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patron-saints · 3 months

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on morality & madeleine: interview with the vampire meta (written after s2e6)

so far, i’ve found that trying to process my thoughts on madeleine feels really difficult when everyone online has their own opinions and their own biases. this post is kind of my attempt to sort out how i feel about her, and to refute and explore some arguments i’ve seen pop up in her tag.

i think the people who are pointing out that first and foremost these are fictional characters have it right: they’re not real people, their relative morality is only relevant as it pertains to the story itself. and in a story like interview with the vampire, your baseline is that every main character is a killer. in terms of morality, evaluating whether or not a character is a good person is pretty useless and also just… isn’t the point of the story. all characters are functions of a narrative, all characters are tools that you use to tell a story. their morality should not be judged in the same way as you would a real person’s! now. all that being said, let’s have some fun judging* madeleine anyway!

*doing some of my own biased character analysis on

what we know comes to us from a few sources: claudia’s diary, which daniel can read, (decent primary source, but filtered with her biases), louis’s recollection of madeleine’s memories (secondary source that relies on both of their ability to remember clearly) and presumably, louis and armand’s recollections of their interactions as well, which isn’t a whole lot to begin with.

part 1: the nazi fucking

when madeleine talks about sleeping with a nazi to claudia, she’s extremely casual about it. while she notes he brought her food, and cigarettes, she says in a way that invokes a courtship ritual, rather than a direct bribe. it’s impossible to divorce this from the context though: her neighbors are starving, and she was brought food. it likely was a bribe, but what’s important is that she doesn’t relay it as one. her focus when she starts talking about him is on the connection: “it was the comfort, the proof of life,” as she says. if she had been coerced, or if she felt like she had no choice in the matter, i think she would have presented it a little differently. but her affection for the guy is clear, and she even mocks him a little to claudia. in her own words, “i wasn’t inviting hitler to stay in france, i was inviting a frightened boy to cradle my tits.”

which. let’s be real here: to claudia, she is downplaying it. she slept with an occupying soldier during an occupation. watching this scene for the first time, you could even reasonably assume she doesn’t get how serious that is. but once you see the degree of punishment she faced, and continues to face for her actions, you realize her framing here is a learned defense against genuine violence. she feels she has to downplay it to herself and to claudia because there is an imbalance here. it becomes harder to admit to your wrongdoings when the punishments you face for them feel wildly disproportionate.

madeleine did something she never should have done, something she doesn’t feel remorse for, but something that she’s being punished for in a way that far exceeds what any person deserves.

when she talks about it to armand, her framing changes again. she calls it a love, still, so the affection is still present, but she places a greater emphasis on doing what it takes to survive, implying more so that sleeping with a nazi was an act of self-preservation. regardless of whether this is more true than how she presents things to claudia, she has a motivation here too.

when she shares her experiences with claudia, she’s flirting, trying to make her laugh, trying to make a connection, and this part might be subconsciously, but she is certainly trying to get claudia to like her. when she talks to armand, however, she’s actively trying to convince him to grant her the dark gift. she has to portray herself as capable, as self-sufficient, and discerning, and it works! even though he denies her based on his own biases, armand is visibly impressed by all of madeleine’s answers to his questions.

and all we get from louis was that the experience was sweet. and let’s be real, it did look pretty sweet.

i don’t believe madeleine has any hatred for the boy she slept with. i don’t think there’s any evidence she has any hatred for jewish people either, or for her country, which her neighbors believe she betrayed. i think she chose to prioritize a moment of human connection (and possibly food) over the greater consequences of her actions.

i have been looking for the post again since i saw it, so if anyone sees it lmk! but! the op talked about the fact that madeleine as a collaborator isn’t changing her behavior in any meaningful way now: she watched claudia kill in front of her, and instead of running, she once again invited the danger in, joined up with it. i believe the post said something like: once a collaborator, always a collaborator.

this has really stuck with me and i really wish i could reference it properly.

cuz i think there is something there—i think madeleine’s self-preservation instinct is a little screwed on wrong, i think she is acting similarly with claudia as she did with the nazi, but i think it’s not just about the danger. portraying her choice to follow claudia as a cold moment of choosing survival takes away from her complexity, and from the veracity of her feelings for claudia. so, not just the danger. i think it’s about the connection again.

the connection she has with claudia is real, the love she has for claudia is incredibly real. but madeleine is once again prioritizing an interpersonal connection over anything else, and that is the pattern she’s repeating here.

part 2: the apparent age gap issues

every single person who says their relationship is problematic because claudia is a child owes me and claudia fifty bucks.

i don’t really even want to get into that because i don’t think it’s worth my time. the show has put a lot of effort into demonstrating that claudia is an adult trapped in the body of a teenager, and that experience is hard enough on her without all you people insisting she’s still a kid anyway.

however, there’s a secondary argument i’ve seen which i do want to address, which is madeleine’s perception of her.

in their first meeting in the shop, it’s clear that madeleine is seeing claudia as a teenager. she calls her one directly, and references her “body about to bloom” when they meet again two years later. however, when they do meet two years later, claudia has not grown. we know madeleine has noticed this by the dress fitting scene for certain, but it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume she noticed that sooner. additionally, in the same breath, madeleine also references claudia’s “mind of a sophisticate.” by the time claudia tells her that her growth was stunted due to the war, it’s extremely likely that madeleine had already reached a similar conclusion. she doesn’t look surprised at all when claudia says it, and it’s because claudia seems like an adult. even if she doesn’t look like one, she carries herself like one, she makes conversation like one, and it’s very easy for madeleine to accept the reality that she is one, because she may have suspected as much already.

the reason i say all of this is because i’ve seen multiple people saying it’s inappropriate for her to flirt with claudia before she knows she’s an adult.

is their interaction at the shop window flirting? are they flirting outside the theatre, just after the play? both of these scenes are before claudia says her growth was stunted. i think it’s impossible to say they were definitively flirtatious, but i will certainly say there was a vibe. and i think that’s… kind of fine actually ? two people can have chemistry and it doesn’t have to mean anything about them morally. and my coworker andy said it would have been weirder if they had no chemistry and then did suddenly after madeleine realizes she’s an adult, which made me laugh, and which i think is correct. i like the way they get along before the dress fitting, i think those scenes are fun, and the ambiguity of the flavor adds to it.

i did see at least one post that said it was inappropriate for madeleine to talk about sex frankly with claudia if she thinks she’s a teenager, and to that i say. you can talk to teens about sex. even if she didn’t suspect claudia was older, it’s still fine. they are friends, and she’s sharing an experience she had because claudia asked her about it.

additionally, it’s both a very contemporary & a very american idea that People Under 18 need to be kept from conversations about sex. frankness about sexuality is in fact, very french lol.

i did originally think that this was after the conversation about claudia not growing, but i just watched the scene again to be sure and it was, in fact, also before, but i think my point stands.

i don’t know for certain if she intended to come across as flirtatious in these scenes, but i know something clicked for her right around her confession. you can see it, when they lock eyes in the mirror, that whatever the vibe is, they’ve both clocked it. and she finds out claudia’s older than she looks only seconds later, because she’s the one pointing out that claudia hasn’t grown. (but, yes, i’ll add anyway: after claudia says her growth was stunted, and after that moment of connection, madeleine’s expressions do seem a lot more… Interested too, lol).

i understand and i empathize so much with people’s criticisms of madeleine’s past. i have no intention to exonerate her in that regard (other than her previously mentioned narrative tool status) but i will jump to her defense when it comes to her relationship with claudia.

madeleine sees claudia as an adult, because claudia is an adult.

if they weren’t vampires, and if they weren’t queer in the 1940s, maybe she’d be worried about how others saw their relationship. or maybe it would be weird if she didn’t care how it looked. but given that the only people who will know they’re romantically together are other vampires, i don’t see her lack of concern for the optics being that much of an issue either.

and the reason she’s not concerned is because she knows what claudia is to her. which brings us to:

part 3: the sister stuff

once again i think the show does a pretty good job of refuting this one on its own, but i’d like to get all my arguments in the same place.

so. i see “don’t worry about the blood, it’s the blood that made you,” getting thrown around a lot as proof that madeleine is replacing claudia as her sister.

why would they have a scene that directly refutes this if they were true? when louis asks if that’s what’s going on, claudia says they already “had it out,” and madeleine clarifies that claudia is nothing like her sister, and cannot be a replacement.

“don’t worry about the blood, it’s the blood that made you,” is something that madeleine says because she loves claudia, because she loves the person and the vampire that she is. because she wants claudia to know that her past does not define her. because she wants her to know she doesn’t feel tainted by it, and that claudia doesn’t have to either.

and yeah, it’s not that there’s zero incestuous tones to it! or to the whole arrangement, certainly. but i think any that are there pretty neatly fall under the “iwtv typical wire crossings” flavor rather than the “you’re my dead sister’s replacement” flavor.

so, yeah. despite saying fictional character morality doesn’t matter, i’ve just written several paragraphs trying to figure out if madeleine is a good person or not. really, though, that’s not the question iwtv wants us to ask, or the question i really want to ask its viewers either. is madeleine a good person? eh, probably not. is madeleine a good person for claudia? absolutely.

on this, iwtv is extremely clear. madeleine is an ideal partner. she’s not scared, she’s not surrounded by friends and family she’d grieve, she’s weirdly suited to vampirism, and she loves claudia so much. they share a morbid sense of humor, they’re comfortable teasing each other, they communicate in an extremely healthy way, and every single step of their relationship is based on consent.

the entire time i was watching her scene with armand, i just kept whispering, “oh my god, she’s perfect.” she nailed absolutely every question because she’s perfect for what she’s supposed to do as character, as a function of the narrative she is a part of. madeleine is perfect because she is perfect for claudia.

#i am going to be DEVASTATED if the ep comes out and i’m wrong about any of this #but mostly i’m going to be devastated if it goes the way it seems like it will #iwtv #madeleine iwtv #madeleine eparvier #madeleine éparvier #claudia iwtv #claudeleine #interview with the vampire #thank you to violet mo amsel andy bee and also bee #for helping me get my thoughts out and clear!#if you've seen s2e7 don't talk to me about it yet <3 im gonna watch it tonight #claudia de pointe du lac #claudia de lioncourt #claudia éparvier

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wiserodin032402 · 2 years

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Kobeni from Chainsaw Man is a D&D Fighter

Okay yeah crazy people make dumb shit in D&D all the fuckin’ time, you can just say what the fuck on the internet. Some idiot made an article on how to play Cyberpunk Edgerunners characters in D&D what’s the big deal?

The big deal is that the D&D Fighter isn’t really...well represented in actual fiction. Controversial take, I know, but most uh...most mundane characters in fiction don’t really fit the bill of ‘Only good at combat but in a mostly superficial way that’s completely outclassed by the real shit of the setting’.

They’re not this:

This unique blend of...hell on earth that just isn’t present in actual fiction. One could say completely fucking unplayable. For those not in the know, this is D&D 3.5′s iteration of Fighter. For those who play 5e, this is basically the widely-mocked Champion Fighter subclass.

They’re proficient with all simple weapons, all martial weapons, all armor, and all shields including tower shields. They also have the following class skills: Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Ride (Dex), and Swim (Str)...with a grand total of 2 + Intelligence bonus skill points per level. That’s right, if you’re a Fighter of Average intelligence, you get to be okay in...2 skills.

And their saves are atrocious. If something even slightly scary shows up, the average Fighter is shitting themselves and running for the fucking hills.

This is obviously wildly fucking unrepresentative of any character in fantasy fiction. Too many demonstrate the ability to do more than just fight, and the characters who are famous for focusing on fighting are in series where being good at fighting means you can cut mountains in half or blow up the moon. And they’re all so...brave. Immune to fear even.

Enter God’s Chosen Failwoman

She’s a Public Safety Devil Hunter from the hit manga Chainsaw Man. She does this because her family made her, and it was either killing devils or prostitution.

Kobeni is a massive coward and in the first arc she’s introduced in with The Eternity Devil, she’s all too willing to simply kill Denji and give his heart up. When something scary is happening, Kobeni is the first to coward out.

Kobeni also isn’t very skilled. She quits public safety to go work fast food, and she can barely do that. Fast Food, considered entry-level work in this hellish economy due to how easy it is to teach someone to do it.

And yet, something curious.

When it comes to completely normal, completely mundane, completely comprehensible violence, Kobeni is unphased, and is insanely good at it. Sure, her partner got shot, but her reaction was to simply kill the shooter

and then go find the perpetrators

And when confronted by a frankly mundane demon attack, it doesn’t even touch her:

She’s also good enough with that knife, which for all intents and purposes is a completely mundane kitchen knife to slice clean through bone:

It’s groundbreaking. I’ve searched far and wide, but I’ve never found a character in fiction who perfectly lines up with everything that D&D 3.5 and even core Pathfinder 1e Fighter sets out to emulate. Someone who’s only good at violence, who’s insanely good with only one weapon, but can never break out of being completely mundane with their violence. Who, no matter how strong they get, how hard they work, is only human, with entirely human limits.

Here’s how you build Kobeni.

You need a high Strength and Dex. You need to be a Human. You need Weapon Finesse. You need to take Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization, the full featline, with whatever knife of your choice (Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, Greater Weapon Focus, Greater Weapon Specialization, Melee Weapon Mastery). Take Lighting Reflexes. Take Light Armor Specialization.

Hell, if you want to more closely emulate how Kobeni functions, take the Combat Focus featline, which puts you into a sort of battle trance once you make a successful attack that lasts for about 10 rounds, which gives a bonus to will saves and other effects. Effects you can only get in Combat.

And guess what? You’ll be getting the genuine Kobeni experience. Being only good at completely mundane violence in a world that dramatically ramps up in stakes and moves past you.

#my ramblings #D&D #fun meta and analysis #chainsaw man #kobeni

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wildflower-otome · 3 months

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[Translation] Shuuen no Virche - Creator Interview: Misa Yoshida

Shuuen no Virche -ErroR:salvation- Official Visual Fanbook Creator Interview

Director | Misa Yoshida

About the project

—First, please tell us how the idea for this project began.

My previous work “Tlicolity Eyes” was undeniably a bright and happy title with no bad ends, but thinking to myself, ‘I wonder what would happen if I did something the complete opposite?’ was the inspiration for this one. I wanted to make something that was thoroughly tragic with bad ends. I also had the thought that I wanted to make a title with “grim reaper” as the motif, and the image of the game grew from there.

—Now that the game has been released, were there any big changes from the initial plan?

Before creating the project plan, I always make rough notes, but it really did change quite a lot from my initial concept (that didn’t even make it into the project plan). It had a strong science fiction vibe and was set in a technologically advanced near future world where people continued to live on via ‘memory download.’ The main character was a real grim reaper, and held the power of life and death over ‘men whose existence was inconvenient to this world’.....that was the story. After I wrote it into my notes, I had second thoughts, thinking, ‘No no, this is getting overly complicated!’ and eventually settled on the storyline we have now.

Another thing was that I had definitely wanted Yomi-san for the original art from the beginning, so when I thought of ‘What kind of art did I want to see from Yomi-san?’, I imagined a Western fantasy, that was also a primary factor that caused changes from the initial idea.

—What did you want to place most importance on when creating the game?

What I most wanted to place importance on was how the keywords for this work, “despair” and “salvation” applied to the characters. It must be hard for the players as they see these characters feel pain, joy and sorrow, laugh, despair and experience salvation.....that said, I believe we have brought across the greatest possible despair and salvation they could arrive at from their personalities and situations.

Apart from that, the other thing I wanted to do was to absolutely not use the word ‘happy end.’ When each end is presented, it was done so the words ‘despair end’ and ‘salvation end’ were used in place of ‘bad end’ and ‘good end.’ There is no such thing as an all-out happy ending, that was something I couldn’t compromise on.

—Please tell us if you experienced any difficulties that you can talk about now.

More so than it being difficult, there was a lot of pressure since it was the first time Yomi-san was creating original art for Otomate, but right now as I think about it looking back, 90% of the development period was a tough time. However, back then I was full of adrenaline so I didn’t really realise it myself. It was a sad state of affairs that I realised only when those around me said, ‘You sure went through a lot!’ (laughs). It must have been that the fun I was having was greater than the hardship.

About the visuals

—How was Yomi-san chosen for the role of character design?

From the beginning of planning this project, I felt that I “didn’t want to make the characters feel fictional.” When I saw other works that Yomi-san had created the original art for, from the expressions to their fingertips, they all looked so ‘real’ and unexaggerated I was captivated. Even since then I kept thinking I would like to have Yomi-san work on some original art someday.....I suppose I can say now I did the planning with the feeling of a passionate one-sided love (laughs). After that, my wish miraculously came true when I was coincidentally blessed with the opportunity to get in touch with her.

—Please tell us about how the characters were created.

For the most part, all I did was tell Yomi-san the character’s basic information, their circumstances and situation up until the beginning of the story, along with the essential elements for the character (for example, for Yves it is his mask, Mathis, having a pale complexion from spending all his time inside, and clothes that were easy to move in for Adolphe) and then leaving the rest to her. The characters were mostly exactly as I imagined right from the first draft, so I think now in that respect I was fairly spoiled. What I remember even now is that at the very first meeting I was asked, ‘If possible, I’d like a chronological table’ and that it made me feel even more determined to make these characters feel life-like.

-Is there anything that changed from your initial plans for the story because of ideas that came about during the character design stage?

There were quite a few, but the one who had an especially important addition was Lucas. The weapon for Bourreau was originally to be only a short sword, but the first design Yomi-san submitted, which had him carrying a spear, looked so very cool we ended up having it become a halberd. I asked that it be designed so that it could fold up much like a three sectioned staff so it wouldn’t be a problem when it came to running around and sneaking into the mansions of Shudie.

—I think one of the standout points for this game is how the fashion suits the setting’s worldview. How did you decide on things like what accessories the characters wore?

When it came to characters that were close to the research institute and the center of Arpéchéle, I requested that there be a strong cyber influence. Scien and Mathis’s outfits would be the ones where this is most obvious. Because Arpéchéle is a closed country, I asked for a gothic design for characters who aren’t close to the center. Therefore, for that reason, Ceres, Yves, Lucas and Adolphe, the characters that live in the common district, don’t have a single cyber element. Mathis is in the middle point as far as the ratio between cyber and gothic go, so for him Yomi-san and I compared and contrasted the designs together and used that as a base thereafter. The cyber feel for this game uses electronic circuits as the image, so I had her use that as part of the designs.

—Please tell us if there was anything you paid particular attention to when it came to the general flow and direction of the event CG’s.

There were many times where I would hand over some truly rough notes along with the scenario and mood to Yomi-san and entrust the rest to her. Basically, the same as with the character designs.... Whenever there were any points she was unclear on, she would always ask questions, so production progressed without any worries on my end. She would draw everything as I wanted right down to the finer details so most of the CG’s were done in one go, without any need for retakes.

—Are there any CG’s that you are particularly fond of?

I am fond of all of them so it’s hard to choose. The first salvation end in the third act in which Ankou gives Ceres the flower bouquet, or the one with Adolphe and Ceres smiling at each other in the field of white lycoris....after much thought, if I absolutely had to pick one, perhaps it would be Mathis’s smile at the end of his salvation end. As per the title, the game is quite serious with many dark scenes, however I feel like this bright CG with its white and yellow colours most suits the words ‘beneath the light of the sun.’ It felt as if it was expressing a single ray of light shining down on their future, no matter how many troubles were to await them from there on, so I remember not being able to help breathing a sigh because I was so moved the first time I saw it.

—What points regarding character settings did you not want to compromise on?

I am repeating myself, but it would be that they are “living humans.” Although it is a story with the unique set up of ‘memory downloads’ and ‘relivers’, for better or worse, the characters of Arpéchéle, including the ones without sprites, are all human-like existences who fall in love, hate others, want to protect the ones important to them, make compromises, and fear and loathe the things that they cannot understand. “Life” is one of its most important themes, so when it came to portraying humans who are its vessels, I was conscious of the fact it was something I couldn’t treat as unimportant.

—Please tell us if there were any particular aims and themes you had when it came to character settings, interesting inside stories during production or ideas that were rejected partway through.

Ceres

The line “Dear God, I have killed many people” that was used in the first promotional video was what I came up with for her at the beginning and is where her image grew from, making her development process perhaps a little different from the other characters. Ceres’s image flower is the immortelle, small yellow flowers which mean ‘undying love’ and ‘immortality’ in flower language, and that was how I decided her character.....but it came to me later that yellow certainly has a cheerful image.

Her original personality is that of a bright normal girl who smiles often, but she grows melancholy after she starts being called a grim reaper, I would be happy if she could become the kind of main character you would want to cheer on as she regains her original self through her interactions with the other characters.

Yves

Speaking from a variety of different points, his image was that of a ‘traditional knight.’ Due to his burns, Yves lost the ability to feel pain, was abandoned by his parents and treated as a monster. So that those around him would love him, he had no choice but to become a ‘knight-like existence whom everyone would seek out and depend on.’ That said, even knights are human too, so course I think he would still have his own worries and trials. Because there is no such thing as a perfect knight like in the stories, one is all the more human and beautiful for being imperfect. Yves’s burns are also the result of the human-like emotion of ‘wanting to save a single girl from a fire.’ I believe that such scars are a symbol of beauty, not ugliness. Speaking of behind-the-scenes stories, the first design image that Yomi-san came up with is now the vigilante corps uniform. The inner shirts and trousers are the members’ personal clothes.

Lucas Proust

I received various opinions regarding his salvation end, but a person who took away so many lives must be punished…..that was the point I absolutely could not concede on. Lucas dislikes when things are not done the proper way, so the rule I decided on was that he would not use casual abbreviated verb forms in his speech. The only time he purposely deviates from that rule is when he says, ‘I love you too,’ just before credits roll for the salvation end. Completely abandoning the version of himself that those around him had wanted, and the rules he had decided for himself, we see that he is finally able to face Ceres head on as his true self, I think that this was a scene with a lot of impact. By the way, the daggers he stabbed into the hearts he extracted were modelled after crosses (they are also shaped like them too!).

Mathis Claude

For me, he was the first character whose setting I had firmly decided on. Because he is an irregular existence who is neither human nor a reliver, I believe we were able to write a story that displayed Arpéchéle’s twisted way of life and view on romance from a different perspective. We weren’t able to have it come up in the game, but the idea was because he keeps his knife hidden behind his right thigh, he has rather bad manners when sitting on chairs, sitting with his arms up around raised knees like a gym student. That said, if we had included it, it would mean having to keep writing scenes where Jean or one of the other characters tell him off each time, so it was with a heavy heart I decided not to. His character tagline is ‘The man spurning his fate to forgive’, but the hidden story behind that becomes pure humans ‘do ○○’ and the character who wasn’t ‘did ○○.’ I thought that it would be nice if people were able to notice this after finding out Mathis’s true identity as a homunculus.

Scien Brofiise

I spoke about this on the official blog, but initially he was a character that spoke politely in front of his subordinates. But as he is now, he is certainly not the kind of man to worry about appearances (laughs). He is said to be someone that can resolve almost anything, but it must be remembered that is only in cases where a cause has been established, and it is something that has caught Scien’s interest, in the game those conditions just so happened to come together. He does not involve himself at all in things he isn’t interested in, or that go against his personal principles.

By the way, as he is the only character that fights barehanded, I imagined his fighting style to be similar to savate (TL note: french kickboxing). Seen from the point of view that it is something he started doing and learnt on his own initiative, it’s sort of like he just so happened to pick up the skill as he trained in self-defence from being targeted so often. Speaking of which, although he is a short sleeper and rarely sleeps in front of others, once you have his trust, he will sleep while leaning on your shoulder.

Adolphe

Truth be told, right up until the end Adolphe was the character whose setting I had most trouble deciding on. It is mentioned in the story, but since he is the only one amongst the characters who is able to live longer than 23 years, he is the character most similar to the viewers. As I pondered on how to make sure such a character held his own amongst the others, I thought there was no other choice but to turn the tables and make him “normal.” If you think about it, dying at the age of 23 in and of itself isn’t normal, and so once I arrived at the conclusion that the existence of such a person in that situation would become special, the rest of his characterization followed on very smoothly.

People were rather surprised with regards to Adolphe’s intonation, but the reason for it was because I wanted it to be one point in common for ‘Adolphe = Ankou.’ Incidentally, as he has spent such a long time living at the institution and on his own, he is the most able cook amongst all the main characters.

Ankou

I believe there are people who may have realized this, but the origin of his name is that of the grim reaper spoken of in the Brittany region of France, which is why I had him appear in the prologue scenes of the first and second acts wearing the wide brimmed hat and cloak from the legends. Even now when it comes to Ankou, I feel an indescribable emotion. Actually, the original plan for his setting was even more beyond saving. He had continued to fight for the sake of Ceres’s smile, but after spending so long despairing he grows twisted and his greatest wish instead becomes for him and Ceres to die together. In order for that wish to come true he tries to have her make the wrong answer when it comes to Arpéchéle’s curse…..that was the plan, but it was too dark so we changed a lot of things partway through. The title ‘Shuuen’ (eternal demise) bears various meanings, but one of them is in reference to Ankou. When I was directing Ankou’s final scene in the third act, even now I have a strong memory of praying all the while that he would rest peacefully.

Salome

I received a lot of comments saying, ‘Even just her name is scary!’ (laughs) I believe the Salome everyone is thinking of is the one who was written as a villainess in the play (TL note: Oscar Wilde’s play ‘Salome’), but actually it is the one from the Bible that I had in mind. In the play, she is the one to ask for Jokanaan’s head herself, but in the Bible she asks for it because her mother, who holds a grudge against Jokanaan, commands her to, she is being used by those around her. I borrowed her name thinking that it was similar to the way [Salome from the game] is betrayed by her own relatives, the royal family. No matter what kind of life one lived, it may become something different in posterity depending on other people’s interpretations and hearsay, I think she became a character with that kind of story.

Perhaps getting off topic, but the one to douse Bourreau with sulphuric acid in the fifth chapter of the common route was Salome. She had been following them with the thought of helping Ceres and the others should anything happen, and took action once she realised Bourreau was still able to move. The words, ‘You let your guard down too easily’ were directed towards Ceres and Adolphe.

Hugo

The one person who clearly hates Ceres for being Death. In a different way from Adolphe, he is a man with normal emotions who is afraid to have the girl said to bring death next to the people he is close with, but because he seems to have lived for a long time it is not easy for him to say so openly. I think once you become an adult it gets difficult to tell the person you hate to their face that you hate them. I really did receive a lot of feedback on the emotions that he holds, and there were many things I was made to rethink.

Speaking of background information, he talks about having younger sisters in the game, but he actually has an older brother, making for four siblings in total. His reliver mark is on his back, with the meaning of bearing a household, his older brother also has his in the same spot.

Dahut

As an existence who would not even have been born in a world in a country with a lifespan of 18 years, because of his appearances throughout the second act, to Ankou he could be called an ‘error.’ He is the mastermind behind everything but if not for Dahut, Arpéchéle’s citizens would likely have continued to live closed off from the world, not realising its abnormality as a nation until the day they were invaded by other countries.

His background is that he has a younger appearance than his peers due to the stress he endured when he was younger, but Dahut doesn’t see this as a bad thing and instead uses it as a tool so that those around him will dote on him (let their guard down).

Nadia Proust

‘How could such a thing happen to such a good girl…..’, I received a lot of comments such as these and truth be told, I also agree. To the point that I was racking my brains when coming up with the plot trying to think of a way she could be saved. However, making up my mind that it wouldn’t be ShuuViru if I wrote something so convenient, I decided on that ending.

The scene where Nadia is set free in Lucas’s salvation ending was revised to be as it is at a truly late stage towards the end of development. I believe that it perhaps expresses the scene title ‘Blade of Release’ in the fullest possible way.

It is a regret of mine that we were not able to have a sprite of an older Nadia in the third act.

Capucine

Being the founder of the Exorcist religious organisation while also holding the position of a doctor, nowadays I think he really was a troublesome character. Because he deals with patients out of goodwill on the surface, wanting the fact that he is actually after money to not be too obvious, Capucine is the single character who had his design completely changed from the first draft. Although he has the role of being the villain who is most beyond saving in the game, as his motivations are firmly set it was very easy to move him around in the story.

The background that was most fun to come up with was actually his research lab.

Jean

Despite only ever being written from Mathis’s POV in the game, I had readied a personal history for both his false identity as Jean and his true one as Camille. Not only is it important when creating a story, I believe it shows just how serious “Camille’s feelings about reviving Rosalie” were, that he would go to the lengths of coming up with a history as Jean. It also adds to the feeling of a meticulous plan being put into place.

I also included various small details such as the words ‘Ma cherie Rosalie’ being written in blood on the wall of the underground research lab at Claude Manor along with engravings of the number of victims that wasn’t revealed in the game.

—Please tell us if there were any points that you were particular about when establishing the relationships between characters.

Perhaps it was that they wouldn’t only have positive feelings towards one another. That goes for the other characters towards Ceres, and also the other way around as well. Humans are not made up of only beautiful emotions, because it is not possible to be loved by everyone, I took care so that could be clearly seen, whether as individuals or as groups.

Also, there were actually relationships that came to light after we began writing the scenario! Unexpected chemical reactions occur when different characters come together, and that was especially true for the drinking party scene in the common route. That scene became the decisive blow for Adolphe’s becoming the long-suffering character in the group (laughs).

—Speaking of which, were there any scrapped characters that didn’t end up appearing?

In my first draft notes there was a con-man who had the tagline “The man who celebrates the fate of deceiving others”. His story was that he swindled people in order to save money to treat his sick sister, but once we had decided on Arpéchéle as the setting, thinking that, ‘If you continuously ran scams in a such a small country, you’d soon be found out’, the character was scrapped. The sick sister storyline was inherited by Lucas.

About the story

—Please tell us if there were any specific considerations you had in mind or things you were particular about in the process of writing the story.

It would be the point about, as much possible, not having everything turn out conveniently. In ‘ShuuViru’, an ending where all characters including the sub characters survive does not exist. You could say that it is realistic for happiness to be built on the sacrifice of others, I personally think that it is not possible for everyone to become happy. Nevertheless, when it came to the salvation routes, so that the characters who lost their lives in the events leading up to the ending wouldn’t become mere sacrificial pawns, I always kept it in mind to make all the lives and deaths feel meaningful.

And also, as it is an otome game, no matter the route, I took care not to neglect the “love” aspect.

—Please tell us if there were any troubles you experienced while writing the plot and scenario, or any interesting episodes that occurred during the writing process.

The foreshadowed reveals were really difficult…..the main writer Satomi Nakayama and I brought everything together after a lot of groaning and intensive discussion. There was also quite a bit of fine tuning on where to draw the line when it came to the despair. Going this far might be too much for an otome game, but at the same time since we’re talking about despair, we didn’t want to take a half-hearted approach to it.

As for an inside story, the truth is Adolphe was alive in the first draft of Scien’s route, but thinking that there wasn’t enough despair, and also so that Ankou would be able to talk about the truth after the end, we ended up changing it. Nowadays I think that perhaps might be one of the main reasons people who have played the game often tell me, ‘You’re heartless.’

—Please tell us if there was anything you were particular about in regards to the game system.

That the other salvation ends wouldn’t unlock until the third act’s salvation end was cleared was something that was decided on from the first. I’m sure it must have caused the players a lot of distress [doing it this way] but Ankou being the first one to be saved was a point I couldn’t compromise on. My thought was ‘Who on earth would I save first while leaving behind Ankou, who has continued to fight for the sake of Ceres’s smile for so long?’ Also, another reason was that I wouldn’t be able to write all that I wanted for each of the character’s salvation ends without all of the truths being revealed first.

This isn’t related to the system, but I took as much care with how things were arranged in the game as time would allow me. From facial expressions, to the timing of changes in the BGM, the movements of the sprites…..I was very conscious of creating a display screen that allows players to immerse themselves in the story without losing interest. By including a lot of sprite cut-ins, not just in the everyday scenes, but in the fight ones as well, I hope that I was able to create a feeling of actually being at the scene.

—Please tell us if there was anything you were particular about when it came to romantic scenes.

Romance is but one aspect of human emotion, so I took care that the flow of the story up until that point wouldn’t feel unnatural. The aim wasn’t to create romantic scenes, but ones that expressed love.

My thought was that as [it is a game with] an overall brutal atmosphere, if I were to forcefully make it romantic, it might cause the kind of heartburn one gets from adding an absurdly large amount of sugar into bitter coffee (laughs).

I also took a lot of care that each of the characters would express their love in a way that was unique to them.

—Please tell us about a love scene and ending that you were particularly fond of.

I am fond of all of them, but [for love scenes] it would be the proposal amongst the flames in Yves’s salvation route. The reason Yves is able to have the determination to accept everything, both good and bad, is because he is the type of person who has continuously accepted both kinds of emotions. Ceres’s responding with, ‘…..Idiot’ to Yves’s confession, is something I am particularly fond of as it is a response appropriate for a girl her age, in contrast to her usually constrained manner up until that point.

When it comes to endings, it would likely be Lucas’s despair end. Although it is a bad end seen objectively, from Lucas’s point of view it is a happy end in which he is able to become family with the person he loved and live out his last days together with them, as we had the BMG match up with that, I believe it became a scene which left an impression. Also, a ring on a white bony finger is a scenario that I have always wanted to do, I was glad I was able to make it happen.

—Apart from the love scenes and endings, were there any other scenes that you would like people to play close attention to?

It would be the scene where Ankou and Ceres meet, and he smears her lips with blood. It was something I had wanted to do right from the beginning of planning, and when we did, it really stood out visually, so it is a favourite of mine. I think it became a scene with two facets, on your first playthrough, it gives the impression of Ankou as someone suspicious, but when you look back on it after finding out the truth, you are able to feel his emotions and love [for Ceres].

—Finally, were there any scenes or routes that ended differently to what you had originally planned?

The same goes for each of the routes, but particularly for the third act, the number of scenarios became much more than we had envisioned. When it came to writing Adolphe and Ankou’s story it ended up becoming longer by necessity, both Nakayama—san and I sobbed over it together (laughs).

When it comes to something I can talk about now, there was actually one more pattern that we came up with for Lucas’s despair end. Roughly explained, it was that Lucas would decide Ceres was a ‘bad girl’ for trying to kill him and cut her down instead. He would raise a baby that was born at the moment of her death as Ceres’s reincarnation, and then when he was near the end of his lifespan, take her along with him in death saying, ‘Next time, let’s be reborn together’…..but it really wasn’t the kind of material that should appear in an otome game so I refrained.

About the sound

—Please tell us if there was anything you were particular about in regards to the BGM production.

The fairly challenging discussion we had was to create a synthesis of ‘classical compositions that use string instruments and the like’ with ‘cyber techno style noise.’ I had the main theme ‘Shuuen no Virche -ErroR:salvation-’ created first, and even now remembering getting goosebumps hearing the part where the techno noise comes in just before the climax thinking, ‘This is it!’ Just like with the character’s clothing, the techno noise was used as the main music for things with a strong connection to the research lab and relivers, while the classical sound was used for the Drifter legend and everyday life scenes.

Parts of the BGM also feature arrangements from the main theme, which I think is most obvious in tracks like ‘Kaihou no Katsuro -Break-.’

For this game, we asked Ichikawa Jun-san, who has created a lot of BGMs for anime and dramas [to be the composer], his work further expands on the imagery of the scenes for which it is used, there were truly many compositions that went beyond my expectations. There were very few retakes, most were given the OK from the get-go!

-Please tell us if there were any incidents that occurred during the voice recording stage that left an impression.

The voices we heard during the tests were pretty much as I had imagined them to be, so there wasn’t much by way of finetuning. Everyone had thoroughly read through the scenarios and materials, so it felt as if it wasn’t necessary. It was very reassuring when Yoshimasa Hosoya, who voiced Scien suggested, ‘I think this kind of atmosphere would be good for this scene.’

Another event that left an impression was the commotion caused in the booth by how overly realistic Lucas’s voice actor Daisuke Hirakawa’s acting was in the scene where he vomits blood. We were all on edge saying, ‘He isn’t really vomiting blood, is he?!’ (laughs)

—Is there a scene that became more impactful once the voice acting was added?

It would be the scene in Mathis’s route where different memories are downloaded into him one after the other. Along with Kouhei Amasaki’s blood curdling performance, it becomes more obvious that, ‘Mathis’s personality is being replaced’, increasing the atmosphere of despair.

Another is the scene in the third act with Ankou’s line, ‘I want to see Ceres, I can't see Ceres.’ Because of Kazuyuki Okitsu’s performance, I think the amount of pain he went through for centuries feels all the more real. …..If I were to speak about everything in detail, I could go on for quite a while, truth be told, everything became more impactful (laughs).

—Please tell us if you had any special thoughts in regards to the main theme songs, or if you have any anecdotes regarding their production.

OP: Lycoris no Ai (Lycoris Love)

I had a number of detailed requests when it came to the lyrics, so I ended up causing a lot of trouble for LOVERIN TAMBURIN-san…..

I think people who have played the game must have noticed, but the lyrics have a small trick to them, the first time you hear them it is from Ceres’s POV, and then once all has been revealed, become lyrics from Ankou’s POV. I would be happy if my aim to have everyone enjoy even the lyrics was at least slightly achieved. ‘The flowers of demise are an illusion coloured by death’ and ‘I will love you forevermore’ are phrases I am particularly fond of.

Despair ED: Shuuen no Yume (Dreams of Demise)

From the image of being bound hand and foot, rendered immobile by a fate of death, the discussion was to make a song with a tempo and rhythm that was difficult to take up and hard to sing. Fundamentally speaking, the despair ends are situations in which [the characters] have lost to Arpéchéle’s twisted technology and way of life, so it is noisier and has more of a cyber feel than the OP…..it was that sort of atmosphere I asked them to emphasise.

Salvation ED: Junpaku no Kyuuzai (Pure White Salvation)

The keywords for the song were without a doubt ‘salvation’ and ‘normality.’ For this one, with the meaning of being released from a twisted way of life, I asked that there be none of the [electronic] noisy feel from the OP and despair ED. Also, in the OP there is a line, ‘Taken away by errors, I lost my emotions (heart)’, but in the salvation ED there is, ‘I will live tomorrow following my emotions (heart)’ ….. I am particularly fond of the fact it feels as if part of the phrases in it are in opposition to the OP.

—What was the response like after the game released?

Since I challenged myself with this title in creating different kinds of themes and endings, character relationships and behaviours, I had steeled myself to receive all types of feedback. However, after receiving passionate messages and comments of support, I was honestly as much surprised as I was happy as I hadn’t expected that so many people would end up playing the game. We have received many comments from those who are looking forward to new developments, so as staff we feel blessed to be in such a position.

—Were there any reactions or requests from fans that particularly left an impression?

It would be [comments about] liking not just one of the characters but all of them. There are many who say they are ‘hako oshi’ (TL Note: people who are fans of all of the characters) when it comes to ShuuViru….I am conscious that is something to feel very gratified about.

Another thing is that there were many comments about wanting to know the origins of the characters’s names as well as their birthdays. It would take a very long time to talk about the origins of all of them, as each of the characters has a meaningful name. If I am blessed with another opportunity at some point, please allow me to take the time to talk about them properly.

In this book I am also introducing the birthdays for the sub characters for the first time as well. Since it has still been only slightly less than a year since this title was released and making them official would constitute spoilers for the third act, we haven’t yet been able to celebrate them, but please allow me to leave behind my ambition of celebrating all the characters someday here.

—[The fanbook] this time includes Yomi-san’s omake comics and illustrations, how did the creation of those come about?

Yomi-san kindly sent them to me saying, ‘So I’ve drawn these as a bit of fun.....’ However, each time I look at them I tilt my head in puzzlement, ‘She did these “for fun”.....? Aren’t these beyond the level of mere doodles?’ During the busy development period I kept them on my PC desktop as a source of encouragement.

There weren’t any back sketches of Yves, Adolphe and Ankou at the time of design, so once it was decided this book would be created, I had her grant my selfish wish to have some drawn.

—Please tell us if there is anything you have planned for the future, or anything else you would like to do.

In September, [Virche] is in the lineup for Otomate Party 2022, so speaking of the near future that would be one of them.

When it comes to something I would like to see, it would be the characters moving around on stage in a play or musical. Because the clothing designs are very showy and splendid, I think the fight scenes would really stand out!

No matter what form it may be in, I would be happy to be able to show the world of ShuuViru once more. I am striving forward with it firmly in my mind that no matter what kind of new developments there are, it must be something that is able to answer the expectations of everyone who has shown their support.

—Lastly, please give us a message for the fans.

To those holding this book, and those who have played ‘Shuuen no Virche’, I am truly grateful. The reason I have been able to work on these various developments is solely due to everyone’s support. Let me take this opportunity to thank you all once more.

Going through material from the first stage of development in the process of creating this book, thinking, ‘How nostalgic, there used to be these kinds of scenes, I would liked to have written this,’ has been very emotional. I am happy from the bottom of my heart to have been granted this opportunity.

It is my earnest wish that you will love this work, and the salvation and despair that they arrived at, here on and into the future.

#shuuen no virche #virche evermore #virche #otome game #creator interview #translation #virche spoilers

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semperamans · 4 months

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wise men say

hi friends! another story pulled from my ao3 <3 this kind of picks up in the middle of nowhere, so my apologies. in my mind, the oc (nameless) is an actress? i truly can't tell you where this came from, but i can tell you that i have thoughts of making this an austin x oc x callum story at some point... i hope you enjoy!

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

"she knew only one person could quell the disquietude roaring inside of her like a starved lion. austin."

(also known as)

austin butler is really good at making people feel better.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── With the city so big, the girl often felt small. It brought her comfort at times. She had been bathed in limelight and cryogenically frozen by cameras from an early age, so little things were easy to appreciate. They were real and she liked real. She liked things that set her senses haywire. There was no greater joy than hearing her best friends’ laughter or feeling the misty Tuesday morning air caress her cheeks. Often, she would marvel at colors. The city was filled with them: the resplendent greens found amongst the sycamores in Central Park, the gilded laughter of toddlers on the subway, the mustard-yellow taxis. With the city so big, the girl often felt small, but there was one man who would change that.

He was a sandalwood-scented fantasy hand-picked from her wildest imagination. He was a since-forgotten prayer she had whispered into her joined hands as a child. He was the Prince Charming in every fairytale. The honeyed smile she sought in any crowded room. Austin. He was Austin. Austin with his voice like chocolate. Austin with his wonderland smile. Austin with astrological kisses speckled onto his sculpted cheek. Austin made her feel big. Not so that she took up too much room or required more space. No, Austin simply saw her in a way that cameras could not capture. Austin was real and she liked real things.

In truth, the girl knew she loved Austin lightyears before she accepted it. In reality, it was near impossible for her not to fall in love with him. For all intents and purposes, he was perfect. Austin asked her opinion of things, not out of convention or necessity. The glint in his eye was sincere; he wanted to know her. Austin listened. Austin smiled in all the right places and nodded and allowed her to speak extensively about anything that came to her pretty little mind. Others called it rambling, she was known to be quite the chatterbox, but Austin prodded. Where did you learn that? He’d ask with an amused quirk to his lips. Yeah? He’d lean in closer. Tell me more.

More.

She wanted more than the delicate brush of his hand against hers. More of the deep belly laughs it seemed only she could pull from him. More. She wanted more, but how could she articulate such a thing? How could she tell him that, in her eyes, he’d practically hung the stars in the sky? The words frequently sat on the tip of her tongue. They were sweeter than sugar, but bitter too. She could not tell him. She couldn’t bring herself to say the words even as he pressed a warm kiss to her cheek along with a heartfelt thanks for breakfast. She couldn’t say the words when he opened his arms to her. When his cold rings brushed her cheeks. She wouldn’t make the first move for the mere thought of pushing him away due to her overt displays of love and affection made her stomach turn.

Turn.

Things took a turn some obscure Friday afternoon. Surely the Earth had tilted off its axis for everything had gone wrong. She had slept through a meeting. She tripped coming up the subway steps. She had a hangnail that hurt more than a bullet wound, and, most shocking of all, her long-term friend with benefit had called things off but not before degrading and belittling her. How could he have said such things to her? How could he have been so cruel? The girl bit down on her lip, hoping to stifle the tears. Fact and fiction melded in her mind. Ten years. How could she have wasted ten years on a man who would never want more than her hips and submissive sighs? The man who refused to hold her hand in public but claimed her body behind tinted windows and low-drawn blinds. She felt stupid. So silly was she to believe that he would eventually choose her. The girl shook her head angrily. It was his loss, logically she knew that, but her heart wailed and writhed in pain.

Pain.

It hurt so badly. The stinging rejection. The blatant disregard for her feelings. Hot tears marched down her cheeks as she called the girls who knew her best. Their jeers and threats of shaving the offender bald lifted her spirits, but just barely, and it was then she knew. She knew there was only one person whom could quell the disquietude roaring inside of her liked a starved lion.

Austin.

Austin who turned on booted heel and hailed the first mustard-yellow taxi he saw at the sound of her distress. Austin who took her trembling body into his arms. Austin who cupped her cheeks. Austin who allowed her to babble through the ping-ponging thoughts racketing around her mind. Austin. He didn’t shame her. He didn’t berate her. Instead, he pressed his lips to the freckled canvas of her bare shoulder and allowed her to simply be.

They stayed that way for quite some time, but when her sobs morphed into breathy hiccups, Austin pulled back to see her face. He gave her a smile that didn’t quite reach the blue of his eyes. His mouth opened then closed. They were tucked within her Manhattan apartment, but he could so easily picture himself standing atop a tightrope. Caution was mandatory. The line of friendly propriety they had established was fine as thread. As much as he yearned to topple over the edge and into the vat of unyielding love that lay beneath, he knew now wasn’t the time. Austin’s brows furrowed. When the words began to flow from his pink lips, the sound was soft and slow.

“Alright darlin’, Focus up here.” The girl’s chin turned upward. Her bloodshot blues found the saxe shaded vista beneath Austin’s sandy eyelashes. A tiny spring-bud smile blossomed over her mouth. So quaint. So welcome. Austin’s palms rested delicately against the rounds of her rose-colored cheeks. He was mindful of the silver rings bedecking his fingers as he braced the back of her neck. So delicate. So wholesome. Laurie London had been right. Austin did indeed have the whole world in his hands. “There you are. Hi.”

“Hey,” It was so casual, so them. “Come here often?”

“I do.” Austin’s clipped chuckle was vaguely Elvis-like. “Heard it’s the only place where you can see an angel without goin’ to Heaven.” The southern lilt of his tongue coated each vowel and consonant in powdered sugar. A beat passed. “Listen to me. Okay?” His eyes bounced between hers. “I am so sorry that he’s made you feel this way. There are some people who take no greater comfort than diluting and diminishing good things. Now, I’ve never met ‘em, don’t care to, but he seems like he fits the bill.” Austin’s thumb took her chin. “I’m sorry he made you think that it is hard to love you or, or that it’s hard to choose you because it isn’t.” The boy dampened his lips.

Love.

All she could think about were those four measly letters and how they’d sent her pulse skyrocketing.

Choose.

Oh how she’d always wanted to be chosen. It was engrained into every strand of DNA. What did she want out of an audition? To be chosen. What did she want as a little girl in gym class? To be chosen. What did she want from the once friend? To be chosen. And how did she feel when she wasn’t? Exactly like this.

“The right people will choose you.” He brought her closer, smiling. “Your friends will choose you. Your parents. Me.” His lithe fingers brushed hair behind her ear. “I will always choose you.”

In that moment she could think only about kissing him. It would be so easy. So close they were, she need only rise upon her tiptoes to reach the promise land. There were words she should say and thanks she should give, but nothing ran through her mind except smashing their mouths together. Her eyes must have revealed her intentions for Austin leaned closer.

“Dry up those tears, pretty one. C’mon.” He gently tapped her nose with his. Lifetimes passed as they gazed into the eyes of the other. Austin spoke at last. “I so badly want to kiss you, but I can’t.” It was bold. It was everything. “Can’t. Not yet. I’ve gotta make it special.”

Special.

She didn’t need special. She just needed him. So close they were. So easy it would be.

“Going to make it worth it.” He breathed, fanning mint over her damp lips. “You take my word for it. It’ll be the last first kiss either of us have.” Austin smiled a smile that made her feel real. She liked real things and as he spoke words that filled her heart with gold, she realized that real love was personified before her.

What neither of them could have anticipated was that Austin would be wrong.

#austin butler #austin butler fic #austin butler x reader #austin butler imagine #austin butler fanfiction

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neptune-scythe · 1 year

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The reason I take issue with people sexualizing Kanej or portraying them in a way of being physically intimate is because doing so takes away valuable representation that they provide

Representation for asexuals, for people who have touch related trauma, and people who simply don't like or want touch

There is so little representation for us, as is, and people are (unintentionally or not) taking away this too

Especially for Kaz

Yes I want him to heal, but giving him the desire for or action of physical touch, especially within the canon timeline where he still is unable to have that, is erasing representation for haphephobia and touch aversion

And if we're being honest (because I know the haters are gonna come after me and say the only way for Kaz to heal is to be super touchy), if it's between Kaz healing and losing that representation, or remaining crippled by his trauma but keeping the representation, i would take the representation any day

Of course I want Kaz to heal, and unlike the acephobic haters that keep coming after me, I am aware that Kaz can heal and still not want touch

But Kaz is a fictional character, his healing, while important and something we all want, is not in the greater scheme of things more important than the representation his trauma provides in the real world

Especially for me, I had no idea haphephobia was a thing until I read six of crows. I thought I was just making up my dislike of skin to skin contact based off my parents focus on modesty growing up, and my not wanting to violate or intrude but touching People's skin ... not realizing it was my own dislike until I read six of crows.

That's why I fight so hard about this

Because it's not just about the character, it's about what they're providing in the real world. It's important, and needs to be talked about.

And I'm sure someone will come on here and say I'm making a huge deal out of nothing and that they're just fictional characters, but some things are a huge deal, and representation is.

And if you're having a hard time understanding, let me use this example

It would be as if Wylan suddenly could read, yes he is technically "healed" but the representation has been erased

Or if a healer fixed Kaz's limp, yes hes technically healed but the representation is gone

Those two examples would be weird right? You would have a problem with it, with erasing a big part of who these characters are and what they mean to people, even if it does give the characters an easier or better life

That's the same for Kaz and Inej's touch aversions. It is representation, it's part of why they mean so much to me ... and why this topic is bigger than just book characters

Touch aversion and haphephobia deserve to be acknowledged and treated as valuable representation that needs to be preserved and handled with care

It's not just a casual thing that is light and no biggie

It is a big deal to me and likely a lot of other people

And I will never stop talking about it and fighting for it

#six of crows #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #grishaverse #dirtyhands #the bastard of the barrel #the wraith #kanej #kaz x inej #representation #ace representation #asexual representation #touch aversion #touch averse #touch aversion representation #touch averse representation #haphephobia #haphephobia representation

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carionto · 8 months

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Wisdom is to seek the experienced

Your typical dimly lit bar, closing hours. Few folk still remain, fewer still conscious. The door chimes to a sprightly young man, though his eyes echo decades of witnessing the grim reality. He orders a beer, sits down next to a passed out man in his late 50s, hand still gripping his last shot glass.

The young man prods the old guy awake.

"Tell me, what do you know about Old Man Henderson?"

"What? That's an urban myth. A fairy tale. Ain't no such person ever existed. Scram, kid."

"We believe the contrary. Correction. We don't believe anything. We know he is real."

"That story is over a thousand years old. Wouldn't be the first time some fools mistake a work of fiction from three apocalypses ago as fact."

"There's more to it than that. We know that you are connected."

At this moment, the young man takes out a small binder of documents and splays it in front of the old guy. Images of excavations of an old town hall. Unidentified dirt and ash samples. A heavily damaged pilot's license. Used cigarette butts.

And a list of names, dates of birth and death, addresses throughout their life, occupations, relatives. Seemingly, no connection. And at the end of the list a Mr J. Drenshaw - the old guy.

"We know you know these people, all of them. Ever since the incident Old Man Henderson was involved in, there has been an unbroken chain of people who studied and learned everything about him and what occurred. And you did your best to erase everything from all records but your own.

Well, the one thing the first to whom this knowledge was passed on to did not do was to cremate their mentor. Instead, they received a burial at sea. Somewhere in the middle of the Pacific from a plane. Forever lost to the world, beneath endless waters and unknown beasts of below.

Or, so it would have remained, had it not been for that little explosion that has doomed our world. Among the debris the OCC cleared was a tiny, damaged microfilm. Unable to restore its contents at the time, it was stored alongside the innumerable relics recovered from the disaster, and promptly forgotten about.

Until my superiors learned of something... odd, and we got to work searching for the loosest of ends. The rest is technical details. In short - you, Mr Drenshaw, have known about the reality of the Old Ones ever since your mentor exposed you to this secretive knowledge you've been safekeeping for the last twenty eight generations. It is no longer your exclusive club.

We need your help understanding what Cthulu is, what it wants, what it can do, and most importantly - what we can do about it."

After a long pause, J. Drenshaw looked at his empty shot glass, at the young man, to the floor, and sighed.

"The reason we kept it from everyone is because you can't do anything about a being like that. That's the point."

"Old Man Henderson did do something about it."

"He was a nutjob. One of a kind."

"Still just human."

"Bah. It wasn't even the full might of anything Greater."

"Even a fraction was still a part of it. We can expand upon that."

"What do I even get out of this? Cuz I'm telling you, it doesn't matter how many Supernovas you throw at Cthulu. The material realm doesn't bother them in the least."

"It doesn't have to be a hostile relationship. Our experiences with the Galactic Coalition, despite a rocky start, show we can communicate with anyone."

"Aliens and Old Ones are not comparable. Can an ant negotiate with the Moon? That's a bullshit idea and you know it."

"We found an individual who contradicts your belief."

At this statement, the young man shows Mr Drenshaw a picture of a young woman, barely out of her teens, but even through a simple image Drenshaw can see in her eyes there is... knowing.

"Okay? That your girlfriend? Good for you."

"That is Cintra Valkeim. Though it proved difficult to ascertain, we believe she made contact with Cthulu."

"Thought you didn't believe in anything. Couldn't get her to confess?"

"We're still working on the specifics, but we do know she died several times. Either by negligence or lack of interest in us 'nothings', her resurrections left marks on the cellular level."

"Nothings..." Drenshaw slowly repeated the word, as if something finally clicked.

"That is how They view us, yes?"

Mr Drenshaw finally looked back at the young man, took a deep breath and simply said:

"Yea...

Fine. I'll talk to this Cintra. Alone. After that I'll decide if it's worth a bother to help you lot."

"Those are agreeable terms. Shall I take you to her now or...?"

"Fuck no. I got a raging headache and I need a nap. Just cuz you got my curiosity don't mean this hangover is suddenly gone. Leave your number, I'll call you in a few days. Gonna do my own investigation."

"Understandable. Here are my contacts."

Mr Drenshaw takes the card, looks at it, and bemusedly puts it away.

"Fuckin' hell. Bunch of jokers you are. Alright, I'll be sure to ring you up, Mr 'John Smith'. Now get outta here, you've ruined my nap long enough.

HEY, BARKEEP! GET ME SOMETHING THAT'LL KNOCK ME RIGHT BACK TO SLEEP!"

#humans are space orcs #humans are space australians #humans are space oddities #humans are deathworlders #humanity fuck yeah #carionto #story #cthulu #it's all connected #sorta #i don't know what i'm doing #but i'm doing it #slowly and sporadically #probably inconsistently too #but whatever

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whatlovelybones-if · 10 months

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The weird thing about playing interactive fiction for me is that I will often self insert myself into the PC and when I see how the love interests interacts with them, it makes me feel so seen and loved. I dont get the same feeling in real life because I'm not very attractive or beautiful, your games are few of those gems which makes me feel desired for once

Sorry for the rant, just wanted you to know how much your stories mean to me 😅

to deduce one’s worth down to their physical vessel, which will one day cease to exist, is a foolish and preposterous act. for it is this very act of nonsense that disregards the beautiful, and entirely unique, infinite beauty of the soul that lies within, and fails to capture the wondrous essence of your energy.

you’re greater than the sum of your parts and far more beautiful than how you perceive yourself. what may seem undesirable and average to you might be the same qualities someone else will treasure and admire.

the world is made of over 8 billion people, far more than an average person might encounter in their lifetime. it wouldn’t be foolish to presume that an invisible string will tie you to someone who will meet you and see someone who they wish to love and adore for their whole entire lives.

#asks #you’re worthy of more than you give yourself credit for #remember that #bonnie nonnie #what lovely bones #interactive fiction

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hsvh-hp · 7 months

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You know I agree with you that fanon paints Lucius as a much worse father than he was and I don't like that either, but do you not think indoctrinating your child into a genocidal cult + coldly demanding that he be the best in class and publicly humiliating him about that ("if [my son's] grades don't pick up, a thief or a plunderer] may indeed be all he is fit for") is bad parenting?

Like I'm not saying "he is a bad parent" or "he is a good parent", I'm very hesitant to label parents (real or fictional) in such a one-dimensional way because parent-child relationships are so incredibly complicated. But at the same time it is very important to me to acknowledge even little things parents can do that can really have a negative impact on children. And indeed in Draco's case they do, leading him to want to be a Death Eater, to seek validation from Voldemort (when he disarms Dumbledore he talks about wanting to be the Dark Lord's favourite, he doesn't want help from Snape because he has a need to prove himself etc) and contributing to his general insecurity and need to be better than everyone & getting upset when he's not, because if he's not the best all the time then he feels really bad.

One big reason I dislike the fanon tendency to make every morally questionable parent an extremely physically abusive monster is precisely because that erases the representation of how the smaller, psychologically/emotionally damaging things they do can still be traumatising.

It goes without saying that there’s nuance. I would never say nor claim that Lucius did nothing wrong or didn’t make mistakes. By mere virtue of holding bigoted beliefs, he signaled to Draco that there were things he could do or be that might undermine his father’s love. To me, it doesn’t even matter if Lucius is otherwise perfect as a father. That small thing, in a kid as needy for love and validation as Draco is, would be enough to have him always on edge and anxiously performing his role as the perfect son to the best of his ability.

My earlier frustration was a pushback against the need to inflate Lucius’ less-great moments into overtly obvious abuse (we are very much in agreement there), as fanon seems to love to do without a hint of introspection or greater analysis. I’m so bored of complicated behaviour being filed away into a thought-terminating box called ‘abuse’, where a sole instance of someone being a grumpy, imperfect dad (the Borgin & Burke’s scene) is all that’s required to put a character on the same level as men who actually do beat their sons. It’s not given a greater thought.

For instance, you bring up Draco’s indoctrination into the Death Eaters, and his eagerness to join. This is a very interesting conundrum for Lucius to me because Voldemort is back for an entire year before Draco signs up. Lucius is in Azkaban at the time, unable to exert any influence over Draco’s decision, and Voldemort explicitly brings Draco into the fold as a form of punishment for Lucius. We have no access to Lucius’ head as readers, but he had an entire year afterward to sit and think about how he failed Draco. He’s a smart guy. I’m sure he could put it together that his bigotry came very close to costing his son his life. Considering the Malfoys sit alongside the winners of the war in the Great Hall, it speaks to me of some greater narrative reflection on Lucius’ part to have earned himself a place there.

The point is, I’ve never seen that Lucius in fic before. I crave that Lucius, who can realize his mistakes and grow or change as a result (and is brave enough not to let the lateness of its arrival dictate the terms). It’s very important to me that growth not be something exclusive to a certain age (16 and under? 18? I’ve seen people argue that Draco was no longer redeemable at 12 LMAO). So yeah, feeling alone in this sentiment occasionally bubbles up and I forget to articulate all the nuance of the subject when engaging with it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#meta #draco malfoy #lucius malfoy

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punsbulletsandpointythings · 1 month

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So I've been watching My Hero Academia and like

GOD ALL THE TODOROKI FAMILY BAGGAGE HURTS SO GOOD.

Like damn. What a complicated situation. I love that all the kids are handling things differently. I've already figured out the (obvious) Touya twist and BOY do I hope we get a reverse Darth Vader moment with that.

But also like. Fuck Endeavor with a rusty spork. He's a terrible terrible person. But gosh what a good character. That contrast between being a Great Hero and a Terrible, Abusive Father is a deeply compelling story, is definitely a part of how the show interrogates the idea of heros and the complexities around a society and culture of heros and villains.

We already see that complexity with All Might, and how by becoming a Symbol of Peace he's made it so he can't do anything but destroy his own body and still try to put on the smiling face for the public, and when he forcibly can't do that that anymore, for a few moments, the public turns on him, until he shows he's /still/given all of himself for the "Greater Good". Which is heartbreaking, and fascinating, I hope between him and Deku we get to examine that dynamic a bit more.

But that's like.....the needs of an individual being put aside for the expectations of society and how by being There for Everyone All The Time, All Might unintentionally became part of a system that can't really survive without him, so he can never leave, until he's forced to, and the plot becomes how society deals with that sudden lose of security.

With Endeavor, it's like. How do you come to terms with the duality of this person. He's saved so many lives, and in doing so, in his status rising because of his heroics, he turns around and commits atrocities. But it's not so much society forcing him into a corner like I think All Might is. Yeah societal expectations of heros probably played some part, but I think the larger part is the narrative pointing out how Endeavor's own drive, while I think coming from an initially good place, is corrupted by his own way of viewing the world.

We know he cares for people, he clearly can manage that on wider, impersonal scale. But he can't, or doesn't, apply that to his own family, because his own drive and desire to Be Better Than All Might outweighs everything else when he's not out in hero mode, thus: a Good Hero and at the same time, an Abusive Asshole Father.

And I like that, at least so far, the characters and the narrative won't let him forget that! Even as he tries to "fix things", I like how, as far as his family is concerned, he can't! He can try, but Natsuo and Shota, and even Fuyami, have no reason to trust him, and even less to forgive him, and I like that they say that! Like, good! I'm glad he's trying to be better, but fuck him!

AND I like that we see Shota seeing that juxtaposition of Good Hero v Terrible Father. I love that scene where he straight up says, "Don't pretend to be a good parent in front of my friends. I'm here for Endeavor, not Enji ((that's his name right?)) Todoroki, and I'm only here because it will benefit me and my training."

I don't entirely know where I'm going with this but it's all just! Such a good story! And there are so many other bits I could ramble on about (Fucking!!!! Bakugo???? Listen, as someone who was bullied for uhhhhh most of my pre-uni school life, if this were real I'd have OPINION. But it's NOT it's FICTION and GOD Bakugo and Izuku and their fucked up co-dependant situationship delights me, what delicious storytelling!!!) but I'm currently watching the Todoroki Backstories episodes of season 5 and ANNOYED (Read: delighted, again this narrative is WORKING SO WELL) that I'm so invested in Endeavor and his painfully slow realization of just how badly he fucked up!

Anyway, I'm gonna need so Todoroki Family Time Travel Fix-It aus please, because I want Rei and All Her Children to not get Backstory Trauma, so if anyone has recs (or like. MHA recs in general) HMU!

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poetryandbloods-blog · 11 days

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The truth is that if Snape had a standard beauty like Sirius and wasn't poor, he would be one of the most beloved characters in modern literature, like Anakin Skywalker.

But he is ugly and poor, so in our view as a society he needs to be labeled as an abuser/villain, his story, which is incredible and full of nuances, needs to be passed on to someone who fits the mold of what is considered appropriate (almost always Regulus).

Even Tom Riddle, the boy who killed 4 people before finishing Hogwarts, receives more love and understanding from fans than Snape.

I always thought that this new gratuitous hatred that I saw Snape receive came from the portion of fans who never read the books, only fanfics.

But seeing him being stripped of his story and the staunch defense that part of the fandom makes of others with a story a thousand times worse than Snape's makes it impossible not to connect this to his lack of status on the two fronts that “matter most” (money/beauty).

A study conducted in Great Britain proved that ugly people are more likely to be convicted of a crime. I will leave the source below.I am a lawyer, in college and throughout my professional life, I have seen underprivileged people being marginalized many times.

Their lives mean less. They are much more likely to be convicted of minor crimes than people with more income.

We judge fictional characters with the metrics we have for our reality. It is difficult to feel empathy for someone who is different from you/lives in a different reality than yours.

Someone who has been marginalized and bullied is much more likely to feel empathy for a character who goes through the same thing than someone who has never lived that reality.

There is also the issue that Snape was based on a real person, who had many characteristics of an autistic person, but these characteristics were villainized by the writer. Of course, we cannot lose sight of the fact that Harry Potter is a children's book, written in the 90s, and Snape was supposed to be this villainous teacher that we all had at some point in our lives.

But we all grow up and are able to see more than just the children's story; we are able to see the patterns we apply as a society and how we can combat them.

Would Snape, who was marginalized throughout his childhood, have had a better life if he had received the necessary support at school? To what extent can we blame someone who did not have structure/support, whether in the family environment and/or in society itself?And this of course does not apply only to Snape, but to a greater or lesser extent to other characters.

Ultimately, society itself creates its own villains, by ignoring doing the minimum necessary for the well-being of these individuals.

Source: https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/ugly-defendants-more-likely-to-be-found-guilty-than-attractive-ones-7276212.html

#harry potter #hp #hp meta #severus snape #snape meta #harry potter critical #pro severus snape #pro snape #snape defense #snape community

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cosmicjoke · 2 months

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Levi's Choice and His Value of Self-Determination:

Another aspect of Levi's choice to give Armin the serum and let Erwin rest that people don't really consider, is Levi's respect toward peoples will and right to choose for themselves.

Erwin didn't want to be the commander of the Survey Corps anymore.

He wanted to be able to finally fulfill his role as commander by making that one, final sacrifice of his dream for his duty, and through that final act, at last absolve himself of his guilt and become worthy of the position. That's why he thanks Levi for making the choice for him. Because it allowed Erwin to do what he really wanted to do, deep down, but didn't have the strength to, which was sacrifice himself for the cause of the Survey Corps and live up to the sacrifices of all his fallen comrades. That's what Erwin wanted. To go out on his shield. To die for the cause.

Levi never forces anyone to do anything against their will, and that's an important part of his character to understand in order to also understand his choice.

He's constantly asking others to choose for themselves, to decide for themselves what they want and what they believe is right. We see him do this with Eren, and Jean, and Historia, and even Dimo Reeves. Even when Levi is trying to coerce people into a certain action through threats of violence, they're always empty threats which he never really follows through on and, ultimately, lets the person decide for themselves what they're going to do. Like his threats against Annie, or Zeke or Erwin. Levi threatens all of them with violence if they don't do what he tells them, but he never actually goes through with these threats, even as all these people fail to comply. And, of course, this pattern of Levi letting others make their own choices and decide for themselves holds true with Erwin, too, in Shinganshina.

Once again, because Levi values free will and peoples right to choose for themselves, to have agency over their own lives, above just about everything. That's what Levi's speech to the 104th during the Uprising arc was all about. This idea of the hell people choosing for themselves being better than the hell forced upon them.

To give Erwin the serum would have been to rob him of his own agency and deny him his own choice, forcing him back into a role and a life he no longer wanted, which he had given up gladly and thanked Levi for allowing him to give up, and that would have gone against everything Levi believed in and valued.

Levi's entire philosophy of "no regrets" hinges on this idea of always doing what you feel in your heart is the right course, even if the outcome isn't what you hoped for. It's about never compromising what you actually believe is right, no matter the cause. That's why I always roll my eyes at anyone who claims Levi compromised his values or his morals for Erwin. That claim is so antithetical to Levi's character as a whole.

Levi always followed his heart and did what he believed was right, no matter the cost to himself. Even if it meant losing the one person who gave him a sense of direction in life, which is precisely what he lost in letting Erwin die.

Levi refused to violate his belief that everyone should be allowed to choose for themselves their own path, and he refused to violate another persons agency and right to self-determination, even if that violation was meant to be committed in the name of "the greater good".

And again I posit, what does that term "the greater good" even mean, if people aren't allowed to choose for themselves what becomes of their lives?

That question is what underpins every dystopian nightmare ever depicted in fiction and played out in reality. A society of "peace" that's achieved only through the repression of free will, of fee thought and agency and autonomy. In other words, no real peace at all, but a false peace built upon a lie and the violation of other peoples wills. Further, a peace like that is inevitably doomed to failure anyway, because it's just another form of oppression and persecution. Just another form of imprisonment. Eventually, it would lead to rebellion. Eventually, it would lead to war.

Levi understood that better than anyone, I think. He understood that forcing people to do anything against their will was wrong, and that to do so would eventually only undermine whatever temporary benefit might be gained through forced cooperation.

We really see this belief of Levi's demonstrated through the story. Again, he never actually forces anyone to do anything. He ultimately lets everyone decide for themselves, and he never compromises in this, he never leaves anyone without a choice, because to him, there's nothing more important than people getting to choose for themselves, of getting to live and even die how they choose. It's one of the reasons Levi doesn't make a good "leader" in the traditional sense. He has no desire to tell other people what to do or how to act. And it's not because he's afraid of being responsible for other people, though that is something Levi fears, but because he believes it's every person's right to decide those things for themselves. We see this demonstrated also through the way Levi stands down when Hange makes the choice to sacrifice her life. It's why Levi doesn't try to stop her. Because it's her choice, and he doesn't feel he has any right to tell her or anyone else that she can't make it.

I think understanding this about Levi's character is also vital to understanding why he made the choice he did with Erwin. He wasn't ever going to violate Erwin's agency to choose for himself. He wasn't going to take that choice away from Erwin by undoing it through injecting him with the serum.

As an aside, what I also don't get about people who claim Levi was willing to doom humanity for Erwin is that it assumes Levi believed Erwin was absolutely, irrefutably essential to humanity's survival, which we know he didn't believe, because he was willing to let Erwin die not just once, but twice, prior to making the choice he did with the serum. Once during the Uprising arc, when he tells that MP they kidnapped that he's willing to let Erwin die if it means getting Eren and Historia back, and once during the RtS arc, when he lets Erwin ride to his death charging the Beast Titan. Neither scenario indicates at all that Levi believed Erwin's death in those circumstances would doom humanity to extinction, or whatever. On the contrary, he saw Erwin as expendable in comparison to Eren's survival, and twice put Eren above Erwin in the belief that Eren was more important toward achieving the goal of humanity's victory. Clearly, Levi always believed that humanity could survive without Erwin. He wouldn't have been willing to let Erwin die two times in the lead-up to his choice in Shinganshina if he didn't believe that. So this ridiculous notion that Levi "doomed" humanity for Erwin holds no water. It also assumes that Levi would have somehow, magically, understood the circumstances they would be facing before learning what was in Eren's basement, and that knowing those circumstances, he knowingly and purposefully let Erwin die. People that claim this are basically claiming that Levi had full knowledge of what they would be facing and that Erwin's continued existence was essential to defeating that threat, and he did it anyway just to spare Erwin further suffering. But the reality is, Levi had no way of knowing at all what they would be facing or what the threat was, nor did he hold any belief that Erwin's continued existence was essential in defeating that threat. He had no idea that they would discover an entire world of people beyond the walls, let alone a world of people hostile toward them and wishing for their eradication. He didn't make the choice he did while believing humanity couldn't go on without Erwin. He fully believed it could. This is what pisses me off so much about this bullshit claim that Levi "chose Erwin over humanity". No he didn't. Levi 100% believed humanity would survive without Erwin.

#Levi Ackerman #Erwin Smith #attack on titan #analysis #meta #commentary #shingeki no kyoujin

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