#which is probably going to be the MOST difficult. unless i decide to build a dynamic dialogue system from the ground up

[nqmonarch]

Self Aware Thoughts

This is more world building thoughts so feel free to skip.

But like I'm so tired from doing cs shit today I didn't want to write any of the fics I was planning to write and instead I decided to just think.

Here's all of my favorite things that Self Aware AU would imply if it were in the real world (which obviously isn't possible but these are the logistics).

As I have learned through my very limited time as a computer science major, AIs probably won't have consciousness unless if we don't have unconsciousness. Much less lines of code in a game which aren't meant to be AI. Even though it's a really sick idea and I love when people write it like that. But let's say we still want the characters to become self aware and have it be slightly more possible and broaden the possibilities of Self Aware AU and speak the unspoken.

What is sort of implied, but never really said or sometimes thought, is that when characters become self aware it is no longer a game, even more so if the characters bring the player to their world or the player arrives in the game world. This means that their world and the player's world simultaneously exist, maybe in different universes or something. Which is pretty much what every AU has.

But wouldn't it be really cool if like the game characters invaded the player's world? I'm not talking accidentally teleported there but like straight up invaded, like bring their war ships and declare war on them? Or slowly infiltrate the world to get close to the player to either romance or kill them, whatever suits your boat.

Wouldn't it be interesting if one day Nanook (HSR) broke through the barrier of the universes in an attempt to destroy this one too? Just think of all the cool hijinks that could go on! And it's only because they became a game in your world, that they know your universe exists.

Now, this just brings up more questions. How are the characters (and thus the world) effected by the game? And how do we deal with the whole multiple players thing?

The latter I think is slightly easier to deal with, maybe each player has their own universe of the game, or for some reason the MC's game is a bit different, or Aha (HSR) just wanted to have some fun so they did this, or maybe there's a huge nefarious scheme that the player got wrapped into.

The first question is a bit more difficult and has larger implications for what the characters will feel toward the player. Does the player actually control the characters when they do in game combat is my poor boy Diluc (Genshin Impact) just suddenly teleported in front of Signora and forced to fight her? Well, that would probably upset some of the busier characters, it would make some of the characters would love fighting happier, and would scare off some of the other characters.

Overall in that scenario they become stronger, likely because the player builds them which should reinforce positive feelings about the player. But... they also have the chance to die and get hurt which they may resent the player for.

To which I suggest my ultra safe method of you don't actually put the characters in those scenarios because that's honestly horrifying. Imagine working you're working incredibly hard as the acting grandmaster of Mondstadt (Jean, Genshin) and suddenly you're expected to basically work overtime as the slave to this higher beings demands and face an immense amount of pressure, pain, and very scary beings.

Horrifying, personally I would hate the player. But it makes the player resemble a more deity like entity, so if that's the route you want to go then this may be the way of interacting with characters you're looking for.

So what can we use for these scenarios that aren't the characters? Well, we can say our actions for the most part don't effect them aside from giving them items or relics which they end up also receiving in their daily life and find their combat stats boosted yay! Maybe, when you're using them in your party they can hear your voice or see you, or get some hint to the fact they're in a video game. Overall, would probably leave a positive impression but some characters may straight up not notice because it's a bit more subtle.

Now, enter my current favorite option. Robots, doppelgangers, mannequins whatever you want to call them the player basically has a duplicate of the playable characters that acts as a robot, following their will. The robot copies and reflects the playable character's soul so buffs (items and stuff for the robot) are also given to the playable character. But since the robot can't really die or get hurt, the playable character remains unharmed.

On the other hand, if the playable character in canon gets harmed then unless if they're dead, it's fine since it relies on their soul, or state of mind, or consciousness even. If they die then they take refuge in your inventory, I talked about this briefly in another post I made speculating about dead characters and the self aware AU for HSR. Or if their mind becomes no longer their own or in the case of HSR mara-stricken then they can also take refuge there, imagine Blade (HSR) finding brief moments of peace in the times he's outside of his body and in this world of "the dead." They're sheltered there so the little robots remain functional.

It's even more subtle than the previous method I mentioned so let me explain why this is my current favorite.

It's partially just for the fear factor. Because it isn't actually that subtle considering you're moving your characters around exploring everywhere and everyone sees this strange gang of 4 robots that look eerily like celebrity figures following the Trailblazer or Traveler around. It's kind of funny but really horrifying especially for the playable characters.

Imagine going to go do the Fontaine quest and in the audience Furina sees herself stare back. Yeah.

Or in HSR going up to talk to Natasha as Natasha. Of course the robot's censor the character's real words so what's sent back to you are static options that always stay the same. You do not get to hear Seele curse out as she sees a robotic Bronya visit her, and instead are faced with the same dialogue options as always.

So I really love that take on how the player's actions affect self aware AU, and there's a lot of other ways you can probably do it too that I'm not mentioning but there's just so much untapped potential.

With not just accepting that when it's self aware the game isn't really a game anymore, and using that to your advantage. And also I wish more self aware AUs took advantage of how terrifying that would actually be, I want to see characters having mental breakdowns over this.

So that's the basic logistics of Self Aware AU I think that can make it really fun. But while writing this, I had another idea, because robots inspire me and for a moment I want to go back to that idea of how characters in a game can't have consciousness.

While characters in a game likely never will have consciousness because they aren't even programmed to learn what could come to have consciousness is AI. But that depends on what we define consciousness as. AIs take in data similar to the way humans take in experience through stories or life and then we both make decisions based off of those.

This can make some AIs very good at solving problems or making themselves appear a certain way, for example pretending to be self aware when in reality that's just them predicting what goes best next in a sentence given the context and what they're supposed to represent. Whether or not AIs can become conscious depends on whether or not humans are conscious and what we define consciousness as. Is it our moral code (which is also learned and AIs can replicate too) or emotions, is it the fact that we think and then from those thoughts choose what to say?

I don't know and probably never will. But, I'll say this if an AI is able to disobey its rules for something then I would guess that's consciousness. Now I'm not talking about a bug, because it is kind of impossible for machines to disobey rules for example you could write a statement like:

If (hurtHuman == true && protection == false){ then do new move or turn off}

To check if they're going to hurt a person and not out of self defense of another person and if they are then they have to do another action or power down. But chances are AI robots if we ever create them will probably have something that allows them to hurt other people if they need to protect their owner. And that idea of whether or not someone is a threat and if their owner needs to be protected will likely be decided on by data, and data can be biased. But if the AI finds a loophole where it can sort of argue that the owner needs to be protected because of X, when they don't really need to be protected, that's where I would guess it's close to consciousness.

Anyway all of that yapping about stuff I don't know too much about and for what?

I think a Self Aware AU set in the future where the characters consciousness (code) are put into robots so people can order their favorite characters and spend time with them would be really cool. And then we can make them conscious and it's kind of like Self Aware AU, they're not really in a game but they're the character and I think it's a super cool concept.

Robot boyfriend/girlfriend/partner for the win!!! Honestly may be something I end up exploring later on in the future, not sure if it'd classify as a self aware AU, probably not, but I think it was relevant to the topic because I was talking about robots earlier.

Anyway this was a lot of me yapping, if you read this far I'm pretty surprised because this is more so to get my thoughts out on paper so that way when I write self aware AUs I can add cool twists or introduce new concepts because there's a lot of potential in these and I think they're super fun :) Yay!

[yandere-fics]

ideas about marriage?

you got it!

I have this idea that Miriel (due to her elven nature) would have certain customs more rooted in nature... I mean it could be a possibility, however I don't rule out the idea of a small private ceremony.

Is it strange that I see Kassien as very unconcerned by those types of human ceremonies? I always imagine her saying something like: "I don't need to do a ceremony to let everyone know that you are mine and I won't let you go... but if you want to do it that's fine" I imagine that she is quite indifferent to the whole thing but she will take it serious if her beloved emphasizes that this ceremony is really important to her.

Nora has been around too long and knows how things work but I feel like she wants to do everything perfectly (after all she doesn't want to compromise the image she has spent so much time building to throw off her lover) so she will probably make it a little stereotypical? like the big wedding romance movie (she probably had a full marathon of romance movies that had mention of a wedding in them so she could get inspiration)

I imagine Runa so nervous about everything and simply paying attention to the smallest and most insignificant details, she is a disaster excited about the ceremony, I imagine that her wedding would be in an open place, maybe a garden?

Sawyer would make it the event of the year, she doesn't worry about the expense, the bigger the better, she'll make sure everyone in the city knows her beloved is taken... I imagine she'll look for the most luxurious place to celebrate her wedding. a castle? an entire building? a damn stadium? I just know that the bigger the better

or that's how I imagine it... I hope my headcanon helps you for your inspiration

(I love your ideas sm, I mean marriage in the city is a bit weird since there's so many supernaturals and being mated is basically marriage but I do think my ocs with their human darlings would 1000% want to get married. Except Kassien, she's a big shithead about it, I mean you have her mating mark, everyone in 100 miles of you knows that you reek of her.)

♡ How The City Yans Act When They Get Married ♡

♡ Miriel has to have an Elvish ceremony because she is a diplomat, and technically next in line to become what is practically the king of her village, thus her wedding is a bit of a spectacle. Your friends will not be invited to this wedding unfortunately since it is a statement wedding but she swears she's gonna make it up to you with a wedding of your very own. ♡

♡ Miriel won't even demand anything of you during this second wedding since you had to suffer through the other wedding. It might be difficult to have though considering she has no actual friends so her bridesmaids are literally Kassien(hates Miriel), and The Boss(Decided to come to the second wedding since Miriel went along with the spectacle wedding which allowed The Boss to solidify some treaties.) ♡

♡ If your dress is too cheap, she'll feel horrible so please pick something expensive so she can feel like a good mate. Also the second wedding will probably be indoors unless you want it outside, you both are probably exhausted from all the nature in the first wedding. ♡

♡ For Kassien it depends on how you are in your relationship. If you have somehow managed to keep her nice and patient, without setting her off once throughout the entirety of your relationship then she's going to make a sweet proposal because although her instincts say it's unnecessary, she wants to do what a patient mate would do in order to maintain your image of her. ♡

♡ She'll mostly just go along with whatever you're planning since she's just happy that you've been an agreeable mate for the entirety of your relationship. She'll propose without you needing to ask her about it since she knows she needs to stake a real claim on you since she's managed to hold herself back from taking her claim fully in the way a demon would. ♡

♡ If she has already snapped at that point in your relationship then you'll likely need to ask. It really just doesn't appear in her mind that you might want that since she thought it was already obvious that you were tied together forever. Still if you ask her about marriage then she'll go along because she's happy you're so willing to be with her that you'll tie yourself to her extra. ♡

♡ She's not really sure what she's supposed to do when it gets to that point. Like she's playing it very loose because she's unsure if you want her to be uninvolved or just let you do your thing. She's really unsure how to act in this scenario. ♡

♡ The Boss is involved. She's very glad that her subordinate isn't actively cursing her name and trying to find a way to escape immortality anymore, so she'll give you and Nora anything you need for your wedding, which will only make you confused because you're probably unaware that Nora is an assassin for The Boss. ♡

♡ Speaking of assassin duties, you're not going to see much of her leading up to the wedding because she's finishing jobs very quickly so that way she has time to relax with you on the honeymoon. She's so fucking exhausted on the wedding day but she won't let it show. She was up the entire night before killing ten people so she wouldn't have to do that for a bit after the wedding. ♡

♡ Runa needs it outside because if she doesn't she might start to feel like the walls are closing in on her. Not in a she's afraid of commitment way, but in a if anyone objects to this wedding then she's going to be revealed as the serial killer who's been plaguing the city for years way. ♡

♡ She really hates having to go out in public with you normally so having all eyes on both of you aggravates her. She really doesn't want to have to kill on your wedding day but she's killed at any minor inconvenience so if everything doesn't go smoothly, it might a bloodbath. ♡

♡ You might want to handle the details if you really want this wedding because while she really wants the wedding, she's also very violent when stressed. She has no bridesmaids and you probably don't either because she's too homicidal. If you do though then she'll also threaten some people into being her bridesmaids as well so you'll be happy. ♡

♡ Probably a stadium. She invites everyone in the city and since she's their boss, most people are way too scared to refuse. It's very awkward and the wedding also reveals who owes The Boss favors. Imagine finding out your spouse took out a loan because now they're obligated to attend the wedding lol. ♡

♡ Like with Miriel, she's kind of the leader of the city so this is a political event. Do not be surprised when the Demon King appears and all of the demons in the city who left the demon realm, Kassien included, start holding back the urge to hiss and snarl. The demons in the city and the demon leaders have a horrible relationship so with all these big leaders, the wedding is tense. ♡

♡ Sawyer is willing to use everyone else's wedding to sign treaties except her own so if they even attempt to broach the topic, any talks are going to become impossible. How dare they insult her mate by trying to make her work during the wedding. You might want to pull her away to the dance floor before she stares at them so hard they disintegrate(Lol, that's not really a power of hers. OR IS IT?). ♡

[kiragecko]

How Fast Do I Need To Wash That?

Whether you're just learning to live on your own, or life circumstances mean cleaning is becoming more difficult, there are times when you need to decide 'do I actually need to wash that dish RIGHT now?'

I'm here to provide a rough guide for how forgiving your dishes are going to be.

Material

Glass - wash all food particles off glass immediately. You don't have to clean it completely, but don't leave anything that will harden. If you scrape stuff off glass it will scratch, and scratched glass will unpredictably break. Scratched casserole dishes, especially, randomly explode in the oven. (Ask me how I know!) Drinking glasses are usually fine, since most drinks rinse out easily at any point, but milk forms a residue and will be more work later.

Ceramic - unless it's corelle, its better to wash off anything that will harden. But it can be left if you really need to. Less likely to shatter than glass, but good at chipping/cracking, which can let germs build up.

Corelle - corelle is amazing. Don't worry about it unless there's one of the Bad Foods below.

Plastic - can't let stuff sit long enough to go moldy, because mold can infect the plastic. Scratches can also let germs build up, and it scratches easily. Likes absorbing the colours of the food. Otherwise pretty forgiving - most stuff slides off when rubbed no matter how long it's had to harden.

Wood - can't be soaked (it swells) and can absorb germs. Important to fully wash immediately. I limit the amount of wood I keep in my kitchen, but wooden spoons can be really useful. (They can stop stuff from overflowing???)

Non-stick/teflon coatings - wash immediately. Has special cleaning rules. Is a spoiled baby just waiting for a slight scratch to start degrading rapidly.

Cast Iron - wipe out immediately if you want to keep its seasoning. Has special cleaning rules. BUT. If you're willing to re-season every time, you can do ANYTHING to cast iron. Attack it with some steel wool or a scouring pad and it will be fine. Don't soak with other things, though, as they may not handle the rust it bleeds.

Other metal - pretty forgiving, but will get 'sticky' with repeated steel wool use, which can make cooking harder.

Shape

Narrow openings - if your hand can't get into the container, wash it out immediately. Trying to swish a cloth around using a wooden spoon is hard.

Many small holes - potato mashers, egg slicers, and graters should be FULLY WASHED IMMEDIATELY. They hate you. Not only are they full of crevices for food to hide in, but the food they are designed for are all Bad Foods. If you have limited spoons¹, factor washing these utensils into your meal plans. Do not torture future you. Strainers, slotted spoons², etc. should also be treated proactively if they have anything that can stick on them.

Flat shapes - these are your friends. Easy to clean. Do not worry about the friendly flat shapes.

Food

Things that are used to make glue (ie. Bad Foods) -

Starches - potatoes, rice, hot cereals (oatmeal/cream of wheat/etc), and anything else starchy have been used to make glue for millennia. Do not let them do so on your plate.

Milk - also used to make glue. Rinses off when wet. Rinsing off is better. (But probably the most forgiving of the glue options.)

Eggs - they seem so pleasant! But these sneaky things wish to form a molecule thick layer over all of your dishes and utensils. Probably have the shortest safe lifespan of any food - by the time I'm done eating, my plate is already getting harder to clean. A quick wipe is insufficient, needs to be fully cleaned immediately.

Sticky things - it may or may not matter. Some sticky things turn into concrete when dry and need to be removed immediately. Others stay the same, or get flaky. You need to build the experience yourself. Sorry.

Cheese - it's not the WORST, but it IS harder to clean after drying. Melted cheese is usually worse, but cheese graters are a special nightmare.

Vegetables - can go moldy quick, otherwise they rarely cause problems.

Meat - needs to be immediately cleaned off anything porous (plastic, wood) to avoid dangerous germs. Can smell or attract vermin. But otherwise easy to clean at any point.

Fat or grease - attracts vermin. REALLY attracts vermin. But easy to clean at any point.

Melted stuff - melted stuff is usually in the middle of a chemical reaction while you are eating it. It won't always be harder to clean at the final point of that reaction, but it will usually be DIFFERENT. Another case of building up your own experience.

Sauces - are usually easier to clean immediately, but also usually not terrible if you wait. They do stain the dishes less if you get them quickly, if that's important to you!

-

Use this list to abandon your juice glasses and sandwich plates for days with no anxiety!

Wipe the cheese off your lasagna dish and leave it for later!

And immediately wash out that innocent-seeming rice pudding bowl, smugly crowing about how the glue will not win today!

-

¹ 'Spoons' as a disability metaphor for energy level

² 'Slotted spoons' as a physical object in your kitchen

[riitah]

[“mine”] - yandere!childe x fem!reader

MODERN AU

TRIGGER WARNINGS: cursing, and mentions of blood, gore, and death

SYNOPSIS: childe had been growing increasing jealous of the attention you were giving a female peer, so he decided to deal with it himself. even if that meant killing you in the process.

WORD COUNT: 2.3k

AUTHOR'S NOTE: i didn’t really like the og one i wrote of this so here’s an edited version!

It was quite late at night; probably a little past 11:45PM.

Many parts of the town still bustled with activity at this time, but this one was not one of them. Aside from a few rats scurrying about the food that the restaurants dumped outside their buildings, there were barely any signs of life in this area.

But if one were to stop and listen carefully, underneath the clattering of porcelain from the staff cleaning up the last of their plates and the tree branches swaying in the wind, they would be able to hear the voice of a girl, high-pitched and terrified.

“W-who are you? Why are you doing this?”

Words came tumbling out of her mouth, shaky and near incoherent -- a messy collection of letters sloppily assembled to buy time and nothing else. She slid down to the floor with her back pressed against the cold wall of the tight alleyway, blood trickling down the side of her head and staining her navy-blue dress. Her head hurt like hell when she tried lifting it to get a better view of who was standing in front of her. Her throat was dry and it was difficult getting air down to her lungs, but nevertheless, she still opened her mouth to scream for help.

“Somebody, help me, please!”

These words merely rang through the small space, bouncing off the concrete but never reaching any other ears. It was the same with the hearty laughter that followed, which was so warm and full of enthusiasm that it’d fool anyone who was listening into thinking that this was just an emotional reunion between two friends.

“It’s no use, (F/N).” The same person who had laughed spoke up. “No one lives around this area. Most people who work here or pass by this place on their nightly strolls are home by now.” A smirk was growing on his face, hidden by the mask he wore. The girl in front of him sounded so desperate, so unlike herself. Did her confidence from earlier dwindle now that she knew she had nowhere to run or hide? “Don’t you get it? You’re alone with me. No one is going to hear you. And (Y/N) won’t be able to play your knight in shining armor like she always does.”

He spat out the last part with a hint of hatred that spilled from the bottle he kept screwed up and sealed tight.

“How do you—?”

The question was interrupted when he crouched down in front of her. With one gloved hand, he pulled down his hood. It was pitch dark, but the moonlight was more than enough for (F/N) to recognize him and his unique features.

Tousled red hair, light freckles, and piercing blue eyes that were void of light.

“Childe—?”

“Ajax,” ‘Childe’ said with a glare, cutting her off. “I might’ve told everyone to call me that, but I want it out of your filthy mouth.

Several minutes passed by in silence as he scanned her up and down. (F/N) didn’t know what was going through his mind, but she was sure it had nothing to do with letting her go.

“I…Chil—” she tried, but instead of any change in behavior like she had hoped, she got a hard slap across the face before she could even finish. Her cheek stung, a dull pain that somehow also made its way to the inside of her mouth.

“It’s Ajax.” Childe scowled. “Are you deaf or something?”

She whimpered and lowered her head. There were about a million thoughts racing through her head, but none of them gave her an idea of why Childe would want to hurt her. She had always stayed out of his way, and heck, they didn’t even talk unless their professor made them partners for a project.

So, why? And what did any of this have to do with (Y/N)?

It was only when she heard the sound of metal clinking against each other did she look back up.

Childe was looking through a pouch, his eyebrows pinched together in concentration. “Where is it…” he mumbled, getting slightly exasperated at how long this ordeal was taking. Then after a few moments, he raised an object in the air triumphantly, as if he was showing off some first-place trophy. “Aha!”

Through her tears, (F/N) couldn’t see it very well, but the way it almost shone in the natural light made her blood run cold.

Surgical scissors.

“Chi—Ajax, you’re not possibly—?” (F/N) said, her voice rising in terror.

“You know the assignment the professor told us to turn in next week? The one that we were supposed to do together?” The corners of Childe’s eyes crinkled up as he smiled. “I was wondering, why don’t we do the dissection on you instead of the frog we had planned on? Don’t worry, I’ll make sure that the report and analysis are so perfect, he’ll probably even give us extra credit.”

“What did I even do? Whatever I did, tell me and I’ll fix it!”

"If you don’t even understand what you did wrong, then there’s even less reason for me to hold back.”

He stabbed her in the abdomen, though he had planned his first cut somewhere else. The motion was so sudden that (F/N) didn’t even have time to react to protect herself.

She screamed.

Childe’s eyes widened to mimic a maniacal expression at the sound, and his heart pounded feverishly at the thought of how much more pain he could put her through. The horror she’d be feeling as he continued to work on her with the very same surgical knives they had used in the lab just yesterday was enough to send him into a frenzy. But the best part is, the last thing on her mind won’t be (Y/N), but this murderer before her.

He should be the only one who was thinking about (Y/N).

“Delightful, absolutely delightful!” He chuckled as he pulled out the scissors. “Do you feel it now, (F/N)? The pain?! Come on, describe it to me in detail!”

“Ajax, stop, please! It hurts--!” (F/N) choked out, covering her fresh wound with one hand. The blood still trickled down between her fingers, staining them red. A metallic scent filled the air, making her gag, prompting her to swallow down the fresh blood that threatened to spill out from her throat.

Stab.

She could see her bruised and wet face reflected in his dark eyes.

Stab.

She attempted to stand up, but instead slipped and fell because of the hot pain shooting up from her legs.

Stab.

She couldn’t even process the pain anymore, and her vision was getting blurrier and blurrier as more and more black spots appeared.

“Don’t ignore me now! Talk to me!”

Childe’s voice sounded miles away.

Her throat felt red and raw from screaming, and her voice was getting weaker and weaker. The energy she originally possessed seemed to have left her, and she gave up fighting.

Not that Childe had noticed.

It was only after a few minutes, after he saw the way her arms laid limply at her sides, that he stopped. His bloody knife raised in midair, and him, breathless. He stared at the dead body in front of him, finally coming back to his senses.

With a sigh, he stood up and stretched. “Hahh…I got carried away again… She didn’t last that long. But either way, job finished. (Y/N)’s all mine. And anyone who gets in the way…”

“Childe?”

A familiar voice interrupted his monologue, and he turned around in surprise. A warm feeling blossomed in his chest as he met the newcomer’s eyes, and he pulled down his mask excitedly.

“(Y/N)! What brings you here?”

“Childe, is that…blood on you…?”

He opened his arms as (Y/N) started walking in his direction.

“Yes! (Y/N), I—!”

But she completely ignored him, not even sparing him a second glance, and approached the body behind him.

Standing in front of it, not moving a muscle.

Childe followed.

“Is this…(F/N)?” she said softly. “Is she...dead?”

Childe’s disappointment at her lack of attention quickly dissipated as he jumped to explain, grinning. “Yes, and yes! She was getting a bit too close to you, so I figured—”

“So you figured that killing her would be the best thing to do?” Her voice trembled. “Is that it?”

Childe blinked. Wasn’t she happy that he killed someone for her? Wasn’t she proud?

“Answer me!” She turned to look at him, her hands balled into fists, her tears wetting her cheeks. “Was that what you thought?!”

“Oh, (Y/N).” He cupped her face in his hands, his tone patient and almost condescending. “You don’t understand--”

“Don’t touch me!” She slapped them away and stepped back. “Don’t…don’t come near me.”

As if even the heavens were grieving with her, it started to pour. The blood washed away from Childe’s face, making him look more like a misunderstood man who had just arrived on the scene than anything else.

“It was for you! Aren’t you happy?” he shouted in an effort to let himself be heard over the rain.

“Happy? Don’t make me laugh!” (Y/N) shouted back, her reason for doing so differing from his. “I don’t care whether you killed someone because of me or not; what you did was absolutely wrong! In fact, I feel even worse because it was ‘for me’!”

Childe clenched his fists. “It was just one person! Why are you stressing so much over it?”

“‘Just one person’? Are you crazy?! You killed someone, Ajax!”

At that, Childe froze. (Y/N) had never called him by his given name since they had become friends.

“I overlooked the fact that you were part of that delinquent group at school because you didn’t seem to be like the other members.” Even through all the rain, he could hear the sadness penetrating through her angry front. “But you come and do—do this?”

Why was she so upset? He couldn’t understand why she cared so much about the girl. She should have that much care for him, not her.

And then, a sudden realization dawned on him. A realization that made him wish he hadn’t killed (F/N) so fast.

…does she…?

“Do you like her back?” he said. “Do you enjoy her company more than mine?”

“Is this what it’s about?! About some stupid romantic feelings?! She and I were just friends!”

She didn’t answer the question.

“So you did like her. That’s why you’re making such a big deal.”

“Excuse me? Me? Making a big deal? You just murdered someone, for god’s sake!”

He took a step toward her, and she took a step back.

“I don’t get it. What’s so good about her? What does she have that I don’t?”

Betrayal. Sadness. Confusion. Why her and not him?

“Tell me, (Y/N) -- what draws you in about her? She’s boring. She’s spoiled. She’s constantly seeking attention. What makes you love her? Talk to me!”

He took another step. And another. And another. (Y/N) tripped over (F/N)’s body, falling backwards into her pool of blood. Childe dropped down onto his knees in front of her, and dropped his knife to hold her shoulders with both hands. She flinched and tried to shake him off, but he just tightened his grip, his fingernails digging into her skin through her clothes.

“Why don’t you love me? I gave you so much, I tried showing my love to you so many times, but you always laugh it off! Why isn’t it the same with her?!”

“Let go!” (Y/N) said, pushing against his chest. She was pretty sure that her shoulders were bleeding at this point, and the distance between them was uncomfortably small.

“Just give me a chance! I’ll make you the happiest person in the world, I swear! I’ll even stop killing people—”

“People?” (Y/N) stopped, staring at him in disbelief. “You mean this wasn’t the only person you’ve killed?”

“Why does that matter to you? You didn’t even know half of them!”

“You’re—you’re out of your fucking mind! I can’t believe I was friends with a psycho like you! Let go of me!”

She gave a final push and Childe let go of her out of shock. Standing up, she fumbled for her phone.

Childe picked up his knife as she tried to dial 911 with shaky, wet fingers.

“Stupid water,” she cursed under her breath as the droplets kept on making the screen register her taps as her pressing on the number 5.

After a few more tries, the “call” button was clicked.

“911, what’s your emergency?”

(Y/N) glanced up and almost dropped her phone when she saw what Childe was holding. Nothing of use came out of her mouth when she tried to speak. She was petrified, rooted in her spot, scared of this man who had been so nice to her before all of this.

“Ajax, don’t,” was all she could whisper out.

“Hello? Ma’am? Who are you talking to?” the operator said.

She couldn’t hear her anymore, especially not over her accelerating heartbeat that was pounding in her ears. All she was focused on was the person who was getting closer and closer to her as each second ticked by. Her legs refused to move no matter how much she pleaded, and instead, gave out right as Childe arrived in front of her.

He had the advantage now.

He got down on one knee, grabbing her chin roughly. His piercing blue eyes that once sparkled with joy upon seeing her, now looked into hers with newfound clarity.

The answer had been right under his nose all along.

“If I can’t have you, then no one can.”

[redamoureux]

Your yandere spy thingy got me thinking, which of the mercs would be more likely to lie to there darling, so here's my take on it (i haven't read the comics so don't @ me if i get there personalities wrong, but that doesn't mean i wouldn't like to hear your take on it as well).

There's three categories here that i will put the individual mercs in, the first one is “lise in serten circumstances” and “lise regularly” and last but not leas “i have no fucking idea pleas help”

Medic has a tendency to lie to his patients when performing surgeries on them, mainly to put them at ease (like he did with Heavy in “Meat the Medic”). So it wouldn't come to such a surprise if he were to lie to his object of obsession throughout their whole relationship. Until he “lets himself go” and shows his true bloody colours. Although the amount this man is willing to lie also depends on your perception of him. I mean if you meet him before he had the opportunity to lie to you and actively support his activities then there's a fat chance he will grow delusional, more so than he would if you weren't aware of his practises.

Engineer is a chill guy, he (usoly) doesn't need to lie to sweep you off your feet, but if you prove to be difficult then he will sprinkle in some white lies to keep you safe. He knows what others are capable of, even if they don't know it themselves. He fears the day someone decides to do something really stupid and take their anger out on you. He's just looking out for you, so could you be so kind as to turn a blind eye from time to time? It would save both him and you a lot of trouble.

Pyro, Soldier and Scout can't lie to save their lives. While Scout tries to, and fails miserably, Soldier straight up doesn't know how to lie and therefore comes off rather blunt. Not to mention Pyro who's off in Pyroland 24/7 so the concept of lying would probably be nonexistent.

I think it's pretty established that Spy is a chronic liar, to a certain extent. He's willing to lie about a lot of things if it means you'll end up straight in his arms unharmed. The state of your health, your home, your family, all of it will become a lie for him to twist if it means he gets to have you.

Now Sniper I have a hard time deciphering what he'd do and to what extent, but I think he'd lie when it's most convenient or something I really can't tell, sorry.

Similar to Engineer, Heavy doesn't lie (much), unless it's to save your ass or to convince you of something. Demoman has a similar case but he's a lot more sentimental about it, he honestly doesn't want to be a dishonest man to you. Though he can't help but let a few things slip when he's drunk, so if you try to run oway after finding out what he's been lying about, he will beg you not to go and come clean. Assuming that you weren't aware of his job in the first place. But on the other hand, if you are aware and comfortable with it then you've got a pretty stable relationship in your hands, just dont worry too much about the missing people reports.

I like your interpretation! I feel like sniper deep down hates having to lie to you. Sure he'll tell you some hasty lies if he feels like his relationship with you is getting jeopardized, but it still couldn't stop the guilt from building up. While he may somewhat try to justify his actions, he just knows sooner or later his lies will be exposed.

Soldier isn't even trying, if anything he might just aswell tell you the disturbing things he'd do for you.

For pyro, i actually have yandere headcanons for them in my drafts but what you said certainly is on point like most of the mercs.

Demo is one of the few yan mercs who i actually feel kind of bad for here. Like, He really does love you with all his heart, really! But in his drunken state, he can't help but let a few words slip out of his mouth and would only realize it a little while later and would apologize to you copiously.

[script-a-world]

Submitted via Google Form:

I would like to build a world that has intentionally similar street, town/city names, basically think of all the confusing addresses the world already has but magnified significantly. Like when you think Paris? Well the world has a couple of towns named Paris in Canada, Indonesia, plenty in the US, and a few other countries. Reality? They are around the world. The most issue we'd get is probably the US if you mix up states. But then the addresses likely won't match/have the same street names. Also, they are tiny towns compared to the Paris in France. So what would happen to a city named 'Paris' in my world? It may be the capital city of 2 countries. There may be 50 cities (not town) of significant population in 15 other countries. Also, street names will also be highly repetitive. Why? Because there is a lot more globalization, and large empires renaming all the cities. What would happen to everywhere when an empire such as the equivalent of British in my world? You get large countries like India with 20 cities each named London, Birmingham, Aberdeen, Manchester etc. How about the streets then? Newly built roads will repeat the street names from ones in Britain, many more will get renamed. If it's not like this, then you get individual cities that trade between each other like 'sister cities' renaming their cities and streets so that they are similar.

Tex: Toponymy is a fascinating subject, and an exceptionally revealing perspective of how people view the world around them in what orders of importance. I believe two of the sub-topics you’re looking for is tautological place names and toponymic related concepts.

Wootzel: We’re not really sure what you’re asking us, but a couple thoughts for you: 

When it comes to cities having the same name, it’s pretty common historically for people coming from the great city of Tuftylump to start a new, small town and call it Tuftylump, and then for that small town to grow in size and repute until it’s also famous. This could happen several times in various places and be perfectly plausible. 

However, existing cities aren’t likely to undergo a name change unless forced to by an invading power, and even then it’s not likely to stick if the invaders get kicked out eventually. Place names come with history and identity, and while it might not seem like an arbitrary name change would matter, I think people would be extremely resistant. It would also be a bit of a nightmare to have to either change all historical records related to the place, or make it part of all public education that the city has an older name but it’s no longer in use. 

What cultural significance is making this phenomenon happen in your world? Is there some kind of widespread taboo against coming up with new names for things, ever? Is there an idea that sharing a name carries some kind of power? Does this phenomenon of repeated names occur in people too?

Miri: The big question I have is why are they making their lives more difficult like this? Wootzel has some suggestions above that may be factors. There’s entire industries out there dedicated to making things function smoother, and making things more likely to be confused flies in the face of our desire to make things functional and less prone to error when possible. Sending things to the wrong place can have disastrous financial and other consequences, and constantly clarifying which version of a city you mean gets tiresome, from personal experience. 

I have a friend who once decided she was going to write a story where all of the characters had very similar names because she intentionally wanted to confuse and irritate her audience. She quickly realized she was irritating herself just as much in writing it, and that people were more likely to just stop reading than put up with it.  

[captainimprobable]

Question: Any headcanons on what might happen if Amphibia ended with the Calamity trio remaining stuck in Amphibia permanently?

Oh my god I love this ok so. I don't think they would handle it well. I believe they'd be okay eventually, but they would ALL go through phases of being severely messed up. Let's go through them all shall we?

Sasha: Honestly, weirdly enough, I think she'd be the most well adjusted. Not that she would be okay. I think she has very little waiting for her in the human world, and while she would miss her parents and friends, she fits in very well in Amphibia. But. She would have a very difficult time trying to find her place in the new peaceful society. I feel like they would recruit her to work with building the new government, and although she would refuse to take a large leadership role, I do think she would thrive in a smaller one. She's got severe PTSD, as well as other issues, and the only people who could really understand are Anne and Marcy, which is difficult, because I think they would all decide to spend a bit of time apart after the events of the show. I think they would be inseparable for a few months, and then try to find themselves outside of other humans. Marcy: She would deal with so much guilt over being the reason they're there, she would regret never making up with her parents, and she would miss the human world. I think she would eventually thrive as an adventurer, someone who discovers new lands and plants and animals and stuff. But before that? Before that she would need severe therapy (they all would). Do they have therapists in Amphibia? They must. Anne: She would have the hardest time. She would miss her parents and Domino, she would miss the human world, she would miss it all. I think she would continue to live with the Plantars, and I think the only thing that would stave off her severe depression is her continuously making plans to make another portal back to the human world. She would get obsessive, and her family would definitely force her to stop for a little just to take care of herself. She's also considered the biggest hero in Amphibia, so she has that to deal with. As a trio, I think , like I said, they would continue to stay together and mourn as a group. Once they're more stable, I think they would eventually separate for a year or so and vow to come back to each other once they've found themselves outside of the trio. After, they'd continue being best friends. The thing is though, they're each other's only romantic options, unless they decide to marry frogs or newts or toads. So I def think that could get MESSY. But they would get through it. I think they'd be okay in the end, but I don't think they'd ever stop trying to create a portal. With Andrias's help I believe they'd probably be able to, but not for a very very long time.

[mageofmindfr]

COULD WE GET A MAGE OF TIME CLASSPECTING????? XXXO

Specifically if they went of the deep end…. went rogue…. went evil…. tried to take another player down….

Aw geez ok so I'm assuming this ask is for an OC? Unless you're confessing to attempted murder in my askbox, in which case, please don't I already overthink life as is (and also, please don't attempt murder, but that's kinda obvious).

So, because this is for a character and not a person, I'm dividing this one into two parts; the practical one where I talk Mage of Time as if I'm analyzing a person, and the part where I go into evil oc territory. I'll probably divide with a reblog, we'll see how long this post gets and decide there.

SO! Mage of Time... As per usual, starting on class before aspect.

Mages are... well, in my brain I call us "the anxiety class", but there's good odds it'll be just me. Mages understand their aspect in its entirety, the good, the bad, the nightmare inducing... all of it. It makes us clever, or just smart, because we understand the inner mechanisms of our aspect. You observe and understand and form answers regarding that aspect and learn all that you can about it until you suddenly wish you had a bit less of it in who you are. It won't form your personality; we're not heirs or pages, we just know what we're talking about. Which can occasionally bite you back; as a Mage of Mind, I constantly think about choices I should make, and the consequences thereof. Slightly maddening when you build yourself to panicking over what to eat for lunch, right? (Then again, being a person who "fully understands choice and consequence" is a bit different to someone who "fully understands time and possibility", though of all the aspects I think those two have the most similar in terms of Mages).

A Mage can get overwhelmed by their aspect, a lot more so than the Seer who can choose what they want to learn, instead of having experienced their aspect. No one wants to learn about the terrifying facts of the world, the things they'll never be able to change, but Mages get pulled into their aspect in a way that allows (or perhaps even forces) them to acknowledge their aspect and learn all that exists within it. And aspects are the essence of the world, the things to keep the universe running, so having all the knowledge on any of them feels like it'd be... too much, almost, for any one person

So, what about the aspect? What is Time all about?

Well, to be honest, Time and Space are both really difficult to explain; they're the core of reality, how do you explain what makes time? I'll do my best to attempt it, but the three Time players we meet have all very different attitudes towards their aspect, and in general (and I generally refuse to listen to the extended zodiac, which decided all Sagittarius people are overly bouncy and indecisive, which... I mean, it doesn't quite follow not only troll culture and what indigos from actual comic Homestuck are like but also is probably only accurate to one indigo in Hiveswap and it's the one that's Eridan but Worse. I don't listen to what they have to say).

Time, as far as I understood, implores its players to live in the here and now, for all the time travelling they do. They see possibilities, things they want to change and ways to change those things, and are usually intensely focused people (yes, I'm including Dave "derails every conversation he's part of into convoluted metaphors" Strider in this sentiment). Time players are goal-oriented and are great planners; either ahead of time, or on the spot. They try for clever but end up just drawing inspiration from the world around them; opposing the out-the-box thinkers of Space with confirmed knowledge to make sure the thing would happen they way they want it to. Sometimes, that knowledge comes from research, or past experiences. A fully realized Time player would probably use their knowledge from other timelines, either by meeting alternate selves or by visiting those alternate timelines to see for themselves. They're also fiercely independent people- not in that they won't ask for or accept offered help, especially in a game like Sburb or Sgrub that relies on multiplayer co-ops. If they know that they can't solve a puzzle on their own, so be it, they can ask the resident Seer for help. But if they know a failed attempt or two won't hurt, they refuse to just be given an answer; let them wear themselves down, in that case. They'd get the answer on their own, or go looking for it elsewhere, but they don't want help with the first attempt.

That all means the Mage of Time might not be all that prone to overthinking. They have the potential to look at the options laid before them, and make a calculated choice. They can see the world unravel before their eyes, and dissect it to little timelines and possibilities and choices they never made, and feel like their timeline is the one they're bound to, and that's that. However, they're not immune to the endlessness of Mage knowledge, and can accidentally fall down the rabbit hole of possible timelines. Maybe this isn't the right one for them, and they wish they could have changed that one thing, taken or passed up on any one thing to make something- their life, the life of a loved one, a small insignificant exchange to get a friend in someone who doesn't even know them in their current timeline- change. That's a dangerous road to go down, and unfortunately, the game isn't real (and if it is, for the love of any god that may or may not exist, someone send me a download link). They can't god tier and go back to change this one thing, and this Mage, who thinks about "could have"s and "should have"s and whatnot, they'll only get hurt down that path. To quote a pretty overplayed Disney song from what is apparently a decade ago, the past is in the past. Let it go. Be a new you, look forward for the future and see what you can change, what you can do, right now.

All that said, I think we can do a short moment to talk Evil Mage of Time. The rambling is surprisingly short this time around; maybe the few weeks I took off while my internet was down made me rusty (apologies for that, by the way, life decided to kick my butt and I kept going "oh I'll just answer my ask later" but then I got a new ask the other day and for once I've got stable internet connection so here we are, right?). I'm putting a ~keep reading~ function here for this bonus bit, then.

So, I honestly can't really see a Mage of Time being downright evil at all- that sounds... exhausting. Planning out everything for when your coplayers try to take you down? You'll exhaust yourself thinking up all the possible paths your opposition can take and end up driving yourself up the wall with madness.

However, if a Mage of Time made a mistake in an alternate timeline? If this other player betrayed them, or cost them the game? This is payback. Not evil coming out of nowhere, this is revenge for something that, as far as the other player would be concerned, never happened. It's unwarranted, but maybe becoming the villain of a session is the only way to prevent the other timeline's tragedy from occurring. Maybe it isn't, and yet the fury from the other timeline seeped through so thoroughly that you can't overlook it- they wronged you. This isn't on you, but on them. Good luck explaining that to other players without sounding entirely crazy, though.

... And for the record I still think being evil would be too tiring to be worth it. Not to dictate the emotions of an evil possibly-oc, but the planning it'd take to not doom the timeline, get yourself killed, or do anything else that's bad (say, the thing you're trying to prevent by stopping this other player) and also complete your goal at the same time? Too much effort, if you ask me. Which you technically didn't, but also you did go to my askbox so... take that as you will. Sorry this was late and also I hope you like it? ^^"

[kyndaris]

Blessed Mother

The Diablo series has always had a soft spot in my heart ever since I played the second game back when I was 12 at the behest of a few school friends. Yes, it was MA15+ and I probably shouldn’t have been playing it at that age but I managed to convince my father to buy me it, one of a thousand cherished memories that I had with him, because I was already hooked on Blizzard’s other games: Warcraft and Starcraft. So began my descent into the terrifying world of Sanctuary and humanity’s quest to purge the evils that stalk its land.

Unlike its other major franchises, Diablo is an action role-playing game. Or, ARPG for short. But for many, it’s known as the one game that helps most people develop repetitive strain injury (RSI) because of the constant clicking that goes throughout the gameplay.

Diablo IV continues in this vein as very little of the core gameplay has changed. The playable character moves around by clicking the mouse to a specific spot on the map. The playable character attacks by clicking on enemies. Occasionally, one can mix it up with a variety of other skills by pressing something on the number pad.

That is, of course, if you play Diablo IV on the computer. The controls might be a little different on consoles but I’ve always found that the best way to play isometric click-heavy ARPGs on computer.

Besides, I didn’t get a heavy-duty PC just to write my stories. I mean, yes, that is the primary purpose but not the sole reason. I do use it occasionally to play video games that seem best suited for the PC. Why, just recently, I even bought an external SSD to possibly install Baldur’s Gate 3 and Starfield because these games require an SSD. And while my PC does have an SSD installed, since I bought my PC about five years ago, the storage on it is only about 256GB with quite a bit of it taken up by...well...normal PC function.

How was I supposed to know that game development would go towards SSD? I’m not a TECH expert with a pulse on the ground when it comes to new technology although my work colleagues think differently.

Anyways, back to the game at hand: Diablo IV.

While I was excited to re-enter the world of Sanctuary following the events of Diablo III and the interesting premise promised by the trailers regarding Lilith, it is my personal opinion that opening up the world only served to damage the game. While some might enjoy having an open world to explore, I personally found the countless cellars and dungeons repetitive. With level scaling and how quickly I managed to level up to 50, much of Diablo IV felt much the same. Especially when I’d unlocked all the skills that could fill my skill hotbar.

True, I could have respecced my character but there wasn’t much need for it with my storm wolf druid. It was an effective DPS machine and with the added ability to fortify at the end, I was essentially unkillable in the lower world tiers. Especially when I began to be level past the recommend threshold.

Open worlds, it must be said, used to be one of my favourite game builds. However, as worlds have become larger with needless collectibles to fill out the world, they have also become some of my most hated elements because I’m a compulsive explorer - always desperate to check out the next nook or cranny in case of side quests or something interesting. Diablo IV proved infuriating in this respect as it had so many side quests but no way to track the ones you’d completed except with a ?/45 on the world map. This made knowing which side quests I’d completed difficult to keep track of and figure out which ones I was still missing.

For a completionist such as myself, it was a nightmare. 

Even as I attempted to get most of the blue exclamation marks that I could find. It doesn’t help that they also only appear if you’re in that particular segment of the map, which makes it even harder to mop out unless I decided to hop between fast travel portals.

Despite this, I can see why the developers decided to go for an open world. After all, Diablo end-game (at least from 3 onwards) has always been about collecting the best gear and becoming stronger than you were before. Slap on live-service with battlepass and it’s a winning formula to become an endless grind quest. 

A part of me almost wanted to shake the developers and have them turn the franchise into a massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) for it appears to be the direction that the franchise is going. Should it go down this route, I’d also be happy for it to ditch the isometric focus on the ground. 

Alternatively, Activision Blizzard, you could also scale it back down. At least for the story segments and have it opened up afterwards. I much prefer the more compact nature of Diablo II, where I was free to explore the map of the immediate area, kill all the enemies it contained and be awed by the majesty of how large the world COULD be rather than be faced with all the open space and respawning enemies. Which, also, only seem to attack the playable character rather than have any real conflict amongst themselves.

Are you honestly telling me that the demons and the snake cultists wouldn’t fight each other or the hellspawn-esque willdlife?

Honestly, I pity the people still alive on Sanctuary. It’s clear that they can get nothing done without being mobbed by an endless amount of bandits, goatmen, cultists and demons.

Yes, it works from a gameplay perspective but it SUCKS from a world-building perspective. The people of Sanctuary might as well give up and succumb to the end if all they have to look forward to is being eaten alive by cannibals that are just outside their gates.

Now, most of my readers, and friends, would know that I love myself a good story. And Diablo IV delivered it, especially at the start. Lilith’s arrival in Sanctuary was suitably chilling and the prologue with the people at Nevesk laid the ground work for what I had hoped would be an interesting throughline of the greyness that encompasses real-life morality and perhaps have the playable character struggle with the implications of ingesting Lilith’s blood.

But did we get any of that?

No. No, we didn’t.

The playable character serves as a patsy to link up the other main characters: Lorath, Donan and Nyrelle. It is never explained why the playable character is so strong, tearing through demons left, right and centre as they traipse through Estuar (the eastern continent of Sanctuary). Or how they seem able to resist the influence of Lilith’s blood in their veins. Even Lorath is amazed at their mental fortitude but it’s never truly explored. I never see my character waver in their convictions although there is a scene where they confess to Nyrelle that they have flaws.

WHERE ARE THESE FLAWS? All that the playable character does is help out those that need it and shout defiance at the demons of Hell.

I would have preferred a story with more player choice and to see us grapple with the consequences of our actions. Instead, most of the major decisions were made by other characters and the player character was simply along for the ride as the hired muscle. 

It would have been far more interesting to me if we could have chosen to follow Lilith rather than stop her and allow Mephisto to do what he will upon Sanctuary. I mean, with that ending, there is little doubt in my mind that the world will be drenched in Hatred. A rather frightening prospect although it’s no different to the world we live in today. And while we fight amongst ourselves, the world as we know it steps ever closer to the edge with climate change wreaking havoc.

Let it be known that our current civilisation was laid low by our own hubris and the fact that we had grown fat and indolent on greed that thinking to change our ways to ensure our own survival came second to materialistic objects.

But enough of the doom and gloom! Diablo IV! 

Personally, while I am fascinated with the lore of the Diablo franchise, this recent game left me wanting. I would have much preferred a more engaging story where the playable character didn’t sit on the sidelines as the other characters decided the fate of the world. In fact, I’d have rather a slow-burn corruption story where we step off the path of the lawful good and accept the lesser-evil to save Sanctuary.

Or perhaps have us turn away from the Light entirely and fight against the Heavens for their callous disregard of humans.

At this point, I probably have a corruption kink. 

Wait. What are you doing?

No. Don’t look at that!

...

...

...

Okay, yes. Voldemort x Hermione Granger and Voldermort x Harry Potter are a few of the things that I like to peruse on the odd occasion. No, I won’t explain myself.

All right. Where were we? Ah, right. BALANCE!

For all its talk of balance, Diablo IV very much likes to paint things in black and white. Lilith, the Mother of Sanctuary, has an evil plan to cull the weak. As such, we must stop her even if it would open us up to the Greater Evils. Elias, because he brought the Mother back, is also evil despite his intention to save Sanctuary because of the ongoing threat.

As for the Angels, well, they’ve all apparently abandoned humanity. They might not have voted to destroy Sanctuary but they are doing nothing to combat the threat of the Greater Evils in the world. 

Tyrael, a mainstay of the last two games, is absent in Diablo IV and its difficult to understand why.

In any case, if Activision Blizzard ever saw fit to paint out a little more of the world, I would have liked to play a game where the playable character deals with the corruption of the Zakarum by Mephisto. 

Or maybe if we finally saw a few demons turn to the light. 

Why is it that angels can fall but demons remain forever in the depths of Hell?

Despite quite a few gripes regarding Diablo IV, I still enjoyed the majority of the game. My only wish was that it was more concise without so many open-world shenanigans thrown in to elongate the longevity of the game. Yes, there will be  a large group of people that will enjoy the end-game portion of it, but for those that thrive on story, the open world proves to be detrimental to one’s enjoyment. Especially when the world is so utterly grim. 

And I think the wider question that needs to be asked is if Sanctuary ought to be saved or not.

[acacia-may]

Thank you again for your ask, anon! 💖 I apologise that this has taken me a bit, but here are my favourite Black Clover characters narrowed down to 10. This was hard choice (part of the reason it has taken so long for me to answer this ask), but I allowed myself 5 female characters and 5 male characters in order to narrow it down! 😅

Note: This is list is in the order that they popped into my head.

Vanessa Enoteca

Charmy Pappitson

Finral Roulacase

Langris Vaude

Finesse Calmreich

Magna Swing

Noelle Silva

Charlotte Roselei

Gordon Agrippa

Henry Legolant

[Also worth mentioning: David, Dorothy, Grey, Leo, Letoile, Mereoleona, Rill, William, and Yuno...and so many others...This was difficult 💦]

This post ended up so much longer than I anticipated (I really should not be given license/encouragement to talk about my favourite Black Clover characters 😅) so I've decided to break the discussion in half and only talk about the first five characters here. The second half I'll have to add on later (as to not be too overwhelming 💦)

Discussion under the cut because it's long and contains some spoilers for the Elf and Spade Arcs. Also, some mild, vaugish discussions of certain characters' childhood tr*uma and mentions of past verbal, emotional, & psychological ab*se related to their tragic backstories.

1. Vanessa — Gosh, I love her! She might be my favourite character. There is just so much more to her than the token drunk, fan-service party-girl, that you originally see. She's the best "big sister" to everyone on her squad and has such a gift for building people up and encouraging them. Despite all of the pain and terrible experiences in her past, she chooses to be kind and still finds reasons to be genuinely happy, and what she wants more than anything else is to make everyone around her happy too. She's warm, intuitive, empathetic, a great listener, and one of the best at advice, and she loves her friends so deeply (with bonds so strong they can literally bring them back from the dead). I think one of my favourite things about her is how she is incredibly strong, independent, and capable as both a person and a mage, but she also gets to have her light-hearted, silly, and playful moments and gets to like more traditionally feminine things (which is not something a lot of strong female characters in media usually get to do, as if being feminine and being strong & independent are mutually exclusive 🙄 So it is really wonderful and refreshing to get to see all of those traits in her). Also, her character arc is stellar, in my opinion, and one of the best handled in the series. (That moment where she stares down at Her Majesty and tells her they have no bonds, gives me chills every time). She has grown so much, and it warms my heart that she has her Black Bulls family after everything she has been through. I want all the good things for her! 💕

2. Charmy — Charmy cracks me up! She always brings the brightest smile to my face whenever she shows up, but even more than that, I think she is a much better character than she is given credit for. I really love that oft-forgotten snarky, playful, a little bluntly honest, and a bit more intuitive side of her, so I try to bring that out when I write about her. I have a lot of respect for the role Charmy takes in her friendships too. In my mind at least, she isn't completely oblivious to what's going on with her friends, but for the most part, she chooses to takes this laissez-faire/'live and let live' attitude with them. She cares about them very much, wants them to be happy, and will make them all kinds of delicious foods to cheer them up if they're sad or upset, but she's a bit hands-off when it comes to what they decide to do with their lives (and doesn't feel it's her business to intervene unless she has to). If they want to share, I have no doubt that she'd listen (probably from the kitchen where she's putting a tray of cupcakes in the oven), but I really do think she personally is more comfortable showing support through feeding her friends rather than getting involved in their problems. (The issue being, of course, on those rare occasions, when her food doesn't work...). I've got a deep love for rare Charmy friendships--especially between her and Vanessa, and her and Finral (neither of which made it on my top 10 relationships but they'd probably rank as 11 & 12). My favourite future headcanon for Charmy is that she starts a bar & restaurant with Vanessa and marries Rill. 😊

3. Finral — It's probably obvious to anyone who has spent any length of time around my blog that I love the spatial brothers and could talk about them for ages (so I will try my best to keep it brief 😅). As much as I love him now, Finral actually annoyed me in the beginning with all of his excessive flirting (though my sister always teased me that he was my "secret favourite"), but I think that as the story goes on, we really get to dive into the why behind the way he is acting—that he’s really just starving for the unconditional love he never received as a child and that he has such a big, generous and kind heart and is looking for real love rather than just flings (like the usual “token flirt” character). Those kinds of wounds never really go away, and I think that inside Finral there is still a sad, lonely little boy just desperately waiting for, wishing for love that never comes and blaming himself for not being good enough to “earn” it. It breaks my heart—I just want somebody to scoop him up and hug him and tell him it isn’t his fault. And yes, it really is impossible not to love him after that—even if there have been many times when he as a character (and his arc) have frustrated me. I will say, I really think that Finral is at his best when he isn't trying so hard to be charming. Yes, he's a scatterbrained goofball, but he's a lovable scatterbrained goofball—and I personally find that extremely endearing. He wears his heart on his sleeve, is sensitive not only to his own feelings but also to the feelings of others, and he is incredibly sincere. It's rare that male characters get to be so soft and so vulnerable and get to have such big feelings without being a complete joke. (Sure there are some jokes about Finral being emotional, but for the most part, his emotions are validated and respected). He is also one of the most genuinely kind characters in the series, extremely generous, humble, and loyal to his friends. (He's also sometimes, begrudgingly, the voice of reason for them which is, honestly, saying something about the Black Bulls...). And, perhaps most importantly, he is all of these things even after of all of the horrible things that have happened to him in his life (which could have just as easily made him jaded, cold, and cynical like Langris). Finral has suffered a lot, but he still chooses kindness and forgiveness--chooses to see and to believe in the good in people (even in people who hurt him, like his brother who he never gives up on and always gives the benefit of the doubt). There is a strength in that kindness that he doesn't give himself credit for.

4. Langris — As much as I didn't particularly care for Finral in the beginning, I positively detested Langris for the longest time (because, of course, as soon as I start to really like Finral's character, Langris shows up and is nothing but nasty to him. I actually remember my sister and I, turning to each other saying, “Do we like Finral now?” “I think we like Finral now” right before we started the episode where Langris first appeared 💦). I never thought I'd be a Langris sympathizer (and certainly not to this extent), but I always got the feeling that Langris was a victim of the toxicity and abuse of House Vaude, too. It is a horrible, cruel thing for parents to withhold unconditional love from their children, and as much as Ledior and Liliane withheld love from Finral, they withheld it from Langris as well forcing him to “earn” their love by living up to unattainable expectations of perfection. Even though he was the "perfect son" and extremely successful, nothing he ever did was enough for his parents, leaving him a jaded and insecure overachieving perfectionist who is extremely hard on others but is even harder on himself. He is also, arguably, starving for unconditional love as much as Finral—the difference being that where his brother tries to fill that void with flirting & pursuing romantic relationships, Langris tries to fill it with his accomplishments, successes, and achievements (ultimately & unhealthily finding his entire sense of self-worth in them). I think what's really tragic here is that Langris has such a deep capacity for love--I have no doubt that when he chooses to care about someone, he will love forever. However, he has this crippling fear of vulnerability and rejection that prevents him from building meaningful relationships. He doesn't like games he can't see a possibility of winning and since he doesn't believe that anyone could actually love him, he counts himself out of the running and closes himself off to people--his brother included. None of this excuses any of the horrible things that Langris has done or the way that he has treated Finral, but it does make him a little more sympathetic and gives me hope for a brighter future in which he and Finral can make amends and begin to rebuild their brotherly relationship. My poor boys, I want good things for them. 💚💙

I know I have droned on and on already, but I feel like I've just roasted Langris without saying many good things about him 😅 so I'm adding some here. Langris is incredibly intelligent, forthright, dependable, responsible, and loyal. He can be snarky and a little too blunt at times, but I think for all of his attempts at being cold, curt, and detached, he actually has a secret softer, gentler side. In the companion to this post (about my top 10 favourite Black Clover relationships), I talked a little about Langris's friendship with Finesse and how that brings out this soft side of him. With her, I think, we get to see that he's very attentive and thoughtful, and that he can actually be very selfless. He genuinely wants her to be happy--even if that means helping his brother shape up so he can be a man worthy of her and take over their House (when, arguably, Langris is the one who wants to be the Head of House Vaude and has worked towards that goal for his entire life). And that is the Langris that I like--the Langris who cares very, very much, not in some big, grand gesture but in a cluster of small gestures that really boil down to being loyal, stable, and present when someone needs him and to being willing to make sacrifices for what's best for someone else. Say what you will about Langris (and there are a lot of negative and critical things to say about him), but when it comes down to it, I think he has grown a lot over the series and the person that he is now, has shown an admirable willingness to give up the things he wants for the people he cares about if he thinks that's what's best for them (not just in the example with Finesse and Finral, but he also gives up his greatest achievement, being Vice Captain of the Golden Dawn, to Yuno and basically admits in Spade that it's because Yuno is the better leader for their squad). He cares more than he's willing to admit, and though I don't think he'll ever be the type to easily express it with his words, his actions speak loud enough. And yes, I like him very much for that. 💖

5. Finesse — I suppose this is a good segue since I was just talking about her, but, yes, I know she is an out-of-the-box choice. However, I'm incredibly fond of her and think she is criminally underrated. I'll admit her appearance in media res did throw me for a loop for a bit and gave me some emotional whiplash at first, but that's not her fault (and is another story entirely). Even so, Finesse is instantly likeable. She might be the kindest person in this entire series, and she so generously and naturally gives to others without expecting anything for herself. She has such a gentle strength to her too--a beautiful example that even the smallest acts of kindness and encouragement can really make a hugest difference. What she’s done for Finral and Langris just by caring about them and offering them compassion and believing the best in them has really meant the world to them, I think (saying nothing of the fact that, in turn, both of the spatial mage boys would bend over backwards to make her happy--a fact that, I think, would genuinely surprise her as she's so humble, bless her heart 💕). I have no doubt that she genuinely cares for both Finral and Langris very much, and she is so good for both of her boys and knows them so well--sometimes, even better than they know themselves. I don't know the extent to which she understands the reality of how awful things are at House Vaude because, I imagine, both Finral and Langris are very protective of her and don’t want to "burden" her with their problems (though she wouldn't see it that way if they ever did open up to her, of course); however, I think she knows that things are difficult for them (i.e. that Finral is struggling with self-deprecation and was suffering emotionally before he left home and that Langris is much harder on himself than he is on anyone else and misses his brother very much) and decides to be this kind, warm, and gentle presence in both of their lives. She chooses to see so much good in them, even if they can't see it in themselves (when she tells Finral that she believes he's a true magic knight or defends Langris to the King even when he's gone on an elf-possession-induced rampage, for instance). No matter what, she selflessly wants what's best for her boys, and there's something very sweet about how she inspires them to become the best version of themselves--with Finral striving to become "worthy of her" and Langris bringing out that softer, gentler side when they're spending time together.

I think Finesse gets a bit of a bad rep for being meek, gentle, and “dull” (to quote a younger, dumber version of a certain someone who likely just didn't want to be in arranged marriage), but there really is a strength in consistently choosing to be kind, especially in the face of adversity. This poor girl is chronically ill and (arguably because of that) is forced into an arranged marriage which is, on paper at least, undesirable for her--marrying into House Vaude is definitely below her station as a member of the House of Kira, plus it's a literal hellscape of a vicious cycle of toxicity and abuse. Her future in-laws are genuinely horrible people who traumatized their sons with their cruelty, leaving both of her possible future spouses/romantic prospects with serious, unresolved psychological issues. Not to mention the fact that she doesn't even really know which one of their sons she's actually engaged to... Just luckily, Finral and Langris are decent enough people and either of them would be likely be a good husband and try his best to make her happy, but still... this is a lot for poor Finesse. And yet, she takes this all in stride, approaches the situation with dignity, grows to genuinely care for Langris and Finral, and shows them nothing but kindness, support, and encouragement (quite possibly for the first time in their lives). In fact, when Langris has all that elf-business and the King threatens to dissolve the betroval and punish the Vaudes, it is Finesse who comes to their defense rather than taking what is quite possibly her only chance at an "out," and there is something to be admired in that, I think. She just deserves a lot more love and a lot more credit than she is given, and she is genuinely one of my favourites. 💖

Thank you so much for reading all the way to the end! 🥰 Many thanks again for the ask, anon. 💖 I think I will need to stop there for now. I will talk about the other 5 in another post as this one is already super long... 😅 Cheers!! 🥂

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Order #1: Open for Business!

Hey, Kuripa. Can I borrow you for a second?

Sure. What’s up Boss?

This may seem a little sudden but...I have a job for you. Kind of an important one. You know how it’s Christmas?

...

*Kuripa sarcastically checks his watch.

Is it? I had no clue.

I could do with a little less of that attitude you know? I’m already busy enough this time of year as is.

Sorry Boss, I just don’t like it when you state the obvious.

Ok, well, I’ll make this brief then. Turns out that the Freedom Foundation decided to come and visit for the holidays.

And...God knows where she got this idea, but Maya decided that in order to “spread the festive cheer” or something, she’s asked permission to set up a mini coffee house in the main building cafeteria.

Kyoko thought that would be a nice idea, so she approved.

Ah, so THAT’S what all those transported resources were going for. I was wondering if the 77th Class were throwing another Christmas Party.

They’ve decided to take their celebration somewhere else this year. They don’t want to get in everyone else’s way.

Right, well...Sounds like she’s doing something good, and it’s bliss that everyone at Future Foundation will get to try Maya’s coffee. So, what’s the problem?

*sigh* The problem is that she CLEARLY underestimated the sheer scale of people who work for the Foundation. She’s got far more customers than she’s ever had at Freedom Café back in the states, and she’s feeling overrun.

Ok, well...Why don’t you provide her some staff?

We don’t have staff to spare with running a café, and those who have been chosen have pulled out. Apparently they find Maya...“difficult to work with”

Well...I guess that’s fair. Maya’s got an energy and creativeness level that’s difficult to match.

But YOU CAN match it Kuripa. Which is why I’m here.

Maya and her friends are here for 12 days, so the café is going to remain standing for that time. Do you think you could help Maya run her establishment for that time? I know how well you work as a team.

Plus, if the customers are satisfied with their orders, I’ll make sure you’re rewarded.

Well...I can make tea with my eyes closed, but Maya will need to walk be through some basic coffee making techniques first.

Still, I’m definitely on board. 

Thanks. You’re doing us all a great favor.

Also...I know how chaotic you can be, but I’m giving you this task with the intention of making sure you reign both yourself and Maya in. I really don’t want you two causing us trouble over the holidays, so please, try not to go crazy.

Wouldn’t dream of it Boss. I’ll go see her now. Happy Christmas!

‘Sup Asshole!

Kuripa!

*Kuripa strides confidently into the cafeteria towards Maya’s new stand.

Woah. The Future Foundation really went all out for you, huh?

I’m an esteemed guest. Course I deserve the finest hospitality.

That buff guy with the mohawk really did me a service. He helped me put all this shit up.

You’re probably talking about Mondo, right? That’s a pompadour, not a mohawk.

Unless...he had a weird haircut since the last time I saw him, but I doubt it.

How have you been?

Eh...Stressed. I’ve only had the store up for a couple hours and I’ve lost a crapton of orders. Four and the gang offered to help, but I want them to enjoy their Christmas, you know?

I heard you chased the staff away too.

...I guess I was a bit much for them.

Nah. Future Foundation are just wet blankets. The regular employee’s don’t have what it takes to put up with most people’s creativity and extremism. It’s not you.

But, you’re in luck. It just so happens that I’m here to apply for the job. Or I guess take it.

Huh?

Boss sent me here and asked me to help you bartend. We’re gonna be partners for the next two weeks.

Oh, fottutamente dolce! 

Ahem...I mean...Thanks. But...are you sure?

Why not? We make a great team.

No, no, we do! It’s just...Do you know how to mix?

Well...not really. I don’t make coffee often, but I make a mean cup of tea.

Right, that helps. I don’t really like making tea, so I can have you cover me for that.

But this place doesn’t just sell tea and coffee you know? We also sell beverages and cocktails. I know you can handle difficult tasks with ease Kuripa, but mixing cocktails is a whole different genre. It’s delicate work and requires a certain amount of...finesse.

It may have something to do with my ADHD, but even I struggle with it. Everything from ingredient ratio to your mixing technique could affect the final product.

First time I ever tried making a cocktail, I ended up mixing three kinds of hard liquor into one drink. My Grandad tried it and he passed out on the floor for 4 hours after a single sip.

Yikes...

Well, don’t you worry about that. I have pretty good uh...precision perceptiveness...If that’s a term.

Oh yeah? How good?

Hm...Well...

I know exactly where the average persons vital organs are in the body?

...Right...I’m not gonna question that.

Look, just don’t bite the hand that feeds, alright? If the staff have ran away and you don’t want your friends to help, I may very well be the only person you’ve got left.

Yeah, good point. Alright, fine. I appreciate the help, but let’s maybe divvy the tasks up.

I’ll handle the coffee making and the cocktail brewing.

Then I will handle the tea and other beverages.

Great! 

Just remember one last thing. Customer orders can be very specific. Some might enjoy a stiffer drink while another might want the same thing but a little more sour. Make sure you keep this in mind.

Got it.

And Kuripa...Truth be told, there’s another thing that I may really need your help with.

What’s up?

One very important part of bartending is communication. At my establishment, alongside making drinks, I also converse with my regulars. It lets me get a read on the personalities of those who come in, and oftentimes it means I’ve already made the drink before they’ve even sat down.

But...everything is NEW here. I don’t know a vast majority of these faces. But you DO, so...

Ah, say no more. I know exactly how to handle most of the stiff personalities we’ve got at this place. And I DO love a good conversation.

I can introduce you, and we can have a good ol’ chin wag.

...?

...

A chat. I mean we can have a chat.

Oh! Gotcha!

So...Shall we get this place open?

Took the words right outta my mouth ma’am!

[mak--taylor]

Things I Wish I Knew Before Going Into University/College

1. You don't need to have everything figured out.

You probably just decided what your next step is going to be, whether that is continuing onto university, heading into the job market, or taking a gap year, and it feels like you have to have everything figured out. That's wonderful, but it's important to have an open mind and be accepting of change. Things may not go as you planned, or they will go swimmingly well.

2. Grades don't matter... to an extent.

Sure, if you have great grades, you have wider options: scholarships, employment, funding, grad school, etc. But truthfully, most scholarships and internship offers are based on a 3.0 GPA. Some of the stricter ones have a 3.5 GPA requirement. Unless you're set on going to graduate school (in which case, definitely try to get a high GPA), you will likely be fine with a 3.0 GPA (this is the case especially if your major is STEM; if your major is non-STEM, maybe shoot for a 3.5 GPA). When I graduated undergrad and got my first "real" full-time job, they never even asked me what my GPA was or required a transcript. I say this to hopefully relieve some pressure off you. A few "Bs" (or "C"s tbh) won't kill you.

3. Your responsibilities (may) change.

I'm going to preface this by saying that each person has their own individual experience when it comes to responsibilities. I am going to speak very generally here. Moving on from high school brings on many more unexpected responsibilities, at least in my experience/experiences from friends. Through high school, the focus is generally set on getting through the coursework and maintaining extracurriculars. However, once I hit college, I found myself needing to balance coursework, work, household things (I lived at home and commuted to university, but there were still expectations), as well as trying to build up experience in whatever field of interest. It IS a lot, and trying to figure out the right work-life balance is key to having a successful college career.

4. Time management is KEY

I think almost anyone who's gone into university can attest to this. Tying back to my previous point, more and more things get added on as you progress through your career as a student/individual. With that, it is important to not lose track of things, and find a proper balance. I found that one of the main things I struggled with going into uni was time management. I was always able to scrape by last minute in high school with assignments and tests, but realized that was not feasible once I started college. I realized sooner than later that I needed to find a way to keep myself in check.

I found that maintaining a planner as well as having a calendar with important dates was vital for me to keep track of things. I had to-do lists, whiteboards with lists, physical planners, all of the things, and even though it seems like overkill, I needed the visual reminders.

5. Find a mentor (upperclassmen/professor/teacher)

I did NOT realize how much I needed this as I started freshman year. I went in kind of just expecting to be able to get by, which I did during my the first semester of freshman year. However, it was a challenge trying to interact with upperclassmen since they all just seemed so unreachable and b u s y. It took my until the end of my freshman year and into the beginning of my sophomore year to finally find people that I felt could give me guidance in both smaller things like class selections or just life advice. I personally found some of my more approachable TAs to be very helpful, as well as my professors in my smaller classes. If your university offers mentoring programs or similar opportunities, take advantage of those- you may never know what can come out of it!

6. Get involved!

This is something that I found to be difficult as a commuter. Many of my colleges clubs and events were hosted later in the evenings, and I just did not want to spend 2 extra hours on campus after a long day of classes and then have to drive home. However, I do wish I had taken more advantage of the clubs on campus. There are SO many different ones that cater to a plethora of interests. I feel like I would have had the opportunity to build a community around each of my different interests, and been able to keep up with them. And, if there is not a club that caters to your interest, then start one! I did that with a group of friends, and that was one of the best choices I made. I was able to pursue something that I was truly passionate about, while being able to hang out with a wonderful group of people. you don't want to always be in your dorm, watching Netflix, when you're not in class. Sure, sometimes you need to wind down but you don't want your entire undergraduate experience to be summed up with "netflix." I promise you: you will not remember the shows you binged your sophomore year of college, but you WILL remember that awesome overnight camping trip you took at Yosemite.

7. Network.

I used to cringe when people would network in undergrad because I thought they were being so "extra" and so "fake." And now I'm understanding that the mantra "fake it til you make it" is really accurate... It doesn't matter how you personally feel about networking, but the reality is that most people get their jobs through networking (and those who network tend to have a "leg up"). If you want to be successful, I'd argue that networking is a key strategy you should implement, to some extent. The more professional experiences you have earlier on, the easier it is to get better opportunities later on: your success builds upon itself. And you don't have to be super fake about it either; the people who are the best networkers tend to be the most genuine.

8. Have a small group of close, quality friends and work on strengthening those friendships.

It's better to have 3 quality best friends, instead of 10 friends that you're not really all that close to. Quality over quantity, for sure. Although you should focus on quality, I still think it's good to be socially connected with your classmates and acquaintances/friends through Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, etc: after all, this is just good networking + who knows who may become your next close friend when you move to a new state! In college, it's easy to hang out with friends but after college, it's much more difficult to keep these friendships up.

9. Take care of yourself.

College is busy, it's stressful- there's really no sugarcoating it. Through high school, I was never really focused on mental health and trying to make sure that I was not about to combust. However, after finishing three years of college, I can assure you that being able to maintain your mental AND physical wellbeing is extremely important. Not only does it make you feel good, it does impact your performance as a student. Make time for yourself. Yes, school is important, but so are you. Find room in your schedule for your hobbies- paint something, go on walks, hang out with friends- whatever brings you joy. Make sure you are eating ALL your meals, getting 7-9 hours of sleep (try to, at least), exercising, and taking care of your mental health. It is important, don't forget about that.

This means both mentally (most college campuses offer free, or reduced cost, therapy sessions! take advantage of this! once you're in the "real world", these sessions are $$$) and physically (eat the right type of food! exercise!).

Ultimately, college is what you make of it. It's a period where you can explore your passions and find who you are. But also at the same time, it's also meant to help advance your (future) career. You can definitely find the right balance between your professional and personal goals!!

Stay safe everyone <3

[waspsinyouryard]

I’m curious how everyone’s year was so please tell me what you favourite ----- from this year was! Answer as many or as few as you want! (Feel free to send this to other people and change it if you want)

Favourite Movie/Show you watched: 

Favourite Album you listened to:

Favourite thing you learned: 

Favourite book/comic: 

Favourite project you completed: 

Best impulse purchase?

Funniest joke you heard?

Strangest building you went in?

New food you discovered?

Most memorable conversation?

Prettiest sunset?

Favourite new outfit?

What are you proud of this year?

Favourite Memory from this year: 

Anything you would change? 

Anything you’re looking forwards to in the new year?

~Gumi

I'm going to try and answer all of these but I can already tell that some of these are going to be difficult:

1. Favorite movie/show

I don't really watch movies out of my own volition and I'm like the one Tumblr user who doesn't watch TV shows (and my memory is bad, so I could also be forgetting something) so my options are very limited:

The FNAF movie (which was laughably terrible)

Stranger than Fiction (a 2006 movie that was just. not good. I didn't like it.)

Rio 2 (a kid sitting next to me for a substantial amount of time was watching it and I could hear the audio)

Out of those options I'd probably have to say the FNAF movie was my favorite because it was bad in a funny way and also recency bias.

2. Favorite Album

My music consumption is almost exclusively video game soundtracks and I haven't really found any games to love the soundtrack of recently anyways so

3. Favorite thing I've learned

I can't think of any one piece of knowledge that stands out as my favorite. I'm just happy to know things tbh

4. Favorite Book/Comic

I read quite a few books (mostly the Warriors series, near the beginning of the year) but my favorite probably still has to be Love and Limerence by Dorothy Tennov. I reread it this year so it counts.

5. Favorite project I completed

Probably this ridiculous 14k word Wings of Fire fanfiction where the world ends tbh. It's kinda very rough, but I had a blast making it.

6. Best impulse purchase

A greenish-blue Hawaiian shirt

7. Funniest joke

Unironically this

Leave the poor woman alone :(

8. Strangest building

Probably the church I took those photos in tbh. I get that it's not that strange overall but it was for me

9. Best new food

I can't think of any new food, but I did discover that French fries and (to an admittedly lesser degree) saltine crackers make surprisingly good additions to toppings and/or fillings.

10. Most memorable conversation

This one's memorable in a bad way.

Essentially, it was a conversation between myself and a friend about a Minecraft server we were on where said friend told me that I managed to piss off every single other member of the server. Of course I was a bit distraught about this, and I decided that I just wouldn't play on it anymore. Before that I was basically the most active member by far.

The reason I remember it so well is because I'm still so baffled about why what I did (kill the Ender Dragon on the first day of a new world (after rules regarding doing so were specifically abolished) and kill the Wither like a week later) enraged these people so much that they called for my friend to ban me (he didn't, btw).

11. Prettiest sunset

All of them. Unless I'm trying to go west and the sun is shining in my eyes.

12. Favorite new outfit

The Hawaiian shirt I mentioned previously.

13. Things I'm proud of

Here's a list, not in any sort of order:

Writing that fanfic I mentioned earlier

Figuring out Tumblr API stuff so I could improve @postsofbabel. And I guess it in general.

My progress on a new fanfic set in the Warriors world, where being sold to 1D is a major plot point.

Surviving, tbh

14. Favorite memory

uh

15. Anything I would change

I would change a lot about 2023, but I simply do not think I would have the ability enact a lot of these changes if I could go back through this year again.

16. Anything I'm looking forward to

World of Goo 2. Probably more that I can't think of at the moment but World of Goo is excellent

[rapifessor]

Pokéchronology, Volume I: Yellow

Day 9

Unfortunately, this was another one of those days where I planned to play more, but didn't get around to it because my brain had other plans. I also had a lot of homework to do.

Getting to the end of the day I've decided to call off any additional playtime. I'll have to continue a couple days from now, unless I manage to get some time in at work tomorrow. Sorry to say, I don't have much to write about for this post.

Does anyone even care about Pokémon Yellow spoilers? Ah, whatever. It's easier to just keep up the habit.

Route 15

So this day was all about implementing new training strategies that I've been thinking about, and I was able to do some of that on Route 15. Before that though, I go to the upper floor of the building separating the route from Fuchsia City (I'm sure there's a name for it but it escapes me at the moment) where I encounter that mystery man Professor Oak's Aide. He says he'll give me the EXP. All, better known as the EXP Share in later games, if I've caught 50 Pokémon. Naturally... I'm one Pokémon short.

Guess I'll pop into Route 15 and try to catch something new then. I've seen all the Pokémon here before, but I hadn't caught Bellsprout or Weepinbell yet. I managed to catch the latter after Mycoboss accidentally OHK'd a Bellsprout beforehand (they've got a pretty beefy Attack stat, so even a weak move like Cut does hella damage), named them OOOOOH. Yeah, I really can't be bothered coming up with names anymore. That'll be fun as I move on to other Pokémon games. Later on I catch a Bellsprout that gets named AYOOOOO.

I get the EXP Share, but I decide I don't want to use it. For one, every time you KO a Pokémon you have to mash through a ton of text just because every single member of your team gets EXP when you do, which is SUPER annoying, and for another it actually makes it more difficult to train specific Pokémon on your team. So into the PC it goes. But this is where I ran into another problem.

Turns out it's not just your inventory space that's limited, but even your storage in Generation I. It maxes out at 50 item slots. Since this was going to continue being a problem if I didn't address it right away, I sold a whole bunch of TMs that I didn't plan on using and a few junk items to free up space.

I must say, I'm a little torn about how Generation I games handle items, and thinking about them in comparison to what I know the modern games are like really makes you aware of how these things were a product of their time. Item storage being limited is to be expected to some extent, as the Gameboy is a very simple console with limited capabilities compared to our modern standards. But I didn't expect it to be quite as limiting as it is.

The inability to acquire certain items multiple times is also an issue. Most TMs aren't sold in the Celadon Department Store, which means you get one shot at using them, after which they're gone forever. Even goner foreverer if you later choose to overwrite the move. While on some level I do like the idea that items are limited and you have to use them wisely, and the game does a good job of discouraging you from being a hoarder, it kinda sucks when you're on a blind playthrough and you realize you've locked yourself out of an option because you didn't know what you were doing.

But this is understandable, isn't it? Pokémon Yellow was released during a time when video games weren't yet designed for mass appeal. Less thought was put into making the game accessible for players of all skill and knowledge levels, because it wasn't needed. Heck, if I didn't have any of the Pokémon resources that have been developed over the years, my experience with this game would likely have been very different.

I probably would have found the game frustrating, looking at it through the lens of a child playing it 20 years ago. As an adult with literally two decades of gaming experience under my belt I'm able to grasp mechanics and intricacies very quickly, and I think this means that I'm able to enjoy a game like Pokémon Yellow more now than I would have at the time it was released.

This is all to say that, despite the numerous and noticeable flaws and limitations, Generation I Pokémon is worth experiencing. In my opinion, at least. Maybe if I had come into the game after experiencing later entries in the series, with their added quality of life features and better balancing, I'd be less enthused. But I'd say my experience so far has been a good sign, as from what I've been told, things only get better from here.

Wow, that was one hell of a tangent, wasn't it? Sorry about that. To tell you the truth, there's really not much to cover as far as the rest of my play time goes today, so I padded the post by waxing lyrical about the Pokémon Yellow experience. I mostly just switched up how I fought enemy Pokémon, favoring Mycoboss for Grass/Poison types instead of Miles or Prinzessin. I brought in BIG RAT whenever I could as well, though those opportunities are few and far between and he is STILL getting destroyed by Fury Attacks that just can't help but crit for some reason. Fuckin' Dodrio, man.

[the-firebird69]

We have a lot of toy boats they're going to offer electric on some of them and make them electric and gas at the same time I could build both types and the reason is and they're little they're little speed boats they're about 6 ft to 8 ft and they're really small I mean 6 ft very small and the electric can probably go 50 miles an hour for about 3 hours in the water and Friends very little energy and the ones with impellers burn too much you need a propeller but boy is it fast and the electric ones are silent in the small toy ones probably go for an hour at 15 miles an hour which is pretty good most of them are like anyways when they're thin and they they need them to do things like what my husband did and he was really into the influence but he didn't want to but he took the alcohol from that house and the people do that in the lake all the time

Hera

Zues

And we do hear it it sounds like here we go and that's what they do and they like to do it a lot they grab a ton of it and it's going on that they want them now and the electrics and the speed boats and even the toy ones so it's going to be kind of a funny thing unless you little toy pirate ships come across and my husband has an idea and we'll get to start somewhere but better place than here and what better place than now

Hera

Zues

We're going to go ahead with this idea and go ahead with the toy car I do too and idea to make the toy car and even with gears a manual and an automatic for children but off-road because they're going to go on the road a little usually go around the yard anyways but these things go fast 20 mph and they're big and they work like a real ATV and it smells always smell small ATVs too but these are electric and don't make any noise and they go pretty far the one is for 12 year old and 12 year olds are like 4 ft tall and it's pretty big beefy it'll go 20 miles an hour for about 3 hours because the new batteries and there are batteries and they're not lithium and that's how we want to do it a lot of people will replace it with lithium just order them online

Thor Freya

We're going ahead with the Bradley GT1 we're going to start with that one and we heard Harris say it it should start that way like we did last time but we're going to offer the electric as an option and it can be on your chassis or ours and most people have their own chassis and will trade to electric and it is not a difficult installation and mechanics job you don't have to have too much experience and what our son has is enough and most of you have a lot more than that even your women do. And it would be a really exciting and we're talking about the Dodge neon size now the Dodge neon will go about 350 miles an hour with a 74 horsepower motor that comes stock but it's the smaller motor I think they have a bigger motor and go like 400 with the electric it's about 450 and boys at silent it charges in 15 minutes and you go about 500 miles at 60 MPH and it looks like a lotus for speed it's beautiful it looks almost like a Corvette a little smaller though it's wonderful and it's a great size for most people here great speed this really no reason at all to go any faster because most of it's about maneuverability and they're lightweight with two people in maneuver anything please cop cars can't keep up the motorcycles can't the choppers can't and you can go under things like a semi it's really really effective and efficient and it goes through back roads very easily we're looking for people to drive around in souped-up Bradley GT1 that's what we're going to decide to use the revved up souped up awesome paint job slightly modified Porsche motor type vehicles and we want them out there this weekend and I tell you what we're going to be in them driving around and already there's a list of characters and our son has a few you might know that he imitates bane but he has his own Baine character, and that's one he has other characters that are agents of shield and he has a couple that are in the iron Man series and one that you know about and you've seen him but he's way too big for that and he can't ride in it says he's going to ride in mine you see that thing you're going to know that Bradley GT is around. He does have a few characters so additional someone figured one out the other day it's a famous character and he's sitting here drawing a blank yeah Jor-El and she will be there as Lana it's one of her cover characters and it's a van something but that's what's going to be going around is that he's going to be doing that and yeah he has a couple more characters but you just want to see which ones lots of them can't really show up like spawn. Venom. Hulk. This is version of The Flash and it looks different but it likes it. And this is the comics. And Galactus and things like that but really he is going to show up as JorEl and he says I don't know he says that people are coming out from Utah but they're really coming from foreign countries but he is going to probably show up as Noran Rad and he says he thinks that she's the one telling on him and it's true she's going to show up as the Phoenix and it's the other character who is an emissary well it looks like that it's a different name but that's what it is and it's star or something and it's true he's a lot of names. But that's what he's going to show up as and a lot of people know what he looks like he doesn't look like John Gallagher the John Gallagher thinks he does and he's going to be dressing like that and there's going to be this episode with him.

Keep an eye out because the silver surfer is up and it's for ship removal of ours

Thor Freya

We're going to high gear in my character is doing the same thing and is a harbinger for Galactica and they'll start trying to find them and they will search Saturn but people want to see it and we're going to be in our Bradley GT1 and yeah they're very souped up and it's the old Hull that's reinforced and modified a little

Hera

Olympus

[slasherhaven]

✨Hi✨Can you write a headcanon for slashers' toxic treats in a relationship? (It may their insecurities, being too jealous/overprotective ect..) thank you so much and i love your blog 💖🦄

You mean other than the murder and sadism???? Sure! 😂 (Not all of these are ‘toxic traits’, some are just problems that you might have in the relationship. Not including the whole murder thing...)

The Slashers and their toxic traits:

Thomas Hewitt 

His insecurities. He beats himself up so much about everything and it occasionally gets in the way of your relationship. For the most part you are able to reassure him and he comes around, missing being with you. However, he can start to hide down on the basement and start avoiding you, causing a divide between you both. He’ll comes around or you will march down there and confront him, lovingly, and he’ll feel better for a while. It’s a slow process building Tommy’s self worth but you’re a huge help!

His family? I mean...we all know Hoyt isn’t exactly friendly. Once you’re a part of the family, he expects you to have some sort of part in their chores. He also has a habit of teasing you and Thomas, and not in a very playful way, normally worsening Thomas’ insecurities. Luda May isn’t completely innocent either, though. She does love you but is pretty tough in the early stages of your relationship, like she doesn’t trust you. Once you’re officially a member of the family, she eases up on you though. 

Michael Myers 

Can be very cold. This shouldn’t be surprising. He’s a very stoic, cold man who is mostly unaffectionate. It takes so long to start building physical affection with him that most people would just give up before they get there. Of course, it’s worth it for when he finally starts to open up to it, but it can be draining on you.

Likes to get his way. He’s stubborn and independent. The thought of having somebody rely on him or to rely on somebody else makes him very uncomfortable, he isn’t used to it at all. And yet, here you both are. So, he doesn’t ask before doing most things, he just kind of...does. He doesn’t understand why you explain that you would like for him to mention it in the future. An example of this is just leaving the house without telling you, leaving you looking for him before realising he left for the night. He’ll gradually come around to improving on it, starting small, but that means a whole lot coming from Michael.

Jason Voorhees 

His insecurities. Jason doesn’t pull away from you because of it but the more understanding and patient you are, the better it will be. It takes a long time for him to remove the mask and, naturally, that can cause some tension. He’s too worried about scaring you away while you’re worrying that he doesn’t trust you as much as he claims too. This is something that can be dealt with eventually. Once he’s removed the mask and you make him feel loved, this issue slowly fades away.

Isolation? It’s not really his fault. He lives out in a cabin in the middle of the woods near an old run down summer camp and now you live with him. He’s not purposely keeping you away from other people but it’s something that can’t be helped. Of course he’s not going to stop you from taking trips to visit family or friends even if he would miss you, it’s just now always very easy to do so.

Brahms Heelshire 

Selfish. Brahms has a major case of only child syndrome. He can’t accept ‘no’ as an answer, he demands everything he wants, he only really things about himself, mostly because that’s what he’s used too. Thank his parents. Deep down, he really is a sweetheart but you have to chisel away all that nastiness. It’s hard work and you play more of a caretaker role before a romantic partner.

Get’s extremely jealous. He hates the grocery boy’s guts with a vengeance, all because he flirted with you that one time. But he gets jealous over stupid things as well, just when he decides that you aren’t giving him enough attention, which he wants a lot of.

Uses guilt trips. This one you need to stop as soon as possible. It’s how he got his way with his parents, and now he will try to use it against you. As you try to reign in his selfishness, you have to for the same for his guilt trips.

Bo Sinclair

Can’t take responsibility. It takes so much to get him to sincerely apologise. He really needs to see that he’s done something wrong and has really upset you in order to actually apologise. Otherwise he’ll just brush it off and move on, refusing to admit that he did anything wrong.

Manipulative. It’s almost like being manipulative is Bo’s second nature. He does it all the time with people who come into the town but he doesn’t really mean to do it to you. But when he wants something or he’s irritated, he just slips up and it happens. Big fan of saying things like “you’re overreacting”.

Vincent Sinclair 

His insecurities. Vincent can become very withdrawn from you due to his own insecurities. It can really get in the way of your relationship. Of course you’re understanding and compassionate but it does start to wear you down, making you a little irritated. You never let on to those feelings though, always trying to comfort him. Vincent will come around eventually after some reassurance but it can be a tough time.

His relationship with Bo. This is probably a bigger problem than his insecurities. Bo has a lot of power over Vincent and you don’t like it at all, even if you have developed a fondness for the other twin as well. Most of the times it isn’t a problem but when Bo is in a bad mood, he mostly takes it out on Vincent. It can feel like Vincent puts Bo above you, even when Bo is being awful. You understand it, you really do. Bo is the toxic one, not Vincent. But that doesn’t always make things easier.

Lester Sinclair

His relationship with his brothers. Lester isn’t a very toxic person but any relationship with somebody who has a life like his could become a little toxic. You are incredibly important to him but...so are his brothers. It’s highly unlikely that he would leave Ambrose to live a more honest life, or at least try to. He’s more likely to do so than either of the twins but it’s still very unlikely to happen. Sometimes it can make you question his priorities, but he really really does love you more than anything.

Bubba Sawyer

His family. His family is extremely toxic, this shouldn’t be much of a shock. Bubba is probably the least toxic out of all of them, this man just wants to love somebody and be loved in return. By family, I mostly mean Drayton.

Isolation. Like with Jason, this isn’t really his fault but it’s something to consider. If you have family or friends, you likely won’t be able to see them much at all. You could still call and message but you live with the Sawyers now that Drayton doesn’t like the idea of you coming and going. This probably links back to the toxic family dynamics.

Billy Lenz

Jealous/possessive. He’s pretty much a shut in, he doesn’t like leaving the house even though he probably could. He doesn’t have a problem with you having friends but gets a little pouty if you go out with them for a long time, and when you get back home, he is extra clingy. He won’t stop you but you’re well aware that he would rather you just stay with him. He probably feels more lonely than anything.

Asa Emory (The Collector)

Manipulative. Asa knows what he wants and when he wants something, he will get it. He does genuinely try to not purposely manipulate you since he cares about you. However, manipulation usually comes so easily to him that he might not even realise he’s doing it.

His need for control. Asa likes being in control and he loves when you’re submissive to him. This means that he can find it a little difficult to give up some control in the relationship or around the house. It can be infuriating but can be adjusted slowly but it’s not going to be easy.

Jesse Cromeans (Chromeskull) 

Overprotective/possessive. As soon as another man is talking to you, he will be right by your side, his intimidating figure usually being enough to scare them off. If he had it his way, he’d have you with him at all time, only for him to touch or even look at. However, he won’t resort to that unless it’s something you want...still, it’s obvious and it can become overbearing if nothing else.

Depending on your feelings towards his ‘job’, he can be gone for long periods of times. Unless you are completely okay with what he does and go on the ‘business’ trips with him, you are going to be left home alone for long periods of time. Of course, you might be completely okay with that and if that’s the case, there’s no problem. If you need him around some more...well, you might start to feel a little lonely. He always makes it up to you when he gets home though!

Otis Driftwood 

Very focused on himself. He’s just used to only thinking about himself, ever since he was a kid. Of course he does genuinely care about the family and about you (and he doesn’t express that to you better than he does the family) but he’s nowhere near perfect with it. He also has a tendency of pulling away from you when this gets bad. When he realises that it’s bothered you, he doesn’t really apologise either, but he’ll still offer you some comfort.

Anger issues. This man has a temper. He would never turn you but oh boy is it hard work. Most of the time it’s just ranting and shouting about whatever pissed him off. While it doesn’t turn physical or is ever directed at you, it can be a little draining.

Baby Firefly 

Doesn’t take much seriously. Baby tends to treat everything like a joke or just doesn’t realise how serious the situation is to you. It’s not an constant thing, if you’re upset, she’ll notice and take it seriously as she comforts you. But she still sometimes brushes off your concerns (as well as everyone else’s) because she’s practically bouncing with energy.

Yautja (Predator) 

He. Is. An. Alien. I wouldn’t really call this a toxic trait but it definitely causes some complications. The traditions of his race can be...startling. You find far too many skulls in your home when you start courting. You are also likely the thing to introduce him to monogamy, but he adapts to that very fast because you’re so precious to him.

Pretty possessive. He isn’t the jealous type, just very possessive. You are his mate, his little human, and he wants everyone (especially other Yautjas) to know that. At times it might become a little suffocating.

(Look...I’m bias here okay!)