#none of which I think serve the story on a base level | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

felikatze · 1 year ago

Text

ISAT and Ludonarrative Harmony: Combat is a Storytelling Tool

Or: How Siffrin is stuck in the endgame grind, forever

Please Note: This is primarily aimed at an audience that already played In Stars and Time, because I am bad at explaining things, and it's good to already know what the fuck I'm talking about. I tend to only bring up game elements as I want to talk about them.

Spoilers for.... all of ISAT! Especially Act 5!

(image to show how i feel posting this and as an attention grabber over my wall of text)

To pull a definition of ludonarrative harmony out of a hat, game writer Lauryn Ash defines it as follows:

Ludonarrative harmony is when gameplay and story work together to create a meaningful and immersive experience. From a design implementation perspective, it is the synchronized interactions between in-game actions (mechanics) and in-world context (story).

It is, generally speaking, how well game mechanics work hand in hand with the story. I, personally, think ISAT is an absolute masterclass of it, so I want to take a look at how ISAT specifically uses its battle system to emphasize Siffrin's character arc and create organic story moments. I want you to keep this in mind when I talk here.

So, skills, right? If you've played any turn-based RPG, you know your Fire spells, your "BACKSLASH! AIRSLASH! BACKSLASH!" and the many ways to style those.

Well, what does casting "Fire" say about your character? Not all that much, does it? Perhaps you'll have typical divisions. The smart one is the mage, the big brawny one is your tank, the petite one's the healer. And that's the barebones of ISAT's main party, but it's much more than that.

Every character's style of combat tells you something about them. Odile, the Researcher, is the most well-travelled and knowledgable of the bunch. She's the one with the expertise to keep a cool head and analyze the enemy, yet also able to use all three of the Rock-Paper-Scissors craft types.

To reflect her analytical view of things, all her skill names are just descriptive, the closest to your most bog-standard RPG. "Slow IV" or "Paper III" serve well to describe their purpose. The high number of the skills gives the impression there were three other Slow skills beforehand - fitting, considering the party starts at level 45, about to head into the final dungeon. She's also the oldest, so she's the slowest of the bunch.

Isabea, the Fighter, has all his skills in exclamation points. "YOUR TURN!!!" "SO WEAK!!!" "SMASH!!!" they're straightforward, but excited. He's a purposefully cheerfull guy, so his skills revolve around cheering on his allies. He's absolutely pumped to be here, and you see that from his skill names alone.

Mirabelle, the Housemaiden, is an interesting case. She's by all means the true protagonist of this tale - She's the one "Chosen by the Change God," the only one who survived the King's first attack, the only one immune to his ability to freeze time, the only dual-craft type of the game - just a lot of things. And her skill names reflect that facade she puts on herself - she can do this, she can win! She has to believe it, or else she starts doubting. This is how you get "Jolly Round Rondo" and "Mega Sparkle Heal" or "Adorable Moving Cure." She's styled every bit a sailor scout shojo heroine, and her moveset replicates the naming conventions of "In the name of the moon, I'll punish you!"

Even Bonnie, the Kid, who can't be controlled in combat, has named craft skills. And they very much reflect that Bonnie is, well, a kid. "Wolf Speed Technique" or "Thousand Blows Technique" are very much the phrasings of a child who learned one complicated word and now wants to use it in everything to seem cooler than they are, which is none, because they're twelve.

Siffrin's skills are all puns.

You have an IMMEDIATE feel for personality here. Between "Knife to Meet You!" and "Too Cleaver by Half," you know Siffrin's the type to always crack a joke no matter the situation, slinging witticisms around to put Sonic the Hedgehog to shame. It's just such a clever way to establish character using a game mechanic as old as the entire history of RPGs.

This is only the baseline of the way the combat system feeds into the story, though.

The timeloop, of course, feeds into it. Siffrin is the only character who retains experience upon looping, whereas all other characters are reset to their base level and skills. And it sucks (affectionate).

You're extremely likely to battle more often the earlier in the game you are - after all, you need the experience (for now.) Every party member contributes, and Siffrin isn't all that strong on their own, since they focus on raw scissor type damage with the addition of one speed buff. (Of course it's a speed buff. They're a speedy fucker. Just look at him).

At first, the difference in level between Siffrin and the rest of the group is rather negligible. Just a level or two. Just a bit more speed and attack. And then Siffrin grows further and further apart. Siffrin keeps learning new skills. He gets a healing skill that doubles as an attack boost, taking away from both Mirabelle's and Isabeau's usefullness. He gets Craft skills of every type that even give you two jackpot points instead of one - thus obliterating Odile's niche. Siffrin turns into a one-person army capable of clearing most encounters all on their own.

Siffrin's combat progression is an exact mirror of story progression - as their experience inside the loops grows, they also grow further and further away from their party. The party seems... weaker, slower, clumsier. Always back at their starting point, just as all of their character arcs are reset each loop. Never advancing, always stagnant. And you have Siffrin as the comparison post right next to them.

I also want to point out here a change from Act 2 to Act 3 - Siffrin's battle portrait. He stops smiling.

Battles keep getting easier. This is true both for the reason that Siffrin keeps growing stronger even when all enemies stay the same, but also for the reason that you, the player, learn more about the battle system and the various encounters, until you've learned perfect boss clear strategies just from repetition. Have you ever watched a speedrunner play Pokemon? They've played this game so many times, they could do it blindfolded and sleeping. Your own knowledge and Siffrin's new strength work in tandem to trivialize the game's entire combat system as the game progresses.

(Is it still fun? Playing it over, and over, and over again? Is it?)

You and Siffrin are in sync, your experience making everything trivial.

As time goes on, Siffrin grows to care less and less about performing right for their party and more and more about going fast. A huge moment in his character is marked by the end of Act 3; because of story events I won't delve too deeply into, Siffrin has grown afraid of trying something new. And his options of escape are closing in. They need an answer, and they need it fast. He doesn't have the time or patience to dumb himself down, so you unlock one new skill.

It doesn't occur with level up, or with a quest, or anything at all. At the start of Act 4, it simply appears in Siffrin's Craft skills.

(Just attack.)

No pun. No joke. Just attack. Once you notice, the effect is immediate - here you have it, a clear sign of how jaded Siffrin has become, right at every encounter. And it's a damn good attack, too! The only available attack in the game that deals "massive" damage against all enemies. Because it doesn't add any jackpot points (at least, it's not supposed to), you set up a combo with everybody else, but Siffrin simply tears away at the enemy with wild abandon. Seperated from the rest of the party by the virtue of no longer needing to contribute to team attacks (most of the time. It's still useful if they do, though).

Once again, an aspect of the battle system enhances the degree of separation between Siffrin and the static characters of his play. You're incentivized to separate him, even.

Additionally, there are two more skills to learn. They're the only skills that replace previous skills. You only get them at extremely high levels, the latter of which I didn't even reach on both of my playthroughs.

The first, somewhere in the level 70 range, Rose Printed Glasses, a paper type craft skill, is replaced by Tear You Apart. It's still a pun about paper, but remarkedly more vicious.

The second is even more on the nose. At level 80, In A While, Rockodile!, a rock type craft skill, is replaced by the more powerful Rock Bottom.

I didn't get to level 80. If you do, you pretty much have to do it on purpose. You have to keep going much longer than necessary, as Siffrin is just done. And the last skill he learns is literally called Rock Bottom.

What do I even need to say, really.

Your party doesn't stay static forever, though.

By doing their hangout quests, side quests throughout the loops that result in Siffrin and the character having a heart to heart, all of them unlock what I'd call an "ultimate" skill. You know the type - the character achieved self-fulfillment, hit rank 10 on their confidant, maxed out their skill tree, and received a reward for their trouble.

These skills are massively useful. My favorite is Odile's - it makes one enemy weak to all Craft types for several turns, which basically allows you to invalidate the first and third boss, as well as just clown on the King, especially once Siffrin starts racking up damage.

But the thing is. In Act 3, when you first get them, yeah, they're useful. But... do you need them? After all, they're such a hassle to get. You need to do the whole character quest again, you can't loop forward in the House or you'll lose them. If you want to take these skills to the King, you need to commit. Go the full nine-yards and be nice to your friends and not die and not skip forward or skip back. Which is annoying, right?

Well, I sure did think so during Act 4. After all, a base level party can still defeat the King, just with a few more tricky pieces involved. Siffrin can oneshot almost all basic enemies by the time of Act 4. It's this exact evalutation that you, the player, go through everytime you return to Dormont. Do I want this skill, still? Would it not be faster to go on without it? I'm repeating myself, but that's the thing! That's what Siffrin is thinking, too!

I also want to take a quick moment to note, here - all skills gained from hangouts have art associated with them, which no other skills do. This feature, the nifty art, hammers home these as "special" skills, besides just how they're unlocked.

Siffrin also has one skill with associated art.

Yeah, you guessed it, it's (Just attack.)

At first, helping the characters is tied to a hefty in-game reward, but that reward loses its value, and in return devalues helping Siffrin's friends every loop. It's too tedious for a skill that'll make a boss go by one turn faster. You, the player, grow jaded with the battle system. Grinding experience isn't worth it, everybody's highest levels are already recorded. Fighting bosses isn't worth it, it's much faster to loop forward.

Isn't this what all endgame in video games looks like? You already beat the final boss, and now... what challenge is left? Is there a point to keep playing? Most games will have some post-game content. A superboss to test your skills against, but ISAT doesn't have any of that. You're forever left chasing to the post-game. That's the whole point - to escape the game.

As most games get more difficult as time passes, ISAT only gets easier. The game becomes disinterested in expanding its own mechanics just as I ran out of new things to fight after 100%-ing Kingdom Hearts 3. Every encounter becomes a simple game of "press button to win."

The final boss just takes that one up a notch.

Spoilers for Act 5 ahead boys!

In Act 5, Siffrin utterly loses it. His last possible hope for escape failed him, told him there's nothing she can do, and Siffrin is trapped for eternity. So of course, they go insane and run up the entire House without their party.

This just proves what you already knew - you dont need the party to proceed. Siffrin alone is strong enough. And here, Siffrin has entirely shed the facade of the jokester they used to be. Every single skill now follows the (Just attack.) naming conventions. Your skills are: (Paper.) (Rock.) (Scissors.) (Breathe.)

To the point. Not a moment wasted, because Siffrin can't take a moment longer of any of this. Additionally, his level is set to 99 and his equipment becomes fixed. You can't even pick up items anymore! Not that you needed them at this point anyway, right? Honestly, I never used any items besides the Salty Broth since Act 2, so I stopped picking items up a long time ago. Now you just literally can't.

Something I've not talked about until now - one of the main equipment types in this game are Memories, gained for completing subquests or specific interactions and events. They all by and large have little effects - make Odile's tonics heal more, or have Mirabelle cast a shield at the start of combat. For the hangout events, you also gain an associated memory that boosts the characters' stats by 30. It lets them keep up with Siffrin again! A fresh wind! Finally, your party members feel on par with you again!

...For a time. And just like that, they're irrelevant again, just as helping them gave Siffrin a brief moment of hope that the power of friendship could fix everything.

In Act 5, your memory is set to "Memory of Emptiness." It allows you to loop back in the middle of combat. You literally can't die anymore. Not that Siffrin could've died by this point in the first place, unless you forgot about the King's instant-kill attack. This one memory takes away the false pretense that combat ever had any stakes. Siffrin's level being set to 99 means even the scant exp you get is completely wasted on them. All stakes and benefits from combat have been removed. It has become utterly pointless.

Frustrating, right? It's an artistic frustration, though. It traps you right here in Siffrin's shoes, because he hates that all these blinding Sadnesses are still walking around just as much. It all inspires just a tiny fraction of that deep rolling anger Siffrin experiences here in the player.

And listen, it was cathartic, that one time Siffrin snapped and stabbed the tutorial Sadness, wasn't it? Because who enjoys sitting through the tutorial that often? Siffrin doesn't. I don't, either.

So, since combat is an useless obstacle now meant to inspire frustration, what do you do for a boss? You can't well make it a gameplay challenge now, no. The bosses of Act 5 are an emotional challenge: a painful wait.

First, Siffrin fights the King, alone. This is already nervewracking because of one factor - in every other run, you need Mirabelle's shield skill, or else you're scripted to die. You're actually forced to fight the King multiple times in Act 3, and have to do it at least once in Act 4, though you'll likely do it more. Point is: you know how this fight works.

You know Siffrin's fight is doomed from the outset, but all you can do is keep slinging attacks. Siffrin is enough of a powerhouse to take the King's HP down, what with the healing and buff skills they have now, not to even mention you can just go all in on damage and then loop back.

(And no matter which way you play it, whether you just loop or use strategically, it reflects on Siffrin, too. Has he grown callous enough not even death will stop their mission? Or does he still avoid pain, as much as he can?)

This fight still allows you the artifice of even that much choice, not that it matters. The other shoe drops eventually - Siffrin becomes slower, and slower. Unsettling, considering this game works on an Action Gauge system. You barely get turns anymore. The screen gets darker, and darker. Until Siffrin is frozen in time, just as you knew he had to be, because you know how this encounter works, know it can't be cleared without Mirabelle.

And, then, a void.

Siffrin awakens to nothingness. The only way to tell you've hit a wall is if Siffrin has no walking animation to match your button inputs. You walk, and walk, until you're approached by.... you. The next enemy encounter of the game, and Siffrin's absolute lowest point: Mal Du Pays.

Or, "Homesickness," in english. If you know the game, you know why it's named this, but that's not the point at the moment.

Thing is, where you could damage the King and are damaged in turn, giving you at least a proper combat experience, even if its doomed to fail, Mal Du Pays has no such thing.

You can attack. You can defend. But it is immune to all attacks. And in return, it does nothing. It's common, at least, for undefeatable enemies to be a "survive" challenge, but nope. The entire fight is "press button and wait." Except, remember the previous fight against the King? The entire time, you were waiting for the big instant death attack to drop. That feeling, at least for me, carried forward. I was incredibly on edge just waiting for the other shoe to drop. And, as is a pattern, Siffrin is, too. As Siffrin's attacks fail to connect, they start talking to Mal Du Pays.

But he gets no response, as you get no attacks to strategize around. The wait for anything to happen is utterly agonizing. You and Siffrin are both waiting for something to happen. This isn't a fight. It just pretends to be. It's an utter rugpull, because Siffrin was so undefeatable for most of Act 4 and all of Act 5 so far. It's kind of terrifying!

and it does. It finally does something. Ma Du Pays speaks, in the voice of Siffrin's friends, listing out their deepest fears. I think it's honestly fantastic. You're forced to just sit here and listen to Siffrin's deepest doubts, things you know the characters could not say because it references the timeloops they're all utterly unaware of. This is all Siffrin, talking to himself. And all you, all Siffrin, can do, is keep wailing away on the enemy to no effect whatsoever.

So of course this ends with Siffrin giving up. What else can you do?

And then Siffrin's friends show up and unfreeze them and it's all very cool yay. The pure narrative scenes aren't really the main focus but I want to point out here:

A) Mirabelle is in the first party slot here, referencing how she's the de facto protagonist, and Bonnie fills in the fourth slot left empty, which shows all characters uniting to save Siffrin

B) this is the only instance of the other party members having act specific battle icons: they're all smiling brightly, further pushed by the upbeat music

C) the reflecting shield Mirabelle uses to freeze the King uses a variation of her hangout skill cut in, marking it as her true "final" skill and giving the whole fight a more climatic feeling.

It's also a short gameplay sequence with Siffrin utterly uninvolved in the battle. You can't even see them onscreen. But... it feels warm, doesn't it? Everybody coming together. Siffrin doesn't have to fight anymore.

At last, the King is defeated. Siffrin and co. make for the Head Housemaiden, to have her look at Siffrin's sudden illness. Siffrin is utterly exhausted, famished, running a fever. And this isn't unexpected - after all, their skills in Act 5 had no cooldown. For context, instead of featuring any sort of MP system, all skills work on a cooldown basis, where a character can't use it for a certain number of turns. The lowest cooldown is actually Siffrin's Knife to Meet You, which has a cooldown of 1. In universe, this is reasoned as the characters needing a break from spamming craft in order to not exhaust themselves.

Siffrin's skills in Act 5 having no cooldown/being infinitely spammable isn't a sign of their strength - it's a sign that he refuses to let himself rest in order to rush through as fast as possible.

Moving on, Siffrin panics when seeing the Head Housemaiden, because seeing her means one thing: the end. Prior to this in the game, every single time you beat the King, the loop ends when you talk to the Head Housemaiden.

Reality breaks down, the whole shebang. It's here that Siffrin realizes - they don't want the loops to end, because the end of their journey means their family will leave, and he'll be alone again. The happiest time of his life will be over.

Siffrin goes totally ballistic, to say the least.

As it turns out (and was heavily foreshadowed narratively), Siffrin has been using Wish Craft to subconciously cause the timeloop because of their abandonment issues. It's rather predictable if you paid attention to literally anything, but it's extremely notable how heavily Siffrin is paralleled to the King, the antagonist they swore to kill by themself at the start of Act 5. The King wants to freeze Vaugarde in time because it is, in his mind, "perfect," for accepting him after he lost his home - a backstory he shares with Siffrin.

Siffrin has become the exact antagonist he swore to kill, and it's shown by how the next fight utterly flips everything on its head.

Siffrin is the final boss.

In a towering form made of stars, Siffrin looks down at their friends. His face is terrified, because of his internal conflict; he can't hurt his friends, but he can't let them go, either. The combat prompt is simply changed to "END IT!"

This fight is similar to the previous, in that you just need to wait a certain number of turns until its over. However, this time, it's not dreadful suspense. It's... confusion, and hesitance.

You have two options for combat: Attack your friends, or attack yourself.

And... you don't really want to do either, I think. I certainly don't. But what else can you do? It's Siffrin's desires clashing in full force. Attack your friends, and force them to stay? Or attack yourself, and let them go safely without you?

Worth noting, here - when you attack Siffrin's friends, you can't harm them. Isabeau will shield all attacks. And when you attack yourself, Mirabelle will heal you back to full. And the friends don't... do anything, either. How could they? Occasionally, Mirabelle heals you and Isabeau shouts words of motivation, but the main thing is...

(Your friends don't know what to do.)

None of them want to harm Siffrin. Both sides simply stare at each other, resolute in their conviction but unwilling to end it with violence. It's of note that this loop, the last one, is the only loop where the King isn't killed. Just frozen. And now here is Siffrin, clamoring for the same eternity the King was. Of course everything ends in a tearfilled conversation as Siffrin sees their friends won't leave him, even after the journey ends, but I still have to appreciate this moment.

Siffrin is directly put in the position with their friends as his enemies, forced to physically reckon that keeping them in this loop is an act of violence, against both their friends, and against himself.

It's a happy ending. But... what does it mean?

Of course, ISAT is obviously about the fear of change. Siffrin is afraid of the journey ending, and of being alone. However, ISAT is also a game about games. Siffrin is playing the same game, over and over, because it's comforting. It's familiar. It's nice, to know exactly what happens next. These characters might just be predictable lines of dialogue, but... they feel like friends. Have you ever played a game, loved it, put countless hours into it, but you never finished it? Because you just couldn't bear to see it end? For the characters to leave your life, for there to be a void in your heart where the game used to be?

After all, maybe it became part of your routine! You play the game every day, slowly chipping away at it for weeks at a time. For me, I beat ISAT in four days. It utterly consumed me during this time. I had 36 hours of playtime by the end. Yeah, in that week, I did not do much more than play ISAT.

And once i beat it, i beat it, again. I restarted the game to see the few scenes I missed, most specifically the secret boss I won't talk about here. I... couldn't let go of the game yet. I wanted to see every scrap I could. I still do. I'm writing this, in part because I still do. It's scary to let go.

Ever heard the joke term of "Postgame Depression?" It's when you just beat a game, and you're suddenly sad. Maybe because the ending affected you emotionally and you need to process the feelings it invoked, or you search for something that can now fill your time with it gone.

The game ends, for real this time, the last time you talk to the Head Housemaiden. But Siffrin gets... scared. What if everything loops back again? And so, his family offers to hold his hand. They face the end, together.

For all loops, including the ending, you never see what happens after. After they leave the loop for good. Because the loop is the game itself. It's asking you to trust that life goes on for these characters, and it holds your hand as it asks you to let go. There's a reason for Siffrin's theater metaphors. He is the actor, and the director, asking everyone to do it over one more time. He's a character within the game, and its player.

There's a reason I talked about endgame content. This, the way it all repeats, there's nothing new, difficulty and stakes bleed away as you snap the game over your knee - it's my copy of White 2 with two hundred hours in it. It's me playing Fire Emblem Awakening in under 3 hours while skipping every cutscene. Are you playing for the sake of play, for the sake of indulging in your memories, because you're afraid of the hole it'll leave when you stop?

Of note: the narrative never condemns Siffrin for unwittingly causing their own suffering. He's a victim of circumstance. It's seen as endearing, even, that Siffrin loves their friends to the point of rather seeing the world destroyed than them gone. But Siffrin is also told: we'll stay with you for now, but we'll part ways eventually. And one day, you'll have to be okay with it.

Stop draining the things you love of every ounce of enjoyment just because you're afraid of what happens next. I'm not saying to never play your favorite games again. Playing ISAT a second time, I still had a lot of fun! I saw so many new things I didn't before, and I enjoyed myself immensely, reading the same dialogue over and over. But... it makes me look at other games I love and still play, and makes me ask... is this still fun? Do I still need to play this game to enjoy it? Even writing this is an afterimage of my enjoyment, but it's a new way to interact with the game, to analyze it through this lens. Fuck, man, I write fanfiction. Look at me.

All of this, fanart, fanfic, analysis, is a way to prolong that enjoyment without making yourself suffer for it. Without just going through the motions of enjoyment without actually experiencing any. But one day, the thing you love won't be fun to talk and write and draw about. And it's okay. You'll have new things to love. I promise.

In the end.... I'm certain I'll replay ISAT one day. Between great writing, art, puzzles and unresolved mysteries, it's my shoe-in for game of the year.

But I won't replay it for quite some time. I've had enough, for now, so I let my love take other forms.

Siffrin is never condemned, because love is no evil. Be it love for another person, or for a game. And please, if you're overempathetic - it's still a game, at the end of the day. The great thing about games is that you can always boot them up again, no matter how long its been.

A circle within a circle indeed.

To summarize:

The repetitiveness of ISAT's combat, lack of new enemies, and Siffrin's ever increasing strength eventually allows you to snap the combat over your knee, rendering it irrelevant and boring. Though this may seem counterproductive at first, it perfectly mirrors how Siffrin has also grown bored with these repeated encounters and views them only as an obstacle to get past. The reflection of Siffrin's own tiredness with the player's annoyance increases the compassion the player has for Siffrin as a character.

Additionally, the endgame state of the combat system serves as commentary on the state of a favorite game played too often, much like how Siffrin has unwittingly trapped themself in the loop. Despite the game having no more challenge or content left to over, a player might return to their favorite game anyway, solely to try and recreate the early experience of actually having fun with it. This ties into ISAT's metanarrative about the fear of change and refusal to let go of comfort even when the object (here, your favorite video game) offering that comfort has become utterly bereft of any substance to actually engage with. Playing for the sake of playing, with no actual investment to keep going besides your own memories.

Later on, stripping away even the pretense of strategy for a "press button and wait" format of final bosses highlights the lack of options at Siffrin's disposal and truly forces the player into their shoes. Truly, the only way to win is to stop playing.

#feli speaks #in stars and time #isat #isat spoilers #lays down on floor. it's done. it's done #i actually narrowed down in scope to just focus on the combat by the way. and this is like. several thousand words

2K notes · View notes

quitealotofsodapop · 5 months ago

Note

I can easily imagine a situation where Wukong is actually fem or trans actually. Like, China, especially ancient China, is a hugely patriarchal society, and Wukong is born into a matriarchal society. One that has a pretty significant language barrier considering Wukong describes speaking chinese or any none monkey language really as "speaking human." It's easy to imagine a situation where there wasn't really a good descriptor for what Wukong was to her tribe other than "Chief" or "King" or little baby Wukong not knowing the proper pronouns to a language he's not quite fluent in yet accidentally claiming herself to be King when Queen or Chieftess would be a more appropriate title. And history just... never realizes it was a translation mistake or that Wukong was actually a girl until MK becomes Wukong's successor. It could even be a situation where Wukong hid her gender when one considers the views of women at the time and the fact she spent several years in the presence of a very aggressive flirt and pervert, even if Baijie probably wouldn't have ever actually done anything just his presence done would make her uncomfortable

Just little ideas based in what you said about the story not really changing much if Wukong were female

Prev.

I can def see a situation in LMK where Wukong identifies as a girl (personal hc is genderfluid) and just... got tired of correcting people.

Younger Wukong didn't exactly have the correct word for her status amongst the troop in "Human" language so she uses "King" since it's the closest. "Queen" didn't sound right cus that meant the King's mate from what she saw.

We know that Subodhi takes on acolytes of all genders, so he had no problem with Wukong (then Shihou) wanting to learn daoist & buddhist magic. He did think Wukong was a guy at first simply cus he didn't think to ask. He did have some old-fashioned "Women = Yin. Yin is bad" views though, and that led to a few arguments between him and his most outspoken student.

No one in Heaven or the Seas bothered checking cus "Thats a Monkey". Except for whoever was in charge of electing Wukong for the stable-monkey job - that was a directed hit at her (in ancient china female monkeys were kept around horses for luck/scaring off wolves). When Sun Wukong realised that she had been given a job even below a stable-boy simply for her body and/or gender identity, she flipped out.

Being elected a Peach Orchard Maiden was a lot better, which made her even more upset that she wasn't allowed to attend the Queen's Banquet - the Orchard Maidens got to go! Why couldn't she!? The real reason turned out to be that the other Maidens were actually the Jade Emperor and Xiwangmu's daughters - a fact that's often forgotten amongst even the nobles of the Celestial Realm. The Maidens hadn't been able to explain that it was an immediate-family-only party when Wukong decided to crash it.

Bonus for Stone Matriarch au: Xiwangmu immediately recognises a startling familiar destruction in this little demon. Like she's seeing a mirror of her younger self; a wild queen destroying the Heavens to prove her worth. The Queen Mother even pauses at the sight of the chaos on Flower Fruit Mountain, thinking she's seeing one of her own daughters throwing a tantrum.

Ofc the relationship between Fem!Wukong and the Brotherhood gets altered a bit. I feel that they knew Wukong's gender and supported her 100%. DBK goes full "You looking at my little sister, punk!?"-mode on anyone that even looks at Wukong. PIF helped a lot with understanding "human girly-stuff" when Wukong joined the Celestials.

Macaque knew from day 1, and it doesn't change his level of devotion to his King - though he makes a point of referring to Wukong as the "Beautiful Monkey King". Guaranteed to leave Wukong blushing. Macaque's own gender identity is a question mark - he takes what gender he can steal from others.

It also only served to reinforce Azure's projected martyrdom onto Wukong - who would be the best figurehead for the rebellion than a woman who suffers as much pain as the Bodhisattva Guanyin?

Tripitaka likely faints once or twice at the revelation that his bodyguard is a bloodthirsty woman - but quickly gets over it cus thats the least of his worries. Tthough he does panic at the thought of Wukong being like certain other female demons towards monks -Wukong quickly puts his worries to rest; Tripitaka isn't her type.

Sha Wujing and Ao Lie didn't mind but they made sure to have Wukong's input for when she preferred to be addressed as male - usually amongst humans or celestials.

Zhu Bajie on the other hand...

It took Bajie a lot of rejection to get the point that the Monkey King was not a free lady. After a few years their relationship became a lot more "annoying siblings"-vibes, but the initial creep factor always made Wukong uncomfortable.

MK (he/they transmasc) discovers the Monkey King's true gender and *immediately* works to correct his language.

MK: "Monkey- wait, do you prefer being called King or Queen? I don't want to misgender you if possible." Wukong, surprised: "Uh, King is fine bud. It's sort of my brand now anyway." MK: "Okay! Never be afraid to correct me if I mess up." (*points to trans pride pin on his jacket*) :D Wukong, honestly touched: "Aww."

Later when the rest of the Noodle Gang meets Wukong, there's a little surprise - mostly from Tang who's rambling how all the translation inconsistencies finally make sense! Mei shrieks with glee - the Monkey King is "The Ultimate Girl Boss!". Sandy politely asks for Wukong's preferred pronouns if she's comfortable sharing them. Pigsy is a lot more understanding of why Wukong felt the need to hide her gender for so long.

Pigsy: "Let me guess, you pulled a Mulan cus of a certain... pervert in your travel party." Wukong: "Eh not entirely... Bajie figured it out after a few months, but by then he already saw me as One of the Guys. Felt weird to bathe or sleep near him though - dude stared." Pigsy: "Gross." Wukong: "Mega-gross."

Wukong's dynamic with Spider Queen becomes a bit funnier, since she likely doesn't know Wukong's gender. Second she learns that her opponent is "a fellow Queen" she gains a lot more respect for her. Female spiders are overwhelmingly the strongest after all.

If it becomes wide knowledge during LMK, then Wukong gets an intense public reaction, not just from fans (she tells Fire Star to deal with the media dumpster fire) but from demons that knew her back in the day that never knew and are surprised, or did know and are extremely proud of her for coming out.

DBK loudly declares "MY BABY SISTER HAS RETURNED!". The king he's been forced to fight felt like a complete stranger until Wukong started owning her gender identity again. He is extremely supportive to an embarassing extent. Red Son feels elated, especially since they're coming to terms with their own gender indentity.

And ofc a lot of this is me projecting as a trans masc person - I tend to automatically see Sun Wukong's as afab either way. This idea can have Wukong either as afab genderfluid or trans fem, whatever tickles the brain.

#sun wukong #lmk mk #qi xiaotian #six eared macaque #liu er mihou #gender bend #gender swap #jttw #journey to the west #lmk #lego monkie kid #lmk aus

81 notes · View notes

yannaryartside · 8 months ago

Text

THE BERZATO IN-LAWS

an analysis in Sydney, Pete, Tiffany and Stevie

We have met the romantic interest/partners of the Berzattos, and I think the story is telling us something on why they are good to their partners, pariculary in they way they could help them heal from the toxic family dinamics they were raised on. And again, it comes all to food, Donna's food, in particular. Let me explain:

The Burden of Donna's food:

So, when you are feeding somebody, you provide care for them. Food is a metaphor for the biological need for feeding, but Donna never served bad food to her kids, she has decided to put emotion, time, and energy into preparing these meals. With food, she will prove her intentions to care for them. In preparing meals, her family will gather, and her sons and daughter will bond. But in this activity, and eating at the table, it will be the moment for Donna to punish them, to ridicule, gaslight, and hurt them. So her food is nutritious and poisonous at the same time.

So, I have noticed that in the Berzatto family, there are two types of people, the enablers/participants in keeping the family running the way it is (in the case of Carmy and Nat, they do it even when it doesn't benefit them, while everybody else benefits someway) and the other type is the non-conforming/change maker. This last category only can be applied to the inlaws: Sydney, Pete, Tiffany, and Stevie.

The Change makers/Inlaws:

Why do I call them non-cormorning? Because they are. Neither of these individuals is looking at the family dynamics in the Berzattos and says "Yeah, this is okay" Examples follow:

Sydney calling on everybody's bullshit on those first days of her working at the beef. She managed to fight the water with fire and turned everybody around.

Pete defending Carmy.

Tiffany calls Richie out for ruining the sweater she gave him, especially because Richie minimized to please Donna. She also calls them psychos.

Stevie talking about them calling him gay

None of them have a tendency to respond in an aggressive way toward conflict, if anything, they do righteously get angry and try to defend themselves but they never lower themselves to the level the aggression was made. They try to introduce kindness into the equation. The worst part, the show at times lets people describe them as "naive," "soft" and "too demanding" (Tiffany and Sydney), or shames them in other ways.

And you know what? all is symbolized in the way each reacts to Donna's food/system.

Sydney was able to take control of the kitchen without (and despite) toxic dynamics previously established. She is also trying to create a new menu with Carmy based on his mom's recipes. And the worst part? Carmy didn't co-create the menu with Sydney, he didn't let her (as far as we can see) modify the essence of Donna's recipes in the restaurant. If they had done it, maybe this food would have acquired something else for Carmy, a chance to heal the past trauma (metaphor).

Pete trying to collaborate with Christmas Dinner (bringing something new, kindness)

Tyffany not being able to eat Donna's food due to her pregnancy (she was already fed up and relieved to being far from them) which may be also a signal for her wanting to protect her baby from all that madness.

Stevie is the only one who insists on helping Donna to cook. He also is the only one who gives Nat the confort she asked for, not the one other thought she needs (Richie and Mickey for example).

#its being a while since I saw fishes please let me know if I missed something #Storer and team are crazy in methaphors #carmy berzatto #sydcarmy #sydney adamu #the bear fx #carmy the bear #sydney x carmy #carmen berzatto #the bear meta #the bear #tiffany the bear #pete the bear #natalie berzatto #richie jerimovich #stevie the bear

98 notes · View notes

cadere-art · 1 month ago

Note

how'd you start with your uanlikri setting? i've always wanted to make a detailed fantasy-scifi-speculative bio type thing, and i'm finally starting with it, but it feels so big that i just don't know where to begin.

So, let me preface this by saying that Uanlikri has turned 12 this year. It has been a long haul project and it has been through a lot of changes - I have been working on it all my adult life, literally: I started working on it when I was 17.

With this established, here are two things about how I started: I don't quite remember how I was approaching it when I begun working on it, and lot of the stuff I put in it, especially in the first years, has been reworked, replaced, or removed*.

When I first started working on it, I was mostly trying to worldbuild around this plotline I had in mind, which remains, mostly intact, as the plotline of The Flight of the Winged Serpent, a story I may or may not write someday about the death of the last Emperor of the Namitan Empire. These days, I'm mostly trying to worldbuild around the location of another story, Empire's Wake, which takes place in the City State of Ranai after the fall of the Namitan Empire (which is why I keep going back to Ranai in a lot of my worldbuilding posts).

Regardless of whether you intend to write a story in that universe or not, for me the best approach to worldbuilding is to have a story, or a character, which serves as an anchor to your work. I'm not very good at focusing on Ranai or even the Basin Region, where both Ranai and the Empire are situated, but this still helps me direct my attention: although I've built loads of stuff for the lands south of the mountains which have little to no relevance to Ranai, I keep the level of granularity of that worldbuilding low - none of it is in depth, and I don't try to develop details for it. If I ever want to work on a story set south of the mountains, I'll have loads of stuff to work with, but mostly I'll have loads of stuff to develop before I can write in that part of the setting, because the worldbuilding there is very surface-level.

The other big thing I always and systematically recommend that people should work on and think about more is material culture (this could not possibly be because this is my field of studies). Whenever I don't know where to start, thinking: what's their land like? What grows there? What can they harvest, what can they intentionally grow, and what can they make from it? What do they eat, and how do they prepare it? The materials and designs of our houses, furniture, and tools influence our lives on a completely fundamental level. What does it mean for the rythms of daily life to have tiny houses without windows, or big houses with inner courtyards, or houses without clearly deliminated indoor/outdoor spaces, or communal houses? Do they need to grind their flour by hand, and who does the grinding? Going back to the material conditions of a group and what they can do from there is both an endless source of inspiration and a way to get back to the fundamentals and get a good base going from which to build up afterwards.

Also, and probably most importantly, I'd say focus on what's fun for you at that moment. A couple years ago I spent a lot of time doing a lot of work on colour genetics for a few critters. Is it useful to me now? Not really, but it's kind of nice to have, and more importantly, I had loads of fun doing it back then.

*There's also loads of stuff that's stayed - some that grew with the setting, some that I've never needed to change, and some that I'm kind of saddled with for better or worse. More on old Uanlikri under the cut.

Uanlikri started with antioles, which were initially lizard people with a very agamid / iguana - like look. The fauna in their world was kind of all over the place, but more fantastical overall and much more mammalian. The idea that they might be dinosaurs came quite early, I think, because they had feathers as early on as day 2 of the project (the very first antiole drawing is featherless), but I only decided to take this idea seriously and redesign antioles consequently in 2017, 5 years after I begun working on Uanlikri. I'm mostly happy about how antioles look now, but the strange feather crests are a remnant of the very first designs that, quite frankly, annoy me deeply lately. If I were to design them today, they'd have more sensical feather placement, but the weird crests are staying because I don't feel like invalidating the last 7 years of work and the 40 something drawings in the "antiole fashion" series. Making the rest of the fauna dinosaurian is something I decided on in 2017 as well, but which I've only begun taking seriously in the last year and a half or so - I've done a huge amount of work in the last 2 years on account of many things including a better workspace and also graduating and not being a student anymore.

At the start of Uanlikri, there were 4 ethnic groups in Uanlikri: the greens, the sand-folk, the grey mountainfolk, and the Pale Peoples. This a thing that's really grown with the project as it went: I never scrapped or intentionally revamped it, but it's both remained true and changed a lot in 12 years. The green peoples are now called the Undenau and represent two different colonization events in Uanlikri's history, one very ancient (6000+ y ago) and one recent (250y ago), with some surviving cultural taboos among the two groups which posit a common ancestor. The sand-folk are still kind of mostly beige and brownish (though with a lot more khaki as well), and probably arrived first. The situation with the mountainfolk has complexified considerably with the addition of polar regions and peoples to the South of the continent which did not exist in the first maps. The Pale Peoples are now mostly immigrants of another landmass.

One thing I'm saddled with that annoys me is that, in the beginning of the project, the sand-folk were somewhat (badly) arabic-coded especially in the names of things, and though I've tried to dilute that influence through the years, it's largely remained because I just don't see myself renaming such a huge chunk of the map and the characters which I know by heart. I think it's uninspired and kind of stale, but it is what it is.

Conlanging is truly the aspect of the world in which i've felt the most saddled with old decisions if only because I think redoing and relearning huge chunks of the world's names would be more of a disservice to me and the progress of the project than having a slightly better or more inspired bank of names. I try to avoid indulging the urge to redo stuff as much as possible.

#long post #asks #worldbuilding #Uanlikri is getting really old as a project but I was not working *intensely* on it all these years #for a while i was working more on pigeon aéropostale #and also I Experienced Professional Burnout as a student and that kind of shot my creativity for a while.#but it's never been entirely dormant either #also take notes I didn't most of the time and it's fine but i'm also having so much fun trudging through old stuff for inspo

8 notes · View notes

the-tmnt-ficfinder · 3 months ago

Text

Ficfinder finds: So, I guess…we all have issues.

TMNT 2012 Fanfic Summary: Mikey wasn't insane. He knew he wasn't. He really did have three brothers and a father, no matter what his paperwork said. Also, none of his family was human, and neither was he. That was the truth about him, no matter what anyone else thought. (Sticking by that truth got him thrown into an asylum. What a surprise.) **Winner of FIRST PLACE in the Universal TMNT Mature Fanfic Competition 2016 for MOST COMPELLING AU, and winner of SECOND PLACE for MOST SPOT ON PORTRAYAL OF MICHELANGELO.**

So, I guess…we all have issues: Appraisal and Ratings

(Don't know what fanfic "Appraisal and Ratings" means? Check out my explanation on my Main Masterpost! Looking for a different fanfic to read? Head on over to my Fanfic List Masterpost!)

Disclaimer: This fanfic is completed, and is part of an unfinished series. This fic has an ending that isn't a cliffhanger for anyone who was worried.

The fanfic ratings are not based on quality, favoritism, or how good I think it is, but rather, how intense a subject may be. Like a movie review, or the tags on Ao3, letting the readers know what to expect.

Plot: 💛💛💛💛💛

"Plot is five out of five!! The plot of this story is compelling, confusing, invigorating, and enticing!! Right away, it grabbed my attention, and I got sucked into the story!! The plot was unique, unlike anything I'd read before, for sure a good read!!"

Suspense/Mystery: 💛💛💛💛🖤

"Suspense/Mystery is four out of five!! Right off the bat, I was on the edge of my seat!! This fanfic is FILLED with suspense, and so so much mystery!! It gets a little intense even, which can be really fun!!"

Angst/Hurt: 💛💛💛💛💛

"Angst/Hurt is five out of five!! Aw man, the hurt, the sadness, the confusion and loneliness. Augh!! This fanfic is filled to the brim with mental illnesses, mental dilemmas, mental struggles that all effect the characters very very physically. Hurt my soul to read, and I loved every second of it."

Fluff/Comfort: 💛💛🖤🖤🖤

"Fluff/Comfort is two out of five!! The fluff/comfort levels of this fic are fairly low. While comfort happens, the fluff it minimal, which only serves to make the impact of the hurt and angst even better!! Plus, it gives it a more realistic feel, as in real life, most of us don't receive comfort when we're hurting. At least, not like how its most often portrayed in fanfics."

Emotions Conveyed: 💛💛💛🖤🖤

"Emotions Conveyed is three out of five!! Ah, the emotions displayed in this fanfic are masterfully and I do mean masterfully written!! Some of the scenes and chapters definitely screwed with my head, influencing my moods for sure. Emotional manipulation in writing form!! Beautiful!!"

Drama/Tension Level:💛💛💛💛💛

"Drama/Tension Level is five out of five!! Oh gosh, the stress, the anxiety, lemme say it again; THE ANXIETY!! So many times I was convinced something was going to go wrong, but then things were ok, but then not ok, but then ok and-- Seriously, this fic has the stress, but in a good way!!"

Triggers: 💛💛💛💛💛

"Triggers are five out of five!! This fanfic is VERY trigger heavy with the mental health stuff, so please make sure to read the tags, and stay safe everyone!! ^^"

Legibility (Reading): 💛💛💛💛🖤

"Legibility (Reading) is four out of five!! This fanfic is such a lovely read! The thoughts being in italics, and the sections being divided up via large paragraph space makes for such nice formatting."

Legibility (Audio): 💛💛💛💛💛

"Legibility (Audio) is five out of five!! This fanfic is incredibly satisfying to listen to!! Due to the way it was written, the story flows very smoothly in audio book form. Plus as this story runs on the more intense side, listening to it while doing a task is very enjoyable!!"

Length: 💛💛🖤🖤🖤

"Length is two out of five!! 'So, I guess…we all have issues' has 22 chapters, each one varying in length. Some run on the shorter side, taking from 8-20 minutes to read, while others are very long, taking up to even an hour to read (though there are only a few chapters with this length)."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, I guess…we all have issues: Chapter List

(Chapters will be added as I rate and appraise them ^^)

Chapter 1

#tmntficfinder #ficfinder #ficfinder finds #Ficfinder finds So I guess…we all have issues #TMNT 2012 #tmnt 2012 fanfiction #tmnt 2012 fanfic #tmnt 2k12 #reincarnation au #tmnt 2012 reincarnation

12 notes · View notes

chocolatepot · 4 months ago

Text

Re: my point in that other meta post about assuming that scenarios people write fic about = their expectations for canon -

@pearwaldorf's tags: #fans' sense of story is not always the creator's sense of story#the narratively interesting as opposed to the desire to resolve a fan's most pressing issue

@bizarrelittlemew's tags: #oh yes and the last point is especially important tbh#even when i write canonverse fics it doesn't mean that's what i think should happen in canon#or what i think did happen (in case of missing scene fics)#it's just playing in the canon sandcastle within the bigger sandbox where i usually build my own castles#it annoys me to no end when people assume non-existent intent on the author's behalf

This is something I started thinking about at some point during Prisons of Our Own Perceptions or maybe something else angsty. Because, for one thing, canon just doesn't have that kind of angst! I don't/didn't expect the canon to get very explicitly dark in the way of angsty fic - compare how things go down with Ned Low to what happens in whump fics where another pirate comes in, tortures people, and causes trouble.

I interrogate my characterization/dialogue A LOT, so I'm always asking myself, "Can I hear Rhys saying that as Stede? Would Ed throw another 'fucking' in there?" And this step gets difficult when writing a non-canonical level of whump, because I'm trying to figure out what they'd say in a situation that would never happen on the show.

Some people do write their version of what might happen in the next season of canon, or something like that. But I think most of us are writing what seems fun to write for various reasons, and "actually feels like a plausible episode/chapter of canon" doesn't really come into it. Even fic that's more plausibly canon, there's often a wayyyy bigger emphasis on comfort or explicitly exploring trauma than you'd ever see on a show (which is half the reason we're writing it). Often, I think, this kind of departure from canon gets treated as a fundamentally different category from darker fic because the idea is "this is what canon would do if it slowed down and gave them breathing space," but ultimately they're the same - the writer is creating a scenario that pleases them that wouldn't be how canon would do it.

I've written multiple reunion fics, and none of them were what I thought canon was actually going to do - they weren't attempts at prediction. Momentum was about getting them into position for Feriowind's artwork. Sweet Damsel was likewise based on a particular image, but one I had in my head. would the sun for thee more coldly shine was for a vague prompt about injuries, and I liked the idea of Ed finding Stede while Stede was hurt, to put his concern up against whatever negative feelings he might have about Stede leaving, because I thought that would be an interesting story. Likewise, I seemed not one for such man's love was about Ed holding onto his negative feelings but also getting sick and being tended by Stede (closest thing to a true prediction, but I certainly didn't think it would be). And First Night Home imagined a way less fraught reunion than canon got, for once, because it was for a domestic fluff fic fest.

In all of these, the way the reunion went was to serve the point of the plot and relationship dynamic rather than to guess at what might actually happen. The same thing is true of other types of fics, really. The story comes first.

#writing #ofmd #I probably meant this to have more of a point but I've forgotten by now #this has been up in a tab half-written for days

12 notes · View notes

halliescomut · 1 year ago

Text

Thai BL: The Fanservice Problem...

Now here's the thing... I'm not here to offer solutions, though I do have proposed ideas that I may include at the end, but more just to breakdown my thoughts on fanservice in Thai BL.

First, we'll start with a general definition of fanservice:

I think that the connection to print media originally is important when we're looking at modern BLs series and movies, as they have a base in print media. In Thailand you have niyaai waai (“Y” novels), kaatuun waai (“Y” comics), as well as the Japanese Yaoi Manga and Korean BL Manwha that are very literally the basis for numerous series, in addition to original story BL series.

In terms of the fanservice we see in relation to Thai BLs...that goes a step further, moving out of the fictional world and into the real one. The fanservice we're now talking about is actors whose characters are couples often being paired for promotional events and they are expected to on some level act similarly to their onscreen characters. This includes individual character behavior, but also having the two actors behave in a way that could be (and is intended to be) read as romantic by fans. This includes a lot of different actions, but skinship (which I'll breakdown later), general chivalrous behavior (like serving your partner first), going on 'dates' specifically with the intention of presenting those experiences on social media. The important part about fanservice in this context is that it is always done with the intention of being seen by fans. It doesn't matter if it's a publicly streamed and hosted event, or just an Instagram post, if it's made public by the actor, or their company, it's intentional and it's likely fanservice.

What is the purpose of fanservice then?

Profit, essentially. For these companies, who both produce BL, but also often represent these actors as a talent management agency, there's a profit to be increased by presenting actors in this way. Having these 'couples' become popular to fans means continued view of future series, but also means that they can set contracts to have them promote various products. You will see the actors often promoting the same products that are used in product placement in their series. A brief list off the top of my head: the Lays chips, whatever that flavored water or juice they're always drinking in Wabi Sabi shows, Epson printers (I think it's Epson), various skin-care serums, L'Oreal hair color, the menthol inhalers, the list is likely endless. In the series, product placement gives them direct funds to actually make the shows, but by having the actors promote the same products, these companies are getting a percentage of that payment also because they are also working as representation for the actor.

To make easy numbers, while Gemini's contract might have been $1000 for this post promoting this brand of Ramen, because GMMTV set-up that partnership/contract, and they represent Gemini as talent, they'll get $200 for themselves, Gemini takes home $800 minus taxes. Again, these are made up numbers and I truly hope that no one is actually getting a 20% commission, but I trust none of these companies, so I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it was higher.

But because this is genuinely how a good majority of production companies gather capital to be able to make shows, the more popular a ship is can directly equal out to how many ad partnerships they can create for them, as well as the price they can charge. In order to give an approximate view, I chose two actors from the same company, Domundi's Zeepruk and Tutor. Because of Zee's vastly higher popularity and the wide difference in follower counts I wanted to have a third actor for comparison, and so I chose PP Krit. It's not an exact match across the board, but I think gives a good view of scale. Here is the break down of their last 30 Instagram posts:

Now I'll start with some definitions of how I categorized things. Ads are things that have clearly been shot specifically to promote a product, and often have instructions in the captions on where to purchase, or specific benefits about the products. Sponsored posts are any posts where they tag a brand in the caption, but it doesn't have the detail of the Ad posts, or posts of them at a place or event where they were invited to attend by the brand for the purpose of being photographed there. Self-promotion is trailers, photos from their series, or fan events. And finally candid is any pictures that are just there for the fun, thirst traps, vacation pics, pics from behind the scenes of events, and while few of these are actual 'candid' pictures, they're not for the purpose of promoting a 'brand' in particular (outside of the fact they are all clearly intend to promote the 'brand' of the actor). The Couple+ 'whatever' is the same as listed above, but is for any posts that include the other half of their acting pair (meaning Yim, Nunew, and Billkin). The Couples Candid is only found once on a post from Tutor, and is clearly taken when they were filming their Tiktok BL short, but there's no tags for the short series, nor instructions on where to watch it, so I'm calling it a candid post. For PP Krit, there are two posts that I'm categorizing as 'Self-Sponsored' as one is for PP's own brand (Caremate) and the other is for a Car Repair shop owned by a family member. Later when I do math with this information those posts won't be included in the 'potential profit' as I can't guarantee he was paid, and if he was I doubt he charged his standard rate.

Looking at Tutor 7/30 of his latest Instagram posts are ads/sponsored and 5 of the posts are 'couple' posts, meaning they also feature Yim. For Zee 10/30 are sponsored and 5 of those are 'couple' posts also featuring Nunew. It's also relevant that the earliest post I counted of Zee is from April 8, 2023, for PP is April 6, 2023, and the earliest one from Tutor is from December 6, 2022. Given that we have about 30 posts from Zee in 2 months, I'm simply not going to scroll back to December to see what the comparison is time wise, but if the ratio remained the same 10/30 in 2 months, that would equal 30/90 over 6 months, with 15 being 'couple posts'. So you can see the difference made in terms of money brought in by more 'popular' actors. If we stick with our $ 1000 per post cost for individual posts, and double that for 'couple posts' ($ 1000/per actor) that's $ 45,000.00 total brought in and $ 9,000 kept by Domundi as commission. For Tutor, in the same 6 month span, he (and partially Yim) brought in $ 12,000, with Domundi keeping $ 2,400 as commission. That's a marked difference for Domundi. And completely ignoring the very high likelihood that Zee is probably bringing in 2 to 3 times what Tutor his because of his popularity and longer time in the industry. If we look at those same number with PP, he has 15/30 posts that are Ad/Sponsored, at $ 1000 per post that's $ 15,000 directly in PP's pocket essentially, since he has his own independent company that represents him. Which causes it's own complications, as he has many more sponsored and ad posts on his company account, many of which he also appears in with Billkin. (Sidenote: I actually find it fascinating that there's no sponsored/ad posts featuring Billkin on his personal account, in fact it's surprisingly rare for him to post Billkin on his account at all outside of stories, at least recently.) So all of this to say, you can see how having these actors promoted in pairs is more profitable for the company as far as ad promotion.

The additional benefit is we're looking at is fans being able to follow pairs through different stories. Like many fans of media, we will often find actors we enjoy, and then proceed to actively work to watch different projects they are in because we like them, find them to be incredibly talented, think they're handsome, etc. This general expectation is capitalized on by companies by having pairs act opposite each other in multiple stories. At this point for ZeeNunew and TutorYim, we've seen both in the Cutie Pie series, but both also have future work to look forward to. I've previously mentioned the BL Tiktok shorts with TutorYim, and they are going to be the leads in Middleman's Love, which is due to come out at the end of the year. ZeeNunew have a new film, After Sundown, as well as new series The Next Prince, and will be returning as Lian and Kuea in Naughty Babe as second leads. All of these future shows and series are produced by Domundi, meaning they will get a portion of profits from appearances, merchandise, etc. that goes along with those series, as well as the potential ads or product placement in the shows. There’s also a high likelihood that product placement in Naughty Babe will garner a higher price, as it’s a spin-off of an already popular show with already popular actors, where Middleman’s Love, as the first series showing Tutor and Yim as leads, would be ‘cheaper’.

Fanservice as perceived by Fans

Now this can be difficult to break down, because it all depends on the fan. Fanservice as a concept is widely understood by Thai fans. They actively recognize that it exists, and they enjoy it. Other East Asian countries also recognize that Thai BL employs fanservice, and while they accept and enjoy it, they generally do not want to see the practice taken up by BL actors in their own country. In fact, it’s generally rare for actors in BL series in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, etc., to have actors paired for multiple series, outside of appearing as the same characters over various series. The first to come to mind is the characters of Bo Xiang and Zhi Gang from HIStory 3 having in a small guest appearance in HIStory 4, played by the same actors, Wilson Liu and Zhang Han Yuan. Because they are rarely kept as an acting pair, fanservice outside of the actual scripted media is not expected and would have little benefit.

Moving away from East Asian, very particularly to Western, audiences where fanservice is something that many media consumers ONLY expect to see in the media itself, never outside of it. Speaking as a western fan myself, I was genuinely surprised at the amount of ‘bonus content’ that is the expected norm with Thai BL’s. The fan meets, sponsored events, concerts, the vlogs and excursions, the behind-the-scenes content, all of it is generally beyond what I am used to as an avid media fan. Director/or actor commentary, behind the scenes documentaries, while popular generally fell out of favor with the decrease in popularity of physical DVDs, as it was originally intended to be a selling point of purchasing DVDs instead of VHS. (But honestly, that’s a different post.) And observing the behavior as someone with the perspective of a western fan, it is both the requisite behaviors of fanservice, as well as the difference in cultural norms, that causes confusion and blurs lines. The number one thing that is seen as surprising by western fans of East Asian media, is skinship, particularly skinship between two men.

The concept of skinship isn’t directly unfamiliar to western people but is generally something that occurs between direct family members (parent-child or siblings) or between romantic couples. In East Asian culture it’s moves beyond familial and romantic bonds to include all platonic bonds as well. You can expect to see skinship practiced between any two people who are close and feel affection for each other. So, in the context of fanservice and Thai BL acting pairs, not every occurrence of skinship (hugs, holding hands, sitting especially close, playing with hair, fingers, etc.) is fanservice, but it is a tool in the fanservice armory. Given that it is a cultural norm, and that many of these actors are at least well known to each other and friendly, it is likely an easy one to enact in the name of fanservice.

Watching these interactions through a western lens however, causes the viewer to more easily see the behavior in a romantic context. And there’s honestly a lot of factors that play into that, the biggest being ‘masculinity ideals’ where most western cultures don’t promote or encourage men to show affection outside of family (generally strictly parents or children) or romantic couples. Then you also have good ol’ homophobia, men don’t want to show too much affection towards other men for fear of being seen as gay. And this is a very broad sort of description, as the ‘norms’ for what is acceptable platonic contact will of course differ in immigrant families, or indigenous communities, or among black Americans, even just geographically. I’m just a white person speaking from their own experience and observation, though I do have the benefit of knowing, working with, and interacting with a remarkably wide variety of humans.

Why is Fanservice a ‘Problem’?

If it’s widely understood that fanservice is an extension of the acting, that it’s very often something required by contract, that it’s not an indicator of a romantic or sexual relationship, then it’s not a problem. But that’s not widely understood. And that lack of understanding or even the preference of fans to ignore that knowledge has created a problem in the Thai BL industry. We’ve watched over the last several months personal attacks on actors for ‘queerbaiting’ (which is a term intended ONLY for fictional characters), fan clubs being upset over actors going to appearances alone or without the other half of their acting pair, personal attacks on close friends of actors (very particularly female friends), and even the attacking of an employee and friend of an actor for ‘pushing the fanservice agenda’. What is intended to be cute and fun, is turning into something that is having real life negative effects, both on the actors themselves, but also people connected to these actors. It’s also spreading beyond Thai BL, with fans (mostly western fans) being upset at non-Thai actors for not engaging in fanservice.

Fanservice, by virtue of it being monetizable, also indirectly exploits the Queer community. This is something that’s recognized and often brought up by western fans, as culturally, we’ve reached a point where the expectation is that Queer media will cast Queer actors in roles. This is done specifically in an attempt to help Queer actors to get more roles in the entertainment industry in general (which is a worthy goal) but is also only considered in the context that while being an out Queer person in the West is easier/safer than in many other places around the world. Many Western nations have not only marriage equality, but anti-discrimination laws that give additional protection to Queer people. And even with these laws there are still hundreds of thousands of Queer people who don’t feel comfortable being openly out in all aspects of their lives. In many East Asian countries, legal protection against discrimination is not guaranteed, and even in those countries with anti-discrimination laws, there’s often caveats. And that’s completely setting aside societal discrimination, which would be a top concern for these actors. Taking Thailand specifically, homosexuality isn’t illegal, but there are no laws in place for marriage equality or even the recognition of same-sex relationships. While there are anti-discrimination laws in place, those rest on the ability of a Queer person to PROVE discrimination, which opens its own can of worms.

So, what I’m saying in regard to monetizing or exploiting the Queer community, is that it is understandably frustrating for actual Queer people in Thailand to see actors ‘performing’ queerness through fanservice, and being rewarded for it, while many regular citizens are living in situations where being out could be damaging to their livelihoods, cause loss of friendships or family relationships, and even put them in physical danger. Now, are some of these actors part of the Queer community? We know for certain that some are, we know for certain that some aren’t, but the vast majority we don’t have any concrete knowledge of their sexuality or Queer identity (and we are NOT entitled to it!). But it would be understandable and reasonable, given the current political and societal landscape of many of these countries, that any actor would have to very seriously consider potential ramifications of being out. Like any Queer person anywhere, there’s a laundry list of considerations that have to be addressed. Top of the list is ‘Would I be physically safe if I came out?’ but you also have to consider possible negative effects on your career, the potential limitations if you want to move outside of BL to mainstream content. We also have VERY clear examples of societal discrimination and hatred towards openly Queer actors, both from ‘local’ fans as well as international fans. But we do very often see BL actors being openly supportive of their local Queer community, promoting proactive voting in elections, and even this past week making appearances at PRIDE events. This is in addition to potential work they are doing quietly to support the community, like donating to non-profits that work to assist or advocate for Queer people, both individually and as a whole.

So, What’s the Solution?

I have no idea. I stated in the very beginning that I’m not here to give solutions. (That’s above my pay-grade.) But I do have some ideas. Now, these are not going to be the easiest for many BL fans to hear, I’m sure. They bother me too, to be honest.

I think an excellent first step is to have companies be upfront about whether fanservice is part of actor’s contracts. We know for a fact that BOC does not contractually obligate fanservice, but any other production or management company that works in BL more than likely does, though the scale and level of expectation may vary. I don’t 100% know if this would actively work, at least initially, because the actors themselves are aware that fanservice can help to raise their popularity, which enables them to be contracted for ads, sponsored social media posts, and appearances, which is how most of these actors make the majority of their money, NOT through the pay they receive for their actual acting work. So, they may perform fanservice as it’s currently known even if it’s not contractually required, but I do at least prefer the actors being in control of the level of fanservice they take part in, if any.

A second step, or option, is to have companies not solely send actors to events in their ‘pairs,’ and not keep them in the same pair for multiple series. I think if a company took the step and intentionally mixed up their ‘pairings’, specifically those from lead roles, then we would see less direct attachment to the ‘pairs’ and more to the actors as individuals. This could help in the long term prevent the fallout we’ve recently seen from acting pairs “breaking up,” very specifically the hateful attacks we’ve seen directed at the separate parties. But I think it could also prevent the fans from ‘choosing sides’ as I’ve also been seeing frequently in online BL spaces. In other direct online discussions, I’ve likened it to having a friend couple break up, and all of the other friends in the group essentially have to pick a side. Sometimes, you knew one person before they were a couple, and you stick with them. On occasion, one of the people will have done something terrible, and even if you knew them first, you stick with the other person. But often these are people who became your friend already a couple, and neither really did anything wrong, they just grew apart…so is it right to throw one aside in favor of the other?? Or is it more reasonable and realistic to maintain friendships with both separately? In a similar fashion, when BL pairs go their separate ways, isn’t it more reasonable to continue to follow them separately, assuming you find them both to be equally talented, versus putting one aside?

As a supplement to my suggestion of not maintaining static pairings I made this lil picker wheel with the actors at GMMTV...

…to be honest I’m quite intrigued by the idea of First and Gun. Both are phenomenal actors. I can picture the vibe of a potential story, based mostly on my desire to see Gun as a homme-fatale. PICTURE IT: Gun is a sultry assassin, beautiful and deadly, First is the ever-weary federal agent on his tail…but he begins to find an interesting connection amongst Gun’s ‘victims’, they’re all users and abusers, arguably far more detrimental to society than Gun himself. As he tracks down Gun and learns more about him…he begins to fall for him. In the end…does he stay true to the commitments he made to his country, or does he breaks those promises in favor of following his heart??

Anyway...this was 3,500 words. Hopefully some of them made sense. PLEASE share your thoughts, if you have any on this subject. I'd be especially interested if you are outside of the US.

#Thai BL #Fanservice #BL Drama #ZeeNunew #TutorYim #BillkinPP #First Kanaphan #Gun Attaphan #I don't know what other tags to put #But I hope you appreciate this #It took me 6 hours #Love Y'all #Tong Thanayut #Domundi #GMMTV #WabiSabi #Be On Cloud #Me Mind Y #Dee Hup House

67 notes · View notes

atthebell · 5 months ago

Text

i think it's so interesting how often people write xenolinguistics/teratolinguistics (a word i just made up but feel like should already exist) fiction that involves non-human intelligent life having some kind of communication beyond language, that we have this notion that there must exist some way to engage with the thoughts and feelings of another person that goes beyond just communicating them to one another but actually feeling them oneself.

high language, as an example from lindsay ellis' noumena series, is based on the premise that surely if there is intelligent life beyond humans on planet earth, and that life is developed beyond our own, they must have evolved or discovered a way to engage with one another that is beyond human communication and language, or even alien language as well. and the amygdalines (particularly ampersand, since he is far more connected to humans than anyone else of his kind) view humans as lesser because of their inability to engage with this type of communication.

there's a few other first contact/monster stories that involve this idea, as well, and i find really interesting as an insight as to what people view as a limitation to human communication and language. we as humans want to know other people so badly, on such a deep level, that we're obsessed with the idea of a way to delve into one another's experiences without the clumsiness of language. which also imo serves as an analogy for how we view translation as clumsy, and also our understandings of the function of thought versus language. translation sometimes doesn't allow the exact or emotional or completely truthful conveyance of information (although discussion of this concept is heavily influenced by people's native tongues and what their fluency levels in other languages are), and that's an interesting idea to latch onto. and if we conceive of human thought as something beyond language, something that cannot be put into words, then we have to grapple with the idea that none of us truly understand one another unless we're able to experience one another's thoughts on a level that is only possible to conceive of in science fiction or fantasy.

#bell.txt #idk been thinking about this a LOT after finishing truth of the divine #i think it's a super common thread in first contact narratives #and one i deeply love to think about #trying to think of other media examples but im also doing twenty million other things rn so ill have to think about it more later

8 notes · View notes

mostremote · 8 months ago

Note

Can you talk about your opinion on Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes? Interested to hear why you dislike it. Loving the fic, my flatmate and I basically have a bookclub about it every Friday.

Thanks for the ask and I'm glad you like the fic!!

I’ll keep my Ballad criticism under the cut. I will only speak to the film, as I’ve only read little bits of the book. I also saw the film months ago so some of the details are fuzzy now.

Political philosophy. There are two versions of Snow’s origin story you can tell. One is political and the other is psychological (or you could combine these). A story about the rise of a dictator ought to have something to say about the nature of oligarchy, or how political systems thrive off psychopathy, or the banality of evil, or whatever it’s going to be. The Hobbes vs. Rousseau human nature question is Ballad’s only concern, and it explores this in no depth whatsoever. ‘I think there’s a natural goodness born into us all. […] You can either cross that line into evil… or not. And it’s our life’s work to stay on the right side of that line.’ This is so shallow, and we have no idea what good and evil even mean to these characters. And because Lucy Gray’s philosophical position and her vague exhortation of ‘freedom’ is so undeveloped (which is really just about rural vs urban aesthetics rather than any rights-based issue), she has no political role in a narrative about a future-dictator. Her role is almost entirely romantic, and unsuccessfully so (see below).

As for Snow’s philosophy, there is zero engagement with the dictatorial system that defines Snow in the original films. His final conclusion, ‘the whole world is an arena and we need the Hunger Games […] To remind us all who we truly are,’ has the seed of an interesting idea in it, but is unexplored. Why do people need to be reminded of their inherent brutality? What purpose does this serve? Why is it only the Districts who need to participate in that reminder, if this is supposed to serve as some self-revelation? Given that the Capitol is artificially engineering this brutality, how does that relate to some essentialist view of human nature? None of this is explored.

Psychologically flat/confused. Is this a story about corruption, a good man becoming bad? Or an exploration of psychopathy & violence, a bad man thriving? The problem is that this film depicts Snow’s first acts of violence, and yet they have no impact on him. His first murder is a completely justified act of self-defence. His second murder, too, is enacted to prevent a group of people getting hanged. He seems almost completely unaffected by these killings. Sejanus’ death provokes an emotional reaction, but given Sejanus is his friend this informs us about his feelings on guilt and loss, not about his feelings on murder. Which he seems to be fine with. Meanwhile, he has no moral qualms about become a gendarme for a fascist regime. Snow appears to have a psychopathic level of comfort with violence, and I would love if this was a film about a psychopath thriving in a society that inadvertently enables and celebrates such behaviour (Nightcrawler, There Will Be Blood), but it isn’t. We learn so little about the society itself and so little about Snow’s psychology that this falls completely flat.

Incompatible with Sutherland’s characterisation. Ballad’s version of Snow simply isn’t compatible with Sutherland’s regarding his thoughts on love and Katniss, and Sutherland’s paratexts are the entire reason I’m in this game. Snow finds Katniss exceptional: ‘no one else has been a threat to him and she was the very manifestation of threat,’ ‘Katniss Everdeen is the first person who has excited Snow, who has stimulated him.’ He is a man at the end of his life falling in love for the first time. And I find that wondrously compelling given the absurdity and horror of the circumstances of that love (she is ¼ of his age, he is the source of all her trauma). And he falls in love with her because she is a threat to him, not because she is pretty, or politically useful. In Ballad, Snow’s obsession with Katniss is completely reconfigured so it’s spurred by her superficial resemblance to Lucy Gray. I find this incredibly dull, and also confusing, given that Snow’s obsession with Katniss is weakest in the first film and strongest by the conclusion. Also, he is 18 in Ballad. 64 years pass before he meets Katniss. He should not still be obsessing about a teen fling. Gives it weird Humbert Humbert Annabel/Lolita vibes.

‘It’s the things we love most that destroy us’ is also weirdly revised in Ballad. In Mockingjay 1 it has the obvious immediate relevance to how Snow uses Peeta to control Katniss, sure, but as Sutherland acknowledges it also refers to Snow’s love for Katniss. What does it mean in this context? His love for Lucy Gray destroyed him? He didn’t seem to love her, and it barely affected him. His love for power corrupted him? But he’s never corrupted: he supports state power from the outset.

The Romance. Lucy Gray is a deliberately ambiguous character, and we never know if Snow really loves her or if she really loves him. Two dangerous characters manipulating one another with ambiguous motives can be fascinating (save me, House of Cards’ Mattie/Urquhart), but this lacked depth and clarity. Lucy Gray is too opaque, and Snow too underwritten (a better actor than Blyth could have maybe done more with this). Apart from both being pretty and (the film tells us) charismatic, there is little to make this romance compelling. This would have worked better for me if Lucy Gray had an actual political position that tempted Snow, but again, it’s too thin.

Ultimately Ballad is a pretty shallow film, and that’s whatever. The Hunger Games series is hardly a triumph of political philosophy. But as someone who loves Snow, and loves what Sutherland did with Snow, it’s jarring to see that interpretation thrown in the trash in favour of a few half-baked musings on human nature and such an uncompelling romance.

#i'm not looking for a debate on this i just did not like the film

12 notes · View notes

lorei-writes · 7 months ago

Text

Behind the Scenes: My Dear Rag Doll & I, Your Rag Doll

As per usual, I am experiencing a bit of a "project completion" blues, this time brought by none other than Esther & Chev. Which means it's a good time to ramble a little bit about details and such <3

Contents:

Cart,

Investigation,

Nightingales,

Defilement,

References between works from within the OCverse.

Cart

The tea cart rattled all too loudly as Esther pushed it down the hallway, silver spoons plinking against porcelain cups, wicker baskets filled to the very brim with pastries shaking at the thought of overcoming yet another carpet bump.

~ I, Your Rag Doll

The door to the foreign affair’s faction office cracked open with a knock, a silver tea cart merrily rattling inside, assisted by the metallic cackle of a chatelaine.

~ My Dear Rag Doll

The cart scene is an example of the perspectives differing between the stories. Esther is at work. She's thin and rather lithe, and she has to push this card along. The carpet bumps need to be "overcome", it is not as easy as just pushing it along. It seems tiresome. It is loud. It is unpleasant.

Chevalier, however? He hears the rattle, but it is a merry, joyous, sound. They are not yet together, yet he expects her to come. Perhaps he is unaware of it himself, yet they've formed a habit and at least a part of him registers that ritual as something of positive value.

Investigation

Chevalier stood up. He let his gaze sweep over the room again, although he did not think it likely that he had omitted anything. The dim light of the garden lanterns seeped inside, curtains stationed by the windows permitting its passage rather indifferently. Yet to be drawn shut for the night – or was it a “still” instead? – they billowed lightly with each gust, the sweetly bloody scent lifting from the ground…

~ My Dear Rag Doll

Chevalier is analytical. He is observant. He takes in the broader scene, concludes things based on present data... And what data does he have at hand there, in that room? How does he know it was not her blood? And why is it relevant later?

Blood of a healthy person takes between 5 and 15 minutes to coagulate. The mark on the carpet is yet to set. Meanwhile, the room is in a terrible shape -- it couldn't have got this way soundlessly. Given the fact that Chevalier has walked through the corridor and has not thought of any steps he could potentially hear otherwise, nor has he heard anything... It is unlikely for it to have happened within the last 5 minutes.

The curtains are the key. They hang by the windows, rather undisturbed. If Esther was in the room after the dark, she would likely draw them shut for the night. Why are they open then? She must have left them that way. If she was abducted then... Then it would have to happen before sundown. The bloody mark would then be set, however, regardless of who might have produced it.

In other words: Esther hasn't drawn the curtains yet. She wasn't in the room when it was searched. The blood is not hers.

Nightingales

Nightingales are something of an ongoing theme within both stories. They're the symbol of an upcoming spring, joy, the connection with God... love. Within the Slavic world, that largely inspired Amber, one can find the belief that the song of a nightingale is a sign one shall soon find their second half or will otherwise experience a bout of good fortune in the matters of the heart.

Solitary composers, nightingales are chased out of the royal gardens. On the surface level, it is just an act of controlling the wildlife population, discarding that which may turn inconvenient.

If he could fly… Ha. Ridiculous. Self-serving and unrealistic, so very ironic after decades of chasing the nightingales out.

~ My Dear Rag Doll

However, when the figurative layer is added, it becomes an act of a deeper meaning -- of discarding emotion, continuously chasing out any affection, of not allowing oneself to even yearn. How can he hope for something after years of turning it away?

Chevalier sees only nightingales. For Esther, the air is filled with blackbirds, titmice, dark ominous crows and other birds. He? He reads romance novels. It is utterly irrelevant, yet he cannot filter that bit of the information out of his perception -- it makes it through, but only it. The other birds are irrelevant. And she? Esther was raised in a village. To recognise multiple birds at once is a second nature to her. She's not bound by the nightingales.

Additionally, nightingales are relevant in Lost Nightingale as well.

She was the trill of nightingales, the hard thudding of her heart chirping him a promise, assuring him that she’d stay.

~ Lost Nightingale

Esther is his song of love (and as such, her being hesitant, letting her feelings fester there, was a threat).

Defilement

Hair was stuck to her face when Esther found him. It was brownish red, just as her clothes, and utterly soaked. Vivid where still wet, it marked her pale eyelashes, brows, clung to her bruised neck and slipped behind her collar. She was painted whole, entirely in his colours, defiled down to her fingertips. He had done that. He —

~ My Dear Rag Doll

Chevalier does not move towards her. He is the one to defile her, to paint her fully in her colours. What he expects is scorn and fear, he expects to be pushed away. In his mind, he only deserves that.

And it doesn't occur to him that...

Esther clawed into the gardener’s forearms, her knees slamming into his back with each desperate kick of hers. Warm blood clung to her fingertips, moist and sticky rather than slick.

~ I, Your Rag Doll

... she herself has fought and the blood she's bathed in is not fully his fault. That she would have bloodied her hands too if it meant being saved. That this is not the death she'd be content with.

As it likely will come back in On Loving a Sinner, Chevalier believes himself to have baptised Esther with blood. It doesn't occur to him that he can be anything other than terrifying or destructive, that she can be grateful for what he has done. He takes the whole blame on himself.

References between works from within OCverse

*- or other OCverse elements

In that moment, for but a single precious breath, Rhodolitian roses replaced her lilac.

~ I, Your Rag Doll

Esther's favourite flower is lilac. It reminds her of home, as several of those grew by her house. She's always looked forward to seeing them bloom.

She did not dare check whether he was even awake, whether he was even real, the warmth of his embrace returning her to a place between places.

~ I, Your Rag Doll

Very loosely connected to Needless Need, that takes place at the same time of the day. It mirrors the situation to an extent, although in a much calmer context -- Chevalier returns home to see Esther sleeping in his bed. They do end up cuddled together (and with Bambi there too).

His lips found hers for a brief kiss, rougher than intended – although, perhaps that was the nature of a beast. Insistent on suppressing it, even if just for a night, Chevalier carried his caresses over to her jaw, neck… neck… “Neck?” he asked, unable to rid himself of the feeling that if he wanted to, he could bite into it and she would not be able to fight him back. “Just no hands.” Teeth were fine.

~ Prayers (smut)

Chevalier asks for permission to touch he neck specifically because he remembers her being strangled. He wants to be gentle with her during their first time. He wants to treat her right (or in a way that he imagines to be right), to be considerate of her.

Esther took a step forward, dismissed the imaginary hands that coiled around her neck, banished the frost, set her eyes on the mansion, and… It was only the burning in what little space was left of her throat that reminded her of what she felt. Esther smiled, as if per Clavis’ command.

~ Roots of Deception, Chapter I: Mendacium

The incident did affect Esther long-term and is the cause of her reaction here.

“Understood.” Esther turned on her heel and took a step towards the door, her hand already resting on the knob. “Is Bambi not with you?” She looked over her shoulder. “He was tired, so I left him in my room.” Something flickered over Chevalier’s face, gone almost before it appeared. “The last –“ “I remember,” Esther interrupted, her fingers pressed against her throat. Her lungs felt tight, but even so, they still breathed. Despite or through her hesitation, she pushed the door open, Chevalier striding towards her. “Oh?” She did not stop, not for a moment. “The last meeting has been delayed.��

~ Roots of Deception, Chapter II: Aqua

The last time Esther was all by herself she nearly died. She thinks this is what Chevalier is referencing, given that he asked about Bambi, her guard dog. He, however, deflects it.

But does it mean she was incorrect? He does walk her to her room, in the end.

Other:

Reading My Dear Rag Doll before I, Your Rag Doll is advised, as then the foreshadowing becomes more apparent. The reader is supposed to know that Roux is the supposed attacker.

Chevalier needs to carry Esther's limp body back to his room*. Why there? He's seen the blood start to coagulate over her face. The person who broke into her room is yet to be captured, therefore, he cannot allow her to be left without supervision.

*- that will be later referenced when Esther's condition becomes worse.

Chevalier borrows three of Clavis' maids so that they can wash Esther. She is unaware of the fact, but no, he has not seen her completely naked then. He has, however, tended to her injuries.

The Croix merchants deal in powder, although technically it is still in form of fireworks. What is their exact connection to Roux is unclear, however, as mentioned in the Q&A, there being one is rather obvious... The only question is which nobles could be involved... and whether the case of Lady Lavigne is not a continuation of what was started here. (It was.)

#behind the scenes #ikepri oc #ikemen prince oc #ikepri esther

10 notes · View notes