#I wasn't even that invested in them but this hit way harder than I expected

[glassmarcus]

The Rogue Lite Mexican Stand Off

*All games played in January 2023, Written in November 2023

I've had a backlog of Rogue Lites I planned on checking out for years now. This list keeps growing and I've accepted that I'll never reach the bottom. So I decided to knock out the three I felt were at the top of the genre at the very least. First I played Hades, a title I wasn't super psyched to try because I'm not a huge fan of isometric angles in games. But word of mouth overcame that doubt and I gave it a shot anyway. And yea, the game is aces. I was not led astray. Second on the docket was Rogue Legacy 2. I knew I was going to love this game because of how much I loved the first. To zero shock, I loved Rogue Legacy 2. Last was Dead Cells. A game I was interested in because I heard it be compared to Dark Souls at one point. What got me to finally buy it was the Castlevania DLC which I had to purchase because I'm a huge shill. By the way this game is also pretty good.

I see why this gallery of Rogue Likes are praised so highly and I enjoyed my time with them immensely... But which one is the best? I tried to place them all on the same level in my mind, but that's not how I operate. There needs to be a clear pecking order. A hierarchy must be established and that's exactly what I will do here. I'm going to pit these three Rouge Lites against each other and see who comes out on top. And no, I will not stop using the terms Rogue Lite and Rogue Like interchangeably. I know they are technically different things, but they sound far too similar for me to care. All games that expect you to complete their procedurally generated adventure in a single run are Rogue Likes/ Rogue Lites. That's the definition I'm using here.

In one corner of this Rogue Like Mexican stand off is Hades. Hades is a mechanically efficient masterwork of roguish progression. Not a single aspect is wasted and unpolished. You look at the weapons you get and might think "oh, there's only six of them" only to realize that they only made six because you only need six. Every weapon is completely fleshed out and has its own advantages over others. Swords deal high damage and take out a lot of enemies at once, but require putting yourself in risky situations. The Bow is weaker but safer as you can attack from anywhere in the screen. The Spear is somewhat of a jack of all trades, not as much range as a bow, not as much power as a sword, but enough of both to be worth using. Shields take a different approach in being a middle man by having its normal attack be melee and it's special long range. Fist and Guns act as the gambling man's version of the sword and bow. With Fist, you can get a lot of damage in when you're close, but it's harder to gauge when you should retreat. With Guns you can get way more hits than with the Bow, but you also have to manage your ammo and if you lose count you'll be shit out of luck.

I gotta say, there is no clear best weapon to use. I like the fist the best because obviously I'm gonna gravitate towards the punchy one the most, but I can't say it's strictly better than the others. And I came to this conclusion by naturally trying out every weapon. Hades attributes a point bonus for a random weapon in each run. These points can be used to permanently upgrade yourself between runs. So you have to decide if you want consistency with the weapons you are used to, or invest in the future by trying something new and getting potentially more points. Its a great way to incentivize variety and exploration of the mechanics of the game. The weapon options don't even end there as you get the ability to permanently upgrade your weapons after you've probably found a favorite. And these upgrades can substantially change the way you play as they aren't merely damage increases, but diverse effects that you can take advantage of to great result.

This game could just have these weapons and be perfectly great, but what takes it to the next level are the mid run upgrades you'd expect from any rogue like. Boons, the power gifted from the gods, are what really counts in getting you strong enough to claw your way out of hell. When you understand the advantages of your weapon, the permanent abilities you've acquired, and the effects boons can have, you can figure out which boons cynergize with you the best. As I stated prior, I was a Fist Aficionado. A weapon that hits fast and requires you to get in and out of enemy range. So when I picked boons that worked well with that, I got outstanding results. Abilities that decreased enemy attacks were my go to, because I knew I was going to get hit so I thought I might as well make it hurt less. And figuring out that build myself was when I really started to mesh with Hades. At first I wasn't getting any of the mechanics, flailing around with my standard attack until I dodged. But as I progressed it only kept feeling better to me. They introduce new combat options and improve the old ones. I think the game went from decent to incredible once I got a second Cast.

Cast are such a beautiful mechanic. Somehow both great for single target damage and Area of Effect depending on what boon you choose. But no matter which you choose, it changes the flow of combat due to the fact you have to pick that shit up. Keeping your rhythm despite cast not recharging automatically is the heart of why combat feels so good to me. Calls and Specials are great, but the real heroes are Cast, Attacks, and Dashes. In my experience, that’s actually the order I prioritize these moves. Your cast always have some effect that influences how you attack so that comes first. Then you attack to take advantage of what the cast does. While attacking you are dodging to stay alive. And then the cast wears off and they are left on the ground. And now you must use your attack and dash to navigate through enemies and pick up your cast so you can start the whole thing over again. Once you get into that flow state and start incorporating specials and calls into the equation, the combat of Hades becomes something truly special.

On a gameplay level this is brilliant. And you know what? The story ain't too bad either. Most Rogue Lite stories aren't something to write home about as far as I've experienced. After all, they are kind of the junk food of video games. Short and sweet experiences that don't have time to make an interesting story. Hades is built a bit different. Every run you do progresses the story and everything you do is canon. Games have been explaining away respawning for decades now, but I think this is on a different level. Characters acknowledge the things you did in prior runs. Story lines are moved through both success and failure so there's a palpable sense of progressing delivered in multiple ways. There's dating sim elements. And every character is hot. The story of Hades doesn't just work well, it works in a uniquely video game way. The setting of Hades is roguish in both thematics and mechanics. It's all about taking failure on the chin and accepting any help you can. It drove me to play it even more than I normally would have and made each run unique. It drove me to play it even after I beat it. This game’s story doesn't conclude until you beat it 10 times and I’m not upset about it one bit. You can customized each run's difficulty in a variety of ways after you beat it to add new rewards and content.

It really is a near perfectly crafted game in its genre. The only thing it drops the ball in is music which is a bit underwhelming. Don't remember a damn thing from it. And I've heard praise for the OST too, but it appears to not be my bag. It worked for what the game was going for and it matched the environments well, but it didn't stick with me the way I'd prefer an OST to stick with me. That's really is the only issue about the game I can conjure...but if it was clearly the best one of the three, I wouldn't be writing this.

In the second corner we have Rogue Legacy 2. Rogue Legacy is the inverse of Hades. Its narrative foil in a way. They are both games about overcoming impossible odds with the help from your family and end up being equally powerful despite going separate routes with this premise. Hades is based around Nepotism. You get to know your uncles and cousins throughout the game and your bonds with them push you forward. As such Hades is a more character driven narrative due to how large and important the supporting cast is. The cast in Rogue Legacy 2 is potentially bigger, but they're mostly all the same character. The Premise of Rogue Legacy 2 is that each run follows the latest heir of a family sworn to conquer an evil castle. When you die, you play as your offspring in the next push through the castle. It's a different character technically, with a different class and unique attributes. But one thing is maintained between the end of your last journey and the beginning of your new one: Your Bank Account.

If Hades is about Nepotism, Rogue Legacy is about Inheritance. Your character is given every advantage their predecessors were given and then some, assuring the next generation grows up stronger. Rather than death being equated to a minor setback, it's given real narrative consequence in a way. Every failed run is an echo of your past self. And it's cool that their efforts aren't going to waste. You are carrying the weight of your entire bloodline on your shoulders and it makes it all the more gratifying when you get to your points of respite. It's not as interesting as the standard well written game story, but it's just as powerful as one. When I beat the game and saw 100+ ancestors given their due credit, I felt that shit.

None of this is authentic by the way. Every bit of this was executed in Rogue Legacy 1 prior. The thing is, the sequel is better than that game in every conceivable way that it overwrites its very existence. I'm not exaggerating one bit when I say that there is zero reason to play the first game anymore. I get that it would be embarrassing for a game about improving over generations to not be way better than it's predecessor, but Junior didn't have to go this hard. I'd go as far to say that the first area of Rogue Legacy 2 completely encapsulates the experience of the first game. Everything beyond that point feels fresh and new. So for the remainder of this essay, Rogue Legacy only refers to the second game. It's such a large improvement to an already good game.

Rogue Legacy works because it's unabashedly brutal. Your hit boxes are so small and the enemy hit boxes are so big. Damage values are obscene. Enemies are around every corner and are relentless. Conquering this game is supposed to be difficult so it is designed around failure. It's not fair, but doesn't pretend to be. Your goal is rarely about accomplishing shit on your own and is more about fostering a new generation. Sewing seeds for the future. This game has six areas you need to conquer before gaining access to the final boss. Areas that you can access in a non linear way. It's essentially six separate Rogue Likes glued together. After you beat one area, you can still revisit that area in future runs, only the boss is permanently dead now. Once you've built an heir capable enough, you have the freedom to make short runs where you B-line to the boss or long runs where you scrape each prior area before the showdown. The draw of Rogue Legacy lies in how unlikely it is that you beat it in under a few dozen runs, but because every single run you failed in built towards your eventual victory, it is all the more satisfying.

Rogue Legacy is a game with an insane number of mechanics. Classes, armor, seals, equipment load, bank interest, skill trees, artifacts, upgrades and the list keeps going. Rogue Legacy takes Search Action gameplay and implements systems with the breadth and complexity of a 60 hours long RPG. And it functions perfectly because this is going to be a very looooong game, so the player has time to understand how the systems interact. Unlocking a class you can vibe with and figuring out which abilities and equipment optimize well with it is one of the many joys of Rogue Legacy 2.

Classes define your initial weapons, skills, and spells and additional stats. Class skills and stats basically determine how you're going to play. Weapons are important too, but the skills and stats can't be swapped out the same way weapons and spells can. And much like any craft, they can be improved. You can level up classes by playing them and defeating enemies. This incentivizes focusing on a single class that you've grown fond of so that their base stats will improve. But the random character generation limits your choice in the matter. It forces you to choose different classes. You're always making the best with the hands you are dealt, similar actual genetics. Classes aren't the only thing randomly generated in character creation. Each heir has a genetic trait that has a benefit and drawback. You can be born as a dwarf with shorter weapon range, but makes more money per chest. You can start off with a character who falls slowly, making some sections easier and some a nightmare. Every aspect of build creation of this game has a push and pull.

The armor you buy in this game increases your defense but the set bonus combination for said armors can give you extra stat or ability modifications. Seals are exclusively ability modifications guaranteed to make the game more fun to play with reliable effects. Artifacts fulfill the same purpose a lot of the time, but they are objects you find within the castle runs themselves. Having the right class, armor set, artifacts, and seals can make for a devastating build that will get you far in your adventure. But it's never that simple. Everything in this game has a cost. Armor cost money and ore to make and their weight fills up your maximum armor equip limit. Seals cost money and blood stones and have their own equip limit as well. Artifacts cost resolve and maybe re-rolls to get the best ones, and your resolve lowers if you have too much armor. The lower your resolve gets, the lower your Hit Point Maximum gets, making the character’s stats themselves a form of currency. Nothing in this game is simply handed to you and you have to do everything yourself with the small loan of 1 million gold your dead father gave you.

These systems and how they interact push this to being a phenomenal game, but they wouldn't mean anything without fun gameplay and that is something Rogue Legacy has in spades. Movement is the best part of this game I feel. It really leaned into the Metroidvania aspect. You get powers throughout the game that make world traversal delightful, and become even more fun when you have seals to build off of. Not many games let you do a quintuple jump into a triple air dash, but Rogue Legacy is one of those games. No mechanic you are given is that complicated as they are simply extensions of what you can already do. Attack, Magic, Skill, Dash, and Jump are basically the whole of the gameplay. Just fine tuning those things makes it satisfying to master. But there is one aspect added in this sequel that felt so natural I forgot to list it.

The Spin Kick. The spin kick is essentially a Duck Tales pogo. But you don't get that much height from it. But what it loses in height, it makes up for in surface area. You can spin kick basically any thing in this game so long as long as it's physical or electrical matter. Enemies, projectiles, weird candelabras, are all spin kick approved. Think Cup Head parry, but exclusively down ward, which doesn't seem that great, but it's a platformer essentially. You are jumping a lot. It's really not that different from attacks coming from the side when you are in mid air so much of the time any way. This platformer parry is utilized throughout the whole game to making interesting level obstacles and boss patterns. It is the unsung hero of this game and 3 playthroughs later, I'm still finding joy in executing it.

It's very hard for things in Rogue Legacy to overstay their welcome. Even the procedural level design remains fresh. Lots of variety in the rooms. It's not only a series of corridors where you have to kill enemies in a generated mini level. Some rooms are puzzles. Some are platforming challenges. Some are gauntlets and mini bosses. Some are purely story related. Also the 6 level motifs are distinct both visually and how they are designed. Level 2 almost entirely horizontal while the last area feels like a true dungeon crawler due to how dark and dangerous it is. I wasn't kidding before. Rogue Legacy 2 is 6 Rogue Legacy sequels stuffed into 1 game. And the post game adds another layer to that variety. One of the best parts about a long dev cycle is that entire trends go by in the middle of it. And because of that the creators can be given new ideas. Rogue Legacy blatantly takes the same post game ideas displayed in Dark Souls and Hades and injects it into itself. Rogue Legacy waited until the last moment to turn in its homework and then unabashedly copied off its classmates for an easy A. And god bless it for doing so. With the scaling and customizable difficulty, expansion of rewards and enemies, and completely unique bonus challenges, I'm gonna be playing this one for a long time.

So clearly I enjoy these two games a lot. But what about Dead Cells? What does it bring to the table? What can it do to stand up to these titans. Well. Honestly not much. If Hades is Angel Eyes, and Rogue Legacy is Blondie, then Dead Cells is Tuco stuck in the stand off with an unloaded gun.

Dead Cells is a good game. It looks better than Rogue Legacy. I might enjoy the gameplay more than Hades. But that's where the advantages end. And I'll be honest I haven't spent enough time with this game to truly have scholars opinion on it, thus I can’t write paragraph about its design. But that's kind of the problem. I beat this game in 4 runs. I'm no god at gaming. I'm slightly above average on a good day. The fact that I stumbled upon the ending of this game so early is disappointing. Rogue Legacy, I died a hundred deaths before reaching credits. Hades took me around 14 to beat the first time. Dead Cells gave it away and it was so deflating. I didn't work towards anything. I just sort of won. I never even died to a single boss. Once I upgraded how many estus I could hold, the only thing that mattered was the pick ups I got during the run. I'm sure if I go back there is way more to the game, but after seeing the credits I kind lost all motivation to play it. It's not fair to the game that I did that, but that's how I feel and I got other things to do with my time. It’s too bad I had the idea of comparing these three games before playing all of them.

So it all comes down to Rogue Legacy 2 and Hades. Hades has untouchable presentation and succeeds in everything it attempts with grace in a way that Rogue Legacy 2 doesn't. I can't really break down why, there's an air about it that makes it feel more thought out and seamless. But...I value what Rogue Legacy 2 is more as a game and more over, as a Rogue Like. Sure I like 2D games more than isometric games, but even beyond that, Rogue Legacy has a layer of exploration that pushes it over for me. I find it far more replayable. Hades likely has more condensed quality, but the quantity of Rogue Legacy makes up for it, and quantity is a bit more important for the genre honestly. The depth in content for Hades lies more in the story after you've beaten it, while Rogue Legacy is more in the gameplay. There are more things to do and experience, so it has more value to me. It was likely obvious what my preference was due to how I wrote more about it and made that spot on Dollars Trilogy Reference, but I couldn't really hide it. It's just that damn good.

#dead cells #rogue legacy 2 #hades game

[almea]

I've got 2.1 thoughts.

This was really the Aventurine patch. His perspective was definitely the longest one, especially considering he's the first one you explore both maps with. It's an interesting way to tell the story because with the kind of person Aventurine is, there's no way he would have confided even half of what we learned about him in the story to another character. I didn't dislike him after 2.0 (Although I did find it funny when he was trying to make us suspicious of Acheron because she's an Emanator and I was just like. Aventurine, you just told me that not only is Acheron hot but she's also scary strong and you expect me to not lay my life on the line for her?) but I wasn't that invested in him either. I'm still not Invested invested in him after 2.1, but I did really feel for him, especially towards the end. I'm just truly the weakest bitch in the universe when it comes to characters talking to their younger selves. I didn't expect them to get as into Aventurine being a slave or former slave as they did, but damn.

And by the end I was like. Is this man dead? Did they kill this man right before his banner? After everyone was like "Oh no, they drip marketed Robin so now everyone knows she's not dead because dead characters wouldn't be playable"? After his talk with Acheron my understanding is that he's not actually dead, he was just able to break in to a deeper part of dream because of Acheron and he may not be able to return so I guess he's effectively kind of dead for now???

I think it's such a weird choice that Aventurine's hat is clearly supposed to be important to him but he just. Doesn't wear it 95% of the time???? I feel like that final cutscene would have hit harder if he actually wore his hat so it would be more strongly associated with him. I don't understand why they designed him with that hat and then just like never make him wear it.

It's pretty clever that his perspective being so long also acts as an extra long trial for his character. I ended up using my Jingliu team for his portions of the story because she's the only DPS that I've even remotely built besides Qingque, and she was truly doing more damage to my team than the enemies were. Thinking about it now, I prooooobably would have been fine running him with my Qingque team but I would have missed the reliability of the mono Quantum. The extra long trial did not work on me though because I've got Stellaron Hunters to collect and I'm still waffling about whether or not to get Acheron's light cone. I also still haven't made up my mind about whether to pull for Robin yet.

His boss fight was kind of a pain in the ass though. My poor Silver Wolf and Lynx were getting bullied nonstop during the second phase while Qingque was overcapping the dice like crazy because she kept getting her follow up and Fu Xuan's ultimate was her saving grace. Using Qingque against Aventurine feels so appropriate because so many of her combat lines are related to gambling.

I liked Sparkle's conversation with Aventurine very plainly confirming that she has a very clear picture of what's happening but, true to her little animation, she prefers to work from the background and let the main characters do all the heavy lifting. Going off that animation, I'm looking forward to seeing what role she plays in 2.2.

March being so indignant that Stelle was getting bullied left and right by people with Agendas ever since they split up was really sweet. I love how people's general feeling after 2.0 was like "Everyone we met was fucking suspicious and hiding things from us, I don't fully trust anyone except the rest of the Express crew" and the characters were also like "Yeah, we can only trust each other."

The other side of that being that they kept running into people Stelle fought in 2.0 and March and Himeko being like "What have you been doing while you were unsupervised? Were you committing crimes?" was really funny.

I'm curious about whether Dan Heng is going to join in on the action in 2.2. He's already asked if they they need him in 2.1, so the possibility of him getting called in if things get really dicey is already there. And there's the fact that he does appear in one shot of the White Night trailer, and I watched a stream where his voice actor was saying Penacony's really good which makes it sound like he recorded more lines than just Dan Heng saying he'd stay on the train. Or idk maybe the other voice actors told him about stuff that happened. Is that allowed lmao? Sam also said Elio's instruction was "Get all of the Astral Express to track down the grand legacy," so does that "all" include Dan Heng?

It was very cruel of them to have one of the first things in the story be Acheron saying she knows who's in Sam's armour and then just. Not touching on that again until the last five to ten minutes. I figured they were going to do the Sam/Firefly reveal at some point in 2.1 so they'd be able to drip market Sam/Firefly for 2.3 (I've deluded myself into believing they're coming out in 2.3 because it makes sense to me to release them during Penacony's epilogue while they're main story relevant) since they're probably both in the splash art, but man did they take their sweet time getting there and slowly killed me the entire time.

I'm sooooo fascinated by the whole Sam/Firefly thing. I was tragically spoiled by a leak forever ago, but the leak I saw was just someone saying "I guess Firefly is the exploration model and Sam is the battle model" so I still don't know whether Firefly is an actual person who exists in the real world or if she's just a form Sam is able to take on in the dream world. If Firefly is a real person, I am so obsessed with the juxtaposition of Sam being the most ruthless Stellaron Hunter, to the point where Kafka said people are better off running into her, and Firefly looking like the sweetest, most gentle girl ever.

And if she's real, I'm so curious about whether the other Stellaron Hunters know about Firefly. They've only ever referred to Sam with male pronouns, but we've never had a scene with just them where they mentioned Sam so they could know about her and have Reasons for letting other people think Sam is male.

Looking back at 2.0, I assume Firefly might have transformed into Sam if Black Swan hadn't saved them because Stelle was in danger and their scripts from Elio aren't as detailed as the ones we've seen the other Stellaron Hunters reference, and her apology when she was killed could be read as "sorry I'm going to give you some trauma now so you'll have the motivation to find the Watchmaker's legacy." I'm not super clear on whether the memories of Firefly Stelle followed with Black Swan and Acheron was just an act she put on to lead Stelle to that place or there was something more going on there.

I just really want to know how much of Firefly in 2.0 was an act and how much of it was genuine. The main thing being when she tells Stelle she hopes they don't have to be enemies when everything is revealed. I love how Firefly's Sam persona was clearly leaking out a bit when she told Sampo/Sparkle "You talk too much."

2.2 really cannot come soon enough because I've got so many questions and I'm so excited to see the story pick up right from Stelle finding out Firefly is Sam. I can't wait to see what dialogue options Stelle gets for her reaction. Stelle's thoughts when you go back to Firefly's secret base are that she still cherishes the memories of the time she spent with Firefly, but she's confused about how to feel about her being Sam. I'm just like, Stelle, please hug her because I am a fool who would forgive her because she's cute and I love the Stellaron Hunters dearly, but I think if I'm not being self-indulgent I'm just expecting Stelle to be happy or relieved that Firefly's not dead but also feel very wary of her.

I think it's so funny that during the 2.1 livestream they were like. "Gallagher is so normal. He's the most normal person in the whole Penacony cast. He doesn't have a past, he's just a guy." And then by the end of 2.1 it's like. Actually Gallagher may have the biggest past out of everyone.

I'm not clear on what's up with that bird that's watching in some scenes. I thought it could be related to Sunday since he said he has servants that see everything, but its colour scheme looks like the Memory Zone monsters so it might also be related to Gallagher? idk if I'm even supposed to understand at this point.

I love that they made a special trial for Acheron so they could be like "Look how cool her technique is!!!"

It was very nice of them to let us collect the birds even when we weren't in Stelle's perspective, but Acheron and Aventurine can't actually see them so the dialogue options reflected that.

Black Swan talking to a memory? Of Constance wasn't something I expected. I'm still not clear on what was happening during that scene, but I'm interested to see where it goes in 2.2. Boothill getting an early cameo in that part was fun as well. It was so funny to me when he got drip marketed because I was just like. I have never seen this man in my life before lmao. I must have stopped looking at leaks before he was found.

Topaz's very brief appearances were very interesting. It seems like she feels at least a little conflicted about Aventurine's "death." I think Topaz herself is very kind, but she's still one of the Ten Stonehearts and that whole group seems a little shady. I don't think I trust Jade at all.

#Annie plays HSR #I'm off to watch other people play through the story because sometimes things become clearer the second time around

[qin-ling]

I don't think I have words for it, but I caught up with 'as lions' and just.. wow. It hurt. It hits way harder than I expected. You write in a way that captures the essence of the characters and then somehow expand it even more to the point where you start wondering if it wasn't canon all along. And, god damnit, I got invested and now I'm hooked and I just want them to be okay ;__;.

You have great, moving writing and.. yeah. Just yeah, my mind is an emotional mess right now lmao.

Wishing you a great day ^^ <3

thank you so much!!! that's very reassuring to hear. ;_; i hope you stick with me to the end!

#asks and replies #tg: as lions

[kattahj]

A personal musing on La Pluie, soulmates, and predestination

My reaction to La Pluie really made me examine how I feel about soulmates.

Now, this is more of me untangling my own feelings than it is any type of analysis of the show, so be aware of that before you hit read more (if you do).

I've always had a distaste of soulmates, but this show had me thinking more about why, and how, I get that reaction.

I did like the show, for the most part. While I put it on the backburner sometimes, I had no problem watching the whole thing (and I'm not someone who has to finish watching everything I start). In a way, how the show examined and subverted the tropes worked for me, at least up to a point, because every time I hear the word "soulmate" it's like Psycho shower scene music in my head, and that's not so dissimilar to what Saengtai feels.

But whether or not the soulmate thing is "real" in the La Pluie universe, and whether that makes it easier or harder for couples to find happiness, this is still a BL, and so the main characters HAVE to end up together! Which, poor Patts! It's not his fault I hear shower scene music every time I see his face, just because he unfortunately happens to believe in soulmates.

Would I have preferred Lomfon as a partner for Tai? No, not really. I don't think there was ever much basis for it. Tai didn't seem particularly interested, and Lomfon only interested in the way you're interested in that hot person you've talked to a couple of times.

I think I would have liked everyone to just go, "Okay, this has been interesting, but let's go our separate ways and forget this rain-fueled soulmate situation ever happened." And that wasn't ever going to be the end of a BL.

So, why the shower scene music?

What I realized was, it's the exact same feeling I get from "chosen one", or "prophecy" or "destiny". I hate them all. I hate the notion that there's some cosmic force that steers our lives in a specific direction that we cannot deviate from in a meaningful way, and we don't even get to know who that force is or what their reasoning is. I mean, if it were Cupid shooting his arrows at people, and I had a quibble with his decision, I could at least go, "Cupid clearly has shit aim" and be done with it. :-) It's hard to do that in the face of ineffability.

Most of my favourite characters have been people who do something completely different from what was expected of them. They were supposed to be meaningless, and became meaningful. They were supposed to be villains, and became heroes. My unchosen ones.

I guess it also ties into religion, and ideas of predestination. Now, I'm agnostic these days, but even the brand of Christianity I was raised in didn't believe in predestination, for which I'm grateful. There might be better and worse choices, but never just one correct path. Life as "choose your own adventure", rather than a straightforward story. (Or, to use the discussion of Cain and Abel from East of Eden, "thou mayest" rather than "thou shalt" or "do thou".)

And of course La Pluie is Thai, with entirely different religious customs and expectations, and I can't really speak of that. Nor can I make any deep analysis of how it uses soulmate tropes compared to how it's usually done, since I stay the fuck away from every love story that so much as breathes of soulmate, if I can help it, and only watched this one specifically because of the subversions.

The only other BL show I've watched that went there was Never Let Me Go, in its Our Skyy 2 epilogue. I wasn't happy about that, and wished they hadn't, but it was a bit easier to handle, in part because it came so late (after I was already invested in the ship), and in part because it seemed  more based on personality, and less on the random whims of the universe. We were told that Palm and Nueng, since they are who they are, will always be attracted to each other, but since they are who they are they will never be happy long-term until they learn to communicate better. Which, that's okay, I guess.

I still much prefer characters who get together just because they want to. And my absolute favourite kind are the ones whose time together is so valuable that they could break up tomorrow and it'd still be worth it.

Thinking of Moonlight Chicken as an example. If Jim and Wen break up, Jim has still learned to process his feelings after Beam's death, and not close himself off so much. Wen has still learned to live on his own and not stay in a bad situation because he can't stand being alone. If Li Ming and Heart break up, both of them have still won their freedom and started exploring the world, away from, yet reconciled with, their families.

A path doesn't have to end up a specific place to be worth taking.

And of course, it's rather ironic, feeling like this, that I sit here watching dozens of QLs, with their guaranteed HEAs (whether I want them or not).  The cosmic powers dictating the outcome do exist, and they're called the audience.

But I guess that's where decades of Bury Your Gays has taken me. If the alternative is death, I can take a little predestination. Just coat it in the chocolate of supposed free choice. :-)

#la pluie #moonlight chicken #never let me go #east of eden

[bitterren]

Just hit me, the fact that Foolish, a totem of undying, died in place of Eret; you know, like actual totems "disappear" (die) instead of the actual person? I-

I need a second.

#fucking hell #I wasn't even that invested in them but this hit way harder than I expected #damn #dream smp #eret #foolish #edit: people about lives #yeah he doesn't only have one #but deaths have never been just brushed off #especially a sacrifice #plus foolish might even have a while canin reason for why he out of all totems has more than 1 life #(to give or to hold)

[borkthemork]

Isn't it weird that in Commander Anne, Anne's capabilities for planning and leadership are just like toned down a bit too much? Because in one of your posts you have illustrated Anne's creativity and cleverness, that she can be a good leader when she is focused but in the episode, she has made mistakes that are sort of cartoonish and ridiculous as if she was getting out of character. I mean I can understand forgetting to take a picture of the map, but the rest was going overboard. It could be explained that her transition from Earth where she was relatively safe to Amphibia that has gotten much deadlier is the reason why she has gotten a bit rusty and she even told Sasha that she wasn't sure being commander after all the changes was a good idea, but she is pretty creative and adapts well so for her to fail this much in the job just to prove to Sasha that her insistence to Anne to take the lead was more harmful than a good execution despite her good intentions was a slipup in writing.

Okay, since it has been a few days since Commander Anne and Sprivy have been released, I think I can finally talk about some of my thoughts regarding this episode, because you're right I did notice it immediately during my watch.

However, I will put my thoughts within a Read More mainly just so people can choose to see my critique over this specific thing. Because I know people are emotionally invested with this show just like me, so I might as well give them a warning of the contents that I will be talking about, just in case.

So warning: this post will dive into the technicalities of writing, animation production (based on discussions I had with a friend who is doing professional storyboarding), and open-minded critique over Commander Anne and a portion of Anne’s character writing.

If that stuff isn’t your cup of tea, then feel free to just scroll past, there’s no hard feelings!

With that out of the way, let us begin.

So I talked about this before in a prior post about the two-way street of creators and the audience. It's one of the first things I was taught about during writing workshops, that when you create something there will be an inevitable set-up of expectations based on what you have curated and established throughout your canon.

Of course, the audience has to be critical and even acknowledgeable on when they have created a false narrative compared to the canon narrative, however, in this episode it's a really good example of when a creator messes up and contradicts their own canon.

Because for a lot of Amphibia, it had been established within the text that Anne is smart.

She's smart in delegation, interpersonal relationships, being able to see the strengths of other characters, and making active decisions on the battlefield.

It's not fictional or implied that Anne couldn't make hasty decisions when things have become tough, and by making this characteristic of her consistent it becomes an established part of the canon universe the creators had built.

Let us then cut over to Commander Anne, where Anne's ability to delegate becomes a focal point and even used as a branch of comedy within the episode itself.

You can then see the difference of Amphibia's characterized Anne and the episode's Anne pretty quickly.

You get a very competent girl who can quickly think on her feet, to someone who is then uncertain on where to go, what to do,

And doesn’t even know how to use a telescope correctly.

When I remark upon this, here's why it's a problem: It is a violation between the trust of the creator and audience.

There is a dissonance between what is established within the canon, and when a creator breaks that rule without a good solidified reason it becomes pretty noticeable within the story itself, and can pull the audience out completely rather than be enamored by the world.

The fact there are episodes where Anne is uncertain and harboring insecurity over her own capabilities and intelligence, makes the episode hit even harder that Commander Anne wrote Anne specifically to act less intelligent so that Sasha could show off her leadership skills as a whole.

And one of the biggest rules I’ve ever learned is that if you change a person’s characterization just to advance someone else’s characterization then the audience could definitely tell.

And the result is that the audience is gonna feel hurt that the creator didn’t trust them to actively think critically over this situation in general.

However, I will give the writer Todd McClintock the benefit of the doubt here, because we have to be honest for a second. Trying to make an eleven-minute episode establishing a new status quo and the current relationship of two pivotal characters is hard, and if I was a writer in this situation I would be having a heart attack, not gonna lie.

And within the text itself (alongside the revealed storyboards of Alex Swanson), there have been implications that something very important in the story itself became lost within the pipeline from script to animation — and I could describe it here.

Something that a friend had talked to me about was the episode’s establishment over the idea of pressure, responsibility, and an overall burden being placed on Anne’s shoulders as a result of being the chosen one to lead the Resistance.

Anne being resistant (Haha) to the idea of this burden on her throughout the episode and her panic over bad ideas implies that a lot of her insistence and fears of not being seen as the leader stems from that. Doesn’t excuse the comedy moments where she’s seen as dumb, but I do get where Todd was going with this when it came to the message.

When Alex Swanson revealed the original storyboards of two specific scenes, it surprised me that there is a lot of more emotion and stress found within Anne that the text somehow didn’t reflect in the finished product.

We get the absolute hope that the plan of using multiple people as a bridge could work. And let me be frank here, even if the “idea from a piece of media” gag was a bit overplayed, I can see Anne trying to use teamwork and neglecting the math of an entire canyon as an in-character moment.

However, what is crucial here is the emotion bit, because the pipeline from script to final product has lost the most important bit that makes the story within Commander Anne more understandable and heartfelt (and even excusable slightly as to why some scenes of Anne buffering in leadership are there in the first place).

The episode wasn’t able to emphasize how stressful and torn Anne was when it came to being burdened with the role of leader.

Look at this scene.

And then look at the original storyboards.

There were legitimate tears in Anne’s eyes over the idea of failing and drowning in leadership. The pressures of leading an entire Resistance and the battle against Andrias are there right on the storyboard’s expressions, but somewhere along the pipeline (either because of miscommunication or a mix in translation), this emotion wasn’t able to be portrayed in the final product.

Not only that, but the implication that Anne is about to breakdown from being indirectly hurt by Sasha can also be seen within this body language, and that would add a lot more intensity to this scene as a whole.

So the ability to find the pressures of specific uncertainties during battle had been removed, and what we have here is mainly Anne being concerned rather than just full-on panicked over a million burdens on her sleeves.

And it makes me sad too because changing the trope of the protag being assigned leader to actually the deuteragonist is honestly a fave of mind. It means that Anne doesn’t have to be burdened by the stress just because she is assigned in the narrative as the main character.

Somewhere along the way, the execution on this specific point in the conflict didn’t stick the landing.

It’s fascinating to me, really. I can’t really blame Todd McClintock for the writing and even the pipeline errors that had occurred, because as a writer myself, you can’t really control these kinds of circumstances from happening when you’re in a massive TV group project compared to something monitored independently like fanfiction or webcomics. And even with the eleven-minute time segment we’re given, it makes sense as to why Todd struggled real hard in making an episode’s pacing, characterization, and even coherency to Sasha’s arc without encountering these pitfalls.

Of course, there are different factors that affects an episode’s quality and Anne’s characterization is only one of them, but I do hope this post can help give a better understanding to why some specific details in the story could be botched or negatively executed in some way.

For stories, execution is everything, and when something like comedy writing or details gets mangled up within the process, then that can definitely affect the impact of an episode’s message and what it is attempting to portray.

#amphibia #amphibia spoilers #critique #Blacklist critique if you don't want to see these takes on your dash #but yeah I have a lot of thoughts on Commander Anne so I'm always glad to lend some discussion over this whole thing #asks #nexstage

[julies-butterflies]

I must admit, sometimes I do feel like a ye olden solider, sending letters to my beloved across the waves during wartime. Oh my dearest Lydia, I hope the kudos and comments crops have been plentiful this season. Your last letter left me weeping. Why must you put poor Reginald through such pain?

(I gotta admit, I still can't believe that I'm talking to you. I've been looking up to your work for so long...it just feels a bit surreal, even now! Glad you like hearing my ramblings! And that you liked my vampire prompt! Did not realize you'd write back when I sent that in. Look at us now, huh?)

(Speaking of prompts, I sent those jukebox and willex ones too. And I loved them both so so much, I shall scream about them more when it is not 2 am because I need sleep)

(Oh and the update of If I Was You!!! Amazing, Stellar, Incredible, Reggie, Carrie, Julie shenanigans is my new favorite thing, DID YOU JUST DOUBLE THE CHAPTER COUNT, and I'm like 90% sure Trevor is in deep trouble with a certain angry jazz ghost. Seriously loving it)

I actually do not remember what it was like to send in 1/5 asks, because I did not get a Tumblr until very reccently! I've always been a nerdy person, but Jatp is my first time being really in a fandom. You gotta do something new in quarantine, right?

Ah yes. Luke and Emily. To me, it just seems obvious that there's so much love between them. Even with all the pain. You get it. You put it down so eloquently.

As for what kind of stories I like to read...it seriously depends on my mood.

I like niche aus, passion projects. Stories where you can just feel the author's love for the world they're inventing. But I tend to lean towards cannonverse. I like ghost stories, it's what drew me to this show in the first place. And I love exploring that concept. (Being forever gone, and always the same...it's just fascinating to me)

Platonic goodness is just WONDERFUL for this show. I will read anything with cuddles. I am touched starved and these kiddos are too, and I will cry about them puppy piling every damn day. Plus there's just some much POTENTIAL for future friendships! I love ones where Flynn and Carrie get to interact with the boys as well. And 90s content, from before and after the orpheum, just hits hard.

I really wasn't expecting to get invested in the couples on this show, but something about them is moving to me. So I do love to read about them. Watching two queer kids who lived during incredibly important areas of queer history find love together after death really hit hard for me, and there's just something so bittersweet about a girl and ghost deciding to love each other for the little time they're given.

I love family dynamics too. Anything with Ray and his seven disaster children, the band and Trevor.... I think Julie and Emily is one of my favorite dynamics to explore. A girl who lost her mother and a mother who lost her son, both grieving but with one able to speak to the dead...it's just very powerful to me.

(And of course, Luke and Emily, but I figured you already knew that)

Mostly...I like seeing the messy stuff. The unexpected consequences, the baggage. I want to see the messy emotions, the grief and anger, the jealously, the disorientation. I look for those glass shards, that might be too sharp to ever be addressed on the show. Not even the big, monumental plot lines just... the harder pieces of life, the little moments that don't fit neatly into a nine episode arc.

I just want to see them live you know? Love, laughter and loss all mixed together.

(One of my all time favorite tropes is "found family gets broken apart by trauma, only to find each other again and come back stronger than ever." I feel like this explains a lot of my taste in fiction)

Thank you for the writing advice. Your words were very motivating. I am trying to begin! I got up the nerve to start working on a little piece. Who knows if it will go anywhere. But it's been nice, to finally put some words on the page.

The POTC au is so freaking good man. The character dynamics are just on FIRE. Everything is broken and messy and the relationships genuinely tug at my heartstrings. It's such a fascinating story. Highly recommend, even with the cliff hangers.

OH HOW COULD I FORGET PAWPRINTER? Man oh man I love all her work. The wheelies art and steals universe is freaking amazing, not an avacado had me in tears (of laughter, till things got surprisingly sad). And All that Remains...slow burn Willex perfection. Jedi Alex and Pilot Willie have my HEART.

I don't think I've read firefall and weneedglitter (or if I have, I'm just not connecting the names to their pieces. I don't always remember author names. it's a problem). I will go look for them though! Cannot wait!

For more recs, I recently binge read We Found Wonderland. I was not mentally prepared for the sheer amount of feelings that gave me. Highly recommend, if you ever want an emotional rollercoaster with an incredibly satisfying end.

Going on to more serious subjects...I'm sorry your family doesn't see your grief for what it is: honest. Better to feel everything quietly, than make it an easily understadnable performance. Fake grief is so easy to spot.

I think of that scene from "Forever," when Buffy breaks down and tells Dawn that she has to keep busy, because if she stops, it means Joyce is really gone. There's a lot of truth there.

On a tangent here but.. there was a very long period in my life when I was told the ways I expressed my emotions were "incorrect". And I found that sometimes, no matter how you show your emotions, you'll always be criticized. Numbness can be called disinterest, but sobbing can be called attention-seeking too. Too big, too small: that jury was impossible to please This may not apply in your situation but...it's okay to feel however you can. It's the only think you can do, really.

As I've said before, Grief is such an odd trickster.

Don't you ever get tired of missing people... This past year, I've been so weary of grief. Sometimes it can be so sharp, but it's that dull ache. That ball and chain, no longer cutting through your skin, but rubbing it raw, weighing you down.

And people don't like to talk about that part, because it's long and tiresome, but oh, is it there. I find it hard to talk about my grief, because sometimes there's just so much of it. I could drown in it, and that fear keeps me from looking to close. To incorrectly quote Jane Austin: "If I missed you a little less, I might be able to talk about it more."

(Sometimes it's faceable. But sometimes you just can't bear it. And that's okay.)

But what you wrote in that eulogy...the love is there. It's in every word you write. I cried reading that section. I feel honored once again to see some of your jagged pieces. You're sharing your heart, and there's just so much love.

In the wise words of an author I know, "Love is like the snow Reggie. It never goes away."

And don't worry, I'm always with you.

Sending Love,

-LydiaStan7845 (aka Vampire Anon)

So...that Reggie and Nicky prompt

my god

my GOD

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD

I think it's safe to say congrats, you've officially destroyed me! I was not prepared for that at ALL. I should know better by now I guess.

I can't get over that even though they all take place in very different universe, all your stories just feel so connected! The way this talked about those headphones, which you mentioned in the first chapter of Kill Your Heroes...it's just so cool. All the characterization and backstory is just so well thought out, and it genuinely blows my mind.

I didn't think I could love Nicky Peters more. I was wrong. The way you write about him...even though you never go into exactly what happened to him after Reggie's death, you can just feel how much it's shapped him as a person. And the trauma around his father, and how he fears becoming like that, was just so beautifully written. He's just so lovable and flawed and trying so damn hard and you made my heart ache for him. Again.

You always take these genuinely crazy situations and...you just make them feel so real. I love you explore the strains such a revelation would put on Nicky's own life, it just makes everything so compellingly messy. It seriously feel like I was watching a real-life account of a family trying to deal with such a massive complication.

That porch scene had me in tears both times I read it. Reggie's just always a big brother, even though Nicky is more than twice his age now. My heart was shattered, and then you slowly mended it, piece by piece. And for absolutely no reason at all, you wouldn't happen to have a reference for the porch, would you?

Just wow. Hope you're doing well. Sending love and applause

-Vampire Anon

i’m not even gonna reply, but i want these documented... on my blog... for posterity.  ( for any curious onlookers, i’m dating this anon now!! )

#vampire anon my beloved

[paramsiddharth]

#15: The Independence Day

However tempting the title may be at suggesting my life is at peace now, it painfully isn't. I don't want this to prevent me from glorifying the decades of freedom from colonization we have enjoyed, how much we have recovered from post-colonization trauma, and how we are more responsibly planning to evolve in future. Lots of love to my country. I love my dear Bihar, I love India. I am grateful to my parentland for everything it gave me, such as the beautiful cultural heritage and the opportunity to identify myself as a proud Indian. 🇮🇳 I give my heartfelt pranaam to my nation.

Why is it always such that I make a post, disappear for months (or years), and then make a sudden reappearance? I love writing. Why this discontinuity? I asked myself this question.

I realized it is because I am always too overwhelmed by my past and future to express my present without hurting myself. And don't expect me to mourn that; It is part of my situational awareness, learning from my experience, and practical preparedness and I'm not ashamed.

I'm not proud either, but there's little I can do to change the circumstances I'm put in. The very reason behind my continuous complaining and being a crybaby is because that's what has happened to me throughout my life, and continues to. There are plenty of people to blame, but definitely not me.

I will start talking about the time after the day I posted that Kharagpur blog, but I will move in a logarithmic fashion i. e. Increasing the amount of focus on the part closer to the plateau (present) rather than the cliff (past).

Do you use olive oil at home? Is it a common ingredient in most of the food that you have at home? I recently learnt an interesting truth about food oils. Mustard oil, olive oil, and refined oil are the 3 major oils used to cook. In my family everything is cooked in mustard oil. I used to watch recipe videos and wonder why the colour of the oil looked so different. Turns out they generally use olive oil.

Based on what mom told, mustard oil is much more fatty and considered not good for health, at least in comparison to olive oil. That being said, mustard oil comes for a lot cheaper than olive oil. So do we use less healthy oil to cook food for saving money? Yes. Are we the only ones? I really don't know.

As much as I don't want to, I pity myself. It's pathetic, but every time I pity myself, I assume it can't get worse. But it does. It very much does.

5-6 days ago, my parents had a very violent fight. I was there to get them to settle, and since my classes were not going on, I could give more time to home. Despite my struggle to get both my parents to be peaceful, they kept saying things to each-other for half the night, and kept hurting themselves, mentally and physically. I was there to help them, but they weren't welcoming to any support. And I understand why. They must feel like they are put into a position where they can't express themselves to anyone, and that nobody can feel what they are going through.

Folks and friends tell me not to get in between when they fight. I wouldn't… If only it remained verbal. But it gets worse. It gets physical, in a manner that they end up hurting their internal and external biologies causing more than just short-term damage. I barely manage to save the day everytime… Because I love them. I don't want to listen to my friends. My parents are my everything. Losing one of them means losing half of my life's purpose. I'm nothing without them, no matter how they are.

And I managed to calm them down. 3 days ago, we woke up to a news that wasn't initially so devastating: The water motor wasn't working. It had been a common problem, I easily assumed it will be fixed soon. We got it checked, had some analysis done, some parts bought. By evening, it was still being worked on, and that made the situation tense. The day ended with the news that the plumbers will come the next day and attempt a better fix, something they referred to as "slizing" (I think it supposed to be slicing). I didn't eat much that day, for reasons. Others ate less too.

So we got the "slizer" expert the next day. The whole day was going to be a wasted struggle again, and what happened at home made it far worse. The lack of food, hydration, and sanitation made our patience and moods worse. My parents had an argument, and once the light was sparked, it ended up being probably the worst fight they have ever had in the whole lifetime. One where they almost hit each-other. I came in between as a shield and got beaten up instead, gladly so. But will I always be able to get in between?

The situational dilemma hit me harder than the physical strokes. I was pulled down deep into the realization of how traumatizing the past 5 years have been for my parents. From being loving, caring, and supportive, they've become beasts. They have turned into people with no emotional control, and mood-swing patterns that encourages self-harm exclusive to interpersonal fights between those two.

As much as they fight, scream, misbehave, and misunderstand each-other while arguing, they are the only 2 adults I could ever rely on. The rest of my ostensible family has been far more hostile to us, in a much more heart-penetrating way than physically. Who else can I look up to? And even if I had anybody else to look up to, my parents are the 2 people I will never let go of. It is my life's purpose to see them happy, and I won't let anything go wrong before that happens.

Their hatred for each-other while fighting is no longer silenced by their want to live, and their heart no longer melts by the thought of their kids' happiness. They aren't able to think straight during a fight. What would a person in this condition be advised to do? Take therapy, I suppose. We can't afford that. Will the one who advises us pay for our therapy? I'm sure not.

Money is the one big thing in our life that's our biggest joy and harshest pain at the same time. If we had more money, none of our current problems in life would remain relevant. We will be able to cure everything, including our financial instability and mental illnesses. We will be off to a happy life, constantly evolving. If only we had more money. If only…

Let me slap myself out of this dream. It isn't here yet. A minimum of 2 years before I even get on my feet are to be borne with patience and… Struggle. No, my parents have to remain together, no matter what. The hardwork they did for their whole life, won't lose meaning so easily. We're close, and we will make it. I will get a good job and change everything. I will be able to fix us. I will do it… Won't I?

I wasn't able to cry, because I hadn't had water for 50+ hours. My parents eventually lost energy and got diverted by updates from the plumbers and the expert. It failed. They didn't even attempt the "slizing" part. Maybe next day.

Day 3. No eating, drinking, peeing, or excreting. We felt like lifeless blobs, and it was harder for us to make it through, considering my mom has an OCD. Although we were convinced that the service folks were fixing the water issue, we also knew the kind of people we have in Muzaffarpur. They were using our helplessness as a measure to maximize visible worktime and increase the payment. The only thing they were aiming for is profit. No sense of wanting to provide quality service, no concern for our degrading health, nothing. They were just extending and pulling out days from our lifeless schedule.

On day 3, we slightly hinted that this would be the last day we let them work. We ensured them that if they don't fix it by the end of the day, instead of wasting more money into something that isn't even working, we will urgently invest into getting a submersible pump installed, the ultimate answer to all water problems in the poverty-stricken lands of India.

God knows how, by the end of the day, water started coming. We were not relieved, especially I. Not instantly. I waited for the next morning, and then, was a little calmed. After having the payment report (just because I make it sound professional doesn't mean it was, it was an informal description of how much we have to pay and a disambiguation telling why), we realized the fixing cost us over ₹22,000. That's a lot of money for a sudden life problem. And then the motor stopped working again in the evening, whereafter we asked them to have a look again. A quickfix and it started working after adding some water in the pipe.

We are firm that the next step is to get a submersible pump, but even if we put aside the financial challenge for a moment, this season isn't the best one to get it installed. In fact, that should be our last resort, if all options are exhausted, like it would have been if day 3 ended in a disappointment too. But now we have some time to think, plan, and gather money. ₹80,000 isn't a small amount (that's to start, you know it's always more than it seems).

It was the independence day. Wow, what a beautiful day. An independent country, where there are lakhs of smiles of people happy and proud of their country. And lakhs of neutrally frowned faces who don't even know what a country is. All they know is food, water, shelter, and survival. I felt them, I can tell. It must be worse. I wish we had a little more independence too. A stable financial life, my mom's OCD cured, feels like a lovely eye-tearing dream.

Hahaha… I don't know why I'm crying. Is it because of the trauma of 3 painful days? Is it the fear of my parents getting into a fight again? Is it the painful possibility that I might not get a good job because of my not-so good college or my own ineligibility? Or is it just me, a 19 year-old who doesn't even know what to do with his life and is struggling to survive mentally, physically, biologically, academically, and socially?

For those 3 days, I was in a state of suffering. Since I didn't eat much, I didn't need to use the bathroom, but I would have loved to. I would have loved to satisfy my dry throat with some water. Having not drunk or eaten in days had fatigued me. If you want a feel of how long it had been, here's a day 3 picture of an initially dark yellow arhar dal cooked on day 1:

Still, I was receiving phone calls.

Them: Hey Param! What's up? Can you help me with this thing?

Me: Hi, I'm sorry, I can't… I'm kind of in a problem… ...(trying to explain my situation).

Them: That stinks! Sorry about that, dude. Take care. Oh, by the way, can you help me out with this quickly? I really need to do this.

This makes me realize how awfully tooled I have always let myself be. If it was a regular day, I would have probably let go of my busy time and helped them out, but I was in pain. I was enraged. Very angered by their stubbornness and lack of concern for my happiness, when I have always been the one who was there for them. I hung up and left my phone. I didn't feel like touching it anymore. Life felt obsolete.

Evening, day 4, we were preparing for dad's birthday next day. Planning a surprise, we ordered a cake for him by collecting some money. We were very excited. Little did we know our happiness was about to be shattered… That's when the water had stopped working again. We know it got fixed later, but the intensity of the trauma in the moment embedded itself deeply into our hearts, and despite the want to be excited, we weren't very relieved after the news that it was working again. We were constantly afraid it will stop working again.

We desperately tried to stay happy and celebrate his birthday. 12 AM, August 16, we sang happy birthday. Crying on the inside and smiling on the outside, we made ourselves believe that we ought to be happy for survival. The desperation was visible on our faces. Here are some pictures:

Now that I'm out of it (pray, the water works fine), I still don't feel so good about it. I want to hug my parents and stay in their arms forever. I want to see them smiling and keep talking to them forever. I want to be able to forget my pain and begin a happy life with my parents someday. Other people won't help me achieve that, I will.

I attempted to get myself a job offer at some good companies, and the recruiters would admit that I'm worthy and eligible and all, but then conclude, "…but our company generally gives only on-campus opportunities.". I get it. I'm not in an IIT. Not privileged enough to be allowed to compete with those IITians I'm far better than. I'll not have a chance, because they'll never come for on-campus opportunities to my college. Bless the IITs, for they've now stolen a hundred options of success from me despite my hardwork.

It is the interview season. I recently had a huge spam of texts and phonecalls by my seniors, asking, requesting, and even threatening me to help them with their online coding entrances. I clarified that I find it ethically wrong, but they continued to mentally disturb me by saying stuff that they, as my elders, shouldn't. I made a post on LinkedIn regarding that. I was so mentally tortured I couldn't take it anymore. And guess what? The responses were equally surprising and hostile.

A good number of people supported. By "supported", I don't mean "liked the post". Anybody would do that for free. Rather, some people appreciated my bravery and told me I did the right thing. On the other hand, some others simply scolded and criticized me brutally for the defamation of JUET, the possibility of JUET being blacklisted by recruiters, and making LinkedIn an unprofessional platform with my plea. What value I hath wrought from years of hardwork didn't seem to be anything to them. Shame on them for looking down on someone they should have been supportive to. And all those cowards who enjoy the perks of the flattery of such devil elders, may they suffer the consequences. Ahh!

Life is so stupid. Why am I working so hard? Whom for? Hello? Is anybody ever going to acknowledge me? Am I ever going to get any appreciation? EVER? Why me? Why? 😭

The question is on me. I've come far enough to understand how this universe works to a much better extent than before. Will I be able to plan my future strategically and always do what's right for me and my family? I hope I do. I hope I don't disappoint the one person who is always there to support me: Myself.

I had once felt like I saw God, but suddenly there was no God. I looked around. Nothing. I was alone. All by myself. Nobody was there to help me achieve my dreams. I suddenly felt this urge to be so grateful for what I have, and not assume that this is the worst it can get. It could get worse, and there's a lot I can get out of my present rather than worrying about my future. And you, dear reader, ought to be grateful for what you have, too.

I sincerely take my leave now. ❤️

Lots of love,

Param Siddharth.

#life #pain #money #education #suffering #escape #trauma #depression #strength #mental health #healthylife #growing #change #maturity

[sally-mun]

I did enjoy it. It was a surprise that it wasn't so much TP by itself, but rather its validation of your emotional investment in the series. I never considered that because I don't share much attachment to OoT; to this day, my brain stutters when people do things like call the character "Malon" instead of "Romani".

Yeah, basically. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Twilight Princess isn’t strong enough to stand on its own, because I absolutely think it’s one of the best iterations of the series by far. My unfinished business with Ocarina of Time just made Twilight speak to me even harder than it would have regardless.

Although, I will say that Twilight Princess did make a contribution to my old Light Temple ideas, so it’s not a purely one-way street! When I initially came to the conclusion that the Light Temple and the Temple of Time were likely the same building, I had wondered how exactly that worked, given that it’s just a church and we can see exactly how big it is. For lack of any other real explanation, my guess was always that the Light Temple was mostly underground, hence why I said the back chamber was the “entrance” to the temple.

When Twilight Princess rolled around, I realized that there’s another possibility that, honestly, I think works much better. I still think that, had all of that been true, the chamber is still only the entrance -- but that it’s the entrance to the Sacred Realm, not a brick-and-mortar temple in the same sense that the others were.

This scene in Twilight Princess, where you’re able to essentially time travel back to when the Temple of Time wasn’t in ruins, made it click for me that something like this could’ve worked perfectly for Ocarina of Time. Once the idea hit me, I felt like an idiot for not thinking of it sooner. OF COURSE the Light Temple would take place in the Sacred Realm! That’s what the “light” is all about! It’s holy power! That’s WHY you get the Light Arrows there! They’re the ultimate holy weapon! And if something was going down in there, it would make sense for Rauru to go in to take care of business if he were the holy man managing the sacred grounds. It would just be all the more reason for him to be the one chosen to be the Light Sage. Furthermore, the Sacred Realm is the only place that we see him in the version of the game we actually got, so if his role were to be scaled down, that seems like the most logical place for him to end up. It all makes perfect sense, and the realization hit me like a ton of bricks.

So, yeah, had the Light Temple actually been included in the game, I think it would’ve functionally worked just like these doors leading into the past, except instead of traveling through time you’re traveling through realms. It may not have even been an extensive temple, since I can’t imagine enemies actually making their way in (or at least, not for a significant amount of time), so maybe it would’ve been all puzzles and platforming, or maybe instead of enemies it was more “hey the Sacred Realm is so intense it’s honestly dangerous for your puny Hylian mortal body to even be in here, so don’t touch things or they’ll kill you.” It’s hard to say, it’s just speculation of the highest degree.

EDIT: On of my friends, @shm128iii, pointed out that it’s entirely possible that the Sacred Realm could have enemies in it on purpose, as a means of testing anyone that happened to come in, a la Wind Waker’s Tower of the Gods. I had completely forgotten about this since my brain was so focused on Ocarina and Twilight, but now that it’s been brought up, I think that makes a ton of sense as well. After all, the Sacred Realm isn’t fucking around, and I think it’s absolutely within reason to expect anyone who wants something as powerful as the Light Arrows to have to pass an insanely difficult test before actually getting them; in fact, it could be argued that that’s why Rauru disappeared. When Ganon took over, maybe Rauru decided to risk going into the Light Temple because he (rightfully) believed that the Light Arrows were necessary to defeat him, but he suffered some sort of setback or mishap in the process.

Anyway I know you didn’t exactly ask for this little addition, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless~

#Legend of Zelda #Ocarina of Time #Twilight Princess #at least this one was short enough to not add a Read More #Anonymous

[queeniewriteshockey]

Imagine meeting Nolan through a mutual friend at a hockey game and you just catch his eye and he cant stop watching you and stuff and he ends up getting hit because he wasn't paying attention and you get pissed because that was a dirty hit and non of the refs called it. After the game the mutual friend introduced you both and you end up ranting about how bad the refs were and nolan is just absolutely smitten with you at that point

Ahh you changed your ICON! I LOVE IT!!!!!

Number 19 - Nolan Patrick/ReaderWord Count: 1377

Catching his eye is not as easy as one would expect. You're standing down at the bottom of the stands, next to the glass just talking to your friend. You're only half paying attention to the warmies and half paying attention as your friend yammers on and on about... something?

Hockey is fun, but you've only really seen a few games and only on TV. Your friend is a fan... to say the least. They don't shut up about the sport so you've learned to tune it out, to an extent. You listen enough and like the sport enough to take her up on the offer to go to an actual game. Sure what the hell? It'll be fun. She swears you'll like it better live anyway. Sure, whatever you say.

You've never seen warmups before. That's not something they show you on TV when you're watching a game. Or maybe it is and you just weren't paying attention. It's really hard to focus on what's happening on the ice, its so loud and moves so fast and this is just the warmups. Yikes.

A puck slams into the glass in front of you, making you jump, your heart rate spiking from the shock. Your friend slams the glass with her the palm of her hand and lets out a string of expletives that would make even a sailor blush and follows it with a middle finger. They're very clearly directed at number 19 on the team, you can see the smirk on his face and the kissy face he makes at your friend makes you laugh. It's about that time that he notices you, or so you assume. He levels a grin your way and a wink before he skates off.

You can't help but roll your eyes at the guy or keep an eye on him the whole times he's out there on the ice. You can't deny that he was cute, albeit a little cocky, maybe? Your friend offers you no information on the guy, other than his name. Nolan Patrick. It means absolutely nothing to you. You shrug it off and go back to watching him play.

Not just at warmups, but through the whole game. It's almost as though your eyes are looking for him without meaning to. You think, maybe, that he's noticed you in the stands. You weren't that far away from your seat when he shot the puck at the two of you.

Your friend beside you has been animated during the entire game, screaming at the refs when they make calls she doesn't agree with. You don't fully understand any of them and it kind of makes you want to. You ask more questions and actually listen to your friend while she explains everything. She's been saying most of it for years, you'd heard some of it and finally understand it as you're filling in the gaps with what you'd ignored.

The moment you catch Nolan's eye again, your friend's voice slips from your mind and a smile paints your lips. It lasts only a moment and you're sure he smiled too, but it's overshadowed by him suddenly slammed against the glass. It's harder than the puck that he's shot at you and you can feel the earth shake from the impact. He slips down and out of view but even before that happens you -and pretty much everyone in the stands - are on your feet, screaming at the ref for not calling anything. You know enough to keep up with the angry crowd, but your friend is silent beside you.

"Who are you and what have you done with my friend?" She asks after most of the shouting has died down.

"What?" You ask.

"Oh nothing," she says with a cluck of her tongue. Her eyes crawl over you from head to toe and you know she's judging you. "I figured it out."

"Figured what out?" you ask innocently, though you're not sure it's believable.

"Don't worry," she says with a smirk. "I'll introduce you after the game."

You do not have time to think about that or even protest the possibility, you're instantly focused on the ice and on the game. Number 19 flew passed and caught the corner of your eye. Anything else your friend says may as well have been dropped on the ground and left there.

By the time the game is over you are completely invested in the game, though you do your best to keep that to yourself for now. The judgment is still clearly written on your friends face and you don't want to be that person that likes something because of a hot guy.

"Come on, We're going to wait for the guys to get done. I have to give something to TK. He left it at my house the other day. And, you can meet Nolan."

You absolutely do not blush when she tells you, you can meet Nolan. Nope. Not at all. "Which one was TK?" You ask instead, deciding to focus on anything but number 19.

"Travis," your friend says, as though you should know this.

"I still don't know who that is." You're rewarded with a smack on the arm. "You're wearing his jersey."

You look down at the jersey your friend had stuffed you in before the game and pluck at the fabric. "I didn't know that. You just told me to put it on. Something about wearing the wrong colors?"

This earns you a roll of the eyes but you really don't care. You're in the process of removing the jersey when you hear your friend's name being called. The male voice doesn't really shock you, you are standing in the hallway of the locker rooms, after all. But you weren't expecting, when you pulled your head out of the jersey, to see two guys, still in their uniforms, standing next to you.

"Nice jersey," one of them says as you finally remove yourself from the black and orange garment.

"It's her's," you say simply before tossing it to your friend and looking up at the guy talking. It's another moment before you realize that the one talking has a number 19 on the side of his jersey and he is really tall.

"I figured. You look like you have better taste."

"Rude," your friend says, hand shooting out to push number 19 in the chest.

Nolan rocks back on his skates before planting a foot behind him to keep himself standing. He lets out a bark of laughter at your friend's indignation and gives you a bright grin. Which of course makes you smile.

"Nolan, this is my friend Y/N - This is Nolan." She rolls her eyes and turns her focus on... Travis was his name. You hadn't even noticed him, too focused on Nolan.

"Nice to meet you," you both say at the same time.

"I saw you on the ice. Are you okay after that hit? It was pretty hard. And the refs were a joke." You were still mad about that, truthfully.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. Nothing I can't handle."

"It shook the stadium."

"Badass!"

You can't help but laugh at the lack of worry he has for the hit he took. You suppose, correctly, that he's used to the hits and if it was really bad, he wouldn't be standing there talking to you.

"Hey, are you coming out with us tonight?"

"Oh, um... I don't..." You hadn't planned on going anywhere but home after the game honestly, but now... maybe?

"You should."

It takes you only a moment of hesitation before you're smiling at him and nodding. "Alright, I will."

"Cool. See you soon, then."

His hand shoots out and nails number 11, ah that is the number you had on the jersey you were wearing. "Let's go TK. We'll see 'em soon enough."

He's gone before TK even really respond, walking down the hall. You barely notice your friends question about you going out with them, too busy watching him walk away.

You are not dressed for a night out, but what the hell? It was going to be an adventure. You just hope number 19 is one of the rides along the way.

#nolan patrick #nolan patrick imagine #NHL imagine #isthatapoliceimcallingtheweed

[artemispanthar]

Sorry if this is a weird thing to ask but like, am I the only person who still likes Rose Quartz? I am kinda worried about where the show is going with her atm with the Pink Diamond thing, but... the other day I saw one of those "thank you for x, NOT YOU" memes and it was "thank you for always being there for Steven" and NOT YOU over Rose and it frustrated me. I know Rose obviously did some shady things and wasn't perfect but sometimes I feel like the whole fandom hates her now. And I (1/2)

always see people talking about how bad she was, but I still feel like she was a complicated and conflicted but ultimately good person who had flaws just like everyone. Am I wrong? Is it wrong of me to still think Rose is a great character? Idk, I just really love her still and it doesn't seem like anyone agrees. It seems kinda like people are quicker to sympathize with the Diamonds than with Rose now :/

oh, you’re certainly not the only person who still likes Rose. I know plenty of people who love her. In fact, she’s become one of my favorite characters and it’s entirely because of how complex and flawed they’ve been revealing her to be. 

Early on, she was very much (and very deliberately) portrayed as an almost goddess that everyone loved and who was entirely pure and good and faultless. A symbol and ideal of goodness that Steven couldn’t possibly live up to, because nobody is truly like that. That sort of thing is a nice idea, a nice plot device, but not really a character. I found her interesting but I wasn’t really invested in her specifically. But as the show has gone on and they’ve revealed more and more about her, she’s become more flawed, more human (so to speak), and she feels more real, like a person rather than just an idea. I love it, honestly.

It just feels very true to the message of the show, that you can always change, that you can be flawed and still do good things. And I feel like Steven has a lot more in common with her than he thinks. Like, not just in power, but in this kinda of... being in the impossible position of kind of falling into being the leader everyone looks up to and having to help everyone and solve these impossible problems. In the insecurities and not knowing what to do and wanting to help everyone but not really being able to. 

Like, the whole point of the Rebellion was, to save Earth yes, but also to break free from Homeworld so that Gems could be free to be whoever they wanted to be and Rose lead that, she facilitated that, but I don’t think being a leader was something she ever wanted to be, it just happened and she got stuck in it and I don’t think she ever really knew what she was doing, as evidenced by how bad some of her decisions were, which just came off as a whole “enigmatic leader does wise things we couldn’t hope to understand” instead of “oh god I don’t know what I’m doing someone please help me”. But everyone looked up to her and drew inspiration from her and I think that makes it very hard to admit she didn’t know what she was doing, for fear of letting everyone down.

This isn’t a hard and fast rule, of course, but the reason a lot of people find it easier to sympathize with a “bad” character who shows some good/sympathetic traits than a “good” character who shows bad/unsympathetic traits is because we have this kind of... expectation of goodness within our social consciousness. We expect people to be good, on some level, like a lot of the time even when people aren’t surprised someone does something bad, they still feel disappointed.

When a “bad” character is shown as sympathetic or “good” even in small ways, it feeds into this expectation of goodness (which is lower, since we know they’re supposed to be bad), it makes you go “oh, they’re not all bad” or makes you relate to them and thus feel for them more. 

But when a “good” character is shown as unsympathetic or “bad” even in small ways, it breaks the expectation (which is higher, because we know they’re supposed to be good). It’s a disappointment and so it hits harder. Sometimes it’s because we already relate to them so this “bad” thing feels almost like an attack on ourselves so it’s rejected.

I also think that people, in general, do not like being told what to think. If you’re told this character is supposed to be good or supposed to be bad, then what you’re going to look for is something that disproves that. The evidence against feels much stronger because it’s like “Look, you’re wrong”

Really there’s a lot of reasons for it. That said, I find the Diamonds to be interesting characters as well.

Anyways, I have rambled enough. But just know that you’re generally never alone in any opinion you have.

#steven universe talk #long post #I have a lot of thoughts about Rose tbh #I've said this before but the song 'I of the Storm' by oMaM is like THE Rose song to me #Anonymous #artie talks

[punkscowardschampions]

Nancy & Rio

Nancy: Hey Nancy: Do you want me to come down and stay with you, it can't be much fun just having Buster for company, like Rio: That's okay, I can't have you playing truant too Rio: I'm going to make him go back before long, swear Nancy: Ri, please. You know what school is like for me, any excuse, I swear Rio: Your 'rents would have me like forreal Rio: I know how shit it is, even more now, soz Nancy: Do you hear them shouting down the phone to him? No 'cause they aren't Nancy: Not to be that bitch, 'cause it's so not funny, but you have kind of taken the heat off me so Nancy: I owe you Rio: Priorities, like, though I dread to think what happens when your Mum gets to me on her list Rio: Reckon I can claim that as any kind of excuse/reasoning or? Nancy: Don't worry nobody exists to her right now but my Auntie Nancy: Which is a sentence I never thought I'd say Rio: I know, but that's good, I mean Rio: as good as anything can be Rio: You know I never meant to do this to her, right Nance? Nancy: Of course Nancy: I think I understand better than most, right? Rio: What do you mean, like? Nancy: You and him Nancy: You didn't mean to, like I didn't, but it happened 'cause it had to, you know? Nancy: You can't help how you feel, even if you want to Nancy: Especially when you want to, like Rio: Oh, no no Rio: It really isn't like that Rio: like, I hear what you're saying on all that but that's not what that was Nancy: You and him aren't Nancy: I don't know how to word it now Nancy: But he looks at you like Nancy: And you're always tilting your phone away for someone Rio: Not him Rio: I wouldn't lie, I'm not saving myself from anything at this point, if that was going on I'd tell you Rio: He wanted it to and, yeah, I knew that before this baby shower but I didn't lead him on or encourage him Nancy: Okay, well now I feel weird Nancy: Fuck, I'm sorry Nancy: I really projected there Rio: It's okay Rio: It'll be the general consensus and almost certainly how he'll frame it but no Nancy: It's not okay Nancy: He did that and I've been talking to you this way Nancy: Wow Rio: I mean, I don't think I did Rio: I thought he was good looking, sure and I tried harder with him than most of us did but Rio: I didn't actually want anything to happen, nor think it would Nancy: I'm as bad as him so there's nothing I can say Nancy: But I still think you'd know if you did or didn't Nancy: And if you didn't want anything to happen, the signals are there, even if you are that committed to only seeing what you wanna see Nancy: He can ignore them but like, you still gave them out Rio: Don't say that, you aren't like him at all Rio: You'd never do or say half the things he did Rio: especially when he had so much reason to know I wasn't interested, you're right Nancy: I mean, I did kiss someone who didn't want me to Rio: It is different, just by nature of what it is, was Rio: Should you have done it? 'Course not but there was never reason or chance for Sian to give out the clear no I did Rio: Because, well, you know Nancy: Yeah Nancy: If I thought for a second that she didn't want me to, I wouldn't Nancy: He clearly didn't have the same qualms about it Nancy: That's so disgusting Nancy: On levels that I can't even Rio: I know she won't be ready to hear it Rio: probably not ever from me Rio: but Ro is better off without him Rio: he's still dealing, which I think we all knew Rio: and I've seen him out, he isn't her Prince Charming, like Nancy: Me and mum have been saying it for as long as they've been together Nancy: As much as she'll talk about any of it to me Nancy: I've overheard more than she's probably ever said but Nancy: I feel like I can't tell her either 'cause it's like oh the man hating lesbian at it again Nancy: But he's just Rio: He really is Rio: and he isn't a good Dad Rio: maybe he'll be better for this one but, he isn't to Edie and Indie barely thinks of him that way either so Nancy: Poor Astrid Nancy: Maybe we can move Ro in with us now? I don't know Nancy: Like it's at a point that I'd move into Indie's room at hers if she'd let me Rio: I'm glad she's got you all around, she's going to need the help Rio: My Ma and all of them will be there too Nancy: Let's be honest, she would of even if he hadn't done this Nancy: Oh my god Nancy: I'm never having kids ever Rio: Yeah Rio: I was joking that that shower was effective contraception before but now Rio: fucking hell Nancy: It's made me not wanna have sex again and I can't even get pregnant so Nancy: Good lord Rio: Think that's the first time I've legitimately laughed since Rio: Oh babe Nancy: Rio? Rio: Yeah? Nancy: Where are you gonna be? 'Cause you said your family will all be there but Rio: I don't know, honestly Rio: but my job at the angel is coming to an end and then with all this Rio: I might try somewhere else, just for a bit Nancy: It worked for me Nancy: I'll miss you though Rio: I'll miss you too Rio: You're gonna be going soon too though, yeah? And June and Buster Rio: I don't want to be the only one left behind just 'cos I don't have the brains, like Nancy: We'd never leave you behind Nancy: You can go in my place if you want, change the major to maths or something Nancy: I don't want to Rio: You've got to Rio: You're just scared, but it'll be incredible, and the right thing for you, most importantly Nancy: I'm really, properly scared whenever I think about it Nancy: What if it's worse than here 'cause I'm alone on top of everything else Nancy: I can't just change schools like I did before Rio: You can, like, that first year Rio: but you're not going to want to, it'll be nothing like School Nancy: Everything's changing so much, like you said Nancy: I'll even miss Buster, and what the fuck is that, like? Rio: He'll be wanting to visit all the time Rio: Me too, like Nancy: I need to see where I can get accepted first, slow down you two Rio: You so will though Rio: World's your oyster Nancy: Yours too Nancy: And we still have Milan, yeah? Rio: Romantic 😉 Rio: but yeah, I've not drank away my funds or anything drastic yet Nancy: I was gonna say I love you, but I'll keep it to myself now, fine 😏 Rio: New drama alert Rio: they'll not survive Nancy: Don't Nancy: I can't handle any more Nancy: It hurts so much, doesn't it? Rio: It does Rio: got to believe that was rock bottom though Rio: can't get any worse, only way is up, all that shite Nancy: God, I hope so Nancy: Give us a break Rio: Backatcha Rio: No more scandals from either of us, right? Nancy: It's my brother's fucking turn Nancy: While I'm on the subject, can I ask you something? Rio: Sure Nancy: Why pick him for a getaway driver? Of all of us Nancy: I know what he said but Nancy: I'm not saying it's the weirdest part of this, but I'm also not saying it isn't Rio: Gays can't drive, right? Nancy: I'm a walking stereotype, alright, emphasis on the walking Rio: 😂 Rio: Exactly Nancy: Tell him not to spend every euro on himself, yeah? Nancy: Nobody needs to eat out every night in a new look Rio: I did drag him to Skerries, no doubt the response but I'll let him know Nancy: He loves it don't let him deny it Nancy: Even if he did nearly drown 🙄 Rio: Another touchy subject Nancy: When his ego is involved, if you aren't stroking it you're asking for trouble Nancy: Boys ugh Rio: Don't need to tell me, babe Nancy: I won't bother telling you that girls are far superior Nancy: What do I know? Rio: Is it? 😏 Nancy: Can you please come back soon so I don't have to drink alone Nancy: I need my wingwoman back Rio: 'Course Rio: London is on my list of maybes so might even meet you there, like Nancy: Yeah? Nancy: If you run into Chlo, you know what to do Rio: Absolutely Rio: Doubt I'm affording her postcode but I'll drop by with the 👊 Nancy: You doesn't even have that much money, she just acts like it Rio: If I can take any life lessons from the bitch, like Nancy: As long as you stop there and don't take fashion tips too Nancy: I still have to be seen with you in Milan, like Rio: 😂 Where's the lie Rio: she was stalking me a while back, bizarrely so I was petty and did some myself and yikes Nancy: I try not to be that bitch but I HATE her so much Nancy: Oh? How and why? Rio: Understandable Rio: I reckon she keeps tabs on us all, she's like weirdly obsessed with you and your Brother Rio: idk, she double-tapped by mistake, amusing Nancy: Gross Nancy: But I was the one who fancied her, okay babe sure Nancy: I bet she tries to look up all of Buster's conquests still, good luck with that Nancy: I'm invested and even I gave up years ago Rio: Honestly Rio: ain't in a mood to be talking about ladies who doth protest too much but well Rio: look what you made me do Chloe Nancy: Her and Drew should start a club and get jackets Rio: She'd love that Rio: get rid of 'em both in one, bit hopeful perhaps but worth a shot Nancy: I try never to feel any sympathy for my brother ever, but she really drove me there Rio: It was fucked Nancy: It's messed his head up Nancy: I can see how sad he is Rio: I know Rio: but he'll be alright Rio: we all will Nancy: Yeah Rio: I promise Rio: hit me with a more enthusiastic yeah thanks Nancy: yeah!! Nancy: I miss you already Rio: You're cute Nancy: Try and control yourself though Nancy: No drama, remember? Rio: 😂 Rio: It ain't gotta be drama baby Nancy: Are you gonna divorce yourself from our bloodline so we aren't cousins? Nancy: Quite drastic but I like it Rio: That's just the kind of dedication you can expect from me Rio: What can I say? Nancy: No other girl has ever gone that hard for me Nancy: So thanks Rio: Should hope not Rio: 👀 up the sibs now Nancy: 😂 Nancy: On the dedication scale in general, babe Rio: Whatever you say, McKenna Nancy: What I should say is that I have so much homework to do Nancy: Which I gotta since you won't let me skip 😒 Rio: Unlucky babe Nancy: As you're also insisting I'm uni bound I better stop complaining and just do it Nancy: So high maintenance you are 😏 Rio: Obviously Rio: always about that sugar Nancy: Don't be a stranger, like Nancy: And don't start preferring the other twin, yeah?