#which just makes it technically difficult on top of what's actually happening

[altruistic-meme]

i am once again shaking myself upsidedown over my laptop in the hopes that the words i want to write come tumbling out of my ears

[transmutationisms]

Hey. So that claim that stimulants do completely different things for people who “have ADHD” and “don’t have ADHD” is obviously bullshit but I was wondering if you happen to have read anything I could refer to about that

Okay I want to try using this to break down how I would actually approach this type of question, inspired by some posts I've seen recently about how to read and analyse things that are wrong / bad / liberal.

I don't have, off the top of my head, a published & refereed source that discusses this particular claim. I'm pretty certain there is at least one such thing out there. But I'm also pretty confident it won't be very good. The claim it's responding to is relatively historically recent, & is cloaked in still-fashionable neurobiological terms. Also, the literature on ADHD is bad in general, and so is the general quality of the kinds of imaging studies that are cited to support such claims about 'brain differences.'

If I were writing a literature review or a historiography, here is the part where I would need to go find these things anyway. Then I would have to explain how they make their arguments and what's missing, and depending on the scope of the piece I might have to explain my own philosophical / political position, and advance my methodological critique of the literature I just spent several days finding & reading.

Fortunately I'm writing a tumblr post & my sense is your actual question is "how can I better argue against this obviously bullshit claim," so I don't have to do any of that. There's not really much point sinking that kind of time and effort into finding a source I already think is unlikely to adequately make the argument I'm looking for anyway.

Instead, I would now look at the claim itself. What must be true in order for it to hold?

ADHD brains differ from non-ADHD brains

This difference is relevant to the action/metabolism of stimulant drugs

Okay, claim two on that list requires dealing with psychopharmacology & very exact physiological mechanisms, which means a shitload more reading and most of it punishingly dry and technical. Sad & bad.

Fortunately, though, I already know -- from every reading ever, as well as my experience existing on earth -- that ADHD is not diagnosed by any sort of brain scan, anatomical observation, blood test, etc, but by subjective (yes, even if they made you do it on a computer) clinical observation. Hmm, that's super weird for something that is a 'brain difference.'

I also know that psychiatric categories are difficult to correlate with biological observations even where those observations do exist, because an imaging study on ADHD is necessarily only pulling the 'ADHD sample' from people already diagnosed with ADHD. It's circular. Philosophically this is the same problem I laid out in section one of 'What is an alien?' (which you can read & understand even if the main topic of the essay doesn't interest you).

And I also know that brain imaging studies generally are riddled with serious methodological flaws (post discusses the dead salmon study among others) and don't actually produce meaningful, replicable biological distinctions in any kind of correlation with psychiatric categories (also, variation within categories is also very high).

Oh, wait. Now the claim above looks like patent nonsense with zero philosophical foundations. The burden of proof is on whoever's making that claim, & the basic underlying principles are wrong. Yayyyy.

This exercise means 1) I've sat down and reasoned through my own opinion, giving me clarity on why I think what I do and what evidence would change my mind and 2) from now on, when I see someone else make the claim I'm responding to here, I'll know off the bat that they haven't done the same & are starting from a very credulous attitude toward very low-quality research. And I didn't do this by trawling the literature until I found the exact thing I was looking for, but by thinking through the arguments and evaluating a body of literature that is generally explicitly hostile to the kinds of critiques I make & respect.

[mtkay13]

Wen Kexing!! My focus here was to channel his coolness even through warm colors, and to get his... "essential vibes" through one picture. More (rambling) below! (this is essentially a post about WKX's personality)

A big case can be made about "who or what is the 'true' Wen Kexing". So; let's be real, I don't know if anyone makes a "big case" out of it, but I sure have seen people seemingly arguing against a vague 'common opinion' regarding Wen Kexing's personality. The """common""" opinion (allegedly): the true Wen Kexing is [insert one of WKX's facets] (or something along those lines) The case against it: all Wen Kexing's are the true Wen Kexing Now I do agree with the fact that "all Wen Kexing's" are Wen Kexing, technically. For clarity, let's list and name those various facets (most are commonly accepted, some I'll just name on the go): - Wen Kexing: I'll use his full name for the personality we're first met with in the book. Someone cold, rather quiet, analytical and distant. Giving off strange vibes in social situations (ZZS thinking he's weird, other jianghu figures being creeped out by him or thinking that he's up to no good), contemptuous - Philantropist Wen: The more extravagant, (bullshit) storyteller, outrageous and shameless flirting enthusiast version of WKX. - Valley Master Wen: cold, calculating, quiet, cruel, unbelievably patient, dislikes fun and games, barely feels anything - Wife Wen: The over the top dramatic wife whose life is made difficult by his difficult and shameless husband, essentially a lot of roleplaying the good littol domestic wife and whatnot - The wooden man: similar as Valley Master but demure and apparently subservient? (for calculated purposes) Okay they could be more I guess, but the point is, we have an array of WKX personas and personalities and the actual consensus (I think, my sample is like 10 people so....) is that every one of those is "true" to WKX and that not one of them is a fully constructed persona. Now, while I agree, I guess that what I wonder is: what is WKX in his resting state? If nothing is happening and that he's not in a particularly social or specific situation, what do we get to see? I think that the answer mostly resides in extra 4, which is an INCREDIBLE retelling of TYK from WKX's perspective; someone who thinks quite a lot, and for long, someone who observes things with distance and little to no emotion. Someone who is used to having one goal (revenge, taking care of ZZS during his coma), and who will probably go through a lot of quiet thinking when finally faced with the void of not having one specific thing to aim for. Someone who will have to learn to find joy/happiness, and who probably doesn't... get there "naturally"? (and by that I mean, without ZZS or without directly following ZZS around). Someone whose ties to his own emotions have been severed a long time ago, I guess. Someone still quite contemptuous of many things and people and who has a whole life he didn't plan for or even consider ahead of him. Which is............ what I tried to draw............ here..................... (That and also I wanted to draw a pretty looking hanfu in sepia colors) (but I SWEAR that was not the main goal) (I think) (anyway please ignore me)

[chaos0pikachu]

4 Minutes and the Cinematography of Nipples

I said before that I thought 4 Minutes was pretty instantaneously the best looking BL on the market for 2024 after one episode. Which, not gonna lie, is a pretty big fucking claim. There’s been a lot of BL that’s come out that’s looked good, and I do think there’s been a steady improvement overall in the market in the last few years. Personally I think Japanese and Korean BL have a stronger production quality over a majority of Thai BL but like, if that’s a hot take I guess I prefer my food spicy. 

The point being~ if I’m gonna make such a hyperbolic statement, well I better back it up right? 

So I’m gonna break down a few scenes from the first episode, what I liked about them, why they worked for me, and why on a technical level I think 4 Minutes has just got it going on.

For better readability you can also check out this essay here.

Sidenote: my google docs kept trying to autocorrect “Bible” to “the Bible” and idk how to teach google I mean the hot Thai actor and not the book of Jesus. 

To start, I’m going to break down this scene featuring Great and his nepo baby cat: 

I thought starting with this scene would be good because it’s such a low-key scene and honestly making these simplistic scenes visually interesting is very difficult! But if you have the basics down, the foundations of cinematography and film making, these simpler scenes can be really memorable. 

Like yeah we’re all gonna remember this scene because shirtless Bible and oh my god Akira!? - I have only recently learned who Akira is; why is this cat getting a bigger bag than me? - but beyond that, what makes it cool to watch? What makes it interesting? What information does it showcase to the audience? 

One thing I added to the video was a grid for the rule of thirds. 

Rule of thirds is a shot composition technique applied to both film and photography. It’s the grid you see if you film a homevideo and helps a Director and Cinematographer figure out where to place the subject or subjects of the shot. The idea is the gridlines show you where you “should” place the subject(s) of said shot. 

Like everything, the rule of thirds is a guideline in filmmaking, not a hard and fast unbreakable rule. Filmmakers like Wes Anderson like to play more with central composition shots, rather than ROT. 

Anyway on to the opening shot, right after our credits and we’re moving into the shot. 

To start, the first thing I notice is the scene’s color grading. Color grading in film is the manipulation of raw film footage to create specific color tones throughout a project. Sometimes this grading is more pointed and obvious, think The Matrix, while in other films it’s not as obvious but still very prominent, think Killers of the Flower Moon. 

It’s not that the before credits scene looks entirely, jarringly different from the opening scene, but the hospital scene is surrounded by whites and blue tones, it’s darker, and only a single source of light exists. It gives the entire scene a much more frantic, uneasy aesthetic but it’s not so far off from the darker muted tones of the next scene that it feels jarring or out of place. 

The second big thing I noticed in the episode is the use of aspect ratio. I’m not 100% sure what aspect ratio the production used exactly, but the use of widescreen as opposed to full screen in my opinion, gives the episode a more cinematic feel to it in comparison to other Thai BLs. 

Example, if you look at Century of Love (2024) it appears to be filmed in the standard full screen - which I believe is 16:9? - while 4 Minutes is widescreen (thus the black bars at the top and bottom). Widescreen can give a show a more “movie like” quality to it which is part of the vibes I get from 4 Minutes. 

(source)

Onto Great’s actual introduction scene.

We’re not starting the shot with static movement, but with a camera panning right. I’ve talked about camera panning and such in BL before and it’s something I’ve found doesn’t happen as often as it should. Which is a shame! It’s such a simple technique but it adds so much. 

Imagine if we entered the frame with a static center shot, and then a cut to Great sleeping and turning off his alarm clock, and then another cut to above the bed. Think about how much more boring that could be visually. 

Instead, we enter the scene with movement, panning over and creating some interesting visual framing. 

So here’s our opening shot, do you notice anything interesting? To start, what I like about this shot other than the panning movement in, is that we don’t see Great’s face yet. In fact we don’t see his face in full until about 30 seconds into the scene. This builds anticipation, yeah we all know what Bible looks like, but for the audience who doesn’t this helps build anticipation. 

Who is this character? What does he look like? What’s his deal? 

It also engages the audience more, if you notice part of the composition of the shot has Great in the mid-ground slightly blurred out, while the foreground emphasizes the things on his desk. He’s distant from us, the audience, sleeping off his hangover not yet ready to “join” the world yet. 

Here’s another two more things I like about this shot:

Lines. 

Using lines and shapes can make a scene more visually interesting and invoke different feelings to the viewer. In this shot, I get a sense of symmetry, the camera panning right, lightly drags across the screen alongside the lines below and above Great, almost creating a frame within a frame effect. As if Great is boxed into a clock in and of itself. 

You can also see the use of balance in the scene as well, connecting back to that visual theme of symmetry as well as blocking our view of Great’s face. The lava lamb and champagne bottle are almost the same height, which helps create balance in the shot. The champagne bottle informs us Great has been drinking or does drink since it’s positioned so close to his bed, whilst also continuing to hide his face away from the viewer. 

I also like that the lava lamp is a bright spot of color. The tone of the scene is mostly muted greens, and gray, but the bright orange lava lamp and even the pink champagne bottle draw our attention but don’t overwhelm us either. It provides the scene with some warmth but doesn’t offset the overall tone of the color grading. 

And then, the last bit of this shot:

We have Great knocking over the champagne bottom, and turning off his alarm clock. Notice that the alarm clock and the champagne bottle hit those ROT dots almost exactly. There’s also the use of lines by the length of Great’s arm - I just forgot to add a line I’m a failure, a fake, fml - we see him knock over the bottle, and then we follow the line of his arm directly to the alarm clock which is also a shape, a circle. 

I like that they used a clock with a specific notable shape, since by the end of this scene the clock is relevant to the story as a whole. Using a shape makes the clock more visually noticeable and memorable to the audience. 

So in the next cut we’re above Great - just like Great’s gonna be above Tyme, fuckin hell I’m corny - in a medium-full shot and there’s a couple things I really like here. 

I really like the use of lines here with the bed going in one direction but Great’s body going another. It’s disconcerting, and off kilter a bit. 

The use of patterns plus the opposing symmetry, whereas in the previous shot the lava lamp and champagne bottle were providing balance, here one side of the bed is patterned, while the other isn’t. This creates a sense of imbalance and makes the shot more visually interesting.

This medium-full shot at a high angle makes Great smaller, and continues to showcase his dishevelment, keeping him distant from the world itself. Also notice the lack of color here as well. 

What could this say about Great as a character? Or his story? 

So this next cut is the one that actually inspired me to write this essay to begin with and know what I’ma eat some crow here. I originally said it was a great ROT shot but I was wrooooooong. It’s definitely a center composition shot. 

Notice as well, the bed itself is its own shape - rectangle - center in the frame, and yet the shot almost looks unbalanced again because of that singular patterned rug. It’s the only pattern in the entire shot, not even Great’s pillows have noticeable patterns on them. 

The above view camera angle in a full shot creates almost an omnipresent feel, as if the audience - or something else? - were looking down upon Great. Whose face we still haven’t seen! It makes him smaller, less powerful, and almost vulnerable. Shots like this are often used in horror films like James Wan’s Malignant (2021) where the horror spector will be looking down above the would-be victim. 

Another thing I like about this scene though is we have Great moving. It would be simpler and easier to have his phone just by his alarm clock, or under his pillow, but think about how much more visually interesting it is that he has to move down the bed and reach for his phone. It creates action in an actionless low stakes scene. 

And now, 30 whole seconds in and we’ve finally seen Great’s face! 

Fun fact, with the ROT grid the gridlines fall right across Bible’s nipples. That’s not a film analysis, just something I noticed entirely intentionally. Thanks Madam Director Ning Bhanbhassa Dhubthien.

The actual shot is in center composition again, as Great rolls over and reveals his face the camera begins to zoom in. 

This creates movement in the scene instead of leaving the camera to statically observe it’s now, finally, inviting the audience to meet Great. Pulling us in towards him whereas before we were kept at a distance. Great’s awake and, well as ready to meet the world as somebody with a raging hangover can be. 

I also like how Bible is moving constantly in this scene; he rubs his eyes and nose, he twitches his fingers, titles his head back and forth, etc it’s nothing revolutionary but it’s appreciated. 

When the scene cuts, we get this shot: 

I didn’t put the red dot on his nipple, it just landed there. This is all Madam Director Ning chepie. 

But you can see how Great’s body is landing on all those gridlines pretty solidly. Also in the background we see his alarm clock again, a bright blurred circle in the distance. I also like the angle of this shot, as it creates depth in the frame, with Great’s head being in the foreground his lower body in the mid-ground and the background blurred out. 

What follows is Akira appearing in frame. Which was really difficult to capture so I don’t have a screenshot. But what I really like is Akira entering the frame out of focus. They could have just cut to Akira, but instead they opted for Akira to enter the frame which is more interesting. 

When we do cut, Akira is firmly on one of those dots so we don’t miss them in the frame. I think it’s also interesting that we’ve pulled out again, into a mid-full shot, hanging above Great, and we see that clear symmetry line again between the patterned rug and the regular carpet. 

I also really love that when we got to Great sweet-talking Akira and feeding them we’re not just doing a cut, we’re panning downwards which continues to add movement to the scene. And we get that moneyed sponsor shot! 

Durex can’t pay for everything okay?

So in the final bit of this scene we get focus on Great, who’s in focus, before he gets up and leaves the frame where the camera then focuses on the clock behind him. 

See how in the first frame the background is all blurred out, but once Great walks out of the frame - again, great that he walks out, movement!! Y’all don’t understand how boring 1000 Stars was for me to watch because of the lack of this stuff okay? - and then the focus shifts to the clock. Which is round. 

God I know that sounds so dumb, but imagine the clock without that ring light bit on it, it’s just a tiny little rectangle. Not as fun or interesting to look at right? Or as noticeable especially from a distance? 

This shift in focus also tells us “this is important” whatever “this” is. The subject of the shot goes from Great to the alarm clock but they are positioned as equally important. We’re meant to pay attention to this seemingly innocuous item, which we learn later in the episode is time. We’re meant to remember and note that time will be important to the story - I know with a title like 4 Minutes you’d fucking hope time would be important but have y’all ever read Youtube comments? It’s rough out there for visual comprehension okay? 

So all in all this scene is only 1 minute and 40 seconds give or take. It’s very short, but I don’t think it was boring at all. I think it’s a really solid introduction to a main character. Think, Korn didn’t get this much time to showcase his introduction, his scene is shorter - though also well done - which showcases which character is more of a story priority. 

This scene eases the audience into the story, inviting us to wake up into the world like Great is. It uses techniques like lines, shapes, symmetry, color and focus to make what could be a very boring scene into an interesting one. 

There’s so so much I probably and certainly missed, I’m far from an expert, but I hope I was able to articulate what I liked about this scene, and why I think it looks good. 

Stay tuned for more if I can manage to focus long enough to breakdown more scenes lol

Also red dots on Bible’s nipples are just funny to me it be what it be. 

Further Reading: 

Composition in Cinematography / THE LAST OF US

Center-Framing vs Chaos-Cinema: Mad Max vs Transformers

Camera Framing: Shot Composition & Cinematography Techniques Explained [The Shot List, Ep 2]

The Ultimate Guide to Camera Shots (50+ Types of Shots and Angles in Film)

Color Grading 101 - Everything You Need to Know

Mixing Film And Digital Footage: Killers Of The Flower Moon

In Praise of Subtle Cinematography

[the-crooked-library]

okay so I gotta say, I don’t believe the whole “vampires cannot make good art” thing. I just don’t buy it. Like, call me biased, but as a writer, I don’t think you could talk the way they do and not be good at least at writing. There’s no way.

(you are a challenge every sunset, Saint Louis)

(I had powers now, and decades of rage to process - and so it was both random and unfortunate the man picked that night to dabble in fuckery) (I mean are you kidding me, that line is MUSIC)

(THE NAME! The name, unuttered in our home for twenty-three years - said over and over, until it was pounding in my head like a hammer!)

As such: what I personally think is actually happening is something far more mundane. Picture this - you've just been turned. Vampirism has enhanced everything about you, so your senses are like 10 times more distracting, you're stronger, faster, you're murdering nightly, you're most likely born out of some sort of trauma, and on top of that you've got years to compound whatever issues you already had - which, surprise surprise, are also somehow more intense now, whodathunk, mainly because your senses/murder/immortality are fucking with them BIG. Seriously, think about it: how much would vampire senses exacerbate symptoms of ADHD or autism? Would the species change, the nocturnal lifestyle, the mind gift contribute to dissociation, psychosis, schizophrenia? Would the killings and the loss of community be a factor in the way your depression might develop - or religious scrupulosity? OCD?

It's not that vampires cannot make good art. It's just that it becomes supremely difficult to do so, especially given that they cannot take human medication/finding a nocturnal therapist would be a bitch even if you're modern/Louiiss mon cher what eez a coping mechanisme y'know. I am convinced with 100000% certainty that, given enough time and dedication a vampire could absolutely make good art again* - though, in all fairness, very few of the ones we know possess the patience. Mind gifts/vampire speed + strength/inherited riches tend to destroy that sort of skill real fast; still, though, it's not a curse. It's symptoms disease.

* It is also possible, just as it is for humans, to develop all sorts of technical skills and still lack the “eye” for art (cough Marius cough) - but in that case, maybe try music?.. start writing? Get into ASMR? you’ve got an eternity to fuck around. Do whatever.

[fastboatsmojito]

🕸️𖤐 Promptober Day Two - Choking 𖤐🕸️

| a/n; Tall man barely fits in the picture, poor thing </3

Promptober schedule here !

| cw; 18+ smut btc !!! Title, GN reader, Luca being a sweetheart <3

| wc; 755

Dividers by @strangergraphics <3

He was hesitant when you first asked, still sweaty as the heat of Chicago summers were dwindling, just getting comfortable on the couch beside you when you brought it up.

“Jesus, that was out of nowhere, sorry-“

You laughed softly at the look of surprise on his face and the realization that it was a little more difficult to bring up than you thought. “I was just thinking about it last night, and I didn’t want to ask you then and freak you out.”

“Sure- yeah. That makes sense. Well..” You could tell he was really thinking about what to say next, a habit of his you grew fond of, he was always so carefully kind. “I’m not against it I just want to make sure I know what I’m doing first, you know? I don’t to hurt you.”

“I know, sweet boy. No pressure.” You meant it, and so did he. You didn’t bring it up again until he did and he spent quite a while looking into the technicalities of it all.

-

Several weeks later, once the summer was officially gone - autumnal chill finally cooling off the city, you were reminded of the short and sweet conversation you’d all but forgotten about.

You were lighting a candle - pumpkin pancake to be specific, looking forward to cozying up on the couch with your boyfriend and some reality tv as soon as he got home. You pulled out all your shared favorites; your designated mugs soon to be full of apple cider, popcorn thrown together with peanut butter m&ms, plenty of Halloween themed blankets, all ready for a lovely night in.

You were bringing your mugs to the living room when he came in, kicking off his shoes and putting his keys back in the pumpkin-shaped dish he got for you a few days prior.

“Anyone tell you halloweens still a few weeks away?” He smiled at your slightly premature enthusiasm, coming up to hug you after you set the mugs down, falling back into the couch still squeezing you as you giggled.

“I knowww, but I’m excited!”

“Really? I couldn’t tell.” He said, smug as he laid down and pulled you to lay on top of him, resting your cheek against the soft fabric of his sweater. A strong hand was under your sweater, gently rubbing your back as you settled into him, getting used to the familiar warmth falling over you.

-

The show got less and less interesting when you looked up to kiss him, slow, soft kisses and touches getting longer and deeper as the tv turned to background noise. The warmth of his hand under your sweater pulled you closer into him, the lingering scent of your his ‘warm cider’ shampoo filling your nose as you moved your hands to his hair.

As you got impossibly closer, his hand on your back moving around and up to the back of your neck - you were reminded of the unintentionally abrupt conversation. You figured he forgot about it or just hadn’t had any time to think about it as it hadn’t come up again, his hand lingered at your neck when you pulled away.

He had just gotten confident enough in understanding how to choke someone without actually harming them. He wanted - needed to make you feel good, and he’d do basically anything to make that happen.

Just a few moments later you were lying under him, legs wrapped around his hips, his fingers clutching the sides of your ribs as he pulled you into him. He was just rough enough to make you drool, your eyes closed as your hands rested on his head tucked in your neck.

“Feel good?” He whispered low next to your ear, looking up at you when you hummed, moving your face towards his with a hand at the side of your neck.

His fingers were lazily draped over your throat, the simple, dizzy feeling - and the mere thought of him applying more pressure there, had you clenching around him. Which he noticed immediately to your dismay, embarrassed by the need he so easily drug out of you.

You weren’t sure exactly what you were begging for, pleas absentmindedly falling from your mouth until his hand gripped your throat, not applying any pressure until you looked up at him. “That’s all you need, isn’t it?” He cooed over you when you grabbed his wrist.

“Just tap my hand if you want me to stop, okay?”

<333

[jeannereames]

Could the quarrel between Cleitus and Alexander have ended differently—without Cleitus’s death—given that both were intoxicated and the argument took place during a symposium? At that stage of the Asian campaign, and under those specific circumstances, why did Alexander feel entitled to punish Cleitus with death? This incident appears all the more striking considering that Alexander had always sought to project an image of self-control and magnanimity—refusing, for instance, to harm Darius’s family and often conducting himself with measured restraint in politically delicate situations. One might ask: was the killing truly necessary, or was it a tragic failure of temper? Above all, we know that the sources have exaggerated the conflict between Philip and Alexander—so it’s difficult to fully understand Alexander’s reaction.

Could it have ended differently? Almost certainly. That’s the tragedy of the whole thing. I will say, I don’t think he “punished” Kleitos with death intentionally. His immediate reaction to the murder tells us it wasn’t anything so calculated as a deliberate execution. Like much in ATG’s career, we may know what happened, more or less, but not WHY it happened. That’s where the interpretation of our later authors (or the missing contemporary authors) gets in the way.

Some modern historians have even called into question whether it happened at a symposion, seeing the event as part of a later Roman trope of Drunk Alexander. Lord knows, Seneca and others use it as an example of an inability to control one’s passions. Nonetheless, Macedonian drinking parties—albeit exaggerated beginning with the writings of Theopompos on—were a feature of Macedonian royal life. I could see one that ended in such a terrible tragedy.

So, Alexander killed Kleitos, but the circumstances are confused.

The reported argument between Alexander and Kleitos contained in any of our extant sources must, I think, be regarded has highly suspect. Even our so-called “best” historical source, Arrian, places the event out of order in his history to create a narrative about Alexander’s increasing descent into Asian “tyrannical” rule, a part of which includes the proskynesis event which my colleague Hugh Bowden has taken the air out of quite effectively. I no longer believe proskynesis happened.

So, if we reject the Roman-influenced narrative of good ol’ boy Macedonian upset at Alexander’s New Persian Airs, WHAT THE F. HAPPENED??! Why did Alexander and Kleitos fight?

I’m not sure there’s a certain answer. But I do recall that (I think?) Waldemar Heckel pointed out the Kleitos event occurred in the wake of the Marakanda massacre, and the symposion at which ATG speared Kleitos also featured an informal “play” wherein the commanders of the lost troops were spoofed as at fault for their own deaths. It was the worst loss the Macedonians had experienced in Asia. Alexander wasn’t there, and so the loss didn’t technically fall on his tally sheet.

Except it did, because he failed to clarify the chain of command. This apparently resulted in contravening orders from the commanders, and that ended in catastrophic loss. At the symposion, Alexander did not call down as inappropriate those presenting the play.

That infuriated Kleitos, who challenged Alexander, and Alexander replied in a rage.

To me, that actually makes some real sense. The whole Baktria-Sogdiana campaign wasn’t going well and the Marakanda massacre became a very bloody cherry on top. Kleitos dared to call out Alexander for it. Things got really ugly…and just as bloody.

If there was any silver lining, it’s that Alexander had some sense knocked into him. He looked more closely at the conflict. After this event, when he captured the Sogdian Rock and (maybe?) Roxana, he married his way out of the war in Baktria-Sogdiana. I say maybe captured Roxana as it’s unclear if he acquired her there or earlier. Either way, he married her now and was able to leave the region (in peace) about three months later. The Marakanda massacre and murder of Kleitos appear to have been turning points in how ATG assessed his regional strategy.

I am not so cynical about Alexander that I doubt his sincere upset over what he did. That’s part of why I think he (and Kleitos) may really have been drunk. But he appears to have learned something from it.

[tide-locked]

it's time for the long-threatened post about how to get subtitles (including translated ones) for videos that don't have subtitles.

in my experience, the methods in this post can probably get you solidly 75% or more of the content of many videos (caveats inside). i've tested this on videos that are originally in chinese, english, french, german, hindi, japanese, korean, spanish, and honestly probably some languages that i'm forgetting. my experience is that it works adequately in all of them. not great, necessarily, but well enough that you can probably follow along.

this is a very long post because this is the overexplaining things website, and because i talk about several different ways to get the captions. this isn't actually difficult, though, or even especially time consuming—the worst of it is pushing a button and ignoring things for a while. actual hands-on work is probably five minutes tops, no matter how long the video is.

i've attempted to format this post understandably, and i hope it's useful to someone.

first up, some disclaimers.

this is just my experience with things, and your experience might be different. the tools used for (and available for) this kind of thing change all the time, and if you're reading this six months after i wrote it, your options might be different. this post is probably still a decent starting place.

background about my biases in this: i work in the creative industries. mostly i'm a fiction editor. i've also been a writer, a technical editor and writer, a transcriptionist, a copyeditor, and something i've seen called a 'translation facilitator' or 'rewrite editor', where something is translated fairly literally (by a person or a machine) and then a native speaker of the target language goes through and rewrites/restructures as needed to make the piece read more naturally in the target language. i've needed to get information out of business meetings that were conducted in a language i didn't speak, and have done a lot of work on things that were written in (or translated into) the writer's second or sixth language, but needed to be presented in natural english.

so to start, most importantly: machine translation is never going to be as good as a translation done by an actual human. human translators can reflect cultural context and nuanced meanings and the artistry of the work in a way that machines will never be able to emulate. that said, if machine translation is your only option, it's better than nothing. i also find it really useful for videos in languages where i have enough knowledge that i'm like, 75% sure that i'm mostly following, and just want something that i can glance at to confirm that.

creating subs like this relies heavily on voice-to-text, which—unfortunately—works a lot better in some situations than it does in others. you'll get the best, cleanest results from videos that have slow, clear speech in a 'neutral' accent, and only one person speaking at a time. (most scripted programs fall into this category, as do many vlogs and single-person interviews.) the results will get worse as voices speed up, overlap more, and vary in volume. that said, i've used this to get captions for cast concerts, reality shows, and variety shows, and the results are imperfect but solidly readable, especially if you have an idea of what's happening in the plot and/or can follow along even a little in the broadcast language.

this also works best when most of the video is in a single language, and you select that language first. the auto detect option sometimes works totally fine, but in my experience there's a nonzero chance that it'll at least occasionally start 'detecting' random other languages in correctly, or someone will say a few words in spanish or whatever, but the automatic detection engine will keep trying to translate from spanish for another three minutes, even tho everything's actually in korean. if there's any way to do so, select the primary language, even if it means that you miss a couple sentences that are in a different language.

two places where these techniques don't work, or don't work without a lot of manual effort on your part: translating words that appear on the screen (introductions, captions, little textual asides, etc), and music. if you're incredibly dedicated, you can do this and add it manually yourself, but honestly, i'm not usually this dedicated. getting captions for the words on the screen will involve either actually editing the video or adding manually translated content to the subs, which is annoying, and lyrics are...complicated. it's possible, and i'm happy to talk about it in another post if anyone is interested, but for the sake of this post, let's call it out of scope, ok? ok. bring up the lyrics on your phone and call it good enough.

places where these techniques are not great: names. it's bad with names. names are going to be mangled. resign yourself to it now. also, in languages that don't have strongly gendered speech, you're going to learn some real fun stuff about the way that the algorithms gender things. (spoiler: not actually fun.) bengali, chinese, and turkish are at least moderately well supported for voice-to-text, but you will get weird pronouns about it.

obligatory caveat about ai and voice-to-text functionality. as far as i'm aware, basically every voice-to-text function is ~ai powered~. i, a person who has spent twenty years working in the creative industries, have a lot of hate for generative ai, and i'm sure that many of you do, too. however, if voice-to-text (or machine translation software) that doesn't rely on it exists anymore, i'm not aware of it.

what we're doing here is the same as what douyin/tiktok/your phone's voice-to-text does, using the same sorts of technology. i mention this because if you look at the tools mentioned in this post, at least some of them will be like 'our great ai stuff lets you transcribe things accurately', and i want you to know why. chat gpt (etc) are basically glorified predictive text, right? so for questions, they're fucking useless, but for things like machine transcription and machine translation, those predictions make it more likely that you get the correct words for things that could have multiple translations, or for words that the software can only partially make out. it's what enables 'he has muscles' vs 'he has mussels', even though muscles and mussels are generally pronounced the same way. i am old enough to have used voice to text back when it was called dictation software, and must grudgingly admit that this is, in fact, much better.

ok! disclaimers over.

let's talk about getting videos

for the most part, this post will assume that you have a video file and nothing else. cobalt.tools is the easiest way i'm aware of to download videos from most sources, though there are other (more robust) options if you're happy to do it from the command line. i assume most people are not, and if you are, you probably don't need this guide anyhow.

i'm going to use 'youtube' as the default 'get a video from' place, but generally speaking, most of this works with basically any source that you can figure out how to download from—your bilibili downloads and torrents and whatever else will work the same way. i'm shorthanding things because this post is already so so long.

if the video you're using has any official (not autogenerated) subtitles that aren't burned in, grab that file, too, regardless of the language. starting from something that a human eye has looked over at some point is always going to give you better results. cobalt.tools doesn't pull subtitles, but plugging the video url into downsub or getsubs and then downloading the srt option is an easy way to get them for most places. (if you use downsub, it'll suggest that you download the full video with subtitles. that's a link to some other software, and i've never used it, so i'm not recommending it one way or the other. the srts are legit, tho.)

the subtitle downloaders also have auto translation options, and they're often (not always) no worse than anything else that we're going to do here—try them and see if they're good enough for your purposes. unfortunately, this only works for things that already have subtitles, which is…not that many things, honestly. so let's move on.

force-translating, lowest stress mode.

this first option is kind of a cheat, but who cares. youtube will auto-caption things in some languages (not you, chinese) assuming that the uploader has enabled it. as ever, the quality is kinda variable, and the likelihood that it's enabled at all seems to vary widely, but if it is, you're in for a much easier time of things, because you turn it on, select whatever language you want it translated to, and youtube…does its best, anyhow.

if you're a weird media hoarder like me and you want to download the autogenerated captions, the best tool that i've found for this is hyprscribr. plug in the video url, select 'download captions via caption grabber', then go to the .srt data tab, copy it out, and paste it into a text file. save this as [name of downloaded video].[language code].srt, and now you have captions! …that you need to translate, which is actually easy. if it's a short video, just grab the text, throw it in google translate (timestamps and all), and then paste the output into a new text file. so if you downloaded cooking.mp4, which is in french, you'll have three files: cooking.mp4, cooking.fr.srt, and cooking.en.srt. this one's done! it's easy! you're free!

but yeah, ok, most stuff isn't quite that easy, and auto-captioning has to be enabled, and it has some very obvious gaps in the langauges it supports. which is sort of weird, because my phone actually has pretty great multilingual support, even for things that youtube does not. which brings us to low-stress force translation option two.

use your phone

this seems a little obvious, but i've surprised several people with this information recently, so just in case. for this option, you don't even need to have downloaded the video—if it's a video you can play on your phone, the phone will almost definitely attempt real-time translation for you. i'm sure iphones have this ability, but i'm an android person, so can only provide directions for that: go into settings and search for (and enable) live translation. the phone will do its best to pick up what's being said and translate it on the fly for you, and if 'what's being said' is a random video on the internet, your phone isn't gonna ask questions. somewhat inexplicably, this works even if the video is muted. i do this a lot at like four a.m. when i'm too lazy to grab earbuds but don't want to wake up my wife.

this is the single least efficient way to force sub/translate things, in my opinion, but it's fast and easy, and really useful for those videos that are like a minute long and probably not that interesting, but like…what if it is, you know? sometimes i'll do this to decide if i'm going to bother more complicated ways of translating things.

similarly—and i feel silly even mentioning this, but that i didn't think of it for an embarrassingly long time—if you're watching something on a device with speakers, you can try just…opening the 'translate' app on your phone. they all accept voice input. like before, it'll translate whatever it picks up.

neither of these methods are especially useful for longer videos, and in my experience, the phone-translation option generally gives the least accurate translation, because in attempting to do things in real time, you lose some of the predicative ability that i was talking about earlier. (filling in the blank for 'he has [muscles/mussels]' is a lot harder if you don't know if the next sentence is about the gym or about dinner.)

one more lazy way

this is more work than the last few options, but often gives better results. with not much effort, you can feed a video playing on your computer directly into google translate. there's a youtube video by yosef k that explains it very quickly and clearly. this will probably give you better translation output than any of the on-the-fly phone things described above, but it won't give you something that you can use as actual subs—it just produces text output that you can read while you watch the video. again, though, really useful for things that you're not totally convinced you care about, or for things where there aren't a lot of visuals, or for stuff where you don't care about keeping your eyes glued to the screen.

but probably you want to watch stuff on the screen at the same time.

let's talk about capcut!

this is probably not a new one for most people, but using it like this is a little weird, so here we go. ahead of time: i'm doing this on an actual computer. i think you probably can do it on your phone, but i have no idea how, and honestly this is already a really long guide so i'm not going to figure it out right now. download capcut and put it on an actual computer. i'm sorry.

anyhow. open up capcut, click new project. import the file that you downloaded, and then drag it down to the editing area. go over to captions, auto captions, and select the spoken language. if you want bilingual captions, pick the language for that, as well, and the captions will be auto-translated into whatever the second language you choose is. (more notes on this later.)

if i remember right, this is the point at which you get told that you can't caption a video that's more than an hour long. however. you have video editing software, and it is open. split the video in two pieces and caption them separately. problem solved.

now the complicated part: saving these subs. (don't panic; it's not actually that complicated.) as everyone is probably aware, exporting captions is a premium feature, and i dunno about the rest of you, but i'm unemployed, so let's assume that's not gonna happen.

the good news is that since you've generated the captions, they're already saved to your computer, they're just kinda secret right now. there are a couple ways to dig them out, but the easiest i'm aware of is the biyaoyun srt generator. you'll have to select the draft file of your project, which is auto-saved once a minute or something. the website tells you where the file is saved by default on your computer. (i realised after writing this entire post that they also have a step-by-step tutorial on how to generate the subtitles, with pictures, so if you're feeling lost, you can check that out here.)

select the project file titled 'draft_content', then click generate. you want the file name to be the same as the video name, and again, i'd suggest srt format, because it seems to be more broadly compatible with media players. click 'save to local' and you now have a subtitle file!

translating your subtitles

you probably still need to translate the subtitles. there are plenty of auto-translation options out there. many of them are fee- or subscription-based, or allow a very limited number of characters, or are like 'we provide amazing free translations' and then in the fine print it says that they provide these translations through the magic of uhhhh google translate. so we're just going to skip to google translate, which has the bonus of being widely available and free.

for shorter video, or one that doesn't have a ton of spoken stuff, you can just copy/paste the contents of the .srt file into the translation software of your choice. the web version of google translate will do 5000 characters in one go, as will systran. that's the most generous allocation that i'm aware of, and will usually get you a couple minutes of video.

the timestamps eat up a ton of characters, though, so for anything longer than a couple minutes, it's easier to upload the whole thing, and google translate is the best for that, because it is, to my knowledge, the only service that allows you to do it. to upload the whole file, you need a .doc or .rtf file.

an .srt file is basically just a text file, so you can just open it in word (or gdocs or whatever), save it as a .doc, and then feed it through google translate. download the output, open it, and save it as an .srt.

you're done! you now have your video and a subtitle file in the language of your choice.

time for vibe, the last option in this post.

vibe is a transcription app (not a sex thing, even tho it sounds like one), and it will also auto-translate the transcribed words to english, if you want.

open vibe and select your file, then select the language. if you want it translated to english, hit advanced and toggle 'translate to english'. click translate and wait a while. after a few minutes (or longer, depending on how long the file is), you'll get the text. the save icon is a folder with a down arrow on it, and i understand why people are moving away from tiny floppy disks, but also: i hate it. anyhow, save the output, and now you have your subs file, which you can translate or edit or whatever, as desired.

vibe and capcom sometimes get very different results. vibe seems to be a little bit better at picking up overlapping speech, or speech when there are other noises happening; capcom seems to be better at getting all the worlds in a sentence. i feel like capcom maybe has a slightly better translation engine, of the two of them, but i usually end up just doing the translation separately. again, it can be worth trying both ways and seeing which gives better results.

special notes about dual/bilingual subs

first: i know that bilingual subs are controversial. if you think they're bad, you don't have to use them! just skip this section.

as with everything else, automatically generating gives mixed results. sometimes the translations are great, and sometimes they're not. i like having dual subs, but for stuff that Matters To Me, for whatever reason, i'll usually generate both just the original and a bilingual version, and then try some other translation methods on the original or parts thereof to see what works best.

not everything displays bilingual subs very well. plex and windows media player both work great, vlc and the default video handler on ubuntu only display whatever the first language is, etc. i'm guessing that if you want dual subbed stuff you already have a system for it.

i'll also point out that if you want dual subs and have gone a route other than capcom, you can create dual subs by pasting the translated version and the untranslated version into a single file. leave the timestamps as they are, delete the line numbers if there are any (sometimes they seem to cause problems when you have dual subs, and i haven't figured out why) and then literally just paste the whole sub file for the first language into a new file. then paste in the whole sub file for the second language. yes, as a single chunk, the whole thing, right under the first language's subs. save the file as [video name].[zh-en].srt (or whatever), and use it like any other sub file.

notes on translation, especially since we're talking about lengthy machine-translations of things.

i default to translation options that allow for translating in large chunks, mostly because i'm lazy. but since an .srt is, again, literally just a text file, they're easy to edit, and if you feel like some of the lines are weird or questionable or whatever, it's easy to change them if you can find a better translation.

so: some fast notes on machine translation options, because i don't know how much time most people spend thinking about this kind of stuff.

one sort of interesting thing to check out is the bing translator. it'll only do 1000 characters at once, but offers the rather interesting option of picking a level of formality. i can't always get it to work, mind, but it's useful especially for times when you're like 'this one line sounds weird'—sometimes the difference between what the translator feels is standard vs formal vs casual english will make a big difference.

very fast illustration of the difference in translations. the random video that i used to make sure i didn't miss any steps explaining things starts with '所以你第二季来'. here's how it got translated:

google: So you come to season 2

google's top alternative: So you come in the second season

bing's standard tone: So here you come for the second season

bing set to casual: So you're coming for the second season, huh?

reverso default guess: So you come in season two

reverso alternate guess: You'll be participating in season two

capcom: So you come in season two

yandex: So you come in the second season

systran: That's why you come in season two

deepl: That's why you're here in season two

vibe: So your second season is here

technically all conveying the same information, but the vibes are very different. sometimes one translator or another will give you a clearly superior translation, so if you feel like the results you're getting are kinda crap, try running a handful of lines through another option and see if it's better.

ok! this was an incredibly long post, and i've almost definitely explained something poorly. again, there are almost certainly better ways to do this, but these ways are free and mostly effective, and they work most of the time, and are better than nothing.

feel free to ask questions and i'll answer as best i can. (the answer to any questions about macs or iphones is 'i'm so sorry, i have no idea tho.' please do not ask those questions.)

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Dangancember 2024 - Danganronpa Top 24 Class Trials - Number 11: Danganronpa Another 2 Case 1 {BEST CASE FROM SDRA2}

//It's usually never a good sign for a mystery game when the best case in your entire game's run is the first one. It's truly a sign that the rest of what's to come really doesn't reach the bar that the initial case set.

//It's even more of a bad sign when on a ranking that takes into account every trial in the series...NONE of them from this particular game manage to breach the Top 10.

//Yeah, I didn't even keep this a secret, but SDRA2 hands down has the least interesting and least engaging trials and mysteries, and it's for a variety of reasons. But it's important to remember that the primary reason for why it doesn't isn't because the cases are bad.

//It's primarily because none of them succeed in reaching the heights of the original series, or the trials and themes of its prequel. Despite how much SDRA2 branches out, it's riddled with issues that really set it down.

//And unfortunately, even as the best case in the game, Case 1 still gets this high on the list not out of greatness or what it aspires to reach, but out of...decency...more than anything.

//As I said previously, despite the fact that SDRA2's final trial manages to avoid most of the issues that are common throughout the finale's of these games, it still unfortunately fell victim to them, which is what pushed it down from being the standout trial of SDRA2. And as it stands, the first trial on the twisted island still then turns out to be the overall achiever.

//The interesting thing is that the reason why A2-6 got as high as this is because of the way it handles and resolves all the stakes that the rest of SDRA2 spent a lot of time putting focus on and dwelling over. The reason why A2-1 on the other hand gets the highest is because of how well it SETS them.

//To be honest, without spoiling what Number 10 on this list is, it was quite difficult to decide which between it, and this trial would manage to breach the Top 10. It'll make more sense when we actually cover it tomorrow, but the main reason is because this trial and that one share quite a bit in common.

//When it comes to opening cases in a Danganronpa game, A2-1 manages to get this high, higher than any other trial in SDRA2, because it's the only one that successfully manages to hit all the important story beats and tones that the better opening trials of the games SHOULD have.

//And again, you will see when we get to tomorrow's analysis just how similar they are, but what clear points and aspects made it take the victory over this trial.

//Before I go into the actual case, trial, and mystery itself though, I want to talk about one major thing with this trial that raises its stakes incredibly high compared to every other opening trial in the series except maybe for V3's. We obviously all know it now, and it's a widely recognized twist.

//To this day, no other Fanganronpa has been able to top the first big plot twist of the game. I have seen some that have tried, but they ultimately have failed.

//Simply the fact that the MASTERMIND is KNOWN and is PART of the trial!

//Obviously, he's not the culprit, as easy as that might be, but the reason why this aspect of SDRA2 is so infamous is because...it deserves to be. It's an INSANE gambit, and...one that doesn't really pull off for the first few chapters, but one that MASSIVELY pays off later.

//And yes, I know that it technically happens in the prologue, but the weight of it is carried through all of the first chapter, and into the trial. What do you want me to say about Mikado's Mastermind reveal that hasn't been said already?

//Danganronpa has never been great when it comes to hinting at who could be the Mastermind behind everything. It's like the series thrives on blindsiding you but forgets that twists work best when there's some setup.

//Junko’s big gambit, where she swaps places with Mukuro and lets her sister take the fall, is honestly clever...on paper. But then she disappears from the narrative like your car keys when you're late for work. There’s nary a whisper about her until Chapter 5, and by then, it’s like the game is shouting, "Surprise!" without actually planting enough breadcrumbs.

//Imagine if there’d been subtle hints that Mukuro’s death wasn’t what it seemed, like a weird comment, a loose thread, or anything of that caliber. Then maybe, just maybe, the moment Junko reappears wouldn’t feel like a plot twist straight out of a soap opera.

//DR2’s Mastermind twist with AI Junko is a lot better executed, leveraging DR1’s already established factors and plot points, taking advantage of the virtual world setting, and cranking up the absurdity to eleven. But then Izuru pops up just completely out of nowhere for the first time in this chapter, like that one coworker who shows up only for cake on someone’s last day.

//This enigmatic Hope Cultivation Plan is suddenly crucial, and Izuru himself becomes a convoluted justification for Hajime’s Reserve Course connection to the killing game. Sure, it’s a twist, but it’s also like trying to do algebra with no setup. You can figure it out, but you’re left wondering why no one bothered to explain anything beforehand.

//I barely count Izuru as a Mastermind anyway, but I still have to acknowledge his role here. Then we get to Another 1’s Utsuro, who is…marginally better than Izuru in terms of buildup, but it still feels like someone tossed his name into the story five minutes before the reveal.

//"Oh, yeah, this guy? Totally important. He also has this busted power that we didn't bring up before. Didn’t you notice?" No, game. No, I did not.

//And then there’s Tsumugi. She’s physically present for the entire game, but emotionally? Spiritually? This girl is on vacation. The only breadcrumbs leading to her being the Mastermind are obscure references to past games that most players wouldn’t notice unless they were studying the lore like it’s for finals.

//When her true role is revealed, you don’t gasp. You laugh, because there’s no way this human equivalent of lukewarm oatmeal was orchestrating anything. Her reveal is so anticlimactic it’s like discovering the person behind the curtain is your introverted cousin who forgot to bring snacks to the family reunion.

//But do you want to know what really pisses me off about all these lackluster villain reveals?

//Hyper Danganronpa H2O exists and somehow does this better.

//HYPER! DANGANRONPA! H2O! Does this better!

//The fangan everyone loves to hate; he game universally dismissed as "meh," actually sets up its Mastermind better than the canon games.

//For some brief context, HDRH2O's mastermind is Oliver Feng, who in the end turns out to be more of a pawn for his mother and the leader of Fang, Emilia, but was an integral part to the Killing Game and keeping it running for the duration.

//If you bother to spend time with Oliver, pay attention to his dialogue, or notice his oddly specific backstory, you’ll find little nuggets that make the final reveal feel earned. Sure, it’s not Shakespeare, but compared to the canon games? It’s somehow way more impactful and emotional.

//Of course, the hands down best Mastermind reveal of the lot is Akane Taira, but we've already been over that and will go over it again when we get to the final trial of DRA. Let’s just spill the beans about Mikado for now, shall we?

//LINUJ throws tradition out the window and just reveals the Mastermind right at the beginning of the game. No buildup, no fake-outs, just outs him immediately. But he still manages to keep his game running because he displays his absolutely insane degree of power of everyone, and establishes himself as an unstoppable force, namely by killing one of the key cast members of the original game.

//Rei obviously turns out to be alive later, but it doesn't hurt the standing of the twist.

//Bold move, right? It’s like starting a murder mystery by telling everyone who the killer is, then daring them to still enjoy the ride.

//And honestly? It works. The reveal is so unexpected, it flips the entire formula on its head. Mikado’s conduct in the early chapters might not scream "evil genius", more like "eccentric nerd at a LARP convention," but the sheer audacity of the twist sets SDRA2 apart.

//Instead of waiting until Chapter 6 to reveal the mastermind and cramming all their screen time into an hour, Mikado gets to lurk around, causing drama and tension the entire game. It’s a gutsy choice, and while the rest of the game doesn’t always hit the same high notes, this opening move is one heck of a power play.

//The next point I want to make with this trial is the characters involved in it, to which the key thing first of all is the victim.

//Yuri Kagarin is one of my least favourite characters in the Another series, and...I feel like I shouldn't really need to explain what is wrong with this man. As a character, he's like an unholy amalgamation of some of Danganronpa's most controversial characters.

//He has the suaveness and degeneracy of Teruteru, the crazy psychology of Nagito, and the rampant unscrupulous misandry of Tenko, all squished together, and...let's just say that doesn't make a healthy person.

//Which...unfortunately made him quite possibly the most obvious first death in the entire series.

//Aside from the fact that the three characters I just listed die in very horrible ways, it's also because you know that he's not going to be the rival or antag character because you already have both Mikado and Syobai who had slotted into the role immediately, so the only way out for him for the foreseeable future is to be the blackened or the victim of the first chapter, of which, he turned out to be the former.

//However, I would argue that even Tenko is a much deeper character than Yuri, and that says all you need to know really. Tenko is so one-note compared to most mainline Danganronpa characters, and it's really hard to like her unless you actually look at her other traits BESIDES the rampant sexism.

//What makes Tenko so interesting is that despite her beliefs and view of the male/female dynamic, there are elements of logic to her, despite the fact that she falls more squarely on the "belief" side of V3's Logic Vs Belief dynamic. The fact that she tried to infiltrate the student council, as well as how she ultimately realized that trying to dispose of Angie wouldn't solve anything, and would just upset Himiko.

//Yuri on the other hand...is not nearly as logical, despite his very apparent intelligence. But he's still interesting, especially because his dedication to females can't necessarily be chalked up to "my mind says no, but my dick says yes."

//Yuri is not a pervert. He's just...delusional. While I don't like him, and he's probably my least favourite character in SDRA2 besides only Nikei, I still have to acknowledge that what LINUJ made him out to be was...a methodical madman of a character.

//Yuri does not simply "love women," he, and I quote, "dedicated his life to women." And even though he's around for only one chapter, he's still a character that's very important to pay attention to.

//Wow, I'm REALLY overanalysing fucking Yuri Kagarin, aren't I? I've become one of THOSE people, haven't I?

//Alright, well...fuck it, I guess...

//Yuri is the kind of character who wears his eccentricities on his sleeve, and perhaps also on a flashing neon sign above his head. From the moment he enters the scene, he makes no effort to hide his unabashed adoration for the "fairer sex," to the point where he refers to Sora, a virtual stranger, with pet names during their free time events.

//This is a man who flirts with the fervor of someone auditioning for The Bachelor, but with a peculiar chivalry that tempers his otherwise suggestive remarks. For instance, when Sora questions his motives after he invites her to his dorm, he reassures her that he would never touch a woman without her permission. It’s like he read "How to Be a Gentleman for Dummies" but skipped a few chapters.

//As for men, Yuri’s disdain for them borders on theatrical. He dismisses them as "scum," compares them to pebbles on the street, and claims their mere existence gives him headaches.

//Despite, you know, being a man himself, and not even ignoring that fact.

//You almost expect him to hiss and clutch his pearls whenever a male character enters the room. His double standard is on full display when he refuses to share information with Nikei but spills the beans to Emma without hesitation. It’s no wonder the female cast quickly grows tired of him, with Setsuka, who is typically friendly to everyone, being no exception.

//Despite his aversion to men and his questionable social skills, Yuri isn’t entirely devoid of redeeming qualities. For one, he’s surprisingly pragmatic about being kidnapped, describing himself as a "veteran" of such situations (which begs more questions than it answers). Instead of panicking, he adopts a "make the best of it" attitude, which is almost admirable.

//His long-standing dream of being remembered as a savior by a woman, revealed to be genuine thanks to Kokoro’s emotional detection, adds an oddly tragic layer to his character. He seems prepared to sacrifice himself to achieve this dream, suggesting a deep-seated willingness to place others’ well-being above his own, even if it’s rooted in a peculiar and arguably unhealthy worldview.

//And I wish that some kind of Omake could delve deeper into what made him this way. Although overall, I am glad that Yuri did die here and now so we didn't have to put up with his bullshit through the rest of the game.

//One thing that LINUJ does do that I appreciate a lot is that even when he makes some of the most dogshit or nasty human beings ever, he doesn't keep them around for more than a little while. Even Nikei, who I've said in the past I despise, is tolerable for most of the game before he goes all egomaniacal after his VOID reveal in Chapter 4.

//Speaking of VOID reveals, we will get to that in just a moment, but first, I want to quickly jump in and say that WOW this investigation and trial is GOOD!

//This is by far the most complex opening case of all the one's featured on this list, but it commits to it spectacularly.

//Let's talk about a few points that stood out for me. There are quite a few cool things about this case, but these are the notable ones that kind of make and break this trial for me.

//Starting with one that I kind of already went over, but I'll go into more detail in how it affects the trial is the fact that Mikado is actively PART of what's going on, even though we know he's the one behind the Killing Game itself.

//Which makes this like inviting the wolf to dinner and having him politely help with the dishes.

//Ah cool, I even have a CG for it...

//Despite everyone treating him like public enemy number one, Mikado pulls his weight in the discussion, offering genuine insights and guidance. For me, this creates a fascinating tension, and makes the twist itself pay off in this trial. While his help is invaluable, his status as the mastermind makes everyone, including you, question his motives. There's no guarantee that he's being sincere, or if is this all part of a larger manipulation.

//Mikado’s cooperation not only sets a unique tone for the trial but also makes it clear that in this game, nothing will be as simple as it seems.

//And this is reinforced with who the killer ACTUALLY turns out to be, but...again...that's probably the best part of the trial, so I'll save that for last.

//The second point is how Kokoro Mitsume’s Ultimate Psychologist abilities add an entirely new dynamic to the trial, because she enters the courtroom already knowing the killer’s identity, thanks to her borderline mind-reading skills.

//In short, she reveals that she knows who the killer is based on their facial expressions after she asked them all the same question at the beginning of the trial, which is something that hasn't ever happened before to my knowledge. The only time a non-blackened went into a trial knowing who the killer was immediately was Fuyuhiko, because he was there when it all happened, and technically Tsumugi because of her cheap shot.

//Despite Kokoro being subtle enough throughout this trial, this flips the typical formula on its head. Usually, everyone is equally in the dark, fumbling their way toward the truth, but Kokoro’s quiet confidence and refusal to immediately reveal the killer add suspense, making you wonder when and how she’ll drop the bombshell. It’s like having Sherlock Holmes in the room but with a maddening poker face.

//Which is another reason why I'm so disappointed with her as a character, because I do get that this ability is overpowered, but I WISH that Kokoro had stayed around for more of the game. It might have given me more of a reason to care about her true villainous side that's revealed later.

//This is also the first chance we get to see how Syobai, as our clearly established rival character, acts in the trials and...well...it's certainly DIFFERENT.

//While most rival characters in the series seize control of trials with the swagger of a peacock, i.e. Byakuya’s arrogance, Nagito’s chaos, Kokichi’s antics, and Tsurugi's...Tsurugi-ing...Syobai is the polar opposite.

//He barely participates, and when he does, it’s to sow even more confusion by handing Sora FALSE EVIDENCE.

//Introducing a fake Truth Bullet is a wild departure from the series norm and completely throws off the usual rhythm of deductive gameplay.

//Syobai also chastises others for not taking the trial seriously, all while refusing to lift a finger himself. He’s like the world’s laziest coach yelling from the sidelines. Frustrating, hypocritical, but undeniably entertaining.

//Also, I don't know if I really said this before, but this is by far one of the most entertaining murder traps in the series; at least among the first cases. It's like murder via Rube Goldberg machine.

//The creativity behind Yuri’s murder is equal parts horrifying and ingenious. The killer hoists him to the top of a bell tower using hooks in his ankles and then drops him to his death. A gruesome spectacle in its own right. But it gets even better. The setup doubles as a makeshift zipline for the killer to escape unnoticed, using Yuri’s body as a counterweight.

//It’s a grimly efficient plan that leaves players marveling at the killer’s resourcefulness while trying not to wince at the vivid imagery.

//However...this is also where I kind of want to start talking about what my key problem is with this case...

//To prevent myself from talking in circles, its the fact that this crime was a lot more complicated than it probably NEEDED to be. And quite a lot of it is waffling and ending up at an incorrect conclusion before the killer is ultimately outed.

//Now, it's important to remember that ALL of the first trials in the series DO this. However, all of them do so for a very clear reason:

DR1's first trial had everyone immediately suspect Makoto before the truth around Sayaka's trap, and the fact that Leon didn't understand the subtle problems with Makoto's room, began to come to light. But for most of it, he and Toko corner and berate Makoto to no end, not giving him a chance to speak up for himself before Kyoko ultimately helps him.

The entire first half of DR2's trial is exploring evidence, then pinpointing Nagito as the killer, which turns out to be wrong, and he intentionally leads everyone on. As Hiyoko even points out, by the time the trial phase ends, they aren't any closer to figuring out that Teruteru is the murderer.

V3's trial is dragged out as much as it is because that was Kaede's whole plan. She explores every out to try and find the Mastermind, and only reverts back to standard form and lets herself be outed for her crimes when blame starts to be pinned on Shuichi.

A lot of DRA's trial is trying to find a way to prove the girls are innocent, even though the body is in an area that only they can get to, and drags on for so long because Mitch is a Bitch, and this comes back to bite him massively in the end.

//In the case of this trial, the way it's dragged out is the killer attempts to frame Yoruko by knocking her out and planting her at the crime scene is a clever misdirection...

//...Until you remember Yuri’s obsessive devotion to women.

//As a man who would literally let a woman kill him without resistance, which by the way, he said so himself, framing Yoruko backfires hilariously. Instead of incriminating her, it makes the whole scenario feel absurdly implausible.

//On the one hand, this adds a layer of humor to the trial while also giving Yoruko a chance to prove her subtle importance to the narrative as a character, but on the other...it doesn't feel like the most well-thought out red herring.

//Especially since the killer literally LEAVES ANAESTHETIC at the crime scene, proving that he must have used it SOMEHOW! Yeah, they used it on Yuri first and foremost, but they could've also used it on Yoruko.

//In-universe, maybe its more complex than it appears, but at the same time, if you've played literally any of these games, you already know that there's some bull-fuckery going on.

//As one last little note about this trial, Kanade Otonokoji plays a surprisingly understated role in this trial, which in hindsight is a good move.

//She doesn’t dominate the discussion or reveal her manipulative tendencies outright, but there are subtle hints of her intelligence and sadistic nature lurking beneath her innocent façade.

//This restrained performance makes her eventual unraveling in later cases all the more shocking. For now, she’s content to play the helpful team member, but the cracks in her mask are there for those paying close attention.

//I mean, none of us can argue that her not leading the discussion the whole way through is a plus, because that is what severely brings down A2-2 and A2-3.

//With that being said though, it doesn't really destroy my opinion of the trial, or of the murder method. This is still one of my favourite murder schemes in the series because of the harmony of complexity on paper, simplicity in practice.

//The first trial of SDRA2 is a chaotic cocktail of subversions, creative murder mechanics, and character-driven intrigue. Each element feels fresh, unpredictable, and undeniably engaging, making this opening case a standout moment in the franchise.

//But of course, one thing you might have noticed is that I have forgone mentioning one very critical detail throughout this analysis that is sort of kind of important, and it's mainly because I wanted to save this point as the last thing I covered, because it's one of my favourite parts of the trial:

//The Culprit.

//I don't think I talk about this character enough, but not only is he one of my favourite characters in SDRA2, he's easily my favourite killer, AND my favourite member of VOID for a variety of reasons.

//Hajime Makunouchi is an INSANELY compelling character, and by far one of the most underrated characters in this game.

//At first glance, Makunouchi seems like your friendly neighborhood gym coach. Laidback, health-conscious, and always ready for a chat about wellness. His budding bromance with Shinji, complete with morning exercises, is the kind of wholesome interaction that feels out of place in a killing game, and initially, I really thought that he might be the Chapter 2 killer because of how similar his connection with Shinji was to Taka's connection with Mondo.

//But Hajime isn’t just your average health guru. He has a passive-aggressive edge, quietly resenting those who neglect their well-being.

//It’s almost ironic, then, that the man advocating for self-improvement becomes the first killer, using his physical prowess to orchestrate Yuri’s elaborate demise. And I want to talk about his reasons for doing it a little bit, even though we're all familiar with it.

//If there's one point of commonality between the first-case killers of the DR series, it's that even if there is a sense of nobility in their actions (Teruteru and Kaede being the key examples) their motivations ultimately all boil down to them acting in their own best interests.

//For Mitch in the previous game, it was pure selfishness with a distinct lack of layers to it. But for Makunouchi, there are some very interesting layers to it.

//Hajime's motivation to murder Yuri was not just for HIS benefit, and it wasn't done out of spite, or any particular distaste towards Yuri. He was just an easy target...and Makunouchi is a member of VOID.

//For context, VOID is first brought up by Mikado in the prologue just before his reveal as the Mastermind. He claims its an organization that he runs, but it only props up in one easily-missed line of dialogue.

//It all comes crashing back here when Makunouchi reveals that he is a MEMBER of this organization, and that the OTHER members are also hiding among the main cast of the game.

//As you know, VOID turned out to be one of the most disappointing group of villains I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with.

//HOOOWEEEVERR. As a design, a function, and a concept in a Danganronpa game, they are SO FUCKING COOL!

//And Makunouchi alone sells them as a group. Not only is he the best member OF them, but his reveal of his true identity and motive is AMAZING! It somehow raises the stakes EVEN HIGHER than Mikado's reveal of the Mastermind did!

//And with a few minor exceptions, it's actually a fairly original concept as far as Dangans n' Fangans go.

//In the classic Danganronpa formula, the mastermind usually operates solo or with a few cronies in the background, namely Junko and the Ultimate Despair, but for the most part, Junko's a lone wolf when it comes to the killing games. She even kills off her OWN support (Mukuro) immediately, and outs her backup support (Sakura) personally later down the line.

//Mikado and VOID’s setup flips this on its head. By revealing there are four additional traitors working among the participants, SDRA2 transforms from a whodunit murder mystery into a high-stakes game of Mafia/Werewolf.

//Now, every player isn’t just looking over their shoulder for potential killers; they’re wondering who’s secretly pulling strings for Mikado.

//Hajime’s confession didn’t just expose him. It broke the trust between everyone else. In the original Danganronpa games, trust is always a fragile thing, but here, it’s obliterated.

//With the knowledge that nearly 20% of the cast is actively working against them, every smile becomes suspect, every friendly interaction a potential ploy. The game went from a deathmatch to a psychological warfare simulator, and watching the characters struggle to maintain alliances or even basic conversations while knowing they might be talking to a VOID operative added a level of tension that few fan games, or even official titles, have managed to replicate.

//When SDRA2 was releasing chapter by chapter, the VOID twist ignited a storm of fan theories that rivaled Game of Thrones Reddit discussions. People debated endlessly about who could be VOID and why they would join Mikado, and theories ranged from the plausible to the downright absurd, because of course, everything’s canon until it’s not.

//The uncertainty surrounding VOID was a masterstroke because it didn’t just engage the characters. It turned the audience into detectives. Every piece of dialogue, every facial expression, every random aside was scrutinized for potential VOID subtext.

//For a game that was being released chapter by chapter instead of all at once, this was an INGENIOUS move on LINUJ's part.

//Makunouchi’s revelation also underscored just how bleak the situation was. In the original series, you at least had the comfort of knowing most of the cast were victims of circumstance. Here, SDRA2 threw that out the window.

//The idea that four other participants chose to align themselves with Mikado added a layer of existential dread. It’s one thing to fight against a singular antagonist, but knowing your friends might willingly be helping them? That’s enough to make even the strongest bonds crumble. Mikado’s genius wasn’t just in the killing game itself; it was in weaponizing human relationships and trust.

//The VOID twist elevated SDRA2 by introducing a more complex narrative structure and forcing characters and players alike to grapple with themes of loyalty, deception, and moral ambiguity.

//It's not just about solving murders anymore. It's about unraveling a web of conspiracies while trying not to get caught in it yourself. And let’s be honest: the twist gave the fandom so much to talk about.

//But putting that aside, it's not just the moment itself that makes Makunouchi my favourite villain in this game.

//Once Makunouchi is exposed as Yuri’s killer, his personality does a complete 180, flipping faster than a pancake on a hot griddle, as most twist villains in this series tend to do.

//At first, he’s shockingly chill about the whole murder thing, and justifies his actions as being part of a grander conspiracy for a good cause, and...there's some truth to this. But when his execution is brought up, the chill evaporates. He flies into a rage, threatening to expose Void’s secrets if Mikado doesn’t let him go, as though threatening the mastermind would somehow work.

//Spoiler alert: it doesn’t.

//But what really sold me on him is what we find out about him AFTER the fact.

//Via Void Theater of all things.

//Not only does Makunouchi have an incredibly engaging backstory and life prior to this game that really define what sort of person he presents himself as in SDRA2's Killing Game, but his time in the Void Theatre is where the layers of his character start to peel back.

//His cocky, self-assured exterior crumbles, revealing a man somewhat haunted by his actions. He begins to show genuine remorse for killing Yuri, realizing how far he and the rest of Void have strayed from their humanity in search of their ultimate goal.

//His claims about genuinely enjoying the time spent with his fellow participants feel surprisingly earnest in hindsight, adding a tragic edge to his story. Hajime wanted to be better, but his role in Void and the circumstances of the game made that impossible. In a way, he’s a victim of his own aspirations. A man who sought improvement but ended up losing himself along the way.

//By the end, he’s made peace with his fate, even finding the strength to reconcile with Nikei and Emma. He even makes one last request to hear one of Emma's god-awful puns. It’s a bittersweet moment that shows how far he's come, from health nut to killer to a man seeking redemption that he may never really get.

//He's just...such a good and underappreciated character in this game, and besides...a certain someone...who one could argue barely even counts, he is EASILY the best first-killer in the series. Especially in the way he defies the preconcieved ideas that LINUJ advocates through his work.

//Hajime Makunouchi is proof that people, by nature, are multi-faceted, capable of both terrible deeds and sincere growth. And hey, if nothing else, his arc proves one thing: just because someone’s good at cardio doesn’t mean they’re not running from their problems.

//But yeah, that's really it. The only reason why SDRA2 Case 1 fails to make the top 10 is that it's just not as good a mystery as the trials that come after it, but what it DOES do right, it knocks out of the park. 10/10 no notes.

//This trial is one of the best fan-made cases ever, simply because it perfectly encapsulates what Danganronpa is all about.

[rmorde]

Trigun Manga Reaction

Here we go! Chapter 8 Volume... Huh?

Voulme 2? I thought this is still Volume 1. Am I tripping?

Anyway! Just a moment of appreciation for this parody page of he cover.

This while thing is so "busy" yet it still make sense. There's so many elements layering on top of each other. It should be a confusing mess. However, I can still easily pick out the four components that tells a story.

Component 1: Vash as a happy salary man being served a drink by a geisha (judging from the hairstyle and accessory) with shadowed eyes on the opposite end of the page.

Component 2: BDN at the dead center. The text makes it a bit difficult to confirm if he has a top knot, but he definitely is rocking a traditional Japanese look. He looks menacingly at Vash as he drinks.

Component 3: Meryl and Milly running in a hurry but for two clearly different purposes. Meryl looks like a traditional restaurant staff frantically trying to serve a lot of guests. Meanwhile, Milly doesn't look she's working anywhere near the food service industry with her get up and the tool that she has on hand.

Component 4: The Bad Lads drinking in celebration while an ambulance seems to be sounding its sirens as it parked near them.

Look. I may seem to be too obsessed with this gag page but it's crazy how its a fucking busy mess that still works at telling a cohesive story!

With just this two page drawing, I can infer easily that someone is in danger and may need to be hospitalized - so the ambulance was called and asked to stand by. Milly is probably the heroine about to save the day with the overworked yet eager to help Meryl. The party the Bad Lads are having is a big distraction at a possible murder attempt starring Vash as the victim, the geisha as the accomplice, and BDN as the mastermind.

I'M SORRY BUT HOW THE FUCK?!!!

And don't get me started on the scaling of each figure and the silhouettes. Just... I'll just repeat, Nightow is amazing for how pretty AND technical his drawing is. It's so clean. Wow...

Sorry for getting derailed. So, back to the chapter.

Ok. I lied. Let me just appreciate Winter Mery and Milly here. I love them so much and they so fucking cute here with their dynamic pose... solid silhouette... Clean fucking lines... Sorry... Give me a minute!!!

Sigh~

Interesting. So, '98 rearranged the sequence of events here. This happened a bit later... which I think is better. It adds more impact on Vash's duel against BDN.

These guys are no stormtrooper shooters. They having really good aim!

They didn't hit Vash. Okay. Maybe the tails of his coat now have fresh bullet holes, but aside from that, Vash is fairly intact. The Bad Lads have great accuracy.

This is an intriguing way of drawing a spinning gun. It's simple but effective in visually communicating that that is what BDN is doing. A good choice. Thinking about it... If three twirling guns in a blur of circles were drawn, it would be too distracting and BDN will be overwhelmed in the panel.

Cool foreshortening. Incredible detail on the filigree. And a bonus Goofy Face Vash!

So so fucking glad '98 was faithful to the manga with these scenes. Meryl and Milly were such badasses here.

Huh... Well that's a huge difference. There's not much:

GASP! It'S VaSH tHe STampeDE!

vASh ThE StAMpEdE?!

VASH THE STAMPEDE!!!

It can get a bit much... sometimes in '98. So, this is refreshing.

WHAT...

WHAT THE FLYING FUCK?!!!

So, those lines by Miss Purple Avenger from the filler episode were originally from BRILLIANT DYNAMITES NEON?!

I-

Oooohhh.... Pretty art... Wait no... I can't distracted. I'm mad!

I'M VERY VERY MAD!!!

OML! This is much more intense! IT ADDS SO MUCH WEIGHT TO THE DUEL!

Oh my goodness... This nuance... WHY WAS THIS CHANGED?!

Not to say that Miss Purple Avenger and the episode featuring her was bad. It was actually great! Her version of July was nightmare inducing... and her confrontation with Vash was truly tragic too but.... Uhm...uh... AAHHHH!!!! I CAN'T CHOOSE! THEY'RE BOTH GOOD!

Oh... break my heart into fucking pieces will you huh?!

LOOK AT THESE! Manga Vash getting cheered on by the people! People were supporting him! He is being treated nicely as he deserved.

Even in '98! It was not as overt at this page. However, that scene of the captain from the beginning of this chapter replaced these panels instead and is just as effective. '98 Vash has people believing the good in him.

TRISTAMP VASH WAS ROBBED!!! HE NEVER HAD THESE!!! That poor precious boy! The few precious people who supports him only showed up near the end... and... and...

Now getting even more upset again with the Jeonora Episodes in Tristamp!

It's so not fair!

Oooh. A cinematic page!

HOLY SHIT!!! THESE PAGES ARE AMAZING!

I can't believe this. This fight is better in the manga!

I am not dissing Studio Madhouse for what they've done tho. The '98 Duel was epic too! They did great! But all these crazy angles and perspectives in the manga just elevate the overall awesomeness of the gunfight. It's just more immersive.

Tbf to the '98 anime, this is a nightmare to animate faithfully. With the technology and techniques at the time, this would be so difficult to pull off beautifully - going topsy turvy in one smooth motion for two characters at the same time in a fight scene with a complicated moving background? Yeah... The animation staff would go insane. It's totally understandable that they simplified this duel into extreme close ups and strong facial + gun drawings instead.

I hope Studio Orange re-hashes this fight in some way tho... or does the Episode 1 duel count?

Sigh... With the my discovery that Miss Purple Avenger's lines were actually BDN's, and that the outrage towards Vash for not remembering anything about July belongs to the Bad Lads', these words have become so much more meaningful.

It's also now more effective at convincing me that Brilliant Dynamites Neon have hidden depths.

Oh... Ow... The detailing here is just ow for the hands of an artist. Perhaps I overreacting, but those fine lines in the crooks and crannies make me wince.

Once again tag responses:

@revenantghost

Yeah. The more I see his work, the more I'm awed by his skills. That's a cool detail that his design incorporate realism. I thought the glasses are for the light tho? But maybe it's like those the Olympian gunners wore during the competition?

The dead REALLY haunting the narrative? Looking forward to it!

@takeshidude

Ok. Monthly publication are still grueling but at least its not as nightmarish with weekly mangakas. No wonder the quality is consistent with the art. Nightow was allowed to breathe.

You make a good point. '98 did have a bit of a mystery woven into it. We know Vash the Stampede - we follow his misadventures and people kept saying who he is ad nauseam in every episode. However, we don't really know know him for quite a long time. It's a different, but no less interesting, spin to the story.

Which kinda explains I'm misremembering some scenes and characterizations? The last third of '98 made a long lasting impression that I kinda forgot about Vash's horn dogginess.

[rowanyx]

So in the Adventuring Party, Brennan asked Beardsley whether there is a world in which Kristen gives up being a Cleric.

Mechanics-wise, I understand why the response was a no. That kind of big change would have a lot of restructuring to do, from the character sheet to minis to even plot changes, which would be difficult mid-season like this. (See Riz's sub-class change from Inquisitor to Arcane Trickster happening now, rather than when we actually met Pok)

Story-wise, though, I respectfully disagree. In fact, I posit there is many a world in which Kristen could change her class.

The big one, I think, would be Paladin. Especially either Redemption or Oathbreaker. After all, you could easily argue that this whole situation (i.e. Cassandra seeing Kristen not putting her priesthood first, dying, and the new mysterious voice that taunted the party with the rotting corpse of the god Kristen already failed) cumulates into exactly the type of description for an Oathbreaker (going back on their word and then joining up with some evil entity instead). And, well, after two gods dying, one you've very much stated to want to be good for but can't get yourself to do so, sounds very much like the type of person that would seek Redemption. If not for themselves, at least for others.

And this could also work to show sort of backslide into the Applebee's family drama. After all, we know Bucky just started as a Paladin himself. He's probably not high enough leveled to have a sub-class of his own, but doesn't Redemption fit? The kid who was forced into Kristen's old role, who is already going around trying to save his classmates from Hell? If Kristen did switch to Paladin, they would most likely share classes (something like Gorgug's Artificier track, school-wise). A perfect opportunity to flesh out the relationship there, either to save Bucky from Mac and Donna or have him 'save' Kristen.

Of course, these are just two of the easier paths to see.

Porter did want another Bad Kid in his classes, didn't he?

Maybe Kristen finds she desires a guide and becomes a Totem Warrior Barbarian.

Maybe Kristen decides that just because her parents suck, doesn't mean the whole bloodline did. This causes her to delve into old records and come out of it as a Path of the Ancestral Guardian Barbarian.

Another idea, given the Buff Kristen movement, is a Fighter. Especially the training and power describing a Champion or the fighting spirit of a Samurai, to lose so many gods and keep going.

Or maybe she finds the issue is the evangelizing. That she cannot dedicate herself to bringing others into her path, but still desiring a higher being to help her. There are many to make a Warlock Contract with. She's even living with one, technically, by way of Fig's Archdevil job.

You could even argue for an Eloquence Bard, with all the speeches and now the Presidency campaign.

Or hey, Cassandra was a moon goddess, wasn't she? Maybe even a Lunar Sorcerer.

Unlikely but theoretically possible, she's just desperate to fix something and takes up Artificing. After all, how different can a Battle Smith really be? It's still healing and protecting, right?

Or, let's revisit an old topic. At the top of the game, Kristen was called the Chosen One. We saw that title following her even after leaving Helio. Sol treated her kindly for it, she invented YES! and even reinvented it into YES?. An argument can even be made that that's part of why Cassandra was fixed so easily after clinging to her. But what is that? Where is that power from? Perhaps some new magic awakens in Kristen. That of a Divine Soul Sorcerer.

Just, Kristen, taking a hard look at religion and Clericdom and deciding maybe it wasn't right for her.

[bluegekk0]

🎲6 for everyone

Yippee!!!

6. Does your character work better with creative or technical endeavors?

Vyrm - technical 100%, though he has a lot of imagination for his engineering projects. He's not particularly talented artistically, when it comes to drawing, the only thing he's good at is making blueprints and plans. He's also not very gifted when it comes to expressing himself through art and interpreting it, with drawing he struggles to portray what he's imagining, and when it comes to writing, poetry or anything of that sort, he tends to take things literally so he naturally has trouble with metaphors or non-direct language. He doesn't get instruments either, it doesn't help that a lot of them hurt his ears so as you can imagine, that gets in the way of practice. However, he has attempted one specific creative endeavor which so far has had more satisfying results - wood carving. He likes to carve figures out of wood in his spare time, and he finds it easier to search for the form within the wood block than to create said form from scratch. It's not super impressive yet but it's better than anything else he's attempted when it comes to creative endeavors

Grimm - he's the opposite of Vyrm, he's far more likely to pursue creative endeavors. He loves the theatre, and because the Troupe in the AU is basically just that, he actively pursues acting and even singing at times. Outside of that, he used to dabble in painting and poetry, during Vyrm's 35 year long absence, he wrote a lot of poems addressed to him to cope with his loss. With painting, he ended up not pursuing it further as he found it a bit too messy of a process for his liking, though he still maintains a lot of skill and knowledge that he uses to guide others. With technical tasks, he's not terrible, but it's very clear that whenever he tries to help Vyrm in the workshop, he's the one who requires guidance. It's not something he's naturally very good at, though he's always eager to try

Hornet - kind of 50/50. I don't think she ever tried to pursue very artistic endeavors, mostly cause she was focused on survival for a big chunk of her life. She wasn't very interested in Vyrm's workshop when she was a child either, though she did end up learning a thing or two about the tools she used for hunting so she has some skill in technical craft. Mostly through taking them apart after buying them from merchants in various settlements she would stop by from time to time. After Vyrm returned and started his workshop endeavors, she had access to more tools, but she always thought what she already had was enough so she didn't pursue that further. What she did get into after his return was some small craft, particularly little necklaces and bracelets made from beast teeth and bones. Holly is much more skilled at that but she does enjoy contributing to it, especially since they're a nice source of extra income when sold on the market.

Holly - they're very art and creativity focused, they're not very good at technical things, mainly due to their shaky hands which make precise movements a bit difficult. That said, they do enjoy sewing, it's not perfect for the same reason, but there's less of a pressure with making plush toys compared to making sure a mechanism works as intended, so they're able to enjoy that hobby a lot more. On top of that, they enjoy drawing and are fairly good at it all things considered, they managed to make the messiness of their lines work to their favor. And lastly, they also enjoy making jewelry out of animal bones and pretty rocks, which they later sell on the market. I like to think they find creative endeavors more engaging since they see them as a way to express their emotions - the lack of voice and complex facial expressions makes that very difficult otherwise.

Zote - I think giving him any kind of technical work is a disaster waiting to happen, and while it may be a bit unexpected, he's actually far more interested in creative endeavors. Something I have in mind in particular for him is joining the Troupe as part of the music crew some time in the future. He currently works part-time as Grimm's helper during rehearsals, and I like to think he often finds himself distracted by the music rehearsals led by Brumm, in a positive sense. And I had the idea of Grimm picking up on it and giving him an instrument as a birthday present (a change to how I approached this storyline before where he found out about Zote's secret instrument practice; feels far less intrusive that way haha). I love to imagine Zote rejecting that interest of his for years cause he was raised to believe stuff like that was for the weak; now that he experienced what it's like to have people who care about you no matter what, I think he opened up to the possibility of pursue it.

Lewk - he's definitely more creatively gifted. Not that he thinks technical endeavors are boring or that he's bad at them, but he finds artistic work to be much more fulfilling. He definitely got the eye for beauty and aesthetic after Grimm, I think he would enjoy writing poetry when he's older. For now, he mostly sticks to drawing as part of his school homework, and while he's not the best at it, he really enjoys it.

Asta - I think she leans more towards artistic endeavors. She's not especially interested in what Vyrm does in the workshop, if she's there while he's working, she's usually looking for things to play with instead. I'd say that she has potential for coming up with stories, I like to think in the future she would be very fascinated by travel, and that's a subject that sparks imagination.

Milo - the complete opposite of Asta, he's like a little mirror image of Vyrm. He's not good at drawing, and he gets discouraged very easily with any kind of artistic task since struggles with artistic expression. What he excels at, however, is technical work. It's something he's already showing an interest in, and he enjoys it because not only is it a way for him to spend more time with Vyrm, but he also finds it easier to achieve satisfying results. And once he's older, he will surely match Vyrm's genius when it comes to engineering work.

(Ask game link)

[tyrannuspitch]

further ergi thoughts:

the basic asgardian assumption is that it's not gay if you're on top... and when only one partner is seen as queer, the closet is complicated. a relationship being publically known is likely to be mostly humiliating and dangerous for *one partner in particular*. which raises a few points:

A. the relationships (or one-off sexual interactions) that are publically discussed are most likely ones where the normative partner doesn't care about the queer partner - so ones which are imbalanced, abusive, or outright nonconsensual. so the idea of m/m sex as violence becomes a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. you do (real or imagined) violence to your partner by sleeping with him, and then you do (undeniably real) violence to him by talking about it; and because making it visible is itself violent, non-violent m/m relationships are erased and become difficult to understand or imagine.

B. if a relationship becomes publically known and you DO care about your partner, you might try and obfuscate who the so-called "dominant" partner is. (a question which might well not even apply, but which is always assumed to). in an asgardian context, m/m relationships are normally asssumed to be masc/fem, straight/queer, but like... i feel like trying to be vague will backfire and just end up with both partners being seen as queer. if you're unwilling or unable to defend your masculinity, you must not have any. a mutually queer relationship is strange to an asgardian mindset, but not unimaginable. by being vague, you yourself have opened up the possibility that the strict straight/queer dynamic doesn't apply - but there's no way you can BOTH be straight, so you have to both be queer instead.

so, while more noble, this might actually be a less effective self-defence strategy than letting one partner "take the fall".

C. there's also the full no-homo option. "neither of us are queer because we weren't actually having penetrative sex, we were just messing around!" it's not gay if nobody's on top! this is technically a possibility, but i do feel like asgardians are likely to see it as *a technicality*, and highly suspect. it might even be seen as a version of option B. of course one of you was the woman, so why will neither of you admit it?

also, it might be difficult to assign top/bottom roles to non-penetrative sex, but i bet a lot of asgardians will try anyway. they might not agree on what the rules are, but they'll probably mostly agree that the rules exist; the idea that sex always carries a power imbalance is a deeply engrained one.

D. sometimes a m/m relationship being publically known might mean each partner pointing at the other and saying "no, HE was the woman, not me!" the court of public opinion is relevant here, but this one is a situation where it might actually come down to a duel. an interesting alternative to what i think is the more typical honour-defending duel ("i fucked him" vs "no you didn't, nothing happened.")

E. since relationships with straight men carry this imbalance in risk and privilege, it seems likely that a lot of queer men would seek out relationships with each other for safety.

this might also help them to slip under the radar. as i said above, mutually queer relationships aren't *unimaginable*... but they definitely aren't seen as the norm for m/m relationships. so rumours of a queer relationship might be seen as less plausible if no one can agree "who the man is". ...maybe.

F. so, apparently m/m sex is violence - but violence is not the only thing defining queerness. it seems clear from how the characters act in the films that excessive affection is unmasculine, and therefore potentially queer.

but again, excessive affection between two men is not the typical sign people will be looking for. a healthy, mutually affectionate, power-balanced m/m relationship is not the imagined norm! if affection is feminine, it will be primarily associated with the feminine partner and therefore with disempowerment.

so, in contrast to the real modern world, where being too affectionate with another man might feel mutually dangerous ("will you be homophobic?" and "do i seem predatory?")... an asgardian man being too affectionate with another man might just feel like he's unilaterally putting himself in danger. ("will you be homophobic?" and "do i seem like an easy target for assault?") (and these fears are not necessarily conscious/literal - sometimes it's just the core idea of who is being vulnerable here.)

but this is still a little too simple. this applies to affection in the sense of trying to show kindness, fondness or care. but physical affection just in the sense of touching someone could still have implications in the other direction: entitlement to touch someone or be in their space -> entitlement to their body -> masculine, alpha male, maybe predatory.

and, even if it's less (directly) stigmatised, that connotation will go some way towards restricting (romantic or platonic) m/m affection too! even if you aren't seen as queer for it, people might not want to be around you if you come across as overly dominant or threatening. and the status implications might also cause offence, conflict and power struggles - "how dare you try to hug me? i'm not a girl!"

but at the same time, if you *do* want to show affection to another man, doing it in a domineering, masculine way might be the easiest way, if you can get away with it. male society on asgard *is* intensely hierarchical. so if you're a ringleader or a father figure or in any other way high status, it *might* be acceptable.

and this is where thor and loki ultimately fall. their relationship is familial, not romantic, and i don't think there's any real fear or threat of it *looking* romantic... but it IS shaped by this cultural context and it is intensely gendered.

in the avengers, we see thor trying to be affectionate and loki being cold. which, at first glance, makes thor feminine and loki masculine.

but in fact, thor's affection is almost all that forceful, domineering, masculine kind. and before loki rebelled, we see much less affection from thor, and a few little hints of much more from loki.

one hint is that in t1, loki touches thor affectionately, while thor doesn't do so in return - but it's a very slight and cautious touch. he puts his hand lightly on thor's arm, and no more. thor doesn't acknowledge it; he isn't even making eye contact at the time (while loki watches thor closely and warily). and their conversation is the same: loki's tone is quiet and soothing, while thor is ranting; some of thor's aggression is even directed at loki. loki comforts thor in a way that allows thor to pretend he isn't being comforted, and to feel in control. (yes, underneath all this, loki is manipulating thor - but it wouldn't be a believable lie if it didn't reflect a real dynamic between the two.)

and as i've noted before, loki is the only character to use the word "love" in thor 1. one of the times he says it is: "i love thor more than any of you". this is unembarrassed, matter of fact, even defensive, like he feels the need to prove he's meeting some obligation. in contrast, unless i am very much mistaken, thor STILL hasn't said that he "loves" loki - he just keeps saying "he's my brother", like that's close enough... or as close as he's allowed to get.

this is vulnerable for loki, and it's a mandated vulnerability; he is *expected* to be affectionate and subordinate; he is the right hand man and confidant who thor leans on, trusts, and vents his emotions to. in a way, loki takes on vulnerability on thor's behalf. so avengers!loki drawing back and becoming less affectionate is both defensive and rebellious.

meanwhile, avengers!thor isn't exactly rebelling, but he's rattling the bars of his cage. he desperately wants to show affection, but he doesn't quite know how. he loves loki but he cannot trust him. and even if he did, he can't allow himself to cede too much power, because he believes that him holding power over loki protects them both... thor is deeply conflicted, and it shows in his behaviour towards loki. because there IS vulnerability in it now, profound vulnerability, despite everything - but there's violence too.

[project-sekai-facts]

based on the interview posts, it's definitely thought-provoking to consider what's going to happen next. personally i do wonder if pjsekai will become "multi-generational" if it remains popular enough to continue (which is nearly impossible not to be considering a good portion of its competitors have been going for longer than 6 years at this point), the original 5 units would be the first generation, a conceptual new number of units being the next, and so on, because of the implication that "the original 5's stories will reach their conclusions and have an end" and after their conclusions are reached then, while they could write a new story with the characters with new adult issues and seeing them grow up further, there are still a lot of opportunities to expand on the game's lore and universe with new units, how the original units affected others, and especially sekai lore, especially since a lot of the game's lore has to do with miku helping out many individuals with their problems, and currently the majority of that is only done through the original unit's sekais, which is only a select 20 people's views (minus the vs fes cards which only have little lore anyways). Maybe it will be something like lovelive where the original generation (u's) has officially graduated but are still featured in newer games and still get some content in those games. Ultimately what happens next is something we just have to see the game develop closer to, but it's a solid option that the game can technically go for.

yeah like they said it's a difficult decisions. because on the one hand you've got these beloved characters and stories that people will have grown up with at that point, and continuing them on into 3rd year/university would mean there's more things you can do with them and new ideas you could include. and i think in a natural storytelling sense it would make sense to carry on with the main 5 because quite frankly having them all achieve their dreams and that before they've even finished high school is... somewhat unfulfilling? especially with n25 i think it would make a lot of sense to carry them on into uni, maybe have Ena go to art school and Mafuyu go to nursing school. even if their stories ended before they graduated uni I feel like that would be a really satisfying conclusion for them compared to maybe just mentioning that's where they're going when they finish high school. but then there's the fact they mentioned about just carrying on because it's popular and the story going stale because they only wrote so far. and that's definitely a threat because that can happen if they've only planned so far ahead. then again, the writing team is generally top-notch and other games have proven that you can stick around without people ever getting tired of the story.

i do however think the generational format could work. as you said it could expand more on the lore, introduce new characters with new problems, and prevent people from growing tired of the old ones. on the lore side of things i wonder if they would be included in the Tree SEKAI with the main 5, or if there would be a new collective sekai for them? the only thing about having a generational format similar to Love Live (where you completely conclude the story of the previous generation before the next generation...ish) is that you have to execute it well. SIP -> Sunshine worked because there was an in-universe 5 year timeskip. it left you with this legacy that u's had left that people were trying to chase, and Aqours had to learn that they had to find their own radiance instead of trying to directly copy u's. u's was long gone from the story and never actually appeared in the present day and that worked really well and i think was the best decision they could have made because actually having them there i think would ruin the whole idea of legacies and how they can work (sorry for rambling on a bit here I really like Sunshine). even in Superstar and Nijigaku there are nods to SIP and Sunshine but the characters never actually appear. It's similar to the VBS story actually with Nagi and trying to carry her legacy (with the difference is that u's and aqours are still alive. probably.).

that got a bit rambly but what i'm trying to say is that if you want to do a completely new generation and retire the old ones completely, it has to be done in a way that doesn't rely to much on stuff like random coincidences. you need there to be solid reasons why some kid would look up to a group of 4 kids who performed at a disneyland equivalent or 4 kids who held a music event. obviously there will be development in their stories between now and new units being added but I think adding in a timeskip and saying "yeah, they went on to do this really big inspiring thing" would be much more effective than a bunch of new characters who are hugely inspired by a niche teen music group that honesly doesn't really have much of an impact on anything. the reason VBS' story with legacies works is because there's actual stakes. RADder was a hugely successful group that had CD sales, national tours and a member that became a successful independent artist worldwide. RAD WEEKEND, although more limited to Tokyo, was still massively popular and inspired many people to put on an event that will surpass it. RADder is a big name and a big inspiration and leaves big shoes to fill, and that's why it works so well because there's big goals to work towards.

also in some ways as well a bunch of characters surpassing RW2 just after we saw VBS&Co put on RW2 would be a little bit unsatisfying I think. RADder are side characters who people are less attached to than VBS, but if you were to introduce VBS2 just after the original, even if there's a timeskip, it would probably leave a bit of a bad taste for some fans of the original VBS who'd spent years following their story.

to throw my own personal wishes for the games story on here, i think doing something similar to bandori or d4dj would work best for them. as in, adding new units who kinda take centre stage but still having the old units getting events and stories of their own. we could have new characters to keep things fresh but still get to see the original 20 growing up, having their careers take off, facing more adult problems and such. you could have the OG20 around to mentor the new characters as well, and keep the whole tree sekai lore intact with that being something that revolves around the original 5 units (and actually fucking develop the lore holy shit colopale it's been 3 years don't drag it out another 3 and then actually reveal all the lore before then completely retiring it). ahaha maybe this is a bit too self-indulgent and wishful thinking because I am way too attached to the main 20 but also from the perspective of someone who has done screenwriting classes at college it does work.

[something-about-sunflowers]

I kinda feel like too many people aren't looking at the whole picture with Guillermo and Nandor/his family this season?

Guillermo knows, to a certain extent, that it's hurting Nandor that he's avoiding him. He just can't not avoid him because of the whole 'secretly turned by another vampire and Nandor will have to kill him then himself for the sake of his bruised honor/ego' thing.

Guillermo is also hurting though. His attempt to take some agency for himself by actively pursuing something he's wanted since before he even met Nandor has massively backfired on him in every possible way he couldn't even begin to expect. He didn't know he'd have a Weird Transformation. He didn't know there was some taboo for having another vampire turn him as Nandor's familiar (and he's not actually Nandor's familiar anymore anyway, technically, they're all just dumb and forgot that fact). He, comparatively, only recently found out about the whole Van Helsing thing and that his family can't control themselves around vampires (though I feel like it probably will be different with their Memo, if we're being honest), so he very likely thought for most of his time waiting for Nandor to turn him that he'd still be able to see them occasionally and get/give closure over a longer period of time before he had to stop seeing them when it became obvious he wasn't aging like they were.

He does care about his mom, yall, did you miss him breaking down in the elevator or were you just distracted by him breaking the hand-rail? He's just been very preoccupied with a whole lot of drama (Which he complained about! He told Nandor how upset he was that the wedding and Baby Colin were keeping him too busy to see his family! The end of season 4 was days before the start of season 5.) and an extreme life change. He's an adult. That kind of shit happens when you're an adult (granted, his situation is significantly more fantastical given the whole vampires thing but still). Sometimes you get caught up in your adult life and you miss your mom's birthday. Sometimes you make a big life change that you think is what's best for you and it means you won't be able to be as close to your family. Yes. It's selfish of him - to an extent - but for fuck's sake you can't live your life for other people, even - especially, in some cases - if those people are your family. I'm kind of appalled at people saying that he's deserving to feel bad and rejected because he made a choice for himself. Do you think his mom is blaming him as harshly as some of you are? No! The first thing she asked him was 'are you happy with this change?' She cares about her son's happiness. He's not entirely in the right but fuck do yall know how to do anything but swing hard in the other direction? There's grey areas! All in the middle! Right there, look!!

And then on top of him already being extremely emotionally compromised from reckoning with having to leave his family behind, on top of the already 'emotionally difficult' avoiding Nandor for both of their sakes, he gets another big rejection in his own home from the people he cares most about. I don't know if Nandor noticed that his rejection hurt Guillermo. He's dumb but I really don't know if he's that dumb. He's been able to recognize in the past when he's hurt Guillermo so I don't see why he couldn't now. Are yall gonna blame Memo for feeling bad if Nandor decides to do something to try and win him back or cheer him up? Or if Nandor is upset/worried about having hurt Guillermo?

I don't really know where I'm going with this anymore lmao. My point is: Yes, Guillermo's choice is hurting people but it's also hurting him and he's been hurt for a while now and hurt people hurt people (which is why Nandor lashed out too!) so cut him a little bit of slack maybe? He didn't do anything to intentionally hurt anyone he just wanted to take some agency back for himself that he's been missing for like. Ten. Thirteen years or so now.

[mangotangerine]

99% of this is getting cut from the fic because it's unnecessary, so i shall share it here before I toss it into my deleted scenes pile.

under the cut!

“What?”

“Lockdown mode,” Vox repeats. “Nobody gets in or out. I’ve got their phones in a separate room, Faraday cage to stop signal so they can’t be tracked.”

“They can track the fucking journey we took, Vox, right to this building.”

“Nah. Gotta do some things to get those logs locked, too. Sorry, you’re going to have to endure some technical shit while I handle security. Our guy had knowledge he’s not supposed to have, was telling your drunk guy about it and to be careful. Very annoying, gotta talk to my NSA buddy about some shit.”

Vox’s reassurances do nothing to actually reassure him, because there’s no way that Vox would have the level of power and control he’s implying he has. It’s a ridiculous thought, but Alastor has no idea why Vox would lie to him about this. He’s silent as they head up, trying to figure it out. He’s still thinking when Vox leads them into his office, shutting it and swiping his card when they’re inside.

Alastor sits down in the chair in the corner and watches Vox boot up his computer. More weird card swipes, then Vox sits back and looks at Alastor. “You don’t believe me,” he says.

“No,” Alastor responds.

“Why?”

“What do you mean why?” Alastor asks incredulously. Vox shrugs, and Alastor shakes his head in disbelief. “You’re a—you’re just a scientist. A researcher,” he says. “High level, you’ve said, I know, and you mentioned once being some… some attack dog of the government, which I still don’t understand, but you’re implying something ridiculous.”

Vox opens his mouth to respond, then shuts it, thinking. “Okay, first—ouch,” he says, not sounding hurt at all. “Second—uh… I mean, I don’t really know how to explain it. Well, I do, I’m just not supposed to.” He sighs, then, and runs a hand through his hair with frustration. “I’m very good at my job—”

“Nobody’s that good,” Alastor says. “And I’m sorry, but there’s no way you’re that important.”

Vox blinks at him.

“To them,” Alastor clarifies, voice soft. “You’re more important than anything, to me.”

“Love you too,” Vox says, smiling. “I mean, you’re right, kinda. Through some combination of bad luck and incompetence—not mine—I managed to hear some shit I wasn’t supposed to. They found out, of course, because I had no idea how important it was and asked them. Typical process is probably just to merc me then and there to make sure nothing gets out.”

Silent, Alastor waits for Vox to continue, still unconvinced.

“Right. So, surprisingly, when they grabbed me they took me to a secure room instead of some torture facility. I’m not important to be told the kind of info I was—don’t ask what it is, they will literally murder me. I mean, I’ll tell you, but I will absolutely, 100% die. So… unless you want that..”

“I won’t ask,” Alastor says, sighing at the knowledge his curiosity will never be sated.

“Perfect, because I don’t want to die before we get married. So, not important enough to be told that kinda info, but important enough that they can’t just kill me.”

“Because you’re somehow so good at your job?” Alastor asks, eyebrow raised.

“Nah. I’m just some researcher who happens to have really, really high top-security clearance. No, baby. Wealth and connections.”

Alastor makes a face. “That’s even less convincing.”

“It’s really not that difficult to blackmail people. They care about the dumbest shit, and my dad has a lot of that info. I mean, me too, but that wouldn’t matter because I’d be dead. But kill his only son… probably some of that will get out.”

It takes what feels like minutes until Alastor sighs, accepting the information. “Really? Blackmail?”

“Like I said, people care about dumb shit. Not really a big deal to keep me alive anyway, and I am good at my job. Overhearing that tidbit conveniently opened up some opportunities for the U.S. government to do some shit on domestic soil, since I’m a fucking genius. It’s why Husk’s gonna believe the whole ‘top-secret experiments’ thing I’m going to feed him when I tell him the lab’s locked down for the next few months.”

“Convenient,” Alastor says, and Vox shrugs again, then turns to his computer.

He does… something, and Alastor sits impatiently until Vox finishes and shuts down his computer. It’s bizarre and surreal when Vox gets up and goes back and forth to multiple areas of his office to unlock things that unlock things that, presumably, unlock things, but he’s done soon enough.

“All right! Now I have all the shit I need to unlock the lab,” he says cheerily. “We can go home, and you can grumpily fuck me.”

“I begrudgingly find your level of power and competence attractive,” Alastor mutters. “Are you sure that room is secure?”

“Seismic sensors, crazy weird composite material that’s like impossible to drill through, multiple electromechanical locks, biometrics, regular old mechanical locks, and multi-personnel unlocking.”

It’s the multi-personnel unlocking that has Alastor alarmed. “What do you mean, multi-personnel unlocking?” Alastor asks.

“Have to have more than one person with the proper level of access to open,” Vox answers. “Conveniently, I had a colleague with me when I overheard some info I shouldn’t have, who was way more important than me job-wise. He didn’t need the money or connections to keep him safe. Some NSA nerd that followed me here because we’re not supposed to be separated geographically. I don't know why. Probably some dumb shit, not like it matters. Anyway—I've got info on him, blackmail—he won’t ask questions, and he won’t talk. Got even more against him now! Apparently he fucked Husk’s boytoy years ago and he doesn’t want his wife to find out.”

Alastor shakes his head. “That’s stupid.”

“Yep,” Vox says. “Let’s go so you can fuck me.”

They leave, finally, and Alastor fucks Vox until he cries—as usual.