#watermark hell i'm sorry

[old-man-hell]

she understands.

[dekariosclan]

PSA: If Tav fails the weave scene…

So, I’m assuming that most players (like me) thought that you *had* to pass the “channeling the weave” scene with Gale in order to begin his romance. Makes sense, right? Gale is a learned scholar, he tells you magic is his life, so it’s understandable that even he might hesitate to romance you if you are unable to follow his simple instructions and share a moment with him.

…but nope! Nope. Of course Gale is so wonderful that even if you fail the scene, he’s still down bad for you, and to top it off? His response is one of the sweetest lines in the whole damn game.

If you are a Galemancer and you haven’t seen this before, please stop whatever you are doing, sit down, view his expression + hear his line delivery, and try not to pass out:

Tav: It was a pity your lesson in the Weave ended so soon - I was enjoying our moment alone. Do you think about us being alone again?

Gale: Do you?

Tav: Yes.

Gale: So do I. You see, I'm not a big believer in fate, but I do believe in serendipity.

Gale: Life is a tempest of events that sometimes we brace against, and sometimes embrace.

Gale: You're one such event that one day soon perhaps, I'd like to embrace.

[prosperdemeter2]

WIP Wednesday

Not watermark this time but another AU that I am having WAY too much fun writing... I give you a glimpse of Retail Manager!Eddie and Fire Marshal!Buck. I'm actually really excited for this story to be finished, I have so much planned for it.

Eddie was going to commit arson.

Which probably wasn't the smartest thought to be having while the much too attractive Fire Marshall listed out every single thing the previous store manager had screwed him over on but…. But Eddie was going to commit arson. At this point, it would probably help the company out to just burn down the whole store, take the insurance payout, and start over from the ground up. Preferably while still keeping him employed but, well, beggers couldn't be choosers and all that. “Your score is horrible,” the guy said with a tone of voice that meant that he was at least mentally, laughing in Eddie’s face. “Like, seriously, I don't think I should even let you stay open for business with a score this low.”

“So shut us down.” Eddie grumbled, kicking his sneaker against the scuffed up, unfinished concrete floor in front of the management desk.

He had been there a week.

A week. And Eddie had already had to argue with several customers over the return policy because the previous manager - may she rest in absolute hell (no, she wasn't dead, she had just gone to another store down the road and Eddie hated her on principle) - had thought the sign explaining it was tacky and removed it from the registers (which was illegal. They had to be posted). He had already had three workers put in their notice, the assistant manager kept looking sorry for him and annoyed by his questions, and now this. The Fire Marshal's inspection.

Eddie had worked his share of retail jobs and none of them enjoyed when the Fire Marshal visited. Granted, none of his stores had failed as hard as this one was apparently going to, but he figured there was a first time for everything.

The Fire Marshal snorted, “I'm not shutting you down.”

Great. Of course he wasn't. He was just wasting Eddie's time by pretending to care about his job. “Listen -.”

“I get it,” the Marshal said, pen tapping on the clipboard he brought with himself. It had several stickers on the back. Eddie had spied one that had said ‘hello, I'm anxious and I'm trying my best’. It looked like Chris’ folder for school. “It's, what, your first week?”

Eddie tried not to twitch and, instead, crossed his arms firmly around his chest. “Yes.”

“We'll call this a test run. You see what I do this time around, I give you a… Progress report or whatever. I'll come back in a few weeks when you've had some time to settle in and fix stuff up. Give you your real grade then.”

“That's…” Nice. Unfairly kind, actually. Something Eddie really hadn't expected. Every Fire Marshal Eddie had ever had the honor of being inspected by had shown up in a stuffy suit and tie, their badge clipped to their front pocket, and the air of someone who was almost good enough to be a firefighter permiating their being. This guy had shown up without any grays in his hair, a stupidly kind looking professional smile, a crisp white shirt with a small stain on his sleeve and a dark navy tie. He had introduced himself with a quick, firm shake of Eddie’s hand and said hello to the cashiers. He had worn his badge on his belt loop, not his pocket, and he had waited until Eddie was done with a customer before asking go to his office. Eddie didn't have any reason to be being so cold towards him. He almost felt guilty about it.

“Here,” The paper ripped as he tore off Eddie’s copy, signed the bottom, and handed it to him.

A 23%?!

Eddie balked at the score, “Oh, come on, man.”

“You're lucky it's not worse.”

“How is this lucky? It's an F minus.”

“Your smoke detectors don't even work in half the store.”

“They work.”

“See that blinking red light?” The Marshal pointed to the smoke detector above Eddie’s head. It blinked mockingly at him. “Half your alarms aren't doing that.”

Okay, so that… was a problem. “You marked down,” Eddie glanced at the paper, the neat, blocky handwriting in all capital letters. “That our store is too dirty. We clean it every night!”

“Cleary, not well enough.”

Absurdly, Eddie was insulted on behalf of his dusters. “You're just being petty.”

The Marshal bristled, “No, I'm being thorough.” He clicked his pen and shoved it in the front pocket of his khakis, and like it was mocking him, the overhead light in his office flickered, threatening to turn off completely. “I'll be back in a few weeks. Get this stuff fixed, and I'll give you an actual grade.”

“Get this stuff fixed, and I'll give you an actual grade,” Eddie mocked when he had left, burying his face in his hands with a groan. “Fuck you, Fire Marshal…” he glanced at the papers, to the name written out in print first before signed much too neatly. “Buckley.”

@wildlife4life 😘

[hkkingofshades]

Tumblr's new policy, and updates going forward

Yeah, I bet we all saw this coming, huh.

So, given tungl dot hell(tm)'s new deal with midjourney, I think pretty much all artists on tumblr are, well, not having a great time. Like deviantart, tumblr has provided a way to opt out from having your blog content scraped, but like deviantart, it's a little unclear what has already been shared before the opt-out went into place, and how much they'll actually work to stop machine trawlers from trawling opted-out blogs.

I'll put the tl;dr up front:

King of Shades will not be leaving Tumblr, but due to the new policy, I won't be posting full pages here anymore.

There's no point in taking down all the pages I've already posted. Deleting them from my page won't delete subsequent reblogs, and there's a pretty high chance that tumblr has already scraped them. (haveibeentrained.com seems to think I haven't been yet, at least. I don't think I really have a big enough following for that to happen, although I don't want to jinx it...) But I certainly won't be posting the full-size pages here anymore.

Instead, I think I'll go the Trying Human route and post a little preview of the update (possibly heavily watermarked; my computer can't run glaze/nightshade, unfortunately), so you guys will still get notifications, but you'll have to visit the ComicFury main website in order to read it. I'm very sorry for the inconvenience (although I will say that I think it's a much better reading experience over there)!

Speaking of which:

I have never and will never ask for any kind of compensation (other than your wonderful feedback, which I've just been absolutely blown away by) for doing this. Even putting legality aside, that's not why I'm here! However, if you've enjoyed this comic, ever thought that you might be willing to tip me on ko-fi if I had one, or even just want to continue having an internet that isn't entirely a corporate wasteland, I ask that you consider donating to ComicFury instead.

ComicFury is a relic of the old, good internet: it's been around for at least 15 years, and it's all hosted and managed by one guy (Kyo). Aside from his team of volunteer moderators, everything on this website is done by one person with a passion for supporting artists. I've chatted with him a little, and he's a great dude! Most of his operating costs are paid for out of pocket, and the site is currently hurting a little bit because it doesn't run ads, it doesn't have subscriptions or paywalled content, it doesn't have any corporate interference or monetization of any kind outside of his Patreon. And—perhaps most relevantly for this post:

I will cut right to the chase, we have decided not to allow AI-art based webcomics on the site. [...] As for our reasoning, there are obviously ethical concerns regarding the source images of most commonly used AI image generators (namely them just being scraped off the internet without anyones permission). But even beyond that, another concern is that due to the extremely low effort involved, webcomics of this nature could just over time completely drown out in numbers art by passionate people who put a lot of time into it , which would be a real shame. So we asked ourselves what would be better for the community, and we agreed that banning it would probably be the better thing overall.

—Kyo has been quite firm that he will not allow AI art to be posted to or scraped from any ComicFury domain. While this isn't a protection against huge web trawls or people putting someone's art in individually—there's not a lot anyone can do about that yet, even with tools like glaze and nightshade—it's a little peace of mind that the art posted there won't abruptly be sold en masse to the highest bidder.

The Patreon starts at $2/month, and Kyo has said that he doesn't mind people pledging for a short time and then dipping if they can't afford an ongoing subscription. If and only if this is something you can afford, and you want to continue seeing independent webcomics including King of Shades, please consider donating!

The Patreon is here. There's not much in the way of reward tiers, especially if you're not a member, but I posit that the real reward is being able to read free webcomics done by real humans as labors of love, without being advertised to or sold as the product. And also maybe the friends we made along the way. Or something.

Once again, there is no pressure, and no shame if you're not willing or able to give money. But if you've ever thought you might be willing to tip me for what I do, consider passing it along to the guy who makes it possible instead.

Thank you for your time!

P.S. Page 64 is coming, I promise! Recent developments kind of kneecapped my motivation for making online art 🙃

[matchbet-allofthetime]

Drack is so fucking funny

He's just like "hey. Know you lost your dad. Sorry bro. I've lost a lot of people too. When I feel bad, I like to look at this to distract myself"

Also drack: *sends Ryder 32 pictures of guns, two of which are fucking duplicates and all of which are watermarked and shit*

That email alone WITHOUT images is enough to crack me tf up, I'm in tears 😭

This dude is so funny for no reason

If him and Wrex ever met, it'd be hell to pay, everything would be chaos

One of em would say "this is a terrible idea. let's do it"

And Ryder and Shepard would never move INTO or OUT OF a room so quickly in their lives

Meanwhile both Shepard and Ryder are both bonding half over flirting with everyone cute they meet and also half over how much shit they've had to deal with in their lives so far

[skrunksthatwunk]

ok so. kiwami 2. rooftop scene. the ending. it's a bit of a clusterfuck but i wanna talk about one detail, a problem they bring to your attention by Fucking. Talking About Her.

haruka is watching all of this unfold.

[this post is like 4.5k words long + pretty critical + has spoilers for kiwami and kiwami 2, and really minor/vague ones for a couple others. they're not that bad though, trust me (and i added a warning in the one place it is major)]

ALSO CONTENT WARNING i'm gonna talk about kiryu's passive suicidality a good amount in this one, so stay away from this if you think that might affect you negatively/you'd be better off skipping it. i'll also make a tl;dr (which i will highlight in red) at the very end if you really wanna know what my point is that will exclude those elements <3. i am also going to use a lot of choice-based language in regards to kiryu's contemplation of suicide because i think it's the lens through which the games treat the topic, but i personally don't find it a productive or realistic way to look at suicide or suicidal ideation at all. someone dying by suicide absolutely does not mean they don't care about their loved ones enough to fight on or whatever. i love you, and proceed with caution on this one.

(also i'm using the kiwamis as my point of reference because i uh. don't have a ps2? those are the games that i played, and though the differences are likely slight, i wanna be clear about that. also,, ignore the watermark on these screenshots,, i didn't notice them and i'm not retaking them. we're all gonna have to settle for youtube cutscene comps for now xoxo)

first, we have to talk about the ending of the first game.

[note: i am Really Really Confident kiryu has a conversation earlier in the game about his going to jail in nishiki's stead being him running away and choosing not to resist his two options (go to jail or let nishiki go to jail) and define his own path, fighting his way against fate to make it happen. part of why i'm so confident it exists is because it made such an impression on me at the time. it's pretty important to my interpretation of things but i also can't find it for the life of me, so uh. sorry ✌️ i really tried. this post's takes/analysis will be dependent on this scene existing, so keep that in mind. if anyone knows where to find the scene/screenshots of it, lmk and i'll add a follow-up with it]

kiwami stuff

so as she's dying, yumi tells haruka this:

that she may be dying (painfully, and right as she's getting everything she wanted), but she doesn't regret it, because at least she did something rather than running away from it all. that you shouldn't run away, ever.

shortly thereafter, when the police find kiryu and haruka, this exchange happens between him and date. here's the play by play:

date tells kiryu he can get him out of trouble with this, and that if he doesn't, he'll get life in prison; kiryu declines his help:

kiryu is so devastated (understandably) by the back to back losses of the three people closest to him that he resigns himself to life in prison, and the death-in-effect that would be. he would prefer to waste away rather than struggle through a life without them. prison was monotonous and isolating, but coming back after a decade was overwhelming, and coming back to everything being so warped and twisted, and then losing the corrupted scraps he had anyway, well. he wants to go back to sleep. he doesn't want to be in a world where everything's the same except he's on his own. better to return to safety, to die slowly in a hell he knows well than weather a new one where he has control and agency, and thus one where he has the ability to fail and to lose anything at any time. he explains to date that that loss is why he can accept his death:

date shakes him and asks him if there's really nothing left for him, no reason to keep living at all:

then echoes yumi's advice to haruka:

which makes an impression on kiryu:

date gives him a reason to live in the form of haruka, saying she'll be on her own again if he goes to jail. he hijacks kiryu's tragic protector complex to keep him alive, because she needs him, and because she's someone precious to him:

after the dust has cleared,

kiryu and date also have this exchange, where date tells him to stay away from the cops (and presumably arrest and a return to prison, the aforementioned fate akin to death), and kiryu cites haruka as his reason to stay away, one he holds to with no uncertainty (showing again that he's accepted date's logic, that his reason to keep living even when it's incredibly difficult is to care for the more vulnerable haruka). given the weight of the consequences, to me, it feels like date's telling him not to be alone with his thoughts or something. it's almost frightening:

so, what's our takeaway from kiwami?

kiryu lost everything and hit rock bottom, but he chose to fight, and to live life on his own terms, even when it got difficult. that's the narrative life lesson he had to learn to avoid repeating the events of 1995. he made that choice for haruka's sake. it's seen as growth.

and without him, haruka would've just returned to the orphanage (assuming she could make it back to sunflower at all) with no one who knew or understood what she had been through, no one to mourn with her, and no one to give her the attention, care, and protection she needs. kiryu knows what it's like to be an orphan with a limited parental figure who only checks in every so often (kazama, "aunt" yumi), and what someone will do for attention/affection from that person (via both himself and nishiki swearing up, climbing the ranks, etc. arguably haruka coming to kamurocho by herself to find "mizuki" is similar), and what it's like to lose them anyway (again, kazama, yumi). their situations parallel each others' somewhat, and that binds them further. and after losing everyone (which he blames himself for to some extent, as one can probably assume from this and 2, and something key to his arc in later games), he chooses to protect her. and this time, he won't fail. at least partially because failing would hurt him, too. he'd have nothing left again.

okay. now we get to kiwami 2.

if you forgot, the context is basically:

everybody's fighting on the roof of a building which i'm sure will not be a running theme or anything as the series goes on

there's a bomb that's about to go off and they don't know how to/can't defuse it

ryuji shot the twist villain to death, but took fatal hits to do so

sayama's like hey!! let's get out of here!!! and kiryu and ryuji are like nooo we have to settle this oughh it's punchin time and they stick her on an elevator and send her down so she doesn't have to watch

ryuji loses. sayama returns, they have a cute sibling heart to heart, and ryuji dies in her arms. sad

kiryu is in rough shape as well, and there's like 2 minutes left on the bomb's timer

here's the scene itself:

sayama tells kiryu they have to run, and kiryu says he can't. the gist is "let's run!" "you go without me" "i'm not leaving you!" "i'm in no condition to run" "i'll carry you then!!" sayama: *sees how fucked up kiryu is, realizes he's Going To Die Anyway* "ok, then i'm staying with you!" and then further bickering about that, before they give up and make out (as one does i guess)

date (he's here now) yells this at them from a helicopter:

before someone else in the helicopter tells date this:

we get this shot of haruka calling out to kiryu as the helicopter swerves away:

and kiryu and sayama have this exchange about haruka where they say they let her down, but that she'll understand:

then they hug and the bomb ticks to zero right when the credits hit. in post credits it's revealed that the twist villain defused the bomb when they weren't looking, betraying his co-villain for reasons i truthfully do not remember and am unwilling to look up. it's not about that right now.

so, how does this scene interact with the ending of the previous game?

the short answer is "badly <3" but here's the long answer:

it's about choices.

the thing about fiction is that anything you want to have happen, as a writer, can happen. it may not be effective, internally consistent, or logical, but you can write it regardless. audiences suspend their disbelief for the sake of engaging fully with your fiction, but everyone has a threshold past which they will stop being engaged in a story and either become uninvested or annoyed. writers usually have lines they're unwilling to cross as well. but in almost every story, there's at least a couple of places where they stretch reality a little to make the narrative they want happen. this is not a bad thing at all. that's how stories get told.

now, i'm gonna be real with you. i don't care about how feasible plots are like 95% of the time. it's not something i think about much, nor is it something i prioritize. i am a very character-centric media consumer, so if world building and/or plot are a bit stale or contrived, that doesn't really bother me much so long as i'm invested in the characters involved. some people can't stand plot holes or the ways musicals burst into song or whatever, and that's fine for them. but it's not something i tend to find that all that important.

this is all to say that i have a sorta affection for rgg's flavor of bullshit pulling. and it is a powerful flavor, maybe even an acquired taste, but i can and do rock with it so long as it doesn't damage the characters too much. this is why i'm not making a lengthy post howling into the void about joji kazama or the second joon-gi han or how many secret relatives there are. those things are silly and endearing and a clumsy yet heartfelt part of a series i care about very deeply. i'll joke about it, but i don't consider it much of a flaw. it's more like personality. flaws are texture, and they help a piece's identity. point is i am very, very willing and able to suspend my disbelief for these games in exchange for a good time, particularly via good characters.

(if you want another example of where i draw the line from within rgg, the answer's the YAKUZA 4 SPOILERS INCOMING rubber bullets twist, because i think 1) it's actively horrifically stupid (especially retconning a scene we SAW HAPPEN. WE SAW BLOOD ON EACH IMPACT, AND RUBBER BULLETS DON'T OFTEN BREAK SKIN THAT DEEPLY (THEIR DAMAGE IS MORE PERCUSSIVE THAN PENETRATIVE). THESE EVENTS HAPPEN IN THE SAME GAME YOU DON'T HAVE TO RETCON IT JUST REWRITE IT. OR DON'T SHOW THE HIT AT ALL SO THERE'S MORE PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY. DON'T DO THIS JUST TO HYPE UP YOUR SHITTY VILLAIN NO ONE CARES ABOUT. and 2) (a bit more importantly) i think it actively removes saejima's primary internal conflict for that game, that being his intense guilt over the 18 murders he thinks he committed, one i was invested and interested in. but this isn't a rubber bullets post.)

characters in this series walk off a lot of life threatening injuries. they survive miraculously, they escape in the nick of time, and they pull through in the end. kiryu still somehow hasn't killed anyone. almost every game in his saga ends with an "is kiryu gonna make it out this time?!?" shortly followed by a "yeah lol. lmao" postcredits reveal. kiryu fucking punches a marble statue into dust in the first game. having a story that asks you to suspend your disbelief so much and so often means that when a decision is made, it's not the writers saying, "well, this would have to happen so we are obligated/forced to write it happening" so much as "we wanted this to happen for some reason(s)," because you already know that they're not guided solely by logic. again, this is true of all writers, it's just amplified in stories like these because they've already given you so many hard mode suspension of disbelief moments (they've broken you in like leather, yeah? or like how obvious internet scams allow for self selection by being so obvious that only the most vulnerable people would fall for them. they curate an audience willing to play along with their bullshit flavor so they can tell a story that's more likely to satisfy that audience. in a good way, in a fun way! mass appeal is overrated). there is not much limit to what this series is willing to try and sell you.

so when ryuji takes lethal damage taking out the big bad, that's a choice. when he doesn't die immediately, that's a choice. when ryuji and kiryu send sayama away in the soon-to-be-forgotten elevator so they can settle this like men or whatever despite the literal actual bomb about to go off, that's a choice. when sayama comes back, that's a choice. when ryuji does die, that's a choice. when kiryu determines that he can't escape in time, that's a choice. when sayama is unwilling to leave him, that's a choice. when she says she'll carry him out and there's an elevator right fucking there and then she's like never mind i guess i won't anymore we're dying together right now kiryu like they're not gonna even try?? wouldn't distancing themselves from the blast give themselves a better shot, something that's super possible given the 2 minutes they have with that elevator??? sayama you met him like a week and a half ago why are you ready to die with him that's not a plot hole i just think that's kinda strange whatever anyway, that's a choice. when kiryu stops arguing with her so they can kiss (next to her brother's corpse), that's a choice. when date shows up, that's a choice. when the helicopter can't save them because the bomb was going to go off too soon, that's a choice. when they put haruka in that helicopter and take her away, let her only impact be reminding kiryu and sayama that they can't help her, that's a choice. when they spend their last moments talking as if they're already dead, then simply waiting, that's a choice.

they're all choices that the writers made for the characters, and we are asked to believe them for the sake of achieving the writers' vision, as with any story. the only problem is that the writers' vision here fucking blows.

i'm not saying it would be realistic for kiryu and sayama (and even ryuji) to make it out alive, but it wouldn't be out of character for the series in the slightest. kiryu is suddenly unable to power through here, and that's a choice. so, what is their vision?

put simply, i think they wanted a romantic last stand for kiryu and sayama, a tragic scene of doomed, devoted lovers. and i think they wanted an edge-of-your-seat fake out death. they wanted spectacle.

here's how some specific choices they made undermine all that shit we talked about earlier from the first game.

once again, kiryu is called by date to live, to pick himself up and keep going, no matter how impossible the odds are. he's even reminded by haruka's presence, his one anchor in keeping himself going. the growth he had in the parallel scene in the previous game is challenged, and he fails.

it's not enough this time. and that's a choice.

it's also one i can't think of a good reason for, and that's the real kicker.

characters can have developmental backslide just like people do, and if they're given good reason for it, it can be just as, if not far more compelling that purely linear growth (i am a chimera ant arc enjoyer, and that's all i'll say. sorry if you haven't seen hunter x hunter. uhh. i am also a zuko avatar enjoyer if that helps). but i can't think of anything that happened in that game that would cause this from a character perspective. if anything, kiryu should be less likely to do this intentionally. he's spent around a year raising haruka, and a year has passed since he lost his loved ones. at the very least, the pain should be more dull, though it is established through an early nightmare sequence that his ass is (justifiably) not over it yet. given that their deaths were the initial motivation for his willingness to rot forever, theoretically, he should be more motivated to stay alive than before now that he's got more investment and stability in his life outside of them, particularly when it comes to haruka, his reason for surviving. and if the ongoing nature of the trauma was the motivator for this, then they should've had it affect him more past that nightmare scene (it really serves more as a recap of the last game than anything else) so it didn't come out of nowhere. so the reminder of the lesson that saved his life and then guided it for at least a year afterwards, one that the whole resolution of the previous game relied on heavily falls flat for... some reason.

i think this is a good time to mention that, generally speaking, you don't write arbitrary choices into characters. sure, people in real life are often sporadic, but when analyzing fictional characters, every choice is filed into a portfolio of characterization that can and should be analyzed. going for pure realism can obfuscate their development, motivations, themes, etc. their choices and reactions may be unorthodox, but they must be internally consistent. this is very related to how i view plot contrivance as well. characters drive the plot, not the other way around. stories are about the ways characters affect their worlds/lives and vice versa, and they're the human face to the themes and ideas the writers are trying to explore and express. maybe my stance on this seems hypocritical. i don't know if it is. but to me, plot issues are usually a matter of engagement and investment, while character issues are a matter of substance.

i hope this doesn't feel patronizing explaining all of this, but i want you guys to know where i'm coming from in my analysis. starting at my base philosophy on writing is the easiest way to do that, i feel. defining the terms of the debate, and all that. anyway

and i mean, look. they survive because "it was defused the whole time we just didn't see it happen", so it's not like narrative tension or realism or whatever was THAT big of a priority overall. if it was gonna be a cop-out anyway, they should'nt have ruined kiryu's development too, yeah?. and sayama fucks off to america after this game anyway, so it's not like the doomed lovers thing had much payoff or meaning after this one (though you could argue that's more an issue with yakuza 3 than yk2, which has some merit to it). which means that they chose to sacrifice kiryu's prior development and internal logic for the sake of cheap tension for their finale that was both kinda illogical in and of itself (the elevator!! the elevator!!!) and a romantic climax that neither required nor really benefitted from this staging. (like. you coulda had them make out and then get saved by date, or kiss on the elevator in a "it's moving, but will we make it in time??" way or whatever. look i'm not saying those are great options either but they're SOMETHING okay. it would remove/reduce the amount of time wasted on characters sitting around with their thumbs up their asses for no reason in this finale).

instead the message of this finale is that, actually, sometimes it is impossible to change your circumstances and fight for your own way out of an awful situation. and what should you do about this unfortunate truth? uh. die! i guess. it's the exact opposite of the encouraging, optimistic message of the last game. zetsubou chou pride my ass.

note: i feel i should mention that when suicidality is brought up within the series (particularly in substories), it is always something someone has to overcome themselves through wanting it badly enough. they simply need the inspiration and the motivation to keep going. it's arguably treated as a moral obligation. frankly, the series is broadly very meritocratic (<- bad) when it comes to this topic (and others, but that's a Whole Other Thing. see akiyama's weird loan shark tests as well). sheer will and resolve is enough to conquer any problem, be it physical or mental/emotional, and it's irresponsible to act/feel otherwise. this is the logic the games operating under, and kiryu is often the mouthpiece for this bootstrap-pulling "tough love" sentiment. so when kiryu "chooses" to die, yet faces no emotional fallout from date, haruka, or anyone else, it feels very out of place. it's not just an odd choice; it's specifically, once again, an odd choice to make in context of the game/series/character it appears in.

kiryu's just like eh, haruka'll watch her only family die right as she gets some sense of tentative stability and lets her guard down after a devastating month the year prior (and a relatively dismal upbringing before that) that we trauma bonded over. sure, she likely came to view me as the one who would stay no matter what, who was too strong to be taken out, who she could always rely on, and so i know that dying would hurt her immensely, but she's smart enough to know it'd happen eventually. her eventual recovery means it's okay for me to do this (somehow, in a way it wasn't in the first game). it's an excuse within the narrative's logic, and one it is uncritical of simply because it's kiryu. he gets a pass.

and i think with the previously mentioned passive suicidality and general series-long mental health issues kiryu displays (i mean. yakuza 5's literally his depression arc), this could be retroactively seen as an interesting choice, like a piece in that particular narrative. i don't even dislike that viewing, especially in terms of fan approach. but (assuming this went down the same in yakuza 2), they likely didn't have that in mind. all they had then was the first game and the movie. and they took the first game's Entire Message and contradicted it for nothing but a scene they wanted to have happen because it'd be suspenseful and/or emotional (without actually doing the work to earn it). and they're not fans trying to analyze his character, they're the ones making choices for him. and they chose to massacre my boy. and if the subject of kiryu's mental health was a priority of theirs, why didn't they explore that? haruka and date's feelings on him not resisting and their words not being enough (whether that blame is justified by the narrative or not (it shouldn't be btw)), the uncomfortable drifting that resigning yourself to death and living afterwards anyway often brings, literally any conversation about it besides the minimal shit we get post credits of date being like "did you know about the bomb not having a fuse?" which like. bad answer either way (which is why they weren't straightforward about it, the cowards). you can't just be like "oh uh. idk he just gave up this time. yeah he was gonna die on purpose for some reason. good thing the bomb was fake lol" and then pack up and go home!! that's stupid!! any merit the idea of kiryu dying by suicide in this scene and in this way could have had from a character-based perspective loses its weight because 1. it didn't happen (for kinda stupid reasons), which makes it fall flat and 2. no one is really affected by the fact that it almost did, including him. they sacrificed his ass and replaced it with nothing, even when there could have been interesting outcomes to it.

so the narrative effectively chose to kill him by making the situation impossible, and this impossibility is ultimately arbitrary, given the series' usual approach to miraculous, illogical escapes. that, or the choice to stay was up to kiryu and sayama, one that 1. doesn't make sense and is actively regressive in context of kiryu's arc in the only other game in the series (as well as his whole saga in retrospect) and 2. one that contradicts how the series sees/treats resignation to death/death by suicide in all other contexts without being addressed, challenged, or condemned in ways it would in all other contexts. because they don't want you to think about it like that. they want you to think he (and the narrative) had no choice, that it made sense to do that. but it didn't. it doesn't.

and look, honestly? if i was bleeding out and had like 2 minutes to live, there's a non zero chance i'd say fuck it and kiss a girl too. i get it. but i am (and this is crucial) not a fucking yakuza character. and i'm certainly not kiryu kazuma.

tl;dr (basically just rephrasing the second to last main paragraph)

there are not sufficient character reasons for kiryu and sayama not trying to escape. additionally, because the narrative regularly facilitates even less likely escapes, it's not so constrained to logic and reality that it couldn't pull this one off. the choice to let their situation be impossible this one time was a cheap and arbitrary way of forcing a scene they thought would be cool and dramatic, and in doing so they chose to cannibalize a key emotional note of the previous finale (namely kiryu's mission to dedicate his life to protecting haruka) for hollow last minute stakes-upping in this one. it is then completely disregarded anyway. god damn.

[vlada-slavik]

me again! sorry for not including proof, i was a bit busy yesterday.

you can see in some meteorcare artwork that it has a watermark that says "creatingchimera" (or chimaeracreations) — if you go to that blog and you can find this. i'm not sure if hyperlinks work properly in asks, in case it doesn't i'll just describe the post: it's a drawing of one of their sonas holding the proship flag and a caption that reads:

"drawing each of my sonas with all my flags! started with arlo and the proship flag bc even though i post incest, rb proship stuff on my other accounts, and have 3+ callout posts, antis still keep following me!! I AM PROSHIP!! IF YOU ARE PRO HARASSMENT DNI!!!"

it's honestly disgusting. the fandom doesn't want them here but they just won't listen :(

Oh my f*cking god 💀 I haven't seen this exact post bc was looking at his another account, but I'm so disgusted. I liked their artstyle and even some characters, but what the hell. (Also I don't understand how can a character be a proshipper unless it's their sona or anything idk) I'm so disappointed

[fructidors]

ok here goes

mozart l'opera rock lighting infodump

by tumblr user and amateur theater tech nerd fructidors

(flash warning for some of the gifs)

disclaimer the (limited) experience i have with theater tech has been like 96.7 percent sound i have touched a lightboard exactly once in my life i am not at all qualified to make this post i've just overheard a lot of other techies talking about lights. also it has been barely a week since i watched this musical for the first time so i am just new to all of this in general. anyways onwards

i feel like what really makes the lighting in mlor stand out is that it doesn't just accentuate the set and costumes and actors, it engages dynamically with them. it doesn't feel natural, or suspend disbelief-- it's showy and bright and just as much a part of the spectacle as the copious amounts of eyeliner! and that almost feels fourth-wall-breaking in a way?

so i was going to just do my favorite moments but uh. turns out i have way too much to say so we're going song by song

overture/penser l'impossible: i love the opening and the patterning on the floor it's so dramatic (i think these are gobos? like i said. clueless) the set's so well lit here too i don't know if the gold highlights count as lighting but i am obsessed. also it sets up this show's habit of Making Everything So Red when something bad happens

also shoutout to the bubble of neon pink mozart apparently brings with him wherever he goes. icon

la chanson de l'aubergiste/le trublion: grouping these together since i don't have a ton to say about either of them

he's coming out of the floor ooooooo

no actually i love this trapdoor and how the guy's lit from below/within So Much oh my god. i think they do it again with the clown but with fog and. perfection i love it if i could change one thing about mlor i would give it a turntable because it deserves a turntable but i also think every show should have a trapdoor

transition into le trublion !!!! another cotton candy mozart moment we love to see it

bim bam boum: ok oh my god here's where it starts getting good.

sorry about the watermark on this one i literally could not get it to be normal without it but. oh my god ohghmygpod. are you seeing this. peut-être que mozart n'est pas un magicien but i genuinely think the lighting designer might be

and the dress. is a disco ball thing.

do i need to explain the stroke of lighting genius this is. she is not merely being lit she is emitting light she is a part of the lighting this was probably hell to get right but ohhhhmy god they pulled it off also i love the way mozart is lit in this entire song so much

the moving lights in this one also make me absolutely insane here are some stills of them as well as the transitions in and out of that bit in between the second and last choruses

this is one of my favorite songs lighting-wise in the whole show it's so ephemeral and dreamy and clearly gives off exactly the vibe it wants to it's visually stunning and emotionally effective no notes whatsoever and of course the transition out of it is perfect as well

six pieds sur terre: (sorry ah vous dirais-je maman but it's really just that one light on constanze) i'm equally insane about the lighting on this one it's not even that pivotal of a song it didn't have to go that hard but. somehow it did

i love the transition into it so much

but the lighting in the bridge is. oh my god it's. these are just the transitions in and out of it since they're the most like. dynamic parts but i would put in the entire bridge if i could

et enfin. at the end of the song there's this effect that i genuinely cannot get over i think it's floor lights but there's something about the color and placement of constanze and aloysia and their dresses that makes it look like they're lit from within? it's so magical i love it so much

j'accuse mon père: i am soooooo so normal about this lighting. so normal about this song in general. you have never met a person more normal about j'accuse mon père than i

this gif is weirdly low quality for some reason but look at this. the flames. mozart, isolated, in that harsh red again, his father in white, everyone else in blue.

these ones with mozart in the foreground are. they're so. images of all time oh my god you could put them in a museum. (obviously most of the credit there goes to the people with cameras but the lighting adds that stark juxtaposition that i think really gives the effect it's. effect)

i realize now that i'm probably going to be saying "this is one of the best lit songs in the show" for like half of these songs. but this really is right up there with bim bam boum in that it powerful, eye-catching lighting that adds so much weight to its emotional effects. here, the lighting colors in the scene, not over it.

ok i have hit the image limit so the rest is coming in more parts. told you i had too much to say about this

pt 2:

[disco-elysium-via-polls]

🎵 Disco Elysium, pt. 1

"Thanks. That gives me hope."

KIM KITSURAGI - "Good," he says with a quick smile.

+1 Reputation

3. Turn back to the document.

BADGE: LTN-2JFR DU BOIS - Such a small yet precious thing. Expensive paper caught between thick plastic like a fly in amber. It reads:

4. "Serial: REV12-62-05-JAM41..."

KIM KITSURAGI - "That's just the serial number. Revachol, Jamrock, Precinct 41, with some numbers thrown in there for good measure."

LOGIC [Medium: Success] - The numbers are not there for 'good measure'. They have an administrative purpose. One that's unfortunately been erased from your memory.

5. "Date of issue: 7th of November, '50..."

KIM KITSURAGI - "Four months ago -- I'm guessing that's when you were promoted to the rank of lieutenant double-yefreitor."

"A new badge usually comes with a new rank. You seem to have been… doing well then."

LOGIC [Medium: Success] - You're pretty sure you weren't doing *well* -- but better? Probably yes.

INLAND EMPIRE [Medium: Success] - A lot can happen in four months. Especially in winter. The winters are never easy on you, of that you are sure.

HORRIFIC NECKTIE - I remember that time... the tie around your neck feels tight suddenly. That was a good time. We had a good work/drink balance going. What happened, man? Pump it up.

6. "Precinct: 41?"

KIM KITSURAGI - "Yes. It's the designation of your Precinct. Forty-one. Like mine says Fifty-seven. The 57th is mostly Industrial Harbour. A lot of asphalt. The 41st is..." He stops.

"What?"

KIM KITSURAGI - "It's a *tough* station to work in. You have all of Jamrock to cover -- that district should have *three* precincts, but money is what it is."

ESPRIT DE CORPS [Easy: Success] - It's no wonder you are like you are, he thinks. But then again...

KIM KITSURAGI - "But then again..." A faint smile. "It's a legendary district. And a hell of a station too. It must be an honour and a curse to work with people like Pryce, McCoy, Berdyayeva..."

AUTHORITY [Easy: Success] - And you? Is it an honour to work with you? Don't ask him, ask yourself.

BADGE: LTN-2JFR DU BOIS - The badge in your hands shines as you rotate it, catching light. You see lines of information on it. And a shining watermark.

7. Put the badge away. [Leave.]

We still have plenty of the coast to explore.

Footprints in the snow. They lead away from the accident.

Level up!

That's Jamais Vu coming in there with the additional XP per orb.

There's a boat tucked away underneath the tarpaulin cover.

Through the broken glass: dusty shelves and a forgotten chair.

We can go inside this shack.

A cold breeze is enough to make the wall planks creak.

You see a dark red chair in the dim light of the room.

On these shelves are a bow tie and a postcard.

BOW KNOT

+2 Drama: Theatre kid

You're sure that wearing this is a statement. You're not sure *what* kind of statement, though.

More useful than the +1 Inland Empire we have now. Sorry, Horrific Necktie.

POSTCARD "COAL CITY '08"

This postcard depicts a forest of smokestacks releasing fat plumes of smoke into blue, cloudless sky. The tinge of age – the colour of old teeth – gives it a sickly look. Written on the back is a single sentence, repeated twice: I got out. I got out. No addressee.

INLAND EMPIRE - It's only a red chair. Just a red chair in an empty shack -- with what looked like a dusty bow tie on the shelf. Nothing to see here, right?

"Hey Kim, where are we?"

Sounds like we need to investigate it, then.

[Discard thought.]

KIM KITSURAGI - "In someone's abandoned shack. On the coast. In Martinaise..." He looks at you. "In Revachol."

RHETORIC [Easy: Success] - He's afraid you've forgotten suddenly.

"What's with the red chair?"

"What's with the red bow tie?" (Show it to him.)

"All right. Let's move." [Finish thought.]

KIM KITSURAGI - "Nothing. It's just a piece of furniture." He looks at the chair gathering dust.

INLAND EMPIRE [Easy: Success] - Red paint is peeling off it. Looks like blood, no?

KIM KITSURAGI - "It's just a piece of clothing you've picked up. You do that, officer -- you collect clothes sometimes."

EMPATHY [Easy: Success] - He sounds a little worried. It's an odd habit.

COMPOSURE [Medium: Success] - Don't be worried, lieutenant. Clothes are therapeutic.

HORRIFIC NECKTIE - You took *me* off for that shit? YOU FUCKING IDIOT! Put the horrific neck tie back on immediately -- or you will miss out on the FINAL SHOWDOWN. This is your last warning. Put me back on.

INLAND EMPIRE [Easy: Success] - Yes. Agreed. You should never take your neck tie off. Ever.

Hm.

3. "All right. Let's move." [Finish thought.]

Sounds of life in the north. A washboard scrubs filth from fabric.

Cinderblocks, charred. A makeshift firepit with magazines for lighting.

BENCH - The worn and beaten wooden planks of the bench do not look overly comforting.

KIM KITSURAGI - "Hmh..." The lieutenant looks down the street. "We can sit on benches after we've solved the murder. Let's go."

TUTORIAL AGENT - You can revisit the bench if you ever need to pass the time when Lieutenant Kitsuragi is gone.

You see dust covered linens. Dried tulips on a bed.

INTERISOLARY TROUSERS

+1 to Kingdom of Conscience: Moralist pants!

Tailored trousers in light brown, moderate in every aspect. They're absolutely unremarkable -- in other words, *perfect*.

The bushes are too thick and thorny to pass through.

White curtains have been drawn shut. No looking in.

A whetting stone, well worn and covered in rust.

Construction material. Whoever planned to build this house left in a hurry.

The street sign is illegible below the graffito.

WASHERWOMAN - The woman next to a bucket of clothes hums an odd melody. Her eyes are closed.

"Welcome to the fishing village." She opens her eyes. "Please lean in closer. I have cataracts."

"If you can't see, then how did you know I was here?"

Lean forward.

"Uh, what if I don't want to?"

"Later." [Leave.]

WASHERWOMAN - "I still have a golden ear. Come-come." She beckons you toward her.

2. Lean forward.

WASHERWOMAN - "Oh." A shadow passes over her face. "Welcome, police officer. We don't cause any trouble around here -- and we don't *want* any trouble either."

KIM KITSURAGI - "We're not here to cause any trouble, madam."

HORRIFIC NECKTIE - Trouble? Say the second thing, *bratan*! Shows you got style.

[dollarbin]

Dollar Bin #7:

Art Garfunkel's Watermark,

Special Melted Edition!

Good news, people. I traveled to Portland and hit one of their dollar bins last week, emerging victorious with 10 or so new-to-me titles for a grand total of $32, and all of them are candidates for future posts. Everyone's been clambering for my take on Art Garfunkel and Bob "whoops, I just shaved off my eyebrows" Geldof, right? Please?

We'll get to good old Artie Funk in a moment, I promise. I'm sure he has a huge international following who gather in silent support every time his entire limo gets arrested for way too much pot smoke, but all you Garfolks need to just take a chill pill for a minute because there's some bad news to follow my good news, the kind of bad news that will leave you crying in your beer. (Stop reading right now and go get some beer to cry in if it's not already in hand.)

Dear reader, I left those Portland Dollar Bin records in my rental car during my trip, figuring it was all good because, after all, I was in Portland. But when I visited my stack three days later, I found the following Gertrude-chugging-the-poisoned-wine level tragedy had occurred:

Take the rag away from your face friends; now's not the time for your tears. The record above is a $1 copy of a soundtrack by Luna's Dean Wareham for a Noah Baumbach movie I'd never even heard of beforehand called Mistress America starring Barbie's very own Greta Gerwig. Nice title, Noah! What's the sequel called, Senorita Canada?

I like Sideshow by the Seashore as much as the next guy and I still remember the bizarre but edgy decision to lay Street Hassle over the climax of The Squid and the Whale so I figured $1 was a very safe investment for the soundtrack. But reading just now that the Financial Times finds that a "neo-screwball" sequence in the movie "exemplifies the film's themes of love, art, and betrayal" makes me want to melt Baumbach's entire face, so I'm no longer too broken up about the record's destruction.

Having just read that previous paragraph, my famous brother, who's surely interviewed Dean, is no longer crying in his locally sourced organic sour beer; rather he is silently cursing my woeful ignorance while hitting speed dial for Greta at the Barbie Dreamcastle so as to swiftly disassociate himself from The Dollar Bin forever. Sorry bro!

But let's move now to the real tragedy in this saga. Do you know how many vinyl copies of Fairport Convention's Live at the L.A. Troubadour are currently for sale on the internet? (We are not talking about House Full here, people, we are talking about the original release.)

Two copies. Two. Total.

That's right, while there are surely 6.4 million copies of Catch Bull at Four out there to be had, there are just two copies of Live at the L.A. Troubadour available in the whole wide universe. But last weekend I found a third one in Portland, one that no one has played or even looked at in its 50 years of Dollar Bin dwelling. That third copy was good as new and it cost $12. $12! That'll buy you half a Michelada at a Dodgers game; so finding that record and getting it at that price was as lucky as picking Mike Piazza in the 498th round.

And what did I do with this coveted find? You already know.

I melted it.

Bury the rag DEEP in your face, because I basically melted Mike Piazza. What kind of shlub am I? Next time you invite me over for drinks, don't pour me the good stuff because I'll just spill it all over your birth certificates, your Picassos and your tiny children's handwritten thank you letters, complete with heart drawings, for grandma. Rather, serve me a cheap domestic and give me a bib.

This is only my second experience with music melting. How many have you had? 25 years ago I left a CD copy of Mule Variations in my Ford Tempo and returned after a full day of work to find that the whole thing had turned into a flame broiled platter of creeping destruction. What the hell was I building, you ask? Melted Music, I respond. I was bummed back then. But that was nothing in comparison to last weekend's woe.

But I promised you good news, and more good news is coming! Firstly, my famous friend Greg's frig, located outside of Portland, was full of Miller High Life, The Champagne of Beers. So I had some.

Secondly, I soon discovered that the lower down I went in the record stack from the car the less melting had occurred.

And guess what was located far enough down to still be playable without any audible disruption? Live at the Troubadour! Sure, watching it go around on my turntable is like watching my cat try to shake off her fleas but I plan to never sell a single title in my Dollar Bin and I know that when my children inherit my dumpster of a collection they will cherish it forever and probably never even notice that my Troubadour record looks as sloppy as my t-shirt collection. So what the hell do I care?

Okay, at this point the Art Garpeople who joined this blog just to hear my thoughts on Watermark, Godfunkle's 1977 third outing as a solo artist who neither wrote songs nor played an instrument, are demanding my immediate destruction. I guess I'd better talk about the record.

So let's drop the needle already!

Uh-oh. Either Watermark is a big deal, unlistenable concept record (like Pink Floyd's The Wall) about bobbing about on the deep seas of regret, troubled water all about and nary a bridge to be seen, wherein Artie shakes his famous high tenor and the whole band way down to deepest bass every fourth syllable OR my copy of Watermark was higher in the stack of Portland heated mutilation and is now warped to the point where Gargie's version of a What a Wonderful World unintentionally sounds like What a Woooooooonderfil World.

(Yes, I mean what I said just now about The Wall. Bob Geldoff shaving his brows in the film is the best thing to say about the whole thing; Roger Waters, post Animals, makes Stephen Stills sound like a reputable songwriter.)

But relax, all you Artie G fanatics. I will ease your mi-i-ind. I'm not going to judge Watermark based on my very wavy copy. So cool your jets, adjust your giant perms and trust me. I promise to buy a second, unwarped $1 copy of Watermark and write all about it, asap.

Before we go, I must sorrowfully report one final tragic occurrence from this whole sordid episode. While hunting the Dollar Bin in Portland I had my eye out for Stephen Stills records. The fact is that at some point I need to place my entire, rapidly blossoming reputation as a Dollar Bin influencer on the line by actually listening to entire Stephen Stills records. If they are good, I'm finished. So, sadly, I've got to go out and buy some.

But the Portland store I visited, ridiculously, had marked its more than a dozen copies of Stills 2 at $2 each. Memo to the store: no one wants Stills records at $2 a pop. Ever.

The tragedy here is that I did not find any of our favorite villain's records cheap enough to buy, so I did not proceed to place them on the top of the stack in my rental car, thereby melting them out of existence. Thus the world is still saddled with copies of Stills 2.

Next time I melt music I promise to do so more thoughtfully.

(P.S. If you are still reading this, please know that my school year just started and so my pace of posting here will surely slow. My goal is to write once a week and I really do appreciate you letting me ramble. Hunting in The Dollar Bin requires your patience!)

[theotherdeerinhell]

Right, well, I guess I need to introduce myself, huh?

Hello! My name is Rabo! (He/him) You may have heard me from my Voxcast "Today in Hell," where I cover the consequences of the Hazbin Hotel and the actions of Princess Morningstar and her ragtag group of sinners, and how these consequences effect the average sinner. (It's a wild ride - you can find it exclusively on Voxify. Which...I heard it's unavailable in certain regions, and in that case, perhaps I can work on making at least the transcripts accessible at some point?)

For as far as I'm aware of, I am one of only two deer sinners in Hell, with the other being my adoptive dad: the one and only Alastor. Without him, I wouldn't have been able to transition, and I wouldn't have the skillset required to run a podcast. He is a great mentor and caretaker.

Please note that just because I'm Alastor's kid, it does not mean any Alastor on this website would know who I am, and may deny that they have ever adopted anyone. This is not because I'm lying about my family, but it's because Tumblr is a place where multiple continuities co-exist and may sometimes communicate. So assume that any Alastor blog you see is from a different continuity where we either never met, or I simply don't exist. I would be surprised if my dad is on the internet. He hates modern technology! So, you know, unless I explicitly mention them, don't ask Alastors about me - lol

Oh yeah- I'm also an activist. I have participated in riots, bullied people who picked on minorities until they mentally broke, and hunted down police officers to kill them. I'm trying to move past my violent side, though. I don't have dreams of going to Heaven or anything like that, I just think having a little more peaceful activism in my life could help spread my cause further than pure violence. You know? Most people are not going to qualify to ascend, including the ones who want to improve themselves. But we can at least work to make Hell a better place for all.

Anyways, sorry for that wall of text. There was a LOT to go through! My asks are open, so feel free to ask any questions you may have.

(Out of Character note: If any Alastor would like to claim Rabo as his son, feel free to shoot a DM to this blog, or my main one which is the same name as seen on the portrait's signature/watermark. We can arrange some cool things and discuss how things could play out.)

[alexalbonbon]

the whole people from twitter stealing from tumblr has been happenning a hell lot especially recently and i totally understand people being mad about it i would too. what i find insane is that these same people stealing from tumblr are the first outraged when people from tumblr steal their pics/videos/captions... i'm very sorry that this happened to you!

Thank you for stopping by nonnie!

There's always been a problem like this between tumblr and twitter for as long as twitter has allowed gifs to be posted. But right now, it's definitely the worst it's ever been. The people I called out in my post are also just the tip of the iceberg, the people I see on my timeline while there are many more doing the same thing. It's not even personal, either.

I also don't want to be calling out people, either here or on twitter. We all have better things to do. But it's also just important to credit people when you use their work, no matter what you use it for.

The two Leclerc gifsets I posted earlier today have taken out all my creative juices for at least the next month, but once I do get back into it, I'm considering watermarking them. Which I hate doing because it doesn't make gifs any nicer to look at.

I've put a "do not repost my gifs on twitter" line in my bio now, which clearly none of them read, but at least I can just post the same screenshot and send it to them.

Ngl, if I had any kind of sway within the community, I'd suggest a full gif creator blackout for the entire Austrian Grand Prix weekend. No gifs from Thursday to Sunday, nothing. But that wouldn't be fair to the people on tumblr who know how to use the reblog button.

[cress-meadowforge]

PLAYLIST | SLATE & CRESS (♥️)

A playlist for the heiress and the orphan -- the darling and the rebel, both too ambitious for their own good. For sparring on and off the mat, sharing cigarettes on the roof, playing dangerous games to spread terrible truths. For the things that cannot be said and the actions that cannot be undone. Music that asks can love overcome adversity? Can it cross a country, cultures, class divides? Can it survive a war?

@slate-skylar & @cress-meadowforge

Sorry by Nothing But Thieves

Maybe I'm defective Or maybe I'm dumb I'm sorry, so sorry for what I've done Maybe I'm bad natured Or maybe I'm young

We Go Down Together by Dove Cameron & Khalid

If you go down, then we go down together If you hold on, I might just stay forever If you get hurt, I'll try to make it better

The News by Paramore

Every second, our collective heart breaks All together, every single head shakes Shut your eyes, but it won't go away

Witchcraft by Vian Izak

Those fingers in my hair That sly come-hither stare That strips my conscience bare It's witchcraft

Little Hell by City and Colour

What if I can't be all that you need me to be? We've got a good thing going, we have some promises to keep.

The Ways by Khalid and Swae Lee

Pick me up when I fall down and out Dust me off and show me all truth Show me that I'll never fly alone I fucked up so many times, but I still have you

Lovers by Anna of the North

Now I'm in the dark Show a little loving Shine a little light on me

Plastic 100°C by Sampha

The more you speak, the more I see The more your lights grows upon me And the more it grows, the closer I think you are, the closer I think you are To seeing me whole

Fuel to Fire by Agnes Obel

Into the town we go Into your hideaway Where the towers grow Gone to be faraway

Liar by Paramore

Wading through the fog and then it disappeared Naked when I'm here And why should I deny what's all at once so crystal clear?

if you got a problem by Joy Oladokun

Everybody needs somethin' to believe If you want you can always put your faith in me

Poison by Joy Oladokun

So do, do you love me? 'Cause I don't wanna hear it It will only make things worse You are so lovely Like a dagger dripped in jewelry The closer you get to my heart, the more it hurts

Call Me Lover by Sam Fender

We will break under circumstance in the heat of it all Can you take all the pressure that is left behind?

Francesca by Hozier

Do you think I'd give up That this might've shook the love from me Or that I was on the brink? How could you think, darling, I'd scare so easily?

Dancing After Death by Matt Maeson

Do I know better than this? You're a word that I can't forget Though the thought rattles my brain Will you fold, or will you remain?

If We Were Vampires by Noah Kahan and Wesley Schultz

It's not your hands searching slow in the dark Or your nails leaving love's watermark It's not the way you talk me off the roof Your questions like directions to the truth

[hueningkai]

soobin according to tumblr tags

bonus:

[5eokjin]

Jin × Outro: Propose (141207)

he was so happy because they were performing the song he helped write 🥺

[feliciteacup]

ok i normally hate posting my art on here but i did these a few days ago and i think they’re actually decent enough to post here so here they are

[palettes are from drawception]