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archivalofsins · 1 year ago

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For the ask game— 1, 2 and 18 for Yuno. 2, 11, and 14 for Muu. 2, 5 and 20 for Amane. I’m not sure if the 2s are repetitive, but I’m especially interested in your thoughts on that question in general. Also I’m sorry if I gave you too much since I’m never sure what the proper amount is for these types of things. Feel free to cut a character or a few questions out.

milgram character ask game ! send the character + the questions

Thanks for the ask! It's not too much, I'm happy to see that you're interested in my thoughts on this!

Kashiki, Yuno/ Yuno Kashiki

1. favorite song lyrics? 2. favorite mv moment/frame? 18. which non-deco vocaloid songs do you think suit them?

Favorite song lyric from each mv and cover song in order-

Umbilical

"Why are you here? You annoy me a little."

The tone used here along with the visuals paint a really nice picture. Also, Yuno just sounds so pouty when annoyed.

"Is it a day off tomorrow? But anyway, let’s be together till the morning."

I really like how she goes from,

"Wait do I have time off tomorrow to well that doesn't matter for now we're together and we'll stay together until morning."

It really shows off that understated feeling of infatuation throughout the song.

"Am I a bad girl? Please don’t answer."

I like this line because it's not only addressing the audience but the people she knew before Milgram. Illustrating that she doesn't want someone to view her as bad for the things she chose to do. Yet also highlighting how she doesn't want an answer from the audience or this other person at all. She just wants her actions and feelings recognized but she doesn't want a good or bad label attached to them and I think that's neat.

"I messed up. I found out."

This line is done really well in the mv and the light airy laughter as it's sung is reminiscent to the scenes where we see Yuno blowing up the balloons.

Sticky Bug

"Say that you love me, say that you love me since there's nothing else I need."

"Say that you love me, so it won't ever be forgotten."

"From now on keep thinking of me fondly, ok?"

"Hey, I love you! I really love you! I super-duper love you! I love you so much I don't even know anymore! Ah, that's just the tip of the iceberg. So, please let me keep filling you with this love."

"Say that you love me. Saying that I don't need anything else isn't being honest. Say that you love me for if I'm lucky, then at any rate, I really want every single part of you."

I really just love the tone used when all of these lines are sung. This cover really shows off how full of love Yuno is for those she likes even if she gets cold sometimes. I really love the contrast between it and Umbilical.

Tear Drop

"Happy or sad? Why decide?"

I really love this line. It's so blase but speaks volumes about Yuno's mindset. Putting her dislike of labels on full display. As she questions again why is it so important for others to tell her how they feel about her actions, the choices she made.

Instead this time she's not telling the audience not to answer like she did in Umbilical she's reprimanding people for deciding things about her life and circumstances without even knowing her opinion on it. Following up on her statements about the audience creating a sob story for her within her voice drama. The audience deciding that her life must have been sad that she must not know what love really is yet, etc.

It's a really good line.

"If you want “me”, come marco, I’ll polo."

I like this line because it highlights how Yuno doesn't like people chasing an idea of her. How people create this idealized version of her in their heads and project it on her expecting her to take responsibility for the misconceptions they formed. But- Yuno has no intention of taking responsibility for what other people assumed about her or giving into their assumptions.

She only smiles when she wants to smile and frowns when she wants to frown. It doesn't matter how people perceive that or want her to respond to their kindness. To me this was her blatantly saying keep chasing this idea of me and I'll keep moving further away. Just like in a game of marco polo. The audience is shouting out all these ideas of who they believe her to be who they want her to be and she's moving further and further away regardless of which way it goes.

"Let’s just do it, please smile?"

I like this one because it can be taken as Yuno talking to herself. It also follows up on her first line in her second interrogation when she asks to hurry up and have the song extracted or whatever. In a way i interpreted this as Yuno going like she does in the portal timeline interaction with Amane,

Let's just shut up and be happy because things are going welll aren't they I still have more freedom than the others and I'm not being mentally degraded they're being nice trying to be empathetic. So I should be able to smile about this but it still feels bad just like before. I should just smile and get this over with just pretend to be grateful but I'm not- I'm annoyed and over this.

Vampire

"Going back and forth between the best and the worst the fruit of anxiety becoming sweet."

Really highlights Yuno's disdain for swinging between extremes of any kind. Displayed by her complaints regarding how the news sensationalizes things in her first voice drama.

"Even if I act tough, I can't go against my feelings."

Highlights that despite Yuno's cold and cool exterior that she's still a person who acts impulsively at times and can wind up subject to her own desires. Even if she recognizes there's no point in it.

"If we can connect and check maybe I can die."

Really enjoy how Sticky Bug highlights the pleasure of infatuation and Vampire highlights the disatisfaction of finding out the person you were infatuated with can't fulfill your needs. Like maybe if we just meet I can finally die or maybe if we just discuss it I can finally let this go. The depression one feels when you want to go further but the other person either can't or doesn't want to.

"It's fine. It's sad. It's painful. Until I eat all of you- It's okay. It's fun. It feels amazing. It's so addicting that I'll drown, screaming."

Shows off Yuno's habit of getting quiet and reserved when things aren't going well. Because she can't or won't be bothered to fix other's misconceptions about her even if the assertions being made are hurting her more. She'll just do the bare minimum and hope they can read the room. Sadly, most people can't and eventually that turns out badly.

There's something so deeply animalistic about a girl being nice to those around them not because they're having a good time but because they just want the interaction to end and people not taking that hint. Like I can feel that sort of animosity in everything Yuno does. That sort of I'm definitely not enjoying myself but you're going to keep talking anyway because that's how you all are you really don't care if I'm enjoying this or not. If I say what you think is true or not. None of it matters to any of you, you all just want to hear yourselves talk.

And all her songs capture that feeling in subtle and interesting ways.

My favorite mv moment/frame for both her trial mvs are-

I like that all the background characters in Yuno's first mv have faces showing off her habbit of people watching brought up in her first trial interrogation if I'm remembering correctly and her more personable nature.

I really like this because

Fu fu is a phrase used to indicate laughter.

It literally looks like she's saying F U to the audience.

Three it displays that she was blowing up this balloon herself or actively making the situation bigger than what it was. Until it burst.

What non-deco vocaloid song do I think would suit Yuno-

At Least

Love Philosophia

A Realistic Logical Ideologist

Sincerity Nature: Drastic Measures of Ignorance (For both her and Kazui)

Kusunoki, Muu/ Mu Kusunoki

2. favorite mv moment/frame? 5. favorite voice drama line/moment? 20. what do you think their social life was like before milgram?

After Pain

I like how Mu's pupils get larger during this segment when she sees Rei. Like a cat seeing something they like very reminscent of this frame in Otome Dissection-

And this scene-

The panicked, shocked, downright anxiety ridden expression on Mu's face at this moment always gets to me it has such an impact.

It's Not My Fault

Or as I like to call it look at her trying to be cool with it. Look at her trying to convince herself what she did was actually okay and valid for two straight minutes to the point that she managed to convince everyone it was not.

She really believes it's not her fault guys this is the face of someone who fully fucking believes that.

She's super happy not in hysterics at all. Defintely not reckoning with the very tangible consequences of her actions in the middle of nowhere with barely any people around. Then immediately going this can't be happening and going actually wait what if I am the bad one here directly after this display just to go wait a second you said I'm right so I'm not right- I'm not the bad one here right? You said so all of you said so.

By that i mean anxiety presents in many ways and she and Futa both have it. If she was really confident in her choices she would not have had to hype herself up that much and self-depricate calling herself a drama queen and pitiful on the track. Like girl you don't need Milgram you need communications counseling and self-esteem therapy.

We cannot help you. God did in fact not give you everything you have the moral backbone of an eclair and the social understanding of someone who's befriended manipulators and users that never tell you you're wrong because they don't get anything out of you being right. Girl day one was bad and it's not getting any better. Someone free this girl she's in a state of perpetual torment that she's convinced herself is pleassure. Get better friends and parents.

Nobody that loves you would actually support you acting in a way so self-destructive and the fact that so many people saw you imploding and did nothing is legitimately sad. Then the one person who actually reprimanded you for your behavior you killed because you couldn't take that from them. Everything is wrong here. I'd say pack it up but spaceship shuttle hangers couldn't hold all this. Hell her song barely could.

Favorite voice drama line or moment-

Crying Bee

I like the fact that she canonically spends the first several minutes of her voice drama in tears at the idea of someone several years younger than her and much shorter bullying her. It really shows that she's a bit of an overreactor. Because honestly I think Mu could fold Es too. Like they're frail and short. If it wasn't for the barrier these prisoners would be playing catch with their body.

I also like how she responds to the idea of manual labor. It showcases just how prissy and sheltered she is. It's also really cute how quickly she stops being concerned after she sees Es talking to a rabbit. Like she just thought internally oh they're like that well I guess I don't have to worry too much.

Queen B

I really liked that she highlighted we do in fact have the choice to vote everyone innocent and we just aren't taking it. It speaks volumes because it's Yamanaka throwing the Milgram experiement in our face basically going you're doing exactly what the people in it before did whatever it took to continue the experiement with very little prompting. All he had to say is something bad will happen if we did that and the audience went oh no he's the writer a figure of authority we can't vote everyone innocent guys. Then he really went and wrote that it's such a funny thing to do.

I think Mu's social life before Milgram was rather bad. I don't think it's emotiionally healthy to be around people who only want something out of you or are afraid to disagree with you. Because it doesn't emotionally prepare people for rejection and can cause them to have very visceral reactions to it. She also has a hard time telling her friends iff their behavior is wrong because of it being too indulging even.

It's really not a healthy way to be but it does stop one from sticking out too much and can lead to them being well liked. I think during elementary school Mu may have been bullied a lot for not looking traditionally Japanese and those features became mor ecoveted as she grew up. It's common for overtly foreign looking kids to be treated differently and harrassed in Japan.

So, it was my belief that her reaction to bullying and her being a bully in general was in response to the harassment she faced prior and a way to make sure it didn't happen again. Her social interactions seem to have been incredibly warped.

Momose, Amane/ Amane Momose

I forgot 2 and 5 I'm so sorry-

2. favorite mv moment/frame? 5. favorite voice drama line/moment?

Favorite mv moment/frames-

Magic

I like these frames because she looks so genuinely happy.

Purge March

I like these shots because the source of her pain is now pasttense. Also the last one makes it look as though Amane is going mind your business.

There's also cryptid Amane-

My favorite voice drama/voiceline moments are when she points out that what's going on here is technically a crime but she won't judge us, when she says emotions and logic are two different things, and when she tells Es to get up in her second voice drama and calls them out for using we as well.

20. what do you think their social life was like before milgram?

I already answered this one~ So, I'll link it here and I'll add it here as well.

I think Amane was a rather unsocialized child. She seems to have been more used to communicating with adults than peers her own age. It's also stated that she was not allowed to amusement parks where she would have the opportunity to interact with children her own age. In Purge March we see her off on her own with a cat at an underpass used for dumping stuff.

Chances are she didn't have many friends her own age and that cat was the closest thing she had to one. We don't see much of her school life even though she's implied to be going to it. Just her walking to and back home from school. Considering she went to school bruised up like that and home with no issue it doesn't seem like most people were paying attention to her.

She also seems used to being ignored and sitting in silence reading on her own and perfectly fine with keeping it that way if in a particularly bad mood. She also only actively reaches out to other prisoners when she has a pretense to. Most of her timeline interactions with others being prompted by her need for help with studying.

Or even in the minigrams interacting with Mahiru and Yuno when she had bad bedhead. Beyond that she only discusses certain topics in depth. Such as her father who she talks about with great enthusiasm on multiple occassions. She seems to be a father's girl and used to keeping to herself. So, I imagine she only really opens up or shows her more childish side around people she trusts and have shown that it's okay to act that way around.

She's a very emotionally guarded person so she probably doesn't really let herself relax until she has reason to believe it's safe to. At least that's the impression she's given me. Once she does though she can be rather social and opinionated. She's definitely not one to back down just because someone older than her tells her she's wrong.

Like with Futa bringing up she hadn't ate her meat that one time or the birthday interaction she had with Yuno. She can be a very helpful and hopeful person for others to communicate with in Milgram because she reminds the other prisoners that they don't need to back down or bend to the circumstances they're in and I think a lot of the prisoners in Milgram appreciate that about her.

Something best illustrated through these timeline interactions,

22/04/19 (Futa’s Birthday)Futa: Ahh…… I’m not wrong…… I wasn’t doing anything wrong…… Shut up, why are you going on an on about something so minor…… It has nothing to do with you…… Aaahhh……

Amane: Oh, were you talking to yourself, Futa-san? Or maybe there’s something there you’re able to see?

Futa: ……! O-oh, it’s just you. It’s nothing. ……but well, on that note. Hey. Don’t you have anything happening too? Since being in here, just suddenly getting anxious. Feeling as though loads of people are all there condemning you, telling you you were wrong.

Amane:……I’m fine. I don’t know what you’ve done or what it is you’re worried about, but I think if there’s something you believe in, you should stay true to it. It’s not something that should waver just because other people said something. I personally don’t plan on changing my own beliefs even if I’m told I’m wrong either…… ……today is your birthday, correct? I’ll pray for God to keep you under his care

23/06/27 (Amane’s Birthday)

Amane:What is it…… Kashiki Yuno. Don’t sit so close to me. Go away.

Yuno:Sorry for barging in when you’re getting into your worldview thing. But Mahiru-san’s finally managed to get to sleep. Humour me with some small talk while I take a break. By the way, Amane. Have you ever wished you were never born? I’ve thankfully lived a pretty fun life so far, so haven’t really. But you seem to be struggling with something. So, I kinda wondered if you thought like that.

Amane:……I don’t think that. Being born into this world is the first miracle any person experiences, and is something to celebrate. Even if after birth I was put through trial after trial, the value of that will never disappear.

Yuno:Hmm. Ok. ……happy birthday, then. It’s good that you were brought into the world, I guess.

Amane constantly reminds the people she knows that they are not their circumstances. That they are in fact still themselves regardless of what anyone says about them or the choices they make and that if they still believe in and have faith in those choices, they should stick to them. So even though I don't think she communicates often when she does, I'm pretty sure it helps a lot of the people she communicates with.

So, before in within Milgram i think her social life was limited but very fulfilling regardless.

#milgram #amane momose #muu kusunoki #yuno kashiki #gunsli rambles

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hees-mine · 11 months ago

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you said you wanted people to ask you how you've been doing but you clearly stated in your pinned post that you don't want no friends. so you can't expect a stranger to keep track of your blog and feelings. if i were ur moot or something maybe i would've cared a little more for what you do than just reading for my sake but since u didnt wanna make no friends, i guess not. i mean we all have busy lives so its kind of unrealistic to expect strangers to keep up with your whereabouts or wellbeing. there's tons of other blogs out there and some authors might have a better bond with their readers (not saying you don't) and so it might make the readers more inclined to check in on the author.

and i know its not that hard to reblog and comment and be appreciative of someones work but a stranger might just be scrolling, unaware of the struggles and standards that author had to go through. and they might not feel comfortable openly reblogging smut but it depends on people really. so it'd be wrong to blame random people. everyone may feel different towards your works or anyones work.

also, that "part two" rambles might just be because the readers found a common interest among others who commented and asked on wanting part twos and then it led to your inbox and cmnt section being filled with pt 2 asks.

most readers often ignore praising the author bcuz they think others will or have done it looking at the amount of notes your works usually receive. but i guess thats how tumblr mostly works? the amount of notes a work has is considered the sole form of support for the work/blog and readers mostly assume it'd be likes.

yeah i understand u want praises for your work bcuz ngl it really makes one smile to receive open love for their work. but now that you've decided to leave so suddenly bcz of the lack of appreciation and pt 2s, we wont be able to change our actions and support u the way u want it anymore cuz ur leaving.

I don’t think I exactly said I “wanted it” I said it’s something that could be done instead of just coming up and demanding even if you don’t ask about me you could say hey I loved your work do you plan on posting a part 2

There what I said below ⬇️

All I ever saw was “part two please” and that’s the end of it

I stated that I don’t want friends because I just simply don’t have the mental energy to befriend someone and I also said that I’m a nice person I also don’t think most people even read my introduction

And I never said I wanted anyone to keep track of anything all I’m saying is before you asking for a part two maybe just say hi

Asking about someone’s day and well being has absolutely no correlation with being friends

I’m not asking you or anyone to care I’m asking for common decency cause I’m a human I don’t expect people to keep track of what I have going and I already stated that people get busy as well

I don’t know if you read the post where I addressed things in more detail so I’ll link it here

Same I get a random reader doesn’t know but also you can’t be that random if you ask for a part two without even a “hi”

I also did say some people are nervous and are silent readers and I get that as well and if you don’t want to reblog smut that’s okay too maybe just leave an anonymous ask I understand

Maybe so that others were led by readers to ask for a part 2 but when is anyone going stop? Once you see that I already said no what exactly promps you to ask again?

A lot of other readers say all the time that likes do nothing for them however I don’t mind if I just get likes but I do see where they’re coming from cause likes doesn’t exactly show any real feedback other than a number but that’s a conversation for a different time

I’m not sure how many people would really be interested in listening to me I posted before how I felt and it didn’t stop

I think the only reason things are being looked at so deeply is because I am leaving and it is such a drastic stance to take on the matter

However I appreciate your standpoint I thank you for being honest about how you feel i do wish next time you’d consider my words and read them more carefully but again thank you🩵 everyone’s input helps

#hees-mine questions

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scholarshint · 1 year ago

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theinsanecrayonbox · 2 years ago

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ok here’s my *official* SoS Packverse (this is a variation of the “recaptured and dragged back to the island” timeline, so Alexei and Misha both exist)

Part 1: The story starts before the Omegatooth family got dragged back. All of the Sinisterization delayed their recapture and just forced the family to go further into seclusion, but that only delayed the inevitable. Eventually the Sinisters’ agents found them, and the family was torn apart. Clara and Belle manage to escape with Misha; Arkady is so thoroughly destroyed beyond resurrection; Victor is either captured or killed (but still harvestable) while Alexei is captured. Fast-forward some time, and Alexei is a Hound, sent to hunt down Resistance cells. He and his team (mimicking his father’s time with the Marauders) ends up finding the group Belle and Misha belong to; Alexei does not remember Misha, but he does remember Belle. another of the team kills his brother, Belle manages to get the others of her group out. the hounds go hunting, she gets him separated from them and gets through the programing (not Sinisterization, since the healing factors fight against that if it’s an introduced infection). he turns on his team. Another small fast-forward; he works freelance for Resistances that do not trust him because of who and what he was. Belle was killed some time ago. He has already started his relationship with Felicity. he aids a group going in to raid and destroy a cloning facility; that’s where he finds Kimi. he makes the split decision to save her, going as far as to kill a resistance human or two that tries to stop him, and escapes with her.

Part 2: (We pretend the time skip isn’t as big as it should be like the other part 2s (then again our part 1 was a larger time skip at the end that it should have been so what are rules!)) Felicity and Alexei are spending their last night together. he asks her to watch after Kimi if he doesn’t come back; she agrees, but insists he’ll come back. he does not. he went on a mission with some of her resistance guys to get info from another facility; turns out the plan to just scorch earth the place is about to happen, and the resistance has X-amount of time to evacuate. Kimi is a point of contention for Felicity’s people and their trust in her; even more so after she was caught outside their bunker and then the bunker got attacked (later it turns out there was a traitor of course and it wasn’t the tweenage girl). much debate about what makes one human, are they worth saving, can the Sinisters even be defeated. we cut around some other flashbacks about Felicity’s parents, and perhaps even the foot soliders that attack their bunker are destabilizing Spider/Venom-clones to really hammer it in for her. in the end, thanks to channeling Kimi’s teleporting through a rickety small ship, they manage to escape off world. it almost looks like the strain killed the girl, but...

Part 3: it starts some time later than the last, but not *full* time skip. old Felicity, barely hanging onto life because of her symbiote, and an 18ish Kimi, are trying to aid resistance on another planet. again, aliens don’t want to trust those from earth. the Sinisters attack; Felicity dies. Kimi mourns her mother, taking on what remains of her symbiote, as a shadow appears over her in a bamf... fast-forward to the last battle at the end of time. it was Wagnerine that came and got Kimi, a nice mimicry of a Howlett and a Creed, of a Wolverine and a Sabretooth, working together to try to save...something. maybe some interspersed flash backs (seen of narrated) about the two traveling together to this point, learning how differently Kimi’s ‘porting if from Wagnerine’s. both of their refusal to fall into a mother-daughter bond, since one is hunting for their child and the other is avenging the only parents she knew) pretty much the end of the story is the same...Kimi avoids the Inferno protocol my being mid-teleport as it was enacted, perhaps because she was following Wagnerine as she bamfed out with her magic baby, but upon reaching her and seeing them both disintegrating, teleported back to Sinister and Moira. then as Moira hits the reset, Kimi teleports again...but doesn’t land where she intended. somehow the universe reset without her. so either she’s now in the main timeline...or she finds herself in the Crystal Place...

#my writing #packverse

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sollucets · 2 years ago

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ocean eyes, vi

previous parts

it’s been a long time! this is my canon-two-steps-to-the-left slowish burn samdarlinangeldavid fic featuring my ocs, and here is an update

this time: ivy, sam, aster, and david meet up all together, about one month post-inversion

usual caveat for ocean eyes for named & described listener ocs: ivy (darlin, they/them) & aster (angel, she/they/he)

on ao3 or full 4.8kish chapter under the cut

“Are you feeling up to visitors?” asks David through a yawn.

“Are you?” they counter, because frankly that should be the more important consideration. After all, it’s David who’s grieving, traumatized, fully recovered from his injuries only last week and constantly swamped in administrative work for people who need him.

“I asked first,” he mumbles almost petulantly, then sighs, tone going more serious. “I can’t guarantee them good company, or… anything at all, really, but. I’d like to see them. Both of them. I can make time.”

Despite everything, Aster can feel the corner of their mouth curving into a little smile at hearing David just admit that out loud. “Okay then,” they say, beginning the arduous task of composing a text reply with one hand. “The usual time?”

“Aster,” he says, and they stop still. David so rarely uses their actual name that it feels weird to hear him say it. Like he’s upset. Is he upset? “Answer the question.”

“I— oh,” they say, frowning, and take yet another a moment to think it through. Do they want company?

💜

01/24/22

from: ivy 🐺💜

sent at: 18:44

do u mind if i bring sam on wednesday

Aster’s been staring down at the text for a solid ten minutes when David comes out of his office, crosses the dark living room, and sits next to them on the couch. The only illumination is the too-bright light of their phone screen; Aster’s been sitting in the same spot since long before it got so late.

Because he’s a literal giant, David sitting so close on their squishy couch has the usual secondary effect of tipping their body into his. As always, as is typical for wolves, he’s a solid line of heat against them. They have no idea how he gets away with claiming they’re the fire elemental in this relationship.

With a little patented David Noise, a bare exhale that’s half sigh and half growl, he shifts around on the couch enough that he can drop his head to their shoulder. His hair brushes soft against their skin where their pajama shirt is stretched out.

“Hi, baby,” they say, soft enough not to bother his ears. If he’s been on those video call meetings again, he’ll have a headache already.

“Hey, angel,” he answers, muffled by the way he’s speaking directly into the fabric of their shirt.

He doesn’t seem inclined to immediately say anything else, and they won’t make him. It’s been a long day for them both, they think, with a certain amount of mental irony.

David’s been hidden away in his home office since he got back from his actual office, dealing with budget suggestions and job reassignments and more. It’s January now, and he’s been helping send out the last of the company’s W-2s, because taxes wait for no massive community-wide disaster and the person whose job that would usually be is on trauma leave.

And for their part, Aster’s had a long, productive day off from work spent waking up at 2 p.m. just to sit on the couch and watch something on Netflix. They genuinely don’t even remember what it was anymore. The TV turned off from inactivity at least half an hour ago.

They’re both tired, is what they’re getting at here.

David just breathes against their shoulder. It’s a little hard to see in the darkened room, but he has to be doing some frankly spine-hurting contortion to be in this position. With the hand not holding the phone, they run their fingers softly through his hair until they’re cupping the back of his head, then push him down onto their lap. It’s just the barest amount of force; he goes easily the moment he feels them moving him.

He’s heavy with his full weight over their legs, like he always is, but it helps. Combination weighted blanket and heater; that’s their mate. They leave their hand in his hair and absentmindedly run little patterns through it, occasionally scratching at his scalp in a way he doesn’t like to admit he likes. (It’s a dog stereotype thing, they think.)

“What are you looking at?” he mumbles after a quiet little eternity.

Instead of answering, they shift the phone down to show him. He makes another David Noise at the sudden screen brightness near his face, but reads it and seems to consider for a moment.

This is the first time they’ve heard from Ivy since — the Games, actually. Three Wednesdays passed in total radio silence; they hadn’t come to any of the two Pack meetings this month, either. Aster knows they’re still in Dahlia only because William apparently let David know. And now, just like the fatal text that kept Aster coming to movie nights in the first place, here they are again. Texting first like they never do, using the casual assumption of someone afraid to ask.

“Are you feeling up to visitors?” asks David through a yawn.

“Are you?” they counter, because frankly that should be the more important consideration. After all, it's David who's grieving, traumatized, fully recovered from his injuries only last week and constantly swamped in administrative work for people who need him.

“Aster,” he says, and they stop still. David so rarely uses their actual name that it feels weird to hear him say it. Like he’s upset. Is he upset? “Answer the question.”

“I— oh,” they say, frowning, and take yet another moment to think it through. Do they want company?

Their immediate, base instinct is no. Anything past both their actual job and their job as David’s partner seems — monumental, right now, too much. They’re so tired.

But it’s Ivy. Ivy, who they’d last seen startling awake in their lap in wolf form then charging away into the crowd. Ivy, who they’d held for hours on the worst day of their life, who they’d called baby, who’d disappeared entirely for weeks after that. No matter how many times they’d tried to logic their way out of it with the plenty of other reasons Ivy might do this, a little corner of their heart had feared. And Aster’s missed them, honestly, just the regular way they’d miss someone they — cared about. Ivy, finally reaching out of their own accord.

There’s Sam, too, soft-spoken and awkward and kind Sam with a wicked side they’ve barely gotten to see, who Aster genuinely likes and had meant to get to know better after the Solstice.

So no, the option doesn’t sound good. But Aster has been here before, in this dark clinging tired nothingness. Everything always seems like too much; they should know better than to believe it by now.

“Yeah,” they say, at length. “I’m up for it.”

“Good,” David grumbles. His tone doesn’t get any less characteristically irritated when he adds, “Your feelings matter too. Don’t just ask me.”

“I love you,” they tell him, since it’s true and they can’t kiss him from this angle. They’re rewarded by a soft, pleased little noise in his throat and, eventually, the tell-tale even breathing of him actually taking a break.

to: ivy 🐺💜

sent at 19:20

We’d love to have you both.

“You sure I’m invited?” asks Sam for the second time that night.

“We’re already here,” Ivy says, glancing at him across the center console as they turn his truck off. “It’s a little late to back out if you didn’t want to come after all.”

Sam makes a face at them, and they soften, as they always do in the face of him. “Why are you so nervous about this? I asked, and they said they’d love to have us both.” They choose strategically not to mention how relieved they’d been to get that response.

Sam is frowning slightly, one hand tapping against the dashboard. “I’m not nervous,” he says, which is a lie, but they’ll let it pass. “Just, Wednesdays were always your thing, darlin’. We do plenty of things together; you don’t gotta bring me everywhere these days just ‘cause I’m—”

“Just ‘cause you’re what?” Ivy asks, sharper than they mean to, and winces. “Look, you wanted to come, right? You get along with Aster good enough, and you and David—” They stop, unsure how to tactfully phrase “recently had a near-death experience together”. “It’s just Wednesdays. We just eat something and watch a movie, it isn’t gonna be high-stress. You don’t even have to talk if you don’t wanna.”

That’s true enough, at least. Ivy has come unwillingly to Wednesdays enough times that they know neither Aster or David will actually make them speak if they’re not in the mood, awkward as that is (or isn’t. It isn’t, really, not just sitting in their living room while Aster and David exchange companionable insults over their head. But it should be, probably.)

Sam is still looking at them with an expression they hate, so they continue, trying for levity. “Besides, you got dinner, so you’re going to be everyone’s favorite anyway.”

“Oh, sure, all that hard work I put in on our takeout order,” Sam says, but his posture shifts enough that he isn’t sitting straight-backed in his seat anymore, like he had been all the way over, and they’ll count that as a win.

Sam grabs the boxes of food out of the back seat and they both head up David and Aster’s front lawn. January is rainy season in California, and everything looks colorful and bright. David really does love his landscaping thing; he talks about it all the time. If it also looks a little overgrown, well. Who's gonna blame him?

Stopping just before the door, they raise a hand to knock (even though it’s unnecessary; Sam’s truck is loud enough that their presence is surely already noted) and then stop. Glancing sidelong at Sam, they murmur, “And all that aside, I want to bring my mate places. Stop assuming it’s not selfish.”

Sam gives them this look, the one that he’s had every single time they say something like that out loud, awe and gratitude and guilty shock, moonsilver eyes all big and round. It’s very cute, but it makes them feel flayed open to their soul, and so they turn away like a coward and knock three times.

“Aster says ‘come in’,” Sam informs them, the edges of his words all curved in so that they know he’s smiling. He loves lording his better hearing over them. They bump their shoulder into his in reproach before opening the door.

Aster comes into the hallway to greet them after a moment, socked feet padding gently against the wooden floor. They look well, bad. Ivy immediately mentally backspaces — it’s in the sense that they look tired and dressed down, not necessarily that Aster looks bad. Ivy’s honestly not sure that Aster’s capable of looking bad.

Their mass of blonde hair is pulled into a loose bun at the nape of their neck, hairs falling out every which way, and they’re completely without makeup, glasses magnifying their green eyes huge and highlighting the little bags underneath them. Even so, though, tired or not, Aster’s just pretty, all the time, all cheekbones and freckles and piano fingers just barely sticking out of the long sleeves of a sweater.

They have the right to look tired, after all. Frankly, Ivy would be a little surprised if they didn’t. They’re sure they don’t look any better, even if they had made something of an effort before coming today. It’s been a long, bad January for everyone.

“Hiya,” Aster says, smiling in the way that sends little lines feathering up towards their temples. “Good to see you, Sam, welcome in. We can set those over on the table.”

“Hey, Aster,” he says, still audibly smiling. “Thanks for having me.”

“Thanks for paying. Come on, Davey’s in the living room being a shitty little work gremlin even though he said he wouldn’t.”

Ivy hears an indistinct noise of annoyance from the living room and finds the corner of their mouth quirking. It has been — they have missed this. Enough to send that text, despite everything (everything here including their general aversion to texting).

On the way over to the kitchen, Aster turns to Ivy and says, very quietly, so unlike usual, "It's a girl day. I know I don't look--"

Ivy resents it violently, for a moment, that sense of something dark so obviously hanging over every interaction that has clouded January. But it isn’t something they can reasonably be mad about; not here, anyway. They’ve told Sam already, and Aster clearly feels bad as is. “Okay,” they say, cutting Aster off to smile at her. She smiles back, like a reflex, and pushes a little hair out of her eyes.

Sam sets the boxes out on the table, and then they all swing into the living room despite the relative ease of just yelling at David to come in. The living room is appointed in the designated ‘movie theater’ way; Aster still hasn’t given up on that dream, evidently. The windows are covered, and blankets drape over most surfaces. One of those surfaces includes David, who’s sitting on the couch with a laptop that he looks up from when Ivy comes in.

David shows the wear much less obviously than Aster does, but it’s there, in the tightness of his jaw and shoulders and the casualness of his clothing. “Ivy,” he says in greeting, raising a hand. “Sam.”

“Good evening,” says Sam. He actively tips his hat next to them, which is ridiculous since it’s just a baseball cap. You can take the cowboy out of the South, they guess, snickering a little.

The laugh dies when they glance down and find one of Sam’s hands idly fiddling with the seam of his jeans pocket. Frowning, they bump into him on purpose as they walk a little further into the room. He’d been nervous at the Solstice, too, sure, but that’d been a lot larger of a gathering. For all their jokes about being selfish, they hope that he isn’t actually uncomfortable to be here.

Over on the couch, David puts a hand on his laptop like he’s about to close it and then clearly gets distracted, and Aster sends a glare that could strip paint. “David Shaw.”

“Yeah, yeah, I— sorry,” he says, obviously chastised, and shuts it with a decisive snap. “It’s not work, it was just Kieran.”

That sends another pulse through that hanging cloud over them all; if Kieran’s messaging David, it’s probably about Milo, who’s had to go back to the healers now that it’s been nearly a month. Aster looks visibly guilty, and David shakes his head at her, expression gone all soft.

Nevertheless, she goes over and stands in front of his place on the couch, taking the sleeve of his t-shirt in her fingers and worrying at it absentmindedly.

“Good to see you," David starts, his face halfway to frowning like it’s a reflex he hasn’t turned off. “I’m sure Aster said something while you were messaging, but we probably aren’t going to be the best hosts today.”

She hadn't, but Ivy shrugs in what they hope is a commiserating fashion, and Sam smiles much the same. “Don’t worry about it none… David.” His obvious trip over using David’s first name is — well, Ivy thought they were past that by now. Maybe it’s the atmosphere.

By the couch, Aster stays quiet, and the cloud over them all deepens a little. Ivy hadn’t realized — well, they had, but never so acutely — just how much Aster carries the socializing at these.

“Should we, then?” Ivy asks, just to break the silence, and when David and Aster both nod they take Sam by the elbow and start back towards the kitchen. In the hall, they make eye contact with their mate; Sam looks a little sheepish. They’d bet ten dollars he’s resisting the urge to apologize. “It’s not your fault,” they tell him, frowning.

He doesn’t have time to respond before they get back into the kitchen. Aster and David come in hand in hand; it is weird to see David dressed like this, honestly. Even on past Wednesdays at home, he still usually wears at least jeans. Sweatpants and a t-shirt feels like Ivy’s seeing something not meant for them.

Sam starts opening the boxes as Aster goes to get plates, and Ivy —

Well, they initiated this, and Aster shouldn’t have to carry everything all the time. They pull out their phone and go to where they know Aster keeps her speaker, putting a playlist on without asking. They keep it quiet enough that it won’t disrupt conversation. It’s a compromise of a choice — Ivy has wildly different music taste from her, although David’s interests trend similar (real guitars or fuck off) and thus a middle ground is acoustic stuff that’s still kind of upbeat. They’ve spent time thinking about this before, though they’ll never admit it.

Nobody talks much as they eat, although David quietly compliments their song choice. Ivy is never going to admit to just how much that little pride curls in their chest; Sam pokes their cheek after, though, so they’d probably been smiling. Bastard.

As she’s clearing the dishes, Aster (and David, after a moment) thanks Sam for his treat, and then it’s cursedly quiet again. Even when Aster’s been in quieter moods before, David usually needles lovingly at her enough to keep things moving entirely without Ivy’s involvement. And it’s okay to be quiet, but this feels so wrong. It isn’t like they want to be quiet, it’s like they’re all just unsure how to talk to people, like everything is so different it’s impossible to be like it was before.

And it is, but—

Ivy sighs, loud and explosive, and Aster turns to look at them with a startled expression from the sink. “Look,” they say, probably again sharper than they should. They have had a lot of practice recently in gentling the edges, in wanting to gentle the edges, but they’re still no good at comfort, at tact. Ivy would never be their own first choice for that. But, well. Someone should say it, right? “We all were in the same boat, you know. Me and Aster, and Sam and David, and all of us together this month. I know it’s a little my fault, the way I texted, but… Pretending we’re all just like normal — it’s not gonna work. We don’t have to talk about it, or we can if you want, but — God, if it’s not normal it’s fine. This isn’t a party, we’re not some people you don’t know, you don’t have to cater to us. It’s fine.”

That just sits there in the air for a long minute. The only sound is the almost perversely cheerful melody from the speaker. Aster’s face, for once, is completely impassive; David just looks mildly surprised. Sam, who’s the easiest for them to read after long study, looks like he expected this. Maybe he should’ve. He’s dealt with a fair amount of their outbursts this month, and that thought leaves a bitter taste in their mouth. Ivy’s pulse picks up, entirely beyond their control, and they swallow loudly.

To their shock, it’s David who cracks first. “Kieran told me they didn’t get any new information from the visit,” he says, voice low. “That it’s just the same as before. They didn’t have a lot of idea what to expect from Milo’s kind of injury in the first place, so it’s not alarming precisely, just frustrating for him.”

“It would be,” Sam responds slowly. “It’s a shit deal from either side of that - to tell someone ‘Sorry, but we don’t know’ and to hear it.”

“Yeah,” says David with a cut-off little exhale. “That’s about the gist of it. He’s doing his best to keep busy. They both are.”

“God, I wish that were me,” Aster says in a half-murmur. She looks a little surprised at herself, and stutters to correct it. “Not, uh, about the healers thing, just — busy. I don’t know. I am, sort of, but no more than usual, but— I’m just— tired.” Wincing, she adds, “Fuck. Sorry.”

Ivy looks at her for a moment, catalogues the apologetic twist of her nose and the worried set of her mouth, and says, “I get that. I wanted to take time off of my stuff to help at the Clan complex while Sam is doing a whole-ass extra job, but if I do it too much he gets all guilty.”

“Ivy,” Sam cuts in, sounding genuinely surprised. “I love having you around.”

“I — know,” they get out, startled halfway through to find it’s true. “You just don’t want me to derail my schedule for you, but you won’t say it, so you just give me these sad eyes.”

There’s another moment of uninterrupted soundtrack in the kitchen, and then Aster laughs a little, an alarmingly choked noise. “Same boat indeed.”

“Well, I meant it,” Ivy says, awkwardly, and sees David smile just a little out of the corner of their eye.

It’s still not fixed, precisely. The air is still heavy, but it’s cleared up a little. When Aster goes back to the dishes and David gets up to help her, Sam hums along to one of Ivy’s songs they’ve played for him before, and the silence isn’t really a silence this time, there’s a difference, and that’s — good, they did that. They’re glad.

They all start to make their way back over to the living room. When Aster and David sit on the couch in their usual Wednesday positions (bracketing Ivy, which they’ve never understood but will never question out of silent fear they’ll stop) and Sam looks like he’s going to take the chair, they tilt their chin a little towards the last open space on David’s left. Sam gives them a slightly betrayed look, but to his credit doesn’t hesitate, and squeezes himself in at the end. They just barely fit, all four of them, but it’s not uncomfortable. Perfect size couch.

Aster puts on something they’ve all seen before at three quarters volume, an inoffensive romcom that actually belongs to David, and silence settles again, but easier this time. David opens his phone in his lap, and Aster glances at him but doesn’t comment; Ivy sees “Kieran” at the top of a text chat and looks away, glancing past David to look at Sam instead.

Ivy doesn’t want to admit it, and won’t comment on it out loud in case it’ll make him never want to come again, but even with all of the heavy awkwardness of this visit, with Sam here it does feel kind of like — well, like a date, really. Ivy’s never been on a double date, but it’s something people do, right? Dinner and a movie and your partner. They don’t think about what that means for David and Aster to have been doing this with just them for months already, because that’s not anything. It’s different, it just is.

After a little while, again to their shock, it’s Sam who breaks the silence. “David,” he says, steadier this time, and the wolf in question glances over. “Vincent told me you’d asked him about his healing coursework.”

Ivy’s eyebrows raise without their prior consent. They had no idea Vincent and David even knew each other, much less well enough to be asking about this kind of thing, but — oh. Right. That whole near-death experience thing.

For his part, David averts his eyes, looking something close to shy. “Yeah, I — I probably shouldn’t have. He’s really busy right now, I should’ve thought of that, and he was good about it but I think I touched a sore spot. It’s not like it was urgent.”

Sam hums consideringly. “It probably is a little tender just now, yeah, but Vincent’s proud of where he got, and he’s right to be. Don’t get too in your head about all that.” He pauses for a second, then just goes right in. “So, did you skip over me on purpose, or…?”

To Ivy’s delight, David’s shoulders hunch up. “No, I just — well. You learned it before you turned, and Marie never went to DAMN.”

“Fair,” Sam acknowledges. Careful, he continues, “Were you askin’ for any particular reason, or…?”

With a shock, Ivy recognizes that tone. He uses it on them all the time, obviously conversationally sidestepping a topic to give them a built-in out if they don’t want to talk about it after all. It shouldn’t be so surprising, it’s just how he talks, but it’s just — funny, they guess, to hear him using it on a different stubborn shifter.

In deference to their conversation, Ivy turns to Aster, meets her eyes in the dim light. She looks back, seems to consider for a moment. Then, in one of the quietest voices they’ve ever heard out of her, she says, “You were gone this month.”

Ivy winces. They’d known after the first week that it wasn’t the sort of thing Aster was used to from them. She’d never had to put up with them being the kind of person who disappeared for far worse than weeks at a time the way David and even to a certain point Sam had, and they’d thought of it that way for a while and felt bad. And then they’d realized that they weren’t really used to being that person anymore, either, and it had all spiraled until they’d given up and sent a text after a reasonable amount of anxious dithering.

“I was,” they answer, hating it. “I’m — sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Aster answers, predictably. “We all had a lot going on.”

“Yeah,” Ivy concedes. That's one way to put it. “Sure. But I could’ve messaged sooner. Or come to meetings. Or… yeah. I’m sorry.”

It doesn’t actually make them feel better, the way Aster tilts her head and looks at them like she’s never seen them before at even a basic courtesy. “I could’ve texted, too,” she says slowly. “Don’t feel bad, Ivy.”

Instead of providing them a useful argument, like how she's always the one texting first, their patently unhelpful brain instead decides to remind them of the last time they’d argued, the last thing she’d called them, the sound of “Ivy, baby” in a tear-thickened voice, and —

No, no, not useful. They were just busy and a shit person who gets like this. It’s not anything.

Ivy swallows, reaches out very carefully, and sets their hand over hers just briefly. Her fingers are cool and much longer than theirs, and she isn’t quite fast enough to return the touch before they pull away. “You can,” they manage, looking at the familiar checkered fabric of the blanket over their lap. “Text me, I mean. I’m much worse at it, you know me, but I could… I can try.”

“You could try it,” says Aster, and they glance up to see her face, alarmed. Is she mad after all, does she —

Oh. She’s smiling, hair all falling into her eyes behind her glasses and top teeth just barely visible. Ivy gets caught, for a second, looking.

Behind them, David laughs, a low rumbling thing, and Ivy feels — good, relieved. Something had been building up in them that they’d both known and not known, and this is what it had needed. Funny how that goes.

With an intake of breath, they look away and back over to Sam, who is paying careful attention to David as he keeps talking about what Milo’s mom Marie had told him, how she’d been self-taught to a certain point then took a community first aid class.

The movie keeps playing behind them all at low-volume, and it’s not normal. They wouldn’t be talking about any of this if it were, and it’s new to have Sam here, but that’s what they’d said. It’s fine like this, familiar but different, because at least they feel — happy.

(David doesn’t make it through the movie. Aster had thought that might happen, after his wake-up time this morning, but it’s even cuter than she’d thought it might be to see him end up sleeping almost diagonal, his arm pressed into Ivy’s and his head leaning at a neck-breaking angle onto the back of the couch, mouth a little open. It’s cute to see Ivy obviously frozen in place to avoid waking him, stiff with indecision and cautious joy, cuter still to see Sam take a picture of them with a lopsided smirk on his face and promise to send it to her. It’s dangerous to her heart, but at this point, she can’t bring herself to care. It’s been a long, terrible month, and this is good, and that’s enough.)

#redacted audio #redacted asmr #my fic tag #f: ocean eyes #hey so yeah i finished this WAY faster than i thought i would #i guess my writing has only off or on anymore lmao #thank u everyone for ur kind reactions to my snippet earlier today and for still wanting these fuckers to kiss #even uh (checks) 23 weeks later #things are looking up again okay? this is a chapter for sure #were Going Places #ahh i edited this very quickly so if you see me in the document or in here fucking around no you didn't #i think it looks okay though. and i wanna be done #kisses <3 #you know i haven't used the redacted audio tag yet!! how things change

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kanmom51 · 4 years ago

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JM JK timeline.- my observations how they grew over the years - 2017

Disclaimer: these are my own opinions and conclusions. Feel free to disagree, but hate or aggression will be unacceptable.

2017 - part 2

12 Feb 2017 – “You never walk alone” preview show. Who’s JM’s little cutie?

14 Feb 2017 – JM Twitter post – the boys with matching jackets. I know. I said not Twitter, but sometimes rules are made to be broken.

17 Feb 2017 – Hobi’s birthday. JM to JK: “stop coming to our room at night.” There’s something about JM throwing JK under the bus time after time. It’s like he enjoys to see JK squirm.

22 Feb 2017 – Gaon Chart K-pop chart – JK ushering Hobi to another seat, so that JK can sit behind JM. JM turning around see this, rolls his eyes and smirks.

24 Feb 2017 – KBS Music Bank comeback - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4_ASZuLeVk&t=156s

Another one of my favourites. A perfect example for both boys hesitance, wanting to touch, but just not getting there.

JM putting arm behind JK, but holding on to wall behind, and then matter of factually laying it on JK’s shoulder.

JM micro touching, or brushing JK’s hand with his thumb.

Prior to JM brushing JK’s hand with his thumb, JK’s hand is heart signing to JM.

The minute JM moves his hand away, you see how the expression on JK’s face changes, then he rubs his hand where JM touched him.

24 Feb 2017 fan meet – are they in actual F… sending flying kisses to each other?

25 Feb 2017 MBC music core comeback – JK moving Hobi aside, so that JK can stand behind JM. JK being JM’s number 1 fanboy.

26 Feb 2017 – Wings – you never walk alone fan sign. Really JM? What was that neck grab and what exactly were you doing there???? No, I don’t believe he kissed JK’s neck, but it sure was ‘out there’, so much so that Jin was in total shock when it happened. JK was surprised by it, and I think that even JM was shocked by his own actions waling aimlessly in what seems like the wrong direction .

28 Feb 2017 Run BTS episode 12. This one for me was cringe worthy, at some points I felt like an actual intruder. JK the detective and JM the prisoner. JK whacking JM on the behind (remember JK is the younger – how bold). JM’s private dance for JK. I know the episode was mostly scripted, but I seriously think JM was surprised by that smack to his behind. Also, the way JK was looking at JM when he was dancing all heart hands for him.

12 March 2017 - Wings tour Santiago Chile

Santiago day 2 – JK suffers from exhaustion. As he is taken back stage to a treatment room, JM is the one to race after the team into the room.

JM is in the treatment room when the cameras come in. He is standing there, and later, as the other members are walking in, JM is by JK’s side, helping the medical team lift up one of his legs.

The rest of the members come in together to see how JK is doing, and when the medical team suggest to take off JK’s pants, all the members leave the room. All except for JM, who stays there with JK the whole time.

JM leaves the room only together with JK, after he feels better and is able to walk out of the room on his own two feet.

Wouldn’t you expect RM, being the leader and all, to be the one by JK’s side? Or J-Hope maybe? Wouldn’t that have made more sense under the circumstances? Why JM?

Because, clearly JM is the one JK feels closest to, the one he can be himself with freely, the one he doesn’t feel embarrassed or needs privacy from.

JM may not have been a family member, but he was the closest thing to it. JM to JK is and was his home, his safe place, and most certainly the one to be by his side when he was in distress.

March 2017 BTS Live trilogy episode the Wings tour in Santiago Chile & Brazil.

March 2017 BTS Live trilogy episode the Wings tour in Chicago.

April 2017 3rd Muster dvd – the muster was at end of 2016, but dvd was released in 2017. During photo shoots they are being posed by the photographers. Yes, there will be authentic moments between them, but sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s being directed. That’s why I don’t always like to add these to my timeline. Even so, they were so cute, so I couldn’t leave this one out.

3rd April 2017 – BTS Front row live entertainment interview – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UotjcB_X4ag . What happened there?

This one intrigues me. I watched and re-watched the full interview several times, and for the life of me I can’t see what happened there between JM and Hobi that triggered JK’s reaction? JM’s placating look at JK, like telling him nothing happened… this one is used a lot to create the JK jealous narrative, and to be honest, I really don’t know what happened there. When JK turns back, JM looks into the camera with an uneasy gaze.

After that, most of the time, JM looks lost in his thoughts, not happy. Towards the end they are asked what artist they would want to collaborate with, and Suga’s answer makes them all burst out in laughter, all accept for JM. When he is asked and answers, you also see he is unhappy. You can easily see something is bothering him. JM just wasn’t his happy own self. He looked pensive. BTS did several interviews and had a concert that day, so maybe he was just tired or wound up, but he just wasn’t acting like himself.

April 2017 - Bon Voyage 2 Hawaii

Highlights of the highlights: The but checking and identifying (are we taking skinship to another level, are we??).

JK getting drenched at the beach, JK getting drenched period. Lol.

JK gobbling down piping hot Pizza so JM can eat.

JM playing footsies under the table with JK, all while sitting opposite V.

JK edging JM to come along calling him “Aegyo” = “Baby”. J

M making sure JK doesn’t go hungry, buying him food with his own money. JM taking care of JK.

JK and JM on same team – the joy… Spending the day together and just being happy.

Did JK really lose the game on purpose so he can be in the room with JM?

The amount of times we hear Jimin-ssi in every kind of cute and flirty way JK can say it…

Bonus:

22 April 2017 JK Vlive – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n8y3D0Z9pM .

JK doing everything to get JM back to his room while playing loud music.

JK’s face lighting up when JM returns to his room.

JK telling JM he looks handsome without makeup.

JK pissed off when V comes in too, saying “why is everyone coming?”.

When V touches JK’s ear, JK pushes him away.

JM moving off camera to fix his robe, and JK not taking his eyes off him.

V putting his foot on JK’s back (this is something I have seen V do a few times, it’s not a gentle touch, to me it feels more like asserting dominance), and JM pushes him off.

And what exactly did JM mean when he said he has no talent for games but “I was quite good at it a year ago”? Only to be followed by the stare, OMG, the stare. Why, oh why did V have to ruin the moment, eh?

22-23 April 2017 Bangkok concert. Flirting on stage, attention to each other.

24 April 2017 Eat Jin Vlive with JM and JK - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqxX_UGXSlY .

Jin complaining why JM doesn’t hit him like he did JK, so JM hits him too. Lol. JM stealing the steak JK cuts for himself, while JK lets him, smiling. The way JK just lets JM get away with anything, even interfering with the ultimate ‘ship’ - Jungfood.

3 June 2017 – J-14 magazine interview - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7rXl8uuUTY&t=306s . from 3.33min. to 4.37min especially.

Wtf was JM up to there????? It looks pretty dubious, especially when you look at the faces on the two of them when it was going on. Up to your interpretation.

2 June 2017 – Ceremonial first pitch at baseball match – Hanshin Koshien stadium - JK and JM’s jersey numbers – coincidence or not?

12 June Festa 2017 BTS BangtanTv – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWA6f7g7NUQ&t=2s.

JK’s intense stare at JM, when JM joined the others in with the others when they were laughing at JK eating everyone’s food but not ordering any for himself, which causes JM to immediately stop laughing.

Poor JK being blindsided when it was pointed out that the only one he bought a birthday present for last year was JM. Oops. (why oh why JM did you throw him under the bus like that??? You were curious? Really???? JM keeps doing this) Poor boy was so embarrassed. Hobi was the one to actually save him, stating how generous JK has become lately giving away his things that he didn’t need. JK never answered the question.

27 June 2017 BV2 special commentary live – JK getting all flustered when asked to explain the difference between BV1 and BV2. JM looking at him, enjoying every second.

4 August 2017 - KBS Music Bank Singapore. JK not loving on Taemin. The way he turns around the minute JM and Taemin interact, and the discontent look on his face…cold. He’s not a happy camper. He glancing in the direction a couple of times, but he is mostly turned away from them. And when JM runs up to slap Taemin in the butt, JK sees this, averts his head, and just keeps walking off the stage. He is clearly upset. Besides the obvious faces he makes, not waiting for Jimin when walking off stage is not something he usually does. Was it jealousy? Was it just a disliking of Taemin specifically? And if he dislikes Taemin, why is that? We can’t know.

OK now, I know I said that I won’t be doing Twitter, but this one I felt I had to (again, oops):

On the 6th of August 2017 JM posted a photo he took during their Hawaii trip (BV2). Why take this photo, and why post it? Do I really have to ask this question?

29th August 2017 the famous, or infamous People Now “arrest me” interview - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgGxcMndEk8 .

I couldn’t find the actual date of this interview, but it was uploaded end of August 2017. I really enjoyed this one. Everyone talks about JK’s “arrest me” JM mishap during this interview. The members reactions are to die for.

Can someone tell me please what Suga told JK in Korean before they moved on?????

Also, JK’s reaction when JM said he wanted to collab with Suga (watch from 7:58min), was like:

W H A T in T H E actual F U C K???. LMAO.

Summer package 2017 – released August 2017.

JK and JM being all playful by the pool. JK letting us know how adorable JM is to him when he is swimming doggy style in the pool.

The one that stands out to me, though, is the ‘dream catcher necklace saga’. Felt a little uneasy to see that one, like I was witness to a lover’s tiff.

The boys were given a budget each to purchase themselves a gift. They are taken together to a gift shop, where they check the merchandise out and each buy themselves a little souvenir. When they all sit down to show each other their gifts, that’s when this moment happens.

JK takes out his gift. I once again want to emphasize, this is a gift he bought with his budget for himself. He explains it’s a dream catcher and says he will put it in his room.

JM, sitting next to him, takes it from JK and says: “this is a necklace Jungkook-ssi”.

JK blurts out adamantly that he won’t hang it around his neck.

This is when things get awkward, because you can see JM is clearly upset, throws the necklace back at JK and says: “OK, then”.

JM has a dream catcher necklace around his neck too, and when it’s his turn to tell what gift he bought himself he takes the necklace off and gives it to V, saying he bought the gift for V, who had a nightmare last night.

After JM’s mini tantrum JK, who previously adamantly professed he will not put it around his neck, does everything he can to put the necklace on, finally turning to JM to help him put the it on, which he does.

Later on, while sitting for the personal interview, with the necklace around his neck, he tells us how from now on he won’t have nightmares.

What did I get from all that?

Clearly JM was pissed at JK’s reaction. Why? JK clearly bought this by himself for himself.

But did he? Was it something he chose for himself, or was it something JM suggested to him?

JM also bought a dream catcher. Was that a coincidence? For some reason, I don’t think so.

My theory is that the dream catcher is something JM suggested or wanted JK to buy for himself, and JK reluctance to wear it offended him. JM clearly bought the other dream catcher for V. Perhaps he wanted both his boys to have one, and to him, JK’s comment felt as a rejection.

The way JK reacted to JM, his immediate change of attitude towards the necklace, trying to put it on, when only a second earlier he said he won’t put this around his neck, shows how attuned he was to JM, how he immediately realised he did something wrong, something to upset JM, and how he tried, in his own way, to atone for it, by wearing the same thing he but seconds ago rejected.

This brings me back to the point I made about the boys relationship, and them finding the balance. A perfect example to how there will still be conflict, but how JK realises, immediately, that he had done wrong and what he has done wrong, and immediately sets to right the wrong, hence to restore that balance.

JM throwing the necklace at JK. Also, notice the editor’s remark. JM’s anger is obvious not only to me.

To be continued...

#jungkook #jimin #jk #jm #jikook #jikook are real #jikook timeline #kookmin #bts #BV2 #jikook 2017

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zeldareyesblog · 4 years ago

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Bayonetta 2: The Controversial Witch Trials

**This was a responsive essay that I had written back in February 24, 2020 and revised on March 1st, 2020 for “Introduction to Composition” college class. Yes, I got an A+ on this.**

Bayonetta 2: The Controversial Witch Trials

In Giuseppe Nelva’s article, “Bayonetta 2’s “Over-Sexualization” Complaint: A Perfect Example of What’s Wrong with Modern Reviews”, I found the reviews of the game to be unfair because Bayonetta 2 was judged based on the amount of provocative imagery it contained rather than Platinum Games’ improvement from the first Bayonetta’s gameplay, mechanics, and creative execution. Nelva’s concerns were the same as mine because we believed that no videogame should be judged by the amount of controversial content it has. Instead, video games should be judged if the video game’s creators have exceeded beyond expectations to entertain the players.

Video game reviewers are needed to help companies like Platinum Games improve their work ethic, so that the next video game they make from that specific series would not feature the same issues again. However, we have big video game reviewers like Polygon, who has judged this video game based on its “blatant over-sexualization” rather than Bayonetta 2 game’s execution as quoted from article, “I won’t guess why the blatant over-sexualization is still there, often more intensely than before. But it causes an otherwise great game to require a much bigger mental compromise to enjoy.” Even though a 7.5 out 10 would not be considered an awful rating for Bayonetta 2, it deserved more than that and it also deserved a more objective review rather than a subjective review despite the obvious adult content mentioned by Polygon’s throughout most of the review. While Bayonetta 2 did include sexual themes and references throughout the franchise and characters as much as strong language and violence is concerned, should it be used to solely judge the merits of a videogame? What if the creators of Bayonetta 2 intentionally put the controversial content there to show how our virtuous boundaries could be broken under harsh circumstances, but can still become a strong, wise, and beautiful person against all odds?

To be honest though, I did understand that when my mother and I bought this video game from GameStop just last year during the holiday semester break as my New Year’s Eve present when I was 19 years old, she and I were both already aware of the content. Such as female characters being portrayed in a sexualized manner with extremely exaggerated proportions displayed in tight-fitting suits while in combat. There were also female characters being stripped of those suits for a brief amount of time to summon “infernal demons” as an aid in combat for huger enemies until their wicked weaves covered their private parts, and the innuendos spoken while the female characters interact with male characters in advance. However, the reason my mother approved of me playing that game, regardless of the adult content, was because she took her time to educate me about such content prior to succeeding my first semester in college. Because of our mother-daughter conversations, it was still pointless to judge the game based on its own provocative content and more on how it has executed itself as an entertainment medium as a result. Unlike most parents that I met who let my friends play M-rated video games before they completed their secondary education and reached the appropriate age, my mother never let me play any M-rated game until I completed my secondary education and when I reached the appropriate age of 17 years old or older according to the Entertainment Ratings Software Board (ESRB) guidelines because she believed that proper education and parental guidance would develop a real sense of maturity and high tolerance on all adult content that I would be exposed to in the future and she was right about that.

Furthermore, when I compared my now adult self to the friends that played a variety of M-rated videogames while they were underaged and still in middle school a very long time ago, I remembered that they were complete hyperactive chatterboxes to the point of aggravation, became more aggressive in their gaming habits and personalities, and even learned new curse words that I have never even heard before. When it came to sexually suggestive content in mature-rated video games, my old middle school friends did not seem to process that kind of content in a composed and civilized manner which resulted in them having some misogynistic and judgmental views of women, especially fictional video game women like Bayonetta who had self-confidence on and off the battlefield and remained fearless in her sexuality and beauty. Although, I did not blame M-rated video games alone because I knew that it was obviously the parents who enabled their underaged children to play those mature-rated video games since they were impatient and did not take the time to teach their kids about what kind of content they could be getting themselves into if they bought the game no matter how entertaining it was, and why they should not expose themselves to it until they are at the appropriate age anyways.

Moving on, Nelva has mentioned in his article that “What should be reflected, first and foremost, in a review’s content and in its score is the game’s quality, and while several aspects of “quality” are subjective, there are also many that aren’t. Production values are an example: graphics, animation, audio, textures, effects; Those are objective aspects of a game’s value that should not be overlooked.” As somebody that has owned and played this video game series, in my perspective I think that Bayonetta 2 has exceeded expectations from the Bayonetta 1 when it came to smooth gameplay mechanics – being able to reduce the amount of constant button pressing to fully complete charging attacks. Not only that, but Platinum Games has provided extra abilities for players such as giving Bayonetta the ability to glide on higher platforms with her Madama Butterfly Wings after jumping upwards and a variety of random “hack and slash” combo attacks on all bosses and mini bosses that will leave the players in suspense on what Bayonetta would do next, and included online gameplay levels and offline quests that challenge the players’ skills after completion of the story mode. The graphics and textures of Bayonetta 2 were beautifully executed to even reach cinematic levels of gaming throughout cutscenes and gameplay with the camera angles strategically displayed on the entire environment, and used closeups appropriately on the characters to present details on their unusual cosmetic makeup, clothing designs, and accessories as the characters communicated with each other. As for audio, the music soundtrack provided a mysterious, foreboding, yet epic emotions that could keep all players on edge and interested in the story mode. Furthermore, the dialogue between the characters was uniquely portrayed and ranged from what strong, young women and men would realistically say or react if they had encountered any enemies based on their three-dimensional personalities. If videogame players were tight on budget to own a headset, they could still experience the same amount of interactive and immersive fantasy-adventure gaming that Bayonetta 2 has provided as an entertainment product that would keep the players entertained for many years to come.

That objective review I made would convince so many young adult audiences to play Bayonetta 2. Eventually, it would have gained plenty of new fans to move this game up the ranks from being stuck in the “under rated” games category to gain widespread popularity. Never had I put in my own opinion on Bayonetta 2’s provocative content, because I know that judging a game based on what kind of adult material it had was not my job as a reviewer and I already assumed that my audience knows better what kind of material they would get themselves into before buying the game to begin with.

What amazed me now was how the world wanted to showcase diversity and promote less censorship in the entertainment industry. Although, once we get what we asked for there are a lot of negative people out there on the internet that make so-called entertainment reviews to talk about how the characters in a television show, movie, or videogame do not fit their own beliefs. According to Nelva, “It saddens me that between the many calls for diversity we’ve seen lately, some actually fly in the face of diversity itself by implying that games that celebrate sexuality and beauty like Bayonetta 2 should not exist or are not worth playing and enjoying.” This quote was a reminder to me that I should not judge any video game based on the number of suggestive themes it contains, but if it exceeded my expectations on quality video game entertainment.

Overall, I believed that Bayonetta 2 was a compelling video game that unfortunately received a bad reputation since huge video game reviewers like Polygon judged this video game based on the amount of provocative content it contained rather than the actual gameplay and creative execution itself. The creators behind Bayonetta 2 were considered artists because they told a narrative story and designed characters beyond our own imagination and made money from our fascination in this fantasy, action, and adventure game. Besides that, the purpose of video games was to provide another form of quality entertainment that all young adult audiences could enjoy at their own leisure time and Bayonetta 2 would have been one of those videogames if we had better reviewers that judged it based on gameplay and performance, instead of content.

Works Cited

Nelva, Giuseppe. “Bayonetta 2's ‘Over-Sexualization’ Complaint: A Perfect Example of What's Wrong with Modern Reviews.” DualShockers, DualShockers, 17 Oct. 2014, www.dualshockers.com/bayonetta-2s-over-sexualization-complaint-a-perfect-example-of-whats-wrong-with-modern-reviews/.

#bayonetta #bayonetta2 #nintendo #sega #platinum games #video games #videogame #college #composition #essay #college essay

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poisonheadcrabsalesman · 4 years ago

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More therapy thoughts part 1/?

Behavior Theory Frameworks/Conditioning and What the fuck does Master Chief talk about in therapy?

Ramblings below - like a lot, like I spent too much time writing this and you should not read this

Behavioral Theory could work well as a framework with rehabilitating Spartan IIs if the case worker focused on Operant Conditioning Theory and Cognitive Social Learning Theory, which I talked about in this ask because I think I’m funny and this blog is an archive of me applying human behavior theories to video games.

Spartans have always been taught the mission comes first! Always! The 2s are indoctrinated from age 6-14 and then have that reinforced the rest of their lives. From the beginning they are taught to push themselves to the limits, earn their food by winning, form bonds with teammates but be ready to sacrifice them for the mission. The whole lives wasted vs spent conversation between John and Mendez after the augmentation surgery!

What the UNSC/ONI wants comes before their lives, the lives of other soldiers, civilians, AI etc. This constant conditioning of expectations and rewards has created the norms cemented in their minds. This becomes standard operating procedure.

Spartans are also an entirely separated social group, other people have made really great posts on how they are Othered and have their own way of communicating with body language. ODSTs hate Spartans, marines see them as cyborgs or saviors, and while they’re allies, Spartans are not seen or treated as human, by literally everyone. They are a means to an end, with the original goal being to maintain the UNSC’s position of power and crush the insurrectionists in the outer colonies, but uh oh Aliens!

Maybe the 2s aren’t as expendable as the 3s but the mindset and reinforcement of “mission first, people second” being repeated their entire lives is going to stick. So is the constant mistreatment and abuse from their fellow soldiers and handlers.

Addressing the cognitive distortions that come from their upbringing while also balancing the fact that Spartans are so fundamentally different from the way they developed to survive would be so much work, especially considering how much information on them is given to their therapist. The main distortion I would apply is minimization, making large problems small and not properly dealing with them, and specifically for John, personification, accepting blame for negative events without sufficient evidence.

Like these are grown ass super soldiers who can kill you in less than a second and calculate the amount of gravity in a room on the fly but then also can flounder when trying to comfort civilians or make small talk because their experiences and values are so alien to adults who had more developmentally “normal” lives.

Literally applying therapy to Spartans would be like, what was done to you was wrong, the ends do not justify the means, you were children and the adults in your life failed to protect you. You are a human person who is fallible and did the best you could with what you had. And the Spartan would say, “sounds fake but okay, can I pass my psych eval and go back to war now please?”

Jumping back to Behavior Theory

Different approaches to therapy under the Behavior Theory umbrella help modify negative behaviors with treatments like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical behavior therapy that teach individuals adaptive coping like emotional regulation, distress tolerance, cognitive distortions, and interpersonal communication. And that’s just one framework under the umbrella of human behavior theories.

Social work therapy is different from psych as it approaches individuals with heavily researched, evidence-based theories and frameworks in a holistic viewing of person-in-environment, instead of a strong focus on internal psychology.

Social work looks at all the interacting systems, environment, history, and internal and external factors affecting an individual. One of the most useful frameworks is the Biopsychosocial-Spiritual Frameworks (BPSS) when helping a client. It helps with identifying all the intersecting factors, both risk and protective, that shapes a client’s lived experiences. The most important thing to remember is that the individual is an expert in their own life, they know their experiences best.

The hardest part is applying this to Spartans because they Are So Fucked, their lived experiences, their environments and systems and institutions interacting with them, and the amount of their personal information that is probably so classified.

BPSS is a tool to help social workers assess individuals and their situations by collecting info that is related to the presenting issues and current and past circumstances. Info like medical history, hospitalizations, substance abuse, mental illness, personal relationships, family history and background, culture and norms, education, legal history, spirituality and participation etc. is all under this framework.

For Spartan 2s most of this info is lost or classified and helping someone who has repressed every negative emotion they've had for the sake of the mission would be so much to unpack but that’s also why you’re reading the mad ramblings over an over caffeinated nerd on the internet.

Life Course Theory which looks at developmental milestones and the individual’s experiences versus the socially expected markers, how do you apply that to children who were taken and have lived such different lives?

While early adolescence is when “normal” development of thoughts of self and identity take place alongside the physical changes of puberty, Spartans were being turned into emotionless calculating weapons. Sorry John, no forming a sense of identity and peer bonds for you, go kill that Watts guy who betrayed us and joined the insurrectionists.

And now that I’ve gone this insane and opened 2 whole textbooks up, let’s get to Master Chief thoughts. If you’ve read this far thank you, I swear I’m normal, 2020 has just been a weird year.

Why the fuck did I think I could write a therapy fic on a guy with 20 minutes of actual dialogue across almost 2 decades of games?

I make fun of him and call him a himbo, but he’s smart, he knows he’s being used and there is resentment there that’s been building for years.

There’s also decades of trauma and combat experience, physical, and emotional abuse, the lack of a support network, lack of an identity, the biological factors and aftermath of the augmentations and injuries he’s received, a whole lot of grief and self-inflicted guilt.

The loss of a third of his peer group with the augmentation surgery, Sam’s death, the loss of Reach (the only place he’s considered home), Keyes, the Pillar of Autumn crew, Miranda Keyes, Johnson, Cortana. He cares about the marines who fight with him!!!

He just stands there and takes it and rarely snaps, and even then it’s just small cracks on the surface with fissures running deep. The few details I will pull from Halo 5 are Blue Team’s reactions to John pushing himself so hard from the beginning of the game, and the literal crack in his armor from the fight with Locke. Like dude.

John’s a leader and will get the mission done but he tugs on the leash. He’s earned enough of a reputation and uses it to get his way.

Halo 2’s “Permission to leave the station” with Mr. “I’m going to hand deliver a bomb to the fusion reactor of a covenant supercarrier and hope my friends catch me”.

Halo 4 is when we see him say no to a superior officer and then 5 is him going AWOL. Palmer literally points out that no one is going to stop him.

Halo 5 kills me for many reasons but John bringing up Halsey and what she did to him and also pointing out that he knows Halo 5 Cortana is trying to manipulate him with psychological tactics hurts.

He knows what’s been done to him!

I cannot remember which book it was but John isn’t used to working alone. He literally takes fire because he was expecting someone to have his back!

He’s lost without Cortana! She was in his brain! Y’all! I played Halo Combat Evolved on the original xbox when I was like 8 and I knew these two were meant to be together. From the moment they met they had great chemistry and relied on each other! Cortana literally goes after people who have it out for John! John wants her approval and shows off for her in one of the books.

I’ve already written too much here but like all of the games have John showing off for Cortana, making dry jokes, jumping out of things he shouldn’t.

The whole point of this rambling is to try and get my thoughts about how to approach John’s character under control.

And that’s the thing. He’s lost control. He’s lost people, he’s losing his position and being phased out as an aging spartan, a relic. John’s used to following orders and making some decisions on the battlefield but it was always short term.

He has no identity beyond being a weapon. Complete the mission, clear the LZ, get put in cryo. Rinse, repeat.

The timeline of the games are what I'm most familiar with but with the comics and books too it’s one long run from Halo 2 to Halo 4. Cairo station to the Dreadnought to the crash landing to Forward Unto Dawn to Requiem to “The Didact is Dead but not really but we’ll deal with him off-screen”.

I know Hood apparently gave John R&R orders before Halo 5 that he ignored and kept running himself into the ground. This is a man who has to keep moving and keep being useful.

I imagine him giving in and seeking help as a last resort to fix any problems he has with performing his duties rather than helping himself be healthier.

Any professional he sees is going to have to approach him like they’re approaching a self sacrificing feral cat, with lunch meat and quiet. This man needs to have his support network closer, set up long term goals, and do some serious, and most likely incredibly painful, self reflection on where he’s come from and where he wants to go. Get him out of that tin can and into therapy. I don’t have a nice neat ending because this was a ramble and also therapy is not neat and tidy. Thanks for reading my words about mr halo

#this is not coherent but it needs out of my brain #John - has different characterizations based on what media he's in #Me - my writing must be in character or I Will Die #also me - we don't talk about halo 5 but i will loot its corpse for bits of lore I like #im sorry for being like this #my writing #Therapy time #John 117 #this is not a halo blog #haha this was peer reviewed nonsense #thanks yall for enabling me #i have even more ideas for the infinity sitcom folder now

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snkpolls · 4 years ago

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SnK Episode 68 Poll Results (for Anime Only Watchers)

The poll closed with 59 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results for the Anime Only Watchers’ poll. If you wish to see the results for the Manga Readers’ poll, click here.

Anime only watchers, beware of spoilers if you venture over to the manga readers’ poll results.

RATE THE EPISODE 53 Responses

The response was overwhelmingly positive with 88.7% of responses giving the episode a 4 or a 5. In addition, there weren’t any 1s or 2s this time around. A noted contrast to the previous episode. Suppose Sasha’s death ruined the experience for some.

it epic

I NEED MORE

awesome

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING MOMENTS WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 55 Responses

The scene with the largest amount of reception (18.2%) was the final scene of the episode, where Eren repeats his mantra to himself in the mirror while revealing his new look. Behind that was the reveal that Armin is talking to Annie (10.9%). At a tie (9.1%), people most enjoyed Hange’s eccentric greeting to the Marleyan soldiers and Onyankopon explaining why he believes people are different. At another tie (7.3%), were the scenes where Sasha is enjoying Nicolo’s cooking, and the scene where Eren is washing himself at the sink.

WHAT WAS THE MOST EMOTIONAL PART OF THE VISIT TO SASHA’S GRAVE? 57 Responses

The visit to Sasha’s grave was packed with many tragic moments. According to the responders, the most emotional of those was Connie’s line about losing “his half” (47.4%). Following that we have the scene of grieving Mikasa with 24.6%. In third place is Nicolo’s general grief. Other responses were, in this order, Sasha’s Father agreeing to a free meal from Nicolo, seeing the girl that Sasha saved from a Titan all those years ago and simply Sasha’s family appearing.

AFTER SEVERAL TENSE AND ACTION PACKED EPISODES, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE TRANSITION TO SOMETHING MORE CALM? 53 Responses

Ever since the series started, AoT has had a clear contrast between the content of its episodes. Episode 68 of the series notably contrasts with the prior 3-4 episodes. So we wanted to know how the fans respond to these sorts of things. 32.1% stated that they enjoyed the slower paced episode after weeks of chaos. An equal number of responders (32.1%) noted that although they far preferred the action-based content, they understood the need for the slower episodes. A little over 13% said they actually preferred the exposition-esque content, so they were happy with the change and finally, a bit over 11% stated that they were indifferent.

I view exposition equally as important as action.

Watching the show dissect what happened before and after the attack on Marley made everything so clear, I love how they were able to capture the drama of both sequences

I'm definetly here more dialogue heavy epiodes and flashbacks but maybe with a slower pacing. It felt a little messy because the episode was also dealing with Sasha's as well as backstory. I think thst was probably intentional though.

They both have their merits.

Still feels great

WOULD YOU RATHER GET A SURPRISE GREETING FROM EREN & HANGE, OR ARMIN & LEVI? 55 Responses

Marleyan Soldiers got two sets of surprises in this episode. One from Eren and Hange, one from Armin and Levi. The fans would clearly prefer to get one of those from Eren and Hange (78.2%) than Armin and Lavi (21.8%).

ON A SCALE OF 1-5, HOW HAPPY ARE YOU TO BE BACK ON PARADIS? 55 Responses

We recently returned to Paradis Island and according to the responders, it was a much wanted development, with 85.4% giving a 4 or a 5 when it comes to hype about the return to the island.

ARMIN SAYS THAT ONCE EREN INFILTRATED MARLEY, THERE WAS NO OTHER CHOICE BUT TO ATTACK IN ORDER TO PREVENT IMMEDIATE RETALIATION. DO YOU AGREE WITH HIM? 55 Responses

The raid on Liberio is being questioned not only by the audiences, but also by the characters in-universe. Still, when it comes to Armin’s justification for the attack, the majority (69.1%) think that there was no other choice for Paradis, be it because they could afford to lose Eren/Founding Titan or because Marley would have retaliated easily. Others (~10%) think that they either should have made more effort to find Eren before it came to the raid or should have just let him go. 14.5% simply aren’t sure.

They had no choice but to retrieve Eren, but that doesn't necessarily mean a full blown attack. I think Armin is trying to convince himself here.

Yes. Marley could have captured Eren and had Zeke or someone else eat him for the founding powers.

DO YOU THINK IT’S PLAUSIBLE THAT MARLEY WILL FIND A WAY TO QUICKLY COUNTERATTACK ANYWAY? 53 Responses

When it comes to Marley, one could wonder if they will attempt a quick counterattack. 67.9% believe so, 15.1% dissent. And 9.4% state that they have been spoiled. For the write-in responder who feels that we are spoiling via the question itself, we assure you that anything we ask here had once been a matter of debate among manga readers when the corresponding chapters were fresh and we did not know the outcome. We would just like to give anime only watchers the same opportunity to have these debates.

I don't know.

The fleet has been destroyed, but what about the airforce (if they have one)? I doubt Paradis has the mean to counter that.

I'm not really sure honestly

This question is a spoiler itself: if you ask this, maybe it means that's what will happen. Thank you.

WHEN EREN FIRES HIS GUN AT THE END OF EMA’S TALK, IT TRANSITIONS TO SASHA TAKING A BULLET IN THE PREVIOUS EPISODE. DO YOU FEEL THAT THE NARRATIVE IS TRYING TO PIN THE BLAME SOLELY ON EREN? 55 Responses

Eren’s rifle shot was juxtaposed with Sasha’s death, showcasing a possible thread in the narrative. Does the narrative believe that Eren is to blame for Sasha’s death? 38.2% think it’s a yes and 45.5% think it’s a possibility. On the other hand, almost 11% don’t think the story is trying to go for that route.

While I don’t think it’s trying to pin the blame solely on Eren. I think it’s trying to say he shares a large portion of the blame.

He may be partly at fault, but not fully.

Yes. But they shouldn't. Because it was GabBitch who killed Sasha, and GabBitch alone.

DO YOU BELIEVE THAT ZEKE, YELENA AND THE VOLUNTEERS ARE SINCERE IN THEIR WISH TO HELP PARADIS? 55 Responses

Zeke, Yelena and Co. are a set of characters. Are they a trustworthy set of characters? Certainly up to debate. 67.8% believe they’re trustworthy to a degree, at the very least. In contrast to 23.6% who find no trust in them. A select few have been spoiled.

Mmm Yelena & co. maybe...I love Zeke but he's big sus this season

I think they are loyal to Zeke, and his goal is to get the funding titan. At the moment, this means allying themselves with Paradis, but that could easily change.

They are very sus, Yelena is especially loose. IDK who they'll be loyal too.

DO YOU THINK THAT EREN WANTS TO USE THE WALL TITANS AS A SIMPLE DETERRENT, OR DOES HE WANT TO FLATTEN THE EARTH? 55 Responses

The possibility of a Rumbling has been brought up more than a few times throughout the series (mostly this season) and the question remains, “will Eren use the Rumbling to flatten the Earth?” 60% think that’ll be the case, in contrast to almost 11% who dissent. 27.3% were already spoiled about the outcome.

That idiot definetly wants to flatten the earth. Empathy and logic has never been Erens strong suit.

DO YOU THINK THAT EMA HAVE BECOME MORE DISTANT FROM EACH OTHER? 55 Responses

The iconic EMA trio has been together through thick and thin, so something truly must happen for them to “break up”, so to say. Would one say that they have grown apart? 56.4% think so, but only insofar as Eren goes. 25.5% believe that they all have grown apart to a degree. 9.1% dissent to these assertions and a select few have been spoiled.

Even Mikasa and Armin seem distant! They were coping on their own after coming back to Paradis.

I like to refer to them as E MA. lol. Yehhhh anyway- somethings defs off with them.

ARMIN SAID HE DIDN’T SEE ANY NOTEWORTHY MEMORIES FROM BERTOLT WHEN EREN ASKED HIM ABOUT IT. DO YOU THINK HE’S BEING TRUTHFUL? 55 Responses

A whole bunch of people doubt Armin’s statement about not seeing anything useful in Bertolt’s memories (81.8%), though some (14.5%) think the boy’s telling the truth. A select few have been spoiled.

DO YOU THINK MIKASA IS LOSING HOPE IN THE WORDS THAT ONCE GAVE HER STRENGTH? 56 Responses

Long ago, Mikasa stated that one must fight, survive and win. If they don’t fight, they won’t survive and will lose. But with some losses drumming up on the plate, could she start doubting this mantra? 46.4% believe that we cannot say one way or another until we see more. 26.8% don’t believe that Sasha’s death will shake her confidence in that belief and it’s just a brief moment of doubt, in contrast to 23.2% who believe that Sasha’s demise will irreparably change Mikasa’s philosophy.

No....? I did't even realise she was that close to Sasha. I feel like if she loses Eren THEN she'll lose hope.

what words?

Mikasa deserves better than emo world destroyer Eren!!! She's too pure.

EREN SEEMED TO BE MISSING WHEN THE SURVEY CORPS WERE INTERACTING WITH THE VOLUNTEERS. WHY DO YOU THINK THAT MIGHT BE? 54 Responses

Eren wasn’t present when the others were interacting with the volunteers. Some believe it is noteworthy, others do not think so. 38.9% simply aren’t certain. 29.6% think it’s the SC decision to keep Eren away from Zeke’s followers. On the other, 20.4% predict that it was Eren’s own choice of isolation. A select few have simply been spoiled.

Didn’t notice this until now

Maybe he had already left for Marley?

ARMIN WAS HOPEFUL THAT THEY COULD SOLVE THEIR PROBLEMS THROUGH DIPLOMACY. EREN FELT THAT PEACE WAS NEVER AN OPTION. WHO DO YOU AGREE WITH MORE? 54 Responses

A noted contrast in Eren and Armin’s beliefs was showcased in this episode. 57.4% find themselves siding more with Eren’s anti-diplomatic measures, while 42.6% support Armin’s more peaceful ways.

WE GOT A GLIMPSE OF ANNIE IN THIS EPISODE. WHAT BEST MATCHES YOUR THOUGHTS? 55 Responses

Annie has been encased in that crystal for years at this point, both in and out of universe. Is she going to get out of that crystal? Just a little over 69% believe so, in contrast to the one person who doesn’t. 23.6% were spoiled one way or another.

Sis is running out of time...it would really suck if her 13 years were up before she even got out of her lil crystal

This has GOT to wake up, surely.

She got a nose reduction surgery

HOW DO YOU THINK ZEKE WILL RATE HIS STAY AT THE HOTEL OF GIANT TREES? 55 Responses

Zeke seemed shocked to find his hotel to be a forest of Giant Trees. An iconic location, seen throughout the series. We asked how you believe Zeke will rate his stay. A plurality (40%) think that he won’t be there long enough to do so. 29.1% believe he’ll give it an average score, in contrast to 23.6% who imagine Zeke loving his getaway! 7.3% have been spoiled.

WHAT BEST DESCRIBES YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT PIXIS ARRESTING THE VOLUNTEERS? 55 Responses

It would appear Pixis detained the volunteers while the SC were away. The majority (52.7%) don’t find it to be a controversial decision, noting that both parties have a mutual understanding between each other. A noted minority (29.1%) thought that it was actually the best course of action, arguing that the Paradisian Military has no way of knowing whether the volunteers are trustworthy or not now that Zeke is here on Paradis. In contrast, 18.2% thought that it was mistake, given how much assistance the Volunteers have provided to the islanders.

WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THE WAY THE PARADISIANS ARE SEEN TREATING MARLEYANS? 55 Responses

We saw some noted mistreatment of Marleyans by the Paradisians this episode. So we asked the responders what their thoughts were on this development. A plurality (47.3%) couldn’t say one way or the other and needed to see more to pass their judgment. 34.5% were open in their condemnation of those actions, in contrast to the 12.7% who were supportive of such activities.

Cycle of haaaate. No one is justified in acting that way but it's understandable that they do

Some good, some bad. Military police doing the worst of course.

An eye for an eye ✌

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

I don't know what to say anymore. This episode made me question my previous ideologies regarding the characters

In my opinion, this episode has more fanservice than usual, from the ship moments of Levihan and Aruani, and to the display of Mikasa's ass and Eren's abs, but Mappa is not over the top and can still get the plot moving and still have those moments that can move the viewers.

I believe in Onyankopon supremacy

Even though I love Mappa post timeskip designs, the pre timeskip design of some characters seemed a bit off to me (particularly Armin and Eren). It distracted me a bit from the action.

Eren standing Infront of the mirror was way better in manga. Mappa need to put more effort. No hate tho.

Idk, didn't blow me away. I'm seriously concerned for Armin, he's definetly losing it. Appreciated the flashbacks and the new characters too. Onyankopon has captured my mf heart, if he dies, I die too. 😌

Chad Eren

Niccolo x Sasha OTP

What the shit dude…

Gabi will forever be the worst character to me, no matter what the anime tries to do to justify her

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 54 Responses

Thanks again to everyone who responded!

#snk poll #snk polls #snk spoilers #snk s4 #shingeki no kyojin #attack on titan #snk #aot

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imagining-in-the-margins · 5 years ago

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Hey everyone! Sorry I’ve been so absent lately; I’ve been knee deep in my original work! I’m also unfortunately going to have to take a semi-”hiatus” soon to study for the bar exam, so I’ll be much less active.

Also, please remember I have asked everyone to not message me about the MGG Allegations discussed here. This kind of situation is extremely triggering for me and I will not be as polite or patient as I was this time.

That being said, onto some Anon Answers! 👇

1. Congrats, Anon. You’ve just earned the second ever “Favorites” spot in my “Nice Comments” folder. The fact you told me you hope I never stop writing honestly made me cry for an embarrassing amount of time. I’m never as happy as I am when I’m writing, and every time I stray away from it, it breaks my heart.

Thank you for saying this. You guys really don’t understand how much it impacts me - things like this are things I carry with me forever. I love you all!

2. See below 💞

3. I’m so glad you found me, too! I hope you enjoy whatever I put out next. Thanks for your appreciation and support ❤️

4. I do! It’s called Doctors and you can see a brief one-sentence summary on my Masterlist under Upcoming! I might have some others but I haven’t looked at my inbox in a hot minute. There are at least 10 requests I haven’t touched.

5. & 6. Honestly, softening the blow is in the minority, but I feel for y’all. I think it’ll depend on how I feel when I get to the end (I’ll provide warning at the beginning). Either way, I have two 💔 fics right now. One will be brutal and the other will be softer.

As for the Chip fic, I was shocked by the response! I plan on writing two. One will be Chip as a landscaper/”pool boy” character for a rich family, and the other is Chip as a bartender.

7. This is so nice. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me, it means a lot. I’m always glad to hear people like to talk about my fics. I remember being younger and talking fanfiction with my friends 😊 Wonderful memories.

8. Awwwe thank you so much! 💕

9. On it 😜

10. I’m glad I could make you smile, Anon! I hope you enjoyed the chapter and continued to be happy the rest of the day 🤗

11. You are too sweet! I love you and hope you have a wonderful day! 🥰

12. My requests are only closed to Part 2s/Extensions of stories, and I honestly don’t see myself ever removing that block now. When I finish a one-shot, it’s because I’m done with it. It’s very rare I feel inspired to continue it (or I always intended to break it up, like Big Bad Wolf).

I’ve found most Part 2 requests (such at this one) could just as well be their own request. Since I have so many requests, it’ll be a LONG time until I get to things, and the less detail provided, the less likely I’ll feel inspired to write it (for instance, here, where did they meet? What is the Reader like? Which Reid is this?). Just some tips to getting your story quicker/better lol!

#answer #answered

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siribear · 5 years ago

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whisper does wake up in the morning, unassailed by glory. deacon says she must be working out of another safe house. and so whisper lives another day. they scrub up as much as they can, change into cleaner clothes. deacon gets his favorite pair of jeans back.

‘good morning, you two.’ desdemona looks as if she slept little, but definitely slept. her eyes are brighter, clearer, and the cup of coffee next to her is still steaming.

‘des. carrington,’ deacon greets the two railroad officials, running a hand over his head. he’s foregone the wig today. no need for disguises around the people that know who he is. and so he scratches lightly at the ginger stubble that’s begun to grow in.

whisper toys with the end of her ponytail, combing out knots with her fingers. ‘so, what’s the plan, then?’

‘at least let us get breakfast first, partner.’

‘you’ve been spoiled, deacon. breakfast is in the coffee pot,’ desdemona says, lifting her own cup.

deacon is the only one not to indulge. desdemona and carrington fill their own mugs while whisper pours her first, and the doctor actually allows her to go first. coffee, an olive branch. once they’re ready, desdemona begins their briefing. ‘what information do you have on the brotherhood ship? i assume you two have scouted it out.’

‘it’s called the prydwen. and more than that, we’ve been aboard it,’ whisper says. all eyes turn to her. ‘i spoke with their elder, maxson. the squad that was stationed out of the police station was investigating a signal they attributed to the institute.’ she runs her finger along the rim of her cup, nails catching on the chips in the ceramic. ‘the minuteman general - ‘ it feels odd referring to herself in this way, but she has to make the distinction, now. lest carrington burn that olive branch. ‘ - offered a deal. information for information. and she just happens to know the location of a fallen brotherhood patrol.’

the holotape, distress pulser, and dogtags still sit somewhere at the bottom of her pack.

desdemona nods. carrington doesn’t look like he’s about to rip her head off again. small victories. ‘anything else to report?’

‘they’re obviously well-armed. they’ve got as many drones in power armor as we have railroad members, if not more. and that’s not even counting their foot soldiers.’ deacon shoves his hands in his pockets. ‘vertibirds, long range communication,’ he counts off. ‘we’re in trouble if we’re not careful. any more careful.’ he lets the warning hang in the air, for the other agents listening in.

‘tinker tom has already begun working on potential countermeasures. code name: red glare.’ whisper squints. as in rocket’s red glare? ‘we can’t let the prydwen stay here. or stay in the air,’ desdemona adds gravely.

‘perhaps they’ll leave once the institute is taken care of,’ whisper hopes out loud.

‘only if we ask nicely,’ deacon says with a shrug.

‘either way, the brotherhood is a threat we cannot ignore. whisper’s truce with them can get us what we need, but it doesn’t protect us if they turn their gaze elsewhere once the institute is gone.’

it’s a distinct possibility. and an unfortunate one. whisper has no wish to see paladin danse or scribe haylen or anyone else like them go up in flames.

‘on to the second matter. do you two remember a synth you helped reach ticonderoga?’

‘h2?’ whisper perks up. ‘yes, of course. is he okay?’

desdemona cracks a fleeting smile, gone as quick as cigarette smoke. ‘he’s fine, but dr. amari - ‘ carrington exhales audibly. so, still not happy about her knowing all of their contacts. desdemona ignores him, ‘ - is having problem moving him to the next checkpoint. malden center has been overrun by raiders. we have two options.’ she holds her hand out, two fingers extended. ‘one,’ she taps one finger, ‘malden center gets cleared for a final run, and we burn it immediately after. two,’ the first finger curls back as she taps the second finger, ‘we find a new route and h2-22 stays in goodneighbor until then.’

‘the longer he stays, the more danger he, our asset, and any future synths will be in.’ carrington frowns.

‘i agree. we have agents in the process of creating new routes with your new settlements,’ desdemona nods to whisper, ‘but it’ll take too long to co-ordinate for this run.’

‘so, we clear it, you burn it,’ whisper says simply. ‘there’s really no other choice. temporary danger versus compromising your asset in goodneighbor.’ she mimes weighing two items in her hands. ‘from what i understand, we need to go to goodneighbor anyway. we can let - dr. amari, was it? - know about the route directly, since it’s quicker than a dead drop.’ she looks to deacon, who shrugs.

‘a date at malden, then back for drinks in goodneighbor. sounds like a good time, to me.’

desdemona looks between them and rolls her eyes. ‘all right. as for any intel you get from kellogg’s brain - ‘

‘we’ll keep you informed via dead drop, boss lady.’

desdemona dismisses them after a few other matters. agents get assigned to shadow supply lines, opening them up to future synth railroads. whisper gives them names to look up, with a message from the general herself, just in case. drummer boy approaches her after the meeting and before she and deacon can depart, directing them to the furthest room, at the end of the catacombs.

‘PAM wants to speak with you.’

PAM’s room is a small office, less cluttered than the makeshift headquarters it’s attached to. rows upon rows of filing cabinets line the room, reminding her of nick’s office back at diamond city, but where nick had a plain desk, in the center of the floor is a single terminal. PAM, however, isn’t initially visible upon entering the room, and instead whisper is startled at the sudden sound of mechanical parts buzzing. the assaultron stands in the corner near the short set of stairs, mostly stationary aside from the upper torso shifting to follow her into the room. PAM’s claw-like appendages are raised at a 90 degree angle toward her, but still surprisingly unthreatening. much different from her encounter with the gunner assaultron.

‘drummer boy said you wanted to talk to me?’

the head pivots left, right, left. whisper, deacon, whisper. ‘engaging in human-robot interface,’ PAM’s feminine, robotic voice intones. ‘agent deacon and agent whisper. greetings.’

deacon doesn’t fully enter the room, just rests his hip against the railing with his arms crossed. it strikes her that deacon doesn’t care much for PAM. there’s no hint of amusement on his face, even behind the sunglasses. and whisper likes to think she’s gotten better at reading him.

‘go on, PAM.’

the assaultron isn’t offended at the curt greeting. ‘with the lost of augusta and the uncertainty regarding the safety of other safe houses, railroad alpha has determined there is a need for a new one. you have proven efficient in securing settlements. we would like you to establish a new safe house. designation: mercer.’

‘what?’

‘repeating message: with - ‘

‘no, i don’t - that’s not what i meant. i thought i wasn’t trusted enough. and now i’m given the responsibility of creating a whole new safe house?’

PAM is silent for a moment, mechanical parts whirring. ‘you have been given clearance.’ as if she’s a pre-war agent for the DIA. ‘a building named the coastal cottage has been deemed a suitable location.’

whisper checks her map after PAM uploads the location through the connector cable. the coastal cottage is a ruin of buildings, based on the old satellite picture, near salem. another checkpoint, much like outpost zimonja. ‘okay. it won’t be right away, but i’ll do it.’

‘please ensure mercer safe house is adequately supplied and defended. a caretaker will be sent once mercer has been established. thank you, agent whisper.’

topside, whisper waits until they’re halfway north to malden before confronting deacon. ‘you don’t like PAM, do you?’

she feels his shoulders shrug more than she sees them. ‘i don’t not like her,’ he says, the good humor in his voice painfully forced. ‘everyone counts on her to protect the railroad alone. the predictive analytic machine. that’s what PAM stands for. it’s what she did, pre-war, back at the switchboard. that’s where we found her. but she - ‘ he pauses, gathering his thoughts. ‘some time ago, an institute synth infiltrated one of our safe houses. PAM wasn’t the one that found the spy.’

‘but you were.’

‘someone did,’ he reiterates. he’s serious. no jokes, now. ‘PAM can keep us safe, but she can’t predict human nature. i suspect that’s why carrington lashed out last night.’

‘because carrington believes PAM.’ they follow malden river further north, past a large, abandoned boathouse. almost abandoned. whisper convinces deacon to detour briefly, and they exterminate the group of giant bloodbugs nesting within the building. ‘what does PAM really think of me?’

a dead body lies in the upstairs bathroom. on it, they find a note: a family hoping to sell a stash of chems hidden upriver to buy another brahmin. a story the minutemen will have to unravel later.

‘you’re an unknown quantity.’ the last two words he says in an approximation of a robotic voice, low and nasally. ‘no one expected your arrival at hq. not even me.’

and he was trailing her. ‘but you just said she can’t predict human nature.’

deacon hushes her quick and harshly. she pulls them behind the wall of the metro entrance. around the corner, there’s rustling. plastic tapping against pavement.

‘i know you’re there.’ the hairs on the back of her neck stand up straight. deacon goes stock still. synths. gen-2s, just like the switchboard. ‘ i heard you.’ the monotone voice grows closer. judging by the amount of footsteps, there’s more than one. ‘i will find you.’

whisper braces herself, pulling deliverer from its holster. deacon brings up his rifle, back against hers, as he faces the other side of the wall. whisper brings one hand low, fingers against deacon’s thigh. she counts: on three. one tap. two taps.

halfway to three, she hears it. they both hear it, deacon’s back straightens up against hers. the wind up, then plastic synth parts cascading past the wall along with a shower of bullets. someone with a fucking minigun.

whisper puts both hands on deliverer and swings around the corner once the bullets stop. the gun has to cool down, and now’s the perfect time. she feels the cold metal of the minigun against her stomach just as she puts the barrel of deliverer against its owner’s temple.

‘god damn. whisper?’

the agent in question lowers her gun with a relieved sigh. deacon peers around the corner, coming up at her side.

‘hey, glory,’ deacon says casually, as if she and whisper didn’t almost just tear each other apart. ‘what’s up.’

glory punches deacon in the shoulder, hard. he buckles, grinning. ‘hq send you?’ at whisper’s nod, ‘that’s what we get for keeping secrets. i got my orders from griswold.’

‘well, we’re all here. might as well make it a party, right?’ whisper tries to light hearted, now that the tension has drained. no other synths have shown, so they probably just ran into a rogue patrol. conveniently next to a railroad route.

glory grunts, lowering her minigun. ‘if at all possible, can we not kill any more synths? i only killed these because i thought i saw someone run behind the building.’

‘thanks for saving our lives instead of the gen-2′s, glorious.’

glory punches him again. ‘you know what i mean, dee. i just - i dunno. i feel bad. whatever. party, right?’

‘desdemona said there were just raiders, so hopefully we just got very unlucky.’ it sounds even less convincing when she says it out loud, and neither of her companions look hopeful. ‘come on.’

#siri drabbles #oc: alice ward #series: we will all go together when we go

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scrawnydutchman · 6 years ago

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Why ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’s Animation is So Amazing

So those followers of my blog may know that I posted a full film review of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse rather recently. You’re welcome to go check it out if you haven’t yet, but the short version of it is that it’s my favorite movie of 2018 and is, in my opinion, the best comic book film ever made. But I wanted to address something about the film that I keep seeing coming up. I’ve been watching a handful of reviews for the film online and in a great deal of them I hear people bring up how they were skeptical of the animation style when they first saw the trailers because it “looked choppy”. One film critic in particular by the name of Roger Moore actually still held that critique against the film even after seeing it when he posted his review of it. Most people have come around to enjoying the films animation and have put the idea of it being choppy at the backs of their heads. But what did they mean initially? The problem with a lot of film critics when it comes to judging an animated feature is that sadly they can come from a misinformed place about the medium and create this negative stigma around a film that isn’t justified. Animation is already fighting a number of prejudices (people saying it’s only for kids, saying it’s a genre and not a medium and any other amount of reasons why they may think they are above it) so this added one does not help what is easily the most spectacular animated film of 2018. But I myself am an animator, so I feel I can come from a place of explaining the visuals in a way that may make the still skeptical viewers more appreciative of what the film is trying to accomplish. With that in mind, here’s why the films animation works so well.

Animating on 2s, not on 1s

When it comes to animation, whether it be 2D or 3D, audiences are typically used to a consistent and fluid motion where there is virtually no break in the motion of a character or object. Simply put; it’s as fluid as fluid animation can be. In these cases, this is because the animation was done on “1s”. But what does that mean?

With a few exceptions, it’s a universal rule that animation runs at 24 frames per second. That means every second of footage you see of an animated film can have as many as 24 unique drawings or adjusted poses in them. That’s a lot of work, but animation legends like Richard Williams (director of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) are famous for having classical animation of this stature. However, just because you CAN fill each second with that many drawings doesn’t mean everybody does. Alternatively you could have 12 drawings in each frame and just double the amount of time you see them go by. When you do this, it’s called animating on “2s”. It’s half the work for a result that may not be quite as fluid as animating on 1s but still looks convincing enough to deceive the human eye. You could even go as far as animating on 3s and animating on 4s, but the higher you go the more you increase the risk of your animation looking “choppy”. Spider-Verse in particular has most of their frames on 2s, with a few exceptions being when the characters have to keep up with complex camera work and so they go back to 1s. So that would explain why a lot of people initially thought the animation was “choppy” . . . .but are there any advantages to doing animation this way aside from having less frames to fill? Indeed there is. When you increase the exposure of any frame, the layout and composition of said frame as well as any small details has a greater chance of sticking out in the viewers mind. Spider-Verse takes exceptional advantage of this fact because every little action in this film is like a beautiful work of pop art. There can be other ways you can inject great appeal in your animation besides making it “fluid” like making every drawing crisp and full of detail and if you’re a skilled enough animator you can make your animation deceive the eye through a number of other tricks which we will go into in a bit. I can’t think of a finer example of this point than Legendary indie animator Bill Plympton.

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Bill Plympton is famous for having his drawing exposures in the 3s and 4s, having every drawing have vivid detail with complex shading and sketchy lines, but he still manages to create believably moving and behaving characters and set pieces in spite of this limitation.

So how is it done? How does an animator make convincing and appealing movement with a decisively limited amount of drawings? Let’s start with good posing.

Posing

I’m of the opinion that Spider-Man lends himself to good animation more than any other superhero. Because of all superheroes, nobody has as many interesting poses, weight shifting and as much natural progression between actions as the web slinger. His main mode of transportation is swinging around, using his weight distribution and kicks and lunges to propel himself in any direction he wants and as he tries to make a turn he has to push himself into another direction, fighting the force that pushed him the other way to begin with. Contrast this with Superman who can just fly right over to where he needs to be without much movement of his arms and legs and without much struggle with incoming obstacles (fun fact, the whole reason Superman can even fly in the first place is because it’s easier to animate than have him leap everywhere). But anyway, back to Spidey. In most animation you develop key poses. Key poses are the main storytelling positions a character may have just to communicate the idea that they’re doing whatever it is they’re doing. So for example if you were to animate a jump, you would start by drawing the position of your character bending their legs to launch themselves up, then you would have them in mid air, then you would have them land again.

Once you create poses that tell the story well enough, you would fill in the rest between. But the key poses are VERY important to get right. To make sure there couldn’t possibly be any confusion as to what the characters are doing or even who they are, animators often ask themselves “would I know what’s happening here even if I put it in silhouette”? To add to the fluidity of the animation in a way that doesn’t compromise the chosen amount of frame exposure, poses also tend to follow a “line of action”. Basically the whole body follows the direction of a drawn line and maintains it’s course in order to really sell the action. It helps for exaggeration and for developing after aspects like arcs.

Now as I said before, Spider-Man is a particularly advantageous character when it comes to this stuff. Because he’s acrobatic. He’s shifts his weight a lot. His most iconic poses as a character lend themselves greatly to silhouette. Also, he happens to be very easy to draw. Even if all you did was draw a red stickman with spider eyes we could instantly tell who it is.

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The animators for Spider-Verse knew exactly what kind of beast they were dealing with and MAN OH MAN did they have fun with it. Not only did they perfectly capture the way the classic Spidey moves, but they also gave every different Spider-Person their own take on it. Spider-Gwen moves with the grace and elegance of a ballet dancer, Noir Spidey has a less ambitious and more straight forward way of moving around (kind of “old school) if you will. Then of course you have Peni Parker recreating the anime aesthetic and Spider-Ham with all the elasticity of a cartoon.

*here’s a little Spidey animation I did a while ago.

Squash and Stretch, Anticipation, Overlapping Action, Follow Through

If anybody takes an animation class or tries to learn animation on their own, chances are Squash and Stretch will be the first animation principle listed. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Animators will often contort the model of their character to give whatever is happening more elasticity and to fill the gaps of an arc if drawings are a considerable distance away from each other. It helps the human eye track where an object is going and it can also help with principles like anticipation and follow through. Anticipation is the build up to an action. Think bending your knees before you lunge yourself upward for a jump. Because that momentum has to come from somewhere. Then there’s overlapping action, which is when dragging items on a character’s design such as clothes, capes, long ears, tails or what have you, are trailing along and need to catch up to the rest of the body. Spider-Verse does great with both these principles, especially with Spider-Ham and Noir Spidey. Spider-Ham is obviously influenced by Looney Tunes and other cartoony inspirations so he’ll be prone to doing a lot of squishing and stretching, where as Noir Spidey has the long trenchcoat and hat and you can bet that they’ll always be the last part of him to reach his destination (as well as be the most susceptible to wind). And of course, every character in Spider-Verse has great anticipation . . . as well as what I think of as anticipation’s opposite, follow through. When an action stops, the body needs a moment to adjust itself into the resting position. Think catching yourself with your legs after a jump, crouching down and then standing back up again. Just like how momentum has to come from somewhere, it has to go somewhere when the action is over.

Appeal

So everything I covered thus far is stuff that’s universal across all forms of animation. But What does Spider-Verse do that makes it special? What separates it from other animated films in the theater? The answer is appeal. Appeal is just having a style and aesthetic that’s pleasing to look at . . . and man does Spider-Verse ever cover that. The film goes so far out of it’s way to look like a comic book that every texture has ben-day-dots so it literally looks like a comic print. Every Spider-Person has their own way of moving, their own way of behaving, their own sets of priorities when it comes to the 12 principles of animation. But the film also has a lot of really clever cheats. One of my favorite examples of this is how the film cheats forced perspective. There are many shots in the film where Miles is falling through the city as the buildings rush past him. The animators actually skewed the models of the buildings for these shots to imitate depth, as when they tried it without the skewing it didn’t looks like they were falling fast enough. They also implemented more classical cheats like smears, basically an animators method of imitating motion blur.

I could go on and on with the animation lecture, but honestly, I covered what I wanted to cover. I just wanted to showcase to anybody who may not be aware that animation is more than just “fluidity” and a seamless framerate and that there’s more ways to create appealing visuals than just that. If you haven’t seen it yet, go see Spider-Verse. It is a masterpiece.

#spiderman #spiderverse #spidergwen #miles morales #peter parker #spider ham #animation #cartoons #film

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