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pumpkinpaix · 4 years

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9, 13, 14, 20? :O

9. Are you more of a drabble or a longfic kind of writer? Pantser or plotter? Do you wish you were the other?

ALAS I AM APPARENTLY A LONGFIC WRITER,,,, or like, a very short tiny vignette, no in-between. I used to be incapable of writing anything long (all my shit from like 2007-2012 was under like 5k pretty much), but now it’s like. fuck! every story i want to write ends up spiralling out into like 50k+ projects /o\ I’m definitely a plotter. I wish I could be more spontaneous, but I do much, much better when I have some kind of endgame in mind. I can kinda fudge the middle, but the beginning and end have to be set :/

13. Do you share your writing online? (Drop a link!) Do you have projects you’ve kept just for yourself?

yep! here’s my ao3, which is pretty much just mdzs right now, but I’ve got some Saint Seiya stuff planned 👀 truly getting ready to return to my roots. saint seiya was the first fandom i wrote for! :D if you’re looking for my tumblr ficlets, I believe the tag is #myficlet

however, in terms of original prose and poetry, it mostly all just stays in folders on my hard drive. :’D I’ve entered some poetry and prose into local writing contests and won before, so my work exists out in the ether, but one day I’d like to have published books :’) I have so much poetry that kind of just sits around, and i’m like maybe?? it would be cool to share some of it? but all of it needs more editing and refining, I almost never edit my poetry it just kinda comes out in a mess and then I don’t look at it for years, so none of it is like good. a lot of it has potential, I think, but I have like, maaaaybe one poem that I would say is almost good lol.

I have like five nano novels hanging out as well, so just like. hundreds of k of words stacked up over the last decade and a half :’D

14. At what point in writing do you come up with a title?

depends! sometimes I think of a title and a concept at the same time and try to weave them together. sometimes it comes in the middle, and sometimes I’m scrambling right at the end. sometimes I’m struggling for the whole fucking time (me with lxc fic right now good god this title has been eluding me for MONTHS)

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

okay, since you’re the one asking, I’m going to talk about my painting selections in this little tumblr not-fic i wrote about hyoshun even though I know you don’t really do the classic series, but hey.

I’ve seen both Aivazovsky’s Ninth Wave and Repin’s Sadko in person, but I’ve studied all of the paintings that were included. I’ve never been to the Tretyakov, so I haven’t seen any of those in person, but GOD i want to. All of the paintings that I talked about are some of my favorite 19th century russian works except Sadko, which is nice, but not like, one of my favorites. I just like it.

here is why I chose those works in particular:

1. Aivazovsky’s Ninth Wave is a fucking experience to witness. It’s impossible to convey the presence of it, the size of it, on a computer screen. you feel swallowed up by the ocean and the light and the terror and the beauty of it--even as you face death, you also face the sun. you know, just like. peak sublime. I really think Shun would find the concept of the sublime very moving, given what we see of his character in canon: he cares, deeply and viscerally about the inherent value of life, but sees himself as small within it. And I don’t necessarily think that scares him so much as it awes him sometimes. He knows his own value and strength, respects risk, and respects sacrifice. I think would relate a lot to the Romantic artists who looked out at the vastness of the world and reacted with wonder and terror.

I think Shun very much feels a deep sense of wonder at being alive, of existing, and that he takes that very seriously. idk, there’s that moment at the 12 temples, when he stops to smell the roses at Aphrodite’s temple. it’s like, yeah, we’re in the midst of fighting for our lives, but god. there is such beauty here. facing the sun even as you face death. I think he would like that painting a lot.

2. Knowing Repin’s other work, I find the Sadko really beautiful and charming and surprising! It’s such a fun subject for a painting--instead of painting a religious scene, it’s a scene from a bylina, about a man named Sadko. I believe here is the scene where he’s asked to choose a wife from a line of beautiful sea maidens, but all he wants is to return to the surface and live with his human wife that he loves so much. and it’s okay! he does! the painting is lovely and just really visually stunning. and there’s something really moving about the way that sadko has eyes only for his wife on the surface, dressed in plain clothes, out of reach, even as these dazzling women laden with jewels parade before him. aaaaaaaaaa. anyways, I think Shun would like this painting too, for those reasons!!

3. Now the Tretyakov paintings that I’ve never seen, but GOD they just. they get me right in the heart. first, Conscience, Judas, by Nikolai Ge. it’s hard for me to describe exactly what I’m feeling when I look at it, but that really vicious white on Judas’s robe, the coldness of it, the alienation of a traitor. I want to weep for judas. I am not christian, so my interpretations of the bible are largely moot and uninformed, but I’ve always been intrigued by the thought that like--without judas’ betrayal, christ could not have risen. without the fall, there cannot be a triumph. that doesn’t mean that judas was acting for that reason, i certainly don’t know enough about biblical studies to make any kind of interpretation, but in the sense that like--christ had to fall and judas was the instrument of it. imagine the remorse of knowing. there’s something very human and sad about watching everything you loved and betrayed walk away from you into the darkness while you are left behind. without you, it could never have happened. i don’t know. there’s something about the nature of unforgiveable sins in there. i think about Shun’s speech to Balron Lune and I think he would feel some kind of way looking at this painting.

4. Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, by Perov--this painting kills me every time i see it. again, not christian, but like. the agony of christ. god. the nature of sacrifice. knowing that you must suffer and die, but oh! you would rather live, please if only you could live. let this cup pass me by. that on its own is already so much to sit with. and I think Shun, as well as the other saints, for very obvious reasons, probably have a lot of complicated emotions surrounding the concept of sacrifice and doubt. and idk, whenever there’s a moment when you feel like you are reaching through time and space to realize that someone out there has felt the way you are feeling, it’s like. that’s a lot. it hurts.

5. The Demon Seated, Vrubel: aaaaaaaaaaa. one of my favorite paintings!!! the demon is beautiful, and the demon is terribly melancholic, and the demon is alone, and the demon is powerful sitting amidst the blooming flowers and the setting sun. the gentle face in contrast with the muscular body. the inherent negative aspect of a demon in contrast with the subject’s heroism. I think that this would remind shun very much of his own brother, who is so angry and violent and dark, but whom he still sees as gentle and loving still. i think shun would look at this painting and see ikki sitting there, alone, watching the sunset on some distant shore. as for hyoga, I think it would be hard for him to see this without seeing shun after the hades arc: a kind and beautiful man, a demon by nature not by choice. someone soft made unwillingly hard. a murderer who would ferry even centipedes out of the house to safety.

ANYWAYS. I LOVE ART and i project all my feelings onto shun thank you for coming to my ted talk

writing asks

#cyan writes #ask meme #cyan dlc #saint seiya #romanticism #russian painting #thank u for asking!!! :DDD #kingofthewilds #asks and replies

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yurtletheturtlehenderson · 5 years

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S.T. REWRITE - S2:E1; Chapter One, MADMAX - [Pt. 2]

A Will Byers x Reader Series

As the town preps for Halloween, a high-scoring rival shakes things up at the arcade. Will begins seeing strange visions as the anniversary of his disappearance creeps up.

||Reader's POV||

"To slay the dragon, use the magic sword."

"Oh, Jesus! I'm in uncharted territory here, guys."

"Down! Down! Down!"

"I'm going! I'm going!"

The cartoon woman on the screen exclaimed as the game picked up speed. All of surrounded Dustin, cheering him on as he played.

"I'm going! I'm going! I'm going!"

The boys yelled over one another as I stood on my toes to try and get a better look at the screen.

"Okay. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up!" Dustin bellowed as he slammed his hands on the buttons, but then the disappointing sounds from the machine indicated he had lost.

Dustin began taking out his anger on the machine, kicking as he screamed profusely at it.

Meanwhile, the screen returned to the original title screen, inviting its next player. Lucas began to goat at Dustin.

"You're not nimble enough. But you'll get there one day. But until then, Princess Daphne is still mine."

"Whatever. I'm still top on Centipede and Dig Dug."

"You sure about that?"

We all turned our heads to see one of the younger employees, Keith. He was standing there with a bag of cheese puffs and an awkward smirk.

Dustin's face dropped as he asked the question we all seemed to know the answer to.

"Sure about what?"

Keith only smiled and took a large rather obnoxious bite out of a cheese puff.

Dustin broke out into a panicked sprint and we all quickly followed suit, curious to see the outcome.

"Move! Move! No, no, no, no, no. Hey, no! No! No!"

We all zeroed in on the Dig Dug screen where sure enough, Dustin held second place to someone named MADMAX who held an insanely good score.

"751,300 points!" Will exclaimed, turning and sharing a disbelieving look with one another.

It was then that Mike chimed in. "That's impossible."

"Wow, you really have your work cut out for you." I said, with a hint of a smile on my face as I patted my brother's back.

He only ripped his shoulder away from me, clearly annoyed and turned to Keith.

"Who is Mad Max?"

"Better than you."

"Is it you?" Will asked.

Keith scoffed. "You know I despise Dig Dug."

"Then who is it?"

"Yeah, spill it Keith."

"You want information, then I need something in return," he smirked and looked at Mike.

It took me a second to realize what was being implied. When it hit me, I fought the urge to through up in my mouth.

"Gross!"

"No, no, no. No way. You're not getting a date with her"

"Mike, come on. Just get him the date."

"I'm not prostituting my sister!"

"But it's for a good cause."

"Oh, so what? Does this mean you're gonna have Dustin pimp me out whenever you need a favor?"

"Well, I mean,"

"Lucas!" My voice starts to reach higher octaves and I feel Will's hand grab my own.

I give his hand a light squeeze, silently thanking him and my attention was brought back to the conversation when Dustin spoke up.

"No, don't get him the date. Know what? He's gonna spread his nasty-ass rash to your whole family." Thrown off by the sudden direction that conversation headed, I sighed, releasing Will's hand and running both hands through my hair.

"Acne isn't a rash and it isn't contagious you pubescent wastoid." Keith threw back.

"Oh, I'm a wastoid? She wouldn't go out on a date with you. You make, like, what? $2.50 an hour?"

"Nice perm."

"Gonna make fun of my hair?"

I sighed, knowing we were gonna be here a while.

Suddenly, a voice caught my attention.

"Hey. Hey, guys, do you see the..." I frowned when I saw he was standing over by the front door, looking around the arcade curiously.

"Yeah?" I asked walking forward.

But he only looked right through me. I could tell he was now on edge.

"Will?"

Suddenly, he let out a frightened gasp and whipped around to face the door. My stomach dropped.

"Will? Hey, come on." My breathing began to pick up, I risked a glance at the boys but they were too distracted in their argument and it was far too loud.

That's when Will began to walk outside. Not wanting to lose him or let him get hurt I quickly followed him.

"Will, hey, it's me, come on." He stopped when he reached the edge of the sidewalk and he stood still, rooted in place. He looked to the sky in terror. I looked over my shoulder only to see nothing but the stars, and I looked back to him. He was still frozen.

I shakily brought my hands up to his shoulders. "Will!"

He gasped and I could tell he was back. Without even thinking, I engulfed him in a hug, and he shakily returned it. I pulled back to look at him and I touched his cheek. "Are you okay?"

His eyes lingered on me and he nodded his head. I was now very aware of the fact that my hand was still on his cheek and I quickly pulled away, a little flustered. There was a moment of silence and then I looked back up at him, knowing on some level what it was about.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He looked away for a moment, before shaking his head.

"I'm fine. I'd rather not, at least not right now."

I smiled reassuringly. "That's completely okay. I get it." I glanced down at his hand before taking it in my own and together we headed back into the arcade.

+++

"That's what's I've been saying! I'm telling you, she may be a teacher, but that doesn't give her any right to treat kids like that!"

"Yes, exactly! Thank you! Hey so do you Haney plans for Halloween?"

Emma was a great friend I had made in the dirty trenches of math class where a solid bond was formed. The two of us were currently walking down the hallway, discussing the horrors that was last class.

"I do actually, yeah me and the guys are going together. They're gonna be the Ghostbusters and I..." I trailed off when I saw Will up ahead.

He was standing at his locker, looking around rather disturbed with something in his hands.

Hesitating to take my eyes off of him I reluctantly looked to Emma. "Hey, can we talk later? I'm sorry, it's just, I think I need to check on him,"

"Oh yeah, no problem. I'll see you later!"

I threw her a grateful smile as she walked away and then I hurried over to Will.

"Will! Hey, everything okay?"

His head whipped around to face me and he seemed a bit startled to see me. I gently put a hand on his shoulder in reassurance and that seemed to calm his nerves.

"Oh, um, yeah I'm okay." He quickly folded up a small piece of paper that didn't go unnoticed.

"You sure?" He nodded his head and smiled warmly at me causing my stomach to do little flips.

"So, what's that?"

"It's nothing," he said and I raised my eyebrows, not quite believing him. "really.

I'm okay."

"Okay, well in that case, should we head to science?" I smiled and held ou.t my hand shyly and he gladly took it.

+++

"Meet the human brain," Mr. Clarke said, placing the model before us.

"I know. I know, it doesn't look like much. A little gross even, right? But consider this. There are a hundred billion cells inside of this miracle of evolution. All working as one,"

I was hanging onto every word, fascinated much like my other friends. I looked to Will excitedly but he didn't even seem to be paying attention. Something was definitely bothering him. My face fell when I saw this, unintentionally tuning oh Mr. Clarke as well in the process.

I turned the boy and was about to say something when the abrupt sound of the classroom door closing grabbed my attention. Everyone seemed to look to the front when the principles walked in with a girl our age.

She had fiery red hair and freckles all over her face. She wore jeans and a red sweatshirt. I felt kinda bad for her though, she seemed uncomfortable being the center of attention which Mr. Clarke inevitably put her under the spotlight.

"Ah, this must be our new student."

"Indeed it is. All yours" with that, the principal left, leaving the awkward introduction of the new student.

She attempted to rush to find seat but Mr. Clarke stopped her. "All right. Hold up. You don't away that easy. Come on up. Don't be shy."

She didn't attempt to hide her eye roll as she backed up to face the class.

"Dustin, drum roll."

Without skipping a beat, my brother began drumming his palms on his desk and

Mr. Clarke began the introduction.

"Class, please welcome, all the way from sunny California, the latest passenger to join us on our curiosity voyage, Maxine."

The girl shifted uncomfortably before mumbling. "It's Max."

"Sorry?" He asked.

"Nobody calls me Maxine. It's Max." We all looked to each other, thinking the same thing.

"Mad Max." Lucas whispered.

"Well, all aboard Max."

I couldn't fight the smile growing on my face and like the boys, we all couldn't help but watch as she took a seat at the back of the class.

She leaned back and crossed her arms, obviously still uncomfortable from the sudden spotlight. She frowned when she saw all the guys staring at her and turned to Dustin and Lucas and a loose chuckled escaped me. They were practically drooling.

I looked to her once more and she met eye. I made sure send her a small welcoming smile, not wanting to make her more uncomfortable than she already was.

+++

We all stood in the small baseball dugout, watching, well the boys were anyway, Max. She was riding her skateboard all around the campus and we were debating whether or not she could be Mad Max. I had settled on the bench in the dugout, not feeling comfortable to be standing around watching someone.

"There's no way that's Mad Max," Mike stated matter of factly.

"Yeah, girls don't play video games," Will said, catching me by surprise.

I crossed my arms and looked at him. "What's that?"

He seemed to notice his mistake and shuffled uncomfortably. "Except you, I mean. You're cool," I only raised my eyebrows.

"I'm sorry, you know what I mean though, right?" I laughed, having already forgiven him, but enjoying being able to mess with him.

Dustin brought his fist up to his mouth and spoke through pretend coughs.

"Whipped."

Will turned to him and whacked his arm and I only giggled.

"Ok, but seriously, regardless you can't get 750,000 on Dig Dug. It's Max impossible," Mike said, still focused on the conversation.

"But her name is Max," Lucas argued.

"So what?"

"So, how many Maxes do you know?"

"I don't know."

"Zero, that's how many,"

Dustin the spoke up. "Yeah, and she shows up to school the day after someone with her name beat our top score,"

"Here's a crazy idea, why don't you ask her?" I chimed, looking up at the boys.

"No, no way! She'll be weirded out,"

"Oh, and stalking the poor girl is doing you everybody so many favors,"

"My point is, I don't even think it's necessary. She gotta be Mad Max, she's gotta be,"

"Plus, she skateboards, so she's pretty awesome," Dustin argued, much to the dismay of Mike.

"Awesome? You haven't even spoken a word to her!"

"I don't have to, I mean look at her. Shit, I've lost the target."

"There," Will said, and we all followed his gaze to the back entrance of the school.

She stood at the top of the steps, and before going inside she dropped a crumpled up piece of paper into the trash.

The boys, looked to each other, silently communicating before simultaneously running towards the trash can much to my dismay.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," I mumble, begrudgingly walking after them.

Sure enough, they began digging through the trash can and by the time I reached them they grabbed the piece of paper.

"Seriously, guys this is a new low," I snatched the piece of paper from them. "It's just garbage,"

"Well, if it's just garbage, then open it," Lucas retorted.

I sighed, looking them in the eye while unfolding it. "Fine, but only to show how ridiculous you are being, I mean come-" I stopped short when I read the words, a loud belly laugh erupting from me.

"What? Let me see!"

"What?"

"Give it!"

Your laughter died into giggles as you watched their faces fall as they read the words,

"Stop spying on me CREEPS"

They sighed and looked up at me as I stifled my giggles with a hand against my mouth. My hand dropped my side and I sighed, before smirking.

"I like her."

"Well, shit," Dustin sighs.

I feel a pit forming in my stomach when I hear one of the teachers speak. "William Byers, your mother's here," we all turned to face him, and I could immediately feel the anxiety radiating off of him.

I grabbed his hand in mine and I gave it a reassuring squeeze and he squeezed my hand lightly in return as he looked at me.

He was doing it again. He was shutting himself down again.

He gave me a weak smile and without another word, he followed the teacher into the school to get his stuff.

Without even a second thought I walked quickly around the building and the others followed. I peeked around the corner and watched as he walked slowly to the car where his mother was waiting for him greeting him with a smile and a wave.

"You guys think he's okay?" Dustin asked.

"He's always weird when he has to go in,"

"I don't know. He's quiet today," Mike said worriedly.

"He hasn't been himself lately. I ran into him in the hallway and he was acting all weird and secretive."

"Well, you're basically his girlfriend. Has he shared anything with you lately, I mean he tells you everything,"

My face fell and I looked to my feet in sadness before looking back up and watching as he reluctantly got in the car. "That's just it. He hasn't said a word. I think something is really bothering him,"

"And, for the first time, I feel like," I sighed. "I can't help him."

+++

Tag List: @fuckwaad @aimee-lucass @iblesstherainsdown-in-africa@miscellaneoustoasts

DM me if you want to be added!

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cecilspeaks · 6 years

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137 - The Mudstone Abyss part 3

Kevin: If this had been an actual emergency, this signal would be followed by screaming and chaos.

Welcome to Desert Bluffs.

Hello, Desert Bluffs! It has been exactly one week since language resumed functioning.

We are all of course relieved to finally be able to greet neighbors once again with a friendly “You should smile more!”

But sometimes with good news comes bad news. It’s also been exactly one week since all construction on the Mudstone Abyss was halted. There are still several creeping shadows roaming about the dig site, causing everyone who goes near there to become so overwhelmed with joy that they run away screaming. It’s unclear why the shadows are still there. We don’t know what they want. Some have said they want us to dig no further, and that these shadows are responsible for our loss of language. I think they came out to see the beautiful craftsmanship on our Mudstone Abyss.

Mayor Lauren Mallard called for a halt to construction despite adamant protests from the media. The media spent the past week constantly texting and calling the mayor, telling her construction must continue, because it has been the media’s dream since childhood to bring a grand physical testament to the Smiling God’s endless happiness and love. But the mayor has been slow to respond. She’s probably busy scheduling contractors to restart work on the monument. Maybe the media should try texting the mayor again.

[typing noises] Why… is construction… still… halted… Lauren? Oh, that sounds a bit aggressive. Let’s brighten that tone a bit with… oh, bleeding gums emoji… spider with human eyes emoji, cry-laughing emoji, there we go.

The mayor and I have been close for a long time. We’ve had our ups and downs, but I think our more difficult times were back when we used to run a company together. We had some typical disagreements over who was in charge. She thought that because she was the president of the company, she should have final say on all decisions. Whereas I knew that I was one of the Smiling God’s chosen prophets, and our all-loving devourer would not choose a prophet who made mistakes. I believe ceasing construction was a mistake. Certainly our mayor thinks digging the Mudstone Abyss is somehow connected to our loss of language, and I appreciate her concern, but there is only anecdotal evidence to support this.

More on this story as it develops.

But first, I wanted to tell you that Charles and I went out again! Originally, Charles and I were going to go to the opening of the Georgia O’Keeffe exhibit at the Desert Bluffs Museum of Art. This exhibit features many of O’Keeff’s famous flower paintings, but reimagined as if O’Keeffe were a joyous worshipper of the Smiling God. Artist at the museum have painted large smiles and centipedes over O’Keeffe’s originals, and the result is apparently quite powerful and moving.

Then Charles and I planned to have another luxurious dinner at Vermillion, but at the last minute, Grandma Josephine and her demons told him they weren’t available to babysit Charles’ five-year-old Donovan, and we couldn’t find a babysitter.

So instead Charles, Donovan and I spent the day at the Desert Bluffs’ Spinning Smiles amusement park. We rode the Spine Compressor, the Esophagus Remover, and a brand new roller coaster called Intentional Sepsis. Donovan was really delighted by all the struggling actors dressed in stuffy unvented animal costumes. Donny got his picture taken with one person dressed as a smiling tortoise. We could hear the man in the costume panting heavily and begging for water. Donny turned to the tortoise and said: “The sun calls for sacrifice because the sun loves all that it sees.” The man inside rasped: “Air! Please! I don’t know where I am! Please!” and passed out. [chuckles] Donny giggled right as Charles took the photo. It was actually really adorable. What a great memory to capture!

We went back to Charles’ house and made sandwiches and watched cartoons, but Donny wasn’t interested in the television, he just played with his toy planes, zigging and zagging them over his head, turning and swirling them in reckless fits. I hope he does not grow up to be a pilot.

I sat next to Charles on the couch, mesmerized by the motion of Donny’s planes until Charles and I fell asleep. Around 2 AM, I woke up. Donovan had put himself into bed and Charles was snoring softly against my shoulder. I carefully stood up and pulled Charles’ legs onto the sofa. The whole day had made me happy, but not in the way I wanted to be happy about it. happiness should be something you have, not something you take. I placed a blanket over him and drove home.

I’m getting an update that Mayor Lauren Mallard is holding a press conference at City Hall. Let’s hear her speech live.

Lauren: People of Desert Bluffs, after discussions with City Council as well as some prominent and very knowledgeable members of the media, I have decided to reopen construction of the Mudstone Abyss. I know many people are frightened by the shadow beings drifting around the dig site, as well as the ones lurking in and around your homes, but there is nothing to fear. These shadows are merely the impure souls of those devoured and then later (disgorged) [0:07:52] by the Smiling God. They’re not worthy of your fear. These shadows don’t even have faces. We cannot discern their intentions or feelings. They move around in quick jerks and starts, flickering in and out of our vision, sometimes standing just behind us while sloowly tilting their heads. And unless you’re looking in a mirror, there’s no way you can even see that.

So I’m not sure why you’re all freaking out. Plus they are completely intangible. [chuckling]Watch! There’s one right now, passing in front of me. I’m whipping my hand back and forth right through it. it can’t do anything, it’s just a shadow! It can’t eve smile. [chuckles] Construction resume at 7 AM sharp on Monday. We’ve assigned every citizen a daily 8-hour time slot with two 10 minute breaks. We’ve also hired some clowns to come by to keep everyone smiling. As a former corporate president, I know first hand how important laughter is for maintaining a healthy work environment. Skeleton silverfish! What, uh? Silverfish French press carbuncle. I can’t pillowcase slapstick? Uuh, plenty of hibiscus! Yeah.

Kevin: Ah, Mayor Mallard! Such a way with words. Well you heard her, it’s a joyous day. In fact, probably a future holiday. I cannot wait to start digging again next week, Desert Bluffs! Let’s look now at the Community Calendar. These are probably the last non-construction events we’ll have for a couple of weeks.

On Wednesday afternoon at Morning Bird Records, the Society for Painless Living will be holding a protest march against the construction of the Mudstone Abyss. Well, I don’t usually read press releases for such tiny events, but I guess there might be one or two people who want to exercise their right to assembly. So if this sounds like something you’re interested in, I guess you should go to the march, and then think about all the joy the Smiling God has give you and question your motives for refusing to appreciate it.

Thursday morning, the Citizens of Free Will will host a sit-in at the Sunlite All-day Diner to demonstrate their opposition to the Mayor’s order for mandatory labor on the Mudstone Abyss. Huh.

Oh this looks netter! Thursday afternoon, the Natural Smiles theatre company- I love that name! – is opening their new play, “The Pit of Ruin”. Playwright Danika Lopez says her work is an (--) [0:10:36] parable about the arrogance of religion, government and media. Lopez’ play, according to their press material, tells a story of a bloviating radio host.. who overreaches his position, enslaving an entire town in order to feed his hunger for religious power. I like the sound of this theatre company less and less. There has to be some community event that’s actually fun in here.

Friday morning, the People for Clean Sharp Teeth will be burning Kevin the radio host in effigy. I don’t… understand.

[long beat] I’d like to spend more time on this. Explaining to you, dear listeners, that my happiness is not yours to take. I’d like to have all afternoon to teach you about how you must receive your own joy by making joy, rather than destroying others’ joy. But I cannot spend any time on this, because I’m getting word that Mayor Mallard is being forcibly removed from her podium at City Hall! A large crowd of unsmiling people overtook the Mayor and the city council. The crowd used a tattoo gun to draw a permanent frown on the Mayor’s face, which effectively exiles her from this community. The crowd is chanting: “Pete Ma’s handlebars, Pete Ma’s handlebars!” The police have tried using their bullhorns to call for order, but instead of words they’re emitting bird chirps. Language seems to be failing us again.

Desert Bluffs, I need you to remain calm. I need you to take a deep breath and think positive thoughts. Think about the Smiling God, its mammoth wriggling form and thousands of legs emerging from the earth and devouring your body. Envision your whole self nestled in the moist, loving belly of the divine beast. Smile while you do it, Desert Bluffs. Keep smiling. Keep – I’m getting a phone call. Oh, it’s from Charles! Maybe he found a babysitter.

Hey Charles, I was just thinking about you. You know there’s a night club that opened last month? It’s called No Exit. I thought maybe we could drop off Donny with Josephine this evening and then… Uh huh. So you called to see if I wanted to go to the zoo with you and Donny this afternoon instead? Uh.. W-well, I was just looking at the weather and I’m not sure if today’s the day to… It’s not. Charles. I have the weather report right here. Listen.

[“Hymn #101” by Joe Pug]

I figured it out, Desert Bluffs. The mob outside City Hall has dispersed. They returned Lauren Mallard with her tattooed frown to her position as mayor, but city bylaws prohibit anyone incapable of smiling from serving in that position. So for now, we have no mayor. The drifting shadows around the Mudstone Abyss have dissipated, returning whatever other otherworld they came from, and the construction has begun again at the monument dig site, several days ahead of schedule.

I figured it out. During our phone call, Charles was getting flustered. I asked what was wrong and he said Donovan was distracting him by swinging his toy planes around again. I told Charles to focus on us and not worry about what Donovan was doing. “We can’t talk about us, Kevin, without worrying about what Donovan is doing,” he snapped at me. “Donovan is us. That’s the deal, OK?” And I was hurt. I wasn’t smiling. I don’t like criticism, it makes me sad, and then mad, and then – confused.

Listeners, I don’t often use strong language, so if your ears are sensitive to vulgarity, turn the volume down for a few seconds. I hate! Not being happy. I hate it! There, I said it. I’m sorry.

I thought about what Charles said. I thought about his teeth, his chest, his hair, his snoring, his smile. I thought about Donovan. I thought about Donovan swinging those toy planes around above his head, like the birds in that dream every one of us has every single night. You know, where the birds zig and zag across a blood red sky, recklessly turning and swirling in panicked fits. Donovan’s planes were, in fact, moving in the exact same pattern as those birds. I figured it out. Each movement, each turn, each path of each plane was identical to those birds’ paths.

Listeners, it’s not a dream. It’s a message. The shadows do not speak in our mouthy languages, but in shapes and patterns. I interrupted Charles to tell him this. I told him to take Donny to the Mudstone Abyss. I told him to bring Donny’s planes. Charles and Donny approached the shadowy figures. The gathered crowd called to them to stop, to move no closer to the shadows, but all the crowd could yell was “cabbage coat hangers!” Charles then presented Donny to the shadows, and they flickered as he zigged and zagged his planes above his head. And then – a miracle happened. Glowing dotted lines appeared in the paths of the toy planes. A radiant geometry, triangles and stars and hexagons. The shapes began to connect to each other, circles forming spheres, triangles forming pyramids. The shadows raised their arms and disappeared. Donny stopped flying his planes around, but the dotted lines hung in mid air, an unreadable but completely comprehensible message to the now silent crowd.

They figured it out. One by one, the people returned to the dig site and began carving the shapes they had just seen into the mudstone. As people grew tired and stepped away for rest breaks, they found that their words had returned to them. And when they went back to digging more, they fell silent again, but only because they felt more comfort in their new spatial language of shapes and motion. The anger over the construction was no more. Citizens came together, not just out of a common communication, nor for the good of a great monument, but because happiness finally showed itself to them, and they discovered their own paths to peace. Through the pride of choosing the hard work, for the benefit of all.

Charles called to tell me how excited he was for me. “You figured it out,” he said. “Kevin, you figured it out.” I told him: “Donny figured it out. He didn’t spout a solution in words, but in deeds. You should be proud of your son, Charles, I said. I am proud of him.” I didn’t say anything else. I need more time to know what else to say. Soon, we’ll go visit the zoo. Hopefully soon we’ll have a night to ourselves. To drink, to dine, to dance, and late at night in a quiet home, to dream a dream of diving birds, of love and language. And we will wake up the same people in a different place. The earth will have moved, the clocks will have moved, the sun will not have moved. But we will wake and we will smile, and we will do our best to understand ourselves and others.

Desert Bluffs, I didn’t figure out the language of the abyss, Donny did. I didn’t figure out what the language intended, you did. What I figured out was that I sometimes push too hard. I will do my best to not do that. We are building this monument because you want to. I want to too, but I’m glad you found your own way here. Lauren, tattooed frown scrawled crooked on her face, is standing over the pit and staring at the shapes the dream has shown us, as though reading messages only she could understand. She is muttering strange syllables to herself and staring at obvious malice at the workers in the pit. So even she has found a hobby in this – post-mayoral life.

Thank you, Desert Bluffs. I love this town. I’m happy you do too.

Stay tuned next for the sound a child makes upon seeing a giraffe in real life.

And as always, Until next time, Desert Bluffs, Until next time.

Today’s proverb: Kangaroos are deer abbreviated.

#welcome to night vale #wtnv #welcome to night vale transcripts #desert bluffs #episode 137 #the mudstone abyss #the mudstone abyss part 3

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yawmanzo · 6 years

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Yaws Personal Reflection on Touken

When I first watched/really read Tokyo ghoul, although I shipped Touken to get together eventually by some point; I didn't really understand why they fall so hard for each other at first. Upon looking back however, a lot of that could be attributed to the very nature of both characters. Touka (read here for my reflection on her) with a harsh/lashing out and violent exterior due to the violent past in which she grew up in as a ghoul, whilst still having a gentle interior and being selfless in most cases wanting to help others even whilst getting herself hurt.

Kaneki with a gentle exterior, yet a violent interior due to his own past and misgivings that we all know of as a human and being selfish in wanting to be needed by others and unconsciously hurting others by trying to burden everything upon himself and not fully rely on others.

I've noticed how Ishida likes portraying the values of Yin and Yang between the two (depicting them as polar opposites attracting and being complementary/interconnected/interdependent with some similarities as well, he did explicitly say they are characters of a set after all when he came up with them). Passive/ Active. Strong/Weak. Black/White. Direct/Indirect. Selfish/Selfless. Human/Ghoul. Harsh/Kind.

These terms aren't purely static stances but rather semblances of self that each saw/admired/invoked in the other, both positive and negative.

Kaneki said human relationships are like chemical reactions, if you have a reaction, you can't return back to your previous state of being.

Touka was there and saved Kaneki numerous times in Part 1 when he desperately needed someone the most aside from Hide and the others, while Kaneki also saved her several times.

What I love is the evolution of their feelings and relationship that started out pretty horribly with both seeing each other in a negative light as human (living a good peaceful life) and ghoul (being an evil killing monster).

The fact that a human becoming a half ghoul developed to be able to care and fall in love with a full ghoul that hated herself, the world, struggled working and living life as a human and ghoul is really phenomenal narratively speaking. Kaneki saw past all of Touka's violent exterior anger issues and looked at the gentle interior she possessed when it comes to how much she cares about people other than herself, even as a murderer. “If you died Touka-chan, I'd probably be sad”.

That line is so simple, yet for Touka it created a lasting impression since no one in her life really in viewed that kind value upon her, also count in her abandonment issues in always being left alone (Hikari, Arata, Ayato, later the Anteiku crew at the end of part 1).

Even if she had the Anteiku crew, no one truly gave that emphatic value about her life having importance and worth as a ghoul trying to LIVE in the human world amongst all the killing and violent predicaments of murder in the world, not even her uncle Renji or old man Yoshimura, even though they did look out for her. Meanwhile for Kaneki he felt like he belonged somewhere, again his most desperate desire. He felt needed as their friendship grew in training, fighting and working together, he wasn't alone anymore.

Even after getting separated after the Aogiri arc (about 6 months) and the Re time skip (about 3 years) you could always notice the subtle mentions of how much both thought of each other, Touka wanting to see him again and especially from Kaneki’s perspective even after each personality change in always mentioning Touka and Hide separately from every other important person in his life.

All personalities have mentioned her separately from everyone else (yes even centipede), “The others, Touka-chan and Hide”.

Even with the infamous bridge scene in part 1, Hide entrusted and helped Touka to expose Kaneki. And she did, however she unfortunately fell back on her violent anger issues and communication problems in truly conveying what she felt to Kaneki due to what can be seen as her fury at him being just like Arata and even Ayato to an extent. Kaneki promised never to leave her, yet he lied and left her to become stronger and shoulder all the burdens of everyone by himself in some tragic hero manner. Yet this time Kaneki genuinely believed his own lies, wanting to sacrifice himself to protect others when he said he wouldn't leave them.

However, unknown to Touka at that time, that encounter made Kaneki want to go back to Anteiku. “Touka, can I come back?”.

Haise sees her after 3 years at the second Anteiku home “Re” and cries after seeing that Touka was still alive after all this time and the encounter is titled “Inherited feelings”. Not for the person he knew the most in terms of time span, but for the beautiful person that created such a huge impression on him at the most vulnerable periods of his life after becoming a half ghoul and not having a true grasp on both worlds and companionship.

Is it unrealistic that Touka waited over 3 years for him and still had feelings only for him? “Even if time has passed, even if our bodies have changed, even if he had forgotten me completely... As long as he comes back home, things will be alright”.

Mostly yes for the majority but not strictly no… I view everything as not strictly one way with this; the main thing is about deep impressions that both instilled in each other, kinda like Star Crossed lovers, “I have faith in him, he will return”.

Touka was even willing to prioritize Kaneki’s own happiness and well being over hers as Haise in not forcing him to come back, but waiting for him come back of his own free will, even with all the new relationships Haise/Kaneki developed with other characters like the Qs family.

Time, change and distance never stopped them from still yearning to see the other, even amongst them both living different lives with different people and settings in part 2 of Re, most notably Haise/Kaneki with the Qs, CCG, Juuzou, Akira, Arima, Eto etc. Haise often visited Re just to look at her like he did with Rize even with his suppressed memories, even at times wondering what that girl(Touka) was up to. “I wonder what that person is doing today, on a date maybe?”.

Fast forward later to Touka also wondering about what Kaneki was up to in their 121-122 conversation... “Are you a virgin?”.

Black Reaper, the most savage,harsh and suicidal personality even changed his whole stance on dying simply upon looking at Touka in Cochlea.

This was also reinforced by Arimas threats in killing his ghoul friends, and the Hide inner dialogue about eventually finding a reason to live. I viewed this as a reverse of “If you died, I'd be sad” from part 1, both were scared at the very thought of the other dying. This time Touka is the gentle and kind exterior, Kaneki the violent harsh exterior not caring about his own life until someone reminded him the value of his life and the people that still care about that life. “Your life has MEANING, to us and to ME” type of thing, and as ghouls, they are hardly given any true instances of happiness, care and love that lasts before meeting a tragic end, some fuckery or death due to the harsh nature of the world.

The fact that they got together so quickly and yes rushed, after losing cafe Re and both feeling lonely and taking comfort in each other in 125 I found really emotional.

Touka asking Kaneki “Why are you crying?” was such a sweet gesture when you remember Haise crying when he first saw her in Re, but also how Kaneki felt that he was always beat a lot by the people he loved the most. And yet he was able to fully expose himself and have an extremely intimate moment with the woman that he's in love with, and to find out that she also loves him back and didn't hurt him at all this time.

Additionally was finding out that Kaneki was “dying” and how quickly they married after finding out about Touka’s pregnancy and her even CHOOSING Kaneki and their child over saving her best friend Yoriko (one of Kaneki's biggest flaws in choosing), for me only reaffirmed how desperate and strong each others feelings were for each other. Touka chose a life with Kaneki, something he wanted his mother to do… Choose him.

It's kinda like... “We lost each other before so many times, let's just confirm everything while we're still alive (The marriage bite mark and ring) because who knows when we'll lose these moments and our time together,” especially at how unforgiving shit can be with most TG relationships (AKA Eto’s parents Ukina and Kuzen, Touka’s parents Arata and Hikari and so forth).

Their love is flawed, rushed and has several problems yes with the time development and communication issues in execution... (I truly wish Ishida gave Touka more screen time and development in most of Re although she has developed and changed from Part 1 in her own way); but they are still growing and learning, nothings ever perfect. In fact even with that time discrepancy and change, its one of those relationships that's so genuine and loyal AF to me. Both can see the dark horror in each other, yet still love each other regardless and show genuine care to go through such lengths to make sure the other is okay in a world where such a thing for ghouls and humans is extremely rare. Especially during all the fuckery in the previous Underground and Dragon arcs. ALL of the Kaneki personalities agreed to literally kill and eat the Oggai children along with humans and ghouls (becoming a monster) just to see Touka again in fear of her death and hopefully to name his kid one day, repeatedly chanting her name over and over.

Touka played a prominent role and went out to save her husband with the CCG, Hide, hell even the Qs... incurring so much damn physical damage via all the fighting and all the mental/emotional stress concurred spanning days to weeks whilst fucking PREGNANT, starving herself with human food, and weakened as a ghoul.

Again, love is complicated, and it's not exactly “healthy” per say from that point of view… I'd say these two need some damn marriage counseling or some shit😂, but it is MUTUALLY genuine given the fucked up circumstances. (I'm also glad it didn't fall under the common anime/manga trope of “Will they? Won't they? shipping game that stalls for time... Just do it! Especially when TG isn't a romance manga, although it has romantic elements)

Personally for me, Touken represents an overall symbol of coexistence and hope for humans and ghouls (the positive core message of TG, even though yes I know it's not the main focal point outside all the story fuckery as a whole). It illustrates breaking past the species barrier of mutual understanding along with other ships to a degree like Ukina x Kuzen, Nishiki x Kimi etc; and I find it beautiful that Kaneki finally has a tangible reason to LIVE, with his Best Waifu Touka… And now also his Best Bro Hide and everyone else.

I wish I could add more insight, but as you can see... I'm a Touken boy through and through😅

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vicechan · 6 years

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A whole bunch of wrestling and a trip to Canada later...

2 weekends ago, Grace came over and we ate tacos and watched Super Show Down with Jason. It was more eventful than Greatest House Show, but it was still just a build to Crown Jewel. Meh. We didn't end up watching Venom, but we did go container shopping and ate tasty burgers. We watched KOPW and FEELINGS and I'm conflicted with the BCOGs and their new members. I hate, but. :| We had the return of Dhalsim curry (so good) and the knowledge of Human Centipede curry (so bad) and Monday was a good chill holiday before GO HARD began.

Planned pretty good for Toronto but didn't get enough packed. So, woke up early on the day I was leaving to 99% pack and hustled out of work (sorry late people) to throw a couple things in my bag and dash to the airport. You get more questions when you're doing international stuff. I thought it was interesting that I did all the customs stuff both ways in Canada.

Megan was great to stay up for me while I figured out roaming, shuttles, and got Timmy's for us. We chatted a bit and planned the next day that actually turned out really well! I got a lot of stops done and St. Lawrence Market has the best desserts ever and peameal is just average we saw a lot of neat buildings and areas and had good coffee and McDonald's before she had to go back. I went to a Toys R Us and felt basically always at ease and got a Mr. Pretzel before going to the Casa Loma Escape.

I was a little nervous because it was a full group, but they were getting stuff done, even if a little slow at some parts. There was tons to do and the setup was really neat and came together excellently. Had a hail mary finish where doing a lot of these games definitely helped. Had a lot of fun and it was nice to finish within seconds. Didn't have as much success finding dinner, so ended up having some cheeky Nando's and really enjoying it.

Friday was first day of the con and it was neat seeing things and panels and mostly taking it easy. Got some sleep and made a good Japanese food arrangement with Megan before turning in for another big day on Saturday. Breakfast was nice and Janice Poon is a delight. It was on again as I made it to the city to see Dr. Silver: A Celebration of Life.

Honestly? Low key obsessed with the musical with how charming it is. I'd love to learn more about the characters and it was awesome hearing some of the songs I've put on repeat live. The principles and the choir were amazing and I'd see it again if I could. Left love on social media even if it felt weird waiting up for cast/crew. Went to another Toys R Us instead of eating, but got to see CN Tower and Rogers Centre (the old Skydome) and was happy heading back to the con.

The Eat the Rude dinner was very impressive in decor and presentation. Ended up meeting a really interesting person and had a conversation that I wasn't expecting at all but it felt really nice to share the things with her and Megan and we ended out closing out the dinner and the dance just talking about experiences and energy and it was really intense but good. Megan and I talked until it got too hard to stay up and I made last minute airport food rounds and then had a victory lap in Philly and that was about it. A very wonderful trip and I want to go back to Toronto again sooner rather than later because I had such a great experience.

It's been just sleepiness and odds and ends in prep for the Texas State Fair this weekend!

#vice's personal blogging

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dreadlock-detective · 6 years

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Diary Entry List

Whoooooo boy I haven’t updated this since this original post, so to keep things simple I’m just going to plop 4 entries (2-5) into this post after the cut. Middle of the night post, but eh, figure there’s not a large audience for my D&D writing anyway~ Sooo yeah! Cut!

Entry #1 is here

Entry #2: Soap and Snakes

Geeze, so much has happened I'm already forgetting stuff! Okay, so back to the banquette real quick, because a few more things happened that I totally forgot about somehow! First, there was a representative from Delzimmer there, but they wouldn't help me get a payment sent over to you. They refused to deal with the Barons at all. Not that I can blame them, but it's just like some cushy family in Delzimmer to be as helpful as a bucket of vom. The Soverin... Soveren... Sovereign’s daughter did some kind of magic prophecy reading thing and long story short: something about three shadows of different colors all about horrible things happening... Essmer knows more about it than me. Didn't sound pleasant though. She passed out afterwards too. Sounds bad but I've got enough to worry about at the moment than some spooky divination or whatever. I guess that's the reason I've got this job though so I guess I'm glad she's seeing whatever it is!

It wasn't all doom and gloom though! After the Sovereign and most everyone left the hall Essman and Niles started playing music and Sir Veil asked me to dance! I mean, I have NO idea how to dance in a ballroom, fancy dress, and shoes, but I guess Veil doesn't either so it wasn't TOO embarrassing! Essmer got in with the dancing too after a bit with some dwarf lady who's dad didn't seem too keen on her being around such an old drunk human. It was quite an evening!

The next day we get prepped to head out north into the wilderness towards some old church. The Sovereign's son was our contact to help us. He's... much more what I'd expect from “nobility”. Stuck up, unpleasant, untrusting, and rude. We were able to get some nice horses, a cart, and some basic supplies but he wouldn't so much as help us get medical supplies, saying I am supposed to be able to take care of everyone! I'd be flattered if he actually thought that highly of me, but I'm sure he was just using me as an excuse to be a cheapass. Only towards us lowly commoners of course – didn't see him complaining about the absurd amount of food at the banquet! He's not the only problem though. I swear that Niles is going to be a pain. He had to run out and buy bars upon bars of soap before he'd gallop off into the wilderness! We're not traveling for relaxation! Gods forbid he feel a bit sweaty or dirty! He didn't get any better when he lost his horse- OH! Yeah, okay so how Niles lost his horse!

We were trying to pass a big o' river in our way and Lucan found a nice shallower safe place to cross so we got all ready to go. Lucan led the way across to a sand bar with me, Veil, and Essmer in the cart behind him, with Niles picking up the rear, likely because he was too busy preening himself to keep up. Anyway, the cart just got to the sand bar when I turned around just... saw Niles's hat as he plopped into the river as a MASSIVE snake back arched over him! (I swear Sir Veil heard him and just kept the cart moving until I yelled out about it). So yeah, this HUGE snake, with a mouth the size of Veil's body had a hold of Niles's horse! I hit it with some magic and it was, just, wow, largest living thing I'd ever seen! It nearly killed Sir Veil too! Tried to gobble him up and drag him away! But Sir Veil managed to kill it and claw his way out! I was actually worried for a moment but Sir Veil really can hold his own against monsters. Niles might be worthless and Essmer a drunk but with Lucan leading the way and Sir Veil to fight off anything that comes our way I think we really do have a chance out here!

He and Lucan managed to pull it's giant mass over to the far bank of the river and Lucan and I helped Lucan cut it up and dried out as much of it as we could! It's at least a week or more's worth for all five of us! Maybe if this doesn't pan out we can turn to hunting river snakes or something. Niles's horse didn't make it though, and he was super moody the whole rest of the way to the church. Guess that soap can't wash away his screw ups~! We're at the old church now – some old orc lady seems to be in charge here. Guess we'll be helping out around here for the moment. More on that after it happens I suppose!

Love ya!

Entry #3: Sheep Eaters

It'll be hard to sleep after tonight so I guess I may as well stay up and write a bit. Um. I guess I'll start with the reason for that and then end on a happier note. Maybe that'll help. But anyway, short version is we left the church outpost to look for a roaming shepherd who had complained about his animals being killed in the night – stripped down to the bone without a sound. Well, we found him and stayed up all night to watch his sheep and GUESS WHAT, WE FOUND THE PROBLEM. Giant. Bugs. Centipede or Millipede or something. Horrible things! Borrowing up from the ground! They came up everywhere! Their bite had some sort of paralyzing venom in it! You couldn't feel a thing! That's why the sheep never made a noise as they got eaten alive! Same thing nearly happened to Niles and Lucan too! And me! Thankfully Sir Veil was behind me and saw the one that had crawled up my back! Lucan got bit pretty bad but Sir Veil and I were around to help him. Niles though, he nearly didn't live through it! Thankfully I had just enough energy left to blast the last one off him before it could finish him off. Didn't have anything left to actually heal him up afterwards, but better than dead. Essmer got bit up too but not enough to take him down, thankfully.

That was terrifying. I don't really feel like sleeping anymore.

But on to the less horrible bits... not exactly pleasant ones but are less likely to give me nightmares. I went out scouting alone with Lucan for a day. First time I had been separated from Sir Veil in a while. Was kind of nice to remember I can still survive just fine without him watching out for me all the time. I screwed up bad though! I got excited since Lucan is also elf blooded so I asked him about his parents and... well... they're dead. The whole rest of the day was awkward after that. I'm such an idiot! And we didn't find what we were looking for, but we did find the tracks for that shepherd we followed later. The only other major thing I can think of to talk about is the big cat the store owner at the church had! Not sure what it was really but it was huge! Seemed to be fond of Sir Veil. He really is just a large weird kitty man! Growled like a demon when the rest of us went near it though! Niles tried to use some kind of magic on it and the shopkeep nearly slit his throat for it! She and Sir Veil insisted I try to pet the cat too... thought it was going to rip my face clean off... apparently it's just some game the shopkeeper lady taught it to do! I thought I was going to die! That's not a funny joke to play on someone!

Okay no thinking about that did not make sleeping any more appealing, really... I think the rest of them are looking to take on a group of bandits that have been harassing the church lately next. Not sure how many of them there are and I'm worried we're going to get in over our heads but I guess I'd rather fight some thugs than those bugs again. And now I'm thinking about the bugs again. Great. This hasn't helped at all. I'm done for tonight...

Entry #4: -

I'm not sure I want to write down how I feel about the last few days... But I want to keep this up to date so I'll at least talk about part of it. The shortest version is, I was very, very wrong before. Those bugs were not worse than fighting bandits. I mean, they honestly were probably a bigger threat but... watching bugs get smashed isn't nearly the same as it happening to people...

We found the trail of the bandits easily enough thanks to Lucan but he noticed the fresher set of tracks was headed back down south towards the church. Naturally we couldn't let the church go undefended so we took off after them and caught up to them earlier than we expected. They ambushed us in the tall grass with a few dogs and five or so men but they didn't put up too much of a fight. I focused on keeping people alive while the rest made pretty short work of them until their boss (some fatter man) came into view with a larger crossbow and fired a bolt straight into my shoulder. That, of course, got Veil rather upset but before he could do anything I went to fire a blast of radiant energy back at the man! It... behaved strangely. The glowing light slowed, dimmed, and burst into blackness! I tried to wander out of it but I couldn't find the end of it! I was beginning to think I had actually blinded myself when Essmer managed to dispell it with his glowing magical rock thing he made! By then the rest of the fight was over... I'm not terribly sure what happened but Essmer went off into the grass towards the rest of the noise and next I knew they were dragging the body of the bandit leader with them, now with most of his head caved in and a gaping wound in his chest.

We opted to head back north rather than return to the church for the night. Not a great idea, turns out, as rhinos of all things showed up and stomped out our camp fire and wrecked a bunch of our stuff. Especially Niles' tent. Thankfully they left without any major damage. The next day's travel we could see this gigantic tree off in the distance for the longest time. Before we slept, Veil and Lucan ran ahead to check out the tree, since that was an obvious place for a bandit camp. They didn't return until nearly the end of my shift on watch well into the night, exhausted and bleeding – the tree was a massive illusion that covered not just the tree but the area around it! Where the tree itself was stood a large watchtower and around it was a few cabins. Veil had broken the illusion when he got up to touch the tree and got shot with an arrow for his efforts. The two fled and ran in circles the rest of the night to throw any pursuers off their trail. When they got back they quickly passed out from exhaustion.

The next morning we went to attack as a group. Lucan snuck in first but was spotted and rushed out only for the rest of us to rush in. Niles, surprisingly, led the charge, ignoring the forward guards and their dogs and went straight for the tower! As for the rest of it, I'd honestly not like to write about. It was... barbaric. We all came out of it fine enough but... I don't know... it wasn't what I expected...

Entry #5: Sanguacon

It’s been some time since my last entry. The battle isn’t quite as distant a memory as I wish it was, but the fear has died down a bit at least. We found plenty of supplies in the camp so it was decided two of us should head back to the church to let them know and return with horses while the others stayed back to watch the camp for other bandits. Sir Vale suggested we be the two to go… I wasn’t really feeling up to it, after everything, but I didn’t have it in me to argue so, away we went. There and back was a full week of travel, so it was a lot of time together. It was pretty awkward at first but… one night, the “Sanguacon” found us. The thing the sheep herder thought was attacking his flock originally. It was supposed to be a legend.

Snuck right up on me while I was on watch and got a good bite on my shoulder before I even knew what was happening - spun around to see this massive… THING! It was taller than Sir Vale, super bulky, with stumpy little arms and legs. Like some freakish fat bunch of flesh just globbed together and became some horrible freak! It definitely drank my blood too, and I felt weak after it. Thankfully my scream woke up Sir Vale and he rushed over to fight it bare handed. It got a good bite on him but Sir Vale, for some reason, bit him back. Tasted like death, apparently. I lit up its back with my magic which it really, REALLY didn’t like but instead of fighting us further it plopped away before poofing into mist. Nothing left. No trial, no body, nothing. It was pretty crazy scary to be sure. Where it bit us the wounds don’t seem to be properly healing over even with magic. You can still see where it got us. But as scary as it was, seeing Vale fight it… it’s hard to imagine much being scarier than the thought of being on the other end of his rage… I think I’m starting to understand something though. We’ll see if it pans out later I guess.

Aside from that run in with a myth the trip was otherwise pretty dull. The people at the church were amazingly happy to hear the bandits were dead though! They had a super huge drinking party to celebrate. Pretty sure they all felt that in the morning…Trip back was a little more lively, since we had two ladies from the church with us and didn’t run into any trouble. Apparently the camp had been just as dull - after the week of traveling we did, Esmer, Niles, and Lucan looked bored out of their minds when we got there. As it turns out we couldn’t fit everything onto one wagon and though we had two the others had found other trails away from the bandit camp so we decided to try to follow those and leave one of the carts there.

And that’s where we’ve been for days. Just… out… on a path in the middle of all this grass. It goes on forever in every direction. We came to a fork in the path. Chose to go straight north as we had been instead of northwest. Got attacked by a flock of huge crazy birds because THIS PLACE IS JUST THE WORST and all the animals here want us dead. And just after that we came to another fork… this one continuing north and the other going southwest… so they’ve decided we should abandon our current path and see where the two side ones meet up.

I can’t help but think, if Vale had just listened - if he hadn’t murdered that last bandit - we might already know where we were going. We may have been able to prepare. We could have set out instead of heading back to the church. Could have saved nearly two weeks of wandering around in this sea of grass.

I’m starting to miss the muddy dumps of Delzimmer somehow… And I miss you too, Dad. Hopefully I can make it through this in one piece and work up enough gold to get you out again.

Until then!

#Dindel's Diary #d&d stories #5e #Dindel #dreadlock detective #Dungeons and Dragons

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louisetakesphotos · 7 years

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Well dear Tumblr community, it’s time to fill you in on quite the misadventure. Let me tell you a tale. A tale of woe, a tale of heartbreak, a tale of schlemeils and schlimazels. Of a thing known as the Blitz (a string of constant bad luck).The tale begins in Bangkok, with hardly enough sleep my human, known affectionately as Chaim, and I were ready to jump on a bus to Cambodia. With only 2 minutes to spare he decided to get money out at the ATM, alas the ATM had a different idea and his card was swallowed up into the black abyss of another countries banking system, never to be seen again. Because the universe was trying to make it fairly obvious it was playing a joke on us, that was the moment the skies opened and the first rain in several months poured forth. The bus pulled up and knowing my visa was expiring the next day we decided to get on it. Even as my stomach muscles clenched, I kept assuring him, 'I've got you man, I've got you.' 600m up the road we realised the error of our ways and we jumped off the bus, knowing we needed to cancel his card before we spent 12 hours making our way to a new country. Out we jumped into the downpour. This wasn't just an ordinary downpour, this was a downpour in Khoa San Road, the scummiest, filthiest place in all of Thailand. Water was flooding down the street, it was up to our knees and our shoes kept falling off, so eventually we said ‘to hell with it all’ took them off and walked barefoot through the minefield of unknown substances stuck to the ground. As I took my first step on the slippery sidewalk I saw a rat scuttle past, followed by an army of centipedes and cockroaches. With all my worldly possessions getting soaked on my back we finally made it back to our guesthouse. I turned to Chaim and assured him yet again ‘it’s ok, I have a card. I’ve got you till you can order another one.’So away we went the next day, with blue skies the universe shined it’s agreement down on us ‘Yes Louise and Chaim, you made the right decision, this was a small upset in an otherwise beautiful adventure to a new country. Everything will be fine. Fine I say!' The universe desperately assured us, trying and succeeding to lull us into a false sense of security. We arrived at the border to discover what a filthy liar our fair universe was and realised we were currently halfway through a scam. Pay them to organise a Cambodian visa, or get left behind and have to organise our own way to Siem Reap. We'd forgotten what it was like in developing world countries, so we begrudgingly agreed to just pay the extra money and be done with it.'We'll be in Cambodia soon, then our luck will turn, won't it?' We asked each other hopefully. ALAS, it was not to be. Alas the universe, the simulation, the author of whatever strange novel we're apparently characters in decided that no, the plot would be better if our luck stayed down, and so I walked over to a nearby ATM machine to get money out. Telling Chaim over and over, it’s ok, it’s ok, I’ve got you, I’ve got you. We’re going to have a great time, god I can’t wait to get into Cambodia. Our cambodian 'friend' who was organising our visas, who’d assured us he had our best interests at heart came up and agreed and agreed, oh yes thats a good amount to get out, oh yes you should exchange your money here, oh yes cambodia is good, oh yes oh yes. And suddenly a beeping sound interrupted this hectic tirade of useless information and I realised I did not in fact have Chaims back because my ATM card had just been swallowed. NOOOOOOOO. It was the last day of my visa, what do we do, what do we do. We're at the border, where do we go? How do we deal with this? Oh, for the first time in my life I was semi organised before I left the country, and I have a second card. It’s ok, it’s ok. It’s all going to be ok. It has $0 on it, but it's all going to work out for the best.We cross the border, we wait in this shed over here. We walk through this line over there. We double back, we walk in circles, screeching hawkers, pounding heat, the knowledge that the last two times, in the last two days we’ve used ATM’s our cards have been swallowed. Having been assured that ATMs in Cambodia are even less reliable my stomach knotted up, and I thought of all the things I’ll do if I’m stuck in a crazy country with no access to money. We made it back to the bus, knowing we’d been scammed, knowing we were down to my travel card which had $0 on it, feeling the knots tightening in my stomach. But we had our bags, we had our passports and our cambodian visas. We had our sanity and everything was going to be alright. We laughed at ourselves ‘well we needed a good reminder, Cambodia is different, we’re well and truly back in the developing world and they don’t have the same rules, our bad luck will turn around.’ We reached the point in the story where it seems as if the main characters life is back on track, that everything is ok, but anyone reading the book or watching the movie knows that this is the false promise before the bleakest point in the heroes story. And so away we went, gallivanting through temples, through back streets, playing with children, spying on monks, eating street food, riding our bicycles in the street. Taking the best photos of my trip so far and getting more and more excited about the next month of photography ahead, thinking of the stories I would write with them to try and send to magazines, thinking 'ah yes this is the life for me. Oh how happy photography makes me.' And as it always does in the best stories, everything came crashing down around us. One sleepy Saturday night, after a hearty dinner, after a day looking at all the photos we'd taken through the temples of Angkor wat, getting excited to go back the next day, everything changed. My social media addiction led me to look for my phone but it wasn't where I left it. I searched through my belongings but something was different. I looked at my camera bag and something didn't quite add up. Where my beloved baby Mandy the Mark iii had been, alongside 3 expensive professional lenses, was a large gaping hole. The hole seemed to expand in front of me, it was no longer the bright blue of the inside of my bag, but had turned black, it was a black hole and it was expanding, sucking everything in with it. Every good memory, every future photograph, the entire month of travel in front of me. I stared, still unable to comprehend I had just been robbed. That $8000 worth of camera equipment, along with my new mobile phone was no longer mine, but instead in the hands of some backstabbing thief at the guesthouse I was staying in. "Hey wait a minute, my camera's gone too?" Chaim said. Without a doubt we knew it was the hotel staff, or someone working with them, the door was locked, the windows barred, and we'd only been gone for 20 minutes. The invasion of privacy, the loss of my livelihood, the knowledge that the trust i'd had was gone and all the niceties of the homely place we'd decided to make our abode for the past week crumbled into a vile mess around us.What happened next could be the plot of an entire movie, yet I'll try and sum it up in a short paragraph. Three entire days in a sweltering, post colonial police station, arguing with shirtless police officers with the reek of last nights alcohol on them, all for the sake of a simple piece of paper, a copy of the police report, so I could try and leave this shemozzle behind me and get my gear back.We were intimidated, accused of lying and attempting insurance fraud, and asked to completely change our story because they had no intention of investigating a hotel in a place who's only income is tourism. Constantly being asked "What do you want the police to do about it?" It took yelling, sweet talking, persistence, a refusal to leave and becoming a massive pain in their side and finally the insinuation of a possible 'kindness' (also known as a bribe) I had the piece of paper in my hand. The knots that had been tightening in my stomach finally relaxed and a laugh burst out as we walked out of station, and were free to leave Cambodia and try and get my belongings back. After telling you of the horrific luck we dealt with, I have to finish with a note about Cambodia. I still love that beautiful, wonderful country, and ironically, although I dealt with some aggravating officers and thieves, the people in general are some of the loveliest people I've met on my travels.After losing my most important possessions and feeling like the world around me had come crashing down and everything was bitter and horrible, the thing that pulled me rather quickly from my self pity party, was looking around at the country I was lucky enough to be in, at the poverty that led to a city with a higher theft rate, and a country where police need bribes because they don't earn a high enough wage to support their families. A country that is still reeling from genocide, from severe mistreatment, and whose magic comes from the under-developed nature of the place. A country I'll most definitely be returning to, with a new camera.

#travel blog #travel #adventure #photographers on tumblr #original photography #submission #tps #cambodia #siem reap #scam #border crossing #wanderlust #explore #photography #canon 5d mkiii

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cynical-things · 4 years

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Ooh I see what you mean with the iceberg now, tbh I think almost all of the movies below tier 2 are just gore/disturbia type thing rather than what I class as horror, they should be two different genres cause it just feels like whoever can create the most fucked up film gets these plaudits as “scariest” horror. I don’t think they’re scary they just disgust people really. What do you think?

Aha sorry, I’m not the best with explaining things. Did you watch the whole video or just skip through? And I’d say some things on tier 3 should be in a separate tier. Like I’d say pink flamingos, salo and perhaps even the house that jack built doesn’t belong on the same level a Serbian film or human centipede 2. Salo is disgusting but I see the artistic side somewhat, whereas cannibal holocaust and a Serbian film are just disgusting just for the sake of it. I feel like I could see cannibal holocaust being on the same level as salo but the genuine animal abuse just makes it another shock value movie.

But defo below tier 3 it’s just people being so fucked up just for the sake of it and it just isn’t even a horror movie at that point. They aren’t scary movies as you’ve said, like the lucifer valentine films are just absolutely grim and have no purpose than to be shock / gross porn and I feel a lot of these movies in the mid-tiers just cater to people with really weird fetishes? But the lower levels are just horrendous and so disrespectful that people would use genuine footage of people being killed / tortured to make a movie. That’s not horror that’s just plain depravity, criminality and disrespect. There is literally no point to these “movies” other than to be edgy, shocking and disgusting.

#trigger warning #tw graphic #tw gross #tw graphic descriptions #tw

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notallfay · 7 years

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Emelie (2016) so much fucking nope!

I'm really into horror, and so I will pretty much check out anything going... Including the Human Centipede, like I wouldn't watch Human Centipede again but, I kind of don't regret watching it...

However Emelie is just let's fucking abuse children! Like if child abuse, especially mental abuse is a trigger for you, avoid this film like the plague on humanity it is! Because honestly I think I'd rather actually watch Human Centipede 2 & 3 than watch the end of Emelie...

I feel like I should of stopped when the baby sitter puts a tampon in, in front of the young boy... I'm bad with children's ages but he is only like 10 at most! But it actually manages to get more fucked up from there... Even though that is so fucking gross! Like the young boy clearly sees everything too, because he runs into his cupboard. Obviously freaked out, and radios to his friend and says "I think I've just seen my first China hole"...

She then feeds the girls pet hamster to the oldest boys pet snake, trying to force her to watch until she bites her. However the two boys end up seeing everything, the youngest of the 3 children is obviously too young to fully understand what is going on, but is also upset by this. I'd guess him at older than toddler, but less than 5?

Then she decided to play porn of their father, with "not mummy" to the two youngest children. The girl is still crying from loosing her pet. The oldest boy pretended to need the toilet to search her things, and call for help. However the friends Mum just tells him to go to bed. So then he returns to his siblings, and he does get mad and ask her to turn it off. However the camera shows they have viewed over 9 minutes of this.

I normally also try and view the end of the film no matter how bad it is, but I was beyond fucking done at this point. Even if it is to rant about how bad it was. I did pause it to quickly check out some reviews online, which mentions the abuse gets worse!!!??? As the night goes on!!!???? Like what the actual fuck!????

It's somehow only a 15 too!??

#Trigger Warning #abuse #child abuse #emelie film

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thebluemeany · 7 years

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Alexander Siddig Master Post: What to watch and where to watch it

WATCH: Good Candy

Peaky Blinders: most shows mash up all their cool shots with a soundtrack for their trailer. Peaky Blinders is that, only all the time. It’s beautiful, slick and oddly soulless: like a Vanity Fair photoshoot come to life. Siddig’s only in the romantic subplot of Series Three (£9.49 Amazon), but wait to buy as it’s on Netflix from September.

Cairo Time: Set in Egypt. Nice little love story. Surprisingly British in a repressed ‘I’d better go/ yes you better go’ sense. Except they all drink coffee rather than tea and smoke hookah. On YouTube. Worth cost of DVD.

Hannibal: Elephants crossing the Alps on a BBC Drama budget: what’s not to like? Actually done very well and in a sort of documentary style. Added bonus that Scipio is Rose Tyler’s Dad. On YouTube. ☩

Spooks: Nest of Angels episode: Traumatic. Remember seeing it as a kid in 2003 before UK suicide bombers were a thing. It’s harder to watch now. But definitely do as it’s a bold early attempt to tackle a lot of issues. It was and still is a brave piece of drama. On YouTube. ☩

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: 7 Series, all available on Netflix: hour after hour of episodes. Say goodbye to at least two months of your life. Noticeable increase in quality and complexity Series 4, 5, 6.

Lawrence After Arabia: interesting, well written and with a young Ralph Fiennes. Pace and style is more like a play than a film. Can rent for £4.00 on Amazon.

WATCH DEPENDING ON YOUR TASTE: aka. The Marmite flavoured Liquorice

Doctor Who - 1001 Nights (audio play): Really neat idea at the core. Doesn’t really get to Siddig’s story until episode four, but listening to the other parts really adds to the build-up. Yes, it’s £12.99, but it’s made by Big Finish (all round reliable candy makers) who employ a lot of old UK actors & writers, so resist urge to torrent.

Waking the Dead: Endgame part 1 and part 2. Don’t be fooled by the CSI set up - this is a level up in violent and gruesome. You can watch it on the BBC YouTube channel for £1.99. ☩

The Phantom of the Opera (audio play): faithful to the novel. Adapted by a Dalek. Good Commuting Material. Tad expensive at £12.99. Slightly cheaper if you use monthly credit on Audible.

Syriana – complex little film, full of a great cast. Intriguing, realistic and with worrying similar themes to Lawrence After Arabia but set a century later. Tad heavy going. Available free on Amazon prime. ☩

The Flat Earth (audio play): Weirdly like Lost. Don’t listen to it on a flight. I think the writer may have been going for a sense of the transcendent in a way that was meant to be life affirming. But it actually conjures up some pretty horrific mental images…so, yeah… part 1, part 2 ☩

OKAY IF YOU’RE BORED: aka. Chewing Gum

Inescapable: the landscape is shot nicely but the story is dull. £5.10 to download on Amazon, but you can rent for 99p on iTunes which is fine because it’s not a film for repeat viewing.

True Love: only improvised drama series broadcast ever on BBC One. Turns out there is a reason for that: actors need writers. Siddig is in episode four, which is the least mundane of the bunch. Bonus of Jane Horrocks.

Doomsday: post-apocalyptic movie. Oddly similar ‘flee to Scotland’ vibe as Reign of Fire below. Not done well. 99p on Google Play, but seriously just go watch the infinitely better 28 Days Later instead. ☩

Doctor Who – Sisters of the Flame/ The Vengeance of Morbius (Audio play): Worth it to hear Siddig play a centipede. ‘Cause its radio you just hear the hundreds of feet pattering every time he enters. £8.99 so try and buy when Big Finish have a deal on. Part one is both better and has more Siddig than part two. ☩

Un Homme Perdu: version in Arabic & French but I can’t find a copy with English subtitles. That said, there’s not a lot of dialogue: if your French is moderate like mine you can muddle through. Intention kind of reminded me of the British 60s film Blow-Up. Kind of dull in an ‘art-film’ way even without language barrier.

24 - Season 6: By this point of watching the back catalogue, I’ve got to admit I was getting pretty fed up of variations on Islamic Extremism stories. Siddig’s in episodes 2 – 7 and 9. £7.99 for whole series on Amazon, but low res version available on Dailymotion. ☩

Reign of Fire: so the poster looks AWESOME (dragons destroying London, hell yes!). But that all happens off screen. Lacking dragon destruction, Siddig, female characters or emotional stakes. Contains FAR too much Matthew McConaughey. Rent for £2.48 to watch Christian Bale valiantly attempt to make the best of a bad job.

BARELY IN: aka Empty calories

Game of Thrones: you’ve probably seen the whole series already. If you want to watch just the episodes with Doran in, these are limited to Series 5: episodes 2, 6, 9, 10 and Series 6, episode 1. The entire globe has downloaded it illegally already, but ignoring that, you can buy it on Google Play for £1.99 per episode. ☩

Turmanbay (audio series): available free on BBC iplayer. Game of Thrones but on the radio. Bit repetitive.

Atlantis: in various episodes across Season 1. Scrappily put together and feels like a kids programme. It’s £12.49 to download on Amazon but I wouldn’t bother.

Primeval: Theoretically in all of Series 4 and 5 – but in reality very little actual scenes until last two episodes of Series 5 (and even then, the amount of acting is debatable). Crappy production values and scripts lacking depth. If you really want to watch it, its £6.99 to stream on Amazon. ☩

Strike Back: Episodes 5 and 6: SAS video game masquerading as a TV show, or one of those books where the cover has a desert and a bullseye on it and the name of the author is in bigger print that the title. Generic variation on Islamic Extremism story…again… ☩

Doctor Who – The Wreck of the Titan: It’s not bad, just a sort of average Sixth Doctor story and for £12.99 you can live without it.

Merlin: meh, not worth it. Series 1, Episode 10: On Netflix. Better than Atlantis and Primeval though. ☩

The Nativity Story – feels like something they make you watch in school. Pretty, but totally lacking humanity or emotion. Part with Alexander Siddig as the Angel Gabriel is here.

DON’T WATCH: Just plain bad

Clash of the Titans: APPALLING MOVIE. WARNING, WARNING. DO NOT WATCH. Can rent for £3.00 on Amazon, but again DO NOT WATCH. Should also be under ‘barely in’.

The Diary of River Song: “I went to a marvelous party” episode (audio play): Story is boring and heavy handed on the allegory. Add to that the fact it costs £30.00(eek!) makes it a ‘skip it’.

OTHER/ STUFF I CAN’T FIND

Recon: Seriously does this movie even exist? I can’t find it anywhere. Possibly just an elaborate front set up as a tax dodge…

The Big Battalions: missing, presumed wipe. I work near the BFI so went in to see if they have a copy. They didn’t even have a record it exists. Still, it was made by Carnival Productions (who thirty years later churn out Hollow Crown & Downtown Abbey) so was probably good with high production values.

Wild Arabia - documentary narration kindly recommended by little-Vulcan for its ‘dope landscape shots’. On Netflix

#Alexander Siddig #Siddig el Fadil #Deep Space 9 #Gotham #star trek ds9 #This isn't a complete list #If anyone has links to other stuff online or to download at a reasonable cost #Please do add #:-)#public information post

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lilacflamesss · 7 years

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Some Thoughts on TG Movie

Hi friends, so the movie’s officially out in my country only on the 24th or something, but by tearing apart my wallet I managed to get the tickets to the special premier and cosplay event woohoo. I wrote what I honestly thought about the movie and it got kinda long + spoilers so I left it under the cut.

In short, is it a great adaptation? Nah. In this arc itself, it’s also hard to say if it did better than the anime (if we ignore the anime’s weird chronology). But I went in with no expectations at all so I enjoyed the movie while I was watching it and it’s only after thinking through and talking about it over dinner did I notice certain issues.

The movie covered events from Volume 1 to the end of Volume 3 in the span of 2 hours which naturally means a lot of things had to be cut. There were stuff I’m bitter about that’s cut but I see why they did it and I decided not to bother too much. I also would like to add that I’m not too familiar with Volumes 1 and 2 since the only volume I’ve really read recently from the pre-Aogiri period is Volume 3 so spare any mistakes I might make from what I recall from the manga.

I’d like to highlight that these are mere first impressions. A re-watch might change my opinions on certain things and by no way are my opinions absolute and final. It’s clear a lot of work was put into this and it was really taken seriously, so I do applaud the team.

Spoiler warning: Yes, there are spoilers because this movie is not a 100% reenactment of the manga. There are original scenes and there are scenes that were dropped. If you don’t like to read spoilers because you’re planing to watch the movie, I advise you not to read even if you know this entire arc in the manga by heart. With that done, let’s start! / (='x'=) \

More under the cut!

Since I’m the most bothered about the portrayal of Touka, I’ll begin with that. I feel that Touka was somewhat shallow in this adaptation. There isn’t the scene with her killing the creep who was messing with her so Kaneki found out she’s a ghoul only after she stopped Nishiki from trying to kill Kaneki. She still offers Kaneki the meat relatively nicely, but he rejects and runs away. Touka’s cold to Kaneki from this point onwards and there’s still the whole part about her asking him about how cake and all tastes like. But there’s nothing about her saying that it’s been hell for her since she was born nor was there the part where he called her a monster, so this kinda made Touka’s character seem harsh simply due to bitterness over the fact that he used to be human, which is clearly not the case in the manga. Just this earlier bit itself doesn’t seem to really convey any of Touka’s suffering as a ghoul, nor does it really portray Kaneki’s fear of these ‘monsters’ as deep as the manga does. So clearly, the beginning to Touken’s relationship itself here lacks the depth and complexity from the manga. Instead of really having deeply-rooted sentiments against each other which led to a friendship after the Hinami ordeal, it becomes more of a ‘I can’t stand you at all.’ on Touka’s part to eventually being comfortable around him.

The other bit that got me really pissed off was the fight against Mado. They took out the newspaper bit as well so Hinami left the place because she smelt Ryouko instead of her own fears and insecurities, which also meant that whole scene with Touka hugging and comforting Hinami was removed as well, which I was really upset with since I was looking forward to that a lot.

The fight was basically Touka getting wrecked most of the time and absolutely no mention of Touka having the potential to be as troublesome as Owl. Touka has her speech where she talks about ghouls wanting to live on and all but they didn’t include her flashback of Hikari (they didn’t include the Ayato flashback as well actually) and I was expecting this to be cut out like the anime did but I was really sad because I wanted those Kirishima feels lmao. Oh wells. But more importantly, due to the earlier exclusions of Touka talking about how shitty her life was this speech felt a little less heavy than it did in the manga.

Now, the part that really ticked me off was the end. After Hinami attacks Mado, Touka asks her to kill him off, which Hinami refuses to. In the original, Touka doesn’t do anything and only rushes to kill him right as he was going to attack Hinami. But in the movie, he was struggling to go to his quinique and hadn’t even reached it. Touka’s decision to kill Mado felt really flat to me because it doesn’t seem like she killed him to protect Hinami. It seems more like her killing him just because Hinami refuses to do it, which also makes it a little iffy to me because I’ve always enjoyed how the Touka’s part in this arc is a transition from a tale of revenge to one of protection.

Oh, but Touka’s relationship with Yoriko was adorable and one thing I liked about this movie was when Yoriko came to Anteiku to bring some food for Touka and she ate it. The whole part about her not wanting to vomit it out in the bathroom happened in Anteiku as well, with Kaneki standing outside and listening to her. It’s kinda creepy to think he’s listening to a girl in the bathroom but I like how Kaneki managed to notice from this bit how Touka’s struggling to maintain her balance in the world-- they took out the bit about Uta talking to him about Touka so I guess this was how Kaneki realized how hard she was working.

That was long but let’s move on.

They missed out the iconic part where Kaneki narrates about how it’s be a tragedy if he was the protagonist of a story, but I suppose it suits the feel of the movie because the movie itself didn’t end with tragedy since it concluded at the end of Hinami arc.

Hide’s convo with Kaneki in the beginning is cut by a lot actually and it seems he already knows Rize is Kaneki’s crush (he points her out to Kaneki when she walked in). He was trying to get Kaneki to ask her out on a date which is completely different from the manga. I think the movie was really trying to go with a ‘normal kid’ Hide because he doesn’t really show that much intuition as he does in the manga/anime. Though Nishiki still mentioned that he’s a little wary of Hide. But, according to the subs, Hide seemed more scared that Nishiki might ‘chew him out’ for work-related issues rather than because he felt suspicious of Nishiki as a person. Also, it’s hard to tell if Hide knew Kaneki became a ghoul because instead of bringing him to Anteiku, they brought him to the hospital and he was unconscious until quite later on in the movie. There’s no interaction between him and Kaneki as well after that because Yoshimura told him to stay away from Hide, which is also completely different from the manga since in the manga it’s Kaneki who thought he had to stay apart from Hide. Anyway, the complexity of Hide’s character seemed absent, but I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt since it’s only the Fueguchi Arc after all.

Also, Hidekane fans rejoice, there’s one scene where Kaneki just licks Hide’s face repeatedly.

Another thing that made me go “????” was the CCG’s investigation methods and how they tracked Hinami and her mother down from her father. I won’t say too much but my friend who went with me was commenting that even CSI doesn’t do it that way so it’s either CSI super backdated or the CCG has some pretty high tech stuff they’re keeping from everyone else. This is a joke of a point. Let’s move on.

Amoneki fight scene was a let down at the end because they failed to deliver the final bit appropriately. They did have Kaneki not wanting to become a murderer but Amon didn’t respond nor did they hold a conversation. Also, Kaneki ran off and remained sane enough to join Touka and Hinami and help them out. It’s a pity the bit with Yomo was left out because if I recall right, that’s the first time Yomo called him by his name?

AND, I have to mentioned this. In Root A, Ken cried blood tears for Hide. In here, he cried it with Amon. Amoneki shippers can rejoice as well.

Also, I have no idea why Mado’s the one who’s always munching on doughnuts instead of Amon.

Let’s go to the good bits of the movie.

DUDE THE ACTING. I really loved it. I expected Kubota to be able to pull it off and he delivered it as I thought he would. Shimizu wasn’t too bad as well, honestly.

But I have to give special mention to Mado’s actor. One thing I take away from 6 years of being in Drama is that if you’re a villain and you make the audience truly hate your character, you’re a great actor. Oizumi really pulled off the role so well that I have newfound hatred for Mado right now. It’s amazing really, to the point that it felt like Mado really overshadowed Amon a lot due to sheer quality of the acting.

Hinami’s actress as well deserves another special mention because oh my god, I felt so sad for her. The scene where she’s crying over her mother’s death is one of the best scenes in the movie because it felt so real and amazing. I’m really so impressed and god, she’s just 14??? This girl is talented as hell. Also, I’m glad they got a 14 year old girl to act as Hinami so thank god we didn’t get the 9 year old vibe from the anime.

Not to say the rest were bad, Hinami and Mado were just really good. Which also makes that one scene when they were together another one of my favorite scenes.

Moving on. If I have to be honest, this movie is super gross and eerie and I LOVE THIS. The scene when Kaneki first discovers he’s a ghoul has him lying sprawled amidst scattered food and his own vomit when some hallucination of Rize comes, pins him down and kinda messes with him and licks his eyeball (just like Eto did, yes). And while this was happening, the shadow on the wall formed a centipede and while at this point in time in the manga the imagery hadn’t appeared yet, I really loved this bit. And right as it disappeared, he rushes to the bathroom to clean himself up and that’s when he sees his kakugan on the eye imaginary Rize just licked. Kaneki walks around Tokyo when he just changed with his hands so obscenely (in a way) in his mouth and saliva like all over (I think it was saliva, I might be wrong). I think there was one part he went to sleep like that as well.

Other than this, in fights and all those other scenes, the blood and all tend to be really messy and all over the place. The blood’s super thick and you can just see how sticky it is so it’s really super gross when you see it like dripping out of their mouths.

The sound effects were pretty good as well. Fueguchi 1 makes a really creepy noise whenever it’s being used and it’s somewhat annoying yet it adds to the whole intensity of the scenes. When Touka broke Kaneki’s finger the crack was resonating everywhere. It’s probably due to my own bad experience with broken bones, but I cringed so badly at this. And I think there were a little more bone breaking in their whole training segment because Touka mentioned that they heal fast from fractures and they didn’t have to worry about breaking bones in fight. It happened in Amoneki fight as well, I believe. I really loved how chilling the sound effect was.

Also, the focus on that finger when Touka was stepping and breaking it. It’s so disturbing. (Again it might be me being bad with bones, but I was grimacing the entire time and I hated it so much it’s amazing, I think?)

The kagunes vary because I loved Kaneki’s and Ryouko’s but Touka’s kagune felt really plain to me. I didn’t like how it seemed really solidified because the Kirishimas’ kagune aren’t actually like that unless they crystalize it. The flowy-ness and glow was absent, which was what I really loved from their kagune so I found that a pity. In a way, Touka’s kagune felt a little creepy, just like all the kagunes did, which in my opinion was a little off because her kagune is supposed to be quite beautiful. Like they couldn’t really deliever the duality of the kagune, in a way...? If that makes sense. Nishiki’s was really nice too but it was a little too big and powerful. It looked like how it’s like in :re (and yet he got wrecked by Kaneki lmao). But overall they did a good job with the kagune!

Also, the kakugans were well done. I loved the glowing red eyes when Rize first showed her eyes. (And I have to add, the sudden change in her voice was amazing as well.)

The fight scenes were pretty weird though because clearly most of it was CGI. But there were also a lot of slow-mo sequences that were really awkward to look at, but it’s not too bad frankly. I did find Touka’s speed a little too unrealistic because she was practically being the Flash, which is a huge contrast to her Root A run but still a bit off.

There’s a lot more of course, but this is what I recall mostly. Well, this is only my first watch so it’s merely first impressions. I don’t know if I’m going in for a second time when the movie is officially out but a second watch might be better. There were also a bit of original scenes, like one of Kaneki at Fueguchi’s grave, but I decided not to talk about them since they actually fit into the story quite a bit and added on to the whole emotions and settings. The grave scene and the scenes preceding it were really sweet actually.

To be honest, I wouldn’t mind a part 2 made from them or even if they decided to turn the entire thing into a movie or something. I would love to see the Gourmet arc and Tsukiyama. The ghoul restaurant would be amazingly disgusting, I just know it. And Aogiri!!! The Jason torture + 103 bones scene would be perfect. I’d probably close my eyes and ears during the 103 bones scene but whatever screaming Ayato-kun is never a bad thing.

Anyway, it’s late. I should sleep. :p If anyone’s gonna watch the movie, I hope you have fun! Do go in and enjoy yourselves and not be too cynical about stuff. ^^

#tg #tokyo ghoul #tg movie #tg movie spoiler

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aiimaginesbts · 7 years

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