#it's not especially detailed but it is the tldr version

[doublebattled]

stealing my banner from my other blog because fuck it I might as well. detailed headcanon on Isshu, ancient unovan history (nothing that could be construed as modern, literally just up to the Heroes of Truth and Ideals), and the surviving culture. All of this is written AS IS KNOWN BY MODERN DAY HISTORIANS. This is largely why I am writing it on this blog instead of Adair's; lots of names are omitted because those have been lost, it's incomplete and in places not actually wholly accurate to the slightly more detailed version of canon that would be found over on @fusionbolts. I also have a lot of links embedded to other headcanons. So lets get into it.

The Foundation of Isshu

While the vast majority of Isshu's history is forgotten to time, there are a few oral traditions and folktales that have persisted, one of which being the most foundational to their culture: the founding of Isshu and Isshurem's pact with humankind. As expected, the details of the tale are somewhat fuzzy, being literal centuries old, but the core of it remains fundamentally the same:

In the distant past, there was a time when the differences between humans and pokemon seemed impossible to bridge; they lived entirely separate from each other and fought often. At this time there lived a young boy who was born with a gift that allowed him to speak with pokémon. This boy, who walked freely between the worlds of human and pokémon, sought out the Great Dragon, arbiter of balance, to help him bring about peace between their kinds. They forged a pact, that human and pokemon kind would walk side by side forevermore.

At least, that's the general gist of it. (A longer version of it exists on one of my older blogs, if you're so inclined. Fair warning I wrote it like five years ago. Probably more.)

This foundation myth is fundamental to Isshu's spiritual beliefs and their relationship to pokémon, information which can be found here. However, Isshurem has always been core to its belief system as the nation's sort of guardian deity, with the name "Isshurem" itself literally meaning Guardian of Isshu. In the old days, leadership of the nation meant being Isshurem's partner.

The Golden Age

Very little is known in detail about the golden age of Isshu Culture as much of it was destroyed, lost to time, untranslatable until very recently, etc. Part of it is the result of Unova's very tumultuous history and the eventual fall of Isshu, and part of it is just due to the fact that it's a very, very old culture and a lot of their written history fell victim to time. BUT,

The Golden Age of Isshu was, as the name would imply, the height of their civilization, but historically speaking—virtually none of it still remains. The only structures still standing from the Golden Age are the League Building and Dragonspiral Tower. Historians who have been able to study the few remaining writings from the era have also managed to learn something about "seals", a form of ancient "technology" developed by the people of Isshu that made their quality of life quite remarkable by ancient standards. It's also what gave us Golett and Golurk! Nobody knows how, though. The Golett that exist are... all of them. Ever. The art itself has been lost, but remnants of it remain in modern Isshu art and traditional crafts.

The original written language of Isshu has also largely been lost—or so it was thought until the Abyssal ruins were uncovered and translated, allowing them to serve as a sort of Rosetta Stone for the original alphabet. The modern version still follows many of the same grammatical rules (and uses the same pronoun system!), but beyond that, there's little resemblance.

In short: little is known about Ancient Isshu, but it was believed their civilization was highly advanced for the time. They were, perhaps because of their advanced technology, or perhaps due to their distance from many other regions, an extremely isolationist culture and did not have much exchange, cultural or otherwise, with the other large civilizations at the time. That was, until...

The Fall of Isshu

Short version: colonialism happened.

The long version: Paldea, Kalos, and Galar sometimes just got done fighting a real big war and somebody (we won't name names) set off a superweapon and just decimated both armies entirely.

Wars are very expensive and this was a large problem for everybody, so with this on top of it, two of those countries came out pretty broke and the third was having its own problems with a giant space worm and some dogs. It was a bad time! The solution? INVADE SOME OTHER COUNTRIES ABOUT IT!

Again, this is a particular part of history that is not especially well-documented from the Isshu/Unova side of things. Historians know that Isshu's rather limited military force was not prepared for the attacks, which made them a pretty easy target. We also know the then-sovereign of Isshu was killed in the ensuing conflict, and the original dragon was presumably quite badly wounded, which ultimately led to Isshu's utter defeat at the hands of invading foreign forces. (It is believed that the Abyssal Ruins, dating back to that general era, are a tomb or memorial for the last King.)

This is the period in which most of Isshu culture was lost. Either it was taken by foreign forces (which is why we have Golett outside of Unova!) or destroyed utterly. For the next two centuries, much of the remnants of these people lived in the northern, mountainous regions of their country, where they could live more or less in peace. At this point, the Village of Dragons becomes the last bastion of Isshu civilization, and remains that way for... pretty much the rest of their history.

The Isshu people were not treated well during this time, as tends to happen with colonialism. I will not go into heavy detail as I think we can all fill in the gaps as to what that means, but it wasn't a great scene. (Slightly further detail on all of that and the leadup to the Unovan Revolution can be found here.)

In the meantime, the three major countries that had done that colonialism and also had done a war with each other right before... started fighting again. Shocking. It was less of a full-on war and more infrequent, but definitely regular territorial squabbles that, unfortunately, the remaining Isshu got dragged into. So you know what that means!

The Unovan Revolution / Foundation of Unova

Two brothers and a dragon do a revolution! Again, this is not an especially well documented period of history, but it is heavily mythologized thanks to it being the precursor to Reshiram and Zekrom. The short version is a couple of guys found Isshurem, who most people thought was dead, and it helped them do a revolution. (The full story is much more complicated than that, but you get the idea.)

As you can imagine, this was incredibly important. Arguably, the foundation of Unova was the only thing that allowed Isshu culture to survive in any form during the modern day. But it wasn't without its problems. As with any colonial state, people were, uh, having some complex feelings about who rightfully belonged there and who didn't, the direction of this new country, etc. etc., which would inevitably create a schism between the two brothers who started the revolution, and... Well, we know the story from there. Three dragons!

The ensuing conflict(s) and family drama would drive the then-kings to their deaths and leave the dragons stuck in rocks for a few millennium while the new Unova got to mythologize them.

There is reason to believe that while the Heroes of Truth and Ideals were both in agreement of trying to restore and preserve Isshu culture (generally accepted as being the culture they came from), their successor let it languish for unknown reasons, presumably political. (Ironically, it's pretty well known that their successor was the progenitor of the Harmonia royal line... Harmonia being an Isshu name.)

Modern Isshu Culture

As to be expected, there are still remnants of Isshu's culture and people within Unova, particularly in the northeast. While it's been through some extremely tumultuous times, even after Unova's founding, there have been some troubles with homogenization. But, nevertheless, there remains a handful of people who consider themselves Isshu and keep a few key cultural practices (copy and pasted from another headcanon, you're welcome):

1. Isshu do not (traditionally) use pokéballs. Tradition is to find and befriend a partner pokémon without catching them. Now, mind you, in the modern day and age, this isn't always practical, so some would opt to capture a pokémon after formally befriending them, particularly if their partner was especially large, dangerous, etc. However, a partner pokémon is typically kept outside of their pokéball as much as possible.

2. Isshu do not eat farm-raised meat, but wild-caught meat is acceptable. Again, practically speaking, this is somewhat difficult in the modern day: that accounts for, y'know, most meat products. Depending on where they live, many Isshu are effectively vegetarian or pescatarian. (The rules regarding animal byproduct, like in gelatin, are a little loosey goosey, but it's generally regarded as fine: ultimately, it abides by another core principle of Isshu culture, which is to respect the body of what you hunt/kill as to not let it go to waste. What isn't used should be returned to where it was found and returned to nature.)

3. Though far from a hard rule by any means, Isshu marriage tradition dictates that the couple exchange emblems of their partner pokémon when engaged, so the couple is symbolically always together. It's all very cute.

4. The major cultural holidays take place on the summer and winter solstices, with the latter being the cultural new year, much like how other cultures recognize a lunar new year. Minor holidays are on the equinoxes.

5. Again, this is far from a hard rule, but music is a very important component of Isshu culture. Many of their core mores and norms are born from concepts that are, culturally and linguistically, tied very HEAVILY to music. As such, it's extremely common for Isshu children to learn how to play an instrument.

[infamous-if]

To Gender Select, or to Not Gender Select

So as everyone knows, I'm using the opportunity for this rewrite to really step back and look at what I have so far. I have just subscribed to the whole "follow my gut" thing and for the last two months or so, my gut has been telling me something.

For context, I created Orion (and I have mentioned this a couple times when I first opened this blog) that he came to me fully formed. While other ROs were more of a puzzle that appeared more and more fleshed out with every detailed I added, Orion was like a jenga block tower that grew more and more unsteady every time I changed a detail about him. He just came to me exactly as he was and I didn't really think beyond that. For example, with G, pieces of both Gina and Griffin came to me at the same time and G isn't G without both versions. With Orion he was just...Orion.

But lately—and this was not without many suggestions asking for it!—I've been playing around with the idea of a female version of his character.

One of my biggest things was to make sure that this wasn't a matter of just changing a variable. When it comes to my gender selectable ROs, I want to make sure I'm including the subtleties and nuances that come with being a man/woman in the public eye, especially for O. Their route is heavily centered around the idea of professionalism and...other things I can't mention and I think it'd be super interesting to add another component of being a woman, not only typically stern and taciturn but in a dominant position in music mostly taken up by men. Which is why, in the rewrite, there will be lines that are unique to Orion and unique to her. Reactions that are different, conversations that change. People who continue to romance Orion will prob not see a difference.

Not only does it separate them as two different people, it creates some distance from Orion, who is an established and beloved character already. I want his female counterpart to stand on her own as her own character.

Just because they have the same route does not mean they are the same person. I've always said that about my gender selectable characters.

This was not a spur of the moment decision. I was thinking about this for a while. I just needed to make sure every piece of Orion's route would make sense for her, and I do believe it does.

I've also been told many times how many people like Orion's route and the whole "manager-client" trope but are unable to play it as they are not attracted to men. I think this would be a nice addition and a way to make it more inclusive/give more people more routes to play!

The things I have written for Orion will probably stay the same since they've been written. Everything after the rewrite will have both options to select from.

So meet Oriana Quinn. With a short black bob usually greased back and a perfectly pressed suit, Oriana is as intimidating as she is determined. Yes, she's just as tall and muscular as her male counterpart and as obsessed with the gym as he. Her route with Cory will be different in its nature (since Cory is straight) but...guess we'll see!

fun fact: The beauty of Oriana being the name is that coincidentally, it also has to do with the sky. One of my requirements for finding a name like Orion's was that it was sky themed since it does come up. It almost seems like fate! haha

TLDR: Orion will be gender selectable. If you have plans to romance Orion and Orion alone, this will make no difference to you. For those who were hoping for this, I hope this news makes Infamous a bit more enjoyable for you! <3

[kathaynesart]

TIP JAR (every little bit is appreciated!)

R E P L I C A

LATEST UPDATE

COMIC: ARC 1 - Boot(y)ing Up - 1 - 2 -  ARC 2 - The Spark - 1 - 2 - ARC 3 - Forgiveness - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - ARC 4 - Probing - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - ARC 5 - Distractions and Dilemmas - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - INTERMISSION - Checkmate - 1 -  HOLIDAY SPECIAL - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 -

ANIMATICS: The Funny One Not Dead High Five

EXTRAS: Future Donnie Design Omega Design (SPOILER) No Love for You Processing Stupidity Peepaw Paradox Peepaw Paradise Peepaw Showdown 1 Peepaw Showdown 2 Peepaw Showdown 3 Peepaw Showdown 4 TMNT AU Competition 1 TMNT AU Competition 2 TMNT AU Competition 3 TMNT AU Competition 4 TMNT AU Competition 5 Feral Leo 1 Feral Leo 2 Cass and Replica Reunion 1 Cass and Replica Reunion 2 (not my art) Cass and Replica Reunion 3 (not my art) Cass and Replica Reunion 4 (not my art) Cass and Replica Reunion 5 Bootyyyshaker GIF Leo PUNCH Donnie’s Eyebrows Handsome Future Donnie

INFO: Donnie’s Scars

MERCH: Processing/Displaying Stupidity ROTTMNT General Upcoming

Finally have an official cover and title!  There were some REALLY good guesses as to what the title could have been, but I can at least explain my reasons why I went with Replica.  TLDR you can still call it Future Booty Shaker if you want. Usual info dump below: 

 There are several reasons why I chose Replica as the final name.  The most obvious being that Omega is Donnie’s blatant attempt at replicating himself in digital form.

The second being that this comic is in itself is an attempt at replicating the vibe and setup of the film’s opening as closely as possible.  Those first 4:05 have literally become the bible for this story and I have already had to make vast changes based off of tiny details that weren’t noticed until later on.  

Ironically the cut full opening just dropped today and I do have some feelings I’d like to address.  It’s obvious how substantially different the two openings are from each other.  As cool as it was to see everyone kicking butt, I will admit I still like the final version a lot better.  Sure it’s shorter, but it felt far more personal and intimate than the action packed cut version, and THAT’S the sort of vibe I want to replicate in this comic.

At its core, this isn’t a story about fighting a bunch of Krang, it’s a story about a family fighting their own personal battles before an apocalyptic backdrop and Replica is a vain attempt at retaining that feeling while building a story around it. Will I be successful?  Who knows.  I will definitely be drawing reference from the cut boards especially the appearance of their colony.  I’m happy my hunch was right that they were stationed beneath the Statue of Liberty, that was already a part of my story haha.

My runner up title would have been “Fall of the TMNT” however I felt it was a little too on the nose.  Though it did make for a fun dichotomy with “Rise of the TMNT”s title.   Anyways that’s my info dump.  Feel free to still hashtag Future Bootyyy Shaker, I know I will.

[swiftlyswan]

my thoughts on the lovejoy merch

tldr: i'm disappointed in the lovejoy merch. it doesn't promote their band and should have at least included their logo somewhere. i think anvilcat needs to be pushed as a character of the band, and have mocked up some of my own designs that i think would work better.

lovejoy has gone about this merch drop like a cc would - trying to make subtle references and items that people wouldn't be 'embarrassed' about wearing in public. this is not how band merch works! not only a money maker, band merch is key for promotion and advertising.

think about nirvana, metallica, the rolling stones. their logos are SO iconic and recognisable because they were used fucking EVERYWHERE! it SCREAMS their name. the lovejoy merch doesn't say their name ANYWHERE, and instead only pushes the name of their record label, and i have absolutely no idea why they landed on this (i know it's are you alright themed but cmon, why are you pushing that motif more than your band name?)

before i get into what i think they should have done, let's talk about what they did:

fucking inconsistent long sleeve: anvil cat records logo is alright but the shape of the anvil isn't readable. i'm always a fan of sleeve details but the lyric choice feels a bit immature (?) overall pretty boring

anvil cat records short sleeve: this is a worse version of the previous logo. the cat has no detail and and makes the anvil even less readable. and again, why are they pushing the record label logo instead of the band's?

it's only available in black and white which is very basic and i think would have worked better with a red/maroon print to fit the are you alright theme.

jimjam pocket: really not a fan of this. from a distance it's a yellow long sleeve that you're paying £35.00 for. up close it's a tiny print of a dog character that honestly i don't think works well enough to printed (fine as album artwork but like this just looks like a black smudge lmao). movin on bc i don't want to think about this one anymore

socks: i like them. unique item to sell. designs look alright - not much else to say

pebblebrain jumper: this is BY FAR the best product and you can tell that they have put the most effort into this. it looks high quality and is quite impressive that they've been able to make it. this is the only item i was considering buying (the price put me off) i'm not mad that this isn't explicitly promoting the band bc you can tell they were making it from a fashion pov more than a 'listen to our band' pov

so overall, it's a disappointing merch drop. i understand what they were trying to do since it was promoted as a 'one year celebration' merch drop, and so making an item for each ep (and the knee deep cover?) makes sense to mark what they've released since forming as a band, but i think 90% of their focus (and budget) went into the design and logistics behind the pebblebrain jumper, leaving the other products to fall short.

so what should they have done?

lovejoy already have an incredibly designed logo, and i am beyond confused as to why they haven't used it anywhere - especially when they're celebrating their first year as a band! it's literally your name!

slap that on a t-shirt and you can call it a day - it makes so much sense and i really want to know what the thought process was behind not using it. not only is it literally the brand you're trying to promote - it's a good looking logo!

they also have this amazing cat skull logo (which i'm a huge fan of) this is a WAY BETTER representation of anvil cat, and helps to convey the genre and tone of their music. it relates perfectly to are you alright and is instantly recognisable. it will stay in people's minds, but the only way to do that is to USE IT.

speaking of anvil cat, i made my own designs for him. imo, he should be the (face? mascot? character?) of lovejoy. the bird is a bird. the dog is annoying to look at and was created for a cover. the anvil cat has a story and the possibility to have a personality for fans to know and love and associate the band with. he directly links to the lovejoy's biggest song that started their whole career. he has a huge potential to become an icon for the band as well as a marketing tool.

my mockups are messy but they get the point across. look at him! the crossed out eyes, tongue hanging out, and the exposed ribs from the anvil! it makes sense! but get this - lovejoy have already experimented with his design, here he is, a small icon used in the centre of the poster promoting their halloween show.

i think that's all my ramblings for now. sound off in tags or replies what u think. am i completely wrong and should be burned at the stake for insulting precious band? maybe. but i mean it in good faith. i wouldn't care this much if i didn't want them to succeed

[zoroshark]

Hey! This is Zoro coming with an update about my health as quite a few things have happened the past couple of months. As some may know, I've been dealing with chronic pain and illness since February of last year as mentioned in this post here.

A quick summary of it was that I have been dealing with constant bladder and stomach problems suddenly that were disrupting day to day life as they were painful and constant. Despite the multiple hospital visits, nothing was really done and at the time I could only wait to see certain specialists (which required a lot of money to see). Recently however, I finally got an answer to what was causing me pain in one part of my stomach! The culprit was my gallbladder and it has been removed!

The rest of the post will be caught off so for those who want to read in more detail, but one issue has been solved (at least i hope so)!

I also want to note here and thank everyone who's been supportive of me during this rough patch in my life. I also want to thank those who sent money for the GoFundMe! However, due to a few circumstances which will also be explained in the read more section, I will be refunding it all to those who donated.

TLDR version of my reason is that I was advise to do so for the eligibility medical/financial benefits I've been looking into. The refunds should be sent in about a week, so keep and eye out!

TW for Medical related subjects such as surgery.

For what was causing me pain in my stomach, or at least one of the reasons:

Turns out I had gallstones that somehow CT scans and ultrasounds didn't pick up last year, despite the pain and discomfort I was in from them. It got to the point where the pain was so unbearable, I was crying for about 2-3 hours before going to the ER. They found one stone had thicken walls through the ultrasounds and my gallbladder was infected from these stones.

Because of the findings, I underwent surgery to completely remove it during my stay in the hospital. I am now close to two weeks post-op and so far it has relieved most, if not all, of the constant pain I've been in my upper right. While I still have issues elsewhere in my body, it feels nice to have one issue solved. I just hope I don't need another trip to the ER anytime soon.

As for the detailed explanation for refunding the GoFundMe donations:

A few months back I after the go found me, I was accepted in a financial assistance program that made doctor's visits way cheaper. From close to hundreds of dollars to 3 dollars, that was way more an affordable price range for me. Despite that, i kept the donations on hold just in cause anything changed or something wasn't covered by the program until now.

Along with that, I've been applying for disability as I am considered disabled by my psychiatrist due to my mental health. After talking to a few folks who knew about the system, they mentioned that the money from the fundraiser could harm the process in gaining these benefits. Their recommended course of action was to refund the money as a precaution, so I'm following their advice. After the refunds have gone through, I will be closing the fundraiser.

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Again, I want to give a massive thank you everyone in general who have supported me through all this. Its been difficult, especially since I had to accommodate to the pain and changes in my body. There has been MANY ups and for sure downs, but I'm still holding on!

Thank you for reading on this update, and expect to see me slowly become active again on here! I'm still in my Zonai phase so expect more content revolving around that, along with possible Zora content. Original works not involving fandoms will also (hopefully) be posted too!

Im also thinking of opening commissions in the future! I'll need to ask about that first due to what I mentioned above, but as far as I'm aware, I should be okay to do so (but don't quote me on it). So keep an eye out!

[digitalwitchmayura]

[incomplete] Unofficial miscellaneous Mayura trivia

What is the meaning of the ‘Wiz’ in ‘Nanika Wiz Mayura’?

Nanika with (ghost name) was a common format for ghost titles, starting with Sakura/Nin-i-tan

A tribute and clever pun to the legendary Wizardry series - a series of role-playing video games, developed by Sir-Tech, that were highly influential in the evolution of modern role-playing video games. The original Wizardry (released in 1981)was a significant influence on early console role-playing games such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Originally made for the Apple II, the games were later ported to other platforms.

 Wizardry IV: The Return of Werdna, released by Sir-Tech in 1987, is famously the hardest game in the history of computer RPGs. There is nothing harder. The majority of those who have played it were unable to leave the very first room. It’s like the ancient blueprint of the RPGs we know and love today. 

I find it a groundbreaking feat that the game was re-programmed from scratch and is somewhat playable within Mayura’s dialogue, despite being an English game this is the biggest obstacle to translate for me. 

Wizardry has recently opened an official english site for the first time to promote the remake, you can see the history of it there

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help, I don't understand Mayura's references!

That's okay, me neither when it comes to many of them.

many of her references stem from a magazine called Micom BASIC(マイコン BASIC), one of the oldest running gaming magazines focusing on microcomputers.

up until as recently as 2022 it was near impossible to find any archives of Micom BASIC, but you can check out some scans of them (untranslated) here:

 https://retrocdn.net/Category:Micom_BASIC_scans

https://archive.org/details/micomBASIC19841994

 also highly recommend this translator's blog if this sort of stuff interests you - @thearkhound they've made some really accurate and insightful english translations of never before seen interviews with legendary game devs like Shigeru Miyamoto from Micom BASIC.

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but as someone who struggles with having the attention span to complete classic RPGs  (many being obscure, japan release only and too expensive on the second hand market as well) it's helped me immensely to casually watch Gamecenter CX and the Wizardry OVA to get a better grasp of some of the terms and spells she uses.

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SA-GCCX English Subtitled Downloads and Information:

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Wizardry OAV (1991):

Some versions of your translation differ with what club Mayura is the president of, what’s the deal with that? Which club is she the president of?

To be honest it’s hard to say because she changes the answer every time, but there is a part of Mayura’s script as well as a little javascript code on her now defunct official blog which randomly generates a club title, picking from various retro gaming keywords, before twitter’s API was destroyed there was a widget where you could hit 'join club' by sharing it to a Twitter hashtag. from what I can gather She’s formed a whole lot of gaming clubs and is simultaneously leading all of them at once.

How come Mayura identifies as both a wizard and a girl? (or ‘Why is she a Digital Witch?’)

(a few explanations for this but TLDR; there’s a ton of inconsistencies spanning my various translations of Mukei’s homepage, it seems like wizard and witch are interchangeable in retro RPGS, sorry if it’s confusing) 

During the earliest days of RPGs ( especially J-RPGS from the years 1982-1987), Wizard was usually a gender neutral or unisex character class. 

Native Japanese speakers say “mahoutsukai” normally to mean ‘wizard’ in Japanese. mahoutsukai – 魔法使い (まほうつかい) : a noun meaning ‘wizard’ in Japanese. This can also work as plural. Depending on the context and situation, this can also mean ‘witch’ in Japanese.

The Japanese kanji for ‘wizard’ is Mahou Tsukai, which is directly ‘Magic user’ and does not specify a gender, Mayura’s favourite game (and ghost namesake) is Wizardry and a majority of her personality and dialogue is based around it, so it felt fitting to translate it to Wizard. 

“Witch”/”Digital Witch” and “Wizard” are used in english interchangeably in (untranslated) 2010s iteration of Mayura’s blog so I'd say it's probably up to personal preference, both are correct

in the history of programming, Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP) is a computer science textbook by Massachusetts Institute of Technology professors Harold Abelson and Gerald Jay Sussman with Julie Sussman. It is known as the "Wizard Book" in hacker culture and refers to programming or hacking as magic, using sorcerer's spells to invoke the processes within the machine . (which I'm too uneducated to fully understand but my reasoning is that wizards = hacker and technology related)

Why does Mayura speak so strangely?

Her only knowledge of human culture or the 21st century is learnt solely through archaic RPGs and reading through strategy guides or obscure out of print magazines like Micom BASIC. According to her extended lore, 400 years ago she was a human living in the real world,  but she was an orphan and the village she lived in shunned her and tried to burn her at the stake. it's said in some of the Mayura Maniacs reference sheets that before her current life as a desktop buddy, she was an orphan and an alchemist named Unyx took her in as his student, protecting her and teaching her to control her magic powers. in order to save her from being executed, he had to transmute her soul into a 6-pointed star bracelet. Mayura was 20 years old at that time and lost all memory of her previous life when she was re-awakened in the 20th century and many of her favorite games were released in the founding years of gaming before my time during the 80s and 90s

[entityupdates]

This post contains spoilers for chapter 13 of Destructive Interference.

So. N. Looking forward to the comments to see if this made sense or not.

Quick summary of what was revealed in chapter 13: Ingo's Zorua siblings from Hisui were reincarnated as N and a Unovan Zoroark in modern times.

The in-universe explanation is basically just that sometimes Zorua spirits don't want to die and Ingo's Zorua brother and sister weren't done being part of Ingos story.

The real explanation is far longer.

Initially I was going to talk about this in Boss, Warden, Alpha (the unused but still posted epilogue where Ingo writes a memoir about the events of Masking) but I started writing Destructive Interference before I posted Boss, Warden, Alpha so this little detail was edited out:

Originally Ingo's Zorua brother was going to be a past incarnate of Emmet and Ingo's Zorua sister was going to be a past incarnate of Elesa.

Only two people have noticed this so far! I mostly edited it out of Masking but there are a few lines in the early chapters, especially chapter 1, that referenced this. The main thing that remained is that Ingo's sister/not-Elesa-anymore/Theta prefers to disguise herself as an Electric-type (Luxray) but there are a few other details intended to be foreshadowing were left in.

Note: Destructive Interference is a spin-off so Runt and Theta are not Emmet and Elesa or N in Masking. The timeline doesn't make sense for that.

To lay it out a little more clearly:

In Masking, Runt's ghost/soul (ghosts and souls are not the same thing in this fic but for convenience let's say they are) was taken from one of Lady Sneasler's kits. He goes to the modern world and was not further reincarnated. Ingo's sister's ghost/soul was taken from an Alpha Luxray. She remained in Hisui so it is still possible for her to be reincarnated as Elesa but I've never touched on this and don't plan to.

In Destructive Interference, Runt is a Sneasler kit turned Hisuian Zorua turned N. I never address if N is a Zoroark disguised as a human or not but it is implied that his past life as a Zorua is the reason he can understand Pokémon. Theta (Ingo's sister) was an Alpha Luxray turned Hisuian Zorua/Zoroark turned Unovan Zoroark. It is implied that N and Theta were reborn in modern Unova through "regular" means of reincarnation.

The original version of Masking had Ingo's Zorua siblings be "new" ghosts/souls. When they died in Hisui, they were reincarnated as Emmet and Elesa in modern Unova. I decided not to stick with this idea because I thought it was too complicated and would distract from my original intention with Masking (to explore how Zoroark illusions work but I gave up on that like halfway through and no one cared anyway).

I'm thinking about eventually doing another spin-off where I write out this idea of Emmet and Elesa as future lives of Runt and Theta but I don't want to commit to anything.

But back to Destructive Interference, it does seem kind of random that N and his Zoroark friend are Ingo's siblings and they're not in the fic for very long. This is intentional. Sometimes there are just regular people in stories that aren't main characters but affect the plot. Arceus just thought they deserved to know where their brother ended up and sent them to the future.

Runt and Theta totally could've been Emmet and Elesa in Destructive Interference but the appeal of the fic is waiting for Emmet's reaction when he learns Ingo is a Zoroark so if Emmet was also a Zoroark, I don't think it would be as satisfying.

TLDR; N and Theta are reincarnations of Ingo's Zorua siblings because they were always intended to be reincarnated.

[the-meme-monarch]

Kralsei is first of all, as we all know, gross as heck! The only problem I don't have is him being a goat monster because well.. Toriel and Asgore, Kris' parents and... well... most obvious example not really best example, are both goat monsters... But Ralsei looking the same as Asriel immediately makes it gross again! And the thing with Ralsei is... we have no idea on anything with him, is he sorta like a Darkworld version of Asriel, what Kris wishes they could be, a support/tutorial character MADE to be that by Gaster or whoever else? Basically, no option makes it good... Very gross, we just can't know the details, but it's just... overall weird, and gross. Also for both characters it is NOT healthy. Both def are having an identity crisis as the time of Deltarune. Ralsei being a darkner with his purpose and the prophecy... Kris being literally unable to consent to it because of us, actively seeming just.. kinda uncomfortable with him.... But something I find absolutely fascinating is how the game DOES put them together in "romantic" situations! Ralsei so often offering to hug, Ralsei being so nice, to amount of options to be especially nice, and Ralsei bending over backwards to be nice... It's all just... concerning. The game puts the two in a romantic light at times, and following these... Definitely does not help. Kris cannot set boundaries nor consent and the most worrying thing is... Ralsei may know that? And also... Ralsei may not be appealing to Kris in these situations. Maybe trying to make the player like him? It's weird and Kris is put in a very uncomfortable position with 0 control... Kralsei follows the theme of lack of control! It's interesting and... parallels the romantic tones of a certain route...

Snowgrave

It's a forced romantic thing, pushing Kris and Noelle together, taking advantage of Noelle's trust, and putting Kris under distress because you're curious, because you want to see more of Noelle and don't care about Kris... Looking at Kralsei it's similar, most people like the cuteness of it, look at how nice Ralsei is! Oh I just loveeee Ralsei, and Kris well, they're the main character, the protagonist, our self insert, so it's fineeee! And in this... ignores Kris. This meta narrative of how Kris and Ralsei are pushed together in the same way weirder ships are shipped, and especially paralleling Chara X Asriel. Kralsei is fascinating in the way that it's terrible for both. Kralsei is gross as hell, and fascinating in the same way Snowgrave's Kris X Noelle is! And while I... avoid all that, because again, gross as hell, it's fascinating.

TLDR

Kralsei is gross, fascinating in a macabre way, and parallels Snowgrave's Kris x Noelle, and more meta wise but Chara X Asriel in Undertale

I'm nodding. abt asgore and toriel also being goat monsters, papyrus mentions them looking alike, but it's easier to brush this off when They Don't look alike in a lot of ways. they just Are the same species. ralsei's hatless sprites Really resemble toriel and (ut) asriel with the horns and Just Fur Not Hair. noelle says he looks like asriel and until we see him in deltarune, I'm inclined to believe her. plus the His Name Being An Anagram For Asriel thing. but also yeah i. don't care fro kri/selle. i actively do not like it in snowgrave settings. I don't understand people's deal w wanting to put kris in bad romantic situations like this. i do feel like the game has something to say about it but the fanbase just Is Not listening.

[livixbobbiex]

My Theory for Tears of The Kingdom's timeline placement

This post does contain some spoilers. I will not be discussing the ending of the game or major story twists with the exception of one late game spoiler (which I will clearly mark). Other than that I will reference some details you get in the memories and the stone tablets. The TLDR version is that the ancient past in Tears of The Kingdom occurs after Skyward Sword, but before Minish Cap. My specific evidence for this:

The stone tablets and Mineru herself reference doing research into methods to help the hero and describe raising the islands into the sky. If it's not too long after Skyward Sword's history, this kind of action makes perfect sense. The idea of Skyloft would have been well documented.

We hear Fi's theme playing in some Master Sword cutscenes and the sword 'talking'.

Skyward Sword Zelda never actually founded Hyrule as a Kingdom, unless I'm misremembering. I believe she just wanted to protect the triforce. This leaves room for Hyrule to be founded later.

If Sonia is herself a Hylia descendant, it actually makes perfect sense that she would have initially been a priestess in this scenario, if the main role involves protecting the sacred realm. It also makes sense that her name isn't Zelda as that convention wasn't really a thing yet.

Rauru and Mineru are explicitly the only Zonai left. Now, Hylia raised the hylians into the sky. The Zonai appear to worship other gods. Plus with their technology they could have independently gone to the sky as a race. We don't really get enough of Rauru's backstory to go much further.

I also believe the Zonai could have been present on the surface before Skyward Sword happened as it would perhaps explain the Lanayru time stuff. I mean… a bunch of robots mining a special type of ore eventually left abandoned?

Koloktos also makes a LOT of sense in this theory. In fact the entire ancient cistern weirdly gels perfect with Zonai motifs (lotus especially)

The actual rock in the Breach of Demise area of the map looks suspiciously like the stone texture found around the depths.

Hyrule castle is not yet built. So Rauru being the 'first king' could be a situation like how people consider William I the first king of England, even though there were many, many before that. Essentially, the kingdom is re-established.

Now. The Ganondorf of it all calls this into question. My explanation for this is that, even according to Breath of the Wild's lore, calamity ganon arose after being reincarnated and then defeated on multiple occasions until eventually assuming the malice form. This, to me, makes it possible that the Ganondorf we see in Tears of the Kingdom is NOT the same man we see in Ocarina of Time, in the same way not all Zeldas and Links are the same character. The precedent for this also exists in Four Swords Adventure which features a different Ganondorf. If Tears of the Kingdom past takes place before Ocarina, it also explains the lack of triforce. At that point, nobody really knew about it because it was sealed and hidden in the sacred realm. We don't see it in the cutscenes because Zelda is drawing from a different power source, whereas in the Zelda's Awakening cutscene in Breath of the Wild, it's explicitly the triforce we see on the back of her hand. I still believe Breath of the Wild takes place in the Downfall timeline as it makes the most sense to me from the standpoint of beast form ganon. However, Tears of the Kingdom actually provides a perfect way to re-combine the timelines and finally explain the lore inconsistency. MAJOR TEARS OF THE KINGDOM SPOILER WARNING FROM HERE If the ancient past is before the timeline split, but Zelda originates from only one of the three branches, this creates a paradox. In that, she would also be existing as an immortal dragon in the other two branches where the events leading to her birth never took place. This would create some sort of rift forcefully combining all the timelines. Therefore, the presence of all timeline references in BOTW makes sense. It would be like Hyrule's own version of the mandela effect. Yes, I know it isn't perfect, but to me this is the closest we might come to a sensical explanation.

[closet-of-nikki]

Tomorrow's update makes a lot of new suits available! Thanks to the Love Nikki Discord server for compiling all this info. This post will focus on all the new suits available for crafting. A separate post will showcase the new Wish Gate hell, Miracle Concert, so stay tuned!

Banquet of Elites/Snake Girls

An extremely popular event, the snake girls will be returning for crafting! This was a pick- and-choose event, so it is likely that you'll be able to freely craft any individual pieces you want.

Both of the suits cost a total of 1916 diamonds, and makeup is not included in either suit.

Recipes: Free from Time Diary.

Wavy Cloud Shadows

While the beautiful white snake is eye-catching, the real star of this show is the background waterfall. Useful in a wide variety of competition themes and absolutely to die for if you're doing any kind of water theme, it's a unique and versatile piece that I personally can't wait to get.

This suit cost 960 dias to get on its debut.

Bamboo Shadow in Pond

It's hard to compete with the white snake, but this green snake is pretty neat, and makes a good rest for any sitting posed Nikki.

This suit also cost 960 dias to get on the debut.

There's a whole bunch more suits coming out for crafting, including Ghost Gathering 2, more pics and details after the break!

Christmas Puppet Show

This adorable Christmas themed suit cost 1680 diamonds on release. It was tiered, so it's likely to be tiered in crafting. If you want the stage, you'll have to craft the whole suit. Makeup is not included.

Recipes: Free from Time Diary.

Star Spirit

Next up, a pair of Easter themed suits! Makeup IS included with BOTH of these suits!

Recipes: Free from Time Diary.

Colorful Gift

This suit cost 2040 diamonds on release, and was the first suit from its pair. Crafting this will likely be required for Spring Wonderland.

Spring Wonderland

Spring Wonderland was the second suit available from its pair, tiered with Colorful Gift. It cost an additional 2760 dias after the first suit, for a total of 4800 dias spent.

Ghost Gathering 2/Nether Angel

This event is related to the Ghost Gathering hell with Miss Bone, but isn't a hell event itself. It's another two-suit, tiered event. It released in March 2020. Makeup IS included in BOTH suits!

Recipes: Free from Time Diary.

Nether Lotus Lantern

This suit, usually just called Nether Lotus, cost 1992 diamonds on debut. It's intertwined with Soul Soother, which means you'll have to craft some of those pieces to finish Nether Lotus Lantern.

Soul Soother

This suit is the second of its pair, so you likely will have to craft Nether Lotus Lantern first. It cost an additional 1296 diamonds after finishing Nether Lotus Lantern, for a total of 3288 diamonds spent. Fairly reasonable, especially if you like these suits!

Lucky New Year

This was a welfare suit, so it's almost certainly going to be free to craft. It's cute, and that fan is a background piece, so it should be worth it if you have spare time! Makeup is not included.

Recipes: Free from Time Diary.

All the suits after this point will be free to craft, but it's not known where the recipes will come from. There's a chance they'll be purchasable from the shop for gold.

Piggy Bun Shop

This was a log-in event suit. Makeup is not included, but the tiny pig nose is.

Sweet Sniper

This is a really cute log-in suit as well, and it's pretty similar to Heartbeat Punk which was an abyssal island suit available this past November. Definitely a low-key version, but very similar themes, and has a face accessory microphone! Makeup not included.

Sparkle of Stars

Another free suit, this one for Nikki's birthday! I love it actually. This arrived in the mailbox, and makeup is included.

Rising Moon

This is a makeup item that was a free mailbox gift. It should be free to craft, and it's a dark skin tone makeup!

Makeup TLDR

Suits WITH makeup:

Colorful Gift

Spring Wonderland

Nether Lotus Lantern

Soul Soother

Sparkle of Stars (free)

Literally just makeup:

Rising Moon (free)

(As far as I can tell, this is also the only new dark skin tone makeup offered in this update.)

Suits WITHOUT makeup

Wavy Cloud Shadows

Bamboo Shadow in Pond

Christmas Puppet Show

Lucky New Year

Piggy Bun Shop (pig nose is a face item)

Sweet Sniper (microphone is a face item)

[lullabyes22-blog]

Silco’s Office Layout + Details

Silco’s Office - NetflixQueue

I seriously love this. Like Jinx’s hideout, it’s such a lived-in and alive background. It also reveals so much about the occupant’s personality.

For instance, note the fruit in the lower-left corner, with peels scattered over the carpet. Silco apparently has a taste for delicacies, especially since he’d have no access to them as a boy from the impoverished underground. But he’s also not a neat-freak; he makes messes and likely gets his underlings to clean up afterward.

There’s also a hookah next to the fruits. Our man is taking tokes between juicing up on vitamin C. There’s a decadence to the whole arrangement that just screams Count of Monte Cristo.

The couch is also where he apparently catches cat-naps. It’s got a throw blanket and cushion and is wide enough to comfortably doze on. Or to do other non-PG stuff on. Just saying >.>

The painting above the couch is also super neat. It reminds me of a mix between Art Deco and surrealism, with undertones of Charles Allan Gilbert. It resembles a gathering of people, but also has a skull motif. In the series, this got swapped with the pastoral landscape painting. Both, of course, speak to different sides of Silco’s personality: a visionary idealist but also a brutal crime lord.

Also loving the safe in the top-left corner, that leads to a larger vault of some kind. Next to the phonograph, there’s also some type of vintage tripod camera/projector. If it’s the former, then those are some seriously sinister undertones. Is he taking photos of the goings-on in his office - or its visitors - in compromising states for blackmail? Alternately, if it’s the latter, does he watch photographic slides in his spare time? Pictures of fishies? Infrastructural ideas? Vintage pornography? The possibilities are endless.

The rug under his desk is also laid asymmetrically, and the floorboards beneath it are a different pattern compared to the rest. I wonder if there’s a trap door in there someplace.

On the lower-right corner, there’s also a handy-dandy kingpin’s version of a bug-out kit. He’s got a briefcase full of knives, valuables, and what looks like an incendiary device. His wallet is also at the table (full of coins, as I’ve always headcanoned lmao). It could also just be protection money that his gangs have collected as part of their standard drug racket, but I do like that they included that detail at all.

tldr; Silco’s office perfectly personifies its occupant. Stylized, sinister, dissolute and low-key trying too hard to bury old trauma and compensate with aesthetic trinkets and sensory shinies. We love to see it<3

[explorersaremadeofhope]

pleeeeease i wanna hear about snorri sturlusons edda being an unreliable source for pre christian skandi life

agsdfjsgh oh no it's almost 4am

okay CONDENSED VERSION

the prose edda was written in the thirteenth century. (it's commonly dated to around 1220.) snorri himself lived from 1179 to 1241, which makes him solidly high medieval by a european standard and medieval (ie not viking age) by a scandinavian standard.

iceland converted to christianity in the year 1000 AD through a resolution carried in the alþingi (this is according to njáls saga as we do not actually have contemporary written material from that era. pinch of salt as to the precise date, and of course the nature of conversion is such that it doesn't happen overnight, even in a small population like late viking age iceland, but nevertheless -- iceland was very decidedly no longer pagan by the 1200's)

(this leads into a Big Old Debate about the nature of oral memory and how much and how reliably material can be preserved in that manner, especially detail, and for how many generations. this is contentious and im not gonna get into it but it's a factor)

snorri sturluson was a christian

this matters because although he was interested in the culture -- especially the poetics (we'll come to that) of the past, he was not a part of that culture and he was viewing it from the outside. his interest was antiquarian.

snorri sturluson's edda is an educational work in poetry. it is a poetic. a book of skáldskapr, ie of the poetical arts. the poetry of viking age iceland, the poetical culture that medieval iceland inherited, was one based on a huge and complex metaphorical system which directly referenced pre-christian mythology. to take a classic example, instead of simply saying 'gold', you might say 'sif's hair', but to understand this you'd need to know the story where sif loses her hair due to a loki fuckup and is gifted new hair made from gold.

in short, the loss of the knowledge of these stories would completely hamstring all successive generations of poets -- not only would they no longer be able to participate in the poetic tradition, they wouldn't even be able to comprehend and appreciate the work of their predecessors.

the narrative part of snorri's edda is the one most people are familiar with. it is even often printed separately. but his work is actually comprised of four sections: a prologue dedicated to explaining that the pagan gods were actually men (see euhemerism), the narrative portion (gylfaginning), a section which explains a large number of poetical metaphors (skáldskaparmál), and a section which gives examples of various poetical metres a skáld should know (háttatal).

oh god i said condensed, this is already so long

FINALLY: snorri was a scholar. and medieval scholars took a different approach to their material than modern historians. they were unafraid to edit, embellish, pick and choose, compile and systematise as they saw fit. (we have some notion of what types of sources snorri used and some of his material survives in other sources, but much does not, leaving his account the only one, which means we can't check his work, as it were.)

we must assume that the prose edda synthesises material that was varied and contradictory -- folk tradition always is (think of how many versions ballads and folk songs survive in). we must assume that there are versions which were lost. we must also assume that his christianity has affected the material to *some* degree, though how much is again a Big Debate (for example we may point to the part where he says that loki was outwardly beautiful but wicked -- afaik there is no physical description of loki anywhere else, and it's tempting to see a parallel here to christian notions of temptation).

TLDR snorri has created a *version* of norse myth. and while we should be incredibly grateful that someone actually sat down and created a literal guidebook like this we must also remember by whom it was made, why, and when. (✨source criticism!✨ [philology jazz hands])

(this isn't even getting into how the narratives of mythology correlate -- and don't -- with the evidence of worship uncovered by archaeology but POST TOO LONG)

[presidenthades]

I am doing very minor revisions of Daemon’s Handbook (mostly formatting and continuity errors), and I wanted to do some behind-the-scenes commentary before too much time passes and I forget my original thoughts. Here’s Chapter 1!

DO NOT read these commentaries until you have finished reading the entire Handbook! There are many spoilers in each commentary for future chapters

(Note that these commentaries aren’t canon to the verse until/unless the author writes them into the series. I might change my mind on a few points later, but these are the thoughts I had while writing.)

Chapter titles are named for Daemon’s very bad parenting advice if he were writing an actual handbook.

The rumors that Rhaenyra’s kids are bastards started from a combination of a) black hair and b) Harwin still being unusually close/romancing Rhaenyra even if he isn’t the bio father. But when Jace grew old enough to look like a mini Rhaenys, most reasonable people gave it up.

JOFFRIDA. I was considering the name Jocelyn at first, but I wanted to lean into Laenor naming his third kid after Joffrey Lonmouth. There’s no obvious feminine version of Joffrey, though. Then I decided Laenor seems like the type to tack on a feminine suffix and call it a day. 😂

Daemon is convinced Aemond is a prude. We know how that turns out in Chapter 9.

Aegon starts out a bit afraid of Rhaenyra. He shows more backbone later (especially Chapter 9) but I like to think he’s always going to be a bit afraid of her.

“Oh well, not Daemon’s problem.” (Re: Hightower boys and how they grow up) 😂😂😂

Joff’s curse tablets are inspired by the ancient Roman curse scrolls wherein people wrote things like “Livia has done me great wrong. O gods of the Underworld, make her go bald and die a painful death. If you do this, I’ll sacrifice five goats to you.” Why doesn’t she use a curse tablet again in the story? I’ll flesh it out elsewhere in the series, but TLDR magic has a price and Joff learns this very early in her life.

Vaemond’s funeral eulogy in this verse doesn’t go so hard on “our blood runs true” (he knows the girls are legitimate) but maybe he makes some quips about women and motherhood and sacrifice. Nothing overtly terrible but he’s thinking about the future of Driftmark, which is currently slated to pass to a girl after Laenor, when he thinks it would be best for Driftmark to stay within the male line. So he uses the eulogy to subtly push his agenda. I’m not going to go into more detail here because I might write out his actual eulogy one day, but that’s the gist.

Daemon shies away from comforting his daughters in this chapter. He eventually grows out of this in Chapter 7 (with Baela) and Chapter 11 (late night discussion with Rhaenyra).

Driftmark Lite! I decided not to have Aemond lose his eye at Luce’s hand for several reasons. First, I thought it would be tonally inappropriate; this fic strongly leans toward comedy, and the canon fight would have been too heavy. Second, a lot of this fic is me exploring what would be different if Rhaenyra’s kids were girls, and I thought this would definitely change.

In the GOT/HOTD universe, highborn girls are way less likely than boys to carry blades. Girls like Baela and Arya are rare exceptions. Girls like Sansa are much more the norm. If we’re going by traditional gender norms, girls are probably encouraged to talk their problems out rather than fight it out, as boys might.

So the fight doesn’t escalate as badly because Jace is trying to be peacemaker, and instead of bastard insults, Aemond uses the playground taunt of “you’re a bunch of wussy girls wah wah” (which only provokes Baela).

But the fight DOES escalate to a degree when Aemond specifically insults Luce about things she’s very sensitive about, i.e. her reading struggles and little phobias like rats. Luce retaliates by kneeing him in the groin, which is a move a girl is far more likely to use than a boy on another boy.

Later, Alicent freaks out a bit because she’s in “overprotective mother” mode but once she takes a breather, she realizes it isn’t that huge a deal and lets it go (but this is yet another reason she doesn’t really like Luce).

Daemon 100% got hit in the groin before, and no one can convince me otherwise. Who did it? Dunno. Are they still alive? Probably not.

Laenor’s mysterious death!!! Was it Joff? Did she use her curse tablet? Did she do it because she hates her name? We’ll have to find out when I eventually write her POV.

[anonymous-dee]

Ranpo! Is! Autistic Coded!

Hear me out! I definitely think Ranpo from BSD is Autistic coded! It only occurred to me during my second watch-through but a lot of his mannerisms actually match up a lot with my own experiences as someone with ASD! :0

I found a whole article explaining a lot of different things that make him Autistic coded so I'll link it here! But I'll also make a TLDR version too in case the link doesn't work!

BASICALLY!

1.Infodumping/Overtalking

2.Missing tons of social cues

3.Obliviousness in many situations

4.Not understanding/feeling/expressing emotions the same as others

5.Comfort objects and stimming

6.Meltdowns

7.Sensory issues (especially with clothing)

8.Hand flapping

9."Childish" or unusual interests/hyperfixations

I love him so much! (Even though Akutagawa is my ultimate favorite character)! I would love to elaborate on the points made above but the article does a better job than me!

UPDATE!! I JUST STARTED WATCHING SEASON 4 SO UNDERNEATH HERE WILL BE S4 SPOILERS!!! PROCEED WITH CAUTION!!!

So based off of all of the Ranpo LORE revealed in the first episode his Autism beams are stronger than ever because HEAR ME OUT!!!

So it's revealed that Ranpo always gets perceived as childish even when he doesn't wish to be perceived that way (I know he's 14 but he says something along the lines of like "Here we go again, getting treated like a child") which is something many people with Autism (me included) have to deal with from our NT peers

AND! Not to mention the particular eating habits from when Fukuzawa was taking him out to eat red bean bowls with mochi in them and he didn't eat any of the mochi (in any of the 20 bowls)

AAAAAND! This is the spiciest part! It was revealed that Ranpo kept getting fired from jobs because of how blunt he was with the truth and how he would easily confront his superiors about their past or their crimes! It's so hard for many Autistic people to keep a job oftentimes because many of us don't understand social cues!

Another thing was that Ranpo automatically assumed that all of the tiny details he noticed were common knowledge and that everyone was on the same page as him, when in actuality he was noticing things that nobody else had yet to pick up on!

There were many other moments where Ranpo either didn't pick up on social cues or said/acted in ways that were out of pocket or not "normal" if that makes sense, and it only strengthens the argument that Ranpo is Autistic coded!

FUKUZAWA IS SUCH A NICE ADOPTIVE FATHER TO HIM OKAY AAAAH I'M ONLY ONE EPISODE IN BUT LITERALLY I LOVE RANPO SO MUCH! HE JUST LIKE ME FR FR

OKAY SO ANOTHER EDIT/UPDATE!

IN EPISODE 2 RANPO SAYS SOMETHING VERY DISTINCT AND APPLICABLE TO MOST PEOPLE WITH AUTISM AND IT WAS THAT "There's something that everyone else gets that I don't"

And then he has a small meltdown in the theater and you can clearly see people are starting to stare if you look closely

I literally relate to him so much so much so much

IN EPISODE 3, Ranpo also notes that he can't pay attention to things he has no interest in, which is something I personally really struggle with (especially as a college student RIP)

I'm not 100% sure if his breakdown at the end of episode 3 would constitute as something that should be added to this list, but I think it's noteworthy because I myself have also had similar meltdowns that went very similar to Ranpo's and I want to mention it.

I know I keep expanding this list as I find more and more content but somehow Ranpo's existence and the way he is unanimously respected and loved by the ADA is somehow really validating and comforting to me at the same time. I know BSD is fiction but somehow I see myself in Ranpo and yearn to be loved in the way that he is by all of his friends.

[pluralprompts]

Welcome to Plural Prompts!

We are a blog dedicated to providing writing prompts for plurals* of all shapes and sizes. There is very little fiction out there about plurality (especially fiction that doesn't demonize or stereotype it in some way), but with this blog, we hope to get the creative juices flowing and inspire some more! It's our hope that through more written works about plurality, more plurals can see themselves in fiction and enjoy engaging in community.

*if you don't consider yourself plural, but do consider yourself a system, system-adjacent, plural-adjacent, or someone with a disorder such as DID, P-DID, or OSDD-1, this blog is also for you! We simply use "plural" as the closest umbrella term we can get without needing to add on a thousand similar identities every time the concept comes up.

Submissions are welcome through the submission box, though we ask that unless you're submitting a prompt anonymously, you leave the ask box only for asks.

More details about this blog under the cut.

[ID: a horizontal divider with a miniature version of Emmengard's Plural Rings in the center with a black outline. A horizontal black is line going down the center of the divider behind the rings. /End ID]

A loose but considerable tagging system will be used on this blog to track prompts of different flavors and subjects. Angst, Fluff, Suggestive, Silly, and Any Tone will be the main five tags, though any other relevant details to a prompt will of course be tagged as well.

For most prompts, these details – such as system origin, system size, etc – will be kept vague, though there will also be prompts that are more specific for those who prefer more detailed prompts. When it comes to system origin, a five term process will be used; the five origin labels that prompts will be sorted under are Adaptive, Created, Spontaneous, Mixed, and Mystery. Only if a more specific origin label is mentioned by name will a prompt be tagged as such.

As you may have noticed already, we tend to to use "plural" and "system" as our go-to words when writing. If you don't use these words for yourself, you're still welcome to use the prompts! But as we mentioned above, if we listed off every way a person who may relate to the experiences in these prompts may describe themself/ves, the prompts would become too cluttered with polite disclaimers to be useful to anyone. If other language is used in a prompt – for example, if a character is described as "a person with DID" – that will be under the DID tag, and you may look for those prompts specifically.

Some other aspects we plan to tag, if they are ever relevant to a prompt:

The supernatural (includes monsters of all shapes and sizes, and maybe aliens too)

Partnerships (in the context of romantic or platonic life partners)

Amnesia

Dissociation

Ableism, Disableism, and Pluralphobia (all as separate tags)

Family

Popular AUs, such as High School, College, Coffee Shop, etc

Specific disorders, typed out with their full name (for example, we'll tag DID as "dissociative identity disorder," but not "DID")

And almost definitely more, we just can't think of them off the top of our head.

TLDR for previous few paragraphs: there's gonna be an extensive tagging system for the wide variety of prompts we plan to make. Also, the words "plural(ity)" and "system" will be the common terminology* used to describe characters who are more-than-one in some way.

*we'll also default to "headmate" and "system member," but occasionally you may see prompts that lean more towards part terminology than people terminology.

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As for scheduling, we only plan to post two prompts a day, so as to avoid posting everything too soon and leaving you all without anything new. (Edit: we now post three prompts per day!) Any prompts submitted to this blog will also follow this schedule.

If there are prompt fills done for our prompts, feel free to tag us in your work, or send us an ask letting us know about it! If your work, or a link to it, is posted to Tumblr, we may reblog it here so others will find it! Any such reblogs will be under the tag #pluralprose. Credit for our prompts is highly appreciated but not necessary.

We are not going to host discourse on this blog. No kind of it. If you're here for that, just turn around now and go find one of the many discourse blogs out there. We're probably going to have to remind people of this a lot, but this is a blog for all systems/plurals, and it's probably not in your best interest to follow if you disagree with that. Just go have a temper tantrum on your own blog about how people are oppressing you by falling outside your view of how the world works, or whatever it is you do. Hate sent here will not be posted. In fact, we'll post positivity on another system blog of ours to spite you personally.

If you're looking for works created based on our prompts, we reblog most of them with the tag #pluralprose!

We have some suggestive prompts on this blog. If they're (by our standards) on the more graphic side of things, they'll be given the warning tag of NSFT (not safe for Tumblr).

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Hm... that's about all we had to say. I suppose the only thing left is to tell a bit about ourselves, eh?

First off, credit where credit is due – our header is an edited version of a header by dedheaders, and our icon art comes from our main system blog.

We've written multiple fanfictions with plurality in them, usually based on our own experiences, and have dabbled in original work with system characters.

If we take a while to respond to something you send, assume it's either because we're busy or don't have the energy. Or maybe it's a Tumblr problem. But if we get it, we'll respond to you sooner or later – with the exception of hate, we'll just delete that. But even then, we tend to address any questions or concerns from hate asks in an original post.

You probably know our other for-others system blog, funnier-as-a-system. (Surprise, surprise, we're there too!) We also run plegg-culture-is and factive-culture-is.

Our sleep schedule is non-existent and there's a good chance we need a nap at any given time /(half joke).

We try to assume good faith and ignorance before malice, and will do our best to avoid being hostile to anyone on this blog. The most you might get is some passive-agressive lines if we're addressing a concern a hateful anon had.

Our system name is the Orange Orchard, if anyone was curious.

That's all!! Have a great day!!

[dreamingofmuses]

New Year's Resolutions: RP Edition

Howdy all, Ash here. I've been having a think while with family this week, and I've decided I'm going to implement some new 'resolutions' to try and help make writing in 2024 be way more successful than in 2023. This will include things from the running of blogs to jobs I really want to get finished. I'm putting them under a read-more to keep the dash nice and clean.

I will say, this has taken me an hour to write up, and I'd recommend you doing likewise if you think there's little ways you want to improve.

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Overall Running of Blogs

I'm going to experiment a new approach to running the blogs. For this, I'm going to put all active blogs to low-medium activity. In other words, even if I am personally lurking on mobile, I won't be constantly writing things if I'm not able to. (Work is just about to get super busy and I'm anticipating chaos)

A queue/schedule function will be used for all blogs. I intend to dedicate one weekday evening to working without interruption on replies. Taking commutes to the city and family visits into account, this is looking to be a Thursday, which is the only day I am neither travelling to the city nor have a guaranteed family visit. Of course, this may fluctuate, but that's what I'm hoping to work with, assuming those things stay as they are.

However! What all this means is that I am going to tentatively take skullandbowties off hiatus. With that blog being quiet, it should be possible to juggle it better now. Plus, it's officially off-season so the demand for him from new blogs ought to be low. I'm very smart :D

I also plan to update all pinned posts. I am aware some of them are marking a vacation from months ago.

Individual Blog Maintenance

Create "New Here?" posts to add to the pinned posts/info tags. This is going to be a very quick crash course on what to expect from the blog, especially where some characters might diverge from fanon expectations.

FINISH. WILF'S. BIO. It's not actually relevant to anything being written on the blog itself at present, but I really want to flesh out his character and show that he was stuck in stories for years, decades even! The doc has the word count to 4,888 at this precise moment. This is a mix of summary and brainstorm. Since it's getting a 'little' out of hand, I intend to have a 'tldr' at the start that people can read, and then longer versions if they're curious to get the full story. Maybe even have it that they can jump to particular parts but... I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Likewise, Noah's version of Space needs to be finished. This one is going to be a summary, but it's a case of making sure the pieces are in place sufficiently to have parts match canon Space, but also make it clear that there is a lot of differences between canon and what he went through, with his plot entirely spiralling away for 'Part 2'. This is at 5,794 words, and the ending has yet to be ironed out...

(I am going to stop creating needlessly long-winded projects for myself that realistically add nothing of value to my blogs. These two projects are exhausting...)

Theauthorlives is returning to a very small multimuse. Any muses that aren't ones I genuinely enjoy writing are being fully archived, unless they are muses that get no traction but I want to keep the possibility open. Details of that will be shared when I do this.

Redo some muse icons (not all of them!). Though the selection I have for particular sets is a lot, I still feel like I'm missing some expressions or poses. I would like to remake one batch of icons for three characters, and finish iconning a third. Replies seem to be shifting toward iconless, but I like them for asks or IC commentaries.

OOC/Mun Related stuff

Following matters that have happened both online and IRL, I've decided to take a step back from actively engaging with people. My focus will be people that I have been in good communication with for the last twelve months (as well as people I don't talk to frequently but am on friendly terms with) rather than people I feel I have to 'chase' after. Saying that, I'm going to try and not let past experiences meddle with anything in with new writing partners - whether these are brand new to the community or people I've not had the chance to properly interact with prior to this. Just be aware that I might not be super outgoing at first. (This is where setting limits and boundaries is good practice, everyone! Don't sell yourself short, and don't spread yourself out too thinly!)

Which is where I now say I want to send even more asks! Not just memes or sentence starters, but general questions about headcanons or muse opinions. I want to get people thinking more.

My stance on Discord still stands, in that it's solely for OOC stuff, but I'm not giving it out to everyone. However, I have been in two group servers that have little-to-no connection with writing rp threads in them. I would hope that I can fully regain my sense of comfort using Discord as a whole.

Art related

Despite socially stepping back, I still want to keep some semblance of 'community' where my blogs are active so people don't feel isolated. For instance, I want to do something that encourages invasions of ask boxes. That was good fun to watch as the chaos began to spread, and when people are good-humoured to go along with my silly ideas.

I want to have one huge art-related event at some point this year. I'm not entirely what or how to do it, but I think it would be a great excuse to practice something. Portraits, comics, something like that. I'll have a think. (For those who remember, the water gun event was supposed to have an art conclusion but plans for that fell through.)

I want to try and upload drawn responses to heythereneighbor once a week if I can. Obviously, this is depending on how busy it is.

I'd also like to try doodling more on other blogs? But I'm not sure if this is even something people want to see anymore. People might prefer I focus on writing if I have free time instead of doodles or little comics.

... the writing blog. I need to do stuff with that in general. Whoops.

Finally, I want to do what I can to the best of my abilities on a particular day. I've always told people over the years that real life comes before rp, and I still stand by that. Whether I'm around or not every day isn't the end of the world. The communities I write in are a lot slower paced than they were when I started, which is great! I need to remind myself that I don't need to be writing just because I have a bit of free time.