#you know they aren't really like this and just writing it for fun of it

[cherrieshalo]

Romanticism

k.bakugo x fem!reader | fluff | art museum date | 1.2k words

You don’t know how you were able to convince your boyfriend to go to the art museum with you. He wasn’t one for dates where he had to stand and stare at something (you discovered this during a trip to the aquarium, where Katsuki’s usual scowl felt much more intense as he pointed at every ugly fish he could find and claimed they looked like Kirishima) but he did enjoy the closeness of being attached to you; whether it was holding your hand or an arm around your waist, he was glad to be spending at least some kind of time with you. 

Katsuki had dressed up for the date, too. Mostly under your advision. He only usually dressed up if he knew the date location would be fancier, but you insisted on the nice outfits ‘for once’ as you put it. Something about looking nice for pictures, or whatever. He couldn’t really hear you over the steaming noise when you were ironing his slacks. 

You tugged him by the hand across the glossy flooring, a large smile on your face as you looked at and yapped about different artworks. Katsuki, on the other hand, had no clue what you were ranting about. He understood close to none of it. Baroque? Renaissance? They both looked the same to him. Even when you explained they were not and why, he stared at you with his brows knit together. 

They both had religious…what's the word you used….? Iconography? Yes, religious iconography! He knew they both had religious themes but if you were two put two pieces next to each other and ask him to classify them, he’d glare at you to take his place. He wouldn’t want to disappoint you, after all.

The two of you stood in a large room, staring up at a painting of a horse. Katuski didn’t understand what drew you to this painting in particular. It’s just a horse, nothing special! He saw several other ones just in that room that seemed much more interesting to him. 

“Ah, romanticism. One of my favourite styles. Look how detailed the mane is,” your gaze was soft as it was focused on the painting, your hand tightly holding onto his. Your interlocked fingers caused your nails, the ones he ever so diligently paid for, to gently dig into the back of his hand. 

“Romanticism? What the fuck is romantic about this shit? It’s a fucking horse!” Katsuki huffed loudly, his agitated voice echoing in the room. 

“Romanticism and romance aren't the same, Kats…” you gently patted his arm to calm him.

“Oh? Do enlighten me, then. What is so different about them, hm?” 

You rolled your eyes, turning to face him. 

“Romanticism deals with romanticizing the natural world,” you explained calmly. “Nature was a source of beauty and inspiration. Pieces, whether paintings, writings, or music, could lead to a better understanding of our natural world.” 

God you looked so proud of yourself, Katuski couldn’t even be mad. “Ah, I see…” 

“Mhm! Think of like…Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. That’s a good example I think you’d know.” 

“I didn’t read that shit.” Katsuki said it with such a straight face it was nearly comical. You blinked slowly, turning back to the painting.

“Oh…” 

“Yeah, oh.” 

“...you should read it some time. I have three copies at home that you can choose from-” 

“Three?” the blond scoffed. Who the hell keeps three copies of the same novel? 

“Yeah. Three,” you shifted on your feet slightly. “One is an annotated copy for ‘creator’s of all kinds,’ one is a regular copy that I’ve annotated, and the last one had a pretty cover.” 

“Nerd.

“Your nerd,” you stuck your tongue out at him. 

“Yeah, unfortunately…” Katsuki grumbled, pulling you along. The sooner you covered the different exhibits, the faster he could leave and go stuff his face at the local cafe. He really was craving a pain au chocolat right now, but it had to wait. 

Katsuki hated to admit it, but he was actually having fun. Maybe it was because he was with you, or your constant yapping, but it genuinely wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. He sneaked in a few cute photos of you, too. That was surely a bonus, especially since he knew you’d be happy if he posted them to his Instagram story without being told to. He did love showing off his girl, after all. 

His favourite exhibit had to be the Ancient Greek exhibit. Maybe it was the way you were flapping your hands excitedly over the black-figure pottery (he really liked how they depicted many of the Gods and Goddesses on them) or how you would giggle at the male nudes you said were called kouros with him. 

Katsuki found the Egyptian exhibit to be a favourite as well, his gaze fully focused on the different sarcophagi on display. He tilted his head slightly in curiosity. Some of the heads were sculpted, while others were more realistic painted portraits on what he thought looked like wood paneling. 

“Huh, I wonder why they changed it…” he mumbled under her breath. 

“Roman invasion.”

“What?” he turned to you, face scrunching up. 

“Yeah, Romans. Egyptians changed their burial practices after the Romans invaded. Things became simpler and closer to Hellenistic influence. And the painted faces were done similarly to Roman art, like many of the religious pieces,” you explained to him, using your finger on the glass to point out the differences. “Greco-Roman influence.” 

Katsuki turned to you, eyes squinted as his grip on your hand tightened. “How the hell do you know all of this, pretty? We’ve been running around all day and your mouth never stopped spitting information out at me.”

“Very disappointed you don’t know by now, Kats…” you pouted, raking her nails of your free hand up and down his arm. 

“The hell you mean?” 

“I took art history classes my first year of university, dummy. Two, actually. It’s how I met Kyoka, remember? And if it wasn’t for that…” you trailed off in hope that it would finally click for him. 

“Oh, right.” Katuski swept under his nose with the back of his hand. “We wouldn’t have met. Or have you yapping in my ear all day.” 

“You’re acting like you hate it. Admit it, you enjoyed our date.” 

“Yeah, I did.” A small huff, paired with an even smaller smile. “I think I enjoyed it because of your yapping.” 

“You’re so sweet, Katuski…” you kissed his cheek with a grin on your face. He actually enjoyed the date? That was super totally awesome! Sometimes you were scared he would get bored or annoyed, so you must have done a good job with your limited planning done. 

“Whatever. Can we go to the gift shop and see if they have replicas of those organ jar things? The ones with the fuck-ass looking heads on them.” 

“Canopic jars…?” you guessed, earning a nod from him. “Of course, let’s go see.” 

Oh, you totally needed to drag him to museums more often. 

You wouldn’t have to wait long though for the next opportunity. Just 2 weeks later, he stormed into the bathroom as you finished brushing your teeth, nearly choking on spit as he magically appeared behind you in the mirror like a ghost. 

“There’s a cool art museum an hour away by train. Get dressed, we’re leaving in 20 minutes,” Katsuki spoke coolly before making his way out of the bathroom. Perhaps the day’s plans could wait, for fate had scheduled yet another free-yapping session your boyfriend wouldn’t be able to back out of now.

© property of cherrieshalo 2025 - please do not steal or copy my work to post elsewhere

[voxsymphonia]

this really sums up a lot of our issues with the comic now, even if we did really enjoy it on our first read. this specific set of lines between Roxy and Rose from a couple panels, "you remind me of Dirk, you're laid back" really just epitomizes the level of mischaracterization at play here.

really??? laid back like Dirk??? Dirk fucking Strider, the most up-tight man of all time??? Laid back like Dirk Strider, the guy with a stick so far up his ass not even TRICKSTER MODE could pull it out?!?!?!?!?! what comic did you read, because it wasn't the Homestuck I read!

i mean, if anything, Rose and Dirk are comparable in how not laid-back they are.

and on the topic of Themes, nothing surpasses the cognitive dissonance to me of the Tiaratop That Makes You Good. you know, the evil mind control device that puts They Live subliminals in your brain and activates your subconscious fascist conditioning, well we made it Good now, and if we put it on enough people it'll solve all their problems. You know this symbol of Jane being forced into a roll she didn't want, forcing her into a subordinate position that encourages her to abuse her friends because being in the middle of the power hierarchy is better than being at the bottom? Well we fixed it, it's Good now, it will fix all your problems if you just accept Good Guy Mind Control ::::)

and then, meraki has been posting about like her ocs of different species, and how she's gonna use them in the epilogues as disguises for her authorsona, so she can subtly warp the narrative for them, and then EXPLICITLY MAKES THE CONNECTION WITH DOC SCRATCH!!!! girl, that's the BAD GUY, you're not supposed to be emulating him!!!!

her cerulean blood trollsona is really fitting, considering "i'll just take direct control of the story and cut Lord English out of it, and manipulate everything so that it works out as a happy ending for everyone" is literally what Aranea did in Game Over. has Homestuck's message about the villainy of the author figure just completely go over your head? Did you read the guy turning the website green while he narrates about how much he loves grooming children and spreading his seeds to young girls, and think "the only way to stop a Bad Guy with an authorsona self insert writing the story is a Good Guy with an authorsona self insert writing the story"???

also also ALSO, i'm on a rant now, the whole thing with letting Gamzee out of the fridge, giving him the Tiaratop That Makes You Good and suddenly WOW, i'm ok now, i'm normal now, I'm reformed, it's fine... THAT'S THE EXACT SAME SHIT THE CANDY HOMESTUCK EPILOGUES WERE PARODYING THREE YEARS BEFORE YOU DECIDED IT WAS GREAT, ACTUALLY! like, look at this and tell me it isn't exactly what the candy authors were making fun of!

gamzee's fine now! he can be your blorbo again! all the murder and domestic abuse, that was just Bad Guy mind control! we stopped the Bad Guy Mind Control with the Good Guy Mind Control, and now he's fine! he's Reformed, even!

like, it is supposed to be better or worse that in CSAU, nothing was ever his fault in the first place, so he has nothing to feel sorry for? it's ok guys, lord English was fronting, i'm fine now!!!

ugh. i cant believe i liked this at one point! if people want to play with their grey alien dolls and mash them together, sure, enjoy, but i'd rather something with SUBSTANCE, something that's trying to say something. For all its flaws, at least the Epilogues are trying to engage with the themes of the work it's building off of. What are the themes of CSAU? Nothing bad should ever happen to you, unless you're Vriska or Jane, because fuck these two people in particular? The problem with Bad Guy mind control devices is they aren't being countered with enough Good Guy mind control devices? You can be transgender, as long as you're indistinguishable from a cis person and just a background character for the REAL version of you who's cis? anyways, rant over, good night

biggest homestuck fan red flag is liking that crow strider AU

[httpssturns]

Flora..

flower crowns, frolicking, and a little hair lesson with reader and Matt!

notes: fluffy, established relationship, flower filled, teaching Matt how to braid hair, clumsy, idiots in love, pet names, I need this 💔

“Just loop this one around the other, anddd.... Done!” You exclaim triumphantly, before placing the flower crown on Matt’s soft, brown locks.

You and Matt love nature. You both love the breeze and the green of the trees, the butterflies and the bees that flutter around all of the beautiful flowers. Even the birds that hum around the sky, the wind ruffling through their feathers.

Nature had always been something that you two bonded over, a common interest that just made you both like each other even more.

“Its kind of like braiding, just with flowers and stems instead of hair.” You grin softly, booping his nose with the pad of your thumb.

“Like braiding?” Matt asks curiously, adjusting the crown on his head with an almost adorable demeanor. “I’ve never tried braiding before, I don’t really know how it works.” He chuckles, his hand threading through his own hair to fix the tousled strands.

“Oh, really? I could teach you if you'd like!” You say with an excited lilt, already scooting closer to him against the plush grass.

“Ah- okay, alright.” Matt chuckles, almost protesting but stopping himself, he knows you're just going to do it anyway.

You plop into his lap, your legs straddling his waist as you shift to get comfortable, before a soft smile graces your lips.

“Okay, so first, you have to get three sections—try to make them equal, but it's okay if you don't. I struggle with that a lot.” You laugh softly at the end, taking a small piece of your hair to section it into three pieces.

“Then, you cross this piece under this one,” You explain, holding up the two pieces to show him how to do it.

“Then, you do the same but with the third piece, and you repeat that until you get to the end!” You conclude, finishing the braid and letting it unravel.

“Can..can I try now?” Matt murmurs, a soft pink hue on his cheeks. He's been like this since you sat in his lap. He's always been the shy type.

“f’course you can, baby!” You chirp, enthusiastically sitting up and putting your hands in your lap.

Matt’s blush deepens, the sight of you so excited and ready for him to braid your hair making his heart skip a beat and his stomach flutter.

He takes half of your hair, deciding to give you two big braids. He needs constant reassurance, his hands slightly shaky—not because he's nervous or anything, but because he's always been a bit of a shaker.

He asks you about every 5 seconds; “Is this right?” “Am I doing this okay?” “Is it too tight, petal?” when he's been braiding probably the loosest braid in existence.

When he finishes, he gives you a tentative smile, before picking up his camera and taking a picture of you so you can see.

“They’re so cute, Matt!” You coo softly, touching the braided sections of hair. The braids aren't perfect by any means—messy, loose, some hairs are sticking out a little, but theyre his. He made them, and that makes them more beautiful than any professional hair appointment could do.

“Really? I know they arent the best—the ones you do are way better...” He mumbles softly, the pink of the tips of his ears seemingly permanent.

You cut him off with a soft peck to his lips; just a touch, but still conveying all of the words he needs to hear.

“they’re perfect to me, Matty. I promise I love them.” You murmur, booping his nose with your thumb once again before snuggling into his embrace, feeling his arms drape around you.

By the end of the day, with flora scattered around you both and grass on your clothes, unraveled braids in his hair and yours, all that matters in this flowery meadow is you and him;

Matt and his petal.

@strangergraphics for the dividers

☆ soph's notes: bae @viviansturns actually gave me this idea, so I hope she really enjoys it! writing is surprisingly a lot more fun during a road trip ✨️

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ @sugarraez @ribbonlovergirl @slvt4subchratt @sturnsblogs @oopsiedaisydeer @backwardshatnick @izzylovesmatt @viviansturns @courta13 @coquettechris @matts-wife @matts-babytomatoes @whore4chris @ilsaxdemi @bambi-cloud9

comment below to be added to the main taglist!

[egophiliac]

I loved your drawing(and I love your style in general) with Leia in your recent post! If/when you have time can we see more of her in your style? I get so happy whenever I actually see people mention/talk about her and she’s not just forgotten because we didn’t get to see much of her. 😭

thank you! 💙💙💙 Leia/Leah/Lea/whatever is fascinating to me. she is the ultimate unknown. what was she like? how involved (or even aware of any details of the invasion) was she? Silver's basically a physical carbon copy of his biodad, so what did he get from her? like, I understand why the two of them kind of have to stay as these super vague and mysterious figures -- the whole point of them is that their story ended 400+ years ago and they're not really relevant anymore (and. well. the more that gets explained about them, the less that can just kinda be handwaved as "oh the politics were Very Messy") (we can sit here and theorize all day but let us acknowledge that, ultimately, canon gave us almost nothing about them post-Meleanor and we'd just be making things up). I do still wonder about her though! RIP Lea, we never knew you and we probably never will.

actually you know what, as long as we're here, I think I WILL go ahead and just make some stuff up about what Silver might've inherited from her instead.

[birdmenmanga]

the problem with birdmen okay, is that it was too liminal. it stayed between two uncommitted states for too long. serialized in a shonen magazine and yet content-wise leaned far more seinen. hinting at homosexuality and communism but doing so in a deeply plausibly deniable fashion such that nobody really has anything to hang onto. and above all, despite literally naming her series BIRDMEN, falling just shy of capturing the furry imagination. a TOTAL failure on all fronts

[eatsbooks]

eris being a cunt with a tragic backstory & azriel being a sopping wet tshirt with a tragic backstory. their on-page interactions are incredibly tense and that offers endless possibility off-page too. they are just so crunchy so thorny so complex while being complementary and interesting above all.

i like the nitty and the gritty. i play around a lot with power dynamics in my azris fics and how it impacts each of them when these begin to shift. i also really love them serving as mirrors for each other — as their love for each other grows, so too does their relationship with the self. some imagery i enjoy for them: the sun in eclipse, extinguished candles, scalding cold and frozen heat, permanent bindings, fierce and bruising holds that are gentler and more loving than anything either has ever known before

only got the one published so far ! but even if the enemy is ourselves is my baby. i’ve kept them both really true to the vision i have for them in my head, and i’m super pleased with how their relationship is unfolding. i just never ever liked the narrative that azriel has been pining unrequited for 500 years and — especially as spymaster — doesn’t know mor’s secret. there are just infinitely more fun ways to explain the tension between azris when it comes to that. hence eiteio: what if the tension between moriel isn’t because azriel loves her but because he carries deep, deep guilt for torturing her after she ruined her betrothal to eris? what if the tension between azris isn’t because azriel hates eris but because eris is keeping this secret that can destroy everything he knows about himself? and what happens when azris falls in love and that weapon eris holds over azriel blunts around the edges, becomes not a shackle but an irrevocable tether, becomes the only true thing in their lives?

i just need Silence. can’t write in any meaningful way if anything is happening around me

i’m cheating cuz i’ve yapped ad nauseam about most of these already but ! i hc that eris has such an intense and intrinsic relationship with autumn. the land knows him and loves him; the land sees him as heir and waits joyously for his ascension. it preempts him when he passes through its forests, it provides for him, it keeps him safe — healing herbs and secret cabins and the like. i hc that azriel has a very similar relationship with his shadows. they kept him sane in the cell, pieced him together, filled in the cracks and edges that formed. the darkness knows him and loves him; the darkness sees him as an embodiment of itself. it trusts him with its language and its secrets, and it trusts him to steward them as it does with no one else. i hc that azris’ conversations are nearly impossible to follow, even by those who know them well. not because they're talking in code or anything but because so much is implicitly understood between the pair of them that they skip around topics with seemingly no reason at all. they can often convey nearly everything they need to just with a look — because even if they aren't on the same page on something, they know how the other is thinking about it and what is being brought up for them internally.

naur my hair is too big :(

naur my hair will remain too big :(

i’m still truckin away on eiteio, but i have an azris x oc kinda like hades x persephone x demeter type fic begging to be actualized. (maybe aphrodite x adonis x persephone would be more apt cuz otherwise eris is in the role of his mate’s mother in that comparison whomp whomp.)

uhhh so genuinely i have no idea. i’ve been writing on tumblr since i was like 11 so … i reckon i’ll give a shoutout to all the rp partners in my youth who bounced words back and forth with me & came along on many obsessive characterization journeys.

it can be really hard to put something you care about and love into the world, but i firmly believe that if it’s in you and of you then it deserves to be shared. (even if that’s just talking about it with a friend. even if that’s just screaming in all caps on tunglr dot hell and never writing a single word towards it.) passion shines through, and no one cares about perfection when they can see how much love is put in the crafting of something. (and if they do then they’re not worth your time to think about!) if that passion starts to wane mid-project — poke around and figure out why! is it the direction of the characters? the path the story has carved? have the characters outgrown the tale? go back to the drawing board! i literally had like 150k words down for an azris x oc fic and scrapped it all to rewrite it because it no longer matched the vision i had for it. that’s scary. that’s hard. but the love is there, and the passion is there, and i think that’s really all you need to see a project through, even if it takes longer than expected.

Azris Week 2025 Self-Spotlight

Only five more days until the main event! To continue fostering more community between Azris creators, instead of having user-submitted writers or artists answer some questions, creators can interview themselves!

Pretend you can see my jazz hands.

These questions are for ALL Azris creators - writers, mood board creators, artists, you get the idea! At the end of Azris Week, anyone who has filled out the below interview will get added to a master list so that everyone can see your thoughts. Feel free to add your own questions at the bottom, if you think of anything else you’d like to say about your Azris Week creations.

If you aren’t doing anything for Azris Week 2025 but want to participate anyway, go ahead! No one will stop you and you’ll still be included in the master list.

Questions

1. What drew you to Azris?

2. What themes do you explore most often in your fics? Do you have a favorite image or location that you return to again and again?

3. What is your favorite fic/art that you’ve made? Why?

4. What is your writing/drawing/painting setup? Do you have a routine that you follow?

5. Give a favorite headcanon about Azriel and Eris, separately, and Azriel and Eris, together.

6. Have you worn wigs?

7. Will you wear wigs?

8. What upcoming projects are you excited about?

9. Name some influences on your writing or art style - could be fellow writers, poets, singers, nature, etc.

10. What encouragement would you give someone who is just beginning a project? Someone who is stalled on a project? Someone losing steam/interest?

[qcomicsy]

Lately I've only been wishing to grab a comic about my favorite character and just have a genuinely good time reading it.

[laugtherhyena]

So fun fact about me and the another series; I found out about it back in 2018 just one or two weeks before Ch3 came out and spend the next 3 or 4 years being hooked onto the game until the fixation died down and only returned to me around August or September of lasy year.

Meaning that through 2/3s of Sdra2 i was able to see the chapters as they were coming out and that's honestly something i wish more people in the current fandom could have experienced because it was so fun seeing the hype around a chapter that's soon to come out spike up with all kinds of theories, predictions and people hoping their favorites won't die (i remember i even had a dream once where chapter 5 released and Teruya murdered Iroha by tying her into a train track and waiting for it to run over her after she came to him and told him about being a void and he was like, trying to get rid of all remaining void by killing Iroha himself and wining the class trial, which would in kill Mikado too. Wild shit, but it's a dream you know?). And of course, whenever a new chapter did release the entire fandom would collectively freak out for the entire day as random instagram accs posted Cgs and bits of roughly translated information through the day alongside the deaths and executions and this hype around the newest chapter would sprout all kinds of art, edits and more theories for the following month or two.

All around awesome experience? Not exactly. Because this also means i got to see Linuj's crazy plot twist as they were being revealed and here's where we get to the actual subject of this long ramble/rant; Kokoro Mitsume and how i really wish i could have spoiled myself of what happens in Ch0 because that would have spared me of so much pain.

And let me tell you, when i say pain, i am by no means exaggerating. You people have no idea how much i cried when Ch0 came out. My little 15 year old head was going through the 5 stages of grief over that plot twist, that shit didn't even feel real to me until one or two days after its release.

One thing you gotta know about me is that before i became the Ayame person™ Kokoro was my absolute favorite character of the another series, and if you know me for even just a little while then you know how insanely attached i am to her despite being a minor character who dies 1/3 of the way through the game.

Like, y'all don't understand, i was so happy when i saw that one Cg of her and Mikado in my timeline, so genuinely ecstatic to see more of her after i thought her character done with since the events of Ch2. Can you magine how i felt after watching the character i adored so so much turn out to be a vile human being? I was genuinely so distraught man, i spent a good while being one of those people that ignored everything about the characters irl selves because that twist hurt me so damn much, but even then i was never able to look at that character the same way again, even now she just makes me feel bad.

And it's s not that i think Kokoro is the worst person to have ever existed, i like antagonist/villain characters who've done much worse than her, hell, I don't even think her character was absolutely ruined or anything. When i think about Mitsume nowadays i genuinely find her an interesting case of a good person with big plans who lacked a proper support system or even friends which led her down a path where she became cold and cruel without a semblance of care for her own family so long as she could work on her project, and seeing the difference between the Kokoro we see as a teen and her adult self just makes all of this even more heartbreaking. I still like her, is just that having my perception of this character be completely shattered when Ch0 came out permanently affected how i view her and as much as i still enjoy her character even now I can't help but simultaneously hate her for how she made me feel ❤️

[leupagus]

A Gale of Wolves, Chapter 6: Myrcella

"Ah, ah, this is not your wedding yet, little brother," warned Arianne as she briskly tapped them on their shoulders, pushing them firmly aside so that she could sit between them. "Room enough for the Mother, if you please."

"You're my sister, not my mother," Trystane grumbled. "And there is not enough room for your backside!"

"Trystane!" Myrcella protested, but Arianne had it well in hand.

"If I were Mama, I would spank you on yours," she told him, and swatted at him anyway. Trystane yelped and hit her back, and their end of the table erupted into chaos as brothers and sisters, cousins and friends all shrieked and jabbed at each other, tickling and pinching as one can only do to those one truly loves.

*note: chapters will be posted once a day from April 18 to May 11. Some will be shorter than others, but hopefully this schedule will work for people who a) like to know when they can read the whole thing in one go and b) like to read chapter by chapter as they come.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

also tbt but shoutout to the way this one tweet of mine got these Likes trickling in from randos, dunno why this one in particular but win that it was one that outright says Autistic. and taylor mason loyalist / understander

truly in this and any other glimpses it's o7 & warms my heart that there's other absolute randos who are Nonplussed about billions re: winston, that is, they too understand him as a person in the world of the story & from that perspective respond to material like "uh"

[painless-innit-colourful]

writing every day of november but less words than nanowrimo so I don't try to set fire to my laptop. anyway, here's today's snippet

'it didn’t matter how many people were present, Tommy had been and would be clinging onto Tubbo for the foreseeable future. At least the rest of the party. Maybe the rest of the year.'

[tvrningout-a]

i should've switched to writing original stuff ages ago bc i could've been overcoming writer's block if i did :' )

[izzy-b-hands]

I. I think I have a decent finished draft for the first day of the upcoming Our Flag fan event with those drag based prompts that's coming up later in the month but. Oh. I made myself sad for Izzy in the process 🥺

[rocket-man-major-tom]

Some Dumb HawkScourge Story I Wrote Because I Was Bored

"So," Firestar began as he dropped his mouse, and took a seat next to Hawkfrost. Hawkfrost looked at him out of the corner of his eye with a raised brow as he tore a chunk out of his vole. The Thunderclan leader wore a playful smirk on his face, which only aroused suspicion in the brown tabby. "Rumor has it that you fancy someone here in Thunderclan," Firestar continued, his smirk widening into a grin. Hawkfrost nearly choked on the piece of vole he was chewing.

He managed to swallow it down before turning to meet Firestar's gaze properly with wide, nervous eyes. "O-oh?" was all Hawkfrost managed in response. The large warrior's nervous stutter did not go unnoticed, and Firestar couldn't help but chuckle in amusement. "I've also heard that this someone happens to be a certain black tom with a white paw," he continued again, letting out another playful chuckle as Hawkfrost's ears folded back, and his cheeks began to flush. "A certain brother of mi-" Hawkfrost finally cut Firestar off, having heard more than enough by now. "Alright, I get it! Yes, I..." he struggled for a moment before he managed to force out the rest of his confession. "I have feelings for Scourge," he finished, his face even redder now.

Firestar's expression softened. "You know, there's no need for you be so embarassed about it," firestar assured him. "Don't say that like you weren't just teasing me over it!" Hawkfrost responded indignantly. Firestar let out another laugh at that. "You're right, I'm sorry," he replied, earnestly, though still with some amusement in his tone. Hawkfrost was still noticeably less than amused. His emberassment had now transitioned into annoyed sulking. "I didn't think word would spread like this. I only ever told Leafpool about this," he said, regretfully. "I guess she must have mentioned it to Squirrelflight, and Starclan knows she wouldn't miss an opportunity to gossip about me," he added, annoyance building in his tone. It then occured to him that he was talking directly to Firestar about one of his daughters, and he cringed at himself. "Eh, sorry, I didn't mean anything by that..." Firestar only smiled at him in amusement again. "You're fine. I'm sorry your secret got spoiled," he said, sympathetically.

The two continued to eat in silence for a moment before Firestar spoke up again. "So, I take it you haven't told Scourge personally yet?" Hawkfrost took a moment to swallow another piece of his vole before answering. "No, I haven't," he started. He frowned as he continued. "He doesn't seem like someone who would want a mate," he said, somewhat dejectedly. "I wouldn't be so sure of that," Firestar said. "I remember when he used to despise you when you were first brought in to this clan, and even further back, when he used to hate everbody," he elaborated. That was a good point. To those who knew Scourge when he was still the leader of Bloodclan, the idea that he might be willing to sacrifice himself for others, and that he was capable of any emotion other than the sadistic pleasure of watching the life drain from his foes' eyes, would have seemed like some mad fantasy. And yet.

Firestar suddenly turned his gaze in the direction of the warrior den. "You know, if there was ever a good enough time to tell him, now might be it," Hawkfrost looked at Firestar quizzically for a moment before following his eyes. Scourge was coming their way, having just emerged from the warrior den to begin his day. Hawkfrost's heart immediately felt like it was trying to scramble out through his throat. He turned back to Firestar, who simply smiled reassuringly. "I'll be nearby if you need any support. Good luck," he said, with not even the slightest hint of doubt in his voice. Before Hawkfrost could muster a protest, the leader was already making his way back towards his den. Hawkfrost wanted to call out after him, but held his tongue.

As Scourge approached the fresh-kill pile, his eyes darted suspiciously between Firestar and Hawkfrost. Though he cursed him internally, Hawkfrost decided that Firestar was right. Now would be the moment of truth. "Hey...Scourge," he awkwardly greeted. Scourge raised a brow at him. "Good morning, Hawkfrost," he greeted much more cooly. He proceeded to take a magpie from the pile, and set it down before continuing. "You seem awfully...giddy about something," he said. When Hawkfrost struggled to think of a reply, a knowing smile began to form on the black tom's muzzle. "Squirrelflight already told me, if that's what's gotten your head all stirred up," he said, grinning. "Of course she did," Hawkfrost scoffed, looking down at his still unfinished vole as his face reddened again. His expression immediately turned hopeful, however, and he looked back at Scourge as the small cat laid down beside him to begin eating. "So...what about you, then?" Scourge looked back at him with a thoughtful smile. "Well, having had the time to think and reflect," Scourge began, idly pawing at his magpie as he thought of how to continue. "I do believe the feeling is mutual."

[letusrollon]

When there's no live game on at all (or one that I want to watch) I use the time to catch up on some hockey games I missed earlier in the season when I was on holidays.

5am and I'm catching up on the Toronto v Boston game from 27/10/24 (Australia time).

I made myself a wrap.

A crunchy wrap.

(Not the crunchiest wrap ever I know. Probably only mildly crunchy. But crunchier than how I would usually eat it.)

🤷🏽‍♀️ personally felt like the next logical step (for me) was to record a video of me taking a few bites of the crunchy wrap. Just for the ASMR of it ya know.

It sounded so...crunchy. Me likes 😁

[skrunksthatwunk]

yakuza: dead souls - american vibes, bigass guns, and why zombies are super weird to have in ryu ga gotoku thematically/ideologically speaking

so i've been playing dead souls recently (hell yeah hell yeah hell yeah) and although i'm having the time of my life with it, there was something about it that kinda felt off to me, and i think i've figured out what it was, but i'm gonna have to walk you through a bit of my thought process to get there.

my first instinct was that it felt... american? and upon further examination i think that boils down to a couple of things:

everyone suddenly has lots of guns and also way way bigger guns

high emphasis on individual heroism (this itself is quite typical for rgg, but it manifests differently here; more on that in a bit)

military/government incompetence, which must be solved by the right individuals having the biggest and bestest guns

[for the sake of transparency i will note that my experience with zombie media is pretty limited and skews american (and i myself am american), so that may create bias. however, the 'this feels american to me' instinct is a rare one for me even in genres where i have seen little/no non-american media, so i think the fact that it did occur to me is notable. what about dead souls triggered that response when little else has? that's why i examined it and, truthfully, i think there's merit in the idea itself.]

the first point is pretty self-explanatory. america's got more guns than it does people, and its gun worship is infamous. japan's ban on guns (aided by its being an island state) means there's far fewer guns in the country, as well as far fewer people with guns (and likely far fewer guns per gun owner, excepting arms dealers/smugglers) than somewhere without such a ban. obviously, there are guns anyway. due to their illegality they are clustered within the criminal population, which explains their presence within organized crime within the series. very few guns will be sitting around in the homes of otherwise law-abiding citizens.

and yet, when the zombie outbreak hits kamurocho, plenty of civilians suddenly have access to quite an arsenal. everyone has the knowledge they need to aim, fire, and reload smoothly and quickly; ammo is infinite for certain guns. characters we've never seen using firearms before suddenly have shotguns under their couches (looking at you, majima). it's not only very different from reality, it's very different from guns' place within the series up until this point, when they were limited weapons used primarily by the enemy.

and they're making a zombie shooter, so of course they would have to do this. it has to be unrealistic to be simultaneously in this setting and in this genre, in the same way that yakuza solving their problems with bareback fistfights instead of guns is itself both unrealistic and necessary to being the kinds of games rgg are.

my point is that this is a kind of focus on and valorization of gun ownership and competency unusual for the series and setting. further, it serves as an argument for why an armed, competent populace is crucial typical in american media.

which brings us to the third point (we'll get to 2 in a minute). guns are often marketed as self-defense weapons. the implication is that the government's defense of the individual (via law enforcement or the military, but particularly the former), are insufficient. this is objectively true. if someone pulls a gun on you at the gas station, will a cop manifest out of thin air to intercede? no. that's impossible. but if you have a gun, or if some bystander has a gun, you or they may be able to do something with that gun to stop the armed person. thus, there is an undeniable gap in the effective immediacy of such responses.

many gun advocates also point to the incompetence or insufficiency of law enforcement, even when they are present to stop an armed aggressor. the fact that law enforcement do not have a 100% success rate in protecting the citizenry is also objectively true.

so, when you are in danger, arming yourself increases your chances of being able to put down (or at least take armed action against) a present or potential threat. whether it is viewed it as a supplement to or a replacement for law enforcement, it is meant to make up for the shortcomings of the government's ability to completely protect all its citizens. it's a safety net for state failure.

back to dead souls. rgg has always centered political corruption in its stories, including politicians, the police, and sometimes even the military, though usually the former two. sometimes this is treated sympathetically (i.e. tanimura, a dirty cop, whose dirty-cop-ness allows him to work outside/against the law to help disadvantaged people, not unlike how kiryu views being a yakuza), and other times it's simply a matter of greed or lust for power (i.e. jingu).

however, something that's almost never touched on so clearly is government incompetence. when the government fails to help people or hurts them or does corrupt things, it's usually due to a competent, malicious bad apple who is removed from power by the end of the game. this implies holes in the system because it keeps happening all the time, but that's on a series-wide scale, a pattern ignored by the series in favor of the individual game solution of "this guy's gone now :) yay".

but in dead souls, the SDF's barracades fall, their men are killed, they are unable to help protect the people outside or inside the quarantine zone. they are weak in a way the government usually isn't in these games. and who is stronger than them? our individual good guys with guns. so we need to be armed because the government is weak and can't protect us. boom. america.

returning to point 2, i'd like to say that dead souls is not particularly more individualistic than any of the other games in the series (other than, perhaps, y7). rgg is an incredibly individualistic series, actually. its protagonists are usually men who defy, oppose, and skirt around the law as a way of helping others and doing what is truly right (with a few exceptions, like shinada and haruka). the romanticized view of the yakuza as a force for helping the community in the face of government incompetence is a real one, and one that tends to manifest itself most in kiryu and how the series treats him. it shows us yakuza who aren't willing to kill, yakuza who cry about honor and justice and humanity and brotherhood, yakuza who never dip their hands into less palatable crimes, or only do with intense regret (and only ever as part of their backstory). the beat-em-up style emphasizes this as well. i mean, what's more individualistic than a one-man army?

put more clearly, this series is about men defying legal and social laws and expectations to live in a way that feels right to them, and about making themselves strong enough to combat those who would get in their way. the individual is placed before the society in importance, (though generally in a way that benefits the community, because they are good guys who want to use that agency and power for good).

all of this is true in dead souls as well, technically. those who live on the outskirts of society are the ones who actually save the day, and the ones who go in there and save people rather than just walling them off and pretending like they don't exist. they have the guns, which are illegal and mark them as criminals, but this broken law is what gives them the power to save themselves when the government will not, and to save their community if they so choose.

where dead souls differs is in the nature of that strength.

rgg places a lot of emphasis on self-improvement, both of one's body and of one's character. do both of these, and you will be strong enough to back up your ambitions. what allows someone to carve their own path in life is the ability to put down ideological and physical resistance by having resolve and the ability to tiger drop whoever won't be swayed by your impassioned speeches. you make yourself a weapon. you make yourself strong. in dead souls, that strength comes from an external, material possession. strength is something you buy (or that you take from someone else). who is able to survive the apocalypse comes not from the heart, nor from rigorous training, but from who has the most, the biggest, and the most bestest guns. it's an intersection of capitalism, militarization, and individualism. simply, deeply american.

[when i was talking myself through this a few days ago, i spent a lot more time on the capitalism + individualism stuff, but i think i'll keep this moving. consider this aside the intermission]

dead souls also differs for a few other interlocking reasons. it can be described with this equation:

zombification of enemies + lethality of guns = loss of emphasis on redemption

if your best friend turned into a zombie, could you shoot them? or your child? or your lover? it's a common trope, but it's a damn good one. watching your family, your neighbors, your town, everyone turn into a husk of themselves, something that looks like them but cannot be reached, is deeply tragic. it's even more tragic when these husks are trying to kill you. unable to be reasoned with and unable to be cured, you must incapacitate them before someone innocent is hurt--or hurt, then themselves made dangerous; each loss adds to the number of threats surrounding you. your life is seen as more valuable than that of your zombified friend, not only because the zombie is attacking you and it's self defense, but because they are no longer a person to you. to be a zombie is to no longer be human; zombification is dehumanization.

and so in a series so focused on connection with one's community, on saving innocent civilians, often on saving kamurocho specifically, one would expect similar tropes to occur. even if one's friends aren't turned, perhaps the cashier at poppo you chat with sometimes is. it's the destruction of that community and of the members one has tertiary relationships with that i expect would occur most within a kamurocho zombie story, since they are likely unwilling to axe anyone more important than that, even if dead souls isn't canon. i'd especially expect to see that in the beginning, before the need to kill zombies rather than contain or redeem them becomes apparent.

this does not happen.

i cannot speak for the entire game, but i can speak of gameplay choices that affect this, and ones i think will not be subverted throughout, even if they are somewhat contradicted by plot events i am presently unaware of.

kamurocho is not a community to protect, nor is it filled with your fellows. it is a playground filled with infinitely respawning, infinitely mow-downable, infinitely disposable zombies. you are meant and encouraged to kill them by the thousands, and never to hesitate or consider whether they may be cured or who may be mourning them. who may be unable to identify their loved one because you were trying to reach a headshot goal from hasegawa. you are not meant to consider them as human, nor beings that were once human, nor beings that could be human again, in the eyes of the zombie shooter. they are merely bodies, targets, and obstacles.

the zombies are contrasted with the true humans, those barricading themselves within the quarantine zone or those living in ignorance outside it. humans are meant to be saved, zombies are meant to be killed. the player character is the only one who can truly help with either of these goals, because the other humans are cowardly, ignorant, or unarmed/helpless. you must be their savior. to be a savior is to eliminate zombies, who are less than human.

the black and white nature of this is also emphasized by another gameplay characteristic: the lack of street encounters. when you traverse the peaceful parts of kamurocho, you are never attacked. you are also never directly attacked by the humans within the quarantine zone. kamurocho feels very different without its muggers and hooligans, but it's because this is a zombie shooter, not a beat-em-up. in a normal rgg title, you'd subdue threats by punching, kicking, and throwing them. you'd use your body in (supposedly) nonlethal ways. dead souls does not have a combat system meant for civilians. you have your guns. you subdue threats by shooting them, preferably lethally. the game doesn't want you to do that to humans, so you never fight humans. this furthers the black and white divide between the salvation-worthy, noble humans and the death-worthy, worthless zombies. combat is only lethal, and only used against the inherent other.

this leads me to the part of dead souls i find most conflicting with the ethos of rgg broadly, and perhaps its greatest ideological/thematic failing.

because the enemy are incurable, dangerous, and inhuman, you must kill them to protect yourself and others, others who are still human. humanity is something that is lost or preserved, but never regained. once someone's gone, they're gone, and you not only must kill them, it is your duty and your right to kill them. you should kill them.

in dead souls, there is no redeeming the enemy.

and that's a big problem.

rgg is about a lot of things, but a key one is the ability of people to change for the better. its most memorable, beloved villains are those who see the light by the end and change their wicked ways (usually through some form of redemptive suicide, though that's another essay in itself). its pantheon of characters is full of those who come from questionable backgrounds struggling to be the best people they can be, to live as themselves authentically and compassionately. it's about the good and the love you can find in the moral and legal gray zones of life/society, and the potential/capacity for good all of us have, no matter how far we may have fallen. it is a hopeful series. it is a merciful series.

this is something bolstered by its gameplay. countless substories are resolved by punching a lesson into someone until they improve their behavior, either out of fear or genuine remorse/development. the games don't just discourage killing your enemies, they don't allow you to (yes, we've all seen the "kiryu hasn't killed anybody? umm. look at this heat action" stuff before, and while they've got a point, i believe it's the narrative's intent that none of this is actually lethal, based on how laxly it treats certain plot injuries (cough cough. y7 bartender) and the actual concept of taking a life, the gravity it is given by the text, particularly when it comes to characters crossing that threshold into someone who has killed. explicit killing is not an option open to you, even when you're being attacked by dozens and dozens of armed men. conflicts are resolved by simply beating up enough guys in this nonlethal manner.

but dead souls is a shooter. to avoid conflict with the series' moral qualms about letting its characters kill, the enemies cannot be human. furthermore, the zombie shooter genre can only fit within the series if its zombies are completely inhuman. this means their pasts as humans cannot be acknowledged, nor the possibility of a cure, nor the characters' own potential conflicts about killing them; or, at least, not in a way that impedes their or the player's ability to gun them down afterwards.

if you can't kill humans in your series, then it cannot be possible to save (in this case, rehumanize) zombies. this is especially true in a game where you are unable to fight humans, and thus human lives are universally more valuable than zombie lives. because if you kill a zombie that can be cured, you are, in a way, killing a human.

and so, in a series where you should always assume your enemies (and everyone, for that matter) are capable of reason, compassion, change, and redemption, and where they are always worth that effort, even if they reject it in the end, dead souls' enemies are irredeemable and only worth swift, stylish slaughter. there are only good guys and bad guys. good guys must be protected, lest they be turned irreversibly into bad guys. good guys are only protected by killing bad guys, and the only way to save good guys is to kill every last one of the bad guys. do not spare them, and do not ask whether or not it's right. only kill.

i love dead souls. it's a silly game. i like seeing daigo in decoy-drag and majima gleefully cartwheeling his way through zombies and ryuji with his giant gun arm prosthetic. it's fun. but when i was trying to figure out what felt off about it to me, one of the words that came to mind (besides american) was indulgent. that, too, felt odd, because i love indulgent media. i am not one to scorn decadent, hedonistic, beautiful high-calorie slop type media. if dead souls was just fan servicey, that wouldn't really bother me. i am a fan and boy do i feel serviced. it rocks. but i think my problem is in what dead souls is indulging.

i think dead souls indulges in the desire to cut loose, and to see these characters cut loose. thing is, they're cutting loose all over kamurocho, and all over the bodies of people they used to (at least in concept) care for. with lethal weapons. it is catharsis via bloodbath, not by pushing your body and mind to the limit in man to man combat, but by pulling a trigger before the other guy can hurt you, or even think about hurting you, for the crime of existing as the wrong kind of thing.

and i just don't think that's in line with rgg's beliefs.

yes, it's probably fair for dead souls' characters to kill zombies. i'm not against that. i'm also not against games letting you do purposeless violence. i spent a good amount of my elementary school years killing oblivion npcs for shits, like. that's not what bothers me about dead souls.

rgg as a series has always taken a hard stance in both its game design and narrative choices against killing and for the potential for redemption in its enemies. and i think the lengths to which it goes to promote that despite the probably-lethal moves you do and the improbability of a harmless do-gooder yakuza is one of the most endearing things about the games. so for this one entry to disregard that key theme for the sake of a genre shift that flopped super hard, well? i dunno. it feels weird i guess. it's out of place not just because it's a dramatic shift in gameplay and style and also zombies are only a thing here (and the supernatural/fantastical are thus only prominent here), but because of what those shifts imply.

so, uh. yeah. my pre-dead-souls thoughts that dead souls wasn't that out of pocket bc rgg's just kinda weird? turns out it was actually super weird to have a zombie shooter in there, but for way way deeper reasons than anyone gives it credit for.

(footnotes in tags)