#《 almost done with the main game so I'll actually be able to do other things soon 》

[tuesdayscanons]

My only hesitation with adding Arven (or any of the Pokémon ScarVi characters) as muses is that idk when is the appropriate time to start doing that bc spoilers and stuff

[red-hot-kick]

Theory: Ryuji was popular, before.

I'm not entirely sure if anyone has really talked about this but I maintain my interpretation that, in the canon of Persona 5, Ryuji used to be very (or at least moderately) popular prior to the events of the story.

This is something I've gotten into before when talking to friends who like the game and the character, but I haven't really considered writing it down until now. The main argument I have is based on three things:

Things Ryuji alluded to in canon (but no one believed him on)

The deliberate choice of making him a track athlete

Typecasting for voice actors

1: "There were girls all over me!"

I don't really have the time to go on a deep dive through all the instances in which he hints at his reputation before the Kamoshida incident, but I think the most clear-cut representation of this was during the scene where he and Ann spend the day with Futaba during her post-palace social rehabilitation:

So here's the thing...I don't think he's lying about this. Nobody in the room would be that impressed to find out whether Ryuji was popular since they are already friends (or in Mona's case, he really just doesn't care), so it wouldn't make sense for him to lie.

Regarding everyone's reactions though, here's my impression: Ann was simply not aware of what was going on with the track team, being predominantly focused on dealing with rumors, her friendship with Shiho, and her modeling career (and eventually Kamoshida's advances once he started doing that shit) and she mentions a few times that she and Ryuji weren't actually close before joining the PT; they were just in the same class in middle school. Futaba hasn't interacted with anyone her age in years and isn't the most reliable source when it comes to what people generally find attractive; just because she doesn't have any interest in Ryuji doesn't mean that nobody her age would. And Morgana is a cat that brags constantly about how cool he is, so he shouldn't be throwing rocks.

There are many other times in the game when you get little glimpses of his social savvy, and from my understanding of Royal (I'm an OG vanilla P5 player and haven't done 3rd-semester yet, so don't kill me) when the track team returns to "how it was", he is getting along extremely well with everyone. Not only was he the team's ace: this kid was also expected to become the captain by his senior year (as briefly mentioned when he bumps into his former senpai at the gym, iirc). That's huge! If his team held him in such high regard, then the general student body of Shujin surely had a similar opinion. This brings me to my next point:

2: Girls like boys that run fast(???)

This is honestly something that baffles me. It's also really difficult for me to substantiate; any source material on this is obviously in Japanese and if I could find any of it, I sure as hell can't read it. The only English-language source I know of I cannot find anymore; I think it was an old Tofugu article? However. If you've watched any romance anime set in a high school during the last 20 years, you might have seen this trope at some point: the school sports festival is happening, and the relay race is kind of a huge deal (it's the final event! a make-or-break moment for the class!). The boy thinks to himself "If I win this race, I'll be able to win her heart/ask her out/etc." Low-stakes drama ensues. Maybe a confession happens.

This is (from what I've been told) based on a long-standing trend of girls and women self-reporting in surveys about how, oftentimes, their crushes in junior or senior high school were simply "the boy who ran the fastest in the races". I have no idea what this means in a broader cultural context. It makes no goddamn sense to me at all. Do not cite me on this. But I think it's worth keeping in mind, even if it's almost entirely speculative (and possibly outdated) information. And even if it's just based on rumors, don't you think it's pretty in-character for Ryuji to go for a track scholarship—despite being adept at other sports like baseball and football/soccer, as mentioned in P5 and P5D—because he was aware of the potential of being more popular with girls? Of course, his priority would be getting the scholarship and paying his way through school to lighten his mother's burden, but hey, getting a girlfriend on the way up wouldn't be half bad!

I think this could also inform us as to why Kamoshida (as a predator who wanted attention from high school girls) felt so threatened by the track team in particular, and why he felt a need to specifically knock Ryuji down a peg and sought out a weakness to do so (as opposed to targeting any of the probably just-as-popular boys on the many other athletic teams and clubs in the school). Just some food for thought on this one! Also, if anyone can find a source or has any insight on the relay race thing, please share. I am so confused about it.

3: Typecasting

So this is something that you really only notice if you are very into keeping up with seiyuu in Japan. I am not one of those people. But I do have some favorite voice actors! One of these being Mamoru Miyano.

So I freakin' love this dude. He's voiced a lot of my favorite characters, sings incredibly well, and has an unreal sense of comedy. He's stated in interviews that his acting inspiration is Jim Carrey, and let me tell you: it shows. He is also quite consistently typecast into certain roles, predominantly as princely pretty-boy types, Coolguys, or complete fucking nutcases. Sometimes all three at the same time (shoutout to my boy Ling FMA!)

ATLUS definitely cast him for P5 because of his comedic chops. But I think they also cast him because having him voice someone like Ryuji is a great way to subvert expectations for the player. I think it's supposed to give you whiplash—"what do you mean the voice of LIGHT FUCKING YAGAMI is coming out of this guy's mouth?" "why does the delinquent character sound like king of the host club Tamaki Suou?" "isn't that Rin Matsuoka's voice?" etc. etc. etc.

(here's a quick list, just to really get the idea across. maybe you recognize a few.)

This is obviously a non-comprehensive list, but something that a lot of the characters he's voiced over the years have in common is that they were considered cool, handsome, or popular. Not just for fans, but within the canon of their stories! So...what does that mean? What does that say about how we should see Ryuji?

I think players are supposed to expect that he will fall into one of those categories too, and then be surprised to find that it's not the case—that he's been isolated and made bitter and resigned by what happened to him the year before.

Speaking of his tone, I think it's very telling that Ryuji actually forgets to keep up the delinquent act a lot in the original JP audio, which unfortunately doesn't really carry over in the ENG translation. The delivery of his JP lines sounds a bit more subdued in comparison too—yeah he's got a lot of energy and is very hotheaded, but when he gets to talking about serious shit, he sounds a lot more regretful and melancholy as opposed to the EN delivery which depicts him as more resentful and outwardly angry. I think before Shit Went Down, he probably had the Coolguy vibe. Still a bit of a rowdy idiot and a showoff, but I think he probably came across to most people as a very friendly, sincere, and popular guy.

So yeah, the girls probably were all over him, at least for a short while.

[hoodie-buck]

Weekend WIP Game

Tagged by @wikiangela @thewolvesof1998

Rules: List your WIPs below (if you only write one fic at a time, feel free to include future WIPs/ideas!) then answer the following questions. Then, tag as many people as you have WIPs (or more)

WIP List:

active (mostly) wips

—murder!boyfriends

—chris doesn't come back au

—baseball au 2.0

—prision!buddie

other wips that are in the abandoned wips folder...maybe i'll return to them one day...

—author!buck

—insurgent au

—platonic fwb

—fwb buck 1.0.2 au

2. Which of your WIPs is currently the longest?

—chris doesn't come back au (a little shy of 14k)

3. Which WIP do you expect will end up the longest?

—probably chris doesn't come back au. i've barely gotten into things and am already at almost 14k 💀

4. Which WIP is your favorite to write/the most enjoyable to write? Why?

—hmm i'm actually having so much fun writing the murder!boyfriends au! i just love making them unhinged 😈

5. Which WIP do you find the most intimidating to write? Why?

—probably the murder!boyfriends, just bc it is so dark, and i don't want people to hate it. idk i'm afraid i won't be able to pull it off 😩

6. Which WIP do you experience the most self-doubt about. Why?

—the author!buck one. it was just a silly little idea, but writing all the smutty parts for it became kind of intimidating and i ended up hating it and throwing it to the side. i haven't looked back since

7. Which of your WIPs will you seek out a beta/sensitivity reader for? Why?

—i've never used a beta reader tbh. i usually just send my friends snippets or things for vibe checks!

8. Have any of your WIPs been struck by the curse of writer's block?

—see above the abandon wips, or any of the ones you haven't seen me posting about lately 🥲

9. Which WIP has your favorite OC? Tell us about them?

—i don't have any OC atm, but i would love to play with that in the future!

10. Which WIP is the sexiest?

—hmm probably the author!au from what i remember or murder!boyfriends just bc i think them being covered in blood and stabbing ppl is sexy 🙊

11. Which WIP is the angstiest?

—chris doesn't come back au. its a pretty heavy one. i love all the threats i get whenever i post a new snippet 😆

12. Which WIP has the best characterization (in your humble opinion)?

—hmmm maybe the chris doesn't come back au? i've had to really deep dive into both their heads for this one

13. Which WIP has the best scene setting (in your humble opinion)?

—chris doesn't come back au bc tsunami episodes my most beloved, but also murder!boyfriends, bc the dark settings are so fun to conjure up!

14. Which WIP have you worked the hardest on?

—chris doesn't come back au. it's the one i've put the most time and effort into as of late. she's been in my ideas for forever and has a special place in my heart <33

15. Which WIP do you have the highest expectations for? Why?

—chris doesn't come back au, mainly for the reason above. she's my babygirl, ok 🥹

16. Do you dream about any of your WIPs?

—mm not that i can specifically think of or remember, but i'm sure i have at some point!

17. Do any of your WIPs have particular complexities that that your other fics don't?

—murder!boyfriends is definitely darker than anything i've done before

18. Which WIP is the funniest or has the most humor?

—author!buck is the only one that comes to mind

19. Do any of your WIPs contain outside POVs or a deep dive on a character other than the main ship? How are you finding that process?

—not currently. i've played around a little with that in the past though. it's always fun diving into others heads!

20. Tell us one thing we don't know about one or more of your WIPs

—i do have a secret wip not listed anywhere above 👀

tagging: @loserdiaz @redlightsandicedtea @honestlydarkprincess @monsterrae1 @onward--upward @barbiediaz @spotsandsocks @buddierights @eddiebabygirldiaz @elvensorceress @witchesdiaz @jacksadventuresinwriting @wh0re-behavi0r @spaceprincessem @wildlife4life @daffi-990 @hippolotamus @giddyupbuck @disasterbuckdiaz

[ultimateplaylistmaker]

Wait, what are the four ideölogies?

Thank you for asking!

I'll divide them by Hate/Love

Hate Despair and Love Despair are the two main factions of despair. The biggest face of Hate Despair is Tsumugi and Love Despair is Mikan.

Hate Despair is totally outwards, it's not about you in any real way, it's about making everyone ELSE feel BAD just because its profitable or its kinda entertaining. It lacks as much soul but it's much more likely to get to some really questionable weird places like a fucking killing game tv show, effective, but soulless. You don't get much out of it other then the satisfaction of a job well done. Brutally effective, but much harder to sell people on acting on, thus usually falling to a handful of people who take advantage of no one else feeling they can change the system. It's pure voyeur of others suffering without much care about why they're suffering just that they are, theres no actual personal investment in it and that makes it impossible to reason with it.

Love Despair is much more inward, its not so much about other people is its about getting the believer their own catharsis. Love Despair takes thoughts like "god, why is the line so long I wish everyone here would die" and then acts on them. It's complete selfishness and a disregard for anyone else as long as you get yours. Who cares if millions die, you got that compliment from Junko! So all is okay! It's all about you! and what you want! and what you want is everyone who has ever been mean to you to die horribly! Despair brings satisfaction, pleasure, and when the high wears off and you go "oh my god what have i done" you just go do it again to get your mind off it, creating a circle of almost addiction. It's more viral, but more easy to get talked out of. It's mob mentality after all, if the mob starts to slow, so will you.

Meanwhile with Hate Hope and Love Hope the faces are Juzo and Makoto, this is a much more visible then the Despair dichotomy.

Hate Hope is all about the greater good, its again very not personal, it's about doing what will logically do the most good with the least risk. It's killing those who stand in the way because its just more efficient, it's very much a turn on your neighbor kind of hope where you report things wrong or at risk to try and maintain peace and keep people happy, its a lot less real personal moral choice about whats right and more following rules and handling things quickly. Much less room for change or progression but in a dangerous place like the tragedy, brutal efficiency very much gets the job done and protects a lot of people more effectively. Its punching a teenager in the face because even if it sends them to the hospital, if you just let them keep going they might get killed. Sometimes you have to do the wrong or cruel thing to get the best results.

Love Hope is being unable to sit still in the face of any perceived wrong doing even if its for the "best" and is thus much more volatile then Hate Hope and easily used for good and bad but when used makes much bigger splashes and can make the most changes in peoples views of the world. It's becoming a war criminal just on the chance it might be able to reform the world's most dangerous people because goddammit theyre still PEOPLE. No matter how much easier it makes things! It's passion, and moving before you think because you can't just sit idly by. Rules don't matter, hell, sometimes what the majority wants doesn't matter, what matters is doing the right goddamn thing, even if it may be more dangerous or chaotic. Its a firm belief people arent chips you can bet and exchange for something even if that something is peace! they're people! Even if its riskier if it could maybe save one more person its worth it! It's got a lot of potential for things to go wrong, it's more of a gamble, but it will alter the world forever in a way Hate Hope fucking WISHES it could.

It's all very Mind vs Heart, Logic vs Passion, Order vs Chaos, neither one is inherently better or less dangerous then the other, and for best results you want to get both to work together to balance out more, but they're also very inherently at odds in ways that constantly cause conflict throughout the series.

[mythandlaur]

Code: July Day 1 - Heroes

I can't guarantee anything, especially when I'm fixating on at least four different things at once, but I figured it might be fun to do at least a couple of days of this...as long as I really limit myself to shorter things for real this time.

Took this prompt in a slightly different direction, because I have a lot of thoughts about this scenario sitting in one long post in my drafts.

...

"Ghk--well, this is awkward."

"Man, that ghoul really just gunned it for you!"

"Well, he did blast it first, and it makes sense to try and take him out early."

Aelita waves a hand for silence. "All right, all right. Lothian, you're paralyzed and can't talk. Tomoe, it's your turn."

Aelita leans over the graph paper they'd spread out on the rec room floor, slapping an orange sticker on the drawing Odd had done of William's character. A trading card Ulrich happened to have was standing in for the offending ghoul in question.

William crosses his arms, pouting. "My constitution is a...uh..." He checks the paper he'd brought with him. "...+3, I totally should've passed that."

"Hey, that's how the dice go sometimes," Yumi says with a shrug. "Aelita, can I use my sneak attack on a dagger throw since there's an enemy next to it?"

"The enemy's incapacitated, so no."

"Darn." Yumi reaches over and moves her own character's drawing next to the ghoul card. "I'll just run up here and swing my sword at it, then, try and get its attention. You're welcome, Lothian."

"Tha--" William pauses, seemingly remembering that he's not supposed to be able to speak. "I mean, mrhphrh."

Ulrich snorts, covering his mouth with one hand as Yumi rolls some dice. "A fourteen hits," Aelita tells her.

"My blade cleanly slices into the ghoul's side."

"As it's an undead, its wound heals over quickly--but not completely. You definitely hurt it. The ghoul seems pretty upset!"

"Good." Yumi grins.

Odd squints. "Aren't you supposed to be an assassin? Y'know, sneaky?"

"It's not like we really have an option here."

"True."

"Thoron of Moron, you're next."

"Uh..." Odd scratches the side of his head. "...So they're gonna start shredding."

"Bardic Inspiration?"

"Yeah, on Tomoe. Hang in there!"

Yumi throws Odd a thumbs-up from across the papers while Aelita puts a purple sticker on Yumi's character.

"Edmonton?" Aelita turns her gaze to Jeremie, raising an eyebrow. "Do you have a plan?"

Jeremie frowns. "I did, but Lothian's too close."

"I think he can handle a little bit of fire," Ulrich quips, though there's no actual venom in his voice.

"Hey!"

"You can't defend yourself."

"I'm here too," Yumi points out, gesturing at the tokens.

"You have +4 dexterity, you're gonna be fine."

"...I think I'm gonna blind the ghoul."

Aelita nods. "That roll works, describe what you do."

"Uh..." Jeremie shifts awkwardly in place. Unlike Odd or William, he's definitely not as good at describing things like this--it's the main reason he'd rejected the idea of DMing them, despite knowing all the rules best and having inadvertently introduced the game to them.

"Go on," Odd encourages, "Just do something cool!"

"I...hold up my wand and the crystal on it glows bright green, and--" Jeremie shuffles the papers in front of him--"shoot, it's verbal--uh, I shout...I take your sight, fiend! And a bolt of light shoots out into its eyes."

Odd and Ulrich snicker to each other, but nod encouragingly when Jeremie glances over at them. Aelita mirrors them. "The ghoul lurches back, crying out in alarm! Its flailing almost causes it to smack Lothian with a claw." William narrows his eyes and grunts. Aelita stifles her laughter. "But it's all turned around now. It's blinded for one minute! Vestan Valewind?"

"Um...battleaxe it in the side."

"So you're moving up to here?" Aelita points at a square.

Ulrich shrugs. "Sure. And I'm gonna use a superiority die to distract it."

"That hits, it turns towards where it thinks you are and--its wounds have stopped visibly healing, it's quite hurt. It tries to bite at you...but has disadvantage, and misses. Lothian, can you roll constitution?"

"Thirteen plus three."

"You're no longer paralyzed!"

"Okay." William squares his shoulders, and the others glance between themselves with knowing looks as he reaches over to move his 'token' backwards. "I back up with a dangerous light in my eyes and raise my greatsword, pointing it at the ghoul. I call on the vile power within me to smite this beast with an Agonizing Eldritch Blast!"

Aelita doesn't say anything immediately, grabbing the d20 off the paper and rolling it behind her screen.

William's eyes widen. "Oh not now."

"Is that a real not now?"

"That's a what are you gonna do to me not now."

"...I'm going to do nothing, because the spell works as intended."

"Thank god." William clears his throat, aggressively pantomiming. "My eyes turn jet black for a moment, and a bolt of black lightning surges up through the sword and into the ghoul's chest!"

"The ghoul is very hurt, now. Tomoe, you may actually be able to--" Aelita's watch starts beeping, startling everyone. "Oh, that's rehearsal..."

"Man, right at the cliffhanger too," Odd whines.

"It's not much of a cliffhanger," Yumi points out, as Jeremie takes a picture of the token positions with his phone and Aelita gathers up her things. "That was actually really simple compared to the rest of the dungeon. Suspiciously simple." She squints at Aelita.

Aelita merely giggles. "Maybe so. All I'll say is you all are terrible about leaving doors open behind you."

Ulrich's eyes widen, and he smacks the ground with a fist. "We've been followed!"

"I knew I should've sensed magic!" Jeremie puts his face in his hands.

"Hey, it's fine," Odd says, scooping up his 'tokens' and putting them in his own pocket. "Just more guys to beat up, right?"

"This is Aelita," William points out, "Who says we're fighting them? Might be another puzzle..."

"You guys are making an awful lot of assumptions." Aelita throws her bag over her shoulder, still smirking to herself as she crosses the room (passing Milly and Tamiya on the couch, who are currently pretending they've been talking to each other the whole time and not listening). "I'll see you all at dinner--Yumi, I'll see you tomorrow."

There's a chorus of 'bye' and 'have fun', and Aelita gives them all one final wave before heading out the door, leaving the group sitting around on the floor. Without Aelita there, William still makes the air between them somewhat awkward--but the game had honestly helped with that a great deal, even over the few Sundays they'd been doing it.

"You should really get some cooler looking spells, Jeremie," Odd says, standing up. "You don't have to minmax everything for us."

"I'm not here to look cool, Odd. Besides, I'm no good at this stuff."

"Oh yeah, and I haven't heard you getting crazy into playing Villainous Mastermind."

"He has?" William raises an eyebrow.

Jeremie cringes under his gaze. "I wasn't that into it."

"You kidding? You were adjusting your glasses like an anime character, and--he has this evil laugh he never does but it's actually pretty spooky. I'm glad he's on our side."

"Odd!"

"I'm just saying, maybe try loosening up a little! You might have fun!"

William weakly raises a hand. "Hey, actually, Edmonton knows a lot about arcana stuff, right? ...Maybe he and Lothian can work together. If--uh, if he's okay with it, that is."

Jeremie turns to look at William, who quickly wilts, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. Jeremie's silent for a few seconds, clearly in deep thought, the tension thickening.

"...Yeah, maybe," Jeremie says, ducking his head. "Maybe they could do that."

[that-gay-guy-from-hell]

Welcome to the "What the fuck is that theory?!"

Today I want to talk about DMC 2. What about it, you might ask; well my friend, I want to tell you of a theory that I have been thinking about constantly for the past week/week and a half.

What if, in DMC2, Dante isn't Dante; what if it's actually Vergil? Just--

Hear me out--

According to the actual DMC writers; DMC2 takes place after 4 (and I think 5 as well, for this we are going to say after any game in the series).

So maybe the reason Dante sounds so... off is because that's not Dante. It's Vergil masquerading as his brother.

This is rough but just--

What if Dante died when the twins were in hell?

Vergil in his grief and probable fucking mental breakdown would come back mimicking his brother; keeping the Devil May Cry going in his brother's name.

Maybe Dante even asked Vergil to take over the shop for him and bestowed his gear to him--including Rebellion.

Or (and here comes the crackhead and main theory) what if Argosax is Dante.

Vergil and Dante's story lines up almost perfectly with Mundus and Argosax, respectively. Mundus ate a Qliphoth fruit to become stronger than Argo; Vergil ate a Qliphoth fruit to become stronger than Dante.

So let's roll with Argosax somehow being Dante in DMC2;

⋗It would be really ironic that Argosax wouldn't talk when "normal" Dante won't stop talking.

⋗Argo's horns are similar to Dante's Sin DT and his body is similar.

⋗"Dante" is able to disappear during the last fight which is kind of more Vergil's thing--to be able to teleport.

⋗Although I know this is old and Dante's colors weren't all red; Ivory's charge color is blue.

⋗"Dante" doesn't look Argosax in the eye or say anything--not even "Jackpot". Argosax, on the other hand, looks at him; staring him down. Perhaps to try and plead with his older brother (who knows that there is nothing that can be done).

⋗Plus the symbolism of Ivory being used NOT Ebony; Ivory is the gun that Dante used in DMC3 where as Vergil used Ebony. It would have made a LOT more sense for "Dante" to use Ebony for that shot, but he didn't, he used Ivory--he used Dante's gun. Given, Dante does kind of smile buT perhaps it is because he is happy to free his brother of this curse (and that he won a fight against him lmfao)

⋗Rebellion hitting the ground at the end of the fight might be a metaphor for Dante being put to rest; the legend of the Sparda twins being put to bed. (It's also just a cool view by I digress)

All this comes to a head when "Dante" (or in this case, Vergil) decides to go to the underworld; seemingly unphased by the idea--which, again, would play into it being Vergil who spent most of his adult life in Hell. Perhaps to go and continue the fight? or maybe see if his brother is, in part, still alive like he was after being killed in DMC1.

I don't know, it would be an interesting way for them to retcon DMC2 into the time period they say it's from...

Instead of taking place between 1 and 4 like literally, everyone else thinks it does--including myself--and that Dante's just really fuckin' depressed lmao Please keep in mind, as I said, I do not personally think that this is how it should work-- I just thought it would be interesting to talk about. I'm sure that this has been talked about before and probs been beaten into the ground but I thought it was interesting lol.

I'm curious to know what anyone else thinks about this; does anyone else see what I'm getting at? Like I know I am kinda grasping at straws, but isn't that the whole basis of DMC lore to begin with lmfaooo Please let me know through the tags or comments what you think--I'd love to read other's thoughts on this!!

Thanks for coming to my sleep-deprived theory time and I'll see y'all next time.

MASTER LIST FOR TUMBLR

[byfurries4furries]

Arches (Horror Visual Novel)

Here's an elevator pitch. What if you had a gay couple where one guy, Devon, is a paranormal investigator and the other guy, Cameron, has psychosis, but Devon thinks it might actually be psychic powers? It sounds like a really terrible horror movie. The twist though is that unlike most horror media, Cameron is kind of the main and most prominent point of view character, so the story is told in massive part from his perspective and deals heavily with the ramifications of its own premise.

Cameron is a very rich character and far more than just "the psychic". He's a former drug addict and had a mom who was similarly addicted to drugs. Both suffered from psychosis that caused hallucinations, but his mother's caused her to believe that arches were gates to either heaven or hell and if she went under the right one, she'd be able to go to heaven, thus she became obsessed with the shape. She died from drowning in a lake next to a bridge with an archway below it. Cameron pushed himself to quit drugs then as he blames his addiction for leading him away from protecting her. Soon though, he entered a relationship with a horribly abusive boyfriend. He eventually broke up with him and tried to pursue music, but labels felt like a guy with his unique vocal style just didn't have a place in modern music, so he pushed himself, blaming his anti-psychotics for ruining his creative process. Since then, he's felt useless, stuck at a soul-crushing call center job. But when he finds out his psychosis might actually be psychic powers, it gives him hope that he might be able to do something useful.

Devon is not as rich of a character, but he's very three-dimensional still. He had a comparatively much healthier upbringing, but he lost his aunt at a young age and that got him interested in the paranormal not just as a hobby, but as a way to figure out what happened after she died. He's considerably much better off financially too and could support his boyfriend fully if he needed to. He however struggles to listen to Cameron and in fact learns about most of his past during the events of the game, despite having dated him for years. Learning about it though makes him far more hesitant and scared to utilize his partner's powers in fear that he's in far too fragile of a mental space for something this serious. So in a way, by the time of the events of the story, the roles have switched in their typical dynamic and it's bringing up a lot of problems that had been bubbling under the surface.

This is the greatest strength of the game. Writers are typically REALLY bad at writing relationships. They almost always focus on the buildup to the relationship or decades after the fact where the characters are so used to each other that even they can't fathom each other apart. However, Cameron and Devon are in the throws of a relationship just long enough that they could propose to each other, but plausibly short enough that their biggest commitment is simply moving in together. And everything is messy, but it's not the fun kinda messy where they're on-again-off-again. They really want to be with each other and work through their issues. It's incredibly well-done, especially for a gay male relationship. And this is just the very tip of the iceberg. I didn't even need to sell you on the supernatural stuff, the part where they get kidnapped, or the extent and nature of Cameron's powers. The relationship between Cameron and Devon is the heart of the whole thing and if I can sell you on that, I don't even need to think about spoiling much else. Also, this is a sequel to another game called Echo, which I highly recommend and I did recommend before I basically rebooted this blog. You don't need to play Echo though. You can enjoy it just fine on its own. Echo however provides additional context for a character named Brian who doesn't really become a large presence until at least halfway into Arches. I'll talk more about Echo some other time though.

Links

Itch.io

[fayesdiary]

A concept I've had for an FE game for a while was one where it would technically have less chapters than a traditional title, but it would compensate with a global turn count limit whose progress would heavily affect that story, and that has to be fulfilled to prevent a game over.

I'll make an example using FE's favorite plot - an evil dragon's about to get revived, and you have to stop it before it destroys the world.

Say that every turn is the equivalent of an hour or a day in real time, and not accounting for travelling, you would have a number of turns to stop the evil sorcerer before the evil dragon revives and regains its full strength. (said turn count limit would get shorter the higher the difficulty)

If you manage to get to the final chapter sooner than expected, you'd just have the sorcerer as the final boss, so something similar to FE5.

Arrive in the range the game expects you to and you'll have to fight the dragon - standard affair, really.

But take too long and not only you have to fight a much stronger version of the dragon since it's almost at full strength - you have to use the few turns you have left well before it is fully revived and just kills your entire army without much effort, causing a game over.

And really, the whole game would be like this, with multiple versions of each chapter. Plot-critical events would happen once the global turn count hits a certain treshold, with or without you being there.

Say there's a chapter where a city gets attacked by enemy soldiers- show up sooner and it turns into a defend map where you have to defend the city, show up in time and it's a mad rush to defeat the army before they can get to the city and destroy it, but show up too late and the city's already destroyed, and you have to scout for survivors while defeating the remnants of the enemy army.

Potentially, you could also have gaidens where you take a gamble and go through an extra chapter to get more resources, or find secret shortcuts that lets you go through chapters faster or skip some altogether.

(and if you want to go the full Majora's Mask route, you could have the main protagonist being able to rewind time/see the future as usual but have it actually affect the plot, with them retaining some skills from the past runs, and other effects such as being able to do some things faster if you've done them the first time already)

[ragnar0c]

Gonna talk about my main guild too... I gotta...

Yes, it's going to be long, the effects this game has had on me... LISTEN...

Anyway... I'll try to not say anything I'll regret since... I am writing about these characters.

1. Alope

Did you know I am Alope's BIGGEST HATER?? Jk I love her sm, it's just that since she's a gladiator she's prone to missing a lot when I need HER

But she also comes in clutch the most. Nine smashes when she has TWO target goggles on + pop flares + she actually smashes 9 TIMES??? Amazing!! LET ME TELL YOU, THE TIMES SHE LANDS CONFUSION??? I never doubted you once girl!! (I doubted her the whole time.)

During a fight I used to have a ridiculously hard time on with each new guild, she landed confusion twice in a row and made the poor thing unable to move AT ALL. She is *chef's kiss*

I yell at her a lot bc during all the dragon fights, she is stunned over and over to the point where she can't hit much, but I realized that no other offense class would be able to take that many hits...

She used to be the highest leveled before post game, but slipped up in some unfortunate times (mostly right before the enemies would die) but she is her own unit and I love her for that.

2. Ignis

I picked his portrait bc my old guilds were primarily femme little kids. Let's spice it up! Old man!!

I usually tried to avoid hoplites and would sub a princess as one ( a MISTAKE). The game is just so much easier with him. Tho his subclass is a little weird, it made it easy for exploration.

He's a Hoplite. He never does anything wrong anything bad that happens is MY FAULT NOT HIS!! (Or its everyone else's)

I've almost maxed out his parry skills and hes been doing so well!

Whenever he got koed I felt bad, it's always last minute so he got robbed of EXP a lot. I also tried to replace him due to his subclass, but he came out to be the better hoplite in the end.

Only bad thing I can think about (besides his subclass which isnt really THAT bad) is how I maxed out anti fire and volt before anti ice which made the beginning of the post game awful since almost every postgame boss has an aoe ice skill.

3. Tank

The power crawl this man had... he was okay damage at first. I think now if he's set up correctly he can do several thousand damage a turn.

He ALWAYS COMES IN CLUTCH !! ESPECIALLY AGAINST THE DRAKE'S ICE WALL SKILL!!

He's never done ANYTHING WRONG. (Actually when he's confused he has a habit of killing Enid??? That's pretty wrong. But idk maybe Enid deserves it. Oh yeah... and his alcoholism... that's bad too SJSKSK)

Tank is notoriously one of the last ones standing when my guild gets f-ed over. Which put him over Hana and Alope for highest leveled. (He survived a few tough fights they didn't.) But they're close behind him!

I also picked his portrait in retaliation to my girls only phase. My first Arbalist, whom I never used, was named "Tanaku". I named Tank after her.

4. Enid

Fun fact, Enid was in older versions of Ragnarok but was a different gender and or character each time. So gender fluid!!

Enid does their job, unless they don't...

Enid has a thing that when they get bound or have an ailment they'll be stuck that was for 5 million years which has got to be the most annoying thing... (other than my fingers slipping and picking the wrong skills) but I just prioritize defending him more.

I have him equipped with the speed dagger bc Enid HAS to move first. The times I've forgotten that thing and got wiped is... oddly high.

She's also with Tank for the last one standing. (Best friends till the end) an example of this was the Anemone fight where the both of them had to frantically bring Hana back to deal damage. (I'm not writing that fight so it's not a spoiler.)

THEYRE SO GOOFY.

More recently, when Alope and Hana get koed, Enid, Tank, and Ignis have a party set up that can kill a super boss with just the three of them.

5. Hana

(Her stats are in the previous post, I ran out room so pretend they are here!!)

The OG. She remains the offense ever, even with Tank. Enemies remember her patterns just to stop HER. And when they slip up and focus on hindering another member she obliterates them. (Probably full of rage too.)

She's just a real champ and pulls through so often it's normal. Though... recently her Berserker vow puts her in danger.

She always has the last hit, especially against bosses. She recovers from ailments the fastest too... (Her, Ignis, and Tank.)

She also has two fighting styles, which is nice bc the other two fighters spam the same move over and over. And the Elemental scrolls too... she is just so fun to play as.

...

Anyway, hands down my fav guild to play as. EO3's enemies are just so quirky by reading my inputs I come back to it more than the other games.

I might buy EO2 or the original bc... I don't know the untolds felt weird and I didn't get as attached to my guilds as I did for EO3 and EO4.

But yeah. I kinda... don't know what to do with myself now. I cleared the game I hadn't in like NINE YEARS it feels funky.

I need a fix of smt else... or this will fester in my mind LMAO!!

[pftones3482]

THIS IS SO OBVIOUS BUT I JUST SAW UR ASK GAME. AND UH. YOU CAN JUST PICK ONE IF UD RATHER BUT CANDACE JEREMY AND STACY? BC HEHEHEH FAVORITISM AND ALSO BC I FEEL LIKE ITS ME AGAINST THE WORLD IN "OH YEAH THE TEENS ARE MY FAVORITE PART OF PNF" (LIKE BARELY BUT STILL)

*cracks knuckles* oh no I'm doing all three

How I Feel About This Character:

Candace: P obvious but I love her to pieces. I think she's been misunderstood by a lot of the fandom and if you don't like her, you're wrong. I really relate to her as an older sister, and as someone who genuinely feels at times like she's not good enough for the people around her.

Jeremy: Only blonde boy I respect /j. No but as a character he's such a sweetheart, and I really believe he loves Candace with all his heart. Also Mitchell Musso as his VA? Could not have done better tbh.

Stacy: My underrated fav, I would die for her. She is my favorite recurring side character, I love her dynamics with literally every single character, and I will forever be salty at the fact that she was not utilized more in the show overall.

Romantic Ships:

Candace: Canderemy is the number one, but Candace/Stacy and Candace/Vanessa are close second and thirds. Also am fond of Candace/Stacy/Jeremy where Jeremy and Stacy are for the most part platonic but just both dating Candace and very chill with it.

Jeremy: I really only ship him with Candace tbh. We don't really see enough of his friends to see any potential chemistry between them.

Stacy: Actually love her and Coltrane together, I think they're cute. And obviously as a secondary I ship her and Candace. I also think she and Jenny would be a cute couple, but like...a casual relationship.

Brotp:

Candace: Candace and Stacy, full stop. But if we're not talking the other teens, I love??? Her and Buford's relationship, I think it's hilarious. She def considers him a little brother but like. Significantly more obnoxious than her own (in a loving way)

Jeremy: Jeremy and Stacy, brotp for life. I LOVE their stupid little scene in CATU in the fuckin Slushy Dawg truck like come on

Stacy: See above lol (but also her relationship with Phineas and Ferb, 10/10)

Unpopular Opinion:

Candace: I like the idea of her becoming a lawyer. I know a lot of people rejected it because it came from AYA (ew), but it just makes??? So much sense for her character. Like trying to prove people wrong, finding evidence, research??? It's just right up her alley, it WORKS.

Jeremy: I like Jeremy and Candace together. I'm like...stunned that's an unpopular opinion in parts of the fandom, but I genuinely think he's a great boyfriend and that he and Candace have the healthiest relationship in the whole show (and one of the healthiest across all media tbh). I don't understand the people who don't like him, I really don't.

Stacy: Stacy is a more fleshed out and well rounded than almost any other recurring character in the show and the people who think she isn't haven't paid attention.

One Thing I Wish Had Happened:

Candace: I kind of wish, just once, she had been able to show her mom something the boys did (and not have it backfire on any of the kids). It's something that I think would have brought a little bit of closure to the show as a whole, and I really think Candace deserved to be believed after all that time. She also deserved an apology from her mom for all the things she said about her tbh.

Jeremy: I wish we could have seen his relationship with his band members more. I know he's obviously not one of the main characters, so we got to see him through Candace more often than not, but it still would have been fun to have a Jeremy-centric episode in a similar way we did to Stacy.

Stacy: I mean.....we've heard me rant about the Perry and Stacy plot more than I'm sure anyone wants to admit, so I'll pick a different one lol. But I wish we had gotten to see more of her heritage in the show. There were small little bits thrown in, like her eating with chopsticks, but it would have been nice to see Stacy take Candace and the boys to like...idk a cultural Japanese event in town or something. Very plausible within the realm of the show. And it would have made up for the.....hmm. the song in SBTY that like...looking back on is p cringe.

Okay that was all very longwinded and took forever but here we are. Thanks for the ask!!!!

[dallonwrites]

Dallon! Constellation Asks: Hydra and Lupus

hi ryn!

Hydra - Tell us why you love your project.

been brainstorming my apocalypse au story recently (essentially an alternate universe in a post apocalypse where some characters are original to that story, but a lot of them are characters from other projects) and i have to say it's super fun being able to reimagine characters and relationships in new settings. for example in his "main" story, felix is much less sure of himself, emotionally volatile and honestly just a bit pathetic lol, because in that story he's plunged into a new and unfamiliar word and is basically having to restart his life from the ground up. in the apocalypse au, he's been in the same place for most of his life and is much more confident of himself and his abilities, his survival skills. that confidence showed me more aspects of his character, like i realised that he actually has good leadership skills? that if he's confident enough he has no problem taking initiatives and doing what needs to be done to protect others. that was really interesting to discover and i feel i'll take what i learnt from this au and use it to develop his character in his "main" story.

also i just love a good post apocalypse, i love building the communities that groups form and the way that community grows organically, the social/cultural aspects that form, the unique ways characters care for each other and themselves. the story is set around 10 years into the apocalypse so a lot of the characters are more settled in established communities and their focus is less on survival and more day by day living (until the inciting incident and plot shakes things up lol), and it's really fun to worldbuild that. it's also as a litfic writer who rarely does things that are plot/worldbuilding heavy it has been very fun to try something new!

Lupus - Have you abandoned other WIPs? Tell us about some and why you abandoned them?

the only novel projects i've abandoned are i think two that i developed right at the start of my writing journey. i can't remember a lot of the details but one was a fallen hero detective story who has to reckon with the institution he's part of as the corruption of that institution is exposed. which like, love 16 year old me for writing a story that was copaganda critical but not only is that genre not really for me, if i returned to it i don't think i'd write it from the perspective of a cop/detective.

the most recent wips i've abandoned is almost every short story i wrote from 2020-2021, which together were meant to form a collection. i won't list every single one but it's just a matter of my passion for those stories fizzled out after the first draft. also basically 2017-2018 and 2020-2021 (i didn't write in 2019 lol) was me trying to figure out what i wanted to write so a lot of the stories i have from there didn't "survive" lol. i'm still happy i wrote them though!

constellations ask game!

[thatsneakymedic]

If you had to pick a different muse, what would it be?

(ignore that is it Tuesday now)

@gunpowdergelatine-katsu

// XD This is alright and fine with me! I actually have quite a list of muses that I wanted to play since it almost feels like not a lot of people are in the Naruto fandom and this simple Kabuto blog is just hanging on. And it's getting harder to find rp partners that are active or not problematic. Or someone you had a bad history with in the past. But for me, believe it or not, I became a Kabuto blog because there wasn't any around in the past and I wanted to step in to fill that gap of wanted characters. So this question is pretty much a personal wishlist that I one day might do if I ever get the motivation or time for it.

It's going to be a long list so I'll put a readmore just in case. >_>

No. 1 Danzo Shimura

Need me to say anything more other than that there's absolutely no Danzo rpers around anymore and how I know sooooo many people would just LOVE to have one to rp the angst and the drama with. But I never really have the confidence to rp such a complicated character and the rather HUGE expectations and high amounts of time and research of rping them well. I also would LOVE to explore the whole ROOT activities and the rp scenarios too.

No. 2 Kisame Hoshigaki

Kisame has always been a favorite character of mine and their personality and deep backstory is so amazingly well done that I once wanted to rp the character and add in all of the hilarious dark humour jokes and his casual friendliness towards his enemies. But again, it's my lack of confidence of rping them right, and I'm more worried about rping him ship wise since I really have no idea what he would be into and tbh I still personally see the kisaita ship as one of friendly kind.

3. Orochimaru

Ah Orochimaru. Such a fandom menace that just the mention of their name would evoke several reactions in all kinds of people and the type of reactions speak volumes on the people who like/dislike them! I have been thinking of rping them as a way to help me cope with being hurt by an Orochimaru at some point in my life and for me to become said character in my own version would perhaps help me cope with that. But one major issue is that I will have to admit that being aware of Orochimaru's non-binary status, I often make several if not too many mistakes of mispronouncing or forgetting to add the pronouns and despite that I have improved and am getting used to saying They/them, I do however make mistakes every now and then. (right now, I'm literally having to reread this entire section to avoid saying "he/him" to avoid upsetting anyone. O_o) Another thing is that since I'm a straight woman with she/her pronouns, I'm not sure... if I would be able to fully understand Orochimaru's character well enough to rp them correctly. And I'm also one of the very few who is not down with calling Orochimaru a "queen" when they're really just... "parent" and an awesome scientist. But hey, they're doing an amazing job being an impressive single parent too!

On the other hand, I would LOVE to understand and roleplay out their way of thinking and the madness behind their choices and to explore their god plex would be so fun to do! And of course the parenting of Mitsuki would be fun too! ;_;

No. 4 Obito Uchiha/Tobi

XD Why else since he's also like third of my favorite characters and in other chat rooms, I have rped the character and it is hilarious to rp Tobi messing around with people so much! But I know full well that there's so much more to the character and seeing other Obito rpers rp them so amazingly, I rather am content with just watching and reading the replies than doing it myself. XD

No. 5 One of the many characters from the Final Fantasy 7 game

Not gonna lie, my main reason for my silence is because I have been getting into the game and observing the rpers who rp the characters and they're all so interesting that I lowkey wish that I could join in with the interaction. But at the same time, I've only been a fan after playing the remake and then playing the old 1997 game to fully understand the game and the story so I'm pretty much "not a real fan" if that's all I have done but it is an interest that I would like to rp with the folks there for the hell of it. I'm just... being an anon in the meantime. It's a shame that I never had the PS1 as a kid to really give this game the love it deserves.

[keefwho]

April 08 - 2024 Monday

10:56pm

6.5/10

This morning I skipped cleaning because I wasn't too convinced anything needed cleaning. I regret this because I feel bad skipping out on a chore like that. Something could have been tidied, I know the toilet needs it for example. I wish I had buckled down and done it, I intend to tomorrow to make up for it. For breakfast I made a rice stir fry using spam, onions, peppers, and an egg. It turned out pretty good.

For work I warmed up with more torsos, focusing on the waist. I worked more on 57's commission and am a little disappointed with how the colors came out but they think it looks good so thats at least part of what matters.

After work I did my workout, I almost did the full 4 miles before my 1:30 cutoff time. I couldn't see the partial eclipse today because it was too cloudy. Mom told me some crazy shit regarding the eclipse, saying it's some kind of sign that the US needs repenting or something. I almost said something to her about it but I chose to only do that if she somehow drags me into it or asks for my thoughts. Otherwise I'll just listen.

For lunch I made the best salami sandwich I've ever made. I cooked everything perfectly and it tasted great.

During my afternoon work I spent my time in TK's server while she, her friend, and boyfriend played PoE together. They thankfully weren't only talking about the game so I actually got to chat with them. This really old game called Douchebag Workout 2 came up which I didn't expect anyone to know and one of the guys started playing the old flash game and screen shared it. I took a long time on today's request, partly because it had a lot of specifics. Then I worked on a meme pic for DS a little before I had to get ready for therapy.

In therapy we talked about how I've been reaching out to others and expanding my social network. He also asked me some important questions and basically validated the kinds of things I've been thinking and plans I've been making, ensuring me that it sounds like a good idea.

After therapy I joined AE and his friend and watched them play games while I worked more on that meme. I left when DS was ready to work on her fursuit. I finished drawing and winded down by watching the furry con videos she had playing. We also watched a little EAH and MH content.

In bed we did our puzzles ez, read a really long MH chapter, and played KH2 as usual. We talked about some things and I got something off my chest that I needed to for awhile. I actually told my therapist earlier about doing that and I didn't think it would happen so soon. I needed it though, that was for my sake. After she fell asleep, I started writing a bunch of stuff down that I need to talk about in the future.

~~~

Today I did well when thinking about defusion. I've started imagining my thoughts in Donald Duck's voice sometimes and it does the trick. It also feels appropriate because in Kingdom Hearts he is one of the main good guys but has been a bit hostile and problematic in the past. My automatic thoughts aren't "bad", but they sure can be unhelpful sometimes. I did a good job being able to focus today. I also just feel kinda good about myself, expressing my thoughts and needs without fear because I know they are valid and that ultimately I'm trying to do whats best for me and the people around me. There is nothing to be ashamed of there, I define that as the mark of a well rounded person.

[wreckedregent7]

Regent's Ramblings: Champions "Bringing Something New" to League

"Good grief he's found his way to the podium again". I have and I'll gladly make it everybody's problem. So, what am I talking about this time? Well, I'm going to rant and rave about a design ethos Riot spoke about some time ago when discussing new Champion releases, which went something along the lines of;

"With new Champion releases, we want to always add something new and unique that's never been done before" - something like that. God help me if I could be bothered to look through all their devlogs to find the exact quote.

So, first of all, it should help to establish a groundwork for how we should regard "new, unique, never-before-seen" mechanics and the like as Riot intends to push with each new Champion. To do that, let's look at the last 11 Champions who were released in League and look at what unique mechanics they bring. Why 11 and not 10? Because shut up. Shut up is why.

Naafiri - Passive minion summoning/command

Milio - Attack range buffs, crowd-control cleansing

K'Sante - Sacrificing durability for offense, cross-wall isolation

Nilah - Ambient healing, shielding, and XP sharing, melee bot lane carry

Bel'Veth - Infinitely scaling Attack Speed, siege form

Renata Glasc - Zombified/Second-Chance, Turn Enemies against each other

Zeri - Basic Attacks = Ability, Q = Basic Attack

Vex - Dash Interrupts

Akshan - Revive on killing marked foe

Gwen - Becoming untargetable to foes outside of her field

Viego - Stealing everything from a Champion except their ult

And of course, there are some other examples further beyond these; Seraphine's double casts, Rell's magnetism on ult and dual modes, Samira's ult having functionally no cooldown and instead being gated by her passive...But this gives a rough idea of the new stuff each Champion brings to the table.

So, what's there to complain about here? Well. A lot. Some of these "new mechanics" shake up the norms in certain Champion classes in ways that aren't fundamentally healthy.

K'Sante, for example, trades the high durability and low average damage output Vanguard Tanks are typically known for and gets some downright silly dueling power in exchange - making him more of a potent melee threat than most Fighters.

Akshan is a Marksman/Skirmisher hybrid, whose main gimmicks are high sustained damage at range, but he also comes bundled in with one of the most powerful "fuck yous" in the game in the form of being able to revive teammates. And don't worry, I have a lot more to say about that that has to be saved for its own post.

And in other cases - as with Naafiri, who almost toes the line between Skirmisher and Assassin, Viego, who changes classes five times every teamfight, and Zeri, who frankly doesn't know what she wants to do - breaking the mold can often wind up with Champions who don't have cohesive identities or fit with their own playstyle that much.

Now, I'm not going to say that the design ethos is an inherently bad one - after all, it wouldn't be a good idea to just make every Skirmisher Tryndamere or every tank Leona, but I would argue instead that it's the scale of operation that's the problem.

If the design ethos is "have every Champion bring something new to the table", then inevitably the game gets bogged down in a power-creeping arms race to constantly have some new, Champion-defining, game-warping mechanic that needs to be extensively worked over to be remotely balanced. I'm looking at you, Akshan and Renata.

However, if we pare things down to a more granular scale, the ethos can actually be beneficial. "What can we bring to this role", or "what does this Class do, and how can we make a new spin on it?"

An example where that's done positively is with Nilah; a melee Skirmisher designed to be a bot-lane carry, in lieu of a more traditional Marksman. Riot has in the past been very eager to invite unusual bot lane combos - even suggesting the Wind Brothers, Yasuo and Yone, when Yone was released, and though melee Champions sometimes flex into bot lane, it's often an off-meta strategy that requires more specific coordination to play out.

Thus, designing Nilah, as a melee Skirmisher, specifically for bot lane play, makes sense and is beneficial to the game's health for diversifying play in that role and class. Her unique mechanics - Heal/Shield/XP Share - are a lot lighter than many other recent examples, possibly because her role as a melee bot laner is already unique enough as it is.

In point of fact, the Champions who I think execute well with their unique mechanics all work on that smaller scale;

Nilah, for the above mentioned.

Milio, for providing unique niche benefits as an Enchanter Support.

Bel'Veth, for enhancing a style of Skirmisher gameplay while also incentivizing a different approach to ganking as a Jungler with objective control.

Viego, for rewarding high-level, multiple-Champion game knowledge and execution with more success in teamfights, especially when your opponents lack in raw power.

Of course, even designing new things within the smaller scope of per-role and per-class has the possibility of screwing up - just look at Yuumi for an easy example - an Enchanter who can attach to an ally, which, while interesting in concept, is horrifically flawed in reality.

I don't expect Riot to consider switching off of their "everything has to be new and unique" mindset, but I can guarantee a great many Champions released under that ethos will suffer from Camille Syndrome (being overpowered at launch and requiring aggressive hammering down to get balanced), and the few that are genuinely good will be those that, in their design, ask the question;

"How can we put a new spin on this Class", or "What do we not often see in this role, and can afford to invite to it?"

Not to say that all of those would be good, but it is a solid basis of design that has produced more solid examples than bad ones.

[writerthesans]

Chapter 1 - Prologue

??? POV

Stone is almost never a comfortable place but here it seems a bit more cold. The darkness in the room is crushing. If the area is in fact a room is unknown. Even now the circumstances are unknown despite repeated attempts to comprehend or even understand them. So the only intelligent thing to do was done. 

[Retracing how he got here]

School. It's not a fun place for most people but it can have some benefits. Friends are pretty easy to make and, on occasion, you'll learn something useful. Jeru in particular believes that while school does need some changes, most of the hate is from peer pressure and the words of the people. There is probably something wrong with this line of reasoning but he never really followed it. It'd be a waste of time. 

What IS important though is learning about the people around you; at least to some extent. Many people have a small habit, on the grand scale of things they don't mean much. Whether it be biting your nails or your eyes wandering. But right now, or right then, there would be two main ones that matter. 

First of all, when the teacher hasn't entered the room for a while, students get a bit energetic and fidgety and want to release pent-up energy. That can mean simply reading a book, talking to friends or playing a game. Some games are more violent, like right now. A play fight, an annoying habit. Where a student is knocked into an empty desk and chair. This, as you might expect, results in a good amount of noise. No teacher is coming though, the student at watch by the door is still just watching, although he did jump from the crash.

But the second one is a bit more subtle but somehow more impactful. A sigh, just a sigh. Not a loud one or a really angry one. Just a sigh. There's a moment of silence across the classroom and students near Jeru lean out of the way, allowing for a pretty much straight line to the still standing student. But, as tradition, Jeru lines up his shot. With a flick, an eraser goes flying... and misses by about 10 feet... despite there being a 10 foot distance between the shot and the target. 

A few disappointed remarks from the audience, a few laughs and a comment on how he'll get it next time but most of the class stays silent since the real show is about to begin. Jeru gets up from his seat and walks over to his eraser and pockets it. He then walks over to the fighters who are actually still going at it. There are about 4 students participating, 2 on each side, but they all stop to face Jeru.

"Alright, break it up." Jeru starts. "It's Monday, can't we do this another time?"   

"Can't you mind you business, today?" One of the fighter comment rudely.

Some exclamatory sentences from the audience, quickly interrupted by Jeru, "Come on guys, that doesn't count as a creative insult," Jeru pauses for a moment, "Or an insult at all."

Some more exclamatory sentences, negative this time, which Jeru rolls his eyes at before looking at someone.

"Hey, Drea!" Jeru says looking at a girl in the back of the classroom, "Do you want a part of this one?"

Drea, along with Jeru, keeps the peace in this class. It gets pretty rowdy sometimes. Drea outranks him in most physical aspects while Jeru usually takes the mental aspects. They're both pretty popular in class, even among the ones they've already beaten. Drea maybe more so due to her... proportions but the popularity might just be in Jeru's imagination. She's usually able to handle herself or his stares at whoever even stares at her in a perverted manner. They remain associates though, never making it a point to go out of they're way to talk to each other. But when a problem arises they don't hesitate to reach out.

"Nah, it's your turn, I'll watch this one." Drea comments, smiling, "I'll do it next time."

"Yes. Next Time. They'll definitely survive for next time"

"Of course. Of course."

After the short joke exchange, Jeru turns back to the fighters, "Ok, just sit back down before a teacher eventually comes." Almost never one to throw the first punch, Jeru offers a chance to surrender. As has happened many time before and as usual the result is the same. The first punch is thrown.

Despite being fairly bulky, Jeru can be pretty quick when he wants to be and he parries the attack away from his head with his right fist by directing the punch past the right side of his head. And as a quick counter he jabs the opponent's solar plexus with his left fist. They stumble back and are knocked down when he punches them in the chest.

"One down, just sit down before anyone gets seriously hurt," Jeru warns, he's pretty relaxed but his fists are still up to parry and counter.

"Tch," the only female fighter there scoffs at him as the knocked down student gets back up. "You wish."

"Yeah, I do wish. Four on one isn't very fair," Jeru prepares for the next attack.

Jeru isn't particularly skilled in combat but he definitely isn't bad at it, at least from an average standpoint. However, he always holds back so that he doesn't injure someone. Anyone he fight does not have to worry about that; while he can't really take many hits head-on, he usually parries and his dark skin makes bruises more difficult to see. That latter isn't taken into account; when Jeru steps into a fight the main goal of his opponents isn't usually to win, it's to have fun so details in the future are not taken into account to some extent they can't really be blamed. They haven't gotten very far after they begin; if they're being honest, Jeru and Drea enjoy stopping them.

Two of the play fight students stand at the  left and right of the girl and the student that got back up. They both throw a straight punch with the  fists closest to Jeru; Both are parried and Jeru counter with a left hook to the shoulder of the one on his right; followed by a right hook to the one on the left. Jeru claps his fists together twice, making audible knocks, an invitation for his opponents to get closer. The girl throws a kick to Jeru's stomach; however, it is met with a backhand punch to the side of her shin. The student who threw the first punch throws a quicker punch this time which is swatted away with Jeru's forearm. 

Jeru steps back as the two outer students close in again. Two more predictable punches and Jeru catches them both by the forearm' gripping them tightly. Jeru would crouch down and pull both of the students to the floor if he did then that would certainly put them out of commission in the fight. But there's a pause as Jeru feels a tug in his head and his vision blurs for a moment but he sees and hears something. The cracking of skulls together as they fall towards the ground. Jeru's vision clears and he snaps right back to reality.

Not at all phased, Jeru throws both of the arms down with a flick of the wrist and delivers a simultaneous backhand punch to the skulls he just saw cracking. Hits from Jeru are never enough to injure someone, he's made sure of that, but can certainly keep someone down; the two students fall down and land on their backs.  

"Two opponents left," Jeru punches the air for show. "Would you like to stop here for today?" Jeru offers although the answer is predictable as always.

Another punch is thrown from the male student; it is quickly deflected when Jeru clashes his right forearm into their left and extends his arm sending the student's fist through empty space and to the side. The female student steps forwards with a hook. Jeru leans his head back, dodging the blow before another hook is thrown with the other arm; Jeru steps back to regain momentum as soon as possible. As soon as the next punch was about to be thrown, Jeru slams his fist down on her forearm and performs an uppercut to the girl's solar plexus.

At this point, the male student had regained his footing and attempted to sucker punch Jeru in the side of the head. Jeru bats away the fist with his forearm and uses his other hand to perform another uppercut to the girl's abdomen before switching targets and stepping on the boy's foot hard. He performs an open-palm strike to the child's chin, knocking him down for good. And turns back to the girl, whom is now holding her abdomen and breathing heavily, . Jeru slams her hands away from her stomach. No emotion in his eyes, he winds up for a final uppercut one hit left and this would be over.

And his vision blurs, all the students are one the floor. The girl has a few tears dropping from her eyes in pain and desperately gasping for breath whole clutching her abdomen and the the others are still on the floor in a daze. It would be satisfying, no one would be seriously hurt, at least not after a few weeks. He'd he'd help them up, they'd get back to his seats and behave. But that's not fair, not to him. No one really knows what these students go through each day. They didn't fight with the intent to harm. They didn't hurt him or even land to good blow.  (Though he silently acknowledges that he's a fairly big target) In a very real way, he would be placing more force than necessary. So his vision clears and he stops the strike just before it makes contact.

"Good attempt today," he gives a light smile and pats the girl on her shoulder, "Catch your breath slowly, deep breaths. " Jeru would turn to the rest of the class as Drea stands up.

 "And that will conclude would conclude our fight. A round of applause for our competitors." The entire class erupts in applause and Jeru gives a small bow before helping the fallen children stand.

[TWO MINUTES LATER]

"You're usually more silent and uptight, what's up today?" Jeru asks Drea with a smile from his seat.

"I don't know, I guess today feels like a special day."

Jeru would slightly smile at this, "I'm glad you're feeling a bit more outspoken, I think."

"You think... Interesting choice of words."

Jeru opens his mouth to speak but then quickly closes his mouth as a sense stops him. His shoulders tense as his heart races suddenly as he suddenly senses something. This had never happened before, being able to visualize the consequences of actions is one thing but now he feels something out of nowhere. It's ridiculous, surely this would have happened before. Nevertheless, he scans the room rapidly to confirm that there was nothing happening

"Woah, what's up?" Drea asks, surprised by the sudden change in attitude.

Nothing. There was nothing. But he still felt something. Jeru attempts to relax and turns to face Drea again, "...I guess nothing I thought I felt something but I guess no one-"

Jeru suddenly jerks up from his chair, almost tripping over his large bag as the room shakes violently as his attention turns to two things, his bag and the class.

"Alright class, you should know the drill but I'll explain it anyways!" Jeru yells over the rumbling walls and screams of the fallen, or in other words the student that were thrown out of their seats, as he crouches down and opens his bag. "Under the tables and hold on to them!"

Jeru quickly pulls out something from his bag; an item very dear to him; a brown teddy bear with red pearl-like stones for eyes. He's had it since he was small and didn't want to risk losing it. He dashed under his desk, crouching and grapples a table leg while holding the bear in his other arm. So this is what he felt, the tremors in the ground were just enough for him to feel. What he felt next, however, was beyond all logic.

Suddenly, his senses are crushing him. Adrenaline rushes through him as every nerve in his body flares with danger forcing him to let go of the table leg. He quickly scrambles from under the table with his bear as soon as he can. He turns around at the table just just in time to see a metric foot of concrete crash into it from above, crushing it completely. Shrapnel from the rubble burst out as Jeru covers his eyes with his free forearm. 

Jeru's attention is then shifted to the ceiling. Even while sitting and and shaking, not just because of the earthquake, Jeru can tell the ceiling is very thick, the sky isn't visible even though the ceiling has a giant gaping hole in the ceiling from where the rubble just fell. Even worse, there are cracks almost everywhere on the ceiling as well.

"It doesn't seem very stable," Jeru thinks; an obvious thought but he's still stunned from the near-death experience.

As soon as the thought leaves his mind, another block of rubble falls, smaller but probably still lethal.

"OH sh-" Jeru starts to move away in a random direction beforehand feels a strong tug on his shoulder, dragging him under the table.

"Holy-" Drea is interrupted as more shrapnel explodes from the rubble, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, thanks." Jeru rubs his forearm, which is bleeding badly from the shrapnel and scrambling around, to prevent it from becoming numb; at the same time he scans the classroom. Screams struggle and fear and rumbling of furniture and debris fill the air. One thing is immediately clear.

"We can't stay here," Jeru and Drea think out loud in sync.

Drea and Jeru lift the table to get a better view of the class and make it easier to be heard. It's difficult to stand but they keep their grip

"Alright class, new drill we'd usually delay this but we don't have time for that. If you have any objections shut up because then you're being dragged out by force! We're going to be running out of this classroom now because the ceiling will  not be holding up! If you can help it grab hold something above your heads to avoid instant death, stay together and thank for your co-operation!" Jeru doesn't hesitate. There's no waiting, there's no questioning, there's no room for objection, there's only pure power in his voice to carry over the noise. 

Children almost immediately dash out of the room to escape what could be their grave. Unfortunately, their class is the furthest from the door to outside. Children fall down and are stepped over, only to be picked up again to continue the cycle. All things considered, the class emptied out quickly. Jeru and Drea quickly grab their own bags to avoid holding the much heavier tables. Any other day and they'd have said the tables were LIGHTER. Jeru stuff his bear back into the bag, choosing it as a safer place for his item.

"Move forward to prevent traffic jams, I'll make sure that everyone leaves," Jeru tells Drea as they dash out of the door.

Drea responds with a grumble , never one to enjoy being ordered around even situations like this, but she obeys. Fortunately for Jeru, the classrooms were already in the process of clearing out, only needing to stay a bit behind everyone else to double-check the classes. The students that he fought a few minutes ago were warning the students in other classrooms. The classes were all mostly empty by the time Jeru had gotten to them, only needing a few seconds and words to get the remaining students and teachers out. Once Jeru was sure, he was the last person in the school, he ran out, almost. 

As soon as he was about five feet from the exit, the entire building crumbled down. He didn't die instantly but was immediately trapped in debris. Every nerve in his body felt the pain, not even get knocked out. Red liquid covered his eye as he tries to conserve his breath. Strangely enough, his bag had opened, dropping the bear on his head.

 "Well, I guess it's not that bad..."  

Then it all went black. And it stayed black for a good while. Then, there was a single flash of red and there was more dark. There was still rock and there was still pain. But the rock surrounded him a bit more openly.

[The Present]

His body was still in pain, he still didn't know where he was an somehow his senses seemed numbed. But he was still alive. He breathed a sigh, uncertain whether it was fear, relief or uncertainty. He somehow could still see to an extent despite the seeming lack of light but he stood up. He had noticed a single passage way when he had looked around, now he did the only stupid thing but only option he could thing of. He ventured through.

[aspiring-interpreter]

Check-in 4: Full time work really starts

So I've just started full time work as of mid-last week. it's a corporate job with 9-5 hours, and I have to leave in the morning at around 8, and get back usually at 6:30.

What I'm finding the hardest about this job in relation to language learning isn't so much the energy levels I have after work. I can replenish them pretty quickly with a call with a friend, or a good shower and dinner. The hardest part is the actual quantity of time I have to do things, without getting distracted, or engaged in overly long discussions with my roommate.

The way I see it, three things need to happen for me to do language learning when I get home using a textbook, or in a more substantial way.

I need to prioritise learning Chinese above other things that might be more enjoyable or relaxing, such as playing games or reading.

I need to have enough time to learn Chinese so that I get enough sleep (I really really value sleep because I love dreaming)

I need to eiher avoid getting distracted or have some kind of concrete task to do for when I get back that's related to learning Chinese.

The first thing is simple enough: I do prioritise Chinese because I think about it pretty soon after work most days. The second thing is kind of unavoidable at this point in this job, unless I can go to the library and force myself to create time for Chinese (the local library is open until 8 pm on weeknights). I'll try to get to the library tomorrow after work. But I have 2 other things I need to do tomorrow afternoon too, so it'll mean I also have to be able to do the third thing, which is make the task easy and not something I get distracted from. My main goal at the moment is to start using the IWC textbook and workbook (which after this post I'll try doing the first module).

Maybe simply visualising myself will help. Tomorrow, after work, I'll walk out. It will be very cold. I'll go and take public transport to the library. I will think, although there are 3 things i need to do, I will prioritise Chinese, then I will prioritise the other important thing, then I will do volunteering. I will arrive at the library, and will not buy a bubble tea or other drink. I will go straight into the library, and complete the second part of Unit 11 of IWC, first the textbook, where I'll write down new words in my notes. Then I'll use the workbook for writing exercises.

Right now I'm feeling some resistance to completing 11-1 of the textbook and workbook, but I'll try to force myself to get it done in 25 minutes so that it's not too painful. It's almost 10:30 pm, and I still have work tomorrow, but this is important to me. I want to become an interpreter and translator.