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fuckyeahisawthat · 2 months

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thank you so much for that excellent chani post. i've seen some annoying takes on twitter about how not making her totally devoted and subservient to paul makes her 'unlikeable' and i'm like. buddy. i think that speaks more to how you see women. than anything about her. this chani is very dynamic and interesting to me.

i'll be honest and say i've not read the books. this is me speaking from what i've seen of summaries, but i think giving her a real cause to fight for yet also genuinely loving paul gives her an interesting struggle, and also plays into how the portrayal of the fremen (seems to me to be) more diverse and nuanced. as in, the fremen themselves seem to have more of a push-and-pull to them. the clarification of how different fremen believe differently (the south being more fundamentalist) is a very important thing to include in a movie where you can run into the danger of saying that all adherents to a foreign, islam-adjacent (in coding) religion are all fundamentalists. that can (in less nuanced hands) be a pretty irresponsible thing. so showing that there's also more secular/pragmatic/less dogmatic sectors of the culture seems a pretty good counterweight.

so yeah. this is how i processed it as a movie-goer. and having chani represent that aspect (believing in people over prophecy, action over religion) and having stilgar as the humanized face of the southern peoples (showing that yknow, regardless of being fundamenist beliefs, theyre still PEOPLE with the capacity for love, friendship, honor) makes total logical sense. you're not just "telling" us that there's different aspects to fremen culture, you're SHOWING us by showing different characters who represent those aspects, without demonizing either or turning either into a one-note stereotype.

Thank you! I'm not someone who was a long-term fan of the books before the movie came out (I tried reading Dune as a teenager when I was reading a lot of classic sci-fi but found it too boring) but I did read Dune and Dune Messiah after the first movie came out, both because I wanted to know what happened next and because I wanted to have an opinion on how the movies worked as adaptations.

(book and movie spoilers below and also I basically ended up writing a whole essay in response to this)

My single biggest frustration with the book is that after they arrive at Sietch Tabr and Jessica drinks the Water of Life and becomes Reverend Mother...the book up and skips two years of the story and when we next see Paul he's already got Fremen followers who are ready to die for him and he's in an established relationship with Chani. Oh I was SO MAD when I got to this part. I was like FRANK. FRANK!!!! Did you seriously just skip two years of the most interesting part of your own story???

The thing is, even though I know that Frank Herbert's intention was to write a critique of the idea that oppressed people need an enlightened external (white) savior to liberate them...if you don't provide an alternate explanation for what's happening then you end up falling into some Orientalist tropes anyway. And because, in the book, we don't see the process of how your average background fedaykin comes to trust Paul as a military and political leader, there is nothing in the text to counter the idea that the Fremen are a bunch of unquestioning religious fanatics easily swayed to do violence by belief in a prophecy.

My second biggest frustration with the book is that we're given no reason at all why Chani would fall in love with Paul. While she has some memorable scenes, she doesn't have a lot to do as a character in the book, and she's missing from a whole chunk of the end...because she's in the south...because she and Paul have a baby, Leto II, who's then killed off-page when the sardaukar attack the south. (I'm honestly really glad they cut this from the film, because it never seemed to be given the narrative weight it deserved in the book.)

So you can imagine how happy I was when the Villeneuve movies figured out how to address both these frustrations by tying them together. The fedaykin don't just blindly accept Paul because of some prophecy. They come to trust him because he proves himself as a fighter, and because he starts out from a place of genuine solidarity and humility--which it is possible for him to do because he has no structural power over them at that point. And Chani falls in love with him for the same reason, in that heady environment of fighting side by side for a political cause, and maybe for the first time in a while starting to believe that you can win.

I think the Villeneuve movies improve a lot on what's in the book in terms of how the Fremen are portrayed...when we're with the fedaykin and/or Chani and Stilgar. There we see political debates and discussion and the fact that not all the Fremen think the same way. And we also see little humanizing moments of folks just hanging out, celebrating after a victory in battle and just shooting the shit and being friends.

I do wish the movie had extended this to more parts of Fremen society. If there's one thing I could have added, it would be seeing more of daily life in Sietch Tabr. It makes sense that when we're seeing things from Jessica's POV, she is more distant from and suspicious of the Fremen, seeing them as a force to be manipulated, but I wish we had even one or two scenes of people just being people in the sietch. It felt kind of weirdly empty and not particularly lived-in as a place, and I think they could've easily countered this, with scenes from Chani, Stilgar or Paul's POV, and that would have made it hit even harder when the sietch is attacked.

If there were two things I could have added, I wanted more exploration of the people of the south. Why are they more fundamentalist than the Fremen who live in the north? (We get one line about how "nothing can survive [in the south] without faith" but I wanted more than that.) While I think the movie did a fantastic job of humanizing and differentiating the Fremen we see around Paul, when we get to the south it does backslide a little into "undifferentiated mass of fanatics." Surely the people of the south also have some diversity of political views.

I think there are some interesting threads they could have pulled on in terms of how proximity to direct colonial violence shapes people's ideology. Sietch Tabr is one of the closest Fremen communities to Arrakeen, the seat of colonial control. They have probably had to mount some kind of armed resistance for generations just to keep from being wiped out. I can see that producing skepticism of the prophecy ("well I can't sit around waiting for a messiah but I do have this rocket launcher") as well as resentment at the idea of someone swooping in and taking credit for a struggle that you've put your life on the line for, and probably a lot of people you know have died for. There seem to be some generational differences, too, where young people of Chani's generation put less stock in the prophecy, while the true believers are mostly older. I can see faith in the prophecy coming out of despair--when you've been fighting for decades with no change, maybe you draw the conclusion that only an outside power coming to your aid will make a difference. While the people of the south are still under colonial rule, maybe being generally outside the reach of direct Harkonnen violence (the Harkonnens don't even know they're there) makes the concepts of both oppression and liberation feel more abstract and more receptive to being filled in with Bene Gesserit mysticism. It seems absurd to want more from a movie that's nearly three hours long already...but I wanted more of this.

Still, I do think they managed to improve on a lot of things that frustrated me or are simply dated about the book, while keeping the political thriller/war drama/epic tragedy elements that I think are the heart of the story, and in some cases drawing them out more clearly and effectively than the book did. The best kind of book-to-film adaptation imo is one that has a strong point of view in terms of what the story is About, on a large-scale thematic level, and is not afraid to change individual elements of canon in service of telling that story the most effective way possible in a cinematic medium. While there are always things I want more of, I feel like Denis Villeneuve really, really understood the assignment in terms of the overarching themes of the the story and he delivered so fucking well.

#dune #dune spoilers #dune part two #dune part 2 #dune 2021 #dune books #chani kynes #asks answered

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futurecorps3 · 10 months

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Hiii !! I love your writing ❤️. If your comfortabke can i ask for marauders comforting reader since they do stuff for others but forget to take care about themselves?

𝐍𝐞𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞

Masterlist<3

Summary: They'll always have each other<3. Pairing: poly!marauders x fem!reader Warnings: Reader stops eating, kind of scolding from the marauders but like in a nice way, mentions of being sick. Lemme know if I missed any!! Word Count: 1.5K Requested: Yes

A/N: Made this poly!marauders love, hope u don't mind! Thank you so much, hope you enjoy<3.

Since they met, there was no waking moment where Y/N wasn't offering to do something to help life make even the slightest bit easier for people. Not because she was a people pleaser. No, not at all. She was just that kind. Sirius heard Remus say once that "acts of service" was her "love language".

He demanded to know what exactly that meant and the conclusion was that that's the way their girl expressed her love. And that was okay. James loved to craft little handmade gifts for his boyfriends and girlfriend. Remus tried to spend as much time as he could with them. Sirius wanted nothing but to cuddle with his loves. Y/N/N loved helping them.

Even her friends, too! Lily needed a book from the library but didn't have time to fetch it? Y/N could get it for her. Regulus was having a hard time and needed his comfort food? She'll cook it, it's okay. Her boyfriends loved how sweet she was with it as well, a caring soul that expressed her love through helping.

Until it backfires.

Remus was the first one to notice, ever the observer. "Y'okay dove?" he whispered, looking down at her figure resting on his arm, almost dozing off. That would be a normal occurrence if their history of magic lesson was a bit too boring for her liking, and he'd let her sleep through it since it was one of the classes Y/N excelled in without even trying.

Not the case with potions, and she always tried her best. So yes, this was odd. "Just a bit tired s'all" the girl mumbled back, trying to get up but inevitably snuggling impossibly closer to the boy's arm. "Darling, Slughorn will give you detention if you keep sleeping. Get up for me, will ya?" he muttered once again, gently pulling her up, but she just ended up falling face first on the table.

James looked over at the thud and frowned, directing his gaze to Remus who, wide-eyed, shook his girlfriend's form to wake her up. She was no longer asleep. A thousand possibilities ran through his head. Confusion. Fear. Shock.

"Is everything alright, Remus?" The professor asked, in perfect timing, looking over at his student. "I-I don't know what happened, sir. She was dozing off, and I was trying to wake her up but-" "Let's go. Pomfrey. Now."

Sirius' voice coming from behind him, James already carrying Y/N's limp form in his arms and quickly exiting the classroom in a hurried step. His boyfriend had a habit of overthinking and trying to piece a logical explanation for everything, like right now; why did Y/N faint suddenly? Sirius knew she fainted, and they needed to get help right that second.

Why's and how's would be found later, when their girl was okay.

The couple ran through the corridors, James muttering small "Darling, wake up" and "Stay with me, alright? We're almost there" with Remus and Sirius following close behind, hand in hand as the prior dried some stray tears with the right sleeve of his sweater.

It was all much too overwhelming for him; Y/N fainting, Sirius looking worried which practically never occurred, James talking to his girlfriend's limp body as if she were dead and how he got in his head instead of acting when it all happened.

His boyfriend squeezed his hand, knowing him well enough to realize what was going on in his head. “Remember what Jamie told us the other day? When you hop on a plane, they tell you to place your air-mask before helping whoever needs help near you” He said as the three of them walked through the infirmary’s door.

“Y/N/N needs help right now, but we gotta be okay to help her. Steady breaths for me, baby” he continued, encouraging him to find a rhythm so he could calm himself down. James placed Y/N on one bed and brushed the hair out of her face.

Pomfrey got in action quick as lightning, giving her a potion that would wake her up. Fainting like she did was not normal, not for a healthy person like Y/N, so she had to have her awake to answer her questions.

Her boys sat down on the sides of the bed, James and Remus on one couch cuddling as Sirius held her hand on the other side, rubbing soothing circles with his thumb. “My poor girl…” James mumbled, watching over her as Moony dozed off after the energy-draining panic he had.

“She’s been quite busy lately,” Sirius prompted. Maybe she fainted out of tiredness. “Yeah, she wasn’t even at movie night with the girls on Thursday, Lily told me,” the brunette answered, getting where his boyfriend was going. "Hasn't been much with us either, eh?" "Yeah".

They waited for about an hour after Pomfrey gave her the potion before she woke up. All of them stayed there the whole time. It was about 5pm, and they didn't attend lunch, but they couldn't risk her waking up alone. Sirius saw her shifting and stood up immediately, making James and Remus to do the same. Brows furrowed and dry lips, Y/N opened her eyes slowly.

"Hello, darlin'", "Hi babe", "Mornin' dove".

Prongs busied himself with a cup of water for his girlfriend as she returned their greetings. "W-what happened?" She asked, confused out of her mind before sipping on the glass. "You fainted during potions. Poppy said she needs to ask ya some questions." Sirius smiled, kindly kissing her nose to pull a giggle from her. "You've been taking care of yourself, baby?" Now spoke Remus, already sensing what was happening.

"Yes, I-I've been helping Reggie with some stuff for Divination and spent most of my days there, but yes" "When's the last time you ate?". Theatrical silence fell as Y/N tried to recall when did she had her last meal. Around ten seconds passed, and Sirius sighed in frustration. "Shit, Y/N".

"M'sorry, okay!?" the girl whined softly, feeling guilty about it already. "I was busy. Regg needed help..." "That's no excuse for you to not take care of yourself!" The raven-haired boy yelped, anger and worry clear in his tone. There was no way he'd let it happen again. It doesn't matter how much she wanted to help; straight up blacking out for not eating was unacceptable.

James grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "Calm down, darling. You too, Y/N. We're just glad you're okay." He pipped in, seeing as tears started to well up in his girl's eyes. Remus sat next to her on the bed, grabbing her hand and intertwining her fingers. "Sirius, could you go get some food for her? See if there's still some. Tell Poppy she's up and we know why she fainted." "Yeh," he mumbled, boots loud on the floor as he exited the room.

"Is he mad at me? A-Are you guys mad at me?" "Nonsense, dove," Remus cooed, laying beside her and letting her rest his head on his chest as Prongs did the same, holding his boyfriend's hand in the process. "We're not mad and neither is Sirius, he's just worried, and a bit frustrated but not mad". Y/N nodded after James explained, kissing both of their cheeks and finishing her water.

"S'not okay you forget to eat, though. We understand how much you like taking care of everyone and help them out..." Spoke the lycanthrope "We love that about you!" Chirped James. "... but you gotta be okay before you help anyone else. Take care of yourself first, then others. We could remind you if you like but this cannot happen again".

She nodded once again, reminding herself of the times her stomach grumbled, but she didn't listen. "Okay" Y/N smiled at her boys. Pomfrey walked over right after and scolded her for the negligence, offering more water and advised to skip the next day of classes to rest. As they got ready to leave, Sirius walked back with an armful of pastries, careful on balancing them and not drop a thing.

Everyone helped him and placed the food on the bed, rounding it so they could share their late lunch. Padfoot sat next to Y/N, and she immediately grabbed his face so he'd look at her to have his undivided attention.

As he looked upon her face, a chill ran through his body as he noticed how pale she was, and he couldn't help but feel his heart break a little as he reached out and held her face in his hands. "I'm sorry Siri..." She mumbled, looking him dead in the eye; a thing they did when one was being dead serious.

"No, I'm sorry. Shouldn't've lashed out at you like that, it's just you- you got me worried and I don't like you ill for something you can control. We'll eat our meals like clockwork now so you don't forget pup, that okay?" The boy proposed, grinning sympathetically at her as she mumbled a small okay before pressing a deep kiss to his soft lips.

The couple ate and chatted, like any other day. Promises were made, too; The boys made a silent agreement on making sure Y/N took care of herself, and she, to be as caring with herself as she was with others.

In the end, they had each other. When fainting, when laughing, when crying. They were together for the end of time and that's really all that mattered.<3

˚ · • . ° .

This is my first time writing poly!marauders so I'm very nervous at how y'all will like it haha. Tysm for reading! Hope you enjoyed

Remember, the best way to support writer’s works on here is by REBLOGGING WITH TAGS. I’d very much appreciate it if you did!

Thanks again, stranger. Hope you have a nice day<3

NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO REPOST AS THEIR OWN/TRANSLATE/OR COPY MY WORK IN ANY PLATFORM OR SPACE WITHOUT MY EXPLICIT CONSENT.

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devotion-that-corrupts · 11 months

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Some rambles on the ending and the codependent nature of Constantin and De Sardet's relationships. Spoilers for the whole game under the cut.

When I played Greedfall for the first time, I couldn’t stop thinking about Constantin’s corruption arc. It didn’t really make sense to me. Why would he want absolute power over the island? He has plenty of power and probably lives quite a luxurious life already. He also says he finds politics boring if De Sardet asks him, so the desire to rule over the whole island full of people seemed to me very out of character.

I do understand that he went mad and everything, but my brain deemed it a boring explanation and kept searching for something more logical.

So here: I think his actions make more sense if they're driven not by greed but by jealousy, less hunger for power and more hunger for absolute love (either platonic or romantic).

Let me explain.

His family is all kinds of messed up. He thinks his father doesn’t care about him, and although we don’t know if he’s actually abusive, I can’t think of any good reason why Constantin would lie about this. His mother, if DLC is to be believed, is responsible for the death of his brother Laurent — Constantin being an heir is clearly more important to her than his wellbeing & mental health after the literal murder of his brother. We don’t know much about Laurent and Constantin’s relationship (although he doesn’t ever mention him & he says nobody cared for him but De Sardet, so maybe it wasn’t good? Maybe Laurent was better suited for politics? That would explain Prince d’Orsay’s disappointment. That’s just my theory though).

Anyway, what I’m saying is that a child needs unconditional love, and judging by this family and Constantin’s line “You've always been the only one to care for me. Our friendship is the only thing that matters to me”, he has only ever received love from De Sardet, which sounds like quite a fertile ground for unhealthy overly attached relationship.

Then the game starts, and the thing is… Well, they are not each other’s everything anymore. De Sardet goes to various cities & talks to every person imaginable & makes new friends, maybe even falls in love. Constantin meanwhile is chained to a palace, especially after his sickness is revealed. De Sardet's world grows beyond him, and he can’t follow them there.

So what do you do when the only person who matters to you grows apart from you? What do you do when you are driven mad with pain and may die alone, and they have to leave you?

Naturally, you find a way to bind them to you for all eternity, and in doing so alienate them from everyone but you. Constantin's smart enough to realize that if De Sardet's friends and allies fought against him, they would turn away if De Sardet joined him. But even if they wouldn't, they're mortal. Their death is inevitable. The only one who can keep De Sardet company for eternity is Constantin. Everyone but him will eventually leave.

That’s why “For you, for us”, that’s why “together, forever”. Not power over the island or some people, but power to keep the only person who loves him unconditionally close to him.

(Again, I acknowledge that this is extremely, extremely unhealthy. That’s exactly what makes their relationship so interesting.)

Anyway, as I said, it feels very in character for him to basically give up on humanity in favor of De Sardet. I can't look at him in the beginning or in the middle and say, “This character would do anything for power”. But I can look at him at any point of the game, any cutscene, and say, “This character would do anything for his loved one”.

#*throws this into a nearly dead fandom and runs away*#they are NEVER beating the codependency allegations btw #greedfall #greedfall spoilers #greedfall meta #does it even count as meta? idk #constantin d'orsay #de sardet #constantin & de sardet #constantin x de sardet #jay talks

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schafpudel · 4 months

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Epidemiology of the Raven's Blood

Part 0: Prologue

Realistically, the blood does things because it's convenient to the plot of the anime, and no deeper thought needs to be put in than that. However, while it does explain inconsistencies in its writing, it's boring and not fun to my pattern-seeking brain. I like to piece together coherent internal logic to stuff in fiction, even if I know the authors themselves didn't think that hard about it. It's fun to me!

At the same time, Princess Tutu's meta-fictional conceit does give us some wiggle room to borrow the Doylist understanding and smuggle it back into a Watsonian explanation. So...

In-universe, I think, the purpose of the Raven’s Blood can be understood as a plot device to easily convert a separate “character” and their body into a narrative extension of the Raven; that this is why Drosselmeyer would write it into the logic of his story. Bored of a character you introduced previously and want to heighten the stakes? They're a toadie of the Raven now. And when we go a level down in fictionality...

To the Raven, other living things exist to be exploited. The only use you can have, beyond being a meal, is being a pawn who can get it what it wants – and what it wants is to consume. Like some ancient castle-bound vampire or wicked dragon, its power and intelligence are ultimately in service of a simple predatory desire. If you are neither edible nor manipulable, you are simply a nuisance.

Diseases and parasites will manipulate pain and pleasure, fear and love, the body and the brain. But while a real disease or parasite’s goal in psychological and physiological manipulation is to reproduce, to turn the infected into a means by which to spread itself to new hosts... the Raven's curse is uninterested in this. What matters, to the Raven, is that the cursed becomes a minion and a pawn, who can bring its prey closer to its own mouth.

Part 1: Lay All Your Love On Me

Part 2: Serving Your Heart On A Platter

I’m sure you’ve heard of a sickness that feeds predators their prey. Toxoplasmosis, for example makes male rats as horny and lovesick over the smell of cat urine as they are at the scent of female rats, switching the pathways of fear and desire, to lure them into being devoured. The pathways between the two run parallel, you see. For the infected, every cat becomes a succubus, a siren, a beautiful creature calling its prey to their willing doom. And, if the parasite gets what it wants, this is how the rat dies.

Why am I talking about this? Because Mytho starts talking about feeding himself to birds literally the day that his symptoms start presenting, in episode 14.

It’s true he’s saying this while antagonizing Fakir, so one could also brush it off as him just Saying Shit to make his roommate as uncomfortable as possible. But also – we know what the Raven wants, in the end.

For most of season 2, however, Raven!Mytho doesn’t continue to talk about feeding himself to crows. He’s mostly focused on seducing sacrifices, manipulating public opinion, having meltdowns about not being loved enough, and being petty to Fakir and Kraehe. His sense of self-preservation (in as much as Mytho has ever had one, cough) seems genuinely intact for episodes 15 through 21. If Mytho is feeling weirdly giggly about getting eaten during that timespan, he’s doing an awfully good job of hiding it.

And then Mytho starts molting into a crow monster at the end of episode 21, and the rat toxoplasmosis symptoms kicks back in.

(We're not told what he's smiling about here in episode 22, but the next episode, episode 23, makes it obvious:)

This does seem likely to be a Mytho-specific symptom; Rue shows no sign of this. The Raven has been particularly invested in eating Mytho’s heart for a long time, after all; Mytho’s job as the Raven’s doordash delivery guy was always going to be temporary even if he hadn’t beeninterrupted every time. It’s entirely possible that other people could end up with this “symptom” too, but we never see it.

The fact that Raven!Mytho proceeds to acts so strangely cuddly after telling Kraehe she’s an ugly fuck (but also that he needs her love) feels somehow related to this enthusiasm for getting eaten by crows. His voice delivery in the Japanese audio for the heart/lips/blood line sounds… …I hate to say this.

It sounds like he thinks a crow girl ripping out his heart and touching it onto her mouth is really hot.

(Yea, of course she's shaped like an uggo human (and he's in the process of moulting into a majestic raven and he's sosososo excited for that) - but hey, she's technically a crow as far as he knows, and she has black feathers....)

(And while regular!Mytho seems negative to neutral about that in season 1, Raven!Mytho only ever complimented Kraehe for having crow-like qualities.)

Anyways! In Mytho's final state under the Raven's Blood, he immediately obeys the Raven's orders to be devoured, completely ignoring Rue and Tutu's pleas.

...You know, until the Fairytale Confession of Love, because this is a magical curse and it is a fairytale.

Part 3 and Part 4 are not ready yet but are in the works. See you soon.

#princess tutu

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invested-in-your-future · 3 months

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I don't know if it's just me but I don't give a shit about that last minute lore dump about the brothers god in V9,I find it unecessary like no I don't want to know about these two gods origin I wanna know where Summer and Raven go in the flashback instead

Well that's an issue with entire show, no?

People wanted to see how Yang bounces back, people wanted answers about Summer, about what Raven is up to, about where the things will go after V3.

All the theories about the moon since the trailers, all the questions about Ozpin and Cinder's motives and everything.

And the show just isn't interested in that - it treats it all as a throw-away "boring" stuff.

(seriously how do you take A SHATTERED MOON IN THE SKY and make the explanation boring and pointless?!!)

The Two Gods are Miles and Kerry's babies - their true creative input into the setting that is just theirs. In their eyes its where everything else leads and nothing else matters. For them it "raises the stakes" away from "all the boring stuff" - why watch Yang's recovery when you can have Qrow deliver a monologue about relics or an entire episode about two gods?

Even when dealing with Atlas situation and a pretty solid conflict set-up (that they mishandled), the show can't help but keep going "Hey but what about Salem and relics?! Look she's an approaching threat!"

Everything eventually leads to the two gods now, so it's no surprise that the big infodump of V9 focuses on THAT and Summer stuff feels like a way-too-late afterthought.

But the issue is - the gods are boring and pointless.

And more importantly redundant.

The show already has two ancient beings in conflict, so why add two higher ancient beings? Okay now the show has two ancient beings and two higher beings, so why add another even higher being???

The show already has four concepts of unimaginable power that break logic and rules of the setting and are shrouded in mystery - so why add four relics that do exact same thing but are inanimate? They still have to write Maidens as characters so it's not like it's a shortcut. But oh wait, if four relics do the thing then the two gods will do big thing that breaks the logic and rules and is very dangerous apocalyptic event! But the show already has four beings and four items, each with near-apocalyptic level of powers and a threat of eldritch abominations so why add another layer? But oh wait there's an entire whacky realm where logic doesn't work and even more superpowered things exist!

The showrunners are desperate to make the Two Gods plotline "exciting" but they mistake quantity for quality instead layering bunch of similarly unexciting things on top of each other.

The issues they have with focusing on Two gods rather than fleshing out interesting lore and story aspects on macro level are the exact same issues as with focusing on Jaune rather than on interesting characters and dynamics on micro level.

But that's not all.

There's also a fundamental issue with structure - the Two Gods stuff is completely disconnected from EVERYTHING - the entire setting(characters, countries, everything) that came before they retconed them couldn't be further removed from the concept even if they tried.

So you have weird structural issues where characters are doing something and the narrative is like "but wait, let's switch up to talk about the Two Gods related stuff":

There's this huge conflict between opposing viewpoints in Atlas and character tor-.... BUT WAIT the Relics! Salem is coming! She will start Biblical Apocalypse! The Gods!

Raven is this mysterious character who appears and disappears randomly and is all cryptic a-...but wait Salem! She needs to talk about how scary Salem is! And Relics! Just fill the rest with random nonsense of bandits!

Silver Eyes is this mysterious concept th-...but what if we made allusions to it somehow tying to the Two Gods?! Because, uhhhhh, Two Gods are powerful and scary and they are reason for...stuff!

There's an extreme disconnect where the characters will keep doing things that only tangentially relate to Relics/Gods and then the show will dump like a hour long detour about how Gods are important.

It's almost like they are tacked on concept that doesn't mesh with the rest of anything and writers keep forgetting it's a thing they have to tie things back to (just like Ever After).

Imagine if V9 had no Ever After and was just a road-trip of Team RWBY traversing Vacuo, racing against time to get to the city before Salem gets there as they encounter other survivors, fight monsters and struggle with what they did in Atlas and Ruby ends up actually having moments of self-reflection and learning things about her mother(and the eyes), while Yang gets to confront Raven(who had saved them from the dark void they fell into with her dumb teleport semblance) about everything and Weiss grapples with Atlas and everything she knew being gone and whether there's anything to the Schnee name than just being a destructive capitalist fraud, Blake struggles with lack of purpose and realization that she fixed nothing in Atlas OR Mistral. Meanwhile Blake and Yang finally get to speak about end of V3 and then about having killed a person together, as they finally start to unwrap the tangled mess of conflicting emotions between them and grow closer together.

Imperfect, but at least something.

But no, see that has nothing to do with Two Gods or Four Relics and we can't have that. That also only had one Salem mention too! And no Jaune! We can't have that.

RWBY is real adept at focusing on everything but what audience actually wanted to know.

And when it does, everything is offscreen.

#rwby #rwde #rwby v9 #rwby volume 9 #ruby rose #Summer Rose

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strqyr · 1 year

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I've been sooo back and forth on Summer willingly joining Salem tbh. I mean, given what Salem said to Ruby in v7 ("your mother said those words to me etc") it doesn't make a ton of sense? UNLESS Summer did go there to stop her but was defeated or tortured a bunch or Salem threatened her family, idk

Even with the v9 flashback there's still so much mystery to Summer that it could literally go either way. Raven give us answers I'm frothing at the mouth over here

i completely understand the feeling. there's definitely a bunch of arrows pointing at all kinds of directions, so what it really comes down to for me is figuring out 1. which ones are potential red herrings, and 2. would they spell out the answer before the big reveal?

it was the same with 'is this alyx?' i read a lot of theories about who might have been ascended alyx, and i could see the logic behind them all, if some more than the others... and then it turns out that alyx was just alyx, never ascending and becoming someone else.

that alone makes me lean towards the option that if summer is alive—which is looking likely, i don't think they would avoid saying she's dead for so long only for her to actually be dead—she's going to be recognizably herself. then there's also like. the way the writers do mysteries is less about drawing attention to things that need explanation and more about introducing something and leaving it to stew in the background while distracting the audience with something else.

and that gets me to the questions like 1. why does salem have two extra seats at the table? 2. who at beacon was she talking to via a seer, a method of communication we've only seen happen between two people? and 3. salem wants ruby brought to her alive (despite cinder wanting her dead, and tyrian thought she was sending him to kill her at first) and let's yang and her friends go (despite the grimm arms holding through hazel punching her!! it's one thing if the punch had caused them to disappear but that's not what happened!!) after yang identifies summer as her mom. why?

i think the biggest stumbling block people have over summer working for salem willingly is that they see it as summer being suddenly Evil™ when that's. not the point lol. i mean i wouldn't complain if it was, i love my evil ladies very much, but to me it's more about summer learning what salem's end goal actually is, making a choice for what she considers a better option, while also holding to her morals as much as she can: she has not partaken in any of the destruction directly, if she's commanding the grimm at beacon she's keeping them there instead of letting them spread to vale after the initial attack, and would have made a deal with salem that her family comes to no harm.

what you end up is a character with complexities, who has made difficult choices and stuck with them. sure, her lying and keeping secrets already covers some of that but also... it would be kind of boring if those are her biggest flaws narratively like c'mon, that's the whole cast right there, that's like the bare minimum lmao give me more to chew on.

i'm so ready for raven to gives us answers but i'm also fully prepared to spam the 'where's the rest of it' gif right after cos i bet she bailed right before summer's fate was sealed.

#rwby #summer rose #anon #ask.strqyr

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trlvsn · 11 months

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Best of luck with the horrors, but when you get time I would be interested in your opinion on Dahlia Hawthorne (having seen your comments about how badly the character was handled)

oh lord. well, i guess i'm doing this now

dahlia hawthorne to me is by far the laziest, most incorrect thing capcom has ever made and put into ace attorney.what a waste of a character, what a completely wrong interpretation of her by the authors themselves, what a shame.

dahlia is one good example of ace attorney having this theme of some people just being evil incarnate without any reasonable explanation of chance to redeem themselves. and i forgive them doing that to kristoph, because they did kristoph right and it was necessary for what kristoph symbolized, which i will get into later, but portraying dahlia as that made absolutely no sense.

i have already seen people talk about her actions being reasonable and her being a victim of terry fawles, which i agree with, but with that opinion comes the complaint that the aa fandom completely ignores that and makes her some sort of mastermind villain. that's because she is!! she is painted as that!! horribly, it makes no sense for her to be that way,but we obviously see that as true as we trust the way the story is narrated and as we are actually meant to trust it.

tell me, capcom, how the fuck could a young girl "manipulate" her adult father into abandoning his other daughter and leaving her in a temple. how is that possible. when your child comes up to you and says "i don't want to see my sister anymore!! i hate her!! she's useless" you give that child of yours a cookie and ask her why she feels that way and which toy of hers got stolen this time, you don't fucking abandon your kid. dahlia simply could not have been this extremely powerful demon from the start, but she says it and everyone accepts it for some reason.

yeah, she murdered people, yeah, that's awful, but the main message she ended up delivering being "ha, you died and now you're stick like this and can never change" is BORING!!! BOOO!!! BOOOOOO!!! could she change theoretically? no! why? because they wrote her in a way that makes no logical, psychological or ideal sense!

bottom line - dahlia doesn't even feel like a person that could be real to me. she is a poorly characterized and therefore poorly interpreted character, and i will never be able to find a take on her that i agree with because you just can't make something good out of something that makes no sense at it's core. but the fanart's cool. the fanart is real cool.

#/lh on everything #thank you anon. i am relieved to have put this into words #raysanswers

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raphaelcrossofoliver · 1 year

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Recently, I sent a ask to @soul-dwelling about Inca and the discussion around it has led me to create a alternative plot for her

(For the sake of this discussion, some narrative liberties will be taken)

The way it would work is that it would start at the beginning of the Stone Pillar arc with Inca escaping the church and the White Clads trying to get her back

The reason she would be escaping is because she starting to feel safe in the church and is going after the man who promised they would chase her as a enemy and give her one of her biggest thrills yet: Shinra Kusakabe

This could also be used to setup Sho eventual betrayal of the church

Then, after the First Stone Pillar fight where Shinra goes unconscious. he would encounter himself face-to-face with Inca in a fake downtown city (for the memories) in Adolla

In here, Inca would start a fight with Shinra where she would show better fighting skills than before (reminiscent of Medusa), better precognitive awareness by fully using smell rather than smell and vision to read the pathways around her and can set multiple pathways on fire by using all of her fingers

For the majority of the fight, Inca would be on the winning side where she would start monologuing about how everyone who prefers safety and normalcy are boring and they are all trying to drag her down until the climax where Shinra uses Hysterical Strength (giving to Inca disturbingly excited eyes the image of a smiling demon with the kanji for death on its chest) and swiftly knocks her out with a punch to the chest

After that, Inca would start her own version of a love confession where she would ask Shinra to throw all away and just keep chasing her until the end of their days which would be cut off by Shinra refusing it and trying to bring her in

(This is the part where I try making her last wish in the manga make more sense)

Inca would then start complaining by asking why do the people she meets rather live meaningless and boring lives and keep trying to drag her down to it which Shinra would respond by saying that while he doens't remember much of his mother, he remembers that she always felt happier when caring for them even if those moments were boring because her sons were safe

"Boredom gives sense to knightly morals, gives power to hereditary positions and and gives strength to team loyalty. You say that life has to have deathly thrills to have meaning but is that very boredom that gives sense to these thrills"

(And now the fun part begins)

Suddenly , the fake city would start to collapse as a booming feminine voice appears saying it plans to bring them both with her

The Evangelist is here

A chase would begin where Shinra would start to tap into the Adolla link to run away

Inca notices though that no pathway is appearing

The Evangelist is not gonna catch them

But before she can say anything about it, Shinra would go faster than light and travel back in time. To the world before the flames

During this travel, The Evangelist would speak

"This is the world before the flames. Ignorance, hatred, war, apathy, egoism, selfishness and sin ruled this world and the minds of those who inhabited.

"Do you know what Adolla is? It's not just hell, nor where the flames came from. It's the collective unconscious of humanity whereupon the concepts that rule reality can be molded through one's view of the world"

"I, The Evangelist, am the immortal embodiment of humanity collective desire for the end which I will bring through the manifestation of Adolla flames into the world"

"Liberation through flames"

Shinra would logically refute and refuse such a idea so The Evangelist would say while appearing as (wink wink) three specific eyes:

"Then suffer through your friends and allies hatred as your persona of a demon becomes reality"

The next time we would see Inca, we would see her going back to the church with a more monotone happiness with her only explanation being that "she saw the truth"

As she says that, we would have a focus on Charon and some panels of Haumea in a room screming 'Shut up! Shut up! Shut up"

~End~

So...are my narrative skills enough?

#fire force #inca kasugatani #kasugatani inca #kusakabe shinra #shinra kusakabe #enen no shouboutai #en en no shōbōtai #fire brigade of flames

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kanohivolitakk · 2 years

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Rambling about Bionicles incoherent worldbuilding in terms of rigid morality

So, I was rewatching Legend Reborn the other day when I remembered an issue that bothers me about Bionicles writing so so much which I have wanted to talk about here at some point.

And that’s just how not only the series functions on a "your moral alignment is decided for you upon your creation and cannot be changed because the nature of a being is unchangeable and because destiny" logic, but how that logic clashes with the series central premise on "the world is inside a giant robot and every single character was created to aid said giant robot."

First things first, a lot of my detestment of this decision comes from personal preference. In fiction I tend to dislike rigid moral boxes and black-and-white-morality where the good guys are 100% good and bad guys are 100% bad with little to no nuance in-between. Sure it can work for some stories based on the plot, tone and themes, but in general I think that kind of storytelling is really limiting and boring. It puts things into clear cut boxes when real life is not so simple most of the time. I find morally complicated characters and even things like flawed heroes or villains with a few redeeming qualities more interesting interesting than a simple good vs evil story. These types of characters give the story more flavor and intrigue by showing that things aren’t black-and-white and that more complex shades exist.

But even my personal preference in storytelling aside, I think that completely black-and-white morality where a characters alingment was chosen upon their creation doesn’t just work with Bionicles setting and the Big Twist. Because like. This is supposed to be a world inside a giant robot. Every single character we meet during the first couple of years exists to fulfill their purpose and to help the giant robot to fulfill it’s task. In addition, most (if not all) of the characters originally had next to no sapience til one of their creators who was secretly inside the giant robot decided to make them sentient because why he was getting bored being one of the 5 sapient beings on this robot spaceship.

So if this is the case that MU inhabitants were created to aid Mata Nui, then why are some beings in this world created evil?? What kind of benefit would creating malicious beings bring? If every character is in one way or another supposed to help the GSR to fulfill it’s mission, then why on earth would you creating something that could easily sabotage and backstab you?

To be fair, there are traits we usually associate with evilness that aren’t inherently evil by themselves, like ambitiousness or being selfish for instance. These traits can be useful in certain situations. It’s very possible that Great Beings didn’t design MU inhabitants to be evil, but rather gave them those traits as a way to aid them in whatever purpose they were created for. These traits just ended up corrupting them because that easily happens. And honestly I really like that explanation. It explains why a lot of MU inhabitants are evil without going “they were designed to be evil”. And just feels very nice and satisfying. But at the same time...idk if giving like most living beings those traits make any sense if you know what I mean.

There’s also the argument that the reason the world is like this is because the Great Beings are these mad scientists who like making things dramatic because they are too confident in their abilites and because they can. But honestly that feels like lazy writing for me. Handwaving the implications by going “yeah the Great Beings did so because why the fuck not” makes the Great Beings seem far more incompetent than they probably were meant to be.

Idk I just...like Bionicle but sometimes I wish it’s view on morality was a bit more flexible than “toa good everyone else evil”. But that’s just me

#Kirika Talks #Kirikas Bionicle Meta #Bionicle #Mata Nui

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gay-otlc · 1 year

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Say Goodbye Like You Mean It

I barely had time to be online today but I used that time to write a Bianuca angst fic. They've taken over my brain your honor.

Content warning for homophobia and skin picking.

@xanadaus @an-ungraceful-swan @solreefs @aphelea @gaslight-gaetkeep-gayboss @synonymroll648

Biana has a problem.

Her problem has curly hair dyed blue, laughter like sunlight, and lips that Biana tries very hard not to think about. Her problem also happens to be her best friend, which makes her difficult to avoid.

Biana's problem is that, against her better judgement, she has fallen in love with Maruca.

She's been a Vacker long enough to know that marrying a bad match would be unthinkable, and there was no way for a relationship with Maruca to not be a bad match. She's eavesdropped on her mom and Livvy enough times to know that it doesn't go well when a girl makes the mistake of falling in love with another girl, especially when that girl is a Vacker.

It's painfully obvious that her crush on Maruca could make things very ugly for both of them.

And Biana loves being around Maruca, she does. She could talk to her for hours and not get bored of it. But spending time with her is also terrifying, dangerous, and an incredibly stupid idea.

She tries her best to hide how she feels, but she's never hidden anything from Maruca before. She's not very good at hiding yet. Maruca can read her better than anyone, and Biana thinks that the way she smiles at her says all the feelings she's trying to hide. It doesn't help that everything about Maruca is very distracting, and it's hard to think logically when she's just there, being the most beautiful person imaginable.

The audacity.

Every day, it gets harder to pretend she's not in love with Maruca. Biana can't quite stop staring wistfully at her any time she talks, because there's nothing more captivating than the sound of her voice. And sometimes she reaches out to take Maruca's hand without even realizing. Thoughts are harder to push away, and they threaten to slip past her lips.

Stop asking me what boys I like, I've never wanted to date any boy half as much as I want to date you.

I don't want to go back to Everglen. I want to stay here with you as long as possible. Maybe forever.

Foxfire is stupid. We should follow Fitz to the human world and run away together.

I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you.

She's not sure how much longer she can go without betraying her secret.

She can't be around Maruca anymore.

---

"So. I hear you're working with the Black Swan now?"

There are a million things Maruca has dreamed of saying to Biana, but all that comes out now is "Um."

"Um. Biana looks about as eloquent as she feels. "I've missed you. It's been a while."

Finally, words form in her mouth, and Maurca spits them out like fire. "And whose fault is that?"

"Mine. I know. I'm sorry."

"It's a little late for an apology. It was years ago that you decided you hated me, without so much as an explanation."

Biana peels a bit of skin off of her thumb. Maruca remembers when she used to do that, and she would take her hand to stop her from hurting herself. Part of her wishes they'd never stopped being so affectionate. They've changed too much for that now, though, so she stuffs her hands in her pockets as Biana says "I never hated you."

"You acted like you did."

"I know. I didn't mean to make you feel that way. I just..."

It doesn't seem like she knows exactly what to say, and Maruca doesn't want to hear it. "Don't bother. You made it pretty obvious why you didn't want to hang out with me anymore."

Fear flashes across her face, and it gives Maruca more satisfaction than it should. "Did I?"

"Yeah, it doesn't take a genius. I decided I didn't want to hide around my best friend. I stopped gushing about boys with you, I started mentioning how I didn't really care about crush cuffs or matchmaking, I pointed it out when I thought girls were pretty. And then you left, because you were too good for me. A Vacker has better people to be friends with than the weird lesbian."

Biana falls into stunned silence, looking as shocked and hurt as if Maruca had slapped her. She opens and closes her mouth, like she wants to say something but has no idea what. Eventually, she squeaks out "Is that why you thought we stopped talking? Because I found out you were a lesbian and I didn't like that?"

"I thought that because it's true," Maruca says, though she's less sure of that than she has been for a very long time.

"That's not- no. I didn't even know you were gay until you started dating Stina. I was too dumb to pick up on your hints."

Maruca's head scrambles to make sense of this. She was so convinced of her version of events, she doesn't even know how to fit this new information into it. "Then why?"

Biana tears off more skin, then flicks it away. "I had a crush on you."

"I-" Whatever she had been expecting, it was not that. "You what?"

"I was in love with you, okay? You were my best friend and then my feelings stopped being totally platonic, except I knew it would be really bad if anyone found out, so I..." She pauses and shakes her head. "I wanted to be around you, but I was also so scared, all the time. I didn't want anyone to know, and I knew that I liked you too much to keep it a secret forever. So if I stopped being around you, I stopped risking that I would say or do something stupid to give myself away. I hated it, but it was just- it was safer. I didn't know what else to do."

It's unclear what one is supposed to feel as a reaction to this, so Maruca makes the executive decision to process this information later. "Being honest with me might have been a good first step. I wouldn't have told anyone, you know."

"I know. And I thought about that. But if I talked to you out loud, I was worried someone might overhear, and writing it down was risky because it left a record. I knew you wouldn't out me on purpose, but I was really scared that you might let something slip accidentally. I didn't want anyone to know, Maruca. It wasn't that I didn't trust you, it was... no one could know. I couldn't stand the thought of anyone knowing my worst secret. I should have told you. It was wrong of me to not say goodbye, or anything. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too," Maruca says, which she definitely never thought she would say to Biana Vacker, of all people. "You were pretty awful to me, but you were also struggling a lot. Which doesn't excuse it. But I am sorry you had to go through that."

"Thanks."

"I'm glad we talked," she tells Biana, and she's surprised to discover that she means it. If the Maruca of the past found out she got to talk to Biana like this, she would have flipped a table. And yet, now, no tables have been flipped.

Biana gives her a small smile. "Me too. I'll leave you to get back to your... additional training with Stina and Marella and Linh."

Maruca watches her walk away, and it doesn't hurt like she expected it to.

#s's writing #bianuca #THEM YOUR HONOR #title is bleachers lyric btw

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hanako-san · 2 years

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Amane's attention

A/N: This is a request from my friend @ngmn2002. This is a story about how Tsukasa and Nene fight for Amane's attention. Sorry for the mistakes and I hope you enjoy the story.

Edit: This story takes place in modern time, not the 1950s

-------------------------------------------------

Yugi's mom in the kitchen ready dinner humming a tune with a smile on her face. Tsukasa entered the kitchen holding the toy in his hand.

"Mom! Where is Amane? I'm bored! He should be home from school a long time ago” He was very impatient, and you could feel his voice anger "Amane, he didn't wait for me outside school. He said to go back alone" He added a little sad Mom put the potato and knife aside and looked at her sad son. Tsukasa's gaze dropped down, he sighed heavily

"Amane, he stopped loving me," he said in a sad voice Mom, hearing these words, laughed under her breath and patted her son's head. "Tsukasa, look at me." Mom leaned over her son Tsukasa looked at his mother, his eyes were glass, he was holding back tears. "Honey, he'll bring a visitor, and that's why he hasn't come back with you today." Mom grinned

"Amane, does he love me? " A spark of happiness will appear in his eyes "Yes" the head quirked in confirmation He smiled broadly at his mother and ran energetically into the room. Mom sighed and went back to making dinner.

-Evening-

"We are," Amane said, closing the door

AMANE YOU ARE- Tsukasa first came to greet, his enthusiast died quickly when he saw the girl "already" he finished in a low voice

Nene and Tsukasa looked at each other straight in the eye. Nene was nervous, and Tsukasa was slightly shocked. Mama talked about the guy but didn't think that his older brother would bring the girlfriend. He was thinking about a male friend.

"Are you Yugi Tsukasa-Kun? Amane told me so many wonderful things about you. Glad to meet you! I am Yashiro Nene. Please call me Nene, can I call you Tsukasa-Kun? Nene smiled at the younger twin, blushing slightly

"AMANE, YOU ARE!! "Tsukasa ignored Nene, treated her like air and hugged Amane, wrapping his arms around his hips, hugging him tightly "I missed you!"Added

Nene froze by surprise, didn't know what to do and how to behave "Why? Why?" these questions were in her head and she couldn't find it logical explanation. She looked at the Yugi twins smiling at each other. She heard a woman's voice, turned to see Yugi's mother standing behind them. "Mom," he turned to Amane's mother, stepped next to Nene and grabbed her hand. She felt ashamed. She has become very shy from a daring girl. It was embarrassing for her. "Tsukasa," he continued, "This is my girlfriend Yashiro Nene" he said. She turned red after these words

"Nice to meet you!" She said not to catch her breath

"Lovely" said Mama Yugi, grabbing her cheek " My son has a lovely girlfriend" She added "Thank you," she smiled broadly, glaring at the woman "Please come dinner ready," the woman said, pointing to the place where the dinner is being prepared.

Yes! Amane, come on! Tsukasa grabbed his brother by the wrist of the hand that He and Nene had clasped hands together, pulled him and ran into the living room. Amane shouted "Wait Tsukasa" but didn't listen to him. Nene was convinced a second time that Tsukasa did not like her, it made her discomfort

"Tsukasa, behave yourself!" The mother shouted after the twins - This Tsukasa .. she said, sighing to herself, her eyes turned to Nene "please don't worry about it. Please have dinner with us - Yugi's mother showed her the way with her hand

"thank you" She smiled

-In Amane's room-

At dinner, Nene didn't feel well because of Tsukasa giving her hostile glares. It hardens that Tsukasa doesn't like her. Nene and Amane were doing their homework.

"I'm done!" He stretched and looked at the girl with a smile Nene was sitting worried, holding a pen in her hand, not writing, her eyes fixed on the mathematical equation and it seemed empty.

"Nene, what's going on? "He saddened and poked his finger at Nene's cheek She sighed a minute later and looked at her boyfriend who showed a sincere smile, showing all his teeth, blushing. Her heart began to beat harder and blushed. She loved that smile, as did everything in it "Tsukasa-Kun …" she muttered

"What's with him?" He asked surprised "He didn't like me." She looked at him with a sad expression on her face Amane cupped her cheeks."Don't worry. We've always been just the two of us, it's probably also difficult for him" he touched her foreheads, their eyes met, he caught, he held her hands in a grip "Give him time " he said in a seductive voice. Their lips almost touched

"This is what doing homework looks like?"

They heard Tsukasa's voice and turned to face his voice. Tsukasa was lying belly down, his elbows on the bed, his hands tucking his head holding his cheeks and his legs clasped together. Amane and Nene wailed in shock in their eyes, their conjunctiva ceasing to respond. Amane held both her hands in his arms. When the glass passed them

they separated from each other, blushing with shame

"Tsukasa, what are you doing here?" Amane made no secret of the irritation in his face and voice

"Amane, the water is boiling!" Yugi's mama scream

"I'm coming!" He ran downstairs quickly As Amane disappeared from behind Tsukasa's door, he got off the bed and walked over to the seated Nene and leaned forward looking hostile at her.

"Amane, this is MY brother! I won't let you take him! I LOVE him" Tsukasa, he accepted these words more, which was an important message for Nene

"Tsukasa-Kun .. I know it's your brother, I don't want to take him away from you. I love him too!" She tried to explain to him Nene that her appearance does not mean that she is going to steal it from the family

"Then break up with him!!!" "Huh." She looked at him

"Leave MY brother alone" Nene realized that Tsukasa didn't want to communicate with her about her brother

"Not!" She grew serious and stood up "I love Amane" she put her hand on her chest "I'm not going to give up on him because you want it" Now she was looking down at him because he is from her lower "I'm ready to fight for it!"

Tsukasa was slightly shocked and didn't know what to say for fifteen seconds. He shook himself and smiled as he grabbed a strand of her hair which made her bow to his height, being close to him face to face as they stared into each other's eyes.

"I'll do anything to get my brother back!

"So war!" Nene said honestly Tsukasa released Nene. The girl moved away from each other, sparks flew from their eyes, it was a sign of a war for Amane's sake "Sorry to wait." Amane walked in with a tray of three teas, placed them on the table, taking their own books, lying on the bed. Nene and Tsukasa were sitting next to each other, just away. Amane sensed a strange tension in the air and a strange atmosphere. "Are you alright?" He asked suspiciously, handing out teas to Nene and Tsukasa

"Of course!" Nene smiled artificially "Tsukasa just said that he was tired and was going to sleep. He will give us free time "She lied

"I-"

"I'll help you get out!" She didn't let him finish, she grabbed his hand and literally threw him out of the room, closing the door in front of the shocked Tsukasa and closing the door

"Nene?!" Surprised Amane

"He had to go" She said

"Open that door!!!!" He started pounding and kicking on the door

"Tsukasa, calm down" Father shouted from below

Furious Tsukasa, he wanted to beat the door for the last time, he stopped his hand and lowered it saying "You're good! I can't underestimate you"He said to himself dripping on the door one last time, letting her understand that this is not the end." and walked away to flap the door to his room.Nene was relieved when she heard the sound of the door closing furiously. She knew she had won this round. Amane was shocked, scratching his head, wondering what it was. Yashiro grabbed Amane's hand and hugged him -Night-

Tsukasa entered Amane's room and lay down next to his brother, who opened his eyes.

"You had Tsukasa nightmare?" The twins were 13 years old, but Amane continued to treat Tsukasa like a 4-year-old child and was always overprotective

"I wanted to talk" After these words, Amane turned aside, as did his brother, to look at his sad and worried eyes.

"What happened?" He asked The moon illuminated the face of the older brother

You love Me? "Tsukasa, isn't it obvious?" Amane loved his brother, he had no reason for Tsukasa to doubt him "obvious," he repeated, his voice breaking. He smiled broadly. "Ok," he added, getting off the bed Amane opened his eyes and remembered what happened at the age of 4 when he replied "isn't it obvious?" He heard the door to his room open

"Tsukasa!"

"Yes? "Tsukasa, jumped up and turned his head scared to his brother, who rolled to his side to tell him something

"I love you! Remember! " He said "Do you want to sleep with me tonight?" He asked Tsukasa's eyes turned into two stars, he blushed and his smile spread all over his face and he jumped on his brother, which he did at the age of 4 and lay down next to him. -On the roof of the school, during the break- Two teenagers in love were sitting on the roof, enjoying each other and the free time. Amane put weight on the girl, she rested her head on his chest. She wanted this moment to last as long as possible.

"AMANE!!!!"Tsukasa came on the roof in tears Nene and Amane looked shocked at Tsukas who looked like a tearful teddy bear on his face.

"What happened to Tsukasa?"He asked worried Tsukasa, annoyed that his brother was hugging his girlfriend whom he hated, grabbed her wrist and pushed her out of his grip. Shocked, Amane didn't react and Nene knew it was revenge for pushing him out of her boyfriend's room.

"Tsukasa ?!" Confused Amane got up quickly and wanted to say something else, but Tsukasa hit him on the cheeks with his hands and cried

"I need help!!" He said

"It hurts … "He said in a sad voice and his eyes were also sad because his brother had a problem "How can I help you?" He asked with a squeezed mouth on the spout Amane felt his strength draining, his body shivering, his eyes blank and his mouth dropping down in surprise as he saw his brother destroy the cosmic model he had been creating with Amane for three days. -In Tsukasa's class-

"Tsukasa, what happened?" Amane's voice was shocked with a mixture of ange

"Because … I … I wanted to fix something and I touched it. and … it fell apart. Help to fix it" He asked crying Amane sighed, put the bag next to his brother's bag, sat down, and began to work. He knew he had little time to do this because Tsukasa had to hand over the project today. He had a lesson with his upbringing so he knew Tsuchigomor was good but strict about such things "You can't fix it yourself," Nene couldn't hide her annoyance

"This is MY brother and I can ask him for help whenever I wants, and you can go away"He waved her hand with a gesture to let her go away

"NO!" Nene, she put her arms around Amane's neck and turned her head to Tsukasa "He's My boyfriend and I have the right to be with him too!"She added

"Let go MY AMANE!" Irritated Tsukasa, he tried to separate Nene's hands from his brother's neck, pulling her towards him. Nene resisted him, and her pressure on his neck became tighter because she wouldn't let him go, and Amane felt like a pull back and Nene's grip made him say goodbye to the world, turned pale and he was running out of air.

"ENOUGH!" Amane quickly disconnected Nene's hands and grabbed his neck with tears in his eyes, turning to Nene and Tsukasa

"Are you trying to kill me?" He coughed and regained the color in his face

"We love you!" They both said at the same time

"Okay .." Amane wanted to give them a strong retort, but he resigned because he saw four eyes flowing and tears in his eyes apologizing to them "Eh" He sighed, closing his eyes "well" he opened his eyes and went back to work "Be quiet" He added

"Yes, sir" they made a sault Amane didn't see it because he had his back to them. He needed concentration to fix it all. -At Yugi's house- After dinner, Amane washed the teacher because it was his turn with a smile on his face. "Mhm .." - said Amane, surprised to hear his brother and girlfriend calling them in the distance. Amane looked at the door and it slammed open. Nene and Tsukasa ran up to him screaming. "Eh?" That's all he managed to say, two question marks appeared next to his head that moved from top to bottom, his conjunctiva narrowed and his eyes widened. There were two people in front of him who were talking chaotically to him, but he couldn't understand them because one was shouting through the other.

slowly and sequentially , please? - He said it with a low voice Yugi's mother interrupted the screams, clapping her hands,making all three of them turn around.

"Tsukasa, Go to the store, write me what is on this sheet, okay? "Yugi's mother waved the card in her hand

"Okay"he smiled and took the card and he was gone

"Nene, wait in the living room, help me clean up" "Fine." She smiled and left

"Thank you, Mother" He breathed a sigh of relief, smiling seven times Mama

"You're welcome" She kissed his cheek and went to Nene, and he could finish washing the dishes in peace.

-A week has passed-

Nene and Tsukasa didn't give Amane a break, they followed him all the time and shouted behind his back, the only peace he got were classes and sleep. He started to hate his name so often he heard it from arguing Tsukasa and Nene. This time it was the same. Amane walked into the kitchen where mom was cutting the dough, leaned against the fridge, and Yugi's mom looked up and stepped back, lowering the knife to the floor. She turned pale and clutched at his chest, near the heart, and she breathed, recognized him as Amane.

He looked terrible, he was pale, had bags under his eyes, and he was pale with a terrifying black aura around him "Son …" She said silently. Mom was very worried about her older son, she knew she needed to talk to him Amane looked at his mother with a look of indifference, took a drink and went to the room where Nene and Tsukasa were arguing about him

"AMANE LOVES ME MORE!" Tsukasa shouted "He LOVES ME MORE, TOO," Nene replied

"NOT AT ALL!! YOU ARE ONLY HIS GIRLFRIEND !!! I AM HIS BROTHER !! HE LOVES ME MORE!!!"

"THAT I AM HIS GIRLFRIEND DOESN'T MEAN THAT HE LOVES ME LESS!!"

"OKAY!! AMANE DECIDES!!"

"GOOD IDEA" "AMANE," they both yelled at where he was standing, but no one was there

Amane left the house, looked at the moon, gasped, picked up his bike and drove to the nearby playground. He left the bike at the bench

"AAAAAAAAAAAAA !!!!!"He shouted to the moon, fell to his knees " I'm stuck between my brother and girlfriend! they can't stop fighting over me all the time! what should I do! I can't take any longer! I'm so tired of all their shouting! my head can't take it anymore! They are going to make me lose my mind if this were to continue any further!" He shouted it furiously to heaven, his vein on his forehead pulsed with rage and helplessness, then his torso fell to the ground, hands down, head between hands, he stared at the cold ground

"Amane" The older twin heard a familiar voice, turned his face away.

"Dad"he said, his voice breaking, his eyes screaming for help

"Let's talk"He helped him up, bought a cola and sat on the bench next to his son Amane had his head slightly lowered, his feet were clasped together, and the naked ones formed the letter "v", he put his hands between his legs, the cola was next to him

"Son … We thought about your problem with your mom and only found one solution" Amane looked at his father with a faint gleam in his eyes

"You have to make them make up"

"How??"He sighed heavily, looking at his father with a sad look "I tried, pleading and shouting. Nothing helps"

"Hmmm … you only have blackmail" Father said randomly "Blackmail?" He troubled, Yes, that's it !!! Daddy, you are brilliant !! - He is up with big hope "time for the final weapon!"He said confidently

The next day, on the roof of the school- A day as each Tsukasa and Nene fought for his love, Amane doubted whether he should implement the plan, but after they acted he decided to do so.

"ENOUGH," he shouted aloud that the birds from the nearby trees got scared and ran away. Tsukasa and Nene fell silent, surprised by the scream of their older twin. Their faces were frightened with a mixture of surprise, and they held hands at the older twin's reaction.

"LISTEN ME! I will ignore you from now on !! I won't speak to you nor come back to you !!! Until you make up !!!"

"You will break with me" Scared Nene, she was close to tears

"NOT!"He denied immediately "But I'll go crazy if you both don't stop !! Until you make up, I'll ignore you" To confirm that he's serious, he hit the barrier with his fist Amane put his hands in his pockets and walked past them. He heard their screams calling for him. n with resigned expression, he made sad. It was difficult for him, but he found no other way out to reconcile them.

He loved Nene and Tsukasa and didn't want to choose between them because they both wanted him for each other. The older twin was carrying out his plan, he didn't wait for Nene after school, he left before Tsukasa earlier so as not to come back with him. When he came home later and Tsukasa was the first to greet him and hug him like he always did, but he dodged and went silently into the room, taking dinner into the room, locking himself with the lock in the room. Tsukasa wanted to enter, grabbing the lamp, pulling it down, and pushed, but to no avail. his eyes filled with tears

"Amane, Amane !! Please, talk with me!! Please … Amane" he called desperately Amane, hearing his brother very desperately want to come in and talk to him, made it harder for him, he felt his heart burst into pieces and tears pressed into his eyes, which he was holding back because he was doing his homework, he failed because his eyes glazed over and the tears started to fall

"I'm sorry, Tsukasa" He said wiping tears with his shoulder "And you too, Nene" He added, infusing on 50 unread text messages. Two days have passed Amane entered the house taking off his shoes

"I came back"

"Welcome back." Amane was kissed on both cheeks by Nene and Tsukasa Amane's eyes widened greatly, and his mouth formed an "o". In front of him he saw Tsukasa and Nene, next to each other, not arguing He quickly changed his face from surprised to stone and cold.

"Amane, we made up!"

"Should I believe you?" He was distrustful

"Yes!!" Both of you "We understood our mistakes," said Nene

"Yes Yes!!" Tsukasa confirmed with his head Amane ran to them and hugged them both "I'm so happy. I love you both!"

"We too" Tsukasa and Nene kept their word and made up. After all, Amane could breathe a sigh of relief, from time to time they teased each other and teased each other, but it was like brother and sister, there was no obsession at all.

#jibaku shounen hanako kun #toilet bound hanako kun #jibaku shonen hanako kun #yugi amane #amane yugi #hanako kun #love of my life #yugi tsukasa #tsukasa yugi #nene yashiro #yashiro nene #myfanfics #jshk fanfics

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synonymroll648 · 2 years

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do you have any tips for writing emotions for someone who doesn’t know how to name the ones she’s feeling *cough* me *cough*

i can’t actually write good metaphors for emotions, literally the only ones i can think of are super overused and have lost most of their meaning. i can’t just make every character numb and then have an emotional breakdown which is the only thing i know how to write at the moment

it’s late i’m editing and i’m frustrated and this is always how editing goes. it’s just a loop of how the hell do you write emotions!?

ok. so. let's go into, like, the two essential tips for writing emotions. the bare bones of what i do when writing them. with lots of elaboration on what they are and examples and stuff.

first things first, pull from your gut. think of how you would feel in the situation you're writing. you might not have the same personality as the character(s) you're writing, but there are common experiences humanity is rooted in that you can draw on and project and twist to fit the scene.

for example, say two characters just finished having a big fight in the pouring rain. maybe that's never happened to you, and ik it's never happened to me, but i think that if i were in that situation i might wanna go somewhere warm. because soaking in the rain after an emotionally draining interaction kinda makes you wanna huddle up by a fire, y'know? so maybe i make the characters go huddle up by a fire. (that solution would be projecting.) or maybe a fire isn't a reasonable solution in this context, so i have them go sit in a car with the heater on instead. (this solution would be twisting my projection to make it fit the scene.)

secondly, the reason why i told you 'you need metaphors for emotions in your writing' is because of a writing practice you've probably heard of before: show, don't tell. just as a refresher, i'm gonna put it out there that the purpose of this technique is to rely on subtext to tell the story. here the reason why subtextual storytelling is often way more engrossing to read - it's because we, as humans, always have to draw on subtext to make conclusions in real life. any character that has logical processing abilities and/or emotions follows this rule too.

but when you're writing, just think of what emotion your character is feeling, and then think of how experiencing that emotion would feel through the five senses. is their nose burning? are their cheeks hot? etc.

showing instead of telling can emerge through concrete details or abstract details, which basically comes down to, do i want to use metaphors and other fancy literary devices to convey something, or do i want to lay it cut and dry for the reader? learn to use both in your writing. too much of either is either going to get boring (too much concrete), or confusing (too much abstract).

examples of concrete vs abstract details just to make it clear what i'm talking about:

there was a well-loved green chair in the middle of the room. almost immediately, i decided i hated the color. (concrete.)

in the middle of the room, there was a cozy chair - i couldn't tell if the color reminded me more of the jealousy turning my winning smile into a frown, or the money i needed so badly. either way, my stomach soured at the sight of it. (abstract.)

concrete details can be more plain than my example, and abstract details can be more... out there. than my example. the best instance i can give of abstract details being taken too far was when a classmate of mine described the sky in a picture to be like oompa loompas and for rain to be like orphan tears. that's a level of abstract that's distracting and confusing. the balancing act of using abstract details and concrete details to convey emotion comes down to, is the emotion something you want to lay out plainly for the reader, or something you want them to mull over?

sometimes, a combo can pack a nice punch. my favorite formula to pull this off is abstract details + concrete explanation and vice versa. i apologize for the fact that the first example i can think of for this is describing the little details of a character's loved one that feel off and then ending with a concrete explanation of, they were dead.

there's a lot nicer ways to do this, but uh. it is early in the morning and i just wrote an essay before even getting out of bed. so i'm gonna stop here, because these are my essentials. lmk if anything didn't make sense, i'd be happy to try and clarify stuff for you.

#ask #the-abandoned-schoolbus #hmmm. to tag as writing advice or to not break containment #ultimately i'm just gonna let this sit in my ask and frizzle tags and if my peeps decide to make it breach containment #then i guess i'll try to survive #and hope the writing advice doesn't suck in terms of explanation

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stevensavage · 1 year

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Dungeons and Marios: Honor Among Brothers

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, Steve's Tumblr, and Pillowfort. Find out more at my newsletter, and all my social media at my linktr.ee)

I consider the films Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and the Super Mario Brothers movie to be successes as good films. I found them both enjoyable, but also find that both of them work because the people behind them made similar choices. There’s a lot of lessons there, and you know me, I’m definitely going to write it down.

Let me pause to note I do not consider them to be of equal quality. The Dungeons and Dragons movie is fun, emotionally resonant, and both grand yet very human. The Super Mario Brothers film is a fun romp with some clever choices, but not as deep. But the lessons - even where they both don’t succeed - are illustrative.

So how did two different films do same things, let’s take a look. There are of course spoilers here, so here there be dragons (or Koopas).

Be Fun and Entertaining

Both movies are actually fun. There’s action, there’s jokes, there’s actors and actresses giving it their all. I had a good time at both. Super Mario Brothers was so snappy and tight I didn’t even take a break.

Fun can be forgotten, especially when you already have other things on your mind like adaption. But you have to give people a reason to pay attention beyond “hey I adapted this.” Be it Chris Pine being a charisma bomb or a brain-twisting Mario scene where the infamous Rainbow Road is realized, give people a reason to enjoy it.

You can also tell people enjoyed making them, both have a joy to them. Which probably says a lot about why they work as well.

Don’t Run Away From What You Are

The Dungeons and Dragons film is just like the games - not the books. A group of confused dumbasses get into trouble and save the day. It feels like a gaming session, right down to bad luck and unwise choices.

The Super Mario Brothers movie is colorful, bright, and strange. There are moments it has homages to the games and gameplay, but outside of those it runs on a kind of game logic. It feels like a game and doesn’t apologize at all.

This is what people came for. I do not come wanting an explanation of Mordenkainen’s magic or how to use a Fire Flower. I want to see hypercompetent stupidity and someone yelling “wahoo” he stomps on evil turtles. And I got it.

Use It But Don’t Overexplain

Dungeons and Dragons brings decades of history, rules, rules changes, rules arguments, novels, adaptions, and more. What do you do with that? Well, it’s raw material but you tell a story first - ten minutes of rules are boring but the sorcerer Simon struggling to “attune” to a magical item is interesting because it’s about a person.

Meanwhile the Mario film inherits a disjointed series of games and events without an exact timeline or even consistency. The film takes a pile of stuff and forges it into a setting but also doesn’t explain it much. Power ups just exist - what matters is how you use them. An industro-solarpunk kingdom of apes just exist - what matters is if you can make them allies. Tell a story - besides people already bought into the premise of plumbers teleported to this cartoony realm anyway.

The stuff you adapt is fuel for an actual story.

Get A Cast That Works

Want a good adaption? Get a cast that will embrace the roles and bring things to life so people feel and enjoy the film. Even the best script is nothing without the right cast.

Dungeons and Dragons cast is stellar. It’s like a movie filled with leads that just happens to center on Chris Pine’s bard, Edgin. From the humor to the pathos, the cast brings you into the film. A few characters might have been used better or given more depth, but everyone used what they got and then some.

Super Mario mostly does the same thing. Jack Black owns his role as Bowser and brings pathos to the character (more later). Anya Taylor-Joys Princess Peach is fantastic, badass, and charming enough she’s sort of the main character at times. Charlie Day is terribly underused as Luigi, but clearly brought is A game. I could compliment others, but you get the idea. The film is inherently ridiculous but the cast is game, as it were.

Now Chris Pratt is the elephant in the room. Regarding his problematic statements, I looked into them for this article, and it appears he’s not bigoted, but is not always thoughtful or good at reading a situation. Regarding his acting, he can “phone it in” but can really shine when he sinks his teeth into a role.

That being said, his Mairo performance was extremely generic. It was enough to move things along and make Mario human, but he didn’t add anything to the role. Whether it’s his fault or the scriptwriters, I’m not sure. I also noticed the animators did some amazing expression work with Bowser and Peach and wondered if they were more restrained with Mario.

Either way, lesson learned - get a cast that’s good and let them go.

Give Us Real Emotional Arcs

The Dungeons and Dragons movie brought tears to my eyes, once during That Scene at the end (if you saw it, you know), and once afterwards when I realized how I related to a character’s speech. The movie has multiple emotional arcs that bring it to life, give characters reasons to do things, and help you connect.

This is not consistent among the cast or characters, and I blame the script. It’s a perfectly fine script, but a few more scenes could have done wonders. But what is there is good.

Believe it or not Super Mario Brothers does this too, multiple times. In fact, there’s a scene where Mario and his original nemesis Donkey Kong find out they’re a lot alike. When a cartoon plumber and a big monkey share parallel emotions, you’ve done something right.

However Super Mario Brothers also doesn’t dive into the emotional arcs as well as Dungeons and Dragons and is poorer for it. There’s some unused potential, from Mario feeling defensive about Luigi to Princess Peach’s isolation as a lone human in her world. There’s unexplored character motivations, such as Toad’s heroic drive that differentiates him from his fellows. I feel there’s 5-10 minutes of cut footage that made it a better movie.

But the lessons stay the same. In fact . . .

Give Us Relatable Villains

Hugh Grant, playing con-man Forge charms his way through the Dungeons and Dragons movie in a way only he could. Daisy Head’s creepy sorceress Sofina is something out of a horror film, and you believe she’d like nothing more to murder the idiots surrounding her. Both get scenes that aren’t just villainy but humanity - Forge finds a joy in adoptive fatherhood, and Sofina snaps over how annoying Forge is in a relatable way.

This is great, they’re enjoyable. They get human moments - but only the acting covers the fact they’re otherwise paper-thin characters. Both could have shown more depth with just a few tweaks or an extra scene or two. The actors clearly work with what they have, but there could have been more.

Meanwhile let me commit blasphemy - Jack Black’s Bowser in Super Mario not only gets to be relatable, his character is better handled than the villains in Dungeons and Dragons.

Yes I went there.

Black’s Bowser is a terrifying warlord and a hopeless romantic. Madly in love with Princess Peach, he hopes to impress her and marry her instead of conquering her kingdom (sort of). Throw in Black’s performance with excellent animation, and Bowser becomes sympathetic, a kind of ridiculously Shakespearean character of extremes. If anything, I felt there was more to explore.

Both films add villains with some understandable traits. Super Mario does it better. Forge and Sofina aren’t interesting enough on their own, but Black’s Bowser feels like he could carry an entire film.

Do A Film Not A Preview

As I’ve said before, I will compliment the Marvel movies on sheer competency. However, I’m also extremely tired that the interlinked nature of stories seems to “wash out” the films. There’s that need to keep the mega-franchise going, and there’s a certain “safety” in choices that wears thin. Make something that stands on its own – like these films!

Dungeons and Dragons and Super Mario Brothers are delightfully standalone. They do their job, they deliver. Sure you may care due to the games - in fact it’s the only reason to care about Super Mario Brothers. But both stand on their own quite well and in a satisfying manner.

There’s just that thrill of being able to “close the book” and move on with each. Both deserve sequels of some kind, but its nice to see them deliver and be done. It helps the people making them focus, and it means each film is reliably complete.

In Conclusion

So there you have it. Both of these adaptions based on games, both wildly different, really succeed due to the same choices. Embrace what you do, don’t overexplain, get the right cast and real emotional arcs we feel. That’s it.

It feels unnecessary to explain this, but maybe the fact I feel this says volumes about the poor media I’ve seen - and how I enjoyed these two pieces. Let’s learn from them, and maybe apply these lessons to things beyond giant big budget movies.

Steven Savage

www.StevenSavage.com

www.InformoTron.com

#super mario brothers #dungeons and dragons #super mario brothers movie #dungeons and dragons movie #analysis #adaption #culture #media #jack black #chris pine

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aquariansarehumanitarians · 2 years

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Ramuda Amemura Chart Analysis

For each post, I’m gonna chart with a character’s big three (Sun, Moon, and Rising) because these are the most important aspects of one’s chart. After that, I’ll talk about the most interesting aspects of the chart outside of the big three. I’ll do relationship analysis separately because otherwise I’ll go insane and these will be WAY too long.

The Sun sign represents the ego; who we are at the core. This is why when somebody asks for your sign — this is the one you given them.

The Moon sign represents one’s deep emotions, how they choose to express (or not express them), and what makes us feel comforted.

The Rising sign represents the ‘mask’ that somebody wears. Or perhaps more fully put, it’s the impression that somebody gets upon meeting you for the first time. Of course, this can also play into our own self-image as well.

Now that those explanations are out of the way, let’s start with Ramuda’s chart:

For Ramuda, I honestly didn’t know what I wanted to do for his birth time? And then I was like “oh wait, what if I literally use a random number generator LMAO”

It gave me 736 (out of 2359) and tbh it worked out really well for Ramuda?? I’m honestly surprised. Ramuda is an Aquarius Sun, Scorpio Moon, Pisces Rising.

(More below the cut so I don’t clog the tags)

PISCES RISING: Pisces is a water sign, which means it’s an emotionally based sign. Pisces in particular is known for being intuitive, artistic, dreamy, and open-minded. Because of this, Pisces people are very adept when it comes to creative matters, especially in terms of visual mediums (like fashion design) or music (like the division rap battles). Often, they give off the energy that they are to be protected because Pisces is stereotypically called the crybaby of the zodiac due to their strong emotions (see also: Jyushi, a Pisces Moon). Unlike the other two water signs (Cancer and Scorpio) Pisces is more vulnerable about their emotions. They like to learn about other people, and so they’re willing to share their experiences and emotions to connect with them. They can often be alluring to other people because they give off the impression that there’s more to them than meets the eye.

I think Pisces rising is an interesting fit for Ramuda because Pisces people are usually deeply empathetic (sometimes to a fault), which is something that we see Ramuda struggle with at times. However, I think it fits the way that Ramuda wants to be perceived by others: He’s (at times) overly friendly, picks up on others’ intentions quickly, and is very emotionally expressive in order to try and gain the sympathy of others. When he decides to take control of his life and become a better person, I think we see the more evolved form of Pisces come out: Empathy for others, wanting to better himself as a person, and desire to dig deeper into deeper, subconscious issues. Another thing that we see happen here which is typical of someone with Pisces energy is that Ramuda equates self-sacrificing with repentance for his actions, likely because he’s overwhelmed by his own feelings of guilt (telling others they can “kill him” if they want, telling Jakurai he shouldn’t exist, etc).

AQUARIUS SUN: Aquarius is an air sign (I know, confusing). Air signs are typically quick-witted, logical, and animated, though it varies depending on what other energies are in the chart. Aquarius is frequently categorized as being both a free spirit and an eccentric. However, in contrast to the other air signs, Aquarius is more aloof. They are frequently bored by the world around them and feel the need to do things differently from the crowd. Aquarius is the quintessential ‘quirky’ sign of the zodiac, and their toxic trait is that they push others away with the assumption that nobody else can understand their specific brand of weirdness. They then wallow in their own loneliness. (I’m an Aquarius, so I’m allowed to say this LOL.) However, Aquarians are also particularly bright. They are known for rejecting the status quo and doing things their own way, so they are frequently innovators. They are also particularly good at coming up with bold and new ideas, as their sign is associated with the planet of epiphanies (Uranus). Aquarians are also usually humanitarians (username origin unlocked lol); deeply invested in bettering the world for all people. The Aquarius Sun placement is actually in “detriment”, which means the energy of the planet and the energy of the sign are opposites, so Aquarius Sun can be an uncomfortable placement to have. Furthermore, as an intellect-based air sign, they are a bit distanced from their emotions. They need to understand why something is happening in order to fully accept it, so they tend to intellectualize their feelings and interactions with others.

I feel like this placement is a pretty good read on Ramuda’s character and who he is at his core. On the one hand, Aquarius is aloof, calculating, and good at idea development. They can be friendly, but they’re a little hard to fully read because they often see no need to express how they are truly feeling. This is what I like to describe as the Ramuda’s ‘programmed in’ traits. It’s part of him because it’s what he was ‘born to be’; it’s how he was made by Rei and Chuuoku. Of course, I think it’s important to note that this doesn’t make this part of Ramuda any more or less real. He still has these traits, regardless of whether he’s being controlled by Chuuoku or not. He just gets to decide what to do with them for himself now.

Simultaneously, Aquarius is also rebellious, freedom-seeking, eccentric, and humanitarian. They ultimately want what is good for others on a larger scale. We can see that all of these things are also true for Ramuda. He ultimately rebels against Chuuoku when their orders don’t suit him, he has a desire to be free and decide what to do with his life for himself, his fashion sense and designs are all rather quirky and colorful (also see: Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, another Aquarius Sun with quirky, bright fashion sense), his peers tend to regard him as a bit “weird”, and when left to his own devices, Ramuda tends to choose the kind thing to do (ex: returning Amanda to the temple grounds after he steals her, choosing to save Gentaro and Dice over running away and saving himself, coming clean to Kuuko and Sasara and attempting to make amends, apologizing to Jakurai, etc.).

The placement of Ramuda’s Sun (12th house) is also important here. The 12th house is the house of self-destruction, sacrifice, and the deep unconscious. In a way, this is also how Chuuoku becomes so attached to Ramuda’s sun, because all they don’t expect Ramuda to have a ‘self’ in the first place. All they desire is for him to be a tool and then, later, a sacrifice. The self-destructive tendencies of the 12th house also affect Ramuda’s Sun Sign. We can see that before he has the chance to safely consider what the purpose of his life might be that he pushes away anybody who comes close to uncovering it, therefore also pushing away anyone who might have potentially been able to help him.

In terms of the deep unconscious, something that is common with Sun in the 12th house individuals is that they need time alone in order to truly reflect and become more self-aware. We can see this to be true with Ramuda, only really deeply reflecting on his situation and the purpose of his life when he is alone. This is in direct contrast to Gentaro, who uses his friends almost as a mirror to better understand his own shortcomings. Of course, Ramuda’s friends are also a central part of his journey and struggle to find purpose and happiness, but it isn’t until Ramuda is fully alone that he can truly start to internalize what he’s learned about himself, as well as his wants and needs.

SCORPIO MOON: This is, quite frankly, the CRUX of Ramuda’s chart. Perhaps more than anything else here. Scorpio is a complicated sign to say the least. It’s a water sign, so it is deeply emotional. Actually, I would argue that Scorpio has the most intense emotions out of the whole zodiac. They’re very good at seeing through people because they’re very intuitive, and they can use this information both to help and to harm others. I think the Pisces Rising to Scorpio Moon dynamic actually represents the light and dark sides of Ramuda really well. Both are very emotionally charged, but Pisces has a kind of curious and kind energy to it whereas Scorpio has a decidedly dark energy to it. It sends the message, “don’t get too close, or you’ll get stung,” much like the scorpion itself. This is because Scorpio DEEP seated trust issues which often happen as a result of intense trauma (see also: Sasara and Samatoki, two Scorpio Suns). They’re almost like a water sign that doesn’t want you to know they’re a water sign, because they fear that their own emotions will be used against them (much like they are able to do with other people). They keep their emotions under wraps and wait for proof that they can trust you before they really open up (ex: Ramuda continuing to push Dice and Gentaro away until the moment they come to save his life, pushing Jakurai away when he says he’ll save him). Once they trust you, they’re loyal for life and they expect the same from you. They take any form of hurt or betrayal extremely seriously, regardless of the intention, and they break more easily than the front they put up would have you believe. Scorpio Moon people are also incredibly good at having dirt on absolutely everybody. Whether they come off that way or not, they’re nosy motherfuckers who just naturally good detective skills. They always have ‘sources’ on people (just in case), though it isn’t always with ill intent. (And yes, Jyuto also has a Scorpio Moon LOL).

Scorpio Moon can be a particularly hard placement to have because it is in what astrologers call “fall”. As opposed to detriment (which is just like, uncomfy feeling), fall is basically an active disadvantage. It’s always my perspective that there are no ‘bad’ placements in astrology. It’s all about finding your weaknesses and strengths and using those to better yourself. Scorpio Moon is in fall here because it creates a self-sabotaging cycle that can be really hard to break out of unless it is actively worked on (which Ramuda really hasn’t had a chance to do since he’s been in survival mode up until now). On the one hand, his moon makes him a liability for the people who determine whether he gets to live or die. On the other hand, his paranoia about hiding this truth drives away anyone who would potentially help him. And this betrayal forces Ramuda to build up another wall and to believe that what Chuuoku tells him about his own emotions is actually true. That’s why Gentaro and Dice are SO important here. They help him break that cycle and change his world view a little bit.

Ramuda’s Scorpio Moon is particularly intense for a few reasons. The first of which is that it’s in the 8th house. As I’ve mentioned in previous installments of this series, the 8th house represents areas of life that are taboo, secrets, or otherwise hidden within. So Ramuda’s emotions are taboo to himself, likely because of the constant insistence from the people in charge of him that his emotions are a “flaw” or a “defect”. The 8th house is also ruled by Scorpio, which basically doubles the power of this placement. It’s super intense, and it’s conjunct with his Pluto in Scorpio in the 8th house (we’ll talk more about that later) which means the most paranoid and distrustful part of him is directly connected to his intense emotional state. It’s not necessarily a recipe for success? However, this also means that once somebody has earned his trust, he becomes bonded to them for life. Scorpio is a very transformative sign that implies a kind of trial-by-fire that Ramuda has to endure. I like to think of a Phoenix rising from the ashes a little bit? In the long run, overcoming this is going to make Ramuda into a really strong person! I’m looking forward to seeing where the narrative takes him from here!

OTHER INTERESTING PARTS OF RAMUDA’S CHART:

ARIES VENUS IN THE FIRST HOUSE: Aries is a very fiery and passionate sign, but they don’t like to sit still for too long. They are constantly moving onto the next thing. As a result, Aries Venus (planet of love and affection) individuals can sometimes like the chase more than the idea of a relationship itself. They are prone to move on to new lovers and new experiences, but they are very passionate and fun lovers. I think this matches up really well with the playboy image that he’s created for himself: Making it clear that he’s here for a good time not a long time LOL

The first house is the house of self and self-image. Since Ramuda struggles with this, we can see that the house is mostly empty. However, Venus being here lines up with what he know about Ramuda: Namely that the playboy persona/lifestyle was something he chose for himself, and therefore the only thing that he feels like he really knows about himself. This might be why he defaults to this a fair portion of the time.

SCORPIO PLUTO IN THE 8TH HOUSE/ PLUTO CONJUNCT MOON: I talked about this briefly in Gentaro’s relationship analysis, but I’ll rehash the Pluto in the 8th house stuff here because it’s particularly important for Ramuda as a character. Pluto is the planet of power dynamics (i.e. where you feel powerful and powerless), secrets, and spiritual death/rebirth. It can represent the start of a difficult journey that changes you as a person, or a big life lesson that needs to be learned. It can also represent a big secret that needs to be hidden. I’ve already described both Scorpio and the 8th house above. The thing about the combination of these three things is that they all share the same energy. Certain houses and planets in astrology are “ruled” by specific signs, and Scorpio happens to rule both Pluto and the 8th house. What this means is that the energy of this placement happens threefold, and it becomes supercharged. So Ramuda’s secret is EXTRA big and he’s EXTRA worried about it potentially getting out.

Then you have the conjunct with his moon. In very basic terms, a conjunct in astrology happens when certain celestial bodies are very close to each other in a person’s chart. When this happens, the energies of the bodies combine and they act together instead of independently. So basically, this Scorpio Pluto placement fuses with Ramuda’s emotional state. So whatever I wrote about Ramuda’s Scorpio Moon being intense? Just like, DOUBLE that.

SUN CONJUNCT SATURN: Saturn is a planet that represents restrictions and rules. Since it’s tied to his Sun Sign, this is likely why Ramuda has such a hard time disobeying authority until Gentaro and Dice come in. His more aloof sun and the authoritarian Saturn kind of work together in that regard. It’s very hard for him to break from orders because that’s literally tied to his sense of self.

SUN SQUARE MOON: This is a really important aspect for Ramuda too! Squares, like conjuncts, are another aspect in astrology. However unlike conjuncts, squares indicate tension between two energies. They represent an inner conflict that you have to put in conscious work to resolve. Ramuda happens to have a conflict between two MAJOR parts of himself: His Sun (the “self/ego” sign) and his Moon (“the emotions/comfort” sign). Part of Ramuda’s central conflict is trying to figure out what his life is for and who he is now that he’s no longer a Chuuoku agent. This means learning how to marry these two conflicting parts of himself.

NORTH NODE IN THE 9TH HOUSE: Every chart has what are called North and South Nodes. The South Node represents the karmic debts and skills that you brought with you from your previous life/lives into this life. The North Node represents what you are karmically meant to achieve in this life. Ramuda’s North Node in particular is in Sagittarius in the 9th house. The 9th house represents philosophy and searching for higher meaning in life, and Sagittarius is a sign that is very optimistic, honest, and adventurous. What we can glean from this is that Ramuda’s karmic purpose in this life is to find purpose. It’s to have a grand adventure with his friends and become more optimistic about life. It’s a really sweet sentiment.

INTERCEPTS AND DUPLICATES: Okay, last one! Sometimes in a chart we have what are called intercepts. Essentially what that means is that a sign gets completely engulfed in one of the houses, and that can indicate that this was an area of life that either wasn’t encouraged (passively) or was discouraged (actively) in this person’s life. The amount that this effects a person usually depends on how many celestial bodies are in said house. For Ramuda, the 1st house (self and self-image) and the 7th house (interpersonal relationships) are intercepted, so we can infer that these areas of Ramuda’s life were affected. Whenever there are intercepts in a person’s chart, there are also duplicates. Duplicates are basically the exact opposite of intercepts. Instead of a specific sign being swallowed up by a house, it rules two houses (aka, it has two spokes in the sign instead of just one). Ramuda has duplicates in the 2nd house (what belongs to you, mostly physical) and the 8th house (taboos, secrets, and the hidden). So we can determine that Ramuda’s deep emotions and possessions (see: Empty Candy/Fling Posse Inc.) can actually be used as strengths to help Ramuda to develop the areas in the 1st and 7th houses!

#THIS WAS FUN #I WILL DO THE RELATIONSHIP ONE SOON #IDK IF IT WILL BE TONIGHT #I HOPE YOU ALL LIKE THESE POSTS #hypmic spoilers #hypmic astrology #ramuda amemura #hypmic #hypnosis microphone #fling posse

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schafpudel · 4 months

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Epidemiology of the Raven's Blood

Part 0: Prologue

At the same time, Princess Tutu's meta-fictional conceit does give us some wiggle room to borrow the Doylist understanding and smuggle it back into a Watsonian explanation. So...

Part 1: Lay All Your Love On Me

Did you know rabies induces spasms of fear and hallucinations in its victims, to get them to bite? That the characteristic fear of water is caused by the virus tightening its victims throats if they even think of drinking, all to the end of preventing the miserable animal from washing away its contagion-rich saliva? It presses levers and pushes buttons of abject misery on the control panel of the animal, on its quest to get what it wants.

One symptom of the Raven’s blood illustrated by Mytho’s progression that fascinates me is pain. This is not simply a magic juice that makes you evil; it is a sickness.

Let’s look at the the scene in episode 19, where Kraehe dances a pas-de-deux with (a clearly pained, unwilling, and unhappy) Mytho to try and convince him to “give in” to the Raven’s Blood and become her prince. She succeeds, causing Mytho to become possessed by Raven!Mytho, who immediately retaliates that he’s owed her love as a prince and that she should love him more, and him alone. (Strange, as Kraehe/Rue has never once indicated that she has any romantic feelings towards anyone else at all…)

What’s odd is what happens immediately after this point. Mytho’s eyes widen, as if what he’s just said has triggered some kind of… realization. We then see him tremble and close his eyes as they shift from pink to gold and back, indicating – as always – either a struggle between Raven!Mytho and “the Real Mytho,”or a struggle by Mytho against the Raven’s blood influence. (It often seems the show isn’t entirely sure whether to treat Raven!Mytho is a corrupted mental state and therefore part of Mytho, or as an intrusive raven persona possessing an agency-less Mytho’s body against his will.)

Mytho, once again under the blood’s control, pushes Kraehe away and stumbles off, clutching himself in a self-hug as he mutters about not having enough love. The crows rejoice as Kraehe looks on sadly.

This is clearly, from context, not just about Raven!Mytho needing to acquire love for sacrifices, because demanding more love from Kraehe would not accomplish that goal. He feels like he needs love, exclusively directed at him, from as many sources as possible. Viscerally, like a hunger or an addiction. And it hurts. The audience is invited to share Rue’s concern and sadness at this pitiful sight.

(This narrative choice *gets* at me a little, because we are not normally meant to sympathize with Raven!Mytho. By and large, he is treated as an unambiguously evil Other that has usurped the “real” Mytho’s body and identity. Yet here, he elicits pity. The monster in the prince is pitiful.)

Here’s the same body language earlier, in episode 15, as Raven!Mytho meets Pique to sacrifice her:

Saying he needs her love immediately reads as an act of manipulation: “only you can give me what I need” as emotional priming for the ritual phrase that will turn her into a willing sacrifice. It also reads as simply a statement that he needs her for the purpose of the sacrifice. (It is, of course, able to be said openly because Pique does not have the context to know this, and accordingly run the fuck away.)

But going back after episode 19, this moment (and several others, on a rewatch) feels a little... re-contextualized. All the above is still true, yes. But it also seems that Raven’s Blood Mytho really does feel like he needs other people’s love, on a visceral, gnawing level.

And the Raven eats love.

'I'm in control of the situation', Raven!Mytho said, sweating, "I'm not getting owned,"

If a real parasite did this - if, say, there was some animal that rewired its victims brains in such a way that they could only feel relief from pain when taking steps towards feeding it or its young - it would be internet famous for its insidiousness. Can't you imagine? There'd be a Bogleech.com article and everything.

As Mytho’s condition progresses towards its final stage from episode 21 onwards, we see these feelings explicitly infect the psyche of Mytho further, shown physically trembling as he describes his disorientation and confusion:

By the end of episode 23, Mytho's... condition has run its full course. Yet the pain continues, and it only gets more obvious that these are spasms of literal, physical pain. In episode 24, Mytho shudders in pain as he screams, clutches his chest, does some agitated fouettés, bows over in pain again, and then jumps out the door as he begs for somebody, anybody to dance with him.

We also get confirmation that the physical pain is accompanied by emotional pain, such as intensified feelings of loneliness:

(And, judging from other scenes, as well as Rue's behavior, intensified jealousy too.)

But Mytho cannot get anyone to dance with him, in this state.

(Saying the Raven "awakened" him, in episode 19 - did he mean the suite of demonic powers that the Raven's Blood has granted him? Did he mean the uncharacteristic charisma, eloquence, and manipulative cunning that burned in him like a fever while under its power? Those boons were all just to make it easier for him to seduce prey to feed the Raven. He loses them all once he's outlived that purpose.)

(No need for the infected slowly lure prey in with a silvered tongue and honeyed charms when they have a big strong beak to peck hearts out of chest, after all.)

He is no longer useful as a lure for prey.

His only remaining use to the Raven is as food himself.

Part 2: Serving Your Heart On A Platter

(In its own post on account of the image limit.)

For now, though, our conclusions:

1. Mytho's life is terrible. It is known.

2. Rue probably suffers from magically and emotionally induced chronic pain!!! and has her entire life!!!

Thanks for coming to my Lecture. See you next time for Part 2.

#princess tutu

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