#i figure youve probably seen most of these however

[curedeity]

For the fanfic ask, 6 and 11👀

Have you written fanfics including ocs?

I thank you for the chance to talk about my ocs laz but youve read the fanfics. I know youve seen them. I know you know who my girls are.

But in short, yes i have! A lot of my first fanfics back when i was on ffnet using accounts none of you are allowed to find, i had a huge oc story! It was almost 5000 words long! Simply like, a novel. It was after that i took a long break from fanfic to develop my own stories, and a lot of my earlier ones kinda were reskinned fanfic. It took me a while to figure out how to write original fiction.

I dont write ocs that often because normally if i dont want to write canon characters i just. Make an original story. But i do have a good few ocs remaining!

On the beyblade side of things, i have a series of drabbles for my team dungeon, and i would like someday to actually write out their story, though thats unlikely to happen.

A much more manageable project, however, is "i scream you scream", a thoroughly beyblade oc fic about my two ocs kagami and tsukiko! Kagami is a blader dj in training, and Tsukiko is a repressed blader, and they travel around together! There are a few themes or just ideas im exploring with them, like how kagamis vocal profession mixes with her speech impediment and how that infliences her attitude, and tsukikos ideas of self esteem and success. Ultimately, i just wanted to write a fun story where i could write some shenanigand in the beyblade universe!

And when talking about ocs id be loathe to not mention my much bigger project, Watashi Wa Precure Seed, currently... 4 chapters in. It features my oc Maki Kura!!! Kura is a magical girl meant to foil the other two characters in the fic, Ryota and Kiriya. Unlike them, Kura is a very confident person, but without any plans. This attitude will come to clash but also uplift the team. She is probably the oc ive spent the most time designing and i didnt even try that fucking hard with her. Magical girls just hard. I really need to get back to watashi wa precure seed, but it is probably the project ive enjoyed the most recently

I started work on another beyblade project just a few days ago actually that i wont reveal yet but will include an important oc that i just cant wait to design

Also i forgot junko. Junko exists. I have some ideas of what to do with her. She doesnt exist in like, any of my canons she was mainly for that one fic but shes fun.

11. My wordcount? Im not checking but i think that was it

510,298 words

[sp1resong]

YOUVE ALREADY SEEN IT ACTUALLY it was the one i posted in sqs earlier (although i did tweak this version a little bit a little bit)

however, that is all the encouragement i need

so! the myrrch (lit. cats-of-the-ocean). one of many cultures in my Big Worldbuilding Universe (tm), and arguably the most developed (they have a whole wip conlang ffs). theyre actually an import from a warrior cats story i wrote a while ago but that's unimportant

they live up north in the regions known as the Marrch (lit. lands-of-the-ocean), and are the only cultural group living north of the arctic circle on [unnamed continent where this story takes place]. in their original concept, they were maine coon mixes, but this universe doesnt have irl cat breeds obv so theyre just Ambiguously Big and Fluffy. i mean, this way i can pull in some traits from other big northern breeds, like Siberians and Norwegian Forest Cats

anyways. as such, they tend to be quite tall, heavy, and thick-furred, with broad muzzles. the most common colors among them are grey and black, along with silver and smoke variants of both. they often have some degree of white spotting--they are known to have 'atypical' (by our world's terms) white spotting patterns, specifically spotting that's more blotched rather than your average tuxedo-type patterning.

white fur, high-contrast tabby markings, bluish-green eyes, large ear tufts, and large 'manes' are all considered attractive.

their language, myrrmrarr, is notable for its vowel system, wherein the Vague Idea being conveyed by a word is defined by the consonants and vowels of the second syllable onwards, while the specific aspect/concept it's referring to is defined by the first vowel slot. you may have noticed this already based on 'myrrch' and 'marrch' being the same word (__-of-the-ocean) with a different vowel!

vowel meanings are as follows:

Y – cat of, person of. Typically used in names, but not always. Myrr is cat-of-the-ocean.

UU – unlike (sometimes transcribed as ‘oo’ or ‘w’). Muurr is unlike-the-ocean.

O – used to denote personification/‘deity of’ for abstract concepts or inanimate objects. Morr is the deity of the ocean, and the ocean incarnate.

A – land of. Marr is land-of-the-ocean.

U - just the thing itself. Murr is just the ocean.

Vowels can be used in combination with one another, however the first takes… precedence? ig. For example, ‘muuyrr’ would mean ‘cat of the muurr’, while ‘myuurr’ would mean ‘unlike a myrr’

their religion largely centers around the ocean. it makes sense--they typically live on the coastline as fishercats and sailors. Their creator deity is quite literally the ocean herself, Morr.

A notable figure in myrr mythology is Myrr Syf (Fog), known in the southern lands as Mercy and probably actually the fantasy-etymology for that word. she's something of a folk hero, having supposedly drowned the tyrant king Yrrth (i dont know what that one means yet lmao. it's based on 'arthur' as a little easter egg as to Syf's source--the character she's derived from also ended up being derived into Mordred in my arthuriana thing) via dragging him into the cold ocean, been blessed by Morr, and walked back out of the ocean alive. there's probably like 113143322313232 paintings of that scene, it just seems like the type to Enrapture vaguely cat-medieval artists.

due to their thick fur, they shed heavily in the spring and autumn, and often spin their shed fur into yarn.

they are a ways north of the ex-moltenfire nations, though there is a non-insignificant population of myrrch living in especially the Mirror Lake and Northern Forest Kingdoms, as those are the only ones with a coastline. many of them are sailors and dockworkers who came from the north by sea.

howdy guys do you all want to read the 595 word oc lore infodump i wrote earlier

[toziers]

migz/mars!!!!! the bestest coolest person ever!!! i require assistance. im in the mood to watch a pretty movie about gays. do you have any suggestions??

oooooh okay yeah my first suggestion is ALWAYS but i’m a cheerleader bc it’s one of the first lgbt films i ever saw and u know ~ lesbians ~. definitely some angst in there as it is about conversion therapy but it’s one of my favorite films ever

for the rest of these - a lot of lgbt films end up being pretty but also sad. bc being lgbt is...like that. there’s a lot of strife being different wouldntcha know!! so i’ll put a general warning that some of these will have some stronger themes as i haven’t seen a lot of happy-go-lucky lgbt films that are also..como se dice.. good

the half of it: cute, i enjoyed it, def a rom com. pretty cheesy. (wlw)

the way he looks: ONE OF MY FAV MOVIES EVER!!!! main character is blind. literally invented love. (mlm, not in english)

brokeback mountain: duh. just duh. (mlm)

booksmart: romance is a side plot, but still a fun movie. also cheesy (wlw)

boys/jongens: it’s been a long time since i’ve seen this but i remember it being very well shot. i def enjoyed it (mlm, not in english)

moonlight: ima be honest i’ve yet to see this bc i know it’s going to slay me but i KNOW it’s beautiful and a must see for lgbt people (mlm)

jennifer’s body: look ok i know. i know it’s not technically gay. but IT’S GAY. i could write a fcukin essay on this movie. if u like horror and subtle-not-so-subtle wlw coding pls watch. (wlw)

my own private idaho: this will hurt you. a lot. (mlm)

dead poet’s society: not obviously lgbt, but like. c’mon. this movie will also Hurt You. (mlm)

portrait of a lady on fire: fucking most stunning film i’ve ever seen, i sobbed, i just love it so much please watch it please (wlw, not in english)

the perfection: another horror movie w a wlw couple. pretty spooky, def look for content warnings on this. (wlw)

kill your darlings: haven’t seen this because i look at d radcliffe and see ‘arry potta but i know it’s a gorgeous film and a lot of my friends enjoyed it. (mlm)

handsome devil: this is a Good Movie but the ending pissed me off. das all i have to say. (mlm)

prayers for bobby: tbh this is kind of a lifetime movie but it’s got sig weaver and it really really fucked me up when i watched the first time. i still cry every single time i rewatch skdjfs def also look into content warnings for this one!! (mlm)

i hope that helps!! let me know if u liked any of these :~)

[tigerdrop]

okay kind of obsessed with the body swap art tho. idk why i just like benrey getting to bully gordon with his own body, his own voice, and i like gordon trying to navigate whatever weird shit benrey’s got going on. gordon not being able to figure out or control whatever organs in benrey’s throat produce sweet voice so it’s just spewing whatever emotions he’s feeling at random (including Horny? uh oh. can’t hide that as easily as a surprise boner can you gordon?)

this ask kicked me into actually thinking about it and your brain is so huge. massive. i lost control

last night i was struggling to articulate thoughts for the body swap thing but this is kickstarting me. i. really love bodyswap stuff........(sighing) i am yet again having to confront the fact that i latched onto an embarrassing number of Things after having first read about them in [REDACTED]. truly hate being alive

so like......potions. you can get into a whole lot of weird stuff with potions. truly loving that darnolds 5-minute existence gives me an excuse to think of the stupidest horny potions scenarios

and why in the fuck wouldnt he have a bodyswap potion just chillin in his lab. why wouldnt benrey crack that bad boy open and take a sip while darnolds bitching at him "dont you touch any of those goddamn potions. im not gonna tell you which ones which so if you die, you die"

gordon claps benrey on the back afterwards like "well, thats a risk im perfectly happy for him to take" but uh oh you fucking buffoon. the touch is what activates it. and shit just starts spinning and schlorping in his mind and he nearly falls over clutching the lab bench next to him and when he cracks his eyes back open, hes........shorter. and everybodys asking if somebodys okay but that somebody isnt him and hes kind of miffed about that

and then gordons head turns and he sees Himself being steadied on his feet by tommy and darnold and hes like.......guys? guys. hello! and the sound of benreys voice coming out of him with that irritated and loud timbre makes everybody turn to face him........b/c that is so insanely weird coming from him

im like way into the idea of benreys, like, Eye Darkness Thing transferring to gordons face when their bodies are swapped, too. its just his malevolent energies manifesting physically no matter what body hes in

Wait god wait. Like. Benrey in Gordon's body and he gets horny for some reason and has to live Gordon's fucking pained life of the suit edging the hell outta him- Bc now Gordon can actually fucking jerk off for the the first time in days. No edging bullshit from the hev suit

benreys newfound appreciation for why gordons such a bitch all the time

RRRRRRRRRRR gordon able to go wild beating his meat that night finally but right before he does he stops because hes looking down at. 8)!

YES EXACTLY....... gordon freeman humbled by the sight of benreys huge meat. except its his meat now 

at first he only feels mildly weird about jacking it when hes not even in his own body right now but hes been edged for days now and hes just thinking "if i can just get this out of the way now, ill be clear-headed for however fucking long im stuck in black mesa. maybe this is why ive been so goddamn stupid lately. yeah"

but then he gets some time and space to himself at long last and unzips and the shock of seeing benreys huge uncut dick instead of his own brings him back to reality like "?oh my god what the fuck am i doing"

embarrassment! guilt! but also hes still fuckin horny and eventually curiosity wins out. whats the harm, right. its not like he has to say anything about it. and gordon freeman is (mostly) heterosexual and hes never been this up close and personal with a foreskin before and hes just......curious. scientifically

maybe hes even.......locked himself inside one of the company restrooms while hes at it. just to make sure hes got privacy. and there is a mirror right there........  he was gonna just bust one out and leave as fast as he can but now hes curious

starts. thumbing the hem of his shirt under benreys vest. starts lifting it up experimentally just to see where all that hair leads. out of curiosity. and seeing the curve of benreys stomach peek out in the mirror makes him hiccup on sweet voice inadvertently 

weirdly enough theres a part of him thats both relieved and disappointed that hes never seen that color before

he never envisioned that seeing benrey like this would be a turn-on but like......with that vest and that helmet on he just looks like some kind of fuckin roundish rectangle shape. but now gordons intimately familiar with how his body feels to move around in......what hes gotta look like underneath all that armor and ill-fitting work clothes......and the hornier he gets the stupider he gets

takes off the helmet.......just to test the waters. if somebody manages to bust in, thats not so weird to explain. and hes surprised by the shock of black hair he finds under there. he doesnt know what he was expecting....but honestly, benrey looks, like, kind of nice like that. more like a person

im slightly obsessed with the idea of benrey just not even registering as a Real Guy, physically, to gordon, one that he could possibly be attracted to, until hes out of his work uniform.......like hes more of an icon of a person than anything up until that point. pure signifier. no substance

like......you know......the equivalent of how benreys HL model registers to 99% of people watching the series. sure, thats not necessarily anything youd register as "hot", most likely, but then u peel that away and its like........Oh

the model is the icon and the representation of the icon is the real

and gordon runs a hand thru benreys hair and tries out one of those shitty little smirks benrey likes to use on him and the effect is.......dizzying. is that him? is that what benrey really looks like to him?? he feels fuckin salacious doing this

he can even.........get his face up close to the mirror and really look at those teeth

run his tongue over them experimentally.......feel their sharp edges.......and, no, theyre not sharp like a knife, but they are definitely pointy. and surprisingly well-kept......hes never seen benrey brush his teeth before but clearly he must. theyre so smooth and slick under his fingertips

and then he flushes and drops his hand b/c hes getting some weird fucking thoughts right now........but looking back up at himself in the mirror and seeing benreys face all wide-eyed and red makes the issue worse

oh, you really like seeing him look like that, dont you. and gordons pissed b/c this isnt even his fucking brain but its still whispering the exact same neurotic, self-defeating shit at him that hes trying very hard to tamp down

and then he starts getting a little crazier. taking off the vest. he can explain that, no problem. its just kind of hot. heavy. he needed a breather! its normal. just in here to splash some water on his face and cool down, nothing wrong with that. but that just makes benreys shirt all the easier to access.......and he tugs the hem of it just a little higher and looks at himself in the mirror and runs a thumb over the curve of his stomach, where the hair is thickest, and he shivers

gordon freeman is deeply normal and would never get off to the sight of a guy with arms the size of his head tentatively dragging the hem of his shirt up, just for gordon to look at him closer

hands shaking from nerves as he decides to loosen his tie and start unbuttoning and he sees more and more hair-dusted skin and muscle and fat and a thin sheen of sweat reveal itself

> i could see gordon trying to tense and flex the muscles a bit just because hes normal

HE IS, AND HE WOULD

he doesnt know when "being horny b/c hes been pent up and edged for days and he just needs to get his rocks off real quick so he can be normal again" turned into "being horny b/c the way benrey looks under his uniform is scary good to him" but if he thinks about that too hard hes gonna have a panic attack

tells himself that its all just because he hasnt been able to get off. thats why hes thinking this shit. hell stop thinking it once he nuts

> hey this is a quick aside but yknwo how he talks to himself in third person sometimes? what if he does and then kinda does a mental double take at how his name sounds coming out of benreys mouth, with his voice. ok thats it goodbye

oh ym god thats making me go insane. doing it by accident and then.........saying it again. on purpose. just to hear benreys voice doing it

getting one knee hitched up onto the sink and leaning forward with his arm braced against the mirror and his forehead leaning on his arm and tugging benreys dick (no, idiot, thats your dick right now, stop thinking about it) and tentatively groaning out his own name and it comes out so hoarse and desperate that it punches him straight in the gut (too bad, hes thinking about it, he cant not think about it, not with the way he looks and sounds right now)

> remember in the series when benrey called him gordon one (1) time and he noticed immediately and was like..i think thats the first time youve called me by my name.

he looks so fucked out and slutty in that mirror that it almost makes him pass out

eyes darting like hes trying to commit every single detail of how he looks right now to memory (b/c he is. he fucking is. he wants to make benrey look like this so fucking bad. just for him. wreck him and get him flushed and sweaty and panting and moaning gordons name and jesus christ, okay, thats where his brains taking him. okay. cool)

hes dizzying himself thinking about it. he knows benreys hot for him by this point, theoretically. assuming his weird come-ons werent just jokes. benrey would probably let him do this to him. benrey would probably want him to touch his dick. gordon thinks about how good it might feel for his own hand to be on benreys dick and he cant get himself solidly into one headspace or another - hes gordon, hes benrey, he wants to touch, he wants to be touched, he wants to feel his own hand on this dick (and god, maybe he could. maybe he could ask. wouldnt that be crazy.)

benrey in gordons suit and gordons body and gordons face leaning over him, b/c fuck, he really is tall compared to benrey, hes figured that one out awful quick. and gordons (his) hand on his (benreys) dick and stroking him and leering down at him with those dark, dark eyes that dont even really look like his eyes, anymore, not with the way theyre shaded over, and hearing his (benreys) (his) voice moaning out his (gordons) (definitely gordons) name and all the little "pleases" and "thank yous" that he cant stop letting out b/c benreys voice was made for it, made to beg and whine and ask so nicely, and his heads spinning as he comes all over the fucking mirror and sink

> i wonder if this could be combine with the ideas that parts of the self or like mind is still a bit left behind if that makes sense, like with benrey also wanting this that part of the reason gordon wants to say those things

"do you want to fuck him or do you want to be him?" well my good bitch, perhaps you can have a little of both. welcome to my personal hell

hes never come so hard in his fucking life and the noise that rips out of him when he does, finally, after days of being jerked around (ha ha) makes his ears burn with shame

now if you really wanna go crazy. imagine that benreys up and walking around this whole time b/c being edged by his stupid broken suit is making it impossible for him to sleep, and he hears........all of this. stops and presses himself flat agains tthe wall to listen

he cant actually get into the bathroom to scare the shit out of gordon/offer to join in/etc, b/c this stupid flesh body of gordons cant even noclip, but he can press his ear to the door and. listen. and he can flush all the way down to his chest when he hears gordon in there, moaning out his own name with benreys voice

so thats what gordon wants him to do, huh. thats what hes thinking about.

poor benrey, tho. he gets to experience just a lick of the endless fucking suffering that gordon goes thru every single day just by being alive, and "the HEV suit trying and failing to suck him off to completion while his dick twitches against the hard metal of the interior every time gordon groans in there" is just one small part of it

anyway . see ya. my final message

[actor-mark]

Red Candles Pt 15

OOC: How to vote: Send your choice in an ask to this blog. Comments, reblogs and dms will not count as I do not get notifications for them nor do I want to screenshot from several places. I’ve spotted a couple of older choices coming through, please make sure to check by the blog to be up to date with the latest post! Thank you!

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Glitchy Arrow

You feel a little frazzleD, so many directions to go, so many ways to turn, at this point anything could be a sign. As much as you’d have liked to have left, you feel this need to follow the glitching arrOw and sigh heavily as you make your way to the elevator.  Out of Order.  Of course it is... Welp. Stairs it is!  There’s aNother flicker in the lights, then another, then another, leading down the stairs... Much like the arrow you feel the need to follow the hopefully faulty wiring and begin the descent downstairs. 

You watch the floor numbers. 1. G. LL. BL. Finally the stairs run out as things grow very cold down here. It’s dark and foreboding and the only thing down this low in a hospital is likely noT where you want to ever end up.  ɥⅎ ɯɹʅꝹ

Carefully you push the heavy fire door open into the icy cold room and the motion trigger lights flicker into life, one of them continuing to flicker in the corner and like before you venture over in that direction. It goes still once you reach the area but there doesn’t seem to be any other indication as to what you’ve been lead to. 

You cast a glance over the various cadaver fridges and their labels. No real indication to anything. Why are you here? 

“ZOMBIE!!! AAHH!!!” 

You nearly jump out of your skin as you reel around just in time to see a metal tray come swinging for your head. You quickly duck, then duck again as the tray comes back for another swing, quickly backing off with your hands up shaking your head.  The man pauses, looking you over then slowly lowers the tray “Wh- .. y-youre not a- D-DONT SCARE ME LIKE THAT! Yikes.... “ He ran a hand over his face and slowly set the tray back where it belonged.  “Sorry about that... You spend so long with a bunch of bodies not moving and suddenly see movement when you’ve been alone for hours it kinda-.. aheh... oh- uh... Are you alright? You don’t look so good? ... C-Come over here let me take a look at you” 

Now that the Doctor mentions it, you’ve felt really tired and exhausted, a little sluggish. Maybe you are sick? Still, maybe the doctor has some answers for you? You agree to head over to the stool and let him take a look at you.  “Hmm lets see here. Cold temperature? That’s not Good” It’s the room temperature but hey.  “Hmm frantic eyes” He shines a very bright light right in your face and instinctively you retract. That flash light could have burnt a hole in your face! Geez!  “hmm, sensitivity to light” No shit sherlock! The heck was that? A hand held sun? “Say ahhh” You open your mouth for him to see inside. “Ahhh” ...... “ahh- no?” He pauses to look at you again “hm... Not good”  The doctor scribbled a few things down before slowly taking off his head mirror and running a hand over his mouth “I-.... Im ... Im sorry-..... You’re dying” He spoke it so dramatically. Perfect for any sort of hospital drama on TV.  You lift an eyebrow at him. Dying? SurE. Besides the fatigue -which is most likely from all the rabbit holes you’ve been sent down and the fact that by now it’s probably close to 8am with how long you’ve been at this, you’ve not had any sleep or breakfast. You shake your head but he shakes his head back

“I’m sorry.. I can make iT quick for you, you wont have to suffer”  Whoa whoa whoa!  “Hold still”  HANG ON A SEC-

The deed was done before you even had a chance! This psycho doctor just up and smacked you around the head with the silver tray and out went the lights!  What the hell dude! Worst. Doctor. Ever.  The knock out certainly didn’t kill you, but the five or six whacks to your skull afterwards certainly did the trick to finish you off...  puǝᴉɹᖵ ʻǝɯoɔʅǝϺ

Death isn’t so bad though. Nice and dark, calming, peaceful. Like being asleep- or..well.. that’s what it should have been. As you slowly blink open your eyes to look around, you see your body being stuffed into one of the cadaver fridges and Dr. Iplier wander out muttering a song to himself. What a nut job...  Movement however catches your eye and you see someone trying to open one of the fridges. They weren’t there before.  You venture closer, tapping them on the shoulder, they turn to face you and you can’t help but stumble back in surprise. Faceless.  as you scramble back in shock you bump into someone else, whirl around, another faceless person! Your eyes quickly catch sight of the other 8 figures without faces in the room. 

This is some sort of nightmare surely? Another of Marks tricks!? You back away staring in horror but as you watch the group of faceless people they all begin to point in the direction of one fridge in particular. 

Slowly you realize they’re trying to help you, gather yourself enough to move again and wander over to the fridge.  Moving in death is ..hard. It’s like trying to wade through sludge. The air is thick and heady. Like trying to wade through neck deep swamp mud and the more you move the tighter in holds. After 2 steps you’re unable to move and end up holding still.  One of the faceless beings, wearing what appears to be prison cLothing, looks to you, then seems to glitch out before appearing by the fridge they pointed at. Another dressed in casual clothing and featuring multiple shark bite wOunds does the same, glitching out and reappearing by the fridge unit.  .sn ǝɹɐ no⅄ .noʎ ǝɹɐ ǝϺ

You get the idea, you’ve seen this before after all. Movement is hard, you have to will yourSelf over there instead. And you do. With a familiar flicker and glitch you appear at the fridge. You learnt from the best after all.  

Carefully you manage to glitch open the fridge to see the body inside or raTher what’s been stuffed inside with it.  A candelabra! 

Black sleek and exactly what you’ve been hunting own this entire time! There’s just one problem... No candles.  You take another look at the body inside. A mangled and rotten set of remains. Chewed to pieces by an alligator maybe. You recognize the grey suit...  Curiosity takes you and you cant help but start pulling open the other fridges.  Mark. Mark. Mark. Mark.  Mark. All of them. Death by falling, death by being eaten, death by hole to the chest, death by anchor, death by being punched through a prison wall, death by gunshot- the list goes on. 

Slowly you back away with the candelabra, a ghostly hand reaching to touch your shoulder and you whirl around. Suddenly you realize who these people are. They have no names.  Or rather. They have YOURS.  It’s a strange feeling but you understand these people are in the same situation as you. You nod to them and they nod back before pointing you to the work bench in the middle of the room.  Glitching over to it much like Darkiplier you get the drawer open. 

Before you lie the following objects:  - Scalpel - Syringe - Tweezers - Forceps  - Claw Hammer - Lighter - Empty Test Tube - Pen

You’re not sure why they pointed you here, its not like you can light that lighter in your current state, now you think of it youre not sure how you have this candelabra at all, but the way it’s glitching with you suggests it may not exist on the living side.  .ʞɔɐq noʎ puǝs uɐɔ ǝϺ

Youre a little stumped and not sure what to do here. 

Your choices are as follows: 

Offer the Candelabra to the Y/N’s Maybe they know where the candles are? But there’s still the task of trying to light them.. Is this even the right one? 

Is that a light? The door you came through is glowing in a weird way, it’s soothing, calling, you could go open the door and see friends again, family, you hear your name being called... You’re so tired.... A nap sounds great... 

.....

......

No. 

You shake your head. 

Your choice has been made for you. 

You Offer The Candelabra To The Y/N’s.... 

OOC: Tomorrows option has been made for you. You’re close to the end friends!  I ask that you take todays vote to send me your thoughts, feelings, what youve enjoyed and what youve disliked on this adventure! I as the writer have very much enjoyed seeing the reasons behind your votes and the theories others have worked on! I’m over the moon with how well this turned out and you can bet I’ll do another in future.  This CYOA has helped a lot with planning for ANWM2 (a discord based CYOA) and you can bet I’ll post the discord link here when its ready to go (itll be a while!)  thank you everyone for being on this journey!

[blue-bird-lamentation]

this the story post: melohax[.]tumblr[.]com/post/639167543643340800/warning-spoilers-ahoy-only-read-this-if-youve the game has like so many secret scenes it shocked me

Thank you so much for the link!!!

I really liked reading it. I tried to skip the hikikomori route part as I will try to calmly play it, but I‘ve read a few and, as a person who saw that seen of a man trying to cut a tree and saying “you’re not my son” it intrigued me a lot what kind of information I will get from there.

I’m still puzzled and still didn’t try to see what would happen if I collected the wrong letters and if I has opened the door to Mari.

I went far on this answer and wrote a lot of random topics that are also mentioned in that post and other things I remembered too. It’s still too messy, but my memory is fresh and I decided to write about what I was thinking, even if not organized. Sorry for using your ask, but I was inspired by the link, which I think it’s a very interesting reading. I’m also sorry for the mistakes and I may come back later to correct them. There are so many fascinating things in the game, and so many others I haven’t yet explored, besided I feel good writting all of this as it is kind of asfixiating to thing about it and not having anyone to discuss it with.

This game was a rollercoaster. I knew from the begining that the cute artstyle and the pastel colours in the begining were deceiving, especially when you start in a weird whitespace room and take a knife. Omori as a black and white coloured character among the other paster colours also felt weird.

One really interesting comment I received from my brother when he watched me playing a bit, in a fight, was  “oh your character is the real neutral one, the others seem happy” while all of them were in neutral mode. Also his happy expression was scary and he was the one who got to maniac aside from villains (at least for me). The fact he has a knife intrigued me a lot if I should really fight but at first it looked like there were no consequences (aside from feeling tremendously bad for being called bunny killer. Also about these little enemies, it’s interesting how many of them were bunnies when the person we find who has a bunny is Aubrey, which is also the girl from the group that is now “against us”, at least most of the time in the real world).

Also about the knife, there are two other moments that totally hit me:

- the suicide in whitespace, which could foreshadow his suicide in some routes, but is also the means to wake up;

- Kel and Aubrey in the real world who call us out for bringing a knife, which, since the begining, was the correct thing to do.

I really wonder a lot about his family and their decisions.

It’s been 4 years. I wonder if Sunny’s mom ever put him into some kind of therapy, I wonder if her absence was on purpose because she wanted him to say goodbye to his old friends one last time. I wonder if Kel’s visit wasn’t a coincidence. I wonder if Hero coming back was also part of a last chance to bring Sunny back. I don’t know if the other route answers it, but seeing the notes and messages that mother leaves, she seems to be worried about him. I would say a mix of worry and fear, so there must be some strong reason why she’s not there besides going to buy some furniture or whatever.

Saying this, I think only Sunny’s parents know more or less what happened, but not from their son’s mouth, from autopsy report perhaps. The house was adapted to the changes: no family picture, as opposed to what I saw in Kel’s house (and I wonder if it’s only because of Mari or also with his father too as described by the cutting tree scene. I had thought this was directed to Omori and not to Sunny, but this is also part of the dream realm, so it could be Sunny’s interpretation to the end of his parents marriage which was related to Mari’s death), Mari’s bed is gone (which made the scene when she knocks the door even creepier. I never got to open the door because I was scared, but I’m also curious). Also about the 4 years,  I liked the detail of the 4th floor sign in Last Resort, which was resting there on the floor, as the number is also cursed because it symbolizes death.

I find fascinating how the complexity of the situation is represented in the dream world. His team is composed by his old friends, which are human. Mari and Basil are also human but they weren’t totally present. Mari is the safe point and overprotective of Omori, but she is also the element who encourages him to face his fears. As he faces his fears, he unravels more information about what he repressed, also helped by the presence of the blackspace Basil. But it’s ironic as the more he unravels, the more corrupted the story seems to evolve, but also the more they lose the main purpose of rescuing Basil, which is more evident in the deeper well.

I believe the human figures are the most important to him, and then there are the elements that combine real world figures with fantasy, as the candyshop girl and the fiction space boyfriend. Each story is fascinating but it also makes you lose focus on what you were supposed to do. And in my case, there was a point where I just wanted to wander around in these stories because I was to afraid to face the real story that was masked by this fictional colourful world.

These olde friends represent perhaps what Sunny never wanted to have lost, but also what he does not want to face.

When Sunny woke up in the hospital, I first followed the kids, and no, that wasn’t the right path. That was the safe path, where there is no confrontation with reality. As it was when Sunny was with company. I think it is Aubrey who says he doesn’t like to be alone, and well, that was me the whole game, imploring to not be left alone, because once the character was alone, his world seemed to be corrupted by the black space, which was also a stepping stone to reach the truth, the dark truth.

And I really like how this is all Sunny’s mental effort, which, I would say, it’s helped by him leaving his house and meeting his friends once again, as well as facing Basil one more time.

I was really sad with how the story developed. What started I was assuming it was a facing your fears story, transformed into an overcoming someone’s death, which at first I thought it would be Basil’s, to go to Mari (which was a total mystery to me why had she died (my ingenuity believed it could have been some traffic accident or something else) at first), to go to save Basil again, but now with some dark remarks about the character himself. In the middle of this development, first time the character wakes up, it is clear that the dream world character is not the same as the real world one, age wise, but is part of him.

I had written that at first I was reluctant about the fights, but well, they were necessary to me to face the villains of each arc. But at the same time thery were never too difficult (I think the most difficult part to me was to be strong enough for the Dino Dig and the rest was pretty easy). When, at the end Sunny had to face Omori I was shocked. So, the guy I had been training which was very seemingly sadistic, did I simply train him so that if Sunny wanted to face his trauma, he would hunt him with his strenght? Like the stronger I made him, ther bigger the reluctance to overcome the past. And while this sadistic character seems to be what I would compare to a Chara in Undertale, to me it was the harsh self conscious, critical part of him who could never forgive for what he had done. And which was also manifested as the monster surrounding him and Basil. It was their perception that what they had done was unforgivable, but at the same time neither of them wanted to carry that burden alone: Sunny “forgot” it, Basil manifests it by making those toxic remarks like “you aren’t going to leave me alone again, are you?”.

I don’t know if we get to see more of Basil’s backstory but he also got me curious. I think that what both of them did was bad, but given what happened between Sunny and Mari, it was really hard to know how to face it. I don’t think it makes them willingly villains, but scared children who were very self conscious and didn’t know what would happen if people found it out.

However, hadn’t Basil been there, Sunny would have been found right away next to Mari’s corpse. So I wonder what led Basil to propose such idea and to make Sunny’s burden heavier, which made him ambiguity of his disappearance with the will to save him as a friend.

I don’t think it was an ill intention, but Basil created excuses to protect Sunny because he was important to him and to the group. As the photo album showed, Sunny was the younger element, seen as the baby of the group, and he was shy, but he loved his friends even if he looked the most expressionless.

I think these elements awoke in him the need to protect Sunny from the darkness that lied ahead his actions, but he didn’t realise how heavy of a burden that would be. At the same time he probably had some issued regardin expectations and self worth which probably told him that they could never be tied to such a cruel action, even if it was accidental.

In my perspective he didn’t see the dark shadow surrounding Sunny at the time, but he engraved the memory as an act not commited by Sunny but by something surrounding him, pretty much like when he started attacking him at the end.

I like to think that, good ending wise, the malevolent side, Omori is not necessarily a potential evil that was always within Sunny, but the self guilt and lack of self worth. The fact the Sunny wouldn’t leave the house and didn’t even take good care of his health shows it. He is self destructive, because guilt consumes him, not a person who needs to apply suffering in the outter world for his own satisfaction. The whole struggle is within Sunny and not ot become a bad person per se.

Some of Basil’s dialogue was too much for me, mainly when he kept repeating for Sunny to not leave him. However I totally understand why. Sunny covered the what had happened while Sunny had to live those years knowing what they had done, as if he was the only one carrying the burden.

It’s a real complicated story where everyone was the victim.

It was so hard to see how sad and angry Aubrey was, and how she had to make new friends to overcome, how alone she was all the time. How Kel kept being such a good person, however had to move away because he didn’t know how to face the others, afraid of being misinterpreted. Hero’s pictures with Mari break me everytime. “A match made in heaven” Basil had written in the description of one of the photos. The fact that he is the element in the group that cooks, but 4 years later he had given up. The fact he can’t face Mari’s grave. The way Kel describes his struggle over Mari’s death. The way he didn’t make new friends in college, although he says it was lack of time. Basil is completely broken and can’t even touch the camera anymore and tries to “destroy” the old memories, which Aubrey discovers. Sunny’s parents, as their life turned upside down. And probably everyone around was too afraid to know how to act around them.

I really like how despite everything, the human figure that Sunny creates of Mari is forgiveful and so cheerful. Mari is such a good influence that wants to help him overcome the trauma for himself (especially when she helps him overcoming the fear of drowning and calls him Sunny for the first time. The ways she asked for his forgiveness for pushing him so hard into playing the recital. It is still part of Sunny’s dream but it’s so in Mari’s character. I believe this part is also connected to the scene where we see her saving Sunny in the real world).

I will end this text here. I will eventually come back to it, and to the omori tag, because this is certainly a very good game with a lot of space for debate and reflection.

[skyisover]

Thank you for answering my previous question, the one about Sherry. I personally dislike Resi 6, and I must admit that I’ve only so far played Leon’s campaign. But seeing your thoughts over Jake’s, I am assuming (?), really opens a new perspective for me. I’d like to hear more of your opinions on the 《 reimagined 》 characters of the re2make, and since you mentioned that you like her as a child, how do you feel about her character there, and about her family?~

aw thank you anon!! you’re very sweet! and yes, i’ve played all the campaigns through completely with the exception of ada’s, which i never finished because i did nothing but dredge through 6 for over a day and i was DONE lol. leon’s campaign is definitely the strongest and the only one i actually had fun (sometimes) playing lmao!!

capcom deserves praise where it’s due, i think they fucking nailed r2make. i play it all the time; i’m literally playing it right now! it’s one of my fave games. sherry is a tiny badass in it, too; in the first she was characterized as a lot younger (and i still have a hard time believing she’s 12, i’d say she’s around 8-10, 12 is just a little old with how she’s consistently written imo), but she’s smart and cool and i love her dynamic with claire. you get the sense that they really care for one another and rely on each other to get through raccoon, and i love that. claire is def a big sister to her in 2, but i like to imagine she becomes a bit more of a mother figure as they both get older.

i don’t know if you followed my old blog or follow my resi sideblog ( @lesbianjillvalentines !!) but if you have youve probably seen how much i love the birkins. annette reminds me of my mom a little bit (not in the neglectful way LOL i just look at her and i see my mom, which makes her death scene really tough). i love annette, i wish she had been in other games; i get the feeling she bought way less into umbrella’s brainwashing than will and albert did. william is a genius, obviously, but also incredibly gullible and blinded by his work and eventually his creation. he’s a comfort character for me. annette seemed much more aware; separating “herself” from “umbrella”, something will was never able to do no matter how much he tried. considering what umbrella did to him and to all their youth scientists, it makes sense. annette’s redemption to protect her daughter is the most remarkable thing about her character to me. even dying of severe internal trauma and bleeding she made her way to sherry so the last thing she was ever able to do was save her life and to try and right the wrongs she’d done to sherry in life. you can’t change what you’ve done but you can decide what you’re going to do, and annette embodies that for me. even when she fights against ada (no shade, i adore ada), she is fighting for the greater good, trying to destroy the G-Virus and make sure it never makes it into the wrong hands again after what happened to her husband and the city. i admire her tenacity and dedication.

william is... well, he’s a lot. he gets very little screen time, but is one of the most iconic and influential characters in the franchise. his shadow looms over the rest of the games in the series, imo even more than albert’s. i mean, he is the reason for the leak of the G-Virus into RC! he is responsible for the majority of what happened to lisa trevor! he’s the one person who was ever able to truly rival albert wesker the way he wanted to be rivaled, the only one who could truly match him in a way chris and jill could not. william, however, was ultimately prey to his own machinations and was destroyed by the thing he loved the most. it’s karmaic when you consider the horrible things he’s done. “G is my creation” is one of the most heartbreaking and chilling scenes i’ve seen in a game, one desperate man’s last stand. he “survived” but he was dead the moment he injected himself with G. like annette, i like to remember william a specific way; tearing out the heart of a tyrant to protect his little girl before G consumed him completely and he became nothing more than a vessel for one of the most deadly creatures who ever lived. i know you asked about r2make specifically and i’m sorry my followers for this long ass post but simply. i must talk about them

[munsooon]

for once the ice cream machine isnt broken

someone asked for a part two to McAngst with a side of Fries and so i ran with it since the event happend like two years ago and ive gone through some character development 

its amazing the things distance can do. It had been approximately 3 months since you’d last seen the Doctor. the first month was hard however, getting settled in Earth was already a struggle in itself but the constant nagging thoughts of the Doctor at the back of your head didn't help. you cried yourself to sleep most times, you mostly stayed indoors, curled up in a ball on your couch, old show reruns playing on your television. you indulged in the sadness, knowing if you bottled it all up you’d be a ticking bomb of despair. so thats how you stayed for the first month. sad and miserable. you’re sure you’d cried more in that month than you ever will in your lifetime.

after the sadness came indifference. what happened happened, and as unfortunate and messy the whole ordeal was, you had to move on. there were days were you did great! you went out, hung out with friends, went to your favorite shops and treated yourself to some cute shoes. other days were a little harder, you’d lie if you said that second month your feelings for the Doctor had completely gone. you saw him in everything you did, everywhere you went, the constant though of him was with you. if you saw a squirrel or a cat, you thought about him and the things he’d say. he’d more than likely start communicating with them and then translate the conversation to you. or when you passed by a bakery, you knew if he was there the smell would intrigue him and he’d pull you towards the scent and demand you buy him one. sometimes when you sat at the roof of your apartment, and gazed at the moon and stars, you wondered if he looked at those same stars, and missed you as much as you did him. getting over someone as amazing as the Doctor seemed almost impossible.

almost. 

by the third month, the thought of him barely crossed your mind. you were able to really focus on yourself, no nagging at the back of your head. you could really go out an enjoy yourself 100%. it was only then, your heart no longer heavy, mind cleared, that you start missing the universe. you missed the thrill, the chaos, the beauty of it, but you werent going to call and ask if you could go back, your pride wouldnt let you. if it happened it happened, if it didnt you’d just have to find adventure yourself.

but after all that bad shit that has happened to you, you deserved to have some good karma. and so it happened.

it was the holiday season, and the Ponds decided to spend said holidays here on Earth, with you. You were happy of course! they were you best friends and you missed them just as much as the universe. Seeing the Doctor felt surreal, having him flash that smile at you was nice. but thats all it was. nice, there was no flutter of your heart, no butterflies, no shortness of breath, just, nice,

but you shouldve known better, because having the gang altogether called for trouble, and thats exactly what you got. and so off you were, another adventure at your feet. you missed this, them, him. River wasnt here, your dinner didnt last long enough for you to be able to catch up on everything that had happed the last three months. so when the group split, it was just you and Him. if you hadnt taken the time to heal, this- being alone with him- would've been a lot harder. for now you were just trying to catch your breath, gather your thoughts, come up with a plan to save the day. 

as you gathered yourself, you could feel his eyes on you, and so you looked up at him. when your eyes met, he gave you a smile, let out a chuckle. “I missed this,” he said, and you raised a brow.”What do you mean, you're constantly running from shit, how could you miss it?” you asked, confused. 

He let out a sigh, and let his head fall, his hair falling around his face, covering his eyes. “that’s not-” he took a big breath, “-thats not what i meant.” he still wasnt looking you in the eyes.

“Oh?”

“what i meant was this, running from trouble with you,”

oh fuck 

“Doctor..”

“These past months have felt like forever without you,” he finally looked up again, his expression... sad.

you have an idea of where this conversation might be headed, and you wanted him to stop. 

“River told me everything,” he said, voice solemn. 

you jaw locked, eyebrows furrowed, body tense. you dont care, about him or River or wherever this dumb conversation was going. you were doing good, youve healed, if he truly knew about the situation he should see how good youre doing despite the absolute heartbreak you went through a few months ago, you dont understand why hes saying this.

“Dont,” was all you could say, the fear of the dam breaking too overpowering to let you say anything more. 

“When i was with her i thought thats what i wanted, but after a while, without having you there, it just didnt feel right. i figured out it was you, who i wanted. and im an idiot because i’d already known that but i pushed those feelings away- i didnt think you’d like me back. and i felt lost and sad and then something was happening with River and i just let myself get swept away, and it was irrational and in the end i ended up hurting both of you..”

“Doctor, stop.”

“and i think the guilt of how everything happened and not giving you an explanation was too much for her so she told me everything and then everything made sense!” he was pacing, running his hands through his hair, eyes watery. 

“Doctor thats enough,” your voice was barely above a whisper, but with those satellite for ears he had you knew he’s heard you.

“we ended things, on good terms, doesnt matter anymore shes not- with us anymore... but we ended it befire that so dont think im only saying this casue im a widow but i just wanted you to kno-”

“well i dont care! okay? whatever happened is a thing of the past and these three months ive taken the time to heal and, and get over you-” your voice was cracking, your cheeks were wet, “and i dont care anymore. those feelings aren't a part of me anymore. and id rather they stay like that."

he was quiet, eyes glossy. you probably looked worse.

"look me in the eyes and tell me you don't feel anything for me anymore," he said, slowly stepping close to you. once he was in front of you he gently cupped your face in his hands.

his big, soft, warm hands. they felt so right holding you.

you didn't look him in the eyes, you couldn't, they were so sincere, and big enough to fit the whole universe in them.

tears silently spilled from your eyes, everytime he caught them and wiped them away.

you looked into his eyes, and before you could lie and tell him you felt nothing for him, he gently kissed you.

it felt so right, to be held and kissed by the Doctor. you fear nothing in your life will ever feel as right as this.

[red-elric]

so ive read fruits basket like twenty times, and over the last couple of years i noticed that, each time, i was drawn more and more to the characters of kimi and momiji, and identified with them in a way that was really confusing to me because i didnt really think i *actually* had a very similar personality to either of them? (discord friends may disagree but, well, this whole post is going to be about people and characters who change up their personality to be more likable.) i got all introspective about it and finally came to a conclusion about their characters that i subconsciously knew already: the key similarity between the two of them and myself is the way we very carefully layer subtle personality masks for ourselves to protect ourselves and to seem more approachable and likable without actually being vulnerable to other people. (other characters in furuba do this a lot too--key examples that come to mind are tohru, kagura, and yuki--but i care more about momiji and kimi so this is about them.)

to clarify a bit what i mean by this, ill start with a personal example. ive always been pretty good at remembering people’s names, especially if i think theyre cool and want to become friends with them, but i noticed around middle school or high school that people subconsciously find it intimidating/stalkerish if you know their name and they cant remember yours, especially if youve only met once. on the other hand, if they *do* remember your name, and you admit to not remembering theirs, they feel empowered and sympathetic to your situation; and if neither of you remember the other’s name, you have a moment of solidarity that can lead to a more relaxed relationship. so, i started pretending to have a manageable amount of trouble remembering the names of people i wanted to be friends with. the first two or three times that i meet someone, at some point i will use “clarifying their name” as a conversation starter, ie: “you’re....[], right?” or “is it []?” this is a small effect of a pattern of behavior i tend to follow: feigning incompetence to gain trust and camaraderie. is it manipulative? absolutely, but harmlessly so. its directly derived from my own social anxieties, but its a relatively healthy way to feel more connected with my peers and to stop feeling ostracized by people who resent me for being “smarter” than them--something i struggled with a lot in my youth. momiji and kimi dont put up the *same* masks as myself, but they are both rather adept at maintaining their own masks, and are both incredibly socially perceptive in the same way that i am: they analyze people’s reactions to their behavior and sculpt themselves to get the reaction they want.

lets take a look at what this means for kimi. surface level, kimi seems pretty cookie cutter--sure, shes a little chaotic, but she fits quite nicely into the femme fatale/dumb blonde trope (even though shes not blonde). but did you know that shes actually at the top of her class? its subtle, but to me its always been obvious that shes actually incredibly intelligent and constantly manipulating people to suit her needs. there are easy examples of this, of course: flirting with a teacher to get a new whiteboard, anyone? but there’s one scene that’s always spoken volumes to me about her character, and that’s the one-off joke where kakeru starts to say some “secret” about her, clearly joking, and she immediately shuts him down by cutting him off with “don’t say unnecessary things!” and elbowing him in the side, all while still smiling cheerfully. the subtlety of this is that, with her reaction, she’s actually imitating their audience: yuki. it’s yuki she doesn’t want to know about whatever kakeru knows, so she shuts down kakeru in a way we’ve seen yuki yell at kakeru whenever kakeru makes idiotic jokes. the physical attack, the angry smile, accusing kakeru of saying something annoying, but that doesnt really matter; none of these are particularly characteristic to kimi, she causes as much chaos as kakeru on a good day, but they’re incredibly recognizable to yuki. her reaction is familiar to yuki, and it invokes an assumption that kakeru is making a lame joke, not trying to reveal one of her deepest, darkest secrets, and it works because yuki would react completely differently if kakeru tried to tell someone about *his* secrets. yuki doesnt pursue the subject further, kakeru bounces back easily and doesnt give it a second thought, and kimi is safe. so, we can tentatively say that kimi has a habit of reflecting other’s expectations to hide her true self.

now, is this one scene enough on its own to prove this idea? of course not. however, when we view her actions as a whole we start to see a pattern. we see several instances where kakeru will say something stupid and kimi will listen, encourage it, or say something just as stupid back; it’s only when he tries to reveal something about *her* that she shuts him down. we see subtle signs of genuine anger when he tries to reveal her secret: the overly violent jab, the tensed vein/angry eyebrows, etc--not very characteristic for happy-go-lucky, flirtatious kimi. and, of course, we have several examples of how she manipulates a) men into buying things for her, granting her favors, leaving their girlfriends for her, etc; and b) women into feeling inferior to her, feeling aggravated with her, and thinking she’s incredibly troublesome but knowing that they can’t argue with the men about it. overall, its not a far stretch at all to think she’s manipulating everyone around her to avoid revealing information about her true self: a proud, intelligent woman who enjoys causing chaos, but is also very manipulative and controlling to the people around her and hates being vulnerable.

momiji is in some ways similar, and in other ways very very different. most people--especially characters in the story with him--tend to put momiji in this “sweet, innocent child” box. it’s not just his height--his fashion, mannerisms, outlook on life, etc are all very reminiscent of someone much younger than he is, and people tend to *treat* him like he’s much younger than he is. even if they know intellectually that yes, momiji is significantly older than he appears, it’s very easy for the older sohmas to treat him as a troublesome but still loved younger sibling--someone to be taken care of, not taken too seriously, someone lovable. i’ve seen several people point out that part of *why* momiji does this is because he subconsciously feels that hes not allowed to act like an older sibling (to momo), so he acts as a younger sibling in an effort to get a similar sort of familial bond without overstepping the boundaries that his family instilled in his mind, and i agree. i believe momiji has a habit of feigning youth to more easily bond with the people he loves. his childish actions and behavior make him easier to deal with, and also give him a little more leeway to do things that would normally frowned upon if he appeared older, ex: sleeping in a bed with tohru, wearing a girl’s uniform top to school, taking any chance he can get to be physically affectionate with people, indulging in sweets and candy, etc.

two things draw momiji’s true personality out of its shell: his growth spurt, forcing people to acknowledge his actual age, and the breaking of his curse. late game momiji, to me, has always seemed bitter, tired, and sarcastic, as opposed to the sweet, energetic, and sincere front he’d put on for most of the series, which is very interesting to me. of course, you’d normally *expect* someone who’s gone through as much as momiji to *be* bitter, tired, sarcastic, etc; however, when he puts his child-like mask on, it’s easy to pretend that he’s this loving, saintly child who bears no ill will towards anyone, who can be knocked to hell and back and still stand back up to smile again. and i do think it’s true that momiji has an incredible capacity for forgiveness and love, but there’s also no denying that he has a limit, and we can see that during his first conversation with akito after his curse breaks. this, i think, is the most raw, true representation of momiji in the whole story; momiji has lost his link with the family he made for himself in the zodiac, he’s been physically forced to grow out of his persona, he’s finally seeing that his primary abuser is really not so powerful after all, and he’s forced to finally confront the fact that, while his curse, the thing that caused most of the troubles in his life, is broken, the impacts it already had on his life won’t magically go away. momiji in this scene seems completely disconnected from akito, who is still caught up in the curse, still desperately trying to hold everything together; in his lowest moment, we can finally see momiji, not as an all-forgiving saint, but as someone who just wants to start over. he’s not happy that his curse ended; id even go as far to say that momiji, out of every zodiac, is the one who most wishes it was still around, for the bond that it gave him with the other zodiacs and as something he could pin the blame on for his family struggles. which is why it is so sad to me that his was among the first to break.

now, yall probably know by now that i am a momimi bitch, so lets talk about them together. most of the people i see shipping them--and i fully admit, this is how i started shipping them--simply just say “same energy,” make a few cute headcanons about how they’d use each other for clout, and call it a day. this is perfectly fine. however, here at Overthinking It Inc., we take it a few steps deeper. personally, i have a hard time getting invested in a ship unless i can see how the characters compliment each other, how they help each other grow, and how they could genuinely enjoy each other’s company enough to pursue a romantic relationship. it took a little bit of obsessive extrapolating, but ive finally figured out just *how well* momiji and kimi compliment each other.

momiji, at the end of furuba, is going through a metamorphosis. he’s been forced out of his childish persona and into the life of an adult rather quickly, and he takes the opportunity to try to become more true to himself. we can see, in the last few chapters, the beginnings of bounds of growth; however, i imagine that there is a significant “awkward” period in his growth. judging from what i know about his character, i believe he would, in his effort to be more honest and confident, overcompensate a bit; he would become overbearing, intense, perhaps even oversharing. he might have a tendency to try to figure out what’s “wrong” with his friends and family, might always be trying to “fix” everything. i could easily see him, in fact, develop a bit of a selfish attitude (albeit rooted in kindness--it is, after all, still momiji); in his journey to stop letting people walk all over them, i believe he might become prone to walking over people himself. he’d have no idea where the lines are, where someone’s limits are, because he never had the chance to test them out in his youth, and because the people in power in his life (his parents and akito) never respected anyone else’s limits. enter kimi: tough, walled off, and incredibly secretive, though she tries to hide it. momiji, with his social perceptiveness, would notice at some point how difficult it is for her to form genuine, emotional connections with others, and would feel the urge to help her, to draw her out of her shell, not realizing that she doesnt necessarily want to be understood, nor that she’s (now entering headcanon territory, be warned) *scared* of those kinds of relationships. she’d take it, for a while, but there would come a time when she’d snap. this would do wonders for helping momiji figure out where the boundaries are, and how to be more aware of other people’s wants and needs (and it is something that tohru, reserved little wallflower that she is, would never be able to do for him).

kimi, on the other hand, has not quite started developing her character at the end of the manga. i like to apply all sorts of believable anxieties onto her: maybe she regrets not having an easy connection with other girls, like she does with boys. maybe she refuses to believe in the familial structure (that momiji idolizes). maybe she’s so used to playing the part of the homewrecker that, when she finally realizes that she’s found something or someone she truly loves, she doesn’t know how to handle it, and always worries that somebody’s going to take it away for her. maybe she views connections with others, or vulnerability, as a weakness, something that could be used against her, and tries to do everything she can to wall people off and hide her true feelings. well, good news for her, momiji is the resident king of loving family structures. family is something he truly loves and understands, from how much he’s admired it from afar, and been grateful for the family he’s made for himself in hatori, tohru, and the other zodiac. he’s well primed to help her understand what a true family is like, that real love is a good thing, not a scary thing, and that it’s okay to be vulnerable sometimes. this big, sweethearted doofus who somehow managed to see how much she was struggling under the many layers of masks that she hides beneath? there’s no way kimi wouldnt fall for him. and she, this girl who challenges everything he believes in, teaches him valuable lessons about how far is too far, and is basically the most fun person he’s ever met? there’s no way momiji wouldn’t fall for her.

i believe the two of them would start things off as almost a play; theyd portray a satire of the ideal male and female celebrity couple rather easily; theyd lean into the standard boy and girl roles almost ridiculously so, drawing attention to the absurdity of the standard relationship and somehow flirting through it. kimi, as we know, likes to pretend to be this helpless, flirtatious, “i couldnt possibly do anything on my own, oh whatever shall i do O3O” caricature of the feminine “ideal” to draw men in; momiji, i feel, would respond to that with a dorky, happy-go-lucky, “i can help you with that, miss ; )” caricature of the masculine, “ideal” gentleman, just for fun. theyd put on a show, for each other, for their peers, and for themselves, but they would eventually run into some troubles (detailed above). things would be tense, but theyd keep up their personas--why would they *ever* admit to their flaws to the outside world, theyre perfect? their friends would notice, of course, but wouldnt be able to do much about it; in the end, the only people perceptive enough to read through the bullshit of one is the other. theyd come to an understanding--spoken or unspoken (with the subtleties of their relationship, its not unreasonable that they could change their entire perspective of their relationship with just actions, not direct words or conversation)--and shift back into their previous, flirtatious relationship, except its different this time. because now, they understand each other, they love each other, theyre practically reading the other’s mind, and theyre perfectly in tune. rather than putting on masks to hide from each other, they wear one together to hide from the world--but, they think, that’s probably enough.

[ardenttheories]

Sorry if youve already done this hut how about comparing/contrasting light and mind? They definitely seem like similar concepts, albeit, different perspectives, but I’m not very well versed in them and I’d like to hear it from you!

As a general rule of thumb, these are the key words for each Aspect:

Light: Luck, Chance, Probability, Knowledge, Importance, Understanding, Information, The Future, The Plot and Narratives, Truth, Relevancy

Mind: Rationality, Reason, Logic, Justice, Thoughts, Unbiased, Impersonal, Disconnected, Apathetic, Outer Being, Closed Off, Choices, Decisions, All Potentials/Possibilities, Deduction

In essence, Light is about Learning. It’s figuring things out piece by piece, uncovering as much information as you can possibly get, building up a picture from everything you Know. It’s the creation of a Story, the recognition of Plot Points, of Importance - it’s seeing or doing only what is Relevant and True. 

Mind, on the other hand, is about Logic. It’s puzzling things out point by point, standing back to look at things even if you don’t entirely have the full picture. It’s Nonbias towards any Choice or Decision that could be made, and recognition of every Potential that exists. It’s the understanding that Choices must be made, branch out into other Choices, lead to other courses of action, and that you have to plan twenty steps ahead to keep on top of it all. 

So, ironically, Mind’s much more people-based than Light, despite being the Aspect of Apathy. It can’t Understand the way Light does, and Light will always be heavily tinged with the Bias of the person viewing it. Though the Truth is there, that Truth may only be True to the Light Player, who will then make it total Truth. On the other hand, Mind doesn’t presume to know what Truth is, or even care exactly that something is True; it focuses instead on what a person Thinks, what their Reasoning or Logic is, what they, personally, see. 

A Mind Player can’t know what isn’t easily found. They don’t know what’s Important in a session, can’t find endless sources of Information, have no interest in understanding the Truth or what is Relevant. If any of these things get in the way of a Decision being made, a Mind player will Lie. 

They would tell a Player that someone is alive if that is what it took to ensure that the someone’s lover won’t fold in on themselves. They would understand that in any given situation, there are at least a thousand routes that could be taken, a thousand things that could be said - and that every Option has an Outcome, and that every Outcome has its benefits. 

They know that they have to say this specific thing to this specific person because doing so will ensure that a necessary outcome unfolds, even if that outcome isn’t strictly good. 

A Light Player doesn’t have this nuance. They don’t have the same understanding of all the Options and all the Outcomes. They are only aware of the ones that are Important to the Plot, the ones that will cause the most progression, the ones that have to happen. If something isn’t Important, they’re completely blind to it, and this can cause a lot of contention since Importance is a very fickle thing.

A good way of explaining it would be this:

Someone has to die in order for the session to progress. Their death causes a series of events that are ultimately integral for the session’s success, and the survival of that Player is not an Option.

The Light Player is aware of this because the death is Important. It holds use to the bigger picture and it is therefore Relevant for them to know. However, what might not be Relevant is that the dead Player’s brother will be deeply affected if the death happens in a certain way. So long as the death occurs, the session is saved; what happens to the brother is Irrelevant. 

Therefore, the Light Player may be shocked to find, afterwards, that the brother begins to pull away and the friendship between them is broken, no matter how much they try to explain that it was Important. 

The Mind Player would be aware of this. They would be able to see that the brother is inconsolable due to his own person brand of Logic and Reasoning. They would recognise that other Options are available, and that even if the death has to occur, it can be done in a way that doesn’t leave the brother broken as a response.

They might not recognise this as an Important event with a captial i, but they would know that it has to be done because the death allows for the Player to be active in the Dreambubbles - where their powers are better put to use. They’ve seen or know what sort of Choices the Player will make. 

So, in other words, a Light Player can tell you what has to happen, and a Mind Player can ensure that it happens in the Best Possible Way.

There’s also just the general idea that Mind protects and serves the individual integrity of a person’s literal mind, whereas Light protects and serves the concept of Knowledge and Information as a whole. 

A Light Player would never be able to justify hiding Knowledge unless it is 100% Important for that Knowledge to be hidden until a later date; a Mind Player would completely squirrel that Knowledge away if they knew that someone would make a Decision following it that provides a negative Outcome. 

So, definitely in line with the idea that they’re two sides of the same perspective, but it’s pretty important to note the key differences. Like the fact that Light needs Knowledge because if it doesn’t have that, it can’t see the bigger picture, can’t figure out what has to happen and what’s Important in a session full of things - but Mind can see the bigger picture from the start based on the Outcomes of various Choices, and what, Logically, seems like the best Option to go with. 

Another example:

A Mind and Light Player have the same map. It has a key with no text, scribbles written all over it, no landscape drawn on it, and is almost completely illegible and looks more like someone scratched a pen on some paper and passed it off for a map. They’re been reassured that it is a map, though, and that it DOES lead the way out to the exit of the cave they’re about to enter. 

The Mind Player knows enough about the person who made the map to know exactly which path is going to lead to the exit based on how they Think. They know the person is highly Paranoid, and likes to hide codes in amongst everything using Alchemic symbols and sigils that merge letters together. 

They’re also aware of this person’s brand of logic; up means down, left means right, and safe means dangerous. Chances are the map has been mirrored, too. 

It’s understanding the person that allows them to read the map and make it safely out the other side of the cave, with the additional bonus of being able to tell, innately, which Options are safe and which are deadly whenever they come to brances in the path. 

The Light Player knows nothing about the person in question, but can recognise some of the Alchemic symbols because they’ve recently read up on them. As a result, they quickly get to work researching what they could mean, then start trying to figure out what the code could be in the sigils based on traditional ciphers. 

That would lead to more research about possible codes and the different things you can hide in maps, which would reveal the Truth behind its scribbled nature; that each line represents something, and that there’s a series of inversions that make the map harder to read. 

It might take longer, but eventually the Light Player will understand the map completely, and will more easily recognise such ciphers or techniques in the future. They will also be hlped along by the innate feeling of Importance that guides them down each branching path; they might not know what’s down there, the way a Mind Player might be able to deduce, but they’ll at least Know that it isn’t Relevant. 

So, in other words, Light not Knowing what a person is Thinking or being able to influence a person’s own Rationality or Reasoning, and having to rely on their own Reasoning to get their points across; and Mind not Understanding everything that’s Important in the session but figuring out all the Options until they can, without any Bias, Choose the Outcome that has the most benefits for everyone. It’s that odd internal VS external thing that seems to crop up a lot with Aspects, and that’s one of their biggest divisions, I think.

Think how Terezi keeps the group together by ensuring they pick specific Options VS Rose keeping the session in tact by leading them towards Important events. 

Terezi can See that Vriska going off to kill Bec Noir isn’t a good idea because she can see the Outcome of the Option; Vriska gets them all killed because Bec Noir follows her pixie dust trail. She can also see that the Option wherein she kills Vriska outright ensures that Outcome doesn’t happen - and later down the line, when John as his Retcon abilities, she sees a third Option where Vriska is knocked out instead. 

Were Rose in the same situation, she’d probably only be able to See the Important parts; Terezi killing Vriska, or John using his Retcon powers to knock her out. She’d know that this event is Important for the timeline to progress, but might not know the specifics of why - because it’s just not Relevant Information. 

In the same vein, Terezi wouldn’t be able to See anything about the Green Sun. It’s Important to the session, sure, but it’s not something to do with Mind until it gets to the point that Rose starts making Choices that leads up to its creation. Terezi can’t See the Sun itself, can’t just focus in on it at will, but she can See it by proxy of looking down Rose’s Potentials and Outcomes. She can see how Rose’s Options lead up to the Tumor being taken out in the Void and causes the whole thing to appear. Does she have any idea what it is? Probably not. It’s not in her abilities to Know something like that. 

So Mind is centred around the Internal nature of People and their Thoughts, Options, Choices, and the Unbiased attempts to navigate each branching path. Light, on the other hand, is centred around the External nature of Importance, what is Relevant and True and must be known, focusing only on what is Necessary and following that singular path to the end. 

[phoenix1966sbottom]

What Happens Now, Thanks to Tumblr’s Policy Changes

Hi all. By now I’m sure you’ve seen the posts about Tumblr’s new community guidelines going into effect on Dec. 17th. I’ve been expecting this since Tumblr was acquired by Yahoo and then Yahoo was by Oath.

I’m not sure how much of this or my “main” blog will be deleted or eaten up by the Tumblr morality police. I have made backups via Tumblr of my blogs for what’s that’s worth.

I think my rec lists should be safe because I don’t think there are any images associated with them that should have Tumblr’s panties in a wad, but you never know these days (my art post for The Gospel According to Poppy was flagged as “sensitive” and that just has some blood splatters on it, so you never know). If any of the rec list posts get flagged for their images, I will delete the images so the lists can stay.

I will not be deleting any blogs here. I cannot guarantee that Tumblr might not do it, though, so going forward, I will be posting content at my Pillowfort account (once they are back up). My blog/username there is Phoenix1966 (which I always wanted here so I could keep the same name across media platforms). That is where I will be most active after December 17th. Unlike Tumblr, Pillowfort is not free right now (there will be free accounts once out of beta, with fee-based premium account options like LiveJournal offers), so people will have to pay to join right now. However, as Pillowfort has stated, by being beholding only to users for income, they will not have an issue with most NSFW stuff (because Tumblr can spin it as a morality issue, but they are just worried about advertising dollars).

I will tag my stuff accordingly there, but since I will probably only run one blog, please check the tags for any objectionable content (I used my main one to reblog a lot of j2 tinhat stuff, which I know does not fly with everyone). I may spring for a second Pillowfort account for that in the future.

Until we all figure out where we land, I would urge all of us to keep our blogs here and update with what platform we plan on moving to, if any of us move. 

This is a frustrating time, but I know it’s not going to stop me from doing what I enjoy. Thanks to Tumblr, I got the opportunity to meet a lot of really interesting and kind people and I will always be grateful to the platform for that.

[silkkpopbonnet]

Dilemma

“So, basically he’s like get your ass home now, you’ve played around enough in the US.” Yeon, sat back rubbing her eyes, wondering why she just didn’t tell her dad no.

He paid for her college that’s why.

“Basically. I have to go home, and finish there and who knows.” She sighed, looking out the window to the city of Atlanta.

“But, do you want to go, that’s the thing.” Her friend, reached across the table taking her hand.

“No, but my dad is Korean.” She laughed softly. “So, I kinda have no choice, and my mom agrees with him.” She finished her coffee, and rolled her eyes, wishing her mother would have pushed for her to stay in the states.

She loved Korea, she loved the States; but she always felt a bit freer here. Standing up, her 5′5″ frame was lithe, but she had hips and an ass. That she got from her mother, she tossed her mid-back length 3B curls behind her and donned a pair of Gucci shades.

“I leave in three days, he didn’t give me time to do shit. Movers will be here tomorrow, I get on the plane, and go. So, there go all my summer plans. Good thing is though, he’s letting you come with me. Two weeks in Seoul, what do you think?”

Her friend, jumped up from her spot, clapping her hands excitedly. “YES! Oh my god, what do I pack? What should I wear?”

Yeon smiled. “We’ll figure that out later.”

Yeon washed her hands in the bathroom aboard the airplane. She made the water as hot as she could stand it, needing something to take her mind off the fact that they had been flying for 8 hours already. She wanted to run and jump, she needed to stretch her legs. Her hair in a messy bun on her head, she looked at herself in the half steamed mirror and sighed. How was she going to fit back in Korea? She had sometimes unruly curly hair that wasn’t a very common sight on a Korean woman, her copper skin, held two very Asian eyes Most people told her, her eyes looked like Kimora Lee Simmons. Plump lips, brown eyes, her figure was slightly curvy, she pushed together her 34B breasts and wondered if her breasts were also too large? Probably not. She was going to be…different. That much was certain.

“Are you ok?” A soft voice at the door asked her in Korean.

“Yes, thank you.”She answered, almost bowing before she remembered she couldn’t be seen.

Speaking in strictly Korean, unless she was around her parents, something else, she was going to have to get used to again. She hated being different, she hated people looking at her like she had a third eyeball. Grunting, she opened the bathroom door, walking back to her seat.

“You ok, Yeon?” Her friend asked her, barely waking up from her nap.

“I’m ready to get off this damn plane. My legs are killing me.” She signaled for the waitress.

“Girl, your short ass is fine, I’m 5��8″ I’m the one suffering.” Her buddy, turned in her seat, snuggling in the cushions of first class, sleeping again.

Would she be fine? She wasn’t so sure.

As soon as the plane landed, both girls stretched and yawned. It was afternoon in Seoul, South Korea, and all Yeon thought about now was sleep. A sign was posted for her, Ms. Hyo Park Yeon as they came down the elevator, and she rolled her eyes, thinking to herself. ‘Wow, thanks parents, don’t even come to the airport.’

“You have an escort? What a driver too?” Her friend chuckled and Yeon bit her lip and tried to figure out, what she hadn’t told her friend already.

“Ms. Hyo.” He already knew her face, and she gave a slight bow saying hello, giving him their bags.

“This is it, the rest, was delivered here already.” With a nod of his head, the man leads the way outside, and out into the bright sunshine. The girls donned their shades, and Marcella looked around, looking quite the tourist, while Yeon ignored the urge.

He leads them both to a car, a sleek black Audi A8 L. Opening the door for them, the girls slid into the cool, cream-colored interior, chilled water bottles waiting for them.

“This car is nice, man did your dad spare any expenses?” Marcella, rubbed a hand along the seats, watching as the driver got in the front seat.

“This isn’t a Bentley, so I’m going to say, yes.” Yeon laid her head back against the seat, getting ready mentally for her best friend to choke her. “I have to tell you something, Marcella.”

The car pulled away, and Marcella was looking out the window. “Mhm.”

“So, my dad is a CEO…you know that.”

“Yea.”

“My mother is an interpreter for his company now. His interpreter. My grandfather, my mother’s father was a doctor.”

Marcella’s eyes turned to slits as she looked at Yeon. “You parents are loaded aren’t they?”

“I don’t really know about all that. I’ve had to work for anything, I’ve ever received, and maintain a strict GPA, you know I don’t flaunt a bunch of shit.”

“Just say it! Why didn’t you tell me!” Marcella punched her arm lightly. “I’m actually kind of hurt. I’m your best friend.”

Yeon let her head fall. “I learned the hard way, about friends who are friends because of money. Not that you're one of them! I just prefer not to be like that. I’m not stuck up and snobby, and Paris Hilton like.”

“Don’t you think I know that dummy? I know who you are. TBH, I kind always knew I think. Tell me more about your parents though.”

Yeon smiled, thanking god that was easier than she thought it would be. She explained that her father always had money, he inherited the company from his father. Her mother had to scrape and earn every penny, her grandfather believed in a hard day's work. He came from nothing, her parents were polar opposites. Her mother was gifted when it came to languages, she spoke 6 fluently, but Korean was not one of them. Her mother was working as an interpreter for another company when she met her father. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her.

“Still makes me gag a little when he says, my mom had the brownest skin he ever saw, and all he thought about doing was rubbing his face against her legs.” She said playfully, she knew her father worshiped her mother.

Her mother didn’t speak Korean, and her father didn’t speak English, however, they both spoke Chinese. They went out on a few dates, and he made a decision to marry her, boom there she was.

“They should write a book about that,” Marcella answered, taking a sip of her water.

“Probably.” Yeon looked out the window. “This is my house.”

Marcella gasped as the gate opened to a large black and cream colored home, The gate opened to a yard, the glass front of the home, showed into the living room, around the side, there was a cement driveway, and a garage for the cars. The door was opened for them, and Marcella and Yeon walked up the pathway leading from the driveway to the front of the house. It was arched, with large dark wooden doors, and Yeon rung the bell, waiting.

“Of course, you remember how to say hello in Korean. My father’s English is still a bit rough.”

“Who do you think you’re talking to?” Marcella asked, rolling her eyes.

Yeon smiled, and the door opened up, her mother standing there in her apron smiling wide. “My baby is home!” She threw her arms around Yeon, hugging her tight before grabbing Marcella hugging her as well.

“Marcella, I’m happy to have you in our home.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Hyo.” She bowed at her.

“Oh please, call me Jasmine.” She ushered the girls into the house. “I know, Y'all are probably tired, but I have been cooking for Y'all. A mix of southern food and Korean.”

Her mother yelled in Korean, for her father, smiling back at the girls. “He’s going to play all tough baby, but you know he missed you. That’s why he wasted no time.” Her mother hugged her again, and this time Yeon held on tight.

She forgot how her mother smelled like cloves and her favorite Prada perfume. Her mother’s tight 4a coils tickled her nose. “I missed you, Ma.”

“I have too, we haven’t seen you in a year.” Letting her, go her mother turned towards the stairs, as her father came down them. The foyer of the home, had dark hardwood floors, contrasting against the light gray of the walls, and the cream of the carpet that lined the stairs.

“Park Yeon.” He said her name, standing at the bottom of the stairs.

Yeon walked over, bowing deeply, saying hello to her father in Korean. “Abeoji, I missed you.”

Her father’s wrinkled forehead smoothed over and he broke into a smile, hugging his little girl tightly. “My family is whole again.” He kissed her face several times, before letting go, and he also grabbed Marcella into a hug.

“Marcella, I’m glad you could join us for a while.” Marcella smiled, looking shy.

“Thank you for the vacation, Mr. Hyo.” He waved a hand dismissively at her.

“You are like a sister to my baby, call me abeoji.” Marcella tested the word on her tongue, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Her father, shooed both girls upstairs, informing Yeon that her things would be there, in 3-4 days. Yeon showed Marcella the guest room, and how to use the shower. “Just come in my room when you're done.”

Yeon walked into her room, it was almost the same way she left it. Old EXO posters on the wall, on a cork board. A few American bands on the other side, she had a new computer, new bed, new bedding. Her vanity in front of her bay window. She could decorate as she wanted later, she supposed, but she didn’t even want to live in her parents' house. For goodness sake, she was 20 years old, but her father probably didn’t want her living on her own either. This was going to be hard. She showered, conditioning her hair, and finger de-tangling as she let the water run down her back. She washed her face free of the makeup she wore. She had forgotten to put on a primer, and setting powder so she knew she skin probably looked oily. After she was finished, she wrapped her head in a towel, sitting down at her vanity. She didn’t feel like dealing with her hair, so she set to start doing large twists.

Marcella knocked once, letting herself inside. “I’m glad I got my hair done, before coming because I would not be in the doing it now.”

She looked up at Marcella in the mirror, her friend's shoulder length box braids now held secure in a wrap on her head. “Help me then, I ain’t trying to be here all day.”

Marcella set to rubbing olive oil into the strands, before twisting them with twist cream on her fingers. Both girls finished, Yeon stood u, grabbing a scarf from the hook near her door, and wrapped her hair into a pineapple, before she set out to get dressed.

“Another struggle is finding good hair care products.” Yeon pulled on a purple V-neck shirt that said ‘J’adore’ on the front over her head.

“Your mama is natural, what do you mean?” Marcella looked at her posters. “Chanyeol was still fine as hell in these pics.”

“That’s like right after their debut. She is but she goes into Seoul, to get her hair done. You know I’m picky.” Marcella nodded, still looking over the pictures.

The girls made their way downstairs, where Mrs. Hyo was setting the table. The girls settled themselves on cushions on the floor, as her father made his way in, sitting down at the head of the table.

“How was the flight?” He asked in Korean.

Her mother came in with a gallon of juice, and cups. “English please, we have a guest.” Just as her father was about to protest, she held up a hand sitting down. “Your English is fine, you just never really try. I refuse to translate.”

“Yes, yes, umma.” He replied taking some rice from a large bowl.

“It was long. Fine though.” Yeon answered, Marcella, agreeing with her.

They ate and talked, laughing about what had happened lately in Atlanta or Korea. Inside, Yeon smiled this was good, she had forgotten how much she missed home. How much she missed really good kimchi and her mothers fried chicken. Her mother rolled her eyes at her fathers bad jokes.

“You can have the summer to do as you will, school starts back in September, everything is taken care of Yeon.” Her father spoke, looking at her stuff more kimchi into her mouth.

Thanks, dad, I’m just wondering how I will fit in.” He shrugged at her, chewing his rice.

“You will be fine, you are my daughter. Besides, concentrate on school, not a social life.” Yeon took a sip of her juice, sighing.

“I’m a young dad, I have to have a social life.” She put another piece of chicken on Marcella’s plate as she spoke.

Her father put his chopsticks down on his plate. “I have a remedy for that soon enough. For now, don’t worry, so much, you’ll get wrinkles.”

Her mother shook her head at the two. After lunch, Yeon and Marcella went to their rooms to nap, while her mother cleared dishes with her father.

He stood in the kitchen watching his wife. “Friday then?”

“I actually don’t think this is a good idea at all right now.” She washed the last of the plates, putting them in them in the dish drainer.

“Why not?” He came to stand behind his wife, her short frame nestling against his.

“It’s sneaky. You bring her here, to finish school, but you have an ulterior motive.” Her mother turned in her father’s arms to look at him.

“I’m making sure, our daughter is secure in life.” Sighing, Mrs. Hyo, moved from her husband’s grasp.

“I know. I just…let her see if she likes him or not. I wasn’t forced with you.” Mr. Hyo crossed to where his wife now stood, and took her chin in his hand.

“She will like him, trust me. Choi Jun-Seo is a good man, he is already making me very proud in the company.”

“If you say so.” Her mother leaned her head up, to give her father a gentle kiss.

He grinned, kissing her once more. “I’m always right, trust me.”

The next few days were spent shopping and sight-seeing. Marcella and Yeon kicked back and relaxed most days. “We should go clubbing,” Marcella said, as Yeon sat at her computer looking at places to live near the college.

“Clubs? Yea, we can go. When?” Yeon brought up another tab, to look for good clubs when her mother walked in after knocking once.

“Can’t go tonight, I’m sorry girls. Yeon.” Her mother laid a traditional Korean dress, on her bed. “Your father has a dinner guest, and you have to wear this. I have one for you as well Marcella.”

Yeon rolled her eyes, earning a scowl on her mother’s face. “Stop. You look beautiful in them.”

The golden color of the dress was offset by the red of the tank top, and red flowers, twined with their vibrant green leaves. The black, sheer covering had a white collar. The fabric was thick and heavy. She picked up the dress, holding it close to her body.

“It is pretty, dad is going all out, who is the guest?” Her mother grinned slightly, turning to Marcella.

“Yours will be delivered before tonight. You can take it home if you like, it’s pink and black. I thought the colors would compliment you.”

“Ma.” Yeon put the dress down, looking back at her mother. “Why are you ignoring me?”

“I’m not. He’s a work partner of your fathers. He’s someone your father thinks highly of. So he wants you to look your best.” Her mother turned from the room. “You guys can club tomorrow.”

As the door closed behind her, Marcella chuckled softly but steadily it became louder. “If you don’t have this figured out by now, I’m gonna be pissed.”

Yeon balled her hands into fists. “Stay here.” She grumbled. Her father’s office was downstairs, near the parlor. She quickly jumped down the stairs, running down the hall, her bare feet pattering gently on the hardwood. The large oak doors in front of her, she was never to enter as a child, unless invited. She knew her father would be in there, while her mother gave her the dress.

She knocked once hard, then twice more. “Yes?”

“Dad, you know it's me.” She wanted to yell, but yelling would get her nowhere with him.

He cleared his throat. “Come in.”

Yeon opened the door, closing it behind her, keenly aware of how close it seemed in there. He had many small statues and vases lining the walls. The dark walls and light carpet on the floor, everything was exactly as it had been. Traditional, clean cut. She walked towards her fathers' desk where he sat looking over some papers, his glasses low on his nose.

“Who is this guy.” She pulled a chair from the desk sitting down, she was letting him know she wasn’t going anywhere.

“His name is Choi Jun Seo. He runs the international side of the company, fluent in 3 languages, learning a fourth. He graduated top if his class-”

Yeon cut her father off, tapping on his desk. “I didn’t ask for his resume abeoji.”

Her father slowly lifted his head, pushing his glasses on his nose. The wrinkles around his eyes, deepening as he sighed. “I think, he would be a good match for you.”

“I knew something was up!” Yeon stood up in her chair, pointing at her father. “Is this why I came back? Don’t lie to me.”

Her father removed his glasses, rubbing the area between his eye. “Yeon, do not raise your voice at me.”

She ignored him. “Is it! Tell me! I don’t want to be set up, with some guy who you think is ok for me. That’s not fair!” She pushed away from his desk, throwing her hands into the air. “You can’t do this!”

“I can do as I please, I am your father!” Mr. Hyo stood up, his balled fist slamming down on his desk.

The air was hot between them. Yeon heard her breathing, she was frustrated and angry. She closed her eyes, willing back the tears that threatened. “Did you even miss me? Or did you just want me back as some shiny little pawn to entice your co-workers with?”

Her fathers face softened. “Why would you say that? Of course, I missed you. Your mother missed you. You belong here at home. It is not safe in Atlanta, we cannot protect you.”

Yeon sniffled. “You don’t have to protect me, I’m a grown woman.” She wiped her eyes, turning her back on her father like a child.

“You are my child. My only child. He will be here tonight to introduce himself to you in a formal setting, that is all. I am pushing, however, that you two will date.” Mr. Hyo came from around his desk, at 5′9″ he towered over his daughter, lifting her chin to look at him. “Give him a chance.”

She tugged her chin from her fathers grasp. “If he’s ugly, I’m not doing anything.”

“Park Yeon..” He said quietly.

“I don’t like this, and I don’t agree to it. I will be cordial though.” Her father chuckled, hugging his daughter tight.

“You’re like your mother, I suppose that is all I can ask for now.”

Chapter Two

[abundantchewtoys]

HS Epi Meat, page 4 reaction

So, is John going to zap to the next plot point now, or will it switch back to Earth C?

I wonder, if it's the latter, whether we might see something from an antagonist, or a less important character, like Jack Noir or GCATavrosprite. And if the former, I wonder if John will venture further into (a retconned version of) the Game Over timeline, or not?

---

"You arrive in the Land of Heat and Clockwork in a flash of white." OOOoooh, LOHAC! Will he visit Dave - well, presumably yes. But will he revisit the moment he zapped back to, when he came to ask for help regarding his retcon powers?

... I kind of like Blaperile's idea better, that he revisits the point in time he disrupted before, the conversation between Dave & Jade, but which he afterwards retconned again, sending himself to go find Roxy? ... Wait, it was never really explained where that John that bapped himself on the head came from, I swear, if this is (out-of-comic) retconned as having been this 23-year-old John... Okay, I might have forgotten if Rx John had already gone back. ... Okay yeah, it already happened. Page 8333 vs 9047 of Homestuck. Anyway...

Hmm, GO Dave never used the eggsword much in the end (Caledfwlch), as he went after Jade's body and tied to a critical devilbeast combo. But I don't think John'll take it?

"Through the condensation you can make out the shapes of Dave and Jade below, as well as two more of you hovering in the air above. Both Johns turn to look at you." PFfffffff, of course he draws his other selves attention. Why would it resolve so cleanly as they zapping away in the background. Dave had a fit before when he saw one, but now, if he'll acknowledge all three...

"On the ground, Dave is talking in a particular cadence, one that is familiar to you, his longtime best buddy. Casual, wandering, verging on droning. It’s a good indication he’ll be monologuing for a while, and probably already has been." Yeah, GO Dave was summing up all the reasons he didn't particularly want to do anything about LE. Retconned Dave just thought he should fulfill the prophecy to get it over with, but that's about the end of his commitment in the matter too. Only Davepetasprite^2 really felt like going up against LE. Will Caledfwlch make it into their hands?

"DAVE: thats what...DAVE: you do...DAVE: with..." Awesome, he even gets trailed off at exactly the same moment in his monologue. :D

"DAVE: karate. john what the fuck are you doing hereDAVE: or... waitDAVE: actually three johnsDAVE: hey three johns what the fuck are three johns doing here" Dave is so whatever about this, it's hilarious. Then again, he's been all around LOHACSE thrice in a single day, he's got some experience in the matter of walking around alt time selves.

Also, I wonder if Dave (and Jade) will notice he's an older version of John. If not, his god tier powers probably keep him youthful, like Superman.

"It’s a fair question, which logically should have been directed to the oldest and most knowledgeable John. Nevertheless, one of the younger Johns replies first." Pfff, the second oldest one then? The one that came back here with a semblance of purpose, not randomly zapping through canon? Plus, if Dave wouldn't notice a difference between the Johns, neither would the younger ones.

"(JOHN 1): er.(JOHN 1): i don’t know." Ooooh! Cool, not just are they parenthesed, the Johns are now also numbered! Yeah, we wouldn't want them to just all be named John, that'd be insane and probably what Jade went through with PCG & FCG from her end (aka two ?CG's).

"JOHN 3: john, don’t worry about it. i’ll take things from here.DAVE: johns dont get me wrong its cool that you all randomly dropped by again but this wasnt really the best time" Hah, yeah John, try and get that semblance of knowing what you're doing back, like you acted out on LOPAN against your past selves. I'm actually interested to see whether he will be as dismissive towards his other selves as back then. Right, this is the second time Dave saw John, after the time he dropped in when Dave was looking at his old photographs.

"DAVE: we were kind of in the middle of a thing here(JOHN 1): whoops. sorry.(JOHN 2): uh... actually, i only came here to swoop in and zap this john away without being seen, to retcon away the mess i made earlier.(JOHN 2): i didn’t expect to see another john here.

JOHN 3: hey, other john, i said i’ll handle it!

JOHN 3: i’m the only one who actually knows what’s going on here.DAVE: god damn it johns what the fuck did you do" John 1 fucked it up, John 2 would've fixed things but then John 3 came back and fucked up some more. It's like the goddamned Primer movie all over again.

"JOHN 3: young dave, please.

JOHN 3: let me deal with the johns first, then i’ll explain.DAVE: young dave???" Why did that make me think of WV's polite commands. "Sir John" and all that. :P I think the other Johns will be able to get resolved easily enough, one zapping the other away to bop him in the head, both confused over the mess they left behind.

"DAVE: ohDAVE: yeah why are you a fucking adult now" OOOOOOh, nice! Okay, even though it'll be all shades of awkward, I really like the age difference isn't getting skimmed over.

"DAVE: did you grow up and start time traveling dude" Take that, reverse it.

"JADE: will someone tell me what the fuck is happening???????" Oh right, Grimbark Jade's text colour thingy!

"JOHN 3: johns, there’s no reason for you to hang around anymore.

JOHN 3: not to sound like a wet blanket, but the things you’re trying to accomplish are now useless, so you can just zap away and do whatever you want.(JOHN 1): ummm...(JOHN 2): useless?? wait." Harsh much, John. Also, just cause they won't/aren't you, they can just go become you, or whatever how you want to put it.

"JOHN 3: ok, maybe i shouldn’t have said that.

JOHN 3: i’m sure you can still go and do what i did when i originally did what you’re currently trying to do...DAVE: jesus john" Dave's inner time logistician is crying. John's retcon powers are so OP, he doesn't have to take any care in keeping time loops going if he doesn't want to. But that'd just result in copies of him flying around, so he'd best to just send them on their way, hopefully never to run into them again.

"

JOHN 3: in fact, it will still probably be a very rewarding experience!

JOHN 3: some of my best memories happened right after you do what you’re about to do next." I was thinking of the meet-up with his friends in general, but yeah, it's probably mostly about meeting Roxy, which is the closest thing to happen to (John 1)'s point in time.

"JOHN 3: the point is, you should just go do it, so that you aren’t here anymore." Savage.

"JOHN 3: i’m here to make sure some new and different important things happen, and those things don’t include you.

JADE: :|(JOHN 1): oh...(JOHN 2): ...ok.

The useless Johns zap away. You sincerely hope that they have a beautiful and fulfilling youth." ... That's not what your mouth ended up conveying there, John. Nor your thoughts, I mean, "useless", dear god man, have some alt self respect. :P

"DAVE: adult john what the fuck have you doneDAVE: is this some time travel shitDAVE: please dont tell me youve been spending the next however many years bungling through time like this because tbh if what i just witnessed was even remotely indicative of shit you get up to on a recurring basis then your future is almost too embarrassing to even think aboutDAVE: and this is coming from a teenager who was just in the middle of an angsty episode" Self aware Dave tirades are still the best. :D

"JOHN: i used my retcon abilities to travel here from the future, in a manner of speaking.DAVE: sounds fuckin stupidJOHN: it is stupid. but that’s just how things are." Glad they can agree to agree on that very valid assessment. :P

"JADE: im a little confused

JADE: im supposed to be hunting you down and capturing you... but im not sure if the adult version of you counts?

JADE: i think the condesce might just be... confused if i brought her an adult john?" Oooh, is this conflicting with her "programming" some how? Doggy Jade is confused, that's actually intruiging that she's given pause.

"JOHN: no, you don’t need to capture me, and you wouldn’t be able to even if you wanted to, since my existence literally transcends the confines of canon.

JADE: well...

JADE: i guess that simplifies things then?" John bullshitting his way to victory over people smarter than him, it remains a sight to behold.

"

JADE: in that case, would you mind giving me and dave a few minutes to wrap up our conversation?" XD Lol, wut????? Hahahah, Paradox Space really can only handle so much derailment to a timeline. At some point it just throws up it's arms and goes "leave me be, for five minutes, I was busy here!"

"JADE: we were sort of in the middle of something important... i thinkJOHN: no, you really weren’t.JOHN: sorry to be the bearer of lame news, like i just was to the other johns.JOHN: but whatever you were doing doesn’t matter anymore.JOHN: nothing that’s happening here matters at all.JOHN: this session, this whole takeover by the condesce... this isn’t how a universe gets made.

JADE: its not?JOHN: no." Sorry to break it to ya, but you're in a doomed timeline.

"DAVE: so what nowDAVE: if its all a done deal like preemptively speakingDAVE: can we all just relax or whatJOHN: actually...JOHN: no." Okay... So, what, can he just recruit these guys off and zap off with them to the next plot point? Won't something have to be done about the grimbarkness first? Also, if the next plot point is in the same timeline... Game Over really gets derailed. No Jade, no swapping Derse for LOFAF.

"DAVE: fuckJOHN: ah! i just realized why she sent me to this point in time to start recruiting you all.DAVE: whatDAVE: who" Rose, but not your Rose, although perhaps with the memories of that Rose, so kinda your Rose. :P Okay, so it's not that Rose's letter gave more detailed instructions than to zap there & recruit. So John'll have to figure out what to bring besides the people, in some cases at least. Like, here that would be Caledfwlch.

"JOHN: this is the moment just after you made your legendary cue ball sword.JOHN: you’re going to need it.DAVE: for whatJOHN: to come fight lord english with me.

Dave’s eyebrows descend beneath his sunglasses. You feel pretty bad because you’re about to completely circumvent the life-changing epiphany he’s just had that you know for a fact will make him a happier, chiller, and altogether more well-balanced human being." :/ Yeah, Dave really was happier cheating his way out of the prophecy. But then, he could only become so happy if someone else took care of the REAL Lord English for him. Guess another Dave'll have to bite the dust for "alpha" Dave again. Then again, epiphany or not, GO Dave might have ended up happy... but then he'd have been a happy ghost, for just as long until LE or the black hole got to him.

Still, man, I'm feeling for the guy. It's one thing to reject the call when it's an abstract prophecy or artefact thrust on you. But now it's his best friend asking him to join him in a crazy last stand. That's... actually one of the toughest challenges any Dave has had.

"DAVE: oh shit" ... Best underwhelming response he could have. :D

"JADE: what??

JADE: john. he is NOT going to fight lord english just yet

JADE: he is staying right here

JADE: old ladys orders :PJOHN: actually, yes he is." I'm sensing a showdown coming, but I wonder how swift John will take care of her, can his mangrist trump First Guardian swiftness? Oh, yeah, and he could turn into the Breeze too, I recall. Yeah, Jade's gonna bite the dust.

"JOHN: and so are you. we all are." Oooooh, okay, he wants everyone from the GO timeline to take a swing. Cool that he's getting his gang back together. Still, the age difference! :P Everyone but Roxy might be a little wary of it. (I'm saying that because at one point Roxy crushed on Jane's Dad.

"JADE: omg

JADE: how dare you?????JOHN: jade, you’re brainwashed.JOHN: sorry. but nothing you’re saying now means anything." Like, I understand where he's coming from, but dang John, still so brutal.

"JOHN: it’s fine though, you’ll stop being brainwashed once i zap you outside the influence of the condesce." Oooh, round trips to blankspace it is? I don't think it'll be to LOWAS, just to "a" point in blankspace they can be "stored" until the gang is assembled.

"JADE: youre not zapping me anywhere!!!!!JOHN: ha ha, yes i am.JOHN: watch this...

> Zap Grimbark Jade outta there." Has he learned to do a snap to zap her away while staying behind himself? Like how Jade zapped everyone to LOMAX.

It would be anticlimactic for John's retcon powers to suddenly cease working here. It would also be very Hussie for that to happen spontaneously. :P But then again, not likely as he'll use the same power to go to LOCAM (Caliborn's planet).

"You set a hand on Jade’s shoulder and zap her off to a better place. Then you touch down on the concrete surface where the whole pointless confrontation was taking place so that you can talk Dave around whatever it is he’s going through right now. Dave, like his ecto-sister, really needs to get in an absurd amount of extraneous words before he can fully process a situation.

The Mayor tips his head at you and fiddles with his sash. God damn, you missed the Mayor." Ah, okay, that particular conversation we might not see in its entirety? Or maybe we will. In any case, right, WV was there! Aww, yes we missed him. But hey, seems like John at least took a little time before they travelled into the future, to get to know WV? I wonder if he ever found out he was his exile, probably not.

"DAVE: so what do we do nextJOHN: well, i’ll leave you to hang out with jade for a bit, while i go round up the others." Hey, it occurred to me, Dave & Jade could have a chat while they wait, work some things out. A similar conversation as that GO Dave & Jade presumably had right after their deaths, when they woke up next to each other in the dreambubbles!

"DAVE: what others... likeDAVE: everyoneJOHN: yes. rose, and the other four." Yeah, this is speeding things up rapidly as far as the meetup between the kids is concerned. Dave & Dirk might benefit from some alone time out in blankspace together, mirroring their LOTAK conversation. Also, this means John will be zapping into the outer reaches of the session to retrieve Dirk, hahah. ... I wonder if the glitches from the stardust will be causing any disturbance, probably not anymore since the stardust was blown out of the cartridge, admittedly at a "later" point in the timeline.

Blaperile has a good point, what about Roxy? I'm going to assume that, by the time gets around to breaking her out of jail, John 1 or an equivalent John has already visited her. But I don't remember if they talked about the ring already back then. I do still think John will be giving her the ring to go revive Calliope, but the exact feelings around the moment will remain to be seen.

"DAVE: i seeDAVE: so...DAVE: sorry if i seem a little slow here im just trying to figure this outDAVE: youre telling me that i made this sword because im destined to defeat lord english and weve all been training for that day our whole lives to some extent more or lessDAVE: and we are actually successful here like we overthrow the condesce and make a universe and everythingDAVE: and thenDAVE: we..." ... Yeah, this timeline won't spawn a universe, it's already been done, it exists, no point in repeating the whole process. This session is now void again. Dave tries to build a timeline in his head that makes sense, but the sad thing is, his future is uncertain. Though, he might not be sad at all? I mean, not if the future is his to be written, right?

"DAVE: sit on our asses for several years in the new universe and become adults and lead mostly boring lives instead of going off to fight him?" ... Or, does Dave really DO understand what has happened, that he's picking up left over plot behind some other version of him.

"JOHN: yes.DAVE: guess that makes senseDAVE: now that i think about it thats probably what i would want to do by the time we finally wrap up this whole hot messJOHN: yep, it is what you wanted to do.JOHN: and pretty much everyone else agreed, including me. so that’s what we did." Not sure how conscious the decision was for them at the time, but sure.

"DAVE: which uhDAVE: i guess begs the questionDAVE: if it seemed pointless at the time and nobody could be assed to go fight him when we all had our shit togetherDAVE: why does it suddenly become important to go back and beat him years later after we become a bunch of lazy adults with boring lives" You'd have to ask Rose but she wouldn't remember in this timeline so the point is kind of mute. :P

"JOHN: i pretty much had the same questions, dave.JOHN: there are probably some pretty good answers to that. definitely some complicated answers.JOHN: but to be honest... i kind of forget what they actually were?DAVE: god damn it john" Pfffffff. John "it seemed important at the time so here i am" Egbert, everyone.

"JOHN: it has something to do with canon unraveling, and such.JOHN: we all live outside canon in the future, and if we don’t do go do this, everything will stop meaning anything.DAVE: does...DAVE: anything you just said actually mean anything in the first place" There's a song that comes to mind from Volume 9, "Everything means Something to Somebody". To Dave, it must be sound like the same level of fortune cookie wisdom.

"JOHN: that’s a great question, dave.JOHN: one that i can’t say i’m qualified to answer!JOHN: i think the bottom line here is, this is what rose said we had to do.JOHN: so, that’s why we’re doing it.DAVE: sounds like a bullshit reason if i ever heard oneJOHN: you might be right.JOHN: but is it less of a bullshit reason than any other reason we currently have to go fight him?DAVE: ...DAVE: damnDAVE: youre rightDAVE: i dont know how you did it but you somehow instantly sold me completelyDAVE: fuck you adult egbert" At some point, the scales will buckle just from the shear heap of bullshit piled on.

"You zap Dave off to where he needs to go. The Mayor is still staring at you, blinking his buggy little eyes. You shoot him a warm smile and a thumbs-up before bouncing off into the ether of infinity." Awww, actually, leaving WV behind can't be all bad for him. He can find Serenity in here, PM too. Condesce might very well leave for the Furthest Ring, and then this session is up for sale to anyone. And with the royalty down for the count, WV can take over. Well, okay, WQ... probably blew up when Union Jack broke Prospit. Yeah, WV, PM & the still alive Derse agents are the top bill around, and if PM can trump Jack again (the three of him, Spades Slick & Union Jack included), then the remaining Derse agents would follow.

That marks the end of Meat, page 4 for us!

[comicteaparty]

May 23rd, 2019 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party chat that occurred on May 23rd, 2019, from 5PM - 7PM PDT.  The chat focused on Maiden of the Machine by Caitlin Like.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB START!

Good evening, everyone~! Our final Thursday Book Club is officially beginning! Today we are discussing Maiden of the Machine by Caitlin Like~! (https://maidenmachine.com/)

Remember that Thursday discussions are completely freeform! However, every 30 minutes I will drop in OPTIONAL discussion questions in case you’d like a bit of a prompt. If you miss out on one of these prompts, you can find them pinned for the chat’s duration. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is fun and respectfully appreciating the comic. All that said, let’s begin!

QUESTION 1. What is your favorite scene in the comic so far and why?

i think my favorite scene so far is when elizabeth and victor decide to sleep together. part in for its serious drama. theres so many questions about victor created from just the visuals, and then theres the stakes at hand of elizabeth's reputation. but then, there is also a good balance of comic relief to a degree since victor told her to ask no questions and she asks the one question that he probably didnt see coming. all around it was a pretty satisfactor culmination of their relationship so far at a juncture that felt natural.

another scene i really enjoyed was the ball scene where victor and eric are having a chat about elizabeth and then elizabeth and victor have a passionate liason. im mostly a fan cause of the dramatic convo. cause theres a deep and terrible sense that both characters truly know what their risking, what the situation is, and how they still are into each other. plus, its all very tense cause it just takes one person being in the wrong place at the wrong time to blow their cover.

honestly i think itd be accurate to say all my favorite scenes are with elizabeth and victor. romance is one of those genres i can struggle with, because theres always something missing. but oh man do i love the romance in this comic. there is nothing more i want than to see then elizabeth and victor finding a way to be together in spite society trying to kick that down at every turn.

i will give a special shout out to the scene where eric, abhaya, milo, and the cousin are meeting to discuss the affairs of the estate. i just like it because it basically shows all the characters' worst sides. abhaya is brash and reckless, milo is just kind of there, and eric is a greedy mofo. and whats worse is literally none of them thought to bring elizabeth. they may have their excuses of protecting her...but part of me still thinks thats a super dick move and shows even abhaya just kind of views elizabeth more as a pawn than a person. but all in all, nothing like money and estates to show off everyone's worst traits. it is very true to life, and i can respect that.

another non-victor/elizabeth scene i respect is the scene where elizabeth is out dress shopping and eric is like here i got you these dresses. just cause i knew eric was kind of a creep, but ho boy, he dialed the creep up to number 11 on a 10 meter scale. but at the same time, i think that really helped to erase all sympathy i might have had for him. thus paving the way for me to not really feel guilty on elizabeth's behalf for her trespasses against him.

mathtans

Hello, I made it... unfortunately this is a rather bad week, I only made it through the first two chapters.

RebelVampire

i also like scenes with west in them. cause I like that between all the people around Victor, West seems the most honest in a scoundrel sort of way. Which that is basically what I like about him in every scene. He causes trouble and pushes the limits, but at the same time hes always at least pretty upfront about his intentions.

thats unfortunate cause its a great comic, but glad to see you anyway math!

mathtans

Which kind of sucks, I like the whole concept of the kick ass ladies. Even the pirates.

Maybe I'll find time to read more in the background.

The bit I liked most of what I read I think was back in the first chapter, when Elizabeth makes the callback to when she got out of the ropes at the very start of the story. It was a nice subtle detail which I found very clever.

I'm not at your bits yet but I can see how the Elizabeth/Victor thing is being set up. Also there seems to be some question of whether Abhaya likes him... or possibly other ladies? I may be reading my own interests into that.

RebelVampire

you may be reading your own interests but later on there is a female character i ship abhaya with atm

so there is that

i dont think youve met her yet tho

mathtans

Also, yeah, the whole estate thing creates an interesting dynamic. That was a clever way of using the period to generate conflicts.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 2. A large focus of the comic is on Elizabeth and Victor’s relationship. At the end of the day, do you think the two will find a way to be together? If so, how will they get over the scandal Elizabeth would face and the fact those around Victor want him to marry a titled woman? If you don’t believe they’ll find a way to stay together, what will stop them? Further, given the most recent events, how will Eric Wollstonecraft play a role in the future of their love story? How does the narration framing seen where Elizabeth is addressing her potential son affect your opinion? How do you think that future came about, and how soon will it come to pass? Last, what do you think of their relationship in terms of Elizabeth wanting to make her own choices in life?

mathtans

I ship Abhaya with everyone.

RebelVampire

yeah i have to say if theres one thing i appreciate its combination of progressive themes while at the same time acknowledging that the period was not the friendliest towards these things

especially in regards to how elizabeth is treated since her only purpose apparently to everyone is to get hitched to a titled guy

and i mean

thats depressing

yet also true to the period

even though we get to see elizabeth take a journey and reject those social conventions

in regards to the current question, i am choosing not to think about whether in the long term elizabeth and victor will get together for the rest of their lives. because if they dont i will cry but i could see this realistically being the case given the tone of the narration. cause that...does not sound like an elizabeth who lives in eternal happiness.

mathtans

Back, sorry. Yeah, I'm usually not much of one for period pieces, but I like the narrative viewpoint. Also, pretty neat airships.

There was the point where she talked about leaving Victor behind back in Chapter 1 (I don't recall the exact circumstances) but I wondered if it was because he causes her heartache, or just because it make their lives more complicated.

Incidentally, the first thing I thought of with the name "Lovelace" was Lady Ada Lovelace. The mathematician. Not sure if that was an intentional reference to another well regarded woman.

RebelVampire

i love period pieces but i think the steampunk aspects help twist it enough to make it a bit more unique.

mathtans

(I don't think the time frames synch up but I don't recall when the comic takes place...)

Oh, it's definitely unique. I like the gadget aspect too.

RebelVampire

i would not be surprised if the name choice was purposeful. if only because the comic has lots of strong ladies. i doubt well see any real historical figures though.

i appreciate that the comic actually kind of starts off with the airship escapade

cause it really showcases the ways in which their world differs

where you get airships

and sky pirates

mathtans

That's a good point. Helps with the world building before we get down into some of the classic period issues.

RebelVampire

yes. and i also kind of like it starts off more action-y. not that there isnt action bits later mind you. but more i think it helps set up the main conflict while tying in the romance. because it makes it so the romance isnt some forced subplot. rather its kind of integral and has as much to do with the whole highjacking as the rest of the story. since later on youll see that elizabeth's proximity to victor keeps bring that part of the story into the limelight

mathtans

That's a good point, in terms of tying things together. Also possibly sets up a key antagonist (or at least revenge plot) in that burned pirate lady.

RebelVampire

she does come back

i will spoil that much

mathtans

I figured she had to some time, whether it was by the present updates or not.

I've resumed reading a bit in the background. Seems like both the Watson ladies are doing their best to get arrested. ^.^

RebelVampire

well at least Abhaya is.

cause Abhaya is a risk taker who puts herself in many situations where people are gonna stop and stare

mathtans

Well, yes. But Elizabeth also seems to be taking risks where Victor is concerned. Or at least stepping out of her comfort zone.

Certain people have certain effects on us I guess.

RebelVampire

nah thats true. I just think Elizabeth just takes more social risks. Like not the kind that are gonna get her arrested, but more the kind that are gonna get her socially shunned.

whereas Abhaya is the punch one who is gonna get charged with assault

mathtans

That seems like a valid viewpoint. It fits with their personalities when we saw them in their youth.

The cutting back and forth between the two sisters in Chapter 3 is well done.

RebelVampire

yeah in general i like the PoV switching of the comic. because every scene is pretty well-chosen and advances the plot in some manner. and it lets us see others parts of the comic developing. cause later on you do get to see more of victor without elizabeth some and get to go "hmm" to all that hes up to.

mathtans

Ha! I like Chapter 3, page 31, where all the dialogue seems to fade out as Victor touches her. Cute.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 3. Besides romance, there is a larger plot posing real and deadly danger to the characters. Who do you think the Angel is? What are the Angel’s goals, and why is she excessively targeting Victor? Further, what do you think the source of her power is? Also, what does have kidnapping people like Ambrose have to do with her goals? Alternatively, is Ambrose there of his own free will (and if so, why)? Considering Abhaya is being sought by Amabel for help, what do you think Abhaya will do? Will Abhaya be able to uncover more of the truth, or is Abhaya just going to get herself into more trouble? How will Abhaya’s involvement affect Elizabeth and herself? Last, can Amabel be trusted, or is it possible she’ll abandon Abhaya when Abhaya might need her?

spoiler Amabel is who I ship Abhaya with

mathtans

Related to those questions, I do wonder a bit if Victor has a sordid past or something. Like maybe his empire wasn't entirely built on the up-and-up... with his knowledge or possibly without it. So there could be a reason there for him to be targeted.

I've looked on the character page and I approve this ship.

RebelVampire

oh yeah. Victor is 100% definitely a scoundrel. There is one scenes that really hints at this, but even before that i agree with you. Victor is not on the up and up entirely. I don't think he made his fortune without cracking a few skulls.

although idk if this is what makes him a target persay

or maybe it oes

but more in the way hes done the forbidden when it comes to tech

mathtans

Was he totally aware of the repercussions of whatever he did though? Because the people around him seem to like to keep him in the dark.

brb

RebelVampire

im sure he knew the repercussions. the people around him are more about keeping him in the dark about romantic matters. cause as was implied by one of the questions later on you find out the main thing ppl arent telling victor is that elizabeth is just there to open him up to the idea of marriage so he can marry a titled lady

cause everyone is all about those titles

In regards to the current question while you're away, I think Abhaya will help Amabel and get herself caught and get into a whole mess of trouble that for once, Elizabeth will have to break her out of. But I think it'll be a dual sword cause I do think Elizabeth's relationship to both Abhaya and Victor is gonna put her in the crosshairs. cause like, what an easy way to get Victor to show up. Get Elizabeth, tell Victor you'll never see her again if you don't show up.

as for the angel's goals, I feel shes on a path of vengence against the entire world, but particularly victor cause hes high up there in the industrialist chain

and knows something she doesnt and that she needs to bring her plans to fruition

mathtans

Back. Okay, that does make sense, darn titles.

Interesting, this Angel talk. I wonder if it's the same "angel" we see in the title card for Chapter 2?

Sounds like you think it's not personal, the Angel's path, merely that Victor is a convenient figurehead.

RebelVampire

i mean the angel is kind of the one from the title card. those are her wings for sure, though she doesnt look quite like that the one time you meet her

it could be personal, but i feel like the angel just has bigger fish to fry

from the impression i got from her

since shes kidnapping a ton of ppl

and you dont need to kidnap ppl to your cause if all youre doing is hunting down some industrialist

who almost got caught

if not for abhaya and elizabeth

mathtans

Ah, so she's the one behind the disappearances then.

(Still reading in the background.)

RebelVampire

yes. i mean its pretty implied but you get confirmation later that yes its her. though you can definitely speculate on the why

cause i have no clue

shes still enigmatic

mathtans

Looking for a husband? ^.^

RebelVampire

shes reading the wrong romance advice book

when elizabeth and her meet, elizabeth will point her in the right direction

and the angel is like "oh wait so youre not supposed to kidnap them? huh?"

mathtans

And then we ship Angel and Elizabeth.

RebelVampire

no. ill ship Abhaya and Angel

Elizabeth and Victor are the OTP

i said but then was like "nah id totally ship Elizabeth with West"

mathtans

Heh. That's fair, they are the main couple. Though West is an interesting guy, just needs to learn social cues.

RebelVampire

nah thats why west is amazing

he doesnt know social cues

and is awkward

yet helpful

and hes the only dude of victor's who seems to be in elizabeth's corner

mathtans

Right. I think it was said that he's not used to the lifestyle?

RebelVampire

yes that is what he said

which makes me want a side chapter just about what he did before he came to victor

cause i dont feel like victor would just hire some rando. he must of seen something in west

mathtans

Maybe he took pity on the guy, something about the scar.

RebelVampire

that could be cause victor understands the burden of scars

or something like that

whereas i just think west's scar gives him character

QUESTION 4. Mixed in with the present drama is a lot of unsolved past drama. Who do you think Victor really is? What do you think happened to Victor based on Milo’s story that he was telling Abhaya? How do you think Victor managed to overcome this to become the person he is today? Also, what do you make of the room Victor seemed to have sealed off in his house? Besides Victor, there is also a lot of drama between Jules, Abhaya, and Milo. What do you think happened between the three of them that managed to damage their relationship forever? Will spending more time together heal their wounds, or is it impossible at this point? Further, what was Jules up to the whole time he was away with Victor? Last, what do you think Jules’ goals were for introducing Elizabeth and Victor, and why does he seem immensely conflicted about her presence?

mathtans

Sorry, biab

RebelVampire

kay

I think Victor was some fellow servant kid who was Jules' only friend after Jules got sent away. And then Victor almost died. Although I'm changing my previous speculations. Maybe the Angel is more literal and she literally showed up, saved Victor with tech with the promise to return, and then left. So now shes back for her comeuppance. Meanwhile, Victor decided technology was great and he needed to bring it to the world cause it was what would keep him alive and save others.

as for the three, at this juncture it seems pretty heavily implied Milo and Jules were in a relationship and that Milo called off the wedding to Abhaya cause he didnt want to live a lie in regards to how he felt about Jules. Regardless of the what, while Milo i feel will legitimately forgive and forget, I dont feel Abhaya or Jules will. Abhaya cause she doesnt seem the type to ever forgive ever. And to just hold onto her hatred and seethe. Jules in the meantime I think wont forgive until he gets revenge in some way. Cause the two probably betrayed his trust big time and he kind of got the most screwed over by what happened

i think Jules wanted them to meet for the exact reason that the others implied: they want Victor to warm up to the idea of women so he can get married. However, I feel Jules now feels like a jerk who is taking out his anger at Abhaya on Elizabeth who had 0% to do with what happened between the three. and yet he knows hes in too deep to turn back now.

mathtans

Could be that Victor was initially poor... in fact maybe he married into the company somehow? Could the Angel be his wife? o.o

I wondered about Milo and Jules. My initial thought had been that Abhaya had called off the engagement though, so that's an interesting other look at things.

Jules and Elizabeth were close too, back in the day. One wonders if he's that good at seeing how things play out long term.

RebelVampire

nah its definitely his company. but victor was probably poor. if only cause everyone calls him new money. so it means he has no predecessor parent who made their fortune.

Jules strikes me more as the type who things hes great at planning but really, really, really isnt

and then tons of consequences come about that he has to accept and deal with

mathtans

That makes sense and could explain the sympathy for West too, maybe he knows West even though it doesn't necessarily go both ways.

Yeah, Jules seems to think he's got everything well in hand but he doesn't seem to account for the human factor.

Made it to the end of Chapter 4/Act 1 now. Apparently the Angel kidnaps people to literally graft wings onto her spine. Ouch.

Interesting callback to Victor's wounded leg though.

RebelVampire

i think even more than the human factor, Jules is just bad at making plan Bs for when things do go wrong. then panics and makes bad decisions

like not telling victor the factory is in danger

mathtans

Maybe that thing that Victor has in the factory is a time machine. Turns out he's actually from the future, he brought back all the technology and that's why the Angel is after him, she thinks it's stolen.

You're not wrong there, about Jules.

RebelVampire

ya know...i can support this time traveler theory. i mean it doesnt quite fit considering flashbacks

but id 100% buy victor built a time machine

cause why not

victor is amazing

mathtans

Maybe his company is corrupt because they're still trying to get the patents.

RebelVampire

i mean

its a company

so its probably corrupt to some degree regardless

mathtans

That's also a good point.

RebelVampire

i mean i can point out the fact they want victor to marry a titled lady to be a form of corruption. cause thats just marrying someone to advance your social standing for the business

mathtans

I guess we're near the end... haven't said anything about the art yet. I suppose I like the shading, and I thought the sound effect use was clever.

Need someone to star in the commercials.

"Ladies and gentlemen, my wife loves this new device I call a roomba."

RebelVampire

i really love the clothes. i mean theyre simple, and yet all seem to fit within the period that this comic is trying to go for

but if they get a roomba what are the house wives supposed to do

not sit at home cooking and cleaning all day?

also about the art, i really love the steampunk designs. you can definitely tell the steampunk inspiration in them, yet theyre really unique and not really like any steampunk ive seen before

and i can for sure appreciate uniqueness

mathtans

Yeah, that's true. And there was that neat detail of the corset being laced up the front, I wouldn't have thought of that.

Uniqueness is good. I wonder what the machine connection will end up being.

With the whole "maiden of the machine" thing there. (Won't be a roomba, after all.)

RebelVampire

ah thats a good point as well. i loved that detail about the maid being able to tell elizabeth didnt have a maid

mathtans

Maybe Elizabeth gets upgraded too.

RebelVampire

the comic was about the angel all along

and the angel's victory

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB END!

Sadly, this wraps up our final Thursday Book Club chat for now. Thank you so much to everyone for reading and joining us! We want to give a special thank you to Caitlin Like, as well, for making Maiden of the Machine. If you liked the comic, make sure to support Caitlin Like’s efforts however you’re able to~!

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[scarletrebel]

⭐star⭐ waffle at me about your favourite lines youve written

ohhh friend you have opened a pandoras box and i hope you are ready also thank you aha

so i started…….. picking some lines and made the Executive Decision to just do one fic because i was planning on doing a couple from a handful of fics but turns out im far too prone to waffling about this kind of stuff because i love picking things apart and figuring out why they work because i love fuckign words and the things they evoke and stuff so yeah this is just some fave lines from most recent fic, requital. 

this was part of a ‘directors cut’ writer thing and if anyone has any more prompts, feel more than free to send them my way! 

Requital, Chp. 1: 

His honesty, wrapped tightly underneath a chivalrous act; a throwaway comment to soften the exposure of such a question, draws her closer.

She kisses him, and hopes that even though the motion is countless in the amount of times they’ve come together, that the answer is plain enough. A claim, she hears her own words in her head, tasting the tobacco of his morning cigarette on her tongue, the warmth of the pull at his hands on her hips.

so whilst i cant say this section was directly inspired by the ecdysis book, what i can say is that there is definitely some influence going on here, in particular these two lines from the page ‘synesthesia’:

“Wu Ming is a bonfire in the darkness, and she crawls toward his warmth.”

“Wu Ming leaves his questions by the wayside as he is drawn inexorably into the gravity well of her desperate honesty.” 

and thats not something i realised until i was writing the final draft, and im pretty pleased with myself considering not only is requital going to examine some of the similarities between avia and drifter, but also the fact that ecdysis is probably my favourite book. i mean…… ‘drawn inexorably into the gravity well of her desperate honesty’ what the FUCK KIND OF LINE its gorgeous i cant deal with it or this book or this page or how desperately gorgeous the tragedy of drifter and orins relationship is 

also…… look. im a hopeless romantic. always have been, probs always will be, so when i say avia and rook are soulmates i mean it in the cheesiest way possible. right before this is rook feeling a bit self-conscious about the whole awoken engaging thing, and theres no way avia can actually put into words how irrevocably in love she is with rook. so she kisses him, and hopes beyond hope that she can put those feelings into motions if not words. i also enjoy the small bit of possessiveness that came out of her too, because the whole ‘claim’ thing with the awoken was there since the first draft but this section came in the final edit, she thinks of it so casually but when she goes on to say that she’d actually duel anyone who came between them i…….. would not put it past her to be 100% down to do that. 

rook isnt a bonfire in the darkness, he’s an anchor in the deep, a solid tether when the sea becomes a storm. 

(ayyy where the FUCK WAS THAT WHEN I WAS WRITING THIS) 

Requital Chp. 2:

Here’s the thing, if you’ve gone through the trouble of decrypting this (a fortified certain-eyes-only encryption that took me a couple of hundred years to perfect, thank you very much), it at least means you’re interested, so hear me out.

i like this line a lot, for a few reasons. drifter knows avia well enough at this point to be well acquainted with her temper and lack of time for dealing with his nonsense. it’s the first flick of the coin between the two of them, drifter laying the proverbial gauntlet down and at the end of the day, its up to her whether or not she picks it up. 

and she does, avia asks levi to decrypt it, and the first thing she sees is drifter acknowledging that shes done so and asking her to at least hear him out. he’s kind of caught her out, and she can respect that even if thats not at the forefront of her mind. avia also has her own brand of curiosity when it comes to people like the drifter, so this is kind of the first inkling of that. and it also (i hope) makes you wonder if drifter is aware of that curiosity that she has, if he sent the message decrypted on purpose to get her interested. 

She smiles at the note, throws her legs over the bed and stretches around a yawn. Five minutes later, Levi puts her in her armour.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stick around?” The Ghost asks. “We don’t have anything urgent to do. There’s breakfast here.”

Avia hums, considering. She moves into the kitchen, glances over the fridge, the cupboards. She looks then onto the sofa, the sprawled pillows, untidy blankets. Suddenly the armour on her body feels heavy, out of place, like the metal has no right being somewhere like this.

“No. I’m not hungry, let’s go.”

“Okay,” Levi says in that tone of voice that lets her know they aren’t buying it. “Should we walk, or transmat?”

Avia notices the balcony door is still open. She walks over and closes it, the streets barely alive as one or two civilians walk to and fro, glancing idly at each other as they pass. “Transmat.”

avia immediately makes an comment about being all domestic with rook in chapter 1. its just not something that suits her in her own mind, and that line (even though i havent waffled about it bc dear god theres too much here already) was something i immediately knew i wanted if i was going to write a day of domestic bliss with her and her fiance, because i knew it’d be a hard thing for her to just get on with like a normal person aha. 

so, we get this part in chapter 2. the domestic bliss is over, and what avia knows best, what shes always known best, is a set of armour and getting back to work. however this part of herself contradicts that which she’s experienced for the past day, and especially the line ‘Suddenly the armour on her body feels heavy, out of place, like the metal has no right being somewhere like this.’ i put in to really reinforce that idea. its not the metal that feels out of place in this scene, its the person in the metal. and her eagerness to transmat straight to the tower rather than walk through the peaceful city streets shows her tendency to run from such thoughts.

this part came really naturally, actually. its a small snapshot into a bigger struggle avia has with herself (especially given the dreaming city, the reef, petra and now potentially going back to the worst part of the shore with drifter) of where she belongs, and more importantly, if she deserves to belong. which is why levi talks to her in that tone because they know what shes doing, theyve seen it so many times before – avia in a scenario that resembles something normal and running from it with no one around to stop her, because in her subconscious she doesnt believe she deserves it. 

“Ada-1, I believe, has fully settled into the Tower. She becomes more and more tolerable of the Guardians by the day. And with the discovery of Niobe labs, her mood has been favourable.”

i had no idea how fun scarlet was to write until i got to this part. she almost has her own language, really. writing ‘im really proud of ada because i spent all morning with her and she was only snippy with like two guardians and shes been really uplifted and im really happy for her since they found niobe labs’ in scarlets own ‘okay but heres the relevant information’ way of explaining things is a challenge but FUN. like, really fun?? 

because scarlet wouldnt be mentioning adas mood if she didnt care, ya know? and its not that she cant say that longer thing about being proud and stuff, its just that she doesnt see the sense in it and its not important information. like, if avia and eden were to spend a dedicated amount of time whittling her down she would absolutely say ‘i am so proud of ada and also i wanna smooch her face how do i do that as an exo’ but its just not a thing for her. but part of the reason why ada and scarlet being together was an idea that i had was because i imagine that line of thinking probably suits ada. 

“It was at Ada’s request. I had more knowledge of the area in its current state, and felt more comfortable talking to Ikora and her Hidden agents than Ada did…”

supportive exo girlfriends. that is all. man ive gotta write more about these two

“Hmm,” Ada wears a concerned stare masked behind a formal rigidity that Avia knows her Warlock teammate best for.

if im being honest, i just really enjoy this line. i imagine its hard for exos to show concern, esp a character like ada and my girl scarlet, so avia has spent a lot of time dissecting certain facial cues and yeah im proud of how this description came out aha

…as if she hadn’t spent the past few months clipping sidelong comments and threatening him when his Gambit veered out of the realm of her control.

avia is a control freak. plain and simple, and i wanted to make that as obvious as possible considering this sentence is only a few away from avia choosing to go and talk to drifter. 

there’s a certain amount of ‘i need to understand this thing that i have limited knowledge on so i can predict/control/plan for it in the future’ in how avia views drifter in general, its a kind-of warlock way of thinking about things but the big difference is avias need for control in these situations is a) selfish and b) only applies to things that she knows she has a good chance of understanding/taming. shes not going around learning about the hive because she has a good understanding that thats a cosmic threat that can only be defended against until it comes. drifter on the other hand is on her doorstep.

i also really loved the contradiction in putting ‘gambit’ and ‘control’ next to each other in a sentence, i kinda hoped it showed how conflicted avia is about going and talking to drifter, and maybe even how naive it is of her to think that it could turn out okay. 

She was incensed, maybe, at the way he spoke to Ada, needed to go and stomp the idea out of his head but he got her talking, like he does

i like this line bc its avia acknowledging that she knows how shes viewed. she knows everyone sees her as a hot-head, she knows her anger veers away from her sometimes and whilst she’s gotten better at getting a handle on it, it’s still an aspect of her that people who dont know her well enough find it hard to get past. 

i also enjoy how new people to this fic/avia in general might not know that this is a big part of her? so she’s trying to use it as an excuse, ‘well no one can blame me if i say i got really mad because thats what i do’ and it (hopefully) tells new people about that aspect of her character without having to show the worst part of it, the convo with ada being an introduction to it i guess – especially since the past few scenes have seen her a lot softer than im used to writing aha. 

“Dammit,” she mutters under her breath. And walks towards the Drifter before she can make a better decision

fun fact – this line was originally ‘and walks down the corridor before she can make a better decision.’ 

i changed it because i wanted to make it more obvious that avia is making a conscious decision to choose drifter, that she’s walking towards a path that she knows is not a good idea. it provides foreshadowing for the allegiance quest and referring to him as ‘The Drifter’ cements it as an idea that she’s walking towards and not necessarily a person. 

[masterxsquare-blog]

You know what really doesn't help motivate me to write Eraqus? Going into his tag, or the bbs tag and finding Eraqus hate, or rants about how Eraqus was the real villain of bbs, or how Eraqus was abusive to his students.

Before you ask, I'm not going to follow this post up with a '#eraqusdidnothingwrong' tag, because Eraqus made his share of mistakes in BBS. He's not entirely blameless.

Do I think he was abusive to the wayfinder trio? No. People are quick to say Eraqus is responsible for Terra going down the path he took, because he held Terra back during the mark of mastery exam. Because Terra had darkness in his heart. Because Terra couldn't keep his darkness in check.

Eraqus relationship with Terra isn't abusive, I would however go so far as to say it was more neglectful. Now, some people tend to consider Neglect a form of abuse. Abuse is something you intentionally do. Neglect is unintentional.

There are three points people often bring up against Eraqus. His treatment of Terra, his opinions of light and darkness, and, of course, the major elephant in the room, him trying to kill Ventus.

Going back to his neglecting of Terra, and how people, apparently, call Eraqus' treatment of Terra 'abuse', here's where I feel this is not Abuse, but that Eraqus was neglectful of the big problem surrounding Terra. Eraqus has likely been training Aqua and Terra from a very young age, he's not just their teacher, but their parental figure as well, and he has raised the two of them to be fine keyblade masters. With Terra viewing Eraqus as the father he never had, what boy wouldn't want to make his daddy proud? But with that desire to make Eraqus proud, also comes the doubt that he won't be good enough to make Eraqus proud. Not only does doubt come into play, but maybe also a hint of jealousy towards his fellow student? After all, Aqua excelled in magic while Terra seemed more focused on improving his physical strength. Of course, Eraqus had always been proud of his students, why wouldn't he be? Eraqus either knew about this and chose to do nothing in hopes that Terra would correct it on his own, or Terra was really good at hiding his insecurities to the point that no one noticed, and it allowed the darkness in him to manifest.

Then comes the day you've been waiting for, the mark of mastery exam. The day Terra and Aqua have spent their whole lives preparing for. Eraqus even stated before the sparring match that this wasn't about winning or losing, but it's a sparring match, and Terra is determined to win. Aqua gets a momentary upper hand, and suddenly all those doubts come back and manifest in a little burst of darkness. That right there is an automatic red flag for Eraqus. The mark of mastery is about demonstrating a mastery of one's own heart, and that momentary slip up shows that Terra has not mastered himself yet.

Imagine, if you will, that you are in driver's ed., youve spent your entire course working towards getting your license. Your teacher tells you that if you keep at it, you're guaranteed to pass the final exam. Then, after all that build up, you blow a red light on the driving test and your teacher fails you on the spot. The instructor tells you that you did everything else right, but that mistake at the red light is an automatic fail, because that mistake could cost you your life, the lives of the people in your vehicle, and the lives of those around you.

Terra's momentary manifesting of the darkness made from his doubts is the same as you blowing that red light. He didnt keep his heart in check and allowed his doubts to get the better of him. Eraqus even states, after the exam that he would have made Terra a master in a heartbeat, if it were up to him, but he can't so long as Terra can't keep his heart in check. What if Terra gives in again? What if the next time his darkness manifests, someone gets hurt? What if the darkness in his heart proves too strong for Terra to control?

Eraqus gives Terra a second chance, which is sending him off to protect the worlds from the Unversed. However, Eraqus neglects to address the problem of where Terra's darkness came from, and how to overcome it. More than likely, like before, Eraqus trusts that Terra will be able to sort it out himself. As a precaution, he sends Aqua to keep an eye on him, in case his fears are realized and Terra loses control.

He neglects the obvious problem, a problem he may have had a hand in unintentionally making. It's not as though Eraqus began berating Terra and calling him a failure, he gave him another chance, he offered Terra assurance, not harsh remarks.

The one who twisted Eraqus' words and intentions around was Xehanort. He is the one who stoked the dark flames in Terra's heart, told him what he wanted to hear, and also fed him lies to fill in the gaps.

What Eraqus should have done was call an end to the mark of mastery exam, and speak with Terra directly about him manifesting the darkness, find the root of the problem and nip it in the bud. What he did was negligence, he turned a blind eye to a serious problem, but he never abused or berated Terra over it.

What also didn't earn Eraqus any points was sending Aqua off go spy on Terra. What Eraqus did was out of parental concern for one of his students, his child. However, because of Xehanort twisting the truth, Terra saw it as a lack of trust.

Next, let's talk about one of the other strikes against Eraqus that people love to bring up. His feelings about the darkness.

Eraqus is a keyblade master, he has been trained to be one from a young age, just like Terra and Aqua. And one of the duties of a keyblade master is to protect the worlds from the darkness. Now, some claim the Eraqus' bias borders on bigotry (don't ask me how this applies to a metaphysical concept like light and darkness in everyone's hearts, I'm not having this argument today.). Maybe his opinions were made that way by the order of the keyblade wielders, or maybe Eraqus has seen what the darkness can do to a man, considering the path Xehanort went down when he became obsessed with the keyblade war. It's possible that Eraqus took his duty to preserve the light so seriously that it altered perception, that light = good and darkness = bad. We don't know the full story regarding Eraqus' feelings and resentment of the darkness.

We don't know what caused the rift that grew between him and Xehanort. Considering Xehanort's journals have him say he once considered Eraqus a brother. We don't know what pushed Eraqus to go from protecting the worlds to 'let the darkness die!'

We know what happened as a result of the rift. Xehanort left the land of departure, gave Eraqus his scars, and then went to experiment on Ventus. We don't know the root cause. What made Eraqus take the stance he did against the darkness? An overzealous sense of duty? Maybe. He saw what the obsession turned Xehanort into? Possibly. We won't know for sure. It could be answered in KH3.

Eraqus bias towards the darkness and that light is right is a skewed viewpoint. But while Xehanort talks about true balance, let's also remember that this is the same guy who drowned the worlds in darkness, twice. Somewhere along the way, these two friends lost sight of the path.

He is biased though, there's no denying that. Does that really make Eraqus a bad person though? Zealous, yes. Villainous, not really, we all have our personal bias

Finally, we get to the 'killing Ventus' portion of the argument. (I've spent most of the day writing this on my phone while I should be working.)

Let's imagine the scenario. First, your fellow apprentice who you once considered a brother has turned down the dark path and left after you two had a fight. Years later, you find out that friend has been experimenting on a boy and nearly destroyed him and left him a vegetable. You would hope that this mistake would turn Xehanort from the dark path. You agree to take the boy in to help him recover.

Time goes by, Ventus recovers, forms a bond with Terra and Aqua. Much like Aqua and Terra, you come to think of Ventus as one of the family.

Okay, so the mark of mastery exam didn't go as planned. Aqua was the only one who ascended to the rank of master, Terra is showing signs of darkness, and now Ventus has run off for reasons unknown.

It's possible Eraqus had Aqua sending back reports regarding Terra's current state, and her reports haven't been very good. Citing the number of worlds Terra visited where he reportedly helped cause chaos. Things aren't looking good for Terra, and Ven still hasn't come home.

Suddenly, Ventus comes home, and he's not happy. He's learned the truth of his origins, and what Xehanort did to him. He knows he's a component to forge the x-blade, and you realize Xehanort never abandoned his ambitions, merely put them on hold.

What do you do? Track down Xehanort and try to stop him directly? No one knows where he is. Find the boy in the mask who is made of Ventus' darkness? Finding him is as hard as finding Xehanort. You have only one option to prevent the creation of the x-blade... and that's to kill your student.

To your surprise, Ventus seems willing to go along with it. He doesn't want to be used as a tool to hurt Terra and Aqua. You can even hear the regret in Eraqus' voice when he says 'you must exist no more.'

It's possible, that if Terra hadn't intervened, things might have gone differently, Eraqus might have stopped himself. Much as he wants to prevent another keyblade war, can he really bring himself to kill one of his students? One of his children? He probably would have stopped himself, and tried to find another way.

The problem is that an already tense situation is thrown into chaos by the arrival of Terra, who has grown stronger with the darkness. One of your students is key to a madman's plan to cause a universe ending catastrophe, and another has given into a chaotic force that brings only corruption. You are now enraged, and blinded by your own grief and inability to see the writing on the wall.

He neglected Terra and he caused this, he didn't stop the spread of Terra's darkness and allowed him to fall into Xehanort's hands, and now he's trying to fight Eraqus with that dark power.

The situation has spun out of control, Ventus has been blown away to who knows where, and Terra and Eraqus are at each others throats. It's exactly how Xehanort wants it to go.

And of course, we all know how it ends for Eraqus.

From the dialogue, and the fact that Eraqus and Terra quickly lost control of the situation, and the dialogue from Eraqus, you can tell he doesn't want to do this. He doesn't want to hurt Ventus, he doesn't want to fight Terra. He is torn. Torn between his duty as a keyblade master and his duty as a teacher and caregiver. No matter how the situation plays out, no one benefits from it... except one guy, Xehanort.

Eraqus is by no means a perfect character, he's made mistakes, so have a number of the other characters. He is neglectful, he is biased, but he is not abusive, and he is not the villain here.

As I said before, I'm not going to tag this with a '#eraqusdidnothingwrong' tag. I will however, tag this with a #stoptheEraqushate tag. I'm sick of seeing posts showing up in the various KH tags talking about how Eraqus is the real villain, and dragging him through the mud. Especially posts that claim they aren't Eraqus hate, but they don't like the character and still tag their posts as Eraqus hate.

Eraqus is human, he makes mistakes, he has his imperfections.

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone... hey! Put that rock down!