#the only relevant thing i can think of them doing during a killing game is if one participant has a reocurring dream that they can analyze

[hubristicassholefight]

Swordswoman showdown FINALS

Hornet (Hollow Knight) vs Xena (Xena: Warrior Princess)

(Better here in a "preferred character" sense, not "who would win in a fight")

Propaganda below cut

Hornet

Technically its not a sword but she wields a needle in a setting where swords do not exist and she wields it in an exceedingly swordlike fashion so. She counts; Girlboss demigoddess spider lady. She's been protecting an entire kingdom for longer than many of the other characters have been alive. She systematically kills her siblings for being too weak. She's simply the best.

#im pretty sure hornet can beat like. anyone in a fight.#have you ever fought hornet#its so fucking hard getting past her every time i play hk i go literally insane.

#i remember getting stuck on the first hornet fight on mt first play through and bring likr#''omg the boss fights in this are so hard!!!''#like what. you're not even half way through what are you talking about#you can't even DASH honey. you don't know what's diffcult or not in this game.

So, SPOILERS

but I feel like the "she systematically kills her siblings" part needs a little clarification. See, one of her siblings was used as a living prison for an angry god and that uh. Didn't work out for the sibling in question or anyone else.

This account is itself heavily abbreviated but it's likely that any other sibling Hornet encounters will be trying to take over as the god's new prison. She appears to challenge any sibling she sees to battle, in order to test their resolve against herself and her needle - would they actually have a chance against that god?

We never actually see her kill any siblings, but she does quite pointedly tell one of them that (to paraphrase) "My needle is lethal and I would feel no sadness in a weakling's demise."

Feels like a relevant quote. In any case, if they can't beat Hornet, it seems like her needle would be a far more merciful end than what the god would grant.

Anyway, a bit of additional material for @swordswomanshowdown :

As is the case for any cool swordswoman, it's not just her sword that's lethal, it's her with it. And Hornet's needle was custom made for her - the creators have said that, while other needles exist, hers was made specifically for her to wield, and its construction allows her to use her spider silk better in combat.

And another thing that I think makes her a good swordswoman: she's actually pretty thoughtful about how she uses it. There's a least one instance where she tries to warn someone off before fighting them! At the same time, when she does fight, she seems to enjoy it - during her boss battles, you can hear her laugh sometimes, as if exhiliarated. She's really got it all, as a swordswoman!!!

#HORNET SWEEP CMON PLEEEEEEASE#shes gay. shes the only sibling with a gender. shes a spider named HORNET. look like croissant. whats not to like

Xena

Warrior Princess

She wields a sword and chakram. Just had to submit a biconic swordswoman.

i love her. she made me gay as a kid. Anyway, her weapon of choice is her sword, she is obviously very good with it

#unfortunately i have to choose and i have to choose xena#a) utena had no warcry. b) xena fought gods. c) xena has kickass goofy comic book combat which is my favorite

xena didn’t just fight gods. she fucked up a girl’s life so bad that she (calisto) devoted her entire being to destroying everything that xena loved that ended up with calisto becoming a god in order to destroy xena, which didnt work because xena entombed her in lava. and then when xena and gabrielle encountered calisto in the (christian) afterlife (different from the greek one which they also fought her in), calisto dragged gabrielle to hell so xena became an archangel in order to save gabrielle and then sacrificed herself in order to undo all the harm that she did in calisto’s life and then when not!jesus (played by timothy omundson) revives xena and gabrielle, calisto impregnates xena with the reincarnation of calisto’s soul in order to end the cycle of hate. xena doesnt just fight gods. she creates and destroys them

#this isnt even mentioning her fighting julius ceasar several times#telling brutus that caesar is not his friend#xena and gabrielle’s souls reincarnating across centuries in order to kick ass and fall in love all over again#or the time xena became a god but tbh that ep is kinda ‘uhhhhh…..’ even if they did hire a consultant for it

#I think everyone here knows to vote for Xena. I think a couple people here might have some propaganda for Xena saved already#everyone remember that Xena/Gabrielle is CANON and that's a pretty big deal also#(does anyone have that Xena Loves Trans People interview around because that would also make good propaganda)

I love Xena ❤️ 😍 💖 ❣️

#hornet #hollow knight #xena #xena: warrior princess #swordswoman showdown #poll #official #round 6 #finals

[darqx]

Some BP/HH/General asks

That mood when you want to share all the things but also want to keep it under wraps for the actual thing haha! Thanks very much anon!

As for your questions, I can't actually be specific cos there's no definitive number I have in mind for either. Basically there are a number of sectors (you can consider them their equivalent of countries - they have less than what we do though), and a number of species of demon of which I've designed about seven of. The ones I've shown before are these guys (and do you think I could find this pic again? No, I had to recreate it cos for the life of me I couldn't remember what ask I'd previously stuck it in lol):

One day when i have enough species and stuff out there I want to make a proper field guide \o/

Thank you very much for the interest! ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿ I would actually love to for BP, but before I jump the gun there I have to get the comic out first lol. That being said I have made mini-games before featuring the HH versions and some other characs alas they are all lost at the moment to the sands of Flash becoming obsolete 😩

Me and Gato do still collab sometimes (and send each other Xmas presents)! °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

I have been working on one off and on for a while actually! Hopefully I'll have some pages to post next year or so*, I've been doing a bit of thumbnailing recently :D

*that is the plan but i also don't know where people find the time to do anything with a full time job lol.

Hullo! Glad you are enjoying the snippets of BP I've got here and there :D Here is an older ref on Izm back when i first got the idea (at that time i didn't really plan to do anything with it, it was just an AU. Now it's my main project haha. Anyway the ref is a little bit out of date in that regard.)

I used to have a "field guide" which was also made quite a while ago, unfortunately the death of Flash kinda killed it. Here's a screenshot of some relevant info from it though.

That's an interesting one as it's questionable how sentient souls are after removal 🤔 In my mind its only form is the smoke light, it can "see" to some degree and MIGHT be able to talk (but in a very no one can hear them sort of way, a la i have no mouth and i must scream. So i guess it can think "aloud"). The more time passes the less sentience it has.

It could try, though it wouldn't really get anywhere if it's in Rire's collection. He might just eat it lol.

.D: Good with kids, will be fine in all aspects.

Izm: The fun dad however needs a partner that knows what they're doing to ensure the child safety during shenanigans.

Marcus and Zeke: Also would be good parents though might be more helicopter out of protectiveness/worry when first starting out.

Ren: Geek parent very good for homework help. Some Asian parent tendencies eg "ah see, i told you not to do that right? Now you see what happened."

They are similar to our known society for this! So basically, there are some good families out there (eg Zeke - who is a demon - is from a pretty average loving family), and there are some bad families out there who only care about power or having an heir or whatever.

HH Rire is a human. I differentiate between him and Demon Rire because they are two different characters...even though they are also technically the same character lol. You can consider them as alternate universe iterations of a base "Rire" concept.

I actually half jested this in an old comic lol

I am sorry to inform you that a HH webcomic doesn't actually exist 😅 I did a lot of art, animations and one shots (such as the HHJ comics) with them, but nothing actually planned or serialised or anything. Whatever's currently on my DA or here is basically what exists.

Bringing this image back cos it's relevant lol.

You spelled it correct there though! XD

#answer dump #battle priest #hh au #sz #hedonehigh #long post

[g0nta-g0kuhara]

Gonta Character Thoughts

Someone asked me earlier today for some Gonta writing tips, and while I don't know fully how useful this wall of text is for that, it let me talk about Gonta as a character and about his motivations that I think some folks might appreciate either as people who like him or people who want to understand better why I'm so insane about him. It was also really fun to pull together my thoughts on him so I wanted to share!!

The main thing for me is that Gonta is pretty confident with himself when it comes to any situation that requires physical might. When it comes to lifting heavy things or fighting for his friends, Gonta is at ease and doesn't need to hesitate to consider if he Can do the thing. On the other hand, where he's a bit more nervous or hesitant is social situations. He's unfamiliar with and misses a lot of social cues and ends up stumbling and hesitant in situations he's never been in before (like class trials at the beginning of v3). In these situations he might look to follow someone's lead or even directly ask for help.

On the topic of familiarity, Gonta is also very well versed in knowledge related to bugs and survival, as well as nature, especially in the forest where he grew up. He is not very familiar with a lot of things other characters would take for granted as common knowledge (like computers, if its relevant at all he probably doesn't know much kanji). Gonta isn't Dumb but he is missing a cultural baseline for a lot of references and info that makes him struggle where other characters will have no issues.

Gonta's convinced that he's stupid because he lacks this baseline, and because of the reinforcement and teasing by those around him. He has pretty severe self-esteem problems, and he's convinced that all he's good for is his physical strength, as that's all people seem to value him for anyways. This led to a pretty bad complex during the killing game where he blamed himself for every single death ("if gonta could have just protected them this would have never happened. its all gonta's fault") which only got worse and worse. He's desperate to help out and be useful to the group so will go along with a lot if he thinks there's a chance he will be able to help. This is a major driving force for his character, especially in chapter 4.

Gonta is probably good with fine detail work (as he has to be to work with and mount bugs) but also will forget his strength if he gets excited or otherwise forgets himself. Very polite things like holding the door open for someone or offering to take someone's hand to help them down the stairs, or other things like that that aren't necessarily expected in every day life but definitely are of a stereotypical gentleman, Gonta will do whenever he can, but it's a very intentional thing. He might hesitate, remember he should be doing that, then go for it, which can end up a bit awkward. Gonta is very kindhearted by nature, so that will often come through even if he is a bit awkward about being gentleman-level polite. He's trying his best though.

Gonta is also very openly expressive. He can't hide or suppress his emotions very well most of the time, which means he emotes A Lot. He cries more easily than the other boys in v3, or really any of the characters in the v3 cast, and definitely cries more loudly and openly. But on the other hand, when he's happy, he glows.

The one emotion he tries his best to control is anger. A lot of Gonta's social isolation before he got lost (and even after tbh) came from the fact that he was bigger than the other kids and his neutral expression can be a bit intense/scary. He's not hotheaded in the way Kaito might be, but he's very careful with his words and himself when he's upset in this way.

Gonta will also make that intense expression where he grits his teeth and Looks angry when he's stressed or hurt. This can freak out his classmates to the point that he accidentally pushes them away when he needs their reassurance the most. (see: when you talk to gonta during the ch4 investigation, when he's freaking out about not being able to remember what happened and feeling useless, he makes this expression and Kaito gets scared.)

I need to stress though that Gonta is NOT aggressive. Almost every time in game where he considers physical violence as an option, he thinks through it carefully before acting (Defending Kaede before her execution, challenging Monokuma in ch4 before being talked down). A notable exception to this might be kidnapping people for the insect meet and greet, but that was less aggression and more Gonta being in a heightened state of emotion (convinced that everyone hates bugs, which upset him) so forgetting his strength.

Also, it's important to note that Gonta IS sometimes able to hide his emotions and tell lies, but it has to be very intentional and planned ahead of time. He can't suppress his tears at the loss of a classmate, and he can't lie easily (See trial 1 and 2 where Gonta very simply says that yeah he totally could have thrown the shotput ball or tossed ryoma into the tank /physically/, even though admitting this puts a target on his back). However, he was able to hide the truth of the outside world and the fact that he was likely experiencing some really intense emotions at the time from his friends as he and Kokichi executed their plan. Of course, the fact that they were virtual world avatars helps, but its not everything. I think he just has to plan to lie or prepare himself to put on a front in advance.

I know this is super long so just one last thing: Gonta will take a Lot of verbal abuse and teasing if it goes along with his already poor self image. Other characters will call him an idiot and he doesn't even bat an eye because he's convinced of the fact himself. That's why when Kiibo played back the audio recording of Kokichi during the Insect Meet n Greet the part that upset Gonta the most wasn't Kokichi calling him "simple-minded," but instead Kokichi saying that he didn't actually like bugs. He will stand up for himself (carefully, as he always acts when he's angry-upset) if other lines are crossed, though. Like in Ch2 when Kokichi says if Gonta keeps falling for his lies he will end up a victim of the killing game, to which Gonta says something like "Don't say that Kokichi, not even as joke."

I have more I could get into but that teeters more into personal headcanon territory on his friendships and backstory, so I'll hold off. but MAN I love Gonta and I love how genuinely deep his character goes. Its a shame so few people really get into his character beyond "sunshiney bug "himbo" ", there's a lot here that's fun to play with.

#gonta gokuhara #danganronpa v3 #drv3 spoilers #shut up me #long post #READ MY POST BOY

[allovesthings]

Masterpost Targaryen/Stark parallels and contrasts in AGOT

This post is a list of the parallels/contrast I found during the reread in AGOT alone (I’ll do one for each books).

The first one I found was the Direwolves and the dragons being born which bookends a game of thrones. the Direwolves were born in the snow/ice while the dragons were born the sand/fire, all of them are born of the dead, only death can pay for life is probably illustrated there with both species.

Viserys says: “the dragon remembers” in the first Dany chapter about the stolen throne by Robert and the rebellion which later parallels with “The north remembers” when talking about the red wedding and the death of (some of) the Starks.

the Starks and Dany both have anti slavery values: We can see it in Dany’s chapter’s (this feels obvious) but also with Ned when he said that about Jorah “so the slaver has become a spy,’ Ned said with distaste. He handed the letter back ‘I would rather he became a corpse’  (I cheered)“ which is followed by Arya “he should have killed the masters”.

The description of the traits of blood of the dragon and the wolf blood are actually extremely similar : reckless and passionate and a bit chaotic and independant.

The way they talk about the dragon skulls (which are Targaryen thing) as if they are still alive and watching in King's landing and the way they talk about the dead men in a crypts (which is a Stark thing) as if they were alive and watching in Winterfell.

The parallels/contrast between Viserys and Ned’s death. Both of them dies a traitor’s death by execution but only one of them is guilty.

I think that’s a stretch but Dany plunge her entire body into the fire to create life and Jon plunging his hand into the fire to save a life might be put in here.

Cat’s quote which makes the Targaryens and the Stark direct parallel explicit : “if you lose, there is no hope for us. They say there is naught but stone at the Heart of Casterly Rock,Remember the fate of Rhaegar’s children”.Two houses seemingly destroyed by Tywin Lannister with horrifying means with secret heirs and children still alive all over the world with magical creature maybe able to change the outcome of the war for the dawn.

The parallel/contrast between Rhaenys and Arya, two little girls who got Balerion the Cat and the first victims of Tywin, (the parallel is done by Varys), Arya being the one saved by Jon’s gift (who is technically both of theirs brothers) and her knowledge of the tunnels created by the Targaryens (and she feels protected by the dragon’s skulls).

Robb being crowned king and the next chapter Dany getting the symbol of her queenship and essentially being crown queen in her own right with the birth of the dragons a chapter away from each other

There are a lot of Fire (for Targaryens) and Ice (For the Starks) symbolisms, although some characters from said house are associated with other elements (Arya and water, which is what happen when Fire melt ice so this feel relevant to her character in general but this isn’t about that) :

In the first Dany chapter again: her brother had often said that it was never too hot for a Targaryen. “ours is the house of the dragon” he would say, “The fire is in our blood”

In the Second Cat chapter:: Ned could never abide the heat, the Starks were made for the cold: “Even now, he was a Stark of Winterfell, rage and grief froze hard inside him” which links the Stark explicitely with the cold.

I might do a seperate post on Dany and Arya’s arcs specifically (in the entire series) paralleling each other sometimes.We’ll see.

#asoiaf #asoiaf reread #A Song of Ice and Fire #daenerys targaryen #Catelyn Stark #viserys targaryen #Rhaegar Targaryen #Ned Stark #jon snow #robb stark #I'm sure there is more #arya stark #Tywin Lannister

[mazepunner]

my tmr headcannons

this is a work of disaster i am bringing over from my alarming twitter. my headcannons. all together. enjoy.

while minho runs the maze, he's thinking of everyone back in the glade, individually, and why he needs to keep going for them.

alby once got in a huge screaming match with gally over who should be second in command.

gally has a soft spot for newt and they've accidentally fallen into really deep conversations by the campfire.

when newt did his leg thing alby let him pick which job he wanted.

zart once started a food fight and alby threw him in the pit for wasting food.

ben once knocked a candle over and burned one of the huts down.

gally concussed himself on the job and actually shut up for a week.

chuck once called out for his mum in his sleep and everyone heard but nobody ever acknowledged it.

nobody ever told newt that they'd finished mapping the maze.

gally once got so mad he threw a hammer and alby put him in the pit for a week.

gally was the pit's most frequent visitor.

during an argument at a keeper's meeting, winston once told newt that "not everyone got to pick their jobs" and newt walked out.

winston immediately came out and apologised and there was a bit of crying, some confessions, and hug. from then, winston and newt really saw eachother eye-to-eye.

in ben's legendary hut fire of '85, gally threw his 'trade secret' drink on it and made it much much worse.

still on the topic of the hut fire, alby froze and didn't know what to do, while newt barked orders and managed to get it under control. people called him 'fire chief' for weeks.

jeff hated his job.

newt has insomnia and alby used to stay awake and keep him company as they walked around the glade.

minho used to just come and sit beside newt without saying anything and somehow that meant so much to both of them.

alby swore once and everyone threatened to throw him in the pit.

minho snores.

gally is janson's son or nephew i haven't decided.

when newt started working in the fields everyone came up and either hugged him or gave him a pat on the back and he teared up.

zart once fell on his head while trying to do a cartwheel and everyone thought he was dead until he got up and did another once, successfully, with the others all screaming at him to stop.

alby used to have this little spot in the deadheads where he'd go to have a breather and everyone knew just to leave him alone.

gally got sick once and lost his voice and minho took the opportunity to insult him until he got punched.

newt is gay.

newt had a crush on alby but never ever would have told him ever because he didn't think it was relevant to their situation and nothing would ever come of it.

newt found out he was allergic to sheep when wckd sent one up in the box and he had a sneezing fit every time he walked past it. 

he'd insist he was fine until his eyes swelled up and winston realised what was going on and yelled "kill the sheep!"

gally and newt once got so drunk at a bonfire that they waltzed together.

it ended abruptly when gally tripped and they both almost fell into the fire.

minho and alby caught them and alby yelled at everyone to go to bed.

zart can draw. really really well.

when chuck first arrived he didn't speak for two days.

newt once fell asleep on alby at the bonfire and everyone just let him

they had glade-wide games of hide and seek and it was chaos

ben once ate a bug and was worried he'd get superpowers

gally's excuse for quitting being a runner was that he got bored

if someone's having a rough time, frypan arranges their breakfast into a little picture before giving it to them

alby's scared of mice

newt's double jointed in a lot of ways and it freaks alby out but zart loves it

ben replaced newt as a runner.

chuck once sat in some mud and gally lent him a shirt to tie around his waist to cover it up until he could fix it

when ben replaced newt they both found it hard to talk to each other

and minho literally only talked to ben about running and had no patience for anything else... to begin with

zart kept trying to come up with his own catch phrase and was always cycling through them

frypan gave everyone a safety briefing before they started work in the kitchen, mentioned it to gally once and he started doing the same with the builders

winston always slept in and had to be woken up by alby or newt

gally built the homestead before he had a growth spurt, so all the doorways are too low for him

when thomas got stung, teresa and chuck stayed by his side the whole time

and during that time chuck told teresa that he wanted to see his parents again

newt once said alby's name in his sleep and minho heard and starting laughing so loudly that everyone woke up

ben once sneezed on alby and everyone screamed and ran

gally once tripped on a fence and fell into the pig pen

ben decided he was going to give frypan a night off and cook for everyone. the kitchen caught fire.

there were relationships in the glade but none of them were ever 'public'

on bonfire night frypan always walked around making sure everyone was hydrated and fed and not drinking too much of gally's drink

on bonfire night gally always walked around making sure everyone was drinking too much of gally's drink

clint could sing

jeff could too and sometimes you'd be able to walk past the homestead and hear them harmonising together

ben was by far the most susceptible to gally's drink. by far.

minho was actually a super anxious person but really good at hiding it

for a week the glade had a pet caterpillar

it went missing and zart tried to launch an investigation before alby told him they needed food more than they needed caterpillars

alby remains the prime suspect on zart's list to this day

minho and newt literally ran into each other in the maze once and newt went FLYING

minho was laughing too hard to help him up

alby once called a meeting to put an end to everyone calling each other "bro" because it was "annoying and stopping work from getting done"

minho had started the trend

gally once got so annoyed with everyone that he went and sat in the box

minho checked in on the runners because he didn't want anyone losing hope

for a long time alby was the one who could really make minho smile

when newt and minho met up at the end of their routes, minho would look at newt expectantly, newt would just shake his head and then minho would pat him on the back and they'd run back to the glade in silence

newt used to give chuck his leftovers

alby fell asleep in the homestead during the day once and everyone started placing bigger and bigger items on him until zart tried to balance a table on his head and he woke up

winston really admired alby and wished he could lead as well as him

whenever frypan was sad, he would talk to alby

-there was this running joke that alby shaved every morning because he didn't want anyone to know that he was an old man

newt was initially REALLY shy

approximately 40% of them sang in the showers

frypan made special meals for anyone who'd been in the med shack that day

if anyone left rubbish lying around newt would kick it at them

zart would follow him around picking it up

minho was quietly fascinated by zart

zart was loudly fascinated by everyone

friendship bracelets were a thing for a while, thanks to zart and clint

alby would throw his arm around whoever was nearby

clint's job stressed him out big time but he couldn't imagine doing anything else. it was just really frustrating not having the resources to really help when he needed to.

if newt was in a stroppy mood he'd sit down next to someone and pull his legs up and drape them across that person's lap

in response to that: zart would smile, minho would pay no attention, alby would worry, jeff would start checking his legs over (and newt would try to kick him), and gally would laugh

oh and chuck would hug his legs

chuck secretly wanted to be a medjack but it scared him

there was one person who would always talk to whoever was upset or crying and that person was jeff

when ben and minho ran past thomas and chuck that very first time, they got to the map room and immediately cracked up laughing at thomas' face

alby was actually the best friend in that he would ALWAYS laugh at people's jokes

zart wanted to celebrate when each glader had spent a year in the glade but alby firmly told him no because it wasn't something to celebrate

but zart got frypan to sneak each person an extra helping of bacon at the bonfire when their day came around

when ben got made a runner he just subconsciously started spending all his time with minho. he was just drawn to him, wherever he was. so they ended up spending every minute of every day together.

ben was always the guy who didn't get the joke but laughed anyway

frypan was super perceptive and could always pick up on someone feeling upset or off in any way

chuck subconsciously looked up to EVERYONE. he wanted to be brave like minho, funny like zart (he always laughed at zarts jokes), smart like alby, friendly like winston, caring like newt, loyal like ben, cheerful like frypan, the list goes on

and my point is he didn't see any of this consciously but he took on little pieces of them all every time he spoke to them. they all influenced him like older brothers and helped him to feel at home, one of them.

gally did little things to make everyone feel at home. that thing he said to thomas about being "safe with us" he said to everyone in one way or another. he reminded them that the glade was their "haven" from whatever was out there

i don't believe thomas had a crush on newt "from the moment he saw him" but i think newt mesmerised him a little and once he mentioned being a runner thomas decided he was definitely worth getting to know above anyone else

there was one day when everyone had a turn styling chucks hair around the campfire

winston yells at flies

one day, when newt was sad, minho came up behind him and just starting brushing his hair until it fluffed up

chuck always had clammy hands and was subconscious about it until gally told him it just meant he was working hard all the time

oh and the fluffy hair newt thing, alby was watching and smiling from nearby as newts smile slowly grew too

ben was even more optimistic than zart and that's saying something

and minho went through moments of being SUPER pessimistic like "the world is ending" type stuff and ben would always be like "no i don't think so"

newt was honestly a pretty good runner

^but not in a competitive way, like minho was. he just quietly went out and got the job done really well.

there was a dance move known only as "the zart" and no i won't describe it

when alby cried you KNEW it was serious

they had three banishments before ben's

when newt felt sad he tried to help out more with the animals because it felt good taking care of someone else

alby arrived with a blank book and he kept a journal of every day in the glade.

zart has four aloe vera plants growing up the back of the vegetable garden and he treats them with utmost importance

they grow sunflowers and eat the seeds

gally was the one who taught chuck how to carve the little chuck doll

gally would tell people if they had food on their face

zart has a bad back

the medjacks had a little "how to-" book which was all of the information they'd learned over the years

newt wrote a sassy note in that book when he was in a bad mood one day that basically said "how to piss off newt: leave him in here, alone and bored"

clint drew little doodles around the entries

minho and alby used to have thumb wars

the runners had meetings each week to discuss anything they'd found

clint was really good at opening jars

zart and frypan figured out how to make herbal tea and they always left peppermint tea out on the kitchen bench for when newt couldn't sleep

ben and gally were mates

frypan was by far the best hugger

they all SUCKED at communicating their feelings

except for clint who's an oversharer - lena

they once had a limbo contest and jeff was the winner by far

going way back to the subject of zart being able to draw, he would stay up late drawing by candlelight before bed. and because they didn't have mirrors he drew portraits for everyone so that they could know what they looked like.

and back to the subject of newt not sleeping, sometimes he would sit with zart. zart tried to teach him to draw but newt got frustrated and found it much more relaxing to just watch zart create his magic.

and when newt was in a good mood he'd sit there making requests for zart to draw and zart would always put his own little spin on whatever newt asked for and complicate it.

like one time newt asked him to draw a cat and zart drew a whole forest of animals and hid a cat in one of the trees.

newt, minho and zart had discussions about sexuality together. nothing hugely revelatory like coming out, but enough to feel comfortable with each other and know that they could if they felt the need.

zart and newt both knew the other wasn't straight. minho gave nothing away and just said "i'm down with that" to whatever they were discussing

somewhat related to pride, newt was easily distracted by rainbows

gally became a builder because he wanted a job that kept his hands busy and that he could really keep track of his progress and see his achievements

newt and minho kept each other company whenever they sensed they needed it

one time alby told them all to shut up and go to bed, got in his hammock, it broke and it was so unexpected that nobody knew what to say

then newt quietly went "are you okay?" and zart started laughing

gally got up and silently helped alby fix the hammock before going straight back to bed

minho could keep a secret. and he knew EVERYONE'S secrets because he paid attention.

when thomas arrived they genuinely all thought he'd be a slopper and nobody doubted it

anyone who slept with their shoes on got their laces tied together by minho

once newt went to hug alby and accidentally kissed him on the cheek out of instinct, panicked, and started power walking in the other direction

minho witnessed the whole thing and immediately started crying with laughter

alby had to go after newt and check he was okay without laughing too

newts one of those people who, when he gets angry or frustrated, he tears up. and it just makes him more frustrated to he tears up even more and he hates it because he thinks people won't take him seriously if they notice.

gally and newt both fidget a lot.

oh and so does thomas but like next level fidgeting. he has to be DOING something all of the time or he can't sit still.

alby loved all of the gladers so much so so so much

winston, clint and ben were all left handed

the trackhoes used to have the worst back problems after gardening all day every day, so clint became the resident masseuse

zart used to literally have daily massages

newt always got leaves stuck in his hair

zart always stuck leaves in newt's hair

newt's favourite food was bacon. like he LOVED it and everyone else was like okay mate calm down and newt was like BACON

there was one day that little bouquets of flowers started appearing around the place and everyone knew it was zart but he never admitted to it

when minho wanted someone to know he cared about them he'd give them a little pat on the back

minho used to love taking part in the bonfire nights but as time went on he found them more and more pointless

frypan is one of those people who can really REALLY hold it together for so long. nobody gets to know if he's feeling sad until he breaks down.

alby is surprisingly good at impressions and accents

zart has a love-hate relationship with the goat: it's cute, but it can also completely destroy all of his hard work in the span of an hour

the goat had been put in the pit numerous times before newt suggested that was a bit cruel and they should tie it up outside and release it under supervision instead

newt has the biggest "okay, fuck you" face out of anyone in the glade and it comes out extra strong when he's being mocked (inspired by visro's brain)

and when newt's "fuck you" face comes out, it usually earns him a little ruffling of his hair, courtesy of minho of course

and every time, newt will swat his hand away but every time, he'll also smile

anyway that's enough about newt because clint makes necklaces

gally's biggest priority is making sure the med hut is in good shape and asking the medjacks if they need anything built or replaced

ben is the kinda person to say 'ow' even when something doesn't hurt

gally looks up to everyone (even though he literally doesn't show that ever at all, just believe me)

minho was really REALLY pissed when gally quit being a runner and they had this huge fight that they both never really got over

anyway minho doesn't know what it feels like not to constantly work hard

zart once tried to make alby a wig out of hay. alby wore it once and then didn't stop sneezing for a week

clint takes every decision and outcome to heart and jeff has to talk him down each time

after newts accident jeff forced clint to take a break because clint was convinced he was making the wrong decisions for newt

gally has ocd

they have this whole book of theories for why they're in the maze

alby contributed the least to the book because he was convinced that it didn't matter why they were there

winston was super brainy

somebody made a "caution: wet floor" sign and threw it in the pond

the bonfires were frypan's idea

zart was a big hugger

gally built crutches for newt and sanded them down until they were perfect

at first, newt was convinced he didn't need them but after a stern word from jeff about how hard gally had worked on them, newt gave in

winston is super flexible

whenever anyone's feeling down they eventually end up with a pep talk from alby or newt

gally built board games for when they had to shelter from the rain or rest inside for any reason

zart plays snakes and ladders with anyone who's willing

alby makes a point of talking to every single person on bonfire nights

newt tries to do the same but gally's trade secret recipe often gets in the way of that

because im watching tdc and minho dropping to his knees inspired me: when minho found newt in the maze he skidded to a stop on his knees beside him

when ben got stung minho tried to talk to him for hours because the others all thought he'd be the best one to get info out of him

newt had this big chat to alby about feeling bad for whacking ben in the head when he probably didn't need to and gally poked his head in and reminded newt that ben was trying to kill thomas

and newt took gally's word for it that it was okay because gally had been hit in the head so many times they'd all lost count

okay that's it for now oh my god

that was two years' worth of headcannons

#the maze runner #thomas #newt #gally #alby #zart #winston #clint #jeff #the goat #chuck #frypan #minho #ben #tmr #maze #running #maze running in the maze #headcannons #hcs #from twitter

[crescentfool]

i love ryomina

no but seriously. even when i’m thinking about other things that captivate my interest, i find myself coming back to them and feeling like i fell down three whole flights of staircases every time i do. they are one of my favorite pairs in media and are very special to me.

it’s the way that ryoji and minato’s lives are inevitably intertwined with each other due to the circumstances 10 years ago on the moonlight bridge. without no minato, there is no ryoji. minato as he is today is because of ryoji. they have irreparably affected each other’s lives that you cannot discuss one without bringing up the other one.

ryoji mochizuki, who is death, pharos, thanatos, nyx avatar, the man of many names and identities, is the perfect summation of p3′s messages and themes.

minato arisato, the wildcard and protagonist, who has boundless kindness in his actions despite the unfortunate cards handed to him.

the two of them complement each other and tell a beautiful story from start to finish.

minato’s personas capture this perfectly. he awakens to orpheus, who’s flames burns bright, is snuffed out by thanatos during the encounter against the arcana magician. a visual precursor of the idea that ryoji stole from the life that minato could have had.

it’s the way that over the course of the game as minato interacts with pharos, talking throughout the dark hour, forging a bond that cannot be broken, that allows ryoji to exist. minato humanizes death.

november. the bells toll, calling the appriser. and yet, it’s peaceful... quiet, and full of life. ryoji, who breaks free from death’s chains, refusing his role, is given the chance to live for a month. to make the most of the humanity that minato has given him over those ten years. and what a life he lived. ryoji’s life is a reflection of what minato’s life could have been like in another universe.

it is the way the two of them are reflections of each other. ryoji with his hair down is just like minato. they are both stubbornly committed to choosing to be kind, to love life, yet are chained down by the cards the narrative dealt them with. they finish each other’s sentences, knowing each other intimately in a way no one else does.

how is that, a boy who lived for only one month, profoundly changes the course of the narrative? he is simultaneously relevant and irrelevant. blink, and you miss it, the beautiful life that he led.

ryoji is horrified at the revelations of being the appriser. he who so desperately wished to forget that his existence was meant to bring the end to all life, was unable to escape the inevitability of death. in a non-human way, of course. he becomes remorseful. a shadow of his brief time as a human who was enamored by the small beautiful things that life had to offer.

he is swallowed by grief. grief knowing that his very existence will take away not only minato’s life, but everyone else’s. the very thing that ryoji loved- life, fundamentally went against the role he was born for- to be the harbinger of death. and unable to grapple with this sadness he believes that the best thing for minato to do is to kill him, so that SEES can live in bliss not knowing about their inevitable end.

SEES is left rattled, calling into question what the meaning of life is and what they do when faced against the inevitability of death.

and!!! minato chooses!! for ryoji to live!! even in spite of what ryoji is MEANT to embody, minato still stubbornly chooses to defy death itself! and if that’s not cool i don’t know what is!! minato wants everyone to have the chance to live!!

so he climbs. he ascends tartarus, to meet ryoji, again, who is now the nyx avatar. and i just think there’s something so so beautiful about being able to use messiah, minato’s ultimate persona, against nyx avatar.

messiah, being the fusion of orpheus and thanatos is peak ryomina to me. because ryoji and minato have established an unbreakable bond from having been entwined for 10 years, minato still has a piece of death with him, and by proxy!! ryoji is able to defy and rebel against nyx trying to bring the fall! and i think that’s fucking cool shit if you ask me!

even when all of the arcanas have been gone through, it’s still not enough to stop the fall. and yet. minato knows. in the way that ryoji was sealed in minato 10 years ago by aigis... minato becomes the great seal so that everyone can live. it comes full circle.

march rolls around. he fulfills his promise to SEES on graduation day. minato dies from exhaustion. but goddamn does his sacrifice make me weep- he’s had such, such a tiring journey. he’s been through so many things because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. but at the end of it all, he’s reunited with ryoji in death.

and i think this is why ryomina continues to evoke so much emotions for me, to this day. the relationship that they have embodies so much of persona 3′s messages and themes that it makes me feel like a microwave with nothing running in it.

p3′s message is very hopeful, for me. my favorite takeaway from it is that even if death is inevitable, appreciating the life that we were given and choosing to live as best as we can with kindness (even if we can’t feasibly do everything), is just? really nice? and you see this manifest in both ryoji and minato’s personalities and what they do for the other characters.

ryomina just feels so distinct to me, the flavor that their relationship ties back to my favorite takeaways from this game and im just!!  god!! i love you minato arisato! i love you ryoji mochizuki! im so glad that i could meet them! i’m happy that they changed my life! they made me want to appreciate the connections in life even if they were fleeting! they made me!! want to pay attention to the good moments in life and cherish them!

i love ryomina so much!!! i’m so glad that these two could bring so much joy into my life! and i hope that others can have this joy too! 💛💙

#lizzy speaks #persona 3 #ryomina #ryoji mochizuki #minato arisato #meta #long post #(literally) #HI SO UM YESTERDAY I COULDN'T FUCKING SLEEP so to cope i was like 'i will talk out loud about anything and everything' #and somehow that turned into me talking about ryomina out loud and something about verbalizing my thoughts made me feel crazy about these- #two again. i mean for the record i continue to love them always very dearly but like my p3 braincells sometimes go into hibernation bc- #ive been on a really huge splatoon kick. but anyway my voice was like cracking at 3am because i was tearing up #i was like 'THE!! IM! SO NORMAL ABT WHAT ORPHEUS AND THANATOS AND MESSIAH SYMBOLIZE' etc etc etc #so i kinda just went to sleep like 'ok well you GOTTA type it out. everyone needs to know about this.' #and um i didnt mean to make 1069 words! sorry! not really! but i love them!!! even if im very quiet these days! #ohhh how lucky i am to have had the chance to experience ryomina they are such a gem. they make me so goddamn emotional #they really mean a lot to me because of well. (gestures at the entire post) but also they came at a really good point of my life and FUCK!! #im so so grateful to them!!! i love them!!!! the themes that their relationship and characters convey just !! IM SO NORMAL ABOUT IT!!! #they've affected me so profoundly and deeply and i wish i could make better art to get this across. but its ok. one day i can. one day #they make me so fucking talkative like actually but um. i had a lot of fun writing this! i dont think ive had like. a proper appreciation- #post for them that articulates why i like them so much (unless you count the essays i write in my art tags) so it was nice to make this. #admittedly theres a lot abt p3 that im rusty on since its been a goodwhile since ive interacted with the source material #and in a way you could say that like. i need to renew my p3 license LMAOOO but god some parts of p3 still have such a huge death grip on me #and what i mean by that is that the big Fucking Events have such!! clarity!! in my mind!! i recall them and i wilt on the spot!! #oh god i cant fucking shut up. the tags are probably 500 words long. enjoy my ramble. i wish every ryomina enjoyer a Good Life <3 #actually no. i hope that EVERYONE on the dash today has something that sparks joy for them the way ryomina does for me. #everyone deserves 2 have something that makes their brain do a little excited dance that makes them blow up and explode. its good for u! #BYE FOR REAL this is why i have to post my thoughts very spread out otherwise yall would have so many WORDS on ur dash pls help i have so #many emotions and i am so tiny i cannot possibly fit all the feelings i have about ryomina and other things inside my tiny little body

[nebuvoid]

A pro-Kairi rant

This here is why I don't want canon undeniable confirmed no work around Sora/Kairi in future KH in a nutshell. This is my personal ramble I just want to get off my chest on my own blog. This is nothing against people that ship it.

It's not because I'm some ew yucky girl hater. It's the opposite. I've always loved Kairi and any sane fan will tell you she's been treated like crap through the entire series.

The moment she's confirmed to be "safe", she gets left behind. Again and again and again. She just wants to be included. She wants to break out of this role and is beat down every time she tries to.

KH3 does that again. MoM does that AGAIN. Like it's so deliberately disrespectful. Your role is to stay behind and stare longingly at the skyline.

Again and again we're shown that she tries to break out of this and can't. And no KH3 doesn't fix it. She once again has to rely on her Princess powers to be allowed to be relevant, when we're shown she wants to be actively a part of this with her fighting prowess. What does she get for that? Killed to be rescued again. I know some people thought Remind was a some great gotcha moment but really it just confirmed the already existing status quo.

And any moments to give her some development get deliberately pushed aside (Very cool we never see her training) or explained away (you can't learn during your adventure like EVERY other character, you specifically have to stay behind for this).

If the series wants to have this relationship, why go out of their way to cut her out over and over? Just as an example: We see Sora excitedly text Riku, why isn't he also talking about Kairi? No really, I'm asking. Even if she's in the timeless forest (sorry guys we can't show you a fun little level for that too much work ugh)(we just really needed Kairi to write a onesided letter to Sora and to remind Lea of Xion - because even here she's not allowed to have a moment for herself), a simple "Man, I wish I could send Kairi a message but I can't reach her there." line would've done a lot. Why make it so purposefully onesided? Why make it so sad and cruel.

Then you have the whole Winnie Pooh - Kairi parallel in KH3 plus the awkward paopu scene that really hammer home how things have changed, they have changed, expectations aren't working out. There's plenty other posts that dig deep into this.

If Kairi as she is now "gets officially together" with Sora, while she's still not allowed to develop her own identity, actually have her own moments, break out of her role as the pining left behind love interest... well maybe some people don't care but I do. It would feel so rotten. The heteronormative amatonormative mainstream media standard that the girl character doesn't need development, she can just be there to be longed after. You know when you watch a TV show and he was a boy she was a girl syndrome starts and you feel that uncomfortable feeling? It's that.

I thought we'd at least get something out of MoM but even here her moment gets stolen by Sora. I don't care if it's a heart connection or whatever, on screen I am once again Sora. (Just to be clear I love my boy Sora I'm just looking at this from an outside the game perspective.)

Actually there's a great video on that here.

Sora and Riku's relationship has been developed over the course of several games. We know them as people, we know their bond. Why should I care about Sora and Kairi in a romantic setting when the games go out of their way to give me next to nothing beyond "she's the girl 🤪you know". Like she's just a prop.

Kairi deserves better.

Let her develop her own connections. Let her actually find out about her past in RG. Let her finally be an actual equal to Sora and Riku. And then and only then can I be behind canon Sora/Kairi.

I wish I could word this better but I think about this and I'm just filled with indignation and I blank out.

Not because I'm a hater, but because I think Kairi deserves fucking better, do I not want a romantic relationship for her. A girl character is more than just a damn accessory. KH3 didn't do a great job with most characters, but at least in their respective games Aqua, Xion and Namine are allowed to have actual depth, motivation and feelings beyond a rigid role.

In conclusion *big sigh* if a canon romantic relationship for Kairi does take place without any of the above mentioned, I will be severely disappointed.

Now is the last chance to give Kairi the treatment she actually deserves. Considering the track record I don't exactly have high hopes.

P.S. Personally I think KH works best without romantic duos anyway. Platonic bonds can and are just as deep, romanticism just gets placed at the top of the hierarchy - usually - except KH always goes out of its way to show us that that doesn't matter. You don't see people shipping Aqua with Ven and yet no one would question they care deeply about one another. Romance isn't a requirement for love.

P.P.S. Why didn't you give her the damn ribbon Sora, that would've been a really sweet moment.

#this is not a well thought out post this is just a stream of thought rant #kh talk #kairi kh #tentatively tagging

[h-worksrambles]

To be a Good Dog, or an Enemy of the World: Models of Masculinity in Shelter

Shelter is a very easy game to treat lightly when you first start it up. A bright colourful visual novel about anthropomorphic dog men, with clear Shounen anime influences in its tone and aesthetic. Charming, funny and unabashedly horny, Shelter presents itself as a game about a group of aggressively quirky treasure hunting doggos getting into all kinds of shenanigans amidst a post apocalyptic frozen wasteland. But to my surprise, not only did I find a game with unexpectedly rich worldbuilding, some sick action scenes (especially for a visual novel) and some genuinely powerful emotional payoffs. But it turns out Shelter has some surprisingly relevant things to say about constructs of masculinity and how they affect queer people. Full spoilers for the everything up to the most recent public update below.

Much of the story of the game revolves around Luke, the overseer of this technologically advanced home for lost Canines, and, apparently, one of the only known remaining Humans, as well as his three closest friends, and our three route characters: Burry, Rune and Max. We follow three alternate timelines where Luke spends the day bonding with one of the three, and, during the recurring event of Skies Ablaze, struggles with his identity as the only human in a giant facility full of anthropomorphic dog men. When Shelter malfunctions and is overrun by monsters, we witness three alternate ways the attack can play out. And in the course of this, the magical nature of Skies Ablaze as an event causes Luke to experience the memories of one of the three route characters. Through this we see the events that brought them to Shelter and how they became the self actualised people we see in the main game. That’s an extremely basic rundown of the gist of the game. But what I think makes this interesting is what we learn about the what the three used to be like before they joined.

All three of the route characters were in the service of one of the other powers that make up Shelter’s setting. Burry grew up along his many siblings only to be contracted as a scientist by the Wolves. Rune likewise was raised to be a soldier by the Wolves from birth. And Max was a spy and assassin on behalf of the Felines. It’s a common joke in the fandom to say that ‘everyone in Shelter is a war criminal’ but there’s definitely a major component of these dogs all being obligated and indoctrinated to serve corrupt systems of power, that lead then to do deplorable things. Burry begins research into the nature of Monsters, which leads him to turn the Wolves’ living test subjects into Monsters in a series of horrific experiments. Most shockingly, this included all of his own siblings. Rune, as the latest incarnation of the legendary hero, Moon, is trained to become the champion and general of the Wolven army and key to their expansion. Having been wrenched away from the only father figure he ever knew, he has taken countless lives in various campaigns, preparing himself for the moment when the power of his past lives finally manifests and his individual consciousness will fade.

Max is the least clear due to his route being unfinished, but we do know that he along with his brother Atri were trained not just to kill by the Felines, but also to hate and repress their own identity as Canines. To think of themselves as Felines, not being given a chance to choose that for themselves. Even in the present day, this still has an effect on Max. He struggles to relate to the other dogs, to adopt their mannerisms. Because he spent years being told that part of him was shameful and he should aspire to be something else.

So what’s the point of all of this? Well, while on the surface, Shelter is a fairly straightforward story of redemption, of people who have all done bad stuff in the past finding a home where they can make a fresh start and live better lives, it becomes very interesting when read through a queer theory lens. In fact, one starts to see some very pertinent points about the societal cishet masculine constructs that queer people have to exist in every day.

A recurring idea that comes up in the cast’s past is their instinctive desire to be told they’re a ‘good dog’. It’s a validation Burry craves as a scientist and Rune craves as a soldier. And sure, there’s a basic anthropomorphic element that they’re dogs who want to be praised. But what defines a ‘good dog’ in this context? Well, in a word, obedience. To live up to a very rigid social standard of what’s expected of them as a Canine, and crush any impulse that tells them otherwise. Burry must be cold and rational as a scientist, quashing his own empathy to perform disgusting experiments. Rune must be a constant image of strength as the legendary Hero. Always fighting for the sake of others and never showing a hint of weaknesses or vulnerability. As Luke points out, if his purpose is to save others, then who is going to save him? All three characters have to deny a part of themselves to live up to what arbitrary wider forces of power or culture have decided they should be. The realisation of this causes then to voice one of Shelter’s arc phrases:

“This World, truly, is Hell.”

And it is something they are only able to shake off when they are among the other dogs at Shelter. Or, in other words, when they are among other queer non conforming men, both literally and metaphorically. This is marked by then declaring themselves as having become an ‘Enemy of the World’. They have rejected the identity that was assigned to them by those in power, and have chosen one that lets them live as their best and true selves. Even when it may cause others to see them as a deviant or even an enemy.

Another factor that leads me to equate caninehood with queer masculinity is the fact that pretty much every named character in Shelter is male. Only one character with female pronouns has even been so much as mentioned so far in the text. Now there are other meta reasons for this. Shelter is an MLM centric, very NSFW game. One of the core draws of the game is to bang a bunch of hot muscular anthros, with very traditionally hypermasculine bodies. But when the game chooses to explore these themes of repression, identity, rigid social constructs and healthy self expression, it’s hard not to see a commentary on masculinity being made if every character is very pointedly, a guy. Now, I don’t want to imply that only queer men will get anything out of Shelter. I think these themes can resonate with any queer person. But I do think that when Shelter is read through the lens of being about the effects of toxic masculinity on queer people, it gains additional resonance.

In addition I think this lens of caninehood equalling queerness is also seen in the overt, casual sexuality of the dogs at Shelter. Luke is already friends with benefits with all three of the route characters before the game even starts. The player can have Luke hook up with other characters like Thistle and Alon and it has no negative consequences as no one really cares about that sort of thing. Again, this is to be expected in a smutty gay furry VN. But it does serve the point about queer celebration and expression. These characters can now be themselves here, whatever that entails. Homophobia is not really brought up as a concept in this game (again, with practically no female characters there are no straight relationships to be propped up as more desirable). But the spectre of it lingers metaphorically in the game’s subtext. There is a conflict between what other forces claim a ‘good dog’ should be, and what caninehood means to these characters.

So how do our characters break free from these masculine constructs? Well, in many ways, because of Luke. Burry, having left behind his masters after deciding he could no longer work for them, goes into hiding in the snowy wastelands beyond Mozeburk. Trying and failing to save his brothers’ souls. He finally meets Luke, half dead in the snow, where the two band together and ultimately discover and establish Shelter. The two devise a magic to restore the souls of Burry’s brothers which Burry calls on in the present day during the final battle. Burry believed he had been irreparably warped by his complicity in the systems around him. That he was no longer a Canine, but a monster still worse than the ones he created. But he reinvents himself through finding connection with someone who believes in him, and who he believes in too. His love for Luke gives him a new purpose and identity. He now lives not for the sake of obedience but for loyalty. The toxic idea of what it means to be a dog is reimagined as something more positive. Kind of like embracing a healthier understanding of masculinity.

This applies to Rune as well. Before he felt he could never express his own weakness due to his socially mandated role, and awaited the total loss of his sense of self. He even ends up imposing those harsh systems on others by intending to take Shelter away from Luke and Burry and hand its powerful technology over the Wolves. Meeting Luke causes Rune to reconsider everything he once thought about himself. And it culminates in him manifesting the power of the Hero not in himself, but in Luke. He allows himself to be saved, to be emotionally vulnerable, to be sexually liberated (as it is around this point that Rune starts engaging freely in casual sex). He comes out, both literally and symbolically, not as the Hero, but as Rune. He trades closed off stoicism for boisterous earnestness. Again, a newer, healthier form of canine masculinity. And while Max’s flashbacks have not yet been elaborated on, I fully expect them to follow this theme.

There is also something to be said about how, within Shelter, they take on new roles that have sometimes culturally bern labelled as not being stereotypically masculine. Burry is the tavern cook. Rune, while ostensibly the chief of Shelter and head of defence, spends most of his time as a teacher for the other dogs. And Max shines as a musician. There too they take on gentler, nonconforming images of masculinity, ones in which their queerness can shine.

And key to all of these arcs, is Luke himself. I would posit that, if Shelter is about a bunch of traumatised men learning to embrace and celebrate their queerness, then Luke, narratively, is queerness personified. His own struggles as the only Human among the dogs represents a near universal queer experience. He wants to be accepted, to be as much of a canine as they are. But he is othered for something he was born as, something he can’t control. He is bullied and isolated by Teak, who is himself a walking hotbed of every toxically masculine trait in the book to drive this home further. In fact, between his hang ups over the physical differences between him and the dogs and how this eats away at his perception of his own identity, you could potentially read Luke’s arc as metaphorically being about gender identity, as he comes to realise that those arbitrary differences he was born with don’t make him any less of a canine at heart. But, as a random cis dude, I kinda feel like that’s not really my analysis to make beyond the broad strokes, even though it’s worth bringing that up.

He undergoes many relatable queer hardships But he also embodies the positive transformative power of queerness. Giving Burry someone to love and live for. Becoming the Hero for Rune to allow the latter to be true to himself. And accepting Max even though he is far from a typical Canine. In the present day story, Luke is the one who undergoes a character arc, compared to his friends/lovers who all go through theirs in flashbacks. In an act of queer solidarity, these now self actualised men are able to help him when he struggles with his identity and purpose in a way that mirrors themselves. Like Burry, Luke struggles with his sense of duty, keeping Shelter running smoothly at a distance, versus what he wants in his heart. Like Rune, he bottles up his emotions to act as the support for everyone else, and learns to confide in them and ask for help (all while stepping once more into the role of the Hero during the final battle, taking on a power only a canine could wield and proving his true nature once more). The Enemies of the World find home, support and empathy with each other, even as that World tries to quash them.

Of course, not only is the story incomplete but I’ve only scratched the surface with Shelter as a game. I could go further into characters like Teak, Alon and Cooper and how they all reinforce these themes in various ways. Or mine further details from the rich worldbuilding. Or even discuss the meta significance of the game’s multiple endings through the Barkest Corner. But my point was really to discuss what made Shelter so special to me. It’s a goofy, gorgeous, shameless visual novel with a lot of polish, a lot of porn and an even bigger amount of heart and sincerity at its core. It tells a moving queer narrative draped in a fantastical veneer and does it incredibly well. And I can’t wait to see how Rausmutt plans to bring it to a close.

#thank for listening to me ramble on about the gay furry doggo game #shelter vn #shelter #rune moon #burry tangleroot #max shelter #luke shelter

[goshdangronpa]

about the character info thing, could you possibly do it for Ultimate Imposter? i adore them and i don't see them getting talked about a lot-

Hi ho, silver! I certainly can. A while back, I wrote a story starring the Imposter for the zine Everybody Loves Hajime. It's still in the works, and I'll post updates when a release date is announced! In the meantime, have this.

Sexuality Headcanon: My headcanon is that it doesn’t really matter to them. When an imposter embodies someone's traits, that must include the ones related to sexuality. One can only reach Ultimate level if they can flawlessly adapt to any sexual interests and proclivities relevant to their task. I assume this must mean that Imposter is neither picky nor squeamish.

Gender Headcanon: The Ultimate Imposter sneers at your limited conceptions of gender! When any identity is as easy to don, cast off, and exchange as a set of clothes, gender is more a shorthand, convenient only for narrowing down options and otherwise rather meaningless.

A ship I have with said character: I'm a diehard for tsumioda, and I still gotta hand it to twobuki as a goodass ship. There's the straight/silly comedy duo thing they've got going on, sure, but Ibuki's enthusiastic admiration of Imposter's take-charge attitude during a crisis and Imposter's surprised delight at Ibuki’s good-natured teasing truly enriches both characters. Two things they share: caring a whole lot about other people, and showing that care with little schemes. Most intriguing is one way in which they contrast: Ibuki can't be anyone but herself, and Imposter can be anyone but themself. Who better to help discover the real person at the Imposter's core than the realest person in the gang? All that from fewer than one chapter's worth of interactions! I deeply wish we could've seen their relationship explored more.

A BROTP I have with said character: Then again, maybe Imposter is totally at peace and content with their mutable identity. You know who could use a friend with that kind of insight? Hajime. It's like ... ah, but I already have a whole story about that. Really, check out Everybody Loves Hajime when it comes out!

A NOTP I have with said character: I don't have that many NOTPs in general, and I can't think of any for Imposter! Even Teruteru isn't out of the question for me after what drawbauchery's Bus AU comics have done with the breakout pairing. Imposter's a good egg and anyone would be lucky to date them.

A random headcanon: The notion that they like fast food because it's one of the few things that are consistent wherever they go makes a lot of sense, but I also like the idea that the real Byakuya Togami is secretly a fiend for a greasy cheeseburger. The real hc is that Imposter's sense of humor includes playing up aspects of someone's personality that they want to keep secret ... or may not even realize about themself!

General Opinion over said character: It's frankly incredible that the creators of SDR2 came up with the idea of an Ultimate Imposter, plunged them into the paranoid environment of a killing game, made them pose as one of the most notorious characters from the previous game ... and killed them off before that secret could even matter! When it's brought up in like Chapter 5, it means nothing!! If I don't praise Imposter often enough, it's only because I wish I knew them better.

#ultimate imposter #danganronpa #super danganronpa 2 #sdr2 #goodbye despair #ibuki mioda #twobuki #hajime hinata #thanks for asking!! #byakuya twogami #headcanons

[dead-lesbians]

TELL US ZOMBIES

OKAY OKAY SORRY THIS IS GONNA BE RAMBELY.

Gordon doesn’t work at black mesa, instead he’s a single dad raising Joshua, he had plans of going to work at Black Mesa , and even interviewed, but things fell through when something happened to his partner (too lazy to think of what happened to them, it’s not to relevant anyway)

Prior to the outbreak, Gordon is friends with Dr Coomer, who had originally been the one to help him get the interview at black mesa. Coomer baby sits Joshua in his free time, and Joshua sees him as a grandpa.

He’s kinda aware of bubby, never met the guy but dr Coomer brings him up occasionally when they talk. Also he knows Forzen, but like has only seen them a few times and has never talked to them before. (Forzen in this au is Dr Coomers son, he was in the military but got discharged due to an injury and now just stays at home playing video games and watching YouTube. Due to being discharged he isolated himself a lot and doesn’t talk much to anyone. Though he does enjoy helping Coomer babysit Joshua, he’s good with kids)

The virus initially started because of a black messa scientist being exposed to some alien shit, going home and then waking up as a zombie lol.

The zombie virus also has different effects on different people. Some are immune, for some people the zombie shit happens rapidly within an hour at the shortest, but for others it can be a very slow transition. The virus symptoms start with just mild agitation, slight differences in personality, your body temperature either rising significantly or dropping significantly and your eyes looking red. This is the only point where curing or stopping the transition into a zombie is possible (usually by cutting off where a bite is), ppl who manage to get bitten but don’t turn however maintain these symptoms along with dissociation. after that administering a cure or cutting off the site of infection can result in a multitude of ways, either just slows down the infection, kills the person, or puts them into a coma. (If the person turns but has been administered a cure, or is already a zombie and is administered a cure, it stops them from spreading the virus)

Slowly , infected individuals aggression gets worse, their senses are heightened, their eyes also grow more bloodshot and they need more food to feel satisfied. Eventually, and the final stage before you’ve been full turned into a zombie, is violent outbursts of aggression. The infected will be out of control and not remember what happened, however these episodes only last a few minutes. And the. Finally you completely turn. After that the infecteda body slowly starts decaying (speed of decay depends on all the usual factors for what speed up or slows down human decay) until it can’t function anymore and finally the body will die.

Anyway, if I where to ever make a story or comic or whatever for this, it would start with Gordon trying to stop a few zombies trying to get through a door, Joshua hiding underneath his bed at his dad request.

Dr Coomer and Forzen come and save them, and tell them they have a safe place and think they know how to make a cure and stop the spread of the zombie outbreak.

Gordon and Joshua are taken to this safe place (not decided where this is yet) and meet Tommy, Benrey, Bubby and Darnold (and Sunkist, obviously)

Darnold explains that he knows theoretically how to make a cure, but would need to be in his lab to actually be able to do anything. So science team and co set out to get back into black mesa during an apocalypse!’

I have like so much more to this but, that’s a the basic gist of the au.

Benrey probably has been bitten and is slowly turning but doesn’t tell anyone. Gordon gets bitten and has to have his arm cut off.

Dr Coomer gets bitten and there is a massive hoard of zombies coming and is like ‘please go, don’t wait for me’ and bubby, is having NONE of it. And is like ‘we go down together, fighting’ and sends the rest off fighting the horde. It’s sad and gay.

#hlvrai #long post #hlvrai au #zombie mention #zombies #ask

[lairofdragonagelore]

Somewhere in the Crossroads

This post has compiled the most relevant information during the main quest for completion’s sake. These quests have little “archaeological” value, but since I’m visually covering the majority of the game, I can’t put them aside.

The last minute of the game, after the end of the credits.

[Index page of Dragon Age Lore]

Somewhere, probably in a space of the Crossroads, we see Flemeth in front of a mirror. This scene is extremely mysterious because we can't be sure of what she is doing with the eluvian.

This could be a piece of herself being placed in the mirror so she can awake eventually in similar fashion as she did with the necklace in DA2. This is an option that, no matter your choices in game, is always possible.

This could also mean that she is placing Urthemiel in the mirror to save them from being consumed by Solas. She knows that with the destruction of the orb, Solas only has a way to find the power he needs: hers. But this option would make no sense in a game where the player did not save Urthemiel, so this possibility is immediately discarded.

If we read the description of the Dev's notes in the game files [all the game files I'm working with belong to Corseque's works since I don't know how to extract these things] we realise that Flemeth always knew the development of this series of events. She knows that Solas needs her powers, and she won't resist it, but she wants to "pass the essence of her godhood onto Morrigan". Now, there is some chance that the bit of energy she is placing into the mirror is "this essence of godhood". Lore-wise, it seems a bit confusing to me, since I understood that the essence of Godhood in Flemeth is Mythal herself, no? So, she is placing a bit of Mythal for Morrigan to accept eventually? Or this essence is more related to what the elvhen extracted from the Titans?

From the small bits that follow in the scene, we obtain some confirmations:

This seems to be the Crossroads, since we see Elven Tree Statues in the background.

Flemeth recognises that the orb belonged to Fen'Harel [”your orb”], despite its game file name [Mythal_orb]. It seems that originally was meant to be her orb, probably lent to Solas, but that was changed to make it his orb.

Combining it with information that Solas gave us in the Frostback Mountains: Attack to Haven, we know this orb accumulated his energy while he was in his slumber.

So, this orb increased in energy as Solas stayed in his slumber. While, according to the game files, Flemeth’s had a small bit of Mythal that she nurtured through the ages. It seems to imply that both powers are equivalent, so I’m inclined to suspect a bit more that the orbs are related to the power of godhood, and Solas has it in the shape of an orb because he never made it part of himself [according to his mosaics in the Elven mountain Ruins], while Mythal had this power inside her. 

Flemeth cultivated the power of Mythal because she knew Solas will need that power, eventually. 

He calls it slumber, not Uthenera [I personally think that the game series hints us that the Uthenera is a more messed-up and horrifying process than mere slumber. But I need to work in a long post about Uthenera.]

After his slumber of thousands of years, he was too weak to unlock the orb, so he tried to use Corypheus and kill him in the process. It clearly failed.

He would prefer to pay for his mistake, but he seems to have a unique role or power to make his People return. Would this imply that he is the only one able to destroy the Veil and join the Waking World with the Fade again?

We get the confirmation that Mythal and Fen'Harel were old friends, as all the ruins we visited along the game seemed to suggest.

A moment before consuming Flemeth, we see a very particular effect. I'm not so sure if it can be understood as the following, but it seems to visually suggest what we have been suspecting for a while: Solas [like all the elvhenan] has been a spirit [or better said, an entity of the like] bound to a shape. This similar effect has been seen in Hakkon, when the spirit shape overlapped the dragon's head in a teal-greenish-like colour. Now, we also know that Solas has been this way since the time of the Evanuris [his own words at the end of Tespasser], so, if this interpretation is correct, he has been bound to shape even before the creation of the Veil.

UPDATE Jan 2023: Mrs-guache has added an extra relevant detail and a gif in a different angle in their post [here]. 

Checking the game files, Mrs-guache found that Solas’ effect on his head is called “fadewisp head”, the same one used for the orange wraiths we find in-game.

The place where both are met is an elvhen ruin. Unlike anything else we saw before, this eluvian is protected by both of them, one at each side of the mirror. The size of the eluvian is immense too.

When Solas consumes Flemeth, her face looks like turned into stone? There is some greyness to her face that ends up covering her completely. I don't think we saw this effect before in any other moment of the game. It’s not exactly petrify. She is like turned into “ashes” [it’s not stone, but it’s certainly extremely grey]. It's also curious that this power is similar to what we see that Solas uses against the Qunari in Tresspasser: they turn into stone with just a flash of his eyes.

Symbolically speaking, it is also curious that entities of fluidity like the elvhen could manage a power so related to the stone, the titans, and therefore, the reinforcement of reality. Maybe in this detail there is a hint about why the Evanuris godhood [aka, power] seems to be related to titans. But there is no hard evidence on this, and it’s a topic for another post anyway.

The following scene is Solas’s face, with all the power he needs for his goal. His eyes glow in a cold blue, and he is surrounded by a dark smoke effect.

These were effects we saw in Flemeth when trying to control the person who drank from the Well,

as well as in Abelas, when he tried to destroy the Well of Sorrow.

I can’t stop thinking that, taking into consideration the decade of time difference and the engine, it’s a similar effect to the DAO Archdemon, just in a more blueish hue. It’s also described as such in the book Last Flight. I’m not saying they are the same, but there may be a connection. It always surprised me that these powerful elves had such an ominous and “dark” effect associated with their magic.

An interesting gem that Corseque showed in her post, is that it seems that Morrigan was meant to witness this last scene when Solas consumes Flemeth, but it was removed from the game. I personally think it doesn’t change much. Morrigan seems to be able to use some eluvians, so it makes sense that she may have ended in this place. Probably, originally, it was going to be a situation that would justify the moment when she acquired her godhood, but it seems she will do it eventually when she finds out this eluvian where Flemeth placed that godhood essence.

Update 2023: Gaider shared in a twitter a flux diagram where we see part of the cut content of this scene

In particular, the important section is this one:

Solas seems to drain Flemeth but not killing her, it’s the drinker of the Well of Sorrow who does it, probably removing the effect of the Whispers, free of any bound related to Mythal’s essence [the Well of Sorrow has a bit of her essence to work]. This is cut content and I’m not fan to explore this too deep because we don’t truly know to what point this may still apply into the story. What seems interesting in this cut content is that this is the last command that Mythal tells to the Inquisitor when she implied that there was a still a command she wanted to from them, it’was not the right moment yet. 

In any case, this was Solas’ intention since the moment the orb broke, that’s probably why he looks so heartbroken in the scene wher he picks the pieces of the orb: he knows he has to kill Flemeth, and potentially, transform himself in the process. He tried to work his feeling through the mural we find in Skyhold, but he could not manage to finish it. The dragon is dead, and the wolf acquires a dragony-shape. This  emotion is so deep and strong, than in Tevinter Night, we learn that he ended up feeding a demon with similar shape: a black wolf of dragony style called Regret. 

The story was well known—the Elder One, the false god Corypheus, had torn a hole in the sky to steal power from the heavens. He couldn’t be killed until his blighted dragon was dead, and the Herald, the Inquisitor, had somehow countered with a dragon of their own. And there was a dragon on the panel, with an Inquisition blade in its neck. But according to the story, both creatures had fallen first, leaving the final victory to the Inquisitor.

But here, unfinished, was the outline of a beast that stood over both dragon and sword. This was not the battle, or the victory. This was after. And the beast was not a dragon. The outline alone might have allowed that assumption, but now, filling with black and red, it was something other. The creature was reptilian, but also canine. The snout was blunted and toothy, but edges came to a point in houndlike ears. As the mass of plaster filled the shape, it began to rise, revealing scales and tail, and paws with talons. It looked like two figures painted on either side of a pane of glass, then viewed together, their forms confused. A wolf that had absorbed a dragon, and now stood crooked over all.

[...] The beast regarded him in silence, looming, and then its plaster lips spread into a smile far too quickly. “I am the heart of what was here.” As it spoke, it raised an arm—one of three—and pointed at the fresco panels in order. “An echo that has breached the Fade.” The creature’s arm finished its path at Sutherland’s friends. “And I can still the bravest blade or magic.”The limb folded into the creature’s layers, each movement adding to the rasping sound. It rose to its full height, as high as the panels would’ve allowed, and bellowed its name so loud that dust fell from the walls.“I am Regret!”

[...] “I am the regret of a god, you—!”

--Callback, Tevinter Nights.

#flemeth #solas #Howling Fen'Harel statue #Dragon Mythal statue #eluvian #main quest #elven tree statue

[hubristicassholefight]

Swordswoman Showdown Semifinals

Hornet (Hollow Knight) vs Brienne of Tarth (A Song Of Ice and Fire)

(Better here in a "preferred character" sense, not "who would win in a fight")

Propaganda below cut

Hornet

Technically its not a sword but she wields a needle in a setting where swords do not exist and she wields it in an exceedingly swordlike fashion so. She counts; Girlboss demigoddess spider lady. She's been protecting an entire kingdom for longer than many of the other characters have been alive. She systematically kills her siblings for being too weak. She's simply the best.

#im pretty sure hornet can beat like. anyone in a fight.#have you ever fought hornet#its so fucking hard getting past her every time i play hk i go literally insane.

#i remember getting stuck on the first hornet fight on mt first play through and bring likr#''omg the boss fights in this are so hard!!!''#like what. you're not even half way through what are you talking about#you can't even DASH honey. you don't know what's diffcult or not in this game.

So, SPOILERS

but I feel like the "she systematically kills her siblings" part needs a little clarification. See, one of her siblings was used as a living prison for an angry god and that uh. Didn't work out for the sibling in question or anyone else.

This account is itself heavily abbreviated but it's likely that any other sibling Hornet encounters will be trying to take over as the god's new prison. She appears to challenge any sibling she sees to battle, in order to test their resolve against herself and her needle - would they actually have a chance against that god?

We never actually see her kill any siblings, but she does quite pointedly tell one of them that (to paraphrase) "My needle is lethal and I would feel no sadness in a weakling's demise."

Feels like a relevant quote. In any case, if they can't beat Hornet, it seems like her needle would be a far more merciful end than what the god would grant.

Anyway, a bit of additional material for @swordswomanshowdown :

As is the case for any cool swordswoman, it's not just her sword that's lethal, it's her with it. And Hornet's needle was custom made for her - the creators have said that, while other needles exist, hers was made specifically for her to wield, and its construction allows her to use her spider silk better in combat.

And another thing that I think makes her a good swordswoman: she's actually pretty thoughtful about how she uses it. There's a least one instance where she tries to warn someone off before fighting them! At the same time, when she does fight, she seems to enjoy it - during her boss battles, you can hear her laugh sometimes, as if exhiliarated. She's really got it all, as a swordswoman!!!

#HORNET SWEEP CMON PLEEEEEEASE#shes gay. shes the only sibling with a gender. shes a spider named HORNET. look like croissant. whats not to like

Brienne

Brienne

gets gifted a sword made with the rarest metal ever because she’s THAT good; she’s simply the best

Brienne is one of the top sword users alive in her day. She's descended from a man who's catchphrase was "I'm better with a sword." Better than what? You. Jaime Lannister. Loras Tyrell. Any five given guys at once. She has a fantastic sword that might be magic or cursed and is named Oathkeeper because that's what she does; I love her

Beat like 20 guys in a tournament when she was 19. Was given a magic sword. Won a sword fight against the premier swordsman in the realm. Very swordly; Very tall and strong. Holds her sword in high esteem. Accomplished with other weapons as well!

She's defeated multiple of the top knights in the series in duels. One such knight gifts her the fabergé egg of swords and she uses it to defend orphans and stuff. Got out of a bad betrothal by dueling him and beating his ass so bad she broke multiple bones. Honestly there's so much more she is the swordswoman of all time. to me; She's buff and ugly and 6' 5" and so honorable and kind that she inspires the guy who fucks his sister to yknow. stop doing that. literally gets mauled for the sake of protecting a bunch of orphans (with her sword). also she's 20 she should be at the club ‼️

One of the best sword wielders in Westeros, the author says he would pick her to defend him. Has a cool sword called Oathkeeper. Manages to go up against 7 fighters and take out most of them,. The only true knight; First off, talking about book brienne, they massacred show brienne, the show runners simply didn’t understand what she’s about.“ She had no chance against seven, she knew. No chance, and no choice” brienne had plenty of choice but she couldn’t leave people to die. The chivalric paradigm is rotten and corrupted, but here is Brienne, the one true knight, who isn’t even a actual knight! “knights are for killing”, but here is a knight who risks her life again and again to protect innocents! Bri IS hope, she is the light in the dark that shows that things can be better, things must be better. Fundamentally an idealist: “Winter will never come for the likes of us. Should we die in battle, they will surely sing of us, and it's always summer in the songs. In the songs all knights are gallant, all maids are beautiful, and the sun is always shining”

#BRIENNE WON A MELEE WHEN SHE WAS 19 !!!!!#DONT LET HER LOSE

#MORE LOVE FOR BRIENNE#SHE FOUGHT A DAMN BEAR WITH A WOODEN SWORD#SHE AVENGED A MAN UNJUSTLY MAIMED#SHE PROTECTED CHILDREN AGAINST SEVEN MEN#NO CHANCE AND NO CHOICE

I'm going to put some propaganda for Brienne, because she deserves the world.

Some people have been quoting the "no chance, no choice" in the tags, but for those that don't know it comes from this scene:

...she could hear the faint clink of swords and mail from beneath their ragged cloaks. She counted them as they came. Two, four, six, seven. (...) Brienne sucked in her breath and drew Oathkeeper. Too many, she thought, with a start of fear, they are too many.(...) Brienne tried to keep the fear from her voice, but her mouth was dry as dust. The children, she thought. The door to the inn banged open. Willow stepped out into the rain, a crossbow in her hands. The girl was shouting at the riders, but a clap of thunder rolled across the yard, drowning out her words. As it faded, Brienne heard the man in the Hound’s helm say, “Loose a quarrel at me and I’ll shove that crossbow up your cunt and fuck you with it. Then I’ll pop your fucking eyes out and make you eat them.” The fury in the man’s voice drove Willow back a step, trembling. Seven, Brienne thought again, despairing. She had no chance against seven, she knew. No chance, and no choice. She stepped out into the rain, Oathkeeper in hand. “Leave her be. If you want to rape someone, try me.”

This is basically one of the most badass and awesome moments of the series... because here, Brienne is not guarding a King, vanquishing a great Evil Lord, or fighting a big glorious battle... this is an inn full of orphans being attacked by raiders, children whose lives really don't matter in the great scheme of things. If they were all to be killed, nobody powerful would really care, no history book would write their names.

The logical thing is to run away from there as fast as she could. And yet, Brienne decides to enter an unwinnable nightmarish battle (one where she gets her arm broken and her face eaten) because is the right thing to do. She is a true knight.

Because, in the dark pseudo-medieval world of Westeros, where the patriarchal martial system reigns supreme, there is no space for someone like Brienne, she herself said it best:

"You have a noble father who must surely love you. (...) I know he would tell you that he would sooner have a living daughter than a shattered shield." "A daughter." Brienne's eyes filled with tears. "He deserves that. A daughter who could sing to him and grace his hall and bear him grandsons. He deserves a son too, a strong and gallant son to bring honor to his name. (...) I am the only child the gods let him keep. The freakish one, not fit to be a son or daughter."

And yet, despite being on the fringe of this society that doesn't accept nonconforming gender expression, despite not being able to be named knight, Brienne is still the embodiment of the ideal of knighthood. She is a true hero, who over and over decides to defend the innocents and do the right thing.

So yeah, my conclusion here is... I think she and kiku should kiss <3

#hornet #hollow knight #brienne of tarth #a song of ice and fire #swordswoman showdown #poll #official #round 5 #semifinals #rape mention below cut

[crazy56u]

Spoilers, the tags might be relevant here...

Fellas, is it normal to casually admit you have mentally worked out how a certain issue of a certain comic could've ended differently had the writers involved wanted to kill off a certain character?

Is it normal to just shoot that off on a Tumblr post on a Sunday afternoon?

So yeah, I'm yet a-fucking-gain talking about IDW #53, and, full disclosure, I may have started fiddling with writing this out.

So, yeah, let's pretend, as a hypothetical, Evan Stanley decided to go fucking wild, and use the fight against Surge as an excuse to kill off Whisper, how the fuck would that work?

Well, the major change is the easiest: Sonic and Tails show up late.

With the benefit of hindsight, it is practically a literal fucking miracle that, even though Sonic and Tails' house got fucked up during the badnik riot going into Issue #50, the computer managed to avoid getting broke.

Now, granted, by the time Jewel contacted Tails, this had happened-

But, hey, Sonic and Tails still managed to speed over to Central City in time to stop Surge from finishing the job, right?

So, let's assume the computer also needed to get fixed, and they didn't get that call from Jewel when they did.

So, Surge just kills Whisper then and there, right? Post over?

No.

Like I said, I have had dark thoughts, and the way this plays out in my head, that would've been ideal:

After getting distracted by her Starline hallucination, Surge remembers "Oh, right, I was about to kill Whisper," and turns her attention back to her; she hadn't yet gotten up, same as in the comic.

In a panic, Cyan tries in vain to protect Whisper, gets absorbed for his trouble. So, literally, it's just the two of them left.

But before deciding to land the blow, Surge decides "You know what, it's not like you're gonna need it after today," and decides as one final stab to take her mask, and wear it.

You know? The thing that can translate Wisps?

So, what do you think would happen if Surge put that on?

If your answer was "sensory overload in the form of five voices screaming at the same time", then yes, that is what would happen...

So, yeah, naturally, hearing all that screaming freaks out Surge, she unknowingly fries Whisper's mask as a result, and after managing to calm down from that, she get really fucking mad, and decides "You know what, fuck being cute," and decides to... well...

Do what she almost did to Sonic three issues later:

She pins her down to the ground, and starts trying to electrocute her to death; it would probably be around here when Sonic and Tails finally show up.

Regardless of how the rest of the confrontation with Surge plays out, the most important thing would be "Holy fuck, Whisper needs to go to the hospital now," and Sonic speeds her over to the nearest one, and she is swiftly put into a hospital bed; she is most likely gonna need heart surgery, but her heart rate needs to settle down first before they can do anything.

So, that's where we currently are: Whisper is in a hospital bed, unconscious and clinging to life, while Surge is dealt with in the background. What happens next?

Enter the other player in this fucked up game.

It is my personal belief that Mimic 100% was nearby in Central City when Whisper and Surge were fighting, and was quietly waiting for Surge to be done so he could finish the job; it's only when Sonic and Tails showed up when they did that he abandoned those plans.

So, in this timeline, that's not what happens.

While Whisper is recovering in the hospital, a nurse quietly enters her room, with the pretense of checking on her.

In reality, this is Mimic, deciding to take advantage of Whisper's already weakened heart.

He fucks with her IV drip, slips out of her room, and by the time he's sneaking out of the hospital, the medical staff are scrambling to try and save their newest patient, who is in the middle of flatlining, but their efforts will ultimately be in vein.

Surge's attack would already caused bare minimum congestive heart failure. Mimic inducing a heart attack would be the nail in the coffin.

And so, to summarize: How would Issue #53 (and technically 54) need to be rewritten if it was decided to kill off Whisper?

Smash Tails' computer beforehand.

#sonic the hedgehog #mimic the octopus #whisper the wolf #surge the tenrec #yes i am once again rewriting the events of that issue #and yes once again i am going dark #buckle the fuck up #sonic idw

[tobiasdrake]

That questioning provided little in the way of concrete answers but gave us something to work with. Let's fire up my favorite Forte and get another angle on this killing.

We're back at the scene of discovery. Victim's been dead for eight hours. First thing to check out is, of course, the victim's body. That's the biggest thing we couldn't see from the present.

Do his hands look waterlogged? They look waterlogged to me.

Which backs up the idea that the room was half-filled with water when he drowned.

Still not that much water, though. So how he drowned in it remains a mystery.

We still haven't proven relevancy to our case. It's possible this is something that was done to this door at some other point in time.

But we should consider the possibility that the door had to be sealed up, to retain the floodwater. Interior rooms are not, by nature, designed to seamlessly transform into makeshift swimming pools.

It'd be easy to conclude that these are signs of a struggle. But I'm gonna say that these are signs of a flood. Pretty sure most of this stuff floats, so it wouldn't remain stationary if the room was half submerged.

If you look behind the cart, you can even see the flood line is a bit above the cart. Enough that the supplies might bob away.

What we expected to find. Smashed tanks, flooded floor, dead fish. Nothing unusual about those elements we've thoroughly gone over already.

Which could potentially make this our avenue of escape, if the killer was on the scene when it happened.

It also hinders the flood theory. Why wouldn't the victim simply open the door and let the water out? Then again, that may have been the trap.

If the servant was here in the room at the time of the murder then the Servant becomes the only reasonable suspect. Jeryn and Tetra have alibis.

Opening the door probably is how the makeshift swimming pool was undone. Of course, the water line is above the tanks, and we don't know how long the water was in here. The fish could have easily left their tanks during that time.

Maybe that's why the tanks were smashed. There was no getting them back into the tanks at that point and the killer needed a way to explain why they were out.

With weird elements like this, sometimes it pays to not ask "Why would the killer want to do that?" but rather "Why did the killer have to do that?"

If it seems like the killer did something totally weird and unnecessary then that probably means they'd get screwed if they didn't. Nobody lingers at a crime scene without cause.

Like the door tape, we don't know that this is relevant to the crime. But it's certainly weird. I was hoping we'd get something a bit more smoking gun, but no dice.

They're proof of the makeshift swimming pool.

What'd you find, girl? Is it a piece of evidence? It sure looks like a piece of evidence. It looks like a blue hose that might have been in the vent pouring water into the room at the time of the murder. Who's a good girl? You are! Yes, you are!

Y'all, I think the Forever Rain is the murder weapon. Jackpot fist pump!

You're sitting on a DME fortune and your dog's favorite toy is a knot made of blue hose? She should be drowning in squeaky things.

This is more reason why I think Tetra's clear of any suspicion. This hose knot is probably the murder weapon. If Tetra was the one to use it, she wouldn't be volunteering all of this information.

The better question is, where do you get your hoses from? This isn't exactly the sort of thing you expect to see wealthy heiresses playing with.

Holy shit, we're actually bothering with proper evidence handling. Don't want to contaminate the hose knot. Uh. Any more than Sugar's saliva and teeth already have.

Halara is the most detective out of any detective in this game.

With two suspects and nothing clinching the case, no less. The Servant seems the more suspect of the two, due to their lack of alibi and the use of a rubber hose for the murder. But Jeryn isn't clear either, as he has a potential motive and equal access to the tools of the crime.

We know the makeshift pool was the mechanism of Pops's death. But. How. If the door was taped to waterproof the room then it would have had to have happened after he came in, right? If he opened the taped door, it would ruin the seal.

After dinner, Pops must have come in here. The killer would have had to knock him out, then rig the room to begin flooding and leave him to drown in the flooding room. Which is such an unwieldy way to kill someone. What if he regained consciousness?

Ugh, this is not coming together.

I'm stunned that Halara needed to explain this to Yakou and Tetra. This may be the most obvious contradiction in mystery history.

They had to destroy the fish tanks. Though why they smashed this one too, I'm not sure. Maybe they had no choice. If its fish had swam the coop during the flood, they might have felt it was more dangerous to leave it filled but empty than to smash it.

That sounds like a smoking gun to me. He could have rigged the rain gutters to pour into the vent.

We should investigate those rain gutters next. If we can find evidence that they're rigged the way we suspect, we can nail Jeryn on this.

Yakou, you have no idea how much they've found. Don't go pre-judging before Halara's presented their final case.

ACE. DETECTIVE.

He is not blowing smoke. That is a well-earned title. And possibly in more ways than one.

#master detective archives: rain code #drake plays rain code #halara nightmare

[localplaguenurse]

Fear and Hunger is currently 50% off on steam…….

I’m fighting myself to NOT buy this game……

Mmmm but your chara fic is whispering sweet temptations into my ear……

Ivy you’ve given me a reason to rant and ramble about Funger and I think you know that

1. This game is rarely going to be nice to you. Genuinely. First and foremost, aside from plot relevant items, every item is randomized. And not just randomized as in each game has a different set of items when you spawn in, I mean if you manage to save your game, search a barrel, die, respawn and search that barrel again, it’s not gonna be the same item. You could become super op in the start of the game if the cards feel like you deserve it.

2. The combat system is interesting. First of all, there’s no leveling up system. You get 0 experience points from fighting. Most of the time it’s actually better to avoid fighting altogether. When you’re in combat however, there’s a dismemberment system. Think of it like every enemy’s limb gets a turn, sort of, and every three rounds there’s typically a coin flip to avoid a “big attack.” You have to methodically damage/cut off the limbs of your enemy in order to kill them. The recommended strategy is you attack the arms first so they don’t attack you (namely whichever arm is holding the weapon), and then you have to cut the legs (or genitals of certain enemies) to cripple them, which makes their head easier to hit and instantly kill them. It’s very difficult to actually land a headshot without going for the legs. Also, using magic requires “mind” which drains the longer you’re in the dungeon. You can restore mind by getting drunk and doing drugs.

3. Coinflips. Every once in a while the game is going to make you flip heads or tails. They pop up when you search certain chests, search bookshelves, go to take a rest to save, are in combat, are walking around, and even use certain items. If you guess right, you can get some good loot, actually save your game, keep yourself from getting killed and/or witnessing a really nasty scene (that usually kills you anyways), keep yourself from falling through the floor, and other fun things! If you fail, then whoops. Occasionally you can find lucky coins, so if you hold shift, you can flip two coins, which raises your success from 50/50 to 75/25. Nothing is more soul crushing than getting double heads when you wanted tails though. Agony.

4. You can lose limbs and/or suffer other permanent debuffs. An enemy will attack you and cut it off, or it’ll give you an infected limb, or you’ll step on another fucking rusty nail again and be out of green herbs to cure the infection, so you’ll have to take out your rusty bonesaw to cut it off. If you lose one arm, you can still use weapons but only one handed ones, and can’t hold shields. Lose both arms, can’t hold weapons, pray your character knows magic. Lose one leg, your walking speed is reduced, but lose both legs and you have to crawl around. You can even lose your eyes and go blind, and the game is still technically playable, but ragequitting is not only valid but recommended. You can also get fractured limbs which can’t be healed, permanently lowering your hp, or suffer rectal bleeding from getting assaulted and you can’t stop the bleeding ever.

5. This game gets gross. There’s offscreen and, if you fuck up a coin flip, onscreen assault. I lost a coin flip to a harvestman, it broke all my limbs and shoved an arm up my ass and killed me. You get the status rectal bleeding from the night crawlers and certain guards you can lose coinflips to, and at least one boss I know of going off the guide I had to look at to beat the game. Also gore and general nudity. I can not describe when I was first playing the game, I was streaming it with friends during dnd, I ran into a guard for the first time and was met with a monster cock the length of my arm and twice the thickness. You couldn’t even stream this game until someone made a censorship mod.

6. You’re gonna end up looking at walkthroughs to figure out wtf you have to do. That’s fine, just try to avoid actual lore spoilers.

7. The whole point of the game is you have to find L’egarde in the prison in the deepest part of the dungeon. You have to do this in 30 minutes. Fuck whoever told me I had an hour.

8. Don’t jump down the toilet hole. There’s literally nothing there for you as tempting as it is.

9. I FORGOT SAVING!!!! You can only save by flipping a coin before going to bed or getting books of enlightenment. Only one bed is truly safe, Another is safe the first time, the others might end up getting you killed.

And that’s pretty much all the relevant information you need to know before you consider buying funger! I personally like the thought of someone suffering with me but you can make your own choices uwu.

#ask #ivy! #fear and hunger #funger

[arcplaysgames]

GUYS I FINALLY GOT DOJIMA TO MOMENTARILY PULL HIS HEAD OUT OF HIS ASS. I ain't pickin' no namby-pamby soft options with you, Dojima, if you need to be bullied into doing the right thing, so be it.

After he reads a whole book to Nanako, he reveals the phone call at dinner was about his wife's murder and its more dead ends. Like. God, it's fucking rough. But at least I feel like Dojima is moving to a more truthful place, where he can admit he is looking into this for his own sake and not really Nanako's.

That said, he is still not remotely the Hierophant and its annoying me tbh. Whateverrrrr not all of the Arcana assignments can be perfect.

Oh hey its student council girl that you only really get to know in Boy Route. Sup. Wow, she was a first year in P3P and now she's a senior, so it REALLY hasn't been that long since P3P. That's wild.

Lmao she reveals that she got her speech written by Mitsuru. Of course she did.

kanji no

also EDOGAWA!!!!!!! EDOGAWA!!!! Out of all the teachers, he was my favorite by far. Weird fucking occultist nurse dude.

RAISES EYEBROWS

I kind of already know the broad strokes of this story, but it's interesting that my starting persona is Izanagi and the game is giving me an unskippable primer on the topic. Izanagi and Izanami were the parental gods of Japan. Izanami died during the creation of fire and wound up in the underworld Yomi. Izanagi went to get her but set his comb alight (a bamboo comb, huh) to get a look at Izanami and saw she was all gross and dead, he fled and put a boulder over the entrance of Yomi. Izanami (imo rightfully pissed) told him she would kill 1000 people a day. Izanagi said he would create 1500 a day.

gee i WONDER if this will be RELEVANT LATER.

The hotel they got booked at is.... moderately sketchy.

i'm making faces rn. See, this kind of shit wouldn't have flown at Gekkoukan.

RAUCOUS APPLAUSE

My heart beats for this dumbass. I think in a previous scene, Yosuke accused Teddie of speaking in commercial lines and YOU KNOW. YOU KNOW. He really does. He goes through life like he's just living in a charmed sideways version of life. lmao what if Teddie's whole thing was that he was the personification of that commercial glintz. Like, he literally can do the sparkle-shine thing on command and can charisma-check anyone into doing what he wants. It's a fun theory and frankly more than I have right now.

If Teddie is just "what happens when the commercial becomes aware of real people and loved them" I will be tickled. I mean, "I did a lot of sit ups so now I have a human body" really is some TV magic logic.

lmao is the "eh we don't give a shit if underaged kids come here" club!

lmao kanji has a bad crush on naoto. aw, buddy. we can wingman you if you want, bruh.

coughs

i wouldn't know shit about that lmao

rise you have no idea how close you came to getting absolutely fucking got that night, trust me. that boss fucking sucks XD

oh my god they are completely toasted

oh yeah this seems totally safe for teenagers to play without adult supervision and, in fact, many miles away from the guardians. yep.

i love just the idea of someone suggesting this to the SEES dorm and how it would be shut down fucking immediately, first by Mitsuru, then Yukari, then Akihiko. Hell, if Shinjiro or Akihiko just walked by right now they would rat out these kids immediately and shoo them home. It truly is a completely different group here lmao.

Shout out to Naoto fucking silently observing all this shit. Hilarious.

I'M GONNA NEED A PART TWO, FUCKING IMAGE LIMIT. BRB.

#p3p #p4 #persona liveblog