#i'm very attached to all the characters and i like the way the dialog is written

[maybecoffeemixed]

MAIN PLOT LINE OF DLC HAS BEEN FINISHED, SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT (long post, be warned)

7.8/10, kieran doesn't actually kill us.

Seriously though, I enjoyed it!! Since I don't actually own the game (we poor), I watched a no-commentary playthrough so there are plenty of things I very likely missed, including optional dialog, side-quests, and whatever that thing with the professors is (still lookin' for a video without some guy over it), so I can only comment on the bits I saw! That being said, here we go.

First of all, the BATTLES!! Despite not being able to play them myself, they looked SUPER fun!! I screamed when I saw Lacey's tailwind/lightscreen prankster whimsicott, and even MORE so when I saw it was sashed! I loved the usage of competitive items, and the fact that all their teams weren't completely mono-type, each having one exception to their type (Lacey's excadrill, Crispin's Exeggcutor, Amarys's Reuniclus, and Drayton's Sceptile) that they DIDN'T terrastalize was lovely touch!! Amarys's fight was super hype in particular, despite having an over 20 level advantage, the person I watched still nearly wiped to her! Her trick room AI does appear a bit goofy, but it's a small flaw. Finally, Kieran's battle... I personally adore a good rain team, but unfortunately Kieran's politoed was frozen at the start of the battle, and remained that way all the way til the end, so I can't honestly say how difficult it looked. The one thing I will say is that before the indigo disk was out, I created a hypothetical team for Kieran, and I CALLED that Grimmsnarl!! Literally even the focus sash. If anyone's curious, here was the hypothetical team I made. I'm a nuzlocker, not a competitive player, so it very well may be shit. Apologies in advance.

Next is the characters!! Every design slapped as always, and I enjoyed their personalities! Lacey was adorbs, Crispin was fun, and Amarys might just be one of my new favorites! As for Drayton? Let me tell you, I was side-eyeing him the whole time the MOMENT after he said THIS to Kieran.

After all the hype around dokutaro/peechikeen (now know as pecharunt, apparently), and all the speculation that Kieran would fall victim to its influence, him saying "that's just peachy" made my rat brain go into overdrive. In the end, I think it was just Legends Arceus giving me Volo flashbacks.

Now, the main event... KIERAN! Let me tell you, he gave me GOOSEBUMPS. Every time he appeared, I could feel a chill run up my spine, and his battle had my heart RACING. ESPECIALLY his breakdown at the end of it! One of the best times I've had in a good while. The animation, his reaction, all of it was GREAT!! It was so refreshing to see him not immediately heel-face turn.

Unfortunately, though, what happened after that all disappointed me. I admit I got too attached to the Dokutaro Posession theory, buy it was still disappointing for Dokutaro (I know that's not its name, leave me be) to not play any role in the main story. It felt like a natural conclusion to what the game was setting up, I thought he'd throw the master ball at terapagos, it'd fail, and he'd become so overwhelmed with everything that has happened that he'd succumb to Dokutaro's control and we'd have to fight the Dokutaro-Kieran with Terapagos's aid. That's not what happened, and I felt a bit sad. His recovery from his breakdown was still set up nicely and had some atleast sufficient justification, but it still felt like too-little too-soon. It felt more like he just gave up all together rather than defeated his demons. He'd never be as strong as the player, and that's that, which is a sour note to leave off on.

We see that he legitimately has nothing. All the other students left the MOMENT he was defeated. No one came to help the kid who was clearly having a panic attack. The BB league cares about him, sure, but I wouldn't consider them his friends. They all thought Kieran getting defeated would "fix" him, and even when he clearly wasn't any better after being defeated, they didn't do anything to assist him. Sure, sometimes when someone has climbed so high, you gotta let them fall, but once they do, you can't just leave them lying on the ground. You need to be there to lift them back up before they start digging.

This isn't an attack on the BB league at ALL. Like I said, I really enjoyed their characters! In fact, this reaction is part of the reason I like them so much. It adds depth.

I just wish that Kieran DID start digging, and that it led to something bigger. Even if Dokutaro wasn't involved, I atleast wanted the final battle with him to be that big thing, and not just a turtle that can't do anything but throw out weak earthpowers.

Though the biggest failing to me is that Kieran apologizes to us, but we don't apologize to him. We as in the player, and Carmine

Kieran's actions are his own and I'm not saying he shouldn't have apologized, but he wasn't solely culpable for how things turned out. We and Carmine purposefully lied, kept a secret that was dear to him, and were the straw that broke the camel's back. Even if we the player didn't apologize, Carmine should've!! Her treatment of Kieran heavily impacted him, and he mirrored her abuse (Kieran telling Carmine to "Shut it", just like she did to him, for example).

Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, was in the wrong here. Kieran took things too far, Carmine behavior is a serious problem, and the played character was complicit.

I'm not demonizing anyone here, I am the number one Carmine defender after all, but everyone needs to take responsibility. Not. Just. Kieran.

I relate heavily to both Kitakami siblings, as both an elder sister with younger siblings who she's accidentally mistreated, and as a little sister with an older sibling who treats me like I'm lesser.

I've lashed out at my older sibling, and while my reaction wasn't proportional, it doesn't mean my emotions weren't justified.

I have severe genetic anger issues (that I'm now thankfully medicated for), and have unjustly taken them out on my younger siblings.

Carmine needs to apologize too, or the cycle will just continue. Maybe she already did and I missed it, or maybe it happens in the post-game. However, if she didn't? It makes me feel unresolved.

Anyways, that all I gotta say on it!! Hope someone enjoyed this overly long rambling!!

(P.S. I still don't trust dragon boy. "Thats just peachy" my ASS, you know something ya toothpaste haired cunt. Why did they request to bring ya along to area zero anyways, ya plot relevant FUCK.)

[tiny-breadcrumbs]

CDRAMA AND THEIR ENDING (a rant)

Cdrama tren of making an open/ambiguous ending sucks. No matter if they plan to do a sequel whatsoever, it still annoying. Even more so when they try to side-stepping a well deserved sad ending. I feel like there is lack of satisfying ending nowadays. One that left such a huge crater of emotional breakdown like nirvana in fire.

Yes I'm looking at you mlc!! While I'm a sucker for happy ending, the story like one of li lianhua's will have a biggest impact if he die in the end. It will make more sense that way to end his arc. Close the chapter of life with death of a man who already one leg in a grave. Why bother with that kind of very ambiguous ending sequence?! They absolutely can end everything with Di Feisheng last declaration and cut into black. Maybe put some old dialog from li xiangyi and it will make me wept into my pillow. Or end it in the letter at the beach, even better. That special episode never fail at getting into my nerves. If they want to show a happy ending, I'm sure they can make some sequence with the trio interacting instead of whatever that ambiguous back and beach framing. I'm so ready to cry at the ending, like I'm super reluctant about it, but I will not accept less than an impactful last line on that kind of story. Well, the special scene evaporated all my tears instead. I'm going from 'oh no he die, it's so sad!' to 'what the fuck' really fast, even now I still avoid that several last minutes like a plague. Not because of emotional attachment but more because it reduce the level of good plot from my very picky drama radar.

Some cdrama have the potential to be enjoyable. Not that high in story telling quality per se in term of some questionable logic, but they can be an enjoyable evening watch while you are lounging in your bed kind of things. It has its own value and merit. But man, do they suck at tie up the ending sometimes.

I'm ranting based on my experience and not so long list of drama I'm able to sit through until the end, still it's such an annoying moment to realise the amount of good ending I've met so far can be counted in one hand. Maybe I'm just picky. It's a matter of personal preference afterall, but as someone who enjoy storytelling, this give me ick more often than not. Even this happen with a happy ending drama too, I feel like they tend to rush the ending sequence. Like there is not enough amount of coda to close the story beautifully. Mostly it just one scene and very short and have a WIDE SHOT. Pleasee, if it is a reunion at least can you give me a shot of their happy tears in that one last tender moment of kiss or hug?! A small line?! Maybe a teary whisper of "I'm home" while the screen fade to black... That would left me staring at the wall for five minutes to comtemplate my existence, honestly. Most of the time a quiet hug didn't do enough justice to convey the relief when they shown in a freaking wide shot. Even more infuriating when the reunion cut short before the character even do anything other than staring at each other eyes in a stunned expression. Call me a nosy bitch but I don't like to give them a privacy to have that teary reunion. I want to watch the tears! I want to have a front row seat with extra popcorn in my hand to watch that reunion and maybe some acknowledgement from the lead if they are the idiot who never confess before.

It is such a problem for cdrama. And I see it more and more now. In particular, at the wuxia and xianxia genre. In my opinion open ending works better when there is a very clear direction hanging on top of their head to makes it a complex A or B rather than a completely wide umbrella of what if scenario. The drama ending that do 'slightly' better at this recently? Probably "Who rules the world". There is a clear impeding doom, a ticking time bomb tying the character down in that last scene while depicting them having fun together. It is a very clear open ending with a controlled question thrown at the audience how that doom will affect them. Whether they find a way to change it or not, the actual arc of their story is already ended before that choice is needed to be made. It is a choice for the future, for the continuation of the story behind the last curtain, not for the current one.

Maybe thats why NIF able to left that huge impact in term of storyline. That drama still sit at the number one seat of best cdrama in my list, on par with Mr.Sunshine from the kdrama side. NIF was so unapologetic at making the audience cry. The plot moving in a beautiful pace and you sense the doom crawling nearer and nearer to the character. And he did finish his story. It is something so predictable, you see it coming far before you arrived at the finale, yet it still make you cry a bucket. It is a story that end beautifully, for a storytelling, not for the character. A befitting end of someone his caliber. It is a choice he already make from the start and something he stick to the end. I guess it makes us, as an audience, appreciated the character as he walks with his last breath to his end of the story, determined to close that heavy book laden with baggage. He burns bright and finally laid his head to a rest he deserved. At its core, li lianhua story is the same within this trope. Sadly they miss the chance to end it in a satisfying way.

When the story destined to end sad, make it sad. The end of a journey is not a bad thing per se. It is a well deserved rest for the world weary character after fulfilling their last purpose. It is a legacy to be left behind. A lesson in life. Cdrama skirting around the sad ending to appease certain group who demand an ill-fitted happy end with something in the middle seems rather direspectful to the character who is ready to permanently close their arc as their own choice. A tear jerking bad ending can have as good impact as their happy counterpart when the right story allowed it. But sadly, it seems the production team was the one who didn't.

[idyllic-affections]

Guess who's back

Back again?

🐉 Anon's back

Tell a friend!

Jokes aside, hello again!

I agree completely. I feel mihoyo realized that people might not have felt that strong of a connection to the Traveler (even though they're motives are the entire reason we do the stuff we do in the game) due to how little we actually hear them, how little they might come off as their own living, breathing person. And since they probably it was already too far into the game to rectify this error, they instead elected to have the Trailblazer be voiced more instead. And it really does so much for them, because they really feel like they're a character themself, instead of just another player-insert, it's also super refreshing with just how unhinged, how much of a the Trailblazer can be characterized as. Plus, I especially love the VA for Stelle, and my favorite line that she's delivered so far has got to be:

"Wow... the cringe is strong."

The palpable disgust in that delivery is beautiful.

March is legit so absolutely adorable, 100% would jump in front of the Disaster Beast's disaster-beam to protect her again. Would take photos with her, even though I'm honestly not much of a photographer myself. And again, I just find the sibling dynamic that the main trio have is just to die for. Then we add in certain characters calling Stelle big sister and just... AUGH. I think I may have become so attached, that I have trouble playing different teams. And considering how they'll simply reappear in the dialog sections, is that kinda weird? Eh...

Either way, they all have a special place in my heart, the fucking faces March makes when you choose the trolly dialogue options LMAO

And great! I'll get around to sharing some of them with you in the next day or too! Though be forewarned, there is angst, there is trauma. I swear the spirit of Hoyoverse must've come over me or something, because basically all the characters I've come up with have some sort of issue... does that prospect make you uncomfortable?

Also also, I was wondering if you're open to taking writing requests atm? Because I had a couple of potential ideas for some genshin stuff if you are!

-🐉Anon

hi lovely welcome back hehe <33

yes i agree!!!!! the trailblazer feels like... an actual character, you know? stelle has her own personality and thoughts and is an actual fleshed-out character. it's endearing. the trailblazer is just so so important to me, i love her sm <33 she feels so much more real than aether or lumine do. also, i personally feel far more connected to stelle's narrative. the traveler's objective is solely to find their sibling, but with stelle, the emphasis of her journey does not seem to be the destination but rather on the journey itself. and i love that. because the traveler's sibling literally DOES NOT want to see them and idk how they don't get tired chasing after someone who isn't interested in reconnecting. like. i don't like that standoffishness, you know? it's really annoying to me. how can lumine (in my case) be so cold and enigmatic towards her literal TWIN BROTHER?? just talk to your brother bro it is not that hard PLEASE i am tired of chasing after you AJSKAGKFHD

UGH SAME. MOVE OUT OF THE WAY STELLE IT IS MY TURN TO THROW MYSELF INTO POTENTIALLY FATAL DANGER IN MARCH'S DEFENSE!!!! i picked up photography last year as a hobby and i honestly love it sm. i would absolutely take photos with her. beloved. also hook calling stelle big sister and getting flustered about it is the cutest to me!!!!! that's my daughter and i will not let anyone hurt her. same i know i will need to change up my team comp eventually (it is the trailblazer, dan heng, march, & hook at the moment) to make combat easier but i love them sm?!?!?!? i do not want to abandon them?!?!?!?!?!

I KNOW SHE GIVES THE TRAILBLAZER THE DIRTIEST LOOKS IT ALWAYS MAKES ME GIGGLE. THE FACES SHE MAKES AUSGAKGJGHF

this is actually a bit funny to me! anyone who knows me--knows my ocs--knows very well that i think there is NEVER enough angst. there is always room for more trauma. so no, it does not at all make me uncomfortable!!!! do your worst in my inbox!!!!!

also yep! my reqs are always open, so feel free to send in any thoughts at any time <3 you can send as many as you want as often as you want to! just be sure to send all your reqs seperately.

[merge-conflict]

💕 self-love time! talk about which ones of YOUR creations (edits, artworks, fanfics) you like the most then send to other creators to do the same 💕

🥰

Alright, so unfortunately all I have to share for this one is pieces that are either technically a WIP, or a cut scene, but c'est la vie.

When I'm drafting out an important scene that isn't dialog-heavy I tend to write in stream of consciousness, hitting all the sensory descriptions and metaphors at a high level, which sort of gives me a frame to actually write the rest of it along? I had to search to find a small example because I've started just deleting them after I've written it.. so from cyberhanami I had:

Born To Die [Johnny Silverhand - thats what the name is for, a construct just like the tower. the whipping wind, the smell of burnt plastic, scorched metal and ganic flesh. moving into the belly of the beast. gummy lids. pain too intense to think. half blinded by the blast but it doesn’t matter. from hotblooded to sluggish. triumphant and then just Dead. he wakes up to see the tower. he wakes up to see the tower!]

I took me a while to start doing that, I think because I felt like it wasn't the Proper Way to outline anything, before I realized that was a dumb reason not to use a tool that works lol. Anyway, at some other point I also realized that if I clean this up a little, it has a very particular energy that is perfect for writing a sensory overload moment, or a sort of dissociative scene. Think like those moments in movies where all you hear is a loud ringing sound while a character is trying to deal with either too much at once, or the literal or metaphorical outcome of an explosion. And I really like having found a distinct style to tell those scenes in, which I did first roughly in a now outdated scene (probably 2-ish years old..) for my longfic:

Which direction she picked she couldn’t tell. Johnny’s voice buzzed in her head, subtle as a jackhammer and just as incomprehensible. She passed people on the street, who regarded her with the well-founded hostility all Pacifica had for outsiders, and she had to strangle the absurd desire to shriek with laughter.

Her throat ached. Her body ached.

Her heart, her sorry bruised broken dead heart, sat in her chest and she wanted to pull it out and scrape it clean, bite it, cut it, eat it, anything to make it stop.

The sun was too loud, glinting off concrete like a spotlight. Her skull heaved. She could feel thick blood oozing out of her nose, her ears, her mouth but though she kept wiping at her face she found only sweat. Tears, too, which stung at her eyes. Every part of her vibrated with panicked fury, shivering in the heat of the midday sun. Johnny’s speech gradually had more pauses, more profanity, demanding a response, but it all washed over her like autumn wildfire.

Which was a lot of fun to write, but even though it's kind of pushing at what the Rules of writing are that I vaguely remember from school, it's still pretty regular. So I thought, what happens when I say fuck the rules, and really mess around with style and presentation. Who gets to decide the format and encoding of this piece I'm sharing? Me! :3

And so even though this is an out of order scene that I still have so much to get through before I decide how and in what form to keep it, I'm very attached to the extremely dissociative style of a WIP I've shared in a few iterations:

“Valentina?”

it was a calm voice, a strong voice, wielded in the kind of tone reserved for something feral and dangerous and pathetic. she could not be valentina, and she could not be johnny, and she could not be human, but the awful cacophony in her head would not allow her to be nothing.

Just with the lowercase formatting, it creates a sense of unease, a sense of distance from being fully conscious and fully present. The sentences run into each other, over each other. Not a fully formed thought, but more of an animal stream of consciousness. The following should resonate with anyone who has had to bear the mortifying ordeal of being comforted during a breakdown:

“I need an answer, Valentina. Yes or no. You don’t have to speak if you don’t want to, but I still need your answer.”

“No.”

her voice weak. her voice soft like rust. an impression where once something used to be.

“Thank you. Now how are you feeling?”

her lungs wheezed, a madman’s laughter, but that was hers that was her right and she was weak and tired but her laugh was sharp like a blade and so long as she could hide her face from light it was enough to keep the ground underneath her feet.

“Valentina–“

“No.” Wrong.

this doctor was not stupid. “V?”

agreement could be a sort of silence– if you were petty about it, if you were cornered and angry and helpless like a cat in alley. a fox in a trap. (no. no more. no more–) if you were coiled in and around yourself, where you could not be, but could not afford not to be, that could be yes.

Even like this, you can see that the panicked animal brain is still being managed by V's reflexive and somewhat painful self-awareness. And I'm really happy with dipping into that style when the story is specifically about sense of self, how far self-control can go, and fighting against your own nature.

Aaaaaanyway this got stupidly long and I'm sorry for that, but I just love deliberately playing with writing style and finding and playing to my strengths, even if it's not everyone's cup of tea. :3

[river-starling]

hi!! i noticed you've been reblogging a bunch of genshin stuff lately, so what do you think about the game? who's your favorite character? i'm just curious hehe

Well! I'm glad you asked! I think I'm nearing a whole year of playing the game, technically. Man, it really went fast. My anniversary is next month. I'm only AR 50 though, out of fear for the harder world levels.

This is actually the game that made me realize a pattern in who I crushed on. Apparently, it's platinum blondes/ white-haired characters who are calm, intelligent, and holds a lot of power that's hidden behind their more passive demeanor. Albedo, Kazuha, and a little bit of Lumine. Klee is on that list too, platonically of course.

Then there's a large list of characters I adore one way or another. I try to find a way to appreciate every character, or at least understand why people would like them.

Now, about the game itself? Beautiful soundtrack and scenery. I'm one of the blessed few who can afford a computer and have the graphics up max, and let me tell you, I've stared up at a singular angle of scenery for the whole day and night cycle just falling in love.

Can you imagine how fresh the fruit is there? How nice watching the trees sway would be? Especially if you're able to hear the soundtrack while experiencing it all? Perfection.

Now, plotwise? I only finished Inazuma's Archon quest and a little bit of the Chasm one with Dainsleif, so I don't know the full story. I've been focusing on other things instead, like finishing up Mondstadt and Liyue until completion. Including the daily commissions achievements that you get from blowing dandelions or playing pirates.

There is an immaculate amount of story, and I keep hearing about more parts I've missed. I've never really been too interested in war stories, though, so most of my interests get attached to smaller things of the lore. Or the functions of how the world would work.

I am so curious about the element reactions and how most of the dendro ones would work in a scientific type of standpoint. Though I am really curious about the whole Abyss plot line and how that all happened, which is a shame because that's the last question that'll likely be answered.

I started playing Star Rail the day it came out for my servers, and I haven't made it very far in that, so I don't know if this will stick. But it's so sad seeing the characters just around and chilling, compared to Genshin, where you hardly find any life or hints of them.

I want the character in Genshin to leave a bigger impact. I want to see flyers around Mondstadt inviting you to Barbara's new performance, where it shows a picture of her doing a typical idol pose.

I want an NPC dialog in Inazuma where some random guy is like "ugh I just met the most obnoxious guy yesterday. He kept asking to do beetle battles with me. I don't even own a beetle!". I want proof that the characters are still alive in the world, and we just keep missing them by a hair.

On that note! I want to get previous event weapons. I HAVE Albedo, I love him! I want to be able to doll him up! Let me give him the weapon that's the best for him, and literally MADE for him!

And let me replay old events, too! Even the ones we already did! Mona's door is Right There and you're doing nothing with it. Do you know how easy it would be to just have her in there? She can Look Into The Past! Just give her some money and pay her bills and she'll let you play an old event! It'd even add more proof that the characters don't just dissappear if there's not an event going on or some Archon quest.

Anyway, case in point. I love the game, but I have some complaints.

[pronouncingitwang]

egbo makes me so upset bc like it could be so good and it is often so good but also some of the writing choices are unforgivably unforgivably bad

[heretherebedork]

I never read the novel so I didn't come into this show all that attached to Gram or Black. I think the criticism about his arc may be the product of watching it week by week and having so much time to (mis)read into his actions. From the beginning, we saw Eugene sneakily meet up with him and hug him the morning after her disappointing night with 'Black', hinting that they're at least friends who seek comfort in each other, if not more. Then we had Gram's nervous reaction to the comment about him pursuing an arts student. Then the drunken kiss that HE INITIATED and she TEMPORARILY RETURNED, when we all know drunk people are usually their most honest selves (AND the fact that the person she chose to comfort her post break up was Gram instead of any of her girlfriends). There were a lot of hints that Gram and Eugene were close (and maybe even borderline cheating with each other) that we all collectively ignored because GramBlack shippers dominated the fandom dialog between episodes. Even his conversation with Yok about his secret crush makes sense being about Eugene, especially because she was his best friend's girlfriend and now ex. He knew she was off limits, and only decided to make a move much later when he saw how uncaring 'Black' was about learning about their kiss. It was a pivotal moment for Gram's character development, if we'd been paying attention. Something in him snapped. His love for Eugene hated seeing her pain, and his friendship with Black didn't even mean enough to 'Black' for him to feel betrayed and angry. He'd been burying his love for who knows how long, sacrificing it on the altar of Black, only for 'Black' to not give a shit? And as for the notion that Eugene didn't reciprocate, she was clearly torn. She kept going to him for comfort (that hug, that night of drinking, she even kissed back for a second). She clearly thinks of him as her emotional confidant, someone trustworthy and dependable, someone she's at least marginally attracted to. She is attached to him, but didn't want to start anything so soon after Black. I don't know, I guess none of this feels out of the blue to me, or like a plot twist. The big question for me isn't that they're potentially endgame, but HOW does their story tie in to the overall plot? This story is otherwise so tightly plotted that even Yok's mom works for Tawi.

Alright, let's do this thing.

I know nothing of the novel so I came to this with nothing but a shrug, a tumblr and a lot of amusement. I, in fact, have never been invested in GramBlack beyond the fact that it made a lot of sense and fit with the narrative we were being given in the story. Because it did.

So, you make a lot of points in this and it's gonna take me a bit to go through it but I'm gonna point out that while some of this does make sense, most of it still only makes sense in hindsight and with the knowledge that GramEugene is endgame.

I mean, from the start, we were specifically told that Gram and Black were best friends and very close and between the G and B little dinosaurs (which were a literal red herring as we have heard basically NO ONE ever call her Gene and there was NO WAY to ever make that connection until they started slamming us over the head with the GramEugene).

Yes, drunk Gram kissed Eugene and she pulled away. Rejection number one! This poor girl. Apparently it doesn't matter how many times she rejects him, she has to accept him in the end. Because that's how this works. Oh. Wait. No. But also she chose Gram because the narrative required a drama for White to want to get closer to Gram so we could continue being misled by White assuming that Gram had feelings for Black because oh wait it made sense in the narrative at the time.

Okay, all hints that they were close were on the same level as Sean and Namo being close and that was a one-sided crush wherein she instantly accepted being turned down and did not continue to pursue him despite him not being interested. Unlike Gram. But also them being close is called friendship. It was not shown until much later to possibly be more.

Do you know why the GramBlack shippers 'controlled the narrative'? Because the show was trying to convince us it was canon. Why would they have White make the assumption? Why would they have the dinosaurs be G and B? Why would they have the note not have a name on it?

No. I'm sorry, the conversation between Gram and Yok does not make more sense if it's about Eugene because the entire narrative we'd been fed to that point had been about how close Gram and Black were, how Black had taught Gram about freedom and rebellion and passion. None of that was connected to Eugene in anyway and, frankly, still isn't. Are we really saying that Gram joined Black's gang to get closer to Eugene?

Yes, she went to him for comfort because he is her friend. She turned him down romantically multiple times because they were friends. There was no sign of her being torn until this episode. Every other episode she turned him down instantly. Women are allowed to seek comfort from male friends without the assumption that this means she is sexually or romantically attracted to him. Eugene and Gram were friends and the assumption that there had to be more because she 'went to him for comfort' is very uncomfortable to me.

Now, is it truly out of left field? No. It's out of the last few episodes, for the most part, but you've also noticed a very important point here... it's completely disconnected from everything else. Nothing else in the plot is touching these moments. And that makes it even worse.

We literally have Gram finding out that Black, his supposed best friend, has an identical twin he didn't know about and there's... no worry? No fear? No looking for him? No wondering where Black has been? No being worried that he was beaten and replaced and that he didn't even notice? Nothing. Just laughter and humor and relief that Sean wasn't actually in love with Black?

Look, yes, GramEugene is a thing now. You can even justify it in hindsight. But that doesn't mean it doesn't also ruin Gram's character by completely removing his friendship with Black as any kind of motive in anything he does and also removing him almost entirely from the plot of the story itself and especially from the gang's story.

[soulvomit]

One of the things I find frustrating about my normal style of wanting to engage stuff, is that most people don't want to, and it's borderline socially unacceptable now, and it's my standard way of compiling stuff in my head: I look at multiple sides and thought-experiment through them. Now you really have to do this quietly if you're doing this about politics or social issues, and keep it to yourself. But what is annoying is not being able to do this about very much of anything. You can't have a detached discussion anymore. About anything. EVERY possible topic has been overrun by emotionality and deep deep social and emotional *fraughtness* and its a grave social error to not respect this. Or worse - people read far more attachment and emotional investment into my discussions than I ever intended, because we have grown so unused to this style of engagement. (And even worse. I get flustered or animated during the discussion at any point, it becomes "well OBVIOUSLY you have deep feelings about this.")

There's someone I really enjoy talking to except they always read my "what ifs" as positions I'm married to instead of me throwing ideas around and analyzing from all sides, and getting upset at some of my ideas and feeling the need to strongly indicate they disagree, but I am not making any fixed statements so there's nothing to disagree or agree with or get mad at? They could just contribute by pointing out the downsides? Doesn't anyone want to have this kind of discussion?

Like. I understand the WHYs of all of this now, I'm not a social idiot. I wasted years of my life learning how to engage outside of old nerd culture. Part of my social game now is to simply not engage this way except on paper, out of the mouths of fictional characters, and or with the couple of people who really get it and won't misconstrue where I am coming from.

But it feels like we are in a new social space where the culture around conversation has changed and abstract, cerebral discussions and Socratic dialogs are much much harder to have.

But what if this IS how you like to engage? What if it's a love language? Worse, it's the way I normally think, meaning I have to run every thought I have through an updated Norms 2.0 compiler before speaking about anything non-superficial. It's so much more fraught now.

[charmspoint]

Mars Red: Anime vs Manga pt 1

Alright so I promised myself that I would do my best not to compare the anime and the manga too much because the anime isnt the adaptation of the manga but the adaptation of the stage play and since I haven't watched the stage play I don't know which one is staying more loyal to the original and which one is adding stuff in/cutting stuff out. That being said if anyone did watch the stage play and can answer these questions please come talk to me I'm very curious. So that being said I'll do my best not to mention too much manga only scenes like Suwa's backstory, Takeuchi, Yamagami and Suwa doing slice of life lab stuff, or the conflict between Suwa and Kurusu. The anime may get to this stuff later, it might not I wont judge it for not including it rn even if I feel that the conflict between Suwa and Kurusu should be developed more consistently what did we have maybe one scene? That being said while I can't compare it on different scenes I sure as hell can compare it on scenes they share with each other. I may not know which one is more loyal to the source material but I sure as hell can say which one is more effective tl;dr: It's the manga, read the manga its more effective and it only has 9 chapters so far, please join me in hell under the cut

That being said I'll be comparing the execution of two scenes

1. Conversation between Suwa and Akesato

So the conversation between these two is mostly fine honestly, though the reason Suwa even went to see her (that she reminded him of someone he knew as a human and which turned out to be his little sister) is missing, which kinda gives the whole scene a slightly different tone. The manga has a much slower, softer pace to it, Suwa really comes across as more somber instead of coming in here to sleep in some girls lap, in the manga he keeps his distance for the most of the conversation before sitting next to her when he starts opening up about his past.

Like I don't think it's bad for anime Suwa to have sought out some human contact but it does leave quite a different impression about him. Manga Suwa leaves a much more thoughtful, mature impressions, he never once asks to touch Akesato in anyway and mostly refers to her as a child, but doesn't patronize her. It very much comes across as a tone of a dotting older relative because you know, she reminds him of a family member he had forgotten. Idk I just like the image the manga paints of him better, he comes across as this distant person but also a kind and mature one, which isn't the Suwa we often get to see on the field. I just don't think anime brought across the same feeling. To me it just made it feel like his very goal was to come in here and lay in someone's lap whereas Suwa in the manga is v much there to scout and meeting Akesato is a sheer coincidence based on his hazy memories and so a long lost feeling of attachment.

Anyway, lets talk about uh

In the manga Suwa has yet to be unmasked. And for a good reason. The anime doesn't set it up very well I think that 'I'll lose control' line is the only set up we get and far too late considering it's happening now. In the manga we have a whole lil slice of life chapter in which multiple different things are introduced, one of which is the fact that Suwa constantly wears his mask because he spent a long time as a feral vampire and if he smells human blood he will go feral. It's kind of...very disappointing to see this moment that I felt would be rather monumental in the manga (cuz feral vampires are way scarier in the manga I'll talk about that later) just kinda...pass here. Suwa unbuckles his own mask too??? And then at the end of the episode he takes it off willingly??? In a district very much swarming with humans??? Some of which are people he works with??? I think the screen writers forgot that the idea of 'a character takes off his mask to show his true emotions' doesn't really work if said character will go on a murder frenzy if he has his mask off. This is what I mean when I say that the manga takes its characters more seriously and is more impactful. The manga simply thinks more about how its characters would act and react to things. In the manga Akesato doesn't even take off his mask, she just hugs him and that gets her close enough to him that he freaks out, because his mask isn't as thick as usual. Just to that much he reacts somewhat violently in pushing her away and it leaves you wondering what would it be like if it was completely off. It really makes the anime Suwa just plopping on her lap out of his own free will even more meh :/

dw he immediately apologizes after this cuz he seriously didn't mean to hurt her he just lost control.

But that's what I mean, the manga makes this scene feel so much more serious, it puts so much bigger threat behind Suwa taking off his mask. It leaves you with a feeling of 'fuck, he lost a bit of control just by a human being close, if he was to take it completely off he would really lose all reason' While the anime just makes you feel 'oh he can control himself for a few moments after the mask is gone? That's good lol' It just minimizes the threat Suwa could pose when unmasked n seeps out so much tension out of that situation. Double especially when he just fucking takes it off at the end of the episode.

WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT LOSING CONTROL YOU STUPID FUCK (tho I did like him asking Takeuchi to teach him some songs, that was a nice addition.)

Anyway my last and least complaint cuz it was just kinda...funny

WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH AKESATO FALLING ASLEEP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CONVERSATION??? THAT WAS SO FUNNY WHAT WAS THAT??? SHE JUST FALLS ASLEEP LIKE THAT SITTING UP, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CONVERSATION, EXACTLY AS HER PATRON IS STARTING TO YELL AT HER JKBBHJ???

Its so weird cuz in the manga we get this soft ass moment

Like jhbhjkbhj that's just a completely different vibe. I think this ending scene actually best shows off the vibe Suwa has in the manga. Gentle, caring, distant but affectionate. Compared to the anime where the similar scene almost ended up looking like a gag jnjkbkj idk man like the anime mostly has the same dialog, aside Suwa dunking on western influences which i enjoy, but the atmosphere is all over the place and it kinda feels too fast, idk. I dunno if I explained this well but here we are.

Part 2: Kurusu vs the vampire mob

[chocolatte-and-despair]

May I get a (yandere) match-up for the dream smp, please? I'm nonbinary (they/them) , asexual and cupio-romantic. I'm 98% sure I have ADHD and/or dislexia.

I love animals with all my heart (mostly octopuses, corvids and dogs) and one of my favoirite pass-times is watching documentaries about them. I also enjoy social sciences, like psychology, sociology and philosophy. Sometimes I analyse animated movies or video games to look at the deeper meaning of it all. Over all, I would say that I strive for knowlege and love learning about everything and anything all of the time.

I sometimes write small dialoges between characters which are mostly humorous. I am quite sarcastic and witty, never taking things fully seriously. In spite of my asexuality, I make a lot of sex jokes, though most of my humor comes from refrences.

While I have a massive god complex when I'm with people I know, I am quite anxious around new ones. I don't enjoy socializing unless it's with friends, or vital on my part, and don't get me started on phone calls. One thing that I noticed is that no matter the person I'm with I'm always aggresive (being passively or just yelling swear words at them) and really dramatic. One thing that I must add is that I am chaotic, but rarely act on the things I say. I'm just too scared of messing everything up and disapointing others.

Thank you in advance and I hope you have a nice day!

After thinking for a little bit, I decided to give you ... Sam Nook! I do believe that Sam's coldness would go very well with how you are, as he would accept anything that you would throw his way.

A . How would they show their love and affection? How intense would it get? - Sam is very bad at showing affection, but he would probably adore working for you and doing whatever you want him to do, without a second thought.

B. What type of future are they planning with their lover? - Sam doesn't think much about the future, but he knows that he wishes to be by your side until the end of time.

C. What is the scariest moment with them? - Sam is someone that doesn't understand human boundaries, or his strength, so he had really hurt you many times by accident.

D. How do they usually act with their lover? - Sam treats you like some sort of god. He does everything for you and makes sure to never disobey your orders.

E. How would they court their lover before? - Sam would probably start building something for you and would get attached to you, trying to show you he is useful so you would keep him for as long as possible.

F. What's their favorite memory/thing in the relationship? - Sam remembers the day you gave him your first order. He still can't forget how happy he was.

[miraculouscontent]

I know I'm delirious but still ... MC Quantic Kids? (the other characters of the PV, in the ancient conceptual art)

In the hypothetical of where they exist, I would have them be Marinette’s out-of-school friends. I mean, technically, they could be going to Marinette’s school, but they’d at least not be in the same class; they would interact with her over lunch at best.

(keep in mind that I just made up these names; I didn’t even know that the fandom had names for them at the time of writing so any similarities in personality/name are coincidences)

[Kid Mime] Mito Penma (name is an anagram of “pantomime”)

Mito is just a big bundle of fun. For someone who loves miming so much, he’s oddly talkative, but it just means he’s passionate. Fred Haprèle is basically his hero and he’ll suddenly clam up if Fred ever notices/talks to him.

He’s also an orphan, but no one knows anything more than that because Mito isn’t even bothered. Actually, no one knows a lot of things about him.

Mito is weirdly stealthy (unintentionally or otherwise) when he’s moving about. No one seems to notice him walking into a room; Mito just appears and then disappears. Where he goes when he’s leaving for “home” (people presume he’s going home, anyway) is a mystery.

Despite his excitable nature, Mito has a bit of an aggressive side when it comes to defending his friends. He’s very comforting to friends (“I mime’d a special box around you! Now no one can hurt you!”) and will honestly laugh at any joke his friends tell him even if it’s not actually funny, but he gets really snippy with people he doesn’t have any attachment toward, often glaring at them for long periods of time to the point where they get unnerved.

He’s the only one who definitely doesn’t go to Marinette’s school (though occasionally appears in the lunch room; again, no one knows) and maybe doesn’t even go to school at all because he’s not really knowledgeable about a lot of topics. Unrelated to actual subjects taught in school, he’s also clueless about idioms, often using them but mixing up the phrases.

“You know what they say! An early bird is worth two in the bush!”

“mito no”

[Gavroche] Roche Ludovic (music-themed name)

Roche is Nino’s rival in the music department, with Roche’s advantage being that he listens to all types of music and has extensive knowledge of the genre.

He’s calm and calculated, but really just wants everyone to think that he’s cool. He’s the type of guy who can throw a crumpled-up piece of paper into a trash can without looking and pretend like he knew it was going to go in there, but then he goes home and is like “I can’t believe I nailed that.”

Out of the three quantics, he’s the most protective. He’s wary of meeting new people because he tends to think that they want something out of him. If one of his friends are in trouble, he always has the perfect excuse to get them away as he slings his arm around their shoulder and walks off with them.

Despite the “supposed rivalry” (as he calls it) with Nino, he’s not really that competitive. Nino is the one who does most of the rivalry shtick.

He also says “oh my gav” a lot as if it means anything but it doesn’t and is just a reference I’m making to his old name.

[Melodie] Claudine Corinne (name derives from names calling back to various art forms; nickname is “CC/Ceecee”)

Ceecee is a bit of a jack of all trades. She’s creative, often sharing and bouncing off ideas with Marinette, and also tries her best to have bits of knowledge about anything and everything. She’s kind of a nerd that way.

She has a part-time job at the bakery, so she shows up on occasion when Marinette comes home. The idea is that Tom cares about taste, Sabine cares about presentation, and Ceecee cares about creativity. Whenever Marinette can’t help with the bakery (due to Ladybug things), Ceecee doesn’t mind filling in for her.

When she was getting into music (she’s good friends with Roche in that way), she learned how to play smaller instruments like the flute and harmonica. She likes tiny/cute things a lot.

She also has a dialog quirk like Mito and Roche do. She’ll input music terms into certain phrases, like “holy falsetto!”

(Overall, had they been included, I probably would’ve given each of them the bee, turtle, and fox respectively.)

[trashfan]

Cold Blood

By Andrew King

Trigger warnings: Gore, death

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

𝐀 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐕𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐧? 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐮𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐞𝐚

From the first chapter the author did an amazing job at hooking you right into the story that I immediately immersed myself into the plot wanting to know more. The thriller atmosphere was set up very nicely, though I did feel like it lacked world building, as a big fan of the Victorian Era, I didn't get the full Aura of Victorian London that I was expecting but it was still there which was nice. As for the characters, I loved the fact that they weren't completely good people, they had their dark sides, some of their morals out of wack which made them more human, but I do wish we had gotten more information/backstory from them because I felt like I didn't really know who they were, except for Mary Edwards and Arthur Edwards who´s point of view we follow throughout the story. BUT even though I knew very little about certain characters I did get attached to a few, and they were badass. so I´d say this is more of a plot driven book than it is character driven.

That said, I did really enjoy reading this book, such a page turner with All those twist🙌🏼 and that endiiing which I'm very satisfied with, It left me feeling many emotions. I had such a fun time annotating it too, some of the dialog was👌🏼 also I may have a tiny crush on Arthur, Idk blame the way my brain imagined him. Id also like to mention that the Authors way of storytelling was just so easy to consume I had trouble putting the book down, If I hadn't started reading it so late at night I would've most likely finished it in one sitting. and I would probably reread this too because I kinda miss it already. So, If you enjoy a nice thriller with twist and turns, some supernatural elements, and morally grey characters, I very much recommend.