#why are you falling behind?

[fromkenari]

Forced to be vegetarian not by choice but because of the price of protein.

$20 for a 2.5-lb chuck roast? Walmart, you're going to kill me.

I can't go to the local grocery store because everything there is twice the Walmart price. If I'm running in there, they either don't sell the thing at Walmart, or I'm paying for convenience because I'm in a hurry and decide I can buy that one thing for a ridiculous price ($5 for a half gallon of unsweetened almond milk) rather than make the trek to Walmart.

I should do live reaction videos of me buying groceries each week. Forced to buy a damn bag of salad because my Walmart doesn't sell romaine on its own anymore, and the nutritional content of iceberg is nonexistent.

And you know, whenever they want to break ground on those new water mains for the city, so I don't have to buy bottled water for cooking and drinking anymore, that would be great. They've replaced some, but none on this side of town.

[proxycrit]

Day 39– ARBITER'S GROUNDS

Weird Gross Skinned Things in the Sand that burn in the light!?!? The desert is WET? We are not off to a good start.

(This totk au is called Familiar Familiar! It all started when Zelda did not get whisked back in time and devolved from there.)

((Want to see behind the scenes and other sketchbook crimes? Check out my patreon!))

[kendyroy]

there he goes

[persona-brainrot-real]

Sae Niijima is such a good character it drives me insane a little. She's not a mother nor a maternal or doting older sister but instead a twenty four year old who was thrown into a position of responsibility that she never asked for. She loves Makoto just as much as she resents her and its so apparent every time they talk up until November. "Are you studying?" (I want you to do well) (I need you to get a job and stop making my life harder) "I'll use any method necessary to get this promotion" (Life will be easier for us) (So stop distracting me with your problems) "Focus on your future" (I know that you're capable) (I can't afford to waste my time on you, so stop wasting time on others)

Makoto is not only the sole reason she pushes as hard as she does for a promotion, for success, and the reason that she loses herself in her animosity over her fathers death, but also someone she can't stand for so long. Makoto was 14-15 when their father died. Sae was 21. As soon as she got the career she wanted and things started to look up, her stability was robbed from her and she was disillusioned with the system that her father had taught her to rely on and completely adhere to. How do you manage, the daughter of a cop, following his footsteps towards law enforcement, when you're suddenly reminded of how unfair it is? You can't quit, your little sister relies on you and she's so young and struggling just as badly with this grief. So you pick yourself up and you get moving again. You push harder, press further. You abandon your morals and your ethics because punishing criminals (guilty or not) is almost like punishing the man who killed your father.

And the whole time she's fighting for promotions, going for drinks with the SIU Director to make herself more favourable for promotions, trying to navigate being a woman in a competitive, suffocating, male-dominated field, falling behind despite doing so much where others are promoted for doing so little - all the while your little sister comes back from school and her biggest issues are so small compared to yours.

Persona 5 revolves so heavily around grief and loss and change and Sae embodies all of that so well, all of the sharp and unpleasant and jagged parts of grief.

[flowersforthemachines]

What home smells like (Crossroads comments)

Note: judging by the audio I extracted and the conversation file, Bellara and Taash don't have lines for that event (if they actually have lines and I missed them, pls lmk).

Rook: That scent… I can't place it. Neve: For a moment… it smelled like Dock Town after it rains. Lucanis: Coffee. Like Illario and I smelled in the kitchen where we grew up. But that cannot be right. Harding: That's my ma's apple cake! But… how? Davrin: That's smoke from my old clan's campfire. But… how do I even know that? Emmrich: It's reminiscent of the mortuary's perfumes, but… ah. Of course. Emmrich: There's small enchantments around this place. From the old elves, welcoming their kindred home.

My DAVG Extracted Audio Masterlist

[tsunosagun]

i flew too high, please catch my fall

[starry-bi-sky]

Blood Blossom Au: Baby's First Commissioner Meeting :)

TL:DR This Post: Danny (orphan) gets poisoned with blood blossom extract by Vlad. He runs away from him and ends up under the care of one Pre-Robin Battinson Batman! Starry is loudly pushing her batdad agenda.

(Also known as "Late At Night, When The Nightingale Sings" on my ao3!)

This was a fun rough idea I've been sitting on for weeks, thinking about how Commissioner Gordon and Nightingale's first meeting might go.

---------------

Commissioner Gordon likes to think that he's adjusting to the new normal of Gotham very well, -- the new normal being grown men running around dressed like bats, in military-grade strength body armor, committing acts of vigilantism, -- and slowly, little by little, he was no longer being surprised when this new normal pops up out of the shadows like the world's most terrifying daisy. His shaving lifespan thanks him for it.

....

The kid is a surprise though.

Granted, he seemed to be a surprise to the Bat too.

There's been a string of murders lately, -- which, in Gotham, is kind of like saying there's been another storm during monsoon season. And there's just been another; in some dilapidated building down in south Gotham, with the broken, boarded-up windows and mildew-crawling walls to match. The victim is a man in his thirties, multiple gunshot wounds to the chest, left in the center of the room for the blood to pool out around him.

The place is already secured when he arrives, the building swarmed with officers and the forensic detectives. The Bat emerges shortly after he does -- or, he might've been here the whole time, hiding someplace dark and shadowy. For his own sanity, Gordon doesn't think about it too hard.

The kid is a surprise, and he appears like a bolt of lightning.

He shows up in the middle of a conversation Gordon is having with the Bat.

A whistle, sharp and loud, slicing through the air, meant for open air rather than a confined space. Gordon's ears pierce and protest the sound, and the solemn, murmured chatter floating through the room abruptly cuts off like the swing of a gavel. As he turns towards the sound -- as they all do -- he swears, up and down, that he sees Batman's shoulders jump, just slightly.

At the source, perched on the window, is a boy. A boy in a gray-blue scarf and an oversized black hoodie, one that hangs off his frame and has ace bandages wrapped around the wrists in some attempt to cinch the sleeves. The hood is up, big like the rest of it, and threatens to swallow the upper half of the boy's face whole in the fabric. What upper half Gordon can see, is smeared with some kind of opaque, black face paint. He's holding onto the side of the frame with one hand, on his hip is a grappling hook. A familiar grappling hook.

Gordon has multiple questions, and his officers tense up.

Martinez puffs up, brows furrowing as his face shapes into a frown. Shoulders rolling back. "You can't be here, kid--"

The reaction is immediate, like a spark to gunpowder, the boy yanks his fingers from his mouth and his mouth twists into a scowl. Head snapping over to Officer Martinez, his hood manages to stay on but Gordon swears that as he bares his teeth, the glint makes them look sharper than they should be. His voice is rasp and quiet and harsh; snappish in its hissing; "Put a fuckin sock in it, Martinez. I'm not stayin."

Martinez reels back, and the boy immediately veers his attention off him. Like a switch, his demeanor drops. Despite half his face being covered, his mouth twists into a cringing, apologetic smile. Slanted and off-beat, embarrassed. It'd be disarming if this wasn't Gotham, and if he didn't just hiss at Martinez like he was about to bite his head off.

"Sorry." He whispers, voice deceptively polite and softer now. Gordon has to strain his ears to hear him. "I was looking for him."

He points his finger towards-- Gordon? No, Gordon follows the direction, and finds himself looking at -- the Bat.

The Bat, who always looks stiff as a pole, now looks even stiffer. Somehow. Well, the explains the grappling hook attached to the boy's waist.

"What are you doing here?" The Bat says, gruff and unable to completely smother the stumble of surprise in his tone.

The boy still holds a sheepish smile, and slips off the window ledge. His feet hit the creaky boards with a near-silent thud, the Batman finds his feet and rapidly begins crossing the room.

Gordon notes the slight tremble in the boy's legs as he straightens. He adjusts his scarf, which droops close to his knees now that he's standing, and slings a backpack -- how long has had that? -- off his shoulders. When the Bat reaches his side, he does as he always does, and looms over the boy like a spectre. A threatening mass of shadows cloaked in all-consuming black. Standing next to him, the boy looks teeny in comparison.

The Bat is a man who terrifies even the most hardened criminals, Gordon has seen grown men shiver in fear at the mention of his name. And yet when the boy looks up at him, he doesn't even flinch.

Instead, his sheepish smile melts away like ice under the sun, holding only traces of his previous embarrassment. It remains as a shadow on his face, a small upturn at the corners of his mouth. The boy pushes his hood back just enough to reveal glinting, ice-flint eyes surrounded in tar-black face paint. He holds the backpack up with one arm. "You forgot this."

[sunburstsandmoonshadows]

Stanley and Sixer!

Sent to Gravity Falls to live with a great aunt they barely know with no warning, the twins have… slightly different reactions. Stanley is not at all impressed with the idea of kicking it around some backwater town for a summer when they could've been working on the Stan o' War. Stanford is also put-out, but is optimistic about finding fun in documenting interesting things in the woods. Their attitudes pick up even more when they discover a spellbook lost in the woods that teaches them that Gravity Falls is full of weirdness and adventure. They both want to discover the two Authors of the spellbook, though each has a secret favorite author they want to meet in particular.

Stanley: With his brash yet suspicious personality, he finds his fun in looking for monsters in the woods with the hopes of beating them up and making a name for himself--a stance the creatures of Gravity Falls don't appreciate much. He feels a growing distance between himself and Stanford and has no idea what to do with it or how to talk to his twin about it, so he masks it with bravado and charm. He constantly thinks of ways to make himself important and interesting, which often blow up in his face. Thinks he's cooler than he really is.

Stanford, aka Sixer: Once he realized that Gravity Falls is a town full of weirdness, Stanford was thrilled by the thought that it might be a blessing in disguise, a place to finally branch out and make friends who won't run once they see his hands. He really, really wants to make friends with anomalies, like one of the sirens that supposedly live in the lake or the boy who claims to be a psychic. This goal combined with his trusting nature might lead him down dangerous paths. At least he has Stanley to help him! Though lately it feels like Stanley has been less honest and more clingy than usual, and it's starting to grate on him...

While Dipper and Ford are paralleled in the show, I feel like Ford as a child would have an attitude that parallels Canon Mabel's better in terms of inciting the plot. They're both enthusiastic to the point of being Too Much, intense, and often convinced they're right above what others think, and I just feel like him having a quest to find friends takes the place of Mabel's quest for a boyfriend very well. Meanwhile this Stanley has the skeptical but investigative attitude of Canon Dipper, and I could see him being the type to want to prove himself a la Dipper vs Manliness, provoking people he really shouldn't provoke in the name of showing who he can be.

[prlssprfctn]

"Jason would be angry with Jaybin" / "Jason would comfort Jaybin"

Okay, what about both?

A scenario, in which Jason's first reaction on seeing himself so vulnerable, so little, so unaware of the future is to helplessly hiss. To grab himself by shoulders (by tiny, bony shoulders; oh, the malnourished kid he was!) and shake harshly, unable to hide his anger. But then, Jaybin's eyes feel with tears, and Jason freezes.

He doesn't want to be mean to this child. To the child that will die as a hero, that will do everything to save a woman that gave him birth, that despite all pain and cruelty, will choose to be kind to the very end. The one that won't even expect to be saved at the very end — just will want to die in his dad's arms.

So, he cries, too. His arms wrap around Jaybin's shivering body, and he can't help but shudder, too.

'I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry,' he whispers, again and again — for screaming, for being so cruel to them (to himself), for not being enough even after their death.

And Jaybin, because he is a gentle kid he is, hugs him back.

'It's okay,' he reassures him, wobbling lips curling in smile. 'We are fine. I know you are doing your best.'

[rubberduckyrye]

I've been seeing a fair bit of "Shuichi treats people more like cases than people" sentiment, and while it is an interesting idea for Angst Purposes, I just don't think that's very in character for him realistically.

Especially when people talk about the runaway cases he dealt with.

I think a lot of people think "runaway" and think "children who are in abusive homes who NEEDED to run away" and not "Children who got emotionally devastated by something and made an irrational choice in the heat of the moment" because there is a fundamental difference between the two. Even still, you should not leave a runaway child to fend for themselves! They are vulnerable! They need help!!!

Whether they need help getting home or help into a new home.

I think that also people don't acknowledge it when Shuichi says that he checks up on the runaway cases post-investigation to make sure everything's still okay and going well. I'm also sure that, as part of the process, he learns from the runaway child the reason why they ran away, and if the reason was as devastated as domestic or sexual violence or severe neglect, he would NOT just send them off home.

That is not in character for him.

He has a lot of very human interactions with his classmates (outside of Kokichi, who is explicitly hated by the narrative) and tries (maybe fails, but tries) to be considerate towards them and their inner feelings.

His interactions in his LSEs aren't just acting, he's still being "himself", and his interactions with characters like Kirumi (I.E. validating her and humanizing her, insisting that her love for him isn't bad because she is his equal) despite playing the role of her "master." And in Gonta's, he knew Gonta was upset over scaring him so he comforted him and reassured him that everything was okay.

Also in Kirumi's FTE's, Shuichi offered to be Kirumi's "master" when she was playing a joke on him with the whole stray maid thing, and in Kiibo's FTE, he offers to continue helping Kiibo find new avenues to explore via his robot emotions and the whole robot business thing.

Shuichi doesn't just, stick around only to figure someone out and then get bored of them when he's done. I'll be the first to admit it, how Shuichi treats Kokichi specifically is pretty terrible at times, but that is a narrative flaw that does not apply to everyone else.

He's very thoughtful, tries his best to be accommodating and supportive, and does try his best to make connections with the people around him. He almost overextends himself just to help others--which is something that he would do for runaway children as well.

I think people need to give Shuichi more credit than just seeing the Runaway Cases thing and immediately thinking his neglectful person who only cares about solving mysteries because canon didn't explicitly state how he handles those cases.

[peacockrulz]

Sorry for the lack of posts, have some more headcanons!!

[superprofesh]

yeahhh um…. I’m fine I’m just…….. I just need a second

[recurring-polynya]

Once was one thing...

...but I feel like this is not just a "I'd have two nickels," situation, I think Renji really is the designated shouter for situations where everyone wants to stand around and do a two-page spread look cool. Is it because he won the All-Gotei Trash Talking Championship, or is this one of those things like tenteikura and opening senkaimon that are just traditional lieutenant duties? He's the only lieutenant present in the first situation. In the second, and in the second, he's the only lieutenant whose...captain is present?

He's also very tall and projects well. Ikkaku is also good at hollerin', but he this happens two panels later, so it's unsurprising that he's been banned from spokesperson duties:

[kaybeemes]

one of the cards is running off with alice

[ranger-jahen]

hi hi sorry to overwhelm you with tav asks but im so curious!!! answer however many you want to, no pressure!

2. Describe their tent setup! What’s on the outside? The inside?

3. What would their character quest be titled? Why?

9. What’s the significance behind your Tav’s name?

16. What do they do for fun, when not adventuring? What are their hobbies?

25. What is something they would die on a hill over?

30. What does your Tav want more than anything?

thank you thankyou!

no worries at all, I'm flattered you want to know so much!! ;u; I am SO sorry it took me (checks notes) a whole TENDAY (heh) to finally get to this, but I wanted to draw Jahen's tent rather than just describing it aaand that's about how long it took me to get enough free time to sit down and do it. xD

funny enough though, another bg3 blogger sent me two of these same questions just a day later, the tent question and also the one about hobbies, sooo in order to be able to get the art up in a post on its own, I'm gonna answer all but #2 here and then post a link to the second ask here! :D

these asks are all from this ask game~ ^u^

3. What would their character quest be titled? Why?

Jahen's quest would be titled "The Lonely Ranger." his past experiences have left him avoidant of too much fame or prestige for his heroics or escapades, because he has learned the hard way that the trouble that comes with your reputation preceding you is not worth the come-and-go recognition of friendly eyes... at least, not when you don't have loyal allies you can turn to for help when things go south. he has been alone for a long time, slowly finding himself turning into something of a shadow in crowded places. not for lack of trying; he's very friendly! and very warmhearted. but his roaming has simply never afforded him the benefit of long-term friendships, at least, not until the start of the in-game story.

to that end, a lot of his personal internal difficulties stem from feeling apart, adrift, and extremely sore for care and companionship. I think there could be a pretty solid arc for him that dove into helping him feel real and wanted, or even just a worthy ally to stay at your side through thick and thin. especially if the player was willing to take an interest in his troubles beyond the role he played in the party.

9. What’s the significance behind your Tav’s name?

no significance at first! I had started the game initially wanting to play a different character of mine named Jorah, but after many frustrating hours in a no-facial-sliders-only-presets character creator, ultimately decided I couldn't get the model to look close enough to them to make it satisfying to play with them. so I changed tack and started adding different features to get a different character, but I'd already been thinking in my head the whole time "this is Jorah," so I ended up picking a similar fantasy name that also started with a "J."

in-universe there's a tiny hint of something signifiant about Jahen's name, only because his name phonetically is more "human-sounding," and his older brother's name I picked to contrast his to sound more "elven," so I could have there be a little extra flavor behind him wondering if his human father named him, and his ever-absent elven mother had named his brother, Ianvic. (when you say "Jahen" out loud it sounds similar to "John" with an extra vowel thrown in, so it rings as very human to me.)

16. What do they do for fun, when not adventuring? What are their hobbies?

Jahen loves simple pleasures. he'll find a town with a good inn or tavern and indulge in some fine wine or cakes and listen to the bards play their music. he has a little kalimba of his own that he plays by his campfires at night to keep himself company, and after an arduous journey of teaching himself how to read and write when he was younger, he's now got an never-ending thirst for new songs to learn to entertain himself. if given the opportunity to thumb through old books, he'll do so just to look for old verses to add to his evenings.

he's also very creative and inventive, and even though it does technically contribute to his adventures, he genuinely gets excited over digging around in the woods to find unique plants and mushrooms for either foraging or alchemic purposes. during any wild berry season you will find him knee deep in brambles covered in juice and lugging around a basket full of fruit. y'know that Wyrm's Lookout camp location you get right at the start of Act 3? it's got like 10 raspberry bushes. I was very pleased on Jahen's behalf.

25. What is something they would die on a hill over?

hmmm I'm gonna give a silly answer for this one 'cause its fun. :] I think Jahen would die on a hill over the best way to preserve food (like fish/meat), and he would be adamant that smoking and dry salting it tastes waayyy better than brining it. I feel like he could argue for a good solid 2 hours on this before running out of steam.

30. What does your Tav want more than anything?

honestly, I do not think Jahen knows this about himself, either before the in-game story, nor does he realize the reason why he's so happy after the game story is that he's finally had this fulfilled - but I think he most desperately wants someone to love. I think he wants to be loved too, and he does respect himself enough to not be taken advantage of in a close relationship, thankfully. but he has a lot of energy, a lot of passion for life, a lot of warmth in his heart and I think he went through a lot of genuine heartache not having anyone to pour any of that into for so, so long. any sort of bond would have fulfilled this for him, romantic or platonic, but the fact that he gains so many different relationships in such a short time has just set him ablaze in the best way possible.

[justanotherfanfolks]

Mm.

Hm

So do you guys just, NOT like Telemachus? /j