#alnst till

[traffys]

yeah

x

[sadokasochism]

OKAY OKAY OKAY THIS JUST OCCURED TO ME.

Ivan is perfectly capable of being likeable on a surface level. Their teacher says that he gets along with the other kids and is polite to superiors, and his graduation messages indicate he was well liked by his peers.

It's been pointed out before that it's hilarious that Ivan seemingly only behaved in an unhinged way with Till, and how jarring it must have been for everyone around them to see Ivan go from 0-1000 whenever Till was around.

Ivan was observant and KNEW how to endear himself to others. He could have chosen to put on whatever mask was needed to have Till's attention.

He loved Till for being strong and resilient, and seemed to enjoy Till's extreme reactions to things. Till is described as the most sensitive of the group, and he doesn't seem to change who he is for anyone. Ivan loved Till's authentic self.

Did he let the mask drop entirely around Till, because Till was the only person he was interested in having a genuine connection with? Did loving Till, who was never anything but himself, inspire Ivan to be honest?

Is that another tragedy of Ivan? That he truly loved someone enough to be his flawed, weird little self in front of them, and was not loved back?

[dulcelem]

Seeing things from Till's perspective, everything must be so very confusing. Like his life is getting progressively worse than it already was, the person who is his only source of comfort and hope has disappeared and may have died(he failed to protect her. she is the only reason he stayed in his own private hell, the reason he gave up his longed for freedom from the aliens and he failed). He was completely alone and on top of that he was being abused, dehumanized and violated in every way possible. Gradually losing all motivation and strength until he became so depressed that the sense of self and danger no longer exists.

Then, he's going to sing in a deadly competition against this boy he was kind of friends with when they were kids. He was kinda weird and got on Till's nerves occasionally, but yeah they played together, they fought sometimes and one time he sort of offered all the freedom in the world outside of that place for some reason. But anyway, life has no more meaning so he gives up singing and decides to die. Understandable.

But, out of the absolute NOWHERE, that boy who was almost his friend kisses him(??????) for no reason and he doesn't stop. Then, as if it wasn't already fucking weird, Ivan chokes Till. And. Honestly. It makes more sense. Maybe Ivan has a desire to live or something. He doesn't tho. Not right now. Or, who knows, Ivan was taking out his anger on him because if only Till had agreed to run away with him that night, they wouldn't be in this situation. Practically suicidal, he accepts death by Ivan's hands. But then, out of nowhere(again) Ivan FALLS TO THE GROUND with BLOOD DRAINING from his mouth. And he DIES. His plan to die was over and Ivan died for him without any explanation or warning.

Many people say he is sad or angry, but I swear I think this man is in the deepest state of shock. He hadn't been able to move an inch since the end of the performance and stared at Ivan's dead body until the lights went out. He wasn't conscious enough to even try to stop the bleeding. I'm very curious to see how he will react to all this

[kirakkkch]

Annoying coworker(?)

[within-ur-intro-verse]

I think it's very interesting that, during Round 2, Till was able to get away with killing an alien on a live Alien TV show. Sure, the alien guitar was probably low on the totem pole when it comes to importance, but it was living being (it had organs/blood) and, presumedly, a measure of sentience.

Humans are considered pets here. Alien Stage rounds are practically the equivalent of a galactically broadcast, legal, non-violent dog fights. This is like one of those dogs turning around and instead of fighting each other, they bit their owner. And it shows in the reactions of the aliens in the audience.

They are super shocked and disturbed by this display. By the expression on Till's face you can tell he didn't think of his actions like a declaration of war from a human rebel. He was acting like he destroyed an inanimate object to emphasize his point, not killed a member of a group that made him a human slave.

It also intrigues me how the alien guards act towards the contestants as the Rounds go on. In Round 2, Till is able to both kill an alien and defeat his opponent before the guards beat and restrain him.

In Round 5, Mizi is able to choke/punch Luka in the face repeatably before the guards intervene. And since they interfered before the Round was over, you can see visibly from their body language that they are unsure of how to proceed. Do they shoot and kill her for instigating a fight, even though she hasn't finished her song and so hasn't officially lost her Round yet? Thanks to their dallying, the human resistance has time to swoop in and rescue her from that fate.

In Round 6, Ivan kisses then proceeds to "strangle" his competitor, much like how Mizi did to Luka (but not really because Ivan doesn't want Till to get hurt, unlike Mizi with Luka). There still seems to be a delay from when Ivan starts "attacking" Till to when the security actually starts shooting at him. And the two first hits look more like warning shots than anything, especially since one hit him in the shoulder. It wasn't until the third shot that the damage was severe enough for him to bleed from the mouth. That means they gave him two chances to backpedal and cease his violence before deciding he needed to be put down.

So, what was my point with all of this? Probably just to emphasize that if Alien Stage is indicative of how the general alien population would act towards humans, then they are clearly unprepared to deal with the human uprising the news hinted at.

It's stated in the wiki that the Alien Stage that we are currently watching is the 50th iteration of the show. Had none of the previous human performers ever rebelled in the slightest? Because the guards were obviously unprepared for all three acts of violence that occurred in the Rounds. There was no established procedure in place to deal with outbursts from the contestants.

Here's how the humans can still win.

[crustyfloor]

once again straight yappin so Ivan stayed at the 'cafeteria' just to blatantly stare at Till while he ate that plain white rice for 30 minutes not even bothering to be a little more normal and take up that very empty seat next to Till (that was probably there because he's the only person that sits next to till unironically) what other weird shit does this guy do

[sp00pyp0]

Cafe AU~

[ju-ul]

Alien stage royalty au but Till is just some guy and the LITERAL prince of the nation loves him (Ivan)

[whizzinpast]

Actor AU IvanTill meets OG IvanTill.

Hear me out.

Actor!Ivan is a golden retriever in a human body. He is happy, he is nice, he is good with kids. It is literally the exact same vibe that attracted OG!Till to Mizi. All he has to do is bat his little eyelashes and smile, and OG!Till would lose it. He’d be gone. He’d get flustered as soon as Ivan speaks and after he buys him a drink and listens to him talk, they’d grow very fond of each other. Peak feral cat/golden retriever behavior.

Meanwhile Actor!Till and OG!Ivan would exude this nonchalant flirty energy you see in two people who have known each other for too long. There’s always subtle romantic tension. OG!Ivan tries to provoke Actor!Till, but whatever he says slides right off him, so it leads to harmless banter. They share drinks, Ivan shamelessly flirts with him and Till subtly flirts back. It’s all friendly, comfortable and intimate.

And then Ivan quietly asks Till to take care of him (Actor!Ivan), and Till promises he’ll try. And they share so much eye contact one would think they’d need a room.

[eccentriccatt]

Thank you for being a victim of my shallow emotions..

[lunierunie]

ALNST charms

Noodle arms our so they can hold each others hands attached using heart magnets 🥺 I’ll have these available for smashcon Sydney this year.

[renyaia]

TILL sketch :P

trying to get rid of the despair I feel after reading fan theories

[sadokasochism]

I am destroyed over the whole god/worshipper dynamic and have no idea how to adequately put it into words.

I mentioned in another post that Mizi could not fathom Sua ACTUALLY dying, or comprehend what death really meant, and attributed this to her relatively comfortable and sheltered life as the pet of Shine. She was not taught to conceptualise death as a loss, and she never faced any opposition to that world view. From what we know, she might have never really known true, lasting pain or loss before the end of Round 1.

However, her reaction could also be due to her placing Sua on a pedestal as her personal god and universe. She viewed Sua as her absolute everything, and why would any faithful worshipper believe their god could be killed? Only, while Sua was everything to HER, that perception did not carry over to their captors. Mizi's love and devotion was not enough to save Sua. Forces stronger than them both took her away like she was nothing.

How must Mizi have felt, having her perception of Sua as the centre of the universe shattered that way? Coming to the violent realisation that Sua was just another human, and that humans are indeed that vulnerable and disposable? That Sua could now only exist in memories and in the visions that haunt her? That Sua is not a god, but a ghost?

Now we look at Till's perception of Mizi. Again, in an earlier post I mentioned the tragedy of Till falling for someone who did not have a reason to leave. He had a lot of blind faith in Mizi, and it could be said that he idealised her as a paragon.

It's not hard to see how he reached this point. The poor kid had not been shown a lot of kindness in his life, and so meeting someone who was genuinely good and so full of joy must have had a huge impact on him.

However, his faith is still a blind one, but in a different way to Mizi's blind faith in Sua. He is happy to endure any amount of horrible treatment and does not expect anyone to help him. He doesn't resent Mizi for being so close to their captors, for her dreams stopping at Alien Stage. He doesn't resent her after he gives up on his chance at freedom and is subjected to who knows how many more years of pain and torment at the hands of their captors (Not that Mizi is at fault, Till made his own decision that Mizi likely never even knew about).

He sees Mizi's innocence and ignorance to the cruelty of their reality as something wonderful instead of a character flaw that prevents her from saving herself or her loved ones.

Sua has the same issue, seeking comfort and bliss within Mizi's brightness instead of acknowledging the cruel reality of their world. Maybe she felt sharing her perspective with Mizi would dim Mizi's bright spirit, and so she was more than content to wait out the clock with her god.

Maybe Sua felt that meeting Mizi, loving her and being loved by her in return, was nothing short of a miracle after the life she had lived before Anakt Garden. Maybe she felt in light of that, aspiring for something like freedom or a long, long life of happiness with the person she loved the most was asking far too much. The time she got with Mizi was already a miracle, why expect or demand anything more?

If Sua was afraid of Mizi losing her brightness, no wonder she was so affected by Ivan's lecture about becoming a source of trauma for Mizi after her death.

Ivan's view of Till as his god is a bit different. He is similar in that he doesnt seem to demand his devotion be reciprocated, he just wants his god to acknowledge him as a person, as someone that is at least PART of Till's universe, if he can't be all of it.

He is also very willing to become a martyr for his god while expecting nothing in return but Till continuing to live. He acknowledges Till as vulnerable and falable in a way that Till doesn't with Mizi, and Mizi didn't with Sua. He knows damn well that while Till is the centre of HIS universe, their captors certainly do not hold Till in that same regard. He knows that love and devotion in a vacuum does not save anyone.

Which is why he was always the one to free Till, to try and escape with him, and why he pulled the stunt he did in Round 6. Ivan knew that actually making an impact in this world required personal risk and sacrifice, because their captors don't give a fuck if you're in love or if that other pet-human they're about to kill means everything to you.

Till knew this too, but his idealised version of Mizi is too perfect to be broken and beaten down by this world the same way the rest of them have been. So he's still shattered by Round 5, seeing how far Mizi has fallen and then not knowing if she's alive or dead, but knowing for sure she is far out of reach. I wonder, did he regret not running away with Ivan at that point? Did he wonder what all those years of suffering were for, if he was just going to end up losing Mizi anyway? If this world was able to break her too, no matter what he did?

Mizi is gone and changed forever, and nothing he did could stop it. His love and devotion and sacrifice wasn't enough. He failed his god.

In Round 6, Ivan is faced with the same thing. His god has lost his fighting spirit, is changed forever, and Ivan's love and devotion wasn't enough to save him. The last thing he can give is his life, and hope that will be enough. Just like Sua. But he was never Till's god, was never even part of his universe, he probably won't even leave a ghost behind. So, the choice is obvious, really.

They're all so desperate for hope and connection in this lonely, painful existence that they make a person their entire universe, and then are repeatedly crushed when they are shown again and again that their soul-consuming love for one another is seemingly meaningless in a world that views them as infinitely disposable.

[gummi-panda3]

Till keeps dreaming of the death of a face he can’t remember. Ivan keeps telling him to forget about it.

(Where Ivan and Till reincarnate and find each other again in another universe)

[beesleeps]

[kitsunico]