#yeah of course that would be the case to add to the tonal shift in his presentation but also it makes me imagine what happened

[thesmallworldofsamizayn]

im thinking about hangman's missing lower thirds and making myself sad

[zangyo]

@swordrisen​​ said (inbox):

❛❛ Nope ! No peeking ! ❜❜ Finger tips settled again eyes , warmth weaving within her own. ❛❛ A little further , Kento - kun. ❜❜ Guiding him along with her voice , she leads him to the engawa ; warm sunlight seeping through clouds , running across the engawa & casting away any chill. Slowly palms shift away , revealing to him a party ; a small gathering , just herself , her fathers & his parents. A commonplace event by now ( thrown every year since she has declared them friends. ) ❛❛ Happy birthday , Kento - kun. Grow older even more. ❜❜ Finger tips slip forth , grasping his own & bringing him towards the small picnic setting ( breads , concealed for freshness & various other foods. ) ❛❛ Let us bestow the Birthday King his crown ! ❜❜ 

Paper crown swiftly stolen from a rather offended looking Narajiro , Koto messily splats it 'pon his head & instantly bows her head , striking her hand forth. ❛❛ All the cheers for the Birthday King ! Except. ❜❜ There's a sort of evil that weaves 'pon her features , glancing 'pon her fathers who hurry forth ( yet , she is the fastest ! ) Limbs slip tight around his frame , features buried again his heart to hear it's beating ( alive , ever alive , he has made it one more year. ) She quickly looks back at her fathers , both seemingly pouting. ❛❛ Haha ! Beat you to the first hug , shi - poop holes ! ❜❜ She has never cursed in front of Kento's parents , she's not doing it now ! Narajiro stomps over with his present pout , yanking his daughter off carefully & pulling Kento into a hug. 

❛❛ You get to hug him all the time ! He's like my son , you know , I never get to hug him ! He's gotten too tall. I remember when he was just a squirt , my tiny sonny boy. ❜❜ Fake tears quickly fill Narajiro's eyes ; Shakuhachi reaches forth to grasp both of them by the collars & pull them away from Kento before he approaches , gently ruffling his hair with a warm smile. 

❛❛ Happy birthday , kiddo. I tried to tell you when you were 16 to get away from this family but now you're stuck with us & we wouldn't have it any other way. Thank you for being born , Kento. ❜❜ Narajiro & Koto , who were pulling at each other's cheeks , stops only to look over at them both affectionately. 

❛❛ Thank you for being by my side , Kento - kun. ❜❜ Koto speaks out , tenderly as ever. ❛❛ Thanks for coming into our lives , Ken - kun. We love you. ❜❜ Narajiro adds his own bit , his tonality soft & without teasing. 

❛❛ Happy birthday. Now let's eat before the bread gets hard ! ❜❜

     NANAMI NEVER KNEW WHAT Koto was up to sometimes. He could be going about his normal daily routine, and then the next, was being tugged off for some new ‘adventure’ that came to mind. It was of little wonder that she and Gojo got along as well as they did when both often were spontaneous in what they did throughout the week or even a given moment. Thus, when hands came to settle over his eyes, as confused as he was, Nanami had little issue with allowing her to guide him along to who knows where. ❝This is a bit suspicious, Koto-san,❞ he mumbled, lips turned downwards into a slight frown. Was this going to be something bothersome? Then again, despite her and Gojo both sharing in that playful demeanor, he doubted Koto would purposely waste his time (he hoped). His entire plan for this afternoon was to lie back on his couch with his book in hand and allow soft music to play in the background while he sipped a nice cup of tea.

     Of course, that was what he did all the time when he was back at his apartment, but that was not the point. It was still his favored means of relaxing despite the simplicity of it. As they walked, he could feel the warmth of the sun upon his skin, soft and gentle rather than oppressive as it could be during the summer. It was a nice little trek even if he was at a loss as to what was going on. Eventually, he came to a stop as Koto did, her hands slowly moving away so he could see what was around him. ❝A-Ah? What’s this?❞ What were Koto’s parents doing here? Or his own for that matter? Was there some event going on that he was unaware of? There were a plethora of different foods present, the very scene one that reminded him of a potential celebration, although for the life of him, he couldn’t think of anything big that would warrant all of this.

     ‘Let us bestow the Birthday King his crown!’ Birthday…birthday – oh! It was his birthday today! Nanami never really paid attention to this day, and so, it was easy to forget about it most of the time until the next day when he realized, ‘oh yeah, I’m a year older.’ Paper crown placed upon his head, he stood there, dumbfounded with mouth partially agape and eyes, no doubt, wide behind those colored lenses of his sunglasses. ❝T-This…❞ T-This was unnecessary. There didn’t need to be a large scale celebration for his sake. Just a text that said, ‘Happy Birthday!’ or something small like buying him a cup of coffee would have more than sufficed. Nanami would have been grateful regardless just for the fact that someone thought the day of his birth was so important that they would take time out of their day to remind him of such.

     He hardly had a chance to say anything else before a grunt sounded in his throat, Koto clinging tightly to him as she grinned triumphantly at her fathers for beating them in being the first to give Nanami a hug. His own parents were in the background, expression filled with amusement as they watched the entire scene unfold. This was probably the first time in a good long while that he was spending such a day with them. All his previous birthdays were spent alone and in his apartment. It took time for the confusion upon his features to melt away, his expression softening as a small smile touched his lips soon after. Everyone was here for him, huh? For a long time, he had wrongfully looked at the world as if he was alone when that was hardly ever the case. Not once had he ever been, and this was a reminder of how incorrect that thinking had been.

     Koto yanked away by Narajiro, he was given his present and pulled into a tight, warm hug. The ‘dramatics’ between the man and his daughter entertained him a great deal, the small smile he wore growing just a tad bit larger. ❝Sonny boy is such an embarrassing name…❞ That nickname was never going to go away, was it? He was forever going to be ‘sonny boy’ all the way until he was some older man finally retired and living his life going on adventures around the world. Both Koto and Narajiro were moved away soon after, however, Sakuhachi ‘saving’ him from their doting just enough so that he could ruffle Nanami’s carefully put together appearance with a brush of his hand through blond locks. The words that came touched him, overwhelmed him, even. It was hard to believe that he had left this much of an impact on the lives of others. This was the kind of reminder he had needed back then, or maybe, it was just something he had forgotten along the way as he had sat in his office chair, eyes staring blankly at figures and documents that would forever endlessly had taken his time.

     Feeling embarrassed, he glanced away, clearing his throat and attempting to keep some form of composure in place even if there was hardly any need (it had long since shattered into pieces). ❝Thank you all for being here, and for all of this.❞ He held his present close, eyes trailing along the scene again and committing it to memory. ❝I will always be grateful for all of you.❞ And he meant that. Every word. With a polite bow of his head soon after, he made his way towards the food laid out with intent to enjoy himself. This was a wonderful day that he would never forget -- another memory to hold close and recall on another day.

[electricprincess96]

TBH Rhea holds a trial for the western church guys during that scene - they are being prosecuted. So of course it's nothing like our judicial systems, but they're basically read what they're presumed guilty of, Seteth says they led an investigation (they gathered proofs) and the defendants are allowed to speak, but their defense sucks "it wasn't me uh i mean no it was me but i didn't know it would happen uh anyways you suck you're a witch! Monster!". They've stopped denying. Case closed?

Yeah I always said we don't KNOW that no trial took place. I always viewed that scene as the Trial had basically happened and they were being sentenced because we as the players already know they're guilty, we seen it, there's no need to add a pointless scene of Byleth watching the people we just saw commit the crimes they're accused of then go on trail for said crimes when we already know they'll be found guilty. It's like people were expecting a surprise Ace Attorney Level for fuck sake, its Fire Emblem not Phoenix Wright. If they included that scene it would have felt like such a weird tonal shift and taken you out of the game, it would have been a boring and unnecessary inclusion.

So I will say it again, it's a dumb take used only to try and beat Rhea over the head with a club and proclaim "Dragon Lady Bad".

[texanredrose]

I want to preface this by saying that you will not like what I'm about to say, but I do want to know your honest opinion. I somehow stumbled upon posts discussing how Winter is actually a terrible person since she never unlearned the abusive tendencies present within the Schnee household. What are your thoughts on this?

Oh, I think they have a valid point! Because of the tonal shift between Winter’s appearances in V3 and what we learn about the Schnee household in V4, I can definitely see where people are coming from in that regard, and it’s one of my criticisms in how that shift was handled; it muddles the waters, so to speak. However, I have a different take because I have different life experiences and I take a step back to look at the show overall rather than specific points out-of-context. 

This got much longer than I anticipated, so I’m putting it under a cut, but the bottom line is: I totally understand why some people might be critical of Winter’s actions and character. I just don’t think that’s the whole story, more of a reaction to a specific part, and that the entirety paints a much different picture.

If we take Brawl in the Family and Lessons Learned on their own, it paints a certain picture of Winter. She’s obviously still young and impulsive, in the same way we see Weiss act in V1. She’s harsh, she’s strict, and she’s an idiot- it’s why I’ve always believed Winter was only 1-2 years past graduating, if that; she acts like a dumb Private or a green officer. No question. However, beneath that, she does genuinely care about Weiss’ well being, being more concerned with her health, hobbies, and friends than her grades. She cares about Weiss as a person, as her sister, above her status as the next in the Schnee line. One will note that she sends away the Knights accompanying her during their initial conversation; everything before that moment is some variation of negative or cold and what follows is positive. It’s almost as if she’s not to publicly praise her sister; even the cadence of her speech is different. The negative and cold stuff? All direct, to the point, no superfluous words. The positive stuff? A bit more language- I wouldn’t call it flowery, but certainly more than needed to get the point across. However, Ruby’s standing right there the whole time, so it wasn’t the presence of others that separates this shift; it’s the presence of the Atlesian tech. It’s a small detail but one that feels like it has some weight to it. She’s a conflicted character, obviously in the process of unlearning bad habits but also not breaking them quite yet. And, in the context of the episodes, the first smack she delivers to Weiss is played off as a comedic moment, what with Ruby’s nonchalant reaction and physically pushing in the… whatever you call that animation trope where an injury gets a ridiculously big knot that disappears almost immediately. At a time when the show was trying to become more serious, this was… a really confusing moment to witness; frankly, I didn’t find it funny but I do recognize that, in a world where they’ve made it clear what actual injuries look like, this isn’t meant to be taken seriously. On the other hand, I can see where some might, especially with the second slap in Lessons Learned. A more serious moment, no comedic knot, but following behind the previous instance so closely, one could argue it was some manner of maintaining a consistent characterization while others could say it’s a sign of abusive behavior. The fact it’s to the back of the head, which… was considered a lot less bad a decade ago than it would be today, also makes it difficult to read, purely because of the animation trope used previously; people say “tropes are tools” but tropes do pass in and out of vogue as time goes on, and the physical abuse that was commonly seen as comical during the time when that animation trope was used is recognized as abuse today, and for good reason. Ultimately, she’s portrayed as a big sister who genuinely cares about her little sister and wants to see her succeed but hasn’t quite learned how to do that most effectively. She’s a complicated character who hasn’t quite broken free from the mold, though she does have the potential and encourages Weiss to break free as well.

However, with V4 and V5 came a few complications. The scene where Jacques slaps Weiss and Weiss’ short add a lot more context to their relationship, but people tend to focus on the former because, obviously, it happened first and has a lot more weight within the story. With the confirmation that physical abuse is present in the Schnee household- as well as emotional abuse- Winter’s previous characterization is skewed a bit. It definitely looks like she’s more a product of her raising and she abuses Weiss in the same manner as they experienced growing up. However, the fact that the following episode also includes a slap which is played off as comedic just puts the whole thing into this confusing territory of four instances where some manner of physical abuse is used, and the question of which are genuinely comedic and which are used to show abuse is never really addressed. Seeing as three scenes involve Weiss, and one could see the progression from comedic action to serious action, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that this was intended to show how even well meaning abuse is still abuse. That could as much be a commentary in general because, again, ten or so years ago, there’s no way Winter’s actions would’ve been read as abusive- not saying that that’s right, of course, but remarking on the culture change- or it could be specific to the show, we don’t know. But then, we see Winter very clearly hold back in the V5 short. Winter has multiple beowolves summoned and is obviously testing Weiss’ fledgling combat abilities; the fact that Weiss disarming herself was immediately met with a potentially deadly situation could be read as Winter being unnecessarily harsh. However, take a step back and we see that that isn’t the case; Winter’s other summons could’ve attacked at the same time and genuinely injured Weiss, as a means of ‘teaching a lesson’, which is a similar context to how Jacques’ abuse is portrayed- or even the fight against the knight from the White trailer, where Weiss actually bleeds because of the fight- but she didn’t. Instead, a single beowolf overpowered Weiss until she, essentially, cried mercy. Winter’s lines warning Weiss that she must develop quickly in order to fight for her freedom show that the beowolf attacking was a means of proving to Weiss the dire consequences of miscalculating in a combat scenario in a safe manner. A scare tactic, yes, but this is a teaching moment; like learning how to swim, there will be panic that something genuinely bad could happen to the student, but Weiss wasn’t drowning, yet. Just scared she might, and instantly aided when she acknowledged that. Winter’s dialogue in Lessons Learned indicate that Weiss acknowledging her limits is important to pushing past them and further developing- not only as a Huntress but as a person, too. This call back ties together the moments when Winter is acting as a teacher to Weiss, and we can see very clearly that Winter has much more empathy in Lessons Learned and addresses Weiss in a softer manner. Not quite the softest, of course, because she’s still a bit harsh for normal standards, but as far as she’s been characterized, she’s a lot nicer in V3 than she used to be.

So, overall, we have Winter, a character who can be cold and harsh but also warm and caring, though the latter is less frequent than the former. Every action she’s taken has been for the express purpose of motivating Weiss to seek her own path and arming her with the skills and knowledge to do so. She’s flawed, yes, but also clearly attempting to help Weiss in whatever way she can. This obviously resonates with me, as someone who is an older sibling. Now, I’d like to say I’ve never been abusive towards my little sister- and for someone who calls me out for being an idiot as often as she does, I’m pretty sure she would’ve told me by now if I had- but I know damn well there were times I wasn’t supportive enough or was too supportive- and by that I mean, I covered for her in instances where I absolutely should’ve confronted her, for her sake. In those times, I failed as an older sibling to look out for my sister; I wasn’t the teacher she needed me to be. I remember those moments keenly; she does, too. Ergo, I have a bit of empathy for an older sibling who is trying to be the best she can be but, ultimately, falls short of that, either in her own estimations or to an outside observer.

In the end, I can get why people would say she’s terrible. There are some aspects of her character that are either muddled or outright bad from an objective standpoint, and those aspects could remind a person of someone in their life, someone who didn’t have their best interests at heart and were genuinely abusive. There’s nothing wrong with disliking a character for personal reasons or pointing out behavior that could be potentially harmful. Again, even though the first slap was obviously intended to be comical, I didn’t find it funny or excusable; just because I was raised on that sort of slapstick humor doesn’t mean I enjoy it or justify it.

But looking from the other side, I can also see where she’s obviously trying to do better, trying to be a better older sibling, trying to connect with Weiss and encourage her. The method she does that might seem harsh but, after seeing what they had to contend with growing up, I’d argue it shows just how far Winter’s come to be a genuinely good person and sibling rather than a bad one. Yeah, she’s obviously not there quite yet, she’s got a long way to go, but, really, don’t we all? And in the times that Weiss needed someone to help her grow, Winter was there to help her accomplish that- except for in V5 with the whole getting captured thing, which, we can’t really hold against Winter, since we have little idea where she is or if she’s even aware Weiss left Schnee manor. 

And, I think it’s significant to note that while the crew has outright stated that Adam is abusive- and I think they commented on Jacques being abusive, too- they’ve not made the same statements on Winter. As someone who grew up in a time when physical abuse between family members was pretty common in sitcoms and the like, I can recognize that some tropes simply don’t age well or were absolutely wrong in the first place, and this could be as much a result of that as just a simple misfire of intent. Not every joke lands, as the saying goes, and this one never did.

In conclusion, there is no perfect character, and that some people are critical of Winter, in and of itself, isn’t bad. As with the whole cast, I love these characters because of the potential they all have- the potential to grow past their troubles, to overcome their flaws, and to rise up. But, for a character to grow, a character must first have flaws, and the nonlinear telling of Winter’s small section of the story somewhat makes it difficult to see how much she has grown. I do hope that we see more growth in the vein of Winter being warmer and more compassionate when next she appears- (if ever, seriously, another volume with no Winter, yet plenty of snow, what fives)- and I would love for a conversation between Weiss and Winter where they are supportive towards each other and worry over each other and just… get to be sisters. At this point, I’m pretty firmly attached to my characterization of Winter- where I do acknowledge, usually more than once per universe, that Winter and Weiss didn’t have the best relationship but Winter worked to improve it, and reached the point of being a genuinely good big sis- so what happens in canon doesn’t concern me, but if there’s any manner of physical abuse when Winter and Weiss cross paths again that isn’t immediately addressed then, yeah, that’s definitely a move in the wrong direction. As much as I love Winter as a character, I know damn well when she’s being a shithead. I’m just in the corner of believing she’s learning how to not be one.