yue-yu

[yue-yu]

do you think we’re going to forget what happened in amphoreus? I don’t have anything to back this up, I just think it would hit really hard if we went through this insane adventure, and at the end once we leave amphoreus, the garden of recollection decides to protect their property, and steal our memories. The only thing they pass over is Mem and our story book (do you think that’s why we have to write in that thing?)

Dan heng knows there’s a gap in his memories. he spends days searching the archives for records. He gets scared when he realizes that there’s nothing. He talks to Stelle. Stelle does not remember Mem, or her storybook. Welt, himeko, and Sunday know of amphoreus. They know they stopped there, they have no idea what happened. March only remembers falling asleep. Black swan smiles and shrugs when he asks, and tells him that the memories they took are none her buisness, or some cryptic shit.

memories are gone. Everyone is scared. and Herta is chuckling in her room, watching them from ten fucking cameras she installed remotely.

[yue-yu]

Here is the second installment of the "I yap about anything and everything" series with a completely different fandom!

Here's my current thoughts on the Amphoreus quest thus far (version 3.3). It's been a hot second since I've played the earlier stories in the world, so I might not talk about them as much.

I've gone into a bit of detail regarding the themes of determinism/destiny/prophecy (whatever you want to call it) that are present and a bit about certain characters and their relationship to fate. Feel free to ask further questions about my thoughts too, I'd love to ramble a bit more :D

(spoiler warning in case anyone needs one!)

To get my opinions out of the way first, I'll say that I actually quite like the Amphoreus quest. I think I still like Penacony more, but it runs a close second! I really like the separate gods/Titans system that they have, even if it was a bit confusing at first.

Fate and Determinism

The entirety of the Amphoreus quest revolves around prophecy and fate. If I'm not mistaken, the Chrysos Heirs as a whole are formed because of fate and a prophecy? I can't remember though, so take that with a grain of salt.

There's also the constant cycle of rebirth that they have to go through- the holders of each coreflame are fated to die and reincarnate in cycles, and there's not much that they can do about it other than continue the cycle.

Similarly, all of the Chrysos Heirs have personal prophecies that are always fulfilled. For example, Agalea's prophecy is that she "would have her final bath in warm and radiant gold," which is carried out after Aquila is defeated and her vessel (?) is thrown into the golden lava (?) below. Interestingly, there are characters who attempt to circumvent it in order to try to exercise free will to prolong their fate, which brings me to the next point!

Characters

Cipher, as far as I remember, is the main character who tries to circumvent fate. Her prophecy is that she'd "walk with greed, and die over petty change." She doesn't keep the treasures that she finds for herself, instead trying to sell and disperse what she gets to help others who are not well off, like she was earlier in her life. At some point, I think she said something about working hard to get out of that situation herself? I think in my head, it connected to fate and free will about changing your life, but it's a bit of a weak connection so I'll kind of just leave it there for now...

Phainon also said something interesting about fate and life circumstance. These quotes I actually screenshotted, so I'm able to directly quote from the game! When we're in the Grove and reading, Phainon says, "That's the perk of growing up in a big city, isn't it? For those of us in the sticks? Luck doesn't come as easily. It's thirty percent grind, seventy percent fate..." In that same dialogue, he says "...Oops, talked too much. As a leader, you need both integrity and weal- I mean integrity and skill." And.. AHSHD it kind of helps me to understand his character a bit more?

As an aside, this dialogue also carries the same theme of fatalistic ideology expressed in the Amphoreus quest. To me, it's kind of like saying that "You can work hard for something, but most of it comes down to whether the universe puts down the right cards for you," which seems inherently deterministic, especially with the follow-up dialogue of needing wealth to be a leader. Idrk, I feel like I'm rambling about nothing rn lol

(And as another aside, it seems almost-kind-of-maybe adjacent to Sunday's ideology of people being born weak and fated to be that way, but I'm not talking about Penacony here so.. I'll just leave that there 💀)

I'm not sure that there were other characters who stood out in terms of fate, but it's been a while since I've visited their storylines so I can't really say much about them (feel free to correct/add things if you want!). I do have more general thoughts about the other characters (namely Anaxa and Agalea, but I do have thoughts about the others too) but I'll just leave them for another post since this one's already a bit long.

[yue-yu]

Idrk what exactly to post, so I think I'm just going to talk (prattle on) about random things from different pieces of media.. I don't really have a fandom I'm too focused on right now either, so everything will seem very discombobulated! But that's okay

Anyway, I think I'm going to start with Slay the Princess. This won't be too in-depth, but it's just something to record my general thoughts about it and potentially leave room to expand on later- sorry if this turns a bit rambly 😭

(potential spoiler warning here? if anyone needs it)

I should start by saying that I very much love STP- the art, writing, music, voice acting, characterization, and just the game in general are amazing!

I think my favorite routes are the Prisoner, Spectre, and Stranger? There are certainly other routes that I'm forgetting that are probably on the same level for me but. That's likely just a whole post on its own with how much each ending has lol

There are also a lot of things I like about each voice in all of the routes, but I think I quite like Skeptic and Cold? Contrarian too because I think they're kind of funny sometimes 😭 I have fairly detailed thoughts about the voices too, but again those can just make posts on their own.

The general concept of the game is very well thought out and is executed really well!

[yue-yu]

I keep finding seventeen content that makes me want to cry, especially because they're in their 10th anniversary rn..

So here's a fairly long, ranting post (which may or may not make sense) that talks about some of the things about svt that have made me a bit emotional and/or appreciative/reflective lately (edit: this got mixed with a lot more of my personal experiences than I was intending, oops)

1. Seungkwan.

Now you may be reading this rn and going "???.. why is Seungkwan just on the list of things that have made you emotional lately?" and to that I say- probably because I kind of see myself in him? Just a bit? But seeing Seungkwan's struggles (especially recently) are almost like looking into a mirror for me.

I was doing my usual scrolling routine on TikTok and then this video of Seungkwan and Minghao talking on In The Soop S2 popped up, and their conversation just kind of.. clicked with me? So I kind of fell down a hole of listening to Seungkwan's conversations and interviews with people and I took quotes that seemed so reflective of my mindset, it's honestly quite scary.

The way he was on an interview and talked about himself, but interrupted with "Sorry I'm talking about myself so much," and saying "I feel really embarrassed when others view me as a good person." Or when he said something along the lines of "I don't care what others think of me, I care how I make them feel." Or even him, after the Happy Burstday listening party, going to Woozi and essentially going, "But my song was good, right?"

There's so much of him that hinges on the opinions and feelings of others, and the way he shows it is so similar to myself that I can't help but feel emotional when it's shown to me. The fear of being "too much" or being someone who makes others uncomfortable or feel badly around me is constantly present and always around me.

To these parts of us that are so easily swayed by others, Minghao responds with "We as people are fundamentally good-mannered and courteous, so if we just act to our standards, we cannot do anything others can hate."

2. The Finite Amount of Time We Have Together

The members keep saying that as time slips by, it becomes more apparent that the time they have together is growing shorter too. The idea that "there's only so much time we have left" is very apparent through their interviews, MVs, and music.

I believe Hoshi said something like this on Suga's show, along with the recent episode of "Chattering with Na PD" where S. Coups talks of this idea, saying that they'll try to hold on to the ideas of "eternity" and "forever" for as long as they can. Or even in the "Cheers to Youth" MV, with Jeonghan's fear being that "forever is a lie." Or even the entire premise of Ima and the idea of cherishing the moment.

This looming and ever-present feeling: Even if what we have isn't forever, we need to cherish what we have now.

3. SVT's general relationship with each other

I realize that this is absolutely not the first post that anyone's ever made appreciating SVT's relationship and bond, but I'm posting about it anyway.

As silly as it may seem, SVT (and kpop groups in general) helped me a lot with seeing what I wanted a friendship or relationship to look like and find what kind of person I wanted to be for people. To be honest, I've struggled with being there for people and being present in ways that matter to them. I was always getting scolded by my mother for seeming selfish and emotionally distant to the point of being unempathetic. It wasn't that I didn't have empathy or social inclination, it was that I didn't know how to show it well enough. (and it's still something I struggle with today, but these days it's not because I don't care, it's because I care too much.)

But getting back on topic, each of SVT's members has a quality that I want to embody and reflect in my daily life, especially in the way I conduct myself with others. While all the members have their spaces in their relationship, Jeonghan in particular stands out to me here- "I want to become like a tree to the members; someone who's stable and always there for anything they need," or "I feel that I don't do anything special for the team, so I decide to listen to them and their problems." My goal, in any relationship or social setting, is to make sure that the other people are comfortable and at ease however that manifests for them.

Seventeen as a group is a group of people who are seemingly comfortable with each other and are not afraid to push each other to move forward, all while keeping the integrity of the individual and group as a whole.

Sorry for the really long and rambly post, but I'm so grateful to them. This is also a really abrupt ending, but oh well I guess? I probably have other thoughts too, but this is it for now.

[yue-yu]

me when i don't know what to put on this blog..

[yue-yu]

intro!

name: theo (if you see my name constantly changing, no you don't...)

sp/sx 5w6 (592)|phlegmatic-melancholic|FLEV

pronouns: he/they

languages: ENG/CHN (中文)/ KOR (한국어)

Interests!

kpop

alnst

hsr

danganronpa

etc!

(although what I post will definitely not be neatly one fandom or the other ngl)

I might just go on random tangents! Feel free to ask about anything and I'll give an opinion/thought about it if I know of it (*＾▽＾*)