#is he still at polygon? no clue | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

farolero-posting · 8 months

Text

Waiting

Summary: Rue stays by her tree, waiting for the right chance to set things right. Cedric makes company.

Words: 1,895

(full work under the cut)

The first time, the end was instant.

The tree Rue sat against was among the first things to corrupt. Its leaves lost their texture and collision, becoming flat oval disks that wouldn't react to her touch. Soon, the disks became simpler polygons, and in no more than a minute, the room she hid in was only a map of coordinates, with barely enough capacity to support her.

If it wasn’t because this outcome had been one of the possibilities that her creator had accounted for, she would likely have disappeared along with the rest of the world. Non-generated rooms were not easy to navigate, however. While the silhouettes of rooms were preserved, and lines were drawn to define each chunk of space, any of the landmarks that would have given her a sense of direction were gone.

Perhaps all that was left was to wait. Wait for someone beyond the bounds of the world to find the clues. It was unwise to focus her motivation on events that may never take place, but perhaps the eventual full shutdown of the world would give her the mercy of not thinking at all.

If she thought again, at some point in the future, then it would be a confirmation that a path may be possible. That a future for her exists, despite everything.

Maybe she —the one that she was before this world— felt this way when her time came.

She thought of the other two. Cedric was placed in one of the apartment buildings at the top. As eager as he was to set the plan in motion, it wasn’t safe to do so yet. She missed his presence. At the very least, they could keep each other company…

Prototype, meanwhile, was inside the deep mines, waiting for the messiah to find their way inside. He was placed with a back-up power cell that would keep him functional while the Barrens’ generator was empty. Most of his key memories were removed, as an extra layer of safety from corruption. She knew he would still recognize them if contacted, but she was unsure of how much of the situation he was aware of in that state.

She curled up by the tree, doing her best not to think.

She woke up in a world that was reconstructed as it was at the start. Her tree sat on its usual location, its leaves casting a slight shadow on her.

She… woke up! She stretched her legs, looking around her as if to make sure this was real… as real as anything could be, in this situation.

She felt her energy renewed, as if her body had forgotten the waiting and wandering around it had done before. Her mind remembered, however, as her memories persisted despite the system’s reset. It confirmed the realness of her self. The rough surface of the tree was also as real as it could be, just as she remembered it.

Father put a lot of attention on the details. He would make the plan work out, she could trust him.

When the messiah passed by, She was ready to get in motion. She spoke to the child and the one watching over them equally.

“So you found a way back after all.”

The savior raised an eyebrow. “Eh? But I've never been here before…”

“That means..” Rue chose her next words carefully, not wanting to concern them with the implications that were running on her head. “Have you… met the others?”

“Others? You’re the only fox I’ve seen…” The child tried to make sense of her words.

They were not ready.

Rue looked down, the image of her brothers waiting without knowing what to do on the back of her mind. “It’s not time:” She sentenced, then added: “We will meet again,” directed at the one watching.

The messiah left soon after that, continuing on their journey.

Rue wouldn’t stay put this time, however.

She walked out of her spot, eyes looking for the crack on the walls that she used to find her position. She made a turn to the south, reaching the elevator in a few minutes. She tried reaching for the button, using boxes left by a delivery robot nearby.

Before she could reach the panel, the doors slid open, a familiar voice startling her.

“Rue? I wasn’t expecting you to be here!”

“Cedric! You’re here? Is everything alright?”

“Uh… oh…” The boy placed his hand on his chest, taking a deep breath as he tried to form a sentence. “Well I… I wanted to check on you. Since…”

“I know, I was actually thinking of doing the same thing.” She sat on the top of the box pile, her eyes fixed on her brother. “I didn’t want you to be so exposed.”

“Rue, I’m fine. This area needs to stay anomaly-free. Besides, with the messiah here the rate is slower. You and Proto already make enough sacrifices to keep us all safe as it is. I can take responsibility.”

Rue sighed, “I know I can’t stop you,” she conceded. The fox leaped down, circling around Cedric. “We should go to my place, don’t you think?”

“I suppose that’s a good idea.”

“Follow my lead then.”

Rue walked around the simulated streets at a slow pace, her eyes taking a close look at the details of the neighboring buildings. The area didn’t have a lot of residential buildings, but it didn’t make them any less interesting to look at. The streets were mostly empty at the moment, with most of the residents inside the buildings. Rue wondered if they were generated at all or if the World Machine was saving on resources.

Maybe her father wanted to keep as many people safe as possible.

When they reached the tree, Cedric sat down by the roots, carefully setting a leather bag he carried on the ground. Rue sat in front of him, her tail curling up around her.

She spoke first:

“I always have faith in our father’s ideas, but I was still worried about not being able to return,” Rue confessed, looking down. “I still wish that this time would have been the successful run.”

“Were you here when it… You know.” Cedric averted her gaze, tugging at the bag as he fidgeted,

“I was. I knew any of the two scenarios could happen, so I just focused on waiting for it.”

“I was reading when the choice was made”, Cedric commented. “It’s the only thing I could think of doing to pass the time.”

“Was it one of our father’s books?”

“Yes. One of his last travel logs. It was about the Barrens.” He pulled out a thin book with a clover on the cover, titled “Industrial zones and their interaction with nature”.

“Is that the only one you brought?” Rue inched closer to get a better look on the boy’s bag.

“Not really. I have one for you too, if you wish. I thought you would like to have something to read for.. however long we have left in this iteration.” He took out a second book, titled “A hundred interviews, a hundred lives”. He set it on his legs. ”Here, give it a look.”

Rue chuckled, content. “You knew I would like that one, didn’t you? It’s very kind of you”

“I… thanks? It was just a quick idea.” He shrugged.

“Cedric?” Rue’s eyes were locked on his face.

“Y-yeah?”

“Did it… scare you? The corruption.”

“Umm… it’s nothing to worry about.”

“It’s fine, I won’t push it.” Rue’s ears moved down. “I wasn’t scared, personally. I guess I was just a little… disappointed, but resigned.”

“I can see why they did it… As far as we know, it could have been an effective way to let the messiah go home.”

“It’s true… but they’re back now, and the session was rebooted, so that doesn’t matter much anymore. The restriction is over.”

“Did you… already meet the messiah?” Cedric asked.

“I did, in both iterations. They didn’t know what I was talking about, so I assume that for now their guide is sticking to the protocol.”

“What are they… like?”

“They’re a child, Cedric. They may be around half your age.”

“O-oh. I wasn’t expecting that. I can understand the choice better now… I wouldn’t want to put someone like them at risk. Their world must be so much safer…”

“That’s a possibility, yeah.”

“Did you get their name?”

“I didn’t… they never stay for long.” Rue closed her eyes, as if taking a mental note. “I’ll make sure to know the next time.”

“Hopefully, that’s when we will set the plan in motion. As long as they manage to find Proph— Proto.” Cedric looked down, eyeing one of the pages on the book he had marked down.

“Has he contacted you?” Rue tilted her head to the right, curious.

Cedric made a fist with his hand and then extended two fingers. “He sent a short message about seeing a glimpse of them, during the first iteration. And a second one during this iteration. He didn’t comment on the blackout, however.”

“I’m not surprised he didn’t…” Rue shook her head.

“I still hope he’s okay.”

“You can contact him too, can’t you? He removed most of his memories, but according to father, he should still be able to remember us. At the very least, we can let him know we’re here.”

“We shall attempt.”

Cedric took out a communication device, calibrated to connect to the mines. The signal wasn’t the clearest, and they had to be careful with what information they shared through it, but it was the only way to reach outside of the bounds of the map and avoid other signals disrupting them.

“Any message you would like to send?”

“That we saw the savior, and want to know if he is okay. That we are both doing well and we hope to meet again soon.”

“Huh, very concise.” He nodded as he wrote the message down. “I think that will have to do for now…”

They waited in silence for a minute, before Cedric’s device lit up with an answer. Cedric read it aloud:

“I am fine, nothing new to report. For now, all we can do is wait. We will meet again.” Cedric paused, catching his breath. “We will see the Sun be returned.”

Cedric flinched, wishing to add more, but knowing there wasn’t much any of them could say in this scenario.

“Ah… that makes sense.”

“Doesn’t that hurt the savior?”

“Not really… It binds them to the world but… I don’t think the programming will allow harm.” Then, Rue tensed. “Though, it will probably put us into a stasis…”

“I guess it’s true that all we can do is wait and hope for the next time.” Cedric looked to the side, watching a leaf fall by the corner of the room.

“Everything will work out, Cedric… We can do this.” Rue rested her head on his body, doing the closest approximation of a hug she knew of.

“If it doesn’t… at least we can still preserve these moments.” Cedric placed a hand on Rue’s head, looking up at the tree branches and the way they twisted above them.

“That we can.” Rue nodded, sitting by the boy’s side, returning to their books in a warm silence.

They could only wait, and hope.

#some rough writing for you #my writing #fic #rue #cedric #niko #i just wanted to finish some details akjsfhkasjf i had this written some time ago #really really wanna ramble about rue but this is like. the surface level of things #it was gonna be longer but i think this is enough

13 notes · View notes

mysticetus · 2 years

Note

I kinda wonder if cares player character originally had a different sprite or if the triangle head was always theirs.

Im guessing the red comes from the vase and the missing bit shows how rainer veiws them as incomplete

Not sure why the pyramid though. Obviously its from that one casket but i have no clue why that casket has it either

There are some parallel with linas party hat shape, both polygonal and spinning but still why a pyramid

definitely.

i mean, its a tetrahedron, specifically a 4-sided pyramid, as in all sides are triangles. as opposed to a 5-sided square pyramid, with a square base. three's seem to have significance in that the cycle repeated 3 times with 20-year gaps: 1977 (lina), 1997 (care), and 2017 (paul).

this is echoed in the ingame recordings list, which are on their third cycle through the gens at the start of paul's playthrough (the gens go from 1 to 15 and then loop back to 1, with the game 2.5 cycles in when paul picks it up. you can tell when he begins playing because it's saved to the memory card rather than the disk itself - paul's progress. he starts on gen 8, which is halfway between 1 and 15. though by the time we see the full list in 17, he's already completed the third cycle.)

there are also three emotional states, A B and NLM.

but why would care get the triangle if shes the "second" loop? the only connection i can make is how care's "ice block" seems to be made up of four tetrahedrons:

in the case of casket 2, the fact the tetrahedron is rotating between 3 sides could possibly represent looping of the 3 emotional states: A B NLM A B NLM A B NLM etc. rainer explicitly mentions a loop in the context of the states. perhaps the rotation was left stagnant on an NLM state, like landing on a "they love me not" petal, and he wanted to get the rotation going again so care could live on. give a petal back, so to say.

i like what you mentioned about it reflecting lina's shape, because i never thought about that before but it makes a lot of sense to me. her shape is shown again and again throughout the game, present in the very first episode in even care and even shown on the wall in the unseen "work zone" level. if lina's shape is smooth-sided with no alternating faces as it rotates, then perhaps she is meant to be a whole and complete person who isnt bound by these states. or maybe rainer designed her his way because shes viewed as the ideal. returning to lina means smoothing out the faces. who knows.

#petscop #ask

20 notes · View notes

baileyboo2016 · 1 year

Text

*Link’s Awakening spoiler warning*

my mom got me links awakening when i was 16, and since i was playing animal crossing every day i didn’t bother to play it. then last week i decided to try it out after 2 years. long story short i got addicted to this game and i played it for multiple hours a day all week until i beat the game last night. (yes, i did the whole thing in 6 days! including a little help from the polygon walkthrough in the dungeons because i kept getting lost oopsies) anyway, i sorta knew what the ending would be like from the face key clue and i was reading fanfic that mentioned koholint island. (i hope this puts a read-more thing so ppl who haven’t played the game won’t be spoiled!)

the wind fish’s egg was fun (and a little frustrating lol). i had to use crazy tracy so i would have 2 rounds of hearts to make it through all the bosses. then it was finally time to wake up the fish. i had already said goodbye to the village and the people in it beforehand. when the fish woke up it said “but verily, it be the nature of dreams to end…” and i realized gulliver references this in animal crossing! anyway we awoke together, with me playing the instruments, and everything on the island disappeared. link woke up on a log out at sea with the island gone and only the wind fish left.

the ending to this game was literally so emotional for some reason. i’m with the ppl who say link lives (there are gulls which means he should be close to land), but all the memories he made on the island were just a dream. it’s probably the closest i’ve come to crying from a freakin video game.

tl:dr the ending to links awakening will stick with me and i’m still reeling because this game is so amazing.

#links awakening #long post for basically no reason #i just wanted to talk about the ending #and the game in general it’s so fun #anyway i literally became obsessed with it lol

3 notes · View notes

ceeceecreativewriting · 2 years

Text

Your Blood Will Trickle Down

By Cavanaugh Carter “Jesus Christ man, what’s taking you so long?! Get back to the safe house!” “Hold on, hold on. This dorm room has a ton of batteries, dude! I told you all the gamers live in DHH.” Quentin said smugly as he began to ferociously shovel batteries into his knapsack. “My guy, you have to MOVE!”, Demarcus bellowed into his walkie. “I’m watching with the binoculars right now; he’s leaving the M&M. You’re going to be stuck in there!” Quentin replied sternly, “He’s destroyed all but two buildings on campus! After DHH, then what? Walker! Our safe house, the HDMZ! Our only refuge, then that’s it! Where are we gonna hide from there, Demarcus? This room is a goldmine! We gotta grab supplies while we still can!” “Well you’re not gonna have to worry about where our next safe house is gonna be if you don’t get yo ASS OUT OF THAT DAMN HAUNTED HOUSE CAUSE HE COMIN RIGHT NOW!” “Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shi-“ Quentin sprinted down the hallway to the stairwell, ferociously pumping his legs, his bulging scavenging sack bouncing against his hip. He reached the front entrance of DHH, but was overtaken by a chilling energy before he could open the door. The energy of Ronald Reagan spoke to him. “Quentin… where are my jelly beans, Quentin?” As if possessed, Quentin was completely entombed, his body stuck in rigor mortis. He couldn't speak, but he felt as if Reagan had entered his mind. Quentin spoke to Reagan with his thoughts. “W-what do you mean, Mr. President?”. “Oh Quentin, you of all people know that I love my jelly beans… I couldn’t find them in the M&M, but I know I’m getting closer… Run along now, boy. I’ll find them soon enough…” Quentin was freed from his paralysis and tumbled out the front entrance of DHH onto Walker Lawn. Scrambling to stand up, he saw the once great Minerals and Material Science Building begin to crumble to the ground. Like bleached coral, brittle and completely drained of color, it began to disintegrate. The campus side of the building shuddered and collapsed, which was then followed by what sounded like millions of pounds of sand being dumped into the Portage. The M&M was no more. Nervously dancing around the dozens of brittle, chalked human statues that now decorated Walker Lawn, Quentin made his way back to the HDMZ. Walker was absolutely freezing as half of the external walls has been destroyed when Reagan consumed the Rozsa, but it had to do as a home base. The survivors needed the Mac computers to harness the Liberal power of Big Tech to defeat Reagan. “Sorry, Demarcus. I got carried away with that.”, Quentin admitted sheepishly. “Hey man, it’s all good. I’m just glad you made it out better than one of them chalk guys outside. You said you got batteries?” “Yeah, I think we can rig them up with your converter to charge our iPhones for a bit. How are you guys coming with the synthesis?” On a computer monitor, a small polygonal model of Karl Marx spun in space with a progress bar that read '89%'. “We’re almost done.” Demarcus said. “PJ and Moose and Squee invented a new algorithm that makes the synthesis go at twice the speed. Hopefully we can summon Marx before Reagan finishes with DHH.” “And if we can’t summon Marx?”, asked Quentin. “I think you know the answer to that question, Quentin. We die.” There was a grave in the conversation, where only PJ, Moose, and Squee’s typing could be heard through the room. “Hey, you know he spoke to me just now.” “You mean REAGAN? What did he say?!” implored Demarcus. “He said…. Man this shit sounds so dumb. He asked if I knew where his jelly beans were..?” “His jelly beans? Huh. That’s weird.”, replied Demarcus coyly. “Yeah, I have no clue either. I thought he was gonna kill me, but then I think he let me go on purpose. I’m still a little freaked out from the whole ordeal; I’m gonna lay down for a bit. Peep the batteries and ramen in my bag.” said Quentin. “Yeah man. Thanks for getting that stuff.” said Demarcus as Quentin went to his corner to sleep. Stepping outside to watch his Great Savior destroy DHH, Demarcus popped a single jelly bean into his mouth with a smile. It was cherry flavored. With a soft chuckle, Demarcus said, “Fools. Don’t they realize that socialism is when no iPhone? Their blood will trickle down soon enough.”

#creative writing #halloween #shitpost

0 notes

otakusheep15 · 2 years

Note

Could I request a MC with the personality and the chaotic vibes of Brian David Gilbert from Unraveled (at Polygon). It's just funny that MC decides to have an impromptu class (for fun), and see the madness unraveled ;)

So, at first I genuinely had no clue who you were talking about until I looked him up and the first thing I saw was that "Sonic is a God" meme and then I knew exactly what you meant lol.

And, oh jeez, the chaos that would ensue from an MC like this. It's me, I'm MC.

MC with the Personality of Brian David Gilbert

Lucifer

He hates you

Like, he absolutely despises you

Because you're so smart, and you have very wonderful analytical skills

And yet you choose to use them like this

No, he does not want to hear about your random conspiracies and how they relate to each other

It only gets worse when you get Diavolo on board

Now you're unstoppable

He just wishes you'd use your intelligence for something more practical

Mammon

You just confuse the shit you of him

And scare him as well

But you also distract Lucifer, so keep it up MC

Doesn't mind sitting in on your rants or whatever, but he's probably not listening

Maybe if you do a lesson relating to money-making schemes then he'd listen

But he really doesn't care for the in-depth lesson of the Spongebob universe and it's lore

He still loves you though

Levi

He's absolutely in love with you

Finally, he has someone to rant and conspire with

You two have all-out battles about the lore of various anime

The whole house is annoyed by the two of you

He gets so excited every time you come to him with a new theory to rant about

And then he immediately follows up with a theory of his own

You two go back and forth all day

He rarely ever gets to do this with someone, so he's very happy he finally has someone like you

Satan

Is very entertained by your rants

Some of what you say is surprisingly well-informed and thought out, he'll give you that

But most of it is also random nonsense that sounds like gibberish to him

Likes when you talk about something he's familiar with, and he might even join in if he's in a good mood

Also likes how it annoys Lucifer, so he often enables you

Asmo

Like Mammon, he's really just confused

Thinks it's cute how passionate you are about your theories and lessons, but could you please be a bit quieter?

Will sit down and listen to you rant, and he actually tries his hardest to pay attention

He doesn't always follow, but he does his best

You remind him a lot of Levi, which is actually a bonus in his books

You also encourage him to go on small rants about stuff in his own life

He once sat everyone down so that he could give a lesson about various skin care products

Beel

Finds your lessons exciting

He loves passionate individuals cause they remind him of Belphie

He's the first one (after Levi) to sit down and listen to your lessons

Very supportive

He may not understand everything you say, but he listens and tries to ask questions and participate

Appreciates if you do any lessons relating to food or sports

Cause he can actually be more active in those

And he will be, trust me

Belphie

Mostly just sleeps through your rants

You sound like Levi to him (derogatory)

Isn't a huge fan of people acting like this

Like, he loves you, obviously, but can't you just lay down with him and cuddle like a normal person

He does not wish to hear how a character from Undertale is secretly multiple characters from various other games just because they're all self-aware

The only thing he wants to hear if you getting into bed and cuddling with him

Might listen to a lesson if it involves something Beel likes since he likes hearing Beel be more expressive

I didn't include the side characters since I'm also trying to so some work as well, but let me know if you want me to. I hope I did this well since I'm not all that familiar with Unraveled. If I didn't, let me know and I'll try and rewrite it to fit more.

#obey me #shall we date obey me #lucifer #mammon #leviathan #satan #asmodeus #beelzebub #belphegor #mc #obey me mc #gn mc #brian david gilbert #unraveled #polygon

92 notes · View notes

bluest-uwu-blowfishes · 3 years

Text

ok so hc that the scions have board game nights like, tataru will be like "y'all need to rest" and stuff and the scions want to spend time together bc found family and all that but they really shouldn't take a full-blown day off because the world could start imploding at literally any second, and also they're all giant nerds so like once or twice a moon they'll have a board game night they'd probably mostly play hidden role games or trivia i think, because they're giant nerds (and estinien just likes lying and fucking with them). anything where some people have some information and some people don't. basically almost anything that polygon has played on overboard.

~more under the cut (character specifics)~

ALPHINAUD obviously would be super strategic about everything and probably be fairly competent, but in games where you have to try to read other people and their motives he can kinda fall into galaxy-brain traps where it's not as complicated as he thinks. In games with a "bad guy" role (like in mafia) it's pretty easy to tell when he's one of the "bad guys" because it doesn't seem like he's as eager for information as normal. lil bit to competitive but it’s all in good fun ALISAE stumbles ass-first into gaslight alley (where alphinaud and esitinien are waiting for her). she generally doesn't want to think that hard about stuff because she already has to think under normal circumstances (well, what's normal for them) and this is supposed to be her break. it's not exactly difficult for her, she just doesn't feel like it. accidentally says stuff that makes her seem guilty when she's innocent, and the inverse is also true. will go for the most batshit strategies just to see if they work. it's called "science," alphinaud G’RAHA will get accused by doing literally nothing. just, sitting there. we all know he's bad at lying unless he's been perfecting his deception for literal decades, and even then it's only okay to good. it won't even be anything specific when he's the "bad guy," sometimes he seems too bummed out and someties he's too gleefully malicious, but it's painfully obvious and very poorly excecuted. over time he gets harder to read because he begins perfecting always just being "like that." probably figures out who the murderer is in Clue right as alphinaud's about to open the envelope. THE WARRIOR OF LIGHT is obviously going to be vaguer/varried, but i think that in general they would have an excellent poker face when they want to (*glances at ARR*). gives nobody any information at any point ever about anything, quietly puts together as many pieces as they can. switches wildly between not talking at all and talking a lot (yet still not give any info??) with no correlation between that and whose side they're on. in performative/roleplaying games they can deadpan almost anything URIANGER is just there for the drama. about to win? he will purposefully temporarily screw over his team just because. overly dramatic about everything. perfect for roleplaying games. actually really good at most games but almost never wins because he gets greedy trying to see how long he can lead them on with his bullshit, and someone (usually aphinaud) figures everything out and steals the win out from under him. THANCRED isn't typically a suspect for anything. nobody 100% trusts him, but no one outright thinks he's the imposter or whatever. he'll make some jokes and generally be fairly chill about the whole thing, and overall there's a 50/50 chance that anyone will call him out on his bluffs. will occassionaly go for the most batshit strategies that somehow always work when he tries them. has threatened to quit the scions when he feels betrayed. will start singing if it's even slightly appropriate Y’SHTOLA is too competent for all this. she has fun and will sometimes get involved, but she's mostly an observer. there's a solid 10% chance that someone will figure out she's the traitor/imposter/werewolf/etc. pretty good at bluffing and somehow simultaneously seems to never be on the bad guy team and also always be on the bad guy team. a true neutral ESTINIEN is pretty easy to read if you know what to look for. he seems to be smiling (smirking) more when he's the bad guy. it's because he knows that he'll win by screwing over everyone else, and that's fun. mostly observes (or seems to be observing) regardless of what role he has in a game, though if someone says something slightly stupid or suspicious he'll point it out very quickly without drawing too much attention to himself. KRILE joins when she can but isn't usually there or is usually happy to just watch, though she always makes a point to see how much she can mess with alphinaud specifically. she doesn't care about winning (although it's always nice), she just wants alphinaud to lose. TATARU mostly watches on the sidelines but also joins sometimes, and becomes actively malicious for the duration or the game. absolutely brutal. she won't win, but she sure as hell will betray each and every one of them at least once, and each in a slightly different way. honestly kinda impressive they would also sometimes play board games back on the First! RYNE is an actual deathtrap. "look, she's so sweet and innocent, she hasn't done anything to inflict suspicion upon herself <3" NO. she has, you just all ignored it. don't trust her. what are you doing. no stop. she's lying. oh god, they're all dead now. what did i tell you. she won't win most of the time, but she'll manage to royally screw over at least half of the crew. they all know this, yet keep falling for it. thancred's always the first victim. he never learns (might add more later)

126 notes · View notes

manhattan-gamestop · 3 years

Text

Spent several hours of my free time today trying to figure out what shirt bdg wore for Vang0 Bang0 and here’s why I want to walk in the ocean:

So there’s THIS shirt that Brian wore as Vang0 Bang0:

[ID: A still frame of Brian Gilbert in Polygon’s first Cyberpunk Red campaign. He is wearing a low-cut silver metallic top, paired with a black jacket with neon yellow stripes. End ID]

which is:

- not super unique

- very easy to find similar designs to (or perhaps the same shirt)

- we never see the back or the sleeves, meaning they could look like essentially anything

- brian said in the polygonathon he got it at Forever 21, so unless he was misremembering that’s a pretty good clue

And then there’s THIS shirt (which I was mixing up with the OTHER shirt):

[ID: A still frame of Brian Gilbert in the 2018 Polygon vs SB Nation winter olympics. He is hunched over a table and wearing a silver metallic top with no sleeves and black straps. It has a distinctive front design, where the black back straps come together at the neck to form 5 black straps around the chest area, three of which continue onto the shirt. End ID]

which is:

- VERY unique

- I have yet to see something that has that front pattern literally ever

- every aspect of the shirt is visible, which limits what could look like the shirt

- brian said he got the OTHER shirt at Forever 21, THIS one I have no fuckin clue (I also think it’s Laura’s)

#there's also several words different stores use to describe the sparkle pattern #like 'metallic' or 'holographic' or 'glitter'#and it's not the same anywhere #mine #bdg #brian david gilbert #polygon #cyberpunk overboard #maddie rambles #also in the ID I have no idea how to describe that second shirt bc it is a Shirt #long post #the shirt dilemma

42 notes · View notes

incoherentbabblings · 3 years

Note

The writer for the Tim story confirmed in a polygon article that Tim’s “feelings for Stephanie have been/are 100% real” in case you were worried.

Everyday I forget that Polygon is supposed to be a generic nerd pop culture news site when I only go there for its Breath of the Wild walkthrough. Single-mindedness...

No, no, thank you, I have seen the article, which basically confirms everything I suspected: they have no long term plan for Tim and absolutely no clue what to do with his character after this, he doesn't have a label for himself yet because he's still figuring it out, he still loves Steph, but he is coming to terms with him liking Bernard at the same time. So... Yeah. I'm curious to see what they do when the purple dust settles so to speak. If anything.

Please go give him something man...

#dc #ask and I'll babble #Tim Drake

11 notes · View notes

satoruvt · 4 years

Text

the color of you - green (3)

i feel like in terms of the patterns im tryna leave this chapter wasnt that good but its ok i like it anyways and i hope u do too

pairing → keigo takami x bakery owner!reader

word count → 2072

summary → you’re not really dating, so you can’t really be in love with him… right?

song inspo → xo by eden

part one | part two | part three | part four | part five

The grass is so bright.

You don’t know why it looks particularly vibrant today - maybe it’s the sun. It dots the grass under the trees in unusual polygons, the rays lighting up the green in their early-summer light. Your eyes trace the landscape, starting at the ground before moving up. Brown bark of a tree, then the token green of summer again, and finally blue sky. It’s a good day for a walk.

Keigo squeezes your hand gently and you’re moved back to real-time, no longer focused on the colors of the world.

You’re still surprised this is so easy - of all of the things you thought this relationship would be, easy wasn’t one of the words that came to mind. But it is, Keigo makes it easy, somehow. The first few days, you went home every night from hanging out, going on “dates” just to scream into your pillow that it was you with pro-hero Hawks - albeit fake, it was you.

And his publicist was right about you gaining business - the bakery was flourishing more than ever before, supportive fans coming to try their beloved hero’s girlfriend’s pastries. The money you were getting as a positive consequence was enough for you to actually have money leftover after groceries and bills, not to mention the few employees you had were getting paid what they deserved.

“Hey, stop spacing out,” Keigo says, stopping in the pathway. When you turn to him with a raised eyebrow, he’s pouting playfully. “You’re supposed to be focused on me.”

“Oh, right, of course,” you keen, placing a hand over your heart. “I’m so sorry, my love! Forgive my incompetence…”

He grins. “All is forgiven if you agree to sit with me under the mighty oak tree over yonder.”

His medieval speak makes you cringe (though you’re sure yours isn’t any better) but you let him lead you to the tree he had in mind. He sits down at its base, under the shade of its leaves, and you follow. You lay so your head is on his lap, resting on your back.

It’s not a designated date today - Keigo had a day off (a “day off”) and called to see if you had one as well. You didn’t have to be to the bakery until later into the afternoon, so you figured it couldn’t hurt to spend some time with him (after all, he is your boyfriend now).

He’s talking about Endeavor, how the two of them are best friends, but the Number One hero just doesn’t know it yet. You’re not really focusing on his words, because it’s hitting you hard that he’s fucking pretty. It’s not like you hadn’t noticed it before - you were (are?) a fan, you noticed that he was attractive, but Lord, if it doesn’t show in the sunlight right now. With his perfectly-unruly hair, light and intelligent eyes -

“Oh!” Keigo says, looking down at you. “I just remembered. We should take some pictures.”

It takes you a moment to recover. “Uh - for what?”

“Social media.” He pulls out his phone from his pocket, and you sit up from his lap. You’re sure the two of you look pathetic, taking selfies in the middle of a park, but then again, what’s the harm?

Keigo taps on the photo app, turns his phone sideways, and you brush down your hair that’s sticking in a million different directions once you see yourself in the frame. It doesn’t take long - Keigo sends you an impatient look anyways and you tell him to shut up - and you scoot behind him, resting your head on his shoulder cutely.

That’s the first photo, gentle smiles and green grass. The second one involves you kissing his cheek, and the third one something stupid with both of you sticking your tongues out at the camera. Once he sends them to you, you save them to your phone before putting it back into your pocket.

They’re cute pictures, and for a moment it almost seems like the whole thing is real.

The grass is soothing against your skin, but eventually it’s time for you to get back to the bakery.

The walk back to the main entrance of the park is softer from when the two of you came in, conversation more serious than playful (not to say that Keigo doesn’t tease you when the opportunity arises, because he does).

“Are there any big events coming up?” You ask him, swinging your intertwined hands between the two of you. “Like, that we have to go to?”

“Yeah, there’s a hero awards ceremony,” Keigo says, then grimaces slightly.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you at an awards ceremony before. Or any hero meetings, aside from maybe two.”

“That’s because they suck and take too much energy.”

“Then why are we going to this one? Isn’t it weird for you to suddenly go now?”

“That’s a good question,” Keigo says, and you noticed you’ve reached the front gate. “I’ve got no fucking clue.”

The chuckle that escapes your lips is genuine, and your hand leaves his with a gentle, “I’ll see you later, Kei,” but he pulls you back suddenly. You’re closer than before, and you furrow your brows at him.

“What -”

“There’s some paparazzi behind you,” Keigo says.

Oh.

“I’m gonna kiss you, okay?”

Oh.

You nod, still reeling from when he pulled you to him, and he leans forward. But wait, why is your heart beating so fast -

Keigo’s lips meet yours in a soft kiss, something only meant to convey feeling to the outside world. It’s innocent, an “I-love-you” kiss, and it takes you half a second to reciprocate. But you do, smiling onto his lips - let’s give ‘em a show, you think to yourself - and he places a hand on your cheek. You cover it with your own, and when he pulls away you lean into his palm on instinct.

“Not gonna lie, hero,” you breathe, “you’re really good at that.”

“I’ve had a lot of practice,” Keigo grins, obviously smug, but you snort.

“Whore.”

“Hey!”

With a laugh, you walk out of the main gate, to the subway station. You can’t help but reminisce about the feeling of Keigo’s lips as you do.

The bakery’s having a slow day by the time you walk in, the inside seats only occupied by a few people. The chatter is quiet, barely there, and it reminds you of mid-spring days, sitting outside with friends to catch up. You head back to the kitchen with a greeting to each of your employees, but you barely get started on some cookie dough when you’re called out to the front of the restaurant.

“Y/N, there’s a delivery person here for you,” one of your employees says, and you sigh, thinking about what to do, given that your hands are covered in flour.

“Can you handle it? It’s probably just this week’s dairy,” you respond, working the dough through your fingers. Your employee shakes his head, and he’s got a small smile on his face.

“It’s not that,” he says. “The guy’s got flowers.”

What?

You furrow your brows - “tell him to wait for a minute” - before washing your hands off, wiping the excess water on your apron. When you walk out to the cash register, sure enough, there’s a man waiting with a bouquet of flowers in his hands.

“Are you Y/N?” He asks when you get close enough, and you nod. “From Hawks.”

You take the bouquet in your hands and you hear a camera snap as you do. When you turn your head to the noise, none of the customers in the bakery show any signs of it being them, but you’re sure it’s one of Keigo’s fans who heard his name. The delivery guy walks out of the bakery and you roll your eyes, laughing to yourself. There’s a tag tied around the stems and you pull on it to read it.

Couldn’t help but notice how you looked at the flowers earlier, so I got you some of your own. If I don’t see them on the counter the next time I’m at the bakery, we’re gonna have some problems.

The note is signed with a loopy scribble of Keigo’s name, and then a heart. It makes you smile and you take out your phone to send a picture of the tag to him, along with a message that reads “received loud and clear.” He responds quickly; “good, they better be in the best vase you can find.”

“Why are my flowers in a pot?”

You look up from wiping down the counter, brain thoughtlessly telling you to tell whoever it is at the door that the bakery’s closed, but you’re met with a familiar pair of red wings and golden eyes.

You tuck the damp rag into a pocket in your apron, shrugging as Keigo walks closer to the counter. “It’s a bakery, that’s the best vase I can find,” you say, then pout, “besides, it’s rustic, leave it alone.”

He laughs, and you motion for him to follow you back to the kitchen. “So, what brings you here?”

“My flowers.”

You feign offense, draping the back of your hand over your forehead. “Really? Only the flowers? Not to see little old me, your very own girlfriend?”

Keigo hums, dipping his finger into a mostly-empty tub of icing to taste it. “Mm, I take it back. Not the flowers. It was for this kick-ass icing.”

“You like it?” You ask, and he nods, going in for another finger-ful. “You should try the donuts I just made.”

“Holy shit, can I?”

You giggle at his eagerness, then pull out two donuts from the cooling rack nearby. You hand one to Keigo - a classic glazed - before taking your personal favorite off the rack and taking a bite yourself. When Keigo sees you do it, he does too, and you’re immediately overwhelmed in compliments.

“Jesus, Y/N, I think I’m calling it,” he says, mouth full of pastry. “I’m completely in love with you. How the hell did you get this good?”

You feel the flush in your cheeks before it shows, and you shrug, rubbing the back of your neck awkwardly. “I’ve just always had a thing for baking, I guess,” you murmur, placing your half-eaten donut on the counter as you lean against it. “That’s how I got this whole place started.”

Keigo looks at you funny and you realize you haven’t told him too much about your career, so you keep talking. “I started the bakery, like, right out of high school. I already knew that I wanted to bake my whole life, so I never thought about using my quirk to become a hero or going to college or any of that stuff.”

He nods, finishing off his donut in another few bites. The silence is weird, not being filled, and it feels good to talk to him about this, so you keep going, playing with the hem of your apron out of habit. “I know my parents are super proud of me for starting my own business so young, but… I did it so fast, and I worry that they think I’m gonna do everything at that same speed. It just puts a lot of pressure on me, you know?”

When you look at Keigo again, he’s got a certain look in his eyes, and you don’t know what it is. You realize that he probably didn’t want to hear about all of your fears with having your own business and panic flushes through your veins at the sudden thought.

“Oh, sorry, you probably didn’t wanna hear about all that,” you rush out, and Keigo’s quick to respond.

“No, it’s just…” he pauses, tapping his fingers on the counter once, twice. “You just summed up my entire career.”

It’s your turn to look at him funny, and it’s his turn to tell you his sob story. “I was chosen to be a hero when I was, like, ten or eleven or something, and I started my own agency when I was eighteen. I like being known as the hero with speed, as someone who can get shit done, but… it’s a lot, sometimes.”

He meets your eyes, and you’re very aware of the new understanding the two of you share. There’s something different in the way he looks at you, now.

And it’s good.

#EJKHFJKDF FIRST KISS!!!! FIRST KISS FIRST KISS FIRST KISS -#ANYWASY #im tired its late ajsdhfjks #bnha x reader #mha x reader #boku no hero academia x reader #my hero academia x reader #boku no hero academia imagine #my hero academia imagine #keigo takami x reader #takami keigo x reader #hawks x reader #bnha hawks x reader #hawks bnha x reader #x reader #reader insert #imagine #tcoy #the color of you

352 notes · View notes

iaintyourbro · 4 years

Note

Loving your posts and I have a question. The low affection under the Highwind scene is implied as romantic?

Hey anon!

The biggest difference between the two scenes is how much dialogue is shared prior to the fade to black. The next morning is almost exactly the same. I’d say they’re both slightly romantic, with the High Affection scene of course being more obvious.

So the one thing people seem to get confused on the Under the Highwind scene is that it is based on Tifa’s affection for Cloud, not Cloud’s affection for Tifa. We already know what he feels for Tifa - we found all that out in the Lifestream.

The Ultimania talks about what goes on in the Lifestream. The majority of the Lifestream event was pretty much about Tifa. So, Cloud’s subconscious is Tifa, Tifa, Tifa.

On to the Highwind scene, which has two different versions. The more of these I answer regarding affection points, the more I think the devs want you to feel like a fool at this point in the game. All those decisions you made wayyy earlier in the game can bite you here if you’re hoping for a good outcome. Of course, after a certain point, you no longer can make decisions for Cloud, so whatever you did in (mostly) Midgar, does affect this scene, which I always thought was odd.

Tifa’s affection is what determines if Cloud is comfortable enough to tell her he wants to say a lot to her. If she seems like she’s not interested, then Cloud will say they should get some sleep. The conversation is cut short. Unfortunately, since we’re dealing with polygon characters, it’s hard to tell WHY Cloud feels that Tifa isn’t interested, but I think that’s why a lot of people think it’s CLOUD that isn’t interested... which makes no sense after you get out of the Lifestream.

For Both Scenes, Tifa says this:

But deep in my heart I heard you calling my name... Or at least I thought I did.

Cloud will respond differently between the two. Here’s the High Affection Scene:

So Cloud acknowledges it immediately that he knew he heard Tifa calling him. He will then go on to say some more.

Cloud’s awkward, dorky, true self is back, so you get a bit more raw dialogue coming from him. He’s still an awkward ham, but does give it a shot here to say something...

Tifa helps him out a bit.

The famous line. After this, Cloud responds with a good ol’ “.....” and we get a fade to black.

Here is how this scene plays out with Low Affection:

Prior to this dialogue, Cloud says “I see...”

Cloud seems a bit confused here, and realizes it was Tifa.

He wakes up to Tifa when his mind is mended, so why would he be somewhat surprised that it was her calilng out to him? We know he has feelings for her, we know that he’s aware that she was helped him through his messed up mind, so how is he confused here?

Instead of Cloud trying to talk about his feelings:

The conversation is cut short and Tifa seems somewhat surprised, but agrees.

The low affection scene really doesn’t make sense the more I look at it based on what we see in the Ultimanias and the Lifestream. However, I can see why people can grasp at this meaning Cloud doesn’t care about Tifa. They don’t make it very clear within the game that this is about Tifa’s affection for Cloud. People assume this is Cloud’s affection for Tifa. The same happens with the Gold Saucer date.

It’s Tifa and Aerith’s affection for Cloud that determines which one comes to his room. That’s probably why they go to his room and he doesn’t go to their rooms. He has no clue they have “high or low affection” for him.

In any case, no matter which prior fade to black scene you get, Tifa STILL wakes up leaning on Cloud. Cloud is a little softer with her after the high affection scene.

The other fun thing to point out is how Tifa addresses Cloud in the morning. If you get the low affection scene, she says:

“Mmm... Good morning, Cloud.”

In the High Affection scene, she’s a little more awkward:

“Umm... G-Good morning, Cloud.”

Cloud also adds a line in the High Affection scene saying “Sorry, did I wake you? It’s almost dawn, Tifa...” In the low affection he says “Morning, Tifa. It’s almost dawn.”

So is there some implied romance in both versions? Definitely in the high affection scene, for sure. That’s the whole banging on the rocks jokes you get.

The dialogue prior to the fade to black on the low affection scene feels awkward and clunky, which it should. Cloud reads Tifa wrong and ends the conversation prematurely. So if you ask me there, I’d say not really.

But, remember, Cloud and Tifa will still wake up in the same way no matter which scene you get, he will still encourage her before walking back to the Highwind, and he will still cheer her up when she realizes how empty the Highwind is. None of that changes.

The other major difference is how the rest of your party reacts.

If you get the High Affection scene, Tifa asks “Were you watching?” and then collapses in embarrassment, implying something physical went down.

If you get the Low Affection scene, then Tifa asks “Were you listening?” and then walks away and taps her foot awkwardly.

I think both scenes, because of the after fade to black scenes and prior to the part where Cloud either confesses or not, are supposed to be implied romantic. It’s not over the top in either scene. They definitely made this a very subtle thing. High Affection is definitely more obvious.

In my opinion, based on the amount of dialogue, the Ultimania’s, the fact that they DID want to make it a lot more obvious more happened between those two, AND what we saw go down in the Lifestream, the High Affection scene makes a lot more sense.

#cloti #cloud x tifa #under the highwind #ff7 #ff7 spoilers

37 notes · View notes

letterboxd · 4 years

Photo

Ghibli Goes Digital.

We celebrate the explosion in Studio Ghibli activity on Letterboxd with Michael Leader and Jake Cunningham from the Ghibliotheque podcast.

LISTEN NOW: David Jenkins (Little White Lies), Tasha Robinson (Polygon) and Adam Kempenaar (Filmspotting) nominate their most magical Studio Ghibli moments in this new episode of The Letterboxd Show.

For all the ways that the coronavirus pandemic has dramatically altered the film industry, one coincidence that’s worked out extremely well for Studio Ghibli fans old and new is the roll-out of 21 of the famed studio’s films on streaming services.

It started in February for Netflix subscribers outside Japan and North America. Then in late May, HBO Max launched in the US with the Ghibli films as part of its offering. Finally, Canada got its turn with twenty titles available on Netflix right now, and The Wind Rises coming on August 1. For film lovers sheltering in place, the timing is as soothing as a nap on a Totoro’s belly; as wondrous as a Takahata sunset.

株式会社スタジオジブリ (Studio Ghibli) was founded in 1985 by directors Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki, and producer Toshio Suzuki, upon the success of Miyazaki-san’s 1984 feature, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Huge acclaim, an Academy Award, and growing fandom followed, but the studio has long shied away from making its catalog available for digital consumption, preferring the films to occupy a larger canvas.

And then, all of a sudden, Suzuki-san announced the digital streaming plan—starting with the whole catalog being made available to own (via download) last December. “We’ve listened to our fans,” Suzuki-san said at the time. “In this day and age, there are various great ways a film can reach audiences.” This turn of events has been a very big deal—both for long-time fans and Ghibli newbies—and we’ve run the numbers to prove it:

The above chart shows the daily number of entries logged on Letterboxd for each of the Ghibli films, and clearly depicts the February, March, April and late May spikes as groups of titles were released to the two aforementioned streaming platforms (and mini spikes coinciding with weekend watches).

The Ghibli films included in the streaming deals stretch over four decades of the studio’s output, and include big-hitters like the Oscar-winning Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Howl’s Moving Castle and the whole-family favorite My Neighbor Totoro. All of those films appear in the Official Letterboxd Top 250; Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service also made it onto a list of Letterboxd members’ top twenty favorite comfort films in a recent survey.

To get a sense of what this all means, we went to Letterboxd members Jake Cunningham and Michael Leader, hosts of Ghibliotheque, a podcast dedicated to the studio’s filmography, about the Netflix deal (“none of us could quite believe it when it happened”) and the clues Ghibli films offer us for how to have adventures inside our own homes.

Earlier in the pandemic, when we were all figuring out how to stay home, you hosted a joyous My Neighbor Totoro watch-along. What is it about the fuzzy, mythical creatures that feels so helpful right now? Michael Leader: In some ways, the world’s mum is in hospital right now. We’re all working from home. There’s the bit halfway through the film where the dad is trying to get on with his work in the study, and [his daughter] Mei is coming up and putting little flowers on his desk. That’s what everyone is doing right now, is trying to get on with their work whilst their kids are milling about, full of imagination and adventures.

With Totoro, I go back to a guest we had on the show, Helen McCarthy, who wrote the book about Miyazaki. And she described Totoro as something like “kindness and acceptance made furry”, and that’s really what it is. The idea of this creature being there for you, coming out of the surroundings that you live in, allowing you to not only come into a new space that you’re maybe scared of going into, but also dealing with tricky situations that you’re in.

You’re both deeply embedded in the London film scene, but the dynamic of your Ghibliotheque podcast is that Michael is the long-time Ghibliophile, while Jake is the novice. How did that come about? Jake Cunningham: Michael and I actually work together, and it came up that I hadn’t seen any of the films and then it happened to come up that Michael was one of the UK experts of these films and was having a go at me for never having watched any. This was the perfect opportunity to work on something with each other, and my ignorance has finally paid off, because all I need to do is watch the film and then I get this amazing history lesson.

Jake Cunningham with his ‘Only Yesterday’ poster, and with Michael Leader at the Ghibli Museum.

ML: It was really fun for me, because by that point—this is nearly two years ago now—I’d been writing about Ghibli on and off for almost a decade. There aren’t really many outlets to write about anime, Ghibli and animation in particular, in the monthly film magazines. Jake is the novice we can take through the library and invite people to join us on that journey. We have listeners who are so engaged, sending us comments every week. They had no idea how deep the rabbit hole goes.

That’s something that was personally for me quite important about the show. We want to show that this is one of the few studios that has ten five-star films. They had this amazing streak from the late 80s through the 2000s, just innovating on every film at the highest level, with multiple voices working in their own different worlds. We’ve really managed to show this whole world and invite people into it.

What did you make of the Netlix flex, and the subsequent explosion in Letterboxd activity around Ghibli films? JC: The graph is amazing! I was expecting a boost but not so big. They must be very happy with how well the deal has done for them. I think it’s a good place for Ghibli for sure. I want so many other people to be in the position that I was in two years ago. It is a whole world of pleasure to delve into for audiences.

I did think it was so funny that they spent fifteen years going “We’re never going to be streaming, this is never going to happen, stop asking us”, and then out of nowhere the announcement that they’re going to be online in two weeks! I think none of us could quite believe it when it happened, but what it’s meant is people are going back to the start of the podcast and listening along, because they can finally watch the films that they hadn’t seen before.

And it’s so exciting that people might watch Totoro, or Spirited Away, or Howl’s Moving Castle, these bigger tentpole releases, and that’s going to change their algorithm and they’re going to get presented with Isao Takahata’s My Neighbors the Yamadas or Tomomi Mochizuki’s Ocean Waves. The under-appreciated Ghiblis are suddenly going to get dragged out again.

ML: I’m really excited about it. It’s an interesting thing: it shines a light on what I think is more of a fandom problem, where something becomes rarified or scarce or special to a certain subculture, and that becomes part of its appeal. Sort of ‘Oh, Miyazaki doesn’t believe in streaming, he will never sell out’, and going on about how Netflix somehow cheapens it—but really they are completely accessible films that should be available in a mass market.

Also, and this is something we wanted to tease out in the podcast, they are business savvy. They’re not crazy geniuses who live in wooden shacks in the middle of nowhere. They’re a real company that needs to keep the lights on. There are so many ways to speculate on what this deal means. I think on the one hand they were happy because in the Japanese market they sell enough merchandise, they have a real home entertainment churn going, that they never really needed to do an international release.

There’s a really good book just out by Steve Alpert, who was their first international division lead. He was hired in the 90s to sort out their penetration into western Europe and America. Before the 90s, there were a couple of home entertainment releases and small theatrical runs, but they suddenly saw the business benefits in going global. In some ways I’m very happy for it because it’s a business deal that makes these films more available. They’ll always be special because they’re great films.

JC: The films streaming is extremely exciting, but something that’s gone under the radar a bit is that all of the music is now on Spotify. There are some of Ghibli’s shorts that you can only watch in the museum in Japan, but the scores for those films are now on Spotify, and everything is there. After having the melodies of some of these stuck in my head for months and months, you can finally actually go and deal with the earworm once and for all.

Is it possible for you to sum up for us the thematic essence of Ghibli films, and make a case for why Letterboxd members should introduce their children to the catalog? For me, in the context of the pandemic, it’s the corn on the window-sill in My Neighbor Totoro: the idea of presence despite distance; connection through gesture; the significance of nature. JC: It’s a lot to do with leaving things in an ambiguous space. Having kids watch things where there’s not a binary answer to everything. The studio moved away from the earlier films where a villain is a villain. In Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle, it’s less clear what a ‘bad person’ is and what a ‘good person’ is. I think it’s important that kids are gonna see that. Even with something like Kiki’s Delivery Service, on the surface it’s one of their simpler films. Kiki goes on an amazing journey and she meets amazing people, and at the end, she learns about who she is and what she can do. I think in a Western kids’ film that would be the end note. But there’s that note at the end of the film where she says that she still feels sad, and she still feels homesick, but that’s okay and that’s part of being alive.

ML: I think Miyazaki’s real magic touch across his films is that he’s able to really look at the world through children’s eyes. I’m not the first person to say that. It tends to be one of the first things that people say about him. The magical things about My Neighbor Totoro are when they’re just walking through the house, cleaning the house, cooking together. And for Kiki, when she gets her own [apartment], sweeps up and cooks herself pancakes. It is just as much about the magic of the everyday, about the world that you can see around you, within the four walls of the home.

JC: Now that you say that, I’m thinking about Ponyo, a key scene where the storm is hitting, and Sosuke and Ponyo and Sosuke’s mum just hunker down in their house and they have a generator going and they make instant ramen noodles, and the mum slips in little bits of ham. They also have some honey tea. Even though he’s a fantasy filmmaker, and he makes grand statements about geopolitical situations, these are the sequences now which will play most poignantly to people.

ML: Ghibli offers escapism, right now.

We got a glimpse of the next Ghibli film, Gorō Miyazaki’s fully-CG Aya and the Witch (see picture below), via the online version of the recent Annecy International Animated Film Festival. What are your thoughts? JC: Regarding the new images, I’m not as petrified as some fans have been. On the podcast I’ve mounted my defence for Gorō’s Tales From Earthsea, which is very much the black sheep of the family, and I don’t think I’d be doing him justice after that if I didn’t stand in his corner on this one as well. Until we see the style in motion, I think it’s unfair to judge, but it certainly is… different.

Jake, are you now a true Ghibliophile, or are you still just following along with what Michael’s got you into? JC: I would say I am now. I could definitely bore people in conversations with production stories! A lot of people will, I’m sure, have seen a lot of the films, but doing the podcast is the only thing that would have made me watch all of them.

Michael, how proud are you of this achievement? ML: Turning Jake into a new Ghibiliofile is really something. When we went to Japan in November last year—we managed to find change down the back of the sofa, and take the team out and visit the museum, visit Studio Ponoc, who are the spin-off studio founded by veterans from Ghibli—the thing that made me most proud was seeing how excited the rest of the team were. I think just out of shot of Jake’s webcam is a poster of Only Yesterday that he bought in Japan. It’s the only thing he wanted to find, was an original 1991 poster of that. There’s a picture of Jake just absolutely beaming with this poster.

Related content

Our Letterboxd Show Ghibli Magic Moments episode, with Tasha Robinson, David Jenkins and Adam Kempenaar.

Little White Lies editor David Jenkins’ Letterboxd review of My Neighbor Totoro.

The Official Letterboxd Top 250

Letterboxd members’ favorite comfort films.

#studio ghibli #ghibli #Isao takahata #Hayao miyazaki #my neighbour totoro #spirited away #Kiki's delivery service #howl's moving castle #anime #Japanese animation #Toshio suzuki #Jake cunningham #Michael leader #ghibliotheque #ghibliofile #letterboxd #netflix #hbo max

16 notes · View notes

panspy · 4 years

Text

Case #0181501

ARCHIVIST

Statement of Eide Burrows, regarding a man who may not have been her neighbor, and her hometown of Millport, Scotland. Original statement delivered through some folded sheets of notebook paper shoved under the office door while I was on a lunch break. Statement recorded January 15, 2018, audio recording by Jonathan Sims, the Archivist.

Statement begins.

ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT)

In the end, we’re all just shapes. Figures, either soft, angled, flat, or dimensional, all floating through space with only the hint of a purpose. I’ve always thought this made us pitiable. Shapes don’t have a purpose, their only use is to simply be. What is the meaning of a triangle? Any color, it doesn’t matter. How about a square? A dodecahedron? Exactly. It has no right to have that many sides all to itself, but it exists simply because we willed it into being. Shapes thinking of shapes.

Lines connect shapes and connect people. We have no reason to be, other than to just… exist. We think of shapes. Who thought of us? God, you could argue and many do. Argue about God, argue with God, argue in defense of God, argue against God. Argue, argue, argue. Just shapes arguing with shapes.

For the longest time, as far as I was concerned, Millport was nothing but shapes. Old buildings with new paint, old billboards with flashy new signs, old families run by new blood. Old ways and new people. They tried to cover up the old, and bury it like bones in a landfill. Cover it up along with the potholes with new asphalt and cement. Make it shiny and new. They still crack, anyway.

Hundreds of years, that town stood sturdy on soft ground. Founded by confident men with high hopes, big dreams, bigger egos, and empty pockets. Dreams make you blind, but people like to invest in them. Dreams give shapes a purpose, don’t they? Confidence fools others, and eventually fools yourself. Have you ever gone unnoticed in a place you’re not meant to be? If you walk with your head held high and false arrogance, people will believe you belong with them. For either to believe this façade makes them a fool. Not that anyone really belongs anywhere, and we’re all just foolish enough to believe it. Foolish shapes believing other foolish shapes.

I’ve always reckoned that it’s easier to be confident on uncertain legs than to fear falling on steady ground. Watching a frightened child stepping along a wide, even plank at the park is more likely to fall than a tightrope walker on a flimsy wire. Tightrope walkers are triangles, balanced and perfect. Children are parallelograms. Misshapen. Lopsided.

All the children in Millport are parallelograms. Some are flat and one dimensional, others forever rotating on an axis to show off their sides. Never the same for more than a day- I kept track. The adults were a variety of evolved and ever-changing polygons. But for some reason when I was little, looking at all these shapes going about their pretend lives, I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t a polygon when the world seemed to be filled with them. When I looked at my skin, it was soft and squished under touch. My hair was coarse, dull, and brown, unlike my mothers which was static with energy and never quite the same after you blinked. My face was asymmetrical too, as many shapes are. Eyes that seemed to be too big, ears that poke out a bit too much, bags that never went away… well, I don’t think they did anyways. You have to understand, it’s been a while since I’ve seen it. After a childhood of feeling as though the world hadn’t been fair enough to make me a nice red square, I just accepted it. I learned not to mind my lack of shape, and felt content to be liminal.

The first time I decided to look further into what made the town fit together into the odd puzzle it was, was the Masonic Lodge on the empty lot of Seymour and Drummond. It was always changing, not that it mattered enough to give it a second thought. In the morning, it could be a red trapezoid but by noon it would shift into a cracked yellow octagon. Personally I always preferred the trapezoid. The men who entered in the evening but never seemed to exit in the morning were also known to change. Whether by name, appearance, age, or multitude… who went in did not dictate who went home. Not that anyone cared about that, either.

When I was feeling especially curious, I would watch them enter from the dim car park away from a flickering old street lamp. As nights went by and I felt brave enough to stand directly under it, I found it made no difference as they never even looked at my direction. By the morning, the cars would be gone and the men allegedly returned home to their spouses and families. And I would leave, deciding to return again at the next meeting whenever I felt the disturbing pull in my stomach beckoning me to witness it. The scheduled days varied, but was always twice a week starting at 8:12 pm and ending when the street light flickered, shrouding the building and parked vehicles in darkness, then flickering on again to show an empty lot. They never met on Tuesdays.

My mother worked down the street at the Birdie’s Bed & Breakfast to help Bertha Goodwin when the old woman needed assistance navigating the cottage she’d rented her whole life, it seemed like. Bertha, though we always called her Birdie, was in her late seventies when I was born, and she was in her late seventies when I left for college. She was still in her late seventies when I returned home the next fall with nothing to show for it and a mother who didn’t even acknowledge I had gone in the first place. Not that they even noticed when I was living with them as a child either. When they deemed me old enough to care for myself, Mum would leave in the mornings with a freshly ironed apron, cleaning supplies I never saw opened, and my Dad would leave to work on blueprints of buildings I never saw built. After staring at my ceiling for hours, distracting myself with faded stars stuck up with putty and cracks in the walls, I would leave my blue square of a house and wander the streets looking for a clue to a mystery I wasn’t quite sure existed.

I tried to be academic, I really did. I wanted to leave that old town and its jagged shapes and build something for myself, but the longer I spent away the pit in my stomach grew more and even looking in the mirror hurt my eyes. I couldn’t feel the softness of my skin anymore. It felt like plastic. The faces of my classmates were static and boring-- none of them pulsed with the same energy as the people back home and all sounded the same. After barely a year I couldn’t take it and moved back home. The school didn’t even call to finalize my resignation.

As a child who grew up with strange disappearances monthly (Birdie said Misses Morgan moved to the States, but her car still collected leaves in the drive), stores popping up that never seemed to stay, and the absence of new neighbors, nothing was too out of the ordinary for us. But I’ve read some of the other statements, Jon, and it seems nothing was quite ordinary at all. Construction workers would vanish and it would rarely make the papers. The opening of a new chip shop was a blessing, but no one would ever be able to go more than twice before it was on its way out of town and replaced with some new fad.

Until the year the cemetery flooded and the school gymnasium roof caved in, about 2006 (it’s hard to beep track of the years), I didn’t think extraordinary could exist. Or at least not in any way that mattered. That was the year the Abbott’s moved in to the house on Cowley Lane, a house I had only ever seen out of the corner of my eye. On a street filled with shapes, this was a straight line.

They arrived as most families do, escaping an unpleasant moment in time by “starting fresh” and “turning over a new leaf”. I never quite understood that expression, as turning over a new leaf does not negate the old one. By turning over a leaf with a sullied edge to admire the green underside, it still remains the same leaf. Turning over a new leaf simply means the old one is left to decompose while you find a crisp, untarnished leaf, while the other still has a perfectly acceptable side to be admired. And, as most families do, they leave the unsightly leaf to be buried with the hundreds of others they’ve “turned over” and promise to change. The promises stay, but are never quite redeemed. Sorry, I got carried away… it's hard to find things to be passionate about these days. I'll continue.

The Abbotts integrated as well as they could, two children ready to attend school no matter the construction work in the gym or the fact it was well into November, and a third to stay at home as infants are wont to do. They threw a barbecue to get to know the neighbors, and the whole village attended bringing their own family recipes and baked desserts. I stayed home.

The Abbott's father, Mark, gained a quick job as an iron-worker while his wife (I never knew her name) stayed indoors looking after the baby. I’d see him in the mine, hacking away at rusty cars and rail too old to use and loading the scraps to be taken away. Hours, I’d watch, as he compressed the piles and laid the new framework to keep unwanted visitors from being crushed to death by eroding stone walls. The day he was called to help install the new wrought iron fence where the cemetery flooded and washed away, I followed him there too. Wherever he went, the shapes that once filled the town lost their vibrancy. Instead of fluctuating between tetrahedrons and prisms, they became either stagnant or frantic. Everything at once, or nothing at all.

I watched him dig in the downtrodden soil, unearthing rectangular caskets and hexagonal coffins. The rain that year had brought landslides and sinkholes, most destructive in the cemetery just outside town and disturbing the dead where they slept. Headstones, monuments, and mementos washed away and sank into the soft dirt, the running fence encircling the land broken up and dragged along with it. Once an infinite circle that cut the burial grounds off from the rest of the puzzle, the shape was now distorted and wrong. Without gate to close and make it whole again, I felt the muted shape of the cemetery slip away and become a tangled mess of string.

He dug for hours until the orange circle of a sun lowered itself behind the branches of the forest and their quickly disappearing leaves. Moving from one plot to the other, from the pristine headstones of recent years down to the protruding stones with names barely legible beneath the moss and decades of wear. Digging, digging, digging, all the while the formless fence to-be remained untouched. When the sky turned dark and snow clouds threatened to shed their weight, I finally turned my back on Mark and left him alone with the dead for the first time all evening, the man seeming blissfully unaware he hadn’t been alone in the first place at all.

The next morning when I went to check on his new project, the buildings along the way had lost their shape. No longer were streets lined with sturdy trapezoids, rectangles, and prisms. The colors were off, like a child with a crayon who had not yet learned the concept of limitation. They bled into each other and polluted the air, cracked frames unable to hold them back. The air tasted like static and I couldn't feel the ground beneath my boots.

By the time I got to the clearing, the holes had been filled and the new fence had taken shape in towering columns that crawled and stretched like spider webs across the dying grass. It was the same dirt, the same stone, trees, and air, but it did not feel like the cemetery I had watched be torn away the night before. I felt a chill settle in my bones and leave as quickly as it came like waiting for pain after burning your finger on a hot mug. From all my observing of the town, never once has a feeling ever driven me to run far away until what I was seeing before me was but an afterthought.

I passed by the Abbotts house, static growing stronger until I could barely hear the crunch of leaves or gravel beneath my feet. Only the wife's car was in the drive and a fresh coat of snow indicated there had only been the one all night, and the black pick-up Mark drove was nowhere to be seen. The sign on their door was new, barely two months old, but as I looked at it, truly looked at it, did it appear to have aged to rot. Abbott’s House it said in curvy lettering (with all the determination of a line pretending to be something it’s not) with five handprints beneath for each family member. Five. Mother, three kids, and… now four. The longer I thought about it, the longer I stared, trying to blink away the dots that kept getting in the way of my vision, the more my eyes convinced me there had always been four. Never two cars, never five hands. Through my haze, I barely felt my feet take me home. Even when I layed down to rest in a foreign looking room, I decided that my childhood mystery, a fantasy I had grown to accept, had found another clue and a little bit more of the town chipped away. Mark didn’t show up for work anymore.

Little things were changing, it just took a trained eye to notice. You don’t have to be a detective to see the details, sometimes you just have to be very, very afraid. The sign for Birdies Bed & Breakfast was now spelled with a ‘y’ instead of an ‘i’, and the apron my mother wore was now a faded lilac instead of a robin’s egg blue. The oak tree that stood tall in our backyard, old as the town itself with a slow swinging hammock tied to the branches, was now a young birch. I likened it to two puzzles cut from the same machine. Different pictures with pieces that fit together only in the most literal sense. The longer I noticed, the more I wondered which puzzle was truly mine, and which one was slowly being replaced.

Each morning the static filled my nose, irritated my eyes, and clouded my ears with a soft dizzying hum that slowly drowned out my senses. The shapes that made up my entire world were broken, dull, and chipping away until everything I knew was muddled and loud.

It was only when I woke up in an empty room, no posters, cardboard boxes, or dirty clothes, I found my feet barely touched the floor. I felt weightless as I wandered down to the kitchen where Mum usually got ready, feeling as though the back of my eyes were filled with cotton. There were only two seats sat at the dining table, and when I tried to open my mouth to speak my tongue tasted like ash.

Before I could blink or even cry, suddenly I was in the street. Red shapes filled my periphery and everything between, and the town was gone. A red sky bled into the houses, cars, and potholes cremating them like the dead. I felt myself falling away from my body and I finally saw my shape. It was a shifting mass of angles and colors and somehow I just knew it was me. When I finally did cry, smaller shapes fell from her eyes copying the drops that fell from mine. Was it out of malice? Pity? Understanding? Was she crying because she shared my pain or was she just a cheap reflection of who I thought I was or simply longed to be?

It’s been a while since I’ve been here, in this black and red. She still mocks me. Radiant and pulsing with color while I exist with imitation soft skin and coarse hair. They’re the only things I can be sure of, as I haven’t seen my face in a long time. Only hers. Now I’m not sure who she is, but she’s the only company in this void. Until I saw your shape, Jon. Blue and black polygons blinking between colors with the beat of a foreign heart. You lead me here to a library of pain that reflected my own, a reprieve from the emptiness I’ve been floating in. Maybe if I tell you my story you can bring me back to the shape of your world? I suppose only time will tell, and I have an eternity to wait.

Waiting for someone to save the outline of a person who isn’t sure they ever existed at all.

#tma #the magnus archives oc #the magnus archives #tma oc #case fic #case file #statement #fan statement #tma fanfic #my writing #the spiral #podcast #eide burrows #fan case #jon sims #jonathan sims

37 notes · View notes

stonestridernerd · 4 years

Note

🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻 *A FLOWERBOUQET!* :D

🌻 Welp, this has been in the ol' inbox for a bit, huh? My apologies for that, but between everything, I'm not sure I have enough unique thoughts. But I shall try!

🌻 For starters, I've decided that my worgen druid, Delarrik, is going to have more Kul'tiran physique since he's got to have that fat and muscle ready for his transformation!

🌻 After all, he's going to be my three-in-one bear: a papa bear, a gay bear, and a literal bear! What more could you want?

🌻 Well...puns of course! After contemplating for weeks, I've decided that he has to have a cat named Pearl, Earl of Paws or Paw-earl if you will.

🌻 Assuming Delarrik here gets to max level he'll be my 18th max level character. I've become a bit of an alt-o-holic....

🌻 In more productive news, I just finished my final GIS project! I've spent far too many hours digitizing polygons and georeferencing maps in the past few weeks, so it'll be nice to have a break.

🌻 A break before shite hits the fan again, of course! I'm taking courses that have hyped up as some of the hardest in my program, including my last semester of physics, Structural Geology, and most of all, Field Methods. As a result, I may not be even as active as I am now come September.

🌻 It's going to be interesting to see how these courses get taught, since they're all experiment heavy. Field Methods alone normally has a five hour lab every week to go out into the field.

🌻 However stressful this gets though, I keep reminding myself that if I pass everything, I'll be able to graduate with my bachelor's next summer!

🌻 But then the thought of taking my GREs comes up and I get all nervous again. I've really got to get studying for that.

🌻 Speaking of school related anxiety, I can't express my frustrations enough with the school district and state at large. Utah's already having issues with overcrowding, underfunding, and shitty practices, but everything's just ramped up to such an extreme...gah!

🌻 If anyone here is going back to school, please be kind to your teachers. You already should, but the current situation is so much worse. Just...be kind please.

🌻 In general, let's just be nicer to each other, alright? Thank you.

🌻 Circling back to calmer things, I'm getting back into a regular sleep schedule at long last!

🌻 I've already got ideas on all the prompts you sent me, shuuhuu! At this point, I just need to sit down and actually write them.

🌻 Which in all fairness, makes it a bit harder to do. Do you guys notice something similiar, like it's easier to write when you have no clue what's happening rather than plotting things out?

🌻 My big hound, Bruno, just came by. He licked my foot, climbed on my lap, and started begging for pets. Oh my big boy!

🌻 He's such a sweetie! He knows how to calm a girl down properly.

🌻 Speaking of, I find it funny that this prompt gets used for venting or rambling about random things, while the sunflower symbol makes me think of the flower staying focused on the sun. Maybe sending a sunflower to someone means they're your sunshine, or at least, you want to be theirs, even through weird thoughts. If that's the case, that's absolutely sweet!

🌻 See, that's how you bring yourself back up! Positivity takes work, dang it, just like this!

🌻 It's a hard practice, I know. Goodness, I know that. I have so many arguments in my head and replay stupid things I've done and said in my head over enough to know that. But this kind of stuff helps bit by bit, even when it doesn't feel like it.

🌻 In times like these though, I get that mental health is a struggle. As previously stated, I'm barely getting back to a sleep schedule, and I'm still a mess in all sorts of ways. Sometimes you regress and you've got to deal with that. No beating ourselves anymore.

🌻 Want to know a therapy thing that made me cry for ages? When I first started going, the school psych listened to me for a bit before explaining something that hit me deep in my core but I'd never considered. It's that folks like me- mentally ill, neurodivergence, or otherwise- we all are living in a "normal" person's world. Others can call people on the phone no problem while it takes some hours to do so.

🌻 But that's okay! Really! I grew up assuming that I had to get to that neurotypical place, that I had to do everything everyone else could do, if not better. However, that kind of thinking ran me into the ground. Heck, it still does somedays.

🌻 The thing is though, you don't have to do everything everyone else can do. Sometimes, you can go call people and do the things just fine. And other times, you can skip out for a while and recharge.

🌻 Lola- my little hound- just come to lick the same foot. Is there something tasty on it or something else?

🌻 Okay, my foot just looks a bit dirty and very slobbery. Guess it's time to go clean up.

🌻 Hope you all have a wonderful rest of your night/day!

Thank you so much @shuuhuu!

3 notes · View notes

somerpmemes · 4 years

Text

Polygon’s Overboard Starters Part 2

Change as needed

“I think.. The lady doth protest too much.”

“___, that was both so suspicious and yet I believe you.”

“I have an air of dishonesty about me but I am not a dishonest person.”

“Here’s the thing: my grasp of the English language isn’t great sometimes.”

“Just for the drama of it we should kill someone.”

“That seems extremely like a lie.”

“I would NEVER, I would NEVER laugh at a minion joke.”

“You are trying to take advantage of me because I am.. fluffheaded.”

“I don’t feel like I sound trustworthy, I feel like I sound like a liar which I’m not!”

“No, I’m a seer… I seethed it.”

“Welcome to the winning team!”

“I’ll throw us all under the tracks!”

“Yeah, she’s kinda seething with troubling energy.”

“You know this to be true, that I am an honest, dishonest-appearing person who is bad at following logic.”

“Normally her dark portents are verbal and just in our day-to-day work life.”

“And she’s old like a spider.”

“The clock has struck two, for some reason it was on five beforehand.”

“A driver’s worst enemy is stilts.”

“Everyone knows nuns. Love. Organs!”

“Dost thou believe thineself to be croakethed?”

“That’s the only thing stopping me from murder is my fear of it.”

“Stop showing me magicians!”

(To the tune of Uptown Funk) “Bath-tub up you up, bathtub up you up.”

“Knock once if you up.”

“Magician!?”

“I’m glad you were not killed in a bathroom with some rope ‘cause that raises questions.”

“Hey ghost you into ships?”

“Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. You’re wrong, but okay.”

“I like knowing how much faith you all have in me, just from second-to-second.”

“Knock out the rhythm to Under Pressure if you fucked up.”

“Do ghosts ever reach out just to say, like, hey?”

“Knife?”

“I believe what you’ve just done here is called chickenshit.”

“The constant gaslighting….”

“Wow, that’s not gonna save you. It does endear me to you, though.”

“I like to add an element of chaos to everything I do.”

“Take as long as you need, but know that I grow suspicious every second.”

“In fact, I think that’s copyright infringement.”

“The cow to oven pipeline.”

“I feel like I’m having a hallucination.”

“Okay he just went from not suspicious to very suspicious. I’m back to being very suspicious.”

“Let’s wipe that down!”

“I refuse to engage with this rhetoric.”

“Yes! You earned that booty wiggle!”

“Love the amount of gaslighting that’s going on.”

“Why can’t I believe myself!?”

“It’s a big spaghetti!”

“Why am I so unbelievable?”

“Whatever he said I believe, did you see that jump spin?”

“I have never told a lie in my entire life.”

“Why do you sound like you’re lying even when you’re telling the truth?”

“This town’s too clean for the dirty sheriff.”

“Stop making pizza!”

“We’re gonna get kicked out of the medieval re-enactment village.”

“I think you’re still workshopping this character.”

“I don’t really wanna pay you any money.”

“Don’t let my childish demeanor fool you, I always find the bad guys.”

“What up in your sack?”

“You’ve seen what happens when people lie to me.”

“Is this your strategy, just to sound very dishonest.”

“She’s marking it with her scent, watch out.”

“I feel like that’s a lot of bread to get at once.”

“I don’t think.”

“Mama’s the sheriff now.”

“Four apples…. Fapples. Oh no.”

“I think it’s too many apples.”

“I’ve never lied before, except for right now.”

“So if you lie about having bread is it contrabread?”

“Who would’ve thought being honest would be such a lucrative career?”

“You can’t make ketchup with apples, ___, that’s tomatoes!”

“There’s no gluten in crossbows.”

“You’ve never been so burdened by the truth before.”

“I am never eating apples again.”

“It’s time to take a bite out of crime.”

“Also, you could punch someone in the throat and they’d choke and die.”

“Cake can be dry.”

“You drink with your head.”

“I don’t think a rat would crack if you hit a person with it.”

“Dentures are the crack in the face.”

“A chainsaw will leave a bruise.”

“Insects are outside.”

“I love you very much but I think you committed a murder.”

“Siri, set a murder timer for five minutes.”

“But that’s what busts are, they’re just around.”

“Bug.”

“I’m just a bandwagon-er, I don’t know!”

“These clues suck ass.”

“I was not listening to any of you.”

“It’s noon, when are the bugs out? They’re out at noon!”

“Oh, ___, it’s very obvious and very poorly done.”

#rp #rp meme #rp starters #starters #sentence starters #sentence starter meme #ask meme #long post

7 notes · View notes