#i am about to ramble thus proving my point lmao:

[fefairys]

gotta wonder sometimes if new people are put off by my rambling lol because i am the bitch that leaves a small novel in discord dms when you are asleep

#but also just in general #i am about to ramble thus proving my point lmao: #im listening to homestuck made this world rn and like. this is something hussie does a lot is they will ramble about their own thing a lot #and sometimes it is seen as like. annoying. or self-aggrandizing #and sometimes it is definitely that. like sometimes they are just saying shit to absolve themselves of responsibility. #but other times i am very interested in what they have to say! #but then the commentators on the podcast will make fun of what they said and im like. oh we.. were not supposed to find that interesting? #were supposed to find that annoying and narcissistic? ok i guess. #and its just like. well fuck i think i do that. am i bad too? am i annoying and narcissistic too? #listening to this podcast also had made me realize that there are a lot of ways in which i have not changed since i was 16 #because i still get very sensitive about when people criticize homestuck for what i think are the wrong reasons #because of course i have endless criticisms of homestuck myself #but like cameron will be like 'i fucking hate this bunny i think its so stupid' and im just thinking ok die then. lmao #or like. cameron seems to not like that the story becomes very character-driven in act 5 #which is my favorite part of homestuck. i love character-driven stories and that is also what i write #and so it feels like hes also criticizing MY writing in that way because my writing is SO HEAVILY INFLUENCED by homestuck #idk! i wish more people read my stuff so i could have an accurate read on how it is perceived but oh well i guess! #personal #and here i go saying more after i thought i was finished because i feel the need to clarify even tho no one gives a shit #i KNOW that criticism of homestuck is not in turn criticsm of me or my writing. logically. but emotionally? it is just the way it feels. #thats another thing i do is over-explain and over-clarify because being misunderstood is so scary

[danthropologie]

See I told myself I won’t get involved in this but then again unlike daniel I am not nice person so 😌

Literally just witnessed a whole ass essay on how lando and pierre are going to get along swimmingly and perform miracle magic of both ending up in top 6 drivers (apparently lando’s been carrying the team alone so far ) . Lando ? getting along with a fellow driver on the grid of his own violation okay grandma let’s get you to bed .

Lmao I have nothing against pierre but I have to laugh mclaren ? the mclaren whose company motto is make Daniel’s (who gets along with literally every living being on the paddock) life a living hell since day 1. I ain’t forgotten all the shit team ln4 , their PR sweetheart charlotte and sugar daddy z*k br*wn pulled / pulling .

You think these people are capable of creating a toxic free work environment? Babes they live so far up lando’s ass they need a whole metro system to get out. Love and light to the pierre girlies and lando girlies because you all be needing it.

see and this is what i don't get? even if they were to get along well off track--which i'm not convinced of given pierre's general lack of tact and softness and lando's propensity to lash out at anyone that makes him feel insecure--who's to say that pierre would take to the car any better than daniel did?

i'm putting a cut cause i kind of rambled a little bit 😭

from my perspective, there's like three main factors when it comes to the idea of replacing daniel in the team: salary, marketability, and performance. daniel has marketability category on lock (even if zak brown wants to pretend like that's not the case lmao), but also has an extremely high salary (rightly so!) and low performance results (not all his own fault but we'll set that aside for now).

pierre might have lower marketability overall, but he'd also have a lower salary and the potential for higher results. BUT that's only assuming he's able to adapt to the car's very specific driving style in a way that daniel hasn't been able to thus far, and when there's been no real evidence to prove pierre has that capability, it feels like a pretty big gamble from both sides? who's to say it wouldn't go the same way, where they continue playing into the car's worst tendencies in order to favor the driver that's actually getting results, more or less leaving the other in the lurch? and when pierre is literally as far as one could possibly be from his Conflict Averse Mature Adult era, it sounds like a recipe for drama because pierre is NOT one to go down without a fight / without talking just as much shit in the press about them as they might him.

the third option, and the one that zak brown is clearly gagging for, would be pulling up an american driver- lowest salary of all as a fresh-faced rookie, supposedly higher marketability in america (which i continue to take issue with, but what do i know), and even tho the performance would most likely be shit, it wouldn't matter because it's not like daniel's getting in the points now anyways. they can rely on lando to continue carrying the team (💀) while the new driver is molded to the car in a similar way that lando was at the start of HIS career, with eyes on both drivers being up to speed and regularly getting results a few years down the road.

but the problem with that is--like rbr found after daniel left them--when you try to put a young, hungry driver that's used to ruling the roost with another young, hungry driver that's not going to be content with sitting back and playing second fiddle, there are GOING to be issues within the team. zak brown with his "lando and colton were teammates before and it was great!" narratives seems convinced that any other driver they add to the team is going to be content living in lando's shadow and it's just like......delusion, thy name is zak

#my greatest wish is for daniel to find home in another team that loves and cares for him #that caters to him and is willing to meet him halfway in order to get the best out of him #that--together--gets him up on the podium and regularly in the points where he belongs #meanwhile mclaren burns down in a fiery mess of over inflated egos and unfulfilled dreams of success 🥰 #mclaren hate blogging #answered #anonymous #silly season22

[unbidden-yidden]

I didn’t want to derail your post about the Trinity so I’m just sending this as an ask but I just studied all this in my Into to Western Religions class and I just wanted to say that girl who was preaching to you was actually heretical. It’s very funny because her analogy is a classic example of modalism, a 3rd(?) century heresy. I always think it’s funny when people evangelize while not even knowing the most basic stuff.

Hey no worries! For what it's worth, I don't think it would've been derailing at all, particularly since that post was a lot of me rambling and infodumping lmao

To your point though, I know, right?! It's so weird because I see variations of this everywhere on xtian stuff and have heard a number of them in person, too. There's actually one in the sources I linked:

There are others we could mention. An egg is made up of a shell, the eggwhite, and the yolk. All three are needed for an egg to be complete.

...

Like. This same source also explains that modality is a heresy?

What we don't mean

First of all, Christians don't believe in three Gods. That's a heresy called Tritheism. Second, we don't believe that the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit are three "forms" of God—like, steam, water and ice. That's the heresy called Modalism. Third, we don't believe that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are "parts" or "pieces" or God. That would imply that Jesus is 1/3rd God, the Father is 1/3rd God, and the Holy Spirit is 1/3rd God.

So... I'm really not sure why this keeps happening tbh. This particular source does clarify afterwards that all analogies are imperfect, at least:

It's important to remember that all illustrations fail eventually. They don't "prove" the Trinity, they simply help us understand the concept.

And like, look: for the xtians in the audience who are reading this, if any, please know that I am not trying to tell you what to think or believe. If this makes the most spiritual sense for you and is your way of connecting to holiness, I'm not going to pretend like I have The Answer(s). I do, however, have my answer, and it is that this is a form of polytheism that is totally unsupported and in fact thoroughly rejected by the Tanakh.

I think that when it comes down to trinitarianism, you either have a vested interest in xtianity being monotheistic and also worshipping Jesus, or you don't. If you do, probably one of the more cogent answers you're going to get is something along the lines of this:

The Trinity is a doctrine that all Christians believe but no one really understands. That much should be clear from this message. If you try to explain the Trinity, you will lose your mind. But if you deny it, you will lose your soul.

The Trinity sets the limits on human speculation about the nature of God.

There is so much we would like to know about God, but our finite minds cannot comprehend it. We are not free to create God in our own image. The Trinity sets the limits for human speculation. God is more than the Trinity, but he is not less than that.

The Trinity teaches us that God is beyond all human comprehension.

After all, if we could explain God, he wouldn't be God. I have no doubt that God is much more than "one in essence, three in Person," but since I can't even understand those simple phrases, I don't worry at all about what else might be true about God. If you feel baffled by the Trinity, join the crowd. The greatest minds of history have stood in amazement before a God so great that he cannot be contained by our puny explanations.

I can accept this answer as at least intellectually honest and as having the potential to be spiritually meaningful for some people, even if I thoroughly disagree with its conclusion and do not believe it to be true personally. I would even say that it is partially correct in the sense that if G-d could be fully known and explained, then it would inherently make G-d finite and thus no longer G-d. At the same time, I do not think that it then follows that trinitarianism can still be monotheistic, and thus this concept of God inherently cannot be the G-d of the Tanakh.

Point being, if you just straight up don't believe in the trinity and don't have a vested interest in making xtian theology work, then this looks like utter nonsense from that outside perspective. If you do, then that's your prerogative and theological dilemma to solve, or not.

[takonei]

Beta AU - Main story, Chapter 4, daily life (Part 6)

Note of the author: I have never thought one second that this daily life would be that long, I swear.

Also finally reached 100k words lmao

Chapter 4: Dance, dance, hanged puppets - Daily life

Day 16 since the beginning of the game.

8:00 AM.

Shuichi slept like a baby.

The morning announcement rang and thus woke him up from his deep slumber.

... That meant he was late and the others were waiting for him.

Damn it.

When he realized that, he quickly got showered and dressed up before leaving his room.

However, when he opened the door, he realized the rest of those who were there were still eating. He sighed in relief.

Kirumi noticed his arrival. "Good morning, Shuichi. It seems you have slept well."

The violinist rubbed his eyes as he approached the rest of the group. Everyone was there aside from Tsumugi and Kaito. Perhaps they were still getting dressed up.

Not to his dismay, breakfast was rather quiet. It was the calm before the storm. Who knew what horrors they were going to see today.

He simply hoped not to get in the situation he was in yesterday.

Rantaro didn't even do anything to him, why did he try so much to avoid his gaze?

After a few minutes, Kaito came out of his room, limping a bit.

Shuichi remembered what he saw yesterday. The prosthetic leg reveal had been quite a shock, but somehow a welcome one considering the situation he was in.

"Yo." he muttered as he sat between Miu and Shuichi.

"Sup'." Miu fist-bumped him as she reached for the pack of crackers. "You good?"

He sighed, taking a biscuit out of the box. "The usual. The morning phantom pains."

Shuichi blinked. "You have that a lot?"

"It's not that painful but I've had them ever since that day. I got used to it but it's still not the greatest thing to wake up to in the morning." he explained.

The violinist couldn't help but wince. "That's rough."

The biker waved his hand. "Nah, it's fine. I usually have to wait a few minutes after I wake up before it goes away. So for now I'm good."

Shuichi took a bite out of an apple. "I just hope it goes well for you..."

Kaito gave him a thumbs up. "I've been dealing with this for three years, I'm used to it by now. Don't worry about it!"

He smiled.

After some time, a door opened behind him and Tsumugi came out. Since everyone was done with breakfast, it was time to get the locks.

Shuichi turned on his monopad to solve the riddle.

What is there to salvage in a treacherous soul?

Even if they try to reach out for the light, they are deemed to feel the perpetual freezing warmth of Judas' embrace.

This made even less sense to him than the previous one. Those riddles were getting stranger and stranger by the day.

But somehow... He had a feeling of familiarity with this.

Of course, he wasn't Christian, but he had a decent amount of knowledge about it. He played for a lot of westerners and they sometimes talked about their culture.

Judas... He was the traitor, right? Did it have anything to do with the group?

...

Could it be about the traitor in their group? The mastermind?

He didn't know who they even were... Did Monokuma expect him to know?

No, that couldn't be it. Perhaps it was a place that had something to do with the mastermind, but that they all knew.

He thought about the time he explored the academy with Kirumi, searching for potential secret passageways.

And yet all he had in mind was the door in the library.

...

Was that it?

He checked back the riddle. The only place related to the mastermind was the library... Or maybe the shrine of judgment, but he already had to go there yesterday.

However, there was still a second lock to find.

Kiyo approached him. "Do you need help?"

Shuichi shook his head. "I feel like I got this... But mine sounds eerily ominous..."

The therapist sighed. "It seems it is the case for you as well. The first ones were about our past, the second ones were about our current situation and today's ones give me this eery feeling. As if Monokuma wants us to think more about our situation in the academy."

The violinist looked back at the riddle. "Mine seems centered around the mastermind... Or at least a traitor."

The taller man frowned. "Out of all the individuals I've tried to understand, Monokuma is the biggest mystery I've encountered. Nothing in his character makes sense."

Shuichi quietly nodded.

Traitor... Treachery...

...

He suddenly perked up. "Dante!"

Kiyo blinked. "Did you... Find the answer?"

Shuichi looked at his riddle. "I've heard about this from one of the families I've played for! Something about nine circles of hell or something..."

The therapist shrugged. "I'm afraid I cannot help you."

"Something about how Hell is made from nine circles for each type of crime and Judas was at the 9th circle, for the traitors..." he started rambling. "I think the circle was made of ice and it was the deepest point of Hell..."

He pondered for a moment. "Hey... If we consider this academy like Hell... Could it hint at the deepest point of the academy?"

Kiyo put a finger on his chin. "That sounds like solid reasoning. Could it be the basement?"

Shuichi shook his head. "My first lock is in the library... I don't think that's it."

He looked back at the riddle. "Reach out for the light..."

Perhaps...

"... The death road of despair." he muttered. "We did try to escape here but miserably failed... So we're stuck here with the mastermind, or rather the traitor..."

He felt a chill running down his spine by even saying those words. "At least I know for sure where this one is."

Kiyo tried to find the right words. "I do not think this hell is eternal. Even though this is hard, we cannot give in to the mastermind. And even if this continues, I know this group is more than capable of getting together. You all have proved this to me."

Shuichi looked at him for a moment, then smiled. "Thank you, Kiyo."

The two decided to group for now.

The others seemed to have chosen their groups as well.

Miu was back with Kokichi.

Rantaro and Ryoma went together once more.

Tsumugi teamed up with Kaito.

And finally, Kirumi would go alone.

The two soldiers were the first ones to leave as the rest mentally prepared themselves.

...

Not even two minutes later, they all heard the sound of an explosion outside.

Shuichi's mind went blank. He rushed to the door and scanned the area to see where the noise came from. And from far away, he could see Ryoma and Rantaro trying to stand up in front of an entrance in ruins. The structure above the door had fallen, blocking the door. The two looked at the damage, trying to move out the rubble, but it was way too heavy to even be lifted.

They gave up and made their way back to the dorms, greeted by concerned faces.

"What the hell happened??" Miu exclaimed.

"We approached the door and it exploded in front of us. We're not injured, don't worry. We just activated a trap." Rantaro explained as he tried to brush the dust off his hair.

"And the main entrance is locked, by the way. We can't move the rubble." Ryoma added.

Kaito groaned. "Can't Monokuma move out the rubble??"

Kirumi sighed. "I doubt he will be of help here. He is the one putting on these traps after all."

Ryoma adjusted his beanie. "Dining hall it is, then."

"Perhaps you two should rest from the explosion for now." Kiyo suggested.

"I'm not letting a simple explosion be an excuse not to be on the front lines." Ryoma replied.

"Please be reasonable. We're not letting you two activate more traps by yourselves. I can go instead." Kirumi countered him.

"I'm not letting anyone go activate traps alone. I shall go if needed." the therapist volunteered.

The mercenary stared at him. "... Fine."

Kiyo turned to the others. "We'll make sure the dining hall is safe to go through and we'll come back after to give the report."

Shuichi nodded.

The two tall individuals left the dorms.

They could only wait.

...

Around ten minutes later, the two came back, visibly concerned.

"... The dining hall is out too." Kirumi declared.

"What??" Kaito exclaimed. "Come on, twice in a row??"

"Kirumi had her lock in the dining hall, and the second she passed her key, a questionable amount of spears blocked the door to the rest of the building." Kiyo explained.

"Then how are we going to get our lockers?" Kokichi asked.

Kirumi pondered. "There are windows at the pool. I think one of them leads to the gym."

Tsumugi raised an eyebrow. "You seem to know this academy from head to toe. It is quite convenient."

The mercenary knew where this was going. "My duty as a mercenary is to know all the secrets of this place before striking whoever keeps us here. Just like it is your duty as a prodigy to help us find a path to get to the rest of the building."

The girl closed her eyes. "I was not being sarcastic." She started pacing around. "The window is probably closed from here. We'll have to be careful going through there. If we have to break the window, we'll have to find a way to climb up without injuring ourselves with the glass."

Rantaro frowned. "We should get the locks that are out of the building just in case we take longer than expected."

"And search for tools to help us get through the other doors at the same time." Ryoma added.

That sounded like a solid plan to Shuichi. One of his locks was available, in the road of despair. No one seemed to object until...

"Both of my locks are inside." Tsumugi declared. "I understand the need to get your locks, but I will have to get mine as well."

This... Wasn't good.

"We'll still have to get the tools anyway." Kiyo replied. "That way, we won't waste any time going back and forth places and taking any risks."

Tsumugi seemed concerned but complied. "Fine. it's not like I have a choice anyway."

The groups parted their ways all at once not to waste time.

"My lock is next to the love hotel. Since your lock is behind the main building it would be preferable to do mine first." Kiyo suggested.

Shuichi nodded. "Yeah... We should do that."

The two started walking towards the giant area behind the wall. No traps activated on their way.

Strange, but Shuichi wasn't complaining. If things could go their way for once, it was good.

Once in front of the hotel and the lock, Kiyo activated it and the annoying jingle ringed, signaling Kiyo's safety until this afternoon.

But just as it was heard, the lock emitted a strange noise, and the cables linking the lock to the building exploded, releasing an abnormal amount of sparkles.

The ground started shaking. The two glanced at each other and started running towards the exit.

Other traps activated, shooting different weapons at them, from arrows to spears to needles.

Once out of the casino area, the traps stopped shooting projectiles in random directions.

Shuichi panted as he starred at the unreassuring amount of weapons on the ground. "Was that... Normal?"

Kiyo shook his head. "I don't know. I didn't think the locks would react like this."

... What the hell just happened? Were the traps getting harder and harder with time? It didn't look normal at all, it was like the thing malfunctioned.

What that going to be their future from now on?

The two started walking towards behind the academy, more on guard than they ever were. Shuichi felt so tense he couldn't even take a step without having his eyes darting on all sides to see if anything happened.

The walk towards the back of the main building was silent. Too silent. But perhaps it was normal? Was it?

"I feel like the pattern has changed..." he muttered. "We haven't encountered a single trap on our way here, but once we activate a lock a trap does as well."

Kiyo pondered for a moment. "And yet the main entrance exploded. Rantaro and Ryoma didn't activate a lock, as far as I know."

Back to the unpredictability, then.

The two used the entrance in the back.

Unfortunately, there was no way for them to access the rest of the building from this room.

Shuichi put his head in the manhole to see if the lock was there, and it indeed was.

"I'm... I'm going down. I just hope nothing happens, I'm a bit scared..." he admitted.

Kiyo gave him a weak smile. Like he knew things were probably not going to be okay but wanted to support him anyway. "You'll be fine. I'm right here if needed."

The violinist nodded as he climbed down the ladder. The loud steps echoed through the room. His heartbeat was accelerating but... For what? After all, this academy was as nightmarish as the tunnels, right now. It's not like there was a difference between inside and outside this manhole.

He still felt chills looking at the dark room.

Just as he expected, nothing useful was there to help to get to the window at the pool. Not that he could carry, at least.

Shuichi hesitantly took his card out and approached the lock.

He took a deep breath and passed his card.

...

The ground started rumbling.

Of course, something would activate.

He rushed to the ladder and had just enough time to get to the first step before the metal plates from the ground moved, and the floor disappeared.

Shuichi was thankful the ladder was attached to the wall, unlike the lock and the barrels that just disappeared. But looking at the bottomless pit beneath him...

He shook his head and started climbing, a strong grip on the bars to make sure he didn't fall.

Just don't look down. Don't fall. Don't fall. Don't fall.

He thankfully reached the top and sat down on the rusty floor covered in grass.

"Are you okay?" Kiyo approached him.

"Y-Yeah... I just... Got a little scared down there." the violinist shakily replied.

The therapist helped him get up. "... Let's go. The others are probably at the pool."

Shuichi managed to calm down during the quiet walk.

A walk without traps activating.

Everything felt odd, but he couldn't put his finger on how and why.

They opened the door, revealing Tsumugi, Kaito, and Kirumi... Stacking up deckchairs?

"Mind giving us a hand?" Kirumi asked.

"Are you piling these up to reach the window?" Kiyo looked at the tower of chairs.

"What does it look like we're doing?" Kaito adjusted one of them.

Kirumi looked at the tower. "I'm still doubtful we'll be able to make a stable step stool for everyone."

Tsumugi put a finger on her chin, looking around. "We didn't look into the storage room. Perhaps something will help us."

The mercenary approached the door and opened it. She took a step forward but the second the tip of her boot touched the ground, the entire building started shaking, and a loud noise was heard from the storage room before the shaking stopped.

"What was that?" Shuichi turned to the room Kirumi was standing in front of.

"I think we can forget about searching anything here." she coldly declared.

The violinist approached her, concerned.

An enormous amount of spears had appeared out of nowhere, impaling every single object from all sides. The rubber inner tubes were slowly deflating.

By their size, they could have been useful, but that was out of the question now. A trap activated and now they couldn't use these.

Kirumi sighed. "Fine. I'll see if I can reach the window from here."

She climbed on the tower of deckchairs, and after struggling a bit, she reached the platform below the window and kept herself steady with the pillar. Her height and strength helped her get through this, but it was easy to tell that the others were going to struggle with this.

She reached for the handle and tried to push it, but...

The window didn't move.

"Is everything okay?" Kiyo asked.

"The window doesn't open. It doesn't even move an inch." she explained.

The moment she finished her sentence, Rantaro and Ryoma appeared, immediately noticing the group.

"What... Is happening in here?" the medic asked.

"Window unmovable. We can't access the gym from here." Kirumi explained.

Ryoma frowned as he climbed up the chairs. The young woman helped him get on the platform, although both were struggling and Rantaro kept an eye on his friend to make sure he didn't fall.

The weapons maker himself tried to move the window but nothing happened.

"We're stuck. We can't move the thing from here." he shook his head.

Tsumugi pondered. "Looks like we'll have to break it."

"And find a way to make sure everyone can climb in." Kaito added, tapping his left 'foot' on the ground.

Rantaro paced around. "Do you have anything that could be used to break a window in your lab, Kaito?"

He shrugged. "I have tools in my lab and uh..." he looked away.

"Get to the point." Tsumugi ordered.

"I've got an iron baseball bat in here! Sheesh!" he exclaimed.

Ryoma put his hands in his pockets. "Problem solved. We just need something to get all of us inside."

The biker seemed surprised by how casual he was. "Right..."

Tsumugi looked at the window. "We'll need a rope of some kind. I have a hunch Gonta's lab has something to help us."

Rantaro took a step forward. "Then we'll have to separate to get all of this."

"Kaito and Ryoma will get the baseball bat. Kirumi and I will get the rope. The rest of you will stay here to arrange the deckchairs to make something more stable."

The other soldier didn't nudge and approached the door. "Got it, boss." Kaito followed behind. Kirumi didn't object either and followed them.

Rantaro turned back for a moment and smiled. "We'll get everything as soon as we can, I promise."

A genuine smile that Shuichi missed, somehow. The one he arbored when telling the group that things were going to be okay. The attitude that helped them get together as a group.

Rantaro wasn't just a medic, he was a leader. If he wasn't there, the group would have probably gotten to chaos long ago.

...

And yet he couldn't get the intense glare and the feeling of a cold blade under his throat out of his head.

About a minute after the others' departure, Miu and Kokichi joined them.

After a quick recap of the situation, they started helping in the arrangement of the deckchairs.

Around an hour later, the others finally came back, panting, but with the items.

"I was starting to get worried." Tsumugi looked at them.

"Yeah, well, try to get to a lab when half the tiles you walk on fall beneath your feet! This thing was a nightmare!" Kaito complained.

"Whatever. We got the rope. We got the bat. Let's get to work." Ryoma ignored the bickering. His amount of self-control was astonishing.

He and Kirumi climbed up the chairs, back to the platform.

"Get out of the way. You don't want glass shards in your face." he took the bat that Kaito gave to him.

And after a huge blow, the glass shattered. Several blows later, the window was no more. He also shattered the upper part of the window.

After making sure there was no way anyone would cut themselves with shattered glass, Ryoma took the rope from the mercenary and attached it tightly to the steel bar. He threw the end of the rope back in the pool area.

"We should be good. Can you climb up?" he asked the prodigy.

"I'm afraid I'm not athletic enough to do this. I could do it if there are knots to put my feet on, but climbing up a rope is out of my abilities."

Kirumi sighed. "Knots it is, then."

Ryoma took the rope without complaining and started fiddling with it.

The lack of confrontation he was giving surprised Kirumi.

"... Anyway. Give me the second rope so we can go back and forth from the pool area to the gym.

After attaching the other rope, she started knotting as well.

There was nothing the others could do in the meantime. They could only wait.

Shuichi checked the time on his monopad. 1:00 PM.

He hadn't realized they spent that long finding a way to get to the main building.

Later, Ryoma, who was done with the knots, threw his end of the rope to Tsumugi. "Is this okay now?"

The prodigy started climbing. "I'm fine with it. Although can someone please keep the rope steady? This thing is going to make me vomit from the swinging."

She climbed up as Kaito held onto the rope. "And now we just have to get on the other side. Think you can handle it?"

Tsumugi nodded. She disappeared from view soon after, Ryoma keeping an eye on her. He gave her a thumbs-up before turning to the others. "Tie the other end to one of the deck chairs. It's gonna be easier to climb this way."

Just as Rantaro did as told, the entire building started shaking again. It was like the entire academy was going to collapse at any moment.

And then, nothing.

Ryoma made his way to the gym and yelled. "Tsumugi! You okay?"

She came back soon after at the gym, panting. "The traps are reckless. I feel like everything is going to fall down and there are so many weapons shot at once. It's a nightmare."

"Where are your locks?"

"Third and fifth floor." she replied.

Kirumi threw her end of the rope to the others. "Unfortunately we don't have a choice. Either we take risks to get to our locks, or we die executed."

Tsumugi sighed as she made her way back to the main building. "Wish me luck."

Rantaro raised his hand. "For now let's just try to find ways to get the debris out of the main entrance and the spears out of the dining hall."

They separated.

Rantaro, Ryoma, Kaito, and Kiyo were the main entrance group.

Shuichi, Miu, Kokichi, and Kirumi were the dining hall group.

But just as the violinist's group got to this place, it happened.

A giant explosion was heard by everyone. They didn't know where, but it happened.

The four rushed out, only to see the third floor on fire, walls crumbling.

Shuichi's mind went blank.

Tsumugi. She was supposed to be here.

Rantaro rushed towards the group outside, panicking. "Are all of you okay??"

Kirumi nodded. "We're fine. Is your group okay?"

He looked at the damaged building. "Ryoma and Kiyo are inside the main building. I'm going to get Tsumugi out. Stay here and don't try anything."

He rushed back to the pool area.

What was going on?? This was clearly not normal... Why? What happened?

The wait felt like an eternity before Kiyo and Kaito approached them.

Shuichi's heart was racing. "Are you guys okay? Have you seen Tsumugi? And Ryoma?"

Kaito winced and Kiyo shook his head. "Ryoma tried to get Tsumugi out and now Rantaro is with him, I suppose."

"We have to help them!" Shuichi exclaimed.

Kirumi put a hand on his shoulder. "Right now there's nothing we can do. Rantaro asked us to stay here and all we can do is listen to him."

"But-"

"Please."

She stared at him. "Rantaro and Ryoma are already at it. We're only doing them a favor by staying here."

He looked back at the third floor. It was in flames. The fire was slowly invading the floor.

This academy was collapsing.

Was Monokuma going to do anything?

After what felt like an eternity, Ryoma, Rantaro, and Tsumugi appeared, the latter coughing her lungs out.

"Are you guys okay?" Miu rushed to them.

"We're good. Tsumugi is injured a bit in the leg, but we're fine."

"YOU-HAVE-MADE-IT. CONGRATULATIONS."

The robotic voice of Monodam was heard from behind. The red and green bears appeared.

"Aw... We spent so long building this academy! It's a tragedy!" Monotaro cried.

"WE-ARE-GOING-TO-STOP-THE-FIRE. PLEASE-REMAIN-OUTSIDE-AS-WE-PROCEED."

Two of the exisals appeared behind and the two bears jumped in.

The wait was long. Way too long. They had sat down in the grass, away from the building as the two giant robots sprayed water everywhere.

Since when did they have this function?

No one even wanted to talk. They could only wait.

...

Shuichi was nervously fidgeting with his sleeve.

His heart stopped when he heard a jingle from the speakers, Monokuma appearing on the screen.

"It is now 3:00 PM!"

He raised an eyebrow. Why would Monokuma announce the time?

He turned to the others and that's when he noticed.

Tsumugi's face went as pale as snow, her hands clenching at her stomach. He had never seen her that panicked.

Why-

...

The locks.

Did...

Did Tsumugi activate her lock before the explosion?

A giant crash was heard from behind him.

Another exisal -the pink one- appeared.

It opened to reveal Monokuma himself.

"Ding! Dong! It looks like someone didn't respect the rules!"

The prodigy slowly turned back. "No..."

"Time for the punishment!"

...

She didn't.

She didn't activate her lock in time.

Was she going to be executed?

Shuichi didn't have time to process everything that he saw her ran as fast as she could towards behind the building.

The exisal followed her.

Monokuma was going to kill her.

Rantaro raised an arm as an attempt to block the others.

"Kirumi and Ryoma! Try to distract the exisal however you can while I make sure Tsumugi gets to the death road of despair safe!"

"Wait!-" Shuichi called for him, wanting to tell him about the collapsed floor, but it was too late.

The three warriors ran.

Kirumi had been a bit hesitant, but seeing that Ryoma had gone without a second thought, she followed.

Shuichi panicked. "I have to get to them! The death road of despair isn't an option!"

Kaito grabbed his arm. "What are you saying??"

"The floor collapsed here! She can't enter the tunnels to be safe!"

The biker hesitated, leaving enough time for Shuichi to break free and try to run.

"Shuichi!!" Miu screamed, but it was useless.

He saw Kirumi and Ryoma in the distance being knocked out by the exisal. Not dead, but thrown to the ground like bugs.

And just as he drifted his gaze to the other two, the exisal threw Rantaro away.

Shuichi ran. "No!"

But before he could do anything, the exisal shot an explosive at the prodigy.

His eyes went wide as he watched the smoke fade away.

"Sheesh! You kids can't complete a task, can't you?" Monokuma brushed the dust off of himself.

Shuichi didn't care. He rushed at Tsumugi's side, Rantaro doing the same.

"Tsumugi! wake up, please!" he pleaded. She was heavily bleeding from the side of her torso.

"Shu... ichi...?"

"Tsumugi, please try to stay alive! I'll get my stuff, I can try to heal this!"

"W-Wait..." she clenched at his sleeve.

"I... I know I'm not gonna make it. T-There's too much smoke in my lungs, breathing is getting harder... I don't think... I'll make it out alive. M-Monokuma will make sure that I stay dead. And... I know I d-don't have much time left."

"B-But there's something... I need to do before I die... Please..."

Rantaro looked at her. "No! I can do something! Just let me handle this!"

"Rantaro... Please..."

She reached for her inner pocket and took out a notebook. Thankfully, it wasn't damaged.

"T-Take this. Those are... all my theories and deductions about the killing game... I know some of them are probably false but... Some of them are... Very important... E-Especially my last deductions..." she tried to explain before getting into another coughing fit.

"It was... A pleasure to m-meet you all... I know I wasn't talking much t-to you all but... I'm glad I got... to k-know you guys."

Shuichi could feel tears form in his eyes as he held onto the notebook.

"Please... Get out of this place and... Move on with your lives. I... I know you can do it."

She turned to the medic. "And Rantaro... I'm sorry I accused you so much in the trials. Y-You're smart and I always did my best to explore all the possibilities... to make sure you didn't create a giant complicated scheme. I know you are smart enough to do so. Heh."

Rantaro narrowed his eyes, but not in anger.

"A-And if you are the mastermind of this entire thing... Then screw you. S-Same for you, Shuichi. Besides..."

She bitterly laughed. "I knew the mastermind... was coming f-for me anyway..."

Tsumugi held tightly on Rantaro's hand. "If... The afterlife exists then... I don't want... any of you t-to join me so soon. Alright?"

The medic nodded. "We won't die. I promise."

She smiled and closed her eyes.

"Thank you... for everything."

Her grip on Rantaro's hand weakened. He put his thumb on her wrist for a moment, then put both of her hands on her chest.

"... She's gone." he muttered.

Shuichi's eyes widened. "No... Tsumugi..."

He shook his head.

"Tsumugi!!!"

The others came running, Kirumi and Ryoma having gained their conscience back.

Monokuma was gone, though.

Rantaro stood up and saluted. "Tsumugi. You fought well in this war. Rest in peace, my friend."

Ryoma saluted as the rest of them didn't know what to do. Kaito and Kiyo looked away. Miu had tears in the corner of her eyes. Kirumi and Kokichi looked at the body with regret.

Shuichi couldn't take his eyes off her peaceful smile.

They were going to get out of here. They were going to fight. For her. For those who died.

They were going to-

"Ding dong, dong ding!"

...

Huh...?

"A body has been discovered!"

"Everyone, please gather behind the main building!"

#ndrv3 #danganronpa v3 #ndrv3 au #beta au #main story

[dazais-guardian-angel]

This post has been sitting in my drafts since like mid-November around when I finished replaying the game, long enough for me to write and upload a fic about some of the concepts I wrote here, what the fuck. DGS brainrot is real. But aNYWAY finally, here are my massive thoughts on Unwound Future, the golden child of the PL series. This is literally *checks* 8k words, because I can never shut up!! and because there is just SO much going on in this game at all times, so many different interweaving plot threads and funny moments and incredible, fascinating characterization, especially combined with the games that come after it; I just had SO much to say. So much analyzing and headcanons and crying galore. :’) There’s a reason this is considered the best game, and that’s why I had so damn much to talk about.

behold the incoherent, rambling, unconnected mess of a novel that I hope makes a modicum of sense under the cut:

Continuing the trend, this game has simply AMAZING graphics/art/music, with a huge uptick in cutscenes and voice acting, and I feel like the sound/music quality is greatly improved too? I love the main bgm for London in this game, never really remembered loving it before, but it’s just *chef’s kiss* and so is the song that plays in other areas like the hospital and subway

Quickly mentioning the gameplay, I really love all the minigames, and the storybooks are especially hilarious to play with putting the wrong things in the spaces to create mad libs-esque crack that makes no sense; it’s so fun lmao

The beginning flashback segment with the time machine demonstration is honestly just so funny, for so many different reasons: Dimitri droning on and on with time travel technobabble while Luke, Bill, Chelmey, and Barton represent the definitive last four brain cells. Hershel being skeptical about successful time travel after all the magical shit they went through just like a year or two ago. The way that Bill’s sprite slowly and nervously shuffles onscreen after Dimitri calls him to the stage, like omg I don’t know why that cracks me up so much but it does. Dimitri’s lowkey savage shade he’s throwing at Bill throughout this whole thing. The way Bill says “wHAT” when Dimitri asks him to help, clearly about to shit his pants. Dimitri just standing there completely unfazed as the smoke from the machine flies past him. And of course, “sOmEtHiNg’S gOnE vErY wRoNg!”

…okay but in all seriousness, am I just stupid or do they never explain how they get Bill to the underground city, like the machine CLEARLY explodes with him in it, there was no secret elevator built into the thing like at the clock shop, so…???

also the presenter’s voice is really funny lmao

Still disagree that this is the biggest mystery they’ve ever encountered, despite being near the top; Luke you say that literally every game!! so what is the truth!!

Spring’s face is terrifying as FUCK in the two cutscenes in the clock shop… why they decided to show both of them in ominous, shadowed lighting in those scenes I do not understand a;lskdl;fds

I need someone to draw a diagram of how exactly the shop looks as a giant elevator because frankly I still can’t wrap my brain around it-

THE FACT THAT WE NEVER GET TO MAKE UP WITH HAZEL IS A TRAVESTY, HONESTLY

Belle… why…… ugh

Wish they’d had “Schrader” drop a casual nod to the events of Diabolical Box; it would have been cool :’) (especially since this is Paul so he’d know about all that)

College-age Hershel is just….. the pinnacle of adorableness. someone protect him from all the pain

One of the few flaws/plot holes in the story of Unwound Future that I only noticed during this replay with more media under my belt, is the that the developers didn’t really decide on what kind of time travel they wanted to portray, or more likely just didn’t scrutinize Clive’s fake role enough when writing it. This is blatantly obvious upon the very first meeting with Clive where he desires to test Hershel to make sure he’s really him. Obviously in a closed loop scenario, everything Luke and Hershel are doing “Future Luke” should remember doing himself in his past, so a test would not be necessary; this is a major trip-up on his part that it’s very odd Hershel doesn’t notice for how smart he is, imo. However, later on when meeting “Future Layton”, Paul calls Dimitri out on this exact principle, proving that he’s not actually Future Layton because he doesn’t remember the absence of a pen in Hershel’s pocket in this moment in his past, and it’s a nice little touch that Paul, on the other hand, an actual scientist, would mention this. Back to Future Luke, though, he should know how everything goes down with stopping Future Layton, because he lived it all as a child with Hershel, which makes it even more dubious to the fact that after seeing all this, Hershel still goes dark and everything plays out the exact same way it’s portrayed in the “future” of the game; it’s the idea that destined fate can’t be changed, but the suspension of disbelief is quite high, especially since we already doubt that Hershel would ever do such a thing, knowing what kind of person he is. Of course this wouldn’t be the case in an open-loop/branching timelines universe, but since the game uses the former type with the pen argument (and something else important I’ll mention in a second), I feel like the rest of the game should have adopted this idea as well and addressed it. Because Dimitri is outed via the fact that he should have memory of things he doesn’t, so it would have been easy to simply add Hershel adding that argument into his final explanation in the bar (”my suspicions were first raised when we first met Big Luke, and he didn’t know if I was really who I said I was- [etc etc]”). Even if they didn’t want Hershel to bring this up early else the entire story would fall apart, they could simply draw attention to the fact that he notices something in these moments, like with a “...” or “Hmm”, and then he explains it at the end like I said. Interestingly enough, Clive actually addresses these concepts at one point in the game with Luke in the statue plaza: he doesn’t want to tell Luke how things play out in his future, so that… things play out the way they’re supposed to…? Even though his entire story here is that he wished Hershel hadn’t gone dark and distanced from him, and ruined the city? But then he makes the suggestion that they could instead be operating on an open-loop/multiple timelines system, where in his past he never travelled to the future, but in our Luke and Hershel’s timeline they do. This is only a hypothetical he gives though, with him seeming unsure of how things truly are, which… again, in this story he’s concocted, he should know for sure, because if he doesn’t “remember” time traveling and how everything went down, then they’re operating on different timelines and it shouldn’t matter how much he tells Luke about his future. You can definitely argue that in-universe Clive didn’t think all this through when planning his dialogue for this role (but I honestly find that hard to believe, since he’s so intelligent, and he nailed the realism of everything else to a T), but it’s obvious just that the writers didn’t think it through, because like I said Hershel really should have picked up on his blunder when they first met, as well as later when Clive is surprised to see Flora suddenly with them and didn’t know for a fact that she and Chelmey/Barton would arrive there. Since the time travel scenario in 99% of the game isn’t actually real, I don’t entirely fault the writers for not getting every single detail right… and yet, that 1% exists where time travel is real, with Claire’s situation. It’s a very isolated incident though that wouldn’t be replicated, with only her going to the future… and yet, she does return to the past again, if only for a split second before dying and thus not enough time to do anything with her future knowledge, the real thing to note here being that they took care to show that she was wearing the same outfit when she died that she gets in the future, one she wasn’t wearing when she entered the lab originally. So they DID think about some things very well, like such a minor and easily-overlooked detail here (but that blows your mind once you realize it). All this is hardly enough to ruin the game or break the immersion completely though, especially since the player is already predisposed to heavily doubt everything with PL’s “the town is a lie” track record lmao, but I can’t help but be bothered by it now after playing games like Zero Escape and watching time travel shows like netflix’s Dark, which have bootstrap parodoxes and timeloops galore looool. My friend who watched me play the game blind this time around brought up all these questions as Clive said things, as someone who didn’t know if it would end up being real or not, and so I spent a lot of time puzzling (har har) it out with her… even though it wouldn’t matter lmao.

……In short, if it wasn’t obvious, despite Unwound Future’s time travel setup being completely fake, I’m really fascinated by the notion of how it would all work if it was real. >.> …and I mean, I know I’m not the first one; monocle Layton aus are popular, after all, but I don’t really care quite as much about the allure of an “evil Layton” as I do just about how everything else would be, I think.

Because, like, lets be real? taking the prequels into account with Unwound Future’s proposed setup, the potential is endless. It honestly KILLS me that the prequels didn’t exist yet at the time of UF, because!! so many people from Hershel’s past!!! SO MANY REASONS FOR HIM TO WANT TO HARNASS TIME TRAVEL AND CHANGE THE PAST, NOT JUST FOR CLAIRE’S SAKE. FOR RANHENGELA’S SAKE. FOR LUKE AND EMMY’S SAKE. FOR HIS PARENTS’ SAKE. FOR DESMOND. listen, listen, you don’t understand how much the idea of Desmond being involved in UF’s concepts destroys me. I wrote about this in my last fic but. imagine if Desmond learned about Hershel going down a dark path for his sake and everyone else’s, just like he did. Or imagine if, instead of Hershel being the one to do it, it was Desmond himself; he’s willing to play the bad guy once again, one very final, this time definitely final, time, if it means he can undo everything that caused all of them so much pain in the first place: his betrayals, the death of his former wife, he and Theodore’s separation, their father’s betrayal, ALL of it, and Hershel would never know. When Luke first is like “oh it’s gotta be Don Paolo right” and Clive says no, i LITERALLY screamed “BUT IT COULD BE DESCOLE!!”. JUST. PAIN. And where would Randall be in this future; what would he, too, think if it was Hershel going after time travel? Imagine him trying to smack some sense into him just like Hershel does in MM, trying to tell him that despite those lost 18 years of his life, despite everything wrong he ended up doing, he’s still happy, and so are Henry and Angela. So is Desmond. And Emmy, she wouldn’t want undone those years she had with Hershel and Luke and then Aurora and Desmond, despite how sadly it ended. Just… so much pain. So much potential. I hurt :’)

and adding on to this, i love love LOVE the idea of Clive knowing about some of this stuff in Hershel’s past, in order to faithfully play his role as Future Luke. Like obviously he wasn’t in Misthallory with them all, he wasn’t on the island in ED, he wasn’t at Monte’dor, and he wasn’t on the Bostonius or at all those Azran ruins that I can’t remember the names of right now, of course he wouldn’t know the intimate, specific details of what all went down, but if there was just one npc who was in the right place at the right time at any of these locations, who knows what beans they could spill? Maybe even an ex-Targent person or something. Hell, fucking Bronev is in jail for at least a little while before the events of UF. There are possibly MANY people Clive could have gotten information from to pull off this role - he’s a reporter, he’s skilled at digging for stuff. Not to mention just reading and hearing about large incidents in the news. And this makes his character so much better because he’s admired Hershel for so long, grateful that he saved his life all this time, to the point that he asks him to unknowingly come and save him again… and he most definitely didn’t know back when he first encountered Hershel that he’d already experienced so much loss and pain as well (some of which Hershel hadn’t even gone through yet by that point), but learning about everything he’s suffered? I think it would really affect him, and possibly contribute to why he asks him for his help in the first place in UF: because Hershel has suffered just as much as he has, and he feels a connection to him, feels like he can relate to him, and wants someone who can empathize with him, and show him how to cope. All of these reasons and emotions would probably be completely on an unconscious level, but they would exist - he’d use this limited but meaningful knowledge to try to connect with Hershel more when he’s still in Future Luke mode, to try to convince him he’s really Luke, at first, but unconsciously it’d be an effort to get closer to him emotionally, which is what he truly desires deep down, until his so-called act somewhat stops being an act, and talking about these things makes his vulnerabilities start to show (again, i wrote a fic about this). This all just adds to why Hershel is the perfect person to help and support Clive - the prequels make their similarities even stronger, more than just with Hershel losing Claire, and those accidental parallels when the writers hadn’t even conceived the prequel trilogy at the time of UF are just *chef’s kiss* beautiful.

THE CASINO SCENE IS JUST ICONIC, IT’S SO FUNNY. LUKE BEING SCARED OF THE SHOOTING AND HERSHEL JUST DITCHING HIM. CLIVE’S LITTLE HOP AND ROLL BEHIND THE SLOT MACHINES. THE SLOT MACHINE GUN IN GENERAL. THE CLONE FAMILY MEMBERS FALLING OVER LIKE DOMINOS UPON BEING HIT. BOSTRO CRYING AND SPLINTERS AND LOCKJAW RUNNING IN CIRCLES PANICKING WHILE LAYMAN JUST IS LITERALLY PUSHED BACK SLOWLY WITH ONLY A CHAIR TO DEFEND HIMSELF, I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH HOW FUNNY LAYMAN AS A CHARACTER IS TO ME. it’s just so glorious, oh my god. this series is ridiculous i love it so much lmao

Luke wanting to use the time machine though… there are so many reasons why he might want to, mainly from Azran Legacy. :’)

The statue is the worst thing ever for multiple reasons. The fact that it represents Hershel & Luke’s relationship, the two main characters, who have been through so much together and have such a strong bond that can never be broken, and how it ties into the whole Evil Layton scenario and seems to foreshadow that their bond does end up breaking, as “Future Luke” seems to be proof of (though the game doesn’t really put much emphasis on this; Luke is more worried about the fact that he’s moving away soon straining their relationship, and not the whole Future Layton thing. imo it would have been interesting to see his actual thoughts on/feelings about it, since he’s surprisingly calm throughout the entire game before the reveals happen; you can argue he just has complete faith in Hershel and doesn’t think he would ever go dark, but then why doesn’t he bring this up, insist that this can’t be true? I think he should have). The fact that as I just said it foreshadows how Luke will leave Hershel at the end of the game, something that Luke worries about later on in the game. And most of all, the biggest, worst thing it foreshadows… Hershel’s relationship with Clive. Clive had that statue made himself, put it in his giant set. He WANTS that kind of mentor-student bond with Hershel, that’s how he sees them, just from their one interaction in front of the exploding buildings… or at least, that’s how he wants to see it. He sees how close Hershel and Luke are throughout the entire game, and he yearns for that kind of bond with Hershel, too. The fact that the boy in the statue story has an illness that he eventually dies from, but that their friendship withstands… it’s probably meant to represent Clive’s insanity, that he hopes Hershel will save him from - he is Clive’s light of hope in his despair. Or, to be more accurate to the statue, even if Clive’s madness ends up killing him (which it very nearly does, and by that point he fully expects that it will), he’ll still have had those memories of that time he spent with him, and Hershel will never forget him, and that will mean something special. man though can you imagine an AU where Clive is literally terminally ill too, and that’s why he’s yolo-ing this entire thing so hard and doesn’t care if it ends up killing him in the end, at least he got to be with Hershel one more day; ahahahaha turn up the angsttttttttttttt-

Shmelmey and Shmarton do not at all look like Chelmey and Barton, smh

For everything Clive accounted for with his role and setting, he’s honestly way too rude and crass sometimes to be Luke lmao, even if you try to imagine a world where Hershel did go dark and Luke was changed by it… at least imo

the like 4 puzzles that give Clive’s solving animations/dialogue are the most serotonin-boosting things in the world

“you will come back, won’t you?” Clive asks Hershel about his trip to visit Chelmey, desperately wanting him to stop him before it’s too late :’)

Rosetta and her....... sessions....... with Hershel........ hajkkALSKDLD

Okay but Hershel is kind of dickish sometimes though, despite his whole “gentleman” thing??? There’s the elephant in the room which I’ll Get To, but like first he guilt-trips Chelmey into getting him access to confidential information about the lab explosion, and then he has the absolute balls to tell him “Bill Hawks is being held in the future” and that’s IT. No explanation, nothing else, just THAT, and then he LEAVES, after he’d promised to share every last detail with him. I don’t blame Chelmey at all for tailing them and barging in to get information himself, like damn Hershel, why so savage sometimes in not a good way

which brings me to Ranting About Flora’s Treatment, Part 3: The Finale. Y’all I literally cannot even BEGIN to describe how much the way Hershel and Luke treat Flora in UF specifically makes me seethe..... It was already bad in DB, no doubt, but in this game they are straight-up rude to her, mostly Hershel, for absolutely no reason, and I CANNOT fathom why. He constantly makes the excuse that he’s concerned for her safety, and that the places they’re going to are too dangerous for her, but it all exudes a level of thinly-veiled annoyance, even confusion as to why Flora is so upset that they never bring her along and wants to go with them at all... almost like her “frail” feminine appearance (which isn’t helped by how the games make her feel sick or dizzy or tired multiple times), compared to someone like Emmy who could fight and has more masculine traits, means she’s less capable in Hershel’s mind, which, like, even if it’s unconscious on his part... how about no?? I could accept being worried about her, even if I’m still frustrated at her being left behind, and her constant kidnapping (which isn’t Hershel’s fault, even if he probablyyy could do a better job both times at protecting her), but I CANNOT excuse how short and dismissive Hershel is with her in this damn game; it honestly borders on ooc to me for him, I don’t know what the writers were thinking; do they just hate Flora that freaking much??? He treats her like a burden the entire time, apologizes to people for her, acts irritated at having to accommodate for her, when poor Flora just wants to spend time with him and feel like an equal to him and Luke. Meanwhile Clive of all people is the first one to treat her with kindness and respect and pleasure to see her when they first meet, like when Luke bitches about Flora being excited to see the river and not taking things seriously and Clive tells him to go easy on her (Clive, the one who has been rushing them along this entire time himself). honestly can see why it’s so easy to ship them, when literally everyone else treats her like crap It’s SO depressing honestly. Flora asks them if they thought to wonder where her future self was, and Hershel is just like hhhhh we’re kinda busy thinking about... you know.... important things... sorry not sorry....... like BITCH I WILL STRANGLE YOU, BE NICER TO YOUR DAUGHTER!!! Luke at least is a kid, but Hershel??? there’s no excuse!!! Luke be like “damn I hope Becky doesn’t look down on us for leaving Flora behind... >.>” THEY KNOW. THEY KNOW IT’S NOT RIGHT BUT THEY DON’T CARE AND DO IT ANYWAY. I’M SO MAD

Beasly just gets... straight-up murdered yo... between him and Subject 3, what were they smoking when coming up with the animals in this game, jfc. Test subject animals?? that’s unnervingly dark, despite how glossed over it is and how hilarious Subject 3 is a;lksd

LUKE LOVES SHERLOCK HOLMES THIS IS NOT A DRILL. THE DGS CROSSOVER IS WAITING, LEVEL-5 AND CAPCOM. MAKE LUKE’S (AND MY) DREAMS A REALITY

the intentional zoom-in on Clive’s sinister face in front of the tower will never not amuse me, and baffle me as to why they drew attention to it lmaooo

And okay back to time travel bullshit shenanigans, WHY the fuck does Dimitri not pick up on why him not remembering about the pen is such a big deal as soon as Paul first brings it up?? bruh. bruh. aren’t you a fucking TIME TRAVEL SCIENTIST. WHY DO YOU NOT KNOW SUCH A BASIC CONCEPT THAT BREAKS YOUR WHOLE FACADE IN SECONDS. It’d be one thing if he just couldn’t provide the right answer, but no, he straight-up HAS NO IDEA WHY HE SHOULD HAVE TO KNOW ABOUT THE PEN. “HOW THE FUCK SHOULD I KNOW-” bruhhhh. Dimitri. my dude. i love you but you are actually so dumb sometimes, like holy shit (more on this later though)

Paul talking to Dimitri about his plan is really good; he has a “...” moment before telling him what he’s doing can’t be excused, like “oh shit let me jump on board, wait fuck i gotta stay in character, Layton is a wuss he would never agree to this god dammit Layton-”. jokes aside though, I’m honestly confused as to how much he actually knew before Dimitri’s exposition in the pagoda, and why exactly he goes along with helping Hershel stop him... and what Dimitri was thinking roping him into this. Because I can’t really figure out Paul’s motives here and how they changed, if they did at all. The only information we get about how he first became involved is that Dimitri was paying him a lot of money to get Hershel to the pagoda and to him - he knows that “future London” isn’t real, he knows Future Layton isn’t real, so the extent of his knowledge seems to be that “this man wants to screw Layton over somehow and is giving me $$$ to get it done; there’s no downside here, never mind this suspicious as fuck fake London and all these people that shouldn’t be here”, but then Hershel gave him more information, probably that Claire was involved in what Dimitri was doing, and his concerns about a traitor being involved if he had already begun to suspect Clive by that point, and then he suddenly decided to turn against Dimitri? Even though you’d think saving Claire would be a reason for him to want to help him...? Or did he plan to turn against him from the very start, and wanted Hershel to come because he knew he could stop all this (part of his character development)? The latter is the most likely, though I still don’t entirely understand or maybe I’m just having a brain fart, that’s very likely too. And Dimitri on the other hand, did he know that Paul liked Claire too and would want to save her (and maybe about his salt for Hershel too), and that’s why he got his help? That makes more sense... but also doesn’t, cause as I said it seems like Paul didn’t know Claire was involved until Hershel told him and then Dimitri told everyone at the pagoda, so maybe he literally just said “here’s some money, help me fuck over Layton, not telling how” and just trusted in him that much, even though Paul is an evil genius who could and does put a stop to all his plans with his machines... once again, Dimitri looking dumb....

Clive, in the most deadpan voice ever at the top of the pagoda: oh no, the prime minister is in danger, someone help him

Flora as they’re escaping the tower: “professor no please take me with you instead of future Luke” Hershel: *ignores her feelings and makes a decision for her yet again* Clive: “shhh don’t worry Flora; i know i’m going to kidnap you in like an hour but i’m just trying to rescue you from these insensitive jerks. not Don Paolo though; he’s a gentleman.”

It’s interesting to me that Luke and Hershel keep acting as if Future Luke and future London are legit even after Future Layton has been revealed to be a fake. Hershel at least probably knows none of it is real by now, even if he hasn’t exactly figured out Clive’s role in everything yet, and is just not revealing his knowledge for now, but Luke is still rolling with it... wonder what’s going through his mind by this point. again, it frustrates me that Luke really has no emotional reaction to anything in UF, aside from the statue and his worries about leaving Hershel soon and how that in particular will affect their relationship

I also wonder what Clive is thinking by this point. Now that the Future Layton jig is up, what kind of story is he going with now? We never find out because Hershel reveals everything completely the next time Clive joins up with them again, but in the (unreasonable) case that he hadn’t, would Clive have just acted like he didn’t know that Alain Stahngun was actually someone named Dimitri, who was actually pretending to be Layton, and that the real Layton was somewhere else out there that they needed to find? I don’t know WHY I’m so interested in details like these that don’t matter at all in the long run a;lksdfklfd, but I am... he tells Flora to continue the “investigation” without him, so clearly he still had something in mind, and didn’t expect Hershel to out him quite so soon after that even if deep down he wanted it

Chelmey really cares for Barton and it’s actually so sweet, oml :’)

I didn’t really praise Paul’s character development in this game enough before, but I really do love it, even if I don’t quite understand the circumstances that started it. It’s not something I would have expected with how he’s presented in CV and DB, but it’s very nice to see this be the culmination of his character, and it’s kinda sad that it feels a bit more natural than Descole’s sudden shift in backstory/character between ED and MM/AL... It’s very funny and good to see him and Luke bicker at each other, and how he seems to have a soft spot for Flora... it’s all cute. I just wish there’d been a bit more time for him to talk to them, but that’s what fanfic is for

Don’t make me have to see Hershel beaten up in the street :’(

The sprite of Dimitri standing in the bar is incredibly hot.... damn why are all the older male characters my type >.>

Alright but it’s about time I finally talk about Dimitri without dissing him for being stupid sometimes and say that in short, I love him. He might even be my favorite new character in UF, even more than Clive; I don’t know if it’s just the Liam O’Brian Tragic Sexy Tired Villain effect or what (nah let’s be real, that’s a huge part of it lmao), but he’s fantastic and utterly breaks my heart, in a much more understated way than how the game shoves Clive’s angst in your face, but his tragedy is nonetheless impossible to ignore. The flashback with young Dimitri is my favorite scene in the entire game, it is devastating and feels so cinematic, so raw and painful, and I’m glad they animated that part because it humanizes him so much more. Claire was his everything, he loved her so much, but it is so obvious to me (and to a lot of the fandom too, I think) that his love was entirely selfless - he might have been a little sad, but he was still mostly content letting Hershel have her, and when it comes to after her death, Dimitri would have been absolutely happy not being able to have her if he managed to save her life; he just wanted her to live. He was in love with her, yes, but he also loved her, as a friend, as a scientist, as a person whose time was cut far too short for entirely selfish and unnecessary reasons, and the majority of his anger and bitterness and drive came from a desire to fix such an injustice - to save an innocent person’s life. And the saddest part of him doing all this and trying to sustain Claire’s existence in the present once he finds her, if you go with the closed loop time travel theory, is that Dimitri should already know it’s impossible for him to succeed in this as long as he remembers finding her body in the past - him succeeding would create a paradox, thus, he can’t save her. But he’s so deep in his despair and obsession and insistence on preserving her life that I don’t think he ever stops to think about this - or he does, but refuses to acknowledge it. I’m sure he was incredibly sweet and kind and soft in the past, with her, and with his passion, and it’s heartbreaking to see how broken he is now, how miserable and tired he is, how much everything changed him. And wanting to get back at someone like Bill, who had it all to begin with and then carelessly used them to gain even more, well, I don’t blame him for that. >_> Not to mention his relationship with Clive, which is all kinds of fascinating to think about: the most chaotic, dysfunctional mess of a half-business partnership half-father/son relationship there is, ahaha... Both of them are unhealthy to the extreme in different ways, but with how much time they spent together, it’s inevitable they had vulnerable moments around each other... Clive is the only other person Dimitri would have around during his research to possibly grow to care about, even if it was entirely unconsciously. Learning he was using him would, well, ruin their relationship even more than it was already messed up, but maybe he would visit Clive in prison at least once, assuming Hershel was. I just crave content for them, ugh. Dimitri just deserved so much better, he makes me so sad </3 and I honestly hate that we don’t get to see him say goodbye to Claire at the end before Hershel; sure it would have utterly killed me, but surely he deserved that much...

The utter, frankly amazing, stupidity of Flora’s kidnapping has been stated everywhere, we all know it, but just.... yeah. smh

Seeing the mobile fortress be like *war flashbacks to the Detragon* “Not This Shit Again” Hershel why tf you putting Luke in more danger AGAIN???

The car scenes with the mobile fortress are, at least to me, the funniest parts of the entire game, even better than the casino, oh my god they’re AMAZING. Luke screaming and flailing his arms while Hershel deadpan flings the car towards the fortress, all the bumps they hit riding across it later on, the car just FALLING and Bill almost falling out of it, and then the plane, all the while Hershel displays no more than mild frustration while everyone else is PANICKING... “a plane? This is an automobile!” ...iconic. top PL moments ever. Luke don’t you recall the time when Hershel built an entire mini plane out of a chainsaw and a barrel in ED, come on now

Onto Claire. Claire doesn’t get much screentime, but some of the moments she does have are very good; she’s one of the best and most fleshed-out female PL characters imo, and like a lot of things, I appreciate her a lot more after this replay than I did years ago... LayClaire is a cute ship and all, but I was never really obsessed with it; rather, I’m realizing now I’m more invested in what Claire has to offer by herself. I hate to use the term “strong female character” cause that sounds so cliche... but she really is strong. The entire part with her wanting to save Clive, their conversation, and her bringing him out... god it gets me, it really does. She’s known she’s going to die for ages, and at this point in the game she knows it could be any moment now, so she has no reason to try to keep herself safe; she’s doomed no matter what, so she might as well spend the last few minutes of her life saving another life, and not just anyone: someone who’s just killed countless people, who anyone else would see as insane, who doesn’t care for her, doesn’t care if he lives or dies - but Claire is compassionate enough that, despite everything, she fiercely believes he deserves to live. Because of her own guilt and sins she believes she bears, yes, but also simply because she believes he can still change, and doesn’t deserve to die, despite the HORRIBLE atrocity he just committed. She’s just that good a person. It’s no wonder she and Hershel loved each other and were made for each other; both of them are such kind, loving, selfless people who see the best in anyone no matter what. Perhaps she hoped and suspected that Hershel would look out for and care for Clive once he was in prison, so she wanted to make sure that could happen, even if she wouldn’t be around to ever see it.

sorry I just get really emotional about this part, about the entire mood and tone of Claire desperately trying to save this kid, and the way the camera focuses on the massive scale of the fortress and how it dwarfs them in size... It’s a really powerful and melancholic scene (just like Dimitri’s flashback scene; have I mentioned how much I adore the atmosphere and cinematic direction of this game? cause god I do) with the knowledge of her real identity and circumstances, the visuals and the music are so good, ugh i just have so many feels. mom Claire hurts me </3 she’s so good... Despite the fact that she dies, and so much of what everyone is doing is because of her death, her presence in the story is so strong, and it never feels like her only purpose is to die for everyone else’s development and that’s it (unlike... well, a lot of other pl females :’); she has her own things to do, she stops the fortress alongside Hershel, and literally saves the main antagonist’s life. Seriously I just adore the fact that she of all people is the one to rescue Clive in the end even though she wasn’t at all obligated to (although I’d be interested and cry over an AU where Hershel saves him instead; it honestly surprises me that he wasn’t going to until Claire said something...), because Clive is the only character (of the adults) who doesn’t have a direct relationship with Claire, but they’re still connected by the explosion, and so it makes for an interesting and terribly sad dynamic, even if they only have a few minutes with each other, for all the reasons I said earlier. Claire doesn’t think what he did was right, but she knows what she and the other scientists did wasn’t right either - and it’s too late for her now, but it’s not too late for him; she knows he has a kind heart, deep down, and that he needs help if he wants to redeem himself. She feels responsible for him, feels like she owes him that second chance, after indirectly taking his parents from him and causing him such misery and brokenness... She’s so brave and strong-willed to be able to do and admit all that she does; I just love her. It clearly kills her to leave Hershel, I don’t think she intended at first to ever let him know who she was (hence Celeste), but she’s not too upset in the end, because she (rightly) knows that he will be all right. ;; She’s so beautiful, too... wish we could have seen her interact with so many of the other characters </3

and so my favorite “insert Descole into the main trilogy” AU is where Descole intercepts Claire and makes some sort of body for her, like how everyone headcanons that for Aurora post-AL. (or/also just mobile fortress vs. Descole robots, that’s cool too lol)

And finally, Clive, the infamous star of Unwound Future, thought I talked about him a bit already (and also in this post a few weeks ago). Clive is probably the PL series’ best written villain Anton excluded, I absolutely love him, like everyone does. Nothing really about him hasn’t been done before elsewhere, but that’s not a bad thing; when I was younger and first played the game I really only paid attention to his sympathetic side, but now I’ve also grown an appreciation and fondness for that kind of unabashedly awful, manic, evil insanity a villain like him has, it’s just SO entertaining to watch. If PL was a more mature/higher rated series I’d love to see his chaotic crazed energy played up even more, just to really hammer in how messed up he is, ahaha, but of course that would make it harder to sympathize with him..... and unfortunately, it already is kind of hard, because.... shit, the number of people he must have killed? It’s a LOT. A FUCKTON. The level of sympathy the game gives Clive and the way it presents him at the end is not at ALL relative to the astronomical amount of people that had to have been squashed to death by his machine, to the point that it honestly makes me uncomfortable, and I try to just retcon that in my head, as hard as it is to imagine a scenario where that thing could have come up to London and not hit any houses, because like..... There’s no coming back from that. He knew exactly what he was doing, madness or not, and I honestly just... don’t want him to be such a mass murderer. Maybe it’s wrong to ignore it, but the game wants me to feel sorry for him and see his potential for redemption, and his relationship with Hershel is so good... dammit game, why’d you have to show those houses being crushed. Ugh. Because Clive is so compelling as someone who feels betrayed by people in power, who desires revenge not only for himself but for all the people who suffered just like he has that he says he bore witness to as a reporter; it’s a very relatable position and a good story, for his well-meaning intentions to be skewed and lost in the midst of his rage and despair and hatred and insanity, where his very valid point of “hey people in government are fucked up and don’t give a shit about us and that needs to change” gets turned into “they all need to die even if the very innocent people I want to save get hurt by this as well”, and I really wish that whole angle of it had been played up a bit more, and there had been more of an opportunity for Hershel to reason with him and argue that in the midst of his blind need for revenge, he’s become even worse than the people who need justice handed to them (cue some Descole allusionssss). He wouldn’t have to win him over, Clive is already too deep by that point despite how much he wanted to be stopped, but just having more of that than just what happens in the surveillance room would have been sooooooo good, I love that conversation. It would have made Clive even better and really drive home that he’s 1) kinda right about some things and wants better for people 2) still very fucking wrong and selfish at the same time and has taken it all way too far 3) very fucked up and broken. Not that the third point isn’t already abundantly clear, but... yeah. It would have given him even more depth, made him more sympathetic, and helped juuust a little to offset how much the game handwaves his mass murders... just a little... One of my favorite Clive scenes though is when the fortress is breaking down and he’s still there, desperately trying to save it, still in denial about the fact that all his plans have failed and that everything he’s done (and himself) is about to go up in flames; I know everyone loves making fun of him and that that scene is pretty memeable (he does get bodied so much in the game, lmaooo), but it makes him look so vulnerable, all alone in there by himself, like a child, which is what he really is, deep down: he never truly wanted to do something so abhorrent and evil, but his emotions and mind spiraled so badly out of control and it led him to such a dark, horrible place, where he couldn’t stop himself, no matter how much he wanted to, and in the end all he can do is watch helplessly as the reality of what he’s done and his unwound future all comes crashing down in front of him, never to be salvaged. And he believes wholeheartedly that he is going to die, that he deserves to (this is my favorite Clive scene; he’s so hurt and resigned, the voice acting kills me ugh), he doesn’t understand at all why Claire wants to save him, especially if he knows she’s one of the scientists (as his line of “why are you of all people helping me” implies), because he always thought none of them ever cared about him and people he saw as like him, thought everyone was like Bill Hawks, but Claire still cared enough to want to save his life, even though she was one of the people he was actively targeting with his revenge... I wonder how he would have felt at the time if he had known about her situation and that she was dying. </3 I just want so many good things for him, as so much of the fandom does. He’s so messed up but that’s what makes him so interesting, and his potential relationship with Hershel that the ending of the game suggests could happen is so touching and lovely and uplifting, one of my favorite kinds of relationships in fiction: Clive’s issues would persist for so long, for forever, really, but Hershel would support him and help him heal, and be there for him always, no matter how much Clive would feel like he didn’t deserve it. I eat this dynamic up, I really do, every single time I encounter it in a story, and it’s made even better by the fact that as I’ve said, Hershel has so much in common with Clive, and so they would get along very well for that reason, and Clive could unknowingly help Hershel just as much Hershel tries to help him. They’re so good for each other. Add Luke too, and Flora, and Desmond...! just ahhhhh........ there’s so much goodness. Clive you absolute glorious, fucked-up mess of a character, I love you. :’) and I love fic writers who explore facets of his personality and write about him. He’s only in one game, and there’s still a few hiccups, as I said, yet he’s handled far better than Descole or Randall in my opinion (though I love them too)... just an amazing fucking villain, and character. I wish UF could have gone deeper with him than it did, but even so, the possibilities with Clive are endless. I love him, so much ;;

and some of the themes of the plot in this game, uhh, hit a little close to home in good ole’ 2020/21 time we live in? :’) #FuckBillHawks

Hershel saying goodbye to Claire.... god. One of the top scenes in the entire series, probably the #1 most iconic I’d even go so far as to say. I don’t even really ship LayClaire, but there’s an indescribable emotion that finale gives me... it’s just breathtaking, in the most gutwrenching, nostalgic, beautiful way. I still maintain that Diabolical Box’s ending is sadder than this one, for a multitude of reasons, just comparing the stories and situations the characters are in, but I 100% don’t blame people for bawling at this scene more than any other, just because of the way it’s done yes I know I won’t shut up about the cinematography; the lighting, the camera angles, the pacing of it, Hershel’s fucking kicked puppy faces, the dialogue oh god the dialogue; it ALL hits like a TRUCK and comes together beautifully. At this point in his life Hershel has been through so much loss, so much so that it is unbearable - when he cries that he doesn’t want to say goodbye again, that he can’t say goodbye again, that he refuses to, nothing in the world is more true: this man has been through too much, and he’s hit his breaking point. even if you don’t have the prequels in mind when watching this, as most people don’t/didn’t the first time through, the overwhelming sense of burden and loss Hershel is feeling is so palpable, so painful - you get the sense that this isn’t just about Claire; Hershel has never shown emotion like this before up to this point, so for him to finally break down like this... it speaks volumes. After so many years of holding everything in, he finally can’t take it anymore, and basically stabbing me in the fucking chest would hurt less </3 I complain about Hershel never showing emotion like this (never crying) in the prequels whenever he’s hit with an equally horrible bombshell, and I still feel that way, but at the same time a part of me is also glad that’s the case, because it makes the very last (two) scenes in the entire series hit so much harder, knowing that he finally loses his composure after dealing with so much. As the titular character of the series, Hershel’s development is very understated and subtle, so it’s all the more meaningful when he actually snaps, because it makes him feel so much more real and human than he ever is the rest of the time, when he maintains his facade of being a perfectly composed, calm, and together gentleman; this scene finally say that, no, Hershel is a person, and he is broken in a lot of ways, because some puzzles you just can’t solve no matter how hard you try, and it’s so sad. And this sad tone of loss and longing permeates the entire cutscene; the way the title is dropped in Claire’s dialogue (both versions equally haunting imo), and Hershel taking off his hat for the first time ever, and the pan up and transition back to show the falling snow as “Time Travel”, my favorite instrumental in the series, kicks in... y’all there is no other feeling in the world like the feeling that elicits, there really isn’t ಥ⌣ಥ ❤️💔 the only thing that might even come close to it is the ending of Azran Legacy with Surely Someday, simply because it was the ending of the series, but the ending of Unwound Future hits me harder knowing it’s the end of the timeline, and with everything else in hindsight. And then an unknown amount of time later, even with Luke gone and Hershel only having Flora there with him anymore unless we headcanon DESMOND COMES BACK BECAUSE OF COURSE HE DID RIGHT, Hershel is still no longer wearing his hat, to show that he’s finally started to heal from his pain, and accepted the loss(es), because throughout all of UF Hershel had never really gotten over Claire’s death no matter how much he tried to pretend like he had, but you don’t realize that until you see the ending, until he got one final chance to see her. I just... ugh I love it so much, so much. It means so much, for Hershel and for the series, and that’s why it makes me cry (and don’t even get me sTARTED on Luke’s goodybe, and how upsetting yet beautiful THAT is. yes, Luke isn’t a gentleman yet, and Hershel finally learns that maybe he doesn’t always have to be one, either :’’’’’’)

Unwound Future is a masterpiece. Diabolical Box has my favorite characters and story for the new characters, and favorite settings, personally, but Unwound Future is such top-tier storytelling and writing; it feels so epic and sweeping and (here i go again) cinematic, it’s so polished and everything flows so well, the pacing is wonderful, everything ties up so perfectly and there’s very little I would change Flora bitching aside and practically nothing that feels like filler, even though some of it technically is. The tone stays consistent and they really push the boundaries of how serious and heavy these games can be, and it works, and doesn’t feel silly or glossed over or too unrealistic or too heavyhanded like some of the other games are at times; the plot twists/reveals feel the least absurd and the most grounded in reality, despite still being wild, and it focuses on some really relevant stuff and themes (again, it feels really grounded and raw, and the least fantastical, which isn’t a bad thing for the other games/movie per se, but being more realistic works in this one’s favor. No one is going to have their family separated and murdered by a criminal secret organization working to unearth ancient advanced civilized ruins, or lose years of their life and memories in said ancient ruins, or have their life ruined in an eternal unaging state from hallucinogenic gas, but being screwed over by people in government who will do anything to make sure they never have to face consequences? now that’s a mood). It’s just a really fucking good game, by far the best Professor Layton game, and I’ll always stand by that, despite preferring DB just a bit more cause it hits more of my personal tastes (DB is still very good too though, don’t get me wrong), and it’s also enhanced even more by the prequels, though it stands perfectly on its own. The perfect culmination of Hershel’s character arc, and the absolute high point of the series. It’s one of the ones I keep coming back to the most, just because it has so much to offer; as someone who is absolutely enamored with near-perfect stories of this caliber, I couldn’t ask for more. ❤️

#professor layton #professor layton spoilers #meta #who wants to read 8k words about a 12 year old game: no one #who's still gonna post it: this bitch #i actually got emotional near the end writing hjklskdfkfldlksk watching the end of uf always hurts :' ) #me: 'db is my favorite' also me: 'rants and cries about uf for almost double the length of the db rant' #It's About The Potential.jpg #i didn't even talk about the puzzles much at all lmaooooo none of them really stood out to me #just........ story........ so good...... emotions go brrrr #i need ALL the dimitri fanfic tbh #and dimitri and clive #and CLAIRE and clive #and clive and hershel ofc #catch me being obsessed with time travel in a game where 99% of it isn't time travel ahjsdffkldskkdfl #It Could Be That Deep.jpg #need to write my other uf ideas.... and then get to the prequels already #but i also wanna replay pl vs aa... and the aa trilogy...... so much to doooooo

[bat-lings]

Opinion on Jason Todd/Bruce Wayne relationship as a father-son?

ALRIGHT the human rambling disaster that I am struck again

Jump to the conclusion if it’s too long!

It’s just really hard discussing anything about Jason without acknowledging the sheer mess that DC’s whims made of him. To take that inconsistency into account let’s consider his relationship with Bruce from three angles:

Before Jason’s death / during his Robin days as portrayed before Starlin;

Before Jason’s death / during his Robin days as portrayed since Starlin and up until Jason’s resurrection, through mentions & flashbacks;

Post-resurrection.

Sadly enough the first era is the only one that bothers to portray a father-son dynamic with enough content to have a real opinion on, but I’ll take what I have. And what we have then is pretty great.

Jason’s Robin days

We’re in the 80’s, and Jason & Bruce’s relationship is the most ridiculously pure thing to have graced our poor souls. It’s soft and good.

They have great interactions, a real proximity, and overall bring a lot into each other’s life. Alfred and Bruce are happy to have another kid at home, and Jason is as much in need of guidance & of a family as any other kid. Jason doubts himself a lot and Bruce does his best to reassure him. He’s also is a teasing little shit and that’s great.

[Batman #377 || Detective Comics #579]

[Detective Comics (1937) #573]

JASON YOU’RE TOO CUTE. Also the tired dad feel is strong in that one lmao. Jay, lad, my son, my life,, what have you done to the newspaper,,,,

Ahem right, less gushing more commenting.

As you can see, Jason and Bruce’s relationship before his death/resurrection is pretty peachy. The slice of life sequences strengthen their father-son bond into the reader’s mind. We’re shown they’re father and son rather than just told so.

At some point Bruce’s custody of Jason is temporarily threatened, and that arc is a vivid telling of how strong their bond is.

[Detective Comics #542 || Batman (1940) #377]

Just. That whole speech. “Only Jason is real.” Definitely one of my favorite papa-bat moments.

And as Robin? Jason is clever, often brings valuable insight during cases, and respects Bruce’s teaching and authority. Bruce makes a good job at addressing Jason’s insecurities and guiding him, both through his training and by honing his moral compass.

(Note that I said honing, ‘cause Jay’s moral sense is very much present well before he meets Bruce. He was cool with stealing to survive but Ma Gunn’s school was too much for him.)

He’s initially nothing like the violent angry kid he’s now known as. Pre-Starlin, the only times Jason acts brashly is when confronted with his father’s killer. When Bruce addresses the matter, it’s not about blaming or judging him. ‘Cause he gets it, but it’s also his job to make sure Jason’s not compromised.

[Detective Comics #580 & 581]

And when Jason promises to keep himself in check, it’s all it takes for Bruce to take him back on the case. That’s how much he trusts him. Read the end of the issue and see how Jason proves himself worthy of that trust.

Not only does Jason understand Bruce as much as Bruce understands him, but he’s very perceptive in general. He tends to be straightforward with what’s on his mind… at least when it comes to calling out Bruce lol

[Detective Comics #579]

(They’re talking about Leslie on the last one btw. She was Bruce’s surrogate mom after his parents’ death and they have a great dynamic. Another pearl straight outta the 80′s!)

They get each other, they trust each other, they respect each other. Honestly Bruce’s relationship with Jason was the most healthy he’s had with any of his kids.

We can kiss all of that goodbye after Starlin has his way with Jason. And since Starlin’s “““characterization””” is the one that crossed the years, of all things, we can consider Jason’s initial portrayal pretty much retconed— and his relationship with Bruce with it. Shame, huh?

Of Flashbacks and Victim-Blaming Robin days, 2.0

From the 90’s to the reboot there is… few material about Jason’s relationship with Bruce. Or about Jason outside of his death/Robin.

Whether Jason is mentioned or appears in a flashback, the goal isn’t to recall a father-son relationship. It’s to drive through the point that Jason was reckless and violent. That new portrayal has its predictable impact on their relationship, and that’s pretty much all there is to say.

[Gotham Knights #43]

Obviously Bruce doesn’t trust Jason, since Jason is now a “reckless angry kid who likes to inflict pain on criminals”. Beatty delivers cool stories, but if you read that arc you’ll see that he lies it very thick when it comes to victim-blaming Jason.

Depending which writer/comic book you’re reading, it’s implied or affirmed that Jason is Bruce’s son. You’ll probably have a line about Bruce’s unending guilt, or Jason’s (*sigh*) recklessness. Mostly Jason’s a cautionary tale addressed to either Tim (who never gave much of a shit about Jason btw) or Cass (Batgirl #7 is a rare instance where it’s done without victim-blaming because Pucket is da bomb).

But there’s legit no material about Jason’s childhood in the Manor, or how him and Bruce acted around one another, what they talked about, Jason’s personality aside of “angry”, how Bruce addressed his son’s self-doubts – oh right modern!Jason is an arrogant brat who claimed the Robin mantle for himself so that’s out.

DC rolled with Starlin’s portrayal, and didn’t bother to construct anything else between Jay & Bruce to replace the parts they chose to erase.

[Batman (1940) #645]

The point is: Jason and Bruce’s father-son relationship before Jason’s death is barely spoken of. We don’t know shit about how Jason was as a kid. Bruce loved him but didn’t trust him since his “mean streak” made him sooo dangerous and unmanageable. That’s it. Jason is the bad Robin first, the dead Robin second, and Bruce’s son last.

Resurrection and onward

Jason and Bruce’s relationship post-resurrection is complicated, for obvious reasons, and has interesting potential. My main problem with it is that it’s seldom addressed after Jason makes his dramatic return in UtH & the arc is closed.

For all that I have a love-hate relationship with Winick’s writing, and for all that I don’t like everything he’s done with Jason, his narrative is mostly coherent (and a good read overall!).

Winick doesn’t talk outward about Jason and Bruce’s bond before Jason’s death, but enough is implied. Jason’s damaged psyche centers around Bruce and what wrongs Jason considers to have suffered from him. He reorganizes his entire identity and actions around Bruce.

It’s not only consistent with Jason’s mental health at this stage, it’s telling of Bruce’s importance for him. The same way Bruce must have been his world after he took him out of the streets, Bruce is still very much his world when Jason is on a vengeance frenzy.

Killing Bruce, taking revenge against Bruce, making a point to Bruce; everything is about Bruce. It’s the whole “the opposite of love is apathy not hate” thing. DC could’ve expanded on that and made it evolve into whatever, but they just, y’know. didn’t.

[Batman (1940) #650]

I like Under the Hood and Lost Days well enough except for the Jason/Talia ugh. Problem is, DC obviously had no idea what to do with Jason after that, so his relationship with Bruce stays at a status quo.

Post-resurrection Jason isn’t so much estranged family than an antagonist who makes some cool appearances here and there— when they’re not so terribly written that they make me cringe.

There are some other interesting things here and there, giving depth to Jason’s estrangement from Bruce & the batfam…

[Green Arrow (2001) #72]

… but those elements are few and far between, and fail to establish a solid construction/development of any kind between Jason and Bruce. UtH!Jason put on some interesting bases but afterwards? Jason as a character is stagnating, and so is his relationship with any member of the batfam.

And then there’s the n52 & Rebirth I guess. It obviously wants to deliver a father-son narrative, but doesn’t do great job at it. Again, aside from a few cute scenes, the “he’s my son but he does baaaad things” eternal dilemma, and Jason’s newfound proximity with the batfam coming out of nowhere (especially with Tim wtf), I didn’t find much content to have a solid opinion on.

(Salty) conclusion

My opinion of Jason & Bruce’s father-son relationship is that it’s hella cute pre-Starlin and that Winick’s version of it makes sense within his Under the Hood & Lost Days narrative (I personally cut out “bad seed Jason” and keep most of the rest).

I think we lost a lot of potential when Starlin’s work became the reference. I think the Red Hood and his baggage with the whole fam could’ve been richer and more interesting if Jason’s initial characterization was kept in mind.

Yes, Jason and Bruce’s initial relationship could’ve used some more tension/conflict in between the sweet moments but… as far as I’m concerned Starlin’s writing wasn’t the way to go.

I think the only way to build a coherent interpretation of Jason & his relationship with the fam is to make a patchwork of canon elements and to fill in the blanks yourself. Thus what I have on Jason & Bruce that takes the Red Hood into account isn’t so much an “opinion” on canon material than a personal construction.

I’m sorry Anon, I bet that’s not what you expected when you sent that ask, but it’s all I have to give :’) Hope the answer is still okay & thanks for the ask!

#jason todd #bruce wayne #batfamily #batdad #batfam #red hood #batman #robin #dc comics #meta #dick grayson #barbara gordon #zae chatters #asks #my stuff

[survivorbermuda-blog]

CHRISTIAN’S JURY SPEECH

Hullo friends. As some of y'all may or may not know, I tragically destroyed my tooth yesterday in a battle of General Tso's Chicken vs Tooth, and I'm currently popping various levels of pain pills to cope with the loss. Some or most of this is likely not to be coherent. That is just something we're all going to have to deal with, although it is sort of indicative of my game overall this season. Anyways, I know even the most die-hard Christian fan is not going to want to read a 3,000 word novel over a game that took over 2 months, so I have decided to condense the main points as much as possible. K? K.

-THE FINAL FOUR VOTE-

Let's be real, the only thing that a majority of you want to know about is what exactly happened with the Final 4 vote, so I've decided to not exactly go by chronological order and just get this out of the way now.

Question: "Christian, oml! Why on EARTH did you vote for Tim over Owen, don't you know that like Owen totally has a great chance of winning?!?!?"

Answer: Yes, I am not stupid. I know that Owen played a very good game that would likely appeal to a jury. However, I had to calculate my own odds of winning into the equation as well. Did I play a game that is likely going to get a majority of the jury votes? Without a doubt, no. Therefore, the best chance of me winning would be a plurality win and as Owen and Duncan's game were more similar than Tim's, I figured that having them in the FTC would give me the best odds of a split. With TWELVE people on the jury, I knew that a plurality winner was more than likely, so yes, that's what I aimed to achieve with my vote. I saw Tim and myself potentially splitting the support I did have, and that wasn't something I wanted to risk. Y'all can bash me for that, but I wasn't going to play for another 3rd place. I want the win, and let's be real, the only chance of that is a plurality. While y'all can say it's not the smart move on paper, after all the time I spent during the immunity challenge thinking on it, it's the one that I still believe gives me the best chance. I risked it for the biscuit. If I vote Owen out, it would just be seen as me making the "obvious move" and that doesn't garner me any merit. I went for the unorthodox approach, in exchange for a potentially unorthodox result, and I full-heartedly believe that was my personal, smartest move to make based on my game thus far. People can view it as self-sabotage, but all season long people have bashed me for seemingly playing for 3rd place. I made a move to risk a probable 2nd place (by voting out Owen) to get a chance at first. I'm not going to apologize for that.

-CHRISTIAN AS A SURVIVOR PLAYER-

I never came into this thinking I was some masterful Survivor player. I'm just your average 20 year old college student who signed up because my good friend Christopher needed a replacement and asked me to play. The last time I played Tumblr Survivor I also made it to FTC and got torn apart personally. Like I had to sit through a 2 hour live FTC and have pretty much every aspect of my game and personality torn apart, this wasn't exactly an experience I was telling all my close friends about. So I came back hesitant. I knew there were going to be people smarter than me, more sociable than me, and stronger physically. I wasn't aiming to be the next great Tumblr Survivor player. I just wanted to have a fun time after what happened last time. And for about three days, I had that feeling. Then I was blindsided on our original tribe and from that moment on, I never really felt safe. I told myself priority #1 was always to just survive. No matter what just make sure it wasn't me that was going home that night. And through it all, I did. I went to rocks for my closest (and really only at the time) ally and went to Bermuda. I fought my way back, and kept on surviving. Every attempt I made at having an alliance never panned out. Moves I made such as voting out Nick instead of RJ others took credit for. I did everything I could to try to prove to the Vets that I wanted to work with them, since I knew I was on the bottom of the Tengagers yet I was never trusted. I worked with what I had, which wasn't much. I didn't have the ability to flip on people every round like Duncan or a core alliance that would trust me no matter what like Owen. I had myself and I managed to make it work. When it came down to it, it was myself who fought for 26 hours to win that final immunity. It was myself who won my way back from Bermuda after I drew the purple rock. It was myself who convinced Jake to take out RJ with my extra vote. The ability of things I was able to do was severely limited by isolation, but I still managed. No one can say they dragged me here because if I hadn't put in the effort, I would've gone home at the Final 20, or I would've just gotten a score of 0 in the Final Immunity Challenge. Like I mentioned earlier, I had an unorthodox method to this game but I like to think of it like this. This game is basically a huge poker game, and everyone has their own starting hands. Some have really good cards, and some had really bad cards. I didn't have as good of hands as Owen and Duncan did. But I didn't fold, and I made sure that hand was enough to get me here. I am proud of myself for that. I was a last minute replacement both of my seasons, yet I made FTC in both of them. That's no small feat, and I know that in a typical Survivor-lense, I look like trash. But I'm not a normal Survivor player, I think my quirks speak for themselves, and I think that while it's easy to play a cookie-cutter game to win, it's not so easy to play how I did. I took the more difficult road and I still made it to the destination.

-OTHER STUFF-

Ironically enough since I placed last or near last in a lot of the individual challenges, I had the most individual immunity wins out of all of us with three compared to Owen and Duncan's two. While 2048 and Mastermind weren't really much to write home about, the last challenge is where I really proved my grit in my opinion. I only got 26 because I was told I had won at that point. I was fully ready to go for 48 hours, 72, whatever it took to make sure that I had won that final challenge to ensure my spot at the Final Tribal Council. I had nailed my system to make sure I didn't mess up, and it really was tragic I never got to show how much more I could've gone for.

My voting record was so bad I sorta have to stan because I'm a messy person and I like messy things. From my calculations I voted 20 times throughout the season, and at those tribals, the person I voted for went home 8/20 of those times. Like LMAO? The person I voted for only went home 40% of the time and I STILL made it here, even though a majority of the correct votes for end-game votes. I'm sorry y'all can hate if you want, but I know if I was watching my messy ass on television I'd enjoy it, especially since it's on par with Survivor legends such as Keith Nale (4/11) and Jay Starrett (3/10). Things I did: #that!

-CONCLUSION-

So yeah, that's really about it LMAO. I feel for the cards I was dealt, the way I had to play them in order to survive was pretty good. I wasn't a great Survivor player in terms of how many people see as normal, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. But from where I started on Day 1 to making it all the way to Final 3, I'm proud of myself. Y'all don't have to agree with me, but that's just my two cents. I tried being as honest as possible throughout the game, I tried to stick to what I felt was right, and ultimately that wound up with me in the Final 3.

I know I'm a heavily flawed person and player but I saw Survivor as a game of being able to well, survive. And it may have been an unorthodox way, but I did it. Like I said, I'm not the strongest, smartest, or most sociable person here, however, I do think I was able to play into my strengths to make it here. Some may see that as not playing to win, but a first impression is hard to shake, and people who were able to shake that negative first impression ended up on the jury instead. So I embraced it, and turned it into a 1/3 chance of winning this game. I didn't sheep to get here, I didn't self-vote to get here, and I'm proud of that.

So jury after that attempt at being concise that turned into a ramble, it is now up to you! Whatever y'all personally decide as criteria for winning is up to you, but I'm happy to answer any and all questions that'd make your lives easier.

Also thank you to all the hosts for making what this season is, and all the hard work y'all put in I really appreciate it from the bottom of my heart <3

Good luck fellow finalists!