#but also like arihi said

[gemsgamegems]

I...do not have the necessary energy to transfer my 4774274 screens from my switch to this Tumblr post, and then go back and add the ALT text.

So.

This will be a text only review, and the pictures will possibly come later (and in SMALL batches) sometime...in the future...yeah

I FINISHED VALIDATE LAST WEEK, EEEEEEE!!

Yeah, I started the month/year it came out (Sept/Oct 2022) and then...had to abandon it BUT I have finished, 100% everything (except the dumb rhythm game that unlocks one last CG in Malik's route--okay, the mini game isn't dumb, I just keep getting super low scores and stressing myself out 🤧)

So, some thoughts?

The order I played: Isabelle -> Inaya -> Emhari -> Malik

Favorite characters: Bigs, Isa, Yolanda, Malik, all the kids. God the kids were so CUTE I COULD NOT??????

Favorite routes: All of Malik's (more later), All of Isa's (I just love her SO much??? Literally rooting for her the whole time. Definitely fell in love with her during the demo days and she didn't even have a route out yet!!) Bigs x Emhari (a friendship route in which I was introduced to Bigs and spent the rest of the game's other routes crying that I have to wait until vol. 2 to play as Bigs, God I love him too, stop it 🤧)

Not...favorite characters: Ashlie (which...I understand she's purposefully written to be a bitch, and the girl is going through some Stuff™️, ALSO I played her route back in the original demo days and remember some of said stuff, but...idk. I was not feeling her once I got to Emhari's route 😂) Keaton (yeeaaah his white ass was a Kickstarter tier and I still stand behind the team needing to make it more money to have him in the game. Spoilers spoilers spoilers SPOILERS SPOILERS lol if you're reading this post, it's basically talking spoiler stuff anyway There's the Inaya x Keaton route, and of course they fuck, and I was literally so unimpressed with Keaton's sorry self. Like he's definitely a well written character....but my God, I know ppl--men-- like him IRL and I can't imagine ignoring that particular brand of bullshit and going yeah, let's bump uglies. Good idea. Yup. NO!!! NOT A GOOD IDEA!!! GIRL WHAT??? NOOOOOOO. Lol so ofc I bullied him to get the bad ending card, and then cried when I had to be nicer to get the good ending card lololololll)

Specific thoughts Concerning Isabelle

It's the way I want to go back and replay all her routes??? I felt a strong kinship with Isa before, during and after her routes. I was in the same mental and physical state as Isa when I first played her route, and while she's in the theater world and I was in the retail/customer service one, I related to her creative spirit, her ties and love for her family, hell having to ride the city bus and living with your family because you're afraid/can't afford to strike it out on your own. And yeah. LOL concerning her dates and romance escapades...no there aren't direct parralls to my life with that BUT I had great empathy, and I especially understood where she was coming from in trying to find herself and pursue her own dreams even when she was frigging proposed to and I was like OMG YES GIRL MARRY ANOKI, BE CUTE TOGETHAAA

Specific thoughts Concerning Malik

....I know I curse in these posts anyway, but apologies for this because... NIGGAAAA 😂🙄😐🤣 I should preface this section of rambles with the disclaimer that I have an inherent bias for Malik x Arihi because of the damn demo. And I mean the early days demo, back with the old art style. So like...the VERY first character I played as was Malik and he has vexed, stressed, garnered my emotional support, and then some with his light-skinned self ☠️. He grows a loooot during his routes though: struggling rapper with 2 kids by 2 different moms, still in love with one of them, struggling and then excepting his sexuality, coming to terms with how much his dad fucked up him and his mom...all while being an utter MESS at times. Some of the stuff you could choose to say with him??? 🙄...🤣 Listen, I will clown his ass but I also will be his loudest defender!!! But after a few Ls he did get some huge Ws and I was super proud of him. (Side bar, but I thought was interesting and needed perspective concerning parents who love their children but don't want to be parents. Like...controversial? Very. But not everyone is fit or even wants to be a parent, and I wish we'd stop pushing that idea on people. Anyhooooo....)

To Conclude

I bought the soundtrack, so I love being at work listening to it, or at home and drafting/writing with it playing in the background ($6 USD y'all!!!). The CGsssssssss I liveeeeeeeeeeee 🤧Volume 2, I need very much omg. I know it was scheudled to come out last year, but life happens and I'm sure the team is doing whatever they need to do to get us the next installment of ValiDate. The game very much ticks off the 'slice-of-life' box for me, and it's even more fun as we're removed from the teen side and get to see this trope explored with 20 somethings all from diverse cultural backgrounds, ethnicities, sexualities, and family make ups (ppl are divorced, have broken engagements, are hung up on exes, serial daters, needing friends, etc etc. and that's just volume 1!!)

On a side note, I would recommend playing this on PC or Xbox, and not the switch. I liked playing in bed, but I had soooo many issues with crashing and sprites not appearing, and things not unlocking on my Switch version. It was very annoying. But that aside, I truly love this game and I highly recommend it!

[sub-by-day]

Just gonna jump in here to note that the point in the OP about side-eyeing files that contain suggestions to contact the creator is a good one. I don’t think it’s a sign of being evil / a predator, just like I don’t think having no or not-thorough-enough content warnings is one, but it’s still not great imo.

EDIT: also might as well link my post about what content warnings should include, and those standards are higher than pretty much anyone keeps to, but that doesn’t mean I think the vast majority of scripts/files are evil or immoral for not being as exacting as this. It just means I think we should all be better about it than we are.

Unethical Files, Content Warnings, and Dubious Consent

Let’s talk about files for a bit. Free files are very prevalent, and they’re commonly how people start into the hypnosis community because it’s really easy to just download some and listen. The problem with this is that many (most?) free files are unethical files created by predators. Sadly, this leads to lots of abuse and bad experiences within the community, and frequently discussion ends up circling around content warnings rather than the contents of the files themselves.

To combat this, let’s talk about it.

Content Warnings Don’t Make Files Ethical or Safe

Content warnings aren’t the be all end all of determining if a file is safe or ethical. How the file is set up, what suggestions it gives, whether it gives you safeties or outs–these are what go into determining if the file is safe and ethical.

Content Warnings Give a False Sense of Safety

Most predators will put content warnings on their files. It’s a tactic. It makes you feel safer. They told you what you were getting into, so you must want it, right? Wrong. Content warnings without safeties make files less safe. Telling you what you were getting into is a way of convincing you that you want what the files are pushing when the suggestions start taking hold. “If I didn’t want this, why did I start listening?” can be a very common thought process when red flags start showing up. This thought process alone should be a red flag.

Remember: “But the file has content warnings!” is distracting from what the file itself is.

A Lack of Safeties Is Unethical and Unsafe

Most content creators don’t direct you to a safeties file first and foremost. Most don’t even create them. This is unethical and unsafe. It means you have zero protection against anything happening in the file, beyond the defenses your mind will muster.

This is especially dangerous with predators. Many predators start you with softer files. Some obedience, some trance, some suggestion, but it probably all feel safe and normal and nice. It’s not until later files that the trap will close, and by that time you’re already in under their influence and less able to resist. Not having safeties means when you get to that point, you’re more likely to be affected by the malicious suggestions.

Listening to Files Is Not Consenting to What Happens in the Files

If I say “let’s have sex”, you agree, and I proceed to do something you didn’t want, did you consent to it? No. You didn’t. Consenting to sex was not consenting to anything that happened during sex.

This applies to files as well. Just because you chose to listen to it doesn’t mean you consented to what it does to you. In most cases, files are going to have things you don’t want at first. This could come in any form. Suggestions to message the creator, suggestions of addiction, suggestions of mindless obedience. What matters is that initial feeling of “I don’t want this.” Listen to that feeling. Stop listening to the file. (Don’t listen to the file in the first place, but if you’re already at that point, stop.) If you’re currently listening to files that initially you didn’t like or didn’t like suggestions in, stop. The more you listen, the more power they’ll have over you.

Suggestions You Don’t Have Control Over Are Unethical and Unsafe

Most free files will simply push suggestions on you. “You want this; you’ll do this” etc. This isn’t giving you an out. This isn’t letting YOU decide whether you want that to happen or not and when you want that to happen. Not giving you that out is unethical and unsafe. The only reason to not give you an out is to prey on you. This is especially applicable to obedience and addiction suggestions, but it applies to all suggestions, no matter how small. The smartest predators will use those tiny, innocuous suggestions to slowly, carefully condition you without you having any awareness of what’s happening.

Contacting a Content Creator After Listening to Their Files Is Dubious Consent

Following on what I’ve discussed above, when you began listening to the creator’s files, you didn’t have safeties. Even if you did, you’ve been conditioned to the suggestions in their files. Especially if the files contain brainwashing tracks. Many of these files have suggestions to contact the creator. You might not at first, but as you listen time and time again and the suggestions and conditioning take hold, you might decide to. At this point your mind is already compromised. You’re filled up with their suggestions and triggers, so you’re much more likely to go along with what they suggest.

You might think “I’ve had this happen, but it was fine!” It wasn’t. If a creator doesn’t give you safeties before listening to their files and directs you to them in their files, they are a predator. Any pretense of kindness, friendliness, or otherwise was an act to make you feel safe until they’d worked their way into your mind enough to do whatever they wished. Think back to those times and ask yourself “did they respect my wishes?” If you can think of a single thing you didn’t want that they pushed on you, then you have your answer. They’re a predator. If you can think of a single time you didn’t want something but couldn’t stop it, you have your answer. They’re a predator.

This can be incredibly insidious, as you’ll question yourself. “I contacted them, so didn’t I want it?” No. You contacted them because their files directed you to. You were following their suggestions, their plan, and walking directly into their trap. Trust your instincts. Don’t question your judgment. Get out ASAP.

[ryes-up]

I Won’t Bite If You Don’t || Arihi & Rye

set during the war after Arihi’s escape and after Celine’s death

Just once more. Maybe twice. It was riskier every time he snuck away from the Clan. Every time he ventured near Sapphire Bay. The risk of Freya, Ingrid or any of the Wolves catching him, the risk of the Sharks catching him, which was worse. But it felt worth it. He needed this.

He needed these trips, as misguided and selfish as they were. Pearl was the only person, the only one in all of Midsummer, who knew his mother, who loved his mother, who wasn’t also entrapped so deeply in the war. There was Freya, he knew. And he talked to her, but it wasn’t the same. There was something about talking to Pearl, to someone on the other side, that kept him sane. That reminded him they were all just trying to get through this, to reach the other side of the war. That there was an other side of the war, where distanced friends would be waiting. Where others mourned his mother as well, even without being on his side of the battlefield.

So Rye snuck out again. He made his way carefully out of Wolf Clan territory, and towards Sapphire Bay. He climbed a tree just on the edge of Shark Clan territory where he had a good vantage point, and cast a glamoured animal on the ground below him. It had the head and body of a wolf, but with the fins and tap of a shark. It was an odd looking animal that Rye had made many times over before the war, always amused when Pearl would laugh over the odd creation. Now it was something of a signal to the young Shark. Rye watched as the creature made its way into Shark Clan territory, treading a familiar path towards Pearl’s tent. Rye didn’t pay much attention to the magick anymore, not as much as he had the first few times, making sure the creature ventured only to the destined location, found to correct person, and led Pearl back to him. Now it was like second nature, feeling the magick move, even once he could no longer see it.

It felt like it took longer this time, for the wolf-shark hybrid to return, a shadowed figure in tow, though. “Took you long enough,” Rye called. He didn’t notice until he jumped down that the figure was taller than Pearl. Nor did he notice until he’d already made himself known that the figure stood further back, not running towards him the way Pearl did after she’d become familiar with the secret visits. It occurred to him belatedly that someone must have found his glamoured creature before it reached Pearl. A moment too late, the familiarness of the figure clicked, and he fell back a step.

“I—You weren’t who I was expecting,” he said carefully. He was tensed, instinctively ready to run if need be. He probably already should’ve taken off the moment he realized it wasn’t Pearl, but some part of him wanted to talk to her too. To see that she was alright. He knew she wouldn’t recognize him from their brief encounter when she’d been taken prisoner, but he wasn’t sure if Arihi would recognize him as Oberon’s brother, or even as Unseelie.

[reynewcw-blog]

“Jin-Woo, get down from there!”

 Chubby hands slid back from the windowsill as five-year old Jin tried not to unbalance himself. He furrowed his brows, black hair flouncing as he slipped away from the window and landed on his feet. Running down the hall, he smiled up at his mother, “Oma! Jeaki and Sung-Min are playing outside with their friends. I wanna go play too. Please?”

Mi Na-Woo was not a severe mother. She was usually kinder than her husband, but she still had enough ice in her veins to pull Jin-Woo by his arm and march him back to his room.

“Absolutely not and you know why.”

Jin-Woo’s lower lip puckered out, “Why?” “Don’t make me say it.”

Jin lowered his eyes, knowing exactly why he was not allowed to play like his brothers. Within the Korean neighborhoods most unknowing people thought he was chronically ill. In truth, anyone associated with the Woos and their true origins knew that Jin-Woo was a scourge. The example of his parents’ dishonor to a powerful sorcerer. The likes of which never even stayed to see him born. He did not have to though. Word had gotten out and when he was pulled from his mother’s womb many thought he would die from how sickly he was and how he refused to cry the first week he had been born.

Still. Knowing the truth and having to live that truth was difficult for him to process. All he wanted was to run around under the same sun and play in the dirt with the other kids. It was unfair to be denied such a thing.

Jin-Woo walked into the bedroom and stood in the middle of his floor as his mother closed and locked the door behind so he would be alone for the rest of the day until night fell.

 ---------------------------------------

 “Oma…”

Jin-Woo stood from where he was kneeling on the floor of his new dorm room. “Are you leaving already?”

Mi Na sighed, hand lifting briefly to brush beneath her beautiful lined eyes. “Yes Jin-Woo. I need to go. Your father has the car waiting and my flight back home is in two hours.” She eyed her son who lowered his eyes sadly, hand on the drawer of his new dresser, holding on so tight his knuckles looked transparent. “You shouldn’t look so down. You’re getting what you want. Freedom.”

“Am I?”

“It was either this or a life of being homeschool and never leaving our home, Jin-Woo.” Mi Na’s voice was firm, arms now crossed. “I know this is hard for you to understand but it took me three years to convince your father to give you this. You should be happy.”

“I’m not.”

“Jin-Woo honestly you are being unreasonable and selfish! Your father is putting down fifteen thousand a year to give you an American privately funded education. You’ll be able to learn with others, make friends, everything. You can go outside and do whatever you want. Stop crying this instant Jin-Woo.”

Jin pressed the heels of his palms against his eyes, breath hiccupping over itself as a sob ripped through his chest. He heard his mother’s shoes clicking as she got up her purse. “I have to go.” Mi Na’s voice broke but it was not enough to quench Jin’s desire for her attention and love. None of it mattered when Jin was left alone in an empty, cold room that smelled and looked nothing like home in a country he had only been to twice before he was sent to live there at the age of ten. It did not matter how hard she might have cried or how she might have slammed the door behind her. Jin was alone.

 ---------------------------------------------------------

Curled up in the middle of his tiny bed in his tiny studio apartment, Jin sighed as he worked on his laptop. The sun was out and shining through the windows while the heat blared above. He glanced outside briefly, thumb rising to gently gnaw along the edges…

Only to flinch in surprise when his front door opened.

“Jin!” In the door way was a beautiful red headed young man with a smile as bright as the sun itself. His smile vanished, “Hey! You’re not ready? We’re going to the beach remember?”

“…Oh.” Jin looked down at himself in the hoodie and ripped jeans. “I uh. I might have forgotten.” Rather he thought perhaps Arihi might end up cancelling. Not that he ever had before, but he could never be sure. “Give me ten minutes.”

Arihi huffed, but soon recovered with a smile, “Can I help? Oh, by the way, I got this really sweet set of pails. I want to try and build a sand castle. A huge one! What do you think?”

Jin walked to his wardrobe and pulled out what he would need, expression thoughtful, “Did you get a shovel with it?” The stretch of silence as Jin took off his hoodie and pulled on a peach colored tank top was all he needed to know.

“Aw man,” Arihi cried, “Damn! Do we need one?”

“Not really,” Jin shrugged as he motioned with his hand for Arihi to turn around. Once he did so, Jin took off his jeans and underwear to pull on his swimming trunks. “It’s just nice to have one.”

In the end they did stop to get a few plastic shovels. Along with a bag full of flavored lemonades, sandwiches, fruity candies, and a bottle of sunscreen since Arihi had also forgotten but that was fine. It failed to hit Jin what they were doing until his fingers were buried in the sand, some of it getting under his nails or in his hair.

“…We’re out together,” Jin murmured. “Playing in the dirt. Under the sun.” “I mean,” Arihi’s voice was slightly confused, “…Kinda? It’s sand though, not dirt. That’s totally different.”

Unable to stop himself, Jin tipped his head back with a laugh, “You’re right! It is. But it’s better, isn’t it?” Arihi eyed Jin’s expression, his lips twitching up in a dazed smile, “Yeah? You tell me.” “I wouldn’t know,” Jin chuckled, head tipping back down and hair getting in his face as he worked on the moat of their castle. “But I think if I had the choice I’d rather be out here with you playing in the sand than anywhere else with whoever playing in the dirt.”

Jin did not think Arihi knew what he was saying, but even so he appreciated it when Arihi said, “I’d always choose to play with you Jin! In the sand or in the dirt. Whatever you’d like.” It was nearly enough to make Jin cry. But he did not. Not today. The sun was much too bright, the breeze much too exhilarating. Instead, he pressed a kiss to Arihi’s cheek and later that night closed the door of his apartment where Arihi was settling in to get ready for their movie marathon.