#I love time loops in general and was talking about the concept

[runefactorynonsense]

Today on conversations with my significant other; he asserts Rune Factory (1) is actually a story where Mist and Ivan are aware of being in a time loop, and poor Raguna is not

He's a genius

[vampirevatican]

Can you do a Judd birch alphabet? You can decide if it’s nsfw or not

I've decided to do both, so here's the...

SFW & NSFW JUDDPHABET

Affection

He's affectionate but it's mostly through actions. (i.e. dinner date from the valentines day episode) I think he'd have his hands on you in public but in subtle ways. Finger in the belt loop of your pants, arm around your waist, arm on the back of the couch when you both sit together.

Best friend

He's a good guy at his core. you can not talk me down from that hill So I think he'd make a great friend. Hell quite a few alt people are and that usually comes from their beliefs.

A great listener, doesn't solve the problem unless you're looking for a solution, would offer to go torch some abandoned building or some other crimes but is only dead set if you are and it'd actually help you feel better.

Cuddles

He's big spoon, loves when you guys get ready to sleep and you get as close as possible without him having to do it.

Dirty secret

He's actually a softie. You can't tell me that he's not. The raccoons, melon ball, Judd has a soft side and it's canon.

Experience (NSFW)

No, yeah, he's experienced. Sexual and Romantic. Two girlfriends shown in the show, or rather at least one girl that he planned a dinner date for that was kinda fancy? Which makes me think they would've had at least a year together.

Favorite position(s) (NSFW)

Speaking of the letter 'E'

Face down, ass up is his usual go to. To get more specific? I think he'd love doing the mating press so he can really drill in. Big boy go deep... However also, rapid fire

69, The bicycle, hoisting you up on counters or bending you over. It depends on the amount of horny and where but one thing is for sure, he wants to bury himself into the hilt.

Gentle (NSFW implied)

I say, he's gentle when he wants to be. Ofc great at aftercare but outside of the obvious I think he's attentive to emotions of others, maybe not empathetic but what is he if not an observer.

Hair (NSFW implied)

So I've been over how he doesn't use a 16 in 1. Now let's talk about how I think he maintains his hair, and... a brief headcanon on the situation downstairs.

So getting general around 6 to 12 weeks he'll re-dye his hair. Probably at the 6 mark and with the sides of his hair, maybe even back, then we have the 2 to 4 week timing of him shaving it again. Notice how I say he does it. Sure he could get someone else too and depending on his schedule he sometimes does.

As for his junk... I don't think he shaves, maybe trims?

I love you

He's not about to say it first, and if he is then it's probably in response to you doing something he didn't expect or some random cuddle session in the back of his van.

Jacking off (NSFW)

Id love to bring in the concept of his own hormone monster but it's not necessary. He doesn't wank it often but when he does it's either built up or an in the moment thing.

Kisses (NSFW implied)

He's such a... good kisser 🎶~

Speaking wild... He's great at making out, imo, very passionate and heated.

Speaking soft? I like to think he'd kiss your forehead if you're small, or like the top of your head?? Before pulling you closer to him. Is it spur of the moment or he notices you being pouty, yeah.

Little ones (is he good with kids)

Again see letter 'D'. I swear he's good with kids. ffs he also helped out Andrew, reluctantly ofc, but i swear this dude is great with kids.

Mornings

Picture with me waking up in his bed, sharing the bathroom together and heading downstairs to a greeting from his supportive parents. Very cute, usually chill, and yes he drives you home or you head out with him. Nice breakfast into little adventures with your punk rock boyfriend, isn't that fun!

Nights

I love to think when it's not spent in his or your bedroom then it's his van or at some abandoned building. Lots of cuddles, maybe some arson or bne of an old abandoned business but if y'all were caught by the owner you'd be in trouble because you're defacing the property.

Open

I don't think he's an open guy, unless he's actually comfortable around you. It definitely takes some time but the more he learns about you the more you learn about him and it starts subtle af too. That is til y'all are a few drinks or blunt hits deep and everything starts to bleed

Pace (NSFW)

What pace do you need or want him to go? Naturally I think he'd have a steady pace and rhythm but if you needed it to be different then he'll adjust.

Questions (does he ask about you?)

See letter 'O'. I feel like he's direct but also would ask others about you if you aren't close enough yet and he doesn't have much of a choice. Mainly out of curiosity or wanting to do something for you.

Remember (and from those questions what does he remember?)

I say everything because again, he is an observer. Any little thing you like, stuff you hate, your fashion taste, favorite food, color, music genres. He knows it.

Stamina (NSFW)

For a dude that exercises, and is built the way he is i think it only makes sense for him to have really good stamina. Which means multiple rounds... if you're up for it.

Toys (NSFW)

For those who've been liking my works from last year about this man. Im going to call the knife a toy, but ofc he's definitely open to using a vibrator or other things in the bedroom

Ugly (the good, the bad and the ugly - headcanon negative traits)

So the canon aside, i feel like if you guys got into a genuine argument he'd shut down or double down. Not a huge red flag, and a better option to calm down and walk away but for those who can't handle that he ready for a breakup and him saying some real mean shit.

I can't see him being controlling or possessive but there's a possibility of it ramping up and if you two don't get to the route of it then... hwoof. especially if you aren't okay with it

Volume (NSFW)

He doesn't get loud... At all. But by god do I want him to be. Mfer can make you scream but him?? He be up in your ear mummering nd shit.

Warning (would be protect you? even from himself?)

Absolutely! If he's going out to do something really bad then he's not bringing you along, no matter how badass you are. Y'all get into an argument? Like I said before. I think he'd warn you or before taking the gloves off he'd address how this is just anger, and if you two wanna continue then he's okay with it as long as you know this is just being genuinely pissed

X exes (what's it like being his ex?)

Friends, friends with benefits if he's not dating someone else and you're okay with it. Things slip back into friend territory if y'all separated on good terms. Bad terms? No y'all do not talk... At all.

Yelling

Again he's not known to raise his voice but that doesn't mean he's not capable of doing so and I'm a firm believer that it'd be scary as fuck. Seeing you scared, if you do get scared, or even tear up bc if you don't do well with confrontation then he'd stop. If he was still mad or irritated then he just walks off to cook down, but if not then he instantly apologizes.

Zzz (going to bed together)

See the letter 'C', but anyways. I swear he's a cuddle bug, i need him to be. But he'd never admit it.

[chimerafeathers]

the concept of intentional boredom/tedium in video games is very much a "your mileage may vary" kind of thing and i go back and forth about it in different situations. where does it work? where does it feel earned/worth the mental toll? why am i gonna play a game that is trying to make me miserable?

i can understand this not being the case for everyone (ymmv, after all) but for ISaT i was so fucking fully on board with the repetitive tedium of it all. rubbing my grubby little hands together and going yesssss, yesssssss, make my immersive gameplay experience directly emulate the exact frustrations and anxieties and mind-numbing breakdowns of the player character. remind me, at every turn, the toll this would take on the person living it. make me live their inner monologue before it's ever verbalized on screen.

how strong you feel, compared to the party you're inevitably leaving behind, how weak they seem now. how annoying it is to cut down these same enemies again and again, always pointlessly getting in your way (oh, how convenient that Siffrin feels the same way so intensely that you can get an item that lets him scare them off by sheer force of will before they attack you!). since when was the King's battle--so terrifying, so impossible before--so easy? can't this go faster? you've heard this all before.

let me skip ahead, loop around, treat my character my body Siffrin as disposable, take the fast and easy way to reach the next goal when you're on the verge of an exciting breakthrough, this loop doesn't matter anyway. but ohh, this next loop might be The One, better do this one right and follow the script to perfection. make all the jokes and say all the right things to get the lovely bonding dialogue so you can carry the Best Version of Everyone through to the end. that'll give you the Good Ending, right? can't hurt to try, right? you don't really believe it but this time will fix everything, right?

how generous and wonderful to have so many shortcuts at hand! dissociating zoning out to skip repetitive dialogue, splitting your head open on a rock slipping on a banana peel in the town to loop right to the floor you need, suuuuurely all of this stuff is purely for the Player's Convenience and won't have any psychological impact on our dear protagonist such that it gets slammed back into the player's face as a stomach-dropping reminder that someone's moment-to-moment experience in this time loop still matters, still carries over, still gets riddled with scars even if they can't be seen!

i've played & watched enough games that trivialize/hand-wave game mechanics that it's pretty easy to detach myself from the minutiae of video game decision-making. "this input gets the Good Response" -> "i will continue doing this input." "this option will be more efficient" -> "might as well save some time then." but this game would not let me stop thinking about consequence.

picking Siffrin's favorite food makes them happy! :) it's also the option that makes Bonnie the happiest! yay! -> i keep picking their favorite food -> Siffrin gradually grows sick of something that once brought him joy -> oh. right. that...makes sense, huh.

okay i asked the King what i needed, mann there won't be any tears after the fight is over so i'll have to do the whole ending scene again and that takes a while and i reeeeally wanna talk to Loop, maybe i'll just lose on purpose this time -> OH. RIGHT. THIS IS MAYBE THE MOST PAINFUL WAY FOR SIFFRIN TO DIE BOTH PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY HUH. -> never gonna do that again actually!!!!! the ending isn't that long!!!!

banana peel time! we've got places to be and mysteries to solve! -> (you're a living comedy sketch.) (you wonder if you'll ever be able to smell bananas again without wanting to vomit.) -> i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry

it's always cute to see Isabeau's reactions! pick the options that make him blush :3 -> (disgusting. manipulative. it's no wonder he thinks he likes you, you made him feel that way.) -> i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry siffrin NO he liked you before any of this happened please don't think of yourself that way--

maybe it won't hit the same for every player (what game can expect to do that?) but holy fuck it hit for me. the way the mechanics let you fall into familiar gamey rhythms but constantly, constantly remind you that this is Siffrin's life you're playing with. the way you end up perfectly in step in the worst ways. muscle memory and habit built up so well that you both stumble when something changes. devastating and delicious

[ccrisntok]

Your Masterminds, Whit Young, and Ace Markey! (mm! whace au)

(Spoilers lol)

what normal fellas ahahahahaha (I have poured my entire soul into these two there is nothing left of me)

A basic summary of their relationship:

Whit has spent like, over a year manipulating Ace into being complacent in his plans. In his own eyes, Ace is a sorta-stupid lacky, who he's constantly love-bombing to keep obedient. Although, he is a bit glad for the company... it was sorta empty when Ace was "dead" and they couldn't really talk. And maybe Ace almost dying from his fake execution was a bit disturbing. But he's sure its nothing! (He fell in love with him like a moron.)

Ace has fully fallen in love with Whit. He's not happy about it, but it happened. As a result, he's basically ruined any semblance of his own morality, just so he doesn't lose Whit, or the affection he knows is mostly performative. He's more than happy to kill his fuck-face classmates, after a... bit of prodding, and honestly, he'd do anything Whit asked at this point, even die. He'll still complain about it, though.

i tried to be as original as humanly possible, but I'm def giving credit to @talkativeanonymous, @acethehorseishere, and @a-blog-for-kat all for inspiring these two in one way or another (esp. a-blog-for-kat lol).

anyway there's the art, here's the promised lore. warning for like a million words. I'm serious. It's 1,400 words. you can stop here i don't blame you.

also sorry for the odd looking bullet points, didn't realize you couldn't have gaps lol!

This au operates on a probably un-canon assumption that I pulled out of my ass. That is that Mai Akasaki is both a student in the class of 27, and that she is the "time loop" student. She is usually a part of the killing game, but she isn't this time, for reasons I'll explain in a sec.

This specific loop, Mai is attempting to dissuade the (usual) mastermind from wanting to start a killing game in the first place. That mastermind is Whit Young.

She goes about this by trying to curb Whit's main reason for his descent into despair, his resounding loneliness, by giving him championship. Charles hasn't softened up to the others in any regard yet. But that wasn't the main reason, unbenouced to Mai.

In this loop, and this loop alone, Mai sets Whit and Ace up to be friends. She hopes they can help each other, since they usually end up more or less alone in their school life.

Surprisingly, it works. They get along decently well, although a codependency starts to develop on Ace's side.

Around this time, Whit takes up an internship at XF Future, which Mai doesn't realize. He innocently wants to explore other job options, "Matchmaking" not really being a stable career forever.

Obviously FX Future isn't a normal Tech Company. Whit starts to change, in a barely noticeable fashion, the longer he works there.

Ace notices Whit's contacts start looking a lot more vibrant after Whit takes a couple weeks off school for a "company trip." He thinks it's... sort of pretty.

(Whit's time at XF Future showed him a side of humanity he didn't realize existed. Insane levels of greed, using the concepts of "ultimates" to guide a stupid pubic where the Government wanted them, generally a dystopia. It feeds into his existing detachment from humanity, until he hits a breaking point, setting his sights on ending the "Ultimates" concept by killing the newest class in the public eye, including himself.)

(XF Future develops a new sort of technology, prosthetic "eyes" that basically turn you into a living remote control, able to connect to an entire building if its connected via a computer system. Security cameras, doors, fucking air conditioning- everything.

(Whit offers himself as the test dummy, and it goes perfectly.)

Anyway, Mai decides to talk to Ace, since she's starting to realize he's becoming a bit... softer after hanging out with Whit so much? And hopes like, for once, he'll actually accept help for his mountain of problems.

He doesn't take this conversation very well.

Mai, with knowledge from dozens of loops, accidentally brings up an extremely traumatic event, simply mentioning the name "Tyler" once.

In a blinding mix of rage and horror at Mai's knowledge of the event, that Ace has literally never even spoken about in this timeline, Ace shoves her away from him.

She falls backwards, and splits her head on a desk, killing her instantly.

Ace, in a horrified frenzy, calls Whit, literally his only friend.

Whit shows up. Ace expects him to freak the fuck out, call the cops, or something like that... But he doesn't.

Whit simply tells him they were going to hide the body together, not even remotely caring about Mai's death.

yeah that's a little fucking weird, and its terrifying, but going to jail is scarier sooo Ace goes along with it!

After this, Whit wraps Ace into uncharacteristically cruel pranks against some of their classmates and others at Hopes Peak, oftentimes resulting in physical injury.

He acts like these are completely normal and funny, while Ace is both freaked out by it, and sort of enjoys enacting pain on people he didn't like.

Along the way, Whit notices Ace starting to fall for him. Horrible news for Ace, since Whit plays into those emotions by becoming much more physically and emotionally affectionate. Which he doesn't enjoy, like, at all... not a bit...

Whit convinces Ace to assist him in greater and greater acts of violence until Whit just straight up kills someone (not a classmate, a stranger.)

Ace is of course tied into everything way too deep to stop now, and after all this... he doesn't really want to. So he stays as Whit's accomplice for months, up until Whit's weirdo behavior arrives at the idea of the killing game. He references the "First Killing Game", which Ace had never heard of.

The idea is a bit intense for Ace, but at that point, he didn't have anything beyond Whit. If it took this to stay with him... He'd do it. Even if in the end, they both were going to die.

So they get to work!

Ace had been taking engineering classes at Hope's Peak in hopes of getting out of jockeying, and he'd helped his family build sheds and shit since he was a kid, so he focused on the construction and executions.

Whit wired the building an all-encompassing computer system he could control, as well as stealing "Mono-TV" from XF Future, a robot he can fully control to be the "host" of the game.

He also steals the "mind wiping" technology from XF Future. It's weirdly easy to steal stuff from this company, hm? It's almost like they aren't protecting it...

Whit also uses another piece of experimental biological technology... on Ace.

A screen connected to his brain, a lottt less invasive than Whit's eye surgery. It doesn't impact Ace mentally, it just gives him the ability to produce visible projections for easy construction, communicate with Whit remotely, (and give Whit a way to always know what Ace's condition.)

The screen is unclipped when the game starts, but the brain implant is still connected to Whit, so he can detect Ace's condition.

After kidnapping the class of 27 and wiping their memories... It all starts. A killing game, streamed live to the entire nation.

Whit and Ace start off as a part of the class, interacting with the others like normal, a pretty decent show. Things go roughly as planned, putting everyone in the positions Whit wanted them. Untilll... chapter 2.

Ace gets his ass jumped, and almost dies prematurely. This is fine, Whit privately makes sure the wounds properly cleaned, but it does fill Whit with an... ominous feeling.

Ace still kills Arei, a part of the plan, and gets "executed", so he can more easily upkeep the executions and such behind the scenes.

After the screen playing the fake execution turns off, Whit checks to make sure Ace didn't get injured in his running around... but can't detect anything.

At all.

Ace's heart wasn't beating.

He actually, seriously, had a fucking heart attack.

(Ace's heart attack was for a combination of reasons. Firstly, his heart was actually in pretty bad condition as a result of his eating disorder, something Whit had figured was "over" by now. It wasn't!)

(Second, in that moment, the idea that maybe, just maybe, Whit could have been double-crossing him came to Ace. What if Whit loaded the guns? What if Ace's use was done, and Whit was finally getting rid of him? It was terrifying because he could die, and terrifying because... It'd make sense. It was all that ever happened to him.)

So he had a heart attackkk lameeeeee

This makes Whit tweak the fuck out, internally. (lol pretend his spooky ass sprite happens AFTER the execution, not before. shh its all made up its all pretend)

After Levi gets taken to the infirmary, Whit drops Charles off at his room as quickly as he can, then fucking BOLTS IT to a hidden passageway in his room to the like... Mastermind area, with the execution chamber.

Whit manages to resuscitate Ace in time, barely. And even after that, he's in pretty bad condition. But he's conscious and mobile.

Whit gets him as comfortable as he can, and after spending the night, he sort of... has to leave. He does some tweaks to Ace's brain screen thing, creating a functional heart monitor that Ace (and he) can watch.

As often as he can, Whit sneaks off to the Mastermind area at night to make sure Ace doesn't fucking die in his sleep. But Ace gets... decently better quickly, and returns to his duties overseeing the killing game.

Whit still visits almost every night to make sure Ace wakes up, which he can't really explain to himself. Ace was... supposed to be disposable anyway. Why would it matter if he died?

Anyway yeah the rest of the game happens. No clue there.

In the end, Whit and Ace come out as masterminds (happy pride).

I have a comic planned for how the end goes, soooo... that's it!

holy fuck! my fingers! hi the whole 2 people who made it down this far... uh... did you like my lore.....? do you want me dead now for having you read 1,400 words of two evil homsexuals...? 😅 love you thank you im sorry.

[jollyparaphernalia]

Hello. I was instantly hooked on this concept for Siffrin swaped with the King. So I wanted to ask, if possible:

What would other party members' "King" form loom like? For example, Isa's could be themed around seams and threads, Odile's could be either a massive chronicler (familytales), and Bonnie's would be a massive chef.

Thoughts?

First off, thank you! I'm rather giddy that people are resonating so much with this feral cat I made of Siffrin (and the wet dog that would have been King) I'm very proud of the design of The Stagemaster, and this little AU concept has been cooking in my brain for a while now. I don't have any concepts on hand for a swapped party. However, I can walk through the methodology of the Stagemaster's design which might inform how each of the party would look like? There's aspects to Kingswaps ~deep lore~ I haven't covered that I'll try not to talk about, but it might bleed through anyways.

This post will be mostly yapping, and there will be some Spoilers related stuff to In Stars and Time under the cut

I knew from the start I wanted StagmasterSif to be a ghost of some kind, with a bit of a flair for both misery and theatrics, building up off of the games existing themes of Siffrin feeling like he's not a person anymore, not real, their existing love for theatre and stage motifs, alongside the mean streak we see in Act 5. Leaning less into The Mania and more into the conversation Siffrin has with Isabeau - cold and calculating like a knife who knows where to cut to make it hurt.

The designs sort of fed into each other - I already knew I wanted to keep some of that Siffrin 'cuteness' in some form, even if it's scrungled beyond recognition, so leaning into influences from similar 'vibes' from adjacent media to pull inspiration from was a Boon. Villainous characters that have menace and presence, but are still a little silly and fun. Also it's a lot of my personal taste - I always did like 'goofy little guys in a robe and wizard hat'. og Final Fantasy Black Mage, Kirby's Smirror enemy, etc. Siffrins already got that idea paired with him by that one Wizard loving kid in Dormont, so it was a perfect match. (Wizard kid has conflicting feelings about the Stagemaster. One one hand, evil! On the other, Wizard!)

The design for The Stagemaster is informed by both the external factors (their interests, their looks) as well as the deep internal Complexities that have been picked at and made Far, Far Worse (Siffrins act 5 behavior, the self loathing, fear of being left behind, the fear of change and losing what little you have left, and everything that also applies via Loop's behavior and thought process. I also include Comic Siffrin here as well, as they too can be seen as a reflection on game Siffrin, if that makes sense?). Imagine taking a look at a version of yourself and going 'wow! You're pathetic, how could you not do xyz? Loser behavior, couldn't be me (Internalizes all that shit anyways but worse)' It's sort of a...Characters own response to seeing themselves? And hating it on principle but still stumbling into being that person?

So How Does This Apply To Swapping a Party Member?

Well, it's a bit harder since we're not privy to the inner workings of everyones mind, but lets try! Internal Hangups vs Visuals/interests

Lets examine Odile. What do we have to work with? A Researcher researching nothing (and only went along with the researching bit cause it was funny watching the group guess), she's interested in Vaugardian family tales because it's a topic of interest and complexity to her (mother was Vaugardian and left, and she feels robbed of an opportunity to know herself) She also likes Fairy Tales and learning about Vaugarde in general, taking genuine interest in other peoples opinions on the matter. Which is a fun contrast to her being Not Very Keen on the emotional touchy feely sappiness, instead expressing her affection through playful jokes, sarcasm, and dry humor. She's also quite attentive to detail, and is the first to know something is wrong. She's also capable, in her words, of doing terrible, terrible things to protect the party. Ka Bue is Fantasy Japan with a focus on Gemstones and the Expressions, so we get another layer to mess with. And the paper motif is there as well, with her chosen weapon being Heavy Ass Books. Design wise, we get a lot to work with - gem motifs, paper motifs, books, tales. I'd probably categorize her a Collector of Things and People. Something that is both an expression of love, that can be easily warped into something possessive, while still keeping Odile's sense of distance. (Now, how she actually, like, gets to that point? Lots of stuff would prolly need to change in her life, because dammit Odile is just so damn cool and put together it's hard to see her jumping off the deep end!!). Physicality wise, she probably still just looks like herself? Again, Kingswap Stagemaster looks the way they do because they're built off of existing hang-ups for the character of Siffrin - meanwhile, the King was just A Dude in Armor with Big Hair. He knows exactly what he is and what he wants. I feel Odile would be similar, and her gimmick is instead the funky ways she's collecting stuff. (As the kids say. Yoink).

Anyways, I have no art to share of this idea, but I hope maybe it is sufficient in answering your question? And I hope my rambling of my methodology was at least interesting to view! Thank you so much for the question and interest!

[stellar-collective]

I'm asking real niceys for you to talk about beebo!! 🙋‍♂️

holy CRAB this took a long time to get to, so sorry about that, my thoughts on the game were so disorganized i kept putting it off lol!! when u see how much i have written down u will understand. u will understand.

this is gonna be my ~spoiler review~ where i ramble incoherently about character and plot beats i liked! this will assume that you have played the game and remember it well. if u want the spoiler free version, that one can be found here! you have been warned!

ok so a lot of this are taken straight from the notes i jotted down whilst replaying the game! very stream of consciousness style lol

alrighty! right off the bat, this game just has SO much quality of life stuff that you’d think would get overlooked bc it’s such a small project but no! like seriously this game is way better than some Big Company games i’ve played that have cost, y’know, money. like for example, i touched on this in my spoiler free review but the way the dialogue changes throughout the loops? first loop, all of Oliver’s observations are brief and impersonal, leaving plenty of room for them to develop as the loops progress

i said in my first ramble post that Mari made me laugh out loud towards the beginning; this was incorrect, it was actually VIVI who made me laugh with her “i arrive.”

speaking of Vivi, she’s just peak. in general. i love her so much she’s such a vibe and i don’t think there was a single scene she was in that she didn’t make me laugh or smile like what an icon

the introduction to the time loop was KILLER ooh it had so much intrigue behind it already. also the IMMEDIATE implication of the memories carrying over with Oliver quoting Ángel’s “this isn’t the best place to get trashed” (they’re down so bad already AUGH)

haunted houses. oh my gosh. put those things up there with taming robots from Oneshot for “game concepts that make me BONKERS” like. i gained so much appreciation for that lore when i got all the endings. it’s delicious.

also the relationship between haunted houses and the concept of ghosts and how both relate to Oliver…

also love how every loop there’s a way for Oliver to learn the code without the player just knowing it! the fourth wall remains intact (we ain’t playing deltarune…)

I HEART DOOMED/TOXIC SIBLING RELATIONSHIPSSSS and oh how i love how much the characters in this game act like deeply irrational people with layers of relationships and trauma and love that muddles things up and affects their actions it’s so nice <333

Nina’s “mad at me island” joke was a one hit KO for me

after the explosion when Ángel is reaching THROUGH the panel borders and the clock echoes slow and loud AHHHH (also “i never got his name. he looks like an Angel” KILL ME KILL ME NOW)

i LOVEEE how the loops echo and echo and echo with the memory loss being imperfect and how that makes you the player never doubt that it can be cracked and sets up the endings

CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE COLORS i knowwww it’s simple but SHH i’m having fun. absolutely ADORE how everything is Eugene’s purple until they break the house and his hold over them and then everyone gets their own colors back. also love how you don’t even realize that they HAVE their own colors until the flashbacks (maybe) or the end when you’re like “ohhhh that’s NOT normal.” the house changes u. filters u. ur only halfway urself. AND THEN IN THAT ONE ENDING WHERE OLIVER DOESN’T GET OUT AND THEN HE’S PURPLE. HE LOST HIS COLOR AGGGHHHH

the fact that Oliver made one joke calling Ángel a seraphim years ago and he named his company that. soulmates fr

their banter drives me crazy i have so many notes in this document that are just quoting them bc it’s all so good. like Oliver showing Ángel his guitar callouses and Ángel wanting to make puzzles for him and just ADHLSJSK

also hugeeee shout out to autistic Beebo once again the grounded writing shines thru in how he takes all the jesting comments one step too literally. and like the whole bedroom misunderstanding? autism moment fr

“you have the look of a man who would be hunted for sport” Vivi is the funniest character ever written end of sentence.

the thief instincts showing up with Ángel yoinking Oliver’s hat. it’s so cute

OK I NEED TO TALK ABOUT HOW GOOD THE ART GALLERY SECTION IS. this is a puzzle game. you’ve spent the last two or three hours of gameplay making things fit neatly together. that’s Oliver’s favorite thing; solving puzzles! and then the art gallery… it’s tantalizing. it feels that there’s rhyme and reason to it. like there’s a pattern you just can’t quite see. but… there isn’t. but there has to be. the game doesn’t end here, does it? and just like Beebo, you start to wonder if you’re doing something wrong. if you’re missing something. when you get trapped between those two rooms— oh man, i was panicking just as much as Oliver

and then!! the solution is to CHANGE THE GENRE!! this ain’t a puzzle game anymore, this is a doom style fighting game. and you’re gonna kill that house. i LOVE it when games pull stuff like that

OK THE KISS. it was actually SUCH a smart plan dude and also the fact that they GOT THEIR COLORS BACK because the house CAN’T wash out or dilute that kind of emotion? mm. genius. showstopping.

also like. there’s something there about the angel vs ghost iconography. the divine versus the natural. the house is breathing. the house is watching. the house has a purpose that breaks the natural world. fear not. you should be scared. i’m not making any sense but Man

ok the decision to make Ángel not know what cells or dna is so the player can hear a differently flavored explanation this game is really just a masterclass on how to repeat information without getting stale (there are many games that could do with this lesson)

the love this game shows for a mundane life is SO sweet and important to me like here’s this villain that’s so so so sosososo scared of death that he misses out on his life and like. that IS the story that timeloops have to tell. that you have to live the imperfect life because that’s all that matters!! immortality don’t mean nothing if you’re a hermit!! existing in a coffin, aging without living, that’s what a ghost freaking is!! and you don’t wanna be one of those!! you wanna be alive!! like a lot of games n movies n books n stuff make you want to go out and have a wild adventure but i rlly appreciate this game for gently taking ur hand and saying “the REAL adventure is the friends u make along the way and the best part of the story is the holiday parties and the sleepy mornings and the board game nights and the pottery classes and the vinyl records and the sunrises and the love” bc it’s RIGHT.

anyway. thank u for coming to my ramble. i should become a youtube video essayist or smth i’m so good at yapping to an audience of No One. i’m not normal about anything ever and that’s never gonna change sorry

[ooooo-mcyt]

Okay when I say I can't take Desert Duo angst seriously, that's not strictly true. There is plenty of angst potential for Desert Duo.

Even the very setup of the life series as a concept lends itself to angst. We're talking about a looping death game, here, after all. Everyone you love dies and nobody ever really wins. Over and over again. If we wanna go the Watcher Grian route with things too, that adds even more complex layers of guilt and horror.

The raw emotion of the cactus ring fight is always right there, there is absolutely something so gut wrenching about two people who care so much about each other being forced to fight to the death (grian literally jumped off a cliff afterwards, man).

Lets not forget Grian's constantly present guilt complex in general either, like, y'all think it didn't stick with him that it's his fault they died in Double Life?

And then in this past season, the way the universe literally conspired to keep them apart every single time they tried to draw close to each other has so much angst potential too.

It's not that I can't take any angst seriously with these two, it's that I keep seeing angst scenarios that feel played out and like they don't even really fit all that well.

They can both be snarky and petty, but they like each other. They enjoy one anothers company, they trust each other, they don't hold onto hard feelings, and they keep seeking each other out.

Whenever they talk about past seasons, it's with fondness. They mention the desert with smiles and yearning and small winks between them.

They whine about being scammed and tricked by the other and love to banter but at the end of the day, their snark is always accompanied by giggles.

Sure, they clearly enjoy being together and have a lot of instinctive loyalty, but, for one reason or another, they also don't tend to get jealous. Like. They both flirt with other people all the time, guys, and as I've pointed out before, Scar literally didn't care about the secret soulmates thing.

People keep making desert duo angst where the angst comes from them. From distrust, from anger, from resentment, from distance. But I just don't see it. They're fond of each other, they trust each other, they keep drawing together because they like to be together, and the angst that exists between them comes not from some toxic poisoning element of their relationship, but from the elements that keep pulling them away from each other when they aren't ready to leave.

[rose-petal123]

love love LOVE the shells and tides au and all the designs you have been putting out for ittt waahh… definitely it is on my list of things to draw at some point …. :>

in your king post though you mention the au being no time loops. for my own curiosity, IS there a plot you have in mind? or general story? 👀 or anything ur willing to share?? vv interested…

Hello yes! I do kind of have a storyline of sorts! Mostly basic background info on what the au is about etc.

Mirabelle quite literally found Siffrin hiding under a rock! They are extremely unfamiliar with waters outside of where they come from. They don't know surface customs etc, So Mirabelle teaches them the primary language! Though being merfolk they also can communicate with little whistles and clicks etc. Mirabelle teaches Siffrin a lot about what places are safe etc. The two are basically inseparable until Mira is comfortable with Siffrin swimming off on their own and not getting themself into trouble!

Mirabelle and Siffrin live in a sunken ship together! They both like to collect any trinkets and shells they find! Nille and Bonnie are friends of theirs! (They live in a nearby underwater cave)

When Siffrin is in the middle of becoming fluent in vaugardian, they notice a boat above! Mirabelle explains the concept of humans to them and such. Siffrin, being a curious little fella swims up there and discovers Odile, who's a pirate captain, and Isabeau! Along with the rest of their crew. Siffrin, who likes giving gifts like shells to his friends, starts leaving shells for the crew in attempt to make friends with them. Isabeau starts collecting the shells because Ooo pretty!!

One day Isabeau catches Siffrin putting shells on the deck. They make awkward eye contact with each other and then Sif swims off. Isabeau tells Odile about what he saw, and against Odile's warnings about Sirens, Isabeau decides he's going to try to befriend Siffrin! (Which is very successful)

Isabeau definitely helped in Siffrin's ability to speak fluently. They tend to exchange gifts with each other!

I don't want to make this post ridiculously long so that's what I'll give you for now along with these last couple points of info,

Siffrin introduces Mira to Isa, they become friends

Odile finds out about Isa befriending merfolk and hesitantly over time warms up to them as well.

Odile tells Mirabelle and Siffrin lots of stories! She'll read books to Mirabelle

Siffrin lost their eye protecting Bonnie from a smaller sea monster. Nille killed said sea monster

Mirabelle was given a starfish from Siffrin as a sign of their friendship! Sif has one too! Siffrin also made the bracelet Isabeau has ❤️

Nille found Loop, known as Sandy, while gathering sea urchins with Sif and Bonnie! (I plan to make a mini comic page with this.)

Yes that's right. I made Loop a sassy albino sea urchin named Sandy that can talk. They sit on a crate in the sunken ship and make fun of and or give advice to Mira and Sif.

[psilliguykai]

And now I present to you…. The power hour OC absolutely nobody asked for…. Chonny Superstar !!

[general + character info under the cut]

I’ve been completely hyperfixated on Jesus Christ Superstar for the past few days [I think I’ve looped the album like . 7 times by now ??] BUT !! still got my CJ fixation going on in the background too so here’s the product of that lol.

Chonny Superstar is his name for now because honestly I’m not great at naming characters and have no other great ideas 😭 if anybody has suggestions feel free to put them in the comments :3

Info !! [putting it in the post rather than the sheet so I can change it later if I need to 👍] [WARNING: long. Also very mild mentions of death I guess??]

Character/story-related notes:

- Chonny Superstar

- He/Him [Bi, cis man]

- 28

- Hair is messy and greasy. Probably hasn’t been washed in months lol.

- Partially based on Tim Minchin’s Judas from the 2012 UK Arena tour [both in design and personality]

- I hate this guy so much /aff

- Very independent/sticking to his personal mission [whatever that is in the moment] but overall well intentioned and a good person in the end. He wants the best and is sometimes just shitty about it 👍 somewhat social, but mostly when he has a purpose (which could just be that he hasn’t talked to anyone in a while or wants to make some he knows happy !! Just doesn’t really like . Hang around people). also a cunt. Very important

- Doesn’t actually play a particular role in JCS, nor do I have a solid story for him at the moment. I’ve got this loose idea that he just kind of lives in an endlessly looping production of JCS which has gone on for so long that the people involved switch and meld roles with each loop or smth ?? But I might change this later we’ll see …

- Some thought was put into the order, but there really isn’t that much rhyme or reason to the tracklist apart from “I like it” and “it fits his vibe”. That said I want to make it known that “Hosanna” and “Gethsemane” would both be the 2000 movie lyrics and not the original concept album - as much as I love the originals “hey JC, JC, won’t you DIE for me?” and “thy will is hard, but you hold every card” hit hard imo [and fit Chonny Superstar better]

- Would probably never meet the other canon jashlings but would totally either get along very well or have massive beef with Ego [bc Tim Minchin and all that]. He’d get on fairly well with Devil [they share the “fuck you all” and “society is messed up” energies]. Jouse/Mori would probably freak him out but I could see him chilling with CJPH.

- lives/is from the sorta vague anachronistic time period most productions of JCS take place in. No phones for him.

- Has never heard a song apart from the ones in JCS and would probably be really freaked out by anything else lol

- Has probably died multiple times and will die many more 👍

Design-related notes:

- Scarf patterns can be inconsistent and aren’t required. Based on the thing Minchin wears in his performance 👍

- He can and does take the scarf off, just not during musical numbers since it’s a little awkward to deal with on stage lol

- Heavy eyeliner + some eyeshadow

- Crop top and netted shirt are from the Laplaces’s Angel video

- Jacket and jeans are based on the ones CJ wears as “Green” in TFFTT.

- Temperature-confused apparel. What are you wearing a crop top and netted shirt with a massive coat for?? Are you cold or not boy tell me???? /silly

- clothes are worn but not super dirty apart from mild food/drink stains. The result of living on a stage in a time loop 👍

[coralhoneyrose]

LONG ASK WARNING: I have Chrobin family Future Past thoughts begging to be dumped somewhere that isn’t inside my head.

- Chrom encountering the fallen Morgan and despite the latter’s threats, Chrom just refuses to raise a hand against his own son, partly because, you know, it’s his son, but also he’s still just a kid! Just a young boy who must have been manipulated into the dark side somehow! It can’t be his fault he’s like this! And like with Morgan’s canon convo with Robin, it throws him for a loop. He’s committed to the dragon that killed his father, he’s enemies with his sister, he’s burned his bridges. As much as we joke that he is, Chrom isn’t stupid; why in all hells is he showing him mercy, even love???

- Robin (side note: “Oh, my poor baby…” ROBIIIIIN 😭) fighting Grima so hard from the inside not only to give Lucina and her friends a chance to slay her/them, but hopefully, HOPEFULLY, wresting enough control in her final moments to tell her daughter how proud she is of her to be able to do something so difficult and that she believes she’ll make a wonderful exalt in the coming years and other general words of encouragement that make me go ugh

- Some time after the battle is won, I like to think that Morgan, having lost any sense of where his place in the world was now, perhaps deciding to make the trek back to Ylisse, fully knowing and accepting that he’ll be recognized and treated like the traitor that he is. And I like to think that maybe Lucina’s Shepherds find him lying out in the grass somewhere — disheveled, dirty, sunburnt — just like how their parents met. And then they wake him up, and Lucina offers him her hand. To come home. Even though he still doesn’t get it, he betrayed her, he should be punished, right? Too bad, Lucina’s too much like her father. (I guess Severa could keep him in line, just to be safe lol.)

- CG Image: The spirits of Chrom and Robin sitting and snuggling side-by-side (because Chrobin), enjoying the peace, beauty, and assurance that their kids will be okay. 🥲

Okay well. First of all: ouch!! Ow!! Owwie. Future’s past is definitely one of those scenarios I can only bear to think about in small increments at irregular intervals because, and I reiterate, OUCH!!

Morgan-Chrom confrontation is so heart breaking to contemplate. Chrom would be so desperate to get through to him and I can imagine him deflecting attacks and like ‘fighting’ purely defensively just to try and get close enough to Morgan to talk to him and try and understand how it came to this. And also to apologize. Because knowing Chrom he would probably blame himself and be like “this only happened because I wasn’t strong enough and I died and left you and your sister all alone.” And Morgan would absolutely not know how to deal with that.

And OOOf….Robin trying to wrestle control back not just to protect her daughter but in the hopes she’ll have one last chance to tell her how proud she is…………..yeah I’m not okay.

I do absolutely love this concept of Lucina finding Morgan and welcoming him back. Like I can so clearly picture her pulling him to his feet and immediately hugging him and him stiffening up and freezing at first and then when Lucina doesn’t let go he just starts breaking down. Lucina could even say the “Welcome back. It’s over now” if, ya know, this scenario wasn’t already gut wrenching enough.

Man, the future’s past Chrobin ghosts are not something I dedicate enough brain bandwidth to (mostly because SAD) but you are 100% right there SHOULD be a cg of them snuggling. Robin resting her head on Chrom’s chest and him stroking her hair with one hand and their other hands are entwined in their lap and they’re so proud and relieved that their children will have a chance at the happy ending they never got. And—I’m gonna stop typing now or else I might cry LOL

[coldgoldlazarus]

I would love to hear more about the "Towers of the Archipelago" project, it reminds me of the Heroica games

Sure! And yeah, I can definitely see the resemblance, with this sorta "overworld" style map at least ^.^

I did have a more detailed version of the lighthouse island and the adjoining one, from last week, but I kinda got bogged down in details and cheating geometry to facilitate that, thus the switch to an even more reduced scale for the time being.

Towers Of The Archipelago is definitely still in the early sorta "vibes-based" stage of the idea, but it's also a coalescence of a handful of different fragmented ideas that have been floating around my head for the past several years, so there isn't a whole lot to talk about just yet, but I can still give a rundown of what there is so far.

It's pretty strongly inspired by Moon Rhapsody, a gorgeous but unfinished zeldalike game I found on itch.io a year and a half ago, (albeit without the nsfw stuff that one has,) though somehow the recent release of the first chapter of ENA: Dream BBQ had a hand in making my angle finally coalesce lol.

Probably mainly just because of this specific area in it, plus making me want it to be a first-person-adventure game for the vibes.

---

Anyway, yeah, so as the big map and the name imply, picturing a big archipelago connected by bridges, where most of the islands have small villages on them; but every village has to have a big tower of some sort (lighthouse, radio tower, weather reading station, pagoda temple, factory smokestack, harbor crane, etc.) that kinda defines that town's role, in the big trade ecosystem they all have going on between them.

Lots of youkai and monsters and stuff just casually living alongside humans, (can swap between cute humanoid and full cryptid forms at will, picturing a kasa-obake being a major character) tech level is like, kinda random but leans more toward oldtimey industrial revolution level but with some like, 60s/70s computation stuff in the bigger towns?

And there's a spooky island further off from the rest that only appears at night; its village is completely empty, and its tower is a Numbers Station.

Also something something about the moon and sun being alive and watching people? Like big Luna and Celestia vibes, but more as deities than as rulers, though still don't know exactly what I wanna do with that. They'd be tied to an observatory tower and a heliography tower, respectively, though; in the big map here, the heliography tower is the one just a couple islands away from the southwest lighthouse, while I'm imagining the observatory being more toward the northwestern part of the archipelago, atop a more mountainous island.

In the more detailed map of the lighthouse and crossroads island, I included a wrench piece looping around a diagonal stretch of bridge, just to cover a gap between the pieces, but that led to the idea of like, there being these big ancient magic gates around the bridges, normally open by default, but which automatically close up as a defensive measure.

In general, the concept for the setting (islands all with their own towers) has been bugging me for A While, but I didn't have anything to do with it yet.

---

But thankfully I do finally have something of an actual premise now, even if it's still pretty basic. A big storm with a tinge of something supernatural rolls in, making the normally-placid sea routes unsafe from turbulent waters, but also triggering all of the bridge gates across the entire archipelago to close at once; cutting off the islands from one-another completely.

The protagonist is a girl from the small southwest lighthouse village, and somehow she has a way to make the gates reopen even before their lockdown ends, so she either gets sent, or decides on her own, to go head out and try to get to the bottom of what's going on, and reconnect all the towns as she goes.

The real trouble with this is that I don't know what "the bottom of what's going on" entails either; I just figure in classic quest tradition it's something way over her head that she has to work her way up to meeting head-on.

Though it's probably something unrelated to the spooky disappearing Numbers Station island I mentioned earlier; that I see being just another feature of the islands, eerie and inexplicable as it may be; whereas whatever the storm brought is an outside factor.

Also given what I mentioned about youkai earlier, kinda wondering if it would be interesting to make the protagonist herself one, though I haven't settled on anything for sure yet.

---

Just kinda picturing an animated cover or titlecard thingy, with the main character in the center, mostly in shadows but holding a storm lantern that's illuminating her face and part of her body. Then the silhouette of the lighthouse behind her in all black, except for the windows at the top; and then more distant silhouettes of some of the islands and the other various towers kinda spread out on either side of it, also all in black except for the blinking red air traffic lights on top of those. Very razor-thin crescent moon up in the sky, surrounded by clouds in the shape of an eye.

Comfortably spooky, I think that's the phrase for the vibe I'm going for.

So yeah, it's a thing. :)

[payphoneangel]

Supernatural: The Showrunner's Challenge

A writing challenge/exercise

I saw this post and thought it would be really fun to make a SPN specific version. Some of these I tweaked from the OG post, some are the exact same, and others are brand new. If you like this, please give the OG post some love for the creators great idea!!

Think you can write better than the showrunners of Supernatural? Let’s find out! This prompt is a writing exercise/challenge to create a ‘season’ of Supernatural via fanfic. Each chapter functions as an episode.

Prompt:

To start, think of what you would change about SPN if you were its showrunner. Would you scrap everything and start from new? Keep the series going with a new season? Pick a spot in the show and diverge from there? Ignore all the plot and play dolls with your favorite characters? 

Write a chapter that works as the Pilot of the show you want to see. At the end of each episode, roll a d12 to see what you must include in the following episode:

Roll a d12:

1. Everything at once: Roll twice, use both. If you get 1 again, keep rolling. Your only way out is to stop getting 1s. 

2. TMWWBK: Give every character in the previous chapter a number. Using a dice roll/random number generator, the character whose number is selected is now the main subject and POV of the next episode. 

For a greater challenge: include any character mentioned by name and any character with dialogue. (i.e. If Sam mentions Bobby, give him a number. If the waitress at a diner talks to Dean, give her a number)

3. Fan favorite: Your most recently mentioned character (or named object) is now beloved by the audience. You must give them a bigger part in the story, a special destiny, or an important new romance or friendship. 

If you roll 3 again; the character must get killed off to motivate their friends/allies/love interest or to serve the plot.

If you roll 3 a third time; either start over OR they come back from the dead.

4. High Concept Episode: Due to plot/MOTW/meddling gods/whatever, the characters are trapped in a different genre than usual. Roll a d6. 

High Fantasy/Sci-Fi

Apocalypse/Alternate Reality 

Time Travel/Time loop

Sit-com/Meta

Crossover/Stuck in a video Game

Slasher/Death Game

5. Filler episode: The next chapter must be completely low stakes and set you at ease. 

For a greater challenge: Flip a coin for each main character. 

Heads: Their filler is full of thoughtful inner world building and characterization

Tails: They are interrogating the milves (i.e. doing something silly and stupid)

6. Mothership: The next chapter must include the characters making references to/listening to/arguing about/having a feelings jam accompanied by... Classic Rock. 

Bonus: If you roll three 6’s in a row, introduce a Lucifer plotline (If you were ALREADY writing about Lucifer.... kill him).

7. Fallen Angels and Special Children: If the last character mentioned in the previous episode has special abilities, they lose them. If that character does not have special abilities, they gain them.

8. The Focus Group: The execs created a focus group to see if audiences would like more romance in the show. Flip a coin to determine the outcome:

Heads: The audience is into it and so are the execs! The next episode needs to involve a deep, sappy confession of either love or admiration between two characters that have not previously been romantically involved. 

Tails: The audience is into it but the execs aren't so sure... The next episode needs to introduce a budding romance between two characters that is only ever alluded to, but never stated outright.

If you roll 8 again:

If you got Heads on the previous flip: The characters have a messy breakup/divorce.

If you got Tails on the previous flip: One character dies right after outright stating their romantic feelings for the other.

9. Familiar Faces: A character from a different season is (re)introduced and becomes plot relevant. (ex: if you’re writing early seasons, include Kevin, Rowena, Ketch, Dagon, ect. If you’re writing late seasons, include Rufus, Cassie, Ava, Bela, ect.)

For greater challenge, assign characters a number and select via dice roll OR

Use a tumblr poll to have followers select

10. J2 Fallout: The two most recently mentioned characters' actors have, IRL, gone through a VERY messy divorce or friend breakup. You cannot put them in the same scene, but they must both remain relevant to the show. 

If you roll 10 again, they reconcile. 

11. Deep Analysis: Roll a d6. The next episode must include the theme of:

Grief

Bodily Autonomy

Family don’t end in blood

Family is Hell/Absent Fathers and Absent Gods

What makes a monster monstrous

Love

12. Are we ever really done? The most recently mentioned character's actor has decided to leave the show. Kill off their character. 

If you roll 12 again for another episode, the character returns.

There's a few bonuses to a character returning, so if you so choose, Flip a coin. 

Heads: the actor chose to come back and the character looks the same. 

Tails: the actor did not reprise their role so the character has a "new vessel." 

The other bonus flip:

Heads: upon return, the character is on the side of the protags 

Tails: upon return, the character is working against the protags

Have fun and happy writing <3

Please feel free to tweak this game however works best for you. And if anyone does actually end up writing and posting something based off this, PLEASE tag me bc I wanna see lmao

Tagging a few writing buddies who might get a kick out of this: @kerryweaverlesbian @shallowseeker @bloodydeanwinchester @gryptids @kingflups

[nameification]

Anaxa(goras) drip marketing !!! lets disect !

(click images for higher clarity !!) (the first is the original splash image, the second is the version with my notes on it, the third is the caption that came with the image, and the last is a moodboard i made before his drip marketing that mainly contains my observations, some of his references, and some minor theories)

no leaks will be discussed, and i'd prefer it if none will be mentioned :) i'll start by talking about some of my own observations and then adding some observations i like that i've seen online

to get this out of the way: yes he does share a similar pose to alhaitham's splash art. it may be intentional, it may be unintentional, but the similarity to alhaitham's pose is not important to me rn. i'll discuss his pose later

full breakdown under the read more (trust me it was necessary)

caption: imma just say i love how much of an Asshat he is. i know for a fact it's gonna annoy a Lot of people but ive played these games before. ive seen these archetypes before. im gonna love him either way

one of the seven sages, the founder of one of the schools actually, and which is oh so coincidentally called nousporist. named seemingly after nous, which is not only a concept the real life anaxagoras talked plenty about, but also the name of one of the aeons.

we've known abt anaxa's connections to the nousporist school for a while (see image above) but we still don't really know what they do, yknow? each school of the grove has their own Thing but we dont really know what the nousporist (and nodist ig but theyre not that important rn) specialty is. (Although in bringing up the nodist school i find it interesting that we don't really know about both the oldest and youngest school of thought in the grove). i personally theorize that nousporist study things like the foundation of the universe, since the concept of nous was used to explain how chaotic matter was "ordered" into the proper universe (vast oversimplification but my point stands)

his rules might be respect things. as in he will respect you on some metric if you respect his rules (or if you are "lower" than him/not that close to him you must respect them?). essentially boundaries that are worded in a way that makes people wanna punt him in the face. maybe he just isn't comfortable with people he does not know too well calling him any shortened form of his name. and no one likes being interrupted while they speak lets be real. "silence is golden, remember that." referring to the person he is speaking to, yes, but he himself must believe it applies to him as well to some extent

"Demised scholar"...mildly upsetting considering the Implications. could be a metaphorical demise in the way his ideas have him "dead" to some people but honestly im pretty sure it has to do with the time loop/simulation theory thats very popular with ampho theorizing. theres speculation that he may know abt the "truth of amphoreus" and maybe the title of demised scholar makes me believe that this is to be his fate in a way ? this one is pure speculation

even the caption is ridiculing him. damn. also. "In a world full of lies, I am the only truth" sounds pretentious as hell but there ought to be some merit of truth to it. will get back to this later when i talk about the stuff others have observed

ALSO the question marks after the divine authority are odd and kinda sus. even if it signified that a character didn't have their coreflame, mydei didn't have any in his drip marketing, so chances are it can't be that.

anaxa himself: there isn't much rn that I personally observed with anaxa other than the fact that red gemstones feature a lot in his design and seem to play some significance to him in general. visually this makes sense (red is a good contrasting color for the blue-green color scheme he has going on) but lore-wise it probably means something. my two cents is that the red gems are related to nous in some way but those are my very Wild ramblings. also the pattern on his arm (the one hidden by his glove) looks the same as the pattern on the background. i saw someone say that it's the chrysos heir pattern but im not sure. also the blue flame coming out from his eye is very odd. i still hold onto those odin connections. will revisit later

midground: the splash art features six of the little green sprite ghost things. they may be a reference to the sages of the other schools of the grove because yknow theres six other schools and the head of each school is called a sage so we've got the whole gang in one splash but the explanation could be entirely different from what i suggest

the roots covering the bookshelves...im gonna be honest i didn't think there were book books in amphoreus before this just cause i didn't remember seeing any. i think the roots covering the bookshelves is a small peak at what the grove might look like in evernight state?

the background: THE GLASS IS CRACKED. his shadow is reflected onto the glass and there is a very prominent crack at the face of his shadow, specifically his eye. combine that with the odd flame that comes out of his eye, and im thinking there is absolutely a connection between that and the reason why and how he lost his eye. glass, mirrors, reflective surfaces, those are typically associated with the remembrance, so there again the glass cracking I feel connects to simulation theory

The translation of the secret message on his splash art is "The seeds you've sown are already sprouting" maybe any plans hes laid are already being set into motion. thats the most obvious way to interpret this imo

okay: again about the pose. this then moves on to other people's observations. on reddit it was pointed out that his pose has similarities with the most common design for The Fool tarot card. Anaxa was described as "The Foolish" in the golden epic trailer and the Fool tarot card is about new beginnings and is the first stage in the fool's journey

on twitter it was pointed out how anaxa's name graphic resembles nous. personally i think his connections to nous in general are Incredibly suspect bc. yknow. everything. gonna have to wait for the trailer ig until then

and also in general (not related to the splash art atp just me rambling) anaxa already has some natural vs artificial/mechanical themes if we add nous and cerces into the equation. the two deities of knowledge seem to manifest it/obtain it through different means (cerces' nature theming vs nous' mechanical nature) and anaxa seems to partake in both of those methods (stretch, but in the golden epic trailer there are diagrams of i think a cone and a sphere behind anaxa and those could be interpreted as either mathematics or blueprints. also anaxa uses a gun. in any fantasy setting a gun is the least nature-y weapon one could have). i think in general there's something interesting about the two contrasting themes of intelligence but if i tried elaborating on them further rn i...no.)

this is it for the most part esp since this is just his splash art. i might do this again when the trailer and livestream drops in...a bit :p

[sometimesoliloquy]

1x08 "Jezebels" / 6x05 "Janine"

Parallels

***

After last week's episode I was having a lot of thoughts & feelings about the Moira/June conflict. I went back and rewatched the two "Jezebels" episodes from s1, where we see June and Moira reunited for the first time since they were separated trying to escape at the train station (in the s1 flashback), and was struck by the number of parallels both echoing and contrasting 6x05.

In 1x08 "Jezebels" (notably, the first time we are introduced to Jezebels, both the specific establishment in former Boston, and the concept in general), June and Moira catch each other's eyes across the room. It's a shock for both of them to see the other there (both good and bad). They emotionally embrace in the restroom.

Interestingly, Janine is mentioned in this scene, and Moira is quite dismissive of her.

It's interesting to see the evolution of the various characters' relationships and how this comes into play in the fight in 6x05. Back in s1, Janine was often treated as just the wacky, mentally damaged dingbat. She was dismissed as "crazy" and was often the butt of the joke between bff's Moira and June. But a lot has happened between this scene and season 6, and June and Janine have had the chance to get so much closer. June became protective of Janine, starting to see her as a '"little sister" and see her as a whole person--her kind spirit, never-failing optimism, and strength as a woman, as a good friend and mother in spite of all the terrible shit that happened to her. Moira cares about her, and getting her out, of course. But something has shifted and now it is June and Janine who have been bonded together "in the trenches", and Moira and June who have been out of sync, for some time. This all feeds into the later conflict where Moira is resentful and quite possibly a little envious of this changed dynamic.

***

In 6x05 "Janine", we have very similar reunion scenes in which Janine and June lock eyes, and later share an emotional embrace, along with Moira.

side note: I love how the subtitles of the song lyrics playing over the background make it seem like they're saying "hey" to each other :)

***

Going back I found this scene interesting in hindsight. in 6x05, Moira is frustrated with June and calls her out on what she views as selfishness. It's right after June admits "I wasn't thinking about you, I was thinking about her" (Janine).

Again, it seems to be triggered by Moira feeling left out of the loop, and interestingly it's very much in contrast to their first reunion in Jezebels in 1x08, where Moira starts "What about you? How's Waterford" and June replies "Forget him, I just want to hear about you. Tell me everything."

Notably, relating what happened after she and June split up and she was recaptures, Moira says "They didn't take me back" (to the Red Center). "I was a 'corrupting influence'. They took me somewhere else." I picked up on this as something she and June unfortunately do have in common by season 4. Moira may have assumed June would be tortured (quite likely at the same facility) after Angels' Flight, but it doesn't seem like they probably ever talked about it.

***

The argument in 6x05 ultimately ends with Moira telling June that she loves her, echoing their heartfelt goodbye in 1x08.

It's moving, but there's still an unavoidable sadness to the resolution, because the fact is things have changed between Moira and June. They will always be family, they'll always love each other "so fucking much"/ "all of the time", but they'll probably never be back to that place where they were best friends, always in sync. Their friendship, their dynamic, has shifted due to external forces, the divergent paths they've gone down--both full of incomparable, but different suffering and trauma. The obvious truth is that Moira has become (somewhat ironically given their dynamic in pre-Gilead flashbacks) much more in sync with Luke, and maybe with other refugees and Mayday folks as well. And June is more in sync with Janine, and others who were handmaids, or in Gilead longer. And I think we all understand that feeling when we realize a friendship has unalterably shifted. It's often inevitable, and is no one's fault, but it still hurts.

***

As a bonus I wanted to touch on a scene from 1x09 "Bridges". This is where June gets Fred to take her back to Jezebels to procure the Mayday package Alma has told her about. Fred brings Moira (who he knows as "Ruby") to the room as a "present" for June, and we sickeningly learn that June and Moira sadly have another trauma in common--being raped by this dirtbag. Once they're able to get rid of Fred, they have a bit of a heated exchange. Once again we see Moira being dismissive of the other handmaids: "risking your life because Alma said so, fucking Alma?" and we're reminded again that June has known the other handmaids so much longer and has so much more in common with them now due to their shared experiences.

I've noted before that I think Moira buried down a lot of her PTSD once she got to Canada. There are probably a myriad of personal reasons. Maybe the hurt and rage just felt too huge of a monster to let out. But it seems perhaps in part as an attempt to try and assimilate, to be the "good" kind of refugee who doesn't make waves, doesn't make people too uncomfortable with her anger. It's interesting to note also, that this seems very much in line with the attitude we find her stuck in above. The don't fight back, just keep your head down and stay in line kind of mindset she shows while trapped in Jezebels is notably similar to how we start to see her act (and counsel June to act) as a refugee in Canada in s4/5. And it's striking because I always thought of Moira as a fighter--we see her so involved in activist causes in pre-Gilead flashbacks, her rebelliousness in the red center, and going to anti-Gilead protests in Canada in s2/3, etc.

But I think it's really important here to look at this in the context of race and history, which is something the show really doesn't seem to do? And I realized, yeah it makes sense that Moira would feel empowered to be outspoken and be a women's activist in the US before Gilead came to power, before all the shit hit the fan and they still thought they were living in a post-feminist, post civil rights world where certain rights could never be taken away. It makes sense she would feel empowered to enact peaceful protests in a Canada that was still outraged at Gilead and compassionate and supportive towards refugees. But in the context of Gilead, specifically of the dehumanizing brutality of Jezebels, and when Canada starts turning dangerously toward anti-refugee sentiment--where probably the most dangerous thing to be is an angry, outspoken black woman refugee--of course she would start making herself smaller and quieter and more "palatable" out of self-preservation. June, by contrast, comes from a place of relative privilege. It's not to say that she doesn't suffer and isn't punished for her acts of rebellion, she is. But contextually it makes sense for her to generally feel freer to express anger, violence and anti establishmentism in a world that has more tolerance for these things coming from a white person, not just "now" in the context of the show but historically in America and the world.

And we see this here in 1x09, just how much Moira has been beaten down, how much she has become resigned to just keeping her head down so she can just survive as long as she can. Here June gives her "pep talk", telling Moira "you keep your fucking shit together ,you fight!" And of course later we see Moira, bolstered by these words, killing a "patron" and donning his clothes to escape.

What I didn't remember, though, was this little line Moira responds with at the time:

I found this so interesting and relevant both in the context of 6x05 and in the larger context of s4 and 5 in general. Because I think "I was doing all right until I saw you again" sums up exactly how Moira feels in s4/5 as well. I've also said before that I think June, with all her loud, messy trauma coming hot into Canada in s4, really triggered Moira and her (largely repressed) trauma. I believe she thought she was doing fine--she had a girlfriend, work with refugees she cared about, the group therapy circle she was leading. But June's fresh, raw anger, her apparent erraticness and sometimes single-track need for revenge brought up all the stuff under the surface for Moira. Some of it, as we saw, was guilt for "leaving June behind". Some of it was resentment for feeling like she owed June, had to "live her life" taking care of Luke and Holly. But a lot I think was seeing an echo of her own rage and hurt mirrored back to her; the emotions she buried down and now doesn't know how to deal with, doesn't even feel like she's given the space to have.

And so, somewhat irrationally, she blames June for this. But just like she needed the reminder of her strength and ferocity in 1x09 to fight for her life and freedom, she also needs the reminder that trauma doesn't just go away because you've convinced yourself you've moved on. It needs to be dealt with if there's ever a hope of really getting to the other side. And keeping your head down may help you survive, but it won't make you feel fulfilled when you know injustice is happening (the same kind that happened to you) and you're not doing anything to counter it.

[beanghostprincess]

I just thought of this so you have to, too.

Buggy being genderfluid but the Roger crew not really giving a flying fuck about it. Who cares how you dress so long as you're still you? Yeah, sure, go apeshit, just be loyal, strong, etc. You're one of Us and your pants or lack thereof doesn't impact that.

The crew disbands.

Shanks and Buggy get smth of a culture shock once they are no longer in that protective bubble. Buggy is getting hateful looks, comments, snide remarks. Shanks is at his side, completely taken aback and honestly pretty pissed. Buggy, on more Femme days, faces more animosity, misogyny, and it's astounding to the former apprentices who different men and women are treated. And if you can't tell by a glance, people can get so upset?? What the hell????

Buggy refuses to be anything but themself/himself/herself, depending on the day and vibe. Shanks refuses to comply with this newfound social expectation to be rude and mean for no reason to innocent people.

The Grandline is the most progressive of the seas, due in part to the natural insanity it breeds. The Blues aren't as open, but the East is the more chill of the four. Buggy chooses there for many reasons, but the Big Top and crew is open to any sea. There's an information network, smuggling division, crowdsourcing area, etc.

Shanks will drop tips at places he visits for Buggy to get a foothold if they don't already exist, and Buggy will drop tips for Shanks regarding pertinent information for adventures, expectations, and etiquette.

It's a good dynamic. They go for years like this.

Buggy's stint in Impel Down was.... not fun. Aside from the misgendering, general torture and absolutely overwhelming energy there, it was stifling.

Marineford was a hot mess, but by the end, Shanks offers Buggy a ride to the Big Top's docked location, and on board, he just leads Buggy to this little chest in his cabin. Says, "here, take your pick. You wear whatever is most comfortable for you." There's a dress or two, a few skirts, tops, pants, shirts, and while most of it is in different sizes, there's belts and loops. Buggy bites back tears when they find their old skirt. They'd left that one on the Oro. How did Shanks even get this??

The time skip goes down, and by the time Cross Guild is running, Buggy has had to decide between masquerading as a Cis person or just... being themself. One morning, they wake up and everything feels too TIGHT, too STIFF, too much and she's left eying her leotard, half skirt and thigh highs.

...

Well. If she dies, might as well die authentic.

Crocodile and Mihawk nearly do a spit take when she struts out of her tent or into the announcement hall. She is a bit nervous by this, but she has COMMITTED.

It... also helps that so many of her men are singing her praises and Ritchie is bouncing happily, Mohji and Cabaji are smiling, Alvida is giving an approving nod-

She's happy. She's not going to let fear rule her, even if she can feel the gazes of two very powerful men tracking her every breath.

((They're not mad, they're fighting every urge to swoop her into a kiss and maybe more, but also the fact that WHO GAVE THE CLOWN THE RIGHT TO BE SO HOT??? IT WAS BAD ENOUGH BEFORE, NOW THIS????? they're not good at flirting, they cannot HANDLE this-))

I adore this. Buggy being genderfluid is actually so important to me as a genderfluid person-- My beloved. The concept of cold reality suddenly hitting them both (because they were so, so supportive back at the Oro Jackson) when the crew disbands is so good. Shanks is extremely protective of them when that happens, refusing to let anybody talk shit about Buggy. It's just so sweet of him. Tbh, it hurts so much to think about Buggy having to hide that part of himself,,, But then they come out to Mihawk and Crocodile and it's not only that they support them but they also absolutely love them. These two men are having a whole crisis over a clown again (as usual). But yeah, it's actually really sweet to see Buggy finally being free with them in that way,, Thinking thoughts about Crocodile going full mafioso with money and buying Buggy all the clothes she wants (he does it more for himself and Mihawk but yeah).

[danmeiexchanges]

Tag Nominations OPEN!

Tagset | MXTX Exchange

Any tag or ship pertaining to an MXTX work will be acceptable! Broader tags with themes will also be accepted! Please just ensure that the concept you are attempting to convey is clear.

Nominate now!

Nomination Guidelines:

Please nominate all relationships under

人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù

天官赐福 - 墨香铜臭 | Tiān Guān Cì Fú - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù

魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù

For the purposes of this exchange, do NOT nominate a relationship tag under a specific adaptation. As an example, if you would like to nominate a character from Chen Qing Ling/The Untamed adaptation of Modao Zushi, do NOT nominate your relationship tags under that adaptation. This is to avoid relationships being tagged twice. You WILL have the opportunity to request a specific adaptation when you are filling out your request in sign ups. But this is not the place for that. Any relationship tags that are nominated under an adaptation will be automatically rejected. Again, you will be absolutely welcome to use your specific preferred adaptation later in the sign up process, this is just not the place for it.

Relationship tags will need to be alphabetical and using ao3's current canon tag for the character. If you would like to nominate a character for solo adventures rather than a relationship, you must add "Solo: " before the characters name. Crossover ships are accepted so long as the crossover is within the MXTX characters.

Additional tags need to be prompts for a story. The prompt can be as specific as "Shen Jiu and Shen Yuan are twins and go conquer the northern desert together" or as vague as "Soulmates AU". But there needs to be a prompt described with the tags.

Examples of relationship tags that will be accepted:

"Meng Yao | Jin Guangyao/Nie Mingjue"

"Solo: Xie Lian"

"Shen Jiu | Original Shen Qingqiu & Shen Yuan | Shen Qingqiu"

"Hua Cheng/Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian"

Examples of relationship tags that will NOT be accepted:

"Nie Mingjue/Meng Yao | Jin Guangyao" (REASON: the ship is not in alphabetical order, this increases the likelihood of accidental double tags)

"Xie Lian" (REASON: missing the "Solo: ", this is a formatting choice by the mods to make the tags clearer)

"Shen Jiu & Shen Yuan" (REASON: the courtesy names are not included, this increases the likelihood of accidental double tags as the official tag for both character uses the courtesy names)

"Chu Wanning/Hua Cheng" (REASON: crossover ships are accepted for this event, but only within the MXTX bubble. Please wait on this delightful crackship for future danmei events that would suit it!)

(these rules exist to avoid doubling ship/character tags and therefore make the matching process smoother)

Examples of additional tags that will be accepted:

"Xie Lian tops Hua Cheng for the first time"

"Character A is in love with Character B but their parents don't approve!"

"Fandom AU: Liu Mingyan and Nie Huaisang participate in a big bang together"

"stuck in a time-loop together with your mortal enemy"

"Arranged Marriage AU"

Examples of additional tags that will NOT be accepted:

"Top!Xie Lian shippers should all die" (REASON: this has nothing to do with the event, this is your personal opinion, unnecessary drama, and not a prompt)

"Don't make Qi Rong a bad person" (REASON: this is a DNW, not a prompt)

"BingQiu forever!" (REASON: this is a declaration of your love for a ship, not a prompt)

"Warning: Xue Yang | Xue Chengmei" (REASON: this is not a prompt, please try rephrasing)

"so this one guy sees this other guy and then they like do purple elephant blanket tree sky yesterday walking pizza and aliens" (REASON: I have no idea what you're talking about, please try rephrasing to make your prompt easier to parse)

Please just try to avoid character bashing, ship bashing, fandom wank, and general bullshit in your tag nominations. Please focus on what you WANT to read, not what you hate seeing.

Please think carefully about your tags! Matching will be done via relationship + additional tags.

PLEASE NOTE: This is an 18+ event and therefore some tag nominations may be 18+. Do NOT nominate tags if you are not 18+. Do not engage with this event if you are not 18+.