#development insight

[i-expect-you-to-die]

Various pieces of concept art for IEYTD by Leon-Jhong.

Art included under the cut.

"old concept for the level that took place in a car crushing scrap building"

[thesophistiicate]

maybe an unpopular opinion but despite my passion for self development, i honestly dislike most typical 'self development' books and really believe you get a lot more self-expansion out of reading creative non-fiction, essays, philosophy, and literature. engagement with these types of works will expand your intellect and teach you how to grapple with big ideas for yourself, rather than following the rules set out by some girl boss or hustle bro in their glorified marketing pamphlet 'book'.

[a-path-by-the-moon]

[sorry-not-feeling-it-right-now]

One thing about Smitten is that he is quite good at recognising the emotions of others, but this part of him is highly overlooked because of, well, his unhealthy attachment towards to princess. The only time he’s shown that part of his character is in the Thorn chapter, where he recognises the pain and self hatred Thorn has for herself and is 100 percent on team cutting her free from her bindings. He’s not even mad at Oppy siding with killing the Princess at all, as he just quickly forgives him and be like “oh water under the bridge”. With how protective he is over the Princess you’d think he’d be more angry at him, but he isn’t. Which is very interesting to me. One of the ways you can get Smitten in the Thorn route (aside from flirting) is to by recognise that the two of you are putting yourself in a cycle of pain, and then handing her the weapon (symbolising your trust) despite that, logically, you’d know that you would be stabbed. And yet he did that anyway.

The differences of the two versions of Smittens in HEA and Thorn lies in how much you know about the Princess. In Thorn, he’s seen how we’ve hurt her. He’s seen how much it had changed her, turning her into someone who is bitter and untrusting. So with he intention to redeem himself and to show that he is apologetic for what we’ve done, he gave her the implement (aka letting down his walls). For HEA however, he literally just met her. To get to HEA, he recognises that the Princess is upset with your decision of wanting the stay in the cabin forever. But because he(and by extension Quiet) fears being alone in an unfamiliar environment he pushes those doubts aside in order to make the both of you happy.

Both Smitten and Broken are emotionally open people, except when one sees the other upset his first instinct is to lift them back up and gently remind them that they’re worthy of love and kindness, while the other would sit down quietly with the other and listen to their woes.

(Reminds me of a fic that @/writingdevil wrote… it’s a poly fic between Smitten Broken and Oppy. Go read it. It’s really sweet)

I am on the team of “Smitten can become better if we just get him away from the Princess for a little while”. While his love and devotion for her is genuine, his fear of being alone that leads to his unhealthy need to please her and make her happy is. Something. Actually a lot of the Voices need some time out away from the Princess.

(Edited to have this cause I have a stupid idea. Ignore this)

[sainz100]

via @/momentumracingm

[otaku553]

Learning how to draw him,

[taw-k]

Hc: Loki's Nordic runes are really good, he writes them like they're stamped on, but his English is the most incomprehensible ancient calligraphy you've ever seen and his math is even worse.

He writes like this

And his math looks like this

He insists it's completely normal and entirely readable.

[feroluce]

Me: I wonder what Hook calls Sampo in the Japanese dub? Probably oji-san, since it's shushu in the original Chinese?

Hook: Sampo-ojichan!!

Oji is "uncle," which is hilarious because Hook calls Natasha by "older sister" when she wants something. So Hook either just really wants to get on Natasha's good side, or she takes Sampo at face value when he refers to himself as an old man. She trusts him a lot and takes him at his word and she calls him as such!

And Sampo calls Hook either ojou-san or oujo-san (I can't find the Japanese sub to see the spelling, and I can't tell them apart by ear)!

One spelling, oujo, means "princess," it's how you would refer to royalty. The other, ojou, (which I assume is what he's actually saying) is something you call the young lady of a high-class family with a high social standing. In Genshin Impact, the intro scene for a popular ship, chilumi, shows Childe calling Lumine ojou-chan, which the English dub translated as "girlie." Since Sampo uses -san instead of -chan, his is more formal and respectful, it's more like "young lady."

...It's also how you would refer to the daughter of a yakuza leader, which I love, since Hook leads her own little gang (the Moles) skzhkskdkd

But it really gets me in the heart, because! Hook is generally looked at as a delinquent by most adults. Which I mean. Not without good reason, she

calls Natasha an old witch

frequently sneaks out into the Fragmentum

has left graffiti all over the side of the orphanage

was constantly picking fights with other kids

beat a man unconscious for stealing from her dad

and has already picked up on how business gets done in the Underworld, and uses/actively participates in it to get what she wants- she basically acts an information broker

like Hook earns her reputation haha. The Underground is lucky that what Hook wants is just like. Candy and toys and to play hide-and-seek. I'm sure she'll have the capability to raise all kinds of hell and be more like an actual gang leader when she's older, even if she chooses not to act on it.

So Sampo calling her so politely and respectfully is really sweet and cute! Yes, he's polite and respectful with everyone, but that's just it- he treats Hook much like he does everyone else. He doesn't tell her to buzz off because she's a kid. He doesn't lie or try to cheat her or assume she's naive because of her age. He never talks down to her. He really does just treat her like a respected business partner and he takes her seriously, which Hook really seems to appreciate. And even when Sampo does treat her like a kid, it's not in a negative way; he guides her on little adventures and chats with her and takes her for joy rides on his moped. All of which Hook also really appreciates, since everyone else is too busy trying to get by to make time to play with her. She absolutely adores him.

I hope they officially join forces someday and terrorize all of Belobog with their shenanigans JSKJZNDKSJ

So Hook calls Sampo "Uncle Sampo" in a particularly affectionate/endeared tone, and Sampo calls Hook "Young Miss Hook" in a very respectful tone! And to reiterate:

[fishofthewoods]

Oh my god I woke up this morning and my Stardew Valley meta post had almost 150 notes????? Hello?????????? Anyways I started writing this last night because @moon-is-pretty-tonight left nice tags on the original so thank you so much!!

We know from the starting scenes of the game that the farmer's grandfather loved Stardew Valley. So why did he leave? Pelican Town is a good place to grow old; George and Evelyn are just fine. It's a fine place to raise a kid, but maybe he just wanted to raise his child closer to real schools and other children.

Or maybe, just maybe, he understood.

Was there a day when he was in his thirties where he looked at his friends and realized they weren't like him? That he could run faster than them, work longer, explore deeper into the hidden places of the valley?

Was there a day when he went to the wizard to ask him for help, for knowledge if nothing else? Did he learn then that his family was different? Special? Chosen? And how did he react? He couldn't possibly raise a child in the valley if they would be as strange and fey as him. He had to leave. There was no other way.

But years later, on his deathbed, did he regret that choice?

Is that why he gave the farmer the letter?

Is that why they went back home?

When the farmer steps off the bus that first day, the valley is still on the cusp of winter, just barely tipping over into spring. The flowers are starting to bloom, but a chill still hangs in the air. As soon as the farmer's boots touch the soil there's a change. The air gets warmer. The trees get greener. Not by too much, not all at once, but it changes.

The junimos watch the farmer as they do their work. They're new to farming, but take to it with frightening speed; their first batch of crops is perfect. None of the townsfolk tell them that parsnips don't normally grow in less than a week, that cauliflowers don't grow to be ten feet tall, that fairies don't visit when the sun goes down and grow potatoes and beans and tulips overnight. The junimos talk amongst themselves in their strange, wild language, and agree: this is the one. They're back. The valley recognizes its own, even when they've left for a generation. The farmers have come home.

Things change fast in the valley. The community center, empty and decrepit for so many years, is rejuvenated. (Lewis says it was abandoned only a few weeks after the farmer's grandfather left. Strange coincidence, he says, that it both came and went with the farmer's family.) The mines and the quarry, similarly abandoned, are explored for the first time in ages. The town becomes cleaner, brighter, more vibrant, happier.

And it is happier. Not just the environment, but the people. It's the talk of the town for weeks when Haley does her first closet purge. Leah's art show in the town square is a huge success. Shane's smiling for the first time since he moved to the valley. All of them, when asked, say it's all thanks to the farmer.

People love to ask why Lewis didn't fix the community center on his own. Why Willy never repaired the boat to ginger island. Why Abigail or Marlon never went down to fix the elevator in the mines, or why Clint didn't fix the minecarts.

But isn't it so much more interesting to ask how those things were there in the first place? How they got so broken down? If the stories the townspeople tell are true, the valley was once a beautiful place, flourishing and full of life; why did that change? When did it change?

Was it when the farmer's grandfather, the locus of the valley, its chosen representative, left town?

And if so, what happens when the farmer comes back?

[catgirlstalin]

"Of course, in the United States of America, in England and also in France, there are aggressive powers that long for a new war. They need war to achieve super-profits and to plunder other countries. These are the billionaires and millionaires that regard war as a fountain of revenue, that brings colossal profits. They, the aggressive powers, hold the reactionary governments in their hands and guide them. But at the same time they are afraid of their people who do not want a new war and are for the keeping of peace. Therefore they take the trouble of using the reactionary governments to ensnare their people with lies, to deceive them, to represent a new war as a war of defence, and the peaceful politics of peace-loving countries as aggressive. They take the trouble to deceive the people, to force them and draw them into a new war with their aggressive plans."

J.V. Stalin, 1951, Interview with a Pravda correspondent

[i-expect-you-to-die]

Various renders of various items you can find i IEYTD 2 by Shawn Donghyun Kang.

Renders shown below.

[heliosphere-underthesky]

Heliosphere: Under the Sky

Meet the dwarf planet, Makemake! He's a resident of the Kuiper Belt ruled by Prince Pluto and Princess Eris, and is actually a friend of theirs.

Makemake was discovered back in 31 March 2005. In honour of of the fact that it was discovered just a few days past Easter, his nickname became "Easterbunny"!

Makemake (NASA page)

[a-path-by-the-moon]

[disgruntled-screaming]

Keith being able to reach the spiritual field or whatever it's called should have been something for Lance. I am so tired.

I love Keith, don't get me wrong. But my god the amount of favoritism Keith got by the writers showed.

Lance deserves better.

[fulcrums501st]

still don’t get why outtie Irving’s “oh wait I want to be loved now” also had to mean abandoning/overshadowing his anti-Lumon motivations. like why is the only thing he discusses in ep9 his relationship with Burt and none of it is abt what Lumon is up to? cuz otherwise he would not have gotten on that train. now Irv has MORE of a reason to stay and fight Lumon cuz they’re why he can’t remember the only time he ever fell in love. so then why is he passively leaving? get off that train my corporate spy would never. he clearly has motivations outside of Burt!! why are they being brushed aside?!!!!