#and then the cycle would repeat for like the next generation or whatever

[plasky]

I just had a really dumb character idea

So you know how there's like mimics n stuff to which they transform/mimic and object/thing/person

I then also thought of a cuckoo bird and how it inacts brood parasitism

What if let's say this was translated to a sort of mimic thing where the mimic leaves their child to some random family and the child shifts to look like they belonged to that family although still looking more off/off-putting

The mimic child then causes "accidents" to the rest of the children in the family leaving only them in the end to have all the food and everything they need for themself to live

[kritischetheologie]

Advice for a 26 year old? Apart from the normal.

oh jeez. oh gosh. I just turned 30 and my god if I could undo 90% of the decisions I made between 24 and 29... anyway here's some advice that I do think is generally applicable and isn't just me talking to my younger self. and also a little bit of me talking to my younger self.

At some point between 22 and 30, you will find that hangovers are instantly 3x worse than before. The only silver lining on this fact is that having to cut yourself off earlier in the night is cheaper. But mostly this is one of those aging things you just need to accept.

2. You need to find a form of physical activity that works with the body and the lifestyle you currently have. I don't care if you played [insert sport here] in college. If you're only able to play it once a week, you will injure yourself trying to perform at the same level you did previously. The people I know who have the worst relationships with their bodies are the ones who get stuck in the cycle of pushing themselves too hard, getting injured, having to take time off, lather rinse repeat. Find ways to move your body that make you feel like you inhabit it fully, that make you proud of what you can do now, that get your mind engaged, that expose you to the goofy experience of being bad at something new... let go of whatever came before and live in the now.

3. If your reproductive system came with ovaries, a uterus, etc: for the next decade of your life, everyone is going to have opinions on what you do with it, and these opinions are going to be self-contradictory. knowledge is power. learn about your hormonal cycle, so you can know what's going on in the body you inhabit. I highly recommend tracking your cycles-- there's a million apps that will do it, pick the one whose UI makes you want to throw up the least. This is important no matter what you want to do with your reproductive system. Learning to recognize the signs of where you are in your cycle, the effect of different hormones on your mood, etc. can help you predict and adjust for the way you fluctuate throughout the month. Tracking your cycles can also help you catch hormonal irregularities, issues like PCOS, etc. Find an ob-gyn you can be honest with about what you want to do with your body. get pap smears--I'm constantly amazed how many of my friends get regular STI testing but always forget about pap smears (cervical cancer is no joke).

4. second of all (this is a subset of #3, but tumblr doesn't let me do sub points): when it comes to the question of whether and how to reproduce, you have to decide what is important to you and be willing to defend it. maybe you know you want like six kids, you know you never want kids. maybe you're queer, and you aren't going to be doing it the old-fashioned way, and you know you really want to gestate a child, or really don't. maybe you feel strongly about passing on your genes, or about not. I would encourage you to think seriously and capaciously about reproductive options. by this I mean: don't just sit around waiting to someday wake up knowing. treat the question as an invitation to explore. think about all the ways that people build families. meet people who have fostered, who have adopted, who have had children alone by choice (or not by choice). look at the people around you, and the trade-offs they have made, and decide which lives look the best to you. pay attention to the people whose lives make you go "shit, I didn't realize you were allowed to do that," or "how do they get away with that?" or even, "who do they think they are, doing that?" I think we have an overly negative view of envy as an emotion. it can point you towards what you really want. and if there's things you want to accomplish before you reproduce, career-wise, or in terms of personal growth, or just a whole bucket list of shit you want to do, get started checking things off that list, and also don't be afraid to add more.

5. this one was also originally part of 3 but it also gets its own block because tumblr keeps trying to cut me off and it's super important anyway: you have so much more time to do everything than our culture wants you to think. you have time to change your mind about what you want, even. but you don't have time to drift on the cloud of vague ideas you internalized from your parents and the walt disney corporation. that's not me saying not to get straight married and do it the old-fashioned way, or not to become a doctor because your family wanted you to, or whatever. that's me saying that even if you're going to do that, you get to--you have to--decide what that relationship, or that career, looks like. you get as much say in building that life as anyone else. in both your personal and your professional life, you have time to pivot, to start over, but if the prospect of being 29 when you finish a three year pivot horrifies you, you need to realize that starting it at 32 will be even worse. that post about how "it takes three years" "the time's gonna pass anyway" is so fucking true. I'm still learning this one.

6. Making friends as an adult is as hard as everybody says it is. You have to be the one who does the ask. You will feel like the one doing the ask more often. Do it anyway. A corollary: if you were ever very, very close with someone, and you've drifted apart due to time and space, there is no amount of time and space that will make them not glad to hear from you if you reach out. don't think that if you haven't spoken to someone in a year you're not allowed to again. you don't even need an excuse. you can literally just hit them up like "hey, i'm sorry it's been so long since we've talked. i'd love to catch up-- i miss you! let me know when you're free for a phone call." and it will work. everyone is as lonely as you. people are so grateful to be asked. but also, everyone isn't going to be your best friend. if you can go to an event, or join a thing, or work in a place, and come out with one true friend, and keep adding one true friend everywhere you go, you'll have a whole bunch by the time you hit 30.

7. there is no correct amount of maturity for your late 20s. some of your friends are going to hit what feels like their 30s early-- doing all the conventional bourgeois success markers, the marriages and the houses and the babies. some of your friends are going to keep partying like they're still in college. I wish this was the part where I told you there was a secret third thing (the secret third thing is doing both, at the same time, and it's maybe the worst of all). for the next five years of your life, I need you to just stop thinking about your "developmental milestones." facebook and instagram and your parents' friends are going to make this hard for you. remind yourself that you're not a toddler. there's nothing you're supposed to be able to do at this age. there's nowhere you're supposed to be at this age. this realization can be really hard to handle, especially for people who got validated earlier in life for doing things early. it's impossible to read above grade level once you're out of high school. that freedom is hard. i'm not being condescending, it's genuinely fucking hard.

8. the conclusion of #7 is a subset of this: the great tradeoff of adulthood is that you get agency, but you have to take responsibility. if you find yourself in a situation where it feels like you have responsibility but no agency-- where you're constantly being blamed, but never get to call the shots, for example-- get the fuck out. whether that's a relationship, a job, whatever it is. if you find yourself exercising agency but not taking responsibility, sit with yourself and learn how to own your choices. you can't only have one.

9. if you aren't sure what you're doing with your career, you could do a hell of a lot worse than just trying to be whoever it is you wanted to be when you were 10. or at least, asking yourself what it was you liked about that thing, and figuring out a way to do it. if you aren't sure what to do with your career, get a job that pays your bills, and find fulfillment in the things you do in your free time, instead, for a while.

10. the thing I regret most about my late 20s is how much of it I spent in the waiting room of my own life. assuming that I would be leaving a place I lived, so not investing myself in making friends there. assuming that eventually, things would either get better, or worse, in a relationship, so I would be able to tell whether it was working or not. you have to sit down every fucking day (ok, not literally every day, but like... many of them)... and think about the life you want to have someday, and then you have to do one concrete thing to make that real in the moment. every day. and if you have some vision of where you want to end up eventually, but you're miserable every single day of the path toward that thing, I need you to consider seriously that achieving that goal will not make it worthwhile. I'm not saying to blow everything off and sit on the beach every day, but fuck, man. I spent, like, 26 to 29 hanging on white knuckled to a life that I thought was setting me up to be where I wanted to be when I was literally, like, 60, and eventually I just said you know what? I've got 30 fucking years to get somewhere good at 60, and I'm miserable right now. don't hold your present self hostage to the future.

11. get a cool fucking jacket and make it your entire personality. or a big pair of boots. or a haircut, or a tattoo. you might feel like a poser, at first, but you have to do it anyway. actually, that's a general rule: trying to be the person you want to be will always feel like being a poser at first. do it anyway. that's how it becomes real.

12. it's genuinely offensive how often the solution to what feels like the world ending is drinking a half-liter of water and having a snack.

[britney-rosberg06]

Liam Lawson on F1 accessibility and Ollie Bearman:

“I would say maybe, it’s becoming more clear-it’s hard because obviously I don’t wanna just speak for myself but just using Ollie [Bearman] as an example-how potentially accessible formula 1 is for the younger sort of generation and us trying to step into it. I think in my experience it’s not so much driving the car but everything else that comes with Formula 1-the pressure, the media side of it the atmosphere-it’s very very different to what anything else we’ve raced. But the driver part of it sort of how accessible it is. I think from the simulator work and preparation that we do that someone like Ollie is able to jump into the car and be on the pace and do such a good job”

THIS is it!! This is what we’re saying! Liam and Ollie both performed superbly when given the opportunity to do so. It’s clear that the F1 car is manageable for someone making a quick jump from F2 or older F1 cars. When-in my experience-the reason teams have been hesitant maybe to bring in younger talent like Liam and Ollie is cause of the difference in the car. Liam and Ollie have both said that’s not true and they both did quite well through several tough races in Liam’s case like Singapore and Qatar.

It’s for reasons like what Liam says that we need to either push out some of the guys who aren’t performing at their level (*cough* Ricciardo *cough*) or open up the sport to more teams! If Andretti had gotten their bid accepted, Liam Lawson might not have to wait around for DR to get his head out of Chr*stian Horners ass and retire and he could have a seat for 2025. Cause until that happens, and until other teams make moves to push out their older competitors. Liam (and Ollie, sort of) can’t join F1.

And another problem this raises, is that either of them could have a seat next year. If teams weren’t so scared of missing out on the next Max Verstappen.

Toto Wolff practically has the seat reserved for Kimi Antonelli and he will do whatever it takes to either get it to him in 2025, or blow off that year to wait for Kimi in 2026. Meaning that Liam and Ollie would be left on their asses if either if them signed to Merc. And this isn’t hate to Kimi! This is simply a criticism of the teams only taking younger talent when they’re considered prodigious.

If they signed to a lower grid team like Haas-who we know are in tentative talks with Ollie-or Sauber or Alpine then they will underperform to their potential because the car they drive is shitty but they’ll be the ones blamed for it due to “lack of experience” and teams can continue to make the claim that the F2 to F1 jump is too big and the cycle repeats perpetually until it’s just not worth it and we the fans lose out on potential great talent. Even though drivers who have been in the sport for years can underperform in the same car and it’s fine!

It doesn’t make sense, truly, for them to not trust younger talent when Zak Brown and Mclaren have signed the youngest pairing on the grid, who after updates last year to the car, were pretty consistent with placing in the points and earned them several podiums.

Also, look at how much good the 2019 rookies ended up being for the sport. 3 childhood friends entered into F1, there were highs, lows, etc they each got their shot to prove themselves and now. One is working to rebuild a historic team, one is outperforming a 7 time champion (again no hate just observation) and one is considered to be apart of the team that can take the fight to RedBull and Ferrari

It just doesn’t make sense when young drivers get passed up even when they prove themselves in favor of relying on middling drivers who’s time in the sun have kind of passed on.

Anyway, I hope Liam and Ollie get a seat next year. I hope Kimi Antonelli does what’s best for him as a kid rather than what is best for his career. I hope Daniel Ricciardo gets kicked out mid season. And I hope the next time a team comes in trying to join F1, they can actually do it

[fryandleelasbigfling]

fuuuuck man, i can't stop thinking about amy's character development.

like amy's always been smart, albeit ditzy, but she operates largely on rebelling against what her parents want from her. she does not want to be a living uterus to make heirs and money for her shitty folks. she parties and sleeps around and generally still acts like a sorority girl because she values freedom.

and it's funny bc her parents introduce her to kif, but kif is a new way to keep amy grounded. kif isn't a one night stand, he tries to call her back and wants to get to know her. he wants to impress her family, and neither of them care that it doesn't work because he was brave enough to try. in fact, they can probably both bond over feeling like they're unfairly tethered to people who don't see them as individuals. he loves her and wants to commit to her, and she's flattered and realizes she loves him right back beyond just dating.

and amy is... not good with emotional literacy. she says things to insult people on accident a lot, and she doesn't usually seem willing to get very personal with the crew. and when kif dies in BWABB, her mom literally tells her to get over it mere days later, and then she copes by sleeping with zapp seemingly just to bring kif back in some way. so i think this is something else she internalized from her upbringing.

so i think when kif gets pregnant, obviously she's not ready to adjust to a life of responsibility, especially given how being a mother has been held over her head as basically a command for most of her life. but she wants to be with kif, and she's willing to adapt for him. and then she gets 20 years to prepare, and given this episode, i believe she spent those 20 years talking this over with kif, working out their relationship, learning to get her mind in order and eventually be a responsible parent. they had some real hurdles (and bad writing) but i think eventually, she felt ready to commit, especially after she earned her phd. she's financially secure enough to do pretty much whatever she wants after all, and having a family with kif is what she wants next in life.

i think this all made the "biological mother" thing so much harder for her. because leela has her own traumas, but it seems like she's naturally maternal, whereas i feel like amy had to really work for it. and she's worried that simply being exhausted is enough to make her a bad mom, and takes that out on leela, even though leela is also exhausted and far from perfect. i feel like in amy's eyes, leela has always been very capable and mature, even if they don't always get along, and i can see her worrying that the kids would innately bond with leela and amy wouldn't be enough. and given she outright acknowledges how terrible her parents are in this episode, and they reject the babies for being visibly mutant-alien, i can see her worrying she's repeating the cycle, and even though she's loving them as much as she can, she's only ever known parents who were harsh and critical, and being so openly loving is something she had to learn. (leela had to learn this too, but amy is too self-critical to realize that.)

so when amy says she loves those kids "more than [she] realized [she] could ever love anything"... i really believe that. i don't think amy knew how capable she was of expressing true love. i don't think she realized that she could commit to someone and not just fulfill her parents' degrading wishes for her. this isn't about her parents, this is about her and kif and the future they made with their love.

and by god, she's gonna be a good mother, and it'll be hard, but in the end, she's doing it because it feels good.

[chelledoggo]

Okay, you've been going on this for 5 days now. I think that's enough "milking" this subject. You are so focused on it that you are falling again into the old pitfalls that you swore you would try and avoid. You've done this a lot on Twitter and you're doing the same thing again here and I know you're cross-platforming this stuff for attention at this point for more validation. And while I can understand wanting to seek it? This is the same cycle I saw you do a lot and you kinda need to take it down a few notches because here:

-You post something -You get negative feedback -You have a meltdown, declaring you’ll never post XYZ again because everyone hates you/etc. -You start to spiral into self-loathing -You start to say your worthless, evil, disgusting, etc. -You get anons from people to validate your emotions -You beat yourself for being this way -You start posting again until the next breakdown. You've done this for years now Chelle. Come on. Your seriously telling us you still haven't worked on yourself to handle these situations better? You're just going to keep doing this all then every time something negative happens? Where is the help you said you were getting for these responses and minding yourself more online or in fandom spaces? I'm not gonna beat around the bush and baby you like everyone else here. You're an adult. Already posting online? You're gonna find people who don't like what you draw. That's just it. No matter how wholesome of sfw your hypno art is? Not all people aren't going to be comfortable with it all. Some people like it, some people don't. Maybe for you it's something you like because it shows someone can relax and be vulnerable or whatever with someone? Others might see it as a submissive mind space because it takes a lot of trust to be into that. There are a lot of nuances to subjects be they Kink/fetish/hyperfixations/etc. That's just it. Art is an exploration of all these sorts of elements be you sfw or a nsfw artist. Fandom space or otherwise. In general? Hypno art toes a lot of lines that just it. How people respond to art is on them and you can't control it. There's nothing wrong if you're into whatever at whatever level. That being said, Chelle you need to just move on from this. There's nothing proactive or good if you keep repeating these same downward spirals every time "something" happens. You can feel upset about the "DNI" person or the one "fetish" commenter but in the end? You still got a lot of positive comments about your art and support so I don't see why you continue to keep talking about this subject that you've obviously gotten support for. I'm bringing this up though because as I said this is a cycle with you. IDK how many people followed you from Twitter to Tumblr to come out and say it besides me, but I've watched you enough to recognize this same pattern with you now and a part of me does wonder if you actually plan to get better at handling stuff or is just going to be something you don't grow out of every time "something" happens. I don't want to personally doubt you, but again it's a pattern you've done constantly and I would hope by bringing this up you realize you need to get out of this cycle, move on, and find better ways to be proactive. Again I'm not invalidating your feelings, but dwelling and going into negative spirals is not going to help you in the long run.

.

[stardewnoodles]

Knowing there's a high chance this won't do a single damn thing to the salmonids and they will instantly grow back this amount of eggs to justify the game’s repeated salmon run cycles (especially if we consider how big runs could be recycled) i am having a difficult time understanding what to do with these salmonid munchkins... A single salmon can produce thousands of eggs. For them, only about 2% live. However, we are 12,000 years on from that and salmonids coudlve evolved to be able to produce the same amount with more surviving, or a smaller amount with all surviving. If this holds true for the salmonids, then they do the same, and we aren't considering how time and their new forms (like inkfish becoming inkfish) may have made it easier for them to make it to the next generation, unlike our salmon. And they had 12,000 uninterrupted years to repopulate.

it downplays them slightly yeah but idk this is like. the seventh time now they've done this. I think they just straight up like it. It's hard to tell as they obviously have a culture and all that but due to how the game works, how there will always be a boundless number of salmonids, never truly depleting, thinking too deep into it seems... like a total headache and something that won't end up making any sense, so i rlly do just feel like their existence is the celebration of the cycle of life in a very twisted manner and they are all in on throwing themselves into the flames like this. I like how some people see this as devastating to salmonids but, well, it won't be. most likely. unless Nintendo surprises me years down the line. this is just a happy little quota. nothing more. But then you factor in the magnetic disturbances and we’re back to square one! They may be natural! They may not be! My cod!

so its hard to tell what to do with them in writing or how people with insider knowledge like the NSS view them because they're so weird and impossible to rlly be like any other civilization. They are both a constructed social group but also an intense force of nature. Even the idols do salmon run, and not a single person in this world seems to think twice about Grizzco’s presence. So what’s the end goal? Is there any?

Grizzco and the salmonids are super cool but I would be lying if, to keep the gameplay over lore ideology they have, Nintendo hasn’t made them a total headache. Like whatever I do with them doesn’t have to follow canon but I’d rather it be close to it which means the NSS are useless about stopping Grizzco beyond Mr. Grizz himself which is also something. I don’t know. See the issue? I don’t want to do salmonids wrongly, but how do you even correctly explain them or showcase them in the first place?

[otakween]

Digimon World 3 - Final Thoughts

I've beaten the third Digimon World woohoo!! It was a brisk 40 hours, the perfect JRPG length. Overall, it was way better than Digimon World 2, but maybe not better than 1?? I dunno. It was definitely more enjoyable than 1 gameplay-wise, but if I look at it big picture it was way more generic and less memorable. Defeating the first Digimon World felt like more of a triumph and beating 3 felt kinda hollow (because it was easy and anticlimactic).

Despite any gripes I have, I could see myself replaying this. I'm especially interested in a potential revisit (like 10 years from now lol) because I found out that the PAL version of the game (Digimon World 2003) is the true, complete version of the game. Whoops...

So uh...Lord Megadeath and Snatchmon huh...great naming sense guys, good job.

Confession: I straight-up ignored all of the side quests in this game. Skipped all of the card battles, never got the fishing pole, etc. In the end, I don't really regret it because those card battles were kind of pointless anyway.

Confession part 2: I WAS planning on getting back to the side quests in the post-game until I realized that there is no post-game in this game. This is one of those games where you beat the final boss and they kick you back to the start screen with no opportunity to save. I hate it when games do that TT__TT now there's now proof that I beat it!

That ending was kinda lame. I liked the final battle with all of the epic FMVs, but the epilogue with the kids was literally so boring. They did not make me care about any of these characters in the slightest.

Speaking of FMVs, this game had so many!! The FMVs combined with the awesome pixel art definitely made this game great. It was a little lame how half of the world was just the same environments but palette swapped, but eh...whatever. There was enough variation to keep me excited.

Travel in this game was BULLSHIT. I said in one of my previous posts "fast travel will probably come soon!" NOPE, never came. The worst was when you beat a boss and then they made you back track throughout the whole dungeon for no reason. Thank God I played this on an emulator because an unexpected death would have set me back AGES. Very often it would take me an hour in REAL TIME to get to the next place I needed to be. Entire game sessions were just me walking across the map. If it wasn't for this mechanic, the game would have been like 10 hours long lol. Definitely artificial padding.

I noticed a couple of digimon here and there that I had never seen before. I think this game had a great variety in its wild encounters, although it was kind of weird to battle so many ultimates and whoop their butts so easily.

Speaking of easy...I think this game was maybe too easy or at least too exploitable. Health items were dirt cheap so it was super simple to stock up on 99 of each at all times, the counter crest allowed me to deal massive damage beyond my digimon's levels. The final boss fight with Galacticmon was just a game of letting my digimon attack until they died, resurrecting them with a healing item, and repeating that cycle until the battle was finished. The resurrection item brings back all digimon in your party with their full health which is pretty OP. By the 2nd half of the game this strategy became unbeatable and battles became kind of stale.

SO many random battles, like an obnoxious amount. I would leave one random battle, take a single step and another one would be triggered. I listened to a lot of podcasts slogging through this.

One of the weakest parts of this game was the plot/writing, but that was also weak in Digimon World 1 & 2. At least the translation seemed pretty decent this time around. I guess the "stuck in the game world" cliche was kinda fun.

The other thing I ignored in this game was the bonus digimon you can pickup along the way. I did end up getting two of them, but I never used them. They start at level 1 and ain't nobody got time to level up digimon from level 1 halfway through the game. Also, I wasn't super interested in using Guilmon when my Renamon already had MegaloGrowmon in their digivolve roster. I kind of wish this game allowed you to catch the wild digimon because you could create some really crazy parties.

My "main digimon" that I ended up using the most was Kotemon in their Kyukimon form. This was unfortunate because I think Kyukimon is butt ugly, but oh well lol.

The blasted mechanic in battles was really great and I hope they bring it back in future games! It allows you a second chance when you're in a pinch and just feels epic. I rarely used the digivolve option in battles, so it was nice getting a "free" digivolve every now and then.

I could go on and on about this game apparently, but I'm gonna wrap it up here. I have many many more games to get through before I start the next season of the anime. Onwards!

I give Digimon World 3 a solid 6.5 out of 10

[iravaid]

Oh man, now after reading your reply all i can think about is tommy in his twenties, having reached a place where he’s been through rehab and a whole bunch of therapy and has more knowledge of autism/aspergers and a greater understanding of mental illnesses and disabilities in general after having been forced to confront his own trauma and his struggles with addiction and whatnot, etc, reflecting on his relationship with simon and their childhood and all the mistakes and baggage those memories carry, and trying to reach out and talk with simon about it all, except of course simon doesn’t want to hear it at all, because the past should remain in the past, why would you go digging up things that best remain buried and forgotten?? And if that weren’t enough to send him running for the hills, tommy’s subtle comments about the autism thing would definitely get his fight or flight instincts kicking into high gear, because, sure, he might be awkward and blunt and not great in social situations, but that’s fine, that shit doesn’t matter in the military, not when he’s this damn good at his job, and it’s not like he gives a shit about playing the politics game and climbing up the ladder until he can laze about in some cushy office chair rubbing elbows with the brass or whatever, so it’s fine, he might be fucked in the head but he’s not sick or anything, he’s not some sort of nutcase, he’s not

Augh, absolutely, there's something very interesting in the concept of Tommy ultimately ending up better adjusted (relatively) than Simon by the time both of them are adults. Especially regarding self acceptance and unpacking the ableism they were raised with. I'm going to enter headcanon delusion land because we know next to nothing about Tommy so a quick warning on that lmao, but, we ball.

Although Tommy has had this immensely rough start, struggling with addiction and the feelings on inadequacy that might arise from living in his brother's shadow all his life, he's also been given the space and counselling that equipped him with better coping skills and vocabulary to both verbalise and recognise what happened to him and Simon as kids. I like to also think that, for a myriad of reasons and a myriad of people, Tommy has made that conscious effort to heal as well, to improve and try his damndest to break the cycle of abuse (even if that effort was ultimately cut short by forces far outside his own control.).

I'm not trying to say that Simon himself is actively perpatuating it, but he's had next to no guidance regarding the navigation of his own trauma, nor mightn't he fully recognise how deeply a 'bad childhood' might have effected him. I also see Simon's joining the army as both a blessing and a curse for him, because it probably did save his life: he got away from his dad, got strong enough to cast his father out of his home and life, got enough money to support the family that mattered to him and step up to be the 'man of the house', in his eyes. But it also, predictably, created a kind of situation where Simon got caught up in this machismo echo chamber/mob mentality reinforcing the more aggressive/violent aspects of himself in this wild cycle of adrenaline and dopamine and psoitive reinforcement for a mission well done. Rinse and repeat for two decades, and there's a guy with a lot of his self worth tied up in conventional but ultimately detrimental masculine qualities; where he's possibly too proud to recognise he's actively hurting from the things that happened to him as a child, let alone reach out to anyone in order to begin processing it in a constructive way. Why should he? He's Lieutenant fucking Riley.

It's a very interesting contrast, to me, that while Simon is the one who started out the more stable of the two brothers, the script is flipped between them when Simon returns from Roba's captivity. I wonder if Tommy feels a sense of eagerness to repay the debt he feels he owes Simon, for the former taking care of him during his recovery as a teen. I wonder if Simon feels resentful for 'losing' his place as the Riley patriarch/protector/provider to his younger brother, who got married and had a son and carved a place in the community for himself, all while Simon was running from his issues on some battlefield, in turn being greviously harmed by it and now has to battle with his own recovery.

They have such capacity for very deep love, they're connected both by their brotherhood and by the immense hurt their father caused. They also hold as deep a capability for harm and anger against the other, "This is my brother and I need a shovel to love him." kind of deal. Idk, ghost of their father still lingers where the skin is thin, and their shared proximity makes it seep. lol, lmao even

Augh, but I'm rambling, the thought of Tommy trying to gently broach the subject of autism/being autistic, and Simon having that kneejerk reaction of hypervigilance, aggression, anger at being 'accused' of such a thing, man. A constant cycle of trying to reach out and rejecting and reaching out and rejecting!! If only they had more time, maybe something kinder could have happened

[hollygl125]

On rabbit holes and fanfic (in my own life):

*This is a note I wrote for AO3/FFN, but I’ve been meaning for a while to write a post on how I—a member of the Oregon Trail generation—wound up signing up for Tumblr in January 2022, and this kind of hints at that, so I thought I might as well share it here, too.*

What follows is a TMI note on why I can’t make any promises on when the next chapter of this story will be up; please read or don’t, as pleases you.  I would like to state first, though, what I also state at the bottom of this note: thank you so, so, so very much for reading; your kind support means more than I can tell you.

So, I’m, ah… not very good at all this.

Two years ago now, as I was doing a “CSI as love story” rewatch and falling far, far, far down the GSR rabbit hole, I was also falling deep into ADHD burnout and overwhelming anxiety (without, at the time, realizing that I had either ADHD or a lifetime of anxiety).  By the time spring 2022 rolled around, I was lacking executive functioning abilities for even basic tasks, while my mind sought solace or dopamine or whatever it was with—you guessed it—these two lovely science nerds.

I read hundreds and hundreds of GSR fics, without managing to leave a single, solitary comment/review.  (I wanted to comment!  I couldn’t!  I’m not saying commenting would have killed me, but I just couldn’t do it; I wouldn’t have been able to continue reading if it were required, and obsessing over these two science nerds was basically all my mind could handle.  So when I tell you that I get that commenting can be too much sometimes, I get it.  I should also note my eternal gratitude to all the amazing GSR fic writers who—unknowingly—helped me during this time.)

I occasionally questioned whether I might try writing something about these science nerds, but I always dismissed that pretty quickly.  I’d never willingly undertaken a creative writing project in my life (unless you count my last dog’s Instagram).  For added context, until 2022, I had last (and first, for that matter) previously read fan fiction in the mid-2000s, when my favourites on The West Wing were taking their own sweet time.  So in January 2022, while desperate for more GSR content, I was like, “Is fanfic still a thing?  Is there GSR fanfic?”  I literally started by googling “GSR fan fiction.”  I’d never even heard of AO3 or FFN; I think the fic for The West Wing had been on Yahoo! Groups.

But I had all these romantic scenarios and headcanons and such constantly running through my head, and I was getting tired of having to recreate the dialogue for them every night as I fell asleep.  So eventually, in late June 2022, I thought maybe I should try writing something down—at some point in the future, once I’d had more time to prepare.  Naturally the next day my brain was like, no, now, now, we’re doing this now.  I had no conscious say in the matter.  I wasn’t sure whether I was going to post anything, but apparently I was going to write it.

I had a lot of fun writing out so many of my thoughts and feeling and hopes and dreams for our two lovely science nerds, and pretty soon I had a draft for this series of stories (although it was only a fraction of what I have now written).  I started posting the first story in September 2022.  Luckily I got to participate in a (also luckily, not very mentally taxing) overseas professional placement for several months at the end of 2022, and this was a welcome distraction from *everything else* about my life.

When I got home in winter 2023, the anxiety returned in full force.  I got an ADHD diagnosis, but neither that nor the anxiety are effectively managed yet.  And, truth be told, posting these stories gives me a lot of anxiety.  It’s sort of been a weekly cycle of posting, feeling very anxious about it for several days, talking myself back to a place of peace, getting ready to post again, posting again, rinse, repeat.  Sometimes I’ve found myself feeling too anxious to post, and the chapter/story in question has been pushed back by a week.

So I wasn’t exactly feeling great about the posting process, but I was still determined to proceed.  I had a posting schedule that would have seen me finish posting this story by the end of November (last month) then post the remaining four shorter stories over the next couple months.  (A few of them are synced to dates/times of year: the winter holidays and February, i.e., the anniversary of the AAFS conference.) But then, with the last chapter I posted, I was just too anxious/unhappy.  This may have been because I’d slightly accelerated my posting schedule and hadn’t left myself enough time to process everything; I’m not sure.  But I found myself looking at Tumblr gifs of our two lovely science nerds and feeling sad and resentful, not happy, and I realized that, if I continued on as I was doing at the time, I was going to destroy both my deep love of the characters and my own happy place.

So I told myself that I didn’t have to keep posting now—that, as much as I was determined to have the complete series of stories posted, I could do it in months or in a year or some other time when no one was left to read it; honestly, that thought made me feel a lot better.  But then I decided maybe I didn’t have to wait quite so long—that I could try posting once per month or something like that.  On the upside, I tell myself, this should also leave time for me to respond to comments more promptly and to go engage with other writers’ stories.  (I managed to go back and read and comment on a handful of stories this summer.  Commenting still gives me a lot of anxiety; at one point I felt like I almost gave myself a panic attack.  But I’m going to try to work at it.)  As of this morning, I have responded to all comments on these stories, including to comments by guests/people who aren’t logged in (unless I thought the comment was from a bot!).

I can’t promise when the next chapter will be posted.  My goal is for next month, but it really depends on how I feel after posting this one and how I feel next month.  I do hope you’ll come back to read it, though!

If you’ve read this far—both in this series and in this note—thank you so very much!  You certainly didn’t need to know all the information in this note, but I needed to share it, if you get what I mean.

Thank you so, so, so very much for reading and for your kind kudos, comments, follows, faves, and reviews.  Supportive comments/reviews always, always, always make my day.  Your support for this series of stories is truly what has allowed me to get even this far in posting these stories, and I appreciate it all more than I can tell you. 💛💛💛

[petri808]

Sorry it's late ;-; For day 7 of Nalu Week 2023 @allaboutnalu

What now? Lucy ponders as she sat on the beach. They chose to camp next to it for the night because the cool ocean breeze felt great during this summer heat. Of course, the view is another selling point. It’s short stretch of white sand is speckled with the typical ocean debris of shells in various shape or sizes. The waves are mellow and lap at the shore while their ripples sparkle when hit by the light.  

Another mission is complete, and they’ll return home, to what? For what? Hanging out at the guild? Going on another mission? And repeat? Is that all life has become? Will her life be like this sun slowly setting along the horizon only to rise in the morning, repeating the cycle forever? Sure, her life is a lot of fun and she’s rarely bored… but is she truly content? 

These ‘feelings’ started not long after finding out her best friend Levy is pregnant. Lucy’s ecstatic to become an auntie! A new member being born into Fairytail after many, many years, and the start of a new generation. The quest from Elefseria gave her little time to explore these feelings, but now that it’s over, having time on her hands means time to think... or more like feel. This nagging feeling of emptiness… no, maybe that’s not the right word. Maybe longing? Something just felt missing, but for the life of her, Lucy couldn’t figure out what. 

She closes her eyes and takes with it the vision of the sunset before her, picturing the cinematography against her lidded screen. In this reel, the missing feeling is the sun, and the ocean is her, while the sky… the sky and all its colors are her life blending together to create a picture-perfect kaleidoscope worthy of capturing on film. Almost perfect. That sun which stands apart, blinds with light to demand attention, and yet is hazy and hard to look at directly. Maybe it’s not that Lucy can’t figure it out, but more like is afraid to figure out what this feeling really means. 

She sighs as she lets out a shallow exhale, her shoulders slumping, and chin dropping low enough to touch her knees. Having already had her knees bent up and arms wrapped around them, Lucy tightens the hug. Everything since meeting Natsu and joining Fairytail has made her happy. Even the bad times are still filled with precious moments with her friends that she would never trade for the world. She had friends, she had her spirits, and she’d even made peace with her father. She had a roof over her head, enough to live on, and a place where she belonged with the guild. It’s the truth; everything since meeting Natsu and joining Fairytail has made her happy. 

“So why do I feel like this?” Lucy mumbles. Ugh, it feels like she’s at some invisible precipice in her life. Like middle school just ended and now it’s time to move onto high school. She’s already an adult, so isn’t old age the next stage? Is there something else to do? 

Lucy hears sandy footsteps behind her and twists around a bit to see who is coming. It’s just Natsu. She puts on a standard smile. “Hey, what’s up?” She asks.

“Gray said dinners almost ready,” Natsu responds while dropping into a crouching position. His brows furrow slightly as he looks Lucy dead straight in the face. “Are you okay? Is something wrong?” 

“Me?” Lucy acts fine. “It’s nothing, just tired probably.”

Natsu moves into a cross-legged position, signaling to her that he’s not leaving this alone. With his hands bracing on his thighs, he leans forward. “You’re lying.”

Lucy again straightens up ready to argue, but his intense stare told her it won’t work. “Okay, okay,” she deflates. “Yes, something is bothering me, but I don’t know what it is.”

“Why, because it’s like a ghost?” 

That makes Lucy snort a small laugh. “No, not a ghost.”

“Um, did somebody put a spell on you?”

“I don’t think so. I guess it’s possible too… but I don’t think so.”

Natsu taps his chin. “Just talk about whatever you’re thinking out loud, maybe that’ll help? When I do it, someone usually makes a comment that helps me.”

Lucy laughs, she knows it’s true. Since he thinks out loud, she often has a chance to stop whatever hair-brained idea he’s thinking of. “You’re probably right,” she smiles.

“See!” His grin flashes wide, “It works!” He relaxes into a comfortable position. “So, talk.”

“Okay, okay!” she laughs again and leans back, propping herself up with her arms and looks up to the now dark sky. “Well, I started feeling odd shortly after Levy told us she’s pregnant.”

“Odd like worried about something or like confused?” He asks.

“Mm, no,” Lucy shakes her head, “nothing like that. More like, when I look at her, I get this weird feeling in my chest like…”

Natsu cuts in. “Pain?”

“… someth— what? Pain? No, it’s not painful so I’m sure there’s nothing wrong with me. It’s like I’m missing something or that I want something that I don’t have or maybe I can’t have… Oh, I don’t know…” Lucy groans, pulling herself forward to wrap her arms around her legs again. “I love Levy. She’s my best friend and I can’t wait to spoil the baby rotten! Yet every time I look at her, I feel bad, and I wish it would just stop.”    

Natsu sits up straight. “It’s only when you look at her, right? Sure, sounds like you want something Levy has.”

“What? Something Levy has?” Lucy scoffs. “Pfft. That’s absurd. There’s nothing that Levy owns that I want or can’t just buy myself. So that makes no sense.”

“But there is something,” Natsu tips his head slightly in confusion. “Levy’s got the baby. That’s not something you can buy, I don’t think,” he shrugs, “I don’t quite understand where babies come from, but I remember Macao sayin something about exercising.”

Stunned into silence, Lucy jaw practically hits the floor. Just the nonchalant way Natsu spoke about such an intimate topic or the fact he even came up with all that himself! “Whoa! No, no, I am not ready to be a mother!” Her laughter is hesitant. “I respect her decision, but I am not ready to do the same.”

Natsu cringes. “Then the only other thing would be Gajeel and I don’t think Levy would like that.”

Again, Lucy’s jaw drops. “Yeah… that’s an even bigger no.” Plus, to suggest such a thing, ‘how could he ever think I’d want to be with someone other than him?!’ Damn. Lucy freezes in realization. It’s not that she hasn’t known for a long time that she loves Natsu, she just didn’t realize how painful the waiting for him to reciprocate has become. 

“Well, I’m out of ideas,” Natsu states. “Let’s try again after dinner.”

Before he can stand up, Lucy places a hand on his arm to stop him. “Wait.” She says in a soft tone. “I think you’re onto something. No, I don’t want a baby or Gajeel,” she shivers at that thought. “But I do want something that Levy has and I know what that something is.”

“Awesome!” Natsu practically bounces in place. “What is it? I’ll get it for you if it’ll make you happy.”

Lucy’s face grew hotter than the sun. This is not how she’d pictured revealing her feelings if she ever revealed her feelings. “W-Well… good news is I’m sure you’ll be able to make me happy, but my worry is you won’t understand what it is that I want.”

“Why,” Natsu almost looks forlorn. “Is it big words I won’t understand?”

If it isn’t for the stress she is under, that comment should have made her laugh. “No… it’s not big words…. It’s just in the past this topic has come up and I don’t think you understood what it meant.” Lucy takes in a deep breath. “Okay, I’m just gonna blurt it out. Natsu I’ve loved you for a long time and I’ve always hoped you’d ask me to be your girlfriend, but you haven’t all these years and I guess seeing Levy and Gajeel so happy, it made me jealous. So, if you really wanna make me happy, you’d have to become my boyfriend and do the things that couples do like hold hands and other stuff.” Lucy lets out a winded exhale and slumps from the mental exhaustion. “There. That’s what I want.” 

Without taking anytime to process, Natsu looks Lucy straight in the eyes with a serious expression. “But I already thought you were my girlfriend and I’m your boyfriend.”

Her eyes flare open. “When did you—”

“The day we left on the quest,” he responds, “remember, when I told you we’d be together forever? Isn’t that like saying we’ll be a couple forever? I thought it did and you looked happy, so I figured it was right.”

“Oh my—” Lucy palms her face unsure if she should laugh or cry. For once, she’s the one who’d misunderstood. In all fairness, that’s a subjective phase that didn’t imply romance… but this is Natsu we’re talking about. “I didn’t make the connection…”

Natsu rubs the back of his head nervously. “I know I’m not very good with this stuff, and I don’t know how I’m supposed to act either. It’s scary too… I don’t wanna touch you wrong and make you mad.”

Lucy sighs with a smile that expresses how amusingly foolish and happy she felt. Now that the truth has come out and the weight is lifted, her body feels incredibly relaxed and sleepy. Without saying a word, she simply crawls over to Natsu and climbs into his lap, sitting sideways to rest her cheek against his chest. When he doesn’t move after the first few seconds, she directs him. “Put your arms around me.”

He does as told, wrapping his arms around her upper body and pressing her in even closer. “Like this?” He queries as he also rests his chin on top of her head.

“Mm, hmm.” Lucy simply murmurs and snuggles against the warm chest. She could just fall asleep right now, finally in his arms… 

Natsu breaks the mood. “Hey Lucy?”

“Yeah?” She whines without lifting her head.

In a hesitant tone, he questions her. “Since you’ll probably want a baby someday too like Levy, should I figure out how to make one?”

Too tired to deal with this now, Lucy sits up briefly to look Natsu in the face. She pats his chest, leaving her palm against his skin. “Let’s leave this topic for another day,” she smiles. “Okay?” When he smiles and nods back, Lucy resumes her snuggling. This is going to be a whole new experience for the couple and she’s sure they’ll have a lot of fun in this venture. But as Natsu said in his first proposal, there’s no rush to take the next step when they’ve got forever.   

[thebeckster]

(Hiii this is Ben but it won’t let me ask from my sideblog): for the reverse trope prompt: asafure and the rival academics pls?

(Oh my god, we're gonna pretend like I answered this ask last month when I actually wrote the prompt and it didn't just fall through one of the swiss cheese holes in my brain)

Anyways.

Thank you so much for the prompt! Writing Arthur/Frey is just so much fun, and any time I can toss them into an AU is a treat. I hope you like it too!

💜💜💜

To the people who did not know any better, who only knew Frey and Arthur in a professional setting, it would only be right for them to assume that the two hated each other. They were bitter rivals. The school’s two eighth-grade teachers, constantly in competition with one another. Outside of school, they were the happiest couple anyone could have known. They rarely argued, they were romantic-movie levels of sweet to each other, and when they were on a team together at game night with friends, they were unbeatable. For people who knew Arthur and Frey both outside of school and at school, it was like watching someone lead a double life. The two would drive into work together, matching coffee cups, sometimes even coordinating outfits. They’d chat brightly with each other and their colleagues about various goings on around the school – which students were struggling, which ones were excelling, how test scores were stacking up. But then as soon as the bell rang, and students filed into their homeroom for the morning, suddenly they were warring generals, directing their students into pitched battles against the other homeroom. All day the rivalry would rage against each other. And then once the last bell rang for the day and the students went home, Frey and Arthur were back to their sweet, loving selves. Only to repeat the cycle the next day. During the lead up to exam time, it would not be an exaggeration to call their days of teaching a bloodbath.

Frey and Arthur had at some point reached the conclusion that to get their students most prepared for high school and engaged in their academics was to pit them against their fellow classmates in a year-long competition to see who was crowned the Best Class at the end of the year. Who had better test scores, who had the most improved grades, who read more books, who participated in more extra curriculars, who did more volunteer service.

Anything that would otherwise spark little more than disinterest and apathy from 12-14 year-olds suddenly became some of the most important aspects of their school year.

The administration thought about stepping in once or twice when rumors of what was going on got blown out of proportion, but they couldn’t argue with the results. The school’s eighth-graders scored consistently higher than their peers across the district and continued to do exceptionally well through high school.

It was an odd method, one most of their colleagues did not understand, but it worked for all parties involved.

Sometimes people were a bit confused over whether the fierce competition was contrived, and just an act the teachers put on for the students. But the infamous Maternity Leave Incident from a few years back had illuminated some things. Whatever rivalry the two teachers had was very real. At least between the hours of 7:30AM to 4:00PM, Monday thru Friday.

It was the first day of school. Frey always loved the first day of school. A new semester, a new crop of students (some of which she knew were eager to be in her class), and a whole new year to prove to her husband that she was the better teacher. Her class had been the winner for three years running and she wasn’t about to break that streak.

(And really it would have been four years if she hadn’t had to miss a significant portion of the school year going out on maternity leave. Sure, Arthur was out for almost as long as she had been, but those extra two weeks he got with his students had made all the difference that year. Frey’s substitute just hadn’t been up to the task.)

She leaned against her desk, sipping at her coffee as she smiled at the shiny gold plastic trophy that sat atop a bookshelf in the place of honor. A construction paper banner was spread across the wall behind it, a victory flag of sorts, listing out the years her class had won the trophy. She knew Arthur had a very similar set up in his classroom across the hall.

Her husband crossed the currently empty hallway and sidled up next to her on the desk, with his own cup of coffee in hand. He followed her gaze up to the trophy. “Another year, another run for the prize. Looks good up there, but it would look better on my shelves.”

Frey fought a smile, not giving him the satisfaction of a retort. “Darling, you don’t think it’s looking a little dull, do you?” She faked a frown and cocked her head at the gleaming trophy (which she had just dusted not five minutes ago). “I worry that since it hasn’t been moved in so long, it might be collecting dust up there. I mean, there’s an inch of dust atop your bookshelf, I can only imagine the trophy has collected just as much while it’s been on mine.”

“Well, if you don’t want such a dingy old thing tarnishing your impeccable room, I’ll take it off your hands.” He spared a glance around to see what decorations Frey had put up for the first quarter. She’s chosen a pastoral theme, gentle greens and blues with landscapes of crop fields and pastures of animals scattered around. Nothing like what he’d chosen for his room. “Hmm… farms. How quaint.”

“You do recall our first combined unit it about agriculture? From sciences through the arts we’re going to the farm. It will help the students stay in the right mindset and focus on their tasks.”

“They’re going to fall asleep counting sheep.” Arthur teased. “You’ve got enough of them bouncing along the walls. Look. One… two… three…” and here he faked a huge yawn.

Frey scoffed and pushed him off her desk. “Even sleeping, my class would do better than yours.”

“That’s what you think. We’ll just have to see where the score falls at the end of the semester, won’t we?” And the fire of competition blazed in Arthur’s eyes. “I think come winter term, that trophy is going to come back to its proper home in my room.”

“I’ll take that bet.” Frey leaned forward, her eyes ablaze with the same fire.

She planted a kiss on her husband’s smiling lips just as the first bell of the day rang. Distantly they heard the school doors open, the tromp of many feet in the hall, and the cacophony of student voices. The two parted and Arthur raised his mug in a toast.

“To another school year, my love. May the best class win.” Frey clinked her coffee cup against his and said with a confident smile, “Don’t worry, we will.”

[emeraldcatears]

Character animations for stationary objects.

Okay then. Since the poll was inconclusive (three-way tie) I guess I'll just alternate between things.

I'll start with a mini-clarification on event animations since that's sort of two categories at once (graphics and events).

So we know from making a character with the character generator that all character sprites animate a certain way...

by Stepping and by Turning.

That is to say that the columns represent the character's stepping animations. When on a character like our vampire, this means it'll animate so the character will put a foot forward (a) when moving from one tile to the next, display the standing animation frame (b) when on a tile, and put the other foot forward (c) when taking the next step. The pattern repeats itself each time the character moves: B-A-B-C-B-A-B-C.

This is also how certain stationary events animate in place.

If you go through the "Characters" that come with RPG Maker, you'll notice some of them, such as the example below (!Other2 under characters)...

... appear to not quite fit the typical three column/four row format at first glance. For example, the smoke plumes that make up the 7th "character" in this set.

That's because they're meant to be stationary objects that move by "stepping" only.

You can place character events like this on the map as decoration to liven things up with motion. Select "Stepping" and even though the event is stationary on the map it will cycle through the a-b-c-b-a frames of animation to appear in motion.

If this smoke plume character "turned" it would cycle through the white, brown, bluish, and fiery smoke plumes, so you also want to turn on "Direction Fix" in any cases where the player might touch the event and cause it to turn to face a new direction (though it's a good practice to just select it for a stationary event even if there's no way for the player to touch it).

This Stepping event animation is used for flickering candle flames, the splash at the bottom of waterfalls, and any other number of three-frame animations you might want on a still object. If you want to make your own graphics for any such events just remember that you can make up to four different (same-sized) events in one sheet this way. They'll animate across the three columns without whatever is in the row above or below them ever showing up if you use stepping/direction fix to just let them do their thing.

Turning works the same way with the four rows.

Most often used for doors, chests, and switches, the turning animation tends to be used when the player interacts with a stationary object.

For events like this, "stepping" would cycle through three different door images which isn't what you would typically want. Instead when the player interacts with them you want to set the move route of the event to turn different directions. Even though the graphic shows a door opening, the game reads each graphic as a turning animation the same way it reads the humanoid characters. A closed door is "turned" up. "Turning" that door to the left changes the graphic to slightly open. Another "turn" to the right causes the game to display the door as more open. Finally being "turned down" shows it fully open.

For something like a door you'd probably want to have the event set to being triggered by the player touching it. For a chest you'd want the player pressing the action button.

You can technically have it sit idle and cycle through the turning animations with a custom move route under autonomous movement as well - something like the geyser/lava plume in the character set I got the smoke from might use both stepping and turning to animate while otherwise staying decoratively in place on a map.

Direction fix is your friend for making sure items like chests and switches don't animate in unwanted ways, too. You can turn it on and off as part of the Set Move Route options.

When making animated background objects just remember:

Across columns - animates by stepping.

Up and down the rows - animates by turning.

One last thing: You may notice that the "characters" used in this example have a ! before their names. This tells the game to put them directly on the ground as objects/items. Otherwise they'll be treated like a normal character and be placed a few pixels up from the edge of a tile to look more naturally like they're standing on it.

! = the letter I = Item is how I remember it.

You can also combine the dollar sign for single characters with the exclamation point for items, such as with the large gate that comes with RMXP.

If you do the ! comes before the $.

[doublegoblin]

Storm Warning

It was the first few moments of inconsistent percussion that caught your attention. Was it really that time already? Heading to the window to draw back your curtains you count back the days. Thanks to advancement in predictive software and the growing need for these warnings, storms can be warned about weeks in advance. Peering out the sky has grown slightly ill, a ghost of green hue turning the blue sky teal. Sighing you draw you close the window, lock it, and shut the blinds; you make sure to repeat this process for each window and door in the home. Feeling secure you make your way down into the basement to check on the generator. It wasn’t the best model but it was what you can afford, and it’s served you well enough. It hums to life as you pull the worn cord. It was time to head to the shelter.

The iron slabs slam down and the lock engages. Groping in the darkness your hand brushes against what you hope isn’t a spider's nest. Grasping whatever it is you pull down, the light bulb flickers to life and sheds its amber light into the room slowly pulsing to the cycling of the generator up above. Rows and rows of shelving units stocked with everything you’d need for the coming storm. It was on a hunch that you were able to beat the rush and get the best cans. Moving to the far wall you inspect the signal board, all lights are green, but you see you forgot to turn your computer off. Oh well, it shouldn’t be that much lost work.

Next to this board are the camera feeds, it may have put you into some debt but this shelter really did have everything. The cameras hiss to life at the flick of a switch and you sit for a while adjusting the contrast and exposure. You had only just had your morning coffee and it was already looking like twilight, this storm was moving pretty fast. Nothing to be done about, you head over to the cot and turn the radio on.

You had dropped the damn thing while cleaning the bunker so you have to listen for those pops of noise other than static. Through some quiet moments and resolved frustration you get it tuned to the weather service channel. Perhaps some music would have been better, but the voice coming through made it clear that wasn’t going to be an option. You were never a fan or her…his…it? The machine’s voice. Artificial enthusiasm was meant to be comforting and reassuring, but it just came across as patronizing and a little unsettling. Not to mention that to hear that voice meant that the storm was unsafe even for those with means. So you sit listening to the voice read out the number and letters. Safety and secrecy were important, sure, but in situations like this was it all that likely they were listening in? 

With the message on loop you leisurely make your way to the file cabinet to grab your manual. Chancing a glance at the screens you stop. Midnight at noon. You hurry back to the radio and turn the volume down. Holding your breath you can hear the low drone above of the storm and the sharp notes of the wind. Nodding to nobody but yourself you increase the volume back and get that book. Flipping to the right page you decipher the message. It’s nothing new thankfully.

Attention: The Weather Service advises all residents to seek shelter immediately. Incoming storm is predicted to be a category 5B. This message will repeat until an all clear can be issued. Stay tuned for further details.

Then just as it said, the message repeats. Your stomach growls, oh right, you forgot to actually eat anything today. Setting the radio on the table near the cot you browse along the shelves for anything that sounded remotely edible. You settle on some beans and canned bread. The microwave was acting up last time so you just decided to eat it all cold. It wasn’t the worst meal you’ve had but it was by no means the best. You aren’t sure if that was some thunder or your stomach that groaned, but given some of the cans shifted and rattled, it was safe to assume it was the storm. Sitting on the edge of the cot you just listen to it all. There was a dark beauty to storms. That enjoyment is short lived as you grow bored. To remedy this you brush the dust off the monitor and keyboard of the wall computer and wait for the relic to live once again. The lightbulb swings gently on its cord and flickers rapidly as the electronic device draws power. You have a couple messages waiting for you from friends and family checking in. Your responses are welcomed and the conversations while delayed are a pleasant change of pace. You learn that the storm is thickest around your area, that would explain the urgency in their words, and most of them are even still above ground. Your best friend takes the moment to call you a mole rat, with love of course. 

Eyelids feeling heavy from the dense meal you let the others know you are going to try and sleep out the storm and shut the computer back down. The sheets of the cot are scratchy but at least you have something to cover you. It wasn’t long after you laid down that you woke up to the all clear. Voices of people described in detail the devastation done by the storm, you shut the radio off. Bunker doors opening you inspect the house, not even a speck of dust was out of place. Outside you can see the devastation wrought by the storm; trees upturned, stone and soil marred, the hollow shells of your neighbors standing like headstones in a graveyard. You are ashamed of your relief but thankful all the same. Still exhausted from the ordeal you draw yourself a nice hot bath. Slipping into the water you sigh and let the tension dissolve from your muscles. The comfort of the liquid blanket and steam shepard you back off into sleep. Another storm, another day, another-

A siren.

Your eyes shoot open. You are still in your bunker and the lights have gone out.Your bunker is shaking as the storm outside rages and howls. A siren was an ill omen indeed. People report the weather. Artificial voices report the weather when people are unable. Intermediate tones report the weather when artificial voices can not be maintained. But a siren-the shaking of the bunker ceases. Everything is still. You strain your hearing against the deafening silence. Against the encompassing nothing. You hold your breath to hear anything at all.

The doors to your bunker squeal.

[tenebraevesper]

Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer, Imposter Syndrome Issue #1: Imposter Syndrome (Part 1)

Finally, we’re officially starting The Imposter Syndrome Miniseries, featuring two new rivals for Sonic and Tails - Surge and Kit! I have to say, so far, Imposter Syndrome is my favorite miniseries (I still need to see how Scrapnik Island turns out). Already, I’m at a conundrum, because I cannot decide which of the Covers is better: Cover A above, or Cover RI below?

To me, both look amazing, so you know what? Screw it! Imposter Syndrome gets a two-cover introduction! As for the story itself...

We start off with Dr. Starline making one of his video logs. He notes how “Operation: Remaster” is moving to its final testing stages, wanting to break what he calls “The Sonic Cycle” - basically, that being Sonic ruining each and every of Dr. Eggman’s plans and saving the day, everyone rebuilding whatever was destroyed and return to their normal lives. There is no evolution, no vision, no future.

Well, I wouldn’t say that there is no evolution - Sonic and Eggman still learn from their battles, and I doubt Eggman would want to repeat any of his old plans, like say... use the Eclipse Cannon to destroy the world. But, hey, we don’t know how familiar Starline is with his past exploits and the consequences considering he brought the Zeti over to control the Zombots.

Starline continues, explaining how his plan is to remove Eggman from the play - sure, he respects the Doctor, but notes how Eggman has tunnel-vision when it comes to Sonic (he’s not wrong). Starline has studied Eggman and perfected his techniques, deciding he’ll take his place in this battle.

Next, he needs to replace the so-called “heroes”, noting how the general populace relies on them too much, which... honestly, it really depends. Sonic and his friends have battled Eggman for a long time, so it is only natural that civilians would rely on them to take care of things.

Starline decides to take control of the whole “hero-versus-villain” dynamic and shape the world with the very theatrics they became accustomed to. Okay, honestly, that is genuinely an interesting plan. Basically, he’d be creating a hero he can control, a narrative he can manipulate to his advantage while everyone else is none the wiser.

The way he wants to achieve this is by gathering a few necessary components, like Tails’ fur (presumably for his DNA), the Tricore, Belle’s coding and, of course, two test subjects - noting how they’re ready.

This is followed by video footage of a green streak of light doing an obstacle course as Starline notes how Sonic, as a hero, is about more than raw power and how just building another Metal Sonic won’t suffice. He’s about attitude, possessing a roguish charm which Starline replicated in the form of Surge the Tenrec, one Starline can keep on leash. We see Surge beating a robot, just as another one attempts to attack her.

Starline continues with his narration as Surge is saved by multiple water whips, saying how there are several design flaws inherent to Sonic, which is why Surge needs a support unit to make up for her own short-comings; she needs someone to look before she leaps, presented in the form of Kitsunami the Fennec, who uses multiple water tails coming from his backpack as a weapon, making him a reference to the kitsune, a mythical multi-tailed fox Tails is based on.

Surge proceeds to destroy the robot, thanking Kit for his help.

Kit then reminds Surge how they got only one minute to complete the course, with Surge quickly speeding off, confident she can make it, destroying the Badniks in front of her and only succeeding because Kit kept the door open for her. 

Surge is proud of her achievement, but Starline is not impressed, noting how she forgot Kit. Kit joins the two quickly, noting how he needed to recharge his backpack. Surge proceeds to argue with Starline how Kit made it here, and how she reached the goal in record time, so they passed the test. She’s impatient, wanting to finally move on with the actual mission. Starline tells her how they’ve proven proficient in controlled environment and that they need field testing, but Surge has enough, being tired of Starline talking down to her and wants to go now.

Starline uses his hypno-glove on Surge and Kit, noting how it is a pity this isn’t potent against anyone else and how the two have a built-in weakness to the hypnosis. As Surge and Kit awaken, Starline tells the two how they had pushed their enhancements too far, which caused a brief blackout. The two, still dazed, agree to discuss the field test.

Now, before I move on with the story, I need to stop to discuss something else for a moment. I’m sure that by this point, we all know that Starline, Surge and Kit are actually based on glitches: Starline being based on the ********* glitch found in Knuckles' Chaotix; Kit being based on a glitched version of Tails from Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles; and Surge is inspired by the infamous Ashura glitch from Sonic the Hedgehog 2, as well as a very infamous certain hedgehog who has remained in people’s mind to this day.

Yeah, Surge can be seen as a spiritual successor to Scourge the Hedgehog, one of my favorite characters from Pre-SGW Archie. Sure, this guy might look like a recolour Sonic (and technically, he is), but under Ian Flynn’s writing, he actually became a stand-out character who stood on his own as a challenge to Sonic and I seriously wish we could’ve seen more of him. He is Sonic with his worst traits amplified, and he clashes with his heroic counterpart in really interesting ways, able to become more, but taking the opposite direction of Sonic. Sonic_Speed summed up well his realized potential and story (and seriously, just read Hedgehog Havoc, you won’t regret it).

As I mentioned a moment ago, Surge can be seen as a spiritual successor to Scourge, and I have seen people comparing the two, but honestly, Surge is NOT Scourge 2.0. Their similarities are only on a surface level (both being green in appearance, being delinquents, having super speed and hating Sonic). Scourge wanted to prove that he is better than Sonic by rising above him, conquering his own world and beating him, yet is revealed to be nothing but a bully who got drunk on power and decided to destroy everything he came across, so he could remain on the top. Scourge is what Sonic could’ve been if he had one bad day and decided to quit being a hero. It would be game over.

As for Surge? Surge is an entirely different story. Yes, she has that cocky and destructive attitude Scourge has, but her character is taken in a completely different direction thanks to one man - Starline. All I have to say, is that I absolutely love Surge and she is has pretty much kicked off Tangle and Starline from their spot of my favorite characters.

However, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s see what Starline’s field test was.

Starline wants to first weaken Sonic’s support base, so Surge and Kit set the fire in the forest Amy, Belle, Tangle and Jewel were camping at, with Starline figuring that suffering from a tragic loss will break Sonic’s morale. Fortunately, we know that the girls saved the day, so let’s move on to the next part.

The next part of his plan involves testing Surge and Kit’s finesse by telling them to cause chaos without getting caught. Surge and Kit are standing in an alleyway, and Surge remarks on everyone returning to their normal lives, with Kit noting how the Restoration helped them fix everything and how everyone wants to have peace. Surge notes how that sucks for them, coz she wants to misbehave. Kit suggests that he uses his hydro-coil tails to cut the wiring and mess with the traffic lights and power grids, while Surge decides to go fast.

Surge then proceeds to spin-dash her way through the city, knocking civilians over, causing lampposts to break and being the reason for the car crashes.

Meanwhile, in Emerald City, Starline is at Tails’ workshop, worried that Tails might figure out why he kidnapped Belle and develop a counter-measure, wanting to know what Tails knows (I sincerely doubt Tails bothered to do that). He uses the Power Core to break in, only to realize it is reinforced.

Starline is irritated, and when Surge (Surge being proud of her achievements) and Kit arrive, he tells Kit to unlock it with his hydro-coil tails. Kit fails, while Surge is annoyed that Starline is ignoring her. She clearly wants recognition from him, but Starline ignores her, complimenting Tails’ security measures. So Surge decides to break in herself. I guess that she was being sick of being ignored and wanted to do something that would make Starline acknowledge her. Starline stops her, telling her how the whole point of the exercise was stealth and decides that they should return to the base.

Back at the base, they learn that their plans had pretty much failed (at least when it comes to the campground fire), but Surge notes how they didn’t get caught, which was the point. Surge then notes how she wanted to deal with the girls directly, but someone told her to set a fire. Starline does acknowledge that they did well, with Surge being elated that they are finally getting some action, only to groan in annoyance when Starline tells her that they’re ready for the final test.

I absolutely love Surge’s exasperated expression here. 

Surge yells at Starline how he gave her those powers to destroy Sonic, so he should let! her! destroy! Sonic! Starline replies how he gave her power to change the world, but it would only work if she follows his plan. He wants to first remove Eggman from the play and they’re going to do that by infiltrating one of his bases. Surge interrupts him how they’re only going to get another base to continue with those stupid tests, while Kit notes how he agrees that they should be careful and that he doesn’t want Surge to get hurt.

Surge wonders if he’s thinking she cannot handle herself and how he won’t do his job watching her back, with Kit replying that that’s not the case, cowering before her as she yells at him to shut up.

Surge turns to Starline, noting how she is the simple and straightforward one - she hits Sonic, and she hits him hard, until he doesn’t move anymore. Starline asks her how she plans to find him, with Surge saying how she’ll run laps around the planet until she meets him and if his friends are with him, she’ll take them out as well. Starline gives her a scenario where Sonic is supported by Tails, Tangle and Whisper, with Surge yelling back how she’ll handle it, adding that Kit can deal with the extras and when he tells her he’ll do his best, Surge thinks he’s patronizing her.

Surge runs out of patience, yelling at Kit to stop cringing, with Kit apologizing to her. Surge then asks him why he even wants to help her, with Kit responding how he doesn’t know.

Surge suddenly stops, asking herself why she even wants to destroy Sonic, since she has never met him. She’s starting to crack, and we see here the first difference between her and Scourge - while Scourge knows exactly why he wants to destroy Sonic, having dealt with him before, Surge has never met him. She doesn’t understand why she feels hatred for Sonic nor why she wants to replace him as a hero.

Kit asks her whether she still wants to destroy Sonic, and Surge replies that she does, but she has no idea why and asks him whether he wants to do the same. Kit responds how he wants to do everything she wants and Surge asks him why. Kit is silent for a moment, replying how he has no idea.

“Aaaand reboot.”

Starline has apparently already seen it all, as he uses his hypno-glove on the two, noting how he figured that keeping things simple would make things easier and adds how he should’ve given them a backstory, only for Surge to rise and attack him, but Starline manages to put her back to sleep, looking freaked out.

He leans back, noting that when he used Belle’s base code when he wrote their personalities, he had hoped for a little more stability, wondering what the difference is (we’ll get into Surge and Kit’s creation in the next Issue). He also notes the resistance they have to the hypno-glove, calling it an unwelcome bug. However, he had already invested too much into them and decides to handle them with more care, figuring their personalities will even out once they start fulfill their primary directives.

Once the Surge and Kit come to, Starline notes that it is showtime.

Surge and Kit get up, dazed and wondering what happened. Starline enters what I like to call “Dad Mode”, acting all concerned about them and asking them whether they’re okay. Surge and Kit are confused, and Starline explains how Surge is fine because Kit caught her even though he was also glitching out. Surge thanks Kit, having nicknamed him Drippy, and asks Starline about them glitching out. Starline tells her how they got into a heated argument, which overloaded their upgrades. He isn’t completely lying, since they did get into a heated argument.

Starline turns to them, explaining how Surge wanted to complete one more optimization test, but he wanted to push ahead with the main mission and tempers flared... yeah, yeah, keep lying. He apologizes to them and says how they will go ahead with the final testing phase, if that’s what Surge wants.

Surge asks Kit if that sounds right to him, with Kit replying how he wants to make sure she’s safe and Surge agrees. Satisfied, Starline then proceeds to explain to them how they’ll remove Eggman from the play and strip him of his support, having already selected which base they’re gonna infiltrate.

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#Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer (Masterlist)

[alyjojo]

Twin Flame 🔥 Journey - November 2023 - Gemini

Your Energy:

Page of Swords - Justice - The World

Main Energy: 4 Cups

You could’ve been married to this person or had a child with them, and then one of you moved to the other side of the world with 9th House here. “Go Your Own Way” started playing in my head as I clarified your side. You’re not devastated or broken over it, not anymore anyway, but you’re in 4 Cups over it. Not pleased, dissatisfied, apathetic, generally not happy with how things turned out, or how they ignore you, won’t apologize, won’t talk to you at all. I get held back communication really gets on your nerves, it’s possible they disappeared into the night even, not saying a word, or it felt like it. Page of Wands has come up twice already, if there is a child involved, that may be the only communication you get, but they themselves won’t talk to you. If no child, they have a childlike spirit that motivates them and causes them to get excited about adventures or what comes next, likely the runner.

Justice shows swiftly being cut off from access or communication, it’s the thing that drives you insane and this just repeats. You feel like there’s nothing you can do, they won’t talk to you, won’t even fight with you like that would be fine too, something. This can also show “you won’t fight” for them, if they want to go they can go, what else can you do? The World is an end of an era or a major cycle between you. It can also show considerable distance, different countries even. 9 Wands & Wheel of Fortune clarifies, you’re guarded, wounded, hurt by this situation and how long it’s taken to hear from this person (if ever), or why things had to work out the way they did. I get an energy of surrender to the karmic process, you don’t like it but “you get it”, it hurts but you can’t fix it, you seem to understand it was divine timing or karmic in some way and may shake your fist at the sky or something, but otherwise accept it. I also get that the “thinking of you” part of the Twin journey, any dreams, synchronicities or constant reminders & thoughts of them drive you particularly insane, because you can’t reach out. That energy is mirrored between you 💯

Their Energy:

8 Cups - The Tower - Page of Wands

Main Energy: The Empress

The Empress is someone beautiful, nurturing, someone that works with art, animals, the home, creative things, music, she can be a wife or have/work with children. What she touches grows more beautiful and expands, more than it was before. She’s clarified by 2 Cups and The Lovers, she/they may have been the love of your life, the one you *know for a fact* is a soulmate because you just couldn’t deny it, how everything happened. They have healed from any heartbreak that occurred between you. Could be married to or deeply committed to someone else these days, or you two could have literally been married. 8 Cups is leaving because there is more out there for you, 7 Cups shows seven different things being offered and there’s confusion as to which one is the right one, but in their mind something was missing from whatever they had with you.

Maybe you had options, 5 Wands on your side, you fought them over something, them being conflicted maybe, and you’re bothered that they didn’t accept your apology. Or they had options and just never gave you one. With The Moon & 8 Cups, again there is an energy of “disappearing into the night”, that could apply, or the circumstances around them leaving only confuse you, The Sun at the bottom may show it just now becoming clear. Love is here, soulmate is here, and someone else is also here, with no face or card showing them other than they exist. If there was another person, they may not have ended up with them. 5 Wands can show competition, or people in your/their ear even, you could blame outside people for this person leaving.

The Tower is something shocking & unexpected hitting you like a lightning bolt, truth/clarity - Ace of Swords - that changes your entire perspective as it existed before this moment. Or your life, family, home, etc. 4 Cups, mirroring your own, Ace of Swords and The Star rev. It could be your 4 Cups that bothered them, but I really don’t get that, this belongs to them. They also were dissatisfied, bored, apathetic and just didn’t care how things were going, could be related to work or how much work something was. The Star rev can show actual depression, I’m hearing postpartum possibly with The Empress, a severe lack of hope, desire, optimism or any belief this could get better as it was, so they had to leave. 8 Cups doesn’t have a choice really, they can stay here unfulfilled, or they can leave in search of their 9th Cup, in search of what they want, always wondering what else is out there. Their soul felt the Twin call to run, so they ran, they had to. Your current energy of acceptance & release of control is the best energy for you to be in, the more you work on yourself and do what makes you happy, try to stop thinking of them, the faster this dynamic shifts in your favor, whether you know it or not.

Page of Wands is this Twin pull inside of them, could be a literal child they took with them but doesn’t have to be. The High Priestess follows with an intuitive knowing, quietly moving, spiritually understanding what they had to do and staying silent about it. There was another love they ended this for, Death & Ace of Cups. Could be a lover, could’ve been a chance to work somewhere they’ve dreamed of, they could’ve just decided “I’ve always wanted to go to Europe”, and then just went. 10 Pentacles & 3 Pentacles at the bottom, they may have been seeking help from family initially and just not telling you, they had help from their people with a place to sleep before their flight or whatever it was. Those could be the people “causing conflict” - they’re on this person’s side. Of course they are.

Mutual Energy/What is Mirrored:

9 Swords - The High Priestess - 7 Pentacles

Main Energy: 3 Pentacles

After having pulled messages, there was definitely a child in the mix for some of you, that could have been the shock to either of you, them taking the child or...any number of possibilities. Whether it was yours or not I’m not sure, they have secrets with this High Priestess, they may have known full well it wasn’t yours - The Lovers - and that’s why they had to go. 3 Pentacles in the mirrored energy shows this energy of cooperating is on both of your minds. You’re both waiting, expecting it’s going to happen someday, 7 Swords rev is a confession or releasing all of the secrets they’ve ever had, answering your questions, laying it all out there. They haven’t yet because 5 Cups, it makes them sad. Or they know it makes you sad. 9 Swords shows both of you worry and stress yourselves out thinking about this situation/relationship, could have a hard time sleeping or getting it off of your mind, are terrified of the truth coming out, because of sadness, accountability, regret, there’s something they know that you don’t know…maybe intuitively, you could’ve gotten some spiritual signs, dreams, or just an inner knowing, but it’s never been confirmed.

Their truth they don’t want to tell you is Knight of Wands & 3 Pentacles, they were probably cheating, probably had it planned from the start it just seemed impulsive. They kept quiet about a pregnancy possibly, or the love they felt about you/this other person in the past because they felt delusional. It’s possible this other person was a lovebomber, suave mfer that took them for a ride and bailed on them, there is a lot of remorse and sadness in this situation. If they have *your* kid/s, they could deeply fear what communication or experience your children have with you, and how the child’s perception of them may change through your eyes. They accept they were delusional, naive, and overly romanticized a situation in the past, it haunts them. 5 Cups is at the bottom of every row, they’re sorry, they just haven’t said it. If they have, you don’t care, could be you’re the one that ignored them.

If they ran off with a pregnancy or a child you assume is yours, it might not be. Their side shows them as The Empress, if you were married to them, they may have had an affair or an outside child. The High Priestess knows and The Moon doesn’t, I’m not sure on which side of this situation you are. 7 Pentacles shows they’re reevaluating how far they’ve come, you both are, and they realize what they thought would make them happy doesn’t, you’re dissatisfied as well, and both of you crave balance, truth, honesty, doing the right thing, bringing balance to a relationship, or even a family dynamic, that’s been unstable and out of whack for who knows how long now.

Karmic Cards:

THE SUN - ARIES - 9TH HOUSE

- The creation of energies to meet the challenge of spiritual values.

- The gaining of respect for or from your desires, regarding long-range thinking or travel.

- Things brought to life or light resulting from the honesty and strength of what is to be shared.

Messages:

You:

- Surprise! BABY! 🍼

- NOT talking to you is killing ME!

Them:

- I’ve never met anyone like you.

- Meant to Be.

Love Oracle:

You: LOVE CALL ☎️

- Expressing Love

- Messages of Love

- Thinking of You

- Informing You

Them: GROUNDING 🪨

- Stability & Security

- Performance

- Growth & Endurance

Possible Signs:

Any/all signs possible. Heavy Cancer, Sagittarius, Pisces, Libra, Scorpio & Aries

[alovelyburn]

I try to understand the reasoning with cycles and generations but I actually fail to get why would that be in any way meaningful? Griffith already got his cycle in a way didn’t he? would him having a child have any narrative purpose? And the fact that it would come from relationship this miserable is just awful. I cannot see how it would affect this story in any positive way

I mean, to be clear here, it's not like I'm championing the cause of Griffith and Charlotte having children. Whether or not it happens has absolutely no impact on my interest in or enjoyment of the story. So, I'm happy to answer, but at the same time, I promise I don't care.

SO OKAY THEN.

Berserk has often and always had a fair amount of emphasis on child characters - from Rickert all the way through to Isma, there's just always been a bunch of them around. But more than that even, it has an emphasis on child-parent relationships, the perpetuation and breaking of cycles, and the question of the I guess next generation (often but not always through Some Kid).

Also, many major turns for the characters or the plot are pushed by child characters and things that befall them, from the deaths of Griffith and Guts' respective (individual) golden ages due to the deaths of children to the Moonkid becoming the route to Griffith's return and Schierke becoming the anchor for Guts' continued stability. Griffith's own self-image is and has always been a child, as well.

I'm trying not to go on and on and on about this, but basically what I'm saying is, in a story that is as concerned with generations, childhood trauma, cycles and breaking or repeating those cycles, it does not strike me as unrealistic that Miura might have considered Griffith leaving a kid behind when he presumably shuffles off this mortal coil would be an appropriate coda to his story.

And even beyond the specific way Berserk in particular uses child characters, children within the context of a narrative (or the end of one) are often used as a pseudo-redemptive mechanism for a character who could be perceived as having gone the "wrong way." The character is... bad, or gone, or dead or whatever, but the child remains. Now whether you think Griffith in fact went the wrong way is another issue, but if we're saying he did then it would not be unusual for a story to do that.

And to be clear, I'm not saying they would literally have Charlotte sit there thinking, yes Griffith was a bad man but HawkBaby will redeem him! It's just kind of the implicit purpose of the trope.

And I don't think Moonkid counts as his cycle because Moonkid isn't generally presented as his son; he's more presented as Casca's son (not even Guts' really, tbh) and Griffith's… host body, like yeah it is in some ways the child of the three of them, but he isn't really presented that way within the context of the story. Also he might not survive the ending anyway.

Ultimately though, the question of whether a kid would have a narrative purpose depends on what they did with it, doesn't it? Something that doesn't exist has the potential for any purpose they're written into.

It also depends on when such a hypothetical person were brought into the story; personally, I usually assume that if it DID happen, it would be coda-level stuff: the kind of thing you find out in the epilogue/final wrapup chapter or something. I tend to doubt that that there would literally be another child walking around the story doing things. There could be, I guess, but it doesn't seem like the timing would work very well, again without another timeskip. Anyway, if it just showed up in the last chapter, then it maintains the aforementioned thematic purposes, but wouldn't need a narrative purpose because its purpose would be be pseudo-redemptive, and to make readers go "aww" at the end of the series or I guess to be happy for Charlotte if they like Charlotte.

Which brings me to my last thought, which is also the only one I can say is a true statement of opinion and not idle speculation:

I don't really think Griffith's relationship with Charlotte could be fairly described as miserable. Charlotte is actively happy, and Griffith is…. fine? Neither of them are really stewing in pain and misery and it's not the first lopsided or semi-political match ever, especially among royalty.

…or, well, Griffith may be miserable but if so it seemingly has more to do with his unresolved emotional issues than Charlotte.

ETA: Oh yeah one more thing. If Griffith dies, leaving an heir would allow his accomplishments to stand without Griffith himself having to hang around in the world ruling like a God-King. He comes to kick start a new era, he brings humanity into one nation, but he does so through means that leave his hands dirty, so to speak. But his kid would have the ability to guide that world without carrying the baggage of Griffith's guilt and the associated actions.