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jadegreenimmortality · 3 years

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Bungou Stray Dogs Men as Househusbands pt.1 - Sakunosuke Oda

A/N: I’m sorry that this isn‘t a request, but this brain rot has been going on since forever and now I can’t resist it anymore. I totally blame @hanazou for this. There will also be a part two featuring Chuuya, but his part has a completely different feeling to it, that's why I'll post these separately. Besides of that, this is basically an “Way of the Househusband!AU”. Go watch the show or read the manga if you don’t know it, it’s absolutely hilarious! This is mainly focused on them as househusbands, but since you are their spouse, there’s also a bit of reader insert. Also, a lot of Oda as a dad to his orphans. And the whole thing is feat. Dazai. (^^)

Pairings: Oda x gn!reader

Genre: Crack, domestic fluff

Warnings: none

Summary: You, Oda and the orphans move in together. While you become the working spouse, your loving husband stays at home and becomes a full-time househusband.

pt. 2

First things first - If you agree to marrying Sakunosuke Oda, you are also agreeing to become the parent of five children. Oda loves you and you are one of two main reasons he’s leaving the Mafia, the other being his life purpose. But if he’s leaving the Mafia, he’s keeping those kids in (if they want him to of course, but you can’t tell me they don’t, come on -)

So yeah, be ready.

He only cooks spicy curry at the beginning. The curry shop owner gave him the exact recipe of his favourite plate as a goodbye gift and that’s the only thing he is cooking for days on end. He has some basic cooking skills, but this is the only really elaborated dish he knows how to prepare as of now, so be ready to suffer from the spice. It will go on like that until all six of you you and the kids hold an intervention for him. The kids will paint nice banners like they were going to a demonstration saying "No more curry" that they hang up in the living room and he’ll be greeted by your sorrowful face when he comes back from buying groceries.

“What’s this?” – “Oh honey, I’m so sorry, its just…�� – “WE CAN’T TAKE THE SPICE ANYMORE STOP COOKING CURRY ALREADY!” – “…I mean…yeah.”

Of course, he’ll be a bit embarrassed and disappointed. May scratch his neck and look to the side thoughtfully. But he’ll take your plead seriously.

This is also how you bond with the kids for the first time. Congratulations, huddling up against someone is always the best way to bond!

He works hard on his cooking skills after that and becomes quite the formidable cook. He takes suggestions from you and the kids and will try to learn how to cook anything you might fancy to eat. It’s really important to him that all of you are happy and cooking may be the most important job of a house spouse, so he takes it very seriously.

There will be curry Tuesday though. One day of spice hell. Enjoy.

Please picture Oda in his usual attire, wearing a beige “kiss the cook” apron over it and bunny slippers. You’re welcome.

He'll learn how to make anime and cartoon-themed bentos for the kids, so it's highly probable you'll get cutely designed bentos as well. Again, you may drop suggestions, he’ll absolutely take them into considerations. Octopus sausages, bunny apple slices, cute bear faces made out of rice, he’ll learn to do them all. He isn’t too sappy of a person, but if he’s feeling romantic while cooking, your rice could also have the shape of a heart. Either way, your co-workers will be very envious of your food and your husband.

Oda iss the master of negotiation at the food market. He’ll be completely stoic all the time, not aggressive or dismissive at all, but he’ll point out little flaws of the products in a way that most shop owner’s won’t be able to deny and that’s how he gets discounts. He doesn’t want to cheat anyone out of their money, but he does have seven mouths to feed.

He may not look like it, but if any of the kids tag along for his grocery shopping, it's really hard for him to deny them something if they beg for it. He may seem unnervingly calm all the time, but he’s a big softie, especially for those kids and for you, and if they hang at his sleeves long enough, they’ll get that ice-cream they want so badly. That doesn’t work on pricier items though, he can be a strict parent when really needed.

Oda is great at handling the finances. He’s well aware that he has to be thrifty with five kids. Still, there is one thing where he struggles to keep his control: books.

If you agree to it, the apartment will have an absolutely minimalistic interior, but! In your living room, there will be a shelf full of books, so big it covers a whole wall. That’s it, that’s Oda’s only weak spot when spending money.

It’s not only books for him though. He buys books for you when he sees something from your favourite author or genre. He buys books for the kids so they learn the joy of literature. Poems, bed time stories he wants them to grow up appreciating the possibilities of the written word.

You can bet that he’ll read them bed time stories. Only one book for all five of them though, so one kid gets to choose a story each day.

He’ll read to you as well if you want him to. His voice is incredibly calm and soothing, he’s a really good reader. There’s a high probability you’ll fall asleep while he reads to you. You can cuddle up in bed and rest your head on his shoulder or sit on his lap and hide your face in the crook of his neck, feeling the vibration of his voice in his chest.

Whenever he has some time to spare, he’ll retire to your shared bedroom to write. Mind you, that won’t happen often. It happens mainly on weekends, when the kids are with friends and/or you are at home. If you want to do him a favour, consider cooking on the weekends, he’ll be more than thankful for the opportunity to submerge in his beloved writing. But don’t worry, it won’t consume him – he’ll always put some time aside to spent with you, without the kids, as well ¬‿¬.

He's so polite with the neighbours. Will pay all his neighbours a short visit together with the kids to introduce himself and bring little gifts. Just imagine him standing there in the door frame, witih all five kids around his legs, smiling at their new neighbours angelically - what's not to love?

He really wants to maintain a good relationship to all of them. Basically, he’s the perfect neighbour – always polite, always up to a little chat, always ready to listen to neighbour A complain over neighbour B without snitching. He’s mainly concerned for the wellbeing the kids though. He wants them to feel part of the community and often arranges play dates with the neighbour kids. If it's possible at the neighbour’s house because five kids are a lot to handle already…and when they are all out of the apartment, it’s cleaning time.

Oda is an angel of patience and the ultimate multitasker. He isn’t left with much of a choice with five kids, but thankfully, calm lies in his nature. You may see him explaining Sakura her math homework while cutting vegetables for today’s lunch. Then, he’ll take a quick glance out of the window to see if they boys are still playing on the street where he can see them and then he’ll check on Sakura again. Isn’t he lovely?

His ability is unexpectedly helpful for all of this. If he’s in the living room to clean, his ability will alarm him if the food’s about to burn. If he’s around the kids, he’ll know in time if one is about to trip. If you come home from work so tired you fall asleep face first in your soup, he’ll be able to catch you. So useful.

He’s a very attentive and loving husband. His love is mainly expressed by keeping the house as clean as he can and putting a lot of effort into cooking. Your work is hard enough, he takes it upon himself to manage everything else. He’ll also try to have the kids well-behaved so they don’t demand too much from you after you come home from work. Though if you decide to pull yourself together and give them attention and love even when tired, he’ll be more than thankful. He knows it’s a lot to ask to be a parent, especially to not one, but FIVE kids that are not yours by blood. So if you actively seek to have a close bond to them, it will make him so incredibly happy because he knows it’s not the natural course of action for everyone.

Will give you head, shoulder and foot massages after an especially excruciating day of work. His hands are skillful and he knows where to touch to make you moan to release the tension from your muscles.

Likes to lie his head in your lap after both of you had a long day of work. Yes, you may be the provider, but keeping a house clean and five kids under control isn’t an easy job either! So, he’ll seek peace laying his head on your thighs and closing his eyes while you tussle his hair and tell him about your day. Don’t expect more than a mumbled “Mm” or “I see” from time to time, but be sure that he’s listening.

And the Port Mafia? You’re in luck - since he was the lowest-ranking member, The Mafia, by which I mean Mori isn’t bothered that he left. He refused to kill anyways, he’s to no use to them him.

Of course, Oda will try to be absolutely sure there is no hidden reason for Mori to hinder his leave beforehand, or to resent him for it. The last thing he wants is to endanger you or the kids by leaving his job as a criminal.

If he ever meets a member of the PM in public, he'll act as if he doesn't know them. He may give them a polite nod if they make eye contact, but that’s about it. It’s not that he resents them, but he really wants to start a new life here that isn’t connected to killing and cruelty at all. If they approach him he'll be very polite, but try to keep the conversation short, even if they seem to have no ulterior motive.

Of course, there’s one member of the Port Mafia that marks the exception, by which I mean to say that you’ll have Osamu Dazai over for tea regularly. No, he won’t announce himself at all. The first time he appears at your apartment, you’re just finishing to unpack. He’ll tand at your doorstep all of a sudden to tell Oda that Mori already knows where he moved to. Oda will just nod as an acknowledgement. He expected as much. And then he’ll give you a questioning look. If you nod, he’ll officially asking his friend to stay for dinner. You’ll be having curry.

From then on, he’ll just drop by whenever. You may come back home from time to time to find dinner ready, the kids in bed and your husband and Dazai drinking. If you join them, you will have some truly joyful evenings spend together. You’re Oda’s chosen one, so Dazai is a bit more inclined to let you get close than he is with others. You may make a new friend in the process.

It doesn’t take a lot of time for the kids to start calling him Uncle Dazai. He’ll actually be Uncle Dazai before they ever call Oda Dad or you Mom/Dad. It will take them mere weeks to call him uncle, but months, maybe years to call the two of you Dad/Mom. It will happen eventually though, and the day it happens, I assure you that you will see Oda spill tears of happiness. He’ll be looking away, wiping his face with one hand and smiling. He never thought he would want this, but now he knows he does.

Back to Dazai! He’s reserved with the kids at first. As we know, he doesn’t feel all to comfortable around “childish behaviour”. But kids are like cats, the feel drawn to the one that’s most cautious. By which I mean to say that they are all over him. Literally. Oda will leave for five minutes and when he’s back at the living room the kids will have tackled a slightly unnerved Dazai on the floor. Sakura wants him to see the drawings she made, Katsumi, Kousuke and Yuu want to play, Shinji wants to ask him what's under his bandages. He’ll have no choice but to oblige and it goes surprisingly well. Oda may abuse him as a baby-sitter when he visits from then on.

Then suddenly, Dazai stops visiting altogether. You are worried, but Oda, for some reason, isn’t. Even more, whenever you ask him about it, you may catch him smiling to himself in a satisfied, proud way. No, Dazai didn’t tell him anything. If Oda would know, it would endanger all of you. But he knows. He knows that Dazai finally made his choice to leave the Port Mafia and needs to lay low now. And that’s okay.

It takes Dazai two years to come back, which will be just as sudden as him leaving. You’ll be astounded to see him a changed man at first sight. Oda will scold him for not sending any notice and then everything is normal again. And after some more years, he’ll start bringing along a scrawny kid with white hair.

A/N: Wow, this is the first post I put a "keep reading" link in because it's so long! That's kind of a milestone for me. ｡ﾟ(TヮT)ﾟ｡

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this! Thank you for reading!

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soyouareandrewdobson · 3 years

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Dobbear! SYAC: The Master Review 6

I am so going to ruin someone’s childhood with that now, but...

guys, it had to be done!

Dashing and daring…

Courageous and caring!

Faithful and friendly…

With stories to share!

Doesn’t at all apply to this one artist…

Lesbian obsessed and each nerddom’s nightmare!

Dobby BEAR!

Whinning here and there and everywhere!

Making claims that are beyond compare…

This is our Dobby-Bear!

Yeah, if you can’t guess, around now is the time I am going to put down the kids gloves and will really dig into why SYAC is garbage. And a huge factor into this, is in part Dobson’s self insert past 2012.

The existence of the blue bear as Dobson officially calls it (or Dobbear as most people call it) is in my opinion rather baffling already in terms of design choices.

I get e.g. that Dobson wanted to distance himself of his past humanoid self inserts as much as possible. But why of all things a bear?

The fact I am focused on that may sound weird, but hear me out for a bit. For starters, I know that Dobson likes western animation. And seeing how western animation has for the longest time been dominated by anthropomorphic animals, I can understand why he would redesign himself as a funny cartoon animal.

But there are at least three things that feel weird about it. First, Dobson had made it clear in the past that he hates furries. So him actually redesigning himself as an anthropomorphic animal is kinda weird

In fact, Dobson himself acknowledges that realization in one of his strips shortly after his fursona took over.

Second, of all the animals to choose from, why a bear? This question is in so far valid, as that bears are not necessarily one of the first to go animals, furries or western animators tend to go for when designing an anthro. And before any furries or anthro enthusiasts are calling me a hater, let me make one thing clear: I like anthropomorphic cartoon and comic characters too, and am okay with most furries. As long as you don’t have a diaper fetish, are a pedophile or hurt actual animals, you can do and enjoy whatever you like.

But I am also aware enough of furry culture to know, that bear based anthros are most of the time hyper sexualized and muscular, connecting them to how the term “bear” is used in real life gay culture. Which is okay, I think it is just a funny coincidence that Dobson choose an animal, that most furries associate with a life style that Dobson is deeply afraid of, even if he claims to be an LGBT ally.

And as stated earlier, bears are not necessarily the go to animals for animators.

Don’t get me wrong, we all know some cartoon bears like Winnie the Pooh, Yogi Bear, Poh and the main cast of TaleSpin (btw, Kit Cloudkicker fan for life). But lets be honest here; ducks, mice, rabbits, canines, felines, equines and any other “easily to domesticate” animal in the real world tends to make better for easily recognizable cartoon characters than something that can reach a size of 3 meters tops and weigh over 500 pounds.

Truth be told, the pool of cartoon bears is so small, these are the first two things that came to my mind when thinking what may have inspired the Dobbear

And wouldn’t you know? According to Dobson, the Carebears were supposedly the main inspiration for his design.

Unfortunately, this is also more or less the most I could find of Dobson addressing what went into the creation of the character.

Which kinda brings me also to the third issue as why I think the bear redesign is weird; It is too sudden.

One day Dobson draws himself as a shaved 20 something, the next day he is a fedora wearing Carebear clone, likely created and then rejected by Care Bear villain No Heart, as part of a plot to create a mole when conquering Care-A-Lot.

… and now I need to reevaluate my choices in life, that I was able to make such an elaborate Carebear joke.

It is just a change of design that in my opinion should have been addressed either outside of the comic or in context of it. Which it kinda is, but isn’t.

See, this is the first strip with the blue bear

And then only 13 strips or so later in something called “Continuity” is Dobson more or less willing to address the change…

And he does so in a passive aggressive manner, with Persistent Pam as a stand in for those asking him what is going on, while Dobson just dismissively continues working.

On one hand, you can argue that this is just the joke. The change happened, don’t bother with it, just enjoy what is still to come. And you know, I don’t want to make a rope out of everything Dobson ever posted, including that comic.

But then you have also to account for the fact, that Dobson would eventually associate himself with the blue bear so much, he made him his avatar and icon for his comics and online accounts. In fact, that one comic I posted WAY BACK in the first Master post of Dobson reminiscing how he started SYAC?

For reasons that are a bit confusing to me, he redrew himself (badly I have to add) as the blue bear in one of his earliest strips ever. The one where he belittles the manga fangirl for drawing manga. So I have to ask, what is going on here? Has Dobson increasingly decided to reset his past? Does he want to destroy any traces of his “human” self in his work to create the illusion to any new readers, that he never was as controversial of a person as he was and that there never was a need for him to reimagine and reinvent himself? Is this 1984? And how many of you realize that this paragraph is just me going conspiracy nuts for the sake of entertainment?

But still, it is kinda weird that he went to the bother of redrawing his human self in that one background sketch as a bear. Plus, I honestly think Dobson never even attempting to “explain” the change in the pages of his comics is a wasted opportunity for some decent jokes. Like every time Dobson tries to explain why he is a bear now, something interrupts him or we only get fragments of a story that if we put them together would be as ridiculous as the entirety of “Trapped in the Closet”.

I mean, the dumbest joke idea I have in mind is that Dobson went to build a bear to get a present for a family member. Instead he was build into a bear and later on successfully sued the company, which explains why he can afford to live despite not really working on comics anymore but lecture people badly about the evils of nerd culture.

So yeah, three major things about the design choice that more or less confuse me.

But here is the thing: Confusion is nothing compared to feeling genuine disdain for the design at hand. And compared to Dobson’s earlier human designs, Dobbear is just utterly unlikable.

A lot of that boils down to the following three facts:

1. From a certain point in time on (which I will cover in more detail later on) Dobson uses his bearsona primarily as a soapboxing mouth piece to talk about “politics” in nerd culture. Or at least what Dobson perceives as politics, coming off like a condescending jackass who believes among other things that white people are inherently incapable to identify with black people…

… or that comic book shops have radicalized nerd culture, essentially calling them terror cells.

Which btw are so inherently offensive to me, I promise I will cover these two separately. One even sooner than the other.

2. If Dobbear is not talking about politics, he will tend to be a smug asshole to other people (most of the time strawmen) or their interests in one way or another. Being e.g. used by Dobson to express his disdain for criticism…

or to mock legit criticism he had gotten by exaggerating things.

All while also tending to make his critics look like inherent assholes.

These two facts, combined with Dobson’s average erratic behavior online on platforms such as dA, twitter and tumblr over the years, pretty much assured such a close association between the two, that a separation between artist and creation was not possible anymore, condemning them.

And for the record; Dobson was always a bit of a whinner who liked to act as if he was a better nerd than the average comic book fan. Otherwise, we would have not e.g. gotten Danny and Spot out of it.

But as the years went by in the last decade, Dobson turned from someone in his mid 20s, desperate to be seen as a “quirky” and likable internet persona (like certain internet reviewers), into a virtue signaling, lesbian obsessed asshole who likely regrets his life choices.

… Like certain internet reviewers.

But seriously, Dobson turned into someone who would flip the lid at something as ridiculous as Cheeto flavored chicken fries…

While also being just the worst type of condescending nerd….

All while losing his mind about politics. Especially after Donald Trump became president

And just as Dobson became a radicalized left winged jackass who saw politics in everything he consumed, so did by default Dobbear, because Dobbear was not a character with his own personality, but a mouth piece.

Something I am about to get into detail in the near future. But till then, I want to cover in the next post the following third and final fact about Dobbear that really makes him unlikable to me: The fact he can’t be happy.

#syac #Andrew Dobson #dobbear #tom preston #so...you are a cartoonist #review #master review #webcomic #comics

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shiroganeryo · 3 years

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D.Gray-Man Tag!

I got tagged by my friend Violet to hop into this little game she made, and there are few things I love more than babbling about DGM, so let’s go! The rules are to tag three people to get the game going, so I’ll do it at the start because this will get looong. I’ll tag @14th-melody, @metzzi and @rudimentor0x0. Here’s the blank post. Sorry if you have already done it, I might’ve missed the posts ;;

⭐ What year did you first get into DGM? Hmm, actually, that’s a hard question because I didn’t get into it right away? If memory serves me right about what grade I was in high school when that happened, I was 15 - so, 2008. Pull a chair, I’ll tell you how that went. It was actually a recommendation from a friend of my best friend; we weren’t particularly close, I just knew he and I had a similar taste for anime/manga and I was looking for getting into a new series... but I wanted it to be worthwhile. So I asked my bestie if her friend wouldn’t give me a rec. He recommended me D.Gray-Man, and just like I do before watching any series, I watched the first opening to get an overall “feel” of it and I quite liked it: cool aesthetic, music was dope, characters were nice-looking. But, for some reason, I didn’t watch it and eventually forgot about it.

Then, one day on my way back home from school, I stopped by a nearby newspaper stand since here they also sell manga. They were all very cheap at that time, so I would often look for new volumes of the titles I was collecting (my allowance was enough to buy two or three!). I saw DGM’s first volume there, and went “oh! It’s that one series he had recommended me! I’ll take it and finally give it a shot.”

I fell in love.

I really liked it at first, but the point where DGM completely won my heart was during Lala’s arc. I had never cried with a manga before.

⭐ Who’s your favorite character? This is probably very unoriginal, but it’s Allen! At the start I was very lukewarm about him, but as time went on, I felt like I could relate more and more to that kind-hearted boy and he became my role model. DGM has been with me through some of the worst of my life, and Allen’s resolve to keep going, keep walking, no matter how hard things were for him was what motivated me many times in past. It still does. Allen also taught me to be kinder and through him I realized being there for others makes me truly happy. Sadly, I also share with him the same trait of being unable to truly see how appreciated I am and all the good I bring others just for being there... But I’m working on that! He became the first character I felt like I could fully relate to, and I was surprised - but still very happy - to realize that, now that I’m an adult with more experience and maturity, I feel like I can understand him even more and better than before. Our connection didn’t wane with time, I feel so much closer to him now. He’s very special to me.

Standing at the second spot - because it’s also fair I would mention her -, is Miranda! I always say that if Allen didn’t exist, Miranda would be my number 1 since she stands so close to him hahaha After him, she’s another character I deeply relate with. My self-esteem isn’t the best out there so I’m quick to think I’m worthless or useless, just like her. Even so, she wouldn’t give up. Every time I felt like giving up because of auto depreciation, I would think “Miranda would try again, she would work harder”.

It’s like the two of them were walking me through the steps so I could move forward and keep doing my best.

⭐ Who’s your least favorite character? I’m going to say Chaozii. But, before we get to the usual “Chaozii slander” we’re used to doing in this fandom, let me elaborate. It has nothing to do with him not siding with Allen. As much as I love Allen, I know we’re able of sympathizing with his ideals because as the readers we have a plethora of information on his motives; if not for that, we would probably take the same stance as Chaozii has taken about him.

What riles me about Chaozii is that, unlike all of the characters, his mindset is either black or white, good or bad. Everyone seems to have a perfect mix of both, showing many facets just like, well, real, imperfect people. Chaozii is the only one who doesn’t have that. Being simple-minded is not a bad trait, but when that clouds your judgement, then it turns into a bad thing.

It all fell apart when he snapped at Allen when he refused to kill Tyki. That particularly bothered me a ton, even if I understand his feelings. Chaozii, who thought it was wrong and cruel to kill humans and was grieving for his lost comrades, was fine with killing a human whom he wasn’t even sure if was being forced to do things or not. Do you see the issue here? Chaozii never feels to me like he’s striving to do the right thing in order to bring justice, but instead, because he wants revenge.

I hope he does get to learn one thing or two in the future. He has potential to be a great character; but he needs a “redemption” first.

⭐ Who’s your favorite general? Tiedoll! Although I like all of them for different reasons. I really love Cross and differently from what some people think, he did care for Allen and I love their rather dysfunctional relationship. He’s a much deeper character than just a womanizer full of fishy shenanigans. He’s also really badass: former scientist, user of magic, (former) wielder of both an Innocence of his own and another person’s (Grave of Maria). I just happen to love Tiedoll a liiiittle more because I can’t take this guy! He’s just so sweet, and his doting nature makes him both funny and lovely. General Sokalo is really cool and all, but I feel like he’s just a cool guy to me. On a side note, General Klaud could step on me and kill me and I’d thank her. I hope we get to learn more about her Innocence sometime.

⭐ Who’s a character you would get along with? I would love to say it’s Allen, but he’s someone really hard to get close to. If I think about the characters I’d like to befriend because of shared traits or interests, I think I could get along well with Miranda, Krory, and Marie. The first two because they’re two softies who just happen to be really awkward, I feel like I would probably befriend them after trying to comfort them too often. And, the latter, because I’m a person who likes calm company whom I can have honest talks with.

⭐ What kind of innocence would you have? I honestly have no idea. If I had to pick one from the ones we already have, I think I would go with the Dark Boots. Being able to fly and maneuver in mid-air would be a dream come true, I feel the happiest when the wind blows against me. If I have to think of something “for me” specifically, I think I would like a long range Innocence. I particularly like firearm-like weapons like guns, so maybe a gun or dual pistols? Yeah, I think I’d really like the dual pistols.

⭐ What’s your favorite ship? Ah, to be in the DGM fandom is to be a multishipper; yet this is the part where I always get nervous at because my favorite is a rarepair. But!!! I’m building up the courage to be more open about (and less self-judgmental of) the things I like. It’s Allen x Miranda. I don’t really know when it started; from what I said before, you already know they’re both my top favorite characters and very special to me, so I naturally loved it when I saw them sharing screentime. When I realized it, I was looking at them and thinking “they would make such a cute couple together”. It just kinda happened.

To keep this short, there’s this blog I really like explaining about this pair’s dynamics. I think they have a great dynamic together and much potential. They could very easily have a wholesome relationship based in lots of patience and mutually covering the other’s weaknesses and helping them become someone better. These are the best kinds of relationships imo. I hope to share some of my headcanons for them (and even writing, hopefully!) sometime in here. I always picture Allen being older, so that gives me some free room for creativity; it doesn’t look like he has time for romantic love right now, and I don’t really feel comfortable with him being a minor for this ship, so both things go hand in hand.

Honorable mentions go to Link x Allen (again, older!Allen), Yulma and LaviLena, as I also get super happy when I see these particular shippings.

⭐ What’s your least favorite ship? I actually have some, but it goes against my policies to publicly (consciously) say negative things about certain things if I can help it. I know I’m allowed to have opinions, but you never know who can stumble upon it and what I dislike can be something that makes someone really happy, you know? I tend to stay silent about such things when it comes to something as harmless as shippings.

So, I think I can say I’m accepting of everything as long as everyone respects each other! And, of course, if it isn’t distasteful (as in, illegal).

⭐ What branch would you want to be part of? We’ve only seen the European and Asian branches properly before but even if there aren’t many choices, this is still a hard question; I think both have lots of good things going for them. I think I would probably want to settle with the Asian Branch! I love how lively the atmosphere is and I also feel like there are way less science division shenanigans in there... Sorry, Komui.

⭐ What’s your favorite arc? I have three! The Rewinding City arc came right after Lala’s arc - that had touched me a lot -, bringing in even more feels. It introduced Miranda and at the blink of an eye, made me care so much about her. The first activation of Time Record after she protected Allen, followed by his thanks to her hit so hard; I get really emotional talking about it. It was such a great, yet touching moment. I think everyone can relate to that; being worthy of receiving gratitude for something they did for someone.

Then, there’s Lulu Bell’s Invasion of the Black Order arc, followed by the appearance of the Level 4 Akuma. I can’t express into words how great the flow of the elements are there. The plot is focusing on multiple characters with their own background dramas happening, all at once, yet none of it feels out of place. Everyone gets their moment, everyone contributes to the big picture (saving the staff and defeating the Akumas). It all felt like one big collective effort of several parts uniting forces, no one was more or less important than the other. It was expertisely done.

And the last mention goes to the Searching for A.W’s arcs (Saying Goodbye to A.W also included). These arcs are being extremely painful but, at the same time, also extremely rewarding to go through. For the first time ever, we’re seeing Allen give in to his wants and acknowledge his feelings; he’s not honest with himself very often, and seeing him actually admit that he still wanted to go on - for himself -, that he still wanted to hold onto hope was something that I suddenly realized I had always wanted to see him do. It’s like I had been waiting for so long. Allen is growing up, and I’m loving to see the part Johnny and Kanda are playing in this. I could talk all day about how happy it makes me, to feel this much hope in the midst of such a difficult situation these arcs are covering. It captures very well the essence of D.Gray-Man imo: the bittersweetness of the hardships of life, and the good things it makes us realize we have had all along. The people we have by our side. The will to continue moving forward because we still have something we love and want to fight for.

Whew, I expected this would get long but guess I got too carried away; those were amazing questions to answer to! If you read until now, you have my most sincere gratitude and appreciation. I wish you have a lovely day! 😊

#dgm #d.gray man #d.gray-man #long text #tag #there are still asks in my inbox but I'll be tending to these sometime later!#I really don't want to spam you with long texts everyday #but I don't really like not elaborating my thoughts when I'm on to discuss something #added a read more not to clog your dashboards!

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therainroguefanfiction · 4 years

Text

🏀 Professional; Lev Haiba (Sportember #014)

📑 Table of Contents | ⚾ Challenge Post

Genre: Angst, Slice of Life, Fluff, School

Word Count: 2,351

Pairing: Reader x Lev

World: Haikyuu!!

Prompt: Professional

Sport: Basketball & Volleyball

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You chewed on your lip, unable to focus on the teacher’s words, your eyes trained on the dark sky outside. Thunder rumbled in the distance like a hungry animal, the wind blowing heavy enough to make the rain appear as if it were falling sideways. To you, it was a beautiful sight, as if mother nature was creating a piece of art in front of you, but even your typical enthusiasm was lost, outweighed by something deeper.

“Y/N-san!” Sakamoto-sensei smacked his hand on your desk at the exact moment that a streak of lighting split the sky, making you nearly jump out out of your chair. “This is the third time I’ve caught you not paying attention in class today. Detention this afternoon!”

You frowned at him as he headed back to the front of the room. Any other time, you would have been upset because it meant missing practice, but today, you just didn’t have the stomach to face your teammates. And so, their messages sat unread on your phone since you didn’t know what to say to them. You lowered your head, hands clenched around your uniform.

Kuroo glanced at you from across the room, cat-like eyes narrowed. He had picked up on your dampened spirits since first seeing you that morning and, since Lev refused to leave your side, he decided to approach you at school’s end before the future ace could reach you. With you being given detention, though, that would be a harder task. His eyes slid to the teacher, knowing that the man was already annoyed by your lack of attention.

‘Shouldn’t be too hard to get detention for myself, as well.’

Waiting for the older man to turn toward the board, Kuroo rested his head on the desktop, closing his eyes before smacking his hand loudly onto the wood in hopes that it would sound like his head had been the one to fall. The classroom fell silent, his cue to fake a loud, obnoxious snore.

Footsteps approached his desk, followed by the angry voice of the teacher. “Kuroo-san!”

Snore.

Sensei’s hand came down on the desk beside him, scaring the girl sitting there half to death. “Ku-roo-san! Wake up this instant!”

The third year slowly opened his eyes, faking a yawn as he stretched his long arms above his head. “Damn and I was having the best dream.”

“You can join Y/N-san in detention!”

“But, sensei, I have volleyball practice.” Kuroo’s eyes sparked with amusement as he glanced at you.

“Too bad!”

You clicked your tongue in response to his half-smirk, turning your gaze back to the window. You knew he had done that on purpose and you knew why, as well.

When the final bell rung, you and Kuroo remained seated as the rest of the class filed out in a hurry to get to their clubs or to get home. Sensei glared at the two of you before hiding half of his face with a thick, brown book, the very same one he had been trying to get through for a month now. The room was silent save for the ticking of the clock above the door.

Kuroo sneaked his phone under his desk, tapping away before sliding it into his pocket before the teacher could notice. A few moments passed by before the door slid open, revealing the volleyball team’s setter and Kuroo’s best friend. He shot his captain a glance before addressing the teacher in his usual monotone voice.

“Sensei, Yamasaki and Mikutani are fighting again near the library.”

Sakamoto lowered the book with a scowl. “I’m watching over detention. Go get one of the other teachers.”

“They’re currently in a meeting.”

With a frustrated sigh, he smacked the book shut and tossed it onto his desk before following the blonde from the room.

In the blink of an eye, Kuroo was sitting in the desk in front of you, sitting backward so that he could face you, his eyes narrowed as he observed your expression. You tried to ignore him, but his gaze was piercing through you, taking in every breath, twitch, and movement. You felt like a mouse about to be pounced on by a cat.

Finally, you sighed, lifting your eyes to meet his. “Can I help you with something, Kuroo?”

He hummed, lips twitching upward. “I’m waiting for you to tell me what’s going on.”

“Nothing is going on,” you brushed him off, returning to the schoolwork that was laid out across your desk, the pencil scratching across the paper. “Sensei will be back soon, you know. He’s already annoyed with us.”

“Guess you should explain fast then, huh?”

“Kuroo -”

“Or I can just tell Lev how weird you’re acting and let him handle -”

“No!” Your hand slammed onto the desk, a bead of nervous sweat trailing down your cheek. His eyes widened at the pleading look that you were sending him. “I’ll tell you, alright. Just… please don’t mention this to Lev.”

He frowned, letting his cheek rest against his palm. “So it does have something to do with him.”

A heavy sigh passed your lips as you fell back against the chair, eyes on the ceiling. “I… had a meeting with a recruiter yesterday.”

“A recruiter? You mean…?”

You nodded, fiddling with the ring upon your finger – a gift from Lev for your one month anniversary. ‘A promise,’ he had told you, but he never elaborated on what that promise was meant to be. “I was invited to join this new team that the NBA is trying to create. It’ll be the first co-ed national team.”

“That… that’s great!” He grinned as he stood up, large hands on your shoulders. “Congratulations, Y/N!”

“Yeah… thanks.” You tried to offer him a smile, but it ended up being more a grimace.

“Are you not happy about it?” He questioned with surprise, settling back down onto the chair. “I thought it was your dream to go pro?”

“It is my dream, but…”

His eyes flashed with recognition. “Lev…”

You nodded again. “Accepting this offer means going to the United States and leaving Lev behind, which I can’t do. If I accept, I’m going to break up with him.”

“Hey, now, let’s not be hasty.” He folded his arms on the back of the chair. “With today’s technology, long distance relationships are easier than ever!”

A sad smile came to your lips and you shook your head. “Long distance relationships rarely work out and they are unfair on both sides. I couldn’t possibly ask Lev to go through that and I can’t ask him to move to another country just for me, either. To give up his own dreams and desires so I can chase after my own… and I know he’d agree with it without a second thought, but he’d end up regretting it. I can’t do that.”

“You make it sound like you’re never coming back,” he commented, rubbing the back of his neck before frowning. “You’re not coming back, are you?”

“No.”

“What are you gonna do?”

“I… I don’t know,” your voice shook, barely above a whisper, but the words hung thick in the air around you, as if taunting you.

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It had been a week since the offer to go pro was extended to you and, in that time, you had avoided Lev wherever possible, using exams, basketball, and even the need to give your cat a bath as excuses for why you couldn’t spend time with him. You felt bad about this, heart cracking just a bit more with every crestfallen expression he made, though he tried his best to hide his disappointment.

To you, though, it was as clear as day within those beautiful emerald eyes.

The basketball team had all but forced you to spill the truth to them, even though you tried to avoid the conversation. They were happy for you and proud of you, giving you hugs and slaps on the back as they tried not to cry. Their precious captain, who had worked their ass off for years, was finally achieving their dream. How could they not be happy for you?

What they didn’t realize, however, was that you actually had two very different dreams, two desires. But life is not a fair place and you knew that you couldn’t have your cake and eat it, too. The deadline was quickly approaching, but you were no closer to choosing a path than you had been on day one. If anything, you felt more torn, but you knew you had to put on your grown up pants and make your choice.

“Y/N-senpai!”

Your shoulders tensed up at the familiar voice of your boyfriend, feeling his boney fingers gripping your shoulder to make you stop. You forced a teasing smile as you turned to him. “You’re going to be late for class again, Lev.”

“I don’t care,” he stated firmly, a series expression on his face. “I need to talk to you about something. It’s important.”

Your heart raced within your chest as his fingers slid to your wrist, tugging you down the hall and away from your class. You had never seen the first year so serious before, not even during his matches. Had something happened? Many different scenarios flew through your mind, each one worse than the last, but you shook your head to try and dispel them.

Lev brought you to an unused classroom on the third floor, closing the door behind him. For a moment, he just stood there facing the door. You had never seen him like this and it was starting to scare you. “Lev -”

He finally turned, his chin quivering as he bit hard on his lower lip, eyes filled with tears that he was struggling to keep at bay.

“Oh, darling,” you didn’t hesitate to pull him into your arms and he had to sink to his knees so he could wrap his arms around your waist, face buried in your chest. You shushed him softly, fingers combing through his silver locks. “Tell me what happened.”

“I’m sorry,” he sobbed, hands fisting around the back of your shirt. You could feel how wet the cloth was getting from his tears, but you didn’t mind.

“What for?” You wondered, using your free hand to run up and down his back, trying to sooth the tense muscles.

“I’m not good enou-enough for you,” he sniffled, making your heart crack.

Shaking your head, you pushed him back so you could see his face, your hands cupping his cheeks. “Why would you think that?”

“B-Because,” he rubbed at his eyes. “You’re avoiding me! A-And Kuroo-senpai said that I should try harder! D-Did I forget our anniversary? Did I say something stu-stupid? I didn’t mean it, I swear!”

You chuckled softly, brushing away the hair from his eyes. “I’m sorry for making you feel that way, darling. I’ve just been… stressed lately. You didn’t forget our anniversary or say anything stupid, at least not to me.”

His eyes brightened up as he looked at you with a hopeful expression. “You’re not breaking up with me?”

Your lips parted and you realized that this was your wake up call. Life was telling you it was time to make your choice, right here, right now. It would be so easy to tell him that you wanted to break up, now was the perfect chance to do so, but… “Lev, I…”

“Y/N-senpai…” he mumbled, his eyes filling with more tears as he waited for your answer. His heart was beating painfully within his chest.

Your thumb brushed across his cheek, pale skin slightly pink because of his crying. Even like this, he was so beautiful, like a god among men, and he made you feel a way no one else had. Your life had become so much brighter, filled with more laughs and happy moments than ever before. You smiled, pressing your lips to his forehead, then his left cheek, his right cheek, his nose, and finally, his lips, lingering just a bit longer than the others.

“I’m not breaking up with you, idiot. You’re stuck with me.”

“Forever?”

“Forever is a long time, you know.”

“I know!” He pouted.

You chuckled in response. “Forever.”

Lev’s face instantly brightened and he stood up, throwing himself at you as he giggled happily, spinning around with you in his arms. “I love you so much, Y/N!”

Your arms wrapped around his neck, lips pressing to his cheek. “I love you too, Lev.”

Maybe you would come to regret turning down the offer later on in life, but in that moment, you felt as if it was the right thing to do. It felt as if this path would make you happier than the other because Lev was by your side and he was more than enough for you.

“Oh, crap, I’m sorry!” He placed you back onto the ground, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “I didn’t mean any disrespect for using your name, senpai.”

“I don’t mind. Call me whatever you want.”

His head tilted to the side as your hand reached for his. “Are you sure?”

You laced your fingers through his before bringing the back of his hand to your lips. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”

“Okay!” He chirped happily.

Maybe it was wrong not to tell him about the offer, but you felt like he would only feel guilty if he knew, so you swore Kuroo to secrecy which he agreed to reluctantly. When it came to your team, you told them that the offer had fallen through, and asked them not to mention it because you just wanted to forget, and they also agreed, not wanting to upset their captain.

Life moved on, but you never did come to regret your decision, and he never did come to find out that you had chosen him over your dream of being a professional basketball player. After all, creating a life with Lev was also one of your dreams and… that one ended up coming true.

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theonceoverthinker · 4 years

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Why Clover Isn’t Going to be a Traitor

So, @fairgame-is-endgame made a great post this last night debunking some of the more ludicrous pieces of evidence as to why Clover’s is not a traitor. It’s an awesome post and if you’re a Clover or Fair Game fan, you’re gonna want to check it out.

This is a continuation of sorts because as opposed to taking down the minute details being honed in on as evidence of why Clover might be a traitor, I want to compile the evidence presented by the show and secondary material (Ex. Amity Arena) that show strong signs that whatever Clover’s character direction will ultimately be, it won’t be as a traitor to the larger group fighting against Salem (And possibly not even against Ironwood).

So, what is my goal here? To reassure my fellow Fair Game friends that we’re not headed straight for a pitfall? To give the haters a piece of my mind? To speak into the bottomless chasm that is the Internet as a means of dealing with my fandom-based RWBY loneliness? ...A little bit of all of that, if I’m being honest. In any event, I don’t post a ton of analysis pieces, but this is something I feel strongly enough about to give voice to, so let’s see how it goes!

Everything’s under the cut because this is fairly long!

1. The Clover/Robyn scene from 7X5

If Clover was ever going to be set up as a surprise antagonist, it was going to start to show itself in this scene -- a scene that pits Clover against a character he views in an antagonistic light that didn’t end up being a misunderstanding -- more than any place else.

And it did the exact opposite.

I mean...it did a little, even with the context of Clover and Ironwood’s true goals. Clover is pretty cold to her under his veneer of carefreeness and stops Ruby as she even tries to relate to Robyn (Perhaps that’s out of a fear of Ruby telling her too much, or perhaps it’s just a sense of distrust, but that will probably be revealed soon enough). I’ll walk with you that far and admit to some slight shadiness. But I’m going to argue that that only goes to a certain point, and a small point at that by highlighting the biggest takeaways of that scene.

The scene between Clover and Robyn tells us a few things.

-Clover and Robyn’s opening dialogue, tone, and animation make it very clear that they’ve met before, but are not on good terms with each other. This is further communicated by Clover’s adamant refusal to disclose information to Robyn about the supplies. Now, I’m going to argue that in Clover’s defense, it just makes sense that when faced with a frenemy (That’s being kind) who is looking for information he has no desire or order to give to her (As we’ll learn later, Clover is a by-the-book guy), that he be in no hurry to tell her what’s going on. Additionally, while he lies to her face about his intentions, he’s very clearly speaking in a way that communicates that something IS going on that he cant speak of (His vocal inflections show that he clearly doesn’t expect Robyn to believe that the tower is getting a checkup, but hopes that it will be enough to shut her down for a bit), giving her that much information to work with at least until she gets elected.

-Clover’s not especially excited about the prospect of Robyn being elected onto the council, but he still wishes Robyn good luck in the election. Not only that, but the facial expressions he gives her, the tone in which his words are said, and the fact that he delayed his return to the van just to do so heavily imply that it’s a genuine wish. Granted, we later learn that this may only be for reasons amounting to the fact that she’s not Jacques Schnee, but still, he knows she wants to help, and while they don’t get along, he’s receptive to that desire.

-Robyn trusts Clover enough that she reasons that asking for him to disclose information is a worthy pursuit (She does so twice) before attempting to attack the group. Otherwise, she’d have gone after them the moment they stepped out of the van. Since Robyn’s a character we’re supposed to end the scene having trust in, the fact that she does have lingering trust in Clover leaves the impression that we should as well.

All in all, while we don’t know a lot of tangible information pertaining to what they are to each other at this point in the story, we do get a surprisingly large emotional understanding here of their complicated dynamic. We know Robyn is correct in how the people of Mantle deserve to be informed of these goings on, but also why Clover is right to keep his mouth shut until the time comes to reveal all, and I think the attention to this dynamic paid here shows that both of these characters have their hearts in the right place.

2. Amity Arena Card (And Its Follow Up Twitter Post/Introductory Loot Drop)

There are two things I want to point out about this description that I want to touch upon here.

First, “there’s nothing subtle about what the Ace Ops leader Clover is about.” Now, that’s not to say he has no hidden depths to his character (It would really suck if there wasn’t any more to him), but I feel like these few words communicate a lack of secrecy as to his values, personality, and alignments. Can having all three of these things be positive still amount to a villain? Sure -- you can kind of say that makes him like Hazel in that regard -- but I think my next point will solidify that’s not the case.

Second, I’m gonna make this one short and sweet. There is no way to basically say that ‘this new character (Clover) is going to kick a beloved protagonist’s butt (Qrow’s butt) and that will be a good thing for said protagonist,’ and then have that new character end up being a baddie. While my knowledge of the game is a limited since I don’t actually play it, I did do some research today, looking at various cards for both protagonists and antagonists, and they overwhelmingly geared the framing of these card descriptions towards a more hero-focused outlook on the characters. Basically, this game is not about to cheer for a hero like Qrow to be defeated by someone who will turn out to be a villain, if for no other reason than it’s a poor choice for the game’s long term posterity.

But just in case that card’s second-to-last line left anyone with lingering doubts about its intentions, the RWBY Amity Arena Twitter page was kind enough to elaborate on it!

I feel like that wink emoji should be doing my work for me here. If there was ever a doubt as to the intention of the wording, this tweet should clear it up. Clover is so clearly being shown by the Amity Arena card as a positive influence on Qrow’s life, and in a way that implies that that’s not about to change anytime soon.

Like, if they wanted to convey ambiguity as to Clover’s moral alignment, they could’ve just said something along the lines of “Who knows,” or “Guess you’ll just have to wait and see.” In the world of Remnant, ambiguity is a force more powerful than the Light and Dark Gods combined, and one that knows no shortage of uses! But no, they literally spelled out that line’s intended meaning, with inflections and a winky face to boot!

I’m not going to try to go into detail about all of the little intricacies of this reward card, because someone already did it for me! I direct you to this AMAZING analysis by @scathing-eyes where she highlights both what this single message has to say about Clover and Fair Game at large.

3. Introductory Card on Twitter

Thank you so much to @homokinetic for linking me to this card!

If you’re trying to depict a shady character or even one who you have twisted intentions for, this is not the description you use for them. Here, we’re not given soft and vague allusions to Clover’s allegiances that could imply sinister motives. We’re told flat out that Clover acts in the best interests of Atlas and does things by the book. I mean honestly, that second point should de-trigger any alarm bells because Salem...doesn’t really have a book. I mean, she has goals, but as to how they get done? She doesn’t care! But Clover and Ironwood care about doing things by the book because they feel like those rules, for as flawed as they are, are what will keep the world from succumbing to chaos (Whether they’re right or wrong...look, I love these two, but they are flawed -- not evil, but flawed). Salem, on the other hand, worships the idea of chaos since it makes her goals that much easier to fulfill.

I think the line “tries to bring out the best in people” is also important. Salem’s forces gain strength by exploiting the worst qualities in people, and Clover stands in stark contrast to that philosophy by focusing on nurturing their best qualities. This is well communicated in the series with his actions towards Qrow and the introduction to the routines and options that the new Huntsmen now have access to. Not only that, but those means of nurturing come down to themes of unity and order (Showing Qrow the benefits of working with others and taking pride in his accomplishments, showing the new Huntsmen the positive ways they can impact Atlas, encouraging them to take a night to refresh their spirits), literally the very outlooks on life that Salem seeks to obliterate in order to ensure that humanity will be destroyed again. Just in terms of philosophies, Salem’s team and Clover are so fundamentally different in ways that just aren’t compatible. It’s not like Clover and Qrow where their differences complement each other and can mutually benefit the other. There is no way that Salem can benefit from posing a figure that inspires the endurance of the better qualities of the human spirit in a position of power.

4. The Overall Lack of Narrative Sense in Making Clover a Baddie

Clover is a character meant to foil and relate to Qrow. That’s not even an opinion. Everything from their contrasting semblances to their scenes together cement that as an absolute fact, and whether you ship it or not, their connection just can’t be ignored.

All that said, while Clover is an important part of this duo (Duh), it’s Qrow who is the focal point. Qrow is the character we’ve spent four seasons with and watched him struggle and develop through his journeys. So it’s fair to say that the impact of Clover and Fair Game on his character (Again, whether romantic or platonic) will be something that will significantly impact the direction of Qrow’s character going forward.

The next logical question, of course, is as follows: What’s the narrative point of Clover being a baddie for Qrow’s character? @skybird13 wrote a fantastic post about the overwhelming benefits of a genuine Clover as opposed to the redundancy of a Hans-esque traitor Clover storyline. You should absolutely read this post, but I’m going to quote the segment that spoke to me the most.

“I think the most surprising thing RT could do with Clover’s character at this point is to let him be exactly who he seems to be. Should he have his backstory and his secrets and his own demons to deal with? Absolutely. I would love to see that. But when it comes to Qrow’s trust in others, I think that has been pulverized enough throughout the series. Putting him through it again serves no narrative purpose except to send him right back into the tailspin that he’s currently digging himself out of which, in all honesty, isn’t great writing.“

And yeah, I have to ask: What point would another stab at Qrow’s trust do? If Qrow was meant to be a character who would face a tragic end, then why didn’t he back in Volume 6, when it would’ve been infinitely more appropriate? He literally lost faith in the person he dedicated his very life to. Why show Qrow recovering from his low point and building him up in Volume 7 just to tear him down? Unlike a character like Ruby, someone young and idealistic who watches the conventions of trust and goodness in her life crumble before her eyes over and over again and grows from it as she discovers new things about herself and others, Qrow has already had a lifetime’s worth of those ideals crashing and burning, and we’ve already seen the results of that growth, both on the high and low ends of his viewpoints on life, but especially the low points. What is the point of returning him there that couldn’t have been more naturally done but one volume earlier?

The Conclusion

...I’m bad at ending things. But I know I’ve made my case, and I’ve made it about as well as a case like this can be made.

Rooster Teeth, through both its primary and secondary means of storytelling, have made a strong case for a Clover who will remain loyal to the betterment of Remnant, regardless of the path he personally chooses to get there (Joining Robyn vs. Staying with Ironwood). For them to change gears after all this setup and make Clover an ally of Salem would be frankly nonsensical after all of this careful buildup.

Could it turn out that I’m wrong? Of course, but despite the suspense in my heart, I can’t help but trust RT here. Maybe that’t the result of that bop of an intro. Maybe it’s the prospect of my new ship becoming canon. But I don’t think that trust -- while based in emotion -- is baseless, and if RWBY has a theme, isn’t it to have a perspective like that?

So here’s hoping the Clover is just another instance of the payoff of trusting love!

#clover ebi #rwby #fair game #qrow branwen #fair game hcs

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tuliharja · 4 years

Note

Oh, the otp asks are so interesting! Would you consider for HashiMito answering the following: 3, 9, 12, 21 and 24? I hope it's not too much, but with canonical, and so politically-involved couple those are super interesting.

Thank you so much from the ask @olliya!

Yes, I agree to you! OTP asks are always so interesting~. And I don’t mind at all, since HashiMito is one of my otps, so I was really happy to receive this ask from you! Not to mention the fact you picked very interesting ones. Thank you again from the ask. ^^

(The asks can be found from here.)

Alright, let’s put those shipping goggles on! *Cue for a very long post.*

3. If they complimented each other, what would they say?

Hashirama would probably try to write sonata to Mito and once he would realize it’s much harder than it seems, he would end up asking Tobirama to help. With the help of Tobirama, Hashirama would make most brilliant sonata ever, but once he would present it to Mito…she would be left highly unimpressed.

“Hashirama, did you perhaps ask help from Tobirama?” Mito questioned from her husband, before she sighed. There wasn’t any reason to ask that question when she already knew the answer, yet watching her husband turn into a spluttering mess brought her some sort of amusement. Deciding to be merciful, Mito gently cupped Hashirama’s cheeks, giving him kiss to his forehead. “Hashirama, you don’t have to make me sonatas, poets, or anything that would be too elaborate. As long as it becomes from your heart, I don’t mind even if your compliments would be extremely tacky.”

She watched how her husband slowly turned into a sobbing mess, gently brushing his hair as she merely allowed him to relax in her arms.

After that incident, Hashirama would gift Mito flowers. Being the expert, anything related to plants, he would know each and every flower and those meaning. He probably wouldn’t be best with actual words, but each bouquet would hail Mito’s beauty, kindness, power and how lucky he was when Mito did choose him.

Mito would had mastered the use of words, because she would know how valuable the talent of speaking would be. She could make even most praising comment sound like most wicked insult ever. That’s why, she would rarely compliment Hashirama as she knew her husband already received lots of compliments as he wasn’t any ordinary man. Repeating those same compliments would sound just hollow, empty and she didn’t want that. She would also know repeated words would turn meaningless, so she would rarely use endearing words about Hashirama.

To everybody else she would seem cold as ice, but in those rare moments when she would compliment Hashirama, he would take those into his heart and cherish those. Such occasions would be when Hashirama would manage to genuinely surprise her, show genuine understanding about her feelings and hopes, and take into consideration her wishes. But the most cherished moment would be when Mito would finally admit to Hashirama she was pregnant, while she was a Jinchuuriki. Hashirama would reassure her he wouldn’t leave her and make his best to ensure both she and the child would be safe. After she would calm down, she would spill her heart to Hashirama, telling how blessed she was to have such wonderful husband that would still stand next to her even when she was carrying Tailed-Beast. She would hail his strength, kindness, understanding and way too big heart. Later on, that night they both would compliment each other’s bodies in very sensual manner. ;)

9. Have they made each other cry?

Yes, since what would marriage be without any tears? There have been happy tears, but also sad ones. Happier tears have been in happy occasions, such as when they got married, when their first child did bear and when Mito would tickle the hell out of Hashirama. Who said Mito couldn’t be mischievous when she would want to? They’ve also been crying tears of joy when they got their second born (because it’s kind of their own fault they got a child, now isn’t it? xD)

There has also been tears, when Hashirama has tried to cheer up Mito when she has had extremely bad day when dealing Nine Tails just to see her wife happy. But there has also been tears of sadness as at times Hashirama’s gambling problems would be too much for the stressed-out Mito. She would hide her tears, but Hashirama would know. He would eventually weed out his gambling problem, when they were at the risk of losing their home and the tear-streaked look Mito gave? Yeah, absolute broke Hashirama’s heart. There would also been tears when each of them would get so badly wounded, they would be at the brink of death. One of such was after Mito sealed Kyuubi inside of her. Hashirama was sure Mito would perish as it seemed holding down the beast was too much for her. Hashirama’s eventual death also made Mito cry as she felt like her whole world collapsed at that exact moment, but such is life: many different types of causes which can make one cry.

12. Do they have differing political opinions?

Many people think they would have, but in reality, they don’t have expect in minor businesses. The political field can be extremely messy, especially when considering the fact Hashirama was doing something (building first ninja village) that hadn’t ever been done before.

Before Mito married Hashirama, she understood right to way for things to work she had to do some groundbreaking thinking. She knew if she married Hashirama, she wouldn’t just switch her Uzumaki family to Senju family, like in old times. No, what Hashirama was offering was that, she could still be Uzumaki and Senju. In old times, when one was wed to some more powerful clan, you had automatically become part of that clan. You had to basically throw everything that you had been before, expect your ninja talents. While you could gain a new and possible better family, there was always that fear if your spouse would die. If your spouse would die, you would automatically become an outcast. Just fodder to be used in next fight against some other clan, unless you would marry someone else or become a concubine. The option to go back to your old home wasn’t anymore an option, since you had quite literally been kicked out from there. Of course, some bigger clans treated this possibility much ‘nicer’, but the fact was, your position would still be bad compared to anyone who had born in the clan.

Now this Hashirama was offering something else. A village where you wouldn’t be an outcast, should such a thing occur. Hashirama painted all pretty pictures how they all would be one ‘big happy family’. Of course, Mito knew such thing would take time. But the possibility was tempting and since Mito didn’t want to forget her roots even if she would marry someone, she agreed upon this. She even went so far as convince Uzumaki clan to make their own village, Uzushiogakure, as the Uzumaki clan wasn’t yet ready to be part of some other village. In that way, Mito could keep one leg in her home and one in her new one. It also served as a way to ensure she wouldn’t be treated poorly in her new home, since at times when one would be married to some other clan, the new clan could treat the new spouse extremely badly. Of course, she didn’t have to worry about that (given the fact Hashirama was Hokage).

As time went on, Mito started to see better Hashirama’s views. She liked quite many of those as if those all would become true, there wouldn’t be anymore war, everybody would be treated equally and the children would be taken care of by everybody, even if their parents would die. Of course, she disagreed upon some things her husband suggested, such as sharing Tailed-Beasts between each newly formed village, but to make things work she understood everybody should have equal power at the palm of their hand. She also disagreed when some clans that joined Konoha would get some privileges such as Hyuugas, but since they were newly formed village that was striving for something new, even she understood some sort of bait was needed to get them join them. Things like these made disagreements between her and Hashirama as at times she felt like Hashirama didn’t care or see wrongness that he tried so much to weed out. Times like those, she felt like the village mattered more to her husband than anything else… in those darker times, she would deliver some cold facts to her husband that would make him despair over some of his choices. In those times, Mito would see the man behind the God of Shinobi whom she would comfort as she knew for things to work, they had to stand united together or watch the world burn.

21. How have they changed each other for the better/for the worse?

Hashirama believes his actions toward Madara did drive Mito to seal Nine Tails inside of her which basically did change her in more ways than anyone could had at first believed. While that was true, what Hashirama had hard time to grasp was the fact Mito did it willingly. Hashirama felt incredible guilt about that, because that event made Mito more prone to display her negative emotions. While that might sound like a good thing, because before that Mito tended to hide her negative emotions, it wasn’t at all fun and games when Nine Tails’ negative chakra was leaking out of Mito and she was trashing Hashirama around their house like a ragdoll. In those moments when Mito was very upset or angry, she reminded more a wild animal more than a person.

At first it was very hard, since Hashirama quickly learned Mito had tons of pent-up anger in her. His paperwork being late? Angry kyuubi-Mito. Him forgetting the dishes? Angry kyuubi-Mito. For a while it felt like there were two people inside of Mito, which was true. It took lots of patience, motivational talking and reassurance from Hashirama to make Mito understand not to hide her ire, no matter how small it would be. Eventually Hashirama managed to make Mito embrace her more ‘negative’ self that actually improved their relationship greatly. It also helped Hashirama to understand Mito better.

While Hashirama was already a stunning leader even before Konoha was founded, he was extremely poor what came to social skills. He could give motivational speeches to anyone, but if he had to make deals, small talk, simply listen or anything that would need any kind of ‘fine’ talk, he would more than often ask Tobirama’s help. Yet that behavior wouldn’t anymore cut when he become Hokage. He couldn’t anymore push Tobirama to deal with the stuffy, boring affairs and go train with their students. Which is where Mito stepped in. She put Hashirama through a mini hell to drive into his thick skull at least the bare minimum of social skills. It opened a whole new world to Hashirama. While before his overbearing personality had made some people feel uneasy and even that, he didn’t realize they might actually have brilliant ideas, he would now calm down and listen them. His relationship even with Tobirama did improve, because now he would listen his little brother giving him a speech of his latest invention, that actually made Hashirama understand Tobirama and him weren’t that different. They both were passionate people, yet because he barely before did stop to listen his brother’s ‘odd ideas’ he never knew.

While Mito’s social skills course did bring lot of good things out of Hashirama, it also brought his darker side. Hashirama could now use his ‘happy-go-lucky’ character at times as a façade to gather information and later on use it against Konoha’s enemies as most of his opponents only saw a fool front of them. But Mito teaching how to wear a mask in important meeting? Hashirama was eternally grateful to his wife about that.

24. What is something they have each had to forgive the other for?

When Mito married Hashirama she vowed to herself she would protect Hashirama, no matter what. But to do so, she had to do it while remaining hidden. She would protect Hashirama from the shadows, even going so far as kill someone if they threatened her husband. She would even create secret service, ANBU, just to protect her husband. They were an organization that worked in the shadows, that no-one knew, especially Hashirama. Expect, Hashirama did knew. He knew exactly what his wife was up to, yet he never addressed it as he waited Mito tell him about it. When years went by and Mito still didn’t tell him, Hashirama started to feel uneasy. He would drop intentionally questions or make scenarios that could make a perfect opportunity for Mito to tell about her role in ANBU and the organization itself. But she never did. It started to eat Hashirama in and out. While he knew Mito had her best intentions toward him, it still made Hashirama feel like unworthy of the truth. Didn’t Mito trust him? Did she think he was still that fool that she had met those years ago? Hashirama wanted to trust Mito, but he didn’t want to confront her. It wouldn’t had been same as if she would tell herself the truth.

To numb the pain Hashirama turned into drinking and gambling. With a good buzz he could make his doubts away as it would leave his core thoughts: that which were love. Gambling also brought a thrill to him that he hadn’t felt ever since he had become a Hokage. Maybe Mito wanted simply feel thrill? The adrenaline that would pump to his veins when he would bet everything to win or lose was just exhilarating. Though each time when he would lose and face upset Mito, he would feel a sting of guilt just to remember his wife’s secret. So, another night with gambling it was! Hashirama’s actions were slowly spiraling out of control and he only came into a rude awakening of reality when he faced tear-streaked Mito. She told him they were about to lose their house and everything, if he wouldn’t just stop. It was that moment the two realized they had to change, or they would lose them. Mito was stressed over the fact she tried to keep Hashirama safe, but it was harder than she had first believed, while Hashirama had tried to escape his problems with drinking and gambling. This event was one of those turning points with them as they slowly started to unravel those all. Eventually Mito told Hashirama the truth which lead into his own confession, making both of them to forgive each other and slowly strengthen once again their strained relationship. But even though they had managed to tackle this particular obstacle on their married path, there was still one big obstacle that had been slowly marinating.

While Mito understood in some level Hashirama’s deep friendship with Madara, at times it was extremely hard. In most situations like these, one would pick in a heartbeat their partner. But in Hashirama’s case, it wasn’t ever that simple. While Mito trusted Hashirama, it still made her at times doubt herself and her position as his wife. When she tried to talk about her doubts, most people would dismiss her and tell her how lucky she was. She was married to “God of Shinobi”, so why she was complaining? Wasn’t it beautiful her husband was friends with his childhood friend who had been Senjus mortal enemy? It made Mito hide her doubts and concerns as she all but turned eventually a blind eye her feelings. The worst part was that, Madara was actually nice toward her. But it all came crashing down when she sealed Kyuubi and she realized hiding her negative feelings wasn’t anymore that easy. Her all doubts came flying out of the box that had been hidden deep within her heart. She knew she had to learn to forgive her foolish husband his past ignorance and be more straightforward with Hashirama as Hashirama could be at times very dense. She eventually did forgive Hashirama when he showed her, she was extremely important to him and being friends with Madara didn’t take out or lessen his love toward her.

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lily-lilou · 4 years

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My understanding and analysis of the magical system in The Dragon Prince. Part 1 - my first thoughts on it - primal and dark magic aren’t the only kind of magic.

Ok, I promised to several people I would post this today so there it is! (@beautifulterriblequeen, @kotikala, I’m sorry I don’t have all the account... Julia, mama and the others ;_;)

It’s long (so I separated it in two post... but it will be long anyway, especially the second one. So I wish you a lot of courage to go through this until the end...) but it’s because it’s the result of some month of searching and digging. It’s still not complete, however. But if you have some time to lose and in love with this world, maybe this theory (and I insist, it’s a theory, maybe I’m totally wrong) will interest you:

Anyway, let’s just begin!

You can see the magical system in TDP like a diamond with several facets: we saw some of them, and some of us dug to find more.

For me, this theory _ the idea that the magical system in TDP is wider than what we saw_ started from a simple thing in Callum’s spellsbook, the “secret” we can find in the ASL section, the one Sarai repeated when she was alive.

My first reaction was “greeeeaaat! Another show where “love is magic. Yaay! =_=’”

Okay, "love" is an important theme on the dragon prince, yes. But magic ?

But let’s be honest: I don't think they would have placed something like this in the book for nothing. After all, we have to admit that, in this show, NOTHiNG is ever done simply. So maybe this time “love is magic” would be more elaborate than usual?

We do know that the first thing the creators talked about when they started to imagine this world, was the magical system. Not the characters, not the creatures or landscape or anything, but the magical system.

And what do we have so far? Primal magic and dark magic. Is it really that simple? I had to think it through!

1. My first thoughts about dark magic:

Thinking about this above led me to think about dark magic, about how it's "wrong", like Callum said. That point have already been discussed by many of us and a lot disagree, it's too easy to classified it as "wrong" like it’s stated in the show, because the reason you had to use it can be understandable.

Only... the creator of the show have NEVER chose easy/simple road in writing. So why just put dark magic as "wrong" without explanations? Maybe there's something more here too?

I understood dark magic as bad, not for the reason, but for the concept, about what it represents: it's taking (life, will) without asking. It's stealing, it's killing, no matter your excuse. You can invoke righteousness, justice, revenge, self-defence, strengh, power and all, the result is always the same: death. And as you kill to achieve your goal, you pay a heavy price. It staint you, it... "take" something for you (like it was implied in several interview and even in the book, but we’ll talk about this later). (ok, nothing new, here)

But you must have noticed this: those aren't only related to dark magic. It's darkness and everyone can do it. Sol Regem did it, Runaan did it, Harrow did it. They chose to kill and they tainted themselves too, even if it's not in the way pure dark magic does.

So you have the "dark" side with death and all, and opposed to this, the "white" one. Life, forgiveness. love. And all the people have to choose between those white and black sides, between life and death. Only the area they moved in to make their choices is grey. It's the result who, in the end, is more black or white than grey _ but sometimes still a little grey_.

So, it’s absolutely interesting (hehe… hem^^’) but these thoughts are the ground of the theories and analysis that will now follow in this post and the next one!!!!

2. The “reward theory”

As said by Sarai in the image below : "love is magic".

My first question then, was: “…But what is “magic”?” Not Primal magic or Dark magic. Just… Magic. My first thought was: magic is life. Or at least, it should be. Remember the human land deprived of magic who was dying? And look at Primal magic, it’s all life-related at some point. So, yeah, Magic is life!

And so, if magic is life and love is magic, doesn’t this mean that love is life, too?

If that's true, then maybe the opposite is true too? Hate is death.

Why not, after all?! If magic is love, and life… how could dark magic, who's litterally death, came from the same source? How could dark magic… be Magic at all if they’re opposite to each other?

And more importantly : where is this "magical love" in the magic system here ? It's not primal magic, it's not dark magic, but it is magic.

From that point, I assumed Magic is wider than Humans and Xadians (and us, humble fans, obviously) know. It's probably something more... powerful, a more primal form of magic. More subtle but powerful.

Why subtle?

This is the first thing I noticed in the show, the impressive succession of miracles, of “what if” who went just right. “What if Callum left to go to Rayla just one minute later at the storm spire?”, “What if Ethari didn’t saw Rayla in the reflection?”, “what if Viren hadn’t captured Lain and Tiadrin, letting no traces behind so people wouldn’t misinterpret what happened?”, “What if Marcos hadn’t been here?”, “what if Runaan had send someone else to kill him?”, what if…

It gave me the impression that there’s something more. Is it Destiny? Is it something else? Someone? Anything?

But that’s the first layer. There’s another one:

In this show, it's as if every action who implied a choice about doing the right thing, about choosing life over death, love over hate or the opposite, is somehow... repaid? Rewarded?

By... Magic itself? Destiny again? Fate? the world? Some unknown entity? by Magic who is an entity? Why not? “If magic is life, if she brings life to everything, how could she not be alive?”... or something like that. Anyway!

Maybe it’s this, or maybe you’re rewarded by the side you choose?

In both case, when you chose life or love, then you will live. You chose death or hate, then you will die. (I am putting thing in an extreme way, I know... ^^)

In other words, when you choose life/love or death/hate, your act is related to magic. but not the magic we saw until now. It's something else. Just like Dark magic is not Primal magic.

So okay, that’s nice once again, but what could prove it?

Well, just take a look at this:

You use dark magic, it stains you. It "takes" something from you, empties you as if the world itself can't allow you to make others beeing to pay for the choice you made.

Why not? but that's general, let's see more concrete exemples (and my headcanon interpretations) when our characters did the "right" or "wrong" thing:

Zym's egg falls in the frozen lake and Ezran risks his life to save him => Ez (can already talk to animals, yes) got an unusual, powerful bond with our little dragon, so strong the little dragon do the exact same things as him while sleeping, so strong he can see through his eyes and talk with him even when they're separated. As if his self-sacrificing act had been rewarded: you choose to risk your life to save him ? then you two will be linked even strongly than before.

Rayla spares Marcos => our lad is the first one to rebel against Viren, act who instill courage in others who follow him. Marco became a part to the rebellion and was one of those who rallied Duren's forces (I guess) : you spare an innocent even if he was your enemy? Then he will become your ally.

Callum breaks his primal stone to save Zym and, by this, accepts the idea of returning to a "I'm nobody" state. Then he uses dark magic but choose to completely reject it and end up with the sky arcanum. You sacrifice your magic, who was important to you to save a life (and the world btw) ? then you made the choice to use a magic meant to kill but in the end decided to not go on that path ? then you will retrieve what you sacrificed in the first place, in an even stronger way.

Amaya save Janai when she could have killed her, her enemy, Janai end up fighting with her.

Same for Janai, she saved, even trusted Amaya.

In a general way: children, you fought for peace ? you let go of your grudge, your grief and all of your biased jugments ? then peace you'll have (more or less, we know not everyone want peace)

Ezran chose to forgive Soren and Claudia. Soren end up saving him in return and turning to his side. As for Claudia, I'll talk about her in a while.

Callum jump after Rayla to save her, it's love who made him mastered the spell to save them both. You're ready to sacrifice yourself for her? then you will both be saved.

Rayla tackle Viren from the peak of the storm spire. She doesn't search “death”, she's trying to save Zym. She's ready to lose her life to save him. out of righteousness, out of love. Then she get saved by Callum.

Now what about the "dark side" we call the “narrative of strength”?

Avizandum killed many people, especially Sarai who had a pure heart. He got killed by Harrow.

Harrow chose hate and death by killing him, he got killed by Runaan.

Runaan is the most interesting one so far: he had a choice to make too. Two choices. He could have backed up but chose to kill Harrow anyway and so chose “death”. However, even if we’re still not absolutely sure he decided to spare Ezran, he did chose (we know this from the team at Wonderstorm now, so it’s canon) to spare Rayla despite what law and duty said. Killing her was never in his agenda. So Runaan had to choose between life and death, he chose both and ended... between both, literally! "the irony is wonderful"…

Kesha, with all her arrogance (who was so predictable) and her hate toward humanity got killed in a not so soft way.

Viren... I think his many "rewards" have already started. When he chose to kill the magma titan, Sarai (they were friends, it's canon) got killed and Amaya hates him for this (it's canon to, thedragonprince official on tumblr mentionned it once). He lost 2 friends on that day. When he chose to kill Avizandum, he lost his other friend, Harrow. Here in a most terrible way and I will, once again, talk about this later. He inflicted a terrible spell to Rayla's parents but this turned against him. If not for them completely vanished, no one would have thought they had ran away, Rayla _ the only moonshadow elf who had her heart in the right place_ wouldn't have to go to this mission to clear her name. No other assassin would have spared Marcos, or listen to callum, no other assassin would have followed Ezran, found the egg and chose to "make things right" including the humans. Runaan proved it. And I'm not finished with Viren. He lost his son, he will lose is daughter and he's currently in the grasp of a powerful being who's obviously toying with him and he don't even know it. And he's so blind he can't even see it.

Edit: kinda forgot about Sol Regem who torched down a city of hundred of thousand people, who got rewarded by being blinded, losing his throne and being hated and feared by everyone. 1200years later, when he could have change he didn’t. So okay Callum used dark magic. But that wasn’t a reason to kill Zym. Reward? Lux Aurea, the city who had been built to honor him (according to Callum spellsbook) fall, a lot of Sunfire elves seems to have died and, if we believe the summary of the tabletop game, it’s pretty ugly... a city for a city? Maybe.

Claudia is also very interesting, in between love and hate, death and light. Here’s an excerpt from an interview I found:

As for Claudia, she really seems to have committed to this dark path now. Is there any hope for her in the future? Richmond: Yes! There’s totally hope. Ehasz: But it might get worse before it gets better. [...] Ehasz: Claudia is, ahh… Richmond: She’s super complicated. She’s a fascinating character. There’s a long way to go with Claudia, she’s super exciting. Ehasz: But she’s not about power! She’s about **love**. I mean, that’s one thing that’s interesting about her. She’s on a very dark path, but her core motivation is love, and I think that’s going to be very interesting.

She really is the best character to represent that grey area. And if this first part of my theory, about "rewards" is true, it could truly end up good for her. When she had to choose between Soren and Zym, she chose her brother. She chose her father over Soren (I'm talking about the scene in the dungeon, not after Kazef's transformation) not out of malice but out of fear. She loves her family and deceived herself because she's not strong enough to see the truth. I really think she will do the right choice when she will finally see her father for what he truly is (as Richmond said : "there's totally hope").

3. That’s nice and interesting, Lily… but this looks like “destiny” at worst. Is there really another kind of magic than dark magic and primal magic?

If the creators really put so much thoughts and efforts in creating the magical system, it’s really likely this way. But what would be the point in telling how it works right away? We do have to discover it with the characters themselves.

However, the existence of another kind of magic, something deeper, has been implied several time.

We have clues:

Like here (8:29min and especially 9:00min if the link doesn't work correctly), where Aaron Ehasz talked about an earlier and less differenciated kind of magic.

Or like what happened to Ezran in the ice-lake. In the novel, we have an interesting description form his POV, something magical happened (I’ll come back to this in a later part)

And that new or maybe forgotten kind of magic will, maybe… be the magic that will be used to free our dear moonshadow elves from the coins? Because we have some clues :

Question: [...] Runaan got turned into a coin [...] Can they be restored to their original forms?

Ehasz: “My gut is, it seems like the kind of thing that would require incredible and powerful magic to reverse. [...] We do not answer that question in Season Three. I’m telling you, it would take incredible magic and probably dark magic to reverse it, but I don’t know [if that’s going to happen].

(I promise, that last point isn’t here for nothing :3)

Okay, this post is over. The next one will be about the magical system in itself and that “other magic” implied here, about what I found in the show about it.

#TDP #magical system #tdp theories #reward theory #ezran #runaan #zym #dark magic #primal magic #narrative of strengh #narrative of love #love is magic #callum's spellbook #love-magic #TDP's magical system is awesome #Rayla #Callum #arf tags are complicated #tumblr is complicated

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tanadrin · 4 years

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Reordberend

(part 21 of ?; first; previous; next)

(BTW, as of this update, Reordberend is, by my count, a little over 45k words long, putting it in the territory of a shortish novel. That also makes it one of the longest SF stories I’ve ever written. It’s not the most popular thing I’ve ever posted on Tumblr, but it has gotten a steady trickle of notes. Knowing there are people out there who enjoy your work, even if it’s fairly niche, is the best motivation there is to keep writing. Thank you for reading!)

Katherine Alice Green The Guest Room in the Village Hall The High Settlement McMurdo Dry Valleys ANTARCTICA

to Dr. Eunice Valerie Gordon Trinity College Dublin Dublin 2 IRELAND

Dear Dr. Gordon,

I am writing yet another letter I won’t be able to send, which, I realize might make me seem like kind of a crazy person. The only defense I can plead, I guess, is that the perpetual darkness of the winters here does funny things to you if you’re not used to it, and I’ve had a lot of down time lately that I need to do something productive with. I have already written to my parents, to a couple of friends, and to my cat, which leaves only you. And these letters seem to have a way of focusing my thoughts, so maybe it’s not an entirely useless exercise.

Where to begin? Well, first of all, I’m alive. That may come as a surprise. It occured to me not long after I was marooned here that perhaps nobody knows that. No one has come looking for me, and why would they? If any rescue parties did go looking for the Albatross, I doubt they’d come this far south. Not in winter. But I did in fact survive the ship going down. I don’t think anybody else did. The Dry Valleys People didn’t find anyone else on the shore, alive or dead. I try not to think about that too much, but, to be honest, it still has me kind of fucked up.

Oh, that’s the other things. I’ve made contact with the Dry Valleys People. I am, as the return address indicates, currently living with them. They have welcomed me, rather reluctantly, and I’ll be able to remain at least until the first sunrise of spring. This was not necessarily a widely popular decision, and I’ve come to learn that the political situation among the DVP is rather complicated. They have always guarded their isolation and their independence, and they’re keen to keep guarding it in the future, but there are some among them who worry how long that will really be possible. I think this is something Dr. Wright foresaw, and tried to warn them about in the letter he sent with me. But as you might expect, this is something a large part of their community doesn’t want to hear or even think about, and my presence here is definitely fraught.

As for my original mission… well, it’s an unqualified success, despite the difficulties. I’ve learned a lot. The language, to start with. You won’t believe this, but they speak Old English here. No, not thee and thou and maketh yon Old English. Not Chaucer, even. Older. From their books and what they’ve told me, their ancestors used the West Saxon dialect of Old English, as spoken about the year 1000 AD, as the basis for the language they taught their children. Dr. Wright knew this, of course. That’s how he was able to communicate them and win their trust; he showed an affinity for the same history and the same long-term perspective they cared about. If it seems weird that a bunch of people would move to Antarctica, forsake almost every modern convenience, and deliberately teach their kids a dead language that would be useless in the wider world, well, all I can say I guess is that humans have done a lot of weird shit for a lot of weird reasons throughout history. I think I am beginning to understand why the ancestors of the DVP did what they did. Some of them have tried to explain it to me, but there is a gap in our worldviews here that is difficult to bridge.

One of the DVP that I have befriended is a poet named Leofric. His sister, Leofe, taught me the language, but I’ve learned a lot more about their literature from him. It’s primarily an oral literature, although they do write some of it down. They like long, semi-narrative poetry that draws heavily on the imagery of the natural world, and I would say that it owes something to the ancient Anglo-Saxon poetry they keep in their books, except that, of course, the environment here is nothing like the environment of England one thousand years ago. But there are still some poetic traditions they have inherited from those earlier examples. For instance, their world is harsh, and unforgiving, and from a certain angle looks like a world in decline. The ancient English (so I am told) were surrounded by great Roman ruins they spoke of as being the work of metaphorical giants; here, they have the ruins of two hundred years of scientific and industrial exploration of the Antarctic coast. And their world, too, is enclosed by a vast cold sea, although this one has penguins in it at least.

Aside from the language, the founders of the DVP don’t seem to have intended to recreate medieval English society. There are no kings. There is a semi-formal system of village headship by seniority, but the social hierarchy is very flat. Marriage, inheritance, and choice of occupation all take place on fairly egalitarian terms, and their strictest taboos surround the sharing of labor and resources, not sexuality or religion. I wonder how much of their customs are the result of gradual cultural evolution, or some deliberate effort at creating a planned community. There are lots of funny Utopian experimental communities out there, but most tend to fail after a generation. In a way, this one couldn’t fail, because they had no way to leave Antarctica. They had to make it work. Is this what a real utopian project looks like after six or seven generations?

But honestly, one of the most fascinating aspects of the DVP is their material culture. As you might expect, their day-to-day existence is profoundly shaped by the environment they live in. Their houses are all heavy stone, designed to trap scarce heat, and arranged around the village halls as a windbreak against the dry katabatic gales that sweep the McMurdo Valleys clear of ice. Despite this being one of the driest locations on Earth, it’s still a better habitat for them than the glaciers of the Antarctic lowlands, or the rough, icy terrain of the mountains--here, you can actually build, and you don’t need skis and snowshoes to get around. But, as a consequence, much of their most important infrastructure is underground.

I don’t know if the ancestral DVP brought the right tools with them or if they scavenged them once here, but they have accumulated a small stockpile of laser borers, ultrasonic chisels, and crystalsteel digging equipment that they use to carve out underground chambers in the hills as meeting places and ritual sites. But they don’t do their agriculture there; that happens in networks of buried trenches just below the villages, where they grow cold-resistant mosses and lichens to supplement a meat-based diet, and what seems to be a form of genegineered fibergrass they use to weave their clothing and tapestries, and to make books.

Their art is very beautiful. Their coats, books, and tapestries--even their stone carvings--all depict elaborate lineate forms of plants and animals, inherited I suppose from ancestral memory, since none of the organisms in question are found in Antarctica. They also make images depicting the mountains, of course, and the sea, and the animals that live on the coast; even some of the coastal settlements, as seen from far off. They’re often abstracted, but these images are geographically grounded: they’re not just “generic mountains” or “generic coastline,” they’re specific mountains, specific coastlines, and they add up--if you are exposed to them every day of your life growing up--to something like a conceptual map of all of Victoria Land. It seems that if you dropped an average adult DVP individual anywhere from Oates Land to the Queen Elizabeth Range, they could probably find their way home, even during the dark months of winter.

(Oh! And the dark months! You’d think they’d be depressing, but I never imagined in my life I would see such a sight as the aurora australis, or even the clear polar stars! I can’t describe it to you. Maybe Leofric could, if I could do justice to his verse.)

They’re very communitarian, and great emphasis is placed on making sure no one goes without, but the price of that is, apparently, extremely elaborate dispute-resolution mechanisms; for a culture without courts, government, or attorneys, they are remarkably bureaucratic. Each physical object seems to have its own laws attached to it. Some may be shared by all objects of that type--for instance, if you need an electric firestarter, you always go to the house windward of yours to ask if they have one. If they don’t, you go to the next, and so on; firestarters pass from house to house, as needed, but only in one direction. Other objects may have completely unique rules. There is a knife with an elaborately carved handle meant to be used only by left-handed people. I don’t know why; nobody I asked knew, either. But that was the custom, and it was scrupulously obeyed. As a rule, the more elaborately decorated an object, the more particular the rules associated with it, but the elaboration of the object doesn’t seem to connote anything about the rules. It only marks it out as somehow special. The rules themselves are transmitted orally. All of these rules at bottom are about making sure that resources are evenly distributed--making sure nobody has to walk too far in bitterly cold weather to find a firestarter, for instance--and even the ones that don’t make sense now probably were created for good reason. For instance, the southpaw knife. Their knives for carving meat all have handles that curve in one way, to help separate flesh from bone, and I suspect that one is the result of a left-handed steelsmith getting fed up with with tools he couldn’t use very well. The blade is that of a carving-knife, though the handle attached to it is straight. The handle was probably later replaced when it broke, and somebody needed the knife for a different purpose--but the custom attached to it remained the same.

This system of sharing is, if anything, even more scrupulously observed when there’s a windfall. We went on a salvage expedition a month ago and brought back some much-needed supplies, and they spent days working out what would go where, first to each village and then, once we got back to the High Settlement, each house in each village--and even then, this was just what went to who first. Anything that’s not a finite supply, like food, will get passed from house to house. Leofric tells me that a few years ago, a whale--an entire blue whale, actually--beached itself to the north, and they had to have a weeklong assembly (on the beach, next to the whale, natch) to decide what do with every scrap of meat and bone. They still talk about the arguments that went down at the Whale Parliament sometimes (for which their word is hwaelthing, by the way. Literally it means exactly what it looks like: “whale-thing.”). Funny thing is, they also very carefully manage arguments in these discussions. That’s not normally the case--if two people have an argument and what to physically fight each other about it, that’s considered their business. But when it comes to disputes about food or metal or tools, everybody is very keen to show how Not Mad they are, even if they’re actually seething about it on the inside. And if voices get raised, people get hustled aside, and the whole matter is dropped completely until everybody has a chance to calm down. This looks like a system that was either deliberately designed to keep fights from breaking out and feelings getting permanently hurt, or one that sprung up after some nasty experiences of actual fights. I suspect the latter. It’s all very informal, but there’s a lot of social pressure that enforces it. The price for division and discord in an environment this hard to live in would be death, and I think all their social institutions are built around that reality.

I will admit, this has not been the easiest experience. I mean, there’s the almost dying part, and the part where all my cybernetics are broken, and I had a bad bout of something flulike a few weeks ago and almost died again, but I don’t actually mean the physical hardship. It is a more isolating experience than I thought it would be, being the lone outsider in such a close-knit community. Everyone knows everybody and everything, except me. They all have their own jokes and stories and long-running feuds, and they can communicate a great deal to one another with just a glance, and I’m left wondering what just happened when everybody laughs at something, or a fight breaks out. I have struggled sometimes to learn the language. I mean, I’ve had no other choice, and it’s amazing what you can learn when your survival depends on it, but even now I still sometimes find myself struggling to communicate ideas, or staying silent even when there is something I might want to say, just because I can’t find the words. It’s infuriating not being able to express yourself well, and maybe for good reason I sometimes think they all see me as this hapless idiot who almost got herself killed, who they have to put up with until the spring as a result.

Okay, I mean, I kind of am that. But I am also genuinely interested in their society, in the DVP as individuals, in their stories and their history. But I feel like the best I can hope for is being kind of a mascot. Or a well-meaning but dim-witted pet. A Labrador or something.

Not that I haven’t made friends. I would say Leofric is a friend. The salvagers--Eadwig and Andrac--they’re friends. And I seem to have won at least the grudging toleration of the ones like Aelfric who initially wanted to leave me to die. But sometimes I think I’ve made a connection, somehow bridged the unbridgeable gulf between my life experience and the world of the DVP, only to find out I’ve done no such thing. I thought Leofe was a friend; but now she’s not speaking to me, and she’s left the High Settlement for one of the other valleys. I don’t know why, and the others just shrug when I ask them.

Ugh. This is turning into whining. Now I know I’ll never send it. Sorry. It’s been a long day. It’s amazing how tired you can get when your muscles can’t rely on your augs to help them do shit.

But I need to find a way to bridge that gap. I mean really bridge it. Because I feel like I’m starting to understand something the DVP aren’t ready to hear. Their ancestors came to Antarctica at a time when the rest of the world wasn’t much interested in it. It was a wasteland, so sure, let’s treat it as an international, shared territory. Nobody goes there but scientists and the occasional tourist. And during the Collapse, not even that--Antarctica was truly empty for the first time in a hundred and fifty years when the ancestors of the DVP came to its shores. But it isn’t anymore. And it won’t ever be a real wasteland again. Every year the mining consortia move a little further down the Transantarctic Mountains. Every year a new outpost pops up on the coast, more ships come to Port Alexander, more icebreakers cut through the polar sea. Antarctica is warmer now that it’s been at any time in the past. Heck, without some global warming, I don’t think the Dry Valleys would be habitable. But that means more exposed rock, more open ground to build on, more people coming to the continent to work on the mining platforms or the offshore factories, and one day, I think, they’re going to come here.

What will the DVP do when that happens? This isn’t North Sentinel Island, which nobody ever goes to because there’s no reason. There’s gold in the hills here--the DVP make jewelry out of it--and maybe other precious metals, and you could build a geothermal station on Mount Erebus and power a small town, if you wanted to build some autofactories. The Antarctic Authority exists to promote “science and industry,” but with a big emphasis on industry. And by science they mostly mean, like, watching penguins bone and building telescopes at the South Pole. Not soft stuff like anthropology. And certainly not protecting three valleys full of cessionist oddballs whose parents had an unreasonable fondness for dead languages.

I think Dr. Wright knew this. I think maybe he tried to warn the DVP when he was here, but back then the danger was even further away. And it’s hard to get people to pay attention to danger that seems far away, even if it might be an existential threat. And when dealing with that danger would require you to completely change the only life you’d ever known… well, that’s a hard sell. The DVP don’t really like change. I can’t blame them. But one day things are going to change here, and if they’re not prepared for it, it could get really ugly, really fast. It’s one thing to shut yourself away when the world is ignoring you. It’s another when the world comes knocking.

If I think I can persuade them, I’m going to talk to the elders here, Aelfric and Wulf. Some of the DVP have had very fleeting contact with outsiders before me. I think one of them should come with me in the spring, as a sort of emissary. I’m not sure who they should talk to, yet. Maybe the Authority. Maybe somebody in Port Alexander’s local government? Or maybe we should just try to tell their story directly to the world. That might bring the DVP more attention than they’d like, but better a little good attention now than a lot of bad attention later. I would have asked Leofe--she’s smart, she’s tough, she could handle the culture shock--but that’s not an option now. Something to think about, anyway.

Well. I hope this letter finds the imaginary version of you well, my love to the imaginary family &c, hope the undergrads aren’t giving you too much trouble this year. If for some reason you do find this letter--like I freeze to death on my way to the weather station in September and they find this document on my corpse--please forgive my stubbornness, my insistence on going on this stupid trip, and any worry I’ve caused you as a result. And if I really am dead, please tell everybody I died doing something badass, like, I dunno, fighting a polar bear. I guess those are extinct and they never lived in Antarctica anyway, but something along those lines. Make it good.

All the best,

Kate

#tanadrin's fiction #*blows party horn*#sorry for the epistolary chapter #but it's a great way to do gratuitous expository worldbuilding

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cdpdoodler · 5 years

Text

What she says: I'm fine

What she means: Remember Longcat, Jane? I remember Longcat. Fuck the picture on this page, I want to talk about Longcat. Memes were simpler back then, in 2006. They stood for something. And that something was nothing. Memes just were. “Longcat is long.” An undeniably true, self-reflexive statement. Water is wet, fire is hot, Longcat is long. Memes were floating signifiers without signifieds, meaningful in their meaninglessness. Nobody made memes, they just arose through spontaneous generation; Athena being birthed, fully formed, from her own skull.

You could talk about them around the proverbial water cooler, taking comfort in their absurdity. “Hey, Johnston, have you seen the picture of that cat? They call it Longcat because it’s long!” “Ha ha, sounds like good fun, Stevenson! That reminds me, I need to show you this webpage I found the other day; it contains numerous animated dancing hamsters. It’s called — you’ll never believe this — hamsterdance!” And then Johnston and Stevenson went on to have a wonderful friendship based on the comfortable banality of self-evident digitized animals.

But then 2007 came, and along with it came I Can Has, and everything was forever ruined. It was hubris, Jane. We did it to ourselves. The minute we added written language, it all went to shit. Suddenly memes had an excess of information to be parsed. It wasn’t just a picture of a cat, perhaps with a simple description appended to it; now the cat spoke to us via a written caption on the picture itself. It referred to an item of food that existed in our world but not in the world of the meme, rupturing the boundary between the two. The cat wanted something. Which forced us to recognize that what it wanted was us, was our attention. WE are the cheezburger, Jane, and we always were. But by the time we realized this, it was too late. We were slaves to the very memes that we had created. We toiled to earn the privilege of being distracted by them. They fiddled while Rome burned, and we threw ourselves into the fire so that we might listen to the music. The memes had us. Or, rather, they could has us.

And it just got worse from there. Soon the cats had invisible bicycles and played keyboards. They gained complex identities, and so we hollowed out our own identities to accommodate them. We prayed to return to the simple days when we would admire a cat for its exceptional length alone, the days when the cat itself was the meme and not merely a vehicle for the complex memetic text. And the fact that this text was so sparse, informal, and broken ironically made it even more demanding. The intentional grammatical and syntactical flaws drew attention to themselves, making the meme even more about the captioning words and less about the pictures. Words, words, words. Wurds werds wordz. Stumbling through a crooked, dead-end hallway of a mangled clause describing a simple feline sentiment was a torture that we inflicted on ourselves daily. Let’s not forget where the word “caption” itself comes from: capio, Latin for both “I understand” and “I capture.” We thought that by captioning the memes, we were understanding them. Instead, our captions allowed them to capture us. The memes that had once been a cure for our cultural ills were now the illness itself.

It goes right back to Phaedrus, really. The Plato dialogue. (You read that, right?) Back in the innocent days of 2006, we naïvely thought that the grapheme had subjugated the phoneme, that the belief in the primacy of the spoken word was an ancient and backwards folly on par with burning witches or practicing phrenology or thinking that Smash Mouth was good. Fucking Smash Mouth. But we were wrong. About the phoneme, I mean. The trickster god Theuth came to us again, this time in the guise of a grinning grey cat. The cat hungered, and so did Theuth. We’d already taken writing from him, so this time he offered us a new choice disguised as a gift. And we greedily took it, again oblivious to the consequences. To borrow the parlance of a contemporary meme, he made us a pharmakon, and we eated it.

Pharmakon, φάρμακον, the Greek word that means both “poison” and “cure,” but, because of the limitations of the English language, can only be translated one way or the other depending on the context and the translator’s whims. No possible translation can capture the full implications of a Greek text including this word. In the Phaedrus, writing is the pharmakon that the trickster god Theuth offers, the toxin and remedy in one. With writing, man will no longer forget; but he will also no longer think. A double-edged (s)word, if you will. But the new iteration of the pharmakon is the meme. Specifically, the post-I-Can-Has memescape of 2007 onward. And it was the language that did it, Jane. The addition of written language twisted the remedy into a poison, flipped the pharmakon on its invisible axis.

In retrospect, it was in front of our eyes all along. Meme. The noxious word was given to us by who else but those wily ancient Greeks themselves. μίμημα, or mīmēma. Defined as an imitation, a copy. The exact thing Plato warned us against in the Republic. Remember? The simulacrum that is two steps removed from the perfection of the original by the process of — note the root of the word — mimesis. The Platonic ideal of an object is the source: the father, the sun, the ghostly whole. The corporeal manifestation of the object is one step removed from perfection. The image of the object (be it in letters or in pigments) is two steps removed. The author is inferior to the craftsman is inferior to God.

But we’ll go farther than Plato. Longcat, a photograph, is a textbook example of a second-degree mimesis. (We might promote it to the third degree since the image on the internet is a digital copy of the original photograph of the physical cat which is itself a copy of Platonic ideal of a cat (the Godcat, if you will); but this line of thought doesn’t change anything in the argument.) The text-supplemented meme, on the other hand, the captioned cat, is at an infinite remove from the Godcat; it is the ultimate mimesis, copying the copy of itself eternally, the written language and the image echoing off each other, until it finally loops back around to the truth by virtue of being so far from it. It becomes its own truth, the fidelity of the eternal copy. It becomes a God.

Writing itself is the archetypical pharmakon and the archetypical copy, if you’ll come back with me to the Phaedrus (if we ever really left it). Speech is the real deal, Socrates says, with a smug little wink to his (written) dialogic buddy. Speech is alive, it can defend itself, it can adapt and change. Writing is its bastard son, the mimic, the dead, rigid simulacrum. Writing is a copy, a mīmēma, of truth in speech. To return to our analogous issue: the image of the cat that wants the cheezburger, the copy of the picture-copy-copy, is so much closer to its original Platonic ideal (Godcat) than the written language that accompanies it is to its own (speech). (“Pharmakon” can also mean “paint.” Think about it, Jane. Just think about it.) The image is still fake, but it’s the caption on the cat that is the downfall of the republic, the real fakeness, which is both realer and faker than whatever original it is that it represents.

Men and gods abhor the lie, Plato says in sections 382 a and b of the Republic.

οὐκ οἶσθα, ἦν δ᾽ ἐγώ, ὅτι τό γε ὡς ἀληθῶς ψεῦδος, εἰ οἷόν τε τοῦτο εἰπεῖν, πάντες θεοί τε καὶ ἄνθρωποι μισοῦσιν; πῶς, ἔφη, λέγεις; οὕτως, ἦν δ᾽ ἐγώ, ὅτι τῷ κυριωτάτῳ που ἑαυτῶν ψεύδεσθαι καὶ περὶ τὰ κυριώτατα οὐδεὶς ἑκὼν ἐθέλει, ἀλλὰ πάντων μάλιστα φοβεῖται ἐκεῖ αὐτὸ κεκτῆσθαι.

“Don't you know,” said I, “that the veritable lie, if the expression is permissible, is a thing that all gods and men abhor?” “What do you mean?” he said. “This,” said I, “that falsehood in the most vital part of themselves, and about their most vital concerns, is something that no one willingly accepts, but it is there above all that everyone fears it.” Man’s worst fear is that he will hold existential falsehood within himself. And the verbal lies that he tells are an incarnation of this fear; Plato elaborates: “the falsehood in words is a copy of the affection in the soul, an after-rising image of it and not an altogether unmixed falsehood.” A copy of man’s flawed internal copy of truth. And what word does Plato use for “copy” in this sentence? That’s fucking right, μίμημα. Mīmēma. Mimesis. Meme. The new meme is a lie, manifested in (written) words, that reflects the lack of truth, the emptiness, within the very soul of a human. The meme is now not only an inferior copy, it is a deceptive copy.

But just wait, it gets better. Plato continues in the very next section of the Republic, 382 c. Sometimes, he says, the lie, the meme, is appropriate, even moral. It is not abhorrent to lie to your enemy, or to your friend in order to keep him from harm. “Does it [the lie] not then become useful to avert the evil—as a medicine?” You get one fucking guess for what Greek word is being translated as “medicine” here. Ding ding goddamn ding, you got it, φάρμακον, pharmakon. The μίμημα is a φάρμακον, the lie is a medicine/poison, the meme is a pharmakon.

But I’m sure that by now you’ve realized the (intentional) mistake in my argument that brought us to this point. I said earlier that the addition of written language to the meme flipped the pharmakon on its axis. But the pharmakon didn’t flip, it doesn’t have an axis. It was always both remedy and poison. The fact that this isn’t obvious to us from the very beginning of the discussion is the fault of, you guessed it, language. The initial lie (writing) clouds our vision and keeps us from realizing how false the second-order lie (the meme) is.

The very structure of the lying meme mirrors the structure of the written word that defines and corrupts it. Once you try to identify an “outside” in order to reveal the lie, the whole framework turns itself inside-out so that you can never escape it. The cat wants the cheezburger that exists outside the meme, but only through the meme do we become aware of the presumed existence of the cheezburger — we can’t point out the absurdity of the world of the meme without also indicting our own world. We can’t talk about language without language, we can’t interpret memes without mimesis. Memes didn’t change between ’06 and ’07, it was us who changed. Or rather, our understanding of what we had always been changed. The lie became truth, the remedy became the poison, the outside became the inside. Which is to say that the truth became lie, the pharmakon was always the remedy and the poison, and the inside retreated further inside. It all came full circle. Because here’s the secret, Jane. Language ruined the meme, yes. But language itself had already been ruined. By that initial poisonous, lying copy. Writing. The First Pharmakon. The First Meme.

Language didn’t attack the meme in 2007 out of spite. It attacked it to get revenge.

Longcat is long. Language is language. Pharmakon is pharmakon. The phoneme topples the grapheme, witches ride through the night, our skulls hide secret messages on their surfaces, Smash Mouth is good after all. Hey now, you’re an all-star. Get your game on.

Go play.

#blab #homestuck #hs #dirk strider #detective pony #jane crocker #long post #100

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tommynikkivincemick · 5 years

Note

Omg yes can you pls do an a-z NSFW for Mick?

Dude of fucking course I can

A= Aftercare (What they’re like after sex)

Ok do we remember “I happen to have respect for myself and the females of our species, unlike you animals”??? That DEFINITELY carries over into sex, especially when it comes to aftercare. Plus, Mick is a very emotionally mature individual. After a good sesh, Mick is 100% asking if you’re okay, if you need anything, how you’re feeling, all that good stuff. There would already be a glass of water and an aspirin on the nightstand, and the Mars man understands and respects post-sex general maintenance, so if you need a bath to clean up, he will definitely draw you one, and if you’re so worn out that your legs feel like jello and you can’t walk to the bathroom? He. Will. Carry. You. It won’t be the most fun thing in the world for him, what with the bad back, but he would do that for you without question.

B = Body part (Their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

In general, his favorite part of you would be your legs. Mick is a pretty traditional guy, so he appreciates a nice pair of stems (and what’s between ‘em). He’s the kind of guy that would casually have a hand on your thigh or knee the majority of the time, not even in a sexual way. And short skirts with high heels? He’s a fan.

Now, Mick isn’t really the type to put too much weight in his body or face unless it came to performance makeup and clothes. The other three vain morons he called band mates worshipped themselves and each other; Mick? Not so much. But if he had to choose, his favorite part of himself would probably be his hands because they were the reason he had a career, and with them he could feel you (plus you were a big fan of what those talented fingers could do).

C = Cum (Anything to do with cum basically... I’m a disgusting person)

Again, Mick is a pretty traditional guy, so if given the choice, he will choose to cum inside you 100% of the time (despite knowing the consequences of doing such).

D = Dirty secret (Pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

So Mick is someone who looks like a top and is a top, that is something we all can agree on. But a little fact only you’d know is that he actually very much enjoys being submissive to you. There’s something so hot about bending to his woman’s will and taking whatever you dish out.

E = Experience (How experienced are they? Do they know what they’re doing?)

Though Mick is the oldest, he is also the most reserved, so has not had nearly as many bodies as The Three Morons™. But don’t form your opinion on that alone— the Mars man knows. His. Shit. Because unlike The Three Morons™, he has used his experience to learn what a woman’s body wants and needs, and the man is a fast learner.

F = Favorite Position (This goes without saying. Will probably include a visual)

I’m gonna say he’s a fan of this ol’ gal. A twist on the standard missionary; plus your legs over his shoulders? Major turn on for him. And for you? This is a position that allows for long, deep strokes. It is wonderful, period.

G = Goofy (Are they more serious in the moment, or are they humorous, etc.)

Mick is moderately serious when he’s getting down. It’s less of a getting down to business thing, but more of a focus thing. He wants to focus on emotions and sensations; he wants you to know he loves you and wants you to feel it, too.

H = Hair (How well groomed are they, does the carpet match the drapes, etc.)

Pretty all natural, but nothing too wild. And the carpet is just a few shades lighter than the drapes.

I = Intimacy (How are they during the moment, romantic aspect…)

While Mick doesn’t talk about being a hopeless romantic like a certain drummer we know, he actually really is (see: the letter G). If you walked into the bedroom to find a vase of roses and candles all around, you would not at all be surprised.

J = Jack Off (Masturbation headcanon)

It isn’t something he does often, if he can help it, but when he does it is with great care, a bottle of lube (because he is a grown ass man that does not just use lotion), and a particularly sexy Polaroid of you.

K = Kink (One or more of their kinks)

Mick isn’t too kinky, but he has a select few that really do it for him. He’s a fan of dominance and submissiveness; who is the dom really just depends on the night. And he’ll never say no to bondage or temperature play (he likes to use cold things on you, but he prefers hot things on himself).

L = Location (Favourite places to do the do)

A BED. The Mars man ain’t got the best back, it’s less about riskiness and more about comfort.

M = Motivation (What turns them on, gets them going)

Unlike a certain bassist, Mick isn’t a jealous man, nor is he too easily provoked. But his ideal scenario would involve you in a very tall pair of stilettos, a very short tight skirt, a matching lace bra and panty set, and a strip tease*.

*Skirt and heels stay on, please and thank you.

M = Motivation (What turns them on, gets them going)

Absolutely no non-con, no bodily fluids, and nothing if you are drunk or high. Mick is all about safe, sane, and consensual.

O = Oral (Preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc)

Mars is a giver and could have you sit on his face for hours (again, a comfort thing). And you gladly would; he’s real good. Like, REAL good. But if you wanted to go down on him, he wouldn’t protest.

P = Pace (Are they fats and rough? Slow and sensual? etc.)

Slow and sensual unless y’all want it fast and rough. Like I said, the man is a romantic. He likes to take his time with you.

Q = Quickie (Their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc.)

Not a big fan of quickies; those are more the domain of a certain singer. But if you’ve been teasing him all day, he could be open to it.

R = Risk (Are they game to experiment, do they take risks, etc.)

Mick is pretty open minded; he’ll try anything once. Well— almost anything. Take that as you will.

S = Stamina (How many rounds can they go for, how long do they last…)

Y’all know how Nikki talked about sex being an all night session, not just a quickie in the bathroom? This especially applies to Mick. He can and will go all night, if you’re down for it. Multiple rounds, each better than the last.

T = Toy (Do they own toys? Do they use them? On a partner or themselves?)

Mick doesn’t own toys outside of some handcuffs and ties, if you can count those. But if you would like to incorporate them, he’s more than willing if it’ll make you feel good.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

Not a big tease. He’s a giver the majority of the time and he aims to please— but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t enjoy some begging every now and then.

V = Volume (How loud they are, what sounds they make)

Not very loud, the occasional grunt or low groan, at most.

W = Wild Card (Get a random headcanon for the character of your choice)

Mars man is into overstimulation and sometimes even edging. No I do not know how to elaborate on that, but if y’all wanna talk more about that, be my guest.

X = X-Ray (Let’s see what’s going on in those pants, picture or words)

Not as hung as our favorite drummer, but definitely not disappointing. Quite girthy.

Y = Yearning (How high is their sex drive?)

Not as high as The Three Morons™, but not low, either. A nice middle ground; he doesn’t need it all the time, but he’s down if you are.

Z = ZZZ (… how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

After all is said and done and he’s sure you’re cleaned up, hydrated, and okay, he falls asleep pretty fast. (Mick would never admit it, but he likes to be the little spoon sometimes).

#mick #starman #a-z

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dcarevu · 5 years

Text

Batman TAS: The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy

“How dare you manhandle me!”

Episode: 31 Robin: No Writer: Elliot S Maggin Director: Frank Paur Animator: Dong Yang Airdate: October 14, 1992 Grade: B

At the time of writing this, I have already watched the first episode featuring the Riddler as a villain. And y’know what? This is a much better Riddler episode! At least, it would be if that’s who the villain was. Elliot S Maggin, the writer of this one, originally wrote this story (or at least a similar one) for Detective Comics #450. I don’t think that too-too many scripts were reused from comic stories, but so far the ones I know about are this one and The Laughing Fish. These have been really good choices, but they could have gone further with this one by making the villain Ed Nygma instead of Wormwood. I think that would have been a justifiable change because this guy bleeds Riddler’s personality traits all over the place. I’m including his elaborate plots combined with riddles to confuse, trick, and lure people to their doom, a humungous ego, and a need to display it by humiliating you. Truly these death traps that he comes up with cannot be worth the money, and he could come up with much easier ways to get what he needs. But no. To get something valuable from the man at the beginning, he coaxes him into standing in quicksand. According to Commissioner Gordon, this is a pretty typical thing of him to do, which tells us that the stuff about his ego and true, and overall there is a fun factor for him. Just listen to the way he talks to his first victim or the way he commands Batman to leave his cape and cowl in the light so that he can see his face. This makes it so much better when he is made to look like a complete idiot at the end.

So yes, we have the beginning segment where a man gets stuck in quicksand and gets something stolen. Hearing about the incident, Commissioner Gordon lets Batman in on an associate of Wormwood named Josek. Batman goes to a fancy dinner with Josek is giving a speech, swings in, and drags the guy out, smashing him through a cake and sliding him across a table. Josek is rightfully furious, and he lets out the quote seen at the beginning of the post. The delivery is absolutely hysterical, partially because of how right he is to be angry. Batman was kinda being a bit of a jerk by humiliating him in front of the entire crowd like that, even if he’s not the best human being in the world.

Do a kickflip!

Batman interrogates him, getting all the info that he can, and then he gives a word of advice to Josek, telling him to take a vacation. Batman leaves, and we hear Josek grumbling about the encounter. This grumbling is incredibly important to the twist of the episode. We shift scenes to Josek calling in Wormwood and requesting that he get Batman’s cape and cowl for him, humbling the dark knight. We, the audience, think that this is a way of getting even with Batman for the prior embarrassment, but (hopefully you’ve seen the episode, because spoilers) the Josek featured here is actually Batman in disguise. The grumbling at the end of the interrogation scene makes us believe that this Josek guy is really pissed off, and that flows into the moment where “Josek” asks for the cape and cowl, causing us to not think anything of it. It’s a pretty brilliant way to fool us, buuuut… I really have a problem with this type of thing. You’re telling me that Batman was able to get a costume so accurately modeled after Josek? And that Batman is able to talk exactly like him? It’s such a preposterous idea that we don’t even have a chance at seeing the twist coming. Part of the fun of a twist ending is that it should seem more obvious in hindsight. Like we had a chance of cracking the code earlier. But if we are to take this show seriously like so many episodes would have us believe, I feel like this type of twist doesn’t fair all that well. Even though I don’t agree with it on principle, though, it does provide some oh so sweet satisfaction when Wormwood realizes what is going on. The guy is so smug and confident for the entire show, and then it all ends so quickly.

Wormwood sets up the trap for Batman involving a train that looks like it’s about to hit a bound woman. I’m not so sure that I like the woman being a hologram, I would think that someone like Wormwood would have no problem with threatening an innocent life. Maybe I’m reading his character wrong, though. Or maybe it was a case of the Fox Network not allowing such distress for an innocent character. Batman propping open one of the windows with a batarang was a really cool moment, and the quick animation of him throwing it coupled with the sound effect made it feel like he unlocked a cheat code. I don’t even think that Wormwood noticed that he blocked open the window, and this was the only way that Batman were to have any hope of saving the “woman” without giving up his cape and cowl. Batman seemed a little too quick to risk her life, though, especially since he knew the cape and cowl would be going right back to him anyway, but he does have a secret identity and everything to worry about.

The next death trap is the one with the giant lightbulb that gets hot enough to at least melt wax (and eventually Batman). I got Clock King vibes at this part, but this time Batman’s ingenuity was not enough to get him out of trouble. When batman smashes the bulb, and the gas comes out, I couldn’t help but think, “Doesn’t Batman have a gas mask on him most of the time?” Y’know, I bet he even had it on him during this scene, but because of his plan to capture Wormwood while disguised as Josek, I think that he pretended to give up here. He probably could have gotten out of this situation if he really wanted to. This is the type of thing that you don’t think about until a second watch. Another one of these things is the way that Batman seems to decode all of Wormwood’s riddles so quickly, leaving Gordon flabbergasted. Batman totally already knows the answers, he, as Josek, probably helped Wormwood come up with them. It’s so funny that he would not only use this knowledge against the villain of the episode, but also to tease Gordon a little bit, further adding on to the legend that his Batman, and his apparent super-mind.

So yes, at the end of the episode, when Wormwood finally brings the cape and cowl, it is revealed that Josek is Batman. After this, we get a fight between Batman and Wormwood where they each try to get a key that is important to the plot. This scene I thought went on a little bit long, and wasn’t particularly exciting, but we did get a pretty good scream out of Wormwood as he smashes through the window with one of those weights. There’s also the moment where Batman puts his hand on Wormwood’s head, as if to say, “Gimme” and Wormwood just hands it over, knowing that he can’t take any more of Batman. Some of Batman’s most badass moments are the moments where he uses the least amount of effort, simply because he knows that he doesn’t have to.

Char’s grade: B

Next time: Robin’s Reckoning (Part 1) Full episode list here!

#dcau #dc animated universe #the cape and cowl conspiracy #riddler #btas #batman tas #batman the animated series #batman #wormwood

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qethnehzul · 5 years

Text

The Aftermath of Betrayal

[Conversations, presumably, are in dovahzul. A post-Miraak’s betrayal dragon cult drabble]

The sound of wind howling outside echoed through the stone halls, the only other sound besides the sad fire that crackled in the pit at the center of the room.

Four empty slots at the table weighed heavily on those who remained, and even though one guest was present, it did nothing to fill the gaps that had been made. No, if anything, the guest was a painful reminder of why there were gaps, and why they were gathered at the table.

Vahlok was the only one who’s face was visible, but he kept a steady gaze at the stone slab that made up the table. Even with metal covering their faces, their emotions were more than clear.

Konahrik let the silence sit over their heads for a long moment, until Hevnoraak finally snapped.

“This is bullshit,” he finally hissed, ripping his mask off with a violent movement before hurling it across the room. The iron mask skidded across the table inches from Morokei with a deafening bang, sending a few sparks flying before it clattered off onto the ground and into the wall. Morokei flinched away from it, drawing his left hand up before sending Hevnoraak a glare through the slits of his mask. Hevnoraak pushed a few strands of loose hair out of his face, hunching over the table in frustration as he bit back anger and, to his displeasure, sorrow.

Konahrik’s head snapped in Henvoraak’s direction, the head priest tensing. “Hevnoraak, how dare-” he began, but today Hevnoraak was having none of it.

The lesser priest shot daggers in Konahrik’s direction, green eyes filled with rage and betrayal. “You knew,” he spat, flashing sharpened teeth. “You knew this whole damn time and you failed to tell any of us about it and now they’re gone. Don’t ‘Hevnoraak’ me. I have every right to be angry. He betrayed us. And you knew about it. And you never once spoke up, never once warned us, never once tried to stop him until it was too late. Any of them.”

Silence fell on the room again as Hevnoraak glowered at Konahrik, his eyes challenging the older priest to speak up again. His shoulders raise and fell harshly with his breathing, only just managing to contain his emotions.

Otar, to no one’s surprise, broke the silence next. “I warned you,” the old man muttered, shifting back in his seat. Nahkriin instinctively leaned away from the old man, anticipating whatever the next stream of rage from Hevnoraak was going to be.

Hevnoraak’s head snapped to look at Otar, his body jerking into a standing position. His lips twitched and drew back into a snarl, but before he could hurl any sort of insult or spell at him, Vokun had reached up to drag Hevnoraak back into a sitting position.

“We know. We are all suffering. That doesn’t mean we can start fighting amongst ourselves now,” Vokun said quietly, his voice barely able to be heard above the howl of the wind and the snap of the fire.

Hevnoraak glared at Vokun next, but reluctantly he swallowed his rage and buried his head in his hands.

Rahgot took Otar’s words as a chance to jump in. “You can’t tell me you didn’t expect this,” Rahgot scoffed. “I had been warning you this entire time that the boy was up to no good. If we had stopped him earlier, perhaps the others would still be sitting here with us.” A few of the other priests looked to Rahgot in irritation, clearly appalled by his words.

Konahrik shifted to sit forward, resting his hands on the surface of the table. “I would say that it is, perhaps, unfair to assume that, Rahgot. Miraak did not bring any weakness to them that they did not already have. No doubt it was inevitable that the weak links to our temple would crumble at some point. This simply allowed for them all to be removed at once.” His voice was calm, and though his words stung a few of the other priests, they remained silence. Even Hevnoraak did not snap up at him again, too occupied with keeping his emotions in control. Konahrik shifted his attention to Vahlok, looking across the length of the table and the pit of fire at the center to where the unmasked man sat on the opposite side. “Vahlok, if it weren’t for your courage and bravery, we would no doubt have a much greater problem on our hands. Be proud of what you have done for the temple. You have removed a dangerous snake from our ranks, and you will not be forgotten for that.”

Vahlok tightened his grip on the arm of his stone seat, not lifting his gaze. “I take no pleasure in killing any of them, your honor. They were my - your - brethren. It pains me that it came to this at all,” he spoke slowly, his voice hoarse from the battle mere days before. The taste of smoke still lingered in his mouth and made each intake of breath painful, and many of the wounds he’d been given still would take many more days to heal.

Konahrik shifted. “Brethren would not turn their backs on us, plot to betray our Gods behind our back while treating us like friends. They were liars, Vahlok. Liars, traitors, and snakes.”

The words made the youngest priest to Vahlok’s right shrink in on himself. Vahlok’s gaze shifted to him out of the corner of his eye. Nonvul had remained quiet since the start of the meeting, and Vahlok could hear from his proximity the subtle sound of his soft weeping behind his stoic mask. Vahlok swallowed, before simply nodding. No. Though the death of the acolyte priests was met with vastly different reactions, he could not disagree with Konahrik. What they had done was unacceptable, heretical, and such a great crime that Vahlok could not even find a term to describe it.

Seeing that Vahlok had nothing else to say on the matter, Konahrik surveyed the members of the table. “The events that have occured are… unprecedented. And I see that many of you are still perhaps… a bit too emotional about them,” he said, turning his head to the members on his left. Hevnoraak didn’t raise his head from his hands, and Vokun and Volsung did not dare turn their masks in their leader’s direction. Nonvul had not looked up from the table since they had come in, and Volsung shifted her body just enough to casually block Konahrik’s line of sight to the man. “Tomorrow, we will regather to discuss what is to be done,” Konahrik continued, looking at the stack of papers in front of him. “Starting with the land that is now empty of a ruling priest- or, at least, what remains of it. Similarly, we must discuss what must be done about those displaced by our traitor’s disastrous actions, and begin a plan of routes by ship to… well, the island.”

If Vahlok hadn’t been there to witness it with his own eyes, if he hadn’t been one of the main reasons it had even happened, he no doubt would have thought Konahrik daft. But he had been there. He had watched Miraak sunder the very land, make hills and forests fall into the sea and split the landbridge in half like it was merely made of paper. The earth had shattered and ruptured, shaken and spewed steam and lava as Miraak bent the very world around him to his will. The land, the path that had once connected the peninsula Miraak had ruled from, fled to, was gone. The temple that now was a charred hull of the building it once had been was out on an island of its own, and miles upon miles of land that was once inhabited and traveled had vanished into the sea in an instant.

Vahlok did not know how he had defeated a man who could do such a feat, who was so desperate to stay alive after all Vahlok had done to defeat him. He flinched at the memory of those empty, oily solid black eyes that had replaced the green ones Vahlok had known.

Whatever the monster was that he had slain, that he had burned and stabbed and electrocuted until at last he knocked him into the tumultuous black waves that he did not surface from, was not Miraak. Miraak must have died long ago when this monster had taken over him and turned him on what he once loved. Vahlok had seen the devotion Miraak had to his patrons when he was young. He saw the joy and piousness Miraak put into his work as a priest. A man born with the soul of a dragon, a piece of his very gods. No man could be closer to the very things they worshiped. And Vahlok had seen the piety in Miraak and his devotion when he had received the gorgeous gold mask that bore his new name.

That was not the creature that he’d slain. Not the thing that, despite being half burned, bleeding and pinned beneath his staff like an animal, still clawed and snarled at him for the last chance at escaping his death. Who enslaved his gods to kill each other, and had used their bones as decorations to the monster of the woods. Miraak was not that thing.

“I have thought hard about what should be done about those who are missing now,” Konahrik continued, making Vahlok finally glance to him. “I present to you, and advise, that we remove them from our numbers.”

The priests at the table shifted in confusion.

“Elaborate,” Rahgot spat, folding his arms.

“No individual or group has dared to speak up against our patrons in such a manner, let alone members of our hierarchy. And, if there had been, we are clearly not meant to remember them. I propose the same. Such blasphemy and heretics has no place in our books, on our walls, in our history. Destroy all remnants of them. Expunge their heresy from our memories. It has no place in this world.”

There was a few soft murmurs among the table.

Konahrik waved a hand. “I do not expect a choice to be made now, but I beg for all of you to consider it. It might prevent any future… incidents from occurring. We do not need anyone to follow in their footsteps for any reason.” With that, Konahrik stood. “I suggest that all of you get your rest. I will not take so kindly to any more outbursts tomorrow.” He scooped up his papers, shifting to leave the room.

The younger half of the table could feel the eyes fall on them by their older peers as Morokei, Otar, Rahgot, Nahkriin and Vahlok left the room one after another, leaving Hevnoraak, Volsung, Vokun and Krosis alone.

The four were silent for a long moment, watching as Vahlok left last. The unmasked priest didn’t make eye contact with any of them, averting his gaze as he stepped out of the room. They waited a few minutes, almost to make sure the others had left before at last Hevnoraak spoke up.

“He knew. He knew the whole time and didn’t damn tell us,” he spat again in frustration, shoving himself up from the chair in frustration. He paced to the other side of the table to pick up his mask, shaking his head.

Volsung reached up and removed her mask, not caring that doing so in the meeting room was strictly forbidden. Hevnoraak had done it anyways, and clearly Konahrik was seeming… lenient about it right now. Perhaps because they were four priests short as it was. She let her mask hit the table with a purposeful clatter, pulling back her hood so she could remove her hair out of it.

“Do you really think we could have stopped him, Hevnoraak?” Volsung said, her voice monotone.

“We could have at least tried. You weren’t here- You didn’t see how he used to be. He wasn’t… He would have never betrayed us,” Hevnoraak said, shaking his head in disbelief as he looked at the mask in his hands. He closed his eyes and bared his teeth. “Miraak would have never betrayed us. He was one of us. He was the one we all looked up to. He was Miraak.”

Vokun hesitantly reached up to remove his own mask. “But he did anyways,” Vokun said quietly, setting his mask neatly in front of him. “Perhaps he was only pretending the whole time.”

Hevnoraak shook his head. “No. No, absolutely not. There’s no way he was,” Hevnoraak insisted, tightening his grip on the edge of his mask until his knuckles turned white. He let out a shout of anger before throwing a punch at the wall, leaving a dent and a splatter of blood where he split his knuckles. He repeated the actions a few more times, body shaking. Vokun and Volsung looked away, turning their attention to the fire. “Miraak was supposed to be… I don’t know. He wasn’t supposed to be this,” Hevnoraak hissed.

Volsung managed a soft snort. “I didn’t think the devotion aspect of all of this meant that much to you, Hevnoraak,” she said, pulling a knife off her belt to idly turn it in her fingers.

Hevnoraak shook his head. “I don’t. I don’t give a shit about any of this. But Miraak was…”

“Our friend,” Vokun filled in once Hevnoraak trailed off. “And we trusted him. And we believed in him. And he betrayed us. We put him on a pedestal. And he did not live up to our expectations. He was not what we believed he was. We treated him like a dragon, but he was only a man.”

In the silence that fell once more, Volsung could hear the increase in weeping from the one priest who’s mask remained on. Her usually cold stare softened just a bit, before she set down her knife. Volsung turned in her seat, reaching out to gently remove Nonvul’s mask. His face was stained with tears and his eyes were red and puff, beard matted with how much he’d been crying. She gently set down his mask and pulled back his hood, before reaching up and pulling the man against her chest in a gentle hug. Nonvul reached out and gripped her tightly, finally letting out a pitiful sob. Volsung hushed him gently, brushing some of his hair back.

“So. You really were fucking him, weren’t you?” Hevnoraak managed to snort, glancing at Nonvul.

Vokun and Volsung shot the other priest a glare, and Nonvul just shrunk in on Volsung’s chest.

“I trusted him. I loved him,” Nonvul whispered against Volsung’s robes, grimacing. And that tasted all so bitter to him now. To think that he’d seen Miraak as a man like him, someone he’d looked up to and been inspired by, been in love with -

“Well, at least you know the bastard was hiding his plan to kill all of us, you know. Not anything else,” Hevnoraak hissed.

Vokun and Volsung couldn’t disagree. “Maybe everything had just been a lie. At the end, at least. At the end… we know that for certain,” Vokun said quietly, looking down at his lap. “Even if it was truthful to start.”

“Yeah, and what about the rest of them? Did they just… was this their plan from the start?” Hevnoraak questioned.

Vokun shrugged. “It’s hard to tell. Ahzidal… perhaps. Dukaan… maybe it was to get revenge. Zahkriisos…”

Volsung’s gaze grew cold again. “They betrayed us. It doesn’t matter what they felt. It doesn’t matter what they intended at the beginning. We thought of them as our friends, but clearly that was not the case.” The others could hear the strain in her voice, breaking her usual calmness. Vokun could see tears forming at the edge of her eyes, but she refused to let them fall.

“You’re right,” Vokun muttered after a moment. He swallowed dryly. “They aren’t… our… anything. They are traitors. And tomorrow, we’re going to forget about them.” He pushed himself up from the table, grabbing his mask. He nodded his head in farewell to the other three before stepping out, donning his mask before leaving the room.

Nonvul’s crying had softened, but Volsung did not let her hold up on him. Hevnoraak finally took a deep breath, putting his mask back on as well. “Forget him, Nonvul. He hurt all of us. He never loved us. Any of us. None of them did. Don’t give them the satisfaction of being mourned,” Hevnoraak managed to say, biting back his desire to believe anything but. He had never been kind to any of them, and perhaps it was only by association that any of them put up with his abuse. But he had genuinely liked Miraak, and he hated to admit that he’d truthfully looked up and believed in the man. The feeling of betrayal felt like a rock in his chest, and perhaps it was rightfully so that he kept himself at a distance from everyone else. Miraak, Ahzidal, Dukaan and Zahkriisos had been priests in the same way as Vokun, Volsung and Nonvul had been. And yet, they had betrayed them all the same.

Volsung watched Hevnoraak leave the room, exhaling slowly. Once he was gone, a few tears fell down her own cheeks. She closed her eyes tightly, not letting herself cry any more than that. She gave Nonvul a tight squeeze, before finally letting go. She grabbed his face, turning his head so he could look up at her. “Turn this pain, this sorrow, that love. Turn that into hatred, Nonvul. Hate them. Because they left you. They lied to you. They betrayed you, for themselves. They never told you that they had a plan. They never had any plans to save or omit you from it either. Know they would have slain us as quickly as they did our gods,” she hissed, looking him hard in the eyes.

Tears shimmered in the firelight as Nonvul looked away, more tears falling down his cheeks. Slowly, he tried to inhale and nod. He could tell she was telling herself that as much as she was telling him, but she was right. He pulled away, trying to wipe his tears off on his robes. “We should never have trusted them,” Nonvul whispered, his voice strained.

Volsung wiped her own cheeks quickly, donning her mask. “We cannot fix the past. But let this be a lesson for the future then. We should never have put that much faith and love in others.” She stood up from the table, picking up her knife.

Nonvul looked up at her as she towered over him, the mask and blade glinting eerily in the sharp light of the fire.

“Goodbye, Nonvul. May your sorrows burn with their funeral pyres.” She turned walking past him to exit the room.

Nonvul watched her leave, before looking at the empty table. There would be no more friends, no more trust. Things were changing. There were wolves amongst sheep now, and even the person he had loved the most had helped lead a whole pocket of traitors. Nonvul picked up his mask, swallowing hard.

All of it had meant nothing. It had been a lie. Miraak was not at all the man he thought he was.

But even after his name had been wiped from the records, from their history, Krosis would never stop grieving him.

#skyrim fanfiction #drabble #tongues verse - drabble #the elder scrolls #characters:#dragon priests #hevnoraak #volsung #krosis #vokun #konahrik #rahgot #otar #nahkriin #morokei #vahlok #writing

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kuuxkat · 6 years

Text

[EN]Interview with Director Sakai Kazuo - LoveLive!Sunshine!! TV Anime Official BOOK2

Original CN TL and Pictures: here

CN TL: by nyamazing / kyon_zegao

Disclaimer: This is a Chinese to EN TL, there would be things that would be lost in translation between the languages.

I’m not posting the image of the TL, sorry about that. Stealing images aren’t cool.

Please refer to my policies for more details and do not use the translations for commercial use.

Since there’s no QC - pardon my bad engrish.

The contents are under the cut.

Director: Sakai Kazuo

Born in Kumamoto. An independent anime director and performer. In charge of various storyboards in TV Anime “LoveLive!” He took on the role of overall director in TV anime “LoveLive! Sunshine!!” His wife “Sakai Kasumi” took part in this project as an animator.

Sakai Kazuo, being appointed the director was at the very front directing the TV anime “LoveLive! Sunshine!!” Inheriting the 1st seasons and this project’s heavy emphasis on the “Feel of a concert” and “Belonging to that very instant, what further leaps forward is he pursuing?

It’s akin to how after a long night, the sun is finally shining again.

Every day would be a day of contemplating: “What does it mean to shine”, which is something without an answer, while still charging ahead.

Q: First of all, please do share with us your thoughts on how you felt after successfully completing the production work for the 2nd season of the TV anime.

Sakai Kazuo: I feel that myself, and all the other staff, the most important emotions that we felt was a sense of relief. For all the staff who took part in the production of the anime, the greatest reward is to have all the episodes broadcasted safely.

In the 2nd season we had scenes of Hakodate, and with Saint Snow in the center stage, along with other very active members as well. Although the production process was tough, but it was fun.

We accumulated scenes one by one in front of us till finally we reached the (promised) future….

I feel that this is exactly “LoveLive!”. Although next up in the movie I would continue to be the director while feeling the pressure, but I am very thankful that I am given the chance to produce it. Although any anime production would encounter problems, but “LoveLive! Sunshine!!” is in the end special – as they have to sing.

Besides having a story, we’ll have to produce songs as well. We have to do so in a limited production schedule, and we choose a task with high difficulty - making it into a TV anime series.

The 2nd season’s production workflow was the same as the 1st season. First we had to finish the script, and afterwards begin the storyboarding process, and asking Aki Hata-san to write the lyrics for the insert songs. …The production this time around focuses heavily on their mental journey as they face the reality of their school combining and closing down.

What left the biggest impression on me was that, the production team themselves understood (that) long before and didn’t need further elaboration. Thus we were able to finish the production while heading towards that end goal. It’s the same for Hata-san’s lyrics too, and the same for the series coordinator Hanada Juuki-san as well. We are truly blessed to be able to work hand in hand professionally with so many people.

Q: Next up I’ll ask some questions about the way the story progressed in season 2. For this round, was it made by having Hanada Juuki-sensei create the script, and afterwards using it as a base to craft the story?

Sakai Kazuo: That’s right. Including Hanada-sensei, the production team used it as the original draft of the story as the blueprint, and after discussing through, made the final product.

Q: How did all of you decide on how to describe the essence of the “shine” that Chika was searching for, along with the mental state for everyone facing Uranohoshi having to close down and be combined?

Sakai Kazuo: It’s not just me, but each staff member did contemplate “what was (this) shine” as well. But I feel that, the best method to express the style of “LoveLive!” is for it to be gradually become clear as the story develops. As “not knowing what’s waiting ahead” is truly youth, right? They are just at their teens, so I felt it’ll be fine to just have this particular feeling be recorded in film.

Thus, at the very beginning I decide to not give an opinion on whether the end result of the school having to merge and close down is good or bad. The fact that one’s alma mater is disappearing is naturally saddening, but the one to make that particular judgement is the 9 of them, along with the audiences that had been looking over their struggles.

Originally I had my doubts on the mindset of “that’s how the world is”, I felt that there won’t be just a single answer. Looking at it from another angle, one’s view would also change. As for whether the final ending is good or bad, I feel that this could be left to everyone to make their own judgement.

Q: I remember Director Kazuo mentioning that when trying to gather materials for season 1, you once mentioned that in reality, the number of students in schools located Uchiura were small as well. Then with this situation happening in the real Uchiura, did it affect the story as well?

Sakai Kazuo: Not just Uchiura, to all the students who are in schools in the rural areas, closing and combining schools is something that has become commonplace. Thus, this is a real world problem, and you can’t just ignore it. Although in the future it might not be the same, but unless Uchiura experiences a change like an increase in population or etc, it is not something easy to avoid.

So thinking about that, meeting head on the reality of the closure and the school combining, was destined to be the challenge of the 9 individuals--- It is my opinion that, one major plot point of “LoveLive! Sunshine!!” would lie on the point of: “Searching for the shine while in this environment”.

Being unable to accept the results, to struggle, to struggle, and after the struggling – what should they do. This problem could explain how they themselves, simple 10 year olds, and where they shine. Thus I feel that if we are able to depict this, it’ll already be fine.

Q: What made left a deep impression for me was, although having to combine school is saddening, but it wasn’t depicted like it was a bad thing. Just like in episode 11 where it is represented by Ruby’s line of: “Not knowing what tomorrow will bring does make one look forward to it”. Among that, we can also feel the brand new possibilities of the future.

Sakai Kazuo: These are my thoughts: “After the confirmation of their school having to close and be combined, would Chika and the rest spend their days being depressed? Thinking about - they won’t right?

Rather, they should face the reality on one end, and in the other continue their school life looking forward while being uneasy about the future.

They would of course be saddened, but on the next day when the sun rises, it might be the birth of a different kind of hope/aspiration. This awkward but realistic incident does also contain hope within it- I feel that should be “LoveLive! Sunshine!!”. This project’s title is also “Sunshine!!”, it does contain the sun with it.

Q: Next up I’ll like to ask some questions about the members of Aqours. I feel that one of the special part of 2nd season was that it prominently depicted the bonds of the various members among the school years. What was your intent for each of those interactions?

Sakai Kazuo: The 9 members of Aqours lived in a world where School Idols are popularized, so it has a strong sense resonance with reality. School and School Idols have an inseparable relationship, thus I hope to be able to properly express that. In addition, if we are talking about the various school years, among the 2nd years, Chika and Riko both has an inferiority complex, and wish to change themselves. This resonance pulled You in to be among them too, and together lit up a fiery relationship.

At times won’t there be people who in one glance have their character and maturity being totally opposite, but would still be very similar. Through the meeting of Riko and Chika, You found a brand new aspect and possibility of herself too.

The charm of the 1st years would naturally still be their unique feel of going at their own pace. The 3 of them are the types that would decide what to do with their intuition, if we have to list it out, it’ll be that they are talented geniuses. I feel that, Yoshiko, Hanamaru and Ruby all of them has very strong personalities, and they do have traits of artistes, so it should end up being very entertaining for everyone to hear them chatting among themselves even at the sidelines.

And actually the 3 of them are good kids, telling them to “wait”, they would obediently follow. And their weaknesses are feeling negative due to being too mindful of others, or being too hung up on other’s moods. Through the story developments in season 1 and 2, they were able to gradually voice their own opinions. The biggest accomplishment of this, can be found in episode 8 and 9 (season 2).

Q: Then what about the three 3rd years? Mari, Kanan and Dia. Previously they did retire from being School Idols before, right? I feel that their mental state is the most complicated.

Sakai Kazuo: The current 3rd years knew about how μ's and A-RISE ended, they would naturally know how after School Idols graduate, it’ll be drawing the curtains on their activities. So, for the 3 of them who wanted to save the school from the circumstances of being merged and closed down, they were at a loss of whether they wanted to be School idols, or did they wish to save the school.

So when this confusion were dispelled, what kind of choice would they make then? The unclear mindset of the 3 of them gradually converged into one, and we were able to express this through images in every moment of this entire process. To increase the realism, in some parts we used the thoughts of the performers for the 3rd years as reference, and incorporated them in the story.

The initial concept for the project was a story where one gets excited about what they were searching for,

Q: In the 2nd season it depicts the answer of “shining” that Aqours was searching for. This theme “shining”, was it the director yourself that suggested it?

Sakai Kazuo: No, everyone decided on it. In the April 2015 issue of Dengeki G’s magazine, what was serialized was an advertisement titled: “Help, LoveLive!”, the catchphrase for the TV anime CM was “We all wish to shine!!”, it was a theme that has always existed even before the start of the 1st TV anime. Although we wish to shine, but “here” isn’t Akihabara, but it’s a small town which didn’t have much.

So, they can’t shine - but everyone who had blamed the environment as the cause, took the initiative to actively try and change the current environment, and got to stand at a brand new perspective to observe the world.

This theme of: “a story of rousing oneself to start searching” has existed right from the very beginning. Although I myself might not be able to deliver something concrete/accurate, but the girls are indeed searching for things to drive themselves (forward)….

Q: That is to say, what is termed “shining” is actually an overall theme that everyone individually agreed on in general?

Sakai Kazuo: That’s right. What I imagined the story to be like, was a youthful trendy drama/drama serials where when 2nd year student Chika wanted to shine, a group of girls who are sympathetic to her cause joins her.

Q: In episode 13, Chika finally found the answer of the question “what is shining” that she has been chasing after all this time. She could have let everyone be aware of it through a performance as well, but Chika instead choose to make her thoughts into words, this part shocked me deeply.

Sakai Kazuo: That particular line was suggested around halfway through the production of the script. If we continued production with the initial plan, it is highly possible that we would not have shaped the answer in that way.

During the production process, the image of Chika seems to have been infused with the elements of Inami (Anju)-san. So I thought that, Inami-san would definitely have found the answer. This is also included in the lyrics of “WONDERFUL STORIES”, Hata-san added “we finally found it!/やっとみつけた！/yatto mitsuketa!”. Thus, I felt that the script should follow the same route as well.

Q: Indeed so, in my impression I feel that as compared to season 1, the members are more able to use their words to express their feelings in season 2.

Sakai Kazuo: That was intentional. When we are doing storyboarding, we are interested to let everyone express their feelings. But in actual practise, to express using words their own “shine” is very difficult. Honestly speaking, I feel that “I don’t know” would what the majority of people would answer. If someone asked me: “What is your shine”, I would answer truthfully that I don’t know.

As the shine could be a particular aspect, or it could be something that oneself wouldn’t know of… for Chika, although she saw the shine of μ's, and wishes to approach that, but in season 1 episode 13, she reached out with her hands but didn’t grasp it. She originally thought that chasing the shine with all of her might and working hard would make the entire situation better, including the school merging and closing down. But reality isn’t that simple.

“And so that is to say, we didn’t have any shine worth mention at all?” She asked herself this while recounting all the activities that Aqours had done, and subsequently denied this train of thought. The way everyone worked hard all the way, bumping into things left and right, is exactly where the shine of the 9 individual lies.

Because they bore the shine of Mutsu and everyone else in Uranohoshi Girls Academy, they were able to showcase their shine. Not just depending on their own strength, but it is because of everyone could they shine brightly - this is Chika’s answer. It is my opinion that, understanding that: “It is everyone who gave their shine to me” is the greatest aspect of their growth.

Q: Although this project is about the 9 individuals in Aqours, but after watching to the end of season 2, I genuinely feel that the main character is indeed Chika.

Sakai Kazuo: It naturally developed into this (outcome). Of course, undoubtedly this is a story about everyone.

Q: At the final part of episode 13, there’s a scene where everyone was singing together at the gymnasium right? The image of 8 people stretching their hands towards Chika, it does feel kind of déjà vu.

Sakai Kazuo: What’s unbelievable was, that scene just resonates nicely with the OP of TV anime season 1.

When creating the 1st season’s OP, although there any special intent behind it, but wasn’t there a scene where Chika is chasing and running towards figures standing and shrouded by light by herself?

From the very beginning, that entire momentum were their own shadows. And this perfectly ties into and resonated together with the lead up to season 2’s episode 13 “WONDERFUL STORIES”.

Similar to how people are unaware of darkness under light*, Chika became aware that, the shine that she herself was searching for, could it have existed at that moment she saw that illusion in the streets of Akihabara? And this to her, could be the biggest discovery….

But, this is just my own thoughts, and just one way of explaining it, and isn’t the definite answer. I hope everyone would not pay attention to this, and freely see and freely feel what you wish to.

*TL Note: A chinese saying, that basically draws reference to how people wouldn’t realize that they are shadows below a lamp, and is fixated only with the light. You won’t notice something is there even when it really is present.

Trying to express the true emotions, using the method of a documentary to bring realism to a conversation

Q: In the production process of the 2nd season, what was the most difficult hurdle?

Sakai Kazuo: It’ll be in episode 12, the section in part B where we had to draw the “LoveLive!” finals was especially difficult. As it’s depicting feelings that had always been there, so I did not hope to copy it wholesale, but rather draw it out conversational style…especially so for the latter half.

I did not wish to have them simply only conversing, so I made some amendments matching to each individuals and their circumstances. Thus it changed to modes like visiting Kanda Shrine, looking over the sea etc.

According to the theory of a documentary, those (scenes) should be focused on Chika’s view point. As it’s in Chika’s perspective, so the imagery shouldn’t have Chika in it, but we bravely and purposely added it in.

So the audiences could take a step back and in that distance look at Chika and the rest. In adding another perspective like this, we’ll have the feel of scrutinizing the two’s conversations.

Q: I understand the reason why Chika appeared in the footage then, and I’m much happier about it as well. Then, besides episode 12, are there any other episodes which are harder to produce too?

Sakai Kazuo: Episode 9 I guess? Adding Saint Snow, and “Awaken the power” where 11 of them are performing together was very difficult.

Firstly, as the stage became Hakodate, which was a brand new area, the production of this anime - including the storyboard and scripts - took a long time.

And beyond that, we had to have the song with the most number of people dancing too.

Q: Then was Director Sakai doing the storyboarding for the songs in the 2nd season too?

Sakai Kazuo: That’s right. I draw them this time too. The dance itself would also reflect in reality the link between characters and their feelings, so only this I won’t leave it to anyone else. Each episodes’ performance we would have new members (at work) joining in, so it’ll be very very tough for someone who is working on this project for the first time.

As for me myself, there would be times when I can draw the storyboard in one go, but I would also have times when I would hit a bottleneck. As every character making an appearance are all important, so at times to ensure fairness, the movement of my hands would unconsciously slow down too.

And at the very end, it’s still because the 9 members of Aqours are too important. So I have to consider situations where I have to rest my pen a bit more.

In fact, my daughter’s birth coincide with the time when we were finishing work on the PV for “Koi ni Naritai AQUARIUM”. And it’s due to this experience, I have very strong feelings towards the 9 girls. When I am drawing, I would like to craft them to living, breathing individuals.

The usage of 3DCGI technology and how love of the project supported the creation of the song sections

CN TL note: 3DCGI: Three dimensional computer generated imagery. In simple terms it is the application of computer graphics to create or contribute to images in art and printed media. This technique is used primarily in the song segments in TV anime “LoveLive! Sunshine!!”. Director Kyogoku Takahiko-san who was in charge of TV anime “LoveLive!” specializes in mixing 3DCGI with hand drawn art and mixing both effects. In comparison, Director Sakai had always challenged the production team to raise the bar on special effects, to achieve beautiful dance sequences that aren’t doable by 3DCGI.

Q: Speaking of which, in the Live performance portions, the quality of the members that were drawn by 3DCGI has noticeably increased as compared to season 1. This greatly surprised me. Thus will close ups of facial features be introduced more readily now?

Sakai Kazuo: Thank you for your compliments. The company that took on the creation of the Live sections is “Sublimation”, they could be said to be beyond professionals and an organization filled with weirdos - this description is made totally out of respect (laughs).

When it is time for Lives(events), everyone in the production studio would go on site, and give their full burning enthusiastic support to the performers.

Most importantly they really love this project. Their feelings would definitely show themselves in the 3DCGI that they create, right?

Q: The 3DCGI seems to have gotten lots of changes and is more adorable now, could you raise examples that was changed has changed?

Sakai Kazuo: It mainly was due to the way we handled “shapes” as well as the work we did at the post-production stage? As for how much changes could be made on sections filled with CG… after stepping into this territory, the time spent on it is immense.

The adorable shape of the jaws, a facial model that’s filled with charm, that instant of adorableness when they look back… all of these didn’t happen by chance, rather it’s done by hand; frame by frame by those responsible for the 3DCGI to display the charm points.

And as it is a visual thing, so they did adjustments on every single frame on the portions that they needed to use.

Q: I didn’t know this at all!! I thought that after making a cute base model through CG, it’ll just be simply making it dance….

Sakai Kazuo: Although I do wish to say that to make 3DCGI cute does indeed need technique, but there isn’t any universally accepted single way to do so.

Using the things that were created as the base, adjusting it degree by degree frame by frame to make it even more charming - it is my belief that this is the special technique that was born from Sublimation and their perseverance.

It didn’t come from upgrading of the performance of computers or the version of the production software, all of them came from the “energy” of the creators.

Q: As expected it’s the strength of people right??

Sakai Kazuo: That’s right, it is completely due to the strength of people. The hard work as well as craftsmanship born out of actual experience, finally culminated in this technique. I feel that this really is amazing.

To produce anime in the past, with regards to the facial close-ups or to capture the motion of grabbing something with one’s hands, people would often say that the accuracy of drawing by hand is higher, so we shouldn’t use 3D.

But, this project we intentionally asked the other party to: “Please do the entire portions, including these parts as well!” To this request, the other party didn’t try to shirk away and say: “it’s too hard, we can’t do it…”, but rather responded by saying: “Let’s do some research and take up the challenge then.”

To have a production team like this, I really can’t think of another besides studio “Sublimation”. In my impression, through season 1 and 2 of the TV anime, the departments within “Sublimation” accumulated experience continuously, as if being worked on by an anvil.

And at the end it feels like we manage to forge out a legendary blade. And the sharpness of the blade increases as the days went by, until today…

Actually in episode 12’s “WATER BLUE NEW WORLD” was full of challenges too. If we are speaking of normal circumstances, within the limitations of animated 3D. Firstly: We can’t have long skirts. Secondly: Costumes and the hair style can't have changes.

But, in order to shock everyone, we did all of these in season 2. Due to this, we are still considering what we are going to do in the movie version.

To create beautiful costumes we have the filming department paste patterns and sequins on them.*

*TL Warning - There’s LOTs of technical terms in this portion of the TL, I’m honestly not very confident in them. But if you have suggestions on how to improve them, please advise me. Thanks!

Q: For μ's, at the time they change the 3D (model’s) hair only in the theatre version, right?

Sakai Kazuo: That’s right. One of the difficult parts of producing “LoveLive! Sunshine!!” was that, regardless of the design or the performance, all of them had been done by μ's.

We can’t win fans with just novelty, this part is the hadest to manage.

So that is to say, I declared: “what was done before, we must still do it again”!

In terms of technique wise, the PV for “WATER NEW BLUE WORLD” is one of the biggest accomplishments that we had a hand in creating.

Q: The imagery for episode 13 of the 2nd season “WONDERFUL STORIES” was great too!

Sakai Kazuo: That song was a challenge too. I remember production team discussing: “Are we really doing this? Can we make the broadcast?!” while still managing to create it.

At the very beginning our plan was to make all the challenging scenes that use 3DCGI be shoved to episode 12, and in episode 13 have them dance strictly in their school uniforms.

But when we were drawing the storyboard, as it’s the final, I decided to make all the costumes that we had created before be added into it, so for the production team in charge of the song, I’m really sorry for that time!!

Q: Speaking of the portions of the songs, the costumes of Aqours is full of charm too. Was Director Sakai-san in charge of the designs too?

Sakai Kazuo: Basically it’s I who make proposals to the animators, but the contents wise are decided in discussion with the production team.

As at the start we already did lots of costumes, so there might not be any attractive or creative creations left… Although that was my thoughts, but it’s really true that by sitting down and discussing with everyone we would still manage to find a new direction forward.

Thinking back, that really is something incredible. I have a question here. In your opinion when it comes to the costumes during the song portions, where would the biggest bottleneck found?

Q: This is a difficult question…. The production cost?

Sakai Kazuo: That is a portion which can’t be mentioned (laughs).

The correct answer is the drawings, that is to say the portion where we draw the art. The reason for that, in the illustrations, the line count* along with the scale (size) of the costumes*, isn’t something to be done by one’s own whim.

As the scaling and quantity has to be set within the limit of people’s ability to draw. On the other hand when filming with real people, there’s a much larger range of clothes that can be made….

But on the flip side, 3D might seem to have no limits, but having the production team churn out many costumes does take lots of time and effort too. Among them, the patterns were especially hard. Even so, we still managed to stick the patterns of the costumes for “MY Mai☆TONIGHT” one by one onto the screens.

So for example if you have 150 different drawings, calculating them simply you’ll need 150 pieces. In addition. “WATER BLUE NEW WORLD” has a costume that was intentionally made with sequins, so the parts which are shiny would also require texture work- so we hope that this focus on detail would make everyone feel happy that: “This is the first time I’m seeing this!!”.

To ensure the beauty of the details, we obtained lots of assistance from many creators from many companies.

*TL Note: I was informed that the term “line count” refers to: The number of lines an animator has to draw per frame for a given character design, with higher line count taking longer and costing more. Thank you: redditor “csihar”.

Q: T-This is the power of people too?

Sakai Kazuo: That’s right. “Asahi Production” which was responsible for filming put in lots of effort. If the portions with the songs have 9 individuals, we’ll correspondingly need to map the textures of the 9 individual’s patterns piece by piece.

Q: The film department applied the patterns onto the costumes… that is to say that are very skilled in drawing by hand, this part is rather surprising.

Sakai Kazuo: Considering the time (needed) and workload, this is something that is very difficult to accomplish in the schedule of a TV anime series.

There’s many methods to apply patterns, for example masking all of them using chroma keying*, ignoring dimensions and sticking them piece by piece, or just sticking them on sleeves or the collars etc.

If you really wish to go into finer details when it comes to applying textures there’s always even more detailed/finer methods, if you really want to get technical, there’s really no end to it.

*TL Note - Green Screen tech in layman’s term.

Q: Then all of these have to be done with the original creator directing the textures of the scenes, and working on them one by one…. Is that right?

Sakai Kazuo: That’s right. For the portions with the songs it’s due to the highly technical support from “Asahi Production” and “Sublimation” that we were able to ensure its quality.

I really am very grateful to them. The production team members could imagine the happy expressions of the fans who would be watching, and put in their all in the production.

Thank you, Kato Tatsuya-san who was on hand to do the mixing on site along with creation of the background music

Q: Next up let’s talk about the background music work that uses “sound” to showcase the story. The person in charge of music in “LoveLive! Sunshine!!” is Kato Tatsuya-sensei. Please share with us a story with your work together with Tatsuya-san that left a deeper impression than most.

Sakai Kazuo: In my heart Kato-san is a very special individual. During the production of the anime, there’s a work process near the very end called “mixed recording” where one adds the BGM and sound effects into the finalized footage.

Once, I suggested that: “For this project, let’s have all the staff members working on it together!”, and afterwards Kato-san, no matter how busy he is, would take some time to join in, and it seems that he was present for all (the sessions)!

He made precise adjustments that non-music creators wouldn’t be able to identify, and matched the music to the footage, thus it’s definitely worth listening to it closely.

Q: Regarding the mixed recording process, who would usually be on site?

Sakai Kazuo: I guess its each episodes’ performers*, the director, the sound director, and the BGM/Sound effect mixer?

In a normal project, the mixed recording assignment would be helmed by the sound director, with the assistance of the production crew along with the base music score/source from the composers, to do the mixed recording assignment with the footage.

If the music’s original creator themselves would participate too, we could then consider the work site to be very luxurious and special.

*TL Note: The cast for each episode I believe.

Q: For the scores that Kato-san creates himself, if there are some incompatibility with the scene, would he do some arranging of the scores on site…

Sakai Kazuo: Indeed it did happen before. He even created a tune on the spot once to match the setting.

And he’ll also do adjustment work when the sounds of unneeded instruments are too loud, or when needed sounds are too soft, or when there are scenes when the sounds didn’t match the tone of the emotions.

In a normal mixed recording assignment it wouldn’t be possible to make such detailed adjustments. But because the composer, Kato-san himself was on hand thus we are able to make the proper changes immediately, so I would tell him specifically what the impression would be like, and asked for his help directly.

Q: That is to say, that the music that was played in the TV anime, would have portions which are different from the soundtracks that are available commercially??

Sakai Kazuo: We mentioned our requests and submitted our feedback to Kato-san on the music he created, and the other party would use it as the blueprint and make the deliberate amendments.

Afterwards he would deliberate on the site of the mixed recording itself. As the tunes would be created through repeated deliberation, the BGM in the footage itself would almost never come directly from commercial sources.

So from this angle, the creation methodology of this project could be said to be extremely luxurious. As the sound director Nagasaki Yukio-sensei is also in control, the degree of completeness of all the creations are very high. So when I am listening, I’ll feel that each scene’s music would match the scenario seamlessly, I can’t help but feel: “As expected of professionals huh?”

Q: Then this really is a special experience. So, what was the process did you commission for the 2nd season’s background music?

Sakai Kazuo: For the second season itself, after I had completed the script to a certain level, I left it in the hands of Nagasaki Yukio-sensei.

In the production of a normal TV anime, they’ll list/order tunes that would have higher versatility. For example, “Normal Days 1”, “Normal Days 2” are excited and calm respectively, “Normal Days 3” would be soft or by stringed instruments, or jazz etc… but Nagasaki-sensei wouldn’t do that.

He has his own unique method: Firstly he’ll read through the script, and from there filter through it and choose what background music are needed for the scenes. And afterwards have “Chika’s rising emotions”, “Riko’s entanglement”, “The two’s relationships”, he’ll pinpoint and match the music with existing scenes.

That is the reason why the music matches the story extremely well. Speaking of which, he’ll summarize the scenes that require music and summarize them in a sheet to hand it to Kato-sensei, for the two of them to collaborate. This is the perseverance of Nagasaki-sensei.

Due to the production process fitting the scenes, and the feelings of the characters starring in it very well, it’ll sound very comfortable.

(TL Note: Nagasaki Yukio, assigned as the sound director since 2013 on the TV anime “LoveLive!”. He is responsible for confirming the style of the background music, choosing the BGM to be played in each scene, with other assignments like post-recording the lines of the seiyuu etc. The person in charge of the category of “music” in the production of the anime.)

Thoughts towards the 9 performers who were able to individually express the charm points of the members.

Q: Next up, I would like to discuss with you the feelings of the performers who have supported this project. As the director, you’ve taken care of the various seiyuus. In which instance did you feel their growth?

Sakai Kazuo: I am the one that had grown. The work put in by the 9 of them would always give me courage and new discoveries.

Having the just resolve to take on the work on stage, that half-assed resolution isn’t enough.

They were able to make a name for themselves, they accepted criticism and judgment, and all along the way sincerely faced this project head on.

This filled me with respect as well. All along, compared to the things that the staff members had taught them, what they themselves taught me would number even more.

As, in all the hearts of the performers of “LoveLive! Sunshine!!” – the girls truly exists and lives (in this world), and they even helped us by expressing the individual charm points of all the members.

I feel that at the time when they participated in the auditions, they already had this power hidden among them.

Q: The way the performers for Aqours as well as the members synchronized, that is one of the charm points of this project, right?

Sakai Kazuo: That’s right. In my heart, the members and the performers could be said to be equal - for example Chika is Inami-san, Inami-san is Chika.

In a previous recording, when Inami-san was reading the lines her eyes started swelling with tears. I felt that in this scene, Chika would naturally cry too, and thus reflected that in the drawings. Of course, for the other 8 performers, the same feelings apply.

Being Aqours, there would definitely be lots that the 9 members would carry with them. But I feel that, the fans did indeed took note of them working hard selflessly.

The goal of the theatre version is to take on the challenge of finding the epitome of the Aqours style.

Q: As of now the TV anime has it’s curtains drawn midst resounding reviews. The fans should all be looking for the totally brand new theatre version. As the director, are there any announcements or things that you wish to challenge?

Sakai Kazuo: It is thanks to the support from everyone, that we could smoothly made it all the way to the current stage of having a theatre version, I thank everyone from the bottom of my heart.

What we are going to do now, is to put in our all to make an end product that that all the audiences would enjoy.

At the moment, we, the production team members are brainstorming with lots of enthusiasm while progressing with the production, in the hopes of making something that would capture the hearts of people. There isn’t a definite correct answer for the project.

For the audiences of this theatre version, I think they’ll have different thoughts, and what I am looking forward to is exactly that: a product that would be filled with many different possibilities.

In addition, as a theatre version would mean a movie, so we had thoughts like: “Isn’t this 10 times tougher than a TV anime series?” “Can we really do this?”, so we are both nervous and expectant, we spend everyday energetically like Chika and rest.

Although we have our concerns, we feel we can’t be as adventurous like the TV anime series, but having something “new” is the nature of “LoveLive!” - it’ll be that way regardless of whether it’s a TV anime or a theatre version.

Thus, I wish to epitome the “Aqours style”, and declare a challenge towards this. I have to remember firmly the theme of creating something brand new with 3D and the drawings; to work hard and create something for everyone who passionately love “LoveLive! Sunshine!!”

And this would be a new calling in my heart. Actually before this interview, I just had a meeting about the theatre version,we said that we would have Mt Fuji and the Sun as the background for a trio song, and next up would be having them sing among the footage of a fighting game.

I’m just kidding (laughs). In any case, we’re refining our ideas while joking with each other just like this, so everyone please do look forward to it.

Q: Can you reveal in simple terms what is Director Sakai, your own impression of the “Aqours style”?

Sakai Kazuo: “When one sings, and jumps, your stomach will start to be hungry!” I guess that’ll be it? I wish to pursue a pure kind of joy.

Q: Can we put it as a kind of following your instincts vibe? (laughs) I’m beginning to look even more forward towards the theatre version. And our time is almost up. Please do say something to the fans who had supported this project.

Sakai Kazuo: To everyone who tuned in to watch the TV anime each week for season 1 and 2, all I can express is my gratitude.

Among the audiences, there might be people who feel that: “this project is hard to understand”. And without discussing whether it’s good or bad, in this project there would be places where the answers are vague or unclear.

Some of the places we did so intentionally, and some aren’t so, but I feel that these (elements) and the style of “LoveLive! Sunshine!!” and very much linked together.

There was a period of time before where I worried over that too: “Scenes where we rely on reading the emotions and not on the dialogue, would that give pressure on the audience?”

But in the 1st season I realized that the nature of “LoveLive!” is to: “Don’t lie about your feelings”, so perhaps this is a type of methodology that could express it thoroughly. This project in some sense is an experimental thing, in another sense it’s quite sentimental…

In that way you could imagine there’ll be places where it’ll be obscure and difficult to understand.

And to everyone who, even with these elements, still love this project, from the bottom of my heart I am unable to express how grateful I am.

The 1st season who did it’s best to break from it’s shell, to the 2nd season in it’s search of something brand new - and there are times where I was lost too. With the songs from Aqours as my landmark, chasing the “shine” of the 9 individuals who gave carved out the future.

Where would the 9 individuals who had reached episode 13 go from now on?

One of the charm points of “LoveLive! Sunshine!!” is to have changes every day, so I would like to ask everyone to continue to look forward to the activities of Aqours and the release of the theatre version, and to continue to run along with us.

Q: Our final question. When Director Sakai feels uncertain, what song would you listen to to guide your way?

Sakai Kazuo: I guess it’s the 1st Single “Kimi no Kokoro wa Kagayaiteru kai?”?

I feel that all of the answers are found in that PV where I myself had first started off, so when I am feeling lost I’ll listen to that song first.

And among the lyrics it’ll include the feelings that I had when I first asked Aki Hata-san (about this project), it can be said to be the starting point of “LoveLive! Sunshine!!”, so at the end it’ll still return there.

When I was asked to take on this popular franchise, I felt tremendously pressured, and the result of my endless worries, was that song. That is something I’ve carved in my heart, and I will never forget that.

#articles #lovelivesunshine #chinese to english #nyamazing #non seiyuu

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nathanfoadstanaccount · 6 years

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The Advent of Johnlock

So, I saw someone refer to Jefferson Hope and Faith Smith in the same post and some ideas kinda clicked into place for me, about why it was always going to be the fifth series in which we get canon Johnlock. This is my first meta, I’m not sure on structuring it, but I think this is the most logical way. So here we go!

Content warning: I’m going to analyse religious metaphor in this meta. If you’re very strongly Christian, some of the things I say you may find offensive. I mean no offence to anyone’s religion and respect all views - I am merely describing metaphor as I see it.

As someone brought up in Church of England, for me every Christmas came with the anticipation built by the four week long season of Advent. Advent is a time of preparation for the day of celebration, to think back on out past selves and improve, to prepare our hearts for Jesus.

Now bear with me, because this going to seem a little crazy until I unpack it. But my point here is that the first 4 series’ of Sherlock are the 4 weeks of Advent. Series 5 will be Christmas.

“Advent is a season of expectation and preparation, as the Church prepares to celebrate the coming (adventus) of Christ in his incarnation”

https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/times-and-seasons/advent

We already see religious metaphor in Sherlock - “Lazarus is go” is an example that springs to mind, and there’s the whole rising from the death situation. I could write loads about candles and light/dark symbolism too, but that’s a little much for now… We’re going to focus on the traditions of the Advent Wreath and the Four Last Things as our points of reference here. I’ve used a couple of sources, but there is a lot of different interpretations of the meanings of the 4 weeks of Advent and I’m basing this meta on the ones I grew up with, which doesn’t ally with all sources.

Just in case people aren’t familiar: an Advent Wreath is a set of 5 candles, one lit in each week of advent and the last on Christmas day, each symbolising a Christian value. As I mentioned before the order changes across the religion, but in the Church of England I grew up with Hope (Christ’s coming predicted by the prophets, our ancestors), Peace (the angels), Joy (the shepherds), Faith (the wise men), and Love (Jesus). The Four Last Things are themes for meditation during the season: Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell.

Series 1, the first week of Advent: Hope, the Prophets, and the theme of death.

Immediately, Jeff Hope. Obvious!

But also, the themes of the series; John is hopeless, thinking about death. Sherlock gives him hope.

Of course, death is a constant theme through the show, but in particular this series, where they choose to die together with a glance.

And haven’t people seen Johnlock in ACD canon for decades? Centuries? Our forefathers of fandom saw this coming, and had hope for canon Johnlock. The first Sherlockians are our prophets and ancestors.

Series 2, the second week of Advent: Peace, the angels, and the theme of judgement.

Here, judgement is the obvious one. The Reichenbach fall is full of not only a literal trial where Moriarty is judged, but focusses on the media and public opinion’s judgement of Sherlock and John as people. Is Sherlock a good person? We as an audience are instructed to question him, by Moriarty, who sits in a throne of judgement. Literally.

Peace is more tricky. At a surface glance of the show, where does peace come into it? But when we look at inner peace maybe; this series is in some ways the most domestic between John and Sherlock - they fight, yes, but look at the small scraps they have compared to the wars they fight in series 4. They find peace in eachother’s company.

Peace is also what the struggle is all for; look at Sherlock, sacrificing himself, his life, his work, for his friends. But the failure to grasp that peace is an unreachable concept - heavenly, impossible on earth - is no doubt his downfall… literally. His sacrificing himself does not give his friends the peace he desires for them. The only peace found in the series is during their domestic moments in Baker Street, AKA when they actually communicate.

Angels of course link to Sherlock’s death, he may be on the side of them but he’s not one of them. He’s mortal. He must be, to die and rise again. And again and again, in different interpretations of ACD canon. Sherlock is mortal but can’t stay dead. He has unfinished business in his stories. The end isn’t right yet. And cupid, the eros statue at the start of ASIP, shows us right from the start what the angels mean - Sherlock’s unfinished business is announcing his feelings for John.

There’s another thing and it’s probably a bit of a stretch. I’ve always wondered why the scene in THOB where Sherlock apologises to John takes place in a graveyard, distinctly an English country church graveyard. Weird choice, right? Maybe we’re going for religious metaphor? And then we get John as a conductor of light. Now, Sherlock is Jesus, he rises from the dead, and believes in a higher power - himself. John is an angel then, who magnifies the Lord? John is the disciples, who follow Jesus with steadfast faith and trust, wonderment and awe, who follow his commands without question… usually. John is the name of one of the disciples, one of the fishermen who became a ‘fisher of men’, someone who recruited more followers of Jesus. What did John’s blog do if it didn’t recruit believers in Sherlock, especially after he fell, with the Empty Hearse society and people such as that? Maybe that is reading too much into it, but enjoy how smug Sherlock would be at being compared to literally God.

Series 3, the third week of Advent: Joy, the shepherds, heaven.

Weird to associate joy with this series of pain from the perspective of Johnlockers, who have suffered so much at the hands of this series, but hear me out!

Sherlock comes back from the dead and is no longer aiming for peace for his friends. He is much more focussed now, and, in fact, realistic, although still off the mark somewhat. He is determined to give John a life of joy, with the woman he chose to marry. He creates all kinds of chaos (shooting Magnussen a notable example) to secure John’s happiness.

Shepherds guide and protect sheep, an animal with inferior intellect but that they care for nonetheless - you see where I’m going with this. Sherlock tries to shepherd John’s life into order, but then, as in the Christmas story, angels - Sherlock’s call to tell John how he feels, or face endless death and resurrection - in the form of his exile go to take him away. Up to the sky in a plane - heaven - oops, not quite. Back to Earth again. Sherlock can’t get into heaven until he does what he was brought back to life in this reincarnation/adaption to do: confess to John.

The Bible tells us that a wedding banquet is a foretaste of heaven, and here at John’s wedding banquet he gets an admission of fondness, and almost confession of love, the closest Sherlock has yet got - “a foretaste of the heavenly banquet".

No Sherlock, you definitely haven’t finished yet.

We get told as Sherlock’s plane comes in to land that “there’s an East Wind coming” - SherlockJesus is coming to pluck the unworthy from the Earth. We get that you like Sherlock, Mofftiss, but did you have to make him so transparently GOD??

Series 4, the fourth week of Advent: Faith, the wise men, and hell.

I make no secret of the fact that I’m less familiar with the fourth series, so if anyone would like to add any points here (or anywhere else to be honest) I’d love to hear more analysis.

Faith, again, a transparent one, Faith Smith.

The wise men are famously from the east - the east wind has arrived, with gifts fit for a king: an elaborate game for Sherlock to solve. But also causing accidental death - the wise men told Herod about Jesus, causing him to slay all the male babies in the kingdom, and Mary’s death happened because Sherlock returned, and why did he return? Eurus/Moriarty’s plans, the east wind, the wise men.

There are traditionally three wise men - three parts to the east wind. Eurus, Moriarty, and… Mary? That’s speculation. This needs more thinking about.

Of course, hell - we’ve all been in Johnlock hell for years now, but that’s not really relevant to this series. What IS relevant is that SHERLOCK is now in Johnlock hell - he’s putting himself through it, perhaps, but watch as he is punished for not confessing to John and John is hurt by Sherlock’s actions because of his aborted attempts to confess.

TFP shows Eurus’ games, which put Sherlock through the nightmares of those he loves being hurt. A private hell, built just for him. Or perhaps a purgatory, which after he suffers through it brings him close to heaven/Johnlock.

And Series 5, Christmas Day: Love, and Jesus.

Here we will have Christmas, with a present for everyone that we’ve longed for for generations: Johnlock becomes canon! The theme of love, of course, will be heavily present, and Jesus/Sherlock will at last be free of his earthly purpose - to come down, free us from the binds of Johnlock hell and ascend to a peaceful resting place, where his disciples/John will join him in the wedding banquet of heaven.

Well that’s that, my first attempt at meta! Once I wrote it out it got longer than I was really expecting, but I hope you all got something from it, and let me know if you also see an religious/advent metaphor in the show :)

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