#yes I’m putting this in the main tags

[chibishortdeath]

So I was playing Simon’s Quest (again) earlier and you guys might know by now that I’m incredibly normal (extremely deranged) about that game, but it’s got me thinking about something: what exactly are the hearts and why are they the money in this game?

Hearts in the first game and almost every game after Simon’s Quest are the thing that you need to collect to be able to use subweapons and they primarily come from candles, but enemies can drop them too. But in Simon’s Quest, while they do still power a couple subweapons, it’s only the ones we’ve never seen before like the Sacred Flame and Golden Knife while not being used for the Holy Water, something that does in every other game. And they only come from enemies because there’s no candles. And there’s different sizes of them. And collecting enough of them levels Simon up. And their primary function is completely shifted to currency!!! Odd, isn’t it?

And the whole way that you buy anything in this game is really framed like some black market sketchy deal. These sellers (or crooked traders with bum deals lol) are primarily holed away in their houses under one or two layers of walls and floors only breakable by magical infinite Holy Water, something only the local badass vampire hunter guy would have after having bought some with said hearts in the first town, or they’re way tucked away in the thick of these Dracula’s army overtaken mansions, some of them even standing directly where skeletons walk past them or in between relatively large pits of spikes. Whatever the reason, these guys obviously want this fairly secret. (Aside from the first town white crystal guy, he’s fine being out in the open lol.)

So what gives??? What is Simon grinding monsters for and trading with the locals for weapons and herbs???

Now this is where things get really ✨speculative✨. I’m gonna put the cut here for suspense and intrigue I guess lol XD. This is gonna be a lot of me thinking out loud and throwing down ideas, not really like a confirmed answer to anything, just havin fun thinkin about a part of a game d(•w• )

I think there’s a few possibilities. They could be the same thing that they are other games or they could be something different just used similarly as a power source.

But first we gotta break down what hearts could be in Cv1. In a lot of the games they seem to be some kind of a general mana, a magic energy possibly not unlike how metaphysical/magical things are depicted in other media. Perhaps the subweapons themselves are magic objects and not really a physical thing that require “hearts” to be conjured. Maybe they could be physical objects that need to be enchanted with “hearts” to be anywhere comparable to Vampire Killer level usefulness. Just a few possibilities.

If the hearts in Simon’s Quest are the same thing, then this kinda makes some sense. Simon trading monster soul energy or whatever with presumably magic users for things he needs on his Quest, especially since things like Laurels (also can be called bay laurels or bay leaves) are commonly used in spells and who better to be selling a spell component than someone who does spells! Also, it makes sense that these people would be fairly out of sight as magic use was still a touchy subject at the time.

Now I don’t know how accurate this is, and if I do find a source somewhere in my way too many bookmarks I will reblog this and link it to it, but I remember reading somewhere in an interview about either SotN or one of the games made close before it that the candles are like the souls of Dracula and his army’s victims that you free when you hit them and they leave you a little parting gift for it. Yes, these games were made way after, so it’s not certain if that was the original intent of these, but I figured it adds something to this.

But what if the hearts in Simon’s Quest are not the same thing? After all, the Holy Water doesn’t use them and we can’t say if they would or not work for other subweapons that appear in CV1 since they aren’t in this one. Well there’s something else that could be dropping from killing monsters that could also fit into the above probability that these traders are magic users and it’s a little darker!

Hearts! Bones! General viscera! And this also kinda makes sense! I mean the whole plot of the game revolves around Simon already carrying pieces of Dracula’s corpse around to burn all together on an altar to cure his and the surrounding area’s curse, it’s not that far of a stretch to say that he’d be fine with carrying around pieces of other monsters and that magic users might be willing to trade things for them so they can use them in their own spells, potions, and so on. And that might also explain why Holy Water isn’t powered by hearts and is incredibly weak in comparison in this game. And why these weird, new subweapons seem to be Simon exclusive! They could be powered by things like monster blood instead of the usual magic energy-ish stuff we’re used to hearts symbolizing.

Regardless of if I’m right or not with either of these, Simon is probably taking advantage of some underground monster essence/organs trade the whole game and this is just such an interesting batshit detail for him as a character.

Anyway, I love this game so much, I’m gonna be spreading propaganda for it like this a lot hopefully lol. Okie that’s it hope that was fun, do with this information what you will :)

[jellynotbees]

Pov you are a random cotl fan discovering my blog

[charliesinfern0]

figuring out how to draw a bunch of fnv characters!!!

[vaultnewt]

Human/Synth Yes Man with long wavy hair and an undercut send post

[frameconfessions]

I hope the protoframes remain relevant even after this story arc for the Drifter concludes, but I also recognize how complicated things would get with how many characters they could keep trying to make stay relevant, leading to a Konoha 13 Naruto type situation where we have too many relevant characters from Umbra & Ordis all the way to Kaya Velasco.

.

[zones-spinterest-corner]

I’m gonna be honest

I don’t really like most of the groups in TPC

The only one I think is fine is Big Giant Gircles, the others (Chipzel, Bossfight, and Danimal Cannon) just had no impact on me (except for Bossfight, though that doesn’t mean I like them as their impact leans more towards the negative side for me, I don’t like them guys I’m sorry)

So, I had an idea

What if I just. Reinterpreted the groups

Still keep some established roles (such as the Cintagon equivalent still being Pentellow’s parent), but put my own spin on them to make them more appealing to me

I have a feeling y’all will kill me for not liking Bossfight and wanting to change them but it’s my au and I get to choose which characters get sent to the shadow realm (don’t worry Ajavex is going there too)

Uhhhhh lmk what y’all think ig lmao

[fictitiousfantasies]

Regis <3

All pics from Pinterest

[spw-art]

Now see him new ref for af

[loveanddeephistory]

Watched

A/N: So. Heavy trigger warnings for this one. Context in tags. Trigger warning for stalking and panic attacks. I was reflecting on some bad situations I was in and this was the product of me processing it. This is a crash out in fanfiction form. I love Rafayel, I do, but he’s so lucky I’m not actually mc. If I missed a trigger warning PLEASE feel free to tell me. Not proofread or anything. I promise trowels and scales is gonna have a much more lighthearted chapter coming up soon to make up for this

TW: Stalking, description of panic attack, angst, lowkey yandere Rafayel but it’s mostly based on his actions in game so take it with a grain of salt.

It’s a helpless, sickening feeling.

Being watched. Being known against your will. Naked before the gaze of this unknown presence. Never knowing safety. Never knowing peace. Never knowing what it is to be alone.

Last time this happened, you starved yourself. You couldn’t bring yourself to leave your dorm. Barely able to make yourself eat, for fear of being found again. You constantly had an audience. Constantly had eyes on you. It was as if someone was always there, a ghost haunting you at every corner. You were skittish. A ghost of the person you once were.

Obsessed over. Yearned for. Craved. Demanded. Owned.

You never wanted this. 

Your hands trembled as the pictures on your lap blended with memories. You didn’t have one stalker. You had two. 

Those months of paranoia, the months of friends begging you to leave your dorm to eat something. You didn’t have one stalker. 

Rafayel had told you he was a guest professor. At first, you took it as an amusing near miss in the red string of fate. But your informants from the nest told you otherwise. The folder weighed a thousand tons, even if it was only paper and photos. 

Blurs. Rafayel sitting just behind where you once sat with friends. Rafayel touching a picture of you in the courtyard of the campus. Rafayel looking over his shoulder as you walk past with a friend. You flip through the pages with shaky hands, your breathing growing more erratic with every breath. 

You wanted to ignore it all. No. It’s not real. Your beloved Rafayel would never do such a thing. But you’re far from a fool, far from it. You’re aware he’s up to something. His activity at The Nest. Raymond’s death. Lemuria. You’re no fool, you know he’s up to so much more than you could ever know or come to understand. He had begun to open up, to let you see that side of him, understand that part of his life. And you embraced it, offered him solace, comforted him.

A shuddered sob lodged in your throat. You choke on it, a tear finally falling on the page. The words turned to smears and stains under the salty tears, and the shaking only worsened. You can’t stop shaking. You can’t stop shaking.

You can’t stop shaking you can’t stop shaking you can’t stop shaking you can’t stop shaking.

The door behind you opens, a cheery tune whistled until he saw you. You whip your head around, scrambling backwards as you gasp for breath. 

“Cutie…? Cutie-!” Rafayel dropped the bag of takeout, immediately taking long strides towards you. You flinch, jumping back, dropping the file and holding your arms in front of you.

”No-! No- no, no, no, no-“ You stammer, the fat tears still pouring as you gasp and force air down your lungs. Your hand held up defensively in front of you. “No, no-“

”Cutie, what?” Rafayel doesn’t approach further, his eyes wide in panic and concern. “Hey, hey… shh, I’m here, take a deep breath-“

”NO! Leave me alone! Get away from me!” You sob, scrambling further back. You look around, vision blurred, desperately searching for your escape route. He’s faster. He’s bigger.

He’s Rafayel, he would never hurt you. A voice of reason chimed in inside your mind. Your beloved fishy. The one you’d cuddle with, paint with. The one who’d let you squish his cheeks while he pouted.

He’s Rafayel. He’s lied to you. Another voice of reason added. You knew it. You knew he’d deceived you before. Could you truly trust him? Could you trust a word he’d say? He may never put you in harm’s way. But what would he hide?

Rafayel took a slow step forward, palms displayed. He finally glanced down, registering the photos now scattered on the floor. His eyes widened. Then narrowed. Shock. Then frustration. He bent down, kneeling on one leg as he lifted one of the photos. While he was distracted you wildly look around. He was blocking the only exit. You have to get out. Get out. Get out get out get out get out-

“Cutie. Breathe.” Rafayel looked up. His gaze softened. Eyebrows lifting into an expression of concern. Eyes wide in affection and worry. “Breathe. Come on, you’re having a panic attack. Deep breath in.” 

“N-no, no-“ You stumble back a few steps, and only then did he get up and approach. 

“I need you to breathe. I don’t want you to pass out.” His voice took on that specific lilt he used when he wanted something to go his way. Typically a flirtatious tease. But alarm bells rung in your head, adding to the chaos, adding to your lack of focus. You cover your ears, stumbling back further into the hallway. You catch him sighing. He lifts the picture, looking between it and you.

”Where did you get these?” You barely heard him behind your hands. You keep moving. Distance. Keep distance. Get away. Get out. You can’t stop shaking. He watches you, but seeing how you couldn’t calm down he dropped the picture. It lit on fire as it drifted to the floor, and he stepped on it to stamp out the flame once it reached the floor.

”Cutie.” His voice was just a whisper, forcing you to remove a hand to listen to him. “Let me explain. Please. Gods, please.”

“No.” The word left your mouth in a hurry. No. No, you can’t do this again. You can’t do this again. Not again. Never again. Never again. “No, Rafayel, I-“ your voice cracked. But you pulled your hands away. You look at them, still trembling, barely able to make out details as the world around you two narrowed. “Tell me the truth.”

”Cutie-“

”Tell me the TRUTH!” You finally scream it. “Tell me the fucking truth! I- I command you! By our bond, tell me the fucking truth!” You take a single step towards him, and the tiniest proximity allowed you to make out more details on his face. The expression of anguish that immediately came over his face. The pale glow of his bond under his shirt. He grit his teeth, looking away.

But his mouth opened.

“I’ve been watching you.” His mouth moved without his permission. Everything about him was tense and coiled. Angry and anguished. He lifted a hand, trying to bite down on it, but his mouth kept moving. “For years. I had to find you. I had to reunite with you, I-“ he bit his hand. But you had your answer. 

Years.

Years.

Years.

Every part of your body was shaking. You could feel it. Panic. Anxiety. Adrenaline. Survival instinct.

But it’s Rafayel. It was the Lemurian bond, he had to find you, he had to see you again. 

But that didn’t give him the right. All those years of being watched and followed by men who felt entitled to you- your beloved was just as guilty as them. The mere thought made you want to scream. So, with trembling limbs, you move back one last time.

”Please,” Rafayel pulled his hand away, the bond still glowing. Tears shining in his eyes. Anger, anguish, regret, pain. “Let me explain. I didn’t- I wasn’t like them, I wouldn’t- I’d never,” he stammered, falling over himself. His silver tongue failing him at last. How could it ever work when his beloved bride stood before him, panicking, feeling unsafe in his presence?

”Just-“ Your voice breaks again, rapidly blinking away tears. “Leave me alone, no… no, no, not again… just…” Your choke on your words. “I can’t do this again.” Your voice breaks into a sob, tears falling down your cheeks once more. The bond mark glows on his chest. And when he tries to move towards you, an invisible wall stops him. He curses, reaching his arm out.

”Please. Gods, please, please let me explain. I’d never hurt you. You know that. I wouldn’t. My bride, please-“

”Stop, please.” You beg him in return. But he isn’t moving towards you. He can’t. His bond doesn’t allow him to. You move slow at first, skirting around him. Antsy. Jumpy. Ready to run. “Just… just stop.” He watched you, his anger towards himself evaporating into fear. 

“No, my bride, please! Don’t go, let me explain!” He fell to his knees, the tears in his eyes clattering onto the floor as pearls. Blue pearls. Fear and mourning already overtaking him as you back away.

You can’t think. You can’t think straight. All you can think of is your fear from your years of being stalked by those other men. The fear you felt the night that man tried to abduct you after Rafayel walked you home. Rafayel had saved you. But what good was he when he was just as guilty?

”I can’t.” You whisper. You turn. You turn and you run. 

You can’t talk to him like this. You need to get out. You love him. You love him more than anything. 

But you can’t do this again. No more being watched. No more being followed. No more being tracked. You just want to disappear and never let anyone do this to you again. 

[cruesuffix]

When you think about it mick was the only one in the band who was a victim of relationship abuse and no one cared not even his own bandmates

ok i’m sorry to be posting this so late but i fell asleep and actually it’s probably a blessing cause a conversation of this sort of importance requires me to be fully awake and present. warning: discussions of abuse

ok, first of all: yes, he was the only one who was a victim of relationship abuse. unfortunately, mick had a problem picking girls who would actually respect him, as the band and plenty of the people around him would say. however, i don’t think we should go around saying the rest of the band just didn’t care when that’s not exactly true. vince and nikki have said on separate occasions that they’d let mick stay the night with them whenever their fights got too bad and he needed to leave. if they didn’t care, they wouldn’t have let him come over. they would have told him to tough it out.

all of this is a complicated matter because you have to remember this all happened in the eighties. sure, male abuse victims are getting their due diligence now, but do you really think people were progressive enough in the eighties to also realize men got abused too? absolutely not! if they had, i’m sure the band would have done more to help mick. these were young naive men, they were taught that men were strong. tommy had no problem hitting the girls that were troubling him (except bullwinkle ofc), and vince was too busy cheating on every single girl he got with to have to worry about getting hit. nikki was avoiding girls altogether and had no problem just having one night stands. mick was the only one in a stable enough relationship that also happened to be abusive. the others weren’t at all well versed in a situation like that. i can’t 100% blame them for that. most of them (besides nikki) grew up around loving relationships and nuclear families.

seeing their bandmate getting abused was probably worrying, i can’t say what they felt cause i don’t know. but, when that’s something you’ve never seen before, what can you do? i’m sure they encouraged him to leave her, but if he doesn’t… like i said, what can they do? it was the eighties and no one believed men could be abused. plus there were probably so many things the band didn’t know at the time. you know how private mick can be, how he doesn’t want pity. he probably downplayed how bad the situation was to them, just like he never told the band about his disease and they had to learn about it through the book.

ok this is getting pretty long so all i’ll say is this: there are a lot of other things to gripe on the band over, like how they actually mistreated mick over the years. this is not one of them. we don’t know enough about the situation to make assumptions or accusations and i don’t think we ever will. so, let’s cool it about saying the band didn’t care about this situation. we weren’t there. we don’t know what they did or didn’t do. we don’t know what was said, what mick told them, if he told them anything. we know nothing. this is not a situation to make theories about either so… let’s just not! not trying to sound mean either, i just don’t think it’s appropriate to speculate about the band’s involvement in this situation.

[cripplepunkbarbarian]

I just realized I’ve never hit any of my PNAT faves with the disability beam as I am known to do with each of my fave fandoms.

Dimitri is type one diabetic and epileptic. Cody has hypermobility and OCD. Isabel’s dyslexic with a prosthetic leg. Isaac’s schizoaffective with psoriatic arthritis. Penny’s dyspraxic with tourettes. TBI and MS Jean. Speech impaired Lisa. Hearing impaired Johnny. The list could go on…

[lovejapan55]

I HATE YOU SONY I HATE YOU! ONYX EQUINOX IS A SHOW WITH GREAT POTENTIAL AND YOU REFUSE TO RENEW IT !THIS IS THE WORST THING YOU EVER DONE , BUT WHY IS EVERYONE IN THE FANDOM GIVING UP ON IT! IVE SEEN SAMURAI JACK ,CLONE HIGH ,AND HEY ARNOLD RETURN !WHY CANT ONYX EQUINOX GET A RENEWL EVEN AFTER SONY SAID NO. THAT DIDNT STOP CLONE HIGH FROM RETURNING , DONT TELL ME ITS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. DONT TELL ME IT JUST END ON A CLIFFHANGER NO NOT THIS SHOW ,ANY SHOW BUT THIS ONE I WONT GIVE UP ON IT. DONT YOU DARE TELL ME ITS OVER AND THATS IT NOT EVER COMING BACK. WHEN SOFIA HAS A STORY TELL DONT LEAVE IT UNFINISHED NOT THIS ONE IVE HAD SO MANY SHOWS IVE LIKED LEFT UNFINISHED BUT THUS ONE I NEED TO TELL ITS STORY I NEED TO SEE IT THIS IS TOO IMPORTANT TO MEIM WAY MORE INVESTED AND ATTACHED IM MENTALLY UNSTABLE ABOUT THIS IVE ALREADY LOST IT BEFORE SONY YOU BASTARDS BETTER GIVE THE RIGHTS OF ONYX EQUINOX BACK TO SOFIA SO SHE CAN CONTINUE IT I HATE YOU ILL NEVER FORIVE YOU AND NO ONE DARE TELL ME TO CHILL OUT ITS JUST A CARTOON ITS NOT REAL AND GET A LIFE DONT COME AT WITH THAT

[tribble-ations]

Wow you can really see his whole binder here

[nathanexplosionbignaturals]

let me get one thing straight: if you turn the whole mommy/daddy thing into a kink SPECIFICALLY in the context of toki i’m blocking you on sight. you’re weird to put it lightly and i wouldn’t touch you with a 50ft pole. do it with whoever else but leave toki alone

[growing-past-me]

Just for the record I LIKE Hazbin and Helluva a lot. That doesn’t excuse them from the way they treat certain people and body types (fat phobia, racism, etc). The show isn’t above critique and even if you like it you should LISTEN to these minorities when they tell you that these shows and this creator is offensive! We should all be on their side. I’m not sure why we aren’t.

[sophiasharp]

The experience of a new hyperfixation being a band

Cons:

No overarching story or characters to chew on, just real people with real lives

Listening to songs over and over and over till I get every drop of dopamine out of them I can and being paranoid on when it’s gonna run dry

The urge to lie in bed listening to music and do absolutely fuck all else

The fact of them being real people makes embarrassment over hyperfixation go up by 200%

Trying to satiate the want for more content requires social media (don’t have shit other than tumblr and not about to get instagram just to follow some theater kids)

Even finding the scraps of social media reposts I can on what platforms I DO have makes me feel slimy, like I’m becoming the worst type of fan

Just the barest acknowledgment that any member is attractive awakens some latent puritanical instinct who shouts “EW YOU’RE ATTRACTED TO A REAL HUMAN PERSON? CRINGE” at me and it’s really annoying.

Despite being a band of basically fully grown theater kids (theater men?), they are all either heterosexual, spoken for, or both, and all interactions are so completely platonic that there is no reason to ship any of them.

Pros:

There. There’s no reason to ship. Any of them.

Oh my god. I don’t feel the urge to ship any of them.

It’s all platonic. Completely. Platonic.

I don’t have to worry about shipping wars. Or if one ship is considered problematic or not. I just simply don’t care.

I’m free.

I’m fucking FREE!

I’M GONNA COME UP WITH AN AU SO UTTERLY DIVORCED FROM THE SOURCE MATERIAL IT’LL BE LIKE CALLING 50 SHADES OF GREY A SPIN-OFF OF DRACULA!

AND I’M GONNA MAKE EVERYTHING RATED MATURE AT WORSE WITH ZERO ROMANCE INVOLVED! ALL FRIENDSHIP ALL THE TIME!

AND NOBODY CAN FUCKING STOP ME!!!

Oh yeah their harmonies are really good too. I mean have you heard their cover of Nothing Else Matters? Who let them do that? Cruel and unusual use of talent