#but I like to think I know enough about the history and its key players that I can have decently informed opinions on the sport

[peaky-shelby]

DEFINE ME | Neymar Jr. x OC

Summary: Famous Singer and Actress, Gabriella Hamill, travels to Qatar after being invited on live television by her favorite player, Lionel Messi. Despite the invitation, Ella tries to avoid the cameras and hide in plain side, wanting to enjoy the games without the chaos that comes with being in Public places and it all seems to be going well until she meets Neymar Jr. in this bad boy meets good girl story, the definition of good and bad is lost between the lines and redefined by the past and future.

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Chapter 5: scared by definition

Chapter summary: just when Ney is getting closer she pushes away but how long can they stay away from each other.

Warnings: the most annoying cliffhanger in the history of cliffhangers 😂🤣

Writer's note: i hope you will all have an incredible new year's eve.

Taglist; @xngelsau @sirensanction @reneyahh @thegrinch101 @geekwritersworld @chaotic-taco-collector-blog

@blondedjoys @maneaterss @inthemoonlightblue @iluvneyney @woozarts @missamericana69

Apologies if i forgot to tag anyone pls comment and I'll tag you on the next one!!

During the drive home Gabriella was singing Muchachos on top of her lungs and shaking Maggie who was sitting next to her, watching as she celebrated Argentina’s win against the Netherlands. A part of her wishes she could have gone and celebrated with the team but she also knew that it was dangerous, especially after the trick she pulled with hugging Neymar in the middle of the field.

Mid-verse she looked at Maggie who was scrolling on her phone.

“Would you stop worrying about that? There’s nothing connecting me to the figure. People don’t even know I’m in Qatar.”

“I’m still trying to understand what you were thinking.”

“I wasn’t thinking, that’s the point.”

“The point of why you should stay away from him?”

Gabriella snatched the phone out of Maggie’s hand and held it up, so she wouldn’t reach it. “Enough with this please. I’m happy. I’m a nobody here. Yes, it was a mistake but you should have seen him.”

“I did see him.” She reached to get back her phone “He had the same look in his eyes that you had- “

“Maggie-“

“No, listen to me. I’m happy that you are happy and as much as I complain seeing you like this makes me proud. But I have a responsibility to handle the consequences. If the same shit happens, its gonna be on me.”

Gabriella let out a weak sigh and looked out her window. Her eyes melancholically searching for something to hold on. As they reached the house she noticed a figure, dressed in black, sitting on the steps, head low to his knees. She must have opened the door to ran to him before the car had even stopped because she tripped, scraping her knee against the pavement. She got back up quickly and reached his broken figure.

“Neymar” she called but got no response until the 5th time she tried. She slipped her hand under his chin, to force him to raise his head. His glowing eyes landed on her, red and hurt. She cupped his face, mumbling words to bring him to his senses but it got nowhere.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Said Maggie, standing behind her. She pulled out the keys quickly and went to open the door. Then she stood next to Neymar and helped Gabriella pull him up to his feet. Maggie tried to get him to lean more on her than Gabriella but he seemed to be preferring her warmth. They almost fell about three times while trying to get him up the stairs, stumbling on the steps or their own feet. “Why not just leave him in the leaving room?” asked Maggie. Gabriella didn’t answer.

They laid him on the bed. He’d whisper words in Brazilian that Gabriella wouldn’t catch and reach for her whenever she’d move away. She sat on the edge of the bed holding a wet towel on her hand and placed it on his head, patting his entire face with it. He moved a few inches trying to get away from it. Then she had him sit up with his back on the head of the bed, drinking an entire water bottle, despite his complaints or him pushing her hands away from his lips. He seemed to be getting back to his true self, his eyes focusing on her a little easier. She used the wet blanket again to stroke his head, then passed it over his eyes and his nose. As she passed it over his re opened his eyes, that stared at her and the towel reached his lips, where she kept it a little longer before pulling away. He reached quickly for her hand, even in his state, Antonella was right, when he wanted something, he needed no encouragement. She smiled weakly at him.

“This shit hasn’t stopped ringing.” Maggie said, walking inside the bedroom, handing the phone to Gabriella. Thiago Silva was calling him. She stood up to go in the hallway, he tried to reach for her again but his hand fell short on the mattress.

“I just need 2 minutes” She reassured him and went outside, signaling Maggie to stay with him for a while. She answered the phone, feeling a little awkward. “Thiago?” she asked. The other line stayed silent for a few seconds.

“Who’s this?” he asked, a little angry and angry.

“We met in the changing rooms after the game. I was with Neymar.”

“He’s with you?”

“Kinda. Yes.”

“What do you mean kinda?”

“He’s pretty out of it. Very drunk.”

She heard him cursing in Brazilian and closed her eyes, knowing that Neymar would probably be in trouble tomorrow.

“You want me to come get him?”

She didn’t expect that question. She didn’t know how to answer or what to say. If he asked Maggie, she’d say yes, no second thoughts. Maybe that was what was best for him. But Gabriella wasn’t sure, then-

“It won’t be necessary. I’ll take care of him and bring him in the base tomorrow.” She said, only understanding what she said after she heard herself saying it. She closed her eyes again, like she had let something wrong slip and she wanted to take it back. Thiago thanked her and hanged up, letting her return to him.

Neymar was now sitting on the edge of the bed, Maggie was standing a little farther away from him, trying to pull him up be the arm.

“What’s going on?”

“He’s about to throw up in your bed- “

“Am not!” he argued. Gabriella replaced Maggie, who after that left them alone and sat next to him.

“Don’t leave me alone with her again, she’s mean.” He mumbled, sounding and looking like a 5-year-old boy. Gabriella couldn’t help but laugh at that. Her smiled faded away to quickly when he saw his expression changing, like he was actually going to throw up. She helped him up and he ran in the bathroom of her room. Gabriella stayed outside as he practically closed the door on her face. She leaned on the doorframe, rubbing her eyes together while he was probably regretting all his life choices over the toilet. “There are extra toothbrushes and toothpaste on the second drawer.” She said loudly when there was silence from the other side. A few seconds later, she heard him opening the drawers and then the sink and then the sound of him brushing his teeth. When he came out, he looked more tired than before, leaning against the door, but somehow he managed a smile. It was weak bit it was a smile nonetheless.

“Do you have any pain killers?” he asked.

Gabriella’s heart sunk. She shook her head quickly “no!”

He seemed weirded out by her reaction but he didn’t have the strength to keep the conversation going.

“This is usually the part they say they’ll never have another drink ever again.” She said in a whisper, trying to lighten the mood. He scoffed and let his head hand; he didn’t even have strength to keep looking at her. “Come on” she prompted and helped him get back on the bed. When he sat down, she noticed his shirt was wet and dirty. Without really thinking about it she reached for the hem of his shirt and pulled it up. He held his arms high, to make it easier for her. She gulped when she saw his bare chest and his six pack, standing frozen with his shirt on her hands. He caught her staring and smirked, slowly held her hands to take the shirt away from her. That movement awoke her and she looked in his eyes instead of his chest, seeing his naughty look. She pulled her hand away “Sleep” she ordered. She pulled back the sheets of the bed so he would lay under them. To her surprise he obeyed and laid down, his head sinking in the pillows. She covered him with the sheets, when she pulled them up to his chest, he held her hand again, this time interlocking their fingers.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered. Gabriella shook her hand and sat next to him, looking at their hands.

“It’s ok.” She strokes his skin with her thumb. “But you should have been more careful.”

“I know” he said in the same way she had said it after his loss. In a way that meant I don’t give crap anyway. She smiled incautiously at that. He moved their hands towards her direction, pointing at her. “Did they win?” he asked and only then she realized she was still wearing her Argentina hoodie. She wanted to slap herself in the face and he must have understood that because he was quick to tell her that it was fine “just tell me. It’s ok.” She nodded, unable to hide her smile and he smiled back, an honest smile “Si! Joder Leo!” He called, seeming happy for a few seconds. Gabriella was in awe; despite his loss he was still able to celebrate for his friend. “Was it a good game?”

“It was a mess” she answered quickly.

“Tell me about it.”

Gabriella hesitated “are you sure?”

He nodded. Gabriella started telling him about the referee that was giving out yellow cards like it was an UNO game during the match. She got up at some point to go and change and she’d tell him about all the fights that escalated between the two teams while she was in the bathroom. She told him about it seemed like a clear win for Argentina in the first half but everything changed in the second half.

“The penalties were fucking nuts as well-“she said coming out of the bathroom, that’s when she was faced with his sleeping figure. He looked so peaceful in her bad. She walked on the other side to lay next to him but over the cars, using her shirt as a cover instead. She stared at him, the lines on his face and his lips, rosy and kissable. If she let in her intrusive thoughts, she would have kissed him by now but instead she let herself fall asleep in the sound of his heartbeat and his breathing.

During the middle of the night Neymar woke up. Saw her laying next to him but as far away from him as she could and over the sheets. He moved as gently as he could so he wouldn’t wake her and pulled the sheets over her, the second she did that she moved in her sleep, closer to him and snuggled herself with the covers. He smiled and fell back asleep.

The two of them woke up again by the sound of loud knocking. She stood up quickly, scaring him and opened the door while he was trying to open his eyes. Rubbing them. He could hear yelling from the other side of the door, he sat up, feeling dizzy and confused and reached for his phone which was blowing up with massages from his PR manager.

Costas: GABRIELLA HAMILL?

That message alone was bad and enough to wake him up. He stood up and opened the door, the two girls were arguing in the hall but stopped when they saw him. Maggie glared at him, reminding him that he was shirtless.

“What happened?” he asked, walking over to them.

“You happened.” Said Maggie bitterly and walked down the stairs. Ney looked at Gabriella, who just handed him her phone.

“Puta...” he mumbled, reading the tweets.

“A fucking pair of shoes.” She cursed “I need coffee.” She went to the kitchen. Neymar went to quickly put on his shirt and went behind her, stumbling on some of the steps. She had already turned the coffee machine when he reached her.

“Gabriella- “

“Do you want coffee- of course you do, you’re hangover-“ she was moving around the kitchen like a robot, avoiding him in any ways she could. He couldn’t understand if she was angry at him or the media. “Sugar?” she asked, just when he was about to speak. He didn’t answer “I’ll leave it black.” She said then, pulling two cups and filling them “FUCK!” she cursed when she spilled some of it on her hand and let down the kettle, breathing loudly.

“We can play it off and ignore it. It will go away.”

She laughed at that. Sniffed her nose “caramel or cinnamon?” she asked. Neymar was completely taken aback by her reaction. He tried saying her name again but she asked louder “Neymar do you want caramel or cinnamon?” he didn’t answer. She waited for a few minutes before pushing the coffee away from her on the counter “it’s ready then.”

Neymar moved closer, taking hold of his cup. He watched her, putting sugar in hers.

“If we don’t say anything- “

“They’ll just find something to say themselves. Don’t act like you don’t know them.”

“Is it so bad to be seen with me?”

“it’s not about you Neymar!” she snapped, glancing up at him. “Not everything is about you.”

He scoffed, moving away from the counter and walking towards the kitchen table. She was back into being feisty with him and with everything that had happened he didn’t know how long he would be able to pretend its ok but he ignored her comment. Then she started speaking, keeping her gaze on the coffee, her back on him “Now that they know that I am in Qatar, they’ll never let it go. Same way they didn’t let it go in the past”

“But you’re here for your father-“

She halted her movements. Raised her head to look at him, her eyes shooting daggers. He was confused at what he said that was so wrong to her.

“How do you know that?”

He hesitated “You’ve talked about them in interviews-“

“I’ve never spoken about them on Camera! They’ve torn my life to pieces to find that information! You don’t know them! So don’t talk about them- “

“I think I know you enough!”

“You don’t!” she snapped, her voice loud and bitter “And I don’t know you that’s the problem but now we have to deal with this because I was goddamn stupid-“

“que passa Gabriella?” he asked, raising his voice and feeling a little annoyed by her outburst.

“Why are you digging into my past?”

“Why did you run on the field yesterday?”

“Because I felt sorry for you!” she said coldly. He knew she didn’t mean it but it still stunk. He looked at her hurt but she looked away.

“Wow” he exclaimed in disbelief. Lowering his head and clicking his tongue.

“That’s all it was. Same reason I took care of you last night.” She added, her sharp words cutting deeper.

“You know what, I’m gonna go. I’m sure you and your bodyguard will figure this out.” He left his cup down and stormed out of the house. Gabriella threw her spoon across the counter, letting it hit on the wall with a loud bang and slapped her fresh made cup of coffee on the sink, letting it break in pieces. Maggie appeared by the entrance, watching her. Gabriella took a towel to clean the spilled coffee.

“That wasn’t fair.” She said, making her look up confused.

“Since when are you on his side?”

“I’m not! But now that he’s part of this you might as well let him help.”

“He can’t help.” She shot back quickly and sat on the kitchen table, hiding her face in her palms. “He should stay as far away from me as possible.”

Maggie pulled back the chair next to her and sat down. “You have two choices. One of them is do what he said, ignore it and keep hiding but you risk making a bigger story that way. You look guilty. The other is going out, showing your face, making it seem like you just wanted to keep a low profile and you were never really hiding- hey look at me, it’s not going to be like 2020. It will be a small story about Qatar and it’s not going to get into politics.”

“I can’t go through the same thing.” Her eyes began to stink with tears. Memories of crowds outside her hotel and the headlines, the news like a mob surrounding her. Like she had done a crime, she hid deeper in her palms.

“You won’t. People are gonna be more interested in you and Neymar than Qatar and you don’t have to answer to anything. I’m not a fan of you being connected to him but what is done is done. Look at me-“ Gabriella uncovered her face, to look at Maggie. “Don’t let them define this for you…” she stroked her face “We’ll get through this. We’ve been through worst.”

Gabriella nodded “I know… I know… I just really wanted these two weeks to be normal...” Maggie held her hands smiling.

“I think that ship sailed when you met Mr. trouble.” She laughed. Gabriella wiped her tears, sniffing back her sobs.

“I shouldn’t have spoken to him the way I did.” She groaned, rubbing her face “he lost a game last night and no he has to deal with me and this…” she mumbled.

“I mean… You can always apologize.” Maggie whispered, looking down.

“you’re actually encouraging me to go speak to him?”

“never said that.” She smiled.

BRAZIL BASE – QATAR

Gabriella walked out of the base, hoping that she would find him there. Instead, she met Thiago, who seemed in a rush. She reached her hand to him but his bodyguard stopped her so she called his name, making him turn and look at her. He signaled his bodyguard that it’s ok and walked over to her.

“Is he upstairs?” she asked.

“You shouldn’t be here.” He said bluntly. Then motioned his head for her to follow him and snuck her in the hotel.

“Why is everyone packing?” she asked, seeing all the suitcases on the hallways and the players carrying them outside.

“Most of them are going back home tonight. The others have to move somewhere else now that we lost.”

She wanted to ask what was Neymar doing but she didn’t. Thiago led her down the hall to Neymar’s room, careful not to be seen by anyone. He knocked on the door twice. Neymar answered in in Brazilian that he was coming and later opened the door, holding it a tower of shirts on his hand. He was also packing. He froze when he saw her and for a moment Ella thought, he’d shut the door on her face but instead he opened it wider, let her in.

“You have 10 minutes.” Warned Thiago to which Neymar nodded. Gabriella looked around the room, one suitcase was closed and the other half full. Neymar walked past her to continue.

“You’re leaving?” she asked.

“Yeah. No need to feel sorry anymore.”

“I didn’t mean it.” She responded. Neymar kneeled on the floor, placing the shirts on the suitcase. He didn’t answer anything to her. So, she moved closer, sitting on the bed. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok.” He whispered.

“Ney please look at me, I’m sorry.” He stood still. Moved his head just a little so she could see his face. “Can we go somewhere? Talk alone?”

“We are alone.”

“Thiago will come in here any minute now.”

“It’s not like we are gonna be naked if he does-“

“Neymar!”

He sighed, turned his attention back on the suitcase “Let me pack and we’ll go.”

She couldn’t help herself so she asked “why are you packing?”

“I have to move to another apartment until I get back to Brazil.”

“So, you’re not going back right away?” she asked, hopeful. He must have heard the hope in her voice because he smiled and gave her a knowing look.

“No, I’m not.”

After Neymar packed, she got in the car with him, music playing to fill the silence as the sun was going down. He stopped the car on the same hill they were a couple of nights ago. The music fell short as the engine turned off as well. She wanted him to speak first, it would make her feel more comfortable but he never did and she couldn’t blame him considering the way she had reacted before.

“I don’t like people talking about my parents.” She finally said “Not unless I’ve spoken to them about it myself. I deliberately never answer questions about them… still the media has found a way to make stories about them. People think they know them and my relationship with them. It’s annoying.” She explained, all the time looking away from him. He stared at the steering wheel, holding it tightly. “That’s why I snapped.” She waited for him to say something but he never did so she finally looked at him. She couldn’t quite translate his expression, if he was sad or angry or if he was accepting her apology. “Please say something.” She prompted. Neymar turned her gaze to him.

“Why are you so terrified of the headlines?” he asked her. “You should be used to it by now.”

“I wasn’t always like this.” She explained “It was after…” her voice trailed off “after the incident that I even considered on letting go of my career completely. Having people share their opinion about you twenty-four seven is one thing but… I was used as a political weapon. That was completely different. I don’t want to go through that ever again. It came with a lot of consequences.” She shivered just remembering the yelling.

“Who leaked the information about the abortion?” She looked at the street. Peter’s face came in her mind like a glimpse. She trembled at the thought. Then she felt his hand on her thigh and she turned to look at him.

“It doesn’t matter who leaked it. What followed was hell. I was used by the republicans to attack the democrats, meanwhile I was trying to recover emotionally and physically… the man I loved ha turned his back on me and couldn’t get out of my house because I was followed and attacked wherever I’d go. Shit like that messes with your head really bad, you know?” she hadn’t realized she was crying until she tasted the salt on her lips “and they didn’t know… none of them knew what I was going through, or why…” she took in a deep breath, sobbing in between her sentences. There was so much more she wasn’t saying to him about the rehab center, about the months she spent locked in her house and how she was just rebuilding her life and her career “When the worst was over, I kept a low profile. They still found a way to make my life a story. Any men seen around me is my boyfriend or a one-night stand.” She wiped her tears “Neymar, I’m scared-“

“Is it because of my past?” he wondered leaning closer.

She laughed in between her sobs “You’re not exactly the most uncontroversial person in the world.” He let his head hang. Out of instinct, she cupped it in between her hands, she felt the need to look in his ocean eyes. The eyes that had hypnotized her in these last few days to do things, she’d never actually do. She wanted to kiss him, everything in her wanted to kiss him, become his, sink in his touch and his perfume. “It’s not just about you. It’s about me too… I have a feeling that if we start this it’s gonna go crazy fast. I’m not gonna be able to control it. Think about what is going to happen in just a few days when you go back to brazil and I go back to work. They’ll eat us both alive-“ she looked at his lips.

“Why should my past define whether I can have the future I want?” he asked, leaning his forehead on hers.

“What is that?” she asked whispering, knowing what her breath on his lips was doing to him.

“You.”

Can you smell the smoke? It's the steamy next couple of chapters 👀 comment to unlock them!!

#neymar #neymar one shot #neymar imagines #neymar jr #neymar x reader #neymessi #mbappe imagines #mbappe x reader #football writing #football requests

[iodrawsandtalks]

Criticism of Penacony and why i think HYV shouldve quit while they were ahead.

//vent towards the end, references to suicide while those references are quest spoilers Recently I've been doing world quests and grinding out the new region and been repeatedly finding myself walking straight into microagressions and slights to the point where it's been jarring enough for me to put my game down. As a black dude playing HYV games i know well enough not to act like the stupid billion dollar game company cares about appealing to minorities but its 2024 man.

First off, the obvious issue. Penacony has been repeatedly mentioned by the devs themselves to be based off of the Jazz Age from the U.S. a few decades ago.

The Jazz age was a period of time in American History between the 1920's and 1930s where the popularity of Jazz just boomed from being like an indie type of music to one of worldwide popularity. Obviously, Black people in that era are wholly responsible for Jazz itself.

So yeah, Penacony takes its origins from a key black history movement. Penacony, the region that released at the start of February. Black History Month. Star Rail is arguably one of the most popular games right now in terms of outreach because it's free, its new, and its colorful/futurisric etc.... And yet....

Just like with the rest of the HYV games that take real world inspirations, they fucked over black people and their stories.

In Honkai Impact 3rd, basically we had this one black girl who's like sandpaper brown and complains about how much her DARK SKIN ruins her look and how she bleaches her skin using various products to keep it lighter. She is ashamed of her DARK SKINNED mother who's a military woman. Her father is absent. Her mother is also a grown adult who is a B-rank soldier(main character white teenagers are S-rank for reference). Carole Peppers is her name if you want to go further down that rabbit hole.

In Genshin Impact, besides the fact that people with different skin tones are CLEARLY sectioned into certain regions(no seriously there's no real reason why i shouldnt see a black person in any of the existing regions.), and besides the unnecessary amount of whitewashing and besides the perpetuation of the idea of melanin NOT being natural, every single brown/black character in the game has awful playstyles and/or poor matching with weapons/artifacts, inaccessibilty, and they NEVER make it to the top of any meta tierlists. I'm not outright saying they're bad they're just harder and almost never get specialized weapons.

The only previously relevant example in Star Rail was Arlan, a lightning/destruction character. He chews through his own HP and unlike characters like blade/clara, does not have resistance or healing to handle that. Serval, the other lightning 4 star, out-dps's him veryyyyyyy easily. So yeah, the ashy black person character basically dies if you use him for too long and is never relevant TO ANY quests except where he needs to be the sidekick.

sometimes these games have dragons, animals that can understand and process english, or magic.... but then not black people...

Penacony has no black main characters. No black stories of relevance. Yesterday found an NPC whose name was detracted from chocolate and the player had the option to let commit suicide.

yeah ill get to that 💀. This large mass of at least 4 supernatural looking characters and yet no black person. NOT EVEN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS FROM penacony itself are black.

so yesterday I was grinding clockwork quests and had to help out some apathetic shopkeeper named Cocona. Her story was almost a bit sad but midway into going through her background i realized her name is one letter off of cocoa. now imagine being on a creative team coming up with a name for a melanated NPC and somebody decides on fucking CHOCOLATE with an extra letter. before anybody implies that one was something i shoehorned, think about how itd go if i had a bunch of POC characters and one white girl named crackerella.

Cocona and her once again sad backstory reach a hard tipping point as the player follows her to the edge of a building and can either grab her to stop her from jumping or simply let her end her life jumping off the building.

Yes we've seen how this game lets you make choices and watch the consequences of your actions, but there have been established rule-breaking predecents. Take Ruan Mei's quest where you have no choice but to eat the cake she offers you and once again lose the ability to make a choice on saying anything related to her. or any time the trailblazer gets pushed into a fight and cannot de-escalate. ....with this in mind consider why was saving the cocoa girl from killing herself NOT a forced option.

normally id be the kind of silly person looking for lore bits and stuff and making theories, (like how clockie is from the path of elation :v)but as a black dude this whole region is disgusting. THEY ARE GENTRIFIYING JAZZ AND COVERING UP ITS BLACK ORIGINS idk who said HYV cared about their audiences they fucking dont.

wouldve posted this on reddit but whoop dee do i am NOT getting doxxed today.

#honkai star rail #iotalks #penacony #discussion #hoyoverse #mihoyo #gaming while black #the jazz age #hsr discussion #hsr #sometime id like to play a fantasy game as a black person and not feel like a clown #tw sucidal ideation #jazz music #i hope they lose money im so serious like i hope kotaku or some gaming forum writes an article abt this shit #genshin mention #hi3 mention #anti blackness #id be mad but there's more important things to be mad about on the other end of the world so im just miffed abt this #Youtube

[tetsunabouquet]

The GOM + Light & Shadow Pair: A Foreign S/o headcanon

A/N: Usually I design my headcanons around one character and something I feel like they have going on, something about their character to be explored, etc. But now I'm making this one in a more 'traditional' sense.

Kagami

-How he would handle having a foreign girlfriend depends on wether she's from the US. Because if she does, then they have a whole lot of things to bond over.   If you're from the US: -If you're a basketball-fan, be prepared for NBA analysis' and Kagami fangirling over his favourite players. -If you're into different sports, he'll still talk to you about them and local teams. -I can see the two of you discussing your states, especially if you're from a different one.  If you're from Europe. -Kagami's American culture shock continues on when he learns basic differences like that Europeans call eggplants auburgines. I can really picture him struggling with pronouncing auburgine, tbh.  If you're a foreigner in general -He'll definitely try and learn your language and customs, but we're talking about Dummygami right here. Expect him to have offended one of your aunties at least once.

Kuroko

-Best shoulder to cry onto whenever you're homesick. Period. -Has an adorable accent when tryong to speak in your language. Like, cheek-pinching levels of cute. -Once he's familiar enough with your culture and language, expect him to be your partner in crime when trolling the Japanese. -For examle: he's the one you can rely on when you want the entire school to say embarrassing things in your language with them thinking it means something totally different. -Definitely one of the KNB characters who'd save memes from your country in his phone and bombards you with the latest viral joke you haven't even been able to catch up on yet (I can see Takao and perhaps Kiyoshi doing it too).

Kise

-As a model, he's probably most familiar with brands from your country. -If you know things about traditional clothing from your country and/or your local fashion history, he'd low-key be interested. -Wouldn't be against learning your language and customs, its just your country itself is way more intriguing to him. -He wants to know what the climate is like where you're from, your country's relationship with its neighboring countries (if it has any), what sights are worth to see and which are greatly exaggerated, etc. -Most interested in hacks from your country. What I mean by this is, for example, how people in cold climates will put jelly-based salves like Vaseline on their noses because it has this kind of windshield-effect. -Don't underestimate this guy's love for travel. He's first in line when you're going back home for a vacation to visit relatives and/or friends. He wants to see everything, and luckily he has the cutest guide in the world to show him everything, right?

Murasakibara

-You'll have won his heart for the rest of eternity if you give him a supply of candy and snacks from your country. If you have a relative who keeps sending you, he won't just be over the moon, no, his happiness is skyrocketing somewhere around Jupiter. -Cute sessions in which the two of you attempt to bake things from your country? Guaranteed. Be prepared for Murasakibara licking your cheek clean. -Whilst he's not making the biggest effort to learn your language and customs, he tries and your family just thinks he's adorable. Especially if you're from a country where the average height is bigger and Murasakibara isn't a giant to them in the way he is to the Japanese. Just imagine his surprise if he finds out your dad or an uncle is even taller then he is. -Before the two of you ever go on a couple's vacation to your country, I can imagine Murasakibara and you already having created a list of your favourite dining places back home. -When eating at those, Murasakibara listens to your nostalgic childhood stories with deep interest as he tries foreign dishes and to gather a nice view of where you grew up. -Regardless of wether you have talent or not, I can see him liking to hear you sing in your native language. The way he would lurk around when Akashi and Midorima would spend time in the music room just gives me this conviction he likes relaxing with the people close to him supplying him with music (as well as candy).

Midorima        

-Like with Kagami, in the case of this dude it depends on where you're from. In Midorima's case, there would be a difference if you're from North-west Europe or not.    If you're from North-west Europe: -As I mentioned in my headcanon about Aomine's future, Midorima is other then Aomine, the only one stated to have a favourite actress of European descent (Elizabeth Taylor), there's also the various hints to Brittain like the fact he's going to play for the Boston team and Midorima definitely screams 'Old world' to me. Old World is the term for Europe, Asia and Africa and there's definitely a difference between the view of the Old World on certain things in general vs the New World, and Midorima is definitely a type that prefers the Old World's view if you ask me. Because of North-west Europe's importance including medically, he's actually the likeliest KNB character to move to North-west Europe after his NBA career with his sweetheart if you ask me. English, Dutch, German, Finnish and Scandinavian girls are lucky. -Even if he meets you in Japan, he's the date to marry type. So I can see the two of you planning how long you want to stay in the US for his career, and set up the general plan and necessary details for immigration to your country before you've even set a foot in Boston.       If you're a foreign girl in general. -He's very eager to learn your language and customs actually. I can even see him (if you're friendly enough), express interest in your language and ask you to teach him as a way to get closer to you. -Another one with an adorable accent over here, but Midorima's is slightly sillier. (and its HOT too, somehow...Damn his deep voice). -Always tries to be respectful towars your family and honors your customs when interacting with them to 100%. -You'll definitely have an auntie saying you choose a good man.

Aomine

-With this guy, like the aforementioned headcanon and Kagami, it depends with this guy.    If you're from the US. -Just like with Kagami, if you're into basketball, prepare for conversations about the NBA. But with Aomine, this will be from a foreigners perspective on the NBA asking for more information. So they'll be a little bit more informative based. -Just wants to know everything, considering he wants to live there and go to the NBA.                     If you're a foreigner in general -I'm sorry, but this guy is the least interested in learning your language and customs. I mean, we're talking about a guy who shows 0% effort at learning the language of the country he wants to immigrate too and instead practises on writing different forms of Japanes. Except for Murasakibara, the rest of the GOM are implied to have at least some English speaking skills and Murasakibara at least has a sidekick fluent in English. -Linguistically, Aomine doesn't cares for any other language then his own, so you're definitely going to be needed as his sidekick in the US to translate. -He'll learn things, eventually. -He'll never say it, but part of his reluctance to learn the language is because he's too busy drooling over how sexy you are for having more knowledge then him. (I low-key see him somewhat attracted to sexy nerds). -Some of your relatives might be questioning why you're dating him sometimes.

Akashi

-Has started studying your language as soon as he realized he had a crush on you (if he doesn't know your native tongue already). -Once you start dating, he'll actually convince his father to buy a vacation house in your country so he can go to your country whenever you go. If you start dating as adults however, he'll just buy the place together with you. -He's fascinated by you and your cultural differences. -The guy telling you that your accent is adorable. -He leaves you things like notes in your language when you start dating. He actually likes the idea he can communicate with you in a way that other people couldn't understand. Like it's a secret thing between you and him. -Another guy I see really into eating your self-baked goods from your country's cuisine. I see him having this weakness for a s/o that bakes or cooks for him considering that's what his momma used to do. So family recipes? Bring it! -Knows how to be a perfect gentleman by any culture's standards. No, scratch that, this guy is fucking prince charming by any culture's standards. And this one counts for all: Whoever makes fun of you for being a foreigner, is a dead man.

#knb #knb x you #kise #kuroko #kagami #aomine #akashi #murasakibara #midorima #kuroko's basketball #foreign s/o #kise ryota #akashi seijuro #daiki aomine #murasakibara atsushi #midorima shintarou #kuroko tetsuya #kagami taiga #cultures #usa #europe #japan #akashi x reader #kuroko x reader #kagami taiga x reader #midorima x reader #murasakibara x reader #aomine x reader #kise x reader #languages

[notquitejiraiya]

8 YEARS

Last year, I wrote my first yearly recap after having been inspired by a tradition set by the wonderful @unioncolours each year. That recap contained an array of fics and thoughts and inspirations after the insane year for me that was 2022. It was a huge year for me in terms of many things. Shortly after my last recap, I got a master’s degree and officially became an engineer, something that honestly spurred on my creative drive. While studying for that degree, I had my coolest year of writing in a while: as you know from the last recap, if you read it, I wrote 9/10, Love Means Nothing (which, yes, will be finished in time, don’t worry), and most importantly, I wrote Strangers.

Most importantly, I say, because the entirety of 2023 would ultimately hinge upon what Strangers began. But that is something we’ll come to in time.

Be warned, this will be long, but if you'd like to read about my last year, please do keep reading below :)

Before we begin with the majority of this essay, I wanna give a shoutout to the lost soul of the year that is Traditions. It wasn’t long and it wasn’t hugely exciting, but it kickstarted this year in terms of fic posting, even if only on Tumblr, and it was a cute one. I always love a little challenge like those from a gift exchange, and it’s always nice to give a gift. I hope it was nice to read, too!

But, starting on the meaty stuff, I think it’s important that I address the two constants throughout the history of this blog. The first, which comes as no surprise to any, is ShikaTema: the most important ship to ever exist, to me, and the heart of some of the most wonderful experiences I’ve had throughout my fandom life. The second constant is a topic explored in a lot of Shikamaru-based content across the fandom and one that I will never tire of.

That second constant is chess.

The game of chess is something very special to me. The first day I met my partner, we played chess against one another for hours (and I lost - the only time he’s beaten me, actually). My best friend, who introduced us that day, gave me a rook keyring that I have kept on my house keys ever since, whether I’ve lived in my home town, another city, or now even in another country entirely. My favourite musical - one of the things I connect to my father best with - centres around chess, its politics, and its capacity for obsession. And probably the most important fic on this blog to date obviously takes its name from the game.

I have no doubt that most people who follow me, especially those of you here on Tumblr, discovered my writing as a result of Chess, either by reading it or maybe through the incredible art which that fic was lucky enough to receive. It was so special and personal to me to write, and while it’s certainly no longer my best work as an author, I’m still immensely proud and pleased with how it resonated with people. I think, so far, it is the most beloved thing I’ve written, at least to others.

But something that always bothered me about Chess was how little chess there actually was in it. Sure, there were a couple of scenes where chess was played, but there was more flower arranging and fish and chips than there was time sitting across a chessboard. It felt almost like a wasted opportunity to write about Shikamaru being a chess whizz and doing next to nothing with the skill. I couldn’t let the idea die. In many of my older stories — Tumblr-only stories — Shikamaru plays chess (or shogi) or inspires Shikadai or Temari to do the same. But nowadays, it feels like it has all been leading up to right now and to the monster that 2023 has birthed.

When I came to write Strangers in 2022, an idea came to me as just a little easter egg. That idea was that, in the Strangers universe, Temari’s husband would be a world-class chess player, and she, too, would have an equally worldwide job. It sort of naturally followed that Temari, too, could be a chess player; what she might lack in terms of natural strategic prowess, she more than makes up for in drive and ruthlessness, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned about chess players in my life, it’s that they hate to lose. Temari 101, methinks. As I made my way through writing Strangers, that fact nipped at my brain tirelessly until, before I knew it, I had a 30k outline and, by association, a goal for what 2023 would be for me as a writer.

2023 would be the year of Grandmaster.

I’ve always been more of a character writer than a plot writer. I think perhaps that’s one of the reasons I’m drawn to writing AUs over canon works; to me, while writing, it’s more interesting to explore how an existing character would behave in a totally alien environment to their canon one, and Grandmaster is this year’s attempt at that.

I mention this because, while I call Grandmaster (GM) a ShikaTema fic, it is, first and foremost, a fic about Temari. Shikamaru is there — of course, he is — and he plays a crucial role in so many of the elements of her life within the story. But the story is unequivocally hers. We see what Temari sees, focus on what Temari focuses on, suffer through Temari’s delusions of her own self-importance, and feel the weight of the expectations put upon her. It’s an exploration of the weight of ambition that’s not necessarily your own, and it has gutted me to write more than Chess ever did.

I don’t have enough delusion of my own self-importance to yet write and publish an essay on this story, why I’ve written it, and how it feels to write it, but there are a few points that I have to voice in this yearly reflection because they’re so crucial to my last year as a writer and online.

You will hear me sing the praises of my friend Bex to the ends of the Earth. While we share a name, we have very different approaches to writing, and we often tell quite different stories, but she is truly responsible for inspiring me to write Temari-centric stories. 100%. If you are reading this and somehow haven't read what I truly consider to be the greatest ShikaTema fic of all time (no one cries for unknown soldiers), follow that link, read it right now, and then come back a changed individual. And you will be changed, I promise, because it changed me on an almost chemical level with its power. Everything you write, Bex, has that power, and it is extraordinary and frankly terrifying in the most incredible way.

I had already started GM by the time you began releasing When I am Gorgeous, but holy fuck, if that didn’t spur me on. The character growth and arcs in those stories are something to behold and something I strive for. With that in mind, the first point of this writing reflection is a thank you to Bex specifically, without whom I wouldn’t have had nearly as much fun writing as I’ve had this last year, and I wouldn’t be sitting where I’m sitting as I write this. So thank you - a hundred times over and more. I am honoured to share a corner of the internet (and a name) with you, my ‘rival’. Thank you.

The second point is another thank you. This time to @clumsydragon28, who is again a dear friend and without whom GM wouldn’t be what it is. From support in DMs to insane and phenomenal essay-like analysis in comment sections, you are outrageously inspiring to em and others and there aren’t words for my gratitude for that. But, as you already know, there are elements of GM and what is to come after GM that exist only because of you and your own beautiful writing and stories. I will refrain from spoiling the joys of the latter chapters of Plié — another absolute must-read where the love and joy of an art form ooze from every word and captivate you with their wholesomeness and beauty — but it helped me find the missing piece at the end of GM that lets me tie it up with a bow, and ultimately set into motion the fic that will follow. I can’t thank you enough, truly, but thank you. 

Having thanked those who frankly made it happen, I’ll get on with the writing-specific stuff. No spoilers, but it will be a little self-indulgent so bear with me.

I’ll start with something kind of trivial. GM is my first real time writing OCs in a fanfic as more than a passing reference. It doesn’t have many because I like to bring in canon characters where applicable. But sometimes that’s not viable, and I’m not about to force some character into a hole they don’t fit into because I hate when other people do that, so Danya and Mischa kind of had to happen. And I’ve had a really fun time writing them. It’s not uploaded yet, but there’s a chapter coming soon that’s quite focused around Mischa, and I think it’s some of my best writing in the whole story, and so GM has kind of gotten me over my fear of OCs. Nobody’s complained about their existence, and they’ve made the story more complete. A lesson learned, for sure.

Secondly, it’s no secret that I really like Rasa. Do I think he’s a wanker? Yes. Do I think hating him for what happened canonically is valid? Also, yes. Do I think that there’s nuance to his character that is often disregarded or forgotten? Absolutely. And, as a result of that, do I think he’s criminally underutilised in fics? Fuck yeah, I do.

So GM has a lot of Rasa. More than I initially intended when I began writing it, actually. He’s there pretty much all the time — if he’s not in the scene, he’s probably influencing what’s going on in it either directly or via years of impressionable behaviours. And it’s been really interesting to write that. Challenging, for sure, because I have to keep in line with all the relationships set out in Strangers and realistically make them come to a head where they do. And challenging in the sense that it doesn’t feel good to write some of the things that Rasa has to say in this story.

There have been a few times in my 8 years as a fanfic author where I’ve written something and actually felt violently emotional after having done so, but GM has given me a fair few of those moments, specifically as a result of Rasa. I won’t say which moments they are, partly because the expectation of how one is ‘supposed’ to feel consuming anything takes away the authenticity, I feel, but I wonder if when people read his dialogue in certain chapters — some already up, and some soon to come — they will feel the same as I did writing them. It’s an interesting thought I’ve never had the opportunity or time to really consider until GM, and one I am sure I will consider more going forward.

Speaking of Rasa and the link in relationships, I don’t know if I’ve even officially said in this recap that GM is the prequel to Strangers. I’ve never written a prequel before, but it’s a unique experience. It’s like working from the end to the beginning; it feels wrong and yet makes perfect sense. Keeping the sibling relationships in line with Strangers is really fun, honestly. Writing that fic, I had little opportunity to just write the three of them having fun or being loving in traditional ways, and I had zero opportunity to utilise Yashamaru.

Writing this fic, Yashamaru has been everywhere, and he has become one of my most beloved characters.

I have nothing else to say on that, I just wanted to give it it’s own line. He’s played a big part of warming my hear this year, and I love him.

Finally, I feel like this fic has really brought out the introspective beast within me. Introspection has always been my forte, but it’s really taken the reins this time. In some ways, I’m quite annoyed with myself for it and for being word and long-winded. I’ve always had the biggest respect for those who can say what they want to say concisely, and I have never been one of those people.

That’s the goal for the 9th year of notquitejiraiya, for sure, and I plan to do so with a fic in the same universe as has captivated me these last 2 years, this time with the focus on Shikadai. Shikadai will be a new challenge for me, too, especially a grown up Shikadai, and I'm excited to try and tell his story, concisely and without even half the discontentment present in both GM and Strangers lol. We deserve some cheerfulness and range here at NQJ Ltd.

But at the same time, I’m proud of the way I write and the way I express myself and the characters within my story. I think I’m quite good at following a train of thought in a realistic way — not quite to the level of my idol, Mr Alex Garland, but I’ve time to learn — and by being Temari-centric, GM has let me into Temari’s head and let me run havoc her thoughts. I’ve received multiple comments on GM about how it’s somewhat frustrating not to have Shikamaru’s point of view, and while I get why: no thanks.

This is Temari’s story. There will be some moments we see through other’s eyes, certainly, but I’m of the opinion that if we saw both sides of GM, it would be far more frustrating. This story will span ten years and for me, it’s an exercise in writing someone piecing together parts of their life during that time into something worth living and figuring things out as they go. In life, while you might get to hear what the people around you think from what they say and how they act, you don’t get the privilege of seeing inside their heads. Neither does Temari, and by association, neither do you. I hope it pays off in the end; I’ll be proud regardless.

But enough about Becks the writer. Something pretty insane happened for Becks the human being last month, something that she’s not completely over. I live in Finland now. I’m learning Finnish, and I’m on Master’s degree number 2 (yes, I am addicted to learning, do not judge me). I have, frankly, no time to write, but am I going to do it anyway? Of course I am. I can’t stop myself, even if I tried. Not to mention, the pressure of my first MSc gave me Strangers, and I’m not going to resist if the 2nd brings on something equally fun.

Another constant this year for Becks the human, that I am certain my friends must be sick and tired of, is The Brothers Karamazov. I bought myself that book as a treat for finishing my exams in 2022 and have been slowly chugging through it for the last year. I’m sure it comes as no surprise with my wordy introspective tendencies that I love a classic, and I think it’s quite fun that I’ve somewhat accidentally aligned reading this particular classic alongside falling into the Bungo Stray Dogs fandom and, even more fun, aligned with writing GM. Two wildly different stories of trios of Russian siblings. These trios – they follow me around, I swear! But jokes aside, I have only 98 pages left of this almost 1000 page beast, and it feels like the end of an era. Never in my life have I seen characters as humans more effectively, and never have I felt more inspired to make sure the characters that I write appear human, too.

But like I say, being wordy is my weakness. The evidence is in this almost 3k ramble alone. There are so many more things I could say, and maybe once I’ve finished GM and it’s all published and tied up with a bow, I might share those thoughts, too.

But for now, I must say thank you to the 8th notquitejiraiya year for being so memorable, despite my blog and my ao3 page having ‘little’ to show for it by way of variety. The 9th year will be a good one, I’m sure, and I enter it with incredible friends — authors and otherwise — and the will (of fire) to improve.

And become more concise. That’s job no1.

Thank you all for playing a part in the last 8 years, whether we’re close or we’ve never spoken. Your time means the world, and I hope you have an incredible day / night / life.

Becks x

#8 years #holy mother of #how has it been 8 years #thanks for sticking around #heres to hoping year 9 is a banger

[gorbalsvampire]

Vampire: the Requiem (2e) Readthrough Review (Repost)

About eighteen months ago I picked up the second edition of Vampire: the Requiem and, while laid up with the first instance of mortifying acid reflux (it would not be the last) I decided to do a full readthrough review. Then I went insane and deleted my accounts at least once. But! Wayback Machine to the rescue! The text survives and here it is again.

I don’t want to make too many comparisons to Vampire: the Masquerade because “is it better?” comes up every couple of weeks on the White Wolf RPG subreddit and has done for years and I’m tired. I want to talk about Requiem on its own merits where I can. That said, I cannot avoid being an old hand who knew VtM first and has been playing V5 for two years: I’m bound to evaluate what I discover in terms of what I already know.

Images are from the book in question, sourced via the Storytellers’ Vault, spirit of fair use, purely for illustrative/visual handhold purposes.

A Date with the Night: world building

The onboarding is solid, with the key questions asked and answered (in sightly purple prose, but still):

what do we do in this game? (we predate, but we also philanthropise, we also party: we are trying to be something other than a machine that eats blood forever) 

what’s the internality of the characters like? (who you are as a vampire is precariously balanced with who you pretend to be as a human and you need to do both, in very practical terms)

what’s the core conflict? (Strix have existed for as long as Kindred have, they are the old-school pre-literary revenant vampires, and they hate you) (VtR 1e was pretty bad at this, it didn’t have a fallback for when your brain wouldn’t turn over, and the Strix answer this need: when you don’t know what to do with your players, throw a Strix at them)

Clan presentation, again, really good. The focus on what kind of predator they are, how the human experiences them; the range of example personas presented; the recommendations on stats, sweet Jesus yes, it’s about damn time. The game explicitly says “hey this signature power uses those numbers and this one uses these, bear that in mind, here’s what priorities here or there on the sheet might look like as a character so you’re not feeling like the system mastery has crowded out your vision.”

Covenant presentation is a bit weaker; it doesn’t feel anchored into the processes of gameplay to the same extent, there isn’t that “hey, you’re Lancea et Sanctum, here are some Merits you might want to consider” – I don’t know why that might be yet but it feels a bit lacklustre after the very table-focused material on the clans.

I do like how the clan origin stories and the extinct clans and covenants suggest a metaplot without beating me over the head with it. There was a thing called the Camarilla in Rome, it was the first proper vampire society, it fell apart because historical pressures but also Strix, it survives in these ways. But there’s no Grician bias stuff here – no specifics for the brain to snag and snare upon, no numbers and no iconic signature characters into whose biography the game texts can deteriorate.

As I read it I’m thinking “OK so how does that plug into the European history I’m interested in exploring, how far from Rome are we here?” or “OK but how does this place much further away talk back to any of that, we’re beyond the frontiers of Rome with this one, did they ever have a Camarilla or are we looking at Circle-Town from the year dot?” The covenants feel inspiring from a storytelling perspective but in terms of character generation they’re not quite made concrete.

The All Night Society is an in universe introduction to setting concepts like the Traditions, the processes of hunting and ghouling. I find this sort of thing accessible enough but there are bits where I’d like to be told how it works. The Cacophony, for instance: I can grasp the idea from this impressionistic and dreamlike prose, but mine is not a life of underground parties or graffiti tags, and I could do with this shit translated into Parochial Geek through the medium of concrete, at-table example. Just walk us through how it manifests in an example of play. Oddly I don’t get the same effect from Solace even though I’ve never been a habitual drug user.

There’s a shadow of things to come, with the spread on feeding grounds and havens, but it isn’t reified with recommended Backgrounds to represent that stuff. (I stand by Predator and Coterie Types as the quiet best innovation of V5, by the way, more definitive of how you do vampirism than any amount of sect allegiances.) All in, it’s a good chapter for hooks and eyes.

Building a Monster: chargen (and rules) (and then chargen again) (but also reference)

Laws of the Dead runs pretty long – character generation and all the Disciplines are in here. I’m going to stat up my old character (since I lost his sheet anyway and didn’t really know what I was doing when I made him) along the way for another perspective on all this material.

Aspirations are a useful early feature: pick three things your character wants to achieve in the game, one or two relating to Kindred existence and at least one relating to the human world. Characters need to want things, not just “be rounded” by events in their past – they need to be moving toward events as yet unresolved. Personally I think it should be one pre-mortem one post-mortem and one space to allow emergent gameplay, as I always end up going off down some strange tangent for session after session and then feeling bad because it’s not what I told the Storyteller I wanted to do with the game.

Adrian Royce is a Ventrue and a member of the Carthian Movement: his concept is “Weird Left Zine Correspondent”. His human-facing Aspiration is to pay off an enormous debt – he dug a deep deep hole of expenses researching his first book and he’s got to square that somehow. His Kindred-facing Aspiration is to uncover a secret that gives him leverage over/among his fellow Ventrue – I imagine he’s a bit shit by the clan’s standards, a wrong side of the tracks Embrace for all that he’s the best possible version of himself.

I’ve always liked the nWod/CofD “grid” of Attributes – cross-reference the kind of challenge (mental, physical or social) with the approach being taken (power, finesse, resistance) and you’ll know exactly which one to roll in a given moment. Couple that with a robust “let’s think about what this word means” approach to the Abilities and you’ll be calling the dice pools with confidence in no time. It does help to be up front about this approach, defining the Traits with players, just in case they think seducing someone is a Subterfuge roll by default when you see dice pools more as “what are you trying to achieve with this seduction – do you want to make someone believe you because you’re hot, or do you want something material out of it?” kind of decision.

Adrian isn’t a particularly finesse-oriented person – he gets what he wants through force of personality, occasional acts of violence, and sheer tenacity. He’s not particularly smart, although he works hard. Social prime, then Physical, then Mental. Mental Skills take a higher priority though, he’s well trained and makes up for his lack of exceptional smarts with a rigorous approach to investigation. Physical gets bumped down: he can handle himself in a fight and he’s picked or planted the odd pocket in his time, but he’s nothing spectacular. His specialties are in Investigation (Conspiracy Theories), Expression (Journalism) and Brawl (Boxing) – I’ve decided he has a hobby that makes him a little bit tastier in a scrap. His clan gives him an extra dot in Presence, which is a nice way to pick up a four-dot ability without sacrificing anything else, or compensate for a sacrificed dot somewhere.

Beats kind of sneak into the middle of character creation. These are super important as beats – as in story beats – convert into experience points. From the sessions I played a few years ago I remember beats coming thick and fast, a core part of the gameplay loop. Is the list of things that give a beat on the Storyteller Screen? It is not (they needed that space for half a page of grappling rules, obviously).

New Disciplines are sensibly gatekept – the clans’ unique Disciplines require a teacher and a sip of the ol’ vitae, the covenants’ unique Disciplines require a teacher, everything else is up for grabs.

There’s a list of archetypal Masks and Dirges (your pretend human self and your real Kindred self, respectively) that restore all or one of your Willpower points when you live up to them (I’m hoping Willpower is the ‘extra dice’ ‘reroll’ or ‘auto success’ generator it’s been in other versions of the game – I honestly forget how that works – but there’d better be lots of incentives to spend it!).

Touchstones appear here, but they’re both a little more nuanced (it’s acknowledged that they can be a place or a thing, although a glance at the ST screen has revealed that spending time around humans is mechanically enforced by the Requiem rule set) and a lot more developed (there’s a good two pages of examples for you to build off, why the hell didn’t V5 do this?).

I’ve adapted the “Former Patron” for Adrian. He has a close friendship with a ‘zine editor, the only person who’ll consistently employ him and pay him steady money for whatever he turns in on or about the deadline. Ricky – for ‘tis his name – isn’t stupid, he knows Adrian is Kindred, but he’s taken a “don’t ask don’t tell” approach and Ade is grateful for the mercy, since not being asked means he doesn’t have to lie.

At this stage we get into a cluster of more in-play rules, and…

On the whole, page for page, this book is beating V5. The layout is sensible and consistent, the art assets aren’t gratuitous, the artified text boxes generally draw the attention to a key idea summarised in direct and emotive text, and I haven’t ever had to follow two ongoing arguments across two sets of different coloured columns in a six column spread. But the information flow through chapters is just as bad as V5, and really shits the bed at this point: I’m trying to make a character and there’s page after page of core gameplay activities in the middle of the chapter between Touchstones and Merits.

If I’m walking someone through chargen and getting them to read the words so they understand what they’re doing with the dots (instead of just learning the summary and not really doing the process in full depth) this is bad, because it breaks flow and we lose momentum and concentration. If I’m looking for a rule during play, this is bad because core activities are clustered up in the middle of a section about something else and there’s no marshalling of information onto spreads or anything. This is just about acceptable in a PDF, with search and hyperlink at your side, but it’s rubbish in a physical book.

We get into the rules for damage, and for vitae, and the Blush of Life casually tosses off that for one (1) vitae, vampires can keep a meal down for most of the night, or have sex. That’s that. No lengthy “at Humanity 4 you can’t get it up but you can fingerbang” granularity. Neat and tidy. It’s just another biological thing they might need to do sometimes.

Predatory Aura is also neat: an explanation for just why Kindred society has all these customs and all that elaborate rigmarole. Kindred know Kindred; the Beast stirs, and can be incited to lash out. This is the bare-fangs-and-hiss routine; this is the stagey, theatrical sexuality; this is the sneering and posturing behind polite words. And it’s got some simple, hard and fast rules keyed to Willpower and Power Attribute rolls. And it gets past the "how do I know that you're a vampire?" stage in meeting the NPCs. Do like.

Rules for posthumous Embraces and the rise of the corpse as a Revenant – nice touch. Another threat that can find its way in should the session or story need some sizzle, as anyone who’s been bitten can rise if they come into contact with vitae after death or are fully exsanguinated on a later feeding (which is how we get the Lucy-in-Dracula moments). Lovely stuff.

Feeding is in here: there’s the simple way, and the “well, you have to grapple first” combat option (ahh, that’s why grapple rules ended up on the ST sheet – but the beats would have been nice to have!) And certain chestnuts about blood and vitae are described explicitly: the physical fluid nourishes more or less depending on where it comes from, so different amounts are needed. I wish the exact processes and amounts were on the goddamn sheet (I won’t need weapon damage in every session, but I will definitely need feeding!) though. Finally an example of play as well, to cover the no-dice feeding option, which definitely needs it.

I’m going to stop complaining about the stupid ST sheet eventually, but why isn’t the frenzy modifier chart on there? Frenzies can come up in any scene, god damn it…

There’s a long and disorganised list of Merits. Some of them – the Carthian Merits I’m trying to pick out for Adrian – come in multiple tiers and I can see the shape of the Loresheet system from V5 in there. They seem to have been sorted by “Kindred only” and “Mortals can take these too” but they’re the wrong way round (I’d put bedrock stuff like Contacts and Status up front, since a lot of the Kindred ones refer to these or have them as prerequisites). Also, the lack of sub-sorting means that if, for instance, I’m building a Carthian, I have to flip back and forth a lot just to figure out what all my options are and what I need to chain into this or that to make them go. Chalk this up to something Masquerade has always done better (either by skimming specific ones off into clan and sect supplements, or dumping a lot of them into an optional appendix and having the core focus on the important Backgrounds that locate your character in the world).

Adrian has ten Merit points to spend. I’m going to start with Human Merits, because they’re more concrete bread and butter assets like “living indoors” and “having money”, and go into the weeds of Kindred Merits once I’m happy that he’s grounded. He has a dot in Allies, representing the activist community who know and tolerate him because he occasionally turns up something extremely useful. Area of Expertise (Investigation) makes him really good at that due diligence and Barfly will help him blend in when he’s doing the legwork. True Friend doubles down on his relationship with his Touchstone, Ricky T: Adrian strikes me as a hard man to like, but faithful to the bitter end in return. Finally, I’m going to buy him some Carthian Status as a prerequisite to his Kindred Merits: I’m starting to feel like Adrian’s a bit of a sofa surfer, leeching off his covenant and repaying the favours with hard graft and the occasional truth bomb. Carthian Pull and I Know A Guy will work for this at low level, giving him access to the odd low tier ‘background’ dot in exchange for a story-generating favour. I have one dot left and pop back to the Mortal list to pick up Trained Observer, just to lean harder into that “works hard, pays attention” feel.

The chapter closes out with Disciplines, which I am absolutely not going to talk about at any length. I’m just going to remark that the multiplying XP costs of other Vampire iterations are long gone, that Devotions (what I know as Amalgams) are sidepieces with an experience cost based on the number of dots that go into them, and that every Discipline has a stat+skill+discipline pool as standard.

As a Ventrue Adrian has access to Dominate in-clan, so I’m going to go hard on it as his unique selling point. Two dots there give me the simple four word command and the option of chaining three of those together into a series of instructions or extended control. His dice pool for it isn’t great, so I go back and swap his Attribute priorities; three dots in Intelligence to make the Discipline go. Looking at his dots now, he’s got a powerful intellect and forceful personality but he’s not very quick or delicate in his approach, and while he can throw hands if he has to, he probably treats them a bit too much like an amateur boxing ring and starts shit he can’t finish. He gets a dot in Resilience to round him out, and give him a chance to stay on his feet in these tight spots.

And we’re done. That took longer than I’d have liked, largely because this felt like three chapters (some core rules, the Disciplines writeup and character generation) rammed into one poorly-organised whole. The writing is on point, the layout is good, the art assets are unobtrusive and feel relevant, but the flow is all over the place and I suspect it’ll be actively annoying to refer back to this section in play. At least now I know where things are.

Playing With Your Food (game rules) (the rest of them)

Rules of the Night (hopefully this will go a bit faster!)

Usual stats-n-skills breakdown, but I like the suggested equipment and sample actions that come along with each skill to guide use of them – that should avoid the dead dots problem where someone takes dots in Etiquette and the chronicle never uses it, since it’s a player’s responsibility to suggest things like dice pools in order to move the story along. (I mean, Etiquette is a tiered Merit here, but you get the idea.) A very good page and a half on commonplace activities and their dice pools, which is built into the section on dice rolls and doesn’t make weird claims about what kind of fuckin’ is good fuckin’ (V5, take note!). I don’t always like these (as I’ve said, sometimes seducin’ someone is Charisma and sometimes it’s Manipulation, the approach and desired outcome should set the pools) but if people want a usual roll, there it is.

Social Man… eo… that word I can’t spell

Good things about this system: it’s specifically for players to use on non-player characters.

Bad things about this system: it introduces trackables in the shape of Goals and Doors that need to be calculated, modified, and tracked in a long chain of rolls that may take days of in-game time to fully resolve. It’s a very roundabout way of figuring out how many rolls of varying types are involved in the extended task of getting someone to do what you want. It does reduce down to a formula (take lowest of Resolve or Composure, add 2 if a breaking point would be met, add 1 if an Aspiration would be thwarted, add 1 if a Mask would be compromised, you need that many successful rolls – not successes – to get what you want) and I like the concept of introducing not-social rolls to the process (on the grounds that fixing someone’s garage door will make them like you more and feel indebted to you) but it all feels a bit protracted.

There is the shape of something good here but I dramatically prefer the approach V5 takes of introducing Social Conflicts with Willpower as a “damage tracker”, resolvable in three rounds, each of which can be instantaneous or protracted.

Combat is fine, it’s the usual stat + skill – target’s defence dice pool. Dodging doubles your Defence and turns it into a dice pool you roll against your attacker, which I’m not sure about the odds on. I think I’d rather have the blanket dice penalty imposed on an attacker’s pool as not letting them roll dice is surely better than rolling my own to see how many 30% chances of cancelling out their dice I can muster. Perhaps Dodge is there because people roleplaying fight scenes want to be able to dodge, because they don’t want their character to throw hands. That seems more likely.

I am going to do another “V5 did this better” – I am trying to rein it in, I swear, I know this is an older game – and say that V5 has the only initiative system I will ever accept as better (for my theatre of the mind playstyle) than “just start with the player on my left and work around the table”. Instead of all this “roll dice add character trait bonus subtract weapon malus” stuff V5 works off the dynamics of the scene, ticking down through existing close combat between already engaged parties, then ranged, then fresh close combat, then everything else. This works because what’s important isn’t the realistic simulation of real combat or the random factor: it’s building scenes in a way that makes sense and helps everyone grok what’s happening and serves to organise who rolls dice when and in what order turns are taken.

Equipment is more granular than I’m used to but I don’t entirely hate it: it’s things that are useful, expressed in terms of the Merits needed to acquire them, and I think that’s a better way of using Merits than the rather vague “I have Resources 5 so I should be able to hire NPCs to do everything for me”. Availability is a dot rating which you can match with Merits or successes from rolls – so if something’s Availability 4, you need Resources 4 or you’re rollin’ to see if you can blag it somehow.

Conditions get bumped into an appendix for ease of reference. I’m ambivalent about these. Once you’ve got them into your head they’re probably fine but it might well be easier to just say “characters affected by this mind whammy get a -2 to Social Resistance rolls” than constantly cross-referencing to the Mind Whammied condition. I feel these work better with the reference cards – something tactile you can toss across the table so a player can refer to it, and hand back when it’s done – but I forget what it was like trying to wrangle them on Roll20.

The World Against Us (adversaries, locations and ref advice)

The World We Die In takes us through a series of sample domains: Athens, Beijing (with a localised version of the Ordo Dracul), Berlin, Montreal, North Carolina (with a Jiangshi clan that remind me of the very heart of the old Wan Kuei from VtM), San Francisco, Swansea (Swansea?), Tokyo (with localised covenants – zaibatsu – replacing the familiar five)… I think this is a nice answer to “Requiem has no lore” and “Catholics and pagans are not global phenomena you Eurocentrist pillock”, which are pain points I've heard in more than a few of my Masquerade groups.

Storytelling is a busy but focused chapter, which talks about how to emphasise each aspect of play – Mask and Dirge, Aspiration, Blood Potency, Vitae, Conditions and so on – offering a Twist for each one that really brings it out of the morass of play. My favourites are the Vitae Twists with tokens passed across the table and no numbers said aloud when feeding, and an option to say “chuck the character sheet, Vitae are dice, you can roll as many as you want, but when you’re running low, you must feed”, with damage coming out of the Vitae pool as well, and a five-dice no-control Frenzy at the bottom. (I really like this one, it’s the most… vampirism is all that matters… of the whole lot so far.) I’d use that with the Blood Beats twist as, let’s face it, conventional experience doesn’t really matter here, what matters is accumulating experience to become More Vampire by adding Blood Potency.

I also like the Twist to replace health trackers with Conditions applied as characters take hits. The mathematics involved seems like it doesn’t so much replace the health tracker as add a layer to it – I think I’d base this on margins of success during combat rolls rather than doing sums to see how much each character can take.

And there’s a really neat mode for character generation – a 12 step programme for fleshing Your Dude out with the other players and the storyteller, basically a collaborative relationship map that you build during character creation. I love group character creation and I also like when players bring me NPC ideas. Colour me pleased with this. I’d want to do this before even putting dots down; basically, concept, then Climbing the Ladder, then building the characters and setting.

An appendix for ghoul characters (with unique ghoul merits – for the first time ever I might actually think a ghoul chronicle is worth doing, as an extended Prelude), an appendix for conditions, and we are done!

Would I run this? Yes. It’s not perfect – the information flow of the rules is all over the place, especially interrupting the character generation is a no-no, and I really don't like Doors – but those are the only two tooth-grinders, so it’s walking in with a credible 7/10.

Additional, after the fact: I did end up running half a V:tR story, and came to the conclusion that Requiem has some incredible ideas about how vampires work but doesn't quite boil them down into efficient systems, at least not ones that I can run over Discord. With a face to face group and a deck of Condition cards and tokens to track feeding it would probably be easier to do. I do think it's superior to V5 on at least one systemic front though, and that's with Humanity... which we will come to very shortly.

#vampire the requiem #vtr #game review #rulebook review #readthrough review #self repost #don't be mentally ill and delete your accounts folx

[fivveweeks]

hi its me it's verdante angst anon (angstnon? idk) again

shaking ur hand SHAKING UR HAND you get me you get me you fuciigndnsn get me

"They're a tragedy, the both of them. Dante's fine with that. (They have to be, they have no choice in this) Given enough time a tragedy turns into a comedy. Maybe they'll be able to laugh about this in the end. Maybe it'll even be divine."

you don't undertsysnds how feral i am about these two. i am firm staunch zealous believer in verg not seeing himself being worthy of like anything good not until he has payed for his sins or wtvr he wants that to mean. i think he exercises a lot of self control to make sure he has like an arm and a leg and several bodies worth of space between him and anyone trying to get close to him (xcept Charon ofc). actively turns and runs from that shit bc 1. he doesn't deserve it. 2. he literally does not have the time for that shit

dnate on the other hand— chronic workaholic, to the point they can and will push personal feelings aside for the sake of their job. if u look up the word professionalism you WILL see Dante Limbus Company as a synonym. they keep their feelings in check (under several locks and keys) in the back of their mind aging like fine wine. they're aware they're not a choice and they're okay with it. it's their fault anyway, they're such a silly little fool.

it has always been doomed from the start. do you understand? it has always been hopeless. it was never meant to be.

dante knew/knows/accepts this, they do not have a choice. (but then again when do they ever?)

ANON YOU'RE SO FUCKING INSANE I NEED TO TWIRL U AROUND LIKE HOLY SHIT U GET IT!!!

YOU HAVE NO IDEA how much of a firm believer i am about Dante being a chronic workaholic. NOBODY FUCKING TALKS ABOUT IT YET BUT literally i do not think they need to sleep/they cannot sleep/gets little to no sleep at all and instead spends all their time up night reviewing battle plans and rewatching past battles on their little PDA. its a combination of anxiety and wanting to step up as a better manager (if we take into account of limbus players dissecting the gameplay meta of EGOs and ids we can literally translate that into Dante pouring over how to better manage the sinners). god forbid them from stepping out of line due to personal feelings bc they a) do not want to piss off vergilius and risk his wrath b) do not want to piss off vergilius bc they respect him (and like him) as a coworker, a boss, a color fixer and their guide too much. they are the EPITOME of professionalism. their work and responsibilities as a manager COMES FIRST

Vergilius too, you put it into words on him as a person. Literally he doesnt think he deserves it AND he doesnt have the time for that shit (for real verg in canon seems to really hate ppl wasting his time over trivial shit). i think even theres some distance between him and charon but he mostly crosses the space bc he's too guilt bound to deny charon some form of connection (bc it is his fault in the first place), so he is soft to her and her only.

it's like watching two parallel lines running along each other and no matter how close they get they will NEVER touch ever. ISNT THAT A TRAGEDY???

but its not all angst, they at least find a little light in the situation. verg would come to appreciate how dante respects him and his circumstances and would be pleased that they are like-minded enough to keep things professional between them, so he is comfortable in confiding in dante on certain topics (in canto 2 where verg and dante stands together by the side to watch the sinners get their ass peeled and verg telling dante why they should experience it for once lives rent free in my head bc he actually bothered to explain to dante wauhgshfh). he admits that dante is the only sinner that he can have a convo with. he fucking told dante to not befriend him after sharing a little history on charon. dante would appreciate the little moments they get to spend with him

just brief pockets of time with each other, despite everything. i like to think they are both the kind of ppl who would accept that things are just not meant to be, so they will take what little they can (what little they're allowed).

in the grand scheme of lcb and the city they are both nothing but a pair of pawns trying to make the best of their situation without getting in the way. they have no choice.

and to come across another who understands this is a rare, rare gem in their crapsack world, so how can we blame them for having a little bit of pining among the acceptance. mutual respect blooming into requited love that is unable to be acted upon. a divine comedy in its own right. im going to kms

#limbus company #verdante #chatter #SCREAMING AND CRYING OVER THEM BOTH WAHHHHHH #WORKAHOLIC DANTE BC THE COMPANY AND THE POSITION IS ALL THEY HAVE AFTER LOSING THEIR MEMORIES

[cy-berbyte]

To continue with my poptropica oc Brainrot, here’s like a massive infodump on how their fictitious fan made island would work!! :

ORIGIN ISLAND

Would be an island consisting of two/three parts with a compact story in each part. Think of Poptropicon Island and Survival Island’s story structures.

Origin Island is basically like my own little headworld/fake island that you the player would play through. It is very self indulgent and full of the kind of content I would’ve eaten up as a middle schooler playing Poptropica 😎👉👉

Part I’s storyline would be several iconic villains teaming up n breaking out of Supervillain Island’s prison to Summon the Island Eater to help them take over the world. The Player starts off having to track down each popular villain to get more bits of insight after each defeat on what their “secret weapon is”.

You find out through word of mouth about a forgotten legend of an island, the supposed very first of its kind. It’s said to house a power with unfathomable possibilities, and to harness the “four of creation” would mean unbeatable victory. (It would be sick af to make this into a rhyme or riddle somehow)

Then you find out their Secret Weapon is Hyper Eye, when you find it behind bars outside the villain’s hideout. It pleads with you in secret that the supervillains kidnapped it and are trying to pry information out of it for finding the powers. They also claim the villains are using their collar as a tracking device, and that they can’t take it off. You go on a fetch quest to bring it some sort of relic-key that would supposedly unlock their collar (this is going to be a thing that exists only for this AU storyline, and the key would be made up of three relics from the three other deities. If you don’t know who they are I HIGHLY recommend searching through Hyper Eye’s toyhouse, which I linked in my previous post. So for Designer it would be a digital pen, for Writer it would be a typewriter, and for Programmer it would be a keyboard or motherboard/chip. It was Their personal items you need to find from Their own personal parts of Origin Island, now in ruin. Hyper Eye is the only one to disclose to you the location of Origin Island, and you have to make your way there by yourself. It doesn’t trust the villains to tell them anything.).

So, you find the relics, and form the key. You have to go into the lair and kick some more ass before finally reaching Hyper Eye. The second you give Hyper Eye the key and free it, the mood changes. It starts to laugh, straight up pulling a flowey like “Yoouuu IDIOT.” before vanishing with the defeated supervillains.

Part II TLDR is you the player are now alone with the collar. You discover that you can hear three other frantic voices coming from the unlocked collar, and you find out where the three of the “four of creation” have been all this time. They task you with rescuing the villains but not before you watch each of their islands get destroyed and/or eaten seconds later. Learning it’s either “team up or watch everything get consumed”, you and the bad guys form an unlikely truce. All in order to find and break back into Origin Island, the source of where the black hole swallowing the islands is coming from. It has since been highly fortified and is now a highly dangerous island to set foot in (shoutout to Captain Crawfish for sailing your party there despite its dangerous waters).

Part III TLDR is you and the villains breaking into Origin Island with each of their specialties, learning about What Each Relic Meant and discovering that sweet sweet Hyper Eye Backstory. You find out the full history behind the four of creation, and it all ends with finding and fighting Hyper Eye, who has become this large eldritch mass of space and teeth with a black hole for a face. Everyone works together to distract and stall if enough for you to pull the final move and finally re-locking the collar around its neck, saving the islands and most likely the world. The villains end their truce with the player and scatter, saying they’ll be sure to beat the player next time. All is well n the player earns the Origin Island Medallion!! d:

As for where Hyper Eye is by the end of the island’s story? Most likely unconscious and imprisoned back on Origin Island.

#poptropica #poptropica oc #retro rambles #oc #CyberByte #hyper eye #origin Island

[talenlee]

Decemberween ’23 — Adventure Game Speedruns

Sometimes a creator has a central hook to what they make videos about and it’s nice and easy to share. OneShortEye makes videos, at the moment, about speedrunning adventure games, a type of game that’s largely seen as not being about speedrunning.

And they’re great.

You can just watch the channel by glancing it any time you want. It’s just a list of videos, and you can pick the ones that interest you. I want to talk about the ones that interest me, specifically. And disclaimer: I like pretty much all these videos. Like, the Laura Bow videos are interesting. The Monkey Island ones are interesting. The Owl Quest one, which is a joke, is interesting.

But if you want a sort of sense of continuity across these things, I want to draw your attention to the near-complete anthology that describes the speedruns of the Kings Quest games.

King's Quest Speedrunning World Record History

Watch this video on YouTube

If you’re not familiar, the Kings Quest games is a series of videogames that basically encapsulates, in time, the entirety of my childhood. They’re graphical adventures, and thanks to their place in the game history, they have some unique strangeness, like their relationship to the hardware and software that makes them go. In the case of the early games, from the 1980s, these games are capable of running faster than humans can perceive. As a speed game, then, King Quest I is a question of trying to find out how little you can feather the brake on this game that’s nearly impossible to control.

I wrote about Kings Quest I earlier this year in the context of what ‘history’ really looks like.

Why (almost) No One Runs this Game | King's Quest III Speedrun History

Watch this video on YouTube

Then there’s Kings Quest III, which is complicated by the game itself being extremely complex. Where Kings Quest I is at its heart a game where you explore to find a route for success and then find the best combination of those to win, Kings Quest III has this competing rats nest of genuinely random components. Oh, Kings Quest I has some randomness (hi, stair dwarf, you butthole), but Kings Quest III is full of competing randomness, where to give the game a sense of life, characters move around and appear in different places and then

There’s a fourteen minute

dead

stop

wait.

It’s an interesting run particularly because it’s actually pretty beatable, according to the people who play it. It’s the matter of having patience enough to endure the opening part, where you have to roll the dice a lot, then fourteen minutes later, make no mistakes and roll a few more dice.

King's Quest V Speedrun History

Watch this video on YouTube

Then when the games graduated from a CGA-compatible simple graphics, and a text parser, we got Kings Quest 5 with its indulgent full-screen videos and voice acting and upwards of twenty megs of compressed material.

The speedrunning history of Kings Quest 5 is the video that got me to tune into this channel at first. The game is difficult and has some real absurd logic built into it, and finding out that at one point you fail because you ate the meat and not the pie, or vice versa, means you’re not getting feedback from the game that makes working these things out easier. Basically, you have to guess, and sometimes it’s easy to imagine that the game might be broken.

Turns out it is!

Just you know, you need to understand it on a really deep level to appreciate how broken and get around its brokenness.

Weird, I wonder why these videos skip the even numbered ones? Oh wait-

King's Quest VI Speedrun History

Watch this video on YouTube

And oh boy are we talking about the games and unintended functions of interface elements, check out how in Kings Quest VI the memory handling of a spacebar key can create unintended consequences for routing around the game’s speedrun.

I think this is also worth checking out because Kings Quest VI is a game whose players and speedrunners form something of a cast you’ll see in all the other videos here. There’s even an evolution of things, watching as ‘Top Kek Shrek’ decided to y’know, change his name to TKS and move away from ‘Kek’, a term that has become uh… a red flag?

Why This Speedrun Makes You SING | King's Quest VII Speedrun History

Watch this video on YouTube

Then there’s Kings Quest 7, a new type of game with a new type of energy. It’s got this classical visual aesthetic, something that pushes the at the time current SVGA graphics card, and looks like… well, almost Don Bluthy? Almost Disney-ish? Style of animation. And it’s impressive, the needs of this game meant that the game had to get more complicated and the game getting more complicated meant it found new and interesting ways to break.

And well, how much more complicated could these Kings Quest games get?

How Speedrunners Broke the WEIRDEST King's Quest

Watch this video on YouTube

Oh hey, they tried to make Tomb Raider.

I’m not joking, Kings Quest: The Mask Of Eternity is an adventure game that wanted to weave in combat systems (which Kings Quest had always kinda eschewed) and free movement. The result was that in a time of 3d animation and level design being done by specialists who could handle the complexities of these systems, the Kings Quest makers had to pivot to trying to do something completely new with no previous grounding and the result is a game that’s…

Uh.

I know I’ve been using the word ‘broken’ liberally here and it’s only because it’s the language of the speedrun space. Realistically speaking, it’s the opposite of broken; these games are resilient. When you give them impossible or ridiculous demands they find a way to work with what you give them. When things in the system of the computer fail or the technology outmodes them, they still find a way to meet the demands you make of them and continue to exist as a game.

But it’s pretty easy looking at Mask of Eternity and feel, very clearly: This is not how they wanted this game to work.

I don’t know if there’s any plan to tackle the other Kings Quest games – two, four, and the more recent episodic adventures. I do think these videos are really interesting treatments of the complexities of these kinds of speedruns, and their historical explanation – talking to the people doing the speedruns and sometimes even the creators of the games! – is a great way to contextualise games that have been seeing play, regularly, for twenty to forty years.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

#Decemberween 2023 #Speedrunning #Games

[upagainstthesunset]

Last rb got me thinking about how Metron is written. In his first appearance Orion outright slanders him to his face, which sets the tone for how readers will see him. Immediately it's established that he lacks empathy or feelings and is more like machines. Orion is somewhat hostile, but doesn't fight him or really do much more than throw insults. Plus, Highfather summoned Metron and includes him when communicating with the Source. So Metron is not an enemy, and is at least esteemed enough to be shown as an important player to our good guys, whether they like it or not.

And he himself makes it clear he cares only for knowledge. But then he immediately gets involved and interrupts Orion's fight w Kalibak. So i mean, seems like maybe he's driven to do more than just what he says. Im a big proponent of Metron as a character saying and doing two different things, but im not sure if I've absorbed that from other depictions.

Then he's shown with a young child flying around and observing creatures and space! Imo not what youd expect from someone as cold as Orion seems to think, and certainly not what a villain would do. This is Esak, and ive gone on tangents about him before, so all im going to mention now is that he's shown as innocent and full of ideals. Interesting to put him alongside Metron! I dont know if Kirby already had Esak's downfall in mind at the time, but the intent would vastly change how this dynamic is interpreted. But since i dont think we have that information, im going to go with Hunger Dogs coming later and for the time, Esak's innocence as a way to show that Metron is not evil. There is good in him.

But then the past is revealed. After we are feeling more comfortable with the primary players, that's when we're hit with flashbacks. Metron makes a deal with Darkseid for the x-element and ingratiates himself to Heggra. Its clear he'd do ANYTHING to get the key that unlocks a path to near infinite knowledge. He puts technology above all else, knowing that many will die, and thats exactly what happened. This was such an impactful part of the history between New Genesis and Apokolips that i think its what stuck with many future writers, leading them to depict Metron as more of a villain, bc nobody good would ever do such a thing. And i could debate whether or not hes true neutral (i dont think he is) but im not getting into that now. The point that im getting to is that the interpretation that makes the most sense for the scenario and fitting his character is the amount of selfishness and egoism in his action. I think the sacrifice was equal to what he gained, but the lives of others werent his to sacrifice and thats the problem. All very interesting to think about.

Side note that #22 in Evanier's run digs more into this, which is fascinating since he had worked directly with Kirby on the original Fourth World titles. Makes me wonder about what went into his writing.

I feel like there was another topic i wanted to address but now i cant remember, so i leave it for next time. I dont think im saying anything new or revolutionary here. Just rolling things over in my mind. I love thinking about character motivations through the lens of what the author wanted us to feel, so anyone out there feel free to chime in if youve got your own interpretations.

#katetakes #metron if i fits i sits #metronmeta

[wandringaesthetic]

A LOT OF WORDS REGARDING VANA’DIEL

How to talk about Final Fantasy XI.

How to start. I could go over my history with the Final Fantasy series (long, boring).

I could say why I didn’t play this game and its expansions at the time of their release (I was in high school and college and a) there was no way I was going to be able to talk my parents into letting me play a game that had a subscription fee and b) I know myself well enough to know that there was a real risk of me getting addicted to an MMO and flunking out of college).

I could say why I’m playing it now (after getting through the Extremely Daunting Task of every Final Fantasy XIV expansion, it’s the only main series Final Fantasy I haven’t beaten).

A key to understanding and enjoying any Final Fantasy game is to not expect it to play like any other Final Fantasy game. To take it on its own terms. I think some gamers and fans have trouble doing this with the weirder games in the series, which definitely includes XI. Yet. I don’t think I CAN play Final Fantasy XI on its own terms, because to truly play it on its own terms would mean to play it as it existed in the early 2000s.

The theme I hear over and over from people who played this game in its heyday is that because the game itself was so hostile to players, because it was so easy to die in the field, because directions for quests were so vague, the community within it was very strong. It was more or less impossible to play without help and guidance. Even making it beyond the first levels, or to the edge of the very first areas surrounding the starting towns, meant joining up with other adventurers.

Playing in 2022 and 2023, several quality of life improvements have been made. Or, well, attempted improvements. I don’t know exactly when any of these things came into being or WHEN any of them were added, and I’m probably unaware of or discounting the impact of some changes. The leveling curve is much less steep. There are “trusts,” summonable NPCs that you can use to assist you through nearly all content, so that you can solo all (or almost all—I’ve not hit a brick wall yet) of the main scenario solo. You can fast travel. Since I didn’t play in its heyday, I’m not clear if originally there was NO teleportation, or if there were only the crystal “home point” warps in towns and before major boss battles. In any case, an additional network of teleportation was added in Adventurers’ Guides – floating books in towns, some dungeons and some field areas. If you play a little ways into Rhapsodies of Vana’diel, warping between home points is made SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper, reduced from an original 5000 gil to a mere 200, and RoV also gives you several multipliers to EXP gained.

In summary FFXI used to have a VERY STEEP LEVEL GRIND and traveling in the game used to be a REAL PAIN IN THE ASS. TO THIS DAY the leveling curve still starts feeling kinda steep about level 60 or so even WITH all the boosts. And Travel is STILL a pain in the ass.

And. Oh gosh. Your inventory is TINY. You start off with 30 slots. Your equipment could be taking up as much as 16 of those slots. You get a little room in a little house with a personal moogle servant who stores your stuff pretty early on, and you can expand your inventory through a quest line that involves item collection and goblins. But that early limitation is brutal. Especially since, as I’ve found out, several randomly dropped items I’ve sold or discarded in order to keep them from jamming up my inventory have turned out to be necessary or useful for later questlines.

(FINAL FANTASY I. Had a 32 slot inventory. On the NES. Which didn’t include your equippable weapons and armor, which were in a different menu)

This game, by the way, is not interested in explaining anything to you. Make a character. Great! You’re a catgirl! Get adventuring.

Uh??

This was bad enough when the game was released. Over 20 years after its release, with several new design features with competing philosophies stacked on top of it, it’s incredibly overwhelming. There are multiple systems of points and currencies. The method for targeting, for speaking to an NPC or attacking an enemy (tab through every possible target in front of you) is not intuitive. In order to give an NPC an item, you have to initiate a trade with them. That’s in your menu, which there are two pages of, with important things on both pages. It’s not immediately obvious how to OPEN that menu.

In short, the first couple of hours of playing this game are going to be the worst time you have with it. In fact, the first time I played this game, I made a character, walked around town a little bit, couldn’t figure out how to so much as talk to an NPC, shut down the game and did not come back.

And this is without even MENTIONING the PlayOnline launcher, which is another (unnecessary) layer of complexity on top of all this nonsense.

I’ve been playing on Asura, which is in the year of our lord 2023 is Final Fantasy XI’s most populated majority English language server.

POPULATED BY BOTS I MEAN.

Even in 2023 Vana’diel is by no means a ghost town. I don’t have a good idea of what most long-term players are doing here, but there are characters running around and standing around cities. There are people selling things at the auction house. Nearly everything I’ve looked for at the auction house I’ve managed to find, though not always for a price I wanted to pay for it. Further afield, it’s sparse, but one does encounter other players occasionally, especially in areas where one can spawn and fight NMs—"notorious monsters.”

But also, the /shout and /say channels in any city are so jammed by offers for real money transactions that I eventually just turned them off so they didn’t display. Catch me in Vana’diel and you’re going to have to whisper in my ear.

I’ve played almost 100% by myself. I joined up with another player just once while we were both doing the same quest (in which we had to dip an orb into various pools so that we could use it to pass through a magical barrier) and I’m not sure that we helped each other more than we hindered each other.

Which means I’m playing a very different game than the one those who played in its heyday did, to the extent that I wonder if I’m meaningfully playing it at all.

Occasionally someone says a Final Fantasy game “plays itself” or that it’s “press X to win.” That’s a common criticism of XII—where it’s somewhat true, but only after you’ve finely honed your characters’ programming with a complex string of if->then statements in the menus. It’s surface level true of XIII, where yes, the most efficient way to play is to let the game auto-select a set of actions, based on a set of roles, which, to play effectively, you’ll need to switch around multiple times in more challenging battles, finding useful combinations and adapting as the situation changes. There is certainly an element of strategy in both of these games.

If you’re playing FFXI with trusts we are veering very very close to “press X to win” for real, or at least “press tab and enter and wait a while to win.” As I understand it, much of the strategy of XI when playing with real people was in coordinating with each other and lining up skill chains. I won’t explain exactly how that works, but suffice it to say your trust NPCs do it automatically.

I’ve been playing XI as a tarutaru thief. I wanted something different—conceptually, mechanically, aesthetically--than my FFXIV elezen White Mage. While not a huge damage dealer, thief has been useful for the steal ability and abilities that enhance the rate of various item drops. Combat my trusts mostly handle for me. I’ve had a couple of hairy moments, like the segments of the original release’s final boss where it’s immune to either physical or magical damage. My trusts eventually took it out, but I’m certain real humans could have done it much faster. I’ve not yet met a challenge that wasn’t solved by leveling up a bit more.

Trusts are rather like XII’s characters except their programming is hardwired. In fact, XII is probably the non-online Final Fantasy installment that XI has the most kinship with. Like XII, it also has large, labyrinthine dungeons. Dungeons that sometimes connect to other large, labyrinthine dungeons that you will probably not be able to explore much of the first time the plot takes you there, because there will be monsters that will one shot KO you.

In most games, encountering aggressive monsters that can one-shot KO you would be a message to leave here and come back later. Not in FFXI, though! Avoiding monsters altogether is a big part of navigation in this game. If you’re around the same level as the monsters, you can fight them for EXP, but even in that felicitous case, you rarely want to fight your way through a whole (like I said, labyrinthine) dungeon. If you’re sufficiently well-leveled, monsters will ignore you. But in most cases you’re going to be casting spells or using items that make you invisible and silent.

But in order to go through a door or use a teleporter, you’re going to have to take those status effects off. So you better have a lot of those prism powders and silent oils on hand. In your tiny inventory.

At this point, every dungeon becomes a glorified maze. A maze with interesting wallpaper. A maze populated with monsters that don’t react to you. A series of rooms you have to track through in order to get to the next series of rooms.

Looking over my shoulder, my partner asked “Is this game just walking?”

Yeah! Pretty much!

As I’ve been playing FFXI, I’ve been meditating on what a game even IS. Especially on what an RPG is, in this case including things like tabletop RPGs and board games and collectable card games. Gacha games, even. What importance does the theming have? What importance do the numbers have? Is winning simply a matter of putting more time and/or money into the game? Wipe away Vana’diel. Wipe away the elvaan and the tarutaru and the beastmen. Wipe away Altana and Promathia. What is there left? Whence the game? What challenges am I facing? Who or what am I playing against?

I eventually reached the conclusion that I’m playing against the game itself. That I’m enduring past various infuriating time-wasting and awkward mechanics and the surfeit of currencies and key items and terms. I’m seeking help, like the players of the 2000s did, but instead of finding it in the other adventurers on the linkshell I’m finding it in the players that came before me and wrote the wiki articles. The game is seeking and finding the information I need in order to continue.

I occasionally wonder if I possess the context with which to judge this game. I’ve only played one other MMORPG and that’s FFXIV, its direct descendent. I don’t know how FFXI felt in the context of its time. I know GAMES of that era. I know Final Fantasy games of that era. I don’t know other MMORPGs. I don’t know if I’m being unfair. I know I’m playing something very different than what people played at this game’s peak, but from everything I’ve heard and understood, Final Fantasy XI at its peak is a game I would have liked even less than I like Final Fantasy XI in 2022 and 2023. It’s probably not a game I would have stuck with after the free trial.

So, listen. I don’t like this game. I think that’s clear. But I don’t want you to come away with the idea that I HATE this game. I feel a weird responsibility toward it. I am treading in places few fans of the series actually tread. I am treading in places I can’t in good conscience RECOMMEND anyone tread. I am treading in places it is cost prohibitive, in terms of both money and time, to tread.

Will you believe me if I tell you that Vana’diel is beautiful? The plot is just okay, but it’s enough to establish a plausible Fantasy Political Situation for the four nations and Beyond. Good backdrop to write  your own adventure on.

But what is really here is Art Direction.

Ironically, with my disposition that overall Final Fantasy XI is A Giant Waste Of My Time, the times when it feels the best to me have been when I’m level grinding. Wandering just that little bit further afield. Seeing what’s on the next screen. Seeing whether I can take the monsters in the next area. Pushing the boundaries. Exploring.

The world was lovingly built and the structures within it show that. There’s a dungeon full of bird-type beastmen that looks like it’s made of terracotta. I feel like I know what the walls feel like. I feel like I know what it SMELLS like. Greatest of all is the Crystal Line, a giant set of conduits that span the world. An ancient civilization used it to harness the power of the world’s elemental crystals. The crystal line is not explained to the player until pretty deep in the plot (or if it was, I wasn’t paying attention), but the player sees it, out in the field. It stretches everywhere. The game says it’s made of cermet—a ceramic-metal composite, but I initially thought it was made of bone. The “crags” that form its endpoints look like alien teeth. It looks like the remains of the spine of some impossibly large creature. A dragon, perhaps. Ghost and “weapon” type enemies stalk near it in all of the maps where it appears, adding to the idea that it is somehow cursed. When you find that some of the beastmen have blasted their way through it to supercharge “magicite” within these conduits, even without actually knowing what the Crystal Line is, breaking into it by force feels like inviting the worst sort of bad juju. It all adds up to incredibly effective environmental storytelling.

In Rise of Zilart, Chains of Promathia, and beyond, the game becomes truly gorgeous. With the reminder that this game ran on the PS2, the expansions of FFXI are some of the best looking stuff on that console. The environments become more lush. The cutscenes become more cinematic. The outfits get more detailed. The monsters get more animated. The characters start looking like Luzaf, my beloved.

Something like a third of the way into Wings of the Goddess I am liking but not loving the plot, and ironically, the more the game Tries in terms of gameplay (go here! Go here! Find these items! Plant this tree in the past to harvest it in the future! Do this minigame!) the more irritating it becomes.

When will I consider myself Done with Final Fantasy XI? I once counted myself Done with Final Fantasy XIV when the credits rolled on A Realm Reborn (the first time). I was wrong.

I had the goal of finishing this game before this summer so that I will have Beaten Every Final Fantasy Game for at least a few minutes before FFXVI comes out this June. More importantly, I would like to stop paying the subscription fee.

Do I do Seekers of Adoulin? Abyssea? The mini scenarios? The main plot is arguably just ONE of the things there is to do in Final Fantasy XI. Not more or less important than several other pursuits.

I think I have to get to the credits of Rhapsodies of Vana’diel. The main guide I’m using is titled “Quickstart 1-119 Guide.” Perhaps when I get there I will have only just begun.

#final fantasy xi #I could have complained about things for about another 1000 words #final fantasy

[faislittlewhiteraven]

Want a P:LA fanfic idea to play with maybe? *Puts up one for grabs*

I've loved Pokemon pretty much its entire history (Blue to Violet whoo!) and despite the issues I might have with the more recent games death glares BDSP in particular and their 'one game every year' crunch hell schedule, Legends Arceus got me all sorts of fired up with tons of fanfic ideas I couldn't wait to write down!

...Sadly my 'writing a coherent narrative' speed is something under 3000 words per fic a year so I figured I might as well share some of these ideas in the hopes that even if it takes me seven years to finish a chapter in my own time, someone else might be able to care for these little plot bunnies in the meantime.

So Fic Idea #1: Hisui gets Yeeted into the future.

Premise is simple: Canon divergence results in Akari/Rei being unable to stop Primal Dialga and Palkia from breaking reality and Arceus ends up activating Their last resort plan to protect reality which in the process of stopping a space time collapse ends up moving the entire region of Hisui to Unova's oceans in the modern age.

The Devilish Details I chose to focus on:

Most of my focus for this premise was on five key ideas.

1) Why did Volo think sending Palkia and Dialga into a frenzy would get him the power of the god llama? 2) If Arceus IS benevolent why does it not intervene personally? 3) What would a 'bad end' resulting from Dialga and Palkia's fighting look like? You know, aside from everyone being dead? 4) How do I avoid the near omnipresent 'Ingo and/or player character is torn between two worlds' angst in a story without trivializing their connections with either? 5) (Most important clearly) How do I get Adaman and Irida into those cute modern outfits I keep seeing them wear in fanart while still having them being them?!

For my own version of the fic all these are pretty simple. 1) Volo and Giratina think if they can get Arceus to physically manifest then Giratina can steal enough of Arceus's power that they can recreate reality together (Volo is the one who mainly wants that btw. Giratina just wants freedom and to help their new friend achieve his dreams). 2) Volo and Giratina are horribly wrong about what will happen if they try this and Arceus, compassionate eldritch entity that It is, would rather those two do not get 'Necrozma'd' and doom an entire reality's worth of life in the process, so It choses proxies in the form of those already pulled out of their natural space and time most by Giratina's actions to act in its stead. (Note: There are actually many realities where the PLA plotline is being carried out 'successfully' with this same Arceus watching over them but well, this story is specifically follows the world where shit went wrong and Arceus has to intervene so welp. Sorry this specific Volo and Giratina). 3) Most variable but in my imagination: Probably starts with smaller space time rips, then everything getting progressively darker and heavier, Pokemon getting more and more panicked, more panicking/aggressive Pokemon and people getting yoinked into the collapsing Hisui space/time (fallers can fall from anywhere and land on places on the way here but this would be where the 'down' destination is), absolute chaos as people and pokemon fight for their lives even as bits of environment are just glitching/breaking down into bits, then the GRAVITY hits and every creature is slammed to the ground as around them trees and buildings start straining and snapping from the weight, all light just dies maybe still an eerie red 'outline' to barely see anything?, people and pokemon blacking out probably fully convinced they're all going to be crushed to death, and then-! 4 and 5) Pretty much all the standard PLA fanfic conflicts have been thrown out the window and replaced with new ones: Hisui kinda just went through the apocalypse, some parts of Unova may have gotten hit by a title wave caused from the sudden dumping of an entire landmass right next to itself, and Ingo and Akari/Rei are gonna have give crash courses to everyone real quick and work their butts off being diplomats least Hisui gets overrun by criminal groups, poachers and companies who might want to take advantage of an entire region full of untapped natural resources, unknown pokemon, etc but hey! They can be with everyone they care about at once without having to get into shenanigans and everyone gets the delightful experience of seeing famous historical figures looking hot in modern cloths, learning the joys and horrors of modern media and going through the sheer WTF of seeing their own names and legacies up in a museum. Including the stuff they didn't get to 'live' due to, you know, being in an alternate world's future as a result of failing to avert the apocalypse without god's help and now in a position to try and avert the bad stuff like their noble Pokemon going extinct or so and so dying of something that in the modern era is easy to cure, etc. So that's the main gist. As for how I'm thinking of writing this premise (feel free to use these notes as well if you want btw): The End of the Beginning:

The canon divergence begins with Kamado overhearing Akari having a panic attack (around the Cobalt Coastlands point of the game) over potentially getting too hurt to 'work hard enough to avoid being banished' and him choosing to clarify a few days later that if she say, lost her legs to an alpha pokemon, Jubilife would still greatly value her skill with Pokemon much like they value Arezu for her haircutting skill, and that it is those who would lie or trick their way into the village without the will to aid others that get banished, not those who've shown their loyalty. (Aka Kamado's still paranoid and willing to resort to cruelty as in canon but not the 'for the evils' version I am getting slightly sick of some fics need him to be that way for their premise to work or to allude to real world colonisation stuffs etc and I get that but plz. More 'there's blood on your lies' and 'The Importances of History (class)' Kamado I beg of thee.) - Due to this 'kindness' she tries to interact with him more and ends up showing him the Arc Phone, talking about it's mission for her, how Ingo might've been from the same time period, etc, which leads to Kamado's paranoia shifting away from her and Ingo, and towards the Arc Phone and whatever it's attached to that dropped them in Hisui. -- As a result when the sky goes red Kamado doesn't try to pull the demonstration/questioning stuff he does pre-exiling in canon; instead he secretly has Akari and Ingo nabbed and locked up by Beni (he views them as patsies for 'the enemy' and decides that he can't let them roam free until this mess is resolved as they might unintentionally make things worse), claims to Adaman and Irida he'd already sent Akari off to investigate when they hold a meeting over what to do, and then as per canon charges up Mt Coronet with the Security Corps... Taking the Arc Phone with him.

Adaman and Irida of course are sus over not seeing Akari, and grow more so as they fail to find any of the lake guardians despite Volo and Cogita's help, and when they realize Ingo is also missing, but well. It's the end of the world and they don't have a clue what to actually do so they return to their settlements after promising to look out for each other's Wardens and that they'll come to each other's aid if the other calls them via Celestica Flute. (Insert 'Celestica Flutes can totally do that' headcanon reasoning so I can have weird small touching moment of 'They're alive!' during the 'climbing out of the rubble' parts)

Cylene is informed of Akari and Ingo being locked up by Kamado shortly before he heads off for Mt Coronet, and decides once he leaves to let them out of their cell, explaining both the Commander's reasoning (which Kamado might've already told them? IDK) and how without the Security Corps about Jubilife Village is extremely vulnerable should an attack come and she would request that Ingo and Akari please stay to help protect everyone. Since Akari and Ingo know bugger all about the 'mysterious pokemon sighted up on the mountain' or how to resolve the situation due to having been locked up for days and with Cogita currently too occupied trying to buy a nice scarf for herself and Enamorus to die in to inform them otherwise, they remain in Jubilife to protect it.

The various Wardens set about getting their nobles ready to protect the settlements they're closest to, ignoring the usual clan lines, with Mai, Arezu, Lian and Calaba in the Diamond Settlement (Melli gets a minor Big Damn Heroes moment arriving with Lord Electrode, escorting the Coronet Highland's Galaxy and Ginko Guild members in, right before everything starts going to hell), Gaeric and Sabi at the Pearl Settlement, and Palina and Iscan staying in the coastlands to try to help the Ginko Guild and Galaxy Team members there get to higher, safer ground.

End of the world stuff begins: Kamado's attack the dragons and promptly get stomped HARD (cue me rolling death saves for all the Security Corps members I have the names for). Enraged wild pokemon start getting beamed in from everywhere and each settlement finds themselves fighting for their lives: Pearl Settlement is doing reasonably ok due to being surrounded by ice and Lord Avalugg while Lord Bravary and Sabi's mons blast the few mons that get in away/unconscious, but both the Diamond Settlement and Jubilife Village are getting savaged, though not as much as they would've been if there hadn't been so many Wardens and nobles in the Diamond Settlement, and if Jubilife didn't have all of Akari and Ingo's many many pokemon (as well as Cogita's Enamorus and Vessa) there to fight for them. THEN the reality breaking stuff kicks in and the fighting gets exchanged for sheer environmental terror as GRAVITY kicks in: Beni is crushed in that cave Kamado ordered him to wait in (not sure about his mons since all other than his Sneasler can learn teleport and/or are ghosts, though I'd assume the Sneasler remains trapped in his pokeball), landslides are triggered up and down Mt Coronet, the ice caverns in the Bone Chill wastes collapse, buildings everywhere start creaking and breaking, any mon (or person) above water that can't breath underwater ends up drowning, pretty much everyone pokemon or human is slammed to the ground to struggle helplessly as the world grows more and more dark all as 'glitch like' implosions twist and tear apart sections of space time around them, and then as the gravity is getting to the point everyone is blacking out due to the sheer difficulty of breathing-

A light shines from the top of Mt Coronet; up on the mountain top itself most are either KOed, dead, dying or temp blinded by the sheer intensity of the light/dark up there but someone (leaning Kamado but Zisu getting some plot relevance appeals to me) sees someone somehow unaffected by the crushing gravity lunging towards the light, before passing out.

Arrival in the Modern day

First chapter of this would probably be done in a sort of media reel format showing implied captions and quotes from all sorts of media in the modern Pokemon world reacting to a new region sized landmass appearing out of nowhere: Lists of dead and missing people and pokemon with discussion on how many are due to the tsunami caused by the suddenly displaced tons of sea water, being washed out to sea (which being the pokemon world actually might be more survivable), or being telefraged into the new landmass itself. TV talk shows discussing where tf this landmass came from, how it arrived etc. Newspaper snippets, ongoing disaster reports, and all that jazz.

Will give the people of Hisui some breathing/recovery time via introducing my 'Ghost Storm' headcanon* as a thing in setting to keep anyone no from Hisui out of the place for roughly a week or so; can probably introduce the concept via a 'talk show' with guest stars Sabrina, Caitlin and Morty both to describe it in more 'metaphysical' detail and to allude to this particular one's unusual and deadly nature via Morty's ghost type psychic powers failing to get a read on the thing. *Said headcanon is basically: If enough death and powerful emotions occur in a short enough frame of time in a specific location, the local ghost population can explode and go completely feral, causing all sorts of horrifying effects depending on what sort of ghosts were formed (the storms depend on the strong emotions being felt and the local ghost population so currently Hisui is mostly being surrounded by a cyclone's worth of furious and in full 'defensively murderous' H!Zoroark...). Ghost swarms naturally fade over time anyway but in the modern age using emotion eating mons like Shuppet and tossing in lots of 'empty' Key Stones can usually be used to speed this process up though the Shuppet method has definitely been deemed NOT safe to attempt this time the Hisuian Ghost Storm has its own death toll at this point and is becoming somewhat infamous

After a bit of 'world reaction and reasoning' is established, will probably cut to Elesa and Emmet as ground view characters, talking about how nuts this is, how gyms everywhere are closed since there's tons of pressure for those in the League to be ready to fight if whatever is on the 'Mystery Island' turns out to be hostile, (though the ton of satelite pictures of the place at this point show that everything past the ghost storm looks like it's barely standing; holy shit that mountain sized Avalugg though). Talk ends, we jump to Emmet heading back home, doing 'slice of life as the world panics around you' stuff and then he texts his brother's Xtransver (grieving/coping habit) and stops wide eyed and frozen when he sees 'Message Sent' instead of the usual 'error, please try again' pop up on his screen.

Cut back to Hisui itself:

Those at the Pearl Settlement are better off than everywhere else but the Icelands are a mess: Sabi scouting with Lord Brivary spots tons of dead mons in the river, the cliff reaching up to Snowpoint temple has collapsed (the temple itself is somehow fine though?), and the ice fields -including newest the Galaxy Outpost- are completely buried by the avalanches Lord Avalugg defended them from. After making sure everyone is either well or attended to, Irida orders those of her clan not already busy to help her start digging pokemon out of the snow. There's some pushback at first but Irida refuses to leave so many pokemon to suffocate without at least trying to help and points out that any dead pokemon they dig up will provide invaluable materials and food to replace everthing that got destroyed during 'Sinnoh's Wrath'.

The Diamond Settlement is much rougher: Pretty much everyone is at least partially injured if not more so, and while the many, MANY 'dropped out of nowhere' attacking mon are currently still KOed while most of the humans are waking up, Adaman recognises that it won't be long before the fighting springs back unless he ends things now. However the thought of killing so many helpless Pokemon sickens him and doubtless there'd still be tons of frightened hostile mon elsewhere in the surrounding marshes, so pushing his discomfort over the concept behind, he asks the Galaxy and Ginko Guild types in the settlement for all the pokeballs they have before ordering his clan to start catching as many of the KOed foreign pokemon they can before they wake up. All the Wardens are taken aback but most reluctantly concede that such a drastic step might be needed; Melli being Melli doesn't and HMPHs his way back up to Mt Coronet to see how the pokemon up the mountain possibly those Galaxy idiots too are doing with Lord Electrode stablizing the terrain behind them (H!Electrode are based of japanese seedbombs so just kinda imagine seeds falling out as Lord Electrode rolls).

Jubilife is a mess. Ingo wakes to find Akari outright missing (which is odd because she was right next to him when the gravity hit), her mon somewhat directionless, and tons of Jubilife people who have no idea what to do. Deep worries and concerns aside, Ingo ends up doing mostly the same as Adaman minus the cultural angst though Jubilife as a whole doesn't really know him too well so there's a lot more push back until Cylene manages to pull herself out of the rubble of a house, tell everyone arguing against Ingo and trying to hurt the KOed pokemon that they're being idiots, and to follow the Warden's instructions before she ends up collapsing again. (Cogita and Enamorus somehow protected some of the shops from damage, and Vessa in Spiritomb form protected some of the Village children, who in turn are refusing to let her get caught and claiming her as friend much to her puzzlement)

Bit of lightheartedness I wasn't sure where to list here but: As the Settlements are repairing, Adaman decides he has to know now, grabs Mai's Celestica Flute and (very badly) plays the 'Clan Leader Meeting' call it's the only one he can play at all to see if anyone outside of the Diamond settlement made it. Cue Irida all the way over in the Pearl Settlement pausing in her digging to sigh in both exasperation and relief and (very beautifully) replying 'in a week'. Cue Adaman joyfully playing the same terrible note back, Irida replying again and then all of the Wardens -including Ingo- playing their own little 'we'll be there's to both clan leaders' weepy eyed joy/relief that everyone made it. (Akari's lack of joining in is noted, and Irida is concerned at Ingo's playing coming from Jubilife of all places but they're alive!)

Kamado wakes up on Mt Coronet to find his forces completely shattered; lots of dead or heavily injured with those awake weeping or quietly tending to each other or their pokemon... Numbly, he hears then staggers down the the temple to see Beni's pokemon 'arguing' over digging out the collapsed tunnel he told Beni to stay guarding (the Gardevoir keeps lunging for the dirt despite being too weak to move it psychically, the Galade is trying to haul her away from it and the Mismagus is wailing so yeah Kamado knows Beni's already dead and is getting a massive show into the 'humanity' of pokemon). He then just as numbly walks back into the temple, towards where the two 'Almighty Sinnoh' were to see that both have been turned to stone and that Akari, arms and legs burned gold (actual gold but also actual burns too), is by the foot of both 'statues' weeping and holding an egg that keeps shifting in colors between blue and pink/purple. ...And at this point I need to figure out how to give Kamado enough backstory parallels that when he pulls a sword and walks over to IDK murder Akari/the 'dual Sinnohs' egg and she pulls a 'defending it with her life' pose, he realizes he's become the 'village destroying Pokemon' of his nightmares and just kinda breaks, tossing his sword away 'Veilstone Myth' style and wailing as the chapter closes.

Got a few more ideas (the Clan leaders actions -especially Irida's- being why the Zoroark ghost swarm didn't kill those of Hisui as well as 'outsiders', first contact between Unova and Hisui, the Submas and 'Akari/her modern family' reunions, wtf happened to H!Volo and Giratina, what's going on with the immortal and chill Volo, and a bunch of other more miscellaneous things Wally!!!) but I'm apparently hitting the character limit so I think that's enough for now. Hope this blah was useful for you and good luck fellow PLA fanfic writers on all your endeavors <3

#pokemon legends arceus #pokemon #fanfic ideas #legends arceus #Hisui in the Future AU #Legends Arceus Bad End AU #character death #Pokemon death #long post #because I am bad at condensing my ideas #p:la #large amounts of headcanon #that is only very loosely supported by text but is nonetheless dear to me #Ghost storm is absolutely my explanation of what happened with gen1's Pokemon Tower though #story idea actually focuses on characters other than the train twins #though I love them as well so they're not left out #Should I tag specific characters for this do you think or nah?

[pesterloglog]

Karkat Vantas, John Egbert

Act 4, page 1603

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling ectoBiologist [EB] --

CG: JOHN WHAT THE WET BAG OF HUMAN HORSE SHIT TO THE FACE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING.

CG: OH MY LORD.

CG: NO WONDER YOU LOSERS ALL FUCK UP THIS GAME SO BAD.

EB: what?

EB: i am just acting out a scene from an awesome movie and having some fun, what's wrong with that?

CG: WHAT KIND OF CRAPPY EARTH MOVIE IS THIS.

CG: STUPID RABBIT ASSHOLE SCREWS THE POOCH?

EB: no, it's about these criminals on a runaway plane, and they've got to be stopped by nick cage and john cusack together as a team.

CG: OH.

CG: OK, THAT ACTUALLY SOUNDS PRETTY GOOD I GUESS.

EB: it is sweet, so sweet, you would probably like it.

CG: I'VE HEARD OF JOHN CUSACK I THINK.

CG: WASN'T HE IN SERENDIPITY?

CG: THAT WAS PRETTY GREAT FOR A HUMAN FLICK.

EB: hahaha, oh man, that sucked so bad!

CG: OK I DON'T SEE HOW WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE BECOMING FRIENDS IF YOU RECOIL FROM MY OLIVE BRANCH LIKE I'M WIGGLING A GNARLED TREE MONSTER'S DICK IN YOUR DIRECTION.

EB: don't you have alien movies from your alien planet?

CG: YEAH OF COURSE, WE HAVE TONS OF MOVIES AND THEY ARE INFINITELY SUPERIOR TO YOUR PRIMITIVE CINEMATIC NEANDERTHRASHINGS.

EB: ok, so what is a really good one?

CG: YOU'LL PROBABLY LAUGH IF I TELL YOU THE NAME OF ONE.

EB: well, i already laughed when you said the name of one of ours, so who cares?

CG: OK FINE.

CG: ONE THAT IS AMAZING AND IS A CLASSIC IS...

CG: WHEREIN NUMEROUS VIGILANTES CONFRONT PERIL; ONE OF THEM BETRAYS THE OTHERS; (BUT IT TURNS OUT TO BE PART OF THE PLAN ALL ALONG);

CG: SEVERAL ATTRACTIVE FEMALE LEADS PROVOKE ROMANTIC TENSION; FOUR MAJOR CHARACTERS WEAR UNUSUAL HATS; ONE HOLDS PLOT-CRITICAL SECRET;

CG: 47 ON-SCREEN EXPLOSIONS, ONE RESULTING IN DEMISE OF KEY-ADVERSARY; 6 to 20 LINES THAT COULD BE CONSTRUED AS HUMOROUS;

EB: wait...

EB: this is the title?

CG: IT GOES ON.

CG: THEY TEND TO BE MORE LITERAL AND INFORMATIVE THAN YOUR TITLES.

EB: how do you even say them in casual conversation?

CG: WELL WE DON'T OBVIOUSLY.

CG: IT'S LIKE SOMEONE SAYS, HEY GUYS WHY DON'T WE GO SEE A MOVIE, AND THEN EVERYONE JUST ENDS UP THERE.

CG: WATCHING IT.

CG: NOT SAYING IT, THAT'S DUMB.

CG: JOHN, TRY TO THINK OUTSIDE YOUR MINUSCULE CULTURAL BUBBLE FOR A CHANGE.

EB: ok, i just think it's still cumbersome and completely illogical.

CG: YEAH THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU START RUNNING OUT OF MOVIE TITLES AFTER RACKING UP THOUSANDS OF YEARS OF FILM HISTORY.

CG: YOU KNOW I THINK YOUR CIVILIZATION JUST DIDN'T MATURE ENOUGH OR SOMETHING.

CG: BEFORE LETTING THIS EARTH ARABIAN YOU CALL A GENIE OUT OF THE BOTTLE.

CG: MUST EXPLAIN WHY IT SPROUTED SUCH A MISERABLE CROP OF PLAYERS.

CG: INSTEAD OF BASICALLY GODS LIKE US.

EB: well, i've got one of your godly players helping me now, so we can't be in such bad shape.

CG: WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT.

EB: GC gave me a map.

EB: and showed me a shortcut.

CG: WHAT THE HELL IS SHE DOING.

CG: THIS ISN'T WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT DOING AT ALL.

CG: HOLD ON LET ME ASK HER ABOUT THIS...

EB: ok.

CG: OK...

CG: NOW SHES JUST OVER THERE GIGGLING AT ME LIKE AN IMBECILE.

CG: WHAT ARE YOU TWO UP TO, WHY ARE YOU IN CAHOOTS NOW?

EB: umm...

CG: OW FUCK!!!

CG: OK SHE JUST WALKED OVER AND PUNCHED ME.

CG: AND SAID IT WAS FROM YOU.

EB: uh, sorry i guess?

CG: I TOLD HER TO STOP THESE SHENANIGANS...

CG: BUT IT SEEMS LIKE WHATEVER SHE WAS DOING WITH YOU SHE ALREADY DID A WHILE AGO.

CG: FROM MY PERSPECTIVE AT LEAST.

EB: i don't know why you guys are doing this to yourselves.

EB: all this time jackassery, it's giving me a headache.

CG: OK IF YOU TALK TO HER AGAIN WHEN SHE TRIES HATCHING MORE PLANS GIVE HER A MESSAGE INTO THE PAST FOR ME.

EB: ok.

CG: TELL HER TO POLISH MY HEAVING BONE BULGE AND SET A TABLE FOR FUCKING TWO ON IT.

CG: ITS FOR OUR CANDLE LIGHT HATE DATE.

EB: i like how you guys have basically resorted to trolling each other, through us.

CG: FUCK YOU.

EB: oh, did you talk to jade yet?

CG: JADE, WHAT WHY WOULD I WANT TO TALK TO HER?

EB: ummm, that's what you said you wanted to do last time you talked to me, i dunno.

CG: OH DAMMIT.

CG: ARE YOU SURE?

EB: yeah, you told me dude.

EB: want me to paste the conversation?

CG: NO NO, GOD NO, I HATE IT WHEN WE START GOING DOWN THAT ROAD.

CG: OK THIS IS GOING TO REQUIRE FURTHER INVESTIGATION.

CG: I'VE GOT TO GO.

EB: ok.

EB: but next time you talk to me, you might want to tell me to calm down first so i don't just block you.

EB: back then i won't really want to hear from you.

CG: OK, I'LL DO THAT.

EB: later.

#homestuck #karkat vantas #john egbert #homestuck act 4 #page 1603

[thefalse9]

2022 Serie A Preview: Fiorentina

Last Year's Finish: 7th

Predicted Finish: 8th

Odds To Win Serie A: 80 to 1 via Oddschecker

Prospects:

They have been waiting a while in Florence for a team that lived up to the hopes of the city’s football fans but they finally got it in 2021-22. Although they were gloriously inconsistent, the side from the Stadio Artemio Franchi staggered back into Europe and played some thrilling football at times. Even the loss of Dusan Vlahovic to Juventus midway through the season did not cause the collapse many predicted, with La Viola managing to garner the longed-for European spot in spite of the traitorous Serbian.

Now they face the harder task of delivering on that promise with another season at the top end of the table and, if possible, a decent run in the Conference League. There was consternation that a deal could not be agreed to keep Lucas Torreira but that has partly been made up for by the arrivals of the likes of Dodo and Luka Jovic. All in all, There is a feeling of greater depth to the squad than last year, but the looming uncertainty of having to play across multiple fronts this year for the first time in a number of years looms large for the Viola.

A team that likes to play expansive and attractive football, they were prone to significant blackouts and will need to cut those out if they want to make progress, both domestically and in Europe. They have kept their coach, which was seen by many as key, and he has shown outstanding ability in improving the players at his disposal. If he can do so once more, it could be fun times in the Renaissance city at last. Still, this is a different beast, and playing twice a week multiple times a year is going to expose this team, both in the league and across Europe. I don't think they have the legs to salvage a Euorpean spot, but they're getting there and consistency is growing in Florence.

Transfers:

It's been a year of some incredible turnover at Fiorentina, and you don't really know if its good or not. Gone are Chiesa, Vlahovic, Pulgar and Dragowski and in their stead are Gollini, Mandragora, Jovic, Dodo and Arturo Cabral. It's hard to say that's not a push. Jovic remains a talented individual, but which Jovic are you going to get? Is he going to be the Jovic that scored goals at Frankfurt or the disappointment from Madrid? Gollini has long been unable to solidify a starting spot and become the "man" for a club in Europe, and Mandragora is coming off an injury-plagued season with doubts about his ability to stay healthy beginning to fester. The losses here are significant, and with European football incoming, the weight of the world lying solely on the shoulders of Nico Gonzalez, seems a bit too much too soon. Gonzalez is a world-beating talent, but Jonathan Ikone is far too inconsistent and Arturo Cabral far too mercurial to provide him the help in attack necessary to keep this team in Europe with a proper domestic campaign. At some point, Italiano's team is going to falter if further reinforcements aren't made.

Outlook:

It's difficult. Talent-wise, this team should be fighting for a European spot, but the reality is that they're just not there currently. The gulf that exists between teams who consistently compete in European competition and those who are just trying to achieve that, is too wide and too vast. Fiorentina doesn't have the resources, the depth or the talent at their disposal to battle right now on two fronts. Italiano is a fabulous coach known to cultivate diamonds out of a clump of dirt, but even this is too much. This is a team, to steal a phrase, is a newborn calf learning to walk properly. It has moments of brilliance, but watch long enough, and it buckles under pressure and needs to be helped back to its feet. In a year or two? Fiorentina will be back where history and football romantics would love to see them, but at the current state? It's too early.

#la viola #fiorentina #serie a #serie a preview #calcio

[vapeman]

I wanna post more about f1 on this blog because I’m obsessed but idk who to follow… if ur active on f1 tumblr (which I presume exists) pls like this post or msg me and I’ll probably follow u

(EDIT I follow from @mars29)

#formula 1 #f1 #lewis hamilton #daniel ricciardo #sergio perez #pierre gasly #I’m a big lewis daniel checo and pierre fan #just a warning: I’m american😳 #and I only got into f1 right after the 2019 season ended but I followed 2020 very closely as well as 2021 so far #but I like to think I know enough about the history and its key players that I can have decently informed opinions on the sport #if u read all these tags bless u lol

[kirisaki-daichi-scenarios]

a discussion of jabberwock with team interaction hcs + deeper nash analysis

for anon who asked "Can we get some headcanons for jabberwock members or like headcanons when they're together? (its okay if it was jason or nash only)" and made me realise it's about time i get these guys' personalities down

note before we start: cause i didn't know their names until i wrote this

zack is the bald one, allen is the one with a headband, nick is the other white guy apart from nash.

team hcs

nick gets bullied for being under 6ft, but not by jason

nah good old jason teases all of them for being short fucks, emphasising that they’re all 5ft tall in comparison to him

he 100% lifts things out of the others' reach and then laughs for ages after when they try get them

unfortunately though, they’re all used to this and now just ignore him. either that or nash stares at him so intensely jason actually repents and hands it back

zack’s another one with a very good glare, but he’s used it too often on jason and it’s since stopped working.

also jason gives me ‘straightens his back as much as possible when getting measured so he’ll measure in as 7ft’ vibes

oh and he thinks he could wrestle a gator and win. i’ve got no explanation for that except for the fact you can't tell me it's ooc.

allen’s very protective over his white headband - it’s his lucky item - but he’d never let anyone know that

he’s confident in his abilities like the rest of them, but there’s nothing wrong with wearing a headband just in case

(nash knows anyway)

they watch nba matches together and do not shut up once throughout the entire match - lots of jeering, booing each other if someone criticises a player they like, lots of “i could do that”, lots of “get your fucking hand out of my popcorn do you want me to punch you in the face” etc

they used to all live together, but nash has since moved out. he was sick and tired of trying to make people do chores, as the only one who kept their room clean.

yeah the others’ house looks like a heap of trash but also very much “where’s my toothbrush?” “it’s in the third coke can by the orange peel behind the sink” *silence* “yeah thanks” *a minute later* “who the fuck has been using my toothbrush”

they’re all “bro your dribbling sucks why are you on this team loser” to one another, but also very protective (aka arrogant for one another) if anyone else Dared to criticise one of their teammates

then again, what kind of person would criticise jabberwock

half of the time he spends with jabberwock, nash is a Single Mother TM trying to get a bunch of man children to behave; the other half of the time, he's just as bad as the rest of them

i talk about this a lot but i get the feeling nash is an exceptionally hard worker, but at least he gets to let his hair down around his teammates sometimes

nash is also the only person jason thought was truly ‘strong’ at first sight

and nash is also the only person who can beat jason in a fight, and also the only person who can get nash to train, and also the only person who can.. [etc. you see my point].

(n.b jason calls himself the ‘almighty me’, nash says that ‘even god can’t beat me’. point made.)

you know how jason silver’s motto is “I have never thought”

imagine him proudly stating that, before zack adds with a straight face, “yeah cause nash does it for you.”

in short, the team would fall apart without nash.

although the team’s communication and coordination is very fine tuned, nash is the guy who keeps everything in order off the court to prevent what is essentially a team of aces ('main characters', if you will) from falling apart

they hang out together a lot, but do all have other friend groups that do not overlap

team bbqs

unofficial rule not to criticise anchovies on pizza because the one time nick did, nash snapped

however pineapple on pizza is fair game, even though zack quite likes it

more than once, jason has brought a girl home and nick has stolen her attention away with effortless trick shots, funky ball manoeuvring etc

more than once nick has had to trek to nash’s place (with a black eye) at midnight to have somewhere to sleep

do you see a correlation?

oh and everyone in the team has been walked in on by nash when they were naked with some girl

nash has absolutely no shame

he apologises to the girl with a charming albeit insincere tone, and then remains standing in front of the bed/couch until his teammate does what he expected of them

usually it involves not having come to practice

allen learnt a few (emphasis on ‘few’) words of japanese before they travelled to japan and was disappointed that he never got to use them

that said, one of those words was hentai

and now a quick analysis of some panels

a) so there's at least one player who wasn't underestimating vorpal swords. if i were to overanalyse, i'd add that nick's wearing a hoodie (possibly athletic wear) whilst nash has a 'fancy' shirt on; perhaps nick wasn't expecting them to be going to host clubs instead of chilling/training?

b) i know what you're thinking: "how can you say nash is a hard worker when he didn't want to practice for the match". i reckon he was still pretty high on the complete and utter success of their previous match, that plus being around girls, encouraged him to have a more 'jason-y' personality. (either that or fujimaki didn't want to add too much depth/realism into nash's character bc he's unequivocally the villain, right? and obviously this helps with the plot and the jabberwock bad geniuses gom good geniuses rhetoric.)

earlier, i mentioned how nash is the only one that could keep the team together, and is thus the undeniable head of the team; here's a clear example. you can see both jason and zack have no interest in continuing - if anything, there's disgust in their faces, kinda just saying "we spat on all of japan, now we can go home". whereas nash won't allow for the slightest of possibilities that there might exist a team stronger than them, and hence agrees to the match. the key thing here is that the others do as he says without too much fuss.

another thing to note is nash's reference to harakiri. now what can we make of that, alongside his proficiency in japanese, in relation to his character? the way i see it, he's either a weeb or possibly has some japanese lineage. (you could spin that even further and say his mother was japanese, taught him the language, then abandoned him, and hence his almost excessive hatred/mockery of the japanese people.) (is that why he wanted to do another match in japan..?)

just a quick point. "thanks to him" - jason isn't so superior as to think that he could win this match effortlessly without nash's support. links pretty nicely with my earlier idea about how nash is the only person jason has always considered 100% strong.

yet another point about how nash is the strongest of the team in pretty much every way you can think of. you know how scary/powerful you have to be to shut jason up (after he's getting real pissed from being prevented from scoring?)

i personally think this is a pretty important panel, though i've never seen anyone mention it before. did nash grow up training in a professional basketball training situation, as opposed to growing up playing streetball like i suspect the others did? well, to answer that question, imma bring in another panel.

here we see visible rage on nick, zack and jason's faces - they can't accept their loss, which is fair enough. but i'd argue that nash's face seems to depict sadness more than it does anger like to rest of them, look at how downturned his mouth is - and he's looking away from the 'camera', as if hiding his shame.

when you combine that with what he says here, i have no doubt that this is someone who has experienced some proper lows in basketball - as would be expected from someone who's played 'properly'. he's possibly not even a prodigy like the rest of them - compare jason's motto with his. "i have never thought" versus "do not suppose opportunity will knock twice at your door".

there's various lines of thinking you could design with this - he might have been trained by alex (hence, himuro having heard of jabberwock, though he should have known of a team as popular of jabberwock regardless), he might have grown up with professional basketballer parents etc. but here's my own little theory:

nash received serious basketball training from early on - maybe because his parents were living vicariously through him, or maybe he always loved the sport and wanted to be no1. so there he was training away, but, as he grew older, it started getting all a bit too much.

he didn't want to dedicate his entire life to basketball. after all, his hobby is water sports and his speciality is boxing; that's a lot of different things to be keeping up with, whereas the pipeline for promising athletes demands people focus solely on basketball. as a result, nash become bitter: stopped attending practice regularly, got in trouble for trash talk of increasing severity, etc.

result was he was kicked out of the program.

only when he was no longer playing basketball again, did he realise how much he missed it. and hence he got into streetball, where he was tremendously successful as someone with so much training, 'elite skills', and the overly confident attitude to boot.

then, one fateful day, he met jason and the rest is history.

#jabberwock deserved some love and they got it! #i wasted too much time on this but happy jabberwock sunday everyone #but i did like rereading extra game #it's all about those little details man #jabberwock #allen #zack #nick #nash gold jr #jason silver #knb #kuroko no basket #kuroko no basuke #kirisaki daichi scenarios #hcs #headcanons #extra game #knb extra game #imagines #scenarios #manga panels #mangacaps #character analysis #team interactions

[classpect-crew]

Personhood and the Ancestor Myths

I think one of the most incredible bits of insight in Homestuck, in terms of it being stories within stories (and, indeed, stories all the way down) is the presentation of the Alternian trolls’ ancestors, compared to their Beforan incarnations. While it’s important to consider the key differences between Alternia and Beforus in the development of their cultures, we also see via characters like Aranea and Meenah that a lot of the actions they take in their adult lives on Alternia fit within their own personalities and wills. These two in particular are unsurprised, even incredibly excited to hear tales of their subjugation and slaughter of fellow trolls. Yet, when compared to what’s told about them in the Ancestor Myths, the teen Beforan trolls don’t really live up to expectations. In fact, some of them—such as Porrim—even seem to actively reject the very universal forces that they’re asked to embody through their Classpect. Compare Porrim to the Dolorosa, and you’ll see what I mean when I say that the Alternian ancestors are treated as archetypes that have been molded and simplified over years of history on Alternia until their very real lives become the subject of an entire mythology. The Beforan teens, meanwhile, are treated with a bit more agency. Sure, many of them are riffs on internet stereotypes, but my point still stands: they’re more real as people than the figures of the Ancestor Myths.

A great deal of Homestuck’s narrative plays with the idea of stories and legends, and the characters within them. We see a great deal of inspiration from the Monomyth, Carl Jung’s work on archetypes, Gnosticism, and beyond. The Ancestor Myths and the meeting of the Beforan trolls provide an excellent commentary on how mythologizing the lives of real people separates us from how we would perceive them if we were their contemporaries. Those who are inspired by the tale of The Sufferer probably don’t realize that he really was insufferable in life, and even if age tempered it somewhat, those aspects of him surely remained throughout his life, just in a different time and cultural context. The Ancestor Myths provide a very direct understanding of their various Classpects at the expense of humanization and relatability. In turn, they become akin to divine figures, quite literally compared to stories from our own human history like that of Jesus Christ. Classpects themselves are part of a series of archetypes, meant to inspire creativity and embody relatable figures: the wise, all knowing Seer, the powerful, volatile Prince, or even the selfless, guarded Knight. It’s impossible for any of our characters to fit these molds perfectly because they’re treated by the narrative more as people than a pantheon.

The very goal of the game itself is to reap the Ultimate Reward and become gods in the creation of a new universe. During their unique quests, each player uncovers legends about themselves and must face some great challenge to prove themselves worthy of the mantle placed on their shoulders. Heir of Breath. Knight of Blood. Prince of Heart. At its core, Homestuck is the origin story of a group of young gods, a pantheon in its infancy. Imagine, though, if the story took place in the new universe from the beginning, and all we saw of these characters was a series of myths and legends akin to the Ancestor Myths. Rose wouldn’t be an analytical, sharp-witted teen girl with a worldview that’s compromised by childhood neglect and addiction. Rather, she would simply be the Seer of Light: she who illuminates paths of great fortune and can be called on in times of uncertainty. Her mythos may not even touch on her tendency toward Void corruption. Aradia, as the Maid of Time, would no doubt keep her role in helping the dead acclimate to whatever afterlife they inhabit, but certainly the path of self-acceptance and the great paradigm shift she needed to reach her full potential would be glossed over, forgotten by Time itself in the land of the living.

In closing, since this is plenty long enough already, we see through Homestuck’s narrative—and extrapolation upon it—that there’s a very real separation between figures of myth and legend and their real-world counterparts. I think it’s vital that we understand this connection when we’re analyzing Classpects, and come to it from an organic and evolving understanding that such archetypes are just the starting framework. While they can be useful for exploring our own relationships to ourselves, to others, and to our own universe, they also shouldn’t be taken as prescriptive titles to base our self-identity from. Rather, you’re free to explore and change within that framework as much as you wish—hell, I’ve deeply identified with at least 40 distinct Classpects over the years—because there is no game that’s going to decide your narrative arc for you. Your story is the one you write for yourself.

#classpect #classpect analysis #homestuck #homestuck meta #homestuck ancestors #alternia #beforus #hopefully this makes some sense