#i have complicated feelings about Kirsch

[acacia-may]

A little tree penny for Kirsch Vermillion, please 🌲🌸

Thank you so much for playing my Penny for Your Thoughts ask game, Anon-Friend, and for asking about such a beautiful little tree! 🌲🌸 I love that you included a cherry blossom emoji for Kirsch too and that this ask came in on his birthday! How fitting! Happy Birthday to the most sparkly character in Black Clover! 💖(Literally, friends. He literally sparkles...)

Kirsch is such a fun character, but he's objectively not the best (or nicest) person in the world. He's pretty full of himself and those kind of haughty attitudes (without some sort of inferiority underlying them) can make me really, really dislike a character (so perhaps I'm a bit on Mimosa's side about Kirsch being annoying). That said, he definitely made me laugh (it's those sparkles and those melodramatic entrances, I'm telling you!), and I did actually find some enjoyment in his appearances because he's just so over-the-top and ridiculous (and wildly entertaining). I feel like I'm bashing on him a bit, so I will say that I appreciate the fact that he isn't afraid to be himself and march to the beat of his own drum. Even though he's a Vermillion, he didn't feel the Crimson Lions squad was a good fit for him so he decided to join up with Coral Peacocks instead. He really doesn't seem to put up with any garbage from anyone and just does what he wants regardless of what is the societal norm or what's expected of him, which as we've seen in the aristocratic Clover Kingdom circles, can be a very dangerous (i.e. socially damaging) thing so it does take bravery to break the mold as royalty, I think. Plus, it takes a lot of bravery to go out in public dressed in such gaudy attire. (Seriously what is that headband? Where did it come from, and why does he wear it? 😂). All jokes aside though, I actually do love Kirsch's originality, and I appreciate that he began to recognize some of the errors of his ways (at least in terms of his relationship with his sister) and is trying to be better. I'd love to see a little bit more of him, especially building on those themes from the Royal Knights' Exam in which he was starting to become a little less narcissistic and starting to understand his sister and patch things up with her. I hope his character development arc continues to trend in this positive direction! 🌸

I think Kirsch's relationship with his little sister, Mimosa, and with his Captain, Dorothy Unsworth, are probably the most interesting things about him. I really am such a sucker for problematic/complicated siblings relationships so goodness knows I got invested in Mimosa and Kirsch's sibling bond and wanted them to reach some sort of understanding with each other. I'll admit that even though it meant their relationship with each other was strained, I do love how he brought out this different side of Mimosa. In a way it's kind of nice to know that Mimosa is human and can actually get really annoyed with people (even if "people" is really only her brother). I hope now that they've come to understand each other a little better they'll be able to have a better relationship going forward. I'm really curious about how Kirsch and Dorothy get along as Vice Captain and Captain of the Coral Peacocks. They seem like they would be such unlikely friends, and I love imagining what their dynamic is like.

The first song that came to mind for Kirsch was "I'm Too Pretty For This" by Claire Rosinkranz. Please disregard the fact it's a breakup song (A/N: I don't ship Kirsch with anyone. He's too full of himself right now for me to get behind the idea of him being in a relationship with anyone else. He needs to learn some selflessness first), but it's just the overall vibes and that sort of haughty cheekiness of the refrain that reminds me of Kirsch. I can totally see Kirsch responding to someone else's garbage in this way--just prancing around with his sparkles and flower petals like:

"I'm too pretty for this Da-da-da-da-da-da I'm too pretty for this Da-da-da-da-da-da"

And I do mean that as a compliment. Kirsch doesn't put up with anybody else's garbage and does whatever the heck he wants and (at least under certain circumstances) that can be a really good and commendable thing.

[Warnings: This song contains one bad word repeated a couple of times. The Spotify link is the clean version, but the YouTube link is not, so please just be aware. Thanks.]

Claire Rosinkranz - i'm too pretty for this (Lyric) - YouTube

[auras-moonstone]

omg i love your ethan imagines so yk i have to request one!!! a gf!ethan x reader imagine based on the lines, “never was much of a romantic, i could never take the intimacy. and i know i did damage, cause the look in your eyes is killing me” from the song runaway by kayne west? (ignore that its a kayne west song i dont support his actions, and i do love taylor swift lolol) but its an angst where the reader and him are in like a complicated relationship where they both like each other but aren’t dating, and then the reader is their when he reveals himself in act 3? sorry if this request was long lol!! tysm 💖💖

hiii, i love your request and i love writing angst😫 i hope you enjoy it <3

hoax — ethan landry

word count: 1,686

pairing: gf!ethan landry x fem!reader

summary: y/n finds out the boy she loves is behind the killings, and thinks the love they had was a hoax.

warnings: angst. mention of death.

GROWING A LIKING TOWARDS Y/N HAD DEFINITELY NOT BEEN ON ETHAN LANDRY’S PLAN. He never even considered it a possibility, even though her dizzying smile and angelic laugh should’ve been enough warning signs. Ethan really thought it would be easy. Sure, Y/N was indeed super kind and funny—and she was lucky enough to have been out of Woodsboro during the murders, so the Kirsch family didn’t have a vendetta against her—, but the plan was the only thing on his mind so he never gave her a second thought outside of it.

Having juked the roommate lottery, he ended up sharing a dorm with Y/N, which meant spending most of his days with her as she was also his classmate. The plan was just to infiltrate the group through Y/N’s friendship. But her charm was inescapable, and soon enough Ethan’s eyes started to absentmindedly find her, his heart slowly began to pound faster whenever she was around, and his soul itched to maker her laugh, because he had grown addicted to that magical sound.

He didn’t have time to run, because he had fallen for her like an early spring snow—unexpectedly, shockingly but beautifully nonetheless. Y/N had swiftly entered his heart and mind to show him the romantic kind of love he had been missing his whole life.

No, they weren’t officially dating, but they both knew the feelings were reciprocated. They had difficult lives, and they couldn’t commit to a relationship yet. But neither of them minded that much, the mere presence of the other was enough. A simple etiquette wasn’t going to make any difference.

Ethan loved that Y/N wanted nothing from him, unlike his family—especially his dad, who forced him into a dark plan he never asked to be a part of. Ethan loved Richie, that was never in doubt, but he had it coming. His own decisions pushed him to his death. Was that the rest of the family’s destiny too? The thought of it paralysed Ethan, he didn’t want that to be his ending. He was just nineteen, he had a whole life ahead of him. But he also was terrified of hurting and disappointing his dad and sister, who were still a wreck after Richie’s death.

He had an internal war constantly going on inside his head and painted on his face. Y/N had noticed the anguish surrounding the boy for a couple of days now, and it worried her a lot.

“What’s going on in that pretty mind of yours?” she finally asked one day, wrapping his arms around his waist from behind as Ethan washed the dishes.

Her touch was as calming as a lullaby, and it was the only thing that could make him forget about what was going on in his life. “Family issues” he admitted.

“Everything okay?”

He turned around to face her “It’s just… they expect more from me” his answer was vague, but Y/N would never push him to tell her something he wasn’t ready to share. “They want me to focus more on the family business, and at first I was okay with it, but now I’m not so sure that’s what I want for my life.”

“Did you tell them that?” she asked softly.

He shook his head “I don’t want to disappoint them. This business is really really important to them.”

“I can’t tell you what you do, but you do know it’s your life, right? And you shouldn’t let yourself be miserable to keep someone else happy. If they don’t respect your wishes, why should you?”

Ethan hugged her to his chest and wished with all his strength for a future like this—with no revenge plans, with no fear of disappointing anyone, with not having to lie to the person he loved the most in the world. A future with her on his arms, without having to be constantly worried of losing her.

He knew better, but just for a moment, he let himself believe that future was possible. It was a little hoax that allowed him to keep going.

Y/N FELT LIKE HER BODY WAS GOING TO COLLAPSE FROM TIREDNESS AT ANY SECOND. She was exhausted, scared and tired of running for her life. Tara, Sam and Y/N were now cornered by not one, not two but by three Ghostfaces. Her feet hurt almost as much as her soul—they had just lost Chad, and there were no signs of Ethan and Mindy.

“Just quit the drama and show yourselves for fuck sake” Y/N said in irritation.

Officer Bailey looked at her, showing him a smirk she didn’t like at all. It was evil, secretive, the smirk of someone who knew something crucial that she didn’t. “Oh, kid, this is about to get more dramatic. Especially for you.”

When Ethan felt a pat on his chest, he knew it was time. He took off the mask. He had imagined that scene countless times, wondering what Y/N’s face would look like once she knew the truth. Yet no image could have prepared him for the immense amount of pain he was felt when his eyes met hers.

Y/N stood frozen, but her eyes said it all. They spelt betrayal, astonishment and above all, sadness. A hoax, a sleigh of hand, that’s what their bond had been. It had meant everything to her, and was just an strategic move for him. Ethan could read every thought on her mind, and he wanted nothing more than to cradle her into his arms and sweep all those ideas from her mind.

It all happened in a blur—one second her gaze and mind were focused on Ethan and the next one she was being dragged away by him.

“No!” she tried to fight him, her feet tried to stay firm on the ground but his strength was unbeatable. “Ethan, please.”

“I’m moving you to a safe place” he explained in a calm voice. But she didn’t trust him anymore, so fear crept into her body. Was this how she was going to die? At the hands of the boy she loved? “Here.”

The closet was dimly lit and narrow, their bodies were almost pressed against the other. “Let me go.”

“Y/N, it doesn’t matter to them if you had nothing to do with Richie’s death. They are going to kill you, you need to stay here.” he explained desperately.

Y/N’s eyes went to the knife held in his right hand, then she looked down at the stitches on her stomach, and she swore she heard the way her heart shattered like glass. Had Ethan—the one who had kissed the wound better, the one who had held her hand as the nurse stitched her up, the one who whispered reassuring sweet words on her ear as she looked down terrified at all the blood she had lost—been the one who inflicted that very same wound on her?

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what she was wondering, so Ethan grabbed her by the cheeks as if she was the most fragile thing in the world. The terrified look on her eyes didn’t go past him, and it killed him. “No, baby. No. I swear, I didn’t do that to you. I would never hurt you.”

“Don’t call me baby! And don’t you get it? You already did.” her lower lip trembled. The guy who she had trusted with her body and soul, the one that felt like home to her, was the person whom she should’ve been running away from all along. “Was I just some pawn in your game?”

Ethan’s eyes widened “What?”

“Was I just some kind of Trojan’s horse? The girl you used to get inside the group?”

The brunet wanted to say no, but they both knew it would be a lie. “Only at first…” when Y/N hid her face in her hands to sob, he couldn’t help but bring her into his arms. The action destroyed her, because his arms were the place she used to shelter herself in whenever she felt sad. And despite the fact that he was now the one piercing her soul, his embrace still quieted her pain. “But I fell for you, for real, Y/N. I hate myself for bringing you into this mess, you don’t deserve it. You’re… you’re the one who made me feel happy again after everything that happened last year.”

“Fuck you, Ethan. I hate you.” she cried in his chest. Y/N wanted to pull away almost as much as she wanted to lock her arms around his frame forever.

“I know, I’m sorry” he whispered. “I have to go.”

“No. No, please. Don’t leave me here, stay with me.” the panic in her voice was heavy.

“I’m going to come back for you, I promise. Don’t leave unless I come back, okay?”

What if you don’t come back? was the question that lingered on that small room. There was a high chance that he might not see her again, and that this was the last time she would see him alive.

“If you’re not back within ten minutes, I’ll go find you. And you better be alive, Ethan Landry.” the boy smiled, and pressed a short kiss to her lips. “Please come back to me, okay? I love you, please don’t make me live a life without you.”

“I will, Y/N. And then we’ll go home, and cuddle and everything will be okay. I love you.”

But that night, Y/N walked back to the apartment alone, leaving a part of her back in that shrine. She arrived to the place that stopped being a home and became a house instead. She tucked herself to bed and closed her eyes waiting for warm arms to hug her waist, but they never came. Instead, she had to hug the pillow that smelled like citrus—his shampoo—and let the salt tears fall freely.

She’s got a lot to live without now, and she’s never going to meet what a future with Ethan could’ve been. The battle was over, but the worse was yet to come. Now, she had to learn how to be without Ethan.

[the-stray-liger]

I am so sorry for killing you in my comment about Reigen's family being wrongfully portrayed as "evil abusive ne'erdogoods", I swear it was an accident. I think it would count as friendly fire, even. Either way, still massively sorry.

Like, I wanna give my favourite characters really interesting relationships with other characters, especially their family. I had been thinking about Karl and Kirsche's entire situation again lately and yeah. The relationship between parents and children just IS fucking complicated, even if you are TECHNICALLY on perfectly good terms with each other.

I mean. That's just life, innit?

I am very glad that I have a very good relationship with my family (beyond the fact that they don't know I'm a man) so I normally haven't had that much trouble but when my dad invites me to his wife's family's christmas party I feel like I'm trying to diffuse a bomb while getting progressively more and more drunk

[kades-rp-lore-hell]

hi i'm kade. 19, he/him

this is one of those funky hub blogs where i'll ramble incessantly about my pokemon irl blogs. and also if you have like, questions about my characters or whatever i'll answer them probably.

most characters have a tag that looks like this: #character: name (e.g. #character: sylvan kirsche)

except for N. him being an actual canon character makes things more complicated. i don't want people looking for normal content involving him to end up here. so his tag is #there is no N tag

my blogs (with very simple descriptions because i don't currently feel like writing detailed descriptions):

@cherrytree-irl - OC x Canon blog where some weird gay people post about their daily lives. my most active roleplay blog.

@rover-on-rotomblr - Sapient Pokémon blog where a Porygon2 learns every swear word and also some other words. i post here when i think of things to Rover to say or I get an ask

@blackout-rotomblr - blog where a guy makes bad blackout poems out of people's rotomblr posts and also sometimes gets sidetracked and posts other stuff. i post here when i find a good post to deface.

i also run @rotomblr-island which is not a roleplay blog. on this blog i play tomodachi life with other people's pkmn irl characters. i post here when i feel like playing tomodachi life.

[juniperhillpatient]

Scream 6 re-watch thoughts (SPOILER alert!)

-there are so many details & references in this movie! I feel like I’ll catch more every time I re-watch

-quinn’s fake death is hilarious on re-watch. I love the kirsch siblings they’re so fucking funny. she didn’t have to fake be on the phone worried about the killings while ethan loomed behind her ominously for danny to see. iconic. theatre kid vibes. I bet richie sometimes let them be in his movies & they loved it & got all cutely excited

-on that note we were robbed of more quinn & ethan interactions 😭 I’m not sure what I would do to change this because obviously the mystery has to be kept alive but I love them & I wish I could see more of them being siblings

-the script is actually SO smart. every bit of dialogue between the heroes & villains before Ghostface is revealed is so well done with the consistent theme of “you fuck with my family, you die” except you don’t KNOW til the end how important some of those dialogue moments were. Idk just brilliant

-the parallels with this being a story about siblings killing for their sibling & the way the lines between Sam & Ghostface are blurring! ooh it’s so well done

-I love the carpenter sisters & the meeks martin twins i don’t care how corny the whole “core four” “we’re a family” thing is. inject it into my blood I love found family I love siblings who have a fun or complicated dynamic & would do anything for each other. the core four’s dynamic is my life actually

-I’ve seen a few people who didn’t like the final battle but this was possibly the best final battle of the entire franchise to me so far & I’m extremely confused by this bizarre take. like. I’ve seen it said a few times now but I don’t get it. Ethan & Wayne’s deaths were iconic. the whole “you have to let me go” thing. the reveals. the way I fucking CALLED it the first time I watched oh I KNEW it as soon as Quinn mentioned a dead brother! the synchronized knife swipe!!!

-the SYNCHRONIZED KNIFE SWIPE!

--the SYNCHRONIZED FUCKING KNIFE SWIPE! 🔪🔪🔪🥰🥰🥰💖💖💖🔪🔪🔪

-have I mentioned the synchronized knife swipe???

-Ethan’s death was so sexy sorry to his fan girls but I could watch Tara twist that knife into his skull all day

-Sam & Billy are the father daughter duo of all time I love you badly cgi’d skeet ulrich & I’m being totally sincere

-Chad almost dying should be a thing in every movie. I want him to have Vam Palmer Yellowjackets same ability to defy death it’s so funny to me

-“more main cast members should’ve died!!” I get this. I do. it’s a tough one. but. Ummm consider this. it’s secretly a feel good found family movie??? and also I don’t want my characters who I love to die 🥺 thanks for considering! the movie was perfect argument over forever

-my biggest critique is that my girl quinn had such a fucking lame death they could’ve had Sam & Tara team up on her, they could’ve done anything! sorry to Wayne & Ethan girlies but she was the most fun & charismatic Ghostface of the movie & her death was wasted. that’s literally my only issue with the entire movie.

-and I guess they could’ve done more with nyc & also I’m sad there was no beheadings except a mannequin but like… oh well. those things I can move past pretty easily. the did do a lot with nyc. the alley scene, the subway scene, the convenience store scene, & the ladder scene between apartments were all amazing. gale’s battle with Ghostface was a bit lame but I’m not sure what I would change since I don’t like. want Gale to die lol (maybe a little tiny bit I did but it’s complicated)

-Kirby’s role was perfect I love her & Hayden’s facial expressions are almost as good as David arquette’s

-anywho Sam wearing her daddy’s mask & using her daddy’s weapon & being a boss ass bitch was great. the gray tank top is my actual favorite character ❤️❤️❤️

[the8thsphynx]

I know that, with Beryl, it's on sight for River, but it'd be super interesting to learn what ur ocs' relationships are like with the other crypters!

Thank you for the ask!!

And sure thing, I'll go through them in order of the Lostbelts! Just a fair warning, I haven't read any of the fan translations for LB7 yet, so I have next to no knowledge on Daybit! He'll likely be the only one out of the lineup here!

River:

Kadoc- Complicated, but River does actively try to reason with and bring Kadoc back since he can sense that he doesn't really want to be there. While Kadoc is in the Stormborder after LB1, River gives him his iPod and says 'I think we listen to all the same things, so you can have this for a while and give it back some other time'. Kadoc tried to return it before Traum, but...

Ophelia- There wasn't much to say; Brier took over most of the interaction with Ophelia in LB2.

Yu Meirin- The Crypter that River has the weirdest connection to, and this has to do with his true identity as Aim. Yu and River have a heavy unquantifiable empathy towards each other to where in the fight in LB3 they even verbally agree with each other, 'I wish we could have been friends'.

Peperocino- Also VERY complicated, but River doesn't hate Pepe. There are times where River and Pepe actually flirt and banter like friends until River snaps out of it-- remembering where they are-- and is cold towards him again. Pepe feels sorry for River bc he knows his true nature and even calls Chaldea out on being divisive about what they're going to do with him.

Kirschtaria- It's sad that in any other circumstances Kirsch and River would have been best friends, but after Atlantis they both had a very sturdy resolution to kill each other. River sees Kirschtaria as someone who betrayed humanity and is their biggest obstacle to restoring the world, and Kirschtaria sees River as humanity's biggest threat, regardless if it's PHH or a Lostbelt.

Beryl- Like you said, It's on Sight. Complete hatred. Primal need to hunt each other down like animals. Beryl hates River because River is who he will never be, and River hates Beryl because it's who he was compared to and someone who's hurt/killed people River loved.

Daybit- [tbd since I havent read LB7]

Brier:

Kadoc- As a note, Brier knows about every Crypter. The only blackbox is Daybit. In the way of Kadoc, she seriously pitied him but uh... rarely anything makes her merciful. She was the one in this AU that took the shot on Anastasia at the end of LB1.

Ophelia- OOOOOOUGH the girls have BEEF. Ophelia's Mystic Eye is the only thing that can effectively counter Brier's Mystic Eye. There comes a point where Brier says 'fuck it' and starts breaking Ophelia down mentally by insulting her based on her upbringing.

Yu Meirin- Interested, but not hateful. Brier picked up on the fake af records on Yu and was the one that passed the info to the team. Learning that she was a True Ancestor got Brier's gears turning afterwards.

Peperocino- They're so besties. Like they literally met and knew each other before Chaldea and Pepe is the reason Brier had any gateway to find Chaldea. Even with circumstances, they were super happy to see each other again.

Kirschtaria- Brier is on the same page as River with this one. Even though she has a lot of respect for Kirsch and his former position in the Clock Tower, she was game to take him down if that's what was needed to restore PHH.

Beryl- They Have Been Actively Hunting Each Other For Five Years. Brier took the most recent hit Third Eye put on Beryl because Beryl has wiped out the past four Third Eye assassins that have been sent after him. She's made everyone in Chaldea (even River) swear that she would get him in the end.

Daybit- [tbd since I haven't read LB7]

Fakkir:

Kadoc- She sees a lot of her own son in him. Fakkir really really wants to convince Kadoc to defect from the Crypters and come back to Chaldea.

Ophelia- Cue the Aizen line 'admiration is the furthest thing from understanding'. That's basically what she says to Ophelia. Fakkir has respect for Ophelia's skill and empathy for the situation she grew up in, but she doesn't pity her or hold back on ripping up LB2.

Yu Meirin- Very neutral, only because Fakkir agrees with the idea that she too would happily abandon the world if it meant she and Adam could be reunited with her husband. In fact it drags out of Fakkir that the only reason she's going so hard to save PHH is to see her husband again.

Peperocino- At first Fakkir really can't stand Pepe, because he outs her on her family name and the very big name lineage she comes from. Gradually, though, they develop respect towards each other. Even moreso in LB6.

Kirschtaria- They had met before and were good acquaintances before Chaldea. Kirsch was actually the one who recommended that Marisbury try and get her into Chaldea, since Fakkir had been outcast from the mage world by her own family and therefor wasn't on anyone's radar. Kirsch and Fakkir tried between Atlantis and Olympus to reason with each other, but they're both so stubborn that it went nowhere.

Beryl- Fakkir heard whispers of Beryl and already was on guard about him, but very quickly she's down to kill him after what happened in Olympus.

Daybit- [tbd since I haven't read LB7]

[anxhoredheart]

( daniel ezra, cis man, he / him ) — 🎬 just announced, ziggy thomas is casted as jake in upcoming freaky friday movie reboot. the twenty nine year old is trending as people are debating if the facing a world of sky-high penthouses with a phone full of contacts yet a phone that never rings, facing a stranger in the mirror every day, missing the passion you once lost, the hope to turn the hands of fate && time and start again that they are known for is enough to make them as good as original. a quick google search shows that their fans call them perceptive, but internet trolls think they’re more self-centered. i guess their newest interview for variety where they talk about trying to break free from the villain archetype they found themselves stuck in for years since their last big project will let people to know them better.

basics:

this is under co.

traits: dignified, prideful, on the quiet side, observant, materialistic, close-minded, goal oriented, eloquent, passive, intuitive, realistic, aloof.

relationship status: ... it's complicated.

sexuality: heterosexual but not entirely close-minded to exploration.

religion: raised loosely christian, still loosely identifies but doesn't practice.

date of birth:  october 11th.

zodiac sign: libra.

skills & hobbies:

dislikes & fears:

quirks:

fun fact: won ' manhatten's most perfect baby ' before he was the age of 2. turned down the option to star in you.

pets: none, he doesn't feel he has the time.

family: single mother, only child, relationship with mommy dearest is strained at best.

credits: plays assholes && villains, mainly. includes gale hawthone (hunger games), nate jacobs (euphoria), richie kirsch (scream 5), and he who remains (loki) more recently, but there are others along this general douche-y vibe. he also has done LOTS of modeling.

backstory:

when your mom spearheads a fashion label, going as far to quest judge on rupaul's drag race once upon a time, you grow up with a level of expectation that most children do not. you must be well-dressed, looking your best, behaving your best, and shiny as a trophy for the eyes to see.

acting began, originally, as ziggy's way to escape the spotlight. to be someone new, someone else, just for a bit, just to feel like he had found a place in the world, even in a fictional role.

he grew up on the sidelines of runways, in private airplanes, and bouncing between paris && milan && london, new york && chicago && beverley hills... manhatten was home, but his mother had offices && businesses everywhere.

there was little he wanted for, except some peace && quiet.

fueling his energy into devious roles was a great way to change the pace, and as he got further into his 20s, he dropped modeling entirely to focus on his acting... but then he realized, every single script his agent brought him was the same. once again, the universe had decided his role, and now he was trying to depart from it.

he doesn't want to play the jerks anymore. the media calls him the perfect face for villainy, the asshole you love to hate, the bad boy with the bad heart vibes. every little misdeed he took in his personal life was blown up on the media, and he found every step taken only painted a worse picture of him, try as hard as he might to break out of it.

almost 2 years ago, ziggy fired his agent, fired his manager, took control of his own social media, went dark, and has been trying to build up a whole new reputation ever since. playing the beloved himbo jake with a heart of gold && winning smile?

ziggy hopes this is his ticket to a new kind of fame.

he hopes this is step one in just... learning how to be himself.

wanted connections:

rich bitch brigade: pretty much as it sounds, these are part of the elite, probably have been friends (frenemies?) for years, and yet have formed a little clique of hard-earned respect, trust, and bad blood. think gossip girl style friends who have years of shit, yet stay close in their own ways.

his rival: the guy who keeps getting the roles he wants - always plays the golden boy, the sweetheart, the heartthrob hunk with a great personality, everyone's favorite male lead... they are civil on the surface but its obvious ziggy has jealousy.

an ex or two?: everyone, especially the fans && media, knows that ziggy && charlie have always found a way back to one another, so no one has really taken his other relationships seriously. maybe there were real feelings, or maybe they were for pr to distance himself from other rumors, or maybe he was used.

fashion industry connections: he started in fashion thanks to his mom who owns a fashion empire of her own (think similar to the row, by the olson twins?) and he was a model long before he was an actor. now, he no longer models unless it's for brand campaigns or promotional material, but would still love to have some long-term connections from when he was more active.

hunger games/scream/euphoria castmates: other og hunger games stars - he played gale when he was about 17. he played richie kirsch in scream, and nate jacobs in euphoria.

some sort of paternal/maternal figure: his mom was... not around much, and more of a ghost than a parent. he was bounced around from nannies to assistants to housekeepers, and essentially, raised himself with little assistance. it would be great if an older actor could prove as a mentor... not in acting, but in personal life, emotions, social settings, love, etc. would be even better if this was a co-star in the freaky friday movie, like the fiance to tess, tess, pei pei, etc!

taken connections:

[senjuushi]

Master: I guess now I can breed you 🤔

From hell yeah to hell no, whatever gun you want

Obvious statement that guns are sterile and breeding isn’t possible. XD We’re just assuming they don’t know this~ And also noting that this is a version of the Au where the boys just wound up in female bodies. 

. . . 

Most into it

Marks — She absolutely adores the idea of carrying her Master’s children. It had probably crossed her mind even as her male self, but now that it’s possible... that’s a concept Marks is just as eager about as you are. And now that you’ve said it, she’s so excited you may as well have promised it to her. 

Ghost — She’s not sure that her body is suited for such a thing (too skinny, too weak, too frail), but the idea isn’t bad. If anything, hearing that you want to breed her makes Ghost feel kind of secure. She likes the thought of having a family with you, something permanent, if it’s really possible now. 

Siegblut — She’ll act deeply offended that you’d even say such a thing, but the housewife side of her isn’t exactly complaining. It’s not something Sieg would have allowed herself to think of as her male version, but with this body... thoughts that she’s massively ashamed to let exist are starting to take over. 

Hachikyu — Again, she’s one who’s massively embarrassed by the very thought... but she’s also aware that having a kid would mean being taken off the battlefield for a nice, long while. She’s also actively ignoring the fact that thinking of being bred is both arousing and weirdly comforting. 

NOT into it

Fal — With everything she has to do, being bred is the last thing she wants to think of. Even imagining the extra trouble that would come from having to push her body to such an extent is distressing— and that’s not considering all the effort afterward. She does not want to be reduced to a use like that. 

Like2 — And mess up her body? Fuck no. Like2 is mostly against the idea because she knows kids totally screw up someone’s looks... but also because she’s self-centered enough not to want to share. It just sounds gross to have to deal with all of the physical hassles, even more so the complications after. 

Love1 — Yeah, her body is not designed for that. To start with, Love1 is far from the type who’d be a good parent... but the real problem is that, with as much of an eternal fuck-up as her physical form chooses to be, she’s pretty sure that breeding her would either kill her, the kid, or both. Not a good idea. 

Kirsch — But she’s the baby here! Kirsch is absolutely too selfish to want a child, even if she knows Master would enjoy it. Being bred would take all of the attention away from her, so it’s an absolute nope. She’s also somewhat hiding the fact that even thinking about breeding makes her feel all kinds of dirty.  

[originlist]

Laurel snags Ritsu from around the shoulders, dragging them out of their thoughts and into her dorm. "What's with that face, Ritsu? You look sad, it's weird." Ergo, they're coming to lunch! The gang's already here - or, half the gang, since it's just Ash and Seimei in Laurel's room. Bei and Astolfo are both wherever, she isn’t worried. Laurel drags Ritsu over to the couch and plops them next to Asvatthaman, who looks up from the book he's reading.

"Sup, Fujimaru."

"Yo. Nothing, I was just thinkin'," Ritsu replies.

Laurel has reclaimed her spot in the (since magically enlarged) dorm kitchen. She stands over a pan and gestures idly at Ritsu with a spatula. "About what? There's not much that can get you looking distracted."

Ritsu pauses before answering, trying to find an easy word. "Ehm, humanity, I guess."

Seimei speaks up abruptly. He's sitting a little separate from the others, perched on the ground with legs folded under him. "Hm, a philosophical question. You've a good variety here to ask."

"It's not, I mean, ehm. Well. I mean, it was kind of… what makes someone a human. Or not human. Because I was thinking about the gods in Atlantis, like Artemis, who made humans and forgot them; or Servants like Xiang Yu who are people but don't look it. Or… like me and Yako. We're human, but there's a difference between us and others."

"Human's just being human." Ash says decisively.

"I don't think he's far off, simple as it might sound." Seimei says, completely ignoring the ‘hey!’ from Ash at what might be an insult. "Though I believe your thoughts may have reached a similar conclusion."

Ritsu feels reminded viscerally of how it feels talking to Holmes. Not a compliment to Seimei. It makes them huff a little, but they continue anyways. "The closest I could figure was it's just choice. I mean, you're a human or a person if you want to be and you want humanity to be okay. Shi Huang Di is a human, even though their want for humanity to be okay is different from mine. So, I'm still a human because I said so. And Kirsch is on thin ice because he can't accept humanity, and the gods he supports aren't human and can’t be accepted as gods for humans because they don't want to see the people they created thrive."

"Complicated-ass way to say being human is just being human," Ash says aside. Ritsu chuffs at him. Sure, but they had to think their way there first!

Laurel returns, now with a large plate bearing slices of fried onion pancake. "Isn't it just… being born a human, though?"

"Are you human?" Seimei asks. "Your mother was a demon."

"I'm half human. That counts." She sits squished herself between Ritsu and Asvatthaman and grabs a piece of fried pancake to eat. "Your mom was a youkai, too, don’t talk shit."

“Yet you call yourself human and me inhuman, when we have the same pedigree?”

“Well, you’re- urgh, you’re just,” he’s frustrating! An absolutely annoying way to phrase his point and Laurel hates that she’s cornered into going along with proving herself biased. “You don’t– do human things! You don’t think like one.”

Seimei smiles and nods in a way that makes Laurel want to revoke his lunch permissions. “So you say it’s not based on blood.” His lunch permissions cannot be revoked. "I am half human. Well, I was. As Ritsu said, I no longer choose to be human as I don't feel it applies. I spent too long on the far side of the world, and my human half stayed dead when I was resurrected anyways.” Seimei holds up a finger. “However, I am allied with humanity. It makes up the difference and allows me to stand without conflict. You burned a bit of the scallion, by the way."

"You motherfu–" Laurel moves to throw Ash's book at Seimei, but is cut off by his snickering. Asvatthaman eats with little mind to any of the discordance among the argument. Not his problem. "Bei isn't here to protect you, geezer," Laurel grumbles as Seimei talks over her.

"I'm teasing. It's fine. Nonetheless." Seimei directs his attention back to Ritsu. "Ritsu. Soon, the wrinkle the Shadow Border is caught in will flatten, and you will return to Olympus. You'll need some way to distinguish between friend and foe outside of Chaldea. In related, am I a person to you? Is Laurel? Who is not?"

"I know. It's why I was thinking about it. Humanity has been what I've always been protecting, I just… wasn't happy with how I previously decided it. You're both people, so you're both humans or close enough. Because you either want to be or protect us. So, I guess it has to be that simple. Humanity is a choice you make.” they think for a bit, then shake their head as if reshuffling their own thoughts. “And the gods there in Olympus, I… really couldn't stand. I made a promise to always reach out, but I don't know if I could to them. And I wanted to figure out why."

"Because they’re fuckin’ trying to murder you?" Laurel says with her mouth full. It seems the reasonable, obvious answer.

Ritsu waves a hand dismissively. "Almost everyone is." They don't think about how casually they say and accept that reality. "I mean… in a way of humanity being abandoned. I can't reconcile human forgiveness for a god that forsook us, I think."

Seimei leans forward, arms folded on the table and fixing his attention on Ritsu. It’s a little unnerving. They’ve rarely been the subject of his focus and it feels like they’re being dissected, like the commentary charm could be pinging anything possible to Seimei from Ritsu’s thoughts. "So, will you be able to kill them?" Seimei asks.

"They're gods, I don't know if they can die."

Asvatthaman pipes up again, tone matter-of-fact. "You better be able. You beat up Arjuna, after all." He was all of a pantheon, a disconnected one can’t be that difficult afterwards.

Ritsu groans and leans back. "I'm going to try and I'm going to defeat them, for sure. Because I can't let them walk away and destroy us."

Seimei squints in a foxlike pleased expression that reminds Ritsu unnervingly of Tamamo. "Good. I like your resolve."

"Will they win?" Laurel asks Seimei.

"I am sure you'll find out," he says placidly.

This time Laurel does succeed in pitching Asvatthaman’s book at Seimei’s head, though Seimei neatly ducks. "You are the most worthless clairvoyant I have ever–"

Ritsu scrambles to stop her from clambering over the table. "I will, I will, it'll be fine!" they protest at the same time Ash grumbles “I didn’t even get to mark my page.”

Seimei hands it back. “Page 193.”

“Hey, Laurel, he can be useful!”

Laurel huffs and allows Ritsu to tug her back. “Eat your damn lunch.”

[coe-lilium]

Please appreciate this moron via some TLs of the “Incineration simulations” flashbacks

Rome

Kirsch: They got us good... A Rome where its emperors through antiquity are still present. Are the Five Good Emperors around, I wonder? I'm actually a secret fan of Emperor Hadrian... Ophelia: Wodime. I am sure I asked you to refrain from behaving like this is some sight-seeing trip. In France, you also suddenly said "Wait a minute, Ophelia. If we use the Arc de Triomphe as a catalyst, can we summon Napoleon?". The first singularity was in 1431 AD. The Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile was built in 1836. No matter how you think about it, it shouldn't exist. Kirsch: Is that so? But singularities disturb history, right? Then, couldn't they also disturb time and space? Ophelia: Please be serious. Where has your usual cool and collected self gone? Listen here. I'll take care of direct combat. You take care of negotiating with the locals, asertaining the situation, and establishing our strategy of operations. Is that fine? Kirsch: Of course. When it comes to a fight, you're a few levels above me. I'll be counting on you. Ophelia: ...Seriously. You're so obedient and calm that you're almost like a different person. We are the only two Masters entrusted with restoring the Human Order. Even the slightest failure cannot be permitted. This is what we were called to Chaldea to do. Let's complete this duty, Wodime... no. We must complete this duty...

Okeanos

Kirsch: Hey, watch it. Aren't you coming out on deck a bit too casually, Hinako? You're, well, *that*, right? You're *that*, aren't you? If you fall in to the sea you'd pretty much drown and die, wouldn't you? Hinako: ....Being bad with flowing water is for the Western *that*. In the first place, that has nothing to do with me. Even if I wasn't *that*, I'm not *this* either. I'm just a mage. A Master. That's how its been so far, hasn't it? ...I thought you'd noticed from long before, though. Why did you stop hiding that you did? Kirsch: You're overestimating me there. I didn't know. I really didn't know. I knew you had a secret, but to think it would be... *that*. I only knew about that in this singularity. It came as a shock. It truly was. That you had been keeping such an important secret from us.. ah, no, is it really important? Anyway, keeping such an amusing secret from us... Hinako: It's not amusing, okay!? It's a matter of life and death for me! Also, you're surprisingly tactless! You were so much more elegant while in Chaldea! Kirsch: ...My apologies. Indeed, I should not speak so much of a lady's secret. Maybe it's because this singularity is so much more open than the ones before... I couldn't help but feel more free... Hinako: We were both just putting on a persona? ...that's really surprising. You're actually a real chatterbox, aren't you... you remind me of an acquaintance of old. His words and actions were the very perfection of nobility, but inside he was naive, I guess gentle. He was just a good guy at heart. In order to protect the peace of his surroundings, he committed suicide by poison. Can you handle what's ahead of us with that sort of personality? We're the only ones who can restore the Human Order now, you know. Well, it doesn't matter to me anyway. I don't care if human history ends. I might quit if I feel I've had enough. At that time, do something about it on your own.

America

Kirsch: Crossing the American continent... that alone makes it the most difficult singularity so far... I wish we had a jetplane... actually, I wouldn't mind even if it was just a helicopter... Pepe: Stop being so spoiled. We haven't even walked 300 km, you know? We'll reach town soon, so let's procure a car there. Would be great if we got a truck or something. I wonder if we could. Kirsch: You really have healthy legs, Peperoncino. Is it one of the six supernormal knowledges of Shugendo, the ability to walk freely on earth, sea or land? There's a limit to the support I can get from magecraft. Body enhancement wasn't designed for running a marathon. Pepe: Myourenji. Myourenji Arou. I said it was fine for you to call me by my real name, didn't I, Kirschtaria? It's the least I could do as a gesture of respect for you, who did such a thing. Kirsch: ...Is that also one of the powers of Shugendo? Pepe: Yeah, the ability to read the hearts of others. In my case, I can only differentiate by colours, but... I can tell that your colours have become quite complicated, so that tells me what I need to know... God really is cruel. We've been helped. So, when is it for me? Which singularity will be the one I drop out? If I know in advance, then I don't need to hold anything back. At least, that'd help you out, wouldn't it? Kirsch: I can't say. But at least, everyone else didn't make it more than halfway. For us, this is the third singularity. We'll soon be halfway there. However, if it is you, or--- Pepe: Maybe I can be of assistance until the end? ...Yeah. If I could, that'd be wonderful. But I'm sorry. Another of the powers I learnt from Shugendo is the ability to be aware of one's own life span. When my life will end. And that power is telling me "it's impossible to go till the end". Kirsch: I see. So you were always observing. While fitting in with the team in Chaldea, you were always perfunctory to me. I found that quite strange. Why would you, always nice to others, be so cold to me? Pepe: Don't make that face. I'm the one who should be sorry. I don't know how many times you've done this, but everyone else dropped out on the way, didn't they? And so after that, you finished it on your own. I'm sure you'll do that this time, too. Even after I'm dead, crying while heading all the way to the end. Kirschtaria: ......... Pepe: That's why I want you to know my real name. For me, this journey may be just like a dream, something that doesn't exist when I awaken. But if you speak my real name, then that alone will make my "real self" understand. That you are someone who can be trusted. Someone who is fit to be our leader. Kirschtaria: ...Yeah. I guess so. Your judgement is the best amongst the A-Team after all.

[less-than-hash]

Pardon My Interjection

This is one of my favorite things that I've ever experienced in any game. Seriously, I think about it all the time.

(Link.)

It’s probably my favorite example of a companion interjection, which is what we at Obsidian call it when a character who's accompanying you says something in a conversation with some third character. Other studios may have a different term for these.

This is going to be a bit of a deep dive, and it’ll get long. So that you might know exactly what you're getting into below the cut, these are the things I intend to touch on:

Interjections at their simplest

Why interjections exist

Variations on the above that are a bit more complex

How these can be structured behind the scenes

The limits of interjections

Things I'd like to see more of in games

Why the interjection above is my favorite from any game I've played

A WORD OF WARNING: I use examples from Beast of Winter throughout this post, so it contains some mild spoilers regarding that DLC. Plot-wise, it's nothing that you wouldn't learn by reading a review of that release, but if you want to approach every line of dialog as fresh as well-boiled water, beware.

At their simplest, interjections are lines of dialog delivered by a companion during a conversation with a different character. These can range from a comic quip to a strong critique of the player or whoever they're speaking with.

They - again, at their simplest - have no mechanical or narrative impact. They're not there to change anything, but to add flavor. 

Because the characters who speak the interjection may or may not be present, the interjections must be designed in such a way that they are not integral. They can't be necessary to the quest, and - though they can advise the player - they can't be relied on to provide information that the player requires.

If Serafen or Ydwin weren't with the player in the capture above, they obviously wouldn't have said something. In this case - as in most cases - no one else would have said anything either. And the player should never have noticed anything missing.

Or, in short, this content is by its nature peripheral.

The goals of these interjections vary, but can generally be distilled down to one idea: they provide additional context to the player. They might be additional information about the world, about the quest, or about the character who interjects, but it's basically icing on the cake of the game.

Behind the scenes, in our conversation editor, this particular exchange looks like this:

You can see where the interjections occur at nodes 178 and 196. You'll notice in both cases that what those nodes flow into is exactly where the conversation would have gone without the presence of those nodes.

Since I wrote this conversation, I likely filled in Serafen's and Ydwin's interjections as I went, but had another designer written this, or had someone else been responsible for those two companions, nodes 178 and 196 might have read in our first draft something like this:

(LR here means "line request," and we use this structure to draw the attention of a writer to something they need to fill in. So, for example, if Paul Kirsch is responsible for Maia, he'll do searches of our conversation database for "LR Maia" to make sure he fills in any content she might have.)

If these are so shallow, what's the point?

Well, for one, even if these were nothing more than icing on the cake, we personally rather like icing. So there's an extent to which it's a design choice. We want our companions to speak up sometimes, so we let them.

In Deadfire, at least, there are also systemic reasons for interjections. They’re a big part of how our relationship system functions. But that’s well outside of the scope of this post.

That said, the narrative context added by these interjections is rarely only for flavor. Each word we write costs money, both in translation and in VO. (Not to mention whatever time we developers spend writing, reviewing, and editing it.) We generally want our dialog to accomplish as much as possible as efficiently as possible.

Serafen's interjection here, for example, reminds the player that Vatnir is a biased character with an incomplete understanding of his circumstances; he should not be understood to be an impartial authority. You might think "yeah, obviously - we just uncovered that he's terrified of the very death that he's been preaching as an unassailable good."

The thing is, the player's relationship with Vatnir also changed in that moment. The player may think they've broken through the lie and now hear the unvarnished truth. Serafen's interjection serves to remind them to stay skeptical. Even if Vatnir intends to tell the truth, he's not omniscient or an expert.

Note that Vatnir's more-or-less correct in this particular claim. The Vytmádh does lead to the White Void (kind of - but that metaphysics discussion is well outside of the scope of this post). Uncertainty, however, can add to the player experience of exploration and discovery, so I didn't want to banish it.

Interjections can also provide other information:

They can suggest alternative routes to approaching obstacles

They build upon the details of the world and the cultural expectations of the characters within the world

They provide a window into what player actions the companion will or will not be pleased by

I think it’s not unreasonable to claim that if we only ever express a companion's preferences through UI notifications after the fact we're not treating the player very fairly. Especially in cases where the change in relationship can be significant.

Serafen, for example, hates slavers. If the player only learned that when Serafen exploded at the player for having treated with slavers, I would consider that bad design. So Serafen speaks early and often about his loathing of the slave trade. If slavery (or even things like slavery, such as indentured servitude) crop up, Serafen expresses his feelings on the subject.

As a result, when the player encounters slavers, they should understand how he is likely to respond to the player working with them, even temporarily or as part of a ruse.

(A bit as he might to this.)

So this very simple implementation is fine... provided that the content within the interjection is straightforward, non-confrontational, and inoffensive - in short, if it doesn't demand any kind of response or follow-up.

Ydwin's wry commentary requires no response from the player or the characters in the scene.

But consider if she'd said something like, "How utterly simple of you, Watcher. Don’t listen to her, little monstroisty. I assure you that our doctrine is nothing like that." Would the conversation still flow well?

I'd say no.

The original Pillars of Eternity was criticized by some (myself included) for the companion interjections feeling divorced from the rest of the world. If Aloth, for example, speaks up during a conversation with an animancer to call him an idiot and a monster, and that character just continues on as if Aloth had never chimed in, the world feels less real and less reactive as a result. Yet that's what too often occurred in the original Pillars.

(This actually led to a fan theory that the companions were all ghosts that had attached themselves to the Watcher. I love this idea, but, alas, it is not the case.)

In Deadfire (and Tyranny) we aimed to avoid this by having some interjections be more complex. If a companion says something that demands a response from whoever the player is speaking to, for example, we always try to have that character react to the companion.

Sometimes we instead give the player an opportunity to respond to the companion:

(Nice typo, past me. Also, in the shipping version I cut "deaf" for "obstinate." I felt that Ydwin would differentiate between willful ignorance and a likely unasked-for physical condition.)

Sometimes other companions may respond, if present:

Other times, NPCs may initiate the interaction with the companion, in essence starting the “interjection:”

Cuitzitli’s third line here wouldn’t play if Serafen weren’t in the party.

Or there might be some combination of the above:

 Obviously, these structures become much more complicated to implement. In the tools, the “I thought it was funny” example above looks like this.

Oh gods, it was worse than I imagined!

So why did I structure it like this?

Well, in part, obviously, because I hate myself.

But besides that!

So first off, Vatnir gets top billing for two reasons:

His comment makes the most sense as an immediate response to the player's words

He's the new hotness - by which I mean the companion added in Beast of Winter, in which this conversation takes place.

Okay, makes sense, but why the random node after? 

There's a few reasons. One, it seemed important to have someone speak in response to this player choice if at all possible. Since we’ve no idea which characters will be at the player's side, I shot for what I considered a few likely candidates: Ydwin because she's also a focus of Beast of Winter; Edér and Pallegina because it's likely the player will have at least one of the two of them; and Serafen because...

...well, probably because he's the companion I know best and I was the one writing this conversation.  

 Now I could have still set this bank to go down the nodes and check for each companion, playing Pallegina's only if Edér weren't present, and Serafen's only if Edér wasn't in the party. Instead I chose to make it random so that different players would have different experiences in this moment. 

Or, if the player had all four of those characters, for example, I didn't want them to only ever see Edér's comment.

Here's a much simpler multi-layered interjection: When the player speaks with Udyne at the Luminous Bathhouse, Serafen will interrupt her with a threat (assuming he knows she's had contact with the person he's seeking):

If Pallegina's also in the party, however:

In our conversation editor, this is incredibly simple in comparison to the example above.

(Yes, I translated the Hylspeak for the poor voiceover actor.)

It's basically an interjection within an interjection.

These can be very useful, especially for establishing differences in opinions between characters, but they're also tricky. If the chance of the player having a particular companion in the party at any given time is small, the chance of the player having a specific combination of companions is even smaller.

That said, there are ways we can make this a little cheaper.

For one, we can establish expectation - a player who has Serafen and Pallegina in their party can see the above and wonder if perhaps they should pair those two more often. (There are a few exchanges like the above scattered throughout Deadfire.) 

We can also focus our work on companions we expect the player to carry into a specific piece of content. Xoti and Edér, for example, seem likely bets for content that involves Eothas. If we know the players are likely to take those two together, we can more easily justify having them converse.

Note that we don’t always do it that way. There’s quite a bit of sniping between Xoti and Vatnir in The Forgotten Sanctum, and I figure the number of people with the two of them in their party at the same time is probably pretty small.

That was a case of character trumping concerns of cost, which can be important - especially to those few players lugging both priests through the Halls Obscured.

But we could instead try a structural solution. In Forgotten Sanctum, for example, if Aloth and Edér are in the party, and Edér's feelings towards Aloth are positive, this bit of conversation will play:

Every node that evaluates as true within that bank will fire a line of dialog. If Pallegina isn't present, her node will not fire. If she is, it will.

But in order for her line to play, your party must include Aloth, Edér, and Pallegina. That seems relatively unlikely, and Pallegina’s line doesn’t provide much information, so why was it important to me to give Pallegina the potential to speak there?

The Forgotten Sanctum is the last of the DLC expansions for Deadfire. It's very nearly the end of this adventure for this group of characters. Further, this is the trio of returning Pillars of Eternity companions, the characters who have walked (/sailed) this path with the player the longest. I wanted to reflect on that relationship, to remind the player where this journey began and how far it's come. 

That’s why everything in this explicitly connects back to the Dyrwood, whether Aloth's connection to Thaos and Woedica, Edér's faith, the statue beneath Caed Nua, or Copperlane, a district in Defiance Bay, where the player first met Pallegina.

It's also worth noting that there's a different exchange in the case that Edér's feelings about Aloth are more negative.

Which is to say that even when done efficiently, this kind of reactivity isn't done lightly. It's simply too expensive and too risk-prone to do without purpose.

Thing is, that exchange between Edér, Aloth, and Pallegina could very easily have been set up similarly to the one between Udyne, Serafen, and Pallegina above. It might even have been safer to do so (and clearer to any designers who came along after me to work on it) .

But that structure can also be used in much larger story moments that would be an absolute horror to try to build out as branches.

WARNING: This occurs near the end of Forgotten Sanctum, so if you want to avoid all spoilers, skip past the screen captures of our toolset.

Look at this, read the comments, and try to understand how it functions.

By default, every one of these would play, provided that the person who says it is in the party (which is clearly impossible). But we’ve set some of them only to play if certain other characters aren't in the party. 

Serafen will only speak here, for example, if neither Pallegina nor Konstanten came along for the ride. 

Some of the companions only speak if they're in a relationship with the player - and those are all bunched together within the bank.

That's because I'm trying to hit specific narrative beats here, to give this semi-random collection of comments narrative coherence. That's why some of the content - that for Edér and Rekke, for example, seems so similar.

These nodes exist not only to provide characterization and empathy, but to deliver the very real and concrete information of "What were the companions doing while the player was zoned out and chatting up a god?" 

Between that initial beat from Pallegina, Konstanten, or Serafen and the follow-up from Edér or Rekke, the answer is a clear "watching and waiting" with a bit of "worrying about you" sprinkled in (and doubled down on if the player's lover is present).

Something worth considering: in Forgotten Sanctum alone there are five or six places where we use this structure, generally at big story moments. In every one of them, Vatnir is the last to speak. Why would this be?

With all of the above, I think our team does a pretty solid job of making the companions feel like part of the world, having that world react to them, letting them contradict or support one another, and letting the player respond to them, too.

What I think we could do a better job of is giving the companions agency and systemic weight within the narrative. The companions essentially act as (very complicated and often charming) accessories to the player. Sometimes we let the player call on them to solve a problem or answer a question, as below:

Dragon Age 2 does the same. In the video that began this post, for example, I believe that the player is able to call on Varric if they aren’t charming enough to make the claim of fire on their own.

But ultimately all of the decisions are almost always entirely up to the player. 

On some occasions companions will act behind the player’s back without their knowledge. (This is essentially a staple of the Dragon Age series now.) 

On others, the player will do something so egregiously against the companion’s beliefs that the companion is forced to stand up to the player. This can occur in several places in Deadfire and throughout the final act of Dragon Age 2, but one of my favorite examples of this is at the Temple of Sacred Ashes in Dragon Age: Origins. 

In the former two games, the crisis moments are deeply tied to the plots of the characters. In Origins, however, Leliana’s response to a player desecrating the ashes of Andraste is character-driven rather than plot-driven. It’s not a result of the player acting against Leliana’s aspirations or a faction she’s aligned with - it’s her response to the player doing something she considers absolutely heinous. 

I think that’s one of the reasons it’s so memorable. 

Which brings me back to the video that began this post.

Here the player makes a successful “check,” and Merrill, merely by being in the party, undermines it and causes the player’s chosen action to fail. 

By no means do I think that we should emulate this exactly all of the time. If our companions regularly ruin our player’s plots, we’re just going to make the players resent those characters. 

But what we can do is respond appropriately, within the stakes established by the fiction, to the player’s choice of companions in a given situation. 

If, for example, the player goes to speak with the chief magistrate of a city with a known criminal in their party, we need to respect that decision - not by having the magistrate ignore it (or quip about it before moving on), but by having meaningful consequences arise from the choice. 

Perhaps the magistrate demands a bribe. 

Perhaps the player is forced to talk their way out of trouble for themselves. 

Perhaps the player becomes a known associate of a criminal - with other characters in the city commenting on it, or on the WANTED posters now baring the player character’s likeness.

We tend to gloss over the player’s choices of companions, to think of them as something that exists outside of the world’s consequences (much as the player tends to), but with none of the forcefulness and agency that the player’s ability to make decisions gives them. 

They’re equipment the player added to their character.

I’d like to see us do better, to keep in mind the companions’ beliefs and have them act on them. If I take Anders with me into the chantry - okay, bad example...

If I bring Morrigan into a chantry, I want, at the very least, for her presence to make it more difficult for me to accomplish my goals there. If I end up having to talk our way out of a fight because of a comment she made about the Maker and where the Templars keep their truncheons, so much the better! 

When I play tabletop, a tremendous part of the enjoyment I get out of that experience is not knowing how my fellow adventurers will respond to something.

Can I trust K’thir the kobold Wild Sorcerer enough to take him with me to negotiate a peace with the Bloodsalt gangs? Or is he going to throw another bottle of booze at a bugbear?

Note that this shouldn’t always result in unpleasant things for the player! If they take, say, Aveline to chat with the leadership of Kirkwall, she should be able to (proactively, without the player needing to select an option to call on her) smooth over problems, draw out additional information, or negotiate for better rewards by virtue of her relationship to the viscountship.

As devs, we shouldn’t consider this disrespectful of the player’s choices. The companions the player takes with them are more than who deals the most damage or who quips the funniest quips (or is possessed of the cutest whatever part of the anatomy or personality that appeals to you). 

When the player builds their party, they’re making a statement about who they want to be with in the world. We should design the world to respond to that decision in meaningful ways.

Cheers, <#

[marzipanandminutiae]

everyone made lots of posts about Carmilla having to adjust to being human, but consider:

Elle somehow comes back to life and has to adjust to the 21st century

(I’m imagining the gang was prevailed upon to accept her on a very tentative, on-thin-ice basis)

LaF in particular underestimates the technology level of 1872 and is told rather sharply that yes, she knows what a toilet, a shower, and electricity are even if they’re now in more sophisticated forms and more common

“WHY IS EVERYTHING MADE OF CELLULOID”  “It’s not celluloid; it’s-” “I DON’T CARE”

At some point, she starts messing with Kirsch by pretending blatantly modern things were around during her lifetime

“Oh, an Xbox! Just like the one Papa gave me for my tenth birthday!”

Laura tries to take her clothes shopping.

It does not end well.

Things Elle does not like: pants (uncomfortable and needlessly complicated), showing much skin (men are dogs), showing her legs (ditto), bras (strapless are deemed acceptable on a trial basis)

Things Elle does like: trim. lots and lots of trim. beadwork on lace on pleats on contrast colors...

“Hey, Carm. Your evil ex refuses to wear underpants. And how’s your day going?”

Finally Perry promises to take Elle to the fabric store to pick out patterns she likes and Laura collapses gratefully onto the small mountain of maxi skirts on the dressing-room chair.

Elle does not know how to cook. Perry tries to teach her. Thankfully the fire department is pretty understanding about the whole thing.

Being open about her sexual orientation is a bit of a sore spot, since Elle thinks it’s a personal matter and nobody else’s business. The first man who hits on her and asks why when she rejects him leaves her feeling angry and confused. She said no, and that’s supposed to be the end of any discussion.

Carmilla points out wryly that Styria truly was in the middle of nowhere if Elle believes that men in 1872 took rejection any better than they do now.

One evening, Carmilla goes up to the roof of their apartment building to find Elle sitting there, watching the sunset. She sits down and says nothing; they haven’t been talking much beyond the occasional snipe in each other’s general direction. After a moment, Elle quietly asks, “Do you feel like you belong here? Will I ever feel like I do?”

“Welcome to living forever,” says Carmilla.

[inechoingsilence]

I Dare You!

It was a dare. As in the type undertaken when one is usually more than a bit intoxicated, and in the presence of a group of friends and not wanting to reveal some truth about themselves. 

Ace rarely found himself in this type of situation, but the revival of a Nordic plant once thought to be extinct (revived and thriving in the wild no less) demanded a celebration from the groups of warlocks with a botanical bent. Edelweiss cordial, kirsch, and all sorts of herbal and fruit derived alcohols flowed freely. 

Ace was partial to Calvados, apple brandy native to France. He was feeling great, relaxed, even laughing at some of the comments. 

“ Acelin. You’ve been too quiet, friend. Truth or dare?”  Kristian, a warlock from Norway offered. The others went quiet, waiting to see if they might get a juicy bit of gossip out of the reticent warlock. 

“ Dare.” Ace replied immediately.  Kristian gave Ace a considering stare, which the French warlock met easily. He was soft-spoken, gentle-natured, but very little frightened him. And certainly not a fellow warlock. 

“You are the only one among us with no familiar. I dare you to bind one to you now. In fact, we all do.” Kristian taunted, gesturing to all the others, who all murmured in agreement. 

Taking a last swallow from his bottle of brandy, Ace sighed as if this was all just a bother to get over with. The spell for a familiar wasn’t overly complicated. Closing his eyes, he made the appropriate hand motions, and chanted the incantation. 

And what appeared in the room after the light faded away was not at all something Ace would have ever expected, not in an eternity. It was about as tall as he was, with thick hair the color of sand, green eyes the color of silver ash leaves in summer, a downy coating of fur, hands and feet that looked like paws. 

It was a were-lion. And now it was his familiar.

@lyoninthewynter

[gtunesmiff]

Heart-To-Heart -  Why have “the five love languages” endured as a self-help phenomenon for 30 years?

The pastor Gary Chapman created the concept of “love languages” 30 years ago. In his hugely popular book, “The 5 Love Languages,” he proposed that the ways people prefer to have love communicated to them fall into five categories, or “languages”: 

acts of service, 

words of affirmation, 

quality time, 

receiving gifts and 

physical touch.

If my love language is “words of affirmation” and yours is “receiving gifts,” you may assume that giving me a thoughtful present will demonstrate how much you care, while in reality, I’d prefer that you write me a letter telling me as much. If we learn one another’s love languages we will theoretically be able to more effectively communicate with our partners (or children or bosses or friends).

I searched my Twitter feed recently for instances of people discussing their love languages. The concept had morphed into a meme, a new and mostly jokey way for people to talk about the idiosyncratic ways they like to give and receive love. In July 2020, the writer Michelle Markowitz tweeted, “My love language is taking myself off mute to be the one person who laughs when someone makes a joke that bombs.” The comedian and actor Jaboukie Young-White declared, “My love language is blackhead removal.” The actress and comedian Jean Villepique asked, “What if your family’s love language is Vera Bradley patterns?”

As Chapman told The Times recently, he doesn’t think this meme in which people declare their hyper-specific love languages has yet resulted in the discovery of new ones. “To him, the memes all sound like ‘dialects’ — or versions — of the original five,” wrote my colleague Alisha Haridasani Gupta.

Among my friends, a skeptical bunch if ever there was, there’s a certain reverence reserved for the love languages. Are they corny, reductive and heteronormative? Perhaps. But once we move past the caveats, our discussion of the languages are usually about how helpful they can be in framing communication issues in our relationships.

Why do the love languages continue to appeal even to people who might otherwise look askance at a personality quiz? I think the language of the love languages themselves has a lot to do with it.

Chapman articulated five discrete methods of giving and receiving love, a simple organizing framework for needs and desires that often feel irretrievably complicated. Without precluding talk therapy or courage journaling or other more time-consuming efforts to tease out why we are the way we are, the love languages offer a quick way in. Take the quiz, discover your love language, get busy improving your relationships. It’s attractively efficient and action-oriented.

The love languages get at a fundamental premise of self-help teachings — that we all want to be loved, to feel connection to one another. Or, as my colleague Ruth Graham wrote in Slate in 2015, begrudgingly admitting that Chapman’s theories might hold some water, “When it comes to loving and being loved, even the most jaded and worldly often feel deep insecurity.” She added, “If we can find some comfort and direction in a mega-best-seller with a tacky cover, so be it.”

For more

Acts of service and words of affirmation at work: “Why Your Boss Wants to Know Your Love Language.”

In a time of war, “WhatsApp intimacy” became the sixth love language for Layla Kinjawi Faraj, the winner of our Modern Love college essay contest.

“Sometimes I feel as if, these days, for women, the love language should be getting whatever you want,” Lisa Taddeo wrote for Times Opinion.

In 2011, Bruce Feiler attended “The Marriage You’ve Always Wanted,” a conference hosted by Gary Chapman.

“Love Language,” by Ariana Grande.

~ Melissa Kirsch 

Artwork:  María Jesús Contreras

[allbestnet]

100 Best First Lines of Novels

Call me Ishmael. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (1851)

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813)

A screaming comes across the sky. Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (1973)

Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez (trans. Gregory Rabassa) (1967)

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (1955)

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (trans. Constance Garnett) (1877)

riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs. Finnegans Wake by James Joyce (1939)

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. 1984 by George Orwell (1949)

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (1859)

I am an invisible man. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1952)

The Miss Lonelyhearts of the New York Post-Dispatch (Are you in trouble?—Do-you-need-advice?—Write-to-Miss-Lonelyhearts-and-she-will-help-you) sat at his desk and stared at a piece of white cardboard. Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West (1933)

You don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (1885)

Someone must have slandered Josef K., for one morning, without having done anything truly wrong, he was arrested. The Trial by Franz Kafka (trans. Breon Mitchell) (1925)

You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel, If on a winter's night a traveler. If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino (trans. William Weaver) (1979)

The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new. Murphy by Samuel Beckett (1938)

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger (1951)

Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce (1916)

This is the saddest story I have ever heard. The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford (1915)

I wish either my father or my mother, or indeed both of them, as they were in duty both equally bound to it, had minded what they were about when they begot me; had they duly considered how much depended upon what they were then doing;—that not only the production of a rational Being was concerned in it, but that possibly the happy formation and temperature of his body, perhaps his genius and the very cast of his mind;—and, for aught they knew to the contrary, even the fortunes of his whole house might take their turn from the humours and dispositions which were then uppermost:—Had they duly weighed and considered all this, and proceeded accordingly,—I am verily persuaded I should have made a quite different figure in the world, from that, in which the reader is likely to see me. Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne (1759–1767)

Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (1850)

Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed. Ulysses by James Joyce (1922)

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the house-tops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness. Paul Clifford by Edward George Bulwer-Lytton (1830)

One summer afternoon Mrs. Oedipa Maas came home from a Tupperware party whose hostess had put perhaps too much kirsch in the fondue to find that she, Oedipa, had been named executor, or she supposed executrix, of the estate of one Pierce Inverarity, a California real estate mogul who had once lost two million dollars in his spare time but still had assets numerous and tangled enough to make the job of sorting it all out more than honorary. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon (1966)

It was a wrong number that started it, the telephone ringing three times in the dead of night, and the voice on the other end asking for someone he was not. City of Glass by Paul Auster (1985)

Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner (1929)

124 was spiteful. Beloved by Toni Morrison (1987)

Somewhere in la Mancha, in a place whose name I do not care to remember, a gentleman lived not long ago, one of those who has a lance and ancient shield on a shelf and keeps a skinny nag and a greyhound for racing. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (trans. Edith Grossman) (1605)

Mother died today. The Stranger by Albert Camus (trans. Stuart Gilbert) (1942)

Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife, Shuyu. Waiting by Ha Jin (1999)

The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel. Neuromancer by William Gibson (1984)

I am a sick man . . . I am a spiteful man. Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (trans. Michael R. Katz) (1864)

Where now? Who now? When now? The Unnamable by Samuel Beckett (trans. Patrick Bowles) (1953)

Once an angry man dragged his father along the ground through his own orchard. “Stop!” cried the groaning old man at last, “Stop! I did not drag my father beyond this tree.” The Making of Americans by Gertrude Stein (1925)

In a sense, I am Jacob Horner. The End of the Road by John Barth (1958)

It was like so, but wasn't. Galatea 2.2 by Richard Powers (1995)

—Money . . . in a voice that rustled. J R by William Gaddis (1975)

Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (1925)

All this happened, more or less. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (1969)

They shoot the white girl first. Paradise by Toni Morrison (1998)

For a long time, I went to bed early. Swann's Way by Marcel Proust (trans. Lydia Davis) (1913)

The moment one learns English, complications set in. Chromos by Felipe Alfau (1990)

Dr. Weiss, at forty, knew that her life had been ruined by literature. The Debut by Anita Brookner (1981)

I was the shadow of the waxwing slain / By the false azure in the windowpane; Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov (1962)

Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (1937)

I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and, as generally happens in such cases, each time it was a different story. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (1911)

Ages ago, Alex, Allen and Alva arrived at Antibes, and Alva allowing all, allowing anyone, against Alex's admonition, against Allen's angry assertion: another African amusement . . . anyhow, as all argued, an awesome African army assembled and arduously advanced against an African anthill, assiduously annihilating ant after ant, and afterward, Alex astonishingly accuses Albert as also accepting Africa's antipodal ant annexation. Alphabetical Africa by Walter Abish (1974)

There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis (1952)

He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (1952)

It was the day my grandmother exploded. The Crow Road by Iain M. Banks (1992)

I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (2002)

Elmer Gantry was drunk. Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis (1927)

We started dying before the snow, and like the snow, we continued to fall. Tracks by Louise Erdrich (1988)

It was a pleasure to burn. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1953)

A story has no beginning or end; arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead. The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (1951)

Having placed in my mouth sufficient bread for three minutes' chewing, I withdrew my powers of sensual perception and retired into the privacy of my mind, my eyes and face assuming a vacant and preoccupied expression. At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien (1939)

I was born in the Year 1632, in the City of York, of a good Family, tho' not of that Country, my Father being a Foreigner of Bremen, who settled first at Hull; He got a good Estate by Merchandise, and leaving off his Trade, lived afterward at York, from whence he had married my Mother, whose Relations were named Robinson, a very good Family in that Country, and from whom I was called Robinson Kreutznaer; but by the usual Corruption of Words in England, we are now called, nay we call our selves, and write our Name Crusoe, and so my Companions always call'd me. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (1719)

In the beginning, sometimes I left messages in the street. Wittgenstein's Mistress by David Markson (1988)

Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress. Middlemarch by George Eliot (1872)

It was love at first sight. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (1961)

What if this young woman, who writes such bad poems, in competition with her husband, whose poems are equally bad, should stretch her remarkably long and well-made legs out before you, so that her skirt slips up to the tops of her stockings? Imaginative Qualities of Actual Things by Gilbert Sorrentino (1971)

I have never begun a novel with more misgiving. The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham (1944)

Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person. Back When We Were Grownups by Anne Tyler (2001)

The human race, to which so many of my readers belong, has been playing at children's games from the beginning, and will probably do it till the end, which is a nuisance for the few people who grow up. The Napoleon of Notting Hill by G. K. Chesterton (1904)

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)

You better not never tell nobody but God. The Color Purple by Alice Walker (1982)

“To be born again,” sang Gibreel Farishta tumbling from the heavens, “first you have to die.” The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (1988)

It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (1963)

Most really pretty girls have pretty ugly feet, and so does Mindy Metalman, Lenore notices, all of a sudden. The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace (1987)

If I am out of my mind, it's all right with me, thought Moses Herzog. Herzog by Saul Bellow (1964)

Francis Marion Tarwater's uncle had been dead for only half a day when the boy got too drunk to finish digging his grave and a Negro named Buford Munson, who had come to get a jug filled, had to finish it and drag the body from the breakfast table where it was still sitting and bury it in a decent and Christian way, with the sign of its Saviour at the head of the grave and enough dirt on top to keep the dogs from digging it up. The Violent Bear it Away by Flannery O'Connor (1960)

Granted: I am an inmate of a mental hospital; my keeper is watching me, he never lets me out of his sight; there's a peephole in the door, and my keeper's eye is the shade of brown that can never see through a blue-eyed type like me. The Tin Drum by GŸnter Grass (trans. Ralph Manheim) (1959)

When Dick Gibson was a little boy he was not Dick Gibson. The Dick Gibson Show by Stanley Elkin (1971)

Hiram Clegg, together with his wife Emma and four friends of the faith from Randolph Junction, were summoned by the Spirit and Mrs. Clara Collins, widow of the beloved Nazarene preacher Ely Collins, to West Condon on the weekend of the eighteenth and nineteenth of April, there to await the End of the World. The Origin of the Brunists by Robert Coover (1966)

She waited, Kate Croy, for her father to come in, but he kept her unconscionably, and there were moments at which she showed herself, in the glass over the mantel, a face positively pale with the irritation that had brought her to the point of going away without sight of him. The Wings of the Dove by Henry James (1902)

In the late summer of that year we lived in a house in a village that looked across the river and the plain to the mountains. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway (1929)

“Take my camel, dear,” said my Aunt Dot, as she climbed down from this animal on her return from High Mass. The Towers of Trebizon by Rose Macaulay (1956)

He was an inch, perhaps two, under six feet, powerfully built, and he advanced straight at you with a slight stoop of the shoulders, head forward, and a fixed from-under stare which made you think of a charging bull. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad (1900)

The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. The Go-Between by L. P. Hartley (1953)

On my naming day when I come 12 I gone front spear and kilt a wyld boar he parbly ben the las wyld pig on the Bundel Downs any how there hadnt ben none for a long time befor him nor I aint looking to see none agen. Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban (1980)

Justice?—You get justice in the next world, in this world you have the law. A Frolic of His Own by William Gaddis (1994)

Vaughan died yesterday in his last car-crash. Crash by J. G. Ballard (1973)

I write this sitting in the kitchen sink. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (1948)

“When your mama was the geek, my dreamlets,” Papa would say, “she made the nipping off of noggins such a crystal mystery that the hens themselves yearned toward her, waltzing around her, hypnotized with longing.” Geek Love by Katherine Dunn (1983)

In the last years of the Seventeenth Century there was to be found among the fops and fools of the London coffee-houses one rangy, gangling flitch called Ebenezer Cooke, more ambitious than talented, and yet more talented than prudent, who, like his friends-in-folly, all of whom were supposed to be educating at Oxford or Cambridge, had found the sound of Mother English more fun to game with than her sense to labor over, and so rather than applying himself to the pains of scholarship, had learned the knack of versifying, and ground out quires of couplets after the fashion of the day, afroth with Joves and Jupiters, aclang with jarring rhymes, and string-taut with similes stretched to the snapping-point. The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth (1960)

When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma, California, drinking the heart right out of a fine spring afternoon. The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley (1978)

It was just noon that Sunday morning when the sheriff reached the jail with Lucas Beauchamp though the whole town (the whole county too for that matter) had known since the night before that Lucas had killed a white man. Intruder in the Dust by William Faulkner (1948)

I, Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus This-that-and-the-other (for I shall not trouble you yet with all my titles) who was once, and not so long ago either, known to my friends and relatives and associates as “Claudius the Idiot,” or “That Claudius,” or “Claudius the Stammerer,” or “Clau-Clau-Claudius” or at best as “Poor Uncle Claudius,” am now about to write this strange history of my life; starting from my earliest childhood and continuing year by year until I reach the fateful point of change where, some eight years ago, at the age of fifty-one, I suddenly found myself caught in what I may call the “golden predicament” from which I have never since become disentangled. I, Claudius by Robert Graves (1934)

Of all the things that drive men to sea, the most common disaster, I've come to learn, is women. Middle Passage by Charles Johnson (1990)

I am an American, Chicago born—Chicago, that somber city—and go at things as I have taught myself, free-style, and will make the record in my own way: first to knock, first admitted; sometimes an innocent knock, sometimes a not so innocent. The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow (1953)

The towers of Zenith aspired above the morning mist; austere towers of steel and cement and limestone, sturdy as cliffs and delicate as silver rods. Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis (1922)

I will tell you in a few words who I am: lover of the hummingbird that darts to the flower beyond the rotted sill where my feet are propped; lover of bright needlepoint and the bright stitching fingers of humorless old ladies bent to their sweet and infamous designs; lover of parasols made from the same puffy stuff as a young girl's underdrawers; still lover of that small naval boat which somehow survived the distressing years of my life between her decks or in her pilothouse; and also lover of poor dear black Sonny, my mess boy, fellow victim and confidant, and of my wife and child. But most of all, lover of my harmless and sanguine self. Second Skin by John Hawkes (1964)

He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad. Scaramouche by Raphael Sabatini (1921)

Psychics can see the color of time it's blue. Blown Away by Ronald Sukenick (1986)

In the town, there were two mutes and they were always together. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (1940)

Once upon a time two or three weeks ago, a rather stubborn and determined middle-aged man decided to record for posterity, exactly as it happened, word by word and step by step, the story of another man for indeed what is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal, a somewhat paranoiac fellow unmarried, unattached, and quite irresponsible, who had decided to lock himself in a room a furnished room with a private bath, cooking facilities, a bed, a table, and at least one chair, in New York City, for a year 365 days to be precise, to write the story of another person—a shy young man about of 19 years old—who, after the war the Second World War, had come to America the land of opportunities from France under the sponsorship of his uncle—a journalist, fluent in five languages—who himself had come to America from Europe Poland it seems, though this was not clearly established sometime during the war after a series of rather gruesome adventures, and who, at the end of the war, wrote to the father his cousin by marriage of the young man whom he considered as a nephew, curious to know if he the father and his family had survived the German occupation, and indeed was deeply saddened to learn, in a letter from the young man—a long and touching letter written in English, not by the young man, however, who did not know a damn word of English, but by a good friend of his who had studied English in school—that his parents both his father and mother and his two sisters one older and the other younger than he had been deported they were Jewish to a German concentration camp Auschwitz probably and never returned, no doubt having been exterminated deliberately X * X * X * X, and that, therefore, the young man who was now an orphan, a displaced person, who, during the war, had managed to escape deportation by working very hard on a farm in Southern France, would be happy and grateful to be given the opportunity to come to America that great country he had heard so much about and yet knew so little about to start a new life, possibly go to school, learn a trade, and become a good, loyal citizen. Double or Nothing by Raymond Federman (1971)

Time is not a line but a dimension, like the dimensions of space. Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood (1988)

He—for there could be no doubt of his sex, though the fashion of the time did something to disguise it—was in the act of slicing at the head of a Moor which swung from the rafters. Orlando by Virginia Woolf (1928)

High, high above the North Pole, on the first day of 1969, two professors of English Literature approached each other at a combined velocity of 1200 miles per hour. Changing Places by David Lodge (1975)

They say when trouble comes close ranks, and so the white people did. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (1966)

The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting. The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane (1895)

[gordonwilliamsweb]

Enough to Wreck Their Rest: $10,322 for a Sleep Study

José Mendoza’s snoring was bad — but the silence when he stopped breathing was even worse for his wife, Nancy. The sudden quiet would wake her and she waited anxiously for him to take another breath. If too many seconds ticked by, she pushed him hard so that he moved and started breathing again. This happened several times a week.

This story also ran on NPR. It can be republished for free.

Diagnosed with severe sleep apnea 15 years ago, Mendoza was prescribed a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device to help him breathe easier. But the machine was noisy and uncomfortable. After a month, he stopped using it.

Late in 2019, Mendoza, 61, went to an emergency department near the family’s Miami home with an excruciating headache. He thought it was related to his high blood pressure, a condition sometimes linked to obstructive sleep apnea. But after a battery of tests, clinicians concluded his obstructive sleep apnea itself was likely causing his headache and cardiac problems. He needed a new CPAP machine, they said.

But first, he had an at-home sleep test. Mendoza’s pulmonologist said it was not detailed enough and ordered a visit to an overnight sleep lab to get extensive data.

Mendoza arrived at the sleep center about 8 p.m. one night in early February and was shown into a spacious room with a sofa, a TV and a bed. After he got into his pajamas, a technician attached electrodes to his head and chest to track his brain, heart, lung and muscle activity while he slept. The technician fitted him with a CPAP with two small cannulas for his nose. Despite the unfamiliar setting and awkward equipment, Mendoza slept that night.

After the study, Mendoza started using the same, more comfortable CPAP model he’d used during the study.

“Now I’m not snoring. I feel more energetic. I’m not as tired as I was before,” he said.

The new CPAP was helping both Mendozas get a better night’s sleep — until the bill came.

The Patient: José Mendoza, 61, has a Humana HMO plan through the construction company where he works as a truck driver. It has a $5,000 deductible and an out-of-pocket maximum of $6,500 for covered care by in-network providers. Once his deductible is satisfied, he owes 50% in coinsurance for other billed charges. (Nancy Mendoza, who works as a social worker, and their two teenage children are covered under her employer plan.)

Medical Service: An overnight sleep study at a hospital sleep center to determine the type of mask and the proper levels of airflow and oxygen needed in Mendoza’s CPAP to treat his severe obstructive sleep apnea.

Total Bill: $10,322, including a $9,853 outpatient charge for the sleep study and a $469 charge for the sleep specialist who interpreted the results. Humana’s negotiated rate for the total was $5,419. Mendoza owed the bulk of that: $5,157, including $262 in coinsurance and $4,895 to satisfy his deductible. Humana paid $262.

Service Provider: University of Miami Health System’s sleep medicine facility at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami.

What Gives: Sleep studies are somewhat controversial and have been flagged in the past as being overused. Not everyone who snores needs this evaluation. But with Mendoza’s pauses in breathing and hypertension, he likely did.

According to Dr. Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute, a think tank that analyzes low-value health care, sleep studies fall into a gray zone.

“They are incredibly useful and necessary in certain clinical circumstances,” he said. “But it’s known to be one that can be overused.”

But how much should it cost to be monitored at home or in a hospital sleep lab? That’s the question. The Office of Inspector General at the federal Department of Health and Human Services has identified billing problems for the type of sleep study Mendoza had that led to Medicare overpayments.

The University of Miami Health System’s total charge was high by nearly every measure, but so was the allowed amount that Humana agreed to pay the health system for the study. And because Mendoza’s skimpy health plan has a deductible of $5,000, he’s on the hook for paying almost all of that hefty bill.

Mendoza’s Humana plan agreed to pay the hospital $5,419 for the sleep study he had. That’s nearly six times what Medicare would pay for the same service nationally — $920 — according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Private insurers typically pay higher rates than Medicare for care, but that multiple is “much higher than what other insurers would pay,” said Jordan Weintraub, vice president of claims at WellRithms, a company that analyzes medical bills for self-funded companies and other clients.

Consider the total facility charge of $9,853. The average charge in the United States for a sleep study of the same type is just over half that amount at $5,384, according to Fair Health, a national independent nonprofit that tracks insurance charges.

Charges in the Miami area are on the high end of the national range. The average billed charges for similar hospital sleep studies in Miami range from $2,646 to $19,334, Weintraub said. So Mendoza’s bill is not as high as the highest in the area, and is just under the average in Miami.

“Billed charges are just completely fictitious,” said Weintraub. “There’s really no grounds for charging it other than that they can.”

More telling than what other Miami hospitals are charging for sleep studies is what the University of Miami Health System reports it actually costs the hospital to do the procedure. And that figure was just $1,154 on average in 2019, according to WellRithms’ analysis of publicly available cost report data filed with CMS. That year, the hospital’s average charge for the type of sleep study Mendoza had was $7,886, according to WellRithms.

Mendoza doesn’t pay premiums for his health plan, but his “free” coverage has a cost. The $5,000 deductible and high coinsurance leaves him woefully exposed financially if he needs medical care, as the family discovered. Nancy Mendoza’s plan has a lower deductible of $1,350, but her employer charges extra to cover spouses who have coverage available to them at their own jobs.

Obstructive sleep apnea is often undiagnosed, sleep medicine experts agree, and sleep studies can result in a diagnosis that leads to necessary treatment to help prevent serious problems like heart attacks and diabetes.

“From that perspective, sleep testing is actually underprescribed,” said Dr. Douglas Kirsch, medical director of sleep medicine at Atrium Health in Charlotte, North Carolina, who is past president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, a professional group.

After strong growth by independent and hospital-affiliated lab-based sleep centers over several years, there’s been a shift toward home-based sleep tests recently, said Charlie Whelan, vice president of consulting for health care at Frost & Sullivan, a research and consulting firm.

“The entire sleep medicine field is deeply worried about a future where more testing is done at home since it means less money to be made for in-center test providers,” Whelan said.

Resolution: When the bill arrived, Nancy Mendoza thought it must be a mistake. José’s home sleep test hadn’t cost them a penny, and no one had mentioned their financial responsibility for the overnight test in the lab.

She called the billing office and asked for an itemized bill. There were no complications, no anesthesia, not even a doctor present. Why was it so expensive? But what they received wasn’t any more enlightening than the summary bill.

She got a clear impression that if they didn’t pay they’d be sent to collections. To avoid ruining their credit, they agreed to a two-year payment plan and got their first installment bill, for $214.87, in April. Nancy thinks the overall charge is too high: “It’s not fair [for] people who are in the low end of the middle class.”

Lisa Worley, associate vice president for media relations at the University of Miami Health System, said in a statement that Mendoza “does not qualify for financial assistance because he has health insurance.”

Related Links

After Accident, Patient Crashes Into $700,000 Bill for Spine Surgery

Her Doctor’s Office Moved One Floor Up. Her Bill Was 10 Times Higher.

College Tuition Sparked a Mental Health Crisis. Then the Hefty Hospital Bill Arrived.

Baby Blues: First-Time Parents Blindsided by ‘the Birthday Rule’ and a $207,455 NICU Bill

But the health system’s posted financial assistance policy clearly states that financial assistance is available to “underinsured individuals with a balance remaining after third party liability of $1000 or more, whose family income for the preceding 12 months is equal to or less than 300%” of the federal poverty guidelines.

Under a less detailed version of the hospital policy included in one of their bills, the Mendozas meet the income threshold for “assistance provided on a sliding scale.”

In her statement, Worley referred to Mendoza’s sleep test as an “elective service.” The health system website says it “provides financial assistance for emergency and other medically necessary (non-elective) care.”

Mendoza’s sleep study was medically necessary. The emergency department staff evaluated him and determined he needed a new CPAP to deal with serious medical problems caused by his obstructive sleep apnea. His pulmonologist concurred, as did his insurer, which preauthorized the sleep study.

In a statement, Humana wrote: “With sleep studies, there can be a wide range of costs, depending on the complexity of the case and the setting.”

The insurer refused to comment on Mendoza’s case specifically, even though the Mendozas had given permission to discuss it.

The Takeaway: The Mendozas followed the rules: They used an in-network provider and got prior authorization from their insurance company for the test.

Unfortunately, they are caught between two financial traps of the U.S. health care system: high-deductible health plans, which are increasingly common, and sky-high billing.

With a high-deductible plan, it’s crucial to try to learn what you’ll owe before receiving nonemergency medical care. Ask for an estimate in writing; if you can’t get one, try to shop for a different provider who will give you an estimate.

Be aware that insurance plans that have zero or low premium costs may not be your best option for coverage.

Once you are stuck with a high bill that hits a high deductible, remember you can still negotiate with the hospital. Find out what a more reasonable charge would be and ask for your bill to be adjusted. Also inquire about payment assistance from the hospital — most hospitals must offer this option by law (though they often do not make it easy to apply for it).

If a doctor suggests a sleep study, ask if you can do one at home, and whether it’s really needed. And remember: Not every snore is sleep apnea.

Dan Weissmann, host of An Arm and a Leg podcast, contributed to the audio version of this story.

Bill of the Month is a crowdsourced investigation by KHN and NPR that dissects and explains medical bills. Do you have an interesting medical bill you want to share with us? Tell us about it!

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

Enough to Wreck Their Rest: $10,322 for a Sleep Study published first on https://nootropicspowdersupplier.tumblr.com/