#just that SOMA was an influence

[golvio]

Tried the Damsel route today.

This shot and the sequence leading up to it is probably one of the most disturbing things in the whole game. It's to existential horror what the Prisoner sawing her own head off was to physical horror. If anything, the Prisoner's autodecapatation is now less horrifying, in retrospect, because at least she got to keep her personality and free will throughout the process.

But, also...even in the routes where we don't mean to hurt her, where we do everything in our power to avoid physically hurting her...we still hurt her.

Even if we came in here with the very best of intentions and tried to "do the right thing," we still hurt her by our thoughts and desires hollowing her out until she was reduced to...this.

Going through the "happy" version of the ending didn't feel so triumphant, after that. Not just because the ending wasn't quite as satisfying from a narrative standpoint without any sort of conflict to struggle against, but because the whole time it felt like she was following a script. Apart from the vague impulse to leave that all Princesses possessed, she'd been hollowed out of everything that had made her...well, her, before Chapter II. She didn't panic when the door shut, she didn't stop smiling when we suggested she might end the world or have to cut off her arm a second time. The only thing we noticed about her in Chapter I was her lack of response to pain and her sweet smiles, and our fantasies hollowed her out until she became nothing but that.

Can we say she was "happy" if she lacked the capacity to be anything but "happy" with our choices for her? Can you call that love? Or is it something that's even lonelier than outright being alone?

Honestly, it was a relief when the Shifting Mound took her. Seeing her made so shallow felt incredibly cruel, given who she was before she was flattened, and what she would've been capable of if we had done literally anything else. At that point, "You molded her to love you" and "She has served her purpose" felt like both an observation and an accusation.

But, given that my time with the Damsel was paired with Shifty's third vessel dialogue...it got me thinking about what She wants.

She says She doesn't want anything, that She's governed by the whims of whatever force is shaping Her at the moment, but...is She really happy, having who She is be subject to the whims of who's perceiving Her? Is She okay with not being able to hold a shape She's discovered she likes as soon as someone else perceives Her to be something different? Would She ever want to take a break from...all that? After all, She's drawn to us. The Long Quiet. The god of eternity and order. On a certain level, She craves stability.

Is her "gift" to us what She's secretly wanted all along? The power to choose Her own fate, Her own identity, and the power to change it if She doesn't like the path She's on? And what does that say about our gifts? Do we yearn for the completion we offer her through the vessels, given that we keep shattering to pieces every time we go back into the breach and start the loop again? Is this some kind of wacky flipped-upside-down Gift of the Magi situation where each of us gives the other what they yearn for but lack due to our being permanently separated into two beings against our will?

[blacktabbygames]

Hello! I absolutely love Slay The Princess! I was wondering, were there any major inspirations that helped you create this game that you wouldn’t mind sharing? I’m always fascinated by the art that inspires the art I love so I’d be very curious and happy to hear what vibes helped you all piece together this wonderful game!

It's always tough to pin down inspirations. I think there's kind of three types: 1. Hard inspirations — things that you know are sources of inspiration at the start of a project. Or things that become known sources of inspiration partway through a project. These are sometimes, but not always technical.

2. Soft inspirations — these are more vibes based. Kind of like "what's going through my head on loop while working on a specific chapter." Almost never technical, and for me, this tends to be music more than anything else. (But maybe it's music *from* something specifically)

3. Loose inspirations — these are more along the lines of formative pieces of media. Stuff that seeps into your soul and directs your development as an artist or person, but not in a way where you can specifically tell what its impact is. Sometimes overlaps with #2 Anyways, some examples for each. Hard Inspirations:

• Disco Elysium — IMO hands down the best piece of interactive media ever made, and probably one of the most obvious influences on Slay the Princess. The concept of using internal voices to represent the player's thoughts helped us get around one of the biggest writing challenges in Slay the Princess — if the Princess changes based on your perspective, how do we codify what the player's thinking? The voices were a solution to interpret those choices in sensible ways and inform our players of how the game was reading their choices. Much better than breaking immersion and outright asking players what they tought. • Soma — we didn't play Soma until we were about half of the way through our work on Slay the Princess, but it was one of those games that felt so thematically on-point. I still think about this game most weeks. • The Stanley Parable — I like when narrators get frustrated at players for doing silly things. It helps when your narrator is British, too.

• Madoka — it's like 12 episodes long. Just watch it.

• Evangelion — Similar bucket to Soma. Didn't watch it until we were most of the way done, but boy does it have some similar vibes. Soft Inspirations/Music I've Kept On Loop While Working On the Game I won't tell you what music was looped for what routes. • Ceremonials (Florence + the Machine) — one of my all time favorite artists, and just a phenomenal album.

• Presumably Dead Arm (Sidney Gish) — super underrated. No Dogs Allowed is a great album.

• Haunted (Poe) — another banger album.

• Black Holes and Revelations (Muse)

I'll leave that third bucket unanswered lest this post become 50 pages long.

[jesncin]

Mind if I ask what your take on other Batman Rogues would be like, like Bane, Croc, or Riddler? Or Superman's like Braniac, Toyman, or Zod?

There's no reason behind the specific names. They're just the ones that popped first in my head.

Thank you for the both of your's time.

Out of these rogues, I've got some concept ideas for Brainiac. He's a mix of GLaDOS, Brau-1589 (from Pluto), Ghost in the Shell's Puppetmaster, and concepts from the game SOMA.

Braniac is an advanced Kryptonian AI program that gained uncomfortable sentience. A robot capable of murder, Brainiac seeks to destroy civilizations, believing his data of their recorded history would become more valuable in the process. He can possess and download himself into any robot body, so he takes many forms. Internally, he's at odds with his growing humanity.

You didn't mention her, but I have big brain ideas for Livewire!

A controversial grifter podcast influencer lady, Leslie Willis finds a prime opportunity to use Superman as a scapegoat for inflammatory content when he accidentally gives her the ability to be living energy. She's already primed her audience to victimize her if anyone chose to take a stance against her, targeting Superman just became a lot easier! She aims to rival news outlets like the Daily Planet, including Jimmy's popular video show. Though becoming more influential than her old colleague Lois Lane doesn't hurt either.

Those are my rogue ideas! I generally only pick villains to reimagine if I have a story to tell or a compelling take on them (I don't have an idea on everyone, at least not yet lol). Popular villains like the bat rogues are so saturated with content that it's pretty intimidating to attempt a take on them, haha. People have such strong feelings over the most obscure of the bat rogues, so I'd only make a take if I feel very strongly for an idea there. Lately I feel Superman rogues are very underrated! And I'm always looking for ways to revitalize Martian rogues too.

[sxorpiomooon]

RAHU

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Rāhu (राहु) is the name of an Asura (demon) whose head was cut off by Viṣṇu. When the gods produced the Amṛta by churning the ocean, he disguised himself as a god and drank some of it. But he was detected by the gods and produced before Viṣṇu who cut off his head. Sūrya and Soma (the sun and moon), when noticed him drinking it and realised what was going on immediately told Nārāyaṇa (Viṣṇu), who instantly cut off Rāhu’s head with his discus. As the head contained Amṛta it became immortal and came to represent the ascending nodes of the moon’s orbit. The body of Rāhu, according to the Puranic notion, was called Ketu, and represented the descending nodes. Rāhu is defined according to texts in dealing with śilpa (arts and crafts), known as śilpaśāstras. Rahu is spoken of as the chief of those who have possesing personality. In Buddhism, rahu is defined as a dark monster / planet who is responsible for the phases of the moon by swallowing it. Rahu is supposed to be a mighty and naughty child of maya(illusion) and thus has a lot of dualities attached to its illusory nature.All sorts of poisonous chemicals like fertilizespesticides, and disinfectants are also ruled by rahu. Wherever it sits in your chart it manifests itself exactly like that. Anything that can fool you is rahu whether it's photography or video games. The karma that you are going to create in this life in the future is rahu. The thing that everyone needs to understand about rahu and ketu is that they are both outcast planet they dont act in a certain expected way. They surprise you. Anything that is material and a short cut is rahu. Rahu always wants fame and attention. Rahu is addiction since its obsessed with things bc he has no stomach to see if it has enough. Rahu is always trying to show you the different realm whether its good or bad. Anything that shades out and protects you from the sun is rahu. Wherever rahu aspects it gives something foreign. Anything that explodes.

Rahu in our generation and day to day life

The Internet for me is the biggest rahu example in our daily life now think of something that tends to happen a lot with the internet, illusion whether it's of beauty filters or people lying and then getting caught lying. On the internet we get influenced so easily that also while knowing that things might not exactly be how they are shown. Every once in a while we see random people blowing up on the internet out of nowhere. One of the biggest examples is that the internet is often used to spread lies and misinformation regarding things which is what rahu is. The influencers or the people that get popular are unconventional in some way whether it's regarding their way of living or them just dropping out of college and choosing to take a career path(living as an influencer) that is not something that is usually done by the people in the society. Good and strong rahu placements are also seen in famous and successful politicians and businessmen and they are ALL clever people most of the time spreading lies(politicians). We also see cats being very popular or all of a sudden being loved by the internet and cats are rahu as well. We also see people that make good edits or take good photographs blowing up on the internet as this is also ruled by rahu especially when it's foreign places as that's ALSO rahu. In india, if you guys are familiar with the ancient history "baniyas" aka businessmen or traders were naturally seen by the society as people that were "unconventional" or "non traditional" because they were starting something that was unconventional to the society that's also rahu. People breaking traffic rules is also rahu. This generation is ruled by rahu, we break rules, lie, break the traditional norms, drink and smoke etc.

I hope this post helps in your understanding of what rahu is as it's a very interesting planet alongside saturn.

[lowkeyremi]

let me talk abt ryo for a second

if you had a dollar for every time someone commented on his eye bags, you'd have a lot of dollars. there have been plenty of times where you and alice both bought him products to help with them but he just refuses to get rid of them. says they're a sign of his hard work and his dedication to cooking.

he gets sooooooooooooo mad when you say someone else's cooking is good, "mmm! akira the spices add to your curry, it's really good." you'd hear a little grunt, " that headache's food s'not better than mine." akira chuckles and you roll your eyes, "calm down"

ryo has definitely scared the shit out of people A LOT, especially you. he's the type of mf to stand behind you and not say anything so when you turn around you accidently slap him.

if he's not passionate about something he's sleeping. you were trying to teach him how to make a rubber band bracelet and he fell asleep half way through.

DOES NOT KNOW WHAT PRIVACY IS. it doesn't matter if you're changing, using the bathroom, showering, whatever, he'll just walk right in and go about his business. "ryo, i'm using the bathroom." his dark eyes slowly make their way to yours, "so? i don't care. i need to brush my teeth."

CEO of "eh" "hm?" "idk" and "oi" (honestly that's most of his vocabulary unless he's mad abt smthing)

HATES COFFEE. he just seems like a non-coffee drinker and akira + soma bully the fuck outta him for it

"ugh come here" kind of guy when it comes to cuddling, all you have to do is give him those eyes

if you give him the time of day he will rant abt how much he hates soma and akira

last but not least... "let me see if (name) wants to come" "(name) and i have plans" "i'm not going because (name) doesn't want to" most of his decisions are heavily influenced by those around him. (or you)

[talonabraxas]

Navagrahas Talon Abraxas

Navagrahas: the planets of Vedic astrology

Navagrahas fall under the the Hindu Astronomy and play a major part in the Hindu astronomical sphere. The Hindu astronomy whose origin dates back to the time of Vedas is concerned with the placement of nine planets and their influence on the world and on an individual. According to the Hindu astrology, the position of the planets when a person is born determines his potential in life.

The nine planets collectively are called Navagrahas. These 9 planets are worshipped by Hindus to overcome any hindrance, obstacle or bad luck. They are found mostly in all the temples and faithful believers pray to the Navagrahas before they pray to any other deity.

Out of those nine planets, seven are named after the planets in the Solar System and the other two are actually demons who managed their way into this group by trickery – Rahu and Ketu. Depending upon their location in the planetary system, they are deemed either auspicious or inauspicious. While Navagrahas are found in every temple, there are some temples that are solely dedicated to them. One such temple is the Navagraha temple located in the outskirts of Ujjain.

Effects of Navagrahas – Vedic Astrology

In Hindu Astrology, Navagrahas affects a person’s happiness, success and all-round prosperity. The good and bad, positive and negative influences of each of these nine planets are results of factors like the specific location of the planets on the birth chart, etc. Planets possessing Sattva nature are Jupiter, Sun and Moon. Planets bearing rajas are Venus and Mercury while planets with Tamas nature are Mars, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu.

These nine planets in vedic astrology are treated as deities with specific powers, nature and characteristic qualities depending on what each of these offers – positive or negative to people.

1.Sun (Surya): In the group of other planets, he is normally shown facing towards east, standing in the center. Around him are the rest of the planets facing in all different direction but not towards each other. He rides are chariot with one wheel which is pulled by seven horses symbolizing the seven colors of white light and seven days of the week. He is also known as Ravi.

2.Moon (Chandra): In the images, he is never portrayed as a complete person. Only his upper body with two hands holding a lotus each, riding a chariot pulled by 10 horses is shown. He is also known as Soma.

3.Mars (Mangala): Mangala is a Ferocious God holding with two holding weapons and 2 in mudras. His transport is a ram.

4.Mercury (Budha): Budha has four hands and rides on a chariot or Lion. Out of which, three of his hands holds a sword, a shield and a mace and the fourth hand is in a mudra.

5.Jupiter (Brihaspathi): He is the teacher of Gods and is praised in Rig Veda. He is shown sitting on a chariot pulled by 8 horses each showing one branch of knowledge.

6.Venus (Sukra): Sukra is the teacher of the Demons. He has four hands and rides on a chariot pulled by 8 horses. Three of his hands hold a staff, a rosary, a vessel of gold while the fourth hand is held in a mudra.

7.Sani (Saturn): Sani is a god who makes or breaks fortunes by his planetary position for which individuals fear him. He is shown with four hands riding on a chariot or a buffalo or even a vulture. He has three hands in which he holds an arrow, a bow and a javelin while his other hand is held in a mudra.

8.Rahu: He somewhat looks like Budha (Mercury) but both Gods differ in fundamental nature. Just like how Budha rides a white lion, he is shown riding a black lion. But just like Budha, he carries all the same weapons.

9.Ketu: In Sanskrit, Ketu means comet. It is said that he has a tail of a serpent in his body and his nature very much matched to that of a comet. In pictures, he shown riding a vulture and holding a mace.

[askrichterandco]

Ask Richter and Co. is now open for business!

Somewhere, hidden out of sight in a dingy apartment in Tokyo, lurks a creature of the night... What will you ask of him?

You can find Richter's full story here. Character descriptions under the cut!

Richter Belmont

Age: 262

Species: Vampire

Occupation: Pretending not to exist

Hobbies and interests: Woodworking and carpentry, model building/gunpla, cooking, video games, listening to music, watching movies

While Maria and Alucard were successfully able to free Richter from Shaft's influence, his sins- unwitting though they may have been- did not come without a price. Castlevania's dark energy changed Richter, cursing him with an illness few other than the legendary Simon Belmont have ever overcome. Seven days later, Richter was dead; Seven days, several minutes, and a drop of blood later, Richter was undead. 

Though Richter's family pledged to support him despite his newfound monstrosity, he knew his presence would only put them in danger. In order to protect his wife, Annette, and their young children, Richter left home, accompanied by Maria and their new friend Alucard. The three of them took up residence in Berkeley Mansion, an abandoned manor in the woods outside the town of Veros. There, the three were able to carve out a comfortable (if unorthodox) life for themselves.

Alucard and Richter soon became close friends, and stayed together through Maria's death, the burning of their home, numerous Dracula-related events, and finally, Alucard's pursuit of Dracula's reincarnation. The two now reside in a small apartment in Tokyo, where Richter spends his time attending to household chores and pursuing his hobbies. 

Up until recently, his existence was kept an absolute secret; he's now known to several of Alucard's associates, but still avoids the Agency and their landlord.

Alucard (Legal name: Genya Arikado)

Age: 577

Species: Dhampir

Occupation: Office worker/paranormal investigator/vampire hunter

Hobbies and interests: Fashion, magic, literature, illustration, listening to music, video games

It seems the long-suffering child of Count Dracula can never have a moment's peace. Though Dracula is no longer a threat, and Alucard has long since come to terms with himself and his family history, he's now terrorized by an entirely different type of horror: employment. Gone are the days of galavanting through Europe, sword in his hand and sister at his side; now he endures miseries such as emails, meetings, and rent.

When he's not working or sleeping, Alucard can generally be found spending time with his friends and family, or participating in the local goth and visual kei scene.

Soma Cruz

Age: 19

Species: Human

Occupation: College student

Hobbies and interests: Video games, manga, magic and the supernatural, fashion

There are those who have expressed concern over Soma, the reincarnation of the dark lord, being left to his own devices. Those who know him, however, know that Soma's no more of a threat to humanity than your average young witch whose enthusiasm far exceeds their experience. Though he wholeheartedly condemns his past life's decisions, Soma is fascinated by all things related to vampires and magic; he is eager to learn all he can, and maybe just a little bit bitter that he can't turn into a wolf. 

For many years, Alucard and Richter kept Soma at a distance, afraid of what would happen if he were to learn of Richter's existence and the truth of Arikado's identity. Fortunately, Soma took the revelation in stride. He greatly looks up to Alucard and Richter, and can often be found at their apartment, playing games or nagging them to teach him new spells.

Other Friends and Family

Mina Hakuba

Soma's best friend, a miko at Hakuba Shrine. Mina is no stranger to the supernatural, as her family’s shrine has long played a role in the fight against Dracula and other threats; though she lacks combat skills, her ability to keep a level head in the face of danger is impressive. Her kind heart, polite manners, and relentless determination have earned her many friends.

Julius Belmont

Richter’s great-great-something-or-other grandson. Though Dracula himself is no longer a threat, Julius is still active as a vampire hunter, dividing his time primarily between Japan and Romania. He can sometimes be a bit rough around the edges, but is a loyal friend nonetheless.

Yoko Belnades

Richter’s extremely distant cousin, a witch who works at a Latino-Japanese interfaith church in Tokyo. Yoko is a chatterbox and a bit of a gossip, but she knows how to keep a secret when need be, and is quite sharp-witted. Richter finds she often reminds him of Maria.

Maria Renard

Richter’s beloved little sister. An expert vampire hunter and powerful witch, Maria lived a long and eventful life, eventually dying of old age. Her spirit is a frequent visitor to Alucard and Richter’s apartment, always eager to stay involved in the goings-on of her lifelong housemates.

Annette Belmont

Richter’s wife, a headstrong woman who bravely defied Dracula. Though they lived separately for most of their lives, Richter and Annette maintained a devoted love for each other, and Richter has always regretted the pain his mistakes caused her and their then-young children. 

Juste, Lydie, and Maxim

Richter’s parents. A rowdy yet inseparable trio. They accepted Alucard into their family just as openly as Maria, and though he was already an adult by the time they met, Alucard views them as having been far better parents to him than Dracula ever was. However, Juste is by far the most nosy of Alucard and Richter’s ghostly houseguests, and has a tendency to complain about any interior design choices that he finds distasteful.

Trevor, Sypha, and Grant

Alucard’s very first friends, and Richter’s distant ancestors. A rough-and-tumble group of misfits from medieval Wallachia. Though their visits are less frequent than others, they’re fascinated by “the future”, finding it both amusing and disturbing.

Dante

Alucard and Richter’s long-distance friend. A cambion devil hunter, and talented guitarist. He was Richter’s first (and, for many years, only) friend after Maria’s death. His carefree attitude belies a dark past not unlike Alucard’s own.

[beevean]

Curious, what are your thoughts/opinions on Soma Cruz? I just finished Aria of Sorrow for maybe the third time and... man, it's so good. I just love Soma's story and the themes of light/darkness and good/evil in Aria and Dawn.

The Sorrow games are not games I think of much in terms of story, sadly 😅 I wasn't very impressed with the plot the first time I played them, although I always thought that Soma was... food for thought, I can say? Like, you can't help but wonder how much his past as Dracula influeces him, his thoughts, his memories, even his body (is he a complete human? does he have human traits?). He's said to be hard to approach in his bios, can we see that as glimpse of his past personality? His anachronistic fur coat is obviously meant to echo Mathias' clothes, how far does the influence stretch? But is it good to see Soma as Dracula 2.0 when he obviously wants to be Soma Cruz and no one else?

Sometimes I think about comparing the three "good Draculas" (Alucard, Soma, Hector) to see how they rejected Dracula as a status, as a mentality. But first I'd need to recheck the Sorrow games lol. maybe even check aos in japanese because something about the english script feels off to me

And one thing I remember about my first DoS playthrough was feeling bad for Soma who yes, he found many new friends, but they were also on edge about him because at any moment he could lose himself and become the Dark Lord. They trust him, but... well, you never know, you know? And the ending where he becomes the Dark Lord and he willingly gives up... :(

But yeah, speaking of light/darkness, AoS's cover is still my absolute favorite in the series:

The stark white in direct juxtaposition with the black parts are striking. Soma looks like an angel even while surrounded by demons. I also noticed that the white dragon has bird wings... so it's Soma who looks like he has devil and angel wings. And in case I hadn't made it clear, the devil/angel wings contrast hits my brain like a sledgehammer <3

[celerys0da]

ULTRAKILL au idea…

THALASSAKILL

underwater ultrakill but not in a wrath way (ferryman...)

its not really a story related au moreso redesigns/reinterpretations. and some soma influence cause i love that game

V MODELS: robots that resemble standard diving suits. so they kinda just look like people in diving suits but a little fucked up yk. also their light comes out the round glass face of the mask like a headlight

GABRIEL: sea angel. scallop. its just a vague idea in my head but trust 🤞🤞his swords would be made of light and translucent and glowy or pearlescent

MINDFLAYER: like some weird perversion of a mermaid. something undeniably beautiful but jarringly inhuman. she probably glows as well. also she has a bunch of tentacles/tendrils/stingers that replace her headphone jacks

FILTH: gulper eel semi-humanoids or maybe angler fish

SWORDSMACHINE: some kind of crustacean creature. replace its big arm/sword with giant lobster claw anddd idk a weapon made from the remains/shell of a bigger ocean creature. cause crustaceans molt (and swords is a scraphead)

SENTRIES: seahorse looking kelp creatures. idk they can lock into the ground and shoot stuff theyre still kinda sentry shaped. maybe a bit mars rover

LEVIATHAN: some horrible combination of oarfish, kitefin sharks, nautilus, and whale bones. u get it

PRELUDE: basically the underwater parts of soma. and site upsilon and lambda.

LUST: cooooool coral reef but everything is giant and maybe black light looking….

hmu if u have any ideas or wanna see some sketches !!!

[thekingofwinterblog]

Thoughts on CROMA and why it is an objectively better ship then SOMA even though Soul is a good charachter still?

Ah, trying to objectivly break down ships huh? Thats always fun... and likely to piss people off. Sure, why not?

The problem with Soul X Maka as a pairing, is very much the same as the problem with all the rest of the meister x weapon combinationa from the 3 main cast combination.

All 3, Maka x Soul, Kid x liz/patty and Black Star x Tsubaki.

All of these have a strong foundation... But don't really use that foundation as the basis for their developments as the series progresses.

Black Star and Tsubaki have an excelent character outing when they go to confront her brother, but not really much afterwards.

However, while Black Star and Tsubaki's dynamic is all about the fact that they fit together surpeisingly well despite their flaws and quirks, Maka and Soul are the exact opposite.

Despite having worked together long enough to be at the cusp of turning Soul Eater into a deathscythe, the two of them have an absolutely miserable dynamic, fueled almost entierly by Maka's shortcomings at the start of the series.

This is not a bad thing at all mind you, as character flaws and overcoming them are the aoul of any well written arc, and for obvious reasons, you can get a very good romance out of two people helping the other grow.

That is literarily what makes Crona and Maka such a good dynamic in how their relationahip fuels both plot and character development by just being near each other.

However that's not quite the way Soul and Maka is handled.

Because the point that is emphazied at the start of the series is that Soul is much more along the path of his own development than Maka is.

Maka is fueled by all of her worst insecurities, her flaws and shortcomings, and so she fails utterly against Blair, Stein and Crona, losing all of her 3 first fights.

Her relationahip with her father is a total mess, while she lives in denial about her mom abandoning her, and she is alwqys stupidly quick to fly off the handle regarding soul because she is terrified he will leave her.

Soul by contrast is has his shit together much moreso, keeping a cool head, and using Maka's own shortcomings and Blair's unfamiliarity with both of them for a tactic to beat her where all of Maka's efforts failed.

He kept his head cool against Stein and convinced Maka to keep going even after seeing the old Meister's sheer power firsthand, and was more than ready to take Death blows for Maka against both Stein and Crona, withouth hesitation.

There is a reason why Maka despite her arguments and bickering with Soul respects him so much.

However, here is the problem when discussing the two of them as a potential couple.

Soul brings out Maka's better aspects by acting as a stabilizing influence after all of her issues are forced to the surface. She becomes braver and more capable, and trusts soul more and more as the story goes on... But fundamentally, Soul does not change Maka.

Crona does.

Whereas Soul serves as a stabilizing influence on Maka in her weaker moments, Crona makes Maka change on a fundamental level, by bringing forth all the aspects of herself that she has chosen to bury.

Crona brings out the kindness, the compassion, the ability to immediatly trust and love others withouth reservation that Maka lost before the series began during her family life breaking apart.

Crona makes Maka change to the person she wants to be, their relationship serving as the catalyst for her development into the young woman who did what Shinigami could not, and defeated Kishin Asura.

And of course Maka and Crona's relationahip had it's own drama as well, with her love for Crona putting her directly and personally at odds with Medusa, an enemy she disliked, but would go on to thouroughly despise and hate on a deep peraonal level due to how she treated Crona.

Of course, both manga and Anime goes different directions, but both are still the best character bits of their respective shows, with the sandpit scene, where Maka discovers she was betrayed, and feels the sting of just how much it hurts to be backstabbed by someone you love... While also finding it in herself to forgice Crona and help the friend she loves past this lowest moment.

It is here where she surpasses her parents, and in the long run, Asura.

Meanwhile, in the Manga Crona becomes THE motivation and cause of Maka's life, and in the end, it is this relationahip that the climax was actually about. It was the most important dricing force that kept the rather disjointed and not well put together final arc, a coherent story around these two people who love each other... And it's the Manga's failure to bring this relationahip to a satisfactory ending, along with Asura not being defeated, that destroyed it as a story.

To bring it back around to the actual question, it is very telling, that in her final scene in the manga, where Soul makes it very clear that he is interested in her, she sorta turn downs his obvious flirting, to instead focus her feelings and dreams back towards Crona, because her love for Crona has not changed after the final battle. It is still the single most important thing in the world for her.

[alexanderwales]

Anime Review: Rising Impact

Rising Impact is a shonen sports anime about a third grader who is really ridiculously good at golf. This is a review, along with some thoughts on shonen sports anime and what makes them tick. Spoilers for the first season follow.

I don't watch a ton of anime, so tend to just go in blind to things whenever something looks good to me on first blush, having not read any discussion, review, or sometimes, not even a blurb. I sometimes get surprised with something great like Frieren, and more often drop out after three episodes when there's no spark of artistry.

I usually don't have a problem with a sports anime, so long as it's above a certain quality waterline. I've watched Yowamushi Pedal, Kuroko's Basketball, Yuri on Ice, Keijo!!!!!!!!, most of Haikyu!!, some of Bluelock, I'll include Shokugeki no Soma, I read the manga of Prince of Tennis ... probably a smattering of others, including a ballroom dancing one that I watched with my wife, enough that I think I have a grasp on the genre, even if I'm not "well read".

So far as I understand the average shonen sports anime, the first step is explaining the sport to the audience, which can last for at least half a season. The mechanism for this is that there's a character who knows basically nothing about the sport in question and can get slowly introduced to it as we go. And because it's shonen, usually our protagonist is absurdly talented, which also helps to propel the plot forward: they're so good that they immediately get wrapped up in the sport, mentored by teammates who see their potential or accelerating through all the beginner stuff without all that much effort.

Rising Impact takes this to its logical endpoint in a few ways. Our protagonist, Gawain, is in third grade with an ambition to hit a ball as far as humanly possible. Once he gets shown by a passing professional golfer that maximum distance can be obtained with a golf ball and a driver, he's all in despite the fact that he doesn't know the first thing about golf. He practices with neurodivergent fervor until his hands are blistering and bleeding, honing his ability to send a golf ball flying, then his grandfather sends him off to Tokyo to seek his fortune.

I had thought and hoped that after the first episode we'd be in for a time skip, but nope! Our protagonist is just a third grader for the whole series, in spite of how little sense this makes (even for shonen anime). This choice is easily the worst part of the anime, because I am a father to a third grader and kept imagining him being sent out to become a professional golfer, and it beggars belief. I generally find myself aging up people in my head anyway (most of the main cast is like ... 6th grade), but can't really do that with Gawain, who really does act like an impulsive child.

After coming to Tokyo to live with this random woman he'd come across, he gets embroiled in some golf happenings, first challenged to see if he can hit the ball the furthest, which he wins, then challenged to putt the ball in, which he loses because he has never tried to putt and didn't know that it was a part of the game of golf. This is the first time he suffers any kind of loss, and it's an important part of the setup, because it's showing speciation.

Everyone is good at different kinds of things, and sports anime will always take this to extremes. Rather than having someone with a good drive, they will have The Best Drive. Someone can't just be good at putting, they have The Best Putt. Initially it looks as though our protagonist has The Best Drive, but actually he has a (named) ability called Rising Impact which is an ability to see the exact point of contact between the club and the ball, which makes him really good at golf. And also he has insane stamina, upper body strength, lower body strength, and luck.

I haven't watched Jojo's Bizarre Adventure but I'm assuming that all this was influenced by Stands, which are (for my purposes) a unique superpower that an individual has. In sports anime, everyone has a Stand, but specific to the sport, because of course everything revolves around the sport. How entertaining this ends up being sort of depends on the sport and the variety of mechanics it has, but also the creativity of the author. Part of why you want to keep going is to see how the different Sports Stands stack up against each other, how they work in different scenarios, and what wrinkles they have. When evaluating a sports anime, one of the first questions I'm going to ask myself is "how are the Stands?"

In the case of Rising Impact, the biggest problem is that the sport of golf kind of sucks, at least from a narrative standpoint. Golfers aren't going against each other, so the different Stands can't actually interact with each other. Sure, some guy is the Wind Master who can read wind really well, and there's a woman who sees the Serpentine Path when putting, but when they're golfing they're individually going for the lowest score and counting strokes. It largely would not matter if they were playing sequentially instead of being on the green together. With that said, the first season had enough creativity to hold my interest and did enough to ensure that the matches were interesting, so my complaint is mostly about the sport, and I think "should have made an anime about something else instead" is probably not good criticism. They should have though.

After an early tournament, Gawain goes to Camelot Academy to learn golf with other (older) students, leaving behind pretty much all of the established characters. From a writing perspective, I kind of hate this, but it's super common for anime: we've said everything we wanted to say about those characters, so they're dead to us, at least for a little bit. Partly this is because new characters have new Stands and it's interesting to see fresh ideas, but I don't know, it also kind of smacks of someone writing with a gun to their head, and also that gun is going to go off the very moment someone loses attention.

The whole cast of new characters didn't really grip me, though I will say this in favor of Rising Impact: one of the things it gets right is matching the Stands to the characters. I don't think it's rocket science, but you do want these two things to work in harmony with each other (or working against each other in a narratively satisfying way). After the first week of study, we get introduced to another cast of character who also go to Camelot, and they're ... mostly fine, though one guy's Stand appears to be cheating, which is dumb as heck, and also he makes monkey sounds.

Most of the conflict in these episodes is about who's going to be going to the UK for the Camelot Cup, and this is also one of the staples of a sports anime, which is that we have to have constantly escalating stakes in the form of bigger and more important competitions. The first season has its climax between two master putters with nearly identical Stands, and the final episode stops just before the start of the Camelot Cup arc, which I assume would be the whole of the second season. Personally, I think it might have been better to escalate a little bit more slowly, but I haven't read the manga, so maybe this is escalating slowly.

Rising Impact really seems like it wants to go as hard as it can as soon as it can, and I can't blame it for that, because ... well, it's golf, what else are you going to do to make it fun? The courses they play on get ridiculous very early on, with all kinds of bullshit you would never see in a real golf course, like they had been designed by the same people who did Green Hill Zone. They're not shown on screen in the first season, but there's apparently a set of legendary clubs which I would assume have special abilities of some kind. I tend to admire this kind of approach, and it's part of the reason I watch anime, but this one accelerates toward absurdity with full force, and I'm not sure that's a good thing.

Something I've noticed in a few sports anime is that as the series goes on, it gets more and more decoupled from the actual sport. Part of this is because we quickly exhaust the author's knowledge of the sport, even if it's their hobby, and part of it is the need for escalation, but eventually you reach a point where there's full separation from most aspects of the sport. Especially if the show has any mythology to it, we eventually have someone looking at players with a jeweler's loupe and saying "ah yes, his skill Eagle Talon, which will allow the Golden Minute" or whatever. Toward the end of the short first season, Rising Impact is basically already there. It's a dangerous place to be, because that means it needs to be carried by its "fight scenes" and character work, and as I've said, the choice of golf as a sport handicaps the "fight scene" approach to depicting sports.

As for the character work, Gawain is essentially just comic relief and "wow I can't believe he's so good", and the only other character that has a significant story is Lancelot, the quiet and thoughtful master putter. He has a golfer sister in the hospital and ... I just did not care, which doesn't bode well for my interest in future seasons. If I'm watching, it's for the golf.

And look, the issue is the golf. I think it's a dead boring sport. I've played maybe two rounds of golf in my life, and it was fun enough, but it's got so little narrative to it. There's very very little strategy or tactics, and instead it's heavy on the biomechanics. The central question of golf is "how efficiently can you hit a ball to the hole", and there's just no meat there. I think in a different life I could be a guy who enjoys a weekly game of golf, but there's just no story in it.

I guess I can vaguely imagine a shonen golf anime that I would enjoy more, but I think a lot of the ways Rising Impact heads deep into the genre trappings right from the beginning makes up for golf being a narratively poor game. I'm still not sure that I can actually recommend Rising Impact, but I had fun with it, and it was thankfully light on the "anime weirdness" stuff that often puts me off. If there's a second season, I'll probably end up watching it, but I'm not going to seek out the manga like I sometimes do if an anime has really gripped me.

[delta-orionis]

i wanna hear about the simon aroace beam pls

(Tumblr is apparently trying to silence me because this is the second time I'm writing out this answer. Anyway.)

I already made a post about my aroace Simon headcanons several years ago, but I'm more than happy to talk about it again. (Also I'm not sure if you specifically ever beat SOMA, so you're probably unfamiliar with some of the points I made in the aforementioned post. I'll do my best to explain.)

(Continued under the cut)

Simon is an interesting character because he's an everyman. I often joke about how he's Just Some Guy who's having the worst day ever. He's had a pretty average life (aside from the recent loss of his friend and traumatic brain injury), and it doesn't come up often in the text of the game. He brings it up sometimes, but it isn't the focus of his dialogue. He was thrust from an unremarkable life in 2015 into Undersea Robot Hell and is forced to make some serious decisions about the fate of the human race, so he has other priorities.

His characterization as an everyman combined with the fact that we don't actually know a lot about his life before the events of SOMA make Simon a very easy character to project your own experiences onto. This makes him a good fit for a video game protagonist because it makes it easy for the player to relate to him. It also means that it's easy to fill in the blanks of his characterization with your own ideas. I've personally seen lots of different interpretations of his gender and sexuality; I've seen people headcanon him as straight, gay, bisexual, etc etc. His gender is also an entire can of worms; I've seen people make compelling arguments that he's a trans man, a trans woman, and even nonbinary and agender.

Anyway... this was all preface for my thesis that Simon is aroace. The easy explanation is that I, an aroace person, find it easy to project my own experiences on to him in a way that makes sense to me. I've talked to a few other aroace SOMA fans about this, and they've agreed. (This is what I mean by the aroace beam. I simply enjoy headcanoning characters I like as aroace, because I, too, am aroace. I'm hitting them with my beam attack. Metaphorically. I've now rendered the joke unfunny by explaining it.)

(Side note- there's a running joke in the SOMA server I run that many SOMA fans are asexual. There certainly are a number of them in that specific server, however this also might be confirmation bias, because I haven't done a fandom-wide survey or anything like that. It also might be because I promote the server heavily on my blog, and as an openly aroace person, I probably have a statistically significant amount of aspec followers who are then compelled to join the server I help run. More research is required, I guess.)

The longer explanation for this headcanon is that, within the text of the game, Simon doesnt' appear to be very concerned with sex or romance.

In the dream sequence at the beginning of the game, Simon tells Ashley he wants to tell her something, and she responds with "please don't make this weird". A lot of people tend to interpret this as Simon working up the courage to tell Ashley he has a crush on her. The scene ends abruptly before this can be confirmed. However, there are a few unused voice lines in the game files that extend the scene a bit. Simon was originally supposed to say "I'm sorry" to Ashley before the dream ended. This implies that he wanted to apologize to her for involving her in the car accident that ended her life, not confess a crush.

There is another dream sequence later in the game, the context being that Simon is under the influence of the WAU and is being shown an idealized version of his life. He sees Ashley, alive and standing in his apartment, where she declares that the two of them are in love. Simon seems confused about this and wakes up shortly after.

I will admit that this scene implies he has romantic feelings for her. However, in the post I made a few years ago, I talked about how a common experience for a lot of aroace people is not being able to distinguish between different types of attraction and how this can lead to aces convincing themselves that they have a crush on someone when what they really desire is a platonic relationship:

I think what sells it the most for me is that, during the dream sequence with Ashley, when Ashley tells him that they’re a couple, he sounds confused. You could interpret this as general confusion (he doesn’t know how Ashley is suddenly alive again or why they’re suddenly in a relationship), but I like to think that he’s conflicted about his feelings for her. He knows he wants to be close to her, but he’s not sure if being a romantic couple is exactly what he wants. If the dream sequence is supposed to be an idealized scenario, then why is he conflicted about the thing he supposedly wants?

Simon strikes me as the type of guy who isn’t super informed about LGBT stuff. He probably knows a little bit about general LGBT stuff, but maybe hasn’t learned about asexuality, or he doubts that it could apply to him. He might think that, because he wants to be close with Ashley, that the next logical step would be a romantic relationship, even if his feelings are actually just platonic. (I know from personal experience growing up asexual that I would sometimes invent crushes on people, when in reality my feelings were just platonic and I actually just wanted to be their friend. From what I’ve heard, this is a common experience for a lot of aro and ace people from before they learned about asexuality/aromanticism.)

I recognize that this interpretation might be bending canon a bit. Occam's razor would imply that he simply has a romantic crush on Ashley, but that's no fun.

SOMA is a game that is, overall, pretty uninterested in exploring romantic or sexual relationships. It also features two main characters of different genders (Simon and Catherine) who develop a strong platonic relationship over the course of the game. I, personally, find it a breath of fresh air, especially when a lot of science fiction and cyberpunk stories have a heavy emphasis on sex. (I'm definitely not bitter about all the weird sexism present in cyberpunk novels like Neuromancer, for example...)

I suppose it makes sense, then, that the game would have a sizeable amount of aroace fans. I personally think there is something inherently queer about the game- although not explicit in the text, transhumanist stories like SOMA can be read as metaphors for queer experiences. Questioning one's identity and humanity is something that a lot of LGBT people do on a regular basis, so it makes perfect sense that they would relate to a character from a game exploring those topics, albeit through a science fiction lens.

Anyway. Very, very long story short, I hit Simon with my aroace beam attack because I think it's fun. He means a lot to me and I like thinking about him.

(Don't get me started on what I think about his gender. He's got so much going on in that department and absolutely no time to come to terms with it all. That's a post for another day.)

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk, I hope you enjoyed reading, etc etc. I'm going to go back to rotating Simon in my brain now.

[the-crow-binary]

I have really bad memory so this could just be me projecting but with how long Dracula lived and with how many times he’s been brought back from the dead, I wonder if he forget a lot about his original life as Mathias or even from his life as Dracula. Like what his favorite food was or how his parents looked like. Imagine being resurrected into an entirely new century and having to unlearn or forgetting old knowledge for newer discoveries like “Oh! America exists now” or “Oh! The influence of religion is not as strong anymore in Europe” and forgetting how life was like in the past or mixing up the years of important events.

It's a very interesting thought ! And also very sad. Starting with forgetting about what food he used to love, what his old house smelled like... to forget even how or why he became a vampire. Maybe totally forgetting the fact he wasn't always the Dark Lord, he used to be human, and he had a wife and a friend he held dear. Now all he remembers is the pain he felt and the hate that drives his actions (doesn't even remember that the family he's fated to fight against for "eternity" is the one of his old friend). He doesn't remember Elisabetha, and one day, he'll even forget Lisa... (it's basically what happened when he became Soma lol but he doesn't even remember the pain and hatred)

Though I have to wonder, would he even know some the knowledge he had back in Trevor's era changed or were proven wrong eventually ? I mean. Most of the time, the guy comes back to life, and then gets killed shortly after (in OoE, it's literally in the same hour. He came back and then immediately had to fight Shanoa). As far as we know, he could have lived in 1999, completely unknowing of all the things that happened in-beetween this time and his. It's like he lived in a world where people would try to fight him with swords and shields, went to sleep, and then woke up with people using GUNS ?? WHAT EVEN ARE THOSE ?? AND WHY DOES IT MAKE SO MUCH NOISE JUST TO SHOOT A RIDICULOUSLY TINY BULLET AT HIM ??

Well, there's also the possibility that he wouldn't even care. So driven by his madness that he barely has a conscious now. He's just a being made out of hate, spite, a desire for destruction, and love for nothing but chaos. He's not even a person anymore.

Many possible interpretations <3 I'd very much like a Mathias and Dracula meeting... with a Dracula who doesn't even remember Mathias, and a Mathias who can't see himself at all in this monster <3

[ashandquiet]

My Most Unswerving Devotion

Chapter 2. Musings of a Duke

Regency! Soma Jarlskona x F!Reader

Summary: Since coming to Norfolk to stay with your family, the conversations have all revolved around matrimony. Just when your aunt has found a match for you much to your chagrin, quite by accident you fall for the wealthy Duke of Cambridgeshire; Soma Guthrumsdóttir. Can circumstance truly keep you apart?

A/N: This chapter is from the perspective of Soma, I hope you enjoy the bits of story building and I apologize for the long wait on chapter 2.

Read it on AO3

Soma had always been level-headed and sane.

Or at least she was sure she had been, a few bouts of rage, but that was due to anyone under duress, it wasn’t until this afternoon she found herself acting a fool.

Soma always followed a schedule, a strictly tailored schedule at that. She would rise just before dawn, dress, and take her breakfast in her study. It was there that her housekeeper and butler would relay the affairs of the servants of the manor, the places in need of address, and she would delegate resources as necessary. Then after having read the household ledger, Soma would take a short walk in the manor gardens to take in the fresh morning air. By the time she arrived back inside, Birna would finally be awake and sitting down for breakfast in the breakfast dining room, so Soma would sit with her and tea while Birna regaled her with the affairs of the servants, but with more sordid details as always. After breakfast, Birna would ride out to town to cover any affairs of Soma’s that did not require the Duke’s immediate attention and Soma would go check on land tenants.

After the morning's chores had been carried out, it was then that at her leisure Soma would take her gelding Alvis out to run the lengths of the land. It was here in the fields that she truly felt the strains and pressure of her inherited title lift from her shoulders. All the judgment and strain put on her by society could wash away, but in the end, it was just a wash. She did just as Guthrum had taught her, put on airs, and be intelligent and cunning. Never let them see how they affect you. 

He had taken her in when she was just an unkempt street child scurrying about Stockholm with a small gaggle of other orphans, stealing and scraping to stay alive. It was after the death of her poor mother and father had left her alone and abandoned, and she had been running about the port struggling to keep up with the much older children who ran the gang like wolves. The tall bearded man dressed in finery had stepped in her way causing her to fall and his outstretched hand had effectively changed the course of her life forever. 

Before leaving Sweden he had put her to work, mostly as a little spy because she could fit into places, and hear and see things that the others of his entourage couldn’t. Guthrum then grew fond of Soma quickly and wasted no time inviting her back to England with him, and Soma saw no need to protest, she was fed, warmly clothed, and most of all happy.

Soma was given the best possible education available, learning to read and write quickly, and excelling at arithmetic and humanitarian studies. She learned to be a great leader, as well as a listener under Guthrum’s influence and tutelage. It was there she was introduced to the younger Ragnarsson brothers Ivarr and Ubba, and she learned how to fight, shoot, hunt, and the art of swordplay, seeing the two brothers as adopted older brothers of her own. As she grew and became accustomed to her life in England it became plain to Soma that Guthrum never once attempted to raise Soma as a lady, knowing that he would never have a male heir; Soma was raised as a son, and eventual heir to Guthrum’s, land, title, and holdings.

Much to society's chagrin, Soma was never offered as a marriage prospect, even though she was named as Guthrum’s only heir and beneficiary. While in her teen years there were rumors that she would eventually marry Ubba Ragnarsson, while others argued that she was particularly monstrous and no man would be able to tame her feral nature. Many made little attempt to woo her, but she snubbed them in favor of horses, books, and swordplay. 

The study of law had entranced her, so at the behest of Guthrum, a law education was arranged. Under the guise of a man, she attended university and rose to be a scholar in her own right. It was there at university with its dances, shops, and libraries, that she befriended Birna, her most stout-hearted and amorous companion, a daughter of merchants who similarly to Guthrum’s circle had come to England from Scandinavia and gained such prosperous wealth that they stayed to provide a life for their daughter. 

Birna threw Soma into a life she had never before experienced outside the scholarly and dutiful confines of her being. The joys of drink, dancing, and social calls, as well as indulging in the finer luxuries that she had denied herself. She purchased her first townhouse and it was there that Soma and Birna threw small soirees, and Birna mocked Soma for her obsession and love of rugs and interior finery. 

She met and entertained women, and had a few brief affairs, most ending with the other party marrying or being sent away by family. However letters were always exchanged but as letters stopped arriving Soma would burn the lavender and locks of hair and resume her solitary lifestyle, caring for her friends and the makeshift family she had found in the city.

As her life beyond Cambridgeshire stretched in an expanse before her, opportunities of employment and adventure beckoning, in the country, Guthrum grew sick. Knowing he was not long for this world the Duke summoned his adopted child back to his side. Dutifully Soma came and remained with him until the day he died. She knew her days of freedom were over, obligation was her constant companion as she assumed the responsibilities of Dukedom. At the recommendation of Birna, she hired an old acquaintance of theirs, Lif as a secretary and brought Birna on as an equerry to the estate. 

Together the three of them formed an insurmountable team in making the land of Cambridgeshire prosperous and one of great renown throughout England.

However, the rumor mill never stopped churning, but what was there for petty country folk to talk about more than the affairs of Soma Guthrumsdóttir?

On these particular days after a morning full of settling disputes and arranging for gifts and aid to be sent to families within her territory, Soma found herself in most need of a ride. While her head swam with thoughts of land rights, tenant arrangements, and the lending of estates, Soma rode well off into the fields of Norfolk just for a moment's reprise from it all. 

It was there, near a blooming horse-chestnut tree that she had nearly collided with what she could only describe as an angel came to earth, the sound of her voice still shook Soma to her bones as she urged Alvis homeward.

She had removed her gloves to feel the bones and muscles in the woman’s wrist and at the light skin contact, she felt as though she were on fire. The way that she could feel the woman’s eyes burn as she watched her, the soft gasp she made when Soma had twisted her wrist in a painful direction, it all made Soma’s skin prickle at the thought of her. Soma couldn’t help herself; she had crooned and given her a pet name of all things. One meeting and all she could think about was how it would feel to touch skin to skin. To talk to her as if they had always known each other. 

Soma let out a frustrated noise as she neared the manor, she knew Birna would never let her hear the end of it if she came in looking like a lovestruck, amorous fool. The romantic sensibilities of her joyful friend would run away with her. How would she ever tell Birna she never even got the woman’s name? She was a damned fool, and all she could do was hope that Birna was off making some poor girl, or boy flush with compliments.

But Soma wasn’t lucky, and Birna was there sitting outside the stable on a bench pretending to read a book while watching the stable boy work with the horse.

“There you are Soma, you great wandering lordy you,” Birna called in her usual chipper tone as Soma rode up to the stable and dismounted. Soma flashed her a weary look and led Alvis into the stable, politely declining the offer from the stableboy to take the horse from her.

Birna got serious, “What happened.”

Soma shook her head with a sigh, finding herself rushing to get the cinches undone from Alvis, Birna would begin her further questioning soon and Soma could not bring herself to say what a fool she had been. 

“Was there an incident at one of the farms? Did a cow give birth and it was partially gruesome to have seen with your lordly eyes? Was someone's child struck by a goat and you were given the child to hold while the goat was put to death? Are we having mutton?”

“No, no incidents of mention,” Soma grunted, struggling with one particular loop, her friend’s well-intentioned questions making her more irritable by the minute.

“Let me help, you’re gumming it up,” Birna stepped between Soma and Alvis taking over the chore of tacking down Soma’s bay horse. She treaded slightly out of Birna’s way to watch her undo the cinch, yet she found herself gazing at her hands, again. 

“You look as though you’ve seen a ghost, Soma.”

“I’m alright I just need some time to myself, thank you Birna,” Soma felt grave as she nodded to her friend to take her to leave.

Stepping out from under the stable cover Soma ran her hands over her face, she was suffocating. Her throat was tight and she felt as though she would begin perspiring through her waistcoat, her hands clammy within the confines of the gloves, Soma stripped them off and tossed them to the ground. 

Somehow she had let herself act such a fool that she had forgotten to ask for the lady’s name, or an address, calling card, anything. She had even neglected to tell the lady her name, of course, Soma had wrapped her wrist with a handkerchief from her pocket that was embroidered with “SG”, her initials, but how on earth would it even find its way back to her? The most mortifying and frustrating realization of all hit like a boulder being thrown into water; How would she ever know if the beautiful creature she had met this day, also preferred the company of women .

Feeling helpless, which she hated the most, she started walking towards the manor to lock herself in the safety of her private rooms, where she could brood and mourn this terrible turn in private. It wasn’t the first time she had experienced such heartbreak and she felt as though it wouldn’t be the last. She knew herself and her heart, yet she always seemed to fall into the trap of self-imposed distress regarding affairs of the heart.

Taking care of the tie in her cravat she tossed it to the ground and made her way into the manor, taking long quick strides to her study not caring for the muddy footprints that she left in her wake. 

She has always desired women, both emotionally and carnally. The gentlest touch of another woman filled her with heavenly joy, in the passion-filled faucet of her heart she held the most sublime desires imaginable. It was her every aim in life to give a woman, whom she loved so deeply it cut like a knife, every possible thing and more. Soma had fallen like this before, and she knew that if she did not stop her heart from getting away with her she could end up broken, her heart exposed to the empty expanse of the world in the end just as before.

Soma let out an enraged noise throwing her hands in the air, she could feel the boiling rage rising within her at the thought of losing composure yet again. She was being choked, by manners and the very opposing forces within herself. Almost flailing to pull herself from it, she tore off her waistcoat throwing it across the empty room, not even having made it to her study yet. She panted staring at the offending garment. It wasn’t enough she still felt as though her clothes were constricting themselves around her. Soma then fumbled with the buttons on her vest and flung it in another direction, then the cufflinks, she yanked off her boots and collapsed onto her rear. Her eyes began to burn with emotion and she could feel her throat tighten. Soma undid the first few buttons of her collar and then drooped backward onto her back to stare upwards. Soma covered her face with her hands and suffered a strained sigh.

There was a shuffle of feet that came to an abrupt stop in the doorway, Soma turned her head to glance at the doorway where Birna stood looking a bit befuddled. Soma’s friend held the discarded cravat and suede gloves.

“Well aren’t you pitiful,” Birna chided as a maid rushed to take the items from her.

Soma sighed feeling quite pitiful indeed.

[talonabraxas]

Hongos Sagrados. "Cure yourself with the light of the sun and the rays of the moon. With the sound of the river and the waterfall. With the swaying of the sea and the fluttering of birds. Heal yourself with mint, with neem and eucalyptus. Sweeten yourself with lavender, rosemary, and chamomile. Hug yourself with the cocoa bean and a touch of cinnamon. Put love in tea instead of sugar, and take it looking at the stars."

Maria Sabina (via the Santitos) 🍄 Mushroom stones dating from 3000 BC were used in ritual contexts across Mesoamerica and into South America. The majority were found in Guatemala in the highlands or in areas along the intercontinental mountain range which were heavily influenced in Pre-classic times by the Olmec culture. 🍄 The Olmec, Zapotec, Maya, Aztec and Inca all used hallucinogenic mushrooms as a catalyst for spiritual insight, poetry and philosophy. To this day the Mazatec use them ritualistically and primarily to cure illnesses. Additionally, much like the early religions and philosophies of Eurasia and their sacred, mediating substance called Soma (see previous post on Scythians), these transcendental substances were undeniably at the very core of all world religions. 🍄 It is suggested that European ideas of heaven and hell may well derive from the same cult mysteries. Tlaloc, the mayan rain and mushroom god was created by lightening, so was Dionysus; in Greek folklore as in Mazatec, so are all mushrooms - proverbially called ‘flesh of the gods' in both languages. Tlaloc wore a serpent crown, so did Dionysus. Tlaloc has an underwater cave, so did Dionysus… 🍄 What all these cultural links seem to suggest is that entwined within the physical world is a realm concealed to ordinary sight. Just as Maria Sabina claimed that all her poetry was not hers but was given to her by the mushrooms, so too the most ancient living traditions claim that their knowledge is not their own but was handed down to them from much older civilisations - sometimes in the form of pure, non-material consciousness. art by Ventral is Golden

[beevean]

Now you got me thinking of a reborn Issac just... looking at Soma Cruz the reborn Dark Lord, and just going 'yes... yes... yesssssss!' Every time Soma storms the castles and absorbing souls... only to then go 'noooooooooo!' Whenever Soma ditches becoming Dracula again. Just a sitcom for Issac's reincarnation with Soma. XD

Huh, this is kind of similar to what he and Zead did with Hector lol.

Isaac: C'mon... give in to your rage... follow me and keep honing your powers... yes... YESSS the castle is back :D

Zead: Excellent! Now you only need to kill that idiot-- oh COME ON

rip isaac. he just can't win a thing in life. pathetic wet cat of a man. But more seriously, I like that he's both corrupted and the corrupter, just a bad influence through and through :P

And that would be an interesting interaction with Soma! Isaac trying his best to jog Dracula's memories in Soma's head, only for him to be confused and uncomfortable and wanting to get away from that freak. I'm sure Arikado can fit here somewhere too.