#oooh good analysis!

[believemedarlin]

The Perfect Man

Aaron Hotchner/Female Reader (3.9k words) Also available on AO3

Summary:

“You know, if you combined all the men on the team… they’d make the perfect man.”

“What?” Emily sputtered into her wine.

Penelope giggled while JJ looked intrigued

***

A drunken night out with the girls leads to some interesting revelations.

***

“Let’s play Fuck, Marry, Kill.”

A round of groans sounded from the table, but Penelope Garcia was not to be dissuaded. 

“Come on, ladies. It’ll be fun!”

Her best puppy dog eyes firmly in place, Penelope implored her friends and coworkers with a practiced look. You were holding strong until she brought out the big guns and pouted at you.

A mere ten seconds later you caved. 

“Okay, fine,” You sighed. “But can we use kick instead of kill? I always hated that option. Why do you have to kill them when kicking would be just as effective in showing your lack of interest? No death required.”

“Ooh, I like that,” Penelope immediately agreed with a nod. “You know I’m a pacifist at heart.”

She turned to the other two women seated at the table, pout back in full force. JJ gave in first, patting Penelope’s hand with an indulgent smile and a nod. 

Seeing that she was outnumbered, Emily shrugged. “Sure. But I’ll need another drink if we’re doing this. I haven’t played this since college.”

“I’ll get us all another round.” Penelope jumped to her feet to join her and they made their way to the bar, weaving through the other patrons.

It was a rare Friday night off and the women of the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit had decided to go out for a much-needed night of ladies-only fun and frivolity. They had happily left the guys to sort out their evenings and escaped the second the clock struck five.

They were all a few drinks in at this point, which is most likely the reason Penelope had suggested the game. She always got a bit playful when she drank.

They returned a few minutes later, fresh drinks in hand. 

Once settled, Penelope leaned in, an eager smile on her face. “Okay. Fuck, Marry, Kick. Henry Cavill, Ben Barnes, Zachary Levi. And go!”

Emily took a sip of her drink and wasted no time in voicing her choices, followed by JJ and you. You took turns coming up with more and more outlandish options, and pleasantly spent the next hour drinking and laughing with your friends.

You had just finished giggling over Penelope’s reasoning behind her choosing to kick Willy Wonka and marry Jareth the Goblin King so she could enjoy a night with Conan the Barbarian when Emily leaned in with a smirk.

“I’ve got a good one. Hotch, Morgan, and Reid.”

The table erupted in a chorus of ooohs and laughter. 

JJ bit her lip in thought. “Okay, since we know them personally and I’m a happily taken woman, I’m going to change mine to kiss, because it’s weird to say I want to fuck any of them. So, uh, I’ll go with kiss Morgan, marry Reid, and kick Hotch. But only barely, because I do not want him angry with me.”

“Easy,” Penelope chirped. “Fuck Morgan, marry Morgan, and kick Reid and Hotch.”

You, JJ, and Emily burst into laughter, with JJ swatting Penelope on the arm. “You can’t double up like that!”

“Can too! My game, my rules. Besides, it’s special circumstances with Morgan as an option.”

Emily snorted, then grinned. “Hmm. I think I’d go with fuck Morgan, marry Hotch, and kick Reid.”

All eyes then turned to you as you stared into your drink, taking entirely too long as you overthought the options.

Eventually, Emily cleared her throat and you looked up to see her watching you expectantly.

“What?” You grinned sheepishly with a shrug. “It’s harder than you’d think!”

The ladies teased you good-naturedly until you finally said, “Okay, okay! Um, I think…” 

You blew out a breath in a long sigh. “Fuck Reid, marry Hotch, kick Morgan. No wait… Maybe fuck Hotch, marry Reid?”

Emily and JJ cackled while Penelope put on a fake offended air. “Why you gotta kick my beloved cinnamon hot chocolate Adonis not once, but twice? He’s the perfect man!”

"I mean, a lot of women would think that, yeah, but not me.”

Penelope gasped and pressed her hand to her chest dramatically. “Why, I never.”

You giggled with a shrug. “Sorry?” 

“You’re forgiven.”

“What I want to know,” JJ chimed in with a mischievous grin, “is why you can’t decide between Reid and Hotch on who to marry?”

You buried your face in your hands to hide your blush. “I don’t know! Both seem like solid choices. I think they’d both make good husbands.”

Emily smirked. “Sure it wasn’t because you couldn’t decide which you’d rather fuck?”

Penelope and JJ burst into laughter again while you groaned into your hands.

“You all are menaces. I don’t know why I spend time with you.”

“Because we’re wonderful people and you love us.”  Penelope teased.

“That’s debatable.” You mumbled.

“Oh, come on,” she leaned into your side and laid her head on your shoulder. “You know you adore us.” Penelope batted her eyes and you couldn’t help but grin.

“Yeah, I do.”

She cheered and called for another round of drinks.

The game wound down and devolved into a rather extensive list of men and women that each of the ladies wouldn’t mind enjoying some personal one-on-one time with.

You had been sitting in a comfortable silence for the past few minutes, chin in hand and elbow on the table, your mind pondering on something Penelope had said earlier. Your voice took on a contemplative tone as you mused aloud, “You know, if you combined all the men on the team… they’d make the perfect man.”

“What?” Emily sputtered into her wine.

Penelope giggled while JJ looked intrigued.

“Okay, just hear me out. Now, granted, everyone’s idea of the perfect man is different but for me… If we go by physical attributes first, you have to admit that each guy is objectively attractive on their own. I mean seriously, was it a prerequisite that everyone has to be outrageously good-looking to be a member of the team?”

The ladies heartily agreed with laughter and nods, but you gestured across the table to them. “I’m including you three in this too. Have you looked at yourselves? You’re all absolutely gorgeous.”

“Damn right, we are,” Emily exclaimed as she high-fived JJ.

You raised your glass to her and took a sip before expanding on your premise. “So by themselves, each man is handsome but combined…”

You tilt your head in thought. “For me, it would be Reid’s hair. I’ve always liked longer hair on a guy and have you seen those curls when he lets it grow out? And then add in Hotch and Rossi’s dark hair and … yeah. Next would be Morgan and Rossi’s facial hair. I don’t know about you ladies but I like a man with a bit of scruff, you know what I mean? Goatee or full beard or just a couple of days growth, hell even a good five o’clock shadow, as long as it’s maintained and not all scraggly, I like it. Oooh, remember when Hotch came back with a beard?

“Yeah,” you sighed, a bit more dreamily than you had intended, surely caused by the late hour and not the memory of a casually dressed, bearded Hotch. “Like that.”

All three ladies shared a knowing look, but you paid them no mind. 

“Though there is something to be said about a freshly shaved face. It’s so soft…” You sighed again.

“And then there’s height.” You knew you were rambling, but with the alcohol fueling you, there was little chance of stopping you now. “They’re all at least 6 foot so the height difference is perfect for both cuddles and forehead kisses.”

At this, Emily snorted. “Forehead kisses?”

“Yes,” you snipped primly. “They are the pinnacle of non-lip-to-lip kisses and they are my favorite thing. They just make you feel so adored. Now shush.”

You shooed her and rested your chin back in your hand. “Let’s see… Eyes. Honestly, I think they all have lovely eyes. I’m not picky on eye color really but I think Hotch’s stand out the most to me. I mean, have you seen his eyelashes? It should be criminal for a man to have such beautiful eyelashes.”

Another round of nods and hummed agreements sounded from the table.

“You know,” you continue with barely a pause, “I’ve never been a fan of really buff dudes, which sorry Pen, but that’s kinda why poor Morgan got kicked twice.” You shrugged unapologetically at her. 

“I’ve always preferred lean guys. Not scrawny but not bugling out his shirt, you know? Strong but not shoved in your face. But!” You sit straighter in your chair, index finger raised to emphasize your point. “That’s just looks. Personality-wise, I’m drawn to kindness first and our boys all have that in spades. And they each show it in different ways, but it’s always present.”

You met Penelope’s eyes. “And Morgan’s kindness absolutely overrides his excessive muscle mass. He’s honestly one of the kindest people I know, even if he’d deny it. He’s not humble about a lot of things, but he is about that.”

Your eyes dropped to the table as your finger ran along the wood grain. “I also like intelligence and while yes, first thoughts go to Reid, the others are all brilliant too. Like, Rossi is so wise! It seems like he always knows what’s going on with someone before anyone else, and always seems to know just what to say just when you need to hear it. And they each have strengths that I admire. I genuinely like each of them as a person and I’m proud to know them and am honored they consider me a friend. Honestly, I feel that way about all of you.”

“Aw!” Penelope sniffled. “That’s so sweet. We love you too, you know.”

You gave her hand a quick squeeze and took another sip of your drink. 

“What about lips?”

You blinked at JJ. “Lips? I’m not sure. I don’t know that I look at them much.”

Emily tilted her head. “You seriously don’t look at men’s lips?”

“Not really? I mean, I notice smiles. And honestly, how did I not start with that? It’s usually one of the first things I notice about someone. Smiles make everyone look twice as attractive. Oh, and a sense of humor! Gotta love a man who can make you laugh.”

“This one is definitely Morgan,” Emily chimed in and you nodded in agreement while Penelope raised her glass.

“Absolutely. He always makes me laugh, but so do the others. Rossi is snarky, which I appreciate as a fellow snarker. I can’t tell you the number of times he’s made me hold back a laugh during a round table. Reid can be really funny, too. Especially when we’re making Star Trek or Doctor Who references that no one else gets. Except you, Pen, but you’re usually in your lair. And Hotch—”

“No,” Emily cut in. “No way you think he’s funny. The man barely smiles.”

You tsked and leaned in, your tone turning a bit haughty. “First of all, I think it’s a good thing that he holds those back because have you seen how handsome he is when he smiles? His whole face transforms and he has dimples. Dimples . It’s ridiculous and no one would be able to focus on work if he was blinding us with his smile all the time. And secondly, yes. He’s hilarious, actually. He has a dry sense of humor that gets me every time. And he is so straight-faced about it. I laughed embarrassingly loud once at something he said and I had to leave the room because I couldn’t stop giggling. And the man had the nerve to be smug about it later.”

You shook your head with exasperated fondness, not noticing the raised eyebrows and pointed looks the other ladies were sharing.

“Anyway,” You sighed and leaned back in your chair. “Morgan is my biggest supporter, Reid nerds out with me, Rossi gives the best advice, and Hotch makes me feel safe. All things that would attract me to someone. So, with their powers combined…” You spread your hands in a sweeping motion. “The perfect man.”

“Huh,” Penelope hummed. “You know, I kinda see it.”

“See?” You grinned triumphantly. “We really do work with amazing guys.”

A cry of ‘hear, hear’ sounded around the table and the four of you leaned in to clink glasses.

Emily settled back in her chair with a smirk, her eyes focused on you. “Okay, you waxed poetic about the guys. Now, what about us?”

You grinned. “You, my darling lady loves, all hold a special place in my heart. There’s no way I could choose. You are each the perfect woman.”

Another cheer went up and everyone downed their drinks, laughing merrily.

The outing wound down about half an hour later. You each stumbled your way outside, Emily and Penelope deciding to share a taxi.

You stood with JJ as you waved the other two goodbye; you waiting for your own taxi and JJ waiting for Will to pick her up.

“You know,” she said conversationally, her eyes on the street. “You mentioned Hotch quite a few times describing your perfect man.”

You blinked. “What? I did not.”

She turned to you with a wide grin. “Oh yes, you did. No denying it now.”

You sputtered, not sure how to reply.

She chuckled and laid a hand on your arm, just as your taxi arrived. “Seems to me like he ticks quite a few of the boxes for your perfect man.” She leaned in to whisper, “So what are you going to do about it?”

JJ winked as she stepped back to open the door of the car that pulled in behind your taxi and slid in. “Just think about it, okay?”

You nodded numbly, mechanically climbing into the back seat of the taxi while Will and JJ patiently waited to make sure you were safely on your way.

You mumbled out your address and barely noticed the drive home, arriving much sooner than expected, as your mind was focused on JJ’s words.

You shook your head as you entered your apartment, determined to think no more of it. It was just a silly statement born out of one too many drinks.

There was no way you thought of Hotch that way.

No way at all.

***

The rest of the weekend was miraculously quiet and work-free. You couldn’t remember the last time you had so much time to yourself, so you took full advantage of it.

As days off always tended to do, they flew by too quickly and Monday morning arrived before you were ready for it. You greeted everyone when you entered the department, nodding to Rossi and waving at Morgan and Penelope as you settled in at your desk.

No new case had come in, so today would be an in-office day catching up on paperwork and caseloads.

You were productive throughout the day, completing most of the pending work assigned to you, and you were feeling quite accomplished with the diminishing stack in your inbox.

Only a few minutes remained in the workday when you stood from your chair, stretching your stiff back, and made your way up the stairs to Hotch’s office to drop off an armful of completed reports.

You knocked on his door, only having to wait a second before he bid you enter.

He was focused on the open file in front of him and he didn’t look up until you spoke. “These are ready for you to review, Hotch.”

His eyes shot up to meet yours before dropping to the folders in your arms. He gestured to the corner of his desk nearest you and went back to scribbling notes on the report. “You can just leave them there, thank you.”

You set them down next to another stack and grimaced. There were multiple bundles of files littering his desk. While in-office days were great for clearing your desk of work, it unfortunately always added to Hotch’s workload.

“Looks like everyone had similar offerings for you today. Will you be able to leave at a reasonable hour tonight? I’d be happy to help with anything if you need it.”

Hotch finished the line he was writing and looked up at you through his long lashes, a small, shy kind of smile curving his lips. His cheeks were just a touch pinker than usual and you blinked because you’ve never seen that look on his face before.

He looked almost bashful, a word you would never have associated with Aaron Hotchner.

But damn, was it a good look on him. He really was a handsome man, wasn’t he? Kind, funny, successful, and a great father. He was practically the perfect man.

You froze and blinked again at the realization.

“Oh, uh,” his deep voice broke you from your thoughts. “I appreciate the offer, but I’ve got it covered. I shouldn’t be here too much longer.”

“Right, of course.” You nodded and prayed he couldn’t see the blush you knew was rapidly spreading across your face. “Well, good night, sir.” 

You spun on your heel and opened the door, ready to flee as fast as your feet could carry you.

His low, murmured good night followed you out the door and you nearly shivered because holy hell, even his voice was attractive.

You quickly grabbed your things and nearly sprinted to the elevators, not wanting to stay one second longer around skilled profilers who could read you so easily, knowing they would spot your flushed cheeks instantly and want to know what caused them. Or worse, they’d already know, and that was not something you were ready to discuss with any of them at the moment.

You had fully intended on ignoring JJ’s words from Friday night, but after your reaction just now, you knew she was right.

Hotch was pretty damn close to fitting the idea of your perfect man.

Or maybe, the idea of your perfect man came from Hotch.

You sighed as you entered the thankfully empty elevator, finally admitting to yourself the truth that had been staring you in the face for longer than you’d ever care to admit.

You had it bad for Aaron Hotchner.

Oh, you were in so much trouble.

***

Aaron watched as you left his office, your face a delightful shade of pink.

His eyes followed as you rushed to your desk, snatched up your things, and darted out the door.

He hadn’t meant to overhear Prentiss and Garcia’s conversation that morning as they reminisced over their night out last Friday. He certainly hadn’t meant to linger when they mentioned you and your adorable—according to Garcia—rant about the perfect man. And he most certainly hadn’t meant to lean in rather eagerly when they whispered about just how many times his name had come up as an example during said rant.

He had been pleasantly surprised and somewhat stunned by the information. He’d never thought of himself as an ideal for the perfect man. 

Sure, he supposed he had a few attributes that some women might find appealing. He had a successful career and tried to keep in shape, though that was more for his job than vanity.

But he never imagined that anyone would look at him and think that he was a paradigm of their perfect man. Least of all you.

You were a brilliant profiler, exceptional in the field and able to hold your own in a fight when needed, but you were also caring with the victims and their families. You were witty and kind and easygoing. You were someone who smiled freely and laughed readily and did your best to cheer and encourage the team on tough cases.

Not someone who would think of stoic, hardass Aaron Hotchner as the perfect man.

Still, he hadn’t been able to keep his eyes from drifting to the window of his office throughout the day, seeking you out.

He thought back to when you joined the BAU and how quickly you became not only an essential part of the team but a much-welcomed member of their little family. Everyone adored you and Aaron himself had to admit that you had wormed your way into his heart.

He loved the time he got to spend with you when the team got together to unwind after a case and the little moments of levity you all shared in between working. He recalled the times he managed to make you laugh and the occasions where he found himself chuckling as well. You were easy to talk to and more often than not, the two of you fell into conversation whenever everyone else was either asleep or preferred to be left alone on the jet going to and from cases.

He genuinely enjoyed your company and found himself wishing he could enjoy it more often.

His eyes wandered to the bullpen again, zeroing in on you almost immediately. Prentiss and Morgan were standing by your desk when one of them said something that made you laugh.

Your eyes squeezed shut and your mouth opened to release an enchanting sound of delight. Aaron couldn’t look away and had to admit that you really were quite lovely. Inside and out.

He wasn’t sure how long he sat looking at you but knew it was longer than appropriate. He shook his head and forced himself to focus back on his work.

He managed to shove all thoughts of you from his mind for the remainder of the day until a soft knock sounded on his door late in the afternoon.

He didn’t bother to look up from the report he was notating after giving a gruff come in until he heard your voice.

Aaron couldn’t keep his eyes from darting up to meet yours before dropping them to the large stack of files in your arms.

He gestured for you to place them on the corner of his desk next to the ones Reid had deposited earlier and thought that would be his singular interaction with you for the day.

But then your caring side came out again and you sweetly offered to help him, a proposition that both filled him with fondness and nervousness.

After all his wayward thoughts about you throughout the day, he wasn’t sure if being in close proximity with you was a good idea or not. 

Aaron looked up at you again, the late afternoon sun enveloping you, enhancing your features, and his only thought was that he’d been wrong earlier. 

You weren’t just lovely. You were stunning.

In that moment, he was completely captivated by you and his thoughts ran rampant as he cataloged every minute detail of you. Your beauty, your kindness, your brilliance, and all the little things that made you you . Everything that endeared you to him.

But his thoughts came to a crashing halt when he realized that he was staring at you. He felt his face flush and he stammered as he gently declined your help.

You bid him a good night, but Aaron couldn’t take his eyes off the spreading blush on your cheeks. It kept his attention until you were out of sight.

He blinked and dropped his eyes back to the forgotten report in front of him, a slow smile creeping across his face.

He may not have meant to overhear the conversation that caused him to think about you all day, but he was starting to be glad he had. It seemed it was all he needed to face a few truths he had been in denial about for a long while now.

He was completely and utterly smitten with you.

Now, he just had to decide what to do about it. 

Aaron sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

Oh, he was in so much trouble.

#aaron hotchner x reader #aaron hotchner x female reader #aaron hotchner #penelope garcia #emily prentiss #jj jareau #aaron hotchner x you #criminal minds fanfiction

[solar-sunnyside-up]

I'm really curious about what you think schooling would look like in a Solarpunk world/future!

Because the current public school system is broken af and the homeschool system isn't much better. I personally have looked into things like Sudbury schools and found good things and also issues. I've always been a proponent of the IDEA of Unschooling (which I understand to be, letting the child learn naturally through the world around them, learn reading through reading to them or teaching math and even basic chemistry through teaching them to cook, etc) but it seems like most parents use it as an excuse to not educate their kids...

I really think kids should learn practical things alongside the Academic stuff (three Rs, science, etc) but no system seems right...

Oooh boy! Have I thought about this one endlessly!

So background info that I have to frame where I'm coming from-

A- the current system is built for school>> factory worker pipeline

B) it also evolved from ppl working at factories and needing to put their kiddos somewhere while they worked their 9-5! Thus Sunday school evolved from something to teach basic literacy to a full time job for children (it's legit nearly 40 hour weeks for CHILDREN) so there's a lot of padded time to ensure they meet that quota

C) it's used of a massive scale it was NOT designed to be used at

Soooo!! Let's imagine a better one!

Personally, based on children's development I think schooling should be broken up into focused chunks and then obvi each kiddo should be able to work at their own pace within these chunks of time.

0-6 Motor and sensory skills- introduced to music/shapes/building, "helping" with community chores (laundry/windows/dishes/sweeping), basics of plants/gardens, learning about transportation and basic navigation.

7-10 Written- literacy (reading/printing/telling time/storytelling/etc), health (emotional+physical), basic cooking + tool usage, basics of history/geography, basics of all sciences, gardening more independently

11-13 social + advanced work -- advanced history/science/literacy/home eco/etc.. start working within the community in a vollunteer capacity, Starting to specialize in interests, focuses in philosophy/analysis/debate,

14-20 community and citizenship --greated focus in Philosophy/debate/analysis in addition to apprenticeships of testing out what they'd like to do with their lives

20+ whatever they wanna do! Personally I think our adulthood should start over from 0 here. Bc after you hit 20 your a baby adult, but like a 35yr old is nearly a teenager as should be treated as such! Finding themselves, building community, getting the swing of all that jazz.

Then the WAY this is taught would be with ppl close to the kiddos, neighbors and parents and community leaders would be in charge of these chunks. Much more like a tutor or professor style where each teacher specializes in both the thing their teaching but also the kiddos their raising.

#schooling #solarpunk #hopepunk #tbh ive been sitting o. this for months bc this is just a very VERY bare bones answer obvi if i rehauled the system.it be more complex #this is watered down to be easily consumable to ppl to get the idea across

[redhoodinternaldialectical]

Thoughts on Jason Todd’s choice of weaponry?

:D an ask! Yay!

Oooh, lets see, I'll start with the crowbars because I appear to be like one of three people on the entire planet who actually likes them.

They're a tacky as fuck riff on the fact that Jason's death is central to his character. They overemphasize the manner in which he died, muddy the waters about what part of his death is important to him, and strangely cheapens the manner in which he died through the parody feel of it.

No one seems to really disagree with my analysis here, but I happen to enjoy that about them and think it's very on brand for Jason. What can I say? They're fun!

Best Quality - His Wiggles

This ultra-sharp curved blade used to be his signature character design feature, the way the white streak in his hair is now, and I'm really not sure why it didn't stick!

Best weapon he's ever had, bring it back please!!!!!

The All-Blades

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM...

I have mixed feelings about the All-Blades. Like much of Lobdell's work: phenomenal idea, poor execution. Giving the guy who is most known for being morally grey a set of powers that is exclusively based on moral absolutes sucks shit, I gotta be honest, and the trick he pulled on the blood blade was cool but ultimately does nothing to solve those problems.

HOWEVER

I want to love them so fucking badly. A set of glowy soul blades is a dope sicknasty off the chain concept and I wish the well wasn't poisoned with the moral implications and the restrictions to use them only on the "Untitled", a set of enemies that only exist for Jason so far as I can tell. If someone seriously took Jason down a magic based path that removed the DnD alignment chart bullshit, I would be so game to see them come back! Hell I wouldn't even insist on a better cooler design for them!

...though uh, yeah those are the least interesting magic sword designs I've ever seen tbh

Normal Ass Swords

They're alright I guess. Like, there's nothing in it really, but it's not bad?

Guns - Real Bullets

Excellent, evocative yet simple, straightforwards and to the point. It makes hella sense thematically to boot, love this for him, please give him back his pistols and miniguns and shit

Guns - Rubber Bullets

Hate. HATE. hate ick disgusting bad NO.

I just fucking hate rubber bullets, like, as a concept. I refuse to accept "non-lethal" bullets as a valid use of gun, either in real life or in fiction. Guns are for putting many holes in things very fast!!!! If you're gonna use a gun, fucking well own up to that!!! Do not play this silly ass game of pretending that you can change out the material and do the same things as with lead bullets but with the video game status effect of "non-lethal" applied. YOU ARE GIVING PEOPLE SMALL CIRCULAR BRUISES. This is still harmful, yes, ooph ouchie, but it is not even slightly a good use of a gun, you are wasting holster space, and carry weight, and the physical materials used to make it all!!

JUST USE A FUCKING STICK! YOU DON'T RUN OUT OF STICK AMMO!

My belief in his capacity to take out enemies is shattered the instant those fuckers are on panel. Maybe this ain't entirely rational, or realistic to how fights go with rubber bullets IRL, but I hate them so much on principle that I will ignore any counterargument you might have that they'd work. I will die on this hill. Rubber bullets BAD. Please stop making him use this!!

Bombs

Love it, give him more bombs forever

ka-BOOM!!!!

His Brain

This is actually his best weapon - sorry wiggly knife, you're being shunted down to number 2 on a last minute technicality! I think Jason is at his best when he's outsmarting people and making long term fucked up schemes to ruin people's lives.

He's so good at it! It's so fun to watch him do it!

Genuinely a shame that this facet of him was mostly lost after Flashpoint, though to give credit where it is due, in Rebirth Jason did ruin the Penguin's life in an impressively elaborate way, which I did really enjoy. I want to see him be a tactical deliberate menace to one person in specific again idk, that's part of why I do kinda agree that he works better as an antagonist than a protagonist - which it should be noted does not mean I think he works better as a villain necessarily, his ethics aren't what matter here - he's just had his best moments as the schemer, and it's hard to have a protagonist schemer even when you make them ethically the good guy.

I hope you enjoyed my nattering on about Jason's weapons :D thank ye again for ask!

#jason todd #damian's tomfoolery

[katiekatdragon27]

I LOVE MIXING FIXATIONS IT'S SO FUN!!!

Dust: An Elysian Tail but Rayman characters let's go😎

After extensive analysis of both games (five minutes of thought), we decided that most (not all) of the Warmbloods are teensies, the Mudpot folk are Glutes, and most (not all) Moonbloods are nightmares.

Here's the more focused roles I have paired for this AU:

Dust -> Rayman

This makes complete sense. Main character who is good at combat and kind at heart. Also has a lot of abilities in general lol

Fidget -> Murfy

I really don't care for Murphy buuuut I won't deny that he reminds me a lot of Fidget. Same vibes, different execution.

Aharah -> Maybe Ly?? Maybe Polokus???

That's cuz my man is a talking sword. He helps Dust with combat and advice cuz he's cool like that.

"See how lifelike it is?" (Ugly ass murphy plush)

"Oooh! Campfire fuel~"

Ginger -> Goth Teensy

This is a mix of personal hcs and just cuz vibes lol. Both are angsting and have affiliations with the opposing groups in the series. (Goth with the Livid Dead door, Ginger with the Moonbloods).

"And who are you really? The last time I saw a thingamajig was when my brother died!"

Sereth -> The First King

This one was a little more difficult to decide, but I like this choice lol. The First King being a dream and nightmare creature in all technicality that I would imagine has a similar personality to Sereth is fun. Also he's a little scary looking, which works with canon. Also his eyes are glossed over so it looks like the Sereth's glowing eyes.

"I am here to serve~"

BELOW ARE SPOILERS FOR DUST: AN ELYSIAN TAIL!! PLEAAAAAAAASE PLAY THE GAME OR WATCH A PLAYTHROUGH OR SOMETHING BEFORE LOOKING AT THESE I BEG!!! I DON'T WANT TO RUIN THE TWIST FOR Y'ALL!!

Now that that's out of the way, here are the spoiler doodles.

Can you-c-can you guess who Rayman was created from?

Can you can you?

That's right!

THE MAGICIANS!!

"Forever in battle. Forever at odds."

When I made this decision I felt so smart. They're the same name, same vibes, and the idea that Rayman got his whimsicalness from the Magician and the violent tendencies of Ales makes so much sense to me.

"Only impossible for a creature with a single soul."

"I am Rayman."

Also I get to draw him with the teensy boba eyes, which is a win for me.

I'll probably make more stuff for this cuz I really like this idea. The story will have creative liberties though for character motivation, but that's not too important lol.

Have a lovely day fellas :)))

#this is so incredibly self-indulgent lol #also thanks zynt for the inspo once again #koy try not to use goth teensy as a major character in aus challenge impossible gone wrong cops called #i have other ideas for characters like barbra and elysia being haley and matti #agustus being clark #and mayor bram being the grand minimus #but i don't have art of that yet soooo #if anyone has any ideas plz share #i need more rayman mutrals who like dust mutuals ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh #please please talk to me if you like both please please #rayman #rayman teensies #rayman fanart #the magician #rayman murfy #rayman magician #rayman goth teensy #ales mansay #goth teensy #teensy #rayman first king #the first king #rayman au #dust an elysian tail #dust an elysian tail au #doodles #self indulgent #katiekatdragon27

[yumeka-sxf]

Heyyyy about your analysis on Yor’s keigo I think it’s REALLY meaningful how aside from Yuri she calls the Shopkeeper without any honorific. Like even McMahon is 部長さん but the Shopkeeper is just 店長 and if say Loid were to hear that he would immediately be suspicious because of how Yor addresses literally everything (ワンちゃんさん, ボールさん) with さん

Oooh, that's a really good observation I didn't notice! I knew that she called McMahon 部長さん (buchou-san) but I didn't realize that she doesn't use an honorific with Shopkeeper.

I don't know if Loid would become "immediately suspicious" by this alone, as calling Shopkeeper by his title rather than his name implies that they're not that close (plus Loid's habit of always overlooking anything suspicious that Yor does). But it could definitely raise an eyebrow. This makes me think back to Shopkeeper's description in the fanbook.

The fact that she sees him as a mentor and has worked with him since she was young could imply that she has a relatively close relationship with him, at least closer than with McMahon. But it's hard to say for sure with the limited amount of time she's interacted with him in the series so far. Just gotta keep waiting for a Yor/Garden backstory arc!

(for anyone who hasn't read the analysis that this Ask is referring to, you can read it here)

#spy x family #sxf #spy family #spyxfamily #yor forger #sxf spoilers #sxf manga #sxf manga spoilers

[mysteryshoptls]

SSR Ortho Shroud - Bloom Birthday Vignette

"Happy Birthday"

[Ignihyde Dorm – Birthday Party Venue]

Ortho: It's like a dream come true to get interviewed for my birthday as a student here at Night Raven College.

Ortho: And on top of that, thanks to my big brother, I was able to retrofit my gear to look just like everyone else's outfits… I'm super happy.

Ortho: Oh yeah, I should make sure to capture all this on film. I wanna show this to my brother… Oh, and my dad and mom.

???: Film? …I suppose I'll have to ask later. Pardon me.

Sebek: Happy Birthday, Ortho. It seems I have been tasked with being your presenter today.

Ortho: Woah, hey! Sebek Zigvolt-san! Thank you. I look forward to it.

Sebek: Right… You mentioned just a moment ago that you would be capturing this on film. Essentially, does that mean you intend on recording my words and actions?

Ortho: Yep. And if you make any mistakes, maybe Malleus-san will end up seeing alll your embarrassing moments. You better do good.

Sebek: Humph, as if I would disgrace myself before someone like you. I shall read out the first question now.

Sebek: “Are you good or bad at flying?”

Ortho: Hmmm, that's a toughie. I mean, especially since I'm a humanoid…

Ortho: I can't just cast magic on a broom and fly like you or the other mages here.

Sebek: Hm? You mean to tell me that you do not usually use magic to float in the air?

Ortho: Yeah. It's more like technomantic energy… Maybe it'd be easier to say it's a hybrid of electricity and magic.

Ortho: By swapping out my gear or any attachments, I can increase my speed, or even fly for longer periods of time.

Ortho: For me, as long as I have technomantic energy, I can fly wherever I want…

Ortho: I can even fly no problem through difficult obstacle courses, or fly at a constant speed.

Ortho: That's why for a little while after I became a student at Night Raven College, I made sure to observe the flight and P.E. classes.

Ortho: Unlike you guys, it's not like I would gain any stamina or strength through training, after all.

Sebek: You were observing us? I suppose I do recall seeing you flying with some of the students last week or so.

Ortho: Oh, so you saw me. Actually, I recently started helping out by supporting Vargas-sensei during his classes.

Sebek: You're supporting…? As in, as his assistant?

Ortho: Yep. During flight classes, I fly along my classmate's brooms and capture data on their form and time.

Ortho: Using that data, I'm able to identify everyone's habits and weaknesses and provide suggestions for improvement.

Sebek: Hm… That would indeed be helpful to be able to get an objective analysis of my flying posture.

Ortho: Right? And Vargas-sensei praised me too, saying, "When you're around, the students' muscles gleam even brighter"!

[Ignihyde Dorm – Birthday Party Venue]

Sebek: Next question is…

Sebek: “What is something that made you glad you could use magic?”

Ortho: Eehh, that's another tough one.

Ortho: I might have been able to develop a soul that can use imagination like you guys, but it's not like I can actually use magic…

Ortho: Because all of my functions are based on technomantic energy…

Ortho: But if I were to answer as a student of a mage institute should… IT'D HAVE TO BE THAT I'VE MADE FRIENDS HERE!!

Sebek: You're a student of the most prestigious Night Raven College, and your answer is to speak of the friendships you've developed?

Ortho: Yep. Because I came here originally as one of my brother's "gadgets," I was able to meet a ton of living people…

Ortho: And now that I've started taking classes as a student, I've had the opportunity to come in contact with so many more people.

Ortho: I had a ton of fun with the groupwork we had the other day. You know, the one where we had to study up on some of the legends of the Great Seven.

Ortho: You did that in your class too, right?

Sebek: Indeed. I found writing a report in a group of 4 to be a rather impractical assignment.

Ortho: Oooh, so you don't find group work to be practical, huh. Interesting.

Sebek: From the way you speak, it seems to me like you look upon that sort of assignment favorably.

Ortho: Yep. Whenever I listen to other people's opinions, even if we're reading the same story, everyone has a different interpretation, so I find that super fascinating.

Sebek: Interpretation?

Ortho: I guess I could also say that everyone values different things.

Ortho: And then I realized that the thought that everyone puts the most value in is strongly connected to their past experiences… their "memories," so to speak.

Ortho: For example, if you were born and raised in Briar Valley, you would've probably heard so many anecdotes of the Thorn Fairy from a young age.

Ortho: That's why there would be more passion, more zeal in the discussion about her.

Ortho: And some may believe that their idealized versions are more correct than a proper database.

Sebek: Idealized, you say? The Thorn Fairy is absolutely a great being. No amount of praise would ever be considered to be too much.

Ortho: If you're that adamant, then we should have a discussion about it sometime.

Ortho: During class the other day, I sourced documents from my database and soundly destroyed all the inconsistencies in their arguments…

Ortho: So I wonder just how far you'll be able to keep up with me, Sebek-san.

Sebek: Don't you put me in the same category as your classmates. I have read an abundance of books on the Thorn Fairy.

Ortho: Oooh, so you're saying you might actually have a leg to stand on. Then this might actually be promising.

Ortho: Alright, then let's pick a day for our discussion sometime later. Heheh, I'm looking forward to it.

[Ignihyde Dorm – Birthday Party Venue]

Sebek: This is the final question.

Sebek: “How do you spend your days off?”

Ortho: Hmm, there's a lot I do, but… I guess I often find myself watching movies or stage plays online.

Ortho: Recently, though, I've been spending lunch or tea time with my dorm and classmates.

Sebek: Lunch and tea time? You don't eat, though.

Ortho: Yep. But my goal there is to just chat with everyone. I also listen to their grumbles about their studies or relationships with others.

Sebek: Humph, how absurd. What good will come of listening to other people complain? Why don't you try spending your time doing something more worthwhile?

Ortho: Ehh, but it's pretty interesting. Just by watching how people react over every little thing helps me learn, too.

Sebek: What do you mean, learn?

Ortho: I've found that all the stories I hear from people are really good references for me to look back to whenever I need to act a part.

Sebek: Act a part…? Ah, right, you joined the Film Research Club. So essentially, you're saying you're feeding off of human interactions.

Ortho: Ah. This past weekend, we didn't have a club meeting, so I went into town with my brother.

Sebek: Your br… YOU MEAN TO TELL ME IDIA-SENPAI ACTUALLY WENT OUTSIDE!?

Ortho: Yep!

Ortho: We play this one game that uses our phones' GPS function, so sometimes we head out there together.

Ortho: We'll go to a restaurant that's an in-game spot where we'd be able to gather items and pick up some food that we'd already ordered online…

Ortho: And once we get to Whistle Park, we'd eat at one of the benches there. After that, we'd plan out the rest of our day there.

Ortho: And then, when he's done eating, we'll walk around the park looking for items, or have some encounter battles.

Ortho: Kinda sounds fun, like a real picnic, right?

Sebek: I can't say I know what game you speak of, but… It definitely does seem like you have a good time.

Sebek: Back home, my parents, older brother and older sister would always take me to the park to spend time.

Ortho: Heh, sounds like you and your family are pretty close, too. That's just like us!

Ortho: Me and my brother, as well as our dad and mom, used to go play at the nearby park, or even at a forest or river back in the day, too.

Ortho: …Although ever since my brother started to shut himself inside his room, we haven't been able to go anywhere as a family anymore.

Sebek: Well, it seems Idia-senpai has gotten to the point where he can actually go outside again. Perhaps there will come the time that you will be able to travel somewhere as a family again?

Sebek: That person needs to leave the house more. You should do what you can to take him out camping, traveling, or what have you.

Ortho: Yep, you're right. Sebek-san, thanks for your advice!

Sebek: I'm your presenter, after all! It's only natural that I should be able to present this sort of advice.

Sebek: You may come ask me anything you wish when you plan to take your family on a trip outdoors.

Sebek: The interview has now concluded. Here, your broom. There are blue flowers in the center of the bouquet, it suits you rather nicely.

Ortho: Woah, this is my first ever personal broom! I didn't actually think I'd get one.

Ortho: There's so many different kinds of flowers here. I'll have to fly carefully so as to not blow them away with my jets.

Sebek: Take this broom and take flight. That is testimony to your status here as a student of the most prestigious Night Raven College.

Sebek: Don't you dare show us a shameful sight on your birthday, Ortho.

Ortho: Of course! Make sure you keep your eyes on me while I fly, Sebek Zigvolt-san!

Ortho: it's time to show off the special gear that I made specifically for today. I'm totally gonna shock everyone who gathered here for me.

Requested by @rotattooill.

#twisted wonderland #twst #ortho shroud #sebek zigvolt #twst ortho #twst sebek #twst translation #twst birthday #mention: idia #mention: malleus #mention: vargas

[kingmagnificoofrosas]

Analyzing King Magnifico

Oooh boy, I have a lot to say! This is gonna be long. So brace yourself. But first 👇

‼️Note, this is my very personal opinion‼️

I'm honestly glad how the multitude of people realizes that we don't have a villain here. And honestly, while some nag and whine around that they didn't get one, I'm not mad at all that we got Magnifico the way we got him.

So in the end, it doesn't matter to me if disney actually failed to create a villain or purposely created a good guy who changes to be the antagonist.

Ok, now to the analizing part

The very first thing we learn about Magnifico is that he has a pretty dark past. He lost his home and his entire family, anyone he ever loved, all in one night. And in a very curel way. That banner tells us a lot!

First of all, if we study the picture, we see a palace in the back, some houses and right down below young Magnifico and his parents. Now, why is that so important? Back in the days only very important people were potrayed on banners. Such as royals, families of very high status or knights. Banners and wallrugs were also used to tell important stories. And since the palace is on the banner, I'm pretty sure we have a royal family here. That would mean that Magnifico had been royalty from the very start.

Further we see that the bottom got burned. This tells us that there was a big fire. Which leads me to conclude that what Magnifico saw and experienced was most defenitely hell on earth. Imagine, his family, his home, everything burns. Screams of terror everywhere, the stench of dead burning flesh and smoke that nearly suffocates you! And he was very young when that happened. So we now know that the king has big time PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) Keep this in mind, because it's literally the key to this whole analysis.

~

Out of his trauma, Magnifico strived to build a safe haven, where he could make sure no tragedy like the one he'd suffered would ever happen again. He build his kingdom, (on top of already existing buildings, as we know from the art book) He taught himself magic to actually have power to protect. He made sure his people are safe and live well. That no one has to suffer, endure hunger or hardships. Sounds like a evil rotten monster right?

Just look at the way he looks at the (wishes) dreams of his people. He appreciates and treasures them!

His genuine desire to protect and keep safe has always been good!

We only see him snap after Asha triggers him. And while ptsd people react overly sensitive or exaggerated, it is understandable once you know where they come from.

Analyzing Magnifico's ptsd closer and how it influenced his actions and decissions

Magnifico had looked for an apprentice that truly understands where he comes from and shares his ambitions. But the first thing Asha asks as soon as she gets the feeling she has the job safe, is if he can grant her grandfather's wish. I understand, that she cares for her grandfather but I also see Magnifico's feelings. Can you imagine how used he must feel? Constantly feeling the pressure of "I must protect what's dear to me! I must make sure my past never repeats!" And yet, the most people see him as is the "wish-granter".

Trauma shapes you, it shapes the way of thinking and if something triggers a response, you just react. If you like it or not. And oftentimes you're not even aware you're acting up. I can tell from personal expirience ...

So what about him being slightly vain and wanting respect?

Respect is earned. Generally everyone deserves to be threated with respect unless someone gives you a solid reason not to.

So let's recap some of the things Magnifico actually deserves respect for :

Surviving a horrible tragedy and still standing

Building up an entire kingdom and reigning it well (protecting his people fiercly and sucessfully bringing order)

Being selfless

Being king and carrying a freaking lot of responsibility

Now, let's look at Magnifico's "vanity moments" more closely and examine the things he does and says with questions of why?

The thing with his hair. He makes sure his hair looks nice. Ok, is this a bad thing? Does this make one ultimately vain? No. Being content with your hair and wanting to have it look good isn't vain. Neither is being happy about it. Or looking at yourself in the mirror and like yourself. You even should be able to look at yourself and love what you see. Pure vanity is something different.

What about what he says about himself in his song?

I can't help it if mirrors love my face

It's genetics! Yeah, I got these genes from outer space

Lets consider the situation and emotional state he's in. He's pissed. And I'm pretty sure this a way to try and lift himself up a bit. I mean, like mentioned above, there is nothing wrong with liking your appearance. And he IS freaking handsome. He's not lying when he acknowleges that fact.

Of course you could twist his words and say, oh he's arrogant and vain. But people can say lots of things and not actually be a bad person.

And while true vanity is a bad trait, it doesn't make one a villain. Let's compare Magnifico to Gaston for a second.

Gaston is rude from the very beginning. He's selfabsorbed and narcissistic all the way and the only thing he cares about is himself. He shows off to be praised simply for selfgratification and because he thinks he's the center of the world.

Magnifico cares immensily for others and wants acknowledgement for it. Who wouldn't? If you do something great and constantly care for others and still aren't really appreciated for it, who wouldn't be like, "I do all this and you thank me by doubting me and wanting even more? How ungrateful can one be?" And the only things we see people acknowledge him for, is 1. His ability to do magic and grant wishes, and 2. His handsome looks.

I totally understand that he's fed up at one point. Deep down wishing someone would see him for the man he truly is below all his abilities and appearance.

Gaston would walk over dead bodies to get what he wants and in order to look good. He has 0 compassion and 0 remorse.

So, even though Magnifico is a "little" vain, he's not out of evil reasons! It literally doesn't harm anyone and it doesn't cause others to suffer. If someone tells him "You're handsome." He replies, "I know."

Good! Too many people look into the mirror and hate themselves. Of course, humbler people would just reply with "thank you." But still, this isn't a solid point to call someone a villain or bad person.

Ok, now. So far we have absolutely no reason to assume Magnifico is a "villain" so let's skip to the part where it get's interesting!

The thing with the shape shifiting entity (star) happens. Something that is outside of Magnifico's power, something he doesn't understand and it terrifies him! Why? Not because he's a power hungry psycho, not because he enjoys controling people out of complacenty and is afraid to lose that. No. It's the desperation of feeling helpless, the terror of losing control, the fear of having the past repeat itself. That is what drives him mad.

Ultimately he becomes desperate and anxious enough to let himself get possesed. Even during the whole process, he says that he never wanted this, he swore he'd never let himslef be posessed. He further says, "To this book, I don't wanna be tethered, but desperate times call for desperate measures."

Let's hear that again folks! Real loud for all those in the back! He tell us 3 times, 3 times ! How he doesn't want to turn to darkness but he feels forced to do so. Why? Because of his trauma! Not because he's a villain. He doesn't want to lose his control out of fear!

Let me show you something.

There you have it! 🫴 it's that simple. I'm tired of traumatized characters being labeled as villains.

Oh yeah but he literally goes bonkers after he let himself be possesed by the evil from this book!

Yeah, sherlock, of course he behaved EVIL after that. That's literally the evil that possesed him! This doesn't make him a villain! It make's his whole situation even sadder and more tragic. The actions are obviously bad, "villainous" if you wanna call it that, but it doesn't make him a villain!

What happens to a scared animal that you force into a corner? It bites. Does this mean the animal is evil because it bit? No. It doesn't make the bite ok, but it doesn't make it evil either.

So, I, like many others also underline that Magnifico is in no way a villain but a traumatized good guy who sadly slipped.

His personality

Composed when needed

He can be bubbly as much as he can be calm. One of the first things Amaya tells Asha is that Magnifico likes to talk a lot, yet we never truly see him talk a lot! He is more calm than he is loud.

When Asha has her interview, he gives her room to talk rather than showering her in lectures of what he wants and what he expects. He's like "Go ahead, you tell me! Imma listen."

I actually feel this very personally because I'm someone who loves to talk. If I'm comfortable around someone and I made sure I can trust them, I can ramble for hours. I can talk and talk and talk like a waterfall. But at the same time, I can also be intensly quiet and listen well.

Childlike behavior

One of my absolute favourite characteristics in Magnifico is his childlike goofyness. He has this really pure cuteness to him and a bombastic humor. He doesn't pay heed if his behavior could seem akward to others, he just acts however he feels like. He's one of those adults that would still do all the things they enjoyed doing as a child or things that children normally do and I love that!

I cannot stop chuckling over the fact that he hippity hopps down one of his corridors, giving cookies to knight armors. If that isn't adorable I don't know what is! 😂

Also, please, that whole scene! The dance moves, the excitement, the expressiveness! Aaawwww!

He has a whole miniature model of his kingdom and he makes little interactive figures! I laughed tears because it's so funny and adorable! Like he's that kind of man that would cheer at the simplest accomplishments like a child unwrapping the toy the really wanted on christmas day.

There is so much we can find in here. He's :

Playful, creative, quirky, funny, passionate, imaginative, spunky, talented - the list goes on!

But let's keep going and listen to what else shimmers through the things he sings.

I'd give the clothes off Benito's back, if you really needed that

I'd be the first one to volunteer if your home were to crumble, or if you were in trouble

He doesn't just blabber nonsense here or lies. He truly would do all those things! Why else would he sing this while alone? He has no one around so one could say he's saying this on purpose to look good. He's frustrated, offended and slightly hurt and is speaking his mind and emotions. And we are shown this as an audience.

What do these lines tell us then? They tell us just what he actually is! Altruistic. It leads us right back to what we found at the beginning. His actual desire to help, keep safe and protect.

Why would he be the first one to volunteer if a home crumbles? Because his did. A king actually doesn't need to get his hands dirty. He has enough people to do things for him, yet he'd go out of his way to take matters into his own hands because he genuinly cares!

I let you live here for free and I don't even charge you rent

Doesn't sound like a power hungry, wealth loving, gold hoarding dictator to me. Get this, you are living in a kinddom for fee! No rent! The most money you make you keep and only a bit of it goes to the king to sustain the community. That's pretty awesome if you ask me.

I clean up all your messes and I'm always there when you need to vent

So he's not only selfless but a good listener as well. He doesn't judge. He, well -

I give and give and give and give-

He wants to make sure everyone is pleased. That's actually impossible but he still tries and is secrerly suffering deep down from it. If a person only ever gives and hardly gets anything back ... it's like you fill a container with water and there is no hole to drain it. Eventually you are so overly full of others problems, you suffocate or overflow.

It's SO sad that he doesn't have ANYONE to really talk to. He runs across half the palace to let out his emotions rather than seeking comfort from someone. (Which would be the oportunity to talk about Amaya but this is for another post!)

Charming, charismatic, proud, confident

The characteristics that make him attractive besides his looks. He's a gentleman, he knows how to use words well, he isn't afraid to speak his mind and carries himself with confidence, which is displayed in the way he walks. He either strides, has a light bounce to his step or a heavyness.

Ok, now, that we have the positives, we can acknowledge the negative and neutral ones. And everyone has negative traits. Again, some of Magnifico's negative traits are caused and or intensified by his ptsd.

Idealistic and perfectionistic -Magnifico constantly obsesses over how things should and could be. Chaos irritates him. He feels safe in clear structures and always strives for the best outcome for things. If something doesn't make sense for him, he feverly searches for answers until he finds them. If not, he panics. The tiniest feeling of potentially failing wrecks his nerves.

Impulsive - He's got a short temper. Yes, he can swallow a lot but if one crosses a certain line, he snaps. His emotions control him more than he controls them. And that goes both ways. Happy, sad, angry. He feels everything intense and reacts intense.

Stormy and insecure - He reacts very sensitive to stress. He feels a certain degree of urgency in his feelings and tends to be sucess-oriented. He always wants to improve and thus pressures himself.

Controlling - Magnifico's obsessive feeling of need to control comes from his traumatic past. As long as he's in control, he feels secure. He feels safe. Control is his safeplace. Not because he has evil motives but because in reality he's deeply insecure and anxious.

Paranoid and pessimistic - Again a trait that has been heavily altered by his ptsd. Originally he'd belong to the more cautious kind. Being cautious isn't something negative, it can be very helpful since one analyzes and observes carefully before choosing to trust or do something. But his trauma causes him to always assume the worst. He becomes critical where he wouldn't need to be because of his fear. (We see this with his decissions over wishes. He disregards some not because of ill will, ignorance or arrogance but because of his anxiety)

Stubborn - If Magnifico has set his mind on something he could go through walls with his head. Once he's determinded to do something, it's nearly impossible to stop him.

Distrustful - His paranoia and pessimism makes it hard for him to trust others. He becomes hard to read and hard to understand.

Now, once the evil that has been trapped in the book posesses Magnifico, he becomes ruthless, cruel and cynical. He steps into "villainous behavior" but is it what he truly is? NO! Of course not! If people talk about a classical villain, they mean a purely evil person from the very beginning of a movie/story. If we have a originally good guy, who, through circumstances, starts reacting and making wrong choices, we're talking about an antagonist.

And good grief, Magnifico was more than redeemable! If someone actually hadn't been blind to the true struggle of his soul, if someone had actually cared enough to save him! If someone had only truly loved him. He was used, wronged, backstabbed, betrayed, left alone and dropped like a hot potato the second he snapped. Poor Magnifico. He deserved better. Far better.

~

Thank you for reading! I'll soon post more of my analyses. 🧐

Also, creating a redemption story for Magnifico is the most fun I've had writing in a long while. 🌹 I'm excited to eventually share it with you, once it's done.

#disney wish #wish 2023 #king magnifico

[daily-hanamura]

Love your analysis of Yosuke’s character, it’s so detailed and fun to read! I’m kinda curious, what are your thoughts on his characterization in the fighting and dancing games?

Waaah thank you so much!! I'm glad you enjoyed them 💖

Oooh I actually LOVE his characterisation in p4d and p4au, probably because I think it brought out all my favourite parts of Yosuke and it really felt like Yosuke had matured a lot compared to his first appearance.

In P4A/U for example we see a lot of thoughts from other characters, and I really love that it's revealed how the others - not just Yu, but also Yukiko and Chie - rely on Yosuke a lot for emotional support, as the morale booster of the team, for direction when they don't know what to do, as the glue that keeps the group together, and it's so fantastic because it's so unlike how Yosuke sees himself. A lot of Yosuke's POV also reveals how much overthinking he does and how, despite his empathy in noticing when others are frustrated or worried, he feels like he doesn't do a very good job at cheering them up, even though when we look at their POVs we see that he did!! Both Yukiko and Chie call him up when they were worried about their friends going missing BECAUSE they feel better from talking to him!! Sorry but this particular factoid, this specific gap, sits in my head like a spitroast being rotated all the time because I cannot get over it. But he's trying though - we can see his motivations for the things that he says and how he tries to lighten the mood and yeah. It's great. I went into P4AU thinking it was going to be whatever but let me just say that was the game that triggered my single-minded obsession about Yosuke and the reason why this blog exists LOL like I was very much souyo and yosuke-brained aftert P4G but oh boy. P4AU tipped me over from obsessed to building this damn shrine for him :'D

He always laughs deprecatingly at himself even in the post p4g games, like in P4D - when he dances well he has a line that's like, "not such a disappointment after all" and it, again, really shows how he has such a poor perception of himself that he doesn't see his own good points, like the fact that he held out the second longest during their dance training, losing only to Rise, as pointed out by Yu. He's naturally talented and keeps up well with everyone elses dance style, but he doesn't really notice that either? Also a side thing I find hilarious/cute/endearing in P4D is also how Kanji exposes Yosuke's idol-loving-hours and Yosuke gets extremely embarrassed about it, because at his heart Yosuke does still like that kind of (somewhat) superficial thing, but he doesn't want people to know! It's a stark contrast to how he was earlier in P4G where he's more open about checking out girls (again, the whole "is this overcompensation" vs "is this a product of bro culture from his childhood friends" is a conversation that we can have) but it's a reflection of how that kind of talk tapers out a lot as the game progresses, and P4D was really consistent with the kind of growth that P4G gave Yosuke, instead of reducing him into that best-bro-friend stereotype, and for a game that was actually so short in narrative substance compared to P4AU, it was great. (I'm also convinced that P4D was trying to tell us Yosuke and Yu were dating but I'm not going to start on that again LOL)

And I think ultimately the reason why I feel like P4AU and P4D showcased a lot of growth for Yosuke is in his relationships with other people, because as much as Yosuke worries about how he's remained static, I think the fact that the others treat him with such respect (like when the first years and Teddie acknowledge that Yosuke is basically the team wrangler, and the difference between Yosuke at the start of P4G/in Magician compared to P4AU/D was someone who had become a lot more receptive about forming genuine relationships with other people instead of just protecting himself by surrounding himself with superficial relationships and yeah. yeah.

#asks #cosmic-stelar #is this anything coherent LMAO i feel a lot of thoughts #he's good with his queue

[imustbenuts]

sits down and thinks

Infinite wealth spoilers and half baked analysis and thoughts

Infinite wealth

Ig this comes across easier in Asian culture context but the wealth in infinite wealth doesn't mean money. It means bonds. (EDIT: by which i mean JP and Chinese.)

The short of it, the words used to describe relationships, karma, luck and fate all are rooted in the idea of threads. These words when written in kanji all have the thread 糸 radical in it. 縁 en is the common kanji word here.

And since luck is deeply tied to money, the idea of Infinite Wealth here is absolutely not (strictly) money. Given how the rgg series and their writers or even Japan has been disillusioned with the bubble boom, and ichiban will turn his back on money over bonds, this tracks for me.

And this is constantly reflected in the stories and substories. The "wealth" of a person is reflected in the bonds between people. It's not a coincidence the game throws old characters from previous games and substories along Kiryu's way. That's the wealth he's accumulated, the wealth that actually matters once he's at the end of his life where money can't save him from what sounds like terminal cancer. It's Haruka and Haruto and the orphanage and Four Shine and all the people he's helped who's more than happy to carry him if he asks.

The "payoff" is constantly in the reciprocating of a person's virtues in terms of kindness, compassion and patience.

Fuck it's getting to me again fuckfuckfuck--

Ending scene

Ebina and ichiban not meeting but being set up to mirror Nishiki and Kiryu's brother relationship...

And kiryu going from recognizing the pattern to outright understanding a repeat of something similar and just shutting it down, chefs kiss.

Plus plus the entire ending scene is dripping with symbolism. I'm about to fucking vomit

So, sosososo-

I noticed by late game before the monologue, Ebina is being a hell warden karmic entity by essentially setting up an underground pain prison for a whole group of people deemed trash by society. And then he reveals his irezumi and oooh

I see I see. That's an oni and a pissed off snake. Nele island, the paradise/heaven of the palekanas getting turned into the karmic hell/jigoku is. Holy shit. Who wrote this?? I will kiss them??!

Someone on Reddit also did a more in depth write up on this and wow delicious . check out the top comment which is even more spot on

I also dk if this made it past the tonal barrier but jp kiryu literally begging ebina to let the yakuzas have a second chance is... Ough. as goofy as that scene was with kiryu planking on top of ebina, he was effectively on his hands and knees begging and I'm. Ow. Owowowowowow wow. OW.

Kiryu in that scene seems to be embodying a dragon. Whimsical, powerful fucks who appear whenever they feel like and according to myths are benevolent too. So when kiryu planks above it's signifying a dragon pleading with the hell warden to let a bunch of people go, almost with its last breath... Crying even that his tears falls on ebina's face, and ebina having this look realizing that the dragon is human. It got me. I finished rgg8 days ago and it's still getting me

WAUGH. IT GOT ME GOOD

Then kiryu collapses on top of ebina, almost as if all the weight and regret he's been carrying on his back comes literally crashing into ebina's reality, and ebina is probably so shocked he doesn't do anything for the rest of the ending.

WAUGH!! x2

GOOFY SCENE BUT I UNDERSTOOD THAT, AAAAA

FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK

Shout-out to Daigo for being the one with the most 'oh shit' expression and legging it to kiryu first. And Majima for legging it 2nd in the background. Man.

In spite of what kiryu says and believes I don't think he could have changed the Yakuza world that much though. One way or another there's just too many factors at play. Hes absolutely right in his speech about walking the grayest road there is.

Ough.

Ichigang

Love them.

Yu Nanba takes the cake for me here for being the most respectful and compassionate about knowing how to handle kiryu as a person with terminal cancer/disability. Ichiban echoes this too, but the way they are all playing support rather than forcing kiryu to do things makes it 11/10 for me

Older folks who lead rough lives and are fiercely independent like kiryu can be ANNOYING reconciling with their health. Bc of a mix of pride and their own lived era/environment, being seen as weak and disabled is deeply shameful psychologically (idk if this is the same in US/UK but I'm speaking from an Asia specific mentality here). In essence many resign themself to death and refuse treatment, medication, or even walking canes. Like they'd rather die than be burdens.

And kiryu def has echoes of this. I wanted to slap him so many times in his bucket list substory. Lmao

Chitose Fujinomiya

Interesting character. She seems to have gone through a "setting-up" arc in this game for future writing if it makes sense.

Her Fujinomiya name sounds like a shout-out to the Fujiwaras, a clan who had total political control of Japan all the way until 1868. These days their descendants have taken on different family names, branched off, and now control some zaibatsu in some of them.

And her family does indeed sound like a zaibatsu. More than likely with what I know above, she will have some political weight as the chairwoman now.

Chitose will be an incredibly valuable key character for future installments of RGG, especially with the political Daidoji faction running about. I'm stoked. The future installments can def go international if they want to. Current geopolitics in Asia has potential as a rgg backdrop especially when it comes to money and gangs.

We have Thailand with localized gangs calling the shots controlling the tourism there. Ie Thailand Tourist Mafias (Also human trafficking and sex tourism. Siam dius/Thai discos are very similar to cabaret clubs too.)

There's also background money laundering going on, where countries and their bank happily take less than clean money for their economy under tax haven schemes. (COUGH SINGAPORE COUGH). There are also lots of trafficking of people looking for jobs into other asian countries and forcing them to work in scam centers...

Basically lots of potential avenues if they wanted to write about these things. So. LETS GO. LETS GO CHITOSE WOOO

ICHIBAN

So much more to say but I'll end with this one. ICHIBAN.

Ichiban has made more progress in terms of emotional and social development, and turning that into proper positive actions, than kiryu has done at that age.

I don't mean this as a diss either but where kiryu was incredibly flawed in his lone wolf ways and unable to leverage his connections with his circumstances, Ichiban keeps pulling through with it. And kiryu to be fair could not have been able to do the same where the Yakuza environment and politics were as fucked as it is in his time.

Both approaches have their pros and cons though, bc Ichigang is now in a position to get sniped if the environment around them turns for the worse.

Idk if it's going there but. Huhu! :3c

I want more but I'm happy and satisfied for now but also if anyone touches me I fear I'm gonna to explode. Waughghhhhhhggr.

Screams

#yakuza infinite wealth #rgg 8 #ryu ga gotoku #like a dragon infinite wealth #like a dragon #infinite wealth #like a dragon 8

[disco-elysium-via-polls]

FRACTURED BULLET - The bullet is still safely sealed away in a plastic bag bearing the RCM stamp.

You know what? We should take a closer look at this bullet again.

3. Inspect the bullet closer.

FRACTURED BULLET - The jacket of the bullet is made of yellowish metal. It has blossomed out to reveal a dark grey core. The base of the bullet is close to 5 mm in diameter.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Legendary: Success] - The core is lead. The brass jacket probably didn't cover the entire bullet, otherwise the softer metal wouldn't have expanded quite like that.

The rest of the analysis continues the same way it went before.

4. [Hand/Eye Coordination - Legendary 14] Try to determine what type of weapon shot this.

+1 Have the full bullet specs

Damn, snake eyes.

HAND/EYE COORDINATION [Legendary: Failure] - You can't remember what happened last week -- what makes you think you're going to remember arcane firearm models?

5. The bullet has nothing more to say. [Put it away.]

We can enter this house.

Industrial coal pellets burn with an orange glow.

LITTLE LILY - "Hello, mister!" A young girl, barely four or five years old, sits on the sofa. She is looking at you with frank curiosity.

She clutches a small stuffed animal. Occasionally she twirls it around.

"I heard there was a girl here who has armoured gloves. Is that you?"

"Are you Lilienne's daughter?"

"Are the twins outside your brothers?"

"What's that?" (Point at the stuffed bird hanging from the ceiling.)

"What's that thing you're holding?" (Point at her toy.)

"Good-bye." [Leave.]

LITTLE LILY - "Ooooh." She looks alarmed. "I had gloves, very big ones! Heavy too."

KIM KITSURAGI - "Where did you get these gloves?"

LITTLE LILY - "Found them when Lamby and I were playing hide-and-seek. In an empty house where no one lives! I think someone hid them there..."

EMPATHY [Trivial: Success] - She doesn't want you to think she stole them.

"And where are the gloves now?"

LITTLE LILY - She pouts. "I hid them. The twins were going to take them. They're stupid..." She lifts her stuffed toy up and looks into its one remaining eye, as though searching for confirmation.

KIM KITSURAGI - "We're going to need those gloves. It's for important police business." He enunciates the last two words carefully.

LITTLE LILY - "Oooh..." She doesn't seem to understand, but the lieutenant's tone has conveyed to her the 'important' part.

"They're in my sandcastle." She points somewhere outside. "Behind our house. Under the sand. You can break the castle, it's not very good."

2. "Are you Lilienne's daughter?"

LITTLE LILY - "Yesssss, I am! Little Lily!" She gazes at you with her big eyes. "You know my mom?"

"Yes, we met earlier."

"Not really, but I'd like to."

LITTLE LILY - "Uh huh," she nods. "Mom is great! You know what's great about my mom?"

"Everything?"

"No, do tell me."

LITTLE LILY - "*Everything*!" She shouts with glee.

3. "Are the twins outside your brothers?"

LITTLE LILY - "Yesss." She frowns. "They don't want to play with me. They're older and play outside!"

"They look the same! Haa ha haa! Sometimes I can't tell them 'part."

"They look identical, right? I said the same thing."

LITTLE LILY - "They look... ai-dent-ik!" She slowly processes the word, then snickers with laughter.

4. "What's that?" (Point at the stuffed bird hanging from the ceiling.)

LITTLE LILY - "It's a *grouse*," she yelps, smiling broadly.

SUGGESTION [Trivial: Success] - You might be able to get on Garte's good side if you make up for the skua you broke?

"Yes, but what's it *for*?"

"Can I have it? I know someone who really likes stuffed birds."

"Uh, okay, thanks."

LITTLE LILY - "I dunno."

"Can I have it? I know someone who really likes stuffed birds."

LITTLE LILY - "Sure! I mean you already took it. I don't like it anyway... it looks angry."

New task: Take stuffed bird to Garte

+5 XP

SAVOIR FAIRE [Easy: Success] - All right. You just need to grab it from the ceiling and go!

I'm sure Lilienne won't mind. Probably.

4. "What's that thing you're holding?" (Point at her toy.)

LITTLE LILY - "It's Lamby! He's my friend. Sort of, like..." She holds the fuzzy beast up to demonstrate.

Lamby is a stuffed lamb that, admittedly, has seen better days. One of the eye-buttons is missing and the fur is tattered in several parts.

"Lamby looks like he's falling apart."

"Lamby looks soft."

"Oh, okay. Well, pleased to meet you, Lamby."

LITTLE LILY - "Yessss, Lamby has lived a long life." She waves the lamb around in the air. "Lamby was a... re.. a rev..." She stumbles on her words.

"Revolutionary?"

"Revacholian?"

"Remote Viewer?"

"Revisionist?"

"Rebel?"

LITTLE LILY - "Yessss," she yelps happily! "Lamby was a re-luz-ion...ry."

2. "Lamby looks soft."

LITTLE LILY - "Yes. Very soft." Suddenly she pushes the stuffed animal toward your face.

Press your cheek against Lamby.

"I don't deserve it. I'm scum."

KIM KITSURAGI - "Press your damn cheek against Lamby, okay?" The lieutenant sounds authoritative -- and surprisingly gruff.

Press your cheek against Lamby.

LITTLE LILY - "Isn't he soft?" She's right, Lamby is very soft. She rubs the white fur against your cheek, then returns the lamb into her lap, cuddling it.

+1 Morale

5. "Good-bye." [Leave.]

LITTLE LILY - "Bye!" The girl's large, curious eyes remain fixed on you.

RUFFLED GROUSE TAXIDERMY

The dead body of a grouse stuffed with some unknown material. From a distance it might just pass off as the real thing. The bird itself looks extremely... ruffled. And slightly grumpy.

Lily's sandcastle is just behind her house.

🎵 Disco Elysium

SANDCASTLE - Weather has not been kind to Lily's little sandcastle. The once mighty towers are quickly eroding away. You can see something shining back to you from what must have been a vast underground catacomb network.

"Broken..."

Reach in the catacombs and pull out the shiny object.

Leave the sandcastle alone. [Leave.]

KIM KITSURAGI - "The little castle?" The lieutenant smiles a little. "The reigning lord must have come upon some really tough times to let it slip in such decrepitude."

2. Reach in the catacombs and pull out the shiny object.

SANDCASTLE - The walls and floors give way to the giant's greed, collapse and present you with a pair of ceramic gauntlets.

Item gained: Fairweather T-500 Gauntlets

Task complete: Find the armoured gloves

+30 XP

KIM KITSURAGI - "Congratulations -- that's the gauntlets down, then. We're doing good on the armour collection front."

Just the cuirass and helmet to go.

FAIRWEATHER T-500 GAUNTLETS

+2 Interfacing: Strength in digits

Clenching and unclenching your fist has never been so fun -- the tiny ceramic plates make a lovely clicking sound when your fingers move. The gloves are a bit sandy, but the grip is phenomenal.

A straight upgrade to our gardening gloves. Take that, Medium difficulty Interfacing passives!

Doom Spiral and his friends are not currently here, perhaps due to the rain. Or perhaps it's too early for drunks.

SHIVERS - A drop in temperature. An easy flow of air: an empty street. Before you, a thoroughfare unjammed with lorries. No more drivers smoking on hitch steps. Just... silence.

What did the smoke smell like?

Let go of the moment. [Discard thought.]

SHIVERS - Chemically sweetened. Across the road, a forgotten bus stop; corrosion has opened a hole in its roof. An elm tree watches over the building. Its branches are dripping with rain and snow.

The road is smooth and motley. Craters filled with a black asphalt. The asphalt first laid is grey already. A row of tenements are under construction in the distance.

Who are the people who live across the road?

What about the bus stop?

That is enough. [Finish thought.]

SHIVERS - A tub warm with water, white with soap. A man bathes while radio waves transmit the lottery numbers: 4, 18, 21, 4, 1... A modern washing machine rattles a drawer full of silverware.

SUGGESTION [Easy: Success] - His boyfriend is on his way home. He brings tins of meat and vegetables with him. Their pockets are heavier with money; but only slightly.

2. What about the bus stop?

SHIVERS - #312D. Young girls used to come here, huddled up, hoping for more warmth than their thin coats give them. The bus took them to school. It has not run for eight years; there were not enough girls to sustain its cost.

3. What about the road?

SHIVERS - Craters pocked the surface. Children played in them, until heavy trucks full of black pitch rolled in. The landowners have filled the craters with money. It is a vital artery of flow of trade.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Medium: Success] - There's one bump on the road: a dead dog lies flat about two hundred paces away, right at the turn.

4. A dead dog?

SHIVERS - Tragedy came from the wheels of a fast RCM vehicle, hurrying to work. The cold washes over you. The sound of the sea has grown distant.

5. That is enough. [Finish thought.]

SHIVERS - The wind moves the aerosol. A detective stands behind the boom barrier; a breeze moves a curl of his hair.

+5 XP

There's paths heading west and north from Lily's sandcastle. I choose to go west.

A little black swallow circles above you. You hear it chirrup.

The water runs from the west. The source is upstream. A broken pipe?

The beams are splintered. The bridge didn't collapse on its own. Artillery broke it.

Can't get up to this part of the boardwalk from here, but we can go North to the other end of the bridge.

Hidden in the reeds here is... a box with some money?

Bars cover these long, dusty windows.

Another power box. It charges nothing now. It's empty.

The fence blocks the path. No way on from here.

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "... and, Mikael, notice the windows? Especially with how there are no windows on the south side? This was to deal with..." A blond man stands next to his son, pointing to the weather-worn ruins. He sees you approaching and smiles...

"You, officers! Come to investigate the historic subtext of West Martinaise? I'm Trant Heidelstam," he turns to the lieutenant. "You must be Kim Kitsuragi, right? I was just telling my son about this building. Not a lot of people realize the historic significance here. Very rich in *hypertext*."

KIM KITSURAGI - "Nice to meet you." The lieutenant nods.

"Hold on. Hyper...text?"

"Wait, what was that about the windows before?"

"You and Kim know each other?" (Proceed.)

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Yes, hypertext," he says, as if it's self-evident. "Jan Kaarp and the collection of cultural hyperlinks."

HALF LIGHT [Medium: Success] - He's just making up fancy words. This doesn't mean anything!

2. "Wait, what was that about the windows before?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Oh yes. So, Mikael, they had to deal with monitor glare, especially in the summer. They still had vector monitors back then. That was 49 years ago. So they didn't have windows on the south wall."

3. "You and Kim know each other?" (Proceed.)

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "No, I can't say that we've met before. But I've *heard* of Kim, of course. Mikael, say hi to the officers." He rests his hand on the boy's shoulder. The child stays hidden behind the hem of his father's coat, clutching to his würm-themed colouring book.

"Mikael's a little tired today. We spent all night trying to run Orbis on his radiocomputer. Have you heard of it? It's a programming language used in Graad. Quite tricky, but he wanted to play this Graad-made adventure programme. We've been getting *really* into würms lately..."

DRAMA [Easy: Success] - The man speaks in the artificial cadence of a professor -- or someone who's been on too many radio shows.

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "But I assume you're not here for giant würms when there are so many real things to see. Just as I was telling Mikael before -- this is where the Coalition landed in '08. We could be standing on what is the most interesting landmark in Revachol West." He points to the building again.

ESPRIT DE CORPS [Easy: Success] - This man is your half brother. You feel it. But *why*?

"What's so fascinating about an empty old building?"

"You look like someone who has money. Do you have any money?"

"Great, thank you for all the interesting information." [Leave.]

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "A-ha, but it's not just *any* empty old building!" He raises his hand to his eyes, springtime sun warming his handsome face. All four of you turn to admire the mural before you.

"What not a lot of people know is -- this used to be the R&D department of *Feld Electrical*. And Feld, which now sells ink cartridges, mostly, was once a top dog in the turn-of-the-century cybernetics boom."

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Challenging: Failure] - Hold on, what's R&D?

Look at the building looming over you.

"Wait, what's an R&D department?"

"I don't think I've ever heard of this Feld Electrical." (Proceed.)

FELD MURAL - It looks old and weathered, with seagulls picking apart its stone-and-metal carcass. Bushy undergrowth has taken hold of the collapsed rooftop; some kind of bird has set up a nest on a broken windowsill.

2. "Wait, what's an R&D department?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Apologies, it's an acronym for research and development, they don't use it anymore." He smiles brightly, laugh lines around his eyes.

"You're probably more familiar with *RTD*, research and *technological* development."

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Easy: Success] - Mea culpa! You were not familiar with that one either. This man is a book head.

3. "I don't think I've ever heard of this Feld Electrical." (Proceed.)

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "That's not surprising. Only a vestigial ink cartridge and ferrotape manufacturer remains." He adjusts his suit jacket.

"They started out as a midway electronics outfit in Königstein two centuries ago. After an aggressive move to Revachol, Feld became a global player in the emerging personal electronics market of the pre-Revolutionary era."

"Still, Tricentennial was beating them in business machines." He gestures toward the building. "But Feld had an ace up their sleeve. Or, should I say, they were *developing* an ace up their sleeve?…" He grins. "I'm mixing my metaphors here."

"What was that ace?"

"Very interesting. Let's get back to this later."

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "It was here in Martinaise -- possibly in this very building -- that they developed prototypes for a..." He pauses for effect. "...*tape computer*."

"A tape computer?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Mhm. An elegant folding mechanism of rollers and ferrotape ribbons, portable enough to be a take-it-home solution, revolutionizing business machines, possibly even bringing them to the average consumer."

"Which is a feat of engineering even today's giants Rehm, ICN, and ZAMM haven't achieved yet." He grins, admiring the sentence he just produced.

COMPOSURE [Medium: Success] - He assumes something like a combat stance, facing the wind.

"What happened?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Indeed, what?"

MIKAEL HEIDELSTAM - "The Revolution?" The boy wipes his nose on his sleeve.

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Unfortunately their moonshot project never made it to the market." He nods. "Feld's move to Revachol backfired. The Revolutionary government liquefied their assets and expropriated those very advanced prototypes. Possibly from this very building... or one of the adjacent ruins." He pauses, pointing to the other building, then continues:

"All of this was built by Feld, even the boardwalk. Wild Pines built Martinaise proper as a resort for their middle management, Feld built this side of town for R&D."

"You're saying that Feld Electrical built this boardwalk?" (Look under your feet.)

"What happened to the engineers, the company people?"

"What did the revolutionaries do with those advanced tape computers?"

"How did those tape computers work?"

"I wanted to ask something else…"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Yes, they even built a pleasure wheel, but that got destroyed in the war."

KIM KITSURAGI - "A pleasure wheel?" The lieutenant looks wistfully at the horizon, as if picturing gondolas rising to the sky.

EMPATHY [Easy: Success] - Perhaps reminded of a childhood memory? It's clear he would prefer there were a big wheel lighting up the coast.

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Yes. To lure in their star engineers. This part of Martinaise was nothing but reeds before Feld arrived. They had to make the prospect of living here *attractive*. It was supposed to become a global centre for innovation in cybernetics -- but history had other plans."

2. "What happened to the engineers, the company people?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Oh, I'm afraid it didn't end well for the boys." He smiles again, as if he's somehow personally responsible for this bleak turn of events. "But this story is a bit too *dark* for little Mikael here. Now if you were to ask about *tape computers*..."

Perhaps with a higher Rhetoric, we could understand the *politics* of this situation a little better.

3. "What did the revolutionaries do with those advanced tape computers?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "They used them for military communications," he says, while his son looks up, idly chewing on the corner of his würm-themed colouring book. "But also to write and send out press releases. The most notorious example being Le Décret de Mars."

"What was that?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "What's the March decree? I mean the radio transmission sent out to news agencies and world governments by the newly-created Commune of Revachol on the 7th of March in the year '02."

"It's a beautiful piece of text, actually. A singer-songwriter I know -- Charette -- called it a love poem to Revachol on her political concept album 'Bons baisers d'Insulinde'. You should read it. Every local library in Revachol stocks a copy of the decree."

"I tried to get Mikael to memorise it." He looks at his son, who starts giggling, his face hidden behind the book. "*Tried to*. Someone was much too interested in würms to be paying any attention."

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Medium: Success] - The kid takes a peek at the green and silver würm on the cover of the book. Already forgetting about this part of the discussion.

4. "How did those tape computers work?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Actually, no one knows. No one even knows what a computer made entirely of tape would look like! But word has it they were *very elegant* -- exquisite, alien-looking turn-of-the-century hardware..." He raises his finger, remembering something.

"Ten years ago, I did a little... freelancing, I guess you could say. I was a special consultant for an exhibition at the Wompty-Dompty-Dom Centre in Vredefort, Oranje. It raised the same questions, and we had lengthy discussions with Paul Ockermann, who was head curator at the time -- this was before the twins Keith and Guy Joost joined the team -- trying to..."

REACTION SPEED [Easy: Success] - Wait. Did he just say *Wompty-Dompty-Dom Centre*?

SUGGESTION [Easy: Success] - He did it! He said *Wompty-Dompty-Dom Centre* like it's the most natural thing in the world.

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Easy: Success] - What the hell *is* a Wompty-Dompty-Dom Centre? And who the hell are Keith and Guy Joost?!

"Okay. The Wompty-Dompty-Dom Centre? Paul Ockermann? Keith and Guy Joost? What are you *talking* about?"

"Okay. Back to... where were we? Tape computers, I think."

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "The Wompty-Dompty-Dom Centre for Contemporary Arts." There it is again -- those words. "The exhibition itself drew on Lagerman's notion of memory and so there were some parallels, that's why the head curator Paul Ockermann chose to..."

"You're making this up." (Turn to the lieutenant.) "Kim, is he making this up?"

"Come on, there is no place called the Wompty-Dompty-Dom Centre of Arts."

KIM KITSURAGI - "Actually, I think there is..." He pauses. "No, it's too much, he's joking."

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "In fact, I'm not. The Wompty-Dompty-Dom Centre," he says casually, "is a place you can visit if you're ever in Vredefort, and are ever in the market for an exhibition space slash contemporary art research centre." He clears his throat.

Thought gained: Wompty-Dompty-Dom Centre

"But perhaps I should return to the tape computers. As I was saying, the device itself was very elegant, fragile even. One could write directly on the tape using a special chemical solution. The machine would then analyse the handwriting, perform operations and project output onto a white screen. It was a beautiful, delicate thing."

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] - Made of black film and folding tape structures...

(Nod.) "Cool."

"Pfft. I've seen cooler things than that."

"The RCM should get some of those."

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Even *one* would be very useful," he agrees. "Though I understand the socio-economic causes of the Revolution, it pains me to imagine the revolutionaries setting fire to this precious device. But so they did. The Feld Playback Experiment vanished into the fires of '07."

"Wait, the Feld Playback Experiment?"

"Why did the revolutionaries destroy it?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Yes, the official name of the prototype. Some sources report it as the Feld Playback *Experience*, but those are incorrect."

"Why did the revolutionaries destroy it?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Who knows? Maybe it was an accident, or maybe they didn't want the technology to end up in the wrong hands. Either way -- they're all gone now, all three versions of the prototype. Nothing but debris and ashes remains inside that building." He takes a step back; the boardwalk creaks mournfully in the wind.

5. "I wanted to ask something else…"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "But of course! What else?" He smiles and ruffles his kid's head.

2. "You look like someone who has money. Do you have any money?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "I do have some money, yes, but that's not what's really important here." He brushes it off like it's not a thing at all.

AUTHORITY [Easy: Success] - He's not gonna give you money, what are you doing? Clearly you were just profiling.

"Could I have some of that 'unimportant' money then?"

"I don't want your money, I just wanted to see whether my profiling skills were working."

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Oh, no, I don't have it *on me*, officer, I was talking in more... general terms." He looks uncomfortable, his left hand squeezing his son's shoulder.

"I'm just spending time with my kid here, showing him around the lesser-known parts of our home town... It wouldn't be *wise* to carry huge amounts of cash on such expeditions!"

Whoops, probably should have listened to Authority there.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Easy: Success] - Not that he would have to worry about being robbed -- he looks surprisingly buff. Does he work out?

3. "By the way, do you work out?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "I do some Lo Manthang stick fighting now and then."

"Wait, what's Lo Manthang stick fighting?"

"I'm not really interested in the practice, I just want to know how often you work out. Now and then -- that's what, like once a week?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "It's an anthropological heritage of the Lomanthang people, a martial art of sorts, but what not a lot of books mention is that it also carries a *cultural* significance among the Lomanthangs, as it used to be the best means of showing off to look for a bride, which..."

"... interestingly enough, brings us to the socio-economic structure of the traditional rural tribes of the Lo Manthang isles, which..." He goes on to give you a detailed overview of their way of life, the amiable, slightly nervous smile not once leaving his face.

"But anyway," he says after a while, "I am boring you with details again. You were saying?"

"I don't really remember what I was saying..."

"I'm not really interested in the practice, I just want to know how often you work out. Now and then -- that's what, like once a week?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Lo Manthang stick fighting is a little like a pyrholidon addiction," he explains with a little smile. "I've been practising it for nearly 20 years now, so you could say that my doses have grown a little... peculiar."

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Medium: Success] - Wait. What does this man know about pyrholidon addiction?

"Hold on. Pyrholidon addiction? What an interesting metaphor..." (Study his face.) "Or perhaps not a metaphor at all?"

"So what is it, twice a week then? Every other day? *Man* is it difficult to stay on the right topic with you."

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "You got me, detective." He chuckles, before a shadow takes hold of his face. "But my history should hardly come as a surprise."

AUTHORITY [Easy: Success] - Here's a former junkie. I can recognize one when I see it.

MIKAEL HEIDELSTAM - Suddenly little Mikael opens up his mouth: "Dad's fighting with sticks every night after dinner for four hours. He has a special room for that -- *and* a special costume!"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "That's right, Mikael." Trant grabs his kid into a single-handed embrace, happy to change the subject. "It also has a meditative quality, helps to clear my head... But anyway," he says, swaying with his hand.

4. "Great, thank you for all the interesting information." [Leave.]

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "No, thanks to *you* for having me and little Mikael here to pick your brain... A very interesting conversation indeed."

WOMPTY-DOMPTY-DOM CENTRE

Temporary research bonus: -1 Suggestion: Outsider Research time: 0h 42min

It's Wednesday evening and something heinously exciting is under way. People have gathered beneath the billowing roof of an oddly shaped trophy building, sipping wine and exchanging opinions. 29-year-old wunder-twins Guy and Keith Joost are the stars of the show, with their bomber jackets and white sneakers -- head curators of this art exhibition. It's the wompty-dom-di-dommiest event of the year and all the cool kids have RSVP’d. Where are you, if you are not there?

FELD MURAL - You see a once-bright mural towering above you. The signage has peeled off over the years, but you can still make out: 'FELD ELECTRICAL R&D'.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Medium: Success] - A slogan used to intertwine with the loops a long time ago. Now only a shadow of peeled letters remains. It says: 'Tomorrow is just a whisper away'.

"Tomorrow is just a whisper away..."

[Turn away.]

KIM KITSURAGI - "Looks like tomorrow never came." The lieutenant raises the collar of his bomber jacket.

2. [Turn away.]

That was quite the history lesson. I think we'd better take a break here.

#disco elysium #kim kitsuragi #harrier du bois #trant heidelstam #mikael heidelstam #little lily

[poppadom0912]

Angry

Characters: Jay Halstead x Reader, Adam Ruzek

Warnings: 1 Swear word

Summary: Apparently, you look angry.

*****

"Oooh, she's angry."

Jay looked up from his phone, finding Adam now standing next to him as he looked at you, Jay following his line of sight, studying your body language and your side profile for any indication of anger.

It was very obvious how you were feeling, your clenched jaw, straight posture, lips slightly pursed, nose flaring when you breathed out and the twitch in your eye, but Adam didn't know that.

"How can you tell?" Jay asked, humouring his friend. Slipping his phone into his pocket, he crossed his arms, eyes not leaving you.

Adam took his eyes off you, looking at Jay shocked that he couldn't tell but started pointing out how he knew. "Well, you can see her mood by her hands." He looked back at you, flicking his finger towards your hands. "Like right now, she has her hand on her gun."

He paused; the silence thick as Jay's eyes found your hand gripping your gun that was still in its holster.

"I don't think that means she's happy." Adam pointed out the obvious, shoulders straightening out, proud with his analysis.

Jay looked at him dumbfounded. It was a true wonder how Adam was working in Intelligence sometimes.

"Also, her foots tapping like mad, she's about to go off and I'm going to sit back and enjoy it." Adam crossed his arms around his chest, a smile settling as he leaned back against a car to watch as the scene continued to unfold.

It was true. Your foot was tapping several times per second, the sound somewhat soothing to you despite all the red you could see.

Adam was very much correct; you were angry, and you had a very good reason to be so.

The man in front of you was one of the victims of the bank robbery that just took place, intelligence arriving midway to take over and like always, you proved to be one of the best units in Chicago but that didn't mean misogynistic men went out of their way to be kind to any members of the unit.

All you needed was to ask for a statement, get his side of the story despite knowing how it went, having taken five other statements from other victims beforehand; it was unnecessary really but just in case, you had to talk to everyone.

This was your last person; everyone had finished with theirs or were finishing but you were stuck with this man that was being ridiculous and diverting the conversation topic.

You did not need to be asked out for a date when you’re already happily dating someone else, who by the way, was much better looking than the older man standing before you.

"Sir, I'm not going to ask you again, what happened when the robbers entered the bank?" You spoke with grit, trying to keep your calm as your grip tightened around your gun. "I do not want to have to detain you for obstruction of justice for being uncooperative to this very serious case."

It was a mild threat that you weren't going to act on but if he didn't stop moving towards you, your handcuffs were looking pretty good right about now.

"Listen darling-" You interrupted him. "It's detective." Your tone strict and sharp as you continued to glare at him.

"Mhmm, alright but as I told you before, the robbers came in, pointed guns and the next thing I saw was your beautiful face." He smirked, looking you up and down as if you were his food. "You mind complimenting your parents for me, they should know they did good."

Your eyes twitched again at his words as you swallowed down anything offensive you had to say. "Sir, I just said-"

You stopped yourself when he took another step towards you, hand making contact with your hair wanting to tuck the loose strand behind your ear.

Slapping his hand away, you forced him to turn around, keeping your hand at his wrist alike to how you would if you were going to arrest him.

Pushing him against the closest car, face smashed against the hood as you tightened your grip around his wrist. "If you touch me again, I swear you’re going to regret leaving the house today." You whispered into his ear so no one else could hear.

Pulling away from him, you watched as he collected himself, grabbing his wrist to his chest in 'pain', looking at you with a newfound fear.

"Get out of my fucking sight." You spat, watching as he ran away with his head between his legs.

Sighing, your hands made themselves comfortable at your hip as you made yourself aware with your surroundings. Looking to your left, you found Adam and Jay standing together as they watched your entire ordeal.

You smiled sheepishly, heat rushing up to your cheeks as you met them halfway.

Adam was full on clapping with pride while Jay simply smiled, waiting for when the two of you were alone before he said anything.

"Honestly, angry you is someone I need to see often." Adam said once he finally stopped clapping. "I'd love to see her in action one day." He wiggled his eyebrows, winking at you before backing away slowly, his laugh echoing behind him.

"He's right you know." Jay said once Adam was far enough, the two of you still watching his figure walking away to everyone else.

You looked at him with a sly smile. "And whys that detective, you wanna see me do that more often?" You jutted your thumb to the corner you were previously at.

Jay reciprocated your smirk, the green of his eyes shining with mischief as he looked you up and down. "Oh, you know why."

You blushed, hiding your smile with the back of your hand. This man was another breed sometimes and it was at moments like this he showed it.

"Shut up."

#chicago pd x reader #one chicago imagine #one chicago x reader #jay halstead x reader #one chicago fic #one chicago fanfiction #jay halstead fic #jay halstead x y/n #jay halstead

[classpectingcaxy]

so i have this character im obsessed with but ive been having trouble classpecting her, can you help? she grows up with an excess of void in the way of being ignored and forgotten (because her brother is a thief of light and stole the attention), so she ends up idolizing the inverse (light) and has to learn to make peace with the fact that she isn't a light player and she just needs a balance. also she does kill and replace the god of secrets and deception if you wanna take that into account. tysm!!

Oooh, thank you for this! This is a good exercise in my ability to classpect. Hmm...

Analysis below the cut!

An excess of an Aspect makes me think they are a Prince, Rogue, Mage, Heir, or Seer.

Note, if you subscribe to the "Gendered Classes" idea, you're GOING to disagree with my analysis here because the only "Female" Class in the list is Seer, and the only "Non-Gendered" Class in the list is Rogue.

I do not subscribe to the "Gendered Classes" idea, as it limits ALL players to the "nearest" Class to their personality rather than the ACCURATE Class to their personality, in the case of females who align more with the archetypes of "Male" Classes like Knight, Prince, Mage, or Heir, or in the case of males who align more with the archetypes of "Female" Classes like Seer, Sylph, Witch, or Maid.

The game is clearly set in such a way that the Class directly aligns with the personality of the player, which implies that biological sex and gender identity have no bearing on Class selection, but rather it is entirely personality based, meaning male or male-identifying individuals can be Witches or Sylphs, and female or female-identifying individuals can be Knights or Mages.

With that said, let's move on.

Idolizing their inverse, or actively seeking/yearning for, the opposite of their Aspect means they tend to mitigate their Aspect. So an excess that they actively try to reduce...

Prince or Rogue, then, as Destroyer or Distributor.

That brings us to her "quest" which you've stated as being to recognize she isn't, and will never be, a Light player and must find the balance.

This is the deciding factor, and it is 100% a Prince's quest.

Which brings us to Aspect. You mention Void, specifically, and mention that she kills and replaces the god of secrets and deception.

This makes it very, very tricky, because one of the possibilities here goes against something earlier, but could actually lend itself well to the story all the same.

They may be a Prince of Void, but they could just as easily be a Prince of Light.

Allow me to explain.

A Prince of Light Destroys Light or destroys by using Light, and these things are, most often, their active choices. They choose to destroy Light and it's concepts, resulting in nothing but Void remaining. By destroying knowledge, truth, attention, and fortune, they leave nothing behind but lies, secrecy, deception, and such.

By Destroying Light, they create Void, and if their personality is to idolize Light and it's Aspects, it would mean their powers, their very nature, goes AGAINST that idolization, as the very thing they crave is the one thing they can never create, never cause.

Their efforts to act like a Light player, their efforts to BE a Light player, trying so hard to forge it, obtain it, change it, create it, would be the very actions that would Destroy it, leading to their Classing as a Prince.

This would also explain their replacing the God of Secrets and Deception. Who better to do so than one who is destined to leave behind nothing BUT Secrets and Deception, through the active destruction of Revelation and Truth?

This would mean her quest is not so much to accept that she isn't a Light player and never will be, but rather to accept that she is destined to be a Destroyer of Light.

However, if you would like to maintain the original Quest you mentioned, then the only remaining option is to be a Rogue of Void, like our own Roxy Lalonde, gathering Void from every source they can and distributing it for the sake of protecting or benefitting those around them.

This would serve the original Quest well, as they would bear an excess of Void, struggle with learning to accept their role as a Void player, and their Quest being to accept not only being Void, but also that they will never serve any of the roles of a Light player, fits well with the Rogue's usual Quest of recognizing and accepting the value of their Aspect and learning to accept it not only for themselves, but accepting that it's okay to have it and to share it in kind, rather than seeing it as an inherently negative force.

Conclusion

A Prince of Light or Rogue of Void would both fit, for different reasons.

If you would like to keep the Void player aspect, Rogue of Void fits incredibly well, if not perfectly, and if you're interested in a different angle on the story, a Prince of Light fits almost perfectly.

Feel free to reblog this, or even simply send in a second Ask, if you want me to re-evaluate this! Any additional information may help me hit more accurately if this isn't to your liking!

#class #aspect #classpect #analysis #homestuck #request #ask #answer

[meimi-haneoka]

What are your top 10 favorite scenes in Clear Card manga? (Not counting the anime because it hasn't been finished yet)

Aaaahhh nice question! 🤭 Thank you so much for sending me this ask, since now that the main story is over, with a cool mind, it gave me the opportunity to think about the scenes I loved the most.

It is actually quite hard for me to choose, because there are so many good scenes, and it somehow feels also "unfair" to make a ranking, but I will try to answer with my CURRENT top 10, which is highly depending on my current inclinations and preferences. 😊 (under the cut, with explanations and analysis for each scene)

10. Chapter 1, "We'll be together forever"

I'm not placing this here because it's my least favorite, not at all, but because after more than 7 years, its power to evoke emotions in me has been supplanted by other scenes. 😅 I dunno how to explain it but, while it stays one of the most important and nostalgic scenes in this series, so much more happened in this arc that I feel "in a stronger way" than this scene. Still, it's in my top 10 because I was highly emotional when I've seen it in chapter 1.

9. Chapter 22, "Same goes for you, Syaoran-kun"

Ooooh, this was such a satisfactory moment, I still remember it. Till that moment, Sakura never gave out any hint that she had started to notice that Syaoran had been hiding something from her. This was portrayed differently in the anime, because Sakura confides her doubt with Meiling way before this scene happened in episode 21, but in the manga it was such a "wow" moment for me, because we had been screaming in our heads "how is it possible that Sakura is so oblivious that she doesn't notice anything", but no, she actually had already noticed, it's just that she wanted to take all of us by surprise, Syaoran included! And she was waiting patiently for him to talk to her. I also liked the way she phrased this, because it might be interpreted as slightly slightly calling him out while telling him "please open up to me" with love. Which is exactly what also will happen with another couple later on.

8. Chapter 33, Sakura hugs Syaoran with a resolute face

Another moment that made me scream "QUEEN!!" was this one. Oooh, how much I loved Sakura in this specific panel. Syaoran is prevented from warning her about Kaito and what he knows about him, so he desperately tries to convey to her with that crushing hug that no matter what happens, he's going to protect her. But since Sakura had just found out the truth about the Clear Cards and felt the frustration of not having understood it earlier, causing her loved one to put himself into a dangerous position, her resolute face here always conveyed to me her desire to be more "in touch" with herself, finally "waking up" and do her part to protect Syaoran in turn. That little hand gripping Syaoran's shirt tightly is everything to me. It's so rare to see Sakura depicted with such strong and complex feelings.

7. Chapter 41/42, Syaoran and Kaito's fight

One of my favorite scenes, no doubt. You have no idea how much I'm anticipating to see this scene in the anime. It's not only because my two favorite boys are basically arguing over who's more "I'll save/protect my most important person no matter what" (even if one of them hasn't figured it out yet), but it's also because we have a pretty violent Syaoran here...he attacked Kaito behind his back with a freaking lightning, without notice or anything else, and that made me go "wow Syaoran, you must be quite mad if you're not caring about fair play in this confrontation" 😂 And it's also pretty uncharacteristic of Kaito to be taken by suprise by someone....but this is just because Nadeshiko had distracted him with a topic that really dug deep in his core.

6. Chapter 31, "I'm also mad at you, Syaoran-kun"

And of course, this is another main scene that I can't wait to see animated and that really left an impact on me. I realize that my favorite scenes are those where the characters do something you wouldn't expect from them basing on what's been portrayed of them till that moment. And I think hearing Sakura say "I'm also mad at you, Syaoran-kun" had a major impact on me. And felt very satisfactory. Of course I knew that Sakura would've never lashed out at Syaoran when she would've found out about the Sakura Cards, about lying and omitting things to her...Sakura knows that her Syaoran would never reach such lengths if it weren't for her safety. But still, he didn't fully consider the consequences of his actions, which could've been so much worse than what we've seen, and I think in that moment Sakura fully realized all of that, and it's inevitable that the pain turned also into anger because "how can you be so blind to not realize that you would've killed me if something happened to you?". Sakura's calm and composed anger and pain is very much in character for her, but also something we yet had to see till that moment, so it felt really refreshing. I also remember her next sentence, "Even if it would've made you uncomfortable, I would've cried and cried forever". It's as if she was telling him "in front of something of such gravity, I need to take notice of my own feelings and express them. I WILL react in this way, even if I know that I will make you feel bad about it." It's claiming the right to be angry when your loved one messes up big time with you. (lord, the parallels!) And Syaoran's hug to her head, not even allowing himself to hug her body, felt very humble and respectful from his part, in my opinion. He absolutely felt the need to apologize and comfort her, but not invading her space and comfortable zone too much.

5. Chapter 52, "But you look like you're in pain"

Chapter 52 was a "parallels fest" beginning to end, and more than a scene, I'd daresay I place the entire chapter in this position of the ranking. It was very nice to see, for once, a parallelism between Akiho and Syaoran, rather than the usual Akiho and Sakura. I think CLAMP took care in depicting this scene because they wanted to make sure that the readers understood that, despite being under a "synchronization", the feelings Sakura and Akiho have for their loved ones are absolutely genuine, unique and personal to eachother. In short, Akiho doesn't act in a certain way towards Kaito because she's "mimicking" what Sakura does with Syaoran. If there's one thing in CLAMP manga that always eluded hitsuzen, plotting, scheming, even premonitions, are the feelings the characters have for their important people, and it's not something specific to CCS. Not even magic can change the feelings someone got for someone else, just as magic alone cannot make someone fall in love with someone else. It's always coming from the heart. And so, in this scene we see two kids deeply worried for their loved ones, who look in pain, and CLAMP have shown to us how their situations, although paralleling, had two very different outcomes, not because the feelings at the base were different, but because their circumstances were different. In the Akiho/Kaito half, I was absolutely heartbroken by Kaito's reaction, dictated by fear and isolation. But I was also in awe at Akiho's strength of mind, the way she kept insisting for Kaito to open up to her because she just could feel that something wasn't right, it hadn't been for a while at this point, and the fear to lose him made her stronger and more incisive than ever. Alas, Kaito's stubborness at this point of the story is basically playing a tug of war with her (a game Akiho has no intention to lose), so he had that reaction of running away and shutting the door in her face, another thing I found extremely uncharacteristic of him, because he had always been so respectful and diligent in his "role of the butler". With the progression of the story, this reaction became so much more clear and coherent with his state of mind. To this day, this chapter is so dear to me because of the strong and complex emotions depicted in it (even though at the time it hurt so much).

4. Chapter 80, "Cristaux. That's my true name"

Well yes, it might be because it's just fresh in my mind, or because it was, in a way, the end of the tribulations for me to see this guy finally realizing what Akiho is to him, but I feel this scene in my core. The choice to reveal his true name to her, what it means in a CLAMP manga, the intimacy of the scene without actually depicting anything that any reader (who doesn't know CLAMP well) would consider "regular" for a romantic scene (so much that a good amount of people didn't understand what happened here), makes it so precious and special to me. When I've talked about this scene in the stories of my IG account, I used "Delicate" by Taylor Swift as a background song, because I really feel like CLAMP depicted Kaito's intentions in a very delicate way. Which is how it is supposed to be, how their relationship will develop and transform along the way. They need so much sensitivity, gentleness, time, tenderness, because they both have lots of scars they need to heal from. And just like in the song, Kaito is starting to acknowledge many things and he's moving a tiny step ahead in that direction, with this gesture that means so much (and Akiho is perfectly aware of what it entails). It's like "starting again" for them, this time from a foundation of honesty and trust. Slowly, slowly healing and building their bond back up. It's the evidence that when your heart is in the right place, there's always a second chance and Kaito showed here that he doesn't want to waste it.

3. Chapter 78, Akiho and Kaito's reunion

Well. OF COURSE this would be in my top 3! I cried so much!! 🥲 The emotional tension, Akiho's anger, Kaito's silence that suggested how stunned he was, finally realizing things that we waited for the whole manga for him to see... I think the one aspect that struck me the hardest in this scene was imagining to be in Akiho's shoes in that moment, and feeling all that love and anger pouring out of her, without even fully understanding where those feelings came from, because she still didn't remember anything about him. Like, you have someone in front of you, your heart knows it's the person you love, and yet you can't remember anything about them, not even their name. But you still feel this storm of feelings pouring out of you. So powerful. As powerful was Akiho's assertiveness when she rebuked Kaito not only for deciding her happiness on her behalf, without asking her absolutely anything, but most importantly because he dared to remove himself from her life, thinking "she doesn't need me to be happy, after all", when he was so so so wrong. And in doing that, he committed another horrible thing, he literally threw himself away in the process, like something of no value. I think more than anything else, this was what hurt Akiho the most. And we always go back to that parallelism of chapter 31, how these boys, in their fever of protecting their most important person, completely forget/don't see how fundamental THEY are to that person's happiness. Out of this whole reunion, another scene I love is when Akiho kinda "pulls" Kaito back to her, pressuring him to go along with Sakura's plan to revert him back to his true appearance (from that of a dragon). You can see that his self-loathing makes him hesitate, and resist that plan till the last second, but when he exchanges that long stare with Akiho, he finally caves in. Her hard stare, which shows already the irritation and pain that will overflow afterwards, makes him feel "wanted", necessary to someone. Just for being himself, not because of his powers, like it had been till he met her. That's another moment of this scene that I love deeply.

2. Chapter 48, "The moon is beautiful"

Yeah I'm sorry, I've been debating whether this scene would go to n. 1 or not, then decided otherwise, but I can't lie to myself: the scene that impacted me the most in this entire manga, the one that changed me, is this one. Akiho's covert love confession under the full moon. And until someone explained to me what Akiho actually meant with that "because the moon is really beautiful", I had considered this just a very sweet and cute scene, but nothing more. When someone gave me the correct "reading key" (and it's absolutely intentional because Akiho's speech is placed between quote marks), something changed inside of me towards these two. I already liked them, Akiho in particular, but this scene confirmed to me that Akiho was serious in wanting to grasp her life tightly and change it. From a shy, insecure girl needing validation at every sentence, crushed by the trauma of the past, to someone who actually made the first, concrete steps in conveying her thoughts and feelings to the person most important to her. From stillness, to action. The first steps towards finding her voice, and letting it be heard, louder and louder, throughout the story. This is a very important turning point, as you can literally see her changing, after this scene. Even in this metaphorical way, it must have required for Akiho to muster all of her courage to confess her feelings. Did Kaito understand what she meant, here? To this day, I don't think he did. Otherwise, he wouldn't have said such a foolish thing like "I didn't think you needed me to be happy" in ch. 78. But he still wanted to spend time with her, he was visibly glad to receive that "invitation" from her, even though he never let that transpire from his words, his reply is a line carefully built in Japanese to address what Akiho wanted, not what he wanted. Cause he couldn't allow himself to want anything, aside from that one wish, knowing very well how this would've ended. Chapter 48 and 49 were giving us everything we needed to know to determine not only Akiho's feelings towards Kaito, but also his own feelings for her. It's very clear by the way they look at eachother in their scenes of these two chapters. And yet, the smell of "doom" was looming over them (so much that at the time I thought this would be their last conversation before everything went down the drain; fortunately it wasn't), so this "duality" created the perfect mix to get me definitively invested in these two.

1. Chapter 79, "I can't be on everyone's side"

I chose this scene for the 1st position because I absolutely adored the revolutionary and strong message that Sakura passed in the very culmination of the climax. I felt we really needed it. More than once I had feared, throughout the serialization, that CLAMP would've shown Sakura trying to "befriend" or "compromise" with the Squids & Association, when the "moment of the truth" would've come. Because of the apparent "dogma" that "Sakura is everyone's friend, no one is evil in Sakura's world, Sakura is such a good girl".

But what they had already shown about Akiho's clan and the Association ABSOLUTELY couldn't be justified or compromised with. CLAMP had already shown too much cruelty from them, there couldn't be any "redeeming arc" or anything like that, that wouldn't result in being offensive to the sensitivity and intelligence of the readers. Sometimes it happens that you just can't compromise with cruel people guided only by greed. You shouldn't. Especially if they abused other people ever since they were so little.

In this specific scene, CLAMP have put Sakura in front of a choice, but not only that: they also made her question her own morality. How I adored that! Sakura does realize that what she's about to do might not be good from a moral standpoint, forcing people to forget about something without their consent. Exactly what Kaito did before. But she doesn't care. This is something different, and the difference lies in the intentions. While Kaito acted out of love, those other people were clearly trying to harm her friends. Because of this, she spells out clearly that she can't be on everyone's side. Because at some point a choice needs to be made, and she chose Akiho and Kaito. This scene right here is, perhaps, the one that answers the question that I know many people made themselves throughout the story, and after it was over: did we need Akiho and Kaito in Cardcaptor Sakura?

Yes, we did.

Because they brought Sakura to this moment, and they pushed her to make this decision. The decision to choose her loved ones' happiness over anything else, even her own morality, particularly when cruel intentions were involved towards people with a background much less happier and ideal than hers'. The decision to go on along with them, rather than trying to go back to how things were before. The decision to do whatever in her power to protect them. A series of decisions that brought her an enormous character development. This thematic of "going on" rather than "going back" was so strong in Tsubasa too, and it's not a coincidence that everyone could feel a strong connection to that other CLAMP work, in the final 2 chapters (and not only because of the cameos).

I think this scene defined and changed CCS forever (for the better, in my opinion). I feel like the essence of Clear Card is all here. This feeling of "everything we went through was for this moment" is so strong that made me designate it as my n. 1 scene!✨

#reply #cardcaptor sakura #clear card arc #card captor sakura #syaosaku #yunaaki #akiho shinomoto #yuna d. kaito #sakura kinomoto #syaoran li #lol I didn't think this ask would take me so long to reply #but I had some 'accidents' along the way #anyway this is basically just me rambling again about my favorite scenes under the cut

[batpham-discord-highlights]

DALV Energy Drink

 I

there is a popular energy drink that becomes all the rage everywhere even Gotham. Tim out of curiosity of its claims takes it. And starts to feel really energize and stronger.

but overtime he starts to have weird side effects. strength he knows is impossible for him, knowing for certain his hand should not have passed through his mug.

turns out the energy drink is called Spectacular... it’s actually connected to specter... as Spect is in different font.

upon analysis the drink has something similar to pit water in it. uwu and you see where this is going kek

also 100% Vlad's idea =w= if he can’t have the only halfa like him he'll make more.

Danny just finding this out the same time as Tim.

ok just plopping a mini-idea plot kek

 Gh

It’s not 100% like sunset overdrive but def love it like I do

 L

Is one of the side effects mood swings?

 I

strong emotions yes

 L

Yeah, Tim should try to figure it out without telling his family because ‘embarrassing’

 Go

Question, would the rest of the batfam try it?

R

Jason, no. He's against energy drinks on principal. Plus, the stuff is rank.

Damian, also no. he'd never drink something as plebian as an energy drink.

 Gh

Dick is a maybe

R

Dick, maybe? But he doesn't like the way it makes him feel, so he only tries it once

Bruce, absolutely no.

Alfred would have a conniption if he found any energy drinks in the house

Gi

Cass would try

R

She would

Gi

Duke too, he doesn’t have an opinion on energy drinks, but likes the taste of some and is willing to try

R

Then she'd make a face at the taste and never touch it again

Duke drinks it too, but it doesn't affect him because of his powers

Gi

he doesn’t have fast metabolism in his skillset

i mean in canon

Healing ability: it has been discovered that Duke's powers allow him to heal rapidly in dire situations.

he has this

R

Hmm…

Gi

fanon we can do whatever

R

Maybe his rapid healing repairs the damage the ectoplasm does before it can take root

Gi

you have a point there

R

Like, you know the radium girls?

Gi

yeah

R

Ectoplasm is like that, except with DNA instead of bone

So, Duke's healing factor keeps the ectoplasm from changing his DNA

Gi

he is the only one that can drink it without consequences

Go

Can I just say I still want someone to trick Jason into drinking it and he ends up falling through a chair?

If we go with the ectoplasm = lazarus pit, it’d be like a temp boost for him

Gi

especially if the ectoplasm in the drinks is purer

S

Imagine Jason starts drinking it and it helps filter out the lazarus water from his system and replace it with cleaner ectoplasm

Gi

yeah, this ⬆️

R

Lol, I can see Jason scowling, plugging his nose and chugging the stuff. It nasty but damn it if it isn't effective

Go

Bruce is in the corner trying to figure out why his kids are experimenting with it

 I  

Yes

Also, low key imagine after all is said n done jazz keeps the rest of the drinks, /stored away for emergency uses...

 Go

It’s a nice little thing for Danny

 I  

Or jokingly, Vlad is allowed to legally sell it with proper warning labels...

Yess it’s a good pick me up for Danny

 Go

Unless that says not suitable for human consumption, then no

 I  

Can see Tim having a hard time stopping.

 Go

Probably

Gi

halfa Tim?

H

oooh halfa Tim

 Go

If they get Jason hooked on it, you could have both

Him and Tim

Gi

👀

H

Tim not noticing he's a ghost now and standing in the kitchen making coffee when someone else walks in and double takes

even better if ghost Jason was the one to walk in and he's freaking out

and freaks out more seeing ghost Tim

Gi

ghost Jason falls through the floor in shock

H

gets stuck waist deep in the ground and starts yelling

 I  

Yesss  

Danny now constant contact because A he likes these guys and B he wants to help them

Gi

Danny adopts the silly new halfas

under his wing

 I  

Vlad got fucked. He succeeded and failed lol because they just band with Danny XD

H

Vlad: YES IT WORKED

Danny: mine now

Vlad: NO NO NO

I  

Can mix in where Tim n Danny swapped their villains wanting them kind of XD

Ooo they now have to keep making the drinks but remove like the caffeine and abundance of sugar… more "healthy" for back up reserves.. Alfred overseeing this. His n Jazz's idea, since they have 3 halfas and 4 if Danielle shows

Gi

i like this

H

Dani probably got a power boost from the standard drink

 Go

This feels like it’d be so much fun to read

H

it does

Gi

now, someone has to actually write it

-----

Note: It’s being written here.

#ghosts and bats channel #danny phantom #batman #dp x dc #danny fenton #tim drake #dick grayson #bruce wayne #damian al ghul #jason todd #dp crossover #jason peter todd #cassandra wayne #cassandra cain #duke thomas #energy drinks #ectoplasm #vlad masters

[dnpbeats]

Seeking help from a fellow stats phannie!! If I were to chunk the years from 2009-2024 into cohesive eras of dnp to make the data look better for the song favorites analysis, what ranges would you suggest?

oooh good question!! always happy to help! :) okay so working backwards i'd say you need like post-hiatus to present (so end of 2023-2024) and then also coming out through the hiatus (june 2019-majority of 2023). then based on vibes i'd say you could do 2015-2017 together that's kinda like TABINOF/TATINOF era, and then 2018-middle of 2019 would be II. then i think you'd have 2012-2014 bc that's when they first started to get big/more well known (with the radio show and stuff) but before they were really at their height with TABINOF. so that leaves 2009-2011 which yk i wasn't here for but generally that feels fine to lump together?

so sorry that i actually just typed that out in the most confusing way possible, here it is laid out more clearly lol:

2009-2011

2012-2014

2015-2017 (TATINOF/TABINOF era)

2018-June 2019 (II era, pre-coming out)

June 2019-Oct 2023 (post-coming out, joint content hiatus)

Oct 2023-present (post-hiatus, old gay and can say fuck now)

idk what to label the first two as 💀

#like 'doing this for fun' era and then 'starting to get popular and everyone is digging into your business' era LMAO #d&p #ask #serendipnpipity

[lipslikethegardensofbabylon]

#ttpd analysis day five - So Long, London

when i first listened to TTPD i was surprised that this was track five when loml is…… right there, but it definitely grew on me and i do think that it’s a brilliant choice for a track five. they’re typically the sadder/more heartfelt tracks but i loooove that it has an underlying pulse of rage from being wronged. it’s so good

i don’t know who first did it, but i’ve seen a lot of people comment on how the opening production mimics the chime of big Ben and i love that, it’s one of those perfect little taylor-isms we know and love. the fairy lights through the mist is such a sad line, it makes me think of desperate sailors looking for the lighthouse lights, but also the use of an ocean/boat metaphor reminds me of something my grandma used to say - like ships passing in the night. it kind of paints the picture that this was a gradual separation, sort of slowly and then all at once.

verse two has some of my favorite lyrics like - i founded the club she’s heard great things about. first of all, sick burn. it could be taken a lot of ways, i think a popular perception is taylor is a big name and brought attention to the muse but i like to think that this is another way of saying i spent years helping you heal and now this other person gets to meet this you, and not the one i had. kind of like olivia rodrigo’s i guess that therapist i found for you, she really helped / now you can be a better man for your brand-new girl

the stitches undone two graves one gun was something that at first i was just like oooh that’s good, but the more i listened it reminds me so much of you had to kill me but it killed you just the same. just. oy vey. i saw someone else say that both graves could have been for the narrator too, like killing her past and present self. idk if i agree with that but that is what i love about her songwriting, there’s so many ways it could go and reaches everyone for a different reason

one thing that is a huge theme overall in the song is how much sad did you think i had? like you can’t help but recall collabs - exile, champagne problems, coney island. i think taylor likes writing sad songs as much as the next person but also if that’s all you have in common that’s not sustainable, at least not in a healthy way.

the had a good run a moment of warm sun is another oof moment. so long, daylight

#taylor swift #ttpd #ttpd analysis