#<- guy with a hyperfixation voice:

[deliriousblue]

musing on the aspects of language we do and don’t tend to think about. in particular i’ve gotten significantly less surprise about reading than about speaking from thai speakers, vs english speakers who generally assume i’m not learning to read and are surprised to learn differently.

all very small sample sizes so drawing any real conclusions would be silly! but it makes me wonder how we think about literacy as distinct from spoken fluency. it’s not a distinction i by default make in english, and in my experience people don’t make the distinction when talking about (say) french/spanish/other languages using the same basic character set either.

(i don’t remember learning to read as a child; i wish i did because it’d be fascinating to compare. they’re not identical and there was more formal memorization involved for thai but at this point i don’t think they’re actually all that different; i learned lots of words from reading in english too.)

[clouvu]

Offering lil doodles of them bc my eyes have been opened

[paintedcrows]

Memento Mori

Or: Why is The Narrator's source object a skull in The Stanley Parable's Freedom Ending. This has been haunting me

[voidwelt]

logged on hsr with intent to listen to welt's voice lines for the 100th time but i got embarrassed and instantly logged off. you could say i'm winning at this character obsession thing. anyway i like to think about how one of his "trying to get to know the trailblazer" attempts is him trying to pretend he doesn't know how to change his profile picture. and then (in the timeline, the cosmic decor event) he basically instantly helps them set up a very fancy high end gaming PC. he's fooling nobody. the oldmansona has its limits but joking aside it's a nice detail. about how slightly-awkward he can still be. even around people he regards very highly as allies, who he enjoys traveling with. having to use a pretty weak (but clearly heavily thought about) excuse just to have a reason to bond with the newest recruit. probably overthinking his interactions with them because he wants to be a decent mentor figure in this new world. does he know he's kind of cute about it. (cube voice) it's sickening i kinda wanna kick him in the shins til he sheds tears

[guilhem-png]

Opportunist in Chapter III - The Wraith

I replayed The Wraith today and I was struck with how insanely funny it is to go through this chapter with Opportunist

For context (spoilers ahead), you can get to The Wraith either from The Specter or The Nightmare, two chapters that are loaded with violence. They mirror each other. Either you kill the Princess first and get Cold, then die at her hands and get Paranoid. Or you get killed by the Princess first, get Paranoid, then have your revenge and get Cold.

Basically, the most likely scenario is that you'll start The Wraith with Cold and Paranoid, one voice wracked with constant terror, the other numb to the point of apathy. The Wraith is one of those "dead end chapters", where violence has gone so far that it's impossible to mend the relationship. The game punishes you accordingly (by removing most of your agency, something that is even more prevalent in The Grey).

But there's a grain of sand in that well oiled machine, one tiny shard of glass that comes to disrupt the beautiful symmetry, and it's Opportunist. He feels completely out of place in The Wraith. While Cold and Paranoid are perfectly able to seize the gravity of the situation, Opportunist spectacularly fails to read the room and makes a series of bizarre attempts to win the Princess' favors. None of his ideas really go anywhere. The Princess doesn't care about him, the Narrator is violently opposed, and if you, the player, decide to toss the Wraith into an endless void, there's not much Opportunist can do besides complain.

But I don't think that's a design flaw at all! I think this is quite brilliant, on the contrary. First of all, it's genuinely funny. Opportunist can be a sinister character in chapters like The Witch or The Princess and the Dragon, but he's more of a harmless fool in The Wraith. To me, it all depends on whether or not his rhetoric works. The world is full of conniving backstabbers, opportunists who flatter others in order to gain personal benefits, but are quick to turn their backs on those they no longer need. This callous behavior is perfectly illustrated in Slay the Princess. Opportunist seems like a nice guy because his over-the-top flattery is amusing, but then he displays genuine cruelty without even changing his tone or attitude, and it's... chilling.

But that has no chance of working in The Wraith, obviously. You can't talk to a vengeful ghost like she's your boss looking for people to hire, and yet that's exactly what Opportunist does. This is the exact kind of tonal whiplash we usually get from Contrarian. It means you can replay The Wraith and have a completely different experience, even though what happens in the chapter is basically the same.

Isn't that game just brilliant?

[fishinglure-osc]

save me bfdia contestants save me

[dreamsy990]

ive posted a ton of art recently i should get one self indulgent drawing

[threecephalopodsinatrenchcoat]

I’m thinking about the Degasi crew again and the ways they change throughout the story.

In their first couple logs, Bart is more… well, not timid, but doesn’t really stand up to the others as much. Marguerit is slightly less standoffish, and so is Paul, because they both are relatively confident in being rescued. They don’t exactly know when it will be, but still they think it will happen. They don’t really argue as much about what to do- they definitely still dislike each other, but it isn’t as vehement.

In their later logs in the Jellyshroom Caves, they seem to be more concerned about what’s happening. Marguerit knows something’s off, and Paul also does even if he won’t admit to agreeing with her; as a result they begin arguing more and more after the realization that rescue is not coming and they have to do everything themselves. Bart also slowly starts standing up for himself, like in log #5 (that one where his dad is lecturing him about capitalism and he’s like “um we are on an alien planet and I don’t think that matters right now.”) while simultaneously growing to love the planet more.

In the Grand Reef, most of that falls apart. After they discover the disease, they all really begin to clash, with Bart playing peacekeeper to make sure the others don’t do too much damage. (this could partially be caused by the disease, as one of the canon symptoms is increased aggression) and Marguerit becoming more reckless which eventually culminates into the Reaper attack. Paul also becomes more stubborn and attempts to order everyone around, probably because he sees it as their only hope.

After the DGR base gets destroyed it’s dubious as they all get split up. However it’s implied (or just stated, I don’t remember) in Marguerit’s logs from Below Zero that she purposely attacked the Reaper after the base was destroyed because she wanted to give the others time to get away. This also shows how they seem to care about each other more than they would like to admit, even if that care is just “I don’t want to see you die”. In Paul’s last log, he also mentions wondering what happened to her, to me implying he did care -even slightly- as well.

During all of that, Bart makes his way to the surface and after an indeterminate amount of time records the last log. The disease and loss of the other two definitely changes him even if it’s just trauma, however he does seem more at peace than the others (is this his personality or just the shock or the fact he’s had more time to come to terms with it, we will never know)

anyway yeah I love these guys and they’re cool.

[sacr1ficialang3l]

this is a 1 hour long recording of me and my sister planning out a hunger games x supernatural fanfic. i said i wouldn’t write it because it was too big of a commitment but i guess i am doing it.

ONE HOUR planning characters and storylines and everything. if i ever post it it will probably go to ao3 but still.

get ready for a hunger games au spn fic for maybe 2027

[greyymon]

more shezow its so good i love shezow guy hamdon has consumed my brain

[theo-grayson]

i NEED an avm friday night funkin mod that focuses on noteblock universe

[vaguely-concerned]

first of all rye 'hello fellow kids' ingellvar there is nothing in this world or any other I wouldn't do for you. second of all, considering where this story ends... I'm going to die. this conversation -- and how much he genuinely believes what he's saying at this point -- held up against the fact that in a couple of months max he's going to get her killed (well. that's how he feels anyway) and then go against everything she believed in and stood for as a person in the end and have to live forever with knowing that's how he honoured her sacrifice. (and live with how easy it is to live with, the way he doesn't regret what he did at all. she'll haunt him from time to time, that's fine, he's a watcher he's loved many a ghost before and will again. but that won't.) 'no one is beyond help? oh lace I'm so so sorry, wherever you are now please forgive me for who I am, but after what he pulled and by the time I'm done with him on my watcher's oath he will be beyond help. I'll hold every hand in this world that reaches back but his'. and she'll still be gone.

'or none of this matters'. im so fucking sad I feel sick *through tears* this is great I love fiction I love this game (embarrassingly genuine as is my wont)

[thecrazyphantom]

*FOAMING AT THE MOUTH*

HE.......

(The one on the right)

HE'S VOICES BY FUYUHIKO'S VOICE AND I CAN'T FUCKING POINT IT OUT TO MY SISTERS OR ELSE ILL BE JUDGE (or called a nerd)

I AM CONVULSING RN

I AM GOING INSANE OVER THIS FUUUUUUUUUUUCK

FUCK I LOVE HEARING VOICE ACTORS IN OTHER SHOWS GRAAAAAA

I AM SWEATING AND HOLDING MY BREATH AND SHIVERING HAGHDHFFDHG

[montparnasse]

[doomful]

I started my day with another drawing of Graverave! I'm trying to incorporate more of his zombie and Halloween crosspaint. I'm excited to tweak this digitally later!!!

[savage-rhi]

Fuschia/Magenta?