#and people were still dissecting their interaction in that video in the comments

[mayimkjs]

An Introduction to MILGRAM

I decided to do this because I had everything written out for FOOL's MATE. Send it to your friends lamo.

Introduction

MILGRAM (ミルグラム) is an ongoing interactive music project by DECO*27 and Takuya Yamanaka that was first established in April 2020. MILGRAM is a mysterious, magical prison that houses 10 prisoners who have all committed a murder and it’s the job the guard to determine if their crimes are forgivable.

MILGRAM also contains a runic code alphabet that can be translated into the latin alphabet. This is seen on all uniforms and the website.

How do you decide what they are? 

Each prisoner gets 3 trials. After each interrogation, they are put through the MILGRAM system that extracts songs and music videos from their mind that will slowly explain what they’ve done. When someone receives a guilty verdict, they get more restraints put on them. The prisoners perceive their judgements as voices in their minds telling them that they're guilty or innocent/forgiven or not forgiven.

What is the purpose of MILGRAM?

I think the manga best explains the purpose of MILGRAM. Even though the manga is set it a different MILGRAM, it still has the same purpose. As the manga puts it, MILGRAM exists to oversee cases were people can’t be judged based on existing laws and puts them in front of someone with the role of a guard. The job of this guard is to review the prisoners’ “sins” or crimes and deem them innocent/forgiven or guilty/unforgiven. 

So what exactly does the audience do?

You experience MILGRAM through the eyes of Es, guided by the talking rabbit, Jackalope. After each song is released, you are able to vote on whether you can forgive the prisoner for their crimes or not. Each prisoner is guilty of murder. You just have to decide if their actions are forgivable or not. The final verdict for each prisoner during each trial has side effects. For example, Kotoko was voted innocent during trial 1 and ended up beating the shit out of all the guilty prisoners except Amane because she didn't have time for her. The viewer is the one who is writing these prisoners stories and the one who decides how this story ends. You don’t have to do deep dives or even read or listen to the voice dramas. The only thing you really need to do, is watch the MV and listen to the song.

How are the trials structured? 

MV release and voting for that prisoner opens.

EP release later that day. The EPs consists of:

The song

The instrumental for that song

A cover and rearrangement of a DECO*27 song

Instrumental for the cover

A voice drama

Interrogation cards are released on the app and Twitter. 

The voice dramas present us with each prisoner’s surface emotions, while the music videos reveal their underlying ones.

What is the “MILGRAM Portal”?

MILGRAM Portal is the official mobile app for MILGRAM, published by CRAYON Inc. It is currently exclusive to Japan. This app includes news, MVs, interrogations, trial voting and timeline conversations. 

What are timeline conversations? 

These are conversations between prisoners. You can make comments on these posts, but the prisoners won't see or hear you. 

Background

Originally, Yamanaka wanted to make MILGRAM into a video game. But after the release of “Otome Dissection”, which was OTOIRO’s first work, he decided to go the route that MILGRAM has went. They wanted to make this accessible to everyone and not put anything as important as voting behind a paywall. Mikoto and Kotoko (or maybe Yuno instead) might have been added later after a suggestion from DECO to “include a character who would cause a stir in MILGRAM”. The characters DECO and Yamanaka where referring to in the interview I am referencing were not name dropped, but considering the context, it seems this is who they might have been referring to. MILGRAM is made with questions like “Can you forgive someone after knowing their crimes?” and “What would you do if you couldn’t forgive someone you loved?” in mind. 

How is it made?

OTOIRO is in charge of producing the project. Team OTO (DECO, Rockwell, sometimes TeddyLoid) works on the music and audio portion, where's Team IRO works on the videos, official art and other graphics such as the interrogation cards.

When making the songs, DECO records a demo of him singing the song, at least this was the case for Undercover. All of the covers are picked by DECO because he thinks they hit the character’s voice. The covers have no relevance to the plot. 

After each character is voted for, they start working on the music for the next season. During this time, DECO and Yamanaka are also brainstorming ideas for forgiven and unforgiven outcomes. 

Who are the people behind this?

Takuya Yamanaka (山中拓也)

Co-Producer, Story/Author

Takuya Yamanaka is a writer who has a degree in psychology. He couldn't go into a psychology based job because he was deemed "too sensitive" and got too involved in others emotions. Other from MILGRAM, h’s most well known for being the creator of the Caligula series.

He is also a cheeky bastard. 

DECO*27

Co-Producer, Composition/Music, Lyrics

Pronounced Deco Niina, he is a VOCALOID producer who has been active since 2008. He is currently one of the most popular producers and has over 100 vocaloid songs. 

Rockwell

Arrangement, Composition/Music

Rockwell (ロックウェル, 69ℓ), also known as Tomoki Uchiba (内場智樹), is a Japanese songwriter, arranger and guitarist.  He's a former member of the rock band "Silhouette from The Skylit". He left the band in August 2016, and in September 2016 he started his career as artist Rockwell. It is said that Rockwell and DECO*27 went to the same high school and both members of the judo club.

DMYM

Typography/Prop Designer, Art and Animation Director, Card Designer

No.734, also known as Doumae Yumi or DMYM, is a graphic designer and illustrator. After graduating from the Comprehensive Design Department of Kuwasawa Design School, she worked as a freelance designer and illustrator for BALCOLONY. In October 2018, she became one of the art directors and illustrators of OTOIRO.

akka

Original/Main Character/Color Designer, Composite, Animation Director, Key Animator

akka is an illustrator who has been creating PVs since 2009. akka's first involvement with VOCALOID PVs was a fanmade video for "Two Breaths Walking" that has since reached over 1,000,000 views, the PV is the starting association with DECO*27.

OTOIRO

Production Company, Sound and Visual Creation

OTOIRO Inc. is a Tokyo-based creative studio which is active in the production of music. It was established in October 2018 with DECO*27 as the CEO. OTOIRO operates on the basis of two divisions of 'creators':

OTO (sound): focuses on the production of sound.

IRO (color): focuses on the production of artworks and movies.

arma banca Co,. Ltd

Merchandising, Event Planning, Record Label 

arma bianca is a character goods merchandising company that runs Amnibus and many pop up shops. The also produce line stickers and help plan and organize digital content such as MILGRAM.

With the start of Trial 2, they opened their own record label, arma Records. The are also in charge of pop up shops and were heavily involved with the first live show, “hallucinations” and run the main merch shop with is hosted on Amnibus.

The arma bianca-associated producer working on MILGRAM is Sakai Tomonari (坂井智成).

[swampstew]

That Wattpad psa gives me flashbacks to being a young artist on the early days of DeviantArt and being absolutely terrified that those YouTubers who got popular off the trend of making fun of “cringe DA ocs” and “terrible DA art” (which were mostly things made by young teens and preteens) would find my account and “expose me for being a bad artist” under the excuse of “just critiquing”. Long story short I didn’t even know people still did that sort of thing let alone without credit to the og author and I’m sorry y’all have to deal with that shit

Anon I’m so sorry that you had to live in fear like that. It fucking sucks. The only thing the YouTuber did was link back the original story but that doesn’t make it right, and quite frankly, makes it even easier for trolls to find these victims and harass them further if they wanted. My only relief was seeing that those videos had such little interactions. I reported their accounts.

My biggest fear has been someone ripping off my stories but now it’s this, taking my passions I made for myself and decided to share with the world, to be dissected and commented upon like it’s their job to do it. Let people live their lives unapologetically and if someone has to use others peoples work - and rate them as “worst” - to gain the attention they so desperately crave, well then I hope they step on legos daily and that their car tire pressure constantly leaks. Assuming they’re even old enough to drive cause ofc they didn’t put an age on their accounts😒

[mizakikimoto]

I really hate the Internet now, and don't know what to do about it.

Spoilers are constantly being posted everywhere for all sorts of stories, by "fans" and the companies themselves. People are fake as heck, and overuniform memes. There's always something with a million sound effects and quick cuts flashing in your face. There's always an ad being pushed in your face. Websites are basic, and aren't fun to go to anymore. There's a crap ton of censorship. Conversations are arguments now. AI is suggesting how people should finish their sentences, and people probably use the suggestions. The loudest voices are super privileged, and also caught up in this dumb liberal/conservative culture. Everything has to have a star rating or percent or count attached to it for its worth, and you can't even look that thing up without seeing that number. So much is about trying to work with an "algorithm". So much is pushed by it. Et cetera. I can't even watch a YouTube video without suggestions, comments in my peripheral vision.

It's like computers are programming humanity, and we wrote the program. We created this thing to ruin us.

This used to be a sincere, global portal to interact with the world. It used to be full of us. The best of us. Now...it's just a mess.

I just had a part of X-Men 97 spoiled by an artist I followed onlined. I blocked him. He did it so casually.

I remember when I was 18 I was able to experience Watchmen fresh, the movie and comic. No reviews, ratings, images. Not really. I had to seek out spoilers, opinions, dissection. I had the option of not seeing those things.

When the Watchmen TV show came out someone at Collider, I think, ruined a big part. People came after him. He said like "The episode came out days ago. It's your fault if you haven't seen it." I've had that said to me when someone posted a spoiler to Guardians of The Galaxy (the movie) on Tumblr years ago.

But then days, weeks ago an official DC page posted a spoiler about the same thing. Casually. In the name of "engagement", "content".

Nothing has any value. It's just digital noise. Quick consumption and throw away. Nothing settles, sits, affects, changes a person's life.

My plan was to rewatch the old X-Men cartoon, and the rest of the other 90's Marvel cartoons. Then get to X-Men 97 on my own time.

Ever since I started living in Chicago full-time 24 years ago...it's been hell to try to do anything. An extreme. Something a lot of people will never deal with. But shouldn't I be able to experience things on my own time? Shouldn't I have a choice? Why is it forced on me now? Can't I open a book by choice? Why are the pages forced on my eyes now?

And if I avoid the Internet altogether I can't learn about new stuff. I'm out of the loop, as people say.

But the Internet used to be limited, with who used it. It's terrible to say, but it really did get ruined when "everyone" started using it, and bringing thier BS here.

That earlier group of people online were so much better. Very specific.

I don't know what I'm saying.

Y'know...if I could get back to what was stolen from me years ago, I wouldn't have to be online so much. But still...

I don't have Threads or Twitter installed.

I want to get off of this thing. I need to. It didn't used to be this way.

-Chris

[death2normalcy]

Stray Kids Dynamics: Bang Chan and Felix

Chan - How I view Felix is... Or what I feel from Felix is...How do I put this? Like from birth...Every since I was born, maybe, I feel like we've just been connected, like...Even when we're together, we don't have to always be like 'Felix, lovey dovey' to show love. I feel like this itself is just really...

Felix - Just comfortable.

Chan - Yea, it's really comfortable. This actually feels like family. Like actual family. Like real brothers. It could be because we're both from Australia, but later on in life, I don't think it'd be weird at all if we lived together.

[theyarebothgunshot]

I’d be very interested in your thoughts on the JIB8 cockles panel. just a suggestion for your rewatch 👀

i’ve seen the jib8 panel so many times, because it’s honestly one of the wildest things i have ever seen and i just never get tired of it. 

first of all i want to give you my take on the overall vibe, and then second of all i will get into the details and link to certain timestamps in the video. 

disclaimer: i am not gonna be linking to every single thing i talk about, but i will try my best to link to the moments that stand out to me the most. i have read long posts about this panel before, so not everything in this post is gonna be original or said for the first time ever, simply because there is a good chance that information has stuck in my mind and has subconsciously formed my view of this panel. this is also in no way, shape or form gonna be coherent, unfortunately. i’m just gonna hope that the cockles hivemind will be able to make sense of this regardless. love and light. and lastly, this is all in good fun, so don’t come at me if you think this is too out there please and thank you.

fun fact: i was today years old when i found out that the airbnb story took place one day before this panel. what a sexually charged weekend that was for them dude (gn).

the vibe that i get from this panel is that their moods were off before they got on stage, and where misha kind of looks tired and not 100% enthusiastic about things, jensen apparently decided to get drunk and is trying to make it look like he is thriving. yet, a little while into the panel we learn that it has been an emotional rollercoaster of a day for him, which might have something to do with the overall mood. then again, it could be that something else happened in between the autographs and that panel, who is to say?

i have talked about the d/s subtones in their interactions before and this panel makes my radar ping like nobody’s business. if my interpretation of their dynamics is right, then one could assume that jensen was being very bratty on purpose, trying to stir up a reaction in misha, and i think he probably got what he wanted (more or less. maybe he thought misha would find it more amusing than he did, or but honestly, at that point they have already known each other for nearly 10 years so odds are he knew what he was doing and how misha would react to it. it would surprise me greatly if these two didn’t work out their mutual frustrations with the day and each other after this panel ended- in the bedroom.)

i genuinely think i have never seen jensen flirt more openly and aggressively with misha, ever, and i have never seen misha in the state he was in during this panel either: tired, a little annoyed about the fact that jensen was going off the deep end and that he was not able to stop him, to the point where he just gives up and says things like ‘when in rome’ etc. let’s get into it. 

the mood is set from the very first second: misha is kinda subdued, and jensen is being a bit of a clown, coaxing misha to join him in the madness, which he does to a certain extent. 

we are off to a great start with not just one [0m15s], but two [0m20s] moments in which i just know in my bones they wanted to hold hands. how do i know? because i have been there my fucking self. wanting to hold hands with your crush when you are drunk and acting silly is a love language okay.

as soon as they sit down, misha tries to make conversation and jensen just starts pushing him and pushing him, [1m11s] saying ‘shut up’ and ‘yeah it’s really stupid and it embarrasses me’, but misha tries to ignore it at first and just marches on through. which is probably why i never see people talk about that little comment. it embarrasses jensen when misha sits like that? why would he need to feel embarrassed by his friend’s actions? kinda weird tbh, sounds like husband behavior to me. i have a feeling that when misha said ‘by which he means it’s an innie’, jensen REALLY had to bite on his tongue not to go all ‘you weren’t complaining this morning’ or something like that. look at his face bro [1m55s]. 

and then jensen opens up his legs like the little tramp (affectionate) that he is and when misha tries to stop him he just TURNS to misha with said open legs like a mad man and goes ‘here’s the thing. pick a leg.’ [2m05s] LIKE? who DOES THAT? that is insane people behavior!!! admittedly i am a cis woman and i don’t have conversations with male friends about their bodily anatomy all that often, but i legit cannot phatom that this is a normal thing to talk about with your platonic buddy. pick a leg for me to rest my dick on, old buddy old pal. NOBODY DOES THAT. it’s not even something that i would consider flirting because even though i am into men, i would not find that arousing? so it’s either an action to provoke annoyance in misha or it’s something they have discussed before or both. because misha immediately understands what he means, starts shaking his head in frustration, and actually turns to jensen as if to say ‘are you fucking kidding me right now? really? you are really doing this?’ followed by a ‘this is making me feel so uncomfortable’ aka one of the phrases they both like to use even though they never mean it. 

then when jensen actually goes up to do his ridiculous mating dance and sits back down again, he automatically sits down with his body turned towards misha. 

quick side note: if anybody understands what the joke was about when they talked about ‘cas has big dolls’ i would love to hear it, because that has never made any sense to me, but it’s probably a me problem lmao. 

when misha goes ‘could you watch your language please’ i think that’s a sign that he is genuinely getting a bit frustrated [4m53s] with jensen even though he is obviously playing it off as a joke. right after he says that, jensen puts his fingers against his mouth, as if to shut himself up. i know that a lot of people don’t wanna read too much into body language but hey, i am writing an analysis here so work with me for a sec: i think that could be a subconscious decision to listen to what misha is telling him to do, which ties into the d/s dynamics i’ve mentioned earlier. 

i know people always go crazy when misha goes ‘what did i tell him’ [5m19s] and jensen whispers in his ear. i personally think misha probably told him about the fact that they booked kansas the band, but it’s still pretty telling that that is how misha would react to the question if something he told him is public knowledge. evidently that goes to show that there is enough that misha tells jensen that cannot be shared with the public, which i thought is interesting. 

now that i am watching it again, the ‘j*red would have just said it’ comment kind of stumbles around in my brain asking me to dissect it. let’s just say that i wouldn’t be surprised if they were both thinking back on the many, many times that j*red put his foot in his mouth and made a suggestive comment about jensen and misha’s relationship. 

god i just cringed [6m14s] watching jensen interact with that first girl who asked a question and he just goes off on her about how twins are cool and misha is shaking his head lord oh lord and that is the minute daniella decides that hey maybe they need even more alcohol lmfaoooo it’s a lot. poor misha i genuinely feel bad for him.

and then he goes ‘real men have twins’ and looks at misha and misha is still not having it so he goes ‘it’s just a shirt’ like girl (gn) pleASE that’s husband behavior, yet again, why else would he feel the need to clarify it. ‘look babe don’t be mad or jealous i don’t mean anything by it, it’s just a shirt’ i hate him. 

i just know misha would have wanted to take the apple juice away from jensen lmao. 

one of the moments [9m35s] that always stands out to me is when they go ‘that’s why we don’t bring steven’ ‘that’s right, that’s why he’s not allowed’ idk how to explain it but the way that just flows out of them so naturally feels very coupley for some reason.

i think we can all agree that jensen’s reaction [12m22s] to misha’s ‘i always wear orange underwear’ story is completely fake, right? because there is no way he didn’t know that, and his reaction was very exaggerated. plus, the little gesture to make misha show his underwear? bitch, please. whipped. there was also exactly zero reason for him to come that close to misha in order to inspect the color of his underwear.

the one thing that i wonder about, though, is why misha didn’t know jensen was wearing the famous underbear briefs? but as i am writing this i realise that even if they slept in the same hotel room, there are obviously a few different possible reasons why misha didn’t know what underwear jensen was wearing that day: either jensen showered and changed in the bathroom, so by the time he faced misha again he was fully dressed, or misha had to leave their hotel room earlier than jensen, or jensen changed while misha showered, etc etc. 

in any case……. jensen dropping trou in the middle of this fucking panel? absolutely batshit insane, 10/10 thank you for your service nesnej. 

this [13m54s] is where shit really starts to hit the fan. jensen is OUT OF CONTROL. the long stares??? the ‘rawr’s??? ‘you didn’t even get the full picture’??? (sidenote i would love to know what misha whispered to him right after).

OKAY so. when the girl mentions j*red and jensen goes all Knowing What’s Up and says ‘oh he has had a rough time today. misha kept us up way too late last night. *glances at misha* rrrrrrr’ listen. the only reason i am not reading too much into this is because i do not believe they had a threesome with j*red but also the way he said it was very sus and my mind can’t help but wonder if they were disgustingly flirty and way too touchy feely in front of j*red whilst drunk and honestly that’s probably the case.

of course this is followed [15m15s] by the insane man saying ‘by the way they go down to here’??? and the potentially whispered ‘i’ll show you later’?????? sir i have a lot of questions. number one: how dare you? 

bless this next person for this question, because she starts her sentence with: ‘people who have been together for a long time…’ i actually already made a post about this once so i implore you all to read that because i still stand by what i said in there.

it is of course followed by them both not being able to think about ANYTHING appropriate to say to the question if there is anything they only do in front of each other that doesn’t involve pants. and then misha goes ‘why don’t i just share a private moment that we had’ and jensen’s first instinct is to say ‘shit’. i mean. i am merely perceiving. 

this is the moment we realise that it has been quite The Day for them, but especially for jensen, because he has been emotional earlier in the day. which, again, could explain his demeanor during the panel. trying to distract himself. notice that he gets up and shakes his legs again and goes for a drink the second misha starts to tell the story: coping mechanisms aka distraction, just like he did at the start of the panel. 

the moment where he goes ‘it’s hitting me now. shit.’ really solidifies this theory for me, that he has been acting like a goofy drunken guy all panel, in order to drown out the emotions he felt that afternoon, but alas. once he started to talk about it, it still all came back to him. 

i will say this though: it kind of warms my heart that he was so touched by the fact that the fandom spawned something good. makes me feel slightly less dumb for forming parasocial relationships with that man. only slightly, but still. 

misha going ‘god he’s so grouchy’ [25m32s]? say it with me, folks: husband behavior. once again misha tries to talk jensen down and jensen listens (sort of). say it with me, folks: d/s behavior. and RIGHT after that jensen walks towards misha with this intense fucking stare in his eyes that makes me feel like i am intruding, and then after he gets another drink (nesnej, why?) he just. gently massages misha’s neck and shoulder before draping his arm around him? and his hand lingers when he goes to grab the keychain? okay. 

insert the famous ‘when in rome’ debacle lmao misha was so done with jensen by then it’s so hilarious. the funny thing is that misha says ‘what i mean is show each other our underwear, nothing weird. you can’t look at me like that, because of what you did’, while the question was ‘what would dean and cas do in rome’ and not ‘what would jensen and misha do in rome’ but clearly, once again, the actors cannot make a distinction between the two. interesting :) it also wouldn’t surprise me if jensen has told him to tone down the dean/cas answers but now that jensen decided to fully flash him on stage misha is like ‘sorry but i am not playing by your rules after what you did’ lmao. of course, jensen’s reaction is to go back to parting his legs for misha, like he is challenging him. i mean. you can’t make this shit up. 

am i the only one who thinks that jensen might be thinking dirty thoughts when misha repeats ‘what would dean and cas do’ [27m50s]? because like. that’s quite a face he is making.

when he says ‘i don’t know how to answer that’ and misha agrees, idk, for some reason i get the feeling that that’s in the sense of ‘i don’t know how to answer that in a way that won’t get our fans’s hopes up because we know what they would want and we know what we would answer but we can’t go there’. 

i really feel like the final straw for daniella was the way that jensen reacted to that last question like he was gonna have another breakdown lmao and that’s why the rest of the cast and crew were pushed onto the stage prematurely. because when you think about it, it’s a pretty rude thing to do when somebody is still answering a question? but okay. 

listen - the last 6 minutes of this panel are so chaotic sdjfhsjh the only thing i can conclude from it is that jensen is hella drunk but we’ve been knew. his mood changes by the fucking second. i love him and his little dance and how he sits down on the stage. i feel like i might be jensen coded when i am drunk. i too get slutty and unpredictable. 

so anyways long story short: jensen was hella drunk and wanted to provoke misha, it worked, they had hot sweaty sex after this panel, and the fact that jensen got drunk enough to entrust misha with taking care of shit during the panel makes me very emotional for some reason, and i just love them a lot. thank you for coming to my ted talk. 

[thedumpsterqueen]

Standards of Performance, Chapter 3: Boundaries and Text Messages

Regular weekly update! Look at me go! This one took me ages to write for absolutely no reason, and then ages to edit because the AO3 text editor kicked my ass. Hopefully the formatting isn’t a dumpster fire, and hopefully you enjoy! Sidenote: you are always welcome to scream about Hotch, nsforwork or not, in my inbox.

Chapter 1, Chapter 2

AO3 Link

Summary:  You’re the BAU’s newest intern, desperate to prove yourself amongst an established team of much more experienced profilers. Agent Hotchner, the seemingly infallible team leader, sets strict expectations for your performance. He commands your respect without even trying, but is there something more to your relationship than a simple desire to impress your stony-faced boss?

Chapter: 3, Boundaries and Text Messages

Chapter Summary: You discover that the unsub isn't what he seems, and overstep some boundaries you probably shouldn't have.

Words: 2291

Rating: Explicit, 18+

Pairings: Hotch x Reader, Hotch x You

Back in Hotch’s hotel room, the three of you were sitting on the ground, surrounded by textbooks and torn-out pages covered in the seemingly mindless scrawls of the suspect. Well, you and Morgan were on the floor; Hotch was at the desk chair. Hotch wasn’t really a sit-on-the-floor type of person.

Morgan groaned and rubbed his temples for the third time in an hour. “It means nothing, man. He researched all this shit so he could commit the crimes in a way that would fuck with us.”

Hotch sighed and nodded in agreement. “It certainly seems that way. That explains the inconsistencies in the profile. However, we can still understand the subject by the signatures he chose.” He pointed to a scribbled note in a textbook section about the psychology surrounding different methods of murder: “Slashing throat? Effective + easy.”

He looked at you. “What can this note tell us about our subject?”

“Um, it doesn’t sound like the cause of death is important to him. Like it’s just something he needs to do. A necessity. Right?” you responded, somewhat unprepared for this sort of pop quiz.

“Exactly. And this tells us more about him. This isn’t about the kill; it’s about what he does beforehand. It’s about the rape,” Hotch said. “Don’t be so humble. You know more than you think you do.”

Your face felt hot, and you looked at the floor - an increasingly regular occurrence around him.

Morgan spoke up, still visibly exasperated. “If he spent so much time trying to throw us off, why did he pick victims that were so easy to tie to him?”

“He’s an idiot?” you offered before you could stop yourself.

Really professional. Holy shit, please shut up.

The faintest trace of a smirk graced Hotch’s face. “You’re not entirely wrong. He isn’t particularly intelligent, based on the information we’ve gathered so far. Not nearly as complex as we initially assumed.”

“Yeah, well, either way, he’s a nut. And Gracia can’t find anything about where he might be, and I’m starving,” Morgan said, standing up. “I’m gonna pick something up. You guys want anything?”

“Get me whatever looks good,” replied Hotch, focused on whatever written ramblings he was currently dissecting.

“You?” Morgan asked you.

“Just get me whatever you get him,” you said. “Thanks, Morgan.”

Morgan nodded and grabbed his jacket. “Be back soon.”

He closed the door, leaving you alone with your boss that you definitely didn’t have an erotic dream about the night before. You tried to focus on the textbook, but the words swam. After a few minutes, you huffed and set the book down.

“Shouldn’t we be looking for him right now instead of reading his weird psychobabble?”

Hotch looked up from his work with a raised eyebrow.

You continued, “I just mean, isn’t it more important to stop him from killing again? We already know he did it based on the stuff he wrote in the books, we don’t need to fully understand his motivations to confirm that.”

“Yes,” Hotch said, “but these offenders rarely cease their behavior out of nowhere. His appetite is alarming; he took three victims at once. We don’t know if those were even his first assaults or kills. Given that Garcia couldn’t locate any family or friends, we have no idea where he might be, so our time is best spent learning how to predict his actions and respond if someone else goes missing.”

He was correct, of course, but it just didn’t feel right - like you were sitting and waiting for something terrible to happen before you could do anything. Hotch must have sensed your frustration, because he leaned forward towards you, elbows resting on his knees, and continued in a slightly softer tone, “I know you feel helpless. We all do in situations like these. But trust me, we’re accomplishing more here than we would be trying to canvas the entire city.”

“I know,” you mumbled. “You’re right. It’s just, seeing the photos of those girls, knowing the type of person that’s out there, it’s hard to convince myself I’m doing enough just sitting here.”

“You’re not just sitting here, and you know that,” Hotch said, sternly. “You’re doing your job. People will die with or without us; our job isn’t to save them. It’s to catch the people that kill them.”

“But how do you deal with it?” you asked, growing more bold than you probably should be. You weren’t just asking about this case anymore, and you weren’t sure whether or not you wanted him to understand that. You wanted to ask him how he did it - how he woke up every morning alone, how he suffered an unimaginable loss at the hands of some of the purest evil society could produce and went back to the job that showed him more of that evil every day.

Judging by the hard set of his jaw, he knew exactly what you were getting at.

“I do it because I have to,” he said. Every word sounded measured, like he was explaining something he had dozens of times before.

“You don’t,” you whispered, but you knew you were wrong, at least to him. You knew he felt it was his responsibility to shoulder the burden so other families didn’t have to experience what he did. You had a background in psychology, and this was pretty low hanging fruit. A therapist would have a field day with him, but you weren’t a therapist, and you certainly weren’t in any position to tell your boss, a leader with decades of experience in the field, that he shouldn’t be taking all of this on.

He evidently didn’t find your comment worthy of a response, as he went back to picking through the pile of evidence. You’d hit a nerve though - his posture was more rigid, his almost-permanent scowl even more pronounced. The tension built with every second of silence, and you suddenly wished you could go back and erase the conversation.

Thinking better of trying to repair the damage you’d done, you kept the subsequent conversation focused on the profile. By the time Morgan got back, you had a fairly good idea of the suspect’s psychology, and after a quick break for fried rice and a video chat with the team, JJ set up to deliver a press conference from the police precinct in Vegas. Hotch switched on the news on the hotel TV, and you sat back to watch.

“The man currently suspected of committing the triple homicide that left bodies here in Vegas, in Phoenix, and in San Diego is an obsessive sexual predator,” JJ said to a waiting crowd of reporters and police. “He displays characteristics of a stalker, and women who interact with him may describe him as creepy or off-putting. Though murder is not his ultimate goal - in fact, he may not be completely comfortable with the act - he views it as a necessary step to dispose of his victims post-assault.”

“Do we usually do this?” you whispered to Morgan, “Release the whole profile publicly?”

“Nah, but with this guy, we want him to know we’re onto him,” he said back, trying not to disturb Hotch, who was watching JJ’s address intently. “He put so much effort into throwing us off, we gotta let him know we see through his bullshit. It’s the only play we got right now, considering we got no idea where he is.”

You turned back to the screen, where JJ had moved on to talking about the suspect. “His name is Ellory Matthews,” she said, holding up his ID photo. “He’s a 24 year old white male, about 5’9” and 200 pounds. We have strong reason to suspect he is involved and currently trying to evade the police. He is considered armed and extremely dangerous, so if you see him, please do not approach and call 911 immediately.”

Hotch, apparently having heard enough, stood up and turned off the TV. “Hopefully someone has seen him and can tell us where he is. If not, this should be enough to scare him into making a mistake.”

You tried not to think about the fact that a mistake still probably involved someone being hurt or killed.

“Get some rest. I’ll clean up here. Morgan, before you head to bed, call Garcia again and see if she’s found anything that can point us to where he might be.”

“Got it, I’ll let you know. Night, Hotch,” Morgan said.

You echoed Morgan and headed back to your room.

____________

After getting ready and tucking into bed, you found yourself completely unable to fall asleep. The conversation with Hotch kept replaying in your head - how resentful he’d looked when you asked him how he does his job, knowing that you were asking about it in relation to his family members’ deaths. He was a reasonable man, and you knew you hadn’t done anything wrong on the surface, but you shouldn't have pushed it, especially since the events you were referencing had been relayed to you by JJ in private. You weren’t even sure he wanted you to know about what happened to his wife and kid.

Shit, I might have really fucked up.

You rolled over and yanked your phone off the charger, and before you had time to convince yourself it was a bad idea, you sent him a message.

Me: Hey, sorry to bother you, I know it’s late. I just wanted to apologize if I offended you during our conversation earlier. You’re an incredible agent and boss and I didn’t mean to imply you shouldn’t be in the field for any reason.

You scrolled through Instagram mindlessly, waiting for his response, but he texted back almost immediately. Knowing him, he hadn’t even made an attempt to go to bed; he was probably still up reviewing the case.

Agent Hotchner: I understand. No need to apologize. I knew you’d hear about what happened sooner or later, and it’s natural to question my judgement, considering. I hope my actions in the field haven’t done anything to lend credence to that concern.

A weight lifted from your shoulders at his response, knowing he wasn’t angry with you.

Me: No, not at all, Sir. You and the team have been incredible and I’ve already learned so much. If I ask a question, please know it’s for my own learning rather than questioning your decisions!

Agent Hotchner: I’m glad to hear that. Please always feel free to ask questions.

Me: Thank you so much! Will do!

Satisfied with conversation, you set the phone back on the nightstand and rolled over. A few moments later, though, it buzzed again, and you looked at the screen.

Agent Hotchner: “Sir” is a little formal for text messages though, isn’t it?

You blinked, struggling to process the tone of the message. Was Aaron Hotchner making a joke? You messaged him back hesitantly.

Me: Can never be too formal! :) Is there something you’d prefer?

Agent Hotchner: Oh, I’m sure you can figure something out.

Your eyes widened at that, and you sat up in bed, staring at your screen. If you thought he was messing with you before, this was more; this was almost… flirting.

Ok, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, you thought, trying to calm your embarrassingly high heart rate. He’s older. Way older. He probably doesn’t text that much, and he probably doesn’t realize how that came off.

Me: I’ll let you know when I do.

Agent Hotchner: Please do. Sleep well.

You placed the phone back on the bedside table, almost shaking with adrenaline. What was wrong with you lately? First you have a sex dream about your boss (who’s old enough to be your parent, you might add), and now you’re freaking out because he texted you something that could possibly be, in some interpretations, construed as flirting.

Hotch was attractive, of course. You’d have to be an idiot not to admit that. He was handsome in a way you didn’t see often - not the obvious, in-your-face stunning like Morgan was, or even the adorable, put-together look that Reid gave off. Hotch was old-school handsome, like he should be in a black and white movie smoking a cigarette while his doting wife made him dinner.

Or something. It’s not like you’d thought about this before.

But even if he was handsome to such a degree that seeing him with two buttons on his dress shirt undone nearly gave you a heart attack, leaning into this fantasy you were unconsciously creating where your relationship was anything more than boss and intern had the potential to destroy your career. Hotch could read people like a book, and if you were unable to conduct yourself normally and effectively at work for any reason, your internship and aspirations would be tossed out to the street.

Time to stop being an idiot.

Sometime during your mental dissection of the text conversation and its implications, you must have fallen asleep. You were awoken to a still-dark room and someone gently squeezing your shoulder, saying your name.

“Wha- oh, it’s you. I’m so sorry, did I miss something? What’s going on?” you asked, still not fully conscious.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Hotch replied, standing over you. You were suddenly thankful for the dark room and the blanket that were covering your lack of pants. “I tried calling you and knocking, but you didn’t respond. I figured you’d forgotten to turn your ringer on.”

“Shit, yeah, I did. I’m so sorry,” you said, sitting up. “What did you need?”

“It’s Ellory Matthews. Police caught him trying to kidnap another girl. He’s in custody.”

[dukeofonions]

Deceit’s Somewhat Acceptance Arc (And Why It Feels Off)

So I was gonna do the video game post first, but then I remembered I’d started this one before I left for the weekend and decided to finish it. As a result, it’s kinda messy and my thoughts are all over the place, I had to delete and rewrite is several times, but I think I managed to get my overall thoughts there. 

As always, this is just my opinion. You are free to agree, disagree, or feel completely indifferent towards a random person who spends their free time dissecting fictional characters. 

We all good? Let’s go then. 

I won’t lie, Deceit was the best part of this video. I didn’t think he’d be included as much as he was. Originally, I thought he’d be content to lurk in the shadows and let Thomas deal with the repercussions of not heeding him in the first place and leave him to sort through the mess himself without his help. Possibly having a cameo in the end, foreshadowing some major event that’s soon to take place, but I was completely wrong and he got the best freaking entrance and completely owned the episode. 

It was great, seeing him take on his role of self preservation and defend Thomas, who was being harmed unknowingly by Patton with how far he was taking things. He encouraged Thomas to start taking better care of his mental health, was given a seat at the table, and even showed they could trust him by revealing his name: Janus

It was wonderful, beautiful, and I have a lot of issues with this. 

Let me explain, on its own, the whole scene building up to Deceit revealing his name, and the following aftermath, is perfect. 

What feels off to me is Janus himself, he feels like a completely different character compared to the Deceit we met in Can Lying Be Good? and saw in action during Selfishness vs Selflessness 

To start, let’s briefly go over Deceit’s character throughout the first 5 episodes we see him in before we get to POF. 

In his debut, Can Lying Be Good? He spends a majority of the episode disguised as Patton. Pushing Thomas to lie to his friend in order to spare their feelings and to avoid the possibility of Thomas being hurt. He’s shown to enjoy the distress the others are going through as the situation becomes more and more uncomfortable, and even gets close to being aggressive when Thomas decides he needs to be honest in this situation. Once it becomes clear Thomas won’t listen to him as Patton, he drops his act and reveals himself. 

Immediately, we are given the impression that this is not someone we can trust. From the music, to Deceit’s entire demeanor, even the Sides’ reactions to him are enough to enforce that idea, as well as Deceit’s reactions to them. 

With Logan, he immediately silences him, growling almost as if he’s annoyed and has had to do this before. He doesn’t really pay Logan any mind after his reveal and ignores him for the most part and Logan is more than eager to expose him for what he is. 

Roman states that he “Hates this guy and his creepy snake face” while adding that he’s “Very kind” which Deceit responds to by giving him a false compliment. Showing right away that this has also happened before with these two (Logan is about to comment on the exchange but decides not to bother)

Virgil clearly has some deep rooted animosity towards Deceit. With the glare he shoots him and the two immediately throw insults at each other which comes back to play in almost all of their interactions. 

We don’t really get much in terms of what Deceit’s character is really like with this first episode. We know he can be a threatening presence, but also has a bit of a goofier, dorky side to him as well. At this point, we’re not sure what his goals are or what his relationships with the other Sides are like (It’s obvious they all don’t like him) but for a while, this was all we got. 

His next appearance was a brief cameo in Logic vs Passoin where he showed up after Logan exclaimed “I won’t have you lying to yourself!” Where he gave an evil chuckle, flipped Thomas off, then sank out without a word. This still didn’t give us much in regards to Deceit’s character, other than enforcing the fact that he didn’t like Thomas and showing that he had a bit of a mischievous side as well. It did, however, show that Thomas was easily distressed by him and wasn’t entirely on board with having Deceit for a Side yet.

 After that, he disappears for 2 episodes before showing up during the end card of Embarrassing Phases, which is one of my favorite scenes in the series, and one that now causes a bit of problems which I will get back to later. Just note that this scene once again reinforces these things about Deceit: He is a threat, he can’t be trusted, he still has a bit of a goofy side, and on top of that his rivalry with Virgil is expanded upon and the idea that these two have a history is put up front and center. 

Then finally, we get our first official episode that takes all we’ve learned about Deceit and amplifies them in Selfishness vs Selflessness. What we get is a character that can be cool and charismatic, but can also be silly. It’s still unclear what his overall goal is, and he delights in being proved right and winning against the others. 

An interesting thing to note here is that all of the interactions Deceit has with the other Sides in CLBG Come back into play here. 

He ignores Logan and keeps his input limited, he uses flattery on Roman to sway him to his side, and of course him and Virgil still have their rivalry, revealing more and more just how much Virgil hates Deceit. We also finally get to see his relationship with Patton, and see that he seems to hold almost the same amount of animosity towards Deceit as Virgil does. Thomas himself isn’t as frightened by him anymore, and is willing to hear him out, but he still doesn’t trust him. 

Throughout the “trial” Deceit openly mocks the others, discredits them, and when he “wins” he rubs that victory in Thomas’ face and is shown laughing and celebrating while the others are at the lowest they’ve been. Things then take a turn when Roman decides to sentence Thomas to go to the wedding and give up the callback, which clearly distresses Deceit to the point where he nearly has a breakdown due to the others not being able to comprehend what he’s trying to say. Which is basically, selfishness isn’t always a bad thing, which he articulates a lot better in POF, but we’ll get back to that. 

He leaves the episode shortly after Logan shows up, but not before delivering this rather ominous line: “It’s clear you all don’t want to listen to reason (while the embodiment of Thomas’ logic and reasoning is standing right next to him) but hear this: I’ll always be a part of you. I’m not going anywhere, and there are smarter ways to get people to do what you want anyway.” 

Does that sound like a threat to anyone else? Or is it just me? Keep in mind at this point, everyone is still very much against Deceit, and he clearly is about to change tactics when it comes to dealing with them and getting what he wants. Another important thing to note is that this is the last time Thomas sees and deals with Deceit directly before we get to POF.

I should probably bring up Dealing With Intrusive Thoughts because while Deceit isn’t in the episode, he is mentioned a couple of times by Remus, who implies that it was Deceit himself who’s responsible for sending Remus out to antagonize the others. While this can’t be confirmed, Remus claims that Deceit said “You’re wanting to be more honest and be direct dealing with your issues, no longer will you deceive yourself about the ugliness within you.” 

(Admit it, you all sang that and added the little “Neat!” at the end. If you don’t, I’ll know you’re lying.) 

This shows that Deceit is switching things up and making good on his “promise” that he made at the end of SVS by forcing Thomas to accept yet another part of him that he doesn’t like. One that, by comparison, is much worse than anything Deceit could bring to the table. 

His next actual appearance is another cameo in Are There Healthy Distractions? where all he does is take his hat back from Roman and berates him for it. The only significant thing to happen here is Virgil’s reaction to seeing him, which again, I’ll get back to in a moment. 

This was the last time we saw Deceit for awhile, we were then subjected to a long drought between episodes as people waited to see the aftermath of the wedding that was the main conflict of SVS. Keep in mind again that so far, Deceit has remained relatively the same mysterious, slightly villainous character that we’ve seen throughout his 5 appearances thus far in the series. 

So you can see why some people would be shocked when he suddenly does a complete 180 and is going about promoting mental health while acting silly around Thomas and befriending Patton, the Side he went head to head with during his last main appearance, and is now being offered a seat at the table while showing genuine concern for Thomas and aiming to protect him, which goes to show that he cared all along.

Right?

Uh, yeah, I’m not buying it. 

Well let me clarify, do I think Janus is evil? No. Is it impossible for him to actually care about Thomas? Of course not. 

And do I think it’s possible for him to change from his villainous persona to a more friendly one? Absolutely. 

The problem here is that it doesn’t feel earned. We’ve only had one full episode with Janus before this, and even in the brief appearances we got his character remained consistent throughout them all. It’s almost like there’s a piece of this puzzle missing, and I have a theory as to where it is. 

In short, Janus has not been fully accepted yet. Thomas trusts him, and even Patton does now, but does Roman? Don’t make me laugh. 

Logan? He was once again removed from the discussion by Janus, which is a running theme with these two, so I doubt he’d be quick to accept someone who continuously silences him unless it benefits him. 

And the biggest factor of them all, Virgil. 

He hates Janus, every interaction these two have had is filled with insults, glares, and Virgil becoming more aggressive than he’s ever been towards anyone in the series. 

Just look at him in ATHD, when Janus shows up hardly anyone pays him any mind. Heck, Remus has continuously popped up throughout the episode and no one has batted an eye, not even Virgil. But as soon as Janus shows up he goes feral, hissing at him while Janus pays him no mind. 

What is going on here? 

It’s glaringly obvious that something has happened between these two, something that won’t be easily swept under the rug when it comes up. 

For one thing, just compare Virgil’s relationship with Janus to his relationship with Remus. We see at the beginning of DWIT that, of course, Virgil is hostile towards Remus and hates him, while being distressed by him. The two know each other and seem to have a bit of a history of their own. 

What’s the difference between Remus and Janus? 

Well, Virgil gets over his fear of Remus in just one episode. By the time it ends, he isn’t bothered by Remus anymore and tells him as such. Remus even seems to be kind of fond of him as well. And when Remus appears again in ATHD, Virgil doesn’t acknowledge his presence at all. Yet when Janus shows up just to retrieve his hat from Roman, he goes into fight mode and probably would have attacked if he’d stayed for even a minute longer. 

And if you need further proof, look no further than the end card of Embarrassing Phases and Janus’ parting words to Virgil: “Just be sure to keep up that personal growth Virgil. Who knows? Maybe soon you could be rid of us all.” 

Again, does that not sound like a threat to anyone else? And why would he say that to Virgil? Is he implying that Virgil is trying to escape from them? Actually get rid of them? There’s so much that this could mean in regards to Janus’ character and what his motivations are, but then POF comes around and suddenly this doesn’t line up with his character at all. 

Don’t tell me you could look at Janus at the end of this episode and say that this is the same guy. He’s gone from leaving an episode with a threat: “You’ve seen the last of me” “You could be rid of us all” “There are smarter ways to get people to do what you want anyway” 

To this: “Take some time for yourself, Thomas.” 

As well as rejoicing in being told he was right and advising Thomas to stop overthinking everything since, as we’ve now seen, it does not help him in the slightest. 

So… What are we missing? What the heck is going on? 

Well, I said it before and I’ll say it again: Janus hasn’t been fully accepted yet. 

Really, only one Side out of the four main Sides has accepted Janus. This Side just happens to be Patton, Thomas’ morality, and the one thing that stood in the way of Janus getting his voice heard. Because as long as Thomas viewed lying as wrong, he’d never listen to him. 

Now that he’s proven that isn’t the case, and that he can help, Patton (and therefore Thomas) no longer sees him as evil. 

But again, Roman, Logan, and Virgil have yet to do so. We know how Roman and Virgil feel about Janus, but we have yet to get Logan’s clear view on him since every time Janus has shown up, he’s been left out of the conversation. Though it’s safe to assume he’d be somewhat bitter about that. 

The main thing is that something has been set up between Virgil and Janus. Something happened to make them enemies and that can’t be ignored, and I believe this will be addressed soon. 

Because if it isn’t, and Janus is accepted immediately by Virgil, then all this would just be explained through bad writing. Which, again, I don’t believe the team is incompetent by any means. However, I do think that this all happened way too fast. 

Let’s look at Virgil for a moment, we got plenty of time to know him throughout season one. We got to see him in more of a villain role, and saw him gradually become closer with the group. We saw hints of him wanting to get along with the others and be a part of them, but ultimately, decided for himself that he was doing more harm than good and so, ducked out. 

We had 12 episodes to get to know Virgil before Accepting Anxiety came out. 12 episodes as opposed to Janus’ 5, two of which were nothing more than brief cameos and one his introduction where he was only truly himself for the ending. 

Really, Janus only had 3 episodes where it was relevant to the plot, and only 1 of those was a full episode, which was immediately followed by him being accepted and acting more like a good guy who just has a bit of a chaotic streak in him as opposed to the mysterious, charismatic Side who works in the background. 

Now, the way I see, there are two ways to justify this sudden change. The first is what I said before, that Janus hasn’t been fully accepted yet and needs to be accepted by Roman, Virgil, and Logan first before this can be achieved. 

And the other thing, which I hate to consider as a possibility, would be that Janus is putting on an act. 

Think about it, Janus realized at the end of SVS that his methods were not working. So he changes his approach, ditching the villain and becoming a hero. He literally appears at the end during a boss battle and puts himself into the role of a protector, defending Thomas from Patton’s harmful behavior. He acts more silly, loosening up, showing genuine care for Thomas. 

Then the biggest red flag, his name reveal. 

As I watched the scene I couldn’t help but find it oddly reminiscent of Virgil’s own name reveal. From the build up, to the delivery, it all felt strangely familiar, almost as if it’d been rehearsed. Manufactured to get the exact reaction from the others (in this case Thomas and Patton) that he wanted. 

Virgil revealing his name was a sign that he trusted the others, and I believe Janus knew this and thus, used it to his advantage. 

And guess what? It worked like a charm. Thomas and Patton immediately began trusting him, Patton even went to him for advice after Roman left. Could you see Patton doing that at the end of SVS? I certainly couldn’t. 

Now I’m not saying this is actually what happened. For all I know, Janus was being completely sincere when he shared his name, and it really was a personal moment. The only reason I have such a hard time accepting it as genuine is because, as I keep saying, none of it matches up with how Janus was before POF. 

Until this point, his character has been consistent and stayed pretty much the same, but now he’s completely changed. And I know it’s normal for characters to grow and change as a story progresses, but again, it just happened way too fast for this character in particular. 

This isn’t helped by the fandom’s complete 180 in regards to Janus. Before this episode, it was still pretty common for him to be seen in a mostly negative light. People outright hated this character, and attacked people who liked him. Then Remus came and wasn’t shown nearly as much hate or negativity as Janus was. Now all of a sudden Janus is a “Good uwu boi” and everyone loves him. I haven’t seen one person doubt Janus’ change of heart. Which is surprising because given the fandom’s treatment of him in the past, I’m surprised this hasn’t been more common. 

But then I remembered that another Side is currently being thrown into a negative light, which is Roman. He’s been thrown under the bus after his recent actions at the end of POF, all while Janus is now being held up on a golden pedestal. 

Honestly, I’m debating ending this post right here because this next part delves way too much into conspiracy territory, but since this would be kind of an awkward ending I’ll go ahead and just throw the idea out there anyway. 

So, it’s been established that the Sides are aware that what they’re doing is being viewed by an audience. Roman, Logan, and Patton have all addressed the audience directly before. Virgil has given direct glances into the camera, and of course Thomas greets the audience in every episode and closes each one out with a message at the end of every one. 

In Crofters: The Musical Roman outright addresses the fact that Logan has become more popular than him. Implying that somehow, he has access to that information. So if Roman does, then why wouldn’t Janus?

Why wouldn’t Janus be aware of Roman’s insecurities? Why wouldn’t he use this to his advantage and spend the entirety of SVS boosting his ego since he knew that’s what he wanted? 

What if Janus, being aware of the audience and how they view the Sides, knew that all he needed for his plan to succeed was not only to convince Thomas that he could be trusted, but the audience. He knows that they don’t like him, so what does he do? He puts himself into a much more positive light, while Roman is put into a position where he’s made out to be the bad guy?

And if this was the case, then it worked. A majority of the fandom now loves Janus while Roman is being left behind. He’s the perfect scapegoat, a distraction from the real plans Janus has in store. 

But that idea is so far out there and paints Janus as more of an actual villain when really, I don’t think he is at all. 

What’s most likely is that we’re going to learn what happened between him and Virgil, and then watch as Thomas and the others rethink their decision to trust him. 

I don’t think Janus is evil, this series is constantly pushing the message that everything isn’t all black and white. Janus, like everyone else, just wants what’s best for Thomas but has a different way of achieving that goal. 

My hope is that the writers are aware of this and have a plan for Janus’ character to develop more. Because if that isn’t the case and Janus remains a “good guy” from here on out then all of Janus’ previous appearances would be rendered meaningless. 

He’d might as well be a completely different character at that point, because the Deceit that I (and many others) became invested in and loved since his first appearance would be gone. Replaced with a softer, less complex, less engaging “uwu soft boi” that now seems to be the fandom favorite. 

Which makes me curious, if Janus is revealed to be lying to some degree, and was tricking Patton and Thomas, would everyone go back to hating him again? Would they give him a chance to explain himself and grow, or would they go right back to seeing him as nothing more than the evil villain they believed they were introduced to back in CLBG

Okay, that’s pretty much all I’ve got on this topic. It’s kinda messy by my standards and I’m sure I repeated myself a lot. So you are more than welcome to critique my points and debate them with your own. Just to clarify, I still love Janus. And I stand by the fact that he was the best part of this new episode. I just hope that this isn’t all the development he gets and that he continues to have his ups and downs. 

And come on, how could they possibly pass up the opportunity to do the “Liar revealed” trope with the literal embodiment of Deceit? 

[ohayohimawari]

On Tumblr-ing

I used the most recent Self-promotion Sunday to experiment with sharing my works on Tumblr. As everyone knows, this site is difficult to get a handle on.

Is it worth it to play nice with this site, so my posts show up in tags?

That’s the question that I wanted the answer to and why I chose to fill my queue with all of my original works for one day but posted them in a way that I hadn’t before. I’m not an expert on Tumblr, but I’ll share what I’ve learned from it. However, my observations aren’t going to be helpful to all.

The situation: I create fanfics and podfics. I don’t typically create for popular ships or tropes. I fall in the category of content creators that are no longer new but aren’t battle-hardened fandom veterans.

If any/all of the above applies to you, and you’ve experienced frustration with having your work ‘seen’ on Tumblr, and you’d rather read about someone else’s experiment with this site than do one yourself, keep reading.

First, realistically consider what content you share and how it appears to someone scrolling through the site. For example: sharing fanfic and sharing fanart on Tumblr are two totally different beasts. I cannot overstate the importance of this fact. Be fair to yourself and don’t compare your stats as a writer to those of an artist.

Another thing to remember about sharing your written works to Tumblr is that you’re asking someone to click a link to view/read it. It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it is.

Imagine a member of your target audience laying in bed in the morning, waiting for the need for breakfast or coffee to be great enough to coax them out from under their blankets. In the meantime, they’re scrolling down their dash (and what appears is dependent upon how they filter posts, but that’s a whole other box I’m not going to unpack here). They’re laughing at memes, getting riled up over politics or social issues, gasping at celebrity controversies, wishing for the days before Tumblr purged the naughty stuff, cute baby animal videos, etc. It’s so easy for a text post to get lost in all of that. It’s too easy for a text post to be overlooked in all of that.

It’s important for posts to show up in tags because sometimes, people don’t just scroll through their dash. Sometimes, they search tags for something specific, and when they find it, they’re more inclined to click on that link to check out your stuff.

I’m going to reel it back to myself and explain why I played with posts and tags. I run a fandom server, and I see folks (mostly new to fandom) who feel bad because their works don’t get many notes on Tumblr. During my first year in fandom, I felt invisible, and it was awful. I want to give advice and encouragement, so I experimented with making my posts visible in tags to see what kind of difference it would make, or not make. I’m going to be the first to say that if I created for popular ships, or popular tropes, or a hot and thriving new fandom, or were a BNF, I probably would’ve seen a huge difference. While what I experienced wasn’t an immediate tidal wave of new admirers of my work, I see how this could increase my readers and listeners over time.

Tumblr, in its infinite wisdom (???), hides posts that have linked works within them. So how do you share a link to your work and have it show up in tags? AO3 has a handy ‘share’ button at the top of your individual works (if you don’t see the magical ‘share’ button, check your account settings to confirm that it’s on). You can share your work directly to Tumblr or Twitter (an even worse site for promoting fanfic) and add bells and whistles to the post, and customize it with what tags you think should be assigned to it.

When it comes to tagging, start with the biggest first, and put the most important in the first five tags. For example: Fandom, pairing, characters, and genre tags should be listed first. Do create a unique tag for yourself to tack on at the end (more on this later). Don’t add tags for popular characters, genres, pairings, etc., that don’t appear in your work.

For the purpose of my experiment, I didn’t add any snazzy images or gifs to my posts. I simply shared the post from AO3 and added tags. I shared all different pairings, genres, and content of various ratings. They appeared utterly unremarkable to me. They were boring, and exactly like something that I, myself, would scroll past. However, I did it that way because the more you add to a post, the more you risk using a word or image that Tumblr doesn’t like. And if it doesn’t like it, your post simply won’t show up in tags. Then you’re left with dissecting your post and editing editing editing until you figure out which word or image was the offender.

At the end of the experiment, I had to conclude that I receive more immediate activity on posts that I draft on this site that include links to my work, even though those don’t show up in tags. I’m going to assume that’s because those original posts are more attractive. However, most of the slight interaction that I saw with my experimental posts were from new-to-me Tumblr users, and I earned some new followers from it. The fact that those posts now reside in tags means that I can expect more of that in small doses, in the future.

Will this change how I post new works going forward? Yes. Typically, I draft an original post linking my work, then reblog it for my followers in different time zones. Now, I’ll share that same work from AO3 in a new original post instead of reblogging the initial one. But I’m going to try to make them look more interesting, and hope they still show up in tags.

I learned from this, but I want to stress something to content creators who feel invisible and get down on themselves for it. There are a million reasons why posts don’t get traction on Tumblr, and they are not because people don’t like your work. Basing your work’s worth on statistics is incredibly unfair to yourself. However difficult that is to ignore, don’t do that to yourselves.

I once shared something that I was proud of writing. Then, I cried for three days straight and ate my entire ice cream supply because it received fewer hits than I have fingers, never mind kudos or comments. Then I realized that I shared it on the same night as the GoT finale. Facepalm.

The joy that comes from creating something new is (or should be) the reason you do it. Congratulate yourself on being so incredibly clever to come up with your work and brave enough to share it on the wilds of the internet where it will remain for someone to find and love. And when your gem of a work is found, make sure you’ve added a unique tag that is all your own to it, so that others can search that tag and binge on all the beauty you’ve made.

[craftypeaceturtle]

Sanders Sides- Am I Original? Analysis

General:

This one I’m kinda a bit lost on if I’m honest. I don’t have many points which is weird because it feels like this should be one of those videos where I have a lot to say. But I kinda don’t... Anyway! Here’s what I’ve got!

ANOTHER NAME REVEAL! Welcome Roman/Creativity! Roman’s name reveal I feel is both very suitable for him but also weirdly uncharacteristic. It makes sense for Roman to reveal his name so to have a more serious conversation with Thomas. Roman had yet to have his proper one on one moment with Thomas and so it makes sense for him to want to take this seriously and honestly. But... I also feel like a character as egocentric and gloaty as Creativity would make a very big deal out of his name. But it’s just... “My name’s Roman... right moving on”. 

The idea of giving a side complete control is established in this video but I feel like this later gets confusing when partnered with the idea that the sides have rooms. Spoiler Alert for oncoming videos I guess? Giving Creativity complete control is when you’re just sitting there day dreaming- that makes complete sense. But that then raises the question of what would it look like if the other sides had full control? Would giving Logan full control be like going into that intense sense of concentration you get when you write in an exam? Would giving Anxiety complete control just be a panic attack? Or maybe just a fight or flight response? Interesting discussion but I feel like giving complete control seems really similar to focusing on an aspect so to gain access to their rooms. 

No real point to be made here, but I do think it’s weird that Thomas just doesn’t trust his Creativity. Excuse my nightmare quality pictures:

Like that’s a good point. He has a career focused on creativity but doesn’t trust his own ideas? It’s just such a weird point of contention. I can’t think of why Thomas would feel this way. (SPOILER ALERT for future episodes) Like maybe you could justify this as the split between the creativities? Like Thomas is worried of having a ‘bad creativity’ and so just avoids creativity all together? On this subject though, do you think giving full creative control to Roman here then makes Remus powerless for the next few minutes? 

Characters:

Logan- I found it funny how he rejects to the idea of being involved when Thomas is in day dream mode.

 I feel like that shows how proud and important Logan views his role as logic. He sticks to his job and intends to do it well and therefore shouldn’t be involved in anything else! Also him being good at rapping I feel kinda works for the idea of logic in general. Like rapping has a lot to do with quick thinking and also keeping track of the beat and is just weirdly technical. So it makes sense for Logic to then appreciate and be good at it! 

Roman/Creativity- I’m just going to say this now. I don’t really like early on Roman- he’s too egocentric and we don’t see why he thinks so highly of himself so he comes across as just obnoxious and lying. Like Logan can be pretty egocentric but we see how important his role is so it feels less gloaty and almost justified. But this could be resolved later as he’s only recently been given some semblance of a character arc, so maybe this will change or at least we’ll see why Roman is justified to seeing himself like this. Right now his emphasis on being the grand and amazing Creativity just feels like gloating- which is weird because none of the others really react to it? So who’s he gloating to? A certain other side of Creativity? A “hey look, I must be important because I’m here and you’re down there”? But, in all seriousness, as much as I like linking Remus to this, it feels a bit cheap. At this point in the series, he doesn’t exist and even his idea doesn't exist in the series so to say he was foreshadowed that EARLY on feels... iffy at best. They’ re fun points to make but don’t think that I seriously absolutely believe these points. 

Morality- Quite a small role in this video. He’s more just an adorable side kick intended to make the audience laugh in this episode. Nothing wrong with that! Obviously to have a 10 minute episode focused equally on all four characters would just be a headache. 

Anxiety- Not much new to say here either, still taunting and shooting down ideas while suggesting sleep. Nothing really worth dissecting here! BUT! There’s a point to be made here that will then link to the theory section! This moment here when Logan calls Anxiety a defeatist:

This won’t really make sense by itself but partnered with the next episode, this moment gains significance. In the next episode, Anxiety remembers and brings up the fact that Logan called him a defeatist. Added also is the fact that we see Anxiety’s response to that insult which hasn’t been done before so the fact that Anxiety is insulted clearly matters! Thomas in editing is clearly shouting “LOOK HERE!” So that means that, no matter how light hearted the comment was, these sort of labels truly get to Anxiety. The fact that this one was so just thrown out there, no bite behind it, shows off how insecure or fragile Anxiety truly is. 

Theories

1) So to further the point above, this makes the other’s treatment of Anxiety just plain really mean and abusive. Every off handed insult thrown his way by Roman must’ve stuck just as much. In my opinion, this is a weird realisation as it does make the other’s treatment seem really unjustified and harsh. Like, there’s now so many moments that I wrote off as funny bickering that are now implied to be scarring. But there is a point to be made as to how harsh this was. Maybe I’m just wanting to see the best from these characters, but I think that if any of them knew how much these comments meant to Anxiety then I believe they would stop. Throughout even just this episode, Anxiety and Logan have had their little moments of bonding and sighing at the others- so to suggest that Logan then wanted to truly hurt Anxiety in this moment feels off. It wasn’t Logan’s intention to hurt him. Morality doesn’t really make these sort of comments but does come across as patronising towards him and again I’m not sure how either character feels about that. I have no idea if Morality is juts dismissing him or genuinely believes the meaningless compliments he throws his way. Roman’s treatment of Anxiety can’t be argued this sort of way. While I don’t think Roman is harsh enough to truly want to hurt Anxiety, he’s not an idiot. He can't expect bluntly saying he hates him to go by fine. He must know he’s hurting Anxiety to a point. An argument could be presented though that he’s still caught up in the idea of being a prince and Anxiety is nothing more than the villain (last episode showed that as well). We saw that in the Valentines episode where he thinks slaying a beast is a reasonable flirting tactic- it’s clear that Roman isn’t very realistic or aware of himself. But, I feel iffy on that too. Roman has never been presented as an idiot so to suddenly state that as fact feels weird. I get that you could argue that if Thomas wanted these moments of bickering to be serious then the editing would draw attention to it, just like how he did with the defeatist moment here. He didn’t draw attention to it in the past so surely this is just a moment where Anxiety WANTS to be accepted and so this hits much harder? Maybe it’s the fact that it’s Logan who insulted him- someone who doesn’t really let himself get that emotional to insult people? But then again, he’s also insulted Roman before so! My take on this is that it’s a weird moment that redefines a lot of the series’ interactions. Due to how HUGE this changes the context of Anxiety and even the series, that kinda makes me believe that Thomas didn’t intend to suggest the others were abusive. I think he was trying to show that Anxiety is more emotionally involved with the sides and to help sympathise Anxiety ready for his redemption arc coming up! Maybe that’s me trying to be optimistic and missing all this, but! This series is fun for me! I don’t want to hear that the characters are all assholes. I get that trying to guess what Thomas intended for the series is an endless impossible chase but I think it’s still a point worth making in my opinion because that’s what's going to stop completely unreasonable huge theories. For example, thinking about what Thomas intended stops me from thinking this episode then foreshadows Remus. 

[13-reasons-ideas]

Can’t Go Back Part 7

A/N: I had some issues with inspiration for this chapter, so it is more of a filler chapter. I hope you still like it. The next chapters will be better, I promise. It’s a shorter one. Like and reblog. As always, much love. 

I was in the kitchen typing feverously on my laptop when Monty got home from practice. “Hey Addy. What are you working on?”

“College essay.” I replied, not looking up at him.

“How’s it going?”

“Fine. I have to write like three more though after this one. And my top three schools want creative writing samples.”

Monty whistled. “You know it’s only the end of October, right?”

“I know but early decisions are due by like the middle of November for Ole Miss and NYU. My safety schools are due by mid-December.”

“You could also apply for regular admission too. Save yourself the stress rash.”

“Says the boy who has athletic scholarships coming out his ass. You don’t need to make a decision until regular admissions open, at the earliest.”

“With your grades, I see no reason you wouldn’t get an academic scholarship babe.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do though. Have a little hope.”

“I’ll try. For now though, I’m going to spend as much of my free time as I can, writing essays and hounding my teachers for recommendation letters.”

“Okay then. Have you eaten yet?”

“Depends what you consider eating.”

“Food. Not dry cereal, real food.”

“Oh, then no.”

“Addison.”

I looked up at him, “Montgomery.”

“It’s almost seven.”

“Really?” I looked at the clock on my laptop and saw the time for the first time since I got home. “Oh, look at that.”

“Yeah. What do you want to eat?”

“Doesn’t matter, what did you want? I stopped at Walplex on the way home for a few things.”

He opened the fridge and examined the contents. “Was the chicken for something specific?”

“The fresh or roasted?”

“Roasted.”

“No, it was fresh when I got to the store and it was on sale, so I shredded it when we got home. What did you have in mind?”

“Chicken pot pie?”

“Even though it has vegetables?”

“There’s enough stuff in it to cover up the vegetable taste.”

“Sure. Whatever chicken we don’t use tonight can go in the freezer. Can you proofread this after dinner?”

“Of course.” He said as he grabbed one of the ziplocs of chicken. I saved my work and got up to help him. Together, we made dinner, with only the occasional snack or errant vegetable being tossed at each other. The puff pastry I had spent the entire weekend making, worked well. That went in the freezer along with the chicken at the end of the night.

The following morning went a little smoother than usual. Monty was a little less of a pain to get out of bed, so I didn’t need to call Charlie or make outrageous requests to get him up. I brought my laptop to school so I could work on my applications during my free period. “You need to give yourself a break Addy.”

“Can’t take a break. This determines my future. It determines our future, depending where I get in.”

“I suppose you’re right.” I smiled at him as we left the house, knowing the issue would be at rest for now.

We met Scott and Charlie to grab coffee from Monet’s before school. As we were waiting for our orders, Justin and Clay came in. “Oh joy. Here we go again.” Monty muttered to Charlie. They ordered and walked over to us.

“Hey Addy.”

“Hey Justin. Clay.”

“Hey.” Clay replied, awkwardly nodding to Monty and his friends.

“Something is different about you.” Justin said.

“I think it’s called, ‘I didn’t go to sleep until three thirty in the morning and had an energy drink before breakfast.’” Monty said.

“Ew.” Clay muttered, under his breath. We still heard him though.

“Not that it’s gross, but we weren’t up. I’ve been told that’s not allowed by my surgeon. She was up writing until three thirty, when I rolled over and the light woke me up.”

“Oh.” Clay blushed, embarrassed.

“College applications.” I explained.

“It’s October Addy.” Clay pointed out.

“That’s what I told her last night. Would she listen?”

“No. Of course, she wouldn’t.” Clay chuckled. I stood to the side, watching their interaction, my eyes shifting between Scott and Charlie, and Justin. They’re seeing this too, right?

“She brought her laptop with her so she can work on them more.”

“Of course, she did.”

“Okay. I have my coffee we can go now.”

“Sure.”

“Hey Addison, lunch today?” Clay asked after us.

“Okay. I’ll see you then.” I said Monty put his arm around my shoulder and we left the café.

Since we were running early again, I spent the morning with Monty’s friends. “How’s your knee today?” Mark asked.

“It’s fine. Same as yesterday.”

“How long did the doctor say you would be on crutches?”

“A few weeks. Then I can start walking and doing physical therapy. The goal is being back to training and sports by sometime between February and April.”

“That really sucks. Got any more stories for us this morning Addison?”

“Hmmm… let me think.” I adjusted my bag while I thought. My ring caught the light glimmering brightly and I smiled. I think I’m going to like this wearing my ring in public thing.

“Does he actually help you grocery shop or does he just put random stuff in the cart?” Garrison asked.

“He helps, usually. Sometimes it’s more of a ‘can we get this’ kind of help, but he helps yes. That reminds me, we need to go grocery shopping on Saturday.”

“Okay. Why?”

“My mom’s birthday dinner Sunday night? It’s on the calendar in the kitchen. Also, do you enjoy having food in the house?”

“Right, right. Do you think she would be mad if I got her another world’s best professor mug? And yes. Food is nice.”

“Mad? No. Annoyed? Probably.”

“What do you suggest I get her then?”

“A candle? Women like candles.” Aaron suggested. Monty gave him a jokingly unamused look and then looked at me.

“Trust me, I know. I made the mistake of saying she could use the joint chequing account at Bath and Body Works. The house smelled like watermelon for weeks. And almost fell over when I saw how much it cost.”

“It was watermelon lemonade or rosewater and ivy. We both agreed that one smelled bad. You left out the part where you smelled like every other candle in the store and didn’t like the ones I picked. She likes tea?”

“To go with her various world’s best professor mugs. I like the way you think.”

“You like a lot of things about me.” I rolled my eyes, leaning against his side gently.

“You guys are cute. It’s gross.” Bryce commented.

“Thanks Bryce.” I smiled brightly, really laying on the cheeriness in my tone. He merely raised his brow. The first bell rang, cutting our story time short. “I’ll see you after school babe. I love you.” I stood on my tip toes and kissed Monty, perhaps more deeply than was decent at school or around his friends. His eyes were wide but had a vaguely hungry look to them.

“I love you too.” With that, I scurried off to US government and politics.

At lunch, I walked into the cafeteria and people stared at me, not that I expected anything less. It was still rather off-putting though. Clay and Justin waved me over to their table. Alex scooted over so I could sit next to him. “How was class?” he asked, unsure of where to start our conversation. It’s not like I’m suddenly a different person Alex. I’m the same as I was before everyone knew about Monty.

“It was okay. US government was boring, but it usually is. I got a literary review back in English literature. I did better on it than I expected.”

“Addy, you usually do better than you expect.” Justin complained from across the table.

“Yes, because if I set my expectations low, then I’m not crushed when I don’t do as well. But how was class for you Alex?”

“Boring. History was boring and Coach Rick hates me so there’s that. Biology was a nightmare. We were talking about our frog dissection coming up and these two cheerleaders practically screamed when we watched the video on it.”

“Well that sounds entertaining.”

“How are your applications coming Addy?” Clay asked.

“They’re coming. It’s just kind of annoying. I need creative writing samples to send along with my essays, so I was up late writing. Nothing was flowing the way I wanted it to.”

“I know the feeling.” He muttered. Justin laughed while Alex and I just shared a look. Clearly, we were missing something. Zach came over to our table and sat down.

“Hey guys.” He greeted, pulling out his lunch.

“Hey.” I replied. I was still slightly ticked off about his comments yesterday.

“Not sitting with Monty today Addy?”

“Nope.”

“Okay. Do you want some of my crackers?”

“Uh… sure?” This is odd. He passed me the container and I took some, placing them on top of my own container. There was an awkward silence, none of us really knowing how to proceed. I braced myself when Zach opened his mouth to speak.

“So, can you tell us how meeting his parents went?”

“Sure?” I asked, confused that that was what he wanted to hear about. “It was strange. His dad doesn’t like anyone really, so it wasn’t surprising when he didn’t like me, but I wasn’t exactly expecting him to immediately not like me. Lucy liked me right away, but I’m still not sure if it’s because it was so rare for him to bring a girl home, or if she actually liked me.”

“What happened?”

“His dad, ever the charmer and wonderful husband and father, sat on his ass and stared at Monty and I while his mom made dinner. Like, I don’t think he stopped looking at us. It was so uncomfortable and definitely didn’t help my nerves. At dinner-Lucy insisted, Monty tried to keep it to coffee or something short-they asked me a lot of questions. His dad liked me even less when I said I want to be a writer.”

“They didn’t try to argue with you or anything?”

“Nope. Thankfully they didn’t. Because I might have cried if they did, I was so nervous.”

“Is his dad really as bad as everyone thinks?” Clay asked.

“Honestly Clay?”

“Yeah.”

“I think he might be worse.” My friends sat with that assessment of character for a while before we moved onto lighter topics, average high school stuff. Shortly before lunch ended, Justin suggested an… interesting idea.

“Why don’t you invite us over for dinner this weekend? They can get to know Monty better and maybe whatever weird thing happened this morning can be avoided again.” I blinked at him, unsure if he was being serious or not. He nodded at me, encouragingly.

“It would probably have to be Saturday. It’s my mom’s birthday Sunday and we are having her over for dinner. And I need to discuss it with Monty first.”

“That’s okay, right guys?” He prompted, looking around the table. My friends nodded, though seemed reluctant.

“I’ll talk to him tonight and let you know tomorrow?”

“Great.” He agreed, as the bell rang.

Oh, what have I gotten myself into now? Hopefully Monty is open to spending an evening with my friends.

[hardnoctlife]

My Thoughts on FFVIIR

It’s been a few days since I finished FFVIIR, and I wanted to put my thoughts on the game into words, but I gotta get a few housekeeping things out of the way.

1.       These are all MY opinions. I understand and respect that others may have different opinions from me, however, that does not make this an open invitation for argument in the comments, bashing, etc. I have no problem blocking anyone who wants to be an asshole. Just be nice, please.

2.       I grew up playing FFVII and all of its spin-offs. FFVII was my first RPG, and ultimately what got me into playing video games. Nostalgia is a -huge- part of why I enjoyed FFVIIR so much, and therefore I am openly biased towards the game. I’m interested to hear the thoughts of people not familiar with the original, because they’re seeing the story with a fresh set of eyes.

3.       With that being said, I’ve already noticed drama surrounding FFVIIR fans who -have- played the original vs. those who haven’t, or those who haven’t played Crisis Core, etc. I am firmly of the belief that this is a great game for new and old fans and won’t tolerate any condescending attitudes in either direction. Video games are supposed to be fun, so let’s just all agree to enjoy the thing TOGETHER, shall we?

Alright, now that those things are out of the way, onto my thoughts. **MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD**

I’m going to be breaking this up into sections, because there is just too much to dissect! Let’s start with the characters.

“The Good Guys”

Cloud: Still my favorite character of all time, even more so after playing the remake. And of course, he is gorgeous. I could stare into his eyes all day. I know there has been a lot of controversy over getting new voice actors for the remake, but I feel like his VA did a great job. They nailed his personality of “broody asshole with a heart of gold”, and I think the remake had reasonable and believable character development when it came to Cloud’s interactions with the other party members. His dynamic with Tifa, Aerith, and Barrett was also spot on. I think it was a good move on Squeenix’s part to keep him pretty much the same, because he’s such an iconic character for the entire Final Fantasy series, so no complaints on my part!

Jessie: Okay, so, I hated Jessie at first. She was too flirty and all over Cloud for my liking, and I felt this strange disconnect between the “I used to be an actress but now I’m fighting for the planet” part of her backstory. Yes, she was still spunky in the original, but they didn’t draw it out nearly as much (I assume because she was killed off early). I -do- appreciate that the developer’s felt the need to give her more depth and show more interactions between her and Cloud and everyone else, but I also thought it detracted from Cloud’s relationships with Tifa and Aerith to an extent, especially the whole scene where she was asking him to come back to her place with him (yikes). And, true to Squeenix form, they killed off her character, even while letting Biggs and Wedge live (they both died in the original). So, in that sense, I didn’t really care that much for her, although her final scene with Cloud was very moving and redeemed her in some ways for me. So, yay for more screen time, but c’mon Squeenix, why do you gotta use your female characters this way?!

Biggs & Wedge: I loved the updates to their character models, and like with Jessie, I appreciate they tried to give them more depth and dialogue to make their involvement more significant. It did throw me for a loop when they both ended up living instead of dying when the Sector 7 plate fell. I was delighted to discover they survived (until I found out Jessie died and they didn’t). At times, I felt like their exalted importance detracted from other characters, especially at the end in Shinra HQ where Wedge shows up to warn everyone and Avalanche comes in to try and rescue Cloud & the gang, only to imply that he dies -there- instead. To me, it felt like an unnecessary moment to add in, but hey, there are only so many characters in the remake that people get to see, so why not give the Avalanche crew a more important role? I’m interested to see if this means that they’ll be returning in the next installments as they may be ‘fated’ to survive.

Barrett: What a glow up! Barrett looked good, he sounded good, his character was solid and true to the original. I have to say my favorite thing to see was how the banter and dialogue shifted between him and Cloud as you progressed through the remake. They went from basically hating on each other to complimenting each other and being buddy-buddy, and it was truly heartwarming. I even enjoyed using Barrett in battle (more on the fighting system later), which was refreshing. It was a good move on Squeenix’s part to show his softer side by including more scenes with Marlene, and he’s an excellent foil to Cloud’s character, which I feel was consistent for both games.

Tifa: My lady, the love of my life, my HERO. Tifa was -amazing- for me. Also, her VA was probably my favorite of the bunch. The updates to her outfit were much needed, yet she still retained her sexy allure, even if it was a little awkward to hear all the male NPC’s talking about how hot she was all the time. Other than Cloud, she was my favorite party member to use in battle—what a total badass!—and the scenes with her and Cloud made me squeal with delight. I was grateful for the extra attention put into their relationship, and how it was made clear that she was just as important and strong as the male characters.

Aerith: First, the positives. They expanded Aerith’s fighting range, which was appreciated, because in the original I only used her as healer. Her personality shone through a bit more, as she was even ore outgoing than I remembered her being (and even cursed a few times!), and I loved all of her interactions with Tifa and Cloud (my favorite trio/love triangle). Her backstory was pretty well communicated regarding the Ancients and her relationship with Shinra. On the flip side of things, I found her party banter annoying as hell and her voice grating at times (it reminded me of a high school girl), and I’m not sure how I feel about her interactions with the Whispers and what that implies for future installments. There was some hinting at the end of the remake that Aerith may not die like she did in the original (at least that was my interpretation), and I’m not sure whether I like that possibility or not, mainly because Aerith’s death is one of the most memorable scenes of FFVII, and that would change the entire plot. For better or for worse, who’s to say?

Red XIII: I loved all of the scenes with Red! His voice fit him really well, and they showed a lot of character development with him and the group in a short amount of time. I was sad you couldn’t control him in your party, but I’m hoping that will change in the next installment. I’m excited to see his backstory in Cosmo Canyon when we finally get to that point in the remake.

Chadley: This kid was annoying and weird, and I wasn’t sure exactly what his deal was, but he was definitely shady AF. Not sure why he was entirely necessary if he was simply a way to upgrade your materia, but hey, I’ll take that assess materia from ya buddy if it means new stuff for me to use. 

Johnny: Johnny grew on me. Was he also annoying and weird too? Yes. But he reminded me of a Prompto-Gladio lovechild and turned out to be a sweetheart, so I say he can stay, Squeenix.

“The Bad Guys”

Shinra executives: Not much to say here for me other than great job in bringing this diabolic group to life. Yep, still hate every one of ‘em. They stayed pretty much true to their original selves, and all of them matched what I remembered of them, right down to the dialogue. I thought it was an interesting choice to see Sephiroth kill President Shinra (in the original you just find him dead at his desk, impaled on Sephiroth’s sword), but I’m not complaining. That guy was a grade A asshole.

The Turks: Love, love, love how they portrayed each of these guys, and showed how they are also unwilling participants in all of Shinra’s shit. They definitely made them more likeable from the get-go and I felt a lot of callbacks to Advent Children. Reno cursing and being sassy was probably one of my favorite things out of the entire game. He had -so- many great lines, even if they weren’t direct translations of the Japanese. I’m hoping they will include more of the Turks in future installments (like Cissnei in Crisis Core) and continue fleshing out their story arcs.

Rosche: Okay, unpopular opinion, but I did not like this guy at all. I’m not sure what the hype is about him all over my social media. Could be the mullet, which is an automatic ‘no’ for me (Gladio from FFXV being the only exception), but he seemed like an irritating and very pointless addition to the game. His sole purpose appeared to be to prepare you for escaping Shinra and fighting from Cloud’s motorcycle towards the end, but I felt like he could have been taken out of the story entirely without missing anything. I didn’t hate as many of the newer characters (like Leslie) as much as I did him, but I guess he and I just didn’t vibe. I’m assuming he’ll return later on, so maybe my opinion will change. (I sure hope so.)

Leslie: Okay, at first, I was like, “who is this knock-off Noctis wannabe?” but I really enjoyed the backstory and depth they gave this seemingly minor character. I see that Squeenix is trying to provide new things for older fans to take interest in, and in this case, I felt he was a nice touch. (Edit: I was told that Leslie, Kyrie, and some of the other new NPCs were featured in an audio book?! Which I had no idea even existed, so...the more you know!)

Don Corneo: Even slimier and creepier in HD! Honestly, hats off to Squeenix for translating what was possibly the most cringy and controversial part of the original in a ‘tasteful’ way in regard to all of Wall Market. This guy was definitely a worthy villain in the remake.

Rufus: Holy hell. I never ever in my life thought I’d be saying this, but wow, is Rufus hotter than I remember. Thank you, Squeenix for giving me another foxy bad boy to drool over. He was also, for me, the hardest and most frustrating boss battle (even more so than Sephiroth), but it was totally worth dying to watch all the cut scenes with him over again. Can’t wait to see more of him in the next installment.

Hojo: God, I hate this guy. I know you’re -supposed- to, but he is such a creep. Hearing his dialogue in the remake was even worse than reading it in the original. Gotta say, dealing with his four wards in Shinra HQ was my least favorite part of the game by far, but I know he will get his comeuppance later down the road. All the dialogue was just as shocking as I remember, so, yeah. Good job?!

Sephiroth: Alright, anyone else feel like they made Sephiroth EXTRA SEXUAL in this remake?! You too? Oh, good, good, same bro. Now, it could just be me projecting, but anytime he came on the screen…panties were dropping y’all. Of course, I’m not one to complain about Sephiroth content. On the contrary, I lap it up like I just walked through the desert and found an oasis, BUT, I will say this…you barely see Sephiroth at all at this point in the original. As a reminder, the remake only covered the first 4-6 hours of the original game, and I get you can’t really do a remake without at least SHOWING Sephiroth for the people who have been waiting to see him in HD, but with that being said, he was VERY involved. I love Sephiroth, he’s a great villain, but they are definitely changing things with him, so I guess we will have to wait and see what happens.

My one criticism? His voice was my least favorite out of the main characters. Not saying the VA didn’t do a great job, but it didn’t sound deep enough to be as intimidating. I prefer the VA who voiced him in Advent Children, but I’m sure it will grow on me in time.

Gameplay

Battle system: When the remake’s demo was released, I remember a lot of people were complaining about how ‘difficult’ the new battle system was, but I absolutely love it. It’s just the perfect balance of turn-based and real-time, with plenty of options for customization. If you want more real time, you can set your short cuts, and if you want more turn-based, you also have that option. My only real complaint was that item use is also tied to the ATB bar, but overtime I figured out when to heal myself in a timely fashion (after dying more than a handful of times). Button mashers won’t enjoy this battle system because it requires a little more strategy, but I think the point was to create an updated version of the original fighting style that would appeal to both old and new players, and it definitely delivered. Seeing the classic limit breaks used and being able to run around during battle was so much fun for me, and I about died when I saw Cloud strike his OG victory pose in Wall Market’s coliseum. Also, the transition between running through Midgar and entering battle was SO incredibly smooth and seamless that at times you didn’t notice the shift. Phenomenal.

o   Boss Battles: As much as I enjoyed the battle system of remake, some of the bosses felt unnecessarily hard and/or tedious (I’m looking at you, Hell House). Making use of the assess materia early on definitely helped me out, but I legit got bored at times, especially that damn giant robot you fight with only Barrett and Aerith when escaping Shinra HQ. This is really just a minor complaint, but there were a couple bosses where I died several times (*cough* Rufus *cough*) before I figured out the secret to defeating them, while others were super easy or just not that interesting. Meh. For context, I played on “normal” mode, but it truly felt hard in certain scenarios. (That could just have been me trying to get used to the new fighting style.)

o   Materia: speaking of materia, I did notice some new materia in the game, which was neat, and although I didn’t care for Chadley (dude, where are your parents?) it was nice to have a way to develop and earn new materia throughout. I found it somewhat strange that summon materia was just a thing you could get so early on instead of having to work for it, but I was excited to use it. Shiva and Ifrit were definitely my favorite summons (which hasn’t changed from the original for me). My one big question: where is the freaking ‘all’ materia?! I know they kinda split ‘all’ up into many different types of materia, and you do have ‘pray’ for healing your entire party, but man, that was so versatile in the original so that was a hard adjustment for me not to have use of it.

o   Weapons: I think it’s cool that they developed an upgrade system to make use of your weapons long term, giving them their own abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. Made me think of FFX where you used the spheres to upgrade your characters. Also? I loved being able to see materia in my weapons when I switched them out. That was a really neat touch. 

Music: And here I thought they couldn’t make the music of the original game any more epic, but they definitely outdid themselves in the remake. I enjoyed hearing all the remixes and ways they wove the classic themes into different parts of the games. I think my favorite was when you’re going through sector 5 with Aerith and have to control the giant robotic hands. The music in that section SLAPPED. The in-game jukebox was also a nice way to honor the old school classics. Hearing Aerith’s theme for the first time just about made me cry, and listening to One-Winged Angel fighting Sephiroth? Nothing could beat that moment musically for me.

Side quests: I’m not sure about anyone else, but I really didn’t care for the side quests. They weren’t very fun for the most part, and considering how linear the game is, they felt more like chores that needed to be completed because I had to, and not because I wanted to. The only exception was Wall Market, but all-in-all, most of them didn’t add much to the story, unlike in FFXV where I could go down a rabbit hole of sidequests for hours and hours.

Graphics: This is clearly stating the obvious, as anyone with eyes will tell you, the game is nothing short of gorgeous. I cannot tell you how many screencaps I took of just Cloud. It was definitely a world that I wanted to run around in for hours (and did) and will do so again and again just to look at all the little details. My favorite thing to do is watch comparison videos of the original and remake openings side-by-side. How crazy is it that technology has come this far!

Playtime: My biggest critique of this game is that it was too damn short. Stretching the first 4-6 hours of the original into 40 was definitely impressive, but considering I waited 20+ years for the remake, it was pretty disappointing to finish the game in less than a week. Like most people, I’m wondering just how long they plan on stretching this out, how many installments there will be, and when the second part will be released. Hopefully not another ten years, but it -is- Squeenix we’re talking about...

Storyline

Most people who played will tell you that most of the remake stayed very true to the original, even lifting some of the exact dialogue and scenes. The nostalgia hit me so hard in parts that I was literally in tears. The first time I watched the opening in the demo, I cried. That’s the power this game has over many people, including myself.

In other ways, the remake improved on parts of the story or re-imagined them. We always knew it wasn’t going to be a copy and paste of the original story, which I’m sincerely grateful for. I would seriously hope that after 20+ years they would have thought of ways to improve or polish FFVII and make it new and exciting for returning fans and people just picking it up.

My pros regarding the updates in the story:

- They fleshed out many background characters and added in new ones. Most of the core group spent more time interacting, and the party banter felt natural and progressed realistically as the game went on.

- New mini-games and side quests expanded on the slums and made the areas larger and more interactive, yet they still kept the nostalgia of iconic locales.

- Plenty of fuel to fan shipping fires with emotionally charged scenes and pretty boys abounding (Cloti and Clerith especially).

- All of Wall Market was brilliantly done. I was wondering how they’d update it for the new generation, and it was seriously the best part of the game for me (and had me laughing the entire time).

-  Hinting that Zack is alive and/or Aerith may live is something I’m listing as a pro, only because I would love to see these characters used to their full potential, however, this is also a con for me, and I’ll explain why.

My cons:

Whispers: If you played the original, you probably had the same reaction as I did when the ‘Whispers’ showed up. “Wtf are these dementor-looking things?” At first, I thought they might be something similar to what we saw in Advent Children, and that they were ‘remnants’ or parts of Sephiroth, or somehow his minions, or even souls from the Lifestream, etc. When I found out they were actually supposed to be ‘protectors of fate’ or whatever, I rolled my eyes, especially when Barret was ‘killed’ by Sephiroth and then miraculously brought back to life. It felt very ‘deus ex machina’ to me in the sense that ‘everything has to go a certain way because we said so.’ While it makes sense, I really wasn’t buying it, but I’m assuming that we will learn more about them in the second installment. 

The Ending: The whole final boss battle of the remake was surprising, because it felt almost exactly like the final boss bottle of the original game, right down to the cutscene where Cloud is thrown through space and faces off against Sephiroth one-on-one. Before you defeat the ‘harbinger of fate’ (anyone else get KH heartless vibes?) and fight Sephiroth as the final boss, Aerith goes on her long spiel about ‘fate’ and ‘destiny’ and ‘this will change us,’ and it’s laid on so thick that it’s almost like they were setting us up for an alternate timeline, which is entirely possible, but that’s all speculation at this point. Regardless, they made it clear that whatever is coming next is going to be -very- different from the original, or possibly is going to be another timeline of the story, especially since Zack was shown alive and well. One criticism I heard from someone who hadn’t played the original game was that they treated Sephiroth and Zack like people you were supposed to know, and I can agree with that. They didn’t spend -any- time explaining their significance, backstory, or why people were so afraid of Sephiroth other than showing you little flashbacks into Cloud’s deranged memories, so in that sense, the ending might have fallen flat for those who don’t know exactly what Sephiroth represents or who he is, or why he stole Jenova from Hojo’s lab, etc, etc. Plus, throwing in Zack at the end is something that anyone who played the original game or Crisis Core would get, but new fans would also not understand the significance of. Personally, I screamed when I saw Zack because I was so happy , but I can see why that ending would be very unsatisfying and/or confusing for some.

Overall: 9/10

No, it doesn’t get a 10/10 for me, even as someone who absolutely loves Final Fantasy VII, but hey, no game is perfect. It’s honestly hard to live up to the hype this game has created since it was officially announced, and all things considered, Squeenix -did- live up to it. I will still be eagerly awaiting part two, playing the shit out of this game and squeezing the most I can out of it until I get to experience more.

I’d love to hear what other people thought (so long as the discourse is respectful of course). If you read this far, thanks for listening to my ramblings!

[guccifloralsuits]

You should also explain to anon what larries are and why you need to stay away from them... i feel like it should be part of the crash course for new harries because (speaking from own experience) new fans often easily believe their bullshit and their views of harry and his relationships become warped bc of it

 Prospective New Fan Crash Course: Larry Stylinson

Introduction: 

Larry Stylinson is a ship name given to 1D band mates Harry Styles & Louis Tomlinson, after some fans became convinced they were in a forcibly closeted relationship due to Modest Management. The two denied being together and repeatedly asked fans to stop, and invasive fan-shipping is attributed to the decimation of H & L’s friendship. By the end of 1D, they could barely stand next to each other or talk in public without rabid fans (& sometimes tabloids) dissecting every millisecond of their interactions. It was incredibly uncalled for, Invasive, downright creepy, and some people still believe in the conspiracy, today.

A Short Timeline:

One Direction was formed to compete on British X Factor. Harry & Louis were fast friends. They pretty much immediately clicked — and you can see this really clearly when the band started recording video diaries, and in early interviews with 1D.

For the first few years of one direction, it was really clear that they were best friends. They did a lot of interviews together - they even lived together for a short amount of time. A lot of people shipped the Bromance, but increasingly some fans became obsessed with the idea that the two were secretly in a relationship - despite repeated denials, them saying they were uncomfortable with fan behavior, and asking fans to stop, constantly.

Band members, family, and they themselves often remarked about how uncomfortable they felt with the shippers who wouldn’t let up.

Band members on Larry Shippers:

Liam:

“It’s like, when you know the ins and outs of what is going on with people and it’s just annoying when it’s so stupid,” the 22-year-old said. “It becomes like a conspiracy or like a cult, the people who watch them and think that every move they make is a gesture toward them being together, and I know it’s just not true and it makes me mad.”  (XXX)

“I get tagged in drawings of Louis and Harry being together. I remember one time I was sitting next to my dad and I see this picture of me on top of Niall [Horan], which was quite intimidating. It’s just really weird to have people drawing these sexually explicit pictures of us in strange situations.”

Zayn:

“There’s no secret relationships going on with any of the band members,“

“It’s not funny, and it still continues to be quite hard for them,” he said. “They won’t naturally go put their arm around each other because they’re conscious of this thing that’s going on, which is not even true. They won’t do that natural behavior.” (FADER)

Niall: 

Tends to be the quitest (aside from Harry but harry never comments on anything, ever). Shaded a bunch of larries a few weeks ago on twitter tho if I recall correctly lol

Larries would (and still try to) micro-analyze every single interaction, no matter how small. And the media would sometimes hop onto the bandwagon, going out of their way to make both H & L uncomfortable questing if Larry is real.

After constantly dealing with this,  a lot of public interaction stopped. But as Larry shippers had less to work with, they became increasingly obsessive about keeping up their fantasy. Some highlights:

Repeatedly dismissing Eleanor Calder, Louis’s long-term girlfriend as a ‘beard’ often going so far as to harass her social media, her family, & rip her apart for every minuscule action or reaction.

Calling Louis’s son not actually his, and believing that management forced Louis to pretend to have a son to save face & keep his relationship with Harry a secret. (Deadass. They think Louis’s son isn’t real & is still being used as a cover).

Don’t get me started on how horrible some of the fan-fiction is, it’s so so invasive.

still think the two are together in a hidden relationship, despite not publicly being in the same location for around 3 years. 

Today some larries still exist, but we don’t welcome them into these parts.

In 2017, Louis straight up said that Larry shippers kinda completely ruined their friendship.

Louis on Larry:

“It kind of happened naturally for me and Harry because a certain amount of the fans drew up this conspiracy,” Louis said about the Larry Stylinson conspiracy theories. “When it first came around I was with Eleanor, and it actually felt a little bit disrespectful to Eleanor, who is my girlfriend now. I’m so protective over things like that, about the people I love.”

“It created this atmosphere between the two of us where everyone was looking into everything we did,” Louis said candidly. “It took away the vibe you get off anyone. It made everything, I think on both fences, a little bit more unapproachable.”

recently & notably, TV series “Euphoria” had a fanon imagined sex scene between the two on the show, which neither band member constented to and Louis made a statement expressing his offense at.  This is just…one example among many for fans and media taking things way too far. I can pull up the reciepts for more but….god it makes me tired & angry. There are so many messed up & invasive questions, fan actions, and media articles. 

Implications:

Larry changed the way RPF fandom works, being to first shift from “this is a fantasy about two real people I wish were together” and beginning to project a fans own reality onto the two. Effectively, they treat Harry & Louis like dolls in a game which they get to make the rules for. It’s fucked up, and we don’t support them. moral of the story: don’t insert fan made fantasy into the lives of real people. 

this has been a tea-party hosted by yours truly. F Larry shippers, full stop.

For Further Reading 

[hannah-writes]

The Semiotics of Roswell (aka why Malex is Endgame because the camera says so)

One of the things I’m most grateful for about the Roswell fandom that I’ve met through Tumblr is the renewed passion I found for my degree subject, something I thought I’d fallen out of love with because of the pain associated with my time at university. Turns out I just needed to separate what I’d learned and what I loved from what I’d experienced. And Roswell (and @signoraviolettavalery, in particular) really helped reshape that.

Now, I know y’all are here for some meta, and this is just boring exposition. I’d originally planned on just keysmashing something as I’ve done in the past on other people’s posts and re-blogs but I thought I better try and be consistent.

One last thing before I dive in, like any other interpretation of a text, semiotics is influenced by the viewer, their experiences, their history and their take. It means that people might - and probably will - disagree with the way that I’ve viewed this, but discourse is discourse and I’d be interested to hear other views. For further reading on semiotics, I’d suggest starting with any of these books ( Metz, Christian (1974). Film language: A semiotics of the cinema. University of Chicago Press. Monaco, James (2000). How to read a film: the world of movies, media, and multimedia: language, history, theory. USA: Oxford University Press. Chandler, Daniel (1994). Semiotics for Beginners.). 

I’m gonna work an episode at a time and will be focusing mainly on the visual narrative of Malex, since that’s predominantly my ship, but also looking at it through the way it’s parallelled with Echo and Michael/Maria which means there will probably be a fair bit of Echo content. What started out as a way of making a friend feel better is now a monster. You can blame her.

This is gonna be image heavy. You have been warned!

The first time we’re introduced to what we know will be a romantic pairing is Max and Liz at the checkpoint. This is a well-known trope for heterosexual couples; two characters of opposite genders meet in a location in the first episode you can be pretty confident that they’ll hook up before the show is over. Same goes for movies; boy meets girl, there’s bound to be love there somewhere. Or at the very least, sex.

What this also does is begins to set up a visual narrative that lasts across the show that can be referenced when we know a romantic pairing is going to be on the screen. (NB: this is important to note that there will always be other shots where characters are in this position that are not romantically linked, however, the regularity of their placement is what is being called out here, and in Malex’s case - which I’ll get to eventually, so stick with me - there’s an absolute consistency in their framing which is too precise to be accidental)

Max is shown on the left-centre of the frame here, and Liz on the right-centre. Compare these two images with the ones below.  

Both are completely on the same side of the shot which in terms of reading the framing indicates that, romantically, they are no longer on the same page. There’s an unevenness in the camera angles here, too which is partly about perspective (i.e. when we look at Max, we’re looking up as Liz is and vice versa) but in a wider context, it also shows a power dynamic (and this is important for later). In this scene, as a police officer, Max has the power. (Think later to the scene in 1x13 where Max and Liz are intimate and a vast majority of the camera angles are shot up at her from Max’s position). 

The closeness of these shots is intimate; if we didn’t know the setting of these, we might not have assumed that there’s a physical barrier between them as there’s no real indication of one. The close-up shots are tight on their faces and not so much on the environment around them, focusing the audience to narrow in on their faces.

It’s also a highly unusual move to have a switching POV shot keeping the same angle regardless of who’s POV we’re seeing the scene from which just further highlights that this is telling us categorically that Max and Liz - though romantically entangled (TV Trope 101) - are not right now on the same page. If they were, ironically, they would be on opposite sides of the screen.

When we bring another character in, Sheriff Valenti is more centralised in her framing, and the angle at which she is shot (from Liz’s POV still as we’re inside the car) is immediately less intimate, there’s more space and as an audience we’re made aware of the barrier of the frame of the car door. The close up is even a little less intense here, we see more of Sheriff Valenti’s shoulder in the over-the-shoulder shot of Liz’s face, and we see more of Liz’s car. It’s a reminder, it’s breaking that spell of MaxandLiz that we had earlier by physically creating distance.

What is important, though, is this shot below and it took me a while to realise but Max is reflected in her car window and here is a perfect example of them sharing a shot with a defined side. It’s literally seconds, but they’re on either side of the shot here and even though we can’t see Max (other than in his reflection - and honestly I only noticed when looking through screencaps), we know she’s looking at him. The obvious imagery here is that Max is, literally, in her rear window; he’s part of her past, but it also shows that he’s a part of her life despite her having attempted to move on.

This image is also key in another way; it sets up the beginning of the visual dynamic for this show’s couples that I’m going to call Your Side My Side.

One of the other on screen romantic (sort of) dynamics set up in this is Liz and Kyle. Comparing their framing (over the shoulder, opposite sides) to the Max and Liz (over the shoulder, same side) gives us a clue into the route their relationship is going to take. He’s framed similarly to Sheriff Valenti; Kyle’s in the middle of the shot here, when it would have been just as easy to have him off to one side of the frame and it would have lost no narrative impact. However, there’s none of the my side your side here, since the two of them share the middle of the screen.

In this shot (haha, and it’s a terrible screencap of Jeanine’s beautiful face and for that I AM SORRY), Liz is pretty much bang-smack in the middle of the shot, but both she and the back of Kyle’s head are sharing the same space in the frame and they’re on the same side of the image. You never see Echo or Malex sharing the same side of the shot while they’re both in it, they’re always paralleled on opposite sides (which we’ll see, for example, in the first toolshed scene where they’re sat side-by-side but on either side of the frame).

What’s set up with Kyle & Liz is a narrative that they are not to be framed romantically. Though they hook up, their shots are largely framed in a similar way with them sharing space in the frame. 

Now, the reason you’re all here: Malex.

This next few screenshots don’t need as much dissection as the kissing ones, but hey, we’ll spend some time looking at everyone’s pretty faces :D 

Michael and Alex have their own sides of the screen - Alex on the right, Michael on the left. What’s interesting here is the closeness of the shots, the character that isn’t in focus is just as dominant on the screen as the one that is; Michael takes up almost half of Alex’s shot (above) and Alex does take up half of Michael’s shot (below)

After they both look at Master Sgt Manes (which is a shot of the two of them in the middle, Master Sgt looking on - setting up the voyeuristic element Malex that I touch on in the video break down) the camera gives them some distance from each other, though the focus and shot type doesn’t change, Alex and Michael barely fit in the frame with each other. 

Though we don’t fully know what’s going on, past Michael’s spiteful comments about being a ‘real Manes man’ (and since he’s set up as a fuck-authority character it’s easy to assume that it’s all it is, he’s angry at the fact that The Man is on his property telling him what to do, fuck the man! Well, fuck that man in particular, please, in the airstream I missed you so much and how dare you be here with him.) it’s not until the ‘run and tell your daddy’ that we as an audience realise that there’s likely more going on here. The shift in framing is indicating that it’s Alex putting distance between them, which is a common theme in their relationship for the rest of the season. His face is still in Michael’s shot (above), but only Michael’s shoulder is in Alex’s (below). 

Though we’re setting up a precedent for Alex putting distance between them, Michael’s the one that shuts down the interaction in this scene by disappearing into the airstream. He’s the first to break it.

Having set up the my-side-your-side dynamic for Malex in their first interaction, their meeting again at the reunion is interesting because it shows a shift - already - in their interactions. We find that the right-left dynamic is constant unless there’s a power shift or something significant, both of which we see before the Malex kiss.

Here, they’re shot on the same side of the frame (Alex’s side). Alex has come to the reunion thinking that Michael’s doing something wildly illegal considering what his scientists found (and honestly, with Carina confirming Alex’s costume was wrong in the pilot and then in 1x02 seeing Alex with Captain Bars on his collar it makes me so happy he’s outranked his shit-bag father). They’re no longer even remotely on the Same Page. Alex is angry and confused and disappointed; Michael is better than some back-alley meth lab in the middle of a dairy ranch. 

The sudden shift in their camera angles - the mid-shot that falls back further when Alex grabs Michael’s arm (as Michael’s looking to get away from Alex again, for the second time in this episode) and holds him close gives us another dizzying shift. 

The my-side-your-side changes (below) and the camera pulls in intimately close for the ‘you’re wasting your life’ and ‘does the macho cowboy swagger thing ever get old’. 

Alex is turned into Michael (above) but Michael’s not facing Alex, not turned away. “you tryna hold my hand, private?” even though he doesn’t have the physical distance - and the camera doesn’t let him have that either, it’s close and tight and suffocating and Michael can’t escape it even if he wanted to - he can joke, he can look away, he can keep distance between their heads.

Alex has the power in that screenshot above; Alex is the one that grabbed Michael. Alex is the one still holding him.

In the below shot, however - this is a split second before Michael says ‘did it get old for you?’ - we’re treated to the same shot as above but reversed. They’re back on their own sides of the screen and Michael’s reclaimed the power in the scene. When using ‘private’ in an offensively flirtatious manner didn’t work, he drops his voice and all but purrs in Alex’s ear a question (that probably was meant to be mocking and actually ends up being a little more broken than he intended it to be (is that why you left? did you get bored of me? was I not enough?) but it’s enough. Alex is visibly rocked by it and the camera - since it stays so tight on them, swings out a second later to reveal Michael walking away to wrap his arms around another girl, with the framing still being quite visibly your-side-my-side.

Now, let’s talk about the real reason everyone’s here; the Malex kiss. I can’t work out how to embed a youtube video in an already image-heavy post and as I was writing I realised that fuck I have too much to say about it to stick into this already busy as heck post so I’m gonna dissect that separately and focus on stills here, but I’ll link to that post, too. (It’s here, by the way, if you wanna see it and breaks this scene down into TINY PIECES). 

The my-side-your-side is constant here, and honestly, the video post I made explains it in a lot more detail but I’ve started so I’ll finish. The blue wash of this entire scene is meant to encourage a sense of calm - and how we move from Alex being backlit with red (below, where he’s saying ‘we’re not kids anymore, what I want doesn’t matter) to being completely swamped in blue like Michael is is representative of the change in Alex from ‘must not kiss Michael’ to swaying into Michael’s orbit and holding onto him because he needs it as much as Michael does. (You can tear the headcanon that they’re soulmates and linked on a fundamental, cosmic level from my cold dead hands). 

We’re meant to focus more on Alex’s face in this section, which is why Alex has a few more close-up shots (and eh, who can blame us for wanting more of Tyler’s pretty face? Pfft) and we’re able to watch the journey of resistance (red) to acceptance and calm and serenity and home (blue) as he moves forward into Michael’s space and accepts Michael into his. 

This kiss is epic. You can’t deny that. The framing is soft-focused and the camera lingers, allows us to really zoom in on the moment and focus on what’s happening: the intensity of the moment. I’ve talked about this a lot, but the way the camera swings to catch up with Michael as he surges into Alex and then goes still is - imo - representative of how Alex stabilises Michael’s world, soothes it right down. The world rocks on its axis when their lips first touch, when their bodies collide, but then it all goes still and calm as Michael’s entropy changes. The blue helps foster that, too, it’s calming and soothing and tranquil. It’s safety and security. And it’s home.

With Jesse Manes’ words about love being spoken over this (below) shot and not over Echo (who have a cute handprint moment but it’s not the same), the show is choosing to put a focus and emphasis on the fact that this, right here, is a cosmic, epic love that cannot - and will not - be denied. Alex can’t run from who he is (as the soundtrack said while he was looking at a picture of his out-and-proud teenage self) and they can’t run from this (as the soundtrack says, again). This is it for them. And this is it for us, too, as viewers. We’re getting it set up in the very beginning that this is a cosmic love story, that it has history and pain but that it is love. That’s important to remember: we are told at the very beginning that Michael and Alex love each other. It doesn’t matter that they also sets up a paradigm of the two of them almost saying what they mean but never actually saying the words. “What I want doesn’t matter” -  I want you. “I never look away, not really” - I love you. “It was late, I was tired” - I stayed because this is safe for me, you are home. What we are TOLD EXPLICITLY is that Michael and Alex love each other. 

Hold onto that, folks. Because the visual narrative does not change. 

(tagging, by request, @i-never-look-away, @stydiaeverafter, @signoraviolettavalery, @saadiestuff. If you wanna be tagged in future meta, let me know!)

[jakezofficial-blog]

Understanding Digital Marketing in Accelerating Business Sales Growth

           A business that does not use digital marketing is like a fisherman without a net. It is in this era wherein prospect customers could be anywhere in the world. The internet revolutionized the way how the business operates. A business located on a remote island can now possibly edge out its brick and mortar competitors. Almost everything is digital. Individuals are stuck on their phone tirelessly browsing for the latest fashion, needed services, and most delicious food nearby. In a forecast made by Clement (2019), over 2.14 billion people worldwide are expected to buy goods and services online. This staggering number of prospect consumers is a good indication that digital marketing can accelerate sales growth for the business.            Marketing is an activity or process in which a certain product or service of value is communicated to its end-users (Kurtz, 2016). It is where the producer influences the consumer to buy products and services offered. In a study of marketing history by Ryan and Jones (2019), it was found that even with limited resources, ancient people influence others using available materials they have at that time. It started with the use of human voice and word of mouth, followed by etching images on stone or cave wall. Ryan and Jones (2009) summarized the progress of marketing from the 15thto the 20thcentury as follows:  a significant milestone achieved in the 15thand 16th centuries through the development of printing which minimizes the cost and maximizes profits. As a result, marketers used this to expand their prospective consumers. Then, the use of adverts in the early newspaper became popular during the 17thcentury, which escalated rapidly. It all started in England and eventually spread across the world. Moreover, in the 18thand 19thcenturies, newspaper advertising was expanded along with the inception of mail-order advertising. The 20thcentury entered a new advertising age, which is the use of radio offering and television advertising.  As digital technology continues to dominate the purchasing habit of consumers, marketers explore other possibilities in the digital realm. Thus, social media marketing, search engine optimization, and email marketing were introduced to reach prospects that will lead to sales. These three types of digital marketing are the most widely used by digital marketers to increase site traffic and user engagement.           The first is social media marketing. It is a digital tool used to spread information using the Internet and Web-based technologies in a more personal connection and promotes social interaction among its users from a one-to-many conversation to many-to-many (Close, 2012). Some of the most popular social media platforms people use today are Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and Linkedin. Individuals always want to connect and to be updated with the latest feeds. According to Ewing (2019),  if consumers have a positive experience of a product through social media, 71%  of them will possibly recommend the brand to others. Consumers bank on a brand’s rapport and shared expertise. Nowadays, if a consumer wants to search for the reputation of a particular company, people look at social media reviews and testimonials. The comments or suggestions written on it build an impression on the service or products a brand offers. One way to leverage the power of social media marketing is through aiming for positive customer testimonials. It is about the customers telling why a particular business is performing well. Testimonials can go a long way since this will bridge the gap of uncertainties. When consumers browse for a product, they often look at the profile of the company and read the reviews and testimonials. Positive reviews attract more consumers, which will result in more sales. At the backbone of good testimonial is a combination of excellent service and great product. Entrepreneurs should not compromise quality over efficiency. They should consistently produce quality products and improve for negative feedback because one unsatisfied customer can pull the sales to dwindle.            Second is Search engine optimization or SEO. SEO is marketing efforts that focus on increasing the site visibility on the search engines by making some content improvements and making it user-friendly (David, 2011). Ramos and Cota (2009) simplify it as making changes to a web page so that visitors can find it in a search engine. The leading search engines that people commonly used today are Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft. People use search engines to find a specific blog or content, looking for a company’s website, searching for a recipe, and even buying for available products. Internet users have become dependent on the use of these search engines. Companies are taking leverage with this technology to be the next big thing. The goal should be to arrange a website to hit the proper keywords going into the mind of a searcher or prospect customer. In this way, chances that a website can rank on the top spot of the first-page search. The typical behavior noticed is that people only click websites on the first and second page of a search engine. To understand better how individuals search, Ramos and Cota (2009) wrote that people search in three types; navigational, informational, and transactional. They highlighted that navigational search is about searching for the official website of an organization, a company, an office, or a person. Informational searches as to the search for information, learn about a subject, or how to perform a task. While a transactional search is about users searching to get something either buying a product, service, hear a song, watch a video, or download a PDF.  Search Engine Optimization is now advancing at a rapid pace through the use of Google Analytics to identify users’ purchasing patterns. An item or a product searched is being integrated to pop-up in digital devices.            The last one is email marketing. Email seems to be an outdated marketing platform for modern business since the rise of the modern project management system and new-age communication applications. However, the effectivity of using email for the formality of communication and delivering a sincere message cannot be replaced. In a recent study, Jeshurun (2018) showed that email marketing remains one of the most effective ways to advertise on the internet. The goal of email marketing is to get the receiver open up the email in order to increase the chance of opening up a transaction. Email marketing is the method wherein a sales pitch or a call to action message is sent to a customer list via email (Ryan and Jones, 2009). Examples could be a hotel promotion, free seminars, a money-off code for gadget purchase, free membership for gym referrals, or invitation to download a mobile game for user interaction.  Email is still a universally accepted medium in sending vital information and allowing for almost real-time status updates.  Its versatility makes it unique and does not grow old. Since email is a low cost set up, a user can sign up for free email providers such as Gmail and Yahoo. Once, email is activated, marketing flyers and promotions can now be sent to a business email list with an added personal touch. Email marketers focus mainly on these three things; subject line, story-why, and sell-click content. The subject line is about getting consumers’ attention. Story-why includes the body of the email that builds on providing relatable personal stories and explanations about the reason for sending an email. Sell-click content includes the link that directs the consumer to the details of the product being sold. Once the consumer is engaged, it could lead to more sales.            In a nutshell, digital marketing provided numerous benefits that level the playing field for business of all sizes. Every business is now given equal access to mass markets at any price budget. Small and medium enterprises can take a chance of competing against big businesses. For example, a successful email or social media campaign is only a fraction of a cost as compared to TV advertisements spent by established brands but still reach a broader audience. The interaction also played a role in the effectiveness of digital marketing — the ability of a business to interact with targeted audiences in real-time increases brand loyalty. A targeted approach also adds up in the success of these tools by dissecting a broad demographics into specifics which position the marketers to increase the conversion rate of ad campaigns by narrowing down a particular type of audience the ad will show. Marketers can now identify which particular audiences they want to reach. The system analytically read the common ground to connect the product or service such as goal, profession, education level, and buying behavior of consumers. New technology is released every month, and the goal of tech companies to reach the global ecosystem of "internet of things" is coming. It is where every service and product will be interconnected to devices such as tablets, smartphones, appliances, cars, and other gadgets through the internet. The majority of businesses aspire for growth and stability. Digital marketing methods, mainly social media marketing, search engine optimization, and email marketing, are among the new methods that can accelerate the sales growth of a business.

References Clements, J. (2019). Number of digital buyers worldwide from 2014 to 2021 in billions. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/251666/number-of-digital-buyers-worldwide/ Close, A. G. (Ed.).(2012). Online Consumer Behavior. New York, NY: Routledge. David, M. M. (2011). WordPress3 Search Engine Optimization. Birmingham, United Kingdom: Packt Publishing Ltd. Ewing, M. (2019, June 28). 71%. More Likely to Purchase Based Social Media Referrals [Infographic]. Retrieved from https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/30239/71-More-Likely-to-Purchase-Based-on-Social-Media-Referrals-Infographic.aspx Jeshurun, S.B. (2018). A Study on Effectiveness of Email Marketing. Shanlax International Journal of Management Vol. 6 pp 84-86. Kurtz, D.L. (2016). Contemporary Marketing. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning Ramos, A., & Cota, S. (2009) Search Engine Marketing. USA: The McGraw-Hill Companies Ryan, D., & Jones C. (2009). Understanding Digital Marketing: Marketing strategies for engaging the digital generation. Philadelphia, PA: Kogan Page.

The author is an MBA student at the Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business. This essay is part of his Final Extended Definition Essay in fulfillment of the requirements of the course, Advance Technical Writing 1. Visit his blog at http://jakezofficial.tumblr.com/The views expressed here are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official position of DLSU, its faculty, and its administrators.

[starlightrealmofficial]

Professor Kuro- A Nerdcore Interview

Rouga: Hello Ladies and gentlemen from all across the multiverse! It's Rouga again welcoming you into the Starlight Realm, and again, I am not alone. May we please welcome Professor Kuro, aka Kuro seonsaengnim! if you know, you a real one.

Kuro: Woah never though the multiverse had a show like this! Hi everyone its Kuro Seonsaengnim and class is always in session!

Rouga: that's right, now Kuro, why don't we educate our readers on what exactly you do in the University of Barology and Dope Flows?

Kuro: Well I teach - The Way of The Artist! It is a class where we take different songs and videos and deconstruct what makes them impactful and amazing. From lyrical content, to the construction of bars, to the altering and various flows and pockets that are inhabited. And for the advanced students, we even dissect the instrumental and music production/mixing and mastering to understand how sonically all things come together to make fire! And sometimes we go galaxy brain and discuss even how the videos are put together to add to the experience!

Rouga: and best part is? You ain't got to pay a penny to enroll, just follow this dandy little link to the man's YouTube and Discord, and join us in the classroom. and don't worry, essays are not required, that said I do still write them, and all are read by the Professor himself.

Kuro: And all of your essays are A+! It is always a delight to read comments and see what parts of the class different people resonate with and it helps me know what to teach in the future as well. And yes the only thing it costs is time and not a single thing more.

Rouga: so, now that the introductions are done, let's get down to the meat and potatoes of this here interview, to start off, what prompted you to start your reaction channel?

Kuro: So the ironic thing is that originally I wanted to do YouTube to make anime content! The name Professor Kuro came from me wanting to teach classes on various anime. I was going to start with One Piece and go arc by arc summarizing the series to allow for casual fans to refresh their memory as well as for new fans to have a gate way into various series. Then one day I was on YouTube a few years back and an Anime Rap song came up on my YouTube recommendation page (the only time YouTube has ever recommended something worthwhile), that was my introduction to Anime Rap! A year or so after that I was talking with my close friend and catching them up on some of the recent drops in the community at the time and we were in VC together watching reaction videos and my friend asked me - "Hey you really know your anime and you love music, especially rap, why don't you use that channel you made and start doing reactions?". Ironically this was a huge revelation to me because I never thought to myself to make a reaction channel. I sat on the idea for a bit and decided - "Why not!". And after my first few reactions, some of the artists that I now call peers and friends noticed my reactions and welcomed me into this amazing world we all share now!

Rouga: Kudos to them and you friend then! I myself am not a day one follower of yours, but as our introduction established to those who pay attention, I been around and it has been an absolute pleasure to watch your videos and interact with you as a member of the community.

Kuro: Thank you and it is always a pleasure to interact with members of the community. The way I look at it is I'm only here because of ya'll so I really do love to interact when and where I can!

Rouga: I still remember the expression you had when I first popped into your stream, not gonna lie it warmed my heart, but before we go on too big a tangent, let's get to the next question. When was it that you decided, and what made you decide, to not only react, but also create music?

Kuro: So it's actually funny on the outside it seems like I decided to create music after reacting but in actuality, it was the reverse. My first ever YouTube post as a verse I did for a DizzyEight open verse challenge! I always knew I wanted to make music I just knew that I still had a lot to learn and so reactions came first. As I continued to listen to other musicians, research music, and practice my skills behind the scenes, I was able to post music with less stress and more growth in between tracks. So in truth, I decided to create music back in College. It was my Junior Spring and I was in an independent study course in my Film Minor and as a final project, I decided to produce, write, and make a song, as well as a music video! Then during my senior year, I made a few more songs on my own and that is when I knew I loved to make music.

Rouga: Were any of those the ones that are up on your channel? like your Uncle Iroh track, or Yusuke track? oldies but goodies I tell you people.

Kuro: No those songs only exist in my mind and possibly on an old hard drive! Once I started YouTube everything that is up on my channel was made to be up on my channel, think of the other songs as prequels that the world will never see or hear.

Rouga: some heroes shall remain unsung I suppose.

Kuro: I see what you did there!

Rouga: Your mind is as sharp as ever catching bars. and speaking of bars, but more about their spittage than catchage, how do you go about creating music? what is your creative process like?

Kuro: I LOVE this question! Long Response inbound!; So for me the creative process starts with deciding if I am going to lease or produce a beat for the character or song, usually this is decided by if I have a specific vibe/sonic space in my mind for the song. Once the beat is secured I move on to what I want to say in the track and this can really be broken down into 1 of 3 categories. For songs - do I want to inhabit a vibe, or do I want to send a message, and for features - do I want to highlight a single aspect of something and make the verse built around that core. A lot of this is decided off of feeling and gut instinct. For example with my Jiraiya Rap - "Weight of The World" I knew I wanted it to be a message. I knew I wanted to write from Jiraiya's heart as if he was sitting with Naruto as two men at the ends of their journey. Where as with my Shigaraki Rap - "Drop" I knew I wanted to create a space to let villainy and the dark rule through tone and lyrical content. I often don't control my own creative process but rather let what is speaking to me speak for itself, I don't force bars or lines, I don't force certain beats, I let the music make itself and all I do is navigate the ship till it docks and a song is completed. When it comes to bars I love using different techniques, layering them with multiple meanings and interpretations. Also, I love using different literative elements in my writing because there is poetry in rap and in music!

Rouga: Right now I have to ask if you own a printer, or if you threw it out the window years ago, because I could not agree more! and to add to that complexity, there was that one time when you decided "Yo lemme be Senior Kuro for this one!" and threw in a whole other language!

Kuro: That was a fun one! I don't often hop into my linguistics bag and I might start changing that soon because cooking up that verse in Spanish (shouts out to my homie Kero for the help) was a whole lotta fun!

Rouga: oh? is the prof going to borrow some study material from the man, the myth the legend, Shao Dow? That sounds dope.

Kuro: I do need to brush on my Japanese for sure but that isn't the only language I have in the tuck, ya'll are just going to have to wait and hear for the rest

Rouga: yea, we gotta deploy that neutral Jing and see what comes. Speaking of Shao Dow tho, that segways nicely into, who in the community is your biggest inspiration? at one time you mentioned DPS, who else is on that list?

Kuro: Yes I have definitely stated that DPS has been a big inspiration for me, interestingly enough now my biggest inspiration is myself. I know that sounds corny or nonsensical but I am reaching a point where my own art excites me for what I can do next and when I look at peers in the community and their growth and their skill level it motivates me to stick to the grind more. If that is inspiration then genuinely the list of who inspires me now is going to be as long as the number of channels I am subscribed to! I guess you can say I find inspiration everywhere I look!

Rouga: "tis a mark of a great artist to see beauty and inspiration wherever he gazes", as a wise man once said. either that or my mindbrain is doing a crazy and I just came up with that on the spot, I truly never know.

Kuro: Either way good job to your mindbrain!

Rouga: thank you, and while that would be a good segway into a special thing, we shall hold out a lil bit longer here, and I have another question to you. Who do you hope to work with in the future that you have not worked with before? and if you have specific reasons for the choices please do list them.

Kuro: Oh 1000% PE$O PETE! The biggest reason is that I want to do a One Piece Manga spoiler-filled crazy song with him. He is one of my personal favorite artists in the community right now and not only that he is a true homie and a really great guy. His interview on NCC is one that stays with me.

Rouga: I shall have to do my homework and check it out, but I definetely agree, the man is a legend and whenever I hear one of his tracks, I cannot help but ask "Who are we fighting?"

Kuro: Plus that man got ... SAUCE!

Rouga: he got the dough and the sauce, get a DPS colab for some cheddar and you got yourself the makings of an awesome Nerdcore Pizza!

Kuro: Haha I love that!

Rouga: spur of the moment bars for the people. which segways nicely into your inclusion in the, and please pardon me if I mess it up, Packed Lunches Rap Battle League. What's that like?

Kuro: Ahh The PLBL! It was really fun, it was a great way to showcase a type of rap that the community doesn't have much of and even got some new names and faces into the community. It's dormant for now but stay tuned it'll be coming back in the coming months.

Rouga: That's a great thing to hear. And for those who do not know what the PLBL is, it is a freestyle rap battle league hosted by the scene's resident Were-Bear, Shwabadi. where he, my lovely guest Kuro, and the True Evil Villain act as judges in a battle for the sickest bars. What to you, Kuro makes a good rap battle verse?

Kuro: PUNCHES! You got to get at your opponent but you have to do so creatively. Rap has been around for decades and battle rap as well has been around for decades, certain lines are not going to hit anymore but if you can get creative with your disses and schemes (schemes are really important) then you can have a great verse. Also rebuttals are both your friend and enemy, spend a verse with too many rebuttals and you will lose the battle because you didn't clap back.

Rouga: Reminds me that one time you saw my hypothetical rap battle verse targeted at Ham Sandwich, which Ham if you are reading this, I have absolutely nothing against you man. I love your stuff, the brain go wild with the draft sometimes.

Kuro: #StreamRonin #Stream-WheyfuAnthem

Rouga: hmm, we've spoken a good bit about rap, but Nerdcore is not just rap, as lovely people such as Fabvl, Divide, HalaCG, and Nina show us, Have you given thought to stepping out of rap into another genre as well maybe?

Kuro: I used to be a singer and was in a musical once but that was years ago and my voice is kinda trash now so I am now practicing singing behind the scenes so that I can make sure that when I sing on a track it sounds really good!

Rouga: #SingingKuroIsComing everybody, make it trend.

and speaking of coming, you have anything coming down the pipeline you wanna share with us?

Kuro: Yes! I have 4 songs in the works right now - A Yami Rap, A song with my brothers Diggz and Mir, A song with a certain Rose, and a song about a certain Swordsman!

Rouga: well I cannot speak for those reading but my interest is quite sufficiently gained, you and Diggz on a track gonna sound awesome, and our resident Durag man ain't no slouch either, this is gonna be great.

Kuro: Trust that we went CRAZY on that track!

Rouga: so, Before we set out to do this interview I told you I'd have a lil something special set up for you if you remember.

Kuro: Yes!

Rouga: Now is the time to unveil said special something, Tell me prof, are you familiar with Lyrical Miracle?

Kuro: Indeed, the Shwabados show?

Rouga: You know it, and I may not be a queer pink bearman, but I do propose to you a very similar game, I have prepared a few song verses, and I would like you to name the song and tell me who said the line. All of them are tracks that you have on-camera confirmed to have heard at least once. How's that sound?

Kuro: Let's do it!

Rouga: cool, I do not require you to complete the lines tho, unlike Lyrical Miracle. So, round 1 "raising my hand feels like raising a knife. Blink of my eyes and I’m taking a life. if we’re not chill then I put them on ice."

Kuro: Feels like a Breeton Boi bar.

Rouga: it is not I will give you 3 shots.

Kuro: Bet then if its not Breeton then I'ma say Shwabadi.

Rouga: dingdingding! bravo, and the track?

Kuro: Megumi Track?

Rouga: mhm, do you remember the title?

Kuro: Yeah, Shikigami Life.

Rouga: That's a score.

Kuro: Woohoo!

Rouga: round 2 "Who say they gon’ try me, Well my team ain’t bout the bull. you know who’s beside me."

Kuro: Breeton Boi, Wizard King!

Rouga: First try! great job, for those confused, I did not say songs Kuro reacted to, but ones he heard, and this song was confirmed to be heard in the comments. next up, round 3 "Hold them in my shadow, I will not relent. Bring them to the gallows, watch as they descend"

Kuro: Divide Music By My Side.

Rouga: yep, I won't lie I half expected to trip you up into Shwabadi's Shikamaru track due to the hook of it. which sidenote, is a total bop.

Kuro: Both are bops, fun fact when I first uploaded my reaction to Divide's Shikamaru track I accidentally used Shwabadi's thumbnail in my thumbnail lol So I do have a history of being tripped up by the two.

Rouga: aha! I was onto something there! Next! "So many were meant to hate us, but really? Who fucking doesn’t? There’s only a few I trust. The ones that I’m getting stuck with told me that the gun I hold is fake, but I wish it wasn’t."

Kuro: Zach B Headshot.

Rouga: and who else is on that track?

Kuro: Breeton Boi!

Rouga: ladies and gents can I get an Ay Yuh ? You really know your stuff man!

Kuro: I try to, its funny how because of how often I listen to songs or how I pay attention to lyrics when I react just based on how the lines are composed I can feel the artists from them. Shows how unique and diverse the community is

Rouga: Facts. I can't NOT see a Zach B line for example and not mentally read it in his voice ready for the next guess?

Kuro: Always.

Rouga: "See somebody in my circle move in snake ways, make em vacate, snake way, they crossing See em hate, great, lay wastе, we drop em, need a playmate, make haste, I'm yawning"

Kuro: Ham Sandwich Zeno Rap Omni King.

Rouga: mhm, and that rap was hosted by?

Kuro: Zeno, cuz aint no body on my level lmao DPS.

Rouga: perfect record so far, let's see if the final two rounds trip you up. "No it isn't black and white when playing high stakes Got a girl here by my side, and I call her my checkmate Now we changing our fate Roll the dice, that's eyes of a snake"

Kuro: None Like Joshua NGNL.

Rouga: Yep, which he of course had done with the lovely Ironmouse.

Kuro: Shouts out Ironmouse she is fantastic!

Rouga: Hell to the yes she is! Girl always gets that attention whenever she hops on a tack last one.

"Flatten peeps like futons, folding like bets On a beat spitting monkey bars, over your head."

Kuro: Shabadi, Follow Me, Jin Mori Rap, Hosted by DPS.

Rouga: Ladies and gents and all the enbys, what we just witnessed is the man work his absolute barollogy skillz in front of our very eyes if that is not enough to convince someone to join the classroom for more, I do not know what is!

Kuro: What can I say I love the community, I love the music, and I mean it when I say it, I'm really bout this life lol!

Rouga: It shows in the best possible way believe me. and now, as a bit of a closing statement. what else is the professor passionate about when he's not out here breaking down bars or spitting them?

Kuro: Life, I love music, I love anime, I love video games, I love hanging out and talking with friends, I love philosophy, working out, going out and just exploring all there is to explore in this world. Also, I am a big football fan, American football, international people dont come for my neck its not my fault it's called what its called lmao.

Rouga: Ladies and gents, Professor D. Kuro. inspirational nerdocre artist and barologist. What else can I say? having you on was an absolute pleasure, thank you for agreeing to join me for this little interview.

Kuro: It was an absolute pleasure, I had a lot of fun, thank you for having me on!

[vivalaegghead]

Hhhmaigawd this thing has been sitting on my To Do list for much longer than I was anticipating. I’m not 100% happy with it, but it was one of those things that I needed to stop doting over so I could move on with the story. Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading it, and as always feel free to comment, like, or share! 

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences 

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Courted - Chapter 7

How shall I call you,

My lover, my forever

What name shall I utter

For the rest of eternity?

              The gaudy walls of the castle blurred by Zarina as she stalked through the hallways, Elgar’s claws clicked alongside her against the marble as he matched his owners quickened pace. Confused murmurs of ‘Princess’ from castle staff and visiting dignitaries soared past her, but they were unable to land within Zarina’s ears. She must have been a sight, donned only in a thin white satin slip that tangled up around her bare ankles, hair half done from the night before. The people and greetings passed by her in shades of grey, all she could focus on was the aging expanse of the castle garden, but she wasn’t sure if her feet would stop at the garden’s edge.

The russet brick of the courtyard expanded before her, she took a solemn step from the smooth marble floor to the unfinished edges of red brick. Her toes curled, greeting the new surface, thanking it for being imperfect. Stained leaves pirouetted over her feet in dizzying circles, inviting her to dance with them. Zarina hurried across the red expanse of brick, her heels dragged awkwardly over the masonry, leaving the skin on the bottom of her feet raw.

Shems hate rough feet. A mischievous grin trickled over her freckled face, and she continued in this manner, relishing in the blasphemy. The garden was a place of worship for Zarina, and she was their goddess. The flowers offered their plum-colored petals, the trees relinquished the last of their leaves, and the earth promised its warmth. This green expanse is the kingdom Zarina wished for, not the walls of the castle that blubbered heavily with jewels and gossip. Her feet carried her past the flowers that Sebastian planted to remind her of her homeland, past the trees that would have hung shamefully under the grand oaks of forest her clan inhabited. A chilled wind bit at the exposed skin and tore relentlessly at the silken garment that clung to her curves, but Zarina failed to take notice. The land past the castle grounds consumed her mind, the painted meadows began relinquishing the lush of their greens to the melancholy colors of death. A lake was nestled between the grove of oaks and a far off stable, accompanied by a leaning cabin. The sweet smells of seasons past tugged playfully at Zarina.

The outskirts of the castle grounds had served as Zarina’s refuge when she first arrived many years ago. For months, the small elf could be found curled stealthily among the tree branches. Tracks in the underbrush would signal what she wanted, and the release of an arrow from her taunt bow would bring her some sense of comfort. She needed that release, the ability to take care of herself once more, to provide for her and Elgar like she had in another life. A week had passed before the palace guards, led by a concerned Sebastian, finally caught her in the woods. A fresh kill was slung over her shoulder, a mixture of blood and dirt stained her wrinkled tunic, much to the shock of the hunting party. Sebastian guided her back to the castle under the cover of night in an effort to not draw attention to the wild elven princess, and she was hastily cleaned and her bow was relinquished from her. Sometimes she could still feel the firm vibration of a strung bow on her fingertips, and a soft hum of a singing arrow filled her ears.

Zarina’s feet halted her escape, then turned to face the tower her tutor resided in as if she were a compass that had finally found true north. The tower loomed mysteriously in the sky, the red brick only gave way to a weathered oaken door and two small windows. Zarina had never witnessed the tower from the inside, Sebastian made sure that her and Solas interacted in public places with prying eyes on them at all times. She would catch herself in her thoughts, which concocted tales about the contents of the tower. Bookshelves of aged oak would line the curves of the tower, sunken over the weight of dusty tomes. A small desk tucked under the staircase that was always lit with a half burned candle. The dust from the shelves would float up with the smoke from the candle, carrying its distinct scent to the loft were a sleeping Solas lay, eyelashes softly fluttering at the arrival of dawn.

A cold nose pressed to Zarina’s calf alerted her that she had begun to dote too long on the memory. Elgar nudged her again with a large black snout, signaling her to continue with the soft wag of his tail. Zarina’s hand found its way behind the wolf’s perked ears, a scratch brought about an excited wiggle that overcame the animal.

“Ghilana, Elgar.” She clucked to the wolf, who answered with an excited yip. Elgar continued down the path that led to the lake, large paws padded quickly against the brick. His gait carried him along the path in an “S” formation, allowing him to simultaneously check both sides of the road while keeping a protective gaze over Zarina. As the princess fell in line behind the wolf, she wondered how long it would take for Josephine to send Alistair after her. Hours? Days?

I am too valuable for them to stall that long. A bitter tone overcame her. The wedding loomed ever closer, therefore Josephine would try to avoid a clamor at all costs. The Antivan was probably furiously searching for her guard, with a timid Merrill in tow. Always check the kitchen first. A childish smirk curled at Zarina’s lips as she fondly remembered when Alistair was caught sneaking pastries from the kitchen when he was scheduled to be watching a younger Zarina. They were ignorant to the fact that he was trying to win over her friendship with brightly iced cookies and tarts.

           A loud bark erupted from Elgar and the massive animal took off at an extraordinary gait towards the stables. “Elgar!” Zarina’s heart skipped a beat at the urgency with which her wolf ran. “Garas!” She yelled after the wolf, who continued to fly towards the building. Zarina gathered the hem of her silk slip in her fist and took off after the animal, who had quickly put distance between them. Muscles extended and retracted in ways that once came naturally, but now felt foreign. Legs that had grown accustomed to stagnation were now carrying the elf over beds of flowers and grass, quickly gaining ground on the wolf. The wind ripped at Zarina’s dress, trying to slow her from reaching her target, but her legs kept carrying her. She almost forgot what it felt like to run, to have adrenaline snake through her veins. She almost forgot what it felt like to be alive.

           Elgar skidded to a stop in front of the stables, hackles erect and teeth bared. A young boy had placed himself between the sharp teeth of the wolf and the erratic shuffling of a nervous deer. Hands wrapped in stained cloth were raised apprehensively towards the poised wolf, his lips moved quickly but Zarina was still too far to make out the words.

“Elgar!” The final plea was ripped breathlessly from Zarina’s lips by the wind. A few more strides brought her to the scene, and to a fearsome wolf who had relinquished its teeth and offered its belly to the curious boy. Her bare feet brought her to a halt, and she unclenched the train of her dress to allow it to lick her exposed ankles once more, golden eyes took in the frail form of the boy. Gentle hands were covered in blisters, yet they ran over Elgar’s wiry coat without hesitation. Deep set eyes void of color were barely visible behind shaggy blonde hair, and cracked lips whispered calmly to the mass of dog beneath him. The lanky deer that once stood erect from panic was now grazing peacefully behind him, ears still alert to the boys words.

“I’m sorry about him.” Zarina began, she shifted from foot to foot uneasily. “He usually listens to me.”

“That’s quite alright.” The boy’s voice was smooth and quite, unlike his rugged appearance, and he spoke without looking up from the wolf. Zarina broke her gaze from the boy and her wolf, and she looked at the barn that stood worn down on the edge of the castle property. Wood from the surrounding forests had been gathered to construct the simple building, and the rain and sun made quick work of wearing the wood smooth. A small corral was adjacent to the barn, two chestnut colored horses nosed through patches of grass.

           The strange boy stood suddenly, then turned towards the deer that grazed silently behind him. Elgar shifted to his side in disapproval, soft whines escaped him as he watched the boy move quietly away from him. Zarina clucked her tongue, signaling a reluctant wolf back to her side. Zarina eyed the boy curiously, then began to follow behind him.

“What exactly do you- oh!” The deer perked at her approaching, black eyes widened with fear, the deer bolted into the expanse of woods. The young boy helplessly watched at the deer shot between bushes and trees before disappearing in the thick of the forest.

“Oh gods, I am so sorry!” The frame of the boy turned on Zarina, and his eyes picked over her frame as if dissecting the elf before him. A moment passed between the pair and the forest that surrounded them held its breath, the boy shuffled his feet before finally responding.

“My name is Cole.” The words soared towards Zarina on the breath of an exhale. “I’m the groundskeeper.” His eyes fell to his hands, unable to hold Zarina’s questioning gaze, and a rough hand adjusted the bandages of the other. The frail frame of the boy seemed to shrink into his surroundings, as if he were a ghost of the barn. His eyes circulated his surroundings, but continuously failed to land on the fiery-haired elf before him. A soft whine escaped from the wolf at Zarina’s side, and he began to furiously wag his tail when the boy’s gaze fell on him.

A soft smiled spread across Zarina’s lips. “You have a way with animals.”

           The boy fell onto his knees and the white mass of wolf excitedly scooted into Cole’s arms, tongue falling from his black lips as Cole’s hands found themselves behind the back of Elgar’s ears. An unspoken innocence seemed to radiate from the boy, as if he were a new spring bud that managed to push itself from the earth with a content sigh. Where there was innocence, sadness also seemed to lurk, like a stubborn weed that continued to harass the new bloom.

“Animals don’t ask for much.” His voice was smooth like glass, and each word was spoken with care. “I don’t either.”

“Princess! Zarina!” Sharp voices broke the calm that had settled between the elf and the boy. Elgar rolled away from Cole, body alert and rigid as his eyes scanned the party that was ascending on them. Josephine led the group, skirts gathered awkwardly in her hands to prevent her gown from dragging through the grass while still keeping the hem at a modest length. Merrill and Alistair closed in behind the Antivan, and Dorian kept a steady pace behind the leaders, face painted with a disheveled flair. Zarina stood to face the approaching group, fingers anxiously buried in Elgar’s scruff.

“We’ve been looking everywhere for you!” The Antivan exclaimed, furious eyes taking in the sheerness of Zarina’s dress and the dirt that had gathered between her toes.

“I’m sure you have.” The words dripped with venom as Zarina pulled her face taunt with a smug grin. Merrill appeared from behind Josephine, bright eyes begged for Zarina to surrender to the group.

“We’re sorry about what happened.” Merrill’s voice was frail as she chose her words carefully. “Please come back with us.” Zarina’s gaze rested on each of their faces, forehead wrinkled from frustration. She turned to fall back into the calm that was the groundskeeper, but found that the boy had vanished back into his surroundings. The princess hesitated, then relinquished her grip on Elgar.

“Fine. Let’s go.” Her voice wavered despite her effort to conceal her emotions. Josephine’s lips parted, as if to offer a final word, but her painted lips were unable to form a comment. She simply turned towards the distant castle, hiked up her dress to expose a toned calf, then proceeded through the meadow. Alistair remained tight lipped, nodded to Dorian that they were to return. Dorian responded with a moody breath of disapproval, whipped the sweat that had accumulated on his brow, then followed the guard.

           Merrill linked arms with Zarina, and the pair flanked the rest of the group with Elgar keeping pace beside them. Silence settled awkwardly between the pair, both unsure of how to process the chaotic morning. Anger rooted itself at the base of Zarina’s consciousness, she knew that Merrill meant well but her friend’s loyalty resided with her. Shame, or something of the sort, tried to soothe the anger, tried to reason that Merrill owned nothing to her. Zarina’s face flushed, and she tried to swallow the emotion.

“Here.” Merrill’s voice dropped to a suspicious whisper as she cast a wary eye over those that lead them. A hurried palm pressed something into Zarina’s, and a cluck of the tongue demanded Zarina’s silence. The princess’ fist fell to her side as she cast a confused eye over her friend, then chanced a look at the contents that she bore in secret. Parchment, with the edges unraveled from a fire. She could make out the simplicity of Solas’ writing.

“Is this..?” A sharp elbow in the princess’ ribs once again demanded her silence, but also confirmed her suspicions.

“You know magic is forbidden.” Zarina tried to curb the sharpness of her tongue, but she feared for her friends. Most of Orlais remained unforgiving of magic unless it was used for parlor tricks, Sebastian continuously lamented the use of magic, often described it as an uncontrollable plague. No one in the castle knew of Merrill’s power, of how she had accidentally burned Zarina’s eyebrows off when they were children. If the nobility were to find out, Merrill wouldn’t make it out of Orlais alive.

“You deserve to be happy, my friend.”