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connoisseursdecomfort · 1 year

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Information, Understanding and Empathy: A Character Study on Franky, Yuri and Nightfall (Part 1 maybe)

It’s me overthinking again~

It is probably safe to say that these three are the most obsessive characters in the sxf universe. They are all obsessive with the notion of love in very different ways. Yuri wants to be the most important one in Yor’s life. Nightfall wants to marry Twilight. And Franky wants to get laid find a partner.

In a sense they all “know” a lot about their “targets”. Yuri is Yor’s brother. They grow up together. Nightfall is trained by Twilight and probably knows best about his spy self. Franky is a stalker digs out every single piece of information he could find about his love interest(s). And they are certainly good at digging out information - Franky is an informant, Yuri is a secret police and Nightfall is a spy. This is what they do. But somehow they seemingly fail to connect to the ones they love. Having the information itself doesn’t automatically translate to having an understanding of it. Knowing someone doesn’t mean that you connect with them.

In many ways, Franky is like Nightfall - while Nightfall is obsessed with one (1) person, Franky is obsessed with many. They both went to great lengths, trying to get as much info as possible, and they did end up knowing a lot about their taget(s). I feel like this has been stated a lot only about Nightfall, but it also applies to Franky - even if they know that many facts about their target(s), they just don’t seem to connect. Nightfall knows how Twilight operates. She knows the aliases and fake identities he used. She knows (well, knew) his preferences for coffee. And somehow she still can’t really understand him.

Franky, on the other hand, never even gets to really talk to the girl(s) he likes.

The most obvious reason, which happens to be the biggest theme of the story, is that people have a hidden side that they won’t show to other people, even to the ones closest to them.

Whereever there is information there is misinformation. Where there are interpretations there are misinterpretations.

Nightfall is in love with the facade of Twilight - she thinks she knows him well, but the fact is Twilight is so entangled in his own lies he is actually still gradually rediscovering himself.

More importantly, they already have had something in mind before even confirming if the info they have in hand is true. As opposed to Twilight’s approach to dealing with his targets:

Their preconceptions, or expectations, have prevented them from getting a more accurate read on both the persons and the info. At the end, Nightfall, so eager to please Twilight and make him see that she is a better fit as his wife, couldn’t even tell that he’s annoyed at some of her decisions. Franky is so in love with the idea of love itself, his hope that someone will date him overweighs his actual need of connecting with someone. Or maybe this is just his internal conflict in which he refrains from building real connections due to his job but couldn’t resist his urge to just be with someone. It does seem that it doesn’t matter who he is with, and he doesn’t have problems moving on to another one.

And that is weirdly telling about their jobs. Gathering intelligence does give nations and countries a sense of security. But that really doesn’t mean relations can be established out of that. Imagine if the girls Franky is after know about the things he has on them. Sometimes it’s not even about diplomacy. And sometimes it is this false sense of security that makes the heads of states think that a real connection between the countries doesn’t matter as much.

But it still takes more than the information they have to understand and connect with others. And this is where Yuri comes in. Yuri’s situation is very different from Nightfall and Franky, because A. it’s not romantic; and B. it’s not one-sided. Yuri, unlike Nightfall and Franky, was the only one who truly understood and connected with Yor. When the story started, Yuri has moved out as he’s got a job, but he is still mentally stuck in the past. On the other hand, Yor understands it’s time to move on. This is where the disconnection starts.

While the main focus of Spy x Family has always been on a fake family, and how it gradually becomes more real over time, to contrast with the Forgers, there are also these real but dysfunctional families. I’m not talking about the Desmonds who are detached from each other. I’m talking about the Briars here.

The Briars is the polar opposite of the Desmonds. Yor and Yuri love each other, despite all the secrets they keep from each other. However, as Yor moves further away from being a Briar and becomes more and more a Forger, we see Yuri holding onto his previous understanding of Yor.

And that is the trickiest part about family and friends isn’t it? No matter how much you love someone, and how much you understand them, it requires a lot of effort to renew the connection or understanding constantly.

(manga spoiler ahead)

Chapter 68 is really Yuri desperately holding onto the last bit of the Yor he once was so familiar with, and miserably fails. He wants to make food that she used to like, and tries to be the help she used to need, but Yor has moved on. It’s not that Yor is a totally different person now. She still likes apple-flavoured whistle candies, and she still loves her baby brother. It’s just that this is an upgraded Yor and Yuri needs to update the whole system in order to be compatible. Because even real family members who love each other very much don’t get automatically compatible. It takes effort to connect with others.

And that’s why I feel that Ep 24/ Chapter 35 is that important. Twilight was making his observations - basically collecting info and making plans - but if it’s one-sided, Endo wouldn’t make it work. It’s not like Twilight doesn’t know where Yor’s insecurities lie. It’s not that his observations are totally untrue. All the information he has on her doesn’t work unless he speaks to her. In order to truly communicate with Yor, he has to offer a piece of his true self and resonate with her. It is a precious moment because both make themselves vulnerable in order to communicate.

It's interesting because when you look at Yuri and Nightfall, they are relying on the false sense of security they get from their previous observations on Twilight and Yor. They try so hard to puff up to show that they are stronger and better, when this is not what Twilight and Yor even need.

(Might write a part 2 because I still believe that Endo gave Twilight, Yor and Anya different strengths, and you will have to combine their strengths in order to gain real understanding. But that’s it for now. Bye.)

#spy x family #Fiona Frost #agent nightfall #franky franklin #yuri briar #twiyor #agent twilight #loid forger #Yor Forger #anya forger #thank you for coming to my TED talk

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fuckmeyer · 1 month

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Ok that was amazing!!! I would love more behind the scenes details on CN now 😭 still on my phone so apologies if this is too long

“Answer the question, Isabella,” said Edward. “When did you last feel you were alive?”

With you, I thought immediately. Which led me to a grimmer answer.

“When I jumped off the cliff.”

What if I really had drowned?

“I heard about that,” he said quietly. “Rose told me. She said you were trying to kill—”

“Well, I wasn’t.”

“Well, you did,” he said. “God, if we weren’t already dead, I imagine I would be furious at you for doing something so stupid.”

“We aren’t already dead.”

“True,” he said. “There is a possibility I am somehow still alive, and my hallucination of you is simply filling in the gaps based on the information I’ve received.”

“You’re alive, I’m alive, and I’m right here.”

I lunged towards him again.

He dodged me, again.

Then he laughed at me. Again.

I wheeled around and snapped, “It’s not funny.”

“Isabella Swan, who lives thousands of miles away in one of the remotest parts of the country, who has never been farther east than Boston, is sitting next to me in a dungeon in Italy as I wait for the Volturi? Yes, in fact, I find it quite hilarious.” Except his laugh hadn’t sounded amused. Actually, he sounded bitter—and thirsty. “I cannot believe that as a figment of my own imagination you should need me to spell out how farfetched a scenario this is.”

“I cannot believe that as a real live person who’s sitting next to you in a dungeon in Italy, I have to convince you I’m really here. Newsflash: stranger things have happened.”

“Such as a vampire falling in love with a human?” he joked dryly. I groaned, rubbing my face in annoyance. “Don’t get me wrong, I understand your existence is predicated on my believing you’re real, thus you’ll do anything in your power to convince me. While I’ll readily admit to fantasizing about you being here, you’re kidding yourself if you think I’m insane enough to believe you’re actually here.”

Oh god. He was insane.

“As far as I’m concerned,” he continued, “we have two possible theories. Either I’m alive and you’re another hallucination—”

“You can hear my heartbeat,” I said, voice crackling. “You can smell my scent. If you wanted to, you could—” taste my blood “—t-touch me, and you’d know—”

“Ah, there it is.”

“What?”

“You want me to touch you,” he accused.

My cheeks had grown so hot, my head pounded. “That’s— I’m just saying, if you wanted to—”

“If I wanted to, what?” he snapped. “If I wanted to, I could taste your blood, is that it? Is that what you want?” I shook. When my lips parted, the bottom one trembled. The chill in his words ran through my veins. “What a convenient situation we find ourselves in. A starving vampire and his singer are trapped in a tiny box where no one can hear her cries for help, and she is throwing herself at me, begging me to touch her so she can—"

“Not throwing. Not begging. No. I-I’m not—I’m not saying you should drink me,” I said, nervousness making my voice uneven. “I’m saying if you wanted to go about this empirically, you would touch me. If I was a hallucination, you wouldn’t be able to.”

“Which provides us a perfect segway into theory number two,” Edward said without acknowledging my comment: “I’m in hell.”

“Hell!”

“All I’m asking is that you definitively prove I don’t exist. Which you can’t. Because I do. I’m trying to make you see that I’m real. That’s it.”

The low growl that punctuated our conversation made me shiver. Every molecule in my body tingled at the same frequency.

“And the second I buy into the idea that we’re finally together,” he said, “you’re going to die in my arms. I see your tricks.”

thank you, anon! :)

COME NIGHTFALL CHAPTER 27: VOLTERRA - DVD COMMENTARY

[i rewrote their meeting scene about a thousand times. i have a billion versions of that Verdict chapter where Edward is anywhere from a slobbering mess to a conniving little gremlin child. anyway, this is the earliest version of this scene, written March 2021:

In the darkness of the cell, I could see nothing except Edward’s marble-black eyes. His growl stole through the air around me. He circled me; the air sifted around me, choking me with dirt and blood and wet rat smell.

I came all the way here to die at the hands of my mate. I survived Victoria and Laurent and Jasper to die at the hands of my mate. I went all that way and went through all that effort to die by the hands of the person I thought I loved. My “mate”. Fuck this guy.

I swallowed, breathing ragged. “Kill me, coward. Do it.”

The growling ceased.

“Edward.”

In the corner, he snarled and snapped his jaws; I flinched, still blind in the dark.

“You’re not real.”

“You can’t smell me?”

Edward erupted into a grin of gleaming black teeth. I inhaled. “Nice try.” Clothing rustled, and a tiny thwip of paper hitting the ground.

My fingers fumbled around the sharp, folded edges of thick paper. My thumb traced the shape several times over. “A crane.” But that paper… Despite the musty stink of the cell, I smelled charcoal, acrylic, dried b—

Dried blood.

My dried blood.

The drawing I had given him. He had folded it. Into a crane.

“My crane.”

Edward’s slight cackle wheezed through his crackling chest; I flinched at the sound. “Can you believe I haven’t killed you yet?”

“Are you going to?”

“No,” he said without hesitation. Then added, “I am going to die here.”

My heart sunk. “You can’t die here.”

“Sure I can.”

“No you can’t.”

“I’ve lived long enough. I met you. I can die.”

“What?” Panic rose in my chest. “You can’t die, Edward.” I couldn’t die. Not until I saw him again. Since this wasn’t technically seeing him, I figured I could get out of this encounter alive with a loophole. “You—promised you’d come back.”

“I did.” Beat. “You’ll have to forgive me for breaking so many of them.”

“I won’t. Not if you die I won’t.” The deeper I fell into this world, it seemed, the tougher choices I had to make. Every step of the way felt like a failure, even if it wasn’t. “You made tough choices.”

“You certainly don’t sound like my subconscious. Maybe I really am dying.”]

[ok i guess we should actually start this scene]

“Answer the question, Isabella,” said Edward. “When did you last feel you were alive?”

With you, I thought immediately. Which led me to a grimmer answer.

“When I jumped off the cliff.” [girl you should have lied what the fuck]

What if I really had drowned?

“I heard about that,” he said quietly. [i vaguely sketched out Alice's POV from when Bells jumps off a cliff. dated December 2022: "Rosalie calls Edward and tells him Irina is on her way to the Volturi. She feels that Edward needs to take responsibility for Isabella because Irina going to the Volturi means that everyone’s on the chopping block. She advises Edward to stop Irina before she gets to Italy.

How would Rosalie call Edward? You have to assume I suppose that Edward flew from Brazil to Miami only for Rosalie to call the airport and request that a Mr. Edward Masen pick up the phone.

Why doesn't Edward corroborate? Why the fuck would he? This gives him perfect plausible deniability to go off and kill himself with reason so he's never tempted to come home to Isabella again."] “Rose told me. She said you were trying to kill—”

“Well, I wasn’t.”

“Well, you did,” he said. “God, if we weren’t already dead, I imagine I would be furious at you for doing something so stupid.” [this later becomes inspiration for Chapter 5: Alliance of By Starlight.]

“We aren’t already dead.”

“True,” he said. “There is a possibility I am somehow still alive, and my hallucination of you is simply filling in the gaps based on the information I’ve received.”

“You’re alive, I’m alive, and I’m right here.”

I lunged towards him again.

He dodged me, again.

Then he laughed at me. Again.

I wheeled around and snapped, “It’s not funny.”

“Isabella Swan, who lives thousands of miles away in one of the remotest parts of the country, who has never been farther east than Boston [visited, never lived there], is sitting next to me in a dungeon in Italy as I wait for the Volturi? Yes, in fact, I find it quite hilarious.” Except his laugh hadn’t sounded amused. Actually, he sounded bitter—and thirsty. “I cannot believe that as a figment of my own imagination you should need me to spell out how farfetched a scenario this is.”

“I cannot believe that as a real live person who’s sitting next to you in a dungeon in Italy, I have to convince you I’m really here. Newsflash: stranger things have happened.”

Oh god. He was insane.

“As far as I’m concerned,” he continued, “we have two possible theories. Either I’m alive and you’re another hallucination—”

“You can hear my heartbeat,” I said, voice crackling. [bro the amount of times Edward has hallucinated or pretended a human's heartbeat is Isabella's is INCALCULABLE. she has no idea how terrible an argument this is. it's like The Tell-Tale Heart up in this bitch] “You can smell my scent. If you wanted to, you could—” taste my blood [the desperation is palpable. she has wanted him to drink her blood since Chapter 14: Explanations of In The Afterlight when she first dreams about it lmao] “—t-touch me, and you’d know—”

“Ah, there it is.”

“What?”

“You want me to touch you,” he accused. [YES GIRL SAY YES]

My cheeks had grown so hot, my head pounded. “That’s— I’m just saying, if you wanted to—”

“If I wanted to, what?” he snapped. “If I wanted to, I could taste your blood, is that it? Is that what you want?” [YES] I shook. When my lips parted, the bottom one trembled. The chill in his words ran through my veins. “What a convenient situation we find ourselves in. A starving vampire and his singer are trapped in a tiny box where no one can hear her cries for help, and she is throwing herself at me, begging me to touch her so she can—"

“Not throwing. [girl you just threw yourself at him] Not begging. No. I-I’m not—I’m not saying you should drink me,” I said, nervousness making my voice uneven. “I’m saying if you wanted to go about this empirically, you would touch me. If I was a hallucination, you wouldn’t be able to.”

“Which provides us a perfect segway [WAIT this should be segue holy shit i did not mean the scooter!!!!! omg i'm editing this rn] into theory number two,” Edward said without acknowledging my comment: “I’m in hell.”

“Hell!” [i really wanted to make a Dante's Inferno/Biblical reference, but at this point i was rushing to get the last chapters out. i wanted it to be over; i was so disappointed at how CN had turned out. shoutout to my beta Soup for helping me get over the finish line!]

“Of course, you would want me to touch you.” The edge in his tone grew. “You want me to bite you, don’t you? You want me to taste your blood. You want me to drink every last drop from your beautiful veins until nothing is left because you are mine, mine—” [thus far, this is the closest Edward has ever come to admitting the truth to her: he has a very real desire to drink her blood. to ME this scene is so sexually charged...]

“All I’m asking is that you definitively prove I don’t exist. Which you can’t. Because I do. I’m trying to make you see that I’m real. That’s it.”

The low growl that punctuated our conversation made me shiver. Every molecule in my body tingled at the same frequency.

“And the second I buy into the idea that we’re finally together,” he said, “you’re going to die in my arms. I see your tricks.”

send me 500 words of my fanfic & i will give you the equivalent of a DVD commentary on that snippet

#thank you!#asks #come nightfall #come nightfall outtakes #fanfic DVD commentary

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