Welp, since another Infinikey weekend has passed, I finally did the thing. I started and completed the in-progress books for Lucio's route, the brat.

I had to rename the Apprentice and change their pronouns to even get through it, and I think the only positive impression I got was that there exists some space in Lucio's heart that if he were smitten with someone, he would want to spoil them endlessly, and I suppose that has to count for something from someone as self-centered as him LOL. His route is supposed to be redemption arc, I get it. I think I'm just not morosexual enough to like Lucio lmao.

Now being able to compare Muriel's, Portia's and Lucio's routes though, hot dang did they really put far more care into crafting alternate stories for each character. I'm most curious about how the books will end for Muriel and Portia.

( Muriel's route thoughts )

( Portia's route thoughts )

I honestly feel a bit bad for Asra/Nadia/Julian's routes main stories feeling comparatively weaker now since it's obvious they were written first, or maybe they didn't want as much variation to the main canon story?

IDK, I've managed to not only get into a niche fandom, but I got into it late so now I'm not sure how far my pursuit of looking for fan content will go.

Back when Miraculous Ladybug came out there was still a big gap between seasons and the fandom content was flowing. I feel like I saw a lot more arguing and bitterness as that series went on though, and since it got licensing on Netflix, I would binge the half-season update and then... I just kind of stopped interacting with the fandom. I honestly haven't felt a draw to getting back into it, and that was probably the last major fandom I participated in before distancing myself more in social media in general.

I'm not really sure I consider myself part of the Arcana "fandom" in that sense because I got quickly into it, but it feels like it will end pretty soon and I'm not sure I'm so invested to look into fics or the like. I've never been a particular fan of characterxreader type fics, nor really getting super invested in other people's OC's, but there's something about the stories that scratches an itch I have for playing with all the what-ifs with certain characters in their established worlds.

 Oh no... it's a romance visual novel LOL

Since getting into tarot and its history (along with other cartomancy practices), I decided to download the app The Arcana to finally try out since it's a story kinda based on the marjor arcana archetypes. It's been a good several years since I last played a VN romance game, that being Mystic Messenger, though I didn't end up making it through all the way to that one (I loved the novelty of the chat, but staying up to ungodly hours just to get unique dialogue was a nope from me).

( Some spoilers for Asra's, Nadia's, and Julian's routes )

I think it's fair to say that ever since Animal Crossing: New Horizons came out, it dominated my my attention-span for the next 4 months.

Now that it's slowed down a bit, I'm dabbling back in a few staple games and watching some anime when available.

( Some games I've been playing )

( Anime and other shows )

OH and also going through webtoons lately. I may... make a post about that separately another day since that's a whole thing.

The last time I was posted about my LoR progress we had just gotten to the Baba Yaga part of the story.
( Progress so far... )

I finished watching the Pt. 1 episodes released on Netflix and I'm so glad I got through it all so far.

The first rendition of Loneliest Girl made me cry when I first heard it, but otherwise the beginning episodes didn't draw me in strongly at first.

Once the plot picks up around the music festival I was very excited to hear the varied musical contributions from other artists. Since I had not looked into the production at all before watching, I had no idea Thundercat would sing! And Flying Lotus produced several songs too!

Galactic Mermaid had me cackling as soon as I realized what the lyrics were and TO MY DELIGHT the official spotify playlist has an extended version--this will now be the anthem that plays in my head whenever I need to keep a smile on my face while dealing with garbage fires. It's good to know while the list of things that make me feel old grows longer every passing year, there's still my inner 13-year-old that giggles at dumb shit.

Plot-wise I wasn't expecting to be interested in Angela since from the beginning they made her out to be some kind of antithesis to Carole and Tuesday with AI-driven music. Her own motivations and wanting a fair competition towards the end of the Mars Brightest arc was refreshing and I can't wait to see how her character develops in the future.

I'll definitely be ready by the time Pt. 2 comes out at the end of the year, hopefully?

Yesterday was the Mid-Autumn Festival, Friday the 13th, and almost halfway through Spetember--I think I'm starting to hit my Big Spooky mood.

For someone who doesn't like dressing up necessarily, Halloween is my favorite holiday and I would probably run loose decorating my living space with orange and black leaves, skulls and witchy things all-year round if no one would stop me.

The other day I got super nostalgic for Invader Zim when I had previously watched Enter the Florpus and was extremely impressed by the consistent quality of the animation, jokes and hammy moments. Apparently I remember more of the plots of episodes than my fiancé did, or we think he long buried some memories as we both talked about how messed up of a show it actually was to watch as a kid.

I wish SoCal actually got... chilly... this time of year. It still feels very summer-like, so I can't wear my favorite knit sweater with the skull elbow patches even though this around the only time it makes sense to wear it.

I was a little wary to check out the episodes since I'd seen a few negative reactions online, but there were a lot of little details in both of these episodes that actually delighted me.

( Spoiler filled geeking and thoughts )

just lemme shitpost about boruto for a second, but I'll spare you image loading by putting the screencaps under a cut.

( silliness and swearing )

 Do you remember how you got into Pokemon?

I remember being young, and maybe I heard some boys in class clamoring about pokemon. They drew some lumpy onix's and pikachus, and I thought pokeballs were some weird beach balls. I didn't really get it and maybe heard my older sibling scoff at the silly name, so of course, I wasn't going to get sucked into something just because it was suddenly popular.

But one of my friends showed me his collection of trading cards. He had an extra he didn't mind giving away, it was of Ponyta.

I got quiet, and curious then. This game was about trading and sharing, and I was given one lone pokemon. There were more, but I couldn't share and trade with others unless I somehow got more. I loved collecting the cards, and when I was gifted not only Pokemon Blue, but my very Gameboy Color, I was so amazed that I could play a game that had a save function.

It took me a while to figure out that doors were marked by the doormats, that the battle menu actually had four different actions and not the two "Fight Pkmn" and "Item run" that I thought were the only options.

It's come such a long way now that people are sharing pokemon with their children. I'll be the first to say my fav gen is still Generation 3 (Hoenn) even though so many of my peers were sick of pokemon by then. It's been such a journey, and I keep saying, maybe I won't go on anymore. 

But it's nice, to have something go on for so long and to have fond memories. I wish pokemon masters would just stay loaded for me lol.