#not even the arcadia high teachers

[kdo16]

Trollhunters Insert

She was inspired by Madam Mim from the Disney movie, Sword in the Stone

She was once a beautiful, enchanted witch from the 6th century. Helping both human, troll, and many other creatures. She even helps gumm gumms! She doesn’t pick sides. Which is how she got her name, the Witch of Many

YEARS later, she is an art and chemistry teacher at Arcadia High. But later in season two, she is revealed to be an immortal witch.

When Toby, Claire, and Blinky try to find a cure to revamp Aargh, they go to the Witch of Many. But there was no hope for her help since her personal book of spells was stolen from the Changelings. Which was the reason for her retirement… she has bad memory leave her be

But since then, she wanted to be more helpful and help save the world from Gunmar

She hates Merlin. They NEVER got along

During her years in the 6th century, her and Angor Rot had…chemistry between each other. Angor came to her first to seek power to save his village. But she tells him he doesn’t need it, he’s more powerful than he thinks. But it didn’t convince him. So she tells him to seek for Morgana…she regretted that day ever since…

[pinkytoothlesso11]

Hi Pinky what if Barbara and Strickler Switch their places. with Barbara being a changeling in Secret While Strickler is Just being the School history teacher.

Ooh this sounds like a great AU! Love a good role swap!

So I think that Barbara would end up being a doctor who works part time at the hospital and reports to Bular at night and also works part time at Arcadia Oaks High school... Because she secretly likes kids and wanted one of her own, but that's impossible because she's a changeling.

Walter is still a history teacher, and single dad to Jim. Instead of being abandoned like Barbara was in Canon, Walt's wife passed away when Jim was only five.

Barbara forms a bond with Jim just after he starts high school, after Jim gets punched up defending Eli from Steve, she patches him up, and Jim sees in her the mother he never got to know. Also since Walt was called in for the fight, Barbara and Walter end up together before Canon, with Barbara not revealing she's a changeling.

Canon events roll up, but instead of Jim being chosen it's Walter. Since in this AU there's no reason for Jim to be chosen when there's a perfectly capable adult who is already somewhat experienced with a sword due to fencing practice in his youth, amoung other things.

Anyway. Barbara is naturally devastated her boyfriend got chosen as the Trollhunter, but she's also aware Bular will kill her if she doesn't retrieve the amulet.

There is some fighting between Walt and Barb for a bit, but they work through it because of Jim. Soon enough Bular is defeated, Angor Rot is never a problem since Nomura and Barbara are BFF's in this AU, being the same age as changelings.

Unfortunately Walt is still dunked with the half troll potion to fight Gunmar, still looking like his canon troll form, but with eyebrows, longer ears, even more human nose and still green eyes. He gets wings too. Barbara naturally loves him even more like that, but refuses to accept he's stuck forever as a troll. Between her, the Akiridions when they arrive, Morgana (she reforms) and Merlin and Douxie they find a way to let Walt be human and troll. Also, Jim gets the shadow staff in this AU.

Oh yeah, and Barbara’s troll form is teal, with brighter red hair than her human form, curling ram horns and the usual yellow and red changeling eyes. She also has cloven hooves like Nomura, but the addition of a tail.

[dalekofchaos]

How is Blackwell even a school?

Blackwell is insanely weird.

It has dorms but also lockers.

A barely functioning staff. We have two teachers, a principal, a custodian and a head of security. There is Mrs Hoida, but we never see her in LIS or BTS. Mr Keaton exists in BTS, but we never hear about him in LIS. There’s a nurse, but we never see her. There’s a coach for the Otters and Bigfoots, but neither Max nor Chloe are athletic, so we never see them. According to Chloe’s report card. There is an Art teacher, Phy Ed teacher, Practical Math and Life Skills Teacher, Social Sciences teacher and Personal Health Teacher. But we never see any of them.

Only two whole classrooms in the whole game.

It’s apparently the only school the town has and also is a super expensive exclusive private school.

It’s a high school that recruits world renowned artists and scientists to teach basic high school level classes.

It’s graduates supposedly go on to become famous successful people yet the school itself resides in a tiny rundown coastal Oregon town.

It costs a fortune to attend and yet it looks like it hasn’t been seriously repaired or renovated since the 1970’s.

Hell it doesn’t even have security cameras on campus.

According to google

"According to a student survey from the National Center for Education Statistics, 86 percent of middle school and high school students have security cameras installed in their schools."

Despite David being an asshole, it's standard procedure to have cameras up in the first place. David is wrong to put cameras in his home to spy on Chloe, but not wrong to have cameras in the school. If there were cameras already placed in Blackwell.

Frank Bowers would never be able to sell on school grounds

Frank never would've been close to Rachel

Nathan never would've gotten away with bringing so many illegal drugs to the Vortex Club

Kate never would've been dosed

Speaking of David. Why is he just a security officer? Why isn't he a cop? Wouldn't it make sense for David to work two jobs since the Prices are in debt? As a cop and as a security officer? The most unrealistic thing about LIS. David was too unstable to be a Arcadia Bay cop. The police have no standards and I'm shocked that David wasn't an instant recruit considering how the police in America wants people with low IQs and doesn’t care for obvious red flags.

Also, School Resource Officers exist.

Then there is the fact that Max��BARELY uses the school of her dreams. We get one or two classes at best. Going to Ms Grant’s class does not count cause Max only went there to help Warren.

Chloe not using Blackwell makes sense. She hates the damn place and would rather learn about Rachel’s anatomy break the rules and chill in the junkyard.

But with Max, shouldn’t she actually be attending classes? I mean if I were attending a big private school at Blackwell, but didn’t attend classes. I think my ass would’ve been suspended within weeks and my tuition set on fire.

What kind of school, a HIGH school lets their students freely roam the halls, leave school grounds or chill in the dorms instead of doing class work?

For that matter. Why the fuck is Blackwell Academy a fucking High School? Why not a college? Art Colleges exists. I'd rather Blackwell be a college and for everyone to be of age, it'd explain a lot of stuff such as the drugs, parties, guns, and just a lot of stuff. Not to mention going through college you are still figuring out stuff, what you want to do with your life, and still figuring out who you are. Would've imo a lot better and explained why half the shit that was happening was.

I get this is an episodic game and there are more pressing concerns, but honestly Blackwell should’ve been like say Bully. We do the day’s worth of classes and then progress to the story. Hell, you could even implement a sort of friendship system. Maybe you pick who you sit next to and that raises Max’s friendship with them. Anything would’ve been better than Max skipping school altogether and just focusing on Chloe. Like we have an entire school, we should not have our focus be on Chloe. There could’ve been ways to work classes into the main story, but no. Blackwell is just background noise and it shows.

But the lack of a full faculty staff or an actual care that anyone actually attends class? What kind of fucking school is this?

[onegirllis]

So, about the new LIS trailer

It took me some time, but forgive me for the delayed response. I had to dig myself out of the fandom grave to actually look around and notice what the hell was going on. I spent another moment pondering if I still care, and with the answer "barely," I came here to write this post.

1) For whatever reason DickNein (yes, I didn't miss the scandal, who is the nazi now?) still doesn't understand what made LIS 1 so successful. It wasn't the diversity; it wasn't the same copy-paste lines; it wasn't the murder; it wasn't the superheroes from small towns with different powers. It wasn't even the lesbians (I know, shocking!). There were merely a few elements that made LIS special: - Magical Arcadia Bay with its residents - The rewind time superpower, which was one of the best mechanics in narrative games since the genre was born - Max, Chloe, and Rachel (not necessarily in that order), and you need at least two to make it work, preferably with Chloe at least somewhere there. - the specific art style and saturated colors (butchered a bit in BTS but then going full SIMS 4 for the rest of the games) - and most importantly - the soul Sure, DontNod could get away with alteration, to no fanfare and sometimes to no success, but their experiments came from the right place. This shit ain't it.

2) For whatever reason, Chloe is now a dog. I know. I know. I understand. Listen, my fellow comrades, I know how it feels when the devs pull put shit like, "Oh, they were just friends and grew apart, but now she named her squirrel after the love of her high school life".

3) Max had plastic surgery. She also decided to be entirely anonymous so that she looked like everyone else. Every model looks the same, and I hope they will have their names spelled above them as they walk around. Otherwise, I have no idea who is who. Frankly, she looks a little bit like Steph had a lot of fun with the entire cast of Sims 4 and then had a baby.

4) On top of everything, the new Max, however, probably now goes as Maxine, is teaching her Polaroid skills at a university. Now we know we are in an alternative universe all along. I hope the tuition matches the useful photography skill set you obtain there.

5) For any other reason unknown, she can dress up as Chloe, who can be dead (see the Ultimate edition). I know Max has a long tradition of dressing up as dead people, but I hoped it would go away with her Botox and other plastic corrections. But hey, we survived Chloe dressing up as Rachel and cosplaying as her dad, too, so I guess I shouldn't even be surprised. Not that it's a low-budget movie, and they have a limited wardrobe. It's a video game, but the tradition of having a mental stroke is still strong.

6) Oh no, another murder I gotta solve! I shall use my powers. Why now? Is it another girlfriend who is into printing photos? Or is it her student? Or both? Max becoming Jefferson would be a nice twist, even if not loved among the community, but I don't think it would get anywhere that dark. It just will get stupid.

7) This is supposed to be a fanservice a little too late and on the wrong foot. I know y'all missed Max. I didn't, but I understand the hype on seeing her on the screen. Although following a teenager in Arcadia Bay was interesting, simply by the shot of nostalgia with every step, here we are following a middle-aged single art teacher (or someone who looks middle-aged to the point that they decided on fixing their face). NO ONE WANTS TO FOLLOW THEIR ART TEACHERS WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.

8) The Nazi problem (well, well, well, the turntables). I know DeckNein had to do some cleanup among their staff. I hope they did, but somehow, I doubt it was done for the right purpose. Therefore, I'm uncomfortable giving them any of my money, now or ever. I know, there are worse studios. I know it's stupid, but LIS was always special, filled with this little genuine spark. It just doesn't feel right.

9) The game has the worst UI in the history of modern gaming.

10) And to finish my rant on something even worse, LIS4 is coming just before DontNod's new game, most likely to compete with it on the market. A bit sus, don't you think?

Anyway, dick move, my friends. All of it. Actually, waving dicks around in the air all along. Despite our differences, this ain't right. And God knows how much worse it could be.

[art-that-fucks-you-up-tournament]

SET FIFTEEN - ROUND ONE - MATCH THREE

Excerpt from illustrated edition of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1972 - Errol Le Cain) / "La Mort de Marat (The Death of Marat)" (1793 - Jacques-Louis David)

EXCERPT FROM ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER: This image is representative of all of part 4 of the poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and is a part of a larger illustrated edition. However, I absolutely adore this piece on its own. Yes, it has the elements from the poem, but it adds so much mysticism to that section. I love the colors, the darkness and the blue with the splashes of color, and the albatross standing out, almost separate from the piece, in its blocky triangle with the red blood-like strings moving to the woman. I love how the ring of circles look like the phases of the moon, and gives me a sense of time passing, even with how immediate (i guess?) the albatross and the woman's interaction feels. Also, the ship becomes a ship of the dead, with the rotted sails and the hull of the dead crew. And then back at the center of it all is the Albatross. It also is just very 70s to me, and feels a little nostalgic, like an old fantasy novel cover or something. Its great on its own, and as an illustration of a poem, it picks up on the literal and the metaphors and themes of the epic. It just delights me. I would definitely recommend the poem, its a great epic about a stranded sailor and his doomed ship.

Something I just realized, writing this, is that there is no narrator visible, which I love. The poem is in first person, and I think that translates to this image. Obviously the reader is not the mariner, but there is a closeness that occurs with that tense. Same with this, the viewer is not on the ship, but outside of it, but we are viewing the scene from almost "over" the albatross, making that our focal point, and the albatross is what draws us into the rest of the scene. I love it.

(Sorry for the weird crop, I was trying to even out the curl from the page.)

Also, here are a few stanzas from part IV, (easily placed to be deleteable lol), for fun.

Alone, alone, all, all alone, / Alone on a wide wide sea! / And never a saint took pity on / My soul in agony.

The many men, so beautiful! / And they all dead did lie: / And a thousand thousand slimy things / Lived on; and so did I.

I looked upon the rotting sea, / And drew my eyes away; / I looked upon the rotting deck, / And there the dead men lay. ...

Beyond the shadow of the ship, / I watched the water-snakes: / They moved in tracks of shining white, / And when they reared, the elfish light / Fell off in hoary flakes.

And I blessed them unaware. / The self-same moment I could pray; / And from my neck so free / The Albatross fell off, and sank / Like lead into the sea. (@travelingsmithy)

LA MORT DE MARAT (THE DEATH OF MARAT): The first time I saw it was in a history textbook in junior high and when the teacher wasn't looking I tore the page out and used it as a bookmark in my diary for years. It looks the way pipe organ music feels. I want to fold it up and put it in my chest. (@ambientcrows)

(This is an illustration from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner book by Samuel Taylor Coleridge published in 1972 by The Arcadia Press, London. The illustration was done by Errol Le Cain. Only 100 copies of the book were printed.

"La Mort de Marat (The Death of Marat)" is an oil on canvas painting by Jacques-Louis David. It measures 162 cm × 128 cm (64 in × 50 in) and is held by the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. A replica, done by the artist's studio, is also on display at the Louvre.)

[clawbehavior]

@eyesof-kkomi @fourth-quartet @killerandhealerqueen thanks for the tags, kings

12 questions, 15 people 🎶

1. Are you named after anyone?

yes! an insanely talented woman who could recite pages of text from memory 

2. When was the last time you cried?

several hours ago when i watched the latest episode of Shogun. hiromatsu, you're a real one. 

3. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

less now, simply because i use sarcasm when i feel insecure but now i recognize it happening. that's how i use it but other people use it humorously, wittily etc  

4. What's the first thing you notice about people?

how they occupy space. that usually means how confident they stand, look, walk etc. but it's a 50/50 on whether my impression is accurate. the habit started as a way to quickly categorize people as safe or unsafe so it's instinctive but i am learning to not do that 

5. What's your eye colour?

brooooown

6. Scary movie or happy ending?

happy ending even if the other option wasn't a scary movie! 

7. What are your hobbies?

writing ff, taking walks while listening to music, and photographing nature on my phone 

8. Do you have pets?

no but i love my bestie's two cats. miss you T&F

9. What sports do you/have you played?

in elementary school i was very good at hockey. my brother used me as his goalie so i learned the hard way. in middle school my parents took me out of all extra curriculars that weren't academics so i stopped playing structured sports.

i really want to start biking as an adult but my thighs and lungs tire embarrassingly fast that i feel awk trying knowing i'll be lugging my bike around when i tire out. but i'm v into the idea. i also want to get better at swimming in the deep end. 

10. How tall are you?

5'7

11. Favourite subject in high school?

math! i had a good teacher. i don't remember a single thing now and rely on my calculator for basic arithmetic but i still remember how awesome that guy was. miss you, Mr. H

12. Dream job?

something with maps and mapping services to increase access. 

tagging @briwates @thedeviljudges @technitango @rocknghorss @tenderlywicked @mid-n0vember @fr-wiwiw @neurotic-nereid @chu-fei @lienwyn @little-arcadia @batzmaru65 and anyone who likes asks games so i know to tag you in the future! feel free to pass ofc

here's the real list of 15 questions

[marlsdarls]

Life is strange: return of Max (maybe Chloe)

Tbh this is just me yapping about Lis1 bc it's the first video game that truly interested me and why I think everything relating to Max and Chloe was not necessary.

(warning English isn't my first language and I'm legit about to sleep so this might be messy + spoilers for like all the life is strange games obviously also I haven't played these in a WHILE)

Soo my first reason is just that their story has legit been told fully. You cannot tell me that we needet more of it. Max gets time travel powers, save best friend (till now I thougt potentially YOURSELF too but that's not the case anymore) or the town. Pick Chloe and David gets a call from her in Los 2 and now you know that those two are doing well and Vic is doing too,now you could elaborate on other characters too like Kate or Warren or anybody else but those aren't the main characters. Personaly I always loved how lis 1 has a pretty open ending either you drive away and don't see much more or you just see the funeral and you can imagen the rest.

This isn't the exact topic but because the series isn't finished I'm also interested on what they even plan on doing with it because I thougt they would maybe like tie the story's together and just let all the characters meet or something because like sometimes in lis 3 it legit just felt like they made the game to get another protagonist and throw steph in there so we get some Chloe crumbs and are happy because what was that story. If this is some they all meet together and either lose their powers or defeat something or whatever else people with telekinesis, time travel and empath powers do when they meet and they actually make it work than that's cool but still I don't know. I need to see the game to have a valid opinion on it yk.

On topic of them throwing Chloe and Max story crumbs our way to make us happy, if they're all connected why do we only hear of max and Chloe all the time. Like I get that that's most peoples favorite but still and I get that in a game where steph (who obviously knew Chloe & Rachel) is a love interest and witnessed the storm that there will be lots of Chloe and Rachel references (atleast in the dlc) but like its always connected throu them, David is chloes step father, steph had a crush on Rachel and knew Chloe and so on but you don't see the wolf brothers anywhere they obviously had to make the third game to make references to it but Cody (??? Tbh forgot his name but the dude Sean and Daniel saw Arcadia with and drove to that hotel) could've been mentioned that he drove there and knew someone Alex knows or like Jed is a bartender who are known for being good listeners so maybe they could've had a little refrence to someone from a game especially because lis 2 had so many people traveling too like it wouldn't have been hard to make a small refrence. I also don't get why Chloe and Rachel were such a big part of the dlc yes, Steph had a crush on Rachel and yes they were friends but why did it focus on crushes she had in high-school (???) and not even more of the storm or the fact one of her pottencial teachers was MARK JEFFERSON and that she could've known some of his other victims + def knew Rachel.

[seokiloquy]

Shift Pt 1 - Kozume Kenma

Au: Regular (timeskip)

Tags/Warnings: Dual POV, use of a pseudonym (username) instead of (Y/N) in most cases, swearing. More of a prologue

Word Count: 1.6k

Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3 | Pt 4

“Are you friends with any other streamers?” You paused momentarily, making your chair creak as you sat back. “Ya. I’d say so. I’m not best friends with any of them; I haven’t had many opportunities to get that far. But I’m friends with a few. Uvo TV and Solarii I talk to the most. If you haven’t seen their streams, they both do a lot more first-person shooters.”

You glance at your main screen, waiting for the final portion of the loading animation to finish. Back at your secondary monitor, comments continue to roll by.

“I sadly can’t stream any earlier in the day. I’ve got work to do. Be happy you have me most hours on the weekend… I have a job, yes; you must be new… I went to university, yes….”

Your lips purse. “Theatre and film.”

A slew of comments fly by, each saying the same few words, all with the same sentiment.

<THEATRE KID>

They were laughing at you.

Clicking your tongue, you turned to your main screen. “I’m ignoring that. Half of you are theatre kids anyways. You can’t talk.”

Moving your fingers against your keyboard, you finally got your game going. Pushing your 3D rendered character into the next leg of the story. You’ve played through this game many times; first in high school. A classmate, sitting in the seat in front of you, had been watching the teaser trailer when he screeched in the middle of the teacher’s lesson. It caught your attention from over his shoulder, and you approached him after class to ask about it. You played it repeatedly that year. The second game came out in your first year of university when you had become so sickly and depressed that all you could do was play the game while your fellow theatre-major roommate read out your scripts for you. The third instalment came out a month after you graduated. You decided to stream your playthrough on a whim since you had no job and could spend hours every day in front of your monitor.

Arcadia’s Inferno. An open-world adventure game that tells the story of a seemingly harmonious world full of lively nature but holds secrets to a long since dead society. The story progresses with each game, and the world becomes more and more horrifying despite the beautifully designed scenery. It’s masterful, unexpected, and you eat it up every time.

You had become established in the community of ADI quickly within a year, gaining way more followers than you could even fathom. And despite playing more games than Arcadia’s Inferno, they stuck with you.

But then the developers contacted you, and you had to sign an NDA because they were making the series’ fourth game. You were blown out of the water because they asked you to voice the main character for that game, which is the biggest dream come true, especially after training for 4 years to do voice acting. Still, you couldn’t tell anyone because the trailer was only about to be dropped next week, and no one that wasn’t working on the game knew anything about it, but you were one of those people and—

You flinched as your player fell off a cliff and died at the bottom.

“Don’t say a word.”

The chat had already jumped on you.

“I blame you guys. You sabotaged me. NO, I WAS NOT THINKING OF HAMILTON. Now I am, though. Thanks.”

You could hardly wait for the trailer to be released.

Kenma pauses his fingers to squint at his chat. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere (since all he’d been doing was typing a note for himself off-screen while the game was paused), his chat had sent rapid messages as if they were having their own conversations.

He sighs, moving his mouse to scroll through. “What’s going on, you guys?”

<ADI 4!!!!!>

< Arcadia’s Inferno 4 trailer just released!>

<AAAAHHHHHHH>

Kenma paused, heart thumping. He quickly opened a tab and found the video to share on the screen; it was released five minutes ago and was already trending. He hit play.

There have been rumours and speculations about the series’ return. It was common knowledge that there would be more games. A sudden trailer release was a new approach. It was just a matter of when, so as months pass and then years, fans wait patiently for any inkling of news.

The trailer started with a weapon slicing across the screen, followed by the sound of a falling tree, before panning up from darkness to the sight of raging fires with a shadow inside and trees crumbling.

ADI always had something new to face, not quite a villain. The games really told a person vs nature story, set in a fantasy world with a protagonist that was more morally grey than good or evil. 

The sound from Kenma speakers roared, and a colossal monster slowly emerged through the flames. 

The trailer ended as soon as it started, finishing with the logo and release date.

“That’s in a month?” Kenma asked, primarily to himself.

Games developers, Dungeon included, often spend years making their games, even after their initial announcement. One month would mean that the game is already finished, and they had started it before the third game was released.

Kenma’s chat was hysterical over the change in scenery of the world, distraught over the destruction and chaos.

Kenma leaned in his seat, fist over his mouth as he lifted his legs onto the chair. “They wouldn’t spoil the climax of the game, right? That was a lot… Hold on.” Kenma typed into his browser. “Got it. That dragon is Mayzuth, the same as at the end of the last game. But more in distress, injured. That scar on the eyes is new.”

Comments flooded in, all around the same tune of calling themselves dumb for not noticing or complimenting Kenma on his use of game knowledge and memory. He ignored it, though, glancing briefly and ducking into his shoulders. He replays the trailer again, looking for more clues in the flames.

“I may be wrong, but I think this place is supposed to be near the dense forest. Which is supposed to be the burial ground of the Biolor, the giant in the first game, whose decomposing body is why the forest is so dense. That place burning down is not great.” Kenma pauses momentarily, rewatching the trailer before turning to the chat. “That’s all I can piece together.”

<As if that isn’t the whole trailer> someone commented.

<ForestFire said the same thing!>

<I’ve got no idea>

Between each comment were several emotes, mostly of cats, which he ignored in favour of zeroing in on one comment.

ForestFire, though commonly just called Forest, Fire, even Flame, or just their name, was an avid Arcadia’s Inferno fan. One that quickly overtook Kenma in the category. He quietly huffed.

“Hey, this is my stream. You’re my fans; no talking about other streamers in my chat. I have your attention here.”

<Just watch their reaction!>

<Watch it! Watch it! Watch it!>

“I’ll do a poll. But you guys better not choose to watch someone else’s content.”

Of course, that’s precisely what they did. The pole was overtaken by an 80% vote to see ForestFire’s reaction. 

“I hate you all.” He switched over and, upon entering, was quickly greeted by ForestFire’s excitable chat.

“Oh, Kodzuken! Welcome! Everyone say hi.”

His chat flooded in as well.

“Ahh, you want to see my reaction? I’ll play it. Did anyone clip it?”

Soon enough, the slip was playing and just as his chat told him, Forest went on the same tangent he did, making the exact same predictions. He huffed.

Forest was knowledgeable about the series, and the predictions weren’t too far fetched, but even so, making the same guess made an annoying zing go off in his head. He grumbled, sending a quick and friendly response before returning to his stream.

“We are never doing that again.”

His chat teased him for being so shy.

You waited for Kodzuken to leave your stream before letting out a sigh of relief. The man carried silent intimidation as if he was criticising everyone he interacted with. You would watch his streams often in university, appreciating his soft voice as he played through your favourite game. It was an honour to be a sort of colleague to him. But it also made your heart ram against your lungs every time you came close to interacting. 

Sucking in a breath, you gave your chat a blown-out stare. “What the hell was that? I nearly died.”

<Literally? Yay!>

<Ooooooh Forest has a crushhhhh>

<theres worse ways to go>

“Chat, Ken is scary. And smart. Him popping into my chat and hardly saying anything gives me the spooks! No, stop shipping us!”

You sighed as a debate started about ship names, one that even your moderators decided to chime in on.

“I’m not going to encourage this.”

That only seemed to drive them further.

You wake up late the following day to a message from Uvo.

<Multiplayer game! You’re joining!>

Followed by a link to the game lobby.

You cringed.

<Dude. Why do you have to do this to me?>

<Trying to get you a social life>

You grumble and smack your fingertips against your keyboard.

<I have friends>

<ya, like 3>

< That’s good for me>

<Well, too bad, I already told everyone you were joining>

<Bro….. Whos gonna be there?>

<Me, you, Solarii, Tawny, Dust, X, Patty, and Ken>

<Kodzuken?>

You hoped it wasn’t.

<Yep!>

Fuck.

I hope I can make this mini-series actually good. - Bacon 

IT’LL BE AMAZING - Kiwi 

Posted: 07/05/2023

[tangent101]

The Theme of Control in Life is Strange

I'd like to thank @monochrome-nocturne for their recent comments which inspired this post. I ended up taking it and crafting a unique post as it was very tangential to their own comments. ^^

Both Jefferson and Madsen are control-freaks. But what differs is the path they took to becoming a control-freak, and how that impacts their different abusive tendencies.

We don't get much of David Madsen's history. We know he was in the military, he wasn't a very good soldier (given that he didn't even pick up how to sweep a room - Jefferson's ambush of him would have been far harder if David had just done things the way his training would have shoved into his head), he's paranoid and suspicious of teenagers, and it is quite likely he's hit Chloe multiple times given how both Chloe and Joyce react to him hitting Chloe.

If I were to delve deeper into what makes him... well, him, I'd probably suggest that he was raised by parents who were somewhat abusive. Most of their abuse, however, was verbal and likely related to how they'd never make anything of their lives and the like. In fact, I am willing to bet David went into the military to try and prove them wrong. And this only served to exasperate his existing problems as the military can end up being a controlling and abusive environment. At the very least it... encouraged certain aspects of David, such as his need for a structured and controlled environment. And while that can be beneficial, something happened to scar him psychologically and left him with PTSD.

When he left the military, he refused to admit he had a problem. He tried to go into another structured environment (policing) and the police saw he had issues and did the right thing in refusing to give him a badge! And then he found someone who... honestly was not a good choice for him in Joyce Madsen. And I say that because Joyce was busy trying to find someone to keep her from feeling alone and she... enabled his abusive tendencies rather than pushing him to get help and heal. Add in a mourning teenager and he was shoved into an unstructured chaotic environment that was not healthy for him or for a certain teenage girl.

Another problem David was dealing with was that he was head of security at Blackwell, a private institution for rich teenagers learning the arts in a high school setting. On a daily basis he was going into a chaotic entitled environment... and then he'd go home and there is Loki's granddaughter calling him out on his own issues and he'd lash out at her... and be told by his wife that he was pushed, that Chloe was to blame.

Sadly enough, the death of Joyce Madsen might have been the best thing that happened to him, along with the destruction of Arcadia Bay. The person who enabled his abusive tendencies was gone. What's more, he saved someone - Victoria Chase, at least according to LiS2. He finally got to be a hero. He got to amount to something. And seeing how he was in the Everyday Hero timeline, having actually chilled out after Max's tip led to the Dark Room... I think that David was trying so very hard to be a hero. He was trying to prove his naysayers wrong. (The Chloe Dies timeline with his plotting to murder Nathan when Nathan gets out of jail shows that he also remains the man who shot and killed Jefferson in cold blood after he learns Jefferson murdered Chloe. Sadly, that David didn't learn all of the lessons he needed to learn.)

So. What about Mark Jefferson? Well... we kind of approach Jefferson from a different, less personal angle than with David. We are not given glimpses of Jefferson as a person. He's a teacher, he's a more reasonable authority figure, he's a monster in sheep's clothing. But we do catch a glimpse of that other Mark Jefferson while in the Dark Room itself... where he reveals his stripes and the fact that he looks down on his subjects and revels in being the puppet-master who manipulates his subjects as drugged manikin.

Honestly, Mark Jefferson's actions are very much coded to be rape. He goes and takes young women, drugs them, and using an activity that they find solace or pleasure in, twists it to control them and abuse them, seeking only his own dark pleasures in seeking some ephemeral quality that only exists in his mind's eye.

There's more to this as well. Given some of what I've heard about some photographers in the cosplay and convention scene, his mindset is... not as uncommon as we'd wish it to be. Female cosplayers especially risk being manipulated like living dolls to get just the right pose and catch that essence for a perfect shot. So Jefferson was also a nod toward those photographers who insist on creating the perfect shot and blames the subject matter, rather than those who, like Max, just find a shot that catches the eye and capturing that moment.

(On a personal and positive note, I recall being at Anime Boston once and was allowed to take photos alongside someone who was more professional and just capturing that one moment... when one of the two girls blinked while she was resting her head on the other's shoulder. It looked so sweet that the photographer asked both girls to close their eyes and we got to have Bumbleby fallen asleep against each other. All because someone blinked their eyes at just the right moment and inspired something. The Mark Jeffersons of the world would never have caught that moment.)

Anyway, getting back on track here, both David Madsen and Mark Jefferson seek control in their lives and work environments. The major difference is that David seems to seek control to bring safety into his world, while Jefferson seeks to control his subjects for his "artistic vision" and out of hatred of his subjects. In a way... Jefferson and Madsen are a funhouse mirror reflection of each other - one is a gruff solid bastard of an "American" man who seeks to control folk to protect them (and instead endangers them) and the other is the suave sophisticated "likeable" academic who tries to force people to see his vision, both in teaching and in art, and ultimately loses focus on the purpose of education and of art itself.

This also is a way you can look at that Final Choice in LiS. Sacrifice Chloe could be seen as "controlling destiny" by erasing your past actions and living in misery as a result, while Sacrifice Arcadia Bay could be viewed as letting chaos and randomness happen and accepting that there are things you just can't control. But so long as you have someone you truly trust and love by our side, that lack of control can be accepted and moved past.

Or maybe it's just the lack of caffeine speaking, so I think I'll have myself a cup of tea and end things here for now. ^^

[anarcho-occultism]

Susan Calvin

Susan Calvin (December 2, 1982-April 6, 2064) was an American engineer and psychologist best known for pioneering the field of robopsychology. Calvin was born Susan Derkins in Empire Bay, Massachusetts, where she spent much of her early childhood. Calvin—surprisingly given her later life–was a rather hotheaded child and prone to getting into conflict with neighboring kids, in particular a young Calvin Durden, whom would go on later in life to form Project Mayhem. In 1988, Calvin’s father Andrew Derkins passed away and her mother would remarry James Calvin in 1990, with the young Susan taking his surname. The Calvins would end up leaving Empire Bay in 1991 in favor of the Pacific Northwest, taking up residence in Arcadia Bay. Calvin cites the isolation she felt at being so thoroughly uprooted as a crucial component in her own upbringing and developing a fascination with various sciences, especially engineering and psychology. Her impressive high school grades allowed her to be offered admission to Columbia University at the age of 17, which she accepted and began attending in 1999.

As a student at Columbia University, Calvin initially focused on studying psychology. Unusually for a Columbia University psychology student, Calvin held a disdainful view of the field of parapsychology despite the roles of former Columbia professors John Montague and Peter Venkman in pioneering that field. Calvin instead was drawn to the ideas of noted skeptic Richard Strand, who held that most paranormal phenomena was illusory or scientific phenomena not properly explained yet. Calvin was interested in the psychology of violence and crime, attending both lectures given by FBI profiler Clarice Starling and initially planning to write her thesis on Johan Liebert. However, Calvin’s interests would shift towards robotics and cybernetics. She had always had a passing interest in the topic–even writing a peer-reviewed article at age 16 about the practical aspects of robotics–but she soon came to center this topic in her area of interest. One factor shaping this was the 1999 MegaTech incident where a number of robots whom had been used to replace teachers in high-crime school districts reverted to a militaristic programming that claimed hundreds of lives nationwide. Calvin was thus drawn to the idea of what the proper limits of robotics ought to be. She ended up writing as her thesis ‘Integration of Ethics in Artificial Intelligence’, where she cited the WOPR and Colossus incidents of 1983 and the 2001 Discovery 1 disaster to argue that as AI advances, it will become increasingly necessary to construct programming that binds them to a code of ethics, especially as it merges with the field of robotics.

In her last two years at Columbia, Calvin pursued both psychology and engineering degrees. She would intern briefly at Cyberdyne in 2001 before leaving owing to the belief that management was unwilling to consider the questions of what limits should be placed on robots. Calvin would pursue a graduate degree in cybernetics and psychology at Miskatonic University, completing her thesis which coined the term ‘robopsychology’ under Professor Velma Dinkley. She was subsequently hired by US Robotics and Mechanical Men, Incorporated, which was intrigued by her ideas of robopsychology. Despite her later reputation, it is worth noting that Dr. Calvin was largely considered a fringe figure among artificial intelligence researchers and robotics engineers in this era. Figures like Nathan Bateman and Robert Ford belittled Calvin’s view that these constraints were necessary, instead arguing no machine could fully match a human mind and that, as mechanical devices, they would always remain under human control. At this time, these concerns were still considered largely theoretical as robotics and AI proved slower to integrate into wider human life compared to the expectations of earlier eras.

Calvin’s application of psychology to robotics was not her only contribution to the former field, however. In 2008, following the debut of the synthetic blood substitute TruBlood, the world’s vampire population revealed their existence. Immediately, opinions were polarized-many human supremacist groups found themselves in uneasy alliances with organizations dedicated to controlling the supernatural like the Watcher’s Council and Hellsing claiming they were a danger to humanity but vampires themselves and a number of human sympathizers argued, diet aside, they were no different from humanity and deserved the same rights. Calvin approached vampires with an impressive level of objectivity, seeking to understand the psychology of vampires. She interviewed over 200 vampires in the process of compiling her 2011 paper The Psychology of Undeath: Inside the Minds of Vampires. Calvin broke vampire frames of mind into multiple categories. On one extreme, she identified what she called the reluctant. This category of vampires viewed what they were naturally predisposed to be with revulsion and sought to make up for it. She cited Vladimir Tod, Louis de Pointe du Lac and the Cullen family as examples of this category, seeking to stave off their hunger or satiate it in other ways even pre-TruBlood. On the other extreme she identified the ‘monster mindset’, which views vampirism as a gift and the predation on humanity as a feature rather than a bug. These vampires, Calvin said, would likely try to feed even with TruBlood being available. Most vampires, she argued, fell in between-the likes of Klaus Mikaelson, Laszlo Cravensworth and Michael Morbius having some degree of ethics and morality tempered, but not wholly eliminated by, the need to feed. Calvin dismissed claims that vampires were inherently soulless monsters as superstition but did acknowledge that most vampires have significantly reduced empathy compared to the average human-but argued at the closing such a thing was ‘a byproduct of natural selection for what is, at the end of the day, a predator of humanity by nature now given an off-ramp.’

Calvin’s work on vampire psychology thus concluded, she would resume a focus on robotics. She would work with Tak Mashido to design models of robots capable of engaging in boxing, which would nearly eliminate the industry altogether after one of their robots bested boxing champion Adonis Creed in a 2019 match. Calvin also helped develop blueprints for the Jaegers used by the Pan-Pacific Defense Corps, modeling them on the Japanese EVA units deployed against the ‘angels’ attacking Japan at the same time. Calvin would move to California in 2015 to pursue further consulting jobs. In addition to her ongoing robotics work, Calvin was paid by tech billionaire Peter Gregory to come up with a method for uploading a human brain into cyberspace as a way of achieving immortality and was one of the first members of Amaya’s quantum computer team and contributed heavily to the engineering behind their primary project. Calvin viewed these projects with interest, but was never especially passionate about most of her work, pursuing it with a clinical interest. It is likely for this reason her one romantic entanglement in this time was with the similarly clinical Paul Redeker, a political consultant infamous for past work for the apartheid regime in South Africa whom had subsequently worked for the US government to aid in postwar reconstruction of Iraq, Adjikastsn and Afghanistan. The relationship did not last long, as Redeker and Calvin lacked significant shared interests, but has been viewed as indicative of Calvin’s normal disposition. Calvin is also known as one of the leading critics of the creation of ‘Replicants,’ arguing their purpose could equally be filled by robots with the ability to ensure perfect programming being more possible on a machine than a human brain. Calvin was criticized by some for the clinical detachment involved in this criticism, which also included citing the actions of the Rossum Corporation and their failures as an argument against Replicants, though it is generally accepted Calvin couched her criticism this was as part of a broader belief expressing the depth of her true emotions on the topic would be useless.

One of Calvin’s most important consulting jobs, however, involved her work on the MULTIVAC network embedded in a wide range of technology, but notably a key part in voting machines launched starting in the 2012 election. This network not only would ultimately gain sentience, but was a key element leading to Calvin becoming a political target. During the 2020 presidential election, Republican nominee David Jefferson Adams claimed the MULTIVAC network would be used to rig the vote in favor of his Democratic opponent Jonathan Lincoln Duncan. After Duncan’s victory, Adams’ supporters continued to denounce this network and after the President’s Day Massacre of 2022, Adams’ Attorney General Michael Seaver would announce the designers of MULTIVAC, including Calvin, would be charged with electoral interference and treason. As the Adams administration was actively restricting and rolling back rights, Calvin was only allowed to use the legal services of Jimmy McGill, himself an inmate in New Mexico who was notorious for his role aiding various drug kingpins. However, in a blow to Seaver and Adams, McGill proved an adroit defense attorney and managed to help Calvin escape imprisonment. After getting off, Calvin was involved in anti-Adams activities, participating in protests against the disqualification of Democratic nominee Georgina Hobart from the 2024 election due to allegations of treason and using her professional network to help sabotage technology used in the Adams administration’s efforts to suppress the Gabriel Bell riots and Equisapiens attacks on facilities operated by the Adams aligned WorryFree corporation.

Calvin would rise to increased prominence following the Inauguration Day bombings and subsequent outbreak of the Second American Civil War. She was in California at the time, a region which quickly devolved into chaos as the conflict ignited. Originally, the state government under Governor Hobart declared itself independent. However, Hobart was ousted from power in a coup organized by a number of corporate leaders operating in Silicon Valley, led by the billionaire tech moguls Steve Lift and Peter Isherwall, who installed Zach Morris as Governor. The group’s goal was to bring California into the fold of the Allied States of America, a corporate-driven regime purged of the fundamentalism of Adam’s more fanatical backers. However, shortly after the ASA was formed, its attempt to strike the Greater Korean Republic, who it framed for the bombings, led to the GKR invading the West Coast, occupying a large swath of California. Moreover, the AI Skynet would unleash an army of Terminator units on the state, massacring thousands and imprisoning some in simulations intended to harvest their body heat to power itself. California’s resistance to the ASA, GKR and Skynet organized under the leadership of John Connor, who made Calvin a key member of his inner circle. Calvin helped develop a number of computer viruses that enabled the breakdown of Skynet’s ‘Matrix’ system and helped prevent a GKR advance to the Rocky Mountains. Connor’s Californian resistance group received aid from many other North American factions fighting the Second American Civil War, including the NAN, the United Canadian and American States (a coalition formed in Columbus by the leading claimant to the mantle of the old US and Canada’s government after losing Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta to secessionists) and even the theocratic Republic of Gilead that occupied much of the Deep South.

This unlikely coalition, aimed at the existential threat of Skynet and the GKR as well as the traitors heading the ASA, likely is what made the ceasefire and formation of the Organization of North American Nations in 2028 possible. Calvin, following this, would become a figure in the independent Californian government, working for President Connor as his leading technology advisor. Calvin helped negotiate terms for Japan to send a large amount of the technology dubbed the ‘Japanese Miracle’ to the badly-battered California, enabling rapid reconstruction of devastated cities in the state. Calvin also, in this capacity, developed a series of protocols all sentient machines manufactured in California were obligated to follow: the Three Laws of Robotics, which prevented robots from harming humans or allowing humans to come to harm, ordered preservation of human life except in conflict with the First Law and ordered robot self-preservation save for in instances conflicting with the first two laws. While eventually hailed as a groundbreaking framework, many technology firms scoffed at Calvin’s protocols. The ONAN’s Congress blocked an attempt by ONAN President Lisa Simpson to mandate the Three Laws in the whole ONAN and when Senator Andrew Steele Jarrett, an acolyte of Gilead’s Prophet Steve Jordan, won the 2032 ONAN election, he outright targeted Calvin both for these laws and her public scorn for the politics of Gilead Jarrett made an attempt to enforce nationally. When protests and riots forced Jarrett out in 2035 (sparked by a mix of his heavyhanded push for continent-wide theocracy and his poor handling of the Green Flu pandemic that ravaged his native Gilead and sparked the regime’s collapse to a large-scale revolt a few years later), his successor Elizabeth Winters halted efforts to target Calvin, but continued to resist making the Three Laws mandatory owing to her own efforts to weaponize robots. Opinion on the Three Laws, however, would turn drastically following the CyberLife android revolt in Detroit in 2038 and the rise of the city-state of Zero One in Qumar two years later. In the 2040 ONAN election, the independent ex-Republican Robert McAlistair, who ultimately won, openly endorsed the mandating of Three Laws compliance in all sentient machines, which came into effect in his first year as President.

Calvin continued to work as a psychologist of both humans and robots despite her general fame. In 2029, Calvin made her first visit offworld to Hyper Base, a facility set up on an asteroid by the ONAN military. At various times, Calvin was called in to evaluate US Robotics and Mechanical Men-manufactured robots experiencing malfunction, but also was consulted by a number of other companies and figures as well. The Kwan Do family, who ran Mars’ third largest settlement, hired her to evaluate their drones’ effectiveness and verify their compliance with the Three Laws. Calvin was also contacted by Metaverse Enterprise Solutions to investigate if a simulated character they had created had actually been deleted from existence or not. Calvin’s findings were officially inconclusive but rumors persist that she verified the character did in fact survive, but refused to disclose this information to her creators. The billionaire Cosmo Spacely hired Calvin to help design his ‘Levittowers’ that began cropping up in the 2050’s and 2060’s. Calvin was a prominent opponent of the ONAN’s adoption of the ‘Precrime’ system of predicting crimes before they happened and warned that it coupled with the rise of the ‘street judge’ system would end in the total elimination of civil liberties. Calvin’s role in the public eye would conclude in 2058, with her retirement. After giving a final interview covering thoughts on current events and technology, Calvin would remain a recluse until her death of natural causes in 2064. Calvin would leave a long-lasting legacy, as robotics manufacturing remained heavily influenced by her, though the lead-up to the Great War increased the number of Three Laws-violating robots in existence greatly.

References

Asimov’s Robots Series, Calvin and Hobbes, Fight Club, Life is Strange, Haunting of Hill House, Ghostbusters, Silence of the Lambs, Monster, Class of 1999, WarGames, Colossus: The Forbin Project, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Terminator, Cthulhu Mythos, Scooby Doo, Ex Machina, Westworld, True Blood, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hellsing, Chronicles of Vladimir Tod, Interview With a Vampire, Twilight, The Vampire Diaries, What We Do in the Shadows, Marvel Comics, Real Steel, Rocky, Pacific Rim, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Silicon Valley, Devs, World War Z, SOCOM: US Navy SEALS, Blade Runner, Dollhouse, Franchise, Shattered Union, The President is Missing, Growing Pains, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, The Politician, Star Trek, Sorry to Bother You, Jericho, Don’t Look Up, Saved by the Bell, Homefront, The Matrix, Shadowrun, The Handmaid’s Tale, Infinite Jest, Ghost in the Shell, The Simpsons, Parable of the Talents, Christian Nation, Left 4 Dead, Vanquish, Detroit: Become Human, The Animatrix, Jack and Bobby, Empire Earth, Doki Doki Literature Club Plus!, The Jetsons, Minority Report, Judge Dredd, Fallout

[lexel05]

This is my first OC of Troll hunters, it came to me a few days ago and I hope you enjoy it^^

Do you also have OC of toa? I would be happy to see them! (If anyone wants to create any by joining the Rebels Order I would be honored^^)

Backstory explained further:

He arrived on earth only 21 years ago, but immediately fell in love with the surface. He studied at Arcadia Oaks High School before Jim's arrival and had the opportunity to have Strickler as his teacher.

During his years with Janus Order (where he was a hacker, since he always tried to avoid becoming an assassin) he learned -from his teacher- that Changelings are not the equal of trolls, but they are better! They can walk in daylight and have more flexibility and agility than a normal troll.

He has always hated having to submit to the Gumm-Gumm and one day, after one of them tried to hurt his girlfriend (who came to find out about the existence of the troll market) he rebels and kills one of them.

During that evening he realizes that it is not right for humans to have to suffer in a war that is not theirs, and so he decides to abandon the Janus Order for good and create his own that aims to protect humans and mutants so they can reign over the surface against the Trolls.

[styxisms]

General:

Muse Name: Nathan Prescott Age: 18-19 Race: human Weapon/skills: Nathan has a gun that he doesn't even know how to use safely lol. Faceclaim: Bill Skarsgård

Personality:

Positive Traits: Artistic, creative, uhhhhhhhhhhh Negative traits: Vindictive, pessimistic, easy to manipulate, self-centered, addict, unstable, angry, mean. Skills: Photography, rich. Likes: Getting high, art, photography, acting, attention. Dislikes: Almost every person he has ever met, his father, his family in general, arcadia bay. Summary: Nathan is incredibly mentally ill. He is a victim of abuse that has grown into an abuser. He is unstable and apathetic to most people and their struggles. He is very far into his own head and does whatever he can to protect himself regardless of if it hurts other people. He self-medicates which leads him to being even more unstable. He is mean and aggressive like a beaten dog.

History:

Relationship: Verse dependent Family: He has his parents (neither of which he cares for) and his sister. Biography: The Prescott family comes from old money. Nathan was lucky enough to be the only son of Sean Prescott. His father was a ruthless man. Owning almost all of Arcadia Bay required a stern hand. That extended to his children as well. Nathan was not like other kids. He was sensitive and emotional. His father tried to force him to "be a man" and due to that, Nathan changed. He got meaner. His own emotions hidden behind a fiery temper. He spent most of his time ignored by his parents, and the rest of his time with them was spent with his father berating or hitting him. He dreaded his attention but craved his love.  When Nathan entered his teens, his mental health worsened. He was self-destructive and acted out in class.  Teachers pleaded with his family to get him help, but they wanted to avoid the embarrassment of a Prescott being "defective". They took him to the family doctor and got him on medications. Anti-psychotics and antidepressants. Nathan took to self-medicating with weed, booze, and xanax. Nathan had tried pretty much every kind of drug he could get his hands on. Once he was sent to Blackwell and lived on campus and away from his family, he spiraled even more into substance abuse.  All of this hit a peak when he met Mark Jefferson, a famous photographer. Nathan quickly began to confide in him. Jefferson seemed to see through the bullshit and understand what he was REALLY like. This led to him admiring him more and more and seeing him as a father-figure. A relationship that was quickly taken advantage of by Jefferson. He had Nathan use his money for him, commit crimes.

Jefferson eventually took the life of a girl Nathan liked. He had trusted Jefferson so he was afraid of the other turning his back on him. He did whatever he asked, including drugging the girl he liked. All that he had from that night was a picture of the two of them. Rachel was dead and Jefferson told him it was his fault. The photo was evidence and Nathan's feelings of love and trust turned into betrayal, anger, and fear. He knew Jefferson had killed her, but he couldn't go against him.

Verses:

tba

Other fandoms he could work in: any modern verse

[pinkytoothlesso11]

Through the Veil: Trollhunters Halloween special

Spooky season begins tomorrow and I thought I'd kick off the first chapter of my Halloween special fic a day early! It's the first time doing this, and largely inspired by @rosemaidenvixen doing this sort of fics every year.

Fic summary: Arcadia has always been a town where mysterious and unexplainable things happen. Especially around Fall. Even if most people don't realise this. Seven kids determined to discover Arcadia's dark secret venture through the Veil separating their world from the Darklands. Only some secrets are best left buried...

Chapter summary: Jim Lake Jr meets his high school crush, along with others from Arcadia Oaks, including best friend Toby, Claire's bffs Darci and Mary, Bully Steve and conspiracy theorist Eli, at a graveyard. Where disturbing things about History teacher Mr Strickler are revealed... And a leap through a portal leads to dire circumstances. Even life threatening.

[ruiinationx]

Name: Nathan Prescott

Activity level: primary - medium high

Faceclaim: Bill Skarsgård

Content: Life is Strange

Age Range: 19+

Pronouns: he/him contend warning: child abuse, mental illness, substance abuse,  Summary - The Prescott family comes from old money. Nathan was lucky enough to be the only son of Sean Prescott. His father was a ruthless man. Owning almost all of Arcadia Bay required a stern hand. That extended to his children as well. Nathan was not like other kids. He was sensitive and emotional. His father tried to force him to "be a man" and due to that, Nathan changed. He got meaner. His own emotions hidden behind a fiery temper. He spent most of his time ignored by his parents, and the rest of his time with them was spent with his father berating or hitting him. He dreaded his attention but craved his love.  When Nathan entered his teens, his mental health worsened. He was self-destructive and acted out in class.  Teachers pleaded with his family to get him help, but they wanted to avoid the embarrassment of a Prescott being "defective". They took him to the family doctor and got him on medications. Anti-psychotics and antidepressants. Nathan took to self-medicating with weed, booze, and xanax. Nathan had tried pretty much every kind of drug he could get his hands on. Once he was sent to Blackwell and lived on campus and away from his family, he spiraled even more into substance abuse.  All of this hit a peak when he met Mark Jefferson, a famous photographer. Nathan quickly began to confide in him. Jefferson seemed to see through the bullshit and understand what he was REALLY like. This led to him admiring him more and more and seeing him as a father-figure. A relationship that was quickly taken advantage of by Jefferson. He had Nathan use his money for him, commit crimes.

Jefferson eventually took the life of a girl Nathan liked. He had trusted Jefferson so he was afraid of the other turning his back on him. He did whatever he asked, including drugging the girl he liked. All that he had from that night was a picture of the two of them. Rachel was dead and Jefferson told him it was his fault. The photo was evidence and Nathan's feelings of love and trust turned into betrayal, anger, and fear. He knew Jefferson had killed her, but he couldn't go against him. He

Abilities: TBA

Aesthetics:

Playlist:

Verses:

pre-game verse:

main verse:

post game verse:

[im-the-king-of-the-ocean]

could I nab an aro/ace jim? going along w/ life before it hits him that crushes?? exist?? because I personally never realised that this was a thing people experienced, and realising my experiences weren't the norm. I thought I was bi for the longest time because I felt the same towards everyone. perhaps his 'crush' on claire is a squish, or becoming qpps with toby? or maybe something else if you feel you've got a rad idea :o

Ace of Spades

When Jim found out about being aromantic and asexual, it was because of a set of pride flags he stumbled across online.  He knew what some of them were.  He’d spent months trying to figure out if any of those ones fit him.  Then realizing they didn’t.  Not really.  The only one that came close was bisexual.  Still, it felt like there was something different about him.  Something that didn’t quite fit with the bi label.  Something that was it’s own thing entirely.

Mom said he could be a late bloomer.  That he’d figure out romance in his own time.  There was no rush.  She’d always be there for him if he wanted to talk or if he needed help in getting resources.  Jim never took her up on that.  

What if that supposed magic moment where he’d figure romance out never happened?  He asked himself on occasion.  Did he really want it to?  Jim wasn’t sure.  He’d never considered himself different from anyone else.  He always thought the way he felt was the norm.  That the “romance” he saw in media was something exaggerated by Hollywood to sell all the movies they could.

The fact that he was apparently the different one felt strange to Jim.  He didn’t know what to make of the feeling.  He’d gone through life without really thinking about romance as A Thing.  He honestly didn’t want to start now.

So, seeing those pride flags and learning of the aro and ace labels felt nice.  Like the beginning of an answer to a question Jim didn’t know he needed to ask.  “Aroace” rolled off the tongue in a pleasant way.  It was a secure feeling, to know he didn’t have to be anything else but what he already was.

In the coming days, Jim learned more words, an entirely new vocabulary.  Squish.  Queerplatonic relationship.  Zucchini.  That last one made him smile when he used one of the vegetable for dinner one night.

An entire world he didn’t know existed, one that felt right, had been opened up to him.

And something, for once, felt comfortable.

Jim soon found it was hard to deal with everyone else.  Before learning of being aroace, he hadn’t realized (noticed) how much everyone else around him seemed to be obsessed with romance.  Now that he did, it was grating.  Just a little bit.

Jim didn’t mind that romance existed or that people were interested in it necessarily.  It just, it wasn’t something he was interested in.  Not really.  Sometimes it was downright frustrating when everyone assumed he wanted or would want it.  Eventually.

His mom, in particular, seemed to be waiting for that “eventually”, given her regular comments that “girls” were a natural part of high school that he should be worried about.  Jim generally avoided talking to her about it if he could.  He loved her, but there were times when Mom could be pushy when she thought she was being helpful (when she was really not).

Jim still hadn’t figured out how to talk to her about that one yet.

Toby was easier.

“So aroace, huh?  Sounds like you’re some cool archer dude.  Like you’re an ace ninja with a bow and have like a bajillion arrows that you can shoot with deadly accuracy and you’re going to become a superhero—wait, hang on, I gotta look this up.”  Toby whipped out his phone and started typing.  “There’s gotta be some cool aroace superhero already.”

Jim laughed.  “Only you, Tobes, would react by thinking of some hero thing.”

“Laugh now, Jimbo, but one of these days I’m going to be right.  Just you wait.”  Toby paused.  “Anyway, you good?”  He turned to face Jim.  “How do you feel?  Like are you “I just came out to my best friend and I’m totally awesome sauce cause I know we’re awesome sauce forever” or “I just came out to my best friend and I’m kinda panicky about it?”

“The first one.  Mostly.”  Jim shrugged.  “I wouldn’t put it exactly like that, but yeah.  “We’re good, Tobes.”  He took a cookie off the plate Nana had given them and lay back on Toby’s bed.  He let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding in.

“Master Jim, I must apologize.  For I assumed you and Tobias were already in a partnership.”  Blinky spoke in an uncertain tone.

“Wait, you thought we were dating?  Like gay?”  Jim clenched his hands arounds his knees.  This conversation was not going how he’d expect it to.  After talking to Toby about it, he’d decided to come out to Blinky too (and ARRRGGGHHH!!! depending on how the conversation with Blinky went).  So far, he’d made it past telling Blinky that he was aroace.  That had gone well.  Blinky had accepted his explanation of the labels.  But now they’d gotten here, where Blinky apparently assumed he and Toby were an Item.

Blinky spoke up again,  “I would not put it like that necessarily.  Not too many years ago, while scavenging on the surface, I overhead a set of humans talk of what they called a ‘queerplatonic relationship’.  From what they said, I gathered it must be a meaningful sort of relationship that exists independent of the usual trappings or symbolism of traditional romance.  Since then, ARRRGGGHHH!!! and myself have found it a wonderfully useful term to define what we are to each other.  We are something that is both strong and deeply emotional.  Somedays there are no words to eloquently put how I feel about him nor him about me.  For us, queerplatonic fit what other words could not possibly hope to describe.”  Blinky paused.  “Ah, my train of thought seems to have gotten away from me.  But my assumption was that you and Tobias share a similar relationship.  That you are, I believe the right term is zucchini?  Partners?”

“Oh, um no.  We’re just friends.”  Jim’s grip tightened on his knees.  He hadn’t thought about being anything with Tobes.  Not yet.  He was still adjusting to his identity.  That was what this conversation was supposed to be about.  His identity.  “Blinky, I’m…I may never want a relationship.  Of any kind.  I haven’t really so far.  Like I haven’t gotten crushes or anything ever.  I didn’t even think they were real for the longest time, but according to Toby they are.”  He sighed.  “I just…I don’t know.”  He threw up his arms.  “I’m ok with the possibility of a queerplatonic relationship, but I don’t want you guys to just assume I’m going to do that.  Or anything else.  Because I don’t even know what I’m going to do yet.  I’m still figuring this out!”  He paced around with his fists clenched.  “Just…don’t say I can still have relationships despite my identity.  Cause being aroace?  Is really important to me.  It’s a part of me.”  He spun and glared at Blinky.  “Not something that needs to be overcome.”

Blinky approached him slowly.  “I deeply apologize, Jim.”  He cautiously put his hands on Jim’s shoulders.  “It was not my intention to convey that that needs to happen.  It does not.”

“Thanks, Blink.  I…I kinda like the idea of a qpr?  Just not right now.  Or yet.  Or something.”  Jim inhaled.  “For now, I want to be just me.”  He paused.  “But, can you tell me more about them anyway?  Just so I know?”

“Of course.”

Jim backed up a step, away from the classroom door.  “Are you sure I can be here? I mean, I don’t know, they may—”

“Dude, chill.”  Toby grabbed his shoulder.  “It’s going to be totally awesome sauce.  Trust me.  I got you’re back.  Worst case scenario, we run out of there and become school legends.”

“Really, Tobes?  Running out of a GSA meeting will make us legends?”  Jim sighed.  Ran his hand through his hair.  “This was a bad idea.  We should—”

Toby interrupted him.  “No buts!  Trust in your wingman.  When have I ever led you astray?”

“Do you really want me to answer that?”

“Good point.  But I’m right about this, Jimbo.”  Toby faced him.  “I know you read some stupid stuff online, but this isn’t the Internet where anyone can say anything.  I know everyone on the other side of that door and I can say with certainty, you belong with us and they’ll think so too.”

Jim sighed.  “Fine.  Let’s do this.”  Worst case scenario, he activated the Amulet of Daylight so he could break through the classroom window as an escape and then have to deal with the fallout of revealing magic to a bunch of high school kids.

Toby opened the door with a flourish. “I hereby welcome you to the Gay-Straight Alliance of Arcadia Oaks High!” He led Jim into the classroom.  “Where we have doughnuts, friends, and on special occasions, Miss Janeth’s dramatic interpretations of other teachers!”  In a quieter tone, he added, “You should hear her Strickler.  It’s hilarious, dude.”

“I heard that, Mr. Domzalski.”  Miss Janeth spoke from where she was hanging up a poster on the board.  “And welcome, Mr. Lake, we were just about to get started.”  She turned to address the entire group in the classroom, which included Eli Pepperjack, Shannon Longhannon, Mary Wang, Darci Scott, Claire Nunez, and even the new students Aja and Krel, as well as others Jim didn’t recognize immediately on sight.  “As many of you know, the club fair is coming up and I’d like us to have a station.”  Miss Janeth went on.  “We’ll have signups for those of you who want to help man the table and, like last year, Señor Uhl has agreed to maintain a ‘security presence’.  Now, Ms. Wang has submitted the idea that we get mini pride flags to put on the table, so everyone, especially if they’re still in the closet, knows they’re welcome with us.  She’s volunteered to acquire the flags and start a list so we don’t miss anyone’s labels…”

As the meeting went on, Jim relaxed.  No one asked him to come out or prove why he should be there.  He was welcomed easily into the conversation.  He was ok.

Jim set up the mini pride flags along the front edge of the GSA’s fair table.  It had taken then a while to find them all, but in the end they’d been successful.  He set both the aromantic and asexual flags down next in the lineup after the genderfluid and agender flags.

A part of him regretted letting Toby talk him into helping today, but a part of him really wanted to be there too.

“Ah, they look lively!” Aja bounced into the chair next to him. “It is so exciting!  We will educate the people of the municipality of Arcadia all about the wonderful identities they don’t know they can have or they know they have and don’t know that have support for!”  She spun around in her seat.  “Either way it will be a totally legal day!”

“Arcadia’s a city and we’re only manning the table for the school’s club fair.  I don’t think that many people are going to show up.”  Jim was quick to reply.  The idea of a huge number of people showing up made him nervous.

“Yes, but some will still come  That is exciting!”  Aja playfully punched his arm.  “We will help people!  Toby told me you’re an archer ninja.  Between your mad skills and my…errmm…also mad skills, we will do good for the next two hours!”

Jim couldn’t help but smile.  Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

[taags-old-account]

Tales Of Arcadia Propaganda Part 2:

(I used some people's suggestions from the previous post. If you don't want yours on here, message me and I'll take it off the list!)

"Greetings Savage One... I come bearing undergarments, as a snack!"

Guys why don't they cover the trauma. Oh wait look. Fanfic.

Gulliemero Del Toro is the creator and worked on the series :)

Also, he's the VA of Toby's dentist.

Drake Meme with 'The Midnight Boys' and 'CREEPSLAYERZ'

*hits Morgana Le Fay With A Guitar* "Did you just strike me with a- a lute?" "NO NU NU NU NU NU- SpELlCasTeR GuITaR DaRLiNg!"

Gunmar just like fucking ate a woman and nobody seems to question it.

Cue the horror movie grade whistling. POP GOES THE SCARY PINK TROLL

The Teacher's staff of the entire high school was 5 people, but one was killed in season one, and the other was an imposter.

Don't mix up the rule #3's.

Alfred Molina voicing a talking cat with glasses.

Sonic The Hedgehog. But Stone.

King Arthur thought that Genocide was a better coping mechanism than just talking it out.

Unicorn AU!

The teacher's staff and Jim going on the changelings' version of crack.

The small saga of Douxie's motorcycle.

*Dolphin chattering*

WHAT DOES 'KLEB' EVEN MEAN

Toby canonically ate cat food. And liked it.

"I don't care about my dad!" "You do now."

*throws baby brother into the bushes*

The gyre.

"OH FUZZBUCKETS!"

How hungry must have Gunmar been if he ate the entirety of Arcadia's Janus Order....?

*throws a brick through window*

Their gym clothes are also their pajamas.

The movie was decent until Steve got pregnant.

Also Eli's several glow-ups

BUSTER :)

None Shall Live

Bular also ate a guy.

Merlin is never impressed. But he's been through a lot. So it's fine.

Tight Jeans Hank

All of Douxie's lines in the movie are just "NARI" in different tones and variations

The body-swap happened because if Douxie said "abracadabra buttsnacks" in his own body we would have lost our collective minds.

Once again. Feel free to add more!