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ehlnofay · 4 months

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19! :)

19: sea change

In the last few days of the year 200, Torr kills the Emperor. In early 201, a war breaks out.

It’s not wholly unexpected, at least not by those who know where to look. The Emperor’s death is no small blow to Solitude, the city that sent him off on a voyage he would only exit under a pall; especially considering that the guard had patted itself on the back for successfully foiling an assassination attempt right before his ship left, only for his throat to be slit under their noses, anyway. The head of Skyrim’s Penitus Oculatus appears to have vanished. No-one reports seeing anyone out of place on the boat until they started stumbling over the bodies. The Empire mourns through all the official avenues as the heir prepares for succession; Solitude’s government is busy trying desperately to smooth it over, putting out excessive bounties on the assassin that failed and scraping up intel on the one who succeeded. Not that there’s anything much to find – it’s a locked-room murder, and every logical suspect has an alibi that holds up to interrogation. There are no leads to follow.

And Windhelm is a powder keg.

It always has been, ever since the Great War, as long as Torr or any of his kids have been alive. Short-fused and disillusioned, crowds moving hot as blood through its winding stone streets, it’s always been something tough, hard-throated, splintered into careful lined sections. Torr walks whatever lines he wants, but not everyone has the energy to straddle them; not everyone can. The upper city is all harsh-cut stone and ice, the bricks ancient, the crowds in a hurry, even though none of them seem to know where they’re going; the Grey Quarter is where the snow runs when it turns to slush and the walls are stuffed with rags. The planks keep snapping with dry rot, sharp and gaping as broken teeth. They need to be filled to keep the cold out. The Cornerclub keeps the fire roaring. Talres goes there to work most days and doesn’t come back up to the house until the streets are empty. No-one knows it’s going to happen, not exactly, but there's no way anyone couldn't know. There are a lot of people who have been waiting on an opening, and all eyes are pointed elsewhere.

With little fanfare, the Jarl and his entourage leave Windhelm.

The city stops being a fuse and starts being the wreckage after it’s blown. Torr is told that there’s a span of a few weeks where Talres stops leaving the house completely. Katla gets arrested again and weasels out of it on her own. The ill-drawn posters of something approaching Torr’s face stuck up over the walls of Solitude are covered up with announcements and calls to join the Legion. Windhelm floods with bodies ready for the rebellion. Aventus’ house is already crowded; in a few months, Torr hears, it’s nigh impossible to walk in for the bedrolls and blankets spread over the floor. The city has never been a warm place in any sense of the word; Torr’s siblings are inundated with more kids and more kids with nowhere else to go. They don’t know if Solitude is much better; they look different now than they did on the night of the assassination that wasn’t and then was, hair cropped shorter and uneven, face gaunter, the weight they’d managed to gain over their comfortable months in Falkreath sloughing off them like a spider’s old skin, but even so it’s a bit much to step foot in there so soon, some of the bounty posters still mouldering on their posts. One of the kids says something about needing a whole other house. They’ve only got the one. Still, it makes Torr think.

(Skyrim has one orphanage, a little wooden hall down on the banks of Riften’s canals. And now there is a cursed house in Windhelm.)

Torr doesn’t go to Solitude. They only occasionally go to Windhelm. When they’re not on business, they stay on the outskirts of Danstrar; the Pale, all frozen winds and snow high enough to ice a horse’s knees, is an unappetising enough target that aside from an announcement of alliance with Windhelm’s Stormcloaks the war has not truly reached them yet. Which is ironic, considering.

(If prompted, Torr probably could have seen this coming – Torr, who spent years with his finger on Windhelm’s pulse, moving through the people and hearing endless talk about the government. It was going to happen sooner or later. And of course the Empire reeling from the assassination of its Emperor – the first since around the time of the Oblivion Crisis, which no-one is anxious to repeat, and the reminder of which put plenty of important people quite on edge – is enough of an opportunity to weigh heavily in sooner’s favour. If he’d thought about it with his blade set beneath the hairs of the old man’s beard, he would have known he was setting a war in motion. What Torr doesn’t know is if he would have cared.)

(Probably not. He still doesn’t, after all. Not enough to regret anything.)

Dead winter bleeds into spring; a little ice melts, and the sea begins to change. Torr’s shoulder aches when the weather is bad. There are clashes on the roads, outside cities, described in newspapers and word of mouth. Cyrodiil ships off heaps of soldiers to spill into Solitude’s ports. The house in Windhelm is overrun. But the nightshade kept in the temperate corner that Babette has transformed into a garden begins to bloom months early. The tides still come in and out.

The old Emperor is dead. Skyrim is tearing itself apart. Torr cleans his knife after use with a soap that smells like lavender and tries very hard to dredge up any guilt.

#don't know if this makes any sense at all! but here you go #I think I've mentioned before how in my timeline the emperor's murder precedes the civil war #it's so. nothing. in-game in a way that doesn't make sense #so having it be a weak moment for the empire that ulfric takes as an opportunity to kickstart his rebellion felt more coherent #which means that in a roundabout fashion torr is responsible for the civil war. oops #so here is an unedited ramble about their feelings on That.#or the lack thereof as the case may be #(the war would have happened anyway eventually. torr is just the reason that it happened Now)#anyway #oc tag #torr #the elder scrolls #tesblr #skyrim #tes #fay writes #my writing

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lady-tortilla-chip · 2 years

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Am thinking about The Corinthian and how he treats killing. He certainly enjoys it and you can tell but he enjoys it because it’s him succeeding at his purpose. To him his purpose is to be a reflection of the worst of humanity. To demonstrate how ugly it can be (and GOSH what a fantastic parallel/contrast to John that is). And like? It just fascinates me how because of that he isn’t ALWAYS killing. He isn’t always seeking out a next victim. Sometimes he just fucks. When he takes Jed he takes on the responsibility of being an adult for him with zero intention to hurt him. And sure that was selfishly motivated but there is such a distinct difference between him and someone like Funland who is DRIVEN by his incessant desire to hurt children. Where The Corinthian doesn’t seem to even struggle with restraining himself from hurting people.

#and like sure he’s opportunistic at points #killing the social worker but then again was that because she was there or because she wouldn’t give up information?#and then again killing the couple fostering Jed because obviously they weren’t going to let him just TAKE Jed #so like just as quickly as you could argue he still kills everytime an opportunity presents itself #you can also argue that he solid reasoning behind the decision that isn’t just these people were THERE #because then he’d have killed the gay kid watching Rose’s apartment #ANYWAY I HOPE YALL ENJOY MY LIL RAMBLE I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS #the Corinthian #Corinthian #I just love him can you tell #also my previous tags I hope it’s clear I’m not personally justifying his actions in anyway #this is an attempt at an objective look at his character lmao #I think he’s awful and gross but I love him #the sandman #sandman

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collegeoflore · 23 days

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polytropos for the wip game 👀👀?

i posted a (barely) more polished snippet of this one for last week’s wip wednesday BUT here’s an earlier passage as well! this one was very easy to draft but feels much harder to edit/revise. it’s really all talking and little action, which is fun as a character study and fun for me personally to write, but sort of difficult to make interesting for the reader sometimes. set early act 2, in the shadow cursed lands camp (the one with the red trees.)

His death-cold fingers trace practiced patterns across their skin, light enough that it almost tickles. They watch him this time, his hand sickly pale against the violet of their flesh, still flushed by the memory of him above them, inside them. They play their roles well. A stranger may even mistake the two of them for lovers, lying tangled as they are on the rotting bed, all smiles and wandering hands, speaking in warm, hushed voices. Finally, Astarion touches a jagged scar above their elbow, revealed by the bend of their arm propping up their head. “And this one?” His voice is sweet and low as a dying fire, dark smoke and glowing embers. A stranger wouldn’t recognize their game for what it is: a series of desperate bids for control.

Xarrai smiles and curls their tongue around another lie. “Got piss drunk at a party in the Upper City and fell down the front steps,” they say, and take a long, slow drag. They had been drunk when the mercenaries cornered them in the Lower City, sent by some merchant angry they had let his secrets slip. And drunker still when they tried to stitch the wound closed on their own after their magic couldn’t finish the job, body contorted to reach while their vision swam. This lie floats like smoke from their lips, something a little closer to believable - a sheltered half-truth, wiped clean of its mess and filed smooth at the edges. They turn it again, the cut-glass gemstone of reality, and watch the light it reflects fall across Astarion’s face.

He presses his nail into the knot of flesh just hard enough to sting, prodding at it as if he can spill the scar’s secrets like blood on an altar. A crack of thunder sounds outside, deadly close. “Oh?” He arches a manicured eyebrow and lets his hand fall from their arm to their breast as casually as he may rest it on a table, but they see that glint in his eye. “Parties in the Upper City. Aren’t we fancy?” he purrs. He squeezes, kneading at their soft flesh, shifting closer. Perhaps he thinks he can drag honesty out of them with a little distraction. Xarrai sighs, makes a show of melting into his touch, and fights the urge to smile when his grin sharpens. He is always, always sloppy.

#this one and homophrosyne will prob be the only bg3 fics i publish that i don’t just slap song lyric titles on at the last minute LOL #(homophrosyne was included under a diff name the last time i did this wip game so not one of today’s options hehe)#i am deeply in a classics phase rn and so will take any opportunity to compare xarrai to odysseus in that like #they r contradictory and always always hungry #they want Everything. all of it. always.#okay i’ll stop rambling bye #tysm for the ask btw mwah mwah #漫言 #oc. xarrai #r. hold me like a knife #wip tag

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meringuejellyfish · 11 months

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here we go, i went ahead and made more proper compilations of neopet brushes for my silly purposes

- the idea is that you take requests where others will give you a brush and a character, and after that you just go crazy and interpret it however you like ! -

this has been one of my favorite art challenge concepts for years, it just itches something in my brain.

-> my one piece of personal advice for this is that going with instinct and interpreting a brush however you like is good, but if youre looking for a little inspiration then seeing how different pets look when painted by certain brushes can be fun! for example, the transparent brush makes their skeletons visible, and maraquan is aquatic themed !

brushes excluded (for a multitude of reasons

-stone paint brush

-lutari island paint brush

-invisible paint brush

-lost desert paint brush

-mystery island paint brush

-scritchy sketchy paint brush

-swamp gas paint brush (sorry to the true swamp gas heads out there i guess.

-tyrannian paint brush

#neopets #art challenge #?#sniffle i didnt expect so many people to actually be into this idea when i asked for requests on my art blog #so i feel a little bit bad for not making nice compilations from the start but if anything uhmm maybe you guys gotta take another round of #requests. LOL #im glad everyone is having fun :-) !!!!! again no need to credit me or ask for permission or whatever. i dont own this idea #i think having a tag for this would be a little overkill but if you do partake in this at all id love to see ^__^ !!!! just so fun yay yahoo #i tried to be fair and not exclude a brush just because they werent my favorite. but some of the brushes on here are on thin ice #im just gonna ramble at this point uhmmm. i love art . and silly art challenges. !!!!! and the opportunity to draw favorite guys ...#guys. im the most serious person alive. this is so serious to me #sorry this post isnt formatted like a proper reblog ask game thing or whatever. you guys can just take these and put them on your blog if #you want

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no-naem · 1 year

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Marcy Wu and Yuzuki Fuwa would get along SO well.

#naem rambles #I can also see Marcy playing a lot of games with Kanzaki #in a crossover au marcy would be SO helpful in assassinations #come up with creative assassination plans #...probably view the whole assassination as a fantasy come true #at first anyways #anne would probably be support and fighter #she'd get pushed along to do whatever #but then take initiative herself #she'd probably also stop doing assassinations once she realizes #that korosensei is a good person #and that'd probably happen early on #but she'd struggle to do what is right...or follow her heart?#meanwhile sasha would be like hell yeah let's kill this bitch #she tries to assassinate korosensei at any opportunity #proooobably gets into the assassination too much #get that money be rich don't get attached--#oh no she gets attached #wait actually anne and sasha would be similar to nagisa and karma with their roles LMAOOOO #...okay I went off tangent in the tags #anyways. marcy and fuwa friendship real!!!

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limitverge · 2 months

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rebirth!

#tags contain very light spoilers!!!!!#i've been enjoying it!#currently very busy w classes and such so i haven't had much of an opportunity to progress very far #and ive only had it a handful of days but i can appreciate a lot of what theyre doing :]#of course i am .. very wary when it comes to zack's involvement specifically #i am curious to see where they take his story but i must reiterate time and time again that i. as a zack blog (lol). am very #very very very dependent on and interested in zack's death as a monolith in the narrative #and i do not think i will be changing that soon.. nor do i have much interest in aus in which he survives #(same goes for aerith)#(<- i have metas to write on that)#however.. i am still very early on in the game (still in ch2 -.-)#and i can recognize the need to justify a remake.. esp a remake of something so mythologized and important to #media and culture as the original game was..... ohhh the narrative masterpiece that 1997 is........#so taking this “remake” in such a vastly different direction is nice!#but just to ramble a bit further .. im not a big fan of much of anything contemporary ff..... anything put out from 14-16 i just rlly #havent been able to get into personally.. the methods of story telling and the over reliance on pretty anime graphics #to cover up any weaknesses in character and scenario writing...#and i think thats where the most glaring vices in rebirth have been thus far.. other than the padding for time with fetch quests #(as was in remake)#ok ok my opinions

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fictionalcreator · 6 months

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was there any consensus about mercury magic?

-- wizorb 🔮

Well, most agree that it's the state of matter, not the elemental composition that actually denotes the category of magic. Therefore, mercury magic would be classed as aquemancy at room temperature, but that would change depending on if it was cold enough to solidify. Some scholars continue to (very heatedly) argue that its more metallic properties (like high conductivity) still class it as metallomancy, but for the average Joe Shmoe, what matters is that it's liquid.

If you wanna get into some more of the technical details of it...

In this setting, magic is performed by taking ambient mana and causing it to take on an "alignment." "Alignment," in this case, referring to some physical object or phenomenon in your environment. Additionally, ambient mana is everywhere, all the time, flowing through everything.

So, if you're sitting in a room with a glass of water, the mana passing through the water at that moment is water-aligned, and if you can reach out to that mana and use it to move the water, that makes you an aquemancer.

Theoretically, you could be a "mancer" of anything. In the first place, this category system (used by the magicians of the Central Basin) is actually kind of outdated! It takes a retroactive approaching to categorizing magic—looking at what people can do then trying to create categories around that.

If you want better idea of what people can potentially do with magic, you'll want to look at the system used by the peoples of the Black Ridge. They use a system more akin to those political alignment charts, where you plot two axes and then see where whatever you're measuring falls.

The most basic of these charts has an axis for "cold/solid" <- -> "hot/liquid", and one for "pure element" <- -> "complex compound," so mercury would fall squarely on the far end of "pure element" + "liquid."

There, problem solved!

Of course, these charts can get a lot more complex, and some people even take the time to assign numerical values to each axis and try and calculate out where exactly any given kind of mancy falls.

The benefit is that when looking at it as a field of possibility, rather than just observed reality, you can spot potential in places people simply haven't tried before. What would "hot" + "complex compound" magic look like? Lava, perhaps? The possibilities are limitless!

There have been sporadic attempts to bring the system over to the Central Basin magicians' guilds, but due to a mix of stubborn tradition, pre-existing structures built around the old system, and a lack of translations into Plains Tongue, it has yet to see widespread adoption. The farmhand who picked up a bit of water magic to help with cleaning the stables doesn't care if water is technically the "warm" form of ice, it's all just aque.

#oc tag #oc lore #gershwe's project #fict got an ask #also omg baby's first ask?? thanks haha #i will take ANY and all opportunity to ramble about this story

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quillheel · 2 months

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𝟗 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐢 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 !

last song i listened to : AUDIT by WeevilDoing, it SLAPS and its stuck in my brain. Ruler of my Heart by BL8M and Rubyeye for the show Alien Stage also lives rent free in my brain i'm THIS ( pinches fingers together ) close to adding Ivan to this gd multimuse. I love him so much. ( Luka is also a fave of mine but no one beats Ivan <3 )

favorite color : big fan of warm colors, neutrals and weird blue-greens <3 ik thats not One specific color but shhh the heart wants what it wants

currently watching : uhhh i'm soon to start rewatching black butler & starting dungeon meshi!! i've also been watching a playthrough of laika: aged through blood over the course of a while as well as planning to get around to watching final fantasy 7: advent children after finally finishing crisis core, but i'm not sure what i'd qualify as Currently 'Right This Damn Second' Watching. probably the persona 5 playthrough I've been watching slooowly with friends!

last movie/tv show i watched : ALIEN STAGE on youtube, i just watched it ( as of feb 26th ) earlier tonight!!! movie wise, I'm not sure, probably across the spiderverse!

spicy/savory/sweet : sweet!!!! love sweet stuff, but also a big fan of spicy and savory :] absolutely HATE savory sweet and spicy sweet though for some reason

relationship status : single as hell lmao GBRHKGNRBTK i'm open but like. shrugs. it is how it is BHKGTRB

last thing i googled : if we're talking in general; 'across the spiderverse' cause I couldn't remember if it was into or across the spiderverse when mentioning the above, if we're talking QUESTIONS; 'how to fuse orthus with dodge slash persona 3 portable' because I'm really bad with the fusion requests in portable and then spent way too long and way too much money doing this persona request BGHKRTB

current obsession : PERSONA PERSONA PERSONA PERSONA PERSONA alien stage PERSONA i'm so rabid over persona in general but especially 3 and 5, the former because I've actively been playing through p3 portable, but YEAH i've been gnawing on it relentlessly for Months now, it's probably been like. at least half a year or something. ( alien stage mention bc i rlly like it and it's been encouraging me to get back into watching anime/donghua/hanguk aeni bc GODDD i rlly like the premise, the vibes of the characters and the animation it SLAPS and it'll probably torment me for a little bit now )

tagged by: @digitalworid ty!!!

tagging: idk who have done this so if u want to do this or are within sight of something grey, go for it!!!

#this was fun!!!!#<- guy who will take any opportunity to ramble about the things they enjoy #━ ♔ your slightly mad sea-captain : ooc.#━ ♔ the world grows green again when you smile : games.#ask to tag //#food mention //

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geroya · 8 months

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hold on hold on im

#☼.txt #ocs #immaterial tag #like #cause the whole xaris carmiya conflict is partially based around xaris not knowing WHY she wanted him #why she's training him. what FOR what is it ALL for. & why shut his parents out?#its why he wants to leave.#so then taking that & shifting it to an ACTUAL master/padawan relationship between the two of them #in an ACTUAL temple scene #where carmiya's hand is officially forced to let him graduate bc um. babes he has BEEN ready for knighthood #you cant keep him a child at your side forever you cant do this to him.#& then when he's finally given that . idk freedom of knighthood to go on his own missions to BE free of his RESTRICTING master #they drop a padawan in his lap #i do think (?) he would have to be open to lissa or smthn but i do think xaris WOULD be extremely annoyed about it #xaris IS an overachiever. heWANTS to be better than everyone (HE IS) but he'll do anything to step on someones toes about it too #so if THIS gets him the opportunity to :) then he'll do it. he wont be HAPPY about it #i AM rambling #but all this to say i ABSOLUTELY agree with the idea that he & lissa's relationship would start out standoffish (mainly from xaris's end)#but i ALSO think lissa would not make it any better bc she KNOWS when she's not wanted & she's not necessarily someone #who will try to make you like her or want her. she's not a pleaser. she will simply be. she will stare at you until uncomfortable as u are #back down. she is her father's daughter PLEASE.

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trashlie · 1 year

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ILY FP 201 and 202

I never had a chance last week to getting around to talking about FP 201 even though I really wanted to, and I’m kind of glad for it, because it ties so neatly together with 202. I’m not sure if our flashback arc ends here or not, and part of me feels like I should wait until we finally return to the present, but I’m never good at that and I like to lay down my thoughts while they remain fresh, if I can, especially in regards to this flashback. For something that has spanned so many episodes, we really were thrown a lot of information in these last episodes. I mean, in general, I think this whole arch has been a ride, and it’s been full of details we either never knew or were wrong about all along, and I have really enjoyed that aspect. But I cannot lie: episodes 200 and 201 were SO, SO HARD for me to read. I was dreading coming up on episode 200, but to tell you the truth, 201 hit me even harder.

Something about the way we opened, with Shinae laying so helpless and broken, with the bird we’ve seen before in her dream flying away from her and her empty eyes; her wish to be like a bird and take flight (PARALELLS!), the fact that no one had even called for help that her teacher had to come along and find her?!, the way even! after! a fall! she still apologized and tried to hold it together TRIED SO HARD TO BE THE PERSON SHE THOUGHT EVERYONE NEEDED HER TO BE! There’s something so well-done about the pacing - that moment of tranquil peace before the teacher’s appearance and the urgency, the shifting panels as Shinae is blacking out and the fear it instills, even knowing full well how it turns out. It’s SO well done to me!

There was something that struck me so hard in that moment, that Shinae had yet to grow used to adults caring and respecting her feelings. It can’t have been an hour prior, in the timeline, that she was worried her homeroom teacher would get mad if she went to the math club meet and thought she had to sneak, was so stunned that the teacher apologized for her mistake. Coming from a place where she’d been bullied so badly the bully’s mom had attacked her, where no other teachers came forward or stepped in to stop it, and here she’s got two different teachers who all show concern for her and respect her, and how there’s something so very SAD about it being one such teacher who is the one to get her help, because no one else had.

What would have happened if she didn’t have a math meet to be at? What would have happened if she was just on cleaning duty? Who would have found her?

The fragmented memories of Shinae in and out of consciousness, all of people who care about her, all jagged and out of focus. I absolutely lost it when Minhyuk burst in the way he did - Shinae came to this school in hopes of making friends, of fitting in, or at the very least not being bullied. She just wanted to have friends and not be seen as the weird kid or picked on and ostracized and in the end, it was only Minhyuk. Only he got to know her enough to care about her, only he was concerned about her. His savage, emotional outburst and that awful, true line: I’m the only damn kid in this entire school that cares about her.

It’s no wonder present-day Minhyuk turned out the way he did. It’s something we knew already - that Minhyuk knew her back when it happened so yes he’s overprotective as a result, but it was still easy to take Dieter’s side, that Minhyuk needs to step back and let Shinae live her life. But the thing is, Minhyuk isn’t just overprotective in the way of a big brother who thinks he needs to fight a younger sister’s battles. Minhyuk is protective in the way of knowing that only HE cared about her, that only HE could see through the rumors and be the friend she needed, that only HE could see everything for what it was. It’s even worse when you consider that no one else knows of Alyssa’s involvement, or how Shinae even fell, what lead to it, that there are rumors everywhere that paint Shinae in the worst light, that at the end of the day no one else cared, except him. Minhyuk is overprotective in the way of a parent who thinks the only way to protect their child is to shield them, or to fight their battles for them. The day he was away, winning his competition, Shinae was left helpless with no one, not one single person, on her side, and given the fact that it seems like she never opened up about it, never once talked about it, it all makes perfect sense and puts everything into a better perspective.

Minhyuk finishing up classes early so he could take the first flight home he could because Shinae finally broke down and for presumably the first time, opened up about everything she was going through, all the struggles that were too heavy for her to bear, all the horrors she endured that she never should have. You can’t blame him for wanting her out of her job with the Hiraharas after everything that has happened, you can’t blame him for not trusting the people around her, you can’t blame him for knowing that she’s been here before and not wanting her to go through it again. I think that’s what’s especially interesting about Dieter’s interpretation of Minhyuk - he thinks that Minhyuk is infantilizing Shinae, that he can’t see how much she’s grown, but for Minhyuk, it’s that it’s such an aspect of who he is, something that’s become so deeply ingrained, it’s eclipsed his ability to even see when his protective nature is hurting his sister, when it’s causing strife. The weight of being the only person who would ever have defended and protected Shinae, of being the only person who could have protected her, and the guilt of not being there when she needed him the most formed at such a formative age. What else could he do but adopt this as part of his personality, a swear forged in guilt to never leave her defenseless again. When you consider it this way, it must have been one hell of a struggle for Minhyuk to decide to attend school in a country halfway across the world. For him to make the choice to leave Shinae’s side and trust that nothing horrifying would happen to her again - ONLY FOR IT TO ACTUALLY HAPPEN - must be heavy on his shoulders.

Likewise, we’ve got some interesting insight into Maya, too. I’d always operated on the assumption that everyone knew about Alyssa’s involvement - that teachers and parents knew, that the Parks were aware, that it was a bigger affair than it ended up being, but it sounds now more like Alyssa probably went home that day and begged and begged her parents to remove her from school and I’m willing to bet she never said why. Maya had already left, had been given the opportunity to wait after school with Rika and instead chose to leave Shinae for tragedy, and knew only that Alyssa was not a good friend, that she didn’t defend Shinae when she wasn’t around. It’s funny - when Shinae comes face to face with an ad of Alyssa, Maya’s response had seemed awfully cavalier, to essentially write off Alyssa as Shinae’s sucky ex-bff, but, well, that’s all Maya knew, wasn’t it? She had no idea just how twisted all of the layering is. Like Minhyuk, Maya also operated out of guilt, but hers was combined with her feelings of jealousy and inadequacy. I don’t know if we can read into it deeper, but I wonder if part of why it was difficult for Maya to become friends with Shinae, besides their different personalities, is that she feels saddled with all that guilt and feelings of inadequacy. Not just the feeling like people look out for Shinae more than they do for her but the knowledge that she, too, once abandoned Shinae, and who is she to try to befriend her, even at her brother’s request? Obliging out of guilt - because once upon a time she could maybe have intervened, or been there to get help - but struggling to accept that she’s allowed to be friends with someone who she has begrudged and abandoned. I think there’s a lot of signs that Maya cares about Shinae but is very affected by the complexity of her dark and negative feelings. I don’t think Maya necessarily called Shinae to help at the bakery the day after the formal because Shinae is a yes girl or something, I think she called Shinae because she’s Shinae.

Actually, again, this brings me back to what I love the most about this story - it’s all the shades of grey, the layers of complexity, how nothing is ever black or white, one way or another.

Alyssa liked Shinae, but she was a terrible friend. She wanted her cake and to eat it, too, and she couldn’t make it work. She never managed to deal with confrontation, she couldn’t face her fear of ostracization. Even with all the hints that it could never work she still tried. 200 highlighted that so well - though to Shinae’s face she acted like their brief friendship meant nothing, when the other girls were messing with Shinae’s belongings, she still tried to get them to stop and leave her (and her stuff) be. And sure, we could easily say it’s because Alyssa was afraid of getting in trouble, but she still showed so much concern over Shinae crawling out on the window ledge to retrieve her backpack, SHARPLY contrasted with the absolute lack of concern the bully girls showed, and her pure horror when she accidentally knocks Shinae out the window. Alyssa is a mess and she’s not good at handling crisis and she rarely, if ever, chooses to do the right thing. The moment it all starts coming down, she buckles and folds under pressure. I know a lot of people are upset that she didn’t call 911, but frankly, I think she couldn’t. With what we know of Alyssa, it wouldn’t be the first time she froze and panicked in a situation of crisis. Compare her going home “feeling sick” because her attempt to make friends (selling their project) blew up in her face to the actual horror of shoving someone out the window and, yes, the trouble that would come from it? I assume Alyssa went into a panic attack or some kind of crisis and froze up, too afraid to deal with what happened. I’m not saying it’s right, but I also don’t think Alyssa’s lack of interaction is as malicious as people make it out to be. I think she’s a middle school child ensnared by intense guilt and horror and fear and didn’t know how to react. I imagine she went home and never breathed a word of this, only begged her parents to withdraw her, told them she changed her mind, she didn’t want to do public school, told them it was awful and she never ever wanted to return again.

All the time I thought that Alyssa never had the therapy or closure that she needed was because I thought her parents and their obsession with image probably never gave her the opportunity, but now I realize it’s probably that Alyssa, much like Shinae, likely buried this deep, deep down where she could pretend it was something that never happened, something that happened to a person she no longer is. That’s probably how Alyssa is able to face Shinae at the formal - because she has to, because masking and putting on a show is her literal career, because if she gives that incident or her guilt even one moment to breathe, her entire carefully constructed facade would fall apart.

Again, Alyssa is so much like Kousuke in the sense of denial - that they have to deliberately look away from things in order for their personal truths to hold value. The moment Alyssa has to face her past, to revisit what happened, how she treated Shinae, there’s a good chance for it all fall apart. Sure, she can dig her heels in the way she does with Nol and deflect, but we also know that for a brief period of time, Shinae was important to Alyssa, even if Alyssa couldn’t let it be true. How much would she be able to deflect? How much would she be able to shift blame? I think the only way for Alyssa to ever come to terms with what happened in the past is if she is confronted, if she and Shinae ever talk it out, but I also don’t think, at least certainly not at this stage, that Alyssa would ever be as honest as she needs to be. Maybe Shinae would be able to one day accept that this is the sum of Alyssa: a messy attempt at trying to be the impossible, that she never meant to hurt Shinae, but was still willing to throw her under the bus.

And despite it, Alyssa left a get well soon present, with the most cavalier note in the world. I... can’t lie, I kind of laughed about it, because that note comes across so cold and empty, but also what else was she going to write? Sorry I pushed you out a window. Sorry I threw you under the bus. Sorry I was the most undeserving friend to you? Again, they are children, and frankly they are dealing with something bigger and darker than they are probably ready to. I think this is Alyssa’s weird way of trying to show care and concern, but so bogged down by guilt that she can’t truly face Shinae. Even if she knew the hospital Shinae was in, I don’t think she would have been able to do it, to face her in a hospital gown with a scar where her skull was literally cut open. To face her and know the role she played in this, who it all transpired because of her. Like Shinae, she buried it so deep down it felt like a whole other lifetime. But I think much like with Shinae, there’s only so far you can repress things before your past returns to haunt you.

This is something I’m now thinking about: the weight and impact of an Alyssa bullying reveal in the light of knowing how few people know of her involvement. We’ve talked before about how a bullying scandal could affect Shinae but that was under the assumption that everyone already knew Shinae was involved. Imagine a rumor coming to light, that Alyssa had been a bully in middle school, that she and another student ganged up against other students, and that she even pushed that student out a window before disappearing. Minhyuk and Maya would instantly know it was Shinae - something she’s kept from them for so long would be made public without her consent, possibly before she’s even ready to deal with it. Depending on the wording, it could be easy to accuse Shinae of making the accusation to take down her career, and given that Alyssa tends to mirror Kousuke, I wouldn’t be surprised by this, but I like to hope that Alyssa would have better sense to expect the other two girls if there was any other background information alluding to her and the “other bully girl” aka how they all saw Shinae.

I think it does also bring us back to the Other Bully Issue. When the bully girls tease Alyssa for defending Shinae, they pull the “if you care so much why don’t you marry her?” line, which in and of itself is not very nefarious, but Alyssa’s reaction to it still comes across as.... heated? It’s hard to read in the moment, since she’s trying to clear her name and make it seem like she has no lingering attachment towards Shine, but at the same time, it’s been a quiet, running theme, a thing that Alyssa so vehemently fears getting out that I feel like we still cannot definitively rule it out. I still think there could be a good chance that bullying accusations could possibly be entangled with potentially trying out to Alyssa (which I feel is frankly far too much).

On a different note, tethering back to our current story, I am absolutely blown away by the reveal that the orange sweater Shinae has worn before was from Alyssa. Literally, this blew my mind so much! I think it’s some kind of testament to Shinae’s level of repression, too, that she can still wear it in the present without feeling any type of way about the person who gave it to her. Like, if she had any resentment towards Alyssa, that sweater would be burnt up or at least donated. Of course, this doesn’t tell us anything new, because numerous times throughout the story, we have seen that Shinae has mostly confusion towards that time of her life, and usually wishes Alyssa well.

In fact, as a “fun” (depressing) fact, in episode 16 we are shown a vague, blurry flashback of Alyssa pushing Shinae - and she is wearing this exact sweater as she thinks back on it. In fact, she was literally wearing a yellow tee-shirt at the end of the episode prior! The fact that she appears wearing it while thinking about the very incident that afforded her this sweater?! (The fact that she wonders how she is, well she hopes and the scene cuts to Nol trying to get in touch with Alyssa and her not answering the call? What a segue!)

Actually, it’s kind of darkly funny that this is the sweater Shinae is wearing when Maya set her up to meet with Kousuke and Nol - the latter of whom has unearthed all this deeply buried trauma of not meaning something to the person you care about, of being abandoned and cooly tossed aside like trash. LISTEN YOU KNOW THIS IS MY SHIT. I cannot! Deal with this detail!

(That said, after Shinae was splashed by that child’s mom, she thinks “this isn’t even my sweater”. The bird is also facing a different way on the shirt Shinae wears early in the series. I wonder if that’s an oversight of quimchee’s part or if there’s something more to reveal to us in time.)

I also cannot deny the irony of Shinae falling and likening it to flying, of looking at that bird and wishing she, too, could take flight and and feel the freedom of the sky, and that being the design on the shirt Alyssa gives her. It just.... feels SO deeply ironic.

I think we are at the end of the flashback - maybe another episode or two, but if it goes back now, I wouldn’t be surprised! I’m curious to see where this brings us in the present. I’d noted on reddit that I think there is a lot of room for Shinae to take a stumble, for this recollection to affect her and be a pushback on the growth she’s made, but narratively that would be SUCH a disappointment and frankly, anti-climatic, after the efforts she went through to bring Nol back. I think - or at least I hope - that reliving this nightmare in her past with given Shina renewed resolve, to face Nol, to embrace friendships, to dig her heels in on what she was saying - that things happen to them and maybe it’s not punishment, maybe the universe has no sense of rhyme or reason and they shouldn’t believe that they are being punished for things beyond their control, for things they could not affect. They did not choose to be born the people they are, but they can choose to defy what life has offered them.

#I Love Yoo #ILY Spoilers #ILY FP #ILY Brainrot #Shinae Yoo #Alyssa Cho #Minhyuk Park #Maya Park #Nol #Nolan Oliver T. Lochlainn #i hate that tag lmao #GOD this one is long but i don't think anyone is surprised #i have a LOT of rambling going on under the cut about just idk the general DEPTH of everything and how it's all played into and affected the #story at this point and what i think is so important and vital that it had to be explored in such depth and scrutiny. i think this incident #was such a formative foundation not only for Shinae and Alyssa but for people close or involved. like i wouldn't say maya is a close party #but she's certainly tethered to the incident by way of her guilt and the opportunity she didn't take to invite Shinae to join and maybe wait #for her or something. idk! i just have a LOT of thoughts and finally was able to articulate them decently enough. i feel like it doesn't all #come across the way i want it to but this will have to do! idk i have enjoyed this arc - in the way that you can appreciate a trainwreck i #guess lol like it feels bad to say but seeing how everything played out and went down and the ramifications of it is satisfying in a really #upsetting way. getting to see the way this affected and changed everyone like how Minhyuk made this an entire part of his personality of #their whole relationship and the new perspective it gives towards how Dieter sees his interference #Dieter cannot begin to understand why Minhyuk is so overprotective of Shinae and why he goes out of the way like he does #I also cannot help but look forward to an inevitable day when this all comes out into the open because there's no way we went through all #this just for it to remain a quiet secret between Shinae and Alyssa. what happens when everyone finds out - not just Nol Dieter Soushi #but Minhyuk and Maya too? what happens when it's dragged into the open how Alyssa treated her how the fall happened?#Even though I don't think Shinae is telling Nol (or at least if she tells him anything she will omit Alyssa) I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HE THINKS.#BECAUSE HE DID THIS TO HER TOO. BECAUSE HE MADE HER THINK THEY WERE FRIENDS ONLY TO CAST HER ASIDE AND MAKE HER FEEL WORTHLESS #and it was worse because he had to break down her walls in order to do it #will he finally understand why she chased him so hard why she's fighting so hard for him why she believes in him when he can't believe in #himself? will he understand the ways he hurt her when he never anticipated doing so?

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phantastragoria · 7 months

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Hey I’m not sure don’t remember if I sent this too you already or if I sent it to someone else but if I didn’t, I’d like to ask, what would you want in a sequel to the 2021 guardians game if they made one in terms of gameplay, characters and story?

Omg what don't I want LOL. This is opening the floodgates of my mind so reader beware, you're in for rambling insanity...

I'd want it to heavily focus on Nikki! I feel the first game boils down to being her story and I'd like if we continued that but with her having a more direct presence, obviously. Eidos Montréal giving Pete a daughter is the realest outcome ever they were so right for that and I desperately need to see his cringefail dad escapades of figuring out how to raise an emotional preteen girl like this is literally a sitcom setup I NEED to see the outcome of it all.

Joking aside I really want to see how Nikki actually is on the team (Is she allowed on missions? Is she a goofus like her dad and running off into danger??) and how she's dealing with everything post the Magus/Promise/Church shenanigans. The teen years are already really hard to navigate, especially for a young girl, but also adding on having been a bit sheltered from growing up on a Nova Corps ship AND going through the events of the first game... It's definitely going to be rough as hell and I really doubt the Guardians' chaotic lifestyle would help at all. And what's with her immediate connection to the soul stone/gem when it hurt everyone else? Something is going on there with her origins...

I don't want Gamora getting defaulted to a mother figure, but I'd like to see how her and Nikki get along, if at all. I'm sure she's crazy protective of her even if she's not projecting onto her as bad anymore but... only time will tell.

A thought that might not be important to anyone else, but I hope there's a discussion about how Peter needs to deal with Nikki's schooling. I'm sure he'd want better for her than he had had (see- no education past the 7th grade because of the whole being imprisoned thing.) I really really hope he DOESN'T decide to homeschool her though 😵‍💫 She deserves an actual education, but... the Guardians are poor so I'm sure it's going to be a problem of some sort and a struggle unless there's resources for that in their version of the Andromeda galaxy. 🤔

The most important thing ever... I need Drax to learn a musical instrument (saxophone) for fun. Our world will never be at peace until we get to hear him play a little musical tune for real. The character has existed since the 70s and I have no clue as to what kind of jazz music he even played... please let him play :( Less important (jk) but are the eternals like Mentor going to get on his case for not finishing the job with Thanos..?

Obviously, i want to know whatever is up with Richard Rider and his absence. The way the first game continually references him... I don't particularly want it to only devolve into romance, but i do want to know more about what sort of relationship he had with Gamora and exactly why he just vanished without a word to her about it.

Also, why does Peter seem to dislike him? Have they met beforehand? Is he just uncomfortable with another human?? Was he an extreme weirdo to Peter if they had met for real before??? (In the prequel novel Peter saw him during a 3D communications thing, but they didn't speak to each other.) I need answers!!! I want to assume wherever he went, he left willingly, considering he left his Nova helmet with Tivan... but why he trusted the Collector with that, I'm unsure and find it suspicious.

I've seen people suggest there's an obvious setup to some sort of infinity stone/gem and Thanos plot but I dunno... I definitely want to know where the hell his goofy ass went and it'd likely deal with that but if anything, I very much feel the plot would be dealing with more fallout of the War + recent Magus stuff that happened BUT especially dealing with political unease. Specifically the Spartoi Empire and why they went into extreme isolation, cutting themselves off from the dozens of planets they had under their control. I wouldn't rule out the possibility of there being another plot revolving partly around another single stone/gem, or one making a small appearance at the very least, however.

I'm not sure how it'd come together but I think it'd be fun if Mantis + Lady Hellbender + Adam/Pip and Nikki had a B-Team sort of moment if the main team was incapacitated. I'd also be remiss to not mention wanting to see a sort of Infinity Watch reunion/meetup if Heather makes an appearance.

And related to the above, I'd like if we got a moment where specifically Pete is out of commission and we have to play as someone else, if even for only a single chapter (I would love a stealth-like segment where you play as Gamora. Maybe if the team ends up on Spartax she has to snoop around for information?) I do acknowledge that'd be a hard sell for the devs though to add in a completely new gameplay style for just a singular short segment, so I could live without it.

I WOULD like to note I'm in the minority of players who like Peter being the main player character however! I'm biased in finding the concept of the element guns so fun and wanting to be the devil on his shoulder telling him what to say or do lol. That said, I WOULD like to see the base gameplay style expanded upon, especially if it went more of a puzzle focused route! I'm not good at explaining what I'm visualizing in my head, but I doodled a quick diagram that hopefully gets the point across of what I mean about that LOL.

AND!! This is something that bothered me gameplay wise with the first game, with how you can't backtrack to previous levels with your element gun upgrades. This makes sense in-universe since the plot is one linear story but the element additions don't even roll over to New Game+!!! I am haunted by those teal cat beasts on Seknarf-Nine having an elemental weakness icon above their heads and how you can't go back and beat them with plasma and such 😔 I also think it would just add fun replayability and encouragement to find new puzzles in old levels when you get new elements. Maybe this is how you could find more outfit boxes in previously locked off areas? Speaking of outfits...

I NEED new costumes AND all the previous ones used in the first game to be included... this is not a want it is an absolute need. There are so many possibilities for outfits, there's too many to even list here. One outfit related suggestion I have is that, not necessarily having to swap every part of an outfit for different ones, but I'd like to be able to change helmets/hats/hair separately from the clothes themselves. That last one isn't a need, though. I just want more dress up options lol.

Maybe an inclusion of silly in-game visual filters? Like a black and white mode or a faded 70s filter, perhaps one with harsh dark shadows and saturated colors... I doubt this is possible and it's definitely not needed, but who knows where game development will be by the time a sequel happens! (I'd also like silly cheat codes... let me fly out of bounds in godmode and explore the level boundries... jk)

I'd like if the music choices started including 90s/2000s music, perhaps through Nikki collecting Earth junk and her bonding with Peter through that? Very inconsequential, but I would like it if Peter found out that the Star-Lord band DID make a new album at some point and he just never knew. He needs a small win in his little fanboy life (I feel deep within that this metaphorical album would have a blue cover... don't ask me why it just feels right.)

Quick last second list of people I would like to see appear/have some form of significance in the plot:

1. VICTORIA OF SPARTAX!!! Genuinely I want to see her more than anyone, even more than Richard (RICHIE IM SORRY!) I just need to see someone actually write her with respect and not as the second to her brother 😭 I'm absolutely certain she exists in this universe, so please...

2. Phyla-Vell (either as this universe's Captain Marvel or as the new Quasar incase something happened to Wendell between the first and metaphorical second game- Personally I think it would be more creative getting to see how Eidos would adapt Quasar's abilities.)

3. Heather/Moondragon (WHAT is she up to since her Nova Records mark her current whereabouts as unknown? From the same Records she's already been connected to the Dragon of the Moon and -was- prophesized as one out of three people to be the Celestial Madonna, but Mantis holds that title. Did they already fight over the right to it?)

4. SHIP/Aurora/the sentient spaceship from Peter's original 70s comics LOL LISTEN... I have faith in the madlads at Eidos to see the potential in her... PLEASE... It would be so funny.

5. Bug (😔 I know most people don't like him but I swear we can fix him... We already know he exists in-universe by his appearance in the prequel novel AND Mantis literally stating that, in regards to making a comment about Bug during the attack on Sacrosanct "I forgot you guys haven't met him (Bug) yet." Like come on, he's out there!!!)

6. Aradia and Mors, which I know will never happen, but let me believe.

7. ANY of the cosmic/abstract entities... we already know that Lady Death exists + Eternity and The Living Tribunal are known to the general public. I'd like to know where exactly they are because it's a bit concerning that they disappeared when the War had started years ago... perhaps Thanos had a hand in that. 🤔

8. If any Heralds of Galactus happen to show up, even if briefly, I would like the current herald to be Stardust.

9. Halfworlders like Blackjack and Wal-Rus or this universe' equivalents... Theory moment, but the prequel novel confirming that similar experiments happening on Halfworld were also going on in the Mercury base during the War makes me think that they have to be out there. I'd also like to see that Lylla survived and Rocket just didn't know. It'd be nice to see her get to exist outside of being a sad backstory thing that she's been relegated as for the last decade+ in media tbqh.

AND IMPORTANTLY if we indeed get more humans or extremely humanoid aliens in the cast, we desperately need some more diversity because there's no way every single human that makes it to space is white lol...

We're nearing the end now... so miscellaneous wants:

If it wasn't obvious by all my talk of Spartax by now, I want to see what Eidos had in mind for Spartoi culture so badly because the possibilities make my mind race! There's a bunch of little things I took as hints about them scattered throughout the first game, and it's part of why I think the sequel would involve them heavily in some way.

Related to that, I need Peter to think more deeply on his connection to his element guns and the implications of what they're actually capable of. Another gameplay specific suggestion, but I'm SO extremely curious if there being two of them means he could dual-wield two elements at once if he was more confident in using them?? I've been thinking about this for everrr.

And, just throwing this out there, I think it'd be very funny if/when Peter encounters J'son he has the option to just punch him square in the jaw without saying anything LOL.

I hope the epilogue stating that Peter is teaching Groot sign language becomes a significant thing that appears in the sequel :o it'd be really cool to see ASL in a game honestly because I can't recall seeing it elsewhere... and I want the others to learn it to communicate with Groot too!

I want Jack Flag in his prison cube that was drifting off into space to crash land on a tropical planet... but he is then eaten by a space whale RIP...

Finally, Rocket and Drax should start a space Etsy account selling gadgets/knitted items. Perhaps that is how the Guardians will get out of their financial hole once and for all.

#gotg game #guardians of the galaxy game #lex thoughts #gotg thoughts #universe: eidos game #none167 #ask tag #genuinely so sorry for disappearing for so long... ive thought about this ask ever since i got it 😭#thank u for letting me ramble about the game literally i need a sequel so bad. i will wait as long as it takes to get it.#what would YOU like to see from a possible sequel dear readers?? i also wanna know #kept everything in me to not go on a whole thing about wanting more gay stuff but also i want way more gayness. that's very important to me #peter has the perfect opportunity come to terms being a cringefail single bi dad it's right there in front of him...#and when richard gets involved... well...#this all sounds so peter focused because i suck but i wanna know where the others could end up too!! l #there's sooo many things to explore i cant keep it all in. -passes out-#long post #if phylla and heather end up both appearing id like it to be their first meeting and us getting to see them bond/date btw. it could be swee #also what is kammy's deal... my current theory is that she's an aspect of an abstract entity or one of them cursed into a beast-like form.#or shes just an evil looking but normal galaxius omnipacus. it could go both ways really #... she eats through metal... can she eat vibranium lol...#the fear i felt in how i thought i lost this omg for some reason this overwrote the other ask you had sent when i saved it as a draft???#not complaining IM GLAD THIS WAS SAVED AFTER ALL LOL #anyway. thank u for asking 🫶 i hope this makes a little bit of coherent sense LOL #genuinely i have too many wants and thoughts on a sequel... so many possibilities...

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