#or that they just couldn't keep up w it

[clonehub]

"why does the fandom complain so much!!" do you see what we've been getting

[obisamya]

my top 5 caroline forbes ships/dynamics ♡

#1. caroline/enzo — “ironically, he’s recently become one of the more stable people in my life.”

[incognito-lionbeast]

I think in my AU Tianlang-Jun/heavenly demons in general are a (demon world variant of) Mew. So.. essentially. Big, bad gyarados Su Xiyan saw this funny little foetus cat & was like "I can't NOT have an egg with that"

Thankfully Mew knows Transform. It's fine.

[piningpercussionist]

I love lesbians thanks for providing solder 🫡

Anything for our Women* Lovers back at home, Sir (gn)!

*(and non women ♡)

(also this already included trans women but friendly reminder that if you're a terf you're not welcome here ♡ How did you get passed the transfem Scott posts? /j)

[neraiutsuze]

i caved and went back to an old save right at the start of act ii, just so that in my head in one universe ryse and karlach could be together. broke up with lae'zel before she got serious about Us. all set for things to kick off.

....THIS TIME, WYLL FUCKIN JUMPED IN TO COCKBLOCK. APPARENTLY THIS MOTHERFUCKER WAS JUST SITTING THERE PINING THIS WHOLE TIME, AND ME BREAKING UP WITH LAE'ZEL WAS PRIME "SWEET DANCING MOMENT IN THE STARS" FOR MR BLADE OF FRONTIERS. I JOKED THAT SHADOWHEART WAS ALSO NURSING A SECRET CRUSH IN THIS LOVE TRIANGLE BUT NO!!!!! WYLL THIS WHOLE TIME!!!!! WAS THIS ENTIRE CAMP JUST WAITING FOR ME TO HOP OFF LAE'ZEL'S LAP FOR FIVE MINUTES SO THEY COULD SHOOT THEIR SHOT?????

and then i turned him down - of course, this was a Please Just Let Me Give Karlach The Sweet Fucking She Deserves save - and god, he looked so heartbroken and sad and - and - i didn't mean to reject you wyll i'm sorry i'm sORRY THIS WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN--

[hussyknee]

Okay who the fuck is the Al Qassam Brigade's media unit?? All their videos go harder than a freight train. Hollywood couldn't afford them.

[mathysphere]

Month 4/August Update: sourgrass has bloomed, sent out seed pods (they pop!), and is now starting to be crowded out by larger, leafier plants.

Cross-stitch is still in good shape, with the beginnings of a layer of detritus forming around the edges of it.

[🦝 tag]

[crescentfool]

recently, i’ve been thinking about what a 100% social link/confidant run is like from the perspective of the persona protagonists, rather than the player. i’ve always been a sucker for thinking about the type of narrative created by a person’s gameplay choices (it can be so fun and deep) so!! i wrote this analysis / musing.

some notes before we start: this was written with the lens of persona 3 being the most recent game i played- but the concepts are applicable to the p4/p5 protagonists as well! no spoilers for any of the games are mentioned; this is moreso a general discussion of ludonarrative dissonance with the game mechanics and narrative and how it makes for fun angst (ft. personal interpretation).

(more under the cut!)

the framework: game mechanics

in all of the games, the social link system’s existence coincides with the social stats mechanic. certain social links require a specific set of stats in order to initiate it, or surpass a certain rank. each game has around 20 of these- each of which represent the major arcana (+ some bonuses, e.g. aeon / jester / faith / councilor).

for any players going for a 100% social link run, this basically requires each social stat to be maxed out. anyone who’s followed a guide for a 100% run would know that the beginning of the game tends to be very “strict” with how time can be used, most of which involves getting the stats raised  as soon as possible.

outside of characterization and worldbuilding, completing social links are incentivized for a variety of gameplay reasons. so how could this completionist play style affect the protagonists?

prioritizing social stats over everything else: a general view

regardless of which protagonist you want to put under a petri dish, with a 100% run, you’re essentially asking the protagonist to form amicable bonds with 20 or so people, give or take. granted, not everyone becomes adjoined to the hip to the protagonist.

personally, i feel that forming 20 different bonds over the course of a year would be rather strenuous. during these 100% runs, the protagonists may feel that they’re spreading themselves thin trying to dedicate their resources to multiple different people as well as raising their “social stats.” i find the implications that this has on said bonds is so, utterly fascinating.

while this isn’t reflected in the game and would be better represented within a fic, i find it difficult to believe that this type of behavior doesn’t have any ramifications on the quality of the protagonist’s closer relationships (or their self-image, for that matter).

just… imagine calling one of your close friends but then they consistently give responses along the lines of “lmao sorry i’m busy doing other things,” and they rarely make the time of day for you. how would you feel? gameplay-wise, this deterioration of the relationship is best represented in persona 3 with social links reversing if you haven’t spent time with them in awhile.

part of my fascination with this concept is influenced by my own experiences. trying to maintain so many relationships can be difficult to keep up with and it quickly gets overwhelming (see dunbar’s number for more information). jumping between so many people also makes it difficult to focus on a few relationships meaningfully- meaning that relationships may be limited to being simple pleasantries. even then, ‘successfully’ keeping every relationship satisfying comes at the cost of being unable to pursue your own development and interests.

overall, i think that trying to do so many things ends up lowering the quality of the relationship(s) involved, especially when you also consider the fatigue from going to school as well as fighting shadows.

playing the therapist friend / listening role: a general view

another aspect of the 100% run that i think about is how the protagonists rarely open up to other people. a good chunk of SLs follow a storyline of the protagonist acting as a therapist friend/helping the other person through one central issue. some SLs are an exception to this and have a more casual “we’re just hanging out vibe.”

basically, SLs tend to be weighted toward the other character’s growth, moreso than the protagonist’s (which is handled by the main story). that said, the idea of mostly playing a listening role across most of your relationships and not having many that you feel comfortable to speak freely about your own stuff… feels really unbalanced and unhealthy?

i do think that part of the lack of “input” can be attributed to the silent-protagonist approach taken in the games (which is a whole ‘nother topic). but!! i find that each protagonist’s options, while limited, are fun to think about! some of the traits and interpretations i’ve seen for the differing protags, to name a few, include:

being afraid to open up / get attached and keeping people at arm’s distance as a result

needing to be around other people, even if it’s just listening them, to distract from their own struggles / pretend nothing’s wrong with them

enjoying helping others, being a good and careful listener who can provide an appropriate and helpful response

the willingness to prioritize others over themselves; a lack of self-preservation

compulsive people pleasing

at its worst, the lack of “protagonist talking” or equal reciprocation in response could be misinterpreted by the other person as disinterest (like they’re talking to a wall). alternatively- the lack of “personal tidbits” could be taken as, “you don’t trust me enough to be able to open up, huh.” and i just think that seeing this in a fic would be the biggest shitshow ever (and i would read that).

concluding thoughts:

overall, i feel that the protagonists taking a predominantly listening approach to several relationships at once can lead to compassion fatigue and general burnout. the protagonists are rarely at the receiving end of being listened to and/or having their issues worked through… and that’s kind of sad?

while the 100% social link run can provide great power to any persona fusions (and other cool battle abilities + hijinks)... i ultimately think that there’d be a lot of mental strain that would make achieving this much more difficult when you take a narrative-emphasized approach.

i do realize that it is possible to see the general vibe of this post as “100% social link is bad,” but like… there’s something i find really appealing about the messiness of attempting to manage so many relations at once- only to fall short in several of them and attempting to salvage the last bits of their sanity. when you think about the complications of the 100% SL run from the shoes of the protagonist… yeah!! that’s the good shit!

anyways! if anyone knows of any fics with this kinda vibe for the p3/4/5 protags… feel free to drop it in my askbox… i like them all VERY much :3c… and if this raised any food for thought- i’d be equally honored! let the protags go through shit i wanna see their emotions and coping mechanisms damn it! 👏

[shittygothbitch]

Okay okay

[explorerspack]

hi guys i'm posting again. as much as i love playing characters who have a self-preservation instinct it's so much EASIER to play characters who do not have one even at all especially in situations Like This

[trans-xianxian]

when ursa died a few weeks ago I had to put her in a plastic bag in the freezer for a Day until I was able to bury her at a friend's house and my housemate just sent me this text??? like. not really sure what the wants me to do? keeping a dead animal just in my room could attract flies, which she would also get upset about, and no one is going to be on call to have me bury a pet in their yard day of, especially if I discover at night like I did with ursa. like it would be unreasonable for me to demand one of my friends let me bury my pet in their yard with less than a days notice so why is it reasonable for her to ask that I come up with a magical solution that I can employ day of in every scenario? I can understand not wanting a dead animal in the freezer but also there's this thing called compassion and understanding thats generally appreciated. it's not like she's coming up with alternate solutions either lmao. also, sort of fucked up to ask this two days after she knows I brought one of my rats to the vet. like can you at least wait a week or something before implying that my sick rat w a very treatable illness is actually going to die soon? like is she being as insensitive as I think she is or am I just being unfairly irritated about this

[bonyato]

Is this anything.

[thesilverlady]

I just saw a viral post about how the Velaryon boys suffered the most in the war and I'm sorry but how do you say this when Rhaenyra takes the cake for suffering the most in that family 💀

[guinevereslancelot]

toddlers when i tell them to please please stop kissing eachother on the mouth because of germs: ❓️🙄❓️🤪🦠😙

when i tell them to stop because of cooties: 🤯😨🤢❌️😷

[themyscirah]

Every time I start to seriously consider reading Tom King WW (aka whenever new issues release and I'm bored + not pulling anything that week) the new issue comes out and any panels I see immediately kill all interest with a vengeance

[kindacreepy-kindaugly]

Why do I still hate myself for not livin up to the person I used to pretend to be