Much Ado About Nothing

Aishien/Linen // they/them/any // non-binary adult // artist, writer // // multifandom. Ever changing. But a Sir Crocodile fan. // // ao3 account in pinned // cringe and free

[the-linen-individual]

CEO OF THE LOCAL CROCHAWK DIVISION

HELLO AND WELCOME TO MY BLOG :> I don't have account on other social media outside of MY AO3

A quick infodump so you know who you're dealing with:

Name/nicknames: Aishien/Aishie/Aish, Lin/Linen Pronouns: they/them/any <- which means they/them is generally preferred, but she/he are not at all hurtful and they're welcome from time to time Age: Young adult. First-cycle-student-aged. Languages: First - Polish, second - English (but I'm good at it dw), third - German, fourth - Chinese (but I'm very bad at it for now, some A1-A2 level) What I do: Art in the form of drawing, art in the form of writing, very rarely art in the form of cosplay, even more rarely art in the form of animation, studying sinology What I view (fandoms): Too many to name, but the ones that I most often post about are One Piece (manga, not caught up), Bakugan, Rusty Lake, I guess Transformers if I reblog from a buddy of mine Main personal projects: A Boy From The Desert, also referred to as Saturnia - a fantasy, war-themed novel I'm planning to write, I sometimes post art of it; Unnamed Condition - a sort of mixed media fantasy comic-novel that I might create in a far future, will definitely post art of it This blog is SFW This blog does not use or support generative AI

And a bunch of random trivia if you're interested idk:

Favourite colour: Cyan! Everyone tells me I'm cyan-orange-yellow coded Favourite animal: Too many to choose, I have a special place in my heart for common swifts, though Favourite character: Sir Crocodile. It feels dumb saying it, there's so many other characters that I appreciate more, that interest me more, that I like better visually... But I've sort of artificially made it my personality that Sir Crocodile is my wife and I can't help it now. He's on every other drawing I make. And this is a call for help. Favourite show: HBO's Succession. Favourite book(s): Terry Pratchett's Discworld Favourite movie: Hard to say, I'm inclined to choose Ghost in the Shell (1995) though Favourite game: Hollow Knight Silksong Drawing setup: At the end of 2025 I switched to Procreate on an iPad and it's currently my main setup; I used to work with a Wacom Intuos and Krita and I want to get back to it a little bit

[the-linen-individual]

Two of them don't have a dick, and neither of those two is Mylene. Figure it out for yourself

[sparkssnight]

Crochawk growing old together except it’s them previously only having frown wrinkles until they start noticing smile lines and crows feet that weren’t there before, and they finally realise it’s because they both unconsciously look happier around each other

[hussyknee]

How long have you been on Tumblr?

Over 16 years (before 2010) (toddlers in the dawn of the ant colony)

16 to 14 years (2010-2012) (livejournal and Myspace refugees)

13 to 11 years (2013-2015) (you used to follow thebootydiaries)

10 to 8 years (2016-2018) (era of Russian bot conspiracy)

7 to 3.5 years (2019-2022) (post sex ban to Goncharov)

3.5 years or less (2023–2026) (Twitter refugee)

Voting ended onJul 15

Rebagel for science pls.

[the-linen-individual]

hey I'm here with more hot pathologic tips. pressing P pulls up your stats, pressing L pulls up your letters (these are critical) and pressing Q pulls up your current quests for the day. also when you get a new letter there will be a kind of paper/writing noise alert

Thank you for letting me know! I have looked through the controls but I keep forgetting about both the L and Q buttons, so I hope receiving this ask will help me remember about them more often 😭🙏

P, fortunately, I remember, because I check it after doing virtually anything to make sure my Reputation hasn't gone down (it would probably take much more than my stupid shenanigans to affect it, but I feel like I can never know in this game)

[the-linen-individual]

Second session of me playing Pathologic (1)! New insights, findings and shenanigans to come!

For some reason I found myself unable to even try skipping the theatre dialogue. I heard it all once, and I focused on it, too, because it feels important to understanding the game (especially with what I've heard about it), but I just couldn't bring myself to try and walk through the door.

Also I will now spam the save button. Thank you, kind people behind my screen, for telling me it exists.

I forgot to add this to my previous notes, silly me. The music in this game is amazing. I am writing this as the game is paused and I'm listening to the menu music - love it.

For Science, I checked if Daniil gets hurt by fire (I managed not to piss off the sick Worm (?) and his buddy this time). He doesn't. That's incredible, mister Bachelor.

I talked to a woman NPC on the street for the first time, they were running from me before? Or just running in general. Also, I have left Eva's house before 8am this time, and I Will take my time to explore.

The Bachelor can jump over the counters in shops and receive no reaction. That is hilarious. (I monitor my Reputation bar in panic because I don't yet know what can affect it, and it has been unaffected by this so far.)

I had Daniil jump on the Cathedral throne again, just to repeat my previous choices.

Daniil's walk feels faster when he's going downstairs. I'd like to imagine he's going two steps at a time.

I am thinking about the narrative difference between being Daniil and controlling Daniil/being the player in this game, and considering how that affects my reading on having Daniil do stupid things like punch walls or jump on random things. I will let everyone know if I come to any interesting conclusions.

Going up the stairs of the Polyhedron, trying not to die this time, and Daniil is definitely going one step at a time when he goes upwards. The animation shows it very clearly. It is also incredibly annoying to look at, with how rapid it is.

... I can climb on the small spikes that are around the stairs to Polyhedron. Why must this game tempt me so. I want to test how far I can go before...

The Polyhedron spike (sting? The one near where the staircase ends) looks a bit like a bird's head, or a plague doctor's mask, or the Executioner's mask (I think that was the name of one of the guys by the first gate) (photo evidence at the end of the post)

This is an addition to point 8: the step sounds make me think he's not going two steps at a time. That's a shame, but also, his steps are so quick, I also think him walking on stairs must look fairly hilarious.

I try to check many dialogue options when talking to NPCs, but I honestly feel stupid clicking some of them. A woman is complaining to you about her hardships and you go "a man's share is harder"? I know, I know, insight on the character, and I want to see what would happen if he said that, but I don't want to be responsible for him saying that.

A mark shows up on my screen every full hour. This makes me think of how in China, each traditional hour (the day had 12 hours, traditionally) had a zodiac animal assigned-

I try my best to be nice to everyone, but damn, Daniil is absolutely ready to be an asshole to anyone and everyone he talks to.

... I can climb way higher up the final segments of the Polyhedron than I'd expected.

... It's way more difficult to climb down than I'd expected. I must thank the kind people behind my screen again for telling me I can save. I will now consider it canon that Daniil Dankovsky is a little bit schizophrenic and just remembers he went to the very top of the Polyhedron without ever actually being there.

It is EXCEEDINGLY funny that I can just sleep in anyone's home. Hi Maria, I just took an hour long nap in your bed, I hope you don't mind?

And with that, my second session is over, saved at Maria's residence. Once again, I hope this was amusing, or, I don't know, interesting? I find it funny to take those notes, and keep them in this specific tone, so I will probably continue doing it until I get bored.

This is the spot at the Polyhedron that looks like a beak to me:

[the-linen-individual]

I still haven't played more of Pathologic, I've barely gotten past the intro sequence, but I NEED TO SHARE SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS GAME AND ONE OF MY OWN STORIES ALREADY. This might become like a masterpost for a "crossover" to come that I will just reblog with more information and ideas. (Also if some stuff here is poorly worded or slightly off, keep in mind that I'm forgetful and I feel like in referring to Patho precise memory of the dialogues is very important, so this is just what I remember from playing without double checking)

Basically. I started the Bachelor route, right. And listened and read all the stuff about Daniil wanting to "defeat" Death, perceiving Death as a force of nature that he challenges. And read through the dialogues of the city citizens, who talk about fate and time, also forms of "forces of nature", that direct their lives. And I also know of the interpretation that Daniil is a transgender man.

And I started thinking about one of my own characters. I'll try to give as brief of a lore explanation as I can so all of this makes sense: Sisters are manifestations of aspects of nature who take on the form of dragons, and they're sort of like gods, but they're not exactly the same way as gods you read about in many myths. They don't live lives, maintain relationships, talk and feast like people do, they simply exist and feel things, because feelings constitute the sacred sphere of existence in that world. Depending on what aspect of reality they represent, their eternal feelings differ. Binding is a phenomenon where if two beings experience the same, strong emotion or feeling at the same time, their essences/souls/whatever you want to call it, the cores of their beings, become intertwined. This usually means they begin to share traits, both psychological and physical. Binding can happen between a Sister and a human. It has more effects on the human, since their being is, in a sense, overshadowed by that of the Sister. It grants the human immortality, or rather - a glimpse of the same form of eternal existence as the Sisters experience, an existence that's an absolute fact rather than a life relevant to time, that is only affected by time and change in a part. Most important outcome of this - the human now can't change, or at least a part of them can't, and this affects their worldviews, their general opinions, even their approach to other people. And what the bond gives the Sister is will. The Sister and the human, together, are now not just a manifestation of the force of nature, but also a conscious will behind that force.

Wolfgang is a woman (also transgender) bound to a Sister whom she named Dixin (from Chinese - 地心, Earth's core). Dixin is a manifestation of all immaterial elements of nature, if that makes sense, and the widely understood laws of physics, so essentially - gravity, electricity, light, etc. And so, that is what Wolfgang is now - essentially a conscious force of nature, a consciously existing law of how the world operates. But Wolfgang is also a human, and a human stuck in time, so to say. (This is especially visible in her gender identity - the part of her that's still subject to time has met other people like her, has thought about herself at length, explored her emotions, and knows she's a woman, but the part that became an absolute being when she was still in doubt is still doubting it all, and those doubts can never go away or even weaken.)

So I hope it makes sense why I think Wolfgang and Daniil interacting would be fascinating. The scholar who wants to defeat forces of nature through the power of human mind, searching for - or at least believing in - absolute truth, which is, by definition, rational and unaffected by emotions. And a being that is, in itself, both a force of nature and a human mind, an active will behind certain laws of the world, and yet, also, very much just a girl, whose entire condition and the condition of the creature she's connected to is entirely dependent on, if not defined by, emotion. I'm not sure what exactly could come out of this but I'm sure if I play the game more and polish my universe more (bachelor Daniil Dankovsky, I hope you give me some inspiration for it), it can amount to interesting things.

[the-linen-individual]

I have just started playing Pathologic (1) and I shall report my findings here for that ~1 person Who Knows. You should know that what I usually do in games is try to check absolutely everything in every location (until I get bored) before continuing on with the story.

Here is the list of my findings from the first session:

The Bachelor can jump on his table and stand there if you try a little. That is very unserious of him.

I have no idea how to leave the first location.

I am actively talking to Daniil. Example: "DANIIIIIL. DANIIIIL I DON'T KNOW WHAT WE SHOULD DOOOO. DANIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIL." This will affect my approach to the character.

This is an update to point 2: I did not see the door. I wasted a lot of lamp fuel and ended up sleeping until noon just by trying to do anything.

I ended up pissing off the guys by Eva's residence and running from them at Daniil's unimpressive top speed because I didn't want to attack them. This was accompanied by loudly yelling "DANIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIL".

I have now resorted to calling Daniil "the Bachelor" from time to time. While I'm talking to him in Polish, mind you.

I am basically trying to talk to any NPC as long as they don't run the hell away from me. It's around 1pm in-game and I still haven't gone to the Kains' residences.

I had Daniiiiiiiiiil jump on the throne (?) in the cathedral. I wonder if this will have consequences. (Also I have already visited the Kains' residences.)

How does water diminish hunger? Mister Bachelor, you may be deceiving your body here.

I keep being called to do something in real life and forgetting to pause so I'm sure this has great impact on the time mechanic of the game.

I'm not sure if there's a fall damage mechanic in this game, but I'm worried I'll kill Daniil on his first day if I check. I will try to kill him with morphine as fast as possible at some point, but that will not be on my first playthrough.

??? Can I do something about three men (two of them with repeating models) chasing a woman? I tried punching them, but they don't seem to be getting the message.

THIS IS AN UPDATE TO POINT 11: SO I VERY MUCH DIED TO THE FALL DAMAGE MECHANIC. There were barriers at the beginning of the stairs to the Polyhedron and around its base, so I thought they'd be present all over the stairs; I walked up to the ledge, thinking to myself, "I wonder if such world barriers will be addressed in such a self-aware game", just to find that the barriers were not in fact there and I could very much fall to my doom from that spot. And there's no reloads? Oh well, as annoying as that is, I guess I prefer permadeaths in regard to game storytelling...

And with that humbling death I think I'll be finishing this session. I hope there was at least something amusing in my notes, all taken live as I played the game for the first time

*. This is a bonus point: because I've been reading The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, I am now worried I'll find Lovecraft references in this game. An undying man character makes me wary.

[yesornopolls]

math is blue.

Math is blue

Yes

No

Huh???

Voting ended onJul 11

[the-linen-individual]

I've read two and a half of Lovecraft's short stories and I generally dislike them. And I dislike Lovecraft for what little I know about him and for the views that I see emanating from his stories. That being said, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, which I'm in the middle of, is so easy to visualise for me and I really want to draw some things from it, I also think it would be great material for a short animation, if you cut out the (in my opinion) boring and unnecessarily elongated parts. And this is rather frustrating. Because I don't want to post things about the sleazy guy that Lovecraft was. But I have really good art ideas.

So like. If you see me posting The Case of Charles Dexter Ward stuff, know that I'm shaking my head in disapproval as I do it

[the-linen-individual]

I have finally gotten my head shaved the day has COME

[pookapufferfish]

[tomasens]

niebinarni ludzie w Polsce powinni być bardziej wkurwieni

[the-linen-individual]

Nie wiem czy powinniśmy koniecznie być bardziej wkurwieni (pewnie tak), ale skorzystam z tej szansy żeby podzielić się swoim już istniejącym wkurwem, niekoniecznie na atmosferę panującą w Polsce wokół tematu, ale na język: jak ja nienawidzę języka który jest inherentnie "płciowy"/gendered. Mogę albo mówić o sobie używając słów które pakują mnie w jedną z dwóch, jasno wyznaczonych, binarnych kategorii, albo słów które są nowe, czasem muszę aktywnie pomyśleć jak w ogóle je uformować, które ciężko byłoby mi wprowadzić do języka ludzi którzy są chociaż trochę poza "moją bańką". A i one właściwie sprawiają dla mnie wrażenie, jakbym pakowało się w jakąś "trzecią kategorię", gdzie mnie chodzi o to, żeby nie być w żadnej kategorii. Co jakiś czas, kiedy ktoś chce powiedzieć na mnie odpowiednik angielskiego dude/bro/man (które zazwyczaj są używane kompletnie bezpłciowo), zaczyna się zastanawiać jakiego słowa użyć, a ja wtedy czuję się głupio, bo nie chcę, żeby w normalnej, swobodnej rozmowie zwracano większą uwagę na moją płeć. Nie chcę, żeby stawała się tematem, żeby była tym "czymś dziwnym", czymś, co powoduje rozkminę, nawet, jeśli wszystko jest utrzymane w atmosferze żartobliwej i przyjaznej. Ja chcę sobie po prostu być, chcę żeby ta płeć nie miała znaczenia, albo żeby jej w ogóle nie było, ale ciężko to zrobić, kiedy w samym języku trzeba się wsadzić w jakąś konkretną płciową kategorię.

[cepheusgalaxy]

"Doomed yaoi" this "doomed yuri" that what about doomed found family. What about finding comfort in these new people after going through so much on your own—a community, a solace, a home to come back to. Caring for them with all you've got, only to realize that it wasn't going to work, ever, no matter what you tried. Only to have it ripped apart, no matter how much you tried to hold them close. Found family that becomes lost family. Found family that takes your heart with it when they go.

[allpinkandgoldandglittering]

[vulturevanity]

I think we need to kill the sentiment that people lose their right to personhood once they do something bad enough

[vulturevanity]

I don't know who needs to hear this but you need to stop dehumanising people even if those people are "abusers" or "creeps" because you need to understand that you are not immune to doing something equally as bad

Abusers and creeps are not some species of especially heinous animal or alien or monster wearing the face of a human. They're people. And you NEED to drill it into your head that they are people because you NEED to remember that people are capable of doingn heinous shit. And you are a person. And your loved ones are people.

By emotionally classifying people who have done heinous things as subhuman filth incapable of thinking and feeling and acting just like you and me, and by using that emotional dehumanization as a reason to deny those people any compassion or support on a systemic level, you risk becoming blind to abuse/violence perpetrated by someone close to you or even yourself. Because if "abusers don't deserve rights", then you won't ever want to admit or accept that you or a loved one is perpetrating abuse, and that makes stopping the abuse or preventing further abuse much harder. This is how you end up excuaing abusive behaviour on the grounds that, since you don't see someone as a disgusting subhuman pile of garbage therefore they can't possibly be An Abuser, Trademark

[vulturevanity]

And here'a the even harder pill to swallow: since the world isn't split into "abusers" and "good people", in the same way you or someone you love can inflict abuse/violence on others, the people who HAVE inflicted abuse/violence on others can, in fact, change and become better people

There is no bottomless chasm of moral uncleanliness that someone can run off and fall into and get stuck in forever. People can do better. Yes, even those people. You HAVE to accept this. Otherwise not only is there no motivation for anyone to try and do better (which is when people become stuck in a cycle of violence and abuse they don't want to escape), but your idea of a perfect justice system doesn't look any different from Literal Christian Hell. And I HOPE you understand that Literal Christian Hell is, to put it very lightly, not a good justice system.

[the-linen-individual]

SERVANT TO A CRUEL GOD

This is my OC, Fox, in a drawing inspired by Ary Scheffer's painting of Eliza Branicka, who was likely a transgender man. The text is also remotely inspired by words they wrote, though translated and paraphrased based on what I remember my friend telling me lol

I will not explain his lore for the simple reason that I tried once, very recently, and it took like ten almost full length Discord messages.

The original painting undercut:

[szansa-na-szympansa]

thanks for tagging @u-need-a-nap !! monkey's first tag game

Last song: Ferris Wheel by Gabor Szabo

Last movie: The pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists!

Last book: uhhhhhhh... probably "Poganka"/"The Heathen"?? by Narcyza Żmichowska??

Last show: Transformers Cyberworld

Last video game: does snake count. or solitare. if not then probably faith the unholy trinity

Last thing i ate:

i tag @the-linen-individual @violet-gleam

[the-linen-individual]

Thanks for tagging me brotherrr

Last song: My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark by Fall Out Boy

Last movie: Project Hail Mary probably, unless we count the TADC finale cinema experience *insert the tired eyebags emoji*

Last book: The Shunned House by H.P. Lovecraft, a short story, the whole book is a collection under the title of The Lurking Fear

Last show: Watched fully and last finished - The Amazing Digital Circus, the last show I saw an episode from is Arcane (rewatching)

Last video game: The Sims 4

Last thing I ate: Monte (cream cheese.......??)

I tag @zmkitty and @catatonic-bug