#argonometra

[aparticularbandit]

How do your faith + trans support interlock with each other?

(This isn't me looking for a fight, I genuinely want to know.)

I don't want people to die.

I cannot share the love of Christ with someone if they are dead.

[argonometra]

Somewhere in Benwick Forest, Lancelot is yelling through his bedroom door, "You don't get it, mom! I loved that human and I trusted him with so much, but he just imploded into self-loathing and suicide, right when I needed him to succeed! Nobody can POSSIBLY understand how I feel!"

and Elaine, who watched her soulmate let himself get tortured in prison for years, just looks into the camera like she's on The Office.

[phantom-chirp]

@argonometra

Forgot to finish writing this because P5 attacked me, sorry 'bout that lol Remembered though because of the answer coming out, haven't started playing it yet but I will very soon

General thoughts on them:

I love Mitsuru I love her so much shes so cool. She carries so much guilt for things she did not do and she acts so professional and mature all the time but she's just a kid like the rest of them, and she comes across as cold-hearted but she's really not at all, I just... she's a great character

Sexuality & gender headcanons:

Lesbian, and cis. She/her

Who I ship them with, if anyone:

Yukari, I love Yukari x Mitsuru so very much, love how their relationship develops throughout the game and how much each other ties into their overall character arcs and what they go through. girlfriends <3

Random headcanon(s) I have about them:

During her social link in my AU instead of hinting towards her liking Makoto Y (since the game has hints of romance in them even if you don't romance that character so it doesn't just come out of nowhere if you decide to), it'll hint towards the fact that she's starting to realize she has feelings for Yukari and have some stuff related to her trying to unpack that, since before then she wouldn't have really thought about her sexuality at all. Her snapping at her fiance will still be influenced by Makoto and her time spent with him as well though, since I'm quite fond of her friendship with Makoto

Animal they are in my animalified AU:

She is a maned wolf! Kinda just thought it was fitting for her, no real specific reason there

Reason for their Warrior Cat AU name:

Russetpaw, it's cause red. I'm honestly not really happy with the name I picked for her in the AU I might change it, russet as a colour isn't even similar to the colour her fur is

Any extra thoughts about them:

I love her friendship with Akihiko so very much, they are besties. Also thinking about her dynamic with Aki and Shinji in general makes me want to cry

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Send me a P3, P4, or P5 character's name, and I'll answer these questions with them!

[2700lagostas]

May I print out a copy of your Fruits Basket edit to hang on my wall?

This should’ve been sent as an ask and not a submission, for future reference.

As for your question, you can if you want to. My edits do not take nearly the effort and time of fan art or even a gifset. I like making them and for all the ones I post, there are a lot I don’t. I’m not sure they will print out very nicely because they are essentially screencaps and even then, Tumblr downgrades their quality (many of them are much larger). They are in their original quality on my Pillowfort page.

Thank you for asking first as a lot of people don’t take the time to do that. Please support content creators here on Tumblr in whatever way you can. Tumblr is not perfect but it’s a far better platform for artists and gif makers than Twitter.

[kissesandfiction]

When does narrative depth become a burden? Why is it that the melodramatic meanderings so common during Bleach’s battle episodes (and I say ‘episodes’ instead of scenes because Bleach has never been economical with time) are seen as beloved when they form the core of a plot like Fruits Basket’s?

In short: genre. One genre supports an ‘introverted’ narrative- one that takes place largely in the characters’ minds- and one does not.

At their most stripped down, Bleach is a story about a boy fighting enemies. Fruits Basket is a story about a girl making friends. The two plots often intertwine in both works, but a viewer of Bleach never loses the sense of action, of reacting to the present world, which is so common in shonen anime. Similarly, the shojo Fruits Basket assigns its characters’ interactions particular importance from the outset- an importance that stays from the first page to the last. One genre may try to imitate another’s virtues, but as long as the core storyline remains so different, such attempts can never succeed.

There have been action-based stories that had deep plots, but- like most stories of quality- they are few and far between. For example, the manga classic Lone Wolf And Cub follows the travels of a samurai and his child through historical Japan. It set records for long battle scenes- scenes that were frequently intercut with images of the countryside and the child playing innocently beside his father’s carnage.

The symbolism of such interruptions, though obvious, provides an answer to our dilemma: It asks us whether Wolf and Cub was ever really a story about bloodshed at all. Battles are part of it, certainly, and an important part- but they are not core to its plot, as Bleach’s are.

Simply put, Wolf and Cub is about the journey shared by a father and his son. Battles are considered secondary to that both in-universe and out: in the first chapter, Itto delays a fight so he can take Daigoro to the toilet (don’t laugh, the author of this made more money than you ever will), something he resolutely justifies to the soldiers around them. The manga’s finale ends not with Itto’s triumph, as you might expect, but his killer embracing Daigoro and ending the violence between their families.

In comparison, Bleach is infamous for its static characters. Viewers are impatient not because of the introspection, but because they know it will never go anywhere.  Bleach has clocked hundreds of chapters by this point, yet only 3 things about it have changed: the protagonists’ powersets, the enemies they fight, and their body count. Both stories are similar, yet their plots and philosophies are diametrically opposite.

The questions I end with have plagued me ever since I watched Sucker Punch: is action, pure action, enough to carry entertainment? And could artists, and people in general, stop being so goshdarned elitist?

--Natasha

[argonometra]

So the first thing Lancelot does in the sequel is give someone exposition, and the second is punch one of his friends.

Which is character consistency if ever I saw it.

EDIT: And the third thing is give Tristan therapy, OH MY GOD.

[argonometra]

Assorted FSN thoughts

All of Shirou's love interests have magical elements that can exist in the world of Unlimited Blade Works; Saber has Avalon (obviously), Rin's abilities include air and fire, and Sakura has shadows.

There's a line in the early story about Hercules swinging his sword "like it's all he knows how to do" and Shirou can end HF's final battle the same way.

Rin's Servant coming from Fuyuki is a metaphor for her dere. However glamorous magi are supposed to be, she loves her crappy hometown and its high-jumps and teenage politics and mustard sandwiches, and her soul reflects that.

Saber's loss of Avalon basically traded Camelot's survival for Fuyuki's. If Shirou hadn't had it, he wouldn't have survived a lot of things, and Dark Sakura (assuming she was triggered) might not have been able to be stopped. Which is another reason why Saber's regrets are useless.

Shirou's house is the Grail War's real place of sanctuary, not Kotomine's church (which is another similarity between them).

Sakura's worms tie her thematically to Rider, an earth goddess okay, sorry, I shouldn't have said that

Ayako's frustration that Shirou won't rejoin the archery club makes more sense given the mention (in Ataraxia) that he quit before any competitions- competitions he would almost certainly have won for the club.

Rider likes Shirou's blood because it's rich in iron, if you'll excuse the pun.

Shirou objectifies himself because he subconsciously remembers being an object (and one whose purpose was to save people by force).

[argonometra]

Episode 2, S1

Now teacher lady is stalking Stella’s friends because she assumes they’ll cause trouble, and you know what? I don’t blame her.

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Bloom’s right, hovercars are boring as shit. I’m glad I started with season 6, the setting there was gorgeous.

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Oh, Tecna, you’re sweet.

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I’m glad they ACTUALLY had Bloom phone her parents, it’s nice.

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Is that phone card from Earth? You really know it’s a noblebright universe when even stuff from other planets counts as compatible.

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Wow, Bloom followed the orc. Nice.

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Okay, I’m calling bullshit. Even by magic standards that’s bullshit.

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Points for trying to fight, Bloom.

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Yeah, let her OUT of the ice cage, that makes sense. /s

EDIT: They put her back in. OK, they can have their villain cards back.

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What, they don’t know teleportation magic exists?

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I love these cute little moments of Stella and Bloom’s friendship.

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OK, girls, I get you’re angry, but: almost died. Let her breathe.

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Only took 11 minutes for THAT to backfire.

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Is it even a ‘magic school’ story until someone gets caught breaking curfew?

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Okay, THAT’S elitist.

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Oh, headmistress, you’re cool. Your reasoning is ridiculous, but you’re cool.

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I love how they jump up and whoop.

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OK, we’re just going to skip over their hurt feelings? Okay.

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NO TOO META

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Yessss, start the romance arcs!

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…Wait, did teacher lady see the girls getting attacked and do nothing? What a bitch!

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[argonometra]

AU where the curse never happened and the Sins are on some long quest outside Liones

but they've never met Elizabeth, so they're sure Meliodas is lying when he tells them about her. Like, "yeah, of course you have a girlfriend in Canada. Of course you fucked the Supreme Deity's daughter. Of course she adores you and puts up with your drinking and angst and bullshit. Sure. Why not?"

and it becomes this increasingly elaborate joke. Every time they're in a town, Meliodas goes off to send letters to Elizabeth (he actually writes them, with ink and everything!) and the team try to shadow him and catch him in the lie. When he inevitably "receives back" perfumed letters with a royal seal on them (he shows them off very proudly), they roll their eyes and secretly wonder how Meliodas has been smuggling perfume along in his luggage all this time. Whenever they see a cute animal or a sunny day, Meliodas goes "oh, Elizabeth would love this" and everyone just goes along with it.

Ban loves the joke fodder but is secretly a little worried about how hard his friend tries to one-up what he has with Elaine. Diane (she never lost her memories in this reality) thinks it's flattering Meliodas specifically mentions his girlfriend is tall, but really worries that the Captain is lonely. King grills him relentlessly about his and Elizabeth's backstory, but hasn't found an inconsistency yet. he keeps trying.

Finally they come back to Liones, and that same day, Meliodas falls sick. His teammates send word to the King that he won't be able to meet with him, and then they hear huge wingbeats outside the Boar Hat.

they go outside, and there is this honest-to-God angel flapping down, looking frantic as hell. She is beautiful, pure blue eyes, cascading silver hair, everything- and she asks, "Is Meliodas here?"

They don't say shit. they're too dumbstruck. So then she tries, "Hello?"

Someone finally points at her and says, "...You're the Supreme Deity's daughter."

and she says apprehensively, "...Yes?"

[argonometra]

Akane: Well, he's had it in for me ever since I kinda...killed his dog.

Carlos: You did?

Akane: Well, replace the word "kinda" with the word "repeatedly," and the word "dog" with "son."

[argonometra]

Tatsuya/Miyuki ship playlist

* "Paris", The Chainsmokers (If we go down / Then we go down together / We'll get away with everything / Let's show them we are better)

* "St. Gabriel's Mask: Vocal Remix", Nilsen and Cirimelli (No matter where you go / You know I’ll find you / No matter where you’ve been / I’ll bring you home)

* "If Only", Dove Cameron (If only I could read the signs in front of me / I could find the way to who I'm meant to be)

* "Cosmic Love", Florence + The Machine (No dawn, no day / I'm always in this twilight / In the shadow of your heart)

* "Breathe", Ryan Star (Breathe, just breathe / Take the world off your shoulders / And put it on me)

* "The Call", Celtic Woman (When we have no dance to dance / The call is in the song / When we have no voice to sing / Then the call is calling strong)

* "This Is War", 30 Seconds To Mars (To the right / To the left / We will fight to the death / To the edge of the earth)

[argonometra]

But if one interprets Lash's subplot as her being intentionally tested by The White God, it becomes so much more heartwarming. Like, she complained in the church that TWG was no different from a tyrant, only caring about good people *who also submitted themselves to His plan*, but in the end He allowed to choose her own path in life, free from the ties of her angelic past and demonic sins, once she'd proven she wouldn't use such freedom to keep on helping His enemies. Once Lash understood both the frailty and value of mortal life (as she hadn't when, according to Jim, "she tried to play both sides" of the war between angels and demons for her own personal profit), understood the importance of giving up the power she had felt so entitled to when she Fell, understood what it is to really stand alone- He obliged her wish. Lasciel hadn't really wanted freedom, she didn't envy or respect mortals. She wanted the benefits alone of freedom and the benefits alone of serving TWG- she couldn't and still doesn't fully understand the downsides of either. Lash- who allowed herself to become vulnerable- could.

And it's so fitting that the angel(?) whose goal was unique earned a unique fate. I see Bonnie as something like Lash's reincarnation- a clean slate, but not a blank one.

[argonometra]

A while back some Redditors were saying that Junpei felt 'entitled' to Akane's love, and I want to expand on why I disagree with that.

Yes, his behaviour during ZTD was cruel. But it wasn't grasping. All his snark, body language, contrariness, etc was about distancing himself from her. He doesn't bring up the Zero thing to guilt Akane in response to her aloofness. He brings it up as its own thing, before ever talking about their relationship. (The DLC story confirms that 999 is what he expected they'd talk about at Dcom and the first thing he mentions when confronting her: "What exactly are you scheming?" And when she refuses to tell him, he does nothing but silently watch as she leaves.) He doesn't blame Akane for being different from June (or even mention it, that I can recall, aside from his surprise when she shift-kills. Note that his tone in that sentence is not angry or upset.) He blames her for constantly and actively deceiving him about her true identity- and other things, even long after the need to preserve herself has passed. He doesn't know what Crash Keys is doing. He doesn't know why she's at Dcom or why she's refusing to tell him- someone she is more powerful than and has literally trusted with her life. All he knows is that she leads a global secret organization and has in the past killed people. No, it's not necessarily indicative of evil on Akane's part.

But it looks really damn suspicious. And he's seen plenty of examples, even just over the last year, of power corrupting.

He proposes right at the end, when Akane has finally fulfilled her promise that she will be honest with him and explain stuff. She's been acting cute long before that, so he's clearly withholding affection not because of her behaviour but her actions, both of which have in the past preceded abandonment. ('Cause, let's face it, even just True End!Akane did everything short of saying "I love you and want to be with you again.") In ZTD, Akane showed she could change from the dishonest (if justified) person she was, who left at the end of 999 because she couldn't face Junpei knowing what she'd done. Not because staying would've been dangerous or she doubted he would accept her (the field took care of that).

Junpei's actions establish that he respects Akane's right to make those decisions, but also that he doesn't want to play along with them just to make her feel better, or waste time with someone who has shown herself to be a selfish, petty coward. Junpei hides nothing about himself (except possibly his backtracking on the "hot dog" joke), and his honesty is partly motivated by compassion- such as when he warns Akane to pay attention to a slippery floor, or gets on Quark's case about the kid not salvaging enough. It shows his respect for people and belief that they can take his criticism the way it was intended- as advice. When he realizes he was too hard on Quark, he admits it immediately with the same candor. He believes probably more than any other character that change is part of life, and that's what motivates his criticism- not shaming. When Akane can't accept it, he doesn't judge her for leaving/retorting/dodging the question (unless she does so through hypocrisy)- he just makes sure she knows that dishonesty is a dealbreaker for him personally. (Incidentally, this is probably why Junpei has only ever had one friend.)

In comparison, Akane has never felt that one's method is as important as their goal, and this combined with her paranoia makes her interpret Junpei's anger as a veiled attack, a definite statement that he has cut ties with her. In her world, criticism is always threatening- at the very least, a serious accusation, given how intimate espers' plans usually are. She has no scope for talking about (relatively) unimportant things; everything is serious*. Junpei criticising how she acts must mean that he hates her completely, not just her behaviour. Akane doesn't know how to respond to that, so she spends most of the game either falsely believing that reconciliation is impossible or trying to manipulate (behaviour which is her protective mechanism) him into changing his mind and ignoring their issues with her talk about New Year's. (Which was honest, IMO, but presented with an agenda, like most of what she says.) Only when she gets brave enough to show Junpei her feelings in all their vulnerability do her actions stop undermining their relationship and start showing him respect- which he is entitled to as a human being. Respect, not deference. She still openly thinks his suicide plan was fucking stupid. That's what Junpei accepts, because his goal is not self-gratification but mutual honesty/love.

Which brings me back to my point. Junpei does not demand anything, either before or after sacrificing himself for her. Nor did he when they downloaded their AU selves' memories of the gas scene, or at Dcom. Nothing but the bare minimum of respect every human deserves to be treated with- certainly a pawn (made such for good reasons, but a pawn nonetheless) who's been discarded by the person they request respect from. Junpei's contrariness ("It's blue.") is never malicious, just an admittedly immature way of showing that even if Akane does not acknowledge his right to have an opinion (about being kidnapped, or anything else) he will exercise it. The hottest place in hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict, and 999 was definitely a moral conflict. Akane chose to be silent about her secrets, a decision immoral (as far as Junpei could tell) in this context because it was hurting others. That's why we punish criminals' accomplices as well, and why victim statements are a part of the legal system. There's a big difference between behaviour that uses one's right to free will and behaviour that abuses it and everyone else's rights. The latter is why Junpei distrusted Akane, why he tracked her, and honestly? Why I agree with him.

 * yes, even her flirting. Akane avenged Junpei's death WITH A CHAINSAW and slapped him across the face when he threatened the life of Phi, one of 'her people'. She considers love Serious Bizness.

[argonometra]

I feel like people downplay the similarities between Chisa and Kyosuke a lot, tho?? Like Chisa is stubborn as fuck, she straight up threatens Fuyuhiko with a knife, she literally drags Chiaki to class, her brainwashing only happens BECAUSE she storms Junko's lair, even as people are rioting outside.

They definitely contrast each other, but to say that Chisa is *only* sweetness and patience in comparison to Kyosuke's hard idealism and realpolitik really simplifies their characters, in my opinion.

[argonometra]

I just want to point out that (based on how Rin reacts in the next panel) the dialogue here came after they had sat down that way. So before they even got into a relationship, Rin and Haru would apparently just gaze lovingly at each other, faces like an inch apart, and Rin STILL tries to pretend a panel later that she didn't expect Haru's confession, that it somehow interrupted their totally platonic eyesex. Rin's narrating this scene and she just drops us here in the middle of it without mentioning if this level of closeness was odd for them or not, like she and Haru did this a hundred times before and it's only his confession that made it sexual and awkward.

Friends. Riiiight.

[argonometra]

That said, however, I totally could appreciate a Cliché Romance Novel fic where MPDG!Chisa falls for Kyosuke, the elegant cold (but secretly lovable!) businessman she works for.

And while we're on the subject of romance novels, where are the Noir!Naegiri fics? Where is World-Weary, Longcoated Kyoko protecting Guileless Witness Naegi from the shadowy killer out to silence him? The pieces are there, it's just that no one in the fandom has picked them up yet.

(I'd suggest it on the kinkmeme, but I don't have a LiveJournal account.)