#was this just the entirety of that lore section

[festivalsofmargot]

Hi!! I love your imagines so much!! And I had a request if possible! Maybe f!reader and Sebastian sneak into the prefect bathroom for a bath together after a long day or something and one thing leaders to another..

My Sleep Remedy

{Sebastian Sallow x Fem!Reader}

AGED UP CHARACTERS, 18+ SCENARIOS (Characters are nearing the end of their 7th year and are 18+)

Word Count: ~ 5,100 words

Warnings: 18+ smut, (first time having sex, fingering, handjob, oral)

Author’s Note: Just want to say right away that I’m not a lore master on Harry Potter, I’ve only read the first book, seen the movies, and obsessed over Hogwarts Legacy. I think you need a password to get into the prefects’ bathroom but I’m going by HL rules where you can just walk in lmfaooo. Thank you for the request, anon!!! I got really into this one and had so much fun writing it. Hopefully you guys have as much fun reading it ❤ Now kick back and turn off your brain. I cleared your schedule for you, enjoy 🥰

Songs (if interested):

Spiracle - Flower Face

snowfall (Slowed + Reverb) -  Øneheart, reidenshi

You’d think, after everything you had to do to catch up having come in late as a 7th year, you’d be out as soon as your head hit the pillow. Yet sleep still found a way to evade you. After tossing and turning with no signs of your eyelids growing heavier, you decided to sneak out of your dorm and wander the halls of Hogwarts once again. Maybe you could stumble upon some demiguise statues for Mr. Moon.

With the disillusionment spell coating you, you walked the halls easily, taking in all the paintings and statues. It was a shame you only had one year here, there was no way you could see the entirety of the castle in such a short time. Turning a corner, you rammed into a solid, invisible object.

The feel of hands steadied you as your rubbed at your nose. The disillusionment spell wore off for both you and Sebastian Sallow.

“Sebastian.” You said in pleasant surprise, smiling up at him. “What are you doing up?”

“Had trouble sleeping. Decided to follow your lead and go on one of these -” He waved his hand dismissively in the air, “night walks you rave so much about.” He chuckled, keeping his voice low. Of everyone he could have had insomnia with, he was happy it was you.

“Same here. Decided I might as well look for more of those demiguise statues. No idea why they bother Mr. Moon so much, I think they’re pretty adorable. Care to join me? Or did you want to be alone?”

He appreciated you asking, especially in such a way that he felt he could say ‘no’ if he needed. But he didn’t need to, or want to. “Count me in.” He smiled. “I think I spotted one in the prefects’ bathroom.”

You quirked a brow at him. “What were you doing in there?”

“Bathing, what else?”

“One of the prefects invited you to join them, did they?” You teased and he rolled his eyes, playfully shoving your shoulder.

“It’s my last year, so I figured ‘why not’? Wanted to try it at least once. And if I was caught, I’m sure people would have been happy I've moved on from the restricted section. Now come on.”

“Lead the way.”

-

You and Sebastian arrived at the prefects’ bathroom, cloaked in the disillusionment spell. “If I remember right, I think I saw it just over...” His eyes scanned the bathroom.

“Ah, there it is.” You strode up to it, your disillusionment spell fading. You picked it up and twirled it in your hand as you returned to Sebastian’s side. “One more down, Merlin knows how many to go.” You sighed.

He let his disillusionment fade as well, taking the moon from your hand to look it over himself. Really, he just needed a temporary distraction, every now and then he would get this terrible urge to kiss you. You never had to do anything special for the thought to pop into his head, all he could do was suffer in silence until the ache went away. 

He handed the moon back to you and looked out to the bathroom. “You know, why don’t you give this bath a go? It could help you fall asleep, now that you got one less moon to worry about.”

He could see you thinking on it, clearly tempted.

“Come on, you came in late as a 7th year and you’ve been working yourself to the bone. I say you’ve earned it. It’s your only year at Hogwarts and we’re almost finished anyway. Go for it.”

“You’re such a bad influence.” You smirked at him, then scanned your eyes over the room. “This place is beautiful though, especially at night.” You thought aloud. “But what about you? If it helps you sleep, you should use it. I can come back for it another night when you’re feeling better.”

Sebastian was tempted too, this place had relaxed him in the way he needed most. It was pure tranquility. After everything that had happened that year, having that little bit of peace this place offered helped greatly. But he shook his head, “All yours tonight.”

You eyed him sadly as he looked down at his feet, shoving his hands in his pockets. You’d much rather he took it. You didn’t want to part ways with him quite yet either, but maybe this was his way of saying he needed to be alone at the moment. “Alright... thank you, Sebastian. Wait, how often do the prefects come to check on this place?”

“If they hear water running, they’re not coming in here.” He reassured you. “Even if they did suspect you weren’t someone who was allowed in here, they’d at least wait until you were clothed to rat you out.”

“Makes sense.” You exhaled, looking upon the immaculate bath the size of a pond. The thought of sitting in this beautiful, moonlit room enveloped in warm water was more enticing by the second.

Sebastian could see your dreamy stare and decided it was time for him to go. “I’ll leave you to it then.” He shot you a grin as he turned to make his way out.

“Seb.” You called softly, speaking before thinking.

“Hmm?” He turned to face you easily. 

“I um...” You didn’t want him to leave. Though you spent most of your days stuck together like glue, you wanted even more of him to yourself. You only had a few more weeks at Hogwarts, and then who knew where the two of you would be? 

He felt as if his heart skipped a beat when he saw the look on your face, he had never seen it on you before. It wasn’t happy, it wasn’t sad. It was hopeful... and aching. He didn’t know what to make of it as he waited for you to continue. He could see your chest rising and falling, your breathing seeming to get heavier. The sight made the wait for you to speak feel like it took ages.

You cleared your throat, mustering up the courage for your next words. “Please stay.”

His insides constricted in the most volatile way. You couldn’t possibly mean you wanted to bathe together, could you? Maybe you just thought you two could put your feet in the water? Surely no nakedness involved. Oh wonderful, he was thinking of you naked even though you were only a few feet away from him. He swallowed thickly. What do I say? What do I say?

‘Yes’ seemed like the best answer. On one hand, it could be innocent and there was no need for his mind to have taken him to such a risqué place. On the other, if you did want to bathe with him, he’d be the world’s biggest blockhead if he said ‘no’. 

He had fallen hard and fast for you his final year at Hogwarts. He wished, more than anything, you came in as a 1st year so you two could have made more memories together. But only one year with you was the hand he was dealt. So he’d take every second he could, no amount of time would have felt like it was enough anyhow.

After everything you had done for him, picking him back up after what happened with Anne and Solomon, keeping his friendship with Ominis in tact, and sticking by his side even though you’ve seen the worst sides of him, how could you possibly want someone like me? You were far, far too good for him.

Who was he fooling? There was no way he would have ever said ‘no’ to you. 

“I'll stay.” He answered as he took a step towards you, but that was all he’d let himself do. You needed to make the next move, so he could know what you wanted from him that night. He’d give you everything and more, all you needed to do was ask.

It was hard to keep calm when the flutter in your chest felt so overwhelming. Becoming jumpy, you brought your fingers up to unclasp your robes. 

His eyes went dark. Merlin’s sake, he needed to get it together. He had seen you take off your robes countless times before. And for all he knew, you’d only be taking off your shoes and tights as well.

You glanced up at him when you slipped your robes off, then went to put them at the front of the room near the large stack of towels. 

Sebastian watched your hips as you passed him. Easy now, still don’t know how far you want to go with this. He darted his gaze away and shrugged off his own robes. After tossing it aside, he went to turn on the faucets to fill up the giant tub. He desperately needed to busy himself to calm his nerves. 

He peeked over at you and watched, mesmerized, as you kicked off your shoes and pulled down your tights from under you skirt, slowly revealing the skin of your legs in the most tantalizing way. His breathing started to come out shallow, his lips parting slightly. 

You were either stopping there or you were going to keep going. This was the point where he’d know what you wanted. And if that was how he handled himself getting a look at your legs? He probably wouldn’t be coherent if you took it further.

Tucking your tights and shoes away, you looked back at him over your shoulder. He shot his gaze away and tried to look busy with the faucets. He knew he must have had a dumb, slack-jawed look on his face.

In your head, you were even more of a wreck. You had taken off everything that could be viewed as innocent. You could stop there and spend a relaxing night speaking with Sebastian, or you could try to take him how you’ve always wanted him ever since he smirked at you in your first Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

You knew he’d be a gentleman about all of this, so you’d have to make the first move in the direction you wanted to take it. The look on his face when he saw you had taken off your shoes and tights was encouraging. You glanced at him again but his focus was fully back on the faucets, not as encouraging.

You took a steadying breath, thankful the sound of the rushing water would drown it out. You mustered up every ounce of courage you had, locked the door, and turned your body so that you were facing him. This could be your only chance, it was now or never. Looking down at your shirt, you reached up and slowly began unbuttoning it. Once you got down to the button that opened your shirt enough to reveal the top of your bodice, you peeked up at him to check if he was looking.

And oh he was looking, the way he seemed to be watching you with undivided attention had the spark of a fire ignite in your core. You undid a few more buttons until you gradually stilled under the weight of his gaze, temporarily hypnotized by the way he was looking at you.

“Keep going.” He said, hypnotized himself. He could feel the blood draining from his head to go south, leaving it empty with nothing but thoughts of what more you could show him. He wanted all of you displayed before him, all to himself.

Your heartrate sped up, you hadn’t known what words you wanted to hear from him, but those were certainly an electrifying choice. You picked up where you left off and delighted in the way he kept his eyes on you. You got to the last of your buttons and slipped off your shirt, revealing your bodice and the skin of your shoulders.

He stood up straighter and faced you fully as he watched your shirt fall to the floor. Your skirt was less of a slow burn and more of a shock to his senses when it only took one undone button for it to fall as well.

He clenched his jaw and exhaled through his nose like he was being tortured. It wasn’t fair, the effect you had on him. He could see out of the corner of his eye that the tub still had a ways to go filling with water, so he hoped you would help him pass the time by continuing to do what you were doing.

You kept your eyes on him, nervous, excited, and aching to show him what was under your bodice. You began undoing the buttons of your final layer. His eyes fell down to your chest, and you could see his adam's apple bob in his throat. The heat you felt in your abdomen went lower, you felt it throb in the most delicious way. That throb only swelled when you glanced down at Sebastian’s pants, his erection pressing hard against the fabric. The thought of having caused it sent a thrill through you.

When you slipped off your bodice and revealed your breasts, he made his way towards you, not allowing this space between you anymore. Keeping your eyes on him as he approached, you swiftly pulled down your underskirts. His face turned pained seeing you fully naked before him, your most sensitive area exposed to him. 

He stood before you, eyes darting all over you, not sure where they wanted to feast upon more. You didn’t mind that you were naked and Sebastian wasn’t. Those hungry looks of his had been more than enough to send you over the edge. 

As you witnessed his eyes ardently roaming over you, you reached up and began undoing his tie, the rise and fall of his chest speeding up. You slid his tie off and went for his buttons, undoing them one by one. 

It was such an intoxicating contradiction to witness, watching you take control in such a tender way. He narrowed his eyes at you as you slipped his shirt off, fingers brushing along his skin as you did so. You met his gaze and sensed he was wordlessly begging you to release his hard length from his pants. 

Your lashes curtained your eyes as you looked down to undo his belt. He dared to touch you then, his fingers grazed your hips and he dragged them lightly up the sides of your torso. He held back, because the way he wanted to grab you, he was sure he’d leave bruises. You were so soft, almost like you were the most delicate thing he had ever touched, even though he knew full well you were far from it.

You undid his pants and looked back up at him. You were still for a moment and he wondered what was going through your head. Keeping your eyes on him, you gingerly grabbed at his length. You watched with delight as he hissed a breath through his teeth and shot his gaze down to your hand on him. You stroked your thumb across his tip and he almost collapsed.

He panicked when you released him and began walking away. He watched in stunned silence as you walked down the steps into the water and then dove in. You resurfaced and swam towards the faucets, turning them all off. His pants were hanging loose on his waist, his hard length teasing out of it. 

“Are you coming in?” You asked without looking at him, continuing to turn off the remaining faucets, your nipples peeking out of the water every time you reached up.

His body finally kicked in to gear. He nearly fell over as he hopped on one foot to yank off one shoe, then switched sides, just as unsteady while taking off the other. His hands were shaky and quick pulling off his socks, he threw them to the side, not caring if he ever saw them again. Once he shoved down his pants, he joined you in the water, not nearly as graceful as you and causing much more splashing.

You giggled as you swam to meet him, pulling his face into a kiss. He treaded the water as you held him close to you, relishing the feel of your mouth on his, your breasts pressing against him. The water was slick on your skin, he was half tempted to swim back and just watch you exist, naked and dripping wet. But he didn’t want to leave this position, not yet.

Your hands slid down and rested on his freckled shoulders, reveling at his hard muscles there. He pulled back from the kiss slightly, wanting to look at your face. He cupped your jaw with one hand and dragged his thumb along your skin, watching the water droplets run down. He couldn’t believe this was happening, he had been in love with you for so long, and he had you with him like this. And in the prefects’ bathroom to top it off? If this was a dream, he’d absolutely die if he woke up.

A smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he looked over your features, and you couldn’t help but smile back. Every look he gave you tonight had you melting.

“I want you to touch me.” You told him.

He was sure he was dreaming then, but he’d do everything in his power to not wake up. “I’m so glad.”

He grabbed your hand under the water and pulled you along as he swam towards the tub’s edge. He rested a hand on it to keep himself afloat. “Hold onto me.” He said. You complied, placing your hands back on his shoulders. His free hand remained under water, moving to your inner thigh, his fingers dragged up to your folds. He eyed you for your reaction, you nodded your head. The two of you looked down into the water at his hand, he ran his first finger through you, taking in the feel of it all. You dug your nails into his skin, it kept his member rock hard.

He had read books on sex before, but the boring ones. The ones with lifeless illustrations, education being the main purpose. He wasn’t completely ignorant of what was between your thighs, but he couldn’t truly know until he encountered it himself.

“Right there. Move your fingers on that spot.” Your whispered feedback had his insides reeling, and he threw out his plan to take his time feeling you. 

“How should I - what do I -” He was eager to please but he'd be lying if he said he knew how.

You put a hand over his and guided him towards the top of your slit. You moved his fingers in short, up and down, rubbing motions at a quick pace. You already knew how to get yourself off from alone time in the showers, and you were earnest to have him take your place. His rough, warm fingers would feel so much better.

“Like that.” You panted. “Keep touching me like that.”

He furrowed his brows and bit his lip in concentration, all his focus going to his fingers, he was going to get this right if it killed him.

You held onto him for support as he moved against you, your peak was approaching much faster with his fingers instead of yours. His eyes darted up and down, going up to your face and then back down to your need. 

You brought your hands up to his head and fisted his hair, he pressed his forehead against yours, keeping up his motions. You held him to you as your climax got closer and closer, wrapping one leg around his waist underneath the water. He was especially thankful being in the water then, it helped make the two of you more weightless. He knew he wouldn’t be able to hold this strong other wise. 

“I’m gonna - I’m -” He slammed his mouth onto yours to keep you quiet as he finished you off. Your muffled moan against his lips and your body spasming against his hand had him ravenous.

You pulled back from him to catch your breath, and you let your head fall against his shoulder. He held you close to him and rested his cheek against the top of your head. He wanted to make you feel that good all the time, wanted to be the only one who ever did.

You drifted back and put your hands on his chest. “Sit down.” You commanded, your breath still a bit uneven. You pushed him back gently through the water, towards the steps. 

“Alright.” He responded, compliant and enamored. He kept his eyes on you as he swam backwards and sat, not wanting to miss a second of you.

He took a steadying breath as you settled your knees on either side of his legs, straddling him. He exhaled sharply when you gripped his length under the water, “Now tell me how to touch you.”

His brain couldn’t process your question. He was eye level with your chest and stared ahead with half-lidded eyes, the water droplets running down you were madness inducing. He couldn’t stop himself from cupping some water into his hand and smearing it across your chest to make you glisten even more in wetness.

“Seb.” You whimpered, gripping him tighter.

His glazed eyes looked up to yours. He was delirious, there was so much of you to look at and you were touching him in a place no one else had. Getting his hand to act since his mouth couldn’t, he followed your lead and guided you on what to do. 

You wrapped your fingers around him and stroked up and down in the way he silently instructed. He leaned his elbows back on the steps and watched you, bewitched, as you fixated on his pleasure. 

You propped one hand against his chest as your other worked up and down his shaft. “A bit faster.” He groaned. “That’s...” His eyes rolled into the back of his head. “Ah that’s it.” The sound of water sloshing along with your breathing echoed throughout the prefects’ bathroom, and he was nearing his peak faster than he wanted. Quickly, he leaned forward and removed your hand from him. 

“What’s wrong?” You asked in a slight panic, he grabbed your face and pulled you into a kiss to put you at ease.

“Nothing.” He reassured once he pulled back. He looked up at you with longing, tortured eyes and stroked your cheek. “Can I be inside you?”

Your insides set ablaze and you nodded your head. He swallowed thickly as you adjusted on top of him, positioning yourself over his length. His hands moved to your hips and he gripped tightly, looking down into the water at you two about to join.

He did everything he could to inwardly steady himself. “Right...” He breathed. “Now... When I’m about to finish, you need to uh...” Focus! He shot a hand through his wet hair quickly then placed it back on your hip. “You need to withdraw from me, alright?” 

You nodded your head, just as frantic at the anticipation as he was. “I will.”

Ignoring your jittery nerves, you took him in your hand to guide his tip to your entrance. Slowly, you sunk yourself onto him, taking your time as you felt him stretch you out to fit deeper. You felt his body stiffen under you. With a throaty groan, he wrapped his arms around you and rested his forehead against your chest. You brought your hands up to the back of his head and held him close as you both breathed through it.

He wanted to be stuck in this position forever. The feel of your heat slowly enveloping him was unreal. You whimpered as you took more of him into you. He kissed the spot between your breasts, “Go slow. Go slow.” He whispered against your skin. The words were meant for him just as much as they were you.

His eyes squeezed shut briefly when you had him fully in you.

“I - I think I’m alright now.” You said, and could feel him nod against your chest.

You swallowed the dryness in your throat, and leaned back a bit to look down into the water. Catching your curious gaze at what it looked like being joined together was one of the most arousing things he had ever witnessed. 

You thought back to how he wanted your hand to move on him, so you gripped his shoulders and moved your heat up and down his length.

His hands moved down from your hips to your bottom, groping roughly. He leaned back enough so he could watch you bounce on him, quicker and quicker as you became more accustomed to the feel of him inside you.

He was becoming unhinged at it all. The feel of your heat gliding along him, the movement of your dripping wet breasts, your nails digging into his shoulders, and the sound of your panting breaths mixed with his. His climax was coming fast. 

“Ah I’m about to - Please don’t stop.” He could hardly speak, and his vision was getting blurry. He leaned forward to bite at your skin, he didn’t care where, anywhere. You arched your back at the feel of his teeth, and you knew he was nearing the edge. You withdrew yourself from him just enough to take him in your hand and he kept his hands on your ass. You stroked him fast to finish him off, but an urge to take him in your mouth took over. You broke away from his grasp and submerged your face under the water, wrapping your mouth around him. 

“W - Wait,” He breathed heavily, “What are you - o - oh...” His words melted into grunts as his head fell back and he spilled into your mouth.

When you felt he was done, you swallowed him and went back up for air. Wiping the water from your face, you saw his eyes were wide at you and he was trying to catch his breath. It was the most exhilarating sight.

He didn’t know what possessed you to put your mouth on him, but he needed to figure it out so he could ensure it possessed you next time too.

A dreamy sigh left your lips and you laid back into the water, floating contently as you looked up at the ceiling. He leaned back on his elbows and watched you, his legs too wobbly to move anywhere. It was quite the way to bring seven years at Hogwarts to a close.

“You know I’m in love with you, right?” Despite the lighthearted wording, there was gravity in his delivery.

You went up straight in the water to look at him. Hiding your dopey smile, you submerged yourself until it was just your eyes peeking out at him.

Getting bashful himself, he leaned forward on his knees and rubbed at his face. “Yeah, you know.” He laughed breathily. He was all too proud seeing how flushed your cheeks were and knowing he was the cause.

You swam back to him until you were standing on the steps below him. Placing your hands on his knees, you leaned forward and kissed him. You pulled back, getting a good look at all of his freckles. “I thought it was obvious I'm in love with you too.”

He pulled you back onto his lap. Gripping your thighs, he claimed your mouth with a deeper kiss. You were both tired now. He just needed this last taste of you, this last feel of your wet skin on his before you separated.

He tore himself from you and looked into your sleepy eyes with his. “Bed?” 

“Afraid so.” You sighed, getting up off his lap.

You grabbed his hand, pulling him with you out of the tub. Towels were aplenty in the prefect bathroom, and he grabbed one for you and him. As the two of you dried off, the exhaustion really kicked in. You gave each other sleepy smiles as you caught the other’s eye, trying to sneak glances as you put your uniforms back on.

He finished dressing before you did and went to help you with your last few buttons. “Stay with me in Feldcroft this summer. It’d mean the world to me if you did.” 

You met his half-lidded eyes with yours, a lazy smile on your lips. “Of course, I will.” 

He gave you one more lax kiss, then went to unlock the door. You picked up the demiguise moon and he opened the door for you.

“What in Merlin’s name?!” A younger prefect’s unwelcome voice knocked you two out of your magical haze.

Sebastian rolled his eyes and pushed you defensively behind him, keeping you hidden.

“Were you two in the prefects' bathroom? At the same time?! Don’t tell me you… in our bathroom!”

“I think you’re mistaken, we were just retrieving a demiguise statue for Mr. Moon, that’s all.” Sebastian grabbed the moon from your hand and walked up to the prefect, their height difference becoming very apparent when he came toe to toe and looked down his nose at him. 

“B - But your hair’s wet! Both of you -” 

“I’ll say it once more since it doesn’t seem like you heard me. You’re mistaken.” Sebastian repeated. “And if I hear any rumors about what you think happened, I’ll know who started them, won’t I? I only have a few weeks left here at Hogwarts, let’s see to it they go by smoothly, yeah?”

“F - Fine. Just get back to Mr. Moon straightaway and go to your dorms.”

He gave the prefect a couple solid pats on the cheek. “Attaboy.”

Grumbling, the prefect turned on his heel and left.

Sebastian returned to your side, wrapping an arm around your waist and practically carrying you out of the faculty tower. “Were you trying to protect my honor back there?” You teased and could see he was biting back a cocky grin.

“I was. I could go back and scare him some more since you seem so pleased about it.”

He cackled when you smacked his arm. Sleepless nights weren’t so bad anymore.

[comradeboyhalo]

Badboyhalo QSMP Lore Masterpost

Disclaimer: Heavily used q!Bad’s wikipage to make this, so I recommend reading through it if you're short on time! Not included is his backstory lore which I’ve summed up here. 

Most of Bad's streams are 6-8 hours long, so I've tried my best to include timestamps. Heavy lore usually occurs early in, but Bad is in-character 90% of the time, so many of his character developments happen naturally and slowly. 

He also has these vods archived on Twitch, so just head over to his channel if you prefer to watch there.

☆: Most important vods in my opinion for q!Bad’s lore if you’re really short on time.  

updated 8/23/2023, summaries updated to include less spoilers

Finding the Ticket

☆ First Day: The first day of the QSMP

☆ ☆ Adoption Day: The first day of the egg event, in which Bad adopts Dapper. This also is the start to his daily QSMP streams.

Save the Baby Quest // JuanaFlippa Trial: 

After JuanaFlippa dies, Slime goes on a rampage and tries to kill Dapper. You can watch the murder attempt on this vod from 3:56:00 and onwards.

The next day, the eggs are kidnapped. Bad tries to rescue Dapper and is unsuccessful because the server is down, so not linking the vod.

Finally on the day of the trial, Bad tries to save Dapper again and is successful. Then, he goes to represent Slime at the trial as one of his many lawyers. 

☆ First Encounter with Code: Around two hours in, Bad and Foolish talk with Luzu and see his supercomputer. He drops lore and the Code attacks Bad for the first time.

Second Encounter with Code: Bad, Foolish, and Maxo go adventuring and are attacked by the Code multiple times. Quackity discusses his nightmare with Bad at 4:30:00. This is also the start of Theory Bros, and Bad and Maxo’s theories. 

☆ ☆ Dapper’s Nightmare: Dungeon raid starts around 7 hours in. Dapper’s first death. 

Brazilians Join // Second Egg Kidnapping: The eggs are kidnapped the day the Brazilians join. Bad goes to save Dapper at 1:55:00. 

☆ Theory Bros First Base: Max shows Bad and Cellbit his investigation room at 1:45:00. Starred because it’s a good section to watch for a quick recap of the current lore. 

☆ Ramon’s Nightmare: After the egg graduation, the Code attacks 4:18:00. I recommend watching the entirety of its attack, until the vod ends. 

☆ Dapper’s First Death: There is a LOT of lore in this vod. The French arrive in a plane crash around 1:25:00. Code attack 3:05:00. Bad learns about Sofia 5:15:00. Dapper dies 6:44:00. Bad goes to destroy the supercomputer 7:00:00 and I would recommend watching until 8:24:00. 

Bobby’s Dungeon Event: The entire server helps Jaiden and Roier see Bobby again. Later, Bad and Cellbit spy on Quackity. Would recommend watching up until 4 hours. 

Cellbit “Traitor” Arc: Cellbit goes missing and returns different. The comment section has timestamps. Cellbit’s wiki should explain the situation fully from his perspective.

Pomme Attack: Occurs 40 minutes in. Pomme is attacked by the code.

Black Box Recovery: Talk with Sofia + the discovery of the plane black box around 2:55:00. 

Cellbit + Felps Rescue: Timestamps in the comment section. Honestly not that important for Bad’s personal lore.

Train Tracks Investigation: Bad, Forever, Baghera, and Cellbit walk to the ends of the train tracks at 2:22:00.

 Grim Reaper Lore: Around 3:15:00 Cellbit wants to resurrect Roier’s grandfather. Bad is uncomfortable with this, and continuously warns against it.

I honestly don’t know how to categorize the election arc because its spans a long chunk of time. But links to Bad’s two debates are here and here. 

Day 101: The Code returns at the beginning of the vod and is acting strange.

The Code Threatens Leo: 4:40:00 for a Bad and Foolish dungeon raid that’s fun to watch. The code appears 1:18:00. 

☆ Blue Bird Mission: Bad, Foolish, and Cellbit assist Jaiden on her mission given by Cucurucho, and Bad is an absolute beast in the dungeon. The mission starts very early into the stream and ends around 3 hours in. 

☆ The Timer Runs Out: The timer discovered in Jaiden’s mission runs out. This occurs around 30 min into the stream. 

The Secret Room:  3:27:00, Bad finds a book that leads to a secret room in the dungeon, and investigates with Cellbit. I didn’t star this yet, but it could become very important information in the future. Edit: Important for Cellbit lore. Read his wikipage or watch his vods for more info. 

☆ ElQuackity Assassination: Movie night (animatics are shown in the theater) and the Theorybros put in motion their plan to assassinate ElQuackity (around 2 hours in).

Mr. Mustard Goes Missing: The start of Foolish’s mission to find Mr. Mustard. Included because it’s a good kickstart to Foolish’s Federation lore, which you can learn more about on his wiki. Also includes Bad and Foolish’s 3 hr contest of wills.

☆ Election Dinner: Pre-election dinner and speech, and more code lore. 

Cucurucho’s Survey: Cucurucho gives Bad a task 30 minutes in, and collects it 4 hours in. The Federation responds on this stream, time stamp in the comments.

☆ ElQuackity Assassination #2: Bad formulates a plan to eliminate ElQuackity from the elections, and then goes to execute it. 

☆ Dapper’s Kidnapping: Quackity’s POV goes more in-depth on Dapper’s end, but Bad has a nice monologue afterwards. 

Elections: Aftermath of the elections, stream of the results is on Quackity’s channel. 

Nether Escape: Forever’s nether escape plan. Also the start of Bad’s “vacation arc” where he tries to “rest” (read: cope with alcohol and Skeppy) after the elections.

Dapper's Death Day: Bad celebrates Pomme and Tallulah's birthdays, but notices Dapper is missing. He finds a message from Dapper an hour in.

Quackity Returns/Skeppy Call: Quackity returns and Bad questions him a little. He also succesfully calls Skeppy and, afterwards, drops lore on his backstory. 

Please tell me if there’s anything I should add or if any of the links are broken/wrong! I tried to condense this as best I could and I’ll try to update as frequently as possible.

[ohbaby-here-we-go-again]

I’ve seen a couple people say “I want a relationship like sleep token lyrics,” or something of a similar ilk, with the replies being “ bro have you listened to the lyrics ??”

Now I would like to first off say, I agree…. But also…. I do not.

Stay with me people, let me explain…

Ok, first we must consider which of the three major archetypes of sleep token songs is being referred to. These are as follows: 1) “wowowow I’m so in love, flame of my soul, muse of my poetry, let us entangle ourselves in every time and every universe,” 2) “…alright lads, I may have gotten myself… into a perhaps not so good situation again….but also sexy times,” 3) “fuckfuckfuckfuck i hate it here i hate you but also someone please love me pleasepleaseplease I just want someone to love me.” Note: not all songs fit neatly into these groupings, some songs may sit between them or flip back and forth between verses.

Now if someone said they want a love like a sleep token lyrics, and they were referring to the first type, then they could mean a song like “drag me under” where you get the absolute banger line, “And I know the angels tonight are as lost for words //As I am to merely behold you as we lie down together.” Or perhaps ‘Telomeres,’ which, while a little more emotionally charged, is generally still pretty hopeful in my opinion.

Or perhaps a song like ‘Alkaline,’ ‘Give,’ or ‘Jaws.’ Where the lyrics are a little more seeped in desire, in seeing the faults and the possible darkness in a person, in acknowledging its presence, and wanting them anyway. Which isn’t inherently bad for a relationship, you just need to make sure it doesn’t come to impact it in an unhealthy way….

We must also of course acknowledging those of us who have goofy little traumatised brains, that see a red flag and go “well boy howdy, sign me up for some of that”…. I am looking you entire middle section of Ascensionism…

Or the lesser but still unhealthy element of, yearning that has turned almost obsessive, or ‘I see your pain, let us be in pain together.’

And then of course all of this hinges on whether or not you’re dealing with songs individually or as a collective, and if you are seeing it through a reality adjacent lens or a lore/Sleep lens. Because the moment you add in that connection and continuity between songs, particularly if you relate them back to Sleep, then yea, even the most innocent of lyrics becomes tainted.

I would also be remiss, to not acknowledge the possibility that “I want a love like sleep token lyrics” is in fact a short hand for “I want to be loved by someone like vessel.” In turn meaning, I want to be desired in my entirety. My flaws recognised, my pain understood - to be loved by someone so willing to give. Who is, seemingly, so full of love that it pours out his heart like a faucet and floods any cup offered - even if it overflows, or is later tipped onto the sidewalk.

Finally, there is the likely and understanding angle of, “hot man say pretty words and make brain goo”… which you know what fair enough.

If you have made it this fair I am giving you a kiss on the forehead for enabling my silliness, and also casting a spell to make you forget all the spelling and grammar errors you likely just trudged through >:]

[moony-2001]

Lore Olympus ch. 257-262 critique pt. 1

This one is gonna be split into 2 parts. I'm trying not to ramble on too much but I figure it'll be better if this bad boy is just split up. After that, I may or may not do more chapter critiques. I don’t want my content to *just* be chapter critiques

Ch. 257

I honestly don't remember having a lot to say about the beginning of this chapter. It was very meh. It basically just reconfirms what we already knew about the state of the mortal realm. I did want to discuss a few "stand-out" scenes when we flip back to the meeting room.

The bitter MIL trope

When we cut to Demeter trying to verbalize what's happening in the mortal realm, something she said really pissed me off:

Let me be clear. I'm not mad about what she said. I mean, I am, but I'm more mad at the fact that Rachel made her say this and the overuse of the whole "Demeter is a petty, bitter in-law that can't handle the fact that her daughter has her own life" trope.

Literally what problems is she creating from this plague?? First of all, this is a problem Persephone started, not Demeter, so Demeter confirming that the mortal realm is dying is not "creating problems". Inadvertently, the other gods back her up on this by expressing concern about the fact that what will happen to other non-immortal beings like the nymphs and what will happen if it spreads to the other realms.

I don't know if this is a callback to the original hymn, and if it is, it's in really fucking poor taste. In the original hymn, Demeter did not cause the winter "out of spite". She did it because she was fucking pissed that not only was her daughter taken away from her, but it was done so behind her back and without her consent. Also, can we stop with the "bitter MIL" trope, especially involving Demeter? I know MILs in real life can be a nightmare. Trust me, I know. But I don't think fiercely loving your daughter and not wanting her to be traded away like she's a set of golf clubs constitutes being a bitter mother-in-law.

Apollo

Yeaaaah Apollo is right, I'll give him that. Persephone is, once again, a big part of the problem. I know the gods aren't perfect. No one is perfect. But for some reason, a lot of the plot of this story seems to center around Persephone making these big-ass messes, blaming everyone but herself, and then doing fuck-all to actually fix the situation. Also, I find it hilarious that Hades is so offended by the notion that Apollo would accuse him of trying to expand his kingdom when his entire realm was built by slave labor. When has a slave master ever complained about having more slaves prisoners with jobs? Don't answer, that question is purely rhetorical.

Eris, my beloved

Ugh, the part with Eris is just *chef's kiss*. Especially when she transforms into Artemis??? I just??

I want to redraw the scene when I have time because I feel like it could be a lot more spooky-looking than it is now.

Hera

The rest of the chapter is kinda meh. Hated Hera and Apollo's interaction. Also, I'm pretty sure Rachel spelled "wife" wrong. A "waif" is a homeless person, particularly a child. Much hate to Apollo for what he said to Hera, even though Hera also low-key sucks. And yeaaaah. That's it.

Ch. 258

The handling of Hera and Kronos

Chapter 258 picks up pretty much where we left off with Hera. I gotta say I actually really liked this chapter. I know my whole page now is pretty much constantly shitting on the entirety of LO, but I gotta give major props to Rachel for how she handled 258. Was the chapter leading up to and including the interaction between Hera and Kronos perfect? No. But IMO it was still really good.

The reason why I say this is because not long before this chapter was posted, I and a lot of other anti-LO creators noticed there was a spike in comments both under Rachel's insta and in the comic's comment section romanticizing the relationship between Hera and Kronos. It was disgusting. Never should someone ever romanticize the relationship between a victim/survivor and their abuser. In this chapter, Rachel seemingly put her foot down about this and basically said "This is not okay". Now, she never outright said that anywhere that I saw, but that's the vibes I was picking up. Standing up to your abuser is really hard to do. And I'm proud of Hera (even though she's not real lol).

The one thing I did not like about this portion of the chapter was Hera and Hestia's interaction.

Really? That's all you have to say to your sister that has been going through a hell of a time? Yeah, okay, Hestia.

The ritual

Now that I've fulfilled my once-a-month praise quota for LO, time to get back to the shitting.

Besides the ugly ass art, I introduce a new challenge. The Persephone tries not to make everything about herself challenge: impossible. I see she's picking up a few tricks from Hades in the narcissist department. I've noticed, especially recently, that H&P has a particularly nasty habit of diminishing others' feelings or certain situations to make it all about themselves. I know I mentioned this in my last critique but I feel the need to bring it up again, especially in these last bits of this chapter.

Case in point A is that Hades and Persephone get so wrapped up in each other that they don't even notice that Hecate is, for lack of better terms, wigging out.

Obviously, she turns out fine, but seriously? You didn't even pay attention to her until Morpheus pointed out the fact that something was clearly wrong.

*unholy screaming* pt. 1

So you guys know how I felt about the whole nightie situation with Persephone. Well, you're in luck because the rage I feel for the last part of this chapter makes that pale in comparison.

This is case in point B of Hades and Persephone making everything about themselves.

When I first saw this I was kinda like "Huh???" And then the chapter ended??? I had to wait a whole ass week to find out but my fuckery senses were tingling.

Ch. 259

*unholy screaming* pt. 2

Boy oh boy were my fuckery senses right.

Literally, who fucking cares? This isn't about you!! You aren't the victims in this. They both started all this and they need to be willing to do whatever it takes to fix it. Persephone, to her credit, at least acknowledges that in a much nicer way. But yet again, HADES MAKES IT ABOUT HIMSELF.

"...it will come at a cost to us... we have to basically choose between us and everyone else." Uh. YEAH??? Jfc, stop being a whiney piss baby, and get your shit together! Choosing between yourselves and everyone else? Is that even a question? If you both have to sacrifice yourselves to make this better, tough titties.

The pool scene

This scene is what I was talking about when I mentioned Persephone's speech. But I still can't enjoy it. Why, I hear you ask? I don't know, MAYBE BECAUSE THEY'RE HAVING SEX WHILE THE WORLD IS BURNING DOWN AROUND THEM. Yeah, sure they deserve to have their lovey-dovey moments (I guess. Undeservedly so IMO). But how about you wait to pork until you've saved the world from perilous doom???

Also maybe I'm reading into this waaaaay too much, but tell me why I feel like Persephone just had sex with Hades to talk him off a wall. To me, it almost felt equivalent to "I'm going to kms if you leave me" or some other kind of weird hostage situation where now Persephone has to make HIM feel better even though this is about HER and how SHE fucked up. Idk.

Final notes

Well, that wraps up part 1. I know I've been gone for way longer than I said I was going to be and for that I'm sorry. Overall, pretty yikes but I liked 258 the best.

[foxtriestobiteandmaimandkilland]

Hi hello spoilers for the ENTIRETY of riptide (specifically episodes 78, 93, 110, tho the entire campaign ep1-ep115 is talked about here) and also. A read more since this is a very. Very. Long post. And i dont intend to colour of the sky you <3

Yknow im just thinkin like ik the common theory is that chips the nameless prince and im still pretty in agreement but im also. Thinking.

Bc i relistened to episode 78 where goobleck finds the book on the nameless prince. (32:35ish) And id basically entirely forgotten abt it until i relistened to 93, heard charlies sparknotes version n wanted to listen 2 it for myself. And like.

Im pretty sure, unless im interpreting grizzlys words wrong, that the nameless prince is whatever entity was mentioned in the 110 prophecy ?

Tho its hard because. He gave a summary of what the book was about since goobleck didnt properly read it i think he just kinda. Skimmed. And he started by saying that the book is about a prince, a self proclaimed prince at that, but mostly just an entity born in the abyss. So im not sure if that entity is the same person as the prince or if theyre two different people ???? But for the sake of Thinking ill say theyre the same bc i dont see why they wouldnt be.

But he goes on to say that this book talks about this abyss entity, and how it became obsessed w spreading corruption in a world of mostly peace. And how it wants to learn about the inhabitants of this world (?) And then the book ends in chaos and tragedy, where the entire world falls to corruption. The entity destroys all living things ("this race of living creatures") and then consumes even more worlds by spreading its abyss corruption. And how its also almost. Parasitic.

So. This sounds a lot like the 110 entity.

"An entity threatens world stability / caged in the deepest layers of infinity [...] forboded calamity, the chosen is warned / the shape of all life shall take a new form / its choice to be made with no time to mourn"

Definitely sounds like this entity is the same, it threatens world stability by spreading its corruption, and this infinity could be the abyss. The shape of all life line draws my attention tho bc of how grizzly described the entity as destroying "this race of living creatures" and like a parasite.

Althoughhhhh i will have to relisten to. The just rolled for episode 93 because i think it was then that the 3 players made their guesses as to who the guarding giant, nameless prince and unborn kings are and grizzly said One was correct. I know they guessed arlin as the guarding giant and i think niklaus chip or rose's kid were other guesses perhaps ? Tho im not sure as to Where they fit each.

[HI HELLO i have now relistened to the rolled for 93. Condi guessed Arlin as the guarding giant, Chip as the nameless prince and Rose's Kid as the unborn kings. Only 1 of these is correct]

Ill also have to relisten to the stone age what if. Because even though that what if probably doesnt contain much thatd be important since. Its a what if. And it was back in the desire arc. The ending of it reminds me a bit of the nameless prince section where the entity destroys more worlds by spreading its corruption. Andddddd yea if that what if means anything at all then that could suggest niklaus as the entity or the nameless prince ?

Something else that gets me though is the legend lore scroll itself. We all know about the guarding giant nameless prince and unborn kings but. What i keep thinkin on is the beginning and end:

"A map that is a guide and a key / passed around the hands of destiny / it leads to chaos infinity / beneath the seas / the guardian giant / the nameless prince / the unborn kings / all wait to be inevitably free"

The very end with the "inevitably free" sounds like. One line of the 110 prophecy ("its release in time an inevitability" IT being the entity) and niklaus' greatest desire: freedom.

There is a consistent theme of freedom throughout riptide - or instead, a need/want for it. Gillion and jay both work towards freedom from the elders and navy respectively, islands (and casinos) early campaign all wanted freedom from various curses, pirates strive to create freedom from the navys rule, navys claim to strive to create a world free of "chaos".

However, across the nameless prince skim read, the legend lore scroll, and the 110 prophecy, there are manyyyy many parallels between them. Parallels, which i spent about 2 hours brainrotting about yesterday

It has been a couple days since i have made this biggg graphic and ive had a lotta time to dwell on this all and think. Because there are definitely many reasons why chip could be the nameless prince - and like a lotta other people i Know he has a bigger role in the world of mana than it seemed at first. However, i do feel like that role isnt the role of the nameless prince.

I mean, i probably have forgotten some evidence since i havent rewatched the ENTIRE campaign in a littleeee bit, just random episodes i think would have points of interest. But so far, we dont exactly know a whole lot about the nameless prince, only that whoever it is, is waiting to be free, could be whatever entity these poems and texts talk of, and has links to the hole in the sea. There were also a lot of details in the hole during episode two of the oneshot, which could be linked back to the prince. Lemme justtttt. Get the notes i took during my rewatch of it.

So, on the staircase where the three had their flashbacks, there were a few engravings in the wall. Some were words in abyssal primordial which read "what do you desire", others were depictions of humanoids with gems and coins, some were depictions of slavery + power. However, one stood out to finn since whilst the others repeated, this one was unique and singular. And it was the mountain with a crown above it.

This ofc could be passed off as mostly unimportant since it appeared so very early in the campaign, but we all know grizzlys dming and worldbuilding style isnt like that - everything thats been mentioned so far has been important in some way or another, and events from incredibly early episodes still affect the present day.

Although, unfortunately, i am Not Smart. And dont really know what this could Mean.

Weve seen a few mountains throughout the campaign, and none that instantly feel connected to that. Theres the mountain they all climbed in 111 of course, but that just housed those ice pirates, not anything much to do with a prince. It did also make me think of edison kingdom, since that has a monarchy and is a stacked city, howeverrrrr i doubt it would be that since. I dont see the relevance.

The crown is of course the only part here we can really connect to anything, that being the nameless prince. Since, they are a PRINCE afterall (although i do think these names are more metaphorical than literal). There ARE other places throughout the campaign crowns appear (once again, edison, and queen) though i doubt the edison kingdom would be so important to what feels like personal riptide pirate story, and queen didnt exist much as a character until they were introduced in episode like. 80smth. And their name is only queen bc charlie started the bohemian rhapsody bit.

SOOO yea basically. Summed up. Shits addin up. And also not addin up. I have lots of thoughts on this stuff, howeverrrr like ive said before im. Not very good at analysing. And also not the most articulate either. All in all, i think chip could possibly not be the nameless prince, and whoever the nameless prince IS could be whatever entity has been mentioned around a lot. The end. Goodbye. Thanks 4 readin. Love u.

[betweenlands]

reblogged all the positivity from yesterday so i can Make My Own Post TM about the epidemic of "this should've been a miniseries" -- because pacing-wise, tone-wise, plot-wise, Ocean should never have been three hours long. it's one of Legs's longest non-compilation videos and it is also full of a lot of... not much happening besides the same core gameplay loop.

that'd be fine if i was looking for podcast/"second monitor" content that i could put on in the background while i do something else, but 100DMV is an ARG. there is no reason to make a video this long for a series that is, secretly or not, part of a running plotline. the two are at odds with each other. an ARG needs to be something you want to give your full attention to, make sure you aren't missing anything, pick apart and rewatch multiple times to analyze strange details. a three-hour video is directly hostile to that and a timesink for no reason.

i don't have a problem with longer videos -- there's a reason i cite hbomberguy as my usual exception to the Three Hour Balk Point -- but with Legundo's stuff, i'm increasingly finding it just doesn't have the same substance to hold together its own runtime. i mean, Ocean is longer than:

Sculk Apocalypse (kind of on the long side and could be shorter, but generally uses that runtime to keep a strong sense of tension and fighting to survive. has a very strong hook, multiple "time limits," and a clearly defined endgoal from the start.)

Undercover (a video with Legs actively trying to pretend he's not playing on the server he's playing on, consisting of secret community interaction, cool builds, the potential for a lot of lore drops, and a clearly defined time limit/endgoal from the start.)

Nights (the S1 finale of 100DMV, containing a whole bunch of separate mods to tinker with that hadn't previously been seen before, a good deal of lore, uses its runtime to keep a strong sense of tension and fighting to survive)

the Zombie Apocalypse scenario (full of interpersonal tactics and tension, contained a lot of person-to-person interaction and discussion, had a clearly defined time limit/endgoal from the start)

Dimensional Doors (the video that got me into 100DMV! full of strong plot beats, had variety but began cutting stuff when the dungeon pockets got too repetitive, contained a good deal of lore. also had the bonus of namechecking a mod i knew, recognized, and enjoyed that then made up a good deal of the playthrough's runtime)

the entirety of Deceit Season One, including the wrap-up episode (I DON'T NEED TO TELL YOU HOW INSANE DECEIT MAKES ME. JUST. HUH???)

and then there's the one i suspect started it all, the Game of Thrones scenario.

the GoT scenario is long. it clocks in at a little under 3 hours. but the difference between GoT and a lot of the other long videos is that it uses every single second of its runtime. there is a clearly defined endgoal and a time limit for that endgoal. there are a lot of different mods that play off each other and are used in interesting ways for interesting tactics (as well as smart use of vanilla mechanics). it has clearly defined sections for people that don't want to binge-watch all at once (including one that is pointed out to the viewer in-video as a good time to take a breather). it has, and this is critical, multiple running subplots owing to the fact that there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 50+ players on the server, most of whom are working for one team or another.

GoT works because of interaction between other players. a singleplayer quest for the Iron Throne would not feel nearly as tense or engaging -- but because there's a great deal of interpersonal politics, planning, and battle tactics, it keeps up the variety and nicely flows between downtime, negotiations, and battles. and, because there are multiple players in the conflict, something is always happening offscreen. the world of GoT isn't static, and doesn't only change when Legundo Specifically does something. it is always changing, all the time, when even a single person is logged in, and it means that there is no possible way to get stuck in one gameplay loop for too long because someone is always going to either finish that loop or throw a curveball into it from completely offscreen.

i've made my peace with Haunted Winter being so long, even though it probably should've been a four-part miniseries with one episode per each season. it still has those clearly defined "season" segments, has multiple mods that are being used in different ways at different times, and contains both a known time-limit and interesting editing that keeps up a decently strong sense of tension. it's also the S2 finale of 100DMV, so i can understand how it'd run a little long.

but, and i cannot stress this enough, there is no good reason Ocean -- which consists almost exclusively of a core "loot ships, return to current base, build/mine, loot ships" gameplay loop with no real variation until the mod in the thumbnail really comes into play on day 74 -- should be three hours long. there's no good reason for it to be longer than GoT, than Sculk Apocalypse, than Deceit S1. in the time it takes to watch Ocean, i could rewatch most of Deceit S2. if i set the Ocean video to loop and walked away, i could go rewatch every single Dominion episode that Legundo has ever uploaded and come back in time to find the Ocean video only partway through its third loop.

i really hope this doesn't keep happening. 100DMV used to be something i could recommend without caveats, at the most go "it's got some slightly clickbaity intros, and it might start a little slow, but it picks up quickly and stays really good." now i'm in a situation where the second season runs incredibly long and i genuinely don't know if i'd tell people to get into it anymore -- because right now, at the pace the story is progressing, with the length of videos being put out, it just is not worth the time investment.

i like 100DMV. i like 100DMV a lot. i mean, i'm writing a multichapter fanfiction about it, of course i like it. but if i hadn't gotten into it when i did, with an hour-and-a-half long video about Dimensional Doors, i would be seeing 2-3 hour long videos in my recommended, shrug and go "nah," and then go watch something else.

and this frustrates me. i know 100DMV can be good. i know 100 Days videos can be tightly edited, engaging, interesting fiction with a lot of strong plot hooks despite having a fairly repetitive gameplay loop. i know there's got to be a way to fix this, but i can't do that. all i can do is point out how it comes across to a specific subsection of the audience and hope that it doesn't just come across as needless bashing on something kind of popular.

because it's not. i say all this because i love storytelling in MCYT videos -- it's why i've been here for so long. i say all this because i don't want it to become a lost art for more and more people because long videos do better in Youtube's algorithm.

[agnesandhilda]

hello tumblr user agnesandhilda your umineko posting has intrigued me and i would like to investigate (read: possibly experience it in the future). if you don't mind me asking what is umineko. i could google this information but i find asking the source of it on my dashboard to be more entertaining

okay!! something you should know going in is that umineko is quite literally longer the bible and diverges quite a bit from the basic premise I'm going to give you here, but this is the elevator pitch for it:

the extremely wealthy ushiromiya family meets on their private island for their yearly reunion, which for them doubles as a business conference. their cruel, eccentric patriarch, who's been getting progressively more reclusive and absorbed by his study of black magic and his obsession with the mysterious "beatrice" over the years, believes that his children are waiting for him to die so they can divide his assets among themselves, and hides himself for the entirety of the conference so that his family (who he calls "vultures," how sweet), cannot contact him. and he's not even wrong to think that! each of the four original ushiromiya children is revealed to have some sort of great debt or impending peril that motivates them to get as much of their father's wealth as they can, keeping them in the radius of his abuse and putting them at odds with each other. early umineko is dedicated in large part to the cutthroat internal politics of the ushiromiya family.

but enough about that! umineko is also about battler ushiromiya, a teenager who is comparatively more normal on account of having been estranged from his uberrich family for years, and he doesn't have access to most of this information. battler is just some guy who likes boobs, has an adversarial relationship with his father, and is largely uninvolved in the succession crisis happening just around the corner. he is, however, interested in exploring the ushiromiya mansion and reconnecting with his relatives he hasn't seen in years, and in the process involves himself in the many mysteries surrounding "beatrice."

"beatrice the golden witch" is a key figure in the lore of the ushiromiya family, and of rokkenjima island more broadly. considered the "ruler of rokkenjima's night," she is viewed as representative of everything unexplainable and beyond human control, the entity that holds power over the wilderness that engulfs the comparatively small section of rokkenjima that the ushiromiya family lives on. belief in beatrice is common among the servants of the ushiromiya family, who consider her to be largely benevolent to them, a sort of fairy godmother figure, though they also believe that she harshly punishes nonbelievers and people who are disrespectful towards her. kinzo ushiromiya's study of black magic is in many ways a decades-long effort to contact her, to summon and capture her, and he's had a portrait of the supposed real-life "beatrice" commissioned for the main hall, along with an enigmatic poem about how the resurrection of the golden witch will take place after a series of ritual murders.

the characters of umineko hold a variety of opinions on beatrice. some believe that beatrice is a genuine witch with real magical power, and others reject her outright. in between those positions are people who think that a real woman who is the basis for"beatrice" did exist—that kinzo had a real benefactor or mistress who made him (and by extension, all of his descendants) wealthy beyond belief by investing in kinzo at a time when no one else would, and that stories of "beatrice" persist because kinzo is obsessed with her even now—though she doesn't have any magical power. this belief is mostly held by kinzo's children, whose belief that only some of the beatrice stories are true is motivated by the desire to find the vast quantity of solid gold bars that she supposedly lent the family, and which the murderpoem underneath her portrait may or may not give clues to.

in the middle of all this escalating family tension and stories about witches that the ushiromiyas owe blood debts to, rokkenjima island is caught in a storm that makes contact with the outside world impossible for a day at least, and people begin to die.

battler ushiromiya is trapped with his family members, many of whom hate each other and who would benefit from each other's deaths. without access to any forensic technology and with such a small, insular pool of suspects, it's extremely hard to reliably identify a culprit. it's also terrifying. in the face of these pressures, the ushiromiya family (and their servants, who are also very much being killed), splits into two camps: people who believe that the culprit must be among them (which is a scary thought, and intensifies the conflict and suspicion that already existed within the family), and people who believe that the killer must be an outside agent—beatrice.

since you're asking this in response to seeing the contextless umineko posts I've reblogged, I'm going to go ahead and assume that you know that beatrice does indeed make a physical appearance. and she slays! in every sense of the word! it takes hours of reading to reach her introduction, but when she finally arrives she's just as theatrical, violent, and bombastic as you would expect a witch who massacres entire families to be. she also makes the author's interest in dominant women EXTREMELY clear, which is something you're just going to have to accept if you want to read this visual novel because she's going to strip a guy naked and walk him on a leash later. I have to mention that plot point whenever I can. it's in my contract.

that being said, the question of whether beatrice is "real" remains open even after she's physically appeared in the story. it's a magic thing. it's tough to explain so you'll just have to read it I guess :)

on a less fun note I would be misleading you if I didn't tell you upfront that umineko contains every content warning under the sun. off the top of my head I can say that it's got incest and child abuse (these two are especially big), cannibalism, a 2000s anime-typical laissez-faire attitude towards sexual harassment in scenes that aren't intended to be disturbing, and just, like, a lot of very creative methods of murder and torture. umineko is a gothic horror story. there's gothic horror in it.

[seirindono]

Update

Hi everyone!

It's been a while, hasn't it?

For some of you, this may be the first time you've actually seen me on your feed since I'm on my annual hiatus so... Hi! I'm Seirin, your friendly skeleton lover and author of The Missing Scarf, that one Undertale comic (o´▽`o)

If you were not aware, this blog is usually only active in the summer and/or during the holidays as I'm a student, but I figured I should still write a little smth as I really haven't given any news for a long while now.

So, um, this blog is still very much alive, and so is TMS!   DEMON AU TOO

Truth is, I didn't anticipate back in September the sheer amount of work I'd have to pull off this year as well as the crazy schedule, house mouves, and many, many group assignements... I've always managed but this year is just rough, both physically and mentally (that was new). I had a serious slump around new year and didn't even have the motivation to draw or open social medias for a while. 

But you know me, always ranting that health comes first and that I’ve seen enough burned out artists to know not to go beyond my limits. (*￣▽￣)b  So knowing that I had this 30 pages+ lore doc, unfinished sketches and pile of unanswered asks just waiting for me whenever I wanted to work on TMS, I knew I wasn’t up for the task and had to put it off for later. And later. Again and again. 

That's about it for the venting section.

As of today, I'm still short of time but I've got some of my energy back, enough to write this anyway. But also *drum roll* to work on the next part of TMS! 

And this is where the real announcement comes in: while I'm still on hiatus, I'm planning to adjust the publication schedule a bit for this part. Until now, I'd post a chapter (1 page per day) only after I finished drawing it in its entirety. For this part however, I've decided to try a monthly (or bi-monthly) publication, to give me some leeway, and for you to have actual updates.

We'll see if I can keep up with this pace, but it seems much more satisfying for everyone  ( ´ ▿ ` )

So there you go. Sorry again to those who kept sending me Asks and dms I never got to answer. I just kinda turn into a hermit when overwhelmed or don’t notice them at all (I feel extra bad when I eventually do but every drop of energy needs to be salvaged for irl emergency), but I really appreciate the thought! And, yeah, I haven't disappeared into thin air. I’m just... Lurking here and there.  

Thanks for your patience and I'll see you soon!

Updates will be on the 1st of each month (and occasionally on the 15th)

[who-do-i-know-this-man]

OKOKOKOKOK NEVERHOOD PROPAGANDA the neverhood is a point and click game from 1996, made entirely out of clay! every single setting, character, item, even text is made out of clay. the animation has SO much personality its unbelievably, its just pouring with so much love and dedication. ALSO the lore is Fucking Gigantic, at the beginning of the game it just throws this giant hallway at you containing the entirety of the game’s bible, which takes 5 minutes to just walk to the end of the hallway (warning bertbert’s sections is Very gross and also has the r slur so if you plan on reading the hall of records you should skip that part, but other than that the whole thing is extremely interesting and fascinating) ALSO the music is fucking FANTASTIC and so unique. it was made by terry scott taylor, and can be described as some man mumbling nonsense in your ear while strumming his banjo in the most charming way possible. the songs that dont fit that description just go hard as fuck.

ok now anti-propaganda the gameplay itself is, Eh. puzzles in it were bad and frustrating even for 1996, which is why it didnt get that popular in the first place. if u wanna play it you ABSOLUTELY need a walkthrough or just watch someone else play it, it’ll save a ton of frustration. the game itself sometimes just purposefully wants to fuck with the player, shown by how it gives them a 5 minute long hallway theyre Forced to walk through to progress, and how some puzzles are just so confusing and insufferable. also the creator, doug tennapel, fucking sucks so much its unbelievable (hardcore bigoted christian is the shortest explanation). when looking at neverhood’s lore it’s obvious how much inspiration it takes from stories from the bible and just overall religious shit, which is upsetting once you know what the creator is like

there was also a sequel made of it in 1998, skullmonkeys! it follows the story directly after the neverhood, but instead of being point n click, its a platformer! the game again imo wasnt too great, the devs forgot to add music to the final and most climactic fight of the game and the gameplay was ehhhh, but it had the exact charm of the neverhood - being the charming animation and music. there was also a game called “klaymen gun hockey” released in japan bc NH was extremely popular there, and though it doesnt follow with the story at all and wasnt even made by the og devs, its Technically canon bc iirc dreamworks licensed the game? which i think is just a funny little fact. heres klaymen and fin fin :o)

^

[besiegedhunter]

Sette Colli

Because I want to talk about it after reading somethings from various pages of Terra: A Journey, which this post will include spoilers for as well as the CN server in general and so I'll put them down beneath:

So, for anyone not up to speed or needing a refresher, Sette Colli is a city in Siracusa with a legend attached to it that was first mentioned in the "Rewinding Breeze" event's "Stories from the Sky" story:

It's a fairy tale from Siracusa and so likely very fictitious but as stated afterwards, this city does exist in modern times so that much is real:

This is the real only mention of the City in the game, while the She-Wolf does get a Play in Integrated Strategies - Phantom and the Crimson Solitaire, which is just referencing the story told and not really the City.

Now my intended purpose of this post is to discuss the City itself but because they're really intertwined, like if the She-Wolf ends up being important it'd have to be alongside Sette Colli and there's more context in game regarding her than there is Sette Colli.

There's also the context behind the city and the story's inspiration which is that of Rome, seeing how the She-Wolf is also what the wolf that suckles the founders of Rome in it's creation story. The Seven hills also references the seven hills that Rome was founded on.

As for the context around the story of the She-Wolf: in the poster of the play you can see the She-Wolf and her children depicted as actual wolves and the story doesn't clarify that they were Lupos, in fact the She-Wolf leaving to the moon implies that in the least she was a different type of entity and her children may follow in that logic.

Meaning you have a group of supernatural wolf siblings that once existed in Siracusa. This is an identical description of the Signore dei Lupi, Beast Lords who reside in Siracusa and whose relationship with each other is described as siblings:

What's more is that the Signore dei Lupi fight among each other:

So with the similarities between the two, it feels likely that they could be one in the same, with little changes here and there that didn't get into the fable and gives more legitimacy to the tale.

Now for Terra: a Journey, Sette Colli doesn't appear in the Siracusa section of the book, however it is mentioned in the Terran Technologies section.

There's a twist:

The Sette Colli city established by the She-Wolf's tribe does not exist. There's no historical evidence that it did and if there was, it is said to be outside of any known country. But as stated by Shamare: Sette Colli as a city does exist. And Terra: A Journey backs this up, just in an unexpected way.

See, there was a Seven Cities Federation that seemingly has no connection to the story of the She-Wolf, although I'll say that all of the origins of the name offered in the book are entirely speculated and with modern day Sette Colli existing in Siracusa and the book referencing the She-Wolf's story that, in my opinion, this federation likely at least took some inspiration from the tale.

Putting that to the side for now. This Seven Cities Federation would create the, let's say template, for mobile cities. The first mobile city the book calls it, however they didn't have the resources to fuel it, at least then, and so the Seven Cities Federation disbanded and to quote the book: "Now the only thing that holds that name is the place."

Confirming that this hasn't retconned Sette Colli out of the lore in it's entirety. I believe it just means that the Seven Cities name from the federation was attached to their mobile city, which assumedly wasn't retconned to have not been taken over by a mafia and hence: still in Siracusa.

I suspect that Sette Colli being chosen as the first mobile city might be because of the saying "Rome wasn't built in a day."

But to gloss over what this means:

The Seven Hills region that the She-Wolf's tribe settled is either purely fictitious, lies in the wastes outside of Siracusa's current borders or it is within Siracusa but possibly due to the terrain/changes in the geography from that time has yet to be discovered.

A new Sette Colli was built, being the first Mobile City to be created but of which the Seven Cities Federation did not have the resources to fuel themselves and so it was returned to Siracusa wherein a mafia family would absorb it into their territory.

I'll wrap back around to this in a bit with a curious theory, albeit one I'm confident in and for now return to the story of the original Sette Colli and the She-Wolf's story, because as much as this raises the question of it's legitimacy, I also think the Siracusa section adds some historical context.

See, the original She-Wolf's story takes place, sure in an possibly fictitious location, but likely not an actual time period in Siracusa's history, for Siracusa did have a time period of constant fighting among tribes due to famine:

And as shown, the Famine was caused by the presence of the Signore dei Lupi, a group fitting the description of the She-Wolf's children during the earliest days of Siracusa. I'm going to draw attention back to me saying that it's possible that the Sette Colli from this time period or at least the region the story was founded in, might've really existed, since everything else did.

The "Changed the name of their tribes to families" belying the origin of the mafia is also found in this time period and because of the Signore dei Lupi... in a way.

Really, the only thing of question is whether the She-Wolf existed and if she did, was she a Beast Lord like the Signore dei Lupi or maybe even a Feranmut. It's not too out of the question when Ya from Vernal Winds, another Feranmut, has some features more removed from the typical dragon and more Canine like in appearance.

There's also the Will of Sami's true form that also does not appear fully like a typical dragon:

And statistically speaking, Feranmut are often there when a country is founded or prominent enough. Take Sami here or Kjeragandr.

There's even a possibility that the relationship the She-Wolf has to her children is replicable with the She-Wolf and the Beast Lord Signore dei Lupi, thanks to the apparent treasure trove that is Sami:

Anma is the Beast Lord Amma that features in Skógrinn Svartr Vill Einn Draumr and Expeditioner's Jǫklumarkar. The timing between Sami's rest and the Ancestral Twins being born, with the Father of the Ancestral Spirits being attached to Sami making it possible for a Feranmut to create a Beast Lord, hence She-Wolf's children being Signore dei Lupi.

And maybe without the She-Wolf being there to balance the Signore dei Lupi, it resulted in the abnormal eco-system and famine.

Simply a theory.

Wrapping back to the city itself, there's one probably one more reference to it in game, though it's impressively annoying.

See it doesn't refer to Siracusa or really any other country that this 'Seven Cities' are a part of and casts an impressive amount of doubt on everything about itself because, well,

What I'm talking about is the "Seven Cities-Style Restaurant" dormitory theme:

"A room that reproduces the atmosphere of a Seven Cities restaurant. Is the food to your liking?"

How it draws doubt to itself is that it's the description of the "Upscale Menu Display" says the following:

"A detachable hanging price list. A Seven Cities-style restaurant opened by Victorians, in Columbia? How strange..."

Which goes further because it's a "Seven Cities-style Restaurant" opened by Victorians, in Columbia, further recreated by Rhodes. There's another line, being for the "Seven Cities Patterned Floorboards", that cast doubt on it:

"A commonly used floor style from the Seven Cities? The natives might disagree with that."

And besides a possible reference to: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, where the setting is in Italy, in the description for the "Large Notice Board" there's nothing exactly linking it to Siracusa.

But to quote what Terra: A Journey, has to say about 'seven-cities': "The only thing with that name now is the place" and with it referencing the possibly fictitious Sette Colli from the story, it's likely that this Restaurant is supposed to be a recreation of a Sette Colli restaurant.

Maybe something propping this up is the description for the "Real Wooden Accent Wall.":

"Decorate wall laminate to be placed on the wall behind the front desk. After all, the soul of the Seven Cities resides in its wood."

How? Well, the Terra: A Journey's Siracusa section puts massive emphasis on wood cutting, mentioning it several times:

Axes led to Siracusa's civilization, woodcutters and a logging camp who would find an surprisingly important man and where he'd be kept, forestry is one of Siracusa's most considerable resources.

So to say that 'The soul of Sette Colli, a Siracusan city, is in it's wood' is genuinely very probable.

Now, here's where I bring up Projekt Red because I always have to:

In the story of Little Red Riding Hood, Red's inspiration, you have Red Riding Hood herself, Grandma, the Big Bad Wolf and the Huntsman/ Woodcutter.

We see in Red's story how she is Red Riding Hood and her relationship with the Signore dei Lupi called Grandma is inspired by the Grandma and Big Bad Wolf of the Red Riding Hood story.

And while Red herself is also the Huntsman who slays the Big Bad Wolf or "Wolves" for Red, there's room for the Woodcutter variation of the story.

And with the historical context behind the She-Wolf of Sette Colli and the almost undeniable proof that the Signore dei Lupi are the basis for the She-Wolf's children, and that HG would bring Sette Colli up again in Terra: A Journey in such an important role as the first Mobile City,

Well I think Sette Colli deserves to be the setting for a Limited Event and that Red would be the perfect candidate for it with her ties to the Signore dei Lupi, themes of family and possible forestry.

But regardless, Sette Colli is an interesting place.

(Projekt Red for 5.5)

[terrified-spider]

To CoS DMs,

What sort of stuff do you make a point of including when changing Strahd's diary?

I've never been fond of 5e's handout, it feels far more like a lore drop than a personal diary, and while using I, Strahd would be nice, I've made too many changes to the lore to use it as is. (not to mention that my players and I are all busy, and won't have the time to read a full novel)

I've outlined the key elements that need to be included, I just need to pad it out a bit.

Thank you for any help (:

My current outline is under the cut (:

cw for canon typical depression and violence

Taking Castle Ravenloft:

Summary of the arrival at the castle, naming it after his mother, in her honor

With the death of their parents, Sergei will be coming to the keep

Introduction to Alek and Rahadin, the two working and training together

Meeting Tatyana:

Introducing our sexy lamp

Passing mention of Sergei giving up his place in the clergy for her

Focus on Tatyana's physical traits, her hair in particular. As much as the lamp thing is a joke, she isn't important to Strahd as a person, only a prize. As Strahd is really the only source of information on Tatyana for the party, she doesn't really get much in terms of development.

Alek has raised concerns once again about the assassin

Tatyana & Sergei, Wedding Prep:

Strahd moping while Sergei and Tatyana have a good time.

Mention of Alek going to the Amber Temple for research purposes, to find something that might help the situation.

Night Before the Wedding:

Strahd is starting to hear whispers

Alek and Rahadin have been patroling the castle, questioning the guards, etc.

Wedding Night Aftermath:

Quiet castle, only him and Rahadin alive.

Some sacrifices had to be made, but Alek is still alive, gifted to Rahadin, so that the two can remain brothers.

Alek died as he does in I, Strahd, but is the first Strahd brings back from the dead. He botches it though, and Alek returns as a Nosferatu, rather than a spawn. Strahd is denying the problem, shrugging off the issue as best as he can. He's good at it.

Meeting Marina:

The only section I've fully written out so far, but still up for revisions.

I returned to Castle Ravenloft late yesterday evening with no issue. Rahadin was right, the girl looks exactly like my dearest Tatyana did, with the same red hair and bright eyes. I do not think I know the entirety of what happened to her in the years since her death in the Mists, but she did not remember who she, or perhaps more importantly, Sergei or I, was.

Now, she goes by Marina, and is the adopted daughter of the burgomaster in Berez, Lazlo Berezovich, who plans to marry her in just a few years. Of course, i cannot have such things happen to Tatyana, no matter what name or face she wears now, and I have already begun to teach her of her old life. She seemed invested, though that might simply be due to the prospect of minor nobility taking romantic interest in her. Still, even with having only spent a night with her, the results seem promising. My brother will not have any influence this time, and at long last, Tatyana will finally be mine.

Rahadin also brought news of the Abbot, the “angel” having taken up residence in the old monastery in Krezk, where I had found Leo Dilisnya. While Tatyana is of the highest priority, I will have to visit Krezk soon, to finally welcome our newest guest. Even if his healing magic has been greatly exaggerated, his presence should provide at least some degree of entertainment for myself, and perhaps some assistance for Barovia’s people.

Death of Marina:

Most recent event in journal, so that it works out when Strahd leaves the diary buried under the monument to Marina. A good segment of unmarked pages are left at the end of the journal.

Cursing the men who killed Marina, description of their bodies after their deaths.

[yanderes-galore]

Platonic Yandere! Primis! Tank Tempsey with Mentally Regressed! Darling? She often appears and sound like a child throughout their journey, but is actually a young woman over 18 and is in the place of Samantha Maxis instead. She's mentally regressed due to the corruption by getting in contact with Element 115 and gotten stuck in the Dark Aether realm in the Ultimis timeline, no thanks to Richtofan. She likes to play with them— and by play, I mean constantly sending them horse-sized Hellcats who she calls Whiskers.

Always angrily called the four men "Meanies" whenever they ruined the fun. Likes to try provoking them in her hallucination "child" form and gets away before they can even get to her. While not knowing Dempsey is frantically trying to urge Richtofan to fix her faster. To Dempsey, she's no more than a little girl who's been through a lot. (just wait until he realizes she's actually older than she appears and sounds) It'll take a lot of effort for that to happen due to her powerful dark aether abilities and mental instability. They'd probably have to somehow travel to the Dark Aether realm in order to get to her actual physical form to try and cure her.

Lol sorry I got too invested with this request. But I hope this sort of helps! :)

I... um... woah I didn't realize how long and complex this request was until I looked back at it again. I'm going to do what I can with this and just kind of tackle it in sections if that's fine? I got a bit overwhelmed and a bit confused. I need to rewatch the Zombie lore omfl, lol.

You have good ideas Anon I was just confused on where to start with this personally, sorry if I had trouble following-

Yandere! Platonic! Primis! Tank Dempsey with Mentally Regressed! Darling

Pairing: Platonic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Female Darling, Mental regression presumably due to trauma/corruption, Obsession, Dempsey trying to be a dad, Slight manipulation, Implied murder, Overprotective behavior.

I can imagine your first meeting doesn't give the best impression.

Upon your first meeting Dempsey doesn't entirely like you the most.

The giant zombified cats and regular but fast zombies certainly don't help.

Although when Dempsey sees the hallucination of your child form he starts to wonder if you really are just a kid infected with Element 117.

You call them all "meanies" whenever they get past your waves of zombies but you most likely hate Richtofen the most.

All of which only makes Dempsey more distrusting of him.

Honestly Dempsey probably feels bad for you when he sees your child form and is probably always the first to follow.

This surprises the whole group as no one really thought Dempsey had a fatherly side in him, let alone to a strange child trying to kill them.

Dempsey really feels bad for you... a lost little girl stuck in an unfortunate situation.

He does wish you could stop with all the hellcats, however.

Dempsey would indeed bring you up to Richtofen for information and ask for him to try and fix you.

"Fix her? Dempsey do you know how much work that would-"

"She's a little girl trapped somewhere, Richtofen. Who cares... we need to learn more about this. Why does she hate you so much?"

"...."

Finding and rescuing you is a trivial task on its own.

Meanwhile whenever Dempsey sees you he tries to convince you he's just trying to help.

Due to your situation you could react in whatever way you feel makes sense.

The Dark Aether's power corrupts your thoughts so you most likely ignore him and go back to your games or listen briefly before running off.

For the entirety of the journey Dempsey believes you're just a little girl.

Until he meets you in person... where he finds your physical body.

Somehow and in someway Dempsey manages to get Richtofen to try and force your soul back into your body.

(This is different from Samantha's backstory but bear with me, this is where I take my own liberties with this-)

This doesn't entirely fix you as your soul is that of a child and not... a grown woman.

Richtofen then leaves you with Dempsey as he is the one who "wanted to fix her so bad."

As a result Dempsey becomes your caretaker.

A parent if you will.

Dempsey doesn't mind the role, he also doesn't mind the age thing.

In Dempsey's eyes... you're still that little girl he's been following after all this time.

It may take time before you fully trust him but Dempsey is willing to wait.

While you try to get used to having a functioning body again, Dempsey tries to help.

Dempsey soon appears as a father to you.

He knows you aren't fully cured and you may be unable to be fully cured... yet that does not stop him from caring for you.

If the others in the group have issues with it he ignores them and tells you to do the same.

Although Nikolai and Takeo may also act like parents to you if you come to them, while Richtofen prefers to stay away.

You're an important part of the team to Dempsey and he's just happy he was able to help you in some way.

He isn't sure what made him want to be a parent to you so suddenly... but he isn't fighting it.

He just can't leave you alone, can he?

You've already been alone for so long...

So maybe you do need him?

Dempsey could be getting second hand corruption from you and your body when he has this obsessive need to be around you... yet as of now there's no way to fix it.

This could be a way to explain his yandere behavior, however.

It's hard for me to find a way to make this yandere for some reason but Dempsey would probably be an overprotective parent.

He'd start fights with Richtofen if he tried to suggest he leaves you.

"She'll hinder our mission, Dempsey. We need to get her somewhere safe."

"Hinder? She's my daughter, Richtofen... we aren't leaving her!"

"Daughter...? Dempsey, have you gone mad?"

"Hell no... she needs someone and that someone is me. Look at her... do you think she can take care of herself?"

Dempsey may be occupied with the mission half the time but he teaches you what you need to know.

He also tries to show you fatherly affection, like hugs even if you struggle to understand it.

Dempsey does not mind your childish view of things.

He really is a good guardian for you.

If you ever got hurt then Dempsey does what he can to fix it.

Be it killing someone or something... or just patching you up and telling you it's okay.

It's nearly impossible for the rest of the crew to pry you apart from each other.

Dempsey loves and cares for you... soon you do too.

You don't understand that Dempsey is suffocating.

You don't understand a lot of things due to being in the MPD for most of your time.

Despite that... you don't mind.

You love Dempsey as your father...

Dempsey loves you as his daughter...

Who cares if he never wants to leave you and turns violent over you... you need him and he knows it.

[starcell00]

(warning: this post is mostly about silly little video games, but it mentions traumatic methods of teaching and their results. also, minor early-game spoilers for Outer Wilds.)

Outer Wilds and the Dark Souls series approach the problem of what to do when new players fail at the game from opposite directions, and (at the risk of pissing off soulslike enjoyers) I think Outer Wilds does it right, and Dark Souls does it wrong.

When a player dies in Dark Souls, the screen briefly flashes with the iconic "YOU DIED" before fading to black and putting them back at their most recent campfire. At first glance, this doesn't seem like anything more than the game telling the player the obvious, but...

"YOU DIED". There's so much emotional content packed into those two words.

The player already knows they've died when they see their character take the final hit and crumple to the ground dramatically, before those words ever hit the screen. Iconic though it is, the phrase is unnecessary; but it's also worded in such a way that it aims itself squarely through the fourth wall at the player themself. When you see it for the fiftieth or hundredth time, it starts to read as a judgment from the game, and the deaths start to feel like personal failings.

Coupled with the notorious, punishing difficulty of the game itself, Dark Souls' method of developing skill in the player boils down to "repeatedly demanding competency, until the player develops the ability to give it." If they develop that ability quickly, or by being persistent enough, they're rewarded with a slow trickle of lore and worldbuilding as rich and deep as amber - which is something that Dark Souls shares with Outer Wilds.

But if they fail to develop this ability in a timely manner, or even at all, a particular boss or area can quickly become a brick wall for the player to hit their head against. In this way, the game's teaching style is roughly analogous to a strict piano player rapping their student across the knuckles and saying "Again" every time they hit a wrong note; this harshness and lack of sympathy from the game is even a meme in the Dark Souls community, with many a comments section littered with "git gud."

(tw: this is where it gets heavy)

Although Western society has largely moved on from corporal punishment, this "just get good" style of teaching is still regularly practiced in almost all areas of real life, and - speaking from personal experience - the consequences for students are usually severe: from loss of passion for the material, to lifelong insecurities and anxiety disorders, to crippling depressive tendencies, up to and including suicide. The entirety of Whiplash (2014) comes to mind, but particularly the bit where the harsh band director gets physically attacked by his star drum student.

(ok ur good)

By contrast, Outer Wilds takes great care to frame the player's death as a natural inevitability. You can glean every bit of information from every NPC in your starting village and go take off in your wooden shack of a spaceship, you can land (very gingerly) on your home planet's moon and talk to the NPC hanging out there, you can take off again, land again at the places on the moon they suggested you go to, and translate some alien text, you can go to some more places, and rinse and repeat for twenty minutes...

...and then, you can look skyward and watch the fucking sun explode, turning you and every other bit of matter in the solar system into a glittering cloud of plasma.

The game unequivocally tells you, within the first half-hour of gameplay: "you will die, and that's okay." In fact, it proactively makes you die, at no fault of your own - without even saying any words about it, to boot. (Interestingly, this can sometimes be a major turn-off for soulslike enjoyers.)

You then wake up back where you started, and your ship's computer still has logs of the people you talked to and the text you translated in the previous life, ready for you to take off again and add to them. Outer Wilds defines success such that you only fail if you manage not to learn anything in a life - an exceptionally difficult thing to do, given how plentiful knowledge is in the worlds you visit.

In fairness, though, Outer Wilds does have areas locked behind requirements of lateral thinking, unusual cunning, or raw mechanical skill, and you will not be progressing into those areas until you meet those requirements. The game temporarily switches to the Dark Souls model of teaching: demanding competency until you develop it. Given some of the places it shows up, the switch usually makes sense, and the areas in question are still largely optional (let's not talk about the DLC), but it says something about that model of teaching that those moments are widely considered to be the worst parts of the game.

tl;dr Dark Souls demands perseverance and punishes failure, where Outer Wilds encourages perseverance and makes true failure quite difficult. Some people want Harder Battles, but some people can't handle them.

[abimee]

i already shuffle stuff around in tocks lore a bit to fit the narrative that shes a child while also getting the special treatment of being the most specialist girl still. biggest one i enjoy is i think during the entirety of the elpis section hades wont stop pointing at tock and going ''thart is not a familiar that is a whole child" and everyone blowing him off because althaea has a familiar similar to tock but hades is 100% positive without a doubt that tock is a literal child. like BABY baby and hermes and venat and hythlo just blowing him off makes him feel insane

[mokkamicci]

sometimes I think that the MLB community on YouTube truly does not understand Miraculous fully unlike Tumblr. especially when it comes to certain channels that like to make hollow criticisms of the show, and especially the comment section under those particular channels. there's one particular channel that likes to do this quite often. they do this with other films and tv shows too, but that ain't the focus here. it's the way their criticisms come across to me.

obviously I'm not saying they can't make any criticisms of the show, they can obviously, they don't have to like it. but the thing that bothers me is the way certain people on YouTube, most egregiously the people in comment sections voice their opinions. to me they come across incredibly condescending and even mocking, almost like if you were to say to them that you genuinely liked the show, they'd scoff at you and say "seriously? but the writing's so bad, and the characters are so cringy, and it's just a kids' show, it's not that serious...” etc etc.

I also think that a lot of criticisms they have are also unfounded and are based on their season 1 mindset, as if the show hasn't grown from the season 1 plot and structure (/sarcasm). you still see these people even nowadays make the same baseless criticisms like "marinette is a stalker", "adrien being dense and calling marinette just a friend", "the lovesquare is so cringy" etc etc. and it pisses me off. it's like they only ever watched season 1, and then dropped it thinking it was too childish for them, OR they're casual watchers who only ever watch the show from time to time, so they didn't get the whole experience of engaging with the lore on a deeper level and actually following along with the characters' journeys. they really don't understand what Miraculous has become, and that the writing has actually grown from when it first started.

You would have to watch the show in its entirety to truly understand it and engage with it to know that it's not just a cringy kids' show with superheroes, even though it kinda started off that way. but it's grown from that. and this is why I love the Tumblr community. even though we know the show has its fair share of flaws, at least our gripes with the show are well-founded, because you know, we've actually connected with the plot and narrative, the essence of each character and what makes them important to the story.

TL;DR - youtube mlb community frustrate and piss me off because their shallow and unfounded criticisms of Miraculous come across as condescending because they truly haven't connected with the show on a fundamental level, or even be bothered to make an effort to actually watch the show in its entirety. they are all stuck in their season 1 mindset, and have automatically decided that's just all the show is at this point. just like any other tv show with multiple seasons, the writing improves with each new season, but somehow these people are convinced that Miraculous is still the same as it was in Season 1.

[elegyofthemoon]

Hsr for the ask game thing! Or if it's been asked then hi3 :)

YAAAAAAAAAAAY RAMBLINGGGGGGG

the first character i ever fell in love with:

sampo :) i actually started playing hsr because of sampo! he just seemed like a silly little dude and i do tend to like the "goof but has some big lore potential going on". it took like a day of resisting to actually download the game lmao

a character that i used to love/like, but now do not:

Himeko..... I was actually really excited to get to know Himeko more when I had first started off. I mean come on: she's so beautiful! But laksjdfh I think overtime she eventually stopped standing out for me that I lost interest. That plus now that I've played HI3, the reason why I like HSR! Himeko feels like it's only because of HI3 Himeko and the importance of Himeko in the HI3 plot and for many characters' developments 😭 Sorry Himeko

a ship that i used to love/like, but now do not:

I guess KafHime tbh? I think aesthetically they're a very very pretty couple, but I just can't get behind it at all. Or I just have no reasons to get behind it since I'm not exactly invested in either characters. Though Kafka is definitely growing on me because I built her (accidental pull) and she's been doing such massive damage so like you know.

Even then I don't have anything to say about either characters aslkdjfa

my ultimate favorite character™:

surprise to no one it's Dan Heng ALKSJDFAKLSJH I can go on about why I like him, but tldr: I just got attached to him at a very very crucial point in my life and he's just a nice comfort character to me ^u^ I loved being able to get to know him further on the Luofu and all things about the High Cloud Quintet ! So... yeah :> also I miss him --

prettiest character:

IM STUCK BECAUSE I THINK DAN HENG IS SOOOOOO PRETTY BUT ALSO ARGENTIIIIIII ARGENTI IS SO BEAUTIFULLLL RADIANT KNIGHT WHO COMES WITH HIS OWN SPARKLES AND OURGHHHHHH

it's hard T _ T its very hard to tell T _ T

my most hated character:

I don't really have a character I hate. Just more disinterest towards. Dr. Ratio is definitely up there though (I ramble about him later lmao)

my OTP:

listen.... i know it has been a while.... but I still really love Serval/Cocolia. I rarely read fanfics aside from if its written by my friends but Servalia had me clawing through AO3 and Tumblr just to search for more fics for them. No one posts about them much anymore but I sure love them so much okay.

my NOTP:

i'm not going to say which ship but its one of the dan heng ships.

favorite episode:

I'll write this as "favorite update". Penacony has been suuuuch a fun ride honestly. So I'll say that entire section has been tons of fun. As of now I still haven't finished it in its entirety, but I can sense 2.2's story will probably be my favorite because I've been waiting to get to know Robin more and the Watchmaker!! But 2.1 has been fun because I just love seeing Acheron's section of it heheh :)

saddest death:

UHHH as of now, I think Aventurine's death in 2.1 was really sad :/ Hoyo did a really good job writing Aventurine and his story that once you get to the finale of the 2.1, I found myself kinda torn on how it ended. Aventurine who placed his bets on his own death because that is what his good luck is good for - winning against all odds. The epilogue scene with Aventurine walking off into the Nihility's shadow kinda got me too. And this is coming from someone who is like very.... meh on Aventurine? I can't really bring myself to get super invested in him but objectively, he is a really well thoughtout and well created character. I just have no feelings towards him.

favorite season:

I'll write this as "favorite area". It's still Penacony askldjfahlsk There's sooooo many things happening in Penacony and I loved being able to put the pieces together to figure out what's going on. It's also the first area that I had nearly read all the readables in because I'd make it my goal to finish reading every readable and 100% every area before the next update in Penacony :> I want to better understand the area I'm in and give myself ideas for where the story can go. The second area would have been Belobog because it's the only other area I was trying to 100% and read all the readables for (are the readables important in Belobog? no but some of them sure made me cry a bit LMAO)

least favorite season:

"Least favorite area" Honestly... Herta's Space Station. But that could also be because when I first started HSR, I was still orienting myself to the new world, so the space station is the least i remember. It's not that I hated it; it's trying to orient you into the new world and I was just confused for majority of it. I just don't remember enough about it nor about the people within it to care for it.

character that everyone else in the fandom loves, but i hate:

Objectively: I'll say he's interesting and I am interested to see his development. But Dr. Ratio. I don't get it. I've seen people talk about him wanting education to be accessible to ALL which is GREAT but personality? Can't stand him.

my ‘you’re piece of trash, but you’re still a fave’ fave:

Ruan Mei my most beloved. I want more of her and I feel like we didn't get enough of her. She's just so interesting as a character and while she may not be the most caring of characters - and reasons why people shit on her - I still feel like her view as a character is interesting. And even her motives of wanting to become an Aeon. I want to understand her better. Why? What drove her to want to become so? I WANT TO UNDERSTAND YOU MISS

my ‘beautiful cinnamon roll who deserves better than this’ fave:

not a beautiful cinnamon roll but she sure is beautiful but i love Jingliu 😭😭😭 one reason why i don't like interacting with majority of the fandom is because of their viewpoint on Jingliu's companion quest. I had way way clearer thoughts on the quest when it was fresh on my brain, but I actually liked it a lot more than the fandom let on about it, and I know that people were kinda shittalking about Jingliu afterwards and that made me Mad on her behalf because I think she's a really nicely thought out character. But then again, if you know me: white hair character who is defined by mourning and grief. you know the deal LKAJDHFALKJD

idk. I just feel like she deserves better than how the fandom treats her.

my ‘this ship is wrong, nasty, and makes me want to cleanse my soul, but i still love it’ ship:

I mean whatever the hell Rondo Across Countless Kalpas had going on, Black Swan/Acheron sure kinda has me feeling a way (in which i'd risk wanting a dance with Acheron. me too Black Swan LAKJDFALKS). Also in a way Servalia too I mean. You know.

my ‘they’re kind of cute, and i lowkey ship them, but i’m not too invested’ ship:

No one asked but I actually kinda lowkey ship Firefly/Robin. Like very very lowkey. My only reasoning is when 2.0 was fresh and i was in Mourning over Robin, I once sent a very giant and long essay to my friend N about me late night perusing and overanalyzing Firefly and Robin's deaths. like why specifically them ? Why did they have to die?

I took it in a very symbolic matter. I thought too much about Firefly's monologue about her answer to "Why do people slumber?" and her answer being "Because people are afraid to be awake" or something like that. And about how it was "If I can stop one heart from breaking" that played in the background of all this - a song that praises the comforts of a dream in the face of bleakness. In both cases, in my view, it felt like having both of them die at least in that update, the deaths also seemed to signal the idea of ceasing this concept of a dream and to face reality etc.

And that's something I'm super excited about based on where i am with HSR with arguing with Sunday over the concept of comfort vs freedom.

BUT BACK TO THE POINT OF THIS QUESTION: this concept and me fixating on their meanings, it gave me a reason to kinda put Firefly/Robin together. It's kinda nice parallel with each other in a way haha