#let's see who of the other survives

[ireallyamabear]

one thing that i find a bit difficult is the strict timeline we know will happen in the next 3 arcs, and what that means for speculating about the plot threads. we know there's gonna be a time jump again and the characters will have lived a year (or around that), so there's no picking up immediate conversations/actions ... the thread will be the emotional state of all of them, i think. and, one of the best things the first season does is the looping back on plot points; you learn stuff later that really change and enhance the context of stuff we learn earlier. like the fact that Clem was actually Cassian's adopted father's name. So i am very confident that in the future episodes we will learn stuff that makes us look back in time to 4bby and then 3 bby and so on and enhance those scenes. right now i'm especially thinking about the rebels left on yavin (which might have been the weakest point of the first 3 episodes. yet!) and what seeds there are that we will come back to. They're left on the planet. they'll probably have to take each other out because of mistrust or for resources. Bardi has a brother who took a ship and left them. They might or might not have seen their leader be killed. edit: amending this post because i'm fucking stupid and Bardi got killed actually by the dinosaur. whooooooops. Maybe the brother is his twin and the actor will come back? anyway

[lyxchen]

Okay so I've heard this said a bunch of times and I'm gonna admit I thought like that too for a while but no, Gi-hun did not win the games because he was lucky. A lot of people think that's how he won because he never killed anybody but that's really not the point. Gi-hun won the games because a) he's smart and is able to look at things from a different angle, b) because he is a good and kind person who also believes in others and c) because of the goodness and care get got back from other people.

In the first game he survived because Ali saved him and that wasn't luck, that was Ali being a good person and helping somebody not get killed. Ali could've not caught him, let him die, he didn't even know Gi-hun at all at that point and he put himself in more danger too by having to hold on to a person while standing completely still but he still saved Gi-hun because Ali is a good person.

In the Dalgona game he quite literally Was Not Lucky. He decided to go with the umbrella which is the worst shape to pick and he probably would have died if he hadn't looked at the game in a different way and decided to change his strategy. Gi-hun is smart. He is also optimistic and so he tried something new and found a different way to beat that game.

In the third game he survived because he was smart and kind enough to listen to Il-nam. The other people in their group dismissed him as just an old man speaking but Gi-hun didn't and that way they had a good strategy to beat the other team. The same goes for him listening to Sang-woo's idea of running three steps and then stopping, which ultimately was what saved them. His group also chose him as their leader (who, as Il-nam said, needs to not seem weak or loose hope because then the whole team is doomed). His team trusted in him and his optimism and they were right to do so.

In the marbles game he won because he was once again kind and decided to team up with Il-nam and also because in the end Il-nam decided to "sacrifice himself" for Gi-hun because he showed him kindness before. Yes Il-nam didn't actually die but he also knew that Gi-hun had cheated and still let him continue on to the next game, probably because Gi-hun had been good and kind and caring towards him before, even though he really didn't have to be. Gi-hun also didn't know this but by teaming up with Il-nam he inadvertently ensured that Il-nam had a lot more fun in the games than he would have had, had everybody just ignored to "old, fragile man". Gi-hun was good to Il-nam throughout all the games and it ended up saving him in the marbles game.

In the fifth game it's only some small moments as Gi-hun isn't really involved in the game because he's the last number but still it wasn't just luck. First of all he was kind enough to give the number 1 to the player that asked him for it. Yes, that number was bad but he didn't know that and had he been selfish enough to say no to that other player he wouldn't have survived. Being the last to play in any game can end up being bad for you, still he decided to give up the number he picked because the other player asked him to. Secondly he also survived that game because Sae-byeok was kind enough to remind him of which glass tile to step on after he had forgotten which one it was. It's only small but she didn't have to tell him and still she did. Sae-byeok btw is also good to him because before that he was good to her and protected her (even though he was angry at her at first) and that way he was able to gain her trust.

Lastly he won the Squid Game because Gi-hun was kind to Sang-woo and because Sang-woo deep down was still a good person. There were probably many reasons as to why Sang-woo decided to kill himself in the end but part of it, I'm sure, was also because Gi-hun was a good friend to him. I mean Gi-hun was even willing to give up all the money and go back home with nothing gained if it meant that Sang-woo didn't have to die and would be able to come home with him. Gi-hun deserved that win and that money and in the end Sang-woo knew that. He also knew that Gi-hun would make sure to take care of Sang-woo's mother and that he wouldn't just take all the money for himself because Sang-woo knew that Gi-hun is a good person. (Gi-hun technically also won the Squid Game because he was good at it which is also him being smart)

So in conclusion and I hope y'all haven't stopped reading yet: Gi-hun didn't win the games because he was lucky. He didn't just sit around doing nothing and won anyways. He won because he was smart but even more importantly he won because of the kindness and goodness that exists in humans and that is especially present in him. He won because he had empathy, because people trusted him, because he got back from them what he gave to them first. He never killed anyone and we can clearly see that he Could Never kill anyone in those games but that's not his weakness. Just because he didn't let himself get corrupted and turned into what the games wanted him to turn into doesn't mean he won because of luck. Him not playing by those subtle, hidden rules that are made to force him to be bad, to not care about others and to give up his kindness actually means he was better than the games. He won because he didn't let them turn him into a monster. They tried really hard and they failed and that's how he won!! But also on top of that he also won because he isn't the only good person in this show. He also won because other people helped him, were kind to him and gave a shit about him. Each and every person that helped Gi-hun didn't have to do that. They all could have not helped him, Ali could have not caught him, Sae-byeok could have not told him which one was the correct glass tile, hell, she could have Lied to him about it and the only difference it would have made for the other players would have been them being one more dead person closer to winning all that money. But that's really not how humans are and act which is why all these people helped Gi-hun, helped each other in small or big ways and in the end his own kindness and the kindness that exists in other people is what lead to Gi-hun winning. That's not luck. That humans being good

[sometimesmaybespoof]

When she Half on my Life till I 2

[thegameartist03]

it was supposed to be over… but i’m enjoying Beyond Repair (by manofthepipis on ao3) too much… there’s the barest hint of an idea for a long Spamtenna fic simmering in the back of my brain and it’s 60% plot 40% Tenna and Spamton beating the snot out of each other and having the messiest gut-punch of a slow burn get back together known to man, while also trying not to die or kill each other.

i need the most intense fic that feels like chewing on candy-cane splinters. they need to crash out at each other so hard and then turn around and fall to their knees crying and begging the other not to leave them. i need it to be MESSY

[joongdunking]

So Joong wasn't kidding when he said we will only get to see the series next year.........

[kabutoden]

bug trolls… i am interested in kankri vantas. if that isn’t too much trouble. your buggy guys are so silly and interesting and i am a fan

here is kankri and his baby brother…. they don’t get along!! i wish they did though id love to see these two go on an adventure together where they look out each other. since kankri is a beforus troll and a vegan, his shell is pretty thin because he’s not getting enough iron. on the other hand, karkat’s shell is heavier then it should be due to stress. thanks for the RQ!! im soooo glad ppl like my sillies :D

[oensible]

in a way im kinda glad we sent our darling grudge holding goon givani to roam the beautiful rockies because i do not want this to start any kind of violent feud with uhc 👍 im frustrated with the missed calls bc i want macklini to get matched up against top players trying to stifle his game thru elite play so that he can develop like a superbug bacteria rapidly evolving from antibiotic overuse, i dont want anyone getting any ideas to try to stifle his game by putting his ass on ir lol. unfortunately the best deterrent is the refs/toronto/dops doing their job which sucks because. it is very hit or miss. many many misses, and this goes for any given team tbh the sharks arent uniquely maligned (THAT honor goes to michael bunting 2022–23 😭) HOWEVER the best deterrent is most definitely NOT hoping that hockey fights are going to magically start working as advertised, because even as hype and hockey-culture-mythos-compliant as they are they just mean more and more people are going to get hurt 😭 and our players cannot play good hockey if they are sat in the penalty box/dressing room!!!

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

so. I just got to Maruki’s attempted persuasion of Ren before the deadline and. hey what the fuck. what. what.

Akechi is the sole bargaining chip? Akechi’s life and their continued connection is what Ren wished for?

[kalosian-woods]

speaking off the other electric type gym leaders, do you think clemont would know them? do you think the other members of the league knew about the crisis? do you think they wanted to do something to help? and if they do know each other, do you think post crisis some of them made a beeline to kalos?

and if your au also sets in the galar/kalos is part of the same island mass theory, do you think they heard what was happening and wanted to get involved or something? because... you know the sub-theory that the war was between Kalos and Galar

-⚡ (my personal headcanon is that they do know each other and that volkener and clem have a sorta petty rivalry between inventors. (siebold and clemont too. but thats more silly because professional chef working in a fine dining setting, vs a teenage who maybe sleeps in his own gym and probably lives off instant noodles when he isn't cooking for others.))

Hmm, for me, I would say he has a passing knowledge of them? Like that academy he went to probably covered some notable Type users and all that, and when he was fiddling around on the web for inspiration/appliances/going on the Pokemon equivalent of eBay and checking out antiques, he's seen their name around. Similarly, Gym Leaders from other regions would've heard of Clemont (moreso as the rising young Gym Leader who's also a great inventor) and were like 'cool, what an inspiration to young folk everywhere' and proceed to forget about him. Clemont isn't very sociable, and while he was enamoured by the stuff other Gym Leaders, especially Electric Type users, would've done (like amusement park by Elesa or whatever zany thing Volkner made up on the spot), he was much too shy about it. Easier to just reverse-engineer it and figure out how it ticks from the safety of his own (totally not safe for his back) room. And then he had his problem with the Gym and you know the drill.

It's most probably after the whole journey that he mustered the courage to talk to the others and connect with the other Gym Leaders all around the world heh. Throughout the journey he became more aware of the Gym Leaders in Kalos and actually got to know them well (and through the Crisis everyone got to know each other better), and that kickstarted Clemont's desire to see how everyone else was like.

Surge would be a bit dismissive until he heard about the Crisis and Clemont's role in it (he would totally break down at that and just care for him so much, I can tell you that). Very tough love but also a great listener, makes sure that he's keeping well and not getting too lost in his work.

Wattson is just going to be a crazy grampa in the corner isn't he lol. But yeah, very much going to push him into 'renovating' Prism Tower into a death trap (but a fun one!) and telling him to have fun (he knows about the Crisis and this is his way of helping him, but to be honest he would've said this regardless). May or may not have a rivalry with Volkner, in which...

Volkner is just a little (a very tiny miniscule) impressed by Clemont. But would not say it. He expects so much more than that, don't you know, that's just childs play and if he was really into it he would've done so much more. They both have petty squabbles but then five minutes later they are dragged away by their Luxray from taking down particle colliders or smth idk.

Elesa had a very superficial relationship with him before, having met through friends-of-a-friend kind of deal. They make small talk, try to connect, and then after some time one of them admit something deep and then boom, penpals lol. She bugs him for good fashion in Kalos and he gets her back by requesting schematics of various mechanical attractions in Unova. Basically trading for their interests while also having some support on the side :3

Sophocles is totally roasting him online the first time they meet. They both get into this thread where they argue about something that they totally forgotten and just go on and on until they actually meet face to face. It's a love-hate relationship with collabs and everything, and they will simmer down one day. Eventually. Hopefully. (Soph has heard of the Crisis and done so much study but has not connected two and two and two together with Clem and also with a certain Ash having just come out from there. He's busy, okay?)

Iono scares him but he doesn't say it outloud. Very interesting with the whole livestream! Just not being on the livestream. He's also interested in those Magnemite hairclips and the concept of Terastallization but maybe he better make sure he's not broadcasted on 10 million screens before talking to her.

Going to be honest here and say that's the first time I've ever heard of that theory myself, but then again I haven't dived too deeply about it. Most of the ones I've saw were about how Kalos had an internal war (this is a great one btw heh), which made sense to me, although I do like the idea of Galar going up against Kalos (especially with the gimmicks and the problems they faced). Hoenn is definitely connected to the Crisis itself and has offered aid, and ngl I feel like most of the regions are nice enough to try to help at this point, since either they went through their own problems beforehand or have that feeling of foreboding that they are next. The Pokemon World is very idealistic in that sense! People do tend to travel around, so there are a lot of connections all over the world.

[katakaios]

been thinking so much on the trailer and castorice honestly just saying 'i want to be a normal person' and immediately phainon is just so distraught but seething just as much because why shouldn't castorice be allowed to be a normal person ? the fact that her being normal and a person she considers a 'wish' when it's a right every person should have makes phainon both apalled and seething with fury and anger that the world won't give it to her; that it won't fulfill the wishes that are just normal wants of his fellow heirs who he considers to be his second family.

when aglaea says she wants to open a tailor shop and aglaea, selfless and never thinking of herself as millennia went by and she lost so much of herself, yet never strayed from her beliefs, her drive for helping humanity regardless of how it mistreated her, regardless of parts of her slipping away, the core parts of her remained and were not unnoticed, he's just as silently heated, in a quiet yet firm kind of way (joshua's delivery in particular) saying simply without hesitation on his wording, 'it wouldn't be bad to live for yourself. '

and it's ironic because in this trailer castorice dies for aglaea, when in canon, aglaea herself staged her death for the flame-chase journey and for phainon's success as the one to inherit her leadership role and wishes just as with each patch, phainon is constantly receiving the wishes of others, in short, he's a vessel of wishes and desires for humanity, which leaves room for him to back his own words almost...ironic? contradictory given the deliverer can't really have wishes.

he hears his fellow heirs wishes, and as the deliverer, as the person who has the hopes and dreams not just of the common people but his own comrades on his shoulders ( ignoring their 'prophecies' or not ), and a part of him is genuinely furious that the world has been so cruel that they think of their wants as wishes when everyone should be born to want and feel it's alright to want, which is a contradiction for phainon, ironically, who feels he cannot want himself.

this is shown a lot with his brief flashback with anaxa in aedes elysiae's wheat fields, ' phainon of aedes elysiae, what is your dream ? ' and i think a lot of people consider this, and given phainon at his core, while complicated and full of humanity and contradictions, is simple in his wish, but in the trailer for 3.4 / his release, we don't see him able to even answer it before the images switch from farmland to flames.

' in truth - i just want . . . ' but we never hear phainon's wish, but we can see an inkling of what it may be in the images and memories he has of those around him, those he loves and those he works to protect.

and he never has an answer, but we see him and unsurprisingly most of his wishes involve the other chrysos heirs and innocent civilians and children, we see him among the people, we see aglaea, mydei, children eerily resembling castorice and polyxia, we see people that aren't suffering and in pain, we see people safe and happy.

we see no endless loss and tragedy or death; and i think that's the most complicated yet simple wish a person could have - which fits and aligns with phainon's character as a whole. a complicated and troubled character with simple desires that are so out of reach that they have become more myth than normalcy, and not just something phainon alone struggles with, but all of the main characters of amphoreus.

that happiness and natural human want has become a fairy tale to those he loves, that is what makes phainon seethe and hurt. and if the 'deliverer' is a vessel of humanity's collective wishes, prayers and hopes for not just salvation in a ruined world, but their own lives finding happiness and safety, things you shouldn't have to beg for, then that fury and quiet he keeps well concealed burns all the brighter in him.

he wants people he loves and those around him to live safe, happy lives where wants are not so farfetched that they are considered a luxury or a 'wish' but a common day occurrence, something they had a right to ever since they were born. that people are denied this because of the tragedy of life in amphoreus and 'fate' as a whole, something phainon clearly wishes to crush underfoot if it causes nothing but heartache - is an endless source of fury to a long kindling spark and flame.

basically phainon at this point is a powderkeg, a spark near a bomb, he's so many things. he's rampantly insecure beneath a veneer of confidence, he's terrified of losing anything dear to him and out of a genuinely good nature and equal measures desperation to not see more lost, he works himself without care for himself to the point of borderline fatal abandon, he utterly has no regards for himself and sees himself more as an object of other's hopes and desires than someone who can have his own desires.

something he seems all too easy to be content with in contrast to the others. he's a walking contradiction of concealed anger, trauma and rampant grief warring versus a good nature, a kind heart, and like aglaea says spot-on, a deep sensitivity to the people around him, a deep empathy for their suffering, something made more potent given his role as the 'one who bears the world'. the one meant to save amphoreus, the one meant to hold the desires of all save for one: himself.

he is so many things, and he is so painfully human and flawed, and it's these things that will ultimately determine how his story and the word 'fate' which he so vehemently wishes to defy and deny, turn out. in either victory or futility. that tenderness and goodness and fury can all co-mingle together with fear and courage, each good 'trait' phainon has is also given a very human flaw .

and i'm sure phainon has and had plenty of wishes. but if there's one thing absolutely certain is that he wants everyone to be able to live happily and without suffering if it can be helped, without war and grief, without duties and having to abandon one's self.

'if suffering has an end, then i will become the deliverer. '

and if it doesn't, it's all about who phainon means to become no matter how many times he has to defy 'fate'. / personals / non-rp blogs please don't reblog <3.

[mukuroom]

hoping mizi shoots luka so she can officially be the winner of alien stage

[prismbearer]

Idk why there's disbelief over Mark S/Helly in terms of motivation. Helly is just as capable of cruelty and selfishness as Helena. They are at the core of it, the same person with different memories/experiences. They can be two perspectives worthy of indulging their own dreams and desires and also be the same person. Narratively here especially, this isn't about morality, it's about human nature.

Helly was never cruel, sure, of course. Helly felt like she was the same as the other people in MDR. But Helly has something right now that she never even achieved as Helena. Someone who loves her. Someone who is choosing her. Helly is Winning over Helena here.

Jame Eagen wanders down just to be a freak and reinforces the reality of it. Helly is "More" than Helena, hasn't been worn down by the weight of experience and the world (and their cult and corporate bullshit). She still has, in some way, the innocence of youth and lack of experience with the world. She doesn't have the same fears and burdens or triggers as Helena in her conscious experience. She still has the ability to express her passions and outrage and defend herself. And to love and not feel sorry for it.

Severance gave Helena a chance to exist without the learned perspectives and burdens of the Eagens and she is able to be free with herself and her passions and desires-- whereas Helena was likely drained of any dreams for potential beyond a strictly guided future decades ago.

Of course Helly is feeling a rush of joy and satisfaction over Mark loving her. Mark choosing her. She tried to do the "right thing" by being logical with Mark. "I'm her." Even outside of Lumon, if they bring it all down, there's no hope for an Eagen and an ex-severed employee in reality. In the Real World they will never be together. Mark couldn't love Helena, how could anyone love an Eagen? (Poor Helly really with like, the enemy is within etc, but that's kinda the situation framed by Lumon for everyone by setting the stage with your Innie isn't human kinda rhetoric.) (This was also reinforced by Helena trying to get close to Mark to see if he still had feelings or chemistry with her and finding out they were not going to work outside Lumon.)

What if the equator is a building that could be a continent? Can be their whole world? They're choosing to live Now. Together in the present despite knowing that with their half lives, they could be brought to an end at any moment. It's very willful young love of them. And why wouldn't it be? This is their First Love. They haven't even been "alive" that long or have any memory of romance beyond their current infatuation. They don't know the world or it's places, and maybe that's okay, maybe they can exist in this space so long as they have love and the others.

It's completely human for Helly to accept Mark choosing her. To run to him just to see him for maybe the last time. It's human for Mark S to run to Helly. It's human for poor Gemma, who doesn't even know her fucking husband is severed, to be pounding on the door.

But this is their Final Day to Mark and Helly. Maybe the very end of their world. It's Judgement Day. Of course they'd have them holding hands and running back to the unknown to face the end together. To die together.

There is also zero fucking chance Mark Scout would risk his life and brain continuing reintegration once his wife is back. Mark Scout is going to choose his wife. Mark is choosing Love on both sides here.

All of it is reasonable.

[mycological-mariner]

Cool so I get to start training in a forge and welding and steam engine maintenance and fitting on weekends

[constantvariations]

A trend in Astarion fics that I find bizarre is the idea that he's never been treated gently during sex. This is difficult to believe for one simple reason: some of Astarion's victims were virgins.

Astarion: You were handsome. Shy. You'd never been kissed. Sebastian: You taught me how. And then you destroyed me.

I get the desire to make his current partner special by having their sex be good and wholesome in comparison to his other trysts, but this is a flawed sentiment. The cutscene of that first night together is incredibly tender from the kiss to laying on the grass - the only outlier being if you offer your neck - and if you sleep with Astarion but keep it at that night, Astarion himself says he will never forget you. Not because the PC was uniquely gentle with him in bed, but because they were the first person he ever slept with of his own free will. It's his choice that makes that night special to him moreso than anything the PC may or may not have done during that time.

[narcopathyfiles]

really hot take that i sincerely really hope i can properly get across because i find it very important. but. i think that people should not be obsessing over politics and how fucked the world is rn and Please stick around just a little longer so i can explain it i'm not saying it should be ignored. i'm not even in a place where i get to ignore it. i'm a working class woman of color in a country that is just a little bit less fucked than the usa right now. we had a fascist government that lasted from the 60s to almost the 90s .people were getting jailed and literally tortured when my parents were kids. i'm not trying to talk down to anyone who feels helpless and scared because i find it really reasonable.

but the human brain can only handle so much misery before it shuts down, consuming a constant stream of horrible news can and will burn you out. a lot of people are already burning out!! you might not notice it happen to you because it feels like it makes sense and the world is just going up in flames and there's nothing to be done. but the thing is that whenever rights are taken away people need to fight to get them back and if you're stuck with feeling so hopeless you can't even think of what to do to help yourself and others then you won't do it.

you can't be aware of every horrible thing all the time and you should not be. seriously please have Some form of escapist hobby or something to keep yourself sane and remind yourself that life is worth living because that's what will give you strength when you actually have to do something to try to change your situation. no one is able to help everybody and that doesn't make you evil it just makes you human. do not get stuck on the guilt and fear because it will paralyze you and then you won't be able to help anyone at all.

[freedom-in-sight]

Perhaps my psyche is too fragile to immerse in this kind of stuff...

But because I'm sensitive and empathetic i care about it.

But because not much of it kind of starts making me fall apart.... i can't really do much. It feels like a lot but is barely anything

I want to do more than research and post things on tumrblr and facebook...

But perhaps i should put my own oxygen mask on before i try to help anyone else....

By then it'll probably be too late to help in any meaningful way.