#partly Professor layton

[lumivall]

Who would have guessed that I like sonic 😔🫰(professor Layton sadly didn't fit, and my editing skills are sadly limited that I could of done a edit with both my fav fandoms that I am into right now 😔)

@lyria-r @beezonia @galaxylover06 @glitchedcosmos @evil-city @virune (have fun guys!)

starting my first tag game

so use this picrew and make yourself and uhhh add a picture of ur current hyperfixation/favorite thing

NOT FORCING tags:

@circus-clownn @noelgruberfr @milkyandtwiz @danica-ik

[jfkisonthemoon]

サーハイマンの日曜日です。(ようこそ日本へ！) (may 7)

[snekatiemainy]

Oh I'm so normal <- is thinking about Layton hiding everything behind his smile and his hat and his calm gentlemanly exterior. Thinking about how does Layton even ever TALK about himself?? Ever?? Unless absolutely necessary when his past tragedies are staring him directly in the face? Thinking about how Layton keeps losing people again and again and again. Augh. Wagh

[mangosteen]

"playing" professor layton (i am just using the memo function to doodle)

[wilygryphon]

Gryphonverse- Are Robots and Sentimonsters People?

For the most part, no.  While they could be programmed to act on their own (or given free will by giving them their Amoks), and they may be programmed with personalities, most robots and Sentimonsters do not have the qualifications to put them on the same level as sapient people from the get-go.  Even those who are created to reflect pre-existing individuals have a personality installed, but even then they are little more than drones made to act a certain way and carry out instructions.  There are exceptions, such as Jenny Wakeman/XJ9, Markov, Uncanny Valley/Aeon Hill, and Félix Fathom, but they were made to develop as people (Félix specifically coming into being as a newborn baby).  What sets them apart from other robots and Sentimonsters is their curiosity and ability to develop their own thoughts and feelings, their capacity to form genuine bonds and grow Hearts of their own.  If humanlike Sentis had the opportunity to evolve, they would have a chance to develop hearts of their own and truly become people; but until then, they are merely automatons.

The robotic townsfolk of St. Mystere, Aurora the Azran Emissary, and Brobot are machines with pre-defined personalities that have been able to become real people by bouncing off of each other and those around them.  Sentibug and Sentiweather were in the early stages of showing that potential, as they made their own decisions in repaying Ladybug for giving them their free will, but they were erased before anything could truly come of it.  The highest-ranking Cluster robots were able to become people on their own before they formed the machine-dominant civilization, while most of the robots that they integrated only developed as themselves afterward due to reprogramming and interaction with their peers.

[squeeze-the-lemon]

alternatively, descole just really wanted to dress up as them

brenda 🤝 angela

getting sent to descole jail for being too smart from the get go

[justkillingthyme]

It’s so incredibly important to me that Luke isn’t vegan or vegetarian, and that he hasn’t ever been (to our knowledge.

Stay with me here because this is a long post.

In early childhood, around age four or so, children develop the ability to show empathy and understand perspectives other than their own. And at some point, I’d imagine almost everyone has the realization that when they eat meat, whatever it was used to be alive. Yes it’s sad, but it’s the circle of life. It’s just how it is for our survival.

To my understanding, vegetarians and vegans (for non-dietary reasons) choose it so they don’t participate in inhumane practices and support the exploitation of animals. I have also heard the perspectives that the animals don’t consent to whatever product being taken from them.

I’d imagine this would be a little different for Luke (and Clark as well), because they can communicate with the animals in questions. In this case, he has a heightened sense of empathy for them, because he can connect to the animals in a way that other people can’t. He knows the butcher, but he also knew the pig, if that makes sense.

But he can also talk to predators like Hannibal, Old Red, etc that are carnivorous (or otherwise have the ability to hunt and kill). I can imagine he’s had his chance encounters with dead prey and the like. And with that ability, he can relate.

All this to say that I think Luke was introduced at a young age to the concept that some things are bound to happen. The circle of life. Death is unavoidable and inescapable, and it will come for everyone eventually. Not that their lives are meaningless, but that it all serves a greater purpose, and that everyone has a role to fill. Things are meant to live and to die, and balance remains intact. That’s just a fact of life.

Luke, by AL, has had brushes with death before. Running from the specter, saving Melina, getting strung up five stories off the ground, etc. He’s no stranger to how dangerous being with Layton is, and he’s accepted it.

In Azran Legacy, Luke is the first to accept his death. Of all five of them, he’s the only child, and yet the first to turn to the beams. He bears such a sense of responsibility where any other twelve year old would probably be petrified. The world is ending and to save it he has to die? It’s a large burden to bare, but the others, who have year of age over him, don’t accept it. In fact, the oldest person ends up being the last to step in, and even then takes his time.

Of course this is partly due to his maturity (he’s been established to show maturity beyond his years) and partly because of Professor Layton’s own burden of responsibility, some of that unnecessary guilt I imagine has rubbed off on Luke.

However, I like to think that Luke’s upbringing and experiences have a part in that. Everything must die eventually, and if his time is now, and if it will help everyone, so be it.

[101flavoursofweird]

The parallels between Kat and Ernest…

Baby Kat comes screaming into the world during a shipwreck. Her mother dies after giving birth to her, leaving Kat with nothing but the kindness of a fifteen-year-old Luke Triton to depend on. Luke takes Kat to Professor Layton, who adopts her as his own after a few years. Layton vanishes when Kat’s eleven, leaving her with a family (Rosa, Flora, Alfendi etc) who no doubt loves her but she experiences loneliness nonetheless. Perhaps she feels overlooked next to her siblings and her other extraordinary relatives…

Despite her father’s disappearance, Kat makes no secret of her last name. She adopts her own noble-sounding title to match her father’s: ‘Lady Layton’. She follows in Layton’s footsteps as a detective and she names her detective agency after him. When clients mistakenly request the help of the Professor Layton, Kat’s reactions range from self-aggrandising to outright offended. Kat wants to be famous in her own right. She wants attention— partly to extend the search for her father, partly to boost her own prestige— and she wants to help people. She wants to be respected as a true gentle-person and a puzzle-solver, just like her father. She also wants money and material items (clothes, decor, sweet treats etc)… not so much like her father, but Kat is still valid for this. If Randall can crave shiny things then so can Kat

On the other hand, we have Miles Richmond. Miles is born into wealth—  to one of the richest, most influential families in London. Miles’ grandfather poured his wealth into redeveloping London (maybe after Clive’s mobile fortress attack?). His family lived in a freaking castle, containing portraits of them.

Then, Grandpa Richmond dies, followed by Miles’ unnamed mother when Miles is twelve (I think)? Miles’ mama encourages him to grow up to be someone big, strong and powerful— a ‘great man’. She did this to rally Miles’ spirits, but Miles misinterpreted this as meaning that he needed to become more powerful than the Seven Dragons if he wanted to make them pay. I think he resented the Dragons more for the death of his mother rather than the loss of his family’s wealth… but then, I’m sure the money would have helped if his mother needed to see a doctor… 

Anyway when his mother dies, Miles is left destitute and orphaned. He changes his name to Ernest Greeves— hiding his identity and his past— and he eventually makes it to Gressenheller, where he meets Katrielle Layton.

Kat proves Ernest’s innocence in a crime— partly out of kindness, yes, but she also wanted to stick it to the police and she just wanted to solve the case and she was going to Gressenheller anyway, so… 

While Kat does have her gentle moments, such as when she comforts a lonely Liza and a weeping Ernest, I think we can all agree Kat isn’t the reserved, sometimes demure lady Flora is or a gentle-person in the same way Layton is. Kat is often brash, boastful, impatient, pushy, greedy, bratty, selfisheven… 

Kat isn’t your typical gentle-person, but she does have a good heart and a strong mind. Even after learning about her birth mother and her past for the first time, Kat is still adamant that Hershel Layton is her father, and that she is Katrielle Layton. She knows who she is, who her family are and she’s proud of it.

Ernest possesses more traits commonly associated with a gentle-person. Ernest seems diligent, studious, polite, optimistic, amiable, loyal to those he cares about— a lot like Professor Layton in many ways! 

However, underneath all that, Ernest does have a dark side. He can be vengeful, sneaky and manipulative… rather like a certain Clive Dove.

The problem for Ernest is that he is a gentle person at heart, and Kat knows this. When Kat reveals his plan and his true identity, Ernest doesn’t sneer at Kat, grab a hostage or unleash a giant robot from under the castle. He still sees Kat as a friend, and he stays with Kat after everything is cleared up with the Dragons.

Kat reassures Ernest that his mother did love him, no matter what. From Kat, Ernest learns that he doesn’t need to be a ‘great man’, with riches and influence and power to overcome people who stand in his way. He just needs to be himself— a young gentleman and Katrielle Layton’s assistant.

And maybe, in turn, maybe Ernest allows Kat to demonstrate that gentle, considerate side to her that was always there. Kat is great and Ernest is always there to remind her of that, but it’s okay if she’s gentle— vulnerable— sometimes too.

[jewfrogs]

specifically re: the professor layton series; people keep calling flora “boring” and “bland” but she has as much personality as any other character if you care to pay attention—although the writing of the games does do her some disservice in dismissing her & denying her interiority, she manages to emerge as a rounded and complicated and lovely character.

let's compare: what do we know about luke? he’s a little boy, between 10 and 13, a english gentleman in training. he loves the professor (+ flora & emmy), and his parents, but he’s much more concerned about being parted from the former than the latter. he likes to solve mysteries. he can speak to animals. he’s got a sarcastic streak, and he’s very defensive (and sometimes possessive) over people he loves, especially the professor. he holds grudges. he tends to cover up his fear with bravado (but he really is very brave when push comes to shove). he has an enormous appetite. he’s strong enough to sacrifice himself to save the world. he’s serious, sometimes somber. he acts older than he is, but he’s only a boy.

and, on the other hand, what do we know about flora? she’s a young girl, maybe 15, a little english lady. she loves the professor & luke, and she loved her father. she’s shy, somewhat unassuming, but she has a simmering temper. she’s been alone for most of her life, partly from circumstances and partly from choice. she was raised by robots, in a place designed to cater perfectly to her and keep her safe. she’s naive, oblivious, and a little clueless; she doesn’t understand danger. she steals a dog on a whim. she’s horribly afraid of being abandoned again. she leaves her home to live with people she's known for all of a day. she chooses to preserve her village but she chooses to leave (she only wants to know it’s there). she’s silly. she disguises herself when she doesn’t need to (and she doesn’t see that her disguises are see-through). she loves adventure. she’s curious. she’s nervous. she loves to cook, she can’t cook, and she can’t tell that she’s terrible at cooking. she’s cheerful. she’s well-read. she loves murder mysteries.

that is what we call A CHARACTER. a quieter one, maybe, but not an absent one. one every ounce as rich as luke’s. she is the light of my life and she is interesting.

[nonsensefromtheabyss]

W.I.P Wednesday 1: The List

I don’t really know how big of a deal WIP Wednesday is on here, but it’s when my writing club used to be so I’ve decided I might as well start again! Maybe not every Wednesday, but I think it might be nice to share my thoughts instead of cannibalising them quietly. This week, I am doing that project list I mentioned before: Behold! Here are all the works I have on the schedule/drawing board at the moment. 

HAZBIN HOTEL. 

A Broken Record On Repeat In A Crowded Bar: a story about a brutally injured Alastor refusing to rely on his friends and toying with the boundaries of his deal. It also looks at everyone else’s perspectives post-extermination and features a lot of Charlie struggling with where she and her dreams stand in the new status quo. Quite dark, mostly character driven, will be 13 chapters long when done.

Still working on Chapter 5. Have been working on Chapter 5 for longer than I ever thought possible. Unfortunately my hours at work have increased which, along with a few changes in my personal life, means I’ve had less project time recently. It is hovering somewhere around 2/3s completed and I’m still hopeful to get it out this month. Overall, the whole project is sitting at around 60,000 words if I tally up all the chapter documents—not bad for an idea that started as a fucking oneshot!

I’ve also finally got a table that I can paint at, so I’m doing a painting of the Final Confrontation. No idea why; I sneezed and the sketch appeared. I have absolutely no faith that it’ll be finished by the time I upload that chapter, but sometimes we do these things for the journey. And the joy of painting. I’ve not had anywhere to paint for a year.

PROFESSOR LAYTON. 

When The Dust Settles and Professor Layton And The Master’s Last Painting: post Unwound Future Sycamore and Layton team up to solve a case where the people have vanished from a bunch of paintings. At the same time, Layton is trying to uncover what his estranged brother has been doing for the past three years. Mystery elements, psychological elements, a complete disregard for reality; slightly darker than the game series, but only in the sense that I describe the violence. The prologue and first part of what’s planned to be a trilogy. 

I actually don’t know if anyone here knows about these works; I wasn’t on tumblr when I started them. And I’ve been gone for… quite some time…

Basically, I got halfway through Chapter 15 and got really, really stuck—partly due to other things happening in my life at the time, and partly because it… wasn’t feeling right. To try and refresh myself with how we’d gotten to that point in the story, I read back through all my published Layton work and… was not inspired. I actually realised how much I disliked my early writing; I wasn’t using scenes or characters effectively, the threads for the mystery as a whole were either too obscure or flat out not there—I was displeased. Particularly because this is a project I get really excited about when I think about my plans for the series; all my work deserves my best effort, but this one in particular has a lot of potential to me that I don’t feel like I captured in my initial writings. Time to start fresh! Take another swing at it! I have a different method of working now, and I feel certain that this time I can capture my vision.

So, I finished my dissertation and cleared my first ever Big Project, and I had already started on the big rewrite… and then I fell down a hole into Hazbin Hotel. I cannot stress enough that Broken Record was supposed to be a oneshot. Finishing these two works is next on my list, this time I swear it. I already have the story divided up into chapter documents, and some have been fully reworked, It Is Happening. You still probably won’t see anything for a while yet, but if you’re one of my readers from before or on the off chance you’re curious now, feel free to pop up to chat about it!

RIDDLE SCHOOL. 

Unnamed Project. I’m so fucking back. Some very lovely people said they’d be interested in seeing more from me in my Riddle V.I.Z.ion universe, and I accidentally fell in love with these characters all over again while completing that project. Yall convinced me and I am so very happy about that!

The work will be a collection of moments from the aliens’ lives, jumping around in time between past and present within the timeline and history I’ve given them. More detail into how they work together, what their home planet is like, what they actually got up to as V.I.Z.ion members, stuff like that! Basically an excuse for me to write more for them. At the minute, I have their timelines (collective and individual) plotted out in a document, and have selected sections of history I think would be interesting to explore, so I would say a rough plot is hesitantly in place! 

Because it’s not going to be precisely linear (given that we already know where they end up, I don’t think there’s anything to be gained from sticking to the laws of time!) I’m thinking I can be a bit more flexible with myself in how I work on it. Which means I might try and fit it in around other projects as a little treat to refresh myself. If I think of it like Short Stories In A Shared Universe instead of Another Book, it feels manageable that I might add to it without disrupting my workflow, which means it hopefully won’t take another seven years (always a good thing!)

I’m also doing more art for Riddle V.I.Z.ion as well, fuck it. I had a vision (hah!) I saw the shipyard and the miserable campfire. I’ve never painted space before, but this seems a good enough reason to try. (I’ve painted the woods many, Many times.)

So, if you’re interested in this project while it’s still in the early stages, or you’ve read Riddle V.I.Z.ion and were interested in more, feel free to drop by and chat! Currently I’m stuck on a name; Puzzle Pieces has a certain appeal, but I think that would also be nice as a series title, and I think I’d like to keep the ‘Riddle’ naming theme for the main instalments. Riddle Classified? Riddle Planet? Riddle Logbook? Unauthorised Access feels nice in my head, but again with the lack of ‘Riddle’ continuity. Hm. I’ll keep at it. It’s the annoying moment where I realise that ‘Riddle V.I.Z.ion’ itself would have been the perfect title for this too!

DON’T HUG ME I’M SCARED. 

Three Friends, Three Foes, Three Names They’ll Never Know: a series of drabbles about terrible things happening to the Three Guys. Very graphic and violent. Horror elements with a lot of gore.

Believe it or not, I actually have three more chapters I always meant to add to that story that just got pushed around in favour of other things. Always meant to get back around and finish them; as you can see, they’re on The List!

So, in short order, we have ‘The Yellow Guy Chapter (a nightmare about stairs)’, ‘The Bigger Boys Chapter (bestie you forgot about The Cycle)’, and the ‘Lore Chapter (contains nothing of use to anyone, is Not A Theory.)’ They’re all about 1/3 done; i dip into them whenever I feel like rewatching the series or writing psychological and physical horror without any embellishments. Not much to declare on this front but they will be done at some point.

RESIDENT EVIL: VILLAGE. 

The Monsters You Told Your Children About: all the characters except for Mother Miranda are brought back to life by The Duke. Rose is declared a bio weapon by the BSAA and is taken into their custody. Thus begins a road trip where Ethan, with encouragement from The Duke, convinces the four most dangerous monsters he knows to help him rescue his baby.  This story is basically fucked up found family with the mold acting as a Get Along shirt for everyone involved and The Duke eating popcorn.

Contrary to popular belief, this story isn’t dead! Much like Ethan himself, it is merely in a perpetual state of rotting, and that hasn’t kept it from coming back to kick me in the ass whenever I feel inspired to look at it again. Original projection length was stupidly optimistic—this thing needs to be more than 8 chapters long or it’s just going to be nonsense. It needs some structural revision in its planning department, which is why it went cold in the first place; few things more demoralising than realising you’ve lost inspiration and your basic building-blocks suck.

So! I’m keeping the same concept and ideas and just… reworking the elements to flow better as a narrative instead of just being a collection of things I immediately wanted coming out of the game. Of course, this should have been step one all those years ago, but I rather got ahead of myself.

CUPHEAD. 

Untitled project. This was a curve ball to me. Divine inspiration to work out the perfect plot… for something I had wanted to write about in 2017. The devil works in mysterious ways and apparently She wants me to write more fic.

Following the Devil’s retreat, all the souls on the Inkwell Isles are released, and the Casino collapses into dust and rubble. The Casino, which I remind you, belongs once again to its original owner, the newly freed and magicless King Dice, who is not able to counter that degree of property damage. Mostly because even lawyers hate him.

Left with nothing to his name but his soul, King Dice, followed by his loyal court, embarks on a solemn quest: to punch his old boss in the fucking face.

(Featuring: bullying Saltbaker into opening a portal to Hell, Cagney running the woodland mafia, Spirited Away soul trains, and potion brewing with Elder Kettle (he’s being held at gun point.) Not show compliant, I have never watched it.)

I’m not thinking about this one too hard. I’m hoping if I stop looking at it, it’ll go away (it won’t.)

[youngerfrankenstein]

Nintendo Direct guesses because it’s fun:

What I want:

Professor Layton news. Not necessarily anything big but an update (unlikely)

Wind Waker and/or Twilight Princess ports (partly for Zelda friends partly for me!)

GameCube games on the NSO collection, don’t tell me it’s a big ask. A good amount of these are absurdly expensive. If this is how we get WW that works too

What I think might happen:

Bit more Pikmin 4 news before it releases (well, this one’s confirmed)

Metroid Prime 2 port

Geneology of the Holy War remake (a bit less likely but a couple things make me think this)

At least some news of TotK DLC

Mario something

What I think would be funny:

I just got a (reasonably priced) copy of 999 so a Zero Escape trilogy port would serve me right

Age of Calamity 2: Now you can play as Zelda’s something-great grandparents

Zelda movie confirmed. Ganondorf is also voiced by Jack Black

[gible-love-nibles-archive]

Eternal Diva Fic (Part 12)

We're winding down now, getting to the end. This is where the "AU" part really comes in. There's only one part here I might consider """canon""" here, and that's. Right at the very end.

Trigger warnings for brief mention of death (thought of it happening, not actually happening), mentions of falling from a great height, food and a brief bit of choking

Word Count: 1.5k / Previous / Next

He didn't plan to depart exactly like that, but Descole still managed to escape the professor and his group on top of his robot.  Victory was so close in his grasp… a few tiny mistakes had cost him everything.  How ironic.

The sting of defeat still clung to the masked man as he located and picked up his cape; it had whipped off him during the fall.  But as he was dusting himself off, he spotted a familiar head of dark brown hair.

“Clare…!” He said breathlessly as he ran over to her.  

Oh.  Oh no.  That’s right, she had fallen with him!  Was it an accident?  Heaven forbid she had dove after him…!

Checking her pulse thankfully confirmed she was still alive, but it was weak.  Doctors were on the mainland; there was no one on the island to take care of her… except…

With barely a second thought, Descole collected Clare up in his arms, wrapping her up in his cape like a blanket.  

Were this any other situation, he might've made a witty comment about fate tying them together yet again.  But now was not the time.

He hurried back to his sub as fast as his own injured body could carry him. “Come on,” he muttered to himself. “You’ll be fine.  You have to be fine.”

His men stood at attention when he approached, but some of them got confused when they saw the “package” he carried.  “None of you are to say a word about this.” Descole stated it coldly and matter-of-factly.  The men mumbled their confirmation, and pretty soon, the sub took off.

~

“Aye, I remember her.  She was in Misthallery.” Raymond had come in with a first aid kit just as Descole requested.  The butler wasted no time patching up Clare. “What was she doing here?  I thought you only sold those tickets to the rich.”

“…I invited her.”

Raymond smirked. “You wanted to see her again, did ya lad?”

Descole didn't respond at first, and he partly buried his face in his boa. “I… wanted to test her.  See if she was worthy of travelling around with Layton.”

“Whatever you say, sir.” The butler was thoroughly not convinced.  The masked man rapidly changed the subject.

“How is she?”

“She's stable.  She'll need plenty of rest to heal.  You two will be stuck together for a while.”

“…Fine.  If you're all done, you're dismissed Raymond.”

“Aye.  I'll start making dinner for you both.” With that, Raymond left the room, gently shutting the door on the way out.

Now that he was alone, Descole simply stared at his guest with an unreadable expression.  She looked tranquil as she slept.  She didn't know how lucky she was that he had found her. 

The thought of her dying alone on that island, all because of him-- No, shake that off.  It didn't happen.  It worked out… at least this did.

He sighed curtly. “You are extremely irritating.” A pause.  

He found his hand wandering to hers.  He didn't try to hold it or even cover it; instead, he played with her fingers. “…But I suppose that's part of your charm.”

A stretch of silence.

“You really are some kind of masterpiece,” he finally said, barely above a whisper.  “Intelligent, bold, kindhearted, radiant: maybe not conventionally beautiful to most, but those fools just can't see the real you.”

After another beat of silence, Descole stood up and walked out the room, pausing at the door.

“…Sleep well dear.”

~

I woke up a little while later, immediately noticing the pain all over my body.  That made sense; I fell off a giant robot from who knows how high up.  It was a miracle I was still alive. 

But then I noticed the pain was not as much as it probably should’ve been.  That must mean someone found me and patched me up.  Probably Layton or Luke or Emmy or one of my friends.

But when my eyesight focused, I was instead met with an unfamiliar metal room and an unfamiliar older gentleman sitting in a chair near my bedside.  I knew I probably should’ve been a little suspicious of this, but my brain was foggy from all the pain.

“Ah wonderful.  You’re awake, Miss Clare,” the man said.  He had grey-brown hair with a mustache and goatee, a short stature, and a dark red suit. “Sir… Your host will be very pleased.  I heard you took quite the tumble."

"Tumble doesn't even begin to describe it," I grumbled, trying to wake up more.

"I apologize for thrusting this on you so soon, but you should have something to eat.  As I understand, you were eating very lightly during your adventure.”

In his hands was a warm bowl of soup, judging by the bit of steam coming off it.  He put it down and started to fill up a spoon, but I gently grabbed it from him.

“It’s… fine.  I… got it.  Thank you.” I was trying not to sound as weak as I felt.

The man just chuckled a bit. “Very stubborn.  Just like he is.”

I started to eat, being extremely careful not to drop anything with my shaky hands.  It was chicken noodle soup, I immediately determined.  And I also determined it was absolutely delicious.  Warm, comforting, hearty-- amazing.

“Oh, this is wonderful.”

“Thank you, Miss Clare.  Please let me know if you need anything else.”

“Maybe some water, please?”

“Of course.  I’ll let him know you’re awake and eating well.” He stood up, turned the giant wheel in the middle of the door, and walked out.

…Giant wheel?  Weird.

I knew I should’ve found this more than weird, but with the dull throbbing of all my injuries and the warm soup sending a nice calming feeling through me, I couldn’t bring myself to question anything.

I had almost cleaned out the bowl when the door opened again.  I nearly choked on a noodle when I saw it was Descole, holding a glass of water.

“WhaAT-” A cough. “-arE YOu-” A hack.

“Breathe,” he said simply. “No one here wants you to choke.”

It took a bit, but I eventually cleared out my windpipe. “What are YOU doing here?”

“Well technically, you’re the intruder here dear.  This happens to be my submarine.”

“WHAT?  What do you mean your submarine?”

“I found you passed out and wounded from your fall.  Your friends were on top of a giant robot; besides, it’s not like they could’ve gotten you to a doctor speedily.  I took it upon myself to nurse you back to health.  You’re welcome.” His tone only got a tiny bit smug at the end.

“Why?”

“To quote my greatest enemy: is it not the duty of a gentleman to help a lady in need?”

“...You’re an enigma.”

“Thank you.  I’ve been told that’s one of my more charming points.” I groaned and turned away from him as he laughed a bit. 

...I was stuck on a submarine out in the middle of the ocean with no way of calling for help. At Descole's mercy. The warm feeling the soup had given me started to ebb away for something much colder.

Descole had walked over to the other side of the bed and set my glass down.  He kneeled down to look me in the face. He must have seen me starting to spiral because he put on a small, easy smile. “How is the soup?  Raymond put his heart and soul in it for you.”

I decided to humor him. “...It’s good.”

“...If I had said I made it, would you have said it was bad?”

I grinned a bit. “Maybe.”

“Of course.” His tone suggested annoyance, but his expression said amusement.  He grabbed the empty bowl and stood up. “I suggest you get more rest.  Your injuries were quite severe.  You’ll need quite a bit of time before you’re ready to leave.”

“You’re… going to let me go?  After all this?” After a second, I jolted remembering everyone else. “Does anyone else know I’m here?”

“I’m going to inform Layton and his friends.  I’ll tell them you’ll be returned safe and sound once you’ve healed.”

I just… stared at him. I had too many questions and not enough energy, so I asked him the only one I could at the moment: “Why are you being so nice to me?”

He entirely avoided the question. “I put Raymond in charge of this kind of thing, but… are you comfortable?  Do you need anything?”

“Uh… I'm fine.  Just… hand me my bag, I guess?” He complied and put it right beside me.

“You really should get some rest,” he repeated. “I… understand you don’t trust me.  But at least trust that you’ll be feeling better soon.”

I didn’t respond, and he didn’t say anything else.  You could cut the awkward atmosphere with a butter knife.  Eventually, Descole said goodbye and left me alone.  I didn’t feel like drawing, so I just settled down and fell asleep again.

[emberdew]

Kyle is Right AU Masterpost

Here are the fics I've written for my AU that is heavily inspired by the wild plot twist in Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney where all the magical stuff in that game turns out to be because the town was a government experiment. I thought it would be funny if that was the case for the ghostly stuff in Amity Park too, which would mean that Kyle Weston is right and ghosts don't exist.

This series was also partly inspired by GooseJacket's amazing Food as a Love Language series.

AO3 Link

DP Side Hoes Week 2024 Fics:

maybe wulf has a furry’s dream job

maybe jazz fenton should focus on college applications

maybe super danny could use a break from being the lead actor

maybe jack fenton ran into a vantablack support beam

maybe dani phantom is really a twin

maybe the nocturn experiment could have been better

maybe cujo shouldn’t have dug up that treasure

[quantomeno]

Professor Layton and Pandora's Box

I love this game. This game has what I would say is the most pure Professor Layton experience. It fulfils all the requirements of a good Layton game and has all the elegance and charm you could ask for, topped with a haunting atmosphere in the third act and an ending that will make you weep. It's also set largely on a train.

Yet it is not my favourite game in the series because I am a sucker for the dramatic finale that is Lost Future. And that ending makes me cry even harder.

Spoilers for the game series below. It's over 15 years old now, though so why haven't you played it yet? If you have not played it, play it now. If you are not convinced it's worth playing, then go ahead and read.

It's 2009. Two years after Curious Village (which I don't think I finished at that stage, but my sibling did), a game that changed my life and satisfied my love of puzzles and mystery. I still remember the trailers and the clip of Anton and Layton sword fighting. Give me a moment to savour that excitement...

And the game lived up to the hype. The puzzles! Gone were the awkward riddles of CV and now so many of them actually related to the story. They still had their difficult moments, but nothing like the terrible 'The Chocolate Code' (puzzle 67, which wasn't used in the European release). And let's not forget the train ticket puzzle you solved with a real ticket included with the game. And the graphics and the sound! It was all so much cleaner and more varied. AND A MEMO FUNCTION!!! I was so happy about that.

Quality of life features, graphics and music, these things are just icing on the cake. What really matters, and where Pandora's Box shines best, is in the story and atmosphere.

The Plot:

You know the drill: Layton receives a letter from an old friend who asks him to help with a mysterious item which leads to him ending up in a mysterious town. It's classic Layton and it sets the pattern later games would continue (with some variations). I actually love that they all start similarly, because it creates a sense of comfort: you know you're in for another adventure when Layton pulls out a letter.

The thing is though, despite the apparent repetition, I don't think many of the games adhere to it as tightly as the first two. Lost Future is exciting partly because it upends the script: there's no mysterious artefact (the time machine is probably the closest), there's no mysterious town (other than future London) and it feels less like Layton going to help solve a mystery as it does Layton going to save the future.

I want more of these games in the style of the first two. No mechas or Loch Ness monsters: I want British gentleman and his snarky apprentice pottering about in eccentric hamlets and peculiar townships, stumbling onto bizarre mysteries (the prequel games are not as bad as I make them seem in this regard, but I do feel they lack the quaintness at key points, even in Last Specter/Spectre's Call). I feel the series could have gone on for a long time before we got to the wildness of LF. I love the wildness, but I love it because it's special: it should never be the norm.

But these games were planned to be a trilogy, and what we got was a glorious trilogy so I would never wish that away.

PB suffers from the same flaw CV has of feeling like a little too much of pottering around doing unnecessary tasks with no clear goal: you find Dr Schrader's lifeless body, get on a train because he had a train ticket (so far so good), find a lost dog (I just realise we had to find a cat in the first game at this same point in time), meet the other member of our team who we left at home but followed along (flora deserves better), stop off at a country town (and ask around because we have no better leads on our mysterious box), sneak into the first class cabin, end up in a weird town and then ask around here (because, again, we have no solid leads so why not), discover our teammate is being impersonated by the guy who tried to kill us the previous game, then go visit the local vampire (because he used to own the box, finally a lead), and then reveal he and everyone else is actually 50 years older than they think they are and everyone was just high this whole time.

It doesn't really feel like a mystery, does it? It just feels like a lot of stumbling onto the truth and fortuitous circumstances.

Yet I did not feel this when I first played it, because it felt natural. It made sense to check out Dropstone because the train stops there. The fact it is related to the story in the end is actually rather impressive and quite well foreshadowed.

The story of Sophia and Anton (I am literally crying thinking about this I cannot believe how much it affects me); this is the high point. It is barely addressed in the game proper until the very end, but the diary entries give enough detail that it doesn't come out of absolutely nowhere. And it is the full cast that adds to this story: all the characters who left or stayed in Folsense show the effects of the 'curse' of the town.

I will not criticise the love story. I can't. I am too moved by it that I can forgive anything. But even the common complaints people have ('why didn't Sophia just say she was pregant?') are easy enough to dismiss (she didn't want Anton to have to choose between her and the town).

The story works. It is not faultless and could do with a bit more momentum and less filler, but the puzzles keep you entertained when the story lags, so I don't mind. Boredom is rarely a terminal issue in a Layton game (unless the puzzles are bad, naming no names i.e. LMJ). It's the emotion that counts, and PB has emotion in spades.

The Atmosphere

Before we begin, I would like to define a genre: the Fantastic.

In a story, we can be presented with things that seem to happen which do not align with our view of the way the world works. In some cases, this is accepted because the story takes place in a world where our rules don't apply (this is called the Marvellous); in others, these 'magical' events are revealed to be just misunderstandings or failures of our perceptions, and the laws of Nature as we know them are unchallenged (this is termed the Uncanny).

On the border of these is the genre known as the Fantastic. This is when the reader is not able to work out whether the 'magic' observed is true magic or if there's a logical explanation for it. It is rare (incredibly rare) for a work to be situated entirely within the Fantastic. Instead, works tend to start from the Fantastic and end up in either the Marvellous (the magic is revealed to be true) or the Uncanny (it's revealed to be false). The point of the Fantastic is that the reader is reminded of the fallibility of their perceptions. One believes that the world is so, but one also knows that there is much we don't know (e.g. quantum mechanics and relativity). This leads to a painful sense of uncertainty as objectivity cannot be readily assumed (again, relativity).

The upshot is that if the story is sufficiently real, and there is the appearance of verisimilitude, the reader will be tempted to believe that the magical aspects of the story could be true, but they also instinctively cling to rational explanations that would do away with it.

I believe that Professor Layton is a stellar example of this genre, not just the individual games, but the series as a whole.

The games present a premise with an aspect of magic ― in this case a box that kills whoever opens it — and gives us strong proof that it is true (a dead body), yet the games are set in modern day London, and Layton is a man of science: he never seems convinced in the powers of the Elysian Box. The rest of the game is also incredibly mundane until we get to Folsense.

And it is in Folsense that things change.

This is where the atmosphere has its most potent effect.

The whole game has a gorgeous warmth, from the luxury of the Molentary Express to the bucolic charm of Dropstone. When we first enter Folsense, the cast are subjected to a mysterious circumstance where the town suddenly lights up as they walk through the train station. The music is unsettling, a far cry from what we have been listening to until now. The town looks unnatural: it's lit up artificially and seems so empty.

Then we learn there's a vampire.

And we are already convinced he's real.

Because we no longer seem to be in the world you and I know. We start to believe that the world of Layton is a world of fantasy. We're not in London anymore.

At Herzen Castle, our suspicions are constantly being confirmed: a mysterious carriage enters through the gate; the castle looms precariously over a pit, looking like some kind of giant bat; we are greeted by a butler who looks like a vampire himself and then we meet Anton who, despite everything we know saying he must be over 70 by now, looks like he is only in his late 20s.

And then there's the dream sequence, and then Anton captures us, claiming to want to feast on us. We are convinced we are firmly in the marvellous.

But then we meet Katia and the fog lifts. The castle crumbles into the pit, Anton ages before our eyes, the town fades as the sun rises, illuminating the artifice.

Our sense had fooled us: there was no magic box and no vampire. There was a scientific explanation all along. We are left in the Uncanny. We are reminded, by the town, the box's reputation and the miscommunication of the lovers, that life is often not what it seems and appearances can be deceiving: the objective truth is hard to distil, but it lies there behind all the illusions created by our own minds.

No other Layton game achieves the level of dread that this one does. While Lost Future may make you believe in time travel, plays on the idea of the Fantastic in a very clever way, it never reaches that same level of blood-chilling fear. As a child, I could not stand any place in Folsense because they all left me feeling disquieted.

Despite being an illusion, I don't think any other location in the series has reached beyond the screen and made me feel I was there, made me feel part of its world, the way Folsense did.

It is the atmosphere that makes this game. It is beautiful.

As an addendum, when I played this game I was so into it I made my own Elysian Box out of paper. The thing was, the game had such a sinister aura that I was actually afraid of the box I had made. I felt there was something evil about it, even just a depiction of it.

Of course, now I would look at the box and be reminded of the love of Sophia and Anton, but the point still stands that this game moved me as a child and it moves me as an adult. I love it deeply.

[lumivall]

AHHHHH thank you so much for the tag!!! <3

Last song I listened to :

Currently watching : delicious in dungeon, Kirby, Phineas and Ferb(rewatching), Sonic X (partly rewatching) and Filmore(rewatching) (old disney show (I hope I wrote the name right) )

Sweet/Savory/Spicy : savory all the way

Relationship status : single

Current obsession : sonic, cars 2, breath of the wild, inside out and Professor Layton (for ever and ever will be my obsession) Oh! And also D&D

Tags : @ubtendo @glitchedcosmos @ekaycheem @lyria-r @beezonia + any of my mutuals (sry I am to tired to Tag anymore of you guys and my brain can't remember names at this hour :[ )

nine people I’d like to get to know better 💘💘💘

thank you for the tag Kitty!! @lianhuajing <3

🎶 Last song I listened to: 万物不如你 by 张杰

📺 Currently watching: The Double (墨雨云间) and the Link Click live action (时光代理人)

🌶️ Sweet/Savory/Spicy?: savory, I'm a weak bitch who can't take spice 😔

❤️ Relationship status: single! not looking for a relationship so ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠��

🤩 Current obsession: too tired to hyperfixate on anything currently oop- my previous hyperfixation was Qingye, though.

Tagging: @evolutionsbedingt @extraordinarilyextreme @joyouslee @marquisguyun @la-muerta @labseraph @astrowaffles @l7k-a (as usual, there's no obligation to do this!)

[dazais-guardian-angel]

☕️+ what things do you wish they did with descole (because I am weak and he’s my fave)

Apologies for the late reply to this; tbh I almost didn’t want to answer it, cause I feel like nothing I’ll say will be something others haven’t already discussed (especially since I just saw you asked someone else this same question), and also I’ve only ever played the prequels once back when they first came out and I haven’t reached them again in my replay yet, so I’m not fresh on everything done with his character and all the Azran/Targent stuff. But nonetheless:

In general, obviously, I wish Desmole’s character “arc” if you can even call it that as it is now + plot twists/identity had been much more fleshed out from the get-go and consistent with who they ultimately made him be, that is, Hershel’s brother and someone who never should have legitimately wanted to hurt him or people close to him. While I think the worst of this really only comes out in Eternal Diva, where he literally tries to swordfight Hershel to death and kill Luke on one occasion cause he goes insane once Hershel out-puzzles him, there really just should have been more nuance to him in the first two entries especially (and in Miracle Mask too of course, but he’s barely in that game so) where he shows some level of frustration and hesitance to go up against Hershel and his crew, even if he still does so because he absolutely has to carry out his revenge plan. Just SIGNS that there’s more to this guy than just a walking one-dimensional mysterious deadly flamboyant badass, beyond just Hershel going “hm he feels familiar”, like no of course that’s not near enough. Even if Desmole’s true identity still wasn’t going to be revealed until Azran Legacy, there still needed to be hints, breaks in his facade/character, hesitation, signs of remorse, even if some of these hints are not outright foreshadowing to a familial relationship/desire for revenge. He could still lose it in Eternal Diva, but just make it seem more desperate and broken, and less kill-crazy. Give him moments of humanization, show that Descole can be kind, such as around Melina or Nina; what I honestly wanted to see was him having interactions around girls other than Aurora where his fatherly nature might show (not that him and Aurora aren’t great, I just wanted more); he had to have spent a lot of time around Melina while making the Detragan, and the potential for their relationship while she was dying is so much. Hershel should have had more moments of familiarity, and thinking about him when he’s not around, trying to figure him out, demanding to know who he is because he feels like he needs to know for some reason he can’t describe, and Descole’s answers/non-answers are extremely telling/bitter/curious/thought-provoking. And Descole should imo have had a scene to himself at the end of every entry pre-Azran Legacy where it’s increasingly obvious this guy has Angst(tm) and some beef with Hershel that seems personal and not just to do with getting in the way of his plots, along with all the earlier hints obviously (iirc he had a final scene at the end of Last Spector but it was nothing more than showing “hey we’re not done with this guy!!”, so that definitely should have had more to it; at the end of Eternal Diva I REALLY wanted to see how he survived his fall, probably with Raymond saving him, cue more ~mysterious reactions to Hershel~ as he thinks on how Hershel cried out his name as he was falling despite the fact that they were enemies, etc; and then the one at the end of Miracle Mask is okay I guess, but I still wanted more to it, more, idk signs of regret or remorse or sadness from him before he goes after Bronev, and not just “grrrrrr finally my revenge is close I’mma take you down all I have is angerrRRRRR” also for him to not look so damn stupid when all Bronev has to do is knee him to take him down, like this is DESCOLE, THE KING OF BADASS, THAT ENDING IS SO PITIFUL; WE DIDN’T NEED THAT FOR A FAKEOUT UNMASKING SCENE THAT LEADS NOWHERE).

tl;dr, Desmole’s story being planned from the very beginning would have made it possible for the writers to foreshadow and develop him properly before you finally see him as Desmond, and make you attached to and interested in him much more than just as a cool badass you kinda wonder the identity of but mostly just enjoy watching be badass and evil. The PL series had never had an overarching villain in the main trilogy aside from Don Paolo, who was more of a comic relief villain who they could afford to not make up his beef with/connection to Hershel until the final game because it was a very insignificant reason in the grand scheme of things, and Don Paolo just..... wasn’t that integral to the plots of that trilogy, he was more of a bonus background villain not meant to be taken seriously or have any true emotional impact. But then you have Descole introduced as the key threat over the majority of the prequel series (you think it’s the Masked Gentleman this time, but no lol, it’s still Descole!!), and needless to say, “actually the protagonist’s long-lost brother trying to get revenge on their corrupt father, both of which are involved in an ancient civilization that ruined all their lives in multiple ways” is a biiiiiiit more important than... “jealous dead girlfriend rival” lol. And so there’s a jarring disconnect between pre-Miracle Mask Descole and post-Miracle Mask Descole, because the Azran aren’t even a thing until Miracle Mask at ALL, and so in Last Spector and Eternal Diva Descole just seems like this mad scientist with a dramatic flair and nothing more, who mayyyyyyyy be searching for eternal life? Since that seems to be the running theme with the golden garden and ambrosia? But even then literally nothing is revealed about him in that game and movie so who knows (and unrelated but it seems like those two places have literally no connection to the Azran aside from an offhanded mention of them in Miracle Mask? idk man); the point I’m taking way too long to make here is that it’s very clear the writers had no endgame plan for him until Miracle Mask at the earliest, and even then I wonder how much of it was completely hashed out (considering the... sort of mess that Azran Legacy is, I almost wonder if most of it was literally not decided on until then). My guess is that Descole was super popular after Last Spector so they decided to bring him back (his final scene in that game could have just been to show that he survived and was still “out there somewhere”, whether or not he came back next entry), but then realized they didn’t have a backstory or identity for him so they had to think up something way too late; I can’t confirm this though of course.

Then you get to Azran Legacy, and honestly, despite how bizarre and weirdly unimportant and filler-ish 90% of this game’s plot feels, I love the inherent idea of Descole finally coming to Hershel as himself. Hershel always shows up and gets in his way? Fine, he’ll come to him. He always sees through his disguises? Fine, he’ll come to him in the best disguise he has: himself. Ask him for his help in a mission his curiosity won’t let him refuse. Because then, of course, even though Desmond is doing this to further and finish his plot, and use them as tools, essentially, there’s the wonderfully painful obvious second reason for why he chooses to do things this way, and that is he wants to spend time with his brother, whether or not he consciously realizes this. This way, Desmond can be himself, he doesn’t have to hide his appearance or (most) intentions and can freely express a lot of his regular personality while still working towards his ultimate goal, but at the exact same time there’s so much he can’t show, that he can’t reveal or let himself do, and this has to be a hundred times harder than when he’s posing as Descole because now he’s friends with Hershel and the others, and a part of him must want so desperately to just stay with them forever as he spends more and more time with them and grows more attached to them, (again, no matter how much he may realize this). But this is where his “arc” continues to fall flat in that aside from one or two hints towards his daughter and having a brother, there is literally no depth in Desmond’s behavior in Azran Legacy pre-Descole/brother reveal, just like in all the entries before it. He should have shown small signs here and there of something being “off” with him, of sadness, of hesitation, of trauma and mental instability; strange things said to Hershel alone that makes him and the player start wondering things, just like with Descole. Everyone immediately goes, upon seeing Desmond for more than five minutes, “oh that’s Descole obviously” (plus Raymond is just... there lol), but it’s not for the right reasons; there’s nothing wrong with a predictable plot twist, but there needs to be some kind of hints towards it to make you emotionally invested in what you realize is coming, because you’re waiting for it and you know it will hurt but you just don’t know when and how it will happen; not that you guess it for no other reason than “well there’s this new character who isn’t an existing friend of Layton’s and everything is suspiciously calm and we’re 90% of the way through this and Descole has yet to show himself; it’s probably him”. For the record, I actually think Miracle Mask does its predictable plot twist a lot better, even if that game still has issues; I see a lot of people complain about how predictable Randall being the masked gentleman is, and it is, but honestly? The flashback plot mechanic in that game is EXTREMELY effective in 1) making it VERY clear who the masked gentleman is very early on, like they’re not trying to hide it in any way, but also 2) punching you in the gut to maximum effect when you get to the end of the flashbacks and pair it with the present-day plot. Like, they could have just told the player in dialogue/infodumps throughout the game who Randall was and what his connection to Hershel, Angela and Henry was, like Desmond does to Hershel near the end of Azran Legacy, but that would have been tedious and boring and the player wouldn’t care near as much, and the game wouldn’t have been long enough. Instead, you see it firsthand, you experience it with Hershel, and although I’m frustrated at how little is done with masked gentleman!Randall and showing connections/hints to who he used to be (look, my exact problems with Descole) and making Hershel more involved with him at the end, which would have been the icing on the angst cake, the entire flashback half of that game honestly left a huge impact on me and I think that’s why I spend so much time talking about/getting emotional about Miracle Mask despite always saying that Diabolical Box is my favorite, because getting to know Randall and see that friendship and see how it ended just makes it all hit so much harder, as flashbacks should do. The writers knew it would be obvious who the masked gentleman is and they leaned into that, it was a very deliberate choice, what the entire game revolved around, because the point wasn’t that it was unpredictable, but that you would feel for that character and it would hurt so much more. And while I don’t necessarily think Azran Legacy needed full-on flashback gameplay segments for Desmond like Miracle Mask had, I think having vague flashbacks every once in a while throughout that game, vague enough to not directly tell you it’s him or naming/showing Hershel/Theodore much but clear enough that you can reasonably guess it is Desmond, would have done a world of difference, along with all the little behavioral/dialogue hints I mentioned. Similar to the diary entries in Diabolical Box, or if anyone’s ever played Super Paper Mario, the flashbacks in that game after every chapter about an unknown person that it becomes increasingly obvious as you play through the game is the main villain. I just.... really, really wish, out of all the prequel entries, Azran Legacy gave Desmond so much more emotional depth and resonance once we finally see him as Desmond instead of Descole, so many more scenes with Hershel, and to a lesser extent the others, so much more development of his character, so much more of an emphasis put on his prior family and how much he’s hurting and caring and yet at the same time refuses to give up his revenge; all of this, no matter how obvious it made his identity as both Descole and as Hershel’s brother. The brother plot twist, too, feels slightly lame and overdone and out of nowhere, but honest to god I wouldn’t fucking care at all if they just foreshadowed it properly and made it so painfully obvious how much Descole/Desmond wants to be with Hershel and this family and how much it kills him to turn on them all again at the end of Azran Legacy even if he still goes through with it, and how much he regrets everything as he lays dying in Hershel’s arms, but we get none of that goddammitLevel5whydoyoudeprivemeofsomuch-

*ahem* apparently I still had a lot to say. i just wanted so much more for him; he’s SUCH a tragic character... the stupid wannabe phantom of the opera bread man still makes me cry, despite everything, because i am trash. Oh yeah and he should have held Aurora in his arms as she died. And Azran Legacy should have ended post-credits with Hershel opening his door with his hat off (to show that this is after Unwound Future), his eyes widening, then it shows the bottom half of the person’s face, just enough to see the bread hair tips, and the slight sad smile, and then cut to black. level-5 just hire the PL fandom to make the Desmond spinoff game pls