#parallelism ch2

[shadowduel]

We talked about making it I'm sorry that you never made it And it pains me just to hear you have to say it You knew the game and played it It kills to know that you have been defeated I see the wires pulling while you're breathing . . .

[a-star-that-burns-brightly]

guys guys imagine if teruko and mai's relationship ends up paralleling david and xander's guys.

imagine if teruko and mai's relationship ends up paralleling david and xande--

[qoldenskies]

OH I’m not sure if there’s limits on search tags for your blog but I’m surprised that coming undone wasn’t on there, that fic is like an infant in a cradle and I am the six year old rocking them for an hour in sheer fascination. I like the part where Donnie is squished like a bug for 37k words

youre the only person here that really talks to me about it unless i bring it up (rip cu i love you too much for this!!!) and i dont thiiiink i manually organized the featured tags? so it didnt automatically show up because i dont talk about it enough. i might be forgetting though

definitely something i'll do in a bit, probably tomorrow. coming undone beloved 🙏🙏🙏

[solar-halos]

for this mood board monday, i present yet another ficboard. the board in question is of franka by @ongreenergrasses

[apollotronica]

who else up thinking about how teruko is really bad at being cold and aloof and how its really obvious she wants to see the best in people

[felikatze]

seeing how apparently lighthearted agnea and partitio are from memes feels surreal. my current party are an inquisitor, an assassin, and a prison escapee. are there any people having a good and normal time in this game

[bonus-links]

dog days part 1 or 2!

por qué no los dos. I kinda consider it one big update anyway lol. this one might get long, I'll stick a readmore somewhere

i was insane for this. the comic will probably never be this decorated again but I had to do it at least once 😂 I try to give each era it's own subtle stylistic flair, though this is definitely the most overt one. I'm still really proud of this update!! sometimes I think I burnt myself out with this so bad tho that the first half of ch2 is pretty low on ornamentation bc of it. it takes like. a lot of extra mental energy ngl

it's slight but this whole interlude has a paper texture the rest of the updates don't :-)

there's lots of patterns to talk about here. twili patterns for the panel where wolf is zoning out.

the pattern on the sides is kind of an abstract depiction of Ordona, although her light orb is in her hands instead of the horns. I was also riffing off the patterns on a lot of the Ordonian's clothes. The green parts are pumpkin vines! those generally represent wolf himself

this is the dinner I reference at grandma's party in pt. 8

the pumpkin vines change into these kind of gold-leafed vines I often use to refer to zelda. They do this a few times throughout the update.

small detail I should include more often- wolf fidgets with his earring when he's bothered by something or thinking hard.

Lots of people have translated this in the reblogs so I won't do it here, but it's essentially a summons from Zelda to the castle. It's intentionally a little difficult to parse- Wolf is not from Hyrule. I like to imagine a difference between written Ordonian and Formal Hylian. Wolf can read it, but it doesn't come naturally. Also, Wolf is referred to as "Sir Link Goatherd of Ordon" where "Goatherd" could be both an occupation and a surname (that's actually the origins of surnames like Gothard, which I considered using)

Zelda's full name in the letter is Queen Zelda Celestia Nohansen Hyrule (though I think I write it as "Of Hyrule"). Idk if this makes sense actually, but it was meant to be a nod to the fact that TP is a parallel timeline to WW. WW had King Nohansen, so I imagine that as part of TP Zelda's lineage.

Wolf agreed to be a Royal Knight on the basis that it was only a formality, but then Zelda started actually summoning him to things anyway. He basically ignores them all, but they've been coming with increasing frequency. In Zelda's defense, the political situation she's dealing with trying to rebuild the kingdom is pretty tense. She could really use his help.

my favorite part of this update!! I feel like there should be no easy way to use the shadow crystal. if you want that power, you've gotta shove it in your forehead yourself! and yes, it does hurt. His ears flatten a little in anticipation. also sidenote I think this is the best I've ever drawn him lol

I like to think Yeto and Wolf are still buds.

I think whenever Wolf wanders like this, he frequently finds himself in the desert. He's given up on looking for shards of the mirror of twilight, though.

The vines get yellow as they reach the bottom of the page- Wolf's time to hide in wolfmode is running out.

little baby spirits of light hidden in this page, except ordona

who's hiding on this page instead! while Link the Cat reminds Wolf it's probably time to go back to his family in Ordon.

Wolf can't turn back into a human on his own, so he has to return to the sacred grove to reach the master sword. And yes, Skull Kid makes him play hide and seek every time 😂

those are midna's hands on either side.

this pattern has the organic shapes of the world of light, rather than the geometric twili patterns, showing that Wolf has immediately clocked that it's not a portal to the twilight realm. but alas, it's too late to turn back.

In terms of the timeline, while Loft and Slate trek across Hyrule to Hateno, Wolf is lost in the Lost Woods.

I wanted to put Ilia in this update more but this ended up being the only time she showed up lol

and that's all I've got! if you read all of this i love u

[moxie-girl]

hey guys I collected all the Xander + David matching/mirrored sprites together bc I'm very very normal about their parallels!

(under the cut just for minor spoilers)

not all of these match perfectly but they're pretty dang close... (and there were also some that I excluded because they only sort of matched)

(no ones with ch2 David sprites bc not all of them are up on the sprite gallery yet, but I'm sure some of them match too...)

[mangooes]

Beauty and the Beast

A Sylus x reader (non mc) fanfiction

~ In which (Name), the most beautiful maiden in Taurus City, yearns for a life outside her walls. There she meets a certain beast, who wants a change of heart.

It is recommended to read this chapter while listening to the "Belle" ost from the beauty and the beast! As i took alot of inspiration from it while writing this prologue chapter!

Prologue - ch1 - ch2 - ch3 - ch4 - ch5 - Epilogue

Prologue - There must be more than this provincial life!

The city of Taurus was a place where time moved slowly. Each morning began with the scent of fresh bread wafting from the baker’s shop, the sound of birds chirping, and the chatter of civilians busying themselves. The old cobblestone pathways bustled with merchants selling their wares. The people were simple, content in their quiet lives, easly satisfied with their bussiness and routines. Yet there was one among them who did not quite belong.

(Name)

Now, it's no wonder that her name means "Beauty". Her looks have got no parallel. They praised her beauty that has no pararell with anyone, though just as often they shower her with praises, they whispered about how she always had her nose stuck in a book, a bookworm, a lone girl who cares too much about the outside world for her own good.

While others gossiped in the marketplace or busied themselves with mundane chores, (Name) wandered through the village square with a novel clutched to her chest, her soft brown eyes lost in distant thoughts of grand adventures and far-off lands.

'Little town its a quite village..' she thinks, walking down the long path, only her book keeping her entertained.

"Bonjour (Name)!" "Bonjour Miss Mausine!""Bonjour little madame.!" "Bonjour!"

Everday, like the one before, every morning just the same, to this provincial...life.

She walked towards the end of the road and stood atop the hill overlooking Taurus City, the wind gently tousling her hair as she gazed at the vast landscape before her. She sits on the lush grassfield, too engrosed in her own world. 'Isn't this amazing??' she thinks to herself, reading the words written in the book on her hand. "This is where she met prince charming! Tho she won't discover that its him till chapter three... oh how i could read this book all over again!" she gushes herself.

The wind rustles through her hair, as she looks up towards the view infront of her. Beyond the sharp cliffs, rolling meadows and endless forests lay a world she had never seen, one filled with interesting things, with stories far grander than the ones bound in the pages of her books. Her mind drifts off, imagining a field of beautiful flowers...just like the ones in her storybooks, just like a fairytale.

Looking at the view infront of her, her eyes stared at the horizon longingly, 'wish i could have taken you to that flowerfield papa...'

A nostalgic feeling surges, Her father, Maurice, a kind and eccentric inventor, often chuckled at her longing. “The world out there isn’t always as wonderful as the stories, my dear,” he would say. "But father, whatever the cost, I want to see it with my own two eyes!" (Name) would always replied, "I know I know.." her father laughs, "When the time comes, show it to me too okay dear? Promise me that you would always be happy.." the distant memory echoes, her heart ached for the lost of her only family member, for something more than the repetition of her daily life.

The villagers, however, did not understand her yearning. To them, (Name)’s beauty was wasted on her oddity. Nothing like the rest of them. A puzzle to the rest of them.

Of course, many had tried to court her, but she found no charm in men who could only speak of hunting and drinking, boasting about their richness and arogance..

What was the point of a handsome suitor if he could not dream beyond the village borders? If he could not see the endless possibilities waiting beyond Taurus’s walls?

And so, (Name) remained an enigma, admired yet isolated.

(Hello! Might edit this later but I'll post the first chapter on friday since i have an upcomming test tomorrow :(( hope you guys enjoyed this prologue tho! Comments and sudgestions are welcomed <3)

[wolvertooth]

(Weapon X 2017, issues #2 + #15)

its interesting thinking about how they can so easily tell when the other is lying, and how its vital for their relationship, especially due to how often logan lies n covers his true feelings

sure, if he got together with a psychic like jean, she'd be able to tell just as easy, but with someone like her he'd always have that guilty feeling of needing to cover up the worst parts of himself for her

but with victor, he couldnt be seen as evil no matter how much he let loose. he can get mad, he can get mean, but theyre both so good at healing from eachother it wouldnt make a dent for long

and i think that pisses him off somehow, the side of him that feels like hes deserving of being seen as a bad person, which he interprets as just being annoyed by vic...

like, in the moments where he genuinely manages to anger the other, its like hes got the upperhand on their relationship. like vic not being bothered means hes not taking logan seriously or something. when really he just knows that logan doesnt even really mean it half the time, leading to logan getting frustrated that his act isnt working

theyve both got some messed up control issues that leaks into their trust issues, logan especially feeling like hes gotta have the wheel on others perception of him, due to struggling so often with having others misunderstand who he really is, needing to mold even a false characterization of himself just to have that control over his own narrative

vics parallel of that is just agreeing with the way others have characterized him, in order to have the control that hes reclaiming it, while he knows deep down it isnt entirely the truth

dies 1billion deaths v_v

(repost of my comment on @isntverynice 's Wretched and Precious ch2 cuz it kinda went hard lol)

[millidew]

random list of v3 opinions after experiencing all that again:

the death road of despair segment is the pre-trial highlight of ch1. so damn good. just a perfect microcosm of the game and kaede's flaws and conflicts

maki is funnier than i remember. but she’s at her funniest when she hits shuichi with a devastating insult, usually completely unprompted

ouma and maki parallels and foiling forever and ever. they HAAATE each other. but also it’d be cool to see them get along. the whole point is that they don’t see through the other and believe the other’s lies but still

maki saying she’ll work hard to make people trust her and her talent and that she wants to survive with everyone…ough…

ouma is so mad. he wishes that were him. also that moment where everyone ignores him and tries to comfort kaito after gonta's execution. he also wishes that were him but unfortunately he's been an asshole to everyone and no one likes him so

the only way i can enjoy saio/uma is one sided ouma->shuichi where shuichi is just not invested in the cop/robber dynamic ouma wants at all. it’s funnier this way + saimota inspires a visceral upset within him. he NEEDS to fumble both kaede and shuichi.

on that note i’ve been hcing ouma as bisexual for years partially out of spite

kaito’s obnoxious charm can’t be ignored. if you think you’ve successfully done it, it means it’s just entered an asymptomatic form. it'll hit you soon enough

ch2 pre-execution >>> KIRA BUCKLAND THE VOICE ACTRESS THAT YOU ARE. EVERYONE WONDERING IF THEY MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE BY VOTING FOR KIRUMI. KAITO GOING “IDC I WANT TO LIVE, OUR LIVES ARE IMPORTANT TOO!” KIRUMI INSULTING OUMA <3 EVERYONE CHEERING FOR KIRUMI TO RUN!!! TO LIVE!!!!!!!! GAHHHH SO COOL

kaito and himiko just blatantly lying through their teeth during their ftes. the liars who suppress their true problemsssss. also him shouting that he is NOT GIVING HER A PIGGY BACK RIDE!!! EVAR!!!!! is so funny

himiko I LOVE YOUUUUU. i love her getting overly familiar with people post-development and just accidentally completely overstepping boundaries by insulting kiibo and calling maki "maki roll." she's trying so hard you guys

KAITO IS SO FUCKING DRAMATIC. HE SHOULD’VE BEEN THE MALE LEAD IN A HIGH-SCHOOL THEATRE PRODUCTION AND ANNOYED EVERYONE IN THE CREW!!!! STOP BOTHERING MAKI SHE HAS A POWER DRILL

shuichi and maki doing sit ups and the camera slowly panning to show kaito laying there hands behind his head saying his usual bullshit is one of the funniest moments of the game

tenko and himiko agree that shuichi should transition into a woman. this is true.

I don’t accept tenko slander unless it’s specifically about her obsessiveness over himiko in ch1-2 in which case I can’t defend her

if kaito shaved he’d look 13. for this reason he is legally not allowed to do that.

tsumugi and the background of v3 are SO GOOD. ABSOLUTE PEAK. in execution there are lots of weak points but after thh, sdr2, udg, and the anime series, tell me a meta story about consumption, lies, and depression that ends with the cameos from entire main games’ previous casts doesn’t go hard

don’t deny that tsumugi loved her little ocs. do you not enjoy torturing your blorbos, putting them into situations, and giving them nice things just to take those away?? shipping them and dressing them up??? making silly aus (salmon mode, utdp, arguably dr:s)?

i just wish the writers utilized her more bc i love that so much. she should've wanted to get to get more involved with everyone (giddily see her ocs up close). she should've made even more thh/srdr2 references. players assume the writers are making for cheap nostalgia points, and they are, but it's true in-universe too...she should've been so overconfident that she'd get sloppy with the situational irony... tsumugi you little freak ily

she and rantaro were 100% s52's survivors and you can pry this from my cold dead hands. her dr fangirl self can be her pre-game personality

speaking of pre-game personalities, pre-game content is at best boring to me. how they write ouma is my litmus test. if he's not enough of a nuisance, just in a different way, then it's gotta go

maki is down for a training trio polycule, shuichi is in denial about everything and fears becoming an awkward third wheel, and kaito has been trying unsuccessfully to wink-wink nudge-nudge shuichi and maki into “realizing their feelings for each other” for ages

i still think maki should have short hair. initially I thought just shorter pigtails would be ok but I’m now in the firm camp of a pixie cut with one of her scrunchies on her wrist, with her orphanage-age flashback self maintaining the pigtails. she had to cut them off for practicality’s sake but one of her hidden desires is to be able to regrow it one day. another show of her loss of identity and past life, and how every aspect of her is controlled? such a simple desire at first glance but because hair is such a simple show of autonomy…even more tragic… maybe her doomed childhood friend yuri used to do her hair …hrm…

ultimates are public, influential figures. maki’s had to assassinate friends before (rip her yakuza friend that I didn’t know she had up until recently). maki went back to being an assassin in utdp after graduating. the hope’s peak class roster MIGHT just be a hit list

for someone who includes miu in her top 3 I haven’t talked about her at all huh. it’s been maki central up in here

miu is AWFUL but when her jokes hit, they hit good and hard just like she’d want them to. she’s completely insufferable and deserves to hit ouma (also insufferable) with 3000 hammers. kiibo too but he wouldn’t want to

look just because ouma said he was doing everything for a good reason, do NOT forget that at his core he is a little dipshit. he’s a JERK!!!

brief dip into maki time again. one of my favorite aus is that maki’s doomed childhood friend is actually miu. i'll expand on this in another post

once again: drv3 and rgu are shaking hands about exiting the narrative and the follies of playing hero. read my utenanthy!kaemugi post

v3 is FARRRR from a masterpiece, but it's a solid and fitting Ending to the main games, plus it's got an insane cast with infinite dynamics and a premise which i love to bits <33 and it was the game that got me into dr, so it'll always be special in my heart. also kaito momota luminary of the stars debuted in it which gives it 5/5 stars

[1moreff-creator]

What are some dynamics (in terms of like, foils/parallels) that you enjoy in DRDT?

you’re staring at a forest and asking me for every tree i like. do you want me to write another 28k word post /lh

I jest, of course, but not about the number of interesting foils in this series. It does a fantastic job tying everyone into several key themes in ways that make their dynamics endlessly enriching for my silly little character parallel-loving brain. So, uh, get ready for a long-ish post?

CW: One mention of self-harm, self-loathing

Teruko-David: I mean, you gotta start at the center, yeah? David’s the closest thing to a “main antag” we have, and it’s no wonder; the guy’s built like a standard DR protag, obviously he’s gonna have a cool dynamic with the actual protagonist. 

These two could breathe a bit weird and somehow parallel each other doing it, that’s how much this foil permeates both their characters. From their fatalistic outlooks on the world (“my luck will always be terrible, I’ll always be betrayed” vs “people can’t change, the world sucks”), the ways they hide their feelings (Teruko was more distrustful than she first presented herself as, but cares about people more than she shows during most of CH2; while David has an entire different persona up to 2-11 and then pretends to be worse than he actually is), the self-loathing (Teruko refuses to think she could be a good person, David has the whole “inhuman” thing going on), down to the oddball sibling figure (Terubro “I know nothing about you” Tawaki vs Diana “I’m not even sure you exist” Chiem).

There’s their feelings about Xander and Min, too, which are all over the place. Obviously we all saw in 2-12 how much the British twink fucked both of them up severely, with Teruko rejecting any positive or yearning feelings she may have had about Xander (you can’t hide the cactus scene from us girl) while David vehemently defended him from any criticism. On the other side, Min is less of a narrative poltergeist (for now; XF-Ture exists), but she still comes up with them, with David calling her pathetic eleven episodes after Min hugs Teruko and Teruko’s internal monologue gives away how much she cares about the Student. 

And these parallels play into their weird-ass dynamic very well, because their beefing is founded on their similarities and their differences, out of projecting their self-loathing to someone similar at the same time they hate each other because of their disagreements on things like Xander. Crazy stuff.

Xander-Min: Mentioning these two second because they’re also Eternal Parallels. There’s almost not a single thing about these two that isn’t somehow reflected on the other. If you projected them onto each other’s direction, you would get no perpendicular component. Get it, ‘cuz they’re completely parallel- That is, by far, the nerdiest joke I’ve ever made, I apologize.

But come on. Their attitudes towards fate (the Rebel fighting it and Min resigning herself to the XF-Ture thing), the whole “holding on to the past vs wanting to move on from the past” thing, the similarities between how they actually feel about the education system (they have issues with it) contrasted with the things they actually do in respects to that (Min is still the Ultimate Student, but Xander dislikes that), their already mentioned contrasting connections to Teruko and David… Just, absolutely everything about them is a meaningful contrast. And it comes into play a lot, with their eternal beef being born largely out of these parallels. They’re awesome.

Teruko-Ace: Pretty topical for post-CH2. Ace’s entire arc is sort of a reflection of Teruko’s, yet taken to the extreme because of one particular point of contrast; Ace feared death, Teruko doesn’t think she can die. But he still basically serves as a demonstration of all the flaws in Teruko’s all mindset; the feeling of unchangeable fate, the complete lack of trust, all the good stuff. It basically allows an exploration of Teruko’s mindset from an outside perspective, which makes it easier to see the flaws in it.

Ace-Nico: Also topical, these recap foils go kinda insane. Their motives for murder, their contrasting talents (love for animals on Nico's side and fear of horses on Ace's), the way they relate to the rest of the cast, Ace's persecution complex vs Nico actively disliking how much Hu defends them, etc., it’s all very fun to see play out. 

Ace-Levi: The one who doesn’t care but protects others and tries his best to be a good person so he can be accepted in society without having issues, vs the guy that acts like an asshole because he’s scared of caring too much and he thinks the only way he can get out alive is by being the only one to survive. This leads to a fundamental misunderstanding between them that causes some of the most doomed yaoi of all time, which is the whole “Levi getting frustrated at not understanding Ace.” 

Arei-David: You’ve presumably watched 2-13, so I don’t think I need to explain all the awesome stuff that’s come from their shared themes of “good people” and self-betterment and all that. Not to mention, David’s little breakdown over Arei trusting the letter of the only friend she had being presumably born from the way he saw Xander as the only friend he had. Shit goes crazy.

Arei-Eden: Recap foils… Good people… The choice to be kind… Etc… Woah :O

Teruko-Charles: Ah, Teru’s recap foil. This one’s basically opposite of Ace’s, where Charles used to be sort of like Teruko acted in CH2, but later became a bit friendlier, if still somewhat prickly. Basically, if Ace highlights Teruko’s character traits from CH2, Charles post CH1 serves as more or less the “end goal” in a way. It goes beyond that, too, with the whole memory issues (prosopagnosia vs childhood amnesia) and, again, mysterious siblings (Terubro and Elliot what are your deals), so it’s always neat to rotate these two in the brain.

Veronika-Levi: We really don’t know too much about Vero, which always makes it a bit harder when analyzing these dynamics, but they already got some interesting points of contrast. Neither of them are particularly concerned about the deaths of the others, at least post-CH2 (Levi doesn’t grieve and Vero actively laughs at Ace’s death), but it comes from almost opposite ends of perspective. Levi doesn’t understand others because he doesn’t feel much empathy (if any at all), while Vero seems to treat the others not as people, but almost as characters to be analyzed (that’s the impression I get, at least), which makes her come off as very good at reading people but also occasionally causes her to see them as sources of entertainment first and foremost. Not to mention there’s also the fact they’re both very different people than they were in the past (Levi was some form of delinquent and now is a good person, Vero used to be outdoorsy and then no longer was). Wow that’s… more than I thought there was- How am I finding more interesting foils just by writing more???

Hu-Levi: I kinda talked about this in my CH2 PT2 analysis so read that ig.

J-Rose: A pair of recap foils who haven’t had too much yet, but a lot of their themes, in particular about fate and privilege and stuff, are pretty noticeable with them, so this is always a fun dynamic to consider.

Levi-Arturo: More recap foils, this one’s fun because of the dead family member :) Also things like their talents being related to aesthetics and both doing the things they do for a better life.

Veronika-Hu: This one’s kinda more hypothetical, since Vero in particular hasn’t had as much direct focus as other characters yet, but that’s part of what makes them fun. Past history of self-harm (even if brought on by very different feelings) is just the first of many parallels they could have, and it’s fun to see the contrast between Hu defending Nico to the ends of the Earth and Vero talking about how much she likes Arturo because of how awful he is. They’re really silly.

David-Whit: All the recap foils are fun, but I've always struggled to see this one in particular. Partly because I feel like I know less about Whit than I know about Mai :v Still, certain things like Whit ignoring anything that upsets him which connects to David constantly lying about his real feelings for his fans, which is probably what leads to David's outburst at Whit in the second trial.

Teruko-MonoTV: Because fate. Really this is here plainly because it’s just a funny as hell dynamic to even consider lol.

Teruko-Mai: Have they interacted? Has Mai had enough screen time to truly determine that this parallel truly exists? Do we even know a single theme that Mai’s character touches on for certain? No and it doesn’t matter! Because these two are clearly connected somehow and the whole “someone dearly loved - someone dearly unloved” thing makes me ill. Mai is getting mentioned in this post and you're not stopping it.

Mai-Whit: Fuck it! “We tend to idolize the dead” dynamic!!! It's very speculative, but this one’s just fun to ponder even if we have even less idea of what could be going on between the two than with Mai-Teruko.

Anyways ready for a few themes that run through a lot of characters?

David-Levi-Nico-Rose: The “feeling disconnected from the rest of humanity’s experiences” gang!!!

Min-Rose-Hu-Veronika-Arturo: The “wants to move on from the past” gang!!!

Min-Arei-Teruko-Ace: The “trying to fix mistakes” gang!!!

Teruko-David-Eden-Arei-Levi-Xander: The “what makes a good person?” gang!!!

Teruko-David-Xander-Min-J-Whit-Ace-Rose-MonoTV-Probably everyone else: Fate!!!!

And there’s more than I’m probably forgetting because I can’t possibly check every conceivable connection between these guys. At least I hope I covered most of the major ones. Thanks for the ask, these dynamics are always fun to think about!

[rencatuive]

drdt ch2 ep 16 spoilers re:arturo

get paralleled maybe

[theshslpumpkinghost]

OHHHH MY GOD THE NEW EPISODE AAAAAAANDIAHCISIVIDI

(Spoilers for ch2 ep14!)

THE MIN AND EDEN PARALLELS OH MY GOD

they are actually going to make me sob

[felikatze]

just did the new damsel ch3!! i am staring at the wall!! i am holding my head in my hands!!

i haven't done all the optinons yet but. Man. The ending where the hero and the princess leave? When all the torches go out, all the fun's been had, and there's nothing left to do?

The way that THIS is the ending where the narrator just... gives up.

Because THIS is what he wanted. A world without change. A world in stasis forever. And he's found out that he... Doesn't like it. That maybe, letting the Princess out is better.

And I think this Narrator knows that the box exists in every world. There will always be a box. And for once, he regrets that he closed it. He hopes that the world ends, now.

The parallel just. Works perfectly. Because what is it you get when you slay the princess like he asked? Right! Your happy ending. And that's what a "Happily Ever After" is. goddddd

Like. Man. There's a reason that stories don't show you the happily ever after. Because the writer knows that's boring. No audience wants to watch the heroes just be happy forever. Because in this chapter, there is no conflict.

Actually like. The Princess. I pity her so bad in this chapter. So like, the Damsel in ch2 is so malleable because that's what the perception of the Hero who swoops in and does not doubt her for even a second is - that she is the perfect fairytale princess who can do no wrong, ever.

But like, the secondary voice for Happily Ever After is The Paranoid. The Hero gets creeped out by how much she just "wants to make him happy", so the Hero and the Paranoid want her to be a person.

But that's not what the Smitten wants! The Smitten wants his fairytale, forever. The Princess is a creature of perception, but two clashing views have left her a person stuck in the role of a doll. She wants to break free, but she's not allowed to, because a perfect fairytale princess wouldn't disagree with the Hero, would she?

And yet, every route is about disagreement. About change and conflict and moving together only to move apart only to move together again. It's conflict that gives the Hero and the Princess dimension.

wruagh.

Thinks abt that post that says the Paranoid is like, one of the most powerful voices because he doesn't trust perception. Thinks about how the Smitten is one of the most powerful voices because he just speaks things into existence without doubting his vision. Clash of titans on this route, truly.

Also fucked how this is like. The first route i can think of where a voice just... leaves? It's... kind of the opposite of what happens in The Princess and the Dragon. But even then, none of the voices just fade away. The only thing that ever makes them leave is the mirror.

The Smitten was so dead set on his happy ending, that breaking it requires flat out extinguishing him. And yet, the Hero still likes the Princess. You can tell her you liked her all along, or that you're not sure, or that you didn't before, but you might now.

The Smitten isn't the be all end all of the Hero's affection for the Princess. He's just one facet of it. One facet that grew wildly out of control that it flattened them both and had to be torn out for an actual genuine relationship to form.

Man. Okay.

[valleygirlmukuroikusaba]

thinkin abt the parallels between kyoko, nagito and kokichi they're like on different parts of the scale with how they communicate their pov to others bc they all have some sort of plan but god are they ALL are really bad at discussing anything with anyone

kyoko: off doing her own thing but uses logic for her deductions and aside from lack of communication ppl tolerate her presence enough( i guess byakuya couldddd count but like i think plotwise hes just not all that important aside from like his betrayal in ch2 which like adds nothing to the greater plot, kyoko is like significantly more important in that regard)

nagito: completing all the sidequests b4 anyone else but does kinda have a plan but he does everying in blind faith of his luck so whenever he communicates jack shit ofc it sounds insane because theres no logic and his whole thing is making the common sense of the impossible make sense so hes not very enjoyable to have around regardless if he's onto something nekomaru and kazuichi literally try to keep him chained in the party hall, regarding his enjoyability to be around

kokichi: apathetic nuisance from like the get go so i guess he has the one pro of not having ppl trust him so no one has the suspense of betrayal from him, anyone who isnt a pushover(everyone that isnt gonta, miu and keebo) doesnt tolerate him at all but his plans require more than just himself so constantly harassing the pushovers lets him exploit his "clique" to get the upperhand he needs and i dont think he properlly explains this plan to his clique at all so like even if maybe keebo knew abt the plan i dont think he can fully provide the info that kokichi also gatekept from them but i think if kokichi would be actually able to talk to them abt his plan and get them to agree with him if he was actually more. nuanced bc i think itd be interesting if gonta/miu/keebo was on with the liar part than it ALL being kokichi but thats more of a deduction than something i can back up