#because the world involves both game systems

[fear-is-truth]

BEING IN A POLY RELATIONSHIP WITH THANOS & NAM-GYU l headcanons

pairing — thanos x reader x nam-gyu warnings — (mild) s2 spoilers. smut author’s note — i wrote some corny lyrics for this lol

──⟢  fear-is-truth — all rights reserved. do not modify, repost, translate, or plagiarise my content.

thanos recruited you into his “team” because of his attraction to you. the rapper didn’t try to hide that he found you hot, and he made sure you knew it, throwing compliments your way. his flirting was over-the-top and shameless. he’d call you “senorita” or “babe” in a sing-song voice, leaning in close to make sure you couldn’t ignore him. his favourite move was to serenade you with cheesy raps that made everyone cringe.

one day, thanos sidles up to you, a wide, cocky-ass smirk plastered on his face. he’s got his hands on his hips, like he’s about to drop the hottest bars in the universe. “yo, senorita,” he starts, “you’re the queen of my world, can’t you see? ain’t no one gonna take my throne, you and me, together, baby, we’re destiny!” while nam-gyu, in the background, is rolling his eyes so hard he could probably see the back of his skull. but thanos keeps going, totally into it, “baby, we can rule the game, you and i, got them all thinking i’m the reason they’ll die. you’ll be my queen, i’ll be your king, together we’ll make this whole thing sing!” it’s a miracle you don’t combust from secondhand embarrassment.

nam-gyu, as thanos’s second-in-command, was pissed from the start. in the beginning, it seemed like he was just territorial—angry that you were disrupting the group dynamic. he’d throw side comments like, “oh, great, now we’ve got a distraction,” and give you cold, assessing looks. his irritation was obvious, especially when thanos started giving you preferential treatment, like sitting beside you during meals or casually throwing an arm over your shoulder during group talks.

he tried to act more “mature” than thanos (spoiler: he wasn’t). his idea of flirting was to act tough, which mostly involved bullying weaker players to look impressive. it was like watching a middle schooler try to flex for their crush. in reality, he just looks like an asshole, and you feel annoyed by his attempts to bully someone into submission to show off. he catches your disapproving glare and immediately tries to backtrack, but it just makes it worse.

thanos wasn’t subtle about his future plans for you. “after we win this thing, you’re coming with me,” he promised you confidently. “i’ll make you my official girl. the fans will eat it up—thanos and his queen.” he didn’t ask if you wanted that, just assumed you’d go along with it lol. nam-gyu, on the other hand, played dirtier. when thanos wasn’t around, he tried to plant seeds of doubt in your mind, leaning in to whisper confidentially. “he’s a scumbag, you know. all talk, no loyalty. don’t let him fool you,”

during meals, both of them insisted on sitting next to you, even if it meant practically wrestling each other to the ground. there were no tables, just groups eating near the bunk beds or stairs leading up to them, and you always ended up sandwiched between the two guys. thanos would slouch with his arm around your shoulders, smirking at anyone who looked your way. nam-gyu would mutter snide comments under his breath, low enough for you to hear, but not enough for thanos to notice.

then came the game “mingle,” where the players had to group up based on a random number announced over the PA system. when the voice said “two,” both thanos and nam-gyu grabbed your arm at the same time. “she’s going with me,” thanos barked, pulling you toward him. “what the fuck about me?” nam-gyu shot back, tugging you in the opposite direction. if it hadn’t been for se-mi, who quickly pulled you into a room with her (the two boys found a room next to you), the four of you would’ve fucking died.

the tension escalated at night. at first, both of them insisted on sleeping next to your bunk bed. but as time went on, they started fighting over who got to sleep in your bed. it started as bickering—“move, she doesn’t want you here,” nam-gyu would snap, trying to shove thanos aside. “speak for yourself, bro,” thanos would shoot back, climbing up anyway. it’s like a power struggle between two self-proclaimed alpha males, but it’s over you, which just feels awkward. each one tries to subtly imply their superiority by making the argument about who has the better “qualifications” to be your bunkmate. eventually, the rivalry reached its peak when they both tried to squeeze into your bed at the same time. you ended up stuck between them, neither willing to back down, and neither particularly caring how uncomfortable it made you.

despite the rivalry, the situation eventually settles into some sort of… equilibrium. neither thanos nor nam-gyu backed down completely, but they seemed to reach an unspoken agreement. the two of them started “sharing” you, like some fucked up custody arrangement.

you start to realise that maybe—just maybe—this unholy triangle might not be such a bad thing after all. meal time turned into a prelude for something else entirely. when everyone was distracted, one of them would catch your eye, silently signaling for you to follow. you’d find yourself slipping away to meet them in the bathroom stall.

thanos is all energy, and unable to shut up—being balls deep inside you, his dirty talk came easily, an endless stream of words that tumbled out in rapid succession, that had you equal parts flustered and irritated. especially with how careless he was. you’d have to kiss him just to silence him, pressing your lips to his until his words were replaced by muffled groans. whenever you grabbed his hair, his reaction was instant—a breathy whimper that only seemed to spur him on more. but almost as quickly as the sound left his lips, he was smirking, leaning in to tease you. “don’t mess it up, baby,” he’d warn, his voice playful yet smug. “this shit cost a lot to style.”

nam-gyu, in contrast, was rougher and far less interested in theatrics. he wasn’t one for words—far too focused to waste time on anything unnecessary. he had you pinned firmly against the partition wall, the cool surface digging into your back as beads of perspiration formed along his brow. the thin structure trembled violently under the sheer force of his movements, creaking with every thrust as though it might give way at any second. the silence between you was broken only by a few curses and grunts that escaped him.

[yoijin]

FRIENDS, BUT HE'S DOWN BAD !

∆ College AU, really dorm involved, implied reader plays sports(Rin's part), lowkey can be read as Gn!r, Sae's part a little short

Ft.: Nagi, Rin, Sae, Karasu, Bachira × M!Reader [separate]

Trying to come back to writing, so this is just me testing the waters.. interactions appreciated :D

Nagi's own way to flirt with you is to sneak into your dorm (when Reo's out to drag his ass to practice after classes). Shadowing your steps with his ":x" face, watching you unlock the door. And hurriedly shuffling his steps in, — knowing how Reo is fast in seeking for him — flopping on your bed with little bother before whining to not snitch he was hiding from practice. Even having the audacity to fall asleep on your mattresses. Rumors say he doesn't even share a dorm with Reo anymore by how often he is by yours. When you tried to shoo him away, Nagi cried 20 excuses so you just gave up.

"Your dorm is closer to the campus than mines. What a pain, just give the spare keys already. It would be easier like that. Easy peasy."

Rin's own way to flirt with you was to be around more often than needed. Always taking the seat beside you in hangouts where he’s dragged in by his teammates or in events where ALL the other seats are open. Sharing walks across the campus just to refill the water bottles because the water fountain near the clubs would be crowded by other players. Often seen coming over to your dorm during Friday nights, a day only reserved for watching and playing horror media with you, rather than chilling/studying on his own dorm.

"The game you wanted to play is going to be released soon." Rin said while picking up his phone, looking up at the way you perked up. "Really—? When?? I have to get an early buy." "I already did that."

Sae's own way to flirt with you is to invite you to be his plus one in anything, especially in events where it's required of presence. ' you free for the xxx gala? I need a plus one ' as you read off the phone. He doesn't even do it for romance— your presence just happens to be the most enjoyable out of all his friends. He'll let you yap about whatever and sit through it. You'll get quiet and you'll both enjoy it. The simplicity made a contrast to his daily achievements, and he quietly harbored the feeling of warmth you shared.

"When am I goin' to be your plus one again? I'm lonely, Sae-chan." Shidou slumped on his couch, boring eyes at the ceiling. "Quit whining. I do it because I want it to be him."

Karasu's own way to flirt with you is to agonize silently as he once again, the first view of your posts. Look, he just happens to be online at the moment and his finger just presses the notification bubble instinctively, so it's not his fault he's seeing your freshly posted story... 1 second was his record. 'm' an idiot...' as he closes his eyes and suck his lips into a tin line, suppressing the wave of embarrassment. He feels like a stalker. A no-life aside from soccer and high scores. But he's afraid he cannot escape the white lies he tells himself when the same thing keeps happening even during training. Not in a creepy way of course, the feeling of an embarrassing side like this being so exposed to you makes his mind spin.

"Not again..." He quickly closes his phone in hopes the system of views magically doesn't register him.

Bachira's own way of flirting with you was to give you things he made during an art course he took for fun. Oh what is this, your boring pencil? Let him disappear with it for a day and you'll now have a colorful, weird shaped pencil! Smiling without a clue in the world to his other art peers as he yet makes another fun interactive trinket for you. You have a shelf dedicated to his shenanigans and he's over the moon when he sees it. Even his mom — throws knowing looks at him when he's all over some project, again, with you being his muse. (His classmates are tired).

"Look, look! It's us! I made this, isn't it cute?" It's two rocks with the personification of you and him.

tyty for reading !

[hamyheikki]

Links between Finnish/Proto-Uralic folklore consepts and Remedyverse

Disclaimer: this is not an all-compassing information piece about Uralic/Finnish/Nordic beliefs, religions and folklore. This is purely a look into the general aspects of these beliefs and how they might relate to Remedyverse, since we know that Mister Järvi has taken some inspiration from these sources. The foreing terms used here are in Finnish, though the concepts themselves are Proto-Uralic in nature, since that's the group Finnish old belief system lands in.

THE NAIL

In Control's first DLC, "Foundation", you can find a structure referred to as "The Nail", a tall pillar-y object made of dark rocky material. During the campaing, by completing tasks as Jesse, you are able to build it back to it's former glory.

Finnish/Proto-Uralic belief has a concept known as "Taivaannaula", which roughly translates to "Sky's Nail". Taivaannaula is a star on top of a structure called "Maailmanpylväs", as in "World's Pillar" (can also be depicted as a tree or a mountain), and it has said to be the point around which the whole dome of sky turns.

The actual real life star referred here is the North Star, Polaris.

So it would stand to reason that in Remedyverse, the Nail is a link between the Foundation, our world, and the Astral Plane.

THE WORLDVIEW OF THREE REALMS

The World's Pillar runs through all 3 realms of Proto-Uralic worldview; Ylinen, Keskinen and Alinen.

Ylinen is a place above the human realm and sky where the "creator god", a deus otiosus, supposedly resides.

(Wiki: "In the history of religion and philosophy, deus otiosus is the belief in a creator God who has entirely withdrawn from governing the universe after creating it or is no longer involved in its daily operation.")

Keskinen is the realm of mortals and gods/spirits who are responsible for running the daily matters of the world, usually linked to nature or people. For example Tapio - god of forest, Ahti - god of lakes and seas, and tonttu - the guardian of the house.

Alinen is the realm of the dead, also known as "Manala/Tuonela" in Finnish. The land of the dead is said to be an island in an icy sea situated below the ground and governed by an old woman.

In Remedyverse, a neat theory would be that the Astral Plane could be seen as the game's version of Ylinen. A realm where the Former and The Board seem to reside, and a plane which has little to do with the everyday life of natural world and humans. It would also tie neatly into the fact that it seems like the Board's Pyramid fits perfectly into the empty slot on top of the Nail.

The middle realm, where the mortals live, I would say is rather self-explanatory. We already have the god of water Ahti mopping about the place (and you know, Tapio, but that one is much more muddy since we know next to nothing of the guy, and Tapio is a perfectly legitimate Finnish name regardless of one's godly status), and I feel many of the superatural elements of both Oldest House and Bright Falls could be linked to these forces and gods operating in the realm.

And lastly, I think it's pretty safe to assume that The Dark Place is at least somewhat inspired by Alinen. The Diver's Isle in the middle of a lake that's actually an ocean, an old hag lurking about and the concept of a soul becoming trapped under the Cauldron Lake.

And in addition to all of this, these is a river called "Maailmanjoki" which also flows through all these layers. It waters the roots of the Tree in Ylinen, gathers into a pond at the base of it, flows through the realm of humans as a river, travels into the world of the dead Alinen, and because everything is inversed in the Alinen (inversion, another concept Remedy seemingly likes to include in their lore), the river flows into the opposite direction, and ends up going back around to water the Tree once more.

The eternal cycle of the world.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

An Epic antitrust loss for Google

A jury just found Google guilty on all counts of antitrust violations stemming from its dispute with Epic, maker of Fortnite, which brought a variety of claims related to how Google runs its app marketplace. This is huge:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/11/technology/epic-games-google-antitrust-ruling.html

The mobile app store world is a duopoly run by Google and Apple. Both use a variety of tactics to prevent their customers from installing third party app stores, which funnels all app makers into their own app stores. Those app stores cream an eye-popping 30% off every purchase made in an app.

This is a shocking amount to charge for payment processing. The payments sector is incredibly monopolized and notorious for its price-gouging – and its standard (wildly inflated) rate is 2-5%:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/04/owning-the-libs/#swiper-no-swiping

Now, in theory, Epic doesn't have to sell in Google Play, the official Android app store. Unlike Apple's iOS, Android permit both sideloading (installing an app directly without using an app store) and configuring your device to use a different app store. In practice, Google uses a variety of anticompetitive tricks to prevent these app stores from springing up and to dissuade Android users from sideloading. Proving that Google's actions – like paying Activision $360m as part of "Project Hug" (no, really!) – were intended to prevent new app storesfrom springing up was a big lift for Epic. But they managed it, in large part thanks to Google's own internal communications, wherein executives admitted that this was exactly why Project Hug existed. This is part of a pattern with Big Tech antitrust: many of the charges are theoretically very hard to make stick, but because the companies put their evil plans in writing (think of the fraudulent crypto exchange FTX, whose top execs all conferred in a groupchat called "Wirefraud"), Big Tech keeps losing in court:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/03/big-tech-cant-stop-telling-on-itself/

Now, I do like to dunk on Big Tech for this kind of thing, because it's objectively funny and because the companies make so many unforced errors. But in an important sense, this kind of written record is impossible to avoid. Any large institution can only make and enact policy through administrative systems, and those systems leave behind a paper-trail: memos, meeting minutes, etc. Yes, we all know that quote from The Wire: "Is you taking notes on a fucking criminal conspiracy?" But inevitably, any ambitious conspiracy can only exist if someone is taking notes.

What's more, any large conspiracy involving lots of parties will inevitably produce leaks. Think of this as the corollary to the idea that the moon landing can't be a hoax, because there's no way 400,000 co-conspirators could keep the secret. Big Tech's conspiracies required hundreds or even thousands of collaborators to keep their mouths shut, and eventually someone blabs:

https://www.science.org/content/article/fake-moon-landing-you-d-need-400000-conspirators

This is part of a wave of antitrust cases being brought against the tech giants. As Matt Stoller writes, the guilty-on-all-counts jury verdict will leak into current and future actions. Remember, Google spent much of this year in court fighting the DoJ, who argued that the company bribed Apple not to make a competing search engine, paying tens of billions every year to keep a competitor from emerging. Now that a jury has convinced Google of doing that to prevent alternative app stores from emerging, claims that it used these pay-for-delay tactics in other sectros get a lot more credible:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/boom-google-loses-antitrust-case

On that note: what about Apple? Epic brought a very similar case against Apple and lost. Both Apple and Epic are appealing that case to the Supreme Court, and now that Google has been convicted in a similar case, it might prompt the Supremes to weigh in and resolve the seeming inconsistencies in the interpretation of federal law.

This is a key moment in the long project to wrest antitrust away from the pro-monopoly side, who spent decades "training" judges to produce verdicts that run counter to the plain language of America's antitrust law:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/13/post-bork-era/#manne-down

There's 40 years' worth of bad precedent to overturn. The good news is that we've got the law on our side. Literally, the wording of the laws and the records of the Congressional debate leading to their passage, all militate towards the (incredibly obvious) conclusion that the purpose of anti-monopoly law is to fight monopoly, not defend it:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/14/aiming-at-dollars/#not-men

It's amazing to realize that we got into this monopoly quagmire because judges just literally refused to enforce the law. That's what makes one part of the jury verdict against Google so exciting: the jury found that Google's insistence that Play Store sellers use its payment processor was an act of illegal tying. Today, "tying" is an obscure legal theory, but few doctrines would be more useful in disenshittifying the internet. A company is guilty of illegal tying when it forces you to use unrelated products or services as a condition of using the product you actually want. The abandonment of tying led to a host of horribles, from printer companies forcing you to buy ink at $10,000/gallon to Livenation forcing venues to sell tickets through its Ticketmaster subsidiary.

The next phase of this comes when the judge decides on the penalty. Epic doesn't want cash damages – it wants the judge to order Google to fulfill its promise of "an open, competitive Android ecosystem for all users and industry participants." They've asked the judge to order Google to facilitate third-party app stores, and to separate app stores from payment processors. As Stoller puts it, they want to "crush Google’s control over Android":

https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/news/epic-v-google-trial-verdict-a-win-for-all-developers

Google has sworn to appeal, surprising no one. The Times's expert says that they will have a tough time winning, given how clear the verdict was. Whatever this means for Google and Android, it means a lot for a future free from monopolies.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/12/im-feeling-lucky/#hugger-mugger

[mafuyussweater]

My favorite SVSSS fics

>my favorite non-bingqiu focused fics.. I have a bingqiu specific fic rec list that is much longer hah<

Be sure to read all the tags!

Leave authors kudos (and comments)

Enjoy ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡ (to be added to as I read more)

Bros before... well everything I guess by: icannotthinkofapenname

Teen+ • Canon Divergence (found family)

Shen Yuan and Shang Qinghua find out they are both transmigrators as soon as Shang Qinghua visits him after he recovers from his "fever". They cope with the crazy world together and end up closer with the other peak lords than either of them ever expected.

(This is a bros fic, binghe is barely even here (sorry binghe))

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Master of Dual Cultivation by: esama

Explicit • Time Travel (series!! not complete)

Shen Qingqiu gets sent back to the beginning by the system when he fails to save the world during the events at Maigu Ridge which leads to his and Luo Binghe's death. He is haunted by the events of his past (and potential future) and decides to do things differently this time around. It doesn't always mean things are better.

(Hint of Shen Qingqiu with others! Also he is a mix of Shen Yuan and Shen Jiu in this in such a delicious way)

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Wild Wild Heart by: Thy_glorious_death

Explicit • Canon Divergence (series!!)

At the edge of the Abyss Shen Qingqiu makes the impulsive decision to follow Luo Binghe down into hell. Liu Qingge sees them fall and spends all his time trying to find a way to them.

(This is Shen Qingqiu (yuan) harem so skip if it isn't your thing but he is very well loved here heh)

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Paper Faces on Parade by: TheChocoChick

Teen+ • Canon Divergence (identity reveal)

Two years after Luo Binghe began his journey through the abyss, Shen Qingqiu gets a system notification with the objective to talk to Yue Qingyuan. They both learn a lot about each other and become even closer friends. (It's still a bingqiu fic but it focuses on the friendships that Shen Yuan develops in his time without Binghe)

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A Pairing of Souls by: muzu

Teen+ • Canon Divergence (series! not complete but just one extra/continuation)

After self detonating, Shen Yuan discovers Shen Jiu has been existing in a weird liminal space and has seen some of what has been going on while Shen Yuan took over his life. They both make it out together when Shen Yuan's soul hops into the mushroom body which is ready very early. He discovers that giving Shen Jiu his old body back is going to be much more difficult than planned because Luo Binghe is currently protecting it... aggressively.

(This is still bingqiu endgame but it focuses more on Shen Yuan and Shen Jiu than any Bingqiu romance)

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returned tenfold by: lavenderandrue

Explicit • Post-Canon

While Liu Qingge visits Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu in the demon realm, the three decide to play a game. Anything that Luo Binghe receives he must give back to Liu Qingge in return (and vise versa). Liu Qingge is not prepared to receive a hug (and things escalate from there.)

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Sittin' in a Tree by: armyoftoads

Teen+ • Post-Canon

Liu Qingge confronts Luo Binghe on his awful looking kissing skills after seeing too many kisses between him and Shen Qingqiu for his liking. This evolves into the two of them begging Shen Qingqiu to choose who of the two of them is the better kisser.

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What I have and what I ache for by: Kosmostill

Mature • Post-Canon

Liu Qingge laughs and Luo Binghe is wholly unprepared for how much that makes his heart leap out of his chest. He can't help but think 'was he always this beautiful?'

(Bingliushen pre-relationship)

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The Thorn of Secret Desires by: lavenderandrue

Explicit • Post-Canon

Shen Qingqiu gets pricked by a plant that, when he is aroused, makes him reveal his deepest (horniest) desires. This leads to many discoveries and eventually involves seducing Liu Qingge to join the couple in the bedroom.

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the horns of dilemma by: lavenderandrue

Explicit • Post-Canon

Shen Qingqiu decides to walk in and watch Liu Qingge and Luo Binghe while they do it. He sees many things he was not expecting but finds he wants to experience. Unfortunately Luo Binghe takes his shock as disgust so in order to really show how much he wants all of it, Shen Qingqiu drugs himself with truth revealing mushroom tea.

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Today, and every day after by: summerdays_winternights

Explicit • Post-Canon

Mobei-Jun makes Luo Binghe aware that Liu Qingge is courting him and his husband and that if he delays to accept, there are many who would be more than interested in courting Liu Qingge. Luo Binghe won't let that happen.

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a not-so-idle flirtation by: airplanelanding (The CourtSorcerer)

Mature • Post-Canon

Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu attempt to seduce Liu Qingge

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something you don't give much attention by: brosnyaa

Explicit • Post-Canon

During a sparring match between Luo Binghe and Liu Qingge, the former makes a mistake and loses the match. Liu Qingge can't keep the smug smile off his face and Luo Binghe finds he needs to make him smile again (and again)

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Universal Simps by: chaoticgoodlawyer

Mature • (Temporary) Reverse Transmigration

The System helps out The Protagonist by sending Shen Qingqiu, Luo Binghe, Liu Qingge (and moshang) back to Shen Yuans original world with the objective: Relationship Building

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Petrichor- The smell of earth after it rains. by: xnemone

Explicit • Getting Together

Liu Qingge starts having dream that make him question how he feels about Luo Binghe along side his already existing feelings for Shen Qingqiu.

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Manger à Trois by: buryyourgaydar

Teen+ • Getting Together

In an attempt to seduce Liu Qingge, Luo Binghe finds himself frustrated by how hard it seems to please his Shishu. At Shen Qingqiu's suggestion, he spends a little extra time observing all the subtle ways Liu Qingge shows his likes and dislikes with the hope that all this effort will be worth it.

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Son Boy Allowed by: Cour104

Gen • Child Acquisition

Shen Qingqiu (the original) finds a child at the Warm Red Pavilion. The kids name is Zhang Yuan and he was abandoned by his father after the boys mother died. Shen Jiu tells himself he won't get attached but he does.

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supernova by: tskmo

Explicit • No Transmigration

Shen Yuan and Shen Jiu are both disciples of Qing Jing Peak. They get sent on a mission together and Shen Yuan makes a life threatening mistake that gets him sex pollened.

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To Walk Unburded by: Ehann

Mature • Age Regression

Mu Qingfang is called to the Warm Red Pavilion because Shen Qingqiu Qi-deviated and regressed to his childhood self. Mu Qingfang takes Shen Jiu back to help him recover and discovers he really likes the idea of being a father.

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Regardless of the Hardships by: Ehann

Not Rated • Alternate Transmigration

Shen Qingqiu qi-deviates and Mu Qingfang (actually Shen Yuan) comes to check on him. Except, he can tell that something is off about his Shidi, he is somehow more gentle and kind.

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Providence by: Aledono

Gen • Canon Divergence (series)

On the way to Cang Qiong Mountain, Liu Qingge and his father stop by many nobles houses for reasons only his father knows. While visiting the Qiu household, they both realize something sinister is going on and help get Shen Jiu out.

[childhood friends to lovers]

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By Any Other Name (Is This....a Shixiong?) by: Ehann

Teen+ • Mistaken Identity

Mu Yuan doesn't know who the person in Qing Jing robes is and doesn't care. He just wants them to cooperate and let him heal. Shen Qingqiu decides he likes this bold disciple who would dare be casual with a Peak Lord and lets him believe he is a mere disciple too.

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Plucking Leaves, Flying Flowers by: CarpeNox

Teen+ • Canon Divergence

One night when airing out his troubles with the ladies of the Warm Red Pavilion, they help him realize he doesn't need to stay at Cang Qiong Mountain, he can leave and find his own happiness.

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you're not coming home? by: jumpinginmuddypuddles

Teen+ • Alternate Transmigration

Shen Yuan wakes up in the body of a very young orphan. He makes his way to the Qing Jing Peak kitchens, being worked and beaten almost to death just to not live on the streets (and maybe see a glimpse of Luo Binghe.)

[whump!! It gets very bad before it gets better]

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Gift Giving and Other Acts of Affection by: Godotfound

Teen+ • Getting Together

Shen Qingqiu gets sex pollened and Liu Qingge doesn't take advantage, just pours qi into him all night. As a thank you, Shen Qingqiu brings him a box of tea. Not one to be outdone, Liu Qingge gives a gift back and the two keep exchanging gifts.

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[thearcaneuniversity]

I keep thinking about Gi-hun and In-ho’s situation(ship), as well as their respective characters and the overall message of Squid Game.

In-ho clearly got emotionally attached, which is why he didn’t kill Gi-hun at the end of Season 2. Logically, that would’ve made more sense - especially if he wanted to punish him. He could have eliminated Jung-bae and then Gi-hun, or not allowed Gi-hun to come back into the games in the first place. He had years to get rid of him during the gap between seasons. But he didn’t.

If we were to try and unpack In-ho’s mindset, based on LBH’s interpretation of his character, In-ho used to be like Gi-hun: righteous, idealistic, deeply committed to justice – a good-at-heart kind of cop. Someone who always deeply believed in fairness. I imagine he was a bit naive too, despite his line of work. Then it all came crashing down when his wife got sick, he lost his job – very possibly unfairly (I believe he either wasn’t involved in bribery at all, or there is simply more to that story) - and then ended up in the games. All of these factors made him go from one extreme to another - from idealism to cynicism. The world wasn’t fair, so he’d control this cruel, twisted system and at least make it fair, on his terms. He needed to believe in some kind of order to justify the terrible things he was now a part of. It’s a coping mechanism that doesn’t absolve him of his crimes, but gives us an understanding for his future actions and choices.

He takes on the role of the Frontman, overseeing the games for years - unchallenged and alone - both a perpetrator and a victim of the brutal system he’s both upholding as well as merely trying to survive within.

Enter Seong Gi-hun. An unrelenting force of goodness. A man that yells about how unfair and inhumane the games are. A man that refuses to fully conform, even when doing so would benefit him. He isn’t especially smart or skilled, definitely not perfect, but he’s brave, kind, and resilient. Strong-willed. Even after being betrayed, humiliated, and traumatized, he never loses his heart. His moral compass stays intact even in the final fight with Sang-woo - Gi-hun holds out his hand to his childhood friend and rival offering mercy, unity, and a way to break the cycle of bloodshed.

That must have wrecked In-ho emotionally.

Here is someone that is so similar to his old self, his younger brother, possibly his late wife – still believing, still fighting, still loving, still refusing to give in to the bitterness. It pulls at something deep within him. Once again quoting LBH – Gi-hun literally pulls at his heart - and it's beautiful, frustrating, hopeful, painful and confusing.

In-ho watches Gi-hun rebel against the system just like he once (possibly) did, but Gi-hun doesn’t break the way In-ho did. And instead of stopping him, In-ho lets him go – again and again. He has every opportunity to kill him, silence him, remove him from the equation. But he doesn’t. Part of it is the "fairness" he still believes the games uphold - Gi-hun won, and that should mean something. I truly believe that In-ho genuinely hoped for Gi-hun to find peace and happiness after winning the games. However, the other underlying reason for In-ho not putting an end to Gi-hun’s interference is the fact that In-ho has grown attached - long before Gi-hun made his comeback.

So when Gi-hun comes back with a request to be put back into the games, In-ho allows it. Why? Because he needs to show him the truth of the world, the reality of humanity - he thinks he's teaching him a lesson by exposing the system for what it is. But there were so many chances to just... shut the door in Gi-hun’s face, and he didn’t take any of them... because some part of him wants Gi-hun to reach him.

He’s ashamed to face Jun-ho, who remembers who he was. But Gi-hun only knows him as the Frontman. There’s no past to be disappointed in, no expectations to fall short of. He can show his worst self to Gi-hun without fearing rejection that hits as deeply. And yet… he still yearns to be understood. Maybe even accepted. Because, let’s face it, In-ho is a deeply lonely character. He doesn’t have friends. He doesn’t relate to the guards. He keeps people at arm’s length. And suddenly, here’s this one man who might get it - because they’re alike, they’ve been through the same hell and have both been affected by it. With the small difference of Gi-hun choosing to fight for light.

There’s a chance, for the first time in years, that In-ho won’t be alone, which also makes him confused. He doesn’t know what he wants anymore. He doesn’t believe in what Gi-hun believes, but he wants to believe it, in his heart of hearts. He finds excuses not to kill him - when doing so would have been beyond easy. He tells himself that it’s about teaching this foolish man a lesson or drawing out the pain to punish him, but the truth is, he can’t bring himself to snuff out that last flicker of hope.

I wouldn’t be surprised if In-ho started helping Gi-hun - subtly, inconsistently. Defending him to the VIPs under a ruse of punishment. Not even sure if he’s trying to break Gi-hun or save him. Maybe a bit of both. Maybe he also wants Gi-hun to redeem him. Maybe he wants to be proven wrong. To be punished...

They’re both deeply broken, partially self-destructive and suicidal. In-ho is pulling Gi-hun toward the dark just as Gi-hun is trying to pull In-ho toward the light.

Ultimately, I believe this story will lean itself toward hope, because even in a cruel and unjust world, people can choose to be good and they do try to be better. Maybe that’s the message we need now more than ever: that redemption isn’t just some abstract ideal, but a necessity.

[project-lumen]

Have you ever wondered how the Life Series would look like as a videogame?

Then I bring to you…

Project LUMEN: APPLICATIONS OPEN!!

Ever wanted to relive the stories woven by the Watchers, exceeding the limits of what Minecraft is able to offer? How about venturing in a perilous journey full of twists and turns, and most importantly, loooooooooooore?

Well, why hello there! To kick off the start of 2025, Kori, Arto and Pinkie here, and we are proud to present “Project LUMEN”! Our newest scheme to conceptualize and develop a video game based off the traffic-colored hearts we are all so familiar with. An ambitious project, that’s for sure, and that is why we are opening applications to join our little team, right on time to welcome the new year! :]

(way more info under the cut, get ready)

Once a pile of jumbled, senseless ideas, Project LUMEN has evolved into a more fleshed-out collection of story beats and mechanics. An RPG-like game revolving around the tales within the Life Series, a collection of death games ran by the mysterious deities that call themselves Watchers. The player takes on the role of the Watcher Child (affectionately referred to as WC), following and guiding the Champions chosen by the Watchers themselves through challenges and enemies. Featuring unique leveling systems, DnD inspired classes, and, most importantly, the ability to impact the story with the choices you make… because, after experiencing all the Life Series seasons from both the Watcher and the Player side, maybe you’ll have a change of mind. After all is said and done and seen, the world is yours to shape, Watcher Child.

Right, so that’s a basic summary of the concept we have, now here’s a little preview of what we have written for the prologue :3

Chapter 0: ‘The Watcher’s Apprentice’

The player takes the form of a Watcher in training, an ageless child, the Watcher Child. The most powerful and ancient Watchers, unexplained cryptic creatures that live up to their name by watching all, talk about a new series of experiments they have been running, called “The Life Series”.

The only rundown that the WC was given was that a carefully selected group of talented players were asked to test their little Life game for them, where they each have only three lives. Whoever survives last, wins. There were no rules as to how they could play the games. The Watchers then add that they, along other WCs, will be observing from the viewpoint and thoughts of one of the players. This is so the WC can get an idea of the Watchers' work. Of course, our little WC was ecstatic and ever so curious about this new idea.

Fast-forward (and after a couple of tutorials showing off the bare basics of the battle mechanics in the actual game), now our WC was standing in a circle with other apprentices just like them. The Watchers then hold a deck of mystic cards in front of each of them, and everyone picks one. When the cards are revealed, our WC sees a glowing, red card with a person on it. The card simply said, "THE SUN".

Huh, I wonder who could that be…

Now, we get into the thick of it: who are we searching for to join our team? Well, there are some requirements that the potential members should fulfill, here’s a comprehensive list of key points:

We are mainly looking for artists to help us with designs, sprites, backgrounds and UI. Although, we also welcome any writers willing to help us with developing concepts and adding more ideas!

Every person who applies should be involved with the Life Series fandom, we want to build a team with people as passionate about this Minecraft series as we are!

When answering the Application Form, please type in your favorite type of flower (in case you do not have one, just write 'sunflower') in the "Anything else to add?" part, this is only to ensure you've read the announcement :]

Welp, glad you asked. The current plan is, while the applications go on for a week or two, constantly post pieces of concept art and just story bits on this blog, then all the people selected to join the team will be added to the blog as members. We plan to post updates, concept art, sprites and small lore drops periodically on that blog to hopefully garner an audience, and it will also be open for asks and suggestions so that, even if some users aren’t part of the team, they can still help bring this absolute beast of a game to life. Ideally we will work on a small demo experience first with placeholders and stuff to just get the mechanics right and get some testers, and after that, use all feedback, polish the art, deliver a beta version for playtesting, then fix the last details and then release the full version on itch.io, that’s our roadmap. :D (there's the possibility to also publish a browser version to Newgrounds with mobile compatibility tho, so mobile users do not fear!)

Well, Project LUMEN is a very, very hefty task, a big plan to undertake, and, in all honesty, too much work for only three people. Also, talking from experience, having other person involved in development has helped LUMEN to give gigantic steps, helping to ground ideas and give inspiration, now, imagine how far we could go if we had more people in this squad. We are not only looking for artists, we are looking for people whom we can brainstorm with and throw concepts around to polish them and grow the game even more. However, we also wish to keep the team directly working on the game fairly reduced, we are thinking 3–5 people more, but depending on the amount of responses we have, we might consider expanding that number.

The spirit of the game is to be made by the community for the community, we want to offer a quality game, and, by working together, we will be able to make Project LUMEN the best it can be. Though, you need to be aware that this project is solely fueled by the passion we have for the Life Series, and we will not profit off it at all. Please, take into account that this is likely going to be a months-long project, and only apply if you are willing to put in the effort in the long-run, that’s all we ask for.

On the bright side though, by joining in the developing of the game, you’ll be able to contribute to it as much as you’d like, change anything, add anything! You’ll have your rightful spot in the credits and probably a cameo in-game, the team may be small, but we know that, with the right people, we will be able to get it done (cleo is in the storyline too dw).

Application Form!

[jinogasux-fr]

Santae banned me without telling me why and won't unban me unless I send them my photo ID

Hey guys sorry for not posting in… forever? I just suck at social media lol. But you may have seen that I've reblogged some posts that advertise Santae in the past, but please disregard all that. I've since deleted those posts after learning how the site is managed and, after what happened to me a few days ago, I feel as though I should go public about this. Because boy did I just get fucked over.

Anyway, yeah, what it says in the title. On October 24th, around 10am EST, I was restocking my user shop when the entire webpage went white. I couldn't access the site at all and, when I tried to look for the Discord on my server list, it wasn't there. I knew what this had meant. I got banned from both the game, and the Discord - this is important to keep in mind for later.

I didn't receive any Discord DM or email notification about my ban, so after asking a mod what their support email was (and yes, I later verified that this is indeed their legitimate support email), I sent them this:

After a few hours, I get this back in response:

There's so much I'm confused about here. I think the one that screams out the most is that they're asking me to show them my photo ID so I can get unbanned. Absolutely not. I refuse to do this. This poses a massive security and privacy risk. They straight up banned my account, gave this half-baked explanation, and told me I need to send my personal information or... I stay banned?

Let me make something clear: The only personal thing they have on file about this account is the email address that I created my account with, which I've also used to contact them. My real name, date of birth, anything of that nature would not be connected because this was not asked for during account creation, therefore this wouldn't actually prove I'm the account holder. Theoretically speaking, I could show them any ID in the world and for all they know, that's my real information, because they have nothing else to go off of. They even say as much in their privacy page.

Secondly, "account has been compromised"? What does that mean? I think anyone's interpretation of this would be that my account got hacked. But if my account got hacked, why wasn't I informed of this? I had to reach out to support, they did not reach out to me first. That means my password, which I may share across other sites, would have been known to someone else and thus I should've been warned of this immediately, not roughly 5 hours after the fact.

Thirdly, what, was my Discord "compromised" too? If an automated system had flagged my account, does that system somehow interact with a Discord bot so they ban a user on both at the same time? How does that work? That makes no sense as to why they'd ban me on both the game and the Discord for something like this, which is why I'm calling bullshit.

Let me tell you what I think happened.

Recently, Santae has been in some really hot water with connections revealing their relation to an older petsite, Lurapets, which has a history of scamming and artist mistreatment, as well as proof coming out of them using AI art for their NPC art. You can find these posts on the @santae-salt blog if you want to see for yourself, but I'm also linking them throughout this post.

Once the post about them being directly related to Lurapets was released, several users that the Santae staff thought might be involved in the creation of the post got banned. As it turns out, I was banned at the same time as these users.

After speaking with the @santae-salt admin, we are both of the belief that I, a regular user, got caught up in this mess because they're assuming I'm an alt account of someone else and staff demanded to see my ID because they didn't think I was a different person. It may turn out to be wrong, and yeah that sounds a bit far-fetched, sure, but really, what else can I go off of here?? Santae staff has given me a very questionable and refutable explanation as to why I've been banned, and their radio silence after I refused to send them my ID is just making me believe they don't think I'm real. They don't want my photo ID to verify I'm the account holder, they want my photo ID to verify I'm not someone else.

This is unprecedented. I've never seen any petsite ask for a photo ID in any situation, and after asking around, not even those banned from Santae were asked for this. It's just me! This is an incredible attempted breach of privacy, and, with Santae now under doxxing allegations, I really don't feel confident they'd keep my personal information… well, personal.

I messaged back almost immediately after they responded to me where I told them I would not send my ID and I had asked if there were any other way I could verify myself to get my account unbanned. I've received no response so far, and after what I've learned, I feel like I'm not going to get one at all.

So, let this be a lesson to you: don't waste your time on Santae. You can be the most obedient player out there. You can abide by all their rules, be a nice and generous player, or just be minding your own business, but if they so much as think you're associated with someone who they think has wronged them, you'll be banned.

And they can't even be bothered to properly tell you why.

[itsnotmourn]

rambles on the sm7 sneakpeaks

IM FREE IM OUT OF CLASS ok let me ramble and be incorrect

santa claus found in the woods

this could hint a lot of things at the same:

main setting is in the forest

as it's been revealed that the characters will be wearing winter wear and that it's in the northen hemisphere, the timeframe is (nearing) christmas

the missing kids will be found in the forest by the police and/or parents at the end

related to the cult, a dead body is discovered (which will appear irrelevant until you get to the fungus ant)

santa dies again rip

chowder va forth-wall break

a screenshot from chowder (see youtube link) where the forth wall is broken; i hope something similar happens in the episode! probably due to the psychedelic mushrooms

and/or maybe because they were found dirty (i know the below was a simple joke, i was thinking this to be a continuation of the joke ahah)

gumball reference

well known for its multi-stylisation of characters (both 2D and 3D), i wonder if the kids, through their hallucinations, will get a moment of 3D too lol

otherwise, no idea

doom screenshot

uhmmm no idea specifically but doom is a game (links back to kids hallucinating dnd sessions) + doom as a concept (cult is mostly a doomsday cult)

ophiocordyceps unilateralis + ants

a foreshadowing of zombies apocalypse in later episodes (which has longtime been hinted at in doodles and such). i'm not certain if there will be an emphasis on this in the episode but rather something sneaky at the end

defeating the zombies may be a challenge as it has spores (aka the number of zombies will increase quick from spores AND (or maybe) the classic bite-infection). the fungus thrives in warmer/humid temperatures so if there is a zombie apocalypse... best it not be in summer!

i won't be surprised if the spooky month fungus is just a fictional/inspired one though!

singer + singing in the rain

woah..... musical..... no idea really

edit: actually. maybe the kids hear singing in the woods, which leads to the hansel and gretel themes and explains why they were inside a building

maybe it rains a little bit while the kids are in the forest which explains the next point:

peanut butter baby going ah

brown reminds me of mud + the characters being in the forest during winter + new ref sheets including a "dirty" variation (found on public twitch stream) -> kids will probably be found dirty as a result

game screenshot

no idea what this is from but it affirms my dnd belief with the class system of mages/rogues/warrior etc.

psilocin on winter background

psilocin is found in most psychedelic mushrooms with a notable side effect being visual hallucinations.

lots of mushrooms today! makes sense considering this sneakpeak that pelo has shared with us (sneaky mushroom at ross' foot).

my thinking is that the kids accidentally stumble upon some mushrooms, which makes them hallucinate them into believing they are in a DND-inspired world

hinted at with D20 dice gif pelo sent + the most recent public twitch stream where pelo revealed that DND will be involved, renamed as TNT)

(and while of course not every person will have the same experiences, i think what happens is that they will all influence the other lmao)

and then winter background for the winter setting

granny frump

known to be a witch and likes playing tricks, probable hint of the antagnoist of the episode though i wonder if the tree has more villainous value

likely a witch character because the episode has themes around hansel and gretel

and this public sneakpeak continues that thinking

though, i wonder if the witch and candy house shenanigans were also hallucinated

the maid

idk my first thought is carmen and richard lol the wealthy bastards

en familia con chabelo

children's and family television show; no idea about this!

scooby-doo

idk maybe the kids get chased which manifests this classic reference

birch trees and eyes

always have been referenced about with the cult, really

i can't remember where so i might be pulling this out of my ass: the eyes has been referred/mistaken to as a tree/forest somewhere ??? idk. might explain why skidad was a woodcarver

there's also this so

i wonder if any of the eye markings start following characters... spooky...

parents and kids

a lot of people are speculating that this will be a pump/susie parent reveal (note the family gender and possibility of christmas which means parents coming over for the holidays)

i ALSO think it's a general hint of parents reuniting with their missing kids. considering the picture, perhaps pump and susie are last ones to be picked up, watching everyone else with their mother/father except them

but at least grandpa is there, hopefully

marisa from touhou

points again with maid outfit + witch theme... maybe marisa (or coughs mary) cameo in the background again :]

[felixcloud6288]

Things that actually happened throughout the Kingdom Hearts Franchise

Maleficent led a coalition of various Disney villains to conquer the worlds. Sora defeats half of them without ever learning they're working with her.

There was a big mystery about a door that no one knew how to open. 15 real-world years later, we find out it's a push door.

Jack Skellington tried to teach the Heartless to dance and almost succeeded.

There's a giant whale floating through space and it eats Sora's ship at one point.

Ariel knows how to craft magic potions and uses those to help you fight the Heartless.

The Tarzan world got decanonized so hard that there's a canon excuse to why no one mentions or remembers it.

The Olympus Titans have been free for several games but mostly just hung out in the coliseum.

Maleficent may or may not have tried to recruit the Cheshire Cat to her coalition.

Chernabog just appears as a boss and no one ever comments on it to the point that it's not even in the in-game synopsis.

Sora accidentally absorbs Kairi's heart inside his body. Later games reveal Sora has done this with several people.

At one point, there's a faction war within the Big bad's organization. One member of the traitor faction turns out to be actually be a member of the loyalist faction. But then he kills the leader of the loyalist faction because he was actually working for a secret second traitor faction.

When the big bad rebuilds his organization, he re-recruits the leaders from both traitor factions and passes on recruiting anyone from the loyalist faction.

Roxas accidentally completes an entire hero apprenticeship under Phil because Phil never bothered to look at Roxas and confirm he was the new student Hercules had recommended to him.

The underworld in Hercules and Farplain from Final Fantasy X are linked somehow because Hades managed to summon a character who dies in FFX from one of the underworld's prisons.

Ursula comes back from the dead twice with no explanation.

Maleficent once tried to turn Santa Claus into a Heartless. The plan failed because she hated the guy she was working with so much that she just left.

Time travel exists and there are set rules about the requirements to use it, the restrictions on where you can go, and what you can and cannot alter. We learn them several years after the game where Sora used time travel to save Disney Castle and he broke every single rule.

While Sora needed Merlin the Wizard to make a time portal, Pete managed to make one by getting really sad and nostalgic.

Pete got banished to another dimension because he tried to mug Minnie Mouse for artisanal ice cream.

Almost every problem encountered in Birth By Sleep is because Terra kept helping the villains.

Aqua was going to kill Cinderella's step-mother and step-sisters and the Fairy Godmother had to stop her.

Because of Sora's tendency to keep other's hearts inside himself, his body once took on the appearance of another person and gained its own separate personality from both Sora and the person it looked like.

Part of the big bad's plot to obtain Kingdom Hearts involved sending his disembodied soul back in time to give himself the power to travel forward in time.

The big bad's plot also required him to fail to obtain Kingdom Hearts four separate times.

Scar was so evil that when he died, he resurrected as a Heartless that kept his original appearance. Then his ghost continued to haunt the savanna.

The Heartless once tried to steal Winnie the Pooh's storybook.

Sora travels with a clone of Jack Sparrow that is made of the same white crabs that Calypso turns into.

Stitch appears in Hollow Bastion, trips a security system, gives Sora his summon token, fights alongside various Final Fantasy protagonists, and then vanishes from the story.

Sephiroth is the physical manifestation of Cloud's darkness. Despite the implications, Sephiroth is not a Heartless. Tifa meanwhile is implied to be the manifestation of Cloud's light.

Maleficent is killed near the end of KH1. However the mobile game reveals that she actually sent herself back in time. When she comes back to life in KH2, she actually was sent back to the future.

The cursed Aztec treasure from Pirates of the Caribbean turned into a Heartless.

The big bad's organization tried to recruit Sora and Riku. When that failed, they recruited clones of them.

One member of the organization looks like an evil Sora. He is NOT the Sora clone.

Terra fused with a suit of armor out of pure hatred for the big bad.

Your player character in the mobile game dies and is reincarnated as the big bad.

One game introduces monsters called Dream Eaters. It later turns out these monsters are the souls of child soldiers who died in an ancient keyblade war.

At one point, Sora and Riku arrive in the middle of the plot of The World Ends With You.

Goofy knows how to use a computer.

The synopsis journal for KH1 gets erased, becomes sentient, and starts writing cryptic messages inside itself. Mickey decides the best way to figure out what is going on is to make a digital copy of the journal and have a digital copy of Sora fight the corrupted data in the journal.

They did indeed put bugs in Riku.

Feel free to expand on this

[kcdarchives]

my kcd2 experience

in the following post, i am going to describe my kcd2 experience and how it bred brainworms that have drilled into my grey matter and turned it into ye olde swiss cheese

i think one of the big reasons why i latched so hard onto kcd2 (and hansry) is: i actually went into kcd2 almost completely blind. the main reason i started playing was i read in a news article that there was a gay relationship in the game and i was like "oh! fun! i'm in the mood to play a new rpg anyways!" i had no idea who it was you could romance, or what form it would take. after the opening scenes, i was of course squinting VERY hard at hans. but after the stocks, he fell to the wayside for me as a player. i made henry as reasonable and conciliatory as possible and he still left? for me, as a player who hadn't played the 1st game, i shrugged and said "ok then! fine!" they let me loose and the world was my rpg oyster! i spent over 30 hours wandering around the map, doing side quests and having a generally wonderful time because the game is, above all else, a very well-made game with a ton of attention to detail, fun NPCs, and systems that i still hadn't fully learned even after a few dozens of hours in the game. as i finally attended the semine wedding, i FINALLY ran into hans again (i hadn't found him prior to this) and was reminded "oh! henry's buddy! he's here!" i went from having a funny silly carefree time at the wedding to the plot escalating so suddenly and severely. henry and hans finally reconcile. as a player, i've forgiven hans. his apology was really genuine and heartfelt and i could tell he was also probably a little lonely without the only other survivor from their company. after over 30 hours in the game, i'm VERY attached to henry, and this i am attached to hans, who he so clearly is also attached to. i can celebrate henry finally having a companion again only to have hans wrested away from henry in one of the most distressing ways possible. for whom the bell tolls was an amazingly stressful quest, and definitely one of my favorite main story segments i have played in a video game in recent memory. after this, when the first romantic dialogue option with hans appeared, i was honestly a little stunned. i felt so vindicated with my initial eye-squinting during the opening part of the game, but also, at this point i understood just how much hans was a part of the game's main plot. i was like "oh...this is a romance with...someone actually really relevant and showing up a lot!" when the second romantic dialogue option eventually showed up, that's when i really realized that their romance was going to be tied to progress in the main plot and thus i spiraled into taking several days off of work just to make progress. i was so happy whenever hans showed up and henry got to interact with him. romance aside, their friendship is well-written and it was difficult for me to forget that, besides godwin, hans is the only other person henry really knew before kcd2 that he has with him over the course of the game. so much of the main story is directly related to hans, and the consequences of both henry and hans' actions. i was constantly amazed, thinking "wow, hans is REALLY relevant to the plot! i love to see him involved!" after over a hundred hours in the game, i finally reached the culmination of their romance. and i was paralyzed. as soon as they started talking, i started yelling. i couldn't believe this was happening. it was SO romantic, so emotional, and felt like such a natural progression of their relationship over the course of the story. as soon as the "kiss him" option showed up, I stood up and had to take a minute to collect myself because i couldn't believe it was really happening. and when i finally pressed it.

the screen faded to black.

I was confused. the screen faded back in to a shot of the fireplace. i immediately started cackling uncontrollably. i had a mental breakdown. i thought "oh! they're not gonna show the kiss! that's so incredibly funny! that's so funny i'm going to die." then the shot transitioned back to them sitting on the bed. i had assumed "ah ok, they kissed offscreen. this is what i get after playing through the game for over 100 hours trying to nurture their romance. this is what all of the anti-woke gamer warriors were getting up into arms for. this is so funny. this is so monumentally hilarious." and i could not stop cackling until - wait - henry puts his hand over hans. so sweet! i gasped. perhaps now they will actually kiss? was i wrong? but then he gets up. and i'm once again given whiplash, assuming the scene is over and now he's leaving. do i have to play even further into the story? do they make progress after he comes back from his mission? only for hans to pull henry back to him and my "i sink hundreds of hours into RPGs to eat the little gay romantic breadcrumbs they leave me in relatively unimportant side conversations" brain BROKE.

every single movement elicited a scream from me. i almost couldn't understand what was happening. henry pulls away, he looks like he's going to leave. he's going to leave and they'll resolve this when he comes back? but then he LOCKS THE DOOR!!! HE LOCKS THE DOOR!!! he power walks across the room and I CANNOT STOP SCREAMING. i have to pause the game every 5 seconds so i don't have an aneurysm. the passion!!! i hadn't imagined such passion in all of my years of gaming!!! yes, the fire in the hearth was burning, but not nearly as hot as the flames of their relationship!!!!

the screen faded to black once again after they made it to the bed, and i thought "ok...it's over...i can breathe again...my god...that was crazy...that was so much more intense than i was expecting for a 'kiss him' dialogue option" only for it to fade back in to THEIR NUDE BODIES EMBRACING?? I PLAYED THIS GAME EXPECTING MAYBE A KISS OR TWO???? I was pounding my fists into my beanbag, screaming and yelling, what was HAPPENING ON MY TV SCREEN RIGHT NOW??? then the screen panned over to the shot of the two crossed swords in the foreground and I tell you, I let out the loudest, ugliest, most delighted cackle i have ever made in my life. whoever came up with that shot is so DIABOLICAL. warhorse may actually be the funniest game studio i have ever seen in my life. thank you warhorse for my life. i was exhausted by the biggest emotional rollercoaster a video game romance had ever put me through, but also simultaneously re-invigorated by, i think, perhaps the best video game romance cutscene i have ever had the pleasure of playing through in all my 20+ years of romancing fictional characters.

i ended up staying up all night finishing up the rest of the main story, and then i spent the next couple of days trying to just. absorb everything that happened and process my experience. i know its very early to make this kind of declaration but kcd2 might literally be my favorite game of 2025, and it was SO unexpected for me as something that i just arbitrarily picked up because i was just looking for a new game to play. I was seriously expecting just a kiss at the most, some not particularly important dialogue options that develop a small romantic relationship with a few conversations. maybe a fade-to-black, not much else. the kind of stuff i've grown used to in the games i've played. i think going in with no expectations made its iron-fisted grip on me that much stronger because when it delivered, it did it by crashing the airplane that is hansry into the twin towers of my heart and brain. both the main story and the gameplay just made everything feel so RIGHT and had me so emotionally invested in them, i felt like I was going insane.

for those of you who haven't actually played kcd2 for yourselves, please do try playing for yourself if you have the ability to, or at least watch a playthrough. experiencing how their relationship slowly develops over the course of the game makes the conclusion of it that much more satisfying (i still have to watch/play the 1st game, which i do intend on doing). but also the side quests are so fun and interesting!!! and the other characters are SO charming and likeable.

i am #1 janosh fan!!!

anyways my big rant is over, i feel much better now ahaha

[luminouslywriting]

Heyy, I recently found your blog and omg I’m obsessed🫶It’s so rare seeing people that write for Band of Brothers.

Could you maybe write something about the BoB guys reaction to their new lieutenant being a woman? And they fall in love after a while and stuff. Just a fun little idea lol, have a great day!

Nonny, I adore this idea so much! Enjoy note the fact that my requests are open and I adore spam!

Cut for length, kept short and sweet since I've done some similar things to this, and please note that my requests for Dead Poets Society are also open :)

Dick Winters:

-He's stunned in the best way possible—super impressed with your credentials and your reputation already and gives you the utmost of respect.

-I think he genuinely enjoys working with you and getting to know you—it's a slowburn for sure though.

-Doesn't make a move until he's in Austria with you and you two get to talking about what'll happen at the end of the war and everything :)

Lewis Nixon:

-Laughs at first because he thinks you're joking and then very quickly has to backpedal himself out of the dog house because oh SHIT he did not mean to offend you

-Quickly becomes one of your closest friends and talks to you about a lot of his relationship issues back home—the two of you are a very much "will they, won't they" type of thing

-You probably hook up while in Austria and things just progress from there.

Ronald Speirs:

-Secretly impressed by you the entire time but is not about to share his feelings on that—but he keeps a careful eye on you and makes sure to have your back whenever you need it

-This man is out here just trying to make the men drink 'respect women' juice and that starts w/his example and he's perfectly aware of that.

-Steals a lot of stuff so that he can express his feelings to you with nice things haha

Buck Compton:

-He's pleasantly surprised and waits to make a judgement until he gets to know you—best decision of his life really

-He's out here able to talk to you about literally anything and enjoys your company as a friend first and foremost, which is important to both of you

-He absolutely writes you once he leaves the line and hopes that you come back safe

Carwood Lipton:

-Shows you nothing but the utmost respect and never steps a freakin' toe out of line. He probably isn't even trying to get close to you because he doesn't want you to get the wrong idea about him.

-Bonds with you during Bastogne and deeply admires the way that you carry yourself in hard situations

-Probably asks in a soft tone if he can write take you to a nice restaurant once all of this is over and take you on a date

Joe Liebgott:

-Simp with a capital S, and there's just no putting that any other way. This man hangs onto your every word and then pretends as if he never heard you speak. SIR, GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF.

-In all practicality though, he's probably the type to become your friend and hang out with you/help you integrate with the men

-And when he's talking to Webster about his post-war plans...yes, they involve you and no, you are not aware of them (yet, anyway haha)

Donald Malarkey:

-Also someone who is not about to step a toe out of line or show you any disrespect. He takes the time to listen to your opinions and your orders and values what you have to say.

-It's quite easy for him to fall for you, though he's not going to say anything about it until some liquid luck finds its way into his system during Austria

-Feelings are exchanged and so is a kiss :)

Eugene Roe:

-You are his favorite lieutenant—the most competent person in the world in his eyes—and one of the people he values most.

-He consistently takes the time to check in on you and makes sure that you're doing alright in your leadership position and tries to keep a wary eye out for anything that might do you harm.

-And if you kiss him after the events of Bastogne to get his head back in the game?? Well neither of you is going to kiss and tell haha

Bill Guarnere:

-Doesn't know how to feel about it at first?? He's a little confused and a little standoffish but then he sees how Sobel treats you and he's just not having it

-So the two of you become fast friends after that and integrating into the group is a lot easier with Bill on your side

-Admits that he loves you amidst a bloody and snowy ground in Bastogne and hopes that you'll write to him

Joe Toye:

-Impressed by the fact that you've made it this far and isn't about to go out of his way to make life easier or harder for you. He's just going to simply have your back.

-However, he's a great person to talk to and always will second your opinion or thoughts and add that he thinks it's a good idea.

-Also the type of person who writes you love letters after he ends up back home and hopes that things can work out between the two of you

George Luz:

-Makes a joke about it at first and then realizes that he has colossally messed up–grovels a little bit and does you a few favors before becoming your friend

-He relies on you a lot, especially during some of the heavier times for the company, and if you keep a smile on his face, he falls for you

-Would, in fact, invite you to come home and meet his family (you know, if you want haha)

[avianconcept]

Agency, value systems, and growth: the fate of the Perfect Court tattoos.

Been thinking about the Perfect Court tattoos today, and I’ve finally decided what I personally hope happens to Jean’s. I know there's a lot of discussion about a cover up like Kevin’s, suggestions like a flower, a sun, a fleur-de-lis; and I see that, but I raise you: he gets it completely removed. 

I think it has something to do with what the tattoos mean to each character. More specifically, how each character got them, and what that means to them. Most of this comes from a quote I found on my last re-read of TKM: 

The first time someone asked about Riko’s and Kevin’s tattoos, Riko hadn’t beat around the bush. He was the best striker in the game, he said, and he wanted everyone to know it. The story changed a little when Jean made his first public appearance with a “3” on his face. Riko was supposedly handpicking the future US National Team. He called it the ‘perfect Court’, and even though it was unofficial and unbelievably arrogant, his talent and upbringing gave some credibility to the idea. ‘

According to Neil in the first book, Riko and Kevin had been sharpie-ing on their numbers since they were children. This quote adds some more crucial context to that. It establishes that Riko and Kevin’s 1 and 2 came before the perfect court, and that the perfect court was what Riko decided their 1 and 2 (and newly minted 3) meant. This bit is what changed it for me, I think. 

Riko and Kevin are both referred to as the sons of exy. Both are heirs to the game, Riko through his uncle and Kevin through his mother. They do it to signal their place in the world of exy– heirs, future best in the game, destined for greatness. And then Jean comes along, and Riko changes the narrative. He comes up with the perfect court, and tells the world. The perfect court are his chosen players (read: his property). It furthers his control and possession of Kevin, who is allowed to be excellent, just not better than Riko. Kevin can be good, he just has to be good Riko’s way, subscribe to RIko’s model of success. 

Riko dies with his tattoo on his face. He dies clinging onto the idea of the perfect court, that he is the best, and that the only way to be the best is through pain and abuse. There is no real change for Riko in the series, so it fits that the way he’s marked himself (read: the way he defines himself) doesn’t change either. 

Kevin gets his covered up with the infamous chess piece. For Kevin, the challenge is reclaiming the sport that is also his birthright. He is physically free of Riko and Tetsuji, but mentally, he isn’t. Even with states between them and a new team, he is still understandably afraid of standing up to Riko. It goes against the status quo that has been beaten into him, and it takes him a while to be able to fully leave them and their limits behind. What holds Kevin back is that his greatness has always been defined. It has been defined by Riko, upheld by Tetsuji. He can be second best, a Raven, a prince to Riko’s King. Kevin changes his tattoo right before the final game– in order to beat Riko, he has to first reject Riko’s hierarchy, the limiting belief that was forced onto him that Riko was best, Riko was king. To me, its extremely fitting that Kevin’s evolution involved him putting his own mark on his talent. Instead of challenging Riko for ‘King’, or for that 1, he invents his own symbol. For Kevin, it's a reclamation of a game that was always partially his– just on his terms now. 

Neil’s tattoo gets burnt off by his father’s henchmen. This also fits well in my mind, because in my opinion, Neil’s number one challenge wasn’t actually Riko. Riko was Neil’s adversary, but Neil’s true terror was his father. The tattoos and their removal/evolution appear to be symbolic of the character’s growth, so it makes sense that Neil’s wasn’t on his face for long, and was taken off by (basically) his father. Each of the perfect court members had something keeping them trapped, things that wouldn’t let them grow into who they were supposed to be. Riko’s was the wound of his fathers rejection, and the toxicity created and maintained by Tetsuji. Kevin’s was Riko, and by extension Tetsuji. Neil’s is his father. Unlike Kevin, Neil’s not trying to be the best exy player in the sport. The sport makes him feel less like no one and nothing, and his continued playing is an expression of his will to live and his desire for personhood and a future. Neil wants better than what he has at the beginning of TFC, and the thing keeping him from that isn’t Riko. Sure, Riko is connected to the Moriyamas, and Ichirou owns his contract now, and Neil fights with Riko a lot. But to me, the thing that caused him real terror and stripped him of his personhood and autonomy was Nathan. Riko branded him with the 4, and Nathan’s people took it off, as if to say, “No, Riko isn’t who you have to reckon with, it’s me.” Neil’s internal fight was with being the butcher’s son, not with being number four. 

Jean’s situation is best described by a line in the EC– Jean never asked for this. 

In his own words, he loved exy, and was excited for what he thought was an opportunity to improve, but it doesn’t seem like he was ever vying for greatness. Then his father sold him, he was given the 3, and he was made perfect court. 

Much like Neil, didn’t have a say in his involvement. Unlike Neil, Jean adopts the mentality and hierarchy of the perfect court as his truth. Riko’s estimation of his value becomes his own. 

For Jean, the 3 has a lot to do with pain and self worth. In TSC, the only time Jean speaks positively about himself is when he calls himself perfect court, or when he talks about himself as a backliner. He has been conditioned that the only place he has worth is on the court. Nothing is important about him, just about what he is, the position he occupies. Where his personhood and bodily autonomy is denied over and over, his talent cannot be denied on the court. He is allowed to matter on the court, and nowhere else. In a sense, that 3 becomes the only thing about him that could be his. 

The other thing about the 3 is that he didn’t ask for it, but he has bled for it. So much of his relationship with the Ravens is defined by his rank.  Even though the Ravens do not like Jean as a person, they want to be his partner, to have that 4. The reason someone protects Jean from repeated sexual assault is that 3, and how it could lead to a 4. This is why Zane strikes a deal with him, why Grayson goes all the way to the Gold Court to hurt him. It is what the sexual assault from the backliners is blamed on. The 3 was given to Jean as a mark of something he didn't ask to be a part of, and then he was forced to fight tooth and nail to keep it.  It became the defining part of his identity because he wasn’t allowed to have anything else. He wasn’t even allowed to have his name. 

In my opinion, I think that the ultimate expression of Jean’s growth would be to take the tattoo off. He doesn’t have to subscribe to that value system. Covering it would feel like half assing it. He can change it, but he has to keep a tattoo of some sort, because Riko put one there. 

Note that I don’t think of the cover up the same way for Kevin. For Kevin, exy was likely always going to be important to him, with Kayleigh as his mother. He is inheriting it, same way Riko is, and this inheritance is symbolized by that 1 and 2. Kevin wanted to be the best, and so the ultimate expression of his healing is him becoming the best his way. Jean has his tattoo because he is seen as an object, a talent investment belonging to the Moriyamas. What is a limit for Kevin is a brand for Jean. 

For Jean, I think true freedom wouldn’t be freedom to be the best, it would be not having to be the best. It would be not having exy be the most important thing in his life. To not need to defend something he didn’t want. I hope he becomes so sure of his worth in the world, and so sure of his own autonomy that he doesn’t need the 3 to tell him he’s worth something. I hope he realizes that he is his own before he is anyone else's, and doesn’t need to carry around a value that someone else gave him. ��

In TSC, the legacy, abuse, and dehumanization of the Nest is killing Ravens as soon as the Nest is taken away. Without the strict environment and the imposed value systems the Nest and team gave them, the Ravens crumple. They seem to feel they can't go back (I suspect that whether ‘back’ means back to their old lives or back to the Nest is different for every Raven), and that death is their better option. Ravens don’t seem to be meant to survive outside the Nest. It is designed to be all consuming. Jean doesn’t know who he is if he isn’t a Raven, if he isn’t perfect court, if he isn’t ‘3’ anymore. To live again, he has to leave the perfect court and its poison behind. He has to learn himself again, to rebuild and repair and create out of nothing. 

Neil says it about Grayson, that he could have chosen to walk away from Riko’s poisoned legacy, but it applies to all Ravens. To survive, to live a life worth living, they have to chose to fight their way out of that kind of thinking. Taking the tattoo off feels like him choosing to leave the Nest behind. Jean taking it off represents him shedding that entire ideology. No three, no expectation, just him and whoever he wants to be. 

In short, the toxicity that the perfect court represented killed Riko with its symbol still on his face. 

The Moriyama’s never really owned Neil, and they weren’t who he had to overcome. The tattoo was never going to be around long. 

Kevin was held back from his birthright. His potential was conditional, and there was a leash on him. He needed to reclaim the game that would always be his, mark himself in his own image. 

Jean needs to see himself as a person beyond his place on the court. He needs to walk away from the perfect court ideology and reclaim himself, with no one’s mark on him. 

[anim-ttrpgs]

im really glad i found this tumblr account. i dont even remember how or why i did, but it and your ttrpg book club opened me up to a whole new world! ive never enjoyed dnd because i prefer roleplaying social/investigative/etc situations to combat, and for a very long time i thought i just didnt like ttrpgs that much. i hope that more people will break away from the monolith that wotc has built because of the work yall do.

Thank you so much! That’s exactly what we’re trying to do!

It’s often said in the TTRPG industry “a rising tide raises all ships,” implying that all the people flocking to D&D5e is good for the entire TTRPG industry, but that isn’t really true, not when a monopoly and a walled garden are involved. D&D5e doesn’t actually “bring more people into the hobby,” it waits at the door with a net to snatch newcomers and make sure they don’t get any further in. What we do is stand there with a knife and try to cut holes in that yet. This actually benefits the wider TTRPG space, including us.

Everything about WotC’s marketing (and they have so much more marketing than you realize) is engineered to keep you ignorant of your options and present D&D5e as the only, or at least the default, TTRPG. This is how you get people who think that if they don’t like combat they don’t like TTRPGs, or, more often, thinking that if they don’t like combat they can just play D&D5e and cut out all the combat - it’s also how you get people thinking that “combat isn’t roleplaying,” or that rules in general get in the way of roleplaying. To those people I say no, D&D5e’s rules just get in the way of roleplaying for you because 90% of the rules are about combat and you don’t like combat so you stop roleplaying and just try to push through it as fast as possible. Play a game that doesn’t emphasize combat like D&D5e does, or play a game with better combat rules. (D&D5e, for being a game that emphasizes combat so much, doesn’t actually have great combat rules.)

Me personally, I love combat roleplaying. Even though Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy gameplay is mostly not combat, one of the reasons the combat rules are so crunchy is because I love a good combat system and the characterization and expression that can come from it.

In my personal group’s AD&D2e campaign which I have posted about before here, a bunch of my characters are Fighters, and even though combat is both simpler and rarer in AD&D2e compared to D&D5e, there’s still plenty there to provide support for characterization through combat.

[loredrinker]

Why Inquisition Remains My Favorite Dragon Age Game

Having spent countless hours shaping my Inquisitor in Inquisition, I know why this game stands out as my favorite in the series. Its gameplay and dialogue systems weren’t universally beloved, but for me, they created a unique experience that offered freedom in shaping my protagonist. 

Inquisition moved away from tone and personality-based responses. The Inquisitor’s personality is player-driven, shaped by the choices you make rather than predefined personality traits. This flexibility allowed me to project certain ideas, motivations, and values onto my Inquisitor - a Lavellan. For me, this system fostered organic responses to the unfolding narrative without the rigidity of a fixed character personality type. 

I enjoy my imagination and don't have a strong stance one way or another on tone and personality indicators. Because I also enjoy analyzing dialogue and subtext, the Inquisitor’s blank-slate nature complemented my playstyle perfectly.

The lack of predefined tones also fit perfectly with the nature of the Inquisitor’s story. They aren’t just making personal choices - they’re leading a massive military and political organization. This leadership role challenged me to prioritize what was best for Southern Thedas, even when it clashed with my personal preferences.  Almost like a game within the game.

I found that Inquisition captured the tension between leadership and personal desires quite well. For example, I chose to banish the Wardens despite my deep love for Alistair. His gracious acceptance made me cry, but Lavellan, as I had shaped her, understood the risks of keeping the Wardens involved. Similarly, when faced with the Well of Sorrows, Cole’s warning about the voices being ever-present sealed my decision. My Lavellan couldn’t risk compromising her faculties while leading the Inquisition. These moments forced me to make tough, thoughtful decisions, balancing personal attachments with the weight of leadership. I found this dynamic to be one of the game’s most compelling elements. 

The approval system further enhanced my experience with Inquisition. Approval was earned through decisions and how you interacted with the world and your companions. I loved how this approach made relationships feel more natural, reflecting the complexities of real-world interactions.

In real life, decisions are judged differently by the people around you, and Inquisition mirrored that quite well. For instance, when Blackwall disapproved of Lavellan's decision to banish the Wardens, it felt like a gut punch. I imagined the argument they would have afterward, the tension it would cause within the group. Moments like that made it feel as though these companions were alive, with their own values and perspectives. It wasn’t just a team - it was a group of friends judging actions from diverse viewpoints, and it deepened my engagement with the story.

While I’ve played other Inquisitors and romanced Dorian and Blackwall (both satisfying in their own ways), my elven female Lavellan who romanced Solas remains my true Inquisitor. I’ve revisited her story many times, and her journey as an elf navigating the racism and political intricacies of Thedas added depth and complexity to her character. Leading the Inquisition as an elf felt layered and challenging, enriching my overall experience. 

As an elven woman among toxic male figures like Gaspard - whose arrogance and attitude stood out to me - Lavellan’s resilience as a leader felt particularly meaningful. Regarding Solas, I found this romance very intellectually seductive and sensual and it is my world state. This choice added an emotional weight to the game, as Lavellan grappled with heartbreak, betrayal, and the complicated dynamic between her values and Solas’s mission. Every decision, every conversation carries significance, which is why Inquisition remains such an emotional and memorable experience for me. 

Another thing that sets Inquisition apart is the scale of its decisions. I understand why many players were frustrated that these choices didn’t fully carry over into the Keep - there were simply too many variables to account for. 

At its core, Inquisition gave me the freedom to craft a character who felt personal, layered, and connected to the world of Thedas. It’s a game that resonates with me to this day, and while I recognize it’s not for everyone, it will always hold a special place in my heart. 

[disast3rtransp0rt]

There has been a lot of discourse surrounding rednote, but overall it's been a very humanity affirming experience for me. Am I getting super involved in the video/posting/following part of the app? No. Not in the slightest. I am not that kind of social media user.

But my inbox is an entirely different story.

I've been trading Lunar New Year recipes and discussing the pros and cons of Linkin Park with a slightly younger college woman, Jia Xuan. I'm especially hype to try her crispy sweet and sour pork recipe. We've discussed philosophy, the pros/cons of our different countries' religious practices, and compared our education styles. She's disappointed in the United States' gun violence but hugely curious about our ability to just say whatever we want online. And our work-life balance (not too different from theirs overall, but she was surprised at the different appearance of 'self motivation' between our cultures; as was I).

This is the kind of learning/socialization experience I was hoping for.

But yeah, I can also see how we both have some serious perspective shifts to make in the long run based on our preconceived understanding of each other’s culture. Are things as strict in China as the United States' education system leads us to believe? No. Are we so awfully dissimilar that we can't find common ground to critique our ways of life? No.

Are we both being overworked for our evil capitalistic overlords? Yeah, for sure.

And that's what a handful of billionaire assholes are terrified of, so keep at it. Keep making friends and discussing games, cosplay, food, and culture. Trade ideas and take notes about the ways we can support each other.

Because, to quote the ancient texts: "We didn't start the fire It was always burning, since the world's been turning We didn't start the fire No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it."