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threeacttragedy · 6 months ago

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Entry 13: The One Where the Ashes Blew Towards Us with the Salt Wind from the Sea

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”

Ah, yes, that ominous opening line from Daphne du Maurier’s novel, “Rebecca.” Have you ever read it? It’s an old book – from 1938, in fact! – but it’s truly a remarkable story, especially for its time. It’s not often you find yourself rooting for the murderer.

Lately, I have found myself becoming more and more frustrated with the fandom. And, no, my annoyance is not from the Sincerely Ignorant teetering on and off the boat every time someone takes a dump on the deck of the USS Lukola – I’m pretty fucking used to that shit – and, honestly, many of our dear Sincerely Ignorant seem to be gaining their sea legs. It’s the Conscientiously Stupid that have struck a chord with me – a disturbing, dissonant chord that leaves me questioning the average level of human intelligence.

My issue with the Conscientiously Stupid is that they push narratives that, when taken collectively, make no goddamn sense. Thanks to The-One-That-Lurks-in-a-Play-Misty-For-Me-Heaping-Pile-of-Discordant-Garbage, I have had the [dis]pleasure of learning about Nicola- and Luke-Adjacent theories. Did you know that the small scrap of green blanket Nicola was sitting on in her August 11 “Drink Your Milk” picture proved that the picture was meant for Jake? You know the guy that, at that point in Fandom History, most people had no clue even existed? I mean, that makes a lot more sense than linking the “Drink Your Milk” shirt Nicola was showcasing to the one Luke was seen wearing on June 22. Now, I’m not saying the shirt belonged to Luke, but if we’re comparing apples to apples, which one of these theories seems more plausible to you?

At this point, you have probably started to realize I enjoy weaving in and out of storytelling mode, mixing fact with theory and speculation. Today, I decided to take a classic novel – surely you didn’t think I made that reference to “Rebecca” for nothing – and loosely intertwine it with some Conscientiously Stupid adjacent theories. This is all in good fun and, like usual, mostly for my own dark humor.

I should probably begin by introducing our book characters. Honestly, you can probably guess which of our shipmates I have assigned to each role fairly quickly.

First, we have our Unnamed Narrator. Seriously, her first name is never revealed.

Second, we have Mrs. Danvers, the obsessive, borderline psychotic housekeeper.

Third, we have Maxim de Winter, our Narrator’s husband.

Fourth, we have Jack Favell, the dodgy and unlikeable cousin.

Lastly, we have our titular character, that darling creature Rebecca.

Now, let’s see who is on the playbill.

ANTONIA AS MRS. DANVERS

It pained me just a little to give the role of Mrs. Danvers to Antonia, primarily because Mrs. Danvers is such a complex character and I’ve always found Antonia to be rather simple. And, no, I’m not insinuating Antonia is simple-minded; I am saying it was never difficult to see through her bullshit (i.e., the phrase, “patterns are patterning,” didn’t come out of thin air). It helped that Mrs. Danvers is one of the main antagonists in the book and almost certainly the GOAT at trolling the heroine of “Rebecca.” I mean, the second Mrs. de Winter didn’t stand a chance with Danny lurking in the background.

The general narrative in Lukola Lore is that Antonia is an online troll. I’ve never been sure as to who her primary target was – Nicola or the Lukola fandom. I tend to believe it originated as Nicola and the Lukola fandom was simply collateral damage. I also cannot say for fact that Antonia was trolling anyone, but I can confirm that the general belief within the fandom that Antonia was trolling is well-documented on social media. For today’s story, we are going to assume the narrative that Antonia was trolling both Nicola and the Lukola fandom. We are also going to assume the USS Lutonia (because I have no fucking clue what the Luke-Antonia ship is called!) was real. Don’t get your feathers fluffed over this. This belief does exist – and it’s why Antonia has been able to fuck with the Lukolas as long as she has – but I promise I have every intention of peppering the side of this ship with holes.

Okay, let’s tow the USS Lutonia out to sea. Don’t forget your Dramamine!

We are living under the umbrella that Luke and Antonia were dating during the World Tour. Poor Antonia was forced into hiding by – who the fuck knows but let’s keep rolling with this narrative – and she wasn’t allowed to be openly seen with Luke or post anything on her social media with Luke. And, Luke mirrored this behavior and made an effort to keep Antonia out of the spotlight (in fact, at the New York City premiere, the average viewer wouldn’t have known Antonia was anything more than Luke’s “friend of a friend”). Antonia, annoyed with this lack of engagement (and, almost certainly fed up with, at a minimum, fans shipping Luke with Nicola), started the pattern of posting pictures of herself and tagging her location as places the fandom knew Luke had recently been. Luke, for his part, made no effort to acknowledge his relationship with Antonia. Instead, he continued his flirtatious relationship with Nicola. After the London premiere, the Lukolas put a target smack dab in the middle of Antonia’s back and blamed her for setting up Papsmear for her own benefit. Luke still made no effort to acknowledge his relationship with Antonia or protect her from the abundance of online hate she received. In fact, he posted his “I will not let [Cressida] ruin our night” story to Instagram instead (see my “Entry 1 – The One About That Weird Ass Cressida Post” if you’re confused by this comment). During post-Papsmear events, Luke did not list her as a plus one and he didn’t like any pictures of Antonia that were not on her grid. In fact, the only evidence directly linking Luke to Antonia were leaked and/or since-deleted pictures and videos not released by Luke. Throughout the summer, Antonia continued her efforts to place herself in proximity to Luke via tagged or easily recognizable locations. Oddly, many of Antonia’s posts seemed to occur shortly after Nicola posted or before/after DeuxMoi posted pap pictures, which gave birth to the “Antonia is trolling” subplot. Still, Luke made no effort to acknowledge his relationship with Antonia. On July 30, Luke was papped with Antonia and his friend group in Sorrento (see my “Entry 11 – The One About the Heart of the Ocean” if you want my opinion about that excursion). This was the last time Luke and Antonia were publicly photographed together. Once Luke returned to London on August 2, Antonia continued her campaign of insinuating she was in the same location as Luke, with the most recent being the Italian restaurant in Rome (which the restauranteur debunked, in my opinion). Again, Luke and Antonia have not been photographed together since July 30. To date, Luke has made no effort to acknowledge his relationship with Antonia, and the only visible interaction by Luke are his likes on Antonia’s semi-monthly Instagram grid posts, which seem obligatory at this point. For the month of November, there was no interaction between Luke and Antonia because Antonia did not post to her grid (gasp!).

Now, for all the Lutonia’s out there, explain to me why this kind of relationship is acceptable to you. Seriously, explain it to me.

Convince me that Luke didn’t shutter Antonia from the moment the USS Lukola schematics were presented to the engineers.

Convince me that Antonia is the kind of woman who would happily accept Luke’s blatant dismissal of her existence while he globe-trotted around the world with a woman he was being openly shipped with by fans, the press, and Bridgerton mates.

Convince me that Luke’s behavior towards Antonia doesn’t make him the worst boyfriend on the planet.

Convince me that Antonia’s online behavior towards Nicola and the Lukola fandom during and after the World Tour doesn’t make her a troll.

Convince me that Luke and Antonia are the definition of “true love.” Actually, before you do that, convince me that Luke and Antonia are currently dating.

Or, maybe you’ve realized that any effort to try to convince me would be a waste of your time because you, too, are starting to find this entire narrative unacceptable. It equates Antonia to someone who doesn’t mind being boxed into a corner and forced to claw her way out, and it likens Luke to an overbearing womanizer who doesn’t give two flips about how online hate may be affecting his partner. I mean, we may as well dump these two into an entirely different book called “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

I didn’t assign the role of Mrs. Danvers to Antonia because I thought Antonia was a feeble coward without her own voice. And, no, I didn’t give her the role because Mrs. Danvers is an obsessive psychopath. I gave Antonia the role of Mrs. Danvers because the fandom handed her the power to influence this narrative on a silver platter, just like the Narrator in “Rebecca” allowed herself to be manipulated by Mrs. Danvers. Moving forward, when you see Antonia with a lit match, all you need to do is lean over and blow it out. Poof! And, she’s gone. Seriously, if you see our version of Mrs. Danvers with anything that might light a fire, take it away from her!

Surely someone out there gets my joke…

LUKE AS MAXIM DE WINTER

Of course, Luke is Maxim de Winter, the outwardly charismatic, but recently widowed anti-hero who caught the affection of our Unnamed Narrator. I mean, he’s a good guy, right? Uhh, yeah, sure… Who doesn’t want to be married to a brooding chauvinist who is outwardly obsessed with the titular character? Wait a minute, that doesn’t sound like Luke at all! Oh, no, actually it does – if you believe the USS Lutonia is real!

For Luke, we are going to assume the same narrative as above – that the USS Lutonia is real, that Antonia trolled Nicola and the Lukola fandom, and that Luke refused to acknowledge his relationship with Antonia. Besides the obvious “Luke is the shittiest fucking boyfriend in the universe,” I have a few other gripes with the USS Lutonia.

Initially, I understood the concept of “keeping Antonia in the dark,” after all I try to be logical when I process information. It was always possible Luke and Nicola were rocking some great PR in the beginning of the World Tour, and that was the only thing they were rocking. In fact, that’s what I initially believed Nicola was doing – being cute but also professional in her interactions with Luke during those early press junkets. Luke, on the other hand, always seemed to wear his heart on his sleeve. Once they hit Australia, it seemed obvious to me that something had changed (go back and read my “Entry 12 – The One Where We Start Laying the Yellow Brick Road to Italy” for a briefing on this). The more I watched Luke and Nicola interact on the World Tour, the more I became convinced Antonia must have been a thing of the past (or possibly nothing) for Luke – until Antonia showed up at Papsmear. At that point, I fully expected Luke to just own up to her. Like, give up on trying to hide Antonia from public view. But, then he pulled that goddamn “Cressida” post (seriously, if you have not read my first entry to this blog, go back and read it!). When you look at the World Tour and subsequent Hot Boy Summer, and the behaviors that were – and were not – on display during that timeframe, you start to develop a completely different view of the USS Lutonia. I mean, I’m not even sure that ship ever left the planning room!

One of the most glaring cosmetic flaws with the USS Lutonia is why “nice guy” Luke would treat Antonia with such indifference if he loved her. When asked who was most like their Bridgerton character, everyone always answered Luke. That he was the kindest, most genuine person. If that’s true, then why did Luke treat his “girlfriend,” Antonia, like she didn’t exist? Again, convince me that Luke’s Public Display of Apathy towards Antonia made him a great boyfriend. Even if Luke was a private person, one would think that after someone he cared about received as much hate as Antonia did after Papsmear, he would have stepped up and taken control of the narrative. He didn’t hesitate to clear up the “cake eating” picture from his September 7 Instagram post (about Nicola), and that “Cressida” post will live rent-free in my mind forever. The only “logical” explanation I can come up with for “nice guy” Luke to shutter Antonia right from the jump is that Antonia is not, and was not, a significant person in his life. That, or he really is a shithead, and he has a team of people lying about what a great guy he is.

We also need to consider Nicola’s interactions with Antonia. First, Nicola has never followed Antonia and Antonia has never followed Nicola, at least not on her public account. But, Nicola followed – and still follows – Luke’s ex, Jade. Now, typically, I’d just be like, “Meh,” on something like this. But, after Papsmear, Nicola could have very easily played the “Diplomat Barbie” and given Antonia a follow on Instagram. But, she didn’t, which signals to me that Nicola wasn’t touching Antonia with an invisible 10-foot pole. Second, if you watch the back-and-forth between Nicola and Antonia on social media – in black and white, pen on paper – you’ll see Nicola playing the cat-and-mouse game right along with Antonia (Nicola just played it a helluva lot better). It even appears Nicola sicced her – what my father calls JVN – “assassin” on Antonia starting around July 20 or, at the very least, she condoned JVN teasing Antonia. If everything was great between Luke and Antonia – and Luke was genuinely happy with Antonia – why would Luke put up with the back-and-forth on social media between Antonia, Nicola, and JVN? Oh, that’s right, because Luke is the corrupt captain of the USS Lutonia. Seriously, if all was well between Luke and Antonia at this point in the timeline, then you’d have to surmise that all was not well between Luke and Nicola. We will get to that in a moment. Right now, aboard the USS Lutonia, Luke is just a lousy boyfriend.

Lastly – and what has always left me scratching my head – why would Luke allow Antonia to troll his fandom? Why allow Antonia to make insinuations online that they’re together but never come to her rescue when the fandom starts flinging shit at her? In my opinion, the InStyle copycat pictures (go read my last blog entry…) were just Antonia getting her feet wet. Why continue to put up with Antonia after allegations began flying that she arranged Papsmear and the Italy pap pictures? I suppose the answer most Lutonias would give is, “Because they’re in love.” With everything I have outlined in this entry, do you honestly get the “in love” vibe from those two? Because I don’t.

Now, why did I draw parallels between Luke and the book character, Maxim? It’s not because I believe Luke to be a male chauvinist so wrapped up in his own drama that he ignores those around him. The USS Lutonia will definitely paint that impression, though! It’s because Maxim’s demeanor was superficial. What the Unnamed Narrator believed was true about her husband was not actually true. And, that’s how I view the USS Lutonia – Luke’s behavior and the narrative surrounding this ship does not match the logic.

JAKE AS JACK FAVELL

Sorry, Jake, you get to be the icky Jack Favell. Yeah, that manipulative, blackmailing creep sleeping with his own cousin! But, hey, that subplot isn’t any more disturbing than Jake being shipped with Nicola, is it?

Alright, let’s jump on board the USS Jakola but not before I preface this section with my father’s flabbergasted words: “This ship is on the bottom of the ocean. These people must have oxygen masks. They’re down there with Jules Verne. This just doesn’t make sense.” No, it really doesn’t make sense but, because I’m here to tell a story, I will begrudgingly dive into the USS Jakola narrative. And, by “dive,” I mean plunge to the bottom of the ocean because that’s where this ship rests.

Just like we did with the USS Lutonia, we are going to assume the USS Jakola is real. The Jakolas believe that Nicola has been seeing Jake since, I guess, the Renegade Nell premiere on or about March 26, 2024. Although, the last I checked Eamon Farren was also at that premiere holding an umbrella for Nicola. I am not confirming Nicola was ever dating Eamon; I am simply saying he was present at the event and holding a fucking umbrella for her. You can make up your own mind about Eamon’s role in Nicola’s life. Regardless, it must have been an instant connection between Nicola and Jake because, if the Jakola narrative is to be believed, they began secretly dating after that. The Jakolas will argue that all the songs Nicola posted to her Instagram stories were for Jake. The Claddagh ring has no traditional meaning when Nicola wears it, and Chaos Week was also for Jake (and a “fuck you” to Luke). The Lukola-coded fan fiction was a “fuck you” to the Lukola fandom (see my “Entry 10 – The One About the Audibly Loud Lukola FanFic”). And, Jake and Nicola are in love and have hard launched their relationship because (a) Jake has been seen wearing Nicola’s bucket hat, (b) they have been seen in public together, and (c) they occasionally hold hands.

I’m not going to lie – for the longest time I didn’t pay any attention to the USS Jakola because it was such an incredibly absurd concept to me. A few weeks back, I posted to my Tumblr account a music video that Jake had done in early 2023. The song is called “Mixed Emotions” by You Me at Six, and the article that came out with the video on February 7th, 2023 stated, “With Jake Dunn who played the protagonist in the video who is actually a friend of mine, we actually spoke a lot about toxic masculinity and his experiences within his sexuality and the impacts it has had on his relationship with his dad.” It honestly never occurred to me the USS Jakola actually had passengers on board until October when the Jakholes went bananas over Nicola holding Jake’s hand. In my opinion – and you do not have to agree with me – the music video speaks for itself as does Jake’s social media presence, whether it be on his own pages or on those of his friend group. I’m sure I’ll get some Jakholes in here crying that we shouldn’t speculate on Jake’s sexuality, but the reality is the only people speculating on Jake’s sexuality are the Jakolas trying to discern whether he’s heterosexual. But, why doesn’t he just come out and say it? I get this question all the time. The answer is quite simple – he doesn’t need to. Jake never buried this part of his life; it’s other people burying it for him. Do you need to blast your sexual preferences out into the universe? I didn’t think so.

For shits and giggles – because that’s what I’m here for – let’s keep going with the story that Nicola and Jake are hot and heavy with each other. I’ll play center field and say Jake is a switch hitter. Happy now? If Jakola is real, then why would Nicola lay all those Lukola-coded breadcrumbs? And, NO, I am not explaining every crumb she’s dumped online. This post is already too damn long. But, Dear Jakolas, don’t tell me those coordinated airplane pictures didn’t have you crying into your pillows. Seriously, though, why would Nicola fuck with the Lukola fandom? I’ve mentioned in previous posts that Polin and Lukola have even been blurred by Netflix & Co. at this point. What would be the point of dragging the Lukolas along only to find out it was Nicola just fucking around? That makes about as much sense as “nice guy” Luke being the shittiest boyfriend on the planet. Again, the narrative does not fit the logic – although you’re welcome to try to convince me that Jakola is real.

For starters, convince me as to why Nicola is Jake’s “type” and not Luke’s. I am not being factitious. I seriously want to know why she’s acceptable for Jake but not Luke. And, if you’re going to tell me it’s because Luke likes brunettes, you better bring me some evidence that Jake likes blonde women.

Convince me that the Claddagh ring has no traditional significance to Nicola and that Jake would be okay with Nicola wearing that Claddagh ring – the one she had made in honor of Bridgerton Season 3, the season she shared with the man that fills her Instagram grid and tags and is the other half of Lukola. If you’re stuck on the significance of this ring, go read “Entry 6 – The One Where I Explained the Claddagh Ring to My Dad.”

Convince me that Nicola and Jake are a couple. And, if you’re going to mention handholding, then convince me that Nicola is not in a relationship with Mark, JVN, Jack R., Golda, Hannah D., Dylan L., or Luke. Oh, and is it true Jake is now dating Ellie Bamber? Convince me he’s not…

Any ways, good luck, babe, trying to sway me into believing Jakola is the real deal because I have a feeling your efforts are going to make your face become as flushed as Jack Favell’s when he was caught with his hand in the till.

NICOLA AS REBECCA

Surely you didn’t think Nicola was going to be the heroine of this story! If you believe the USS Lutonia and USS Jakola are smoothly sailing across the ocean blue, then the only role Nicola could reasonably play is that of the story’s villain – Rebecca. Yes, Rebecca was a bad, bad girl. She was manipulative and intentionally cruel; a Bitch with a capital “B.” She haunted poor Maxim and controlled Mrs. Danvers and Jack like a master puppeteer. She also tortured the Unnamed Narrator from her watery grave.

Seriously, though, let’s turn the tables. Let’s pretend Lutonia and Jakola are real. Starting, say, April 29, Nicola started trolling Antonia by dropping Luke-coded material online and really started ramping up those doe-eyed looks in Luke’s direction. Remember all that cute BTS? Perfectly timed to make it look like Antonia was trolling her when in reality Nicola was trolling Antonia! Unbeknownst to Luke, Nicola commissioned that Claddagh ring and started wearing it to make it look like she was in a relationship with Luke. She even organized a side jaunt over to Galway to introduce Luke to – surprise! – her mother! But, after being rejected by Luke – because he really is in love with Antonia (the USS Lutonia is blasting its horn right about now) – Nicola – YES, Nicola! – set up Papsmear to ruin Luke. I mean, if he wasn’t going to be her boyfriend, he sure as shit wasn’t going to be anyone else’s! All summer Nicola waited for Luke, but he’d gone into hiding, scared to surface because Nicola might find him! After growing tired of waiting for Luke, Nicola got her assassin, JVN, to start trolling Antonia online, that way Nicola could put all her efforts into finding and trolling Luke. She set up Chaos Week. She trolled him on the airplane. But, she needed help (after all she had so many other events and awards shows this summer) so she enlisted her unwitting accomplice, Jake! Jake helped her set up that Lukola FanFic to remind Luke of what could have been. But, nothing was working so Nicola upped the ante and volunteered Jake to be her confused boyfriend. “Luke…Luke…” I can still hear her desperate cries being carried like ashes in the wind…

SEE! I can do it, too – make up total bullshit to fit whatever narrative I please!!!

Yeah, yeah, maybe I went a bit too far (I warned you I had a dark sense of humor) but, honestly, I believe the only way the USS Lutonia and USS Jakola could stay afloat is if Nicola is the villain. She doesn’t even have to be a super villain. She just needs to be disingenuous enough to alienate Luke, terrorize Antonia, manipulate Jake, and mislead an entire fandom. Lucky for her, I don’t believe Nicola to be a real-life Rebecca. If you need an explanation as to why, then you didn't watch the same World Tour as me and you’re clearly on the wrong side of the fandom.

In truth, I believe the real villain to be…

YOU AS THE UNNAMED NARRATOR

Now, now, calm down. I’m not calling you out – at least not individually. I’m calling all of us out.

We as a fandom are the Unnamed Narrators of Lukola, Jakola, and Lutonia. We built these ships, and we control whether they stay afloat.

We took the narrative out of Luke and Nicola’s hands the moment we launched the USS Lutonia. Then we had to go and build the USS Jakola – I guess, because we were bored. No matter how hard Luke and Nicola try to pull the narrative back under their control, we allow side characters to feed us their side of the story! We fill our bellies with their nonsense and then vomit it all over the deck of the USS Lukola.

Seriously, we are the villains in this story. And, collectively, we are one bloody powerful super villain, aren’t we?

We control the narrative. So, if there’s a narrative you don’t agree with – for example, one that doesn’t make sense to you – stop being Conscientiously Stupid and feeding into it.

Remember what I said earlier? If you see Mrs. Danvers with a lit match, blow that fucker out! Otherwise, you’re going to let that bitch burn down the whole goddamn house.

#lukola #luke newton #nicola coughlan #my thoughts #my opinion #speculation only #my mood

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fr33time · 2 months ago

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Hi, I saw that your request are open again and I'm really happy about it since I enjoy your blog ❤ if it's fine with you could I request something with Jin, Taiga, Alan and Sho with a Reader who's always surprised and happy, their face lighting up in seconds, when being told they did a good job or praised, because they never heard words like this, maybe even more used to hearing how they always make things worse or not for anything? Even from their parents even? (little angst mixed with fluff and comfort is always good). 👉👈

I honestly get this, so I was happy to receive this request hehe. I grew up feeling like I made things worse or getting yelled at for not doing things correctly. This wasn’t specific to my parents, it was more people outside of my family, but I understand that emotion. 🫶

also just a note, hopefully I’ll upload again soon. I started working on a little series, I won’t be releasing it anytime soon because if I know myself I will abandon it for a few months. So I will not be releasing it until I finished it fully! I was motivated to write again so I’m trying to write multiple fics right now! I’ve been feeling guilty for not posting to the point where I think about leaving it altogether, but I try to remind myself that it’s fine to pace myself haha. Anyways I hope you guys are having a lovely day ✎ (❁ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈) ༉‧ ♡*.✧

GN!reader that loves praise!

Characters included: Jin, Taiga, Alan, Shohei

Hurt/comfort, fluff

Requesting rules here! (Read before requesting)

╔══ஓ๑♡��ஓ══╗

♡Jin

Jin never shows it, but he finds your joyfulness endearing. Especially the big smile you give him when he tells you that you did a good job. He is puzzled by it though, why do you make a big deal out of a compliment? Though it’s not like he’d get in the way of your celebrations. He likes seeing you happy and to him that’s all there is to it.

When you were delivering documents to Tohma he happened to be in Jin’s room. You flash your signature bright smile when he comments on how fast you were, Tohma notices this behaviour “You’re a very bright person for someone that’s so close to the captain” Jin gives him a mean glare at this comment. You get a little embarrassed and look away to say “I’m just not used to being told that I did a good job, that's all,” and it clicked for Jin. You’ve mentioned that your parents had high expectations of you before, but now he realizes why you act the way that you do. He doesn’t bring anything up in the future unless you tell him, but he seems to praise you more often than usual. He’s a little rough around the edges so he watches what he says, and he goes a liiiiittle bit overboard when he treats you to a luxurious dinner for the hard work you’ve been doing around Darkwick.

-★-

♡Taiga

He likes your enthusiasm and teases you about it often. “So kitty likes to be told a good job?” That was what he said when he found out about this trait of yours. He doesn’t hand out his praises often, mostly because the one who orders people around is Lulu, but once in a blue moon he’ll tell you that you did a good job. If you’re smiling then he has less trouble. He isn’t the best at remembering certain things about you, but this behaviour sticks to him because you seem more confident.

He’s not one to ask questions about you, to him if it comes up then it comes up. Will he care? It really depends on what you’re saying to him. You kind of just have to tell him, and even then he won’t ask any follow-up questions. A situation pops up where a Sinostra student is yelling at you for making a mistake for not noticing that a patron cheated at one of the tables. The student understands that Romeo will have both of their heads if he finds out. What he doesn’t realize is that Taiga is nearby and paying close attention. You could hear a loud *BANG* and instinctively ducked, when you looked up you realized that there was a bullet hole between you and the Sinostra student. When Romeo stomps up the stairs aggressively to Taiga’s room later that day, his face is insanely scrunched up. “ARE YOU INSANE? NOT ONLY DID THEY LET SOMEONE ROB US, BUT YOU PUT A HOLE IN OUR EXPENSIVE WALLS” Romeo continued to scream at Taiga, who was barely paying attention on the bed. “Calm down Lulu, you’ll get wrinkles if you look that sour.” He doesn’t care if he gets in trouble, that sinostra student was being annoying about you.

-★-

♡Alan

He looooves handing out praises to you, when it isn’t verbally he gives you a reassuring pet to let you know that you’re doing a good job. He’s happy when you’re happy, so when you give him your sweet smile he feels like he accomplished something. He gives you tasks that he’s sure you can handle so he can compliment you at all times.

He isn’t much of a talker, but he knows when to defend something close to his heart. The case in point is you, you’ve been getting to know this group of people through being around Vagastrom, and he walked into some conversation including you. He heard them saying nasty things about you and how they’ve started to dislike you because you “make things worse.” Something welled up inside of him and he couldn’t help but defend you, ending in the group being scared off. When he went to tell you, all you could do was sigh and shrug your shoulders “I knew this would happen… don’t worry about it Alan I’m used to it.” He was taken aback, why would you brush it off like that? He didn’t want to push you about it further, you looked sad enough already without saying anything. “Don’t hang around them anymore, just because you’re used to it doesn’t mean that you deserve it. You’re worth more than that.”

-★-

♡Shohei

He smirks when he sees you so happy, it’s adorable on you. Even though he doesn’t understand why you’re like that, he needs that whimsy in his life. Leo is a downer most of the time so you’re a nice change of pace, and it makes him feel like he can be human around you. He’s also one to tease you, something along the lines of “pfft… you don’t need to get that ecstatic, but you look pretty cute doing it.”

Sho overheard a conversation between you and a Vagastrom student. All he heard was “You can’t do anything right” and soon followed the sound of a door closing. He peeked into the room and saw you standing there with a sad, vacant look on your face. He wanted to say something to that guy, but he was too late to the conversation. “Hey, why didn’t you stand up for yourself?” He finally spoke up and mildly surprised you “It’s okay Sho, I’m used to hearing stuff like that and I don’t want to fight about it…” your voice grew quieter at the end. He knew it affected you, I mean he gets it, he didn’t exactly grow up in the happiest place but he still hated that you of all people knew how it felt. He waved you over into the kitchen “Come on, you choose what I get to make for us.” It’s all he could do to comfort you, but you get to enjoy his delicious cooking to make you feel better.

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#tokyo debunker #tkdb #tokyo debunker x reader #tokyo debunker headcanons #headcanon #tokyo debunkers #jin kamurai #jin x reader #taiga hoshibami #taiga x reader #shohei haizono #shohei x reader #alan mido #alan x reader

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directdogman · 2 months ago

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Apologies if this is the kind of thing you've answered already, but how do you manage so many dialogue options? I'm not just talking about the different routes and semi-random tangents, but just every little different way of saying something? And how do you organise it, it's very impressive!

For the most part, I type all of my dialogue out in a single document, in plain-text (like a psycho) and then just kinda 'know' where everything needs to be. I don't even generally signify which character is speaking, but the characters all speak differently, so that usually doesn't really affect anything. Here's what the second Stabby/Shooty scene in Roger's route looks like, for instance, which has 4 characters speaking at once (Gingi's is in quotation marks.)

I mixed up Stabby/Shooty once or twice (ironically enough) while implementing the dialogue and had to go back when one would say something I obviously meant the other to say, but other than that, it went by smoothly.

Roger's route scripts occasionally had Roger's name added to them after they were written to help Roger's voice actor know which lines were his (mostly bc there were so many lines, meaning it was easy to miss some.)

If a scene has a LOT of branches, I might make a flow chart out of the finished dialogue to make it easier to tell where connections go, but the only scene I've really had to do that for was God's day 2 scene on Randy's route. Which, as you can see, was kind of a necessity since it had like 10,000 words and an unmerciful amount of branches. This one was basically a fun experiment I used to push myself.

In a few of my scrapped drafts for Olandy, I did smth like this not exactly for organization, but to help in visualizing how long some tangents are. Though, this didn't wind up making much of a difference in the end since not all tangents are equal and trying to make them too uniform will require shortening and artificially lengthening tangents, which may impact dialogue quality.

Hope this helps!

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jakei95 · 2 years ago

Text

[Post in English] Something Nyx and I want to publicly address, regarding the recent allegations in the Glitchtale Crew's Discord Server and it's moderators. I really apologize for the upcoming wall of text. These are our Twitter threads I have pasted them here, in case you don't have access to said platform. I have also added some additional notes to provide more context. All details under the line:

NyxTheShield: (Transcription from his official twitter thread) I read some mean comments lately and I just wanna be super clear: I havent been related to Glitchtale since at least 2022. I never considered myself part of the community and went through some much shit while doing stuff for it that my mental health was completely destroyed.

For people who thought I was an admin of the server, that was just in paper. I was constantly de-admin'd, demodded and kicked from the server through the years for simple stuff like asking the rest of the mod team to not say slurs or standing up against the Midnight Crew. I personally left the server for a long while because I really did not want to be around some of the people there. All of this happened years ago (from 2016~ to around 2020). On the early years, my full income came from Youtube/Glitchtale. I was a broke college student and my economic stability depended on it. Despite this, and making literally hundred of tracks and hours of music for the series, most of the income came from my own ad revenue. I was paid less than 2000 USD for all of the work. Essentially, I was paid in exposure.

This wouldn't have been an issue for me if at least I got to keep my artistic vision with the series. That didn't hold true for long.

From the second season and onwards, and in multiple instances, I would score the entire OST for the episode, watch the episode when it released, and then find out a completely new section of the episode (usually a battle scene) with music from somebody else This was completely demotivating to me because I wasn't being paid, the tracks would not fit the rest of the OST at all, and most of the income I made from the battle scenes. I had to work for weeks trying to compose music for glorified powerpoint presentations (Basically everything that's not a battle scene on the series was just still frames of characters barely moving) and do all the heavy lifting and I wasn't even let known about the guest tracks.

This added to the feeling of having absolutely no power within the community. I don't know if this was intentional or not (I don't wanna presume malice), but all of these things together contributed to me distancing myself from the community.

Honestly, there is A LOT more shit that went down these early years that are extremely traumatic to me that I would prefer to not talk about unless completely necessary, but I feel this is a good amount of context for what I wanna talk about next.

As you might be aware, extremely serious (and true) allegations were made against Camila and his partner, Veir, which was accused of grooming minors from 2015 to 2021 There are really good videos out there explaining the entire timeline of what transpired, but I specifically wanna talk about 2020.

(Jakei's note: Links to said videos are here: [1] [2] [3])

In that year, a public document was made by my head mod CrystalFlame alongside 2 other mods in the GT server, that exposed Veir and their actions. This document went mostly unnoticed. Even more, Crystal went through a lot of abuse for coming forward about their abuse and was almost ostracized from the UT AU community because of this.

Because of this, I was asked directly by one of the victims (and also representing the other victims) to please not speak up (Citing that they just wanted to move on and didn't want to involve themselves with more problems and expose themselves)

All the info was kept very vague from me, including the people who were involved, the extent of the stuff that went down, etc But I knew enough to know it was serious. I followed their request and didn't speak up publicly about this, but I banned Veir from my server, warned all of my mods and people close to me in those circles about Veir, and constantly tried to get Camila to please adress the situation. Despite this, she did not listen and we all know how stuff went down later in 2022, where the allegations came back again with full force. This time around I wasnt asked to stay silent so I spread the word around and confronted the entire mod team. I was shortly banned after that.

I needed to address this because this thing has been eating me alive for years. I was intentionally kept in the dark about a lot of context and nuance that would have completely changed my mind about speaking up or not about what happened in 2020.

Everything is easier in retrospective, and with the knowledge I now have about the situation I know for a fact that I would have spoken up about all that happened. But being asked directly to not speak up by the victims was something that goes against what I am Sorry for the long rant, but I really needed to get this off my chest. I am tired of having to deal with this kind of stuff. As a content creator/public figure I am trying my hardest to keep the communities I am active in as safe as possible.

I feel I could have done more for the Glitchtale community regarding the grooming situation, but all of the years of abuse that I endured really fucked up my judgement. I am not very good at dealing with people and I always trust the people close to help me for this kind of stuff

Sadly, in this case, those same people who were close to me were also the victims, so they couldnt have known or had a way to help me out, I should have helped them instead. Most if not all of what was described in this thread is backed up by screenshots, chat logs, and direct testimony from the people who were involved during this time.

I don't want to direct hate to anyone or start a witchhunt, I am doing this purely to decompress a bit and try to vent some of the trauma I experienced all these years.

============================================

Jakei: (Transcription from my official twitter thread) I would also like to share my experiences about my relationship with the Glitchtale Creator, Camila Cuevas. Publicly, we appeared as close friends, but in reality, that friendship was based on bullying and mistreatment, and this affected my mental health deeply.

Years have passed, and the memories still cause me pain. I decided to remain silent, but after the revelations of grooming cases in her community, I realized I wasn’t being too sensitive. The time has come to speak up about my experiences.

During the early years of Underverse, I was dealing with a serious depressive episode. Simultaneous internal and external pressures as an independent artist amplified my mental strain. Meeting Camila felt like finding a genuine friend who shared my passion for the fandom and understood the struggles of being a content creator amidst toxicity. At my lowest, I became compliant to doing things that I didn’t want to, just to keep people around me happy. For Camila, this meant allowing her to belittle my work and make me the butt of her jokes.

Only our veteran followers may remember the 'roasting games' between us on Tumblr (consisting of mutual insults), a spectacle where she'd always win. However, it was a game she privately forced me to "play" and I ended up accepting, despite the discomfort it caused me. These 'games' would give her a cool and strong image in the fandom while painting me as the dumb, 'cringe-worthy' friend. In essence, I became her personal punching bag, unknowingly reinforcing his reputation.

Camila's favorite term to demean my series 'Underverse' was “Cancerverse”. It felt like a constant contest where she'd always position herself as the superior writer and animator simply because my story and animation techniques didn't fit her standards. Years of being subjected to her ridicule left my self-esteem in ruins. I was okay with the negative feedback by some fans, but when my 'friend' publicly disrespected my art, it made me question my abilities as an artist.

I can't deny there were times when she gave me advice to deal with hate or hurtful comments. However, her damaging comments and treatment outweighed those moments of support.

My depressive state worsened around July 2017, where I had accepted people pushing me to do things I wasn’t comfortable with, while being part of Camila's demeaning games, just to appease her ego. I was introduced to Nyx during this time, he offered his music for my series, and eventually we started dating. We met in person in Chile, where I also met Camila. I hoped our friendship would strengthen but everything felt the same. Before I moved to Chile with Nyx, Camila reached out to me in dms, attempting to turn me against him because he opposed the use of slurs in the GT server. She claimed Nyx was being 'brainwashed' by his American friends belonging to the black and LGBTQ+ communities. She made fun of my dating choices, suggesting I was entering a toxic relationship, while showing off her relationship with her then-boyfriend (later exposed as a pedophile). She even quoted her own mother assuring me that Nyx would 'get back to normal', and if it didn’t happen, she would let me live in her house, almost like if she was telling me that Nyx would hurt me or make me feel miserable.

It only took Nyx 3 months to realize that the GT server was going in the wrong way. I initially felt compelled to defend Camila due to my inferiority complex, but soon realized Nyx was right. (Jakei's note: Not only Nyx was right, a lot of people that called her out over the years were right, yet they were not listened to at the time)

Even then, I found it difficult to distance myself from Camila due to the false sense of obligation I felt towards her. My fear of her making fun of my work kept me from interacting with others in the short period of time I stayed in her Discord server. I was afraid that she and her echo chamber would talk behind my back, something that I found out was happening in private chats until recent years.

Rebuilding my self-esteem wasn't an easy task. I began noticing the red flags – Camila's lack of respect not only for me but Nyx also, the emotional manipulation Nyx was suffering from Veir (something he used to do all the time with his other victims), her attempts to 'roast' me in front of her family and fans in the Underverse/Glitchtale meetings, and her constant criticism of my artstyle not being compatible to hers in the few collabs we made.

All these 'small' instances, dismissed as insignificant by many, caused me immense pain while treating my depression. I felt it was too late to express how I felt, as I feared being labeled as attention-seeking or oversensitive by her and her fanbase. Ironically, the moment she talked about her traumas after being bullied in the past, her feelings were the only ones that mattered any time she was involved in a problematic situation in the fandom and deserved to be the only to get pats in the back.

I never expected a sincere apology, as I was convinced she didn't remember or didn't care about the hurt she caused. I tried to maintain a facade of good terms with her, both publicly and privately. Eventually, I distanced myself from her, unfriending her and banning her from my own server even if she didn't interact there. I started focusing on my own work and the people who appreciated it. Despite this, the aftermath of the bullying continued to affect me.

Everything fell into place when the grooming accusations against her former boyfriend and server mods came to light. It was a shocking revelation, but it validated all my doubts and fears about her. The purpose of sharing my experiences is not to stir up drama, but to address the concerns of those worried about my association with Camila. I want to make it clear that I will never tolerate such behavior. Although the things I did for her in the past cannot be erased, I hope Camila at least deletes the animation remake I did for her and all the collabs that boosted her views for free, though I'm not optimistic about it happening.

As I've matured, my hope is that she and her crew learn from their mistakes, start behaving like adults, and take responsibility for their actions in their future projects and with their new followers. But I'm skeptical about any real change, especially if their server continues to exist. The best course of action for me was to cut all ties with Camila and Glitchtale.

NyxTheShield (now my husband) and I have endured too much from our treatment by Camila. We no longer want to be associated with her or Glitchtale. It's a chapter of our lives that we wish to close. It's time for us to focus on recovering our mental health, as remaining silent is only prolonging our pain. We have been working to improve our mental and physical health over the past few years and this is a crucial part of our healing process.

#jakei says something #english

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botanphal · 5 months ago

Text

THE VIVIBELLA BIBLE IS HERE AND IT’S QUEER

ENJOY

PREFACE

so you’re probably wondering. What is this weird sapphic tirade of 3K words? Well, this “note bible” was originally something I was going to keep for myself but figured others may want to see it too. This document is similar to a character bible, hence the name, except it’s more of a deep dive into two particular characters, strung out like notes. Please keep in mind that this document does not go into every idea I’ve had about these two but is more or less the basic ideas for the sake of consistency. This goes over canon and non-canon information which are separated so you know what’s true vs my own interpretations, though depending on which version of this post you’re reading, you may notice that there’s only canon information—which is more or less to let you have your own ideas from their purely canon-selves without the inspiration of my own non-canon ideas—the cut version of this document is also considerably smaller (1.7K). If you’re not on the canon cut version, then obviously the previous statement can be ignored. Regardless, I hope you have fun reading!

BOTANPHAL/PALIN’S VIVIBELLA BIBLE

LINKS

Just some links to their actual profiles for ease of access, as well as quotes and their theme music

Goombella:

https://www.mariowiki.com/Goombella

https://www.mariowiki.com/List_of_Goombella_quotes

https://youtu.be/1EmkKFaT7V4?si=erWshNwVBU5sfbo_

Vivian:

https://www.mariowiki.com/Vivian

https://www.mariowiki.com/List_of_Paper_Mario:_The_Thousand-Year_Door_quotes_by_character_(S–Z)

https://youtu.be/6WubRL1mPlQ?si=cY_tWs5TwyKZsr39

ESTABLISHING THE IDIOTS

let’s get down the gist of these sillies!

Goombella:

A junior at the university of Goom majoring in Archeology and seems to also consider herself a historian

- sassy, genuinely seems like she’d bite people’s fingers off sometimes

- nerd (but would backfire if you called her that given the note above)

- confident (of course, there are moments where she loses this but most of the time she seems rather self-actualized about things)

- kind, but does tend to poke fun at others (I can’t believe she called Koops cringe)

- curious

- knowledgeable (though she does make her mistakes regarding things like being fooled by Doopliss)

- excitable (after reading her dialogue over and over she uses a LOT of exclamation points. Girl calm down)

- kind of a hot head at times and jealous type, especially with how Ms. Mowz goes after Mario (Goombella definitely had a crush on him as well) and snaps back a lot though this could just be related to her mentioned sass

- this isn’t so much a character trait but she says “totally” a lot as well as “oh my gosh” which this one may be a catchphrase

Non-canon interpretations:

- has ADHD, needs meds or she loses her mind and becomes scrambled (top of the line “gifted” kid)

- possibly has a fear of heights given her comments at Hooktail’s castle making her nervous

- most Goombas seem to have two prominent fangs so I assume she’s missing one

- half Australian and half Maltese (has slightly an Australian accent but mostly sounds American)

- intersex, given Goombas are based off of mushrooms (and also chestnuts but I digress) and mushrooms are intersex, took estrogen to appear more feminine and identifies as a woman (this still applies to her gijinka, just that her species of demi-human is also all intersex)

- futch (femme/butch, will wear either or-or dress equal)

- has a lot of (unsuccessful) relationship experience which adds to her anxiety about her feelings for Vivian, specifically having dated three other people

- Full name is (Goom)Bellami Alessia Bones (Goom is a family title and not actually required to say, though she prefers to be called Bella than Bellami)

- 21 years old (while she has no confirmed age her being in her early 20s makes the most sense given she’s a Junior at university)

- has an earthy/dirt yet flowery scent

- has a cut on her right eyebrow

- loves savory flavors but occasionally enjoys spicy and sweet (Goombas have a main diet of meat so she tends to eat a lot of that)

- executive dysfunction sometimes causes her to not clean herself, but if someone complains then she will (she tends to carry around a perfume bottle)

- pansexual (possibly a coping lesbian)

- (gijinka) is missing the majority of her right forearm though she has a prosthetic for it (was born like that) and is missing almost all of her left arm aside for the shoulder (incidental)

- swears fairly often

Vivian:

Youngest of the three shadow sirens/sisters with the ability to use fire magic

- shy/somewhat reserved (opens up more later on, still shy but less reserved)

- cutesy (how the fuck did she speak with a heart symbol in one of her quotes)

- graceful

- polite

- sweet/kind (there should be no mistake to how far Vivian’s forgiveness goes considering she’s willing to forgive her own family that abused her for years—Vivian disowning them is not something Vivian herself would do)

- empathetic/sympathetic (I think about her random glitz pit dialogue a lot and how she worries if her and Mario did a bit too much on the enemies. But also she sometimes says “NO MERCY” she’s so silly)

- curious (moreso about most things being new to her due to being sheltered by her sisters for so long)

- submissive, though gains some confidence later on (this is just my own take but I feel like it’d take her longer than it does in-game to be more confident given the severity and length of abuse she experienced)

- struggles with an inferiority complex (this is actually a canon thing and made mention of) at the hands of her sisters abuse

- says “gee whiz” a lot, might be a catchphrase

- tends to stutter when nervous (possibly easy to fluster, especially considering she likely has not received a lot of compliments in her life)

Non-canon interpretations:

- possibly has athazagoraphobia (the fear of being forgotten) or just has general struggles with the concept

- given her trauma (mental/emotional abuse, unsure if there’s ever been physical though in one of the translations of the game Beldam apparently starved her, neglect from Marilyn), she probably would struggle with depression, anxiety and PTSD

- dysphoric, obviously feels better about herself the further into her transitioning (something about Vivian makes me feel like she’d struggle with dysphoria—it’s already a lesser discussed topic among fictional transwomen and given Vivian’s upbringing I think it’d make sense that she particularly has this and would make mention of it)

- she’s autistic and I can’t exactly explain why but someday I will (this very well could be projection uhhh. Anyway she probably doesn’t even know she has it or what it is, has had struggles to learn magic as the ways her sisters were trying to teach her weren’t working for her)

- demisexual-biromantic (I feel like it just makes sense for her to be this way given how she warms up to Mario and the same would apply to Goombella)

- has a beautiful singing voice partially learned from vocal training herself, however she is also called a shadow siren

- a piece of the Shadow Queen, her future

- has no exact ethnicity hc aside for being black as a gijinka, she’s something else entirely and can speak all languages (including sign language and braille) but mainly speaks English and Latin (if she were to be an actual human she’d be Eritrean and Sammarinese)

- femme (specifically loves to wear flowy things like dresses and skirts, the most “masculine” thing she’d wear is a suit)

- Has no full name, simply known as Vivian (if her and Goombella were to marry then she’d be Vivian Bones :flushed:)

- 20 years old

- has a smoldering lavender scent

- (gijinka) actually lost one of her legs while learning to veil, simply conjured up a convincing new one that she can freely remove

- can swear, refuses to do so (she’s too nice and polite the silly thing)

- is a pure-magical being so she requires frequent mana consumption to live, fire flowers are her favorite thing to use for this

- unaffected by fire and heat, can touch it without pain, body temperature is always high, only sweats when she’s sick, it’s very unusual for her to feel cold

- loves sweet, spicy and hot flavored things

- very clean, loves to shower or bathe (sometimes very atmospheric about it with hot water and candles)

- I like to think that she becomes a bookworm and wants to learn more about magic, but also reads up on psychology after the things she’s been put through

- shadow’s eyes are extremely sensitive to light, their hats have magical properties that keep them safe and shadow over them, without it she can only open her eyes in complete pitch-darkness, otherwise she keeps them closed (their gloves also work as buffers for their magic to make spells less intense, they’re sorta limiters in a way, Vivian especially has to wear them due to having fire powers and well… fire is commonly seen as destruction more than life)

- left handed, can use right okay

- knows how to cauterize wounds using her magic

- during new moons her appearance changes to more resemble the Shadow Queen, gaining more shades of purple and little stars speckling all over her, as well as having her eyes always shown

HOW THE FUCK DID WE GET HERE?

vivibella stems from Goombella’s tattle dialogue during the first battle with the three shadow sirens as shown:

note that this dialogue varies from the original GameCube version of the game compared to the Switch remake above:

unfortunate how the dialogue was nerfed compared to the original, making her seem jealous rather than having some kind of sapphic awakening but now I think of it as she’s deflecting what she’s feeling

DYNAMICS

- has a sort of opposites attract kinda thing going on, Goombella being the more open and expressive one while Vivian is the shy and reserved one

- enemies to friends to lovers

- love triangle (for the fact they both had a crush on Mario at one point but Goombella never seemed to be bothered by Vivian’s feelings for him unlike how she’s felt about the other women pining after him, she probably respects Vivian’s feelings for him given what he meant to her)

- the studier (Goombella) and one to be studied (Vivian) idk if there’s an actual name for this dynamic but I went into this concept a bit in this tweet:

- yapper x listener (I don’t think I have to explain who is who)

THAT ITALIAN GUY

Before we get into the meat of vivibella, it must be understood what Mario meant to these two. As it goes in TTYD, Mario for some reason is just a MAGNET for ladies and Goombella and Vivian are no exception to this, most of the female characters seem to express having a crush on him but let’s take a look at them individually:

Goombella particularly seems to fall under having a crush on him but she’s rather dismissive of it/acts like she doesn’t in a teasing way. She expresses jealousy whenever other female characters pursue him (think of Flurrie and Ms. Mowz, even speculates on Lady Bow post-game) but doesn’t with Vivian, likely due to the fact that Vivian doesn’t express her feelings for him around anyone (aside for the finale) considering during Chapter 4 it’s only her and Mario together when she kisses him—we don’t exactly know how Goombella would feel about Vivian’s feelings for Mario, but I think she’d probably be the most respectful to her given the things she’s been through and how Mario helped her open up and improve. During her letter to Mario at the end of the game, she talks about a “secret” which I imagine has to do with her crush on him, but she doesn’t follow through with it likely due to Mario’s pursuit of Peach

Vivian and Mario have a much deeper relationship compared to all the female characters that fall for him. Vivian definitely has a crush on him but also seems to actually be in love with him given the events that transpire; Mario helping her through her trauma and accepting her without question and also being a lending hand to someone in need despite his own troubles at the time of having lost his name, body and trusted companions. Even after realizing who he is and leaving given that he was her enemy at a certain point, she comes back upon realizing what he showed her and valued that over everything else as being the first person to EVER be kind to her. She turned her back on her family for him. During the final battle Vivian attempts to confess to him as well as during the end of the game when he’s leaving, but hesitates again due to the fact that she knows that he’d choose Peach and even thinks that the two would make a great couple. I’m sure it would be hard for Vivian to move on from him, he’s probably the first person she’s ever loved in such a way and again, he’s the first person to show her real kindness

THINKING TOO HARD

Goombella is obviously the one to crush first given her tattle dialogue, she may be kinda sassy about her feelings for her when teased by others but when she’s actually around Vivian she’s more reserved and anxious due to her shy and gentle nature, in some ways I feel like she may fear possibly scaring Vivian away by being too forward and is also afraid of the possible rejection as she’s aware of Vivian’s feelings for Mario despite him eventually not being in the picture (and of course possibly being unaware to the fact that Vivian is bi). Goombella’s probably very likely a girlfail and a fumbler when it comes to flirting but god if she isn’t confident about it and Vivian finds it endearing. I think it makes the most sense for her to confess later on as I’m sure she probably reaches some form of boiling point and just drops all her words out after being unable to hide it anymore (Vivian doesn’t like to assume things about others typically so that’s why I don’t see her confessing first instead)

Goombella falls first but I feel like Vivian would fall harder as the two of them grow closer, Vivian already experienced rejection from Mario so in some ways she probably wasn’t expecting to find successful love anytime soon nor in a more similar way to how Mario was with her. Of course, Goombella isn’t exactly like him at all but the kindness and patience is still there, albeit with some attitude which Vivian doesn’t mind. I think it would take a bit for Vivian to catch onto Goombella and her own feelings given her experience with Mario. This being her second experience with love, she’s definitely very inexperienced regarding all of it which is why she holds back. With my hc of Goombella having been through her own form of transition, a lot of comfort is to be found there for Vivian as they’re somewhat similar due to that. I don’t think Vivian really knows how to flirt but she’d give lots of compliments and do gestures, she’s also a girlfail but in a graceful way and tries not to show it, she’s kinda a secret dork (and I mean. With the fact she stutters when nervous. There isn't anyway this girl isn't also a girlfail of her own like come on now)

Regarding my own lore, I like to think that these two live together in Goombella’s Uni dorm after the events of TTYD. Vivian switches on Fridays to live with her sisters then back with Goombella the following Friday so on and so forth to help rebuild a healthy connection with them while with Goombella she explores herself given she’s been stuck with her sisters for so long. Their situation isn’t helped by the fact that they have to share a bed due to the limitations of Goombella’s Uni dorm size, though it is fancier as it’s more like an apartment with separate rooms, (basically consists of two small bedrooms, the other bedroom being her roommate’s, a living space and kitchen combo as well as a bathroom) still small though

Goombella tends to go to Flurrie for advice regarding her feelings for Vivian, while Vivian goes to Lady Bow after forming a friendship sometime after TTYD’s events. I also like to think that Flurrie and Lady Bow end up coming together to scheme about the two of them (neither are aware of this until they start dating)

Their relationship builds off of living together and Vivian learning about herself, Goombella there to guide her as someone who already knows her own life and the steps she took to get to where she’s at—the two spend a lot of time together obviously and Goombella strives to try and get something out of the two of them than just a friendship given her own growing feelings, even if it takes being more patient

Even on the weeks when Vivian’s living with her sisters Goombella tends to visit her and hang out, sometimes sleeping over as well. Vivian along the way starts to realize how Goombella’s care for her is much deeper than she originally thinks it is—in some ways Vivian already feels inspired by someone like her who is so confident and self assured, she could use someone like her to give her a nudge in the right direction

They probably even go out on adventures together which further strengthens their bond, which of course may stir up trouble and that leaves room for needing to rely on each other or help each other in such times of need (who doesn’t love some hurt and comfort mmmm)

CLOSING STATEMENT

Anyway, that’s really all I have though I have a feeling that even AFTER publishing this I’ll be still tweaking this until the day I die. I love these two very much if that uh….. Isn’t obvious at all. uh huh. I hope you gained some kind of enjoyment and understanding out of all this gay nonsense from these strange little sapphic creatures that have been rotting my brain for months :3

the canon version of this post will come out soon! This just took so long to do I’m going to explode rn

#paper mario ttyd #paper mario vivian #paper mario goombella #vivibella #palins vivibella bible

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deramin2 · 11 days ago

Text

I'll say this for Daggerheart:

I didn't even make it through character creation before the physicality of the game inspired me to imagine the sort of Character Sheet Contraption that I would truly love playing it with. What would feel like a customizable instrument for playing the game?

I gathered simple materials and spent yesterday taping it all onto a cut of paper grocery bag. Got through several bouts of "This is so stupid; why am I doing this?" Actually finished a physical prototype, which I've never done so fast. Spent hours today gathering even more materials and reworking a particular system. I've done a lot of it through feel, using origami measurement folds for measuring and closing my eyes to feel how it would work during play as much as how it would look. There's sheet holders with various loading configurations, card holders, many abacus-like trackers, and hard surfaces all in a thing I can fold into a binder at the end of the game with very little to set back up or put away. Like a steamer trunk where all your things are tucked into neat little compartments. The mechanical button cockpit of my dreams for flying the game.

Something like this has been lurking in my mind taking root for the quarter century I've been playing TTRPGs, but everything's been so book-and-memory oriented that it never quite fully formed.

Things I've tried before to varying success:

Papers on table with a stack of books.

Lots of tabs in the books.

Storage clipboard.

Advanced Excel auto-leveling character sheets other people designed.

Advanced Excel auto-leveling character sheet I designed.

"Character Manual" where I copy over all relevant rules from every book into a single document and create combined leveling tables and detail every single thing I took when and how I calculated every number and put it in a binder. (This is what the Daggerheart cards effectively construct for you.)

Digital toolset platforms that conceptually do what I want but are confusing and buggy to use in practice.

Back to the Character Manual version 2.0.

Counting tokens.

Rotating dice as counting tokens.

[I've considered an abacus many times but never actually committed.]

Item and spell cards in the binder.

I've considered an abacus or abacus-like tracker many times but never actually committed. I accidentally taught myself how to count on my fingers similar to an abacus as a kid based on bastardized ASL. It is significantly harder to lose count when physically holding the numbers. Plus being able to count on my fingers up to 110 or 1023 depending on number system used is very handy. Counting to 10 rapidly outgrows its usefulness.

None of them have fully worked because the games themselves have not been designed for them to really work. I've been fighting the system every time. Mostly I've come out of it feeling bad about myself and that I was too incompetent at memorization, record keeping, and character building to play.

But Daggerheart is explicitly made to accommodate poor memories, minimal math, attention/comprehension gaps, rapidly getting assistance with the rules, arranging your own physically engaging space, and creating enough generalized scaffolding to fit the system into your ideas instead of trying to fit your ideas into the system.

Looking forward to trying it out in play with my other neurodivergent and disabled friends to see how it feels in play. But just being able to intuitively imagine and feel out the physical space of play is huge. Analogue interaction that would let me do things with my eyes closed accurately and not lose my place. Even if it ends up not being my preferred system, it's already taught me how I really want to be playing.

I really hope I'll keep pushing myself to complete this contraption and have a working, repeatable pattern. I would love to make + sell something like this, and/or make a pattern and instruction zine to sell.

#Darrington Press #Daggerheart #Accessibility in Games

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tinycurlyfry · 1 month ago

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Why are the most theories about suo involving him : betraying Sakura, defeating Sakura, hurting Sakura..... lmao. Why do some fans hate Sakura so much to the point they want him to be humiliated by suo ?;(

I don't know that I would say most theories about him are about him hurting or humiliating Sakura, at the very least that hasn't been my experience. However! The "Suo will be a traitor" theory was something that I've only come across recently, so I can speak a little towards why it exists (at least as it's explained from one person with such a theory)!

I saw the mention of the theory from this really cool document from Snowy-kitten on Reddit where they break down the names of each of the characters in Wind Breaker (I'm still in the process of reading through this document myself)(also also thank you @cafe-pothos for sharing word about the document here!) Now, this was written prior to the conclusion of the Noroshi war arc, so the information/theories made were made without some information we now know (mostly about how the fights/war resolves).

Basically- Suo name comes from the kanji for the Chinese Redbud (which continues giving evidence that Suo has some sort of Chinese connection. From his dress, to his fighting style, to even his name here). However, while the Chinese Redbud symbolizes family harmony and can be used as treatment for fever the Redbud tree itself has a biblical connection that deals with betrayal. In short- when Judas betrayed Jesus he committed suicide by hanging himself from a Redbud tree.

There's also the growing theory that the next personal arc we get concerning the classmates of 1-1 will involve Suo and Tsugeura, since we've gotten information on Kiryu and Sugishita's family rather back-to-back and there's some evidence that Tsuge and Suo may have known each other in some capacity prior to coming to Furin.

Given their hinted at connection in the narrative, it is also interesting that the second half of Tsugeura's name- ura could also be written with the kanji 裏 which is often used in the phrase for betrayer/ turning traitor/ rat- 裏切り者. This could potentially further give proof that Tsuge and Suo are connected and Suo may be tied to a plot that has to do with betrayal.

So, I don't know about going so far as saying Suo may defeat or hurt Sakura badly, but I could see it being the case that Suo does something rash when something from his past rears its head and it may appear as though Suo acted against his fellow classmates at Furin, or at least he may do something to temporarily stall or incapacitate Sakura.

As far a personal theories go- Do I think Suo is going to end up becoming an "evil traitor"? No. I think he's been to well established to be a guiding force for Sakura alongside Nirei. I don't think he'll lose that role in the end-game. However, what I do see potentially happening is that Suo's backstory is going to become relevant in a way that is sudden and jarring that will keep Suo from simply brushing it off or dismissing it. I can't really base my theories towards Suo's backstory on anything, but I could see the arc relating to Suo's backstory going two ways-

Suo is hiding from something/someone from his past. Perhaps he truly does wear his eye patch to cover up an injury from an 'accident'. It is possible that there is a direct cause of that 'accident' and Suo may be using Furin's unified force as a shield to put between him and that cause. Say you have a really powerful person or group coming after you, and you happened to hear that recently a school of strong fighters is now a hero/vigilante group that will throw itself into any fight to protect its members/family. I think it's rather specific of a detail too that Suo's dream is for the emancipation of slaves. I think this detail might be something that becomes relevant to his backstory- whether it's someone who wants to force him into slavery or if someone he knows/knew in the past was enslaved. The fear of these people coming after him might be enough for Suo to throw Furin between him and these people, or at least use Furin to hold them back while he escapes.

Someone important or has influence over Suo is introduced to the story and Suo does something in the moment that could be read as a betrayal (perhaps stunning/incapacitating Sakura or even just stating he's leaving Furin). My One Piece-loving ass kind of sees the potential of a Whole Cake Island type plot where someone from Suo's family/past shows up and Suo suddenly announces to Furin that he can't be a part of Bofurin anymore and is leaving the family. Now, the person he is seemingly siding with or who convinces Suo to leave Furin may be evil/an antagonist, but again, I would find it VERY shocking if Suo is made to be a villain. Of course, if Suo leaves Class 1-1 would chase after his ass, and then I think whatever lie or story Suo might weave or tell them will unravel as they discover the truth.

It is entirely possible that neither of these will end up being true though! Like I said, this is just how I personally could see Suo being a "traitor" coming into play (purposefully "using" Furin for personal reasons in order to escape something from his past and thus not actually seeing himself as a part of them, or he betrays Furin by leaving or feeling as though he has to fight/act against them in a spur of the moment because of someone from his past). Whatever the case it may end up being, I think at the very least Suo is a character that is known to lie (which in of itself could be seen as him 'betraying the truth'). How does Tsuge tie into his backstory/how does he and Tsuge know each other prior to joining Furin? I have no clue jgskdlfg, but I'm excited to find out!

I don't think it's that people want to see Sakura humiliated by Suo- I think Suo is just a mysterious guy who keep telling lies and makes an active effort to hide things about himself. There is also definitely something that has him distancing himself from the rest of the Furin Family, both in how he doesn't actually participate in their sharing of fears/weaknesses as a bonding activity between class 1-1 and his refusal to eat meals with his classmates (which in my food wbk analysis I talk about how food is used as a symbol for community/ acceptance and is how characters show companionship). There is something keeping Suo from seeing himself as a part of Furin and it's likely to do with why he's so secretive about himself as well.

#wind breaker #suo hayato #taiga tsugeura #wbk analysis #wbk spoilers #wind breaker manga spoilers #frytalks

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madschiavelique · 10 months ago

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Can I request a Gale, Astarion and Wyll with a gn! Reader who has epileptic seizures? I’ve had them since I was a kid and for me they usually happen within an hour of me waking up. Luckily I’ve been seizure free for a year so far!! :)

I understand if you are uncomfortable writing this!

hi love!! first of all CONGRATS ON THE ONE YEAR SEIZURE FREE !!! second of all i'm sorry i took so long to write it but i wanted to document myself first to write that properly! i have no idea if i made justic to it, and i would love for you to give me some returns in case i didn't portray it well <33 special little note of thank you for my friend @duffyyy911 who helped me greatly to write this !!!

─ . 𝜗𝜚‧ characters : gale, astarion, wyll

─ . 𝜗𝜚‧ content warning : none, mostly comfort (as far as i know), gender neutral reader, no use of y/n

─ . 𝜗𝜚‧ words : 966 ( ~ 300 per characters)

( not proofread, english is not my first language ☆)

─ . 𝜗𝜚‧ gale :

Chances are that, completely unbeknownst to him in the first place, gale was the one to make have you start a seizure.

Poor guy was just casting dancing lights or colour spray, and the next thing you knew you were on the ground, and he was completely lost.

He had read one too many books, many about spells and a few conditions. He was no doctor, but he was a wizard that had sufficient magical knowledge and an unrelenting hunger for reading who was ready to do anything to help his companions.

He was quick to help, although a bit overthrown by panic and surprise, he tried using the most of his spell slots possible to keep you in place and keep a proper eye on you until it was all over.

After that incident, you can be assured that in every city or village or places you passed that he would be on the hunt for a library with as much information on the seizures as possible.

He was alert at all times, remaining at your side in case anything happened.

You can be assured that he’d always have a scroll of Hold Person on him to cast, a spell of Resistance or Sanctuary ready to crack under his fingers, preparing Sleep, Feign Death or Slow to ensure at any times that whatever might cause a seizure could be countered by his thorough preparation and attention.

He’d arrange the softest bed for you, whatever pillows and spells he could use to get you to have some proper restorative sleep were all cast and placed under you.

He’d read by your side, waiting for you to wake up and simply looking after you. He’d kiss your forehead when you’d start moving, softly emerging from your much comfortable slumber.

─ . 𝜗𝜚‧ astarion :

At first, Astarion thought it was a joke, or at least some accidental fall from you when walking on some of the ice that made you prone after a quite stressful fight.

But you were starting to be strangely prone, the kind that looked quite painful.

“Come on, I know ceremorphosis or whatever the name of it is couldn’t have caught up to you just now darling.”

But as Shadowheart came to help you, a look of worry in her eye, Astarion’s chest clenched.

“It’s not a joke, Astarion. It’s a damned seizure.”

He immediately came to your side to help Shadowheart, panicked and feeling like a complete idiot. “Are they okay ? Are they dying ?!”

After positioning you correctly on the ground, Shadowheart reassured him that you were not nearing any death at the moment.

It is only after the seizure had passed and some well deserved rest on your part that he asked you questions about the event.

On one hand, he’d try to find some sort of positivity in this situation. “We can just live a vampire life you know, hiding from the sun would be a great start.” But he would find that if you’re in the dark all the time, wouldn’t it just make it easier to induce a seizure then ?

So at first, he’d have no idea as to how he’s supposed to help you. But with the help of Shadowheart eventually, he’d pick up on the things to do next time.

He knew how to place you properly, what to do to just ensure that you’d be safe no matter what, and was always here to take you to bed after a seizure happened.

He’d look after you while asleep, threatening anybody in the camp that if they were to make any loud sounds or anything that could wake you up, he’d make sure to make them his next meal.

─ . 𝜗𝜚‧ wyll :

If there is one thing the blade of frontiers doesn’t know how to handle, it is you, the leader of the group, having a seizure.

He has fought many enemies in his years, but one that comes from within his partner is a whole new one.

When you went into a seizure for the first time in front of him, you were just practicing some of the basic magic and swordsmanship that Wyll had knowledge of at camp. Your target was the trunk of an old dead tree, and Wyll wanted to show you - mostly impress you - by casting an Eldritch Blast to straight up destroy it.

Multiple crimson zaps and flashes crisped the air as he perfectly hit the trunk, turning to you with a proud smile, “See, just like th-” but he stopped dead in his words as he saw you on the ground.

He knelt immediately, throwing his sword away as he placed his hand on your shoulder calling your name repeatedly.

In complete and utter panic, his eyes not leaving you, he heard strong steps stomping the ground. Next second, Halsin came next to the both of you, his sixth sense for the ones in need calling for him.

“What’s happening to them ?” Wyll would ask, his voice breaking as he watched how Halsin gently placed you on your side on the ground.

“Just a seizure,” Halsin explained, concentrating on examining you, “do you know if they are stressed ? did they drink properly since this morning ? any bright flashes of light happened before that ?”

Wyll’s heart got tight in his chest as he realised his desire to impress you had caused this to start. After getting reassured by Halsin who explained to him how to handle such situations in the future, he stayed with you next to your bed, waiting for you to wake up.

He kept holding your hand all the way till you woke up, his guilt still holding his stomach in a tight knot. You reassured him about it, explaining to him your symptoms, how it’d happen like Halsin had mentioned, and kissed his trouble away.

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mysteryanimator · 7 months ago

Text

Breaking down Castlevania Nocturne Season 01 - Episode 08 "Breakup Scene" shot by shot!

Previous shot analyses: S02E08 - The Devil is Easy to Cheat / S01E04 - Bedroom scene / S01E06 - Gulity Men to be Judged

I've been chipping at this for a while and now I can put this out to the world. While this will be a lot more 'clear' and more put together than a lot of my previous writings (I am so sorry, I have looked at those past writings and I look like a madman, I was trying to hold back all of them and therefore it ended up super messy) however, it is still going to be a very casual document—as if a conversation!

To preface, these are just my thoughts, and by no means is the actual indicative end-all-be-all for these shots! These are just observations based on my special interest (and also I did ATAR for this, which in short I suppose is a specialization study ? I'm not sure how to describe it LOL) in media production and analysis, with a heavy passion for visual storytelling in film! It has been a while since I have written something like this so you may have to bear with me here.

I consider myself still an amateur, but shot choices matter, especially when you have only 8 episodes, a deadline, a budget, asset restrictions and so on. It all has to count. Everything matters.

As a side thing, while we can and very much should criticize media for being poor in writing, composition and so, yet, I've noticed people do tend to forget everything is 99% considered. Everything has its place and everything has intention. Passionate creatives care and there is more than "the curtain is blue just because". Like I can and will talk about how every Mizrak and Olrox scene is placed in green/earthy-colored environments (not here though LOL, this is not the time for it). The times when things slip under the radar and are put there just because are mostly due to executive meddling, budget restrictions, and deadlines.

Now that the introduction part is out of the way, let's start!

The establishing shot!

I think you’ll notice this in many many shows in general, but this is often used to establish a new scene. While some may think there’s nothing too special about it symbolic wise, Olrox is seen literally dragging Mizrak up the hill. Begging the question of why does Olrox shift out to his shadow form?

For a writing/story perspective, for the breakup to hit with those emotional beats, it has to be done face to face, ‘human’ to human. It cannot be done in shadow form because the dialogue and facial expressions that need to happen, it has slap you in the face. Like the crying scene. It also means when you deliberately cut out any expressions from the shots due to the camera framing, you get a more emotional reaction from the viewer. This is because you cannot see the emotions that they are clearly having. It is like the characters do not want to show us it or let us in.

Character's perspective, Olrox is given the chance for Mizrak to fight back and probably somewhat hoping that Mizrak would break out of his arms easily so he can prove to Mizrak he isn’t powerful enough. It's much like how he lets Richter live in episode 01. He often gives chances to people and it's probably going to come up again.

Olrox drags Mizrak into this scene, and we’re getting a mid shotttt, (I think technically cowboy shot, since we do get like waist and hands, though its because their height differences but I might be getting too pedantic with this).

This may not seem too special, but it’s a very nice way to show Mizrak struggling and just set the baseline for the action occurring since from the establishing shot we can’t tell too much because it's so far out. It also now brings the audience into the scene, we are now privy to their most private conversation. We can also see Olrox is literally holding him super easily he’s literally not even trying LOL. We can see the dynamic being established and how that dynamic will shift at the end. So we have established the new setting/characters in the first shot, and now we've established what this side story will be about in the second shot.

THE LOW ANGLE 🫣

Low angled shots are used to make a character appear powerful because the camera is looking up, therefore making the presence in the shot seem like a massive force. Olrox is supposed to be powerful. Yet, even though he’s taller, right behind Mizrak holding him back AND directly mentioned- he’s not in shot scene except for his hands. They are SUPER prominent in this shot, they’re practically in the middle of it and stand out because his hand is lit super differently from Mizrak’s face.

Olrox’s power is being used to hold back Mizrak.

Side note, I think this is just me, but this shot feels suffocating WHICH IS A GOOD THING. While there is some empty space around Mizrak, it's still extremely dark like Mizrak's clothes so it kind of blends in and makes this scene suffocating. It is as if we're being held back too.

This camera angle also makes Mizrak look very powerless and powerful at the same time which is I think is just really neat. With each established 'rule' for camera shots/angles, you can break them to subvert audience expectations. Mizrak is yelling and using all his power to convince Olrox to fight. Convince him that he can do it and fight Ezerbet.

Long shottttt, slightly different from an establishing shot since it punches in more closely.

“She’ll kill them!” And we can directly see the Abbey from here, being loomed over by the eclipse, which is really super nice. It’s telling us he’s practically going to watch them die if he stays where he is.

Also visually the 'weights' on the left and right of the screen can be argued that they are even, almost as if both choices are heavy and hold the same power over each other. The choice to go back and fight, or the choice to run.

Close up shot! Close-up shots allow for the audience to read a character's face, or if not their face, their action, to put extreme importance. The small details matter in a close-up and are the main focus.

This is soooo intentional, but we don’t get Mizrak’s initial reaction. IMO we don’t ever get it, we only get his response to Olrox, and I see reaction and response as two separate things. This is a super hard side view of both of them. It's not 3/4, it's not front- it is side profile, used to amp up the dramatics of the scenes. It's a nice contrast to how it's only one side of his face yet he's revealing an inner thought. As if maybe perhaps, there is more to this truth then he lets on, it is perhaps, maybe only one side, of his guarded truth.

Also, people may call this a corn plate moment but his eyes are open for one frame, and then when he tilts his head down, they're closed. Its a very small detail, but it's being used to set up for his crying scene later because this acts to 'reset' his face before we see it again.

This is Mizrak's response. We don’t get to see his face, but he BACKS DOWN, and I don't believe he does it because he think Olrox will release him if he does (which Olrox does anyway), but its also kind of his reaction.

This is a forced perspective shot, I think this is now a high angle. So the camera is looking down on the characters, making them powerless and vulnerable. Opposite to a low angle shot.

THIS IS CALL BACK TO THE BED SCENE. Olrox holds Mizrak from behind

A rehash of this scene from episode 04 but with 10x the angst.

Y'all are free to call me out on this section because my storyboarding experiences are small BUT i am just throwing in additional context.

Storyboarding scenes and shots is a collaborative process (as is the whole animation industry itself). These boards go through multiple iterations, which you namely you have to get it passed off from your storyboard director but also your fellow storyboard artists, your background artists and so on. While you dedicate yourself to this specific scene, you let previous parts of the story influence your work and vice versa, allowing for things to feel more connected and visually tell a story. This is the last moment we see this 'couple' in this show, and with such heavy scene that breaks these two apart, you are going to want to call back other times where they were close so it makes the separation that much more painful. In this case, it was chosen to have Olrox holding Mizrak as a callback. This then means this will be a common thing they will go back to and it will somehow reappear in season 2 and every season after that (pleasepleasepleaseplease season 3, maybe season 4 guys please). When it does reappear, it's going to be an alternate version that builds upon the last, and who knows, it may be way more subtle. It may be flipped. The way they act around each other when standing behind each other is very important. The way Olrox holds Mizrak is very important (and he doesn't just hold him by just sitting or using his hands, but also I can discuss that on a different scene breakdown if you guys want!)

I need to point this out super clearly. We do not see their faces this time around for that shot and that is intentional because then it forces up to think of what it is like. We have to infer from their previous interactions and what should come to mind is episode 04.

I would love to break down this at some point later (and how episode 04 and episode 06 make callbacks to each other, I've mentioned it before in a tweet somewhere I digress though). I'll briefly go through this now- this image is a (extreme) top-down close-up of their expressions, the perspective is pushed here. In episode 08, we get a top-down view where the perspective is also extremely pushed. This has to be a callback, there's no way that wasn't intentional.

This is what I imagined their faces to be when Mizrak stops resisting and drops his arms.

Now we see Mizrak’s face. Trade off is that we don’t see Olrox’s face. Like a reaction to a reaction. It’s to set up for the next shot to make us go “oh my god.”

THIS SHOT IS SO GOOD Y'ALL😭 (Also a close-up)

Olrox is not known to show any extreme emotions, only time he does was when he forced himself to bow to Ezerbet. So to the audience, this is really shocking because THATS TEARS RIGHT THERE.

The forehead creases are telling me he’s holding back really hard. He’s dead still beside the wind flowing. He’s using his power to hold back.

This is a front view too. Olrox is baring himself out. No 3/4, no side angle, front view. Also, the backdrop has the trees beginning to clear out behind him, which subtly alludes to us as an audience to realize how we're getting a slightly clearer picture of Olrox's headspace, of his views, and so on!

Which… is this a call back to when Olrox said “I’m not in love with you” (?) It is a front having shot but its cut closer and his eyes aren't glowing.

Which, I still have no idea what the glowing eyes mean. Unless there are no rules the glowing eyes follow by it besides what suits each scene the best thematically. I will point out that whenever it glows, its supposed to be intimidating, he's supposed to feel supernatural. When he's vulnerable, take for insistence when he talks about his past and talks gently about it, his eyes don't glow, he feels a lot more human in that scenario.

First of all, choice of shot is to mirror Olrox’s shot. Ok that out of the way.

WE GET THIS LINE??? I remember first watching it my jaw dropped because I couldn’t believe he said this.

He gets called an animal. Wild. Insane.

That’s a set up. It has to be there’s NO WAY IY ISN’T. WE’RE GETTING A CALL BACK TO THIS IN SEASON 2. SEASON 3, pls I’d do anything for a s3. Idk when we're getting a call back to this because Mizrak just backhanded him so hard and that language is so specific, especially since we’ve already gotten Ezerbet going “Gods should know where her dragons are”, you know, treating Olrox like a pet. Like an ANIMAL.

I am going to go on the slightest of side tangents- Mizrak has parallels to Drolta, they're both "guard dogs" for their leader. The Abott simply has to put out his hand when Mizrak is growling (it is subtitled as him growling and barking its kinda crazy) for him to stop. The animal line seems so out of nowhere and it is supposed to feel like that but we've had this bread trail from the very start.

Ok going back to the scene at hand. Mizrak ??? Where’s your normal religious quips ??? Why did you use that line ??? What do you know about losing your soul and being animal-like??? Suspicious 🤨 because there are countless bible verses about, bravery, losing your soul, literally self-sacrifice.

Though I will bring up, the idea of having a soul has been brought up before.

Mizrak recognizes Olrox had a soul before. He recognized Olrox used to live. I think Olrox was a lot more... 'puncher' and 'fiery' beforehand, before his previous lover died. I mean, if he wasn't more 'alive' before, why would he turn his previous lover into a vampire. Mizrak said that so it would hurt and to call him out.

(Though I feel like, religion has been thrown out the window for Mizrak, cant wait to see how Mizrak deals with it s2 LOLOLOL)

Ok now talking abt these two long shots together (the irony writes itself)

The placement of the characters is so important to feel that void and it makes the scene feel so much more empty, which is why it also has to be a long shot. It’s like, they’re supposed to fill in that gap, but they’re not. A general note is that shuffling characters off-center makes the scene feel unbalanced. The center line, the abbey, and the eclipse are already established and Mizrak is running off center. For Olrox's shot, there's a clearing to his right.

To Mizrak, Olrox should’ve run alongside him. There’s space for him

To Olrox, Mizrak should’ve stayed back. There’s space for him.

Now I'm done. My final notes is that this whole breakup scene is a massive setup for something for the next season (if not this season, just for something big later on), and my red strings are tying it to that animal line and holding if that makes sense? Everything in episode 8 IS a setting up for bigger things for season 2. We will get callbacks. (I say will, that is a very strong conviction LOL).

Also to wrap up, shot choices matter heavily. You need to connect with the audience immediately. A picture says 1000 words. Something as simple as maybe someone in a diner eating a burger, and its a close up of them talking may seem not that special but it changes a lot just by having a character in the middle or the left of the screen, especially in the greater scheme of a full scene.

Think of that one quote from Prince of Egypt where the priest says "A single thread in a tapestry though its color brightly shines can never see its purpose in the pattern of the grand design." Basically that LOL.

If I have time, I may go and do their other scenes (or even scenes of other characters)! They all build upon each other really nicely and despite their scenes being about 1-3 minutes long. They really pack in a lot of details. Their lives before directly affect what's happening at that very moment on screen and you can see it heavily influences how they interact with the world and each other!

#mystery talks #castlevania nocturne #mizrak #olrox #olrox/mizrak

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axrynic · 15 days ago

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Hey internet neighbors, a loong note from me the artist, that I would prefer be a journal entry, but I think it will be helpful for me to post if I am to move forward in any online capacity.

I've been divesting from social media and the internet in general the past couple months, and my mental health and general sense of direction and purpose and connectedness has improved so much that I want to keep removing myself from the internet more and more. I don't want to be thinking I'm self important enough that random people are wondering about when I'm going to make new art, but I also feel a sense of apology or need for explanation.

Going through health issues and having surgeries and ER visits and not making art for months helped me realize the extent that I got burned out from making mostly caitvi fandom smut and now I'm just gonna paint landscapes like Bob Ross on physical canvas. Literally. Or maybe paint food. i don't know. But no more fictional characters. No more digital art for a while. I need something tangible. And I need it to be my own.

It's the consumerism and social media trends and fandom policing and attention economy and puritanical conservative ideologies and lack of media literacy and rejection of expertise and prescription over description and limited imaginations and neoliberalist stories masquerading as revolutionary and finding your niche and overidentifying with characters and lack of useful critique and knowing your audience and posting schedules like who the fuck is able to feel truly artistic and creative under these circumstances?? Even the motivation for developing my technical skill I felt withering because in the context of AI's antagonism toward the meaningful labor of creation, there's no fucking point.

The only way I will survive creatively is a rejection of this reality. Of industry and productivity. I want to create what feels new and inspiring. True escapism into a world we could have. A world without limiting beauty standards, or celebrity, the thousands of personal preferences projected onto an artist's personal expression. The only way is not to post. Not to document. Reduce the self and public surveillance on the art. I want to hierarchy my intimacy and vulnerability away from parasocial relationships and public yet anonymous personas.

I'm tired of trying to document the intangible. I need to focus on my purpose- how am I making the world around me better and easier to live in? Who and how does this help? What does my art contribute to? Positively and negatively? Representation matters and is not enough for me. I've chosen to work as a therapist because animation was not enough for me. I need my art to support my efforts to help people with healing. Painting an ecosystem without capitalism and colonization seems much more revolutionary than muscular light skinned cop characters having kinky sex. Who is going to feed the revolution? What am I fighting towards? Why even are words of effort framed within violence?

What do I want to grow towards?

#artist thoughts #big text

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sidney-scarlet · 3 months ago

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my in-progress post of scarlet hollow theories

-- that I'm mostly keeping for myself, and will update as I find any potential clues/evidence, etc. some of this will be obvious to people who have played through already, but I feel the need to document everything nonetheless for best practices.

if anyone wants to chime in/offer thoughts, feel free, this is just my version of a corkboard and string. I've tried to divide them into sections, but we'll see how that goes. mea culpa in advance. anything w/ sub lettering is me talking mostly to myself, like muttering vs. speaking out loud.

under a cut for spoilers, obvs.

The town itself:

basically confirmed: Scarlet Hollow is fucking cursed as fuck, trapping everyone who lives there/is born there/moves there.

people on the r/scarlethollow subreddit have asserted this theory, pointing out that people who leave always come back: Stella's parents were killed when they were trying to drive her to college and get her out; that Kaneeka had to come back from vet school after the death of her father to help Sybil and Miles; Oscar obviously had to come back for some reason, as we know he lived elsewhere (something to do with Rosalina or her mom? I haven't played through with him as much, so I'm uncertain); hell, we, the Scarlet cousin, are there for Pearlanne's funeral -- Vivan's blood returned, after all this time.

Reese and Tabitha never got to leave: Reese was an anomaly from birth and trapped here in the basement by his mother Joan; Tabitha is the last Scarlet, born here to run the mines.

Avery moved here to help their Aunt Winnie Belle, but I feel like if they tried to leave, something potentially bad would happen. (really, really hoping that doesn't come true in the next four episodes bc they are perfect and I love them.)

Tabitha points out to you at one point that the people who work the mines are mostly from here, that "this is the best job they're ever going to get," meaning opportunity is hard to come by. In a way, they're cursed to stay here too.

as pointed out in this post, if you have Mystical/Talk to Animals, the ditchlings' chatter can be translated as warning people to leave, claiming "this place is cursed." straight from the horse's mouth, if the horse was tiny and felt like a smooth sack of intestines.

sub-theory: The town curse has something to do with breaking families apart to keep people vulnerable, maybe dependent on the town itself/the magic controlling it? Oscar's wife is gone; Stella's parents are dead; Avery only has aunt Winnie; Vivian and Pearlanne were both single moms; Sybil's husband/Kaneeka's dad is dead. Something is definitely afoot here.

this is compounded by Joan saying that she wasn't seeing anyone when Reese was born, and that she'd instead had "romantic sleep paralysis episodes" before her pregnancy. some kind of magic is at work here. certain characters, like Reese, might be descendants of the curse itself. including us, potentially, considering we seem to be the only Scarlet that potentially has weird powers.

I originally wondered if that same magic was the secret behind Tabitha and the player's births as well, but since BTG has said there will be no surprise incest in the love interests, that shoots down that theory. or at least, the same entity that fathered Reese wasn't the one that fathered Tabby and/or the player.

due to the "no incest" rule above, that also rules out it being Wayne who fathered either Tabby or the Player. part of me wondered a little bit if Wayne fathered Reese and then is especially vitriolic towards him bc something about him didn't turn out right/like he wanted, which is... gutting to consider. but then it could be that he also just has hella beef with whatever did father Reese.

The cops are fucking In On It.

not only do we keep encountering dialogue options to suggest the cult/cops conspiracy, if the Strike is weak and you see the Sheriff at the police department when you're Stella-searching, he says this:

now, this man is either a harmless idiot or very good at playing one when the time calls for it, I haven't decided yet. but either way, you don't live around a town like Scarlet Hollow for twenty years without knowing some shady shit is going on right under your nose.

combine this with the fact that in her hangout, Tabby tells the player not to be worried about the cops, because the Scarlets are "the real power in this town," and you get my following theory...

Enoch Scarlet, if not continuing something set in place by Silas Scarlet, put a curse upon the town to keep the mines going at the cost of blood sacrifices.

we know Enoch did something to the town from Charlie's memories at the haunting in ep. 3, when he finds the seal in the basement from the map the Witch gave him, then turns to Eddie and says "Whatever Enoch did, we can undo it."

Edwardine immediately kills him, which tells us that the person who made her kill him (likely Enoch) really, really does not want that curse to be lifted.

I say "made her" bc in my playthrough with Keen Eye, there's a dialogue option to point out the tear that trails down her cheek when she lifts her weapon, with the player noting that she was "conflicted."

if you read the Scarlet death certificates in the clinic, when you then see the following vision from the seal Reese helps you find, you'll note in the dialogue that it's Teddy Scarlet who's dealing with trauma to his legs from the collapse in 1918, and Enoch visiting him after a prolonged absence. Enoch says he's been to see The Witch, and there will be a cure for Teddy's ailments after all, that he'll be going back to the Estate in the morning. Teddy's death certificate says his body was lost in the mines during the collapse and never recovered. so why was Enoch lying to him, and what did they really use him for? (Curse chow. He's curse chow.)

this is secondhand knowledge on my part, but players with Talk to Animals have confirmed that Tabitha is raising goats in the greenhouse in the garden, which she's sacrificing to... something, with Sybil's help.

in which case, of course the cops are helping. if Scarlet Hollow has been good to them all these years and they're protecting the Scarlets' interest in property, because that's what police do, is protect the interest and property of the rich, then they've absolutely helped when the Scarlets needed to fulfill their bloodstained obligations before, and likely will still do now (see the section on Tabitha below). hell, Earl's ancestors likely worked for Tabitha's/ours, it's all one big generational chain.

Sybil/The Witch:

Sybil is potentially the Cat mentioned in the tea reading in ep. 4, if you drink the tea.

(encountered in my "id playthroughs" - aka as myself - with Book Smart/Keen Eye, where I did drink the tea in the diner w/ Avery back in ep. 2.)

the player's thoughts, being manipulated by the tea at that point, chide you for thinking it's Sybil, saying (if I remember correctly) "Why would she warn you about herself?" -- which at first, I agreed with, but then I realized afterwards when the dialogue chided me again for trying to take Kaneeka out with me to investigate the clinic ("trying to come between her and her mother," again IIRC) that something was definitely wrong, and I was under some sort of influence.

in the same playthrough with those traits, I got Reese to find Joan's journal after correctly identifying the plant she leaves on the table in her office as poison. this unlocked a new dialogue option when I was trapped in the fortified x-ray room, where I asked Joan what made her decide on using that specific type of herb/poison. Joan said something about not wanting to talk about her, but then when she said "It was--" the character's memory glitched, and the name was missing. obviously, it's Sybil -- the plant, again IIRC, was one I'd identified somewhere in her residence previously, and also, who else would have that kind of knowledge to suggest it to Joan?

(screenshot for evidence, when I asked Sybil about her background in Sidney's playthrough)

Sybil is descended from The Witch in Charlie's memories from ep. 3, and she's setting up Kaneeka to follow in her footsteps.

if, as stated above, Sybil's family have been in these hills for a long time, it's not only possible, but likely, she is descended from the original Witch (assuming one didn't come before her, even.)

I wondered for like half a second if it was just Sybil all along and Sybil had made herself immortal, but then I remembered the town is so small that someone would've likely noticed sweet old Mrs. Forsyth has never, y'know... aged. or died.

the game, as many people have pointed out, wants us to know who's possessed or "played" by who in the haunting -- that's why Oscar is Charles Shaw Sr., Stella is the Lover because she and Tabby have as-yet unrequited feelings, Avery is the Entity as an outsider to the town. Kaneeka, in this same vein, is the Witch, and she doesn't dread it. she says specifically later she felt "Powerful."

Sybil has been convincing Kaneeka that she has a cold, trying to keep her out of the action during supernatural events and downplaying her part. I can't remember which character points out that after the haunting ends (Oscar, I think?), Sybil keeps shutting down any conversation of what people saw or what it meant, encouraging everyone to just leave under the guise of getting rest.

even when Kaneeka is having a minor existential meltdown outside the library after ("Ghosts are real," etc.), Sybil handwaves it, rather than taking any opportunity to be like "see what have I been telling you all these years" and instructs Kaneeka to go home, as she's in a compromised state due to catching sick. I feel like she wants Kaneeka to not encounter the supernatural until it's on her terms - as in, she has a specific timing in mind. maybe to go along with a plan.

if, after the tea reading the next day, you manage to almost get Kaneeka out the door to go investigate the clinic with you (and even if you don't, I think), Sybil watches you leave with an offputting, lingering look. that's foreshadowing, if not an outright warning, that she's onto your shit.

my theories about Sybil diverge here into two options:

a) Sybil is on the Scarlets' side, and is trying to help Tabitha preserve the curse Enoch put on the town.

as mentioned above, there's something going on with a goat in the back greenhouse that Tabitha is implied to be raising for some sort of sacrifice, with Sybil's help. what do they need to be sacrificing goats to? What kind of magic is that?

Sybil repeatedly tells Wayne to get lost, reiterating to the player and others that he's "a drifter, a sick man," etc. and shouldn't be paid attention to. Wayne, it's worth pointing out, is a spirit who's trying to help the player and warn them about the ills the town is playing host to.

Sybil is the person Tabitha calls during the haunting, and she's referred to as "a friend of the family." screenshot below:

in my id playthrough with Keen Eye, you can listen to snippets of Tabby and Sybil's conversation in the general store when Tabby goes on her errand to pick up the tea. there's definitely something special about the blend Tabby is picking up, Sybil made it for her specifically -- the question is, what?

Sybil is the one who suggested Dr. Kelly start poisoning Reese. I have seen people suggest that Reese was the unwitting guardian set in place for the clinic seal, much like the Tommyknockers were for the mines', and Charlie was for the library's. this would keep him subdued enough to keep him there as a contingency measure, should someone get close enough to the seal to cause trouble. after all, there is an option where Reese never finds his mom's journal but still decides not to take his meds -- how do we know that wasn't a thought implanted in him by the magic of the seal, to make him morb out and protect it?

in my current playthrough with Sidney, Sybil says the basement is perfectly safe after Charlie is exorcised. but with Mystical in play, the narration says that even though the seal is weakened, there's still a chance something in the basement could still manifest with unknown consequences (hence why Sidney very sternly warns Oscar to stay out, but Idk if that just costs me clues in the long run).

b) Sybil is trying to bring down the Scarlets from the inside, achieving what her ancestor couldn't with Charlie Shaw.

why else did the Witch give Charlie the map? unless she was sending the Scarlets fresh blood on purpose, wouldn't one think that she was trying to make someone outside aware of what the Scarlets had set in motion, and maybe, possibly bring about its end?

Sybil is the one who suggests Tabby gives her years to Charlie in the basement in episode 3. why would she do that, if not to decrease the lifespan of the last Scarlet heir? especially if Sybil's supposedly helping Tabitha with something curse-related?

if you get the tea leaves read in 4, and you pick someone like Joan when thinking about the Cat, Sybil tells you the Cat has to be someone close to you, almost familial. what if she's trying to warn you that Tabby maybe hasn't invited you to the town with pure intentions?

speaking of which...

Tabitha:

Tabby invited you to the funeral in order to sacrifice you to the magic holding the town hostage.

I love our girl, I love her so much, but let's be real... why else did she invite you, a total stranger, to her mother's funeral, if she otherwise had nothing to gain from it? we know she doesn't like socializing -- hell, she doesn't even like the player, when we get there. she sees us as an intrusion on her life as she knows it, and an annoying obligation. she doesn't believe in social niceties for the sake of them, so why else would she feel the need to invite you to pay respects to a relative you've never met?

people have pointed out that if you get close enough with Tabitha, when you talk about the future, she sounds... sad, almost. maybe this could be attributed to her knowing the chances of you two having one are slim, with her running a failing mine that's the backbone of a dying town and everything, but maybe that's because she has other plans for you, that she's maybe starting to waffle on (which will potentially lead to a big conflict in one of the later episodes).

Tabitha has said multiple times that she would do anything to keep the mine running. If ancestral dark magic is the only way to do it, and Pearlanne has literally been training her since childhood to assume all the duties of a Scarlet, then... why wouldn't that include this?

Enoch made Teddy disappear just after the collapse of 1918. We also know from the death certificates in the clinic, with Keen Eye, that Alexandra Scarlet disappeared the same day Enoch supposedly died. we also also know that there was another, older girl in Tabby/the Player's grandma's generation, who died before the player's grandma died in labor having Pearlanne and Vivian. what if there's a mechanic in place with the curse where it can survive for so long off things like, say, goats, but sacrificing another Scarlet can bring about a time of extra prosperity? sort of an Abraham-Isaac situation? maybe Tabby thinks that killing you off will help revive the town to its former glory. and after all, if Vivian is dead, who's really going to miss you from your hometown if you go missing in the woods, or the mines, or... use your imagination.

Sam Wayne:

this man is just a theory unto himself, tbh.

he's trying to help/protect the player for mysterious reasons, and at one point, states the bond between the two of you is "unbreakable."

I don't think he's The Entity, because the figure from Charlie's memories was being held prisoner by the Scarlets -- which, imho, would maybe make him resent the player rather than devote himself to them. But then again...

is he inhabiting the body of Sam Wayne the miner to taunt Tabby in particular? It would make sense: someone she loved, that she/her mother potentially made disappear, is walking around town again? He wants to rile her, and he seems to be doing a good job of it.

so maybe he's on one side of an intra-Scarlet schism, and Sybil is on the other, depending on where her true allegiances lie vis a vis my earlier theories.

The creature piloting Sam's corpse is something similar to a mycelium network.

during Reese's morbing in the clinic, Wayne sneaks up behind him when he's standing in Dr. Kelly's office doorway, and does something to Reese's shoulder. Again, with my Keen Eye playthrough, I got an extra bit of narration saying we saw something yellow shoot out of Sam's sleeve and then disappear back into it. This is deeply interesting, given some of Reese's artwork...

Abby has put up a lot more screenshots of his art on her blog, but these were the particular pieces that got my attention in my runthroughs. at first glance, it makes sense the yellow stuff looks like lightning, maybe a parallel to like. being watched by God or something else to do with Religious Trauma TM. as a fellow queer neuroweird person from the south, I Get It.

but after that observation above, and the way the lightning bolts kind of curl around the window ledge in the taped picture in the left screenshot, I realized... they're roots. it's a root system. I've seen this theory shared by people in their fanart, so I'm just very curious how that's going to play out.

I don't know why he was haunting Reese so often -- see my speculation above that he either fathered Reese w/ Joan and is pissed that he Came Out Wrong somehow, or that he really, really hates whatever did father Reese. but there's some sort of connection between the two that I'm deeply curious about/afraid of for Reese's sake ngl tbh.

that's all I have for now, or at least until my brain comes back with "AND ANOTHER THING--"

I'm all ears when it comes to anything to debunk these or potentially add fuel to the fire. I'm not married to any of them, but this is just what I think I've managed to put together so far. and theorizing is one of my favorite parts of the game, so lfg.

#scarlet hollow #scarlet hollow spoilers #tabitha scarlet #sybil forsyth #sam wayne #yes I know this is my third post today #I took my adhd meds late. what can I say.

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