#Sometimes I have to add ‘not a serial killer tho :)’ at the end

[spencer-is-dead]

you know you’re a real author when your search history reads “flowers that mean goodbye” and “how long does it take for someone to bleed out?”

[harrywavycurly]

I’ve been contemplating serial killer!Eddie. I love him soooo much (even tho he be a murder bby) and would most likely fall for whatever he says cuz I be naive, don’t get me wrong, but I just can’t imagine being completely blind to what he’s up to. Like…I don’t mean knowing exactly what he’s doing, but there’s gotta be some little tells that just makes you go “hm…that’s weird” or “that doesn’t add up, did he just lie?”. And maybe sometimes instead of shrugging it off, those little worries just nag too much in the back of your head that you feel you need to have a talk with Eddie. I mean, the kind of conversation where you come home early, probably a bit unannounced (you usually give him a call when you’re about to clock off work) —maybe even when he has a victim guest over, yikes—and just worried out of your mind because these feelings have really been bothering you for a while. They keep you up at night wondering what Eddie is doing…is he seeing someone else? Are drugs or other illegal things involved(😏 there is but ya don’t know that)? Why has he been so secretive lately?

And could you just…imagine Eddie actually comforting you. He feels bad that you’re actually upset so he starts saying all the right things you need to hear and doing all the right things you need him to do (while his guest is just chilling out, mind you). Just trying to make things right because he loves you so much and doesn’t want you to be upset (but especially doesn’t want to expose you to what he’s really been up to—he knows that would be “the end” to the relationship and that would kill him). What would an actual argument be like with serial killer!Eddie? Normally, I’d say pretty terrifying cuz serial killer + anger = not too good ending, right? But, would it be different since it’s Eddie?

Hiii babes!! I hope you like this, but remember it’s an argument so it’s not super fluffy🥺💖

-find all things Serial Killer Eddie here✨

TW: Yelling, mentions of blood and Eddie is a serial killer

Tag List: @clairesjointshurt @sofaritsalrightt @squidscottjeans @stardustmunson @amberpanda99

*You finally ask Eddie the question you’ve been dreading*

You feel like your heart is going to beat out of your chest as you hear the front door open and close letting you know Eddie is home. Eddie smiles as he walks into the house and sees you sitting on the couch in the living room, he drops his keys on the table by the front door and hangs his jacket up on the coatrack. You stand up so you can turn and face him and the look you give him makes the smile instantly drop from his face.

“What’s wrong baby?” Eddie feels his heart sink to his stomach as the possibility that you found out his dark secret begins to creep into his mind. You take a step closer to him and his eyes go wide as he sees a shirt in your hands, a very specific shirt he was wearing while doing not so nice things to a man named Jeffery about a few days ago.

“How long have you been cheating on me?” Eddie wants to let out a sigh of relief but he knows better so he just takes a small step towards you with his hands reaching out for you. “And please don’t fucking lie to me Edward.” It’s the way you say his name with almost a hint of hatred that makes his heart want to break.

“I’m not cheating on you sweetheart.” You just shake your head as you toss the shirt at him making it land at his feet.

“Then explain why there’s a mysterious red stain on the collar of your shirt that looks an awful lot like a tacky shade of red lipstick.” Eddie bends down and grabs the shirt so he can look at the collar and when he sees the few smeared drops of red he can’t help but roll his eyes because how the hell did blood manage to get on his collar he could’ve sworn he was careful. “Don’t roll your eyes at me like I’m crazy.” Your voice is dripping with hurt making Eddie instantly regret his actions.

“It’s just blood baby.” You take a step backwards when Eddie takes a step towards you with the shirt still in his hand. “I swear I’m not cheating on you.” Eddie hears you sniffle letting him know you’re close to crying so he takes a few more steps and grabs your arms before you can move further away from him.

“It’s just blood? How did blood get on the collar of your shirt Eddie? Please explain that to me.” You pull your arms out of Eddie’s hold and cross them over your chest as he lets out a sigh and runs a hand over his face.

“I work at a plant baby and things happen, I must’ve cut myself or something.” Eddie knows by the way you roll your eyes that you’re not buying his excuse. “It’s not lipstick.” He snaps making you jump a bit since it’s very rare Eddie ever speaks to you in a harsh tone. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to-” You turn and head into the kitchen making him take a few calming breaths before he rushes after you.

“I’d know if you cut yourself.” You begin washing the dishes in the sink as a way to busy your mind and keep yourself from crying. “Just tell me the truth Eddie.” He watches you grip the edge of the sink as your shoulders drop. Eddie slowly crossed the length of the kitchen so he’s standing right behind you.

“I’m not cheating on you Princess.” Eddie reaches out and gently places a hand on your shoulder so he can turn you around so you’re facing him. “It’s just blood.” Eddie feels his heart drop when he sees a few tears roll down your cheeks. “I don’t know how it got there but I swear that’s all it is.” He explains as he reaches up with both hands to cup your face so he can wipe away the tears from under your eyes with his thumbs. “I love you so much.” You reach up and place your hands over his that are still on your face.

“I love you too.” Your voice is low as Eddie leans down and places a kiss to your forehead. “I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions.” Eddie just shakes his head as you look down at your feet now embarrassed that you even accused him of doing anything bad in the first place.

“Don’t do that.” Eddie drops his hands from your face so he can place them on your shoulders as he bends down so you’re now looking him right in the eyes. “You had every reason to be upset okay? I’m the one who’s sorry I should’ve explained the stain to you the moment I got home and needed it cleaned.” You let out a sniffle as you rest your head on Eddie’s chest making him wrap his arms around you.

“I love you.” Eddie smiles at you when he looks down and sees you looking up at him.

“I love you too baby.” He responds before placing a kiss to your lips. Eddie feels the guilt begin to sink in as you wrap your arms around him in an attempt to pull him closer to you, he tries to shake it off as he gives you a squeeze and places a kiss to the top of your head. He knows one day you’re going to accuse him of doing something horrible and he’s not going to be able to lie his way out of it because it’s actually going to be the truth.

[deceaseddad93]

Random Blender Art Dump

so this is just a random collection of projects i probly wont really finish or add onto that i have made in blender since i am trying to get more into art and my counselor recommended getting back into art

starting off with number 1 american gothic worm sculpt i asked my bestie CannibalCake what to sculpt and they said american gothic but as worms so i did this quick sculpt of the american gothic guy and gave him a worm body

2nd one is this cartoon frog that i named KafleGore that i made to test out cel shading and paint texturing i fully modeled it and just didnt really know what to do with it

and the 3rd one is a small series of retopologizing heads i tried mostly anime heads for practice and the first head looked like a mask a serial killer would wear and i was kinda dissapointed with it so i made this other head that ended up looking like the fish from rango mixed with the puppets from the dark crystal i was kinda more happy with it in a way and also did some hair made of curves sometime i might remake this character tho

number 4 another retopology facethis time i wanted to make like a little low poly clown mask and i felt good about this one however there are some kinda messed up vertices but im still pretty proud

number 5 this cool looking sword i found on the internet

number 6 another retopology face but only the top half because 1 got bored and 2 didnt know how to make it look correct

number 7 another low poly model i wanted to make of a bussiness person who is just extremely tired and hasnt slept in weeks his name is joinkis

number 8 joinkises computer a idea that i had that i never finished

and finally number 9 mug with a face another thing my bestie told me to do a quick sculpt on

that is all for now thank you for looking at all of these weird works i have made have this little doodle of a thinking fella i made once as a gift

thank you i will probly upload some more art dumps or just normal art later on in the future

[spockandawe]

Well, this is interesting! So, in that post yesterday, there was one line that really baffled me, a thing about people brushing off a character as an asshole “because he shows literally zero growth.” I kind of set that aside because it was such a weird non-sequitur, and guessed that it was just someone’s sentences not quite keeping up with their train of thought, which has happened to me many times. Apparently I was wrong! I already spent long enough on that one post, I’m tired of talking about that, but this is new and interesting. 

Okay. I kind of wanted to see if I could talk about this purely in terms of abstracts and not characters, but I don’t think it’ll work. It would be frustrating to write and confusing to read. It’s about Jiang Cheng. Right up front: This isn’t about whether or not he’s an abuser. Frankly, I don’t think it’s relevant. This also isn’t about telling people they should like him. I don't care whether anyone else likes him or not. But I do like him, and I am always fascinated by dissecting the reasons that people disagree with me. And the process of Telling Stories is my oldest hyperfixation I remember, which will become relevant in a minute.

I thought I had a good grasp on this one, you know? Jiang Cheng makes it pretty obvious why people would dislike Jiang Cheng. But then the posts I keep stumbling over were making weird points, culminating in that “literally zero growth” line.

So! What happened is that someone wrote up a post about how Jiang Cheng’s character arc isn’t an arc, it’s stagnation. It’s a pretty interesting read, and I broadly agree with the larger point! The points where I would quibble are like... the idea that it’s absolute stagnation, as opposed to very subtle shifts that still make a material difference. But still, cool! The post was also offered up as a reason why OP was uninterested in writing any more Jiang Cheng meta, which I totally get. I’m not tired of him yet, but I definitely understand why someone who isn’t a fan of his would get tired about writing about a character with a very static arc. Okay!

Now, internet forensics are hard. I desperately wish I had more information about this evolution, because I find this stuff fascinating, but I have no good way to find things said in untagged posts, reblogs, or private/external venues. But as far as I can tell, that “literally zero growth” wasn’t just a slip of the tongue, it’s become fashionable for people to say that Jiang Cheng is an abusive asshole (that it’s fucked up to like) because he doesn’t have a character arc.

Asshole? Yes. Abusive? This post still isn’t about that. This is about it being fucked up to like this character because he did bad things and had a static character arc.

At first, that point of view was still deeply confusing to me. But I think I figured out the idea at the core of it, and now I’m only baffled. I’m not super interested in confirming this directly, because the people making the most noise about this have not inspired confidence in their ability to hold a civil conversation and I’m a socially anxious binch, but I think the idea is: ‘This character did Bad Things, and then did not improve himself.’

Which is alarmingly adjacent to that old favorite standard of ‘This piece of fiction is glorifying Bad Thing.’ I haven’t seen anyone accusing mxtx of something something jiang cheng, only the people who read/watched/heard the story and became invested in the Jiang Cheng character, but things kind of add up, you know?

Like I said, I don’t want to arbitrate anyone’s right to like/dislike Jiang Cheng. That’s such a fucking waste of time. But this is fascinating to me, because it’s like..... so obviously new and sudden, with such a clear originating point. I can’t speak to the Chinese fans, obviously, but exiledrebels started translating in... what, 2017? And only now, in 2021, do people start putting forth Jiang Cheng’s flat character arc as a “reason” that he’s bad? I’m not going to argue if he pings you in the abuse place, I’m not a dick. I’m not going to argue if you just dislike his vibes. I’m just over here on my blog and in the tag enjoying myself, feel free to detour around me. But oh my god, it’s so silly to try to tell other people that they shouldn’t like him because he has a static character arc.

I want to talk about stories. I don’t know how much I’ll be able to say, because it’s impossible to make broad, sweeping statements, because there are stories about change, there are stories about lack of change, there are all kinds of media that can be used to tell stories, and standards for how stories are told and what they emphasize vary across cultures and over time. But I think that what I can say is that telling a story requires... compromise. It requires streamlining. Trying to capture all the detail of life would slow down most stories to an unbearable degree. Consider organically telling someone ‘I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich’ versus the computer science exercise of having students describe, step by step, how to make one (spread peanut butter? but you never said you opened the lid)

Hell, I’ve got an example in mdzs itself. The largely-faceless masses of the common people. If someone asks you to think about it critically like, yes, obviously these are people, living their own lives, with their own desires, sometimes suffering and dying in the wake of the novel plot. But does the story give weight to those deaths? Or does it just gloss by? Yes, it references their suffering occasionally, but it is not the focus, and it would slow the story unbearably to give equal weight to each dead person mentioned. 

Does Wei Wuxian’s massacre get given the same slow, careful consideration as Su She’s, or Jin Guangyao’s? No, because taking the time to weigh our protagonist with ‘well, this one was a mother, and her youngest son had just started walking, but now he’s going to grow up without remembering her face. that one only became an adult a few months ago, he still hasn’t been on many night-hunts yet, but he finds it so rewarding to protect the common people. oh, and this one had just gotten engaged, but don’t worry, his fiancee won’t mourn him, because she died here as well.’ And continuing on that way to some large number under 3000? No! Unless your goal is to make the reader feel bad for cheering for a morally grey hero, that would be a bad authorial decision! The book doesn’t ignore the issue, it comes up, Wei Wuxian gets called out about all the deaths he’s responsible for, but that’s not the same as them being given equal emotional weight to one (1) secondary character, and I don’t love this new thing where people are pretending that’s equivalent.

When Wei Wuxian brutally kills every person at the Wen supervisory office, are you like ‘holy shit... so many grieving families D:’ or are you somewhere between vindicated satisfaction and an ‘ooh, yikes’ wince? Odds are good you’re somewhere in the satisfaction/wince camp, because that’s what the story sets you up to feel, because the story has to emphasize its priorities (priorities vary, but ‘plot’ and ‘protagonist’ are common ones, especially for a casual novel read like this)

Now, characters. If you want to write a story with a sweeping, epic scale, or if you want to tightly constrain the number of people your story is about, I guess it’s possible to give everyone involved a meaningful character arc. Now.... is it always necessary? Is it always possible? Does it always make sense? No, of course not. If you want to do that, you have to devote real estate to it, and depending on the story you want to tell, it could very possibly be a distraction from your main point, like the idea of mxtx tenderly eulogizing every single character who dies even incidentally. Lan Qiren doesn’t get a loving examination of his feelings re: his nephews and wei wuxian and political turnover in the cultivation world because it’s not relevant, and also, because his position is pretty static until right near the end of the story. Lan Xichen is arguably one of the most static characters within the book, he seems like the same nice young between Gusu and the present, right up until... just before the end of the story.

You may see where I’m heading with this.

Like, just imagine trying to demand that every important character needs to go through a major life change before the end of your book or else it didn’t count. This just in, Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg go through multiple novels without experiencing radical shifts in who they are, stop liking them immediately. I do get that the idea is that Jiang Cheng was a ~bad person~ who didn’t change, but asdgfsd I thought we were over the handwringing over people being allowed to like ““bad”” fictional characters. The man isn’t even a canonical serial killer, he’s not my most problematic fave even within this novel.

And here is where it’s a little more relevant that I would quibble with that original post about Jiang Cheng’s arc. He’s consistently a mean girl, but he goes from stressed, sharp-edged teenager, to grief-stricken, almost-destroyed teen, to grim, cold young adult (and then detours into grim, cold, and grief-stricken until grief dulls with time). He does become an attentive uncle tho. He..... doesn’t experience a radical change in his sense of self, which... it’s...... not all that strange for an adult. And bam, then he DOES experience a radical change, but the needs of the plot dictate that it’s right near the end. And he’s not the focus of the story, baby, wangxian is. He has the last few lines of the story, which nicely communicate his changes to me, but also asdfafas we’re out of story. He was never the main character, it’s not surprising we don’t linger! The extras aren’t beholden to the needs of plot, but they’re also about whatever mxtx wanted to write, and I guess she didn’t feel like writing about Jiang Cheng ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But also. Taking a step backward. Stable characters can fill a perfectly logical place in a story. Like, look at Leia Organa. I’m not saying she has no arc, but I am saying that she’s a solid point of reference as Luke is becoming a jedi and Han is adjusting his perspective. I wouldn’t call her stagnant, the vibes are wrong, but she also isn’t miserable in her sadness swamp, the way Jiang Cheng is.

Or, hell, look at tgcf. The stagnant, frozen nature of the big bad is a central feature of the story. The bwx of now is the bwx of 800 years ago is the bwx of 1500+ years ago. This is not the place for a meta on how that was bad for those around him and for him himself, but I have Thoughts about how being defeated at the end is both a thing that hurts him and relieves him. Mei Nianqing is a sympathetic character who’s also pretty darn static. Does Ling Wen have a character arc, or do we just learn more about who she already is and what her priorities always were? I’m going to cut myself off here, but a character’s delta between the beginning of a story and the end of a story is a reasonable way to judge how interesting writing character meta is, and is a very silly metric to judge their worth, and even if I guessed at what the basic logic is, for this character, I am still baffled that it’s being put forth as a real talking point.

(also, has it jumped ship to any other characters yet? have people started applying it in other fandoms as well? please let me know if this is the case, I am wildly curious)

(no, but really, if anyone is arguing that bwx is gross specifically because he had centuries to self-reflect and didn’t fix himself, i am desperate to know)

And finally. The thing I thought was most self-evident. Did I post about this sometime recently? If a non-central character experiences a life-altering paradigm shift right near the end of the story (without it being lingered over, because non-central character), oh my god. As a fic writer? IT’S FREE REAL ESTATE. This is the most fertile possible ground. If I want to write post-canon canon-compliant material, adsgasfasd that’s where I’m going to be looking. Okay, yeah, the main couple is happy, that’s good. Who isn’t happy, and what can I do about that? Happy families are all alike, while every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way, etc.

It’s not everyone’s favorite playground, but come on, these are not uncommon feelings. And frankly, it’s starting to feel a little disingenuous when people act like fan authors pick out the most blameless angel from the cast and lavish good things upon them. I’m not the only one who goes looking for a good dumpster fire and says I Live Here Now. If I write post-canon tgcf fic, it’s very likely to focus on beef and/or leaf. I have written more than one au focusing on tianlang-jun.

And, hilariously. If the problem with Jiang Cheng. Is that he is a toxic man fictional character who failed to grow on his own, and is either unsafe or unhealthy to be around. If the problem is that he did not experience a character arc. If these people would be totally fine with other people liking him, if he improved himself as a person. And then, if authors want to put in the (free! time-consuming!) work of writing that character development themselves. You would think that they would be lauded for putting the character through healthier sorts of personal growth than he experienced in canon. Instead, I am still here writing this because first, I was bothered by these authors being named as “freaks” who are obsessed with their ‘uwu precious tsundere baby’ with a “love language of violence,” and then I was graciously informed that people hate Jiang Cheng because he experiences no character growth.

[asterekmess]

Heyo! So I’ve been in the sterek fandom for quite some time now and I’ve been wondering about how you would describe stiles’ personality?

I’ve never actually sat down and watched a full episode of teen wolf (and honestly I’m not sure if I ever will considering everything I’ve heard about how they treat derek and his history but idk who knows I’m very curious in a lot of the plot lines and character development), and a lot of the stuff I know about the show I’ve scraped from fics, gifs, and meta posts

For me personally, Stiles’ personality and characterization is so fluid and nuanced that sometimes I have trouble pinning him down (tho derek doesn’t have trouble with that *wink wink*) So I would love to hear your thoughts! Sorry for the long ask, this grew legs and an ugly mug shdhdhhdjdcj anyhow have a great day :D

Well, everybody's got different perspectives and opinions on Stiles' personality, honestly. Even when you try to stick to 'canon' things, there's a lot of room for interpretation on the why when he does things, or what it says about him as a person, etc etc etc.

Personally, I see canon Stiles as kind of an asshole. I mean, I love him, and he does some incredible things, and he's clearly got an intense love for those close to him. But I do make him kinder in fics, or I at least make him regret being a dick.

In canon, we're given a Stiles who cracks 'dead baby' jokes (he's talking about human sacrifice, so the conversation was already plenty morbid. This wasn't out of the blue.) Who begs for Scott to let Jackson die (though it's made clear that this wasn't serious, and he later works to save Jackson's hide like ten times over), and who will mercilessly poke and prod at people's insecurities or painful pasts, especially when worked up. Isaac's previous abuse isn't a no-go topic. Derek having 'dated' (read: been assaulted at worst and at best, been lied to) serial killers isn't something he's going to tread lightly around. He doesn't try to soften things to save someone's feelings most of the time.

He's presented as someone who is incredibly impulsive, with his emotions, words, and actions. It's kind of implied this is because of his ADHD, but that doesn't explain how often the impulsively cruel or harsh things he says aren't retracted or apologized for, or just generally regretted. Yes, ADHD people are impulsive, and yes sometimes our mouths get away from us and we can end up saying some Fucked Up shit to people because we literally couldn't control the words coming out. But that doesn't mean we're cruel or evil or mean. We still feel bad for doing those things, and those of us who are decent people, try to fix or repair what we've messed up. I am...not a fan of how often ADHD is used as an excuse to make a character a dickhead because "he has no filter." No filter means we struggle to control our thoughts and what we say, it doesn't make us heartless.

So, when I'm writing him, I fix it. Even if he still Does something fucked up, I have him care that he did it. I have him realize what he did or said wasn't okay and respond to that knowledge in some way. Which to some people, means I'm just ignoring what a fucker he is, but imo it feels like a horrible fuckup on the creator's parts, so I'm just correcting the mistake. He's no less Stiles just bc I taught him to say sorry.

Anyway. I'm trying NOT to ramble here.

To answer your question, as best I can; Stiles is sarcastic. Stiles is passionate to a fault. His emotions are BIG, whatever they are. Good, Bad, or even apathy. Whatever feelings he has are just intense. He is very much a no gods, no kings, no masters, kind of man. There isn't really an 'authority' to him, except maybe his dad sometimes. He puts family, and those he considers family, First. But that doesn't mean he isn't selfless. Because he is. Incredibly so. Uncomfortably so.

He walks into gasoline for his friends. He puts himself in the position of losing the only parent he has left, for his classmates. He cares enough about strangers to insist a drunk girl he's spoken to for five minutes max stay hydrated and give her a bottle of water. He literally handed over his mind on a platter to a fox demon for someone he barely fucking knew, to keep her safe.

Loyal. Humorous. A fighter. Family-oriented. Clever. Passionate. Strong, physically, mentally, and emotionally. And a very good liar, in my opinion.

He doesn't lie very well in the show, not to people's faces. He'll stumble around a "I haven't seen him since the last time I saw him" or "are you asking me to tell you what I would have told you if I were going to tell you it?" but at the same time, he can repress and hide away his feelings and his pain in a way not even Derek manages.

He asked Caitlin questions about her girlfriend, and worked to solve the human sacrifices, literal minutes after finding out he'd just lost his oldest friend. He drove Lydia to the warehouse to save Jackson after having the shit beat out of him by a man who'd been learning to cause pain since he was a CHILD. And he never gives away how incredibly broken he is for more than a couple seconds. and it's a little frightening, because he convinces people in this show who are lie detectors that he's okay, when he's a fucking mess. Even Derek shows his pain.

You're right that he's nuanced, and part of that is because when you see him in meta or in fic, what you're seeing is a dozen versions of him sort of compressed into a flat image. Because he changes throughout the show, and while some of his core personality stays the same, a lot of stuff changes. So one fic might harp on his insensitivity, and callousness toward Isaac or how easily he says "just let them die" when talking about Derek or someone else. And then another will dive into how fucking far he's willing to go, travelling all the way to mexico and facing down a hunter clan a dozen times more powerful than the argents with no one but a banshee at his side, just to get Derek back. Or how he saw Malia hurting and sat with her on a couch and held her hand. One is a much earlier version of Stiles, from the start of the show, the other from his midpoint. Near the end, you're able to say that he was so torn about leaving Derek while he was dying, he had to be Begged to go save Scott. That he manipulated an ENTIRE FBI investigation in order to save and protect Derek. (im focusing on derek bc sterek, but also bc his relationship with Derek is the Biggest Arc he has in the show, and the most solid)

You're going to read about different versions of him, and I totally get how that's confusing.

We all sort of bleed ourselves into him and either bring certain canon characteristics to the forefront, or straight up add our own so he's more relatable to us.

So while I can't really help you pin down any specific Stiles, just know that there's not really a 'true' Stiles that anyone can confirm or deny. It's all just perception, so however you see him, go with it. Strengthen it. Explore it. I'm sure you'll find people who see what you do.

[theunconcernedembalmer]

ok i got the aesvic out of my system now time to pick apart the letter n why i wont really be following aesops diary exactly here. literally no one asked but i wanted to get my thoughts down somewhere cos i have. a lot

just gonna put a quick rundown of aesops diary entry as a refresher (mostly for myself so i dont miss anything): he dreamt that he was helping jerry with what was probably a murder n was affirmed n he thinks its a sign congratulating him on carrying out his duty. over the years, he carries out his duties as an undertaker n comes to the manor looking for a “fresh start” aka what sounds like his first victim. according to aesop, said victim should be quiet, n potential victim number 1 is victor. something about badly needing him to become his “silent friend” n he mentions he’ll get to wick n the 2 other survivors in due time, but for now he’s very eager to start his “mission”.

im generally okay with the letter (i have seen so many fights over this aha) cos there is no surprise he wants to kill ppl (ppl who r fighting over this point. did u even read his deductions?? guy happily killed his mentor??). but i didnt quite like the fact that he still looks up to jerry (although. i guess thats valid i just. dont like it). i was also initially kind of confused about the real reason why he would want to kill ppl since as u progress through the letter it sounds less like he kills for duty (cos of the whole dream thing at the start) but more “because i want to :)”, which is an okayish edgy kinda take imo. like not that u cant characterize aesop as Kill Kill Murder Die, but i kinda find that. pretty boring in the long term.

im just gonna put what my original take on aesop was, like all of it. first off, he hates jerry. u cannot tell me a psychotic serial killer like that can raise a child without emotional trauma. like any child, this isnt even counting the extra damage done because hes autistic. (n i also hc that aesop has read his moms letter to him at some point, n he should have come to the conclusion that it was somewhat also jerrys fault, whether through logic or denial that his mom would want to leave him, so that just adds to it.) but as much as he hates him, his teachings are the only ones hes been exposed to, n its been so ingrained in him since young so even if he hates jerry he would still subscribe to whatever twisted ideology jerry was feeding him, which ill get to in a sec.

going through his accessories, he has that origami that he folds for each of his clients, n it shows that underneath it all, aesop is still kind. this isnt expected of him n its definitely not part of his job scope as an embalmer. he (still?) has the heart to wish the best for those that have departed n takes the time n effort to fold one for each n every client he sends off, which is probably a lot. so going off on that, my hc is that jerry, being the manipulative asshole that he is (who probably definitely manipulated his mom into indirect suicide) probably used his kindness against him to make him believe that by murdering ppl he is helping them, framing all of his serial kills as a sort of mercy kill (like his mom). so the thing that aesop takes away from all this is the very twisted logic that by killing ppl he is helping them, therefore being a good embalmer and a good person in general. n everyone wants to be a sort of good person, or at least for aesop that is part of his job description to be a good embalmer. n we all know aesop is very serious about his job.

i also hc that he has killed several ppl between killing jerry n coming to the manor, cos i follow the story that he took the invitation from that poor lady n thats how he ended up at the manor. surely the lady didnt come to him right after jerry died?? but anyway, the way i see it is that he thought he liked to kill. like he finally truly understood why jerry kills so much (which is interesting now that i think about it. guy really just went along with all those murders without truly believing huh), because it felt good to kill. at least thats what he thought, the revelation that killing felt good n is good, but i say its because he hated jerry, n offing someone u kinda hate should probably feel pretty gucci. n its also so much easier to pick clients off the streets than in the manor, so i would think that he has killed ppl like his mentor did, but each time he did the great feeling that came with ending ppls life just. wasnt as good as the first time round. it just became a sort of normal satisfaction of a successful embalming.

this can go two ways: 1. he keeps on killing to try to find that great feeling again, which is cool i guess (n probably what canon would want, except canon states that he hasnt killed since jerry), but id like to go with 2. he just stops because jerry isnt around to enforce it whenever he isnt feeling up to psychoing someone to their death (which is probably how jerry got his victims, n damn if that doesnt take a lot of mind games that i dont think aesop has the mental capacity for since half of it is fighting with his social anxiety n other issues. dealing with alive strangers?? no thanks?? i doubt he would have learnt properly how to lure in clients as efficiently as jerry because of this, mostly cos he was only needed for the murder afterparty aka embalming n funerals). n as much as he stays professional, there is no. professional way of gaslighting someone to their death.

(n also since ppl have pointed out that his twitter replies n other kinda informal stuff have shown that aesop does have reverent respect for life, which also adds to him not being so blindly bloodthirsty as implied in the letter. i dont really see the twitter replies as very canon, but it does make sense that he would come to revere life with his unique take and obsession over death, for one cannot exist without the other)

so this leads me to the motive that aesop brings to the manor, at least how i see it. he isnt exactly coming to the manor to kill per se (like from the very early story, he came to the manor to return the letter to a relative of the deceased lady, something about respecting her last wishes. something like that, its really been a while since i saw that exerpt), so like killing ppl isnt his main purpose of visit. its more of hes always on the lookout for weaker (or at least those that take less mind games to kill) people to mercy kill, n it just so happens that he knows the manor n his mentor almost died from there, so theres a pretty good chance he can find some ppl that fall into this category n so it just so happens that he also has a job to do there. its still counted as a Job for him since no ones gonna tell him that embalmers dont actually. murder. 

so in my version, aesop only tries to sway ppl that he knows he can convince, n these ppl would typically be those very sickly ones like his mom (andrew im looking at u) or those with an actual death wish/ very weak will to live. but here aesop is choosing his “first victim”, and the criteria for that is... quiet? never mind “not evading him” and “not cranky” being on the list too, but that isnt quite what i was expecting from someone so dedicated to their duty of murder. sure he wants an easy first kill, but like. i dont think its consistent if his motive was really to continue jerrys bastard legacy. especially when the next paragraph is essentially him gushing over victor, that... sort of implies something else. or at least in the way i see it, since i believe that canon wants us to think that aesop just really loves to kill.

aesop likes victor. very much so. so much till he wants to kill him. which i guess makes sense cos he likes death, n now he likes victor. so he just. puts the two things he likes together. whats better than victor? dead victor. anyway the rest of the letter is more like “whatever, i technically should kill the others too but my priority is victor” so like. he confuses his (dare i say) yandere tendencies with his duty since the end goal for both is a body in a coffin.

having said that. i know i have aesvic brainrot but i also know this is one sided as hell (at least from the letter alone, not counting the letter shaped cookies in his birthday art that apparently belonged to victors birthday cake aha) n lowkey alarming since. the goal is to kill victor. i kinda want to interpret it as him genuinely wanting to be friends with victor (really wanting him to be a “silent friend”, maybe cos he doesnt actually know how to be friends with living ppl n is better with dead ones? therefore victor should be dead to be friends?) but not knowing how to n throwing in his obsession with death ends up with. this minor disaster waiting to happen. but i uh. dont know if this is valid. its valid to me at least, with my original interpretation of aesop. n again cos of his ingrained professionalism, he also kinda sees this as part of his job to send ppl off, so its another plus. not for victor, tho.

idk if ill add this yandere side in my aesop. i mean my boi has technically tried to kill victor multiple times in the past HAHAHAHA. maybe like sometimes he can be a bit obsessive. as a treat. but generally nah cos thats definitely gonna end up in a murder somewhere somehow n i cant. just kill victors here on the ask blog scene lashjflkjhdlfkjhas

so yeah that kinda takes care of the last part of the letter, as for the first part. as much as aesop hates jerry, i would also think hes pretty starved for affirmation (like i said jerry isnt going to be a good parent figure ever) n i guess it makes sense if the only times jerry has ever complimented him was aiding him in his kills n hiding the evidence, which might (?) add to his desire to kill (but that probably dies with jerry aha). so the way i see it as aesop is getting affirmation n takes it as a good sign instead of. remotely liking jerry. idk if im stretching it a little but i really dont like the take where hes okay with jerry. anyway we are ignoring that he hasnt killed before entering the manor cos that doesnt quite make sense to me (i wasnt dreaming about the letter from a lady stabbed in the face 36 times or so right???? right???????)

im also not like. trying to defend him, im just trying to make sense of his diary. boi has issues n is a little too far gone (not as far as canon tho), in my take very deluded in his way of showing kindness. literally cool motive still murder (or in canon, just murder?), please get therapy. but i just dont really like the direction that the letter was originally trying to imply, with him really just hell bent on murder without like. a clear motive (at least to me it isnt very clear since the last part really doesnt sound consistent with his supposed intentions). i mean i love being edgy with aesop every now n then but i dont think it would make for meaningful characterizations in the long run so. ill still be sticking with my original take on aesop with maybe a bit of yandere for victor cos thats always fun

[aj28gaming]

Nagito’s Optimism in the Anime

Edit: Also, I AM NOT SAYING THE CHARACTERS IN THE ANIME WILL IMMEDIATELY FIX NAGITO OR UNDO HIS LUCK AND SELF DEPRECATION

WHAT I AM SAYING IS THAT NAGITO SHOULD'VE STILL HAD FRIENDS FROM THE MAIN COURSE (and personally a bestfriend like Sonia) AND THAT THE ONLY REASON THE PEOPLE HE GETS CLOSE WITH FROM THE MAIN COURSE WOULD STOP BEING FRIENDS WITH HIM WOULD BE DUE TO HIS LUCK CYCLE AND HIM PUSHING THEM AWAY

I still think Nagito should still end up alone in the end due to his luck basically trapping him in that state, but not due to being outright out-casted since the Ultimates are the very people that would actually like his hope talks and not mind his self-deprecation, but rather due to his luck harming others, the reserve course students ruining his reputation, and him being the one to push his friends away DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT REPRIMANDING ANY CHARACTERS OR TRYING TO DEFEND NAGITO'S BEHAVIOUR IN-GAME, I REALLY JUST WANNA TALK ABOUT HOW HE ACTS IN THE SCHOOL AND HOW I THINK THE WAY HE IS TREATED IS OUT OF CHARACTER FOR A LOT OF THE CHARACTERS ESPECIALLY SONIA AND IBUKI

ALSO, SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE ANIME AND SDR2

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

MY MAIN PROBLEM AND WHY I THINK IT'S OOC

Am I the only one that believes Nagito should’ve had friends and been the Makoto Naegi of his class instead of being the outcast in the anime?

Yeah, Nagito acts weird about hope, in the game

But he acts differently in school where no killings have occurred yet. Instead, he really is just a kid that wants everyone to still believe in hope no matter what and is the most supportive when it comes to people’s dreams. Almost, no, exactly like Makoto. And in school, he doesn’t even do anything weird like laugh maniacally or moan when he talks about hope, if anything he acts similar to Ibuki and/or Sonia whenever they are passionate about something.

If anything, I think it would make sense for most of his classmates to treat him as their Makoto Naegi in a way and only certain others to hate him due to his bad luck affecting others negatively sometimes.

And that’s exactly how people act during chapter 1 of SDR2, a lot of people like Hajime and Chiaki actually felt inspired to an extent by Nagito’s hope talks and only certain people like Hiyoko made fun of him for it. It’s only after the first trial where everyone now thinks of him as a psycho when everyone begins to find his hope talks weird and disturbing.

It’s not because they find his hope talks in general weird, it’s because of his whole demeanor in the killing game that makes him out to be a psycho that people start to be scared of him and find him weird.

It wouldn’t make sense for people not to like his hope talks especially if he is in a class full of people that do even weirder things, Hiyoko insults everyone and Teruteru is a general pervert but Nagito is still the one outcasted more.

Especially with Talent development plan, it made me confused that they made Ibuki and Sonia, two of the most optimistic characters and Sonia actually having shown that she doesn’t find Nagito that weird as much as everyone else in SDR2, find Nagito’s hope talks “headache-inducing.”

For me, it really didn’t make any sense especially since he didn’t even do anything weird except talk about how hopeful the even is. Yeah sure, it would be annoying for normal people, but people like Sonia and Ibuki aren’t normal people.

Sonia, arguably, gets just as passionate and repetitive when it comes to things she likes like being a serial killer enthusiast. And she is even friends with Gundham who is almost the same as Nagito except the things Gundham talks about are different but almost as repetitive and overly enthusiastic.

And Ibuki is almost the same as Nagito except she doesn’t use hope but instead just tries to cheer everyone up by being loud. It really annoyed me seeing Nagito get outcasted for ooc reasons especially since he is supposed to be in a group full of people that would definitely enjoy his company.

In SDR2, it’s understandable because of how the whole situation makes everyone’s mental state and demeanor a lot worse. But in a time before that in Hope’s peak, it really doesn’t make sense.

They are fine with Sonia’s and Gundham’s repetitive rants but not Nagito’s? Really unlikely. Not everyone of course cuz I get why Hiyoko and Fuyuhiko would be assholes to him at first. But knowing Nagito’s determination and optimism, I would think they would end up actually liking Nagito for supporting them especially Hiyoko since Nagito would be nice to her similar to Mahiru.

And I think other people would definitely stay away from Nagito due to his luck but he would still have friends that would stick up for him so it would have to be Nagito himself to push them away.

.

.

.

.

.

.

HOW I WOULD FIX IT AND GIVE THE ANIME WHAT IT INTENDED:

If the anime really wanted to "make Nagito an outcast in the end," (which is inevitable for Nagito due to his luck cycle)

They should've just made Nagito push everyone away from himself while the rest would've already stayed away due to his luck. The others tho that he would push away, especially Sonia, would be hurt but still respect his decision. Some would even go as far as to fight the people that hurt Nagito which would probably worsen Nagito's reputation even more and put more blame on his luck.

So the SDR2 cast would basically remain loyal to Nagito but be pushed away from him while everyone else, especially the reserve course students would spread rumors about him and find him scary or creepy due to his luck cycle

There you go Danganronpa, fixed your anime for yah. If you want, you can even have some of Nagito's friends be in some accidents to add even more to the angst and reasons for people to outcast Nagito.

There, easy as pie lmao

.

.

.

.

.

.

[silverislander]

15 and 32? For the ask thing

15. do you prefer space or the ocean?

OH THAT'S HARD 😭 uh,, i'm gonna pick space bc we can see it more clearly. they're both awesome and a little terrifying tho,, and i am scared a little bit more of the ocean lol. FUCK megamouth sharks, they're so freaky lookin.  also stars and planets are so pretty, and i really like mythology so the story behind constellations is always neat to me :D

32. do you have any strange interests?

depends on the week lmao. i almost always do, but they change frequently bc my brain apparently can’t stay still in one interest forever!  lately it has been:

caving videos

then the chernobyl explosion

sometimes i get into researching specific serial killers/true crime cases to a degree that is frankly concerning

i figured out i may have adhd through a research kick on psychology which is fuckin ironic gfudsdhyuisjdhg

axolotls that one time??

rn it’s extreme horror movies (i have seen some shit that i never wanted to see this month, please let this one end soon :/)

it varies pretty widely and bounces around a lot!  next week there could be smth new and totally different to add lol

[kendrixtermina]

The Abyss NPC are such a trove of gold for additional worldbuilding tbh 

Everything about the Pagan Lady who I assume is Dagdan breaks my heart

That poor NPC whose family was somehow massacred by nobles “People with crests do whatever they like no one stops them least of all the church”

Mr. Backup died during the timeskip :( But Abysskeeper ends up marrying his older sister in VW and SS

Rodrigue paid for reestablishing the monastery town, even giving money to the ppl in abyss & generally seems to. I guess you see where Dimitri gets that charitable mindset from. Yuri also notes that he’s remarkably uncorruptible. 

Abysskeeper is originally from Derdriu. It#s fun how a lot of his CF and AM dialogue is exactly the same but in different context XD - apart from of course the rodrigue line, and the time Hubert sends a soldier to do some mission there

When you go save Fhirdiad Constance is pretty glad to save the ppl from the school of sorcery and is glad to find them mostly unharmed

Yuri goes into some detail of events right preceding Byleth’s return in AM where the villages near the fronts weren’t sure wether to think of the guy massacring random imperial soldiers as a serial killer or a folk hero

Balthus apparently had a friendly brawl with Dimitri at some point (I guess continuing the tedency of the recruitees in aM to mention having personally interacted with him, at the very least Leonie and Caspar also get lines like that)

Apparently Yuri’s mom got sick sometime during the timeskip (at least in the AM timeline) so he couldn’t evacuate her from Faerghus. 

Constance like Ferdinand, Lorenz & Lysithea is one of those ppl who remember Edelgard in a semi-positive light after her defeat. Kudos to you!

Balthus suspects where Claude ran off to. Well, he was kinda sent there to snoop on him to begin with XD

He never had any hope for the Parlay

Apparently Yuri does have a habit of praying, he’s not like a strooong believer and can’t recite the scriptures much but it’s a habit he picked up from his mom, I guess he would be one of those ‘culturally religious’ people

I just love how Yuri had additional observations on nearly everything like... nothing gets past him. 

Meanwhile in the CF timeline, Balthus apparently thinks Edelgard is hot (which earns him a death glare from Byleth) and thinks the whole Black Eagle strike force should go have a beer to celebrate Byleth’s return since they’re all old enough now and Byleth’s no longer supposed to babysit them

I love how Hubert just flat out takes over Abyss and integrates poor overworked Yuri into his spy networkXD . Hence why Hapi feels he deserves a definite article.  Well, Hubert appreciates how good he is. The mission was to try & convince the Alliance lords to fold so like El & co were actively attempting diplomacy until the end

On CF you see a very omnious NPC who suddenly dissapears if talked to (probably Agarthan) who complains about “that prince being no good” - Did they offer Dimitri their support when they noticed they were definitely losing control of Edelgard? If so he seems to have rebuffed em. It’s a very cryptic line and I can’t rly make heads or tails of it, but, if he wouldn’t sell Rhea out to Edelgard he probably wouldn’t do it for someone even worse no matter what they promised him. 

Apparently in the VW timeline Hapi is a big fan of Judith

Balthus is proud that little Hilda has become an A list schemer

Hearing Claude’s plan makes constance a bit self-conscious about her own being more past-focussed, she’s been out-bolded

Hapi doesn’t know much about Almyra but reflects on how there are many marginalized minority groups in Fodlan including ppl from Isolated communities like her own

Yuri finds the plan a bit lofty & idealistic for his tastes, and also reckless,  but he realizes that he’s got no leg to stand on when it comes to being more noble than he lets on, and that maybe a lil bit of recklessness are what these times need

Oh, once the secret’s out Hapi concludes that there probably would have been war one way or another with the slitherers having everything infiltrated, edelgard or no edelgard

Balthus mentions that Holst wasn’t at Shambhalla because he was “working out things with the Almyrans” and suggest that they warn him about the slitherers lest they sabotage the diplomacy

Apparently Hapi meditates! This comes up cause she trying not to freak out about Nemesis

“People sait it was the church who kept order but actually Yuri’s the one keeping us from complete chaos”

Apparently it was Hapi who kept the surface bandit population from flattening Abyss

Apparently in VW it’s Judith who gave supplies to Abyss (In Rodrigue’s place)

Seems like despite Hapi’s worries they kinda fare best on CF though (”Things have been pretty ok” vs “We lost some ppl”)

Abyss Resident: “I used to be an important person in the church but Im exiled for embezzling. It wasn’t out of greed tho my hometown was pillaged and the church wasn’t putting in enough to rebuild” Tell me again that Rhea cares about the little guy

One of the random rogues from Abyss is from the kingdom, claims to be a distant descendant of Fraldarius the Elite and finds “poetic justice” in taking down the empire under Claude. 

Another reaaaaly juicy tidbit is that rogue with another message from Hubert, telling Byleth to bring Rhea with them when they go to Shambhalla. Ensuing that Rhea and Thales would destroy each other.  And reaaaly adds to my conviction that Edelgard and Hubert basically did everyone a huge solid and no one noticed. Well, actually in Verdant wind they Do notice eventually; Its the left hand fighting the right cause everyone has triust issues galore

I didn’t think my love of Hubert could increase further

I always wondered, hm, were they expecting Rhea to self-destruct? Did Claude deliberately plan for it? But I never had enough evidence. especially for team Empire. But I mean Edelgard started this whole war cause Rhea is a danger so, while I get keeping her alive cause the slitherers want her for experiments, why not slit her throat as soon as the imperial palace is surrounded? Why have Hubert return her alive, to win the other faction’s trust? Not their style.

Though the random rogue also says that “Rhea was kept alive as insurance” against the slitherers. 

So it WAS part of the plan. I always did have that feeling, but, I never knew how to articulate it logically and not just intuitively. 

Of course if Byleth went and told Claude about this, Claude’s decision is also clear because he’s not dumb enough to think the empire would care for Rhea’s wellbeing out of the goodness of their heart

Though ultimately she insists on coming along for her own reasons anyways wether Claude is there or not, for plain ol’ revenge. 

Also while reading through the scrpits I realize that I never clicked the “Do you hope [Rhea] is dead?” option when Claude explains his plan. That actually nets you support points and he’s like... “Daangerous question friend”. Really Claude is not “the chill/nice one” he’s so much more interesting than that and I love him

Also I love how the NPCs get different outfits depending on the route! I wish there had been more route-specific aesthetic touches

[lgcalec]

HELLO EVERYONE this is alec son aka son seongjin, older brother of @lgcxjieun and he’s been a trainee since jan 2017, currently looking at the ACTING path and he is 22!!!

gonna put some info about him under the cut and some wanted plots!!! just LIKE THIS to plot hehe i will im after i finish going through the mlist :D fair warning i wrote a lot idk

okay about alec

he is formerly an athlete and he has one (1) braincell that only works half the time

he’s also rly laid back

but also like?? super high tension??? always????

there’s no in between

grew up in toronto canada (where my canadians at!!) so he speaks fluent english, tho he’s been in korea and using korean long enough that he has some weird accents sometimes and also uses old english slang bc he’s not Caught Up To The Times bc he doesn’t get told anything until months later by his old friends in the land of maple syrup

went to sopa!!!

an annoying Bitch

very impulsive like example one: he auditioned for lgc for fun bc his sister was and also got in???? what???? now he doesn’t know what to do tbh

he’s the epitome of the “can you please cite your source(s)” “source: dude just trust me”

doesn’t know when to shut up honestly he just talks a lot in general and will switch topics super fast like one moment ur talking about what’s for lunch today and the next he’s talking about a serial killer documentary he watched five years ago and then the next he’s going to tell u about his trip to the aquarium last week

he’s a Long Boi he’s like 2/3 leg it’s weird he’s V Long (i googled and he’s 185cm right he’s 114cm leg ... like ... Bro LITERALLY ~2/3 LEG!!!!)

wanted plots this is a mess i apologize ahead of time

best? friends???? people who alec would die for and vice versa (maybe not Die die but like ... u know get lectured by a coach w) he’s been in legacy for 3+ years now so people who joined then !!! or people who joined after and clicked well w him idk i ain’t picky

so you brought/made breakfast for the roommates right. you go to give alec his portion but BAM you pull back his covers to see??? mcdonalds??? what????? but are u gonna say no to hashbrowns no he didn’t think so

he’s been feeding the stray cat(s) that passes by the company on his way home from work at night and he’s named it but??? you also???? have done the Same Thing so now ur fighting over who’s name is better aka fuck you the name lucifer is way better than whatever you came up with!!

you’ve been watching him absentmindedly eat a sandwich and play with a stress ball and u just witnessed him bite into the stress ball while simultaneously throw the sandwich across the room and u just wanna know if he’s ok

also all he eats is ramyeon and convenience store kimbap someone check on him his life is a Mess™ 

is that a ghost in the dorm?????????? no it’s just alec in his olaf onesie dancing terribly as he gets water at 3am

but also he’s scared of ghosts so maybe u caught him freaking out over the curtain moving weirdly or the door moving weirdly and now he doesn’t want to be alone in this practice room anymore

your friendship is based off of the fact that alec is the Least Picky Eater ever and will eat all of the bits that you don’t like to the point that u seek him out to give him parts of your breakfast/lunch/dinner/snack that you don’t like and he’ll just [opens mouth] no matter what he’s in the middle of doing

you watched him get beat up by a girl half his size in front of the legacy building but when you ask him if he’s okay he pretends he doesn’t know what just happened .................. like is that a secret girlfriend??? no???? THEN WHO

FEMALE MUSE: since he works in an olive young (like a drugstore, think cvs, shoppers drug mart) you came in to buy pads and he was working the counter and u, awkwardly paid for them, and he acts entirely normal but slides a small chocolate bar in for free when he thinks ur not paying attention

you came into the olive young that he works at while he’s stocking the makeup section with lipsticks and since he’s a work u ask him to recommend “““generic makeup product””” and he just looks at u blankly like .... what I Am Sorry i don’t usually work in the makeup section honestly i don’t know shit

A CRUSH PLOT???? idk maybe alec’s been rly nice bc he’s just Like That and he’s given you the wrong signals and you confess???? and alec is just [waves arms around like windmill] WHAT

my brain is dying now but i’ll add more if i come up with any more LOLOL 

if u reached the end pls have a cookie 🥴 and if anything catches ur eye pls lmk!!!

[earthbovndmisfit]

i got tagged by @yarewagon​ Thank you so much for the tag, pal!!! :D

All Time Favorite Character: Speedbert Bobwagon, of course~

Favorite Jojo: I don’t have a specific one, but if I have to choose, then I’ll probably go with either Jonathan or Jotaro.

Favorite villain: Main villain? I’m torn between Kars and Kira, but I’ll probably go with Kars because I really like the whole Aztec stuff and I really like the Pillar Men. Kira is an awesome villain, too. he’s a disgusting guy in general, but I really enjoy the whole serial killer plot. I’ve always liked reading and learning about serial killers irl and their motives and reasons behind their horrible acts and so on (psychology was one of my fave subjects in school), so it was really cool to have some of that with the unique jjba touch added to it. As for minor villains? Hol Horse. I love that cockblocking dumbass cowboy.

Favorite stand: Design wise? Star Platinum (SDC’s, mainly, but I also like SP The World). Killer Queen also has a really nice design imo. Ability wise? Hmm... Heaven’s Door, maybe.

Favorite part: Phantom Blood, followed by Battle Tendency. As mentioned above, I really like the whole Aztec thing there is to both parts –which is one of the first things that really got me when i first watched Jojo–, not to mention that I enjoyed the vibe there is to both parts (PB, especially, with all the Victorian escenery and whatnot). And, of course: Speedwagon is there, the man that stole my heart and made me fall into Jojo hell uwu

Favorite thing about jojo: The fact that the bizarre shit just keeps coming. Just when you thought you’ve seen it all, something new comes to prove you wrong. The designs are pretty neat, too, and its also got amazing characters and lots of feels. I also love that jjba breaks a lot of the established rules for a shonen from it’s time (the late 80s), such as giving us big buff men in crop tops, badass cinnamon rolls with hearts of gold and hot abs of steel, a bunch of homosexual subtext and much much more.

Hug: My dear Robert, of course~ but that’s a given so I’m going to add Jonathan as well. Both of them have gone through some serious shit and deserve all the hugs and love. Besides, they both seem like they’d give killer hugs.

Get or give comfort to: Same as above for giving comfort to uu Add SDC Jotaro and Polnareff there too. As for getting comfort from, it’d be Robert~ It will always be him uwu

Move out or Live with: The Ogre Street gang: Speeb, Tattoo and Kenpo :D They seem like a really cool bunch to live with and I really feel we’d get along well.

Marry: Do you really have to ask??? Speedwagon, ofc. I’d marry the shit out of him in a heartbeat

Character you relate to the most: Probably Kakyouin, feeling like he didn’t fit with the rest of his peers, never being able to make real friends and just..not belonging?? All that shit is something I’ve always dealt with (still do), especially irl.

Did jojo make a better change in your life? How did it help? Was it a big change or a minor change? Oh definitely. I started watching it during a really rough time of my life. It was thanks to jjba (Speedbabe, mainly, since he’s the one that really made me want to continue watching back then xd) that I could finally take my mind away from all that stuff bothering me despite The Sad™ plaguing the series. It’s been helping lots as well in different ways ever since. It’s also helped me a lot to improve my art as well as my writing and roleplay skills, not to mention that it’s also helped me learn and understand stuff I had limited knowledge on before, as well as improving further both my English and Japanese skills as well.

Self Ship or OC ship with canon characters?: I’m not really into self shipping cause the conventional way most people do it tends to be/feel quite... selfish?? There’s also the fact that I honestly hate myself with a passion, so I don’t think I could ever write or draw myself seriously, but I do like the idea of spending time with my babe, Speebs~ Which is something i’ve been “able to do” for the longest time now since he became my muse almost as soon as i got into jojo and has been so ever since xd (those of you who know me from my rp blogs know the way my muses work and what I’m talking about here), or the fact that I sometimes dream about him and so on. As for OCxCanon shipping, I don’t actively do that, cause I suck at creating stuff from scratch, but I’m not opposed to it as long as the OC is believable and doesn’t fall into the Mary Sue/Gary Stu type, whether it is in fanfics or rps or whatever. I mean, my first rp muse on this site was a canon character and one of his main ships was with a friend’s OC. I rp/write for canon characters, but I don’t rule out shipping with OCs as long as their author/mun is respectful and there’s actual chemistry between the characters, really.

If you had a stand which one would you like to have, which one would you most likely get with you past and demeanor? I’d like to have Heaven’s Door, or maybe Crazy Diamond, or Harvest. The one I’d get, tho? Idk... the most useless one you can think of, probably x’d

Dream activity, with who, where and how long: Spending the rest of my life with my sweet Robert, I don’t care where (knowing him, probably travelling the world together), loving him and making him happy until the very end uwu

tagging.... errrr, y’all know i’m an anxious mess and can’t tag people unless they openly tell me they’d like me to tag them in this kind of stuff so, if you see this and want to give it a shot, consider yourself tagged >:D (and feel free to tag me back or not if you’d like? i won’t judge you either way so go ahead and take it, fam :D)

[nordic-breeze]

I was going through my files and I came over this document I sent to my friend @distant-rain pretty much the same day I realized I had fallen in love with Arthur, after weeks of being in denial or shrugging off my daydreaming of this cowboy as nbd or thought experiments and boy was I confused. 

I knew next to nothing about RDR1 when I wrote this December last year and I didn’t know much about RDR2 post chapter 2 either except for Arthur’s fate, which I had just learned of, and oml was I upset and confused. Though also scaringly accurate about certain things.

Now over six months later, I love this cowboy even more. And I kept true to my word. If anyone wanna read the rambings of a fangirl who had just found her new obsession be my guest.

I was blown away by how massive this game is. The level of detail is incredible and I greatly appreciate the effort put into creating this world. Yeah, we’ve all heard about the horse testicles shrinking in cold weather but it’s not like it’s just one bizarre detail being essentially a dick joke in an otherwise average game. No, RDR2 is detailed enough that it actually makes sense to add in peculiarities like that. The amount of wildlife alone, I mean, ever since the PS2 era I’ve been used to seeing animals in games but R* created whole-ass ecosystems in RDR2, several of’em, from snowy mountains to marshlands, with animals that act so much like actual animals. Just listening to the birds singing, it’s like being out in an actual forest!

Characterization is another thing that amazed me, in particular the protagonist. I knew nothing about the first RDR when started playing RDR2, nor did I know anything about RDR in general other than it was western-themed and made by the GTA-guys. I expected somewhat of a similar characterization as GTA where every character is a stereotype or a caricature. I genuinely liked GTAV’s story for what it was and even though every character was more or less an asshole, some of them were also weirdly likeable and even earned my sympathy (and hint of affection) occasionally.

But it never really went deeper than that nor was it particularly long-lasting (still way more than I expected tho). I bonded with one of the characters more than I thought I would but not nearly as much as I would had the characters felt more like actual humans and not like the epitome of stereotypes. But it is what R* wanted and it worked. I expected the RDR2 characters to be the same but to my surprise the characters, especially Arthur, are fleshed out, complex, even relatable (depending on your actions I guess). Unlike GTAV, they act and react like actual human beings. Well, human beings that have lived their entire life (more or less) as outlaws. In a country and time period foreign to me. But still they felt human. Ofc I’ve not gotten to know any of the NPC’s as well as Arthur but from various missions and eavesdropping on their conversation I’ve gotten to know them a bit. Hosea is my favorite. He seems like a good man despite being an outlaw and I love how everyone goes to him for advice and how supportive he is. I also wish more people (esp a certain Dutch man) could listen to him more. I also really like Charles. He definitely got morals and could be a good influence on Arthur and the others. I haven’t seen much of Sadie yet, but think I’ll like her too. Lenny seems nice. That one scene when he and Arthur went out drinking together was absolutely brilliant! And lil Jack’s adorable ofc. Only one I don’t like is Micha or Miach or whathisname. I know no one in the van der Linde gang are saints but that guy is a total psychopath. I kinda wish Arthur had gotten his way there when he said they should just leave him in jail as he was nothing but trouble and it annoys me how Dutch is sticking up for him. Yeah, speaking of, not too fond of Dutch or that German guy either atm.

But all in all very impressed by the large open world, the level of details to well, everything and the characterization. Soundtrack is great, graphics are stunning, animations smooth, the horse-riding simulation is just extraordinary and you never know what’s gonna happen as you ride through the map. The amount and variety of random events and encounters are truly impressive. Often comical, like that wildlife photographer who keeps getting almost eaten up by the wildlife he’s trying to document, sometimes eerie like the serial killer side story, or sad like when Arthur met with his former love. Or a combination of said elements like the pig farmers I ran into. With no pigs. But were still veeery well fed. You know, when people are just a liiitle bit too friendly? That eerie feeling you get when you just know something’s wrong but you can’t quite put your finger on it. Until you can. I thought they were husband and wife I really did. You shoulda seen my face when I realized they were in fact brother and sister. Me and Arthur had the exact same face. They were living as husband and wife tho. Well, up until I killed them.

I also love the contrast between the more ‘modern’ world and the simpler life. I could go into town, buy food at the saloon and rent a room or take a bath at the hotel. Or I could ride a few mins out into the wilderness, hunt and gather my own food, cook it over a bonfire and sleep under the stars. Electricity exists, but people are still completely dependent on oil lamps and open flame. Trains and trams exist, cars have been invented, but people still mainly travel on horseback. This contrast between old and new as an era is ending and the modern era is about to begin has been an amazing experience considering the level of detail the game has. The colonization of the new land, which has been largely unknown to me, the contrast between this and modern-day America we see on TV. So many people did not even speak English, I often find abandoned buildings, or burnt-down buildings, some with bodies inside, leaving me wondering what happened to them, I found a ghost town whose inhabitants had been wiped out by a plague. It was tough for many I reckon.

In fact, I find the exploration of this foreign but also somewhat familiar, beautiful but harsh world and its many random events and encounters waaay more interesting than the actual main story itself, which is why it took me forever to reach chapter 3. In fact, the story is probably my least favorite part about RDR2, as backwards as it may sound. I’ve never been into western stories or aesthetics, and I’m certainly NOT into the whole ‘outlaws till the end’ stuff ugh. I fail to sympathize with the whole ‘boo-hoo the world no want outlaws like us no more it’s unfair’. Ugh, go cry me a fucking river. And then go get a job. A real job. Yeah, I get it that adapting to society is tough, life’s tough deal with it and stop preying on others. Wow, robbing two trains in short time and staying in the same fucking area actually has consequences, I’m so shook!

So yeah, story-wise I don’t quite ‘get it’ and Dutch is really starting to get on my nerves, which is probably why I prefer to just ride off alone and experience the world. I guess RDR2 story will rely heavily on being torn between gang loyalty and your own morality and principles but since I have virtually no concept of group loyalty that is all lost on me. My own morals and principles all the way. I’m like, ‘these people suck, take Hosea, Charles, Sadie, Tilly (maybe John Marston and his family) and leave these bitches behind’.

At the beginning, I did kinda liked Dutch. He seemed genuinely sorry for Sadie, took her in and saved her life, even if it meant another mouth to feed in dire times. And he showed Kiran mercy despite hating the O’Driscol’s. But as I’ve progressed thought the game, his grand speeches about sticking together, sticking with him, slowly but surely has turned from pep-talk to keep people’s spirit up to sounding like a cult leader desperate to keep his following no matter the cost. Yesterday when I was playing, I overheard him quote some quasi-philosophy book to Lenny and used the words to twist them into his own convictions to support his decisions. And when Lenny objected, Dutch literally said ‘you’re breaking my heart, kid’. Wow Dutch, talk about manipulating your protégé.

It was the mission when those lawmen approached Arthur as he was fishing with Jack that really made me consciously see Dutch in a new light. Up until then, RDR2 had mostly been fun and games but that conversation left me feeling a bit uneasy. But I just figured it was the main story finally picking up pace and also, I figured I was near the end of the chapter. I carried on, suddenly eager to see what would happen and was thoroughly surprised by how the chapter ended. In a bad way.

While both chapter 2 and chapter 3 begins with a ‘new start’ vibe, chapter 3 felt very different from chapter 2. Mostly it was that feeling that Dutch’s obsession with ‘sticking to this life’ is going to get people killed. Idk, it’s this eerie feeling something’s wrong but can’t quite put my finger on it-feel again. But thanks to internet being internet I already knew some spoilers so I couldn’t help but to look up something and… well, let me put it this way. I’m never going to finish this game. Ever. It breaks my heart because in so many ways it’s truly an amazing game and a fantastic experience. But I’m just not that into the story, I don’t like where it’s heading and I don’t want to see what’s coming to character(s) I’ve come to care deeply about.

I still want to explore the world more, see what unfolds, do more challenges, add stuff to my compendium, maybe get some trophies… but I doubt I’ll ever progress much story-wise. Quite the contrary, I might reload an earlier save and just stay in chapter 2 forever.

(wrtten a couple of days later)

Seems my instincts was right on the money, esp concerning Dutch. Sad thing, I do believe he is sincere. In the first few chapters at least. He is manipulative but I also believe he’s convinced himself that he’s doing the right thing. And then his obsession will eventually get the better of him and when people and the lifestyle is slipping away from him, he doesn’t handle it well at all. Ugh, it’s so frustrating, I just wanna gather all my favs and yell: “leave nooow, before it’s too late!

It’s not for the sake of spacing it out or making it last. I just don’t want to progress in the story at all. I hated losing Horseshoe Overlook. HATED IT HATED IT HATED IT!!!! Yes the new place is beautiful, yes I know it’s the life of the outlaws and RDR2 does show that life for better and for worse whereas most stories tend to romanticize the whole thing, yes as outlaws they can’t stay for too long in one place. But as mentioned I have a hard time sympathize with and immerse myself into that lifestyle. Yes, I got all my upgrades and a whole new area to explore, a bigger nearby town, and closer to that big city. Still hated it. Horseshoe Overlook was my place. The Heartlands was home. And the view was stunning! And I liked Valentine. It was small and dirty but I had good memories from there. Until I had to shoot up half the town. My motivation for continuing the main story is at absolute zero.

It was more what the transition represented, I guess. You never know what will happen in RDR2. And it’s true, for random encounters, and many of the individual missions. But when it comes to the story as a whole, I feel like I already now can predict how it’ll play out. Every chapter begins with the gang on the move, finding a place to settle down and have a fresh start, even chapter 1 (as they were on the run bc a heist gone wrong or something). Then they settle down, go into town to get to know the area and establish connections and looking for easy money, often at the expenses of others. X random events later, they get too overconfident or careless, screws up or get hunted down, it ends with a shootout, then they are on the run again, finds a new place to settle down where Dutch promises that THIS TIME IT WILL BE DIFFERENT until they’re wanted on the entire map and can’t go anywhere cos the wild west is ending. I really liked it at Horseshoe Overlook and whenever Im in that area again I’ll just get sad.

I had no idea I’d gotten so emotionally invested so I was really surprised at how much I disliked moving camps and all. I’ve also gotten so fond of Arthur. I was so busy with exploring, doing challenges, learning to hunt etc I didn’t even realize it happening. Until one scene had me almost tearing up! I think because, we as the player really have to look out for him. Even though I make sure that he eats regularly, he’s still underweight. When out riding I usually set up camp when night falls so that Arthur can get some rest. Something I’d never think about in any other game. And I always give him coffee in the morning. Then it’s his journal that gives such valuable insight into who he truly is as a person. There’s no doubt he’s so much more than just a mere outlaw. He writes surprisingly well and is open and is surprisingly honest about his thoughts and feelings. How torn he is between the life of an outlaw and wanting to be a better man, a better person. How he admired Charles because, for him it was ‘so easy to just be good’ whereas he himself always feel torn between good and evil. And his journal entries when he meets his long-lost love Mary and saves her brother from the cultists. The expression on his face as he said goodbye to her on the train station… how utterly heartbroken he was… how she still loved him too… man, that one tore at my heart. Still does when thinking about it.

I wish I could take Hosea, Charles, Sadie, Tilly, John’s family and maybe Lenny too with me, run off and start anew. Charles would have good influence on Arthur and encourage him to turn his life around and find his place in society and encourage John to be a better father and role model for Jack and they could all learn how to live as free men and women without robbing or hurting anyone (unless they deserve it). Like, Charles is an excellent hunter and tracker. He’d totally get enough food for the gang and maybe even enough to sell. He could train Jack too. Hosea was always more of a conman/grifter than a brute/robber. He could con bad guys or rich assholes Robin Hood style. If anyone gave him grief, John and Arthur would settle the score. Arthur could sell animal pelts and John could take up carpeting. They’d be such a happy lil family. But, RDR1 is yet to happen so it’s all just wishful thinking *sigh*

[azeher]

The Villain Problem (which is easily solved)

I’ve seen frequently a lot of posts and threads (making emphasis on “frequently” and “a lot”) here on tumblr and on twitter making a claim that people just don’t want their villains to be redeemed because they refuse to give them character development. This is my take on it and how I solve it.

Well, for starters, character development goes both ways so a villain that starts as someone who wants to do mildly bad things but ends up mass-murdering, raping back and forth, torturing other characters and so on, already got character development. They went from bad to the absolute worst. Of course, a writer’s storytelling skills have the power to make or break a story, so even this can be poorly executed.

To continue, at least in my case, I’m only not into the “redemption” thing when the villain has reached a point of no return, because their actions are bigger than anything else. Something like the example I provided above. And no amount of sad backstory caked with child abuse will change my mind.

Actually, when a story (and by “a story” I mean all of them) gives me the sad backstory and the child abuse excuse--which is an insult to every real child abuse victim ever who chose not to harm anyone, and to those who were victims of people who used this excuse, it completely loses me. Not every bad person had a bad childhood. Having a bad childhood doesn’t excuse them from owning their bad actions. And in the case of the villain, last time I checked, having their mother killed in front of their eyes when they were a little kid didn’t prevent them from creepily smiling when brutally killing a woman in front of her innocent child’s eyes. At this point, having a story give me a sad backstory for Evil Guy not only makes me roll my eyes so far back I can see my brain cells dying, not only increases my anger towards Evil Guy, not only diminishes what respect I might have for the author and their ability to tell a good story, it also actually makes me lose any interest I could’ve had about the villain. And villains are supposed to be interesting. They’re supposed to be the spice of your story.

Other instance in which I might be against the villain’s redemption is when the redemption actually takes away from the story. Some villains were born in the whimsical space of our minds to be evil and go grand about it and tell a message about it. Suddenly redeeming them erases anything that the writer was trying to say.

So how to tell when a villain can be redeemed? Everything depends on writing skills, really. You’re the one writing your story, right? Then you’re the one who will know if this villain can or deserves or wants or needs to be redeemed. You’re the one to know if your story will suffer from it or gain from it. It’s not the readers who decide this; what they feel about the villain, positive or negative, is completely up to them and their fanfics. It’s only you and your intention to tell a good story what matters here.

My list of personal tips, tho, are:

a. Treat your villain as another Main Character, which in a way they are. Villains that are faceless shadows lurking in the awfully decorated halls of what looks like a BDSM dungeon and the result of a quarrell in IKEA, are boring. And I’ll bet not even you fear/care for them.

b. Give Evil Guy a goal that matters to them as a person. Goals are better and more believable than stupid tragic backstories. Also a must if you want a 3D character. They don’t need to be huge goals. I mean, some people would harass and send death threats to someone else over ships, right? Think about that.

c. Add the sad backstory if you want to. Just know that its actual purpose is to give the villain an origin story, not excusing them. Heros also have sad backstories usually and you can still see them being normal people, working on retail at the start of their hero journey. Actually scrap the sad backstory if you have your hero or villain working on retail, that’s enough torture already.

d. If you don’t like or have any interest in your villain, why are you expecting others to? When you don’t like or have any interest in your villain it is because of different reasons: They’re not believable, their goal isn’t believable, you just don’t know what kind of person they are. Do what I do. Talk to them. Sit alone, organize an interview or a really messed up date and get to know the guy. (I do this with every character, really, but villains make for really big experiences).

e. Be prepared to love-hate them. You’re creating a monster. You have to be happy with the kind of monster you came up with. “You’re the worst and don’t have a place outside of the deepest pits of hell. You’re perfect!”

f. Only after you know your villain and how far they’re willing to go to accomplish their goal, you can consider whether or not to redeem them.

g. Realize what role this villain plays in the lives of the rest of your characters. And they must play a role since Evil Guy has been antagonizing them since the beginning of the story. Sometimes, there are other kind of relationships or ties involved that might be the ultimate decisive factor. Let’s use Kubo and the Two Strings as an example. (SPOILERS) Evil Guy was Kubo’s grandfather, but the story chose to give him a new chance to be good and care for his grandson because Kubo had literally no one else. It was such a powerful resolution, because Moon King also despised humankind and their warmth and having to look at them, and thought of himself as superior for being immortal, but then he was turned into a human, was convinced that he was the most compassionate man, and was made to look at humans in the eyes every day until he died someday. But MOST IMPORTANT, it was Kubo’s decision.

(Don’t force a character to end up with or forgive their abuser. Kubo did it amazingly but it’s not something everyone or every story can do. Forgiving is a very personal and intimate thing that isn’t about the abuser but the victim. Forgiving doesn’t mean allowing the abuser back into your life and it definitely isn’t about falling in love with them. It shouldn’t be played as the exoneration of the abuser).

In mp100 (SPOILERS AGAIN) Shou forgives his father. Shou took the decision to give his father another chance. A chance to finally be the father Shou deserved to have. A chance for Touichirou not to disappoint his son again. It was all about Shou, and mp100 is a story about growth and decisions and choosing to be better, so Touichirou also chose to take the chance Shou was giving him. This completes the themes of the narrative and is not forcing us, the readers, to sympathize with Touichirou, it’s only showing us what kind of person Shou is, what his needs are and why we have to respect them, and what he and his father decided to do about their conflict.

h. Realize what sort of story you’re telling or trying to tell. You know, sometimes the message can be pessimistic. Sometimes you want to talk about morality, sometimes about amorality. Sometimes you simply really want your villain to mean something. Once you define this you can choose HOW you want to redeem them (if you had chosen to redeem them that is).

i. In general, antagonists that take bad decisions but deal with an internal conflict of good and evil are the ones we all want to see redeemed. Think Zuko, Loki and (tho it never happened) Draco Malfoy.

j. No matter what sort of redemption you gave your villain or why, make sure they still get to face the consequences of their actions. It doesn’t matter if you love them so much that you are willing to overlook murder cuz “Aw, c’mon, I don’t go to jail for killing all my chances for a decent future, do I?” or “It’s medieval times! Everyone had at least killed five people by the age of 18 back then”. Their actions must come back to them, somehow. It doesn’t have to be jail time, or death or stuff like that, but they must feel real regret. If they don’t, you’re not really redeeming them, you’re just letting your Evil Guy win by gaining MC’s trust and getting to live a full live without any inconveniences. I mean, I guess that’s what uncaught serial killers, corrupt politicians and some Nazis got to do so it’s not that unthinkable.

I, myself, have a thing for villains, which is a reason why I don’t understand the oversimplified posts that go: “People who don’t want villains to be redeemed think you’re evil if you like villains. People just don’t want character development for villains.” I may think that any specific villain doesn’t need a redemption, that doesn’t mean I think no villain can have a redemption. I may think that the villain that doesn’t deserve the redemption is a literal disgusting creature, that doesn’t mean I can’t be impressed by how amazingly and cleverly constructed the villain is. My biggest example: The Joker. And every character needs character development, else they’re not really characters but plot devices.

As for the other side of the argument: “They think you’re evil if you like villains”. I might be missing something here, but the one complaint I’ve heard barely reminiscent of this claim is the one that surfaces when a fandom collectively justifies or ignores the villain’s actions (as if that’s necessary to be allowed to like the villain) and that’s a complaint as valid as any other; or when the story itself justifies the villain’s actions then chooses to never mention them again, which, yeah, is bad writing (see Snape).

If you choose to ignore a villain’s actions, doesn’t that just mean that you like the character but not exactly what they did? Tho, the route you’re taking isn’t the best but still. If you justify a villain’s actions (murder is common, rape is worse, they were having a rough day, they were depressed--bitch, I’m depressed!, she asked for it, it’s okay because they fall in love later, they just don’t know how to express love in a healthy way that doesn’t involve emotional and physical and sometimes even sexual abuse, they grew up in a violent and/or manipulative environment, they have an awful father…), and then make a big deal out of that and talk about it online, don’t be surprised if someone disagrees with you, or you touch a nerve with an actual real life person and get called out. Because, it was you who made it internet-relevant.

It’s your right to like a villain for whatever reasons you want and you don’t owe an explanation to anyone, but thinking critically about your fave, recognizing their flaws, or the themes they embody are also important things. And even if you just don’t feel like doing that, which is fair, that doesn’t change the fact that the villain is a piece of shit and other people will notice it. Not everyone will love your sinnamon roll. You’ll have to deal with the two sides: Enjoying your small villain fandom with your nice group of peers, and seeing posts where other people trash your fave. That if the story itself doesn’t do it.

[alicesgreatadventure]

I'm safe to share this now......

This has been an ongoing source of stress in my life and I feel safe enough to tell Tumblr about it now because typing the story will help me sort through it a little bit better and the issue has been “resolved.” For the purpose of this story, the boy it centers around will be named Jaden Brown or smth. So my family and the Browns have been friends for a few years. My dad and Jadens dad both coach my little brothers baseball team. So, naturally, our families hang out together all the time. The Brown family has three kids, the younger ones hang out with my younger brother. Jaden, who is my age, hang out with me. Everyone has someone and it works out perfectly. So everybody is in the pool, being social, meaning that Jaden and I are somewhere else. We were sitting by the fire pit in my front yard. This would be very romantic if we were even mildly interested in each other. Funnily enough, we'd been talking about the girl Jaden was interested in, we'll call her Abby. Then shit kinda got weird. Him: so Abby texted me the other day when she was leaving a movie theatre. She saw beauty and the beast and she said it made her cry and it was really good. I don't get why people cry in movies to be honest. Me: bro idk I cry in movies all the time. Just because they're sad you know? Him: I guess, but like, movies don't really make me feel anything Me: well I guess some people r just like that *expects the topic to change* Him: Honestly, I don't really feel anything in real life. Me: *beginning to get scared* What? Him: I mean, I know what I'm supposed to feel. I just don't,,,,,feel it. I act, I guess. Me: *sufficiently freaked the fuck out* What? Him: idk I wouldn't really have a problem killing someone. Me: *shitting bricks* oh? What do u mean. Him: I have super vivid dreams about it all the time. I've killed my friends, my family, Abby, *laughs* even you! Sometimes when I wake up I remember how I did it sometimes I don't. Me: do u remember how u killed me? *shit fuck shit god fucking damn it I don't wanna know shit* Him: Yep. *graphic description that could be triggering* Me: *FUCK* But u wouldn't actually kill your someone would you? Him: Depends. Me: *nervously* on what? Him: on what they did Me: *internally flips shit* but not ur family tho Him: depends. Me: *already knowing answer but hoping for a better outcome this time* on what? Him: I already told u, what they did. Me: *trying not to look at all shocked by any of this for fear of triggering a full mental break down from him* hmm. Him: yeah, the closest I've ever come to killing someone is your little brother. Me: *knowing this kid is a black belt is a black belt in karate and freaking out more.* *loving my little brother and wanting nothing but to run to him and hug him* you almost killed my little brother? Him: yeah. When him and my little brother hang out they're so fucking annoying it makes me wanna snap their necks. Me: *almost crying* oh Him: yeah I've only told two other people this. One thought I was joking and one still gets nervous around me. Me: *gee I wonder why* wow, uhhhh, wow Him: so yeah anyway back to that girl Needless to say, I was shocked. Like, what the fuck? That doesn't happen to people? Asfksmdkannf? It didn't make sense. We continued hanging out until he left, and I tried to act normal to ensure my own safety. Immediately after he left, I called a friend. He basically told me, " hey, yeah that's creepy as hell." So I told the rest of my close friends, hoping for advice. All of the them said, TELL YOUR MOM. This was something I was nervous as FUCK to do though. And I was already second guessing myself. What if it was a dream? What if my mind is just bored and fucking w me? I knew neither of those things were true. So I waited. The next time jaden came over I was with a friend. Everything was v normal. He wasn't acting strange. I ended up playing "Stardust Girl" for my friend while he was there and he was super supportive, telling me I was super talented, and I should publish that. He even texted me later that night telling me the same thing. In other words, he acted nice. And normal. Like, what? This left me more confused than ever. I go to a therapist once a month so I decided I'd wait, and talk to her. Therapy- Me: tells story Her: tell your fucking mother :) Me: k thx ily bye :) Her: k see u later :) So I went home, and my mother was just returning from vacation. I decided I'd let her catch up on work before I added to her stress. She ended up getting sick so I waited like four days. She was in my room and she asked, hey, is there something u wanna tell me? So I told her. She has her masters degree in psychology so she wasn't a stranger to this kinda stuff. She agreed that it was very concerning and decided she would talk to her old therapist to help her decide how to tell Jaden's mother. My mom told the rest of our family and eventually arranged a lunch date with Jaden's mom. By the time this happened I was flying to my grandparents house. The moment I got off the plane I called her. Me: HOWD IT GO?!?!? Her: idek what the fuck. What? Me: what happened? Her: Jaden's mom believed you. She said she knows you and knows this isn't something you'd make up. She said she also knows Jaden. He is the most emotional of her kids and he's always the first one to run to help when anything happens and the first one to get emotional when someone is upset. So basically Jaden's mom thanked me and went home to talk to him. He admitted to telling you all of that. He even came over and apologized to your father and I! He was crying, his mom was crying, I was crying. He said "I told her all of that but it's not true" "I'm so sorry" "I would never hurt Rhiana or her brother" and stuff like that. And you know what his reasoning was? Me: it better have been a fucking good one. Her: *laughs* but rlly idk what to make of the reason. He said it was because he and I were talking about family stuff earlier and I had explained to him that there was a history of depression, anxiety, and suicide in my family. His reason? Since he had a history of murderers in his family(true fact there's a documentary about his aunt she was a serial killer) he decided he'd keep the convo going. By telling u that. Me: wow. Fuck Her: ik it's fucking weird We continued to discuss for a while and came to the conclusion that Jaden and I would have to talk. I agreed, thinking I'd decide for myself wether he was telling the truth when I saw him. The one thing that didn't add up? We had, at one point, talked about our family pasts. It had been hours earlier in the night. I have yet to return from my grandparents house so I will let you guys know how everything goes. And believe it or not, you know that camping trip I'm going on right when I get back? Yeah it's with his family. So the first time I'll see him is when I'm living right next to him for 5 days. Anyway sorry this was sooo long but I needed to get it out and type it to help myself review everything that happened before seeing him. Also I will be continuing my break from tumblr after this but I needed to sort everything out. I love you guys❤️

[vickyvioletdraws]

REVIEW: Five Nights at Freddy’s: The Silver Eyes

(The FNAF Novel)

Spoiler FREE Review:

If you’re a fan of the Five Nights at Freddy’s series, are interested in the lore of Freddy Fazbear’s, or would like to see what will probably pave the way for the FNAF movie, then give this a read.

It has a few flaws of course, some more glaring than others in my opinion, but for most of them, I’m able to look past it. The story does enough dancing towards what we really want to see to keep my attention until the climax of the book where it gets really awesome. The backstories are interesting enough, and the background information stirs more lore around enough to make it simple yet complicated, as it always has been. You can glean anything from this novel.

Pick this up from your local library if you don’t wanna shell out the bucks. (That’s where I got mine.)

SPOILER Review:

If you’re reading this far, you’ve probably read the novel yourself, or don’t care to read it and just wanna know more.

Writing Style: An easy read, simple and straight forward, great for the inevitable kids that have been reading it. (Sometimes it’s a little too simple at times tho. This is just my nitpick, but I have very strong feelings against descriptive text using the word “sudden” or “suddenly”. I find it glaringly obvious whenever a literary piece uses those.)

Story: The story takes place ten years after the missing children incident at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. It focuses on the survivors from that time who are all now teenagers, and they work together to accidentally put an end to the mysterious case. It’s a good setup for what we need, making sure that our protagonists are not just random teens who go “Lol let’s mess around in a haunted pizza restaurant!” They actually have history and reason being involved, even if they were technically screwing around while doing it. (Teens, amirite??)

Main Character: Charlie (or more formally Charlotte) was not only friends with one of the victims at Freddy’s, but also the daughter of the man who created Freddy’s to begin with. Her father was an artist whose life was dedicated to his work, and was never all there. The reason for his absence is pretty disturbing, but despite all this, Charlie is a completely normal girl. Yeah, someone with that messed up of a backstory and she’s just kind of normal. The idea is she’s supposed to be, she is a main character after all. She’s interesting because of her family and her past and her childhood, but as a teen, she’s not really allowed to be too interesting.

Supporting Protagonists: For the most part, all of these characters are vastly… uninteresting. They’re normal teenagers, all of them. They don’t have too many varying traits and they all for the most part have flat personalities. And there are a lot of them. Including Charlie, there are seven of these main characters. It makes for good buddy system scenes, but otherwise, why are there so many to try and keep track of? After acknowledging how many there were, I said to myself, “My my, what an abundance of underdeveloped characters in a horror setting! I wonder how many will be killed off by the end!” None. None of these characters get axed off during the course of the book. Some get injured a little bit, but none of the teens die. I guess I’m happy for them, but is it wrong I’m a little disappointed?

Antagonist: Awesome. Spoiler warning again, it’s Dave the guard. Spoilers again, Dave is an alias for the infamous William Afton, who was the business head of Freddy’s Entertainment. His backstory is one I find perplexing, as the book describes him as being a hefty man, ten years prior to the current story, while now he’s rather skinny and sickly. Not saying a guy can’t workout over the course of ten years, but that’s a pretty huge detail. Some of the story clues from Five Nights at Freddy’s Sister Location sort of has an explanation for this, as well as why he may be a serial killer, but The Silver Eyes is the alternate universe. It’s up in the air right now what information from the games we can depend on and what we can’t. (I’m getting off track, I love talking about the lore too much.)

Dave is an absolutely delightful villain. His dialogue is always so worth it to read, and his presence is dripping with the sadism we love to imagine him having. He’s deliciously evil and often times giggle worthy, with how he uses a kid’s restaurant as his battle ground and animal costumes as his weapons. Predictably, the amount of silly that his demeanor invokes makes for a pretty fake sounding story to any law enforcement. Serial Killer Pro-Tip: The sillier, the better. (#dontbeaserialkillertho)

The Good: The climax was easily the most interesting and fun part to read, where the screen time (read time?) for Dave really increased and then crap got real. The highlights are easily where the animatronics FINALLY come to life and start going after the main cast, and the part where Charlie straight up knocks Dave out cold, and the crew later tie him up, pour water on his face, and interrogate the guy. MMMM mm, fantastic.

OH ALSO my favorite character, besides William Afton/Dave, is Carlton. He sasses death in the face of death. Good job, Carlton.

The Bad: I wouldn’t say the book took its sweet time getting interesting or anything, I’ve read worse. The chapters begin with a bit of a hook, (HYUK HYUK GET IT??) and then drop into the story of Charlie herself, spending time explaining why she’s meeting up with her old friends first and foremost. The chapters seem to alternate between two things. First, the protagonists and how they have an uncomfortable past with Freddy’s because their friend was a victim, and how no one wants to talk about it. Second, the protagonists talking about the tragic past anyway AND sneaking into the abandoned restaurant and screwing around like teenagers do. It’s a pretty clever way to get the reader into the restaurant really early on, and frequently, for that matter, so props to that. But overall, the scenes outside of the pizza place or outside of Charlie’s childhood home aren’t that gripping. It feels like what it is; teasing the reader with just enough of the restaurant to keep their attention during the long ride to the climax when things get crazy and awesome.

The Ugly: The point of this book is to either expand on the lore or reach farther from it, generating new lore. (Since I assume that the novel is paving a way for the film.) I wouldn’t say this book had a lot of filler, but it still had a lot of vastly unimportant details.

I think the biggest crime this book committed was the scene where Jessica is telling Charlie about some past boyfriend she had. Sure, the story is kind of humorous, but it doesn’t add anything to the universe. Sure, we should know more backstory about our main characters, but honestly? I learned more about Jessica’s ex than I did Jessica in that scene. Unless future books reveal him to be Afton’s son, that was a pretty huge waste of a couple of pages in my opinion. (Disclaimer: I was just joking with last part, omg. But now Sister Location actually has something about Afton's son and I'm really salty about it.)

That’s it. I’m glad I read it. I was starting to lose interest in the FNAF universe, as FNAF4 and Sister Location didn’t light that spark in me as I was hoping. Although The Silver Eyes isn’t the most captivating piece of FNAF lore, it made me redo all my research from all the previous games to try to once again piece everything together. The theories and lore are of course my favorite thing about the franchise. The FNAF novel was the boost I needed to remember my passion for the series.