Choi Han sees a weird stick in Cale’s hair.
“Oh, wait Cale-nim, let me…” With the slight height advantage, Cale doesn’t actually have a choice but to let the swordmaster do as he wishes.
For moment he fiddles around, trying to grab the elusive, tangled object, when he suddenly feels Cale lean into his hand. He watches with bated breath as Cale closes his eyes.
(‘Ah, I’m so tired that I’m leaning on Choi Han. Aigoo, he must think I’m pathetic.)
Choi Han spends another minute to get the stick out, claiming that it was particularly stuck in his long hair. He burns this memory into his mind while also promising to never tell another soul.
Eruhaben is next. He notices the red head’s soft locks, freshly washed and neatly air-dried with magic. As a dragon, he doesn’t think twice about the temptation, standing from his spot on the couch to test if Cale’s hair is even half as soft as it appears to be.
It is, he learns.
(Cale shivers. Is Eruhaben threatening him? Just in case, Cale bows his head to hide his fearful expression.)
The dragon watches with amusement, thinking that it’s only natural to offer one’s head to a dragon as powerful as him. Until he feels Cale almost… press into his palm absentmindedly. Eruhaben vividly feels the exact moment that his heart melts into a puddle of affection.
He definitely will use this against the bastard next time he has the opportunity.
Oddly, On and Hong figure it out next. Cale is sitting in his usual chair, reading a book with his hair falling into his face picturesquely. On recalls when Rosalyn did her hair up with a pretty pin, making it easy to move around without getting in her face.
On considers if Cale would mind On experimenting a little, immediately coming to the conclusion that he wouldn’t give two shits.
She transforms into her human form and moves behind the chair. Of course, Cale doesn’t bat an eye at her unusual movements. When she gathers his hair up in her hands, he doesn’t miss a beat, leaning back to give her better access. He only changes the angle of his book so he can still read. Hong observes his sister from Cale’s lap with curiosity.
Her upbeat attitude is ruined quickly because she doesn’t know how to braid nor tie up hair, and is missing the necessary bows and pins to do it in the first place. She runs her fingers through his vibrant red hair as she tries to remember what Rosalyn did.
Hong’s eyes go wide. Cale had stopped reading as his sister continued her ministrations, closing his eyes and leaning back, relaxing into his seat. Hong urgently signals for his sister to witness this.
Her eyes narrow in on the sight with a calculating gaze. She changes the way her hands run through his hair, simply running her fingers through and carefully untangling it instead. Cale’s face gradually loses its constant pinch.
(‘Yes, the children should do whatever they want, even play with my hair.’ Cale internally nods to himself.)
On, unlike Choi Han or Eruhaben, tests her limits. She continues her gentle pattern without pausing. After a few minutes, both of the cats hear Cale’s breathing taper away into a relaxed rhythm. On silently makes eye contact with her brother, and they make a secret promise to not make a big deal about this, lest this trick never work again.
They hear Ron before he enters the room and On casually returns to her car form, stealthily and softly landing on Cale’s lap. Ron enters, pausing at the sight of his puppy young master.
Smiling benignly, he darkly assumes that Cale had been so exhausted that he managed to fall asleep in the middle of reading.
On and Hong don’t correct him.
If Cale has an especially bitter lemon tea that night, he doesn’t make a big deal about it. Not when the crown prince calls him soon after it arrives.
He arrives at the palace where the Crown Prince learns of this spreading secret. Cale uses his superior glib tongue to force a frown on Alberu’s exhausted expression, and the exasperated hyung sighs, walking around to the couch where his dongaeng is sprawled. He places a hand on his shoulder, threatening Cale with a high political position if he doesn’t stop doing dangerous things and causing trouble.
Cale shudders and agrees. Alberu smiles at this, his hand moving to ruffle his adorable dongsaeng’s hair.
(Cale sighs, closing his eyes and humoring his affectionate hyung. He leans back, questioning why everyone has been so touchy lately.)
Alberu feels his heart stop and stutter at the fragile sight. Cale looks completely at ease, slumped in the couch cushions and pressing his head into Alberu’s palm like a cat. His lip is quirked up slightly, but Alberu would bet a golden plaque that Cale hasn’t a single idea on what he looks like right now, otherwise he wouldn’t be even half as relaxed as he is right now.
He resembles a lazy cat. He’s being pet whilst lounging, with a content and pleased expression edging on his face. If this goes on long enough, Cale might even fall asleep.
Alberu continues talking without letting his smile leak through into his words, stroking the top of Cale’s head in an absent minded motion.
(Cale ignores the sneaking chill on the back of his neck, too focused on Alberu’s words about the kingdom. The petting is a bit strange, but Alberu is the crown prince, so he’ll allow it.)
As predicted, Cale doesn’t mention it.
After a minute though, Cale starts to frown, beginning to acknowledge the feeling that he’s being scammed somehow.
“Hyung, do you have a headache?”
Alberu acts like a polite and caring hyung, starting to massage Cale’s head.
(Cale frowns more. Something is definitely going on.)
Cale opens his eyes, protesting. “Your highness, my health is perfect at the moment. You, our shining sun, couldn’t possibly-“ Alberu changes from massaging to running his fingers through Cale’s hair.
(Cale sighs, cutting off. It was just a ploy to play with Cale’s hair. He should’ve expected his highness to scam him in this way too.)
Alberu grins when Cale stops talking, looking resigned to his fate. He goes completely limp, and Alberu’s blunt fingernails scratch against Cale’s scalp gently. Cale visibly shudders at the feeling.
(‘Too scary, what if he scratches and draws blood? If Raon finds out, he’s going to feed me soggy apple pie…’)
Alberu preens at finding Cale’s weakness.
On slyly asks Rosalyn to do up Cale’s hair one day- as an experiment- and is extremely pleased when Cale not only agrees, but he closes his eyes and falls asleep soon after the Mage is done gently tugging his hair into place and adorning it with intricate pins and accessories. Choi Han walks in on this scene and threatens Rosalyn to keep it a secret (after melting a bit on the inside). She agrees with a sly smile.
If only Cale knew how everyone was going to use this to scam him in the future…
Eventually the misconception that Cale likes to have his hair played with goes around the entire group. Cale- of course- is completely clueless. He just thinks that everyone suddenly became obsessed with his hair.
Ron is the only one who can’t get Cale to relax. Even Bud somewhat managed it, but Cale stays vigilant no matter what his old butler does. Ron finds his puppy young master to be amusing.
Cale really doesn’t understand what they want with his hair. Do they want his hair?
(He asks Ron for a trim a few days later. Ron only cuts off the dead ends and leaves it neat but long, much to the young masters displeasure.)
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suuuuuuuuper disappointed with Fashion Dreamer, but I'm still having fun with it and don't regret buying it. it's such a step back from Style Savvy in every single category. literally does everything worse.
there's zero narrative or storyline
customization of clothing is literally just changing the colors, there's no textures or emblems or anything to add
sorting through your clothes is an utter nightmare. the old games let you filter by like… aesthetic type, category (not just "is a leg item" but getting as specific as "leggings" or "tube socks"); in this, all you can do is filter by the broadest category and since you have tons of stuff it's a nightmare
the gender binary, booooo
tons of categories of items are missing from old style savvy games, no handheld items whatever and it doesn't seem like necklaces, gloves, bracelets or any hand accessories whatsoever are there either
you can't save outfits. wtf!!! in ALL of the old games you can save a bunch of outfits you made, in this one you simply cannot. good luck remembering all the items you used when you have 7000 of them and no way to sort.
can't zoom in while dressing up, so good luck guessing what color a lot of those really thin eyeglasses and the like are. thought they were pink? nope sorry they were brass actually
there's no layering whatsoever. you used to have an outer layer and an inner layer, and you could wear all kinds of dresses, shirts etc over the inner layer to make nice looking combinations of things like corsets and stuff like that. and you could wear skirts over pants. now, nope, just one layer for tops (not counting jackets) and bottoms, and anything that looks "layered" came pre-made that way
the coolest items are locked behind a fricken GACHA
it is absolutely still a fun game to play if literally all you want to do is dress up a character to make numbers go up. i'm enjoying myself despite literally all of this. the Photo Egg is fun, the drone to take photos around the areas is a good feature. most of the clothing is very cute, and i'm glad to be able to customize them so that they aren't gratingly different shades of grey or whatever and make a coordinated outfit.
but whoof, without the store aspect and the little character storylines from dressing your various customers, the whole thing feels just as empty and hollow as i expected.
i will still be playing way too much of it though. anyone wanna be Fashion Dreamer friends? lol
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in this exposé i will
Isayama talks about his drawing in way too humble a fashion. but this is especially true when it comes to emotions and expressions - especially in aot where emotions and the nuances of character emotions are portrayed outside of dialogue.
but - especially wit - went about doing a disservice to Levi in particular when putting his character to screen. i don't think it's too controversial to say that most aot fans are anime onlys right? and it's much less controversial to remember the very bad take that throughout aot Levi is emotionless.
obviously, this is clear enough in the anime. but the manga really brings the emotional spectrum of his character to all new horizons. it's been stated by Isayama that Levi is the most emotional character in aot. and if you cross-examine scenes in the manga vs the anime, this is unmistakable.
so i want to give a few examples of where the anime - mostly wit - miss these nuances in Levi's show of emotions.
thank you to this person on twt for giving me this idea with examples!
i'll start with what i consider the greatest offender of all (from the moments on my mind for now):
right as Midnight Sun starts, Levi has just managed to get back to Wall to find that Zeke is escaping and Armin is half-dead. he failed in carrying out Erwin's order.
i mean WOW, right? in both, Levi looks exhausted yes, but in the manga he looks frantic. on the verge of tears almost.
this is going to be a trend, where the anime portrays Levi in a much more hardened and determined manner compared to, arguably, how he really is. i think that there's a balance that the manga depicts much more equally.
later, Floch is recounting how he found Erwin. he found him alive, and considered putting him out of his misery, but decided that Erwin didn't deserve mercy.
this scares the shit out of Levi - much, much more clearly in the manga. in the left 2, he looks afraid in both, but in the manga, that fright is just. so much more intense. you know how strong Levi's feelings are.
right after RtS, Levi and Hange have come to let Eren and Mikasa out of jail.
understandably, Levi is neck deep in mourning. not just Erwin, but every life that was sacrificed just so he could fail; the two veteran squads that died when Bert transformed; Moblit; and of course Hange was badly injured too.
his depression is TANGIBLE in the manga. the anime doesn't convey it as well... (if at all i would argue)
in season 3, when Kenny has given his speech about how everyone is a slave to their own vice, and he's just retorted to Levi, "what're you, a hero?!"
clearly in the manga, he's much more exasperated. his head is hanging more and he looks pleading instead of angry.
the anime didn't even include this panel.
he feels sorry for him.
the attack on Liberio. Levi is cutting Zeke from his Titan.
in the manga, it's so INTENSE. i'm sure he's experiencing the same exact feelings as he did 4 years before. this moment is supposed to be his triumph - when he completes his promise to Erwin. you can clearly see the longing and disappointment, but along with forced determination, because putting on a show of killing Zeke is torturous for him, but it's his duty.
(i posted about this earlier but) Levi has just cut Zeke out of his Titan and needs to put down a grenade in order to give the impression that Zeke is dead. then he notices Magath, but most importantly that two kids are directly below him.
in the manga, his head is more downturned as opposed to above them, which is important in the scope of getting across that Levi doesn't see them (or Marleyans for that matter) as below him.
in the manga it's clear that he finds absolutely no satisfaction out of it, which is seen in the anime version too, but like i've said, not like Isayama gets it across.
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