#one of those cases of the right story at the right time

[corey-beepington]

THE THING ABOUT TENNA, BLUE ADDISON, SPAMTON AND THE PHONE I NEED TO TALK ABOUT THIS RIGHT NOW

HEY ALL YOU LADIES AND GERMS,

Corey here, creator of Eviction Day, you know that funny cartoon about the Blue Addison.

What does this have to do with anything?

I did an unhealthy digging of the Blue Addison to make that video, still a little normal with the character.

AND THERES SOMETHING I NEED TO TALK ABOUT.

CHAPTER 3 SPOILERS AHEAD.

SO.

In the secret room video game boss room we find Tenna lamenting over the past and we learn the following information.

>Tenna and spamton were once business partners.

>Tenna befriended them, wanting to know how he got so big. In exchange, they offered him his own "life advice" and eventually a "contract"

>said contract would "Put spamton on TV, make him a star".

>Tenna sweet talks him to signing it, but whats notable about this is it would MAKE SPAMTON BIG WITHOUT THE USE OF WHOEVER WAS ON THE PHONE.

>Spamton then RECEIVES A PHONE CALL, "goes pale" and leaves with the receiver hanging before he can.

>This leads to Tenna thinking he abandoned him, thus creating animosity, probably worse for Tenna's abandonment issues they were likely going through at the time.

Now what does the blue addison have to do with this?

Tenna and Blue Addison's story have A VERY IMPORTANT SIMILARITY

And said similarity is that both would have "freed" Spamton from the phone.

Think about it.

If Spamton signed the contract, Tenna would have whisked him away to stardom, he wouldnt NEED whoever was on the phone.

The phone calls, Spamton vanishes, leaving "the phone hanging with nothing on the other side"

The blue addison visits spamton to "check on them", it's likely that, should Spamton have been there, they could have talked it out, perhaps apologized, or even taken him in and most importantly

SPAMTON WOULD NOT NEED THE PHONE.

But that does not happen.

Blue finds an empty room.

and

A phone hanging with nothing on the other side.

Both stories are people who were close to Spamton who were "cut off" and "abandoned" by him once they were close to potentially breaking him from his relationship with whoever or whatever was on the other side of the phone.

Spamton was likely fed lies about those around him, or perhaps painful truths to turn him against those who once cared about him. In Tenna's case, he was technically "using" him, and in Blue's case, Spamton was at his lowest, so manipulating him wasnt hard

Whatever was there needed him to himself.

Spamton's puppet motif makes so much more sense.

The con man was conned at the end of it all. how ironic

Have fun with this one, because it's going to gnaw at my brain for awhile.

Eviction Day 2?

Maybe.......

But I don't think Spamton's story is over yet.

[froidefille]

Bound: Recursion by @tessacrowley

This is my very first bind. As in, the very first thing I have bound EVER. (!!!)

📇 Typeset, cheerleading and priceless technical support: @phoenixortheflame

🎨 Unreal, stunning art: @itsphantasmagoria

📔 Gorgeous front cover design: @cheriecherishchen

📚Bind: me!! #froidefillebinds is just one of those hashtags I am just SO proud of 😅

Thank you for the blanket permission Tessa!

Story time under the cut 🤍

Guys 😭😭😭

I've honestly dreamt of the experience of reading-fanfic-as-a-book for SO LONG. And when I saw Phoenix’s bind of this fic I just decided - yep, that’s it. I’m fucking binding that and reading it like a book that I bought at local bookstore because it fucking deserves to have this form and physically being on my shelf.

Why have I decided to choose a 100k+ work as my first project ? See, I didn’t ! It was stronger than me ! I just had to have it!

Counting the pages and figuring out how to print and (what’s the word for putting the pages in right order? Anyway, doing that) imposing has taken me days. Once I figured it out my printer has rebelled and the ink run out. OBVIOUSLY. But once I figured it out… The printing became totally addicting. Just one more signature 😅

Why did I think that 5 pages per signature would be perfect amount which resulted in 20+ signatures to be sewn in the very first binding project? I don’t know, okay. Mistakes were made 😅

Turns out I love the sewing and hate the fucking knots. Wax threads only from now on.

Glueing the spine was nerve-wrecking bc I hate the permanence of the glue in general. But I made it!

Designing the cover took me ages and I was this close to buying a circuit or whatever this fancy equipment for making gold cover titles is named. Thankfully, Phoenix helped me out with suggestion of a half bind and soon after that the case was done!

Glueing in the case… I miscalculated the spine height. And had one of the endpapers glued in totally all over the place so I had to rip it off and find a new one (ended up even prettier hihi). The case is still pretty uneven but hey, now I know, right? 😁

And then… I could take my book, which I made with my own hands, in my own living room. Which was actually gay time travelling love story and read it in a train. And by the sea on vacation.

I am hooked. Watch this space bc I am now addicted to buying all sorts of termoactive foils and pretty canvases and new pretty threads. And seeing fics come to live obviously 🤍🤍🤍

[creatingblackcharacters]

Thank you so much for the work you put into this blog.

I'm in the early stages of writing a book that's set in close to modern times. I'm white, but many of my friends, and myself, have had many negative experiences regarding police, and I want my book to talk about that. Its close enough to me that it will be a central theme in the story.

I've been reading a lot and I have every intention of hiring a sensitivity reader when I get to that point, but I'm still fleshing out the story. Right now, all of my main characters have had negative interactions with police, and two of them are Black.

My question is how do I handle the topic of police brutality as a white person? Given the setting, having my Black characters not experience it when the white characters do strikes me as ignoring systemic racism, and that is the opposite of what I want.

Are there other things I can read to better familiarize myself with police violence and how that manifests differently for Black people? Should I avoid describing that?

😅 I don't- I must be honest, this one snatched my breath a little bit. Forgive me, I just can't imagine the privilege of not knowing.

Well first, your friends have varied experience with police violence; none of them are Black that you can talk to? Because if they are, and you haven't had that discussion, that indicates that there's a level of safety they don't feel with you. Not saying that's the case, but if it is... I would pause writing this story in lieu of building your relationships. It would help to consider how the police treated you, versus someone Black in a similar scenario as you. So look into cases like that.

As for this, I mean... The news 😅 police brutality against Black people is so regular that I find myself struggling sometimes to remember which body got which murder over the years, there's so many. Start reading Black abolitionists who write on the topic, for sure. There are also activists who write on it in general; The New Jim Crow is an easy one; even though it's older, things have gotten no better. The documentary 13th; runs in the similar vein of how law enforcement, policy, and the prison industrial complex preys on Black bodies using "color blind" racism to fill prisons for free labor.

Actually, I'm gonna issue you a personal challenge- I also want you to find five news article examples of police brutality against Black people and read both the articles AND some of the comment section of white commenters. I promise by the time you're done, you'll see how police brutality against Black people is responded to. Hell, even on here. Sonya Massey, Jordan Neely; the antiblackness bled from the average Tumblr commenter on those cases.

Read articles of the families left behind and how even in death, we cannot rest; George Floyd's murder sparked mass protest in Summer 2020 and people still tease his daughter about her father's murder. You can even go back in time and read, from lynchings in the 30s to the riots in the 60s and 90s; the rhetoric is generally the same, even if the language isn't overt anymore.

[princeapollyon]

YEYSESYESYES MY TIME TO SHINE!!

TRIGGER WARNINGS:‼️

mentions of heavy fictional drug use, cannibalism, and general moral depravity.

alrighty so. one of, if not THE most integral part of my courier six’s story stems from the consequences of his head wound.

first off, i took what was implied by doc mitchell’s remark if you pick low charisma, “Huh. Must be some frontal lobe damage,” and just ran with it.

it makes sense that, when Benny shot you in the FRONT of the head where you could still see him, that some permanent damage could have occurred. for Dagger, (my oc!) this means frontal lobe damage, which affects his decision-making skills, primarily between determining right from wrong and other morality-based decisions, causes complete impulsivity in most cases, and has caused his empathy gene to logg-off, permanently.

frontal lobe damage can also affect specifically autobiographical memory, which makes sense for the game, since the courier’s action can post-accident be completely different in character than from before the injury. for my courier, this manifests in some pretty serious permanent amnesia, where he’s not able to remember anything from before the accident except the accident itself, and vague feelings of familiarity when he travels to places he likely had traveled to before all of this (implied by being able to speak the Dead Horse’s language in Honest Hearts),

also, Dagger can vaguely understand that he’s changed completely since getting shot in the head, at least emotionally. he senses some type of loss, recognizing that he’s physically limited now from his brain injury, although he doesn’t feel much other than slight annoyance over this fact.

effectively, this wound has given him “aquired sociopathy,” so while he knows that he’s changed, he doesn’t have the emotional depth to mourn it, especially since he’s now fully convinced of his superiority to other people and things only really go up for him after the initial run-in with Benny.

BUT ALSO!! THERE’S MORE! :D

not only did the gunshot wounds cause a complete lack of empathy/moral understanding and emotional regression to that of an impulsive 13-year-old, but they are also the source of frequent, excruciatingly painful migraines, which explains his affinity for/addiction to drugs.

in-game, i would deliberately leave my head untreated if it became crippled from combat, because the boughts of swimming vision and high pitched ringing seemed realistic to my courier’s injury. my thinking is, if getting popped on the head in-combat could cause it, why wouldn’t lasting effects of TWO LITERAL GUNSHOT WOUNDS cause permanently the same effects?? mostly, i just thought it added more flavor, and when i make characters, i like what they do to make sense. i knew that i wanted my courier to be a drug fiend and a cannibal, and the cause if the first made most sense to me if he was to experience chronic pain and have a heightened thrill-seeking temperment, and the latter if he had a completely distorted sense of morality. all of this criteria is fulfilled and explained by severe frontal lobe damage; he uses drugs to cope with extreme chronic migraines, and justifies eating corpses with the thought process of “this is survival and they’re already dead” mixed with seeing it as triumphant superiority, where if someone were to die at his hands, then they’re basically no better than livestock, thus he can and should eat them. what a weirdo lol

anyway, that about sums up and accounts for pretty much all the decisions Dagger has made in-game, and which ending i plan to get with him. he sees others merely as tools for his self-betterment, using then how he sees fit and saying whatever he needs to to manipulate them to get the job done. he respects marginally those who have displayed exceptional martial prowess, but still is always looking at people through the lens of “what can this guy do for me” rather than “i want to ally myself with these people and their cause.”

i also think that if you play through the Old World Blues DLC, that the doctors there (if you get the goid ending) can repair your brain better than doc mitchell, so some of these negative effects may be somewhat alleviated. in particular, since your head no longer gets crippled, i’ve interpreted this as the migraines no longer being a thing (but it doesn’t matter since at that point Dagger’s already an addict, so his drug problem still stands lol). perhaps he’s a little more nuanced in the decision-making department too, but i doubt that even the best doctor can repair literal holes in your brain completely lol

YAY OKAY THAT’S ALL!! sorry for the rant i just love my courier so much and have thought n researched SO MUCH about this, so i had to say my piece >:3

Currently very interested in Courier OCs who have actual in-story consequences from the brain injury. I wish everyone a very please tell me about your Couriers.

[bewitched-hours]

WOAH hey hi hello, i LOVED ur oneshots of telamon + child!reader and manifestation of wrath!reader, and i was wondering if you could make a part 2 of one of those, you could choose what to make a part 2 of, or you chould choose not to make a part 2 at all lol!

Make sure you get enough sleep and water and dont push yourself too hard!! <33

Y'all are too sweet omg-

But I will gladly do a part 2 on the child!reader with Telamon/Shedletsky since I was technically already kinda asking to be requested for that lol-

Like previously, reader's pronouns are She/Her!

You were terrified when you couldn't find Telamon anywhere. You knew how to take care of yourself for a few days but were absolutely sobbing for him to come back.

Did you do something wrong? Were you being too annoying again?

You weren't exactly given straight answers but what made it worse was when you somehow woke up in a completely different place. Surrounded by strangers.

You were mortified to say the least, screaming and crying the whole time as you tried to scream for 'Papa' which eventually got Shedletsky's attention and boy, was he quick to dash into the room and swoop you up.

At first you wanted to push him away in further panic but he quickly wrapped his wings around you in that familiar embrace that made you calm down almost instantly to look at his face and recognize him.

"Papa!" You'd exclaim with excitement, hugging him tight with your shaking figure while the other survivors began to panic and ask Shed a thousand questions.

Since when was he a dad, how old were you, etc etc...

He took some time to explain the story- leaving out the details about him being Telamon- while you were simply preening his wings as you liked to do.

You weren't sure why the others were calling him by a different name but you didn't bother to ask about it. What mattered most to you right now was that you had your papa back.

007n7 actually kinda offered to help out with you, given he was a dad as well and although you were wary of him, being that he was still a stranger, you accepted your papa's explanation of him being a friend and to please trust him.

Shedletsky knew you were a handful, especially with your stubbornness and distrust. But he was glad when you came around to trusting the other survivors.

You weren't sent with them on rounds often, given that you're only a child. However, you still had a role and when you were sent into a round, you usually stuck with the nearest survivor available. That usually happened to be Shedletsky, 007n7, Elliot or Chance.

You were more of a support, meaning you had different uses for each case.

For your papa, you'd raise feathery shield to protect him and rush ahead while the shield recharged again. You always hoped that he could escape in time as well...

For 007, you'd usually only have to heal him even though he insists he's fine. At that point he already became your uncle as you saw it with how he'd try to both protect you and keep you entertained during rounds so you wouldn't have to be traumatized as much.

With Elliot, you had a habit of healing each other and using your shield to protect him from getting targeted. You have no idea how grateful he is when he sees you nearby at the start of a round...

But with Chance, you practically become a second Elliot with how much he asks for heals and your shield. It's annoying but with the way he entertains you(usually with his gun exploding in his face), you allow his antics and even sometimes dare to call him uncle alongside Elliot and 007.

Sometimes the Spectre would be a little cruel and leave you without any of them outside of rounds. You'd just watch the TV to cheer them on and wait for any of them to get back... Like a lost puppy...

You technically had your own cabin but you never bothered going to it. You felt much safer with your papa after all.

And how you always loved to listen to his slow breathing to keep you calm...

Maybe you were a bit clingy-

Anything you'd like to request/ask? Check out my pinned post first and I'll be happy to write up whatever you want!

[crooked-wasteland]

Founded another post that made me "uuuuh" cause, now they are saying Blitz and Stolas were "exploiting one another", and that, quote, "Plain and simple they both took advantage of each others vulnerabilities, but some shit Blitz did was purely to benefit himself while hurting or blatantly disrespecting Stolas as a person".

What are your toughs on this? Are they right? Idk why it doesnt completely convince me.

Perhaps this may be a bit of a journey, but walk with me as we understand the base argument and why it feels like it's a cop out.

When the show Friends can have a more conceptualized conversation about morality, we have issues. In an episode of Friends, Joey and Phoebe get into a bit of a fight where Phoebe insists that selfless actions are something we can partake in while Joey says that nothing is actually selfless at all.

(As an aside, this is such a hilariously well written scene and I hate Friends as a show. But the fact that the writers openly had Phoebe make her mother's suicide all about herself is comedy gold. And her sense of entitlement from strangers for her misfortune juxtaposed with her insisting that altruism is real all because she needs to make herself feel like a good person worthy of importance is great. One of the few times Friends has some actual smart writing.)

The point being, yes. There is no such thing as a purely good deed that isn't also done because we selfishly get something out of it. Offering food to someone who is hungry is only something you would do if you felt you could. If you needed that good as much as that person does, you wouldn't give them anything.

Or in the case of Phoebe, while it is a sacrifice to allow your body to be used for someone else to grow their family, you only do it because it in some way is desirable to you. Because of money or just for the attention and the social boost of other people admiring the "sacrifice" you have taken.

There is no true altruism. People do things for their own benefits. People protesting outside of Planned Parenthood do it because they feel like they will get recognition from their God or religious group. They don't actually care about other people's quality of life.

People who volunteer for nonprofits do it because they find satisfaction for themselves in the cause, or they do it to find a sense of community with like-minded people, or because they want to feel like they are better people than those who do not.

No one does anything they don't want to do. The whole point is to think about why they believe they want to do it. Everyone only does things because they have a genuine belief. The whole point is to try and understand people's actions from their own perspective.

So when we look at Blitz and him stealing the book and taking advantage of Stolas, it's pretty easy to see what could motivate Blitz.

I say COULD because the show itself doesn't really care to give the characters any actual depth or values or needs. So this is just evidence based on the show that could lend itself to deeper characterization if the show was more interested in telling a story.

But Blitz has extremely damaged self-esteem due to his father growing up and also the world building being designed around this hierarchy that Blitz was born into the bottom of. That has resulted in Blitz being born into a position of low social worth as well as his individual self-esteem being shredded by an abusive parent.

On that note, Cash Buckzo is a business owner in his own right with his circus. He works for himself and that is something uncommon in the world building as explicitly states in Harvest Moon. But it is in the field of entertainment. There is some evidence to show that the entertainment industry in Medrano's Hell is structurally identical to Earth, which requires understanding how entertainment has evolved in our society.

Travelling performers are often associated with persecuted minorities like the disabled and racial minorities throughout history. Circus owners have a bit of a reputation throughout history of being subpar human beings profiting off the labor and misfortune of others. From buying and selling literal children with disabilities and uncommon medical conditions to then prostituting out their stars to pocket the money for themselves. Historically speaking, circus owners are purely bottom feeders, and it appears that Cash Buckzo is based on that P. T. Barnum characterization.

So Cash is at the top of his game, while sucking out the life and talent of those he employs. Conversely Blitz is providing real opportunity and upward mobility in a way his father never did. Half of Blitz's whole personality is his business (or at least it was supposed to be) which is tied to his need to prove his father wrong. If he can also be a successful businessman, but more successful than Cash, Blitz believes that would fix his self-worth issues (hypothetically as this is only vaguely hinted at in the show and none of this is actually confirmed in any way. It's 1 part canon and 4 parts headcanon, this is just a generous translation of the mess that is the show to try and make these characters feel less like paper dolls and more like they have a story worth telling).

If it means having sex with someone he doesn't want to, Blitz can convince himself that it actually is something he'd want to do anyway. Because his need to prove himself as valuable is his motivation to tolerate the wealthy creep that is salivating all over him. In effect, yes Blitz would believe he wants to have sex with Stolas, but that is only because the alternative is not having a successful business and proving his father to have been right about him all along.

On another, deeper level, it could also be argued that Blitz loves his employees in a dysfunctional way because he doesn't have friends.

Look, this is kind of why I disagree with people that Ghostfuckers is even a decent episode because it's too contradictory. I'm supposed to believe that Blitz genuinely cares about Millie as a friend and sought her out for hire because he genuinely respects her. But at the same time he hasn't paid her or her husband in over a month, instead blowing their paychecks on owl dolls and horse printed plates because he's sad. The idea that Blitz and Millie are even remotely friends is laughable when you put in perspective how little Blitz respects her and Moxie.

I'm supposed to trust that she would know Blitz enough to be there for him and trust him during his demon possession, but he actively lies to her, never prioritizes her (unless it's to benefit himself), and blatantly disrespects her. It's almost like women in this show only exist to serve as tools to provide the male characters story and character opportunities and the writers' disinterest in them results in the male characters also being disinterested in them and so they also never get to benefit from said writing opportunities and they almost always come out as looking worse for it.

TL;DR: Blitz and Millie's relationship in canon is a joke and no one will ever convince me that these two characters are friends. Millie is just a tool by the writers to be or do whatever they need to try and pretend these characters have depth or humanity. Ghostfuckers may be the best episode of season 2, it is still completely incoherent and nonsensical.

Anyway, if the writers had actually done the whole found family/dysfunctional Boss storyline correctly, Blitz owes it to Moxie and Millie to also keep the book. So sleeping with Stolas is also an obligation for him on top of his narrative need to want the book.

So Blitz is coming at this from the perspective of doing whatever he has to do to get what he wants. That's not so much as taking advantage as much as it is seizing a perceived opportunity.

Meanwhile Stolas has been committed to a loveless and abusive marriage without ever considering leaving it until the opportunity presents itself in the form of an Imp with a much lower social class being apprehended in the act of committing a crime. And even then, instead of seeking to escape his abuse, he instead repeatedly cheats on his wife and subjects his daughter to repeated instances of violent arguments over his infidelity.

He believes he wants Blitz because....

Well, that's sort of the problem, isn't it? Because there is no real reason for Stolas to think he wants Blitz, in fact, the show makes it clear that he simply does want Blitz.

I asked fans a year or so ago why Stolas was in love with Blitz. As in what attracted Stolas to Blitz, and the overall consensus was that he enjoyed Blitz's sense of humor. Except the show outright contradicts that.

In the canon of the show, this is simply love at first sight for Stolas. Something that is not mutually shared, by the way. And Blitz explicitly states that he never once knew that Stolas had any feelings for him.

Unlike Blitz, Stolas has no reasoning other than to have ownership over Blitz. Not because of who Blitz is, but because he simply desires him, and did so since he was a child. As much as the writers think they made Stolas appear to see Blitz as an equal, all they have shown is that Stolas has always seen Blitz as something he can possess. Even as Blitz made it clear that he was not into it.

So while Blitz has reasons to participate in Stolas' game, Stolas as a character has always consistently removed any sense of agency from Blitz, as I pointed out in previous posts.

There is no mutual taking advantage of each other then. Stolas defined the relationship from the start based solely on his own vapid desire to claim Blitz as somehow his. Whereas Blitz allows himself to be used and taken advantage of because he believes it will get him what he wants.

And due to that, there is no reason for Blitz to have respect for Stolas. Stolas doesn't deserve respect as he doesn't give any to Blitz. And while many would say Blitz also doesn't deserve respect because he gives none to Stolas, that is true. But when most people assess that world building and how Blitz is the underdog in the dynamic fighting for his right to be respected in an unfair world, he was born into a role that no one respects. Meanwhile Stolas was born into literal nobility and reverence (as seen by how people treat Stolas in season 1, like him not needing a reservation into Ozzie's while Moxie had to plan a year in advance for his date with Millie).

Frankly speaking, Stolas was born into respect and lost it among his peers through his own mediocrity. And Blitz's lack of respect is based on systemic oppression, not even because of who Stolas is as a person. Blitz doesn't owe Stolas anything as the weaker individual in the dynamic. Blitz is literally punching up when he insults Stolas, which most sane human beings would recognize as not reflecting poorly on Blitz, but on society. All while he asserts agency by warping his own psyche to think this relationship with Stolas is one he actually wants because it fills his wants while distorting Blitz's needs.

Meanwhile Stolas can just say he wants something and can get it, as seen by the fact that the only reason Blitz is even a part of his life is because he said he wanted him and his father literally bought Blitz for Stolas' enjoyment. Stolas is as much if not more of a thief than Blitz by the fact that he steals Blitz's humanity through Stolas' status alone.

By the way, Blitz being terrible to Moxie and Millie does not magically mean he deserves what Stolas does to him. Stolas and his dehumanization of Blitz in no way plays into Blitz's own dysfunction as a person and how he lacks respect for his employees. It doesn't push Blitz to respect his subordinates more, nor do they ever actually work out their issues. Instead Millie is just there to validate the direction the writers are forcing the narrative to go.

TL;Dr: What wrongdoings Blitz commits to M&M will never justify what Stolas does to him.

[amorest-viesse]

[For The Bride He Loved] - Rustica SSR Card Story Translation

Ft. Owen and Akira

Say It With Love - Chapter 1

[Heine’s Castle]

Rustica: Thank you for agreeing to help with my proposition today, Master Sage.

Rustica: It's truly an honor to be able to bless such a powerful bond of love as our dear bride and groom possess.

Rustica and I were at a manor in the North preparing for a wedding.

As he laid the silverware out on the table, he spoke to me with a gentle smile.

Akira: I’m honored to be here as well.

Akira: They must share a truly special relationship…

Rustica: I certainly agree with that. There are as many ways to love as there are people, and each one possesses its own beauty.

Rustica: Although one seed may differ from another, with enough tenderness and care, they may all come to bear delicious fruit.

Akira: (Now that’s an apt metaphor for the situation…)

Akira: Well, I hope Lady Tina and Sir Heine's wedding is a fruitful one. I’m sure she'll have much to say to him.

Rustica: I’m sure she will. Words have a powerful way of moving the hearts of those we cherish.

Rustica: All it takes is a mere whisper for love to bloom.

Owen: And what a beautiful, foolish lie that is.

Akira: Owen.

Owen: Those two are nothing but silver-tongued bait and the wizard who fell for it and paid with his life.

Owen: What more, they ended up sharing the same grisly fate, both deceiver and deceived. Isn’t that hilarious? You can’t even call it a tragedy.

Owen had appeared without a word. Shrugging nonchalantly, he swiped a nut off the table.

His skin was so pale from the wedding preparations earlier that it seemed almost translucent beneath the moonlight.

Owen: Crunch… Utterly flavorless, as I expected.

Rustica: Why, hello Owen. If there’s anyone who understands the power of words, it’d be you, no?

Rustica: You always have so much to say and seem quite fond of it too. Why else would you have approached us?

Owen: You understand me so well. I do love a good conversation.

Owen: There’s nothing quite like striking fear into the hearts of others and watching them sink into despair.

Rustica: Oh, how wonderful! Then you certainly understand how important it is to convey one’s love through speech.

Owen: Huh? Love? I have absolutely zero interest in such a thing.

Rustica: Oh? Do you have difficulty expressing your feelings through words? Perhaps I can be of assistance then.

Rustica: <<Amorest Viesse>>

Say It With Love - Chapter 2

Rustica cast his spell and suddenly, the nuts resting on the table were glittering with a powder coating.

Rustica: There we are. Please, feel free to try one.

Owen: …Don’t keep us waiting now, Master Sage.

Akira: Wait, me? A- Are you sure?

Rustica: But of course. Your happiness is what matters above all.

Akira: Thank you. In that case, I’ll help myself.

Akira: Munch…! Mm, it’s so sweet and juicy!

Rustica: I’m very glad you liked it. Please feel free to take another one.

Akira: Well, it’d be rude to refuse…

Owen: Unfortunately you’ll have to because your time is up.

Akira: Ah!

Owen snatched the nut out of my hand and tossed it into his mouth.

Owen: …Hmph, it’s passable, but it could always be sweeter.

Rustica: Hmm, I see now. Thanks to your actions, I’m now a step closer to understanding your feelings.

Rustica: Of course, it’s only one step of many.

Rustica: However, if I continue walking down this path and learning more about you, surely you’ll come to feel something for me as well.

Owen: I suspect you’re right. “Hatred,” for one, comes to mind.

Owen: <<Cur Memini>>

Owen: If that’s the best you can come up with, then I’ll show you how it’s really done. Here, Master Sage. Why don’t you give this a try for me?

Owen shoves a nut into my hand.

Akira: (Why am I getting a bad feeling about this? ...It's not good to doubt others though.)

Akira: O- Okay. Here I go!

Akira: (...It’s super sour!)

Owen: Ahaha, you look like an idiot with your face all scrunched up. And now I know you hate sour things.

Akira: It’s not that I hate them; there’s just a limit to these things!

Rustica: <<Amorest Viesse>>

Rustica: Here, Master Sage—some tea to cleanse your palette.

Akira: T- Thank you!

Rustica: So Owen, what was it that attracted you to the Master Sage so much?

Akira: Geh— Cough, cough!

Owen: I beg your pardon?

Rustica: You chose to give the nut to the Master Sage instead of me, did you not?

Rustica: It seems you’re the type to express your feelings through actions rather than words.

Owen: This is ridiculous. I chose the Master Sage because I can’t stand them and wanted to see them suffer. However, I have an even worse hell in store for people I hate. People like you.

Saying this, Owen gave Rustica a razor thin smile.

Owen: What right do you have to speak of love when your own bride didn’t want to stay with you?

Owen: Have you ever considered that she got sick of you constantly pushing your ideas onto others and ran away?

Owen: Hasn’t it ever struck you as strange that no matter how hard you search, you’ve never, ever been able to find her?

Owen: Perhaps you already know exactly where she is. Perhaps you’ve locked her up somewhere and completely forgot about it.

Owen cackled and continued on without a care.

Owen: In the end, you only remember what’s convenient for you, and are more than happy to leave the important things shrouded in mist.

Say It With Love - Chapter 3

Rustica: I wonder… It’s true that I don’t remember things very well…

Rustica gazed at the ceiling as if contemplating Owen’s words before he sweetly continued with a smile.

Rustica: However, I still understand her more than I have anyone else.

Even though he couldn’t remember a thing, his feelings didn’t waver for a second. I was struck by his confidence.

Rustica: And in return, she understands me.

Rustica: The happiness we shared still rests within my heart like the gentle warmth of the sun. Oh, how I wish I could convey that feeling to you.

Rustica: Perhaps I could turn it into a song upon the harpsichord, or imbue it into the taste of a delicious tree nut.

Owen looked at the ceiling in exasperation.

Owen: You truly do piss me off. Did you not hear a single thing I said?

Rustica: But of course I was listening. You were trying to understand me, were you not?

Owen: …Fine, yes, whatever. I’m not even going to try anymore. I’m already exhausted and if I stay here any longer, I might really lose my head.

Akira: Ah, Owen.

Akira: …He’s gone.

Akira: However, I do feel as if I’ve gotten one step closer to understanding Owen’s feelings thanks to you.

Rustica: I think I have as well. I’m quite looking forward to seeing how much more I can learn while living together.

Rustica: And someday, I would like to express my feelings to everyone at the manor as well.

Akira: Ahaha, whenever that day comes, I’m sure everyone will be smiling from ear to ear.

Akira: (I, too, want to keep talking to everyone and continue strengthening our bonds.)

As if reading my mind, Rustica made eye contact with me.

Rustica: Master Sage. 

Rustica: Someday, I hope you’ll express your feelings to everyone as well.

Rustica: May you love and be loved and find your happiness. I’ll do whatever I can to help you.

Akira: Rustica…

After reflecting on his words, I lightly nodded.

Akira: …I understand. I want to know what my happiness is too.

Akira: I want to learn more about myself and grow closer to everyone else. If that’s what it means to love, then I’ll do my best to walk that path to a brighter future one step at a time.

Rustica: What brilliant resolve. In that case, shall we start with you professing your love to me? I’d like to hear it in your own words, if you please.

Akira: Huh!? I- I can try! But what do I even say…? I’m completely drawing a blank right now…

Rustica: You needn’t worry too much about it. I’d be happy to accept anything you give me.

As Rustica reassured me, he took my hand as if caressing a precious object.

Rustica: However, if you’re still feeling nervous, I can always profess my love for you first.

Rustica smiled as he gazed into my eyes from beneath his long eyelashes.

Rustica: My dearest Akira.

Rustica: Will you accept my feelings?

Love as Infinite as the Stars - Card Episode

[Hallway]

Rustica: Good afternoon, my dearest Master Sage.

Akira: G- Good afternoon to you too… Rustica.

Akira: (He really caught me off guard with that “dearest”...)

Rustica: Oh? Is something the matter?

Akira: N- Nothing at all!

Akira: You just reminded me of that time we were in the North for Sir Heine’s wedding, and you kept professing your love to me.

Akira: It was a super overwhelming experience, and I don't know if I'll ever get used to hearing things like that…

Rustica: If that’s your concern, then why don’t we play the “I Love You” game?

Akira: What!?

Rustica: It’s the one where we each take turns professing our love, and whoever flusters the other first wins. If we practice with that, you’ll be charming the whole manor effortlessly in no time.

Akira: You’ve played the game before, haven’t you? I remember you being insanely good at it…

Rustica: I was certainly trying my best.

Rustica: After all, if I lost, I wouldn’t be able to express all the feelings I have for you which are as infinite as the stars.

Akira: !?!?!?!?!

Akira: Wow, you really are too good at this…

Rustica: Ahaha, I’m honored to hear you say that. Now then, Master Sage.

Rustica: Is your heart ready?

Home Screen Voice Line

“Should your wedding day ever arrive, I’d like to compose a song to bless you with endless joy. After all, love has no limit. As the two of you create memories together, I’ll continue to add new phrases to the song. I hope you and your beloved partner will accept my tribute to your happiness.”

[veliseraptor]

genuine qn!! can you tell us more about mxtx and her preoccupations thematically and including character types and and relationship dynamics, so interesting

oh man so we'll see how long it takes me to answer this ask because I could probably write a whole goddamn essay for this. with footnotes and everything. am I tempted, yes, but the last time I did that it took me like a year and a half and I'm pretty sure nobody cared

anyway, yeah! mxtx is definitely a writer where I feel like I can see the throughlines in a lot of her work pretty clearly. some of these are probably generic and I'm only somewhat equipped to recognize those (being yet a novice in the world of danmei specifically and cnovels more generally), so I can't be certain all of this is mxtx and not just the generic milieu she's working within. but I tried to parse it out based on what I've noticed.

I focused on thematics because that's what I personally find most interesting (and easiest to elaborate on, since some of the relationship dynamics are less specific to MXTX than they are romance conventions, a genre I am less familiar with).

this is necessarily an incomplete list because I haven't reread in a hot minute and also I am, again, not writing a complete essay for this (right now)

Justice/injustice. This one recurs across all three novels, both in terms of the desire for justice and the ways in which injustice is woven into the fabric of society and sometimes, it seems, almost inevitable. There's something deeply pessimistic, for instance, about the way that MDZS deals with this question, or at least a certain ambivalence, but in general I would say it's a theme of MXTX's work that people don't get what they "deserve", and what is or would be just is at best a difficult and often an unanswerable question.

Cycles of revenge/violence. Relatedly: MXTX seems to me very concerned with cycles of revenge and violence and what comes of them - namely, nothing. In SVSSS you see it with Shen Jiu and PIDW!Luo Binghe in particular, and how Shen Yuan's cutting of that violent cycle transforms not just Luo Binghe but the fate of the world as a whole. In MDZS you see it most clearly with the Nie Mingjue/Jin Guangyao/Nie Huaisang situation, which ultimately ends with nobody winning, but also in Jin Ling's explicit rejection of revenge at the end of the novel. In TGCF you can see it in Black Water Arc, where - again - nobody wins, but you can also see it with Xie Lian and Jun Wu. This further relates to:

Disinterest in/distrust of punitive impulses. This is the one I wrote a whole essay about! But in general I think that MXTX is...skeptical...of the impulse to punishment/retaliation, because of the stance she seems to take that violence only ever begets violence and never makes anything better. Again this threads back to the aforementioned "nobody gets what they deserve" thing - because if nobody gets what they deserve, who decides what anyone deserves?

Ambivalence about the "fixability" of society at large. This also kind of goes back to the first point on this list, and specifically I think is illustrated through the fact that two of three of her main pairings retreat from the world at large at the end of their stories. They aren't completely removed from society, but they are distanced from it - in both cases, I would argue, out of some disillusionment with its functioning and/or their place within it. There is a certain feeling in MXTX's work that society is, if not irreparably broken, fundamentally unjust in a way that is difficult to change. (I think TGCF is an interesting outlier in this way, actually.)

Class/status dynamics. I'm not saying that MXTX is, like, writing about class or status, but I am saying that she seems to be interested in the role that it plays in shaping/defining a character, given how often it turns up as a factor - in Shen Jiu, in Luo Binghe, in Jin Guangyao, in Wei Wuxian, in Mu Qing, in Hua Cheng, even in Xie Lian's crash from the heights of wealth to the depths of poverty.

The fickleness of the crowd. This also has to do with the importance of rumor and reputation, but what it often seems to come down to in terms of impact is how quickly people at large change their minds and bend to the beliefs of the people around them; how much attitude toward a person is informed by, and defined by, public opinion - regardless of that opinion's basis in truth. Often, explicitly, in spite of the opinion's basis in lies.

[jergojackpot]

So Killer of Killers was rly good! I was worried that the animation would end up looking crappy because of what I saw in the Hulu snippets and trailers, but it actually ended up looking really good.

All 4 (yes 4) stories were very good and very action heavy, and scary! Especially the samurai one. That one was really, really good. Only qualm I have with the first 2 is that the predators didn't get enough screen time. I REALLY wanted to see more of that Conquest looking predator (that I affectionately named Conquestador) but he ended up getting like 4 minutes of screen time. Same with the Japan Predator I wanted MORE of them. Thankfully the 3rd story ended up being mostly focused on the Pilot Predator and his fight against the pilots. (It is kind of unbelievable to me that this skinny guy who's flying a crappy plane is able to outmanuever a predator aircraft, ((he also does this one thing that I was like "No way that's possible")) but it was done in a very believable way so whatever)

Now about the ending and what it means, I'm gonna spoil it now so get away if you haven't watched it yet

All 3 protagonists from the stories were kidnapped, frozen, transported to the Yautja home planet, and are forced to fight against each other in a gladiator arena for the right to fight the Predator King. I know Predators are supposed to be the "bad guys" in these stories, but aren't they supposed to have a code of honor? It doesn't seem very honorable to kidnap the victors, store them like cans of food, and force them to fight each other. What even happens to the victor in that situation? Do the yautja just let them go or are they frozen again?

I'm assuming that this specific tribe of Yautja have a different custom compared to the other tribes that possibly exist, so maybe that could be a source of conflict in the future between different Yautja tribes. Maybe we'll see some of that in Badlands? The flintlock pistol from Predator 2 makes an appearance here at the end, and those guys who gave it the the cop looked like the tribe that the Jungle Hunter came from, so IDK maybe they and this new tribe are one and the same? In which case that kinda sucks because it always looked like to me that the pistol was given as a sign of respect, not a weapon to use in the future.

Oh yeah, that scene where Torres figures out how to pilot a Yautja aircraft is such bullshit it was kind of ridiculous. He just magically knows how to pilot an alien spaceship using his insane plot armor. He fuckin closes his eyes like he has a psychic connection to how to operate it. It was so dumb lol

Naru from Prey also makes an appearance at the end, and it zooms in and focuses on her pretty heavily. So there's a good chance she'll be coming back for more installments.

Overall I think it was a very good movie. I'm excited to see more Predator and this was a very big step in the right direction. It was action packed, scary at times, and we also learned more about Yautja society. It also looks BEAUTIFUL I loved the painted art style

7.5/10

[angelinthefire]

Montage and "Cocktail Molotov" pt 1

I think montages sometimes get a bad rap. They're often associated with speeding through a character's training in sports movies or whatever. But when the technique originated with Sergei Eisenstein in the 1920s, it was groundbreaking.

The idea is that by placing unrelated shots next to each other, the viewer makes connections that they would not have made otherwise. It adds meaning and evokes emotion.

"Cocktail Molotov" is a great example of a well-done montage, I think for a couple of reasons.

The scene itself consists of intercutting between Vi fighting in the ring, and Vi spiralling outside of the ring. Creating the sense that her life is a fight, and one that she's losing.

But I actually want to focus on something more specific: shots of coins spinning.

After Vi's initial reintroduction, the bag of money dropping on the table and coins spilling out is the first shot. It really gets the montage going. So it must be important, right? But why would that be if all it's supposed to represent is money?

There's four shots of the coins. here they are in context.

1: the shot takes us from Vi in the ring to Vi at the bar.

2: the shot connects Vi fighting in the ring with her opponents hitting the ground.

3. The shot interrupts a different shot of Vi passing out drunk at the bar.

4. The shot of the spinning coin finally dropping connects Vi looking in the mirror to Vi punching her reflection.

Those four instances invite different interpretations, that build on each other.

In the first instance, there's a straightforward narrative interpretation. Vi fights, she gets paid, she goes drinking.

In the second instance, taken in isolation the implication is that Vi is getting paid for winning fights. But we already knew that, so why include it? There's something else going on.

In the third instance, taken in isolation it might mean that Vi is spending all her money on drinking. But that's not really the main story here. The coins are definitely more abstract at this point. You start making connections between the image and what it evokes, not what it literally is. Spinning thoughts, spinning in place.

In the fourth instance, it's clearly supposed to be more abstract. The coin stops spinning, and drops. Like a thought dropping, like something breaking, something collapsing. It's Vi not being able to take it.

That's what montage does, it creates symbolism through juxtaposition. And in a lot of cases, like here, through repetion. The role of repetition is also really important in this segment, there's a lot of repeating shots, and each one adds an additional lay of meaning.

And then that meaning can be read backwards too. By the fourth time they appear, the coins are clearly symbolic, but did they ever just represent money? No, it was always Vi's consciousness, how she has the same thoughts spinning in her head that keep going around.

In addition, a great detail that's hard to pick up when watching the show at normal speed, is what's on the coin.

It's the events around the bombing of the council chamber that are haunting Vi. The whole story starts with the coins, spinning, like Vi is turning events around in her head, Jinx firing on the council, killing Caitlyn's mother, everything that happened after. It's always there throughout, spinning in her head.

I think it's significant that just before the final bit with the coin, Vi is shown being taken home by Loris, and we see that the Kiramman banner is hanging in the street outside Vi's apartment. So this is something that she really cannot escape.

She's trying to escape into fighting and drinking, but she's paid in these coins, and the Kiramman banner hangs outside her door. It's always there. Like she's trapped, in a pit, in a prison cell.

And that's what the lyrics of the song say as well:

So lock me up, I cannot take it / Lock me up, I've already lost / Lock me up, I've gone and jinxed it / Hold my cocktail Molotov

She was in prison for so long, and she's back to feeling like she's locked up.

[loonstar256]

I love Shadowbringers. I think it is some top storytelling. I love the characters, the story, and I truly believe it to be one of the best video games I've ever played. I've watched many of the cutscenes over and over. To the Edge is my top played song on Spotify. I only started playing FFXIV because I watched my friend play large parts of Shadowbringers and I wanted to experience the story for myself.

So why is it that I keep gravitating to Endwalker? Why is it that Endwalker has such a hold on me that I get extremely emotional when I hear Close in the Distance (any version. Including when I'm just listening to it while I'm driving) or think about the scene post Endsinger fight? What is it about that expansion that means so much to me? There are flaws in the story, the pacing is extremely strange (I love you Loporrits, but twice you grind the narrative to a stop), and frankly I hate how Venat/Hydaelyn's actions were basically justified with a short monologue from Y'shtola. And yet, I have so many memories of playing through it, good and bad, that I wouldn't change for the world. Endwalker has some spectacular highs and instances of characterization I truly love (the gazebo scene with Krile, G'raha and Alisaie, truly one of my favs, and getting brunch drunk with the older scions), and In From the Cold has caused me to still get chills at that specific facial expression. I was in awe (and still am!) of how amazingly they translated Yoshitaka Amano's art of Hydaelyn into 3D. The soundscape changes in Ultima Thule as your progress the story were incredible. Endwalker isn't perfect, but clearly, I love it, flaws and all.

I have so many things I could say about FFXIV (check out my post on Metieon and the Endsinger as an example), maybe one day I'll get them all written down... For now I'll leave you with one of my favorite lyrics from Close in the Distance:

"Tales of loss and fire and faith Every word on our hearts engraved In the dark, you will not stray Forge ahead till the end, we pray"

[strawberryseeded]

i wish we had gotten more of kugisaki nobara. i just watched dis vid and all my contained RAGE abt dis topic suddenly HIT ME LIKE A TRAIN GOD IM UPSET

ive talked like 32893882 times already (and its still NOT ENOUGH) abt how upset i was abt nobara's death cos she was such a good character, with so much potential!! i really REALLY liked her. she was funny, strong, confident and kind!!!! i loved her char design!! her cursed technique and weapon were cool as hell!!!!!!

and her (recently SOMEWHAT(?) confirmed(?)) death sucked so fucking much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

she was just. fucking fridged. as much as it pains me to admit it. from a narrative standpoint, she died so yuuji would get upset and further develop his character & then move the plot along. even mahito admits that he wants her to die to make yuuji suffer. like yeah he also recognizes her a strong opponent (ofc. cos she is) but at the end of the day he wanted to kill her just to wreck yuuji. and he succeded.

nobara has no say on the way she dies. she's just.. slapped, kinda. its so sudden. its so... weird. not that she's accepting of it (we already know that she knows she can die at any moment and she's ready for it (cos she's a freak like the rest of the sorcerers lol)), but its weird bc its like its not a personal moment for her. yeah we get a flashback & her speech about how, even tho she always was a person who refused to let other people affect the way she is and decides to live, there still are people who, by being accepting of her, managed to gain a place in her heart... and she's happy for that. its rly beautiful.

but its the impact her death has on yuuji what the story really cares about here.

and like. thats fine! im not even saying killing nobara is a bad choice or that its bad if her death also developed yuuji's character. but the way it was done, its like her death only had that purpose. its a way too transparent device, that's what i dislike abt it. i dont mind being upset bc a character i love dies? i like feeling strong emotions when i engage emotionally with art/stories.

but i think she was killed off too soon. we didn't get to properly say goodbye to her. both her character arc and her death were rushed.

she could have been developed so much more! it feels like she was taken away way too soon in the story. i wanted her to fight sukuna along the others. i wanted her to use her cool technique to help yuuji nail sukuna's soul. i wanted to see just how much stronger she could get. i wanted her to finally meet saori. I WANTED HER TO HAVE A COOL EYE PATCH!!!!!!!!!!!

why is she barely mentioned after she dies??? she was one of the 3 main, dude, are u kidding me? yuuji's the only one who mentions her but he's almost afraid of talking about her. its like the whole world forgot about her!!!!! and what about maki?????? werent they girlfriends?

what is nobara's LEGACY? why did gege not make her death matter in the narrative? even if she (for whatever reason) came back(??) at the end, id still be rly mad & sad abt it cos i wanted to see her DO STUFF!! i wanted to see her kick some ass!!!! i wanted to see her grow!!!!! to open up with others!!!!! I WANTED TO SEE MORE OF HER. IM SO UPSET I WANT OUT

[silverskye13]

Trying to analyze the tropes in my own fics to see if I think they're successful as component pieces and getting so confused I give myself psychic damage send help

[zestyzigzagoon]

I don't care what anyone says, drabble writers are so incredibly skilled and undervalued in today's fandom. They're fitting an entire little scene in the space it takes me to say 'she closed the door'

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

danny talking about how resentful she became when nobody who she self-sacrificed for cared when she died and then leaving kirsch with laura and carmilla bc "if he stays with me i might lose control again and kill him" kinda confirms my thoughts abt both newly-turnedness and anger making vampires more vampiry

but also makes me think that in more usual circumstances, when the dean turned vampires like carmilla and mattie, that shes really nice at the start to temper any of that unruly anger

[thedrotter]

sweet sweet re:kinder community... I would like to ask y'all how you came upon the game and your experiences with it because i wanna know. im genuinely so curious to hear about other people's experiences and little opinions about this game because of how wild the game is (/pos) I'd love to hear it. do ramble to me about it