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babybulbasaur920 · 1 month

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Twst Boys playing Pocket Love

this might be shitty, its late and i did this in one sitting, but combined my two favorite phone game apps. Ill probably redo this when im not about to hit the floor, enjoy what you will of it

TWST boys playing Pocket Love (and my favorite ships) part one

trigger warning for internalized homophobia in Ace´s part

Heartslabyul (Cater made them all get it)

Riddle: has a nice organized house. Spends very little time playing it because he doesn't collect all the clothes and furniture. Sad that Jess only gives you a cat or dog, my boy wants a hedgehog 🙁. His house is, as you can imagine, very red, and fancy. He will take the free gifts and refuses to spend real life money. He only has 2 floors cuz he thinks it's ridiculous to go any bigger. He has the typical stuff downstairs and the second floor is all outdoors stuff. One room is just a fancy table surrounded by roses and other flowers. Only interacts with his character's partner (Floyd) when it's required for a mission or date because the dialogue is so sweet, and the teapot tyrant refuses to be a blushing mess, even alone. Also has a library, with couches and the wallpaper from the international women's day pocket surprise, he got lucky enough to get it as a free-bie. Cleans the trash in the neighborhood religiously, spans the whole around his house. Wishes there was some way to penalize whoever is tossing that trash to begin with, Trey tells him the coins he gets for each piece of trash, was fined from the litterers and that seems to pacify him

Ace: Chaotic as hell, are we surprised? In the beginning he picked out a gray cat and named it Grim to annoy real Grim. Has Deuce as his character's partner but refuses to admit to any feelings beyond friendly ones. It's nearly sad how much he fights against the idea of him and Deuce (repressed gay, we have a repressed gay here), and claims it's just because Deuce is the best friend he's got, who else could live in his super awesome house? (note, it's not awesome, it's a mess). He can barely keep a room in order, cuz he has so much random stuff. Has a penchant for getting the same date items every single time so he has multiples of shit that he just puts up. Like the dragon dumpling date- he refuses to call them dates, they are hangouts dammit!-, he gets the same dragon head so now he has 7. He has them all hung up in a row in Deuce's room, cuz of course they separate rooms, so they stare at him when he sleeps.

Deuce: It's blue time baby! He enjoys the game as a relaxer and decorates it pretty simple, or tries to but he gets so many things it gets a bit cluttered, no matter how many times he uses the moving truck. Once again, is in it with Ace, and gives Ace a separate room, because he thinks having his sprite and the Ace sprite sleep together would be disrespectful when Ace is so blatant about it. Loves outdoorsy space like Riddle and has at least one room as a park, complete with a duck pond. Another one who has a cat named Grim purely to be a dick. Has a room devoted to vehicles, and even has a road patterned floor, is bi and proud so he doesn't mind that the road and the cars are all rainbow-y since they come from the pride parade date.

Trey: You know the two most done up rooms in his house are the kitchen and the bathroom. Sad he can't actually bake but the pancake minigame satisfies that urge for him. Collects the clothes he likes but lets Cater do the dressing up stuff for him. Tries to keep it simple and fun. For the bit he googles ¨ normal things to have in a house¨, cuz he's normal. Totally normal, run of the mill, average. Totally. Has some rooms that are ¨weird¨, like what appears to be the waiting room for a dentist office, and one that seems to be a cellar, with the wine glass chair and buckets of berries. Actually, the 2nd one isnt that weird

Cater: Do I have to say it? Aesthetic king! Always dresses him and Trey up so fly, is sure to change outfits everyday. Spends $20 a month on this thing because he has to have all the fresh new furniture from the pocket surprises. Both loves and hates how affectionate the characters are, he feels that he can't really have that and Trey only sees him as a friend. Someone just love this boy, he needs it. His favorite date is the cat cafe one cuz its cool and trendy but also fairly romantic, and coffee shops carry not-sweet food, like bagels, so he can actually enjoy eating there

#twisted wonderland #riddle rosehearts #trey clover #ace trappola #deuce spade #pocket love #riddle x floyd #Ace x Deuce #Trey x Cater #headcanons #cute #gay

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beachedmessagebottles · 6 months

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Return to Sender

Summary: A sentient Gold protagonist suddenly in the Trainer House finds Cal, the default battler, showing him and telling him something strange.

CW: Sentient game characters, limited speech forced by dialogue, hugging without permission, implied but not confirmed death/moving on, mild body horror (ie: disappearing into light.), mourning.

I knew, somewhat, that I had a player. They guided me through the game and I guided them through the world of Pokémon. We tackled Johto and Kanto but on my own I still could walk around. Don’t ask me how it works. When the game’s on I’m back where I was, completely the same, but I can travel to my heart’s content. Which isn’t too bad to me. So stumbling upon the Trainer House all by myself was pretty fun. It wasn’t eye catching to the player, I guess.

But I found myself face to face with me. Me! Gold! Me! He was me in stature, my face, my hat, maybe even my Pokémon. I only had Meganium, the annoying guy with red hair that came around stole Typhlosion, but this guy- he had Feraligatr too! He only said one thing before we battled.

"I traveled out here just so I could battle you."

Dunno if I should’ve been flattered or not given that he stole my face- but we did have a fun battle. My team and I were exhausted but we pushed through. Somehow it popped into my head that his name was Cal, as it usually did.

"I lost… Darn…"

I couldn’t help but chuckle, darn right he did. Tomorrow I’d have to come back. And so I did. Though it was a little funny. Cal fought with the same three, but they were not fully evolved, their middle stage. The next? First stage. They weren’t a challenge at all, but he always said the same thing, which I was used to.

He traveled here to battle me, from where I didn’t know. Darn, darn, darn. It was fun nonetheless. I’m a battler through and through as a trainer. Wouldn’t be a Champion of two regions if I didn’t.

The strangest part though was when he brought a Hoppip. I know, they’re cute and adorable, but this wasn’t an ordinary Hoppip. It wasn’t rosy. It still looked like a Hoppip but it… just wasn’t. It wasn’t a rare Pokémon, it didn’t sparkle like one. It was black-furred (like a Snorlax for any comparison) and its ears were off. It was as plump as a normal one.

“Where’d you find this?” I asked.

"I traveled out here just so I could battle you."

“Hm. Special Kanto Hoppip I haven’t found yet?”

"I traveled out here just so I could battle you."

“Dang it! Okay, okay. Weird Johto variant?”

"I lost… Darn…”

“Yeah, I’m lost too buddy— Wait, what.” In between my pacing to think, he responded, sort of! Kind of! It was a change of something between the two things he said! …Not really, but it changed, he only said that after battle. We weren’t battling, he had sent that out on his own. Maybe I should’ve taken that as a red flag.

“Can you… talk to me?” I asked.

"I lost…"

I interrupted, shaking my hand in Cal’s face, “Nuh-nuh-no. No. Make coming out to meet me ‘yes,’ and losing ‘no.’” He made no flinch, he wasn’t really an expressive guy. Still, his mouth opened once again.

"I traveled out here just so I could battle you."

I think my eyes lit up as I shouted, “You’re like me! You’re like me!”

"I traveled out here just so I could battle you."

I didn’t care, I just hugged onto Cal tightly. He didn’t seem to mind, not saying a word. I giggled up a storm. He was like me! Sure, he looked like me, but I could tell he wasn’t me. I think he knew that too, but that was just intuition’s sake.

“You’re like me!” I started to sound like a broken record like him. The black furred Hoppip at his feet. I had an idea.

“I’ll see you later, Cal!” I said as I ran out the door. My player was back for a little while, and we adventured some more together, this time to Mt Silver to challenge Red again, but as soon as I was free, I ran straight to the boxes. A Hoppip’s ball in my arms when I arrived back at the Trainer House.

“Cal! Cal!” I nearly yelled, “Look!” I released Hoppip and it made its signature cry. It bobbed up and down towards Cal. Cal, as if on command, released his Hoppip. They floated next to each other.

“They’re friends!” I giggled.

"I traveled out here just so I could battle you."

“You must really like Hoppip, huh?”

"I traveled out here just so I could battle you."

“I will take that as a yes.”

"Darn…"

“And I’ll take that as a laugh!” I chuckled back.

And just like that we showed our Pokémon to each other. Cal’s Pokémon looked fine sometimes but other times they looked really odd. I showed him the Beasts one time and he showed me some… dog like critters? They were funny looking but they were sweet. Different to cat-like Pokémon the Beasts seemed to be. They were cute nonetheless.

I never admitted it to Cal, and I treated them nicely, of course— but I didn’t like the straw doll and cat with the bells. They made me feel funny in my gut. I couldn’t shake the feeling all day. Later my player decided to join in the Bug Catching Contest. Nick and I went head to head as always, but he won this time. I think it was that bad feeling from beforehand.

I couldn’t look away from his winnings. He was always fun to battle afterwards, he had the Kanto starters, but I just couldn’t this time. I visited Cal nonetheless.

“Dunno what came over me.” I lamented.

"I lost… Darn…"

“I know! I could face Cooltrainer Gwen afterwards but Nick? I couldn’t do it. I’m not even mad about losing!” I huffed into my hoodie, “I dunno, Cal. It’s weird.”

"I…"

He had been trying to remix his words into something we could use for easier communication. He didn’t do paper. I tried mail. I tried. He only really moved to battle or release his Pokémon, in which I wasn’t in the mood for. I just wanted to vent. Though I could tell that was his way of a sorry.

“Nothin’ to be sorry about.” I sighed, “I guess I’m just out of kilter.”

"Darn…"

“H-hey, out of kilter isn’t old-fashioned!”

"Darn…"

“And neither is pardon! It’s polite!”

Cal kept laughing for a little while, but that broke me out of my funk.

On another day, I had a trip to the Ruins of Alph by my player. They… were not the smartest with slide puzzles. Believe me, I had peeked beforehand, bored out my mind when they rage quit, but I was keeping it a surprise! Brushing my hand past the Pokémon carved in the puzzle gave me an idea. It kind of sucked to fall down every time but at least I didn’t scrape my knees. The Ruins always make me feel sad for reason, but I had a mission.

Catching all the Unown under the sun, I had come up with some sort of communication. I didn’t even care that I would have to catch them all again over and over.

“Okay, Cal. You just gotta send your buddy over. Y means yes, N means no, I is an I don’t know, W is for laughing, C is can’t answer with these, and B is for battle! Didja catch that?”

Cal released an Unown all his own. It was an A. It floated over to N.

“…Okay, smart aleck.” He laughed with the communication we set up anyways.

Either way, I sat next to him. Cal didn’t sit. I supposed that we’d have to get used to this a little more than before. More guessing on my end than anything. But this might’ve made the guessing game easier? I was hoping anyways.

“So, where do we start?”

I don’t know.

“Ehhh… That’s fair. What’s a good conversation starter. I know your name, do y’know mine? I just kinda guessed you knew too.”

No to an I don’t know, to a yes. Weird combination honestly. I told him anyways.

“My player calls me Gold! Ah- shoot- do you know what a player is?”

Yes.

“Oh whew. Nobody really gets it, ha. I don’t feel lonely about it though.”

No? Er, I assumed it was a question anyways.

“Nope, I don’t feel lonely. Not with you anyways. You’re like me and I’m happy with that.”

He couldn’t answer.

“Ah, don’t worry about it. I’m just rambling, pardon.”

No.

“Not… pardon?”

Yes.

“Oh. Ohhh. I can ramble!” I laughed. He did too.

“I guess it can be lonely by myself but I have Pokémon when my player isn’t there. Guess that’s not ‘people’ but there’s a bond, yeah?”

Yes.

“I think even the people I like, even if they don’t respond as good as you, I have some sort of a bond with though. Like, my mom for instance, she—“

No.

“…No?”

No. No. No. The A Unown rammed into it multiple times. Not hard but it was starting to worry me!

“Oh jeez, I’m so sorry- I didn’t know moms were a sore spot!”

I don’t know. No. Can’t answer. Battle.

“Hey- Calm down-“ I stood up, putting my hands on his shoulders, “Take a deep breath.” He didn’t breathe to my knowledge but he slowly calmed down.

A much slower battle, a much slower can’t answer.

“You’re trying to tell me something, but this is too limited?”

Yes.

“Darn six ball limit. I’d bring the whole alphabet if I could.”

"I lost… Darn…" Cal said, bumping the Unown to can’t answer and battle again. No then battle.

“No battle. Okay, okay.” I stepped away from Cal to take a look, fist on my mouth in thought.

"I lost… Darn…" Battle.

“You’re not talking about a battle, but you… lost something?”

Yes.

“What was it?”

No. Can’t answer. Battle.

“Its a someone?”

Yes. This was slow… sad. I couldn’t help but frown for him.

“Does it have something to do with my mom?”

No. Yes.

“Kind of like my mom? Uh, use C for sorta in this instance.”

Sort of. Yes.

“Sort of… another family member?”

Yes.

“Okay, stop me if I get it right. Dad, sister, brother—” A quick yes. “A brother. You lost your brother? I’m so sorry…”

Battle. Though in this instance it might have been brother. I couldn’t tell. I just wrapped Cal in a hug.

“That sucks. I’m sorry, man. I’m here for you.” He never reached for me, but his hoodie felt so cold, warmed by my body heat. In turn, my own heat warmed me.

I didn’t pry him for any heavy stuff for a while. Just Pokémon. We had fun poking out the differences in Pokémon, his least important Unown for laughing replaced by the Pokémon I showed him. Cal’s Marill was pink! My Azumarill twitched its ears confusedly as it was a bold blue.

It didn’t last for long however, our casual chatting and battling. Back to the grind, I think they call it. Another Nick encounter made me have that ill uneasy feeling again but that didn’t matter in the long run. My player had left poor Kenya in a PC for far too long. She had to be returned home! She had an important letter! …I don’t know what was in the letter, given it was just flower mail, but Kenya wasn’t ours! Glad that she was being returned eventually rather than… uh, never. Eventually was better.

“So, yeah, that’s what I did today. She’s back home. Actually saved after doing it too.” I chuckled back to Cal, “Kenya was so cute.”

No.

“No? You don’t think Spearow are cute?”

No response. Guess Cal couldn’t answer that way, actually, but didn’t want to confirm that he couldn’t. Yes, they are cute. Yes, they aren’t cute. No, they are cute. No, they aren’t cute. Bleh. Too confusing. I didn’t really blame him.

“Never mind. Kenya was happy to go back home too. That’s all to it, really.”

No.

“Okay, sorry, I’m confused.”

I don’t know. Can’t answer that.

"I lost… Darn…"

Wait a second. The gears turned in my head, as I not at all tactfully blurted out, “Is this like your missing brother?”

Yes. Yes.

“Oh- I’m sorry- did he have a Spearow?”

No.

“Fearow?”

No.

“His name was Kenya?”

A long pause. A signal for laughter. One yes, one no. I was kind of relieved he wasn’t mad at me for asking the sensitive stuff again. If it wasn’t Kenya…

“Is it Ken?”

Yes. Yes! Yes! It was Ken, it was Ken! That wasn’t my excitement, it was his, I could see it in a sparkle of Cal’s eyes. Shining with happiness about his brother. Wet with tears because his brother was gone. I think we had both come to the conclusion he wasn’t coming back. I don’t know why I could tell that. I only could. Holding someone in an embrace that couldn’t hug back no matter how much he tried moving from his spot but needed it nonetheless.

Somebody was gone. That wasn’t so easy to bounce back from. It’s not as if I hadn’t felt the same before, so I could empathize. Many Pokémon were slipped through my fingers and back into the wild of code. Usually because of the space in the box couldn’t keep it. They would be okay, though. They were released back into the wild to be reencountered again. Another human being though? That sucked. That sucked a lot. I didn’t think you could bring a person back.

It never passed through my mind I would experience a human loss like that. Never. I never even considered it. And yet it happened. We were talking like always and we battled, the player coming back and finding out today was already done for the daily battle. Confused, I guess, I could never tell what they were thinking, they reset the game. Which wasn’t bad, but I couldn’t tell what they were doing in the menu.

Mystery Gift wasn’t exactly my thing to see. But I could feel it bubbling in my chest. Like an Ice Berry had struck me to my core. There was something. I’m not sure what but it was something. Then I looked over to Cal. He was bright. He was glimmering. He was losing color. Instantly, I panicked, stepping back, gawking, not knowing what to do.

He looked at me. He looked at me. Physically, he had turned his head to me. That had never happened normally. That had never happened! He only looked at me for a battle! Cal looked down at his hands, growing brighter, whiter than hot metal, he blinked, not in pain. Just surprised. It was pretty surprising in hindsight, yet it was horrifying currently and afterwards to me.

“Cal, what’s- what’s happening?” I stumbled over my words as his legs started to disappear into that shimmering light.

He only smiled at me, adjusting his snapback to fit more snug on his head, “I traveled out here just to battle you, Hibiki? Er, Gold? You like Gold, right?”

Hesitantly, I nodded, making a squeak of “Uh-huh.”

“The name’s Hikaru, or Cal, like you called me. Thank you for showing me your adventure, Gold. I’m so happy it’s wonderful.” He grinned bright as his body was disappearing. No regrets. Content.

“Wait, what’s happening— Cal— Come back—“ I reached out, but I knew it was too late. He was gone. Sparkles in the air but Hikaru, Cal, whichever he preferred was gone. My friend was just gone.

Tears on my cheeks before I even knew it started to flow. My voice hiccuping with shaky sobs. But every game had to continue. I’m not sure how I saw her, or how she saw me, but a girl with blue hair and pigtails rushed to my side between my sobs. The words too choked up in my throat as we battled, but afterwards, back to my knees.

Her name was Kris. Someone like me. That was nice but it still didn’t shake the feeling. The horrid feeling of that bright glittery light. She didn’t understand.

Her Johto had no living Cal like me. She even tried my advice, when I got my bearings and accepted that Hikaru was gone. No avail. Her Cal didn’t communicate beyond two sentences. Her Cal didn’t show Pokémon that were impossible to find. (Maybe that’s why I saw her in the way I did. Kris said she saw me just fine.) I had to accept that Hikaru was different somehow along with being nothing but a shower of light that beamed at me and left.

It’s not that I didn’t enjoy her company, I love Kris, she’s a good friend. I gave her a Pikachu doll and she gave me a pink bed. It was cool, really. I just can’t help but wonder why he looked like me so. Why did he call me Hibiki? Why was his real name Hikaru? Was that his real name? I couldn’t shake the feeling it both was and wasn’t.

Why did Nick make my skin crawl nowadays? Why did I miss all the Pokémon that freaked me out that I had never seen before? Why did I suddenly find a distaste for my bike? I couldn’t ask Hikaru. I don’t think I can find out.

My mind wanders to the next life, funny, I know, but I daydream of it anyways. A world with more color than I could ever dream of. It was beautiful to me.

Yet the daydream is always interrupted by the nightmarish thoughts of the people I knew were like me would never be the same again.

#my writing #pokemon #pokemon gold #pokemon creepypasta #pokepasta

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aeskanera · 3 months

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My personal ranking of Kotor companions from most to least favourite:

Juhani - naturally the top spot goes to the first lgbt+ character in star wars media. we love a lil lesbian

Mission Vao - this is my child, goes without saying

T3-M4 - he beeps! he goes deet deet! he has a flamethrower! he cost like a thousand credits though hence the third place ranking

Hanharr - so I know no one ranks him very highly ever or talks about him cause it’s actually pretty hard to get him in a play through but like. if you can find his dialogue options online and read through all his conversations I would so recommend it. He is absolutely fascinating whether you’re giving LS or DS answers and he’s an extraordinarily interesting character study (as are all the Kotor II characters but he’s a particularly underrated one). They took a lot of elements of Zaalbar but also Juhani and really fleshed them out and since Juhani’s my fav it makes sense I’d like him

Canderous Ordo - bioware let me romance him I’m begging you on hands and knees. that being said I know my opinion of him is biased for this reason so to be objective he’s a few spots down

Atton Rand - normally I don’t get the obsession when tumblr goes nuts for the most average men but like. i get it this time. Especially because he’s not average he’s arguably the most nuanced and complex star wars character to exist, even more so than Kreia (to me) with insane depth and his romance is certainly the best written romance in star wars. but also this man doesn’t shower

Mira - I feel like sis never gets enough credit for definitely (in my mind) being down bad for female exile. like she fully rejects male exile if he comes on to her and then when she comments to the other girls like “back off he’s mine” she follows up with clarifying that if anyone is going to turn him in for a bounty it’s her. and if female exile asks if Mira knows anything about men Mira’s just like “I know how to hunt them for bounties. What else could you possibly need them for.” and when you read her thoughts she only wonders how male exile still looks so young but for a female exile she specifically is like “she’s just so naturally beautiful” cue hearteyes. That being said her being wlw is not canon and she absolutely reeks of performative third wave feminism

Kreia - Kreia, sis, take a chill pill. wonderful, fascinatingly written character and all but like. damn. also middle of the list for being a parasocial mother figure to me in all the good ways and the bad. She would be lower but she was a fucking beast in combat plus carrying on the Star Wars legacy of losing hands in lightsaber duels

Carth Onasi - they said cookie cutter hero even down to the dead wife but also give this man the worst trust issues you’ve ever seen and make him awful at flirting. I did not know the game pseudo forces you into his romance even if you reject him, cause I’ll not lie the first time I played through the game his awkward and downright terrible rizz captivated me. but also if I didn’t give Mira a free pass for product-of-its-time writing, it’s not fair if I don’t also judge Carth for that so like negative points for pushy sexism

Visas Marr - don’t like that if you’re a male exile it forces you to have only saved her life out of sexual desire no matter what you say about it. and if we’re judging Carth’s romance for that, we have to judge this too. plus she’s so bad in fights, I don’t know what it was but I could never get her to stay conscious for any fights even low level ones no matter what I did in a play through. But also my darling with the best fashion taste in these entire games. Shy lil sweetheart who also fully was preparing to slit your throat. Like I love her, the uselessness as a companion is fully the reason she’s so low

Bastila Shan - she is as preachy as everyone says and it’s so much worse when you learn she’s supposed to be like 20 years old (which yikes x1000 for male Revan) but even with female Revan I was always willing to overlook the preachiness as a character thing back when I thought she was closer to the same age as Revan, like in her 30s or close to equals at least. But it does become much harder to overlook the arrogance and lectures when this snotrag is like at least a decade younger than you. also what even is battle meditation it’s a stupid power. but I cannot deny the mommy issues did make me relate hard plus now that legends isn’t canon (not that it ever was) that means legends is whatever I want it to be so in my brain Bastila is at least 30

Zaalbar - I want to like him so much more than I do. He’s just I think one of the worst cases of Kotor I having a very limited system of good and evil so like all of the nuance that his character could have is pretty straightforwardly handled and very black and white

Jolee Bindo - take notes Kreia on the superior grey jedi (even though I ranked him so much lower than her lol). but yeah mad props for being the only true grey jedi to exist in these games, at least when you first meet him. I just unfortunately have adhd and since his whole character and all his interactions are just longwinded war stories, I get very bored very quickly. (and yes Canderous is similar but his stories are shorter and don’t make up his entire relationship with Revan and also I want to romance him)

Bao-Dur - we love to see disability rep just would be nice if I could have more than like three conversations with him. as great a setup and backstory as the rest of the Kotor II companions and then they do basically nothing with him even if he learns Force wielding

HK-47 - he’s mostly so far down because I think he’s extremely overrated. like he as a character is fun but he’s treated like the greatest cleverest writing to have ever existed when it’s literally just the same two jokes over and over again

Mical the Disciple - I do love him actually but yeah everyone’s not wrong about him being the blandest most milquetoast nerd to have ever existed. I do have affection in my heart for him but unfortunately he must also lose brownie points for replacing Dvakvar, an infinitely cooler character

Brianna the Handmaiden - this girl would have bullied me in high school I think

Dvakvar Grahrk - why did they replace this cool alien with yet another boring human. clearly they did not think it would be believable that Atton would be jealous of an alien’s relationship with f!exile or else he’d have been more jealous of Bao-Dur as well. star wars made aliens only to hate on them and quite frankly I would like to have recruited and possibly (depending on the quality of footage that could have existed) even romanced Dvakvar. Unfortunately because we know next to nothing about him he must come at the bottom of the list. RIP to what could have been

G0-T0 - I literally forgot about him at first, I simply do not care about this thing

Honorary mention: Bao-Dur’s Remote - he’s just a lil guy that zooms around! no flaws nothing but perfection. would be number one if I considered him an full companion. Also honorary mention to Trask Ulgo, gone but not forgotten

#star wars #kotor ii #kotor #kotor companions #knights of the old republic #star wars knights of the old republic

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luxwing · 3 months

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For the Astarion query you had and will not say any spoilers/will be normal lol.

My first time playing I missed a few companions so less choice. He's hard to miss so anyone in the same boat as me would have had more time with him. Some you can almost miss till end of act 1 so again you'd end up with him for more.

Everyone that I did get for act 1 till maybe a little into act 2 was on the same level of fuckable for me (in that I wasn't too bothered as actually went into the game not knowing the romance was that well developed)

The most romanced characters are Shadowheart, Lae'zel and Karlach. So a lot of people agree with you. I would argue its more that Astarion ticks the right boxes for the people that create stuff for tumblr and tiktok and also has a lot of content/a lot of content that is easily quotable. Then because of algorithms etc the hype train kicked off.

My hope is that it doesn't end up going the other way and he doesn't end up getting hate because of counter culture or whatever. He is a very good character, as they all are and his story is also very moving. Again without spoilers, at release there were some people grateful that they could connect with his story and felt they hadn't seen it, as it is in the game, in media before.

Astarion slowly made his way up that list for me for the following reasons

Funny

Interesting backstory that gets more we will say interesting as the acts go on

Backstory has moments of oh fuck I get that trauma

He has the ability to change either way possibly the most

He literally has the most hours of dialogue etc and a bunch of romance scenes when some characters sadly don't

Now I have done more times through the game, personally I think they all have pretty good character development and are all very fuckable as yous say.

If you held a gun to my head and made me pick 1 I would pick karlach, gale and astarion in no set order and take the bullet. But honestly the others are really pretty much just as good to me.

Now the hype is dying down I feel like a lot of convos have been moving onto other characters including wanting to fuck NPCs.

I've gotten far enough not that my character did spend a night with Astarion and it's opened up some more information about his backstory, so I'm starting to see what draws a lot of people toward him. Also, someone mentioned this on my other post, but yeah Neil Newbon's performance does so much heavy lifting that you can't help but find him a bit charming.

And God I forgot this game has three acts my ass is just now almost finished with everything in act one I'm only level 5 after nearly thirty hours oh my god

But I guess one reason people might not be fans of Astarion (not just because they're tired of the fanmedia saturation mind you) is because of his approvals. He gains approval from you being mean or snarky and from some displays of cruelty, so that might be a quick turn off for people. Ive bypassed this by leaving him at camp whenever I wanna be nice along with the other "kindness is cringe" people.

But yeah, he's a well written character, I'll agree to that. Honestly, all the party members seem really multifaceted whether for better or worse, and I actually like that a lot. I do wish Shadowheart and Lae'zel would stop trying to kill each other and make out already, tho.

Tbh I haven't seen anyone 'hate' on Astarion. Joke about him, sure, but i think I've seen way more people shit on Shadowheart than on him. Which, that's a whole nuther discussion to be had in itself, but yeah idk.

God I still have so much of the game left to do what the fuck

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vigilskeep · 1 year

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now youve gotten to skyhold, what do you and helena think of the companions?

sticking more to helena’s opinions bc i typically do not have strong opinions either way on characters just like a level of interest

cassandra: initially intimidated, since templars generally fear the seekers. even now when they know each other better and she’s also technically cassandra’s superior, hel still leans a little more respectful and complimentary than normal in dialogue. brings her along specifically for important/dangerous stuff and never just like errands

solas: complicated one! a little tense; solas is an apostate clearly not saying everything, and they’ve disagreed on matters such as spirits before. but solas also seems to largely think well of helena’s decisions, and helena respects experience and knowledge. she wants to know his opinion whether or not she agrees

varric: does not trust as far as she can throw him lmao

blackwall: hasn’t thought much about him to be honest, but his first conversation at skyhold was interesting: his dedication to their cause impressed her, and his suggestion that she should act as andraste’s herald bc people needed it unsettled her

sera: the most overwhelming feeling sera inspires in helena is curiosity. she doesn’t always get what sera is talking about—partly because they have very different styles of speech, partly because they come from very different worlds—but she wants to. she finds sera’s straightforward perspective on everything grounding, and comforting in its way when she is questioning so much

vivienne: highly respects her and values her judgement. hel’s noble past may not have given her much patience for the likes of the orlesian game but it taught her respect for anyone who can play it well, and on top of that have the will required to be a mage of vivienne’s calibre and self-control

iron bull: wary, not sure what to make of him. she has a typically andrastian perspective on the qunari and a free marcher’s long history of conflict with them in her mind. nevertheless his skills as a warrior are something she understands and his mercenary company does him great credit

cole: ordinarily helena would be slow to trust a spirit but the envy demon’s fade trap really shook her and he was help she sorely needed. she owes him her life and honour, and she takes that seriously

dorian: newcomer. tevinter mage newcomer, to be precise. she’s cautious but won’t turn him away after what he did coming to haven. very much on probation though

#helena trevelyan

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darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght · 4 months

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Chapter 8- Part 6

I feel like the vines are the least of anyone’s concerns by this point with regards to travel, I’d be more concerned about the fissure right in front of you-

Well, we’ve got another street sign. “Goldenrod”, huh? Interesting Johto reference. But we’ve got a few new houses to look into, let’s see here…

Also, this. Nice. Okay, now let’s look into these houses- like the one on the right, the one that’s closer to the street.

A morphing Pokémon? Wait- Ditto?? Ooooh!!

A…tablecloth? That makes it rain, even indoors? That…doesn’t sound like Ditto at all.

Ah, it’s another trade thing- alright, noted for later. We’ll have to catch ourselves a Sentret at some point…but where do you even find one of those? Are they also encountered outside of Grand Hall? That seems to be where a lot of the early-game Normal Pokémon are found- Rattata, Bidoof, Patrat…

But what Pokémon is that girl even talking about? Making it rain inside…that can’t be referring to Drizzle, only three Pokémon are able to have that Ability, and none of them are considered “morphing” or…tablecloth-esque. Could be talking about Rain Dance, though, lots of Pokémon can learn that move…but again, “morphing”? “Tablecloth”? What does any of that even mean?? The only Pokémon I can think of that sorta fits is Castform, but again- "tablecloth"?

Uh…moving on, let’s go into that one house behind the fence and near where we found the Steel Gem…

Oh- okay, not exactly a house, rather an entrance to…someplace else? Let’s just see where those stairs lead, outta curiosity.

…Why…Why did the music change? Why does it sound so foreboding? What is this theme?

No, wait- you know what this reminds me of? It sounds a bit like the second Primal Dialga remix GlitchxCity made, or at least its intro part, but like…slowed down? Not like- literally just slowed down, but like…rearranged as well? Rearrangement of a remix? Is that accurate, am I correct to think that’s what this song is?

Either way, this music makes me think I shouldn’t be here right now, and so we’ll revisit this place later!

Instead, let’s go see what’s actually inside the Day Care, just in case there’s anything interesting.

…Uh- what? Did that guy just…recognize Xera?

Um- maybe the lady will have normal dialogue…?

Okay, normal so far- that makes sense, this is a service players would use, so at least one of these two would have to be normal-

Nevermind, they’re both acting weird! What’s going on here- their dialogue was the usual Day Care spiel, and then they like…recognized Xera, and then they got all dodgy? I don’t mind if the game’s adding a bit of depth to the player character’s background, but why here of all places?

Xera, what did you do to these old people???

With nothing else to do on this side, let’s continue down the street to the east-

Oh, looks like important stuff is happening over there- plus a…rainbow building?

But no, let’s see what this Devon Corp building is all about first, and then we’ll continue on.

#pokemon reborn #pokemon reborn spoilers #pokemon fan game #pokemon reborn screenshot let's play

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swaps55 · 1 year

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Writer Tag Game

Tagged by @screwyouflightlieutenant. Thank you!

Tagging @mrsd-writes @crescentbunny @commander-krios, @stormikins, @pigeontheoneandonly @shadesofmauve and anyone else who would like to play, if you so desire!

Do you write in order?

When inspiration strikes I’ll scribbles lines for future scenes, but I write almost exclusively chronologically. The only exception has been Sonata. I wrote the beacon nightmare, panic attack, and kiss in the rain before I wrote most of the rest of the story, because they were so vivid in my head I couldn’t sleep. But Sonata in general was more like performing an exorcism than writing a story.

Note this does NOT apply to Opus as a series, which is all over the map. I wrote part of Cantata first, then Sonata, then half of Fugue, then Cantata in its entirety, then Concerto, then the rest of Fugue. It sounds insane, but I think it's the only way I could have written these stories the way they needed to be told.

Do you start with something in particular?

I usually have a hook or a goal of some kind in mind, be it a character arc, a plot point, etc. I have a quirk where I have to have a first line to work from. I can’t overcome the blinking cursor without it. The first line sets the tone, and I go a little feral if I don’t have that opening note.

How fully formed does your writing come out on the first try?

I tend to write in layers. First pass through will be heavier on dialogue and lighter on prose, and then I layer in depth, nuance, context, plot threads, etc. If I’m writing slow and methodical, I’ll get pretty close on the first pass, but if I’m rushing to get an idea on the page, it’s usually a skeleton that needs some muscle on the second pass.

How many drafts do you go through?

I do a lot of revision as I go, but I usually go through 3-4. First draft, first heavy revision pass, post-beta feedback revision, and a polish pass. Fugue would skew those numbers a lot higher, heh.

Tell me about your process?

Until the back half of Fugue, I was almost a pure pantser. I’d have a theme or idea for a one-shot or a chapter, and I would just sit down and go, and see what happened. My two favorite examples of this are from Cantata.

For the chapter “Infinity,” aka Kaidan’s ‘oh’ moment, the only thing I had to go on was ‘kaidan sleeps off a migraine in Sam’s quarters + star gazing.’ Also, that chapter wasn’t planned in the original draft at all. I added it last minute.

For the chapter, “The Things We’ve Done,” aka, Sharjila, when I initially sat down to write it, I didn’t know why they were there, what the fuck happened other than ‘thresher maw????’, or why they were mad at each other. I just thought it would be cool to maroon them on a planet in a life-threatening situation. Fun fact, because I couldn’t figure out the answers to any of those very valid questions, I said ‘fuck it, I’ll go write a fake dating prompt as a fun distraction.’ The fake dating prompt became Sonata, and it answered all my questions.

Fugue got complicated enough that I had to do a lot more plotting to make sure everything fell together, and I think that will carry over somewhat to Mezzo, the next fic, which is going to be a planning nightmare.

But normally, when I actually sit down to write, I write forward, then go back and revise/fill in holes, then write forward, go back and revise/fill in holes. If the train starts veering off the tracks I stop and go back to figure out where the jump is so I can fix it before I write forward.

I almost always ride a pendulum back and forth between, ‘I can do this. It’s gonna be great,’ and ‘I am a fraud and there is no way I can pull this off; I am going to let everyone down.’ The pendulum swings can last days, or happen within a single sentence. It’s wild.

#how writing is written #chapter 8 and chapter 13 of Fugue went through SO MANY FUCKING DRAFTS #it was SO painful #my 'leftover's doc for fugue is something like 28k words

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panigamermauser · 7 months

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I have been pondering why I did not touch bg3 in more than a week now, despite it being the best game I played in at least a decade, and just a week ago I was looking to replay it several more times.

Finally realized that it is because the game upset me one time too many. Not as in 'the story bit that was written to be sad did its job', but 'the writing/development decisions make me sad'.

Ugh, I hate my brain. Why do bad things always wear me down even when good ones outweight it 99 to 1? At this point I'm not even sure if I even can get back into playing it again. It is a very much 'me' problem, not game problem. Why cannot I be normal? 😭

Venting/ranting under the cut, if anyone cares.

So, it is again about Tav being non-character. I know, I know. I keep harping on it. But this is like a pebble stuck in a boot. It just keeps getting worse with time😔

That story from Astarion writer about how they added more content for Durge just because they could pretty much broke me. Especially the part how they wished there was more time to add same level of care for Durge from other companions.

Why Durge - who already has a metric fuckton more content, major impact on the main plot and exists in game world no matter who you play as - deserves extra care and even more content?

It did not even cross their mind to wish there was more time to add unique interactions only Tav players would see. To make Tav a real character that exist in the world no matter what. But no, let put a cherry on top of massive cake Durge already got instead.

It turned my jealousy of Durge being 'Tav with lots more content' into resentment. It is unfair, and I do not even want to play Durge now, out of spite. And it was supposed to be my next playtrough too!

And I know, in real world there is budget and time, and neither is unlimited. So choices have to be made. But if they could not spare any to make Tav part of the world, they could have let them to be the only one customizable character. It could have been their special unique thing with zero extra effort on team's part.

Default Durge is a white dragonborn monk. Should have stayed this way as a preset character. This way Tav's unique thing would be customizability, and Durge's extra content would have felt as premade story of this one premade character, just like playable companions feel.

But no, they had to go and make Durge customizable too, which instantly made Tav infinitely worse by comparison. Of course, it is too late to change it now. So Tav is stuck as an afterthought. An unloved child of development team, if you will. And unfortunately for me, this is my main char. So I'm salty and jealous and mad and resentful about Durge.

There's not a single thing you miss if you do not play as Tav. No extra story, no extra NPCs, no extra written notes, no extra dialogue. Nothing. In contrast, I learned whole Durge's backstory while playing Tav, just from reading books and notes.

The saddest thing is that it makes me like Astarion less too.

Because due to writers whims out of two customizable characters Astarion cares about Durge, but not about Tav. Even though both character treat him equally. But for some reason (aka the writer's whim) Astarion cares for Durge a lot more. Gives them a special nickname too. And I'm salty about it.

Honestly, it feels like Tav is being punished for being 'normal' (whatever your headcanons are - the game treats Tav as someone well-adjusted and untraumatized).

Yeah, you go solve everyone problems and tragic pasts while no one ever wonders about your mental state, backstory and possible troubles even once. No one cares whether Tav is scared, stressed etc. If they are sad because they do not have a single person in the world to talk to outside of tadpole crew. But Durge is oh so special and needs whole group support, always.

With Durge it feels like everyone supports each other. With Tav it feels horribly one-sided. Tav will risk their life for companions. But they won't even ask how their day is going.

I really wish I played Durge first. This way I would not get invested in my main (who is Tav, because Durge was not a thing during early access). Alas, it was Tav, and I cannot rewrite the past and not play EA.

Add to this the problems with Act 3 pacing and the ending being unsatisfactory(I wrote some long-ass posts about it before)

Add to this poly relationships being an afterthought(despite it being a point in advertising the game!) and Halsin never treated as an equal partner by the game. You never see all three interacting as a policule either. No epilogue of planning the future as policule too.

Add to it me being done with fantasy/sci-fi stories of 'you can save the world, but not the ill person you care about'. Like, is it realy that unrealistic compared to stopping an alien invasion all by yourself? Especially when the possibility of cure is heavily teased by those games themselves.

Asd to it the recent numerical confirmation of how Wyll has so much less content than everyone else... (I'm sure it is because he got rewritten. Does not make it hurt any less, tho)

Death by a thousand papercuts right here

Again, compared to wastness and overall quality of the game those are such small and insignificant things. And I'm sure there won't be another game this good for many more years. And I totally planned to play BG3 till something just as good comes along.

But my brain has stopped me in my tracks before the second run is finished. And I hate it so much. Because when I'm done with something - I am really done and cannot go back, no matter how much I want to. And I do not want to be done with BG3 just yet. But also cannot bring myself to start the game anymore 💔 As I said - It's a 'me' problem. But it still hurts as all get out and I wish I was not the way I am.

#mausertalks #baldur's gate 3 spoilers

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stuck-in-the-ghost-zone · 7 months

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MAC!!! GOOD EVENING!!!!!! im thinking soo hard abt interesting fairytale things rn but also. i would LOVE to hear abt ur danny phantom thing?(images aren't loading for me but i think? graphic novel? normal novel?? 👀) ??????!!!! i'm peripherally interested in dp on the basis that my beloved mutual (u) is into it & im!!!! curious!!!! whys it so good!!!! tell me!! free infodump card for u 👀👀👀

THIS ASK IS A MISTAKE. BEWARE. FUCK. DUDE I COULD TALK ABOUT DANNY PHANTOM FOR SO LONG IM NOT EVEN KIDDING IVE GOT . NEARLY 20 YEARS WORTH OF LOVE FOR THIS SHOW. I AM 23 YESRS OLD. THATS HOW SERIOUS I AM . IM.*THE* DANNY PHANTOM GUY THERES A REASON ALL OF MY USERNAMES ARE DP REFERENCES. ohhhh my god. where do i even fucking start. i guess ill start with agit but im still so overwhelmed with love that i have not fully processed yet so prepare for this to be a total fucking mess of words

so. the show ended in.. 2007. and. god the last episode sucks so fucking bad. bad enough that the fandom as a whole collectively agrees it does not exist it never happened . phantom planet isnt real phantom planet cant hurt you if you dont look at it or think about it ever. i could go on a whole. rant about how much phantom planet sucks but instead ill just say butch hartman (<< creator of the show) is a fucking. annoying awful person and he was greedy + wanted more money from nickelodeon than they were willing to give him so they gave him a hard limit on episodes before the shoe would be canceled. so. season 3 goes downhill SO fast and ends with the fucking disaster that is phantom planet . and !!! you know how disappointing it is to have your facorite show have a garbage ending!! it sucks!! so then there was like. a HUGE HUGE long silence where there was. 0 canon content bc hartman considered it a flop and kind of just. abandoned it until he wanted clout (there were a few gameboy games that came out after the show ended + some nickelodeon games that included danny as a character + butch made a youtube channel where he would spout absolute death of the author garbage about the show every time he wanted attention but it was mostly dead silence) UNTIL. AGIT. A GLITCH IN TIME IS THE FIRST CANON SHOW COMPLIANT CONTENT THAT HAS BEEN RELEASED SINCE 200 GODDAMN 7. FUCK . and not only is it canon compliant it is ALSO A CONTINUATION OF MY FAVORITE EPISODE IN THE WHOLE SERIES.

so. my favorite episode. is ultimate enemy. it was one of the 4 movie-length episodes and the basic premise is. danny uses his ghodt powers to cheat on a huge standardized test and this sets off a butterfly effect reaction that leads to a timeline where his family + friends get killed in an explosion and he loses his mind and turns into the worlds most powerful villain <3 you can see why i like it so much im sure (<< guy who has a documented chronic weakness for stories where a good guy turns bad etc)

SO AT THE END OF THE EPISODE. Dan (the evil future danny) is trapped and locked away forever . but at the end of the ep theres a scene that hints to a possible future episode where he escapes !!!! so there was always a teased sequel but this sequel was never created due to aforementioned. budget issues and cancellation. etc. buggest disappointment of my life. UNTIL AGIT !!!!!!!!!!!!!

it was released. july of this year . and i am just reading it now bc its been burning a hole in my bedside table bc it never felt like the right time to read it until this morning for some reason. and fuck its so good its literally everything i wanted.

i dont know how involved butch hartman was in the creation of it but the author (gabriela epstein) is obviously someone who cares deeply about the show and the characters and im so fucking happy about it she did an incredible job. i literally had to pause a handful of times in the first few pages just because the characters and dialogue were written so well and it was like SUCH a breath of fresh air (the fandom is. so bad. its so bad. because its been around for so long people have such insane warped takes on a lot of the characters and its become completely unbearable to me ive had to block the tag and its so painful. this is literally the only reason i am not reblogging dp content constantly. i have to filter it through artists i know can handle the characters properly. if i was not nerfed by the awful fandom it would be 24/7/365 dp lockdown and id be so unbearable) OH ALSO not only is agit a continuation of my alltime favorite episode, it also retcons the garbage pile that is phantom planet in a way that acknowledges that it was a real thing that happened but going back on it in a way that feels so so so so natural for the show. so it wasnt a throwaway "no that was bad lets forget about it" it was a well crafted well thought out "this was real and it sucked and the characters remember it BUT we can play with timeline so things will continue as normal" and . holy shit it was so fucking good. i will begrudgingly acknowledge phantom planets existence if only for agit.

uhhhhhhhh fuck this is so long and i am running our of directed steam so if i keep talking i will just start rambling about the intricacies and holy shit dude i could literally talk about danny phantom for hours and hours and hours and hours if theres anything else u want to know i am the guy . i am the guy forever

#ohhhh my god my hands are literally tired now i typed this out so fast #not putting this under a readmore. everyone deserves to know how annoying i can and will be about danny phantom #this show is like. a HUGE HUGE part of my identity. danny is how i realized i was trans.#im the worlds biggest phantom kinnie im dead serious. i love him so much i love the world and the characters so much.#i have notes ans notes and notes in my phone of carefully curated headcanons that ive had since i was like 12 years old.#i was making stuff for dp before i even knew what the word fandom was.#dp saw me through my abusive friendship and the resulting worst breakup of my life that i am still actively in therapy about.#it means so much to me its MY show. i will allow myself to be pretentious about ONE thing anf that thing is danny phantom #aaaauagahghghhgggghh #basically agit was something i needed so desperately in my life and its so full of love and good characterization #i am like a man who has been starving in the desert for 16 years and agit was a beautiful oasis #asks #intertexts #hi ros <3 sorry i have dp disease every yime someone sends me an ask about it my answer is always 20 years long #friends!!!

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davekat-sucks · 1 year

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Ngl i feel like Tom Fulp had to back peddle and make Picos school more palatable for a newer audience since the things that are normal on newgrounds don't fly on twitter. Idk if my Pico lore is off but i thought the Nene is homophobic joke came from the fnfHD mod so i don't think i can count that as sanitizing the character but i know Cyclops swastikas had gotten removed in that Pico remake game where Pico and Boyfriend were couple. I remember on Twitter there was a weird move to try and make Picos School more PC for some reason? Like why even bother getting rid of the racist design choices made in a game where it's about a penis alien committing a school shooting?

As for like the KFCs genders i remember ages ago people claimed that Toby had said that you could choose whatever gender you wanted to identify Chara and Frisk as but I've never seen as source for this but it's not like i care I've always referred to Frisk and Chara as female. I know Toby had stated Kris is a "they" in a stream apparently but even then i still don't care and i see Kris as a straight dude. (Ex: him hiding a book with a character with a bikini on it, the love Tea he drink and the stats of it showing he had a liking towards Susie and Noelle, his whole dynamic with Noelle during a genocide route and getting her a ring, the one save point and the queens legs stating something along the lines of "looking at these legs fills you with something" yea yea all that when it comes to fiction i just have a habit of referring too characters by certain genders depending on how i see them. Like Wx-78 from don't starve, the whole joke is that the character is a robot and it's gender is nonbinary, even then i still refer to the character as male due to some dialogue and having an outfit where he's wearing a bowtie with a drawn on mustache even with these examples as to why a huge proportion of people refer to him as male there's still people who'll harp on others for not using neutral pronouns

Exactly. Pico's School itself doesn't take too seriously that it could be on levels with South Park kind of humor. I wouldn't be surprised if Tom Fulp had that in mind during its creation. But yeah, whatever gender people see in KFC, whether it is a boy, girl, or gender neutral, it's different for everybody. There is no evil intention behind it. Some may have done it for self insertion, but when haven't we self inserted in a blank slate-like character for shipping with our faves? Not only does the gender neutral count for KFC, but can extend to ones like Monster Kid too. I remember that the only 'misgendered' mistake Toby had done was that he/him pronouns was used for Monster Kid during the first run print of the Undertale art book that fans got upset when they saw it that Toby/Fangamer had to change it to they/them since MK was also one of the characters that used gender neutral pronouns.

#Undertale #Toby Fox #Frisk the Human #Frisk Undertale #Chara Dreemurr #Chara Undertale #Chara the human #Kris Dreemurr #Kris Undertale #Monster Kid

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icharchivist · 1 year

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Hope you don’t mind me asking, but what exactly is a3 ? I’ve been seeing a lot of it on my dash (not just from you lol) and when I looked it up it’s an anime but also a game of sorts? I didn’t really understand but could you explain a bit more? thanks :)

HI NONNY!!!

I absolutely do not mind you asking, talking about a3 is one of my favorite thing to do, so you're in luck!

I'm putting it all under a cut because, while i tried to be vague and short, i, at least, failed on the second part of this attempt, but i sure hope it'll be good to read still!

and if you end up interested in trying a3 in some shape or form do let me know, i'd die for those kids in a heartbeat and if you get to want to meet them or are just curious about some aspects of it, i'm all open to discuss it. I love a3 so damn much.

A3!, or in its full name: A3! Act! Addict! Actors!, is a visual novel gacha mobile game. Its Japanese server opened in 2017 and is still ongoing. In 2019, an English server opened, translating the story from the start, but it unfortunately had to close down in 2021 after running two years of content :(.

in 2020, an anime adaptation of the 4 first main story chapters was released. It's a... pretty uneven adaptation, depends on the arc it adapts, it had to cut a LOT of things, and i'm personally biased because it completely cut down my fav chara's arcs and i'm not fan of some adaptation choices around some other favs, but it can be a pretty good introduction if you want to give yourself an idea about it (starting by the Spring/Summer season, then the Autumn/Winter)

Personally i started keeping up with the A3! English server when it first came out, until the bitter end, and i miss it so dearly. There's translations for the rest of the story on the wikis, but i've been so heartbroken i haven't managed to get around and catch up just yet...

For the record: fans managed to record and save the entire content of the A3!En server in videos, that we keep on an archive available on a google doc. We're trying to keep it as under the radar as possible so it's hush hush, but if ever you are curious enough to want to navigate it, let me know and i'll share it and give you pointers.

EITHER WAY that's for the technicality.

The Visual Novel follows the story of Izumi Tachibana as she is lured into the indebted theater her father used to own before he disappeared years ago. Due to circumstances that involves yakuza because it's a very normal game, Izumi ends up in a situation in which she is tasked with bringing back the Theater to its glory days in less than a few months: mainly, by forming back Four Troupes of 5 Actors, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, each dedicated to a specific type of plays, and putting on successful shows after successful show in the hope to save the theater.

The core of the story is especially found, of course, with the actors that ended up joining the various troupes and the dynamic those troupes end up having with one another, as each have very clear themes in the way they interreact with one another.

While the story starts about clearing a debt, the story follows specifically the whole idea of encouraging those actors to grow and bloom, both as actors and as individuals, learning to heal from their past and move forward to their future.

The Gimmick is also that each play we end up putting on together, tends to serve to have the characters use introspection in order to understand their roles. So you both end up having Unique New Mini Stories at every play, but also play the game of "and how is that play serving the character arc of the Actor inspiring it".

Here's are our first members, for Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

After one year of content, each troupe got a 6th member, whom therefore we call the rookies.

A3! shines a lot by its really amazing dialogues and humor, but also the genuineness in which it approaches its emotional moments and the characters arcs of each character. Basically we all agree, if you end up relating to Any Characters, be prepared to cry because they'll be coming for you specifically with arcs made specifically to hurt you. But also to heal you. I've never recovered and it was the best thing that ever happened to me, that coexist.

As you can see, there's 24 main characters who's story ends up very important, so teasing more about presenting each of them would make this post impossibly long (i COULD do it though, because i do love them all so dearly). The story focus mostly on them, but, at least in the VN, Izumi is herself a pretty fun protagonist to follow. I think the anime cut down a lot of her scenes though....

The story is followed through Main Story Chapters AND Event Stories, Main Story at the begining of the "Act" (see bellow) and two event stories each months, and the events bring a lot to the character arcs so it's not exactly bonus content.

Playstyle wise it's nothing really interesting, and we mostly participate to the Gacha or ranking up events because the cards are new arts of the boys and come with bonus stories only unlockable once you own the card, usually linked to the current ongoing event. They're more bonus content but a lot of them are really fun or hint at some angst as well.

The First Year of content was called Act One, and it covered first the 4 First Main Story Chapters following the creation of each troupes, then, 19 event stories. Then, Act Two, which had 4 New Main Story Chapters introducing the Rookies, each separated by one event, before then being only events. When the English server closed we were 19 events into Act 2, and we never got to see Act 3. Act 3 is a little more mushy in term of how the time flow/how the Main Story and Events are organized so i'd only recommand looking into it only if you get into the whole thing.

As I mentioned, the anime only covers therefore the 4 First Main Story Chapters, which means, only the creations of the troupes and their first plays, and it condensed them a lot so yeah...

Another thing about a3 is that it's also really musically based.

youtube

Each Troupes have about 3 Troupe songs each that kinda showcase their dynamic (Two for Act 1, One for Act 2), and each character have a Solo song that showcase their characters pretty well. (one at the beginning of their story, and one set in Act 3).

I'm not going to list everything, unless you're curious in which case i can share some of my favorites, but i can at least share one song of each of the troupes, as to drive the point that each troupe have a very different vibe going for them. Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter

Aside from that, each Play the actors pull together have a duet between whoever is the Lead and Co-Lead actor of each play, in character of the play itself. Noteworthy however that each play is made to explore character arcs, so while they represent their play characters, it also represents the actors themselves.

There is also a few songs sang by the Leader of each troupes, as the one i linked above. The song i linked above is the opening song of the game when you open it for the first time!

(since the singing is an appealing part, if you want some "hey, it's the seiyuu of ____" moment, i can provide. If you're a nonny who follows me for gbf for instance i need to tell you about the duet between Vane's and Mordred's VAs because i think about it All The Time)

So, that's basically the outline of what you need to know about A3!.

Any more details about the specific bonds the troupes have, or who the characters are, could be spoilery if you want to get into it, but if you're curious about any of them i'm willing to talk more about them. I swear i could ramble about all of them for hours.

And yeah a3 is hilarious, i'm bringing back those beauty to make a point:

I Rest My Case.

A3! So Good I miss it every single day of my life. Here you should know a little bit more about it.

and as i said, i'm always up to talk more about it. God knows i can't shut up about a3.....

Hope it helped!

Take care :3c

#ichareply #anonymous #ichafantalks a3 #takes a deep breath and screams in my hands #a3 my beloved i miss you so fucking much every day #a3 ref

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greyeyedmonster-18 · 2 years

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7! 20! 39!

bestie! andie! <3

send me an ask from this little game

7. Do you prefer to read short fics or long fics?

lol, i know, i know this is going to sound strange, considering...what I've published. but i actually prefer short. i love one shots. 10 chapters or less? ideal, great. anything that's over 25 is actually really hard for me to stay engaged in, unless the writer is really really good. it's kind of like when a tv series goes on for a bit longer than i think it needed to? again-- this is NO SHADE to ANY WRITERS EVER WHO WRITE THESE BIG FICS!!! I've read a few that i adore!!! Love!!! will recommend!!! But if i look at a fic before starting and the chapter count is in the 50's I'll...keep...scrolling.

20. What’s your favorite part about the fanfiction writing process?

i love when characters just to get sit and talk. i love writing dialogue, i love writing flirting (and uh...i think i'm pretty adept at it too). like one of my favorite things about james and sirius in no matter the wreckage was how LITTLE they needed to move to keep the scene propelling forward and those boys could just sit and talk.

i love when im writing and i finally just...get to have characters talk to each other and banter and...yeah. that's the best part. also romantic banter. yes. i love romance. so any opportunity i have to make anyone say anything charming i will take it. usually one Sirius Orion Black and occasionally a James Fleamont Elizabeth Potter

39. What’s something about your writing that you pride yourself on?

oh. you know what. I--(below the cut because LONG)

so i actually used to think this was a weakness, because i thought it meant i didn't...understand...how writing worked. BUT, i actually quite like it now.

but i think i have a....unique ability to make the every day special. and that's not something i see a lot in fics. my fics are not plot heavy at all, in fact very little happens in all my fics other than the essential "two people meet and fall in love", and it's just...sewn together with little things that matter (i was just talking to you actually about how remus fell in love on a Wednesday in a cafe; like nothing SPECIAL even happened, it was just a day. but it was....everything) and that's not...something a lot of writers can do (I've realized through...existing on here) and it's not something a lot of writers can do successfully even when they try. there was a line i wrote in ten reasons :

There’s an empty drawer in my mind, in my heart just for you. For your sweaters and your dry sense of humor; for the gap between your teeth, and I’ll make compartments for every single one of your freckles. My toothbrush holder has an empty space, and I can’t help but think yours should be there--mines dark blue, what’s yours?

about a toothbrush and its so fucking mundane. it's so normal. it's so beyond trivial, but that's like....the heart of it you know? and somehow in a lot of my fics, I've made things like toothbrushes and day planners, and post-cards and recipes and normal, boring, every day things so fucking special. and i think that's....really something i can hang my hat on and be proud of.

#asks #grey answers #ask game

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twipsai · 2 years

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so i finally played Yume Nikki

opening thoughts: it's really cool to see where a lot of newer rpgs got inspired from (omori, utdr, etc), and it was also NOTHING what i thought it would be like

(spoilers for the. entire game lmao)

im really glad that i had a few friends (rpg3 server ehehehe) help me out who are both more experienced in rpgs and more experienced in yume nikki, otherwise i think i would have shattered my computer screen. i generally enjoy walking-simulator type games, which is why i didnt completely give up, but oh my god. this game is like if you put a normal game with like. objectives. and then put it in a blender. i dont think there was a single time where i didnt feel lost, which was great when i accidentally deleted my save file (which was my own mistake but still). i think the fact that im not being distracted by constant dialogue or battles is good though, it felt like a complete experience. the Yume Nikki wiki,,,, helped, sort of. it gave some sort of guidance, sure, but i really wish that it was a bit clearer on where to go. it did feel really satisfying collecting effects, though, and made every deadend i faced worth it. there are some things that i absolutely hate about this game (the fact that most areas are looping, making it really hard to find specific points in a landmark-less void), but i dont think any of the actual gameplay stuff was the point of the game.

artistically, i love Yume Nikki, and it may be one of the best experiences ive ever had with video games. everything felt distorted and off (correctly so), and i absolutely adore every character design. doing weird things to just make a sprite change, going off path to just see a fucked up, uninteractable creature, fumbling around in a shifting, unnerving void-area-- stuff like that, while i am biased to, is something that i think is missing from a lot of modern rpgs. its really refreshing to see something from a time when people werent chasing that game theory video or putting weird things in their game for the sake of getting people talking. Yume Nikki is the result of, what i think is, genuine passion and want to create. i love how much the game doesnt explain, simply because the player has too many questions. personally, every question i have about the game is overshadowed by the question "whats behind the door in Madotsuki's room?"

however, i dont think i ever really need to know, nor do i want a "canon" answer. the game is self-contained and says all that it needs to.

i already knew the ending, which i guess made it a little underwhelming, but i think that it really wraps it up nicely. no questions are answered, and this girl that we barely know anything about jumps off her balcony. the credits are nice, too. the weird jellyfish thing thats in the deep forest being at the blood splatter felt poetic, though i dont know how.

closing thoughts: Yume Nikki is a great game if you dont mind being frustratingly lost for a majority of the time, and is an even greater game if you enjoy shit thats just straight up weird. to me, it tells a whatever story the player needs to hear.

#falls flat on my face and dies #suicide mention #yume nikki spoilers #i think the game really benifits from not having jumpscares btw #amazing horror game tbh #ask to tag

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measlyfurball13 · 1 year

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@south-sea has enabled me to share my mini playlist for my crazy Metal Sonic longfic! I'm normally don't build playlists, and I can't say I'm particularly good at it, as this one definitely doesn't have a cohesive vibe, but I'm excited to share it anyway. I tend to focus in on the lyrics in particular rather than the sound of the music itself, so be prepared for some weird picks.

Journey begins below the cut!

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"Over the game, rather be alone Think I'm gonna just stay home And make art, not friends"

This one is a strange pick, I do admit, but it's also the one most inextricably linked to my fic in my mind.

It's a very cynical song. The singer disparages the rest of the world as "suckers" and "yes men", expressing a profound disinterest with his current place in society. He sees himself as above the masses, but he's also very tired about it. Instead of fighting, he just wants to seek his own little corner of the world, perhaps with some of the few "good friends" he's able to find, and make art.

And this is VERY vibes for how I write Metal. Metal, at first, runs itself ragged trying to be superior to Sonic, trying to prove that it can handle itself on its own away from Eggman, trying to pursue its original purpose, but eventually it realizes that none of that is useful to it. It grows tired of trying to please the people of its past, and instead chooses to move on, to "change up the sound". And of course, the way it chooses to represent this is by repainting itself. Not just any old repaint, but a complete redetailing by a professional artist, chock-full of tiny, beautiful detail head-to-toe. Make art, not friends indeed.

"So you get yours, and stay outta mine Here's to the memories, where do I sign?"

These lyrics in particular are sooooooooooooo. Please imagine Metal saying this to Sonic. I don't think I need to explain this one any further. Next!

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"You say the weight of the world Has kept you from letting go And you think compassion's a flaw And you'll never let it show And you're sure you hurt in a way That no one will ever know But someday the weight of the world Will give you the strength to go"

Whereas the previous song was almost, in a sense, "from" Metal's point of view, this song is addressed to it.

This song fits neatly into the midpoint of my fic, where Metal's at its lowest point emotionally, when it's not sure if getting to know other sentient beings would be worth its time, when it's not sure there'd be a purpose in life if it gives up its pursuit of Sonic. This song would basically represent a hypothetical "other person" in the dialogue of Metal's doubts, reassuring it that there are better things possible in the world for it.

A big thing that Metal struggles with in my fic is having a sense of self-worth outside of its intended purpose. A big theme in a lot of its internal conflict has to do with the idea of preserving one's self- does it deserve to get better? Does it want to get better, or would that destroy who it is? What does it have to gain? What does it have to lose?

But ultimately, it's going to be okay. The weight of the world will give it the strength to go. Onto the next!

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"I am a question to the world Not an answer to be heard Or a moment that's held in your arms And what do you think you'd ever say? I won't listen anyway, you don't know me And I'll never be what you want me to be"

It's deeply ironic that this one's on the playlist, since it's a song about positive masculinity and my version of Metal is nonbinary, but it's about THE VIBES OKAY??? And this song's vibes are classic "rebelling against my dad" vibes. Which. Should be self-explanatory. This is Metal Sonic we're talking about. Themes of "you can't throw me away", "you can't define me" and "I want to define myself" come stock standard with this character, and are especially relevant in a redemption AU.

"And I want a moment to be real Wanna touch things I don't feel Wanna hold on and feel I belong"

I mean, are you seeing lyrics? I don't need to explain them. Next song, please.

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"It seems that all my bridges have been burned But, you say that's exactly how this 'grace' thing works"

This is a very classic song about moral redemption, so of course it fits the vibes of this fic, even if it's a bit more, shall we say, twangy than the other songs on this list. The lyrics listed above are definitely the standout vibe, but there's also a lot of other emotions I like in this one. The singer is so uncertain in the face of turning over a new moral leaf, and I channel that sort of uncertainty into the quieter moments of my fic. Metal is pretty subtle about its moments of doubt, but the companion that it's currently with has started to pick up on them.

Another standout emotional moment in this song is around the 3-minute mark in the song, where the singer loudly proclaims:

"Stars, hide your fires! These here are my desires"

In this big, emotional, climatic moment of the song. The singer asserts himself as being worthy of redemption, and embraces himself and his emotions. Metal will have a moment like this in later chapters. It will finally assert itself as someone worthy of experiencing life as it sees fit. Self-actualization!!

And finally, for the last song, drum roll please-

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You really should have seen this coming. I flip this one on whenever Metal is getting up to Shenanigans(TM), which usually means fight scenes. This includes nearly getting its ass handed to it by Shadow and ending the chapter in a dumpster. Good times!

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If you've somehow made it to the bottom of this, thank you very much! I am SO normal about my funky lil version of Metal Sonic.

#this isn't going on my sonic blog because it's VERY niche #and I don't like to 'brag' about this work-in-progress over there since it's about a month out from being anywhere near postable #but thank you sea for indulging me with this #I love this weird version of Metal that lives in my brain #sonic

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