#i love to think of it as corruption even if it isnt exactly that. in this chapter it def is tho. slow transformation he cant control? ya

[kerorowhump]

so indeed when the keron star is activated in any way he doesn't remember what he does, aka he's not in control

[lesbianyosano]

legitimately what the fuck was that

[i-2hoon]

can u write hc's for sub!enha and their first time w their bf :00

no need to ask me twice ugh i love this

enhypen & their first times

pairings ᱖ sub/switch!enha x dom/switch!male!reader

warnings ᱖ explicit content, established and implied relationships, subtle sub/dom dynamics, conversations of virginity, underlying corruption kinks, sub!enha, dom!reader, subtop!heeseung + jay + jake, subbot!sunghoon + sunoo + jungwon

important notes ᱖ hi!! thank you so much for suggesting and i love this so much! you never specified top/bottom, so i did follow my personal preference. the oldest three are sub!tops, and the youngest three are sub!bottoms, however they are all still subs, i hope its not an issue!

heeseung 박희승 : patient

heeseung, compared to other members, may need a bit more time to be ready for anything sexual beyond making out and greedy touches. needless to say, you two will be taking it slowly and patiently. he has trouble relaxing and relinquishing any control to you, but with the way your fingers scrape against his scalp and the tone of your voice when you whisper in his ear.. ah, even if he wasnt ready, something switched in his mind. he wouldnt be one to lean back and let it happen; you would speak him through it all for him to be comfortable. this includes whispering sweet praises and reassurances as your fingers wrap around his cock, and interlocking your fingers with his when you move your lips to bite at the pale skin of his neck. just know that the moment youre actually on him he might fall into some sort of.. daze, burying his face in the crook of your neck as he let you do all the work. you would have to be slow as to not overwhelm him or make him overthink, but itll be beyond heavenly for the both of you.

jay 박정성 : intimate

see, for him, jay never exactly wishes to be out of control. but theres something about you—his beautiful boyfriend—that allows him to give in. running your hands down his chiseled chest and nipping at his ear, it seems like majority of the night would be calculated foreplay. youd trace a line up his jaw and fuck would he have a hard time keeping his hands off you. simply send him that one glare, however, and hed put his hands behind his back if he had to. its your eyes that make him melt like that. hes never seen you like this before and that in itself was a turn on. when you ride him for the first time with a hand around his throat and lips against his (well, barely. your minds are too fogged you think you may be missing his lips when youre kissing), he thinks that theres nothing better in this world but to be like this with you.

jake 시재윤 : need

have you ever seen a man genuinely so eager to get you off that he forgets about his own raging hard on? ah right, thats jake. the second your makeout session morphed into something more, this man was putty in your hands. grinding on his thigh with your hands tangled in his hair.. well its certainly far from a romantic first encounter with sex, but the desperate whines and curses slipping from jakes lips are enough to make it worth it. you seriously could mold this man into whatever you wanted with your hands. when you told him to suck you off? he was on his knees before you could even finish the second. due to all the pent up frustration in him after a few months of not having any sort of sex, just know that hed come untouched in his pants just from blowing you.. and hed have zero shame about it.

sunghoon 박성훈 : lust

while a lot of people assume that sunoo would be the most of a brat or tease, i disagree. sunghoon is the definition of bratty when it comes to these situations, and youd only just get a taste of how he can be when it is your first time. it was like there was zero warning for how he would be, but part of you isnt complaining. how pretty he looks against the sheets, giving you that smirk and lidded gaze as you have two fingers knuckle deep in him. maybe you partially wanted to give up and give into him, but the way he taunted you with his words and his body was far too great of a reward to give up. overall, itd feel more like a game than anything; a back and forth until you snapped and pressed his face into the sheets. who said anything about first times being gentle? you probably only did it because he pushed your sanity just a bit too far this time.

sunoo 김선우 : playful

really, it started as a cute make out session. no more than pressing teasing kisses to each others lips and jokingly tugging at waistbands. so how did you end up here, with sunoo on his knees in between your legs? well, regardless of how, just know that itd all be lighthearted and playful. teasing insults, gentle bites, and maybe a bit of humiliation. it was more casual than you were expecting for your first time, but you werent complaining. the way he giggled when you bit his thighs was enough to ease any of your nerves and insecurities, truly. no need to even begin to speak about the way he looked at you and spoke meaningless insults to motivate you; some comments along the lines of "well? if you havent messed up my makeup already, you really arent that good."

jungwon 양정원 : affection

on the contrary, your first time with jungwon would be quiet and intimate. the only words that would leave your lips would be 'i love you''s and sweet nothings filled with praise. despite taking it slow, it was truly nothing but love and trust. he trusted you with his body, shivering at the way your cold hands felt against his bare waist. and you? you trusted him with your ego here, but that would be a topic for another time. gentle kisses against his chest that trail down to his hips and his feet resting on your shoulders—you were never a religious man, but you swore that this was heaven itself.

[yet-another-haven-of-dollya]

i was catching up on your blog, and honestly your, or well, your PCs' opinion abt Sydney is so fascinating to me. when i first played the game for real (after trying to previous times and ending up in the forest being raped by wolves and kidnapped by Eden without knowing wtf was going on, and then my second try ending up in a rape cycle that ended in the asylum) i started pursuing Sydney for the first time, thinking that she'd be like every other goody-two-shoes uninteresting character that is usually a part of dating games, the stereotype that fails to interest me no matter what. then i found out i could corrupt her, and i decided to make her "fall from grace" together with my PC, and the more i interacted w her the more and more i fell in love w her character, to the point that my PC became as obsessed w her as she is with him

Sydney might honestly be my favorite LI, so to find someone who doesn't like them v much is quite the interesting experience lol. i think the part that most called my attention is the privilege part of their character that you brought up, and i think that stuck w me mostly bc i never truly saw Sydney's "privilege" like that. Sydney never gave me the impression that they were completely oblivious to everything and anything wrong that happens in the world just bc it doesn't affect them - quite the opposite, actually

Sydney isnt immune to the world they live in, not a single character in this game is (which is why i love it sm tbh). they might be extremely sheltered and protected as much as Sirris and the temple are able to make them, but when you pray w them in the temple and someone comes by to harass you she knows exactly what is happening and how to stop it. she's probably been harassed by monks and nuns as well, and unable to fight back without losing her grace. that's without even going into the Leighton punishment event, and how they react to it, which i think gives a v good view into how they cope w the world they live in depending on whether they are pure or corrupted and how that affects their interactions w PC...

ok im just rambling now, my point is, Sydney is a very interesting and complex character to me and seeing your interpretation of them was really interesting/insightful, and gave me some answers to things in your PCs' story that i used to question but always forgot to send an ask abt (such as their distaste for Sydney). thanks for reading my ramble, i love the things you're doing w your PCs and how you interpret their world <3

-smthishunting

Just in case you still don't understand the nature of the situation, the "privileged" part can be translated into "ENVY"

Sydney has had good things growing up. PC has nothing of those, which I have mentioned. "Why can they be optimistic? Why can they believe in the good in people? Why their parent doesn't demand they rent every week? Why do they have parents but I and Robin don't? Why can't I and Robin have those things that they have?..."

It's bitter, but I firmly believe, just like a redeemed bully can never achieve true peace, a sheltered child growing up with a silver spoon inside their mouth can never understand poverty and desperation either. Something bad happens to them, but they have family and financial support to overcome it, that's why they can stay pure and stay good. Robin stays ignorant too, they essentially avoid the outside world completely and if PC doesn't step up to protect them, they're ruined. That's what happens with pureness and goodness if they bloom in mud, unprotected. That's what happens on a daily basis with the children of the orphanage.

That's why my PCs are Robin's protectors. I make them taste the bitterness when realizing some things even try as they might, they can never achieve, while Sydney has those things handed to them, lovingly and matter-of-factly, as easily as falling to sleep in a soft fluffy bed. To me, that's what makes them even more protective of their waifu/malewife and more determined to shelter Robin as much as possible. They strive to give Robin what Sydney's having, their childhood together sucks so yeah let's try hard for a better future :D

As for Sydney... Well, unless future updates give them some trauma, throw them into some real fuck up situation like what PC faced daily, or reveal that they had some beef with Harper in the past and had lifelong psychological trauma, I don't think I can give them more credit.

[neptune-knows]

Drugs

Robin: meth

Whitney: steroids

Sydney: cocaine

Kylar: heroin

im leaving this to my followers bc im not exactly sure what this means; like in general or in relation to their likes?

i feel like robin would probably be the most straight-laced of the bunch, like sydney is obviously straight-edge but i feel like he could be convinced to do some stuff/even initiate it once his corruption is high enough. robin seems the type to not even know what weed smells like

i do think kylars is fitting. not sure if hes on drugs but he is definitely the type to make them lol

as for whitney, i was thinking abt like, how drug creation would work in such a game and i do think that the player would be able to grow tobacco plants and thus be able to make cigarettes, and you could gift them to whitney for a lot of love

sorry if this isnt what you meant with the ask!! if not send another ask and i'll reply <3

[mamadarama]

I was going through some posts I missed and came across the “tatsumi is mature but still does 19 year old things” and I just wanna say I’ve never been able to put it into words when my friends ask but like. That’s exactly what I love about this game.

We’ve got scandals and drama and weird crypto currencies and convoluted backstories of implied murder or identity theft or military shit or relations to underground gang activity or so SO much more and yet the writers still succeed in reminding you that this is a game full of high schoolers.

Natume was one of the five oddballs and suffered through so much during the war where it affects him to this day, but he also refers to his tech savvy and love of the occult as magic and loves the junior he “adopted” to death. Despite Aira struggling against every odd to become a real idol he still buys merch and looks on the internet to look for content of the ones he likes. Rinne was destined to become the monarch of his homeland but ran away in an attempt to find happiness and acceptance and is an amazing strategist who uses it to take down corruption, but his sense of humor is entirely made up of sex jokes and romantic teasing like Aira being “hiiro’s little girlfriend”. The amount of characters that assign themselves the mom friend role just because. Trickstar. I don’t think I need to explain Trickstar-

Like this game has made me cry so many times and it has its ridiculous moments but it also has its genuine ones while also being the most teenage shit I’ve seen in my life and I feel like so few media can balance those and still have a decent story like that. Sorry for the long ass post I just have so many feelings about this kind of stuff 😭

YEAH this is exactly what i was talking about in a previous ask when i said i have nothing meaningful to add to the enstars cast that isnt a headcanon . its all very well thought out and the interpersonal relationships are nuanced enough to feel realistic but outlandish enough to be interesting .

worldbuilding and character design is one of my special interests and i say this any chance i can get: the most important part of building a character (and a story in general) is realizing the importance of comedic irony and comedy as a whole regardless of genre or tone. it makes characters feel more 3 dimensional and relatable because people arent stagnant and theres multiple facets to any individuals personality (this is also why some of the most popular animes of all time have filler episodes or funny bits that show the characters personalities, every event hits with 3x emotional impact the more you know about the characters as people but that's a different discussion) enstars does a really good job of this . like for example if wataru were to have had a realistic reaction to eichi starting the war it wouldnt be nearly as good of a story. the fact that eichis ridiculous ass backwards plan to get wataru to fall in love with him actually worked is a perfect example of comedy used to make a story more interesting. another thing similar to this is how sometimes its better to not detail something and let characters do things for a mundane reason or even no reason at all . for example subaru hating chiaki just because he annoys him, or shinobu being on the broadcasting team despite his character not being associated with technology otherwise and therefore having no real backstory on why he likes radio stuff. its all really well planned worldbuilding with an insane amount of subtle details , which is why enstars is one of my favorite stories to analyze . the only thing i could possibly want more out of it is hardcore tragedy but thats entirely a personal preference rather than a critique because im a slut for catharsis and i love sad endings , especially ones where characters die . (don't worry im in therapy)

[spookberry]

Hello I hope you are doing well! I wanted to say that I really love your art! Could I ask for more information about Henri and Claire, or just Henri in general? I think they're super cute but additionally, I think Henri is interesting by himself because I feel like I don't know as much about him! How long has he been immortal? How did he become immortal? How did he learn to exorcise? Oh, and I wanted to ask how you feel about fanart of your ocs? I really love Claire's design and I think it would be fun to draw him :)

:D! No one's ever asked me about Henri before! Also to answer your last question I'd love fanart of my OCs 🥺

More on Henri under the cut:

Okay so basically his backstory goes like this: back in the Victorian era there was this couple that was really into the occult. They were fairly nomadic, traveling the states as consultants when people were having supernaturally driven issues. This couple also happened to have a young son, Henri. Henri and his folks were very close and he took after them and their interest in ancient magic A Lot.

When Henri was about 9 his parents died. They left everything to him, but they didn't exactly have a house or anything, just a ton of old books and cursed trinkets. His favorite though was a book that was written entirely in ancient greek. So when he ran away to avoid being shipped off to live with relatives that didnt appreciate his interest in magic too much, that book was one of the things he thought to grab first.

Grief can make a 9 year old orphan do crazy shit, for Henri it became about trying to translate this book. Thats when he discovered problem number 2 with the book: its full of dark magic. Every spell in it is awful and corrupting. There's one unfinisged spell thats meant to banish a demon from their host body. And its like the one spell he can concieve of in this book that isnt just like flat out evil. So he decided to try and finish it.

The book also has a demon summoning ritual in it, so you can guess what he does.

After that he's saddled with Claire a 12 year old girl who is VERY mad it him about getting rid of her demon and demands he help her find him again. (Note: Claire does not realize he's trans yet here)

They try to summon skid back but it just doesnt work, so they gotta do this the old fashioned way.

Takes them months before they finally manage to track skid down again, but during that time the two manage to become friends. Claire opens up a lot about her fear of dying and how she feels she cant enjoy life because of how little time she has left. Henri decides his new goal in life is to heal her so that they can grow up and grow old together. He tells her as much and she gives him this gentle little smile and he internally is like "i would die for her" (he's in love but doesnt know it yet.)

Once Skid is back in and puppeting the body, Henri makes the choice to stick by Skid's side. He needs them to be close for when he finally figures out a way to heal her. And ya know the modern medicine of cough syrup with cocaine and mercury isnt gonna do it so he starts experimenting with magic instead.

He's 15 when he accidentally curses himself. Part of the curse effects his memory, so he doesn't actually know WHAT he did, and he doesn't even realize right away that he isn't aging. All he knows at first is that suddenly dark magics waaaay easier to do so he needs to be careful about that and also one of his eyes is fucked up. So now his secondary motive is also undo his own curse as well as heal Claire. Cuz itd suck if he finally heals Claire but isnt able to age himself, ya know?

Henri's a pretty chill guy and most of the cast view him as skid's 2nd in command and often her voice of reason(though he himself is prone to being impulsive and moody due to the whole technically still being 15 thing). The underlings also all view him as an older brother sort, because he's protective but often "hands off" in how deals with things but also hes just really tall. Lucky him he had his growth spurt before cursing himself to never age.

He tends to have a lot of memory issues, some days are worse than others. On his worst days he doesn't even remember how he met skid, but most days hes just sort of fuzzy and cant quite remember all 200 years he's spent by their side. His vision has also deteriorated with time, he cant see out of his left eye at all and can only make out colors and general shapes out with his left.

Even though he stuck with Skid for Claire's sake, Henri has actually become very close with skid after 200 years. Skid's secretive and doesnt actually like talking about themself honestly but depsite that he knows a lot about them. He knows skid has their own memory issues, and he's aware that Skid's not a full demon. He's heard skid's human name before but forgot it at some point and knows better than to ask about it. He's also very aware that Skid's prone to getting involved in shit which leads to them getting hurt magically and letting Claire run the body for a couple days every other decade. So they still get to see each other. These brief meetings is how Henri realized he was in love with Claire.

Bonus Info: Henri doesn't actually subscribe to modern labels and doesnt really consider himself as being into women or men. He just loves who he loves. (Hes asexual and panromantic)

Fun Fact: i came up with Henri and Skid when I was 12, but every other character in their story, including Claire, formed a slightly later.

^ skid and Henri drawings from when I was 12

[voiceofsword]

Rinne and Niki used to be a two person unit that flopped, rigth? Any opinions and takes on that?

HI ANON it didnt flop! rinne did, later on as a solo artist for reasons outside of his control. i'll explain the situation a little bit (there honestly isn't a lot to go off of considering this is covered exclusively through bits and pieces in main story – niki backstory event when NOT HOT LIMIT another one)

we learn thru main story that niki's dad used to be a fairly popular chef that hosted various (or was it just one?) shows before the events of hot limit, presumably a few years before. other idols at the time felt threatened by his rising popularity and like eichi says, allegations were made about him consuming and making dishes from human meat on his shows to tarnish his name. which is why both of niki's parents left the country – they tell niki that they left in search of ingredients, and i don't doubt that they also do that, but it's obviously not just about that. they're not gonna tell their son they had to leave the country because they were labelled as cannibals but niki isnt that stupid. he knew ANYWAYS OKAY when niki's dad catches wind of him joining an idol group he's not very pleased about it and niki mentions that this disagreement was what led to him and rinne splitting up and rinne going his own way.

presumably the two of them still live together during this time so im of the belief that niki doesn't really... see his parents, after they leave the first time. so while rinne does have to go out and do idol work all on his own, he still comes home to niki and likely tells him all about it and about his day. niki does mention at one point in main story that he'd often see rinne be depressed/tired, and given that we know his solo career wasn't exactly the best time for him, it was likely making reference to that. i think there's a lot of guilt coming from both parties at this point in time: niki likely feels guilty that he'd "left" rinne to do all of this on his own, while rinne feels guilty that 1) he exposed niki to the idol industry at such a young age (he wasn't exposed to the seedy underbelly of it like rinne was, but the feeling still lies there) 2) he even put niki through strenuous idol work to begin with – a sentiment that he still shares currently, although not as strongly. nevertheless the two of them probably have a steady rhythm: when rinne comes home he tells niki about his day, niki helps with any fan letters, and on worse days, when rinne's not feeling great, they can both be comforted by the fact that rinne doesnt have to go through it all alone, that niki's there to lend him a shoulder when he needs it. this probably continues until rinne's solo idol career is forcibly ended – the influential person that initially granted him all of those opportunities having been exposed as part of a larger corruption in the industry – and after a while is when rinne drags niki off to cospro.

going back to address this guilt they both feel i think it's important to note that, yeah, rinne still blames himself for "imposing" being an idol on niki at all. usually he makes a joke out of it, with niki playing along often saying that yeah its true if he werent an idol he would be chilling. but when both of them are being more serious, it's evident that rinne actually does feel guilty for taking niki out of his previous peaceful life (even if one of the reasons he suggested niki being an idol was to raise his self esteem – see HOT LIMIT I WONT REST UNTIL UVE ALL READ IT) and for putting up with him for as long as he has, presumably talking about those 4 years: taking him in, duo solo career, and especially the crazyb summer fiasco. while niki time and time again reminds him that he stuck by rinnes side because he wants to, that he's learned to like being an idol, that he would accompany rinne to the ends of the world even if he didn't ask. and then they turn around and bicker anyway. love is love ❤️

ive used this sc before but idgaf

as much as i love rinne and niki duo i think it's great that they have crazy:b now. theyre a dysfunctional family, but that's THEIR dysfunctional family, dammit! i rly hope that in the future we get some more exposition on what happened during those four years – event or lookback scout, i'm not picky – because 4 years is a long time!! i also just want to see both rinne and niki and rinniki develop bc i love them. if it wasnt obvious.

[littencloud9]

for the ask: 🕯️🍄🍬

🕯️ ⇢ on a scale from 1 to 10, how much do you enjoy editing? why is that?

hmm. like a 6. i like it because im a self-indulgent writer so it's like getting to read exactly what i wanna see. but also editing is a PAIN especially when it comes to paragraphs that are just like. what am i even talking about. or sometimes i skip scenes and i just stick in smth like [they talk] [funny joke idk] and having to cross the bridge i have gotten to is not fun HELP

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

omg!!! putting a few because nobody can stop me:

🐉🐯 sskk -> akutagawa calls atsushi 'my love' or 'my darling' while atsushi calls akutagawa 'ryuu'

📗🧡 kunichuu -> is this even a hc. SPIDERMAN KISS. wait but also chuuya getting flustered and losing control over his ability and he goes crashing down after the spiderman kiss

🌸🐾 itafushi -> megumi's shikigami popping up (out of his control) when hes watching yuuji because they love yuuji as much as he loves yuuji. mostly the dogs and the rabbits

💛🧡🤎 kunichuuzai -> cane user dazai x chronic pain chuuya x knkd with hand tremors. important to me

🗡️🔪 tachigin -> sometimes gin doesnt want to talk so tachihara learned sign language specifically for them and convinced most of the port mafia to learn it too

🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

oh my god UMMM okay. lets talk about gojo satoru.

a lot of the fandom believes that he only cares about geto and that frustrates me a lot because while yes, a lot of gojo's reckless decisions are based on geto and he always looks to him for guidance, it has been shown time and time again that gojo cares for many others. he would not sacrifice his students to save geto. he is selfish, but he is not irrational. gojo loves his students. he loves nanami and shoko. we've seen how affected he is at nanami's death, the pure rage at the higher ups who wanted to kill yuta and now yuuji, how highly he thinks of megumi and his power etc. he believes in creating a future for jujutsu society that isnt corrupt, one which his very own students will run. while stsg share an undeniable bond, so deep that gojo is still paralysed by geto's body even after years of not seeing each other again, he would not choose geto over what he believes is the saving grace of jujutsu society. gojo will fight and scream and sink his fangs into whatever he can to get geto back, but his love and loyalty is not limited to just that. at the end of the day, hes the strongest, and he is lonely. why would he abandon those he keeps dear to his heart? for geto? that would go against his character and the future he is working so hard to create. he can love more than one person

SORRY THIS IS SUCH A LONG REPLY AKSJAJKS

send some asks here <3

[wormbloggign]

dream sequence babeyy!!

ive heard of people realising theyre dreaming by noticing things that are out of order but combining that with how much taylors fighting style of switching out her knife and baton leads her to instinctually search for her backup tool (even without her explicit weapons she has a lot of preprepared tools to work with in a pinch, like how she selectively readies her insect loadout or the utilities of tissues and coins) really elevates the moment for me

this girl has battle trauma! (not an actual diagnosis)

and she's pulled back in! this dream sequence isnt letting you out without a fight!

damn girl what happened to make you so v- oh yeah i forgot

outside of the child soldier conditioning of it all, this is really funny

if taylor didnt have a horiffic pre-hero cape life, this would be noelle "healing" her of the horrors

ITS THE FLOCKER (FLESH LOCKER)

ah, i had misinterpreted the dreams premise. WORST DAYS WORLD TOUR BABEYYY!!!!

(she might be here a while)

taylors two worst enemies; machines and heat

its good to know ammo doesnt reset when entering a new level (sorry, that one was in poor taste)

that team-up would be devastating, a firework that turns all organisms left in the fall-off carnivorous (and hungry) or a flash-grenade that leaves a slow growing network of skin that links up to people on contact, hooking into their nervous system and pain receptors. wish we couldve seen it

skitters pure tactical sense makes two of her an absolute nightmare to fight against, combining that with the removal of her normal ethical restrictions means one hell of a boss fight

i cant believe evil skitter gets to do quips. well at least a version of taylor gets to achieve her dreams

thats what happens when you keep a bird themed character in a cage, eventually theyre going to fly free

on a side note, how's canary going?

an interesting lineup, i guess hookwolf didnt leave much of an impression

is... is weld immune to echidnas power because of his lack of biomatter?

thematically resonant if true.

i wonder if she can do what panacea did and supply the bugs with interference, shutting down the line of control

nah amy was probably doing horrifically unethical things to those bugs minds and bodies, it's what she does when she isnt restricted by her code

i love it when we get to see a characters actions taken out of context and suddenly our pattern recognition brain starts to construct a false narrative of intent

#justevillawyerthings

ok no yeah that ones exactly what you think it was

(theres no way weld isnt at least suspicious of corruption within his ranks)

i LOVE niche power interactions and their implications

(rachel has, in some way been harming even those she holds closest through her lashing out and her violent tendencies)

dont even worry about it bestiee

they wanted your head long before this

[aristotels]

https://aristotels.tumblr.com/post/739069720012161024/when-you-talk-about-the-protag-in-stardew-valley

Hi, same anon. I was trying to give further evidence of your point (i.e. that SDV lets you literally become a landlord), not sure if that came through, but never mind that. I'd like to ask about 2). You said:

 you and feral hobo running a commune and splitting income STILL isnt communism, its just cojoined small business practice. communism requires socialist state to first exist, and it covers a broad political and economical system.

Okay, yeah. But "no it can't exist because the government isn't socialist" feels a bit boring. What if we tried to meet the game where it's at? Which is "Feelgood escapism where your grandfather leaves you a farm in your will and escape your crushing job at Corporate USAmerica and live on that farm in a little town full of simple hard work and community, a town that is almost, but not quite, outside of the grasping hands of the surrounding system".

We've established that SDV's depiction of this fantasy is not meaningfully anti-capitalist in any way, but is there a way to interpret that concept in a way that is meaningfully anti-capitalist without removing the core of this initial contrast/struggle?

Especially when realism isn't strictly speaking a constraint. If the game can get away with "You can become a millionaire overnight by selling turnips", I don't think "the town somehow exists with a totally different political organisation than the country it's in" is that egregious, because it's in keeping with the way the game's setting is kinda in a bubble.

Even if the answer is "no, of course not", or "sure, but only if we do something like how the farm is in a completely different country and the struggle against Jojo Corp is now the struggle against imperialism", I'd like to hear your thoughts on it. I'm not particularly attached to SDV, my enjoyment of it has never hinged on it being somehow "progressive". It's just the kind of conceptual game design challenge that tickles me.

How would you redesign SDV to be meaningfully anti-capitalist while trying to keep its core concept recognizable? Can it be done at all, even slightly? etc etc.

well i mean, the thing is that a little town cant exactly exist in its own political bubble, since socialism requires a large-scale operation.

well, while typing this i just remembered a pretty wholesome story on a small scale - and ive mentioned it before, vlak u snijegu by mato lovrak, and its such a pity it wasnt translated. it shows socialist ideals on a small scale, in a group of kids. ill try to make a summary post when i have time.

idk, personally i dont see a way to make an escapist cozy game anti-capitalist. and tbh, i dont even think its necessary for it to be, as long as it isnt marketed that way! socialism involves collectivism and work (well it is centered around workers isnt it) and i mean... that isnt exactly what we think of when we say "escapism fantasy". in those secret little fantasies we want to be privileged and not deal with injustice or corruption or whatever.

the closest to a socialist fantasy i can get is maljčiki by idoli (the song is a banger btw).

i mean, i dont know if that makes for like, an actually interesting cozy game. tbh when i am looking for guilty-escapism, i read p reactionary stuff; theyre just fantasies, after all. its nice to imagine myself as a noble lady from 18th century getting courted by 5 different rich men or whatever. i just think its important to realize the difference between fantasy and reality.

i mean, theres a reason were talking abt sdv here and not harvest moon. harvest moon was never marketed as anti-capitalist, its just a silly game of owning a farm and then like the goddess makes a girl fall in love with you blabla. nobodys exactly going around and saying how anticapitalistic it is.

[hypnogogyc]

Since you are THE Oliver banks artist (to me atleast) thoughts on the fact Oliver and Jane Prentis worked at the same crystal/tarrot shop? I don’t think they knew eachother all that wel or anything but god there’s something so intresting about having these avatars all be so closely connected

(Love your Oliver design btw:) )

Oh that is the highest honor i hold to my chest id like to thank lilnan for the trustfall comic that broke my brain and started me on this path.

AND THANK YOU FOR THIS ASK!!!

First of all as characters alone they went very different paths towards their entities and that makes sense considering the Corruption requires a life to infest, where the End is. You know. I stand by my “all avatars succumbed to their entity by fleeing from another”(like Elias to the eye fearing the end) i think Oliver ran from the end and found comfort in the end but in a new light. Jane I think always did have the fear of corruption with her blackhead paranoia and bullying but i feel she really feared the lonely. Her self mutilation in mortality is her way of doing something about the rejection she experienced, even if it didn’t really help anything. She first fears corruption because all her life she was demeaned for filth, and grew up thinking she was rotting inside everyday. Her choice to then change from picking at her skin in self disgust to loving her pock marks because they held home to something that needed her as much as she needed it is hard to not understand at least a little why she’s so elated.

Also the timeline matches up for working the same time.. (oliver is spotted there 2013, jane isnt discovered by cops til march 2014. Ik janes statement only says he came in while she worked n stared at her but. Shhhh) i think they got on rather well. They were both people desperately trying to find relief and hoping something would just finally click in place and they would belong. Jane was rejected from what she centered her life around (just having any connection. Any acceptance, both in herself and everyone else.) and so was Oliver (from life itself. The society he was born into, the events of his life. It was just all too much at once and the lack of childhood info on him from his mortal statement and only the statement towards jon later i think feeds into the idea of him not really even wanting to live on in memory.)

Oliver looks up to Jane for her wisdom when he meets her as a man with some bad dreams here and there and she’s a woman with some pretty terribly dealt with anxiety, which he could relate to. I think he’d talk to her about meditation, trying to find presence in your own body, but she had a very bad reaction to that. He apologizes and she accepts his treat for her lunch break when he comes back into work with an extra sandwich and soup. He sees her unsteadiness in much in life but she’s different with the crystals and cards. She speaks fondly of every gemstone’s meanings and properties, makes a secret drawer for all the gems shaped in such a way she couldn’t handle not being able to buy it herself. She teaches him Tarot, he picks it up quick. He tells her that he thinks the gems suit her. Jane smiles a bit stiffly and says thanks. He clarifies he meant it suiting her as a person, as she was very attuned. She smiles wide and says thanks again, this one natural.

Jane disliked Oliver at first. Self loathing without relief often turns outwards, and he was polite and well spoken and handsome and even had the nerve to be friendly with her. Incessantly. Shes slow to trust. She has to be. She’s played this song and dance and it has to be pity or obligation. She likes her job because for her role she is no longer Jane Prentiss. She’s a store clerk with a nearly encyclopedic knowledge of it’s wares. Oliver offers guided meditation, she has a hard time saying no. It ends badly. He’s apologetic and Jane just doesn’t understand it. The next day he buys her lunch as a apology. Material loss from him (and she knew exactly what his paycheck was and it was NOT lofty. It was only lunch but. Still.) and then the loneliness can’t bear it anymore. She keeps herself from delusions that someone like him would take such genuine interest in her that wasn’t just someone who was overly friendly and didn’t want tension with a coworker. But then they bond slowly. Jane teaches him to read tarot on a slow day. Its just a basic reading but he drinks in her words intently. It strikes her suddenly that this man not only tolerated her as a coworker. He respected her. He really truly felt what she was saying was valuable information. She’s giddy and teaches him more advanced spreads. Oliver has to eventually ask for a break and she apologizes for not realizing and getting carried away and he laughs and says no that was amazing. I’m so glad i could see so much of what you can. She’s thrilled, they go drinking at nights (Oliver is the sober driver).

But then Oliver becomes more despondent. He talks less about his nightmares to her but obviously still has them. She can’t help the paranoia come back. She never did receive closure for being abandoned time and time again. She didn’t expect it now. This final straw is when she catches him staring. THAT was a look she knew. Pity. She picks at her skin worse and worse. Oliver takes over when Jane doesn’t show up for a few days, and he’s walked past her house enough to see the roots and understand what’s happened.

[lumiereandcogsworth]

I love the idea that Adam still has angry beast tendencies. Like, he’s much better at keeping his temper and maintaining social graces, but only up until a point. If anyone insults his Belle or is rude to his staff, he can go full beast mode (metaphorically speaking) obscenely quickly. It’s a quieter fury which would make it more sinister I think. On a good night he’s all charm and smiles, but after the day is done he’ll vent to Belle who will sooth him until he’s all smiles and cuddle again. This may seem like a spontaneous head canon dump but it’s response to your “he’s a bit cunty” tag 😆

NO DUDE YES EXACTLY!!!!!!!! i think about that all the time. like he’s so aggressively loyal to belle and his found family staff and it absolutely comes out in such a sinister way. like when he finds out that someone at a ball was rude to his beloved?? all hell breaks loose.

i also have a ~plot~ that i’ve never fully written, it’s more just a storyline i like to play out in my head sometimes, where someone was SO disrespectful about belle talking TO ADAM that adam just loses it and clocks the guy right in the nose. and it’s such a spectacle and adam is honestly stunned at his own actions. like he’s LIVID but he’s also immediately terrified because belle witnessed it and he never wanted her to see him lose his temper again. so he quickly leaves the room and belle runs after him.

he’s shaking and angry at the situation and himself and belle comes in asking if he’s okay but he just keeps backing away from her because he doesn’t trust himself and he feels so ashamed for letting her see that. eventually belle manages to get him to sit down so she can tend to his bloody knuckles (YEAH) and he apologizes and she says he has nothing to apologize for. she knows he wouldn’t just do that on a whim. she knows it was warranted. and it was but adam just feels so sjdkdjfk.

anyway you’re so right dude. amen brother. i love it. because YEAH LIKE??? sure he’s changed and grown but you don’t just snap your fingers and remove a temper like that lmao. he learns to manage it better (over time, with belle’s help) but yeah of course it’s still going to come out in quiet, vicious ways. he’s always going to be just a bit cunty!!! i love that bitch.

like especially in social settings i think he’s suuuuch a bitch lmao. like you said he keeps social graces generally speaking but in certain circles, at certain events, he really goes off sometimes. gosh i love him. and of course he’s absolutely the worst gossip of them all. there’s a fic i have in my drafts of him corrupting belle and getting her into gossip. she’s like adam no that’s not nice!! and he’s like “but you must admit they WERE acting rather odd this evening. surely something Must be going on ;)” and belle’s like “….MAYBE BUT THIS ISNT NICE!!” it’s very cute lmao.

[deepfriedseagullfeet]

i am admittedly a sucker for a lot of the stuff in the iris idea, w the corrupt facility and the alternate universes and shit, thats my jam - BUT the c!jack element (and some of the more personal, down to earth, less Intense Fantasy stuff) always was a big part of why i loved it so much. fortunately i still always have fanworks which is honestly why i stayed in the fandom so long anyway! im VERY glad sean kept the fourth wall break stuff during ANOMALY FOUND through the code solving and anti pulling us through the cameras, though, bc the unreality stuff is so iconic to me even if cjack/the channel isnt in the lore anymore

YES EXACTLY i am glad sean did the 4th wall break stuff too, that was such a big part of the og lore. i think its pretty iconic as well, like the halloween pumpkin video is so much to me the core of the ego lore and so its weird to imagine the lore now without it........but thats why we have fanworks and the ego community to have fun with our own ideas! c!jack will forever live on in my heart personally. u cant take away killjse from me EVER

[azumasoroshi]

watched the first two episodes of oshi no ko a while back (REALLY FUCKING GOOD, ive been a manga reader for a while but i stopped reading the recent chapters and basically forgot everything except for the major points and god it’s so satisfying to have the adaptation remind me of what i’ve forgotten in the most beautiful way possible)

but this post isnt about onk, it’s about izaya!! izaya orihara!! lets fucking goooooooooo izaya idol au!!!! i cant get this flea out of my BRAIN

i was about to open a new canvas to draw some more shizaya stuff for my animatic that im never gonna finish and i was like huh. maybe i should draw onk fanart. and then i remembered this art of venti genshin impact with ai’s eyes and i remembered thinking man i hope this becomes an artist trend for people to do with their art blorbos! and then i was like OH. guess i could contribute to the trend by drawing izaya with ai’s eyes

and then i started thinking and i was like huh. Ai’s never experienced love from her parents, doesn’t think she knows how to love or how to express it, doesn’t get attached to others easily, is a perpetual liar, became an idol because she hoped she would learn how to love - oh hey doesnt. that. sound like izaya. just a little bit. not exactly, her character goes into more learning how to love/that she can love while izaya’s character is i can love but only impersonally because i’m afraid of getting hurt and his arc would be learning to let his walls down for his own good

SO for izaya idol au, izaya would become an idol because he wants to experience love, or something along the lines of “there’s no greater demonstration of parasocial love and foolish decision making than in the idol industry! ahaha~” and probably “idols are perfect liars and i need to put myself into their shoes so i can become an even better liar and close myself off to any possibility of falling in love that could ever exist”

there’s a lot of reasons he might want to become an idol, really. there’s so much corruption and behind-the-scenes dealing and lies and facades and shit in the entertainment industry that i think izaya would eat for breakfast. he would LOVE witnessing that shit and making his own shady deals and stuff and occasionally ruining lives and watching people rise and fall down the rankings and tear each other down. plus the people who are in it for passion rather than money are fascinating as well. psychology student’s dream really- i mean what this is definitely about izaya and not me projecting

plus he definitely has the looks for it (narita would hard agree given how many times he’s indirectly called izaya attractive through other characters. we love a canonically hot king)

now i need to make everything shizaya because i’m not okay but i have no idea who shizuo would be lmao

like you could make him some up and coming manager (no age difference stuff here sorry lmao) or a fellow idol (doubtful. shizuo can act cute but i dont think he could dance) or an actor like akane/kana or a streamer??? like memcho (my favorite character)

a mangaka/screenplay writer/writer in general could also work but i feel like you’d have less reason to interact with idols that way

idk how japanese idol groups work for men in particular or if there’s even like a market for that :sob: id have to look into that if i actually started making stuff for this au

alternatively izaya crossdresses as a female idol and somehow no one realizes. except for shizuo. that would be hilarious actually. he refuses to do swimsuit modeling or other provocative stuff and his fans are like “oh?? the brazen kanra-chan is unexpectedly shy?? how cute” and he plays into it but inwardly he’s like. god i know exactly how im gonna go out with a bang when i retire. and shizuo watches him playing at being shy on tv knowing that that motherfucker is planning to strip on his last days as an idol

anyway this is just me spitballing ideas but ill definitely write at least a concept/intro fanfic of this at some point so stay tuned lmAo im just about to run out of writing juices on ABAON so i gotta transfer my energy somewhere else and where better than the idol!izaya au

[astronomical-bagel]

I want to know about the mushrooms tell me more about mushrooms

AGFHGJN YESSSSSSSSSS I WILL SHOW YOU MY TOP 5 FAVORITE MUSHROOMS. FEATURING: LOTS OF EXCLAMATION MARKS AND ABOUT 957 WAYS TO MISSPELLL MUSHROOM!! THIS IS ALSO VERY LONG. SORRY. IM NOT ACTUALLY SORRY THIS WAS SOOOO MUCH FUN.

Okay okay okay first of with the most popular one: you know amanita muscaria? the fly agaric or whatever? the one that is THE mushroom? this one?

its like. SUPER deadly. itll give you a high, but it also comes with thinhs like involontary muscle spasms, general stomche problems, amnisea, and can even put you in a coma! and also it will Just Kill you. i like that such a loved and well-known mushroom is actually one of the most deadly. idk exactly why i liek that abt it its just like. not a lot of people realize. even though its so popular.

and the NEXT one is the devil's tooth fungus! it has a lot of names but thats the one im going to call it rn. It does this funkt little things called gluttation, which as far as i know is just the mushroom pushing out excess water. but the COOL thing about it s that hte moisture is thick and sticky due to an anticollagen (helps things not clot) that is a DARK RED. this mushroom is literally so metal it literally looks like its bleeding.

unfortunality it does set off my trypophobia so i cant really look at it for long. but its FUCKING COOL. i also like it EVEN more because, color-wise, its the exact opposite of amanita muscaria! And i like it EVEN MORE because while the amanita is like. thought to be the cutsey mushroom and all that but is SUPER FUCKING DANGEROUS, the Devils Tooth LOOKS all scary and halloween-y but is actually pretty harmless! I mean, it tastes bad and kinda stinks too, but its like. (and youll have to excuse me for anthropomorphizing mushrooms) its like a PERFECT narrative foil to amanita!!! AJGNGGH GOES INSANE!!

the next mushroom, and youll probably recognize this one, is the inky cap mushroom!! this mushroom is another SUPER popular one-- or, at least, its popular in 1. mushroom circles and 2. goth cottagecore circles. my perspective might be a little skewed LMAO. anyways this is also called the "shaggy cap" mcuhroom because when its young it has a pretty white cap with little ruffles on it!! buT! when it gets older! it starts to look like its liquifying, and it starts dripping black "ink"

ISNT IT SOOOO COOL??? this mushroom is my favorite-- at least in terms of aesthics (though devils tooth has GOT to be like. my second favorite bc that is too cool) This muchroom is actually edible! Tje website has it written down as a "nutty, mushroomlike taste" which. tells me absoltuley nothing. But also, and i just found this out 2 minutes ago, appearently you cant drink alcohol for 3 days after eating this!! the effects can go from a stomache ache to a heart attack, dependign on how much of either youve consumed. because of this, its also called 'tippler's bane", which i think is hilarious.

The next mushroom is the ZOMBIE FUNGUS. I was first introduced to this fungus via a nature documentary. it gave me nightmares for weeks and started at LEAST 2 debilitating phobias, but also at least 2 special interests so. i guess?? it evens out?? anyways i LOVE this fungus even though it still terrifies me to this day. This mushroom is called the zombie fungus for good reason: when ants digest it, it takes over the muscle system gradually over the course of a few days, and walks the ant over to a leaf for it to bite onto (exactly 25 cm off the ground, apparently) and then the ant flowers, making another hub of fungus to infect other ants and start the cycle anew. But i need to be absolutley clear here. this ant is still like. alive. its brain is active, but its muscles are moving without its permission. it has literally described by scientists that the fungus was controlling the ant "as a puppeteer controls as a marionette doll". this thing is both corruption and the web. the ant is STILL IN THERE. and one!! how the FUCK is the fungus smart enought to do that?????? What the shit??? How does the fungus tell the ant to move its legs???? hoe does it tell it whre to go??? how is the fungus in the ant communicating with the original fungus?? this mushroom is so scary to me in so many ways but one of the most proniment is that it almost??? seems to be ??? sentient???? i dont know. idk. but i do know is that its SCARY AS FUCKK. im not including a picture of this because i cant stand ants and also. the image of bugs with mushrooms squeezing past their exoskeletons and shooting out of their head is kind of. terrifying.

the last mushroom of the day is called the bitter oyster mushroom! this one is SOOOO cool!!! its special gimmick is BIOLUMINESCENCE, BABEY!!!!!!

ive been obsessed with biolumiencnce for FOREVER, because 1. its fucking cool. who wouldnt be obsessed honestly, and 2. Avatar (2009)!! theres not much more to say on why i like it honestly. its glow in in the dark. its automatically awseome. this mushroom in the daytime is a nice creamy orange color, and grows in shelves along trees and logs! not every strain is bioluminecent, in fact the biolumicent strain specidically does not live on the pacific coast :((((( but ill get to see it one day. one day....

anyways THANK YOU SO MUCH for inviting me to ramble, and ummmm congradulations if you read all of that LMAO. This was a lot of fun and resolidified the fact that I LOVE MUSHROOMS SO MUCH. ok thank you byeee