Chilling in the Bay of Seals

She/her. Personal blog. Tumblr is my only social media because anonymity + no danger of spending money.

[synchodai]

How about we put Bloodlines font colors to this readblog?

Everything in red is undisputed truth. It cannot be changed outside of a retcon. For instance, Malkavians have derangements.

Everything in blue is accepted truth but can be disputed. For instance, Malkavian derangements cannot be cured.

Everything in pink is an exaggeration or an understatement. So technically true, but phrased in a way to paint something in a more flattering light — think rose-tinted glasses. Being deranged isn't so bad.

Everything in green is an outright lie. Only Malkavians get derangements.

Now, let's have some fun. Things are about to get juicy.

[synchodai]

would tolly make a good prince?

Honestly? I imagine his Praxis would be like Calebros where he'd be a good Prince pro tempore, but as a regular Prince? No, making Tolly Prince is like forcing Adele to rap. Can she do it? Probably. Are you handicapping her career by forcing her to pivot to a genre she's not suited to? Yes.

[synchodai]

ALSO another thing about Parliament of Knives. Spoilers under the cut:

This game treats sires like parents, and by that I mean Eden not being the MC's "biological" sire is considered a big deal, when in the World of Darkness.... it really shouldn't be.

Childer are raised and mentored by kindred who are not their sires all the time. To a lot of childer, they have no inherent emotional attachment to their sires, especially if said sire was destroyed immediately after their Embrace. Many kindred never get to meet or know who sired them. To me, Grace (my "real" sire) is just some guy. I have no innate feelings towards her nor am I expected to have any just because she happened to Embrace me. She isn't my "real" mom. What she is, if anything, is my "real" murderer.

Family houses and specific lineages are only really important to one clan in this game, and that's the Ventrue (and it's becoming clear playing more of this that the writer wrote this story specifically with that clan in mind and bended it to fit everyone else). A vampire raised in any other clan culture would find out Eden didn't Embrace them and go: "Okay? so?" Your "real" sire was gone anyway, so for all intents and purposes Eden is your sire in that she is responsible for your accounting, just like how Sophie Langley was the CoNY protagonist's sire and how Aristotle de Laurent is considered Beckett's sire.

In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter who Embraced you. It's not a big meaningful reveal that Eden wasn't your "biological" sire beyond being a soap opera cliché of finding out you were "adopted" through a baby switch. It doesn't change your rights or political standing or reputation if you aren't the "biological" childe. It doesn't even change your sense of identity all that much because the only thing you share with your sire is your literal blood, and since you and Eden are the same clan too, you ALL share a bloodline anyway. It literally doesn't matter.

[synchodai]

I'm not a big fan of the whole "unaware of their bloodline" storyline they have going on for (Lasombra) Lucca. It makes her look remarkably dumb and naive. She can't make phone calls, record video, or take pictures of herself. She has dark, abyssal dreams.... but it never crossed her mind that she wasn't Ventrue? And when she goes to Corliss for an explanation, she buys another blatant lie that she's actually Malkavian???? Has she never ONCE looked in a mirror? Or did she just believe EVERY vampire lacked a reflection? What is this story...

[synchodai]

Playing Parliament of Knives right now, and I hate how inconsistent this game is with the Lasombra clan bane. The MC and their blood-sibling can still use phones, and it's obvious it's like this because that's how the plot moved forward for other clans and the game didn't bother rewriting for Lasombra other than acknowledging that the character is "lucky" that their bane isn't going off at that one convenient moment. That's not how that works.

Ngl, for all the praise this game's writing gets, I'm not impressed with what I'm reading so far :/

[synchodai]

case in point, this is an option available to you as a vampire that notoriously cannot use any digital interfaces

He might as well have been putting magnets all over his expensive tech by letting a Lasombra tinker with it. This is ridiculous.

[synchodai]

"Again" is a strange word to use for someone who could NEVER have relied on electronic communications in the Camarilla. And there's just so much more like this.

I'll play through the other clans, but it's so obvious that the writer never intended the main character to be Lasombra and this was just haphazardly tacked-on DLC.

[synchodai]

Playing Parliament of Knives right now, and I hate how inconsistent this game is with the Lasombra clan bane. The MC and their blood-sibling can still use phones, and it's obvious it's like this because that's how the plot moved forward for other clans and the game didn't bother rewriting for Lasombra other than acknowledging that the character is "lucky" that their bane isn't going off at that one convenient moment. That's not how that works.

Ngl, for all the praise this game's writing gets, I'm not impressed with what I'm reading so far :/

[synchodai]

case in point, this is an option available to you as a vampire that notoriously cannot use any digital interfaces

He might as well have been putting magnets all over his expensive tech by letting a Lasombra tinker with it. This is ridiculous.

[synchodai]

Playing Parliament of Knives right now, and I hate how inconsistent this game is with the Lasombra clan bane. The MC and their blood-sibling can still use phones, and it's obvious it's like this because that's how the plot moved forward for other clans and the game didn't bother rewriting for Lasombra other than acknowledging that the character is "lucky" that their bane isn't going off at that one convenient moment. That's not how that works.

Ngl, for all the praise this game's writing gets, I'm not impressed with what I'm reading so far :/

[synchodai]

I love "Phyre is Caitiff" theory. It is my headcanon rn.

[ki11ustr4tions]

How yall feel bout werewolves

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

to be perhaps a bit more clear what I meant is that there are many valid axes to criticise the beauty industry on but the original post criticising plastic surgery on the basis of being unnatural is like. come on. you know what else is also unnatural? modern medicine

yeah man taking penicillin is exactly like when you uuuuuh desperately try to stave off aging so the shittiest men alive will still think you're fuckable

[ostensible-adult]

Leave. Plastic. Surgery. Alone.

Facial feminization surgery is plastic surgery. Top and bottom surgery are plastic surgery. Cleft lip and palate repairs are plastic surgery. Post-burn reconstruction is plastic surgery.

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

I cannot emphasize enough that I received this anon in response to a post (that I didn't write) exclusively about women being pressured to get botox

[apollo-cackling]

okay yeah i do think your filler is off putting and your botox makes you rigid and strange to look at

this is what anon was arguing against

[synchodai]

OG post wasn't criticizing botox for being unnatural. "Rigid and strange to look at" ≠ unnatural. OG post wasn't criticizing plastic surgery. It was criticizing botox, which isn't plastic surgery. It's a toxin people inject to block nerve signals to prevent muscle contraction. The rigidity is a known and desired effect of botox, even for people who take it outside of cosmetic reasons.

[synchodai]

The more I think about Tolly living as a gay man in San Francisco in the '80s, the more it sinks why he's just happy to still be standing.

[synchodai]

I've been reading the book they took his name from, Michael Tolliver Lives, and it really does center around what it's like to live through the AIDS crisis. Michael Tolliver is HIV-positive but has "cheated death" through some miracle beyond his comprehension. In the book, this was most likely experimental drug trials, but BL2 takes the "cure" into a different direction. One must imagine Michael Tolliver survived because he turned into a vampire.

There is a pervading sense of grief and survivor's guilt that hangs throughout the book, but perhaps because of that, its celebration of life becomes more stark, more defiant, and more of a statement. Not "Michael Tolliver Survived" but "Michael Tolliver Lives."

[sailermoon]

having unwashed hair will have you believing shit like i can’t be saved

[synchodai]

The more I think about Tolly living as a gay man in San Francisco in the '80s, the more it sinks why he's just happy to still be standing.

[ansersart]

This pairing seems so sweet at the beginning of the story, and utterly messed up at the end. It's toxic and unhinged - and that's how we like it.

[synchodai]

I've been thinking about the number of posts a while back that claimed VTMB2 took a pro-Camarilla stance. I don't think that's necessarily the case. Compared to Bloodlines 1, it's definitely way more sympathetic towards the Camarilla and presents "true believers" of the system like Fabien, Ryong, and Tolly as people to root for.

BUT unlike Bloodlines 1, it also shows how the (Seattle) Camarilla are the reason for its own downfall. The sects were beseiged by external threats in BL1; they were warring with each other. But in BL2, it's not the Anarchs or the Sabbat or even the SI that takes down the Camarilla. It's ex-Camarilla that were radicalized by their Princes' abuse of power. Fabien destroys Campbell. Safia destroys Ryong. Phyre destroys Lou. Always, the Camarilla lops off its own head.

[moonlitmourningjournal]

[egregore-engine]

I’m going to be so honest. I think in the pursuit of an individualized sexual liberation, the Overton window for misogyny has shifted violently towards normalizing bonkers levels of misogyny. Some of you have got to start being feminist killjoys again. I can’t carry this teamfight myself no matter how good I am at fragging liberal false feminists.