yakult-noir - Tumblr blog

[yakult-noir]

blondie of my heart

[yakult-noir]

something unrealistic about Golden Wind is that Bruno’s suit doesn’t jingle with every movement. how tf is he so stealthy? you’d hear this man from a mile away thanks to those pull-tab charms.

I made this video to show what he should sound like:

jingle jingle

[yakult-noir]

i read everyone on the moon is essential personnel and made this. enjoy.

[yakult-noir]

A Crimson Night [Astarion/Reader Visual Novel]

Finding Cazador is a little harder than expected. To get past the locked door in his mansion, you and Astarion must infiltrate a party held by a notorious Baldur's Gate libertine - who dredges up painful memories from Astarion's past. How you deal with them is up to you.

PLAY ON ITCH.IO

My entry to the 2024 Baldur's Gate 3 Big Bang (@bg3bigbang, which I ended up flying solo on) is a short romance visual novel with role-playing elements, featuring:

An 18,000-word script

Character creation options including race, class, gender, anatomy, and the Dark Urge

Dialogue and action skill checks

Astarion approval, disapproval, and inspiration

Multiple paths and endings

General gameplay notes:

Available on Itch.io for web, Mac, and PC; the latter options are recommended.

Content warning: Includes textual references to Astarion's past abuse, as well as optional and narratively indicated paths involving written sex and violence. All images are SFW.

Dice are rolled automatically upon selecting a skill check, rather than letting players preview the difficulty and potentially back out of making the roll.

While the VN supports Ren'py's rewind system, it only allows returning to the last dice roll; saving is recommended if you want to explore different paths.

Don't be afraid to fail some dice rolls! You'll usually have another way to proceed.

There are probably bugs in this. I'll do my best to fix them as they're discovered. Consider it part of the Larian Experience™.

[yakult-noir]

speechless. the pose. the expression. this should be a painting.

[yakult-noir]

Megan Thee Stallion Presenting Anime Of The Year Award At 2024 Crunchyroll Anime Awards

[yakult-noir]

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a slapping,

As of some one gently flapping, flapping at my chamber door.

“’Tis some fairy,” I muttered, “slapping at my chamber door—

            Only this and nothing more.”

[yakult-noir]

I swear I saw someone share something like this before, but since I couldn't find it I decided to share my own Astarion art resources.

(I uploaded the scar vector way back in EA days, but included it here too for ease of reference.)

[yakult-noir]

wearing sky-colored shoes to hide from the devil. earth colored hat to hide from god

[yakult-noir]

[yakult-noir]

Long Rant about Baldur's Gate 3

Content warning: intrusive thoughts mention, body image, very mild spoilers of act 3 (does not mention characters or specific events, only implies)

-

Honestly, playing Baldur's Gate 3 has helped me with a lot of issues that therapy failed to do. I'm playing two runs at the same time, one of which is the Dark Urge.

I am having so much fun playing the Dark Urge. Its helped me with my intrusive thoughts without me noticing. Whenever I struggled with intrusive thoughts, I couldn't push them away no matter how hard I tried, and it would always make them worse.

I sometimes felt horrible because of it even though I knew that wasn't my fault and doesn't say anything about what sort of person I am.

The Dark Urge struggles in trying to repress violent thoughts lest they act on them and commit atrocities. Intrusive thoughts aren't as dire in that you won't actually commit the atrocities in real life, but playing the Dark Urge helps cement that fact further.

And I'm not even getting to the companions yet. I struggle with the fear of what other people see me as. I try to appear as someone a bit different (personality wise) but struggle a lot when I make even a singular mistake or do something that makes me feel like an idiot.

The companions are still loved and still retain their image even though they sometimes make dumbass mistakes.

They've also helped me deal with the fear of getting older. I've never played games much where the main character/s are canonically in their late 30s to 50s. And the fact they're still made out as attractive is very reassuring.

I don't see that happen a lot, not without them trying to look as young as they can to be seen as attractive.

Overall, the companions feel so much more real and lifelike than a lot of other video game characters.

I don't exactly know why or even how to explain it, but I've never liked the idea of having a physical body.

I've always had a complicated relationship with how others view me and my own body image. I also struggle with trying to wrap my head around what's considered socially normal and feel completely detached from other people's experiences.

I can't actually 'feel' out my feelings without intellectualising them or comparing them to feelings of other people. I usually use the concept of other people as a rough template of how to do things and how to react. Things always feel complicated and 'too-real'.

If that makes sense. Like a realisation of "holy shit there are consequences? Do I have control? Is there a control? How do I avoid Bad Consequences? How do I react?"

Lowkey kinda feels like a child just testing out just doing things for the first time. Mind you, I do have a mental illness and have been kinda repressed for a bit of my life.

Any experience I have with doing daily life stuff or with relationships has been from reading about other people's experiences and noting down what to do and what not to do to become the Ultimate Perfect human being.

And that means I always feel uncomfortable with my body, talking about private things, even talking about supposedly 'risky' things that aren't even risky or shouldn't be seen as such (like menstruation, lingerie, clothing, weight fluctuation), wondering if I just did something socially taboo even if it's like an unspoken rule I've never heard of, and then wondering if I'm unpleasant company or a little too strange to hang around a lot.

So playing as the Dark Urge and romancing Astarion has actually helped a lot with discomfort in talking about random things in friendships and just feeling more comfortable being in my own body and having human experiences.

Especially since the companions just say whatever, and are even straight up rude and say things that wouldn't be socially acceptable in real life, but they're still liked.

I mentioned mental illness before, but Baldur's Gate 3 has some of the best representation about having ordinary experiences and consequences of being alive. I love how in the game, you have the option to help the companions the best you can, and no matter what, there is no closure. I haven't completed the game yet, so this is stuff I spoiled for myself.

Even if you get out of a difficult situation and learn there's a better way to live and do things, it's still horrible and painful and you're still not sure if you've done the right thing or not. You don't get any awards (that are obvious at least) for dealing with the problem you've faced most of your life.

You've still got to deal with your own emotional issues that are there as a result of the problem and that you will probably spend the rest of your life trying to deal with.

[yakult-noir]

Despite the less than fortunate circumstances the two of you met in, you think Astarion is the closest thing a person could call a perfect lover.

Besides one, rather large thing that eats at you every night.

He hogs the blanket.

You've tried everything. More blankets, building a wall with pillows, more blankets, lighting the fireplace, and oh, did I mention more blankets?

With each attempt, you wake up shivering in the dead of night, because he has absolutely everything draped over his body—not even wrapped around him—like a mountain of fabric piled on top of him. He sleeps like a corpse, hands and arms stuck to his sides, so why the hells he needs so many, you don't understand.

And when you yank away the blankets, your hands brush against his skin which you swear border on freezing temperatures. If you wrap yourself around multiple times with blankets, it somehow always ends up near him, leaving you to face the blaring cold by yourself.

Quite honestly, you're fed up.

“Darling, there are better ways of asking to tie me up.”

You scoff, tightening the bedroll around his entire body with the strap that comes along with it. “If I wanted to tie you up, it would feel sexier than this.”

“Trust me, love, I think you're sexy even when your hair looks like a nest in the morning.”

You glare at him which earns you a cheeky grin. “I wouldn't look like that if you let me have one night of sleep without waking up to a blizzard!”

He wiggles a bit in the bedroll, testing it out. And just when you think it might hold, the bindings fall apart, and he’s staring at you with lidded eyes, arms free to swipe the blankets away from you. You groan in frustration.

“This is hopeless.”

“There are other means of warming me up, if you’re willing.”

You roll your eyes and he laughs, sitting up to speak to you properly. “I’m only cold because you sleep so far away from me. You're practically on the edge of the bed, hanging off.”

“Because I don't want to make you uncomfortable and accidentally touch you without asking!”

He raises a brow at this. “Surely that's not why you avoid me like the bloody plague when we’re resting?”

Sheepishly, you tug the blanket over your legs. He eyes you up and down with a silent pause, before reaching to pull you against him. He leans backwards into the mattress and drags you along with him, which you nearly yelp at though he doesn't seemed fazed himself. With your face pressed against his chest and your legs entangled with his, you can barely let out your voice without making it sound flustered.

“What is this supposed to be?”

“I won't be cold, and you’ll have your blanket this way.”

You feel his skin against yours. “…you’re freezing.” You want to stay like this forever.

“You’ll adjust, love.”

And as he pulls the blanket over the both of you, he clears his throat.

“And for the record,” he mumbles against your temple. “I don't mind if you're the one touching me.”

[yakult-noir]

CHAPTER DONE

Be Gay, Do Drugs, Hail Satan - Chapter 9 - katabatic - Baldur's Gate (Video Games) [Archive of Our Own]

[yakult-noir]

[yakult-noir]

figured i'd post this amazing gif commission of Raven & Astarion from @froschkuss from a while back. (2021) i'm still completely memorized by it. ♡

[yakult-noir]

i've drawn enough of them. be free now. go. into the wild with you all