#I cannot elaborate on basically anything here yet

[jojo-schmo]

[The Forgotten Land Roleswap: Extra]

The stranger from another land has proven a valuable and welcome presence in the Beast Pack since Clawroline allowed him entry. Leongar can’t deny that. But even though he trusts the Queen with all his heart, he can’t help but quietly wonder about some things he’s noticed…

[theraprism]

Class subtext thoughts on Gatsby, Flatland, and Bill.

So broadly speaking, we've had some idea of what Bill's home dimension was like since the 2015 in-character AMA, when the idea that it was nearly (if not fully) identical to the world of Flatland was first introduced. During the Weirdmaggedon 4-parter, we finally learned that Bill had obliterated his home dimension and called it liberation. (From what I recall the fan concensus on this information was that it was a malicious act of evil on Bill's part -- up until the Book's release, I don't think the idea that it was a tragedy or accident ever had much ground to stand on.) Journal 3 picked up on this again when it established the existence of Exwhylia, which (importantly!) also reinforced the hierarchical nature of existence that Flatland presents.

I'll own up to the fact I've never read Flatland myself (it is on the neverending list of classics that I still haven't gotten to yet) and will be instead be relying mainly on Wikipedia and Sparknotes clones for this analysis, but the good news is that canon Gravity Falls materials have given us the basics of how Bill's home dimension operated at this point, and so knowledge of the work seems less required and moreso recommended. Similarly to Gatsby (the book as well as the character). More on that later.

To be more specific, the important info that Hirsch has given us about Euclydia is that it was repressive in the extreme. The exact ways that it maintained this are left up to the imagination, to an extent (e.g. there is no evidence of the upper echelons of Euclydia carrying out public executions against the lower classes, as there are in Flatland), but the Book does directly pull an image from Flatland that illustrates the class hierarchy there.

Since Flatland was written originally as a satire of the stratification in Victorian society, the work goes to great lengths to specify and elaborate on the different social roles of each shape (for example, women as lines, though the gender stratification isn't relevant in Bill's case). More relevant is the way that the work considers upward mobility through generations, and the fact that isoceles triangles (working class) are considered among the lowest beings in existence, just above irregular shapes. Bill has been referred to and drawn inconsistently as both isoceles and equilateral, but based on what we learn from Exwhylia in Journal 3, it's possible that this distinction is not relevant in the GF multiverse's reinterpretation of Flatland. See:

I'm sure a part of this reduction of the hierarchy in the original Flatland has to do with the work needing to be at least somewhat accessible to younger readers, but it does textually ensure that, regardless of the specific details of Bill's geometry, he comes from a background where, in spite of his exceptional ability to see the third dimension, he saw those around him receive resources more freely. His singling out of irregular quadrilaterals reads to me as a form of internalized classism; he needs someone to punch down to.

And earlier:

He describes his regular shape as an out-and-out "power". Bill explicitly carries with him the classist ideals and values of his home dimension despite its destruction. The way he internalizes different ideas about himself and who he is is probably a subject for another post, but the point is that these qualities Bill is emphasizing aren't simply a matter of arrogance. Bill is trying to sell himself as a gentleman, a respectable individual from an upper-middle class position.

This is where Gatsby becomes relevant, because The Great Gatsby is all about a man who wants more than anything to cross the threshold of inborn greatness and become a true upperclassman. Bill appealing to his innate biological qualities as evidence for his own greatness relates back to the notion that such greatness is an ontological trait which cannot be given, but can also not be taken away. Note what he explicitly says here about the themes of class in Gatsby:

If you walk up to any college English professor and ask them what Gatsby has to say about the American Dream, I really do not think you are going to hear them say the word "bittersweet". The American Dream is a false idol and illusion; Gatsby himself is utterly miserable and meets a miserable end. There is nothing "sweet" about it.

At the same time, it makes sense that Bill would describe it as bittersweet, because for all his powers of sight, Bill cannot imagine a future where he is happy. Throwing crazy parties every night (for Gatsby at his home, for Bill on the Earth's remains), staring at an unreachable desire far out in the distance -- that's his end goal. He emerged from a position where he was repressed and since then his life has been a steady climb/crawl in the direction of power and control. Both Gatsby and Bill seek to reclaim a lost sense of fulfillment and purpose through this ascent, and both seek to become untouchable as gods are, but both are brought down in the end due to the consequences of their own actions, stemming directly from the violence they bring into their worlds of their own volition. In case you've forgotten, or if you've never read it, Gatsby's money is not clean. We may not see Bill use money, but his social currency is not clean either.

I think it's telling that Flatland can be understood as it relates to Bill's character through summary, but with Gatsby, there is so much subtle incentive to actually read the thing. From the GIF originally posted by Hirsch that I included at the top of the post to the PDF link on ThisIsNotAWebsiteDotCom.com to the fact that the gag in the Book itself goes on for multiple pages when it could have ended after one or two, the intertextuality is paramount. I think that's really cool. It's rare to see intertextuality this well-considered in genre fiction, and I think it makes the whole analytical process more fun.

[periwinkla]

1-4 ending JP -> ENG comparison

Keep in mind: -Notes are in small text -The / is meant to separate paragraphs (I'll use it when it gets too visually messy) Disclaimer : I only studied Japanese for a little while. AA dialogue is pretty simple though. Also English isn't my native language either. Feel free to correct me on anything wrong here. Also note that I'm not trying to make the translations sound natural, I'm mostly trying to explain what the words are saying, sometimes I'll be more literal than others. Translation =/= localization.

Phoenix 終わったな、御剣‥‥。 Owatta na, Mitsurugi... So, it's finally over, Edgeworth.

Edgeworth ‥‥‥‥‥‥ … 成歩堂。 Naruhodou. Wright.

Phoenix ん？ N? Yeah?

Edgeworth: ‥‥‥‥‥‥ … ‥‥その‥‥、 なんと言えばいいのか‥‥。 ...Sono... nan to ieba ii no ka... I… I'm not sure how to say this.

Maya そういうときはね。 “ありがとう”って言うんだよ！ Sou iu toki wa ne. "Arigatou" tte iun da yo! I know! I know! Try "thank you."

Edgeworth そ、そうなのか。 So, Sou na no ka. I… I see.

‥‥‥‥‥‥ …

あ、ありがとう��成歩堂。 A, Arigatou, Naruhodou. Th-thank you, Wright.

Phoenix ど、どういたしまして。 Do, douitashimashite. Y-you're welcome. They sound fairly stiff here. Phoenix's response isn't exactly formal by Japanese standards... I'd say it's casual/formal, but the stuttering makes it stiffer, I feel. Also compared to how they behave in 3-5, I think it's very different. Will elaborate in a future post when I get to analyze that dialogue.

Maya うーん‥‥イマイチ、 ハリアイがないなあ‥‥。 Uun... imaichi, hariai ga nai naa.. I think you could have done better than that!

Edgeworth ム‥‥スマン。 こういうの、ニガテで‥‥。 Mu... Suman. Kouiu no, nigate de... Oof! S-sorry… I'm not good at this sort of thing.

Maya もう！　ダメだなあ、御剣検事は。 Mou! Dame da naa, Mitsurugi Kenji wa. You got a lot to learn, Edgeworth!

Phoenix （‥‥やれやれ‥‥） (...Yareyare...) (Dear, dear…) (this is not at all important but I noticed it's an expression Phoenix uses a lot: yare yare...)

Gumshoe うおおおおおおおおおおおおおっ！ Uoooooooooooooh! Whoooooooooooooop!

さすがッス！　自分が見込んだ だけのコトはあったッス！ Sasuga ssu! Jibun ga mikonda dake no koto wa atta ssu! Amazing, pal! You pulled through just like I thought you would!

糸鋸　圭介。この恩は一生、 わすれないッス！ Itonoko Keisuke. Kono on wa isshou, wasurenai ssu! I'll never forget this! I owe you one, pal.

今夜は、パーッとやるッス！ 自分がゴチソウするッス！ Kon'ya wa, paa tto yaru ssu! Jibun ga gochisou suru ssu! And tonight, let's party! Dinner's on me!

今月から給料がちょっぴり 下がったッスが、気にしねッス！ Kongetsu kara kyuuryou ga choppiri sagatta ssu ga, ki ni shine ssu! Yeah, my salary went down a bit this month… But who cares!

Maya ほらほらほら、御剣検事。 イトノコ刑事を見ならうの！ Hora hora hora, Mitsurugi Kenji. Itonoko Keiji wo minarau no! See, Mr. Edgeworth? You should take a lesson from Detective Gumshoe!

あんな感じにやると、カンシャの キモチが伝わるんだよ！ Anna kanji ni yaru to, kansha no kimochi ga tsutawarun da yo! That's how you say "thank you"!

Edgeworth ‥‥ム。 な‥‥なるほど。 ...Mu. Na.... Naruhodo. Mmm. I… I see. Note how he basically says Wright's butchered JP name, which is a pun for the game (it means 'I see' / 'I understand') but it also means that the gap between them is somewhat getting narrower. It could just be for comic relief, but...note that when he attempts to thank him the first time, he calls out to him with 'Naruhodou', but now on his second attempt he says 'Naruhodo' before trying to thank him. Unfortunately the subtletly and ambiguity of this cannot be localized. By the way, he also uses 'Naruhodo' before the final trial in T&T, will elaborate on in at a later date. (I don't know whether there are other times other than these two, I haven't analyzed enough transcripts yet)

コホン。 Gohon. ahem

う、うおおおおおおおおおっ！ U, Uooooooooh! Whooooooooooooop! This is, and I'm completely serious here, one of my most favourite scenes. Note the difference between Edgeworth's and Gumshoe's shouts: in the JP, 4 'O's are missing in Edgeworth's shout, while in ENG, 1 'O' is missing - the localization was careful enough to add that tiny difference, and although I am not sure why they reduced it to one single 'O', it's still interesting they differentiated them all the same.

‥‥‥‥‥‥ …

ダメだ。‥‥ヤッパリ、 私なんか‥‥。 Dame da. ...Yappari, Watashi nanka... I… I feel foolish. literal translation: No, that's not right. As I thought, / someone like me... *'someone like me...' : the underlying message seems to be: 'As I thought, something like this/acting like this wouldn't fit someone like me'

Maya まあまあ、少しずつ 慣れていきましょうよ。 Maa maa, sukoshi zutsu narete ikimashou yo. Don't worry. Take it a little at a time. You'll get used to it.

more literal translation: Come on, come on, little by little / let's get used to it! It seems to me Maya says it in a way to mean something like they'll do it together, so he shouldn't worry - implying he's not alone (anymore), again Japanese can be subtle so I'm not sure, but considering Maya's empathic character, I'd say that's what she meant. In any case, she's trying to encourage him. Very sweet! Phoenix （こんなスナオな御剣を 　見るの、１５年ぶりだな‥‥） (Konna sunao na Mitsurugi o miru no, juugo-nen buri da na...) (It's been fifteen years since I've seen Edgeworth this… unguarded.)

more literal translation: It's been 15 years... since I've seen Edgeworth (act) this honest (with his feelings)... Phoenix is saying that it's been a long time since he's seen Edgeworth be honest/sincere with his feelings/upfront with his feelings. The localization gets the meaning across very nicely. Lotta おっ、いたいた！ O, ita ita! Hey, y'all!

Maya あ、ナツミさん！ A, Natsumi-san! Lotta!

Lotta いやー、アンタら。 カッコよかったでー。 Iya, antara. Kakkoyokatta de. Y'all were great in there!

Phoenix ありがとうございます。 Arigatou gozaimasu. Thank you!

Lotta おッ。ニイちゃん。 無罪、おめでと！ Oo, Niichan. Muzai, omedetou! Yo, Edgeworth! Congrats!

Edgeworth ム‥‥お、おおきに。 Mu... o, ookini. Er… thank y'all very much. ookini = 'thank you a lot' in Kansai dialect (which is the dialect Lotta uses) I find it adorably funny that first he tries to imitate Gumshoe to thank people and now he's trying Lotta's ways...

Lotta ウチには、最初から わかってたんやで！ Uchi ni wa, saisho kara wakattetan ya de! I knew you were innocent from the start, of course.

あんたが無罪だ、ってなあ！ Anta ga muzai da, tte naa! Just look at you! You wouldn't stick your hand in the cookie jar even if no one was there! The ENG adds a lot here which wasn't in the original. in the JP, she basically only says: 'From the start, / I knew! / That you were innocent!!' (I think this is mostly done to convey Lotta's character, since the dialect wouldn't have been enough here to convey that I believe)

Edgeworth ‥‥たしか、初日の 検察側の証人だったような‥‥。 ...Tashika, shonichi no kensatsu-gawa no shounin datta you na... You… were the witness on the first day of the trial, weren't you.

Lotta まま。まあまあ。 細かいこと、気にしなさんな！ Ma ma. Maa maa. Komakai koto, ki ni shinasan na! Yeah, well, let bygones be bygones, eh?

Phoenix そういえば、ナツミさん‥‥、 今は、何を‥‥？ Sou ieba, Natsumi-san..., Ima wa, nani o...? Speaking of which, what are you doing now, Lotta?

Lotta おー、今か？ 大学にもどったで。 Oo, ima ka? Daigaku ni modotta de. Who, me? Aww, I went back to college.

スクープカメラマンになる夢は、 もうオシマイや。 Sukūpu kameraman ni naru yume wa, mō oshimai ya. I gave up trying to be an investigative photographer pretty quick.

Phoenix そうなんですか‥‥。 Sou nan desu ka... Really? That's too bad.

Lotta あれ？ Are? Huh?

Phoenix ？ ?

Lotta あそこにいるの、公園の マンジュウ屋、ちゃうか？ Asoko ni iru no, kōen no manjū-ya, chau ka? Isn't that the hotdog guy from the park?

Phoenix ‥‥え？ ...E? Huh?

Larry ‥‥死ぬんだぁ‥‥。 ...Shinun daa... It's over, Nick! My life is over!

Phoenix な、なんでおまえが そんなカオしてるんだよ！ Na, nande omae ga sonna kao shiteru nda yo! Wh-why the sad face, Larry!? What happened now!?

Larry 成歩堂ぉ‥‥。 オレ、そろそろ死ぬからさぁ。 Naruhodouo... Ore, sorosoro shinu kara saa. Oh, Nick… I'm not long for this world. (Just funny how he drags Naruhodou's name out in a wail here.)

Phoenix い、いやいやいや。 I, iya iya iya. Uh… you don't look sick… literally like 'n, nonono' but meaning something more like 'wa, wait wait wait' - it sounds like he's about done with Larry's histrionics and possibly shaking his head in denial...

Larry カズミがよお‥‥パリ 暮らすって言い出して‥‥、 Kazumi ga yoo...Pari kurasu tte iidashite... It's Kiyance! Sh-she's goin' to live in Paris! Paris, Nick!

置いていかれちまったんだよぉぉ！ Oiteikarechimattan da yooo! She's leaving me behind!!!

Phoenix （‥‥やれやれ‥‥） (...Yare yare...) (Larry, Larry…) I noticed Phoenix uses this expression a lot. It's quite funny to me, reminds me of an old man that is about done with his youngings' shenanigans.

Larry お。御剣。いたのか。 O. Mitsurugi. Ita no ka. Yo, Edgey! There you are!

Edgeworth ム。そりゃまあ、いる。 Mu. Sorya maa, iru. Um, yes, here I am.

Larry おめでとうな、御剣。 ‥‥コレ、オレからのお祝い！ Omedetou na, Mitsurugi. ...Kore, ore kara no oiwai! Congrats, Edgey! Here… a little gift from me in celebration!

Edgeworth “お祝い”？　‥‥めずらしいな。 "Oiwai"? ...Mezurashii na. Celebration? That's unusual for you.

Gumshoe お。アンタも後で来るッス！ ゴチソウするッス！ O. Anta mo ato de kuru ssu! Gochisou suru ssu! Harry Butz! You come along tonight too! My treat, pal!

Larry は、はあ。 楽しみにしてます。 Ha, haa. Tanoshiminishitemasu. Huh? Uh… thanks! Looking forward to it! （オイ、成歩堂） (Oi, Naruhodou) (Yo, yo, Nick!)

（アイツ、オレを取り調べした 　刑事だぜ‥‥） (Aitsu, ore o toriirabeshita keiji da ze...) (That's the suit that questioned me!)

（ゴチソウって、まさか 　カツ丼じゃねえだろうな‥‥） (Gochisōtte, masaka katsudon ja nee darou na...) (When he says treat… that's not police-talk for prison food, right? Right?)

Phoenix そ、それはないと思うぞ。 So, sore wa nai to omou zo. Uh, I think you'll be fine, Larry.

Edgeworth ‥‥成歩堂。 ...Naruhodou. Wright…

Phoenix ん？　どうした？ N? Doushita? Yeah? What's up?

Edgeworth ‥‥金が入っているぞ。 矢張がくれた封筒。 ...Kane ga haitte iru zo. Yahari ga kureta fūtō. That envelope that Larry gave me. It's got money in it.

Phoenix そりゃそうだろ。 “お祝い”だからな。 Sorya sou daro. "Oiwai" dakara na. Well, yeah. That's not that strange. People give money away to celebrate sometimes.

Edgeworth ３８００��だ。 3800 en da. It's $38.00, Wright.

Phoenix ‥‥また、ずいぶんハンパな 金額だな‥‥。 ...Mata, zuibun hanpa na kingaku da na... Huh. What a weird amount. I mean, it's not a little, but it's not a lot either.

‥‥‥‥‥‥ …

３８００円？ 3800 en? $38.00 exactly?

Maya ‥‥ななな、なるほどくん！ ...Na na na, Naruhodo-kun! N-N-Nick!

小学校のころ、御剣検事が盗まれた 給食費って、たしか‥‥！ Shōgakkō no koro, Mitsurugi-Kenji ga nusumareta kyūshoku-hi tte, tashika...! Wasn't that exactly the amount of lunch money that was stolen from Mr. Edgeworth in school!?

Phoenix さ‥‥３８００円‥‥？ Sa... 3800 en...? $38…!

ままま、まさか‥‥ Ma ma ma, masaka.... No… (I think the shock-induced stuttering in this line might be meant to parallel Maya's previous one. Cute!)

‥‥‥‥まさかああああッ！ 矢張、お前ェェェェッ！ ...Masakaaaaa! Yahari, omaeeee! No!!! Larry, it was you!!! There is a fun pun lost in translation here. Larry's JP name, Yahari, means 'after all/as expected/as I thought' - so Larry's name can be intended both as a vocative and a figure of speech here. "After all, it was you!" = "Larry, it was you!" The phrases basically overlap in JP, as if he were saying them at the same time.

Edgeworth 何をイロめきたっている？ 成歩堂。 Nani o iromekitatte iru? Naruhodou. What are you so surprised about, Wright?

Phoenix え？ E? Huh?

Edgeworth たしかに矢張は、あの日 カゼで学校を休んでいた。 Tashika ni Yahari wa, ano hi Kaze de gakkou wo yasunde ita. Larry was absent that day from school, right?

だが、だからといって 犯人でないという理由にはならん。 Daga, dakara to itte hannin de nai to iu riyuu ni wa naran. But that doesn't automatically rule him out as a suspect.

Phoenix え！ What?

Edgeworth １５年前の、あの日。 15 nen mae no, ano hi. Think back to that day, fifteen years ago.

休んだはいいが、タイクツだった 矢張は、学校に来てみたのだろう。 Yasunda hai ga, taikutsu datta Yahari wa, gakkou ni kite mita no darou. Larry took the day off, but he was bored, he came in to school anyway.

そして、まあ‥‥、ちょっと 手が伸びてしまったんだろうな。 Soshite, maa..., chotto te ga nobite shimatta ndarou na. Then he saw the money lying there… and the rest is history.

Larry 伸びちまったんだろうねえ、 イヤハヤ、これが‥‥。 Nobichimattan darou nee, iyahaya, kore ga... I never was good at History! Heh… The joke is a bit different here, Edgeworth jokes that Larry's hand must have 'stretched out' , but I suppose 'slipped' is more apt. And Larry is like 'Yeah, guess it must have slipped!' The translation would be something like: Edgeworth: And, well, / his hand must have ended up slipping (must have slipped). Larry: Yeah, guess it must have slipped, / eheh, well...

Phoenix ‥‥‥‥‥‥ …

御剣‥‥まさかお前、 ‥‥知ってたのか？ Mitsurugi... Masaka omae, ...Shitteta no ka? Edgeworth… you didn't know, did you?

Edgeworth ‥‥アヤシイとは思っていた。 ...Ayashii to wa omotteita. I suspected.

literal translation: I thought it was suspicious. (I find it endearing that he suspected but didn't say anything - despite how he acts, Edgeworth is really a softie most times, even towards Larry who he has the rightful urge to murder more often than not) いつもの矢張なら、 お前をかばうのはオカシイ。 Itsumo no Yahari nara, Omae o kabau no wa okashii. I just couldn't picture Larry protecting you like he did that day.

みんなといっしょになって、 ここぞとばかり責めたてただろう。 Minna to issho ni natte, Kokozo to bakari semetate daro. Everyone else was saying you did it. The whole class was against you, remember?

Phoenix ‥‥うむむむむ。 ... Umumumumu. Yeah… too well. Phoenix's blabbering is hilarious here. He's in utter denial. Like he's nodding at what he's saying but he's refusing the knowledge to enter his brain.

Edgeworth 成歩堂。もしかしたら お前は知らないかもしれないが、 Naruhodou. Moshikashitara Omae wa shiranai kamoshirenai ga, Wright, you may not know this, but we used to have a saying back in school.

この男は、こう言われていたんだ。 “事件のカゲにヤッパリ矢張”と。 Kono otoko wa, kou iwarete ita nda. "Jiken no kage ni yappari Yabari" to. "When something smells, it's usually the Butz." The saying actually means : 'In the shadow of an incident/trouble, after all, there is Larry' There is the usual pun 'yappari Yahari' so I think the localization of the saying and his name was done very well to render the original meaning.

Phoenix そのコトバなら、イヤというほど 思い知らされてるよ！ Sono kotoba nara, iya to iu hodo omoishirasa reteru yo! I know, I know. I would translate this more to: 'If you're saying that, why didn't you tell me!'

Edgeworth ‥‥いやあ、成歩堂。まさか、 キミが気づいていなかったとは。 ...Iyaa, Naruhodou. Masaka, Kimi ga kizuite inakatta to wa. Really, Wright. I'm surprised you didn't figure it out! '...Why, Wright. It can't be, / you hadn't realized.' This is so funny to me, in both versions. In JP it sounds a bit more teasing and cocky, but still. It sounds like to Edgeworth, shouting objection and reprimanding his classmates and teacher as a 9 year old was no big deal. So he didn't care to mention, thought Phoenix would figure it out. If not, no big deal. To Phoenix, it was life-changing. Phoenix is having a (mid) life crisis.

Larry 意外だねこりゃあ。 Igai da ne koryaa. Well, this is sure an unexpected turn of events, eh?

Phoenix ‥‥御剣。 ... Mitsurugi. Edgeworth…

Edgeworth ん？ N? Hmm?

Phoenix 言えよ！ Ieyo! You should have told me! Here it may look like a whole different thing but it's mostly that there is no other natural way to translate this. 'Ieyo' is just the imperative of the verb 'ieru', 'to tell'. It kinda gives the feeling of 'But (then) tell me, dammit!'

Maya まあまあ、なるほどくん。 もう１５年前のコトでしょ？ Maa maa, Naruhodo-kun. Mou juugo-nen mae no koto desho? Now, now, Nick. It was fifteen years ago!

これって“じこう”ってヤツ だよね？　御剣検事。 Kore tte "jikou" tte yatsu da yo ne? Mitsurugi Kenji. Don't you think the "statute of limitations" has run out, Mr. Edgeworth?

Edgeworth そういうこと、だな。 Souiu koto, da na. I'd say so, yes.

Larry そういうことだよ。 Souiu koto da yo. There you have it! In JP version, I found it funny how Larry parrots Edgeworth's words. 'Souiu koto' means 'it's like that'.

Phoenix ‥‥まったく‥‥。 ...Mattaku,,, Grr…

お前らにカンシャして弁護士に なったぼくの立場はどうなるんだ？ Omaera ni kansha shite bengoshi ni natta boku no tachiba wa dou narun da? Where does that leave me!? I became a defense attorney because of what you two did!

Edgeworth 感動的なまでのお人よし、 といったところだろうか。 Kandō-teki na made no o-hito yoshi, to itta tokoro darou ka. Well, I'd call you a goody-two-shoes to the extreme.

Larry とんだお調子モノ、とも 言えるよナ！ Tonda o-chōshimono, tomo ieru yo na! Yeah! And you get worked up too easily, too!

Phoenix し、死刑だ！ コイツを死刑にしてくれェッ！ Shi, shikei da! Koitsu o shikei ni shite kuree! D-death! The death sentence for both of you!

‥‥こんなことなら、 検事になりゃよかったあ！ ...Konna koto nara, kenji ni narya yokattaa! Man, if I only had known, I'd have become a prosecutor!

Edgeworth ‥‥それは私も同じだ。 ...Sore wa watashi mo onaji da. The same goes for me, only the other way around…

“もしかしたら、自分は父親を 撃ってしまったのかもしれない” "Moshikashitara, jibun wa chichioya o utte shimatta no kamoshirenai" For the longest time, I thought that I might have killed my own father. These are provided as literal phrases he thought: 'Could it be, I myself was the one that ended up shooting my father.'

“自分は罪人かもしれない” "Jibun wa zainin kamoshirenai" I thought I might be a criminal. "What if I'm a criminal, myself.'

‥‥私は、そういう自分を 罰する意味もあって検事になった。 …Watashi wa, sou iu jibun o batsu suru imi mo atte kenji ni natta. I became a prosecutor in part to punish myself.

Basically the same, but instead of saying 'in part' he says that was one of the reasons. He says he became a prosecutor for that reason as well (among others), the reason being that of punishing himself. ‥‥こんなことなら、 弁護士になりたかったよ。 ...Konna koto nara, bengoshi ni naritakatta yo. If I had known the truth, I might have become a defense attorney after all. 'If it were like this (if I had known), I would have wished to become a defense attorney.' The way he says it seems way more heartbreaking in Japanese. Naritakatta = wanted to become, which here becomes 'I would have wanted to become' because of context. I translated it as 'would have wished' because it seems more apt here. Naritakatta expresses a desire for something you had wanted in the past. 'I would have gone for being a defense attorney'... It indicates that someone wanted to become or achieve something at some point in the past, but for some reason, they were not able to fulfill that desire.

Phoenix ‥‥御剣。 ... Mitsurugi. Edgeworth…

Edgeworth かわるか、成歩堂。 Kawaru ka, Naruhodou. Want to switch, Wright? Says the same thing... and it sounds so resigned in both versions. It's curt, and their conversation ends just like that. Breaks my heart.

[subway-boss-jericho]

Queuing posts for most of my AUs! Check out this Masterpost! (Disclaimer! - Please don't comment about their iconic knife bangs! I left them off this reference to keep their faces fully visible.)

how could we have possibly fallen this far?

-Premise- When Emmet comes to, he finds he doesn't remember very much. His name is Emmet. He........... Likes combinations of things..? And he likes... Winning. More than anything else. He feels like there may have been something else, too... Something... A man in black, one who looks like him. Yet, he cannot seem to remember his face. Only... You grow stronger by matching yourself against a strong opponent. He said that to Emmet, he is sure.

None of that does him much help, trying to find a job with no credentials in 'New York City.' He's sure he has plenty of experience and qualification, but any time he strains too hard, his head begins to hurt quite badly. There was a scar, and he was told something about, blunt force trauma. He manages to get a job working for the local subway station- Which feels verrrry comfortable, and familiar, yet wrong. Even though his luck is looking quite poor, his life is not that bad.

All of that changes when, one day, he overhears something familiar on the subway. Two young folks talking about, 'Pokemon!' Yes! Pokemon! That was verrrry familiar! He quickly rediscovers his love for the games, although something feels... Hollow, in that appreciation.

But he looks forward with great anticipation to the new game slated to release! He's purchased a copy early, to ensure he does not miss the chance to play it himself! This, 'Pokemon: Legends Arceus' sounds verrrry fun!

...Oh, how little he knew.

-Noteworthy Points- This AU is almost always just called 2D AU for short!

Welcome to hell! Welcome to hell! Welcome to hell! This started out as a gag between some friends and then I had to stare them in the eyes and say DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE WORDS YOU'RE SPEAKING RIGHT NOW??

Emmet! Is in real world NYC! There's a very elaborate explanation for Ingo but I don't have the space to explain, but basically- He can 'see' metaphorically through the fourth wall upon encountering Emmet for the first few times and he regains his memory! However! He is bound by the rules of the game! So he cannot easily communicate that he remembers who Emmet is and that he is here and aware! This AU is sooo fucked it's genuinely something else. It's not all angst I swear, but I am not going to lie to you there are so many emotions created by this scenario and most of them are Not positive.

-Links- Currently none! I will update this post with links to comics/art/writing if/when I post any!

[rippleclan]

given how much StarClan interacts with RippleClan (mostlt Oilstripe, for.. obvious reasons), could Scrubmask tell them who did it? or was it so quick that even she didn't catcha glimpse of the killer? im assuming it took her moment between dying and becoming a spirit, so the killed escaped the scene, but again.. what about other StarClans that visit the living so frequently.

this one thing always bugs me in canon books, with how much StarClan interacts with living cats and yet just refuse to do *anything*. 'no Redtail, you can't warn the clans about Tigerclaw murdering you, we need the special orange child to do it :) who cares it will take him months to figure it out :)) who cares that Tigerclaw will kill more cats in the meantime and we will then give him 9 lives so he can continue killing more cats :))) also dont worry if your dead sister visits our special orange boy every night, she is here to vibe and talk. no, not talk about your murder lol who cares.'

Ok ok ok, so this was an issue that I brought up in my StarClan lore post, but I’ll elaborate here. The solution I crafted for this plot hole is that there is a greater power keeping the cat’s mouths shut about these issues; the All-Seeing.

If you don’t remember, the All-Seeing is the mass of forgotten cats who guard the river of time and space. They are basically a god. They don’t necessarily have the same sort of logic or morality as living cats or regular StarClan cats. They see everything, and know how the flow of time will progress. They are the one who allows StarClan to send omens and prophecies. They’re also the one who lets you, the readers, alter events! Their main goal is the continuation of the Clans.

The problem with the All-Seeing is that, while StarClan could let cats know about so many of these omnipotent details, they have already seen the Clans work through these issues. They give StarClan power to send prophecies if the Clans would not be able to properly overcome a certain challenge without divine assistance. Like I said in my prophecy discussion, prophecies are tools to guide the cats to the right actions or knowledge. If nothing changes as a result of having the prophecy, there is no point in giving it. While StarClan can predict some things as well, the majority of this specific power comes from the All-Seeing. If they do not want something said, StarClan physically cannot say it.

Let’s take a few examples. When Carnationspeckle was kidnapped, Oilstripe asked Applepelt for news about her mate, but Applepelt was unable to say anything. This was because the All-Seeing already knew that RippleClan would quickly save Carnationspeckle and establish a tentative peace with the Witch Hunters. Giving Oilstripe more information would disturb the flow of time severely. Conversely, Fennelspot received a prophecy about Tempestkit because, has he not reacted to the faint smoke in the air, Tempestkit would have frozen to death and disturbed some of the All-Seeing’s important plans with the flow of time. They have a plan that is hard to fathom, and they will follow it.

There are a lot of nuances to how much power StarClan and the All-Seeing actually have, and how clerics and their rituals can alter this, but that’s for another post. I’ll tackle the issue of Scrubmask specifically. You as readers know it was murder, but in the eyes of RippleClan, they believe the death was caused by a Witch Hunter. They have no reason to suspect a Clan cat of killing Scrubmask. Scrubmask is prevented from casually saying anything to Oilstripe, whose abilities disturb the All-Seeing’s order of things. Should Troutpool perform a ritual in regards to Scrubmask’s murder, StarClan and the All-Seeing may have the power and freedom to say something. However, in the All-Seeing’s future, keeping the killer a secret is important.

[transmascpetewentz]

A Short Guide To Writing Gay Trans Men

So a few disclaimers before I start:

I'm not going to talk about anything sex-related here because 1) people have made other guides and google is your friend & 2) I'm not very comfortable with it.

I am just one person, and due to the fact that I am white and thin and perisex, I will definitely have blind spots. If you want more information about intersections that don't apply to me, ask someone who it does apply to!

I did get lots of messages from trans guys giving me advice on this, but nonetheless I do not speak for absolutely everyone.

There will be very little info here on how to accurately write medical transitions because that's not something I've experienced. Google is your best friend on this one.

This is not a complete post. I will keep adding to it as time goes on. If you're seeing this post reblogged by someone else, click on the original to see if I've made any additions or corrections before you send me that anon hate and/or comment telling me to kill myself.

What Not To Do

When there is a trans male character written by a cis person, especially a cis man, there's a very solid chance that he is going to check off at least 9 of the following boxes:

Thin

White

Able-bodied

Neurotypical or LSN neurodivergent

Binary

No nuance given to his identity and expression

Sexuality not specified or elaborated on

A cis person's love interest

2 dimensional transmasc stereotype

Usually small and feminine, but not actually femme

Gay transmasc characters written by cis people are very difficult to find because cis authors will often not specify the sexuality of the trans man dating a cis man or elaborate on his connection to the MLM community. This is because many cis authors believe that writing a gay trans man is just writing a woman but switching one of the genders. This is, of course, not true, and there must be more care taken to provide nuance and create a more accurate (and non-dysphoria-inducing) representation.

Moving Past The White Twink Stereotype

This is one of the most basic bars to clear for a cis person writing a gay trans man, and yet so many continue to fail at this very simple task. Ask yourself: is your gay transmasc character a white, hairless, thin person? If the answer is yes, that's not inherently a bad thing, though it may be good to reflect on why you want to create a character like this if this is the only type of transmasc representation you write.

The biggest thing you need to do here is to give him a set of defining traits. Not physical traits, not even gender expression traits. Just personality. What kind of person is he? How does he cope with the transphobia in this world (unless you're writing a fantasy universe without transphobia)? How does he act towards strangers? How does he approach people of different genders? What is his outlook on cis people? Once you have the basics, it's time to think about his physical appearance & expression and how that has impacted his life and his personality.

You also want to avoid the trope where a gay trans man's personality is undeveloped and he is treated as an object for cis men to help them advance their character arcs. It's fine for trans men to serve a purpose like that in the story, but they need to be their own individual humans.

Writing Sexuality

If your trans male characters date men, and I cannot reiterate this enough, make them be open about their homosexuality or bisexuality. Give them a sexual orientation and make them be proud of it. Of course, not every gay trans man is going to identify heavily with a masc/fem role in gay male relationships, but you should seriously consider whether or not your character would.

Additionally, don't follow the flawed line of logic of "trans man -> vagina -> bottom -> fem/femme." It's fine to make your gay trans male characters fem but please, I swear to god please give them a good reason for being so. If you do make your character femme, be very cautious to use language that doesn't trigger actual trans men's dysphoria. Don't constantly point out the character's physical features that may be associated with femininity unless you're making a point either about his dysphoria or about how society treats him or maybe about how he comes to accept his body. However, please be extremely careful with the last one as this trope has been used in so many transphobic portrayals.

Have your gay trans male character exist in gay spaces with other gay men (both cis and trans). Have him be open about being a gay man specifically. Give him cis gay male friends. Give him trans gay male friends. Don't allow your reader to ignore the fact that he is very much a gay man.

Dysphoria

For the love of all things good, please do not write your gay trans male character's dysphoria as "from the day I was born, I knew I was born in the wrong body. I have had no internalized shame or guilting into making me doubt my transness, and it was obvious that I was not a woman." That's not how anyone's dysphoria works, even if they did know from a young age that they were born in the wrong body.

For gay trans men specifically, most of us end up realizing we're trans around either age 12 or age 20. This doesn't mean he has to be exactly that age, but that's generally the safest age to have your character's egg crack. Of course, you can sprinkle in signs that he's trans since he was a young child, but I know a lot of gay trans men and I have yet to meet one who has known since birth and has had no doubt in his mind about it. However you can and should write older gay trans men, even some who find out they're trans in their 40s or older. Representation of older trans people is seriously lacking compared to how many there are.

Don't make your character the stereotype of a straight trans man who doesn't face the specific intersection of being trans and gay. Facing this intersection does affect something even as personal as dysphoria. Many of us will have self-doubt, believe that we're disgusting fetishists of gay men, or simply exist as women in gay spaces for a time. You also have to take into account gay beauty standards & your character's upbringing to figure out what they're likely to be most dysphoric about.

hi :3

That's it for now. I'll keep adding to this post as I get feedback and suggestions. If you want more advice, feel free to send me an ask. When I get enough asks about things, I'll make an FAQ post answering some of them.

[themadlu]

What Is It In You I Cannot See?

Astarion fails to sneak on Zelie, but somehow he still ends up with a full belly. Nothing asked of him. He is scared of her and angry at her at the same time. He is also happy. He is in uncharted territory. He doesn't understand if she'll be his salvation or his doom.

He also hates dogs.

TW: references to past SA (nothing graphic), mentions of animal cruelty (if him wanting to eat Scratch counts).

This is a oneshot from a longer fic idea. Zelie is my named Tav OC, but here there is no physical description, aside from eye colour.

Tagging @spacebarbarianweird because she's so talented and kind!

“Remind me again, darling, what are we doing in these godsforsaken woods?” 

Astarion had woken up…happy—with a full stomach (He had forgotten what that felt like) and a clear head (He can hear the stern cadence of her sweet, precious blood being pumped through her heart). 

His restless reverie made bearable by the life essence he took last night. 

No, not took. He was too pathetically weak even for the basic functions of a vampire. It was a gift.

This is a gift—I won’t forget it.

He said as much, head tilted towards her, looking, but not seeing; he couldn’t bear to actually stare at the person he was indebted to now. 

She doesn’t call it debt. There are enough ill-guided, wretched ideas floating in that head of hers, all about justice and fairness and respect, that she hasn’t asked anything in return for her donation.

Yet. 

She will. If he thinks too long about it, it terrifies him.

No one hands their life blood over to anyone (to a monster) without a sizeable payback in mind. Either that, or he’ll have to start believing all her ideals (Her actions) are not an elaborate set of masks to trick him into trust (She’d be more idiotic than he thought, in that case).

Still, her confounding attitude worked in his favour. Not only he wasn’t left to starve the night before (a novelty in and of itself), but he’ll get future access to his dinner for the foreseeable future. 

She said so (“You can feed on me again, IF you swear you won’t hurt others and stick to animals when I’m not around”). Her face carved in stone, unmovable as she always is when establishing her rules. Her boundaries.

(No one ever cared for his boundaries. An object of pleasure doesn't need any.)

But she looked at him like he would actually understand, as if the concept couldn’t be so foreign to him. Something in the world shifted.

Truth be told, you were my first. 

Something changes in her eyes too and her expression softens, but doesn’t relent. 

“Let’s keep me as the only for now. If you wish to tell the others and any of them are willing to donate their blood too, then you can expand your culinary options.”

What?

He knows she didn’t spill his secret to their companions (Gods forbid, someone as noble as their leader did that), but he assumed she would push him to reveal himself. Why wouldn’t she? She made such a fuss about how wrong lying is, and honesty this and fuck him that, and now she is willfully withholding information from the rest of the group. 

Why?

You nearly got us killed at the Grove. Couldn’t keep your little mouth shut with that useless healer about the tadpoles. Foolish idiot, you’ll be our doom. 

Was it a test? See what the hungry spawn does and punish him if he makes a mistake? 

Astarion has an inkling of what she would like him to do, because it tends to be the total opposite of what he would do. He would continue their little arrangement in private, for as long as possible. He may have been a slave for centuries, but he’s not so daft. Why would a vampire willingly oust himself to a group that includes a literal monster hunter in their midst. 

It would be suicidal and he has wished for death more times he can recount—often masked as sensual whimpers and pleas in brothels and alleys—but he doesn’t wish it now. 

He won’t let a presumptuous, sheltered human kill him with her righteousness when decades of torture didn’t. 

Not now he’s finally out of his grasp. 

Not now he can exist in the sun. 

Not now that he’s stuck in the mud chatting to a mutt. 

Wait, what?

The scene in front of him is dreamlike: their stoic leader is knee deep in the dirt, shiny eyes coaxing a clearly aggressive dog closer, Karlach talking to it as if it were worthy of conversation.

Zélie stares at the mutt as if in a trance. Astarion asks her why they were in the woods in the first place to see if the dog isn’t actually a hypnotising hag.

The mutt snarls at him and he snarls back. Filthy beast.

“Hush, Astarion!” Zélie whispers, “he’s scared. You’ll only scare him more”

He takes notice of the corpse near the dog. Clearly dead. Filthy and stupid beast. 

“Sweet thing you are, worrying about it,” he coos.

Hells below, you idiot. 

“But may I remind you we are trying to get to a den of vicious goblins to find the blasted druid who can fix our wiggly issue?” 

He points at his temple and she gives him the look. They’ve been travelling together for no more than a tenday and he already earned a signature look from her. 

All piercing, hardened eyes and the disapproving tilt of the head a mother would give to her child before a good dressing down. 

He wonders what his punishment will be, and his scars burn, his hands shake. 

He quickly fists them behind his back to hide the tremors (A broken toy is worthless), strikes a casual figure, and something in her gaze mellows. Before it could have stricken down a dragon from the skies, now it would only manage a bear. 

It certainly won’t manage a vampire. 

He scowls at her, but her attention is already back on the mutt now within arm’s reach. 

“You know, Astarion,” she murmurs, petting its fur with a care that had to be an act (Tenderness has no place in any realm), “dogs are beautiful creatures. They feel as much as us.” 

Another stroke behind its ears, soft and barely there. Astarion’s own ears twitch.  

“They accept our love, our mistakes, our pain, and still stay by our side. Sometimes they even see past our cruelty, so strong is their loyalty. I think you won’t find a more worthy companion.”

Another caress on its muzzle. The hint at complete loyalty to another would normally tear through him ('Remember thou art mine, useless boy'), but Astarion is transfixed by her hands on white fur (Would they touch his own white hair like that?) and his fangs are dangerously close to peeking through his lips. 

(Two centuries of utter shit, but the mutt runs across her bare moments after his owner’s died.)

If I was alone, I’d bleed you dry. Animals only, so she said.

Fucking dog befriended, Astarion is ripped from his thoughts as Zélie stops her ministrations and stands up. She bows her head at—

“Scratch. Meet Astarion. Astarion, meet Scratch.”

The dog eyes him for a moment, then barks. Astarion almost hisses back. It’s his dear leader standing in front of him that stops him. 

“I know he may look slightly ruffled, Scratch, but I like to think that you can trust him.” 

Excuse me?!

She cannot speak with animals, so why the hells is she making polite conversation with it?!

“And you,” eyes on his, he hates how he has to prove that he can hold her look without squirming. She has the gaze of someone used to having a certain level of authority, and it disgusts him. His hands tremble more, nails now digging in his palms.

('You're nothing but a scared, little boy'). 

The others have moved further along the path, but she whispers it nonetheless, “When I say you should feed on animals, this is clearly not what I mean. Dogs are out of your food chain. Please, Astarion”

He doesn’t remember when it was the last time anyone ever said please to him, when someone kept a secret for him, and it’s enough to shock him into compliance. 

“Thank you,” she says, a little smile on her thin lips (it looks foreign on her stone-like face).

She heads along the path without realising what she’s done. As if people handed thank yous around like nothing. He’s seen her thanking others, occasionally: Gale for his food, Shadowheart for the healing, even Lae’zel for not disembowelling a tiefling  (How disappointing). But to him? 

(He hasn’t done anything, besides taking her blood and her temporary alliance)

He kills and maims what enemies they encounter because he revels in the violence. In the control over another’s life—in not him being the pitiful wretch for once. If she thinks he’s doing it out of some sense of morality, then she’s even more idiotic than he thought. 

She could simply be a pathetic moron with a noble soul. One who follows her way even when she doesn’t want to. Even when they do her more harm than good (Shouting a speech on interracial cooperation from a high rock to stop a vicious group of goblins and humans from killing each other was a terrible idea. Surprisingly, she only got scraps from all the arrows flying at her). 

No. She isn’t. No one is like that.

Phantom touches on his body remind him of this shit world every second of every day and they will do so for as long as he lives. They all have their motives. She just hides hers beside a very put-together mask. An impressive one, if he can say so. 

He falls into step with her as usual (Because he needs to make sure she doesn’t drag them to an unwilling death, because he needs to keep himself in her good graces now she knows his secret) and she acknowledges him with a nod. 

The smile is still there—odd. She looks a moment away from giggling, a sound that he didn't think her mouth could form. 

Now he needs to know. 

“Copper for your thoughts, darling?” he drawls. 

What’s going on in that confusing head of yours?

“I just thought—when Scratch said he’d join us at camp. I pictured Withers and him,” a corner of her mouth lifts, “playing catch. ‘Cometh here, oh chosen canine, and followeth thy ball along its rightful path.’”

  

Her eyes tear up from contained laughter (Have they always been so blue? He just realises one is more of a grey colour), then she coughs a little and her entire face resettles on its usual assessing expression. 

"You're a bad influence, Astarion. I don't usually tease my elders, especially not millennia-old ones."

Astarion blinks (So she does have a sense of humour, even if it’s terrible).

He finds himself leaning into her, testing the boundaries. His sultry voice in her ear. "Darling, as your elder, you can tease me all you like. You have my permission." He is rewarded not with a whimper of excitement, but with the look again.

He finds himself suppressing a stray giggle and his hands stop shaking.  

[canmom]

tsv season 3 ep 1-2 (30, 31)

we finally met VAL, seemingly a fan favourite character going by stuff that floats across my dash. so she's just straight up Rumor from the Umbrella Academy huh? ok, she tends to be a bit more flowery in her declarations of what is retroactively true, but it's basically the same mechanic.

i'm curious to see what other dimensions they add to VAL, because right now she seems like she could just upend any part of reality on a whim, and it's not entirely clear what's motivating her - right off the bat we are told we cannot trust anything she says. and this is the first character we have who is basically 'human with a power', which isn't my preferred territory. that said, the slimy politicians here are very well portrayed - it all feels a bit V for Vendetta-era Alan Moore with how direct it is, but honestly in this setting that kind of tracks!

I am really enjoying Shrue. their hypocrisies are very interesting. I appreciate that they've been given ge scruples, but also where they don't have scruples. they're happy to drop the withermark ('crab nuke' as they called it in the recap episode) on their enemies over the border, and probably sees themselves as doing good by legitimising the Parish on that basis. they participates in a hilariously dystopian system and still rationalises that they're a reformer.

there's really something about listening to a story about two nearly identical neighbouring countries barreling into a pointless, futile, merciless war, for no particular benefit of anyone but a ruthless political class, right as a full scale Iran-Israel war seems on the verge of kicking off (my Labour party prime minister, of course, eagerly rattling sabers behind Netanyahu). but when is that ever not timely, eh?

on the carpenter+faulkner side of things, I don't have a lot of comments to add just yet. it's always good to see them in action. the faulkner-carpenter-catabasians dynamic is tasty. this is a story with so many schemes, and yet it nearly always manages to make every character sympathetic and comprehensible within their context. (this is why I'm hopeful there will be more to VAL than how terrifying she is as a reality-altering killer.)

I listened to the Q&A in between seasons as well, and I'm honestly very impressed by hearing Jon Ware talking about his writing process. the man really has a knack for steering towards interesting conflict, and it's very evident in how he discusses the pitfalls he avoided, or the disdain in his voice when he speaks of how they could end up writing uninspired concepts ('it's a fire god and it makes you a fire monster') if they let the show run too long. or indeed his discussion of Faulkner's transness and how they wanted to approach that. like many creators of good shit, he seems quite self-effacing. it is pretty goddamn impressive that he taught himself the sound engineering that led to the elaborate sequences in the second season.

(I have no plans on adding 'audio drama' to my long list of unfinished ongoing projects, but I definitely appreciated hearing about some of the tool chains they use inside Audacity, since it's pretty closely related to doing the foley for animated films.)

excited to see where they're gonna take all this in this season, now things have escalated so much, and we have these new military elements in the story. though I am a little sad as well, in a way. it's a much bigger story now than it started out - our characters have become big shots, in classic fantasy style. such is storytelling, and the story had to develop, but I do miss a little the smaller-scale exploration of the world we had early on. that said, stories must evolve and become stale, and I am sure they're leading us to go out with a bang.

[reel-fear]

one day I'll snap and write a 234 page essay on why BATDR's ink demon is one of the worst character designs I have genuinely ever seen and how while I'm sure they're well intentioned. People who defend it or say its better than the og are genuine proof that most ppl are NOT qualified to speak on what makes good character design.

Hell maybe I'll even make it a video essay but dear god seeing Mike slander the hell out of batim ink demon while acting like the new one is SO much better like SHUT UP SHUT UP YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT YOU ARE NOT QUALIFIED TO SPEAK ON THIS STOP PRETENDING YOU ARE!! STOP BEING SO CONFIDENTLY WRONG AND STUPID ABOUT THINGS YOU HAVE NOT STUDIED EVEN THE BASIC FUNDAMENTALS OF

YOU COULDNT EVEN ANIMATE HIM CROUCHING THAT'S HOW POORLY YOU DESIGNED HIM. HE HAS TO TRIP OVER HIMSELF AND HOLD OUT HIS ARM TO PREVENT HIMSELF FROM EATING SHIT IN OUR BIG DRAMATIC CUTSCENE BEFORE THE CLIMAX.

Genuinely if you have a character design and you cannot animate it Crouching/Kneeling/Leaning Over without it looking unnatural or stupid. Go straight back to the drafts and do some anatomy studies. The basics of art of anatomy of character design are important to understand and this design fails all of them. They didn't even give him digigrade legs THATS NOT HOW DIGIGRADE LEGS WORK, DO YOU WANT TO KNOW HOW I LEARNED DIGIGRADE LEGS AS A KID? I LOOKED IT UP ON FUCKING GOOGLE AND STUDIED HOW MY CAT WALKS. ANYONE WHO HAS DONE EVEN THE MOST BASIC OF STUDIES ON DIGIGRADE LEGS KNOWS THATS NOT HOW THEY WORK. HERES A GRAPH-

This is rough cause I didn't want to make anything too elaborate for a random tumblr post, but genuinely I hope you can feel the struggle as I attempt to pose these legs in a way that SHOULD be natural for digigrade legs. But the hoof isn't able to move on it's own [think like how your ankles can move and rotate your foot] so they just follow the legs rotation in a way that is so stupid looking.

The joints are evenly space out so it looks horrifying and I mean just look at this mess! I couldn't even draw him raising his foot or SITTING in a way that looked natural anyone who has so much as looked up "digigrade legs tutorial" or "Mlp hindlegs tutorial" knows this is WRONG. This is the BASICS the FUNDAMENTALS and yet they got it all wrong showing Mike and Meatly haven't so much as gone through the effort of a god damn anatomy study before rushing to make this design and declare the best god damn creature design ever seen. Embarassing UGH-

[levil0vesyou]

Oh hey, I realised I can just ask for advice!

(Note: This is (mostly) not ebegging (nothing wrong with ebegging, just wanna be clear) even if it may sound that way in the first section. Please keep reading. It's pretty long tho, sorry. I'll put it under a cut as I am planning to pin it but please, please read it, especially if we're mutuals. Reblogs are welcome, especially within the german blogosphere, but don't feel obligated.)

So as some of you know, my flatmate has locked me out of the kitchen because I didn't have money for groceries and thus kept eating his food. This includes the electric kettle, microwave and most cutlery but I did accidentally keep a spoon that I still have now. (I have a small bottle of dish soap so yes, I can reuse it as I do still have bathroom access.)

I have since received my first unemployment payment which, due to my previous (necessary) overconsumption is mostly gone again now. I have 20€ and change (cash so paypal and my other debtors can't seize it) left for the rest of the month (new unemployment payment should arrive on the 1st) but I'm struggling to make it stretch.

I've been trying to search up advice on this but couldn't find anything useful. If you have links or anything, that'd be awesome. Here's the key points:

I live in Germany so subject to the German costs of living. Because I also can't afford public transport fare, my store choice is pretty much limited to a small-ish Rewe nearby. There's also a Mäc Geiz and a pharmacy but ofc those aren't grocery stores.

I do not have food allergies but I am a vegetarian and unless I'm literally dying, this situation will not change that.

As mentioned I have no access to a kettle, a microwave, a stove, a fridge or any of that. I do have access to my popcorn machine (many years of trusty service, real mvp) but that's it. I have access to a spoon and a sharp knife. Not a chef's knife tho. I do not have access to spices.

My mental health is still very bad, I cannot leave the house some days and I don't think I'd be able to do anything elaborate. Thus, whatever I eat has to be easily (or not at all) prepared but not easily perishable.

At this point, my standards are very low. My current main thing is eating unheated canned food but I'm prepared to eat basically anything I can stomach (excluding meat, as mentioned) in any way that is possible for me. I'm eating unseasoned chickpeas out of a jar right now. They're actually pretty good. I also (under normal circumstances) sometimes eat dry pasta for funsies so that might give you an idea.

I eat a lot. Less at the moment but still above average. I need plenty of carbs or I will still be hungry after. Essentially, pretend I'm feeding two people here.

I keep craving salt. I'm usually decent at telling what foods my body needs by cravings so I've been eating many crisps since I no longer have a spice cabinet. But they're 'spensive. I've also been craving eggs but I have no way to indulge since afaik boiled eggs are only sold around Easter. Also fruit juice but I can eat some vitamin gummies I still have instead, that'll probably be fine.

As stated, the budget is 20€ for 1½ weeks. I do have a bit of food already, some Zwieback, a pack of Leibniz cookies, a small jar of applesauce, a (hopefully not too spicy) can of chili sin carne, stuff like that. Also some hardtack I made months ago and just now remembered, but not a lot of it and I have no way to soak it, tho I might be able to clean an empty can.

While I'm not hoping to inflict permanent damage on my body, I am willing to take a few more risks than I usually would. That said, I can barely handle one or two short grocery trips a week so foraging isn't a good option at the moment. Also, laundry situation is difficult rn so avoiding diarrhea would be awesome 👍

While I am unemployed and legally homeless (I just haven't left yet) I have no documentation for this at the moment. I mention this because some food banks and similar require such documentation. Also, again, I have a very low travel range rn (like... 200m. 500 on a good day) but if you know like some kind of... delivery food bank?? that exists in Bavaria (dm me for the city) that would be incredible.

No, I can't get a job. I literally just tried that (again) and have reached a personal new low as a result. There were some in-between steps (like that fucking clinic) but yea, that's not an option. No, not even home office. No, not even freelance.

This one might seem entitled but. I cannot keep eating the same thing. I do have my samefoods (tho I cannot cook pasta rn for obvious reasons) but especially lately, eating the same thing for more than two or three days in a row has been low key driving me insane. Might be because I've been mostly cut off from society for months, might be because my body is sick of it, who knows. But I need variety. Same thing twice a week is fine, but more than that is pushing it. I'm very sorry.

As stated, this is not an ebegging post and I want nobody to feel any kind of obligation but if we're mutuals and you have a German bank account (or Schengen and are willing to pay the fee) and you desperately want to, you may dm me about it. But you do not have to!!! And I literally only say this because I know what it feels like to be on the other end of this. No, paypal is not an option, I'm triple digits in the red there. Water droplet on a hot stone etc.

What I am looking for is advice, especially from people who have dealt with severe financial issues and/or homelessness/kitchenlessness before. I've been kitchenless before but I had a fridge, microwave and somewhat reasonable money then so it didn't really prepare me. You can either comment or reblog directly or you can dm me or send me an ask. Anon is enabled.

Either way, thank you so much for taking the time to read all this! I love you, may you have a good day <3

[hornyhermitry]

Hey, I wanted to ask about what you think of what Naoya said to Maki about asking Mai about being an adult. I have not read that chapter yet but a lot people say that Naoya saying that is basically him admiting to have r*ped Mai. But Idk, maybe I'm biased but I think it was just to tease Maki.

Since that is such an often brought up claim, I took the time to write out a very elaborate reply to you. You say you have not read the chapter so beware: My reply contains a few spoilers and screenshots of chapter 191 and chapter 194 that contains this dialogue. It's a moot discussion because the dialogue itself does not spell this out literally in any shape or form. It's a personal interpretation without any proof. So the folks who want to read it that way will not be swayed by rational arguments about what's canonically on paper anyway. That being said, let's get into it~

For context: The whole scene contextually is Naoya having received an upgrade to vengeful spirit. In his eyes, he crossed to the other side - the side of the strong, where Toji and Gojo are.

Now he's out to use his new powers to take revenge on Maki who humiliated him before his rebirth. Due to his evolution to a vengeful spirit, he is mocking human, cursed-power-less Maki from a position above her. He mocks the difference between himself and her by using an analogy of adults and children. He says "There are many things kids cannot do that are natural for adults. Once kids become adults they forget how it was to be unable to do these things. That's how I feel right now." This is him referring to how natural his new skills and strength level feel and he cannot imagine anymore how it was to not be in such a powerful state.

Him saying that a child cannot understand an adult's skills is a very similar meaning and a reference to what Naoya already said in his first fight against Maki: "The sin of the small fry is not understanding the true meaning of strength." Here:

Maki verbally fights back by avoiding his analogy and switches to a literal and personal level and says: "Do you ever act like an adult?" Thereby implying his analogy is bad, because he is a childish guy who will always be childish and no power will change that.

To which Naoya replies "Why don't we ask Mai-chan?", following her switch to a literal level of dialogue and verbally slapping her back for calling him childish by hurting her where it counts: in Maki's guilty conscience for having left Mai at home, while she trained at Jujutsu school. We are shown that this is what she feels guilty about and she apologies to Mai after her death. Naoya knows this, because when Naoya and Maki meet after Maki's bloodbath, she told him - visibly in cold grief - that Ougi killed Mai.

Now that Mai is dead, Maki will never know if and how her sister suffered, but in any case she was alone. Mai wanted Maki to stay in the clan and rot there together with her, but Maki left her. And now Maki is dead.

So Naoya is stabbing her with words - I'm paraphrasing- "Let's ask your dead sister" to upset her once again about Mai's death and her own failure of NEITHER staying with her NOR protecting/saving her when she returned.

And Naoya also perpetually uses the "-chan" at the end of Mai's name (and Maki's name) to reinforce that he is above them and does not see them at eye-level. So this is where the pain in this dialogue between Maki and Naoya stems from. At Maki throwing Mai to the wolves and not knowing what happened at home. And Naoya saying "oops,can't ask her, she's dead haha". There is nothing about rape in this dialogue.

People (FWIW mostly children/teens from what I've seen on Discord and Twitter - aside from a few annoying click-bait and attention-hungry Twitter personas) will say anything if they think it gets them attention, a social media stat boost and another reason to hate a character they already hate.

TL;DR Haters gonna hate :)

There's nothing on the pages about this, it's just a pretty disgusting headcanon disregarding what's actually shown and said. But there's no point in arguing with fanatics about their beliefs. Just ignore it.

A last example: A 17 year old girl in a manga goes to school to write a final exam. She has lunch break with her bf and friends, writes the exam and goes home. When she returns home, her parents ask: "How was your day?" In the next panel she happily says "I did it!" and goes into her room.

Suddenly, a lot of readers and fans start going off about "omg she really fucked that guy". Why do they say that? Because some translator on TW mentioned that sometimes, in a specific context, "I did it" or "to do it" can also mean "to have sex". So they (wrongly) conclude, "ah yes, she's a teen girl with a bf so surely her reply must have meant she DID IT and had sex for the first time!" When of course, within the context of this scene, that reply was about her having (successfully) done her exam.

This is a VERY biased way to read and nothing more than wild imagination. But there's all kinds of people out there and some just want to live out their dirty sex and rape fantasies. A mild jab with a winking eye: Mostly that's coming from people who do not have a lot of real-life experience with sex. Or people. Or reading comprehension. :P

Sorry for the long reply, I figured I might as well explain properly.

Hope that helped!

[queeenpersephone]

Hi it’s the Kaz/Alina/Darkling anon! I don’t really have anything specific in mind there’s so little for the ship that I’m down for anything lol. But I wouldn’t mind another soulmate au☺️

hi there! sorry this took so long, but i finally decided how to write a sequel to this fic so have a peek! (in case you have not read the first fic, it is here, but basically kaz, alina, and the darkling are soulmates. that's the important info haha)

“We should kill them all,” Alina says conversationally, nails gripping the wood of the makeshift War Table, when the council of Grisha cannot agree on the amount of ships that will sail to retrieve their third. Some suggest masking it as a small expedition. Others, a full out armada, prepared for battle. 

The tent is hot. Alina knows that it is because of her. Can feel the sun roiling underneath her skin.

“Pekka Rollins is the problem,” Inej is saying as Alina consciously takes her nails out of the table, twirling her knife in her fingers. Inej is the only non-Grisha in the tent, and yet, the entire war council weighs each word of hers carefully. “We can send a small group in to extract Kaz and be out, no one the wiser.” 

“Ketterdam is the problem,” Alina hisses. “If they do not present my soulmate to me at the docks of their loathsome city, regardless of who took him, I will sink it.” 

Many people in the tent gape at Alina, who is normally the one talking their General down from similar action. “You are suggesting war-” Zoya begins.

“I am suggesting annihilation,” Alina corrects. “War implies that they would have the ability to fight back.” 

“Even if we end the city,” Ivan says, “and I am not against it, we still need to find Mr. Brekker first.” 

“I can find him,” Inej says confidently. 

“Ketterdam will find him,” Alina argues, and the room begins to heat to unbearable temperatures, “when they see Ravka’s forces, with the Darkling and I at the helm, crossing the sea. They will find him if they want to live.” 

“You are too emotional,” Aleksander says, the first thing he has said in a long time. and the tent is so silent that one could hear a pin drop. Sweat drips from Inej's brow.

Alina opens her mouth to scream, raises her hands to choke him or burn him or something similarly painful, just to release what is building inside of her. 

“You are not wrong, Alina, but you need to calm yourself. The sun is leaking from you,” he elaborates, and she bares her teeth at him. “I have a solution.” 

He grasps her by the wrist before she can Cut him, yanks her after him out of the tent, into the woods. 

She readies herself for a fight. He throws her against a tree, and, and, 

Takes her mouth with his. 

It’s not a kiss. Something so brutal, so angry, so primal, cannot be called a kiss. She draws blood from his lips, from his back where she tears his clothes from his body and into his skin. He draws bruises down her neck and along her back where he shoves her against the bark of the tree. 

He fights her down into the grass and dirt, and she burns. A thin layer of shadow protects him from the worst of it, but he still feels hot to the touch. He is never hot to the touch. 

When she comes, she presses her power down, not up. She wants to hurt him, but she does not want to destroy him. 

He does the same, pressing his shadows down into the ground around her, a perfect cut out of her body underneath his. She dreams about that kind of control.

When they come to, it is on a tiny island of dirt. In the middle of a crater, maybe fifty feet in any direction. He helps her to her feet, and they climb down and up, back to camp.

“We will find him,” Alina says. Or I will burn it all down, she doesn’t say. But it does not go unheard. 

“We will bring him home,” Aleksander agrees. Or no mortal will survive my wrath, is left unsaid. Alina, too, hears it all the same. 

There are no saints in the clearing. Leaving a crater of their own making, hand in hand in destruction, are two gods.

[frosteee-variation]

WAIT. WHO IS MISS DIRECTION

my friend you do not know the can of worms that you have opened with those five words alone

I typed up a full explanation before my tumblr crashed because there was so much I put

hang on okay

okay. okay. okay. missy. miss direction. miss interpretation. miss ellaneous. my beloved. my loathed. my cringefail girlboss miss direction.

upon the second time typing this I realize that it’d probably be much quicker for me to get past the context

OKAY TL;DR my friends and I are part of this campaign in a system called Anime Campaign which is also tied to the series Epithet Erased and we’ve been obsessing over it for about three years now even though nothing has actually started yet.

basically, some people have these things called Epithets and they’re random words tied to a person that lets them do cool stuff, yeah. like, someone in the campaign has Project as an Epithet. she can like, make film-style projections that come to life. it’s very cool!!

So Missy. Missy. Missy is my character. She originally started off as a silly evil NPC the first time we tried to start a campaign but I grew attached and started playing her as a PC in this one. Her Epithet is Concept. There’s a whole lot of complicated nuance surrounding how it actually works but bottom line is she can make things act like other things if people believe that, conceptually, the two things are one in the same. Like making plastic money act like real money, which is something she definitely does not do frequently she is a very honest person and not at all scamming people what are you talking about.

So she was silly!! She was so so silly!!! Basically played up the goon bit of “yeah boss” and all that. She was also a massive theater nerd, and made an active effort to ensure that literally nobody could forget that she was an actor and she knew several plays and shit. So when the most recent attempt at starting a campaign came around, I started thinking to myself, “hm. yeah, missy’s funny… but why is she funny?”

worst mistake of my life (/j)

So. Miss Direction (not her actual name) was an actor. Or she was learning to be an actor, at least. Absolutely loved the stage. And she was a really charming person, too!! But then for reasons I SADLY CANNOT ELABORATE ON HERE BECAUSE I KNOW THE PEOPLE WHO ARE IN THAT CAMPAIGN ARE FOLLOWING ME AND WE’RE PLANNING ON KEEPING THE MAIN BITS OF OUR BACKSTORIES SECRET she eventually booked it halfway across the country to this coastal city, Gallenset Gulf.

And she’s like “hhhhhouGHGGGGGHFUCK my life is RUINED” because of said nondescript Horrors™️ in her backstory that I cannot elaborate on and she’s kind of like. Not doing good. At all. She’s really shaken by the whole thing. Like it’s bad. She basically comes to the conclusion that she’s a horrible person for leaving and eventually gets roped into working for these small time criminals because (because of The Horrors™️) she’s technically a wanted criminal herself now.

So she works for them for a while, until she gets noticed by this woman named Ritz. K. Ritz, to be exact. Terrifying woman. Has a lot of “Hell” symbolism surrounding her for obvious reasons. You know the hound thing? The hound thing I mentioned in the last post? This is where that comes in. Hounds of hell, dogs of war, however you cut it. Ritz basically looks at this pathetic woman and goes “yeah, you know that stuff you said about you being horrible? You’re right. You’re totally evil. Like, holy shit, you’re bad. I’m worse though, so why don’t you work for me and you can go be a lot more honest with yourself.” AND IT WORKS.

After that, she ends up developing this whole brand around herself and takes up the Miss Direction moniker. She does some freelance work as a henchperson for a while and plays up the “VERY EVIL” gimmick to get more business and gets fairly far because she treats it more like a show, than anything. And she’s cunning, too! Really smart!! Absolutely PERFECT hitman material!

Right now, she’s basically easing off the gas and taking a bit of a breather by the time the campaign starts. Most of her attention has gone towards her startup (HenchPeople Incorporated, or H.I.P. for short because she’s a bad guy and doesn’t listen to the rules of acronyms) and she’s absolutely horrible and I love her so so so much.

She’s a dog person. She sings while she works. She failed to intimidate a kid one time and said kid turned around with a nat 20 and completely and utterly disgraced her. She constantly changes her name. Her jacket is this weird fucking white trenchcoat with baroque trim for some reason. She has an irrational hatred of Julius Caesar (the show). I absolutely adore her

[meirimerens]

7 and 8 for the ask meme.... If. they have not been asked yet.....

[booming voice] welcome to my dark twisted mind

7. any ideas for how farkhad’s earlier projects could have looked like?

i think his previous body of work had a focus on architecture, on sculpture, and on paper¹ (gesture) Stuff, with quite a lot of works focusing on the physicality of paper (which feeds back into sculpture), including a lot of embossing. i know he's fond of the multi-tons printing presses, and to see how dry and wet paper react to being laid upon a printing matrix and then put through the crushing printing process (this is what he did to the twins. in a way. multiple tons of pressure and now the matrixes of them are embossed of his shape... i'm getting off-topic). architecture-wise, since his cathedral as a deep Gothic flair, i think he not only studied religious architecture (Gothic as in European 12th -16th century style) but implemented it, or parts of it, in his #designs: religious edifices are possibly historically The poster buildings for something "imbued with a soul": the soul of god and of faith itself... he used some of that. i think he knows of the history of Gothic edifices as deeply colorful, so i think he also worked and played with colors, but mostly as light(s)... kinda like. Marinella Pirelli's colorful cubes, but it was the 1910s (or the 1900s, or the 1890s, or the 1880s, of the 1700s. etc). this is how the Cathedral ended up with her deep red windows (i do not think they are simply stained glass. but something freakier. smirk emoji [cannot elaborate]). of sculpture, he began with a focus on the human body (classically trained), then the human body in relation to buildings (made basically mannequins to gauge size of his structures), then it got weirder. i think he could work with something like Louise Bourgeois' "Maman", but instead of a figurative spider, it is built shaped and experienced like a building. you just have to see it.

¹ i have this because of peter's line in the haruspex route "yeah, you're that salesman who used to sell me excellent drawing paper… You used to cut it wrong though… You started from the wrong end. I thought you were dead though? My brother killed you…" farkhad has never been a salesman. but he did have excellent drawing paper. in my mind's eye multiple characters/people have melted into a single, vaguer memory in peter's head, and the memory he has of farkhad permeates multiple instances of people he killed, got killed, didn't touch,... many such cases

8. what does the key with no lock mean to peter and andrey?

i ♥ key with no lock i ♥ thinking about key with no lock and i ♥ that i don't have any definitive answer, maybe because i don't want one, and maybe even because i don't think the twins have one. i think it is their metaphorical tell-tale heart. they know it's here. they know why it got here (a murder) (it is linked to farkhad). but they don't know how it got here. i don't think they know why a key. but they know they have to keep it. they know they have to keep it and, in the spirit of Buildings being the bond that unites all three of them (peter, andrey, farkhad), it is a key, that might unlock a Building, that binds them beyond death. it is in peter's care, unless he dies: i think it is a representation of a guilt made tangible. made prehensible. made so every lock appear like it could be the one, every door every drawer could blow the lid right off. keeping the key means you keep the secret, and the secret-keeping place or thing closed; but that means there is a lock. or is there? this makes the threat even more heady. haunting. it is guilt made tangible. when peter, he who was bearing most of it alive, dies, the guilt made tangible gets into andrey's hands, who before that lived better with it, because he's killed more, and is more used to killing. they will spend their lives wondering what the key opens, and if it opens anything, they better keep it close to themselves. the key "reflects light at odd angles" in the same was the heart beats under the floorboard: the body was dismembered to be stuffed under the boards, so it shouldn't do that. but it does.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR QUASTION 🫂

question me once more

[k00297230]

Hello you articulate anteaters!

I’ve watched three more of the seminars including Composition, Visualising Time and Moving Images.

Moving Images started with some basic considerations when animating anything. These include scale, colour, sound, tone,points of interest, pacing, colour, movement and contrast. I found the first half of the seminar to be pretty basic in what information was explored.

I was more interested in looking at some of the most basic forms of animation including the thaumatrope, phenakistiscope and the zoetrope.

The thaumatrope is essentially some card pierced by a string or a skewer of some kind that then spins the card around creating a two frame animation for each side of the card. Something to keep in mind is that the images have to be upside down to each other so that the animation runs smoothly.

The phenakistiscope created by Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau around 200 years ago consists of 12-16 frames where two discs spin with images on them.

The zoetrope is an animation looping toy made up of sequential images made to loop, ideal for things like a walking cycle. Edward Moybridge (a photographer) took pictures of many different looping movement cycles such as horses running.

An example of a zoetrope can be seen in Matt Collishaw’s All Things Fall. 3D printed, this piece is extremely elaborate in its storytelling with many little details, and uses the arches of its construction to divide the frames. Without moving it can simply be viewed as a sculpture.

We also looked at two artists that I thought were really cool.

Aleksandr Petrov created a stunning animation from painting on glass. I just love how painterly and almost hypnotising the effects of animated paint can look like.

William Kentridge used charcoal in his animation Pain & Sympathy. It really brings the gritty nature and almost horror element into the grim tone of his work. Charcoal also lends itself well to animation with how quickly it can be erased and manipulated.

In the Composition Seminar we kind of just looked at the basic principles and elements of composition. The only principle I didn’t really know of before or forgot about was coherence, which is essentially grabbing the viewers attention using narrative.

I’m not personally a fan of text in my work so perhaps that’s why I never quite paid attention to it.

The golden ratio or mean was another thing I learned a bit about here. Although I admit the maths part confuses me a lot it is basically a more complicated rule of thirds.

The Visualising Time Seminar presented a bunch of artists who used time in their pieces. One of them relates to how tension is used in composition. Fischli Weiss almost captures the moment in time before something collapses by balancing objects on top of one another.

Robert Lango’s Men in Cities consisted of charcoal drawings of his friends who were photographed in different poses of movement.

I also just really liked Anna and Bernhardt’s Kitchen Frenzy just because of how manic yet playful the tone is set with the movement in their five pictures.

In William Wegmen’s work his work cannot be understood without the title of it being revealed

This can be seen in his “For a moment he forgot where he was and jumped into the ocean.”

[shiteating]

shinarei is really really really good i think.

cell of empireo routes EDCB and S+, dlc spoilers (fyi, stuff from a part of the dlc that isn't translated yet, nothing super major though)

just an informal post from me. gets a little embarrassing too. gushing about things is a little painful when you are full of love.

but basically, like, i think there exists to be an argument (hypothetical? idk i don't hang out with any fans) that shinarei could fall into pair the spares territory... which is certainly untrue. i just do not think that it has no basis. it's not particularly deep or anything but i do think it is a fits like a glove situ. anyway, at least i'm not the one pairing up family members. (charged statement? tbh not really, my opinion would not change regardless of whether or not an alternative exists... i just do not fw step-whatever ships and i view them as incest. it is my own preference.)

on the relationship between shinano and atou in coe

since the game kind of flip flops on when the rakusou park rabies case happened (though the second half of the game seems to consistently date it around march 2015 so i'll begrudgingly consider that despite it being a very small timeframe), i think that regardless of how long shinano was under atou's care, it is an important relationship in the long run with respects to this post. while shinano was heavily influenced by origin beta seeking origin alpha out it IS a huge point for shinano that one cannot seperate their old and current and future selves so easily so, even as an existence that straddled the line between origin beta and shinano, i think shinano->atou is a highly valid interpretation. i think tina's instinct "to protect", pochi's instinct "to seek out the origin" and shinano's instinct of "atou-san, atou-san" getting all muddled up created some kind of insane peak yandere. i think the main point here is that for most of the game— reiji had gone off so is missing for a good chunk of the game, shinano is present until chapter 5 then disappears, so the two essentially have no real knowledge of each other. atou tells shinano about reiji in the past tense. he tells reiji about shinano being missing in action but there isn't really the gravity in the current situation to elaborate (ironically because origin beta is still running around). also i think it's really funny that atou immediately discounts that shinano could be beta when ibuki brings it up... anyway this is all preamble really.

starting off on the wrong, no, perhaps the worst foot (paw?) possible

so reiji goes yeah imma kidnap you, atou haruki, and be done with it. honestly, who knows how the plot could have gone if shinano had not appeared in this moment... really, whether it was beta pulling him towards alpha or shinano just happened to come across them at the worst moment, it's still an amazing fucking scene. like, one may wring their hands over whether or not this is yandere, but people have called other characters yandere over literal nothing. SO WHATEVER. my post my interpretation. honestly, it's really fucking good. the way shinano is laser focused on atou, atou-san come here, atou-san, atou-san while reiji is on the other side making quips in lieu of atou who is on shock, it's a tense scene that i can't criticize at all really. SHINANO MY GOAT!!!! literally my favorite line in the entire game btw:

at this point shinano and reiji could not be more diametrically opposed in terms of goal, reiji's being to retrieve atou for sanemitsu and shinano's being an open ended one of "protecting", and who knows how that could even end when at least half of the instinct is coming from what is essentially stem cell rabies and chronic dog brain. it doesn't help they lack context on said stances... in S, this is the end of their adversarial relationship, but if you miss enough flags you basically guarantee that reiji is getting killed by shinano. i think this is actually a really important aspect of shinarei. because..... i really like all the cannibalism fanart... shinano is cute so if he wants to take a chunk out of reiji he is free to do so. i don't have to argue about how cannibalism is inherently homoerotic. IT'S NOT JUST ME! if you see any artists on twitter who dabble in this shit they have definitely drawn it at least once. really, it's becoming rare to have an excuse to draw something like this without going full AU, so fukao... thank you. shinarei is mostly a diabetes ship, but the fact that there is also this macabre side to it is part of the appeal imo. also fulfills the game's "earn your happy ending" element. it's so good~~~~

shinano and reiji are impossibly dorky "but somehow it doesn't cross into otaku cringe" -known shinano fan who excuses anything he says (not me lol why would you think this)

at the time of the dlc, in summer of 2018— its "shinano-shi"!!

how INCREDIBLY dorky!!! i almost didn't pick up on it. you first see it when sanemitsu picks up a note from reiji about atou and shinano visiting— for some reason i assumed it was the formal usage, which was pretty dumb of me to be honest, i genuinely questioned why it'd be like that after three years before i realized it wasn't a stuffy "-shi" but more like how otakus address each other with the nuance of "comrade". to be honest, i've seen the examples of otaku using "-dono" way more often so i didn't realize right away. it's cute not only because it follows the thoroughline of "since S+, shinano and reiji have continued to get along" but also because i feel like this kind of otaku slang has LONG fallen out of favor, it is a stereotype among stereotypes, but reiji is not a normal person at all and i would not be surprised if he just heard it somewhere and picked it up on a whim. i mean, when your dad writes in occult magazines he is probably bumping elbows with some very strange people.

there's not much to discuss in terms of reiji engaging with shinano's hobbies and actively getting into ditasword, but it is cute, cute cute cute. sickeningly cute. how cute can it get?!?!!! this cute:

tying up loose ends

on the age difference

there's like, a good 4, 5 year age difference?

i guess one thing there would be hand wringing over is the age difference— usually depending on the context, how things shake out is based on your own interpretation... though i think between adults it's kinda "who cares" for me. at any rate, it's not like they're breaching into a relationship right off the bat, imo there is a strong preference for onesided reiji->shinano on my end and there's a good three years until the dlc/interlude/com deadline. just straight up having a massive crush but not being sure of what it means. i like how sanemitsu said that it's nice that reiji made a friend his age after so long, atou is like "he's not though", but they shrug it off and go "well shinano's childish anyway". though i think there is a certain coolness factor in shinano that reiji sees that the others don't see!!!! do you understand!!!! also how is it any different from the classic "crushing on an older girl"!!!!! anyway, shinano's happy to have someone he can talk to about his hobbies aside from akane. anyway 25 vs 29 is a pretty nice diff actually. its kinda who cares.

on the contrast

for all intents on purposes despite being a private detective and getting wrapped up with empyrean, of all of rakuen, i think shinano has the strongest image of a civilian. perhaps even among the entire cast in coe. reiji... is very much not a civilian!!! he lives with mercs and does insane paranormal investigations as a lifestyle!!! there is nothing civilian or normal about that...!!! i think the gap in daily life is very good, and despite everything shinano's suspension of disbelief is probably top tier. he will fit in right away if reiji introduced him to LDL. theodore on suicide watch

shinano deserves to be happy

this series has too many widows and widowers. ENOUGH!!!

element of long distance dating

shinano moves back to tokyo after coe is over (as opposed to him treking to nagoya to seek atou out) and reiji is living in italy. i'm sure reiji is probably going to japan a lot anyway but likeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!like!!!!!!!!

atou hates it

^olympic gold medalist in homophobia won by a gay man who has been emotionally married to the same guy since middle school, more at 8.

no but really, he really can't with the otaku stuff, now his coworker has turned his step brother into an otaku or made it more apparent, not to mention all the potential PDA, i have to pray for him a bit. well at least he has less to worry about in the "if shinano stands next to me in public for more than 1 second what if people think i'm gay" <-it's ok when rui does it though.

sanemitsu would love it however!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! theodore would probably hate it...though... i think he would wish death on any couple so

addressing potential bias

for reference other pairs i like: ninayou, atourui (reverse is fine.), i respect kanoato but don't engage, hajiyuki, [REDACTED] <-spoilers that dont even exist yet, dont ask me anything about it

strong dislike for shipping reiji with family.