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#the narrator rant anyone?
starry-teacup · 21 days
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THE NARRATOR?
STUPID IDIOT MOTHERFUCKING THE NARRATOR GOD DAMN FOOL ANNOYING ORDERS GIVING DUST EATING RAT OLD BASTARD SHITHEAD IDIOT VOICE OF THE WHORE BIGGEST CLOWN IN THE CIRCUS LAUGHED OUT OF TOWN COWBOY MOTHERFUCKING THE NARRATOR. STOP PINNING ME WHEN I TALK ABOUT THE NARRATOR I HATE HIM SO MUCH WHY DOES HE HAVE SO MANY FUCKED UP CABINS WHY DID HE DECIDE TO FUCK AROUND AND FIND OUT JUST SET THEM [THE PRINCESSES] LOOSE IS HE DEAD IS HE A BASTARD MAN HAS SUCH A VISCERAL AFFECT ON ME NOT EVEN IN THE ROOM NEVER SEEN THIS MANS FACE AND I KNOW HE HAS THE WORLDS SHITTIEST BEARD GET AWAY FROM ME.
if i wanted to get into heaven and god said the narrator's waiting inside i would piss on gods feet for the sole purpose of getting sent back down. if i have to deal with the narrator speaking one word in person on voice in game not only will i close the window i will load my history out of spite and have to replay the entire game again for the experience of being able to skip all the times when he is mentioned or alive. i dont even know why i hate him so much. he ignores mirrors but i am just mad because i am ANGY. he better have some fucked up backstory to explain this if hes just some rich shithead whos a fan of creepypasta and wanted the irl version ill go ham. BETTER have had a princess make him kill a man cuz if he didnt Im going to make him.
paypal.com/IFuckingHateTheNarrator
chapter's not even about him. vaguely mentioned what is supposed to maybe be his opinion and I lost it. where the fuck is the narrator if hes still alive im going to so deeply wish he wasnt.crusty old man. ill punch narrator and his sad frail old bird twig bones will simply flake apart under my epic huge meat fist and he will disintegrate until all thats left is one final mirror he kept on him at all times simply reflecting Now You Fucked Up in ancient yiddish. im not breathing im hyperventilating at this point. i hope theres a date given for when narrator died or will die so i can make it a reminder on my phone, and everyday once a year i will see it and do anything but pay respects to the man who had so many fucked up if true monarchs
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pixel-mess · 7 months
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rahhhh okay this isnt directed at anyone in specific, but can people in the stanley parable fandom PLEASE tag their stuff with endings that might be not so good?? the sheer amount of references and imagry of the zending, countdown ending, the marriella/insanity ending, and the skip button ending (and especially the last one) with no tags for trigger warnings (or even content warnings??) I have the tags "zending" and other endings blocked for a reason, please, if anyone is seeing this, know im not going after anyone, but I am asking begging you to please please tag possibly triggering endings if they are in your post.
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secret-engima · 2 years
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eclipsearising
This is why I think Kishimoto didn’t really think about his word building. He just went “You know what would be cool?” And then came up with something completely stupid/
Me: no no no you don’t understand THIS IS LITERALLY WHAT HE DID. THIS IS LITERALLY IT. I HAVE SEEN IT WAY TOO MANY TIMES FOR IT NOT TO BE. Examples off the top of my head being *especially* in the 4th war.
-There is- literally an entire *episode* of Naruto’s training with Killer B dedicated to Naruto learning he can’t make shadow clones in Kyuubi mode because that will *actually kill him* because of how the chakra drain works in that mode. It is literally hand waved the moment Naruto leaves the island because Kishi refuses to let *any* character other than Naruto be useful and so he needs to go to like five different places at once to fight zetsu in kyuubi mode. in universe it’s something about Kurama not trying to kill Naruto with chakra drain anymore but like- that isn’t explained until multiple episodes of Naruto casually using shadow clones and *not thinking about the consequences* and his *trainer Killer B* not stopping him or reminding him about the danger so clearly that excuse was thrown in last second to appease the plot hole.
-In the same episodes as the above, Naruto learns he can’t use RASENGAN in kyuubi mode because, in a potentially neat twist, it turns out the Rasengan works on the same principles as a biju bomb and when he tries to rasengan the kyuubi chakra converts it into a biju bomb instead. You can look at *almost any 4th war fight with naruto in it* and see him spamming rasengan. in kyuubi chakra cloak mode.
-Sasuke fighting Deidara pre 4th war. He’s literally out of chakra but somehow not only summons a boss summon, but forces it to shield him from a fatal blast. Because Cool Points™.
-The entire. fricken. 4th war. Is building up to Madara being the final boss. I am not joking. Like- I know I’m not a published author or whatever but I’ve been writing multi chapter fic for somewhere around 7-8 years and I’ve been reading gobs of stories since I had the brain power to process words. The narrative build up is there. The entire point to nerfing the 5 kage so they can’t beat Madara, to *all of the Biju* not being able to beat Madara and getting retaken into the jyuubi/making him the jyuubi jinchuuriki is one long, poorly executed difficulty spike for the final boss. There is an *entire scene* that goes for 5 plus minutes of Obito using what he thinks is his dying will to pull out a fragment of chakra from the Ichibi and Gyuuki respectively because that directly ties into the tug of war that happened however many eps back when Obito was the kyuubi Jinchuuriki. Naruto had received chakra from every biju except the Ichibi and Gyuuki and was able to use those as a connection to *pull the biju out* of the seal and free them/rescue them and thus de-power Obito, but he couldn’t do it with Ichibi and Gyuuki because he’d never gotten that piece of their chakra and couldn’t resonate with them/pull them free. And Obito, when he does his heel face turn and becomes good again, risks using what could literally be his last moments to get those two bits of chakra and give them to Naruto. That is SCREAMING final boss setup. Madara was supposed to be the big bad, Sasuke and Naruto were gonna get their act together, fight him in a big messy final fight while everyone else is stuck in Infinite Tsukuyomi, then Obito’s gift of those last two chakra resonances would let Naruto pull the biju out of Madara and depower/defeat him. It is SO OBVIOUS.
And then instead we get Kaguya at the literal last second, no fight with Madara, this guy who basically stomped all over the world goes out like a *chump* because Kishi didn’t want the money train to end and thought a literal moon goddess coming out of nowhere would be “cool”.
Those are just off the top of my head but there are literally hundreds of more incidents where if you actually *look* at what is narratively happening, the tropes being used, the build up, the prior “world-building” you can see that Kishi genuinely does not think about his timeline, his world building, any of that. He just goes with the Rule of Cool and what he thinks will be the most shocking “plot twist” at the time. It is. *So bad*.
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leahsgf · 12 days
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bouquets
leah williamson x fem!reader
in which leah, famous hater of tiktok joins in on a trend, for you.
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one thing about your girlfriend that not many people knew - is that she is secretly an absolute dork, through and through. her signature frown and grumpy expression when she focused, meant that not only was she endlessly teased by you for it, and jokingly reminded that if the wind blew she’d be stuck like that - but also that she gained a reputation for being very serious, and rarely showing her emotions, particularly on the pitch.
you however, and anyone who had the pleasure of getting to see her behind closed doors, and truly knowing her - knew that that was the furthest thing from the truth.
which, is what led you to now.
you’d been sprawled almost flat on top of her in bed for what had felt like hours on end, your favourite place to be on the rare occasion that you both had a day off, when an unusual silence settled between the two of you.
unusual, in the sense that these private moments between the pair of you were usually filled by leah’s rambles about anything and everything, a narration of every single thought that had remained unspoken over the time she wasn’t with you.
“what are you doing?” you protested, breaking the silence and grumbling into the crook of your neck, not even a millisecond after her fingers stopped trailing through your hair.
“nothing, grouchy! just trying to figure out this stupid thing. bloody tiktok i swear! i don’t know how you and the girls love it so much, makes no sense!” she waved her phone in the air, eyebrows furrowing and that frown deepening - but her fingers instantly resuming their actions in your hair, causing you to slump once more.
“wait babe why are you on tiktok! you hate tiktok!” the realisation hit you rather slowly due to your state, your mind flashing back to the what must be hundreds of times that you begged her to do a cute video with you - only to be met with a rant about how much she despised the app.
“oi! mind your business. you’ll see! just need some patience my girl!” she chuckled, bopping you on the nose as she tilted her screen just out of your eyes’ reach.
to say you were confused was a major understatement. you knew you could’ve seen her screen if you really wanted to, your position on top of her giving you a rare power.
one that you knew not to test, however. so, you let yourself shrug off her strange behaviour and settle back into her, being pulled in by the addictiveness that was her skin, and her scent.
“there! done!” she pushed her phone into your face, so suddenly it almost made you jump.
and what faced you, confused you almost as much as when it was hidden from you.
it was her lockscreen. a new one, replacing the picture of the two of you.
a bouquet of flowers.
they were cute, undeniably. dainty little illustrated cartoon flowers, in a variety of colours and styles, put together in a bouquet - in the middle of a plain background.
but not enough to match the shit eating, proud yet almost shy grin that was spread across her lips.
“it’s….cute? lee i don’t get why you’re showing me this though?” your frown mirrored her previous one, confusion visible all over your face that made her giggle, and prod at your flushing cheek.
“look silly girl, it’s some trend on tiktok that beth showed me. there’s a flower for each letter of the alphabet, and people have been putting them together and spelling out their partner’s names to make a little bouquet and i thought it was cute, okay!” she said, almost sheepishly - looking away from you as you sat up, grinning.
“you’re so cute oh my god.” you peppered kisses all over her face, ignoring her protests.
“the team cannot hear about this. kay? i’m their captain, i have a reputation to uphold!” she met your lips in a kiss, almost immediately proving her own point wrong.
“i think everyone knows how much of a dork you are baby i’m afraid, we’re way past that point!”
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I feel like i need to rant about the fact that Harrow literally has never said she’s into Alecto romantically at all
Like every instance where it’s described as romantic is either
1. Something gideons said to Harrow
Or
2. Gideon narrating their interactions/memories
And harrows never specifically said that it’s not romantic attraction either but I do feel like the most likely reason is bc either she doesn’t realise Gideon isn’t taking the piss, because she’s never had the room to grow emotionally enough to understand the difference in forms of relationships, or (most likely) a bit of both.
She specifically met Alecto during an attempt which is an extremely emotional time and quite often where a lot of people who join different religions start bc it gives them a reason to keep going
Harrow literally confronted face to face what she was told her entire existence added up and became obsessed
I think it also makes a lot more narrative sense if she isn’t personally bc it does show the dichotomy between their skewed views of relationships
Gideon doesn’t think anyone could be that devoted unless it was romantic love for a partner
Harrow feels very all or nothing love, complete devotion or complete hatred and doesn’t understand any inbetween
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Okay, this started as a rant on another post but then i figured it wasn't fair to inflict that on OP. I don't even know OP. So uhhh...
I am, at this point, completely convinced that the people who advise against headhopping, beige prose, purple prose, and infodumping, and the people who love headhopping, beige prose, purple prose, and infodumping are using two different definitions of the words.
Because do you really enjoy reading published novels where you can't tell whose thoughts belong to whom? Do you really enjoy prose that is choppy, vague, awkward, and lacks enough detail to actually follow the story? Do you really enjoy prose that keeps using big, fancy words but it is clear the author doesn't actually know what they mean, or uses run-on sentences that are dizzying to try and make sense of? Do you really enjoy having your high-paced action scene interrupted by 6 pages straight of technical jargon with absolutely no attempt to incorporate it naturally into the story (and like two paragraph breaks across the whole 6 pages)?
On the other hand...
Do you really hate every single case of Omniscient POV you have ever read - did you hate Narnia, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Pride and Prejudice because of the POV? Do you really find sparse, accessible, "quick and snappy" prose that off-putting? Do you hate poetry - can you seriously not think of any examples of vivid, flowing prose chalk-full of literary devices (metaphor, zeugma etc.) that spoke to you? Have you really never enjoyed a paragraph here and there where a scifi writer explains exactly how their weird alien is biologically possible? Have you? Do you?
(Okay, okay. I know this is Tumblr. If anyone actually bothers to read this rant (hahaha) some little edgy contrarian is going to appear in the notes eventually but IN GENERAL)...
Long story short I think we have two different definitions of all these terms running around.
Headhopping
When the narrator describes the thoughts of more than one character per paragraph (or scene).
When the narrator describes the thoughts of more than one character per paragraph (or scene) in a way that makes it difficult to tell who is thinking and experiences what. It is confusing to the reader.
Beige prose
Simple, sparse, accessible, to the point, only conveying the tip of the iceberg.
Choppy, awkward, vague, missing critical information, sacrificing clarity for the sake of simplicity.
Purple prose
Poetic, flowery and/or vivid language, long complex sentences, a tendency toward the dramatic.
Language that is "too flowery" - fancy, rare words used incorrectly, or which don't make sense given the tone, mood, atmosphere, genre, style etc, or which make it hard to follow what is happening. Run-ons and sentences that are dizzying to make sense of. Melodrama, aka dramatic without adequate build up.
Infodumping
Explaining details that aren't necessary for the story. Taking a few paragraphs, maybe a page or two, at an appropriate moment in the story (even a whole chapter if it is built-up to correctly). This can be in the text itself or it can be in an appendix or prologue (à la Concerning Hobbits)
Explaining details that aren't necessary for the story. Taking a few paragraphs, maybe even several pages, at an inappropriate moment in the story. It interrupts the flow and pacing. There is no effort to weave or incorporate the information into the story. It is just dumped there.
And yeah, I just think we could solve so much discourse if we acknowledged that we aren't all using the same definitions.
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jealousy, jealousy || Han x Reader
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Summary: You and Han have been dancing around your feelings for each other for… a while, if you're being honest. It doesn't help that your self-doubt makes it hard to make any move, that you're mean enough to scare most people away and oh, yeah, that his ex hates your guts. So when the three of you are at a party together and there are drinking games involved, what could possibly go wrong?
Word count: 4.2k
Genres: college AU, friends to lovers
Warnings & Tags: implied past bullying/ostracizing of the reader, jealousy (duh), kissing (rating T on the verge of rating M, so it remains fairly tame), mentioned alcohol, drinking games, self-deprecating narrator, language.
series masterlist
A/N: this took forever because I was almost done with it when I realized what I'd written didn't work with the theme, so I had to start all over again. This is also my first time writing Han, so I hope you'll enjoy it!
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As usual, you hear Jisung before you see him. It's not all that surprising, the boy’s pretty loud, and, if you didn’t have a misanthropic reputation to uphold, you might even admit that you like hearing his laugh when you walk across campus, or when you catch him mid rant as you walk into the cafeteria.
Thing is, it also means that he’s around people, and you don’t… do… people. So, even though seeing him is invariably a highlight in your day, when you hear his voice, you find yourself debating whether you should head in another direction. If you don’t, you’ll have to talk to him, and as a result, them, whoever they are, because it would be weird not to, right, and you’re just not sure you have the energy for that right now.
Or ever.
Today, as isn’t uncommon, you freeze for a second, take a step back, then decide to push on. If anyone noticed that, you probably just looked extremely weird, but it’s likely that no one was paying attention, and so you keep going with a minimal amount of mortification, for now anyway. You might ruminate over it later today, like you will if there’s any hitch in the conversation that's coming, but that’s a problem for 2 a.m. you.
You’re somewhat relieved to find that Jisung’s chatting with Chan and Changbin. You’re not close with them, but you kinda get along with Changbin, and though you find Chan intimidating, your interactions with him so far have been fine, which is high enough of a bar to clear as far as you’re concerned.
Jisung notices you almost immediately, which fills you with pleasant warmth, and he waves at you with a bright smile. You choose to take that as an invitation to come closer and an indication that you wouldn’t be interrupting anything — if it’s not, that’s on him because it was unclear — and make your way over to them.
“On your way to an exam?” Jisung asks you once you’ve reached them.
“Do you think I would make myself late to talk to you?” you reply with a frown.
It makes him laugh. Sometimes it worries you, how funny Jisung seems to find you when you’re being mean. If it was when you’re being a dick to someone else, why not, but to him too? Is he okay?
“I can’t tell if this is you being a good influence on him or not,” Chan says, tilting his head. There’s an amused glint in his eyes too. Okay, that means you’re not doing too bad.
“Are you guys done with classes?” you ask. “Were you heading to the studio?”
“No,” Jisung is quick — maybe a little too quick — to answer. “We were just talking about a track we’re working on.”
Four eyes narrow on him, and Changbin grins.
“Yeah, ‘cause Jisung here’s been feeling all romantic lately, right?”
Jisung throws him a horrified look.
“You’ve been turning in very sappy lyrics lately, hm?” Chan keeps going.
“I’m the draught, you’re rain, I’m paper, you’re a poem, wasn’t it?” Changbin quotes from memory, a wide, shit-eating grin on his face.
“Do you want to die?” Jisung asks, eyes so wide they look like marbles.
The two guys exchange a knowing look, both grinning. It’s not that often they get the drop on Jisung and can tease him, for a change. They obviously find that to be a nice change of pace, but you’re not sure where that leaves you.
Because, okay, you’re not completely clueless. The lyrics could be about you. Jisung’s expressed interest in you before. He’s kissed you. Remains the question of whether that interest was romantic or just sexual.
But the thought that the lyrics are not about you? That he feels that way about another person? It fills your stomach with stones and makes it sink to the bottom of the ocean. Just thinking about it make tears spring to your eyes and you glance to the side to will them to go away.
This is bad. You’re way too far gone. What a fucking dumbass you can be, for someone who’s as academically gifted as you are.
“At least it’s not about cheating, hm?” Jisung says, staring at Chan who seems to find the ground very interesting all of a sudden.
“That’s an uncharitable interpretation of the lyrics,” he mumbles, but he appears quite eager to drop the subject after that. You find that a bit suspicious and you’d kinda like to find out what the golden boy on campus might be trying to hide, but Jisung seems relieved to be able to drop the subject as well.
“Hey,” Jisung says the second the topic’s been let go of, attention snapping to another idea so fast it sometimes makes your head spin, “I’ve been meaning to ask—”
“Oh right,” Changbin says, glancing at his phone, “there’s Sana’s party tonight. You guys coming?”
Jisung pulls a face, but you’re not sure why. It’s not like he doesn’t get regularly interrupted — and it’s not malicious either, it’s just that he, uh, talks a lot. Sometimes people end up cutting him off. In Changbin’s case, you suspect he didn’t even notice.
“I already told her we would,” Chan says, and Jisung’s face gets longer. You suspect he’d completely forgotten about it.
“Are you coming too?” he asks you, a hint of pleading in his voice.
See, even this is a dilemma. Going to a party means you’ll be forced to be in the presence of people who dislike you and who you find fundamentally uninteresting, especially since Seungmin’s been a no-show to most of these now that he’s dating. Even if you go only to see Jisung, you know people will be trying to get his attention all night, and you’ll be lucky if you get to spend ten minutes alone with him before midnight — maybe you’ll get him to yourself for a whole half-hour at around four am though. On top of that, there’s a significant risk that people will talk to him while he’s standing next to you and completely ignore you, and you’ll spend the whole time praying for a hole to open under your feet.
On the other hand, you can’t refuse him anything, and it would be far more devastating to pass on the chance to spend some more time with him.
So you just say “Sure”.
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After spending more time on your outfit than you feel comfortable admitting — this isn’t a date, dammit — you show up at the sorority Sana’s a part of. Though your dress feels too short, you’re relieved to feel self-assured on your high heels. Yes, it took practicing walking in them, but it’s paying off in confidence, and it’s a price you’re willing to pay.
People are already there when you arrive, gathered on the porch, filling the house, spilling out on the balconies. You get a few looks, but it’s not like you’re not used to them. At least you’re not pretending that you don’t give a fuck. Many of them don’t like you, and you don’t like them either.
Walking in, you find yourself hesitating. Would it be weird if you just tried to find Jisung right away? Should you try to socialize, spend a few minutes talking to the rare people you know and get along here?
You may not particularly care about what people think, most of the time, but you do care about what he thinks. And the thing is, you know people talk, especially about him, especially since 3racha’s popularity blew up last year. The last thing you want is for him to think that you’re some desperate, embarrassing idiot who’s been misreading—
Enough with the line of thinking. If he’s not interested, he shouldn’t have kissed you. And, okay, the first time was a week after the break-up with his girlfriend, and he was crying, and you don’t think it meant anything to him, but the second time, this summer? It had to have meant something. He wasn’t cruel like that— You didn’t think.
You’re still grateful to make eye contact with Changbin, because it makes things a little easier. You go up to him, exchange a few words, he introduces you to some of the people who’ve flocked to him, they pretend to be interested, and once you decide that you’ve made enough of an impression, you leave them with a polite, though forced, smile.
Finding Jisung isn’t all that hard, you just have to follow the laughter.
You know that he likes his peace and quiet, too, but on a night like that, he’ll be prepared to entertain. Someone else might think that it comes naturally to him, the jokes, the antics, the comedy, but you know better. You know that there’s a surprising amount of work that goes into how good he is at this, how easy he makes it look. You know that, when he’s around you, he’s actually fairly quiet, that he sometimes hangs out on your couch, on his phone, while you’re reading, but pouts if you leave the room.
When you find him, it seems him and the group he’s with are in the middle of some drinking games. You hesitate, again. You recognize some of the girls there as part of the girls’ swimming team, the one whose captain is Jisung’s ex. Who’d hated your guts since first year, independently from Jisung, and then, uh, dependently from Jisung, you’re pretty sure. She was single-handedly responsible for half of campus thinking you were a bitch, a feat that even you find somewhat impressive.
You’d almost respect it, if, you know. It hadn’t made your life hell until you managed to stop giving a fuck.
But Jisung spots you. He always does. You don’t know how he does it, half suspect that he’s on some Spiderman shit, but he finds you in the crowd, and his eyes widen, and his smile brightens, and God, it’s not fair, how he makes you feel when he’s not even yours.
Having Jisung’s undivided attention is— one of the best feelings in the world. Genuinely. He just has a way of making you feel like you matter. It’s a bunch of things he does, one of them being the way he makes people laugh. He always— caters his jokes to the person around him. That means he pays attention, means he remembers, means he cares. That’s already a lot.
“You made it,” he says, a soft edge to his tone, when you reach him. His hand reaches for your arm, pulling you into the circle, then hovers at your elbow, sometimes brushing against your skin. This is another one of the changes that have happened since the summer. He’s more— tactile, and it does all sorts of things to you.
You don’t mind. You don’t mind at all.
“You look good,” he adds, voice low enough that you’re the only one to hear it. You do your best to repress the shiver it sends down your spine.
“Thanks,” you reply, your usually sharp tongue unable to find something to reply.
“Jisung!” some voice calls, and you manage at the last second not to roll your eyes — thank God, ‘cause there’d be hell to pay if you had.
Because it’s Jihyun. Because of course it is. If there’s one thing you can’t take away from her, it’s that she always has impeccable timing. Not for you, naturally, for herself.
If it was just you, you’d be out the door in seconds, leaving the scene before risking any kind of confrontation. Being with Jisung right now means that she won’t directly be a bitch to you, she’s never done it upfront in front of him. She instead goes the passive-agressive route which, bless his precious heart, he basically never picks up on.
You also never spoke about it with him. At first because she was his fucking girlfriend and he clearly adored her, even if there was so much that set them apart, and since then because, well, you’re still afraid you’ll come off as some jealous bitch or he won’t believe you or, worse, take her side. Tell you that you were every bit the bitch she says you are, and that she was right for the shit she put you through.
You only have seconds to brace for impact. But as you compose yourself, not bothering to smile, Jisung’s hand settles on the small of your back.
Which, hmmm, you’d be happy about in pretty much any other circumstances, but right now? Right now it might not be the best thing for you.
“It’s been a while,” she tells Jisung with a stunning smile. “How have you been doing?”
Jisung smiles too, though somewhat tighter. They’re on good terms, from what you’ve heard, but that’s not really something you’ve discussed with him. You force yourself to tune them out quickly, letting your eyes wander in the room. Just being around her makes your chest tighten. You feel on edge, feel the need to watch all of your gestures and anything that leaves your mouth in fear that it will be used against you.
Fuck, you were supposed to be over that.
Whatever Jisung answers, it makes her laugh. She leans forward, puts her hand on his arm. She makes it looks so easy, so natural. Same with how she pushes her hair behind her ear, keeps her voice at the right pitch, even laughs the right way, light and airy. If you tried to flirt the way she does, you’d only embarrass yourself. You'd look delusional. There’d be nothing sexy or attractive about it.
You’re just bad at making people like you.
It’s impossible not to be reminded of the fact that this is who Jisung went for. You don't know if you can go as far as to say she’s his type, but he did choose to date her, and you know how much he cared for her.
With her around right now, it’s really fucking hard to think that he would go for someone like you and that you haven’t been letting yourself get carried away.
On a related note, are you going to have an emotional break down in the middle of the room?
“…and things are looking pretty good for the team, we think we’ll get to the nationals this year,” Jihyun concludes cheerfully.
Wow, that’s impressive! Shouldn’t she be training for that then?
Maybe she has a point. You are a bitch.
“That’s cool,” Jisung says. “Well, it was nice running into you again.”
Her smile falters, just barely, but you don't miss it. She’s good at hiding things, but you’re better at noticing them. Know your enemy and all that.
You’d almost feel bad for her. If you’d had Jisung’s undivided time and attention, and you lost it? Yeah. You don’t know how you’d cope.
But then her eyes light up again, and again, she’s really fucking good at that shit.
“What are you guys playing?” she asks. “I’d love to join.”
You’re not unaware of the way Jisung’s hand closes slightly on your back. As he turns around, he ends up pulling you a little closer to him and your stomach tightens. Less because of his proximity, though obviously that affects you too, and more because you have the sinking feeling that this is about her. Is he— using you to make her jealous?
No. There’s no way. He would never do that.
Right?
“Just some never have I ever for now,” Sana chirps in answer. She gives the three of you a warm smile, and you think she means it. You’ve never gotten shit from her, and that says a lot. Normally you’d argue that people shouldn’t be neutral or anything, but in your case, neutral seems to be too much to ask for, in most cases.
“Alright!” Jihyun grins, lifting her cup as if to signal that she’s ready to enter the game. “Never have I ever… had sex with someone at a party.”
She drinks almost immediately, a cute giggle slipping past her lips, and so do a bunch of other people.
“None of you get close to my room,” Sana warns sternly, and several people laugh.
It’s not until you feel Jisung moving to drink from his cup and catch a glance of his burning red ears that you realize what Jihyun’s point was. With someone else, it might be self-centered to assume you were the intended target. With her, you don’t doubt it a second. Just a little reminder that he used to be hers.
There are a few whistles at Jisung’s attention, but he keeps his eyes down. It doesn’t surprise you that it would make him uncomfortable. It kinda surprises you that she wouldn’t care, though. She’s evil incarnate, but she seemed to care about him, in her own way.
“Aw,” she says, staring straight at you with her sweetest smile, “don’t worry, we’ll find you someone.”
There was a time where that might have upset you, but right now you won’t give her the satisfaction. You let your gaze flicker over her, face-shoes-face, and then glance away with a scoff. It makes you look like a haughty bitch, but, well, you’re already known for being a haughty bitch, so who cares.
Jisung chuckles discreetly next to you. That makes it worth it.
The game goes on without catching much of your interest after that. Jihyun’s sentences remain pointed — either towards Jisung or you, you’re pretty sure, though you doubt anyone notices. At least Jisung doesn’t move away from you for most of it, chin sometimes coming to rest on your shoulder, fingers running gently over your arms, the occasional whispered comment in your ear.
Heat pools in your stomach the whole time, and you’re unable to focus on anything but him. His firm body’s pressed against your back, his proximity overwhelming. You feel that you should drag him away and finally talk about what’s going on between the two of you, but you’re afraid you’ll break the spell if you do.
Eventually, he’s the one who does, peeling himself away from you when Chan shouts from downstairs to get his attention.
It feels cold when he’s gone.
It feels colder when Jihyun’s eyes zero in on you.
Hm. Maybe flight would be the better option right now.
You’re not sure how it happens, but the game shifts not long after Jisung’s left. A bottle appears on the floor, and you tilt your head. Aren’t you all too old for that?
Apparently not, or at least not when so many people are that drunk and giggling at the idea. Soon, some are making out. Others excuse themselves and find a more private spot — Sana reminds everyone that her room should not be that spot, but you’re not sure how efficient that is.
You’re thinking about retreating when you hear someone call your name and again, of course, it’s Jihyun. She gives you a warm smile that doesn’t reach her eyes.
“It’s your turn!”
There’s tension in the air as you just stare. You don’t want to—
“C’mon, it will be fun!”
You shouldn’t care. You shouldn’t care about what she makes you out to be. But in that moment, you’re back to your first-year self who was still trying to fit and figure out how to make people like you.
So you lean forward and spin the bottle.
It takes you less than a second to realize that that was some dumb fucking decision making. You don’t want to kiss anyone here. The idea vaguely nauseates you, actually, but less than the uncomfortable realization that no one here wants to kiss you. You might be seconds away from facing a harsh, unpleasant rejection. That was probably her point, actually. You fold your arms over your chest, but you still feel your shoulders sink. You know you’re unwanted. You don’t need—
The bottle’s grinding to a stop when a hand shoots out to grab it.
You frown, glance up.
And it’s Jisung. He flashes you a bright smile, then winks.
“Wanna make out?”
Jihyun laughs lightly, tells you to ‘go get it’. But even you can see her heart breaking in her eyes.
None of it matters when Jisung strides over to you and takes your hand in his to pull you away. More people than you’d have expected cheer.
He pulls you into some random room, closes it behind him, and then hesitation appears in his eyes when he looks at you.
“We don’t have to— I mean, I wasn’t trying to make you— If you want to go kiss someone else—”
It sounds like he is down to kiss you, and even if you hadn’t wanted to kiss him before that, you think that little knight in a rock band t-shirt moment would have gotten you going anyway. So you shut your brain up, grab him by his t-shirt, and in the stunned silence that follows, an extremely rare occurence with Jisung, you pull him down towards you.
His lips crash against yours, warm and soft, and after the first few seconds of surprise, during which you see him blinking at you with impossibly wide eyes, he kisses you back like he’s been waiting for this moment his whole life. One of his hands comes up to cup your face while the other’s at your waist, squeezing and bringing you closer, not quite daring to make the move to your ass. Yet, anyway.
There’s urgency in the way he tilts his head to get better access to your mouth. Your hands trail from his shirt to his arm, feeling his toned biceps underneath you fingers, and you feel him grin against you.
“Find something you like?” he teases, before kissing you again.
This time his tongue brushes against yours, and a moan escapes you. You could feel self-conscious about it, but you don’t, not with him. If anything, it only seems to spur him on further, and he gets closer, his toned thigh pushing between yours. You feel hot all over, anywhere he touches you set ablaze, and oh, do you want this. One of his hands slides up your leg, hitching your dress higher.
“Have I told you I really like this dress?” he asks, because apparently he can’t shut up even in moments like that.
He doesn’t let you answer though, and again he’s kissing you, making your head spin. You can’t figure out what to focus on. The softness of his lips, the warmth of his mouth, how his hand is slowly making its way higher up your thigh, setting your skin ablaze, probably intentionally teasing you. Whatever it is, you’re melting under his hands. You want more, undeniably so.
He pulls away for just a second, catching his breath. His chest is heaving quickly, his lips swollen, and you can’t help but think that this is your doing, a thought that somehow turns you on even further. Dark, dilated pupils meet yours, and you think you see a desire that mirrors your own. He licks his lips briefly, glances at the bed in the room. Then his eyes meet yours again. He swallows.
“Do you—”
You jump away when someone tries to open the door.
“Is someone in there?”
Shit. Shit.
It’s Sana.
“No one better be in there,” she says threateningly.
You exchange a panicked look. She’s the sweetest person in the world, but you don’t want to cross her.
In a second, Jisung steps away from you and he’s at the window. He opens it, looks out, and then he throws one leg over the edge.
“What are you doing?” you hiss.
“Saving our lives,” he replies very seriously, stepping out fully on what you assume is the roof over the porch. “Come on,” he adds, “I’ll help you out.“
You roll your eyes, walk over to him and close the window, shooing him away with a gesture of the hand. Then you open the door, and though Saya eyes you suspiciously, you think she believes your story about being tired and wanting a rest and not having realized you’d locked the door.
Then you walk downstairs and let yourself fall on a couch, right next to Jisung, who seems to be all pouty that you refused to escape with him. His thigh brushes against yours, and your stomach does a somersault, but neither of you says anything about— well. About the thing you should be talking about. The moment’s passed, and self-doubt is assaulting you all over again.
Still, right now, you’re the person who gets to let your head fall on Jisung’s shoulder, and it’s your hand he intertwines his fingers with.
In that moment, you’re sure that the two of you will be alright eventually. It’s probably going to take a while, ‘cause you’re too much of a coward and Jisung’s— well, you’re not quite sure what his deal is, but there’s definitely something there.
But, eventually, you’ll be alright.
And there is no space in your brain, at that moment, to spare a single thought for Jihyun, because she’s lost him a long time ago.
Even if neither of you seem to be able to admit it, in all the ways that matter, he’s already yours.
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okayyy, again, there's kinda Lore there. i don't know if i'll end up writing it, but in case you're wondering, OC was paired with Jihyun for a class during their first year. essentially, Jihyun was pretty busy due to being on the swimming team and other personal stuff. OC ended up constantly doing all the work for the both of them, and sometimes Jihyun would say she'd do stuff and not do it. eventually, after OC was forced to complete stuff in one night and abandoned for a group presentation, there was a nasty altercation with Jihyun and the teacher became aware of the situation, resulting in a bad outcome for Jihyun. lots of people felt that OC was unfair and should have been more understanding, and OC still doesn't know if that was the right thing, but felt used and upset during the situation. Jihyun also vilifies OC when talking about it, a lot, and OC ended up being kinda ostracized after that. so yeah.
if you read all this, uh, thank you, i hope you enjoyed this, it's my first time writing Han and I love him dearly and I hope this works. it would mean the world if you could reblog this, leave a comment or anything like that! as an author, this is really the only way we get to see that our work is appreciated and it's trully what keeps me writing so it's super important :) thank you for reading and i'll see you later for Hyunjin!
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My redneck neighbor Doug on the Jedi in 'The Clone Wars'
Y'all have asked, and Dr. Meat Muffin might be a disgruntled old hag that chugs too much Trader Joe’s bourbon and doodles too much subpar art, but she keeps her promises!
Just so y’all know, if you’re a major character (Anakin, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, etc) you keep your name, because it was drilled into Doug’s head over 8 seasons of Clone Wars and the movies. Everyone else, though, Doug gave up and created his own catchphrases for them.
CW: This one's not as spicy as Doug's previous rants regarding Star Wars, but y'all know if y'all know. "It'll all come out in the wash."
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Plo Koon: Ah, Shrimp Daddy. He looks like a shrimp that’s been boiled and left in the sun after a potluck. But my wife LOVES him, she says he has the nicest voice and she wishes he’d narrate some books. I loved him too, he was my favorite. That scene where he tells his clone boys in space that they’re important to him? Ah great. They should have him lead HR meetings. 
Aayla Secura: Babe-the-Blue-Jedi. They sent her away from the Temple because Yoda didn’t want that hotness distracting everyone. Is she and Miguel (Bly?!) dating? They are, right? 
Kit Fisto: Reggae Swamp Thing. Tell me that boy don't look like he lives in the Atchafalaya and bangs on the steel drums all day. I wonder if he stole those shorts from Michael Phelps. He’s cool but does he need to have a tank to swim in on his ship? Does he have gills? I need more info on this guy. 
Adi Gallia: Storm’s Cousin. Doesn’t this chick look like her? She does, right? Maybe she's a Jedi cause she can't control the weather. Didn’t Maul’s brother Saul impale her on his horns and that’s how she died?* Why didn’t Maul do that to Obi-Wan? Maul was obsessed with Obi-Wan, do you think it’s because he had a crush on him after he sliced him in half?
(Doug also ships Obi-Wan with Maul now? IS THERE ANYONE WHO DOUG DOESN'T SHIP OBI-WAN WITH?!)
Shaak-Ti: Ahsoka’s Aunt. They’re totally related. (“No, they’re not.” “Says who?” “Um, EVERYONE?!”) She’s cool, nice to the clone boys. I like her horns. 
Saesee Tiin : Angry Bull Boy. He looks like a minotaur whose daddy left him at a Wal-Mart instead of the Labyrinth after drinking too much.
Deepa Billaba: My Coworker Anu. Seriously! She looks JUST LIKE HER. I even texted her a screenshot, and she used that as her Slack Channel picture for the longest time. Nice lady, she's a good master to Lil Kanan. Hm, Lil Kanan sounds like a rap person my niece would listen to.
Ki-Adi-Mundi: Mutant-Mall-Santa. Look me dead ass in the eye and tell me the man don’t look like he was supposed to hand out presents and ask kids what they want for Christmas and ended up hanging out in toxic waste instead. He's a snotty asshole, I don't like him, he thinks the sun comes up just to hear him crow.
Luminara Undali: Lady-in-Drape. She’s a green lady, and she wears a drape. Meat Muffin, I'm tired and it's about to snow.
Barriss Offee: Little Lady-in-Drape. Man, she was awful, but she had good points, ya know? Kind of like Darth Maul. Do you think Darth Maul and Obi-Wan ever dated? Or would Obi-Wan’s boyfriend get jealous? 
Quinlan Voss: College-Hippie-Boy. Doesn’t he just look like one of those goofs that fart around with hackysacks all day long? I'd buy weed from him if he was selling, he looks like an exporter and consumer, if you know what I mean.
Even Piall: Dobby the House Jedi. Man he looks like he was on his way to help Harry Potter or something and ended up in a bathrobe with a light saber. Ah well. 
*= Savage is ‘Saul’ and Feral is ‘Paul’. So it’s Maul, Saul, and Paul. I strained a muscle laughing when I got this. 
Tagging my Redneck Doug stans here! @amalthiaph @sued134 @eyecandyeoz @thecoffeelorian @merkitty49 @megmca @skellymomam I missing anyone?
Let me know if I missed any Jedi, those were the ones that came up that Doug didn't immediately recognize.
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artheresy · 8 months
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Dan Heng, Dan Feng, and Unreliable Narrators
WARNING: Some Leaks Discussion, don’t read if you don’t want to know any leaks
A bit of a rant regarding Dan Feng and Dan Heng and where I think their story might go if Hoyoverse doesn’t contradict in their lore hopefully ?
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No because let me tell you how this recent animation is all setting up to an eventual reveal of how Dan Heng is an immensely unreliable narrator and the story then at that point will want the players (at least those who havent yet read every little bit of lore) to come to question the Vidyadhara Preceptors and the Ten Lords Commission because THINK, THINK WITH ME GUYS
First off, the whole image we see of Dan Feng is absolutely not the real Dan Feng, but people who aren’t looking into lore leaks and story leaks and looking in every single crevice won’t have that point clear to them. Think of the description of the literal animation:
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“Never a person with love, hatred, sorrow, or joy like everyone else in this world.”
The view Dan Heng has of Dan Feng has only ever been shaped by the consequences of the sin he committed that condemned Dan Heng as well despite being a different incarnation of him. That sin was the reason for his imprisonment for much of his childhood until he was eventually banished once again due to that sin. Even once he had left the Luofu, the reason behind being pursued and hunted down by Blade IS their shared sin. All that he knows of Dan Feng is a curated by the Higher Powers of the Xianzhou Luofu, he does not truly understand the man who came before him. (Something he has admitted to by the way, but let’s also look beyond just his own admittance.)
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Fundamentally, the biggest evidence of such comes from how Dan Feng appears in his mind in the Animated Short that was just released. In it, Dan Feng haunts him, and specifically when he speaks, he talks of the High Elder succession. He speaks of it as something that cannot be broken, something that he cannot run from. That death is the only redemption for those who defy it.
But the thing is, this doesn’t sound like Dan Feng AT ALL. (Specific warning for Jingliu voiceline and character story leaks)
If you have kept up with leaks, you’ll see that Dan Feng would never EVER say such things as he did in the animated short to his next incarnation. And why you may ask? Because it is evident from the VLs and CSs that… Dan Feng himself seems to have longed to escape his role as High Elder. There is not any firm confirmation of either what the sin he and Yingxing committed nor what his motivations exactly were. However, there is a strong case to be made that the sin committed could be related his attempt to create a new high elder with the possible motive of wishing to escape his role of High Elder and the loss of identity he had to experience due to that role.
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But of course… Dan Heng doesn’t know this, he is unaware of whatever gripe or distain Dan Feng may have had for the role he carried out, the one he couldn’t escape. He only knows the words of the Preceptors and anyone else he was allowed to have contact with while imprisoned after his rebirth. And y’know… when you listen to what Dan Feng says in the animated short, it sounds more like something the Preceptors would say instead. Those words read more as Dan Heng’s projection of them instead placed upon Dan Feng who he has always been taught to view as a traitor, a sinner, rather than a person.
And hmm, who could stand to benefit the most from Dan Heng viewing Dan Feng as a villain…
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HMM I DUNNO, PERHAPS THE PEOPLE WHO LIED TO DAN FENG AND PURPOSEFULLY SET HIM UP!!! The same people that Dan Heng has confirmed were his primary source of information regarding who Dan Feng was just as I said before.
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Additionally, I’m tryin to find screenshots of it, but there are memories that come from certain Vidyadhara eggs when you interact with them that further suggest that the Preceptors sabotaged Dan Feng likely for the goal of wishing to maintain control over him/fear of the fact that he was becoming to powerful, that he was wavering from his role. So of course again, who else could benefit quite as much as them from Dan Heng hating Dan Feng? It is a way they still exercise control over his next incarnation. They control the narrative of his past self, they control what he knows about him to paint a specific picture that they want him to see. And once he is old enough, they further take care of him and exorcise a last bit of control by banishing him from ever returning. Sending him out into the universe having shaped his views and behaviors and of course what not to be like through their propaganda.
I just want to emphasize here how deeply important Dan Heng’s view of Dan Feng is for shaping his character as well as through the insight into him from that angle, we gain information on the Judges and the Preceptors.
With all of this known, I want to talk about where I think their story could be heading! Of course, please note this is strongly speculation and I don’t think my interpretation and prediction of what could happen is the objective truth or only way to view things. I could be very wrong honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised lol! But I think, at some point, we will in fact get an event where Dan Heng will realize the truth of who Dan Feng was. What he wanted, what he truly did, and why he did it. With the continued emphasis on what he was taught and how his perception is based upon what he learned in his imprisonment, I think it would simply make sense to have a turning point where he learns the truth.
A turning point that shines suspicion upon the Preceptors and Ten Lords Commission. However, I don’t think such a thing will happen for a LONG while given a few different reasons that I will outline here! So I don’t think this realization will be anytime soon due to the following:
1) We like literally just helped the Luofu. Its the beginning of the Xianzhou story as a whole given us being in the beginning of HSR, there are other ships to look into as well. Highly doubt they would cast suspicion upon the higher powers of the Luofu through Dan Heng’s lens so soon. It wouldn’t make much sense when there’s a lot left to work with
2) We know for Kafka that we will definitely come back or be back in contact with the Xianzhou Luofu given the whole reason she had us come to the ship in the first place being that she needs them in debt to the Astral Express for a future plan. Of course, they might not coincide, but in the cast that they do, I think it gives more justification to push back such an occurrence since the order would likely be Kafka’s thing first and then the realization? Of course again, I could be wildly wrong, time will tell in the end
3) and lastly, I think that Dan Heng having a realization of the truth of Dan Feng, his motivation and most of all his sin, especially if that would include finally having a true reveal and confirmation of what his sin exactly was, could very well relate to the relic lore line, “Pairs of objects are destined for an eventual reunion. The long years of grudges and hatred between them should be savored, like ice-cold aged liquor, one slow sip after another until the bottle of resentment is finally empty.” involving Blade. I mean think about it, Dan Heng finally having the full picture could very well lean into the event that the line is foreshadowing. And paired with the finality of that line, plus Dan Heng and Blade’s importance each individually as a Nameless and Stellaron Hunter respectively… yeah no way in hell would they get a conclusion so soon.
So yeah, I’m convinced Hoyoverse will absolutely stretch out and drag out the story, keep up waiting keep us on the edge of our seats, but I think eventually Dan Heng will be given the chance to realize the truth and not only will his view of Dan Feng change, but the view of those who had taught him and punished him as well. Or at least, I severely hope he will get the chance. To end his character so soon would be a true shame.
And for anyone struggling to understand my rant because I tend to go on tangents and become incoherent (I get it and I’m sorry!), here’s a tl:dr! From officially posted sources as well as some leaks, it can already be seen that Dan Heng is a unreliable narrator regarding Dan Feng. His perception of him in the animation directly contradicts the desire Dan Feng is shown to have to escape his role. I think at some point in the story, he will be given the chance to find out the truth given the continued emphasis of his lack of understanding regarding who Dan Feng truly is as well as the fact that he learned who Dan Feng was from the very people that punished him. Given the fact that different sources directly hint to the fact that Dan Feng was set up by the Preceptors to fail for the sake of maintaining control, Dan Heng’s realization about Dan Feng would likely be utilized to cast suspicion upon the Ten Lords Commission and the Preceptors.
Even that was still long but, I tried to condense as much as I could. Please forgive me if I make any spelling mistakes in this post or if the whole post itself seems completely weird or smth. Im writing this at 3 am after hours of brainrot. I am unwell to be true, anyways! Night night!
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writing-blocked-me · 6 months
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Hi!!! I just wanted to say I really like your writing! Especially your Chuuya fics! I was wondering if I could request from your flower series? Could you write a Ranpo x reader for number 4? I just need some clingy Ranpo fluff right now :)
Thank you so much! :D
Also yesss! Clingy Ranpo supremacy! The affection would just be immense :)
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Jasmine
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Jasmine - Attachment
Number 9 of my flowers drabble/one-shot series
Requests still open for the flowers series! So feel free to shoot me an ask!
Masterlist - Flowers Masterlist
Summary: Clingy Ranpo cuddles you on the agency sofa and the narrator (me) goes into a disgustingly sappy rant about how in love you are.
CW: Tooth-rotting fluff <3
Pairings: Ranpo x Reader
A/N: I still can't write dialogue, so excuse the poor quality of the spoken word. This one’s a short one, just a drabble, but I’d be happy to expand it if anyone wanted that :)
Enjoy :)
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“Closer.”
“...”
“Closer!”
Ranpo whines as you sit beside him on the agency's couch.  His arms are wrapped around tightly, a clear sign you won't be allowed to leave any time soon.  You shuffle closer and closer, pressing into his side, until it is physically impossible to move any closer.  And yet…
“Closer!” He whines again, arms squeezing you tighter.
“I literally cannot get any closer to you.”  You roll your eyes at the detective's antics as he clung to you, pouting.  You were used to his ridiculousness.  As the World's Greatest Detective, Ranpo had special privileges within the agency.  He could pick and choose cases, spend all day slacking off, but, most importantly, he was entitled to, as he put it, 'unlimited affection' from his significant other.  On the daily, he would demand cuddles, kisses, any and all affection he could get.  
Today, however, Ranpo Edogawa was particularly attached to you.  He had spent the day attempting to get you to slack off with him, much to the chagrin of your other colleagues. With the president away on business, the responsibility to keep Ranpo on track ultimately fell to you.  Needless to say, this was a huge problem when you were also his biggest distraction.  The entire day was spent with Ranpo being assigned a case, him finding a way to ditch it or pass it off to another member of the agency, then Kunikida complaining and you having to shove the Greatest Detective back to work.  Rinse and repeat.
That was, until the end of the day, when Ranpo went on strike, making it clear he would not be doing anything else for the rest of his working hours.  He had sat himself on the agency couch, dragging you down with him and pulling you close, insisting on having your affection all to himself.  You were helpless to do anything but indulge him, offering apologetic looks to your coworkers. 
This led to your current situation, with Ranpo aiming to pull you impossibly closer to him, unsatisfied with your current position.  Despite you quite literally being squished up against him.
“Cuddles.” A demand more than a question, as it always was from Ranpo and, though you were exasperated with his earlier behavior, it was a demand you could never bring yourself to refuse.  You wrapped your arms around the detective, feeling his own arms tighten around you in turn.  It felt nice.  Comforting.  Warm.  It was an emotion that only reared its head when the World's Greatest Detective was around.  An emotion that reminded you why you were willing to entertain all these ridiculous antics. An emotion you were certain would never fade.
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shawol-lisa-lee9 · 15 days
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TSC has been in my greedy hands for almost 48 hours now, and I managed to read it two and a half times already.
So many things to say about it, so little words I have to be able to do that. So, first of all
1) "Neil is such an unreliable narrator" not true, but can we talk about how Jean is just as much as "unreliable", but in a very different way? In the first three books we had a boy who cared so little about anything that wasn't exy (or Andrew) that he just didn't know/notice/cared enough to even acknowledge important things. In TSC we have a boy who knows SO LITTLE about anything in the World after being isolated for such a long time, that he sees everything through a distorted lens, and even when facts are right in front of him he just doesn't get it. They are not unreliable, they were forcefully taught to focus on things different than the whole picture.
2) Jean to me is so much a mixture of kevandreil it hurts me. He went through so much and yet gained so little it hurts. He has the same desperate will to live as Neil, the same "do what you want to me but keep X out of this" as Andrew (+ a lot of traumas), he has so many mental issues only Kevin can understand and a similar attitude. This not to say he's not "original", he's a very different person from the original trio, but he just... Has all of it. He combines other's main visible issues in one single person and it just hurts to see how much he's hurting but still wants and needs to carry on.
3) Neil X Jean scene at the end hits too hard on my heart. I do not presume to know exactly what my Goddess Nora was attempting to do with that, but my mind has found multiple possibilities on why Neil did what he did, and after all the times I read AFTG (which now amount to at least 35 rereads in a span of 3 years) only one has managed to grab my heart and never leave it. So, the main ones:
- As Jean thinks, Neil took care of Grayson because he is valuable in Ichirou's eyes, so Neil felt the need to protect Jean.
- Neil is aware of what Jean went through and is human enough to care for him, now that he knows he's not just a dick, and is willing to make sure Jean feels safe.
- Neil, being the person he is and having seen what Drake did to Andrew's mind, is not going to let Grayson do the same to anyone, especially someone he knows. As someone said here on Tumblr, "Neil is not gonna let a rapist alive if he can".
As I've come to understand the characters, for the first one, not even Neil is that cold that would just care about a person if they are valuable enough to him. In the second hypothesis, Neil is not the type of guy to just care that much about someone outside the foxes lot, but it's still a realistic idea, considering what Jean did for him in TRK. Third scenario, the most realistic and authentic one to me, he's not willing to let anyone get away with forcing themselves on another, even less if it's someone he knows and can do something about it. Which is also the reason why I'm obsessed with this scene and I would pay gold to see it in Neil's pov even when I know it's not possible.
4) Last point for this useless rant, CAN WE TALK ABOUT WYMACK? I swear to god that man is my absolute nightmare (in a good way), I just can't get over how much of a saint he is with those idiotic children he cares for + Jean. I just love him so much. He is rude and raw and can't be truly nice to save his life, but he cares, he cares about them with all his soul and he's not going to leave them alone when they need a helping hand the most.
I kind of wish coach Rhemann was like him, but at the same time I don't because a) if he was he would probably be at PSU, and b) I want him to be a completely different kind of dad to his boys and girls. (but I'm still going to cry on all of his scenes because that man is just too much for me (and for Jean), understanding but not pushing, being respectful of boundaries and "This was the belligerent stare of a man who’d haul Lucas out of there by force if Jean indicated he didn’t want to be alone with him.". )
So, yeah. I'm probably going to read it a third time tonight.
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As we get closer to the finale of the Bad Batch, I'd like to post something that's been in my head for a while.
I want to take an in-dept look at the theme of the show and how I think that shapes the ending.
Firstly, we'll need to look at the theme of the show.
The Bad Batch is a story about a group of rogue clones who must survive the rise of the Empire. Okay, that's what happens, but that's not the theme.
The theme is what the story is about. The lesson you want your audience to walk away with. It is the singular thing that shapes the character arcs and choices, from the protagonists to the antagonists.
I would argue that the theme of the Bad Batch is, "Our strength comes from our individuality and differences" and "We need to make our own choices and let people make their own choices; blind allegiance is the downfall of us all." There's also an ongoing argument about loyalty, but that's a different rant.
From the beginning, it's all been about individuality, and how stripping that away is wrong. The inhibitor chips was the first overarching plot device to further this argument.
The chips take away the individuality of the clones by making them a part of a monolithic hivemind. Gone are the individuals who fought with the Jedi, and in came the Empire. The sterile, uniform Empire where individuality and free thought is treated as dangerous and treacherous.
Our heroes, the titular Bad Batch, retain their individuality and differences and disobedient streak and are celebrated as a virtue, and, for the most part, do not fall into the trappings of becoming the monolith.
Now let's talk about Crosshair, specifically.
Crosshair, however different, fell into the Empire, thinking he was going to be heralded as better and superior than the other clones. His choice to stay with the Empire was a choice at first, but even when it was, this was treated as bad in the narration. Even if it was his choice, he came to ultimate realization that... no, he's not different than the other clones in the eyes of the Empire. He's not treated different or better. He's a number. He's cannon fodder. His blind allegiance almost led to his death (not for the first time (Bracca, anyone?)). It led to Mayday's death as they both realized too late: "We were good soldiers. We followed orders. And for what?"
So the first choice Crosshair makes for himself? The first free choice that he makes that contradicts the blind allegiance?
He shoots the Lieutenant.
And it was great! Narratively, it was treated as the right move because it was!
Okay, it lands him in Tantiss, but through that series of events, it eventually brought him back to his family. He was redeemed.
Moving on, let's look at another interesting character.
Emerie (beloved)
Dr. Emerie Karr, I would argue, is a woman who never had a choice.
I mean, how could she? Shipped off of Kamino, into the clutches of Hemlock?
Look me in the eyes and tell me that you think Hemlock (derogatory) was an affectionate father-figure to Emerie. Yeah, that's what I thought.
Emerie never had a choice. She was not in the battlefield or even with other clones to learn what her free thoughts were. I would argue she was raised to be afraid of the consequences of what Hemlock would do to her if she stepped "out of line" wherever that was when growing up.
She's constantly warning other clones what happens if they don't cooperate with Hemlock. She's constantly held back by her inability to think for herself.
Until Omega.
Time and time again, Emerie regards Omega as her sister in what way she can, in what little vocabulary she has for such a meaning.
Because Omega, Emerie breaks protocol, just in the little way she can, and returns the straw Lula to her. We see the beginnings of the Imperial bonds start to loosen. It's the first crack in the mirror, so to say, when Omega shows her what it could really be like, to have siblings to love, instead of whatever validation she fights to earn from Hemlock. (There's more on that, but again, another rant, another time.)
It keeps going for Emerie, when she's let into the Vault, all coming to a head when she meets Echo.
"I didn't have a choice," she says. "I've heard that before," he retorts, disbelieving.
She has a choice now, is what's not being said. Do the right thing, make a choice, for once in your life. Don't go along with what the doctor wants.
.
So, what's all this to say?
The ending of the Bad Batch will be dictated by the themes of individuality and free will.
It will all come down to a choice.
Omega, the protagonist, will have to make a choice.
Over this season, in Point of No Return especially, Omega sees how relentlessly the Empire hunts for her. Willing to do anything to get there hands on her.
It's this injustice that makes her angry. She can not let people suffer for her sake.
She won't let her brothers get hurt for her sake.
This drives home the foreshadowing of The Harbinger.
How Ventress warns Crosshair and Hunter, that if Omega was Force-Sensitive, she'd need to leave them to be properly trained.
When Ventress tamed a giant beast with the Force.
I know I'm not alone when I say that I think this will work with Omega's recent discovery of the Zillo Beast, in foreshadowing her and the other kids in the Vault using the Force to "reach out" (which Omega couldn't do with the distraction of her brothers) and tame the beast into wrecking the base and eating Hemlock.
With this discovery of abilities, and newfound charge over these young kids, Omega will be faced with a choice.
Stay with the Batch, or leave for them?
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myuiis · 4 months
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sally park: a missed opportunity
this is probably going to rot in drafts for a WHILE but i needed to scream into the void about this so let me rant to YOU (yes, you) about how ptj fucked up sally park's writing and purpose in the story so much that she is now just a bundle of missed opportunities. the same could also be said about other characters like crystal choi, luah lim, etc. but i just reread hunt for hostel and i have a lot of insane thoughts that need to be screamed about.
as a character who was the center of attention during her introduction arc, she has been reduced to simply an eli enabler and warren's love interest, who gets about 3 panels to really shine, and then is demoted back into window dressing.
warning: mild eli hate ahead but i do NOT hate eli, i just hate ptj for making everything hostel related eli-centric, when sally is arguably just as important.
so. lets start at the beginning.
from the very beginning, the eli jang arc was told from sally's perspective especially based off the narration, and her character during the majority of the eli jang arc BANGED. initially introduced as a classic demure, feminine savior figure for bad boy warren in the first chapter of the eli jang arc, it's then shown that she isn't as naive or one-dimensional as she may seem.
in fact, shes shown to be fiercely independent and self-sufficient, learning to live by herself and deal with her own problems without anyone helping her, while simultaneously grappling with her grandmother blaming her over her dad's death (side note this plotline, which could've added so much depth to her story was NEVER picked up again)
on my first read of the eli jang arc, this sequence actually punched me in the gut and sally became an instant fav
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but i digress. continuing back to the main point, sally was a tremendously well written character (or as good as we're gonna' get when it comes to female characters by ptj) in the eli jang arc, whether it be her narration (scenes like "sometimes i think if i hadn't introduced them to eli back then, our story wouldn't have been such a tragedy"), or her actual actions in the story.
she was integral to the story. in fact, i would say that she was MORE central to the heart and soul of hostel than eli jang was (at first, before she got butchered by ptj and forgotten about) because it was HER that was providing for her family with HER own money, until eli stepped in months later. she was the one that everyone wanted to assist and protect because she was who was holding everyone together through her sacrifice and love.
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LOOK AT HER!!! just LOOK AT HER!!! she is so noble and tragic and she does everything for the sake of her family, including starving herself! she is so tremendously loving and sacrifices so much for her family, which is why everyone unites around her to help her!
in fact, the reason warren, eli, and others devolve into crime and stealing is to help her get more money for food, as they can't bear to see her starve herself. while this does come off a little bit white knight-ey (oh a big strong man has to save the sweet damsel), the point is that she has this kind of power over the people around her through her genuine leadership skills
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not only that, but she was actually also the one who came up with the idea of using their old building to provide for more homeless kids, showing that she really should be credited with the creation and management of the runaway fams, far more than she is in the story.
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even though, immediately after, its shown that she didn't think enough about the financials of the situation, and eli gets his time to shine by coming up with the point organization stuff, the way its framed portrays both sally's idea and eli's financial proposal of the financial system as equally important things. this scene makes me think that, at the very least, sally and eli's importance should be on equal footing: sally is the passion, the heart, the core, while eli is the figurehead, the brains, the fighter.
in summary, sally was the person who united the original hostel A through her leadership, kindness, and sacrifice, and had so much soft power over everyone that the entirety of her family would do anything to help her. she also came up with the idea of helping runaway families, demonstrating her kindness and generosity.
not only that, she was still actively managing the runaway families and making money while eli fucked off to j high to become a barber, allowing her to get closer to the runaway fams and inspire them with her leadership.
with all that said, it's clear that sally should be a three-dimensional girlboss who uses her charisma and good personality to gain soft power and lead the people around her as one of the figureheads and hearts of the hostel crew, right?
well. no.
after the eli jang arc, she becomes close to useless.
i dont remember much of 2A outside of the big deal stuff, but what i do remember is that sally does nothing, wins a singular rock-papers-scissors game, and then becomes a damsel in distress again that warren needs to save and gets to show off his cool fighting skills in the process. (this may not be accurate, feel free to correct me if im wrong)
but my BIGGEST gripe is the hunt for hostel arc. the hunt for hostel arc was very much centered around eli, warren, and even jerry, more than it was sally, despite how much of an integral role she played in the formation of hostel. during the entire arc, she does basically nothing but watch on the sidelines
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... and then ptj pulls this on us. they all unite because they admire and love eli jang so much? only eli jang? not warren chae, gangdong's mighty? not max and derek, the two uncles? not sally park, THE big mama?
i cannot emphasize how ironic it is that sally, the big mama, quite literally gave birth to the idea of the runaway fams, and yet nobody mentions her again afterwards, and only ever eli jang. like... what did eli ever do for you? give you a shitty haircut?
and when warren and eli leave, i FINALLY thought that ptj was going to give sally a moment to shine and show her by herself again, like she was all that time ago, and how she figures out how to save her family despite being unable to fight...
but no. we get this sick ass panel and then she is completely irrelevant again
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the next example of the sally erasure comes when eugene is talking to eli about him joining workers. he tries to convince eli that this is the ONLY thing that he can do to protect his family, and that, now that he's here and so is warren, hostel is weak and helpless because the MEN that get everything done aren't there anymore and "oh no, what can sally park and the girls do?"
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like fym "what can they do"?! sally is a LEADER and she has POWER and INFLUENCE (or at least, she should). but no, the narrative doesn't prove him wrong, and sally does next to nothing in the narrative.
i cannot emphasize how much more of a leader figure she is than eli btw. she took all the runaway kids under her wing. it was her idea to build an organization for these kids in the first place. she was the one singlehandedly raising money for all 7 high schoolers in her family before eli stepped in. she STARVED HERSELF and CUT HER OWN FINGERS trying to make food for her family. she was THE big mama. EVERYONE wanted to protect her and respect and love her. and yet ELI is the main character of hostel that is oh so important and that everyone will unite under????
"oh no without you how will anything get done, eli jang?" stfu
and even when she does do things, later on, it's really more of an excuse for vasco to shine. while she was the one to get heather's mom to forgive eli, as well as the one that got vasco to save eli in the first place, 1) her major role in this part of the story is entirely sidelined and given no narrative weight outside of being the reason that eli's healing arc can happen and 2) the only agency we've ever seen her having since hostel arc is in relation to eli. she only ever acts on her own to save eli. she PROBABLY did stuff outside of that to help hostel, but that is entirely offscreen and not focused on at all, so her leadership and agency when it comes to things outside of a MAN are ignored.
in chapter 478, i thought that she was once again given a brief moment to shine when she looked sad and all wondering what they would do once they didn't have the income workers supplied them with, and i was hoping that she'd get a chance to creatively problem solve around it to show a good character moment for her and the rest of hostel... but who am i kidding this is ptj of course he wouldnt do that. nah, it was just a scene so that vasco could introduce jay again and be like "hey guys jay is actually relevant to the story and he's a nice person, just so you guys dont forget that he's still there! and also ignore this deus ex machina ass solution to a conflict that could've been a really interesting character study!!"
so yeah. that's basically it. in conclusion, i think sally park is a HUGE missed opportunity for ptj to finally write a good female character. kind, compassionate, charismatic, smart, sally's got it all. however, just because she is a soft character doesn't mean that she's a pushover and she held tremendous power and authority because of everything she did for her family. however, ptj decides to do nothing with her and turn her into an eli enabler and a warren love interest instead, ignoring her leadership skills and influence.
and once again, no hate to eli, warren, jerry, jay, or any of the other character i just shat on to make a point!! i like all of them, but i just think that sally's character assassination to allow them to shine was an infuriating decision on ptj's part
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jccatstudios · 5 months
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I have been following your soc comic adaptation and it just so good!!! I love how you draw them!
I have just one question: Why did you not include Inej's opening musings about Kaz on the first page? (Kaz Brekker didn't need a reason etc) I actually really like how there is not text on the first two pages, it's really atmospheric and moody so this really is not a criticism, I don't want to insult you. I guess I was just wondering what the thought process behind that was?
Oh, I've been wanting to talk about this for a while! Buckle up, this is gonna be one of my long comic rants. (Also, no offense taken at all! Anyone's welcome to question my artistic choices and I'm always happy to take critique, even though that isn't your intention.)
So, the thing is I actually planned on including that first paragraph into the comic! Here's when I first shared the thumbnails on here. Just for the sake of this post, I'll insert them here too.
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The boxes are meant to be where excerpts of that introduction would go. When I was creating the thumbnails, I was thinking about how iconic these lines were and how well they introduce the world and characters. I even finished the pages with the intention to include those lines. This is from my original csp file.
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When I lettered it all out, I felt like something wasn't right...? Hard to explain. I wanted silence for the opening and the narration took that away. I then thought about the reader who'd go into this without reading the novel first, wondering if they'd be thinking, Who's this Kaz Brekker guy? Is it this character on the page? It's clearer in the book, but I didn't think it paired well with what I drew. I didn't want any confusion. It's also Inej's chapter, and while Kaz's parts take up most of it, I still wanted it to feel like her POV and her story. We can hold off officially meeting Kaz until page four.
But the main reason I took it out comes down to my philosophy when it comes to comic adaptations. I believe that an adaptation should use the original story in the best way for the secondary medium. A comic adaptation should play to the strength of comics, not the original source material.
Time and time again, I see a lot of comic adaptations of books try to use a book's strength instead of a comic's. When that happens, you get pages upon pages of narration boxes and exposition that could've easily been told in a single panel's image. If you want to read excerpts from the original novel, go do that! They're beautiful and well-crafted and you should be reading the original anyway! If you're making a comic adaptation, make a comic, not an illustrated version of the novel (that's a whole field of its own).
This whole thing really ties well into what I'm doing for Chapter 3. Kaz is such an internal character, his chapters have a lot more exposition that isn't setting description or character actions. I've had to do a lot more of my own writing for this chapter than the last just to turn that exposition into his own voice as an internal monologue. Sometimes, it's just a change from "he" to "I," but there are other times I've had to write new dialogue and find ways to naturally flow between thoughts. If I didn't do the work to adapt the expository text and instead just put in narration boxes of text from the book, there would be a greater disconnect between the reader and Kaz. Third-person limited works great in books and doesn't separate the readers from the story, but in comics, first-person internal dialogue keeps the readers inside the scene better.
If I were to redo Chapter 2, I think I would try to find a way to incorporate the information from the chapter intro better. I think by losing the intro I initially planned to include, I didn't establish certain ideas very well. Ketterdam and Kerch are established later on pages 4 and 5, but I don't think I ever go back and mention The Barrel. Also, the idea that Kaz is deliberate, even if his reputation says otherwise, is important too. I've made sure to fix this kind of issue in Chapter 3 and keep record of what kind of information I'm losing as I adapt it.
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aveline-amelia · 4 months
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So I literally just came across a dumb homophobic (actually anti gay men) post, so... a rant
So I ran across a post about the Original Holmes ACD canon - not BBC Sherlock. I was not even looking up Sherlock related stuff.
This is mainly a BBC Sherlock blog, so felt the need to make clear. Not about BBC Sherlock this time.
I have not read the ACD Canon. It is very hard for me to pay attention for more than 5 minutes. (It's not a TikTok thing, I promise). Also if anyone is a queer Holmes historian/academic, please feel free to join in. Or just if someone has better knowledge than me. This is all second hand information but I stand behind the message nonetheless. You decide how credible this makes me.
Arthur Conan Doyle couldn't have written Sherlock Holmes as gay even if he wanted to.
He couldn't have written Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson as a same sex couple even if he wanted to.
He would have gotten arrested. He would have been imprisoned or sent to a labor camp.
It's what happened to Oscar Wilde, who he was friends with. Wilde's writing was used as evidence against him. Namely, The Picture of Dorian Grey.
No, claiming Sherlock Holmes is gay and was in a relationship with Dr Watson is not erasing asexuality. If the books were written today and the author said Holmes is ace, then yes, that could be seen as erasure.
Claiming Sherlock Holmes is gay is not disrespectful to ACD.
Claming Holmes and Watson were a couple who were hiding the truth from the readers due to a fear of persecution in not disrespectful to ACD. It has actual backing in Canon (them fleeing the same year as Wilde's trial). It's about playing the Game and treating Watson as an unreliable narrator.
If you believe claiming a character of a certain an author is gay is disrespectful to them, ask yourself why. Check yourself.
ACD can't tell us what his intentions were is because he is deceased. He's passed away. Unfortunately that means he will never be able to tell us the truth. Now, if you believe in The Death of The Author, authorial intent might not matter to you anyway.
Also, the people claiming this are in large part queer women, not gay men. So no, gay men aren't making it all about themselves. But nice try. ;)
Also I really wish asexual people would stop using the same rethoric as right wing Christian conservatives (why does everything have to be GAY! Gays are everywhere and I am sick of hearing about them!!!). As a bi ace woman, stop using as a shield, and if you are ace yourself, you're making us all look bad. Just stop.
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fandomwave · 3 months
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"No Guys I Swear You Have To Go Out Of Your Way To Find It!" And why I don't love this take
This is about the Ha Ha funny Coffin Game which includes but isn't limited to topics of: Cannibalism, Murder, and the core topic of this little rant, Incest.
feel totally free to skip this if that's a hard pass from you! No shame in knowing what you're about including things you'd rather not engage with.
"I know what I'm about"
Good! So this entire little rant? Vent? Observation? Comes from the recent uptick I've seen of posts in the Tcoaal tag where people come in to defend the game with more or less this argument:
"No no guys the incest is really easy to avoid. You have to go out of your way to find it. The game even WARNS you that this is a bad route. Its nowhere in any part of the game beyond this. Honestly it's just not there actually"
And I get the want to defend the game as being more than 'The funny Incest Game'. I agree that The Coffin Of Andy and Leyley is WAY MORE than just the funny incest game. To reduce the game down to that would be a disservice to the writing that went into this game. Andrew and Ashley deserve way more and Numlie themselves deserves better credit than that.
h o w e v e r
However, I think it's also doing more harm than good to try and sweep their dynamic under the rug as something that is 'easily avoidable' and 'totally optional' I hate to break the news but Andrew's romantic inclinations towards Ashley are pretty obvious in Chapter 1. They certainly aren't as obvious as they are in Chapter 2, I'll give everyone that. But they are there, and to act like they aren't... Not to mention the defense EVERYONE gives so readily is that 'The Game Warns You This Is A Bad Thing To Do' is a lot more complicated than it might appear on first blush. First and foremost the 'narrator' is the one to say: "Somehow it seems like a highly questionable idea to take this route"
which imho is a far cry from "This is the bad end" "This has incest" "you are probably a bad person for taking this ending" that some seem to argue is the 'warning' you get. Secondly we should remember it isn't 'you' the narrator is talking to here. Effectively it's still Ashley first and foremost. When Ashley responds 'I know what I'm about' that is also the game showing us that Ashley knows what this means and still wants it.
Enthusiastic consent if you will
So what's the point to this little post eh?
Well I think it's doing a little more harm than good to both the story but also anyone interested in checking the game out who might actually be genuinely triggered by such topics. Tcoaal has the siblings romantic inclinations laced into the story from point A to B. It's impossible to avoid actually. You can go the entire game ignoring any acts of kindness towards Andrew as Ashley or Ashley as Andrew, and you'll always get the scenes of Andrew playing with Ashley's hair. You will always get the text informing the player that Andrew fakes panic attacks to share a bed with Ashley. You will always get the CG of Andrew's hand in Ashley's belt loops. You will always hear the voicemail 'You think you're better than me because you can fuck him and I can't' from Ashley concerning Andrew. You will always get the hints from Mrs Graves that she knows they are too close but did nothing to curb that behavior.
It is wholly unavoidable no matter what route you take. Burial, Decay, Questionable or not.
I think to argue that it's just a silly little ending you can get does a disservice to people who might genuinely be upset by that, and I think more than anything a game that is at the very least talking about incest rather brazenly deserves the warnings it earns!
I love this game to bits, anyone who's been within ear shot of me has had to deal with me talking their fucking ear off about the Sibling Abuse Simulator. I've gone on in excruciating detail how I think Tcoaal's writing has been done dirty by saying that Andrew and Ashley's romance is just a 'ha ha shock ending', comparing it to the siblings ending in something like Corpse Party (a game where the incest ending is 100% totally avoidable, and the story has exactly nothing to do with incest as a topic, and is only brought up if you trigger that ending. One where I agree with the argument that it's just there for shock value)
Anyways I see where people are coming from, I can understand the want to defend the game as more than the sum of it's parts and I agree that it does suck that this seems to be the thing everyone is hyper-focusing on in terms of it's breach of containment. I get it man, I really do. It deserves so much better than being reduced down the way it has by the greater internet.
But to say it's avoidable.. I dunno it's like taking the dragons out of Game of Thrones. The story as a whole about so much more than the dragons.. However you'd have a fundamentally different story if they weren't there, wouldn't you?
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