#he's lowkey like “TAKE ME TO JAIL I'VE BEEN A BAD MAN” but he's also “I want to see my new son grow”

[muntadhir]

crying about vile geppetto at 3am

this is from an RP because I am incapable of sharing fic wips for some reason

It would be a simple thing to mumble more of his apologies, but somehow they feel distant, raw. As if he is at the opera house — crumbling now, thanks to him — and he is watching a play about himself. The structure of the play is terrible, the dialogue, the acting, but most of all the character of Giuseppe Geppetto is vile, contemptible. Who in the audience might relate to such a man? No one, he thinks. No one. "You needn't accept my apology. I would never expect such." And still he can't help but feel he is living on borrowed time. Even if his puppet — his son — keeps his secrets, it's only a matter of time before someone pries too deeply into the origins of the Frenzy, and what then? How tall might his tower of lies grow before it collapses beneath his feet? Giuseppe touches his son's shoulder: greedily, he thinks, but he lets himself imagine they both need this. "If anything, I hope that you don't accept my pathetic excuse for an apology. At least not publicly. Then" — when the truth comes to light for the survivors of Krat, he doesn't say, with all the implications such entails — "you can claim ignorance, and you will not share in my stain."

[beevean]

While I know Andrew is not perfect, a lot of people are swinging the other pendulum and acting like he's just as evil as Ashley if not more and the real abusive one of the situation or outright downplaying any nice trait he has (or any justified reason for why he acts the way he does)

Like, even if avoiding the consequences of his actions is a primary motivator, he really did feel bad about Killing her as well as Ashley's nonchalant reaction to it and the fact she used Nina's death to blackmail him, most of the venomous words for her are because said death and what she forced him into (which likely carries to how he treats her in high modern day)

Also the fact he knows what guilt w

I've been marinating in TCOAAL analyses, and the takes on both characters are fascinating.

My take is that Ashley is immoral, while Andrew is amoral. There is a difference between the two. The conflict comes from the fact that Andrew is aware of this, he's aware that it's "wrong", and tries very hard to be Ashley's moral compass to compensate. Ashley, ever since she was a kid, was made painfully aware that there was something "wrong" with her, no one except her brother loved her (and even then, who said that he wasn't pretending?), and her reaction was to embrace it.

(I'd really love to talk about their childhood, how Leyley displays behavior that she could have only learned from others, how they seem to have learned the lesson that "bad children don't deserve love" and how they cope with it)

The crux of the matter seems to be... did Andy really feel bad about Nina, or was his primary concern going to jail and being separated from Leyley? Is the trauma that stemmed from the incident from the feeling of guilt and remorse, or because that was the point where he became his sister's plaything and could not escape from her anymore? This seems, from what I've seen, what split the fans.

Rewatching the scene, Andy's first coherent dialogue is all about how the situation looks. "Why would have she clawed the lid if she was there willingly?" "She'll start to rot" "They're gonna know!". This once again hints at how Andy's first concern is "can this be traced back to us?". But to be fair, Leyley was the one who first said "you took off the stick, so it looks like she went there willingly", so he's responding to her.

But then he says "they'll throw me in prison for the rest of my life!" Which is very. Mh :)

Interpretation 1: Andy is being as self-centered as kids are prone to be. Nothing more to look into.

Interpretation 2: Andy only cares about himself and the consequences he's going to suffer. His sister's fate is up in the air. Lowkey implies that Andy didn't care much about her before this mess happened.

Interpretation 3: he genuinely thinks he's the main culprit of this incident. I want to add that this line happens before Leyley starts to hammer into his head that now he's bad and no one will love him anymore :) this would imply that Andy felt actual guilt.

There is probably not a concrete answer as of now. I hope episode 3 has more flashbacks because man they are so fascinating.

Anyway, to get back to the point. Andrew is not "evil". Andrew is a profoundly damaged person who was forced to become the everything of his even more damaged sister. Ashley is the "criminal mind", as it were... but to me, it looks like Andrew is on the same wavelength - remember, Ashley mused to herself that the dead neighbour was "a lot of meat", but Andrew, after the initial shock, immediately started to consider the implicit proposal of eating him. While Ashley wears her heart on her sleeve, is painfully honest, and couldn't care less about what anyone (except her bro) thinks of her anymore, Andrew is profoundly in denial about his own "abnormal" thoughts, and the difference between Decay and Burial is how he decides to accept himself.

Does that make him a better person? Well, he seems to be able to fit in more, at least. He's charming and can seemingly attract girls very easily, much to Ashley's chagrin. Maybe, without Ashley, he'd be able to live a normal life without crimes and all. But again, to me it looks like he lacks a moral compass in general, even though he has a strong sense of guilt and responsibility (which to me stems from being Leyley's sole caretaker since a tender age).

As to him being an abuser... well, he does threaten to slap and backhand Ashley a few times. She even calls him "wifebeater" at one point. Not enough to call him an abuser, but the threat of him becoming physical is always there. He's more than capable of subduing Ashley, when he wants to. Ashley's abuse is much more overt and constant, with her manipulation and guilttrips (and she got physical at least once too), but Andrew calmly choking Ashley and making her make a case for her life... has some implications.

I don't think I'm making sense lol. TCOAAL is a fascinating game that hides all sorts of moral questions underneath its over-the-top tone, and I love it.

[tartagliaxx]

hi lei!! how are you? i kinda wanna know if you were in genshin what type of vision would you receive and why?

also i see you've been playing the hangout events !! :D i've only gotten through noelle and chongyun's so far and their so cute,,,,it honestly makes me feel worse. i know this isn't an otome game and should be trying for all the endings but some legit make me feel bad T_T mhy seriously excepts me to tell noelle that she needs more strength or to feed chongyun spicy food when he trusted us? i still did though because i need the exp fhwkdjwo

i'm pretty sure there are gonna be more hangout events cause they referred to it as the first one which means theres gonna be more later 👁👁 i hope kaeya is gonna be included in the next one hes my fave!! hes also a CRIMINAL,,,,lei he stole my heart and just gets to walk the streets free of his crimes!!! T_T its especially sickening cause he should be putting people like him behind bars!!! i was missing him for a while now but i'm glad we got to see him in the windbloom festival!! i wonder who he's writing his poem too tho :0 i was thinking maybe its a platonic one for maybe jean or even diluc which would take a sad turn T_T

anyways i've rambled to you enough remember to drink some water and eat something!! ^_^ - 🍰

heyyy babe!! im doing fine, thanks for asking! i just woke up like a few minutes ago and it’s already 12nn. i took some tests before and got dendro and cryo. personally, i believe cryo fits me more bc im pretty reserved irl. like yknow how winters are usually silent and intimidating? thats how im often described at school but also, im pretty comforting when you get past the coldness in the beginning (i promise im not a bad person. im just inteoverted w a rbf)

and yes! i’ve been doing the hangouts. i see we chose the same first two! i got all 6 endings for noelle and 2 for chongyun yesterday. i totally understand the sentiment like i would never make some of the choices i had to make to get the endings. ngl the strength thing is lowkey funny cause it makes the traveler sound like a macho, power enthusiast gym body w kiloliters worth of protein shake. (i also see we are both exp deprived people)

seeing as the hangout events are a hit, im pretty sure they’ll add more. when the time comes, i hope they’ll add some for 5* too. im still waiting for that date w childe. anw, yes! 😤 kaeya deserves to go to jail. he stole from you? well, he also committed arson. what was he thinking setting our hearts on fire like that?! ugh how sickening. i almost fainted when he appeared in the quest. the charisma? the looks? the voice? on freaking point. ngl i think he just joined the poem writing thing to mess w venti. i dont think he needs any help in that area at all. i mean he flirts for a living. being a captain is just a side job. its nice to think that its for diluc tho. like,, a poem that expresses untold feelings of regret and brotherhood. his poem unspoken against the man who has closed his ears.

enough about that.. thanks for dropping by! how are you? i’ll grab some lunch after this. remember to drink and eat on time too! 💕