#AGAIN is personal interpretation yes

[marinemirage]

[FGOW] Psychedelic Wandering Tales - Eng. Translation

Every last one alive on the battlefield

Don't leave any behind, don't let them escape

Ah, entrusting whole-hearted devotion in a flash

I will not be defeated, I will use any means necessary

Fires of war lavishly bloom, chop off their heads

Dazzling hellfire, it’s life or death

The question and answer to war is simple

If we slaughter them before we perish, won’t it be over?

It’s simply just fighting, burying into darkness,

Getting splattered with fresh blood

Even so, I’m sure

I wouldn’t be interested in running away

Even betrayal and sadness

Are all for someone

I survived but kept on losing

If I become aware of my last moments,

At least for now, with a smile…

Sympathy for the ill-fated me crosses through heaven and earth

Don’t be pay them any mind, make sure they are destroyed

Ah, those who resign themselves will face no mercy

Like a bursting a bubble, I’ll finish them off

(Run!!) Run forth

(Fight!!) Attack

(Crash!!) Without hesitation, even the cries are trampled to DEATH

(Life!!) If you think of

(Game!!) The reward that’s coming closer

(Fate!!) Then you can stand up, right?

It’s simply just fighting, burying into darkness,

Slashing away mercilessly

Still, I'm sure those deaths

Will be a path that leads to the future

Even scars and falling petals

Are all for someone

I survived but kept on rusting away

If I put the bloody blade away

My fate would be a sleep that I’ll never awaken from

All creations in this universe are because of whom?

Can I advance and wipe out my opponents?

My beliefs are honestly simple

How much can I do before I perish?

It’s simply just fighting, burying into darkness,

Before I realized it, I found myself alone

A short life, there is one head left here

I can’t stop, no matter what

Even slashing and scattering corpses

Are all for you

Even if I can't reach you, I want to keep winning

Until my slumber, my heart will be on fire

Even if your wishes fade away, even if the future is bleak

At least for now, with a smile…

[jemmo]

Making sense of love for love's sake: the game

Despite all the things i absolutely adore about how the plot unravels and expands in love by love's sake, upon first watch, there's some things i couldn't piece together, which @lurkingshan echoes in their post:

'The way the author was messing with Myungha and forcing cruel choices on him really does not track with a desire to help him find happiness.'

And to preface, this is not something i fully get yet either. I think i'll need a good month and a sizeable reading list of relevant resources to understand just what/who this author/sunbae is and what his role is and how he is associated with myungha. But as always with the best shows for meta (aka bad buddy), as a plot unfolds, you can always find a better understanding by looking backwards and re-contextualising what you've already seen. so i watched ep 1, specifically the scene between myungha and his sunbae at the bar. And i will talk about how everything said in this scene has a whole new meaning now we know the full story, but for now i wanna focus on that question that they keep coming back to; "Then... will you change it for him?".

When you watch the show for the first time, your brain follows the simplest, most obvious version of the story you're being told, one where myungha has been pulled into the world of his sunbae's novel that's being turned into a game and given the opportunity to fix the thing he didn't like about it; making yeowoon happy, and thus you just think the rules of the game are imposed by the author, and so when these cruel choices first come up, you see them as the difficult roadblocks that are nevertheless necessary to any kind of game, forcing the player to make an impossible choice so that the game can continue in a certain direction and its only after that you learn whether it was the right choice or not, or there is no right choice, it simply changes the game you are playing.

And when its revealed what this game actually is, at first i tried to interpret these cruel choices, namely the choice between yeonwoon and myungha's grandma, and at best i could come up with the concept of this being a choice between staying stuck to the past aka choosing his grandma, even though he knows that choice doesn't mean she's safe bc he knows the future where he loses here, its an inevitability, but thats the small happiness he knew before it was taken away and thus that happiness is known and safe, theres no risk, versus choosing to pursue a new happiness, a love of yeowoon and thus himself, which he doesn't know, he hasn't experienced yet, and could be risky. Its a happiness that isn't guaranteed like his grandma, but its a happiness that looks to the future and has hope in it that he can find a new happiness to pursue despite what has happened in his past.

And that fits nice, okayish. But then i watched ep 1 and heard that question "Then... will you change it for him?" And watching through the rest of the eps, we come back to this scene at the bar and each time we get a new run up to the author asking this question, either new dialogue is added or we hear a different piece of the conversation entirely. It starts at the beginning of ep 1 as:

"Because Cha Yeowoon is the only one who's miserable." "It can't be helped that some people's lives are like that" "The fact that some people are destined to live that kind of life is what's vile."

Then a bit later in ep 1 we go back and its expanded.

"It can't be helped that some people's lives are like that" "The fact that some people are destined to live that kind of life is what's vile." "Why? Do you think you'd write it differently?" "Yes, definately. Someone like Cha Yeowoon, or someone like me with an awful life, can also be happy."

And then all the way on in ep 6, we get this new dialogue.

"I don't like talking about destiny." "Why?" "Because it means everything is predestined." "Then do you not believe in fate?" "Fate and destiny are the same. My grandma likes to say that. She said life is like a written book, and how you'll live and die are written in it. (...)I don't like things like this. Even if fate is already destined, I think it can still be changed. Otherwise, there's no point in trying." "Really? Then Myungha..."

And while we don't hear the author ask the same question, I feel like him getting cut off like that insinuates that the conversation leads to that same ending point. All that is to say, every time we hear this question being asked, its like we learn more and more about what this whole thing is, what the game is, what myungha is saying he will do by agreeing to do what the author asks. And every time, we see myungha being more defiant against the idea of yeowoon being resigned to his miserable ending. He starts off thinking that kind of life is destined, and while it's miserable, its not something he can fight. Then he says he'd want to write the story differently, bc yeowoon, or even him, could be happy. He challenges the idea that yeowoon, and thus himself, is fated to be miserable, and opens up the possibility for happiness for them both, but doesn't yet have the means or resolve to do it, its like he knows its possible on a fundamental level, but doesn't see it as something he can actually achieve. But then we circle back to the idea of destiny and books, both of which came up in the previous quote, and seems incredibly pertinent seen as this whole thing is about a novel this author has written. Myungha talks about how he hates the idea that life is a book where everything written is predestined to happen, from the moment you live to the moment you die. He says "Even if fate is already destined, I think it can still be changed. Otherwise, there's no point in trying." That vile way of life he described before that he said was destined, he is now saying it can be changed, and that possibility is now something he's holding onto, its what he sees hope in so that he can keep trying, bc now he finally is trying, he has the resolve, he's trying to realise this thing, this impossibility of rewriting the life he thought was destined through the way he loves yeowoon.

And coming back to those cruel choices, given this fresh context, it made me think. bc this isn't actually a game that myungha has been put into where the rules are dictated by an author completely separate from him. He said himself, he'd rewrite it, he'd change things for yeowoon. And when you start to think of it less as him fighting against a rigid, removed system and more like him being a character in a story he is trying to rewrite himself, that has both the author and his own limitations, or just his own if you're in the school of thought that the author is some figment or part of myungha himself or his conciousness, then you can start to see where these cruel choices might come from. They could be myungha, the author making edits to this new story, imposing his own doubts and limitations on himself. When he says he has to pick between Yeowoon and his grandma, what if that's the new author myungha seeing this story unfold and thinking no this isn't right, he can't have it all, i'm not deserving of this much happiness.

And what makes me like this idea even more is that when we get that second choice between ending after 14 days or getting 100 days back at the cost of resetting Yeowoon's affection to 0, that whole conversation happens in what I think the bar actually is which is this frozen moment in time where myungha is in the water with this extension of a voice in his head that is talking through these things. That conversation in itself needs its own post, but when you look at it both as a decision to break up or not or a decision to hold onto life or not, you can see how the author is just this soundboard relaying the decisions myungha is going through in his head. The author's voice is his own, weighing up his decisions. And if he is the author here, it only reinforces that the person making the rules of this game is him. You can even extend it further to the idea of the debuffs, where he puts in place this thing that makes it so he causes harm to yeowoon when he's around, and its only by garnering affection that he can prevent it. He gives himself a reason from the get go to stay away from yeowoon and reason it as him doing it for yeowoon's safety, when in fact the only way to make yeowoon safe is to increase his affection, which he can only do by being near him. Its a system that at first gives myungha a reason to stay away aka not like himself, but ultimately says the only way you're going to make yeowoon like you, or the only way you can like yourself, is if you accept risk. And that in itself screams to me of a myungha writing in these game systems that are trying to encourage his own-self love while falling at the hurdle of his own lack of self-worth.

The idea is still messy in my head even for me, but i just really like the idea that myungha could be trying to fix this thing both as a character and game master, and that both these versions of him have these flaws that manifest in their different ways to cause the events we see. It kinda is the definition of being your own worst enemy, the idea that in order to work towards loving yourself, the biggest obstacle you have to encounter is yourself, bc we are the ones holding ourselves back, making all these rules that make it harder to like ourselves and pursue our own happiness. The voices in our head telling us that we aren't good enough and aren't deserving are our own, and while the things that happen to us can inform what they say, we're the one's reinforcing those words. And what this show teaches us is that, if we're the one holding that pen all along, we can choose to change what those words are. If we make the rules, you don't have to create a game with concrete ultimatums, you can create a game where rules don't control you. Instead, you make the decisions, and you can make the ones that make you happy.

[turtleblogatlast]

Man I wish we got more of the turtle tots especially their “slightly older turtle tots” designs, because they are so cute

[aalghul]

I don’t think it makes sense to assume that Jason was mocking Mia’s past. At all. The thing that got jason painted as violent back in the 80s was his anger against rapists…how does that turn into mocking a victim? and that entire story was written by winick. Do we honestly think winick intended to communicate that? The same writer who made Jason’s first kill a man who was trafficking children? Who had Jason pause in his mission of madness to make sure those kids were found by the right people so they wouldn’t be in further danger?

[questing-wulfstan]

So, I watched Remainder (2015), because I'm a simple gal who enjoys watching Tom Sturridge play various shades of unhinged gremlin on my screen and, I have my own theory :

I don't think the black out at the end is the fuse to a new loop and that it starts all over again. I think the black out is Tom's death. That Tom's been dying the whole time.

At the beginning, he's declared clinically dead, and I don't think he recovers actually. Rather, the movie is a 1 hour and 43 minutes-long stretch of the few seconds between the accident and Tom's actual death, throughout which his 'life flashes before his eyes', as the established expression go. Except part of his brain is already destroyed from the squashing, and the memories stored in it are erased, and Tom has to do with what is left for his 'life review'.

Except he does not, he's terrified of death (as human beings usually are), and he takes refuge in this ultimate surge of brain activity, lets it delude him that it is, in fact, reality. Thus, it makes no sense to him that parts of his memories are missing, and he fixates on these and endeavours to recover them, like he ought to be able to do since his brain is intact and he believes himself to have already gone through the process of, and succeeded in recovering his motive functions.

And stubborn, sort of patient, repeat has been the method to recover his motive functions, it ought to be for his memories as well.

He 'fixes' his life ー or, his memories of it ー as he goes too. I don't think he was running away from the bank robbery when he's squashed at the very beginning. The first and last scene of the movie are nearly identical, except for one detail : in the first scene, when he looks back to Catherine, she smiles and goes down the stairs towards him. She does not in the last scene.

I'm not sure what exactly was happening before the accident, but it's reasonable to infer from the informations provided throughout the movie that he found out Catherine was 'a real cunt', to quote Greg, packed his things and stormed out. That is why she's so hopeful when he turns and look at her in the first scene.

Except that is a failure, and not something Tom's unconscious want to replay last before his death, nor something he wants to go through ー again ー at all. So he reaches for something else, and grasps the memory of the news of Christopher's death. I don't think he was actually close to Christopher, but his death is 'glorious' to Tom, much more so than his own. And this might not be his own life, but if he can piece motive functions, and memories back from oblivion, surely with enough practice he can make someone else's memory his. So when he reaches the end of his life's tape, Catherine doesn't go down the stairs hopefully towards him because now he's the one who hurt her, he's dangerous, and she fears him, fears what he's capable of. The other way around than what actually happened. And much better.

Plus now, he's turned the flashing of his life before his eyes as death creeps on him into a whole other thing. Respite. Reprieve. A second chance. And surely more chances will be granted to him. Now he's in a time loop that will resume 'until the universe runs down'. Now he's endless.

Except he's not.

[dragonhotcoffee]

swear to god if i see one more post about this nonsense discourse of "abstract art enjoyers are pretentious classist people and the art has no emotion in it" I'm gonna splatter paint on the OPs Pollock style and knowing Pollock, it will be a CONSIDERABLE amount

[badolmen]

Hate scifi-fantasy magic/energy dichotomies where they talk all about balance but use genocide one side or the other to achieve it. Buddy breaking the scale doesn’t make it balanced. What the fuck do you mean the dark ones are all evil? They have an evil ideology? Okay yeah I see where that can be taken as evil but - NO it’s not balance if the only thing left is the light! You’re telling me there’s never been an evil light user? Oh there has? Then why the fuck has there never been good dark users??? (Answer: author doesn’t care about representing balance they just want easily coded good guys and bad guys).

[butchiful]

Being a GNC woman sucks sometimes. Most times.

[marinemirage]

[FGOW] Personal Lesson - Eng. Translation

この手で拓く為　ここにいる為

In order to clear the path with these hands, in order to be here

僅かな希望だとしても Even if it's just a glimmer of hope,

刹那の中　陰を纏い潜んだ闇に　挑む術を

In an instant, I’ll find a way to stand against the darkness that lurks in the shadows

何度も繰り返して　辿り着くまで

Lighting the flame in my heart over and over again

この胸に灯す焔だけは

Until we can reach it

このまま輝き続くと　深く記そう Let's engrave it so deeply so that it will continue to shine



時計の針の音だけ響く

In the corner of the room,

部屋の片隅で

Only the ticking of the hands of the clock resounded

ひとつページをめくれば

If we turn a page,

また始まる筈のなかった日々へ

We will be led to days that are never meant to be started



刻まれた定義と願いの狭間に揺れる

Wavering between engraved definitions and gaps between wishes

幻に騙されずに　ずっと守っていたいから

Because I want to keep on protecting forever without getting deceived by illusions,

なぞった言葉唱えて

Chant the words that were traced out



この手で拓く為　ここにいる為

In order to clear the path with these hands, in order to be here

僅かな希望だとしても Even if it's just a glimmer of hope,

刹那の中　陰を纏い潜んだ闇に　挑む術を

In an instant, I’ll find a way to stand against the darkness that lurks in the shadows



何度も繰り返して　辿り着くまで

Lighting the flame in my heart over and over again

この胸に灯す焔だけは

Until we can reach it

このまま輝き続くと　深く記そう Let's engrave it so deeply so that it will continue to shine



未来が今と繋がる道の先を見つめ

Look for the road ahead that connects the present with the future



世界の鍵を開けると見える

Seek a scenery that you’ll be able to see

景色求めて

Once you unlocked the key to the world

定められた未知なる道 Unknown paths have been established

険しさも迷いも恐れない

Without the fear of steep terrains and getting lost



意味の無い事など何一つないと信じて

Believe that there is nothing that is truly meaningless

そびえる壁も破って　もっと深く深くへ

Break through the towering walls, advancing deeper and deeper

残った足跡も糧になる

Even the footprints that are left behind becomes sustenance



まだ薄い靄の中で　そっと眠る

Still quietly sleeping in the fine mist,

想いに今息吹を

Breathing into my thoughts



この手で拓く為　ここにいる為

In order to clear the path with these hands, in order to be here

僅かな希望だとしても Even if it's just a glimmer of hope,

刹那の中　陰を纏い潜んだ闇に　挑む術を

In an instant, I’ll find a way to stand against the darkness that lurks in the shadows



何度も繰り返して　辿り着くまで

Lighting the flame in my heart over and over again

この胸に灯す焔だけは

Until we can reach it

このまま輝き続くと　深く記そう Let's engrave it so deeply so that it will continue to shine



未来が今と繋がる道の先を見つめ

Look for the road ahead that connects the present with the future



時計の針の音はもう止まらない

The sound of the ticking clock is unstoppable now

幾千の空白を埋め尽くす日まで

Until the day that thousands of empty spaces are filled in

文字の羅列も掌から

Even the string of words are from my palm

零れ落ちぬようにと握りしめて

So that they don't spill out, I clutch them tightly

[marsbotz]

trying not to go crazy and start killing people every time i see another mane 6 redesign post

[roaringroa]

hate when ppl talk about touko from bloom into you like she was pressuring yuu into having feelings for her when she was literally doing the opposite? she wanted yuu to NOT have feelings for her lmao

[fairysylveon]

rubbing my temples a little thinking about tim takes

[dungeons-and-dragon-age]

Fandom asks: 2, 6, 20, 23?

[ask game]

Hiya, thank you for the ask!! :]

2. a headcanon you weren't sure about at first but have come to like!

I can't think of anything specific rn so imma just generally say shipping headcanons! I used to be waayyy more opposed to shipping but one thing that DA has helped to learn is to enjoy romantic content/headcanons alongside non-romantic ones

6. something you see in art a lot and love

The different ways people stylise the anchor

Carver being taller than Hawke

When Wardens are visibly tainted/ a little fucked up (tapetum lucidum, black veins, or any sort of anatomical weirdness)

Giving faves more chub to show that they are healing 😌

OC tarot cards!!

20. your very first fandom!

Warrior cats! xD That was the first time i was involved in an online community for a fandom and not just my friends and schoolmates with the same obsession as me lol. First big hyperfixation that kickstarted me getting into art For Real, nad into animation and RPing and all sorts of stuff, so it's still has a very special place in my heart

23. the fandom you're curious about because of a mutual

Answered here (it`s Mass Effect) but something you also got me interested in is PoE! I've had my eyes on it before but now it's a more active curiosity :]

[sundial-girl]

Do you have any hcs for Heron???

how did you catch me thinking abt him... spooky

i'm like super bad at listing hcs out in an organized manner (*_ _)人 but here's some:

goes for long walks at night to clear his mind when he can't sleep. yeah walking around the dark alone at like 2 in the morning probably isn't the safest thing but he prefers the solitude at that time of day. occasionally he'll also find something like a cool rock or shell or whatever on these walks to bring back and gift to one of his friends (or just keep for himself)

occasionally tries to hide his emotions so those close to him won't worry about him, but he's not actually very good at that (sometimes) and it just makes them worry more :'0. also, very prone to mood swings, which he also tries to hide as to not ruin the mood [pun was not intended i swear]

please don't let him wear roller skates/heelys - he says he'll be fine and knows how to use them but he crashes into everything and nearly breaks his bones 😭

he and oliver don't actually talk all that much but there is a silent mutual understanding (bird instincts 🤝)

used to have a higher cold tolerance prior to losing his hand (& eye), but can't risk being out in the cold as much anymore due to the mechanical parts possibly getting damaged (& the metal gets freezing which is. uncomfortable) so :( rip

scared of the dentist but only a little bit. not completely terrified but doesn't like going there

i know the mauling len to death thing is a joke sorta but i wonder if there is smthn deeper to it. like len reminds heron of himself in a way (even in spite of several differences), and something about that makes him so envious and full of rage and he's not sure why (he does, but wouldn't admit to it)—what's even more frustrating is len just keeps being... len. is he willfully ignorant and is this mockery or is he really that forgiving? and how could you forgive someone after all they've done to you? maybe len represents a lot of things heron is not and that's what really sets him off to attack him, personally. but maybe not thats just a theory a heron theory

very neutral on goldfish crackers

bumps into doorframes a lot b/c. tol

there was a trend years ago iirc? of people just randomly climbing up to really high places and just sorta sitting there. i feel like maybe he'd do that sometimes just cause? like w/ the first point he might just need places to vibe alone sometimes

thang

[levil0vesyou]

Having a post get popular enough to be independently reblogged by someone you follow but aren't mutuals with is. Wild

[mantisgodsdomain]

Scarlet Writing Cheat Sheet

1: Scarlet will not pick a fight unless he believes he can win it. 1a: What Scarlet defines as a fight he can win varies by how old the Scarlet is, and will generally skew heavily towards fights balanced exclusively in his favor. 1b: Scarlet will not go into any sort of fight that seems even vaguely unbalanced against him if he has any choice in the matter. 1c: If possible, Scarlet will not fight at all, as an ambush is far more effective than a fight and will offer him far more life force if successful than wasting life on a battle ever will.

2: Scarlet will respond to any threat that he does not believe he can either fight or avoid with playing a role and attempts at appeasement. 2a: Scarlet is a very good actor, but he will play to whatever role he feels is asked of him. This role may shift to respond to shifting expectations, or wants, or actions - its purpose is to act as though he is harmless, and he will adapt to anything he believes may keep himself alive longer. 2b: Scarlet will openly contradict himself in order to cater to whoever he believes is the biggest threat in the room. 2c: Scarlet will continue to act in this manner until he is forced out of it, either by hunger or by other circumstances.

3: Scarlet is motivated by food, shelter, and avoidance of discovery, not necessarily in that order. 3a: Generally speaking, avoiding discovery will take priority over food and shelter, but he can be cornered into accepting things that would otherwise be too much of a risk, should he be forced into playing a role. 3b: All motives will, in the end, loop back to self-preservation, either in terms of preserving his life or in terms of preserving his sense of self. 3c: If given the opportunity, Scarlet will avoid ants at all costs.

4: Scarlet is intelligent, but his ability to stay alive is inherently based on luck. 4a: In order to succeed, he must get lucky every time, but anyone he is fleeing from only needs to get lucky once. 4b: Scarlet is aware of this, and will generally act for reliability over luck if given the chance. 4c: Scarlet will never take a risk that he does not feel that he has to. 4d: Any matter that puts Scarlet's identity at risk will always be a zero-sum game, because if he gambles on a bug and they get away, his ability to hide, hunt, and survive is as good as dead.