#he also knows how to attack people to do any specific kind of damage. if you claim that about Bruce smashing a dude’s skull

[jasontoddenthusiastt]

BFTC isn’t really a case of terrible characterization for Jason so much as it was a terrible case of victim blaming. Like yeah, some of the things Jason did were a bit extreme compared to his “better” appearances, but that’s nothing new and pretty much true of many stories that aren’t utrh or lost days. The bad parts are are also definitely exaggerated by fans.

The story isn’t centered on Jason. Of course every other character’s description of Jason would be knee-jerk dismissive and misunderstanding, since (again) the intention was to make Jason out to be the cartoony bad guy villain. But if you look past the layers of grime they added, the bare bones of his characterization are not entirely incorrect. It’s a biased story in which their intended criticisms of Jason’s morals often fell short, so to compensate they deliberately cranked up his motivations to be more extreme and unrealistic (but one which, nonetheless got Jason’s overall thoughts and goals relatively consistent with stories that portrayed him accurately).

Yes, him shooting Damian was out of character, but granted we’re all in agreement that it was a true case of “bad writing decision”, I don’t think it’s hard to look past. The only other bit people probably complain about (which felt iffy at worst) was him being “a bit enthusiastic” at times in trying to convince Dick to become another lethal Batman (you can just as easily say Jason wouldn’t have been personally invested enough to have acted in the way he did). I don’t care though because he was probably doing it for shits and giggles, and it was funny watching him push their buttons on his spare time while being excellent at his job. Same old ‘none of them deny that he’s effective, they just can’t get behind the killing’ conflict.

Looking past the fact that Jason still had a valid point, the “he’s the bad guy” plot falls apart for other obvious reasons, which happen in the 3rd issue. It’s kind of hard to focus on how much of a bitch Jason’s being when the other characters are written in an infinitely more problematic way (which ends up happening in most “hate Jason” stories). Not only did they heavily imply Jason is a victim of SA, but the way Dick/the batfamily treats Jason about this is … horrible. Arguing that this was a case of character assassination for Bruce and Dick would be more realistic than using this story to claim Jason is a Bad Person™.

Even though Bruce does have a bad track record with his perspective on victims of SA.

Hey. Maybe listen to the living person begging you to turn it off.

Geez. I wonder why he never felt safe enough to confide in Bruce or any of the rest of them. Implying that enduring what he did made him “broken beyond repair”, that he needs to be “fixed”, and saying verbatim, “you are my greatest failure”, not “I failed you greatly”. Then deciding on behalf of Jason that a bunch of people who weren’t involved in what happened to him should all know about this so they can decide what should be done. And everyone agrees with this garbage. Unbelievable.

Aka, any sort of healing he may have tried to accomplish was ruined by you lot. When exactly am I supposed to see that Jason was evil all along.

The story collapses in on itself in the third issue because where Dick is supposed to be at his prime within the arc, he just sort of rambles about how Jason was a shitty victim and then awkwardly shifts to talking about personal growth and coming to accept his own heroic destiny.

I do resent this, but not because “Jason sucks here”. Jason’s “bad portrayal” pales in comparison to the problematic mindsets given to the other characters (namely Dick) which were framed as good-natured intentions and “tough love”. As for people who describe this as “vilifying Jason to prop up Dick” … I don’t really know what to make of that.

[lillotte17]

I just woke up, so good morning, let me see if I can string any words together in a coherent pattern. This has actually been on my mind for weeks. Slowly driving me insane.

200 years. Two. Hundred. Years. 2 HUNDRED years.

That amount of time is literally incomprehensible to us in terms of personal memories and trauma. We can barely remember anything collectively as a species for that amount of time without losing bits and pieces of it. It is more than 2/3 of the time that Astarion has been alive. Well, "alive."

I am currently in my mid thirties, it would be like if I had died when I was 7 or 8 years old and then had to try and remember everything about my personality and my family and my morality from that time period. I do remember it, of course, but a lot of it is pretty vague. A lot of things that I know happened, or that I know I did, I remember because there are other people in my life who knew me then. Astarion wasn't a child, of course, but time still has it's way with things, and there is no one in his life he knew from before he became a vampire, with the possible exception of Cazador, and he's hardly a reliable source of information. Trauma also damages memories, and he has spent more that 2/3 of his life being constantly starved and beaten, and abused in pretty much every possible way a person can be.

The main point being that it is simply not possible to make any firm assumptions about the kind of person Astarion was before he was turned. Maybe he was a horrible, power-hungry, back room dealing, lying, racist, POS trash-man who deserved what he got when that group of thugs jumped him. Maybe he was kind underneath all his bluster, and had a strong sense of justice, and he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Most likely, he was something in between. But we can't know. And Astarion probably doesn't really know anymore either.

(I firmly believe that Cazador chose him specifically to be a spawn, and possibly even orchestrated the attack on Astarion. They might not even have really been Gur. Astarion would only have Cazador to rely on for confirmation about what really happened to him that night, and having a culture of people who hunt monsters and were likely already targeting Cazador himself be the same group that murdered Astarion seems pretty mmmm convenient.)

And for all that he is a chaos gremlin, prickly rat-bastard, dumpster fire of a man, it is honestly pretty astounding (and rewarding imo) just how much growth he can have over the course of the game, which is only a few months, tops. (assuming, of course, that you are playing a good aligned Tav/Durge) But even before that, after the first night he tries to bite you, he is the one who immediately promises that he's not going to feed from innocents, with no prompting at all from the player. He doesn't ask to keep feeding from your PC, and he only drinks from you if you offer it. (unless you direct him to in a fight, I guess, lol) That feels huge to me. He has been STARVING for 200 years. Part of being a vampire is that he's always kind of starving, but he doesn't want to be a slave to that hunger any more than he wants to be a slave to anything or anyone else.

I'm not saying that he's secretly a good man deep down, but even from the start, the potential for him to be better was already there. Which is AMAZING because, as I said earlier: TWO HUNDRED YEARS.

Like, imagine that you know absolutely nothing about yourself except misery and torture and losing things, and it fucks you up, and you KNOW it's fucked you up, and you are terrified that one wrong move could send you back to the place that you just escaped from, and you still say, "I'm still not going to attack the innocent people around me for no reason, though. Sure, I might laugh if they manage to get themselves killed in an amusing way, but it's not going to be my fault."

[satanscatsworld]

Would you do TWST head cannons with an introvert MC who has hella anxiety and nervous ticks (like skin picking, hand motions, head movements, etc etc). Maybe specifically that they have what can be serious limitations, however they selflessly insert themselves into situations that obviously trigger them but they do so because their help was needed/requested? (Could be romantic or platonic or ambiguous, I shan’t be unhappy with anything you write).

I don’t know if you have character limits or ones you don’t write for but if you do you could at least include Leona, Jamil, Azul, Floyd, and maybe also Crewel? 😇 Thank you!!

TWST boys’ headcanons with an introvert MC who has anxiety, nervous ticks and who always selflessly insert themself into triggering situations! (Romantic/Ambiguous, I made it platonic for Crewel)

Part 2 with Lilia and Cater right here!

Hi, hi, I’m soooo excited to write this, I hope you will like it!

Also, I don’t really have character limits, just say whoever you would like and I’ll write it! If there are a lot of characters, it might take more time. I'm sorry I took this long to fulfill your request, I was struck by midterm exams, they end tomorrow so now I can breathe a little.

English isn’t my first language btw, I hope it won’t be too bad.

And I mostly write MC with they/them pronouns to fit everyone in!

Okay, let’s go!

Leona Kingscholar

Leona is a very observant person despite looking as if he doesn’t care about whatever surrounds him. Hence, he quickly caught up on your anxiety and nervous habits.

When he sees you skin-piking yourself the first time, he doesn’t think much of it. But then, it happens again, and again, and again and soon he understands what’s up with you.

Would not understand why you would put yourself into triggering situations. Why was his herbivore so selfless and reckless to put themself into that kind of messes?

Sighs

I see him acting as if he doesn’t care much what you do except that he does, in fact, care a lot. Especially about you, you’re special in his eyes, and even if he doesn’t look like it you have to pick up on those signs because it’s actually quite obvious once you know him well.

AND YET you would find him casually walk up to you, lifting you on his left shoulder (yes, even if you’re a big person he will do that, he’s literally STRONG), and carrying you to the infirmary if you have any scars or damages due to your nervous ticks.

Would scold you because you shouldn’t accept to help others like this, mostly because it triggers you that much.

Soon, you will find him more awake than usual, as he puts efforts into subtly be there for you into this kind of situations, soothing your anxiety away the best he can.

I feel like he would ask Ruggie to keep an eye on you so you wouldn’t be alone if he can’t be there, or to tell other people to scram when you don’t dare to say no when someone make a triggering request.

“You should learn to be more selfish when it’s needed, herbivore. You can’t help others if you find yourself unable to do anything because of how it triggers you, right? Think. If you really want to help, think of best ways to do it.”

Jamil Viper

I feel like Jamil would be one of those who would understand you the best.

I mean, he’s also an introvert himself, he doesn’t have anxiety like you do but he does understand the need to put others first, even before your health. He does it all the time with Kalim, since his birth even!

HOWEVER, he finds it unacceptable that you, of all people, insert yourself into those triggering situations.

You don’t take care of yourself? Then he will do it for you.

Offers you to help whenever he can to help you deal with those situations for you, and even if you deny him, he will do it because he doesn’t like the fact you could get struck by an anxiety attack whenever you fall into those situations.

I even see him discreetly using Snake Whisper, his unique magic, to lure people away from you when they make requests you struggle to refuse.

If it helps calming you, I see him taking your hands in his whenever he sees them shaking or doing unwanted motions from you.

Would then softly stroke your hand’s bare skin with his fingers to help you calm down and to distract yourself.

Also he would cook for you your favourite food at the end of the day, a way to remind you he loves you, cares for you, and is proud of you despite you acting so carelessly.

“Here, I made this for you… What? It’s only to show you how grateful I am for your efforts, please take more care of yourself.”

Azul Ashengrotto

Oh, Azul is a busy one, he can’t hang out often. If he’s not busy with his shady business, he’s busy at Mostro Lounge or with classes. But nevertheless, he would clear some time of his schedule and spare it for you.

And that’s when he would notice.

You become more tired, more anxious. And sometimes, when you full-fill one of those requests you love so much (please, take note of the irony), he’s here as well, and that’s when he would notice.

He takes mental notes of the spasms your body makes, the motions your arms or your legs make, that are not common when you feel at ease.

Azul is no stranger to anxiety, but he wouldn’t dare to ask you about those nervous spasms you suffer from. Not that he’s feeling uncomfortable, but he doesn’t want you to feel more uncomfy than you already are.

YET, he would try to find a way to help you. May that be one of his potions that could make you feel soothed, calmed, at best to help you through your triggering episodes.

If you talk to him about your nervous tics, anxiety and the causes of those, he would make sure that you don’t have to do those any-more by letting the requests be full-filled by someone else (probable someone who owes him…)

Azul would also show you support with quality time, and protecting you from whatever situations triggering you. He doesn’t want you to go out of your way for other people, especially if it causes you harm in the end.

(Would probably ending up scaring people away with his contracts if they ask too much from you).

Would 100% cover the fact he’s soft for you though, but the Tweels see right through him and mock him for it.

“My, my, MC, would you like my help? Don’t even need a contract this time, this is all from the goodness of my generous soul…. Heck, just now I sounded like Head-mage Crowley, didn’t I?”

Floyd Leech

Ah, the moody one. Alright!

Floyd isn’t the type to care about small details, despite being very aware and observant of his surroundings. But this fact is irrelevant when it comes to you, his little shrimpy.

You see, Floyd doesn’t get enough of you. He likes messing with you, chasing you down, spend time with you to kill his boredom that annoys him more than anything.

You’re fun to be with, and that’s the reason why he spends most of his free time with you (and when his good mood strikes in).

That’s how he would notice the grimacing faces you make, when you blink to much or the way your nose wrinkles when you feel triggered. He doesn’t miss how worse it gets when you really feel bad and anxious, and he doesn’t like it one bit.

He wouldn’t find it funny, nor would make bad comments about it because this is just the way you are and this is just he way he likes you.

But again, you do that when you feel nervous, your ticks mostly show up when you’re triggered. Floyd knows you, he isn’t dumb and knows that you’re selfless enough to willingly put yourself through all of this to help other people with their stupid requests.

Man, he would be so SCARY.

Would 100% spend more time with you, where he clings to you whenever he can. If someone has (read: dares to have) the bad idea to ask something from you, and that this something happens to be one of those triggering things, Floyd is on them and trust me, not for a fun time.

You would have to learn how to deny those requests because, if not, Floyd would do it for you but not as kindly as you.

He would make you feel okay and at ease with your nervous tics. He gets that it can become annoying.

Would also ask if you want to cuddle because he likes to “squeeze” you in his arms.

Any other students making fun of you would end up on his to-beat-up list, for sure.

“Little Shrimpy~, this is not good, you should not say yes if this is going to be triggering. OR… Would you like me to squeeze them to ease things up for you? Hehehehe.”

Crewel Divus (platonic)

Oh folks, this one hits good.

Ever since you came to Night Raven College, Crewel swore over his magnificent coat, that he never saw you catch your breath nor get proper rest.

It’s always “Prefect, please do this”, “Prefect, can you help me do that?”, and everything.

He’s already horrified and impressed that you, the magicless student, lived through and handled many powerful and traumatizing overblots. And yet it seemed that you still gave other people your help.

At first, he doesn’t really get involved. It’s your business, he doesn’t see you often and he doesn’t want to cross the teacher-student boundaries.

BUT he would tell you, with his own words, that you can go to him if you need anything, just like the lost pup you are.

Would get suspicious as to why you become more stressed and anxious, you’re mostly unable to concentrate in his class, and he noticed also your behaviour becoming a bit more weird.

Why is the magicless puppy so tired? What happened to them? They seemed to be able to handle things here, no?

Then, he happens to witness one of your triggering episodes and everything made sense in his mind.

Would absolutely tell you to come at his office at the end of the class to have a little talk with you.

If you break down in front of him, he will listen to your worries and at best, patting your head so gently you feel like crying even more.

Would ask if Crowley is involved. But believe me, if he is, Head-mage is in for a not-so-fun time.

Hence Crewel would go on protective dad mode, and Crowley would be left crying in his office.

BUT, if the requests are coming from your fellow students, it’s another story.

You’re in for advices from him about how to become more assertive and selfish when needed despite your introversion and your anxiety.

Would gift you something that can ease your anxiety (like a ball you can press in the palm of your hand, that kind of stuff).

If he hears someone ask something from you that you struggle to refuse, he would gladly tell that student to ask someone else because you’re busy doing something important.

That important thing being healing yourself.

Crewel would make sure you feel understood enough. He knows you can’t overblot, but you might in you own way (with panic attacks or getting harmed by nervous tics when they hit too hard).

And finally he would probably ask trustworthy students to keep an eye on you (it will probably be Jack, because ADEUCE are, sure, your friends but always drag you in their in mess-).

“Be a good pup and listen well to your teacher: taking care of yourself will be your most important work due this month. But also every month after that. Have I made myself clear, MC?”

--------------

I hope y'all enjoyed it, let me know if there is more request! :)

[ciagent8]

UNDERTALE YELLOW TECHNICALLY NOT LIVEPOSTING. PART 2!!! SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT

part one here if you guys like my rambling

we're back! we must continue the journey after . killing a lot of people.

this reminds me of that thing in undertale with the uhh. lesser dog snowmans. HONEYDEW RESORT ENTRANCE!!:

interesting. i wonder who runs this place? it looks cozy

(will ruin the atmosphere via murder) oh my GOD WHY IS THE WIND BLOWING. thats horrifying!

What.

I KNEW THERE WOULD BE A HIDDEN ENTRANCE IN THE BACK AHAHAHHAHAH

oh my god

who the hell killed everyone LAST time???

well. not for long. (slowly pulls out gun)

you dont FUCKING say huh

how is coffee better than ice.... oh . it isnt. nvm

so wait why would i use the coffee ammo??????? is there a reason or

oh man, im so happy i finished that puzzle!

(realizes i have to do it again) fuck

we are struggling YAY WE DID IT martlet fight(?):

oh you poor poor soul

girlie we are a Homicidal Child

Killing you

WHY IS STILL TRYING HELP US. WE ARE GOING TO KILL YOU

unfortunately, yes martlet, we DO try to kill everyone

yeah

HER MUSIC IS SO GOOD??? BUT AHHHHHHHH WHAT THE HELL ARE HER ATTACKS AHHHH-

oh my god

it took me 7 TRIES!!!! YAHOOOOO.

fuck. she retreated. is that supposed to happen?? i feel like maybe im on a neutral route now. im not sure if she was supposed to retreat or not, she also mentioned how like. shes glad we attacked early cause she would've told us where everyone else is. you know what i think im gonna retry the battle

interesting... if i apologize multiple times i get new dialogue. is she gonna spare us?

nevermind it doesnt do anything special it just. skips her boss and puts on neutral i suppose?

im gonna try apologizing and getting to her LAST line of dialogue and just. shooting her . eheheh

update: almost gave myself spoilers trying to see if there were any strategys (specifically for the part with the falling objects. god i hate that part)

so i just wasted time repeating the bossfight AND almost gave myself spoilers!! ..uwahhh

so. since i wasted so much time on martlet. i'll give some personal insight onto how the attack is.

God awful

most of her attacks are easy, *especially* since if you look at the crosshairs, it shows you what direction the attacks will go in/come from.

so all you need to do is just stand there.

with the boxes, you just have to stick to the ground. its safest, just make sure not to get crushed by objects/incoming boxes. the WORST attacks in my opinion would be the feathers exploding into 3 extra feathers attack, and the wind attack with falling objects.

the first of the two is easier, just stay away from the big red feathers and treat it all like a bullet hell.

i still havent figured out a strategy for the wind attack, i honestly just hope i dont get a bad combination of objects and usually heal right before the attack arrives.

but, yeah! i also noticed if you apologize and then attack right after, she seems to skip a line of dialogue and also maybe an attack? its hard to tell.

so yeah! apologies for rambling

moving on!

i like the fact you can see flowey during this cutscene

too bad we. crash. the boat.

whoops

YEAHHHHHHHHH desert!

i'd also like to ramble once more; i like how all of these locations and characters clover meet are kind of implied to exist at the same time as the other monsters?

like, the dark ruins: frisk wouldnt encounter it because she never falls into the dark ruins.

the other part of snowdin? it makes sense it exists; we took a different exit out of the ruins, and if you look at the base game, you can overlook a HUGE forest. who knows how many more monsters there are around?

i think im gonna feel the worst about killing him. look at him. a little guy

OH NO I JUST REALIZED

HIS ATTACKS ARE AFFECTED BY HOW DAMAGED HE IS..

CAUSE ON THE ATTACK WHERE HE GOES UP AND DOWN THE SCREEN HE JUST. STAYS AT THE TOP WITH A SAD EXPRESSION..

NOOO-

also for some reason they remind me of. binding of isaac enemies. i dont know why.

one mORE thing i'd like to wonder: where is mo????

is mo gonna like.. come back? im just curious cause like he got a whole intro, theme song, everything. so surely hes gonna come back right??

you've gotta be kidding me

this. this is just sad.

the singular tree in the desert

on a lighter note i love the sprite artwork though!!!

OH MY GOD MO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MO- DID HE JUST RIP OFF HIS SLEEVES??

hes like. trying so hard to be cool. and its kind of cool in a way if that makes any sense at all

hell yeah mo time

wait does he know we killed everyone

hell yeah mo

love how he doesnt care that he killed everyone he just wants money. i love mo. fuck i do NOT want to kill him

damn i just realized he leaves when you buy his stock. i wonder if maybe on a pacifist route that'd be how you befriend him?

too bad he's gonna. erm. probably die. damn i do not wanna kill him

i have one again reached my image limit so i am taking a break. thats all folks! hope you enjoy my ramblings

[starr-finn]

Hi okay so for ur first tf2 req, I will go with something that isn't too specific lol

- So this can be for all, but you don't have to include Pyro and Heavy if you don't wanna do all

- So the prompt is, Medic has either become sick and can't participate in the fight, or he got an assistant medic (in the case for writing for Medic)

- And Reader is the replacement/assistant medic!

- She's kinda like a medic gf but in a /pos way

- So she's got the med gf outfit (blighted beak, das fantzipantzen, long pleated skirt) with a quick-fix (so she can follow rocket-jumpers and sticky-jumpers)

- She's also very nice and always compliments/thanks her team ('That was an amazing kill/shot' + 'Wow that was impressive' + 'Thanks so much for the dispenser/sandvich') bc yippee kindness

- You know the perennial petals effect? That's her-core (also yes, if needed can reader be fem)

- Here's some her-core photos

AWWWW YEAHHHH FIRST TF2 REQUEST!!! LESSGO!

I will 100% write this for you! This is such a cute request, as per usual! hope you like this one bestie! I won't add pyro because I really don't know how to write pyro lol, also to everyone reading, I'm trying to color code things now! helps me keep focused

TF2 Mercs with a medic GF!

Author's note: all of the Mercs without Pyro because I just can't write him so yay! Hope Y'all like this! I tried to make it super cute, also, just to point this out here too, Fem!Reader, and mentions of food in Heavy's part (Sandvich ofc) PRobably mistranslated russian, and german, the french is pretty damn obvious

Scout

Buddy boy here thinks you're super cool, and he loves having a medic GF!

You're always there when he gets hurt, and he loves it

he loves your constant compliments

"Wow Scout! Nice shot!"

He chuckles softly and smiles "Thanks cutie!"

Scout loves how gentle you are when you patch him up, he thinks its adorable

any time you mention anything about being proud of him for some crazy ass shot he pulled off he almost cries

Full on adores you

Calls you stuff like Cutie and Baby doll

Soldier

Bro gets into so much trouble it's not even funny tbh, dude stresses you out so much

He comes to you for everything because he enjoys how soft you are with him

He loves getting compliments from you, he just loves it

"Wow! great shot!" You smile, nodding softly at him

"Thank you Dearest" he salutes at you and then runs off to kill more people

Soldier will always drop everything to keep you safe (Defend your medics kids)

He gets hurt far to much for your liking but you honestly can't blame him in your job (and brain damage)

he is far too protective over you

Calls you Dearest and love

Demoman

Bro gets hurt sometimes, just because of his explosives, and you're always right there with him

He rambles about how much he loves you and how much he loves how gentle you are when he's drunk

He always basically drops dead when you compliment him

You smile over at him "Nice shot, dear!"

Demo looks down, lightly kicking at the dirt "Aww...thanks love..."

Demo will physically fight anyone that even dares to try anything with you

He loves how you're always there when he's far to drunk to move

Calls you stuff like Love and Darling

Sniper

Sniper doesn't get as hurt as often, he still gets injuries though

He'll keep you in his line of sight all the time and kill anyone that tries attacking you, super protective boy

as an introvert, homie almost loses it everytime you say something nice to him

Like pulls his hat down over his face flustered

"Woah!!! You're really good at that Snipes!" you smile softly and look up at him

Sniper blushes and covers his face with his hat "W-Well thank you"

now, dude will actually go to the ends of the earth to keep you safe

Healing his ass is super easy cuz this hoe stays still the whole time

Rambles about you to anyone who listens

Calls you stuff like "Roo" and "Little Koala"

Engineer (I absolutely adore this fucker)

Engie here is super easy to heal, still as a fucking stone

He likes to keep you safe, he absolutely loves you too much to let you get hurt yourself

He smiles softly and gets all blushy everytime you thank him or say something nice

"Thanks for the dispenser, love!"

He smiles and gently rubs the back of his neck "Awee thanks honey bee!"

Engie will hold your hand every time he's healing you

Helps you patch up some people

Brags that he managed to pull 'The sweetest damn woman alive"

Calls you 'Honey bee' and 'Sugar'

Medic

He's a doctor himself, so you both patch each other up!

actually tortured a guy for shooting at you

He always gets so damn cocky when you get all sweet with him

"Thanks for the heal Doc!" You smile and nod at him before running off

Medic chuckles softly and yells after you "You're welcome Engel!"

He likes when you help him with checkups!

He likes having you as a nurse around the infirmary

He doesn't really brag about you, unless he's like, SUPER drunk

Calls you 'Engel' and 'Schatz'

Heavy

Ok so Heavy gets hurt more than soldier does, he is heavy weapons guy after all

Like all the other mercs, he's super protective

Takes all the thanks, and praise so gracefully

"Thanks for the sandvich dear!" You smile happily chomping down on the sandvich

Heavy gently ruffles your hair before walking off "You're welcome Ангел'

stands in front of you in fights

Definitely towers over you btw

likes when you heal him up after a fight

Calls you stuff like 'Ангел' and 'Родна́я'

Spy

This old ass man is a tryhard with not getting hurt, it still happens

Protective, again

another cocky one with praise and thanks

"Wow! Impressive kill Dearest!" You smile softly looking over at him

He chuckles softly and nods "Thank you, Mon amour"

Shows you off constantly

Brags more than scout does

you're really one of the only people he lets touch him

Calls you 'Mon amour' and that alone

[razorblade180]

If you could make a Genshin OC (Vision and all) with the intention of said OC being there to support a specific character, who would they be and who's the one who they're connected to? Asking because I have a brain worm that goes "If Neuvillete used his Hydro Authority to make Furina's Summons into humans it would be hilarious if Gentilhomme Usher was a Pyro swordsman who's canonical weapon was the Fleuve Cendre Ferryman" and you felt like the right person to inflict said thoughts upon.

The first thought of mine is a clearly selfish pick but it would be a new Knight the joins the Outriders and supports Amber. Some eager go getter with lose connections to Hm her grandpa and wants to learn from who he considers “the best.” They would be cryo and the entire gimmick is they mark an enemy that enemy takes increased charge attack damage. Also, when said enemy is hit with a charge attack, the mark will inflict a burst of cryo damage to make setting up melt shots very easy. It could be triggered a certain number of times within a duration and defeating an enemy before the mark expires puts it on a nearby foe. So ya know…It’s kinda Yoimiya’s burst but no icd and the charge attack buff.

Them being cryo would only slightly go against Lyney’s main purpose but I guess technically he’d benefit from it. The funnier idea of this character though lies in how Yanfei’s power would inadvertently get buffed and the cryo pulses would definitely turn into the support character doing off field damage because of how much pyro Yanfei flings.

Multiple times I’ve had the unhinged thought of wishing they made a Cryo Xingqui for Yoimiya. Charlotte ironically gets very close to filling that agenda. Also if you would’ve asked me this months ago, I could’ve told you exactly who I wanted for who, but I can’t say it now because I’m aware I will get my wish soon.

Unironically, Genshin has actually been pretty good at giving me supports that I want to further my agenda. It kinda makes this question hard because I still main Chongyun and Shenhe exists lol. Gorou exists so my Noelle is great and Faruzan came with Wanderer. I want for very little. I guess if I had to make an OC for any other character to get specific gains in would be Mona taking on a proper apprentice. Not sure how they would do it, but I think it would be neat to see Mona in a teacher role.

Side tangent, Hoyo should make Alice playable and she’s the pyro premium buffer. I just feel like she’d see all kinds of pyro characters and be the one to go “You are all my kids. Go forth and destroy.” Then suddenly we’re back in the era where people are doing Diluc showcases and vaporize is people’s new religion again💀

[possiblylando]

Yoshida is a weird guy [Chainsaw Man Manga Spoilers]

Statement of the century but this unusual possibly homosexual guy has peaked my interest with the fact he's a metaphorical harbinger of disaster. He's frankly even more lucky than Kobeni in a separate sort of way. Whenever he shows up it's soon before or after a disaster of some kind happens. So like a rational human I decided to go through and read every chapter in which he appears or is mentioned. Before I get into the deep of it I'd like to show this Denji panel I've never seen anyone post before.

Right, getting into it now. Yoshida's first mention is in chapter 53. His first appearance is in chapter 55.

Makima asked for Yoshida specifically. I'm choosing not to read to deeply into the placement of the speech bubbles but it is interesting that he is completely separate from the other 3. For a refresher Kusakabe is contracted with the stone devil. Tamaoki and Subaru are basically just jobbers in the scheme of this arc. Now the thing I want to focus in on is that Yoshida is a private hunter. He's able to get by just fine without help. We see this in part 2, However his only known contract is with the octopus devil. A contract which seems to cost Yoshida nothing.

Previously stated his first appearance is in chapter 55. This chapter gives us absolutely nothing. He seems like a background character since this is the same chapter where we see the triplets go into action. Which fits with his character in that he just consistently fades into the background.

56 goes much the same.

However in 57 shit with Yoshida starts to become more clear. I would like to bring up his reaction here as juxtaposed to Aki since it seems like the comparison was somewhat intentional. This was right after Power hit one of triplets with Kobeni's Car. I'm unable to fully express why his expression seems almost downplayed in comparison to everyone else who is losing their shit. This alone means jack shit in all honesty. His next scene is what's important. Yoshida presumably completely alone tracks down the two remaining brothers and straight up executes one of them.

It's almost like he's mocking the surviving brother silently. He absolutely knows that this random guy is the final brother but he lets him live. His expression after having just murdered a man is also very unsettling especially for chainsaw man where people tend to have adverse reactions to taking lives. Being emotionless and even HAPPY after having killed someone is reserved for the insane and the villains. Yoshida has almost an uncanny knowledge of everything happening at any given time as we see more evidently later. His next appearance is in chapter 59.

Yoshida does nothing in chapter 59 except state the abilities of the Doll Devil. In fact Yoshida is almost completely missing from chapter 60 only appearing in a singular panel. I missed this one and I had to go back and scan for him specifically because the wiki said he was in the chapter.

Yoshida will just completely vanish into the background when he isn't actively doing something to the point even while searching specifically for him I missed him. Now once the fighting begins Yoshida is rather interesting because he's entirely on the defensive. He's also deceptively fast as he was able to react to Quanxi and avoid taking damage almost entirely from the initial attack.

It certainly explains how he's able to go it solo.

I'd like to take this time to appreciate this amazing panel for the reveal of the octopus devil. However I find it interesting that we only ever see a single tentacle of it. It's likely that Yoshida has a similar sort of contract as public safety hunters have with the Fox Devil. However Yoshida seems to show no signs of any sort of cost per use. Which insinuates one of two things. That his contract with the octopus devil had an upfront cost that he paid and as such doesn't need to pay again with each use. Or that his contract has NO COST. We again see his speed with the Ink Attack, But he quickly gets his ass handed to him because he's fighting Quanxi.

This establishes that Yoshida is clearly mortal at least in the physical sense. But I still don't know what to make of it. I doubt if he was literally the horseman of death or adjacent to it (I'll touch on that later) that he'd lose this fight so easily. The only explanation I can really come up with is that he lost this fight intentionally knowing what Kishibe was planning. However that's a shaky theory at best. Due to what happens next I'll choose to interpret this as Yoshida being taken off guard by his hubris. Clearly he didn't expect Quanxi to be able to counter this attack so easily. Chapter 62, Yoshida is immediately back up after being full on jaw kicked by Quanxi. Given he had the time of the conversation between Quanxi and Kishibe to recover but the fact is he's able to box with Quanxi this time.

While he's still clearly outmatched strength wise he's able to full on fight with a weaponless Quanxi. Given Quanxi is most powerful with her weapons, This is still an insane feat of Skill, Speed, And Strength. Quanxi's durability is basically human if not slightly above it from what we see. Main take away from this is that Yoshida is 1. Extremely skilled in melee combat. 2. Used to winning confrontations.

This is likely one of the main reasons people believe Yoshida and Kishibe to be related in someway. The idea of Yoshida having been trained by Kishibe holds some water due to his immense speed and skill at close ranged combat. Now onto chapter 63 which has some very interesting implications which aren't directly stated. YOSHIDA GETS THROWN OUT THE FUCKING WINDOW

This is literally seconds before Santa Clause summons the hell devil to send everyone in the building to hell. Yoshida was able to avoid being sent to hell by seemingly pure chance. However I would like to bring attention to Yoshida's pose. It's the number 4. Additionally it seems to be in clear reference to the Hanged Man tarot card. I'm not gonna act like I thought up this Tarot connection that was another user who's post I can't find at the moment. I'll add a comment to this if I find it later.

I won't patronize you and act like you've never heard of the connection between the number 4 and death in Japan. It's a rather common fact so I'll keep it brief. The number 4 has a similar pronunciation to Death, Pronounced "Shi" in Japanese. This has lead to it being seen as an unlucky number.

Now keep this connection to death, It'll be very important later. Due to not being sent to hell he's absent from those chapters and only shows up again in chapter 67. In which he is using the Octopus devil to subdue some dolls. Additionally using it as a chair.

This suggests like before that Yoshida has a level of control over the Octopus devil that other summon-type contracts don't. It's possible the Octopus devil is just more chill but I couldn't really imagine a devil just letting humans sit on it. Onto the conversation itself Yoshida calls himself "Third-Tier". Which is just straight up a lie. His abilities are leagues above what the other hired mercenaries managed to do. This either shows a degree of humbleness or just outright downplaying his abilities. Now, onto the most interesting thing.

Yoshida knows about Makima's eavesdropping ability. There are two explanations for this. The first being that he had gotten up right as the conversation between Quanxi and Kishibe started and he saw the writing on the notepad and figured it out himself. Or #2 (Which I find more likely) is that he already knew. He knew specifically that Makima could hear through animal's ears and not just that she could hear everything related to her or something. It's a very specific detail which insinuates he knows more than he lets on.

If you'll remember earlier I called Yoshida luckier than Kobeni. This is why. He completely avoids danger just by pure coincidence several times. He just happens to be at the right place at the right time to avoid anything above his paygrade. I shouldn't have to state that this is unique to Yoshida as no other character is afforded the luxury of being able to completely avoid these types of encounters off pure chance alone. Even Kobeni was forced into the final fight but Yoshida completely avoided it. Yoshida's final appearance in part 1 is chapter 70. In which he blindfolds himself while Makima executes Quanxi and her girls.

[Darkness]

This is the last time Yoshida appears. So that's a fucking lot yeah? I'll summarize the important parts. 1. Yoshida is extremely lucky to the point he escapes major series altering events by seemingly pure coincidence. 2. He has a contract with the Octopus devil which seems to have no usage cost what so ever, Allowing him to do basically whatever he wants with it. 3. He is insanely skilled in close combat and is able to fight on par with Quanxi (When he isn't underestimating her) 4. (Most important of all) Yoshida knows things he shouldn't. He's far more knowledgeable than almost every other character in the series excluding a hand full of the extremely skilled top tiers. Makima, Santa, Kishibe, Ect. I'll keep the part 2 stuff brief due to the length of this post already, I'll do a second one eventually. (Probably once we the Asa interaction ends.) so I'll only touch on two specific things. 1. Yoshida knows about the existence of the Death Devil, Which has only ever been mentioned by Makima. No one else has even eluded to it.

2. He knows about Famine. Yoshida is the only one who actually looks at Famine after the aquarium encounter. It even gets it's own entire page which denotes it as being very important.

So what is Yoshida? I'm honestly still not sure. He could just be a human, He could be possessed by a devil, He could be a fiend (doubtful), Hell he could even be a horseman. The idea of Yoshida being the horseman of death has been thrown around however I honestly doubt it. Primarily due to his eyes.

We know that the primary indicator of a horseman is their eyes which we have seen in every member of it so far. Yet Yoshida's eyes are pure black. While it's possible he wears contacts. I doubt this is the solution since Chainsaw Man doesn't seem like the kind of series to pull that kind of twist. "I was wearing contacts Denji and now that they're off I'm evil." - Yoshida in chapter 300 However Yoshida being the Death Devil's incarnation would certainly be an interesting twist especially if he want Denji to kill it. However if his goal was to have chainsaw man eat the Death Devil and he is it, He probably would've acted on it by now. But there is a caveat to the Chainsaw's Devil erasure. It only works on a Devil's actual body. When Denji ate Makima at the end of Part 1 it didn't get rid of the control devil. Still Yoshida has skills and knowledge that a seemingly random 15 year old should not have. He's apart of a shadowy organization which he claims is "totally not evil". Yoshida demonstrates a knowledge of his surroundings which is only rivaled by characters like Makima and (From what we've seen of her) Famine. My only guess that what Yoshida is planning is something I'll call "The Extinction of fear". Yoshida's organization wants to create a calm life for chainsaw man. The best way to do that is to get rid of devils completely, There is no need for a Chainsaw Man if there are no devils for him to kill.

[roryintheir90s]

The bad boys. Well, for me they’re more of a cursed trio, with Jimmy being the omen of death, Grian inability to keep his allies alive, and Joel’s madness.

Heavy spoilers from Limited Life ep 7 below

Jimmy being a Canary is just amazing analogy of him being the first one to die. No matter what he does he’s doomed by the narrative, and I don’t think that can change. Even despite me being disappointed that Jimmy once again being out first, I can appreciate the tragedy that it has become. There’s just something about rooting for someone to stay at least a little longer, just a little longer to not be the first one out. But knowing full well that the narrative is unescapable. Yet once again I believe and root for him, despite knowing the outcome. Despite that I heavily disagree with people thinking that Jimmy is trying to escape the narrative. In my eyes he doesn't try it. Sure, he doesn’t want to be the first one out and he fights tooth and nails at times to stay alive for at least a little longer. But in the end he doesn’t actually DO what is needed to stay alive. He is kind to people. I saw so many opportunities where Jimmy could take a kill, end someone, but didn’t. Jimmy even drew weapons, aiming at people, but never took the actual opportunity to attack. At the start of the series he and Joel literally egged each other on, getting into dangerous situations. Jimmy threatens people and act like the villain at times, but that’s all. An act and empty threats, nothing more, and nothing less. On top of that, instead of getting kills he makes deals with others (that being Scott and BigB). I think the Jimmy being called “a wet paper bag of a man” is only partially true. Like Skizz said to him, Jimmy is a funny man with fast reactions, he doesn’t take opportunities with his jokes, letting other people be the main attractions, and I cannot agree more. But I feel like that is not only the case with jokes, but also anything else he does in any series. His lack of taking action is the one that stopping him from wining and in the end making The Canary Curse be initiated in the first place. A lot of fandom likes to picture Grian as a parrot, and despite how fun of the idea it is, for me he’s more of a Rook specifically. Not a Crow, not a Raven, but a Rook. People overuse the whole concept of Ravens and Crows being the symbolism of death. With Ravens also symbolizing insight, transformation and intelligence, while Crows has lots more symbolism, that include: death, intelligence, afterlife, adaptability, prescience, fortune and destiny. Rooks on the other hand symbolize bad fortune, which I believe fits so well with Grain's curse. Grian brings bad fortune to those he loves, with them always ending up dead and Grian staying alone. Which I also love to point out that it is said that when rooks desert a rookery, it means that a calamity is signaled. Grian is a calamity by itself at this point for me. Grian has a fair share of his allies being killed by him directly and indirectly, even if he didn't mean it, its still a lot of deaths from him even if we take into account ONLY the Limited Life series. Just like Jimmies narrative makes him always end up dead, Grian’s narrative will always make him end up alone. Either by ending them himself or by causing so much damage that in the end they will be an easy target. He tried to protect his allies this series, with giving away time to them, or how in episode 7 he DIDN’T pull the lever in the T.IE.S base. He tried to go against his narrative and still it was unavoidable. Even him giving away some of the time to Joel wasn’t enough to save him. Joel is kinda overlooked in the cursed person apartment. I saw a few people mentioning how Joel has bloodlust and that it’s kinda a curse, but not enough to be noticeable. Joel’s a cuckoo one that symbolizes foolishness and insanity. I know this one might seem like an odd one, as a lot of people instantly think about how those birds leave their eggs in other birds nests. Nevertheless those birds symbolize hope in many traditions, and even longing and desire. If you actually look at Joel’s Life series overall, there's recurring theme of him being alone, with only Scar and Grian being with him for a while in Last Life and Etho being his soulmate in Double Life. But overall? Joel’s alone, never having a meaningful allies. His series is just lonely, which gives me a lot of Cuckoo vibes, as I see them as lonely birds. Joels being abandoned in every series by people, just like the cuckoos eggs. In every series he’s going into madness and bloodlust, trying to kill people at every turn, which perfectly plays into the cuckoos symbolism of insanity and foolishness. His traps rarely work, and he runs away screaming (specifically thinking about Grian’s pov).Nevertheless he always tries again and again, and Limited Life felt like some type of hope for Joel to have actual allies. This hope was actually answered when Jimmy and Grian both allied themselves with him. Finally Joel wasn’t alone. As many people mentioned about Joel, he’s loyal. Joel’s loyal to the core. He pokes fun here and there at Jimmy that he will throw him out but in the end he always protect Jimmy being a bad boy (thinking specifically about ep 6 where Grian was saying of throwing Jimmy out), or how he wanted to sacrifice himself for Jimmy, to be the first one out and give him his time. One might have think that finally Joel’s Cuckoo Curse is gone, but it was proven wrong in a lightning speed after Jimmy’s death. The fear of loneliness hovering once again over Joel head, making him going into madness once again and pull reckless foolish actions. Which in the end brought him to his doom, only around 10 blocks away from where Jimmy died.  I really find those 3 a beautiful tragedy. One that is always meant to die first, One that will always end up alone, and One that will be consumed by madness. They were doomed by the narrative from the start, and a lot of people knew it. Despite loving the bad boys and their interactions, despite how well they mix together, they were one of the worst choices to pair. Nevertheless I wouldn’t have switched their team up for anything else. Grian, Joel and Jimmy were at each others back with few exceptions, but they cared for each other, yet, like a tragic Greek classic it wasn’t enough to stop their doom. 

[chaotic-clouds]

Another theme I really love in little nightmares 2 is how all the beings affected by the Signal Tower can be interpreted as representations of the different kinds of abuse children face throughout their life.

(Now bc of the recent LN podcast that came out giving some insight on how the LN universe works, we know kids that end up there are usually there because they’ve experienced severe trauma and/or abuse throughout their lives. What we also know now is that adults can also end up there, but instead these adults are usually the abusers, which is what makes this world 10x more nightmarish for the kids that inhabit it.)

But I’m not gonna get too into the logistics of the podcast for now though because I’ve not watched it entirely, and I still think this interpretation can be applied with or without the podcast context so I’ll just give my personal thoughts on the main antagonists in general for now!

Starting off with The Bullies I think their symbolism is most obvious, abuse from peers. In typical bully fashion the way they attack you is usually in hoards, killing you with their bare hands instead of a special ability. They even set out traps or what could be seen as a deadly prank, to kill anyone that is unfortunate to set it off. And while yes you are their main target because you are an outsider and “not one of them”, they also seem to regularly harass each other as well, emphasizing the cruel and vindictive nature they internalize (like when mono and six come across a solitary room with a chair in it, implying that the bullies regularly tied some people up and left them there for days, weeks even). But my favorite part is despite how cruel and aggressive they act, the form that the signal tower has turned them into is a porcelain doll, one that while keeping the appearance of a child is instead hollow and just as easy to kill (if not more than a regular kid). The bullies are the closest thing to the regular survivors of LN, but because of their cruel actions in defense of deeply buried insecurities, the Signal Tower has turned the bullies into fragile hollow husks of hate that will forever showcase the damage done to them outwardly, without any chance of concealing the cracks and pieces missing.

When it comes to The Teacher I’m not as sure, but I think she is meant to represent the abuse that individuals in power (specifically the education system) can commit to those underneath their rank. She’s extremely strict and cruel in her punishments, and has stricken fear into even the rowdiest of bullies, her class being dead silent as she teaches nonsense for however long she wishes. Adding onto this, she seems to be the sole person in power to the entire school, setting the schedule however she pleases. With her extensive neck I think this also can be seen as another act of dominance on her part, being able to literally be above whoever crosses her.

The Doctor is less direct, but I think he represents how those put in more knowledgeable and trusted positions can easily take advantage of those they’re supposed to protect. In this case towards his patients that he has taken advantage of and turned into his own experiments, but what confuses me is to why he’s on the ceiling? I mean it could just be as a way to be disturbing but I think it could be conveying how the doctor’s moral views have been so warped that he is literally viewing the world upside down.

The Hunter to me is also a little more confusing. I’m not sure what abuse he would embody but again he is farther from the pale city, so perhaps he’s not as in line with the Signal Towers influence/theme.

The Viewers in my opinion, represent neglect and addiction. While technically passive until provoked, they are designed to make you feel as though you’re walking on eggshells around them whenever you have to walk through the room they’re in. But because of them not caring about you whatsoever, you can pretty much just do whatever you want around them and they won’t even blink an eye until is directly disrupting the connection between them and the signal tower, in which case they get extremely violent, making a sound akin to screaming as they get up in your face to suck the life out of you. Their appearance also has a lot to say about their condition; The way their faces have been distorted and how uniform they all look, the Signal Tower has pretty much sucked the life out of them and made them forget who they ever were, possibly also representing how the relationship between them and whatever children they had would be so distant, that the kid wouldn’t see them as any different than a stranger they walked past on the street.

Aaaand because this post is now way too long maybe I’ll rant about how this applies to Mono and Six’s transformation via the Signal Tower another day. (Also this is just a silly interpretation!! So take this with a grain of salt, I’m sure someone else has explained this like 10x more literate than I could but I just love talking about this game 💔)

[cerastes]

Oh great knower of roguelites and roguelikes alike. Yostar wont gimme, do you have any recommendations for strategy roguelites that aren't slay the spire to help a parched soul.

You want to play Griftlands!

Griftlands is a deck-builder roguelike that has you play through one of three stories each with their specific character mechanics, possible deck builds, and story routes. There’s actually a good deal of characterization because even though it’s a roguelike, it does in fact have a pretty explicit story with a lot of dialogue, unlike the usual implicit, environmental style of storytelling found in the genre.

The first main character, Sal (in the middle) is a grifter and mercenary who finally paid for her freedom out of slavery in an off-shore fantasy petrol platform. Her storyline follows her quest for revenge against her former best friend and mentor, the woman that sold her off as a slave in the first place. She’s a well balanced knife fighter that can build a lot of different decks and make plenty of allies.

After her comes Rook (to the right), a sharpshooter with a lame leg. He’s a double agent working for both the Spark Barons and the Unionized Workers of the Barons, who are currently embroiled in a silent war with each other. You ultimately select whether you want to be a scab or help the unionized workers, with all that entails. He has lower HP but also a dynamic Ammo system that either grants him more defense or explosive damage, depending on how you use it.

Finally, you have Smith (slug guy to the left, named after his great grandmother), a frat bro who partied a bit too hard with his family riches and who was cut off the family bank account and the inheritance by his siblings. Smith needs to find a way back into the inheritance, either by force or by subterfuge. He has the most HP and can make various builds based on enhancing his natural race-given HP recovery or getting VERY drunk to use special drunken attacks that have various properties.

There’s two decks you build at all times: Your combat deck and your diplomacy deck. Combat is straightforward, diplomacy is interesting, allowing you to convince people to help you out, to let you pass, or even to unnerve bosses before fighting them, disabling some of their special abilities or making their allies back off. Sal (depending on your diplomacy build) is a sweet-talker or an intimidating threat machine, Rook is a diplomatic and affable guy or the guy that writes your name on a list wordlessly, and Smith is an influencer that builds Clout stacks or a loud jerk that threatens with promises of social death and violence.

I really like it! It’s very fun and well balanced in my opinion, the art and ambiance are lovely, and you get to know a real “border of everything” kind of setting, the actual final frontier of an expansive universe.

[captainschaos]

CAPTAIN IT'S ROBIN PLEEEEASE TELL ME ABOUT THE DEATH GAME RPG YOU PUT YOUR FRIENDS THROUGH I LOVE THOSE

ROBIN ROBIN MY DEAR DEAR MUTUAL ROBIN YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT KIND OF PANDORAN BOX YOU'VE JUST OPENED. LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THE EXECUTION GAMES

The Execution Games (otherwise known as the exgames, or usually teg) is a series of death games run by yours truly, but more Specifically, is run by the hosts: Killer, Hunter, and Ripper. I'll talk more about them later because I can't ever shut up about them, but the players then include, surprise! me again, but also my dear friends :) who enjoy violence like me :) Teg was truly inspired by my obsession with last life and how badly I wanted to play with my friends, plus my inability to play minecraft at the time and my game design and digital storytelling muses, so you can see those influences. A good handful of us play characters that share names with us (helps that many of us have large hoards of names lol) and so p! is used for players, c! for contestants, the characters actually fighting in the games, and then there are also spectators (s!) who mainly watch, but also Can interact with the playing field in limited ways

As far as what the games actually look like, they go on a weekly basis, with wednesday being Execution Day (or exday), where every contestant must draw a card. The contestant who draws the ace is that week's Executioner, though there can be multiple as people lose lives and also become executioner if they draw the 2 or 3. If you're executioner, you need to kill someone by the end of next exday. Simple as that. If you don't, you become the target of the next week's executioner, and you take double damage from their attacks! :)

Now. the hosts. ohhhhhh the hosts. So the thing about teg is that it's a bit of a meta game. There's an item called your talisman that players have to carry around in real life, and if caught without it they're are consequences for their contestant, and all resources for crafting and whatnot come from photos of real life. So in this nature, the hosts are.. weird. They can talk to the players, for one thing. If we consider Killer (any prns), who was originally the sole host of the games and is their creator, well. a lot of players have talked to Killer directly, and more than once. It's a common occurrence. Killer knows the players, and knows the contestants, and knows the difference between them, because a crucial aspect of teg is this: the contestants are the manifestation of the player's desire to play. The games are violent, and deadly, and lead to heartbreak and destruction and anguish. So of course not every contestant might be happy about playing. But if the player is having a good time? sucks to suck <3 that's what it's all about

As far as the other hosts, they're all siblings, but the other two emerged after Killer. Despite this contradiction, Hunter (she/he/they/it/none) is actually the eldest, and while it doesn't do the hands-on hosting that Killer does, she is responsible for the story and lore of teg, as well as the world itself, the playing field, the arena the contestants find themselves in every games. They actually work with Killer in a sandbox to construct the new playing field between games <3 very sweet. What Isn't so sweet is the youngest bitch Ripper (he/she/they/any). This thing is a bastard. and rude. and generally awful. But Ripper's entire purpose is to be on standby in case of Killer's death, which spawned from a point in time where. uhm. some players were considering trying to kill Killer LMAO so yknow. Ripper can Only host if Killer is dead. which makes him a bit salty LOL

But all of that aside ! The point I touched on about contestants being forced to play even if they don't want to (which a lot don't LOL) is the part I think you'd enjoy as far as "forcing my friends to play death games with me ^_^" since as far as the actual players my dear wondrous friends, they ofc aren't forced to play if they don't want lol, but their contestants are held to their whims <3 and it is the job of me and Killer to keep that locked down YIPPEEEEEEEE!!! ^_^!!!

I'm now going to stop talking before this becomes four billion words LOL. but I love teg. There's actually a secret hidden tegblr that is extremely unfinished and hasn't been touched since the first exgames (we're currently on the fourth) but I've been wanting to revamp, and likely will once I'm back at college ! :D and if you want to hear more, there will certainly be more about it there <3 and also if anyone wants to talk more about teg more it is not hard to get me to talk about it. clearly ASDFLJSABDF. it's been my passion project for a couple years now and I love it dearly <3 so yeah. I love putting my friends through my deathgame rpg ^_^

[lumilasi]

Next up is Diojas' bio dad Alexander (who works as his bodyguard & Diojas doesn't know he's his bio dad). For his humanoid Grimmhound form, since I figured they'd all look somewhat similar, I just used the one I drew for Mihail, and then changed around some details.

More info below:

Name: Alexander Sterling

Nicknames: Dear/Darling (Mellina), Boss (His Grimmhound/werewolf pack), Golden hound (Nickname among Grimmhounds in general due to his unique coloring) Papa (Mia)

Age: Unknown, but he's fairly sure he was born before both world wars in human world.

Height: 187 cm

Friends: Azul (A sorcerer and the love interest of his son) More TBA

Family: Wife Mellina Sterling (A powerful Lightcaster sorceress), Diojas (His eldest child/son who was kidnapped from them) Mia (His daughter)

Powers:

Regeneration: His kind regenerate most injuries insanely fast, and are generally among the most durable land-dwelling beast types outside non-flying drakes.

Transformation: He has two forms; The humanoid skull-hound form, and a full black dog form the size of which he can change at will.

Shadows: He can merge with shadows to hide himself very well even in human form, and can attack you through them.

Bite force/claws: He has very strong bite force and can actually tear people's throats open even in human form. His claws can also be used to easily cut limbs off and damage metal.

Keen senses: Being a predator type of beast, his sense of smell is about as accurate as you'd expect from a trained bloodhound, he also has excellent night vision, and can pick up the faintest of sounds from hundreds of meters away. Also he's generally just very aware of his surroundings.

human weaponry: He's an excellent shot and even a sniper, pretty much never missing his target. He also knows how to use blades if necessary.'

Leadership: He is the current leader of a large werewolf/ Grimmhound joined pack that mostly stays with his wife and daughter, but will immediately respond to his call if he asks them to come and help.

Weaknesses:

Light magic spells are naturally effective towards his kind, as they tend to dispel the skull-dog humanoid form and force them to turn back to full humans, which is their weakest form. It does specifically need to be some sort of sacred type of light, you can't just whip out a flashlight to force them to transform. (Unless it has somehow blessed light-bulb I suppose...)

He's very impulsive and doesn't always think things through, he's also kind of messy and tends to often leave kind of a disaster first impression with people.

Personality:

Alexander is pretty relaxed and almost lazy at first glance, who tends to not take any threats aimed at him too seriously. He also has that specific kind of energy, where he seems surprisingly naive and is easy to trick into things. He is also fairly good with children despite appearing scary at first glance to many, which is not too surprising given he's a loving father to a young daughter. (AND an adult son)

That being said, he is very good at his job and absolutely ruthless in a fight if needed to be, he also actually does have bit of a temper and can be easily provoked by a challenge. He has good instincts so while he can be tricked with harmless pranks or made believe some silly stuff like the idea that moon is cheese, if he senses genuine danger he will not be fooled.

FUN FACTS

He's not told Diojas he is his dad after what happened with Diojas' magic wielding Ex; he feels guilty over not realizing sooner what happened, and hasn't gathered up the courage to tell Diojas the truth.

His wife keeps trying to encourage him to do so, but so far there's no luck. She hasn't come and said anything herself out of respect for her husband's desire to figure this out himself, as he feels responsible for him being taken in the first place.

Azul knows, but chooses not to tell Diojas out of basic decency and respect for Alexander.

While Mellina comes from the mirror realm, she and Alexander did meet in the human world. This is also how their baby was stolen shortly after birth; the mob head Vermonte paid off the hospital to take the kid and claim to Mellina he'd died.

The reason Alexander feels responsible, is that he was present at the hospital, and still somehow didn't pick up on something odd happening around his son.

There was no particular reason as to why Diojas was picked, he just happened to be the only baby boy born that evening, and Ms. Vermonte wanted a baby boy. (She was infertile, hence her husband ended up doing this. He was never proud of it, and even claimed to his wife he was an orphan)

Alexander did come work for the family before the Vermonte were killed, and he did initially plan on just taking Diojas and running for it, but after seeing how traumatizing their death was for the boy, he decided to wait until he'd have things together again, which stretched out into multiple years, and to the current time.

Alexander is especially strong among his kin, which is why he ended up with golden bits in his hound form. He's considered kind of a royalty among them, although he doesn't give a shit about it.

The pack he leads consists of the leftovers of another Grimmhound Mihail's group, and some werewolves they used to fight and defend a village against. (for a price)

he didn't really intend on gathering a pack, he just sorta stumbled into it, though it is typical for the Golden hounds like him to gather up a following, even if by accident.

His name was given to him by an older hunter he lived his dog years with, it was a reference to the old man's late son whose name was also Alexander. (Though the old man mostly called him "Alex" or "Buddy" or "Damn dog!")

He keeps getting told to tidy up and shave by Diojas - or anyone really - almost every other day, and his answer is always "No."

He doesn't like button up shirts so despite being in a mob, he refuses to wear those. If he has to cover up, he tends to pick a normal or turtleneck long sleeve.

[help-i-need-a-cool-username]

Current headcanons for possible stobotnik boom!Stone

He works at/owns a coffee shop a couple towns over. Eggman was there to pick up a specific thing and decided to get coffee on the way out. It was love at first sight. Stone put a heart next to the name on the cup. The next few weeks sees a serious decrease of Eggman sightings and Sonic's feelings are a tad bit hurt. The team investigate and discover no, Eggman doesnt have a new nemesis, he's just utterly failing to flirt with this one barista and its painful to watch.

Eggman decided he cant rely on machines to handle everything for him after a few to many mishaps so he hires a personal assistant. Stone turns out not only to be super competent but half the time he's more efficient than the machines and he makes the best lattes. Theres a behind the scenes rivalry between Stone and a couple robots. Eggman has no idea he's crushing mega hard on Stone but everybody else knows. If Sonic has to hear one more rambling rant about "how great Stone is" he's gonna scream

Stone somehow inserts himself into Eggman's life. Nobody has any idea how it happened (well Sticks has a few theories). Including Eggman. He just showed up one day and never left

Stone opens a coffee shop that becomes a popular new hang out place. He's not much of a character but he is in most episodes. He can be seen serving coffee, staring longingly at Eggman from across the room, and chatting with costumers. Theres a unspoken rule about not damaging his shop during fights (his coffee is too divine. No one is willing to risk not being able to get some because he closed the shop down)

Villain Stone villain Stone villain Stone

Villain Stone who does like two attacks, is then invited by Eggman to join forces, and next thing anyone knows they're partners

Villain Stone who's trying to get Eggman's attention by making him jealous stealing his nemesis and becoming his rival

Stone gets one episode and then after that he's just occasionally seen in the background and given two lines. Stone moves to town (Sticks is convinced he's a government spy placed here to gather information) and as the only other human in town, Amy is convinced Eggman and Stone are destined to be together and she works nonstop to create romantic situations to trap them in. It somehow works. Eggman is constantly calling to reschedule fights because "i cant do thursday im going bowling with Stone"

Stone works as a government liaison. He's got a neutral relationship with both Eggman and team Sonic (even Sticks. She stops by his house to ask convoluted questions that he patiently answers or to spy on him) but seeing him usually means "uggggg what now" for all of them. Stone has a closet shrine filled with pictures of Eggman and the only people who know are Sticks and Knuckles. They dont talk about it

The government sends a group to the island to investigate something and everyone is super aggravated by all the red tape. Stone is the guy in charge. Eggman is pissed at the group and Stone in particular for grinding everything to a halt until Stone takes off his sunglasses and theres a cartoon "pretty girl hairflip" kinda thing when Eggman sees Stone's eyes for the first time. Now instead of stuttering and flushing in anger when talking to Stone he stutters and flushes because of butterflies. Stone and Shadow either have unexplained beef or are the kind of friends where you quietly stand together because you dont know anybody else here which is also unexplained. Either way its weird

(Oh what if Maria was one of the members of the group and thats why Shadow was hanging around oh great im going on a tangent now-)

(Or maybe Rouge is there and her and Shadow act like old friends. This is only relevant because Knuckles spends the whole episode looking at Rouge with heart eyes and theres a "get Knuckles a date" side plot)

[pumpkinstrawbrew]

How do you think Bruce and John's relationship dynamics look from Bruce's side? How did he first realize that he felt something for the Scarecrow? Does he feel remorse for kissing a man who is a criminal? Does he even consider John his boyfriend? And if so, how does he feel at the next gas attack on the city and at the next departure of John to Arkham?

well….

i’ll begin with saying, that bruce is destined to be miserable in my book. always. he cannot have it easy. i love how often he *canonically even* attracted to villains/morally grey people, an’ how it inevitably tends to clash with his hero codex an’ general worldview. that’s a pretty painful existence, really! the amount of ‘self-inflicted’ emotional/mental damage, that some heroes tend to put onto their own shoulders is honestly a wonderment of its own right. 

so naturally, when it comes to matters of the heart, someone like batman just cannot have it in a way, where it would ‘work out’. i feel like bruce’s an' selina’s relationships are a prime example of that. aka how he digs ‘bad’ kind of people, even if he knows that it most likely won’t ever amount to any sort of ‘sweet’, domesticated fantasy, that he might be wishing for. an' the thing with bruce is that he’s not dumb, he gets it. even if at first, he tries to deny it, attemtping to seek ways around it, in the end, he has to deal with the fact, that it is what it is. so i think, that at his core, bruce is always going to be conflicted about his ‘taste’, even if it does make hella lot of sense, takin’ in his history. in short, batman having a preference, that would actively make him cucked even from an ounce of normalincy is precious to me. 

with this in mind, the dynamic that bruce has with crane is a mixed bag, esp bc he can have slightly different relationships with scarecrow, depending on who he is at the moment. batman or billionaire play-boy. an’ depending on who he is dealing with, crane can also be bolder, more vicious, or actually, meeker an’ less aggressive. like, bruce wayne won’t put his scrawny ass in the dirt, bc it would blow his cover. meanwhile, the bat cannot be too forgiving with jonathan, bc he’s a hero, so it’s almost a rare chance to see how he can influence jon from both sides of the spectrum. an’ it also can show him more sides of jonathan too, considering that in most set-ups *including the ones that i have for them* crane is unaware, that batman an’ bruce are the same man lol. also, it would be nice for bruce to finally have a villain, who isn't specifically in love only with the batman aspect of him.

i mean, it’s kinda given that jonathan doesn’t fully bother with ‘unmasking’ the bat, bc he doesn’t really care who he is. it’s still be batman to him. therefore usually, i don’t picture jonathan’s reaction to the reveal of the bat being bruce wayne to be hella emotional *like in plots, where they’re just enemies*. he prob just be like ‘oh, this kinda makes sense, yeah’. everyone else be bitchy about it, bc how can their batman be some playboy, jock dude lol. jon won't be like that, since he doesn't separate the bat from the man beneath the mask. at least, not to the level where he wants them separated or won't stand those both halves existing at the same time. that’s why the scarecrow is the true one. he’s so needy an’ greedy, that he’d be happy to have both sides of a big bad bat. but back to the main point, i feel like bruce kinda always carries a sentiment of ‘i have to stop you bc it’s my job’, but also ‘i want to believe that you can better yourself’. an’ in cases, like crane’s, batman prob also wants it for jon’s own sake too, considering how often he ends up accidentally hurting or damaging himself.

n’ i feel like it would be even more painful an’ disappointing, if jonathan would still keep up his scarecrow act, while they had smth goin’ on. but such is the nature of jon’s emotions. they’re destructive, when negative an’ there is no reason to assume like his love would differ from his obsession. from how he usually perverse things, it's all the same to him. in a way, bruce be ready for that. he must expect jon’s feeling for him to be feverish an’ kinda extreme' no matter, if said feeling is ‘positive’ or not. i also cannot see jonathan *even if he’s not a scarecrow in some timeline* being normal about batman or bruce, bc he has no idea how to be ‘normal’ about anythin’ lol. bruce is more balanced in comparison, but he also has that odd bit, where he is sometimes more sympathetic to his rogues, than he is to their hostages. in crane’s case, it literally happened at least twice. he nearly killed people, but bruce was like ‘it’s awful that this happen to you, but you kinda deserved it tho’, making the victims pretty confused as to why the bat was more understanding toward his rogue straw-goblin, than toward them. an’ i don’t think, that bruce even always realises that he plays favourites an’ how it looks from the side. so i can’t say, that ‘remorse’ is the right word for what he will feel, if he kisses jon an’ makes out with' him, fully knowing that he’s not a good person. it’s more of a….grief, perhaps? disappointment in himself, mourning for all destroyed lives *jon’s included*, but also umbrage, that he cannot control it or make jonathan stop, unless jon will somehow find it in himself to stop. which is almost impossible. but at the same time, no matter how furious the bat is with the scarecrow, i love how bruce *in older media, at least* cannot bring himself to give up on him. 

in general, bruce’s view on crane is an interesting matter. to some extent, he pities him, but he also seems to get angry with him pretty often too. an’ for a good reason, esp since the bat clearly views jon’s intelligence as an admirable thing, but thinks that it’s a true shame how he uses it or for what, rather. this sentiment doesn’t apply only toward crane, of course. a lot of batman's rogues could have done smth good with their talents/knowledge/hacks if they applied it elsewhere. but i feel like on some level, bruce has an easier time ‘relating’ to jonathan, than to some of his other villains. there are dozens of parallels, that they share, but they also have so many things, that make them a great fuel to one another too, both as bruce wayne / jonathan crane an’ as batman / scarecrow. jon is essentially, one of batman’s most twisted reflections. so idk if he will ever like, openly think of crane as his bf, since it almost feels dishonest to call him this. he’s more of ‘the worst half’ an’ bashert in one. but i feel like people would tauntingly, jokingly call scarecrow’s bat’s bf or even gf. bullock surely would have, haha. but like generally, the villains an’ heroes alike tend to be overdramatic about their relationships with one another. their inner monologues are pretty funny bc of that too. like, they’d be in the middle of the fight with said enemy-lover, an’ randomly think of some well-articulated, poetic line, as if they sat their ass down to write it in a personal diary lol. bruce thinking about jon’s ‘awkward grace’ an’ long legs won’t ever be unfunny to me, even if it wasn’t written in a suggestive way.

anyways, i think that all of the above *besides the last part* prob also sums up how i feel batman reacting to jonathan being, well, himself. bruce would expect it. an’ it would sting more, for sure, but i don’t think, that there is any non-nuanced scenario, where batman would for example, just let jon go, bc they’re lovers now. he might be a bit more ‘forgiving’ to scientist aspect of jonathan’s worldview, but it won’t mean, that he’d agree with ‘end justifies the means’ kind of approach, bc he doesn’t want innocent to be harmed / suffer. he also against killing / death, no matter who the target is n’ whatever they ‘deserve’ it or not. they won’t ever see eye to eye on that. but if batman / bruce’s presence in jon’s life will be extended, an’ if he would try to make very little compromises, then maybe, eventually jonathan can be a bit less dangerous for others *an’ himself*. or maybe, he would somehow find a way to make batman ‘worse’. make him join the club, so to speak lol. 

like, when people think about the ‘enemies to lovers’ trope, i’ve noticed, that often one side of the ship does a 180 turn, an’ becomes somewhat okay with whatever they were not okay with beforehand. for me, it’s more of a stalemate of sorts. like each side might make some compromises or close their eyes on smth, but not be at peace with it. if we picture crane as suddenly rehabilitated, it’s won’t change the fact, that most versions of him had killed / mentally tortured people. an’ he might or can potentially do this again, even if ‘for a good reason’ this time.

the love can change a lot of things for them, but at the same time, it won’t change certain things at all. i don’t believe that love / deep feelings can cure jonathan’s mental illness. if anything, it would prob only complicate things. since sure, it might make him a bit more mindful about idk accidentally killing someone, bc it makes the bat upset. he might try to be more cautious, but not bc he suddenly cares about lost lives, but only bc batman does. it might be a bit better, than him not givin' a shit at all, but jonathan still be a sociopath, that only kinda cherishes how that one person views him, an’ it'll be the only reason why he would tone smth down. if bruce be like ‘okay, that’s not what i wanted, but i can try to make it work’. i suppose, it might be considered as jon slightly corrupting him as well. besides, bruce will have to pay a lot of attention to him, to keep jonathan in line. gotta like dom him everyday an’ such, just so that he’d be less vicious lol.

[kiyrian]

so here's some Kim Dokja analysis up to chapter 203

I realize many people come to see 4th wall as a way of keeping Kim Dokja's trauma away from him yet I as i read more and more the way it works made me think of it as a dissociation skill. Which tbh when the main character of the story has a power of dissociation it is a story for me. Yet i wanted to note down the specifics of this "diagnosis" since i'm procrastinating my studies

Several disorders fall under the Dissociation umbrella. I'm taking about derealization and depresonalization to be exact. Both are often seen in trauma survivors so yeah that checks out.

Depersonalization: Experiences of unreality, detachment, or being an outside observer with respect to one’s thoughts, feelings, sensations, body, or actions

KD isn't only level headed in times of stress, thanks to the 4th wall he completely turns off his emotions to act (before orv he seems to also be distant from them yet during the scenarios the cut looks more visible) not only that, the positive emotions also seem to be only perceived by him on a thought level, not feeling level (he knows he is feeling a certain way, especially when the 4th wall narrates it to him but he doesn't feel that feeling

the ability to leave his own body using his skill (which might be more of a representation of readers being able to see through the character's eyes depending on the POV) and just observing the kind of damage his body suffers when he is attacked without feeling the actual pain

the way the 4th wall narrates his own thoughts making him an observer of an observer of his thoughts

his constant fear of becoming another character in the story can also be noted here (although it is a part of a deeper arc imo, but for this analysis let's keep it as it is)

feeling removed or spacey i would consider to be a part of his experience before the scenarios and during he is mostly thinking through the possible plans instead of simply not being there (although talking to the 4th wall could be part of this... Maybe??). also looking at what is happening as a part of a novel (although it is true but still) could play a role here

Derealization: Experiences of unreality or detachment with respect to surroundings (e.g., individuals or objects are experienced as unreal, dreamlike, foggy, life less, or visually distorted)

so ofc treating people from the original wos as characters which isn't helped by being able to see their stats and skills through his skills

the way he jumps between acting almost too rationally in bad situations bc it is based on a novel to being shaken when something big happens and 4th wall isn't capable of processing it for him

visual distortion isn't experienced by KD himself but by others seeing him so it doesn't exactly count but i felt it was worth mentioning

during the gourment association he mentioned how similar the feeling of being ignored was to what he experienced before the scenarios. he almost glosses over it and moves on. this could be in a way one of the causes of this disorder as feeling like you cannot change anything and no one responds to your actions no matter what you do is a good way to cause the feeling of detachment from reality (and feeling more like an observer/ghost/reader that cannot change anything)

Reality testing

so Kim Dokja does know that something isn't exactly right, he notices when the 4th wall is working and when it isn't. When he reaches the demon world and it shuts down he reverts back to his Mino Soft days for a moment and he knows it. It's not like he accepts his state without any questions.

Criterion C

The symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

the ability to feel deeper feeling towards those close to him seems to be impaired. He knows he loves his kids, that he is a parent to them but knowing it isn't the same as feeling it

his disregard of his own life may be connected to him not "feeling" himself. It is way more complicated and i am stil thinking about it but a part of it seems to be that caring about one's death makes sense when they did actually feel alive at any point

So all in all do I think that 4th wall is intentioned to be an allegory for this specific disorder? not really. am i thinking of it in this category when reading? yeah

when the 4th shakes or goes to sleep he is left with all of the undealt trauma and feelings he doesn't know what to do about. He has never solved the problems so he is left facing them again

probably once i get to further chapters and get a canon explanation of what it is i won't be so set on this but hey it was a fun exercise for a psychology student

(I could learn a lot about diagnosis just based on KD which i may do at some point since that poor boy deserves therapy and i need a fun way to learn this stuff)

[knightfeared]

➤ FIGHTING HEADCANONS. [ ; ] Fighting Experience. Fast Learner despite Lack of Experience. Competitive.Usage of Physical Exertion / Exercise to Combat Stress.

A thought that cropped up cause Jayce — I still craving sparring threads & that led to thinking on this but — he doesn’t have any real fighting experience in Arcane.

◈ Everything he does pick up, it’s a combination & almost improvisation of what heavy-hitting movements he knows can do the most damage, stuff he’s learned through forge-work. He puts a lot of power behind his swings, sticking mostly to defensive maneuvers up until he spots a safe enough opening to catch his enemy off guard if they’re up close.

◈ I also feel he thrives heavily in fights. For him, I did mention in the past how he has a habit of hyperfixating / growing a little blind to his surroundings when he zeroes in on a project — when he fights, it translates there, allowing for him to focus on a single target. While he struggles in crowd situations, adrenaline & his natural skill of being used to adapting on the spot definitely helps enough for him to stay on his feet unharmed.

◈ I personally also really adore how his Mercury Hammer has little surprises with the attacks it can do, how it can shift & change to adapt depending on how he himself needs to change in the fight as it goes. Sometimes it can emit small pulses of electricity to stun his attacker, giving him that chance to strike back, others, he can combine it with an incoming swing to not only add more power but keep them down longer. He knows enough to go for the sides to batter & stagger them & if truly needed, he can aim for the joints to incapacitate.

◈ He is one hell of a fast learner & he adapts on the spot to react accordingly with what we see in the factory raid. I think personally? He would love to spar with people because of the competitive nature of it overall, as well as the chance it gives him to learn something new & pick up new skills through watching & going against whoever he’s fighting with.

◈ This man thrives on new experiences & I know for damn sure he would be curious enough to try at least once if someone’s offering. Plus the fact that it’s close enough to what he does already with using physical exertion / exercise to combat stress & also acts as a way to relax like the manual labour he does in his Forge? It’s close enough a comfort he can slip easily into it & admittedly find some kind of a thrill in it. He gets to show off what new skills he’s learned & developed to fit his style specifically — not all that different from what he does with unveiling new projects in the lab.

*Overall? In time I could see him poking people he trusts or finds an interest in to spar. Over time it could come to form in a friendly or rivalry heavy dynamic where they engage routinely in a friendly competition.

◈ Either way, I think he definitely got into the habit of regularly training with Caitlyn, with her target practicing, hence why he added a long range attack in the form of a cannon within his Hammer — but for other things, Vi could also potentially step in to help keep him sharp. From there, it opens up the way for him to poke others to spar with him if he’s not in the lab tinkering.

*A final unrelated but related thing, I’m dropping a snippet from his Bio / Story here because I think it sums a bit up in how he fights.