#genuinely can’t always remember which things happened in which game at this point

[frankenbuggee]

The salute of good luck🍀

Inspired by this chat.

[crazylittlejester]

Opinion time

honestly, I like the hero of time as much as the next person- OOT is one of my favorite games in the whole entire series and I love the characterization Jo-Jo gave him, but that doesn’t mean I can’t admit he’s an extremely flawed character

and I mean this in a good way, Jo-Jo wrote a character you can know did bad things and still like him /pos

but I didn’t like how, in the timeline parts, wind does confront and ask him “why did you leave?” And times only response is, in my own words

”I left it behind cuz I felt like it LMAO”

..????? yes he took percussions to make sure ganon “didn’t come back” (which.. he did, time knew the seal would break eventually. ganon literally screams out about how much he hates him and is coming for his descendants)

leaving an entire world behind to rot is just written off as “shit happens” and you can’t say “well time didn’t know what he was doing” because, at some point, yes he FIGURES OUT his actions have consequences /nm

Imagine being rulie, your entire world is a wasteland and you ask the guy who CAUSED its downfall “why does my land suck so much” he just goes “oops my bad”

in the child timeline he just fucks off, in the downfall timeline he dies, comes back, and says forget everybody else, he only really started giving half-a-shit in the adult timeline with twilight. We can see this with his blatant favoritism over him.

anyways this was me screaming at the clouds about how time isnt a cookie cutter hero, he’s flawed and he’s made mistakes and honestly? It makes his character better and more enjoyable. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk (feel free to give ur opinion on the matter)

okay sorry for any spelling mistakes or oddly autocorrected words, this was kinda a lot longer than i thought it would be alkjslkjs 😭

Okay this is an incredibly interesting perspective and I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone else with this exact take on Time. I have a much different view of his character and his actions, though it was nice to read yours! /gen

First off, I completely agree that Time is a incredibly flawed person, and that’s part of why I love his character so much. He is not perfect, he is not the best leader, he makes mistakes. I genuinely think that the only reason he’s leader of this group and why the others tolerate him being the unofficial official leader is because even they can acknowledge that Time is just the best person for that role. He is not a perfect leader, he is not and I don’t know if he’ll ever truly reach that, but looking at the other options, he really was the best for the role. (Warriors would’ve been incapable of fully separating the others from the military in his mind, Twilight wouldn’t have been able to go off as Wolfie without causing mistrust or doubt towards him in the beginning, and Legend simply didn’t WANT that. The only other person who possibly could’ve lead the group would be Sky, and while I do think that could work, Time has way more experience)

Time has made a lot of mistakes, in his games, in the comic, he’s not flawless. I think in the comic (LU) we most commonly see this through how he’ll say things that come across as incredibly flat, snappy, or a bit harsher than what was really necessary for the situation. And this is just something it seems like he’s always been like, at least with how Jojo characterizes him, because in that one sketch with him and Malon when they were younger, he said something that did very much come off as snappy/rude, and he immediately realized how what he said sounded and tried to make an attempt to apologize. In the most recent update, we see how his stress and emotions made him much snappier and harsh towards the others than he really needed to be. I’d even argue in some moments, when he’s talking about his past and we see parts of his past, he’s a BIT arrogant. He certainly isn’t that way anymore, or at least he’s not as arrogant, but we see some moments where he comes off ass a little full of himself, the one I remember the clearest is the expression on his face when he got into Gerudo Town and a bit how he was talking about it. He’s also able to admit his flaws and that he was too distracted and let that get in the way of him helping the others while Twilight was hurt

Where I disagree with you (AND THIS IS ALL MY OPINION AND MY INTERPRETATION) is on Time’s thoughts surrounding the whole timeline thing. I do not think he had ANY idea that he was creating a whole other timeline, nor do I think he really even had a choice. He was sent back in time in an attempt to stop Ganon from destroying everything, and I believe he’s spent all the years since thinking all he did was go back in time. I don’t think he ever even considered the fact that Wind’s timeline continued on without him there (screenshots taken from Timeline Talk 1, art credit to @/linkeduniverse)

He DIDN’T know what he was doing. He was like, 9-10 in the body of (roughly) a 17 year old, he was doing whatever he was told by Zelda, Rauru and the sages, the goddesses, whoever. And I don’t think ANYONE realized the consequences of sending him back in time like that. I genuinely think that this right here is where he realizes not only that the timelines split, but the timelines split because of HIS adventure/journey. And when faced with the idea that every time he used his ocarina he abandoned hyrule (kingdom) he seems horrified (also from Timeline Talk 1):

I also don’t think the others have any idea at all that Hyrule and Legend are on a separate timeline from everyone else. I think everyone who comes after Time on ANY timeline has heard of him, but Legend and Hyrule haven’t had the chance really to talk about their timeline with Time, at least not really like how Wind did. And even if they had, again, Time DIED in their timeline, which could not possibly in any way have been his fault 😭

So yeah, he did leave Wind’s timeline (which is the adult timeline), but he genuinely had no idea that it got ABANDONED. I think the way he was looking at is was like erasing and starting anew and not just writing over what was already written and leaving that there (if that makes sense). And even if he had realized he completely abandoned that time, I’m not sure it would’ve even been possible for him to go back, and if he HAD, there’s only one Time. Twilight either wouldn’t have been born, or he’ve been born in Wind’s timeline. Which raises some INTERESTING theories because if Twilight had been there, would his game have happened? If it HAD, would Wind even be a hero? Given that whole theory that Wind doesn’t even have the hero’s spirit and he CHOSE the hero life instead of the other way around. That’d honestly be so interesting to explore!! I kinda wanna write a fic on it

Time did was he was told to do, he did was he was guided to do by people older than him or who had more ‘power’ than him. He was around ten years old, I don’t think he had a “Lmao fuck this shit” attitude when timeline hopping, I don’t think he understood he was timeline hopping at all. He didn’t understand what he was doing and he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, he was just trying to survive, and I’ll even bet he really thrived on what little acknowledgement and appreciation he got for saving hyrule (kingdom) because he seems (to me at least) like after losing the Great Deku Tree and the Kokiri he was REALLY lonely

And yes, he definitely for sure has a soft spot for Twi. But aside from Twi JUST being his descendant, I think Time feels bad that Twi followed after him in the hero business. He probably realized Twilight was descended from him and then really LOOKED at him and saw everything that young man went through and Time probably felt AWFUL. And after realizing that Wind’s entire timeline suffered because of something he did, I’m sure he feels the same way towards Wind. Because he may not be Time’s blood, but he’s a KID and he’s been through so much. Also there could be an argument made that Time is such a hoverer around Twi rn because he was hurt. I’m sure Four could’ve been the one who was hit and Time would be hovering over HIM instead

TL;DR: Yes Time is incredibly flawed. That’s what makes him interesting, that’s what makes him a good character, I wouldn’t like him very much if he were perfect alkjslksj. But I do not think he intentionally abandoned the other timelines, nor do i think that has anything to do with why he seemingly favors Twi. He was a kid, I don’t think anyone understood what was happening. I think if Wind had never spoken up, Time never would’ve known

(also Timeline Talk 1):

but thanks for sharing your perspective! It’s always interesting to see the different ways we see the same character :) /gen

[proudfreakmetarusonikku]

sorry before I go to bed I’m thinking bout the different ways Evangelion portrays csa.

asuka's (metaphorical) rape is done by a stranger. someone she doesn’t know. a literal monster. as someone who’s always prided herself on being able to fight, being able to always win, this shatters asuka, who feels such a thing makes her weak. she responds to her trauma by regressing, playing video games at her friends house and speaking to her like a young child, before shutting down entirely to the point of attempted suicide. she’s later sexually abused by shinji, taking his own trauma out on her, and while we don’t see as much of how that effects her, we see the tragedy of the cycles of abuse play out.

shinji's sexual abuse is done by a friend. he doesn’t realise it’s wrong, and misato thinks she’s helping, because he’s a boy and boys like that right? but misato not realising the harm of her actions do not make her any less harmful. there’s a lot of complicated feelings and emotions there, and it very much deals heavily with the complexities of abuse- not all abusers realise what they’re doing. not all abusers even have sexual intent (misato absolutely doesn’t see shinji in a romantic light at all, she's not attracted to him). not all victims hate their abusers, and not all victims fully realise how inappropriate their abusers actions are. yet, the abuse still has impacts- as seen with shinji's complete lack of sexual boundaries, to the point of assaulting asuka for a desperate sense of control. he recognises that it’s awful- it’s something familiar to him to a degree- but as a severely traumatised child, he lashes out and inflicts his own pain on others. which is not acceptable, obviously, but it’s tragic, and shows how abuse makes people worse.

and as for rei, she's abused by her own father. the signs are there, but they don't entirely click at first, and neither do they click to the adults who should be looking out for her. the sexual abuse she faces is overlooked even when it’s right under everyone’s noses. and when someone does put the dots together, they blame her for it. rei's abuse, like a lot of familial abuse, is either ignored or something she’s considered at fault for, despite being sheltered and groomed all her life, and, y’know, fourteen. rei's arc also focuses heavily on her conflicted feelings about her abuser, but in a different way to shinji. she, at first, idolises gendo. she's been groomed her whole life, and is incredibly isolated. what happens is normal to her, she doesn’t see it as wrong because she’s never been told it’s wrong. the idea of not having faith in gendo is alien to her. but as time goes on, she realises what happens isn’t special, it isn’t okay. by the time she dies and another version of her takes her place (the rei's share a soul, so they’re the same person even if rei iii can’t remember everything) she’s quietly furious at the idea of being a doll, and realises she can be more. when her abuser touches her, she literally tears off his hand. and she attains agency! that’s the final part of her storyline. she has agency, for the first time in her life. and she might have chose to listen to shinji on what to do, but she chose for the first time, it’s a massive step and honestly it really struck me as a beautiful ending to her character arc.

idk man. i just like how this mecha anime interrogates a sensitive subject from multiple angles and has genuinely suprisingly good depictions of even abuse that’s not recognised as abuse by most still. it’s nice! it’s refreshing. honestly, they committed to exploring abuse and never trying to apologise for it, and it’s fucking great. i'm personally not a csa victim, but i did go through sexual trauma at around the same ages of these characters, and i found myself relating a lot to their arcs around this due to that even if our experiences are pretty different. i felt aspects of how i dealt with things, especially in rei and shinji but to a degree asuka as well, and it made me feel more confident in myself. if shinji ikari can choose to live, so can I :)

[reasonsforhope]

Your blog is a literal god send for me, I’ve been feeling so depressed, pessimistic, nihilistic and cynical at the state of the world right now and my fear of if I even have a future, but your blog is absolutely what I needed right now, so I can’t thank you enough. I’m just so happy to see someone who is hopeful and positive and not pessimistic, and it makes me legit want to cry tears of joy. How are you able to stay so positive and optimistic despite everything going on?

<3 <3 <3

As for how I stay optimistic and relatively positive? Lots of effort and hard work.

I'm not naturally an optimist. I spent most of my life (and certainly my adolescence lol) being pretty angry and cynical.

It's not that I never feel depressed or despairing about the state of the world. There's fucked up shit happening, indisputably, and hey, I'm trans, it's been a rough fucking year for that. But I guess I try to focus on the difference between passing moods and baseline worldview.

Some of the main ways I moved my baseline worldview to be optimistic and hopeful:

A lot of reading and looking at data and in-depth stories. The headlines never give you enough of the story - hell, most news articles don't these days, because they're so skewed toward negative news

Especially reading/looking at good news sites (I have a masterpost of good news sites here). There are good things happening everywhere that you never hear about. Mostly, you only ever hear about the good things when there's been a huge setback, which sucks!

I'm basically not on social media. Nothing except Tumblr, Facebook, and LinkedIn, and I only ever go on FB and linkedin briefly for business. It's fantastic, can't recommend ditching social media enough

I made sure I was doing something to help (aka I started this blog. I would also volunteer but my disabilities and a lot of logistics make that complicated)

My job involves reading a couple dozen self-help books a year lol, not gonna lie that def helps

Taking a long perspective of time. It often doesn't feel like it, but statistically, this really is the best time to be alive. (Here's a fantastic essay about many of the reasons why.) People really gloss over how much most of the past kinda fucking sucked to live in. 50% of all people used to die before their 15th birthday, for basically all of history until the past 200 years!! Imagine having to live with that. Imagine all of that pain and grief literally everywhere. I'm really happy about living in modern times, actually!

That last point is esp helpful to remember for me because I'm 100% for sure on the list of "people who would've died in childbirth" pre modern medicine (and my mom would've died having me, too). It was modern times or nothing lol

The vast majority of the world has spent the past 300 to 500 years being absolutely brutalized by white people and/or the West. There's still a lot of fallout to fix and colonialism to uproot, but I genuinely can't wait to see what people and nations will achieve with sustained self-rule and significantly fewer massive atrocities

Solarpunk and hopepunk stuff

I'm gonna make a whole post about this at some point but the fact that we eliminated scarcity in the past few decades actually changes the entire fucking game for the world (literally it's not a zero sum game anymore) and for the future. We're allowed a bit of a learning curve I think

I listen to the Rent soundtrack a lot and go "well you know what being trans right now sucks but being trans at the height of the aids crisis would've been way fucking worse" lol rip

Meds! Meds. Antidepressants and antianxiety meds unfortunately don't work for everyone (yet!), but also thank fuck for meds

Progress almost always happens in slow, tiny increments, with a lot of stops and starts and setbacks. You have to always remember that there are always people fighting somewhere, and if they're stopped, there will always be more people to pick up the fight in the future

[wfagamerants]

The one thing I want to start this off with is to say I have no interest in participating in Paper Mario discourse. If you asked me if I enjoyed Color Splash and Origami King I’d give you a genuine yes (Sticker Star not so much, but few would fight me on that one). I have my preferences leaning towards the old stuff, but this isn’t about shitting on the new, just a celebration of what’s currently happening.

With that said, let’s get this going.

I don’t think a big introduction and recap of the Mario RPG history is all that necessary here. Only thing I’ll note is that I played all of them in release order over the years, apart from RPG, which had to wait until the Wii Virtual Console release in 2008, I even played the Mario & Luigi remakes, so I have a lot of opinions.

Needless to say, the Mario RPGs were one of those branches of Mario I just always expected to be there over the years. Along with the platformers, sports games, Kart, Party, etc, it was always one of those reliably present parts of the franchise I could count on to be there system after system.

The past couple of years though did feel very different. Paper Mario, while still retaining RPG elements, has shifted to a more adventure game kind of focus and with Alphadream gone, Mario & Luigi series is now in limbo, with nothing certain on whether the series will be handed off to another developer or be kept dormant for some time.

There are the Mario + Rabbids games and I like those a lot, but I personally never saw them as part of the RPGs, moreso strategy games with RPG elements like Fire Emblem. It’s just how I see things but I won’t argue with people that think otherwise, perfectly fine in my book.

It just felt like that part of the franchise was basically done for, after so many years of being around, but then, this happened.

Super Mario RPG was announced to get a remake. This was obviously huge for many reasons. It is a niche title that did well back then, but doesn’t really represent the Mario world as we know it now. Not even Peach’s Castle had its design set in stone at that point, that’s how early a take on Mario as a world it is.

It’s extremely faithful to boot. Mario, Peach and Bowser were updated to their modern looks and Toad now has dips on the blue vest, all more than fine changes and besides that, the game is a modernized take on the original to a tee. The environments, original character designs, even everyone’s proportions, are spot on and kept as you remember them.

There is more to say, but that ties into the big announcement we got last Direct too. You know the one:

Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door is also getting a remake and it’s looking every bit as faithful as the RPG remake.

Given how much I have adored this branch of the franchise, I can’t put into words how much this return to what we used to have means to me, it’s genuinely special to me.

It’s hard to say which of these I would have deemed more out of reach, but having both of them on the horizon really makes me wonder about some stuff. In particular, perhaps they are deliberately aiming to relaunch the RPG branch with these, especially knowing the Switch successor is more than likely on the horizon.

Regardless of what the future holds, this announcement hit me in the best way on a personal level. I love RPG and was excited to see it get such a loving comeback, but Paper Mario felt like an even bigger deal. RPG was a one-off that did its thing and then went quiet. Paper Mario is a series that after the second game, has seen change after change that, along with interviews, made it seem like the series I fell in love with, wouldn’t ever go back to what it used to be.

Gonna say once again that this isn’t a means to bash the new games, there even is a lot to them I enjoy. The overworld gameplay is consistently good and it’s more explorative edge and things to do in it even are something the old games can learn from. I also really like Huey and Olivia and genuinely think they and their dynamics with Mario really do a lot to keep me engaged with their games.

Thing is,I still think the old formula was more rock solid and don’t believe in tossing that out just for the sake of being different. There really isn’t anything wrong with sequels that take an established foundation and just expand on and play with it and it’s not like the Crafts Trilogy, as I’ll call them for brevity, don’t repeat ideas either. Every new game has a castle in the sky, a crafts themed main partner, some level of Toad rescuing,  a game show at some point, Luigi popping up once per area, etc. Not even saying that as a bad thing, just saying it’s not like the series over the past 11 years hasn’t been using some elements multiple times too.

There is also THAT subject, character variety and yes, I am in the boat that the lack of it has harmed the modern games and no, I don’t think that what the old games did was very different from what Mario always does. 

I said this back in my essay on 64, but Mario always does what needs to be done to adapt itself to a new genre. In the platformers, new takes on established species are usually reserved for the mooks or bosses, because they are such an important asset of the game. In an RPG you get that too, but the NPCs you interact with also get more variety, especially the Toads, because interacting with them and a large chunk getting various bits of involvements in story beats or sidequests, is a big part of the game.

I genuinely don’t see how Galoombas, Goombrats, Cat Goombas or in a non-mook example, Goombette from Odyssey and RPG Goombas like Goombella or Frankly are all that different. They all serve a particular purpose and are given distinct designs and characteristics that compliment them. They’re the same thing and of course that’s also gonna mean more unique designs in the RPGs, because while reused models/sprites for generic NPCs is an RPG norm, you do want to create the impression of a lived in, diverse world, instead of making you consciously feel like you’re talking to the same guy over and over again.

It’s a reason and I was floored when I learned it, that the Super Mario kun adaptation of Color Splash has more Toad variety than the game itself:

Sure they got the same outfits, but that's what kun always did, even during TTYD days;

It’s just a massive benefit to establish character and a reason that the Rescue Squad, Captain T. Ode and the Professor from TOK are standouts of the Crafts trilogy, because they DO have something to visually communicate their character and go from there.

These games ARE still deeply rooted in Mario and just add what needs to be added to translate well into an RPG. Like people give a lot of flak to say, the old Dry Bones design in the first two Paper Marios and I get it, but it is important to note this was the most recent design available for them at the time:

The modern Dry Bones design wasn’t established yet, so they worked with what they had. The games never twisted anything Mario in ways that defiled its vision, they just did what they felt was needed to make the game enjoyable as an RPG and a Mario game.

Goes without saying, but seeing the battle system not tampered with is also really lovely to see. I won’t throw shade at the modern games, but I do personally think none of the modern games have come up with a replacement that compares to the old system, with SS and CS even having ways to softlock you in certain circumstances like a really unlucky Kamek curse in the latter, keeping you from using Jump cards against flying enemies.

This isn’t about me not liking something different. I’m an avid pre-Switch ND Cube Mario Party defender who would play all five of them over Super Mario Party (now here’s a hot take).

It’s not about me being pissy about the paper focus. I prefer when it’s just a stylistic choice, with the occasional visual gag nodding to it, but I can give credit when I feel a use of it is creative and not just the characters mentioning they’re paper like that’s a joke of its own.

I had more points like this but decided to trim things because as I said, the point isn’t to bash the new games, I just genuinely think RPG and TTYD have a stronger foundation and are just better translations of Mario into the RPG genre and hope to see them signal a return to this style of Mario RPGs. Heck, they can still make adventure games like the crafts trilogy as their own sub-series and freed from the burden of having to please an existing fan base of a different style, I honestly want to see them go all out with the direction they go for. It and the RPG Paper Mario can easily co-exist that way.

More than anything though, I am amazed these two games exist at all. Both RPG and TTYD are treasured by many, but they aren’t the platformers or Mario Kart or something more recent that can be seen as currently relevant. Bringing these two back shows they are listening to the fans and I hope they do well enough to show to Nintendo that this is something that pays off.

Above all else I want to celebrate that we are getting this kind of Mario game again. Sure, I’ll argue WHY I think it’s such a good thing, but this is more than anything a time to be happy, not to fight.

[nebulacollege]

Any dark headcanons about each of your characters, I’m terribly invested in them :3

Hi, Ryu here~ I’m usurping this blog’s askbox for this particular ask!

Like Katsu already mentioned, it’s very difficult to write hcs about your own characters, especially if you’re trying to keep everything spoiler-free. Thankfully, I have nothing to do with these boys’ writing and Nebula’s story in general: I’m just a mere artist and designer, so it should be easier for me.

But to be completely honest, it’s kind of tricky for me as well: I can’t write anything that would hint on any specifics of their darker sides in-universe, since the game is already quite dark... but at the same time, I don’t really want to keep it too vague and uninteresting either. 🤔 Quite a conundrum. But too interesting of an ask to ignore it, so I’ll do my best!

Thank you so much for sending asks and being interested in these boys and their story. You being this invested motivates us both <3

My note: I’m going to censor some (actually just one) of the replies either entirely or partially due to things I don’t want to share yet. This makes writing dark headcanons almost impossible lol Because 1. The story is already extremely dark, so these headcanons won’t reach this level of being fucked up. 2. I don’t want them to hint at different things that people might guess are going to happen in the story. If we ever complete the game, feel free to ask this question again!

Once again, nothing of what I’m about to write is canon. Also I’m not sure if you could consider them dark or not. Anyways. Let’s go~

Niall prefers not to use his cunningness in a competition (he is too prideful to win with anything other than his own skill), but he still uses it a lot for petty reasons. For example, if his competitor pissed him off during a game of chess, Niall will focus on winning fair and square, but then orchestrate a situation in which that guy will get hot tea or a bowl of soup spilled all over him. Of course, he’ll do it in a way that there will be no way to blame Niall for that – and he’ll act super concerned too, winning extra social credit.

Niall would never consider himself- nope! An entire headcanon got snatched!

The first time Niall was confessed to (even before Nebula), the person ended up avoiding him for a couple of weeks, looking very depressed and almost always crying. They seemed like the worst thing possible has happened to them, like the response they got from Niall was the something so bad that it’s borderline traumatising. No one really knows what Niall said to them back then… but after that time, somehow they made out and even started kind of sort of dating… for a couple of days, and then amicably parted ways. Ned still remembers being confused by this sudden change of heart by Niall, but Niall said that it was always better to stop things at a better point, right? Like the whole horrible thing never happened.

Ned got aggressively bitten by a huge dog back when he was a kid, and he somehow managed to overpower it, open its jaw and save himself. He had a nasty bite mark on his leg for a while, but somehow doesn’t even have a scar on it anymore, and doesn’t seem to be scared of the dogs at all. He was 7 when it happened.

Another time he accidentally broke his aunt’s gorgeous emerald brooch. He just wanted to look at it closely, and it kind of flew away and hit the wall and broke… He was very upset, but his aunt was kind enough to ensure him that she won’t be mad as long as he finds all the emerald pieces that got scattered around the floor. They found all the pieces but one. Ned’s stomach really hurt that day for some reason.

Ned is kind of bad at controlling his strength, but he used to be even worse at it. He accidentally broke his opponents (in any kind of sport) noses and bones multiple times, he even did it once while he was already in the Nebula College, and a lot of people saw that. There was a guy in his dorm who was genuinely afraid of him to the point of transferring to another school, and it was weird for everyone involved. But it’s not like Ned did anything to that guy, so he couldn’t get punished for scaring him off like that.

Animals really don’t like Liam for some reason. It’s not like they start hissing at him or anything, but they instantly start acting meek and anxious, some almost get paralysed. Liam, however, loves holding animals! He has a lot of cute pictures of himself hugging dogs, holding cats, petting goats and scratching horses’ cheeks.

A lot of people in his dorm don’t really remember Liam’s face. It took some time for them to stop acting surprised whenever they see him, like he isn’t supposed to be there. Liam doesn’t necessarily hold it against them, but he finds it a bit weird and kind of funny.

Liam entered a dessert-making competition once just for funsies, and it ended up being so easy that he got bored by the end of it. He made a super elaborate cake for the final challenge, and then completely ruined it intentionally. He spent 10 minutes just sitting in the ruins of his own cake, looking around at his competitors who got very excited that they finally had a chance to win… and then suddenly felt like he wanted to win again. He made a super easy 5 minute dessert and somehow ended up winning anyway. He remembered his competitors’ crying faces forever.

When Edmund was arriving to the Nebula College, he saw a couple of raven carcasses: one in the forest while they were driving through it, one half-eaten one near the school territory, one right in front of the car as he was getting out of it. He thinks about it every time he sees a raven on his house’s emblem.

Edmund kind of likes it when he’s putting on a sweater with a tight collar and starts feeling like he is suffocating a little bit. He used to be scared of this feeling when he was a kid, but now every time it happens he feels goosebumps (the good kind) and likes that his heart starts beating faster. Maybe it’s just due to the lack of oxygen.

Edmund started wearing his skull ring a long time ago, and he remembers it feeling too big for his fingers. His fingers are still kind of thin, but the ring sits better on it now, so sometimes Edmund grabs the skull part and pulls it very strongly, letting it scratch his skin unpleasantly until it stings. Sometimes he gets carried away doing that, and sometimes he thinks about how it would feel to have someone else who is much stronger than him do it. The poor ring would probably break.

[mewly]

"Her stubbornness and drive rivals Aloy’s which isn’t something she’s really faced with a companion before" ikrie and talanah are laughing somewhere

I don’t even personally ship Seyloy if that’s what you’re mad about 😂

Anyway you’ve missed the point of what I said there entirely. So allow me explain!

Tl;dr: Seyka’s stubbornness and drive is harsh like Aloy’s, Talanah’s isn’t (and Ikrie isn’t a companion so she didn’t have the same impact), they are different, and I thought narratively that Seyka’s would have had a bigger impact than it did.

This is what I said in literally the next line: “Aloy got to see what it’s like to be on the receiving end of that instead of the perpetrator.”

I said at first I thought Seyka’s character was created to act as a mirror of Aloy, (with the similar personality traits, both mission driven, finding a focus and younger sister rescue) so that Aloy could experience firsthand how she has previously acted towards others with her own drive and stubbornness making her leave them behind and letting her know how that felt from an outside perspective. Let’s be honest, Aloy can he harsh at times because of her mission and weight of it and that comes across in her drive, we’ve seen companions like Varl and Erend comment on this before. Seyka was written to be the same way. She’s quite mean and rude at times towards Aloy, whereas no other companion has been to that extent before. She’s not afraid to snap at Aloy. I believed as the dlc went on that Aloy would have an epiphany moment - since Varl isn’t there to explain these things to her anymore - like “oh damn this is how they all felt”, further pushing Aloy towards letting people in and changing her mentality to be more open, and in turn helping Seyka open up too. It was her whole character arc in HFW so I assumed it would continue into the dlc. BUT, that isn’t what happened sadly. It was romance coded.

As the DLC went on, I clicked that Seyka was written to be our first love interest, and not her own character like all the other companions. And I’ll stand by that conclusion. People can all argue until the cows come home that Seyka’s her own character, but this is my opinion and I don’t think she is right now, 90% of her character is Aloy recycled and just not as good. Which is why the character mirror theme would’ve made more sense to me. (It’s also why I can’t ship it, I think they’d clash long term. Too similar. Anyway, I’m off topic.)

Aloy is pushed into the supporting role at times with Seyka, which is jarring to us as the players. (That might also account for why I felt like a major third wheel the entire main plot of the dlc lol, but I digress).

In regards to Talanah and Ikrie, Talanah is a huge positive force from the get go in HZD, and willingly helps Aloy and there’s no real pushback in HFW after a brief conversation (eg. Talanah agrees to go back when she’s hurt, whereas Aloy tries to push onward until she’s physically forced to stop by her wounds after the Hades proving lab), Talanah’s stubbornness and drive is admirable but it is different from Aloy’s and that’s just fact. Ikrie is a DLC side character (not a companion ergo she won’t have the same impact on the story) that I genuinely don’t remember much of so I can’t comment there, but I know even she didn’t act like Seyka does towards Aloy, (which as I said before, comes across a little mean at times).

I genuinely hope that clears things up for you about what I meant from that line.

I was trying to be positive in my wording in that review, so that anons, such as yourself, didn’t jump down my throat for “not liking Seyka or Seyloy” since discourse was rampant then. But as always people find something to be mad at! 😂

But a word of advice if I may? Clearly you prefer Talanah and Ikrie for Aloy, or as characters in general, which is fine. Ships ahoy! But ships aren’t the be all and end all of fandoms nor should they be, and this game is so much more than ship discourse and I’d hate to see it reduced to such now that romance has been confirmed in whatever extent that may be, it’s a phenomenal game series and I could write about the themes and narrative behind it (or potential themes lol) until my fingers bleed. I didn’t like Seyloy because it didn’t make sense to me narratively, not because “omg a new girl kissed Aloy and my ship is now dead nooo wahhh”. Some people like Seyka and/or Seyloy, some people don’t, and I’m indifferent to it all mostly. And that is ALL okay (as long as you’re not like, one of those homophobes who tanked the reviews of course because of it).

Anyways all the best nonny.

[synthetickitsune]

Kinktober prompt #28: Enemies | Hongjoong (ATZ) | 0.8k words ❧ Kinktober masterlist

Rumors can be fun. 

You’ve always been fascinated by what nonsense the human mind can produce when bored, and it remains to be true even now that you’re in the middle of those speculations. The only downside? The person who’s also involved.

Hongjoong’s been a pain in your ass for longer than you can remember. There’s not a particular reason, which is why at first you tried to get along with him. It was awkward. Painfully so. In hindsight, it’s obvious he felt the same way. And eventually, you both stopped trying.

And so it all started - are you bitter exes? Did something happen in your past that made you hate each other’s guts? Are you violently into each other? Everyone around you seems interested in the enigma that is your relationship.

It’s interesting, though, the unnatural, irrational hatred you have for the man. Since the first time you saw him, you can’t say you’ve thought a single nice thought about him - and vice versa, as he assured you during one of your many escapades.

“You prepped for me? Say you hate me all you want, but you love my cock,” he grunts as he bottoms out and you can hear the smirk in his voice. Then again, he’s not wrong in either of those statements.

Because when humans have no idea what to do with their anger, their behavior gets a little… irrational. Much like your animosity for the man. 

“Shut up,” you growl at him, already regretting all your life choices that led to this point. Like every time this happens.

“Make me,” he challenges as he slaps your ass once between his harsh thrusts, hard enough to make you yelp. You feel the flesh heat up. As if the red marks his hold leaves on your hips weren’t enough. This is really the last drop.

There’s not much you can do, being railed against the desk from behind, but you’d rather die than not try. Besides, you’re more familiar with his body and preferences than you care to admit. You know what he likes.

“Oh? So needy already?” he teases through gritted teeth as you meet his thrusts, fucking yourself on his dick. You clench around him with a pleased purr. You feel his fingers twitch at your hips. There’s a stutter in his pounding. He’s smart. You’re smarter. So you double your efforts. 

Sex with him is great, you never have to fake your orgasms or try to move things along just so you’re done with it, but just this time, you might make an exception. He’s especially cocky, and you’ll be damned if you don’t teach him a lesson. The only thing higher than his hatred of you is his ego. One would say if you hate someone, you won’t care if they cum. But Hongjoong does. And there’s simply nothing that you can do that would wound him more than making him cum first without getting you to climax. 

He slows down, and if the twitching of his dick inside you is a sign of anything, it’s that he’s doing it for himself rather than to tease you. It makes you smirk, and it’s a good thing he can’t see it in this position. It’d give the game away.

“C’mon,” you mumble, faking desperation as you try not to laugh, “Joongie~ I need you so much.” You feel him tense at the sweet tone you use, feel him twitch inside you again as you keep fucking yourself back on him as fast as you can. The grip on your hips grows even tighter and it’s a struggle but you don’t let him stop you. He’s asked for this. You cringe internally at the moans you make - genuine, it does feel good, it’s just that usually you prefer to keep quiet. You don’t wanna inflate his ego more than it already is.

He curses under his breath. You imagine him closing his eyes, trying to stop his approaching high. But it’s useless when you clench around him again, so tight you feel him pulse inside and it’s a shame you won’t get to cum around his dick. He really does fuck you good. With a few, obviously rather involuntary, thrusts he cums, groaning loud enough to drown out your whines. There’ll be bruises on your hips. 

“Slut,” he growls once he catches his breath. There’s barely any real bite to his words.

“Do you call that anyone that doesn’t cum just because you stick it in?” you huff, meaning to slip away from him and use the rest of your break to get off yourself, but he doesn’t let you go.

“Hong-” you start but the words die in your throat when he grabs a fistful of your hair and makes you look at him.“I’m a perfectionist,” he says and his words make your blood run cold. He’s never spoken to you like that, and perhaps if he wasn’t still buried inside you you’d feel scared instead of horny. “We’re not leaving here until I’m done with you and until you beg me to let you go.”

[calliopechild]

none of the emojis from the wip ask game fit exactly with what i want to ask, which is that if you have even the tiniest crumb of anything to say about the more things change i will feast until the end of my days >.>

Apologies for how long it took to answer this, but the levels of Catholic guilt this ask triggered (I say as someone who is not remotely Catholic) were so substantial that I dug out my old jump drive with all the TMTC files on it so that I could find a snippet for you.

The Telltale Heart moment aside, it is...bewildering in a lovely way that people still remember TMTC. Even though it's been *checks ff.net* oh Lord, almost 11 years since I touched it? I genuinely can't tell you how flattering that is, because this fic is still very dear to me, which I know is probably counterintuitive given all the dust and cobwebs that have gathered on it.

The radio silence is a combination of life stuff and the fact that I had the story plotted out when I started, and even had a decent portion of the ending written--and the fic as it exists now at chapter 24 went off the rails from that plan at least two chapters back, lol. A lot of what ended up happening in the fic means that what I had planned couldn't happen now, either because it'd be OOC or the circumstances just aren't possible. A lot of the relationships have changed too, and it kind of got to the point where I got so annoyed with having to basically scrap the whole final slice of the fic and start over that I put it on hold for a bit...and then here we are. ^_^;;

I don't want to get anyone's hopes up and promise that it'll be finished soon, but I also don't want to leave it unfinished forever. I can say that I'm pleasantly surprised to find that I have a lot more written of the new ending than I thought I did, so finishing it might not be impossible.

In the meantime, though, as thanks for still remembering my abandoned child fic, have a blurb of Naomi trying to restrain herself from beating Leo to death in the hospital for being a stubborn idiot:

“Why did you jump between us, then? When tou-chan drew that sword?”

“I told you, it was instinct.”

“And you knew you could protect me.”

Leo nodded again, and I fought down a grin; he’d set me up just like I’d wanted him to. “Well, then maybe you can understand why I’m confused. I’m having a little trouble reconciling the fact that you knew you could protect me with your idea that leaving is supposedly the best way you can keep us safe.”

“Just because I can protect you doesn't mean I want to make it necessary; if I stay away, the trouble does too.”

It was not appropriate to throttle a hospital patient, I reminded myself, but I was going to win this argument one way or another. “People get hurt; that’s life. If your benchmark for successfully protecting someone is that they never get hurt, you're always going to fall short because no one can guarantee that. I know it’s what we’d all prefer, but we can’t keep the people we love from ever getting hurt. Things are always going to happen that we can’t prevent. You’re setting a standard for yourself that no one could reach, Leo, and I don’t know why you’d want to do that to yourself. I'm fine, my father's fine, and if we're ever not fine, it won't be because of something you did or didn't do. I don't want to be kicked out of your life just because you've suddenly decided you're too dangerous to be around.”

Leo closed his eyes for a second, then looked up at me, mouth hard. “Maybe I don’t want another person to protect.”

For a few seconds I just sat there, listening to the squeak of shoes in the hallway and someone's voice buzzing on the overhead speaker, waiting for—something. For Leo to say he didn't mean it, for my stomach to stop dropping, for it to somehow make sense how Leo had gone from telling me we'd been a safe place to saying we were a burden he didn't want.

He didn't say anything. He just sat there, eyes on mine and not giving an inch.

I'd have believed he really meant it if it wasn't for the way his hands were fisted in his blanket, the knuckles standing out sharp and white. Something April had said in our conversation the other day floated into my mind.

“I'm…look, I don't want to sound insulting by saying this, but I'm glad you care enough to ignore Leo when he told you he was too dangerous to be around. I don't know how much he's told you, but he did the same thing to me once, except it was in the middle of us running after being attacked. It was in my home, and my friends who were being attacked, and Leo still told me it was their fight, not mine. That's just Leo—he accepts danger to himself but doesn't realize that in his efforts to protect others, he's being insulting by implying no one else might accept that danger too. But he never tried that with me again, so he really can learn; just hang in there.”

From the sound of things, Leo had just tried to get her to leave, rather than making it sound like he wanted her out of his life. I knew this was probably some idiotic belief that it'd keep me safe, as if doing so would somehow make Karai forget about me and tou-chan. And maybe it should have warned me about how serious Leo thought the danger was. Maybe it should have made me listen, especially since I had evidence of how willingly Karai would resort to violence right in front of me.

What it actually did was piss me off.

If that was how he wanted it, fine. I shoved my chair back as I stood up, reaching for my purse and my temper. “Good.”

Leo's eyelids flickered. “Good?”

“Yes, good.” I leaned into his space, bracing my hand on the bed beside his shoulder, because if he was going to hear me about anything, it was going to be this. “You know why? Because I don’t remember ever asking you to protect me. That's not what I'm here for. The sentiment—that you don’t want to see me get hurt—that’s nice, really, but the way you go about it…” I shook my head, ignoring the fact that when I was this close, I could see flecks of blue in his eyes; this was not the time, dammit. “I'm going assume it's the drugs making you forget that you don't get to decide for me what risks I'll take. And since you apparently haven't figured it out yet, you're about a week too late to try and cut us off, because Karai already knows about us. You leaving isn't going to magically make her forget where she found us.”

I bit my tongue before I went any further. There was a line between making my point and trying to hurt Leo back, and implying that we were in danger from the minute Karai realized we might be important to Leo was charging right over that line. “You can’t fight life, Leo. You can’t stop every bad thing from happening to the people around you. I guess the real question is whether or not you can accept that, or if you'd rather not let anyone in ever because they might get hurt.”

I walked out, trying to ignore the way the nurse at the desk dropped her eyes to her computer and pretended to look busy. That was fine. I didn't want anyone looking at me right now anyway.

"Maybe I don’t want another person to protect."

In Leo's head, that was probably some sort of sign that he really did care, to the point that he was willing to burn all his bridges and make me mad enough to write him off for good so long as it kept us out of the line of fire.

But maybe part of him had meant it. I could tell Leo had meant it when he'd admitted how important the dojo was, how important it was to him to have somewhere where he didn't have any obligations. Maybe he'd wanted it to stay that way, for us to not turn into more people he had to keep safe, for us to just keep being a slice of normal for him to visit once in a while. He'd said it before, when he told us about Karai, that he couldn't be responsible for anyone else.

Except of all the things I'd learned about Leo, it was that protecting was what he did when he cared. So what did it say that he didn't want to add us to the list?

[greentrickster]

I found your TSP AA crossover au on Ao3 and can I just say, wow!!

now, I'm not that far into the whole AA game series but! How is Apollo feeling about The Narrator and Stanley?

Thank-you so much! ^U^ As for Apollo, he finds them... strange. Stanley? He's okay enough - relatively normal guy, maybe a little... too normal in some way Apollo can't quite put his finger on, but a decent bloke. A chap, if you will. Starts feeling more comfortably normal once Athena gets that bucket for him, a little layer of constant tension Stanley'd been carrying up until that point goes away, which Apollo hadn't realized he'd been picking up on until it leaves due to it just being always there.

Well, he does seem a little... odd in his reactions to certain things. Sometimes he seems to just... forget stuff. Like that you have to open a door before you go through it, or that his friend Narrator has a different walking speed than him even though they've obviously known each other for years (long enough that matching walking speeds should be a subconscious action for both of them). And then, when he does remember, he gets... excited? Apollo watched him go in and out of the Agency seventeen times in a row once, apparently just so he could open and close the door. Who does that? What's so fun about opening and closing a door? (Not much, unless you haven't gotten to do it yourself for many many the end is nevers.) Not to mention that Stanley forgets to make sure the Narrator's looking at him half the time when he signs - both of them forget that for some reason. The Narrator makes a certain amount of sense for this to be a thing with, but like... why would the guy using ASL forget that people need to be looking at him in order to understand what he's signing? ...and why do they know ASL when they're both British? (Answer: because the Narrator wanted that sweet, sweet American market approval, so he skewed certain things American to curry favour, like the attention-craver he is.)

And all that's weird, yes, but also could probably be explained away if asked. Like, Stanley's selectively mute, maybe heavy reliance on sign language is a newer situation for him, and he and the Narrator learned ASL because they were living in America at the time so it made sense to learn that version. And maybe the door thing is a stim? Apollo doesn't know, and he's not about to go poking into someone's physical and mental health history for no reason when they barely know each other. Stanley’s kind of weird, but no more so than any of the weirdos they meet in this job.

Now, the Narrator on the other hand? He rubs Apollo the wrong way, and he’s not even entirely sure why. It’s hard to get a read on him, Apollo’s getting way better at using his natural abilities to read people and detect lies, but it... doesn’t quite work with the Narrator? Or, at least, not properly/consistently - he gives off a lot of false positives and negatives. Apollo avoids talking to him unless he needs to as a result.

What Apollo doesn’t know/can’t properly understand is that the reason this is happening with the Narrator is partially because some of the outlandish, unbelievable things he says are genuinely true (like about creating the Parable and Stanley, and not being used to having a physical form), and part of it’s because the Narrator isn’t used to having a physical form. He (luckily) has all the inherent motor skills and spacial awarenesses he needs to function in it properly, but he still isn’t used to the blasted thing. Touch is such a strange sensation to him, and his tells are still developing because he hasn’t had a body long enough for them to develop into automatic muscle memory or anything of the like. Athena, in contrast, has a very easy time reading the Narrator, because his emotions come through loud and clear, but his body language is still developing, and that gives Apollo (and Trucy) pause from time to time, due to the dissonance of it.

Thanks for the ask!

[griponthenews]

no because that meme of someone watching a streamer play their favourite game but they misunderstand it horrendously. That’s literally me with Not for Broadcast. I have yet to see a streamer play it and use like their actual brain and critical thinking skills when choosing whether to side with Advance vs Disrupt. Like the point of the game is nuance and the grey morality of both sides but these people will just assume everything Advance do is bad while supporting Disrupt without questioning any of their actions because Advance are the government and therefore automatically pure evil? Say what you will about Julia’s government, but early game Advance genuinely have some stellar policies. But every streamer I’ve seen play this game always goes fully pro-Disrupt as soon as they have the option to do so, without considering the actual good things Advance are doing at that point, like the Menu Centres or the Assets and Wealth Act. I’m not forgetting about their inexcusable actions later on in the game (if you’ve played it then you’ll know what I’m talking about), but even then that was mainly Julia’s decision rather than Advance’s (can’t remember which ending it is but there’s that tape where Peter is very clearly against what Julia did). Arguably the best epilogue of the game happens when the public is in favour of Advance over Disrupt. But because typically in dystopian fiction the rebel faction is the morally better choice I guess people assume Disrupt must be too? Despite all this the most annoyed I’ve ever been watching someone play this game was when at the end the guy said (in a roundabout way of complimenting her I guess??) that Megan’s actor did a good job at making you hate her. How someone can come out of this game hating MEGAN WOLFE of all characters is beyond me.

sorry for how incoherent and badly formatted this post is I just have to rant about Not for Broadcast or I’ll explode.

[gilmores-glorious-blog]

i rewatched the original hunger games movie,, have a liveblog because why the fuck not:

- i have such a hard time connecting donald sutherland’s snow with tbosas snow

- okay wait does every district have their own effie?? bc i want to learn more about that

- peeta is so much more babygirl than i remember him being

- okay now i’m seeing it a bit more because snow really does sound like gaul at certain points

- god this whole premise is so fucked up. like. oh my god.

- i love haymitch so much,, him being katniss’ father figure makes me so 😭😭

- the tech of the arena is wild i forgot how man-made it is

- i adore how charismatic haymitch can be when he wants to

- rue my beloved :’)

- the tracker jacker scene is CRAZY what a fucked up way to die

- rue’s death scene & everything that immediately follows it is ROUGH,, i’ve seen this movie multiple times before but i was still crying

- but also the katniss and sejanus parallels that people have pointed out in that scene (her with the flowers and him with the bread crumbs) make me insane

- “everyone likes an underdog” “i don’t.” 👀

- snow talking about going to district twelve and i’m just like 🤨🫵

- i literally could not give less of a shit about gale,, every time they cut to him just brooding back in district twelve?? awful.

- peeta going “then come here. please.” and them cuddling?? i’m insane 😭

- “now there’s no way i’m letting you go” no bc why is peeta so much more charming than i remember!!

- the guy from district 11 not killing katniss always gets me 🥲

- this is somewhat unrelated but,, if i had a nickel for every time i watched hunger games on an airplane with really bad turbulence, i’d have two nickels. which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it’s happened twice.

- the theory (that i wholeheartedly believe) about foxface killing herself is so. god. yeah.

- i always wish the movie had the whole thing from the books about the wolf-mutt things being the dead tributes because that is the type of fucked up shit i enjoy

- cato’s whole “i’m dead anyways” speech versus coral’s “i can’t have killed them all for nothing” bit……. i love me some messed up parallels

- the gamemakers changing the rules again is so fucking foul,, like i know that’s the whole point but goddamn….

- i genuinely had no memory of seneca dying,, little bitch deserved it though and also the method of killing him was lowkey kinda cool

- i love the new context tbosas gives,, snow saying “what a lovely pin” but we know that internally he’s freaking the fuck out

[m1ckeyb3rry]

Ok same before BLLK I was like knee deep in JJK (do you have a fav?? I’m personally a raging Inumaki advocate LMAO) but after discovering BLLK and also seeing where the story went…..yeah….i can’t say I’m caught up on all the leaks (everything between Gojo sliced to Yuta copying kenjaku) only because I got so confused and I genuinely have no idea what happened I just know people were dropping like flies left and right…I’m hoping gege has a plan because not to be overly critical but I could not see ANY plot for awhile LMAO it was just kinda an ongoing toss someone into the Sukuna fight tag team whoops they died next person kinda vibe for me too….if I’m being honest I think I was originally captivated by the whole premise of jjk and the fighting curses thing that was most prominent in the content covered up to shibuya but I think I was slowly fading from culling games…something about it just seemed so different from what jjk had built up to be originally (or I just was too hard stuck on its original kinda theme of sorcerer vs curse strictly..simpler times…)

Also I don’t know how much you’ve seen of these but the recent exhibition content?? Where apparently gege clears up some stuff about the camellia being not a camellia and throwing people for a loop like I’m NGL I thought that was kinda ridiculous like huh??? I can’t tell if maybe it’s just a mistranslation but the never ending cycle of “DADDYS HOME”(meme ref I wouldn’t actually call gojo daddy for disclaimer’s sake LOL) to “it’s gojover” burnt me out…but LMAO I def remember reading culling games for the first time and talking to my friend being like yeah I’m just gonna wait for this to be animated because I have no idea how hakaris ct works

I love we have Otoya at one end of the disrespect spectrum yuki at the other and karasu in between LMAO

Ah yes agency my fav word fr!! Whenever I do in depth analysis I find myself gravitating towards talking about agency and will of certain characters I love how you developed this…also talk about scholar?? Pop off the amount of research/knowledge you took into account while writing this omg

And fr!! Bonafide soccer losers I’m sure they’d find their way to a field and a ball no matter what au they’re slapped in LMAO that being said cherry tree is also a personal fav of mine from your portfolio…the characterization for Rin was on point and aligned a lot with what I’ve understood to be his character LOL but yeah that tag is flooding (I could be wrong but sometimes I feel like saes is even more active??) it’s gotta be something about the Emo teal eyed dudes I’m somehow hoping at some point in bllk we see Rin get to redevelop his interests outside of soccer..(like the horror games and his personality kinda pre-sae trauma) but we’ll see how that goes LMAO

Back to research DOWN TO THE PLANTS IN HIORIS FIELD goodbye that’s some next level research I’m honestly living for it though!!! I mean I wouldn’t know which plants are native to Japan off the top of my head but I can imagine if I read something wrong about something I was familiar with I’d be a little irked the dedication you have is too real

SHHSHS GLAD TO HAVE YOU TOO HEHE I’m also hoping tabieitaken nation RISE honestly I’m sure they will I think they’re just kinda like…idk paywalled for lack of a better term behind the anime only/stuck in manga barrier I’m hoping we’ll get to see them in action from ep1!! Also yuki always almost seems like the third wheel to me LMAOA I think he’s just too dignified to stoop to their level of goofiness sometimes he’s just got that air to him….honestly I’m just excited to see all the new s2 characters in action with their dynamics and relations etc….im also kinda a nanase stan I can’t wait to see my headband boy in action…I think it’s funny how Isagi gets surrounded by people with accents and dialects I can fs see him being lost when they use region specific vocab LMAO

THANK YOUUU I know I just braindumped there so do take your time LMAO…I’m excited to read the karasu one shot and your other event works too!!! Will be back for commentary with each release o7

Also that shot of Karasu from s1 has me dying eightbit better give him compensation and do him justice s2 because that’s not Karasu that’s Kevin….like who is that man…..but no you’re blessing the Karasu tag never stop LMAOAO

-Karasu anon

i’m in pretty much the same boat!! i loveddd jjk and was p active in the fandom from like 2022-early 2024. my favs were megumi kashimo and yuta!! but i loved inumaki for a while hehe. i think some of my best fics are for jjk in terms of the kind of story i like to write 🤔 but i do agree that recently i’ve felt v lukewarm abt it

i feel like it’s a trend to hate on things that are popular which i don’t necessarily agree with but i just feel like i don’t really enjoy reading jjk anymore!! and i think a lot of its fans think popular = good which isn’t always the case. i also believe it gets a lot of praise which while some of it is merited (the things jjk does well it does VERY well) some it maybe not so much. for example i’ve seen a lot of people praising jjk for its female cast and honestly i don’t see the appeal. not a single female character is written as well as the male characters (including maki, who as much as i love her and as much as she is def above average for a shonen fc, is not really as well written as people make her out to be imo) and they all have dissatisfactory/vague endings (the way yuki tsukumo’s character was handled was a crime, same w tsumiki). i think a lot of fans think not sexualized automatically means good female character but that’s only one portion of it. jjk is kind of what i mean when i say i’m glad bllk has barely any female characters…i rather they don’t exist than get shelved for the plot/development of male characters/not even fully explored

also the way people were confused about whether nobara died for YEARS after it was shown in the manga and it was only cleared up in an interview is just. idk. i feel like i love what jjk could be (and again, i love a lot of things in it as well!! this is more me explaining why i’m not so into it anymore ig haha) and the things it set up to happen, but the execution isn’t really to my taste. different people will enjoy diff things but that’s just me 🤷🏻‍♀️ i keep up with it just because i feel like i have to?? i want to know how it all ends but i’m not emotionally invested like i used to be. also one thing i will say is i see a lot of analysis posts breaking down jjk and pointing out the different subtle details gege has put into it, and while i admire that level of attention i think those kinds of details should only serve to enhance a main story?? like the plot should be able to stand on its own without needing to have a very very deep understanding of many many nuanced topics. but again all of this is my personal opinion!! at the end of the day jjk is wildly popular and many people do enjoy it. gege isn’t perfect but no one is tbf so while i think criticism is good i would never bash on them for their ideas/work. at the end of the day it’s their story and the way they want to tell it is what they’re going to do!!

if soccer didn’t exist in an au they were put in the itoshi bros would simply invent it HAHAH omg i’m glad you liked cherry tree!! that’s like one of my least fav bllk fics i’ve written LMAO i feel like rin is so wiggly to write about (that makes no sense but basically he’s just hard to capture in my mind) that it was difficult despite being a relatively simple request 😫 yes i do think that sae’s tag is a bit more popular than rin’s!! maybe it’s because sae is being set up a bit like the gojo-type character who’s untouchably skilled 🤔 that kind of trope is always a winner w the fandoms i feel…i have to admire i think his haircut is weird asf 😔 i don’t think he’s UGLY but i also don’t know what everyone sees in him (i have to be careful though because the last two times I said this it was abt kaiser and otoya and. you saw how that turned out.)

PLSSS omg yes i sat there making sure white butterflies even exist in japan and everything 😭 there’s a line in hollyhock too where y/n compares reiji hiiragi to a hornet and originally the line referred to him as a vulture but apparently japan doesn’t have native vultures?? so it wouldn’t make sense coming from someone in the sengoku era to refer to a bird she would have had no chance at ever seeing. my philosophy is that it’s one of those things that people won’t care about if you forget (and sometimes artistic liberties can be taken) but the more careful you are to ensure you’re being as accurate as possible, the more the work really feels cohesive and believable ig?? 🤔 idk i think it just gives a more seamless vibe and you can def tell when an author is knowledgeable or at least did some research before writing abt a subject!! it always elevates a fic to me and i’d like to give that same experience to my own readers hehe plus i’m a bit of a perfectionist so i’d make myself do it anyways most likely

I AGREE i can sense them becoming popular they really are just fandom tropes as actual characters!! as long as their animation does them justices 😭 otoya and yuki looked okay in the last ep but karasu…they did my man a lil dirty icl 😔 omg that screenshot of him is so funny to me idek what it is he just looks so odd!! same in the epinagi movie though not to that extent 😔 i think part of it is that he’s drawn so sharply in the manga that in the anime he looks a little too soft?? for lack of a better word. also i got so used to him having black hair that i forgot his hair is technically purple-blue (karasu with black hair and purple eyes you will forever live in my heart). i was rewatching bllk a while ago and i saw him in that moment (he’s in the background i think he’s either judging shidou or judging raichi and gagamaru) and i had to rewind like HELP IS THAT KARASU?? but he’s kinda cute though…w his little 😒😕 expression…

also this is unrelated but idk how i just realized kurona was number 4 in second selection?? the way he beat literally every relevant character except rin is so funny (although tbf idrk how aryu and tokimitsu got 2nd and 3rd but then completely faded from relevancy after second selection)

[aeternaluminanoctis]

I can’t sleep. Sooo….

My brain is just filled with what I used to look like.. Maybe I should draw what I looked like since there’s slight “canon divergences” with each of my past lives. I want to be able to look at art and know that it’s me rather than someone else’s interpretation of me, y’know? I’ve also been having vocal dysphoria which is a first. I’ve always been okay with my voice because I have a big range for singing even if my speaking tone is more feminine but now… I miss the genuine tenor that my voice had without having to be forced. Just… a lot of thoughts regarding myself while my kinshift has subsided slightly.

That’s another thing. For the past two days I’ve been basically having a consistent Omori (that. Is.. so weird getting used to saying in 3rd PoV now) shift but ever so often I’ll shift to Vanitas for short periods of time but I don’t process it until it’s already over. Like there’s a certain level of passion, sass, and anger that lingers whenever I shift to Vanitas but I don’t end up recognizing it as a shift until I’m at either my baseline or the neutrality and guilt of an Omori shift… It’s hard to describe. I also am realizing taking about myself in the 3rd person, while helpful, feels wrong. That’s also not to say that the frequent shifting is bad! It’s actually kind of helpful, especially with dealing with issues at work. Maybe it’s just the fact that it’s all still fresh???

I mean… I’ve known about fictionkin since I was about 16. It’s not like the concept itself is new to me. But coming to terms with it (I hate cringe culture.) took forever! It took me completely ignoring my (what I know now to be) Ramuda shifts for YEARS to the point where I can’t even look at the source without feeling weird and panicking over my guilt to the point it forced me to realize that Stranger and Basil weren’t just characters I felt got unfair treatment in a game to finally realize. And even then with realizing I am Omori and Ramuda, Vanitas is the outlier because I can’t even bring myself to watch the source yet. I’ve been attached to “him”since I first heard “his” theme. I’m not even sure how I’m going to react when I finally watch it… What happens when I finally remember my Ventus? Just thinking of his name has my body yearning for him to be back by my side. And that’s with the barest knowledge of what happens in the source. I just wish I had looked into fictionkin more seriously when I was younger. It would have made getting used to and learning everything easier.

[blookmallow]

more murder game 

to say the least 

YIKES

y’know im writing these going back through my screenshots after. being actually much further on and i dont remember if this was ever explained really. was this just there to fuck with them 

you guys keep leaving out really crucial information here i feel like this death game isn’t very fair 

at least monokuma makes the rules clear before making everyone murder each other 

anyway i think im missing a couple shots here but q-taro tried to get us all dead bc he decided he’s the most important person and needs to get out even if it means all of us die. which, y’know. i guess he’s got the orphanage he needs to get back to but im still a lil bitter about it 

i feel like we’re not nearly worried enough about the fact that they have identical duplicates of everyone just on hand, with the ability to make them be alive, AND advanced AIs of everyone here with the potential capability of updating in real time 

how the FUCK are we not talking about this. anyone could be a doll at any time 

oh boy 

that’s. good. that’s fine 

its FINE its FINE 

OK!!! THIS IS. WE’LL FIGURE THIS OUT THIS IS FINE 

i actually. literally could not get out of here without just ignoring them all because i never used the memory eraser thing (really just not a good idea to agree to erase parts of your brain, i think, ) so my hallucination level just kept going critical 

unless that’s Supposed to happen here and the point is you can’t get through it without just refusing to acknowledge them 

why is it ALWAYS GIN 

im not sure if the whole token thing is actually a factor you can control, i dont remember what the final token count was (if it said what it was) or whether it was like, a number i could have significantly influenced 

anyway this is the point where ive decided im Done with q-taro because like. ok the game here is, gin’s going to get shot with an injection of poison. they don’t have all the information from the start so they believe this will kill him instantly. q-taro can choose to switch places with him. i can understand that a man might not be able to bring himself to choose to die for someone else, even if it is a child, especially since he’s already said he’s willing to do anything to get back to the kids he’s responsible for at home 

but then they discover that the poison isn’t immediately fatal, and they in fact have an antidote for it, and there’s a way to solve this puzzle so everyone escapes if they don’t take too long. gin is a child. q-taro is a big athletic adult man. he still refuses to switch places with gin. meaning, he, an adult who will almost definitely be able to take a few shots while they’re figuring it out, and knows he’ll be able to cure it at the end, decides instead to risk the life of a child taking the shots for him when he’s much smaller and could die way faster. literally why would you refuse that unless you’re just That selfish or that cowardly. especially since he was previously down to vote a child to die just on the basis of “they’re less useful” fuck you q-taro fuck you i hate you 

I FUCKING KNEW IT 

doll reko is genuinely. one of the most tragic characters in this story and nobody really talks about her again after this. its really upsetting, 

oh. shit. oops 

was. that my fault somehow, 

sorry alice 

i guess reko’s still alive though so that’s a plus 

i literally don’t understand why this happened though like. isn’t it against the floor masters’ rules or whatever for them to directly intervene/attack participants?? like. what happened here was ranger threw a doll head at alice that looked like reko’s severed head, but then it turned out to be fake, but it exploded so he died anyway but. alice didn’t actually do anything to cause that. he didn’t violate any rules, there wasn’t a vote, and it wasn’t a Challenge/game that he failed. unless they’re allowed to just call fucking anything a game and justify themselves for just straight up killing you because they felt like it, in which case there’s no purpose in having regulations for the floor masters at all, and there’s just NO fucking structure to this whole game in the first place 

which i guess could be the point but it’s always more interesting when there’s rules and ways you Can win. if it’s just “we trapped you all in here and we’ll just kill you whenever we feel like it” that’s not a death game that’s just, like, murdering people. so why bother with all the traps and puzzles and complicated challenges if you’re just gonna sometimes explode people because, like, It’s A Prank Bro

or was that the reason ranger got dead. i dont remember Why he got dead other than gashu was just Done with him

[fantastic-nonsense]

I genuinely think the most of the differences between the Pevensies in the books vs. the movies can be explained by one simple fact: the Movie!Pevensies are fully cognizant of and emotionally attached to their experiences in Narnia after returning to England, while the Book!Pevensies have a notable emotional distance to their memories of Narnia

It's an explicit plot point in the books that the longer you stay in one world, the easier it becomes to forget about the other one (or think of it as a dream). Additionally, while the Pevensies do remember what happened and are permanently changed by their experiences in Narnia, they seemingly forget a lot of their Narnian-learnt knowledge and skills. This gets briefly mentioned in Prince Caspian, when Lucy talks about swimming:

When they had drunk from the well and splashed their faces, they all went down the stream again to the shore and stared at the channel which divided them from the mainland. “We’ll have to swim,” said Edmund.

“It would be all right for Su,” said Peter (Susan had won prizes for swimming at school). “But I don’t know about the rest of us.” By “the rest of us” he really meant Edmund, who couldn’t yet do two lengths at the school baths, and Lucy, who could hardly swim at all.

“Anyway,” said Susan, “there may be currents. Father says it’s never wise to bathe in a place you don’t know.”

“But, Peter,” said Lucy, “look here. I know I can’t swim for nuts at home—in England, I mean. But couldn’t we all swim long ago—if it was long ago—when we were Kings and Queens in Narnia? We could ride then too, and do all sorts of things. Don’t you think—”

“Ah, but we were sort of grown-up then,” said Peter. “We reigned for years and years and learned to do things. Aren’t we just back at our proper ages again now?” -PC, Chapter 3

So she learned how to swim while growing up in Narnia, but forgot it again when she returned to her own world and was back at her proper age. But the longer the Pevensies stayed in Narnia, the more those previously-learned skills came back to them:

This was real broad-sword fighting. The great thing is to slash at your enemy’s legs and feet because they are the part that have no armor. And when he slashes at yours you jump with both feet off the ground so that his blow goes under them. This gave the Dwarf an advantage because Edmund, being much taller, had to be always stooping.

I don’t think Edmund would have had a chance if he had fought Trumpkin twenty-four hours earlier. But the air of Narnia had been working upon him ever since they arrived on the island, and all his old battles came back to him, and his arms and fingers remembered their old skill. He was King Edmund once more. -PC, Chapter 8

The same general principle appears to apply to their memories and the emotions attached to them (which I think is one of the main reasons why Book!Susan is so easily able to dismiss Narnia as a "silly children's game" when she gets older). Narnia's magic protects visitors from feeling the pain and suffering associated with being de-aged/losing their home/etc when they leave Narnia by forcing a mental and emotional distance from their experiences, and they're only able to re-forge those connections once they return.

By contrast, the Movie!Pevensies are acutely and painfully aware of what they've lost by returning to England, and it dramatically alters the equation for everyone involved.

It turns the level-headed, loving, tired Books!Peter into the angst-ridden, hotheaded Movie!Peter who's constantly trying to prove himself. It turns Susan's story inside out, because it gives her entirely different reasons and motivations for possibly wanting to forget about Narnia and dismiss it as a "silly game." It gives Edmund a narrative reason to retain the massive character growth he'd experienced in LWW, act as the steadying rock in the siblings' lives, and feel like he has something to prove in VDT without Peter around.

And while I think Lucy remains the least changed between the books and movies, there are several added dimensions to her fully remembering her first fifteen years in Narnia that really start to peek their heads out by the time we get to VDT (particularly her desire to feel grown up and desired by the men around her; if she's truly feeling her age, I think there's an additional nuance to that plot that goes beyond the vanity and "she wants to be like Susan" dimensions from the book).

Do I think this accounts for all of the characterization differences? No. But I think it's a massively understated difference that doesn't get talked about enough as being a major driver of how differently the Pevensies act and react to things in the later books vs. how they act and react in the movies.