#gemposting

[ashes2caches]

do it.

[foxgirlwitchhat]

torturing my umineko fan gf by going "hey thats just like in knives out" every time she tries to explain a plot point to me

[gemalawaswrites]

50 Silly Headcanons Ask Game

I don't see enough headcanons about silly, meaningless things, so...here's an ask game, with prompts in no particular order! Plop a number or a prompt in my ask box with a character/group to hear my random thoughts!

What type of video games do they play? How do they like to play?

Are they big on books? If so, do they read books as they buy them or end up with a long to-read list?

What are their absolutely meaningless pet peeves?

What's something weird, unusual, or silly that they know too much about?

What terrible franchise/media do they like? Why do they like it?

Who (among their peer group/other characters in their canon) do they irrationally dislike, for little to no reason?

What do they do when they're bored, just to pass time?

What's their favorite shampoo/soap smell? Do they ever mention this to other people?

What are they weirdly good at?

What do they work really hard to get good at even though it's not particularly useful?

What are they irrationally freaked out by?

What's their favorite holiday?

What holiday annoys them/do they dislike?

What are they petty about?

What do they just suck at, regardless of effort? Do they do it anyway?

What pet would they like to own? What pet would they own if logistics/danger didn't exist?

Are they a good cook? Do they bake? How do they do so?

What clothes do they gravitate to?

What's their favorite emoji?

What do they grab from antique stores/garage sales/tourist traps, if anything?

What silly things do they fantasize about (e.g. winning arguments, doing things well, being good at social interactions)?

What color isn't their favorite, but is one they like?

What songs tend to get stuck in their head?

What's their go-to breakfast? Why?

What thing do they not particularly like/want to do that they wish they did?

Are they a good driver? If not, are they nervous or aggressive?

What kind of jokes do they tend to tell (e.g. puns, knock-knocks, shaggy dog stories, one-liners)?

What food can they never resist?

Can they pull off a dress or a suit?

Can they walk in heels?

What dumb shit do they do without hesitation?

What paranormal stuff do they believe/not believe in?

How do they order steak (blue, rare, medium rare, medium, done, well done)?

What feature or action of another person is incredibly attractive to them?

Do they like weird ice cream flavors?

Where do they listen to music (Youtube, Spotify, Pandora, CDs, piracy)?

How do they take their caffeine (tea, energy drinks, coffee, etc)?

How tidy are they?

Where do they go for fast food?

What do they order on pizza?

What's a strong opinion they have on something pointless?

Do they believe in any pseudoscience (astrology, MBTI, Enneagram) or fortune-telling? How serious are they about it?

What random thing do they think brings good luck?

What kind of thing makes them laugh way too hard?

What do they try to get everyone else around them to like?

Do they get into arguments/debates for fun? If so, what about?

Cat person, dog person, both, or neither?

What do they do to help them get to sleep?

What's their favorite and least favorite weather?

What are they super embarrassed about enjoying?

If you reblog this, it's nice to send an ask to the person you reblogged from :)

[twotiime2]

Speaking of frakking late, it's 4 AM. I'm shutting 2iimon off for the night.

Goodnight!

[jade-gemstone]

Playing video games has made me realize I would be much better suited for medieval warfare than whatever the hell every military is doing out there rn.

[gemalawasliveblogs]

Dave's little one-pixel smile and how nice he is with Jade is really nice to see. They care about each other a lot and I just think that's important.

[gemalawashomestuck]

Wrtier’s block and/or college hitting you hard right now, I presume?

Honestly, no, I'm just having a hyperfixation and it's consuming my life (The Stanley Parable), as soon as my brain lets go of the death grip a little I'll be back :)

I've written over thirty thousand words of fic (probably closer to 40k by now) in a little over three weeks. However, I've also almost finished my first...not quite longfic, but fic over two chapters :)

[gemalawaspokemon]

Bisexual pride with Archeops! I’m bi and Archeops is my favorite Pokémon 😁

Of course! Here ya go! Lmk if there's anything you'd like different.

[k66-official]

We're really sorry for not posting lately! It's quite hard to find a point where time and motivation overlap sometimes, you know? We promise to make it up to you eventually, yessir! Don't know when, but eventually! Hopefully!

//hey all gem here! first of all hi sorry again. i could ramble on about how ive been playing video games like some kind of loser but thats wack vibes nobody wants to hear that.

//ANYWAY this is a call for audience participation... for christmas presents!!! that's right baby!! i want YOUS to send asks with gifts for our friends in the keroro platoon!

//they can be from other characters slash people they know, yourself, an oc, who knows who cares i'm letting it be loose babey! just toss an ask along the lines of "some gundam coasters i found in the back of the retro game store. to keroro from gem" or something!!

//(also if you don't specify who it's from it will be presumed "from this tumblr user" or "from anonymous")

//i need to go to bed sorry if this is incomprehensible ✌️🦖

[strangeknight]

[sable-eye]

zzznnn ..., sableye yearns for the jasper....,..,,,

what a treat,, gemposting gempost craving jasper craving snack

[tearedsores]

10/14 - gemposting

[foxgirlwitchhat]

the genius of umineko's soundtrack, or how i think system 0 is one of the best tracks in the entire thing

(big spoilers ahead for obvious reasons)

So I've recently been listening to a lot of Umineko's music again and even though it's been 3 entire years since I read it it really reminded me of how fantastic the entire soundtrack is, and yet I believe a lot of people overlook one crucial detail. The soundtrack is great and everyone knows it and duly praises it, don't get me wrong, but I rarely see people talk about how great a job it does at setting up the emotional tone of a scene. There's a reason why ryukishi called it a "sound novel" or something along those lines, the music is meant to carry as much impact as the text. And for the purposes of illustrating it, I think few tracks serve that purpose as well as system 0.

So as I said in the beginning it's been 3 years since I read it so there's good odds my memory is a bit scrambled, but if memory serves this track plays only once in the entire story and it does so at a very important scene. It plays in the scene near the end of ep 1 at which point the vast majority of the family has died, and Natsuhi is trying to rally the family under her by force in a frenzied attempt to get things at least a bit back under control, control they had completely lost the moment they stumbled upon the five (?) dead bodies — all killed in such a brutal way the adults even amidst their panic were trying to protect the younger ones from the horrible sight.

So with that piece of context this scene places us in Natsuhi's shoes, and when system 0 kicks in it completes it giving us a good idea of what is running through her head right now. system 0 begins with a little excerpt from Star Trek First Contact, two lines exchanged between Data and the Borg Queen, a being framed as holding incredible power and intelligence.

"Believing oneself to be perfect is often the sign of a delusional mind."

"Small words, from a small being trying to attack what it doesn't understand."

These lines were removed from the PS3 version of the song which I believe is the basis of almost every modern Umineko re-release due to copyright reasons most likely, which I find a great shame because they offer so much to it. For the Ushiromiya family at this point of the story Beatrice is essentially omnipotent and omniscient, and yet all they know of her is the portrait and the epitaph. (There's also a lot to be said about these quotes in the context of Battler and Beatrice's rivalry but their relationship deserves a post of its own, ideally by someone more articulate than me)

The track whether we recognize it or not helps us see what Natsuhi sees. The radar sounds, the chanting, it all adds to the picture of blindly trying to fight off, to try and survive against a threat so much larger than you your brain can't even begin to comprehend what is happening. All you know is that you're in incredible peril, and any misstep will most likely result in your death, with your loved ones soon to follow. It's terrifying. Just about anyone in that position would feel such dread they would find it hard to even move, and yet because let no one say Natsuhi is not a strong willed woman (especially after what we later learn about her,) she charges head on into the unknown trying to save what's left of her family, which you could easily argue is why the track also has a strong undercurrent instead of being merely calm and "depressing" like dead angle for example. It's extremely hard hitting from a narrative standpoint, and the combination of the text, the context, and the music tie it all up perfectly as one of the most memorable scenes in the questions arc.

Another example of this in my eyes would be fake red shoes, a track which (again correct me if I'm wrong) I believe only plays twice in the story, in ep3 during the Beatrice vs Virgilia duel and later on in ep6, during the Love Duel between Shannon and Kanon against Maria.

Now, there's a tiny bit less to say about this track itself than with system0 but most importantly, I want to explore its relation to the narrative. Assuming you've read Umineko (which, if you're reading this, you probably have or don't care about spoilers) you'll notice that there's an interesting detail in it: both times it plays it's Sayo facing off against one of the two people who offered them love and kindness, despite everything.

When fake red shoes first plays in ep3 it immediately hits you with how fast paced and downright ridiculous the combat between witches is, with Battler himself saying that even he, the number one magic denier, the guy who's so adamant in his belief that magic isnt real that it grants him protection against it, is having a hard time believing what's in front of him. He, and us as readers at that point, are completely clueless. Is this still a mere murder mystery, or does magic actually exist in this story? Who knows! But hey, this woman who just appeared out of thin air flew and threw Gungnir at Beato like it was a heat-seeking missile, and there was that thing with the goats at the end of the previous episode, that probably counts for something right?

And then it comes back in ep 6. At first it's a slightly odd choice, even with the battle music in this chapter being so bombastic and fast paced (i.e rog-limitation being the bgm for Jessica vs Kyrie) it's weird to bring it back up now when it had only played in the past in what, despite what it looked like at first glance, actually was a pretty tragic and emotional confrontation. And then you learn the big secret, and much like with many other scenes it paints this battle in an entirely different light.

This time, however, Shannon/Kanon/Sayo is clearly the one losing. And though at first it seems kind of expected given that ch4 revealed to us Maria is actually an extremely powerful witch in the context of the game board, it also blasted fully open the door of her relationship with Rosa, twisted and complicated and hateful and loving as it was, all at the same time.

For Maria, this was her seeing her best friend in life, one of the only two lights in it snuff (given we know her dad abandoned and she got bullied at school, we can probably assume there's barely any people who give her the time of day) out the other. And although given the entire thematic of the chapter, it being centered around the so called Love Duels, with parties ultimately vying for perfect ever-lasting love, Maria's fast avenging rage comes in to remind us that Umineko's messages about love aren't just about romantic love, but also the love you have towards your friends or family etc, the people you hold near and dear to your heart.

And I could go on and on with more examples like Patchwork Chimera or miragecoordinator but I believe my point has been made. Whenever you listen to one of those tracks in the novel that only play a handful of times if that, don't forget to think about it in the context of when it played!

[gemalawaswrites]

List five things that make you happy, then put this in the ask box of the last ten people who reblogged something from you. Spread the positivity ✨💛🌻

Hi! I'm afraid I'm really not a fan of these kinds of chain asks in general, so I won't be passing it on - but I really appreciate the sentiment :) in any case!

1. My online friends I've got quite a few and I love them dearly.

2. Writing, perhaps obviously with the name of this blog...it makes me generally happy to do.

3. My cats, I've got two really sweet ones. Their names are Kitty and Stormy.

4. Music, I listen to it all the time.

5. Running - I do so about every other day and I always love it.

[twotiime2]

Two be fair to Equius, human and human-adjacent bodies are horribly fragile when you've never had one before! You have so many, blunt, teeth; and a tongue, though that's more a Program problem; all these little tiny hairs on your skin, everywhere, which I don't know if he had before; I would imagine the lack of horns would be throwing off his balance a lot; among other things!

As a Program, organic bodies are... gross. No offense.

[jade-gemstone]

Listen. One of these days you're going to be on your period and you're going to hear a little voice that says "You don't need any pain meds today, you'll be fine." That is the devil taking.