#fits in with her ties to satanism and stuff

[infizero-draws]

been wanting to make a penilian cassandra design for a while, so here she is finally :)

[ghuleh-witch]

And We Are Tied As One Eternally-XII

Fandom: Ghost Rating: Explicit Warnings: none for this chapter Relationships: Papa Emeritus IV/Copia x OFC Additional Tags: soft!dom Copia, eventual smut, developing relationship, kind of a slow burn, no beta reader Chapter Word Count: 2370 Summary: Ellie Moran just wanted to make a new life for herself. Running to escape the people in her past, she ends up in a small town in the middle of nowhere that happens to be home to a Satanic church. She never expected her life to change again after she started attending the public masses at said church. Ao3 || Masterlist Chapters: 12/? Previous Chapters Tag list: @sodoswitchimage Fic Divider by gothdaddyissues

Copia sat with Ellie, answering questions for the next couple of hours. They talked and ate pizza while Ellie expressed her frustrations over not understanding anything she had just seen. He understood. Despite having grown up in the church and around infernal magick and demons, there was still a lot he didn’t understand himself. 

“I should go to bed,” Ellie said, looking at her phone and seeing how late it was getting. “I…” She looked up at Copia. “Can…can you stay? I don’t want to be alone.” 

He felt his heart flutter at her question. “Of course,” he said. “If that’s what you want and will make you feel comfortable, then I will stay.”

“Thank you,” she said, sounding relieved. He watched as a pretty blush crept up on her cheeks. “I guess you can stay in my bed,” she said. “The couch isn’t very comfortable to sleep on…”

“Only if you are comfortable with that,” Copia said. He wanted nothing more than to lay in bed with her, but he wouldn’t do it unless that’s what she wanted. He didn’t want to push any boundaries with her and ruin the relationship they were building. 

“We’re both adults, and I trust you,” Ellie said. “I’m just sorry I don’t have a toothbrush for you, but you can use some of my mouthwash if you want.”

A few minutes later Copia was looking around her bedroom as Ellie was finishing her nightly routine in the bathroom. There was a lack of anything on the walls and Copia realized it was because Ellie didn’t want to make the place feel like home if she was going to have to move again. A lot of her furniture was old and he wondered if she rented the apartment already furnished. He couldn’t see Ellie lugging all these pieces of the stairs by herself even if she bought them all secondhand. He moved to her dresser where she had a picture of a man that looked like her in a military uniform. Copia knew that was her father. Next to the frame was an assortment of crystals along with the necklace she wore all the time.

“You mentioned you believed crystals could protect you,” Copia said when Ellie came into the room. He turned to look at her and found himself breathless. She was in long, loose-fitting, blue pajama pants and a black t-shirt that seemed to cling to every curve of her body. She was stunning.

“Oh, yeah, I guess,” Ellie said. “A few years ago I got really into occult stuff—crystals, tarot cards, stuff like that. I always liked the idea that crystals have energies and properties that could be used for healing for protection. I picked some up from a little shop and the lady who ran it gave me this black tourmaline necklace. She said it would help ward off negative energies. I felt like I needed it so I wear it every day. For the most part, it’s done me well I suppose. Well, until recent events.” Ellie shrugged. “But that’s not the fault of a crystal. I guess…I guess this was always meant to happen the way it did.” She shrugged. “What do you think? Do you think they hold power?”

“I do,” Copia said. “We use crystals and herbs in a lot of rituals. Witchcraft and the occult are welcomed practices in our faith. They often go hand-in-hand with one another.” He watched as she pulled back the blankets on her bed and got in. “I’m going to use you bathroom and then I’ll be right back.”

Ellie nodded and he left the room for the little bathroom next door. He closed the door behind him and let out the breath he had been holding since the moment he got the call from the ghouls. When they told him that Ethan had gotten into her apartment and had her, Copia thought everything was over before it started—that he wasted what precious little time he had with her and that she had slipped from his fingers. He reminded himself to breathe.

He hadn’t lost her. She was safe, unharmed, and more importantly, free of the man who made her life a nightmare. Ellie was free to live and thrive and he wanted nothing more than for her to do those things. 

Copia splashed some water onto his face, removing as much of the black paint around his eyes and on his upper lip as he could. He took a swig of the mouthwash Ellie offered and rinsed his mouth before returning to her bedroom. She was already in bed, sitting up against her pillows on one side with the cover pulled up to her waist. 

“Thanks for staying,” Ellie said as Copia toed off his shoes and sat down on the edge of the bed. “I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight if I am alone.”

“You had quite the day,” he said. “I’m happy to help, even if it’s just to be here so you can sleep.”

She smiled and he felt his heart, which was already racing from anxiety, begin to race for another reason. To see her sitting there warm in her bed and safe made every single panic-inducing thought all worth it in the end.

“You gonna sit on the edge like that all night?” Ellie asked. There was amusement in her stormy eyes and he felt his cheeks warm.

“Eh, no,” he said, pushing himself deeper into the bed, lifting his feet off the floor, and sitting against the headboard.

Ellie laughed as she slipped under the covers and laid her head on her pillow. She was on her side, facing him and Copia knew he wanted to end every day like this—them in bed together just talking until they went to sleep. 

“I have an alarm on my phone set for eight,” she said. “I have to go to work tomorrow.”

“I can’t tell you what to do, but I think you should call off and take the day to process everything,” he suggested as he pulled the blankets over his legs. 

“I can’t,” Ellie sighed. “I need the money, and I don’t need my boss giving me a hard time about calling off.”

“Very well, but promise you will try to take it easy?”

“I promise,” she yawned. “I’m going to try to sleep now. Good night, Copia.”

“Good night, tesoro,” he said.

“Hmmm you still haven’t told me what those names mean,” she said, her eyes closed, one hand under her pillow and the other holding her part of the blankets to her chin, creating a mock cocoon for herself.

Fucking adorable, he thought.

“I’ll tell you. Maybe tomorrow though. Get some sleep.” He hoped he didn’t look like a psycho as he watched sleep claim her and her breathing became deep and even. When a strand of her dark blonde hair fell over her eyes, he gingerly swept it back without causing her to stir. 

After another minute he slid down into the bed and laid on his back, listening to her breathing next to him. It all felt right, as though this was how his life was supposed to be.

But he knew it wasn’t…not yet anyway…

Ellie woke when a strip of sunlight peeked through the one broken blade of her blinds and shined right into her eye. She clenched her eyes hard, trying to fight the urge to wake. She knew her alarm hadn’t gone off yet, but she didn’t want to get up yet. She was so comfy with her blanket wrapped around her, the heavyweight against her back, and the arm draped over her stomach.

Her eyes popped open at that.

She was still as she felt the body spooning her while her mind searched for an explanation. Copia, she thought. It’s just Copia. I asked him to stay and he did and now he’s spooning me. She knew he probably didn’t mean to and that he did it unconsciously, but she didn’t want to embarrass him if he woke up and they were still in that position.

No matter how comfortable Ellie felt or how right it all felt. 

She felt so cared for and safe, and she didn’t want to leave. If she had it her way they’d stay like that until the end of time. But her logic told her she needed to get up before he woke up, so she very carefully slipped out from his hold, grabbed her phone, and padded her way to the bathroom. A couple minutes later she emerged and began to boil some water for some tea. She was glad she had two mugs and hoped Copia liked tea. 

At eight she let her alarm go off before silencing it and taking the boiling kettle off the heat. She poured the water over the teabags in each mug and added sugar and milk to her own before going into her bedroom.

Copia had rolled over onto his stomach since she left the bed. His arm was draped over her pillow and Ellie didn’t want to wake him. She knew she had to though. He was probably busy and she had to work in an hour. She came up to his side of the bed and gently shook his shoulder.

“Copia,” she said softly. “It’s eight.” 

He groaned. “Okay, okay,” he muttered as he sat up. He rubbed his eyes and blinked, as though he didn’t remember where he was at first. He looked around and then his eyes landed on her. “Buongiorno.”

“Morning,” Ellie responded. “I have tea if you want some. No coffee though, sorry.”

“Tea is great,” Copia said as he swung his legs over the side of the bed. “I prefer tea over coffee in the morning anyway.” 

“Sleep well?” Ellie asked, curious to know if he remembered holding her. 

“Si, I did. Very well actually. How about you?”

“I think that might have been the best night of sleep I’ve ever had,” Ellie admitted as she led the way into the kitchen after Copia got his shoes on. “I didn’t put any sugar or milk in your tea. I didn’t know how you liked it.”

“A little bit of sugar and a little bit of milk,” he said pinching his fingers. Ellie watched as he prepared his tea and made note of the ratios he used. “The best night of sleep you ever had, huh?”

“Yeah,” Ellie said. “Because…because I didn’t have to worry for the first time in years.” It wasn’t a complete lie, but it wasn’t totally the truth. She knew it was because he was there and he was holding her. 

“Ah, yes that is a nice feeling isn’t it?” He said before sipping his tea. “What are you going to do with your newfound freedom?”

“Finally live my life,” Ellie smiled. “I’m going to stay here and work on making this place a home.” 

Copia beamed. “Good.” 

After her tea was finished, Ellie excused herself to get ready for work. Once she was dressed she found Copia washing her mugs. “You didn’t have to do that,” she said.

“It’s alright,” Copia said. “I want to help.” He tried his hands with a paper towel and turned to her, looking her up and down. Ellie didn’t think she looked particularly special. She was just in jeans and a black long-sleeved shirt. “Do you mind if I walk you to work?”

“I don’t mind,” Ellie said. 

They were standing outside of the bookstore fifteen minutes later. Ellie already knew it was going to be a bad day when she saw Charles arguing with one of her coworkers through the window. The man was red in the face and she could have sworn she saw spittle flying from his mouth as he silently yelled at the part-time shop assistant. 

“I better get in there,” Ellie said. “Poor Ryan looks like he’s about to wet himself.”

Copia looked at the scene through the window and hummed in response.

As though he could sense eyes on him, Charles looked up and saw Ellie and Copia standing outside. He then marched over to the door and flung it open. “You’re late,” he snapped at Ellie.

“No, I’m not,” Ellie said. “I’m three minutes early.”

“Just get in here. We had a huge shipment come in yesterday and it needs to be put out on the floor,” he said before looking at Copia. Charles looked him up and down and sneered before looking back to Ellie. “This devil worshipper bothering you?” He asked before looking back to Copia. “We don’t allow soliciting here, buddy.”

“I’m not your buddy,” Copia said, eyes growing dark. “And I’m not soliciting. I was walking Ellie to work.”

Charles looked back to Ellie for confirmation. “You know this guy?”

“Yes,” Ellie said and she could already hear the insults Charles was ready to throw. “Copia is my friend and he was walking me to work.”

Charles looked back at Copia and glared before retreating into the shop. Ellie sighed. Today was not going to be a good day.

“Are you going to be okay?” Copia asked her.

“Yeah. I’ll be fine. Charles is just a bully and a bigot. Nothing I can’t handle,” Ellie said.

“Well, if you need anything, please let me know,” Copia said taking her hand and bringing it to his lips, pressing a kiss to her knuckles before releasing it. “I’ll see you soon?”

Ellie smiled and felt the pink seep into her face. “Yes. Gemma invited me to hang out after work tomorrow, so I’ll be up there then.”

“Wonderful,” he said before looking back at the window where Charles was yelling at the young assistant again. “Call me when you get off. I want to make sure that….man didn’t ruin your day.”

“I will. I’ll see you later,” Ellie said with a smile before going into the shop. She clocked in and turned to Charles for her assignment for the day.

“You can unpack and stock all the new Bibles and Christian fiction titles,” he said with a cruel smirk.

Ellie bit back a groan and made her way to the backroom. 

[another-lost-mc]

Ok sooo hear me out. Every obey me fan knows madi right? And we all know how much of a horrible person she is not only in personality but for all of the terrible things she’s done 🤮. And i was also thinking about how she’s got her eye on either Satan or Lucifer (considering they fit her type out of all the demon brothers). And she finds out that Mc is being escorted by Lucfier himself. So i was just imagining a scene where Madi “catches” you with the other demon brothers (you know like the usual flirting or neck kisses or make out session). And she goes on a whole rant about how we’re not treating lucfier right and how we don’t deserve him☠️. Imagine her reaction when she realizes that we’re not only tied down to one demon brother, but all of them bc of our pacts and stuff. And so lucifer escorts her to like a private room and instead of just telling her and explaining the whole thing while she’s still ranting and stuff, he sits her down and shows her pictures and video recordings he (secretly) took of Mc during seggs👀. And im talking about the WHOLE shtick. The reason why he does this is like his own way of telling her that Mc already belongs to him and he doesn’t have to worry about us with anyone else.

Oooh that’s sort of the inspiration for the witch in this Barbatos h/c fic.

I think jealousy is a very real thing MC has to face. There’s going to be human witches and sorcerers jealous of their power and connection (and romantic entanglements) with the demons. Likewise, I’m sure there’s disappointed acquaintances across all three realms who are jealous that the seven brothers have MC’s love and devotion.

I think each of the brothers would have their own way of scaring off would-be troublemakers and convincing them that MC is the superior choice of a friend/pact bearer/lover. Lucifer doing something like that would definitely be an extreme option, but his brothers’ ways of “convincing” might be even worse.

[honoringthehorrific]

Is Late Night with The Devil worth tuning in for?

Don't adjust those sets...spoilers in 5..4..3..2...

First off sorry for not being able to find a gif from the movie! Tumblr gave me a real hard time with that one.

Second off I would like to say I do not support the use of AI art. I think it is abysmal. I watched this movie with my partner after saving up points at our local theater for free tickets. If this still supports the movies we see in some way please let me know and I will be sure to find another way to better watch these movies without supporting their actions...🏴‍☠️🦜 It just may mean you get your reviews a touch later!

Onto the movie. The aesthetics were very enjoyable I could appreciate the ties back to satanic panic and the fascination with the occult. The costuming, the filming of the movie, it all felt right and very few times did I feel my immersion in it break. I feel like maybe there were one or two shots where the actors looked too well made up if that makes sense.

One fun fact my partner pointed out was that you can see the twin towers in the opening shots and the city cut aways because they were built 4 years prior! I really liked that this movie didn't shy away from showing us the towers mostly because I feel like that's something that would have broken the idea we are in the 70s.

While the filming was fitting and awesome the effects were....I would say B tier at points. I think it adds to the charm of course I can always appreciate a homemade effect but it does slightly pull me out of this being something that really happened. Don't get me wrong I know it's not trying to be the next Blair witch "true story" but i feel like there is some level to this that wants the audience to feel that this is real.

My partner notes too that cutting it from a television camera view to the audience view might have helped as well!

Onto the fun stuff, we get hints throughout...sorry no, not hints...we get TOLD throughout the movie that our star of tonight's show, jack delroy, is in a fraternal organization...sorry, i mean cult. He is in the Bohemian Grove cult. We get told there are rumors of this in the opening almost documentary style retelling of Jack's fame and struggles with being as good as Johnny Carson. We'll come back to that.

Tonight is 1977. Halloween night. Sweep week. A night where Jack really needs to scrape in the views. He has no idea that the plans he has this evening will go awry...recently his wife madeline who will be reffered to by her "special nickname" mini has passed away from lung cancer. Tonight's show is also jacks first one back and man is it a doozy. We get to see how he banters with his co-host and honestly kind of berates him. I had this struggle with jack where I wanted to like him but every time I tried I just got these kicks and hints that he was kind of an asshole? But it's show biz, who isn't? His first guest is a medium who intends to commune with the dead. He seems like other shoddy Vegas types until he accurately assess a family who lost their son and brother to suicide. It's later revealed to be a bunch of hooey when the next guest a renowned skeptic chats with the family and realizes they were questioned prior to the show.

The first chilling moment we get that isn't the use of AI art is the medium seemingly becoming possessed by the grieving spirit of mini however no one claims the name and only later does jack reveal he thinks the message was for him.

I'm not gonna foot around it. The use of AI art while not overly used and egregious it's present. Personally it being present feels like an issue. It bugs me and it should bug you. I know many people want to cut it a break for being an indie film but it doesn't take much to put some money towards what was it? 5-6 pieces of art? Yeah some people will have higher rates for working on this but I'm sure they could have found someone to do the art if they felt theirs wasn't up to par. I don't think they're fully evil or anything for it. I don't support AI art but I can understand the other side of the argument. However when you turn a blind eye to one film and it does well it doesn't matter if it's an indie project or not. It makes the big guys think hey we like this. Give the devil an inch and he'll take a mile right?...

That all being said I could ignore the cut aways kind of??...I paid attention for mistakes the first few times before the sight of them just elicited an annoyed eyeroll from me.

As the movie progresses we meet the skeptic. He's offering checks to people who can prove without a doubt that they're the real deal and he says hes not lost a nickel yet. The medium claims he doesn't want the money and when Jack vouches for him and says the last message was meant for him the medium's behavior gets more and more erratic before he finally spews black vomit all over the studio including onto the skeptic.

Little do we know on the way to the hospital our medium turns up dead. This starts to brew panic in the crew and our co-host as our next guests are brought on. June and Lily. Lily was found as a 10 year old by the authorities as the only surviving member of a satanic cult that kind of parodies the satanic church and Anton lavey. Lily is possessed by a demon she calls mr.wriggles. mr.wriggles is an interesting one alright! Wether it's trauma, the demonic possession or my boyfriend's theory- autism. Lily exhibits off behaviors like staring directly into the cameras and seeming very monotone at times. It isn't until Jack pushes for and honestly...kind of corners June on live TV that June and Lily decide to showcase Lily's ability. Man does this demon have something to say.

The demon begins by noting that him and Jack know each other hinting at a tie between the Grove cult again. Before intent focuses again on June. Calling her out for her and jacks relationship and telling her to remember what happened to his last whore. Possession doesn't cease until June slaps the girl. Let me tell you I didn't trust this at all. June goes to undo the straps after some crazy electrical issues and levitation and I just felt uneasy the whole time. That typical feeling while watching these movies of "are you stupid??" Lily in my eyes had a very sinister look to her still that later gets touched on again. We then get the skeptics explanation and recreation with hypnosis. Making our co-host believe his phobia of worms is suddenly real life with them wriggling from his neck stomach and lastly eyeball. Only for us to cut back to reality with his activation phrase and see that none of it was true. They watch the tape back and realize that the whole audience was hypnotized because none of that truly happened on their TV sets. However when watching back what happened with Lily it triggers the girl.

She levitates and glows while her head splits open. She immolates the skeptic when he offers the hefty check in exchange for his life and hangs her guardian/doctor by the necklace meant to keep the demon at bay. And unfortunately our chunky loveable co-host gets his neck snapped when trying to "the power of Christ compels you" the demon away. It isn't until we get this gorgeous dream like sequence after Jack seemingly gets away. Him going through the routine of the show only to try and escape. Him telling us to turn off our sets and stop watching before we get a sequence with the cult and him drinking from a chalice as he meets his wife. She reveals that he sacrificed her health for fame. He didn't know. And this is where I felt sympathetic for him....the entire time he was unaware...he murdered her unintentionally. And so she asks him to murder her in the physical. Take the ritual knife from Lily's old home and finish her off before the cancer can take her....only for him to plunge the knife into her and reveal that the dream was fake. And he has stabbed Lily to death. He stands and we get a heart wrenching scene of him trying to say the skeptics activation phrase to wake up while surrounded by the carnage he somewhat unknowingly caused...

Overall I give this 3 worms out of 5.

The AI made my eyes roll and the effects were corny but the premise and scenery and aesthetics were beautiful. I sort of reccomend it if you can watch it in a non supporting way.

[randomnameless]

Do you feel like the fandom has a sort of bigotry of low expectations attitude towards Almyra? Like Rhea is literally satan for not teaching Cyril to read (even though she didn't know he couldn't) but Almyra, where he lived during the time in his life where most kids are learning to read, doesn't get any flack for not educating it's children. And that's on top of treating the whole "ignoring the orphans you create in your raids for funzies until you can use them in your raids for funzies" as not a big deal at best and something Cyril needs to get over so he can embrace his Almyran heritage at worst.

Hm...

I didn't interact with khalidstan side of the fandom, a friend gave me a few links and I clicked, blinked, and they immediately returned lol.

Almyra in fandom in general is... a short summary of what Fodlan's issue is, and the need to use copious amounts of headcanons or to project real life events on the two lines given because 10k years of lore means we still don't know the name of Claude's dad or why the fuck he isn't stopping the raids.

And in a way, I can't really say it's undeserved, to project so much, because we all like to see something new, and something "not often seen" in jrpgs, Almyra's aesthetic was so heavily inspired by real world locations, so of course people wanted to know more about it than about "random medieval european land #8854" and...

Well. The game doesn't say a lot about Almyra, it is mentionned about, someone you are supposed to see as a protagonist with knowledge about this land says some good stuff about it and... that's it!

(at least it wasn't the utter disappointment Hyzante was in TS, because that's another can of worms, but given the "aethetic" picked for the ultra religious people who justify everything by their religion that is actually false and controlled by an old fart using a puppet, and who also enslaves people, and has no redeeming quality bar its last survivor being a Mother (tm) who apparently knows some medicine - let's say this portrayal would have fit well with the early 2000s depictions of a certain religion and its followers in the real world).

So for this new and "exotic" (i fucking hate that word) country, of course people wanted to know more... and when the "more" showed that IS didn't move from the Kaga era with Persia = Verdane, well.

Some people, who really wanted to be invested in Almyra (maybe projecting a lot about it) were disappointed, and had to basically create fanon!Almyra from the few breadcrumbs we got - ending with the "Almyra is wonderful and #didnothingwrong, Fodlan BaD and Syrup must embrace his Almyran identity as Khalid's bby bro!" - canon events can be ignored!

And, as headcanon/fanon, okaay, this can work, I mean, it's not because people make sandwiches with mayo, eggs and cucumbers that I have to eat it, you know? Some people eat those kinds of sandwiches, I don't, don't like, don't read, etc etc.

But then, removing the fandom's tendency to headcanon and, well, be a fandom, in FE Fodlan itself we have... Claude.

And the way the games treat Claude, imo, ultimately fuels those headcanons.

Rather, not only Claude, but more specifically, his views about Fodlan, Almyra and the supposed reasons why they can't get along.

As I posted way too many times in the last 4 years, Claude will - for a reason I suspect is tied to Hresvelg Grey and the red herring called Rhea - never interact with the Almyrans attacking for shit'n'giggles in Hilda'n'Cyril's paralogue. He will not talk about House Goneril's habit to, uh, "take orphans left on the battlefield" with them.

But it's an issue with the Fodlan games in general, you can have an elephant in the room, or a giant dragon, if it goes against the narrative a certain character pushes, that elephant will be ignored, like, the lord won't even have 1 line about it.

The game took time to code Claude having line about random pirates "dirtying" Almyra's good name by pretending to be Almyran pirates to, just, steal stuff - but it didn't took time to code Claude maybe tell to the random peon leading the raid of the week to stop the fuck out - and I ultimately don't think it was a foresight.

Claude will tell you the reason why Almyra isn't well seen nor accepted in Fodlan is because of the Church or the faith Rhea preaches (since in VW Billy will still be head of the church), because the faith Rhea preaches apparently encourages isolationism, xenophobia, etc etc...

And nowhere in the game(s) will someone tell him that, uh, no, the faith Rhea preached welcomes people of all faiths and origins (Cyril sort of does, but this support is optional when Claude will always say the same thing at the beginning, middle and end of his route(s)), or how people do not welcome Almyrans with open arms because of their habit to raid their lands every sunday (re : lack of reaction in the Hilda'n'Cyril support) - Hell, in Nopes, it's Lorenz, not Claude, who tells Almyrans that they shouldn't pillage the cities they are invading (re : the elephant in the room, Lorenz adresses it though, even if it's played for funsies).

So if Claude says Almyra is the second coming of paradise on earth, and the game never bothers to correct him or have him learn, react and reconsider his earlier opinions, why should the fandom bother? Claude is a protagonist and can be the Lord, so of course whatever he says - even in passing, is true!

Coupled with the projection/fanon/headcanon issue of earlier and you have fanon!Almyra - where Syrup needs to ditch the woman who gave him meals and a roof and basic care to return to his "almyran" origins even if in Almyra he was treated like fodder and had "no reason to live".

Why?

Because said woman is a certain fandom's projection on the catholic church + the game(s) need a red herring + Hresvelg Grey + Claude said so and the game(s) never confronts him so it sort of works.

I think, back when I still had faith in redshit, I tried to argue to someone who said "obviously Almyra has more advanced medicine bcs trust me bro" with something like "in a world where singing 2 "Ave Sothis" can heal a fractured arm, what the fuck is advanced medicine?" Ditto for the more advanced ships because they have canons, we're in the Fire Emblem series, who gives a fuck about a canon if you have a mage with long range magic on the other side ? Ask FE4, people can summon meteors - do you really think a "canon" is advanced technology in an universe with magic? (unless we make a difference between magic and technology but it's all sort of pointless, some place isn't more backwards than the other if it uses different methods to reach the same results?).

----

Then, let's not kid ourselves, Almyra, just like everything in Fodlan, has been used by the fandom to demonise Rhea, because Rhea BaD since she's the fandom projected version of Pope Francis and Supreme Leader + Claude think she's the reason why Fodlan sucks.

So with the "Rhea is satan because she never taught Cyril, who kept that information hidden, how to read, but the Gonerils are somehow A-ok despite not teaching him too - granted they also forgot to give him food so at least they're consistent in how they completely don't give a fuck about him" -

I also read the "Rhea is evil because she only saved 1 Almyran Child from House Goneril, but again, House Goneril isn't evil for, uh, keeping more than 1 Almyran child needing to be saved" -

And Nopes gave us the best "Rhea is evil incarnated because she doesn't tell Cyril to run away when people want to slaughter her, unlike what she did for her blood relatives, so it's actually Rhea's fault that Claude had to use Cyril as an archery practice dummy!".

If Rhea must be bad, then everything she stands against must be Good! And that includes the people she bought a fort to defend against!

Tl;Dr : some part of the fandom idealisation of Almyra comes frmo 1/projection

2/Khalid said so and the game(s) never force him to reconsider

3/Rhea BaD (this one is a bit of a cheat, since it can be used to explain 95% of the various discourses that happened in this fandom since its creation!)

[unalloyeddivinity]

Regarding Outer Gods

{{I don't take the interpretation common in the fandom that Miquella hates all the Outer Gods, even if he can ward some of their influences somehow. (Though I think it's more like 'He wards them away via the influence of another Outer God' because of the cosmic scale power issue.)

NGL, I low-key hate how a lot of stuff (not just Elden Ring's fandom) fundamentally misunderstands the concept of Outer Gods.

Ultimately, that characterization feels more fitting for Ranni, for one thing. Her whole thing is that she did everything she did because of her own personal gain (to be independent, period), and nothing else, without regard to the impact on others. The ramifications of her ending aren't great, even with the issue surrounding the translation accounted for, IMO.

Even then, Ranni still seems to follow one tied to the moon/the dark moon, so this isn't wholly the case for her, either. She isn't plucking all the cosmic gods away because she simply doesn't have that power, even with the Elden Ring.

Something I find annoying is a common problem with interpretation of cosmic gods in stories. It's something common in most post-Lovecraft Mythos and adjacent works, and something that's notably absent in Bloodborne (which is why Bloodborne is one of the best post-Lovecraft stories in that vein).

They take beings which are supposed to be ancient weird alien gods, and turn them into Discount Satan With Tentacles (tm). Now, Lovecraft himself sometimes did this (The Dreams in the Witch House and The Haunter in the Dark springs to mind), and those are his weaker Mythos works. A lot of his antagonistic forces are individual people who got insane power and got drunk off of what they could do with it. While you could say those people are evil, the deities are actually neutral and seem to just let whoever can access power be able to. And there are more neutral factions, too, such as how the story in The Whisperer in Darkness has an obvious alternate reading with the Mi-Go.

So, my interpretation of Elden Ring's story leans more into that aspect. Ultimately, the larger scale beings aren't innately malevolent. They have their own focuses and are aligned through their aspects. They're also tied to the underlying reality of existence, with a sort of interdependence between mortals and them in a polytheistic sense. So the power of given gods waxes and wanes based on mortals' actions, much like how the Greater Will holds power through the Elden Beast as vassal, then through Marika and how this pushed out various other gods.

The Frenzied Flame and the Greater Will might be easiest to argue as being outright evil, but this isn't quite right, either. One could instead argue that the Flame is more like an unacknowledged, unhealed raw agony that pushes people to desperate lashing out to stop the pain. (This is also why I don't think the Frenzied Flame ending can actually do anything but burn the Erdtree and Leyndell down. It's ultimately self-defeating.) The Greater Will is functionally the neutral concept of Order. But because Marika's Golden Order was based around genocide and imperialism and the rejection of so much of what exists, the Order being reinforced is awful.

And you can't exactly remove a whole aspect of reality to begin with. Because Outer Gods in a setting are fundamentally an aspect of reality. And, like, the whole point of the game is that the removal of Death (which is also tied to an Outer God) actively fucked up the world.

And, given all the weird shit going on in the background with Miquella and blood, the idea I'm playing with is that he would already have been tied to the Formless Mother, even without Mohg's blood rituals. Much like how Malenia is already tied to the Scarlet Rot.}}

[fullycollapsible]

This is a bit silly, but I made sort of a Welcome Home TMA AU- I don’t have much of a plot, but I have the alignments!

Wally- The Eye! Pretty self explanatory lol- always watching, imagery in which there are too many eyes (TM), and (depending on how you interpret the secret tapes) he’s keeping quite the eye on the neighborhood!

Frank- The Web! I’m a bit crazy about the idea that Frank is working against Wally, and the level of low-key and sneaky he would have to be to succeed in this is very web-coded to me! It also fits with Frank’s canon need for control over his life and obsession with rules and routines, and it keeps his connection with bugs! I was imagining that the Corruption almost got him, but he had to make a deal with the web under dire circumstances

Howdy- The Corruption! I initially just thought about him being a literal bug, Corruption!Howdy also makes me think of the fact that he sprouted from an (implied to be rotting?) apple core- like the holes and being eaten through by caterpillars and rot and stuff!

Barnaby- The Stranger! Called a clown both by himself and Frank, he certainly has the clown aesthetic! He also just is generally performative and relates to the circus! Plus, in the “Look! Wally exclaimed. I made a dog!” picture, the idea that he’s being ‘created’ rather than born and made as a puppet! The idea of being created from something that is very not human is stranger-coded

Julie- The Spiral! Her games are all about chaos and she generally doesn’t care about rules, guidelines, or even obeying the laws of nature! We also have the idea of her being a “rainbow monster” tied with the fact that some Spiral avatars are considered monsters and are often a wild array of colors! Makes me think about the slinky she’s shown playing with!

Poppy- The End! This is mostly because End avatars like Oliver Banks are generally pretty helpful, and the line “this moment feels exactly like the moment you are going to die.” Poppy is really anxious and paranoid, and sort of begins to spiral waiting for a disaster that she’ll never see coming

Sally- Sally is a bit complicated- I imagined she was born Desolation (A literal star made out of fire, her backstory is literally satan’s backstory so she has ties to religion) , but balanced it out by becoming a Stranger by choice!

Eddie- Eddie was super hard for me to figure out, but I eventually decided on the Buried! There’s a lot of imagery of him carrying heavy things, and the storybook centered around him involves him just lifting neighbors left and right lol- but I’ve also seen the buried (in fan works) tied to the pressure placed on someone by expectations and duties, and Eddie is. A people pleaser.

EXTRA:

Home- The Web! Ties to architecture, often depicted controlling or manipulating Wally by the fandom! Also, the goop under Home in the new update almost looks like a spiderweb towards the back! Also puppetry of course lol

Thank you for listening to my mad ramblings <3

[beelzebuddy-catan]

Obey Me Headcanons - Part 4

Mammon became luckier when the exchange program started. Not because of MC but because of Luke.

Satan is in an improv group but if you ask no he isn't.

Asmo gives people he's modelling with backhanded compliments to throw them off their game. Of course he'll look better but you can never be too sure. Right?

All of the brothers, except Satan sleep with lights on because they can't fall asleep in full darkness after living in the Celestial Realm.

Beel can't tie a tie. Satan tied his once and now he just loosens and tightens it.

Belphie can't tie his shoes. They're either Velcro, slip on, or untied.

He will never admit it.

Which is why he buys lace up shoes and just tells people he's too tired to tie them.

Levi wears heelies religiously and will just zoom out of the room when he's had enough.

Simeon pronounces lmao like LUH-Mayo but nobody will correct him.

Once in a fight when Satan was getting pissed™, MC turned to walk away and he said something under his breath.

MC spun around and slapped him.

It happened so fast he immediately snapped out of his rage fit from surprise and started laughing.

MC sells Mammon's stuff that he's forgotten about (you know he's got storage lockers full of things he doesn't even remember buying).

They save it for when he asks for money and pretends to loan it to him, know he won't pay them back.

MC has said "oh I thought you were the Avatar of ____, not the avatar of being a bitch ass" to at least one of the brothers.

Mammon was fucking around and chased some baby geese only for the mom to beat the shit out of him.

If Lilith had fallen with the brothers and become a demon, her sin would have been wrath.

Any being that can see ghosts/spirits can catch glimpses of her having violent reactions to coinciding with Satan's if he gets mad.

When MC drinks too much and needs someone to pick them up, they voice text Mammon asking for him to come.

Except half way through they always go: oh never mind Solomon just walked in. I'll just have a sleep over with him.

Mammon is ALWAYS there faster than a pizza delivery guy promising 20 minutes or less or a free pizza.

While Levi had his nickname long before Satan, it only really became commonplace when Satan was young because he couldn't pronounce the TH in leviathan.

Asmo can't French braid his hair, it always turns out as a Dutch braid.

Levi, however, is amazing at all different types of braids, so now he has to braid Asmo's hair

Diavolo thinks the funniest joke he's ever heard is the updog joke.

Mammon has gotten tricked into several multi level marketing scams.

He tries unsuccessfully to get his brothers to join each time.

Solomon started one just to mess with him.

It's the only time Mammon has been successful at it.

[inkedmyths]

S1: E22 "Devil's Trap"

Brought to you by hey so each and every one of you who made me watch this. You all suck. This is the worst. I hate it here. What sort of BULLSHIT was that—

This episode featuring: Odd interrogation techniques, family dynamics, bodysnatching, and one deeply upset Ink

Banging opening music

I will not fall doooown... when push comes to shove I will rise above... jammin

Here we fuckin go the boys are off to save or avenge their dad

[ Kayla asks if one of the opening montages has used Carry On My Wayward Son. I said no, because I would definitely remember that. ]

Where are we

What the dog doin

Holy water and whiskey. Mood.

Oh this be Bobby

[ Kayla and Crepe cheer. They love Bobby. ]

SCREAMS. JOHN JUST HAS THAT AFFECT ON PEOPLE (referring to when he threatened to shoot John) oh I like him already

Satanic Roach Hotel

Ohh. Bad year. Most years 4 possessions, but this one had at least 27...... well thats rough

UH OH

MEG

DEAN

Fuck off Meg

"Chuckleheads" GREAT word use Meg

GOTTEM

Okaaaay interrogation time

"Where's our father, Meg"

"You didn’t ask very nice"

"Where's our father, bitch"

Goddammit whys he so funny

Oh shes posessed

I dunno about innocent

Oh good news bc it means they can yeet the demon, yea?

"Hit it Sam" (begins praying)

[ Winchesters latest hit single in Christian Rap sweeps midwestern protestant congregations as a big hit! ]

Dean buddyyyy

Uh getting spookyyyyy

This is wild. Interrogation via exorcism

What the fuck are u gonna do here like what do u do

Shes dead but not but whats up

UHHHH WELL THATS FUCKING. SOMETHING

Hello ma'am

That sucks ass. Being exorcised certainly doesn't seem fun, esp when you got dropped from a building

A year............ bro.......

Poor gal...

As I went down to the river....

Oh she gone.............

:(

:((

STOP ZOOMING IN ON HER DEAD FACE

"You guys think you invented lying to the cops?" lmao thanks bobby

"I won't even try to shoot him this time"

[ Crepe asks Kayla if Meg is the woman Bobby has buried in his garden or if that's someone else. Concerning. ]

SCREAMS hes making the car safe and Dean is like MY CAR

Dean just wants his family to stop being self sacrificing. Hypocrite

Sunrise Apartments!

Building full of human shields... thats a problem

Pull the fire alarm lol

Oh those people are SO posessed

Yep there he is, tied u— hm. I don't. Like that actually

"I've got a Yorkie upstairs, and he pees when he's nervous—" Dean for funniest liar

THEY STOLE THE FIREFIGHTERS FITS

Demon? Demön?

Holy water!!

Hes still breathing hes not dead yet

But he might be posessed

Oh just had to check

Uh oh someone else just got posessed

And another....

Aha... the colt

[ Kayla: Uhhh I'm here for the colt stuff - the Winchesters]

2 bullets left!

Alright. Now what

Fambily

Dean can and will kill for his family huh

Uh oh zappy lights

The demon's here!

Uh oh

Something is wrong

OH

OH SHIT

Sam going AAA

AUGH WHATS HAPPENING

I DONT KNOW

WHAT IS THISSSSS

Bullshit bullshit

Me: DEAN WAS RIGHT

Kayla: and why was he right :)

Me: Bc he would have been pissed :(

Kayla: and never proud :)

Kayla: (therapy voice) and how did that make you feel

Me: I hate it here

Kayla: elaborate on that

Me: I haaaate it here

Kayla: mhm mhm (writing stuff down)

"What are you and God going to do?" dammmn

Justice for WHAT

Oh so a demon cares about its family

Good for him but also you were already trying to kill them before??

Yeah? Why?

What's your angle here

Huhhhhh. What the fuck do you want with Sam

"I really can't stand all your monologuing"

Oooough hitting him where it hurts damn

OOOH DAMN DEAN THROWING SHADE BACK

How are u guys goimg to get out of this

Oh shit oh SHIT

AAAAAAAAA

OH THE LEG!! SMART!!!!!!

Oh fuck man

Bro it fucking leaving

Well this is an Awkward Family Ride

Kayla: awkward family ride abt to

TRUCK

What the fuck what the fuck

WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS

BRO WHAT

THATS IT FOR SEASON 1??

BULLSHIT

---

My so-called friends then proceeded to point, laugh, and heckle me for the next 10 minutes. This is bullshit I hope you know. Stupid goddamn cliffhangers stupid Winchesters and their STUPID FAMILY NONSENSE—

[turboacek-blog]

Dragon Ball Super, potential arcs

If the anime ever comes back, people already assume they would cover the manga arcs of Moro and Granolah

And probably adapt the movies Broly and Super Hero

But that’s two main arcs and two smaller arcs (the movies wouldn’t be that long even when broken into episodes and the anime fleshing out certain moments)

And don’t know if that would be enough for a return imo

So I’m going to brainstorm ideas to help justify a return as well as just have fun

Android 21 arc

Yeah adapting the Dragon Ball FighterZ story

Mostly the Android 18 version

I don’t think the reviving of the villains will go over as well but the general premise can work

Android 21 makes this wave ray thing that nullifies most of the energy in the world making Goku and co nearly powerless

And without doing the player's soul thing maybe Bulma makes a device like a bracelet that allows them to use some of their ki but it takes a while to make each one so they do need to solve the problem

Along the way the team consists of all the z fighters

Android 21 has a similar story with 18, 17, and a new 16 then her body splits into the good half and bad half and goes from there

Can be a fun arc to level the playing field as now Yamcha could hypothetically beat Vegeta now

Plus depending on how they handle the ending Android 21 could join the Z fighters as she is a fan favorite

Edit: watched DBS: Super Hero

Since she is now officially the wife of Gero and 16 would be her son and Hedo her great? Grandson

Could have some connection with Hedo and Gamma 1 depending on the placement of this arc as before 21 could meet Hedo her grandson

After Hedo can help against 21

Xenoverse arc

This can be handled in a lot of ways

But I’m mainly focusing on the Trunks, SKOT (Supreme Kai of Time), and Fuu aspect from Xenoverse 2 bonus content

In my ideal version, this would be the Trunks that left to join the duplicate of him and Mai in their timeline and through time shenanigans the timelines are fine and Trunks can ask Goku and co to help against Fuu

Can be the repeat of the Future Trunks/Zamasu/Goku Black arc as it’s incorporating Trunks again but this time has a god/Kai approval

Don’t know the details as it would need to be altered a bit to fit the anime as they didn’t do the multiverse stuff the games do

Maybe incorporate the other universes like Jirens 11 or the unknown ones like 1

Edit: realized this is a lot of the Heroes plot so maybe just find a way to connect them somewhat officially

Dragon Ball Online stuff

I don’t know too much about the game but I know it had a lot of stuff that Toriyama helped add that could make its way into canon in some version

Like Tien already has his dojo which was the idea that was first in the game

Some ideas I had without going into detail as these can be one episode “fillers”

Krillin’s dojo, has a dojo similar to Tien for the new turtle and crane schools to exist

Ms. Buu, Buu wants a companion and creates his wife Ms. Buu so can see that happening as even in Xenoverse he just creates kids so some form of Buu having a Major family can work

Gohans book, Gohan writes a book about Ki control that spreads and has many people learn about ki including Mr. Satan, probably more of a post-Z time but can at least get started here plus it ties into his Scholar profession and how he taught Videl in Z

Goten and Trunk different paths, Trunk takes up the sword and is a swords master and Goten with martial arts so they grow in those aspects, in Online they eventually teach so maybe build that idea for the future

Namek on earth, for whatever reason namekians are on earth in DB online and they’re not just descendants of Piccolo and Dende

This could work as Namekians are friendly with the Z fighters and they just need water to live but don’t know what impact it would have

So that was the adaption stuff

Now for my original off-the-wall ideas

Android 8 upgrade, somehow Android 8 gets an upgrade and can compete against the z fighters but is used for evil or something, if Hedo can make androids capable to fight Gohan and Piccolo then anything is possible lol

Adapting some Z movie villains:

Turles and the tree of might, another Saiyan that survived kinda like Tarble but his fruit of the tree of light gives him a power boost capable of actually fighting the Z fighters

Lord Slug, evil namekian can be old yet super powerful like Moro and gets his youth back

Cool Cooler, instead of just Freiza again, I think Cooler could be what Frost was acting as but being a good guy but he has a villain he needs help defeating or something

Janemba is just a pretty strong alien with a good power set, Janemba could take a lot of hits in the bigger form and had the teleport portal blade attacks in his more iconic form

Lastly, the one people are mixed on but for the most part, want

Redo GT

This would have to be after the Z of Dragon ball so it's not likely but if they do go past the end of Z

Black star dragon balls

Just needs fine-tuning, as its main problem was that it was too long leaving it to have a lot of bad episodes,

Plus it can give Universe 7 more world building

Baby saga

Can mostly be the same but obviously more modernized and fix the issues it had

The body-snatching idea was good alone and then adding the backstory was solid on its own

Super Android 17

This would need the most workaround as maybe it isn’t 17 this time but Gamma 1 and someone rebuilt Gamma 2 and they do the fused idea people thought Super Hero would have before release

Shenron/Dragon saga

This can again be mostly the same just modernized

Having there be a drawback for all the wishes they have made is good

The dragons would need some work as outside of Nova Eis and Shin the others can be changed

And the ending can be virtually the same again

And I’m not writing it out but this is again the opportunity to not make GT Goku time

[i-am-the-balancing-point]

FC5 OC Inventory Tag Thing

I stumbled over this OC Inventory Tag Meme posted by @strafethesesinners a few weeks ago, and decided to modify it a bit to better fit our beloved Far Cry OCs.

Rules: Bold everything your OC has in their inventory and tag someone. If you do not have a specific OC do this for your personal player character. Feel free to specify anything about an item in [brackets]! There is a free space for items still missing at the end of this.

BAG

backpack | shoulder pack | duffle bag | drawstring bag | waist pack | purse | pants pockets | jacket pockets

WEAPONS

fists | brass knuckles [in rose gold (◡‿◡✿)] | shovel | axe | wooden baseball bat | aluminum bat | paddle | pipe | tree branch throwing knife | butterfly knife | hunting knife | combat knife | machete .44 Magnum | P08 | P226 | 1911 | A-99 | SMG-11 | D2 | M-79 SBS | 1887 | M133 MP40 | MP5 | MP34 | BZ19 45/70 | MS16 | M-16 | AK-47 | AR-C | BP-2 .308 Carbine | MBP .50 | AR-CL | SA-50 | SVD MG42 | M249 | M60 RAT4 | RPG-7 | shovel launcher | flamethrower | Magnopulser bear spray | smoke grenades | molotovs | dynamite | grenades | pipe bombs | proximity explosives | remote explosives slingshot | recurve bow | compound bow

GUN ATTACHMENTS

scope | suppressor | extended magazine

APPAREL

ellbow pads | knee pads | wrist guards | bullet proof vest | Junior Deputy uniform | shirt | pants | skirt | dress | scarf | cowboy hat | cap | helmet | mask | gloves | sneakers | boots | jacket | necklace | bracelet | rings | watch | flower crown | sunglasses | glasses | a change of clothes | a change of underwear [it’s literally the tiny rolled up hookup-emergency-panty, don’t judge]

HEALTH + CONSUMABLES

canteen | oregano ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) | liquor | cigarettes | bliss (drug) | medkit | tampons | pads | inhaler | painkillers | burn cream | contacts | moisturizer | perfume | homeopathics | bait | hides | bliss flowers | blue lupines | jimson weed | mustard flowers | prairie fire | prickly lettuce | bliss oil | fangs for hire treats

TOOLS

repair tool | fishing rod | hunting traps | snares | lockpicks | grapple | rope | wingsuit + parachute | binoculars | compass | lighter | pliers | camping dishes | fork | knife | spoon | flashlight | radio

COLLECTIBLES

Cougar's baseball card | Cheeseburger bobblehead | Mars comic | Vietnam comic | Zombie comic | Birds Today magazine [ specifically the duck issue] | Fishing magazine | Hunting magazine | Western Flora magazine [specifically mustard issue] | Vietnam lighter | Vinyl LPs | McHelen 57 whiskey

FOOD

rations for themselves | rations for others | candy | instant coffee | tea bags | energy bars | peanut butter | crackers | trailmix | instant noodles | canned soup | baked beans | hot dog buns | nuts | cookies | oats | chocolate | hot dogs | gum | chips | marshmallows | string cheese | jerky | energ drink | iced tea | soda | beer

MISC

pen [chewed up] | pencil | journal | sketchbook | notepad | map | kindling | keys | lose coins | VHS tape | spray paint | soap | comb | brush | hair ties | razor | lipstick | pocket lint | rosary | cassette tape or CD | Hope County Sheriff's Department badge | camping stove | tent | sleeping bag

ANYTHING ELSE? (sentimental items, religious paraphernalia etc.)

some lose ammo, a multi tool and whatever she earns through hunting

I don’t know where my Dep keeps all of this shit btw. she doesn’t have a bag. her pant’s only have small pockets. does she just stuff everything down her bra? is she pulling everthing literally out of her ass? we don’t know!

that’s it :) I tag @josephslittledeputy @yeetslovescheese @get2del-taco @havingsomemorejohnlarks @laindtt @transdeputy @strafethesesinners @sinner-and-a-satan @fc-5 @just-mint-to-be @eivxr @cptstonks @henbased @adelaidedrubman @preachtilmorning @vasiktomis @nonfunctioning-queer @faithchel @lamburrito @cullxtheherd @scungilliwoman @clicheantagonist @shallow-gravy @curlymantis @bisexualjohnseed and literally everyone who sees this, find it interesting and would like to do it. I hope you have fun!! <3

[obae-me]

Some Personal Obey Me Headcanons

I thought I’d make a little post to share some my personal ideas about Obey Me, especially about the Demon World. I think about this game too much, probably. These are all just thoughts jumbling through my head so I’m sorry if they don’t make sense. If anyone is willing to send in some heaecanons of their own, feel free to! I don’t bite! If you don’t want spoilers don’t read ahead!

The school thing is new. I love the whole school love story stuff with a demon twist, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Why would these powerful immortal beings deal with an everyday inconvenience that is the school system? I’d like to think that every so often (meaning after a few centuries) Diavolo likes to change things up. He’s a demon with a penchant for mischief as we’ve seen, and a very high curiosity level. He’ll change up his whole kingdom on a whim. One century he had the “student council” be his war council. Another century he was entirely focused on the human aspects of “noble families” and fit the Devildom accordingly. With his newest focus on connecting with the angels and humans, he decided to change things up again. An education system designed closely to how the humans do it would not only make human exchange students feel more relaxed, but it was due time some of the demons in his realm learned a few things. This would benefit everyone.

The Devildom is just the city formed around Diavolo’s castle. The city that MC has become most accustomed too is actually the safest place to be in this realm, which is saying something. Most of the more intelligent and obedient demons stay close to Diavolo’s castle. Outside those city bounds is where monsters roam, corruption lay, and demons that have lost their sense of self, leaving only blood-lust, are left behind. There’s more down there than demons, Siren Beach has that name for a reason. There’s more horrifying things out there than MC can comprehend.

The House of Lamentation is 100% baby human-proof. As well as the brothers think it is, anyway, so maybe more like 78%. Poisons are locked in a special cabinet, their weapons all locked in a special room that only Lucifer has the key for. The cursed books Satan has are on his highest shelves. The brothers have very strange priorities about this though. They felt that even simple forks or knives were too dangerous to give MC, and for the first few days they were there, they were only allowed to use them under close supervision. But of course they forgot to tell them that there was a huge three-headed monster dog in the basement.

I’d also like to believe that MC’s blood hurts demons. MC still has some of Lilith’s angel blood inside them, purified blood that has the potential to be both healing and dangerous. It burns like holy water. On the contrary Demon blood is pitch black, and causes humans to lose their mind and drive them to sin should it get in their body. Just think of the caretaking angst.

This is a big personal belief of mine that might be a bit controversial, but I like to think that Lilith’s biggest power was foresight. As an angel her biggest trait was her empathy, and that allowed her to have visions of people’s lives so she could connect with them better. This explains why MC can have visions, see events that occurred without them there, and I’d also like to believe that’s why MC can see secret chats and conversations. It just ties it up in a neat bow for me and gives me ideas for cool scenarios.

[smtlaw]

Why i think Yosuga isn’t lawful

I have seen a lot of people saying Yosuga has law traits or is lawful, i understand why they have come to consider Chiaki’s reason as such, however i disagree and so the point of this post is to explain why i think Yosuga is actually a chaotic reason.

spoilers from smt 1, 2, NINE, Nocturne and some minor ones from IMAGINE ahead.

To see why Yosuga isn’t lawful one must first understand what Law is as an ideology in the games that came before nocturne(and IMAGINE)

in SMT 1, Law was introduced as faction that desired to bring peace and stability under the guidance of God

Law Hero: I have been told of the ideals embodied by the Millennium Kingdom,in that kingdom the earth will know eternal peace.

Raphael: Let us put an end to this decadent world of destrucion and carnage, i submit to your(the protagonist if he is Law aligned) will until peace reigns upon this earth.

Law Hero:  the Millennium Kingdom is a world of eternal peace; God’s salvation come to fruition.

Do notice that Peace and order aren’t being said as an afterthought but rather as a core aspect of what they want their ideal world to be like once it is created, Uriel in IMAGINE more or less says this is the reason to follow God

once again the idea of peace is given emphasis and is treated as the reason to follow “God”, and its even how his authority is justifed on Law.

SMT 2 keeps the focus on peace but its Law ending gives a nice development to the ideology, if God’s authority is justified because he can bring peace and happiness then would it be fair to kill him if he became a problem for the overall happiness of the collective? the ending answers that question by showing Zayin/Satan’s rebellion against [Record scratch] and the center,in the Neutral route Satan tells you the center would never be able to create the  Millennium Kingdom.

Satan: God has abandoned Tokyo Millennium, he knew that so long as humanity has (demonic)knowledge, they will turn from him and bringing about an ideal world will be impossible, that is why the ideal world envisioned by messians(the center) and Seraphim -The Thousand year kingdom- was doomed to fail from the start.

essentially the Center clinged to egoism and this reflected in the city they created, despite having peace and a world where the weak can be happy as one of their endgoals, all they ended up creating was a stagnating world where the weak suffer, this is importart since the authors themselves recognized this:

Kaneko: They were beings who misunderstood God’s teachings and kept going forward. That is why they were abandoned and headed towards ruin.

Okada: Exactly. This doesn’t show up in writing, but the Senate is Dark-Law, while Gabriel and Satan are Light-Law.

basically the Center and by extension Tokyo Millennium as a whole are meant to be a corruption of Law’s ideals, since instead of erasing egoism(Like Satan implies thats what happen with the people in the ark in the Law route) they embraced it and wanted to created a world of peace not out of love for humanity but simply for themselves.

Satan judging [Record scratch] may seem out of nowhere, however one must first consider What Satan already knew about the nature of God before this moment, as the visionary items show:

Voice: Do not try to obey something. Do not try to obey someone. Do not think of God as having just one face. God is not good. God is everything. Everything is God. You too can become a face of God.

when Zayin was captured and sealed by the center he has a revaletion, he learns that God is not just a single being but rather everything, what exist is the faces of god and that he too can become one(which is what happens since as we know Satan is from the godly race in smt 2)

So by the time Aleph and Satan meet [Record scratch], he is already aware the being he is meeting is not God, but rather just a face of it, in this sense one could argue Satan doesn't rebel out of a moment of guilty(do keep in mind the genocide line is an error in the fan translation) but rather because he had a different idea of what Law should be, [Record scratch] wanted Law to be about him and his peace but Satan wanted more, he wanted a world of peace and equality for humans, not under mindless worship of an avatar of god, thus Satan rebels because he truly believed in Law as an ideology/principle.

The Law ending of smt 2 thus places more importance towards the ideals of Law rather than obedience towards a single being and it is meant to show that this is what Law is about.

NINE more or less keeps and expand on those ideas, its a story that takes place even before the events of smt 2(and most likely IMAGINE), with the goal of peace being given a focus point once again, but this time not with God’s guidance as the Neo-Messiahs instead create a world of peace(True Tokyo and Idea space) with their Goddess(Maria) and actually kill the Demiurge in the law leaning routes as a symbol of humanity cutting ties with God and also once again showing an example that God’s will is not always what Law wants.

and now we must understand what Yosuga actually wanted and why its simply incompatible with what Law as an ideology represented in the past games.

the first example of Yosuga ideology we see is with Gozu-Tennoh and the Mantra, one may argue they aren’t Yosuga aligned but they are still very associated with them as several mantra demons join Yosuga, the mantra HQ becomes the city of Yosuga and even Gozu-Tennoh describe their ideology as being very similar up to the point that he is willing to help help her, when you first meet him Gozu-Tennoh describe their ideal world as a “Kingdom of Chaos”, this of course doesn’t necessarily refers to the Chaos ideology in the games, which is fair, however as we argued before the core goals of Law is a world of peace and stability, one has to wonder if one of  Gozu-Tennoh’s goals was peace why refer to it as a world of chaos, the word itself imply a lack of stability and structure and instead hints towards a world of constant change, this ties with the way Chiaki describe her ideology and ideal world:

Chiaki doesn’t describe the world as lacking peace, but rather lacking change, that the world was taking care of the weak too much and so wasn’t changing, this resemble more Chaos than Law, for one she wants a world of change like Chaos rather than Law and blames those who lack power for the lack of change.

naturally they want a world of endless war, as Kagutsuchi himself later on refers to their world as “a Kingdom which rejoices in conflict” in the Yosuga ending, this gives a new way to look at Yosuga, they belive that the weak should die no matter what(which is kinda different from normal Chaos since on normal Chaos if the weak dies or lives in servituted is up to the strong to decide). so all of this gives a clear vision to how their world would look like: a world where the “beautiful”(the strong) rise to the top and stay there while ensuring a world of endless war and conflict rages on in order to ensure Change, however if the world is now forever in a state of conflict wouldn’t that mean that some of the strong may start to fall, if the world is always at war it would be hard to assume the strong would always be the same ones as the ones who were chosen in the beginning of it.

But then why is the divine race siding with such a violent reason if peace was the core of their ideology in the other games?  My best answer is that The logic of the old world died, if you notice Hikawa's side mostly has chaotic demons despite sounding very lawful too, the vortex world is a world without meaning, in such a world a demon who is usually associated with chaos can seek a lawful reason without becoming a lawful demon because being a demon associated with a specific alignment doesn't mean anything in the vortex world, same thing happens to angels seeking a chaotic reason, essentially demons siding with Shijima and angels siding with Yosuga is not meant to make sense, because it shows how a symbol(the idea a demon represents) can change what it used to mean into something completely different.

the only way Yosuga comes of as Lawful is by Nocturne standarts of what Order and Chaos is, in other games Law vs Chaos is the battle between 2 groups that wish to shape society to a new way of thinking, this isn't the case in Nocturne, order in nocturne is "i wish the universe to exist in a system of death and rebirth", while Chaos is "i wish to seek meaning outside the universe itself", the normal Law vs Chaos is about how you wish society to be like while Nocturne Law vs Chaos is about the cosmic rules you want the universe to obey or if you even want to live in one.So while Yosuga can be considered Meta-Law it wouldn't really fit with Normal Law in the rest of the games.

after considering all of this i can’t really see the Reason of Yosuga as lawful, they desire a world of conflict and change but Law seeks a world of peace and stability, the authority in Law is justified by the fact they can guide humanity towards peace but the authority in Yosuga is justified simply by power, and as mentioned before Law has an emphasis on creating a world for the weak but Yosuga seeks to always exterminate those who lack power.

it is true that Law is willing to do a lot of evil stuff but one has to remember that from their point of view they are doing this for a world of peace where everyone is happy and where there is no difference between the strong and the weak, so from their point of view this is usually viewed as a necessary evil rather than the way their ideal world will look like.

although i believe that Yosuga comes of as chaotic, i still believe there is difference between it and normal chaos, Chiaki’s ideal world seems like it will always stay in a cicle of violence and a world of chaos can indeed be violent however as Lucifer says in smt 2 chaos ending you can strive to create peace if you have the power and so long as it doesn’t stay in the way of freedom, which is another difference between it and Yosuga, Yosuga has no emphasis on the freedom Chaos allow to those who rise to the top.

basically i think Yosuga is a pseudo-Chaos faction.

[rpmemesbyarat]

RP meme from Tori Amos quotes

- Healing takes courage, and we all have courage, even if we have to dig a little to find it.

- I think that people who can't believe in fairies aren't worth knowing.

- I know I'm an acquired taste - I'm anchovies. And not everybody wants those hairy little things.

- Some of the most wonderful people are the ones who don't fit into boxes.

- I have so many different personalities in me and I still feel lonely.

- The violence between women is unbelievable.

- I'm too wacky for most weirdos. Who am I to judge?

- If they keep crashing stuff into the moon, the moon's gonna get pissed off, and the tides'll change, and all the women'll start PMS-ing together. Then you guys are going to fucking regret it.

- If you really want a challenge, just deal with yourself.

- I don't see myself as weird, I just see myself as honest.

- I see the dream and I see the nightmare, and I believe you can't have the dream without the nightmare.

- Some people are afraid of what they might find if they try to analyze themselves too much.

- Once the bleeding starts, the cleansing can begin.

- On some of my darkest days, Lucifer's the one who comes and gives me an ice cream.

- Most people would rather be sheep than stand on their own with antlers on.

- The sense of loss is such a tricky one, because we always feel like our worth is tied up into stuff that we have, not that our worth can grow with things we are willing to lose.

- When you've got the virgin and the whore sitting next to each other, they're likely to judge each other harshly.

- I think you have to know who you are.

- Get to know the monster that lives in your soul.

- Dive deep into your soul and explore it.

- I don’t want to renounce my dark side.

- The truth has always held an enormous interest for me.

- Healing for me is being able to sit next to the butcher and say 'Yes, I’m sitting next to the butcher now,' instead of saying 'there is no butcher'.

- This is very simple in the world of chicks; some are hoochies, some are not, and some should never try to be.

- We don't often see our own stories. Good artists are the ones that whisper our own stories back to us.

- Music is about all of your senses, not just hearing.

- Again, we go back to the power of words and how they can make you feel. They bring liberation or stagnation, they're chains.

- You don't have to apologize for growing and learning and changing your mind.

- Music has an alchemical quality.

- Certain relationships can just wear you down.

- Containment of your opinion is a must if you are going to nurture an artist's development.

- It's a good thing I'm curious, because sometimes I just research how a soccer player kicks a ball and the impact it has on his foot. I haven't used this yet, but I might.

- But over the years you can cultivate hate for the art you love.

- I don’t believe anyone’s story is boring. Every story has value because it belongs only to you.

- Sometimes I fantasize backstage about how people do their laundry. Woolite? Mixed-color loads? Do they fold? Do they press? Do they Shout it out? And the thing that kills me—do their whites come out dingy?

- Our generation has an incredible amount of realism, yet at the same time it loves to complain and not really change.

- We like our pain. And we’re packaging it, and we’re selling it.

- Festivals or radio shows can be the heavyweight championships of arrogantly detached clusterfucks.

- People who are addicted to power can live on the same street or attend the same school as us or even play on the world stage.

- None of us are this light and dark fantasy. What's dark to you may be light to me and vice versa.

- I don't think that many performers necessarily want to see their audience empowered. I think a lot of performers, no different from priests, need the hierarchy.

- Modern, celebrity-driven entertainment turns the stage into an altar, and so many celebrities refuse to be removed from those altars once they manage to ascend.

- All storytellers, all troubadours worth their salt knew their myths.

- The Sídh's historical myth is the source of the bastardized concept of a fairy—as if anyone gives a rat's ass.

- The problem with Christianity is, they think everything is about outside forces, good and evil. There's not a lot of inner work encouraged.

- Over the last few hours I've allowed myself to feel defeated, and just like she said if you allow yourself to feel the way you really feel, maybe you won't be afraid of that feeling anymore.

- I'm the queen of the nerds.

- Don't give up. Don't listen to these foolish critics that are so small minded they don't get it tonight.

- Sometimes listening to music can motivate you.

- I think even in a good marriage, especially if you stay together long enough, there are going to be events that happen.

- An ounce of breast milk is even more potent than the finest tequila.

- Music is always a reflection of what's going on in the hearts and minds of the culture.

- Many people lock a part of themselves away. It's a bit sacred.

- I've always seen the songs as having a consciousness.

- Our world is a huge mess right now, and not big enough for masses of intolerant people.

- We are all fairies living underneath a leaf of a lily pad.

- That is some funky-fresh, pop lockin' shit.

- If I saw someone destroy a piano I'd fuckin' kill 'em. Wouldn't think twice.

- I experiment with things that are usually an internal experience, because that's just what excites me. And yes, it does sometimes give me visions.

- Some of those trips were eighteen hours long and I'll never forget, once I ended up sitting by the bush trying to ask the flowers why they didn't like me. It's like, Why can't I be your friend?

- You might not like my story because I'm not gonna tell you how it ends yet, and you need to travel it with me.

- I just imagined a huge juicy vagina coming out of the sky, raining blood over all those racist, misogynist fuckers.

- You can't control your popularity

- If you can't create physical life, you find a life force. If that's in music, that's in music.

- I started to find this deep, primitive rhythm, and I started to move to it.

-I held hands with sorrow, and I danced with her, and we giggled a bit

- I usually get myself into situations that cause sparks.

- I love feeling alive, I love walking out in the cold in my bare feet and feeling the ice on my toes.

- For the most part, pianos are female to me.

- Anger is natural. It's part of the force. You just have to learn to hang out with it.

- In our minds, love and lust are really separated.

- I think all the boys that write the screaming stuff would write the best love songs

- When you stop putting yourself on the line, and you don't touch your own heart, how do you expect to touch other people?

- Guys would sleep with a bicycle if it had the right color lip gloss on. They have no shame. They're like bull elks in a field.

- Your worst enemies are made when you ignore people.

- It's as if the horses have come to take us back, to descend, to find the dark side. By dark I mean what's hidden, not necessarily satanic.

- There's room for everybody on the planet to be creative and conscious if you are your own person. If you're trying to be like somebody else, then there is isn't.

- Sometimes you have to do what you don't like to get to where you want to be.

- You know that saying, bad things don't happen to good people? That's a lie.

- I'm not a habit, I'm a lifestyle.

- There are a lot of hidden nerds.

- People who become the front runners often used to be outcasts or loners.

- Um, don't get me wrong because I love boys, it's just that sometimes we don't need you.

- There are only ten ideas under the sun. What makes the difference is how you spice them.

- So I'm in Virginia, and I had crabs--I keep saying that! I had crab sickness, I had eaten bad crabs in Maryland!

- I'm a winter girl; I like coming out when things are desolate and everybody's ready to slit their wrists.

- You can only be you. A lot of times it's never enough for people.

- I've never played the guitar, except throwing it against the wall cause it was pissed off I couldn't play it.

- Truly, I was a sweetheart when I was little, like the Honeysuckle Faery. Sweet-pea. But sweet-peas are not popular after second grade. Sweet-peas become nerds really fast.

- I really enjoy having a giggle with a friend, but then someone crosses my line, then I don't really take it lightly.

- I sometimes forget I'm not 7'2" and a Viking.

- A boundary was crossed. And maybe I drew a boundary, consciously.

- It was a bit violent, a bit sexual.

- When nothing makes sense, music seems to come and bring me a margarita and sit down with me.

- You don't have to justify everything. Being pissed off is just absolutely okay.

- There is a level of the vampire in me, which is OK.

- It hurts me when a woman doesn't come through for me, more than a man.

- I'm a grown woman. I've earned my experiences, my scars.

- What is an angel but a ghost in drag?

- I'm beginning to accept and love the parts of me, of women that I was trained to hate all my life.

- People can be so vicious toward the imaginary world and it saddens me. You kill a lot of little people's dreams that way.

- Even if you don't read history or you aren't interested in anything that happened before the '60s, there are reasons why we think the way we do.

- That's how the story goes but I don't believe the story.

- I would find myself either the lovey-doveyest-woviest sweet pea, or a mad-woman.

- I believe in eating.

- You can't change what happened. And nobody's asking you to forgive.

- Why be afraid of these cuddly, soft, adorable things?

- I have good days. Like if I get really good coffee ice cream with just the right amount of chocolate syrup.

- A lot of people see themselves as victims, even when you have to stand in line for ice cream.

- It's so difficult to be critical of children because they need to discover themselves. We're always telling them, "No, the tree has green leaves!"

- I'm tired of being a rebel. Now I just want to be me.

- When things get really empty for me, empty in my outer life, in my inner life, the music world, the songs come across galaxies to find me.

- Do you know what it's like to be a girl and have blood running down your legs and think that you're dying, just because no one's told you that's what happens? It's horrible.

- An angel's face is tricky to wear constantly.

- Mess with me and you will not survive.

- I think that happiness is when you can let yourself feel every emotion you want at any time instead of being a lying little fuck.

- I'm not into this dieting thing.

- The cross has been used as a weapon, as it has been used against all women throughout the ages. And that's the greatest evil of all.

- I think you've got to find a giggle somewhere in stuff that would scare the poop outta ya.

- A cornflake girl is Wonderbread whereas a raisin girl is whole wheat bread.

- I would like to think I'm a raisin girl, because in my mind they're more open minded. Cornflake girls are totally self centered, don't care about anything or anybody.

- I like butter and the people who like butter."

- I'm known as that girl who has tea with the Devil.

- I'm not afraid of sadness.

- Everybody has creativity and each person has it in a different way. Some people aren't musical, some musicians can't even think about painting or gardening. There's so many different ways to be creative.

- I wanna be burned, definitely burned, like the witches.

- Give the kids tools, so they can go build their own houses; not the blueprint of what the houses should be.

- Look at me now. I'm breast feeding pigs.

- I wish I had more of a sense of humor.

- I can be so hard on people.

- If somebody's being a jerk, I would like to go wee on their head. And then I do that, mentally.

- The people on the internet know more about what I am doing than I do. Like, they will say that I am going to be in this mall on this day, and sure enough, I am there!

- I'm like a lioness who kills her own prey and no one else has to kill for her. But if some other lioness comes to me and says "I just got a good prey, do you want a piece?" I can say "of course" - and the other way around.

- There are things that I would disagree with Jesus about, and I feel really good about that.

- History has recorded some pretty nasty things that have happened to people. I think we remember. I think it's in our cells and I think it can still hurt sometimes."

- I don't believe in the saying that it all happens for the best, it's just not appropriate.

- Of course I believe in past lives, I mean, three quarters of the human race believes this, it's not like a great new thought here.

- I use innocence in my demeanor like a Venus flytrap.

- I do like to talk about things no one wants to hear at the dinner table.

- I'm not interested in being a really nice person; I want to be a creative, responsible person that's balanced.

- Boys are cute but food is cuter

- Do any of you dream about crocodiles?

-I know I dream about crocodiles. I'm obsessed with them.

- If people can't see things from the other side that's not my problem, it's theirs.

- I think I give equal time in my hatred, right?

- Sometimes I'm mad at some guy, sometimes I'm mad at some girl, and sometimes I'm totally loving some guy, so and sometimes I'm loving some girl.

_ Well, Pele is the volcano goddess and I thought of like, um, sacrificing some of the boys in my life to her but then I decided that that wasn't really a very good idea.

- Anger originates from envy and outrage, not being seen, not being heard.

- We don't know where souls go when they die. We don't know a lot of things. We didn't create the planets. We didn't do this all by ourselves. So, therefore, why wouldn't there be a creative force if it can create humans and planets?

- I've been hanging out with some of the Hell's Angels in England. They're some of the sweetest people I've ever met.

- Real friends have to be understanding of each other, and their faults.

- I think I'm really hard to get to know on a personal level.

- Thailand is calling me.

- People I see laughing all the time, check for razor blades in their anal-force underwear, because it's just a little lie.

- I'm not interested in taking drugs. I do hallucinogens once in a while for journey experiences.

- I hear the wine. It's like a structure. I see it as a piece. I hear it before I taste it. It's calling me. And then I start to hear it when I'm tasting it.

- Not that I use crystal suppositories, I'm not New Age.

- A peach tree says, 'Some of me will be juicy and some of me will be dry I'm not growing for you; I grow because that's what I do.' You always hear some person complain about how dry their peach is and the peach says, 'It's not our fault you have no understanding on the proper use for dry peaches.'

- My theory is that women were the Mona Lisas for a long time and now men are Mona Lisas with little goatees. They are our muses.

- If you're gonna tell a story, you have to grow into the head of the rapist as well as the raped.

- He was a lite sneeze, and not the flu. Most boys would like to think they're the flu, wouldn't they? But they're really just a achoo.

- If you call me an airy-fairy new age hippy waif, I will cut your penis off.

- It's a double-edged sword and if you pretend you don't want it you're a liar and that is going to rip your soul to pieces.

- I'm always dreaming that these bulls are chasing me. Half the time I don't get away - I almost get over the fence, and then they gore me.

- I believe in energy, everything is energy. And therefore sometimes magic can be created if somebody is open to letting energy do what it does, instead of being so cynical, that you miss magic happening.

- I feel like a work really has many sides to it when people have such extreme reactions. When a work is greeted with just, 'Oh, you know, it's nice', then it's not affecting people. So love it or hate it, that's okay.

- I am a real believer in looking at pain and taking it out shopping.

- The music is the magic carpet that other things take naps on.

- I just try to strip myself, peel myself like an onion. At different layers I discover stuff.

- Why is the world where it is? It's so deep-rooted, if we really start looking, and we might not like what we find. But I think we have to, we have to ask the questions.

- I'm beyond the fury of youth.

- I love young women who are angry. They're wild mustangs.

- I didn't want her looking and hearing me and thinking, "Oh my God, that's a scary lady!"

- They felt that it was detrimental material for their children and that it was blasphemous.

- They've decided they kinda' have you figured out.

- My nightmares are so bad, that I mostly reject it when my friends want to take me to a cinema to watch a horror movie. Then I say, "No, thank you. I will dream in a few hours."

- I don't know of anybody who's gonna be fulfilled if they get hit by a bus. You have to surrender to that eternal need to be fulfilled.

- How do you know I'm not having a margarita with Jesus tonight at 10 o'clock?

- Let's be honest, religion has not supported women and men exploring all sorts of their sides, their unconscious. It has not been supportive of, you know, go into the places without shame, without blame, without judgment, and just let yourself really see what's cooking in there.

- I think human beings are so much more capable of what they told us we're capable of.

- Anyone can attend yoga, kabbalah classes, church, lectures by the 'Dalai Lama', yada, yada, yada - but can you be present for your life, and live with the way you treat other people?

- Only a few people should have a "greatest hits". I'm not one of those people.

- I feel like our leaders have hijacked America's personality, and taken her to personality plastic surgery school. And they decided this is who she is.

- The playground is the biggest war-zone in the world.

- You have to read visionaries to have visions.

- They squash the baby bird because their bird got squashed.

- I love reading. I'll read the first sentence and if it makes sense to me I pick it up.

- It's ridiculous saying there's only one true faith, it's like saying there's only one map to get you up the mountain. I want to see those other maps, man.

- I kinda have all the aspects of my personality round one table for spaghetti.

- If it's too loud, turn it up.

- I was doing drugs with a South American shaman, and I really did visit the devil and, well, I had a journey.

- There is no passion without broken crockery.

- You have to ask, how could a nation nearly vote in somebody who isn't qualified for the job?

- We're living in a frightening time and I wish people would wake up and realise they're surrendering their civil liberties.

- Who wouldn't want to shag a queen?

[warelander]

Since SEGA has revealed the 28th PPT2 character on the official Puyo Twitter (and via the collab with Quest), I feel more comfortable sharing my thoughts on the story now.

Still with spoiler warnings and under a Read More of course, I want to talk about everything I find worth discussing, which means spoiling a lot of stuff.

Anyone who has followed me for a while knows that I have been very critical of the writing the direction of the series post-15th Anni., because of it I wasn't really all that optimistic for the writing in PPT2. This really just makes me all the more happy to say that this game was one hell of a pleasent surprise in that regard and a major step in the right direction.

It follows up on PPT1, while feeling like a much more robust take on it's concepts, most notably the corruption of characters in Chapter 3. PPT1 had something similar, that just came and went, in PPT2 though it fits with the larger plot and get's proper explaination.

In general, PPT2 puts far more effort into having a cohesive narrative, instead of relying on conveniences to get character from point A to B or make stuff happen on the fly. It doesn't feel like just some excuse plot this time around.

Marle and Squares are the major newcomers and handle the major focus that comes with it well, they kept me constantly intruiged, which is made even better by them having such a strong presence through the story.

Also, big shout-out to Marle for not having any ties to Ecolo, like I was initially afraid she would. It's nice to have a plot play out without Ecolo hijacking the solution or start of the conflict in some way.

So the story is surprisingly solid and honestly, characterization is not far behind.

Flanderization is a problem the series suffered from for a long while now, with Chronicle being the peak of it. Luckily PPT2 scales it back considerably. The biggest examples are Rulue, who is no longer just Satan crazy in every scene she is in and Sig, who never once(!) mentions bugs through the whole game. Draco feels still the most flanderized, but even that felt not as bad here.

That aside, the game has plenty great character moments. It's nice to see Schezo and Witch interact more again. Ex acting very fatherly towards Squares in the final chapter is wonderful and Satan get's a truly great showing there as well.

My absolute favorite part though, has to be Ess finally admitting to liking Amitie during the ending. It's the kind of development for her I dearly wanted and it's nice to see my view on the character be validated.

So, both of these major halfs are handled well. I am happy with how the story shaped up, but I do got some gripes.

As nice as it is to see the greater cast be part of the adventure, they are still very disappointingly silent for good chunks of it, with Chapter 7 forgetting about them completely. Heck, even Ess suffered from the latter and she had every reason to get some attention, being a PPT1 main character and it would have made the ending hit even more, but instead her presence is relegated to just being available in Skill Battle, like most others.

Ally especially get's it rough, since while dialogue and her being playable indicate that she joins up with the others, this is not reflected in cutscenes at all, since she only shows up in time for Chapter 7, where the vast majority of the cast just stand silently in the corner, waiting for their turn in Skill Battle mode. That said, I do like how she is written and her interactions with Marle.

It's especially a shame, because the part where the extended cast hang around on the SS Tetra and pass the time with competitions was an absolute delight and my favorite part of the game. Fun, funny and with some really interesting choices for interactions (like Sig + Jay and Elle). If the promised updates also include small, new story paths I hope we get more like this.

Aside from that there are some small things. Ally not remembering Arle is weird, kinda dumb and raises a lot of questions and Schezo is still too uberly nice for how I see him, but on the whole, the positives outweigh the negatives. Easily even.

PPT2 is by far my favorite game, writing wise, since 15th Anni. and it's given me newfound hope for a part of the series I was ready to give up on entirely.

[fsketchart]

OKAY SO QUICK HEADCANONS-

I did some research about Chinese weddings when I was bored (because I'm chinese but I don't know cHINESE CULTURE-) And at Chinese weddings, they have a game called the door game where the groom has to prove he is worthy of the bride by doing all these challenges, and his best friends will stick by his side and complete the challenges with him, and of course, me being me, I just instantly thought MARINEEEEEEEEEEEETTE and so I birthed this headcanon. In the door game, the bridesmaids typically make the challenges, while the groomsmen help the groom. I'm sorry if the DC characters were out of character, I haven't seen DC in awhile but I remember DC bringing me so much joy when I was younger.

Side Note : This happens years later, they're all adults in this one. Thank you @ozmav for birthing this AU, I've been swallowed whole.

· The bridesmaids formed a wall around Marinette, and smirked at the line of groomsmen that Damian had chosen.

· Damian and his brothers are an obvious must have on this list. The way Damian sees it, if he suffers, his brothers should become victims to the torture as well.

· Jon, beast boy, cyborg, you name it. They're suffering too.

· Each of them had to pay a fine to join in the challenges, (In red envelopes, not to much obviously but it's a tradition.)

· And dear lord was it scary.

· When the bridesmaids stepped out, Kagami had a smile on her face as she and the other girls filed out.

· That was when they knew it was going to be a scary ride.

· Damian thought that he had to have been the unluckiest man alive.

· Kagami was the one to announce the first challenge...

· She along with her mother had prepared several drinks for them all to taste. Each of them had to taste each drink and try to guess what it was. If they guessed wrong, they had to take another shot. If they guessed right, they moved onto the next drink.

· Lovely fine beverages included Apple Cider Vinegars, Bitter herbs, Red Chilli, and ended with each of them having to keep a large piece of ice in their mouth for as long as possible.

· The person who spits out the ice cube, accidently chews / swallows it, or gives up, gets to play a LOVELY role in the next challenge.

· As Kagami explains this Dick and Damian are already arguing, completely ignoring her instructions.

· Except the ice is still in their mouths.

· "HESHYUSUGICKHEAD!"

· "IAKETHAASUHCAHPLEEMEH!"

· "FEKYUBIRBAIN!"

· Eventually Damian has enough and he bites into the ice cube to continue yelling at Dick.

· Except he's on the ground covering his mouth while he laughs so the ice doesn't fall out.

· All Kagami does is pause, before breaking into one of those Disney villain laughs.

· The next challenge is done by Alya, (in this AU she didn't fall as easily into Lila's lies and 👏stood👏up👏for👏her👏friend👏)

· Alya has a mischevious gleam in her eyes as she explains the next challenge :

· The groomsmen and the groom will have 20 minutes to create a cheer routine that MUST include a pyramid...

· Everyone immediately starting crowding around Damian saying that he would be on top, because he's one of the lightest there and for the love of god Tim was not allowed to be on top, much to his displeasure.

· And Kagami was like, "Yeah lemme stop you right there-"

· As his punishment for biting the ice, Damian was on the bottom.

· The cheer routine ended with Tim and Dick fighting for the spotlight.

· The pyramid didn't last long.

· Why? Because Jon was also in the bottom row and he fucking sneezed.

· Eventually Dick and Tim were climbing on top of the collapsed pile, trying to push eachother off.

· Kagami and Chloe ran over to pull them off eachother while Alya recorded everything on her phone. Marinette was wheezing.

· Chloe had a TON of fun for the 3rd challenge.

· It's not uncommon for the men to have to wax their legs, as it's supposed to make the men understand what the women went through when waxing their legs.

· Chloe was thrilled.

· Damian was not.

· During that challenge a lot of...colorful language was thrown about.

· Bruce was not impressed.

· They swore they would never speak of this again.

· Of course, Alya always had her trusty camera on her, at ALL times, but they didn't need to know that-

· The next challenge was done by Juleka and Rose...

· They took photos of each bridesmaid and the bride herself and cut out each features, (A close up of the nose, eyes, hair, lips, etc.)

· The groom went in solo for this challenge.

· Immediately Damian spotted the difference and swiftly picked out all the photos of his fiancee in less then 2 minutes. No mistakes.

· Cue the crowd clapping and Marinette turning extremely red and burying her hands in her face.

· Feel free to add more challenges yourself, it's totally up to you.

· The final challenge was prepared by all of the bridesmaids...

· Marinette stood in the corner of the room, and at each corner, there was a mini crowd blocking their view. A tie was tied around her neck and a small piece of yarn was tied around that string.

· There were about 5 other pieces of yarn in the room, each blocked by a mini crowd. These yarns lead to much less...pleasant surprises.

· Damian had 3 tries to find his bride and complete the challenge.

· Damian's saw Marinette's mother waiting at the end where the red string was, and rushed over there. When the crowd split to make room for him to walk through...

· Damian just saw a post it note stuck to Jason's head saying, "Carry me."

· Damian tried to run but to not avail. The crowd closed in.

· Cue Jason getting a piggy back ride.

· Damian was not to kean on picking the next one as quickly as before. He glanced around for any clues, but noticed his father and Tom Dupain-Cheng next to the green string.

· And was met with a scooter, (the kind that they give out during gym class that is just a square board with wheels, sometimes with handles.) On the scooter, it said, "Hop on!"

· The crowd was laughing as Damian struggled to fit himself and Jason on the same tiny scooter while still moving.

· "MOVE YOUR LEFT FOOT AND PUSH- MY LEFT IDIOT"

· "OH WELL I'M SORRY YOU DEMON SPAWN OF SATAN JEEZ Here let me just-"

· "WE'RE GOING BACKWARDS YOU-"

· Eventually, they reached the center of the room again.

· Finally, Damian took notice a small, tiny flower tied onto a pink string of yarn, all the way near the back.

· Slowly...and painfully...Damian and Jason made their way over to the back and followed the string.

· When the crowd finally split, Damian was left in awe.

· Marinette stood there in a white gown with pink flowers decorating her dress, with her hair tied in without a doubt done by Chloe and Juleka. She smiled a brightly up at him and approached him.

· Damian had an entire speech planned out, but all the words he could get out were, "I love you."

· The crowd started hooting and hollering, as they kissed. Despite everything, Damian felt like the luckiest man alive.

I wasn't sure if anyone wanted to be tagged in anything other than A Second Chance, so I don't have a tag list, but comment if you want to be tagged in future Maribat stuff, both fic or not fic related.

Maribat Chinese Wedding Traditions