linka-from-captain-planet - Tumblr blog

[linka-from-captain-planet]

It’s actually kinda so fucking sad that Minthara thinks that everyone hates her still but she still showed up when she was invited (just assumed there were multiple times when she wasn’t)

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The urge to write 3.5k words about this...

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not enough people are into shadowheart/nocturne and it makes me feel insane. like what do you MEAN shadowheart used to beat up people who deadnamed nocturne. what do you MEAN shadowheart would frequently have her memories wiped, but nocturne could get her to remember nocturne in a matter of HOURS if not minutes, and would write on her diary about how happy it'd make her to see the expression on shadowheart's face when she remembered? what do you MEAN that if you give shadowheart the noblestalk, a mushroom so rare and potent there is only ONE of them in the entire game, she doesn't remember her parents or the day with the wolves or the mother superior's name but just nocturne? what do you MEAN nocturne was the one who did shadowheart's hair, and she kept at it until her arms were sore, and even without remembering that at all shadowheart still kept the same canonically hard to redo hairstyle? did shadowheart even like night orchids before their hideout, or did they become her favorite flowers because they were there? were they even actually her favorite flowers, or did she just mix up her attachment to nocturne with attachment to the flowers after forgetting her? hello? hello? can anybody hear me????

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Power ranking BG3 ladies based on how much I'd personally like to marry them

All main and supporting women: Shadowheart, Lae'zel, Karlach Minthara, Jaheira, Isobel, Aylin, Mizora, Orin

Plus my background babes: Florrick, Talli, Alfira, Lakrissa, Araj, Nocturne, Skoona, Adrielle, Z'rell, Roah, Nine-Fingers, and special guest star Philomeen

*Isobel and Aylin deserve to be regarded as individuals occasionally, so yes I'm wrecking that home (Alfira and Lakrissa too)

*essentially, top 10 is "women I would like to marry" and 11-21 and is "women I would not like to marry"

Quartermaster Talli. Granted she has an unfair advantage due to looking and vibing as a fusion of my IRL girlfriend and the butch lesbian who installed my new garage door 3 years ago whom I'm still mildly obsessed with. But anyway, we'd have a really great life together. We'd be able to communicate, we'd be compatible in the bedroom, we have similar values. Wife material, Grade A - the gold standard comparison for everyone else on the list.

Isobel. We'd have our tiffs (we can both be a little catty and sensitive), but overall we'd be a pretty stable match. We'd put in the work to make it last. I feel like being a cleric counts as a "job" so I appreciate that.

Nocturne. My #1 "I can fix her" pick because I think I actually can. I appreciate a hard worker, so Nocturne having distinguished herself in her uh workplace enough to become an officer is very respectable to me. We could go to therapy together. Not a perfect match, but I think we could make it work.

Lakrissa. Would be an easy second place if she didn't read so young. She's a little immature (a little over-dedicated, a little too self-sacrificing) and so she'd have to do some growing up, but I think we could make it work.

Florrick. Even though she's my #1 beloved and by FAR the sexiest person in the entire game and I would do anything to [redacted], we'd be like two brick walls getting married. We're too similar. But sheer affection and lust propel her to the top 5 anyway, even though we'd probably be married 10 sexless years before one of us finally snapped and filed for divorce.

Skoona. Assuming she drops the whole self-deprecating thing (can't stand that). She has a job, she's sensitive, she's romantic, she's humble, and she's hot. I don't think we'd knock each others' socks off, but we'd be a nice match.

Lae'zel. Extremely 22 years old and that's an issue for me. I'm also too sensitive to make it through her tough outer shell to get to the soft waifu meat inside. However, she does have amazing wife material to uncover, so I think if I could be her second wife, we'd be golden.

Adrielle. We'd have our problems as two neurotic faux-normies, but we're neurotic in different ways, so maybe we'd complete each other? She's very conscientious and thoughtful, though, which are the most important wife traits for me. With commitment and therapy, we'd make it work, but it wouldn't be the smoothest ride.

Jaheira. I don't really want to be a step parent to young kids, so that pulls her down the list a bit, but there's no way I couldn't have her in the top 10. We'd get along great; we have the same sense of humor; we're both not clingy. A good match, but not really the wife for me.

Minthara. I want her so bad but she'd eat me alive and not in the sexy way. I would let her walk all over me for 2-3 years though, assuming she didn't dump me first. Impossible to rank below the top 10, but objectively not the wife for me.

Shadowheart. Like Lae'zel, there's a lot to get through before you get to the wife material deep inside. I would also need to be her second wife. Also, I'm not doing that cottagecore shit and I cannot have that many animals in my house.

Araj. I know I called her bad in bed 2 different ways in two other posts but that's not a problem, she's so sexy and interesting to me that I know I would fall super hard for her. I too love science? We have something in common. I feel like she'd bring out a lot in me, not necessarily good things, but to be loved is to be changed? I would probably come to my senses before really risking it all though.

Alfira. I love her so much but I am no Lakrissa, I could not handle both supporting her while she pursues her artistic goals AND having to top every time. We'd be that miserable couple that lets it drag on forever because nothing is *wrong* even though nothing is *right* and wind up hating each other.

Nine-Fingers. She'd stress me out too much. Running the streets, making enemies... what if a shake-down goes wrong? Admittedly I'm tempted to live out my mafia wife fantasies with her, but realistically, I think I'd have too many nervous breakdowns to make it worth it.

Karlach. The divorce would be so epic that I almost wanted to rank her higher, but I just know deep down that we would trigger/frustrate the fuck out of each other and completely implode long before making it to the courthouse and/or altar.

Aylin. I routinely get over-stimulated by my cats brushing against my leg when I'm trying to multi-task working and listening to music, so there is no universe in which I could tolerate being married to Aylin. She's too exuberant and touchy. I would be scream-crying WHY ARE YOU YELLING AT ME every time she simply asked me how my day was in her usual volume. An absolute disaster, she'd smother me despite her best intentions.

Z'rell. She can have place #17 to match the 17 husbands which I would not be okay with. I'm not jealous, but I'm not THAT not jealous. She's also just really harsh and I'm a crier, so we probably would not be able to have a conversation, let alone a relationship.

Roah Moonglow. Like Nine-Fingers, but I feel like the Zhent is like, a second-rate criminal organization and so it'd be like being a second-rate mafia wife. All the stress, fewer fist-sized emerald necklaces.

Mizora. On top of everything else, she's also a corporate LAWYER... yuck

Philomeen. I would go on 1 date with Philomeen, let her start a blowup fight with me outside of [regional burrito chain], let her neg me into fucking anyway, go no contact, and let her booty call me 2 years later at 3AM like nothing happened, but I would not even slightly consider dating her, let alone marrying her.

Orin. Ignoring the whole serial killer thing that's neither here nor there, the problem is the combo of overbearing family (my #1 dealbreaker of all time) and lack of communication skills (my #2 dealbreaker of all time). Like I'd be constantly trying to get her to go no contact with Serevok and she'd never listen and she'd always be talking in fucking Dr Seuss riddles and disappearing and pissing me off.

[linka-from-captain-planet]

Stardew Valley (2016) - dev. ConcernedApe

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it always struck me as kind of hilarious that you have to pass a 30DC check to convince shadowheart not to kill dame aylin but if you're just like "sure do whatever lol" she chooses not to kill her anyway. tsundere ass fuck. killing is bad unless it's out of spite. i have morals unless you try to tell me what to do

but i just got to that scene in my new replay and it made me realize that that's not what's at stake at all

because the persuasion check isn't "don't do this". the persuasion check is, your life is whatever you make of it. you don't have to do something just because your goddess tells you to.

convincing shadowheart not to kill dame aylin is easy. she knows it's wrong, and she doesn't want to, not really. if given the choice, she is literally unable to go through with it even if she clearly wants to, or wants to want to so badly she can't tell the difference

the problem is convincing her she has an option in the first place

the problem is convincing her that her life is her own

shadowheart has never belonged to herself since she was captured. not in body, not in soul, not in mind, not even her memories. she quite literally doesn't know who she is in more ways than one. she doesn't know her past or her family, she doesn't know who her loved ones are (including the sharran loved ones, like nocturne), all she really knows about herself is a fear of wolves that's been implanted into her by lies and an attachment to a flower she can't remember the details of. and a mission. always a mission. the will of someone else she has to carry on, that is not for her to understand or question or think about. she can't even want to serve shar, because she isn't allowed to pursue her intention to become a dark justiciar. she is supposed to be well and truly nothing, empty as the sharran doctrine

(oh, and pain that she doesn't know the reason of. no matter what, she must bear the pain)

how can she see herself as more than her goddess, when she quite literally doesn't know anything about who she is other than her devotion to shar? how can she choose her own destiny, when she couldn't even choose how to devote and give herself over to her?

she can't, which is why, unless you have infinite rizz points and/or roll a nat20, shadowheart attacks you. not dame aylin. you. and she never argues about whether or not it's the right thing, because she knows. what she's rebelling against isn't the idea of letting dame aylin go. what she's rebelling against is the idea that she could leave her cage and belong to no one but herself. because the idea is scary and she quite literally doesn't know where to begin. which is why her obsession becomes to find her parents, even though she doesn't remember them at all. because maybe they can tell her who she's supposed to be, and she can have the comfort of having her path laid out before her again

(which is also why she has to kill them. not because of some hand hurty curse bullshit. but because she just wants them and selûne to become the new shar, and she has to let that go if she truly means to claim herself again)

and now im sad. because it's easier for shadowheart to do turn against shar and everything she's ever had on the grounds of saving someone else than on the grounds that she deserves better than to be a puppet. even if you do nothing, saving dame aylin, to her, is easy. saving herself is a wholly different matter, one she's not sure she has any right to, or wants to, even if it's what she really needs. accepting a selûnite's humanity is easier than accepting her own. losing everything is easier than gaining her own autonomy. and she will fight tooth and nail to be allowed to stay in her own, metaphorical soul cage

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More voice line posting! Because I like digging them up and I always want to see/hear more of Isobel.

At some point you were able to have Isobel join your camp by herself even after letting Shadowheart kill Aylin - a game state that's no longer possible, as Aylin's death means Last Light falls, too. But all the voice lines and dialogue trees are still there. I haven't had a chance to try, but manually messing around with the "SHA_Nightsong_State_PermaDefeated" flag might be able to get these lines to trigger.

Here are some highlights (and transcripts) from the Moonrise reunion and the camp conversation that we now only see the "take care of my angel" branch of.

Isobel: You did it. I knew you would. Player: Yet you don't seem glad. Isobel: Oh, I am. It's a momentous day. I suppose I need to catch my breath or the momentum will outpace me.

Player: What will you do now that your father's gone? Isobel: Oh, I don't know. Change my hair colour. Buy a horse. [Curse was lifted] Isobel: In seriousness, I intend to help you fight the Absolute - what lies behind the Absolute, that is. Isobel: None of us will be safe until that looming horror is defeated. When the time comes, I'll fight at your side.

[Curse wasn't lifted] Isobel: In seriousness, my home needs me. It's still enveloped in Shar's horrific curse. If it can be cleansed, I'll find a way. Isobel: But I admit that plays second fiddle to helping you. None of us will be safe until the horror behind 'the Absolute' is defeated. When the time comes, I'll fight at your side.

Player: Why wait? Isobel: To be perfectly frank, I'm exhausted. It feels a bit as though I've been dropped into another dimension. Isobel: A little time to rest and reflect, and I'll be ready to go at it anew. What say you? Player: It's not over yet. A nautiloid is on its way to Baldur's Gate. Isobel: Gods. One day, you go to sleep and everything's square. Then you wake up, and it's a dodecahedron. With tentacles.

-

You could also talk about Aylin specifically. If you were feeling particularly horrible, you could lie and convince Isobel she could still find and save her beloved. Presumably, however you played this, she would leave your camp either hating you or trying to save Aylin - which is a bit similar to how the Act 3 Lorroakan betrayal pans out.

Player: Aylin - do you mean Nightsong? Isobel: Nightsong? What do you mean?

Player: Ketheric captured her and was using her to fuel his invulnerability. She was called the 'Nightsong'. Isobel: She... what?! Does this mean she's still alive? I've got to find her - set her free! Tell me everything you know. Please.

Player: It's too late for that. She was dead when I found her. [Roll Deception] [Roll succeeded] Isobel: My father said she was gone. I'd tried to make peace with it. But... she was so special. So very dear. Isobel: When we met, it was like a lightning strike. My father wasn't sure about us - she was immortal, after all - but I never doubted. [Roll failed] Isobel: Liar. Wicked, wicked liar. Murderer.

Player: Give me your map. I'll show you where she's being kept. [Roll Performance] [Roll failed] Isobel: You're lying. She can't be saved, can she? My father told me she was... gone. It's true, isn't it? Isobel: Why would you lie? What's the matter with you? [Roll succeeded] Isobel: Thank you - thank you so much. I'll gather some supplies and head out shortly. Aylin... I can't believe she's alive. Before the day's end, I'll have her in my arms. Incredible.

Isobel: I hope Aylin's alright. I can't wait to have her in my arms again.

Player: Never mind. Isobel: As I was saying, I fell in love with Aylin swiftly. It was as easy as breathing.

Player: That's what Ketheric and his chums called her. Killed her myself. / It's too late for that. I killed her. Isobel: You what?! But she was immortal. How could she... how could you...? She is the Moonmaiden's daughter. And you call yourself a Selûnite?!

Player: It was the only way to make Ketheric vulnerable. Isobel: Was it? Was it truly? I don't believe that. Not for a second.

Player: Shar got the better of me. It won't happen again. Isobel: Oh it won't? Then I suppose we'll just forget this little misstep, file it under 'lessons learned'?

Player: It was a mistake. One I bitterly regret. Isobel: I should hope so. I can't imagine what insane course of thought led you to murder someone so dear. Isobel: Get out of my sight before I do something you'll regret.

Player: When the Lady of Loss speaks, her faithful act on her behalf. Isobel: You're disgusting. You've killed someone so precious, so good. I knew Shar was wicked. But I'd hoped for better from you.

Player: I couldn't hold my companion back. She had a mission to fulfil. Isobel: A mission? A mission?! That Sharran murderer destroyed someone so precious, so good...

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thinkin about how, as quartermaster, Nocturne would have been the one to outfit the Sharran infiltrators for the steal-the-artifact mission

and the roster of infiltrators is found in the armory, so it must have been meant FOR Nocturne because obviously she’d need to know who she’s outfitting/what kind of stuff they’d need

so like that elegant script making it clear that the infiltrators “remain utterly expendable”… must have been directed AT Nocturne

which makes sense on the surface because the cloister is a total dump, and the donations box doesn’t have a lot of money in it, and there’s barely any good loot. Of course they can’t afford to risk their limited resources on bodies that likely won’t come back

but Nocturne would surely know this… so… why the pointed and heavy handed reminder?

and also the other writings you can find around the cloister give a lot of background on Sharran faith… for example the one ominously declaring that Lady Shar knows what you hide, deep inside your spirit… or the one declaring that love is the cruelest of all the lies told by Lady Shar’s foes…

or Nocturne’s mysteriously, heavily redacted diary… that only seems to have 3 topics left intact: her transition (and Shadowheart’s support), her commitment to helping Shadowheart navigate her un-favoritism from the Mother Superior, and how sick with worry she is over Shadowheart… as if to ensure that Nocturne, even if she stands before the mirror, never forgets how much Shadowheart means to her…

even if it’s a violation of Lady Shar’s teachings, and perhaps a transgression that she needs to be reminded of and punished for over and over…

almost like some kind of, say, a shock collar that she can never remove, that’s used to harm her and force her compliance whenever she strays from the darkness…

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if you raise the egg with Lae'zel and stay in Faerun, she'll mention to you in the epilogue that he's being watched by "your newest allies" who she "trusts completely" tonight and just immediately wondering who that could possibly be that Lae'zel would trust completely to watch your son.

and it just made me think, that if you're playing a Tav who isn't an orphan, maybe has some siblings and somewhat of an extended family who they might want to get back in touch with now that they don't have a tadpole threatening them and everyone around them and also they have a githyanki wife and child that they want to introduce people to, Lae'zel would have absolutely no vocabulary for even just most of Tav's familial relations but she'd defintely have no concept of "in-laws."

She thought parents were made up and fake until like a week after you started traveling together and she admits that her "cousins" she mentions didn't indicate a familial relationship in like a societal standpoint and just indicated that they hatched from the same clutch as her. So if Tav started throwing parents, grandparents, siblings, nieces, nephews, actual cousins at her? she wouldn't understand it. So like assuming they're all on good terms with Tav, I could absolutely see her being like "These people seem strangely devoted to you. They have many stories of your past that indicate that they have protected you, but could also bring you to ruin and humiliation should some of these tales be spread. We will form a powerful alliance with them."

like just imagining the epilogue, someone asking Lae'zel and Tav where their son is and Lae'zel being like "He is being watched by our newest allies who are utterly devoted to protecting and keeping him from harm" while Tav just simultaneously goes "He's with my parents"

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sometimes, DMs about niche content spiral into DMs about even niche-r content and now there's a delightful Minthara/Florrick country club/suburban power couple AU written by @athenas-only-daughter so obviously I needed to draw them in their preppy swag

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[linka-from-captain-planet]

Absolutely obsessed with your brain. I am begging for more Aylin/Isobel takes from you. The level of on point they have all been so far is astounding, amazing, thrilling, rejuvenating. A feast.

my brain is flattered! Admittedly it doesn't contain too much for Aylin/Isobel - it's a ship I love, but that doesn't shake the brain stem too too much. BUT as an angst/struggle/weird vibes ship fan though, I have a half-baked vision.

I like to picture that it was their time apart that made them them, not so much their time together.

My HC is that they weren't together for super long before Isobel died. I might def have forgotten, but we also don't get too much of Aylin's POV on their relationship. So I do like to picture it being slightly skewed - it was mutual, of course, but it was Isobel who really fell in love at first sight. Aylin maybe had some reservations (maybe that's what the month-long walk was about?), but didn't have the time to overcome them before losing Isobel and being captured by Ketheric.

So she had 100 years in the Shadowfell to not only mourn Isobel, but fall deeper in love with her - hopeless to ever see her again, on top of being hopeless to ever be free again.

So, reuniting them is not helping them pick up where they left off, but rather giving them the opportunity for the great love they were always meant to be.

[linka-from-captain-planet]

does this resonate with ANYONE

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First you procrastinate on the task because it is not a big enough deal to get done urgently. Then you procrastinate on the task because it has become such a big deal that doing it is overwhelming. You would think that this implies a middle point where it is just big enough of a deal to get done easily, however the inherent perversity of the universe's causal geometry prevents this

[linka-from-captain-planet]

- Chk. A tadpole feasts on our skulls, and you're signing on to chase devils? - Trust me, gith. I know the stories. Doomed to shed our skin and become illithid... and they say there's no coming back.

[linka-from-captain-planet]

"if you ship this thing it's because you're too naïve to understand that it's toxic and that you wouldn't like a relationship like this" actually it's because I see one of them as a mentos drop and the other as a bottle of coke zero and I want to watch the mess they'll be together