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cultofdixon · 3 months

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Small but mighty

Daryl Dixon • She/Her Pronouns • It’s adorable watching this short and mighty woman take on 6’ foot men that mess with her. It’s a little less adorable when the archer is being carried on her shoulders • ANSGT/SFW • TW: Injuries

Requested by: Anon

After the war, a lot needed to be done to bring every community back to its former glory without the wrath of Negan coming down on them.

Alexandria had more structural rebuilding needing to be done so that was the priority.

“Ready to pull?”

“Like you need my help, sunshine” Daryl scoffs playfully, ignoring the smirk on Y/N’s face as they were helping a few bring up the new wall.

Once they were in a position holding the wall up and letting those taking care of wielding get the job done. Eugene walked over in hopes to find Rick helping out so he could ask him something but he noticed Y/N holding onto the rope with Daryl behind her as his mind instantly went to—

“Yea sure she’s strong enough to help steady the wall in place for a while?” Eugene’s voice directed toward the archer as he gave him a you’re kidding? look before letting go of the rope. “Wait!—-…wait”

Y/N noticed the rope drop from behind her as she gave Daryl a confused look before fixing her stance to have her more cemented. Daryl crossed his arms giving Eugene an annoyed look.

“She can handle herself. Just didn’t want her to strain so much”

“If she holds this ability, mind if she helps me with somethin’ later?”

“As long as it’s before nightfall or imma have to—-“

“I’m not property Daryl, but yeah I’m not working on shit past nightfall” Y/N interrupted as Eugene respected such before getting one last word in to inform him when she’s done.

After helping with the wall it was onto carrying the tech scraps that Eugene collected that were being unused at the Sanctuary in hopes he could make something useful out of it for all of them. Daryl even helped to make the job faster so he could spend some alone time with his partner.

“You can make a radio with these parts. Have stations at each community but you’re definitely missing a few things that could connect them all” Y/N went on while rummaging through the scraps as Eugene took inventory of everything useful.

“We can also improve the solar system we have here in Alexandria by having a sole source. Then bring one to the Hilltop”

“That’s a lot of heavy lifting you’re going to have to do”

“Thank the higher power we got you” Eugene smiles at her before returning to his work. Y/N laughs to herself with an eye roll to his words.

Daryl watches the two work from the door way which gave his position. Leading for Michonne to quickly get his attention for help in regard to watching Judith for the night. He could never say no to the small grimes even if he wanted a peaceful night with his partner.

“Of course it’s okay! How could you say no to this face?” Y/N smiles in the comforts of their basement living holding Judith in her arms.

“She’s gonna want those crackers you stash away for later”

“Don’t bring those up!” She laughs which lead Judith to start laughing. “She can have some but after I try and get her to eat whatever a-n-i-m-a-l you caught”

“She loves r-a-b-b-i-t. And Carol sent over some veggies that have started growin’ since the war ended about a month ago. Jude loves that stew yea make”

“Everybody does or at least I hope” Y/N smiles bringing Judith on her shoulders as she instantly reached for Daryl who closed the distance to let Judith grab at him.

A bit of domesticity was nice after a long day and while Judith currently lays passed out in Daryl and Y/N’s bed. The two were enjoying the other’s company in the mini living room not far from the bedroom, the door being open just in case Jude needed either of them.

“Michonne said they’d be back in the mornin’ to grab her. Then we’ll head to the Kingdom”

“M’kay…guess this is our bed for the night” Y/N laughs softly laying against his chest on the couch feeling his hand gently go up and down her arm.

The two fell asleep fast and woke rather early, the usual habit of feeling unsteady after sleeping. Y/N lifted herself up and off Daryl even with his short lived protests on the matter. She went to check on Judith only to be met with a note that Rick came through during the night to pick her up.

“Guess we have an early start with no baby” Y/N smiles kissing Daryl’s forehead on her way to their small kitchenette. “There’s leftover stew from last night if you’re hungry. But I’m gonna pack my bag for the trip to the kingdom”

“Just toss a couple clothes in my pack and then we’re good” Daryl pulled himself up and off the couch heading toward the fridge to grab the jar of jelly Ezekiel gave him. The archer went to open it only for a struggle that Y/N witnessed when she came back into the main room.

“You want—-“

“Nah fuck off” Daryl continued to struggle, turning away from Y/N’s gaze as she rolls her eyes setting her clothes on the couch before getting his pack.

The second she heard the jar hit the counter, Y/N knew that was her cue for her turn at opening it. Once she did, she left it on the counter for Daryl to approach it later to get a spoon full of what he wanted.

“Okay I did what you said but I also included my first aid. Not like we’ll need it but better safe than sorry” Y/N smiles slipping her jacket on and pulling her pony tail out. She relaxed when Daryl brought himself up behind her kissing the spot where her neck meets her shoulder.

“Let’s get going, sunshine” Daryl playfully pats her butt on the way out of their living quarters.

Then two always stop to hunt for a moment before completing the trip to the Kingdom, but the second the gates opened Carol couldn’t help the laugh to erupt from her watching her friend carry in two bucks on her back while Daryl brought his bike to a stop with only rabbits over his shoulder.

“How do you manage to carry those things from wherever the two of you hunted?”

“Don’t ask questions I’ve brought dinner” Y/N laughs walking past Carol to Jerry who helped her take the hunt to their kitchen to prep it. Leaving Daryl alone with his best friend.

“Why didn’t you carry them in? Why make your partner?”

“Funny you think I didn’t ask” Daryl scoffs. “Besides you know—-“

“She’d argue with you. I do know that” She smiles bringing him in for a hug before pulling away to lead to where they’ll be staying for the night. “You would think someone of her stature wouldn’t be able to carry things four times her weight. But look at her go. Freak of nature…respectfully” she clarified when Daryl gave her a glare to that comment.

“It’s adorable.” Daryl states opening the door for Carol. “Sometimes”

“She opened the jar for you again huh?” She smirks getting a groan out of the man. “Ha!”

“Shut the fuck up” He groans once more as he walked through the mess hall to head into the kitchen watching Y/N prepare one of the bucks. “Need a hand?”

A few hours went by and the two got a lot done in the Kingdom, all they had to do left for their agenda was to set up snares and a few trigger points in case herds passed through. Daryl took care of the trigger points while Y/N set up traps but neither of them accounted for old traps that were still placed just that the environment grown over them making it difficult to spot.

So when the sound of a bear trap went off followed by a thud, Y/N thought it was one and hers and retraced her steps. But the obvious scream coming from the archer, made it clear to Y/N it wasn’t one of hers.

“Fucking—-SON OF A BITCH” Daryl shouted staring at the bear trap latched to his left calf. “Stupid fucking shit didn’t warn—-“ Trying to blame someone else for your misstep isn’t going to make this not happen—after it already did.

The quick steps triggered Daryl to grab his crossbow and aim it, forgetting Y/N was out there with him.

“Woah!” Y/N held her hands up alerting her presences as Daryl drops his crossbow with a huff. “What the fuck did you do?!”

“Oh me?! Look at what yea—-“

“I ONLY HAD ONE BEAR TRAP AND ITS OVER ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE KINGDOM——DONT BE YOU AND BLAME SOMEONE ELSE”

“I THINK I CAN WHEN IM IN PAIN. CAROL SAID THERE WERENT ANY TRAPS OUT HERE”

“STOP YELLING” Y/N was last to shout as she quickly ran in a direction that Daryl had to make his head fall back to see what she was doing which was take out the walker coming toward them after their screaming match. But her sense of heat of the moment action, was to kick the walker down and stomp on its head instead of using her knife. Effective but the whole “you bit?” conversation—-

“You gotta stop doing that!”

“It didn’t bite me!”

“The one you fucking threw the other day almost did!”

“I didn’t have my gun or my knife. I had to think fast! Besides—-Can we just agree it was impressive of me to throw a body like it was nothing?!”

“Can yea PLEASE just help me??”

“Right!” Y/N drops her backpack by her side when she knelt down to Daryl’s leg. “Was it just…under a lot of shit? Maybe we need to start be gardeners and check how many are actually under this grass”

Daryl scoffs, wincing immediately when Y/N held his leg to straighten it a bit so she could get the shirt she pulled out around it to use it as a tourniquet.

“Not too tight! Ain’t losing—-“

“Shut up I know what I’m doing” Y/N ignored Daryl because she does indeed know what she’s doing and his anxiety will only stress her into doing something wrong.

After the tourniquet was on just enough to stop the bleeding but not to kill the foot, she took out her first aid kit taking out the gauze and wrap getting it ready for when she unclenched the trap. Daryl braced himself but when he watched his partner take out her journal, his mind went to its intended use before—-

“Seriously?”

“You want to scream a herd over? Bite down, Dar” Y/N held up the journal as he immediately took it in his mouth before gripping the earth when she didn’t even give him a countdown and quickly opened it. Y/N ignored the muffled scream as she felt her anxiety crawl up her shoulders but she focused on what’s in front of her.

Daryl spit out the journal once Y/N finished getting the gauze and wrap onto his wound. Taking a deep breath even when every part of him is screaming internally.

“Okay. I have to carry you”

“FUCK that. I ain’t about to be carried by yea”

“Well you can’t walk on the leg and you shouldn’t put more pressure on it. It needs stitches. This is only a temporary fix”

“I can walk” He scoffs trying to rise to his feet only to fall on his ass. Daryl groans a bit looking up at Y/N who rose to her feet when he tried to stand. The annoyance grew in her face. “FINE!”

Y/N didn’t even wait another second and grabbed Daryl’s arms before pulling him over her shoulders. Adjusting him enough for his weight to be evenly distributed on her shoulders before starting to walk back to the main gate of the Kingdom.

It didn’t take long for word to travel fast as Carol busted into the infirmary they have.

“The fuck happen to you?!”

“Bear trap” Y/N states sitting in the chair beside Daryl’s bed as he’s already been stitched up and now stuck in the bed until he can get back on his bike. Or someone from Alexandria travels with a car.

“Wow. Well you better stay in the fucking bed, Dixon” Carol sighs. “I’ll go get your room set up and I’ll help you move him later” she stated before leaving as Y/N turned to Daryl who’s annoyed look never left him.

“Not like I need the he—“

“Shut up”

#cultofdixon #the walking dead #daryl dixon #daryl dixon x reader #daryl dixon fanfiction

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moodyseal · 10 months

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I'm not sure if anybody pointed this out already because I haven't been lurking in the ML fandom enough to keep up with discussions but I was just thinking about Gabriel and his villain design throughout the seasons (you know, as one does) and I've noticed how good of a visual parallelism his appearance as a villain has been to how he slowly but steadily lost his way as time went on.

I mean.

The more time passed, the less recognizable he became, didn't he?

In the first design, between the true colour of his skin showing and his face structure still clear and somewhat recognizable (recognizable enough that when the first season was airing and we didn't know his identity most of the fandom was sure that he was Gabriel Agreste) he's still undeniably Gabriel, even under the mask. He's evil and he's basically a terrorist, yes, but he's still doing what he's doing for his family. Kind of. His treatment of Adrien, in this stage, is still somewhat abusive in many aspects but he has some Moments (those rare Good Father Moments™ that he mentioned in the finale).

In the second stage, he's still himself, and nothing much changed beyond the monocle and the edgier suit. Sure, he gives off the impression that maybe he might not be doing all of that just for his wife, but he's sane enough and he still seems to care a bit for Adrien (as long as he doesn't know he's his arch nemesis, superhero of Paris and notorious pain in the neck Chat Noir).

The third stage is brief, and starts right after he steals all the Miraculous from Ladybug. It's obvious at this point that a) he's a lot more ambitious, and also more desperate, and b) he definitely isn't doing this for his wife, and surely not for his son. His skin is inhuman, and his eyes look uncanny; you can still see his grey hair, though, in the same hairstyle he keeps it in as a civilian. He's still there, for now!

However, the interesting part of this is that his design immediately changes at one specific point in the series: when he decides to run after Ladybug instead of using the Rabbit Miraculous to fix his mistakes in a easy, casualty-free way.

At this point, it's obvious that the thought of the wish consumed him so much that he's become obsessed with it. He decided to put it above Natalie's life, above Adrien's freedom and wellbeing. While he never dared to akumatize his own son before, to the point of retracting his butterfly as soon as he noticed that it was Adrien who was upset, and not just some random civilian, from this moment on it stops being his concern. He's ready to do whatever it takes to have his way, no matter the cost. He stops being Gabriel. Now, he's just Monarch.

#i don't know if it was intentional or not #but it's metal as hell #he's an interesting character. even if he's a horrible person #anyway i needed to get this out of my brain it's been sitting there for quite some time #miraculous ladybug #ml #miraculous #gabriel agreste #hawkmoth #shadow moth #monarch #lonely thoughts

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vgperson · 4 months

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What Did I Do In 2023?

Whatever I wanted, mostly.

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As I mentioned last year, my site now has an RSS feed with basically everything I've done back to 2020, so this will mainly be going over the same stuff from that, just with added context.

In January, I finally sat down and properly realized an idea for a short story I'd had sitting around for a while: From the Sidelines, about a fantasy RPG expedition going sideways. I remain very proud of it in both concept and execution, and hope people read it.

In February, Your Turn To Die was released on Steam Early Access, receiving character profiles and some bonus mini-episodes, adding two more later in the year.

After finishing From the Sidelines, I carried that momentum to revisit my Ut0p1a story series about funny computer animals. I'd always meant to continue it - and conclude it - but hadn't been satisfied with the ideas I had for it until totally rethinking them this year. In March, I posted the remaining stories one after another: Right to Code and Left to Code. I'm very proud of these as well. Also in March, Kenshi Yonezu released LADY. (Video, interview)

In April, Uri released the Data Book of the Strange Men Series, a big collection of the writing she's done on the games in the series, with a lot of new parts as well, all translated by me.

Then in May... uh, well, let's see. In April, Capcom released the Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection. I always adored the Battle Network games, and was initially excited that they finally did the thing... but by the time it came out, I was pretty disappointed by how, while you certainly couldn't call them low-effort ports, the effort didn't extend everywhere I thought it should, with the biggest offenders being the total absence of any "convenience features" except Buster Max Mode, the bad font, and the almost entirely untouched translations.

So, I ended up deciding I might as well just replay the originals, and that was a fun time (aside from the parts that were bad). Doing this, I couldn't help but notice how... turbulent the translations were, even if I'd always known they were less than ideal. I mean, the first two games just used periods for ellipses despite the tight character limits, then in BN3 they had an ellipsis character... but it's center-aligned, Japanese-style? Aside from the intro, which has normal ones? Gosh, somebody should fix that - it's simple enough to find and edit in YY-CHR. "JapanMan" is silly, too - I wonder if anybody made a patch for that? Wait, what do you mean there's just a tool to extract and insert text in all the Battle Network games including the Legacy Collection???

Thus began a journey that sort of occupied the rest of my year. First I did the BN3 Translation Revision, trying not to worry too much about cross-referencing the Japanese text unless something seemed wrong, so that I didn't spend too long on the project. Then I began to consider BN2, with its unfortunate "foreigner" text that would need some more significant reworking. I established more convenient tools for comparing with the Japanese script, and thus did a much more thorough job with it, releasing the BN2 Translation Revision in June (AKA Princess Pride Month).

Finally, after giving myself time to recover and actually finish replaying the series, I knew what I had to do to close things out. With the BN4 Translation Revision, you can finally play Battle Network 4 with a translation that isn't such a mess. Whether you'd want to is for you to decide, though if you can get over the structure, I don't think it's the worst game in the series by any means. (Oh, and in December I also updated the BN3 Revision to 1.1, doing a thorough pass with the methods I'd honed. But I think I'm pretty much good on MMBN translations now.)

Anyway, backtracking to other things that happened during my Battle Network haze... June had Kenshi Yonezu's Moongazing (video, interview), and July had Globe (video, interview, interview).

Last but not least, released in November, I translated Refind Self: The Personality Test Game, a short game from Lizardry (creator of 7 Days to End with You) with a fun concept.

----

Obviously I was right to have said "no promises" last year. But really, Your Turn To Die should get its final part on Steam sometime next year, maybe even early-ish in it. That's certainly the goal.

I'm also hoping to buckle down and finish one of my own games, but as usual, who knows how that'll pan out. Letting my whims carry me this year let me finally finish From the Sidelines and Ut0p1a, which was great, and it also led me down a Battle Network rabbit hole, which was... fine, but definitely for a narrower audience. I'd always like to get back to more free game translations and the like, too, but it takes effort to find things I'd want to translate. For now, I think my increasing desire to be able to let loose some of these original games I've been planning, and the stories in them, might come out on top.

#vgperson

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flickering-nightfall · 8 months

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So, your Infinity Train crossover got me to watch the show, and... woah. Woah. I would love to know if you had any more ideas, blurbs, thoughts, anything about that crossover, because now I can't get enough of imagining the viciously murderous cat and accidentally-fratricidal robot on the train.

I'm glad you liked Infinity Train too! (and thank you!) More on the crossover... I gotta admit I haven't thought of much other than the initial "haha what if" idea. Maybe I can speculate though:

Spoilers ahead!

There were many hilarious and thoughtful takes on how Pebbles could possibly end up on the train, in the notes of the initial post. I joked that it'd just tear a hole through his structure, but there are more (and less) sane options than that.

Since we only see human passengers on the train, a lot of people would probably mistake Pebbles and Arti as denizens. Simon and Grace would probably not take to them having numbers well. I feel like they'd most likely think it was a trick, but it could shake up their perspective too.

Man humans look kind of similar to ancients maybe. That doesn't mean much to Arti - and I think humans look dissimilar enough from scavs to be spared by her wrath. But to Pebbles...

Also, iterators haven't communicated with another civilization-era sapient species in a quite a while probably. Some interesting stuff can come out of that.

How many migraines do you think Pebbles gets from trying to figure out what the hell is up with denizens? Or the train itself? I feel like he'd have an aneurysm if he had to interact with Alan Dracula. If he goes home and tries to tell the others what happened without any proof, they'd think he'd had a rot-induced fever dream.

Numbers are dependent on how close a passenger is to solving their problem. Arti, having already killed the scav chieftain, according to Rain World has hit the point of no return. So her body is completely wrapped up in numbers. But like Amelia, with enough time and determination it might be possible. The main problem is... Arti has to want to fix her problem first. The setup for her to do that is there. She's with Pebbles, so she has less of a reason to go off on a rampage unless she's being threatened. The lack of scavs wouldn't stop her from resorting to violence at this point, but the pure strangeness and unfamiliarity of her surroundings should at least baffle her into a different mental state.

I think in order to get an exit, Arti needs to make peace with herself. She must acknowledge what she has become, and to truly believe that she needs to change. It has little to do with the death of her children at that point. She needs to escape the self-perpetuating circle of violence.

Pebbles' number is much smaller (but still huge) because he's entrenched in rage and isolation and frustration on a massive timescale, but we see him eventually come to a resolution in Rivulet's campaign. How would the train define his problem though? It could be his anger at Moon and Suns, blaming them for his current state (even if Suns is partially at fault). It could be his tendency to close himself off, his refusal to talk to others or accept help. It could be his denial, believing he can handle and fix everything by himself. It could be his overall arrogance or ego. There's a lot of options there. Ultimately I think whatever brings him to think similarly to how he does in Rivulet's campaign would do the trick.

The sad thing is that Pebbles would probably be better off staying on the train too. I'm not sure if he'd be affected by the rot there, but he'd at least he could (literally) get out of his own head. And he has no choice but to touch grass interact with new people and situations. But to deny his exit would be to deny responsibility for what he's done. If he's really gotten better, that means he knows he can't run away anymore.

If Pebbles went to the train without Arti there's a chance he'd get killed or ghom'd two days into the trip. We are assuming his puppet is capable of walking for this AU, but also I do not think he knows how to walk. Good luck pink guy!

On the flipside. Pebbles could... probably take over the train even more than Amelia ever did, especially as a (bio)mechanical being himself. The only thing that could limit him are taboos maybe. Any iterator could do this, really. Lots of potential paths with that one.

Something something, One-One and iterators both solving people's big problems with varying amounts of success, and both engineering weird organisms...

...does a RW character that gets ghom'd return to the great cycle? Their soul gets devoured, or their life essence, it's not clear. I guess which one could determine what happens. But also they are in another universe where there is probably no cycle. Are ghoms a triple affirmative? Is crossdimensional travel? The latter wouldn't fit the "portable and generally applicable" part but still. This is a whole rabbit hole and a half, isn't it!

The train is dangerous and all, but that just makes Rain World characters a hilarious fit for it. Like this is just their daily life. Honestly I think their home world is more dangerous than the train, just in less wacky ways.

Lastly: I haven't even touched upon what introducing other characters could do for this narrative, or how they would react. So many possibilities!

If anyone wants to do more with this, please feel free!

#rw spoilers #dp spoilers #infinity train spoilers #text #ask #thetroupemaster #anon #rambles #long post

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gacha-incels · 2 months

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Been boycotting limbus but it's a bit disheartening seeing everyone continue around me with this passing intl women's day. I don't know how to convince my friends to stop without getting into an argument because they're all knee deep into these games. But my real question was.. why? These people are boycotting other products for other things, why are they so adamant with sticking on this when it's proven to have harmed so many people in the small team that made it?

Had a discussion with one who is boycotting and I feel like that "political correctness" seeps into the themes of the game, actually, despite how people tout it as the ultimate anti capitalist game; The City is suffering, workers gruel and die at the whims of corporate overlords, people struggle to find housing, and whatever the fuck Carmen's doing in the light, while it could help people survive longer, is just giving everyone guns ignoring the power structures underneath. It's very strange to me now there's.. no suggestion of uprooting the system at all in the games. No true strikes or protests or even any mentions of unions as far as I know. There's no effort to change what is given

[outside of the seed of light project, which 1. famously Didn't Work and 2. having everyone manifest ego is still just giving everyone guns and going "now don't shoot each other!"],

which is very strange and kind of sad? Like sure maybe an arbiter or something would come and tear it down but surely people would come up with countermeasures? People are really good at adapting around things out of desperation, and surely at least an effort would be mentioned

And then my friend, she suggested something; without project moon's suffering, there would be no project moon. Without the city, project moon can't make games. To end the hell that the characters are in and truly resolve the city's hypercapitalist dystopia, they must stop making money off of them. But they don't want to. They definitely DO want to make more games, noted by the interviews which mention future game concepts such as the distortion detective visual novel. But in order to do so, they must keep the current games "clean" and consistent in their suffering to perpetuate conflict. There is some commentary about capitalism to be had; but it feels more like a "oh, look, people are dying, this is so sad" layer of paint on it at this point rather than something more in depth and meaningful. And I think in enforcing this sort of "we can't fix the system in any meaningful way, let's just live our lives instead and hope something better happens" mindset, it reflects into the players. Kind of ironic how the anti capitalism game must sustain its own horrible systems internally so the owners of the series can: make more money through a very predatory money making system, no less!

Limbus fans don't give a fuck about feminism in kr, they think its a system they cant help fixing so they just play the game as they please and any attempt to disuade them is met with a "stop ruining my fun!!" And "who cares?" The worst ones are the ones who KNOW their money is being funneled into stupid misogynistic shit but don't care! It's insane! I've never seen this level of apathy towards a serious issue before!

Sigh. I hope this ramble is coherent. If I missed talking about something or if you want me to talk more I'm game. Project moon's characters are some of my favorites but you have to admit the themes are surface level shit at some point, especially in later installments of their games. So tired but I'd figure I'd share my thoughts somehow. Take care account admin, youre doing gods work

yeah regarding your first point about fans that keep playing, back in August there was a discussion on this blog here regarding contemporary fandom “culture”- how it makes dropping a piece of media hard for some people and why they feel so quick to defend it. the nature of gacha is also that it gets you into the habit of doing “dailies” which makes them harder to drop, this is not even mentioning sunk cost fallacy. I’ve seen a recent post on the FGO subreddit asking why people still play the game and the top posts by a longshot were ones saying only because they spent so much time and money on it. For a lot of people (even people who think themselves progressives) misogyny is a non-issue as well so they will not take the situation in South Korea that seriously to begin with. This is in addition to it happening to “other” or “foreign” women in the eyes of the western fan. There is also an aggressive “fuck you, I’ve got mine” attitude some of the fans who want to keep playing have in regards to these women. It’s disturbing to watch happen but unfortunately not uncommon. I find some of the worst of it, in this situation specifically, is when westerners try to tell Korean women (who are boycotting and spreading information) that they are the ones spreading misinfo, or there’s no reason for them to boycott, how it’s not that bad for them, how PM actually didn’t do anything wrong, “both sides” are crazy and wrong, “let people enjoy things”, shit like that. like doesn’t it raise any flags for you that the people most affected by PM’s actions, Korean women, deleted entire accounts of fanart, took back fanmade items from PM’s cafe, started a boycott of LC and made posts in english to try and get the word out to international fans? you must think they’re idiots if you believe this is all some misunderstanding and vellmori quit of her own free will. Come on. imo it’s impossible to make any meaningful statement critiquing capitalism when you’re writing it in a game that uses one of the most exploitive types of gambling mechanics. I hope I don’t have to explain to anyone why this is absurd. You don’t need to expose young people to gambling addictions in order to fund new games. At the same time, things an author writes (or things that the reader infers from the writing) do not always reflect their ideologies or actions in real life and they can sometimes seemingly be at odds with one another. This is something fans have to reckon with, and not just by saying “actually hatsune miku made limbus company” or whatever. Personally, I can’t take PM’s “anti capitalist” or “feminist” or “revolutionary” work seriously when in reality they have mistreated employees, sued labor unions, acquiesced to incel demands and then later added a meme into the game from that incel community. On the other hand people struggle to believe Project Moon could do anything wrong like this because of the stories in their games so they vehemently defend PM, which at some point just feels naïve. well hopefully this is the type of answer/discussion you were looking for lol thanks for writing 👍

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eleanorfenyx · 4 months

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I have finished Mysterious Lotus Casebook, and here are some of my thoughts! (Obviously not spoiler free)

The cases are absolutely batshit insane and I loved it every single time they were like 'we totally collected this evidence that incriminates a secret suspect, just believe us and also don't question when the fuck we had the time to do this or when we figured out that we needed to look for it'. 10/10 no notes, that's a hilarious way to have a genius detective. Show us nothing, tell us everything, YES king.

That being said, I could have done with a lot less standing around having the supporting cast repeat whatever Li Lianhua and Fang Duobing announce, maybe in an attempt to make sure their genius is clear for the audience? I get it, but at the same time it felt a little too hand-holdy for me, especially in scenes where LLH and FDB had already discussed their findings between themselves before presenting them to the concerned bystanders. I can read between the lines (or else understand what has just been explicitly stated) without having every conclusion filtered through a slightly different sentence structure to make sure I got it.

Di Feisheng amnesia arc my fuckin beloved

Di Feisheng destroying his 'father' and freeing everyone in Di manor in a vicious act of catharsis that tied nicely into the main Nanyin bug-mind-control-thing narrative my beloved

Di Feisheng my beloved

The amount of times I was like...genuinely surprised he and Li Lianhua didn't kiss is both embarrassing (because I do in fact understand censorship and what I sign up for with these dramas and yet and yet) and numerous enough that I could...possibly...theoretically..write a 5+1 fic of every time I want them to kiss about it. No one hold me to that but it's something I think I'd like to do.

Re: the above point: because what the FUCK was that ending?!!! EXCUSE ME?! I gotta FIX THAT SHIT.

There will come a day when the strength of my hope for an unambiguously happy ending in a queer(-coded? is the source originally bl or is this its own thing?) wuxia drama is rewarded....but it is not this day. I must fix this myself.

Jiao Liqiao's laugh is one of the most annoying things I've ever heard. I was reaaaaally hoping someone would just up and stab her during one of her little evil laughing fits. At one point I was shouting "KILL HER, KILL HER" at my screen because I could NOT take anymore of her (unfortunately, I did in fact have to take more of her).

I still think her insistence on being obsessed with DFS is hysterical when he is so VISIBLY only interested in LLH. Explicitly STATES that his only life purpose is to fuck fight LLH again. Babygirl (derogatory) he is so fucking gay let's get you a nice knife to the gut instead, okay?

I thought the whole Shan Gudao plot was interesting, going from looking desperately for his body -> putting him to rest -> hunting for his murderer -> finding out he's alive/the mastermind behind everything going wrong (which I was proud of myself for realizing before the reveal, I'm normally bad at that) -> thwarting him with sass and superior martial arts at every possible turn -> killing him stone fuckin dead with beginner level skills because he's so up his own hole he can't see that's what's happening - was really fun!

He also has a SUPER annoying laugh he can fuck off

OH OH OH MARTIAL ARTS SKILL OF TRANS YOUR GENDER?! I MARRIED HER SO HER AFFAIRS ARE MY BUSINESS NOT YOURS??? ASKING YOUR WIFE FOR HER FORGIVENESS AND UNDERSTANDING AS YOU LAY DYING AND SHE GIVES IT TO YOU?????? OKAYYYYYYY

The twist at the end that LLH is the one with royal blood was so funny to me. Like it's a good twist and I love that Shan Gudao was just quite literally always a fuckin try-hard loser in ways he didn't even know, but also it was SO funny. Granny coming in clutch at the last fuckin minute with secret knowledge she just literally never shared.

LLH is such a smooth motherfucker. Shame about his insistence on dying when quite literally everyone (bar the people who suck) is begging this man to just live. Just LIVE DAMN IT!!!!! I really liked it when FDB begs him to just consider his own life as important for ONCE and remember that people care about him because YES his self-sacrificing and committment to Chilling Out Farmer Style was not the mercy he thought it was!

LIVE AND GROW OLD WITH DI FEISHENG YOU DAMN IDIOT (the likelihood of me resisting the urge to write at least the one fic for them is zero to none)

Unironically love spitting up blood as a plot device and this show is no different. The Drama. The Panache. The desperation of everyone around you because you have BLOOD coming out of your MOUTH and you are FAINTING. Poison acting up? Spit blood. Someone bitch slap you with their magical palm ability? Spit blood. Get stressed? Spit blood. Get stabbed? Spit blood. It's always good!

Okay I think that might be all I've got for now, if I think of anything else I'll add them in a reblog. I thoroughly enjoyed it, would definitely recommend!

#mysterious lotus casebook #my thoughts #for whatever they're worth #it was nice too because unlike say Word of Honor I didn't mind the overarching plot about the jianghu #and the magical cures/objects that everyone is racing/fighting each other to get to first #WOH was just plain boring outside of the interpersonal relationships in my opinion #but in this there were only a few times I really just did not care about the latest fetch quest and wanted to get back to the relationships

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hojiteaversion · 2 months

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Why I Think RC Has Trouble Sticking Their Landings

(Or, a pantser talks about structure and DLS for like 8 paragraphs)

My short answer: Because these stories are first drafts

Longer answer: ⬇️

1) (Lack of) Developmental editing

RC's model has its authors write long stories 2-4 chapters at a time. As much as the authors might perfect these chapters, they have no way to change something later on if they realize a scene no longer matches the big picture. An author may revise and make a batch of 4 flawless chapters, but it still doesn't mean they will fit the story seamlessly.

Developmental editing, according to this article, "involves feedback on the big picture of a […] writing piece. A developmental editor will critique structural elements like the plot, characters, theme, and organization of ideas." They also say that this kind of editing is recommended after the first or second draft.

So this type of revision would help an author make sure every character has its place (too many LIs and uneven LI screentime could be fixed), that characterization is consistent, that the plot is clear and moving at a good pacing, etc.

In DLS, for example, things that might be revised after a developmental editing: Leo's introduction scenes not matching his characterization later on, the Leo/Vlad rivalry that seems a bit strange in hindsight, more prominent role and scenes for Sandra, a more consistent progression in Noe/Laia and Ezel/Laia routes, fairer distribution of LI scenes (🫠), Laia's character motivations, the plot mysteries might be revealed to the reader a bit earlier, etc.

But these stories are arguably first drafts that will never be revised holistically (like Choices stories are/used to be, as far as I'm aware), so problems that only become clear once you're further along might not be fixed satisfactorily (or at all).

What sort of problems? Well...

2) Structure, part I

So the visual novel medium is fairly recent, right? Choose Your Own Adventure stories have existed for a while, but, I'm pretty sure, not in the scale of RC stories. 3 seasons demand a lot of story. And the thing is, I'm not sure there is a lot of guidance out there regarding story structure for interactive stories? Not that I've found, at least.

This is a problem, I think, because even if these authors follow the existing material on story structure (Save the Cat, Hero's Journey, Classic 3 Act, Seven-Point Structure, etc.), they will have to do the work of adapting it for a visual novel that A) has 3 seasons as a default, and B) 3 seasons of more or less equal length.

Look, it absolutely can be done! But my point is, I think it's generally uncharted territory and requires a lot of problem-solving. It's not just figuring what must happen in this story for it to be satisfying, it's also deciding when each thing must happen in a way that fits the requirements of three seasons and their finales, which must all fit together, but also be individually exciting and balance setup and payoff. And there is no way to go back and fix it if you realize you messed up the pacing somewhere! Not to mention…

3) Structure, part II: Routes

Not only do they have to figure out plot and structure (without being able to revise the finished story as a whole), but they also need to figure out and balance at least 4 different dynamics. As in, when it gets established, how to keep those dynamics fresh even after they get together, and how to synchronize MC's development with that relationship and its milestones. And again, it's not like there is a manual or a right answer. You have to write and fix afterwards — except they can't 😀. So if an author realizes later on that x couple needed a scene earlier on, or that they rushed things, or any other problem, there is nothing to be done except maybe add more scenes that might stand out from whatever they're trying to correct.

A tiny example of this problem in DLS would be Leo and Laia telling Derya that they're dating, which is clearly a correction of the scene in 4x02 where Laia called him "a friend" because "[she] thought it went against local customs to make a show of pre-marital relationships". In 2019 Istanbul. It would just make more sense if she had just called him her boyfriend in the first place.

4) Authors

I'll admit I'm least informed about this one, but based on a few interviews I've read with the authors, it seems some of them have never written fiction or visual novels before…? I could be wrong! But! Imagine being new to this medium and having to figure all of that ⬆️ out, with the limitations that RC's model brings. I'm not sure how much training and/or assistance they get in this entire process. It just seems a lot for one person.

And I have no answers for any of this, by the way! I don't work there, I don't know how the company works or how it doesn't. This is just my tentative opinion based on my limited experience with writing. It's extremely hard, and I genuinely cannot imagine trying to do any of that ⬆️ in the first place, but especially if I had to get it right on the first try.

Every writing advice on Earth recommends multiple drafts on longform writing because it's impossible to make your story the best it can be on the first attempt. So I think the RC endings often being unsatisfying might be, mainly, a consequence of that.

#romance club #the examples are all DLS because that's what I'm like‚ qualified to talk about djkfghfdkjg #this is just my personal opinion! i could be very wrong on all accounts‚ but it's an explanation that makes sense to me atm

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bi-bard · 5 months

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Some Part of Me Came Must Have Died the Final Time You Called Me, "Baby" - Joel Miller Imagine [The Last of Us (HBO)]

Title: Some Part of Me Came Must Have Died the Final Time You Called Me, "Baby"

Pairing: Joel Miller X Reader

Based On: First Time

Word Count: 3,231

Warning(s): main character death, violence, injury

Summary: Joel is offered a rare glimpse of hope after the apocalypse had started. However, the universe can pull away signs of hope just as fast it can offer them.

Author's Note: I've changed this song's story about three times... oops.

UNREAL UNEARTH - HOZIER WRITING CHALLENGE MASTERLIST

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The first time that I met Joel it was because he was being dragged in very suddenly by Tess.

I had just sat down at my dining room table and placed my head and my hands. I was so tired. But then again, so was everyone else. At some point, everyone being tired just means that no one is and this state of being is just considered normal.

Doesn't mean that I had to like it.

I felt like I had done nothing but panic all day. People needed my help. They always did. The problem was that those in charge didn't like that I was trying to help people without taking part in whatever strange structure they had been developing. So, it all had to be done very quietly.

Which was hard to do when people were busting down my door... like Tess did.

She hadn't even tried to knock. She knew that she was less of a guest and more of a regular patient at this point. Instead of knocking, she shoved the door open, allowing it to bang against the wall it was next to.

"Hey, hey, what the hell," I asked. "What'd my wall do?"

"Sorry, not the wall's fault," she replied as she closed the door again. "Just tired of dealing with this hardass."

The man with her grumbled and rolled his eyes.

"Dumbass got his hand cut open," she explained. "Fix him. Please."

"I'm fine," the man muttered.

"The hall you are," she snapped at him.

"Let me look," I said, holding my hands up. I stood up and held out my hand. He glared at it for a few moments before finally letting out a huff and letting me grab his hand. "Oh, that is nasty. Come on. Sit down. I'll stitch it up for you."

He seemed like a toddler as I got him to sit down at my dining room table.

I was cleaning the cut to the best of my ability considering the whole apocalypse thing. I had to fight the urge to chuckle at his quiet grumbling and huffing at the stinging.

"So, Tess, who's hand am I working on," I asked.

"Could ask me," the man replied. "Joel."

"Well, Joel, you didn't seem like the talking kind," I shrugged.

"(Y/n) was a doctor before this whole shitshow," Tess added.

"Almost," I corrected. "Had a couple months left. Probably why I was left alone and not made to find a cure or kill those that were infected."

"And now you just... help people out of kindness?" Joel's tone was gruff. He didn't believe that it was possible for anyone to be kind for the sake of being kind. I didn't blame him. It was hard to believe.

"Believe it or not, darling, not everybody resorts to being awful when the world goes to shit."

I heard a quiet, amused huff escape Tess.

I went back to my work in silence after that.

At some point, Tess said that she had to leave. I was focused, tongue poking out a bit between my teeth. I could feel how closely Joel was watching me, but I did all that I could to ignore it.

Joel was just as I expected: not a conversationalist. He was gruff. His shoulders were tense. His hands were calloused, but most people's hands were these days. His face was hard-set in a scowl. He was clearly a man that had grown skeptical of everyone around him. Probably why it took Tess physically shoving him through the door for him to actually get his hand taken care of.

"Come back in... a week," I instructed. "We'll check out the cut and see what's next."

He nodded, muttering a thank you. It was an awkward thank you. It was as if he had forgotten how to say it. I had to keep myself from chuckling. Something told me that he wouldn't appreciate that.

I never thought that I would see him again.

I was wrong.

It was a few days later that I heard a knock on my door. I furrowed my eyebrows. It had been late. Most people didn't bother coming to me late at night because it was simply too much of a risk. The only people who got themselves hurt that late were the ones who went looking for trouble that late.

Joel was standing on the other side. He looked almost as awkward and tense as he did when he thanked me.

"Joel," I said in greeting. "It hasn't been a week yet, don't tell me that you've already hurt yourself again."

"Uh, no, no," he shook his head. I watched as he went to reach into the bag that he had been carrying on his back. "I was finishing up a job and found some medical stuff. Thought you'd get some use of it."

He held the bag out to me, letting me look down at the stuff that he had.

"Oh, thank you," I replied. "Here, come in."

I stepped to the side. He nodded as he moved around me.

We found ourselves standing at what little counter space I had. I was digging through the bag, pulling out supply after supply. Bandages and medication. Some supplies for cleaning wounds and stitching up cuts. It was a miracle.

I looked down at the collection of stuff I had.

"Listen. I won't ask where you got this stuff," I explained. "But I will say that, darling, you are a miracle."

"I hope that calling me 'darling' isn't gonna stick," Joel muttered.

"Keep bringing me shit like this and I'll call you anything you want."

I heard him scoff, which made me look over at him.

"Thank you, seriously."

He just shrugged me off, ignoring my gratitude. "I'll bring you more when I get my hands on it."

"Deal."

That was the beginning of a great arrangement between the two of us. He would go on his jobs and bring me back medical supplies. I would take care of whatever wounds he and Tess earned while doing so.

I got used to Joel being around. It felt like I was constantly finding him on my doorstep.

As time passed, I found something between us shifting.

It was something in the way we talked. It was like some kind of wall had started to crumble. We were becoming more and more vulnerable. Each revealed secret was a brick being pushed from the wall, leaving each of us with a far clearer image of each other. I liked it.

I found myself being more nervous. My heart beating faster, my thoughts moving even faster, and my face warming whenever I said something that wasn't strictly professional or friendly.

I was constantly convincing myself that I was conflating things. Any lingering looks or touches were simply my imagination running rampant. Any act of kindness was nothing more than Joel finding a way to ensure that something that benefited him was functioning properly.

What else could it have possibly been?

Why would I believe that it was anything else?

Those were two questions that I would constantly ask myself. It was some way of ensuring that whatever feelings I had stayed in control. That my thoughts didn't run wild.

I held onto those two questions until I was forced to let them go.

I was sitting across from Joel at my table yet again. There had apparently been a fight somewhere outside. Joel had won but had gotten a rough hit to the side of the head.

"I'm shocked that you came to me when there wasn't any visible blood," I said quietly as I leaned back in my seat. He seemed fine, thankfully.

"I knew that you'd never let me hear the end of it until you checked it," he muttered.

"Aw, you learn fast, darling."

"I thought you were gonna stop calling me that if I kept bringing you supplies."

"I don't see any supplies," I commented.

He nodded toward his bag, which was sitting on the table.

"Joel...," I mumbled, almost sounding like a disappointed parent. Or like an owner that just watched their cat drag in a dead bird. I opened the bag and found supplies tucked away in the bottom. "The fight... it wasn't over these, was it?"

"Asshole was trying to take the meds-"

"Joel!"

"I didn't have a choice!"

"You could've just given him the drugs instead of getting yourself hurt," I lowered my voice and leaned in a bit closer, trying to not alert anyone around us.

Joel mimicked my movements, "You were almost out-"

"That is my problem to solve."

"Not anymore."

"Why not?"

It was a question that hung in the air between us. It weighed it down, making it tense. Heavy. There was an answer there. Sitting in that space.

Joel went to lean back, clearly going to shrug off the whole event.

I didn't let him. Instead, I leaned forward, pressing my lips to his in the most awkward kiss I had experienced since I was in high school. Regardless of how awkward it was, it felt right. Almost comforting. In a world where proper connection felt impossible, this moment made it seem like the easiest thing in the world.

It was a short-lived moment. A matter of seconds before Joel pulled back. I leaned back too. Any comfort I had found faded away in seconds, now replaced by a kind of fear that I hadn't felt in far too long.

"I'm sorry," I muttered to him. "I shouldn't have done that. I-I'm sorry-"

Joel cut me off by leaning forward and kissing me again. It was as if he had been waiting for me to say that it was alright and after I kissed him, he knew that it was. My hand came up to touch his cheek, thumb dragging along the scruff on his face.

He leaned back. I smiled at him, hand still on his face. I saw the grin forming on his lips.

"I should... I should go," he mumbled.

"You could," I nodded.

"Or... I could stay here a bit longer."

"I like that idea a lot more."

He chuckled at me. "I thought you would."

It felt as if everything changed after that.

Objectively, not much had. Joel was still bringing me medical supplies. He was still having me look over injuries.

But something had still shifted.

It was nice. And weird.

I had gone through so much time on my own. I had shoved myself away from everyone. I had been someone hidden in the background. There when needed, blending in when I wasn't. Joel had largely done the same, hiding from any kind of connection for his own sake. Neither one of us truly knew what to do now that there was all this attention on us.

But we learned. Slowly.

I liked it.

Despite all of the fear, despite all of the life we had both lived through already, there was this kind of innocence that came with whatever we had. It was strange to have to relearn myself. But it was worth it. The highs and the lows of it all.

I think that being with him forced me to let my guard down.

I expected to hate the idea. To always feel that pit in my stomach that came with the fear of never being prepared enough, of nothing being scared enough. But it didn't seem too bad. It was nice, actually.

Every time that I felt the word "darling" pass my lips, the more at peace I felt with myself. With the world around me. Something that I never thought I would experience... or want to experience for that matter.

Maybe that made me a fool. Maybe that made everything that happened that night my fault.

I had no reason to believe that that day was going to be any different from any other before it.

I had woken up next to Joel, which had been happening more and more. I could remember smiling to myself when I did. I had been more comfortable with him than I had throughout most of my past.

We both had gotten up and gone to our respective jobs like it was any other day. He told me that he was going to come back to my place when he was done. I had joked about him making it home before me at sitting at my doorstep like a lost puppy. He chuckled and muttered that he would see me later.

I watched him walk to the door before I stopped him. "Darling..."

He stopped with his hand on the doorknob and looked back at me. "Yeah?"

I paused for a moment before walking over to him. I kissed him gently. "I... I love you."

It had taken me months to get the words out. I had been thinking about it for ages at that point and something about the moment felt right. Nothing in the day had gone wrong yet. There hadn't been any bad news that morning. Everything had simply been quiet and calm. I felt as if I needed to say it then and there.

There was a long pause where Joel just stared at me.

I wanted to apologize. Take it all back and let our day go on as planned.

I didn't get a chance. Before a word could escape me, he replied, "I love you too."

I froze for a moment before a smile formed on my face. I leaned in and kissed him again. When I pulled back, I tugged the door open, causing his hand to fall from the doorknob.

"See you later," I said as I walked out.

"Yeah, see you."

I spent the whole day with a dumb grin on my face. Comforted and safe. It was strange to feel like that while working. It had been one of the only times that my guard had truly come back up all the way now. But I couldn't help it. I had gotten so comfortable with Joel that it made me comfortable with the rest of the world.

It wasn't until I made my way home that anything seemed wrong.

I was walking down the hallway back to my place. As I did, I saw that my door was cracked open. I furrowed my eyebrows, immediately slowing my steps.

I tried to make sure that I hadn't stepped on any squeaky floorboards.

As I got closer, I heard two voices muttering back and forth to each other and the distinct sound of someone rummaging through my stuff.

I should have turned around then. I should've gone to get somebody. I should've done anything other than open the door. But I didn't listen to that intuition. Instead, I slowly opened the door, hoping that it wouldn't creak on its hinges.

I saw two boys rummaging through my stuff. One of them in the kitchen. The other in my dresser.

"What the hell are you doing," I asked.

They both turned around to face me.

"Go ahead, answer me," I pushed, trying to be braver than I was. I was already certain that they were there for the meds that Joel had gotten me, but I wanted them to admit it.

"Grab 'em," the guy at my dresser said.

I took off as the boy at my kitchen cabinets ran toward me. There wasn't much room to move. I was hoping that I could get around and back to the door before he caught up to me.

I wasn't so lucky.

I had made it around to the kitchen counter. However, when I tried to run around again and back to the door, the guy managed to get in front of me. He grabbed me.

I struggled. I did all that I could to get away from him.

I think that scared him. The next thing I knew, there was a knife sinking into my stomach. I gasped.

I had never thought about what something like that would feel like. It was strange. It was sharp. A shooting pain that burned through my body. But some part of me almost felt... numb? As if as soon as the pain started, it stopped.

The boy looked just as shocked as I did. As if he truly didn't believe that he had the ability to hurt someone. I wonder what went through his mind. If it was some promise that he made not to hurt someone or some promise to get better or if he was realizing that all of this pain and suffering was going too far.

His panic caused him to jerk the knife to the side, cutting even further along my stomach before abruptly pulling the blade out.

He stumbled backward as I fell to the floor. I clasped my arms over my stomach, hoping to stop some of what was coming out. I heard his friend yelling at him to go after slamming the dresser shut. I heard something like a stunned 'oh shit' before insisting that they still go.

It was like poetic justice.

Joel walked into the doorway just as the boys shoved their way out. I met his eyes from my place on the floor.

I felt my vision tunneling as Joel's voice echoed in my ears. He was yelling at the boys who were running out.

"Joel..."

My voice came out weak. Weaker than I wanted it to.

It seemed to get his attention though. He would have all the time in the world to track those boys down. I wasn't going to be so fortunate.

He ran over, kneeling next to me. He grabbed the sides of my face, moving my head so I'd look him in the eyes. I tried to lean into his hand, searching for some kind of comfort.

"There you are... look at me," he muttered. "I've got you."

He pulled away from me. He was frantically looking around my now-messy place, looking for where my supplies had been thrown.

When he ran back over, he was holding my box of stuff for stitches. I almost wanted to chuckle. I knew that stitches were not going to work. The cut was too big, too deep. It had simply been too long for them to solve anything.

I found myself just wanting him to look at me again.

I reached up and touched his cheek. "Darling..."

He shushed me quietly. "I... I'm gonna... I'm gonna fix this. You're gonna be just fine, alright? Just fine."

I didn't respond. I simply dragged my thumb along his cheek before I pulled my hand away again.

I found my vision growing even darker than it had before. I let my eyes flutter closed. It was strange, being so aware of my death. I always thought that I'd be overcome by shock. Or that I'd go in my sleep. Anything that didn't force me to face the presence of death directly.

And in the end, I never found myself minding how death loomed over my shoulder the entire time. I was focused on Joel. Having him there, getting to touch him... getting to call him "darling" one last time.

If I could find one thing about death to remember in whatever afterlife I found myself in, I would like it to be that I was loved.

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#imagine #fanfiction #x reader #joel miller imagine #joel miller fanfiction #joel miller x reader #the last of us imagine #the last of us fanfiction #the last of us x reader #pedro pascal imagine #pedro pascal x reader #pedro pascal fanfiction

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shadowed-dancer · 3 months

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There's a lot to be said about Hazbin Hotel. I don't hate it, but I'm also not a die-hard fan. But one thing that gets me in terms of pacing is that it feels like Frankenstein's monster, stitching together important scenes from a longer show while leaving out any of the build up that would make those scenes so impactful.

Now, I get it. 8 episodes at 25 minutes each is an unfortunate hand to be dealt and they didn't know if they'd get a second season. But a bunch of the scenes that can be considered "good" are only good in isolation; the second they are put into context you realize "wow, that came WAY faster than it should have." Without context, they just feel hollow.

Like I actually got thrown for a loop when Husk said how he didn't want Angel to throw away all his progress because... did Angel make progress? There's one line in episode 5 that implies he's starting to make improvements but last I heard between Husk and Angel, Angel called himself a "coked-up d sucking h" and Husk's response was "baby that's fine by me." That doesn't exactly support this idea of Husk being invested in Angel trying to make progress.

"You didn't know" is an awesome song and a chilling scene but that doesn't take away the fact that it feels like we skipped 3 episodes of development for Emily and Sera. It's awesome in isolation, but when you watch the episode it feels less impactful because... these characters literally didn't exist prior to this episode. It's a cool scene built on the world's shakiest foundation.

Same thing happened with "whatever it takes". This gorgeous power ballad is sang by Carmilla, but it's cheapened by the fact that this is Carmilla's SECOND SCENE. The show has given us no reason why we should care, we haven't seen her interact with her daughters beyond one of them calling her "mom"... there's just no development.

Do you see what I mean when I say this feels like we are missing scenes??? Like yeah, the show has flaws, but I feel like a good 70% of the structural issues would have been fixed with a little more time, and it was time the crew was unfortunately not given.

TL;DR the best way to get a positive experience out of Hazbin Hotel is to watch the scenes you like and then imagine the moments that led up to them.

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel critical #hazbin hotel critique #I just had to get this out there #on a positive note the songs are all amazing #I've enjoyed every single one so far

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solarpunkani · 10 months

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So it's Solarpunk Aesthetic week and I'm trying to do homework while listening to lo-fi but my brain started thinking of Solarpunk game concepts so here are my rambles.

What if someone made a like. Not reverse Stardew Valley, per say but like. And this was inspired by some tags by @bleedingedgeavoidancetactics BUT

You inherit a great big booming agricultural business from your mysterious and distant uncle or whatever. And its run like you standard agricultural practice. But the goal of the game is to make it as sustainable as possible. You come in like right at the end of one season, so you're getting to see how its run already, while also talking to the community and specialists and such to discuss how to make changes in future growing seasons to like. Fix. Like. Do more permacultury things, still get yields needed to sustain the surrounding community but with less negative environmental impact and beginning to have good environmental impacts? (Could also have dating sim side elements if you wanted)

Or maybe a game where like. It's after a disaster of some sort, and a group of survivors/nomads find an abandoned city. And you can work to turn the materials from said abandoned city and the preexisting infrastructure into a solarpunk society? Like a city-builder game, and you're starting on the edge of this abandoned city creating like gardens and such (maybe the starting area is like a suburban neighborhood you find?), and you can send expeditions deeper into the city to find other supplies you can use to create new structures for the society you're building? And maybe this is a kind of game where you can individualize building placement and decorations to an extent, and maybe visit your friends' settlements? Or at least it'd be fun to show pictures online? (This one's inspired by a mobile game I play that I THOUGHT was gonna be like this but everything is already PRE SET)

Or a guerrilla gardening game, where you're like. A guerrilla gardener, and you're sneaking around at night sowing seeds and watering plants or planting plant starts and trying not to get caught by like. I dunno. Guards??? Police officers??? and then during the day you can take actions to protect the plants from... I dunno. And you can go to a store to buy more materials/seeds/stuff, and your home base is like a huge seed starting zone where you can craft a certain number of seed bombs/start a certain number of seeds depending on how many you have in your inventory. And each method has a few stats--efficiency, survival, and risk--so like, just sprinkling seeds would have low risk and high efficiency but low survival stats, seed bombs could have medium efficiency and low risk and low-medium survival depending on the recipe you use to make them (maybe you can learn/discover new ones as you go along), and different sizes of plant starts have lower efficiency but higher survival and higher risk. And the risk could factor into how long it takes to plant the thing but also how likely it is to be discovered by the guards or whatever during the day. And also in your daytime persona, you can make friends and organize a community that can start banding together to protect the plants from guard interference? Maybe the game starts out mostly in black and white except for your night character's green cloak and your day persona's yellow shirt, but people you can befriend also have colored shirts, and the more guerilla gardening you do the more things start to become colorful. (This one's inspired by a story idea I've had rattling in my brain and a separate animation I considered doing a few years back)

I'm not a game designer or a coder or anything, I'm just an artist. But I'm sitting here chilling and I thought these could be cool ideas. If anyone wants to use them to inspire their stories and such by all means GO FOR IT this is an endorsement

#solarpunk #out of queue #solarpunk stories #solarpunk aesthetic week #game concepts #story ideas #ani rambles #honestly will i consider turning one of these into a written story idea? maybe but im not sure #i already have so many projects man........ but if someone else wants to by all means. tag me so i can read it #if you make a wholeass game on it????? buddy let me PLAY

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deltaruminations · 3 months

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rambling some more about a multi-route story structure, player’s relationship to the game, weird route, etc.

one assumption i make consistently when theorizing is that, even if the prophecy is to some degree a fabrication, there is some amount of truth to the idea that a problem exists in deltarune’s world outside of the player’s or gaster’s present meddling. maybe ralsei/the prophecy calls it “the roaring,” gaster calls it “darkness falling,” maybe the player calls it a “bad ending,” but something had already gone materially wrong in the world before the whole game project or whatever started and it doomed the world’s future. i tend to assume that it’s the reason for the project in the first place — gaster wants a NEW FUTURE because he thinks the current one sucks. deltarune has “one ending” and he hates it. he wants a different one.

at this point, i think the prophecy is less an outright lie and more of a hypothesis — there is a real problem in the universe, and the prophecy is an educated guess at a solution: close the fountains, stop “the roaring.” gaster may sincerely hope that this guess is correct, but he knows there’s a good chance it’ll fail. he may even be expecting it to fail. and when it does, what’s the next logical step but to take those findings and isolate another set of variables? just closing the fountains didn’t work, so what if you collect all of the shadow crystals too? will that change anything? and what if that still doesn’t work? what if the only option left involves hurting many people? is that really so bad if the alternative is for everyone to suffer? and if that doesn’t work… if nothing works… no, something has to work. something has to work. something has to work.

and that, i think, is where the deception lies — the player is being drawn into participating in this experiment through the promise of a good ending, without being told that this outcome isn’t actually guaranteed. the goalposts keep moving, the requirements for a good ending keep changing, because gaster doesn’t actually know what those requirements are or if the outcome is even possible at all. the only way for him to know is for him to experiment, and he can’t do that without the player’s continued participation. he puts an unwitting player into a position of responsibility for these characters and uses that sense of responsibility and attachment to the world to draw the player deep, deeper, yet deeper into a mission they may not have agreed to if they’d known upfront that it might only end in failure.

with that in mind, if we say that the weird route will ultimately be a necessary mode of play in the context of the full game, i don’t think it’s meant to communicate a message that the violence of that route is inherently worthwhile to a broader Good. rather, the weird route may be a simulation of powerlessness and desperation, the player — like noelle, like kris — being impelled and/or coerced to Proceed in a situation where there are no good options, but they’re still unable to say “no” to whoever or whatever is limiting those options. sure, the player can turn off the game and never return, but doesn’t that mean darkness will fall on deltarune’s world anyway? there are only two options here: stop playing, and ensure calamity, or proceed and see if calamity might be prevented. again, this isn’t necessarily a lie on our facilitator’s part — it may be entirely true that darkness will fall without our help — but it doesn’t change the fact of the manipulation. the information that the player might be expected to do something like a weird route, if necessary, was withheld from them until the moment they were impelled to do it.

and i think it’s unlikely that the weird route, on its own, will end any better than a normal route. if we believe that the problem is, in fact, real, then it’s unlikely that simply ignoring the storyline altogether to violently destabilize the world even further will, in and of itself, fix whatever is causing it to end so badly. what it might do is wake up the characters and/or the player to the situation they’re in, and cause them to question the choices they’ve been given, as well as the choices they haven’t, and why they’re stuck with these choices at all. it might trigger confrontation of the power structure itself — perhaps gaster himself, and whatever secrets he may be keeping, and/or the Narrative as a force beyond even him.

if we take these things to be true -- that the problem is real, that the fate to be changed is truly a cruel one, and that the player's involvement is instrumental in that change -- then gaster in this case isn’t necessarily a control freak or cunning manipulator by nature or by preference. he, like the player, may be a well-meaning person in a desperate situation whose own choices are drastically limited by a material situation he can’t control. like a player, his position out-of-bounds gives him unique insight and knowledge, a unique ability to problem-solve and possibly save people, but it also renders him a ghost; he can’t impact the material world directly. he’s effectively helpless without the player's cooperation, like the player is without kris. the player justifies controlling kris because it’s the only option they’re given — and again, not acting through kris means the world will end and kris will suffer regardless. the manipulation isn’t morally right in itself, but it might at least be understandable. from his perspective, he needs to do everything he can to keep the player engaged and avoid alienating them, because there's no way for him to help otherwise. and doesn't he have a responsibility to help? he seems to think he does, at least. he’s a parallel to the audience, no more evil than we are, yet no less culpable for his actions in a desperate struggle for power against a narrative that doesn’t want to be changed.

anyway i don’t know how to conclude this. video jame

#$ 666 mystery man lore hell

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finniestoncrane · 1 year

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Hii! Idk if you’ve done this one before but I have a horrible cold rn so my request is: how would the rogues take care of a sick reader? I love your work and I’ve been dying to request something for a bit now

Sick Reader

Rogues Headcanons ok i love offering a lil bit of goodness and comfort for people when they're feeling shitty so i have tried to get this out as soon as possible for you! i hope you're better now though!! 💜 request info • prompt list • send me a request • kofi • masterlist minors DNI!! 🔞 cw: fluff, some sexual stuff i mean it's me

scarecrow

he's actually very calm about it, very structured and prepared

sickness is something he dislikes, so he's sympathetic

and knowledgeable in prevention as well as curing

so you'll be sent to bed with a hot water bottle and a tea

and nursed softly back to health by him until he decides you're well

which he monitors efficiently and obsessively until you call him off

mr freeze

there's a slight panic to him when someone close to him is sick

he wouldn't want it to get too serious, or life-threatening

so he's on it immediately, offering you medicines and comfort

trying his best to make sure you're seen by medical professionals

and ensuring he does his best to get you better as soon as possible

but he'll sit by you, holding your hand, until you're feeling good

bane

he's not sure about how to fix it, which he finds infuriating

but his main focus is making sure you're at least not suffering

so he'll be fumbling, distressed, waiting on you hand and foot

literally giving you everything you could possibly want

it's so sweet it heals you quicker, maybe a placebo

or maybe it was the four blankets and ten soft toys he piled on you

zsasz

groggy people kind of annoy him, but for you he'll tolerate it

his sympathy is somewhat limited though, it's just a bit gross

he'll still pass you a tissue, at arm's length, and with gloves

and he'll remind you that he's excited for you to get better

not just because you are literally a walking germ right now

but because he misses you at your best, and misses kissing you

poison ivy

natural and herbal remedies are something she's clued up on

so get ready to feel even better than before you got sick

she's going to heal everything in you, from top to bottom

inside and out even, because what couldn't a warm hug heal?

so quick, sip up that weird green tea with leaves in it

and let her just hold this soup in a vine so she can stroke your head

riddler

what sickness can't you talk about until it's cured? laryngitis!

ok it's probably not that, less serious... but who knows!

not helpful... hm... what about a hot drink and a hug?

but what about just one more riddle? it would help distract him

of course, you are the sick one... but if you must know!!

he's very worried about you, don't mention that again though

penguin

he's a busy guy, but he's calling every meeting off to sit by your bed

whatever you need, whatever you want, he'll get it for you

or rather, he'll have some poor henchman rush out for it

you want soup? something sweet? a new blanket? a new bed?

you want new pyjamas? something softer or warmer?

spoiling you won't cure you, but it will make it easier to cope!

harley quinn

it's chicken noodle soup time, and she'll be hand-feeding you

don't argue, you lie completely still and she'll do everything for you

ok, listen, she's a doctor, but maybe she could be nurse harley

just for you. get a little cute outfit and tend to your every need?

whatever makes it easier for her to force you to just lay back

let sweet nurse quinn take your temperature huh?

mad hatter

every morning he's just glad you haven't died

very dramatic of course, it's just a common cold, but still

you're precious to him, and he'll make sure you get better

how much tea can you stomach? because... get ready for a lot

something hot to soothe your throat, to heat you up

and a kiss on the head to soothe your heart and comfort you

two face

harvey is all about playing nurse and keeping you comfortable

harv on the other hand thinks you should power through it

a combination of both actually works very well it turns out!

being filled up with cough syrup and pain meds is great

but being forced to go for a drive with the window down

while you get hickies at red lights? perfect cure for what ails ya

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mbti-notes · 3 months

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Anon wrote: (Follow up to post 698753602168242176) Hello there! 23m INFJ here. I'd first like to say that I'm extremely grateful for your patience with my previous asks. The insight you provided into my stack–particularly around the theme of having a lack of integrity–has given me much to think about over these (almost two!) years. I want to ask for your insight on a roadblock I've encountered multiple times in the therapy I've been receiving over the past year.

In almost every single session, I come fully prepared: I rehearse a list of 'problem topics' to discuss with my therapist in-session, and try to mine as much insight as I can from them before I discuss. My therapist prefers an unstructured kind of approach, allowing me to form what the sessions look like, and I have preferred having a 'route' of scenarios that link together with common themes, just to ensure that I am effectively using my therapy time.

One issue I've ran into is that we often finish discussion of these topics with plenty of time to spare, leaving me a little lost for words. I believe I am a person who is good at improvising conversation, but in these moments in therapy I run into a complete standstill: my mind draws blank, I have zero perception of what has bothered me, and I am unable to produce anything 'meaningful' for our sessions.

A couple of times, I have asked my therapist: "Do you have any questions for me?" With which he always asks me the same questions: "Why are you here today? What do you need help with? What bothers you right now, in your day-to-day life?" These questions always, always catch me off-guard and I'm unable to answer. I have an extremely poor perception of myself, and usually feel nothing on a day-to-day basis. I try to explain this as best as I can to my therapist, to which he says he understands, but cannot help me if I am not providing a source of conflict/pain/discomfort to work with. This often leaves me extremely upset and frustrated, like I'm a lost cause or incapable of receiving help.

In recent sessions I've tried to be more freeform and less structured, and it does feel like it's helping. However, I do still have this fear that I'm approaching things completely wrong, like it's impossible for anyone to help me if I'm not even sure what I need help for. This lack of self-awareness is nauseating and I don't know how to fix it.

------------------------

Therapy isn't a performance or competition. It's not a place to get judged or judge yourself. It's not a test or exam that you have to prepare the right answers to pass. It's also not an exact science of rules to follow to the letter. Ideally, therapy is a safe space for you to explore freely and gradually raise self-awareness as you discover more about yourself.

Some aspects of the therapeutic process upset you and you stewed about them alone, perhaps because you are in the habit of keeping a tight leash on yourself and can't proceed unless you feel more in control of things. Many Js have a tendency to manage anxiety by imposing structure or control. In the real world, this tendency easily becomes a deeply ingrained habit because you regularly get rewarded for "having it together" or "being on top of things". However, in the therapy world, one of the main goals is to let feelings/emotions rise up and come out freely so that you can explore what they really mean. Therefore, the habit of being too controlled/controlling can work against you in therapy if it basically creates a dam that prevents the deeper parts of your psyche from flowing out.

This might be why approaching sessions in a less structured way is helpful, as you release yourself from the compulsion to control. It allows you to discover important things that you didn't realize needed to be explored. Instead of going off alone to stew about whatever upset you, why not express your feelings as they happen in real-time? Why ask me about it rather than the therapist? Whatever it is you need to happen or want to do, either allow it or communicate about it honestly. E.g. If you don't know what else to say and it starts to make you anxious, communicate your anxiety to the therapist. If the therapist asks questions that catch you off-guard or make you feel bad, then explore the negative feelings right then and there.

In my last response, I said: "If you are indeed INFJ, to get back on the right type development path requires you to confront and resolve the deeper emotional problems that have been festering." This means emotional intelligence is a key factor in your personal growth. It's important that you learn to welcome and embrace feelings/emotions as they come and process them as they exist in the present, rather than ruminating on them after the fact. This also ties in with the issue of integrity; it's hard to maintain integrity when you're not in touch with yourself and listening carefully to your emotional needs.

The habit of keeping feelings/emotions at bay or tightly under control is usually indicative of an underlying fear of them. As long as you fear looking within (or keep trying to obscure what's really happening because you don't like what you see/feel), therapy is going to seem slowgoing. Perhaps you think therapy should be revealing certain truths to you, but, actually, you should be the one revealing the truths. The therapist is only there to reflect your truths back to you with greater clarity. While the therapist has a genuine desire to help, it is an important part of their training to never work harder than the client. They only work with what you give them, so, if it seems as though there's not much happening, it's because you haven't revealed enough of yourself.

This brings us to the most important point of what's really stopping you from revealing yourself. You seem to have an issue with being self-critical. Self-critical people can't stand to look at themselves and they assume others will judge them similarly, which leads to feeling anxious or unsafe in social situations. Many people cope by getting into the habit of hiding all the aspects of themselves that are deemed "ugly" or "undesirable", which often includes all the negative feelings and emotions they don't want to experience. In the end, all that is visible is the mask they've chosen.

Until you can approach yourself with more kindness and compassion, the safety of hiding or obscuring the truth of yourself will always be too tempting. Perhaps self-compassion and self-expression are issues you can work on in therapy. Allow yourself to be human and "imperfect" and drop the facade of control, and then you might find that you have a lot more material to work with.

#infj #auxiliary fe #ti loop #emotional intelligence #social anxiety #self compassion #self esteem #self worth #control #perfectionism #therapy #psychology #ask

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