#JUST LIKE A WHOLE LOTTA REALITY IN THIS SERIES | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

bitwynn · 2 years ago

Text

Not a fan

A SAGAU Impostor AU Songfic

Song used: Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen

...so I caved. Yep. Starting a new series even though i already have one. To be fair, i felt like i needed a break from that series since that beast needs a whole lotta world building and im planning for it to get into some heavy fucken subjects. This one tho is more chill and light-hearted, since theyre all just a bunch of kind of disconnected one shots that are all kind of connected. So like-- when this series gets a lil longer, you can literally start from any fic since its all connectedly disconnected. A better example was my original idea of me just writing the end goal where they finally defeat the impostor like-- directly after the Castaway fic to rlly show how connectedly disconnected it is but i refrained myself since i wanted to write more wanderer. Been playing as him a lot but i havent rlly done the archon quest yet lol but hes just a blast. Hes an annoying lil shit (affectionate)

Blue for Barbara, Yellow/Gold for Zhongli, Green for Wanderer, red for Diluc, Italics is Reader/General, Combined is Everyone. Colors only used for singing parts.

---

Is this the real life?

You were running again, the spears and arrows of the Millelith chasing you all across Liyue.

Is this just fantasy?

Zhongli was by your side, steadfast as a rock as he shielded you from their weapons-- both with his Jade Shields and his body.

Caught in a landslide,

A loose rock almost sent you tumbling down into the depths of the Chasm, Barbara grabbing you just in time.

No escape from reality.

Diluc recognizes the path you were taking towards Tiangong Gorge, immediately rushing off to the Chasm's Maw and letting loose Dawn-- his phoenix rising up into the sky like a blazing beacon, just buy the rest of you more time. He'll rejoin you once again, he knows the path you'd take. He's your main afterall.

Open your eyes,

The three of you make it, the relief from seeing the glow of the blue Waypoint almost bringing you to your knees.

Look up to the skies and see,

You stumble in, Barbara hauling your arm over her shoulder as Zhongli collapses the tunnel behind you. You may be Overseer of Teyvat but he is the Overseer of Liyue, and its stones still answers to his call. There is nothing left but the browns and greens that creep towards the borders of Liyue.

I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy,

Your little group exit the cavern, the fresh air of the rainforest cooling the sweat on your backs and you see Haypasia's "little neighbor" peeking up from behind a leaf.

Because I'm easy come, easy go,

The tiny Aranara, though a little hesitant that more people could see him now, takes your hand and guides you through Avidya Forest. Thank goodness you had caved from your siblings nagging and finally done at least a part of the Sumeru quest.

Little high, little low,

You were still unfamiliar with the lands of Sumeru, trusting your little lettuce friend to lead you to a place of safety, of rest.

Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to me,

Lettuce, as you had affectionately named him, lead you all deep into the rainforests of Sumeru all while deftly avoiding the little village of forest rangers and the rangers themselves. You hadn't said a word to him but you knew, deep in somewhere, that he would be leading you somewhere safe. Somewhere protected.

Though this... wasn't what you expected.

To me.

He turns to your group, the smell of tea faintly wafting from the pot he was tending. "I don't think I need to introduce myself, do I?"

After the short but silent panic that washed over the three of you (it took the you and Barbara 5 minutes to even get a centimeter pulling Vortex Vanquisher out the cave wall while Zhongli aggressively apologized to him), the four of you were sat on the floor watching the Wanderer tend to the bubbling pots of food he was making.

There was a strange... very not tense(?), and very awkward energy in the air as he set aside cups and bowls for all of you, his own cup still full with steaming almost black water. Zhongli was very noticeably trying not to stare at his oversteeped tea.

Little Lettuce had already left, presumably to keep an eye on the area or watch out for Diluc. You didn't want to use him as a shield or a way to break the ice or something but god-- the energy in the air was just so uncomfortable.

You all watched Wanderer in this terse silence prepare your food, his soft chopping of the grilled unagi sounding like death knells in your cave. He took each of the bowls he set out, placing a considerable amount of rice in each and a small handful of dried seaweed and sesame seeds. Bringing out a jar of umeboshi from his inventory, he placed each slab of unagi with a single umeboshi atop the bed of rice and seaweed.

He pours out the tea onto the rice, 1, 2, 3... and stops. He cocks his head. Frowns.

"Wasn't there supposed to be four of you?"

And the silence was broken.

"W-well, little lettuce already left--"

"Not the aranara-- wait, you named him lettuce? Tsk, whatever. Where's the other one? The red one?"

"Oh, uhm, Diluc?"

He nods, the small scowl on his face almost carved into him. You feel your face heat as you turn your face away from him.

"He ran off. To the Maw. Let out his burst as a diversion to buy us time --but he'll find us. He'll come back. He knows the way, he knows how I think, he knows what I'll do. He'll come back."

Wanderer sighs, disappearing the extra bowl. You're not sure whether you said all that to stop his retort or to diminish your own worry.

You're shaken from your thoughts by Barbara holding your hand. She gives it a squeeze, and you squeeze back, thankful for the comfort.

"Are you just gonna keep staring at your food or do you want to die of both exhaustion and starvation?"

"Okay, eating now!"

You're handed a warm bowl of Shimi Chazuke, Wanderer's specialty. It didn't look like its in game icon, only having the plump umeboshi on top of a bed of rice and seaweed with the pale tea glistening in the light. But you had come to learn that many things in game didn't translate directly, there sure as hell no quest or mention of a "Divine Overseer, and yet-- and yet.

You bring the bowl up to your face, the warmth soaking into your aching, tired hands and its steam gently caressing your face. You mix a portion of the rice together with the tea, scoop it up, and put it into your mouth.

And practically turn into jelly at the taste.

"Umai...!" you moan, savoring the taste of it all.

The fresh rice soaked in the bitter tea tasted amazing, each bite slowly turning into a different flavor as the oils and sauce from the grilled unagi gradually mixed in with the rice. Cutting up a bit of the eel with your spoon, you mix it with the rice and your mouth burst with deliciousness.

The eel was grilled to perfection, plump and juicy and flaky. And with the addition of the tea, it introduced flavors you hadn't even imagined from a simple grilled fish.

As you were about to burst that plump little plum, the Wanderer stopped you, a strange look on his face. He handed you a handkerchief.

"Wipe your face, the flavor's gonna be off if you mix it with your tears."

Stunned, you took the handkerchief. "Oh."

It... had been a long time since you've eaten good food and found a place to rest. Too long.

You hold it close to your chest, eyes squeezed shut as you tried to calm down. After a moment, you wipe away the sweat, and tears, and snot, and grime that had accumulated on your journey. It had been such a long time since you first found kindness in this world, even if that kindness came from an emotionally stunned automaton designed to be a god.

You chuckled to yourself, a wet little thing, as you realize that you kept weeping harder and harder with each swipe of the cloth. You bury your face in it, the handkerchief practically soaked with your tears as you take a few calming breaths to finally stop your tears.

"I'm... I'm sorry, I-- its been a while since I've... yeah. Uhm..."

You take a breath, still wet with your snot. "I, uh... I'm gonna keep this, I uh-- ruined it. I'll, I'll clean it though! If you want it back."

Wanderer, handily ignoring your breakdown just earlier, cringes in disgust. "No thanks. Keep it, you need it more than me if you decide to bawl your eyes out again."

Despite the harshness of it, you soften, tucking the offending handkerchief away. "Thanks." "Don't ever mention it."

He reclines back into his little designated space in your cave, and hesitantly stokes the fire with his anemo vision. You pick your unfinished bowl of chazuke, umeboshi still waiting to be eaten. It was good to know that at least there was a few things that didn't change now that you're here.

"Are you finished yet? Stop gawking at your food and finish it so I can do the dishes."

Yep, some things just never change.

You finally finish your meal with the silence in the cave now something much more comfortable, the crackling of the fire and the quiet rushing and clanking of dishes almost lulling you into a sense of "you don't have a bounty placed on your head and are definitely not running from anyone and everyone for fear of them betraying you and handing you over to your megalomaniacal doppelganger".

Wanderer, having lost the argument of who does the dishes against Barbara, was definitely not sulking in his little corner and absolutely not fiddling with his new(?) anemo vision. "So, why'd you come here to Sumeru anyways? I know you definitely were not looking for me, considering the fact you tried to impale my head on sight. Which to be fair," he chuckles at Zhongli's sheepish face, stood near the cavern entrance. "I would do the same."

You absentmindedly plucked the strings of your Windblume Lyre, the instrument becoming a sort of stimming/coping device, helping you deal with everything that had happened to you. He hummed to himself, the cogs turning in his head. "I can't think of any other reason why you'd come here-- finding and trusting in me is a huge gamble that you won," he clarified, turning away from Barbara's blank stare. "the ancient Khaenri'ahn technology scattered around Sumeru won't be of any use if you were considering taking the fight to your impostor, the Irminsul Tree could be a good reason but I can't see any way you'd use it to help you, though knowledge is always good to have anyways."

He scoffed, reclining into the dirt of your cave. "Archons, imagine how ridiculous it would be if you just ran here because you had no choice but to! Like a bunch of scared animals, ahaha!"

You slowly sink behind your lyre as he continues.

"In my time here, you're infamous for always evading their grasp-- heck, there's even an entire division of scholars here dedicated to just trying to figure out how in the world you do it. Some say you're a master at faking trails, some say you have some sort of... psychic power that lets you read the mind of your enemies so you can anticipate their moves."

He shrugs.

"Honestly, I'm more inclined to believe that last one-- in my brief time as your Vessel before your descent, you somehow managed to find information about me, despite my entire existence being wiped from the Irminsul Tree. Add to that the experiences that your other Vessels had, and it's a pretty compelling case." A sigh. "Shame that probing is one-sided though, a peek into the mind of the 'Divine Deceiver' or 'Overseer' or whatever fancy title you call yourself would be quite intriguing. Who knows what schemes are you cooking up in there. Now tell me,"

He straightens, eyes boring into yours from where you were, at this point, hiding in shame behind your lyre. "why are you here in Sumeru?"

"Aha... ha... haaa..." If you had a pyro vision, your face would be on fire by now. You had to turn away, the warmth of embarrassment creeping down your neck. "Well, uhm..." You clear your throat, gulping as you try to even find the words to explain how much of a legitimately normal person you are, who was practically forced to grow brain cells specifically for scheming because if you didn't you would die.

"So, uh...ah he he he... heh..." you take a breath, a shaky grin on your lips. "So, you know how reality is sometimes stranger than fiction?"

He raises an eyebrow.

"Well..."

You vaguely gesture, hoping that your flailing would get your message across.

He stares at you. He stares some more. He blinks.

"No."

"Yeah."

"No..."

"Yeah...

"NO."

"YEAH--"

His mouth drops in shock as he tries to process what you're implying. The rumors painted a... much prettier and mightier picture of you than the both of you thought.

"I-- you-- wha-- how-- what?!"

He takes a breath, chest rising despite his lack of a need for air. He pinches the bridge of his nose, and you get the feeling that he's restraining himself from grabbing you by the shoulders and shaking you stupid.

"So, you're telling me. That the 'Divine Deceiver' and their little posse made of a literal god, the once-captain of Mondstat's Knights of Favonius, and Mondstat's most renowned healer idol, have, quite literally, been running around like rats all over Teyvat and somehow, somehow staying alive by a thread?!"

"I KNOW MAN, I HAVE NO IDEA HOW WE'RE STILL ALIVE--"

"Oh my--"

He begins to growl, a black orb of anemo energy collecting in his palm. You squeak as you try to scramble to your feet, his face full of rage.

And the whirling winds in your cavern suddenly stops, Wanderer dismissing the dark energy in his hand. "Oh, relax."

He blows a raspberry at you, as you groan and sit back down. You bring your lyre back out from where you unconsciously disappeared it and clutch it like a lifeline.

"God, I never knew your idle could be that scary."

"...Idle?"

Barbara waves off his question, a sheepish expression on her face as she fixes her curls back into place. "Its... complicated. You'll learn more about it as you travel with us." She hands him the used and cleaned bowls and utensils. "You... will travel with us, right?"

He scoffs, taking the bowls and disappearing them with a flash of light. "Of course I will. Its literally in my name. Besides, I have nothing that ties me down anymore so I might as well wander with you guys."

She smiles at him, ever sweet and ever kind. She settles back down near the fire, drying her soaking hands. Though Zhongli is still taking watch by the cavern entrance, you could see the slightest look of pleased approval in his face. "Though if you are going to be travelling and running from the law with me, we need to make a plan instead of scurrying around like rats."

And at that, the entire cavern groans in exhaustion. "Not now, please." "We'd like to have some rest first, Wanderer!" "Please, fuck, no-- I've had enough scheming for 3 thousand years--"

"Wait, so you did have a plan going into Sumeru?!"

You wave him off, hands going to rest back upon the strings of your trusty lyre. "Well, it was more of like... a guideline? A safety net? We had a couple ideas on what to do if we ever ended up in Sumeru and we, yknow, ended up in Sumeru so we'll probably do that."

You pluck a couple strings as you remember what you "planned". "I hadn't finished the Sumeru main quest yet and I hadn't unlocked all of the Statues of the Seven yet either. We were thinking of unlocking all the Statues first since, without them, my 'all-encompassing' game map is jack shit here in Sumeru, and then we were thinking of finishing the main quest to both progress the story and better the... political? climate here along with a few other benefits. After that..."

You make a face, much more aggressively playing at your lyre. "We really didn't want to split up the party but, I kinda wanna finish the main story quest in the Chasm but also we need to collect all the Dendroculous and Electroculous for more stamina and stuff. But also, I kinda wanna visit Dragonspine since..." You let yourself trail off, the makings and ideas of plans evident in your voice.

Wanderer merely stares at you for a moment, the game terms flying over his head as Barbara mouths at him, "I'll tell you about it later". You sigh, dreading the planning of tomorrow as your fingers calm on the strings. "But, we can plan tomorrow. Please. We almost died multiple times again." He sighs, relenting. "At least you have the skeleton of a plan."

"Yes!"

Humming, you sink into the soft ground, thanking the soils of Teyvat for giving you some comforts in this trying time. What little grass in the cave caresses you in gratitude, as you pluck at your instrument.

The Wanderer sighs, as he prepares a small pot of tea. "You've been messing with that thing all night and its about to grate at my ears. Do you even know how to play?"

You chuckle a bit, sheepish as you hand the lyre over to Barbara who plays a quick, jaunty tune with a flourish. "Well, I can sing...?"

He sighs again, bowing his head and resigned to the confirmation that you were much more... ridiculous than the gossip and rumors painted you as. "Then why are you the one with the lyre?"

You shrug as Barbara starts up another little song. "Gives me something to do with my hands. Helps me calm down. Diluc and Barbara have been teaching me though when we have the time."

Your soft smile at Barbara's song turns cheeky as you turn to him. "Wanna hear what they've taught me?"

"Sure, better than forcing this inane conversation."

You giggle maniacally as you smile at Barbara, the singer immediately catching your drift. "Follow me?" "To the ends of the earth."

You laugh, as she tunes the instrument to the right notes. "Not like that you sap!" "I know, I know! But yes, of course. His song right?"

You nod. "Yep."

"'My' song...?" Wanderer tilts his head in confusion, before realization dawns on his face.

"Hey, just because it has my-- ...that name, does not immediately mean its 'my song'."

The two of you handily ignore his slip up, you drinking some water in preparation for singing and Barbara testing the lyre if its in tune. "Oh, please," you say, sitting up. "you haven't even heard the full thing yet! It's definitely your song."

He sighs, leaning back against the cavern wall. "Very well then. Indulge me."

You start, reciting the beginning "poem" from memory. Barbara watches and waits, fingers hovering above the strings. Wanderer cocks his head, clearly interested. She begins playing as you get halfway, the lyre an excellent substitute for the piano. You continue, the Wanderer scoffing a little at the poem's mention of a poor boy needing no sympathy, but you pay it no mind. He hasn't heard the rest of the song yet.

"Mama,"

Barbara picks up on her playing, wringing the lyre out for all its worth for those deep chords and piano-like sounds.

"Just killed a man,"

You summoned the small drum you bought from a merchant in Inazuma in preparation.

"Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger now he's dead,"

You close your eyes, swaying to the tune of the song.

"Mama, life had just begun,"

You didn't need to open your eyes to know that he's really listening now.

"But now I've gone and thrown it all away!"

You quickly tap on the drum, trying in vain to mimic the band's performance.

"Mama!, oooh,"

Zhongli was sat at the entrance with his legs crossed and humming along.

"Didn't mean to make you cry,"

Wanderer was still. You could almost hear the turning of the cogs in his mind.

"If I'm not back again this time tomorrow,"

The steady beat of the drum was a stark contrast to the deep, heavy feeling inside his chest.

"Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters."

His Vision pulsed, as his hand unconsciously came to caress it. Was this what it was like to have a heart?

Barbara's fingers were gentle on the strings as a set of footsteps approached the entrance of the cave. You could hear Little Lettuce's pitter-pattering and the dulcet tones of Zhongli and Diluc's voices as they catch up in the short time they've been separated.

"Too late, my time has come,"

He had closed his eyes, listening intently to the music as the waves of sound rocked him gently and deeply into his sea of memories.

"Sends shivers down my spine,"

He can see it now, those old fleeting moments of happiness before they were all ultimately destroyed.

"Body's aching all the time."

He could feel it, suddenly hyper aware of his joints and limbs. The feeling of phantom strings and hands pulling and pushing him like he was some puppet. (But it wasn't like he was ever anything else.)

"Goodbye, everybody. I've got to go,"

He could hear it, everyone's cries and wails of despair filling his ears as he sailed towards Inazuma City to beg the Shogunate (his mother) for mercy that they would not grant.

"Gotta leave you all behind to face the truth."

He could also hear the Doctor's cackling laughter as he began to weave his web of lies, webs that would replace the strings that she had put on him. That he had cut away.

"Mama!, oooh,"

He could see it, the light shining through the patches in the walls and the roof of that old hut. The kind and innocent smile on that sickly, young face.

"I don't wanna die,"

He could see it, red, red, red lapping up and eating away at the walls and roof of the house. Red, red, red all around them. As if he was asleep in a meadow of flowers. (or sinking into a pool of blood)

"I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all.!"

You all gave him his moment, deep in his sea of memories. Diluc was wordlessly playing the zither, an imperfect substitute for an electric guitar. He'd noiselessly joined into your impromptu concert after he was caught up on the situation by Zhongli who had promptly disguised the mouth of the cavern as some kind of rock formation.

As he played, you thought back to the Wanderer's words. To the moment you first heard him say that-- his character teaser. Your heart had clenched back then, tears pricking the corners of your eyes but you couldn't help chuckling at his words-- that ever iconic song playing in your head. But you know that there was nothing to chuckle about here, Wanderer holding the brim of his hat in an almost vice-like grip. His jaw is clenched.

You all silently agreed to let the solo drag on at least a little bit longer. He takes a sharp breath. (You all know its his way of saying his thanks.)

Barbara begins plucking the lyre in a jaunty little tune, and you couldn't help but crack a grin. The atmosphere's heavy, but it's beginning to lift anyway.

"I see a little silhouetto of a man,"

The Wanderer scoffs, already knowing the next few lines by heart thanks to you. You all readily ignore the wetness in his sound.

"Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the fandango?!"

You were surprised at everyone joining in. Wanderer especially, being caught so off-guard that he jumped in his seat. "For the nth time, no I won't!" Barbara giggles as you push onwards, a manic grin on your face.

"Thunderbolt and lightning!"

Diluc only smiles at the mildly disgruntled Wanderer, his Divine Overseer and Mondstadt's Deaconess having stood up to sing their hearts out. "I'm pretty sure that's not gonna be the last time you say that to them."

"Very, very frightening, me!"

The singing duo once again became lost in the music of the song, belting their hearts and lungs out for their one audience member. Said audience member could only crack a smile and reply, "I had a feeling."

"Galileo, Galileo,"

You had all but screeched out said scientist's name as you pointed to Zhongli. When faced with the Wanderer's incredulous look, he could only gain a fond look in his eyes, shrug and say, "You get used to it over time."

"Galileo, Galileo,"

"Wait, you're all used to this?!" Barbara's sheepish as she answers. "They sing as a coping mechanism. We kind of picked it up over time as well." Diluc shrugs again. "It's better than alcoholism."

"Galileo, Figaro! - Magnifico, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,"

Wanderer cringes-- despite this, a smile is growing on his face. "You don't have to vocalize the echoes, you imbecile!" You merely put a hand to your forehead, aiming to up the drama with your next lyrics.

"I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me,"

He feels the tug of old memories, of old traumas still clinging to his skin. But he pays them no mind, knowing he must march onwards to the future. A future paved by a ragtag group of wanted divine beings and important people that are beginning to worm his way into his chest.

"He's just a poor boy from a poor family,"

Oh no. He's feeling it again.

"Spare him his life from this monstrosity!"

He cannot help but watch you all sing.

Barbara's fingers fly on the strings.

"Easy come,"

He felt what he felt back then, before she had forsaken him.

"Easy go,"

He felt what he felt back then, before he was fooled into thinking he had left him-- left them.

"Will you let me go?"

He felt what he felt back then, before he was torn away from him with no bigger enemy to blame but his own mortality.

"Bismillah! No!"

It was affection. It was care.

"We will not let you go!

(Let him go!)"

Oh archons, he's starting to care.

"Bismillah! We will not let you go!

(Let him go!)"

For hundreds of years, he's hardened his heart and closed himself off from everyone and everything. Sworn to scrub himself clean of human emotions.

"Bismillah! We will not let you go!

(Let me go!)"

And yet, for those same hundreds of years, he had never fully closed himself off-- never fully scrubbed away the feeling of... feeling.

"Will not let you go! (Let me go!)"

He couldn't help but glance at those two, fingers flying across the strings of their instruments. Humans, can they really be trusted?

"Will not let you go! (Let me go!)

His eyes slowly drifted to the other two, one ancient and the other practically a newborn. Can the gods really make him feel anything other than loathing?

"Never let you go!

(Never, never, never let me go!)"

He takes in their entire performance, all of them being their pure, complete, and unadulterated selves. With no masks to keep on, or roles to maintain. Merely singing, and dancing, and playing these instruments just for the heck of it.

"Oh, oh, oh!

No, no, no, no, no, no, no!"

For centuries, he has roamed this world-- seeing and meeting many new people, and yet never regarding any of them as his companions.

"Oh, mama mia, mama mia!"

Would he be able to regard these people as such?

"Mama mia, let me go!"

Would he be able to trust them, like the did with the others? To stay and not break their promises with him?

"Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me,"

Would he be able to hold on to them, and they not let go as they had been claiming over and over?

"For me!"

Well, he has no choice in the matter. He's stuck with them now, as wanted fugitives.

"For me!"

Only time will tell if they forsake him like those before him. At least he's safe in the comfort that the world had forsaken them as well. Just like him. He hopes that strange sort of kinship makes you understand. He hopes it makes you stay.

You whooped with joy as Barbara absolutely nailed that note, Diluc quickly shredding on the zither afterwards. You would've given it to Zhongli but-- the man hasn't played a guitar before. And you need a certain "je ne sais quoi" to really pull off what Queen was doing. ...Also, you needed the sound of a guitar for the song.

You glance back to the Wanderer, mostly silently listening this whole time. He was lightly bopping his hand to the beat. You smile, taking whatever victories you can get. "Beelzebub? Really?" You blow a raspberry at him, preparing for the next part of the song. "I'll tell you about it later!" You clear your throat.

"So, you think you can stone me and spit in my eye!"

Diluc hits that sick riff.

"So, you think you can love me and leave me to die?!"

Barbara, even if she's practically undetectable underneath Diluc's strumming and your-- excuse me, Zhongli's drum beating, is still managing to bring up and compliment every single one of you performing.

"Oh, baby!"

You swear, if you all weren't wanted fugitives forced to live on the LAM because of a crime you didn't commit, you'd be a killer band.

"Can't do this to me baby!"

You do gotta thank Zhongli for subtly swiping away the drums from you-- you frankly weren't quite sure how you'd be able to focus on giving this song the power ballad it deservers while also playing an instrument.

"Just gotta get out,"

Despite all your peeking on Wanderer for his opinions on the song and to check on his emotional state, you weren't exactly omniscient. You were, afterall, still performing and still getting lost in the music.

"Just gotta get right outta here!"

So you didn't notice the twinge of an... almost fond emotion lacing his face as he watches you rock out to this classic. What can you say, Diluc kills it on the zither.

The sound builds and builds, Barbara layering on top of it and you not being able to resist the urge to air guitar to it as it slowly reaches its crescendo... And crashes back down, Zhongli and Diluc humming along to the sound.

"Ooh, yeah, ooh, yeah,"

You gasp for breath, the end of the song finally coming up. Diluc's energetic playing slows down, signaling the finale.

"Nothing really matters,"

You feel sweat dripping down your skin, having danced and moved around-- possessed by the power of the song.

"Anyone can see,"

You lean your back against the cave wall, relishing in its coolness as you bring the song to a close.

"Nothing really matters... Nothing really matters, to me..."

You sigh as you sink, pleased and satisfied at everyone's performance.

"Any way the wind blows..."

Zhongli finishes it off with the rapping of the drum, mimicking a cymbal crash to his best ability. Barbara beams at the Wanderer, who looks like he's regretting singing along to that last part.

"So," you ask, out of breath. "what'cha think about the song?"

Wanderer waves off Barbara's tired but happy smile, poofing the fourth bowl back into existence and busying his hands. He prepares Diluc's Shimi Chazuke as he hums.

"Well, despite it being a complete emotional roller coaster and the utter gibberish that it contains, I suppose that its worthy being called 'my song', as you will."

"I'll fucking take it! Fives all around guys, good job!" You quickly double high five everyone in the group-- Zhongli letting you slam your hands down on his, Barbara being a quick pair of one-two taps, and Diluc just lightly bumping his full hands into yours. You turn to Wanderer, waiting for him to high five you. "You too, hat boy-- you joined in the song, you get some fives."

At least Diluc had the decency to look away when he huffed in amusement. "Hat boy?! Let me tell you, I've gone through many names and titles during my journey. And each one is more eminent than any ordinary mortal could ever imagine!"

As he said these words, his heart slowly sank to his feet as he saw the stupid, cheeky smile growing on your face. "Yes, yes... But! and I quote, 'they're all just water under the bridge to me now.

Call me whatever you like. Go ahead, let me see what you can come up with.'" The Wanderer's eye twitched.

"And that's the best you can come up with?! If you know me so well, oh, great Overseer, then you would very much know that I'm also telling you to not disappoint me! Tell me, All-Knowing Guide, am I not disappointed?!" You snorted, too tired from the day's events to feel any sort of proper fear and trepidation at this situation. "Then, I'll just keep thinking of names until something sticks, mushroom head." You pat his head. "Now, how in the world did you even get here Lulu?"

He sips from his bowl full of rice and tea. "Doro44 Sumeru Chasm sneakpeek. Would've gotten here faster if the place wasn't absolutely surrounded by treasure hoarders and Fatui. Had a bit of trouble finding it as well, since it was behind some rock walls." He grabs a small twig from the ground and starts drawing. "Its a sort of cave that's absolutely overgrown by giant roots." "You dare to ignore me?!"

You flash that same cheeky grin at him again. "We didn't ignore you, we just changed the subject!"

Nope, he takes it all back. He hates all of you.

---

AND THATS A FUCKING WRAP AUGHHHHHHHHH-- broooooo, you would not BELIEVE how hard this was to write. both because Bohemian Rhapsody is SUCH a long song but also because of SOOOO many outside circumstances. like BRUH i was supposed to release this like a day after my castaways fic but NOOOOOOOO-- life got so in the way man. my parents started breathing down my neck for chores, we had to visit my relatives in the province (still in the province btw lol), i got FUCKING SICK BECAUSE OF STRESS AND DUST ALLERGIES and i literally spent like-- my first few days sick making my sickness FUCKING WORSE since our house was literally covered in dust and i was the only one who could clean it fucking apparently. bro, i even spent this goddamn christmas fucking sick. ugh this has been such a hell week. literally the only comfort i found this week was all genshin related AHAHA-- i was playing genshin, visiting the SAGAU tag a lot, waiting for fanfics to update, just generally genshin brainrotting.

ugh thank god i finally released this one. i do have a lot of ideas for this down the road and hell dawg! i even got a request! thats the one thatll be coming up next. i wrote like-- a massive part of this sick and it got sOOOOO out of hand ever since i didnt get to finish it that day so i hope it sticks together well and is mostly coherent. enjoy!! :))

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darknoverse · 7 months ago

Note

🎫 here's a gush pass ^^ feel free to gush about whichever f/o you want, however much you want, then send this ask to 3 other self shippers (optional) !

a- whole gush pass? all for little ol' me?????

*grabs papers*

ok soooooo a whole essay about NOS4a2 and why he matters to me sm as a f/o ever

k so, starting off.

what makes him special design wise?

first of all, his whole design is sharp and edgy(literally.lotta edges). each end is pointy and sharp . lotta triangles used in his design. but despite that there's something interesting about how he has a cape (something usually made out of soft fabrics) as a cover, but even so the sharpness REMAINS. something else is how he has like two different eyes, which one of them is a monocle which is slay idk lol. also something else is how he's not like- he doesnt look strong physically at first sight even tho he's trully capable of being so . also fangs; LITERAL energy vampire, it's so cool as a concept.

ok personality wise:

most of the times he's on scene, it's always this very classic "muahahaha evil" kinda deal, he's silly af. geniunely enjoying it . he keeps on making stupid unfunny jokes all the time and he laughs at his own stupid jokes lol. idk i think it's cute and sillly waaaaaaaaaaaaa

BUT! he's capabe of being TRULY TERRIFYING (like half the robotic gore in BLOSC is caused by him lol, also his plan in ROTM was dark af)

it's even more interesting cuz his motivations are simply, yes being in charge as a SECOND need. the FIRST need is mainly to feed on robots. SENTIENT ROBOTS. LIKE HE D O E S WANT TO FEEL THE THRILL OF THE KILL. HE COULD JUST DRAIN from lifeless machines, but he'd rather HUNT and play with his food, if you will.

it's just very interesting.

now, SPECIFICALLY WHY do I like Nos and why is he so important to me?

so in general i was/still am a villain apologist ok? i always loved villains, no matter how evil they were. it sortz felt really comforting. but something about Nos specifically felt very special . possibly the fact that the first episode i watched in general was Revenge of the monsters (aka the climax of his character in everyway) .so basically my first impression was based on seeing him in his best if u know what i mean . like if it was any other episode things would've gone differently but that's not the case as you see. like ROTM is like this whole bigger climax yk? say, if it was another episode there's a high chance zurg could've been my fav character but boy he literally ran like a coward in ROTM so i just didnt care much cuz he wasnt in the ep as much as NOS.

like yea in an alternate reality it could've been Zurg but NUH UH . Nos it is.

also the fact that ROTM is like, as i said, sorta sums up his whole character in a great way . so when I watch that episode i IMMEDIATLY got attached especially when my introduction to the series is this. both his ultimate downfall and like .. the top of his character arc . like, INSTANT attachement.

another thing to note is how like … the whole episodes sorta focused on his turning every Z to an N .

ok here i might start explaining things a bit too personally here but ok it's an essay . ok so the circumstances of me watching the show for the first time were…something.

see i didn't have much friends back then as a kid. even the ones i had were pretty much SO different and can't understand me cuz im that shy, weird kid who goes on info dumping about my interests it might get annoying. but nobody understood those interests except ONE friend. whom just left and idk where he is till now. another thing to add, being the weird kid sorta let people exclude me and/or bully me soooo yeah .

so my putting that into prespective with the whole Ns all over the place thing in that specific episode sort of.. made me relate ya know? feel like it's specifically an episode for me . there was something nice and comforting about it.

the fact that it's the first letter of my name (which at the time was a big deal cuz all my favs didnt specifically put that fact into like, part of the story like Nos if u get me.) like, something about a villain i KNOW has the first same letter in their name as me, being all goofy yet menacing, also a vampire of sort -i am obsessed since day one idk) just felt right.

last part of this might sound silly or stupid but like . another reason WHY i felt this connection to Nos specifically till now :

people i know irl did NOT know what blosc was.

even the few who knew, don't remember it or specifically know who Nos was when i asked them.

so it's like "damn. all this epic character being so obscure and unknown despite everything they did?…sounds like me "

so until i went online and find more blosc mutuals (and till i went to Uni where people know it somewhat and still take show suggestions seriously from me) it just felt like this one character was specificaly made for me . like, this one character nobody knows except me . cuz i'm just as unknown and as unnoticed irl .

conclusion:

and to this day that still stands . Nos is still one of the turning points in my life in general. be it in art , in social life , or in general anyways. still my favourite fictional character of all time . my Top 1 fav and my main comfort character along Antasma and Zira for similar reasons.

thank you for coming to my cringe talk btw and reading all this lol.

#comfort character #f/o #fictional other #i've been waiting for this pass for a long time #blosc nos4a2 #nos 4 a2 #i know long post but eh #had to share this waaaaa #blosc #buzz lightyear of star command

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unearthlytwilight · 22 days ago

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starting this again, I think.

last time: lotta shit happened. Lisa got retconned into an idol, fulfilled part of the Evil Prophecy by singing, and then some jackass tried to blow up the venue and her friends got drained of their dreams and all that. weirdly poignant moments about her feelings as an outsider, too. then the same guy tried to blow shit up again but we stopped him. also he kept calling Tatsuya "Cursed Star" but it's probably fine

I really do like how they handle Lisa. like, considering how they handle the Lovers girls in 3/4/5 I was not expecting much. but wow. sucks that you lose her for the entire dungeon though

also Eikichi clears again. my man. it's that whole "two bickering characters care about each other deep down" trope but it's done well. you never get the sense that they actively dislike each other, it's just that they're teenagers and Like That sometimes

yeah get his creep ass

also we stopped bombing guy again. twice. well we only beat him up the second time but we evacuated people from the place he was going to bomb the first time so. small victories.

but wait! before bombing guy died he said some important stuff about Mr. Kashihara, who was important to the Evil Prophecy plot before he died. so that's a lead we follow up on

excuse me the WHAT. man you can't drop stuff like that and not explain (I'm sure it was explained earlier but. I forgor)

and but so anyway Lisa wants to go to Mt. Iwato because she wants us all to remember some stuff that happened. we get there and find out, through a series of flashbacks, that the gang knew each other as kids but forgot about it. they also called themselves the Masked Circle because they all wore masks, which if you're keeping track is also the name of the villain conspiracy behind the bombs and stuff. at the end of summer Lisa, Eikichi, and this strange Jun kid lock "big sis" in the shrine (so she can't leave at the end of the summer, this is explicitly referred to as dumb kid logic) and by freak coincidence, the bombing guy went to burn down the shrine because pyromania that same night. Cue Tatsuya's Personas awakening and giving bombing guy his big ol' burn scar, which he was really salty about still. fine, except Maya has been acting weird and keeps saying shit like this:

weird, huh? Yukino is off in the background saying "Jesus fucking Christ" to all of this and I don't blame her.

anyway! it's revealed that 1) Maya is "big sis" and remembers being locked in the shrine and dying, and resents the gang for it enough to try and kill them and 2) psych, it's actually an evil copy of her created by the rumors that the party was actually the terrorists, because the real one shows up and is like "nah, go home, man". Joker shows up and freaks out for a little bit, insisting that Maya is dead. hmm I wonder who he could be.

after the fight, fake ghost kid Maya rolls up, explains the deal (she exists because of the rumor that "a kid died in the shrine fire ten years ago", rumors becoming reality, etc etc) and I am left with a new existential contemplation, because fake ghost kid Maya is self-aware that she's fake and talking to the real one. idk man something about that sits weird with me.

anyway! a golden butterfly shows up and we're whisked off to Philemon's place, where he's like "yeah, get that kid some help, man" (and gives you the Prime Personas if you made the right decisions).

we are shunted back to reality only to find, I shit you not, a Nazi air raid happening. I'm not lying, the cutscene is on YouTube and everything. feel free to check. they're going to a place mentioned in the Evil Prophecy to uncover alien artifacts and ascend beyond humanity by killing almost everyone else.

next time: hopefully we don't, y'know, let them do that. that would be really bad.

bonus:

pov: when cosplaying goes too far

#persona 2 #twilight plays: p2 innocent sin

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pizza-games-and-more · 1 year ago

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Pizza Tower: The Series Episode Concept

Title: simulation π (Parts 1-3)

Season: 4

Summary: In this thrilling finale to season 4, the cast finds themselves in a simulation crafted by Pizzawife's latest creation. It also seems Crevette has gotten caught up in the simulation as well. Can they escape and put a stop to it?

Notes: And here we are, the Season 4 finale. We get the thrilling conclusion of Crevette's character arc, some emotional scenes, some funny scenes, the debut of Gustave OS and in general a whole lotta weirdness.

Also fair warning, this one is long. When you read it you'll realise why though.

---

Maria and Vigi lead the rest of the cast to Pizzawife's lab. Maria's agency had found activity in the lab once again and asked her and her friends to investigate it, citing their teamwork from last time as a reason.

As the group made their way into the lab, they ventured into the server room, where the activity seemed to be taking place. That is... everyone except for Gustavo, Brick and Fake Peppino. Who were all distracted by... what appeared to be another Gustavo.

Gustavo, Brick and Fake Peppino head over to where this other Gustavo is, only to fall into a trap. The other Gustavo, who appears to be a robot, however, simply stares at them as if he wasn't expecting this.

Gustave OS: Oh, it looks like I've captured the wrong target.

As the rest of the group are in the server room, they search around before hearing a familiar voice behind them. It was Crevette, who was still furious at Pepperman and The Noise. Maria tries to explain the situation, but Crevette isn't having any of it and continues to rant angrily at them.

Peppino looks around to find that Gustavo, Brick and Fake Peppino are all gone, but before he can tall the others, the server room locks itself shut. All while Crevette is still in the middle of a rant.

Cut to Gustave OS running some code visible through his eyes.

Gustave OS: Initiating simulation software. Target in server room.

Gustavo, looking confused, asks him what's going on. Gustave OS cheerfully explains he was ordered to capture Peppino, and since he failed to do so directly, he figured a simulation would be the next best thing.

The group in the server room then saw a white flash before ending up in the simulation.

---

FIRST SIMULATION

Peppino wakes up on some sort of floating island. He's confused as to where he is and wonders if it's a dream. That goes out the window when he spots Clove looking just as confused as he is on a distant island. The islands and the area look strangely familiar to Peppino, and so he decides to get around the place the best way he knows how: By running around like a lunatic. Much to Clove's horror.

In the middle of his rampage, he finds The Vigilante, currently trying to shoot at a distant island from the top of some sort of structure, only to end up accidentally shooting himself.

Vigi: I'm okay...

One band-aid later, the three try and find a way to the distant island, since it looks like there's a door over there. Clove looks at Peppino and Vigi and gets an idea: using his magic and some pieces of material he found lying around, he makes a giant slingshot.

Clove: Using your power and your precision, we can get over to the island using this.

And so, they do. With a few bumps they manage to make it over to the distant island and make it through the door... only to find themselves in another simulation.

---

BACK TO REALITY

Gustave OS looks at Gustavo and Fake Peppino... fondly? It's hard to tell when he doesn't have a visible mouth. Gustavo asks him why he's looking at them like that, and he explains that he's just excited to see his base inspiration, and his older brother.

Fake Peppino looks confused at what Gustave OS is saying, so the robot explains.

Gustave OS: As you may know, Pizzawife had created you, as well as the other "Peppino Clones". However, she considered the other clones to be complete failures and disowned them. Despite being disappointed in your nature, she still acknowledges you as hers. And then she created me. So that would make us brothers!

Fake Peppino looks happy to hear this, and Gustavo looks curious as to how... pleasant his robotic counterpart is.

---

SECOND SIMULATION

Peppino, Clove and The Vigilante find themselves in a mysterious supermarket with the aisles being clearly labelled from above.

Clove: Okay... supermarket... that makes sense... Why are we here?

Vigi notices something about the aisles. They were all based around the group's interests, such as Firearms, Nature, and Cooking Equipment. He then suggests they split up to try and look for everyone in the aisles that he thinks they may be in.

Vigi: Peppino, you look in the DIY and candy aisles. Clove can take the art supplies and music aisles. I'll head to the stealth gadgets and coffee aisles.

---

Clove finds Pepperman in the art aisle, grumbling about all his experiences with Crevette. He then talks to him a bit, and hears the whole story. Pepperman expresses bitter loathing of Crevette.

Clove: I agree with you, yeah... but don't you think you've also been kind of a jerk? It's no wonder she's so mad now.

Pepperman's response to that is surprising.

Pepperman: I know that, I just can't believe she won't even let me apologize.

Clove then looks much more understanding of Pepperman's situation, and, having experience with apologising seriously, offers a suggestion that the audience doesn't get to hear because SURPRISE.

---

The Vigilante then heads into the coffee aisle to find Noisette, but much to his surprise, he finds The Noise instead. Even more surprising, The Noise looks... solemn. This is unusual for him.

After a bit of talking, The Noise finds himself confessing his insecurities about his relationship with Noisette.

The Noise: I've always been afraid to get closer to her because... I honestly have no idea how relationships work. I'm always scared I'll screw it up and... whenever I do try to get closer, something happens to fuck it up... It's been like that for ten goddamn years...

Vigi might not get along the best with The Noise, but he comforts him anyway and gives him some advice.

Vigi: But she's been with you for ten years despite that. If your plans fail, it don't matter. The fact that you tried does. So I guess as long as you keep trying, you're showing how much you care. And I know she loves you for it. Seriously, she talks about it all the time at the cafe...

The Noise calms down after hearing that and the group reunites. Unfortunately, Peppino couldn't find anyone, so the group guesses that they'll have to find a way into another simulation. Which they do easily by opening the "employees only" door.

Clove: That was easy.

---

THIRD SIMULATION

The group find themselves in a pitch-black maze featuring a lot of mirrors.

The Noise: Yeah, THAT'S gonna make this easy, SURE.

Using Clove's magic to help guide them, the group splits up to find the others. As it turns out, Maria and Crevette have already found each other, but Maria looks visibly distraught and is a bit of a safe distance from Crevette, who's currently smashing the mirror to pieces. Clove tells the rest that they've found Maria and Crevette. Vigi heads over to Maria to comfort her, while Pepperman approaches Crevette. Maria tries to protest, but Clove stops her.

Pepperman talks to Crevette. He makes his intentions to apologise clear, and tells her that he shouldn't have overreacted like that. He then picks up a piece of the mirror she smashed. Interestingly, it doesn't show a literal reflection of him. It instead shows a reflection of his character, and shows him fading from a raging stereotypical nerd into a sorrowful artist.

Pepperman: What did you see in this?

Crevette explains that she saw an image of one of the more violent and brutal shrimps that used to bully her when she was younger. When she saw this image... she panicked.

Ironically, Pepperman's pretentious way of looking at things actually ends up helping out here. It helps her to understand that in becoming a stronger person to spite her bullies, she ended up taking it too far and becoming a bully herself. And he ends it with a sentence that manages to calm Crevette down completely.

Pepperman: But I know you didn't want that. No one does. Even if they don't show it.

Crevette then forgives Pepperman and apologises in turn. They leave to meet up with the others.

---

Meanwhile, Peppino and The Noise find Noisette. After the Noisecouple have a comically exaggerated emotional reunion, Peppino looks on as if he's going to puke in his mouth. He goes off to find the others, while The Noise talks to Noisette.

Much to Noisette's surprise, The Noise blubbers hideously about how he feels like he's been a bad boyfriend but hearing Vigi's reassurance made him reconsider. He then thanks her before reaching into his pocket, which Noisette assumes has tissues in it.

And then he pulls out a ring pop.

---

The group reunites at the end of the maze. There's only one person left to find. Mr. Stick.

The group opens the door and find him right away, in a train compartment. He seems to be reading some sort of manual. After putting it down, he talks to the others like it's a normal day, much to their annoyance.

The group then sits down as the train goes off to its destination. Peppino and Mr. Stick look around and see how happy everyone else are, talking with each other... and then there's the two of them.

Peppino: You're worried about Gustavo too, aren't you? He wasn't there when the rest of us got pulled into this. Neither was Fake.

Mr. Stick shows Peppino the manual he was reading. It turns out to be a manual for Gustave OS, though neither of them know exactly who that is.

Mr. Stick explains that according to the manual, he's the one that sent them all there. Peppino only gets more worried about Gustavo and Fake Peppino upon reading the manual, but Mr. Stick calms him down.

Mr. Stick: I know my way around machines. If this one's hurt those two, I'll deal with it.

Peppino sees how serious and uncharacteristically openly caring he's being, and calms down.

The train then reaches its destination and the final door opens. Everyone exits back to the real world.

---

BACK TO REALITY

The group makes it out of the simulation and rushes over to the room where Gustave OS has Gustavo, Brick and Fake Peppino. Gustave OS immediately takes note of Peppino and begins to attack. While Peppino, The Noise, The Vigilante and Maria fight off Gustave OS, the others focus on rescuing Gustavo, Brick and Fake Peppino.

Mr. Stick questions Gustavo, asking if his robotic counterpart hurt them in any way, but surprisingly to him, Gustavo tells him he's actually been rather friendly, almost as if he doesn't really want to hurt anyone.

The fight goes on for a while, and Gustave OS brings out his secret weapon: A giant computer mouse named Click. At first the group is confused, until Gustave OS holds Click up and starts firing lasers out of its underside, causing them all to panic and dodge the lasers hastily.

Mr. Stick then concludes that if he doesn't want to fight, and yet he's doing so efficiently and effortlessly, it must be programmed into him to do so!

The fight goes on until at last, Maria shoots off Gustave OS' head. As soon as the robot shuts down, Peppino lunges for him, before Fake Peppino stops him.

Peppino: Why are you on his side?! He imprisoned all of us! That thing should be scrap right now!

Pepperman and Crevette see the struggle going on and agree to settle things. Crevette talks to Peppino to calm him down, while Pepperman rips open Gustave OS to take a look inside him. There is a comically obvious chip inside him that looks like bad news. Mr. Stick promptly removes it.

One repair and reboot later, and Gustave OS looks around, before expressing relief that he's free from those commands he was sent.

Vigi: Cheesus crust, how many people am I gonna have the wrong idea about in my life? Maria: At least we weren't alone this time.

Gustavo looks at his robotic counterpart and smiles, before agreeing to let him stay with him and Brick.

And then The Noise ruins the mood in the most oddly wholesome way ever.

The Noise: Never mind that! Something else important came out of this! Me and Noisette are engaged now, so you better congratulate us, okay?

---

Pizzawife turns out to have been watching the whole thing through Gustave OS' eyes, and she stares at the computer screen with a signal error. She then clenches her fist in anger.

#pizza tower #concept: pizza tower the series #holy moly this is long #i am so sorry

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davidmariottecomics · 1 year ago

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How I Got Here

Hello,

And happy birthday to me! I got you a present! It’s a blog!

Thanks for joining me for what ought to be a somewhat unusual blog. This one’s both addressing something I’ve been asked many many times and, with luck, maybe helping me sort out a few things for myself. I’m going to be honest… I started writing this in like a fit of imposter syndrome (it’s not just a Sonic mini-series) and depression.

I struggle a lot with my confidence. I think I’m pretty good at what I do and at being a good person, but y’know, between mental illness often not being in line with reality and living and working in the same place most of the time now with a lot of my socialization being online or just through text and just sometimes really burning out from the stresses of my everyday–both personally and professionally–it’s hard. It is hard to be a person right now. It is hard to reasonably do almost anything.

That’s maybe getting away from the point, so to try to bring us back on track… I am a person in a small industry working in what is in some ways an even smaller subsection of that industry–freelancers, people creating comics on their own, outnumber the people working behind the scenes at comic companies making comics many times over. When you have a job like mine, where I work in comics and I work on some beloved properties and I have hiring power and the ability to help people get their foot in the door, you’re frequently asked how you got there? What was your path to success? How’d you become an editor or writer or artist or whatever?

The answer is always different for each person you ask, but a central thread seems to tie us all together: determination, some level of hard work over years, and a whole lotta luck.

So, this is how I’ve ended up where I am.

The Early Advantage

A disclaimer for this whole update: I am an old man (ish–let me have it, it’s my birthday). So, let it just be said that I’m working off of old information. Some combination of half-remembered facts, family lore, and stories from my childhood, that may or may not be fully accurate as I’m not fact-checking them and I may not have always fully understood.

But let’s start when I was very little. Itty-bitty even. One of the first people to know that I had been born–not the first, but certainly within the first couple dozen–was my dad’s boss… Then Wildstorm founder, and now DC Comics publisher, president, and CCO, Jim Lee. Not a bad guy to know practically from birth if you’d eventually like to get into comics. Not that I work with him, but I do and have worked with some former Wildstorm folks and I think this is very indicative of the advantage I had growing up.

So, from birth practically, I was steeped in comics and books. My dad was working at Wildstorm, where he worked in marketing and then in editorial and did his fair share of writing. My mom co-owned Mysterious Galaxy, the San Diego genre-fiction bookstore institution. I was frequently in spaces with people who would later be my peers.

It also meant that I had a lot of access that other people never had or will. I remember being in the Wildstorm offices some days as a kid, and a few years later, in the old IDW ones too. I got to go to DC back in the NY years a couple times. I got to talk to heavyweights in comics and pick their brains and look ‘em in the eye and tell them that some day I’d have their jobs. I got to grow up surrounded by comics and books and the people who made them and to get some real insight to how they work. But, I knew that to make it, I’d still have to work for it, because I saw how hard the people in my life worked too.

One specific story from that time that I think is kinda fun: I was in probably first or second grade and I did that assignment a lot of kids do about “what do you want to be when you grow up?” And while I was probably more in the know than a lot of kids at that age, I wasn’t entirely clear on the nuances of writer vs. artist vs. cartoonist. I knew comics were made by people, and that sometimes the people did one thing and sometimes they did everything, but I wasn’t super clear on what made the difference. And I remember starting that assignment wanting to describe being a writer like my dad, but not fully being able to uncouple the idea of doing the art too. And after it, when I had a clearer picture of what the distinctions were, I think that’s when I really settled into wanting to be a writer.

Gifted Kid

Do you have a period in your life that you struggle to remember? I find that to be the case with a lot of my childhood. It’s one of those things that’s probably nothing, right? The older we get, the less we remember from our youth, and the more it gets filtered down to key events and details–the things that have some major significance or that have been told to or by us enough time we feel we can’t help but remember them. But sometimes I do worry about it. I worry that hindsight isn’t as 20/20 as we say it is and that there are things that’re just slippery–that some part of me thinks I should remember, or that sometimes my mom will talk about like I do remember–but that I just don’t. And when I don’t remember these things, well, it’s frustrating even if it’s not a big deal.

Like, does it matter that I don’t remember the time in my life when I primarily wore sweatpants and cowboy boots? No, though I am retroactively embarrassed for myself. I remember wearing sweatpants–to bed or when exercising, same as I do now, though otherwise I primarily wear jeans (as an aside, since we’re getting personal this time around, my butt has gotten too big and keeps tearing my jeans in the back). And I certainly remember wearing cowboy boots–which I just don’t do anymore. I don’t have a pair, but I do still have a lot of love for a good pair of boots in the right setting. But in spite of how little I know it matters in the grand scheme of my life, I also know that it makes me worry that I can’t remember something like that–the same way I worry when I can’t remember anything. I was talking with Becca recently about feeling like my memory was worse and was it an effect of getting covid and not realizing it, and as they pointed out, it’s probably mostly the fact that I’ve been stressed out kinda non-stop for like… 3 ½ years.

Can you tell I wrote that while feeling more depressed? Anyway, to the topic at hand, what I do remember from this time in my life and that is relevant to how I got to where I am, is that I was a gifted student. I know I have a few international regular readers, so I’ll elaborate in case your school system is substantially different. When we moved from bustling San Diego to the middle of nowhere, Arizona, I went from private school to public school and two very different educational standards. I remember, as an obnoxious, snotty kid, saying at some point that it seemed like the expectations for me through 6th grade in Arizona weren’t any different than the expectations I had already met and exceeded in San Diego in 4th grade.

Shortly after I started at my first AZ school, I tested for gifted and talented and was found to be gifted. What that actually meant was that I tested really well. I had a higher reading level than my peers. I needed more of a challenge in my work–again, likely largely influenced by different standards coming in, and which I think I must’ve gotten, but truth be told, with a small staff in a small town, I don’t really remember getting that much extra attention or challenge to my assignments. I wasn’t a super genius needing to skip a bunch of grades and ready to do complex physics or whatever, but I was needing a little more because I could handle it.

Then I went to high school. I traveled about an hour each way every day because I needed to go to the bigger high school in the bigger town because they had the most honors and AP classes–a way of continuing that “gifted” education and receiving early college credit because of it. There, I ended up having a similar experience. When I graduated, I wasn’t valedictorian or salutatorian, but I was in the top percentile of my class and got to give a speech. It was… a high school graduation speech, alright.

My point, such as it is, is that I spent years working in a school system that kept telling me I was smart–or succeeding in a way my peers weren’t, needing resources that they didn’t–and then rewarding me for good performance. With the benefit of hindsight, sure, it probably wasn’t great that I was being told I was special and different and tying a lot of my self-worth to academic performance, but hey, that’s the American school system for ya!

The critical story from this time period I know I’ve told before. I think it was the summer between my junior and senior years of high school, so when I was really starting to look at colleges and get out applications. I was at San Diego Comic-Con and was at a party with former DC writer, editor, president and publisher, Paul Levitz (one of the people that in my childhood I had once told I would have his job someday). I was talking with Paul about my college plans because I knew that he did some teaching on the side and, well, I figured it’d be good to know how to move forward so I could get his job someday. And I told him that I had been looking at schools with strong creative writing programs and journalism programs and what few schools offered comics programs and he told me that his advice as a person who taught creative writing was you can’t be taught creativity. You can be taught how to refine your writing, and there are some programs that put the emphasis on focusing your skills and helping you improve your storytelling, but there are a lot of people who enter creative writing hoping it’ll foster their creativity, and you can’t teach an imagination. His advice was to pursue something that I would be able to write about–things that I could know and always refer back to as a basis for ideas. I decided to pursue journalism because I had some stories that–fingers crossed, might still get told someday–I thought knowing the real ins and outs would be helpful for. I also figured, journalism is about learning how to research and learning other people’s stories and how to tell them. It ended up being a good fit.

College Daze

It’s kinda funny. I’ve been in comics for 7 years now. Celebrated my 7th IDW anniversary in late August. Most of the people I know and interact with on a regular basis are comics creators, or other creators, artists, readers, fans, people in the community at large. But sometimes I get that shock of no matter how mainstream comics may seem, for a lot of folks, they’re still a novelty. Like when I got my haircut last and the stylist had no real idea what my job was. And without a doubt through my own doing, I had a reputation even through college as “comic guy” because both to people with a shared interest and people who barely knew me, that was the fact they knew about me.

College was probably the first time in years that I had made a full comic. And the ones I made were not very good. But, over my years there, I took a few classes that involved comics heavily (including a really amazing comics geography class that was examining comics as a tool of non-fiction storytelling) and in the course of those, made a couple little comics. Y’know, one or two page things as assignments, but something that I had to write and draw and letter all by myself. Having to do that made me really start to think about the tools of making comics. I had never stopped reading comics, I had never stopped thinking about comics, I had to read Understanding Comics and the other Scott McCloud books like 5 times for different classes, but I had so fully bought into being a writer that I hadn’t tried to make my own comics really in a long time.

I had a couple false starts as a writer. I had a series I was working on with my dad that ultimately didn’t go forward and my only regret about that is not having had the chance to work with my dad. I did a comic script as my honors thesis. I got a surprisingly good grade on it considering how weak I think it is. I have not chosen to revisit it because in hindsight, it was not a good script and was a pretty flawed premise.

But what I really got into in college was editing. In my journalism classes, and working on the Daily Wildcat, I got to spend some time learning editorial skills and in the trenches. And, as it turned out, for as much as I loved writing for myself, I also was pretty good at helping other people find their stories, find their angles, clean up and clarify their copy, check their facts, etc. It was also around that point–and around the point of my first *real* job in the home department at Dillards that I realized editorial also had the perks of regular paychecks and healthcare.

I didn’t focus on editorial in an official capacity. It’s not like I have a degree in journalism with an emphasis on editorial or anything, but I knew it was something I was increasingly interested in pursuing and really busted my chops to try to get good at it. For as difficult as it is to bust out an article in a daily paper because someone blew their deadline or turned in something unpublishable, it is actually far harder to adjust on the fly in comics because I can’t just write something and plug it in.

The other major influence on me and comics in college is, of course, it’s where I met and fell in love with Becca. When we first met, they liked comics, but had largely given up on that part of their ambitions. Like, they were a political science major that had danced around also doing theater because they loved acting and maybe wanted to be a politician and maybe wanted to be an actor and maybe wanted to be something else, but being an artist, much less a comic artist was not a thing they were really thinking. And now, that’s what they do and what they work on so much of the time and with me sometimes and y’know, I could not do what I do now without them in my corner and vice-versa, I don’t think.

My Real Secret to Success: A Broken Car

Those are the factors that really led me to comics. I grew up in it. I had connections. I learned about it myself and in school and throughout my life, and was rewarded for the work I put into learning about comics and learning everything else. I fell in love, and I fell in love with editing. And so I graduated with a journalism degree with a minor in gender and women’s studies and was ready to face the world… by briefly kind of illegally living in my friend’s back bedroom for a few months because I was unemployed and unemployable!

In the middle of the hot Arizona summer, I get a message from my friend Shannon Denton. He’s working on the Alan Tudyk webseries Con Man and they’re shooting the finale and need people for a fake comic convention and he’s heard Becca’s interested in acting. It’d be background stuff, but it could be a little something–a first step, first gig in LA. Plus, we’d get to see each other!

And so, 4th of July weekend, Becca and I drive out to LA for filming! Now, to backtrack (and forward and sideways) a little… I have not great luck with cars. My first car of my own was an old family car that was gifted to me and was rear ended only a few months into owning it. It was messed up–not actually undrivable, probably, but the extent of the damage was more than the rest of the car was worth, so it was deemed totalled. And because it was a car of little value, I took my little payout and bought another crappy car. It was fine for what it was. Except when it started giving me the check oil light. I took it in to get the oil changed and apparently brought it to the dumbest, worst mechanics in town. I say this because…

Back to LA. We’ve been there a couple of days, but the car’s starting to drive a little funny and make some funny sounds and the check oil light’s back on. So, we stop at a mechanic and say “hey, can you look at this? I just had it in the shop!” And the mechanic looks at it and does his whole thing and says that whoever looked at it last screwed me over. The cap to the oil tank was shattered, so it wouldn’t screw in properly and the car could no longer safely hold oil and the oil that had been in it had now gotten into all sorts of other parts of the engine and the engine would have to be replaced, which once again, would’ve been more than the value of the car.

Now, stepping back again for one second. We’re staying with our friend Henry Barajas while we’re in LA. And while I’m at Henry’s place, I see a job posting for an editor gig at IDW (I would later learn that it was to replace John Barber). I go through it and I’m not qualified at this point. But, Henry encourages me to apply, so ultimately he’s like making dinner and conversation with Becca while I sit at his kitchen table and fill out this application, certain I’m not going to get the job.

The mechanic sees the AZ plates and asks if we’re local or if we’re staying with anyone. I tell him that my mom lives in San Diego. He says super, that’s about as far as you can go. You cannot drive back to Arizona with this car, it will not make it there. And be careful if you’re driving this down to San Diego. Becca and I do it. We drive it down, park it in the driveway of my mom and stepdad’s place, and that’s where the car died and was eventually picked up and donated from. But through some pretty convenient timing, I hear back from IDW. I am right, I’m not qualified for the editor position. But they haven’t yet posted that they’re also looking for an editorial assistant–a ground-level opening. And if I can make it there, I can do an interview with Chris Ryall. So it was that my car dying set me up to be in San Diego and do the interview.

It went well. Chris and I knew each a little, from my dad’s time at IDW, though obviously very different with me as an adult rather than a kid. It went well, and I eventually went back to AZ and waited to hear back. I got to San Diego Comic-Con and very nervously approached the IDW booth one day and talked to Chris and he said I had it, just had to finish up the paperwork on their end, and within a month, I had signed the papers and started at IDW.

And now I’m here. I've been trained by amazing people and have worked with so many fabulous creators (and still have such a wishlist of people I'd like to work with one day). I spend 5 days a week (though honestly, sometimes it seems like more) doing editorial work, and trying to write on top of and between that. I’ve got a couple comic series under my belt and lots of stories I’d still like to tell. And I bust my ass every day to bring people comics. Being in editorial, it is a sometimes frustrating job. A job that does not get a lot of credit. And a very difficult job. But it’s my job, and the highs are the best thing in the world.

I still struggle. I think that’s evident, even in how I tell my story about whether I’m actually justified in being here and doing this and if I’m any good at it. I told a friend recently that I have an easier time inviting my peers to my wedding than asking them if they’d like to work on a silly little story with me because for some reason, it feels like that’s going to be a bother or they’re not going to treat me as a serious creator. But that’s my comics story and I expect there’ll be a lot more to come from me in the future.

Thanks for reading. Amended features below!

David

What I enjoyed this birthday: Birthday cards, gifts, art, and messages! People who bought my Kofi mystery bundles (last call)! People who subscribed to my Patreon (mystery bundles til Halloween at $10+, plus a Wreckers #1 script dissection coming this weekend)! People who sent me $$$ because it's my birthday because, boy, I need 'em (see Kofi link above...)! Blank Check (Podcast), Solve This Murder (Podcast) , Craig of the Creek (Cartoon), One Piece (Manga), Pokemon Violet (Video game), The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon (Book), Yu-Gi-Oh: Duel Links (Video game), The Traitors (TV show), Mothership (This funky space "tiki" bar in town! It's themed around having crashlanded on an alien planet, so like half the bar is what's left of your ship and the other half is like the natural cave formation and the weird irridescent plant life and stuff. It's really cool).

New Releases today (10/18/2023): No new books from me this week. :C But maybe spend the money you would've spent today on a mystery bundle or Patreon membership or something in my shop or something from Becca (remember, there's even more on Becca's Patreon and itch and other things accessible via their contact page)!

Or put your money to something good like the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, Doctors Without Borders, or UNRWA. It's hard because a lot of this money is anticipatory given the situation in Gaza (and the West Bank) and at time of writing, resources are being extremely restricted, if getting through at all. Or if you want to feel like you're having more immediate action, there're still plenty of ways to give for relief in Ukraine, which is also still under siege.

Or if money is a big ask, which, like, I get it, maybe you can give some time to something important. The Jewish Voice for Peace Action has made an easy to fill out form to write your representatives to encourage defunding and deescalating the Palestinan genocide. You can still submit your comments on "Generative AI" to the copyright office (they've actually extended the submission period). You can write to your reps to tell them to stop KOSA. You can get involved with your local library, or attend a legislative session of some sort, or otherwise take action in what you believe in because, again, things are bad right now and there is so much evil and injustice to stand up against, be it book bannings (and publishers giving in to extremists) or transphobia or worker exploitation or all of the above!

Announcements: It is my birthday. See above!

Pic of the Birthday: I will post actual birthday pictures when I have them, so this weekend's blog. In the meantime, final plug for my bundles!

#comics #comics editorial #personal story #breaking into comics #happy birthday #birthday boy #comics for sale

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littleeyesofpallas · 2 years ago

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man im in a weird headspace recently... first The One headcanons, and now this... that's a lotta thoroughly dead content i'm giving brain space to

So, in the now tragically forgotten and buried jrpg franchise, Wild Arms, there was this whole fun gimmick where the wild west influence extended into other tangential americana as well. there's heavy borrowing from D&D, and horror films as well as westerns, and classic romanticized cowboy mythos and such... So in any case the games also had a few cross media spinoffs, including a TV anime and a shortlived manga.

There is a character in the manga named Jye-chi-ka[ジェチカ] which the brave, lone scanlator team, TurtleParadise --back in... what, 2010?-- romanized as Jessica. But I don't know if that's correct.

For context, the other two leads in the series are named Ma-ku-shi Re-mi-n'-to-n'[マキシ・レミントン] transliterated back into Maxi Remington, a clear reference to the Remington Arms Company, his sister, ko-ne-tto[コネット] taken to be something like Conette or Connett, and Gy[ギィ] who they called Guy, as in the French name, which I think was the correct choice. But as you can sort of see, apart from the Remington bit, the names don't appear to be overt references to anything else to help triangulate Jechika's name.

Jechika is btw a member of a minority group of native American analogs within the Wild Arms world, semi-consistent across different games, called the Baskar. Some other Baskar have been named things like...

Tim Rhymeless and Colette Mapleleaf in WA2; both rather innocuous names... And the family of Gallows, Shane, and Halle Carradine in WA3, much more overtly referencing the iconic scene of lawless frontier justice, Shane from the movie Shane, and Halley's comet plus actor David Carradine, probably tied to this thru the now infamous cult classic TV show, Kung Fu, where producer meddling outed Bruce Lee as lead in favor of having David Carradine play Kwai Chang Caine, a wandering shaolin monk in the wild west.

But this all, as you may be catching onto, also does not help establish clear patterns to help with...

Some random NPCs have names like Harold, Ellen, Cordell, and Laraina? Funny enough these I can sort of tie into references with a bit of guess work.

Cordell in particular stands out as a less common name to have picked here, and I want to assume it's a reference to Cordell Walker, Chuck Norris' star character in Walker Texas Ranger.

In the context of wild west icons, legendary outlaw, Ellen Liddy "Cattle Kate" Watson is the first to come to mind.

I have no idea what to make of Harold... Harold Gould? Semi-famous character actor in TV and film of the 60s-70s? He hardly seems reference worthy, he didn't exactly have a lot of standout roles... Harold McCracken? Sort of famous painter of pseudo-historical wild west scenes? Are those names a random Japanese game dev would have really been able to stumble into in the 2000s? It's the name "Harold" it could be practicallyanyone...

And technically "Laraina"'s name is actually written ri-re-i-na[リレイナ] so that one could just be a localization flub. Actually, it appears to be how they japanized the name of Wynona Rider's character in the 1994 movie, Reality Bites; the character's name is Lelaina Pierce. It's far from being a western but it does take place in Texas, for a Japanese creator maybe that's cowboy adjacent enough?)

So I dunno... Maybe it is Jessica and it's just a weird choice of names because the manga author doesnt have access to the core creative team's specific sensibilities. Maybe it doesn't matter because the core team's sensibilities are also unstable. And if anything, it feels vaguely slavic to me? Like, the way those phonetics roll off the tongue to me sounds like it ought to be something like Tetscheka? Dzhetgya?? Czeschka(like the painter)??? But why would anyone have named a native american analog in some sort of pseudo-slovenian?

I realize this is a cold case. And one without any real answers. But it's one of those things that drives me nuts when I look up somethings simple like, "What were those characters' names again?" and then find myself having wasted the morning on a wild goose chase and now i'm late for work...

#wild arms #arise long slumbering wa fandom #i give you....#well not really content considering this inquiry was just a big fat dead end #i dunno man #i have a train to catch and im not even wearing pants yet

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ms-scarletwings · 1 year ago

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Woopsie, I Put Too Much Effort Into A Character Song Playlist (Zib)

Just showing off some contextual brain worms. Feel free to toy with it as hyperfix fuel, art/fic ideas, a discussion starter, or just to know what’s been rattling around in my ears lately. Addition suggestions welcome. No particular order to arrangement.

Breakdown/Preview below:

Outer Science, English Ver. [Kuraiinu]

Song artist: Jin (covered by Kuraiinu, English lyrics by Kuraiinu)

Fact of fun: The story told in the original song is part of a whole rabbit hole of a work, the Kagerou Project. Outer Science is specifically about one very bad ending out of a huge branch of connected timelines and possible “routes”.

Sorter’s note: This badass track is a huge favorite of mine both with and without even considering this character list, but holy shit did I find it appropriate for this purpose- from the action, the vibes, and especially for it to center around another villain as utterly maniacal as the star of the list. In my little headspace I love to imagine it mostly addressed from Zib’s perspective toward our main timeline’s Dib.

Sample lyrics:

[Does it matter when you, will soon awaken anew

That I’m reveling in every suffering just like a demon?

“Ahh why! No! Why!” you howl and cry

“I never wanted this” you lie..!

Look into my own eyes, there lies your fate and demise

And I know there another fated eloquent master awaits]

[Ahh, not enough, I can’t evade the desire

To eat up their darkened hearts upon the pyre

Taking ahold of every one of their lives

I’m buried in their eyes

Ahh, it’s also in you, deep down inside

The power bigger than them all, Combining Eyes..?

Yes, within this sad tragedy

You are the “queen”]

[How pitiful to live and die

Time and again you all defy

Though it will end the same, you keep resetting the game

Remiss and pain all aflame

Crying, howling, ever writhing]

Broadcast Illusion

Song artist: GHOST & Pals

Fact of fun: This is effectively a remake of one of GHOST’s earlier works, “Colorbars” and was the last song released as part of their Communications project before the series cancellation.

Sorter’s note: With the instrumental stylizations and dark themes of this piece outright, I hope my associations with the favored freak become self evident.

Sample lyrics:

[We’ll wake up in a singular reality

The death of a nation

A toxic reaction

So scream and shout, make a whole lotta noise

Don’t be afraid, let the night run out

Well, after all, it’s a television show

A telecast promoting vertigo]

[A moment in time to reconcile

Came a little too late, and now it’s gone

A moment in history

Produced by the broken and thrown away

And I’m already here

For you to see, for you to see, to see you

I’ve always been here]

Goodbye Moonmen

Song artist: Ryan Elder (Cover by Shadyvox)

Fact of fun: It’s generally accepted that this song was composed in a way to parody/tribute the musical style of David Bowie

Sorter’s note: I felt this one fitted Zib to the point of comedy. The original context of the song was literally about a universe-wide genocide with xenophobic motivations. To me this might as well have been going through his head in canon had he gotten his way.

Sample Lyrics:

[The worlds can be one together

Cosmos without hatred

Stars like diamonds in your eyes

The ground can be space, space, space, space, space

With feet marchin' towards a peaceful sky

All the moonmen want things their way

But we make sure they see the sun

Goodbye, moonmen

You say goodbye, moonmen

Goodbye, moonmen

Oh, goodbye]

Final Transmission (Remix)

Song artist: Remixed by The Living Tombstone

Fact of fun: The original version was by Temporal Walker & Voodoopony

Sorter’s note: Delicious Title. Pretty darn catchy on its own. Trippy AND sad when you think about it for too long.

Sample Lyrics:

[He feels it in his stomach and in his bones

The weight is lifted now, he's never going home

Drifting in silence, now he's all alone

Difference is that now, there's no need to atone

Spaceman, that's what they said he was

Head up in the clouds, he never put up a fuss…]

[Eyelids getting heavy, sleep it off now kid

Everyone now knows exactly what you did

Go on, finish up the fuse that you lit

It doesn't matter now, cause we'll see you in a bit

Tapestry of nightlights above and below

Sanity coiled tight, the Earth he'll out grow

Amnesty a slight, too late to forego

Vanity benight, all to do now is let go]

Control

Song artist: Halsey (pitch edit presumably by Lunarex)

Sample Lyrics:

[I paced around for hours on empty

I jumped at the slightest of sounds

And I couldn't stand the person inside me

I turned all the mirrors around

I'm bigger than my body

I'm colder than this home

I'm meaner than my demons

I'm bigger than these bones

And all the kids cried out, "Please stop, you're scaring me"

I can't help this awful energy

God damn right, you should be scared of me

Who is in control?

I'm well acquainted with villains that live in my head

They beg me to write them so they'll never die when I'm dead]

Bacterial Contamination [Bookiezz]

Song artist: Kanimiso-P (covered by Bookiezz)

Fact of fun: The original music video with Hatsune Miku is super famous for good reason, and it’s actually a terrifying piece of art. The song by itself carries a really sad story involving themes of alienation, the vicious cycle of bullying, and possibly suicide, depending on how you interpret its ambiguous ending. There’s also a lot of body horror in the fashion of arthropod imagery, and that’s neat. This pick happens to be my favorite version of it, something about the part with the laughter still gives me actual chills.

Sorter’s note: I’m keeping it a secret for now what segment of the song I’m referring to but I actually started working on storyboarding for a brief animation of Zib to an audio snippet earlier this month.

Sample lyrics (approx. translated):

[Bacterial Contamination

You're not worth believing in my mind

Recently my "common sense" has corroded

I can't even hold my purity

The contamination is spreading

You’ll want to become stronger

Even if I barely survive

It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts]

[My contamination has healed

I’ve been starting to feel much better

All because I transmitted it to her

Aha Aha Aha AHAHAHA…

Bacterial Contamination

Everyone's infected wounds keep bleeding

Killing themselves from contamination

They can't even die with grace now

The contamination has spread

None of you are here; you're dead in my mind

I'm eventually alone

It hurts (x13)]

The Distortionist -

Song Artist: GHOST & Pals

Sorter’s note: Oh hey look, a ditty specifically about gaslighty, abusive assholes for the self loathing bug bastard that started his own cult.

Sample Lyrics:

[Surely you can see the problem

I don't wanna lose my own reflection

A deplorable perception of me

Was none other than an image of you

You're making a wreck of broken glass and leaving me a fuckin' mess!

Bending light in a way that shows exactly how the story goes]

[In all this madness, it's madness

Oh-ho, it's sickening, it's sickening

You know it's unfair, it's unfair

How you distorted my reflection

You know it's too late…

You're lost in a world of funhouse mirrors, twisted for eternity

Bending light in a way that shows refraction of hypocrisy

Whimsical, dear, your lies are clear, now, who the hell would've ever guessed?

Play my games and abide my ways, there's no way you can compensate]

CORROSION

Song Artist: R.I.P.

Sorter’s note: I’m just gonna let “I've lived in fear my whole life; I'll give you a taste, you can't change my mind” speak for itself. This is one of the more tragedy flavored ones.

Sample Lyrics:

[Don't you know? I'm truly evil, and

Everybody 'round me's dropping dead!

Overflowing, oddly gleeful, and

You're all blue and cold, yet painted red!

Undergone drastic changes

Oh, it's the only thing that's left for me

All along I've known it's wrong

But I can't fix what I am

It's all I know

Low and behold!

I'm truly evil, and

You're a person standing in my way!

Have I shown I can be lethal

I'll leave them all to rot and to decay

Hold on tight, it will be painful

Oh, it's more than your weak mind can conceive

You're all blind, I'll take what's mine

Oh, I wish I could restrain

It's all I can be]

Wake Up!

Song Artist: Oomph!

Fact of fun: The German version of this song goes really hard too.

Sorter’s note: This one was selected more to reflect the broader nature of the Zimvoid and the hierarchy itself.

Sample Lyrics:

[Got no time for waiting

Got no time to waste

Everywhere machines here

Set a deadly pace

Got no time for questions

You have work to do

Got no time to stand now

If you stop, you lose]

[Your life is seeping through your fingers like sand

And time, it flies like the wind

You run in circles and you're losing your mind

But all you want is to win

Just breathe in

Then breathe out

Wake up! Now you're stuck in this game

And even if you run, the score is the same

Wake up! Now you're stuck in this game

You're just stuck in this game]

Confrontation

Song Artist: Frank Wildhorn, Et al.

Fact of fun: yeah yeah it’s from that Jekyll and Hyde Musical. The one people been making animatics of forever and they had every right to be because it’s still good decades later.

Sorter’s note: A little red meat for some of you who like to toy with the two minds, one body idea/headcanon, or your cute little corruption arc narratives.

Sample Lyrics:

[This is not a dream, my friend

And it will never end!

This one is the nightmare that goes on!

Hyde is here to stay,

No matter what you may pretend,

And He'll flourish, long after you're gone!

Soon you will die, and my memory will hide you!

You cannot choose but to lose control.

You can't control me! I live deep inside you!

Each day you'll feel me devour your soul!]

Amygdala’s Ragdoll -

Song Artist: GHOST & Pals

Fact of fun: For some reason the chorus of this caught on as a little animation trend once. Think they dubbed it the Trypophobia Meme. If I do actually ever do something with it myself, I know I’m not calling it that.

Sample Lyrics:

[Today something changed

I figured it’s true

The frontal lobe placed me behind my own strings

‘Cus I defy the way the game works

I’ll say it again, I’m only getting worse]

[Say we take what had been torn apart

Say we mend any patchwork discord

Turning eyes to the trypo-puppeteer

Waiting for the world to burn

So, One two three, and we’ll tie the tourniquet

Larvae eating away at everything

Word goes ‘round, I’m the trypo-puppeteer

Laugh along, I’m spreading holes

Now I know this has always been my fault

and I can’t inhale anymore]

Honorable Mentions:

• C e n t i p e d e by GHOST & Pals, omitted for personal and practical reasons.

• Honey I’m Home, another GHOST hit, omitted because most of my Zib association with that goes along with my personal “darker harvest” theory/headcannon

#iz #zimvoid #iz zib #invader zim zib #zib membrane #character playlist #scarlet talks about things #youtube playlist #enthusiastic recommendations #we hyperfixating

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makethosenarratorsfight · 1 year ago

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UNRELIABLE NARRATORS; SIDE B

Shen Qingqiu Propaganda:

The entire series is told from his POV and the story seems like a comedy. The side stories from other characters POVs make the story sound like a tragedy. He thought that Luo Binghe hated him and wanted him dead while everyone else knew that Binghe was in love with him.

the whole book he’s using his OWN interpretation of the world to explain literally everything, not knowing that his introduction into the world changed it so fundamentally that his prior knowledge of it is less than useless. he’s like “binghe is being sweet to me because binghe is sweet to people that wronged him before repaying their slight a thousandfold, and he only adds their acceptance of his sweetness to his tally of their sins!! i have to run away forever or he’ll tear my arms and legs off!!!!!!” and binghe in reality is like “wow the love of my life my beloved shizun is scared of me still :( i should act sweet and nonthreatening so he’s not scared of me :(“ and he literally doesn’t have this corrected until the end of the book. but even when that one thing is corrected he still is like “haha okay but these other six things-“ bro……. cucumber bro………….. you homosexualized the world just accept it

He examines the entire reality he's isekai-ed into as if it's still fictional and his inner monologue ignores any "character trait" of the people around him that doesn't fit into his perception of "canon" despite everything he's done to change reality from the canon of the novel he first read. He routinely mislabels his own emotions as well as making heteronormative assumptions about himself and the people around him before he finally realises he's in reciprocated gay love with a man. It's a book that benefits being read twice, so the second time around you can focus on the implications Shen Qingqiu blatantly misses.

Transmigrates into a novel he “hates,” assumes he’s doing a good job pretending to be the character whose body he got stuck in, assumes other characters will stick to their original paths. Lotta assumptions, lots of rationalizing, lots of incredible feats of misunderstanding/misinterpreting things. His internal narration is also hysterical.

Cale Henituse Propaganda:

Motherfucker is out here saving the entire continent and then gets confused when they become loyal to him. he's all like "oh yea, they're just repaying their debt then they'll leave and I'll be able to slack off" and then he gets mega confused when they DONT leave and instead fight anyone who mildly insults them. He chalks this up to them all just being unstable. Also he casually wins a war, doesn't realize he's a war hero, and casually walks away thinking it wasn't a big deal. Fucking idiot I love him

#shen qingqiu #unreliable narrators #unreliable narrator battle #polls #side b #svsss #scum villian self saving system #cale henituse #trash of the counts family #tcf

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empyreanwritings · 2 years ago

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January Book Review

Every month I will be doing a minor review of all the books I have read so far in 2023. I'll always include the title, author, and overall rating! I hope you all find a gem on this list the way I have ❤️

Good Girl Complex - Elle Kennedy: First impression is DEAR GOD PLEASE WHY DOES THERE HAVE TO BE A BET. I was thrown back to circa 2012 when After was all the rage and questioned everything about my purchase. And while this book was a little cliche, I really enjoyed that, unlike After, the characters are actually loveable and there's so much more charm to it outside of the bet & it delves much deeper than just bad boy meets good college girl. I was hooked and read the whole thing in 5 hours because I needed to know how it was going to go. Overall rating: 8/10

Ship Wrecked - Olivia Dade: My first impression is a refreshing one bc thank god I'm reading a book where both leads are plus-size. Media is so hellbent on only one person in the relationship being plus-sized that I actually was surprised to see them on the cover and know they'd still get the hot romance, smutty treatment other leads do. The overall story and smut were fantastic. I did enjoy seeing them grow and confess things they were afraid of as the story went on. That being said, the timing was weird. There were a lot of time skips, and in between each chapter, there were texts/interviews/fanfics that didn't coincide with the time of the story. So I was lost a lot, esp when they did a random 6-year skip without saying there was a skip at the beginning. Overall rating: 8.5/10

The Demon's Bargain - Katee Robert: If you didn't know by now, Katee Robert has me by the throat. I love all of her books sm so I was super excited for this one. It's a lot shorter than her other books in the A Deal with a Demon series - only about 120 pages, so I finished it in a few hours. There's not much plot development bc the story is focused on just a three day span then the epilogue shows what happened years later. This book has everything - revenge on shitty exes, non-binary demons, pegging, and a whole lotta bloody sex. If you want an in-depth, profound story then this one may not be for you. This is clearly just for demon-fuckers, and while I wished I could have had more of Lenora and Ramanu bc I really enjoyed them, I know we'll see them in other books so I'm okay with it. Overall rating: 10/10 bc I'm a simple horny bitch.

To Marry and To Meddle - Martha Waters: Martha Waters is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I loved To Have and To Hoax & To Love and To Loathe, so I looked forward to this one a lot. Emily and Julian were a really interesting story bc they weren't enemies to lovers, they weren't constantly quarreling over things to rekindle their love - they were just two people attracted to each other that entered into a marriage of convenience. Their conflict lied within the fact they weren't supposed to fall in love, and they were only supposed to help each other with their respective problems. I'm also a huge sucker for a rake with a soft center, who just wants to be loved and accepted by people; and that's who Julian is. It was spicy and funny and so tender at moments that I read it within a day. Overall rating: 12/10

Sense & Sensibility - Jane Austen: I will be honest and say I did not pick up this book because of personal preference. I am currently in a class that has a focus on Jane Austen, so this was the first book I read, and honestly, I loved it. It took me a few days to really get into it, but MAN the drama??? Jane Austen was the OG scandal writer in my eyes idc. I was listening to the audiobook and when I heard someone say that Edward was engaged I went "WHO?" out loud. I felt like I was listening to a reality tv show in that moment. Marianne is my fave character, but I did not want to see her end up with who she ended up with. Nor did I want Elinor to end with her husband because he made her seem like a second choice. Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed the story and characters. Overall rating: 9/10

Book Lovers - Emily Henry: The first Emily Henry book I read was The People We Meet on Vacation, and while I liked it, it wasn't something that made me go "WOW, I'd reread that!" But Book Lovers?? I absolutely would - and WILL - reread it. There was so much to unpack with the main character, Nora, and I absolutely loved that she did not have to change or lose herself at the end of the book because she found someone who understood her. If you are someone who roots for the woman that always gets left behind for the wholesome farm girl in cheesy Hallmark movies then this book is for you. Overall rating: 10/10

Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen: I don't know if Jane Austen was the first to really write enemies to lovers, but she sure wrote the kind I thoroughly enjoy. There's not much I can say about this book that hasn't been said by others. It was good--dragged on a bit longer than I anticipated at some points--but its a classic for a reason. Ngl tho I think I enjoyed Pride & Prejudice & Zombies a lot more. Scandalous, I know. Overall Rating: 9.5/10

#book reviews #book recs #january 2023 books

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bookgeekgrrl · 3 months ago

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My media this week (18-24 Aug 2024)

youtube

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

🙂 Curtains For Three (Nero Wolfe #18) (Rex Stout, author; Michael Prichard, narrator)

😊 The Silent Speaker (Nero Wolfe #11) (Rex Stout)

😊 Too Many Women (Nero Wolfe #12) (Rex Stout)

🥰 Letters to Half Moon Street (Meddle & Mend #1) (Sarah Wallace, author; Gregory Maupin, narrator) - very enjoyable epistolary romance novel set in a Regency England that has just a touch of magic (à la Sorcerey & Cecilia or Glamourist Histories series) - breezy & light with delightful characters

💖💖 +145K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

Bravo Zulu (One-EyedBossman (desert000rose), SecretFandomStories) - MCU: modern stucky, 25K - DOLI #13 - Bucky & Steve's evening after the race day - in the comment I left on this fic I referred to the sex scene as 'sacred & holy' because it was. This series, which I absolutely cannot believe has been going on for 4 years & 500K words, remains incredible.

Some Part of Me Came Alive (SpaceJackalope) - OMITB: Mabel/Theo, 2K - I love this pairing a whole lot & this fic was hot (and with surprising emotional heft, given the length!)

Lost 'Til I Found You (JJK) - 9-1-1, MCU: Buddie (bg stucky), 20K - - 9-1-1/Avengers crossover! LOVED this! I feel like we don't see nearly as much crossover fic these days and I am sad about that!

A little oil change, a lotta lube (Novaaaaaaaaaa) - Stranger Things: Steddie, 2K - some mechanic/customer role play for the boys - short & hot AF

How, Patrick series (Mad_Lori) - Schitt's Creek: David/Patrick, 27K - a lovely series about David discovering Patrick's long-running YT channel where he 'gives helpful life advice on a variety of topics'. Adorable and very them. Instant fave.

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

Taskmaster - s16, e1-6

Handsome: Live From Toronto

D20: Never Stop Blowing Up - "Without Our Siblings" (s22, e9)

D20: Adventuring Party - "Bean Appétit" (s17, e9)

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

It's Been a Minute - The SMACKDOWN: The Peanuts vs. Prince vs. Dungeons & Dragons

Re: Dracula - August 18: Very Sweet and Very Bitter

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - What’s Happening to the Benin Bronzes?

Welcome to Night Vale #252 - Paid Programming

You're Dead to Me - Alexis Soyer

Re: Dracula - August 19: Rejoice the Eyes That Wait

Re: Dracula - August 20: We Shall To-night Play

The Sporkful - When Is A Taco Legally A Sandwich?

It's Been a Minute - The SMACKDOWN: Maya Angelou vs. Harvey Milk vs. MC Hammer

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Oh, the Places We Can’t Go

Switched on Pop - Tinashe’s “Nasty” takes on Janet and Beyoncé + Are songs getting simpler?

Shedunnit - Instrument of Death

All Songs Considered - Nick Cave on the encounters that brought him to 'Wild God'

99% Invisible - Not Built For This #1: The Bottom of the Bowl

Handsome - Brett Goldstein asks about recurring dreams

Re: Dracula - August 21: Goods are Delivered

Vibe Check - The Fruitcake Factory featuring Laci Mosley

Pop Culture Happy Hour - The Reality TV Shows We'd Actually Win

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - District Six

Twenty Thousand Hertz+ - Sonic Diagnosis

Handsome - Gabrielle Union asks about childhood crushes

Persuasion by Jane Austen - Persuasion 8. | Bath

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Are Cemeteries…Dying?

If Books Could Kill - The Anxious Generation

Handsome - Margaret Cho asks about using handsomeness for bad

Dear Prudence - I’m Dating My Former Professor and It’s Affecting My Relationship With My Sisters. Help!

Dear Prudence - Prudie Plus: I’m Married and My Wife Hasn’t Changed Her Last Name. Help!

Re: Dracula - August 23: Ominous in His Calm

It's Been a Minute - "The Squad" loses two members; plus, Colman Domingo shines in 'SING SING'

Handsome - Pretty Little Episode #1

Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me! - Diane Lane

Re: Dracula - August 24: Some Terrible Shock

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

Mendelssohn: Symphonies No. 3 "Scottish" & No. 4 "Italian" [Israel Philharmonic Orchestra & Leonard Bernstein] {1979}

Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 "Scottish", The Hebrides Overture - Schulmann: Piano Concerto [London Symphony Orchestra] {2014}

Pacific Rim (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Ramin Diawadi

Songs From Quentin Tarantino Movies

Bear McCreary

P!nk

Sneaker Pimps

Pop Radio • Chill

Disco Party at Studio 54

Only Murders In The Building (Original Score, Seasons 1-3) [Siddhartha Khosla]

The Struts

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valorxdrive · 5 years ago

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.Past Haunts

Even positivity comes at a price.

Blindingly bright highs are complimented by those devastating lows.

For Sora that experience at Hollow Bastion similar to the day his Islands fell left scars both visible and hidden.

It was on this day that marked where he experienced loss, sacrifice and the test of bonds twisted in spiked thorns. Throughout these halls painted by a history of grim experimentation and layered with dust and dried blood, the lightest of his trials would be to lose the power that directed his purpose. Strength is never what mattered, it only helped him cross those bridges to make a difference.

It was coming to lose everyone that mattered one way or another.

He saw the fragile hold his connections held with the lost of the keyblade, depsite how short lived that instance was, seeing Donald and Goofy break their camaraderie in the name of duty broke him through the surface of reality, allowed to be aware small he could really be.

Yet in the hope, that dim, flickering strand of hope that he could dive into those abyss of self-destructive proportions that he could make everything right, he risks it all, despite how easy it’d be for any of those abominations to tear him apart.

He hopes.

Reality once again crashes him to reveal how despair aims to tear one down.

Kairi, Riku and himself, this marked the day where he comes to learn beyond that childish need just how important these two were within his life. He learns of the extents he’d truly go for their sake, even to facing death itself with terrified yet determined eyes. To smile at it’s scythe when the choice is laid before him, to go on himself or to let her burn bright and free. That choice within his eyes after the culmination of learning his determination became a clear as day decision. One oh so foolish but filled with care. In a twisted way he can come to look back on that day silently, privately, with pride, he wants to do whatever is within his power to let his loved ones prosper.

Which is why the parallel, his experience with Riku is something that will never stop haunting him until this day.

Within that one moment he believed he killed his best friend. Their past, the culmination, the incredibly stupid fight over this damn key, so many rhymes and reasons blended into his canyon wide desperation and hope that fighting would be the solution, that it would somehow make things right, that odds would be reached. It marked a moment for Sora where he sees that if pushed to the absolute brink, he’d drive a blade through his best friend. It mattered so damn little if it was to prolong his own life.

That blood isn’t so easily rid of, possession or not. Their fighting up to that point still bled of the same feeling all the way up to this point, a connection gone rancid, desperate for their own ends of acceptance and survival. Just as he managed to gain a fierce protective streak over Kairi, the same is no different for Riku, a need to protect him as the reality of that terrified, haunted gaze of life being pulled away left him with flashes in his mind to the, the door to his absolute terror of his nightmares.

Whether it was considered a kindness was up to question, but forgetting Castle Oblivion tore away the repeated horror that was instilled with the Riku Replica, of having to repeat that same process. While his memories danced to create the worlds around them, his heart remembered it all, those very real, very raw feelings that were cleaving into a open wound way too soon.

#| HCs #You ever get that one angsty hc idea outta nowhere #Well #KH1 SURE WAS A TRIP #JUST LIKE A WHOLE LOTTA REALITY IN THIS SERIES #Covered up by that nice ol' E rating

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anony-mouse-writer · 2 years ago

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why hermit archives Joe Hills is less despicable than Jurgen Leitner even though they technically serve the same role in the story:

Simple - he's Joe Hills

okay no but for real. Joe has more of his special brand of charisma in his pinky than Jurgen has in his whole body. that being said, im feeling verbose and needed a half decent excuse to re-read the hermit archives, so spoilers for The Magnus Archives distributed by the Rusty Quill and the crossover fanfic From The Archives by @sixteenth-days

Introduction - Hi there, Joe Hills here, recording as I always do...

so obviously, every narrator in both series is an unreliable narrator to some extent. something about the eldritch influence of fear itself seems to have an adverse affect on the little things, like authorial bias. its whatever.

however, for both of these cases, our primary impressions of the these two characters- whose role I will be referring to as The Curator for the rest of this cuz I'll be referencing it a lot and im lazy- is the same. both are only spoken of in passing reference by the victims of their books. there's usually an understandable lack of curiosity by the victims to dig further into the origins of their books, but for everyone lacking immediate incentive to stop looking (and occasionally, even those who aren't), the pattern is unmistakable: Curator's nameplate = dangerous spooky book.

as the audience (on the first viewing), we're increasingly aware of the nameplates and their ties to the entities and it's clear that the archivists are aware of them to some extent as well, but neither party has any real glimpse into The Curator's motivations or story until:

The Curator's Statement - Call it a desire for narrative presence!

when we finally meet Jurgen in person, he saves Jon lotta J names in this, huh from the Strange clutches of Not!Sasha with a book and a pithy one liner. The entire rest of his screen time is spent with a dawning realization that this man isn't a malicious actor or even a knowledgeable shadow, standing against the forces of fear with wit and skill. instead, he's just a man. a particularly lucky man whose cloying, whining cowardice isn't even enough to tempt the fear entities he's willingly surrounded himself with. For all his attempts to appear otherwise, Jurgen is an underwhelming disappointment - a fail upward bohemian whose eye for 'value' and sense of drama painted him into a much more intimidating figure than reality.

Joe Hills, on the other hand is an enigma wrapped in a riddle wrapped in lime green scene gloves and chains. He is, in many ways, a perfect foil to Jurgen. Obviously, there is the narrative awareness that is endemic to Joe Hills, an advantage which seems to have served him as well as Jurgen's luck. But there's also the little quirks of their personalities. Jurgen's failed attempts at self preservation and heroics contrasted to Joe's blithe acceptance of his mortality the fates of his collection's victims. Jurgen whines impatiently at Jon about wasted time and Joe meanders thoughtfully through his reflections and their little asides until Cleo reminds him of the limited tape.

And then there's the presentation of their statements. Jurgen comes to the archives for aid and gives his statement as a bartering tool. For all his former vanity, he recognizes his tale is not one of a shadowed hero or tragic warden, but a cautionary tale of trying to contain the forces of fear. He hides and waits till a point of dramatic tension to reveal himself, using the bits of knowledge he gained through the blood and sanity of others to keep himself safe. He is alone. Reviled and hunted, with just enough knowledge to be a problem, and not enough to be a threat. And in the end, his last, half-hearted attempt to leave a mark on the narrative is dashed and he becomes a conduit for someone else's bid for power.

Joe sends the institute his statement of his own accord in order to participate in the narrative of the archives. He is introduced in much less tenuous position largely due to his own agency in his life. Joe, as he tells Cleo, lives as though in a fable. He is careful and aware of his surroundings, but he is also clever and willing to exploit the offers given to him. he doesn't wait for the story to come to him, he reaches out to find it.

Outside Looking In - ...gathering the evils of the world and locking them away.

There are, of course, several lists for which roles and entities the hermits best embody- personally, I quite enjoy @magicalmanhattanproject's- but what all of them agree on is that whatever his role in the narrative, JoeHills is Definitely Not Normal. on one hand, he is too aware of himself and his surroundings to be an easy pawn or the catalyst of pandora's box by ignorant hubris; but on the other, his mercurial sense of chaos lends perfectly well to the sorts that become avatars of fear. the question from there is not if, but who's avatar is Joe Hills? regardless of your answer, his participation as an avatar is not in question.

Jurgen longs to be a part of the story. he wants recognition, and even after he realizes the ironic monkey's paw granting of his wish, he still strives to be a hero. but the lesson he seems to have failed to grasp, despite his time in-the-know as it were, is that one cannot have an affect on the story without first being a part of it. Adelard Dekker is perhaps the closest to an exception there is, succumbing in the end to death, but remaining himself throughout. but in every other case, the only thing reliably capable of countering one fear entity is another. Jurgen tries to use the books as a conduit, to harness their power while remaining untouched, and it's not enough. not even close.

(arguably, not surrendering oneself to an eldritch fear entity would be the ethically correct move, but from someone who was self admittedly ruthless and sacrificed several other people to gain the paltry knowledge he can use, it seems to be less for some attempt at an uncorrupted high ground and more because he was a coward too afraid to commit his own skin to the game.)

Joe doesn't seek to harness the entities. he doesn't play his game with death to prolong his life for the sake of living or a fear of the end, but to explore and experience a world that he is very much a part of.

Conclusion - And really, isn’t that the most any of us fragile little humans could ask for?

so in conclusion, Joe is a more likable character than Jurgen because he's more charismatic, more autonomous, and hasn't managed to alienate every affiliated existence on earth. what else is there?

well, the rest from here is more speculation then analysis since we haven't seen Joe's response to pressure since his time as the Curator. but if I had to guess, when confronted by a man with a pipe and good reason to want him out of the picture, Joe would do a bit more than snivel and beg.

and that is the Joe Hills difference.

#joe hills #hermitcraft #the hermit archives #jurgen leitner #tma #character analysis #i am very normal about hermitcraft as evidenced by the 1200 word essay i just wrote about a xover au #i should probably go thru this for typos and such but eughhhhh dont wanna #sighhhhhh #mouse's writing #mouse's soapbox #op

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emialawliet · 4 years ago

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The mysteries of Wonder Egg Priority and some interesting things I found in it

Oh hi Acca. Wait is that a crack on your right lens?

One of the great things about WEP is that it is an original anime wherein we do not have any source material to check on its story thus we do not have a clue on what’s gonna happen next besides the things that happen in each episode. These are one of those animes which are fun to observe.

Plot Summary: Ai scores a “Wonder Egg” from a gachapon machine at a deserted arcade. But now when Ai falls asleep a girl emerges from her Wonder Egg, the worlds of dreams and reality begin to collide. And it’s all connected.

From the first episode, we have been given a huge amount of symbolism. Aside from the main subject of bullying and Ai’s guilt by pretending not to see it that cost her bestfriend’s life, there are a lot of other things that I noticed that seem to have a deeper meaning behind them or could be a hint to something. I’ll list these things one by one from the first 2 episodes..

This post is going to be quite a long one, so I’ll keep it minimal enough to just tickle your thoughts. And believe me, things got clearer to me as I am making this post.

The anime starts in a sort of a dream world.. or is it?

1) The firefly

In some cultures firefly may not have a positive reputation. But in Japan, where they are called "hotaru," they are beloved – a metaphor for passionate love in poetry since Man'you-shu (the 8th century anthology). -Namiko Abe @ thoughtco.com

Ai can be seen looking at a dead firefly. She seems caring for it and she even gave it a proper burial. Could this symbolize someone dear to her? Now let’s proceed..

2) person in the car

Is this a clue? I’ll remember that hair for some reason..

3) Ai’s conversation with the firefly and the Special Gacha Machine

firefly: What are you doing in a place like this?

Ai: Walking.

F: This late at night?

After burying the firefly, it suddenly came out the soil and spoke to Ai with a male voice. Their conversation seems to me like a suspicious man talking to an innocent girl in a place where a young one like her isn’t supposed to be..

F: The first time’s free. Next time bring your wallet.

This is one of the things commonly used to convince someone to try something they are usually not willing to for the first time. Like a free trial..

..and was then led somewhere underground where the “Special Gacha Machine” is located.

That’s a lotta eggs. What could this underground facility be? And here’s the Gacha Machine:

So that’s the thing in the poster.

Weird huh? But the next morning, Ai wakes up with the egg beside her..

4) The dream

..Or is it not entirely a dream? I mean the egg appearing beside her is one thing although it could be that the egg is just in her mind. But the thing that complicates things is the injuries she gets in real life, to the point where she and even Neiru needs to get hospitalized.

Ai asked why this (the whole dream she’s in) is happening to her and this is what Kurumi said:

“Nothing costs more than a free gift huh?” Indeed, life is priceless. But in this story, it is only free the first time. The second night, Ai paid a huge price. Could those injuries mean this?

“This is a dream to you, but to me it is reality.” -Kurumi Saijo

Ai will not die in this dream, as long as her eyes and heart are okay.

Did she really sneak at night twice? Since getting the Wonder Egg to saving Kurumi? In this scene we also see the teacher in full for the first time and I dunno about you guys but I think that hair is familiar..

The firefly even asked her this. We’ve seen Ai sneaking out at night but the things that follow are strange enough to happen in real life. Is it possible that what we're seeing is a mixture of Ai’s imagination and reality?

Something caused these injuries. Or is it Ai herself? Let us find out..

After saving Kurumi, a mysterious male voice said “Too bad, you only get saved. But you have to cheer up if you want your bestfriend back.”

She then asked this:

..but got no clear response. Of course we know the answer, Koito is not going back to life. but why does the voice demand her to do that? Not even the firefly could answer her clearly. But she continued to believe that this will get her bestfriend back.

“If you can’t protect them, you won’t make it either.” -Firefly

“There’s no point going to save someone if she gets herself killed.” -Ura-Acca

Does they mean the guilt might kill her too? Does this imply suicide? Could this be a hint where Ai gets her injuries?

And Neiru asked her who she is fighting for.. Ai firmly said it was for Koito.

“You don’t like yourself now, so you go. You want to change the self you hate.” Well this could also be true for herself despite saying it’s for her sister whom she let die. How? We’ll soon know more about this I guess.. At the moment, we know that Neiru loves her current self.

Ai hates herself for betraying her bestfriend. The first friend she ever had.

Koito probably asked her to film the bullying as evidence, but Ai was too scared of being left out. She wasn’t able to get a good shot, but Koito only smiled at her and knew she did her best.

5) The egg

From the title itself, the egg is a very prominent object in this anime. We still do not have a clear answer as to what it really represents, but according to the speaking firefly and Kurumi, it contains what a person wants the most, and in Ai’s case, it is a friend. She denies this to both of them but they both know it is the truth.

The eggs appear in different colors, with letters, numbers and symbols printed on them. Once cracked, it reveals a person. This is where we can relate the egg’s symbolism of life and creation.

A mysterious male voice angrily told Ai to break the egg, and this is what he said afterwards:

Ai is “good” at it, huh. What could he probably mean I wonder..

It was later revealed that Kurumi is another sculpture, a “captured maiden” in a different world like Ai’s bestfriend Koito. This confirms that Kurumi is also dead, which leads me to think that the eggs are the souls of those who died from suicide or abuse.

They couldn’t pass on unless the guilt of their friends stop holding them back. And this I think is also what’s happening to our MC Ai and Koito’s soul.

6) Kurumi Saijo

She wears a different uniform than Ai’s. A victim of bullying by 3 girls.

Like Ai, she also said she did not have any friends, just superficial ones.

And this could be hinting at the reason why she was bullied by those girls. She does have the looks. But these looks might be the reason why she had no real friends. And a boyfriend of this fake friend probably liked her and broke up with her fake friend which started the bullying. I smell jealousy.

In this dream, she found her resolve while saving Kurumi.

I gotta say though, the animation is impressive from start to finish. That button popping off has me goin “whoa they even thought of adding that bit.” And the explosion that followed.. oof.

After being saved by Ai, she asked Ai to not forget her and disappeared into dust. Was Kurumi able to finally pass on?

) Minami Suzuhara

Seriously, in this anime, adorable girls have no friends.

Damn her “trauma” is a ridiculous boob monster.

She could have died due to over fatigue and stress from her coach’s verbal abuse.

Ai had another injury the following day.

) Ai’s enemies

The Seenoevils, a disorderly mob. In real life, they are the ones that pretend not to see the bullying, letting it happen and thus contribute to the damage being dealt to thee victim. And the form of the egg’s “traumas”, the Wonder Killer, which are the main cause who led the victims to their deaths. In the dream world, they do not attack Ai. But they can damage her, only for the effects to appear outside the dream.

Ai uses Kurumi’s pen as her first weapon, and Minami’s ribbon wand as the second.

Like Kurumi, after she was saved she also asked Ai to remember her before disappearing into dust.

) The teacher

Ai’s teacher seems really nice, going as far as to visit her and deliver the week’s print outs to their home. Ai must not be attending school for weeks..

We now know that Ai’s location is nearby their teacher’s home. Could he be the guy in the car then? We don’t have enough evidence of that as of yet.

In the second episode, Ai’s teacher visited again.

Now we see his face. He’s got a mole huh.

But why this question teach?

So that’s his name. And why the special treatment?

Here we see him walk behind Koito and she follows..

) Acca & Ura-Akka

The most intriguing thing I found in the first ep..

After discovering the truth about Kurumi, Ai was led to the end of the underground tunnel and found these two strange dolls playing Go, a japanese traditional board game. One looks like a professional, and the other just casual. They introduced themselves as Acca and Ura-Acca.

Judging by that definition, these two dolls could be the same person. Let’s watch out for that.. Who could this person be? And what is his connection to Ai?

“Haste makes waste.” These two are worried about Neiru. They strongly advise on taking the process slow or else she might die. Is this person a therapist?

) Neiru Aonuma

Did I read that right.. VICE PRESIDENT?? I get the feeling her sister died caused by neglect from their parents because they were more focused on this Neiru who “loves herself”. She also seems to me like a foreigner. She speaks english quite well and we see the mom with a nice cute afro.

She was too greedy to get multiple eggs at once. She could have fought through an intense battle. Probably why she was put in the intensive care unit.

She also does not know the fun of being in a friendship. But then she agrees on being friends with AI :) I am glad how Ai is starting to change too.

I am looking forward for these two’s friendship <3

And that’s about all the curious things I’ve gathered in the first 2 episodes.

I am definitely going to continue watching this series and witness the truth unfold. Until the next egg time!

#wonder egg priority

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