#in what way does it seem logical that on your first interaction with me 1 on 1 you try to trance me | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

1moreff-creator · 6 months ago

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You've done this before so this is exclusively self indulgent but can you give your thoughts on DRDT foil theory again haha... I'm enamored by it and think about it daily.

I'll point out as well that there's been a trend regarding which characters are relevant to the chapter's case based on the order of the foils so far.

In chapter 1 it was [Xander, Min, Teruo & Charles] while in chapter 2 it was [Eden, Arei, Nico, Ace] - following this train of logic next chapter's main players would be [Hu, Veronika, Rose, J].

Hu's arc has just started (her beliefs are being challenged), Veronika became worst + Arturo is going to be centered at the start of chapter 3, Rose's arc just started + a money motive would be relevant to her & J's conflict with Arturo is going to be centered at the start of chapter 3.

Feel free to ignore this if you feel it's too repetitive, I just like it when I see people talking about my theory lol.

Well, if the creator of the recap foil theory asks me to talk about it, who am I to deny? It's probably, like, in my top three theories about DRDT, so I'm gonna enjoy talking about it! :D

(Btw I totally get you about enjoying when people talk about your theory. Whenever I see someone mention one of my posts I always go ":O that's me :D" it's great lol)

CW: Murder, electrocution, execution, suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, discrimination against a non-binary person, manipulation, poverty, harmful environments during childhood.

As a quick recap (heh): at the end of the CH1 recap video, the characters are paired up in a certain way. The theory states that they're paired up in a way that represents some of the most important foils in the cast. And... well, it seems to hold up quite well! I'll talk about them here in the order they show up in the recap video.

1) Xander & Min

And what a start! These two are basically eternal foils, with everything about their characters being contrasted with each other in some way or another. From the very first moment they're seen together, in Min's introduction, they immediately start beefing simply due to their respective talents.

The biggest point of contrast comes from their past with education. From Visiting Graves, we know Xander used to be a diligent student like Min, but he stopped when his family died while he was away studying. He's come to the conclusion that the things taught in school are oftentimes kind of useless for most people's lives, and his rejection of the education system kickstarted his rebellion against systemic issues in general.

Min, for her part, actually has a lot of the same views. Her Bonus Episode makes that pretty clear; she doesn't think things like Hope's Peak's history are really all that useful, and feels insecure because she doesn't see the same value in her talent as she does in others. However, Min still wants to maintain her talent, at least in title, seen as her first instinct when the killing game started was to grab an anatomy textbook and start studying it. Meanwhile, Xander dislikes his talent title greatly, as he believes calling him a "Rebel" undermines the stuff he does.

All of this is literally baked into their first interaction, as mentioned before. Xander seems to project heavily on Min upon first meeting her, assuming that she probably has no hobbies or friends if she's the Ultimate Student and judging her for it quickly. Min isn't particularly thrilled over that, given he knows nothing about her life.

Speaking of backstories, there's other points in those where they contrast. Particularly, the involvement of large companies and rich people in said backstories. Duke Spurling did a thing that killed Xander's entire family, which was the inciting incident for Xander officially leaving behind his studious nature. Meanwhile, XF-Ture Tech helped Min's family out of property, but pushed Min into studiousness for the Ultimate Student title; more or less the opposite of what Spurling did for Xander.

The same can be said of their relationship with Hope's Peak, which is elaborated on in the Bonus Episodes. Xander went to Hope's Peak for some kind of ulterior motive-

Unnamed Classmate [BE2]: I think your ability to get back from adversity is really admirable. That determination of yours is admirable. If you set out to do something, then never give up on that, no matter what obstacles may stand in your way. Even if it's risky or against the rules, as long as it's for a good cause... I'll trust that you know to do the right thing. Xander: Yeah, of course. That's why I've come to Hope's Peak, isn't it?

-which we can somewhat confidently assume to be bad for the school given Xander's... Everything. For Min's side, just getting to Hope's Peak was Min's entire goal for the entirety of her childhood, playing right into the hands of the Ultimate Contest for Eminent Students, and thus into the school's hands.

By the way, if you go back and look at what Absolutely-Not-Mai says to Xander, the idea of "bouncing back from adversity" could be connected to Min's whole "mistakes are to be corrected" thing. This one's an insane stretch, though.

For another point, though I don't know much about this particular topic, I find even their designs are opposites in some ways. Although arguably that's more a result of them being foils in general and DRDT having good character design but y'know.

Both of them seem to wear some kind of school uniform, but in totally different ways. Xander does everything he can to stylize his, be it wearing his coat as a cape, or getting a tongue piercing specifically because they weren't allowed and he could hide it, as stated in a Q&A, doing everything he can to fight against this institution. On the other hand, Min wears hers normally, and several Q&A answers clarify that she finds comfort in the colors and style of her uniform. One fights against institutions, the other works withing their systems (Min even wants to be a teacher which is an extension of that idea), you get the point.

Also this plays into the theme of fate because of course it does. Just replace "institutions" with "fate" and you kinda get the point. Xander fights against it, Min accepts it. Or, she accepts the fate of being the Ultimate Student, at least.

Their relationships with other characters, Teruko and David in particular, is another point of foiling. I've brought this up before, but as a recap: Xander betrayed Teruko so she openly hates him even though her real feelings are much more complicated than that, while Min tried to save her only to then panic and try to win the class trial, which causes Teruko to openly hate her even though her real feelings are much more complicated than that. But Teruko takes on Min's philosophy of fixing mistakes in the second trial, which is notable because in the same trial, David calls Min pathetic before his magical girl transformation, only to reveal that he's following Xander's ideals a while later. And while Teruko and David may not be recap foils, they sure are foils in general, so the foiling Xanvid and Terumin duos are formed. Cool!

As a minor point also connected to relationships, I could see the angle that Xander's friendship with David might parallel Min's thoughts on Mai. This one's iffier because anything about Mai is iffy, but I think it's worth mentioning.

The starting point of the Xanvid thing is the fact that they both used to idolize each other, but eventually decide that they should just be friends like any other friends. Cue the whole "foxes and children" quote from The Little Prince that shows up in LGI in the "I hate the things I love..." scene- I don't know how many people can follow what I just said, but I hope the main idea got across, at least.

Xander [1-5]: Enough with these idols or role models, okay? Let's just be friends.

In the same way, everyone loves Mai, but Min's Mai quote is:

Min: An average girl with nothing special at all about her.

Which can kinda be said about Min too, but the whole point of the end of the Bonus Episode is how Min is special to Mai.

Think of David as Mai and Xander as Min. David and Mai are idolized by everyone who knows them (pre 2-11 anyways), but Xander and Min see them as regular people (post 1-5 for Xander), while Xander and Min aren't idolized (by most of the cast at least) but are special to David and Mai respectively. I don't really know if it works perfectly, but it's close enough for me to mention.

You can even try to fit in some kind of point about the theme of cooperation vs competition, though I'll admit it's a bit of a stretch.

Competition is greatly important for Min's character, but she doesn't often go out of her way to help others. She helps when asked, sure, as she does when Surely-Not-Mai asks her to help her study in BE1, or when Eden asks for help baking and the subsequent clean-up. However, there's several scenes where she avoids conflict by reading that anatomy textbook of hers, such as in her introduction and when Arei's yelling at the Baking Squad.

Meanwhile, Xander doesn't really compete on anything with anyone aside the arm wrestling contest (which isn't much of a competition anyways), but he constantly tries to butt into other people's issues. It happens in Min's introduction, in his chat with Nico in 1-5, right before stabbing Teruko, you get the idea. So, he constantly tries to cooperate even without the consent of the person they're trying to cooperate with. Again, a stretch, but kinda works.

All of these foils culminate in Xander's death and Min's murder. Xander, like always, is proactive and acts even with incomplete information:

Xander [1-5]: Then, why did I do this? I don't even know... Why? Just why did you ask me to kill Teruko?

Trying his best to cooperate with an unknown ally to, presumably, hinder the mastermind's plans; fighting against the killing game like he fights against any other system.

But then Min barges in. She was just trying to fix the mistakes of the past, aka cleaning up the remnants of the baking thing. But just like her being randomly sponsored by XF-Ture Tech was in some ways both a blessing and a curse, she once again finds herself in a situation where, depending on how you look at it, she's either in the right place at the right time (to save Teruko) or at the wrong place at the wrong time (because she'll end up dying from this).

Xander attacks, and there's a bit of brain vs brawn thing that happens. I hadn't mentioned that theme before because Xander is intelligent and Min is arguably not the smartest in the cast, but it's true that Xander's physical prowess and Min's intelligence are some of their most notable strengths. This is brought to the forefront when Xander tries to kill Min by overpowering her only for her to outsmart him with the light switch trick.

However, again similarly to how she was pushed into a corner by the XF-Ture Tech contract, Min now finds herself in a position where she must compete with others for her own survival. And not just any form of competition, but a class trial. Once again, Min has to compete under the rules established by an institution, as she did in the UCES. She ultimately gets executed, but kept trying to survive until the very end, fighting for her life the same way she'd been fighting for her future her entire childhood; by trying to give the right answers in a test.

Look, there's probably more foils (because each time I look at these two I find more of them), but I need to stop at some point. These are characters who foil even in their fucking custom weapons for God's sake. Xander's "gun" looks extremely dangerous, when in reality it's nothing but a piece of plastic; and Min's pen looks totally safe, while actually hiding a knife. If I keep looking, I'll keep finding, and I have to talk about 7 other foiling pairs, so I'll keep it at that for this post :v

2) Teruko & Charles

There's plenty to talk about with these two as well! The main point of foiling is their respective character arcs so far.

Charles started out as a prickly and judgemental guy, pushing the others away as he felt superior due to his talent. However, after the events of the first trial, he started opening up a bit more, and hanging out with the others, mainly Whit.

Teruko, for her part, started out friendlier. She made a quick connection with Xander, and we saw her socializing with the elevator scene with Ace and Levi, and the baking squad scene. However, she went the other way after the first trial, pushing the others away to avoid getting attached and trusting no one. She's swinging back to trusting now, but the point stands.

Basically, Teruko and Charles went in opposite character arcs in the first two chapters. In that sense, Charles exists as an early warning to Teruko about the dangers of pushing others away, as the only reason Charles managed to get through the first trial is because Whit trusted him and his hemophobia. So, trust, relying on others, important themes their stories share.

And it's not just the in-killing game arcs, as their backstories also vaguely foil. Charles had a pretty privileged upbringing, while Teruko obviously had a lot more issues with her luck and all. Funnily enough, this includes them having scars they don't properly remember getting. Charles believes the dog bite wound on his arm is a birthmark, while Teruko doesn't know where the scar on her back came from.

Which is what gets us to the theme of memory we got going on. Both of them have memory issues, albeit different ones: Charles has childhood amnesia, Teruko has prosopagnosia. They even both have a brother of indeterminate fate, what with us not really knowing what happened to either "Kyo" or Elliot. Well we know Elliot's dead at least but you get the idea.

Speaking of the Elliot situation, one can tie this pair to a theme I can best define as "challenged preconceptions." Basically the idea that there's preconceptions these two carried into the killing game which are challenged by the events within it. That can technically be said about a lot of characters, sure, but Charles and Teruko have a fair amount of very specific notions which are only begin doubting in the killing game.

For Charles, this would be the existence of Elliot; that's the point I was trying to make with that segue back there. Charles thought he was an only child, but turns out he had a brother at some point.

Charles [2-7]: From birth all the way to the present, there are probably many things that you had taken for granted to be true. Things you never thought to question before, like those frivolous lies about "Santa Claus" or the "Tooth Fairy." Or perhaps less frivolous lies, like the idea that your parents know what's best for you. Once you're given some hitherto unknown information, you may begin piecing together a bigger picture of your past. Things you had accepted as truth your whole life begin to reveal themselves as lies. And once all the pieces are in place, you realize you were blind for never seeing the whole story before.

It's what Charles' numeral in LGI references: "if you doubt, brittle things are broken."

For Teruko, there's a few preconceptions that get challenged over the course of the killing game, but probably the most notable one is the idea that she's doomed to live a horrible life due to her luck.

Teruko [2-16]: I have always said that my misfortune, my personality, the choices I make, everything was all a product of a bad luck that I can't control. That I grew up in such horrible circumstances, so I was destined to grow up to be a terrible person. That everyone else abandoned me, so it's not my fault that I'm alone. I want to say that it's fate's fault, and that I had no choice in the matter. But, even so... Even so... Everyone. Xander, Min, Arei, Ace. Maybe even Levi. Is it my fault that they died? [...] Whether it was the fault of fate, or my fault... I already knew the answer. I had known what the answer was since a long, long time ago.

I think you can kinda see the point.

Their aptitude in class trials can also be mentioned. Although Charles was sorta out of it during the first one, he was definitely pretty good in the second one. And Teruko is far and away the most influential character in trial discussion overall. The fact they're equally matched intellectually speaking helps them play off each other pretty nicely.

Like with Xander and Min, there's probably more to talk about, but that's enough for me in this case.

3) Eden & Arei

The girlies! Arei's playground breakdown very neatly captures a lot of the themes these two foil on. Mainly, the theme of kindness and being a "good person." Arei used to try and be kind, but she was hurt because of it and thus decided to fight back against her sisters through becoming mean. Eden, meanwhile, remains kind and compassionate even through the despair of the killing game. This also plays into the idea of strength; while Arei is physically stronger and more forceful when it comes to getting what she wants, Eden is stronger in her resilience, her ability to remain Silly despite the horrors. Both have their merits, as we see for example when Arei defends Eden from Arturo and when Eden manages to move Teruko in the 2-3 kitchen scene, respectively.

Meanwhile, when we speak of being a "good person", Arei's breakdown of what that means in 2-13 is really all we need to talk about. Eden's seemingly unending patience and kindness is not what's truly needed to be a "good person", as even she must have made mistakes and hurt people in the past (cue fork CG). Rather, being a "good person" just means trying to change for the better whenever you mess up, represented by Arei. Not to say Eden's not a good person; she is, but you don't need to be like her to be "good"- you get the point.

In the same ballpark, we have the theme of friendship, what it means to be friends. In fact, Arei's little 2-10 reconciliation speech connects both this theme and the last.

Arei [2-10]: Being a good person means doing nice things. So if there's anything you need from me... Whether it's defending you from scary jerks like Arturo or baking some stupid fucking cake... I'll do it. I promise. I'll do anything for you. Okay? Eden: I... Arei: Because... because... Because that's what friends do.

Arei believes friendship to be all about doing things for the other person, protecting each other. This is pretty central to her character, seeing as "Because that's what friends do" is her secret quote. Eden brings up the same thing when acused of murder.

Eden [2-14]: I just wanted to help Arei.... I didn't kill her... Teruko: You know I can't just take your words at face value, Eden. Eden: Please, Teruko... You're my friend, aren't you? Friends help each other.... So please, help me...

So. That.

One could also connect Eden's theming around new beginnings (birthday right before New Year's, favorite color is daffodil yellow and daffodils represent new beginnings, her name references the Garden of Eden which comes from a story about the beginning of the world) to Arei's redemption arc, as Arei gets a "new beginning" in the kindness she once showed. This even ties into Arei's death thematically, as Arei not only dies trying to be a good friend to Eden (tying into the theme of friendship), but she specifically dies in the playground, a place connected to childhood. So we once again get "new beginnings" by connecting her place of death to her origin point and the time when she was kind, if you get the idea.

Again, probably more here, and for this one in particular I'm not even sure I really scratched the surface, but I'll call this good enough for now.

4) Nico & Ace

So these two have a ridiculous amount of beef and that's not really new. Even their very talents have foils; both work with animals, but Nico loves all animals, while Ace hates them, especially horses.

Ace [1-5]: Animals are fucking lame, anyways. Seriously, they suck hard. If someone told me their cat was acting up or something, I’d give it a good punt.

But the main point of contrast is the theme of agency and taking control of their situation.

Ace’s thoughts on this are expressed quite clearly in his secret quote, “I don’t know what to do with myself anymore.” He feels he lacks control over his talent (forced into it despite being deathly afraid of horses), over his feelings (obvious), over his relationships with the cast, etc. And so he tries to feel in control by bullying Nico, especially when he gets their secret so he can try to blackmail them. Not that Ace doesn’t bother Nico before that, but it does get worse in CH2. He repeatedly does self-destructive things just so he can feel in control of something, be it killing Arei because he feels everyone hates him and he has no way of fixing that before he dies, or trying to find reasons to get mad at Levi so he can try to control his feelings towards him when they become inconvenient for the whole murder thing.

Nico, for their side, keeps having their agency undermined by people around them. They get pushed by both David and Ace into revealing their secret before they were ready, Hu keeps defending them even after they ask her not to, they keep getting spoken over during the trial, etc. You can even extend that to stuff like feeling like they have to present as a man at the start of the series because the people from their backstory don’t respect their identity, or more minor events in the killing game like Ace reproaching them for just… wandering around.

Nico [1-8]: The motive was on my mind. So I was nervous. I tend to pace around when I’m nervous. That’s not a problem, right? Ace: Seriously? You were ‘wandering around’ all alone? You’re definitely the killer!

Basically, Nico struggles to assert themselves a lot of the time, which means they end up going from 0 to 100 pretty fast on the whole “murder Ace” plan.

That’s how we get to the theme of victims/perpetrators, or rather, how sometimes things are more complicated than that dichotomy. The theme is explored throughout their relationship, with Nico originally being a victim of Ace's bullying, then Ace being a victim of Nico's attempted murder, then Ace being a perpetrator of actual murder, you get the idea. Pretty straightforward there.

Going further, this also connects to the theme of forgiveness and apologizing, which comes up a few times in the trial. Nico doesn’t apologize to Ace after explaining their plan because they still hate him and know Ace isn’t going to forgive them, so they see no point in doing it. This parallels how Ace doesn’t expect anyone to forgive him for killing Arei, though with Nico, the question of forgiveness is currently open-ended, as there’s several characters who either have shown a willingness to ignore their crimes (Hu) or don’t know what to think of them (Rose). Basically, Nico has a chance to move past their mistake, which Ace isn’t getting.

And as usual, Ace’s death is the culmination of the themes his character embodies. He kills Arei, who is connected to him via the theme of bullying. He does it out of fear of death, because he feels he doesn't have enough control over his life to avoid getting killed by the enemies he made by insulting them all. Arei was on the path of forgiveness with Eden, which Ace cut short. Ace replicates what Nico did to him because Ace’s murder is the conclusion to everything that’s happened to him in the killing game, with everyone hating him and all that. You get the point. Hopefully.

For a relatively smaller theme, we can bring up dissatisfaction with their body. Nico is non-binary, meaning they’re presumably not very happy with the sex they were born with. Meanwhile, Ace has an eating disorder, not to mention that he always wears gloves for some reason (hiding his hands), and he wears heels to be taller because he’s shorter than he’d like, even though he’s also tall for a jockey. Can’t win, this guy.

Again, probably more to talk about, but I’d like to get this post out at some point this year :v

5) Hu & Veronika

You mention in this ask that, since the first two recap foil pairs were important for CH1 and the third and fourth were important for CH2, it's possible that Hu-Vero and Rose-J could be important for CH3. That's certainly an interesting observation! We could also extend that to CH4, I guess, but that's a bit too far for me to talk about... so I won't! I will talk about CH3, though.

I'll get to Rose-J in their section, but I could definitely believe that Hu-Vero could be important for CH3. There's a fair bit of setup for both of them going through some kind of arc in the chapter, which you kinda mentioned in the ask (Hu has to deal with the fallout of the Nico situation, while Vero's reactions to Levi's near death and Ace's execution imply she's getting worse), and there's already a narrative connection between them through their pact about the secrets in the second trial. Not to mention that Vero's always given people CH3 death vibes, which I get even if I'm hesitant to say that myself.

But that's just speculation. What about the foils we already have? Well, the main point of contrast is their reaction to conflict, especially when it comes to a specific person they're particularly interested in. Hu always tries to mediate conflict and defend the people she considers good, mostly seen in her white knighting of Nico all throughout CH2. Veronika's the opposite. She enjoys watching conflict, stirring the pot with her psychoanalysis, and particularly enjoys whenever Arturo does some bullshit. Basically, Hu goes "I can fix them" while Vero goes "I can make him worse." Classic dichotomy there.

Then there's the matter of change, metamorphosis even. Hu’s character is designed around it, with her butterfly hairpin and the fact her name means “still lake”, as water is often connected to rebirth. And we know she has changed, from the hopeless child who attempted suicide three times into someone who seems quite attached to her life, if her secret quote is anything to go by.

Hu [Profile Source Code]: I want to pay for what I’ve done. But even then, I still want to live.

Much in the same way, we know Veronika in present is not the same person she used to be years ago. She mentions having been quite outdoors-y back in the day, some of that bleeding into her excitement about the playground, and of course her motive secret is that she used to self-harm, but no longer does.

And yes, the theme of self-harm/suicide is another one where these two foil, which has even come up with their motive secret pact in CH2. We don’t have many details on that yet, though.

That said, the reasons for why they harmed themselves seem to be quite different, which is noteworthy. Although we don’t know what exactly led Hu to attempt suicide, we do know that nowadays she desperately wants to be relied on so she feels useful, meaning it’s very likely her suicidal tendencies came from a feeling that her life had no meaning, or something equally depressing. Meanwhile, provided her secret is to be believed, Veronika just hurt herself when she was bored. Definitely very different reasons for self-harm there.

Looking over your original post on this (have I mentioned I’ve been cross-checking my own thoughts with your own? ‘Cuz I’m doing that), you also bring up maturity, which is indeed an aspect in which they foil. Hu’s character profile states she acts motherly, and the highlighted word in her subtitle quote (“Can you please try and act with a little more maturity?”) is, in fact, maturity. Meanwhile, Vero has childish tendencies, most evidently seen in the scene where the playground gets introduced.

There’s definitely a lot of things about these characters which we currently don’t know about, so I’m sure this section could get significantly larger in the future. But for now, this feels decent enough for me.

6) Rose & J

According to the extension of the original theory stated in this ask, J-Rose might be an important pair for CH3. And I can definitely see that! Rose's mental state has deteriorated a lot, so CH3 is primed to be a turning point for her character. Your point about Arturo being important at the start due to Levi's condition, and that possibly leading to attention being drawn to J, is also very reasonable. Not to mention that, as you seem to be aware of given what you said in the ask, DRDT's motives have so far aligned pretty well with the THH motives, with the first one being videos of their family and the second being secrets. This is important because, if that pattern continues, the third motive might be related to money. And one of the themes in which these two foil is wealth and poverty, which we'll get to in a moment, so it's entirely possible this pair could be quite relevant as a result of that. Not a bad idea in the slightest.

In any case, this is another set that mainly foils through backstory, at least for now. Rose was born into poverty, J was born into wealth. Rose tried to do everything she could for her family, J tries to distance herself from her mother as much as she can. Some parallels can be drawn between the influence the Spurling Foundation has on Rose’s life and the things Mariabella tries to force J to do. I can’t recall if this actually got mentioned in the series itself yet, but based on the childhood drawings post, we can tell J was probably forced to wear dresses despite disliking “girly” things per her profile, and from there infer that she was likely forced into doing a lot of things she didn't want to do.

These backstories can additionally connect to the ever prevalent theme of fate. Rose has accepted her fate, in a sense, believing that she’ll never escape her contract with the Spurling Foundation (see: her secret quote, “In the end, the only thing I can do is watch my wretched life go on”). On the other hand, J constantly rejects her fate by going against her birthright and hiding that she’s a Rosales (see: her secret quote, “Please don’t call me your daughter ever again”).

This is literally baked into their designs btw. Rose’s apron is stained all over, as if to signal she’s stained by the mistakes of her past, while J wears a hoodie as if to hide her identity as much as possible. Notably, J’s shirt actually has a paint splatter design, so she literally is hiding the stains (which in her case would be her last name) that Rose doesn’t bother covering up.

(Btw while I was looking at their designs for this I noticed J’s hoodie has two zippers, which threw me off a lot lmao. Apparently those are a real thing, but it still caught me off guard and I wanted to mention it lol)

On the topic of design, why do they wear the same shoes?

(Rose's on the left, J's on the right)

Like, Rose’s are a bit less saturated and maybe a bit more green than blue, but that’s the only difference I can see. I don’t think there’s any other pair of pairs of shoes that look this similar in the cast. Whit and Arei’s are similar to these, but they have a few different details. I don’t even think this is a foil thing I think Rose and J just have very similar taste in shoes. I find this amusing.

Anyways. Their talents are artistic.

…Yep, that’s the parallel! Admittedly, it does come up a bit, with J saying the decor looks new during the prologue, and Rose saying she could figure out a few things about the building if she could analyze the paint on the wall. They be detective-ing and stuff.

Arguably, the theme of betrayal can also be brought up, though it’s very minor. Rose got betrayed by Nico, who used her turpentine for their attempt on Ace. And something like that kinda happened to J around the same time, as she dragged Teruko into a dressing room to avoid Arturo and got a knife to her throat for the troubles. It barely counts, but given Teruko is one of the only people J seemed to genuinely like before that point, I’d say the situations are similar enough to mention, if nothing else.

Leaving it off there!

7) Arturo & Levi

Let’s get the obvious one out of the way. Their talents are aesthetic related, be it related to people’s physical appearance or the clothes they wear. These talents connect to some of the other themes of their characters, such as Arturo’s obsession with beauty and Levi “styling himself” as a good person by doing things good people do, if that makes sense.

Then there’s the other big one; their family situation. Arturo’s home life was likely pretty bad, which we can infer from how desperate he seemed to get the hell outta dodge; and his sister committed suicide because Arturo left. Levi also left his family behind, although in his case he says everyone was a “bad influence” on everyone. Plus, he directly killed his father for one reason or another. We did get to see how Arturo felt about Levi’s nonchalance about the death of his father in the second trial, and that furthers their foiling.

Arturo [2-13]: How could you simply *forget* that you murdered your own family member?

Yeah that.

Going back to the talents, there’s some contrast between how they got them. Arturo studied from a very young age and for years to become a Plastic Surgeon just as he entered adulthood, while Levi admits to being relatively new to fashion. They both kinda use their talents to escape their past in some way (it was part of Arturo’s plan to get the hell away from his home and Hope’s Peak is the reason Levi was never convicted for his murders), just that one had a little more planning behind it.

Then there’s the matter of protection. Arturo repeatedly resents the idea that because he has some medical training, he has to be the cast’s doctor every time someone gets injured, and panics when he’s asked to do something as serious as saving Levi’s life.

Arturo [2-16]: I–! I’m not that kind of surgeon! I’ve told you, over and over, I have no experience with saving lives!

Levi, conversely, actively wishes to protect the others, seen for example when he attacked MonoTV in the Prologue and when he jumped in front of Teruko right before she got shot at. It’s even clarified in the subtitle quote of his profile (“I will do my utmost best to make sure that you all are safe”). Levi likes to protect others so they see him as a “good person”, which segues nicely into a more vague theme of categorizing important people in some way. Levi wishes to be seen as a good person and thus is quite interested in those he considers good (eg Eden), while Arturo is only interested in talking to beautiful people. It’s very vague and I don’t have much to say about it, especially since we don’t know exactly where Arturo’s obsession with beauty comes from, but it’s there.

Speaking of that, another point of comparison is the way both of them seek the approval of one specific person in the cast. For Arturo, it’s J because of her mother. For Levi, it’s Ace because of what happened in the first trial. They do it in quite different ways, but it is a thing that happens, and the differences help highlight the main narrative points these plot points bring to the table.

I’m calling that good enough!

8) Whit & David

We sure left a pretty interesting one for last. This is probably one of the ones I’m the least clear on, mostly because both Whit and David are sorta unclear characters. However, there are still a few interesting things I can bring up.

Let’s start with the theme of idolization of the dead, because it’s quite literally what Whit’s secret quote references.

Whit [Profile Source Code]: We tend to idolize the dead.

Whit idolizes his mother, and thus tries to be like her in any way he can. He dyes his hair blond, he completely ignores the fact she’s dead, you know the drill. Meanwhile, David idolizes Xander. Take a pick from any of his 2-12 lines or any of the Xander related LGI bullshit to see what I mean by that.

Though, speaking of family members, Diana Chiem. Given we have no idea what the deal with her is yet, I won’t speak too much on it. But if you’ve watched my Vivisection of the David MV, you might know that there’s a theory brought up there that Diana may have died during Hope’s Peak time and that David’s started saying she never existed when that happened. The link sends you to that section of the video. It’s kinda insane, but there’s some basis for it, and it would create a pretty clear connection between Diana and Elizabeth (Whit’s mom) so I’m bringing it up.

Then there’s the theme of hiding/avoiding sad topics and the like. David is obviously not as happy with his life as he presents himself as, at least for most of the story, while Whit has a history of horrendously avoidant behavior when it comes to anything that’s even remotely negative.

David does occasionally talk about heavier topics, but always behind some kind of persona. Either as the inspirational speaker who takes on a leadership role in CH2 (see: revealing his family history of depression (which I think is true, even if he probably never thought that was actually his secret), comforting Arei in the playground) or as the cartoonishly evil person he pretends to be immediately after his magical girl transformation (see: “Arei was a weather spell” line). He’s seemingly a bit more candid when it comes to Xander in 2-12 for a bit, but then he mostly reverts back to just being an asshole most of the time, other than a few outbursts of genuine emotion (funnily enough, one of them being David shouting at Whit to take things seriously). Meanwhile, Whit (in my opinion) doesn’t seem to have a persona, per say; he’s just kind of an unserious person who repeatedly uses humor and other tactics to distract from the Horrors. He’s a deeply strange person, but that’s kinda just who he is.

Then there’s- say it with me everyone- the theme of fate. David believes people can’t change, that they’re fated to remain the same no matter what happens during their life. He’s made that stance relatively clear. Whit, for his part, has a much more optimistic view on humanity and the like, as he tells Teruko.

Whit [2-3]: Charles… No, everyone here… we might act callously, but we’re all only human. We're all real people with our strengths and weaknesses. You included, Teruko. Just like Charles, even if you’re acting cold, there’s still a part of you that’s good–

(And yes, “we’re all only human” can be contrasted with the whole “David doesn’t really feel human” thing from LGI and Tally 5)

Thus, his connection to fate is actually something that hasn’t been talked about in the main series yet, but rather comes from his character profile. All it takes is noticing the repeated references to luck and thing that are “guaranteed” (aka fated) to happen, and you can kinda piece it together from there.

Whit [Profile]: It’s said that if you get the Ultimate Matchmaker to find you a romantic partner, you’re guaranteed to have a happy and stable relationship for life. Unfortunately for Whit Young, he seems to lack all luck when it comes to finding a relationship himself.

And since that profile talks about his talent, I'll use it as a segue to look at similarities between Matchmaker and Inspirational Speaker. Both are talents based around influencing and advising people on how to achieve happiness, either in their love life or their… life life. Thus, both require some level of understanding on how people think and act, which manifests in Whit’s self-proclaimed intuitive nature and David’s confidence in his beliefs when it comes to people not changing and all that.

And… yeah I’m gonna say I’m okay with that for now.

Wow, that was quite a bit, now wasn’t it! And it still feels like I could find more if I thought about it long enough, but I hope this was enough for you. Thanks for the ask! The DRDT cast is really fun to talk about, though, so the excuse to do so is always welcome :D

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corvus-corvus · 3 months ago

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Many people who make it to the end of Bravely Default feel the need to comment on Edea not knowing what Dark Knight Alternis Dim, the guy who has the in-game bonus for Wearing Helmets, looks like without his Dark Knight armor. Most of the people who feel the need to comment on it also call it a "plot hole."

Look at this guy. He's buttoned up to the maximum, so to speak.

(If you didn't see those credits roll you don't have all the information so I can't count you. Sorry. Please go finish the game one day. Take your time. But do it.)

Let's be clear: this frustrates me. And I've kept my mouth shut for years. But in honor of my beloathed "remaster" announcement, I would like to explain why I think it is unfair to call this fact a plot hole or maybe even an issue at all.

First, a quick aside into what exactly makes a plot hole.

New Oxford American Dictionary:

an inconsistency in the narrative or character development of a book, film, television show, etc.

Wikipedia:

In fiction, a plot hole, plothole, or plot error is a gap or inconsistency in a storyline that goes against the flow of logic established by the story's plot.

Wikipedia's plot hole article also includes a list of common types of plot holes like factual errors, impossible events, out-of-character behavior, continuity errors, and unresolved storylines. From hearing people talk about this, I think the plot hole accusation comes mostly from the idea that Edea's ignorance is an impossible event (basically there is no way she would know Alternis and not have seen him sans-armor in the time she knew him).

The thing is I don't think the game gives its audience reason to think this is an impossible event.

Now, here's the facts we know by the end of the game.

Edea is from Eternia where she was trained by the military, was around most of the major Eternian military leaders we meet in the game, and does begin her service in the Eternian Sky Knights (1). The Sky Knights specifically overlap with Alternis Dim's office and we know they interact with him regularly (2).

Edea's parents brought young Alternis from his homeland to live in Eternia and did take care of him. The exact logistics of this (ie. did he live in the same house, was this a formal adoption, how old was he since he is older than Edea, did he actually just go straight into the military?) are not specified. We do know that Edea and Alternis met as children, though, and not only as soldiers (3).

Alternis does say he was raised as "one of his [Braev Lee's] own." (3) I would still say we don't know what this means. Given Edea's relationship with her parents, I don't think it's any clearer.

Even if we didn't know the above, it is stated explicitly that Edea and Alternis do know each other (4). They both say it! They even both have opinions on each other, to state it as broadly as is necessary to cover the difference in them.

Personally, I think this last point is a big part of why the "plot hole" statement comes to be.

I find it easy to make the jump from "knowing each other enough to have something to say about it" to "they know each other well." I suspect Alternis makes this worse by proposing marriage to Edea when in battle. That can sound pretty intimate.

Realistically, though? I'm not aware of anything in the game that leads us to believe that Edea and Alternis were close in the years leading up to the events of the game (if they ever were). Know each other? Yes. Best friends? I'd say definite no.

I'm spending time worrying over the blurry line of their in-game relationship for a reason. Bravely Default does not give any explicit comment on Edea not knowing what Alternis looks like sans-armor, and in fact it only implies (however heavily) that Edea does not know. She does not announce it, nor does the game announce some reason of how that happened. Because none of this is explicit, it seems to be considered a plot hole. Personally, I think this disregards all the implications the story does lay groundwork for the whole time. For example, when Alternis says, "Can we not go back to as before, Edea?" (3)

I'll admit this comment could be taken to mean "before" as in "directly before Edea leaves the Duchy." I don't think it does. Alternis' next line is "Did we not grow up together!? Did we not enjoy the closeness of family!?" (3)

Meaning Alternis is likely talking about "before" as in a time further in the past, presumably one prior to Edea's severe alienation from her family. An alienation that Alternis, though not blood related, does not share. As far as I know we don't know exactly how long it has been since Edea has been on good terms with her family, but nothing about her deserting makes me think it was recent. Alternis needing to refer to he and Edea's childhood as the nearest good "before" makes me more confident it has been years.

I think Bravely Default actually goes out of its way to show relationships between characters rather than report them entirely in monotone dialogue. It's one of the things I admire about its writing! Even when Edea admits verbally that she and Alternis "grew up together" she does so with such hesitance, and only because all eyes are on her. This dark and spooky guy has been hunting them on orders of the Duchy and the first time he sees Edea with the party he recoils in shock and just. Backs off? Of his own volition? It's a huge reveal in the moment before Edea is even cornered to confession! Similarly, Edea and Alternis' interactions and (highly inaccurate) views of one another speak to their distance without it being spoken.

So if we find Edea and Alternis to have a distant relationship at best leading into the game, I would argue any of the following could reasonably apply to Edea.

Edea hasn't seen Alternis in years.

Edea hasn't seen Alternis outside of work (and outside of his work uniform, fully armored) in years.

Edea remembers what Alternis looks like outside of work, but hasn't seen him recently to feel confident in that memory.

Edea simply does not care. She was pulling away from her family before deserting, she has no interest in pulling closer to them now. She is happy to not think about Alternis.

I admit I feel a little silly breaking this down when it was not such an elaborate thought process I had when playing the game myself. But this would be a major, major plot hole and I respect Bravely Default's writing enough that I think it deserves the defense. While Bravely Default does not have a character look into the camera and say what's going on in Edea's head, it provides plenty of information in how she reacts and interacts.

There are many ways to interpret what happens between Edea and Alternis in Bravely Default, some much funnier than others. I also enjoy the funny ones. I truly don't think there is a singular "correct" answer. But I do think that calling a thing with many explanations supported by the continuity a plot hole is unfair.

Sources

(1): This is a regular point of conversation for characters in the game. It's how the party meets Edea. Edea uses her knowledge of many of them to prepare the party for encounters. I'm not sure where to source this because it's a major plot point from the Intro (pre-Chapter 1) on.

(2): D's Journal.

(3): Chapter 4. Dark Knight boss battle. Comes up in other side quests in later chapters.

(4): Cutscene on the Eschalot at the end of Chapter 1. The cutscene the image is from.

#bravely default

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kneazle · 6 months ago

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For @911-rarepair-week prompt 1: beginnings/endings ✨️

Pairing: Eddie/Taylor

Rated M for some smut

Read on ao3 or under the cut!

Eddie was...confused. For many reasons.

When Buck told him he and Tommy were back together he was ecstatic for him, the obsessive baking had stopped and that genuine smile returned– and then she was suddenly around. Not during any time he hung out with Tommy or them both together, but Eddie would pull up to Tommy's to see her leaving, or try to make plans and sometimes get told he already had plans with her.

He reformed his friendship with Tommy two months before he and Buck reconciled, but had no idea that Taylor fucking Kelly somehow wormed her way into Tommy's life until then.

Eddie nearly crashed his car into Tommy's mailbox when he saw her walk out of the house for the first time, wearing a sweater that was way too big to be hers and what looked like an overnight bag.

Then nearly died choking on his beer when Tommy informed him he and Taylor were friends.

"I won't make you hang out with her Eddie, but she's not going anywhere either just so you know."

So Eddie did the logical thing–he drove straight to Buck's after.

"Yeah, I know they're friends now," Buck looked at Eddie pacing his loft with clear amusement. "They ran into each other not too long after our breakup."

"I just-" He stopped pacing and turned, placing his hands on the table leaning forward. "How?! And why aren't you weirded out by your boyfriend and ex-girlfriend being good friends!"

Buck shrugged from where he was leaning against the island. "She's rarely around when I'm with Tommy, we've talked sure but at this point she's more his friend then my ex. As for how...I don't know what to tell you Eddie, Tommy didn't go into details and I was just happy someone was there for him."

Eddie flinched at the words. Buck never told him to stop talking to Tommy yet he did so anyway, and so did everyone else. It wasn't until he came back from a trip to Texas and a scolding by Chris that he called. "But does it have to be her?" He huffed.

"She's not some demon Eddie," Buck laughed.

"A witch then," He grumbled. "She put a damn spell on Tommy."

Buck shook his head, chuckling. "Is this you hating Taylor or you being annoyed that she's stealing time with Tommy?" He said, a teasing glint in his eye that had Eddie refusing to answer.

It's about hating the she-devil, obviously.

It was a Friday night when Eddie actually spoke to Taylor for the first time.

Having missed Tommy's birthday while they were broken up Buck insisted on a late celebration, and Tommy despite not seeming too excited for it, couldn't say no when hit with a pleading pouting Buck.

Eddie realizes how worth it it is when he sees the look on Tommy's face walking over to the section of the karaoke bar they were at, seeing everyone who came to a late celebration for him.

Tommy deserves it, even if he did take a large swig of his beer to cover his scowl when Taylor hugged him, kissing his cheek after they pulled away. He glanced at Hen and Chimney to see their reactions, but there was nothing and as the night went on he saw them be polite with her anytime they interacted– in fact everyone but him seemed to be fine with her.

Eddie kept drinking, eventually finding himself leaning against the bar, watching a tipsy Tommy and Chimney belt out some song from a movie half of them probably didn't know but everyone was enjoying.

It was then that Taylor walked up to him.

"Eddie."

He glanced at her quickly before turning back to the stage. "Taylor."

"Okay, what's your issue with me?" She sighed, sitting on the stool closest to him, her knee brushing against him making his body tense for a second. "I know I needed to apologize to the others, so I did and we're on okay ground, but I don't recall doing anything to make you hate me this much." Taylor glanced over at Buck where he sat with Maddie hollering towards their men on stage. "Is it because I was a crappy girlfriend to Buck or-"

"You're selfish. You only care about yourself and your career and you'll throw anyone under the bus if need be," Eddie snapped at her, frustration and something else he couldn't place rising.

"I admit that was me, but do you really think Tommy would have become my friend like he has if that was still me?"

"Oh you suddenly changed into a better person huh?"

She frowned, and crossed her arms over her chest. Eddie averted his gaze and shfited on his feet, not looking at the dip of her shirt. "People can change Eddie, it's been two years."

He said nothing and took another sip of his drink. He didn't want to admit she was right, people can change– and deep down he knew he was holding onto his dislike because hating her was easier than dealing with the opposite.

Taylor nodded her head, accepting his silence as she got up and left.

His eyes were glued to her walking away even as Buck suddenly was at his side, throwing an arm over Eddie's shoulders.

"Man, Tommy is hot." Buck said beaming, gaze locked on Tommy who was playfully bowing on stage as the song ended.

Eddie watched Taylor step onto it, genuinely laughing at something Tommy told her, his next words slipping out of his mouth before he registered them. "Taylor's hot."

Buck's eyes snapped to him, wide and shocked. "What?"

"I need another beer," Eddie groaned, shoving Buck away to get another.

"Wait wait! Taylor's what-"

"I didn't say anything!"

"That's why you hate her so much!" Buck bounced next to him, grinning, tipping slightly with his own drinks getting to him. "You like her!"

"I don't like her man!"

"Okay fine you think she's hot."

"Go away Buck." Eddie practically whined, cradling his beer to him and dropping his head against the bar a little too hard. "I'm not into the she-devil. I had too many beers that's all!"

"Whatever you say!" Buck said with a laugh, ruffling Eddie's hair like he was a child much to his displeasure before running off, yelling for Tommy and tackling him the second he walked off the steps.

His gaze went back to Taylor. Her eyes met his as she finished singing her line and the song ended. He didn't look away until she walked off the stage.

Eddie would take the information to his grave, but he had one or two dreams about Taylor in the past. At least one while she was with Buck that left him making an excuse to not hang out when they were off shift, terrified of running into her and too guilty to look at his best friend.

None of it compared to the real Taylor who laid naked in bed beside him as thoughts of last night filtered in through the haze of alcohol.

Eddie let his eyes and hands wander over her, a little obsessed with the way she moved her hips to match his thrusts, with the way her body was flushed from her first orgasm, and the look of pleasure he was causing.

"Eddie.." She moaned out, nails digging into his back "Get on your back." The words sounded breathless, but the demand behind them was clear. Eddie groaned and wrapped his arm around her, flipping them so she was on top.

Taylor sat up, and Eddie wished he could take a mental picture. Her sitting on his cock, body flushed with a slight sheen of sweat, hair a mess...–damn he was screwed wasn't he?

She grabbed for his wrists, his eyebrows raising as she pinned them above his head. Her eyes locked with his as she started riding him. Eddie moaned when she sunk back down on him the first time and the feeling of her holding his wrists down, both of them knowing full well he could easily move them.

Eddie kept them there. It was the first time in this position for him–and he couldn't deny how much he was liking it.

"Next time I'll have to tie them up," Taylor told him, mouth inches from his. Eddie's hips thrust up at her words making her chuckle.

Eddie dragged a hand down his face. Fuck.

Beside him Taylor shifted making him tense up.

"Stop thinking so much," Taylor huffed. "We had sex, so what?"

"You're my best friend's ex, that's what! And we hate each other!"

Taylor shifted up, the sheet falling more off her body. Eddie inhaled sharply and looked away, missing her amused smirk and wandering eyes. "You hate me Eddie, remember, I have no issue with you."

"That's not- I mean-" He swallowed roughly, mind halting as his eyes trailed downwards.

Half of him wanted to wipe that smirk off her lips...the other flashed back to the night before when those same lips were wrapped around him.

Taylor shifted onto her side, pulling the sheet off her body. He felt annoyance spike at the knowing glint, but it did nothing to dim the desire coursing through him. Eddie cursed under his breath before rolling on top of her as she grinned.

Oh yeah he was so completely fucked.

#911rarepairweek #eddie diaz #taylor kelly #eddietaylor #eddie x taylor #background bucktommy

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steelycunt · 3 months ago

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what were your full and complete thoughts on greta and valdin?

oh so many. i think for me a lot of my issues with contemporary fiction more broadly sort of came to a head in this book. for a brief summary the novel follows (with alternating perspectives) two russian-māori twenty-something siblings living in auckland and their extended family and allegedly navigating love and relationships but in reality navigating nothing because nothing happens. i wrote a longer review when i logged it but ill summarise it here:

1. all the characters speak the same, in speech and in thought. they have this sarcastic, self-aware, socially-awkward dry humour which leeches into everything they say and is peppered with niche, hyper-specific cultural references and liberal political signposting because thats meant to make this funnier, which it doesn't. the upshot of this is the book sounds like the author's failed observational stand-up comedy set. every single character in g&v talks like this, regardless of background, age, personality. theres this huge cast of boring characters which was hard enough to track without the fact that every line of dialogue could be spoken by any character, because they all sound the same and are granted extremely scarce physical descriptions. some of them even have the same name. old men who fled the soviet union speak in the same way, with the same cultural references, as their twenty-something queer trendy chronically-online children. a mixture of current twitter discourse threads and the distinct cadence of any tumblr post from 2016-2021 which was frankly embarrassing to read!!

2. it was very boring. i saw other people say that it needed editing, which is true, but also it just shouldn't have been published: there is no story here. there can't be, since no one does anything wrong, because they all speak like they're in a therapy session. there were no conflicts or points of tension and things which are built up as momentous arent even resolved, they just drift past as non-issues. all the characters were competing for the highest grade in therapy-speak and when that wasn't happening they were randomly meeting nondescript auxiliary family members (of which there were far too many? why did we need so many characters to stand around referencing chick flicks from thirty years ago?) who, in response to extremely simple questions, monologued about some exposition-y character backstory for another auxiliary family member until the end of the chapter. it was kinda astonishing to read under the assumption that an editor had actually seen it, because so often there was no logical explanation for shoving that much exposition dialogue at the front of the book within interactions where it makes no sense for that to be happening. there is a scene where greta goes on a first date where she explains the entirety of her older brothers backstory as a teen parent and subsequent custody battle for his child which happened like a decade ago. for several pages.

3. greta and valdin are also boring--everything wrong with the auxiliary characters is also wrong with them. valdin is this tv comedian, which makes no sense: he isn't funny, he is never funny or presented as being funny, all we know about him is he is anxious and quiet and in love with a boring man. his line of work makes no sense. neither of them have any actual problems. like all litfic characters now they seem to enjoy pretending they're poor and then something will happen to demonstrate that these are comfortably middle-class young people complaining about non-issues and obsessing over themselves. like valdin pretending he doesn't have enough money and then on a whim buying himself a car. he is also a physicist while simultaneously being very stupid. there is a whole revelatory moment where he realises that his dad coming to nz from moldova prior to the fall of the iron curtain meant he must have fled rather than just emigrated making him a refugee, which valdin is very shocked and sad about. a grown adult. greta was perhaps even more forgettable since her character arc is over after like 50 pages when she meets someone and thats genuinely, literally all that happens to her. she gets a girlfriend who is nice and talks just like her. thats it.

4. everyone in this massive family is gay. this teetered on the edge of unbelievability to me, especially when there were random distant family members showing up throughout and even to the end, who had no other function or presence in the plot at all other than announcing that they were newly out as gay. none of these announcements were revisited because again these characters did not turn up again and bore no relevance. to be honest its hard to word my issue with this in a way that wont produce objections but as a queer person who is interested in reading about queer characters i find no value or interest in a presentation of it which is so far removed from any actual lived experience as to verge on the fanciful. that is a personal taste thing. im also just sick of characters who are lazily written which authors try to pass off as being complex and interesting just because they are queer and/or a minority. i think its a disservice to the groups ur trying to gain clout for representing. im tired of queerness (and identity politics in general) being used as a crutch to elevate a bad book. books are not good solely off the back of being queer. and thats not to say queer books dont have a right to be bad because they do, but its frustrating when a book that is bad gets praised as if its actually well-written or has anything to say (which this book doesn't, like at all), solely because its queer. i dont know if its because people are less comfortable criticising works which centre around voices that are underrepresented. but that doesnt make the representation good. to me i just feel like if this book was identical in plot but everyone was straight, it would be flagged as being pretty insufferable. i dont think it stops being insufferable because theyre gay. sorry! there is excellent queer literature out there we dont need to spotlight and heap hyperbole onto the stuff that is actually shit.

ya! tldr; nothing happened, the characters were boring and the way they spoke was insufferable and repetitive, and the author had to rely very heavily on their social identities as evidence of their actually being very interesting. they were not and neither was this book. epitome of couldve been a tweet which id see reposted onto instagram and even then not find very funny or clever.

#i promise i dont just want to complain about books all the time or actively seek out books i dont like but i have just not read a good one #in a while..#anon #telegram #reading tag

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ovaryacted · 4 months ago

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Hi, I promise that I'm approaching you out of kindness, but does all this mean you don't hate joellie fans anymore? A few months ago you were saying "everyone point and laugh" about joellie fans in the comments of an ask to perotovar from someone surprised that she bashed joellie fans after defending artists writing problematic content when that confessions blog was happening. The comments on that ask were so mean, and now I'm seeing many of the same people decrying censorship and defending the Joel incest fic that's making waves (which is good people are defending it!). I dunno, this website is so confusing sometimes. I know people can grow, which is why I'm here in kindness, but it's so hard to keep track of everything. A lot of people seem to morph into antis as soon as their own personal boundaries are crossed. You don't need to answer this, or you can vaguepost about it, if you think it's gonna stir shit up for you because everything truly is exhausting right now, but food for thought I guess

Hi anon! So I’m gonna try my hardest to articulate this the best way I can without potentially saying something wrong since my brain is mush, and I’ll take your inquiry as coming from a place of good faith so I really hope it doesn’t start shit when this is a conversation. (Sorry if this is long btw!)

1 - I will say that my instant adverse reaction towards joellie as a concept initially was because it did test my personal boundaries and even my perception of that dynamic. I’ve been a fan of TLOU and those two since I was a teenager, I hold them close to my heart and only view them in the grumpy older man turned father/cargo turned surrogate daughter trope. The thought of shipping them even the slightest bit just didn’t come to mind, I wouldn’t even imagine it. So the fact that there were people who did see them like that shocked me, but also challenged a lot of things from how I initially perceived them and fictional characters as a whole, hence I didn’t take it seriously and viewed it as “adversely wrong”. But after listening to other people, reading more on the thought process behind liking these things along with the history of taboo art and challenging what we consider to be our own morals, my opinion’s changed. That’s not to say that it doesn’t make me uncomfortable viewing those two together in that way, but at the end of the day it’s fiction, nobody has a gun to my head forcing me to like or engage with that content, and I can simply filter/block it out so I never have to interact with it again which is what I do. But I do apologize to how I reacted when that happened because it was reactionary and not logical.

2 - I do think that a big reason as to why it made me uncomfortable in the first place besides the fact I’m emotionally attached to them is because Ellie is a minor in the first game and also technically a lesbian, and because Ellie’s deemed as “attractive” she was heavily sexualized from incel bros which happens really in all games. But when it comes to the joellie dynamic, I can see why people may want to view them in that way despite not sharing the same feelings myself. For the same reason we like strong male characters who are capable and/or paternal in some way, the same can be applied to those two so yeah, I get it.

3 - It would also be hypocritical to fully try to shut down something like that when I’m a big fan of Game of Thrones which is notoriously known for SA, anything related to the abuse or exploitation of children, and incest in this medieval fantasy world, and those themes are not foreign to writing or history anyway. I’m also a fierce defender of kinks especially CNC and get exhausted when people generalize those who have the kink or engage in it as predators/assaulters which is a dangerous and harmful assumption. So I just kinda grew up and realized some things are not gonna be for me, but that’s doesn’t mean I have to completely shame people for what they may find enjoyable to engage with because that’s none of my business.

At the end of the day, when it comes to censorship, proshippers and those that engage in the taboo and DDNE and “morally questionable”, these people will be your biggest allies in fandom spaces, and with the way people are moving like the moral police any time it’s convenient, we need that support now more than ever. And like you said: A lot of people seem to morph into antis as soon as their own personal boundaries are crossed. You’re right, and that was how I was moving at first, and I didn’t want to give off that impression. I have moots and friends on here who write things I wouldn’t read, same how others probably have that towards me, but that doesn’t make any of us bad people for writing and engaging in content we enjoy. Nobody wins when censorship rises, and once you hop on that train it never stops, and I don’t want to feed into that. Hopefully this answers your questions or provides some clarity of things

#ovaryacted asks #cw joellie

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satancopilotsmytardis · 7 months ago

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i know you said you don't share outlines and whatnot, so i hope this question doesn't make me seem like i'm asking for one, but how does outlining a fic go? you always have such vivid worldbuilding, concepts and etc so i'm actually pretty curious of your writing process as a whole for your stories

It genuinely depends on the fic! Some stories don't get an outline at all (101 Slime/Electrostimulation/Forced Feminization and plenty of others) don't/didn't have outlines. I just knew what vibes I was going for and I let the writing go wherever it wanted to. After so many years of writing, I'm comfortable letting that happen, and even when I do create more solid outlines for stories, I never treat them as sacred. I am always willing to adapt them and let things change. With Leave of Absence, for instance, I think I originally outlined 22-24 chapters, but as I was writing it, I decided to cut that down significantly to help streamline the story better. For works like Changing Currents, I noted down a few big events that I wanted to hit in each chapter. In chapter 1 that was their first meeting, the whale hunt, and Dabi leaving the island for the first time. For chapter 2 that was the fight with Kai, the cannibalism/fucking scene, meeting AFO, and the cliffhanger. All of the other events got filled in as they went and how I thought they should logically fit. My big school of thought for outlines is that they don't really matter for me personally as long as I know where I want the characters to end up at the conclusion. Like for 101 Kinks: Slime, I knew that by the end I wanted Dabi to forsake his godhood to stay with Tomura, the rest of the story was just about me adding scenes until I got to the point where that felt like the logical conclusion for his character arc. Generally speaking when I do outline, I mostly just put down a couple of scenes I know I want as like the key frames of my writing and then all the in-betweens just get thrown in until those connections look smooth. Ironically, usually the final chapter of a fic ends up being the one with the most detailed outline as I consider what motifs and loose ends I've got to wrap up before the conclusion, but otherwise, outlining is barely present in my writing process overall!

As for world building and story concepts, in general, I'm a top-down worldbuilder. I create the setting based on the parts of the world that I want the character to interact with, and I don't think about it much beyond what the character would be able to see and be influenced by. I have an amazing friend who is a bottom-up worldbuilder and they have a lore document for their multiverse that is, last I heard, over 100 pages and they made their own custom encyclopedia, which blows my mind. I literally just build the systems that the POV character would know well. Since I'm working with pre-established characters, that means I'm just trying to design systems that would allow for analogs of the experiences that they had in canon to occur in the story. Because all of the trauma that the LOV has faced is due to societal shortcomings and issues, that means every AU I build for them has to have its own set of issues built in for them to be disenfranchised by. Keeping that in mind, I'm able to take a concept (animal hybrid people) and apply some lens to ensure that the characters wouldn't have been able to lead a good life (predator/prey relations/cannibalism) which can be made the basis for their trauma in the AU. I don't know if I'm explaining this well, but it really does just come down to making sure that I've got a world where it feels like the character knows what's going on and understands how they should be seeing it. When they're the only way that readers can look into the world, if they seem like they're comfortable in it and grounded in the rules of that reality, then it becomes a lot easier to suspend disbelief and get brought along with the story first and foremost.

But that's just my opinion and how I approach writing like this. There are a lot of different styles and methods that work well for others, and that should be studied as you find the approach that works the best for you! I hope this helps/was interesting and not too much of a ramble!

#tanco speaks #ask #asks

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themyscirah · 2 days ago

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did i miss ypu dropping your batgirl thoughts?

No you did not anon I in fact lied when I said I was going to catch up and make a post abt it a few days ago. Lucky you reminded me though so I'm all caught up now and ready to go. Everyone say thank you to valiant anon here for calling me out on this

Got a little longer than I thought so under the cut for convenience

Okay. Reread this entire run so far so thoughts won't just be on #9. Breaking this into pieces:

1. Thoughts on Ben

I really like Bronze Tiger but I'm not very familiar at all with his more recent appearances (my main thing is I really love him in Ostrander's Suicide Squad) so idk like what's the deal with Richard Dragon atm and all that. Him lying and trying to cover up Tenji's existence is kind of stupid I think especially because Cass can read his body language and is also a detective so like. Just say you have a kid and want him out of danger or smth it's not that deep. RIP Ben's hair it will be forever missed 🪦🕊

2. On Ben/Carolyn

OH SO IM NOT CRAZY THEN OKAY. I liked Ben/Carolyn before this but I wasn't aware they had it like explicitly having happened as we learn in issue #8. "Tenji Turner, Son of Shiva" right sureeee buddy. I'm just very stuck on the logistics of this character existing in the first place. Like okay I like the cousins route better (in that Tenji is Carolyn's son, not Shiva's) but with that comes a 1. Why would he think he's Shiva's son then, I can't see any reason to lie, and 2. He'd have to be at least 9 months older than Cass (as she hadn't been conceived yet upon Carolyn's death) and though he's drawn in some panels where I can believe that, in others (and in the writing in general) he seems to come off younger than her (tho could be inexperience/not being raised as a child assasin) which would make Carolyn as his mom impossible (outside of like some secret surrogacy plot).

3. On Ben/Sandra

Just like how would this work either in a way that makes sense is getting me. Like at the time Tenji would have to have been conceived Ben would have still been brainwashed and Shiva would have been fighting everyone and building her legend like where is the time. Which okay now Shiva is no stranger for having kids for weird reasons (see: Cass) but her whole thing post-Carolyn's death is Wu Ming-Yue/Sandra Wu-San and all she was is dead, Shiva has risen out of the ashes etc. So like none of that aligns with sleeping with her dead sister's bf and then randomly having his kid. Like I get ok grief or smth but Shiva literally says when Cass was born all that softness and emotional vulnerability left her so like. That can't both be true idk.

4. Logistics

Literally who is raising this baby. Only logical option I can think of is the og Tenji, the O-Sensei, bc ofc Ben & Sandra were with the league early on (& then Ben was doing suicide squad stuff if that's still canon idk) , both their parents are ofc dead etc. But like idk. My overall take is that I don't dislike Tenji's character from what little I've seen, and I find his interactions with Cass entertaining so far (the "no" stuff from Cass in particular bc i love when she does that so far this book) and ofc "Tenji Turner" is objectively a very cool name but like idk. I feel like his existence and potential as a character from what I've seen so far doesn't outweigh the negatives of complicating Ben's (and Shiva's) past stories and motivations. Also I don't see what benefit derives from him being her brother instead of her cousin other than secret brother!!!!!! surprise factor (tho the cousin thing still has similar issues to me re: Ben)

5. Misc thoughts

Putting a few other things here bc I did read through the whole comic so far today. I like the explanation given to Sandra & Carolyn's names, I think that making sense is definitely overdue and I like how they both kept with the classic 70s stuff while also making it make sense in terms of like. Real names that aren't mostly nonsense so thats great. Changing Carolyn from a twin to an older sister I didn't see the point of at first, but I thought the "sister's shadow" stuff was done well enough later on that it made sense to me and I see the benefit of doing that.

The random blood of wu guy hunting them specifically is also their uncle! twist i thought was stupid, but I probably was more critical about that because I knew the Tenji twist was coming (also wasn't that one guy on the train also part of the Blood of Wu gang? Is he a Cass cousin now too? How many secret relatives can this girl have in 3 issues cmon like she doesnt have multiple secret siblings on the Cain side already) but i digress.

Definitely see and agree with the criticism that this run has been too much Shiva though. Like I like Shiva and Ben ofc is a fave of mine but duuuude. This is a Cass comic and I'm genuinely struggling to think of one person she's saved in 9 issues so far. I mean Shiva maybe? Though I feel that doesnt count because they kept trading off getting injured/captured every issue in the first arc. And issues 7 and 8 were especially bad bc it was just Cass taking a bus ride to Shiva backstory. Which like I like her but this is a Batgirl comic!!! Cass has barely gotten to interact with Gothamites outside of the grandma and her grandkids from issue 2 (they were cool though i liked her having friends/community in the city) and Jayesh who was also interesting but died for no reason just like his brother soon after being introduced.

So yeah those are some Batgirl thoughts for you anon! Will say the art and covers esp have been legit though

#blah #wednesday spoilers #<just in case #cass cain #sandra wu san #ben turner

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9800sblog · 2 years ago

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Do you happen to have a personal opinion on the boys according to how you connect to them spiritually?? It's fine if you don't wanna answer tho 🙏🏻

hongjoong is so giving! he's very used to giving first and worrying about himself second, like a parent. he appreciates it when you anticipate his needs and does most of the work, in order for him to chill but he really doesn't mind giving at all. that smile and proud look on his face, is 100% genuine, he's very much in love with people and he has a precious, sparkly soul. he loves his job, he has so much appreciation for his fans and the respect he gets in the company but his energy often feels like he needs to prove himself and like he's looking after everyone, but who's looking after him? he's not lonely, a bit overworked, I feel like he deserves to be taken care of and let go more oftenly.

seonghwa honestly feels overwhelmed very often, like he doesn't really know how to take care of himself! he can be a very confusing person because his heart says one thing but his mind says another, he let's his ego take the best of him and doesn't speak what he really wants or needs. he's not good with confrontation, he expects people to guess what's wrong with him and gets upset if they don't read his mind. seonghwa can be very childish, he'll talk your ear off if you let him, he wants to be taken care of but won't ask, he'll just be like "oh my life is so difficult I'm so alone no one cares about me you can walk away like everyone does I'll be ok no one cares".

yunho is another guy with a huge ego, he's most closed off to spiritual things that he doesn't understand, he's logical and will only respect you if he understands you rationally. he's so judgemental and defensive but he's not harmful at all, he thinks he does way more damage than he actually does, very impulsive, speaks before thinking, thinks he knows everything. "he makes no sense in his head". a super nice guy tho, he's 1 or 100, he's either very comfortable or terrified. he's complicated. recently I tried connecting with him and he reacted like he saw a ghost, he said "it's creepy", but he was very curious. with him, I always gotta explain everything all over again, everytime, every detail or else he doesn't open up, and you gotta give him a rational explanation or else he's creeped out. pretends that he's the one taking care of others but it's the opposite, looks at mingi for safety.

yeosang is just always having fun, it doesn't matter what's happening he's in his own world comfortably. he's very excited everytime we connect, he shows fascination towards spirituality and these things. like wooyoung, he doesn't say many words, very different from other members, which makes it a bit confusing to write down his energy. he doesn't seem to understand so he has much respect for those that do this with accuracy, again, very excited about this. he's definitely much different from his idol image, but not much different than how he interacts with other members, he's genuinely comfortable with them.

san doesn't want me to post anything

mingi is very open to spiritual connections, a super nice dude, will give you the best advice (even if you don't understand why, listen to him). he doesn't have much respect for people or practices that he thinks are superficial, he thinks most people are disgusting. he's a super funny dude. can be rude, careless and forceful if his needs aren't being met, but completely harmless, has a heart of gold. prone to boredom, sleeps most of the time, totally prone to mood swings, feels the most lonely and desperate between the members, they look at him like he's a baby emotionally, and they gotta take much care of him, but he's also looking after everyone all the time quietly, he knows everything about the way each person functions and exactly what they need to be happy. he's not good multi-tasking.

wooyoung feels much more tired than everyone else, he can see through everything and he knows if something he does will get through to someone or not so he knows when to try or not or when to do something or not. feels like the oldest soul in ateez (to me). like yeosang, doesn't say many words so it's difficult to write down his energy.

jongho is just a nice guy, I haven't had any trouble at all with him, he's usually open to this stuff. he's very consistent, confident, open, he can be very vulnerable if he trusts someone. he likes to take care of others, good at predicting the future, he's very good standing his ground, unshakable.

#ateez tarot #kpop tarot

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calocera · 2 years ago

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Your posts about SNW Spock makes me so curious, could you please explain how they've done him wrong since he seems very different from the original series :O Are they making him more human despite the SNW taking place before the og?

yeah i can! im not the best person to talk about it probably since im a pretty recent trek fan and also tos/spock arent parts of trek i care about as much as a lot of other fans, but i have opinions for sure!!

firstly just up front i do not like ethan peck as spock. he does not look like spock or act in a way i am satisfied with. it feels like the only reason they cast him was because he has a deep voice. so i am going forward in this with haterism for him specifically not JUST how he is written in snw

Spock is written not like a vulcan but like an anhedonic human. actually not even anhedonic, just like a human raised in vulcan society trying to blend in. like there is nothing about him that feels genuine he just feels like woobiebait for 2012 tumblr to make flower crown edits of because he is awkward and quirky. every scene involving spock is a joke about him and his demeanor, everything he says is a wink wink nudge nudge "lol vulcans act like this and its so stupid lol logic is silly" like i can physically feel a laugh track whenever hes on screen. i enjoy jokes about vulcans but it isnt funny when there isnt anything else. its like spock showing emotion, it isnt satisfying when its a constant and not a little treat peppered in. in snw hes stifling a giggle or screaming in pain or being oopsie awkward silly every time he gets a focal scene, it takes the magic away because now it isnt a rare break in character its just how he is. Ive seen a lot of people defend this aspect as him being young and therefore less mature than in tos, but hes like approaching 30 :\ i get him being less mature but he doesnt act like a sheltered 30 year old he acts like someone freshly 18. at this point its just like…MAKE A NEW CHARACTER!!!!

as a point of contrast, i like how uhura is written in snw (in season 1 anyways, she has barely appeared in s2) she is obviously younger and is growing into her spot on the crew, but they arent hinging her character on the 1 or 2 pop culture uhura moments, retconning anything about that that doesnt align with modern media fandom, and calling it a day; they actually expand on her character outside of like idk her doing a sexy dance and her sitting at the phone (though i guess it is easier for her since she had barely any character in tos anyways). meanwhile they DO do that with spock, his bullet point top 10 iconic spock moments of sometimes being awkward and showing emotion are now the only things he is allowed to do. tldr flanderization

i also think its interesting that it is this way since ethan peck played spock in discovery and there hes the exact opposite. hes extremely serious and vulcan; which fits the tone of the show (regardless of my opinions on the tone of disco). i just dont understand how that spock translated into the snw spock. they are not the same guy.

anyways on to the biggest plot related gripe with him...how he interacts with women!!!yay!!

first theres how they decided to have multiple episodes about his, apparently, strained-yet-loving-and-involved relationship with tpring. the inclusion of t'pring feels stupid because other than the 1 minute of cheap "oh i remember her!" from someone seeing her on screen for the first time what point is there to her returning when the ONE canonical fact about her is that she and spock A: had an arranged marriage, B: did not meet in person since they were children, and C: hated each other. its not like there is a huge contingency of t'pring/spock shippers holding out since 1967 so what value does reintroducing her as a character serve? i assume its as some kind of attempt to give a woman who previously had no real character something to do, but her existence on snw is STILL only about spock and her relation to spock so there isnt any sort of feminist level up happening. including her was not interesting enough to justify retconning the plot of the most iconic episode of star trek. especially when multiple episodes tonally and stakes-wise rely on you caring about them as a couple, and anyone watching who knows who she is already knows that her and spock dont have any relationship to speak of in the future so who is this for? if you really really just NEED spock to have sex with a woman why not make a new character? that would also suck but at least it wouldnt be timeline interfering. im not even a huge continuity purist "oh no!!the timeline!!!plotholes!!!" but when the situation is the writers deliberately breaking the continuity in large ways and the outcome isnt even fun? stupid.

and now his relationship with chapel. i am way more annoyed by this one since its just gross. so from tos the only thing with them is that chapel has a crush on him and spock is not interested. also worth noting that its such a non-plot related thing that it only is revealed under the influence of alien drug virus that makes you horny. and they decided that not only was that enough to base a whole reciprocated romance arc around, but now since theyve introduced tpring back into the story, spock is now a cheater??? what is the POINT of breaking canon to introduce spocks girlfriend only to go "well actually hes horny for his coworker" like...that isnt how love triangles work youve just done a character assassination. the man who would rather kill his best friend than have sex with his wife is now fucking both her and the woman who confessed to him and he got so mad he crushed a computer with his bare hands. ok 👍. i just hate that they chose spock to be the romantic center of the show. anyone else could have been the character who gets into relationship drama why spock? there are multiple new characters who could have taken up the position. and its not like spock has nothing else to do as a character without it

to say things specifically about the most recent epsiode since it was particularly annoying and showed things that happen throughout the series:

firstly spock just does shit thats stupid. illogical even. i know the whole logical fallacy moment with vulcans but when it isnt a point of note in the show and rather just happens as if its a normal occurrence for spock as a person im like...he would be a laughing stock on vukcan and not have any of the positive reputation he holds.

the plot of this ep was basically that spock gets turned completely human and they just miss literally the whole point of it. vulcans have MORE emotion than humans, they ACTIVELY suppress it. yet when spock is turned human he just experiences human emotion completely emotionally? he should be having an EASIER time suppressing his emotions. and OMG he gets a BONER because he sees a hot WOMAN LOL LOL isnt that funny? spock got hard isnt that hilarious? its just so cheap. they act like being human makes him a completely different person, they played it like the voyager episode where belanna gets split into human and klingon BUT in that case she was literally split into two different people (this ep had a lot of issues too ie racism but that’s a different can of worms); here spock just becomes human he still has the same memories and training and history...why would he forget what its like to be a vulcan. they could SO EASILY make excuses too but they just didnt care. and anyways bada bing bada boom the ep ends with him and chapel hooking up which i already complained about and could complain about more.

i think thats already too much so im gunna stop myself here but trust theres more i hate and other people have probably talked about this better than i have :')

blade nation

#ask #star trek #sorry for this everyone im a hater at heart

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opinated-user · 2 years ago

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I went and archived some of gingers posts concerning lily. If you look up her url on the way back machine, specifically everything archived on the 10th of August, you will find posts concerning when she started first mentioning lily on her Tumblr (end of 2014, she was barely 15 at the time as can be seen in another post), some inappropriate interactions with lily, a weird focus on lily's and Lizzie's relationship, admittance that she drew lily's puppet naked, read Stockholm, and knew plenty about the kind of shit lily has been accused of. Oh also a post about how much lily loves shipping firebrand. All while she was 15-16. Some context for some of the posts: she used to go by miss mystery. I didn't archive every little thing but ginger seemed to REALLY want lily to notice her ... (Which in itself isn't bad but she figured out what would get her noticed, which with lily... Yikes)

the thing that stands out to me through your description alone, anon, is that: 1. ginger was public about her age. it wasn't a mystery for anyone that was a underage teenager. 2. despite this... LO never did anything to stop her advances. never said that it was inappropriate for her to do NSFW with her avatar, never discouraged it. teenagers being dumb in the internet is nothing new, but as the adult in that situation, LO owed to her audience to at least put that kind of rules in place. if she screens every fanart that she gets (which she should have because sometimes people do want to troll through that route), the age of the artist should have been a factor too. you can't always know, but on the case of ginger... no, for what you tell me, she very easily could have find that out if she wanted to. 3. the only thing that LO ever said against the allegation that she groomed ginger is that yes, she knew that ginger was underage when she first follower her (confirming your description that ginger was public about it), but still didn't let her be part of the "inner circle" until she reached 18 years old. a year after that, when ginger was 19, suddenly they were all together in a polyamorous relationship. because she was an adult at that point, the logic of LO is that everything is fine and nobody should have to say anything about it because adults can do whatever they want with other consenting adults. but that actively ignores how LO still didn't put any limit to how her underage audience interacted with her, how it was her responsability from the start to do so. EssenceOfThought has an entire video based on the testimony of one of those underage fans who also felt the best way to interact with LO (and garantee would get her attention) was being sexual. it doesn't matter that LO didn't ask them particularly to be sexual, it matters that she did nothing to stop them, that she made them feel like that was the best way to interact with her. in the case of ginger, it matters that not only she never stop it, she also actively encouraged her by indulging her on it and still rewarded ginger with becoming "a friend" only a few years later. there's a word for when an adult does that with a minor. it starts with g. i'm sure you know which one it is.

#lily orchard

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mtdthoughts · 1 year ago

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Hi there! I really enjoy reading your analysis. I noticed something interesting that I wanted to share wih you. I don't know if this may seem obvious, but I think it's worth mentioning Dali's interests. This contains Spoilers!

To give a quick overview, it was presented that Dali was the first one to arrive (and to leave) Sonoyama's house

When Dali arrived at his new house, he was amazed by the astronomical-themed room. However, the Sonoyamas thought that Dali didn't like it because of his reaction. But Dali tells them that he actually liked it.

In the last episode, we can see Dali reading an algebra book in the anime (or a geometry book in the manga), while Migi does cubist art. They have found their passion. However, Migi didn't discover his passion for art because of the Sonoyamas; it's something natural for him, I think. On the other hand, the Sonoyamas brought Dali closer to the things that fascinate him in the present (math-science) indirectly.

This doesn't entirely support my theory; my theory is that Dali left to study to become a mathematician, engineer, astrophysicist, etc. (Nami-sensei didn't clarify it).

My first language isn't English, sorry for the wording. Pd: I also found out that the titles of chapters 1 and '13' are both "Migi and Dalí," and they were 13 years old back then lol

Hi, and thanks for reading my stuff!

Yes, I have thought about Dali's interests for quite a while, and I'm glad you pointed this out. I agree that he certainly has interests in math and science, and thank you for showing the picture of the bookshelf. I actually hadn't noticed the science books until I saw this, and I'm sure he was definitely reading those in his free time!

This, plus the fact that Dali does very well in math and science at school, plus his logical and experimental way of thinking (like his plans in Episode 6) does seem to confirm an innate passion for science that the Sonoyamas have helped awakened both through their books and their Christmas present to him. I think it was similar for Migi too, because before all he did was make silly doodles and drawings, and I think that after he received his Christmas present his art began to evolve.

I also agree with you that it isn't clear what Dali wants to do in the future, though to be fair he is still quite young and is only going to prep school, so he certainly has plenty of time to think about it. There's also not much evidence to support a specific theory (as far as I know). He could be studying math, physics, engineering, medicine, etc. Heck, he could become an expert in multiple areas! Anyway, I'm sure Sano-sensei wanted to leave this to our own imagination. :)

Regarding Dali's interaction with the Sonoyamas when he sees his room for the first time, I think he could have been faking his reaction (including the star comment) in order to leave a good impression on them, though I'm sure on some level he was glad that he was finally no longer at the orphanage. It is possible that he was being completely honest, though given Dali's habit of dishonesty, I don't think it's likely. Perhaps there's some meaning to this, I don't know...

It's also interesting that you bring up the fact that both Episodes 1 and 13 are titled "Migi and Dali". Personally, I don't agree with the anime staff's decision to do this, and I think that the first episode should have been titled "Hitori" or something like that, not only to have a unique episode title but also to provide a comparison between the first and last episodes when the twins are HItori versus they are finally themselves.

Anyway, thanks for your comments, it certainly gave me something to think about!

#migi and dali #migi to dali

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definitely-mothman · 2 years ago

Text

The Reflection of a Prince Ch 3

I’m really bad at making summaries, but in a nutshell, this is an Overblot! Jade Leech fic, with the Original Characters belonging to Royal Sword Academy, specifically for a fandom based on the Little Mermaid. • A gala approaches, on not one land, but two, and split in half, what other choice does a Prince have to do? But beware in the past, there is an eye that still watches. Who remembers, who plots and hides teeth in the darkness.

AO3 Link

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2

Ch 3 in Read More

Azul was flipping through finance files, about 7 in the morning according to his watch. It was the best time in the week to put together the documents for each days’ sales and costs, along with calculating the salary for employees for the biweekly basis. It was unusually quiet, although it didn’t bother him at the moment. It was still somewhat early, and the silence made it easier to focus.

It was only logical such silence should be rudely interrupted by annoying text vibrations on the wood desk.

“Hey do you like. Have the attendance sheets for the Board Game Club on hand rn.”

Right side top drawer, folder at the very front. Divider is by year…there it was.

“Yes I have them in the Lounge. Is Crowley asking for them already?”

“Kinda I mean. Yeah. He didn’t do this shit last year, says it’s bc of the festival thingy. BS tbh.”

“Do you want me to run them over in the next few minutes?”

“It doesn’t have to be like right now now, but around 7:30-7:45ish would be coolio, plus I’ll be actually awake at that point lol.”

Set the papers aside, set phone timer for 7:30. He’d likely just ask Jade or one of the third years to carry those over. The logistics of having the main keys for the lounge and having to cross campus not long before opening the back entryways for early shifts just seemed too annoying.

“Ok, someone will come by 7:40 at the latest.”

“Man I thought you’d do it ;-; you always send your Vice to do it and ngl he scares the shit outta me dude”

“That doesn’t sound like my issue, Idia.”

“I mean I’ll gladly accept paperwork from anyone in your dorm who isn’t in the top 3 tiers of the ‘Would Murder Me’ list. Like seriously there’s gotta be someone dude.”

“Any of them would likely lose the papers or be late. It’s not my issue he has an intimidating air carrying out benign errands.”

It was about 7:15.

“Bro tf you mean ‘intimidating air’ that implies it’s like. Accidental, and not him creating the comforting aura of a slasher villain. Idk how you survive interacting with him for most of the day. If I got locked in a room with either Leech for like 30 minutes I’d probably kms to get out faster.”

“I’m sure he’d find that quite humorous to hear. Anyways, it's not my problem, and I have things to do so I’m going to go silent for a while.”

“Alr whatever you’re like 100% serial killer victim number one tho.”

He put down the phone on the desk, mentally rolling his eyes.

It wasn’t the first time he’d heard a qualm like this about Jade, especially not from Idia. It was strange to keep hearing, probably because he just couldn’t see what it was everyone was so…afraid of. In a competitive setting, it was logical for even him to be wary of Jade as a long-game player and as someone very good at concealing his hand. But in terms of just normal school life, it just didn’t make sense. At the worst, Jade liked to poke psychologically in the same way Floyd did physically. Instead of chasing and manhandling, it was done with subtle body language and straight faced teasing. Once you wrapped your mind around how the game worked, it was actually quite fun to play in return, although for a completely anti-social loner like Idia, it didn’t seem like much fun.

He may have come across as strange or snakelike, but Azul had a level of trust in him that provided a sense of ease. At the very least, if Jade had wanted him dead, it would have happened already. He made him tea or coffee every morning, and Azul couldn’t think of the last time he’d even had a second thought at drinking what was placed on his desk.

Speaking of which. He hadn’t drank anything all morning, and the lack of hydration was beginning to make his early morning energy wear off. Usually they were both up around the same time.

He left the VIP lounge, heading back towards the shared communal space, including the small kitchen the dormitory shared. The tea bags he used were typically in one of the top shelves of the cabinet farthest from the shared fridge. He put some water in a pan and turned on the stove, sitting the bag’s string over the side. There was a kettle in the shared area, but it was nowhere to be seen, so he’d have to make do.

The tea that he had made wasn’t perfect, but it was fine enough. Octanivelle students set for the early shifts had started to trickle in, and Floyd stumbled in behind them. A bit earlier than he normally woke up, but well within his range.

“Hey Floyd. It’s odd having you be the first one up.”

Floyd slid over, propping against the island. He still looked a bit tired.

“Huh? Jade left our room like. A few hours ago. At least, I think so. Idk, I was half-asleep.”

“A few hours ago? I haven’t run into him all morning. I was going to ask him to run some papers over to Ignihyde.”

“I could run them over lol-“

“It’s fine, you can handle opening, I’ll just run them myself. Was he running off to do the headcounts he mentioned yesterday?”

“Idk, probably? He sometimes dips out in the middle of the night to do something-or-another, I figure it’s just that.”

“…I wasn’t aware he did that. I doubt anyone at RSA is awake enough for him to get any reasonable survey numbers at this hour.”

“Eh, who knows. I’m not worrying about it personally. Probably went off early to maybe hike over there instead of taking the bus. I could see him doing something like that.”

“Oh, ok. If you're not worried-“

“By the way, when are you supposed to be taking the papers over?”

“Um,” Azul checked his watch again. It was 7:39 already, and the walk across campus would probably take some 7 minutes. Shit.

“I should probably go now; I’m already behind schedule.”

“Alrighty then, have fun. I need the key ring though to open.”

“Right, right.” He took the Lounge key ring off of his belt loop, and took the trenchcoat off his shoulders and dug through the pockets for the VIP lounge key. There. When he took his hand out though, he had two keys.

He couldn’t remember which key this was, and with how often he absentmindedly put them in various pockets, it was any guess when he’d put it there. He handed off the known key to Floyd, and put the second one back.

With that, he returned to the office space, collecting the papers, and then headed towards the mirror for the main campus.

For Azul’s taste, it was an eerily lonely morning.

• • •

“I’m good to meet up whenever you are.”

It was almost 5 in the afternoon, and students were flowing to and from Coralliadom, mostly to leave campus to get dinner or head towards the cafeteria. Rielle hovered over the message, and panned his gaze over to his Housewardens’ staff. He went over and took it up, gripping 3 fingers around the magestone and prying it out. He put the stone in his right interior pocket.

“Aight. I’ll head out that way. Should I turn my GPS on to make it easier or smthn?”

“Sure.”

He flicked it on, and began to make his way out of the dormitory. He left the staff in his room to not raise any sort of suspicion, but held onto his pen. He managed to slip Claude’s visage in this escape attempt, sliding through the mirror and booking it across campus towards the gate. It was actually quite invigorating, sneaking off like this. See, I told you I could take care of myself! The gate was open, and Rielle slipped in with the crowd of leaving students, removing the outer RSA jacket and bundling it under his arm. Just before the bus stop, he broke off, awkwardly trotting down the incline and breaking off into the tree cover surrounding the campus.

He had to walk for a while before eventually running into the Octanivelle kid, about 3 minutes. Curly brunette hair almost covered their eyes completely, and their poise seemed too calm for how they talked over text.

Whatever, people were usually more casual over text anyways, right? Not like he had another option at this point anyways.

“Heyo-! I made it, sorry if I was a bit late.”

“It’s fine, I made sure to set time aside so I’d be good if you were. Do you have the stuff I asked for?”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it right here.”

Rielle took a small jewelry box out of his pocket, one that you’d normally keep earrings in. He handed it over to the student, who opened it, eyes glazing over the inside.

“Spit vial thing, hair is in a vial, the clippings are just in the box bc I figured that was fine, and the empty vial is the…song? Idk if you just wanted me to sing into a vial, so that’s what I did, sorry if that wasn’t what you wanted.”

“Oh that’s fine.” He closed the box lid, and put it in the pocket of his dorm uniform, which went almost below his knees.

“Are you guys’ uniforms that long? Based on the photos, I always thought they hit like, mid-thigh at the longest.”

“Oh, this isn’t my uniform.” The kid took out a small glass dish, and sat it over a bundle of tinder he’d piled on the ground. “I spilled some shit on mine earlier this week, so I had to borrow my roommates. He’s like, a good foot taller than me, haha.”

His voice seemed a little…stiff, despite how casual his words were. The student looked up towards Rielle, expression a bit nervous.

“Uh, did you bring a water bottle or something by chance? I would’ve brought one myself for the potion but I didn’t think about it. I mean, I can just use a water spell I guess, but I haven’t eaten a lot today and my magic’s probably a little shaky because of it.”

“Oh, no worries, I’ll do it. Did you skip lunch or something?” Rielle clicked his magestone into his pen, and with a small flick formed about two cups’ worth of water inside the dish.

“Thanks, and no, I didn’t bring much money when I made my way over here so I couldn’t grab anything substantial in Craneport.”

“Oh. Well, you’ll need my ID to get into the dorm anyways, so don’t worry about using it to get meal swipes. Claude will hound you-me if he sees you being the slightest bit winded. Wait-“

Rielle took out his phone, and began texting rapidly. The students’ phone pinged several times back to back.

“Ok I sent you the itinerary for the day of, so that you’ll be ready for that, and also the sheet music for the musical performance on Friday.”

“Musical…performance?”

“Yeah, I am/was doing a pretty singing number for the gala thingy- but you’re taking on my singing voice anyways so you’ll be good. There’s 5 days anyway to get the hang of it, and you won’t be on stage alone!”

“O-oh. Ok.”

The student began to dump the contents into the water, and lit a small fire on the tinder beneath the dish with his pen.

“I could’ve done that, yknow.”

“Oh, sorry. Just didn’t think about it.”

“Lol, you don’t have to say sorry. Just don’t want you to overexert yourself.”

The kid took a small twig nearby to stir the mixture, using his other hand to control the flame, it spinning to a light blue color. He was murmuring something under his breath, but Rielle couldn’t make out whatever incantation he was saying. Maybe saying it really quietly was a part of it?

In a moment, the small whirlpool in the mixture tinted to a bright red, and spread out within the dish. A small smile briefly appeared on the kid’s face, and he put the twig to the side, taking a small necklace out of his pocket.

“Oh, that’s the jewelry item?”

“Yeah. I’m using this one specifically because I’ve been able to get it to work with other magic properties like this already. No worries for me about it not working.”

“It’s so…cute. Is it an actual nautilus shell? It looks a bit more worn and dirty than the ones you see in shops. And it’s so tiny!”

“Yeah, it’s an actual shell, a friend of mine picked it out for me, we were pretty little at the time. So that’s why it’s kinda small.”

“So I’m guessing the string on it is more recent so it fits your neck? Lol.”

“Yeah, I’ve changed the string a million times at this point, hah.”

Again. That slightly strained voice, enough to notice but not noticeable enough for Rielle to want to bring attention to it.

The Octanivelle student took the twig he’d sat down, and stuck it firmly in the ground. Taking the necklace’s string and catching it on the twig, he dipped the shell down into the potion, where it began to glow a pale white within the liquid.

“Ah, yeah. The contract scroll. I almost forgot about it.”

He took a golden paper out of his pocket, along with a slightly decorative pen. It was folded several times into a little square, and once unfolded the top portion was too crinkled to properly read. But most of it was legible, and listed everything they’d spoken about over text, word for word. Rielle panned over the language, checking for any small print. He may have had no other choice, but he’d barter if he needed to.

“The only small text on there is about you being liable if the Unique Magic offered in the contract expires before you return to trade places with me again.”

“And that time would be…”

“Friday, about 11pm. An hour and a half after the gala hosted in your dorm will have ended. I just don’t want to be stuck up there. Do you want the pen? I thought you’d take it already-“

“How did you do this? This is a Unique Magic in and of itself, dude! Did you actually get your Housewarden to write one up for you? Like an IOU or something?”

“…can’t say. Secrets of the trade, lol. I don’t wanna lose my chances of getting deals like this in the future, you know?”

The student smiled, but the emotion didn’t quite reach the shine in his eyes. As if they carried two different people. I suppose that was Octanivelle for you. Rielle took up the pen, and carefully signed his name, drawing a smile heart above the i.

He absentmindedly handed the paper and pen back over, and dropped his RSA jacket onto the ground. The guy would probably need it if he wanted to slip back onto campus.

“There you go. I should probably text my parents about now and head off towards the hall of mirrors. Pretty much no one’s walking around campus right now, although you might wanna wait a few minutes before going into campus.”

“Alright, I have to wait for this to finish up anyways. Hope you have fun at the family gathering.”

“Yeah, I will! Thanks for doing me a solid, man.”

“Don’t even worry about it.”

Rielle finally got up from a squat on the ground, turning and heading back towards the campus.

He couldn’t have left soon enough. The illusory potion put together that morning was only meant to last about an hour. Even now, teal was beginning to push through the brunette hair, which was now falling to the ground at an alarming rate. He hadn’t even bothered to notice the contacts that already matched his eye color, or how squatting down disguised his clothing slowly fitting more snugly. The potion let off a sweet-smelling steam. It was done.

Taking the string off from around the twig, the necklace was pulled from the solution, and now it had a beautiful yellow gleam. He took off the Mostro Lounge jacket, covering a simple white dress shirt like those worn in RSA. The jacket and hat was placed into a pile along with the glass dish, and with a gentle wave of his pen, the pile burst into a large flame.

The necklace’s string fit perfectly to his head, and the nautilus shell was tucked beneath the shirt collar. He imagined how it looked outside of himself. Thin, siren eyes becoming like that of a doe, merging in and out as if both were mirages. A pale glow flowing down the edge of his hair, it growing vibrant red, and growing longer as the glow went down, beyond his hair’s end. The shell felt as though it could replace his own heart with how warm it felt against his chest.

Finally, he opened his mouth, feeling up and down the foreign vocal chords. The sweet, silky sound that left his mouth. That voice which was far too beautiful to belong to him. He stood and straightened his back, and lightly lifted his eyebrows along with the corners of his mouth, trying to make it look natural. Speak with your throat, keep your balance on the left side instead of in the middle. Pretend as though your head is filled with helium.

“Hey guys! Sorry I’m back late, I got kinda sidetracked, went on a stroll and lost track of time. But…you forgive me, right?”

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