#someone needs to do a compare and contrast of these characters please

[weebishboy]

Peculiar event:

Meguru Bachira has always been my favourite blue lock character (and always will be)

But since I started reading the manga I also really like Oliver Aiku

Which is a strange occurrence because it really just makes me look like I have a thing for characters with… this specific hair colour situation???

And maybe I do???

I have no clue.

[physalian]

“Likable” vs “Compelling” Protagonists

Protagonist does not mean “good guy” it means “the person the story is about”.

Antagonist does not mean “bad guy” it means “person in opposition to the protagonist”.

We know this, yes?

So when I’m talking about “likable” protagonists I do not mean that your MC has to be witty, funny, charming, etc—they have to be compelling.

I didn’t much care for Death Note, I thought Light got away with way too much without consequences for his actions, but he was very much the villain and the protagonist. He was an arrogant narcissist with a god complex and you watched the show not to see him win, but to see how badly he would eventually lose.

This was because, despite my dislike of his story, Light was a compelling character. You don’t necessarily agree with his motivations, but you do understand why he does what he does and why he believes what he does about himself and his world.

In contrast, one of my favorite anime is Code Geass. Lelouch (who is often compared to Light) is *constantly* getting kicked in the ass by his own hubris. He's arrogant as well, but he makes mistakes everywhere and suffers if not immediate comeuppance, then drastic consequences later down the line. Which, to me, made a far more compelling character than someone like Light playing with cheat codes.

Most of the time, “likable” and “compelling” go hand in hand, because your protagonist is the “good guy” that we’re supposed to root for.

So one of the worst mistakes I think you can make is writing a hero who just doesn’t want to be here.

—

I recently read a story where MC needed to win a competition, baseline unsponsored underdog story, and everyone loves an underdog. The problem was the MC’s attitude. Nothing pleased them and in their internal monologue, nothing was good enough and everyone else was the problem. They actually hate competitions and can’t wait for this to be over…even though no one forced them into it with a gun to their head. They hate all their competitors for behavior they themself exhibit. They hate their lone sponsor for being a sleezeball, and yet, chose to enter a voluntary competition, knowing this sponsor’s behavior, and still blaming the sponsor for their problems.

The entire time I was reading all I kept thinking was, “Then go home, bitch!”

This was not a high-stakes competition, and the MC didn’t have dire enough circumstances for the reader to believe this was a "life-or-death, even if it sucks, MC has to win," type situation. Not like Hunger Games. This was all completely voluntary.

So I started wondering if the author meant the MC to be the villain with all these personality flaws, but they’re still the underdog with no wins under their belt to support their level of entitled arrogance and no notable skills that make them inherently better than the competition.

So I was rooting for the MC to lose, and I don’t think I was supposed to. Even if I was, the mixup between “underdog hero” and “catty bitchy villain” was too confusing for too much of the story. MC didn't have to be here, didn't want to be here, so... why was MC here?

—

Some suggestions for compelling motivations for your protagonist boils down to this:

Define as quickly as you can these three things for your protagonist of any walk:

What the protagonist wants

How the protagonist plans to get it

And what’s in their way

Specify the stakes, if not physical, then personal. It doesn’t have to be life-or-death, but if they’re entering a risky situation, whatever it is has to be extremely important to them. Luca doesn’t have as high stakes as, say, Toy Story 3 but the moped race is important to the heroes, thus a compelling motivation.

Make this a journey they actually want to be on. Even if it’s grimdark or horror, if your hero is complaining the entire time and wanting to go home, yet plowing forward anyway because the plot’s dragging them on a leash, your audience will be as invested in the story as that character. If they don’t actually have the commitment to see their quest through, why should the audience care?

Alternatively, make this a journey they cannot afford to walk away from. Whether that be pressure from without or within. Frodo didn’t have to take the One Ring to Mordor. He chose to, because it was, in his mind, the right thing to do. He suffered his entire journey with the Ring and got homesick and depressed and discouraged, but he never called his own journey stupid and dumb. He could have put the Ring down and walked away or given it to somebody else, but he chose to carry on, because that’s who he is.

Even reluctant chosen ones have an ulterior reason for remaining in the story. Your long-lost princess might not want the throne being thrust upon her, but she’s chasing something else that accepting the throne and going along with the plot will give her. Maybe it’s power, respect, vengeance, money, protection, connections. So she’ll tolerate the nonsense so long as it still gets her what she wants and her struggle might be trying to not let herself get corrupted by the allure of politics and “the game”. Or, she's playing along merely to stay alive and actively trying to escape and return to her simpler life.

Popular example: Percy Jackson is a reluctant chosen one throughout his entire story in every book, even Last Olympian where he insists that he's the unknown prophecy child. In The Lightning Thief he doesn’t give a damn about the quest for the Master Bolt, he’s there to get his mom back, and cooperating with the quest will give him the means to achieve his goal, and along the way, finds that he doesn’t quite hate it as much as he thought he would.

—

So. Yeah. In no way, shape, or form does your protagonist have to be “likable”. If someone tells you they aren’t, they probably mean that your protagonist is contradictory, or lacks compelling motivation and drive, and lacks a clear goal or aspiration that will define their story. Or, they lack drive to even participate in the story at all.

Or they simply mean that your charcater, who you intend to be likeable, has a nasty flaw that would turn readers off, but a beta should be able to tell you that one easily. If they can't come up with a solid reason why your charcater is unlikable, it's probably a motivation issue.

The earliest draft of a WIP that shall never see the light of day had my protagonist sent on a glorified space field trip by her parents, and wasn’t happy to be there. This not only made her unlikable, but also uncompelling. She didn’t want to participate in the plot and only did it to hold up her end of the deal, she wasn’t excited about the actual trip nor making friends, and eventually grew into it far too late in the story.

I then changed it to have the trip be her idea, and she ran away from home to chase this dream she had. Doing so gave her much more agency as an MC and gave her an immediate motive and goal so you wanted to see her succeed right from the get go.

Even villain protagonists have a goal, and generally they very much enthusiastically want to be in this story. You don’t have to like them, but you do have to want to root for them, if not for their success, then their eventual downfall in a blaze of glory.

—

Interested in a fantasy novel without a "chosen one" protagonist? Eternal Night of the Northern Sky is up for preorder in ebook, paperback on sale 8/25/24. Subscribe for updates if you'd like~

[storms-path]

So, How 'bout That Arcadion?

So I had (and still have) plans to do a write-up on Dawntrail's final dungeon and how it contrasts so interestingly with Amaurot and The Dead Ends after my analysis of Dawntrail and Conquerors, but then Arcadion decided to spring out of nowhere, grab me in a headlock and demand I talk about the music and how it reflects our new darling challengers.

So I'm gonna. As always, spoilers below, read at your own risk, etc. etc. Also I know very little about actual music theory so a lot of this is based on vibes and how things relate to themes and characters and all that. I'll leave the proper music analysis to the musicians. I'm here for the fighters!

So, let's start at the beginning with the cunning, cutting Black Cat. You might be surprised to know that Yaana and her theme were what inspired me to write about this in the first place! While her battle theme might not blow away anyone, that's kind of the point. She's a rookie, unestablished in Arcadion and just as hungry as you are, if not moreso, to prove herself a rising fighter.

The lack of any real lyrics aside from the crowd chants are very effective at displaying how the Black Cat lacks a proper identity at this point. That and the shared leitmotif with her sister (we'll get to her later) foreshadow that she is trying and failing to escape Eutrope's shadow. It's clear that even now Yaana's older sister's disappearance haunts her, to the point that she's following in Eutrope's footsteps to find the missing fighter, or failing that, answers.

Honey B. Lovely, on the other hand, is about as in-your-face as she can get. There's very little subtlety to this one, she wants your love and adoration forever and ever. And she wants so much more than only you can give. I do love the contrast between her song's incredibly chipper, saccharine sweet melodies and singing voice... as she's singing about essentially turning you into a mindless drone who will wait on her hand and foot, right down to threatening terrible violence if you manage to break free of it.

Charming lady, this one. Just look at all her new fans. Someone please get her song out of my head I can't stop hearing it while I try to work I just want to be a good little drone please stop

Speaking of contrasts, Brute Bomber is about as far from Honey B. Lovely's chipper little ditty as you can get. Another song without any vocals, unless you count guttural growling and roaring as vocals (though sidenote, I adore how they degrade into chiptune towards the end of it, that's so good). But unlike Black Cat, Brute Bomber very much has his own identity and purpose. In his case, the lack of lyrics are because he simply doesn't need them.

Where Honey B. Lovely is desperately trying to win you over and failing to hide the venom beneath, Brute Bomber is just here to beat you up until you stop moving. He's the champion! What does he need with some stupid lyrics? You don't need to understand him, you just need to understand that he's better than you and he's going to prove it by beating you bloody. His is a refreshingly simple track. Hard, heavy, no frills. Just like him.

And then there's our surprise final challenger, Wicked Thunder. She's in a whole other league compared to the others and she knows it. Really, there's not much to say about her that her song doesn't spell out. She's desperate, driven to try the unthinkable thanks to her slowly eroding soul. She's tasted glory but the aftertaste has her choking, and only claiming our soul for her own will cleanse the palate.

That being said, the sheer confidence in her vocals are what really sells her as a serious threat. While most of the song focuses on what she's lost, the chorus is a battle cry, a ringing roar of protest against anyone who thinks she's beaten. The repetition is used excellently throughout, hammering home both her desperation and her conviction. She will win, even if it costs her everything she once held dear.

Anyway, all of this is really to say that I completely adore Arcadion so far and I can't wait to see how the new tiers fold me over a table and shatter my spine from the top rope. They absolutely nailed the wrestling vibes with this tier, right down to the electric theme songs. And to think, this is only the beginning!

[peachyfnaf]

If you could say something to all TSAMS characters, what would you say?

WHOOH boy, that's a fuckin' question and a half, ain't it? i'm prolly gonna piss some people off with this, let's see... i kidnapped most of these characters from polaris' list lol

So I don't go off on tangents for each of em, i'm gonna try to limit myself to 1-3 sentences

Sun: You've been through a lot, haven't you? Find something to do in life, something that you love because you want to, not something that you love out of obligation or programming. You're smarter and stronger than you think, stop being held back by the past.

Old Moon: You have not changed as much as you think you have- you still have some very toxic and abusive behaviors. You are not irredeemable, but you are deeply flawed. Take time, work on yourself, and understand that while making up for your past might be impossible; it's not impossible for you to carve out a future where you and those you love are happy.

New Moon/Nexus: Oh, you poor thing, what happened to you? You fucked up, but you didn't deserve the hand you were given in life, no one in your position would. Please, let yourself feel again- the pain of losing it all- only then will you be able to come back out the other side ready to love again.

Earth: As you've grown and experienced life, you've become very immature. This isn't directly a bad thing, but it contrasts with what you try to be, and makes you an unreliable person to go to with mental health struggles. Don't take life so personally, and push a little bit harder, there's no need to be so soft on people who reject help who clearly need it.

Lunar: I am BEGGING you to show some vulnerability. I know it's genuinely so fucking hard after all you've been through, but if you keep acting like you're okay after every loss then eventually you'll become a shell of a man. ...And also, respectfully, humble yourself- you are incredible, but you are not the main character.

Solar: Take a break. Please, for the sake of yourself and everyone you care about, take a break. You can't save anyone if you yourself are dying- and the people you are trying to reach won't extend their hand to a dying man. Take a break.

Eclipse (V4 Specifically): ...What can I even say to you other than that I am so incredibly proud of you. And that I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for everything you went through, being compared to someone you're not. I wish people would leave you alone, as you so desperately want to be, you more than deserve that peace.

Bloodmoon: You're a lot more put together than people give you credit for. I'm sorry you were made the way you were, with the inability to live life without being consumed by your urges. You were born a monster, and no one gave you the proper chance to become anything but one.

Ruin: I'm sorry to say this, I really am, but even though the life you lived was horrid and tragic, that gives you no right to end billions of innocent lives in your quest for justice and revenge. You have my sympathies for the trauma you experienced, but my sympathies end there. Everything you experience after the massacre you pulled is your victims coming to bite you in the ass.

Jack: I love you, so much- I love you for trying as hard as you do. Remember, it's okay to say no. You are still growing and have a lot of it to do, be kind to yourself when you make mistakes.

Dazzle: Sweet girl, the most precious thing. Never change who you are, you are literally the shining star in the darkness that is this world. Never forget how much you are loved, for it is more than you could ever know.

The Creator: No matter how many machines you build, what scientific discoveries you make, how much progress you offer to humanity, you will always be alone. No one will ever love you, and it's all your fault. Remember that when you die alone, old man.

Monty: Your violence is not funny, at least not at the severity of which you do it. You lying to your girlfriend is not funny. Do better or fuck off.

Foxy: You try so hard, and I appreciate it, but learn that there are some things that you can not fix, and some places where you shouldn't stick your nose in. It's okay to be "a rubber duck", it's okay to be normal. Stop trying to be something you're not and embrace what you can.

F.C: I love you so much kid. You're a bit wild and off your rocker, but you've also shown so much unexpected maturity. Stop growing up so fast, yeah?

Puppet: I can appreciate all that you try to do, but please, understand that you acknowledging that you make mistakes does not nullify them. You have been hypocritical time and time again, and you need to learn and grow from those experiences, not just brush them off. You are capable of great things- just learn to do them.

AND THATS EVERYONE. YIPPEE. im gonna go eat shrimp now lol

[hoodlessmads]

Dark Heir spoiler thoughts:

Okay some of these are criticisms but please understand I really liked it! I liked it even more than Dark Rise. I’m just an overdramatic person and need to yell sometimes.

These don’t have any particular order, I’m just freestyling -

Reading Captive Prince years ago (and rereading since) before reading Dark Rise made me have an unfair resentment towards James for being basically the same character as Laurent but not as good and that continued here

Will is the second best character Pacat has ever made after Laurent and book 3 might push him ahead

I loved seeing Will use more and more of his evil powers

The best one being where he possesses anyone with a brand and his eyes turn black and he turns into Legion (maybe shoulda turned that off before trying to appeal to Violet…)

Finding out his mom actually was tying him to bedposts and beating him this whole time somehow shocked me because for some silly reason I believed one of the most unreliable third person subjective narrators ever, Will, that she was a nice lady just doing her best. Anyway I love this revelation because it makes such perfect sense, it’s just, “Oh. Of course.”

Violet and Cyprian are both himbos yet Violet is somehow the only character with a single brain cell left at the end of the book

Cyprian drinking from the cup makes no sense after they had a whole discussion in the first book about how drinking from the cup put the Stewards into the Dark King’s plans and made them his thralls and was the entire reason they died, a massacre which Cyprian experienced viscerally, and then he goes and drinks from the cup anyway and oops surprise Will can in fact enthrall him. Cyprian is able to fight it off but that doesn’t change the complete recklessness and out-of-character-ness of it to me.

Violet/Cyrprian is a good ship

Phillip/Visander is hilarious (in a good way)

Will/James is fine but I wish I was more compelled by them than I actually am. For being the main couple, I don’t feel like their relationship has been given the room it needed to develop organically and instead it feels like we’re falling back on physical attraction and a vague shadow of a past relationship in the old world that we didn’t get to see. It’s hard not to compare to Damen/Laurent which by contrast was developed so painstakingly.

Elizabeth is incredible

Visander sucks, actually

The whole Light kind of sucks. The Stewards, the Sun Kingdom, they were all assholes

People with black-and-white morality are truly terrible, aren’t they? And pretty much everyone is like that except for Will, James, and Violet

Sometimes I felt like that fact was really being hammered in on purpose almost as though to make James murdering like 300 people seem less bad (but it didn’t….)

But I don’t dislike James because he murdered 300 people, I actually love villains and I especially am attached to the idea of everyone being redeemable. But what I don’t like is the book telling me I should like James without giving me a good reason or the book downplaying his actions to make him seem more sympathetic. He can have murdered all the Stewards and still be compelling, we don’t need to diminish what he’s done in order for him to be likable

Also everyone in this book except like, Will and maybe Violet and James is an idiot (and I’ll excuse Elizabeth for only being ten). Someone send these characters to Psych 101, they don’t seem to understand the concept of a self-fulfilling prophecy…

Like obviously if you tell someone they’re evil over and over again for their whole lifetime they will become evil

Theory - I don’t think Violet will turn on Will. I think she’s just shell-shocked. She wasn’t really given a chance to take a stance before James Peter Panned him away. Violet knows exactly what it feels like to be told you are evil because of some past thing, and she knows Will better than any of the other characters. And she knows that morality is not black and white (Tom is her brother). She’ll definitely end up in Will’s corner by the end.

Theory - The line of the Lady and the line of the Dark King are the same bloodline and they split off later. Sarcean’s “cataclysmic night together” with the Lady was mentioned not once but twice. Pacat doesn’t waste lines. The child that the Lady had was Sarcean’s, or at least one of them.

Will better figure out how to destroy that collar quick…before they both get even more traumatized. I think that will be one of his main goals in book 3. Or I hope…otherwise it will be hard to develop the genuine romance

I sure hope Will can also figure out how to expel that shadow from Cyprian before he like… dies. Don’t do that to Violet D:

So, I’m not a huge fan of YA in general (outside of YA anime and manga which for some reason hits different). I used to like it a lot, it used to be most of what I read. I grew up reading series like Redwall, Darren Shan, Demonata, Pendragon, and so on. But I’ve grown out of the genre (I’m 27). Not every adult does - one of my best friends who is a year older than me still really enjoys YA. But because I don’t like YA, I think my enjoyment of Dark Rise/Dark Heir is influenced and my criticisms may be unfair.

But I find that with fantasy series like this, I the books really need to be longer. Or there needs to be more of them. I feel like Dark Rise has so many moving pieces, enough characters that there could be a trading card game (and there are literally collectible cards), so many different magical artifacts and magical powers, an entire magical old world beneath the semi-magical 1820s Europe world to develop, and also by the way a whole story that took place 10,000 years ago that has to be told at some point. I find myself feeling like all these different elements are being introduced and moved on from too fast and I wish they were all given more time to breathe. I think that’s part of why the relationship between Will and James feels a bit rushed to me. I don’t know if the short length of the series was Pacat’s choice or an editor’s, though. I don’t feel like Captive Prince had this issue because there were no supernatural elements, the cast was much smaller, and the plot was comparably simple so a lot of it got to be characters just talking to each other, which was great, and the world building was accomplished mainly through these interactions. The plot and world of Dark Rise is much larger in scope but the page count is the same (a little longer maybe).

So wait who is Mrs. Duval

Why did Ettore leave the Stewards anyway? Other than the obvious, which is that they suck

Where was Grace during the whole ending scene? Wasn’t she there but just not saying anything. As this total calamity befalls her only remaining friend group she finally has seen too much and just nopes out and is busy making tea in the corner or maybe popcorn

I do really like Cyprian btw in spite of thinking his moral code is shitty. Gave Violet a chance but sold Will for one corn chip… I see how it is (okay that’s not fair but you know what I mean, he has flaws)

It sounds like I’m in the majority when I say that I still don’t like Devon - I saw that theory about him being the final big bad and I’m so on that train. I think he’d make a good enough final villain. I agree there is something predatory about him and Tom. I don’t necessarily think Pacat wants us to root for them as a couple, though. There were better ways to pull that off if that was the intent.

Not to repeat myself but Phillip was such a pleasant surprise. Like who is this fruit and how did he get here

So next book, I hope (assume) we get to see the rest of the old world story filled in so we can understand where it all went wrong for Sarcean and also the exact nature of his relationship with Anharion because so far it’s been quite vague (intentionally I assume). Like….. you know….. did he agree to put on the collar?

The tricky thing about this series is that once the reader learns that Will is the Dark King, it’s hard to maintain any sort of external tension. Right? It’s hard to feel afraid of the forces of the Dark when the protagonist has total effortless control over them just by virtue of who he is. Will can literally just be like, “No, don’t” and everything’s fine. He did just this at the end of Dark Rise. I find the way Dark Heir seems to end with their “only hope of stopping the Dark army” destroyed to be pretty unconvincing. Why on earth would Sarcean create a destructible object that is the only way of controlling his own army? Of course Will should be able to control them with his will alone. If he can control Shadow Kings and make them die with his words alone, why didn’t he try yelling at the shadow army to stop trying to possess people? This doesn’t make sense to me. And if people become Returners through his magic, shouldn’t he be able to exert some control over their existence the way he does with the branded? Pacat has done a good enough job at getting us to know Sarcean (an extremely good job btw) so as to make the destroyed brand plot point unbelievable. Anyway…

Instead, the tension in Dark Heir is almost entirely internal or realized in character relationships rather than physical threats. The tension is between Will and himself, and between Will and his friends. (There are tensions between other characters but focusing on the main plot here.) The possibility that they might find out and abandon him, and the possibility that he might actually be as nasty of a guy as Sarcean was, the slim chance that he might learn something that makes him go, “You know what, I agree with my past self after all.”

Now that everyone has found out who he is, that particular source of tension has sort of evaporated, so now in book 3 Pacat has to find a way to make Will’s conflict with himself and his friends compelling enough to carry us through 450 pages (I don’t expect this will be difficult). What I see as the problems now are 1) what was Sarcean actually planning and how did he plan on getting Will (himself) to fall in line with them (this was a question in Dark Heir as well but now it’s bigger), 2) how is Will going to destroy his own (Sarcean’s) Dark artifacts so he can free James, and 3) Can he convince anyone to ever love him (oh no ouch).

If I had to rank these books at this stage I’d probably give Rise a 3.7 ish…. and Heir a 4.2. I’m holding out for Dark King to be a 5 or close. (I don’t know what the actual title will be, I’m just guessing lol.) I definitely think Dark Heir is an improvement over Dark Rise since I always thought the most interesting part of the latter by far was everything that happened once Will learns he is the Dark King at the very end.

“Are we going to talk about the magic pseudo-sex scene—“ No and I hope we never will

[luna-rainbow]

(I've seen a couple of Peggy posts turn up today and please note I'm not trying to be contrary, just want to discuss things from a different perspective)

I've talked about this in another post before, but the MCU movies need to be examined in the context of the genre convention of superhero movies. From a writing perspective, CATFA (and all the Cap movies) needed to center on Steve Rogers (which is why CACW and TFATWS were failures in their primary story). All the other characters are meant to be support -- Bucky was the main foil, but so were Sam and Nat - Nat as the deceptive spy to Steve's blunt soldier, Sam as the modern parallel of Steve's traumas. By and large, CA1 and CA2 managed this balance well. Bucky Stans may not like me saying this, but as much as it would be nice to see more of Bucky's inner voice about his horrific experiences, that was not the point of those movies. The point of the movies was to focus on Steve, and Bucky's part - as lean as it was - fulfilled his narrative purpose. Of course it could've been gayer better, but it was good enough (** CA3 should have dealt with Bucky's recovery because that would have been important to Steve's recovery).

So now we come to the awkward subject of the Carters. We can argue about "better" female representation until our voices dry (that representation was given to Nat, by the way), but the two Carters were written as pure love interests in the movies. That was the first part of how the writing failed them. There was no narrative acknowledgement of how the Carter's experiences might mirror or contrast Steve's - and there were many! The first conversation between Steve and Peggy in the army - instead of drawing parallel between a man struggling against ableism and a woman struggling against misogyny, it simply plays up Steve as an incel and Peggy as the disinterested trophy. Instead of comparing how difficult it was for Steve and Peggy to get into the army, instead of discussing their respective reasons for wanting to join, the only parallel it draws between them is both are waiting "for the right partner" (i.e. a romantic connection only)....which it then reneges in CATWS when Steve talks about "someone with shared experiences" and does not include Peggy in that mix.

As the movies continue, more and more contrast is shown in Peggy's and Steve's experiences -- Steve, who laments of feeling lost and uncertain, and Peggy, laughingly dismissing him as "always so dramatic"; Peggy, who has lived a full life without him, and Steve, who still struggles to extract himself from the past; Peggy, who has used Steve's fame to set up SHIELD and thanks Steve for "finding" her husband, and Steve, who has to contend with the legacy of what Peggy has created and what her role might have been for "finding" Bucky; Peggy, who was willing to compromise with Nazis for whatever war she intended to win, and Steve, who stared Fury in the eye and said "SHIELD, Hydra, it all goes."

But the stories never have the self-awareness for these contrasts, as they do - and they do, the CATWS writers knew exactly what they were doing - with Bucky and Nat and Sam. The poignancy of Bucky's narrative/moral connections (and Nat's and Sam's) with Steve are intentional, but for Peggy, accidental.

She was written as a sexy lamp - which, while annoying, is part of the genre convention that I can ignore - with multiple moral failings, who continually demonstrates an inability to connect with Steve on an ethical or emotional level.

But since Endgame, Disney keeps insisting that she's the female equivalent of Steve. And that's where my dislike of the character comes from.

[buqbite]

ok so!!!! i have. so many thoughts about penacony. aventurine the man you are...... his obsession with facades and masks... his future self shit talking him.... 2.1 truly delivered. his dynamic with ratio is also so interesting.... the contrasts... aven not taking care of himself at all vs ratio the self care king........

there's so much unexplored potential for a friendship between acheron and aven... their similarities as people who lost everything ... how acheron works in the shadows and aventurine flaunts himself yet acheron is much more willing to be... openly vulnerable about her past? as compared to aven..... i care them both dearly anyway!!! i have many thoughts on 2.2 but i don't want to intrude or make this too long ajshldfkjasdjf but yes!!!! im having a good time so far (though i'm kinda fed up with the sunday boss fight) and !!!! looking forward to meeting aven again (myriad celestia trailer!) + seeing what other adventures the astral express goes on...

I FORGOT TO REPLY SORRY

aventurine is just such a fun guy. i become attached to characters who try to sell a specific image of themselves pretty much immediately, because the gradual detachment from their own identity and struggle to properly connect with others is always a delight to see. and aven does it so well! he's completely out of touch with himself - kakavasha and aventurine are practically different people by now.

i care deeply about depictions of cptsd in media, particularly when they acknowledge that it really isnt just depression + anxiety + flashback induced panic attacks in a spot the person you ship them with can conveniently find them in and calm them down. such a big part of it is the way it can completely fuck up your self-concept and worldview cuz yknow. your brain structure is altered. it's the key factor in that disconnect that i just talked about. and that constant sense of impending doom and emptiness are a part of that, which often leads to stupidly reckless behavior. i don't even need to bring up aven's whole gambling thing here, do i?

(also please do note that, as i wrote this bit, welt was even further on the forefront of my mind than he usually is. because of course he would be)

him and ratio are also a fun match, because ratio does not care for the way aventurine flaunts himself (to pretend he has his shit together) in the slightest. he'd do a good job at getting aven to just... slow down, and wouldn't allow their relationship to develop into something unhealthy either.

(its one of the reasons i like avenpaz + ratio, bc aven and topaz on their own would most certainly enable each other's bad habits. they have a bit too much in common in that regard.)

AND ACHERON. ACHERON...

miss raiden bosenmori mei i love you so damn much. she does the "oh, i'm doomed? my struggle was meaningless? well if nothing matters then i will do what i want" thing so well, and every dynamic she has with the other characters is fascinating to me.

one really big thing to consider is that, since acheron's whole backstory is essentially the bad ending of honkai impact 3rd, she's already seen all of this dreamscape shit. she's been living in the waking world for a long time now. in the quest "when the sacred ginmill closes," her and welt talk about kevin kaslana, someone who used his last resort to try and save humanity from the uphill battle against the honkai and plunge all of humanity into a dreamscape (etc), robbing it of its future.

a big part of hi3 is the direness of the situation, and the way people push themselves to go further and further in hopes of reaching this unattainable peace. it's an absolutely sisyphian task. and acheron let go - she defeated her version of kevin (why would you name him that) and let her homeworld be enveloped by the nihility.

so acheron's been there. she lost the people she loved, struggled against a meaningless end and was changed so irreversibly that she's not even human anymore. and there's a lot of potential for her to properly guide aventurine out of the nihility (i mean that's kind of her job?) and onto a path that's a lot more meaningful to him.

also, i'm saving a lot of my acheron thoughts for when i actually finish hi3, but there's a few dynamics that i could pick apart and think about forever. my favorites being aventurine and his whole (gestures at this post) stuff, black swan as someone whose whole being consists of memories while acheron perpetually erases them, welt as someone who shares the same experiences and black hole related powers, and firefly, who exists in the moment because she can't dream in the first place, and chooses to fight against the inevitable without being afraid of it.

...also also also i fucking love black holes and i love how it's connected to sun imagery and i think the idea of icarus reaching the sun only to discover a hopeless abyss beyond it is my favorite hsr symbolism thing ever. black holes are like THE thing to show hopelessness and meaninglessness and emptiness and a point of no return, because they devour everything and leave nothing. we don't truly know what lies within a black hole!! we might never find out!!! there are so many suns out there that will end up as black holes but we can appreciate their beauty nonetheless, can't we??? ive never seen a character with black hole (or sun) imagery that didn't fuck severely. a person who will figuratively consume you in your entirety if you get too close. they can't even help it. it gets me every single fucking time. can you guys tell that interstellar changed my brain chemistry when i first watched it as a kid. i need to punch a wall

[sepublic]

Again, what frustrates me about Federation Force's mech gimmick is that it's rendered useless by scaling up every enemy as well. What's the point of saying you're using a mech, if you don't feel like you're using one; You're still the same size as enemies. Hell, even the environment is scaled up, and I'm talking about manmade structures! The doors are conveniently your size, as are railings, various devices, etc.

It just utterly breaks the illusion of being in a giant mech; You can only really tell because of the cutscenes where the mechs are actually contrasted with the pilots, and that one level where you're forced to leave your mech and sneak around those giant pirates as a normal-sized human. That IS good, but it's just one level!

And again, why is every door sized up??? Like from an in-universe perspective, the amplification beam made an entire army of pirates gigantic, so they probably needed tech and architecture to accommodate this new size. But from an artistic perspective, it just makes the whole mech angle even more pointless, especially when the mechs look like regular humans in armor; Their proportions match the human pilots, so for most people who only know Federation Force by a glance and osmosis, they probably don't even realize it's a mech game! I was one of those people for a while!!!

Even the Metroids, one of the series' most iconic and recurring enemies, the titular mascot, for whom we DO have a consistent understanding of relative scale... is also sized up, instead of being used as a reference point. It's one thing to have a new alien enemy be conveniently gigantic from the start, but the pre-existing Metroids being made that way just feels like you couldn't be bothered to consider how being in a big mech would change the way you interact with the Metroid universe, compared to how Samus would; Especially when your arsenal and gameplay mimics Samus'.

There's no art direction, is what I'm saying; The environments, the enemies, they aren't designed around the idea that you're in a giant robot. It's just another regular environment. One of the things I remember learning about VFX is that adding more details can help create the illusion of something being bigger, because it has more space for more detail, that sort of thing. But this is a game on the 3DS, plus it's a simplified chibi art style that throws off the proportions in general.

It'd have been cool if there were a lot of small doors and hallways that you couldn't access because you're too big; Imagine levels in buildings being designed around the idea that you're navigating giant hangars and all that. The immersion is lost if every room is conveniently enormous for these mechs. The doors themselves could’ve been different from the typical ones in Metroid, for example they’re clearly gateways, to differentiate them from smaller barrier-operated doors. Sometimes you just create doors by smashing through walls because you're a giant mech!!!

It's lazy. It's half-assed. There's no thought put into it; It’s generic. The mech aspect of the game feels tacked on, last-second, like the mechs were supposed to be regular-sized humans in special armor, but someone felt like there needed to be some gimmick to make the game seem more interesting. So they threw in some cutscenes with smaller human models, and one level where you have to sneak around the bigger pirates. But everything else fails to reflect the idea. Why.

The art direction could've been so fun, the gameplay could've revolved around your titanic size, and maybe synergize mech gameplay with gameplay as just a regular pilot who can get out and back in whenever you please. And that could play into the larger teamwork aspect, you could make puzzles based on your pilot having to leave the mech! But noooooooooooo! I was ambivalent towards Federation Force until I found out the player characters are supposed to be mechs, and now I'm pissed. You could've had a really fun concept to mix up the Metroid formula and stand out from other games, make this spin-off take advantage of and embrace that it's so unusual. BUT YA DIDN'T. Metroid Prime Pinball is unironically more creative and thought out around its core gimmick than this.

[misculenica]

Expressions + Mannerisms (part 2)

By semi-popular demand, another analysis of Solas and his expressions :)

For all you fanfiction writers and solavellans!

I would like to state, for the record, a lot of what I say/have said is purely my own personal interpretations and understandings, and by no means should you take my word as gospel here. This is just some fun :)

I stated in a previous post (I shall call 'Part 1' for simplicity) how Solas has 2 expressions; his 'in the moment' expressions, in which his true feelings are on display, and his 'in character' expressions, in which he's very much putting on a persona.

If you're in solavellan hell, have some hyperfixation-tendencies and/or unresolved feelings towards a specific fictional character (like myself), you'll probably be able to tell the difference between these 2 expressive states of his.

Allow me to elaborate ;)

Solas, In the Moment "when he's honest/caught off-guard/not 'in character'"

Solas clearly has trouble with lying; he's rather terrible at it. I would go so far as to say he only ever lies to you once in the entire game (lying outright, I mean); and it is after the Winter Palace;

"You miss court intrigue... When were you at court?"

"Oh. Well, never... Directly, of course." <- big stuttering liar.

He can't lie worth a damn, but he's by no means honest; he's manipulative, deceptive and sly. I believe I heard someone describe him once as having a 'malicious compliance with/towards the truth'.

I believe his expressions, as well as mannerisms, follow this mentality.

I'll show you several images/scenes in which I believe Solas is being honest/showing himself without his guard up. (And in 2. Solas, In Character, I will show you the contrast).

This one will be hard to show without gifs (which I'm clueless on how to create, forgive me);

A. He blinks a lot, very a-rhythmic.

B. He gets this look about him, and I don't know how to describe it, beyond "'scuse me?" (the long face gets longer, shrug)

Genuinely surprised:

C. He looks very deep in thought/far away - and sad (this man needs some therapy) this is the face he makes when he knows no-one can see him (I'll make a part 3 going into these comparatives of 'you can see me'/'you can't see me');

No ones looking, it's okay (it's not, but whatever) face :

D. He just looks sad when he's being quiet/honest/not putting on some bravado/persona. (You know how 'resting bitch face' is a thing? This man has a resting depressed face, and i think it has to do with the tragedy - he practically embodies philosophical pessimism)

Acceptance/I don't see a way forward/I need a break face:

E. He has the softest look about him when he's touched/shown affection (yes these are all from the dream-kiss scene) (bless my poor solavellan heart)

Yes, I like to be held, please kiss me on my face face:

F. Smug face... He has a smug face (to be fair, this is literally him revealing he has complete control over when you're awake/asleep... and much more, given the context of Tevinter Nights - idk this face always creeped me out actually XD like i knoooow this guy could fuck me up if he wanted)

"It's my world, you're all just living in it" face:

G. He fidgets a lot when it's just him, or he's talking to you honestly. Like he always has to be doing something with his hands. (I noticed he doesn't do it when he's in groups, or with others) - not a facial expression but I thought it was interesting behaviour. In fact, his movements in general increase a lot - he fidgeted, he sways, he wobbles, he gestures, moves his head a lot. (Just watch all of his personal quest, you'll see what I mean). (He also does this when you first meet him, but I chalk it up to he's just super excited that you're not dead and finally you can fix his mess - since he was 100% sure you'd be dead and he was ready to bolt with his 'i didn't say it was a good plan' plan)

At the risk of just listing typically behaviour in people with certain emotions, I'll move on to his 'in character' part.

2. Solas, In Character.

A. He blinks rhythmically, every like... 5/6 seconds?? (yeah, I know... I do have a hobby besides this stuff i swear XD i just like this egg). It's soothing, like a heartbeat. The blinking just always stood out to me with his character, idk.

B. He smiles a lot, but I can't tell if I know who he is and what he's doing, and that's clouding my vision, but it feels very much like a job interview kind of smile. Like, every split second it falters just a bit.

This man just doesn't want to smile (though, I suppose this is early in game when he's very much 'these aren't people' 'oh i have to pretend really hard rn'

C. He stands pretty damn still and stiff - if he's doing this i'm 99% sure he's being manipulative with you, sometimes the only movements he has in a scene is him blinking, perhaps glancing sideways. - think just before the journey to skyhold when he gives you a talk about the orb and how you need to prove yourself - he's in 110% manipulative mode

The trouble with Solas is, he doesn't have many tells - but the ones he does have are big. And, without delving into scenes as they stand, I'd have a hard time expressing this.

But I will leave you with my favourite expression-transition in the entire game.

How he goes from optimism/pride when standing beside Inky, to when the figure passes him, his expression becomes so serious/foreboding. I love it so much.

And I once again want to mention how much I just adore the little details of animation, from eye movement, skin twitches, or full on bodily movement. - especially for a character I adore. It's beautiful to look at, especially as someone who studied animation (absolutely wasted degree on me, I swear) and gets very attached to fictional characters (particularly ones as complicated as the dread egg).

In future parts, provided I get flycam to work on my pc - I'll be able to go through scenes of the egg to give him a bit more of an in-depth view (with gifs and whatnot, can you imagine?).

[fluidity-stupidity]

Types of Altars

Just like my last post, this list is meant to be for the types of, not for any individual - divine or non-divine - but for altar for different purposes, as well as some tips and tricks sprinkled in. Having been said please remember to research the differences between altars and shrines.

Deity Altars These types of altars are divided into two different categories; working with a deity versus worshiping. Worshiping a deities does not entail needing a candle, but instead is a devotional space for them. In contrast, an altar for a deity you're working with will need a candle so they may know when you need aid in a particular endeavour. These altar spaces typically are filled objects that are commonly associated with this deity.

Devil/demon Altars These are going to be vastly different compared to deity altars yet are still going to have similarities and the same composition. Again, we can divide this type into two different categories - see Deity Altars for an explanation. These are going to be stark in contrast or exactly as one would typically expect from devils and/or demons. (I highly recommend researching the etymology of the words devil and demon to really understand the key differences in the types of altars meant for them.

Pop-Culture Deity Altars Imagine you find yourself in a parallel world, except in this reality your original reality self is a television series or a book. This is disorienting in and of itself, but you are constantly having to explain; "that's not me, that's a television show!" "That not what happened! That's just dramatization for the series!" And having to explain this every time you come across someone who has this mindset, it becomes draining. Having said that, this is exactly what pop-culture deities go through every time. Having constant reminders that you're just a television show or a video game character is going to get to your head eventually. No one ever truly works with Pop-Culture deities, they worship them, this is exactly why I stress to everybody to research the difference between deity work versus deities worship and the difference between altars and shrines. If you truly want to *work* with a pop-culture deity, you have to make sure that you do not have a single piece of that media anywhere in your bedroom. Having any reminder that you're just a video game character or a passing name in a novel, it make you unwell. Please remember to put yourself in their shoes before going to do anything with any pop-culture deity.

Ego Altars These altars are meant to help one get better on their own. Some of the times, deities will help in the creation of one to begin with. Whether its putting perfume on their altar or making you put your car keys on the altar so they know when and where you're going out, so you have a reminder to take care of yourself, ego altars come in all shape. Having a space in or on your altar for self-care was how I got introduced to the concept. I have a purple theme, to help progress spiritual growth, it has my B&BW lotions and perfumes (I have the scent Butterfly, gifted to me by my sister) and some crystals (Amethyst, clear quartz, rose quartz, selenite) to help with protection. Just little reminders of myself to take care of my body and well-being.

Shadow Altars We just went over Ego Altar, and guess what, as much as well all hate doing shadow work, having reminders of how and why we are the way we all are, are needed some times. Objects from childhood would be placed on this altar. Teddy bears, pictures of family, heirlooms passed down from generations, candles that remind you of childhood scents (Not sponsored but https://www.nostalgiacandlecompany.com/ is a great website for nostalgic scents), anything that reminds you and/or your deities of your childhood (remember this is a *personal practice*).

Archetype Altars Picking up Jungian psychology will help immensely, but remembering that Shadow Work originates from Carl Jung, therefore, other psychological terms like archeypes, the collective conscious, the non-collective unconscious, would and could be incorporated into the realm of witchcraft. I have an altar, it's a red to black ombre theme, for the archetype of the zodiac of Scorpio, as I have a stellium in my neo-natal chart. You could have altars for the archetype of 'The Siren', if your a growing singer, or 'The Hunter', if you're looking for new adventures, or 'The Starborn', if your looking for a career in space exploration.

[heinrichsnosehair]

I have no idea how relevant The Villainess is a Marionette still is in 2024, but I just have to air out my grievances regarding the manhwa.

Below is my mini-essay and speech on why, as much as I believe Heinrich should've been the main male lead, the problems in the way the novel is written simply would make Heinrich and Cayena impossible.

Everyone, it's already obvious from my display name, but I am a big fan of Heinrich. There are so many facets of his character that, if written right, could've made him outshine even Raphael and Rezef. One of those facets lies in his character. Appearance wise, his cooler color scheme works fantastically in contrast with Cayena's warmer color palette, which in turn creates a striking imagery: that of the sun and the moon.

His character design is also arguably much more striking compared to Raphael's and Rezef's designs, simply because Raphael is modeled after the typical dark-haired male lead and Rezef after his sister.

I'd like to expand further on my point about Heinrich's character and bring the attention to his role as an antagonist within the story. He is the manipulator behind the scene, who clearly acts as he pleases, whenever he pleases. As a writer myself, I absolutely enjoy villainous characters who do villainous things for their own amusement and benefit, and that's exactly what Heinrich brings to the table. He doesn't need to be redeemed and turned into a "good guy", and that's perfectly fine with me. Like wise men once said, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

(I also have... some opinions regarding Cayena x Rezef, but that's a story for another post.)

By making him the main male lead, the author could've had the chance to explore an enemies-to-lovers dynamic through expanding and creating more opportunities for them to interact. The pieces are already there: Heinrich and Cayena are thematic opposites of each other (the sun and the moon) and they both have a mutual goal of becoming powerful, which they pursue through different methods that can also be used as thematic opposites (working in the light and working in the shadows). Isn't that a more interesting dynamic to explore than a relationship where Cayena (after her transmigration) doesn't even need to work for Raphael to suddenly fall in love with her?

However, even with my evident(ly huge) bias for Heinrich, making him the male lead wouldn't fix the main issue the novel suffers from - and, I would say, would make the novel even worse. He is much too one-dimensional as a character, which brings up questions that, as of season 3 of the manhwa, have not been answered yet: what is the reason why he became like this? What will he do to balance out his tendency for acting recklessly and vulgarly? Is he even a true mastermind capable of bringing forth someone's downfall, when all of his screen-time is so heavily focused on Cayena and what she's doing?

To finish, there really is just so much untapped potential in his character - and in all the characters in the manhwa, frankly. There is too much happening, and not enough nuance to each situation Cayena is placed in. So much to explore, but it's all abandoned for Cayena's romance with Raphael.

Sigh.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

[the-nysh]

Yes hello, I would deary love to hear your thoughts on Vash grappling E. G. the Mine, please? 👀 I loved your thoughts on his shooting skills and other grappling skills.

Also, any thoughts on Wolfwood? That big cross is so ridiculously big and heavy, but the way he just swings it around is impressive. (Also hnnng, that scene where he uses the laser beam to cut the Grand Worm in half was so cool.)

Omg, mkay lemme try to hunt for a gif of that choke hold real quick...

Because what gets my attention is the way Vash repositions and flexes his arm even tighter, from securely holding him there in a warning, to oh O.O;;; that looks real and he means business. 👀

Because there are 2 basic ways to choke someone out--in a fight!! Or err, a grappling/wrestling situation. The obvious way most people think of is the air tract--the trachea, which is a little awkward and takes longer, so the much faster and efficient (but less obvious) way is a blood choke--where you restrict the neck's artery circulation to the brain, and the person can easily/cleanly lose coordination and black out within moments, regardless of how well they can still breathe.

To do that, you get someone's head in the crook of your arm like Vash here, and flex your bicep and forearm tight around the inner sides of their neck--pressing in where both their pulse points would be (not the air!) at the same time and...yeah. Struggling around makes it harder to get into position (compared to practicing on a consenting still partner, which you can safely try! just remember to either tap out the moment you start feeling light-headed with a headache and/or see black spots in your vision, or better yet, sit while holding both hands raised up and the choker partner should release you the moment your hands start to drop), but once you get it, it happens pretty quick, and beefier guys can easily achieve this type of choke by simply flexing their muscles around a neck--heck they can probably crush the trachea too while they're at it for both chokes at once!

In Vash's case though, he doesn't want to render the guy unconscious just yet cause he still needs information from him, but I'm just saying...from this choke hold position he's in, he can easily do all that (and more) by flexing his real arm strength if he wanted to! 👀👀

----

Now for Wolfwood, ahaha gosh--in contrast to Vash, his ginormous Punisher Cross is so ridiculous (I think it's like 200-300lbs of mercy or something, also the skull design for the grip area is pretty rad, once I recognized what the shape was in the manga I was like oh neat!) that it's basically full on fantasy territory over much realism. :'D In before Vash shows us his over the top fantasy 'guns' too. No like actual person could lug that thing around, let alone effortlessly spin it around with the flair he does. That it's also really funny when he just -bonk- swings it like a heavy battering ram too. He also doesn't really need to dodge or utilize many defensive techs/maneuvers (that I've seen from him yet), beyond using the whole weapon as a body shield sometimes, since he can heal himself.

What his character and fighting style actually remind me of is the Desperado movie (with Antonio Banderas) in fact, one of the manga chapters was named after that too. Where the gunslinging mc comes waltzing out with his buddies who all carry around large guitar cases...that are actually hidden machine guns and fucking rocket launchers. x'D It's as hilarious as it is awesome to see them all just go ham in a wild west shootout with literal guitar-guns. So when Stampede Wolfwood brings out his updated cross-gun to flex a fucking laser beam canon out of it, now that's just lmaoooooooo, going stupid crazy on the 'rule of cool' factor, ohoho. x3

[lady-of-endless]

Hi! I’d love to request a match-up if you have the time!

-they/them, infp, pansexual (but I do have a preference for the male characters in One Piece if I’m honest) (and ideally anyone but Luffy, I just can’t bring myself to see him as anything other than an endearing brother)

-my love languages are (giving) physical touch and quality time & receiving is the same with occasional words of affirmation thrown in there.

-I can be a bit shy/anxious at first but I’m getting better at pretending I’m not. After I get to know someone I’m pretty open with my feelings and try to remind my loved ones how much they mean to me as often as possible!

-I’m an artist, I enjoy many different art forms including but not limited to painting, drawing, knitting, printmaking, and, jewelry making!

-I have some issues with adhd and can be quick to become frustrated or overwhelmed at times. I also struggle with anxiety and depression but I’m working hard to improve daily.

-My likes include cats, baked goods, alternative fashion (whimsigoth and grunge), and music.

-My dislikes include not getting enough sleep, doing dishes, and dense crowds.

Thank you and I hope you’re having a good day <3

Author's Note: Thank you so much for this lovely request! You seem so creative and I admire that. Hope you'll enjoy it!

I ship you with...Sanji Vinsmoke!

(lovely gif is not mine, please show appreciation to the OP)

- You got him from the first time he saw your art. Besides thinking that anything you create it's amazing because it's done by you, he genuinely thinks is lovely. He will ask if he can see more.

- His secret wish? To receive something made by you for him. He would die right on the spot. Jokes aside, he will cherish that piece of art so much.

- Sanji sees through your pretending and tries to subtly hype you up, giving you confidence. Also, he feels all warm inside when he catches you caring for your dear ones so much. It reminds him of your heart of gold.

- Sanji is quick to learn your preferred love language when receiving. Get ready to get a ton of his affection through those ways. His favorite might be quality time and words of affirmation.

- He often feels overwhelmed or frustrated so he knows how it is, don't hesitate to let him know when you feel the same.

- No matter if you get angry or anxious, he will be there for you. If you are the type to need some space and alone time during those times, you'll have to let him know because he will go far and beyond to make you feel better.

- Sanji will even lose sleep in favor of learning and perfecting the recipe of your favorite baked goods. Nothing compares to the surprises he has in store for you. He just clings to everything that you like to make you happy.

- He finds your fashion sense interesting and bold. You two would make an interesting contrast of aesthetics.

- Expect him to tease you about doing the dishes only to see a cute exasperated expression on your face.

[look-at-the-soul]

Look at the soul - Part 8 Count on me

Cillian Murphy x OC

Series masterlist

Song: Count on me by Bruno Mars

As usual, we meet new characters 🥰 thank you SO much for your support, for your thoughts and feedback, it means everything 💕

“I won this time.” Cillian approached Marianne after rehearsal, she was sitting in the front row with her laptop on her lap.

“Hey, yeah… someone decided to ask a million questions today and I couldn’t get out earlier.” She explained with a worried expression.

“It’s alright, we need to remember your studies are a priority.”

“But I asked around and apparently, I can change my program to study in a hybrid method, like half my credits online half in the classroom, so I filled a form and they’ll check my status to see if I can fit the program, they’re starting it and only had like two or three students sign up.”

“That’s incredible! I hope you can make the change, but are you sure it won’t mess up with your studies?” He wondered how she’d be able to keep up with everything.

“No, because it’s the same program, professors, well all of it, that way I can have more free time to do it all.”

Cillian crossed his arms. “And what about your tests?”

If you ever find yourself stuck in the middle of the sea

I'll sail the world to find you

“I’d take them online as well as the courses.”

“But how? You don’t have to be in the classroom?” He just couldn’t picture it.

“Technically no, they upload the test with four or five possible answers and you get your score right away.” She explained.

Cillian lifted his hands in a surrender motion. “Maybe I’m just too old for this.” He chuckled.

“What? That’s ridiculous… you’re not old.” Marianne shook her head.

“Can’t you see the white hairs?” He huffed taking the seat next to her.

“I have friends younger than me with their entire head white, that has nothing to do with age.” Suddenly she was aware of the masculine scent emanating from Cillian. He was too close. “Anyways let me show you this, I made a budget for the rest of the year so you can use for the different projects.”

As she started to show him a few tools, he was in awe of the information for him; graphics, proposals for the new equipment, an analysis cost-benefit of the upcoming projects, this was mind blowing!

“How the hell can you do that?” He asked squinting his eyes, a deep frown showing.

If you ever find yourself lost in the dark and you can't see

I'll be the light to guide you

“What?”

“That thing, when you show me one thing and then another.”

Switching from one file to another, Marianne showed him what buttons she pressed. He made it seem as if she was doing a magic trick.

“Now, if you want to consider buying the equipment overseas, I made this.” She showed him another analysis comparing the investment.

“Wow, this is super organized!” He admitted leaning back looking from the screen to her surprised. “I’m speechless.”

“I tried to make it easy to digest.”

“Thank you, it seems like we both have good news then.”

Marianne saved the document and looked up at Cillian as he stood up.

“Now, come on stage cause I want you to see something.”

“What is it?”

Cillian was pleased to hold it between his hands.

“Guess?” But she couldn’t imagine. “I just got the first printed poster for the promo.” Cillian unfolded the paper carefully and took a few steps back so she could see it completely.

“That’s amazing!” Lee praised joining them on stage, excited to see how everything was developing on time. “Can I take a picture?”

Cillian nodded and raised the poster above his head so it would cover his face.

“What do you think?” He asked moving the paper a bit down, so now only his eyes were poking over it.

Marianne took a moment to register the image, it felt surreal. “I can’t believe this.”

Her green eyes sparkled under the bright lights of the theater. It was one of the photos Cillian took from her as the two roles that represented Adria, looking straight to the camera it was the fearless woman in the red dress in contrast with the woman in the reflection of the mirror with a sad look in her eyes, vulnerable, hit by life over and over.

It was hard to imagine it was the same woman of the script, not only by the character’s differences, but because Cillian had been able to capture Adria’s essence and the gaze from each character when in reality it was the same woman.

We'll find out what we're made of

When we are called to help our friends in need

“It was a good idea ask you to take the photos.” Enda approached them, taking the poster from Cillian’s hands.

“You just did that so you didn’t have to hire and pay for a photographer.” Cillian laughed.

His lifetime pal was right though. “Yeah, but you did a fine work either way.”

Hiding his hands inside the back pockets of his jeans, Cillian looked down. “All credit belongs to Adria.”

Marianne immediately jumped in. “Ah non of that, you were the one making magic with the camera.”

“Right, I’m going to check the sound again, it was horrible today.” Enda adjusted his glasses on his nose and walked away. Once he was out of their sight, Cillian took the permanent marker from his pocket and handed it to Marianne.

“I’ve to be the first one,” Cillian gave her a smile, “can you sign it for me?”

She was beyond surprised, speechless even. His request took her by surprise.

“It should be the other way around, isn’t it?” She raised her eyebrows. “Me asking you for an autograph?”

“Look, as much as I enjoyed portraying a woman in a film, this is a character I’d never be able to play. And unfortunately for you, it’s not my face in the poster, so you’re the one who needs to sign it.” He carefully put the paper on the table in front of them.

“I’ve never signed anything… what do you write?” She looked up at him for guidance.

“Just my initials a circle or a line or whatever…” he chuckled, “but don’t do that, write something nice.”

“Well in that case, I’ll need to take my time to get inspired.” She added with a dramatic hint.

But a phone call interrupted their chat, it was Selene, her classmate, so she moved a few steps away to talk to her. Cillian was trying to define what was happening, because her facial expressions were full of worry.

“Everything alright?” He asked when Marianne approached him again.

“No, we’ve to do a project in teams, but one of the members just let my classmate know he was quitting school, wanted to travel the world and then work in his father’s company.” She sighed frustrated.

“Fuck.” Cillian tried to understand the way she felt.

“My thoughts exactly, now Selene and I have to do everything.”

“What’s your project about? Can I help you in any way?”

You can count on me like one, two, three

I'll be there

She felt a rush of adrenaline, they had very little time to complete the assignment. “We’ve to build a business case about well… a business, doesn’t matter the category, explain the process to the classroom and propose different goals and alternatives to reach them.”

Cillian looked at her trying to figure out a way to help. “Can you use my production agency? My secretary must’ve the monthly balances.”

His proposal made her nod eagerly. “Yes because I could include the investment you did on the play as part of the company to show some way of expansion.”

And I know when I need it, I can count on you like four, three, two

And you'll be there

“Then it’s all set… tell me what you need.”

That’s when Marianne’s smile faded away. “I’d have to ask you for an interview, or you can tell me whoever I can talk to, it doesn’t matter my professor isn’t going to corroborate the authenticity of the job position.”

He realized she was mortified. “It’s no big deal, I’m happy to help.”

We'll find out what we're made of

When we are called to help our friends in need

“Oh my God, thank you! Thank you, it’s only a few questions and it can be just by voice.”she felt at ease when Cillian smiled. “When would you like to schedule it?”

“Right now? Unless you’re busy with something else.”

Marianne could barely hide her excitement, this was extremely important for her and it meant the world that he was willing to help her. “Yes, whenever you can.”

“I‘ll see you kids tomorrow, have a boring meeting with the PR.” Enda waved at them and walked away.

“How about we go to the studio? So you can see where everything is done.” Cillian then asked, taking his jacket from the seat.

“Sure, I promise you it’ll be quick.”

As they moved to the studio, the conversation flowed naturally.

“The other day I was walking down the street, on my way to buy some groceries and I found a little antique shop, there was a beautiful painting, but it was listed as if it was a Rembrandt or a Van Gogh and of course I couldn’t afford it, or I wouldn’t have anything to eat for the rest of the course,” she laughed and the sound caught Cillian’s attention, because it was one of those genuine laughs, “so I showed Lee the picture I took of the painting and she’s doing a replica for me!”

“Really? That’s incredible, I didn’t know she could paint.”

“She’s very artistic, you guys did a great job taking the photos for the promotion of the play.”

Cillian nodded, it was easy to work with her because their ideas matched. “It’s like talent comes naturally in different areas.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I know about copyright and all, but in the art world the prices go out of proportion. And I fell in love with the paint.”

“I can assure you, you’re not the first nor the last one to do it, beside if it ended in an antique store, the original owner didn’t care much about it.”

“That makes me think of the one that got destroyed at an auction.”

“Bansky right?” He immediately recalled watching it on the news, as it was destroyed by a hidden shredder inside the frame. “That was crazy.”

“It was beautiful, simple, but beautiful.” She expressed moving her hair back, a hint of orchids filled the air around him, filling his nostrils. “The little girl, reaching for a balloon that’s floating away…”

“Wonder what was the artist’s intention to do such thing, it’s something stupid right?” He felt comfortable express his thoughts to her.

Marianne shuddered. “Unconventional would be the best way to describe him.”

“Doesn’t makes sense.” He added holding the door open for her. “Nothing makes actually.” The sound of his phone interrupted their chat, Cillian pressed the button to answer, listening to the man at the other end. “So that date works for you?”

Marianne noticed the huge grin on his face as he was humming.

“Alright man, I gotta start scouting locations around and I already have the general idea, the demo is fantastic!” Another pause and he indicated her to turn to her right in the corner. “Talk to you later, thanks Danny.”

Cillian sighed pleased with the information he just got, and turned his head to look at her through his Ray Bans.

“We just signed to produce a music video for a rock band I like, it’s a great hit.”

Marianne now understood his smile. “Congratulations! That’s some great news!”

“Thank you, is a good opportunity.” He was excited about it, but decided to not ask her yet to get involved in the project, not yet.

Arriving at the studio he showed her around first, the cabin where they recorded, the sound machine, it felt like his second man cave.

“Would you like to read the questions first?” She already had a draft, so it was easier to adjust the questionnaire to his business.

Cillian frowned. “No, just shot.”

She chuckled and placed her cellphone between them, setting the recording app. “Starting in three, two, one.”

“Action!” He joked.

“Mr. Murphy could you tell us a little bit about how you started this business?”

“The Mister part made me feel old, can you cut it off?”

Marianna suppressed a small giggle but nodded at him.

“Hi Cillian, thank you for accepting this quick talk, could you tell us about how you started this business?”

Cillian adjusted on his seat and looked up at the silence sign in the corner. “I love my job, but somewhere down the road I stumbled across being behind the scenes, as I started learning what’s happening in the background, th-the things we don’t see on screen, I fell in love with that part of the process.” He looked at her intensely. “But I’m always in one corner, I care too much or I don’t at all,” he chuckled, “so I decided to explore that side of the business because I had a lot of free time and I was a good part of the day in the studio anyways with my stuff. So I talked about it with a couple of friends who are experts in their fields and they were happy to jump in this ship.”

“Can you elaborate a little about your main projects?”

“Yeah, we finance and produce independent films, advertisements, records…”

“That’s amazing, the magic behind the scenes…”

He gave her a genuine smile.

“What was the biggest challenge you faced? The struggle that almost made you quit?”

Cillian leant his body forwards, towards her, one of his hands over his thigh.

“People not believing in my dream, saying it was just one of my hobbies. But it’s always being like that, you know? People never take you seriously until you make it.”

“I’ve seen some of the projects and it’s mind blowing.”

“You’ve?” He asked surprised.

Marianne nodded. “I was curious about the audiobook you recorded and I listened it until like two or three in the morning. I also loved the promo video you did of local food in Ireland, it was mouthwatering. I wanted to take a bite of each plate.” She laughed.

Cillian was taken a back by her words, he didn’t know she had been so involved with his company to the point of seeing the projects. And he rarely got a compliment over it because he was usually behind the scenes.

“I take every project seriously, love being involved in every little detail to be able to deliver a good quality work.”

“What’s next for you?”

“There’s a video already in post production about tourism in the country, the finest places to visit, the hidden little gems… it’s beautiful. We’ll present it to the client in a few weeks and there’s another one I’m particularly excited about, but unfortunately due to confidential agreement I can’t share more at the moment, but it’s about music.”

As they finished working on the questionnaire, Marianne told him she would call Selene, to let her know the interview was done.

“Can I use your laptop in the meantime? I’ll be quick.”

Marianne already had her phone next to her ear, so she nodded before trying to reach her classmate.

As Cillian opened the icon to search, he found her email open already, his eyes were glued in one in particular.

Change of medication?

Cillian moved up to close the tab, but his fingers hesitated. He didn’t mean to intrude in her personal email account, but it caught his attention.

Feeling a rush of guilt, he looked over his shoulder to make sure Marianne was out of sight. But curiosity won him over, he really needed to know why would she need another medication since she never mentioned being sick.

There wasn’t a lot of information, at least it wasn’t clear, she just mentioned feeling her chest tight at times during the night and that she couldn’t exercise because she felt short of breath. The doctor answered he was out of town for a couple of days but would schedule her once he got back.

He also mentioned she should go back to her previous medication and look after any other alarm sign she could notice.

Cillian stared at the screen for a moment, he couldn’t see a signature or phone number. And it wasn’t clear if she was getting any better. Clicking finally on the red x at the top corner, he felt a vein in his temple starting to pulse.

Was her sickness something serious?

Should he worry about her health condition?

“All set, she will take care of the analysis and proposals for the project and I can work on the business case,” Marianne came back with a smile, oblivious of his thoughts. “I was thinking of using the play as my baseline, you’re super involved in the project and I could easily make it fit as one of the ways to expand your company, sorry I’m talking too much.”

Cillian looked into her eyes, debating between asking Marianne directly or not.

****

Next part

A/N: Still with the slow burn… but I promise you, there will be some action, can you feel them more integrated? Let me know!

Tag list: @lyarr24 @gypsy-girl-08 @cillmequick @zablife @prettylittlehoneyeyesxoxo @kettlechips3 @heidimoreton @forbidden-forest-witch @kaitebugg03 @thenattitude @forgottenpeakywriter @onlydeadcells @babaohhhriley @lonelyweeb0044 @lovemissyhoneybee @ange-thoughts @already-broken144 @shelbydelrey @cutecurly-hair @winchestergirl22 @moral-terpitude @elenavampire21 @lespendy @kittycatcait219 @stevie75 @esposadomd @sloanexx @shaddixlife @rangerelik @peakyscillian @woofgocows @cillianlove @imichelle-l-rigby @emmanuelle19 @sydneyyyya @cljordan-imperium @mrkdvidal1989 @flippittygibbitts @adaydreamaway08 @pono-pura-vida @elk96 @shelundeadxxxx

[mikmiho]

Uhh hihi tumblr, this is a an essay on David chiem’s personality, I hope you enjoy. (Please keep in mind that I haven’t watched drdt in a while so there may be some mistakes idk though) anyway^^^^

Ever since episode 11, I’ve been thinking about David and his personality. He begins as an optimistic and friendly person, in episode 11 it then turns out that David was really manipulative and lying throughout the series, being a cold-hearted, pessimistic liar. But this ‘true’ david, I believe that is a lie.

David has always seemed suspicious ever since the beginning of drdt because of his sudden changes in behaviour only see for a few seconds before reverting back to normal.This can also make us conclude that the majority of his actions were made because of his ulterior motives, occasionally getting tired of pretending to be such a nice person. But most people would probably just tell me that I’m reality he was always a bad person as he bad mouthed arei even before he received suspicious during the second trial but beforehand the single time ( at least of what I remember) he broke character was in the prologue saying ‘Ugh, am I done with these dumb introductions already?This really sucks. Damn, why’d I even come to this ridiculous school? I hate talking to people anyway…I wish I were in bed…’ These lines were said whilst forgetting Teruko was present, being the most accurate example of his personality prior to chapter 2. You may think this sounds quite similar to how David is currently but I disagree. He speaks here without swearing, despite how visually annoyed he appears contrasting to when he had been in episode 11. In my opinion, I interpreted these lines as David still being a (manipulative) liar but only doing that on the outside as it’s what’s expected of him, getting irritated that due to his popularity he can’t act with sincerity. I base this theory (?) mostly off of this artwork.

David in the art is seen as happy being praised by an adult or an inportant figure in his life. I regularly believe that praise was something David enjoyed receiving as a child repairing in his wanting to act a certain way to be someone that could be admired.This would have eventually spiralled out of control to the point whereas all David ever said were lies to make people happier.

This is why I believe that David’s personality is not what he had shown in episode 11.

Now I must cover the topic of why he had acted differently during the trial.

Well, despite how I’m covering his personality shown in the second trial, i need to talk i about another scene first, David and arei’s (+ teruko, she doesn’t say anything) scene in the playground (ep 5 of chapter2).

This scene is what I believe is the second (still not sure if he broke character between chapter 1 and 2 so I’m still not sure whether I’m right but) scene where he breaks character, this time being much more subtle.The scene I’m referring to begins after arei breaks down in-front of David (+teruko), being calmed down by David afterwards, ( what David said ,I don’t currently have an opinion on whether he meant it or not as it probably was he default reaction to this sort of scene) David is then surprised by arei hugging David back and possibly also her line,‘You’re nice too’. I believe that his reaction is his real self in the scene, this is something I believe because David is bashful, sweating (slightly) and even stutter which had never (probably) happened to David before in drdt.His reaction tells us that it was something not part of his ‘calculation’, making his very bashful, not getting to react as he would in any other circumstances.

Now, when comparing the behaviour i had talked about previously to David (post reveal), David swears very frequently in speech, he is cocky, he is easily irritated and casually lies; this being the complete opposite of how we all know David. David even acts in a way which makes him seem much more different from the prologue David which was irritated and tired and would be much more likely to swear in those circumstances.

This may be me jumping to conclusions but I believe that the prologue David is the real David whilst the other two versions are personas made to create an image of himself. The prologue David is someone that is tired of putting up with being such a optimistic person and just wants to act casually, letting his guard down once it’s slightly quieter, implying that even within those circumstances that may have been calmer that his average day. And Optimistic David was someone that seemed both perfect and normal all at once, being someone that was truely perfect, being relatable and a figure of inspiration. Finally there is our ‘true’ David which is cocky, rude, manipulative and an liar.

This ‘true’ version of David revealed in episode 11 can be explained simply by being an extreme type of prologue David, one that patronises, looks down on and makes fun of everyone regardless of who they once were to him, David continually pushes this cocky personality with a foul mouth so much to the point whereas it just seems he’s doing this just to push this agenda of how awful of a person he is.So much so that I can say with certainty that this ‘real’ David is a lie.

Some wouldn’t believe me after than, well I haven’t provided any evidence to back up my theory, well I’ll be analysing the moment whereas David ‘admits to killing arei’. During the chain of events leading to this ‘reveal’, there’s an evident change in his mind, that changing from being defensive to admitting his ‘crimes’, having to refer back to his speech about min ensuring that everyone is keeping in mind that this David is the ‘real’ one.Although this act does break briefly once he ‘admits’ that he killed arei. It’s easily notable that David appears to be in lots of pain saying ‘I killed arei’ even stuttering beforehand. His sprite is covered in sweat,squinting his eyes even having to grab onto his opposite arm for support.Evidently he’s suffering greatly from saying this, only ‘confessing’ this to keep up with the character he’s attempting to portray.

His story also changes consistently throughout the trial to match the current conversation topic, I we can assume that david’s beginning to lose hope in his lie and began spouting out downgrading statements and claims just to act as someone who’s confident with the current situation despite his real mental state.

Of course even after everything there’s a reason why David began to portray this fake version of himself during the trial rather than revealing the truth. The only possibility currently is guilt. The guilt of having someone’s blood on his hands, not just one person but two. Naturally you would say that David was not the cause of either of Xander and Arei’s deaths but in David’s eyes, he would believe otherwise. In chapter 1 episode 5 David was present whilst Teruko and Xander discussed meeting in the computer room and yet did nothing and then in chapter 2, David was one of the last people to see Arei alive aside from her killer. All of this guilt could have pushed him to a point whereas he feels that he must atone for his crimes by becoming this awful person we know David as now. Maybe even continuing this act so much to the point whereas he wants to be executed for his ‘crimes’. An illogical route leaving everyone aside from the killer dying just because he can’t stand still living with ‘his actions’ never backing down because david just can’t carry this burden any longer. The burden of Xander, Arei and all of the people he’s ever lied to and manipulated, all just too much for David.

[gleamingtempest]

Mai Akasaki & MonoTV - Narrative Foil Trait Compilation #9 & Theory

How does this series work?

This is my narrative foil disection series for Danganronpa Despair Time based on my post Danganronpa: Depsair Time foils theory. This post in particular is also a theory, rather than just a compilation of traits;this is because MonoTV & Mai do not match up with the original post this series is based on. I just believe that they fit the general throughline of what makes foils foils in DRDT so far & want to make a post outlining why. This post will also be assuming that the girl in the bonus episodes IS Mai Akasaki;otherwise, there is nothing to go upon. The presented theory is that the CH1 recap shows off all narrative foils in DR:DT based on how the pairings in said recap video are paired. This series will go through all 8(?) of these foil pairings and disect the dichotomy present in them in a more in depth manner. I will do this primarily by comparing and contrasting Backstory, Motive, Flaws & Character Arc. (Credit to Barbieronpa for that compliation of concepts.) All of these posts will contain heavy spoilers and will be updated as the series goes on and more information on the characters is presented. If you are interested in the those updates please return to each of these posts after the end of an episode batch. This will only look at presented content within the series;outside of the foil theory itself it will not take into account theories & speculation.

Backstory

Mai Akasaki: -> All you have to do is ask for my hand, and I’ll give it to you. -> Ask for my life, and I’ll give it to you as well. -> Don’t apologize for asking. I’ll give you my forgiveness too. MonoTV: -> It does not know who created it nor why. It just serves it's purpose as it was instructed to. Compare/Contrast: -> Both share some recurring theme of control;specifically in regards to their own ability to choose their path. -> This is assuming the secret quotes about Mai are particularly meaningful;which I feel they are. -> Mai to some degree compromises her identity to better fit into a mold others need/want. She is whatever they need. -> MonoTV is whatever he needs to be as the creation of the mastermind. He is nothing more and nothing less. -> If Mai's story is meant to mirror this, then to some degree, a similar principle can be applied to her.

Personality

Mai Akasaki: -> Kind -> Thoughtful -> Relaxed MonoTV: -> Cruel -> Single Minded -> Irresponsible

Motive

Mai Akasaki: -> She loves her family. -> Some years ago, she was searching for someone named ‘Teruko Tawaki.’ MonoTV: -> He does as he's told. Compare/Contrast: -> Both become what another needs them to be.

Flaws

Mai Akasaki: -> She kept calling the number, even though no one picked up. -> She's an average girl with nothing special about her at all. -> It's all her fault. MonoTV: -> It can't be anything other than what it was created to be: A Monster. Compare/Contrast: -> Both seem to be bound to the expectations of another.

Narrative Arc

Mai Akasaki: -> She didn't forsee the consequences. MonoTV: -> It stagnates because it is not able to change. It is only what it was meant to be and that is that. There is no progression for something which has no soul. Compare/Contrast: -> Ultimately, there isn't much to go off in regards to any type of progression or arc for either of these two. -> That being said I think there's two obvious throughlines of comparison between these two which are essential not only to this compliation and theory but also, to the series themes as a whole: -> In contrast, Mai is a soulful, kind person who loves other people while MonoTV is a soulless, cruel being which can never be human at all. The inclusion or lack of a soul is a signficant aspect to take note of. -> In comparison, both bind themselves to the needs and desires of others, rather than pursuing their own decisions. -> In contrast again, tying back to the first point, MonoTV CANNOT choose while Mai... -> Well Mai...? -> Chooses not to choose. -> Well, she does love her family after all. -> And, she was looking for a girl named 'Teruko Tawaki'. -> If someone submits their own desires and needs to the pursuits and desires and needs of others, willing to become whatever they need and their only outlined motivations is their love for a group of people and the pursuit of a cursed person, -> I wonder what the possible implications could be? -> I wonder what happened to Mai's family and, -> I wonder what Teruko had to do with it.