#and i will forever be so incredibly sad about it

[frogsprince]

grief is so silly. like rationally im like he's in a better place! we had a good run! and then my heart is like lol sure. anyway here's some soul crushing sadness for like 5 mins until your next teams call

[somecunttookmyurl]

if you want actual like on god for real actually exist you can see the papyri/tablets very incredibly cute egyptian letters absolutely go read translations of the amarna letters between king amenhotep III and his absolute bestest best friend in the whole wide world king tushratta of mitanni

[yellowocaballero]

Been a fan of your fics for YEARS. I was just telling my friend how despite how much I read fics I never actually love them, with some of your fics (especially TMA) as the exception. Felt the need to reread some of them and saw you reblogged some ISAT fanart. So. Any thoughts on ISAT you'd like to share?

Hope you have a wonderful day!! So happy I found your fics again!!

I avoided answering this for a while because I was trying to think of a way to cohesively and coherently vocalize my thoughts on In Stars and Time. I have given up because I don't want to hold everybody here all day and I have accepted that my thoughts are just pterodactyl screeching.

I love it so much. I have so much to say on it. It drove me bonkers for like a week straight. I have AUs. It's absolute Megbait. They're just a little Snufkin and they're having the worst experience of anybody's life. Ludonarratives my fucking beloved.

I am going to talk about the prologue.

The prologue is such a fascinating experience. You crack open the game and immediately begin checking off all of the little genre boxes: mage, warrior, researcher, you're the rogue...some little kid who's there for some reason...alright, you know the score. You're in yet another indie Earthbound RPG, these are your generic characters, let's get the ball rolling.

Except then you realize that these characters are people. You feel instantly how you've entered the game at its last dungeon, at the end of the adventure. They have their own in-jokes, histories, backgrounds, adventures. They get along well and they're obviously close, but not in a twee or unrealistic way. They have so much chemistry and spirit and life. I fell in love with them so quickly.

But Sif doesn't. Sif kind of hates them, because they will not stop saying the same damn thing. They walk the same paths, do the same things, make the same jokes, expect Sif to say the same lines. They keep referencing a Sif we do not see, with jokes we never see him make and heroic personality he never shows - they reference a Sif who is dead - and Sif can't handle that, so he kills them too.

They become only an exercise in tedious frustration. Sif button mashes through their dialogue, Sif mindlessly clicks the same dialogue options, Sif skips through the tutorial, Sif blows through the puzzles. Sif turns their world into a video game. Sif is playing a generic RPG. Sif forgets their names. They are no longer people with in-jokes, histories, backgrounds, adventures. They're the mage, the warrior, the researcher, and...some random kid.

I did not understand the Kid's presence at first. I had no idea what they contributed to the game. They didn't do anything. As a party member in a video game, they're a bit useless. Why is the Kid there?

Because Sif's life isn't a video game. Because the kid isn't 'the kid'. They're Bonnie. Bonnie, who the party loves. Why is Bonnie there? Because they love them. There is no room for Bonnie in the boring RPG that Sif is playing. And then you realize that Sif is wrong, and that they've lost something extremely important, and that they'll never escape without it.

Watching the prologue before watching ISAT gave ISAT the most unique air of dread and horror, because you crack open ISAT and you see the person Sif used to be. You realize that Sif used to be a person. Sif used to be the person who made jokes, who gave real smiles, who interacted with the world as if they are a part of it. And you know you are sitting down to watch Sif lose everything that made them a person, to lose everything that made them a member of this world, and turn them into a character in a video game who doesn't understand the point of Bonnie at all.

At the climax of the game, when the others realize that something is deeply wrong and that Sif physically cannot tell them, they realize that there is nothing they can do. So Bonnie declares snacktime. And for the first time they have snacktime.

What is snacktime? Classic JRPGs don't have snacktime. There's literally no point to a snacktime - not in a video game, and not in Sif's terrible life. It's not fixing this, because nothing can fix this. But Bonnie gives Sif a cookie and Sif eats it.

It's meaningless. It's a cutscene. It didn't save Sif and it didn't change a thing. It will make no difference in the end.

But it did make the difference. It made all of the difference in the world. Bonnie is a character who you really don't understand the point of before you realize that Bonnie was the entire point.

ISAT is about comfort media. Why do we play the same video games over and over again? Why do we avoid watching the finale of our favorite shows? What is truly comforting: a story with no conflict, or a story where you always know what is about to happen? Do you want to live in a scary, uncontrollable world, or do you want to play Stardew Valley? Do you want a person or a character?

When I beat Earthbound for the first time (and if you don't know, the prologue/ISAT battle system is just Mother) and watched the ending cutscene where the characters part ways and say goodbye...I felt a little bit sad. I wanted them to be together forever. But that's something only characters could ever be.

[dreamwinged]

ship culture makes me not even excited for new content of my f/o(s) bc i know it’s either gonna pander or ppl are gonna twist it and im gonna be upset either way

[chloecherrysip]

Every time Mario is visibly concerned/worried about Luigi in the trailers/TV spots/sneak peeks/etc shown so far.

[ywpd-translations]

Ride 710: Support, Sakamichi

Pag 1

2: I see it

I finally see it! That's the peak, Kei-chan!!

3: Another 1km and we're there!! It sure it's hard, racing!!

Yeah, 1km is long, Kyou-chan

Pag 2

1: I wonder if Roku-chan surpassed him

Pag 3

1: Maybe

3: I think he chose “go”

4: “Go”?......

Ah..... I see

….. I guess so

5: It feels a little lonely

6: While saying things like “we'll make sure (that he passes Kinaka)”, maybe we were the ones who

Pag 4

1: really valued the time spent in the same club as Roku-chan

He passed him!!

Pag 5

1: In the end Rokudai caught the experienced Kinaka at the last minute on the peak!!

4: Da..... mn...

This race really

5: is super fun...!!!

Kaburagi!!

He- he freed himself from the tape!!

Pag 6

1: I did it.....

Kei-chan.... Kyou-chan....

2: I passed him

I kept.... our “promise”

3: Seriously!! Did you see that!? Imaizumi-san!!

Wa- Issa, don't push Imaizumi-san's head!!

Obviously, I saw it

Waa, Imaizumi-san is getting all serious 

4: Rokudai-kun!!

Pag 7

1: Amazing

4: Rokudai's concentration when he passed Kinaka...

5: His feelings...

His resolution...

6: His full strength....

7: I felt them all while watching him from here....!!

Pag 8

1: Yeah!!

2: You're right!!

5: Onoda-kun!!

6: Ah- but-but of course I fel Kinaka-kun's.... willpower and pride too!! Yes!!

…. you shouldn't be so stiff about treating them equally just because you're the captain, Onoda-kun

7: It's okay when it's the moment to support them

8: Ah

9: Telling them how you feel

10: It's a senpai's role

Pag 9

1: Okay

4: Dammit...... really.....

5: He really passed me!?

6: The reason I lost is..... my lack of ability!!

Dammit!!

Kinaka entered the downhill and, as expected, he passed him back!!

Pag 10

1: From now on it's a long downhill, I hope Rokudai can still..... keep up......

Pag 11

2: Here.....

3: Oi, you, Rokudai- pedal seriously!!

Ehi, Issa

You're falling behind! D'you want Kinaka to take the finish line like this?

4: Doesn't Rokudai look a little bad?

5: Rokudai-kun!!

Pag 13

3: Rokudai-kun!!

Rokudai fell from his bike!!

4: He hit the curb and fell into those thick bushes

Pag 14

1: He used up all his strength.....!?

A-anyway, thank god he fell in the bushes, thank god!!

2: Rokudai-kun

3: Onoda-san!!

4: He's here

5: Are you okay, Rokudai-kun?

Are you okay!?

Can you run? Go back to the race..!!

Don't be absurd, Issa

Pag 15

2: Ah!!

3: My bike.....

4: W- what about Kinaka-kun!?

5: I.... I have to chase him.....

Yeah!! That's right!!

Ahead....

It's okay, Rokudai!! You can still catch up!!

Oi Issa, don't get too excited

Pag 16

3: My right hand has no strength, teh....

6: But..... I have to go....

7: Kinaka-kun said that......

“If I win this first years' race I can go to the Inter High?”

“If you can pass all of us experienced riders and take the finish line”

8: He said that if I'm the very first one to reach the finish line....

Pag 17

2: I can.... with Back-gate-slope-senpai....

I can run...... together with him..... teh.....

3: Otherwise

My.....

My goal is.....

Pag 18

1: Rokudai-kun.... I received your feelings

2: So, it's alright now

You can rest now, you can retire from the race

Pag 19

3: You ran so amazingly, so you must be tired

Ah, no-no-no

Thank you for supporting me*

(NdT.: the verb he uses here, which is the same as the chapter's title, has also the meaning of “hold up”, so “support” both physically and figuratively)

4: Ahhh, but I can't move either my hands and legs

6: Roku-chan!!

7: Kei-chan, Kyou-chan!!

Pag 20

1: You passed him!!

2: Yeah!!

4: Good job!!

[rubenesque-as-fuck]

Haven't heard from D in almost two months. Going around the apartment and putting all the stuff that reminds me of him into a box to hide away.

[rainc0at]

I LOVE THIS FUCKIJG FILM SO MUCH EVERYTHING ABOUT IT IS PERFECT

[theflyingfeeling]

I should finish some work that I've been procrastinating the whole week (more like literally didn't have enough hours in a day for it), but here I am contemplating whether I should post all my work from the random tumblr ficlets by theflyingfeeling tag to AO3, just in case 💀

[leucoratia]

I just finished watching the 2022 adaptation of All quiet on the western front and holy shiiiiit guys another movie that just changed me fundamentally

[theythemmer]

for years my friends have tried to get me back into minecraft and idk how to explain to them that after tosoth the game will never be the same . it’s been A DECADE and this fic still rules over my brain

[bloomingsalma]

okay... so I get why I was hesitating to watch soulmate (2023)

[cinnamon-phrog]

Sometimes aI get a little paranoid with being ~sad~ here. I have a lot of things I'd like to talk about in a healthy way but there are At least 10+ people stalking me here

[asterdeer]

haven't watched the last two loki eps. haven't watched the last two ofmd eps. haven't finished the last season of mythic quest. haven't listened to dndaddies in months. haven't listened to dungeons and drimbus in over a year. haven't haven't haven't. hng argh blah and so forth

[fursasaida]

This article is from 2022, but it came up in the context of Palestine:

Here are some striking passages, relevant to all colonial aftermaths but certainly also to the forms we see Zionist reaction taking at the moment:

Over the decade I lived in South Africa, I became fascinated by this white minority [i.e. the whole white population post-apartheid as a minority in the country], particularly its members who considered themselves progressive. They reminded me of my liberal peers in America, who had an apparently self-assured enthusiasm about the coming of a so-called majority-minority nation. As with white South Africans who had celebrated the end of apartheid, their enthusiasm often belied, just beneath the surface, a striking degree of fear, bewilderment, disillusionment, and dread.

[...]

Yet these progressives’ response to the end of apartheid was ambivalent. Contemplating South Africa after apartheid, an Economist correspondent observed that “the lives of many whites exude sadness.” The phenomenon perplexed him. In so many ways, white life remained more or less untouched, or had even improved. Despite apartheid’s horrors—and the regime’s violence against those who worked to dismantle it—the ANC encouraged an attitude of forgiveness. It left statues of Afrikaner heroes standing and helped institute the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which granted amnesty to some perpetrators of apartheid-era political crimes.

But as time wore on, even wealthy white South Africans began to radiate a degree of fear and frustration that did not match any simple economic analysis of their situation. A startling number of formerly anti-apartheid white people began to voice bitter criticisms of post-apartheid society. An Afrikaner poet who did prison time under apartheid for aiding the Black-liberation cause wrote an essay denouncing the new Black-led country as “a sewer of betrayed expectations and thievery, fear and unbridled greed.”

What accounted for this disillusionment? Many white South Africans told me that Black forgiveness felt like a slap on the face. By not acting toward you as you acted toward us, we’re showing you up, white South Africans seemed to hear. You’ll owe us a debt of gratitude forever.

The article goes on to discuss:

"Mau Mau anxiety," or the fear among whites of violent repercussions, and how this shows up in reported vs confirmed crime stats - possibly to the point of false memories of home invasion

A sense of irrelevance and alienation among this white population, leading to another anxiety: "do we still belong here?"

The sublimation of this anxiety into self-identification as a marginalized minority group, featuring such incredible statements as "I wanted to fight for Afrikaners, but I came to think of myself as a ‘liberal internationalist,’ not a white racist...I found such inspiration from the struggles of the Catalonians and the Basques. Even Tibet" and "[Martin Luther] King [Jr.] also fought for a people without much political representation … That’s why I consider him one of my most important forebears and heroes,” from a self-declared liberal environmentalist who also thinks Afrikaaners should take back government control because they are "naturally good" at governance

Some discussion of the dynamics underlying these reactions, particularly the fact that "admitting past sins seem[ed] to become harder even as they receded into history," and US parallels

And finally, in closing:

The Afrikaner journalist Rian Malan, who opposed apartheid, has written that, by most measures, its aftermath went better than almost any white person could have imagined. But, as with most white progressives, his experience of post-1994 South Africa has been complicated. [...]

He just couldn’t forgive Black people for forgiving him. Paradoxically, being left undisturbed served as an ever-present reminder of his guilt, of how wrongly he had treated his maid and other Black people under apartheid. “The Bible was right about a thing or two,” he wrote. “It is infinitely worse to receive than to give, especially if … the gift is mercy.”

[hydrasaura]

𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘤𝘳𝘺 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘛𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘐𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘢��𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦,

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘶𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘦…