#lessons I've learned

[nevelk-13]

Color Theory, a Recollection, and a Terrible Lesson

We walked around the neighborhood, as colors played in my periphery. The world was green. Everywhere, there was green. Even more vibrant than it had been before, and in places where it had never been before. Bri's hat was practically phosphorescent. The moss on the trees was waving hello, reaching out to pull me in. I was green too, in that moment. I was part of the big green world.

It made sense, right then. I was all the same as everything else. I didn't even need to speak to know that I was being heard. We all got it. We were all in the green...

Until we walked into the red. I looked at Ace and he looked at me and we both knew something had changed, that we had entered a new terrain, where the rules of green no longer applied. We were in there together. We didn't stay for long, only travelled through.

The park was unbelievable brown. We laughed and laughed and laughed. It was supposed to be beautiful. Not even in our awe-stricken state could be discern an ounce of beauty. It was so ugly, so contrary to our expectations that there was no other reaction. Only the laughter. We bounced around the concrete plaza, in disbelief of the park and ourselves, until we orbited back to one another and decided to return to the yellow of our apartment, the space we had with each other.

On the way back, there was blue. A blue corridor that stretched on and on into a single point. The trash cans stood in for the sky which was bleak and gray and relentlessly cold. There were no clouds, only the impression of the atmosphere reflected on the cans in on the houses lining the blue alley, which we wandered down until we found our way home.

My friends are colorful and vibrant. Bri is green and Rachel is blue and Toby is also green, and Ace is red. You'd have to ask them about me, but as far as I can tell, I'm yellow. Like a yield sign. The color of caution. Of jaundice and disease. But it's the color of the stoic cow, and the paint on the wall when the sun is rising. There are two sides to every color.

I was back in the red after everyone else had left the colorspace. I shouldn't have tried to go there alone. I guess I didn't really try to go there alone, but I should have known I was toeing a treacherous line. I should have heeded my own caution, and Toby's caution, but I couldn't reckon with the impending gray. I had a terrible feeling that the color was draining from the world and I just wanted to keep it there for a little bit longer. I wanted the green again. But I got the red. Full force.

There are consequences to fear, and greed, the bitter side of green. I hit my head on the pavement and had a long, red, dream. I came up for air, lungs burning, and tried to convince everyone I wasn't on fire. I fell down again. Face on the concrete once more. It was cold afterwards, but while I was down there it was all heat. Searing red, while an epic saga burned a hole in my skull. There was one more moment of clarity, when my eyes were open and blue, or maybe black, and then I passed out on the stairs. The war was reaching a fever pitch, ringing and blaring and singing. I was living and dying. The dream seemed never to end, and in the crimson haze I felt all of it: The joy and the sadness and the orgasmic understanding. It's the greatest dream I've ever had and I remember none of it. All the details evaporated back into suffocating gray smoke even as I desperately struggled to remember them, moments after coming to.

The color was gone after that. After I broke something that can't so easily be put back together. Vibe killed, night over. And all of us were beige again, like the sacks of skin we're doomed to writhe in forever. At least that's how it felt in my terrible state. Like the rods in my eyes had all fallen out, and I was scrambling to fill in the blanks, to paint the room as it once had been. But the sun had set, and everyone was drained and tired. Bri was less green, and Rachel less blue, and Ace less red. There is an ebb and flow to the colorspace, to the energy that fills up the space between people, and between molecules. It cannot flow forever. It's simply not sustainable. After a certain point you are exhausted by the effort to understand.

Toby stayed with me because they had to, because I was coming down from a terrible vision and they live with me, and all we had anymore was each other, and a desperate will to communicate despite the walls that were and always have been between us. Walls of sinew and neurons and language. A confusing flurry of color that we are destined to interpret and reinterpret forever.

Today was a new day, and the sun rose again and painted the walls once more. I know that Bri is green, and Rachel is blue, and Ace is red. Toby is still green, too. Are they the same shade? Who knows. Probably not. As for me, I suppose I am what I have always been. A confused and distorted hue of something hard to articulate. Yellow, or maybe pink, or maybe it depends on who you ask. It's true that we all see color differently. Perhaps it's better to think of color in relative terms, rather than absolute. Everything is changing all the time, after all. If you ask me, I would just say that today I feel a little bluer than I was before.

[thecheesecracker]

Hmmmm I think they should have kissed

[starryarchitect]

(I put a version with no gold frame under the cut because unfortunately I think it looks better without the frame)

[54625]

some of my (mostly qFit) headcanons because I don't think I've made one of these posts before

i remember making a post about this aaaaaages ago, but in my mind 2b is a prison dimension . Everyone who lives there either committed some kind of terrible crime in another world and was sent there, or was born there via two "inmates". That's why everyone sucks there, and it's also why fit being able to escape via madagio's portal was a big deal . You're not supposed to be able to escape.

I believe that fit in his young adulthood was a journalist on another world who was fascinated by and trying to find information on this prison dimension, but ended up getting sent there as punishment for prying. This is why he became a historian while there, cause he was always trying to study the place anyway. It's also why he's nicer than the average person there.

Demons in this world are either born or created through immense sin. I like to think that because of that a large portion of the population of 2b are demons. Like a LOT . That's why fit was so normal about mouse openly being a demon when most other people were canonically weirded out by it. He's just used to seeing and being around them.

Warning for a darker subject here, but I do think that some people believing QFit was a virgin comes from an inherent mischaracterisation of that server. Yes it's very violent and hostile, but there are also very close knit alliances and established groups, and another big part of the culture is the general degeneracy. We already have a pretty reliable real world idea of what happens when a bunch of nonetheless homophobic men are put into the same inescapable area at once, and it's prisons. I believe that's another big reason why living there is so nasty. I won't go into any more detail than that.

↑fit is nonetheless still very repressed. It is faaar from encouraged to be openly gay there. There is a big difference between doing something because you "have to" and liking it

I believe that 2b, either intentionally or unintentionally, has an effect on its inhabitants' ageing. Essentially it makes them immortal but not invulnerable. If you shoot or stab them, sure, they'll die. But if left alone, they won't age past their prime or die of natural causes. qFit is the age he appears to be, early 30s, but in ten or so years if he was still alive it would begin to be noticeable that he hadn't got any older looking after that.

I also believe the eggs, because they are either partially or fully dragon, are the same way. Immortal but not invulnerable.

The immortality thing is part of why Phil and fit became such easy friends, they have that in common. The only difference between them - as I have touched on before - is that while phil was blessed by his wife to be immortal, fit was cursed.

Ramón is always wearing a hat for two reasons. The first reason, the one he would tell you, is that it protects his ears from the sounds of his machines. The second reason, the one he'd never admit to anyone, is that he has the exact same curly black hair that spreen had, and he hates that reminder of him.

Speaking of Spreen, I do believe Fit would silently forgive him after finding out his reason for never coming back was that he died.

Fit probably lost his arm during maybe the aureus city era, because if he hadn't had trusted basemates with him during that time he would definitely have died. One of his friends there would have made him his first prosthetic, and it would have been godawful.

I canonise ccfit saying his cubitos arm is a gauntlet and then pivoting to it being a prosthetic as qFit lying. He claimed it was just a gauntlet at first, in order to not reveal his weakness of a missing arm, but then became open about it actually being a prosthetic when he finally accepted that noone on quesadilla was going to use it against him.

Ramón definitely made a new much better arm for Fit after seeing how horrendous his previous one was

For the duration of QSMP pac always portrayed himself as self-conscious and unconfident, but I like to image that before prison he was more of a badass Cool Guy 😎. It was being in prison and losing his leg that truly and almost permanently crushed his spirit and self image. I imagine he consistently sees himself as weaker than others not just because he was unable to fight back against cellbit, but also because of the literal physical ability he lost when the leg was taken.

I never draw him as such because I can never decide on designs for them, but in my mind pac has quite a few tattoos. I imagine he had a full leg tattoo from knee to ankle on the leg that he lost, which he was devastated to realise was gone along with the leg. Cellbit probably targetted that leg on purpose because he thought it'd be funny.

Pac and mike smuggled a radio into the prison with the express purpose of listening to fit's broadcast. Years before he ever knew they'd one day share a bed, pac would fall asleep to the sound of fits voice.

Qpac is bisexual but only ever dated women before prison. It was only being stuck surrounded by a bunch of dudes that made him realise his attraction to them. The reason pac finds himself attracted to dangerous men specifically is because all of the men he first realised he could be attracted to were literal maximum security prisoners.

Conversely, the reason fit finds himself attracted to dangerous men specifically is because he doesn't realise there is any other type of man that exists.

You're gonna kill me for this one, but I do actually headcanon that qpac died at the end of qsmp. There's just no other ending for him that makes sense. He really didn't give us much. I'd think something better if there was a better option

However I 100% believe that Ramón is alive and does one day find a way to reunite with fit, way far off into the future. Probably when he's a fully fledged adult, having raised himself along with the other surviving eggs still on quesadilla.

Pac would have been terrible at cooking, having got way too used to having meals preprepared for him everyday in prison. Fit on the other hand, would be pretty good at it . He's had a decade of experience in having to drum up makeshift meals out of really unattractive, rudimentary and barely edible ingredients. That would translate extremely well to real, normal food. Pac would ask fit one time to make one of his "wasteland struggle meals" for the both of them and he'd be simultaneously impressed that fit managed to make it taste like... something, and also devastated to think that fit had to eat stuff like this every day. Fit would mention that it brought him back to the wasteland, and pac would spend the rest of the day hugging fit and saying he's so so sorry

Contrary to popular belief, I actually think during his time on 2b and when he first arrives on quesadilla, fit would not be particularly muscular. He would have a level of utility muscle, but without proper stable access to food or working out, he'd be on the smaller side. However the second he got access to real and consistent food and a calmer, quieter life on quesadilla, he'd start bulking up. That's the reason he built the gym.

Fit and pac both have PTSD, and sharing a bed is an absolute nightmare for them (no pun intended) as they both wake each other up in the middle of the night because of a night terror extremely frequently after they start dating. They tried sleeping apart again once, but both decided they'd rather be near each other despite the inconvenience.

Fit and pac probably don't cuddle very often when they sleep near each other, as they both value their space and like to feel like they could easily get up and run if they were threatened at night. They also only showed each other physical affection on occasion in canon. They prefer to just be side by side, close enough to hold hands, close enough to know that they're looking out for each other.

Fit probably isn't actually more down bad for pac that pac is for him, he is just more verbal about his love because he was a lot more repressed than pac ever was. Fit feels more of a need to exercise his newfound freedom.

Fit has poor hearing and poor eyesight, but is too stubborn to accept an aid for either of those things.

Pac is pretty badly claustrophobic, thanks to prison.

Ramón is probably autistic.

[johnnyshrine]

★ 100 // “The Holy Bible”

[cowardlycowboys]

anyway so I'm thinking of embarrassing myself for affection and attention again

[faynke]

Kid Killer actually kills Kid

Happy Holidays everyone!! Here is my piece for the @dcmkkaishinevents for @miss-emotion

[khaire-traveler]

"When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends."

- Was told this is a Japanese Proverb; couldn't find any info on it outside of that

This is so accurate. I cannot emphasize it enough. If someone is chill being around horrible people (and they're not a victim, to be clear) knowingly, get the fuck away from that person as soon as you can. If you can't, then I suggest growing distant from them. If they're ok being around heinous people, they're not going to be there for you when those people put you through heinous shit. You deserve better.

[shih-coulda-had-it]

doodlebank

[abovetherainandroses]

Pete & Patrick + Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy, through the years

2007 / 2008 / 2009 / 2013 / 2014 / 2015 / 2016 / 2017 / 2018 / 2019 / 2021 / 2022 / 2023

bonus: so much for (tour) dust staging ver. (2023)

(1) my video / (2) x

[trashmallcw]

i'd die for them

(and i have)

(many many times)

[prettysymbiosis]

And if I said this is Liam's Zayn?

[delimeful]

me: wow i wonder why i can never find anything in my files

my files:

[liarvibe]

This ask grants you permission for one (1) uninterrupted yap session.

Wise usage not recommended.

You know what--since we were talking about it before and stuff, I'm going to talk about something I've personally experienced in this fandom and have been witnessing others experiencing it currently as well--and that is this fandoms utter lack of acceptance for the "weird" and "abnormal" takes--or what they ACTUALLY are--takes people just don't agree with.

This mainly pertains to my and an friends theories and analyses that have been scrutinized for years at this point, but it also pertains to a new theory about Byakuya Togami being Mentally Unwell that I've been on and off reading.

And the hate certain people have been giving this theory.

For one thing, I actually like the theorizing done by @duhhtheyellowrose. It showcases a different, interesting, and most importantly, extremely valid interpretation of Byakuya! Again I haven't had the energy lately to read everything they've been writing, but what I have read has given me a much greater appreciation for Togami as a character because before, I thought of him as a very flat, prideful rich kid who's whole character arc was bruising that pride and bringing him down to earth. Not a bad arc, but just... simple, kinda boring. I love deep dives like this into a character's psyche and really thinking about their motivations and thoughts and feelings. What I HAVE read of Yellow's theories has done exactly that--it's given Togami more depth and dwells on the rather harsh pressure he grew up with, and what exactly that can do to a person's mind going forward.

Like yeah, actually, Byakuya having to fight his half siblings to be the chosen heir, no matter how you spin it, is really fucked up! That kind of pressure and strive for perfectionism does horrible things to a person's mental health, especially when they falter and crumble in a way that isn't their picture-perfect self.

And yet. Once again, there are people going off in this fandom insisting that Byakuya Togami can't be 'suicidal'. He just can't be! Nevermind the horrible statement that is, saying that a person in any position Cannot Be Suicidal, because even the Happiest Person on Earth can have suicidal idealization--it's just blatantly disregarding an interpretation and saying it's "mischaracterization" simply because you don't like it.

Also, I've seen people go so far as saying that giving Togami mental ailments or making him a more complex character is making him. Softer? I'm sorry that you have this idea about mental illnesses that makes you think people with them are "softer" and less of an asshole just because they have a reason to be an asshole, but also no I'm not sorry, please actually think about what you're saying. You're saying that people who are assholes cannot have a reason to be an asshole and thus othering people you deem as "jerkish" or even "evil" just because you don't want to admit they are human.

This is just one example of how this fandom can jump through horrible mental hoops just to justify their "take" on a character--but also hate on another take they don't agree with or like. It's the same shit I've talked about before where people infantize Gonta to make Kokichi look like more of a monster than he actually is. Because if Gonta is a big stupid dumb monkey who Kokichi manipulated, it makes things easy--bad guy gets to not be a Person(tm) anymore ("So I get to hate him as much as I want and feel justified in hating him") while the Poor Innocent Babu gets to have their Purity and never be wrong, ever. ("So I feel justified in liking this character without having to tackle the idea that maybe they did something wrong because they cannot be blamed and I cannot be wrong!")

Don't you guys see how utterly boring that is? To simplify characters to the point where they're not even people? Like sure, sometimes you need a character who is a Symbol and doesn't need to be anything more than that for narrative purposes... but like. These characters aren't meant to be symbols of evil or assholery or whatever. They are meant to represent a person with thoughts and feelings and ideals, with dreams and heartbreaks and complexities that make them unique as an individual.

I think making post after post trying to "debunk" someone's interpretation is just making you look like an asshole. I think fighting over what interpretation is right vs what one is wrong is jsut not the play.

Like--in the Undertale fandom! If someone had an interpretation you didn't like? That's an AU now! See, isn't that more fun? Now you can engage with the interpretations you don't agree with in a more constructive and positive way. It's also the first step in accepting different interpretations without them having to be "AUs" because it promotes critical thinking and acknowledging that Literary Analysis is actually an art, not a science. It's never factual. It never WAS. Literary Analyses (or writing metas/theory crafting as the kids call it these days--like Literary Theory is why it's called Theorycrafting, people!) is all about interpretation of text, and there is no objective way to do so. It's all subjective!

I maintain the sentiment from my theory blog, to my old personal, to this one--No analyses done in good faith are ever "wrong", not unless you are: 1. Doing a meta to hate on something, 2. including bigotry in your meta, or 3. otherwise being malicious (whether intentionally or unintentionally so).

If you correct yourself when you make a mistake (in that you display unintentional malice or bigotry) and aren't actively being an asshole, then any and all interpretations you come up with is correct! So is the person who's come to the opposite conclusions as you. Yes you are both correct. No it does not matter how opposite they are from you. No it doesn't matter if their interpretation changes the whole character from your perspective.

You can dislike it, but accept that it's valid. Move on. Or, maybe analyze the other interpretation with a open mind--maybe you'll actually come to like aspects of it! If you just hate on it without giving it a chance, you'll never know.

So yeah. That's what I'm gonna yap about with this ask. Hope you guys don't mind!

[simspaghetti]

☑️ Use the Excavator to Drill for Treasure! +0.5

Current Gen3 Points: 19.5

[gamebunny-advance]

Alright, Rapid Fire Theory Time

So, I will keep in mind that the only stuff we have so far is pre-alpha footage - nothing is set in stone, and things could change drastically from now until new information is released. Nonetheless, isn't speculation part of the fun?

I'm thinking that at least part of the gameplay is still going to be in Vinyl City, as we do see some familiar architecture and landmarks in some scenes, but I imagine that the majority of the game will actually be outside the city. In fact, I'm going to go on a limb and say that Vinyl City isn't even going to be the hub anymore - I think instead of the sewer, the hub is actually going to be their RV/Tour Bus. They are on the road, presumably a lot given how much focus it's given, so I think there's going to be a lot of emphasis on their vehicle as both a mechanic and as the place where they group up.

That said, if we're moving away from Vinyl City, then I wonder how or even if NSR is going to be involved in the main plot. There are still NSR logos around the Vinyl City areas, so they still appear to be a part of the setting. Are these new artists going to be a part of NSR, belong to a rival company, or be other indie acts? A combination?

For the original game, the game's logo and the company's logo were the same because the title was referring to the company. Now, it seems that the title is referring to the phrase itself, in that there are literally no straight roads because we're going to be driving on loop-de-loops. The new logo is much more handmade/street art inspired, much like B2J's own logo. So, either the logo is supposed to represent B2J coming into their own, or if the logo is following the trend of the last game of having the logo refer to the antagonists, then this implies that the enemies are going to be other indie acts. (Or, it could be a bigger company using the symbols of underground artists to disguise their true nature.)

If NSR is still the source of the conflict, then I'm gonna be super skeptical about how they ended up as the bad guys again - did they actually learn nothing, or are they being set-up?

That said, I didn't sense a lot of "EDM" from the characters we've seen so far. In fact, it seems that most of the base enemies have been replaced with human opponents as opposed to the robot enemies of the first game. So, I wonder if who they're fighting are other factions that are looking to fill the power vacuum NSR left behind after their reform. In that case, it could be a mix of both indies and other big labels trying to take over.

I would say that this could just be a healthy rivalry between bands, but given that there are still hordes of enemies to fight, I don't think whoever we're dealing with is going to be friendly, or we're going to have to beat them into a friendship.

---------------

I'm still holding onto the idea that our third member of B2J is Yiruk because the first game seemed to set up for that. Tbh, there's only one thing that dissuades me from believing in Yiruk theory:

The new person seems to be a keyboardist, and Yiruk has stated interest in learning the bass and was shown being a vocalist in the ending scene. But, stuff like that can always change, I mean his interests aren't even consistent in the game he's in, so it wouldn't be surprising if he eventually ended up on keyboard after taking his musical journey.

Besides, there's probably a functional reason why their 3rd wouldn't be a bass: while musically guitars and basses serve different niches, mechanically they're pretty similar, especially if you take it a few steps back and turn it into a weapon as the game is going to. If they're going to go through the trouble of designing a 3rd playable character, a more different instrument would be more apt to help vary the play styles.

In conclusion: the third member being a keyboardist doesn't exclude Yiruk from being the 3rd member, but it does conflict with the canon of the first game, so it could go either way. The only thing I will actively boo at is if it turns out the third is a legacy character, but isn't Yiruk. Like, if that's Gigi there, I'm going to lose my mind (in a bad way).