appalachian Gendy"?

JL: They’re mostly mashed up references to landmark works in the field of generative & algorithmic composition, from the 50’s up to the early 90’s. The recent push of stories on AI musical tools seems to be about automation and labor-saving, but the field of how to develop tools for more creative ends goes back all the way to Bebe and Louis Barron going to the Macy Conferences on Cybernetics and designing their first self-oscillating feedback circuit.

So while my tracks aren’t really in the musical style of the works they reference--something like  “Appalachian Gendy”, which sprung up a fantasy Spiegel/Xenakis tribute, got paired to that stompdown track, and once it did, I added a solo on iGendyn.

SILY: To what extent is your music here inspired by the inner workings of the brain?

JL: Once you get a grip on just how simply neurons and synapses interact, how reassuringly physical thinking is, the electronic music I’ve always found most inspiring often involve feedback systems, self-playing devices, generative music, things that learn rather than settle. Music that helps you model thought. The whole East Coast/West Coast 60’s divide in synth design boiled down to Moog reducing your options until you could easily dial in what you already know you want, and Buchla designing uncertainty machines to be networked together until they approach the complexity of an unknown brain.

SILY: "Synaptic Padberg" and "Every Piano" have moments of recognizable instruments as opposed to alien instruments (strings and piano, respectively). Was that just a product of the errors/randomness of the music-making, or purposeful?

JL: It's supposed to sound orchestral, so I hit my Mellotron and Chamberlin apps pretty hard with this piece. Not like anything remains plausibly real once they're getting hammered by the trackers. That is a real grand piano, however: me playing the tune at SnowGhost Music in Montana. Brett Allen deserves an engineering credit, but I also wanted the first listen to make you wonder.

SILY: There's almost a funky rhythm to "Motown Electronium". Do you envision folks dancing to this record?

JL: Would have been plain wrong to put that title on an unworthy beat. What would a room full of people dancing to this even be like? Maybe in Baltimore.

SILY: Do you think "Training Lullaby" is what a computer trying to write a lullaby would sound like?

JL: Not that relaxing, is it? That’s ten seconds pulled from a five minute live improvisation, just a little burst of fury in the middle. Which I’ve heard enough now that I can sing along to it; so now, for me, it is calming.

I finally had to admit to myself that I’m a fan of the OpenAI Jukebox stuff. It’s right at that stage where their results are still primitive enough to remain a little mysterious. All the context and relationships intrinsic to what humans call music is irrelevant to those GANs. They don’t need culture to make music, they just need waveforms. What does it tell us that simple pattern analysis and brute number crunching on a large enough data set can produce those sounds? They’re training us. I have twelve hours of their Soundcloud dump ripped to my phone, and I play it a lot, though I wouldn’t play it for anyone under four. Can definitely sing along to some of the weirder ones by now.

SILY: How did you approach the order of tracks on the record? I'm struck by, for instance, the chaos of "Grossi Polyphony" following the comparative lull of "Every Piano".

JL: Just trying to show the range, and keep the surprises coming. Perpetual variety becomes monotony so quickly, so there is a very careful balancing act to play between shorter and longer tracks. I like a record where on first listen, any new section that begins, you feel like there are no guarantees how long it’ll last, eight seconds or eight minutes. Even things that sound like they should be songs: no guarantees. I still remember the first time I heard The Faust Tapes as a teenager.

SILY: Did you actually use musical dice to write "Wurfelspiel"?

JL: “Wurfelspiel” is just name-dropping Mozart’s generative piece--again, a real piano, but no musical dice involved.

SILY: The beats towards the end of the album--the pseudo hip-hop of "Cope By Design", techno of "Dusthorn Sawpipe", krautrock of "Help Desk"--seem to me to be far more propulsive than anything else here. Do you see a connection between those tracks?

JL: The album hits you with all these miniatures in the middle to keep things moving, and those three are the last little barrage of them before the shift into the final stretch with the longer, more hypnotic pieces. Can be tough to sequence an album when you’ve got so many short tracks, but it’s also total freedom.

SILY: How did you like getting the Hausu Mountain album art treatment?

JL: Totally family. All the Monitress packaging has always been iPhone panorama mode artifacts, visual glitches not entirely unlike what my phone’s trackers do to what they hear. I gave one of those images to [Hausu Mountain co-founder Max Allison] to work with the cover of the first Monitress, and he sent back this image, saying, “Here’s the initial stage: Your photo reduced to color blocks I’ll carefully render out later.” So when the second hyper-detailed one came back in a more proper Hausu style, they already seemed like a sequence, and this second one was already in place, so it all clicked. Any version of Monitress, the music is different, but it’s always the same piece. I’m really happy they asked me for something. [Label co-founder Doug Kaplan] and Max are just coming from the good place.

SILY: Are you doing any live streams or socially distant shows any time soon?

JL: Multi-location live streams are a blast. The time modulation inherent in all streaming is deeply psychedelic. The kind of listening you have to do when you know that the relationship of sounds together in time is different for each musician involved? I’m learning utterly new tricks, and it’s astonishing just how live the result is. I sat in on a live stream with Thurston Moore Group a few months ago, the four of them in London, and me hooked up to an amp not far from where I normally am when I play with them. And everyone agreed: It felt like I was there, right up until the instant I quit the app.

I’ve been pre-recording some home live sets for Hausu, Curious Music and High Zero Foundation. Negativland is putting together an hour long performance with Sue-C for the Ann Arbor Film Festival in late March. I finished an album mostly recorded outdoors with my old friend Cheryl E. Leonard for Gilgongo, and we’re going to try to a few outdoor concerts, too.

SILY: What else are you currently working on/what's next?

JL: The second album with Sagan, with Blevin Blectum & J Lesser, is coming out in late April. That one took 14 years to finish. There’s a trio record with Thomas Dimuzio and Anla Courtis coming out on Oscarson. Doing a revision of the last episode of my podcast on sampling music, Variations, to incorporate that OpenAI music. Some Negativland releases tying together the last two albums. There are about four of five other albums that might be done, though it takes time to be sure.

SILY: Anything you've been listening to, reading, or watching lately?

JL: This month has been Maryanne Amacher’s collected writings, Keeping Together in Time by William H. McNeill, Ministry For The Future by Kim Stanley Robinson, important even with happy ending. Interview with Karl Friston - Of Woodlice And Men.  Listening to a lot of “Blue” Gene Tyranny, Xenakis & Lang Elliott, and last week every Ghédalia Tazartès album in reverse chronological order. I don’t care what anybody says: That guy’s immortal.

SILY: Anything I didn't ask about you want to say?

JL: Thank you for your questions!

Popular Monitress by Wobbly

[muffintonic]

Alright, I think i’m done BOTW 2 spamming for today. Anywho, time for some thoughts in general!

1) I hated how the shrines in BOTW were so cold and dark compared to the bright and lively nature outside (I wish they had all looked like the Master Trials challenge where there were trees and stuff incorporated inside), so I hope if we’re forced to have dungeons they’ll be more like the Wind Waker ones. 2) I hope they don’t make us use the grappling hook or anything like in Wind Waker to move around the sky islands (I hated that mechanic). 3) I’m probably one of the few people who wanted less Zelda and more of the Champions in HWAOC since i’m only really attached to BOTW (and we saw a fair amount of Tetra in Wind Waker)/apparently Zelda’s been sidelined in all the other games, so i’m hoping in vain that we get more Champions material in BOTW 2. Also, Link could stand to have some more cutscenes centered around him as well (the few we got in some of the sidequests in BOTW were great). 4) I only really somewhat care about Riju and Sidon, so I won’t mind if the new gang gets sidelined in BOTW 2 (I still think Nintendo wasted the found family/band of brothers aspect on the dead characters--I love them so much and they’re all I want!! The problem is, they’re dead and I don’t really care all that much about their replacements!!! I dunno, maybe i’m hampered by the fact that I can replay the original champions’ memories whenever I want/read their diaries, but I can’t rewatch the new gang’s cutscenes AKA i’ve forgotten their characterization since they don’t talk to me much now that the game’s over). It’d be great if they have some weaving storylines in BOTW 2 that will get me more invested in them, but currently i’m not that interested. 5) Speaking of which, I know it’s 100% not going to happen, but goddang if I don’t want the Champions to have been returned to life. Nintendo totally squandered HWAOC by not making it a true prequel/canon to BOTW (the Champions Ballad confirmed that the Divine Beasts had trials in order to be synced to the champs, so the new gen use of them wouldn’t have happened without that + Mipha thought Link had changed in BOTW yet says in HWAOC that he hasn’t changed + some scenes like “Champion Revali’s Song” never happened at all/got replaced with alternative scenes that really changed some dynamics + basically all of Revali’s time-relative characterization from his diary/pre-100 years of solitude got thrown out + I feel like Daruk got totally sidelined), so i’m still craving that Champions content. Also, I feel like it’s totally unfair that Zelda came out of 100 years totally unaged while everyone else died. Life seems to really suck for people in the LoZ universe who aren’t chosen by divine powers. 6) They’d better keep it open world and non-linear. I can’t go back to being forced to backtrack/trudge through things, I just can’t. BOTW was everything i’ve ever dreamed about in a game (truly open world + non-linear + interactive + meaningful story + lots of outfits + beautiful landscapes) with Skyrim previously being the only thing that came close to what I wanted, so I really hope BOTW 2 doesn’t deviate too much from that. 7) I really liked Kass in BOTW, but i’m not sure what direction they’d go with him in BOTW 2/i’d be fine if he sat BOTW 2 out. I worked so hard to complete all his quests in BOTW so he’d go back home to his family, GODDANGIT, KASS. 8) Someone mentioned that since the first trailer had underground aspects, we’re probably going to be playing as Zelda with the Slate there, and I agree. They didn’t make a playable model for her in HWAOC for nothing. 9) I want to be able to stable the deer and bears and stuff, but I know that won’t happen. Being able to ride the moose and rhino things from the Hebra area probably won’t happen either, but I want to ride them!!! 10) I hope there’ll be at least a few new buildings and stuff in the towns/they’ve started construction on some areas in Central Hyrule, but I guess that’ll depend on how long it’s been in-universe since BOTW. Or maybe not, considering how there’s still Karson and Hudson even though Bolson retired from Bolson Construction--insta-towns like Tarrey Town could totally be feasible if they wanted! 11) I have one foot in the camp that believes there’ll be time shenanigans in BOTW 2. HWAOC totally threw me off with it being an alternate timeline, so i’m not sure whether we’re going to be experiencing that again or time travel itself, but I definitely won’t be surprised this time around if Nintendo goes that route again (and it would be super interesting to see the Link from 10,000 years ago). I’m not entirely convinced that the Link we see exploring the sky in the second trailer isn’t our Link, mainly because he seems to still have on the blue boxers from BOTW. 12) I also heard that maybe this will be the last LoZ game ever since something something Demise something Skyward Sword something something lore from games i’ve only vaguely looked into (i’ve only ever played BOTW --> Wind Waker --> HWAOC)??? If so, it kind of sucks that I came in just when they started making games with playstyles palatable to me (I had to look up every single thing when playing Wind Waker, but BOTW let me solve things according to MY logic/I missed being able to explore in HWAOC), but at least it’ll end on a super high note/I won’t experience later disappointment, I guess. If BOTW 2 involves breaking the reincarnation cycle for the Triforcers, I would be really surprised. (On a related note, Nintendo making Ganondorf good would also be a 100% shock to me, but it would be great to end on that as a subversion. Yes, I want them to bring back the semi-complicated Ganondorf from Wind Waker.) 13) I hope they don’t rush releasing it. I heard they pushed back BOTW originally (I got it in 2019), but it came out fantastic for it! I know COVID’s been affecting things, so I really hope they’re treating their staff right and are mindful of crunch. 14) I want even more outfits (there seem to be at least two new ones, if the variant of the Hylian Tunic crossed with Link’s Champion’s Tunic counts). Give me all the outfits!!! Also, I hope we get even more hair variations in addition to the hair down option (which is all i’ve ever wanted since I saw the mod that altered the Ancient Helmet). 15) I wonder if we’re going to get a bonus for having both BOTW and HWAOC save data. 16) I wonder if we’re going to be keeping the Champions’ skills. I’m going to miss being super overpowered, if not. 17) I hope Nintendo doesn’t cave in and make surfaces climbable in the rain. Having that limiter is more realistic and Link would otherwise be too overpowered with a super climbing ability. 18) I liked BOTW’s scattered music that got more noticeable in populated areas because it was fitting for the post-apocalyptical/nature aspect. Hearing your footsteps in an open field and the buzzing of insects was super nice and prevented me from getting music fatigue (which i’d probably experience since whenever I play BOTW it’s for 5-10 hours at a time). I hope Nintendo either keeps that or makes audio options. 19) I heard that BOTW 2 is going to be super dark or something, and i’m okay with dark, but not GRIMdark, so I hope it doesn’t go that far. From what we’ve seen in the second trailer it still looks beautiful, but I hope it doesn’t do that thing that some games do where after the midpoint/a certain story point all the scenery permanently changes to be dark and scary (that’ll seriously hamper post-game playability for me if so). 20) If they expand on the Zonai, that would be super cool! Doubly cool if the time travel shenanigans involve them/ancient Link being one! 21) I kind of want windstorms to be a weather feature. We had lightning, heat, and cold, but no wind! No, I don’t count the wind geysers and the occasional breeze in Tabantha. 22) I want a chest in my house to hold more weapons than just the gear mounts. BOTW only had enough mounts for the champions’ gear, but it also had rare items like the Kite Shield and Forest Dweller’s Sword that you can’t get anymore once you use them up! 23) I want to be able to stable my horses at my house. What’s the point of that little area if you can’t stable your horse there! 24) Speaking of Link’s house: where is Zelda going to live? If the castle’s not reconstructed, it’d be neat if Link adds an extension to his house for her. 25) I hope they open up part-time jobs (think Mabinogi) as an option to earn rupees. Having to hunt for Luminous Stone deposits or feed Trott to make money can be such a chore. I think some of BOTW’s minigames/sidequests might count as those, but those minigames were either frustrating if your goal is to earn money (since most of them cost money to play in the first place and the mechanics weren’t always easy), or didn’t earn that much in general. 26) I wonder if Kilton is going to have updated items since the monsters seem to have changed. 27) I want to be able to dive underwater (mainly so I can explore the beautiful reefs over at Lurelin). A dive meter like the one from Super Mario Sunshine would be cool. Also, it’d doubly be neat if you had a separate stamina wheel for swimming and could permanently upgrade your swim/diving stamina (the speed+ swimming items just consumed your stamina faster, which was a pain)! 28) It’s definitely too late for this, but it’s a shame that the Hylians have so many face/body/hair and outfit variations, but the Zora, Rito, and Gorons don’t. The Gerudo were kind of okay with the hair and body variations, but the other races seemed to have a serious copy-paste problem. I guess technically some of the more important NPCs (ones with quests/cutscene triggers) had different coloring, but they were severely lacking in clothing variation. Also, the only old Rito was the elder??? At least the Gorons and Zora had some old folks besides their leader walking around. Very weird, but I don’t think BOTW 2 can fix any of this. 29) I wonder how they’re going to do the final boss battle, considering how epic/cinematic the BOTW 2x battle was. What can top fighting (on horseback, no less) a giant, flaming boar made out of malice? 30) I wonder what the Yiga are going to be up to, considering how Ganondorf seems to be somewhat kicking in BOTW 2.