#but i have encountered the reverse multiple times!

[chamerionwrites]

Laying aside the question of folks with full-blown genderfeels just for a moment, a thing I’ve always found lowkey interesting is how much more common it seems to be for cishet dudes to choose to play women in RPGs than it is for women to choose to play dudes.

(The flip explanation is ofc that if you’re a straight man who is going to be staring at a character for many hours it might as well be a hot lady, but ime the pattern holds true in tabletop as well as CRPGs, so.)

[drdemonprince]

The Barbie Movie is confused -- and it is confused on purpose, because it can't actually acknowledge the role that capitalism and white supremacy play in the patriarchal system that it wants to give itself credit for acknowledging. And so the film introduces patriarchy as a force with no agent or system behind it.

Ken, an oafish goof is able to find the concept of patriarchy and transmit it to the entirety of his society simply by learning about it and speaking about it to his fellow Kens. There is no use of force, no political organizing (notably, the Kens try to take over the political system after they have already taken hold of the culture), no real persuasion even -- simply by hearing about patriarchy the women in Barbieworld somehow become brainwashed by it.

This means we never have to really see the Kens as genuine antagonists, we can still laugh at their bizarrely crammed-together multiple dance numbers and forgive them when they, like the women, are freed of the patriarchy simply by women speaking about the fact that sexism exists. Both the origins of patriarchy and the solution to it is as simple as an individual person telling their story.

The CEOs that run Mattel in the Real World in the film are similarly cartoonish and devoid of real agency. They're even portrayed as generically interested in the idea of Barbie being inspiring to girls. The movie can't even acknowledge their profit motive, and it can't make any of the men running the company look too powerful or even too morally suspect -- but the film does still want to have Barbie encounter sexism in the real world and grapple with the harm "she" (the consumer product, and not the social forces and human beings that created her) has supposedly done.

In the Barbie Movie, patriarchy is a genie in a bottle, and no one is to blame - except maybe Barbie herself, since the movie spends a significant amount of time discussing how she is responsible for giving women unrealistic beauty standards.

And so Barbie is depicted as both sexism's victim and sexism's fault. She's dropped into a patriarchal world that the film acknowledges has a menacing, condescending quality -- but the film can't even have an underlying working theory of where this danger comes from, and who had the power to create this patriarchy in the first place, because that would require being critical of Mattel and capitalism.

And in the film, ultimately the real world with all its flaws and losses and injustices is still preferable to Barbieworld, because you get to have such depth of feeling and experience and you get a vagina, so how bad could really be? And hey, when you think about it, the Barbieworld is just an inversion of the real world, isn't it? A world with women in power is just reverse sexist, so it was justifiable for the Kens to want to take over, and what does it say that all things being equal Barbie still would prefer to leave behind her matriarchy and join the patriarchal capitalist world? That's the real world. Real world is struggle and sexism and loss and pain and capitalism and death and we must accept all of it but it's worth it..

It's not that I'm surprised the film's a clarion call for personal choice white feminism and consumer capitalism. I just expected the call to be a little more seductive or in any way coherent. I wanted to have frothy fun, and instead I was more horrified by the transparency of its manipulation than I was by even the most unsettling moments in Oppenheimer.

[babyspacebatclone]

Picked up a yarn project again today, immediately found a mistake, and it make me think about how some people complain about fan terms.

Like, the entire “Why do you think you’re so special you get to just make up words to mean things that have words already?”

Which is of course silly, ask anyone getting a Masters degree in any specialization and there’s a ton of field-specific terminology and phrases that mean something exceptionally specific to them but are confusing to others.

Me? I was giggling at the terms knitters and crocheters use, simply because we can.

Case in point? Frog and Tink, both verbs, both meaning something everyday but with specific meaning to people who know what they are.

“To Frog” is to yank on your yarn of a crochet or knit project and unravel however many stitches - you “rip it, rip it!!”

“To Tink” is a more controlled form of unraveling exclusive to knitting, which is literally knitting in reverse (k.n.i.t. -> t.i.n.k.).

“Well, why not just say rip it out or unravel?”

First of all, you tink and frog in different situations: tinking is safer but takes a ton of time and effort, while frogging runs the risk of ruining a work if you’re not careful but is the only practical way to undo multiple rows.

Secondly, these terms are fun! Going backwards in a project because you made a mistake is a pain no one actually wants to do, so croaking out “rip it, rip it!” while you watch an hour’s worth of work dissolve into a tangle of kinked yarn helps.

Thirdly, it’s a sign of community. You know someone has spent time in knitting or crocheting culture to have encountered these terms - a badge of honor, of having committed to a project enough to being willing to redo to that extent.

So have your slang. Have your fun little phrases that have nuance.

It’s literally English.

Unless you happen to think the terms “To hit someone” and “To hit on someone” mean the same thing.

Edit: Forgot to include this! A link to a page with instructions on how to best safely Frog and Tink, where I took those pictures.

[gallusrostromegalus]

Do mermaids exist in tpof?

There's exactly one "Classic" Mermaid. A pregnant woman on the west coast of Ireland was afflicted by a curse where she'd give birth to a Lingcod instead of a human baby, but since she was carrying twins, the curse was split between them. One sister has a human head, chest and abdomen, and from her pelvic girdle on she has the powerful and beautiful tail of a Blue Lingcod. She's the current record holder for long-distance swimming, starred in several movies and holds multiple modelling contracts- but she's always been notably jealous of her sister, who has the head and chest of a Lingcod but the pelvis and legs of a human and (the source of her sister's ire) a devoted husband.

There's a few things that European sailors could have mistaken for human women while they were on long voyages, dying of syphilis and scurvy too- Dugong and Dolphins both exist in great numbers in TPOFATGIF, along with some very large Mimic Octopodes. But the most likely, or at least, most startling candidate is a creature only described in 1996- Ziphiius andersoni, or "Anderson's Beaked Whale", after the first ...semi-credible witness.

Ziphidae is a family of deep-diving whales whales known almost entirely by beached corpses, and Z. andersoni holds the peculiar title of the most and least seen member of the family. No body has ever been found to examine, but the animal is (apparently) the subject of many amateur sightings.

Like most Beaked Whales, Z. andersoni is about 13 feet long, and shaped like an extremely hydrodynamic sweet potato- a sharply tapered head, tubular body with small pectoral fins and a minimal dorsal fin, and an similarly sharply tapered tail with small fins, and a mouth with only two teeth- a pair of overdeveloped lower canine teeth that form a pair of tusks. Unlike most marine life, Z. andersoni has reverse Cryptic camouflage- where most marine animals are darkly colored on the dorsal side and pale beneath to hide from predators in the open water, Z. andersoni has a large, bright white pattern on it's back that starts at the head and runs the length of it's spine and across the tail fin, and includes both pectoral and pelvic saddle patches. between the whale's darkened and unusually anterior blowholes and the gloom of the twilight waters they inhabit, Z. andersoni's peculiar markings bear a STARTLING resemblance to a human woman with a piscene tail.

The species is named after the famed Fairy Tale Author, Hans Christen Anderson, who in 1835 saw what he described as a "Mermaid" swimming near the surface of the North Sea coast near Hanstholm, Denmark, when out in a rowboat with a cousin on a summer holiday. The Mermaid was "Ghostly pale, with large, dark eyes that stared up at us as she passed. She circled the boat thrice, seemingly regarding us with sadness, before she vanished into a cloud of sea-foam and we could not find her again." This encounter inspired him to write The Little Mermaid the following year. Despite his and his cousin's insistence that the event took place exactly as described, it was largely written off by the general public, and Anderson was discouraged from sharing it by his publisher.

In 1996, a family had a similar experience while Kayaking, save that this time the encounter took place in the sunny clear waters off Baja, Nihofornia, and the family had a video camera. A juvenile Z. andersoni approached them, circled the family a few times and even hung out under them for almost 12 minutes. This video proof sparked international interest, with dozens of other pictures, videos and oral accounts coming forward about encounters with these strangely friendly yet elusive creatures.

Most Recently, an exceptional individual, thought to be an old bull from it's size (i and scarring was seen following underwater welders as they repaired an underwater naval installation, picking off the curious squid that came to investigate the lights. The Naval Engineers have nicknamed the animal "The Duke", short for "Ducolax" on account of one of the engineers realizing there was 16-foot long, multi-ton carnivore floating just over his shoulder and (understandably) shitting himself.

[inner-viper]

Your next Sexual Encounter (MORE ON PATRON) 18+ MATURE

Hello, I had so much fun channeling this! A lot of this was very sensual and sometimes I can feel it?! Like damn this is really good for yall LMAO. Anyways, I am thinking of making a what is your first time with them? I think it would be a good idea or maybe I should do a non-sexual topic as a bonus but I think that reading may end up being shorter than sexual topics, as they tend to have less details. I hope you enjoy! 

Support patron for more exclusive content. The first 10 patron subscribers get a free reading, no matter which tier.

Pile 1

Nine of Cups, Four of Pentacles, and Knight of Pentacles  Healing: “To unlearn past trauma responses” and Food Trips: “Trying out multiple cuisines, trendy, and different foods” Cock Trampling, “You are so easy”, “Act like you don’t care”, and Yummy

You may be out on a date, you will be chilling on your bed maybe scrolling through TikTok or for some doing their hair and makeup. I see some people chilling, though, because you have nothing much to do today. You may have gone through some slight drama because this caused you to not want to go out and venture out to shop or eat out. Perhaps ordering takeout because you don’t want to do anything. I think this is a drama between friends, some sort of event with friends is coming to mind. That is for a select few though! I also am seeing for some people who selected this pile, you are just trying not to be wasteful with your money. So you really don’t want to spend because you may struggle with overspending or holding on to your coin in fear of running out. Whence why you don’t want to go out. You will be talking to this person, this person wants to take you out. I see for some people it is their current partner, or current partner during that time period. For others, this person is someone you are interested in. You are interested in them sexually and mentally. They are physically attractive and they are physically attracted to you! They are also financially abundant or well off because they are coming through with the money. They may just have more money/savings than you. They may be a work alcoholic so you may not see them as often as you would like. You would like to see them more often because you feel like you guys don’t hang out or go on dates as often as you should. They will be texting you the day before for some on the day of. They will be texting you and asking where you want to go out! So this is a date! You agree because you miss them and they miss you too! This date is a late night evening, or during the evening. You will be at a fancy restaurant and sipping your margarita or some expensive white wine? For some just a plain soda lol! You both will be giving flirtatious stares and looking at each other with sinful eyes! I see you playing footsies under the table and they join in too because they want to playfully fight back. They are into feet or legs, some area around there. 

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Pile 2

Page of Wands (in reverse), High Priestess (in reverse), and Two of Swords Trust Issues, Family and Friends Meeting, “Purchasing a home together” “I just want to use your body”, Ball Busting, and Restraint

Immediately getting that this is a situation that happens at work. You may work with this person, for others there may be work drama and you'll bring that home to your partner. You may even start to get aggravated at them. They will be trying to help you and you won’t be having it. I see you snapping at them and this causes an argument to break out. It is just a bad day, although I do see you guys taking it too far. Try not to internalize your hatred towards your partner ok! They didn’t do anything wrong! So this is toxic and something that you need to work on, if this isn’t resonating then it could be them, or this is not your pile! Maybe the sexual encounter is only what resonates! So I am seeing for some there was a playful disagreement with something, maybe one of you didn’t really like having to cook today and the other didn’t want to spend any money out. It could be because they are going through a financial struggle or they are just too lazy. Some of them could be on a new diet/workout routine that they got going on, and they rather avoid eating out. In fear of them gaining weight, while they are trying to gain muscle and lose fat. So either one of you could be in that situation. I am getting that you both started to get heated and you got annoyed at each other. You wanted them to see your perspective meanwhile they weren’t seeing your perspective. You decided to focus on creating some peace with yourself. I see that for some of you being at peace may mean you playing with yourself. I see some of you like to channel that aggressive energy in multiple ways. Meanwhile, your partner left to go do something. You both just gave each other some space and time to reflect. I see that one of you messages first because they decided to be brave enough to do so. You may respond angrily too! I see that for some it's because it is your first time arguing with this person. It is the first time that you had such a strong disagreement with them. They’ll come around to apologize or you. Whoever was in the wrong will reflect on that and will come out to apologize first because they recognize that they are in the wrong. I am seeing one of you making your way to their place or your shared place. I see someone driving recklessly to get there too, so be careful on the road, if it is you. You both beginning to channel out your rough energy! You both just want to release this pent-up energy. So it is like you explode. They will be stripping your clothes off aggressively. They will make you try to submit to them.

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Pile 3

Three of Wands, The Emperor, and Death Music: “I hear you in every love song”, and Jealousy Ball Stretching, Feet, and “I want to dominate you so badly”

Immediately this is someone getting jealous of their partner. So I see that you may be chilling at a party with your partner but then someone comes up to flirt with you. You tell them you are in a relationship, and you aren’t interested. Your partner doesn’t want to lose you, and they may be afraid of someone stealing you away. That's because you are a high-value person. This may happen that you have been getting ready to go out to this party or club for a while now. So you put on your best fit to go out that night! You obviously take your partner with you because you like to have a good time with them and you like to have fun. Your partner is the dominant one in this encounter. You want to have fun but they will be feeling jealous! They want to claim you, they don’t do anything risky out in about though. So they’ll be just all over you at this event. They’ll be getting your drinks and be holding onto your waist. Not wanting to let you go, they are clingy as fuck, I am not going to lie! This is how they show love though, they just want to be around you and have all your attention on them. I see that they’ll be having a fun time just hanging around you too though, so it is not going to ruin your whole night! They ain’t toxic like that. They’ll want to leave the event early. You’ll be getting drunk though! I see they’ll be tipsy. So they won’t be blacking out or acting crazy. I see that you will be stuttering and just be all over the place. You are letting loose, laughing, and having such a good time. This is where I do see that you garner attention because people love to see this sensual energy of yours coming out, and you’ll be oozing with that energy. It reminds me of Mars or Venusian energy. I see a person coming up, honestly, an older man who may be rich, coming towards you and you’ll be like telling them no you aren’t interested. Your partner will see this person and tell them to back off. They seem respectful enough to leave too. You’ll honestly not really care too much and you’ll be like idc and just laughing it off. I see that you both leave the party/club. They’ll be taking you home at their place so you both could chill. I see you sobering up and you both talk about it. I see this could help either you or your partner just be more secure because they know they have this person all to themselves. It starts off with a passionate makeout session. I see you both making love, a deep kiss to start off the night. I see them pulling all over the fabrics that you wear that night. Caressing every part of you, and you run your hands all over them. 

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Thanks for reading!

[reilly310]

Outlander: Blood of My Blood

art credit: @SimonWrightSays

I'm dusting off my blog for the first time in a looong time with some thoughts about the new prequel series.

I've been on the fence about the new series, but after learning that Claire's parents' story will be included, I found myself more intrigued. Then seeing this (amazing) sketch of young Jamie and Claire got my imagination flowing.

I'm mostly interested to see how the writers will integrate the two storylines, as I would think they'll have to do. Given at least one (and perhaps both) of Claire's parents can time travel:

Will one of them be from the past (her father, I presume) and, in a kind of reverse Outlander, meet/fall in love with the other in the future?

And/or will both of them travel back to Jamie's parent's time (purposely or by accident) and will they meet/be friends (or foes) of each other's for a time?

Will they give birth to Claire in the past or the present? Will Jamie and Claire know each other (or at least meet briefly) as very young children but be too young to remember that encounter/relationship? (See picture above..and yes, I know there's a 5 year age difference in OL but just indulge me here because that picture is so cute. Maybe, more realistically, when Claire is 5, they are present for Jamie's birth instead. Isn't one of the rules of time travel in OL that you have to have a connection to where you're traveling to? Since Claire went through the stones the first time by accident, could she have landed where/when she did because of that connection to Jamie / his family from her past even if she didn't consciously remember it?)

Do Claire's parents actually die in a car crash or was she just told this by Uncle Lamb as a way to explain their absence? Did they get stuck in the past instead and spend the rest of their lives trying to return to her? Do Jamie's parents find out their secret and try to help them in this endeavor to return to the future?

Or maybe they perish in the past and Uncle Lamb, a time traveler himself, brings Claire to the present to keep her safe.

Because (I don't think) there's any book reference to Claire's parents other than her mentioning how they died and that she doesn't really remember them, the possibilities related to their storyline are endless.

Having put these thoughts out into the universe, though, I'm likely setting myself up for disappointment if/when the series airs and does none of these things. However, a connection of some sort between the two couples will have to be established in order for the series to have a flow that makes sense and is not disjointed.

PS: I read the first 3 books and part of the 4th before setting them aside years ago, so I don't consider myself a book reader. Perhaps there's information in the later books that would make the potential connections I've imagined for this new series impossible. If so, please let me know.

PPS: . Do we know if this prequel is intended to be a limited series (like the Yellowstone prequel "1883") or a series with multiple seasons? If it's a limited series of 10 episodes, they might be able to get away with two separate storylines that merge in some way only at the end. I just don't think I would find it as intriguing as one that's interconnected.

[longing-for-rain]

How do you think Zutara's dynamic would change if both Zuko and Katara were female, what about if their genders were reversed? (M katara, F zuko?)

Oh this is interesting, I think their characters would both be very different and therefore their dynamic would too. Especially Katara.

The thing about canon Katara is that being female and therefore subject to misogyny was a huge impact on the character she became. In her very introduction, she’s irritated at Sokka for being misogynistic to her (with implications that this is a pattern) and we see multiple instances of her being overlooked or outright discriminated against for being female. It feeds into her drive to prove herself, to be a great waterbender, and contributes to her feeling an obligation to look after those around her at the expense of her own feelings.

Male!Katara would share some issues but not all. He would suffer the pressure of being the last southern waterbender, and having to hide that ability. He’d probably have somewhat of a paternal role at a young age, but not to the extent of his female counterpart. I also think it’s likely he would know hand-to-hand combat as well since he’d likely hunt but not be allowed to openly waterbend. He’d also still carry the burden of grief over his mother.

As for female!Zuko, I think she would suffer an added layer of misogyny on top of her abuse. There is no precedent for a female Fire Lord, so as a firstborn daughter, she might have been intended for political marriage for a young age. Her attempts to surpass Azula at firebending would have been deemed all the more pathetic by Ozai—proof to him that she’s only good for marriage and not leadership. This would have an impact on her and give her a strong drive to prove herself. I also think appearance would be a much bigger factor. There are only implications that canon Zuko feels insecure over his face, but female!Zuko would probably be even more impacted due to the pressure on women to be physically attractive (especially if she was a princess intended to be a bride). I think she’d probably be a bit butch and embrace her warrior side, deeming herself ugly (this would be interesting to work through). She fights with swords still and relentlessly pushes herself to excel at any skill she can.

How would these characters work together?

I actually really like femslash Zutara. Picture this—female!Zuko, told she’s weak and ugly and good for nothing but political marriage, encountering a powerful female waterbender. At first they fight, but over time gain an appreciation for each other. Eventually, female!Zuko finds a partner in Katara who admires her for her abilities as a warrior and a firebender, and on top of that, thinks she’s beautiful as she is. Her rough edges, her tough demeanor, everything she was told made her a failed woman, are all beautiful to Katara. Not to mention how she’d have an intimate ability to understand Katara’s own experiences of misogyny and its impact on her. They would have a truly beautiful connection.

Now male!Katara and female!Zuko… hard to say. To be completely honest I don’t seeing it having the same depth as canon or femslash Zutara, mainly because taking away femaleness from Katara’s character takes away a lot of the complexity (at least in my opinion). I think there would still be some “you’re beautiful as you are” and bonding over mom trauma but other than that I’m not sure.

[eskewcity]

Eskewcity's Top Ten Games of 2023

Hello!!! I've decided to compile a list of the best games I played this past year. As such, this list is not limited to only 2023 releases (in fact a majority of the games I played are several years old atp). Additionally, I only considered games that I had completed by year's end. This means that fantastic games such as Signalis and The Talos Principle 2 will not be included, though I still highly recommend them.

Finally, I will put my ranking under a read more for the sake of not clogging anyways dash. Hope you all had a good 2023 and maybe can find something that interests you mwah <3

10. Subway Midnight by Bubby Darkstar

Board the train! Run away from a weirdo! Solve some puzzles! Make friends with some ghosts! Try not to become a ghost yourself!

While I am not someone usually willing to gloss over a somewhat lackluster story for the sake of gorgeous visuals, I will give Subway Midnight an exception. Even with a game that largely takes place in a subway car, it was exceptional when it came to its visual design. It has a blend of a cartoonish style for the characters mixed with extremely realistic environments. The gameplay itself was also quite fun, if not tedious in multiple runs and I really enjoyed the variety of characters that players encounter.

9. Broken Reality by Dynamic Media Triad

A humorous adventure set in a 3D parody of the internet. Diverse puzzles, beautiful worlds, friends, experiences, upgrades and more, await those who 'log on'!

Depending on yourself, Broken Reality might either be a headache inducing cacophony of colors or a fun exploration game about the internet and the commercialization of products and each other. For myself, I choose to look at it from the latter perspective. I found the game to put quite humorous and I really enjoyed all the different worlds to explore. Much like Subway Midnight, I would not recommend it much on its story but I think the design and concept certainly carries where that lacks.

8. Hylics by Mason Lindroth

Hylics is a recreational program with light JRPG elements.

At its core, Hylics is a game with a pretty simple concept. Fight your way through the world with the end goal of defeating the big bad, Gibby, King of Moon. However past that, get ready for a confusing and abstract adventure. This accounts for several reasons. For one, the dialogue of Hylics consists of randomly generated sentences that feel almost coherent while maintaining a healthy amount of head scratching. The game was also created through claymation leading to characters and environments whose shapes twists and turn in perplexing patterns. While this may seem to take away from the experience, I found this not to be the case at all. In fact, I would say it enhanced my time playing greatly. I could not stop thinking about Hylics after I played it simply because its weird and purposely lacks focus which makes it all the more memorable.

7. Babbdi by Sirius & Léonard Lemaitre

BABBDI is a short, first person exploration experience with light narrative and platforming elements. Visit the town of BABBDI, a forsaken district in the outer ring of the megalopolis. Meet its inhabitants and discover how to escape.

In Babbdi, your goal is to leave Babbdi. You must search through the city to find a train ticket that can guarantee your escape. However, the ironic part of playing this game was that I did not rush to leave. While being a free-to-play game, it had an incredibly sizable area to explore. The game actively encourages the player to search every inch of city to find its secrets while also reminding the player that their goal is to eventually leave all of this behind. If you have an hour or so to spare and love games focused more on exploration than action, this is definitely one to check out!

6. Who's Lila? by Garage Heathen

A reverse-detective adventure, where you control your character's face

In Who's Lila, you play as a young man named Will who cannot properly control the expressions on his face. As the player, your job is to ensure that he reacts properly to the world around him. The game even starts with a tutorial on how to respond accordingly to a variety of situations. While a seemingly simple concept, this game is not as it may appear. In fact, and without giving much away, Who's Lila requires multiple playthroughs to order to begin to piece together what is truly going on.

5. Hypnospace Outlaw by Tendershoot

Greetings Enforcer, and thank you for enlisting in the Hypnospace Patrol Department! As the world falls into its slumber, Hypnospace becomes a bustling global village. These virtual streets aren't going to police themselves!

Taking place in 1999, Hypnospace Outlaw tasks you as a moderator for a new form of technology which allows users to surf the internet in their sleep. As the player, you're tasked with seeking out policy violations and handing out warnings and even banning users, if necessary. There is so much about this game I can say but I find going in blind is the best. I definitely found some frustrations which some of the puzzles and how obtuse their solutions were but its undeniably one of the most unique games I have ever played.

4. Return of the Obra Dinn by Lucas Pope

Return of the Obra Dinn is a first-person mystery adventure based on exploration and logical deduction.

In Return of the Obra Dinn, is a mystery game where you not only have to determine the fates of one person, but an entire ship's crew. Additionally, you have to determine the names of each individual based on existing records. By going in the past to witness the last moments of each individual, players can be able to slowly work out the mystery of the Obra Dinn. As someone who plays many puzzle games, I found this to be one of the most satisfying I've ever played. I also thought the game just looked gorgeous and was extremely fitting for the vibe it was going with.

3. Papers Please by Lucas Pope

Congratulations. The October labor lottery is complete. Your name was pulled. For immediate placement, report to the Ministry of Admission at Grestin Border Checkpoint. An apartment will be provided for you and your family in East Grestin. Expect a Class-8 dwelling.

As a border patrol officer, your job is determine the legitimacy of the documents that are brought to you by people wishing to enter the country of Arstotzka. This requires things such checking if their paperwork has expired, if they match their passport photo and if they have the necessary seals for entry. However, what if someone comes to the border fearing for their safety if they are denied, without the correct paperwork? Will you let them in, risking punishment for yourself or deny them, ensuring that you will able to provide for your family at home? Papers Please is a game that will continuously make you question your own ethics under a authoritarian regime. I found this game to be incredibly emotional and made me replay several days simply because I decided against my initial judgments. Certainly one of the most impactful games I played this year.

2. Presentable Liberty by Wertpol

You have been imprisoned without being told why. All you can hear day in day out is the faint ticking of a clock in your cell. That is, until the first of 5 fateful days begins.

Sometimes there are short indie games in the world that fundamentally change you and this is one of them for me. With that in mind, there is not much I want to say about Presentable Liberty since I find its best experienced blind. The short of it is you play as a prisoner as they receive letters from those on the outside. The gameplay is minimal since the player is stuck in their cell for the majority of the game but promise you when I say it does not much that action when its biggest strength comes from its writing. While this game had its short lived success on Youtube, I implore everyone out there to play it and see why I choose to rank it this high on the list.

1. Cry of Fear by Team Psykskallar

Cry of Fear is a psychological single-player and co-op horror game set in a deserted town filled with horrific creatures and nightmarish delusions. You play as a young man desperately searching for answers in the cold Scandinavian night, finding his way through the city as he slowly descends into madness.

Honestly, it's insane it took me so long to play this game especially when loving a piece of media that's a psychological horror featuring a depressed character wandering a city is kind of what I'm known for. However, I finally got around to it and I'm so glad I did. While not the most technically savvy game out there, it is incredible what Team Psykskallar managed to pull off while offering players the opportunity to experience the entire thing for free. Several times throughout playing Cry of Fear I couldn't stop thinking how much better it was than many of the games I've paid for. Like I said, its definitely not the most polished horror game out for sure but damn was I charmed. Even after I completed this game, I immediately had to restart so I could play with director's commentary as I was just that damn interested in learning about as much of this game's development as I could. And its because of how invested I got in playing this game but also its background, that I choose to make it my number 1 pick this year.

(fuck that train level though)

[britt-kageryuu]

I kinda made a post similar to this before, but the idea that the TMNT might be either highly resistant, or quickly build a resistance to different medications, chemicals, substances, or radiation, eventually made me think:

How resistant to CBD or weed would the Turtles be? And would they become resistant to alcoholic beverages? Or a reverse, and very high intolerance, or it affects them more.

Like I figure it would be different from universe to universe, since each brand of turtle was mutated different, but imagine:

You have all the Turtles, Splinters, April's, and Casey's together celebrating, like the Mutant Mayhem Turtles success or something, and some of them are Drinking.

Now some are multiple drinks in and not effected, while others are passed out, or whatever kind of drunk you think they are.

The Rise and MM guys aren't joining if only because Babies, and maybe the Rise Guys know not to mess with Alcohol from passed experiments/experience.

As for the CDB/Weed again depending on the universe, some would be like 'is something supposed to happen?', while others are chasing a white rabbit, or having a tea party with an imaginary person, or saying the most out there crap. Staring into space.

Now it could also be they started with feeling pretty high, but over time it was less, and less effective until it did nothing for them. Like smoking and vaping could also be tossed into this also!

The Mutant Mayhem boys might encounter stuff while in school so it's a very big possibility they run into this down the line.

Of course this would never be shown on TV because the censorship and what not.

[hazzzyrider]

Okay, fuck, it's hard to pick one thing... uhm, I guess the relationship of the Eule and Star unit in the mines.

Heartbreaking! It's one of the saddest moments for me in the mines. I think three things really stood out to me:

-SIGNALIS SPOILERS BELOW-

1) The Gestalts were meant for the mines. Replikas were supposed to help with the evacuation. Eules are just service operator units meant for cleaning, nursing, etc. So was she brought down there with Star for safety? We even see more Replikas later at the mine hatch so it's likely they all turned while doing their duty down there. It could even be they retreated from the hatch back towards the wire maze because of it.

2) That Star is a badass. Held off an unknown amount of opponents and Eule practically looked unscathed. They're meant to be low-level security officers who work in a team to compensate. Self-sacrificial and working above her intended role (much like a Scout we know) for someone important to her. If you look back at how it ends for her, there's some huge dramatic irony and overlap.

3) I've seen some theories that Star is the same one you encounter on your way down when you first enter the facility. If that was true, it really adds to how much insanity she must have went through to reach Eule. But I like my theory in 2 more. And if we wanted both to be true, it could even be doubly tragic that multiple Star and Eule units are experiencing a longing to find, protect and reunite. And there's also the question of whether those feelings are genuine or planted by whatever's happening in the game.

Not really part of the three points but this came to me while answering: I think it's really gut-punching they throw the Replikas and encounters at you in reverse once you get to the mines. You meet Mynah whom you speak to for the first time after your big boss fight which recontextualizes and reasserts that these things you fight aren't likely doing so maliciously. Their grief, loneliness and way of reacting to the trauma gets underlined when you finally talk to them. And you meet Eule and Star later, who were the first enemies you encountered. So it's like you finally understand really how fragile they are as real 'people' before they turned. You aren't fighting monster, just pale painful reflections.

My first reaction to meeting the Replikas in the mines was somewhere between "Fuck, this sucks" and "This isn't right. You're just making due with being on the brink of death." which LATER ON, these feelings however minor can really come back stronger when you're at whatever ending you choose. You feel it. Elster's decisions, reactions and situations suck and whatever she does in response just feels like a process of denial and acceptance with no right answer.

[tumblezwei]

Hold on I'm about to go crazy again

during the warp jump to Penacony, scenes from the quest flash briefly on screen. We're first shown Acheron after our first encounter with her

then the moment right before Firefly's death where she turns to look at Trailblazer

a chessboard for some reason, the first image rattling around along with the turbulence of the Express

Stelle...looking at something? Outside of the Express? The angle looks like she's on the left side of the couch, near where the memokeeper for MoC stands. Or maybe on the other side. Either way this isn't a shot of her sitting on the couch like she is during the warp jump.

after that is Robin from after we crash land in the Golden Hour

then Acheron again from the same scene but played in reverse, interrupted by TV static.

I think the most base level theory we can craft with this involved Acheron and her multiple red dialogue options. Something about time loops, or multiple iterations of the same story happening at once. Personally, I don't have enough ammo in my arsenal to argue one way or another, but some things here interest me.

The first is the chessboard. I don't remember this being shown in the story quest at all, and as far as I know there isn't a chessboard on the Express. I mean, even if there is that doesn't mean anything to me atm. What does is the positions of the pieces.

We first get a close up shot of the black rook, and then a wider shot showing the state of the game board. My average knowledge of chess just tells me this looks like a stalemate. Both opponents have the same pieces left on the board, protecting their kings in the exact same way. There's potentially a trap being set up by the black rook to capture the white rook, and the white king has moves outside of its shield of pawns.

Since we haven't seen the chessboard or that shot of Stelle in the quest, my guess is that they're from future events we have yet to see. But I also think the order in which these shots appear mean something, or else why would they be included? Maybe we can view Firefly as the black pawn and the Trailblazer as the white rook. An intentional sacrifice to draw someone into a trap. After all, Sam and Firefly were working together until he abandoned her for some unknown reason, and then attacked us after we spent time finding Firefly's traces.

But using that interpretation would put us as the Trailblazer on the white side, with the king moving out of position. And I'll admit right here I don't know what that would mean. Unseen allies, maybe? Or an implication that we're entering into dangerous territory at a disadvantage? I Dunno.

Moving on I'm interested in the last sequence with Acheron. The TV static can quickly be connected to the pile of TVs we see in the primal dreamscape where we fight Something Unto Death. And the scene being played backwards brings to mind a tape being rewound. I swear to god I saw some text saying something like "you're not watching the TV, the TV is watching you" but I can't fucking remember where I saw it. So take that bit with a massive grain of salt until I can recall where I read it from, but I'm keeping it in mind.

I also think this sequence being bookended by our first encounter with Acheron is important. Is it evidence for some sort of time loop? Who knows.

Also also, that shot of Firefly is similar to the shot we get of Robin. Centered in their chests (where Firefly was pierced, and Robin has her wound) and obscuring their faces. This could have just been foreshadowing their shared fates as victims of Something Unto Death. But maybe, if my chess interpretation holds any water, could be foreshadowing Robin and Aventurine acting in similar roles as Firefly and Sam, i.e., bait for the Trailblazer.

anyways, I'm going nuts.

[greenboyfriend]

༺♡༻ reading compulsion ༺♡༻

I had the sudden compulsion to do a reading! and man, whoever you are, you sure are impatient. there's this energy of like OK OK COME ON COME ON LETS GO going on that may be you, or maybe sprit, as well. it depends who you are. this may apply to multiple people.

as always, listen to your intuition. if something doesn't resonate for you, don't force it.

image source: forest // image source: stars heading // image source: white hemming heading

Temperance, Judgment reversed, eight of wands reversed, two of swords, page of cups reversed, Wheel of Fortune reversed, page of pentacles reversed

(since there's not enough colors for all the cards.. judgement will be in whatever color ur theme is set to lol)

this feels like a timed thing. you're being asked to take action, *now*. maybe this is the vibe you're already giving off, or that of your spirit guides.. for most of you, it's your guides.

this isn't a run of the mill opportunity, either, which I think is why spirit is so persistent about this. the wheel of fortune is all about fate, destiny, and luck. you might have been presented, or will be presented, with some sort of chance encounter (that may have to do with friendship or romance). and um... well, you really better get on it!!!

you probably are not however. but not all is lost! this seems like a stepping stone, part of a bigger lesson to be learned; moving from one way of being into another. it also seems like this opportunity will have to do with self forgiveness. right now, you're intentionally closing yourself off, and pretending not to see the signs. stop doing that!!! this is no time for hesitation! rush into that decision, make your move! strike while the iron's hot-- and let me tell you-- that iron's HOT!!!!!

in doing this, you will experience a rebirth. not like, in a gross way, but in a really nice, happy way! you'll see everything differently, especially yourself. what you really need to do is to listen to your intuition. what are you naturally drawn towards? before you overthought it, what was the thing you were like, "oh, yeah, that makes sense" about? or are you using this as an excuse to choose not to choose?!?!

***for some of you, a lot of this knowledge may come from your dreams. remember them. this seems very important!***

if you're worried about where to start, begin by taking a deep breath. no matter what happens, know that, just by trying, you are in good hands! it may help you to be trusting in others, as well, and accept them at their word. I always find that walking in nature gets me more in tuned with my intuition, and makes me feel more grounded.

however this event manifests, im feeling that it will be luck based. it might also be the "finale" of something, or maybe you're resolving unfinished business. you've just really gotta do it, dude. your future self will thank you. even if you think that's impossible!

it might also be something you've been working towards, or have been thinking about on the backburner. it's like the "missing puzzle piece" you've been searching for. there may also be a call to action too-- often, there are multiple, and one of them might be this reading itself. so, hi!

ur also going to unburden yourself, especially when it comes to self forgiveness. releasing griefs and sorrows.

here are some things that may resonate with you as well:

doorbell rings, competing, wicked, "ren", ramen (ramen actually spilled all fucking over my cards and desk and fucking everything while doing this!!), impatience, generosity, people, 14, candle, sweet

hope this was useful! good luck out there soldier!

[sweetbabymantykes]

Actually, Dhelmise isn't a single celled organism, that's a common misconception. Seaweed is a macroalgae, which is a multicellular form of algae. Single celled marine algae are diatoms, too tiny to see with the naked eye and also kinda what glass comes from I think?? I dunno I only know about the big stuff.

That said, research is still being done in regards to what type of seaweed Dhelmise should be classified as. While it seems many will develop a preference for green algae, it's rare for them to consist of that alone; most will still have traces of brown and red algae, and records exist of specimens that opted more for those than the usual green. Oh, but no correlation has been found between algae type and their color, I should mention— trying to figure out how and why exceedingly rare red Dhelmise form is an entirely different can of Orthworms, let me tell you. (Not as difficult as finding a way to ghost and anchor-proof a pokébean container, though...)

The issue is already complex just by virtue of the fact that they technically consist of multiple different organisms in the genetic sense, such as, say, both dead man's fingers and giant kelp. It's like trying to classify lichens. The real kicker is that the species consistently shares the same general body plan and shape, even between populations that primarily utilize entirely different types of macroalgae.

In fact, depictions of them from hundreds of years ago, when they were first encountered by sailors, share a remarkable amount of similarity in basic shape. Though, they did apparently vary in size to a greater degree; some used rocks and driftwood and would be small compared to today's average, usually described as shorter than a human. Others may have made use of entire Wailmer and Wailord falls— perhaps the remains of their unfortunate prey— if some other depictions and descriptions from those times are to be believed. (It is important to take into account the possibility of embellished stories and the like, as interesting as the latter sounds...)

Dhelmise really are quite the mystery, even among other ghost types! It still isn't well understood what causes them to form in the wild to begin with. We know from captive individuals that they are capable of asexual reproduction through fragmentation, similar to many other types of seaweed, but that creates genetic clones and wouldn't explain the diversity amongst wild populations. The prevailing theory involves souls lost at sea, but there is little conclusive evidence to support that.

Ah, I should probably stop rambling on about this now, though. I tend to get a bit carried away, which is weird given how I used to not be interested at all in this sort of thing... What getting reverse chosen by your first Pokémon while visiting family on the coast does to a mfer. Sorry 'bout the wall of text!

I feel like a fraud. I got a fact about aquatic pokemon wrong. It's fine, it's fine, I can still keep my reputation, Dhelmise isn't a water type, it's a grass type. And I actually don't know that much about kelp to begin with, so I guess that's what my problem is, haha.

That aside, man. I could listen to people tell me about other pokemon forever, don't apologize! My sister is really into ghost types but she's not really chatty, either, so it's really nice to hear about them from someone else. Previous Johto anon in a fight with your dad- give this a read! Everyone else, too, I had no idea about their historical 'chains'...

[hopeymchope]

I almost always seem to have the minority opinion on media. And I'm really sick of it now.

I've been on a Fire Emblem kick again lately. But unfortunately, as much as I love all of the Fire Emblem games on 3DS? That's approximately how much I hate Fire Emblem: Three Houses on Switch. ....which is, of course, the most popular/successful game in the series to date.

Okay, look: In Fire Emblem, I really like the strategy-combat stuff and the storylines + support conversations. THAT'S the tasty meat. Anything else? Is irritating busywork to me. So if I spend between 2/3-3/4 of a supposed Fire Emblem game doing the other shit? You've crafted a great recipe to make me feel like I'm MOSTLY doing stuff I hate, and thusly I shall hate your game. And that's the START of the issue with Three Houses. (I must resist getting into the protagonist being a mute cipher OR how multiple side activities require blind luck or a guide to succeed OR bitching about the weak battle map design... oh shit oh SHIT I'M OUTING MYSELF, RUN FOR IT MARTY!)

By comparison, this year's Fire Emblem Engage feels like a step back in the right direction! I'm playing it a lot right now, and I'm mostly having a good time! Still more busywork than I want in these games, but it's at least back on the side of "more good than bad." So of course, if I look this game up and read any fan reviews or watch any videos... they're all about how disapppointing and sucky it is in comparison.

God. Of COURSE they are.

I really don't know why the advances they made with Fire Emblem Echoes haven't carried into the newer games. 3D dungeons you can explore for items and enemy encounters in a Persona-like fashion? Genius! Make it the template going forward! ..... What's that? Not even most fans bothered to buy or play that game??? So no one fucking cares about that feature?

.........fucking hell. Of COURSE they don't.

See, this is how it always goes for me. If I fall in love with a movie, I'll later learn it's either hated or ignored by its own fandom or by the masses at large. If I get emotionally invested in some weird game and its characters? There's a high probability that almost no one played it. And those who did? They didn't like it as much as me. If I think a game is really annoying and full of boring shit? Great reviews, huge fandom, etc.

I could make an utterly wild fucking list of things I like/love that other people hate. And the same is true in reverse. Sometimes, even when I agree with the hate on something, I don't agree with ANY of the reasons for WHY other people hate it!

Before you ask: It doesn't matter whether I know the "majority opinion" in advance of seeing/experiencing something, or I have no clue wht people think of something until I look it up later. I've gone to many midnight premieres of movies that weren't yet screened for critics, and I typically always wind up on the wrong side of the majority. I've played obscure games just because the premise sounded good, fallen in love with them, gone looking for a fandom... and found out that everybody thinks said game is utter shit.

So I'm not just being contrarian; this shit comes NATURALLY.

However, I should make some caveats about this weirdness clear:

Sometimes I feel like I'm on the wrong side of JUST the outspoken part of the audience... but there's evidence to support that my own stance maybe ISN'T so weird. For example: My family and I have always loved 2009's Avatar. We never were dressing up like the goddamn Na'vi or anything so fanatical, but we've rewatched it many times over the years. We regularly quote it to each other around the house. And the massive success of that movie (and its recent sequel) seems to back up that this admiration/enjoyment isn't THAT crazy or esoteric, RIGHT? It's just that the Internet is extremely outspoken about Avatar supposedly being lame and totally unmemorable. Remember how people in 2022 kept being like "You can't remember even three character names from that movie! Nobody quotes it!" and shit like that? I was one of the people going "I will list you NINE characters and spew DOZENS of quotes at you."

My "minority opinion" thing only stretches so far. It's not like I thought The Room was the best movie I'd ever seen or angrily felt Tears of the Kingdom was the worst game I ever played. That would be beyond "minority" and more "MADNESS." There's a limit to this weirdness; it has to be within a certain degree of reason, you know? Some things just aren't POSSIBLE to totally flip the script on. Birdemic will always be embarrassingly terrible, and I refuse to believe anyone would legitimately feel otherwise. OK?

This isn't completely universal, either. There are always exceptions where I actually wind up on the right side of the majority. They're just... rarer than the other thing, honestly.

It gets exhausting to always feel like I'm on the defensive or at worst, utterly alone in how I think among the larger community. I don't want this anymore.

But I don't get a say, clearly. I'm just going to keep doing this. I'm going to go see a movie on opening weekend and think "Wow, what an awful piece of shit" only to find that DECADES LATER, people still cite it as one of the best movies in its genre. I'm going to adore a modern revival of a classic comic book, then I'll go online and find that it's widely considered an abomination before god. This is who I am. It's just REALLY tiring to be here.

[staringdownabarrel]

I feel like Riker gets a bit of a hard time in the fandom. I also feel that it's unjustified, given how he's actually portrayed in canon.

In a lot of ways, he suffers from having a very similar reputation to Kirk. He's seen as being the womanising rule breaker of the Enterprise-D, both by the fandom at large and occasionally even by the writers themselves. Much like Kirk's reputation, Riker's reputation as a reckless, womanising rule breaker is hugely overstated, though.

During Encounter At Farpoint, Picard asks him about an incident that happened during his previous assignment where he'd prevented his captain from going on an away mission. When Picard says to him, "So a captain's rank means nothing to you, then?", Riker's response--and this is a direct quote--was, "Quite the reverse, sir. But a captain's life means a great deal more to me."

This ended up being a pivotal scene for Riker's characterisation evermore. While he did have some lines that he wouldn't cross, he really was willing to follow any order given to him.

In some ways, Riker was the XO who was the most concerned with adherence to procedure. In Conundrum, we get a scene early on where Riker is chewing out Ro for changing a navigation thing without clearing it through the chain of command first, for example. While no doubt things like this do happen with the other XOs, it's not often that you get an episode that starts out that way.

His adherence to protocol was so strong that he was willing to follow an order he had personal reservations over even decades later, provided Federation security was at stake. This is a tendency we see in Pegasus, where Riker kept his mouth shut about what was actually going on onboard that ship until the safety of the ship became an issue.

So Riker's ability to follow orders and procedure isn't an issue in canon. If anything, he's probably one of the most rule-abiding officers in canon to date. Much like how his reputation for recklessness is overstated, so is his tendency to be a womaniser.

The exact nature of his reputation is that he'll go date pretty much anyone under his command. However, this really isn't a given. The only times he's ever actually confirmed to have had sex with anyone under his command is in Conundrum, when he had sex with Ro while under an alien influence, and in Insurrection, where he rekindles his relationship with Troi, who he'd been in a relationship with decades prior. While his new relationship with Troi did lead to them getting married, he's obviously deeply embarrassed about having slept with Ro in Conundrum.

While there are times where he's appeared to be flirtatious with junior officers, there's two things to keep in mind here. One is that they appear to be into it, so he does respect their boundaries. The other is that this could easily be just how mixed-gender friendships look like with Riker. For all of TNG's run, he has that kinda flirty style friendship with Troi for example, but he's never known to have hooked up with her. In fact, it's unlikely to have ever happened, given that Troi treats kissing him with a beard as a weird feeling in Insurrection.

Another thing I'll add here is that in Firstborn, it's mentioned that he'd gamed at Quark's with Jadzia. It's implied that they got on fairly well too, given they played multiple games. In my mind, this adds credibility to the idea that Riker would prefer a somewhat flirtatious dynamic at times in his mixed-gender friendships because that's something Jadzia would have enjoyed, too.

So a lot of the time when he's mentioned to have a date with a junior officer, it could easily just that he's meeting her as a friend or that he's doing some skills coaching with them. Saying it's a date could just be an ongoing joke, or people not fully grasping the level of Riker's professionalism.

Really, most of the people he's canonically known to have had a sexual encounter with are people that aren't in Starfleet. This includes people like Etana from The Game, Soren from The Outcast, and the Malcorian woman from First Contact (the episode, not the movie).

Plus, if he was such a womaniser as his fanon reputation holds, you'd expect for him to have several friends with benefits onboard the Enterprise. He could just wait for one of them to knock off duty instead of using the holodeck to satisfy his urges, as it's implied he did at one point in The Perfect Mate.

So in conclusion, Riker isn't reckless and he isn't a total fuck boy. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk, yo.

[regallibellbright]

I MIGHT have found what you were talking about regarding Kiel. It wasn't a full-blown confession, but I JUST encountered something he'd never said before wherein he heavily implied and/or started to confess. HOWEVER, it was something along the lines of "I know you already have a lover, but I also… Oops, shouldn't say that!" The line was partially voiced (and not with generic voice clips) even! I was so shocked I talked to him again hoping he'd repeat it, but he instead switched to a generic dialogue about magic. And I sadly don't know if that one line was it or if he might have continued on another day, because this triggered on literally the last day of Dylas' marriage event for me, so I immediately married the next day. I doubt Kiel would confess even if he could when you're fully married to someone else.

Do you remember if you were dating someone else when Kiel confessed?

… Holy shit. Yeah, that sounds REALLY familiar and I was dating at least Dylas and Arthur (and I think also Leon?) when that happened. Kiel confessing was ultimately why I went “yeah, okay, I’ll date all the boys, I want to do Arc Three before I get married if I can anyway,” which is why it left such a firm impression on me as A Thing That Happened. (I also am pretty sure Doug had dialogue at least indicating a crush before I did anything - I semi-think I remember he confessed first as well, but it’s nowhere near as clear to me as Kiel’s since he was the last boy to be added what with the “can’t pass a certain point until Arc Two’s done,” so I’m not sure.)

I had also gotten Kiel’s mini-event(s?) before that point (the ones that don’t span multiple days) - those, at least, have some firm evidence of existing in that Houcha’s Youtube compilations of the different love interests’ events all include at least one mini event. More of them than not have two… but not Kiel or Doug, and I could swear I saw two for both of them. (I think Doug had one taking place in the store in addition to the one on the stairs? I can’t remember a second for Kiel in detail but I feel like there was one. I definitely got the color compatibility quiz, though, and it HAS been a decade. But if I checked Youtube more thoroughly at some time that’s not 4 AM I wouldn’t be shocked if I do find second mini-events for the others.)

Seriously, up until last year I assumed this was a totally normal part of gameplay that just didn’t happen to be on any of the Youtube compilations, and I’d ultimately restarted the game at least once pre-Special hoping to see what Arthur’s would be (since his whole complex about love made me figure a reverse confession would play our VERY differently than the usual.) I figured those mini-events were probably prerequisites (and that’d explain the rarity, since they’re not required for marriage, not formal Events and therefore not really talked about, but are still subject to the wonky event RNG, and by the time you activate them both and presumably get a love interest at high enough LP they’d want to confess to you, you’d probably confessed already. Pretty sure Kiel’s LP was at least a 9 or 10.) And then I never got this after my first playthrough despite getting mini-events, even if I didn’t get quite as far in on them, so when I brought it up and the universal reaction was “… do you not mean reverse proposals?” and bafflement at my belief this was a thing, I wondered if it wasn’t a glitch.

But I’d also wondered, once I realized just how rare this clearly had to be, if maybe they only happen once you’re dating at least one other person. I figured “more than one” seemed more likely, at that, since it’d be another thing that would seriously reduce the number of players who’d ever experience this and therefore make it more plausible no one else seemed to recognize it. (And if it already requires you to date one person, the devs probably assumed you’d be more receptive to the idea of dating another if they’re at least the third, rather than the second.) Maybe it really is necessary. At least for Kiel, and I’m way more certain it happened with him than Doug. Definitely something to test for now that I’m replaying.

Thank you for this information! Seriously I had all but convinced myself I’d imagined everything. (And if the line’s voiced, I should definitely try and record things going forward like I was originally playing.)