#chick Beatrice

[dingostrash]

Not an intentional bit, but I really enjoyed the Ushiromiya Struggler moment from Stream 24.

[anawkwardlady]

Low key how it felt to see Battler aggressively refuse Chick!Beato cookies... And a happy holiday!

(og video)

[peachducy]

Umitober Day 19 - Magic (spoilers)

"D-does this count... as magic...?"

"*cackle* *cackle* *cackle*... Yes, it does. You used magic to create a golden flower petal inside an overturned cup. It was a splendid bit of magic."

[whensomethingelsecries]

i can never tell if this art is inherently funny or if i'm just remembering a few great bits they used it for but this is hands down one of the funniest expressions in umineko to me

the subtle :3 mouth. the wide eyes yet calm body language. the way it can read as anything from "bewildered" to "smug." the fact that i most vividly remember this sprite from her saying "YOU THINK I'M 18?"

maybe it's really just that ikuko is such a funny character and it's the perfect ikuko sprite. a picture is worth a thousand words and this image is such a rich text. i just feel like giggling every time i see it

[mutyatelier]

more beatos

[eevee-hime]

Being a game master isn’t easy when it involves being privy to your whole family’s trauma huh

Also I SWEAR I started drawing that ‘sicko’ meme as soon as I saw that scene in the novel and before I started listening to ‘The Golden Truths’ podcast it’s just what the lovers’ duel made me think of

[summers0n]

i refuse to support anything with beatrice attempting to move on from ava via new girlfriends, one night stands, casual dating, etc etc - no matter how well it’s written/drawn/portrayed - whatever (even if it’s made clear ava is the only one for Beatrice and that she’s just rebounding/trying to live her life like ava would have wanted).

And that is a personal choice

[beatrice1010]

🦋

Happy spring.

[sol-stays]

weird commonalities in things i like: partnership making you "as one" being a technicality in a rule

[iguessyouregonnamissthepantyraid]

the DM, definitely with a horrifically traumatizing nightmare sequence on deck: beatrice, you're dreaming of a pleasant day at your home cottage, resting on your front porch, at one with nature.... roll a-- hm, what would it be--

me: whatever it is, i just got a nat 20 in it

the DM: ........ beatrice dreams about whatever the fuck she wants

me: cool, so i grab my super hot husband from off screen and

i just nat 20'd my way into giving my character the most incredible sex dream of her life. how's y'all's saturday going

[batbeato]

The true tragedy of Umineko is that of the 8 episodes, Sayo only got to write two of them. This is a tragedy not just from that fact alone, but also the fact that Sayo's writing style is distinct from Tohya's and, I'd argue, is in many ways superior.

Tohya prefers these very elaborate metaphors that go over the top - Tohya's writing is very over the top in general - like the "good witch" Beatrice of EP3. Does it mean that Beatrice is learning to value her own life, regretting the massacre/plan, learning to value and respect Battler's opinion, or just learning that she should present as a more benevolent figure for Battler so that he will engage with her mystery more? There are a lot of options, and sometimes it doesn't seem clear. There's also other instances of this, like the Chick Beatrice/Elder Beatrice of EP6 that confuses a lot of readers.

Meanwhile, Sayo's writing feels very dense - she puts a lot more focus into the general family/servant 'mundane' interactions. In Episode 1, her use of Rosa's gift to Natsuhi to bring up a fulfilled promise and her use of the exchange between Battler and Maria (George reassuring Maria, saying that Battler can't be trusted, warning Battler to be more careful with his words) come to mind. Their metaphors are more dense, but also easier to unpack once you know what you're looking for - while Tohya's are more elaborate, and difficult to parse.

There's an elegance to Sayo's writing that is somewhat absent in Tohya's - his feels messier, more emotional, more over the top. He discards the horror-mystery for fantasy-romance-mystery bundled up together. It's beautiful - Chiru has my favorite episodes - but I feel as though we missed out on being able to see Sayo tackle more of the sort of over the top overt 'fantasy' that Tohya so often uses, or to see how Sayo would have expanded the red truth, the blue truth, and so on.

I love that the two are so distinct - whether by Ryukishi's design or even just happenstance - but I regret that we didn't get Land. Not just because I wanted to see Virgilius and Black Battler, but also to read more of Sayo's writing. Honestly, it's an even greater tragedy than how the concept of Black Battler was discarded.

[anawkwardlady]

Lord BATTLER decided to celebrate his recent ascension as territory lord by getting his own Beato. However, he was warned to not adopt one alone, or she would become lonely and really fussy! He looked for another so they can play together... But now they're giving him a lot of trouble on the gameboard!

(idk if someone already made it, if yes sorry kljl)

[itsyoung8]

My theories in Bully #2

Bonjour ou bonsoir! It all depends on where you are reading this post. Today I wanted to share with you some of my theories that I had during this time of absence.

WARNING: this post is going to be about sex at some point. If you are young and/or uncomfortable with this topic, please do not read. Even if these are soft words, I still prefer to warn since many here are minors

Bryce occupies a fairly important place in the hierarchy of preppies, contrary to what one might think. He is the second right hand man of Derby, after Bif, which puts him quite high compared to the others and especially Tad. What makes me say this is that, during the fight against Russell in the hole and during the fight against Derby during the complete chaos, Bryce is on Derby's side instead of Bif. I think when Bif is not able to be Derby's right-hand man, Bryce replaces him. Bif and Bryce share the same statistics as Bif in boxing as well as his fighting style and health bar (source: Bryce's wiki profile). Thus, for Derby, Bryce is the most suitable to replace Bif when the latter is not available. Derby wouldn't take someone who couldn't provide his physical protection like Tad for example. This is why Bryce is above Tad in the hierarchy although he does not give orders at any point in the game or have any importance in the story.

The choice to put Zoe as Jimmy's last girlfriend is well thought out. In each chapter, Jimmy ends up dating a girl but breaks up with her in the next chapter to date another. This stops from the moment he dates Zoe at the end of Chapter 5. Every girl before Zoe had something that made Jimmy get tired of her: too involved in studies for Beatrice, too concerned about her social status for Pinky, too manipulative for Lola, and too obsessed with her beauty and popularity for Mandy. Zoe is Jimmy's last girlfriend and the one he will stay with until the end of his life. Jimmy sees that it's finally the right one since she's not too much like this or too much like that. This is why he will only confess his love to her (see scene when we start the Complete Mahyem mission) since he judges her as the right person. This explains why, I think, the choice of Zoe as the last girlfriend is thoughtful.

!!WARNING: IN THE THEORY THAT FOLLOWS, THE DESIGNATION OF SEX WILL BE PRESENT!!

Wade is scared of being in a romantic relationship with a girl because he doesn't want to end up like his parents, which is to say divorced. We can rely on this line: "Sure I'll ask her out one day, then we'll wind up being married and divorced, just like ma and pa." This fear pushes him to only want to have sexual relations with girls since this does not necessarily involve a romantic relationship. Moreover, some lines of Wade's dialogues can show us that he is only attracted by this as: "How can I get in her pants? Cologne, dad always wears cologne." and "My dad says he's gonna buy me some condoms so I can like... do it with chicks, you know?". (Feel free to tell me if I'm wrong about the first line of dialogue the English speakers. To me, it shows that Wade wants sex but maybe I'm wrong)

Gurney managed to infiltrate the school, to set fire to the gymnasium, thanks to Gary. When you read the prefects' file, you can see that they are corrupt (except for Max perhaps). It can then be assumed that Gary paid them in exchange for letting Gurney into the school to access the gymnasium. You will tell me "yes, but Gurney may also have gone through the shortcuts near the asylum and which are connected to the school". It can be possible. But I have the impression that only Jimmy knows these shortcuts because, for a long time, they were blocked by stones or barriers. So in my opinion, Gurney went through the entrance of the school thanks to Gary.

Ricky's hatred of jocks isn't just because his ex probably left him for a jock. It is known that Ricky is one of the only students at Bulloworth Academy to openly denounce Mr. Burton's behavior towards the girls at the school. It is also known that most jocks are very fond of Burton since it provides them with steroids and/or has done them no harm. So, when the Zoe vs. Burton affair breaks out, the jocks come to Burton's defense and somehow save him from being fired. Ricky seeing this, has an even stronger hatred for jocks.

In Damon's wiki page, it says that he holds a grudge against the preppies. For me, it would be due to money. Damon holds a grudge against them because, prior to the main story, Damon and the preppies were allegedly involved in something in which the preppies used the money to achieve their end, leaving Damon to be the big loser in that story. This grudge is the same as the one against Ted but for the same reasons. He holds a grudge against Ted because he was chosen to be the quarterback only because he was the most popular in the school, leaving Damon as the big loser. That's why Damon spits on Ted's back in the process. Damon holds a grudge against the preppies and Ted because they got what they want easily, unlike Damon who works hard to get nothing in the end.

This is the end of this second post on my theories. Thanks for reading to the end! Au revoir!

[nyaagolor]

Now that you’ve played through all the episodes, how would you rank them?

Oooo this is tough, in part bc I like all of them a LOT. The designations between a few of them, especially in the middle category, are gonna be kinda arbitrary, but I'll do my best :)

Also this got stupid long so I put it under a readmore! Spoilers abound, as one might expect

8. Dawn of the Golden Witch (Episode 6)

I have some... mixed feelings on this one. I understand what Ryukishi was going for in using chick-Beato and Battler's interactions to parallel Battler with Kinzo and show Kinzo's dynamic with Kuwadorian Beatrice via analogy, but I also think it kinda fumbles a bit. There are points (cookie scene being a big one) where I feel like the characters take a backseat to the themes and the whole narrative feels off. Chapters 5 and 6 are supposed to be a perversion of the original story that Beatrice has lost control over, but there are points during 6 especially where I think it kinda loses itself. The rest of it is great (Erika's VA is a goddamn champion) but the very beginning of this chapter is easily my least favorite part of the series

7. Requiem of the Golden Witch (Episode 7)

I don't really have strong feelings on this episode. It would have been the high point in just about any other VN, but Umineko is so consistently fantastic that Episode 7 didn't really hit me as hard as the others. It did make me wish we got more Kyrie though, even if I know exactly why she wasn't as prominent as many of the others. Kind of insane that my second least-favorite arc is something I would rank like an 8 or 9 out of 10, Umineko is just that goated (get it???)

6. Turn of the Golden Witch (Episode 2)

While I do love watching the worst woman ever conceived have a 48 hour progressive mental breakdown, Alliance hits every point I like about the Rosa / Maria dynamic but does it better. It's still an arc I absolutely adore, so it feels weird to rank it so low, but I think about it a lot less than the other arcs so down here it goes. Shoutout to this arc for making me laugh to the point I could no longer speak not once, but twice. Kanon chuuni jacket and leashed Battler you will always be famous

5. Twilight of the Golden Witch (Episode 8)

I know that ranking episode 8 in the bottom half sounds like sacrilege but this arc had so much Kinzo and while I understand his narrative importance I Do Not Like Him. The fact that Kinzo is in the Golden Land but Kuwadorian Beatrice isn't makes me want to throw bricks at things. Other than that though, absolutely stellar. I bawled at the ending. The next day I thought about it more, misinterpreted it, and cried more, then I thought about it more deeply and talked with friends, really started to understand the core messages, and sobbed even harder. As these things tend to go. This episode ruined my life. Would recommend.

4. Legend of the Golden Witch (Episode 1)

note: 4 and 3 are interchangeable I like them both a lot for different reasons

The first time I read this episode, I thought it was great. The further I got into Umineko, the better it got. Now, with a full understanding of the plot and knowing how this chapter serves as self-reflection through the other (Sayo via Natsuhi) it serves as probably the most raw glimpse into Sayo's mindset we get. This episode ruins me and I'm pretty sure when I inevitably reread it I am going to dissolve into a puddle of goo. Also Natsuhi is there and she's my favorite of the matriarchs so I'm a little bit biased :)

3. Banquet of the Golden Witch (Episode 3)

This is one of the funniest pieces of literature I have ever read in my life. EVA-Beatrice, the entire sob story (that I, like Battler, fell for completely), the two towers fight scene... 10/10 no notes. I don't even have the words for how much I adored this one. I wish I could read it again for the first time.

2. Alliance of the Golden Witch (Episode 4)

Ok so fun fact I thought this arc was kinda boring at first, and was a little miffed I had to constantly go through Ange's little side quests when I just wanted to see Beatrice and Battler again. Fortunately, Ryukishi has a beautiful way of changing my mind very very quickly and the more I think about this Episode the more I love it. It has some of the most powerful emotional moments, a really good rehashing of the themes, and is a lot tighter and more condensed than I gave it credit for. There's a LOT that happens in this chapter, and it's been growing on me a lot-- while it doesn't take the number one spot in terms of my favorites, I do think it's the best written of the 8 episodes. As a bonus it focuses a lot on Maria who is one of the best characters ever and my darling baby angel.

End of the Golden Witch (Episode 5)

This is the platonic ideal of Umineko to me. The layers of metanarrative, the perversion of a formula to reiterate its structure, the use of genre conventions as a dual-use in-universe and metanarrative element, Erika. End of the Golden Witch is when I changed from someone who loved Umineko to someone who was obsessed with Umineko. The ending is one of the most visceral parts of the VN and I will fully admit I cried. There is so much happening in this episode I could talk about it all day. Also Natsuhi is there. Hey girlie <3

[unicyclehippo]

Apartment

they lean on one another in a way that kinda doesn’t help at all. beatrice’s leg is fucked and ava is doing exactly nothing to help, she’s pretty certain of that since she can feel her right leg but not her left, and is leaning as hard against beatrice as she is into ava.

‘we’re - two halves,’ ava huffs a laugh into her neck, strains to drag her left foot forward. it doesn’t feel like a real thing, the way most of her body doesn’t on the worst days, and she wants to cry but miguel is with them so she sticks to flirting lightly with beatrice instead. they hobble to a low fence to sit and wait for camila and her van. ‘we’d fucking kill - at a three legged race, by the way.’

beatrice tucks a smile into ava’s cheek. it’s the closest she ever gets to kissing her and ava nearly loses her fight not to cry when she feels it, so gentle and so light, like ava isn’t really supposed to feel it. like beatrice is the only one who should feel it.

ava pretends to slump—not hard when her body feels like a piñata after all the candy’s been whacked out of it—and tilts her head closer with the movement. feels beatrice’s lips—chapped, because ava dropped her chapstick behind the couch the other day and forgot to get it before they left, and now split from a punch from some random possessed chick ava saw from across the church hall—and beatrice knows, she knows that ava is pretending, that ava is pressing closer because she wants to, and though her hands tremble, she lifts one to ava’s shoulder. holds her upright, because she always does, and it makes ava’s heart swell but not nearly so much as when beatrice tilts her head and lets her nose graze the tiniest bit up the side of ava’s face to her temple where she presses another barely-there kiss.

the halo whirs. ava’s leg rejoins the rest of her body and she groans, kicks it out to test the feeling.

‘healed me with a kiss,’ she teases, low enough that only beatrice can hear. it’s a mark to how much beatrice has changed and grown over the last two months that she only blinks and frowns reprovingly, like ava is making a joke of something holy and shouldn’t. ava smiles back, perfectly sincere and wanting beatrice to see it. ‘and hey, thanks for coming to find me. us.’

beatrice sniffs. ‘it’s my job.’ she holds out until ava pouts. adds, ‘and my pleasure.’

‘i’m here too,’ miguel mentions.

ava lifts one and flips him the bird.

‘you have a lot of explaining to do so until you know what to tell us…shut the fuck up.’

he looks amused and maybe a little bemused, glancing between them, and ava glared because beatrice is going stiff and retreating and god, ava just wants to cuddle, is that too much to ask?

she lets beatrice go, of course. she doesn’t go far.

they sit there until a pink van trundles up to them. beatrice reaches for a knife. miguel steps toward the van, hands balled into fists, like he’s going to punch a moving vehicle. ava pulls beatrice onto her feet because if it’s coming at them, she needs to get her out of the way. but then it slows and yasmine throws open the back doors and everyone looks at miguel with barely disguised suspicion.

ava carries beatrice forward, waves miguel forward too. ‘everyone, miguel. he’s from the otherside maybe and ate a wraith demon.’

miguel flinches. ‘i thought that was between us.’

‘not anymore. miguel, this is the OCS. tactical nuns.’

‘you were serious about that,’ he realises. ‘i’m an idiot.’

ava thinks about reassuring him or making the introductions nicer but then beatrice puts weight on her bad leg and it buckles and suddenly she has more important things to do, like carrying beatrice very gently and carefully to the van and setting her down on one of the benches. she goes to her knees, reaches for the boot of her bad leg, but beatrice shakes her head.

‘no, no, i’m fine. thank you, ava,’ she says, all proper and tense, and ava remembers that there’s a whole bunch of nuns around them and maybe touching beatrice’s leg—even to help—crossed a line.

ava smiles. throws herself back onto the opposite bench. ‘what a fucking night.’

‘language, ava,’ comes from three directions, and she has to laugh.

//

miguel directs them to jillian’s mansion, which mother superion is familiar with, and ava would put the pieces together faster except yasmine’s words keep turning over in her head and she turns the crown over in her hands and beatrice is hiding winces every time the van hits a bump, so she’s not really thinking about it.

but then miguel is michael and jillian is his mum and they’re spilling out into the mausoleum of a mansion, all noise and bustle and drawn curtains and a mother in mourning, and this is the first time ava has been witness to a resurrection. jillian cries into michael’s shoulder and then again when she thinks no one is watching and ava is relieved when they’re shown to their rooms, doubly so when beatrice ignores her own and puts their singular bag at the foot of ava’s bed.

‘are you alright?’ she asks, softly, when ava collapses back onto the seriously comfy bed.

‘yeah.’

‘ava.’

‘i miss our apartment. and i don’t know why vincent didn’t kill me, and i hate being paralysed and the halo switching off and i’m scared,’ she continues, saying it half to beatrice and half to the ceiling. ‘and no one was happy when i came back to life and i don’t have a mum.’

beatrice softens, mouth dropping in a little oh. she sits at the edge of the bed. ava reaches out a hand and waits for beatrice to take it, pulls her slowly down to lay beside her.

‘i’m happy you’re alive,’ beatrice says, low and quiet, like it’s a secret, like it’s shameful. she won’t meet ava’s eyes.

ava twists onto her side. their knees knock together but beatrice doesn’t put any space between them. a few strands of hair have escaped her perfect bun. she lifts a hand, smooths them back into place, into line.

‘ava -‘

‘no, it’s okay,’ ava promises. ‘it’s okay.’

the struggle is obvious across beatrice’s face but she stays. surrenders to ava’s gentle touch, the way her fingers slide through beatrice’s hair, picking out grass and little bits of glass and dirt from their crash landing. when she’s done, ava slides her fingers behind beatrice’s ear, lays her hand gently on the side of her neck. wriggles a little closer until they’re nose to nose.

beatrice opens her eyes and looks at her. they haven’t bothered to turn on a light, dusk’s sun sinking behind the hills. beatrice looks and looks at her and ava looks back. she lets out her breath slowly. lifts a hand to ava’s shoulder. her hand glides down, skin to skin without her jacket, without her gauntlets, until she holds ava’s hand there against her neck.

‘i miss it too. the apartment,’ she says, words heavy with the weight of everything else she misses but which neither of them will say.

ava wants to kiss her, then, but she doesn’t. it’s too much and beatrice is hurt and ava is still thinking about coming back to life and how much it hurt. so she relaxes, drags her hand away—the rush, not as common anymore, fills her fingertips, her arm, all of her—and turns to lay on her back again.

‘it’ll be there when we kick his ass,’ ava tells her. ‘we can go back.’

[revindicatedbyhistory]

if in an election the two candidates are beatrice the elder and chick beatrice you are morally obligated to vote for chick beatrice or you are voting for On the ninth twilight, the witch shall revive, and none shall be left alive.