#which is not an uncommon theme for this kind of thing but just as the tie in for them being generally adjacent

[skunkes]

video game i cannot even play has inflicted me with 2 characters and both specific and general details about them that have harmed me with pinpoint accuracy regarding my own ocs. and tastes.

#the fact that (spoiler). #talkys #a doodley #also this one is more general but astarion and talon both having backstories involving (another spoiler). #which is not an uncommon theme for this kind of thing but just as the tie in for them being generally adjacent #bc they're not exactly similar #i dont know if that makes sense... #i need to learn more about halsin #but on the surface this definitely is an attack of the My Type #I HOPE U GET WHAT I MEAANN i worded this all so badly ignore me.

[endless-ineffabilities]

le marquis et le moineau

Marquis de Gramont x f!reader

themes: angst, twisted business associates(?) to lovers, dubious morals, the Marquis has his eyes set on you and only you (but you don't know that ofc)

a/n: this bloody Frenchman has been plaguing my thoughts (thanks to a very sinister portrayal by one Bill Skarsgård). Mind you, I still haven't even seen the film John Wick 4, but I'm a fan of the series, and the morsels I've seen of the Marquis have been more than enough to give rise to a new lil fixation.

word count: 932 ▪︎ more of moineau ▪︎ other works

It started as a little game.

Just some passing fancy between yourself and the Marquis.

Or at least, that was what it was supposed to remain. Only that. A game.

But you should have known better. You should have known that any game played with Marquis Vincent de Gramont may eventually turn deadly.

Your high-risk job at the Continental usually also reaped the highest of rewards.

Tip off the right person and receive a gold coin. Deliver a message, without any bumps or bruises to all parties involved, and your reputation would be given a much-needed boost or two.

This business was danger wrapped in deceit wrapped in glamour. And you knew how to deal the right cards.

Although it seems, things are not as easy when it comes to the Marquis.

Vincent was every bit a menace as his reputation decreed. The Marquis tasked with restoring the authority of the High Table, he was nothing short of cunning and ambitious, prepared to take down any and all those who posed a threat to his objectives.

Dangerous. Deceptive. Glamourous as well, mind you. He was perfectly suited to this world.

He was also brazen, pretentious, snobbish.

And beautiful.

He knew just how to tug at your strings and make you bend. Or at least, he always tried to.

Like he was doing then, in one of the bigger rooms in his palacial estate, wherein only the two of you stood with only a few feet in between.

"What did we agree upon, mon moineau?" His silky accented voice implored.

My sparrow, he called you. The reason for which remained undisclosed to you, not for a lack of trying to wrench it out of him.

Why couldn't he call you something sweeter? Of the more classic French romantic sobriquets?

Chérie, perhaps. Mon amour. Mon coeur.

But no. You were stuck with measly ol' "my sparrow".

Of course, not that it mattered. Perhaps the Marquis reserved his sweeter words for those he actually cared for. At the very least, well-regarded enough to be associated with. Those impossibly beautiful and refined members of European aristocracy that he was so often rumoured to be wining and dining.

Unlike you. Renegade, foul-mouthed vagabond.

You stared up at his pacing figure. "I am fully aware of what we agreed upon, Vincent. What I have done does not breach that. I am perfectly capable - "

His head snapped to you menacingly. "You could have been killed, moineau."

You shrugged. "Consequences. I did not enter this damned line of work without considering the risks. As it goes, getting killed would not exactly be an uncommon occurence."

"Don't jest." He shut his eyes, and pinched the bridge of his nose, in obvious annoyance.

You took a step forward, trying to find his gaze. "And if I were to... pass... so what? Everything would simply go on. The truth is that I'm already a ghost. Doing what I do in our world makes me some kind of spectre. I am already not there."

You knew this. You repeated this to yourself when you woke, and before you went to sleep. It was the only truth you could hold on to.

Until him. Until some buried, twisted part of you began hoping that he would care.

But hope is a dangerous thing.

You continued, as he kept looking away. "You would go on. Perhaps even find a new sparrow to play with."

You felt it. As your words hung in the air, his entire mood shifted. He straightened, and with both hands burrowed in the pockets of his impeccably tailored trousers, his eyes land on you.

He slowly took a step forward, and then another, until his figure loomed over you.

In all your shared moments, you learned to discern the quick switches in his temper and his expression. But not enough, not completely.

The look he was giving you then was impossible to read.

"You think..." His left hand drifted to the hem of your blazer, toying with it. "... that I..." His index finger then drifted upward over your silk shirt, stopping in between your collarbones. His tongue briefly darted out to wet his lips, catching your eye. "... would simply replace you?"

You finally felt his touch on your face, his fingers delicately caressing your jawline.

He made a fleeting tsk tsk sound with his tongue, as if in disapproval.

"I believe you underestimate just how much you matter to me, mon moineau."

You did your best to remain unfazed. This was the game, wasn't it? Whatever you might think it can become, what you hope it can unravel into - set it aside as delusion.

Don't fall.

It's just a game to play.

Don't fall.

You took a deep breath, then smiled sweetly. Mockingly. "What makes you think I would even pay any mind to how much I matter to you? That line of thinking doesn't work for people like us, Marquis."

"People like us," he repeated, amusement furrowing his brow. "Non, mon moineau. There are no other people like us."

He leaned in, eyes not leaving yours, all but eliminating the distance between your faces. You could feel his breath on your skin, could count the faint spotting of freckles around his nose.

You wished to ask him what he wanted, but held back.

No. There was something better to say.

"What are you waiting for?" You managed to voice the words despite your very heart lodged in your throat.

He smiled, proud of his precious sparrow.

"Mon coeur... I've been waiting for you my entire life."

Ahhh! 🖤 Everybody say thank you Bill Skarsgård and the on-set stylist for the visual treat that is the Marquis.

I'm not even sure if this will find the right crowd - seeing as my lovely followers are of the HotD persuasion. But oh well, I had to get it out of my system.

Could be more of this... idk 🤷‍♀️ Rest assured I haven't forgetten about all my series works, even the ones I haven't started but said I would do...

#marquis de gramont #marquis vincent de gramont #vincent de gramont #john wick #marquis de gramont x reader #marquis de gramont imagine #bill skargard #bill skarsgard x reader #marquis vincent de gramont x reader #bill skarsgard imagine #john wick 4 #marquis vincent de gramont imagine #bill skarsgård #bill skarsgård x reader #vincent de gramont x reader

[circyexistforcontent]

The boys with a succubus/incubus god?

CULT AU WITH A DEMON READER

❀ synopsis: “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” 2 CORINTHIANS 11:14

❀ warnings: slight suggestive content, biblical themes, cult themes, yandere themes, just dark content ahead. Remember you're trespassing on big boy/girl/kid territory, so just be aware of what you're reading ok?

❀ notes: This will contain a lot of dark themes since this is a cult AU and Sagau. But again, thank you all for 400 followers! I don't know how to thank you all (maybe I do, I want to start a event, but let me clear my inbox real quick). spoilers for genshin lore guys...

Being summoned to another world is...certainly interesting...

You didn't expect the moment you open your eyes to be greeted with such colorful characters, and in an RPG game no less. But you aren't complaining of course! This just makes things more entertaining for your part. And being worshipped as a god? This is an entire amusement park!

Your poor, poor acolytes...they have no idea what they have just brought upon this world. If you really were the creator of all no wonder Celestia decided to just one day order the archons to commit genocide. Your influence must have also greatly affected your creations which can explain why some of your acolytes have a questionable history.

Being in your presence just heightens their obsessive tendencies, if they weren't the type to hesitate to kill for you they sure aren't hesitating now. Some might even go as far as to kill in public in front of other devotees. It doesn't matter if it's supposed to be a joyous occasion, you were in danger (or at least they try to justify their actions..) and as your devoted acolyte, they should protect you. (Shenhe, Traveler, Heizou, and Childe)

There are already ones that kill for you, but with your dark influence, they start to get a little bolder with their feelings. It would just start with lingering thoughts of your touch before it gets more provocative and they start imagining it more often. If they were brave enough, they would think about it while you were still in the same room as them. How sinful, but you don't mind♡ (Cyno, Gorou, Ei, and Zhongli)

They are the ones who know something was wrong with the supposed "Almighty one". They can just sense that something was not right and will immediately distance themselves from you as much as it hurts them too. They would observe you from afar to confirm any of their claims, but it backfires. Your voice is one of a siren, and like a pirate, they follow your voice only to be drowned in the very ocean they loved. But they didn't know drowning in the ocean can be this...euphoric (Dainslef, Venti, Ayaka, Kazuha)

This batch has more control over their yandere tendencies, but their acts of worship intensify. Festivals/Holidays will be hosted by them, and while some of them don't have the influence and money to host an event they will be helping with the preparations for the event (Jean, Noelle, Ayato, Ningguang, Diluc)

They will worship you, but some may take a step back after seeing you out of character. You were always so considerate and kind, they didn't think you would order them to draw your symbol with the khanreian's hilichurls blood. At the end of the day, they will still do what you please in hopes you will have a reward for them.

If you have any features from your demon form (slit pupils, horns, claws, sharp teeth, wings, etc) they won't think anything ill of them. If anything some would adore them openly. Dragons exist, and hybrids aren't uncommon on Teyvat. They would assume you might be a hybrid of a greater celestial species, and it would have many legends based off of it. The acolytes that have horns or any sort of similar feature would feel connected to you in a way and are honored to even have something in common with you.

But no matter how they claim to adore you or how honored they are to worship you, they can feel themselves hurl at your mere presence. Some even feel ill when they stay beside you for too long, and they would assume they are being punished. Or you are feeling negative and one of your powers is to project your emotions onto the environment around you.

But is it really? You have the same smile on your face while they choke on their own blood. You laugh at them after they confess to you about the night terrors that they get every time they spend a day with you. You left them to die after you "trained" them to get stronger.

They are foolish to convince themselves that you care, but some like to believe that you are doing this cause you care for them, how pitiful of them. I'm going to give an example, Venti would try to argue with you if you ever try to spur trouble on Monstadt, saying how it's not right and that the people should have a say in your decision. But after hours of gaslighting convincing he would shut his mouth as you declare a new law that restricts basic human rights. His people will understand, this is normal for sure...right?

The other archons like Ei and Zhongli, mostly Ei, will not think twice about your new changes in their nation. Nahida would be the ONLY normal archon who would know that you are no god. You're just a poser, a demon, a vermin from the underworld taking advantage of your follower's obsession. She will try her best to make her nation aware of who you really are, but what's the guarantee they will listen to her?

#🍒sagau #🍒dark content #sagau x reader #sagau brainrot #sagau cult au #self aware au #self aware genshin #self aware genshin impact #genshin self aware #genshin cult au #cult au #genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #yandere genshin x reader #yandere genshin au #yandere venti x reader #sagau zhongli #sagau ei #genshin impact sagau #genshin sagau #yandere sagau

[despazito]

I have conflicting feelings about so called "therapy talk" in animated shows nowadays.

I'm not sure if I like the term in general because i think it's dismissive of the concept as a whole, which I feel throws the baby out with the bathwater. Like to me at least the definition of therapy talk means being extremely emotionally mature, being able to successfully identify and communicate your feelings, and using empathy to do the same with others' feelings. which I think are all good qualities to have in a person, but detrimental to a fictional story if this trait is shared equally amongst the WHOLE cast and that's what bothers me about its overusage now.

People just don't have interpersonal conflict this way!! especially amongst kids or teens. Or at least it's extremely uncommon to have these types of kindcore interactions with others outside of a moderated clinical setting.

Emotional intelligence like that isn't a switch you can flick, characters may repress things or drop a facade to deliver some truths or philosophy to the protagonist but it has to dovetail in with the rest of their character. A character who showed no previous capacity for such maturity just feels unnatural to suddenly act very wise for a scene if it's played completely straight.

For instance, Patrick Star is great at playing this for comedy. His sudden rare bursts of extreme mature clarity are so opposite to the rest of his character that it loops all the way back into the comedic. But then imagine a character like Scrappy Doo busting out a lecture on externalizing his unresolved anger from past experiences without a shred of irony. Or Jesse Pinkman breaking his character of a wannabe gangster drug dealer to deliver a carefully worded clapback to walt about toxicity and gaslighting explaining the deepest mechanics of his personality. It would kind of suck, right? Which is why when Aaron Paul's character in Bojack gets a scene like that as Todd, it's very introspective but still delivered in Todd's voice because the writers know Todd and know the boundaries of what he can articulate.

Characters can gain introspection and learn to understand themselves over the course of a narrative, but it has to feel natural and have some precedent. It's a bit annoying when all the characters resolve emotional conflict like they've taken a class in anger management before.

And i think a lot of it is the writer idealizing relationships and interactions between their characters and a weird obsession with morality in fiction now. We need to be spoonfed why this character is bad or what is currently occurring in a lecture from another character lest someone get the wrong impression from the text, in many ways it comes across as unconfident writing.

In a perfect (or dystopian to some) world everyone can communicate impeccably with everyone’s feelings in mind and people will come away with the exact reading of a text the author implied. and sure it can be good escapism if that’s what you crave. but it just doesn’t make for very interesting stories!!

Some writers will try to hide therapy talk under several layers of meta irony, but honestly those can feel even lamer to me and dare I say lazier in execution. It's quite literally telling instead of showing the audience exactly how a character feels by having them sarcastically voice their internal feelings in the format of a mindfulness diary prompt instead of feeling confident enough in your audience to pick up on those themes themselves through subtler acting cues or interactions. It's the internal conflict equivalent of loudly breaking the fourth wall to shout that motorcycle slide was from Akira, instead of having faith in the viewer to catch a reference on their own.

This kind of self aware speaking about emotions definitely has its place, most notably in preschool programming because many of those shows are about teaching kids emotional intelligence and conflict resolution. But I am getting tired of this trope in other genres for older audiences, let things be messy and ambiguous! Your characters don't have to be perfect people! Let them have misunderstandings and make mistakes in relationships instead of speaking like licensed counselors!!

[thoughtfulchaos773]

Al-Anon's healthy relationship principles: Tradition III

In episode 1x08 of the show, Carmy's monologue was interpreted by Calo as a love letter to Al-Anon. However, I believe that the entire show, and not just one episode, embodies Al-Anon's principles and can be seen as a love letter to them among its many themes.

So going backward, while watching episode 1x03, I became curious about the al-anon pamphlet that Carmy carried. This led me to research their principles and views on relationships, which I believe align with Carmy and Sydney's situation.

They call these principles the 12 traditions of healthy relationships (which uses the 12 traditions in recovery as inspiration). What stood out to me is the belief that unity is the most important part of a healthy relationship. There's a belief that unity is what keeps the family affected by alcohol together. Communication is vital to this union, and the desire to make it work. There are other principles, such as expressing a godly love and autonomy in the union- I may discuss this another time. Right now, let's analyze Tradition III, which season 2 seems to be paying homage to.

Also, thank you, @currymanganese, for helping me align these principles with Sydney and Carmy, along with @vacationship for encouraging me to post.

Tradition III

Summary: When gathered together for mutual benefit, may call themselves a relationship. The only basic requirements for a good marriage or relationship are a mutual desire to be in that relationship and a willingness to make it work.

One person alone cannot make a relationship work. Both partners have to want it to work and be willing to work on it. Each must have the same goal and each must try to achieve that goal.

For Syd and Carmy, their mutual goal is to have a restaurant (family) that functions differently, well, and healthy than what they're used to, and since the beginning, Carmy and Syd have had this desire to make their relationship work. When Sydney comes back, it solidifies the desire for a partnership.

But to our surprise- Carmy's tune changes; he runs into Claire and falls off his goal in Al-anon and focuses instead on things outside of the union. At times, it seems Carmys is checked out; this surprised some of the fandom since he was so excited about this partnership in the season one finale and at the beginning of season two. But the desire to make a relationship healthy does not mean all days are good days or that desire is there all the time:

Willingness to be in the relationship may ebb or flow. In other words, there may be days when your attitude is such that you become indifferent to being in the relationship or lazy about upholding your part of the relationship. But, these attitudes are usually a temporary thing and they will pass. There may also be days inwhich your partner has the indifferent attitude or is seemingly unwilling to work on his/her part of the relationship. These feelings and situations are not uncommon among us.

Thinking about 2x03, Richie tells his daughter, "I love Taylor Swift too. I just needed a break." And this cuts to Carmy getting a phone call from Claire. His distraction. His unwillingness to continue working on his relationship is normal. Still, it fades and is based on principle tradition II, though Carmy sometimes needs help to make it work. He also plays the dominant one or god when making the decisions in the partnership.

When one partner speaks for the relationship or partnership without consulting the other (playing God), he/she then becomes responsible for the growth or lack of growth of that relationship...This situation is especially true when the one being dominated is afraid and unsure of himself and wants someone else to be responsible for all the decisions, thus absolving himself of any kind of mistake or failure.

When one governs the relationship, or there's a distraction in making the relationship work, based on traditions, it's important to take inventory of the union and the person's attitude in order to get back on track, and Sydney does just that when Carmy governs the decisions- chaos menu or his resistance in calling the fridge guy.

When we allow outside things to divert us from our goal of making our marriage or relationship work, we create confusion and thus dilute our relationship and its unity. This can be done easily by our self-centered fear or self-centeredness in any aspect. When we pursue our own interests to the exclusion of our partners, this is not healthy.

Interestingly, al-anon traditions speak on hobbies carried to an extreme extent, extramarital affairs, or unfaithfulness (Claire)- really anything that diverts the individual from the goal of unity.

In al-anon, when an individual diverts from the goal of a healthy relationship (union), it suggests they fix their minds on the traditions, use the 12 steps that change their lives and relationships for the better, and refuse to allow distractions to confuse them.

Looking at these principles and their emphasis on healthy relationships, I wonder if Carmy will dive deeper into al-anon or if his quest for fun and joy and his perceived failure to maintain it causes him to steer away from al-anon season three.

But in a way, Carmy's mistake causes him to vow against any other distractions in his life- this could be positive- but Carmy's crippling anxiety can't see the good in the focus on the restaurant and Sydney. His mindset sees this as punishment for the 'bad' he caused on opening night.

That's really the question of season 3. Will Carmy and Syd become a union, or did the season finale foreshadow a parting? Will Carmy's mindset change? Will al-anon continue to play an important role in Carmy's development?

#sydcarmy #carmy x sydney #al-anon #the bear meta #i may make meta on the other traditions but tradition 3 grabbed my attention

[krirebr]

For the IKISKB verse: what if Curtis was the celebrity (maybe an actor) and Reader was his PA or publicist? How would that change the dynamic?

Oh, I love this question! The short little thing I came up with has real ch 1 of IKISKB vibes. I went with Actor (action star) and PA. I hope you like it and it answers your question!

Just Part of the Process

Pairing: Actor!Curtis Everett x PA!Reader

Warnings: Explicit language, references to excessive drinking, adult themes, angst

You sat at the kitchen island on your laptop, going through emails and updating Curtis’s schedule. Schedule Tetris was your superpower, moving things around to make sure everything fit just so. It was one of the reasons he’d kept you around the last two years. One of many, you hoped.

It was about 1 PM when Curtis stumbled down from his bedroom and entered the kitchen. He went straight to the fridge, pulling out one of the fancy, high-electrolyte hangover cures you kept stocked. He pounded it quickly, recycling the container, and then finally looked at you. “Oh hey. How long have you been here?” he asked, his voice gritty with the remnants of sleep and whiskey.

“A few hours,” you said quietly. “I put your drycleaning in the downstairs closet. I didn’t want to wake you up. Now, I’m just working on your schedule.” 

He grimaced. “Please tell me I’m clear today.”

You shook your head. “Your trainer will be here in half an hour.”

“Fucking shit,” he muttered and grabbed another drink out of the fridge.

You almost reminded him that his trainer was going to be pissed at him for being hungover, as Curtis was supposed to be bulking up for his next movie, but you didn’t need to bother. He knew.

“Did you have a good night?” you asked, instead.

“No,” he said in almost a growl. Shit, it was one of those nights. “Anything online?” 

“I haven’t checked yet,” you said, carefully. Wondering what was on the gossip blogs was a bad sign. “Anything in particular I should be looking for?”

He shrugged. “I don’t–” he started, then looked away from you. “I don’t really remember clearly, but I feel like there might be something.” Oh, double shit. It was a really bad night, then. 

This wasn’t fully out of the ordinary. Known as America’s Bad Boy by the tabloids and gossip blogs, it wasn’t uncommon to see stories about him insulting someone outside of a club, smashing a paparazzo's camera on the ground, loving and leaving some starlet. So you’d been surprised when you first met him to find that he was actually very quiet, soft-spoken when he did speak, respectful of your time, and appreciative of your effort. He was the third actor you’d PA’d for and by far the easiest to get along with.  

But lately, he’d seemed increasingly tired and maybe a little – sad? He’d been going out even more than usual, blowing off prep for his next movie – which wasn’t like him at all, talking to you, or anyone, even less than normal. You’d prided yourself on being a help to him, knowing how to take care of him, but this? You didn’t know what to do about this.

The other complicating factor was the pesky feelings you’d developed over the past two years. You’d always known he was hot. He was an action star, that was part of the job. But up close and personal, you appreciated how beautiful he was. How kind. How thoughtful. How gentle. You were in love with him and you had been for a long time.

“Well,” you said, trying not to show your concern too plainly, “I’ll take a look and let you know what I find.”

He nodded absently, still looking away from you. You gave yourself a moment to take him in. He was a little hunched over, his skin paler than usual, his eyes a little sunken. You sighed, knowing you shouldn’t do it. He was an adult, he could face the consequences of his actions. But. You sighed, again. “I’ll call your trainer, and let him know you’ve come down with something. But that just means he’ll kick your ass even harder next time.”

You half-expected him to respond with a shit-eating grin or a sheepish smile. Instead, he looked at you very seriously. “Thank you,” he said. “I don’t deserve you.” You just sort of blinked at that, having no idea what to say. He turned back towards the stairs. “I’m going back to bed, wake me up if you need anything.”

He was almost to the staircase when you were finally able to turn your swirling thoughts into words. “Curtis,” you called out to him. He stopped and turned to look at you. “Are you ok?”

It was then that he shot you a cocky grin. You were a little stunned by the degree to which it didn’t reach his eyes. “Why wouldn’t I be ok?” he asked, then spun back around on his heel and trudged up the stairs, leaving you to worry alone in his kitchen.

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Tag lists are open

@stargazingfangirl18 @drabblewithfrannybarnes @thezombieprostitute @jaqui-has-a-conspiracy-theory @bval-1 @km-ffluv @texmexdarling @ladyvenera @before-we-get-started @veltana @andydrysdalerogers @royalwriteroftheuniverse @whosana-maria @dancer3205 @ijustneedpopcorn @mrsevans90 @pekusofixus @i-can-do-this-all-dayy

#krismas party #ask kris #curtis everett x reader #curtis everett x you #curtis everett #snowpiercer #actor au #drabble #chris evans characters #chris evans fanfiction #i know i should know better #what if #kris wrote something

[boy---interruptedd]

Alfred's Playhouse Commentary.

Alfred's playhouse is a vent show I recently discovered made by Emily Youcis. I will be addressing the actual content of the show before I move on to my opinion on Emily herself so please hold fire until the end because I KNOW what you're thinking.

TRIGGER WARNING - CSA, SH, CHILD ABUSE, NAZISM, GRAPHIC IMAGERY.

(Not all these themes are discussed in my post but you should be aware of these before watching the show)

Alfred's Playhouse features main character Alfred, who is a dog described in the introduction song as desperately attempting to escape his painful reality. I agree that it is genuinely disturbing, but I'd like to address its vague poignancy and how it deals with its themes.

In the first episode, we see what I think (as a survivor myself) to be the most accurate representation of how it feels to be sexually assaulted I've ever seen. The moment where everything is odd and numb and quiet followed by pure panic and rage.

The first episode also displays mental instability incredibly well. I've struggled with my mental health for the past six years and honestly the scenes where Alfred just rambles about essentially nothing at all, addressing an imagined audience, accurately represents what feels like the descent into madness many mentally ill people are convinced they go through. The thought that you've lost your mind is an extremely painful one and Alfred's Playhouse depicts that with surprising levels of accuracy.

Episode two, however, is essentially just this massive showcase of Alfred brutally harming himself. Though it portrays the very common desperate desire for attention many people experience when they struggle with self harm, myself included, I feel the level of gore is a little gratuitous, displaying Alfred almost bleeding to death from the wounds he's inflicted upon himself. That being said, it is a vent show so I see why Youcis made the decision. She never really made it for other people it was a way to make herself feel better. Then again, it was her decision to post it publicly.

Episode three essentially explains the whole show from a weirder perspective and honestly I don't want to go into it since I have so much to say and it's quarter past 11 at night and I have college tomorrow, but it is a good episode with the context of the show.

Overall, though it is important for assault victims and mentally ill people to have content in which they feel seen, I feel Youcis should have toned her work down a little before posting it. However, the Internet was a wild west in 2007.

Now onto Youcis herself, I feel it is incredibly unjustified to attribute her current political views to the show. She fell down the alt-right pipeline after publishing Alfred's Playhouse. This is almost definitely because of her downward spiral. It's not uncommon for groups like the alt-right to target vulnerable people like Emily. She has so clearly been crying for help for years and, though there's no excuse for her words or actions, I feel you should take her art for what it is rather than apply a made up meaning to it. The depictions of Nazis in the show - I think - are more a commentary on her childhood trauma and the themes of the show, Alfred feeling his life is dictated by someone/something else. While there's definitely better content in the genre and in general, the massive controversy surrounding Alfred's Playhouse is - in my opinion - unwarranted and really just watch it with an open mind and separate it from current Emily because she wasn't like she is now when she made it. Instead of hating on the present, understand the past and don't be overly shocked when mentally ill people do fucked up shit, especially when they've received the kind of backlash Emily Youcis faced.

Final disclaimer- I don't support her actions I hope she burns I just want people to understand things how they actually happened yk?

#alfreds playhouse #emily youcis #analogue horror #robin rambling

[beesmygod]

a while ago there was a blodoborne lore guy who i was like "ugh! this guy doesnt know what hes talking about!" over some statues he argued were depicting people looking up at an unknown astrological event but now i think he is kinda right. after watching the shetani's lair video, which argues pretty convincingly that a meteor severed the "divine realm" from the rest of the world of sekiro.

like, first of all: fromsoft loves to repeat itself. if something has appeared once in a game, its probably appeared prior or will appear again. they love to iterate on a theme over there. they also love to lightly reference japanese cultural knowledge that is lost on my dumb ass. but prior to this, the importance of an external, extraterrestrial force flying in and suddenly up-heaving the balance of the known world had not occurred to me.

in bloodborne, this is explicitly referenced but in the classic fromsoft "saying without REALLY saying it" way: the burial blade and the blade of mercy were forged from meteoric iron. oh my fucking god are you kidding me right now. sorry i just did a google search and realized something else lol. fuck hold on. look i can't find like a plain english wiki page about forging swords with meteoric iron in japan so youll have to take it from this nasa abstract. it was an uncommon practice due to scarcity and i think the swords kind of suck lol. however, the thing about iron from space is that its magnetic, which is how the first "trick weapons" operated: the blade of mercy is two blades magnetized together and the burial blade is just a magnet that flicks loose.

dude what in the hell. i have learned so much useless shit from this game. okay: japan wasnt the only nation to forge with iron meteorites; the indian (esoteric buddhism/shugendo/vajrayana buddism is also a recurring theme, for real) kris is famous not only for it's uncommon snake-y shape (....snakes are also a recurring theme) but the patterning of the metal, called pamor. this unique pattern is achieved by use of meteoric iron during the forging process.

now look at the weapons used by the ancient race of pthumerians

def proof that multiple meteors have landed in yharnam.

[luigismansion64]

tumblr is NOT letting me answer this ask directly for some reason so i screencapped it HDFHDG anyways here goes

i vagguelly knew abt otherkin stuff beforehand but that was like. very vague and more in the lense of "eww cringe" bc that was all that was talked abt it

fast forward to me being 16 or so (maybe 17?) and i decide that today on www.tumblr.com im gonna go through the werewolf tag, and between all the art and poems abt werewolves i view a few werewolfkin posts and i go "huh.. thats interesting" bc i only vaguely heard of it but never really looked into it

so i dip my toes into it, and fall into the lake completely, and now im here

from which i will give some advice:

disclaimer: most of this advice comes from a psychological kin perspective, for spiritual stuff i can gather some info if you ask me but overall im not spiritual kin

1: sometimes the answer is not too clear, being alterhuman can stem from many reasons and overlap with many other things, furryness, autism, psychosis, spiritual beliefs, familiarity and importance to an animal or myth, a lot can play into it! for some beings, the experiences are very separate from each other, for others, they may cause each other or be linked or overlap, it can all depend and change around, so dont stress too much on whats what, but if you wish, you can play around and see what belongs to what, ive had the fact im a furry sometimes overlap with the fact im otherkin, and even fuel each other, but i still see them as separate identities, its all a big complicated soup. and i will say to just fuck around and see what labels you see fit

figuring out your kintype can take a while, and its not uncommon that what you first consider to be your kintype may not be the one that you actually feel you are. for example my first through upon discovering kin stuff was that i may be a cat, ive loved cats since i was practically born, ive always wanted to be a cat and themed myself around cats, hell my fursona is a cat! turns out im not one, ive tried and figured stuff out and experimented and well a cat just wasnt it. from this i'd just say to explore different animals or mythic beasts or types of robot etc etc

from that, what has helped me personally to figure out kintype stuff is to see what you desire feel and act, what kind of environment do you crave for? forests? mountains? deserts? theres a lot! what do you wish your body looked like? everyone talks about wanting claws and fangs and such but really think about it, what do you want for your body? what would make you happier? what would make you see your body more as your true self? any particular diet you have or wish to have? any behaviors you've derived from a being? maybe you hiss maybe you bark maybe you knead. do you feel limbs that arent there? such as ears? tails? horns? just look around outside and inside to see what you crave what you do what you want and such

one thing that i did while trying to figure out kin stuff was to just. draw how i view myself in my mind, and not concentrate on design or what i like and dislike on character designs, just like, draw what comes to mind on an "ideal body", you shift around features from the vague idea of who you are in your mind, draw different tails draw different snouts draw different body shapes, and see what fits and sticks, sometimes you can land on yes "thats exactly me", sometimes you can land on "its a vague idea of me but can aid me in figuring it out". thats kinda how it lead to me figuring out im primatekin, i had multiple different attempts and sketches of what i think i look like in my mind, and i just kept going until much trial and error later i found something. it went from "humanoid?" to "halfly animal-like" to "has a long tail" to "small and expressive" and eventually to a primate! (and thats how my mizamonkey design came to be QSHFHD). again for some this may bring a concrete design while to others it may be just a vague guide, not every tip works for everyone.

despite a few points ago where i stated that being obsessed with an animal or myth doesnt always equal to it being your kintype, it sometimes can be! and its sometimes how kintypes can originate to people (if we're taking the psychological otherkin route, this doesnt work too well with spiritual otherkin). sometimes youre just so obsessed and interested with an animal or myth or fiction trope that your brain kinda, adopts it for your identity. this is what happened to me for werewolves, since i was a wee lad ive been OBSESSED with werewolves and i read about them and drew about them and made stories about them that my brain has seemingly just. grabbed it and went "thats you". so look into your childhood or current state of living and see what animals and beings and such you connect with! again just as a few points ago, it doesnt always mean its your kintype, but it can be!

being alterhuman is different for everyone, i sometimes still think of this message i saw ages ago that went "ask 10 therians what being a therian means for them, and you get 11 different answers", so just because this otherkin experiences xyz, doesnt mean everyone does, and vice versa! i used to have a lot of stress about this bc i felt like i was a faker bc i didnt experience like others but after a while i managed to mellow out on it and its making me feel better!

related to that i would be careful about the resources you seek out bc from my experience seeking out resources has been a very 50/50, some tips and advice is great! while others are just why would you follow that. use your critical mind and see what suits you and what helps you.

this is more a personal opinion but i feel like the whole "choosing your kintype" debacle doesnt have a correct and concrete answer. to me if you were to just choose whatever kintype you want it may not actually be the kintype you feel like you are. i would absolutely choose to be a wolverine if i could! but it just doesnt align with my kintype and i cant force it as my kintype even if i tried. i would say that you can "try out" kintypes to see if it fits, its all about experimenting after all. its just that for most, its not as easy as pick and choose. its mainly bc your freely chosen kintype may just not be who you are, if you wanna choose a kintype either way, the community has adopted the term "copinglink" for such. for most alterhumans they did not choose their kintype. again its about trial and error

overall its going to be a lot of trial and error to figure stuff out. it took me 2 years to finally land on my proper kintypes! you may find kintypes and you may drop them. you may find yourself to not be otherkin after all! if you want more personal tips and questions you can message me here or on discord! (but i prefer discord bc tumblrs dm system is kinda cramped and buggy).

#dectalk anwsering

[sneezypeasy]

Watsonian vs Doylist Analyses - A Couple Points of Clarification

I just want to clear up a couple of misunderstandings I may have unintentionally contributed to in my previous references on the subject:

1. There can be multiple explanations (multiple Watsonian explanations, multiple Doylist explanations, multiple of each etc) of a given scene or character portrayal or plot point, and people can accept more than one explanation at the same time. It's just uncommon for people to accept or present multiple explanations at once because that's kind of how people people.

2. Doylist takes aren't inherently "better" than Watsonian takes, and vice versa. People use both to engage with the text in different ways and for different purposes. Watsonian logic is fun for roleplay or immersing yourself into the story, and I imagine a lot of fanfic writers often start from a prompt like "I wonder what would happen next if I took x character and then put them in y scenario". Doylist logic is fun if you like examining the text from a more "meta" standpoint, trying to see what purpose various narrative choices serve (or undermine). Neither angle is intrinsically a more valid way to engage with fiction, and you might enjoy doing one thing one day and another thing the next - with different texts or even with the same text.

In litcrit, because I like to pick my brain on the subject of "what would have made for the best story here", I tend to be more interested in analyzing theme, character arcs, setup and payoff etc, which are Doylist interpretations. Some people focus a lot on authorial intent, which is also a Doylist perspective (just a different one). Some people like to try to get into the heads of the characters they're analyzing and discuss ideas like "what choice would make the most sense for x character given who they are as a person". That's a Watsonian take. There are contextual and individual reasons why some explanations may resonate with you more than others some of the time or even most of the time, but they're really apples and oranges. Which one you prefer will likely vary depending on the type of question being posed and what scope seems to be the most appropriate for it - and people are always going to have different opinions about that too... because that's how people people.

Of course, the opinions I personally care enough about to splash all over the internet are going to be opinions I hold with very strong convictions, which is why I can come off quite aggressive about them, but they're still just opinions and there's no such thing as "one true explanation", whether that's Watsonian or Doylist. If I make a Doylist argument and I dismiss someone else's rebuttal on the basis of it being Watsonian, that's not because Watsonian takes are intrinsically weaker, it's just because you generally can't use a Watsonian take to rebut a Doylist one or vice versa. You need to engage with someone's point in order to counter it, and you can't generally do that when you completely change the scope of the question, which is what tends to happen when a Watsonian perspective and a Doylist perspective comes into conflict.

(Of course, you can argue that a Doylist scope is situationally stronger than a Watsonian one or vice versa, but that's a different argument and usually context-dependent lol - point is just because a Doylist answer might fit one particular prompt much better this time, doesn't mean all Doylist answers will always trump all Watsonian answers in every single context all of the time, and that's not even accounting for the fact that you're never going to reach unanimous agreement about these sorts of things anyway.)

I hope that clears things up 😊

#litcrit #watsonian vs doylist #apples and oranges #long post #text post #side note but this is why I tend to only engage in Watsonian logic myself when I'm the one doing the rebutting #I don't usually care to come out with my own Watsonian takes #but occasionally I'll come across someone else's that seems totally bonkers #and unsubstantiated by anything #at which point I'll put the Watsonian hat on so I can engage 😂 #otherwise I prefer my trusty Doylist hats 😁 ✌

[spanishskulduggery]

Hello:

This is a nuance question. What are the minor differences between tan, tanto, cuán, and lo (adjetivo)poder ser a (sustantivo) when modifying "to an extent" something is?

There's a pattern to these words that can help

Typically the question words have a QU or C sound; and the descriptors here have the T

The question words can sometimes be used as other parts of speech, but the questions or implied unknowns will have accent marks

This will make more sense below

-

First, tal and cual - used to describe nouns, or sometimes become nouns themselves:

tal = such, such as / "one such" [noun] tales = such, such as / "some such" [plural noun]

cuál = which? / which one cuáles = which (ones)? / which ones? [plural]

(el/la) cual = the one (in particular), the one that/which, one such cual = as [in poetry; synonymous with como, very unusual]

If you're seeing tal and cual you're seeing nouns for the most part; tal is "such" or "like that" and cuál is more common with the accent mark or in a relative clause

De tal manera... = In that way... / In such a way... De tal palo, tal astilla. = "Chip off the old block" / "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree" [lit. "from such a (wooden) stick, such a splinter"] Escribe sobre la vida tal y cómo es. = "He/She writes about life exactly how it is." [tal y cómo is literally "such and how" but often means "exactly so/as"] Tal leyenda no me interesa. = A legend like that doesn't interest me. / Such a legend doesn't interest me.

There's also an expression Fulanito/a de Tal which is very idiomatic but it's a made up placeholder name like "Mr/Mrs Whoever from Wherever"... fulano/a is basically "someone you don't know their actual name", and de Tal is "from Such" so it comes out as "What's-their-name from Wherever"

...You see this in contexts where someone knows nothing about the person, or they mean so little to them that they can't be bothered to learn their name

You will also see this expression:

(son) tal para cual = "they were made for each other" / "a match made in heaven"

You say this about people who are very much alike

...

Now as for cual you get into questioning words; an unknown noun but specific

If tal is "such", cuál with the accent mark is qué + tal meaning "what such"... aka "which one"

¿Cuál es? = Which one is it? ¿Cuáles son? = Which one are they?

Seeing cual without the accent mark is most commonly used in what they call relative clauses - it's a clause within a sentence that gives more specific information "related" to what noun you just brought up:

Esa torre es la Torre Eiffel, la cual es el edificio más conocido de Francia. = That tower is the Eiffel Tower, which is the most well-known building in France. El amor, el cual es un tema muy importante para muchísimos autores y poetas, sigue siendo expresado y discutido en el arte de todas formas. = Love, which is a very important theme for MANY authors and poets, continues to be expressed and discussed/debated in art of all kinds.

Relative clause just means you decide to add a comma and talk about a specific noun (which could be a person, place, or thing) almost in an aside

You can also do relative clauses with el que and la que they're just more informal than el/la cual ...it's like saying "the one that" vs "the one which"

....

Also I should say cual can also be used as como in some poetry. It's really uncommon today but every so often in poetry you'll see it.

Like rojos labios cual carmín is the way they translated "lips that shame the red red rose" but it literally means "(VERY) red lips like carmine/vermillion" - it reads like very flowery writing, usually reserved for older things or fairy tales or something that feels antiquated

-

Next we move on to tan/cuán and tanto and cuánto/a and again there's a pattern

tan/cuán work with adjectives and adverbs as "so much" and "how much"

And tanto/a and cuánto/a work with nouns as "so many" and "how much/many?"

...

But actually first let me say you will NEVER have to use cuán for "how much + adjective/adverb"; it is considered very archaic and only appears in lyrics and poetry. The only time I've ever seen it was in the translation for Pocahontas in Colors of the Wind:

¿Cuán alto el árbol crecerá? = "How high does the sycamore grow?" [lit. "how high will the tree grow?"]

But from that you can say it's "how much" in terms of "to what extent" - if you're using adjectives you use them agreeing with the gender/plurality

More to the point though, what you actually use depends on region and thankfully it's pretty evenly between Spain and Latin America, and reasonably understandable what you're saying/hearing regardless so no one's really confused it's just a difference in region:

Latin America will use qué tan (which is a deconstructed cuán), and Spain prefers cómo de which is more like "to what extent"

¿Qué tan alto es el árbol? = How tall is the tree? ¿Qué tan alta es la montaña? = How high is the mountain? ¿Cómo de alto es el árbol? = How tall is the tree? ¿Cómo de alta es la montaña? = How high is the mountain? ¿Qué tan lejos? = How far (away)? [adv] ¿Cómo de lejos? = How far (away)? [adv]

And again adverbs won't need to agree; ¿qué tan rápido/a? is "how fast" for example as an adjective, but ¿qué tan rápido? by itself could be "how quickly?"; same with cómo de - only difference is that's for Spain

And cuánto is used for amounts, "how much/many?"

¿Cuánto cuesta? = How much does it cost? ¿Cuánta comida hay? = How much food is there? ¿Cuántos hombres? = How many men? ¿Cuántas mujeres? = How many women? No sabes cuánto te quiero. = You don't know how much I love you. [cuánto here as a noun is like "the (unknown) amount"]

PS en cuanto + subjunctive is "as soon as + subjunctive"; don't worry about it for right now, but every so often you see a cuanto with no accent mark

...

So on to tan and tanto/a, same general distinction

tan is "so/quite/very" used with adjectives and adverbs, and tanto/a is often done with nouns and countable things

Eres tan listo. = You're so smart. Eres tan lista. = You're so smart. Son tan listos. = They're so smart. Son tan listas. = They're so smart. Hay tanta ropa. = There's so much clothing. / There's so many clothes. Hay tanto peligro. = There's so much danger. Tenemos tantos problemas. = We have so many problems. Tenemos tantas personas. = We have so many people.

It's really the same difference between mucho/a and muy

With comparisons, you use tan or tanto with como. The important thing here is that these are expressions of equality or equivalence, rather than "more/better" or "less/worse" that you'd see with más/mejor and menos/peor.

Es tan listo como ella. = He's as smart as she is. Es tan lista como él. = She's as smart as he is. Son tan listos como ellas. = They're as smart as they [f+f] are. Son tan listas como ellos. = They're as smart as they are. Sus libros no son tan famosos como sus poemas. = Their books aren't as famous as their poems. Sus películas no son tan famosas como sus obras de teatro. = Their movies aren't as famous as their theatrical works.

tanto como is more used as "(someone) as well as (someone else)" or "(something) as much as (something else)"... usually in the context of something pertaining to or affecting something/someone, or just overall "involvement"

Tanto yo como mis colegas... = Myself as well as my colleagues... Tanto tú como tus amigos... = (Both) You as well as your friends...

And you use it to compare equal amounts of things with others:

Tienen tanto dinero como yo. = They have as much money as I do. Tienen tanta influencia como nosotros. = They have as much influence as we do. Tengo tantos amigos como amigas. = I have as many (male) friends as (female) friends. Tengo tantas amigas como amigos. = I have as many (female) friends as (male) friends.

You can also see tanto as an amount like "as much" or "so much" just a plain noun, or an adverb like saying no tanto "not so much" or "not really"

And then there's mientras tanto which is "meanwhile" [lit. "while as/so much"]

-

And I'm not entirely sure what you mean by lo in context with comparisons so I'd probably need more context

I'm used to seeing things like lo más antes posible "as soon as possible" or "the soonest possible", or lo más imporante "the most important thing"

Also lo máximo/mínimo que as like "the most/least that (+ something else)"

#spanish lessons #langblr #learning spanish #spanish grammar #language #languages #asks #la gramatica #long post

[loreholdlesbian]

Murders at Karlov Manor Booster Challenge

With every* set since zendikar rising, I've done a booster of custom cards meant to be a part of the set. This is based on a challenge from GDS3, so my goals are to not just to make cards that feel like a part of the set but also ones that Innovate which is a rather difficult balance to strike. I try to cover a wide variety of themes, colors, and mechanics. This is the first set using the new play boosters which I thought would make things more different than it did; it's basically just one fewer card and one slot that's flexible in rarity- I decided to make it uncommon, and I grouped it in with the other uncommons because it really doesn't matter which takes the flex slot.

Rare

Worldsoul's Justice 3WW Sorcery Choose one or more- * Destroy all colorless creatures. * Destroy all monocolored creatures. * Destroy all multicolored creatures. “You all profited while Ravnica screamed! You are all guilty!” -Oba

Art link

This is a flexible board wipe that takes advantage of the variety of colors you might have on board in this set between the light multicolor theme and the disguise mechanic to let you sculpt it to your needs.

Uncommons

Increased Surveillance 1U Instant Surveil 1, then surveil 2, then surveil 3. (To surveil, look at that many cards from the top of your library. Put any number into your graveyard and the rest back on top in any order.) Rumors of the Dimirs’ fall only aid their all-seeing eyes.

Art link

We've seen something kinda like this before in Cryptic Annelid, but i think scry vs surveil makes a big difference here. This is a great card for filling up your yard to collect evidence, while sculpting your future draws.

Midnight Investigator 1BB Creature- Vampire Detective When Midnight Investigator enters the battlefield, each player may collect evidence 5. If a player doesn’t, they lose life equal to the total mana value of cards in their graveyard. (To collect evidence 5, exile cards with total mana value 5 or greater from your graveyard.) 3/2

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One thing that's cool about collect evidence that only one card played with is that it's something anyone *can* do. I made this symmetrical rather than just opponents to reward building around the mechanic, but i like the way that the life loss effect essentially has a cap.

Chaos Seal 3B Enchantment Sacrifice Chaos Seal: Exile the top three cards of your library. You may play those cards this turn. Disguise 1R (You may cast this card face down for 3 as a 2/2 creature with ward 2. Turn it face up any time for its disguise cost.) The Rakdos excel at finding novel uses for Azorius containment spells.

Art link

In theory this card could be part of a cycle but I wasn't finding a lot of other effects that fit the bill. I needed something that wasn't problematic as an on board trick but also that you don't always want to use immediately after playing, and that benefited from being able to come out "cheaply" with a disguise cost. Impulse draw was a good fit because the amount of mana you have available really matters.

In Hiding G Enchantment Ward costs of permanents you control cost an additional 1 to pay. When In Hiding enters the battlefield, you may cloak a card from your hand. (To cloak a card, put it onto the battlefield face down as a 2/2 creature with ward 2. Turn it face up any time for its mana cost if it’s a creature card.)

Art link

I went back and forth between white and green for this card. White is a little better at this kind of weenie and I feel like the re-ward fits it a little more, but neither is a bad fit for green and green is more of the disguise color so in this particular set it might make sense there. In the end I went green to differentiate this card a little more from the white common that is a noncreature permanent that has a minor effect and makes a 2/2 on ETB.

Commons

Compiled Case Notes 1W Artifact When Compiled Case Notes enters the battlefield, create a 2/2 white and blue Detective creature token. 1, T: Surveil 1. Activate only if a Detective entered the battlefield under your control this turn or was turned face up under your control this turn.

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I like the detective typal stuff and wanted to make a card for it; here's one that works fine in a vacuum as essentially a bear with kicker 1: Surveil 1, but gets a lot more interesting if you have other detectives which is a place I like my common typal rewards.

Detain the Suspect 1U Sorcery Tap target creature then choose two. You may choose the same mode more than once. * Put a stun counter on that creature. (If a creature with a stun counter on it would become untapped, instead remove a stun counter from it.) * Investigate.

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One cool thing you can do with stun counters that you couldn't with old "doesn't untap" effects is make a variable amount of turns. Investigate is clearly the better option synergy wise in this set, but being sorcery means tapping doesn't stop an attacker, and stopping an attacker for a turn or two can be *very* valuable. I think this card's in a good spot of how often you choose each of the three modes (two stun counters, two clues, counter and clue)

Kidnap 4U Instant This spell costs 1 less to cast for each card you drew this turn. Target creature’s owner puts it on top or bottom of their library. In a city as big as Ravnica, it’s all to easy to fall through thr cracks.

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The set already has some of this with the split cards and morphs, but I just wanted to add another spell that's expensive but can be cast cheaply to fill up your yard with expensive stuff for the sake of evidence collection. This was the cost reduction effect I found I liked best for this set.

Golgari Scapegoat 3B Creature- Elf Assassin 3B: Suspect Golgari Scapegoat. (A suspected creature has menace and can’t block.) Whenever Golgari Scapegoat deals combat damage to a player, if it’s suspected, surveil 2. 3/4 After the Invasion, the other Guilds are quick to blame the Swarm.

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This is a kind of design I always love doing with a set mechanic- give it a way to turn itself on so it works fine on its own, but cost it such that you'd much rather find another way to turn that effect on if you can.

Mysterious Bloodstain B Artifact- Clue When Mysterious Bloodstain enters or leaves the battlefield, suspect up to one target creature. (It has menace and can’t block.) 2, Sacrifice Mysterious Bloodstain: Draw a card.

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This is a cycle of clues that all do an effect when they enter or leave the battlefield. This is the one I like best because I think a card like this would do a lot of work in getting the BR suspect deck online; more than any of the others this one feels the most like a card you can only make here.

Covert Operations Head 1R Creature- Goblin Soldier Face-down creatures you control have haste. 2/1 Though once goblins filled only the lowest Boros ranks, after the Invasion devastated Boros numbers those who survived quickly rose.

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Fairly straightforward disguise reward here. I wanted to cost it to be 2 mana, since coming down before turn 3 is hugely important for this particular card, so it basically built itself from the initial idea.

Anzrag's Escape 2G Sorcery Choose one- * Return target card in your graveyard to your hand * Return target card you own in exile that you collected as evidence this turn to your hand.

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Simple enough idea here, it's a regrowth that doesn't compete with the set's graveyard mechanic. I don't think this breaks the spirit of the rule that cards shouldn't be able to get cards back from exile because of how specific it is; it doesn't at all prevent using exile as a safety.

Elephant in the Room 4G Creature- Elephant Detective Disguise 4G. This cost is reduced by 2 if Elephant in the Room is attacking and isn’t blocked. (You may cast this card face down for 3 as a 2/2 creature with ward 2. Turn it face up any time for its disguise cost.) 5/5

Art link

I wanted a card that lets you use disguise to sneak a big creature out early without breaking the rule of five, and I came up with a design I quite like to get around it.

#mtg #magic the gathering #custom magic card #ravnica #murders at karlov manor #booster challenge

[clown-sip]

The Clownverse:

This is just the very basics of my clownverse. Future world building will come soon.

Nonclowns are not yet covered in this post

True Clowns:

Originated from earth

Fully sapient and sentient (the same as a human)

Lack ears, but do have hearing organs

Only have 4 fingers (including the thumb)

The average height is between 5 and 7 feet

Always bright and colorful and has a happy demeanor

Always extroverted and kind

No specific breeds, just varying color schemes and general themes

Their skin markings are their pigment, not makeup

Eye colors are similar to that of humans, with the exception of violet

Humanoid figure, does not move on all fours

Has blunted teeth but sharper cuspids than humans

They honk to communicate, which is a language in and of itself

Clowns can learn any language just like a human

Pet Clowns:

Originated from earth

Fully sentient, similar to that of a house pet like a dog

Have ears, unlike true Clowns

Can have anywhere from 2 to 6 fingers (including the thumb, or lack thereof)

Size varies wildly from clowns that are inches tall, all the way to 8ft giants

Breeds very heavily from clown to clown

Bred for specific traits, looks, personalities, and performing

Their skin markings are also their skin pigment, although some clowns lack markings all together, and owners opt to paint their faces

Eye color can be anything in the ROYGBIV spectrum (yellow/orange are uncommon, though)

Generally humanoid figure but has the ability to move on all fours

Teeth and oral anatomy vary depending on the breed

Can speak but generally will just repeat phrases like a parrot does

They have the ability to honk and squeak to communicate with other pet clowns. This is not a true language and is just tonal, comparable to dogs

Cosmic Clowns:

They come from deep space or other planets

Fully sapient and sentient, some all-knowing

They mimic both pet clowns and true clowns

Some wear makeup, and some mimic the facial markings of clowns

Teeth are usually very, very sharp

Can be hostile or peaceful

Eye color is always bright orange/yellow

Mimics the humanoid form but doesn't always move properly

Has the ability to physically morph in unnatural ways

They can speak any language, some even speak in tongues

Mostly live underground in areas of low population

_______________________

So basically, True Clowns evolved alongside humans, whereas Pet Clowns evolved similar to the way monkeys did. Cosmic Clowns are a whole other thing entirely.

#clownblr #clown husbandry #clowncore #clown #clown oc #clownverse #clown au #clown universe #clown breeding #true clowns #cosmic clowns #long post #text post #world building

[captainofthetidesbreath]

Can I ask why you like Chet? He’s a character I’ve struggled with and would like the perspective of someone with a positive take. this is not intended sarcastically nor as bad faith question.

This took a while, and it ended up as a very long post. This isn't even everything that draws me to him, just a bunch of things I could think of before I decided I was taking too long to get back to you on this. So, all the elaboration is under the cut.

But, the short of it is that Chet is extremely funny to me, I am generally drawn to the themes that Travis repeatedly explores that are present also in Chet, I am super into Chet being someone as old as he is (which is really uncommon in these games and stories), I'm fascinated by the contradictions Chet has, and I enjoy the specific craftwork approach of Travis' characters.

Also, I like werewolves.

He's funny as hell. That sounds like a joke answer, but that's genuinely a significant point. Chetney is extremely funny, and Travis' comedic timing in the way Chet talks, his diction, and just the shit he says amuses me greatly.

In more serious quarters, I think there's something incredibly compelling about a character who has seen so much of life already finding themselves in radically new circumstances and is set off on an adventure. Chetney has lived an entire life, lived long enough for multiple entire lives, but there's still enough room for something wild to happen to him. I enjoyed this in Fjord too, who has lived enough of life to be settled into a routine and to start thinking that he understood what the rest of his life looked like. Chet is at an extreme of that in that he's, well, elderly. I'm drawn to the idea that life still HAPPENS to him and, despite his age, he is going to have to adjust to his new circumstances. It's fascinating to me always to watch characters who have already settled into their lives deal with things being upended.

I am always interested in a lot of explorations of control, violence, agency, power, domineering others, and impulses as something both dangerous and freeing that runs through Travis' characters. I'm as fascinated with this as a theme as he is. Since this post is very long, I'll just say that I trust Travis is exploring a theme here about self-control and potentially losing yourself to the decadent and dangerous freedoms of newly acquired power and agency. The Tuyen scene is amazing, particularly "There was a time years ago where I would've just sat by my lonesome and hated you from afar, but there's a different side of me now, and he wants to hunt", and I look forward to seeing more of this.

I do also love the adjacent thing about power that frees you and gives you agency and is something that you enjoy is also something terrifying to you and you must grapple with that danger, liability, threat to yourself. We saw this with Fjord and his warlock pact, and we're seeing beginnings of it with Chetney and lycanthropy. The lycanthropy is both something that Chet enjoys and finds freeing, but he is also quickly realizing that it can be horrific, that it is known as a curse for good reason.

I think that Chet has been both not giving a shit about how others perceive him (too old to care) and carefully tailoring how he appears to others. He clearly cares very deeply and is extremely kind, but he seems to prefer others think him as ornery and standoffish. He also appears to feel a type of way about suddenly finding himself always on the outside of things but he also seems to reflexively frighten the others off to arm's length. He likes to present as impulsive and scattershot, but he is among the more deliberate and patient of the group. There's a fascinating series of contradictions here that Chet feels cognizant of and is deliberate about that I am always drawn to, and I'm curious to see how it'll pan out. I just love so much this kind of thing.

I feel like Chet is not as secure as he presents himself to be and is actually feeling very anxious about his current position in life. I love a good false bravado, and I can't wait to see that resolve itself.

From a craft perspective, I think it's fascinating to adapt a character concept across contexts. Chetney and Chutney are separate and different characters, but there is very much a shared core here. I think taking that and adapting it across not only settings but lengths of the work and goals has been a fascinating exercise overall, particularly in areas of what is worth keeping and what is radically changed and what to find analogues for and how Chetney has developed apart from that. I think it's highlighted Travis' skill in character crafting, and I enjoy seeing this continuing to develop.

I do have to admit there is a fair amount here in that I like Travis' approach to building and playing a character. I like that his characters are A Lot in the way that reminds me of this TikTok. Just the way that this guy pulls out that stuff and starts making a balloon animal, I think Travis' characters tend to be very much like that. I feel Travis builds characters in a way that makes them not feel thoroughly cohesive, which is not a dig at all. The individual elements of his characters don't feel like they're aiming for total unity and cohesion and harmony, and that creates a character with unexpected qualities or skills that give them a lot of depth or vibrancy in the same way that real people are grab bags of unexpected (sometimes contradictory) experiences and skills and traits. Chet is very much an example of this. An elderly werewolf who is a toymaker and a thief, that's a lot in a way that I enjoy out of Travis' characters.

Also, I like werewolves as much as Travis does, and I think someone who is both a werewolf and very small is hilarious.

#Critical Role #Critical Role things #Chetney Pock O'Pea #cr meta

[jones-friend]

How to Horde

Horde Decks, or PvE EDH, is something I’ve had a good time playing with and I wanted to share my notes here!

The idea behind horde is 2+ survivors with a shared life total are battling against a horde deck, where all damage dealt to the horde mills that many cards from the top of the horde. The horde is allowed one or more reveals each turn. Consisting of token and nontoken cards, the horde reveals cards from the top of the deck until a nontoken card is revealed. That card is cast with infinite mana and all revealed tokens enter play. The horde’s creatures have haste and must attack every turn. Players win if they reduce the horde deck to 0!

Building the Horde

Start with a theme. Theme is the most important part of the deck. Horde mode arose during the zombie craze of the late 00’s. Traditionally a horde deck is 60 token cards and 40 nontoken cards with tokens at 2/2 with a few stronger 5/5 thrown in. Flavor is king when it comes to horde, so the first thing you’ll want to do is pick a theme that has a broad base of tokens. Phyrexian invasions, zombie hordes, onslaughts of beasts, killer robots, legions of soldiers, theres a lot of fun unifying themes to pick from.

The traditional horde token has 2 power 2 toughness, so if you use higher power tokens like 3/3 beasts consider adding more nontoken cards. You can make the horde harder with less nontoken cards (more tokens per reveal) or easier with more nontoken cards (less tokens per reveal). I like to find a diverse base of tokens with varying power and/or keywords, but I recommend to make at least 30 cards (half your token base) the same token.

Building a horde deck is a fascinating exercise bc mana cost and rarity are entirely irrelevant. Cards that are normally considered weak can blow out the game and cause a sudden and unhappy loss.

Preventing your opponents from blocking for a full turn can be devastating. When building a horde you aren’t looking for complex card interaction like you would with a deck. You’re looking to build a series of challenges for the survivors to overcome. Much more like dm’ing a game of EDH than trying to win it.

When packing removal be sure to “game-ify” the removal. For example I would play Ravnica at War in a horde with multicolor permanents at stake so the boardwipe impacts the horde as well, but a monocolor EDH deck could slip by. Board wipes can help even out a horde out of control or set the players back a few paces. Try to stay away from flat out boardwipes, try to give some kind of choice or interaction with it from the survivor’s side. You also want to avoid removal that forces the horde to make a choice. Tribute to the Wild is a great card for Horde impacting the survivors and taking off an artifact/enchant per player. If the horde does make a choice it should do so randomly, without affecting its own permanents if possible.

You should also be aware of how the rules work for direct damage on survivors. They share a life total, but are counted as individual opponents for the sake of direct damage. For example Red Dragon will deal 4 damage to the survivors per survivor. Even though its an uncommon it can deal 8-16 damage just by entering the field. Crackling Doom deals 2 damage to the survivors per survivor and they each have to make a sacrifice.

You can also add cards that help the survivors. Whenever the horde draws a card they are allowed to play it during the pre combat main phase. While Vision Skeins lets the horde draw and play two more cards that turn each survivor draws 2. Shah hits for 6 trample damage BUT if survivors let it stay out they’ll each draw 3 making more of a game out of this reveal. Enslaved Horror lets each survivor recur a creature.

Be VERY wary of letting the horde steal, and do so carefully. The horde’s infinite mana can break the game and this often makes the horde makes choices which we want to avoid doing. For example Intellect Devourer lets the horde steal and play from hands but only whatever the players give it. To me this is reasonable. So if players give the horde a comet storm it will multitarget everything for infinite damage and the game will end. Speaking of, also be wary of X cost cards. The horde has infinite mana and will cast for the highest value of X. So Comet Storm is a bad add because it ends the game when revealed.

Playing the Horde

The horde is designed to play autonomously, so the player piloting the horde should be able to also play. I give the survivors 30 life +10 per player, though other people do 20 life per player. Decks that play more traditional mtg using combat to deal damage and win are ideal as some archetypes get messy with the format. If anyone plays mill I recommend on cards like Mind Grind that mill for lands to mill until a nontoken card is revealed instead of a land. If Poison is in the game I recommend milling a number of cards whenever the poison threshold is reached (anywhere 20-50 cards or half of whats left).

In EDH players will gain momentum the longer the game goes on and eventually will begin to overtake the horde. I recommend adding another reveal each time a damage threshold is met. I prefer to add a second reveal whenever the survivors deal 20+ damage to the horde deck and this has worked nicely. You can also do 15/30, two reveals after 15+ damage and three reveals after 30+ damage. This usually matches the power of the survivors and keeps the challenge going.

Adding Goodies

You may be tempted to add extra goodies like Background enchantments or war chests that give bonuses during the game. If you decide to make sure the horde works as intended first. Once you have the horde going then start adding extras. Its up to you how to award them. One angle I recommend is adding a flavorful emblem that causes each horde reveal. For example in a phyrexian invasion horde you could have Breach emblems that read “the horde reveals a nontoken card”. And each time a condition is met add another breach token adding another reveal making the game harder. You can also add emblems related to major characters for flavor. In a phyrexian invasion where incubator tokens are used you could make an Atraxa emblem that reads “at the end of your turn proliferate all permanents you control”.

And that’s my guide to horde! Pick a theme, 60 tokens, 40 nontokens, and go nuts with it. Remember this is for fun, you aren’t trying to murderize the survivors, and really lean into the flavor of your horde. If you’ve made any or will make one I’d love to see it!

#Mtg #magic the gathering #buy singles not sealed

[ideahat-universe]

Good Design, Bad Design: ARG edition!

Don't worry, it's just a framing device. Lets talk about a Good ARG and a Bad ARG.

Good Design

Shipwrecked 64 is one of the better examples of a ARG done extremely well but what really sets it apart in my mind is the fact that it's a real game.

A lot of indie games make game play a means to an end, most of it benefits more from being watched than played.

A meta of overcharging people to play chapters of a game where each chapter is a little under 2 hours and the game play is just put key in keyhole and run from thing has really crippled the entertainment the genre can offer.

Not so for Shipwrecked 64. You're expected to learn and even write down many things to find the answers needed to progress.

Learn a little bit about music, remember numbers and colors when they appear to you, watch the videos that show up, Read the notes made by stumbler, utilize a fan made cipher to decode Beaver-scratch (or decode the method yourself!), dabbled in the phonetic alphabet, oh and a bit of some googling.

The game can be a punishing experience for streamers who expect to knock this game out in an afternoon. Because of that though it can be fun to play blind. In fact it's very fun to play blind and the scares are edited fairly well as the the jump part of scare utilizes a very surreal screen tearing effect, meanwhile the game tries to come up with ways to sneak up on you to make the jumps really sudden.

It's very good. Sure Poppy's Playtime is a more cinematic experience, and the latest Freddy Game wasn't that bad either but there's something about a really well rounded experience that lives beyond its expectations.

UrbanSpook is. Well, UrbanSpook is a TV dinner.

Let me explain.

A few months ago I mentioned Who's Lila which was also a really well done ARG and meta mystery story which was born from Twin Perfect's reading on what Twin Peaks was supposed to be about.

The idea is that Twin Peaks was a response to how throwaway and artless television was becoming and specifically how murder stories were just a cavalcade of dead bodies and killers with nothing else to care about.

The metaphor used in Twin Peaks? TV Dinners. Whenever bad people were indulging in base desires they were eating TV dinners or other meals that lacked substance.

Yeah, I think you know where I'm going with this. UrbanSpook comes out the gate with a framing device for a gallery of artwork but the framing is bare bones and the artwork only satiates the desire to see gore. The artwork is good but in creating a story it is not judged as a series of images and is instead judged as a story.

As a story we don't know who the killer is, how they kill, why they kill (why they have to kill people to make paintings). We don't know the victims beyond them being dead, when they died, and how they died. We don't know who is primarily responsible for investigating the killings (as it is not uncommon for a specific person to be tasked with bringing a serial killer to justice).

We know about as much as you might learn in a B movie. Which brings me to what I believe UrbanSpook is. UrbanSpook is a no budget ARG Splatterpunk horror.

People come in expecting some kind of lip-service to pathos because at the end of the day people love character, not kills; and in almost every good horror story you get characterization of everyone as well as a strong theme beyond "We like violence, yes we do."

BUT in a B-movie or a cheap slasher film you want gore, you want some blood thrown around, you want TV Dinners.

I imagine though that the budget of UrbanSpook is quite limited so rather than make a completely animated venture he went for the Mandela Catalog effect.

And maybe it's a good gambit. With money he could make a better production but he's getting a Serbian film style reception which does hurt and lashing out on Twitter isn't great PR but that's beyond the art and really everyone is terrible on Twitter.

UrbanSpook isn't bad because it dares to do things that are audacious and repugnant, because the horror genre has gladly housed such films since the creation of film as a genre.

What UrbanSpook does bad is telling a story and while morally Horror can do whatever it wants, artistically there is a good design for a horror story and a bad design for a horror story and this is

Bad Design

#fandom #controversy #horror #shipwrecked 64 #urbanspook #Youtube