#I'M SO INTRIGUED AND CONFUSED

[mrs-gauche]

So I recently listened to the latest episode of the "Split the Veil" podcast, in which Caitie (Ghil Dirthalen) talked a bit about her experience as a member of the Community Council, where she got to play some of the early builds of the game to provide feedback for the devs. It's really interesting and obviously, she can't talk about anything that BioWare hasn't revealed yet (which must be SO hard to keep quiet for two years 😂), but there was one thing that stood out to me and while she kept it frustratingly vague, it might be a liiittle spoilery..? So I put it under a cut!

So basically, she got to see what happens right after the Gameplay Showcase cuts off and she's dying to talk about what happens next because it's obviously a huge deal... so all she said was (quote) "It's so fucking funny, but it's not the tone that's funny".

And I'm sitting here like ???????? Like, what the heck, that's got to be the last thing I was expecting to hear. 😂 And now my imagination is running wild, like how are we going from "The Evil Gods are here, someone's gonna die probably, the world is doomed" to "That's so fucking funny" if it's not the tone? lol

I need you guys to give me some ideas please... Here are some of mine:

the Evanuris will pick Solas up and drag him like a ragdoll

after the gods emerge, Hawke stumbles out right behind them, looking like Robin Williams "What Year Is It" in Jumanji, visibly confused

there will be a hard cut to Varric sitting in a chair, cuz all of the prologue was actually made up

Also, another interesting titbit, in a recent video from Playstation Access, someone who also got to see the full scene at their demo, talked about how the graphics were so impressive, especially in the final moments, describing it as a "raging, magical storm/stuff flying about all over the place" and "a big swirling vortex of chaos" (are they referring to what we've seen during the showcase or something that happens right after? 🤔

[tifa-simp]

Time for more parallel!

The framing of these 2 scenes are quite similar, aren't they?

Remake

Rebirth

They both focus on the condition of Sephiroth, while Remake frames Aerith like she knows that he's still alive, Rebirth lets Tifa questions Sephiroth mysterious 5 years gap absence. Which leads to quite an interesting situation:

Cloud, who used to have his suspicion, is now even more sure of his knowledge about Sephiroth at the end of Rebirth. So he's likely to not gonna change his mind about Seph, as in he firmly believes that he knows the truth. Which, as we all know, is gonna bite him in the ass one way or another.

Aerith definitely knew about Sephiroth more than she lets on. But throughout 2 games, either intentional or not, she refuses to tell people the whole picture and seems to follow her own plan. Seeing the end of Rebirth, let's assume that her plan works. So Aerith had reason to not reveal her full knowledge to the gang and also has no way to tell us anymore with the way she is now.

Which leave us with Tifa with her titbits and intuition against the big mystery. So far she has 3 important questions:

What is messing with Cloud's mind?

What is Aerith's secrets about the future?

What is Sephiroth up to?

And for now, she knows that Cloud believes his unstable mind is due to SOLDIER's cells degrade, that Aerith has her memory taken away by the Whispers, that Sephiroth is fighting with the Planet and losing (at Gongaga at least). But as the story goes, she becomes more lost.

Both Cloud and Aerith are out of question now, so the only one can give Tifa the all answers is Sephiroth. But obviously she won't get anything directly from the man himself. Bold guess, but I think Tifa will involve in some way in Vincent's arc in part 3 since his story is so tightly tied to Sephiroth. No matter how Vincent arc turns out, there's no way Tifa won't get something out of it. Either she knows how he messes with Cloud or what's he been doing in those 5 years.

If Vincent arc doesn't give her all the clues then the Weapons are next in line. She's already had some ideas about the Lifestream works, next is how the multi worlds work. I believe Tifa is smart enough to figure that out by herself. I mean, she comes up with this on her own

Making Tifa our lead will be the right choice since she's in the dark about everything as much as we do while not so blindly determined like Cloud or so omniscient like Aerith. How cool it'd be if we can see Tifa playing detective in part 3 and slowly piecing everything together to clear up all the mysteries, not just with Cloud's memory problem but also Sephiroth's plan and the principle of multi worlds.

Tifa has always been the one staying behind to observe and analyze the situation in 2 games, it's time she steps up and makes her move in part 3.

[yuseirra]

CRINGE MESSAGE COMING LOL. Seeing all the chapters of Oshi no Ko and the KamiAi makes me feel guilty now for being an Ai’s yume / waifuist lol. She's definitely his. Too bad for me ig, but I'm very happy maybe she really found someone who can love her as she is. Your comics are so good btw !

Don't worry about it, anon! And honestly I have no problems with someone feeling that way about Ai- why would you have to feel guilty? Just as much as I'm passionate about what her relationship could have been with another character, you liked her as a character and wanted to explore in that aspect! Even if she canonically has someone she loves in the story, she's a fun character to imagine and work with and she's really charming! But.. I'm really glad at the same time to hear you feel convinced about this ship too as someone who cares about it 🙏💖..your ask is so wholesome. I feel that's lovely of you to feel happy for her having found someone she can love. Ai would be happy to have a fan like you.

To add, I bet I'm WAY more cringe for having discussed about the ship and the characters in literal essays at this point..! I really appreciate your ask, it's happy(and relieving)to see there are people finding this ship the same way as you do. I really, really hope the manga will direct them in the way I anticipate too~~~~, because I can love them all I want if that's the case and it'd make a lot of sense, too! I can explain. I CAN-

Not that it matters a lot in terms of analyzing characters from a manga, but I STUDIED psychology, it IS a field of interest for me and I want to get things right on that aspect... the emotional areas of people. And from what I can infer, I think what these two characters had...could have actually been pretty good. Ai's reaction towards Hikaru and what's related to him aren't really what someone would have towards a bad partner, it's quite the opposite. Things all started to add up after having seen her say on him in the video. I'll discuss a little more about it below but before that:

Right?? What mattered the most for me the most is Ai's say about the guy and it turns out she REALLY loved him and SHE wanted to be together. I could tell from the entirety of the movie arc that Hikaru would have been very attached to her considering his life circumstances. She literally was only person he could really open up to and love, and Ai did so much for him although she later did give him the pain. I totally see how the lyrics for this show are all like "I can't live without you!" or "I'd give up my own life for yours!", it has to be this guy saying it because that's EXACTLY the way he'd feel about Ai. I started drawing a lot of him after 154 and Fatal because they acted as the major puzzle pieces for me to understand his character. You see how Akane wants to understand her role as Sayahime but has a hard time forming a concept due to the little info she has in the scripts early on in anime S2, right? I felt the same way about the guy. I think...I get like 70% of him now, but the other 30% I am yet aware of can completely turn the tables and my insights about him and that's what makes me so nervous. One thing's certain though, he severely loves Ai and every loving feeling he expresses about her are true. And if it is, then it's at an extent where he can literally sacrifice himself for her sake. Pretty intense, right? So about your ask, the part where you say Ai's found someone who really loves her is DEFINITELY true! I'm glad for her in that aspect(is he worthy enough, however?)

About the "worth" of his love, I've said earlier that Ai's say on this relationship's the important bit, didn't I? And it is, since she could be a victim of a terrible crime and if that's true, whatever feelings Hikaru would have about her wouldn't hold weight or meaning(at least for me). Who cares if a stalker claims they can risk their life for you? You'd just want them to stay firmly out of your life, it's imposing and unwanted and even quite selfish. However, Ai seems to have been pretty content, maybe even happy with him during the times they were together.

We don't really get to see a lot of their loving moments together since things keep happening making Hikaru's life plummet and become miserable and pretty reliant on Ai, but we see his happiest smiles in that brief moment they were together and Ai WAS smiling there, too. I believe that's not just a false vision of her Hikaru has formed in his head. She did actually accept, understand, and love him back. Well, how do we know that? Because the way she reacts to him/what's related to him are consistently loving and shows of concern.

-Ai adores their children and swoons about how cute they are, when they resemble him too a whole lot. It's a little similar to how she's commented how cute he is when they had dinner together(although Hikaru says those scenes are made-up, I feel they would hold some clues to how they actually were bc why would something entirely fake take up entire chapters). It's hard to love the kids of someone who's given you a hard time, but Ai shows no signs of such feelings. Rather, I think her feelings towards her boyfriend extended to their kids they had together and she was able to love them even more because they're the children of someone who she really cares about.

-She also comments(I say this a lot)that she wanted to be together forever with Hikaru. That's not something that'd come so easily from her mouth. She believed her own mother didn't want her. She was so wary, and hid her true self even towards her own kids and always smiled, leading even her own son to believe she never cries even until he's entered high school. She's afraid of forming relationships because she gets hurt. But Ai sincerely wanted to be with this guy. This says a lot because if he was bad to her, Ai would have recoiled and left. However, Ai was able to decide she wanted to settle with him and share a future together. That's what love is. She liked her times with him enough to wish for more of it.

-Ai actively tries to cover for him and shield him from the possible harms he may face: she never reveals who the father is, to the president in her firm, even in her videos to her OWN SON. I get the feeling that she is really protective of this guy. The reason she left him was because she was afraid of causing HIM more sufferings, not because of her being tired of him sticking to her etc. There's a cut where she imagines him raising their children together with a smile and she's also there right beside him forming a wide smile. That's what Ai wanted, and it's so far from what a messed-up relationship could be. Ai knows about Hikaru more than anyone else and she doesn't hold any negativity towards him, she's only worried about his sake. That convinced me, they could have really had this happen. He was good enough for her and she wanted him too as much as he did for her. I don't think she would have the wrong idea about who she chose to love, when her whole story revolves around her struggles on forming a genuine one.

How could this be, if he's someone capable of harming her? I say he actually ISN'T, and that could be backed up by how.. timid Hikaru used to be. This is the 30% I am unsure of, I am not sure how crazy he is or how insane he can get. What I can say is that his innate character isn't the type to actively try to harm someone just because he's hurt. He was hurt all the time, always, by others, and he was never able to really fight back and protect himself before he's met Ai who stood with him(and this explains why Ai is so keen about protecting him-she knows he gets very vulnerable and she's seen him suffer all his life. She never wanted to be the one to add to it. She WANTS to help and protect him so much.)

I can also say he has very low self-esteem and values himself way less compared to what he actually is. This attitude of his is there from the very first time he's introduced, he keeps blaming himself and says his life doesn't have so much value. It's a very weird attitude to have if he's in front of someone who he's murdered.... When he is asked to teach Ai for the first time, he says stuff like "Is it okay for someone like me to...?" When you're this degrading about yourself.. You come to sort of.. Accept every bad thing that's thrown at you. I think that's how his mental state is at this point because Ai died and he believes he's responsible for it. He hates himself and has no problem having to be "punished" for it. He describes himself as a crazy murderer but.. I am still not sure if that's really the case. Aqua blames himself a lot for things he never did, perhaps his dad is even more like him on that regard. I need more pieces of the puzzle, but he's... really interesting and painful to analyze because I can sense that he's really suffering. Does he deserve it?

If he's someone that's allowed a person like Ai to form such a strong, loving and protective feeling towards, I don't think he could be so bad in reality. The things he says and his actions don't line up so well. Good grief, the writer really makes me think SO much. Maybe they never put that much thought into it and thought it's understandable the way it is, but.. He's so different compared to how he used to be. There has to be a reason for a person to change their ways so drastically, and the only reason I can personally think of for this character to shift this much would be Ai's death. I don't think he'd have been so different before that happened, and if that's the case, he wouldn't have tried to hurt her because why do that to the only light of his life? Why do that after a whole 4 years after a breakup, not immediately when it happened? Why try to do it after having realized she's been raising your kids by herself and they're said to be growing up smart and healthy? Many questions arise, it doesn't add up for me. Hikaru SAYS he wanted to talk to Aqua. He did with Ruby, he states he HAS fatherly feelings and I sense no hostility in him when he approaches them, he acts pretty KIND to them. That's not so different from how Ai's pictured he'd be with their children, either. His behavior is mostly consistent except for that one thing he claims to have done(sending Ryosuke), and the death of Yura, but even that is ambiguous and we don't actually know what's happened.

I think he just tried to send a bouquet to her but was too sad to go meet her in person lol, that, or there was some outer force that convinced him it's what he should do? The black star, perhaps?

This became a real essay and I'm the embarrassing one here ;v; ahah but!! I do draw with passion! And with a lot of things in mind and I read stuff over a lot like you do anon! ♥ I really hope they turn out to be something I can fully respect and support bc, I want Ai's love to be reciprocated in the way it deserves. It'd be great if they deserve each other. They are the protagonists' parents too, after all! I feel they'd have a pretty good story. Thanks for reading my comic and for expressing your thoughts to me! I hope what you said and what I speculate about them are true!!😊💖💖

[silent-lily]

The FUCK do you MEAN they did a remix of a Frontiers track for Sonadow Generations??? SEGA WHAT DOES THIS MEAN??? ARE WE GOING TO STARFALL ISLANDS AGAIN?????????

[beastsovrevelation]

I recently found out people ship Cassandra with Apollo.

My initial reaction was...

Just tan their hides. You know what happened to her because the the bastard, don't you?..

Then, I was overwhelmed by morbid curiosity, and checked AO3. People are writing rape fics about them. ...Why?..

Could I ever see Cassandra x Apollo?.. I don't know, maybe. But, definitely not the nonsense I mentioned. Dubcon at most. I guess, he might somehow coerce her into sleeping with him, and later rescue her from the fall of Troy, because she's pregnant with his child, or something (Zeus would be pissed, I'm fine with that).

Sounds like an intriguing story, with a lot of morally questionable elements. I can imagine Apollo confiding in Artemis, wondering why his wife is so upset. She'd just go "are you serious rn?.. -_-".

...What, you're surprised I'm among those I wish to hide with a broom? Don't be. It happens quite often, actually.

[saph-yells-into-the-void]

so lu guangs passcode is 091305

they placed a weird emphasis on it w ql asking what it means

cxs looked down and said he doesn't know and that he found it out by accident

however it is implied that lu guang clearly left his phone there bc he knew they would be able to unlock it

and yet cxs looked away and denied it.

sir

what does that number mean

what are you hiding

sir-

[saucy-mesothelioma]

Watching Regular Show on shuffle is crazy. I just finished the episode where Mordecai microwaved those clocks and killed Rigby and now for some reason everyone is in space, the park is in a giant dome, Pops has a hitman after him because he's a god now I think(?), and they're going to buy beds. This show is incredible.

[the-busy-ghost]

British publishers seem to have a strange habit of classifying nineteenth century French novels as children’s books (a nebulous category I know- children are often more than capable of reading so-called ‘adult’ books but I find it odd nonetheless). 

Jules Verne is the first one that springs to mind, but the one that always confuses me is ‘The Three Musketeers’. Yes it’s got all the swashbuckling ingredients that make up a good boys’ own story, but I’m really not sure that it’s strictly a ‘children’s’ classic.

This brought to you by the fact that I’m trying to sort all my other Dumas books into order when I realised that the ‘Three Musketeers’ wasn’t among them, even though it’s part of a wider ‘series’, the other books of which are in my ‘adult’ books. But because my copy of ‘The Three Musketeers’ was part of a set of ‘children’s classics’, it’s languishing in a box somewhere, alongside The Railway Children and the Secret Garden (great books both, but very different in tone I think). I don’t want to break that set up but I also don’t see why the story of Milady de Winter is more child appropriate than the Count of Monte Cristo.

[malachitezmeyka]

Not to jerk myself off but I genuinely think Suiren's UtOS design was a stroke of genius on my part

[dangerliesbeforeyou]

wait... i just heard someone say 'aromantic' for the first time and i realised that i've been saying it completely differently in my head so...

[miharuhebinata]

ok but the implications this game gives us in regards to naydra, farosh, & dinraal's existences is driving me insane

[ghost-trapped-in-the-screen]

Do not talk to me on the 12th of may

[deadliestgalaxy]

I'm quite confused at how Peter and Nebula’s relationship started to be viewed as romantic by so many people.

Like, don't get me wrong, you can ship whoever you desire! But I wasn't expecting it and I didn't see the beginning of this trend (did it start with Vol. 3?); so yeah, I was caught off guard.

[oveliagirlhaditright]

For Coffy Week: The one Boom AU where Buffy and Cordelia are a couple. And where Buffy might possibly might have been turned into a vampire at the end of this comic, but was able to hold onto her soul because of her love for Cordy.

[ichabodcranemills]

“This story is unlike any other story you have seen on Wattpad” is such a deranged thing to put in the summary of a fic hosted on Ao3

[saucy-mesothelioma]

Wait what