#and I'll still use it on my second playthrough

[thestarmaker]

I'm so glad I caved and got city of ghosts bc regardless of how I feel abt it I can now spend a week playing cloudpunk without restarting as opposed to just like. 4 nights at most

[dark-and-kawaii]

Did you see Rolan and his bruised face because of that prick of a wizard 😡 I would give him all the loving so he knows how much he’s loved after

༺ 𝒜𝓅𝓅𝓇𝑒𝒸𝒾𝒶𝓉𝑒𝒹 ༻

Rolan

Note: I didn’t see it my first playthrough because he got clapped °՞(ᗒᗣᗕ;)՞° oopsy!!! However I did see it my next run and it was so heartbreaking to witness ˙◠˙

Summary: Once Lorrokan is dead you decide to show Rolan just how much he’s appreciated.

NSFW - Comfort - Rolan Deserves All The Love

Rolan's eyes went wide as you gave him a push, "What're-" Who knew that pushing Rolan down onto the scattered pillows in Ramazith's tower would be so satisfying? "I already told you it's nothing for you to worry about! I'm quite fine!" As he sank into the plushness of the pillows, Rolan attempted to push himself up from the floor, but you weren't going to let that happen. Oh no, not after discovering the pain he endured under Lorroakan. His bruised cheek served as a painful reminder, and you refused to let this man, your tiefling, go unappreciated.

Straddling his lap, you pressed down on his chest, causing his back to hit the pillows again. "Just relax, my sweet Rolan," you whispered in a sensual voice, grinding your hips into him. Leaning down, you pressed your lips against his battered cheek, tracing it with your tongue. A groan escaping your lips as you felt his hips shift.

Rolan grabbed your arms, attempting to sit up, but you used all your strength to keep him pinned beneath you. "Rolan, please... Let me take care of you." You bit his neck, grinding into his clothed groin, your pace quickening.

Rolan's stuttering voice was so beautiful, you just loved how flustered he got so easily, "Th-this isn't the time nor place!" Looking over, his eyes catch sight of his deceased abuser, still fresh. It felt so wrong for him to be laying beneath you while there was still fresh blood on the carpet just a few feet from him... But with your lips on his neck, your hips rocking against his, damns he hated how feeble you made him, "This is wrong".

You felt a sense of pride as you gradually got him to relax. Beneath you, Rolan's face flushed, one hand trying to cover his face but you could see his breath coming from his lips. He looked so gorgeous, a mess beneath you.

Driving back onto his cock, you felt it swell within you, knowing Rolan was on the edge of orgasm.

"R-Rolan!" Your moans grew louder with each forceful thrust. It wasn't just the girth, but the length of his cock that made you moan. You could feel it hitting your cervix with every thrust or when you slammed back down onto him.

"Hng-!" Rolan's voice was barely audible, sweet noises escaping him as he struggled to hold back his orgasm, his hand loosely covering his face still, an attempt to hide what he considers his indecent expressions, "N-not- ah- not inside you!"

Your face flushed a deep red, your nails trailing down his chest. "P-please, I'll do an-anything! C-cum inside me, Rolan! Please!" Your belly starts to tighten, you can feel yourself ever so close to that sweet release. Each bounce causing a gush of slick to escape your cunt while your toes curl.

The need for release consumed you both. Rolan's resistance wavered as his resolve weakened, succumbing to the overwhelming pleasure coursing through his veins. His breathing ragged as he surrendered to the intoxicating sensations. With a low growl and a flick of his tail, Rolan finally gave in to his urges. His body tensing, and you could feel him pulsating within you, his hot seed spilling deep into your waiting depths.

A mix of moans and cries filled the room as sweet release washed over you both. Waves of pleasure crashed through your bodies, leaving you trembling and gasping for air. The intensity of the moment was almost too much to bear, but you enjoyed every second of it, your bodies locked in a passionate embrace.

As the euphoria subsided, you collapsed onto the pillows beside Rolan, your bodies entwined and covered in a sheen of sweat. The room was filled with the heady scent of sex and the blood from before the moment.

Breathing heavily, you turned to look at Rolan, his face still a deeper red than his own skin, there was a small pool of drool in the corner of hip lips, his eyes shut while he sucks air into his lungs. In that moment, you knew that you had given him the release he so desperately needed, knew that you made him feel like the only man in the world, and you were grateful to have been able to provide him with such pleasure.

[asoulwithadream]

Arthur Morgan is the best character in fiction. Whilst in-game he's already amazing, his detailed and complex thoughs in his brilliant journal are a reminder to his brilliance. I'll update this list as I continue through my second playthrough.

"I love Dutch like a father, but in many ways, I love Hosea even more. He's kind and fair and like a human being. Dutch is something else."

"This FEUD, it's bled out from Dutch and Colm's mutual hatred into a loathing that permeates all of us and all of them."

"This work mostly revolts me and shames me. Somehow, robbing people honestly with a gun and fists is less repellant than robbing them full in accordance with the law. A usurer's life may be a comfortable one, but it is foul work."

"Saw Mary again. I feel like the luckiest man alive and I feel like a fool. That woman confuses me and plays me for a fiddle like no one else alive."

"I wonder if he (Jack) will find what we seek - peace and truth away from all this nonsense and lies. If that is what we still seek? Not that that's a new development. Not sure I know myself anymore. Sometimes I'm not sure Dutch knows."

"He begged and coughed and spluttered and I beat him half to death. Such is life. Such is the world. His boy looked at me like I was the devil, and perhaps for him, I was. The whole thing confused me. Maybe that's wrong. The whole thing revolted me/my part. These sad, desperate bastards, their silly expectations of life and their tawdry reality. The unkindness of existence - I can handle that just fine. But I do not love it, nor those who try to make things otherwise, I guess."

"He's (Charles) a better man than me. He does not need to think to be good. It comes naturally to him, like right is deep within as opposed to this conflict between GOOD / EVIL that rages within me. If only we had fled west out of Blackwater, we could be free now, out where we belong beyond civilisation with the savages and the animals. Here, we won't ever be at home."

"Finally, we have achieved a state of true insanity. For the first time in my life, I'm a deputized lawman."

[collegetennisoriginstory]

So, I was romancing Sam on every playthrough but decided to branch out finally, and now I have a tier list; ‼️Potential spoilers‼️

Tobin: By far my favorite RO. I typically don't like the archetype of "brooding ro and their charming ro counterpart" It just doesn't interest me as someone who has seen a lot of het romances employ this trope. But giving Tobin the chance they deserve and finding that I like how they respond to my MC's own flirtatious nature and then discovering how they feel about my MC being the same gender, just adds an extra layer of interest for me that I appreciated. They're kind, considerate, and very thoughtful of their friends. Very quickly blew the rest of the competition out of the water for me. I think their mindset when it comes to tennis explains why they're not the no.1 Seed despite being the captain of the team, and it honestly surprised me. I think the full weight of their route is explored best when MC is similarly looking to go pro as it parallels Rayyan nicely. Their kidness is the space they give you is born from experience and the fear of doing to MC what was done to them and I just eat that stuff up. Also it is very rare to have a black RO who is treated with any level of depth, and I just 🥹love that we Tobin.

Rayyan: In a surprise twist, Rayyan gets the second spot for similar reasons as Tobin. I think the enemies to friends to lovers(partners) arc that is presented in their story is intriguing. Like Sam, they have a level of history with the MC that makes them familiar when heading into the new space, so I made it a habit to stay near them when at all possible. Rayyan isn't particularly cold, or as cold as ppl might assume, I think they have a very good balance of being a sort of quiet and reserved person that still manages to be personable. I feel that playing like I do, my MC might've come off as flippant to them, which only adds to the anxiety that they feel going into this season. Their struggle of being visually Arab in a world and country that sees non whiteness as punishable is very felt. It's really special to me that the two most prominent ROs are dark skinned people of color. Sorry for being biased, but even when I wasn’t actively romancing them, they got major points for that.

Sam: My baby gets the third spot and I think that's fair. What i adored about Sam is the pining of a friends to lovers story. I never make the first move with Sam, despite playing very flirty, bc I see my MC with not having to put up a front with Sam. So the things they do or say that signify to others that my MC is looking for something physical aren't used with Sam; they believe MCs closeness with them is strictly platonic while my MC believes that Sam has been lightly rejecting this whole time. Just something about those missed connections get to me. (Also, the varcity jackets!? So cute) Now, Sam loses points due to being away at another university for a majority of the story thys far. Which made me wonder if placing them in a new environment with MC might change things for them. Everything IS different now; so, who is to say that their relationship hasn't run its course? Juicy, but due to lack of presence, I'll keep them at 3rd.

G: They're French. Automatically, a point is taken off. They're also very sexy as a woman (my MC is a they/them lesbian) so I felt that, to remain true to character, I would have to ignore that and see what G has going on. Ngl, they do sort of play out like a romance novel character in the most obvious way so far 😭 no hate though. I just couldn't not think about "Oh, you sexy French student." Whenever they said anything. Smoldering looks from across the room at a crowded college party, like okay 400 days of summer <3. I think they're rather perfect for players who are looking for some steam outside of the locker room. They have the same issue as Sam, as in, they're not present in the locker room. They're not our teammate, so we don't really get the same level of relationship building with them as u would a Rayyan or Tobin. And I don't think that's a bad thing necessarily. I feel that speaks to the amount of work put in to make the team feel real and not just thrown together characters. Once I started to romance my teammates, I found it hard to flirt with anyone else, as I felt that they just didn't understand my MC on the same level.

Felix: ngl, they'd have to get security to get me off them, I have this burning rage in my heart whenever they show up. "🤼‍♂️ This is for Tobin, Cakepop‼️" I am sure there is indeed depth to them as a character, I am sure it hurts to hear someone say "I can not love you the way you want me to." And we are only human, we don't always behave the way we want to. But Felix makes my nipple itch they just remind me of men who just hold this anger for their exes unreasonably. I think there is an interesting parallel to be found in a Tobin route MC and Felix. I just don't have the language to put it together bc I will never romance them and I don't think I ever will, personally just can't bring myself to do so. They are what I felt Rayyan would be, and I'm fine with meeting them with hostility.

All in all, I'm glad I branched out to see what the other ROs were like it's definitely a testament to ur hard work and is greatly appreciated. I will continue to be messy and kiss Tobin, Rayyan, and Sam because I am toxic aim to be a learning experience, not a lover 🫶🏽

Oh my god~ It was so interesting to see your gradual evolution / journey through pursuing the different ROs.

I think it's really interesting in particular to see how Tobin's character is sort of 'hidden' beneath multiple layers, and you have to really work at unpeeling those layers, and it's really rewarding as a writer to see that route 'give' readers so much unexpected joy.

And, of course — I have a soft spot for stoic / unexpressive, overly-competitive, serious characters who are secretly just a giant sap. For Rayyan in particular, I think their drive to excel at tennis is counter-balanced against their loyalty, their ride-or-die-ness with the people they love. I love the extra bit of psychoanalysis that you did regarding Rayyan's anxiety about MC not taking tennis seriously, which is fine on its own, but really becomes an issue if they're partnered.

Sam having less 'screen-time' than the others is totally fair, and I think (or hope) will be made up for by the sheer amount of history they share.

As for the whole "French sexy" stereotype, I actually do think this is a crucial part of G's arc. The idea that perhaps they both see each other as 'archetypes' at the start (the jock-fling during one's exchange year, the sexy french exchange student), and then as they start understanding each other as real people, and then as they start (possibly) falling in love with each other (with all the eccentricities, all the imperfections), the relationship takes on more depth and dimension.

Finally, thank you so much for taking the time to explore all these different routes, and I'm so glad that doing so was rewarding for you :) I absolutely loved reading this message, so thank you also for sharing! It's always so fun listening to how different MCs, or different MC choices, and just different readers in general — have different takes on the ROs!

[vashtijoy]

something suggestive about balls: pool table proxy wars in akechi's confidant, rank 7

There's only one thing you really need to know about rank 7 of Akechi's confidant, and it is this: it happens on the day of the incriminating murder phone call.

We know this for several reasons:

It can't be locked for the name change ("family-name-kun" to "given name")—Akechi never calls Joker by name in conf 7. In fact, unless I miss my guess, he never calls Joker by name during the confidant at all, other than when you say hello in Kichijoji—probably because his term of address changes on 10/31;

Futaba will later tell us the call was recorded "a few days" after she bugged Akechi's phone on 10/29. From 10/29 to 11/2 is four days;

Given the importance of confidant 7, especially the rivalry discussion at the end, it's inconceivable that it happens before Joker hears the phone call. He goes there in full knowledge of what Akechi is, and what he intends.

Lastly, 11/2 can be summed up as "absolute chaos":

First, Akechi meets you on the train platform before school. He tells you he "won't be seeing you privately like this any more", once your deal is concluded—well, of course not, you'll be dead.

But this chat is so important that it appears to have two forms, unlike all the rest of Akechi's train platform appearances. One, the one I got in my playthrough, is quite gentle in tone. The other is much less so, much more dismissive, almost third semester in its bluntness. Assuming they're both in game, I'd guess the first is if you have the confidant levelled, and the second is if you don't. It's not legacy dialogue from vanilla P5; this scene looks to have been added for Royal. IDK, I don't know what triggers the two different chats, or if the other is even in game—but I'd like to.

If you haven't yet been to the hideout since 10/29, Morgana will force you to go after school. That's to say: you must have done Akechi's first hideout meeting, the first hideout of the Sae's Palace mission, by this date;

Last of all, Akechi texts you in the evening, for confidant 7 and its violent change in tone. "After all, losing doesn't sit well with either of us. Am I right?"

If 11/2 isn't the day of the phone call, I'll eat a nest of wasps.

boys and their toys

So. Joker walks into Penguin Sniper for confidant 7, in the a. full and b. very recently acquired knowledge that Akechi is a two-faced killer who's gleefully planning his murder. And what does he do?

Akechi has a lot of revealing things to say about balls in this scene, but we're not really here for him. Because look at how Joker is standing.

[screenshots below the cut, yo]

That's his usual "I have a pool cue" stance, with the cue held in front of him. Here he is doing it with the squad (plus one traitor):

See the difference? When he's with the others, Joker's facing the table—like you would at a billiard table, like Akechi is doing in the picture at the top. But in the confidant, when he's just learned exactly how malicious Akechi's intent is, Joker's not facing the table at all. Joker is facing Akechi. And that means he's keeping that cue firmly between them—whether as a shield or an impromptu weapon.

Now, like we said before, that's a standard pose—if Joker is holding a pool cue, he will hold it in that way. But it's the strange angle he's standing at, facing Akechi and not the pool table, that turns it into a message of sorts.

What happens next? Akechi leans down to take his shot, laying out his extended listen-I'm-going-to-murder-you-soon-and-I-haven't-fully-rationalised-it-yet metaphor all the while. Joker's eyes follow his to the table to watch. But he never turns to the table. He stays facing Akechi, and he still keeps the cue between the two of them:

The next thing is that you answer his question—"Hm, that sure sounds like a psychotic breakdown to me"—and Joker uses his hand to gesture....

... but then he gets the cue back between the two of them again, lickety-split:

The next thing that happens is that Akechi—probably deliberately, as part of his extended metaphor—misses his shot. The two of them pause to stare at the cue ball—in the Japanese text, Akechi has explicitly mentioned it as the ball you strike that starts everything unpredictably rolling. But Joker still keeps the cue between them, and still hasn't turned to the table:

(BTW, here's our old friend the sad sprite—there are some really interesting uses of it in this scene, that are worth watching out for.) But now we get to the point. "But even knowing all of that, you're still not going to quit, are you?"

Their eyes meet; the cue is still between them....

You can say "I've made up my mind" or "I won't miss my shot"; both mean, essentially, "fuck you"; both get the same result.

But now. Only now, as Joker goes to take that shot, does he finally turn to the table, exposing himself to Akechi. (coughs)

He nails it. And then they head out into the street to talk about rivalry. But take a look at their positions now:

Note that Akechi has not moved; only Joker has moved. But now the picture looks different. Now, it looks like Akechi is the one defending himself.

Joker has moved in and taken his shot, dropping his defence and opening himself up to attack in the process. Akechi hasn't moved or altered anything he was doing, yet now he's on the defensive.

And Joker's shot was successful, of course. Just like it will be on 11/20.

this is reaching, you should be ashamed

I see your point! Let's go back in time and have a look at confidant 2, for comparison. Here are the boys in happier times:

See? Joker is facing the table. Even though he's talking to Akechi, and looking at Akechi, he's turned to the table.

Here's another. This one's more dubious because of the angle, which means he does have the cue in front of him—but again, you can see Joker is pointed at the table, not at Akechi:

Funny you should say that, kid. Rank 7 Joker is on to you.

[rottenraccoons]

HIIII I wanted to ask a more technical question related to the game. I know in another ask I think you mentioned that the ending you get in chaper 1 would determine where the story goes in chapter 2, but I was curious if individual/specific choices from chapter 1 would make a difference or effect anything like a bit of dialogue in chapter 2.

Like for example in Oleanders route you pick a trinket and that can effect a few lines of dialogue later. Will some choices like that carry on into other chapters? Tho I'd totally understand if not since it'd probably get too complicated to do stuff like that ^^

I really hope this isn't spoiler territory. I tried my best not to do that ><

The short answer is yes! Choices you make in chapter one can absolutely be referenced or have ongoing effects in later chapters. For anyone who has never programmed before, I'll explain a little about how choices work under the read more and show some examples of Obscura code, but the simple version is that it's only a little more work to include stuff like this: a line of code and then whatever the extra/alternative dialogue is.

So!! If you've never programmed before, the word you'll want to know is variable. A variable is basically just a box that contains information. In basically all visual novels any information the game needs to remember is stored in a variable. And in Ren'py games, it is very easy to make and use variables for a lot of stuff!

Your protagonist's name, for example, is put in a variable box labelled "Name", and so we can just type [Name] in dialogue and Ren'py knows that what we're asking for is the contents of the "Name" variable box, so it just shows that. You can see us doing just that in the first line of this code screencap! So when you enter your name at the beginning of a playthrough, you're telling the game what information goes into the "Name" variable box.

(You can also see how we set variables here, with the "trust_keir" variable remembering if you said yes or no to trusting him, and if you say no then he gets one point added to his affection score.)

Within a single playthrough/save file your variables stay the same until something in the code changes them, but starting a new game makes a new set of variables for that playthrough. That's why no matter how many new games you start and enter a different name into, your old saves will still have the name you entered there.

Since Chapter 2 is going to be a direct continuation of Chapter 1, you're still in the same save file and so all your variables just continue being used. And that means they're available for us to use for all sorts of things! Using variables can be complicated if there's a lot of them that interact in a lot of ways (ask me how a certain date scene is going!), but here's a pretty simple version.

There's two ways onto Keir's route: you can get kidnapped by him normally, or Vesper can accidentally find a way into Mouse Hole after leaving Cirrus' route. If you do leave Cirrus' route, the variable "cirrus_escape" is set to True. That means that later on, I can program dialogue that will only be shown if you left Cirrus' route, in this case mentioning him by name while passing his church. There's a different line for players who didn't leave Cirrus' route. And we can do that with basically any variable in the script!

(For those who want a total breakdown, the screenshot above works like this:

First line: everyone sees this.

Second line: the code that tells the game only to show anything "inside" it (below and indented) if the player left Cirrus' route

Third line: the piece of script that's shown to players who left Cirrus' route

Fourth line: the piece of code that says "anyone who didn't get to see the third line get to see anything inside this"

Fifth line: the piece of script that's shown to players who didn't leave Cirrus' route

Sixth line: everyone sees this.)

So yes, there will be references to previous things that happened where they're appropriate! We love weaving references to things that happened before into the script, it makes everything feel more alive and responsive to your choices, even if those responses are individually pretty small.

[onewomancitadel]

A scattering of TWC impressions, which I played because a mutual posted fanart featuring a guy with long hair and I wanted to see if he had long hair in the game. The character my protagonist romanced only had long hair in a flashback. I told you, they are trying to contain me

That being said, I'll try to be fair:

By Book Two I was calling that the mother is a traitor, and I presume the epilogue in Book Three confirms this. My favourite silly thing that authors do is something like:

"I'll never forgive anybody who ever does this."

[Character who is later never forgiven for something immediately speaks]

"I sure hope nobody betrays us."

[Traitor speaks]

or in the case of TWC, every time a Rogue leader was mentioned, Rebecca immediately began speaking. It's just a subtle way of linking information together that most people aren't going to pick up on, outside of actual hard clues (e.g. there's the bit where Rebecca gets the pure DMB, and somehow Murphy had pure DMB on hand, the repeated emphasis on doing anything for her child, caginess about leaving being a leader of the Chamber/the dad thing, etc.)

I cannot imagine how much work it was to twine together a CYOA game and try to structure the prose as part of that experience, so I tried to be really gentle on that aspect when I am at my most critical with such a thing.

Present tense works best with first person (there is one time that I've read third person present tense and it's transcended my issues with it, I think because there was a real deft employment of where it's good for - especially sex scenes) in my experience because it reflects that natural English conversational tone, though my preference would still be first person past tense, for the sake of CYOA I can see why it was chosen. That being said, I think it really did struggle at points trying to marry a past tense reflectional tone to the present, and there were times that the description of the environment was especially clunky. I wrote a post about dialogue tags that was implicitly about this series lol.

I did pay for all three books so I'm not knocking on something a fan put their heart into, hahaha. To its detriment I think the quality of the prose depreciated by Book Three - having gone back to do a second playthrough to do a male protagonist/Morgan playthrough, I don't think this is recency bias. In terms of actual structure, Book Three probably has the overall better dramatic moments but experiences a weakening of connective tissue - lots of 'and then'..., and fewer scenes where I can smash my dollies together.

This really brings me to my issue which is that I didn't go in knowing it was all about romance, and I really wish - ironically - it had leant more into being about romance.

The plot is there to carry the development (which I enjoy, unless you are able to write something truly literary) up until it fell more like it was beginning to overwhelm it by Book Three - then again I hated the fake dating in Book Two because it's a beloathed trope of mine, so maybe I'm just hard to please. I think this might be an issue of the will-they-won't-they Adam romance, which - whilst I love slow burn and most of all absolutely love slow burn which dicks around - really needed to torture Adam more and torture my protagonist more to get the message through, I think in part a consequence of the tone of this sort of story which is trying to feel grounded, but I would choose sensible character development in exchange for tonal compromise (especially as it would be constrained to one route). I'm willing to be seated for people who try to stay away from each other - yess please yummy yummy - but you need to feel comfortable in getting the emotional cattle prod out.

And I wouldn't be so upset about the realism of portraying a 900 year old vampire knight unless the setting leant hard into that 'supernatural-but-realism' modern style of cynical writing... like, you can't have characters laugh about believing in God (when God structured that period of Adam's early life and magic is real and a Gnostic-esque Echo World is also real...) and then get mad at me when I want you to portray a 900 year old vampire knight properly. He sounds like a traumatised soldier from 20-30 years ago; did he change with the times? Did he never fit in back then anyway? I guess I just wanted to go weirder! Also what's his attitude to sex. Lol

Also the fact that human bloodsucking didn't come up until the end of Book Three made me very disappointed. I wanted him to try sucking her like as early as Book One. I wanted to suggest it as a thing to help them fighttttt but it could also be so so sexy. 🥰 It felt a little like dramatic scenes kind of get postponed. No idea what Murphy is doing now

That being said, the most important thing to me were the nonviolent resolutions and being nice to the monsters. I think the real reason I kept playing is because it did keep offering outcomes that let me try to be peaceful and show compassion to the big sad mean monsters... whether that was in the romance itself, or towards the antagonists, that was actually great fun.

It's not even something you necessarily get to do in a Bioware game because combat is considered the lifeblood of video games (maybe in some older games you can talk down the antagonist, thinking of the original Fallout here - but notably its sequel eschewed this, almost like a joke) and the type of character I tend to construct for this setting is the gentlest I can think of, just because such gentle characters are so rare. So it's very very valuable to me to get to play that.

That actually brings me into what I liked about the romances, which is that I never had to consistently hit a 'flirt' option - something I hate about how RPG's construct romance now - because that's not even how people become attracted to each other! - and it asked me what route I was going to take. Notably on my second playthrough, it asked me why I had been avoiding Morgan - so it actually integrated how you met those hidden romance checks into the storytelling, even when I went through a romance with fewer checks seemingly hit. (I think this might've been because I let her wait outside? But why would I force my character on her? Lol).

And because Detective Majestic (okay I was thinking of Destroy All Humans because cops/supernatural/special agencies, I wanted something silly, and then they kept using her surname the whole goddamned playthrough...) is so gentle, she never pushed Adam not even once, and it let me keep playing that way without punishing that playstyle because it didn't ~meet the romance checks~, but it also had romantic scenarios where neither of them let themselves do anything hahaha, which was amazing. This is probably the rarest portrayal of romance I've ever seen in a CYOA/RPG, and pretty much redeemed my experience because it was so fun to actually play something unique which met me halfway. That in itself is very hard to do - the reason you'd structure something linearly with absolute checks is just because this method is very complex to write. Now you've got more than 'romance - no romance' to write a route for.

So the discovery element was really the strongest, and I enjoyed it for that reason above all else. It let me be nice, pacifistic, and play a romance with a unique approach - and though I am not always the kindest on some requisite romance tropes (part of the reason I liked playing a gentle character is that I like the subversion of pushy romance tropes lol) it was admittedly quite fun!

I'm glad I checked it out, so now I know who is the one with long hair and who isn't, and though I am rather curmudgeonly, I had a little bit of fun. I can definitely see how this would service a rich transformative fandom - especially because I don't know if you could reasonably write a sex scene in the main story proper. Blood sucking might have to supplement it... that's what the vampire can be a facsimile for, just with a much more negative portrayal, lol. Probably a separate thesis to be written on why the vampire has enjoyed a burgeoning positive reception in modern romance.

[redundantharpoons]

larian plz

Apparently Minthara's VA has been in the studio again for some after-release recording, so I'm just going to go ahead and drop the headcanon I came up with during EA for "good playthrough but you get to keep Minthara" here just in case . . .

I feel like if you side with the tieflings during the grove event but toggle on non-lethal damage to knock Minthara out rather than kill her, the after-battle scenes should include one where you find that they have captured Minthara and she's basically bedraggled in a cage, fully restrained with shackles and such. In just a really pitiable, pathetic situation but she keeps her chin up and her jaw clenched, too proud to be broken even in this situation. And perhaps, just perhaps, her faith gives her confidence that The Absolute has planned this.

When she sees you walk through the camp and everyone thanking and cheering you, maybe she pushes into your mind with the worm, maybe not. I think only if you're drow or depending on dialogue choices before to make her think if you can be easily turned back or not. But I think for most people she's written you off as an infidel and traitor to the absolute and other than a glare she doesn't acknowledge you at all.

While talking to Halsin, or Zevlor, or someone "in charge," you are being thanked for all you did for the grove and tieflings, and they express that they are in your debt, ask if there's anything they can do for you despite having so little, etc. And you should be able to choose "I'll take the drow prisoner off your hands."

Depending on who is with you, most of your party members are going to be disapproving/wary, but you can (and this is true, it should be an option later in the game) say you will use her as leverage or a bargaining chip in Moonrise or otherwise when dealing with the Absolute, or acknowledge that her insider knowledge of what's going on would make her a valuable prisoner to keep nearby.

If she overhears you asking for her as your "reward," she might push in now, but I still don't think she does, she just watches, appraisingly. (Or, perhaps depending on your dialogue choices this was all her orchestration via the mind worm; that she reached out to you when she saw you and assured you that The Absolute is not done with you, and that she brought you together and spared you both for a greater purpose, and you must free her so you can return to Moonrise together, as The Absolute clearly intends!)

The druids and tieflings are clearly uncomfortable with the idea of letting such a dangerous prisoner out of their hands; odds are they intended to kill her after a while (they were letting people throw food and stuff at her through the cage for a while as catharsis :( ) and so the idea of her possibly escaping or being set free by you later doesn't feel good. But you can convince/intimidate them over how much you've done for them, how you are clearly the more capable group to look over her since you had to look over them too, etc. Eventually they acquiesce, and there's a prisoner handoff scene, some banter with the party members about how you better know what you're doing.

And in my headcanon there's tons more content that gets very sexy in the times after that once you have Minthara in your camp as somewhat of a prisoner-in-tow (lots of her pushing into your brain and . . . showing you things, making you feel things 👀 with you second-guessing if she's actually into you or just manipulating you for her freedom), but suffice it to say from there the various game experiences maybe allow her to warm up to your party or your party to warm up to her . . . or maybe not and you just trade her away to slavers or kill her or whatever. But I always felt that was a pretty simple way to allow you to spare the tieflings and recruit Minthara, and I'm sad it's not in the game.

[ask-danganronpa-after-death]

Hello there!

I bet you didn't expect to see something from this very dead blog today, huh? Anyways, It's been... a really long time... like over a year and half worth of time. So we're well overdue for an update!

(tl;dr at the end)

I'll just start with some honesty on my part, when Mod Prom asked me to help them revive this blog the first time, I had just played V3. A lot of the plot points and minor details were still pretty fresh in my mind, and writing what amounted to a full retelling from a different perspective, felt more doable. Now it's been a few years, a lot of life, and I'd be hard pressed to remember V3 clearly. I've tried to start a second playthrough, and I've tried to watch let's plays for chapter 2 to write more for the blog, but none of it has been successful.

and BELIEVE ME I've been wanting to start this blog up again for MONTHS. In fact, I've had 4 posts READY to release since March of this year, and at least 8 posts drafted and thumbnailed. I just... didn't want to bring this project back until I knew I could actually commit to it. I thought maybe if I had enough of a backlog I could simply start posting once a week and try to keep pace, but that was a lot harder than it sounded.

I don't want to abandon this blog, this story and these characters, and I don't think I can properly put into words how strongly I feel about that.

This is update could have happened at any time, but is coming out now because well... me and Prom are working on some bigger original projects. Ones that we're SO excited to share. This blog in it's limited run has taught me a lot and I want to learn more. I want to be able to bring this project to a more natural conclusion, put it to rest with pride, and to be able to enter a bit of a new creative era.

I've been talking with Mod Prom and we think it's best to take a step back from this actually being an ask blog. Handling the inbox was a bit of a nightmare, and I've got a LOT more respect for the ask blogs of yore that managed to keep up. We still want to keep engagement, but we're going to change just how that works. We're just not sure how yet.

The first step to getting started again is posting the drafts I already have completed as a way to enter the second chapter, and from there things are going to play out a bit more loosely. Posts are gonna focus more on key story beats and occasional goofy tangents as opposed to moment to moment storytelling.

TL;DR - This blog is getting revived, but things are going to be a bit different. We want to give a proper telling and conclusion to the story we started, but keeping up the format isn't something Mod Prom or I can really tackle, we'll still try to accept and post asks when we can.

Thank you to everyone that has been patient with us, and to everyone who might join us in the future

~ Mod Noodle 🌱

[medra-gonbites]

HE WILL BE BEST MAN AT OUR WEDDING!

*minor spoilers*

So, during my second playthrough I was romancing Gale but slept with Astarion at the Tiefling party because well frankly he asked and Gale had no dialogue option showing he was upset so I was like, don't mind if I do. I was still on the fence about who to choose as a love interest at that moment as well.

Then comes Act II, Astarion needs help checking out his scars so I help him out, then later ask to sleep with me again which I decline cause I'm really getting attached to Gale and this second proposal does feel a bit off, not sure why (well now I know why!).

Anyways comes the confession scene where I realise what is going on and what Astarion has been through and I'm like omg that poor baby, massive regret about having slept with him in Act I and a massive urge to protect him at all cost so I choose the option to tell him he needs a friend not a lover (which I really think is true, I will die on this hill, (eventhough I'll prolly try to romance him in another playthrough...)).

All of this to say, in my head canon Astarion is bestie with my Tav and I'll 100% kick everyone's ass that want to bother him. Gale starts to unload poetry and love on me in the middle of the street and my boi is standing behind with such an endearing look on his face. He is so happy for us: he will be my best man at the wedding where he will make a speech and totally mentioned we porked.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

Ps: yes it's a picture of my screen, my current set up doent allow me to make screenshot (dont ask) sorry for the bottom tier image quality.

[cerastes]

The final versions of the three machines that saw me through my first playthrough of Armored Core 6!

Loverboy: My first craft, and as you can see, the result of the limited access to parts characteristic of the early game of Armored Core when you are still a nameless merc, haha. Melander C3 set-up with an emphasis on close to mid-range combat, with a linear rifle, a pulse blade, and two 4-pod missile launchers. Straightforward and simple, the AC that is an AC. I tend to build all-rounder midrangers when starting out any given generation of AC since that way I can see what clicks and what suits me best. Loverboy is best described as a test craft. Of note is that I quickly went for Abbot FCS, despite ostensibly this being a midranger. This is foreshadowing.

Black Market: That was foreshadowing. I have a predilection for close quarters combat and melee, and also I like speed, so I got rid of all that pesky armor and HP by going full Firmeza, doublefisted shotguns (Zimmermans... Zimmermen?), swapped out the pulse blade for a true and tried grandpa laser blade, and retained one 4-pod launcher for neutral and harassment. This was what I used for practically all of the run. Due to the low weight of my set-up, I put larger generators than I was suppose to on a craft this light, making my energy economy really good. Not having HP is fine if you don't get hit, and they can't hit you if they are dead in 3 seconds from getting shotgunned into ACS break and then torn apart by a laser blade, trust me. *Loosely inspired on my Penglai from For Answer.

Queenslayer: A final upgrade, used for the final fight. Replaced the head and core with Alba models, and the trusty 4-pod can finally retire, replaced with an autonomous laser orbiter. The laser blade, too, is replaced by a laser dagger, allowing for quick, precise killing blows. Thanks to Abbot FCS and the Alula thrusters, closing in on enemies is both easy, consistent and fast, allowing for repeated high damage attacks between the laser dagger and the shotguns. The orbiter functions a harassment role and to give the enemy something to worry about at all times. All of this while conserving the speed necessary to make such an aggressive fighting style work. This is what I'll be taking to NG+. *Queenslayer is an AC name I use in every game, usually for my endgame craft.

MAN the Alba head looks so good, plus the Alba head + core with the Firmeza arms and legs looks really nice, especially when those wiry arms are doublefisting those huge shotguns, makes for an intimidating image and my ideal mech aesthetique(tm). I'm in love with the laser dagger, too, it enables my most toxic traits like a doom-eyed lover.

[selenedistress]

I have started playing Fear and Hunger and woof okay here are my thoughts so far. For some reason I thought Hear and Funger took place in like, a city, but it's actually just a dungeon. Hunger is real, I gotta eat. Fear I dunno, I haven't felt it yet (mechanically that is, I the player for one am very fear). My first playthrough was cut short, just like my character, when she had her legs severed and sent to the meat dungeon. I fought the bodyless wizard, except I didn't because I ran away, of course. And then did a bunch of exploring around by crawling. Not recommended. So I trashed that run.

Anyway, I started a second playthrough, a Knight again, but this time with the double turn move and the iron spear. I was better now. Also the coins seemed to be on my side more this time, woohah. I can skin the guards, which is fun because fuck them, I thought their stingers were for poison but THEY'RE NOT. They're not...

Anyways I used a bear trap on an elite guard with ill intent and slept in a bunch of beds, half of which resulted in the half of the fights I had to endure, alas. I killed the little guy in the courtyard cause I'M NOT letting him turn into a butterfly, I don't trust like that. And also I met the bunny people and I don't know if I should engage in their lurid activities. I found a girl in a cage in my first playthrough but I had no key. This second playthrough had no cage girl but however I did find more characters like an outlander whose name I forgot, a dark priest whose name I forgot, and Buckman? I think that was his name? Along with a knight whose name I forgot. I'm still wondering about the bunny people and why did this eastern book sever my soul from my body? I dunno if that's healthy. Also I visited the city of the gods Mahabre, very scenic. I can't believe Alll-mer is just Funger and Funger Jesus. And that Pocketcat, even their fairytales are grim and rancid. Anyways that's all I'll say for now, expect more updates on my Fungo Mango experience. Bunny people.

[phoenixspencer]

Hello! I love your gifs! How do you make yours so clear and high quality/What's your process? <3

Hi!! Thank you so much!! I've never really had to explain out my process to anyone and I don't know how much detail you need, but I'll try my best and try to be as thorough as possible just in case!!

For my D:BH gifs, the process starts out with recording my own game play. I have a gaming computer that already had the GeForce Experience app downloaded, so I use that to record my game play. It records at 1920 × 1080p, 60 frames per second, so the files can get... rather large 😅 The video of my playthrough of the Russian Roulette chapter (~11 minutes long) was just under 4 GB. So its not light...

From there, I figure out what in particular I want to gif (for the timestamp roulette series, I let a random number generator figure out whereabouts I'm looking). Once I know that, I open up VLC and use it to isolate that particular shot + a little more on either end.

After I have the shot(s) I want to gif isolated, I open up Photoshop. I use "File" > "Import" > "Video Frames to Layers" and choose the video I want. You can do this straight from the video of your playthough, but I find that the shorter the video is, the easier it is to work with in this step. I trim my video more, to about a click or two outside of the specific shot I want. Like so:

From there I delete any extraneous frames from the "timeline" section that comes up.

Then is cropping: my go-to crop uses the "W x H x Resolution" option - I put 540 px in the first box, 300 px in the second and leave the third blank.

After that, I have an action in Photoshop that does the next steps for me (to make things quicker), but what it does is sets the frame rate (which will have to be done again after saving the gif because Photoshop hates everyone apparently), converts all the layers into a single object, and sharpens the gif. I've only been gif-ing for about a year and a half, and before that I had exactly zero experience with Photoshop at all, so all the numbers from these steps are still the same as the numbers I pulled from the tutorial I used when trying to figure everything out. For those, you can look at this absolutely AMAZING tutorial, by hayaosmiyazaki, specifically steps 7. gif speed and 8. sharpening.

From there, I start adjusting the colors. From what I've noticed, I seem to do a good bit less color adjustment than some, or maybe even most, other gif makers. It's honestly all about personal preference, so play around with it and find what you like! I personally like to stick as close as possible to the original colors, while still brightening the image up enough to make it clearer and more legible. So, for a majority of my gifs, I only apply an "Exposure" layer, a "Brightness/Contrast" layer, and a "Hue/Saturation" layer (from the "Layer" > "New Adjustment Layer" menu.) The numbers here change dependent upon the lighting in the shot.

For example, here's a before and after of this shot I just did so I could type this out and make sure I got every step 😅 For this one, I did Exposure +1.0 (no change to Offset or Gamma Correction), Brightness +20, Contrast +10, and Saturation +5 (no change to Hue or Lightness).

Once I'm satisfied with my coloring, I go to "File" > "Export" > "Save for Web (Legacy)". I watch the gif there to make sure it looks how I want, maybe go back and do a few tweaks to the coloring if I'm not quite happy, check the file size and then save it!

Tumblr's maximum file size is 10MB so if your gif is over that, you won't be able to use it on tumblr - in order to fix that, you may have to delete a few more frames. Or you can crop it to so there's less pixels in the "Save for Web" pop-up by changing the numbers in the "Image Size" section

And now, once I have my gif named and saved. I go back to "File" > "Open" and open up that gif. From there, I go to the little three lines icon in the top right corner of my "Timeline" section, click "Select All Frames" and then click the three dots on one of the frames and change the frame delay. For my DBH gifs, I do 0.02 seconds cause it looks best to me. Depending on how many frames per second your recording software does/what you personally like speed wise, this may be different for you. This is also different for gifs from live action or other media (for those, I prefer 0.05 seconds - it looks the most realistic to me.)

Then, I just save again, overriding the file from before I changed the speed, and voila! That's my process!

I hope this helps; if you have any more questions, my ask box is always open!! And again, thank you so so much 🥰 I'm so glad you like my gifs!!

[cadybear420]

Cadybear's MC Wardrobes: Alan Parke, OG HSS Book 3. Featuring some edits by me!

How this series goes: With each book, for a MC I'm invested in, I'll assess each of their in-game outfits. How much do I like or dislike the outfit? Is this something that suits my MC's style, or does it make me go "My MC would NOT wear/own this"? And for the outfits that my MC would not wear or own, how would I alter or replace them? I'm not going to use screenshots from the actual game because I can't be arsed. Also I want to use the different sprite expressions to express how my MC would feel about each outfit.

I like to think this is a good opportunity to elaborate on my MCs' dress styles, and show off some edits :D

Now let's finish off the trilogy for Alan Parke!

Directory for the other parts will be included in the reblogs after I've completed the posts for all books!

Ch 1: "All-American Boy" and "Spring Fever" Premium Starter Outfits

They're alright, but they both look so plain in comparison to the f!MC options. Especially the first one. The second one I think Alan would kind of like, but mainly if the shorts were shorter.

Verdict: Only the second outfit is in Alan's wardrobe, and only partly. Alter by making the shorts shorter. But also replace entirely, and use a different outfit as his official spring casual outfit.

Here's the outfit more in his style, plus him in the f!MC options "Not-So-Cold Shoulder" and "Spring Fling" respectively. I feel like he'd prefer the "Not-So-Cold Shoulder" one as his casual outfit.

Though I do also think he'd like the pink "Party On" outfit from Payton's party as a spring casual outfit. So that will probably be his official one. IDK for sure, honestly.

Ch 1/2: "Tour Guide Extraordinaire" Premium Outfit

Bruhhhhhh this does not look like a tour guide outfit!!! The "Spring Fever" outfit looks more like a tour guide outfit tbh, it even has a similar color scheme to the f!MC's outfit!

And even that aside, the outfit itself is just... not visually appealing. It looks too busy. Though I do like that the blazer and pants match Emma's spring outfit color scheme... but that's about it, and even then I don't think it's really worth it.

Verdict: Alan would NOT own this. Replace entirely. Maybe keep the blazer and pants for a different outfit.

Alan would much prefer the altered version of the "Spring Fever" outfit for being a tour guide.

BONUS ROUND: Ch 3: Baseball Uniform

Not his favorite style, but he'd work the look.

Verdict: Technically not in Alan's wardrobe because you have to return uniforms, but he'd enjoy wearing it. Keep it as is.

Ch 4: "Beach Bro" Premium Outfit for the Mitchell's Beach Party

Not bad, I think he’d really like the colors and pattern of the shirt. I also kind of prefer this as the casual outfit for him to wear during the playthrough, than the Spring Fever outfit (but not as his official spring casual outfit, of course).

But obviously, he'd far prefer the f!MC's outfit. This outfit isn’t near the levels of bland as a lot of these other m!MC special outfits, but I still don’t think it’s really something that would grab people’s attention at a party. At the very most, it just fits the beach vibe and has a nice pattern, and that's it.

Verdict: Alan would only partly own this. Keep the shirt for future potential outfits, but ditch the shorts, and replace entirely for the beach party.

Here's what he'd prefer to wear.

Ch 7: "Tight Knit" Premium Outfit for Open Mic Night at the restaurant

It's not bad... the cardigan is actually kind of cute, and the overall color scheme does look nice on him. But it doesn't really stand out that much otherwise, and it's definitely not Alan's taste.

Verdict: Alan would only partially own this. Keep the cardigan, possibly for future outfits, but ditch the rest, and replace entirely for the event.

I feel like he might wear the "Spring Fling" outfit for this event. It's a neat-looking outfit. I'm not fully sure though... might have to return to this later.

BONUS ROUND: Ch 11: Band Concert Outfit

Looks pretty good, but I think he'd far prefer the shorter sleeve one that the ladies wear.

Verdict: Only partly in Alan's wardrobe. Alter by shortening the sleeves.

Here's what he'd prefer to wear.

I should also mention that while I do have a band!Evie AU, I don't think I'll have a band!Alan or jock!Alan AU. Or I might have a band!Alan AU, but it probably would only take place over Book 1 because he’d only really do colorguard, unless they have room for some singing roles in concert band but IDK. I don't think Alan would have a lot of skill in playing any musical instruments. I'll put him in the colorguard in the bonus rounds.

Ch 12: "Blackout", "Flower Power", and "True Blue" Prom Outfits

Clearly the flower-pattern suit is meant to be the more "fem" option for male MC, as the tux was the more masc option for f!MC. I like it, but I don't see why they couldn't have had a dress option. Or better yet, why PB doesn't have dress options for m!characters more often. HWU had a dress option for male characters. Y'all could have expanded from that.

That being said, Alan would still adore that flower suit, especially if he wore it with some glittery spindly red high heels because that would be such a cunty power look.

Verdict: Only the second one would be in Alan’s wardrobe. Keep that one as it is.

Of course, Alan would still love a dress. And he’d definitely love the premium dress from the f!MC’s options, especially with the single shoulder strap and ESPECIALLY with the leg slit. So here’s him in the dress, plus a red one to more closely follow the suits colors.

And now I can't decide which one I like best as his prom outfit. Yaaayyyy

Ch 16: "Always a Tiger" Premium Finale Outfit (and carries over to HSS:CA as MC's default outfit for that trilogy if purchased)

Not bad, he’d definitely love that jacket. But preferably over his cheer uniform, rather than cargo pants.

Verdict: Only partly in Alan's wardrobe. Ditch the cargo pants, and replace with cheer uniform underneath.

Here's how it would actually look. I think Alan would likely wear this as a casual outfit for HSS:CA. But honestly I'm still figuring out what his storyline in the CA timeline would be like. I haven't even fully figured out Evie's HSS:CA rewrite/storyline. But as I do, I will be coming up with a new set of outfits for Alan in that timeline. We'll see.

[sorenblr]

Now that you've completed the SMT V stream, I (and I'm sure some other folks, too) would love to hear what you think of it compared with the other main Megaten games you've played on stream. I think you've done SMT 1, SMT IV and SMT IV:A so far. Include Persona 1 too if you'd like.

And that dreadful Tokyo Mirage Sessions: pound sign Fire Emblem, too

SMTV is hard for me to discuss because there's very little about it that compels me to deeper thought. It really, genuinely bores me to think about, and anything I do have to say about it only evinces an incredibly cynical read of the series. I'll just put whatever I have left to say here, so that I don't feel the need to revisit.

It's just, you know, this bloodless cultivation of recycled semiotics from Nocturne. We ragged on IV for being overly invested in derivation and homage, but it looks almost daring coming off of V. The only really original idea that it brings to the table, the notion of Nahobino as the 'true' form of these divided and depreciated myth images, is almost offensive in the way it reframes designs that at least try to approximate real cultural attitudes towards religion as lesser, enervated reflections of yet more Tokusatsu tripe. Apart from that, it's a very inert piece of storytelling. I feel like a joke is being played on me whenever the game presumes an emotional investment in characters like Tao or Yuzuru.

I generally think highly of all the little design wrinkles that were implemented under Komori's stewardship, and that owe to his experience directing the more balance-intensive affairs of Etrian Odyssey. The new utility of consumables, dampeners as a limited means of addressing weakness in party structure, the need to attend to enemy and player Magatsuhi gauges etc. All necessary supplements to a battle system that was beginning to wear thin by 2016. Only my opinion of everything that enfolds it, the exploration, was diminished on this second playthrough. The layouts are still compelling, with a novel emphasis on managing layers of verticality, but they're populated with so much idiot open-world cruft. Vending machines, chests, glory crystals, health orbs, Miman. An overabundance of piddling incentive to keep you in a state of compulsion, and which I believe contributes to the exhaustion that many players feel come Taito. I still like the Miman, but they essentially exist in a continuum with the fucking feather collectables in Assassin's Creed.

(All the colored orbs littered around the sands are the perfect wedge to that design sensibility. They're almost totally inconsequential and only worth pursuing for the feeling of having absorbed more bright bobbles into yourself. They whisper to your lizard brain so that you don't feel too unstimulated navigating the space, which is never deigned to be worth the doing for its own sake. I'm out here picking up orbs and I can't even use them to extend the duration of Spartan Rage. Videogames are fucking stupid.)

It also made me more conscious of the ways the game fails to leverage art direction against what were probably non-ideal production conditions. It's never easy to forget that you're in a world of economically distributed UE4 assets, with no less than four brilliant hues of sparkling sand and ruined structures that have largely forfeited the Tokyoite specificity of previous games in favor of the same vending machines and multi-floor apartments and office buildings repeated ad nauseam. Daat never feels more like a hostile environment than a self-conscious playground. The concept art backdrops and rudimentary 3D textures of IV/IVA, and the claustrophobic interiors of I- all more lively by far. Pretty good skyboxes, though. No complaints there.

I think the series has moved into the sort of tired self-pastiche that every franchise turns to after decades of iteration. Time and chance happened, and now it's Angus Young crawling out of his mansion and into his boy-clothes to duckwalk across the stage while his grapefruit-sized prostate wages war against him from within.

If I were to rank just the main series from what we've streamed thus far, it would be something like I > IV > V > IVA. The only sense in which TMS has it at a disadvantage is that it emulates more cleanly. I'm glad that we're done with the latter half of the series and can finally move on, but I'll never forget that big huge enormous ass...

[blaiddllodi]

TOA Anniversary Munday

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is.

Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing!

Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together.

(Previous answers here on Raven's blog. Thanks for putting this together Neffi!)

Name: tches!

Pronouns: she/they

Birthday (no year): 22 Dec

Where are you from? What is your time zone? From Germany, but I live in Colorado

How long is your roleplay experience? A few years in 2005, and now my tenure here

How were you introduced to roleplaying as a whole? Uhhhhh probably Yahoo chatrooms if I'm honest, but I spent most of my time in Livejournal communities

How were you introduced to TOA? I found it scrolling the Raven tag and I saw mirae's drop. Didn't join at this time. Then Elf advertised in a mutual server and I was like Hm. Maybe I will.

Do you have any pets? The server knows my beloved Coriander my baby my light my heart. I also live with two GSDs, Ursa and Solo.

What is your favorite time of year and why? (Season, holiday, general period) I love you winter, I love you snow, I love you December, I love you.

What is your IRL occupation? Handwaves IT. I'm helpdesk at my current place, but I've begun learning network infrastructure stuff recently.

Some interests and things you like/enjoy? I like languages and history, esp Meiji Japan and Mughal India. I used to be a lot more active, and I still generally enjoy yoga and rock climbing, but I've accrued some injuries which prevent me from doing this as much as I'd like. Sadge.

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? Final Fantasy, Pokemon, Ace Attorney, Assassin's Creed, Dragon Age, Bloodborne, Witcher, Kingdom Hearts.

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: Ice or Dragon I think; and Gyarados my beloved my friend my partner (although Delibird is a very close second I love that little dude)

Tell us some funfacts and trivia about yourself! (Optional bonus challenge: if you filled this out last year, try not to repeat what you said back then!) One time a drunk driver scraped my ex-husband's car pulling out of the bar and while he was so flabbergasted that it had happened, me and a friend who had just gotten out of the Navy broke into a sprint to chase the girl down for three blocks before she left the neighborhood.

How did you get into Fire Emblem? My father and I were in the PX and I grabbed Blazing because it had just come to the States and it looked interesting.

What Fire Emblem games have you played? All but Archanea and Tellius. I started Path of Radiance, and put it down at chapter 15 when I got busy. I'll pick it back up again I promise :sob:

First & Favorite Fire Emblem games: First is Blazing and favorite is...probably Blazing still. Elibe is just home to me. I really really like Three Houses and Shadows of Valentia though.

List your 5 favorite Fire Emblem characters across the series! Oh gosh. Raven number one forever, and Dima and Berkut are up there. I'll list five who aren't my roster, in no particular order: Hubert, Hector, Lyon, Priscilla, Lachesis.

Who was the first character ever to make you go “ooh I like this one in particular” and why? Can be any context and reason! Wil. Wil was my first favorite, followed by Matthew. I genuinely loved them so so much my first playthrough I gave them everything.

Any Fire Emblem crushes? 😳 Jeralt can still get it.

If you’ve played (or are familiar with) the following games, who was your first S support? Who would you S support nowadays?- Awakening: Another accidental Chrom victim - probably Lonk or Freddie Fates: I genuinely don't remember if it was Kaze or Jakob - Probably still Kaze Three Houses: Claude - Hubert is my favorite S support he's really good Engage: I literally hard swerved from Diamant the moment Pandreo came on screen I don't think anyone's taking his crown.

Favorite Fire Emblem class? I just really like the Merc-Hero line 🙈But I also love wyverns

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class and stats? Would you be playable? Infantry sword. I hate to say I'd be a Navarre archetype but I honestly probably would be. Middling strength and con but workable with attention, decent speed, absolutely ridiculous crit stat. Surprisingly high resistance. I'd be a good candidate for Dancer or Mortal Savant.

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? Unaffiliated civilian, but can be swayed to join a cause after some effort. I tend to keep myself a bit at arms length, and it can be difficult sometimes to get my genuine loyalty.

If you were an Officers Academy student, what would be your boons, banes and potential budding talent? Boons: Sword, Bow Bane: Flying Budding Talent: Heavy Armor

If you were an Engage character, which nation would you originate from? No lie, probably Brodia. My family is full of soldiers on all sides

How do you pronounce TOA? 🤔(separate letters, to-ah, other?) Depends on the flow of the sentence. Sometimes toe-ah, sometimes T-O-A

Current TOA muses: Raven, Dimitri, Berkut

Past TOA muses? Sigurd, Igrene, Saber, Petra, Beowolf, Lyn

Who was your first TOA muse? If you no longer have them, can you see yourself picking them up again? Raven my heart my forever. If he hasn't been pried from my grasp for the last twenty years, I can't imagine what might.

Do you believe you have a type of character you gravitate towards writing? I like it when grief and love carve someone into a weapon. I love rage and deep, boundless sorrow. And I occasionally like when they get a little slutty, I'm not a monster.

Do you have characters or types of characters you don’t think you can handle writing, but wish you could? 🤔Hard to say. I like to think my range is pretty good. I've been writing for long enough that I don't really wish - I just do it. I think anyone could write anyone if they genuinely put their heart into it.

What kind of scenes, situations etc do you believe you enjoy writing the most? I like when the narrator is a little unreliable. I like when there's so much emotion that everything becomes just a little bit fuzzy an indistinct, like they're suddenly underwater and haven't realized they're drowning. I like when the narrative is circular and I can call back five posts, or when I can bookend things - dramatic irony my beloved. I love miscommunication, especially when one person takes something and runs with it (RIP Sigurd you were the king of this and your never-shuts-up).

Do you have any scenario in mind for your muse(s) that gets you thinking “man I hope I get to write this one day”? I've been in an AU mood lately. I want more AUs - coffeeshop AU, horror movie tropes AU, cross-fiction AU. There was an idea that I had that I'd like to build up a bit more that I may drop a call for 🙊

Favorite TOA-related memories? All of Raven's threads with elysia's Priscilla and kanoesa's Lucius 🤲I hold them like this. And unrelated to my muses I to this day can't get over And Now All Of TOA Knows You Tried To Kill Ryoma.

Present or past tense? Past. I use present tense pretty sparingly, and almost exclusively for one-off asks. Feels weird though.

Normal size text, small text, no preference? No preference. I use normal size out of laziness. The most formatting you'll get from me is italics for emphasis or for thought patterns.

Got any potential muse delusions to share? 😉 One day I will app Sommie and everyone will have a heart attack. You think I'm joking? You think this is a game?