#I'm probably overthinking it

[just-1-scorpio]

It's my time to read into a line more then it probably means, and probably being wrong.

Spoiler warning for Echoes in the Mountain.

So in the last stage in Echoes in the Mountain, in Semmelweis's hallucination there is this line:

Basicly the doctor telling her that her ignoring her condition, and working as a field agent will lead to her doom.

But I have a theory, that this line has an another meaning.

In Hungarian mythology two brothers Hunor and Magor, were hunting, when they saw a deer. The deer was the Csodaszarvas, "Miraculous Stag" in English, in many depictions the Csodaszarvas depicted with white fur (Yes I'm awear that there are other depictions with defrent fur colour, but white as a fur colour apears often). The brothers wanted to chogh it, so they pursued it. They chased it into the swamps (swamps of Meotis), here the stag disappeared, the brothers tryd to find it, but they faild at it. But by exploring the swamps they found land suitable for living. Here they they foubded Hungary.

Yes this is a brief explonetion, but it's needed to understand my point.

So my theory is that the second meaning of the line is that, it posably can mean that by contenuing to work as a field agent, Semmelweis might posibly find something (posably Lorelei's help).

An another thing that might support this theory is that Semmelweis probably was named after Semmelweis Ignác, who was Hungarian, so she is posably Hungarian, or partialy Hungarian.

Or I'm just reading into this line to much, or just overthinking it.

Sorry for the bad English.

[skyward-floored]

What do you say to someone who leaves a comment on your fic and basically expects you to comment on theirs too

[elementalladymallorie]

You know I said loss while thinking death, but that's not the only 'loss' that could be counted for people?

Like obviously death is one, and that fits for Ashton, F.C.G. and Orym but I don't know about Chet?

But Chetney admitted to being abandoned by his family, and Ashton lost the nobodies so maybe that counts?

Imogen's got a strained relationship with her parents, but she still thinks its salvageable, and she lost Laudna but Laudna came back. So maybe there's no loss of a loved one.

Fearne had a tense relationship with her's but it's being mended and she's always had her Nana. She's got the Crown Keepers and the Hells and Mister. She's a lot older than she should be and her Nana/family is Fae. Maybe she hasn't had the chance to feel the kind of loss the lake calls for

Laudna's the one I can't really pinpoint for it, but she's in a new life? She's got Imogen, she has Pate, she has Delilah. Maybe it doesn't count as a loss in her undead life? Maybe her being undead is helping?

[egophiliac]

was this anyone else's first thought, or

[vermilionsun]

TELL ME WHY

I'VE PLAYED THIS DEMO OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN

BUT NEVER HAD I EVER PICKED THE "HESITATE" OPTION FOR LEANDER

I'M A DUMB BITCH HOLY SHIT

BUT I CAME INTO A NEWFOUND REALISATION:

THE MC'S CURSE PROTECTS THEM, IN SOME WAY

(unless I'm the last person in the fandom to notice that, good job me)

If you pick the "Touch him" option, he only says "I told you there's nothing to worry about"

BUT HERE, he comments "That's one hell of a curse :D" meaning he definately feels it and it possibly affects him

Yes, the MC surely has ptsd of some sort and could assume Leander's hand was going for their neck like mrChocky but i highly doubt he was initially going for their shoulder

I believe the MC's curse doesn't affect whoever they touch, but whoever touches them

It's quite a bit of a strech, yes, but still a possibility:

Leander doesn't do the dramatics above if the MC touches him first

MrChocky was the one who touched the MC first and got he affected

And thus I bring in another question: What about Oracle!MC?

"The priests claimed your touch bestowed enlightenment, but a visiting mage revealed your curse for what it is."

It wouldn't be illogical if the priests' words were true; if the MC touches someone, they are "bestowed enlightenment", but if the MC gets touched forcibly/accidentally, the one who touches them goes mad

But that would also mean we'd have the choice of giving Leander more power if we choose to touch him

Also, somehow all the backstory mages seem to have a good understanding of the MC's curse [have seen it/it has been recorded before], or are at least able to recoognise it in order to reveal it to them. Plus, the Alchemist!MC's mage [who was "exiled from the Senobium"] planned on cultivating them as a test subject, meaning not much must be known about said curse.

"It's unlike anything I've ever dealt with," says Leander, a mage who has never stepped foot in the Senobium.

"We can find answers together," Leander promises later on.

Then he stops

He waits for them to touch him

Then he freely unwinds their bandages, allows them to touch his hands, his cheeks, he moves his hands over theirs because they've already accepted him touching them

He could have figured how the MC's curse works, or he could have dark-magic-ed his way into the Senobium files before the MC returned to the Wick again.

[nattikay]

Naming Kiri - part 1 (part 2 coming eventually)

[lopsidedtreetrunks]

Ok i finished the first page of that disney thing and I'm gonna post it here bc i want feedback (also it's literally fanart of this fanfic, i did not come up with this dialogue lmao)

first off i know this is formatted terribly lol, i have always drawn my self indulgent comics like this bc i normally draw on paper and it saves space, and since I'm not posting them, I'm never worried about readability, so i do apologise for how tiny the top row is (that's why i replaced my handwriting with text)

what i want to know is, are the pictures too small? is it annoying having to zoom in to read each panel? I'll change how i format the rest of the pages so they're easier to read and understand, but should i retroactively change this first page, too? Or is this format completely fine, and im overthinking things as per usual? any other feedback is welcome, too ;^^

[nico-is-a-corn-plant]

Is it just me or does the computer make a noise everytime someone lies?

[juststandingthere]

ISTG this game is making me insane, brainrot strong enough for me to make my first analysis post

One thing i love about the narrative is how distorted the characters, relationships and events are from jimmy's pov. Most posts discussing this focus on Anya, and it makes sense bc she's probably the biggest victim of this. She's seen as less than a person, she's an incompetent nurse, she has a meek personality, she'll let anyone(jimmy) step over her and she still follows his orders, despite everything he has done to her. We obviously see, from curly's pov, that she's simply too terrified of her abuser to act any other way, and when she's not with him she's way more confident and competent.

I haven't seen as many people talking about how this "distortion" affects Swansea and Daisuke as well, including the relationship they have with each other.

We see, in the first Curly section, that Swansea is a great mentor to Daisuke (one might even say they have a father-son/uncle-nephew relationship). He takes his time to teach him not just the basics, but also how to do his job as safely as possible. He lets him take notes, he himself writes stuff down for him to remember and even lets him doodle on those notes! Sure he is harsh with him, but he clearly cares about him and wants him to be safe.

And in return Daisuke looks up to him and has great respect for him, as both a mechanic and a man, while he also makes some jokingly offensive comments towards the older man, showing the close bond they have formed.

But that's not what we see when we play as Jimmy.

In his pov we don't see them interacting much, when they do we either see Swansea insulting Daisuke for no apparent reason or, in one occasion, we see him leading the kid down a "bad path" wanting to teach him how to "drink like a man".

When they aren't interacting tho, we do see hints of their actual relationship: Swansea asking where the kid is when he is "partying" in the lounge, confirming that he does not, in fact, hate spending time with him; him looking desperately for something, *anything*, that could help Daisuke with his suffering after he's injured; how whenever Jimmy tries to bring up to Daisuke how "badly" Swansea treats him, or how he "lied" to them about the utility room, Daisuke immediately shuts him down, because he knows what he's saying is completely wrong (i'm pretty sure those are the only times he doubts something Jimmy says), showing once again the trust and respect he has for his mentor.

(this part is kinda speculative but i think it makes sense)

There are two other times where we see them interacting, where we actually see how much Swansea cares for the kid, and coincidentally, neither of them is seen through Jimmy's eyes, but from a third person pov: what Swansea says right before they knock him out with the drink, about how he resents the people that let Daisuke, someone with his whole life ahead of him, with so much optimism and joy, board the ship for a job that would inevitably leave him "mangled" and "smarter in a worse way" (i could make a whole other essay on this part but i won't), and what he says right before mercy killing him. In that scene specifically, as the camera pans out in the corridor as Swansea raises his axe, ready to take the final swing, Jimmy doesn't see the hesitation in his body language, the way his body tenses, the way he comforts the kid, telling him to close his eyes, the heavy breaths (crying?maybe?) right after the act. He only sees the older man as a monster that would take away an innocent life that jimmy would have been able to fix had he been given the time to fucking think.

Hell, now that i think about it, Swansea's final monologue, where we find out that he is in fact a good man who tried his best to better himself, who simply wanted to protect the kid and give him "a chance off this goddamn rock"(implying that the Cryopod was meant for Daisuke all along) is also shown in third person!

A few other things i found interesting:

1-The missing pieces between what happened to Daisuke in the vent and when Swansea started attacking Jimmy. There's a cut from when Daisuke screams to when he's laying on (Swansea's) bed, bloody and in pain; from when Jimmy uses the mouthwash to disinfect him (which only causes him to suffer more) and two hours later; from after the talk the two men have and the moment Jimmy decides to go find the gun, the axe gone from Daisuke's face. What happened in those missing scenes? Was Swansea the one who helped the kid onto his bed, trying to make him as comfortable as possible? Did he try to comfort him, to distract him, and ease his pain as well as he could? What was his reaction when he had to take back the axe off the face of the young man he had started seeing as his own kid, whose life he had hoped he could save but that he ultimately had to take with his own hands?

I personally think those parts are blocked out of Jimmy's mind, as he couldn't fit them in his own narrative, where he was the hero, Swansea the villain and Daisuke the innocent, young man whose life he tried his best to protect from this "monster" that was now going to come after him.

2-Swansea attacking Jimmy with the axe, especially the cemetery scene, and how it can be interpreted in different ways.

We, the viewers, knowing everything that happened, will see it as a desperate man, Swansea, trying to avenge the lives that had been lost on that ship because of Jimmy (wether directly or not), with Daisuke's death being the last straw. But i don't think that's how Jimmy saw it. He saw swansea as a crazed, mad man, a ruthless killer, coming for him after taking an innocent life, Daisuke's photo and mausoleum as a reminder for Jimmy of what the older man had done, and a justification for what he was about to do.

(not to talk about the implication that the fight against swansea was not as intense as we saw it, only confirming the idea that jimmy was looking for a justification for shooting him)

[necrotic-nephilim]

i personally have very complicated feelings on the Gotham Knights video game and the routes it takes with characterization. i think it has a charm to it and it goes in an interesting direction with everyone (especially within the confides of the plot of the game) but it does have certain moments that veer painfully fanon for me. (such as: the dialogue where Tim drinks too much coffee) it's an interesting story for what it is but i don't view it comics-based for characterization and therefore don't care to interact with it much for like. fanfic purposes.

that *said* though. i do have to give the game some kind of credit for giving one of the top five JayTim moments that lives rent free in my mind. every since i played the game, the cutscene lives in my mind daily. it's the specific cutscene where Jason and Tim are arguing about whether or not Jason's non-lethal bullets are too dangerous for the field, and the argument leads to TIm *standing in front of the target* Jason is shooting and telling Jason to shoot him. it lives rent free for me. i never stop thinking about this.

the absolute certainty Tim has that he is in no danger standing in front of Jason, who has a loaded gun pointed at his face. the way Jason *hesitates* for just a moment before lowering the gun. he thinks about it for just a second. Gotham Knights JayTim seem to get along very well and can rely on each other, but Jason still clearly holds a bitterness about his death and Tim that flickers through in some lines of dialogue under the guise of jokes. especially since this game deals *heavily* with concepts of Pit Madness causing an altered state of consciousness, i think it's believable that occasionally, Jason fights the urge to fight and hurt Tim for the feeling of being replaced.

i like their tension so much in this canon. they get along but you can *tell* Tim is afraid of addressing Jason's trauma or even addressing Jason head-on, and Jason leans into spooking Tim about it. which isn't very comics feeling in their dynamic, but it is an interesting way to place their dynamic if you're playing with a more timid Tim who's newer to the role of Robin. (which he seems to be in-game) he really doesn't want to offend Jason, or worse, piss him off. but he'll still face Jason head on for things like this, while completely aware of what Jason could be capable of.

and Jason seems very protective of Tim and respecting Tim as a Robin in typical Jason fashion. if Tim pushes, Jason *will* relent. he knows this is a kid who's proved himself and should be treated with equal respect, sometimes even more than Dick and Babs do in-game.

so for all that to culminate in Tim stepping in front of Jason's loaded gun that he *knows* is on the edge of being too dangerous, just to force Jason to listen? it's the most unhinged way Tim could've gotten his point across in this scene. he was literally daring Jason to hurt him and playing with a very dangerous fire. but he did it anyway bc he believed he could make Jason heel just at the thought of hurting Tim. and he was *right*. they're gay and i'm feral ty.

[r-aindr0p]

Uhhh Elias stuff, twisted from no one, he's just a guy !! Since I draw my twst ocs once every century each I'll link his introduction here

Basically an ignihyde student w/ a prosthetic arm (upgraded by idia) and a nature based unique magic + something something "I'm the better hunter here !!" (he is miserably failing at it) Trying to step out of my comfort zone in art context wise and mere text makes my whole being cringe and retract on itself like grafield's face after unsweetened lemonade... So I left it in French, ough

[nabi-unveiled]

Flipping the Characters in Futtara Doshaburi

This show is a vibe, and I'm vibing with it. I'm loving everything about these two lonely people desperately seeking intimacy. Watching episode four in the car while the rain poured around me only added to the vibe. That said, being in the car means I can't do my normal screenshot process so semi-relevant gifs it is.

We start with Hagiwara descending into the depths. I mentioned after episode 3 that he still had a more positive outlook on his circumstances. But he's now on his way into the hole where he won't be able to gloss over his unhappiness. Sei is already in the hole. He has been there for a while, he knows he's there, and he's somewhat resigned himself to it.

This change in Hagiwara's attitude is reflected in our aesthetics too. While Hagiwara's home had bright and warm elements last episode, the door to his house is cold and dark after their dinner. It's no longer welcoming. The restaurant is where the warm colors resided.

However, the truly interesting thing to me about this show is in how much this show has flipped the character expectations.

It's flipped the idea of "good guys" and "bad guys" - particularly in a drama that's definitely leading towards cheating. It's pretty standard fair in a cheating drama for the partners to be painted as not caring or evil. But as Hiragawa and Sei make clear in their exchange after the meal, nobody really is in the wrong (yet). It's really unfair to all of them. I actually think Sei's partner has the shortest end of this stick thus far, but that's a different discussion.

The partners of our leads are caring. They cook for our leads. They clean up for our leads. They are kind. But they offer companionship, not sex. This makes them "cruel". It's cruel to be kind.

Our leads actually have only shown minimal considerations towards their partner. Sei sprayed perfume and Hiragawa goes to his girlfriend's social events, but they aren't the ones doing the major acts of service. The have mainly shown care to each other, not their partners. And they mainly want sex (and intimacy, but...the dialogue keeps saying sex) from their partners. In most other shows, our leads would be the "bad guy". The boyfriend who is obsessed with sex and has you do all of the work. But this show is clearly demonstrating that while romance may be in the little things, the little things cannot fill the empty hole. And it's okay to want that hole to be filled.

The characterization of our main leads has flipped as well. The initial setup in episode one depicted Hagiwara as a bit of a bumbling oaf. He sent an email to the wrong address. He forgot to pick up his ID card. Sei, on the other hand, was initially portrayed as the fastidious one handling a business need and admonishing Hagiwara for wearing an id tag that wasn't company issued.

But we have learned that those were false impressions. Hagiwara is good at his job. It's made clear that he's good at planning the company outings. He's good at sales. He's the responsible one gathering and returning the umbrellas. He's the "picky" one at the grill making sure the grilling is done correctly. Sei is the one who stands in the rain and acts a mess. We now know he likely reacted to the id tag because of his complex feelings about who designed it, not because he actually cared about the rules. It's an interesting switch up.

There's also some interesting flips in that Hagiwara is a gregarious guy who talks a lot (he's in sales after all). He not only goes to social events on the regular, he plans them. But he never says what he actually wants. That characterization is more common, but it's still an interesting dichotomy. He is tumblr - only saying his deepest thoughts when writing to a stranger.

Meanwhile, Sei says exactly what he wants. The man is crude and rude, but he's also open with his thoughts. Many taciturn, loner characters are blunt, but few are as open as Sei. He just lays it all out on the table. I wish I could catch the linguistics of Japanese to know if he's actually using rude speech patterns as well, but that's outside of my skillset.

Being a prickly porcupine, Sei is used to people being put off by him. He said earlier that he wasn't nice. And he's not. But we still LIKE him and we still FEEL for him. And that's incredibly difficult to pull off in a show that clocks episodes in at under 25 minutes.

Sei fully expected that Higawara would back off and only give him courtesy greetings once he found out his identity. His friend from college did just that this episode. A few courtesy greetings followed by "Oh you don't have LINE. Guess we won't talk then. Bye." Fujisawa is the only one that seems to have put up with his personality. But Higawara, as bad as he is at expressing his own thoughts, feels comfortable with Sei. He keeps reaching out. He reached out through e-mail. He reached out with an umbrella. He reached out with an invite to treat Sei for helping. He reached out with a dinner invite. And unlike his partner, Sei responds.

For Sei, whose desire to talk keeps getting shut down by his partner, this invitation explicitly to talk is a lifeline. He always responds, taking any hint of Hiragawa reaching out to initiate an entire, probably way-too-honest conversation. After all, the hole is deep.

By the end of the episode, Hagiwara has fully descended into the underground thanks to our pregnant friend spilling the tea. In a bright environment with a lot of light no less (enlightenment I dare say?). He's reaches out to his partner in a final attempt and gets shut down. So he reaches out to Sei. And, Sei does what he always does. He responds. He welcomes someone joining him in the underground. At the end of the day, they both crave the intimacy this connection is providing. But as the storm glass predicts....rain is coming.

How did they fit that much meaty stuff in a 25 minute episode?!

[ancomboyfailure]

torn between wanting a reveal in s5 of who warren killed and why, or keeping it vague.

of course, on the one hand, leaving it up to interpretation makes a lot of sense from a thematic perspective: plot-wise, it really doesn't matter a whole lot what had happened, and one of the biggest themes in red valley is that we aren't defined by our worst moments and everyone is human. from a podcast that shows empathy to the worst of the worst, even allowing bryony f***ing halbech to be shown as a human being at points instead of a supervillain, it's irrelevant whether warren was justified or not. it's irrelevant whether he murdered someone in cold blood or did it as revenge or self-defense or because he was pissed off. the warren godby that we know is the real warren godby, and the circumstances of a murder over forty years ago don't define the person that we've been listening to. not disclosing any information about the murder, even after warren himself learns about it, humanizes the character and makes him more than his worst moments. we haven't learned what warren did yet, and it'd be really interesting if that always stays out of focus, as in the end it's not important in the slightest.

and on the other hand, i'm nosy and honestly realllyyyy want to learn any scrap of information about this dude.

[wisteriagoesvroom]

how it feels to try and write a longfic that you mentally committed to

[loop-lover-central]

OH I didnt mean strength. I more meant like. Their center of gravity and length of their limbs n stuff like that being Different all of a sudden would DEFINITELY fuck with their fighting instincts ykno? Since they wouldn't have had time to get used to fighting in their new body. n stuff. Even just using craft I feel like they'd be more clumsy ? but there was nothing of the sort in the fight so . yeah . those are my thoughts

Omg I didn't even think about the possible clumsy aspect it's very early in the morning rn where I am

That's a good point. They also can navigate and climb around the favor tree just fine?? Which could mean either they did get used to their body during Siffrin's loops doing whatever they do when Sif's not around or they didn't change that much.

I think my biggest sticking point is just how differently Loop is like. Designed. They're so semi realism when Siffrin is a cone™.

Like

Loop has normal guy (gender neutral) proportions while Siffrin is bordering toon.

Like they just. Don't have the same shape and the semi realism gives the illusion of a taller height to me because toons are usually cute and small and simple while realism is less so.

Unless Siffrin somehow looks like that under their cloak??? While that would be funny I don't think it's true because I'm pretty sure Siffrin is described as kinda scrawny and while slender, Loop is definitely not scrawny. They have ... whatever they are made of covering their bones (they DO have bones btw they have ankle bones in their debut image and visible collar bones in the 2 hats win gif and defeat image)

Like I know from an art standpoint this is to make Loop stand out like a sore thumb amongst the cast and make them feel more alien but because they stick out so much it implies they're different physically to Siffrin too.

So even if they are similar heights and I ignore the illusion of height because of my art brain, Loop is still clearly built differently at the least. Especially if you consider they say that they destroyed themselves with their wish which could imply that this is not the remains of a Siffrin this is a New Thing Entirely????

[emmavakarian-theirin]

in todays "it's probably not that deep but--" lucanis post:

i'm gonna start this with a bold statement:

lucanis doesn't think about rook (much).

hear me out. in inner demons, when you are in his mind, we see these ideas of how he thinks he's perceived by everyone, and how he perceives people; family, contracts, enemies. all these people are conjured in his mind, in this prison he's yet to escape. his own mind is as dangerous as he is.

when you find him, he immediately asks "what are you doing here, rook?"

he immediately knows it's you. it's not an idea of you, not a trick or the mind, it's you. "rook can't be here." and with romance specific dialogue, he says "you should go. it's better i stay here than risk losing you."

so does he want rook out of his head to stop himself from coming up with reasons to keep rook away from him entirely? is he afraid the longer rook stays and learns his mind, the more rook will fear/distrust him?

and with that, does he then do his absolute best to just not think about rook when they're not around? not just because of the demon inside him, but himself? the culmination of the training and contracts and backstabbing and torture he's endured, leaving him to think he's too broken and messy and professional for friends or anything more? as a man that has little left to lose and is afraid to do so, he's just as - if not more - afraid to gain?

that rook is the one solid and neutral ground he has and therefore doesn't want them involved in a tortured mind? and that, if romanced, that's half the reason why there's an almost kiss because he panics, "i need to clear my head"?

and then tearstone island happens, and rook is gone for weeks. they're not around anymore. the only way to see rook is to imagine them, think about them. and all lucanis can think about is how he'll never see rook again. rook's lost despite his efforts.

at that point, what's left to lose but himself?