lilyminer

[lilyminer]

Okay, I have the same issues with how Aglaya is presented in P2 that many others have already spoken about. But man, I need to hand it to IPL in terms of how her death is executed within the game. It's one of my favourite examples of environmental storytelling in the whole series.

It took me until my 3rd playthrough to find her body. (On my 2nd playthrough I tried to leave town with her, which is a masterful scene in and of itself.) You're in such a rush on that final day. Running on fumes with no time to sleep, probably halfway to starvation, just desperately running in circles trying to find that fucking courier. You already know Aglaya is dead, but you're never told how or where, and there's so much else going on that looking for her probably isn't your top priority.

You'll miss her entirely unless you take the shortcut around the back of the Town Hall, and even then she's easy to miss. The streets have been lines with corpses for days, and there's nothing to make this one stand out.

I remember just standing there for a second, looking at her, dead in the grass in a puddle of blood, while the realization of what I was seeing sunk in. It's so jarring to see her like that, this visceral reminder that The Inquisitor bleeds like anyone else. You can't interact with her - of course you can't, there's nothing she could say to you. You can loot her body if you want. She isn't carrying a note, or a journal, or any identifying items, just a revolver. It's in perfect condition - was it never used, or did Aglaya just take meticulous care of it? My shotgun was close to breaking, so I took it.

Just like any other corpse, you're given the option to take her organs if you choose. You probably won't; she was uninfected, and it's not like you have the time to brew painkillers anyways. But you could. The idea made me recoil. Over the course of the game you get so desensitized to the fact that you've been killing people to steal their organs, and having the option of doing so to a named character makes the realization hit you all over again. Why does stealing the kidney of a stranger feel like Valuable Loot, but doing the same here would feel like an act of defilement?

Idk how much of this was intentional, but the whole experience affected me pretty deeply. In that moment I was Artemy, stumbling accidentally into the body of this person he'd cared about. Standing in shock for a moment while the reality of the situation sunk in. Searching her body in hopes of some explanation, and finding only an empty revolver. Instinctively reaching for a scalpel, and then hating himself for it. There's no time to grieve, so after a moment or two he gets up and leaves.

When your Bound die, they just... Go away. They despawn, like the video game NPCs they are. It still hurts, but you don't have to look at their corpses or root through their pockets. But Aglaya was a person - more aware of her unreality than most- and she was taken out behind the Town Hall and gunned down like a dog. God I love this fucking game.

[lilyminer]

Shinji is such a terrible person in such a temporary 14 year old boy kind of way. Like, we know this, nge is all about him becoming a better person. But Shinji is especially interesting because he does awful disgusting things (yes mostly talking about That scene). But by the end of the series you get a sense that that was such a isolated act of immaturity and disconnect to those around him.

Not to sound like I'm only viewing his character through the shallow lens of internet cancel culture, because I promise I really am actually trying to think critically about his morality as displayed in the series. But if someone confessed they did that one terrible thing in that hospital room when they were 14, never did it again, and regrets it, I would not put it past them to be someone who has grown into a good person if that's the path they followed afterwards.

I just can't bring myself to see Shinji as any form of irredeemable.

[lilyminer]

I’ve never had that strong opinions for or against censorship, always been a bit wishy washy, context dependent, non committal with any strong opinions that did develop.

I think that might be changing soon.

[lilyminer]

The craziest example of foreshadowing in Steven Universe is Rose's boobs.

[lilyminer]

pathologic memes to aim pointedly at the game's own mechanics

[lilyminer]

Every once in a while I gotta sit down, watch a couple episodes of Metal Family. And bask in some of the most fun an interesting character writing and dialogue I’ve ever seen.

It isn’t even one of my long term fandoms! I’ve not really thought about the series that much. I just watched season 1 episodes 9 and 10 a couple years back and it changed my brain chemistry. Then I went about figuring out what the show is about when we aren’t deep diving into a surprisingly brutal backstory. And I stuck around!

[lilyminer]

patho people i have a hilarious story for you so i was at a theodor bastard show today (the band that made soundtrack for pathologic 2, i absolutely admire them and the show was fire), and a part of my outfit were these two brands drawn under my eyes

at some point me and the friend i play with joke about what would burakh do if he was at the show, what would danko do etc. the show ends, i walk out and i see artemy burakh i have like, proper 5-10 seconds of my brains loading before i realize it's the fuckin DYBOVSKY 😭 in all this shitty abusive glory. and all the time i've been squinting at him he's been squinting at me, probably figuring out the brands on my face in the dark. after which i did the only thing that came to mind and gave him the longest stankiest look before jumping into the taxi. so, uh, BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU MANIFEST I GUESS? LMFAOO

[lilyminer]

horse dramatics

[lilyminer]

THIS SIGN THEY PUT ON THE CABIN IS FUCKING KILLING ME 😭😭

[lilyminer]

first base is ripping each other's throats out second base is fucking and then pretending it didn't happen after it's over. third base is falling unconscious from blood loss in the other's arms

[lilyminer]

Anyone else fuck with individual songs? Who is the artist? I dunno. What album is it from? Shut up. What year was it released? *tim allen grunt* What's the title of the track? Fuck you. But it goes like this: *poorly memorized chorus*

I love that song. Do not ask me anything about it.

[lilyminer]

You’re right and you should say it. 100% correct.

[lilyminer]

me and my girl dont fight she vivisects me and i let her

[lilyminer]

I feel like something happened.

[lilyminer]

giving back to the earth.

[lilyminer]

Honestly watching Gem immediately chase after Pearl excitedly when she realized she was the boogieman was easily one of my favorite moments from this week