#from conversation with: NPCs

[daniil-dankovskys-daily-quote]

Yes, we. I refer to myself in plural because I bloody well deserve it! Too bad you don't seem to share this opinion.

-Daniil Dankovsky in the Bachelor Route from Pathologic Classic HD

[pausegame]

Neri de Acutis & Rook de Riva | Dragon Age: The Veilguard (2024)

[chirpthingz]

btw. this is the information (open the images to see the whole message) carol received about what dara knew after she had been abducted (from her video here)

which isn't information that we didn't already know, but it's nice to see it all in one place!!

[memento-morri-writes]

random snippet - birthday duels

aka Terrible Time Tuesday (yes, I posted parts of this yesterday. But the new parts, which is most of it, are fun! I promise!!)

Rook was not having a good time on Sunday, and this was before he died from a plethora of stab wounds. Would you believe me if I said this was one of the "best" times he's dealt with bad feelings? pov: Rook wordcount: 1.1k character(s): Rook (D&D), Tyra (NPC), Aki (Other PC) canon status: canon session rewrite trigger warnings: death mention, grief, guilt, self-hatred, very unhealthy coping mechanisms summary: on the birthday of his recently deceased friend, Rook struggles to deal with his emotions and winds up taking them out on his first mate, Tyra.

As the day wore on, the black cloud of grief that had settled over the ship grew thicker and more oppressive. Rook paced the deck, nearly vibrating with tension. It was almost suffocating, pressing down on him with the weight of a thousand regrets. 

Thoughts clawed at the back of his mind, bringing unwelcome reminders of the part he had played in Warren’s death. If things had gone differently, if he had been a little faster, a little smarter, would his friend still be here?

He shook his head rapidly, trying to shake off the guilt that clung to him with barbed claws. The others didn’t blame him. They’d made that point very clear. And yet, he still couldn’t help but blame himself. 

Wrenching his thoughts away from the dark pit they were circling, he marched up the stairs leading to the quarterdeck. Tyra stood at the helm, talking to Tempest. When she saw Rook, she trailed off. 

She opened her mouth in greeting, but before she could say a word, Rook spoke. “I know you’re more than capable of handling the crew, but how do I know you can hold your own in a fight?”

Tyra’s eyes narrowed slightly. “I can handle myself. I’m best with my pistol,” she tapped the beautifully carved handle emerging from the holster at her hip, “but I’m not too bad with a rapier.”

Rook made a contemplative sound. There was a long pause as he looked her up and down. “Show me.”

Drawing his rapier, he turned on his heel and descended to the deck, stepping onto the cargo hatch. The crew moved out of the way, clearing a space around him. Looking back up at Tyra, he beckoned her with his sword. 

Tyra exchanged an unreadable glance with Tempest, who stepped forwards to take the wheel as she slowly made her way down to the main deck. She positioned herself across from Rook. Hesitantly, she drew her sword, a curved cutlass that was shorter and thicker than his rapier, with a wide, flat blade.

Around them, the crew had started murmuring, hurriedly placing bets. Rook let their voices fade away, trying his best to clear his racing mind. He and Tyra stared at each other, time stretching out between them.

Then, in the blink of an eye, Rook lunged, sending his blade towards Tyra’s chest. She stepped back, parrying his strike with the flat of her blade. She tried to keep the momentum going, but he disengaged, dancing out of her reach. Now it was her turn to bridge the gap, lunging towards him. He knocked her blade aside with ease. 

Their blades clashed again and again as he effortlessly parried her every blow. She redoubled her efforts, deflecting his next strike. Drawing her arm back, she prepared to attack, leaving her torso unguarded. Rook struck. In a flash, he had his blade hovering over her chest. She froze.

In the background the crew exchanged money as the two stood there, gazes locked. Rook stepped back, raising his sword into a ready position. His heart pounded in his ears as he said, “Again.”

Tyra’s eyes widened, but she raised her sword. This time, she struck first, trying to gain the upper hand early. But it wasn’t long before he had her on the defensive, trying her best to hold him back.

She blocked him again, and this time, instead of pulling back for another strike, he stepped forwards, pushing his sword down her blade. With a flick of his wrist, he knocked the cutlass from her hand.

She stepped back, breathing heavily. 

Rook crossed to where her sword lay, and with one quick motion from his foot, sent it flying into his hand. He held it out to her, hilt first. Reluctantly, she took it. 

“Again.”

This time, he didn’t even give her a second to gather her bearings before he struck, targeting her with several blows in quick succession. Immediately she fell onto her back foot, desperately trying to match his furious pace.

He kept pushing her back, off of the cargo hatch that had been their arena until her foot caught and she stumbled. He pressed on and she fell, back hitting the wood of the deck with an audible thud as her sword clattered from her hand. Rook stood over her, blade hovering inches above her throat. He stared down at her, heart pounding. 

A gentle tap on his shoulder caused him to whirl around, striking at the source of the gesture. The tip of his blade pierced a translucent blue hand, causing it to dissolve into the air. Behind it, Aki stared at him, eyes wide.

“Rook, stop this.” He frowned. “It isn’t healthy.”

“I don’t care.”

Aki’s brow furrowed. “It isn’t helping you.” When Rook said nothing, he added, “Look at her, she’s exhausted.” He gestured towards Tyra.

Rook turned to look at his first mate, who was slowly getting to her feet. She was disheveled, her clothes rumpled and her locs in disarray. Her chest rose and fell as she panted for breath. Aki was right, she was tired. 

“Let her go,” Aki said gently.

Whatever he had been trying to do by challenging her, it wasn’t working. He was breathing more heavily than normal, but it was more due to the tightness in his chest than a difficult fight. His muscles trembled, not from effort or exhaustion, but from tension.

Rook squared his shoulders. “Fine.” He sheathed his sword and turned away. He could feel the crew’s eyes on him as he headed towards the ratlines leading up to the crow’s nest. Ignoring them, he grabbed the rope and began to climb.

Though it had been years since he’d climbed the rigging, it came back to him easily, his body’s memory of six years of sailing guiding him up to the small basket-like platform near the top of the mast. A member of the crew sat inside. As Rook’s head came into view, she started, eyes wide.

“Get out.”

She nodded and hurriedly clambered over the edge, scurrying down the rigging towards the deck.

Rook sank onto the floor of the crow’s nest, tipping his head back until it touched the low wooden wall surrounding the platform. Closing his eyes, he breathed in, then out, forcing himself to slow down.

He wasn’t sure if it was the gentle rocking of the ship, or the wind on his face, or the sun on his skin, or simply the distance from the deck and all the gloom that hung over it, but slowly the tension faded from his body. 

[eyes1nthewoods]

the fact that in his best ending lann just stops being chief after the worldwound closes btw.

[brunetterightsactivist]

Coworkers casually bringing up one of my other coworkers potentially getting deported if he doesn’t straighten out his paperwork. Which is fucked up anyway but like double shocked cuz I didn’t even know he wasn’t from here. And of course nobody elaborates and I’m totally ignored and they go back to talking about completely trivial shit. I want the real gossip

[shwoo]

I hadn't written for a while, but I'm beginning to feel up to it again. I have a few ideas, and I'm still figuring out exactly what to prioritise. Fanfic-wise, it's mostly Bugsnax.

-Snorplo prequel: Snorpy is extremely depressed and trying to recover from a nervous breakdown. Chandlo realises his feelings for him and gets back into contact, maybe in that order, I haven't decided. Snorpy recovers unevenly. Got the beginning and midpoint worked out, and just need the bit between the midpoint and the ending. I wrote part of the outline for this on my phone during the tour in the US earlier this year, as an attempt at a mental health booster. I don't know if it succeeded, but my phone's predictive text has been weirdly fixated on Chandlo ever since.

-QPP Filbuddy 2 - Now It's Journalist's Family's Turn: While in Theobe's (Journalist's) home town for Snaxgiving, Filbo and Theobe attend an informal high school reunion. Theobe disappears, and Filbo gets help from the only people he knows in town; Theobe's three mothers, all of whom are named Drebbie. Not 100% sure how this one is resolved, although I have most of it. Going to have to be very careful with the Drebbies, because there's there's three of them and they all have distinct personalities, and I'd prefer for the story to be more about Filbo and Theobe. I made Theobe be an outcast in high school with zero friends, because I was starving for good outcast with zero friends representation when I was in high school. With zero friends.

-Snorplo in-game quests: The campfire event from Chandlo's point of view, Chandlo's main quest from the Journalist's point of view, and Snorpy's main quest from Snorpy's point of view. Have outlined most of this, but I think I got distracted during Snorpy's quest. He stays inside until it's complete, which doesn't help, but he can still do something interesting while in there.

-Bronica expedition: I want to finish writing the interviews for each expedition member to get a better idea of their personalities, but the version in my head so far seems to mostly be about how they died. There's some horror elements I like a lot. Still planning to be vague about what happened to Bronica, though.

-Snorplo... something: Why is there so much Snorplo. Um, this one started out as two separate ideas I had after Isle of Bigsnax came out, one about Chandlo asking the Journalist about Snorpy on the island, and one about Snorpy finding the Triplicate Space on the beach. I've got to the first draft stage, but the whole bit where they explore the Triplicate Space together turned out boring, so I'd like to tie the scenes together in a way that's not just a complete retread of what happens in the game but with Chandlo and Snorpy. It was fun having them react, but nothing really happens that didn't in the original.

-Obligatory Floofty's leg disappears: Floofty's leg disappears. Also they struggle not to be less of a reckless idiot, and also to repair their relationship with their brother. I know how this ends, but I need more stuff in the middle, to make the pacing of the ending work. I'm sure I can find something for Snorpy and Floofty to be in conflict about. (Chandlo is there also)

It's mostly Bugsnax, but I played so much Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth that I got really invested in wherever it is they're going with Chadley's character. I doubt the third game will be out before 2026, but luckily I have "wherever it is they're going with Chadley's character" at home. In my brain! So

-Chadleyfic 2024: Or 2025 depending on if or when I get around to it. Chadley knows many things to be true, for example that a) he is an artificial intelligence who was b) created to be Hojo's research assistant, someone he has c) definitely escaped in every way. He also knows that as much as he tries, he's not strong enough to repress all his feelings and problems as well as his hero, Cloud. And he's been having some weird recurring dreams lately. This story came together really quickly! I think "character deals with being experimented on by unironic evil mad scientist and also learns The Truth" was an itch I'd been wanting to scratch for a long time. I want this to happen in the background of Remake 3's plot, though, so I need to finish up Rebirth and play through the original to make the details feel right. And make sure Hojo wouldn't have to be in two places at once, because obviously he's going to have to put in an appearance.

[daniil-dankovskys-daily-quote]

What have you done, you dimwits…

-Daniil Dankovsky in the Bachelor Route from Pathologic Classic HD

[thedeafprophet]

i cant explain it but i honestly think i'd be more into playing Heart's Desire again than i would replaying BaL despite me objectivly thinking Bal has a better storyline...

[seased]

skyrim is the first bethesda game ive played, and im playing it on xbox in the ripe year of 2024. as a result, every time i fuck something up theres a little voice in the back of my mind like “are you actually bad at the game, or did bethesda make a bad game 🤔” and i have not played enough of the bethesda contemporaries to be able to answer that

[sepiasys]

Trying to access headspace/innerworld except when you try to visualize the places you remember, they're just memories and not the real thing, and when you visualize a SINGLE person/character/sentient thing, it's like Other Wybie from Coraline where bro can emote and make expressions but can't speak at all.

And yes I can TELL that the visualization isn't REAL. It's like looking at a photograph of a place you've been to.

[hassianlovebot]

i've seen some people talk about einar's romance dialogue and how it feels offputting and rude to him but i'm gonna be honest,,, i never really saw it that way?

like i do agree that the player's dialogue options Suck compared to the other romances. something about it just feels really childish and definitely not as,,, "serious" or even committed as the other romance dialogue options. that being said, it never felt patronizing toward him.

to me, it feels like the player is just. being human. while einar is being galdur. the player doesn't get mad at him for not understanding certain jokes or not showing affection in the same way. and einar doesn't get uncomfortable with the player being human, making human jokes, or showing human affection. they're just Being Human and sharing their humanness with einar. which einar, while not always understanding of it, is completely used to and Does understand and enjoy it later on in the 3-4 levels. not that he didn't enjoy it before, but once you get closer to him, he Does understand more of the jokes and even joins in on certain ones (like the catch one!).

idk man it just always felt like the player and einar are just sharing their perspectives, personalities, and culture with each other. and of course there is the chocolate thing where he says he doesn't need it and the player has to learn what he actually wants from the relationship (ie spending time together). and there are still jokes that he ends up taking seriously, which yknow, that's kind of what i meant when i said the player's options often feel very childish compared to other ones. but it just never came off as patronizing to me, especially since einar repeatedly says that he enjoys spending time with the player and engaging in their "togetherness".

like to me it always felt like he enjoys learning about new things, even if he doesn't want to participate. like at the maji market when he says that while he doesn't understand the hotpot game, watching it fills him with "oneness". he enjoys learning about human and majiri culture and seeing them just be themselves! none of his dialogue implies that he's uncomfortable with the way the player shows affection (there Is something to be said about the dialogue options only ever showing one form of it,,, but tbf they can't put in 50+ options to cover the minutia of human brains lol)

idk i want to be clear im not shitting on anyone else's opinion on this!!! there's room for all perspectives here. i just wanted to share! i've seen SO many people say that romancing einar feels patronizing and like. i've just never seen it that way ! and it always confuses me when i see it akjhgd tbf i think some people are also neurodivergent (same lol) and don't appreciate the dialogue options that einar doesn't understand because in real life it Does feel patronizing when someone does it on purpose even knowing you won't get it. but for me, einar being galdur and not a neurodivergent human/majiri is an important distinction. he shows multiple times that he enjoys learning about human cultures and perspectives, that he enjoys talking to the player even when they don't understand each other, and that he's capable of understanding the player's jokes and sarcasm once explained to him. he Likes that they're different !

einar seems to enjoy the player acting "human" with him because he gets to learn about them! and he wouldn't want them stifle their true personality just to please him! einar is alllll about being true to yourself, your beliefs, your oneness, etc. he wants the player to understand him and his affection, but he also wants to understand the player's personality and affection. he wants them to share each other's "quirks". and don't get me wrong, i do wish there was more we could do to share in his way of affection (especially if his way is our way,,, like i'm Not flirty or jokey like that irl at all and i'd love to have more options where it really is just "hi i enjoy parallel playing with you :)))" lol) and that the dialogue options were less jokey or at least more affectionate/serious but idk,,, i think for me, i've just always seen einar as someone who wants to know and appreciate everything about the player, even the things he doesn't Immediately understand. he wants the player to explain things and share their culture with him SO bad

[the-midgar-blues]

A funny conversation I came across during my time at Junon during the inauguration parade.

[daniil-dankovskys-daily-quote]

You ought to be a bit more respectful to the deceased…

-Daniil Dankovsky in the Bachelor Route from Pathologic Classic HD

[cappurrccino]

see, it's situations like "having someone propose a meeting earlier in the week and then forget/forget to tell me that something else came up" that make me think i'm just an easily forgettable ghost instead of an actual person, and leave me so surprised when people do remember me

[isenstar777]

Strange feeling after zoning out at work thinking about my DnD partner for like ten minutes and abruptly zoning back in to realise that the DM who plays them is sitting 10ft away (also at work) and is completely oblivious