#i already live in a dystopian nightmare!

[animentality]

Hunger games seems like an amazing book series that I will never read.

[loserlvrss]

𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐁𝐔𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐒

the world crumbled a long time ago. humanity could've died off — and, some would say it had — but, in reality, all it did was prosper under new circumstances. broken shreds of what remained, nature reclaimed, intertwining with the wires of the programming. Some would die just to be in the network of higher-ups, and some would rather watch the world burn a hundred times over. the question wasn't, which are you? it's who are you? In a place where somebody is really nobody.

a place where technology hadn't died: the sector one. the place where nobody who was ever somebody lived. a distant place to almost everyone else. only handing itself out on a silver platter to the, self-proclaimed, elite of the elite — old money, nepotism and pure coincidence — people lied, stole, betrayed, killed and died just for a place amongst the best of the worst. no one deserved the title this place disguised them with, wasting and polluting an already hellish world.

but, there was a whisper against the wind. the monarch's reign would soon come to fall — the reapers alongside. sector one would no longer prosper off the graves of its people. the walls would crumble as the old habits died. all it would take was eight pirates and one so-called princess to overthrow reality and start a revolution where everyone could be anyone.

there weren't mercenaries anymore, just a new world. and, all you had to do was step into it.

all rights reserved copyright © loserlvrss 2024

genre // romance, dystopian, cyberpunk, cybercore, drama, alternate universe, action, enemies to lovers, suggestive, smut, love triangle, multi x reader, series, comedy, post-apocalyptic universe, chapters

estimated word count // ≈ 32-50k

theme warnings // language, descriptive death & fights, blood, gore, sexual & suggestive content, substance abuse (drugs & alcohol)

status // ongoing, will post when i have time <3

playlist // wake up ateez, poison love dreamcatcher, wet dream snow wife, predator lee gi kwang, xs rina sawayama, do or die dpr artic dpr ian, i’m not a woman i’m a god halsey, coma dvii, silver light ateez, supernova aespa, ganma lexie liu, cyberpunk ateez, addicted pixy, another life key, gottasadae bewhy, daisy ashnikko, this world ateez, bad alive wayv, django ateez, claws kim petras, nightmare trendz, bound key, break it off — bonus track pinkpantheress, new world ateez, spoiled bitch tiffany day, eenie meenie chungha hongjoong of ateez, gods league of legends new jeans, dune ateez, the bat nct u, what do you want from me? bad omens, side by side bewhy, misa misa! corpse scarlxd cordhell, set it off league of legends dpr live jimmycline, halazia ateez, rpm sf9, iris pastel ghost

author’s note // tag list open !!

chapter one chapter two chapter three chapter four chapter five chapter six chapter seven chapter eight ++ more to be added !!

[icypantherwrites]

Thank you so so much to the person who reported my account to AO3 for commercialization and a violation of TOS because of this author's note on one of my stories:

"In this particular story, while unresolved from a criminal standpoint, Lance does at least have Keith's support and that can make a world of difference. So many do not even have that though (and especially in red states where if you tell the wrong person... living in a dystopian nightmare) so I wanted to take a moment to link you to RAINN -- the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network -- if you ever need to reach someone, if you ever need to talk, and, if you're like me, able to donate so victims can receive help and support."

Apparently the phrase "like me, able to donate" is a solicitation. It takes a sad, bitter person to go through years of my works to report such an innocuous sentence designed to help others and just as crappy for AO3 to determine that somehow that is a violation. I can't count how many charity zines I've seen advertised on AO3 or causes that creators are passionate about and want to share it with their readers, but apparently someone hates me that much. I'm used to the trolls (not used to, there's no getting used to the sheer hate and cruelty leveled at me because you don't like what I write rather than being an adult and hitting the back button) but I've accepted that. This though? This is just the reaction of some jealous, awful person that unfortunately has lasting repercussions.

I've now been suspended for 14 days. Apparently that's my sign to never try to advocate for charities again that are out there trying to help people. I hope whoever you are that felt the need to report my author's note about supporting a charity that you're happy with yourself.

Due to this, I may also be refraining from posting works going forward on AO3 because I have no idea at this point the limits people will go and what AO3 Support staff will somehow find valid. I will have to go back and scour my posts for any mention of charity zines (and heaven forbid what charity they supported) to wipe them out less I be seen soliciting for donations again.

Not that anyone is really reading my works these days, but whelp, I won't be posting for at least 2 weeks on AO3 to at minimum finish up the stories I already have there. I'll still be posting as normally scheduled on Patreon.

And while I can't do anything about AO3, if you'd like to make a positive difference I do highly encourage anyone to donate to RAINN and make some sunshine and rainbows out of this nasty storm ☀🌈.

[hatredmadeofgold]

Revenge with a vengeance — The tragedy of Sam and Raiden’s canon relationship dynamic

Alternate title: SamuRaiden is THAT deep, actually.

Side note by author: This essay will get an update eventually since I wrote it before playing the Japanese version of the game.

Although MGR does not have as complex or well researched character lore as the main series, Samuraiden as a relationship is a lot more complex than common fandom tropes and interpretations of their relationship suggest. I don’t mind it when people make funny/meme content about these two, since MGS/R does come with its own flair of humour, it’s very exhausting for me as well as a few others I know who enjoy this ship for it to be reduced to just that — a joke. MGR being perceived as ‘goofy’ is mainly due to how poorly some of the character lines translate from Japanese to English, as well as it being more or less evident that either budget, time or both ran out over the course of development, hence the second half of the game feels rushed and underdeveloped. In fact, the great majority of MGR fans do not understand how serious, dark, hopeless and dystopian its message really is and that is saddening.

The world isn’t black and white, neither is it in MGS/R. Sam isn’t the just the villain (never has been, by the way), Raiden isn’t the just the hero (never has been either, by the way), I’d say it’s rather “depends on who you ask”. They are on opposite sides due to the circumstances of how they meet and not because they wouldn’t get along. Quite the opposite is true, in fact, if they would have met before 2016, they might have become friends based on the fact of how much they can actually relate to each other in many different aspects of their personalities, interests and experiences.

Before we get to fight Armstrong as well as during the Sam DLC (also through very subtle hints during their first fight on the train) we learn that Sam is just like Raiden and that Desperado forced him to become a shadow of who he once was, going against his own morals and values and only Raiden reminding him of who he truly was before Armstrong defeated him 2 years prior, ultimately crushing his spirit — he had no other choice, either die there as a failure or continue to live and become Desperado’s/Armstrong’s puppet [until someone would eventually defeat Armstrong and free Sam from his never ending nightmare — Did I already mention that Sam is a really fucking tragic character?]. Sam joining Armstrong’s laughter at the end of DLC is a reaction of fear, not agreement with him or enjoyment. And if there’s one thing that both MGS and MGR are really good at, it’s the accurate and very realistic portrayal of the human psyche under stressful and traumatic situations.

On the other side we can tell from Raiden’s reaction when holding Murasama after killing Sam that he, for once in the entire damn series, questions if that was the right choice he made. We know that Raiden enjoys inflicting pain and suffering onto others, he enjoys murder — but he did not feel that way when he killed Sam. It’s quite the opposite. It’s very subtle and if you’re not very observant like me, easy to miss. But the way his voice turns a bit softer, how his eyes look listless, almost sad; he regrets it. When Blade Wolf asks Raiden if that outcome was really necessary, he does not answer him, because he knows that Wolf is right, it wasn’t. And Raiden pretty much hates himself for it. To his team he confidently says that Sam isn’t a problem anymore since he killed him, but that’s not the same Raiden that he’s that moment in the badlands (which is another implication to me that Raiden doesn’t fully trust his teammates, although they are friends; he has major trust issues and the only emotions he shares with them is either anger or amusement but nothing outside of that). The way he sheathes Murasama is a way to honour him, and as far as I remember this is a ritual to honour a samurai’s defeat or death.

I believe that there has been a silent understanding between the two swordsmen that they respect each other from the very beginning, but they do not say it out loud. This is a case of “show, don’t tell” but also something I suspect has something to do with the game being written by Japanese authors, and Japanese is a high context language, meaning, very little words are needed to get the meaning across, and I think this may also translate into the words these two exchange with each other compared to how they truly feel about the other. Besides, they probably couldn’t truly speak honestly with each other in the first place because of the unfortunate conditions of how they met and were (more or less) forced to fight each other until one of them would eventually succumb to the other’s blade. Codecs and conversations were most likely recorded by their respective employers, and I highly suspect that in Sam’s case, he was even monitored 24/7 by Desperado since he never was an official member of the Winds of Destruction in the first place, and they didn’t fully trust him either.

At the very end of the game during the fight with Armstrong, Sam’s message plays, and we can hear how Sam also speaks with a different voice to Blade Wolf compared to everyone else (and technically, indirectly to Raiden but I cannot confirm or deny that Sam was aware that Raiden would ever hear this playback), it’s a note softer; Raiden learns the truth, which confirms to him that he was right about Sam after all, that they are alike, that they respect each other, and that there was more to Sam’s story than him being a part of Desperado, he doesn’t know what exactly, but he knows now for sure that Sam was not the person he originally believed he was (and lets his team still believe he thinks that way).

Would Raiden truly say Sam’s catchphrase “Let’s dance” before fighting and ultimately killing Armstrong, if he wouldn’t have been going through a gradual process between originally hating Sam to respecting and liking him but unable to ever express that to him or anyone else?

Would he ever admit to anyone what kind of emotional impact Sam had on him, besides the anger and hatred he openly expressed towards him?

Doubt so. Highly fucking doubt so.

Because sharing his true feelings is a liability to him, and Raiden learnt as a very young child that vulnerable feelings such as sadness or guilt would be used against him, so his psyche is conditioned to discard them immediately. But Sam made him feel those things in their full extent and Raiden is fully aware of that, but he would never share with anybody that he ever felt that way about Sam.

He may or may not take those feelings to his grave.

From Sam’s side, we can only guess how he truly felt about Raiden, but we can only guess by the way he hesitated to finish him off on the train during the prologue, the way he smiled at Blade Wolf before his death (which might be likely another case of a silent understanding between Sam and Wolf that the latter would share with Raiden what he knows about Sam or the playback of their conversation itself, if not both) as well as everything he says with giving Murasama to Raiden. Of course, Sam couldn’t even say out loud to Blade Wolf or Raiden that he planned to give Raiden his sword to take down Armstrong, and he had to be as vague as possible with the information that he shared with the robot dog. Not by choice, no. Most likely because he was being watched 24/7, he knew that Desperado nor Armstrong didn’t fully trust him and if they knew about his plans, they’d make sure to finish him off before Raiden had the chance to do so. Sam knew he would die, and that it would be the only way he would ever be free from Armstrong’s grasp. So he chose suicide through Raiden’s blade, and gave him his sword to finish what he could not back then.

The game’s title is REVENGEANCE — Revenge with a vengeance.

They both translate to the same thing in my native language German, but there’s a subtle yet important difference between these two nouns.

“Revenge means when you get back at your enemy who is responsible for hurting you and vengeance is the punishment inflicted or retribution exacted for an injury or wrong.”

But it was never Armstrong who hurt or wronged Raiden in the first place, and we know he’s an essentially selfish person who does not really care all that much about politics, religion or anything like that and he only fights for himself (I wrote in my essay about Raiden’s ASPD that his motivation to save these children from becoming cyborg child soldiers is a trauma response first and his rather lose and grey morality second) and the few people he cares about, so Armstrong being the one one who ordered to get N’mani killed is not the reason Raiden went after him or was that passionate about getting revenge or retribution on him either.

It was Sam who hurt him — wounded both his body and soul during the prologue — but when Raiden got his revenge, he realised that revenge is empty, that he didn’t feel better, and that he regrets killing him, then we get to the vengeance part. From the moment Raiden held Sam’s Murasama in the badlands, he felt no more hatred towards him and the emotional impact his death had on him made Sam transition from a person he hated to one of the few people Raiden truly cares about.

Armstrong may be the villain of the story, but the person who wanted revenge on him never had been Raiden. It was Sam. Always had been Sam, because it was Sam who got hurt by Armstrong, it was Sam who wanted to get revenge on Armstrong for defeating him and crushing his spirit, it was Sam who wanted to punish Armstrong for making him into a shadow of who he once was, making Sam speak about ideals he didn’t truly believe in (like, who the FUCK even thinks that Sam truly believed a single fucking word of that, because I for sure as hell can tell he never did, he either gaslit himself into believing that for 2 years until he met Raiden or only parroted whatever the fuck Armstrong wanted him to say so he would not get killed on the spot).

Revenge and vengeance are very deep feelings and actions of hatred, feelings that are too deep and complex to be associated with morality, hence why I highly doubt that the title of the game is directed at Armstrong from Raiden’s side at all. That between Raiden and Armstrong is not nearly as personal as it has been between Sam and Armstrong. Raiden eradicating Desperado and Armstrong had been about justice [for the kids being killed and their organs sold], not revenge.

"I said my sword was a tool of justice. Not used in anger. Not used for vengeance. But now… Now I'm not so sure. And besides, this isn't my sword."

But when he says this, followed by “Let’s dance”, it became deeply personal for Raiden as well. Because he could confirm that his feelings about Sam had been right, and that Sam wanted to get revenge on Armstrong.

Raiden decides to avenge him, because Sam couldn’t get revenge himself.

Although Sam never told him directly, Raiden understood him from his actions alone, those subtle hints, reading between the lines what the other truly felt and wanted the whole time, eventually passing the “torch” — his sword — to Raiden, to finish what he could not. So while Raiden’s own reasons to finish off Armstrong were (mostly) justice for the innocent lives he destroyed and planned to continue to destroy, they also became feelings of hatred and anger — Sam’s feelings towards Armstrong.

In the end — revenge with a vengeance — is what Sam could get on Armstrong only through Raiden, after Raiden enacted his onto Sam.

Now the question is — if Raiden would’ve never killed Sam, by the chance of him recognising earlier than in canon that revenge is empty and that he won’t feel better after killing him, would Sam go by his example and abandon his revenge plans on Armstrong as well? Or would they fight Armstrong together and get justice?

We unfortunately can only speculate (or write stories about it).

What we can tell from canon though, is that Raiden’s (= Sam’s) passionate feelings of hatred towards Armstrong quickly vanish the moment he finished him off, and he looks into the camera with an empty expression, covered in blood and a crushed cybernetic heart in his hand.

And I think that is exactly what he feels — empty.

Because again, he got revenge and avenged Sam, led by what Sam felt, Sam’s feelings became Raiden’s feelings during that fight with Armstrong. But once that was gone, there’s nothing left. In the case of killing Armstrong, he doesn’t feel remorse or guilt. There’s nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Because revenge is empty.

Raiden defeated his enemies — but at what cost?

By killing Sam, he realised what he had actually lost — a potential friend (or more), someone who understood him in a way that no one else did. Perhaps he thought or felt that, if he avenges Sam, making Sam’s feelings towards Armstrong into his own, he might be able to deal with that loss better, but to no avail.

Because, and I can speak from experience as a person with the same mental health issues as Raiden, that emptiness is worse than regret.

MGR’s ending also implies that Raiden abandons his family and friends to fight his own war; essentially taking the same path that Sam once took in his past, ending up in a personal war and revenge act that knows no end, making one bad choice after the next. If Raiden hasn’t already become the villain of his own story by the end of MGR, then it’s just a matter of time until he becomes that.

And the cycle of violence continues, until the story repeats itself, over and over and over and over and over.

Did I mention already that there is a myth around Murasama being a cursed sword, that will drive its user either slowly insane or make them commit suicide if it doesn’t get a regular ‘blood sacrifice’?

—

“I really enjoy murder, but that one, that I will regret for the rest of my life.”

[yanderes-galore]

RAAH I LOVE YOUR WRITING, SUPER EXCITED <3

Could I request a yandere concept for Arthur Hastings from we happy few?

I live for that excitement towards my writing :) Sure, here's my take on Arthur Hastings. I hope he's mostly in character.

Yandere! Arthur Hastings Concept

Pairing: Romantic/Platonic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Stalking, Manipulation, Overprotective behavior, Fear of loss, Trauma, Violence, Murder mention, Breaking and entering briefly mentioned, Dubious companionship.

Arthur would fall into the category of both being subtle and also a threat.

His obsession is subtle but he'll do some intense things to pursue his obsession.

His base personality is awkward, compliant, calm, patient, and collected.

Being around him doesn't set off many red flags if any, especially as you're a Downer in this concept like him.

He's simply a non-confrontational man trying to live life in a dystopian nightmare such as this.

What would make him come off as bad is the skills he can learn throughout the game.

He acts on his behavior behind your back, primarily with the stealth skill tree that allows him to get away with things.

He plays everyone around him, managing to be a charming smooth talker despite his awkward disposition.

To you Arthur may come off as a pushover.

He's stressed and nervous in intense situations and doesn't come off as much of a threat.

Which would make him a yandere able to draw his obsession in closer.

How could you be scared of him?

He's a simple man who means well... if anything you should be able to trust other Downers, right?

Arthur tries his hardest to preserve this trust between you.

Such trust allows him to keep you close while also doing is more unsavory duties.

Such things include stalking, theft for momentos, watching you sleep, bashing in the heads of those who are suspicious of you...

He's able to do this all while you're unaware!

To be honest, he thinks he's doing you a favor!

He's protecting you from a world that thrives off of destruction and drug addicts.

Plus, Arthur would feel attached to you due to the trauma he's endured with losing his brother.

He probably has attachment issues.

Arthur will play the role of a good wellie as he plans how to take you out of this situation.

Arthur's main goal of the game is to leave everything and search for his brother/freedom.

Arthur would no doubt take you with him, willingly or not.

You don't deserve to be in a situation such as this!

Arthur only wants to offer you a chance at something different.

If you come with him, you can both be happy!

No Joy needed!

Plus, then he has to resort to much less unsavory means of keeping you as his.

You may both fight at first... but Arthur thinks you'll come around.

Arthur loves to help people.

In his eyes, taking you away with him is helping you.

He wants you to run away with him, to start something new.

He wants it to the point he won't let you go when you try to refuse.

He fears losing you, he's already done so much to satiate his growing obsession over you and to protect you!

He wants you to know this.

Everything he does is now for you.

He'll do anything to start something with you.

He even plans to find a home for you to stay in, where it's safe and hidden from this dystopia.

When it comes to Arthur, you may actually agree to his offer.

He's nice to be around and truly means well... doesn't he?

After all, who else do you have to trust?

He offers you freedom... something you'll take with open arms... even if it simply cages you with him instead.

[distilled-prose]

First week in March 1974 ...it was fifty years ago today...

Winter quarter 1974 at the University of Georgia started out bleak and held that attitude for almost eight weeks.  My class schedule included two labs, one being organic chemistry which was an open lab that required daily work all week long.  My days would start in the cold dark and typically ended the same way.  The sun had become a hypothetical concept for me.  It was as if the entirety of the University of Georgia campus had devolved into some dystopian nightmare.  Academically, it was to be the worst quarter of my college career.  But that’s not why it’s memorable.

My roommates and I lived just off campus.  While not excessively removed, it was not walking distance.  But my only transportation was a stripped down 1967 Matchless motorcycle.  On rainy days it was extremely uncomfortable.  On many mornings it was below freezing before dawn and the drive into school was not only uncomfortable, but also exceedingly treacherous.  The days slogged by, dreary, and unrelenting in desolate shades of gray.  It is tremendously difficult to describe the bleakness of it all. However, even with exams looming on the immediate horizon, at the very end of February, Spring ignored the calendar and turned up SEVERAL consecutive gloriously sunny days, days in the mid to high seventy-degree range.  It extended right into March.  The winter quarter darkness had been banished.  Life resumed.  Campus dress immediately took a turn for the better with this long anticipated, most delightful weather.  Everyone was relieved to put their coats away.

Coincidentally, at the same time, reports began filtering in about people in different parts of the country (mostly the south) running through public places without their clothes on. The news reports called it "streaking".  Even Paul Harvey, in his noon time update  ("Stand by for NEWS") mentioned it almost daily. It was like the manias described in medieval times.

Never a campus to be left behind, sightings of Streakers close to home began circulating.  Through classrooms, across quadrangles, through the cafeteria, everything was fair game.  It was all spread by word of mouth, as the internet and cell phones were still decades away.  Coupled with the warm days and evenings, the activity seemed ideally suited for our circumstances.

My roommate (law school) and I (pharmacy school) were visiting friends of ours (“the girls”) at their apartment in a toney part of town.  It was the first Tuesday of the month, March third, less than a week after the weather had gotten so wonderful.  Someone called one of the girls and said there was a streaking event currently in progress at Russel Hall, one of the girl’s high-rise dorms.  So, without much of any kind of delay, we headed right over to check it out.  As reported, there were streakers circling the building and students congregated all around it watching. They were sitting in the grass, enjoying the unseasonably warm evening.  It was well after dark, but jackets weren’t needed.  It must still have been in the low mid sixty-degree range.

Periodically someone would exit the emergency stairwell facing Baxter street and run completely around the building, re-entering where they had started.  While it didn’t seem odd at the time, all the streakers coming out of this girl’s dorm were male. My roommate and I went to check out the source of the excitement.  “The girls” made themselves comfortable on the lawn. There were about a dozen guys, no girls, at the bottom of the stairwell when we arrived.  Guys who were dressed were coming in and also leaving via this one exit door that opened to the side of the dorm facing the street.  The procedure for that night was explained to us by this one guy who seemed to be the major coordinator for this impromptu event. One person would be sent out after they had completely stripped down.  Another person also would be already stripped down and ready to go.  After forty-five seconds or so, maybe a minute, the second person would be sent out while the next person stripped down. The exit door was opened just a bit so the first person could return inside without delay after completing their loop and get dressed.  Although there was no rule (right word?) against it, nobody did a repeat run.  So the spectators had a fairly constant spectacle of new streakers every forty-five to sixty seconds.  Heaven forbid the spectators' interest was allowed to wane! My roommate and I decided to have a go, of course. After we finished our individual loops, got dressed, and came back out, we found our friends, and sat and watched as the night dreamily wore on.  The girls were disappointed they did not recognize us in our moments of glory.  But we didn’t volunteer for a repeat performance.  It was all pretty heady stuff for the mid-seventies!

The campus was ALL abuzz the next day from the previous evening’s escapades.  I’m certain there wasn’t much didactic learning going on that Wednesday.  I certainly don’t remember going to my open lab… By Wednesday early evening the word was out.  The University of Georgia was unofficially organizing to have the world’s largest streaking event on Thursday night, March fifth.  Details were quite fuzzy, but it was supposed to start at the Meyers quad, on the south campus.  I still can’t imagine how it was organized sans cell phones and emails.  But by the end of that day everyone was looking for details.  As Thursday developed, still without the focus on whatever academic major anyone THOUGHT they had, the plans became clear:  Gather at the Meyers Quad and be ready to run by 11 p.m.  The route was to be down Stanford Drive, past the stadium, and up into the Reed Quad.  People had started gathering by 10, and the quad at Meyers was absolutely packed.  One of “the girls” from our group was in the quad, not yet quite certain if she was going to run or not.  A guy asked her why she hadn’t taken her clothes off.  She deflected by asking him the same thing.  He said, “I DO have my clothes off!”  It was that crowded.  She ultimately decided to watch instead of participating. Right about 11 everyone started running.  The street was lined several deep with spectators all along the course.  There were students, of course, and faculty, townsfolk, little children, old people, campus police, city police.  It was quite the spectacle.  Guys streaking outnumbered the girls by about twenty to one, as I recall, and much to my roommate’s and my dismay.  The ending was extremely disorganized with folks wondering if they should put their clothes back on or not.  Some folks had not carried their clothes with them, having left them at the start of the event.  Some dorm residents were dancing naked in their windows in the various Reed Quad dorms. And I’m not certain who did the official counting, but the reports ended up claiming fifteen hundred streakers.  We’d set the record.  We entered the history books.  And I sit here tonight, fifty years later to the day, amazed it all could have happened. (The day of the event, in the UGA school newspaper, Brad McCall posted the cartoon you see below.  It was one of several he did during the build-up and immediate aftermath to that night.)

@goneahead @thelovelymazza6 @ends-2-beginnings @gorgeous-and-glamorous @littletornado @resistancekitty @frances17

[morethanmeetstheass]

Tell us the “sob story” 8O

lol im gonna put this under a cut so its not massive, but here u go, sob story!

so i think i mentioned that my former apartment got lit on fire, so i had to move to a new place because i was too fuckin scared to live in that place anymore. upside, the guy who blew up my furnace got fired, so W

lived in apartment 2 for a while, it was pretty good, but extremely lonely! i had no local friends At All and like, exactly 1 online friend, so i was wallowing in a sea of loneliness for like, a solid year and a half living there. woe is me, whatever. eventually decided fuck this place, i wanna move back to new york-- i went to uni there, i was born there, i loved it there so i wanted to go back. bought a house, WHEEE-- THAT was a hell of a nightmare, house had code violations, contract was a mess, it was a whole stressful thing. but we got it settled. i have a house now! so that's cool!

but it's also not! because i had a friend/situationship i guess? in new york and i invited them to live with me bc they needed somewhere to live, i'd feel more comfortable having a roommate bc im still afraid to cook and use heat or anything, it was a win win. we went on a few dates back in like, 2020, and i was like, we'll see where things go romantically! without really any expectations of whether we'd get together or not, since ive changed a LOT since 2020 and i really didnt know them all that well. but hey, potential partner! we'll call them jill.

wrench got thrown in THAT when i met a guy, oops! started modding for a pretty big youtuber who's also become one of my best friends, and met a wonderful guy. we very much fell for each other and are now dating. we'll call him levi. told jill hey, i met someone, so suna x jill isnt gonna happen. that didnt go well! jill was apparently much more under the impression that we were gonna date than i was, and was/is very heartbroken about it. whoops! so now i live with someone who is currently still in love with me, while dating someone else! yikes!

which would be fine if there wasnt also a shitload of drama about jill cleaning up their stuff! they've been here for almost 5 months and ive had to ask them dozens of times to please get their huge piles of stuff out of the middle of the floor bc i needed paths for the movers to get their stuff in, i need to unpack my own stuff, etc. they got so upset about me asking them to do this (bear in mind, literally the entire living room was full of stuff FLOOR TO CEILING, and i've given them plenty of warning on dates i was coming to renovate/paint/when my move-in date was) that they threatened to move out and i was like? ok? then move out LMAO. also their cat injured one of my cats and ripped a hole in his ear!

so yes, a lot of unnecessary stress and drama on top of already dealing with all the shit involved with interstate moving, new finances, job changes, relationship changes, all that. the upside being, im very very very happy with levi, im starting to feel settled in my new house, things at my job have calmed down, and things are overall pretty okay. im aware that im extremely privileged to be able to own a house (granted, in an area with a very low cost of living-- the house was like 150k which is actually a semi-sane house price, compared to my friends with 700k homes and stuff LOL) and that my problems arent really all that bad, but topped with the dystopian state of the world right now and the existential dread ive had for months because of it, its just Not been a good time in the suna world. but its ok. things are calming, im making the best of it, and we'll see how things go from here!

[itstimetotheorize]

A peculiar sky

...Something has been bugging me... and it has something to do with the sky. Upon the release of the Little Nightmares 3 trailer, it had become apparent nearly everyone who watched the trailer quickly noticed the heavy yellow/orange atmosphere of the desert where the Necropolis resided. This was of course strange to many because we were not accustomed to such a bright environment. But all the while I and other theorists stared at this yellow/orange sky, we realized something...since when does such a sky exist in the Nowhere?

In Very Little nightmares we see the Nest is surrounded by a peculiar brownish green cloudy sky. In Little Nightmares we see this same peculiar sky after Six escapes the Maw, and again in the concept art of the Maw.

Now, why is this so odd?...its because there are no blue skies in the world of the Nowhere...because there is no real sun. So then...what is the bright ball of light shining in the Nowhere? Well...what if we always knew, and what if the comics already gave us an answer.

We have always theorized many elements of the 2017 Little Nightmares comics could still be used for future content, after all, the Ferryman's existence was still hinted to be part of the world upon discovering a picture of him and his boat in the Maw, leading many of us to realize there was still a possibility details of the discontinued comics could still be used to understand the world of Little Nightmares and the characters which continued to exist in game. And if the comics still hold some truth to them just as it did for the Ferryman, then it means the "sun" we see rising from the ocean outside the Maw, is not a sun...it's an eye.

In the sounds of nightmares, Noone provides details about the world of the Nowhere, revealing to us the many locations observed in the world are not necessarily part of some bigger world, they are individual locations residing in individual eyes, circling around the giant pulsing red eye entity. The many eyes Noone saw is the Spiral, a cluster of dystopian lands. And just as Noone stated, the locations she encountered are all connected, but they work independently from each other, like floors to a building. What does this mean? it means the Nest and the Maw also reside in an eye, but we have theorized neither the eye's nor the eye entity itself, have the capability to mimic a true sun to create a bright blue sky, and if the eye entity cannot replicate a real sun, it cannot replicate a real moon, it simply remains hidden in the darkness within the Halfway place, radiating its bright hypnotic light and providing this light to its many eyes.

In terms of the Mall in chp. 3 of the sounds of nightmares, well, its just as Noone said, there was no sun in the sky, and if what we have theorized about the Mall is true, then the mall was not only left to wither and die for failing to live up to its existence, but also blinded to no longer receive the power of the eye entities hypnotic light, the very light which would have helped it gain control of the mind of a child such as Noone, to make her stay.

And I know what you are thinking, "Oh, but the Pale City had a cloudy blue night sky, how is it possible for it to exist if the Nowhere is unable to replicate a sun or a moon", And I understand this....but then again...we have always theorized the Pale City was not originally part of the Nowhere....and what if maybe...just maybe...neither was the Necropolis...But hey!, it's just a theory...a Little Nightmares theory!

[annabelle--cane]

you've listened to a lot of podcatsts right? do you have any recomendations? (ive already listened to tpp, tma, wtnv, w359 and malevolent)

sure thing, so a few of my faves you might like include

I am in eskew: the horror podcast that has genuinely scared me the most. protagonist david ward is trapped in fucked up nightmare city eskew and tries making audio logs about his experiences to help cope, while, unbeknownst to him, and investigator on the outside tries to track him down. if you're looking for something with kinda similar vibes to tma statements, this also has an incredibly sad british man monologuing about The Horrors. one season; two voices; completed.

the silt verses: horror drama/fantasy, made by the same people as eskew. takes place in a fantasy world where sacrifice-hungry gods are the main tool of social and political control, follows two acolytes of an outlawed river god as they try to make a pilgrimage without annoying each other to the point of murder. if you really liked the entities-as-cults aspect of tma, this may be for you. two seasons done, one more on the way; multi cast.

red valley: sci fi with some mystery and horror flavors. warren godby has a new job in accounts at some big company and is told to track down info relating to a seed vault in scotland that they want to shut down, but when he starts turning up stuff about human cryonic trials he begins to get the idea that it's not seeds they're keeping in that vault. very good character writing and short enough that you can inhale it in a few days. content warnings are on the official website as opposed to the episode descriptions and I'd highly recommend paying attention to them. two seasons done, one more on the way; multi cast.

mirrors: sci fi, horror, mystery. in three different cities in three different centuries, three women start seeing the same ghost. they've never even heard of each other, but you can't help but notice patterns and parallels as you listen to their individual audio logs. slightly weird connection, but if you liked the movie arrival then this could be for you. three seasons; complete; multi cast but each voice is fairly isolated.

the strange case of starship iris: sci fi, dystopia. biologist violet liu is the only survivor after the ship of the research mission she was on explodes, and after she's taken in my the crew of a passing vessel and starts investigating, it starts looking more and more like the explosion wasn't an accident. it's hard to explain in words, but this is one of the most grounded and tangible feeling pieces of dystopian fiction I've ever come across, it has a very good grasp of how people would actually react to living in a situation like this. if you were really into the found family space pirate vibes of s3 of the penumbra, this may be up your alley. two seasons, another on the way; multi cast.

[stimpiess]

Thank you so much for following me. What's your favorite and least favorite Ren and Stimpy episodes?

No problem! I really like your art and stories :)

My favorite Ren and Stimpy episodes... Gosh, there's so many, this question is hard to answer!

If I had to pick one, it would be My Shiny Friend.

Such a gloomy, nightmarish, yet very fun episode (great, fitting color palette BTW)!

I like the two sided nature of this episode. Neither Ren or Stimpy is really in the right. While Stimpy's addiction to the television is concerning, it's not like Ren has the moral high ground either... he restricts when he goes to the fucking bathroom like an abusive boss, and he locked poor Stimpy in the basement for a year with no contact with other lifeforms! Do you know what that kind of solitary isolation DOES to a person?! It breaks them... I think it's worse than the time he tried to murder Stimpy in Stimpy's Fan Club, because that would at least be quick and painless, and he wouldn't have to live with trauma.

Look at Ren, weeping at and comforting Stimpy, as though he's so concerned for him. He actually thinks he's HELPING by locking him away in the pits of the basement to waste away and suffer. It's so beautifully tragic.

"Love You Stimpy" Yeah, given what Ren DOES to Stimpy in this episode, that could not be further from the truth. Or maybe he does love him in a fucked up, unhealthy way. Either way, Stimpy is still someone to be pitied. (Also I love the background music in this scene)!

The suffering begins. Note the decrepit 5'o clock shadow on Stimpy. He has been rotting in this dirty ass basement for quite some time already.

This nightmare scene always gives me the chills to think about. Not just because a distorted, heavily slowed down version of the Muddy Mudskipper song is playing in the background (love the atmosphere in this episode, did I mention that?), and the fact that we literally see Stimpy getting BLOODY eaten by Muddy, but also because of what it implies.

Stimpy has no real peers outside of Ren, who physically and verbally abuses him 24/7. Really, the only people who he can seek comfort from are idols like Muddy Mudskipper. So imagine being in a vulnerable position after being severely abused. You need someone to lean on so you can feel safe... That someone, for Stimpy, is Muddy. Stimpy states in this very episode he "loves" Muddy. Imagine that person you love, the only person you can count on to find comfort in when times are tough, the one single solace in your life, suddenly turns their back on you and beats the shit out of you and insults you. After you already had to deal with enough of that already. Not you too, Muddy! You can't be like that! You were... supposed to be... the only one... I loved... you... I thought you were different... I guess no one will love me. I have no one. Nothing...

I love the way Stimpy gets into fetal position. He's so fragile and helpless. But look at that mattress- there's clearly red blood stains on it.

This implies that Ren has been BEATING Stimpy until he bleeds during his time in the basement. I love the subtle little way they implied that. These hidden easter eggs make these episodes so rewatchable, it's like I'm uncovering a new story!

Love the dystopian, sad colors here. It looks so oppressive and I'm here for it! Stimpy looks like a helpless little kitten who has no idea where he is... I wanna hold his hand

The way Stimpy breaks when he realizes his fate. Soft, silent weeping. No hope. No soul left. No joy. Just cynicism and sadness overtake him. Poor fucking guy.

I love this episode for the two-sided conflict, the gut-wrenching atmosphere, the ways it makes you feel for Stimpy, and all the dark little implications about the characters in their situation. Everything I like to see in a Ren and Stimpy episode bundled up into one package.

Episodes like Ren Needs Help, Stimpy's Fanclub, Double Header, It's a Dog's Life, and Life Sucks are also enjoyable to rewatch for similar reasons. Stimpy's Invention is also one of my favorites but it's been talked about to death so I won't talk about it here.

Now, as for my least favorite episodes: It's rare I have any episodes in this show I actually dislike, so I will just list them off:

Untamed World: So boring and slow. The joke is "look, all the animals on the island look like ren and stimpy!" Repeat for the entire episode.

Hard Times For Haggis: Character nobody cares about gets the spotlight and all the pity while Ren and Stimpy who are supposed to be the main characters get sidelined. Lame. They spend most of the bloody episode bound and gagged, they have no fucking agency! Who the hell even likes Haggis, he's just a guy who is also a Scottish stereotype, and he's ugly lol...

Sven Hoek: An absolute fan favorite... Why? I'll copy paste what I had to say about Sven Hoek (both the character AND episode) from a deviantART comment I made a while back because he doesn't deserve the extra effort.

"his voice is annoying, he's ugly, he and stimpy have no chemistry whatsoever and don't play off each other at all (anything sven likes, stimpy likes too, it's like watching a two-headed idiot talk to himself. i like stimpy and ren's dynamic more because it provides more contrast).

there is nothing to like about him. as dumb as stimpy is, at least there are other things to like about him, like his kindness, compassion, willingness to help others and talent as an inventor. he's not completely worthless as a person.

what the fuck does sven provide? the only thing he does is be stupid and derp around with stimpy for 22 minutes. he is a waste of space with not a single worthwhile thought or action to bring to the table. i wish ren really did rip his lips out and tear his arms out of the sockets and gouge his eyes out! xd"

This episode basically had no plot. Sven and Stimpy fuck around, that's it. The only entertaining part of this episode is the ending. I liked seeing Ren threaten and verbally assasinate Sven and Stimpy. The characters all going to hell after Ren whizzed on the electric fence was funny too.

Ren's Brain: This is a rare time where I am sympathetic to Ren. This entire episode is about Stimpy intellectually crippling Ren and taking advantage of that for his selfish benefit. I admire Stimpy's intellect in regards to his neuroscience and outsmarting Ren, but the way he treats him like a puppet is not fun to watch. It's cruel. Cruelty is not in Stimpy's character. Why did he do something like that?

Thanks for giving me an opportunity to dump my thoughts out onto the internet like that! I really enjoyed it and I hope to see more asks like this in the future!

[notthewriteryourelookingfor]

My bank is trying to become cashless and I'm so mad about it. (I am looking for a new bank)

Our society cannot be cashless.

Why?

Because to open a bank account you need to have a permanent address, specific ID, and other items that are unobtainable for certain people including the homeless/houseless/some "illegal" immigrants

Not everyone us comfortable using digital only, I know a few old people who don't like cards, I know people who budget by using physical cash, and some people just prefer cash.

Also a lot of kids still use physical money as an allowance (I work in a craft store and having a kid come up with what is obviously their allowance to buy themselves craft supplies is so wonderful)

But there's another side to it.

A lot of places have surcharges based on card usage. It's usually "under $X" but I've seen a few places that are like "there's just a surcharge on all card transactions" like -_-

And banks can (and will) charge card fees. They probably do already in some places. And if card is your only options then you have to pay these fees and they can charge you whatever the fuck they want. And they will because that's what banks do. They exist to get money put of your account.

And banks that are like "we don't have any cash but you can use our ATM" ignoring the fact that not everyone can or will use an ATM and God forbid their 1 ATM go down, then what?

Banks: we've seen a decrease in physical money in the last few years so we're going to wind down physical money options.

As if there wasn't a pandemic that made a lot of people afraid to use money for the past 3 years!?!?!?!

I work retail and I can't be like "well we've barely had no sales this morning so that means we will only have a few in ther afternoon so I might as well close the store 4 hours early" that's not how it works.

Banks need more regulation imo and they shouldn't be allowed to go "cashless" because until our society fixes like capitalism/housing issues/domestic violence issues/mental health issues/etc we can't go cashless.

Like literally the only way we'd be able yo go cashless is if we live in a utopia where money doesn't exist. I'm sorry but the scifi dream of everyone having a chip in their wrist that is ID/money/bus pass/etc is a dystopian nightmare that capitalism would use to exploit everyone is they could.

I will admit I rarely use cash, I literally only use it for conventions (to stay on budget) or if someone owes me money and give me cash, I'll put it on my bus pass.

But just cuz I don't really use cash, doesn't mean it's not needed.

[reallyhardy]

Together, they’re facing the most dystopian nightmare of all, which is settling down in the suburbs. In the photos above and below, fans get a taste of what’s to come as the costars play a married couple dealing with normal married couple things in an extreme environment. As they navigate the existential horrors of their arrangement and small-town living, they’re receiving guidance from a wealthy junk trader, played by Steve Buscemi.

miracle workers canon soulmates fans stay winning 😤😤😤 they ARE gonna start off already married i could FEEL it the natural PROGRESSION

[solarpunkpresentspodcast]

A Self-Driving Auto Dystopia

Bad solarpunk me, but true child of the western US, I like to drive.  And I don’t mean to the grocery store, but to beautiful places, especially ones I’ve never been to before.  What could be better than the freedom of the open road and all the wonders my car can take me to see? 

Yet, having lived nearly half my life now in Europe, I've spent a lot of time on buses, streetcars, and subways, and know the joy of travel by train.  You can’t get everywhere on public transportation, but—admittedly more ideally than in actual practice, since they tend to be running late and (especially with the trains) are so often so crammed with people, there’s barely even anyplace left to stand—you can kick back in your seat, go sweetly to sleep, and wake up in a whole new place (hopefully one that comes before your stop, not after). 

Add those two things together—all of the freedom without the hassle of having to do the driving yourself—and you get utopian dreams of self-driving cars.  We wouldn’t even need to own one.  In fact, owning one wouldn’t even make any sense, when we could just hail one through our phone or our watch or the chip in our brain, or wherever it is that the technology has gotten us to by then.  Up it would roll and in we would go, buckle up, and we’d be off in peace, quiet, comfort, and security.  The most strenuous thing we’d have to do is figure out how best to pass the time between us and our destination, especially if we’re not feeling sleepy.

I’m no futurist, but I think I have that all pretty much right. It’s not hard, really.  It would be just like being a passenger in a car, except with a more sociable seating layout and without the stress of our best friend’s impatient husband’s road ragey driving.  Except that last week reality came crashing like a drunken dystopian moose into my sweet dreams of self-driving cars.  

I don’t know why it wasn’t front page news.  It barely even got mentioned by the news sites I peruse, and only on some of them at that.  Never mind the autos of the future, the cars of today are already a privacy nightmare.  As in, if your biggest fear of a self–driving car future is of the hacker who takes over and crashes the car you’re riding in, guess again.  Our biggest fear should be of the car companies themselves and the future they're aiming to create for us. And the present they've already got us corralled in.

Here's the news you probably didn’t catch: On September 6, 2023, the Mozilla Foundation released a study of privacy and security issues in cars. All 25 major brands of automobile that they surveyed failed to pass muster, making cars, as they point out, by far the worst case they have ever examined.  In short, your car knows everything about you that your smartphone does (because you’ve let them talk to each other) about who you are, where you live, where you go, where you shop, what you buy, who you associate with, who you’re having an affair with, what music you’re listening to, what your sexuality is, and what genetic tests you’ve taken.  Plus, your car collects data about how you drive—how fast, how often, how far, how aggressively, etc.  The car companies feed all these data into an algorithm, crank the wheel, and out pops answers (accurate or not) about how smart you are, what abilities you have, and what interests you.  The vast majority of the car companies sell their data on you to other companies and some would be happy to pass it on to the government after nothing more formal than an informal request (i.e., they see no need to require a warrant before handing over the information they’ve got on you).  Meanwhile, only two of the brands surveyed (Renault and Dacia) give car owners the right to have their personal data deleted.  To make matters worse, it doesn’t even appear that the personal data the car companies hold about you from your car is stored securely.

That's a pretty bad present. But even before I got to the end of the Mozilla Foundation’s report, I got hit by a horribly dystopian vision of the future of self-driving cars as created by the car companies.  We won’t just hail a car, get in, buckle up, and off we go in peace, harmony, comfort, ease, and privacy.  Instead, the experience will be as ruined as the internet (itself also once a non–capitalistic utopian dream of a level playing field and the free flow of information between people).  We’ll have to lock ourselves into a subscription service that, thinking it knows everything about each of us, will bombard us with personalized advertisements repeatedly throughout our journeys.  It’s like what Amazon, Google, and the company formerly known as Twitter are also trying to do... be the behemoth that makes all the money because they’re the one stop shop we’re locked into for everything from banking to shopping to healthcare to entertainment.  That subscription service to the self–driving cars that behave like they know everything about each of us won’t just be about what make and model of self-driving car we have access to and which driving style mode/level of passenger safety we can deploy, but which music streaming and entertainment services we’ll be able to access and, in the worst case, which brick–and–mortar stores the self–driving car will be willing to drive us to.  Prices per mile will clearly vary, not just for where we are and where we want to go and when we want to get there, but also for which route we take (shorter and fast will definitely cost a premium), and for who we are as a person (if they can get away with that kind of discrimination) and how desperately we need to get there (the greater the need it has calculated for us, the higher the price the service can charge; supply and demand, after all).  And, oh, I don’t even want to think about how hard they could make it for some of us to get driven to—or leave!—a march or demonstration.

In other words, if we just sit idly by and let the self–driving car future happen to us exactly as the car companies are creating it now, we’ll end up living in a self-driving auto dystopia... instead of merely the privacy nightmare most of us don’t realize we’re already mired in.  Worse, once self–driving cars become enormously safer than people–driven cars and it becomes illegal for a person to drive a car, we will have little choice but to participate in this system stacked so strongly against our own interests. 

Unless, of course, there is plentiful useful public transportation and/or regulations preventing such monopoly power and abuse of our privacy by car (or any other) companies.

Maybe it’s not very solarpunk to be shouting about this self–driving auto dystopia.  Solarpunk is all about envisioning futures we’d like to live in and I would most certainly not like to live in a future like that one.  But solarpunk also shouldn’t stick its head in the sand.  We are traveling fast down the road toward the self–driving auto dystopia of my nightmares and its worth facing that fact... so that we can start working to prevent that outcome. 

Super easy step one would be to sign the petition at the bottom of the page on the Mozilla Foundation article. 

Step two could be to clamor for an expansion of your local public transportation network by showing up at local planning meetings and otherwise making your views clear to the local elected representatives who control how much of the budget flows toward buses, trains, streetcars, subways, light rail, and expanding those services. 

Step three would be to demand that our governments step up their protection of the privacy of citizens, like Europe is starting to do with things like GDPR.

Step four, I suppose, is running for actual office to work on all of these issues. 

Because it would be so much nicer to live in a world where the transportation we take isn’t spying on us so it can blast us with ads, lock us into subscription services, and, if we stray too far into the grey, turn us over to the police or give the government or hackers the information they need to blackmail us or entrap us.

[serverroommemoirs]

Privacy Pepperoni: Lessons from ‘Ordering a Pizza in the Future’

I recently had the opportunity to watch a short film titled "Ordering a Pizza in the Future" during a session for my Data Privacy and Security course. This media depicted the concept of information creep and how seemingly harmless data collection can escalate into a detailed profile used for targeted advertising, or even manipulating behavior. While the film humorously portrayed the challenges of ordering a pizza in a futuristic setting, it also provided me valuable insights into data privacy and security concerns that are faced today.

The film is not just a science fiction. Online retailers are already using our browsing history and purchase behaviors to suggest targeted ads, a practice that eerily resembles to the film's personalized pizza recommendations. The bigger concern lies in data security. The film emphasizes how vulnerable customer data would be if they're not properly secured, as this may lead to data breaches.

The short film then elevates the gravity of the scenario by incorporating sensitive data like medical records. This raises real-world concerns about regulatory compliance and unauthorized access to sensitive healthcare information. To add, the film explores the potential for algorithm manipulation. We see the system suggesting a "healthier" pizza option based on the customer's medical data, but also subtly inflating prices based on the same information. This raises concerns about fairness and equal access to services in a world that is driven by AI algorithms.

As one of the future information security professionals, the film emphasizes my responsibility in this evolving landscape. We must take part in the development of secure systems that protect user data from unauthorized access. Implementing robust encryption methods and advocating for strong data privacy regulations are crucial. These regulations should let the users have full control over their data, allowing them to opt-out of data collection or request data deletion as they see fit.

However, security may just be a piece of the puzzle. The short film serves as a springboard for a more proactive approach. There certainly is a way that we can strive for a future where technology serves us without infringing on our privacy and we can do that by exploring privacy-enhancing technologies like blockchain that gives users greater control over their digital footprint. In this way, we may be able to shield user data while allowing them for data analysis.

Perhaps the most crucial element is fostering a culture of data literacy. Educating users about their rights and offering user-friendly interfaces that clearly explain data collection practices are essential steps to ensuring we don't get to live our lives in a dystopian nightmare. By acknowledging the potential dangers shown in the "Ordering a Pizza in the Future" short film and actively working towards solutions, we can shape a future where technological progress goes hand-in-hand with robust data privacy and security. After all, who wants their pizza order to come with a side of identity theft?

[a-tale-never-told]

(To mod) In your opinion, how well would the cast of Brave DR: Coward's Paradise fare in the world of A Tale Never Told?

//Depends on whether how you interpret it. It's quite amusing that you decided to bring up Brave DR: Coward's Paradise specifically, because that's the first Fanaganronpa I've ever experienced, despite it being not officially completed yet.

//Personally speaking, it was the first Fanganronpa I've ever watched or heard of, and found myself incredibly immersed in the majority of the content and development regarding the web video, it's actually quite remarkable how much Gitaroo was able to make me appreciate and obtain fondness for these characters( with the inherent exception of Kazuya) from the prologue alone. When you've managed to create such a diverse cast of characters, with a variety of interesting and colorful personalities, introducing them in such a brief amount of time, yet managing to write them as if they've already received considerable amounts of development, appearing fleshed out and making us express concern over them, that's an impressive achievement and I can't commend Giataroo enough for blessing us with an awesome web video^^

//Nevertheless, it's extremely difficult and complicated as I can't accurately predict how the Brave Danganronpa cast would fare if they managed to become part of this bad situation, considering that aside from their biography cards, and what we'd officially viewed from the prologue, there's not much we can explicitly state or say about how they would realistically behave if they were thrust into an unnerving and disturbing scenario like this.

//What I can predict, though, is that their official reactions and thoughts to the unpleasant state would certainly be anything but welcoming. Frankly, it'd be something resembling a mixture of hopeful idealism and optimism clashing alongside cynical, pessimistic, apathy that would dominate the rest of the world, aside from a few key people who sincerely believe in a more positive future. In short, it would create a widening divide in the cast between those who possess some form of naivety and optimism about humanity's future, and those who are self-conceited, arrogant, or uncaring about the prominent issues that the world's currently dealing with.

//One conflict that would really become prevalent throughout this entire scenario is that Kazuya and Hiroto's rivalry would become far more authentic and heated than it originally was. Kazuya would essentially become the embodiment of everything that this world upholds, becoming far nastier, arrogantly ruthless, and just downright deplorable than his canon self. Most likely, he'd become overly disenchanted and embittered at the notion that due to the prejudiced standards of this world, he wouldn't receive the amount of popularity he originally had, due to him being unable to enter any major athletic tournaments based on racial standards.

//That is basically why he would feel the compulsive need to express his frustrations and resentment that he holds toward society for rejecting him thanks to his natural skin color, regardless if he wasn't exceptional enough for their standards, and would this justify his self-entitled, and arrogant attitude towards others, as it's a coping mechanism for him to distract him from the nightmares of living in a dystopian- like world such as this, where all of his aspirations were crushed thanks to forces outside his control.

//Unsurprisingly, Hiroto wouldn't take Kazuya's condescending attitude fondly, since he's actively making things more stressful and problematic for the rest of the group, causing an internal divide within them by promoting his ideals and just being a major nuisance to deal with. During their interaction, Hiroto looked rather uncomfortable and annoyed every time Kazuya opened his mouth to say something arrogant, even calling him out on this behavior during their conversation, saying that just because people aren't up to his level doesn't give him the right to put them down constantly and that he couldn't agree with his negative mindset.

//Obviously, the two would develop complete animosity and tense feelings towards each other, always disagreeing and bickering with one another on their ideals concerning the social hierarchy that would become increasingly relevant as the two's conflicting views of society become a source of discord and mistrust between the gang, with some choosing to believe Hiroto's worlds of inspiration, saying it's necessary to assist people in times of uncertainty and saving them from whatever threat exists, and Kazuaya's Social Darwinist belief that the "losers" in society, which is practically the rest of the lesser people of the world, deserved to be mistreated and look down upon them by the "winners", which is the more prestigious, wealthy group that he's a part of.

//In many ways, this would resemble what I'd originally believed the Naegi-Togami relationship was going to end up becoming, which it didn't. It's a shame because this idea of having a cynical yet confident protagonist going up against this pessimistic, arrogant jerk, challenging the negative stereotypes of society, aspiring to change the status of the world into a better world, and showing that in troubling times like these, it's always helpful to possess some form of hopefulness and positivity in times of bleakness and depression to keep you moving in life and remembering that life isn't always negative, and there are some bright moments in life, even if we don't notice it.

//Regarding the rest of the group's actions in this reality, I'm guessing that they'll be suffering immensely, struggling to handle whatever issue comes their way. Usually, some of the more resilient and mentally stronger ones would power their way through this, such as Goro, Rei, and Daigo, while the more fragile, timid members would be prone to collapsing underneath with having to deal with endless amounts of trauma from witnessing all of the terrible sides of humanity, but that's a long story for another time.

//Needless to say, they would've fared poorly in this timeline, only being hampered by Kauzuya's continuous attempts to show his self-superiority and views over others and his blatant disregard and contempt for those beneath him, as well as people like Mitsuba and Honaka unintentionally causing more harm than good. Except for a few people in the cast who are sharp-witted and cunning enough to get a more comprehensive understanding as to what they're dealing with and how they can approach this properly, I wouldn't be so certain that everyone in the cast would've survived the grim world of ATAT.

//But that's just me expressing an opinion. Feel free to let me know what questions you have regarding Brave DR: Coward's Paradise, since it's actually one of my most cherished fangans that I've seen in my life, and it arguably got me invested in Fanganronpas to begin with.

[whippedcloudsofcream]

This feels sad honestly

The fact that Mono,the MC of Little Nightmares 2, became the villain that has been chasing him the entire game,Thin Man is like saying "You eventually became the monster you killed" or "As a child,you hate the monster,As an adult,you are the monster"

It's interesting the music perfectly captures the scary atmosphere:

It started sounding like a lullaby when Mono is a child,it felt innocent at first,then it slowly became dark,the feelings that's chill your spine,Mono is growing up so he lost the innocence of a child. At the end,it just feels bleak,it feels empty as if this isn't a child who's naive. He became a man, he's not the little boy who's scared of the monster anymore,he is the monster now

I gotta say the song describes how cruel and hard it is growing up as a child,it ain't pretty,it ain't light. It's not a process you can turn back,once you began there's no way back

I'm starting to feel like Little Nightmares is just an exaggerated lense of a child towards the real world,well we are playing as a child ingame. The dystopian environment doesn't help,but it does make sense

Mono was just a normal child having a hard time growing up and after he was left by his dear friend, he became a bitter lonely man

Thin Man may have just been chasing Mono so as to prevent "himself" from making the same mistake: befriending someone who'll leave him anyway, it's like how one wants to change the mistake of the past. It sounds selfish, but it makes sense,we all want to turn back time to fix our mistakes. But Thin Man was unsuccessful showing that once you did it, you can't turn your head back

Or simply he just want to kill his child self bcuz sometimes we feel that we were such a mistake as a child,so we want to erase it and vice versa Mono wanted to kill his adult self bcuz this isn't who he is, this "monster" isn't him so it's not wrong to kill him right?

After all the past is what makes the future,so even if Thin Man dies, Mono still lives. But it's interesting that without Mono, there's no Thin Man. So yeah you can say Thin Man was trying to erase himself in the worst way possible,by putting it all on himself I have a feeling that he blames everything on himself after enduring so much tragedies

It's like one big circle you can't escape,even if you tried to change the past,you cannot change the inevitable which is growing up

I just love how Little Nightmares have a great metaphor to the modern life,everything in the game feels surreal but similar bcuz you can see these things in real life:

-> Modern city, TVs,the villains are adults who have normal jobs like chefs,janitor,teacher,doctor,how modernity has made human so pale, they're so comfortable with the modern world,they became indifferent to others, since the comforts are already enough for them to live, why care of others?

The real world is no dream, it's a realistic nightmare, since the children are likely orphans,we can tell they are trying hard to survive in a cruel lonely world that doesn't treat them kindly I wouldn't be suprised if this is an approach on how actual orphans survive in the real world

That's why it's called Little Nightmares,the nightmares are the little things we see in real life. It may sounds simple but not so simple,cuz well the little things here can be the bare necessities to survive

If we go with all this I said,then it means the children were struggling so hard to even see another day,when they grow up,they just can't stop doing that, surviving while keeping themselves safe even if it costs them a happy emotional life. Which is the reality of some well when life dealt you the worst hand at birth,you probably won't have it easy even when you're adult and you're secure since you never know what'll happen when you let your guard down eventually they became like the "scary adults"

Yeah it's fucking sucks growing up,when puberty hit,we all understand 😭

That probably is the metaphor/meaning behind little nightmares. The song is truly sad, especially the way Mono just looks around and then sits quietly, upset and scared. The way the music still holds that melody, but it becomes heavier and angry, more distorted. Mono gains power as the Thin Man, but loses all of his innocence, perfectly mirroring what Little Nightmares is about. I really hope we see more of him in the future 😭😭