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the-remote-viewers-division · 4 days

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I have an alternate pale theory…

Consider this like a ‘Pale-AU’ (i.e. I know it is probably not supported by canon, and certainly not supported by some other works like Joshua Jenkins designs, for example… also I haven’t finished reading PJÕL, so maybe my ideas will change after that) but I started thinking about it as a “what-if” situation: If there were to be a direct sequel to Disco Elysium :insert prayer hands:, how could we reconcile the multitude of different Harrys the player could create? What about the fates of other characters? Some change due to our influence, some die. How could a sequel storyline somehow accept all those possible variances? Introducing my almost-certainly not-correct pale theory!TM using a little bit of in-game info, some real-life stuff, and a sprinkle of imagination!

Caution: Many spoilers ahead.

So what is Pale -- just the past?

After you talk to the Phasmid you’re given the impression that humans/people created the pale accidentally (with thinking and memory and ideas and invention?); and after talking to Joyce you learn that some think the pale is “rarified past.” It’s all pretty nebulous, but I think that the pale being a product (or a by-product) of the human mind/memory is close to what could be accepted as the canon origin of the pale:

INSULINDIAN PHASMID - The pale, too, came with you. No one remembers it before you. The cnidarians do not, the radially symmetricals do not. There is an almost unanimous agreement between the birds and the plants that you are going to destroy us all. YOU - Wait, the pale is human made? INSULINDIAN PHASMID - It is a nervous shadow cast into the world by you, eating away at reality. A great, unnatural territory. Its advent coincides with the arrival of the human mind. YOU - I don't have that kind of power. INSULINDIAN PHASMID - You are a violent and irrepressible miracle. The vacuum of cosmos and the stars burning in it are afraid of you. Given enough time you would wipe us all out and replace us with nothing -- just by accident. YOU - ...how? INSULINDIAN PHASMID - We suspect it will be something like the oxygen holocaust that wiped out anaerobic life 2.6 billion years ago -- when organisms first started breathing. Only much worse. CONCEPTUALIZATION - Instead of air, you exhale thoughts. There are no trees that eat thoughts.

JOYCE MESSIER – "Some say the damage stems from extreme sensory deprivation. Others argue that pale somehow *consists* of past information, that's degrading. That it's rarefied past, not rarefied matter." JOYCE MESSIER – "They call it *the blend-over of the self*. The pale does not only suspend the laws of physics, but also the laws of psychology, maybe History, even... The human mind becomes over-radiated by past." YOU – "Who says and who argues?" JOYCE MESSIER – "The logical positivists say -- the dialectical materialists argue."

An effect of the Pale is “entroponetical crosstalk" which you can experience when you use the doorbell intercom outside the whirling and hear the woman speaking from Tricentennial Electrics a long time ago, and additionally the old pale driver also talks to you about how she’s experienced the past in the pale, like the assassination of Dolores Dei. Both are snippets of human past:

KIM KITSURAGI - "It was a recording trapped in the circuitry. From some ancient tenant. This sometimes happens. Shall we conclude here? We have other mysteries to solve." YOU - "I do have one mystery that still needs solving... the radio ghost in the Doomed Commercial Area's electronic doorbell." SOONA, THE PROGRAMMER - "The creepy woman!" She slaps her forehead. "We were wondering about that when we worked there... but I had completely forgotten about it ever since!" SOONA, THE PROGRAMMER - "It must be entroponetic crosstalk. The one you get in radios and long-distance calls... Now it makes sense, with the pale right on the doorstep." KIM KITSURAGI - "Incredible..." the lieutenant murmurs. "This would also explain why we get it on the police radio all the time." YOU - "Entroponetic crosstalk?" SOONA, THE PROGRAMMER - "It's quite common actually. When the signal gets routed through pale, all kinds of irregularities take place. You may hear snippets of someone else's conversation, or the voice of your former lover, or an echo of an event that took place 100 years ago." SOONA, THE PROGRAMMER - "Pale is a shroud of memories and it doesn't really distinguish to whom those memories belong to. You could hear anything."

PALEDRIVER - "You don't need to turn back time. The pale is already churning with it. As the tide of pale rises, so does the past. Someday both will cover the whole world. That's it. That's the story." PALEDRIVER - "They say there is a point -- one that *I* have not crossed -- in the pale superdeep. If you stray too far off course on the U41-A, or in Lomonossov's Land... where every step you take is one step further from home, no matter the direction." PALEDRIVER - "It's a point you cannot come back from. Your mind becomes so radiant with the past -- there is a flip." She flicks the ash from her cigarette. "Instead of writing, it erases memory. Nearing some kind of..." She shakes her head. "Indescribable *finale*." PALEDRIVER - "Like Gabriel Buenguerro in 'Segure-me, Paraíso'..." She nods and smiles, unkindly. "You're the opposite of me then. I remember everything -- even the things I never knew." YOU - "Things you never knew?" PALEDRIVER - "The smell of liquor on Gabriel's lips after the shoot. In the motor park. The roses on the day of Franconegro's coronation. On the grand stairs of Raehl. The smoke from the fowling piece, when Dolores Dei was shot..." PALEDRIVER - "The look on her face -- like an orgasm. The wound in her chest. My hand in my father's hand..." She closes her eyes, her eyelids trembling. "Except I never had a father. And I never shot Her Innocence Dolores Dei." .. PALEDRIVER - "Thought insertion? *Dithering*? The Graad-Katla Magistral?" She savours the lungful. "It's more than dangerous -- it's *sad*. But... at first I had to make a living. Now..."

So you’d think Joyce’s theory checks out, it’s all history/memory---BUT! I did the moralist political quest my first play thru, and when you are trying to contact the airship you also get radio crosstalk from the pale.

KIM KITSURAGI - "It's cold now..." SHIVERS - A slight frisson at the point where your neck meets your spine. Something about the lieutenant's words, directed at you, but not *you*... YOU - "It's really coming down, now that you mention it." KIM KITSURAGI - "Mention what?" YOU - "It's cold, like you just said." KIM KITSURAGI - "I didn't say anything, detective." KIM KITSURAGI - "...someone has been maintaining it. The wiring has been repaired..." HORSEBACK ANTENNA - An uncomfortable silence falls over the connection. KIM KITSURAGI - "... It's been a long winter... Long and cold..." YOU - "Are you going to tell me you didn't say *that*, either?" KIM KITSURAGI - "I promise you, I didn't, even though it certainly *sounds* like me..." The lieutenant seems to wince at the sound of his own voice. YOU - "It must be entroponetic crosstalk. It's the only explanation." NOID - "So your partner's haunting himself. Trying to warn him off his current path, most like." KIM KITSURAGI - "It's eerie, for certain, but also harmless. I just wish I could remember what I was talking about..." ESPRIT DE CORPS - Something here is eating at the lieutenant, as much as he would like to move past it.

You can even hear it if Kim is not with you:

KIM KITSURAGI - "It's cold now..." SHIVERS - A slight frisson at the point where your neck meets your spine. You can *feel* the lieutenant's presence, even though he's nowhere to be found... YOU - "Kim? How did you get on my connection?" NOID - "Whoa, the cop's *own partner* is a radio-spooker. That's some *other core* business right there..." HORSEBACK ANTENNA - ... KIM KITSURAGI - "...someone has been maintaining it. The wiring has been repaired..." YOU - "Kim! Answer me." NOID - "No use, man. Don't think he can hear you." YOU - "I've encountered this before. It's entroponetic crosstalk. This is a piece of the past mixing in with our signal." NOID - "What..." KIM KITSURAGI - "It's been a long winter... Long and cold." NOID - "What have you gotten us into, lawman?" HALF LIGHT - Just *run*. Unplug that headset and get as far away as you can.

YOU - "Kim? How did you get on my connection?" … YOU - "What is he talking about?"’ SOONA, THE PROGRAMMER - "I believe you mean, what *was* he talking about." YOU - "Wait, what are *you* talking about?" KIM KITSURAGI - "It's been a long winter... Long and cold." SOONA, THE PROGRAMMER - "It sounds very much like entroponetic crosstalk. It happens sometimes when sending transmissions across long stretches of pale..."

Except IT'S NOT FROM THE PAST. It is Kim talking from the future, from the fort on the island. Which hasn’t happened yet.

And it can possibly NOT HAPPEN.

You hear Kim say this stuff even if he gets shot and doesn’t come with you to the island.

During gameplay they kind of just go “huh, how strange and spooky...” and don’t really delve into it.

But that completely changes the pale right? It’s not just past, it’s also future, and not just the ONLY future, POSSIBLE future.

So, my theory is that the pale is multiverse colliding: the near pale is the places where these universes begin to overlap, and deep pale is where universes overlap to such a degree they are cancelling themselves out into nothing.

Fungal communication – mycorrhizal network

When Joyce talks to you, she talks about a fungus growing at the edge of the porch collapse. I think this fungus could be acting like a mycorrhizal network, which in our world are an underground networks connecting fungi and plants allowing them to communicate or share information. I think the fungi/spores in Elysium pop up at origin points and thrive along the porch collapse and are allowing the universes to “talk” to each other.

SOONA, THE PROGRAMMER - "I understand..." She closes her eyes. "A theory of the pale where instead of an *outer ocean* it metastasises -- like a cancer or a mould -- erupting in points *inside* the world."

JOYCE MESSIER - "An uproar of matter, darling, *rising* into the pale. Rolling. Evaporating even, a great vision. The area of transition between the world and the pale is called *porch collapse*." JOYCE MESSIER - "Imagine a grey coronal mist, cold vapour, marked by spores of an opportunistic microorganism -- a mould that's adapted to grow at the edge of the unrest. It's..." JOYCE MESSIER - She closes her eyes and breathes out heavily: "... the most *disco* thing you will ever see.

INLAND EMPIRE - The white noise turns into a wall of mist and grey mould, bubbling, sweeping over the city... it tears up buildings and raises sidewalks into the sky. It's Revachol -- at the end of the world. INLAND EMPIRE - ...and it hasn't even really started yet.

Destructive interference – “le gris”

When Lena tells you about the cryptid the Col Do Ma Ma Da Qua, you learn that they are nearly extinct because the scientists played back their own calls and since they are creatures made of sound, the recordings cancelled out the birds. They died because the signals matched and cancelled each other out.

LENA, THE CRYPTOZOOLOGIST'S WIFE - "It's the *Col Do Ma Ma Daqua*," the woman corrects her glasses. "Its name means 'thin whisper of sound'. And that's *precisely* what it is -- self-replicating sound waves, invisible and intangible! The Col Do Ma Ma is very afraid of us, which makes it incredibly difficult to track..." YOU - "Why is the Ma Ma Daqua so afraid of us?" LENA, THE CRYPTOZOOLOGIST'S WIFE - "That is a sad story." She frowns. "A group of university students assisting with the field work, in their enthusiasm for the project and, no doubt, because they were preoccupied with impressing their professors, nearly drove it to *extinction*." YOU - "Extinction?" LENA, THE CRYPTOZOOLOGIST'S WIFE - She nods gravely. "They tried to communicate with it, and had no other means but sound. So they started sending out sound waves at frequencies they thought might match the Ma Ma Daqua's. And what happens when a sound wave meets another sound wave of the same frequency, dear?" YOU - "They cancel each other out."

So... admittedly this doesn’t directly connect to the pale, but it’s illustrating the concept of signals cancelling each other out and, I'm going to say, indicates that this concept is possible in Elysium. The pale is destruction, the overlap between universes causes matter, physics, and even numbers to dissolve. The more complete the overlap, the more complete the destruction.

In conclusion...

According to my theory, the pale is the areas of the world that are affected by these fungal organisms that allow very similar, but different universes to communicate with each other, and since their 'signals' are so alike, they are being cancelled out.

So why did I force myself to jump thru these mental hoops? I think having a multiverse like this would make a sequel more possible since there are so many ways the game can be played. Any possible playthrough would be its own universe. Having a multiverse like this acknowledges and validates any play thru as 'canon,' no player will feel that they somehow played the game “wrong.” Whatever Harry appearing in the sequel is one of the possible Harrys even if he wasn’t “your” Harry. If a character died, they died only in some of the universes, not all. Whatever world the sequel would take place in is just one of the many possibilities.

Anyway, I thought WAYYYY too much about this and now you can too. Sorry!

#disco elysium #the pale #harrier du bois #kim kitsuragi #alternate universe

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enakane · 15 days

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Hi, I figured you'd have an interesting take on this, as the #1 The Emporer fucker (affectionate) on my dash. I've always seen Ansur's attempted murder of the Emp being less "you're a horrifying monster who I must kill before you turn on us, even if it kills me to do so" and more "the man I knew would never want to live as a mindflayer, the man I knew would be horrified at what he's become, the man I knew would rather die" but he didnt consider that the man he knew was dead the moment he turned into a mindflayer, as it's (I think) canon that mindflayers feel and think differently than other races, so the 'man he knew' had been fundamentally changed in such a way as to become unrecognizable in his thought process, and thus, would no longer agree with his past-self. So while I don't think what Ansur did was right, I don't think he's the out-and-out villian some people paint him as, just someone so blinded by grief and fear and sadness, that he doesnt realize how changed Emp was. And then when you show up, the Emp at your back and an elder brain on the rise, I think Ansur is blinded by rage, and grief, and betrayal. He thinks all his worst fears about Emp have come true, and that you're, at best, a pawn in Emp's game, and at worst, a thrall, so that's why he attacks. Havent played that section in a while, so I might be talking out of my ass, but that's my take based on what I remember. Thoughts? (Sorry this is so long, I am a Verbose Bitch.)

(brb gonna get "#1 Emperor fucker" tattooed somewhere on me, truly an honor)

I totally agree that Ansur's intentions were first and foremost to enact what he thought would be Balduran's wishes! As far as he knew, he was dealing with an illithid puppeteering Balduran's body, and after failing to bring him back to the way he was (if I remember well, Ansur tried for some time to restore Balduran to his former self but failed), killing him was equivalent to putting down a zombie.

Mind flayers indeed canonically think differently from other races, plus (depending on the source), the host's mind either mostly or completely disappears once ceremorphosis is complete. There was a high chance he was dealing with a master manipulator that only pretended to remember who it used to be to be set free. Ansur was hardly evil for wanting to end Balduran's cursed existence/kill the thing pretending to be him, and Emp was hardly evil for choosing to live.

(If I start talking about how the Emperor wanting to live despite everything ties in perfectly with the game's theme of choosing to live in spite of irreversible changes + the I Want to Live song, I may never shut up, HE'S JUST LIKE US FR-)

Ansur remains as a ghost due to his unfinished business, so when he feels Emp near and speaks to you and him... The situation hasn't really changed for Ansur. Either Balduran is still an illithid or there's still an illithid pretending to be Balduran, and like you said, the chances that you're either a thrall or being manipulated are very high, so why wouldn't he try to finish the job and consider you an unfortunate collateral damage? There's no more evidence that Balduran is actually in control than there was the first time. Plus, I'd never considered that Ansur might feel the Elder Brain nearby and assume Emp is responsible; that would indeed make him feel betrayed and more willing to attack.

I definitely understand why people aren't too keen on the idea of trusting the Emperor bc mind flayers have a Reputation(tm), but how people came to hate Ansur is kind of weird imo? He's not a villain at all, his decision to kill Emp was a desperate last resort, a way to free Balduran from his torment and save the many people who were gonna get their brains eaten if he got out. I know some people dislike that he possesses Tav, but I played that scene before reading about it and it never bothered me, I mean... he's a ghost. If I'd played through bg3 without getting possessed at least once I'd be lowkey disappointed.

Thanks for giving me an excuse to ramble about my bg3 fave, I hope I'm coherent lol

#bg3 #bg3 emperor #bg3 spoilers #bg3 ansur #about the 'wanting to live despite everything' thing;#(if you spare Karlach) Wyll chooses to keep going even though he'll forever look like a devil and not his father's son #depending on your choices Karlach lives on in Avernus bc it's the only way to survive #unascended Astarion lives on as a forever spawn unable to see the sun he loves without burning to ash #and after Balduran becomes an illithid he chooses to make the most of it and refuses to die at Ansur's hand #it's all parallel stories and imo it makes Emp as much a companion as the others

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thedelusionreaderbitch · 1 year

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Coming out to the batfam as asexual

A/n: So asexuals are all different, even then I tried to make it as universal as possible but if you're sex favorable (I'm not so that's probably partially why I wrote it like that) this one (unfortunately) might not be for you!

Warnings: Being scared to come out, mentions of aphobia and killing people, I think that's it? You have been warned!

The reader is gender neutral!

Requested by: @bandshirts-andbooks

Ironically for being the world's best detectives no one really caught on

I think the only person who might of is Cass, but it's nothing for sure, she just saw your body language would change slightly when people talked about sex

The first person you tell is Alfred

You were probably having a bad day, maybe seeing some straight people talk about ace people in a really negative way, and perhaps some queer people online who told you, that ace people didn't belong in the community

And people just being shitheads in general towards the queer community and just all these laws being made against trans people everywhere can really wear someone down, right?

So it's the middle of the night and you're in the kitchen crying because it's just been a bad day

And Alfred comes in, "Mx. L/n are you alright?"

After you were adopted you never got Bruce's last name

"Ah, yes! Don't worry it's nothing!"

🥹

All it takes is one raised eyebrow from him and you're quickly defeated, and he pulls out a chair and sits next to you

"Don't let things fester for too long Mx. L/n, you know what happens to your brothers when they do."

Sighing you wring your hands through your hair (something you picked up from your father) "I just-"

"Alfred I think I'm asexual."

"There's a silence and half your brain is thinking maybe Alfred doesn't know what it is and the other half think he hates you now

"Mx. L/n you do not "think so" I'm pretty sure you know."

And that in itself is confirmation that he supports you, the way he's smiling makes you wonder how you could think anything else

Okay next you come out to Cass

Because Alfred slyly told you she might already know

She's supportive and tells you in her own way that she would hurt anyone who isn't

I also think she understands you the most because I headcanon (is it canon???) that Cass is asexual

So she's who you go for to vent, and eventually she'll come out to you as ace too!

Then there's Stephanie and Barbra

Steph squeals; "Another member of the alphabet mafia!" And Barbra recomends a bunch of asexual groups online where they share their personal experiences

While all this fluffiness is happening the batboys tm are trying to get back at you for winning the prank war last week

Naturally they go into your dating history, because why not?

Murder might be committed by Cass after this

There aren't very many people but there's ONE person from your high school days

And thanks to Tim's savvy tech skills they somehow find out you're a virgin

(don't ask)

At this point Damian didn't really know the plan, but he's mostly the distraction anyways!

In the past you had told them you weren't one

High school was not good for your baby ace ass alright?

Meaning they thought it was fair game because they were getting back at you for lying and winning the prank war

Imagine your surprise when at a rare dinner Jason, Tim, and Dick are glancing at each other mischievously

Bruce looks like he has no idea what's going on and Damian (for once) looks oddly innocent

"You know how we use to say Jason gets no bitches" Dick starts up

"Hey!"

"Well little Timmy here." Dick continues ignoring an angry Jay. "Found out you're worse than Jaybird and are a Virgin."

You just stare dumbfounded at their giggling faces

"I didn't know that this was part of the plan." Damian mutters

At this point you were much more confident in yourself and had momentairly forgetten that Bruce was still in the room

Just imagine seeing those faces

when you finally tell them

"I'm asexual fuckwads."

Their faces go BEAT RED

"Oh, um..."

"Also Tim, idk how you found out I was still a virgin, but if you do anything like that again..."

The look on Tim's face - it was very clear that your threat got through to him

Then you remembered Bruce was still in the room

Slowly you turned your head to face him

Instead of saying anything he just gave you a smile

That's how you came out to the Batfam, from being scared, to be a confident badass

-thedelusionreaderbitch

dc taglist: no one yet!

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amiryllisthorn · 9 months

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I kinda want to talk about this idiot for a bit. I obviously dont want to talk about Valkyra’s character toooooooooo much since a lot of what is up with her tm is a big part of the game’s narrative, but theres a bit of a different aspect I wanted to talk about.

Valkyra lisiri was a character that was really just an awfully written character. She was this too cool for school didnt need any friends hyper competent soldier who was actually written as a bit of a villain. One who would rather defend the status quo rather than actually try to change anything. It was edgy and over the top and just bleh.

So how did she become the main character in the game I am most focused on? Well what ended up happening is I had a lot of ideas for games at the time, and threw this one together as a bit of a throwaway project with these characters as that I didnt really care for anymore and the idea was to make something short and move on as a bit of a prequel to the thing I actually wanted to work on.

(this sprite is two years old now! but you can see that the general look is still similar)

Well that clearly didnt happen, because the more I worked on this short throw away project the more I thought about what I could actually do with these characters. What I could do to make this setting more mine and not just rip off of sci fi series I liked. And as I wrote more and more the more things changed and were altered to the point where any of it is barely recognizable anymore-and I love that so MUCH!

It was no longer a prelude for another game I was working on or this half assed setting but has become something that I am incredibly passionate about! I told my self that I would try to focus on smaller projects but I cant keep myself away from this thing and these characters.

(o7 mech game concept we hardly knew ye-the concept was being on the run as a mech mechanic for a mercenary company where the gameplay revolved around fixing mechs)

While work is going much slower than I would like, due to mostly personal reasons, I really am proud with how things are really starting to come together for this project. I didnt really start focusing actual attention on it till probably the past year or so.

I think part of why this project means so much to me, is that it has taken something from a part of my past self that I dont really like, and made it into I think something far more interesting, far more fun, more technically impressive, and just so much gayer. And these once throwaway characters of little regards, have really become the core focus of the project.

Valkyra Lisiri went from this heartless action hero who could do anything, to a much more general person, struggling through life and trying her best, and often her best was not enough. Those actions of course having their own painful consequences, that shaped her into the character she now is.

Siane Vokir went from this really bitchy agent of the state to someone who at the drop of a hat gives up everything to fight fascism, someone who now has trouble dealing with her past and people in general, and just so many layers to her character.

The game has been so thoroughly ship of theseus’d that all that really remains of the first like year of work is just some characters have the same name and maybe a similar appearance, and that is just a fascinating and exciting thing to work with!

(the very first concept drawn up for the game. You can also see the original design for siane)

Anyways this post has gotten a little bit all over the place, but I guess I wanted to share some of this project’s history. I dont talk about the actual details as much as I should whenever I post stuff, because I have a pretty hard time with a lot of this stuff sometimes! I wanted to make posts talking more about the setting and the characters but that kinda got uh forgotten.... well maybe I will get back to that at some point.

if you made it down this far thanks for reading! I really do want to talk about all of these things more, and have been working at it. Maybe ill try to do a weekly post talking about game stuff but no promises, my brain is bad so Ill just leave you with these two nerds.

#long post #project quiet rebirth #game dev #talkin about a lot of stuff #its a bit more rambly than I would like but this is mostly a post talking about my feelings and history of this #I have been really working on the script and sprites and am very happy with how things are looing #much so than any time before

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kaibutsushidousha · 4 months

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What are your thoughts on TM takes of Taigong, Nezha and Huang Feihu?

Taigong is always a delight to watch. He wears his crippling fear of disappointing on his sleeve, making him very proactive as a tactician and having him deliver the most transparent lies about his status and confidence. When he succeeds, we cheer because he's generally awesome and we know he was trying really hard to impress. When he fails, we cheer because his reactions are great. There's no losing with Taigong. His relationship with Daji has the standard levels of sexual tension and bitter aftertaste we'd expect, and TM chooses to have him act outwardly mature toward the event he'll never forget. Again, nothing new, but Taigong Wang is a hard figure to screw up for me. The only way to feel unsatisfied about him is by comparing him to his Houshin Engi counterpart, but it honestly feels almost bad faith to raise the bar that high (this applies to every Investiture character in FGO).

Nezha is another of my favorites, but she's harder to talk about because she's been in many main story chapters through hands that write her very differently. The general common ground is that Nezha's demeanor draws a lot from his portrayal in Houshin Engi, which is a directing my biased ass likes a lot for all Investiture characters.

As for Nezha's individual portrayals, she was initially a Higashide profile with the worst genderbend background this series produced to this day. Next, Meteo picked her up for Salem, fitting her as the party member who defaulted to violence at every choice where violence wasn't an option. It's the same brand of humor they use for Nightingale and you probably know how much I love this. Salem also puts a sweet amount of emphasis on Nezha's status as a hero for the children, making her the Servant that bonds the closest with Abby. Later Urobochi has Nezha in SIN as a plot device that didn't need to be present outside Shi Huang's backstory. Then, the transition between SIN and Yuga Kshetra has a Nasu scene of Nezha commenting on the similarities between the natural limitations of hers and da Vinci's artificial lives, which is somehow still the second-best character interaction da Vinci's ever got (the first being Mike).

Lastly, Nezha passed through Minase's hands in Yuga Kshetra, where she was written to her best capacity yet. I imagine she was a miss for most people because Yuga Kshetra is expecting a lot of familiarity with Nezha's character from the player. Nezha's background has still never been given in the game. Materials barely touch her relationship with her father. The best we got is an interlude with Nezha saying she chose to be a benevolent god who treats children because cherishing children is what it means to be the opposite of his father (note: this goes so hard). But when you come to the story with preestablished feelings about Nezha's and Li Jing's relationship, Nezha's visceral reactions to being fused with her father hit like a truck.

And Feihu is tragically boring. They failed to make his moral conundrum feel like a real question. They wasted Tianhua as Saint Graph piece. They debuted him in an event that puts him in the background in favor of Higashide's worst joke character yet. Considering the trend of Investiture Servants drawing a lot from their Houshin Engi characterization, we really need to put Wen Zhong in the game to salvage Feihu's character with the power of peak old man yaoi.

#type moon #fate grand order #taigong wang #nezha #huang feihu

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msmargaretmurry · 6 months

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do you think tkachuk/drai/mcdavid (or 2 of the 3) would have been anything if matthew was drafted to edmonton instead of jesse puljujarvi?

hello anon! it says something about how uncaffeinated i was when i first read this ask that at first i thought you meant like, as a line, and i was like "well someone would have to learn to play left wing and it would probably be smarter to spread that firepower out over two lines" and then i had one (1) sip of coffee and was like OOOOooohhh you mean in a hrpf way. (i assume. sorry if you actually wanted lineup analysis.) and then i got briefly distracted thinking about a beautiful world where poor jesse puljujärvi never had to endure the dickings around of the oilers management. and THEN i got briefly distracted thinking about how having all three of them would make the oilers' cap situation even more funny. BUT ANYWAY.

short answer: yes. long answer:

so like, on the mcdavid front, hrpf nation has been exploring the mortifying ordeal of being connor mcdavid since before he was drafted. if matthew was drafted to his team people would be interested by default. if the oilers had him, drai, AND matthew, for marketing purposes they would have packaged those three all together like eberle/hall/nuge 2.0 and people would have loved it. matthew would have been giving nonstop quotes about playing with these special players and learning so much from them and whatever the fuck. matthew cares very very deeply about being a Good Teammate. he would have become connor's guard dog the same way he did for auston matthews in the ntdp. folks absolutely would have latched onto it. plus the added dimension of matthew being a Legacy Kid while connor has had Legacy Thrust Upon him would have been like rpf narrative catnip.

also, in addition to the legacy kid thing making him already a person of interest, if matthew had been drafted to the other side of the battle of alberta he would have been exactly as rambunctious and annoying and divisive and shit-stirring and fun to watch, just on the other side of the battle, and manyof us would have still gotten weird and wild about him. imho!!

i think it's a really interesting thought experiment to ponder how being in the shadow of mcdavid (and doing his shenanigans in what might be perceived as in service of the mcdavid experiment) might have possibly changed perpections/portrayals of him, and also how being drafted to a team where he knew he would never, in the eyes of the hockey zeitgeist, be the best player, might have changed matthew's own approach to his career and developing his game. because he's such a family-oriented guy i do still think he would have gotten homesick in edmonton the same way he got homesick in calgary, but i'm really curious if the concept of Playing With McDavid would have been enough to pressure him into sticking it out in the great white north. also, back to the cap crunch of it all — it feels so unlikely that the oilers would be able to afford to keep all three of them, and i wonder, if matthew was there, if drai would be the one to go. and that would have provided some RICH hrpf narratives.

on the draisaitl front, hrpf nation has been info him since he was drafted being he's hot, lmao. (laying these foundations just because if a guy is on the rpf radar it's much more likely for pairing with him to being a Thing(tm).) if matthew had been drafted to the oilers, mattdrai as we know it would absolutely not exist (and que tragique!!). it just wouldn't have that antagonism! i've always said that if leon and matthew were on the same team from the beginning, they would have been fast friends. they would have had a great time terrorizing people together. the things about matthew that pissed leon off so much wouldn't be pissing him off if they weren't being used against him!! so the dynamic that drew so many people into mattdrai wouldn't be there, and it would definitely be a very different thing, but i do think it would still be a thing.

honestly from what i know about hrpf, i feel like if we lived in the matthew-to-the-oilers universe, connor/matthew would be the big ship, with connor/leon and matthew/leon as rarer pairs on the side (and of course connor/matthew/leon hanging out there too). what a world!! i would read a million versions of the au though.

#ask #this was fun to think about thank you anon! <3 #matthew and leon #the mortifying ordeal of being connor mcdavid #hockey for ts

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majickth · 1 year

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Hold on to your seat bcs I have brain worms and you said u wanted to hear them so, in the end, this is mostly your fault /pos

That post where someone was trying to get all their bot followers together to teach them how to play dnd but it's Tango somehow getting Keralis, Bdubs, Zedaph and Scar in a steampunk campaign together.

No one dares call attention to it -the last person got a VIP tour-, but some of the taxidermied creatures in Scarland are straight up ripped from Tango's fucked up homebrew monster manual collection... mostly the ones he uses for the Friday night game, in which Scar proudly holds the record of "most deaths in a single session". (No one knows what came first, the taxidermy or the custom monster manuals)

Regarding the steampunk campaign, T had to start holding the game at his store. He says it helps the atmosphere -with all the machines and parts he has in the back and all that-, but in reality both K and B asked him separately if he could make an exception and not do it at the ranch. Keralis doesn't want to leave Princess the shop alone for too long and Bdubs told him that sudden extreme heat or cold can harm his moss coat.

(Calling back to v1 of decked out) Zedaph quickly took a liking to the chill DM and it seems to be mutual because Tango, usually very secretive about the citadel, started asking him to help playtest the different features he wants to add to the dungeon. They've spent many an afternoon sharing notes on how to tweak the "animatronics" Tango's using as enemies to make them feel more real while also allowing players to sometimes get out of the basement unscathed.

The first time Bdubs properly met Tango was one of those weird moments where the Pass n Gas' register got suddenly crowded. It wasn't the first time Etho had dragged his green friend to hang out at the outskirts with the old fisherman, but it was the first time he'd seen the blond man with big red glasses and a poofy coat come out of the 'employees only' door, ttrpg books balancing on top of the boxes he was helping move. And the rest is history.

Might have many more Thoughts(tm) abt your au but rn the Create brainrot is winning and I can't get a paragraph out that doesn't involve Tango, Zedaph, Scar, Bdubs o Keralis (but mostly Tango bcs I'm a nerd and I love his whole concept)

Putting you on blast, Shadow-formerly-known-as-Anon

I love that idea though, Tango just grabbing the most ominous guys he can find and asking if they wanna play DnD. Even better if he’s just completely oblivious to the weirdness of it all.

Also adds a nice bit of slice-of-life to the town too! Despite all its eccentricities, there are many who still consider Hermit’s Hollow home.

#hermits hollow au

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honeyfizzly · 2 months

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3-4-11-12 for SH asks

3- who is/are your favorite main characters?

My top 3 are kaneeka, tabitha, and reese!

Kaneeka because she's so relatable as someone else who also felt dissatisfied with their life and wished to escape into another world. Also she's very sweet and such a genuinely nice friend who won't push your boundaries. Plus she's a magical girl fan and I gotta respect that

Tabitha because I find her story so far very compelling and she's relatable as someone who's also had a Bad Mom (tm) because you can just see how many of pearlanne's "teachings"(abuse) followed tabitha through her life. Also tabitha has alot of flaws too and it's kinda refreshing to see someone so completed and flawed and still desire to see them get better.

Reese because we'll, it's a little embarrassing but when I first played the game my mind apparently forgot I was aro and decided promptly that he was now my husband. I'm not really into him as a romance option anymore (the aro lagged a bit but came back in the end) but I love stories about werewolves or werewolf adjacent monsters because it feels so relatable.

4- who is/are your least favorite main characters

Um this is hard. I don't hate stella but I find her boundary pushing uncomfortable especially as an introvert. I'm also very "meh" about Wayne, I think he's funny but I don't really have any thoughts or strong opinions about him. I'm sure that'd change but for now I'm very indifferent. Does sybil count as a main character? I definitely don't like her lol

11- what are your favorite ships? What are your least favorite ships?

Favorite has to be stabby for sure since I too had intimate female friendships that mightve ruined my life while also making it better somehow. Idk the childhood friends trope with wlw just hits different.

Least favorite is hard. Probably anything involving incest which I feel like is an obvious and easy answer.

Maybe Dr. Kelly x Mc? It's not that I dislike Dr. Kelly romancers (milf lovers go get your girl) but I just don't get the appeal of romancing someone who abused their kid for litteral years. Sybil x mc also falls into this category. Sorry gilf lovers.

12- what's your favorite non romantic relationship in the game

Oh it's mc and tabby no contest. I like getting tabby to open up to us and show that she cares for us. It's just really sweet for someone who's usually so cold. There's not really much that I can say that I'm sure others haven't already said so I'll just I'm tabitha's ride or die (except when it comes to strikes. Tabby pls stop breaking unions your better than this)

#scarlet hollow #ask game #kaneeka forsyth #tabitha scarlet #reese kelly

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fvaleraye · 14 days

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can I get some blorbo thoughts on Durge please 👀

da Durge... ofc...

now- we're going to give thoughts on Base Durge(tm), essentially the version of Durge we made first(bc we have many alternate versions. mostly different classes and differing backstories, as Emile is acutely aware asdflkjnasdf) we're also going to give background info. bc we don't talk abt Durge much here asflkjn

yes her name is actually Durge, we actually thought of it before we heard about durge as a shorthand for dark urge. we're not super creative.

she's a dragonborn- and basically looks near identical to "canon" durge but as a woman instead of a man(it's a great look okay)

she's a fighter- she was a military woman for a while, figuring that an outlet could help her Urge. it did not, and she was dishonorably discharged for killing a superior officer(discharged instead of killed or imprisoned bc they could never really prove it). she primarily wields a long sword in one hand an axe in the other.

she gets along with Gortash- though she kind of has a stray cat relationship with him. she brings him things, usually dead things, mostly to intimidate him. he usually returns the favor in his own ways. one of the many games they play. she respects him and he respects her.

post wom/knife-induced memory wipe, Durge has very mixed feelings about the Urges. she gives into them far too quickly, but there's still a bit of her that's like "damn. that's fucked. i'm fucked."

she does eventually come around, but not before doing a lot of murder

once she starts turning things around, she does genuinely have a disdain for Bhaal. she refuses to see herself as his favorite anymore, as his behavior doesn't really back that up. he's just kind of a dick who gives his special little girl favoritism as long as she does what he says, and stops if that stops being the case.

she has a one-sidedly rocky relationship with Jaheira, due to some... things, that happened at the Last Light Inn. Jaheira doesn't know and Durge refuses to tell her.

speaking of the Last Light- after the adrenaline of the moment wore down, she felt extremely guilty. and guilty about feeling guilty. and-

in the game, she dates Shadowheart, and Shadowheart is actually the reason she actually backed down from Bhaal. after all- seeing someone else renounce their shitty god of their own free will was inspiring. and topical for her

her 'canon' significant other is Elaine tho, at least in our brain. Elaine being one of Emile's ocs :>

the rest of the party is... mostly neutral on her? but they're all supportive of her after she forsakes Bhaal. she probably has the best relationships with Shadowheart and Wyll.

she does eat the Astral Tadpole("you... ate it?" "... was i not supposed to be doing that this entire time?"), bc... well, she knew it was a stupid decision. she wanted to make a stupid, self destructive decision of her own volition. besides, she got cool powers out of it, right?

after the entire fucking thing, she settles down. occasionally takes mercenary or adventurer work when she needs the funds, but otherwise just... she's tired, man.

#Faye Answers #Faye OCs #Durge

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hisuian-history-makers · 2 years

Text

We know the usual story. Get called to the Pokemon world, wake up as a Pokémon, and get dragged into our first mystery dungeon...

Except we don’t see the struggle each human goes through adapting to their new body. Fur takes longer to dry than our skin, scales would probably itch when shedding, and accidentally breathing fire will be a constant worry for them. How do instincts work with the human mind? Some moves like Tackle or Scratch might be easier to regularly use than say—Razor Leaf. A whole new center of gravity to figure out while doing demanding exercise every day. Pokemon logic means all the options seem to have teeth.

The pokemon probably have different written language considering what we see in close shots in-game. Imagine for a moment being illiterate in a world that functions without the internet. Where the easiest way to earn money is by going to dangerous places where innocent people get lost daily in. Places that change their layout each time you go in and space bends to make these crazy dungeons with infinite foes. Most Pokemon we defeat in there disappear like illusions with us having to beat up enough to maybe find one mon who can actually talk.

If dungeon Pokemon are supposed to be the quote-on-quote “wild” Pokemon, then why do they still attack us after we save the world? How is attacking any non-dungeon Pokemon considered more riled up than normal? I wish the story went into further detail since we know some live-around dungeons. Like the Luxray/Manetric pack or the three-mankey. The word wild fits them better than the MD Pokemon.

Moving on, why do we only see helpful mature humans as the protagonists? Where are the poke-verse native kids who grew up with horror stories about people turning into Pokemon? I’d expect them to be pretty scared if it happened. There are probably some humans who want to profit from the main currency gold coins. Maybe some people are turned into Pokemon they know nothing about or dropped in places with ones not native to their home region.

What about more skeptic partners who don’t believe us outright when we say we are human? I mean, there will be very few Pokemon who know exactly what a human looks like. We might have been the ones to invent TMs in the universe. Literal CDs that contain moves with no computers in sight. What if the Ninetails’ Legend was more well-known making most picture us as manipulating monsters? The partner could form a team with us in the first game to watch over potential danger. A crazy mon could hurt themselves while an actual human will probably mess with something old.

Could humans even understand Pokemon? Or did Grovyle play charades to tell his human partner about something? Would scarves work on humans in the first place, wands I can see being farmed for them to take advantage of.

(Just a bunch of PMD thoughts I had recently. So many unanswered questions and mysteries left in the entire series. Needed to format my thoughts to get them out in all honesty.)

#pokemon #pmd #pokemon mystery dungeon #discussion #rant #protags #pokemon trainer #real world #sorta

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youngerdrgrey · 6 months

Text

all the pieces aren't even in the box // the morning show, bradley/laura (chapter one)

about: The first panic is right after Bradley's mom dies. Laura all but forces Bradley to take the week off from TMS, and Twitter fucking loses it once Laura starts the show alone. By the time they cut to the first real break, Gordon speaks up in Laura’s ear. “You’re trending. The lesbians are freaking out.” or, the last few months in Montana and how the world reacts along the way (and maybe how they find their way back to each other)

notes: this started as a QT on Twitter but quickly became a fic. twitter user @/falicesushi said, “hold on people found out [Laura and Bradley] were together but did they find out they broke up?” So welcome back to summer 2020, and the first time people think UBAs two moms are breaking up. (read chapter one on AO3)

J U L Y (2020)

The first wave is right after Bradley's mom dies. Laura all but forces Bradley to take the week off from TMS, and Twitter fucking loses it once Laura starts the show alone.

Weekend anchor Alison co-hosts virtually from the TMS studio. Laura thanks Alison for joining her on a weekday. It’s a natural handoff, but Bradley’s name trends within ten minutes of being on air.

By the time they cut to the first real break, Gordon speaks up in Laura’s ear. “You’re trending. The lesbians are freaking out.”

Laura’s eyebrows pinch together. “I know it’s a nice blazer, but—“

“Laura.” Gordon’s serious voice stops her. “They think you broke up, or Bradley’s dying.”

Laura’s chest feels tight. Her voice sounds clipped as she asks, “Which one’s winning?”

He sighs. “You don’t have to address it right now, but we do need to tell them something. They’re worried about you two.”

Laura nods before she has a real response. Bradley already said she doesn’t want to make a big statement out of her mother’s death. Only a few months into this pandemic, Laura can’t allude to Bradley feeling sick without adding to the panic. Something light.

She eyes her silenced phone on the small stool that’s out of frame. Bradley’s probably still asleep, but they could game plan together. She flips her phone over, and there’s only one notification. Do Not Disturb only shows Bradley’s on her Lock Screen.

Bradley - 7:17 AM: You can tell them. They’re losing their shit that I’m not there. Just don’t mention a funeral.

Laura softens as she reads. She should’ve expected that Bradley wouldn’t actually stay asleep. Their bodies are so attuned to the early hours.

Laura - 7:30 AM: Will do. Did you get any sleep after I left?

Three dots pop up too soon after Laura’s text.

Bradley - 7:30 AM: A little. Bradley - 7:31 AM: Part of me wishes I was just doing the show, but the rest of me can’t even get up to go to the bathroom Bradley - 7:31 AM: I’m fine, Laura. Stop worrying. Have a good show. We’ll talk after x

Laura frowns, but Gordon pops back up in her ear before she can start her reply.

“Your break’s almost done. What’d the missus say?”

Laura’s given up on correcting him at this point. He’s been calling Bradley different spousal variations ever since she touched down in Montana. It’s sweet, and it’d only sent Bradley into one panic spiral about whether they were moving too quickly.

Laura hearts Bradley’s text and flips her phone back over onto the soft stool.

Laura clears her throat before talking to Gordon. She says, “Bradley gave her blessing. I can mention it once we jump in, and then we can get back to the prompter.”

“Do you need copy or?”

Laura shakes her head. Once Gordon cues her in, Laura pulls a somber grin onto her face. It feels false at first. Until she remembers that Bradley will probably watch this too. Laura’s face softens immediately. Eyes warm and comforting.

“Some of you have noticed that Bradley is out this morning. Don’t fret. She is physically healthy. Unfortunately, her mother, Sandy Jackson, passed away from coronavirus complications. Our thoughts at UBA are with Bradley as she processes a loss that far too many of us have experienced this year. Her thanks again to Alison for filling in while she mourns.”

Alison nods back in the studio. “Of course. My heart goes out to Bradley.”

Laura knows they’ll lose their shit over this too, but she breaks eye contact with the camera to glance towards the rest of their home. “Mine too.”

Bradley’s still in bed when Laura comes up to their room. Her face is pink in that freshly washed way. Bags under her eyes darker than usual, but at least they’re not puffy. She’s even sitting up.

Laura wastes no time in untucking her blouse. The blazer hadn’t made it out of the studio.

Bradley’s eyes light up. “You putting on another show?”

Laura gives a sarcastic laugh. “Ha ha, one show before noon is enough for me.” The only upside of working in the mornings is having their evenings to themselves. Watching the sunset through the windows of their bedroom. Wine by the fireplace that doesn’t have a camera pointed its way.

“Well, you did great,” Bradley tells her. She scoots forward with her hands out. Laura walks around to her side of the bed so Bradley can unbutton her top. Laura doesn’t need the help, but Bradley needs something to do. Somewhere to focus her restlessness.

“Did you see the copy for today?” Laura rolls her eyes before looking down at her girlfriend. Bradley quirks a brow, so Laura goes on. “A whole segment on how Disney World’s set to reopen, but we only got one line to talk about the Columbus statue.”

Bradley huffs. She drops the shirt for a moment. “Imagine opening with that.” She pulls on her UBA anchor voice. “‘Set down your sparklers, and pick up your crowbars. It was a very happy Fourth of July in Baltimore this weekend.’”

Laura picks right up, slipping into the cadence. “‘Three-hundred protestors celebrated our Independence by toppling a statue of Christopher Columbus. As our national unrest grows, we have to remember the true nature of protest.’”

“‘To fuck something up,’” Bradley declares with a laugh.

“‘To be heard,’” Laura adds. She glances back down at Bradley, but this time, Bradley’s already looking up.

The distraction doesn’t seem to be working. Any other day, Bradley would be two minutes deep into a rant about the coded language that passes for objective journalism. How Black Lives Matter protests get branded as riots before their feet even touch the ground. How the monuments to colonialism are treasured more than the American lives lost in overzealous, outsourced policing. How… how the people who die from a global pandemic are collateral damage to a nation unwilling to sacrifice its so-called freedoms.

Bradley drops her eyes back to Laura’s shirt. She starts at the bottom rather than the top this time. Fingers worrying the button before slipping it loose.

“Thanks for telling everybody,” Bradley says. The anchor voice is gone, but there’s still something performative about the steadiness. It’s not taut. Not strained. Just… unnaturally level. “I didn’t want to be the one to say it. It’s not like I owe them anything, but my life is theirs now so.” Bradley shrugs.

Laura’s face pinches. “Your life is yours, Bradley. You don’t have to worry about them right now.”

Bradley scoffs. “I’d much rather see what the gays are saying online than talk funeral arrangements with Hal.”

Ah, yes, the other person taking too much from Bradley. It’s been four months since Hal burst back into Bradley’s life. Four months since Laura reminded Bradley that her life was her own, not his. Not anyone else’s. Yet here Laura is repeating herself. How long will it take for Bradley to hear her?

She blinks it down. Tries to sound positive and conversational. “That bad, huh?”

Bradley groans from deep within her chest. Her fingers move faster along Laura’s buttons. Brushing cold against Laura’s stomach as she goes.

“He keeps fighting with me. ‘Mom would’ve wanted this. Mom would’ve hated that.’ But she told me what she wanted.”

Laura’s eyebrows shoot up. “Recently?” Was Sandy actually preparing? It hadn’t sounded like they were in contact.

Bradley scoffs again. Something spiteful and ragged. She kept unbuttoning. “When I was ten, my dad was on some bender, and Hal was…. He wasn’t an easy kid. He needed a lot of attention. And I snapped at her that she needed to give him some. He was fallin’ apart. And she — she looked me dead in the eye and said, ‘You want to raise him? The two of you—‘ meaning me and Hal ‘—you’re killin’ me, you know that? Just go ahead and take over. Don’t bother with a fancy box. No cushions. Never had an easy life. Why should death be any better?’”

Laura watches quietly as Bradley seems almost possessed by her mother’s memory. The slight slurred lilt of Sandy’s voice drags out Bradley’s dormant Southern accent. But Bradley’s still in there. Haunted eyes swell as she fights back against the energy.

Bradley pops the last button on Laura’s shirt. Then swipes her cheeks for tears that haven’t fallen. She scoots back just enough to really talk to Laura instead of at her.

Says, “And you know, years later, she said not to invite anybody from Daddy’s side of the family. They’d spit on her grave, and she didn’t want to crawl her way up to fight ‘em. Of course each time I tell Hal that, he says she didn’t mean it. But how was I s’posed to know that? You tell a kid enough times what to do when you die; they’re gonna remember.”

Of course she’d remember. An even smaller Bradley Jackson, big blue eyes taking up half her face, hair too long and pulled back under baseball caps to keep the sun from her face. Head of a household before she could even reach the cabinets.

Laura’s fingers twitch to hold her. But when Bradley gets like this, she has to work it off. If Laura reaches too soon, she’ll wind up swatted away. So she hovers. Steps forward so her knees press into the edge of the mattress.

Bradley had been mostly seated before, but she pushes up onto her knees to be level with Laura. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I said that. It’s too… ugh.”

That’s the in that Laura needs. She reaches her hand for Bradley’s, and her heart swells when Bradley takes it immediately.

“There’s nothing ugh about it,” Laura tells her. “I mean, it’s not great. Some might even call it emotionally manipulative.” Some absolutely meaning Laura. “But it’s a part of your life, and I don’t want you to hide that from me.”

“You say that now,” Bradley warns playfully. Her eyes plead with Laura’s though. Don’t leave me. Don’t let go.

Laura knows it’s too soon to talk about forever. Too soon to make promises that extend beyond their pod life together. But she has no interest in going anywhere else. In knowing anyone but the grieving woman in front of her.

She presses her lips to Bradley’s to keep the sentiment back. A taste of forever. A touch that lingers even as Laura stands back up to her full height. Bradley’s grip on Laura’s hand tightens. To think, Twitter was worried about them when this is what’s waiting outside the studio. That thought helps Laura go for levity.

Laura checks, “She really said she’d claw her way up?”

Bradley barely contains a smile. “It’s not funny.”

“Right.”

A snort. “It’s not! It’s awful!” Bradley cackles anyway. Buries her face in the space where Laura’s skin pokes through the unbuttoned shirt. “Don’t make me laugh.”

“I didn’t. That was all Sandy.”

Bradley’s soft sigh warms Laura’s chest. “It was, wasn’t it?”

May the gates be firmly shut behind Sandy Jackson. May Bradley’s pain ease before it leaves. May Laura and Bradley make it through united. That’s not asking for too much, is it? That a couple with four months under their belts survive all this. What’s a global pandemic to a U-haul and a ranch?

They’ll be fine. They will.

(A tweet from that morning reads, her mom died?? No way they’re staying together after that. I give it two months. The top quote tweet reads, so generous lmao. I give it a week. Place your bets #bradleylaura #UBAsTwoMoms Bradley herself later votes, 'they’re fine. You’re being assholes.' But that choice only has 37%. Everybody else is against them. Everybody else knows the inevitable — that Bradley’s gonna fuck it up like she does everything else. They’re waiting for it. She can’t let them be right. She can do this. She can hold herself together. Big smile. Back to work. Everything’s fine. It is. In July at least.)

read chapter two

#bradleylaura #bradley x laura #tms #bradley jackson #laura peterson #the morning show #tms fic #mine #sapphic fic #fic: all the pieces

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dirtyoldmanhole · 6 months

Text

revelation loveblog with a gunter focus, ch26, 4/4.

this one's the last big one and deals with some really heavy topics, not kidding, so take a drink and/or a break if you need to.

where we left off: corrin defeats gunter.

this is another one of those perfectly framed shots that does such a good job of capturing the emotional subtext.

gunter is cornered.

the big bad divine god that he thought he had (anankos) is silent, leaving him alone to die, watching him as judgmentally in the background as the other royals.

he expects no mercy, still, as a traitor.

there's a bit in my fic (sorry i'll be saying that a lot) where strictly speaking, by nohrian and hoshidan justice codes he'd almost certinally be executed for his actions this day.

remember what I said about the desperation and despair starting to sink in? you really see it here. anankos is still influencing him, but you see the man underneath panic.

gunter has always been prepared (and i truly believe, wanted to) die honorably on the battlefield.

he does not want to die like a cornered animal.

note he's holding a sword now. that's about to get important. (all nohrian knights likely have a sword on them even if they favor lances like he does, or axes.)

Azura starts singing her healing song.

it's a bloody fantastic idea since she's capable of swaying minds with her songstress magic, and it's always been a "good" foil to Anankos' warped magic.

and ....

it's working. partially at least. good on xander for noticing this, too. he's becoming a remarkably decent leader in his own right.

(apologies for the javelin in azura's hand breaking immersion a bit)

the camera angles are exquisite, and absolutely heartbreaking here.

:")

it's notable she doesn't just stop at the bare minimum of what the game outlined as his duties. gunter really went above and beyond in raising her.

(so, yes I have thoughts(tm) about that discipline line, ironically not even in the iddy sense but it's complicated so put a pin for that in a different meta post later.)

that's significant. titles come back.

this time... it's not explicit, but i would bet you cash money it's done out of genuine respect for her, not rote. he's fighting against anankos.

for all of his legitimate resentments, there's that part of him that really does treasure those happy memories.

it's particularly bittersweet/telling considering how much memory is its own traumatic arc for corrin, too, with her mind wipes.

the fact they both hang on so tightly to those moments as an anchor?

...

at the last second - he stabs himself with the sword in a fatal disemboweling wound...

...

... and we see black smoke rise out of him in a very explicit gesture that anankos has finally left his mind and body for good, thanks to corrin and azura's efforts.

you ever research disemboweling wounds?

there's a reason why it's consistently ranked up there as one of the ugliest ways to die.

...

(note the title again below)

...

gunter collapses.

...

corrin calls over the healers, and this time, they're able to save him.

...

so.

here's the thing. this is more interpretation/fic stuff, but--

i've always had the long-standing conviction that possession would leave emotional scars remarkably similar to sexual assault given the type of mental violation. (this also had the semi-intentional result of paralleling with Corrin’s mind wipes which is also a violation of a very similar kind. it's a big theme in the fic.)

something else that's a big theme there, and i hope, not without reason, because i see it all over his arc here in revelation - is dignity.

dignity, or the lack thereof.

gunter's a very proud man of his generation; pretty much every time we see him elsewhere in the game there's a consistent focus on control and discipline.

garon was the one that broke him first, but there were many, many instances afterwards that just ground him in the dust, particularly with anankos. here, he doesn't even have the dignity of privacy anymore; he's got the people who he hates the absolute most, watching all of this.

my point here is he is truly at his absolute lowest.

no wonder his endings strongly imply he offs himself after the game.

'revelation's the golden route for everyone' my fucking ass

...

back to the game, sakura/elise heal/stablize him, and he's able to talk again, barely. but at least he's out from under anankos' possession.

here comes the whammers.

gunter decides to come clean.

this isn't for anyone else's benefit. this is just for corrin's.

you know, i just realized. how the hell does he react when he realizes she's a dragon on top of being a thrice-cursed royal? (back eventually when he meets her in the bottomless canyon.)

dragon "anything" (especially with anankos now) was and is going to have some real unpleasant connotations for him.

...

and there it is.

...

"once / was also"

you know, that sure implies garon forced gunter to watch. not just arriving on the aftermath of the scene.

jesus fuck.

....

fuck.

...

ngh, that "you all".

yeah, I called it again with that resentment and him absolutely throwing Corrin in there too. it's complicated with her-- there's a reason she's the only one that was able to bring him back at all-- but not for one moment has he ever forgotten that she's a royal too.

here's the other interesting thing. he never tells corrin about his dead wife and kid in conquest's married route with her, even when it's ostensibly "her dad"" that does it.

i don't think it's him being deceptive as much as ... he's satisfied when corrin kills garon, and this is such an old scar that hurts that badly that he just straight up takes it to his grave.

literally the only time we hear is now, against his will.

he bares his soul to you all, and that is you react? jesus, that's tasteless.

fucking christ alive, get your heads out of your arses for once and quit fucking thinking about yourselves.

...

ngh.

aaaand there's the other big whammer.

note that he says this when he's not possessed. this isn't anankos twisting a resentment and jacking it sky high to ""debatably"" a falsehood. this is 100% the truth from the horse's mouth.

now, mind, it's not the whole truth.

he would not have let corrin bring him back from the absolute brink if there was nothing but hatreds and resentment - there's undying love, affection, and i genuinely believe, yes devotion there.

but yeah, their relationship is complicated as fuck.

okay, so I've talked before about how this chunk is actually different depending on m!corrin/f!corrin existing in terms of this strongly implying he holds a romantic flame for f!corrin even on revelation's route and not just conquest.

that said that's more of a 'ship manifesto' tangent, and I'd like to focus just on him for this post.

corrin, babe, i don't think you really understand, but props to you for giving a shit. that actually does mean a lot.

we're almost done.

corrin's giving him a remarkably gentle pep talk so he doesn't turn around and disembowel himself again.

that was absolutely the right tack to take.

corrin gets it here. she remembers his family. that more than anything, is what convinces him to stay on for this one last gauntlet to kill anankos for good.

ellipses strike again. given the turmoil he's going through, it makes sense.

...

there'll be one shorter post capturing everything end/post-game, but nothing to this degree.

thanks for reading.

#... that was the single hardest meta post i've ever done and i'm not doing that again. damn.#[ sticks cig in my mouth and mutters ] after this we back to hookers n hornyposting n shitposting mates #krad loveblogs revelations: electric boogaloo

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kuroshirosb · 7 months

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REESE WAS TALKING ABOUT THE TYPE OF DECKS SLATER WOULD USE.. and I think the thing about Piper is he doesn’t use any concrete deck of his own. Both before and after the horrors(tm).

The thing about Piper is that he’s always chasing after feelings of fulfillment, success, and being the top of his league. Being at the top of league guarantees a name in the stars (his mark in history.) and fills an empty void in his heart (at least he thinks so) and because he chases after this constantly, he wouldn’t find himself sticking to just one deck.

He’d use decks that make people angry and tick them off. Dominating control decks (stuff like mystic mine (which is horrible to think about in a Zexal-like duel arena)) and agonizing combo decks. He has experience with stuff like burn decks, and even exodia too. Whatever is the top, he’s played.

The meta changes constantly, so he must keep up, adapting to the newest deck by making it his own. So he can be the best. He has no desire to attach himself to just one.

But that’s before the horrors.

DURING the horrors, he ends up building a Jinzo centered deck. A deck that’s supposed to be unstoppable weapon unlike the one seen in the dominating meta. And it’s a deck he ends up making stronger himself with the inclusion of the number cards that he gathers for team plasma (which hurt him every time he uses them. Btw.)

Jinzo is a dark, machine type monster. Which falls back into the idea that Team Plasma is using him as a tool for their own goals. Which he was helpless to realize before both he and Slater are too late to realize. (And also is the opposite of the heralds, fairy, light monsters) And it becomes his duel spirit during this time. Unlike Herald of Perfection, who gives Slater absolute silence, Jinzo doesn’t shut up. Grilling him on every move he does and ordering him around. Like the tool he’s become.

His deck focuses on absolute control of the board. Making it so that, no matter what his opponent does, they’re completely shut down and helpless to fight back. (This gets turned against him with Ghetsis using his own deck against him. As well as using Jinzo, Layered (a card he didn’t even know existed) against him. Reflecting that even what little control he thought he had, never existed in the first place.)

After the events of the horrors, he and Slater don’t duel for a while. They deckbuild, sure, but a passion they had becomes tainted for a long, long time.

But during the time where they just deckbuild, he finds himself building obscure, rogue decks. Instead of focusing on nothing but tier 0. He’s focusing on decks he enjoys and makes himself feel happy and proud of what he’s made.

He’s not limiting himself to just one deck still. But instead of it being a desire to be the best… it’s just because he likes the game and is expressing his passion for it. And through his numerous deck builds, a different duel spirit manifests.

Ash Blossom and Joyous Spring is a staple among every deck. Yugioh players can’t escape it from both their opponents and their own decks. And no matter how many decks he builds, with varying gimmicks and strategies, one handtrap (Ash Blossom) always manages to work its way in.

He does manage to get his hands on his corruption deck. But even when he’s comfortable dueling finally, he takes a while to warm up to the idea of even playing it. He gets comfortable enough experimenting with Jinzo (albeit with Slater only.) but he’s still focused on just. Having fun and trying what no one else can think of.

#cheren piper #Numeron code AU

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astarionspocketpussy · 27 days

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Been chewing on some ideas today and I have Thoughts(tm) to share.

[Now with a readmore because I hadn't noticed how long this was. Oops!]

There's a lot of discussion around the different endings for main characters, especially in specific areas of the fandom, and especially pertaining to what counts as a 'good' ending for a character. And that argument gets especially heated when it pertains to Gale and Astarion's endings because the camps there are super divided. Note, I'm talking about Tumblr (and to a lesser extent, Tiktok) because that's where I engage with the fandom. I do not know the horrors of Twitter, nor do I want to.

But something came up about this while I was obsessively scrolling through @/karz_2's page on Tiktok. (You should check out her stuff she's really funny.) She had a video talking about the endings and she specifically pointed out how Astarion and Gale's endings get that, like, debate about whether it's a good ending, but Shadowheart and Lae'zel's comparable endings (Dark Justiciar Shads route and Vlaakith's chosen route) generally get acknowledged as being clearly bad. Karz makes a point that all these routes parallel each other by being closely aligned with what these characters wanted at the start of the game (with Shads and Lae'zel's endings being more stated in the text and Gale and Astarion's requiring a little more thought in that regard, but not by too much).

And I was thinking about it after, and I think the main difference in the ways the fandom talks about these endings is that in Shadowheart and Lae'zel's endings, there is a more clear presence of their respective abusers and a more clear connection to the shitty circumstances they were in before the game. Shadowheart remains under Shar's control and authority, the same with Lae'zel and Vlaakith. Even if they're given ostensibly more power, its more visible to the player that they are being manipulated still. The effects of the cycle of abuse are there, but because the abusers are still present, players are more readily able to point out that those endings are fucked up.

With Astarion and Gale, however, their endings place them in a different situation. For one thing, in both endings they appear to have risen above the control of their past abusers. Cazador is very much dead, and as a god, Gale is no longer directly under the control of Mystra. This is already placing them in a position where the player is primed to be happy for them-- they're no longer trapped in the shitty circumstances they were in the start of the game, and the abuser can no longer hurt them. Not only that, but the increase in power gives both characters a sense of control, a sense that they can protect themselves now. For many players, that alone makes it a good ending because they perceive the characters as having escaped their abuse.

The thing is, neither of them really have escaped the cycle yet.

Gale's ending places him in a position of authority and power, yes. But it is also an expression of a self-fulfilling prophecy that his abuse taught him to accept: the idea that he would never be good enough as he is. By claiming godhood, Gale has just trapped himself in that same cycle. He's the God of Ambition, but that ambition is in part fueled by the abuse he suffered. He will always try to aim higher and higher because he was made to feel insignificant before. Removing himself from his humanity does not address the underlying problem, it only serves to allow him to ignore what happened to him, and puts him in a position where he'll never truly be able to heal. Becoming a God changes people in this universe in ways they can never truly come back from. Mystra is the way she is because she is a Goddess- every person who becomes Mystra corrupts in some way, because Gods fundamentally cannot understand human beings. In fulfilling his wishes when he first started out, his desire his own worth, Gale loses himself, and that is a tragedy that only further prolongs the cycle of abuse he is trapped in.

And Astarion, by ascending, gains power, which he believes will finally be enough for him to be safe. But by taking Cazador's place, he only restarts the cycle of abuse. His abuser is dead, but he has assumed his place. Becoming a vampire ascendant necessitates the loss of one's soul and one's humanity. The text in the game itself shows how he begins to devalue the people around him, and the changes to his personality after he ascends are exacttly the same as Cazador- he's manipulative, selfish, and cares only for his own desires. By ascending he does not escape the cycle of abuse, he simply becomes the abuser, and he no longer has a chance to properly heal, nor atone for the genuinely bad things he has done. This ending robs Astarion of a chance to live as an equal among people around him.

Like with Lae'zel and Shadowheart, the power they gain is superficially good, but it only serves to bury the core of the issue and does nothing to help them heal from the abuse they received. But I think it's because their endings are a step removed from the people who began the cycle we see play out in the game that influences how the fandom perceives these endings as opposed to their counterparts. But all this is just my own interpretation of the game.

I think Wyll provides a really interesting foil to this conversation with his endings and how they explore the cycle of abuse, but he deserves his own post because I have a lot more opinions on his endings and how Larian handled him in general. So for now, just take this.

And just as an quick thought to finish this off: You, personally, are allowed to enjoy whatever endings you want, whether they're in game or stuff you make up yourself. These are fictional pixels on the screen and there is nothing wrong with enjoying 'bad' endings. I am not making a statement about your personal morality or intelligence.

Now that I've said that, I really hope no one starts beefing on this post because my notifications cannot handle that. (I would like to hear your thoughts, though!)

#baldur's gate 3 #baldur's gate 3 spoilers #bg3 #bg3 spoilers #baldur's gate 3 meta #trauma is a complicated beast #abuse #tw abuse

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