#using it as an excuse to be manipulative

[corvidkusnos]

Anyway eldest sibling woe is me stories are annoying and tired :)

When you've been on the receiving end for years of an older/eldest sibling acting like they basically raised you when you literally were babies/kids together and the sun shines out their asshole while you get overlooked unless it's to be a scapegoat, and then any time you express your annoyance at that being called a brat and hearing them lecture you about how hard they have it claiming to do roles in the family that were actually ones you did while they got the credit, it's very tiresome

[hyenaa-euphoria]

hope 2!!!

okay OKAY finally i figured out how to make this😭 it was a messy process to make it but at last!! ajjaajja

yeaaahh maybe catnap is getting in dogday’s head a bit😞

[lotus-pear]

regret

[gatoburr0]

I wanted to join idk

sharing is caring ffs Riley 😒😒 (read tags psst)

[asurashi]

deep in my enemy, I found my lover

[ Oscar as Carlos's race engineer AU ]

Based on the web weave in @milflewis's insane carcar fic 'all your ugliness'

[ ao3 ver ]

[looking-for-wisdom]

the “ex-something” character in disco elysium is so interesting to me because what we finally learn about the true Dora from harry’s dream sequence & conversations with the 41st precinct initially undercuts the first impression you get as a player. We learn things that makes it seem like Harry should be over her leaving. Specifically, the fact that she and Harry were never actually married and that it has been six years since she left.

Everything we’re told about Dora needs to be taken with a grain of salt, since it primarily comes from Harry. He’s an unreliable narrator and, if we had her perspective on things, there would surely be more to the story. But even with that said, I feel reasonably confident that the player’s first impression — that whoever this ex is did some damage even beyond typical breakup heartbreak — isn’t completely wrong.

We know a few things for certain. Harry was a gym teacher before they met, and Dora was the reason he joined the RCM. We can also do the math to figure out that they were together for around 12 years. Married or not, that’s a serious relationship. There are implications that Dora might have been pregnant at some point.

Dora’s family was wealthier than Harry’s, but they struggled financially when they were together. They had to rely on her parents for support.

Harry is a grown ass man who is responsible for his own choices. None of this changes that. But the way he is starts to make more sense when you consider that it wasn’t just their breakup that was traumatic. Their relationship itself seems unhealthy.

Harry clearly likes working with kids. Kim actually points out how he is easily able to connect with Cuno and the other teens in Martinase. With that in mind, I imagine he probably liked being a gym teacher. But we learn that Dora encourages him to join the RCM to do more for the greater good. Again, Harry had to agree to this — she didn’t force him to quit at gunpoint. But it rubs me the wrong way that, shortly after they start dating, she implies that his work isn’t fulfilling or important (probably patently untrue in an area where kids won’t necessarily have stable home lives). And, more than that, she suggests that joining the police is the solution.

Granted, we’re told there’s a lot of crime in Jamrock. Maybe it is as simple as her thinking law enforcement helps prevent that. But given the political tones of the game, which intentionally critique cops and the moralist forces they represent? I think it’s notable.

Speaking of which. The class difference between Dora and Harry has to be thematic. So much of the game discusses the struggle between the working class and the bourgeoisie. There’s an inherent power dynamic there. It’s her parents who are consistently paying their bills and keeping them afloat. She has an out that Harry doesn’t. Money won’t be an issue for her when they split, but Harry will be left without any support. Regardless of whether she intentionally held this over his head, this game shows that even without meaning to, the capitalist system harms the poor. That strain must be felt in their relationship, and could cause a lot of damage over 12 years.

All this to say: their relationship clearly wasn’t some fling. And, if Harry is to be believed, the blame for things falling apart was largely placed on him: working to much, not bringing home enough money, not being enough. But even if Dora wasn’t actively manipulating him and he came up with all of this on his own, I think the facts still point to a dynamic where he was made to be small in the face of a woman who came from more. Their backgrounds create an imbalance where Harry was always going to feel the flaws in their relationship more acutely. He starts with little, and gives up much of what he does have to pursue something better for the both of them. But when that isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, he’s the only one left with nothing. She can leave the country and start over.

It makes sense, to me, that he might not have recovered from that in six years. Especially when that rock bottom feeling seems so permanent that he isn’t trying to get better so much as numb himself enough to exist another day.

That doesn’t mean he isn’t responsible or that he’s exempt from having to get his shit together. The game very clearly illustrates that everyone will turn away from him if he doesn’t. But it does complicate his character a bit more than “got left by extremely bangable woman, proceeds to make the lives of everyone around him worse.”

[skyloftian-nutcase]

TotK DLC idea!

The screen is black. You don’t hear anything for a long time. Then, faintly, in the distance, you can hear it.

Link. Link. Open your eyes.

While the line echoes familiarity, the voice does not.

Or. Well. It does. Because while it isn’t Zelda, it’s a familiar man’s voice speaking gently, so gently you almost don’t recognize it because there’s no way he ever spoke like this in the main game.

But he is now. And instead of a golden light being the first image you see before the screen shows Link awakening… you see gloom floating in the air. The image cuts to a Hylian waking up who… doesn’t look like Link from TotK?? He’s different, still small in stature, with slightly tanner skin, platinum light blonde hair, and red eyes. But… something’s wrong with his forehead. There’s a weird line on it.

This new character you apparently are gonna be playing in the DLC blearily blinks his eyes open, clearly groggy and too weak to really move. But then that line on his forehead moves a hair, it splits apart, and you realize it’s a freaking eye, red and yellow and it’s like the ones on gloom hands and oh gosh what the hell is it doing on his forehead—

Link realizes something is off and his eyes blow wide, his hands reach for his forehead and he screams in agony and terror, only for someone to scoop him into a hug to soothe him.

And suddenly you realize why that voice was eerily familiar.

It’s Ganondorf. He resurrected you from the era of the Imprisoning War. You, who have a history with him and his family. You, who he wants to protect, who he views as his kid, who he calls a prince and says he’ll keep you safe by controlling your body with his dark magic if he has to.

Welcome to Tears of the Kingdom: Hero’s Shadow.

You have to play a long gone Hero who was resurrected. Ganondorf, who is still recovering his strength in preparation for killing the current Hero, tasks you with finding your betrothed, his daughter, as well as his wife. They’re buried somewhere in the Depths like you were. He wants you to find their burial sites so he can use his secret stone to resurrect them like he did you, and control them as well. Which is doubly bad when you realize his wife was the original Sage of Lightning. He gives you free reign to wander once you go through a tutorial (he tests you to see if you’ve recovered enough strength), because he knows you love wandering and collecting things. Your own personal objective, however, is trying to help Hyrule from the Depths, to break free from Ganondorf’s control, because Link would rather set himself on fire than let Ganondorf resurrect and control the love of his life and his mother-in-law. Your best hope is to find shards of the shattered Master Sword to try and stab the eye on Dark Link’s forehead and break the control Ganondorf has on you. Until you can, though, the monsters are your allies, you can teleport across the Depths by manifesting out of the gloom created by gloom hands (just like what Phantom Ganon does), and the world below is your oyster. If you get too close to sword shards when gloom hands are nearby, Ganondorf can see your attempt and immediately takes control of your body, and no matter what button you press Link just walks back to Ganondorf’s location and stays there until you get a chance to try again.

You start with three hearts, all empty looking like when gloom hurts you, and if you get injured they just shatter. Whenever they all shatter, you respawn at Ganondorf’s location because his gloom hands came and rescued you from dying. The only way you can get more hearts is by collecting poes and offering them to the statues in the Depths. You can communicate with the spirits of soldiers, who may give you combat tips or info about the area. If you gain enough of Ganondorf’s trust, he’ll let you command monsters, and he might even let you wander the Surface (under his supervision) during a blood moon.

You learn of Link’s and Ganondorf’s history through discovering ancient relics/texts that trigger memories. This connection between you and Ganondorf stems back to time before the war, well over ten thousand years ago. Link was engaged to Ganondorf’s daughter, but during the Imprisoning War the family fought against the demon king. Ganondorf did love his family, but he loved power more. Link sacrificed himself, letting himself get mortally wounded to save Rauru from a killing blow. Gan held him as he died, and it allowed Link to both beg him to stop and stab him in the heart with a light shard. The shard didn’t kill him, but it was what Rauru connected with when he hit him in the chest, allowing him to seal Ganondorf away. Ganondorf still wants the world, but his love for his family is still present, though now twisted, so he thinks he can control Link and everyone else with his dark magic in order to keep them safe and in line. Once the threat of the current Hero is eliminated, the world will be his, and his family will be safe. As such, he treats you, Link, the player, like a stubborn child, reeling you in, but does so in a horrific way, torturing Link by controlling him.

You have to break free of this and stop him, and the only hope you have is the distant call of a sword spirit…

[messy444chic]

"Not all men" I'm going to find your address and dox you on Twitter

[birrdies]

i am at the point where i no longer believe a single word that comes out of etho’s mouth

[nerdgirlriot]

More Gaiman thoughts

There is another episode in the Tortoise Media podcast series about NG, this time focusing on Claire, the woman who told her story in the Am I Broken podcast earlier last month. There is apparently a recording of a phone call NG and Claire had, where he sort of "apologized" for his actions and said that he'd pay for her therapy and/or donate to the charity she was working for at the time.

So, did he admit guilt? Innocent people don't apologize or offer to make up for their shitty actions by donating money.

It all boils down to consent. And if the person felt icky about these actions, if they felt violated and traumatized, then there was no consent! Even if they were okay with it in the moment! If they look back on the events years later and don't feel right about it, if they have ongoing trauma about it, it was not consensual! And their doubts about that relationship are valid! Too many people seem to think that just because they were okay with it "at the time" then they can't reverse course on their views of that relationship later. Claire clearly had trauma about her time with him. It was not consensual.

I'm sure NG had consensual relationships. I'd heard the rumors about his "groupies" and I figured they must have all been consensual. Now I realize that quite a few of those were not. And I feel bad that I was lured into his "rock star author" persona and never thought about the women involved because I'd thought they were consenting.

But that's was NG wanted me to think. He crafted this charismatic public persona which charmed me. He crafted a fictional version of himself because he's very good at creating characters that people like. All the while doing awful awful things to women. And I'm angry on their behalf.

I don't necessarily want to keep harping on this but the whitewashing of NG's character on the internet is in full swing and the tag needs more posts that share the truth. NG is a gross creep.

[serendipnpipity]

What if they played that couple’s game from Relatable for April Phool’s? Clickbaity title. Plausible deniability. Phannies destroyed everywhere.

…and an ad spon for Capita£ester to top it all off.

[spacedlexi]

i forgot how weird people get sometimes when you add minnie to clemvi situations :/

[feartoxinjelloshot]

The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp (1632)

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

if dorian didn't show up, do you think louis would have shot minnie?

I do. I know some people think either he wouldn't have or he would've missed so that's why the writers had him shoot Dorian instead, but mmmmmm no, I don't personally think so. I like to think that if he had taken the shot, his shaky hands would've caused him to shoot her fatally.

Mostly because I'm already so normal about the fact that of the Ericson crew, Marlon and Louis are the only ones with a body count. Well, that we know of, but shown to us in the game, at least. Plus, we know it's Louis' first kill.

Like yeah, Clementine and AJ become part of the crew and they have bigger body counts, and if we're counting indirect kills caused by actions, then Tenn has a count... and I guess everyone has blood on their hands for blowing up the boat... but I'm talking about killed directly with a weapon like....... I lied, I'm not normal about that at all, Louis and Marlon are the ones who have killed someone in Louis' route. I'm also not normal about the fact that Louis kills Dorian and then even as he's clearly in shock, he tries to go with Clementine to get AJ, and then later on when they talk about it, he says it feels like bile but not quite and he's glad he has it in him to do it.... listen, listen, listen... I'm obsessed with that.

Anyway, so if Louis shot Minerva, I think he would've accidentally killed her and can you imagine? He's already enough of a mess after killing the woman who pinned him down and tried to cut his finger off [or succeeded] but he knew Minerva, they were friends before the twins were taken. Even Violet couldn't kill her even though that would've been the smarter thing to do, and we know thanks to meta knowledge that killing her would've saved lives, but Violet couldn't, and I don't think Louis would intentionally either.

Speaking of Violet, if Louis killed Minerva, I hate to think about what that would've done to Vi. I think she might've actually left at that point, like what was planned before it got changed to her being burned. I don't think she would've attacked Louis over it, though, like yeah she attacked Clementine in the cell but Louis? I don't know, but I don't think so just because it's Louis and he'd be a mess about it anyway.

Though if he did kill her, it would be a neat parallel to draw... y'know, because Louis forgave AJ for killing Marlon even though he was pissed and heartbroken, and Violet was annoyed with him the entire time... but could she ever forgive Louis for killing Minerva? Y'know? We already have a similar parallel with AJ shooting Tenn, but still.

If Clementine killed Minerva in that moment, though, then I could see Violet attacking her since in her eyes, Clem proved her right.

So yeah, I get why they added the Dorian kill to his route. It adds another compelling element to Louis as a character, but we also need Minerva alive for episode 4; Louis can't kill her, he can't miss, and he's not going to stay with her because we need Violet to stay on the boat and him to be on shore for all routes.

[certifiedlavendarmenace]

A lengthy post on why Lada's parents suck

Disclaimer: I hate them both equally the dad does not get off easier

The Father: On that note let me start with the dad because he truly does not get enough flack. A wise man once said "I'm biggest hater I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk" and that's how I feel about the father.

I've seen him be praised for the grand act of not being a homophobe in 2024 and I didn't mind because his wife is a menace and his only crime was being passive and "clueless". However I still didn't like him, sure he loved Lada and supported her decision regardless of what she did but that is quite literally the bare minimum for any parent and the fact that other queer people have parents that struggle to trip over that mark does not make him exceptional in any way. Beyond that he only advocated for her in private and when he did it was half hearted. He was far more concerned with keeping the peace with his wife then he was with defending his daughter. Which was fine when we assumed Lada didn't know either of her parents knew she was queer.

Then you could argue that he was waiting for Lada to come to him and he couldn't possibly know what the mom did. However this new episode shows that Lada knew that her mom knew about her being queer so one would think a father who is a #ally would tell his lesbian daughter that her mom is actually secretly homophobic and maybe she should be mindful of that.

What makes him worse is the fact that he knew the mom orchestrated the breakup and he sat there and watched his daughter who he 'supports' suffer for years. He didn't even bother confronting the wife he just sat on that information, comfortable to let his only child wallow in misery until her mother forced her to marry a man. Never once did he think 'hey maybe I should tell my daughter the life altering breakup she's barely surviving was orchestrated by my evil wife and she should probably get back with the love of the life since I again am a #ally'

I will die hating that man. He's so complacent he might as well not be there. He's like a cartoon angel on the mom's shoulder that gets batted away every few minutes. If that's allyship and supportive parenting then he can keep it because obviously it makes no difference. Passive parents are just as bad as their evil/abuse partners. He was not cursed with the witch he chose her and he's sticking beside her.

The Witch: Now lets get to the she devil. My feeling for her transcends hatred . I haven't wished this much misery on a character since the old bat from Gap. She is so caught up with her idea of what Lada's life should look like she's willing sacrifice her own daughter. She wants Lada to be a hallow doll, a human sized trophy whose only goal is to please her and whose only purpose is to be paraded around so that anyone who might be looking can see what a great mom she is because her doll is so accomplished.

She caused her daughter to go through an unimaginable amount of pain and even when she saw her at her lowest she didn't feel a shred of regret because to her the love between women is just fundamentally inferior for no other reason besides the fact that 'it just is'. She even had the audacity to twist the knife and paint herself as some beacon Lada could cling to because she would always be there and she 'loved' her so much.

I don't believe that woman knows what parental love is. That whole scene with the husband where she basically blames Earn for her choices she also talks about Lada but she never really talks about her. Instead she talks about what she did, how she molded her and how perfect Lada was as a result even though Lada told her none of that made her happy.

Then the show had the temerity to pull the sick card just like in Gap and just like in Gap Lada goes running back and now Earnlada is in jeopardy again. Just once I want these writers to kill the homophobe. She wont be missed and it saves me the pain of watching them forgive and forget simply because she's sick. Why is it always forgive and forget? For some relationships it works but there has to be a line where things become irreparable. Where even if the characters do forgive they can heal privately, free from the people that hurt them. Not everyone has to hold hands and kumbaya sometimes we can say fuck the homophobes and leave it there.

In conclusion, Lada deserved better. Earn should have snitched. I will never like the father and I will be praying on the mothers' death.

[chaosinstigator]

any f1 fan who takes dts and it’s fabricated dramatics seriously instead of seeing it for the clickbaity view-hungry money grab that it is needs to re-evaluate why they’re a fan to begin with imo