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gender-trash · 2 years

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the post about fast fashion/sewing one’s own clothes blew up again… honestly the more i think about it the angrier i am about it. with both clothing and furniture we sort of live in a world where the market is being overtaken by disposable items made with cheap materials at the lowest possible labor cost. and like, not to diss ikea or anything — god knows they’ve supplied me with enough cheap bookshelves — but this is exactly why i ended up building my own desk.

my dad tells stories about his mom, who was very talented at sewing — it wasn’t her “day job” but in that part of rural iowa in the 60s she was the person you called if, say, you needed a wedding dress on next to no notice. (i’m also told she was excellent at baking pies, but that’s beside the point.) at that time and place, it was legitimately *cheaper* to make your own clothes than to buy them from the store. they would be made of much the same materials, except that you would substitute your own labor for that of whoever assembled the storebought garment.

today, the fabric to make a shirt will almost certainly cost you more than an equivalent department store shirt would. to say nothing of the cost of your time and labor. part of this is that people who sew their own clothes generally don’t want to waste their time on shit fabric, so fabric stores don’t sell quite the same grade of shreddable polyester. part of this is that our modern globalized supply chain has minimized both labor and materials costs as hard as it can, and this optimization has intertwined labor and materials sourcing a lot more than they apparently were in the 60s.

let’s turn back to the subject of furniture. the equivalent of the cheap polyester department-store shirt is the ikea desk. the desk surface is made of laminated particle-board, which is lighter and cheaper than actual wood; the desk is sold to you flat-pak, and you assemble it yourself, thus saving on labor costs. the laminate surface will probably delaminate after a few years’ use. also as with the cheap shirt, any damage is near-impossible to fix — you could sand and refinish a scuffed plywood surface, but there’s no sanding laminated particle-board. it’s also harder to modify to suit one’s needs — i can drill a neat hole for a monitor arm in my plywood desk much more easily than in a particle-board surface.

in both cases, what do you do if you want a slightly higher grade of item? well, obviously you’ll have to pay more money — but it’s difficult to be sure you’re really getting your money’s worth. you have to spend ages and ages comparison-shopping and reading reviews about how quality has really gone downhill since production moved to [new country]. often — especially with clothes — the thing that your money is actually paying for is Style, as separate from Substance. or good advertising. i’ve been halfheartedly in the market for a decent couch for some time, and i’ve noticed that nearly every apartment makeover video on youtube is sponsored by the same furniture website, which of course has provided a free couch — that the youtuber assures us is Really Good, For The Price. as soon as a manufacturer acquires a reputation for Quality, it is in their economic interest to sell out as hard and fast as they can and pocket the increased margin from selling crap at the price of quality until people notice. and in a world where most shopping has moved online, it’s difficult to tell whether you’re still in the actual-quality period. i’m not sure if there even *are* furniture stores around here at quality levels in between ikea and danish concepts (suggesting a market for a mid-tier scandinavian furniture purveyor, perhaps hailing from norway or finland).

because of the sort of person that i am, i tire rapidly of the endless comparison shopping. i don’t want to become a damn couch supply chain expert, i just want to retire the folding chair from my living room. it can’t be *that* hard to build a couch, can it? well, not if one is privileged enough to have the tools and time and space to do it in. i think most of the comments and tags on the fast fashion post are from people wishing they had one or more of the above to make their own clothes with. speaking from direct personal experience, a sewing machine is at least both cheaper and easier to find space for than a minimally equipped woodshop.

the other common piece of advice is to buy used, buy from a thrift store or an estate sale. unfortunately hunting down all your shit used also takes a lot of time and effort, and particularly in the case of furniture hauling the stuff home is a nontrivial logistical problem. again, money or more nebulous forms of privilege (the friend with the truck) are needed to smooth these roadblocks. and it’s really amazing that the solution to “i want an item that is not garbage” is “buy an item manufactured at a time when they were not yet garbage”. yes, of course, the less-durable instances won’t have survived the passage of time, but that’s only part of the effect. things genuinely used to be manufactured to a higher standard of quality. my sewing machine is from ebay; it’s the same model my *other* grandma had, a baseline singer consumer-grade machine. all its gears are metal, and it has a heavy-ass cast metal housing, too. the other household sewing machine is a modern singer consumer-grade machine and for all its fancy stitches it looks sort of like a doll’s toy — the plastic gears are going to break at some point, or the motor will burn out, and if it turns out that the motor on the modern edition is designed to be user-replaceable i will personally eat a hat. i suppose we also used to ask a lot more of our consumer-grade sewing machines, back when sewing one’s own clothes was a baseline household skill for everyone but Rich People, instead of a hobby that consumes more money than it saves you.

i don’t know if my post really has a conclusion. i’m just angry that we live in a fallen world full of miraculous technology and yet we have not solved the seemingly simple economic problem of exchanging a reasonable amount of money for a newly produced durable good that isn’t a complete piece of shit. i am a *robotics engineer*, for the love of fuck; i have a complicated, rare, well-compensated skillset. it cannot *possibly* be a comparative advantage for me to spend my time building a couch or sewing a shirt instead of paying someone to do it for me (ideally also, if i may ask for a miracle, someone who gets things like fair pay and healthcare and vacation time). why is this transaction so damn hard??

#the trashcan speaks #to say absolutely NOTHING of the way modern design has optimized for manufacturability above all other aesthetic concerns #uniqlo seems to have recently rediscovered the arcane knitting technology of ‘increases and decreases’ and is advertising it HARD #because of course these are dead fucking easy for a hand knitter but slow things down on a machine a lot more #and even midcentury modern furniture — at the time a lot more minimal in adornment than what came before (also due to increasing pressure #towards DfM) — is a lot froofier than most modern items. it has like. trim and stuff #the midcentury version of Cutting Corners was using a cheaper wood for the less visible bits and staining it to match #not whatever the fuck particleboard is supposed to be #sewing machine go brrr #civilizational (in)adequacy

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shallowseeker · 2 months

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Optimism freeform meta

Jack, Harper, and the folly of pursuing of immature, illusory Perfection as the antidote to life's many disappointments.

///

Okay, here it comes. It's our rambling, group Optimism meta from discord that I promised once upon a time I'd post here. Apologies ahead of time if I get your Tumblr names wrong.

Harper's flat is decorated in ooey-gooey symbols of love.

Green for growth (though Harper's growth pattern is certainly arrested), and red for passion. We have the green-Italian amore in the symbolic kitchen of life, and a bright red heart near the entrance.

BEWARE: You're entering Harper's heart. It's black and bloody.

We also see that her home is full to the brim with books and stories. She clings to them, hoping they'll bring her life meaning. The blood-red-pink-purple color theme continues in the form of her array of romance novels.

Harper herself is clothed in red, in a Sayles-coded corduroy, perhaps a mate to the hunter's anorak jacket. Her little scarf is certainly Scooby-Doo-Daphne-esque, but it's also a RED BANDANA calling to mind that she's an OUTLAW, like Dave Matthews in the Tombstone episode.

///

But her bedroom is more serene, stuffed with zen colors, serene green, and a bedful of childish stuff animals. It's dominated by strong protector-types like lions and elephants.

via @honeyedwhiskey: okay so I got intrigued by the fact that she has these particular stuffed animals. the lion, symbolizing stalking her prey, elephants for their memory and their brutality (maybe a nod to wanting community) and the tiger for her actual isolation. the puppy seems to be an older addition, maybe from childhood, and the smallest and most vulnerable one is being protected by the dog which seems to be a bear cub? reference to maybe a mama bear that protected her? the three at the top are what interest me the most though because harper is represented by the heart and the color red so the mouse is her, and the two pigs seem to be her parents, with one being a combination of colors and patchwork looking. so it seems to me that one of her parents was zombie-fied, maybe from a young age.

I like the symbolic nature Whiskey acribed to the stuffed animals above a lot!

I too think her reaction to abandonment and Vance speaks to something really fucked up in her necromancy family, like maybe a necromancy-coming-of-age-trial that went REALLY REALLY badly and wound up with her being totally alone.

Maybe it's like how Sam jokingly told Charlie: "You're not really a hunter till you've come back form the dead." Or like Cas told Jack of his own death, "It's something of a rite of passage around here."

Maybe you're not really a necromancer until you've killed and brought your family back and ofc Harper failing that test would fuck her up forever.

I noticed the teddy bear, too! There's a tee-tiny nod to the teddy-bear lovers' symbol above her bed, same as Marvelous Marvin has a red heart on his chest in season 15's Gimme Shelter. (And Dean's I Wuv Hugs from a million years ago.)

[The stuffed bear is] a simultaneous motif...of sexual intimacy and The Lover, it's also representative of The Beloved Child resulting from their contact.

(Jack is Marvin.)

///

Here's love in the corner, illuminated by two lamps. Harper is getting Jack a book, a book about her little beloved hometown, McCook.

Deep down, Harper is lonely, and unlike her disdain for her other suitors, she's a little different with Jack here: she wants to be understood.

She wants him to understand her and her hometown. Just a little. She's prodding at the niggling, unusual, UNFAMILIAR feeling. So, she sits down and invites him to sit, to learn more about her.

By this point, it's possible she's figured out he's a hunter, which opens up the possibility of revealing her true self, for better or for worse. It's an intoxicating thought for Harper.

Jack hesitates, clearly interested but also a little bit "!!!!"

He's framed by the heart on the wall. Indeed Jack, like Dean and Mary, is a "heart" character. He's even clothed in one of Mary's key colors: dusky orangey pink. (Aside// You'll notice Connor also wears this color in Gimme Shelter.)

///

Unlike in Tombstone, where Jack wasn't (via script) all that interested in Athena and Dave's relationship, now Jack's clearly grown. He's even interested in physicality.

Even though his emotional core can be kinda prickly, like Dean and Mary, he's at root a very affectionate character, interested in experience affection/connection with others:

So, he sits. Perseveres through he awkwardness. And lo and behold, Harper is as weird as he is.

They talk about having a positive outlook, even though they've had and terrible pasts, have done terrible things. And hey, look--she's getting the lamp treatment! How lovely.

They sit on the blue couch, as Harper tells him more about her past, subconsciously seeking his acceptance. The blue of the couch mirrors the blue color of her past, of her prom dress. We see her little prom queen crown, and we wonder...Harper is so awkward...

...does she really seem like the Prom Queen type?

I suspect it was fake. That she manufactured her own popularity with bit of magic. To meet the perfectionistic obsession with her romance tales. She is at core a fearful character, fearful of messing up, or being imperfect, of not living up to The Dream (TM).

///

Jack makes a quick getaway. In this shot, he's effectively the trope of the divine masculine, fleeing from love, "amore."

It's interesting that the kitchen, a bit like the bedroom, is earthier in tone, filled with more "valley" colors: of browns, greens. The kitchen is about the imperfect strivings of every day life, divorced from the high-dollar reds of Harper's romance-novel decor.

In the bathroom, Jack is clearly interested in exploring "love."

To Dean, he says, "Just in case (she is in love with me)...tell me everything you know about sex. Go!"

Jack is a curious-and-courageous character, too. He's prone to experimentation, which is also why he so often gets the drug ("I like cocaine!" and The Who) motifs. Like Cas, he's maybe a little scared, but he's going to go-for-it no matter how silly and awkward he might look.

That courage is probably something Harper senses in him. It's attractive to her, like the symbolic stuffed-animal lion-and-tiger protectors she has in her bedroom. She wonders:

"Is he strong enough to love the real me?"

In THIS sense, the thing with Vance isn't completely "a naughty nurse game." Deep down, at her root psychological base, Harper is testing the potential lovers' strength. Very classically mythical, really. And she's disgusted by her suitors because they keep failing and failing.

No one is like Vance. Not even Vance is like Vance. Her idea of Vance was never real, and she was never prom queen. But admitting that to herself is so painful, she constructs this horrible pattern of death and destruction.

///

"Her apartment has a lot of wallpaper/furniture from the 50’s! Or with that general aesthetic!" -Cal (@13-01)

It's so interesting, because this 50s retro theme is something that Jack, Dean, and Cas carry a lot, especially in terms of their "old-school" button-up pajamas and dressing downs. (Cas himself, with his overcoat, could be plopped in the middle of Mad Men tv series and fit into the surroundings, haha. And although we rarely see Sam carry the motif, but he dips into it in Peace of Mind as well.)

At the end of this episode, we'll see Harper seated in her own retro cafe with the same 50s vibe as well, a Charming Acres-sort of feeling. To me this symbolizes a backwards-looking illusion of perfection, that everything used to be simpler and better, and with enough effort, it can be simpler and better again.

Also there are dragonflies in her bathroom, a bit of a parallel to the lonesome fly plot that Sam and Charlie are on (in this same episode).

This too is the backwards-looking motif, of holding onto the illusory idea of Happiness (TM) so tightly that it becomes tragic and destructive.

///

Since even her idea of Vance isn't real, it's become like Amara's illusory idea of love. It can never let her down. "It can never hurt her."

#harper sayles #spn optimism #jack stuff #jack kline #spn season 14 #spn 14x06 #spn steve yockey #jack relationships #jack discord #honeyedwhiskey #cal

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kyouka-supremacy · 1 month

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A little, not very polished ramble on Fukuchi and political theory, initially meant to be the answer to an ask questioning what I thought of the last chapter but posting separately because it ended up having little to do with the actual chapter.

This arc is good. I mean, the politics dilemmas it tackles are real and relevant (or maybe it's just me and loving politics discussion, that's a real chance too). Themes and interrogatives such as whether the eradication of states is possible; the critic to democracy in favour of a single authoritarian leader as the optimal solution for citizens' wellbeing; the utilitarian reasoning behind the justification of sacrificing a few in order ensure the greatest good to the most; the trolley problem– would you be willing to sacrifice five hundred in order to save two-hundred and ten million; the general interrogatives on why war happens; those are all real questions that political scientists try to give an answer to. I feel like bsd still hasn't cleared up where it stands in relation to these interrogatives– a lot of it is going to be determined on what Fukuzawa is going to do with his role of Army of Mankind's leader, whether he's going to accept it or something else. But I'm EXTREMELY curious to find out how the author will answer them and the worldview bsd is going to propose accordingly.

So far, bsd has seemed to me to propose a nihilistic-political realist-nationalist worldview: good and evil are meaningless binomials (Oda in his last speech to Dazai), every man acts in their own interest and the strongest prevails (Teruko in chapter 76), a strong sentiment of pride for own country that often translates in denigration of foreigners (the way all characters from other countries are villains, a somewhat reverence for military police (though other people have interpreted it being exactly the opposite))¹. Such reading of bsd is reinforced by Fukuchi's speech in chapter 85, with Fukuchi's character being made overall unsympathetic to the reader. At that point, I was like “Ah! Of course! The nationalist-realist manga makes of the anarchist an unsympathetic terrorist!” (and I'm quite confident I'm not misinterpreting by saying he was framed unsympathetically, at least as far as his ideals go. A lot of emphasis is put on his role of torturer, and the story protagonist looks very upset by it, which feels like inducing the reader to be as well).

But perhaps I was mistaken? Maybe I really jumped to the conclusion by believing this arc would have turned in one anti-anarchism morale. And even though it's still too soon to say it won't, in the arc conclusion we saw so far anarchism was at least framed in much more favourable lenses. Episode 5x11 and the last chapters have vastly subverted the lenses the reader is called to see Fukuchi under, and it's been SO interesting to see. Because Fukuchi isn't made unsympathetic, and as consequence his anarchist ideals aren't being framed as the senseless ravings of the villain anymore. Which I didn't see coming, and was pleasantly surprised by!! Fukuchi's desire to stop war by erasing all states, if not feasible, is now at least being framed as sensate and even noble; which is quite silly given that it's the same ideals he was carrying on in chapter 85, just with more details on political theory and positive lenses. Moreover, the world integration and creation of an single-state is framed as being a natural and unavoidable progression of history, which is CRAZY to me. I mean, it's crazy because it wholly contradicts the nationalist worldviews I found previously quite solidly established in this manga (which, again, might be just a big misreading on my side but. Wow.). Double crazy because there's about one million political scientists who would disagree with it… I don't think it's that much of an affirmed theory anywhere? If anything, because it's got some pretty strong historical negations: I'd like to ask Fukuchi how the gradual disgregation of states reconciles with the dissolution of the ussr and the objective difficulty to maintain wide pieces of land unified, the equally objective difficulty to concretize the goal of European integration, the new wave of nationalism in the world and new countries actively seeking independence rather than cohesion. In the end, Fukuchi seems to propose this insane hybrid of anarchism and authoritarianism with the denial of all states and one single leader detaining all the power (aka no separation of powers, the most rudimental basis to democracy), which sounds absolutely insane to any sensate person but I suppose can even make sense in the bsd world where there's no end to craziness.

I'm very very curious to see how the army of mankind's leader thing is going to be solved. Because if Fukuzawa accepts it, that's quite affirming that the best outcome for society is an authoritarian, antidemocratic regime. And although Fukuzawa himself was shown to be critic of that much (“Even if war did cease to exist, what would remain in that world is a single leader– a dictator. History has shown time and time again that dictatorships only rot.”, chapter 112), him being cornered to ultimately accept the role would seem to suggest that THAT is the only possible answer. Which is an odd subtly not-so-subtly authoritarian agenda which would be… Interesting to see affirmed? but at least that one *is* coherent with the previous signs of nationalism. That said, again, Fukuzawa was critical of it, so I'm not sure he will be willing to follow through (and I find it hard to image a new bsd where world order has been changed. And with Fukuzawa on top of the world, for the matter.) But Fukuzawa did not crush One Order… And overall the narrative seems to have trapped him into yielding to take on the role… Aaaahh, I'm just very curious from a political theory standpoint to see how the author is going to untangle the dilemma!!!

¹ In parenthesis I'm only bringing up the most notable indicators, but those doctrines are an underlying pattern of the whole manga and several events can lead back to these beliefs; for example, how Atsushi's abuse by the hand of the orphanage director is not morally condamned and even implied to have made him stronger, the emphasis on the great power of Japan (here emblematically represented by Yokohama) as a small country / city able to stand up against several evil foreign powers that make repeated attempts to destroy it, and more.

#Ah yes posting at 4am when the dash is dead and everyone is sure to see it #ōchi fukuchi #yukichi fukuzawa #bsd #bungou stray dogs #bsd analysis #mine

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wingsoverlagos · 15 days

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Lewisohn vs. Shepherd

I'm still at work on the whole Kim Bennett thing, but here's a quick Lewisohn vs. post to spice things up. Actually, the book from which I was cross-referencing was due at the library, so I started work on this, quickly realized the source was also readily availble online, but decided to finish it anyway.

The source at hand is Jean Shepherd’s October 28th, 1964 interview with the Beatles, published in the February 1965 issue of Playboy. You can find a transcribed version here or a scanned copy here. It’s a great, quick read - seven pages sparkling with Beatles wit and a concerted effort by George to convince the interviewer he's in love with Ringo. Small tw for transphobia in the form of a tired pronoun joke at the expense of April Ashley.

Tune In pulls three quotes from Shepherd's interview. Two of them are below the cut - their are minor changes (one exceedingly minor) to those quotes, but the first quote I'll address is taken wildly out of context. It's not the most offensive distortion of history that Lewisohn has put forward, but its maddeningly blatant - and pointless.

Tune In 26-20 vs. Shepherd 1965, p.54

The quote of interest is highlighted in green, but I included the preceding paragraph because the context matters greatly here. The Beatles & Brian were down in the dumps, having struck out with every record company with any semblance of artistic merit. Lewisohn highlights that John and Paul in particular were down in the dumps, but that “their young friend George stayed optimistic. He rallied them, he showed them that while they might be thinking the worst, he was remaining hopeful.” His evidence for this is the quote highlighted in green, in which John says Brian and George knew they would make it big.

Well. Let’s check the source.

If you look at the quote, once again in green, it’s almost correct—Lewisohn drops “our manager”, but it’s close by Tune In’s standards. Take a look at what’s around the quote, and you’ll see it’s taken wildly out of context. John isn’t talking about George’s confidence in the Beatles ability to score a record contract in 1962; he is unambiguously referring to George’s confidence that the Beatles will succeed in America in 1964. And that confidence didn’t stem from “the Beatles’ mantra” that “Something’ll turn up”—George thought they’d be successful in the states because he was aware of their U.S. record sales.

The thing that gets me here is that it’s so unnecessary. As a historian writing for a general audience, the Beatles must be a dream: you have a core group of four complex, interesting, musically gifted people whose personal and artistic growth played out in the public eye, exhaustively documented. They were surrounded by a supporting cast of vibrant characters to root for or revile, who all played a role in a story brimming with friendship, romance, rivalry, wit, and tragedy. There's no reason to rewrite history for the Beatles - their story can be both factually correct and narratively compelling, yet Lewisohn joins a storied list of authors who have felt the need to gild the lily.

What does this add to the Beatles story? How does it benefit the narrative to portray George Harrison as a plucky kid from an afterschool special, cheering on his elders with unflagging optimism when things look bleak? It’s trite, and it’s fake. It's not the Beatles.

This isn’t the most earth-shattering act of historical revisionism Lewisohn has committed to print, but its brazenness is galling. In the introduction to Tune In, Lewisohn states, “I’ve wanted a history of deep-level inquiry where the information is tested accurate, and free of airbrushing, embellishment and guesswork, written with an open mind and even hands, one that unfolds lives and events in context and without hindsight, the way they occurred…” And yet we get this. He knowingly took this quote two years and a whole Atlantic Ocean out of context, and he had the audacity to tout his book as “tested accurate, and free of airbrushing, embellishment and guesswork.”

He's pissing on our feet and telling us it's raining, folks.

Tune In 29-4 vs. Shepherd 1965, p.56

An impressive number of little deletions and changes for such a small quote.

Tune In 33-1 vs. Shepherd 1965, p.54

This one almost isn’t worth mentioning. The only change is the emphasis removed from Ringo’s “them” in the original quote.

Sources:

Lewisohn M. 2013. The Beatles: All These Years Vol. 1: Tune In. New York (NY): Crown Archetype. [ebook]

Shepherd J. 1965 Feb. Playboy Interview: The Beatles. Playboy 12:51-60. Accessed online 2024 Mar. Available from: https://imgur.com/a/HY2Ji

#mark lewisohn #tune in #the beatles #lewi-sins #jean shepherd

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mooshs-crack-headcanons · 1 year

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My go to plan as soon as I get totk:

Get through the tutorial area (probably in the sky then need to get back on to the surface)

Go to hateno. See if the zelink living in the hateno house together fanfics were real.

Check out something specific relating to the art book leak. (Not describing or sharing the leak so don't worry about spoilers from me! :)

Find a horse that at least looks like the one I had in breath of the wild, my beloved baby boy Romeo who can do and hasn't done nothing wrong ever in the entire 6 years of his life (he kicked me off a cliff four separate times):

Go to Gerudo desert because out of all regions it's the one I'm the most interested in seeing the state of post Ganondorf resurrection(?) murderous pissy fit.

I'm going to build me a big fuck off Zonai tractor.

Zelda. I need to know if she's alright, I would like to find out this earlier on but that's probably going to be found out through story and I really do want to take my time with it.

I need to see what the hell is happening with this korok with a backpack:

Speaking of the koroks, uhm... korok forest is gone. I definitely want to check that out. (Sorry this picture so so fucking blurry with how it's zoomed in but the forests gone)

I need to find out if I can glue two Royal claymores together (or an equivalent) to make a big fuck off abomination claymore that does double claymore damage that looks like this:

Go back to eventide. I wonder if they added something there. It seems like something thats a no brainer to do.

Check out what the fuck is going on with the labyrinths I can't find the screenshots now but I remember seeing some of them floating with the sky islands at some point.

If if I can find a sky island resembling at least a little bit of skyloft. I feel it in my bones that Nintendo would pull that type of shit. Or not because this is also Nintendo.

Documenting literally every even hint of a zelink moment in the entire game so I can make several posts gushing over it in the future.

Take lots of screenshots! I actually played breath of the wild on wii u and never on switch so of course I never really had that screenshot or recording capability so I finally can really go all out in this game.

The dragon that is 10000% a fucking Gleeok on the bridge of Hylia I've already determined is going to be the first overworld boss I fight. 🙂 I can't wait to fight it with only five or so hearts 🙂

Amd finally since amiibo support is confirmed and costumes are too - the artbook actually confirmed it but I don't really think that's a spoiler because it's a very obvious mechanic to bring back than just having them be used once only for the paraglider skins you get that was officially confirmed here below so I can't wait to get my ocarina of time and twilight princess gear back that I can wear for the whole game!

Over all I just really want to have fun in this game and really it looks like it's going to deliver. I can't wait to sink hundreds if not thousands of hours into and I REALLY REALLY hope it can at least fix a lot of it's predecessors issues, especially with how it executes it's story. I keep saying it, breath of the wild *had* the potential to be one of the best zelda stories ever but it was done so extremely poorly trying to tell it, majority of it is just ruined. I sincerely hope Nintendo has learned their lesson from that and actually let the Link/you the player actually play throughand experience the games narrative instead of just... having it exposition dumped onto you over and over in flashback cutscenes as stuff that's already happened and can't be changed. I went having this game with very low confidence it was first revealed in 2019, but the more and more I keep seeing it now the higher my optimism gets and I actually genuinely hope this game is really good.

I'm actually wishing the best for it and desperately hope it doesn't disappoint. We've all waited so long, and now we have only a little bit more to go.

#the legend of zelda #the legend of zelda tears of the kingdom #tears of the kingdom #zelink #moosh gives his dumb opinions #moosh's shitty edits #moosh's screenshots #non request related

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writermai05 · 12 days

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Arsonist's Lullabye

Chapter 3: Smelling like a Bonfire, Lost in a Haze

Summary: Y/n and Zuko get to know each other.

Pairing: Zuko x fem! reader (Live Action or Animated)

A/N: Point of view switch starting now! Hopefully this works better than the previous chapters. Based heavily off of "Too Sweet" by Hozier (Yeah this entire series is based on Hozier's discography, SUE ME!). Very excited about this. Next chapter is probably gonna be shorter, but I promise I'll make it worthwhile. Should I make a taglist for this series??? As always feel free to leave comments or constructive feedback, as it helps me grow.

Word Count: 1,211

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Avatar: The Last Airbender, I am merely a nerd who hyperfixates a lot. Lots of divergence from the canon story lol.

Warnings !: Insecure Zuko, mentions of burns, I think that is all?

Wednesday came a lot faster than you had anticipated.

The mundanity of Tuesday felt like nothing compared to the stakes of today. Perhaps delaying a conversation about whatever had happened between Zuko and yourself for another two days wasn’t the best of decisions.

Your professor broke you from your worried state, explaining about some assignment you were meant to complete in pairs. Perhaps it was the sour mood you were in, but frankly, even you were over these icebreaker activities.

Gathering your things, you began searching around the room for someone to work with. Before you could actually move, you spotted Azula heading straight for you, the same standoffish girl you had met on the first day, with familiar golden eyes and her long black hair in a top knot, held with the same gold pin. Taking a seat right in front of you, Azula neatly laid out her things in a sort of rehearsed way.

You hid the surprise that filled your body at the sight of her. Staring at her, you raised your eyebrows inquisitively. She merely stared back, with an expression of many layers. You relented, putting all your things where they were before, and slowly retaking the seatright across from Azula.

“So are we going to get started or…” Azula trailed off, seemingly indifferent.

You were utterly confused. Admittedly, your guys’ first meeting was shaky, filled with a sort of aggressive energy and tension that most people would wish to avoid. “Yeah…Can I ask you something?” Azula raised her eyebrows in approval.

“Why partner with me?” Such a simple question, but you were sure that the answer would be interesting.

Azula rolled her eyes. “No one in this class is worth talking to. I just chose based on convenience.” She replied pompously.

Much to the confusion of Azula, you smiled at her response.

“Really? Here’s what I think. You partnered with me, even after our awful first meeting, because it was convenient, but also because you secretly think I’m really nice and cool, and that we should be friends.” Your sarcastic and dry humor, paired with complete honesty and optimism was quite polarizing. Azula scoffed at your statement.

“You psych majors are always so weird.” She replied, yanking a sheet of paper from you and beginning the assignment.

“Why thank you Azula, I also think it would be cool if we were friends!” you replied before also getting to work on the assignment.

Little did you know, deep down, Azula was grateful for the connection.

Zuko had been anticipating class all day. He was just trying to enjoy his walk in the cool autumn air of Ba Sing Se. Unfortunately, everything in his brain was telling him that this was not going to go well, and that eventually, you too would come to see him the way that everyone else does. ‘No, she’s not like that!’ he screamed back. If she was, why would she have even bothered trying?

By the time he had reached class, his thoughts were going a mile a minute. A back and forth of thoughts about you, questioning your character, and attempting to quell the darkest thoughts within his mind. That was, until he spotted you.

You had sat in the same spot from the first time, but this time, your backpack was saving the seat to your left. Seemingly sensing his presence, your gaze moved from the notebook on the desk in front of you to Zuko. He sheepishly waved, and you smiled, gesturing for him to come as you moved your bag off the chair.

Everything that Zuko had been feeling a couple minutes before this moment had stopped. The smoke-filled haze of his mind had been absolutely soothed at the sight of you. Moving as calmly as he could, he made his way to the seat next to you.

“How were your classes yesterday?” You asked softly. This type of gentleness was unfamiliar. It was the kind of sensitivity Zuko had only ever received from two people in his life. He gulped back some air before answering.

“It was fine. I worked at the shop after.” You nodded, going back to whatever you were writing down in your notebook earlier.

Class went by without a hitch. It felt casual, as if it wasn’t a big deal, and maybe it wasn’t. This sense of normalcy was almost unheard of when it came to Zuko’s life. After the professor dismissed the class, you spent a little extra time packing all of your supplies. Zuko stood beside you, waiting patiently for you to finish.

“You didn’t have to wait for me, but thank you.” You said, slinging your bag over your shoulder. Zuko shrugged.

“It’s alright. Do you have any other classes today?”

“Nope. I’m done for the day, why?”

“Let me walk you back to your dorm?” He asked, in a timid manner.

“Really? You don’t have to-”

“I want to. My classes are done for the day, and the shop is right next to the dorms.”

You were flattered by the sincerity in his voice.

“Okay.”

The two of you took your time, basking in the cool afternoon air. The falling leaves and luscious greenery, even in the city, was absolutely breathtaking. You and Zuko had polite conversations, just learning more about each other. He told you about moving to Ba Sing Se, and how his uncle had come to own the Jasmine Dragon. You told him about growing up in the north, and how you ended up transferring to the University of Ba Sing Se. As you reached the doors of your dorm building, the conversation fell quiet.

“Thank you, Zuko.” You said earnestly.

“No, Thank you, Y/n.”

Confusion flooded your features. “What for?”

“For giving me a chance. I know I’m not the best person to talk to.”

“Maybe you’ve never known the right people.” You replied. He laughed, somberly in response.

“No, it was definitely me who was the problem.”

You shrug, making proper eye contact with him. Within your eyes held a look that seemed to hold something akin to a sky full of stars. “Isn’t it interesting how eventually, you will meet people that see more within you than you see in yourself?” Zuko felt like his heart was about to explode.

“Goodbye, Zuko. Get home safely.” And with that, you entered your dorm hall, leaving the fiery boy at an absolute loss for words.

You will meet people that see more within you than you see in yourself.

You had said it so casually, so nonchalantly, as if it wasn’t some new and big concept. For Zuko, it was. He had never felt the warmth of fire, just the searing burn. He was never able to breathe through the haze, rather he choked on the smoke. How could anyone possibly come to see him as the man he became rather than the boy that he was? Has he always been worth the time and trouble? Was this what Uncle Iroh had been trying to tell him? Was his therapist?

As he mused over these questions, Zuko couldn't help but wonder if maybe, just maybe, he'd been underestimating his own worth all this time…and he definitely needed to schedule another appointment with his therapist.

#arsonist's lullabye #writermai05 #atla x reader #avatar the last airbender #prince zuko x reader #zuko x reader #aang #atla #atla live action #atla netflix #college au #modern au #katara #sokka #atla suki #toph #atla azula

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likealittleheartbeat · 18 days

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hello !!

i was wondering, do you know any other characters like aang from other shows/movies/books? or maybe, just his theme of radical kindness appearing in other stories?

i've been missing aang, and it would be nice to find other representations of such a fun and warm personality like his.

ps.: your blog is like, fantastic. truly.

🥰🥰🥰🥰 This is the best ask I’ve ever received!!! Depictions of radical kindness in media is a special interest of mine—not exaggerating. So I’ve done my best to make a list of rec’s, just tv, from most formally similar to ATLA to least, with a short description for each.

1. Fruits Basket (2019)

"My mom told me, it's better to trust people than to doubt them. She said that people aren't born with kind hearts. When we're born, all we have are desires for food and material things. Selfish instincts, I guess. But she said that kindness is something that grows inside of each person's body, but it's up to us to nurture that kindness in our hearts. That's why kindness is different for every person."

An anime orphan whose established memory of the kindness by which her family raised her ends up transforming and liberating a whole clan from an intergenerational curse that enforced an abusive hierarchy all within a show that has a deeply queer subtext, beautifully complex plotting and character development that due to its zen influence refuses to demonize anyone or any perspective wholly, AND a straight romance you can actually root for!? Nothing comes closer to ATLA thematically than this show. While the lead Tohru Honda is the biggest representative of radical kindness, the character of Momiji Sohma with his complex purity, idealism, and gender performance is one of the closest you'll find to Aang in any media.

2. Mob Psycho 100 (2016-2023)

"The truth behind one's charm is kindness. Just be a good person, that's all."

Mob Psycho 100 explores a core tenant of ATLA's critique of imperialism and power: greatness and perfection are overrated. They both ask the question about what to do for the world with one's gifts if that's the case. How can one be both normal and prodigious at the same time? The satirical comedy and style of this anime, which deconstruct a lot of the shonen genre tropes, are pretty distinct from ATLA, but when ATLA arrived on the airwaves, it was a pretty massive break from tradition in Western animation, and for both of these series, that difference of style is tied to the message of the show about the experience and acceptance of difference.

3. Natsume's Book of Friends (2012-present)

"As I encountered kindness, I wanted to be kind myself."

The anime, Natsume's Book of Friends and ATLA both depict the challenge and necessity of facing abandonment, loss, and a deep-seated loneliness with kindness and gratitude despite the persistence of grief. Both take a deeply spiritual view--even a responsibility--of this experience that demands a compassion for all beings including those who intend to do harm. Natsume, an orphan shuffled between houses who is one of the few people who can see spirits called youkai, inherits his maligned grandmother's book of yokai names, becoming a target for them in the process. He hides all of this from everyone in his life, and even five season in, still has trouble admitting to the one person who understands him when he is struggling and needs help. The gentle and light tone papers over a profoundly honest representation of attachment trauma and the wisdom of compassion that develops as a tool to cope with it.

4. Hunter x Hunter (2011-2014)

"You can do whatever you want to hide your feeling. You still have a heart."

If you think that "Radical Kindness" is by definition non-violent, then this show is either not for you or going to change your mind. Gon, the protagonist of HxH, like Momiji mentioned in Fruits Basket, is another rare character whose naivete and optimism are treated with respect. He is allowed to suffer, to be wrong, to be stupid, and to inspire others away from their own cynicism with the persistence of his beliefs nevertheless. But HxH is a show that integrates the most violent aspects of the world (organized crime, capitalistic competition and privileging, state-sanctioned brutality, pure sadism) with its examination of human potential for goodness. And even within a list of shows deeply inspired by spirituality and religions, this show is abundant with religious references as it seeks out meaning, balance, and an ethic for modern experience. On top of that, it ranks with ATLA for the depth and relevance of its magic system to its themes, plus its got gay subtext out the wazoo!

5. Mushishi (2005-2014)

“Make sure to remember, every person and place has a right to exist. It is true for you too, the entire world, as a whole, is your home."

Elegaic, episodic, compassionate, and strange, with some of the best short story-telling of all time, Mushishi is the story of a medicine-man who travels the Japanese countryside helping people deal with the spirits that accompany the little trials and tragedies of life that cling to our minds long after they're passed. The protagonist, Gingko, and the show itself takes the approach of restraint to observe these problems fully and come to a conclusion that's taoist in its balance and acceptance of reality--"Eyes unclouded by hate" as Miyazaki/Gaiman would have it. Each episode is like a therapy session arguing for you to choose to live even as the heaviest burdens sit on your chest.

6. Reservation Dogs (2021-2023)

"See...love doesn't have to be received, it can just be."

We're finally out of the animes, and moving away from the zen and shinto approach into some other options. Reservation Dogs' indigenous humanism was groundbreaking, bringing in distinctly modern American realities (with the kind of true-to-life details only a an on-location shoot could offer) with Native beliefs about ancestry, community, and connection to the land, while rarely feeling preachy. Instead, it's just fucking hilarious and casually heartbreaking. Four friends on the edge of graduating high school on a reservation in Oklahoma try to figure out what to do with their lives after their plans to go to California get abruptly messed up. Radical kindness as a concept often gets focused on accepting the enemy but what about accepting the weird stoner uncle who farts all the time and won't talk about his years in the army. I think that might be a more important goal of radical kindness, in truth, if we are being asked to look and accept reality for what it is, because growing comfortable with disappointment and the mundane let's us live without the relentless striving that drives perfectionism.

7. Skam (2015-2017)

"The second you start looking for hate, you find it. And when you find hate, you start hating."

A Norwegian teen drama that understood internet culture better than any show before or since, four season-long romance plots better than any romance film from that decade, and a masterfully constructed exhortation about leaning into failures of connection to build deeper compassion rather than demonize another person or group. Each season focused on a specific character within a high-school friend group, emphasizing the limited scope of subjective experience, and had them confront the challenges of opening up to others fully. And even when they return into the scenes with new protagonists, their lives weren't sorted perfectly, reflecting how resolving a single romantic plot point would not resolve life. The impact of this low-budget public-television web series (!!!) will be felt for years (it's already been referenced by Netflix juggernauts like Sex Education and Young Royals), but we're not likely to see something that juggles political themes, heartfelt characterization, realistic dialogue, and meta-commentary (it flashed its own hater and fan comments across the screen in the last episode!!) in such a obsession-inducing package anytime soon.

7. Boys Like Boys (2023)

"Because I have always been someone who hates myself, I don't have the courage to face it. Running away is my only option...What if I give myself one more chance to be brave?"

So how can a reality show make it onto a list of radically kind tv series, especially a dating show!? Well, when that reality dating show casts people who radiate warmth, vulnerability, and respect and seem to have the kind of chemistry that most scripted shows can't even manage, it's a good start. But then, when they elevate that cast with a format that addresses the cruelty of dating, elimination formats, and broader societal exclusion (an important consideration for a gay dating show), it offers a new model for future shows. Boys Like Boys did this when mid-season (spoiler alert) they had contestants vote out a contestant, only to provide the contestants with a vote in which they could retain a contestant who they didn't want to leave. In fact, many of the contestants asked if they could abstain from making a vote that would eliminate a constestant and were allowed to. The final result left one contestant, Jia-Hang, up for elimination--he had voted for himself to be eliminated, and many contestants, recognizing his reticence to continue on the program, didn't want to force him against his will to stay. Then, looking around at nearly the whole cast sobbing, even apologizing to him for not providing him enough support, Jia-Hang chooses to stay on. This is just one of many heart-warming authentic moments in the show that illustrate the vital influence of kindness to impact the trajectory of our hearts.

8. Joe Pera Talks With You (2018-2021)

"I can help you reach things. I can tend the garden. The different hours we keep are a good thing. And when they overlap, I can offer companionship and entertainment."

So much has been written about this show's groundbreaking kind approach, I'm going to quote instead: "It can be difficult to convey how a TV show airing on Cartoon Network’s provocative nighttime programming block Adult Swim can evoke almost nostalgic feelings of kind-heartedness. The premise of Joe Pera Talks With You is so simple as to almost be beside the point: Comedian Joe Pera plays a lightly fictionalized version of himself as a sweet Michigander, a middle-school chorus teacher with small and specific passions. Joe likes breakfast food, obscure trivia, beans, trips to the grocery store, and his grandma. He greets every day with a contented smile, stands beneath a pale blue sky, packs a balanced lunch that contains no surprises. (A turkey sandwich with cheese and a tomato, a banana, some trail mix, and as a treat, some cookies.) Joe, more than anything, is satisfied. His greatest joy is sharing these small pleasures with you, the viewer who exists on the other side of the fourth wall he has cleanly dismantled, often speaking quietly to the camera like he’s sharing a secret, just between you two. That he’s talking “with” and not “to” you is a crucial distinction in the show’s title: Joe never lectures nor rhapsodizes. Instead, he waxes poetic about what he loves and who he cares for and how he leads his life, telling his stories from a vulnerable position of welcoming you into his daily existence.” --“A Great Comedy About Being Good,” Allegra Frank for Vox

9. Anne with an E (2017-2019)

"Her life was not short on challenges, and still she held no grudges, believing instead that grace is perennial like the green, green grass."

While maligned for not being the 1980s version, this Netflix adaptation of Anne of Green Gables takes what many have read as an autistic subtext and made it text, giving Anne a performative quality that pushes a lot of the audience into the same irritation that the characters of Avonlea feel for Anne at first, and, thus, requires its audience to persevere toward the same kindness that Anne inspires in her adoptive mother figure, Marilla, among others, which is much more rewarding than simply identifying with Anne right away. In so doing, it enhances the development of its broader approach to acceptance--an approach in its insistence on the requirement of a community of kindredness (see Sebastian's excitement at finding out about the black community in "The Bog") that is much more rigorous than many other shows will cop to. Expanding far beyond literal adaptation into queer, black, and indigenous characters, without disguising history or disparaging the thematic seed of grace at the heart of the novels, Anne with an E imagines what it meant and what it might still mean to build real joyful community with others through kindness.

10. Little Bear (1995-2003)

"Interesting."

A childhood favorite that disguised in its simplicity a wide-openness to the world and an acceptance of different natures. While most child shows emphasize kindness, few do so with as much patience, wonder, and generosity extended to its viewers. Little Bear is a curious kid who goes on adventures in the woods around his house that can turn into games or small imagined experiences. He is sometimes with his friends Cat, Duck, Hen, Owl, and Emily, whose personalities, along with Little Bear's, bring about small tensions in their games that ultimately resolve, if not independently, then with the help of Mother Bear or Father Bear, who give each other knowing glances about the expected childhood behaviors. This is the first show that initially taught me to observe things while withholding my judgment, that first step of radical kindness.

12. The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1968)

"The key to happiness is finding joy in the simple things."

One really old and somewhat controversial throwback for my last entry. If you have concerns about a sheriff character representing radical kindness, I would encourage you to start with the third episode of season 3 where Andy, the sheriff in question, has to explain to the new mayor why he doesn't carry a gun and lets prisoners go to gather their crops. There have been some fantastic pieces written about the complexities of this show's bucolic fantasy and Southerners (of all races) attachment to it, but they all acknowledge a type of humanistic and deceptively simple virtue found in Mayberry that audiences long to witness, if not emulate themselves. It's a morality that resists the "hyperactive zealotry" and bureaucracy that the show satirizes through Barney Fife (along with guest characters like the new mayor) and instead emphasizes the understanding that one can have for each individual and the trickstery middle paths that one can find to address conflict.

#sorry this took so long to respond to!#honorable mentions include Hey Arnold! & The Good Place & Friday Night Lights & S1 of Ted Lasso (but only S1 lol)#atla #kindness prevails #likealittleheartbreat recommends #fruits basket #mushishi #natsume yuujinchou #hxh #andy griffith #joe pera talks with you #reservation dogs #little bear #skam #awae #boys like boys #mp100

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asimplearchivist · 5 months

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A Proposition for Potential PMD: Explorers Remakes

If and when Nintendo remakes PMD: Explorers (preferably optimized/combined as they did with Sky versus Time/Darkness, like they did with Red/Blue Rescue Team into DX), I think it could work as an open-world game like Legends: Arceus.

Hear me out.

We don't exactly know the context of the hero being brought to the world in the first place: in PMD lore humans apparently exist in the world but are exceedingly rare to come across, like unicorns it seems like to me. What if the reason for this is because humans can only exist in the PMD world if they're brought there?

It's implied that a higher power than Dialga returned the hero after they disappeared from the timeline, and who is above Dialga?

Who brought a modern human into the world of Hisui?

More thoughts below:

I want, more than anything for the reboots, for there to be an elaboration on what it was like in the future between the hero and Grovyle (and the other members of the investigation team, whoever they were besides Celebi), but this would require a certain amount of personalization for the human!player due to the implementation of character customization in most of the recent games.

The solution? Present it like Legends: Arceus.

Show Arceus approaching the hero to help save this world from time (minus the phone, obviously). Whether or not he wipes the hero's memory of their time in their world is debatable, but I think that would be an interesting dynamic to see the hero willing to sacrifice all knowledge of their life prior to being sent there—it would give a similar feeling to the mystery of the base game, and limit the hero's knowledge to match new players' for plot polishing.

Your main question might be, 'Fisara, the whole point of these games are the mystery dungeons! How can you have an open-world game like Legends: Arceus, which has a set map, and use it this way?'

I propose to you the concept of labyrinths.

Hypothetically, one could construct a basic structure of a map of any given dungeon, sort of like Legend of Zelda dungeons, but have the individual rooms/pathways randomized like normal. That way you have an entrance and an exit, but if you don't make your way through the mystery dungeon correctly, as normal, it spits you back out at the beginning.

I say this because the concept of having 'floors' can pose immersion issues since this format would have to be more realistic—having random staircases littered throughout the place wouldn't make very much sense.

However, one could break down the dungeons into levels, especially since many of them are located either in caves or mountainous regions; like switching between main rooms in LoZ dungeons, again, just sealing them off so you can't go back—more of a gradual descent.

For plains/forests/et cetera, it could simply be the winding trail through these places on the same vertical plane, presented as zones or sections instead.

Items and Pokemon could still be randomly generated like Sword/Shield and Scarlet/Violet, as well.

While the idea isn't perfect and definitely would need some refining to make it feasible, I feel that it would work.

So now that the player as a human is established, the 'modernization' of mystery dungeons solved for the most part, what about the story?

I think the reboot's plot could be the same as the base games, perhaps with added scenes in the time gaps to fill out the plot more—you wake up as a Pokemon, save the world, go through the post-game, you know the drill.

I definitely want them to bring forward the Special Episodes, likewise, and maybe add some more! I'd like to know how Chatot and Wigglytuff met, more about Wigglytuff and Armaldo/Team Charm, and some of the other Guildmembers and side characters that didn't get spotlights.

Where I propose that it differs is my own personal canon, but I'll try to keep it general.

It would be required that the team reaches Guildmaster Rank before this could happen, and that Darkrai's situation has been settled. (Whether or not there's an implied time skip or not, I don't know.) But one day your partner asks you if there's anything you wonder about regarding your past, and you could be presented with two options:

'I wish I could get my memories back,' or, 'I wish I knew if Grovyle is okay.'

This choice doesn't really divert any changes, just the order they take place in, if that makes sense.

Your partner agrees with you, whatever you say, and it falls to the back of your minds until you happen to learn from Bidoof (or the other Guildmembers, since they were there) that Jirachi grants wishes—and that his came true since the team joined the Guild.

I know you can visit Star Cave and receive a wish from Jirachi, in Red/Blue Rescue Team/DX, and he's featured in Bidoof's Wish, but I don't recall if you as the hero can get a wish granted from him—which is where this plot point comes into play.

Your partner proposes that you two travel to Star Cave to see if Jirachi could answer your wishes, and should you go it proceeds as normal: dungeon layout has changed like the base game, you have to fight Jirachi, and he offers you the same options as in Bidoof's Wish: to become rich (lots of money), to be the strongest Pokemon (power-up items), to be the best explorer (perhaps a map to an unexplored/undiscovered dungeon?), to eat lots of yummy food (gummis), to get lots of items (from the dungeon), to rule the world (which I think would prompt a repeat question, since it's a rather silly answer)...

...Or 'something else'.

You have the choice to select any of the former options, but picking 'something else' will instigate a new conversation after confirming that it is truly and that you are absolutely sure that it's what you want. This relates directly to the conversation you had with your partner earlier, so the player's choice will be their wish—however, you don't have to worry about which one you pick, because your partner will share the one you didn't, so the dialogue would be switched around a little bit to accommodate for that.

Hero: (Something else.) Partner: ...Oh, [Player], you mean...what we talked about earlier? Hero: (Nods) Partner: Okay. {Turns to Jirachi} [Player] is originally from the future, and lost his/her memories during an accident while traveling back through time. We wanted to know if you could...well, if you could grant his/her wish to restore them! Jirachi: Hmm...that is not an easy wish to grant, as I don't normally have the power to influence anyone's memory. Partner, downtrodden: ...Oh. Jirachi: ...But, since you and [Player] have worked so hard and one so much...I will make [Player]'s wish come true. Partner, excited: R-really? You'll do that, Jirachi? Jirachi: Yes. And as a personal favor for you saving the world twice over...I'll grant your wish, too, [Partner]. Partner: O-oh! My wish? I didn't even think about it...I was so caught up with [Player]'s that I haven't even considered what I would ask for... Jirachi: It's all right. That you were so concerned for [Player] says a lot about you. You're a good Pokemon, [Partner]. So if you don't have a wish now... Partner: W-wait! I do think I have one, if that's all right! Jirachi: Go on. Partner: We have some friends in the future, and we're not sure if they're okay. We would really like to know if they're all right, Jirachi, if that's at all possible. Jirachi: Hmm...that isn't exactly easier, either, but...it will happen. You'll be able to find out soon if your friends are alive and well, [Player] and [Partner]. It may not happen today, or tomorrow, but...one day. Partner: Thank you, Jirachi! You don't know how much this means to us! Jirachi: I'm glad. Consider it my thanks for your efforts in saving our world.

Jirachi grants the wishes and disappears to go back to sleep. Nothing changes at first, so they worry a little, but partner has hope that Jirachi's word is true.

Hero and partner return home, and during the night while the player is dreaming, the hero starts to have dreams of snippets of their life before—mostly dialogue with some images, like their dimensional scream flashes.

This unlocks a new section, similar to the Special Episodes, of the pre-story—where the aforementioned plot of the player being chosen and deposited into the PMD world occurs.

I think it should focus on the player getting through a first dungeon by themselves to learn combat—and, again, you might wonder 'how in the world would that work, Fisara?' but I say to that: the proliferation of items littering the place.

It never really made sense to me why Pokemon would use items, particularly those for attacks, when they have moves (other than a mechanical sense, of course, for the game's sake), but it would make perfect sense for a human who has no abilities to use them: Gravelrocks/Geo-Pebbles, Sticks/Iron and Silver Thorns, various Seeds and Orbs...the human would not be defenseless, and this would explain why Grovyle uses them with such familiarity, also.

Then the player meets Grovyle (though I'd honestly prefer it if they met him as a Treecko and they 'grew up' together a bit, although other than some magic with the evolutionary spring I don't know how he'd evolve in-lore unless they sought a special item or something. They get connected with the investigation society and—for the main plot of this extension—you and Grovyle explore the Grass Continent as it stands in the corrupted future.

This would give so many opportunities to see how the ecology/environment changes, the names that future Pokemon give the locations, and while it would follow a similar path to the main game it would be a refreshing view of it since this is where all of the hero's flashbacks originate. Having to discover old maps and texts to figure out the locations of the Time Gears, maybe even tracking down Uxie/Mesprit/Azelf if they're still around/haven't been driven mad by the planet's paralysis (maybe Uxie is the only one who remembers since his specialty is in memory, idk). Then we would have the opportunity to introduce the danger that Dusknoir poses, trying to track them down to stop them. I'd also like to see at least some background indications of Darkrai's meddling, because there is so much potential to bring the plot full circle with more exploration.

They would somehow need to be able to travel to the Hidden Land (now, canonically, Dusk Forest) to find Celebi, so I don't know if the Relic Fragment and Lapras would come into play, or if Celebi just travels around the continent (in the case of there being more than one time portal). Anyway, Dusknoir and his Sableye finally almost catch them, Celebi sends them back, and then Grovyle and the hero are attacked during the time stream by Darkrai (which I'd really like to see a glimpse/indication of him, even if he's in the shadows).

Once this is completed, when you go back to the main game (after a day, so the following night), you explain to your partner that you received your memory back and explain everything that happened. They're ecstatic, and they ask you about Grovyle and Celebi and your adventures that you remembered. Then they get a little down, asking if you miss them now, and you're able to respond.

Small time skip (bc this post is already way too long), and one day Celebi shows up at the guild looking for you! She explains that the time portal has been repaired now that time has evened back out, and says that you can come to the future again. The player decides to go, but the partner decides to stay because they belong there, and the player truly belongs in the future. Cue tearful goodbye (pls animate a hug also that'd be great), and player travels to the Hidden Land with Celebi to find it (opening up another section like the memories one so the player can still hang out in the present and do missions and stuff—no obligation to go forward).

They travel back to the future, and while it would hypothetically look the same as the past since the paralysis is gone, I think it'd be great to show the passage of time with the ruins being a little more decayed and overgrown w/ vegetation/etc. Maybe Dialga visits them and bids them hello.

Celebi takes them back to the mainland where the others have settled, maybe Treasure Town but I think it would be nice to see anew settlement instead. Cue tearful reunion with Grovyle (another animated hug pls), but then gasp! Dusknoir's there too!

I want there to be full explanations on how everything's going on—did they form an exploration team? Are they managing their town? How are they adjusting to non-post-apocalyptic life? (With a whole story arc on learning to trust Dusknoir again since he's been redeemed, I will accept no other option, Nintendo. Give me wholesomeness with that old man.) I want them to go on adventures again with the hero and them all be happy. Then I want them to go visit Treasure Town to find out that your partner has become the Guildmaster since Wigglytuff decided to retire/go exploring on his own again (with or without Chatot, maybe depending on how severely his wounds from Kabutops/Omanytes limited his exploration abilities, idk). Wrap it all up in a nice little bow.

I'd love it if you also had the option to return the player to a human or not, too, but I don't really know how you'd execute that other than another wish from Jirachi maybe—but we never really got an explanation on how the player was turned into a human in the first place (which I would absolutely want—did Arceus do it to protect them?), so I think it would potentially work, though I'm sure some people wouldn't be a fan of that idea since being a Pokemon is one of the main premises of the games.

Anyway...you can tell I spent far too much time thinking about this. Feel free to add any more ideas with reblogs or comments, I'd love to hear what y'all think! :)

#fisara's scrawlings #pokemon #pmd #pokemon mystery dungeon #pmd eos #pokemon mystery dungeon explorers #explorers of sky #pmd2 #pmd 2

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fawnonthelam · 3 months

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Finally saw “Wonka” this week (wanted to bring the nephew and neice patrol to see it closer to Christmas but there was some question about whether there would be too-scary parts for the sensitive ones but now having seen it, I think there was nothing that would be particularly scary for even very young children (old enough to sit through a movie, five or six), maybe some close-ups of sneering adults. However; no frightening imagery/characters or sequences.

My main takeaways:

Tenderness and optimism needed to make a comeback in family friendly fare, after the past few years of post COVID upheaval and the lingering bleak vibe that’s been shading culture, since. “Wonka” hits a sincere mark with its sweetness that feels like a cultural catharsis for weary families.

It’s also a gentle education for kids about organized corruption and how it works; what cartels are, how they develop, how people talk themselves into engaging in corruption or “selling out” based on interests and human weaknesses and snobbery. The villains in “Wonka” aren’t just caricatures, even at their most comedically buffoonish; the audience is shown how these figures developed their senses of entitlement and the excuses they make to themselves about why it’s okay to participate in corruption and abuse people (i.e., “it’s legal”, “you signed a contract”, “I have an addiction”, “if we don’t maintain absolute control our companies will collapse”, etc.)

Chalamet’s tone was just perfect for the origin story of this character. I haven’t seen such a convincing presentation of a childlike creative, since Ed Norton’s disarming portrayal of Sheldon Mopes in “Death to Smoochy.” It’s a hard line to walk, to play a character who is eccentric yet sweet, who connects with sincerely pure intentions to the dreams of children, without coming across as (even if only slightly) creepy. Chalamet convincingly comes across as a true friend to “Noodle” (a touchingly weary performance by Caleh Francie Lane) with a guardian instinct who is unwaveringly trustworthy. Wilder’s Wonka has long been known for his gently cynical, slightly demented sense of humor but by the end of the 1971 version, you see Wonka’s quietly bitter, sardonic facade crack and reveal the gooey center often found in those who build a hard exterior shell to deflect the pummeling cruelties of the world. When it’s revealed that all Wonka wanted was a child pure of heart to inherit his factory, “Wonka”(2023) shows us where that came from; his childhood heart had lead him to his dream (supported by the pure and unconditional love he remembered from his Mother). He’d nearly lost faith that such goodness could still exist in a cynical, shallow and materialistic modern world until he saw the sincerity and goodness in Charlie and it brought him back from his doubt. That is the Wonka we see in this film: The Wonka who believes. Overall, visually it was whimsical without being too strictly stylistic. There was an organic feel to costume design and spaces but subtly so. It didn’t feel cartoonishly dark, grimy or graphic as often seems the tendency in these “magical realism” type adaptations and/or productions. The fabrics look just natural enough, the visuals are bright without looking psychedelic or vintage carnivalesque. It just dips a toe into that for the dance sequences, (*Spoilers*!) chocolate shop reveal and zoo visit. There were many strong performances in it with a range of different comedic styles interweaving quite well but this was just my initial hot take on the film. I was most struck by how tender it was, credit Chalamet’s portrayal for setting that refreshing tone. This is indeed the Wonka we need right now and it will even make you like Wilder’s portrayal a little better when you see a continuity of principles and life’s purpose for the character.

#wonka 2023 #wonka movie #timothée chalamet #hugh grant #Calah francie lane #keegan michael key #olivia colman #paterson joseph #matt lucas #matthew baynton #rowan atkinson #sally hawkins #jim carter #natasha rothwell #Movies #film #movie #willy wonka

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marvel-starwarsfangirl · 6 months

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Mori Ougai (I just want to talk about him)

Guys, I've been thinking a lot lately about Mori and his Beast counterpart. I really, really, really love Beast Mori and everything that he represents. He's not just the "good Mori." In my eyes, and others as well, he represents Mori's humanity (side note: I'm not saying Mori is secretly a hero or something) and what main story Mori could've been if he wasn't in the mafia.

I also just want to talk about Mori in general because he's actually very fascinating and more complex than some make him seem.

Just hear me out, ok?

Also, shoutout to @hopefull-mindset. Their analyses on BSD have been very interesting and definitely have given me a different perspective on Mori and helped me understand Beast Mori so much more.

Anyways, these are just a pile of thoughts I have on Mori as I began to understand him more. Please note: these are my personal thoughts gathered through lots of analyses digging and reflection on his character. If you dislike Mori, that is completely valid.

Understanding Beast Mori

When I first read Beast, I was so confused. How could Mori be so different when every other character had basically the same personality? Mori in the main story is cruel, cold, and manipulative. Yes, he is very pragmatic and smart, but that doesn't take away from his bad qualities. However, the more I dug deeper into the mystery of Beast Mori, the more things started to make sense. The Mori we meet in Beast is still the same Mori from the main story. And for those who question that, look at Beast Aku and Beast Atsushi. They may have swapped organizations but their fundamental traits are still the same. Atsushi, PM or ADA, still has major guilt and self-worth issues that stem from the Orphanage Director. Aku is the same. Even if he is in the ADA, he still has his intense bloodlust and determination.

So, why is Mori different? As @hopefull-mindset has pointed out in one of their posts, he's in a different environment. There are no negative influences or stressors unlike the mafia. Also, he's working with children. Children often represent innocence and positive emotions. Mori, surprisingly, is really good with kids because we the see the orphanage thrive in his care. It makes perfect sense that Mori, who likes kids (and not in the creepy way), would learn to become a more caring figure. In the main story, Mori is often presented as a necessary evil; he's the dark to Fukuzawa's light. But now that Dazai replaced him, Mori can act without always making the optimal solution at the cost of anyone that gets in its way, himself included.

Honestly, I think Beast Mori does humanize him. It doesn't erase the wrongs he did (and believe me, I haven't forgotten), but it does show you a different perspective. Beast shows us that Mori has complexities. He's not just an evil monster for the heroes to overcome. There's more to him than that.

Note: I am not saying any of his actions towards Yosano, Dazai, or any other character are justified. He hurt them emotionally and psychologically. It wasn't fun to watch or read. Saying Mori is more than a one dimensional villain doesn't take away from the bad things he did. I'm just trying to offer a different perspective because Beast Mori is that interesting, at least to me.

Elise

I've never been able to fully reconcile with this aspect of Mori. It is weird. It is uncomfortable. It is perplexing. Elise to an extent, is Mori. She is a part of him manifested and can act on her own. And I get the controversy behind it; it's not normal. That being said, never have we seen Mori in either the manga or the anime act in that nature towards her or even Yosano. He makes weird comments about Elise, sure, but nothing super explicit. At most, they're treated as weird jokes. And, for the record, that doesn't make them ok or any better. I won't argue back and forth on this topic because it's a difficult subject.

However, I don't believe he is actually a *you know what* because of Beast Mori's entire existence. Riddle me this, why would Asagiri-sensei write a character as a *you know what* and then have his counterpart work at an orphanage full of children? That, at least to me, crosses a moral line. It makes it even more weird and uncomfortable. Also, idk about y'all, but I wouldn't find it fun or quirky if someone portrayed a very famous and beloved author as a perverted creep, just saying.

So, where did Elise even come from then? Well, she's a companion to Mori in many ways. He's rarely seen without her. Mori's backstory is a mystery to us. My honest theory is that Elise manifested as a companion for Mori because he was in a really bad spot. Either he was abused in some shape or form or was very isolated and alone. We know that Mori's had her since the Great War. He was 26 at that time. That's still fairly young so I think it's safe to say he's had her since he was a child or a teenager. Of course, I could be wrong. But based off what we know about abilities so far, I think it's safe to say that Elise didn't manifest without reason.

The Optimal Solution

Going into more speculation about Mori's backstory, I have so many questions. Mori essentially has the same big question as Kunikida for me: when and why did he decide to follow the optimal solution. For Kunikida, it's his ideals. Both characters stick so adamantly to their beliefs that it leads to conflict externally and internally. Mori's optimal solution is the reason why Yosano was traumatized.

It just got me thinking, when did he develop this line of thought? After all, a kid who grew up with an average life usually doesn't worry about the "optimal solution." Between this and Elise, I strongly believe he came from a dysfunctional home. It would certainly explain why he tells Dazai that the latter reminds him of himself. Mori is very good at repressing his emotions; he's hard to read which makes him dangerous. He likes to take advantage of situations and manipulate them to his will, or whatever he deems to be the optimal solution. The battle with Fukuzawa during the Cannibalism arc is a good example of this. Mori knew he couldn't win so he decided to get Fukuzawa to let his guard down enough to strike. In my area of study at school, the home life of a person can be very telling as to why someone may act in a certain way. Mori coming from a rough home without love seems pretty plausible to me.

Mori is a very well-written character with a lot of complexities that tend to get overlooked. Why does he do what do? At what point did he decide to follow his optimal solution? It's such an interesting question because it affects so many characters and situations.

Conclusion

If y'all got this far, congrats! I hope that people will take the time to look deeper at his character. You don't have to like Mori. I'm just tired of people portraying him as something he's not. I also don't want fans harassing other fans because they like Mori. And I'll admit it, I was so quick to judge both him and Francis. Had I kept up my shield and continued to shoot unwarranted hatred at them, I wouldn't have appreciated their characters as I do now.

And yes, I do overhate on Fyodor (mainly bc the man is cockroach and he hurt Kunikida). I get it. However, I know Fyodor is a deeply complex character. His way of thinking is actually quite fascinating and I have so many questions about him. I don't like Fyodor, but I'm not gonna let my personal grievances stop others from enjoying him.

#bungou stray dogs #mori ougai #my thoughts #beast mori #kafka asagiri #let me enjoy Mori please

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myafterlifeisbetterthenyours · 2 years

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I saw your "The I.M.P family finding out your Girlfriend abuses you." and i thought it was great. so, if it's not too much trouble, could you do some where instead of I.M.P., could you do it for others, such as the Hazbin Family, Goetias, and/or Overlords? I just love your work and how you just NAIL these characters, and I'm just so intrigued on how other characters would react to this kind of scenario. I also have more ideas, so please message me for the ideas. love the stories and i love you.

Hazbin hotel family finding out your Girlfriend Abuses you

You walked back into the Hotel, forced to slam the door to keep out the increasing harsh winds.

You'd left to get a few things, but ended up taking a lot longer than you'd intended.

You entered the loby, various bags of groceries stuffed in both arms.

As you fumbled with the door, Angel walked in, the large arachnid clearly bored as he wondered the Hotel, a lazy expression upon his face.

Upon seeing you, he immediately lit up. "Aye kid, good to see ya back!" he said all to cheerfully, walking up to meet you halfway.

You made it to the front desk/Hotel Bar together, placing your groceries down with a heave before you looked them over. "Hey Angel, whats up?" You huffed, glancing up at the Arachnid.

Angel looked down at you, patiently waiting before he cocked his hip and asked, "Did ya' get it?"

You paused, looking up at him your raised a brow. Angel stared right back, extending a hand before asking, "Dah Vodka and Cream?"

You instantly sighed, running a hand down your face.

"I'm so sorry Angel, I totally forgot." You groaned, clutching your head, clearly frustrated with yourself.

Angel looked down at you, thoughts swirling in his head.

You were an odd case.

Youd showed up to the Hotel not long after that "Grand Opening" and while you had no intention of being redeemed. You made it clear, you wanted to help.

Apparently you'd spent much of your mortal life volunteering with charities and aid groups, going to war zones and such.

Regardless, it was impressive how much you seemed to know about helping people, Charlie eagerly hiring you to work at the hotel.

From there you seemed to fit right in. You were a practical person, letting minor things slide, while calling out the big stuff, finding a healthy balance. Kind of like the neutral ground between Charlie's blind optimism and Vaggies utter bitterness.

Angel cocked a hip, giving a little shrug.

"Aw well, getter next time." Angel told ya, leaning against the bar. "Where were ya anyways, you was gone for hours. Thought ya was just getting some things and coming back?" He asked, peaking into your grocery bags.

You released an awkward chuckle, rubbing the back of your neck.

"Yeah, I was. But since I was out, I figured I'd stop by my place and grab a few things I'd forgotten. Aaannnd..." You drew the word out, looking away. "My girlfriend was there. We... we ended up talking for a bit. That's about it."

You looked anxious telling him as much, the spider quickly smiling. "All ya did was talk?" He asked, practically purring in your ear.

You quickly stepped away from him. "Yeah... just talked..." You said with such a somber tone the spider couldn't help but worry.

"Ya know, now dat I thinks about it." he began, doing his best to lighten the mood. "Ya ain't told me much about dat girlfriend of you's. Wat gives, I thought we wuz friends."

Angel always played up his accent when he was trying to lighten the mood. He knew you loved it.

You chuckled, the sound seeming to clear the air just a bit. "Well that's for a good reason." You told him coldly, taking a seat and leaning against the bar.

"She works for an overlord." You told him plainly, fixing your attire.

That instantly peaked his interest, being well aware of what sort of demon worked for Overlords.

"She's an enforcer. A good one." You glanced over at him, "One of her rules for our relationship is 'I don't ask about her, what she does... and I most definitely don't talk about her on a personal level." You finished with the slightest bitter curl to your lip.

You did your best to hide your frustration. Angel saw right through it. He was something of a professional when it came to hiding your emotions.

And it was just as he went to comfort you in some way, maybe try to relate to you, let you know you weren't alone.

That was cut short when a new voice chimed in.

"And whom is it we can't talk about?"

Angel swung around, finding The ever dapper Alastor standing before him.

"Geez Al, I'll need ta tie a fuckin Bell around your neck." Angel grumbled, hand to his chest in exaggerated shock.

Alastor chuckled a radio filled chuckle. "My apologies Angel dear, I was just curious of what you were talking about."

You just smiled, Angel letting out a scoff, "Ah, we wuz just talking bout the usual shit, ya know?" Angel chuckled.

Alastor raised a brow, but seemed to let it pass, Alastor asking you about your day. You spoke shortly, as you looked through your bags.

Which was odd, you were usually quite the chatterbug, you and Alastor having many a lively conversation about this or that.

From the outside, it almost appeared as though you were the best of friends. So even the Radio Femon could tell something was wrong.

Angel reached over and looked into one of the smaller bags. Peaking into it the bag, he found what looked like a packet of something serious, the spider going to stick his hand in and grab it.

You looked over the bags, and upon seeing him about to reach in, you lurched over and snatched the bag out of his hand.

Standing back up, you stuffed the bag under your arm, you and Angel just staring at each other for several moments.

Clearing your throat, you went back to the bags, doing your best to ignore the way the pair were staring at you.

After another few moments you looked up. You glanced at the pair before clearing your throat. "It's... it's personal stuff.

You didn't look at them, wrapping up the bags before giving them a brief nod, turning and walking away.

Angel and Alastor just stood there, staring at you as you walked away.

"That was weird right?" Angel asked, resting an arm on his hip.

"Yes it a was." Alastor Hummed. "What was in the bag?"

Angel sighed, telling him. "Its personal Al, didn't ya hear?" A little smile crossing his lips as he glanced at the radio demon.

Alasstor snorted, glancing over at him.

"Some kinda package or somethin'." He told him, face scrunched up in thought.

"I think I know what its for... I just hope I'm wrong." He told him uncharacteristically serious, the Radio demon taking note.

The two of them just stood there for a moment, neither of them particularly happy about what just happened.

You shambled out of the loby, moving down to the kitchen, dumping the bags onto the counter.

Placing down the bags you looked about, making sure the coast was clear. With no one around, you walked over to the fridge, opening the freezer and grabbed an Ice pack.

Pulling open your collar, you tentatively placed the pack on your shoulder, letting out a deep sigh at the sensation, gently rolling your shoulder.

You stood there for a second, just enjoying the sensation against your sore flesh.

Your moment was cut short when the kitchen door was suddenly swung open, the sound causing you to jump, dropping your ice pack into your hoodie.

Before you could do anything, however, you heard Charlie behind you. Spinning around, you found the Hotels proprietor walking with Vaggie, her... Significant other. You were never really sure what their relationship was.

You tried the grabe the pack, only to cause the Ice pack to slide further down your side.

You just stood there, back Ridged as you watched them walking by.

Charlie quickly noticed you, the girl perking up before striking up a conversation.

You stood there, giving her short, curt answers. Vaggie pointed out how long you'd been, you just telling her youd stopped by your place and got caught up with your girlfriend.

Vaggie instantly soured at that news.

She didn't know why, but the way you always sounded so sombre when talking about her.

You were supposed to sound happy when talking about a girlfriend, like she was with Charlie. But you always sounded like you were talking about an association, not a lover.

The whole thing left a sour taste in her mouth.

Charlie quickly brought up a new strategy shed been cooking up.

The two of you had long been strategising a step by step process to redemption. The two of you having spent many long night talking and throwing around ideas.

You were doing your best to stay calm, the ice pack becoming colder and colder against your tender ribs by the second.

Vaggie watched as you stood there, clearly off. You kept adjusting your hoody, trying and failing to look inconspicuous.

Looking down, finding bags of groceries on the counter. Wasn't all that strange, you had said you were going out.

Besides the various brown bags of foodstuffs, was a smaller bag, all rolled up at the top.

So, stepping forwards, she began unrolling the bag, and just as she'd gotten it open you saw it, darting forwards.

In your haste to snatch the bag, you unintentionally tore it in half, a mess of medical supplies spilling out.

Bandages, painkillers, needle and thread, disinfectant. The medicine littering the kitchen floor.

You froze, before falling to the floor, desperately gathering up the medical supplies.

You went to grab a bottle of disinfectant, when A hand suddenly grabbed it. Looking up, you found Charlie holding the bottle.

You stared at her, Charlie read the bottle before looking down at you. "(Y/N), what's all this?"

Picking yourself up, the icepack decided now was a good time to fall out.

After several moments of silence, you cleared your throat. "I've seen what infections... what wounds and sores can do. I don't want anyone here to have to suffer like that."

You went over to one of the counters. Putting down the supplies. Opening one of the draws, you found another paper bags.

Putting the supplies into the brown bag you picked it up and walked back over to Charlie.

Taking the bottle out of Charlie's hand, you placed it into the bag. Looking at the pair one more time, you just left without a word. Leaving Charlie and Vaggie in the Kitchen, completely unsure of how to react.

"Hes been getting worse." Vaggie told her girlfriend coarsely, crossing her arms.

"I know, I just don't know what's happening." Charlie told the Moth Demon, the girl was genuinely concerned.

Vaggie let out a displeased humm, reaching down she grabbed the ice pack, looking at it then to her girlfriend.

"I've got an idea." She let out a displeased humm.

It had been a week since the grocery incident, and things seemed to settle, everything going back to normal.

More or less.

Sick of spending all his time Angel had managed to convince you to take him out to lunch.

"So why couldn't we just eat at the hotel again?" You asked him, sliding into the red booth of the very noir dinner Angel had insisted you eat at.

"Cause, the food at the Hotel is too damn... good." Angel told you, wearing a mix of both disgust and confusion across his face. "Besides, they serve the best hamburgers here. I mean for real."

You smiled at the spiders antics, glancing out the window. "That good, huh?" You asked, raising a playful brow.

Angel scoffed, "Hell yeah that good. Honestly, its so good, if I found out they was dragging johnys off's the street to turn em into ground beef, I'd still eat 'ere."

You smiled at him, asking. "Youd really go full cannibal?"

Angel pfft'd, telling you, "Please, ya say that like there ain't a bit of someone mixed in with most food down here. Hell, even Alastor chows down on his fellow demons." He told you, to which you just nodded. Cannibalism was far from rare down here.

"Besides." Angel began with a smirk, "It aint like it would be the first time I'd had some strange mans meat in my mouth."

At that you had a good laugh, Angel quickly joining you.

After calming down, you looked out the window again. You'd been doing it since you'd entered the neighbourhood, this time Angel asked about it.

"Why ya keep lookin over ya shoulder like that?" He asked half playful, half serious. "Scared someone'll see ya with Lil ole' me and you'd lose your street cred?" He finished playfully.

You snorted. "What street cred?" You chuckled, getting a smile from the Spider. "Besides Angie, your like my best friend. I'd never be embarrassed to be seen with you."

Angel paused, face flushed as he genuinely had no idea how to respond to such a comment.

You hadn't seemed to notice, to busy fiddling with your finger.

"Besides, this is my Girlfriends terf. I'd prefer if she didn't see us together." You told him, staring out the window.

"Whys that?" Angel asked, the slightest edge to his voice. You sighed, telling him. "I didn't tell her before hand that I was coming."

"It's one of the rules of our relationship." You turned away, looking out the window. "I have to tell her everything."

There were several moments of silence, the awkward air just hanging between you like cigarette smoke.

That was until the waitress showed up, taking your orders with a resigned attitude. This was her life, and she knew it.

You waited a while, you and Angel exchanging casual banter, all the while Angel was thinking.

Now, Angel wasn't the most sentimental guy, the closest thing to a healthy relationship would probably be his friendship with Cherri, mostly due to the simple fact he hadn't seen his siblings in, shit, years? Maybe a decade?

But you, you were an odd ball.

You joined the hotel seemingly for no good reason. Sure Charlie paid you, and it was a fair wage from what he'd heard, but put simply.

You did too much.

You helped Charlie seemingly any way you could, using your many years of experience helping people around the world, this was priceless information. Hell being essentially one never ending, ever shifting battlefield. Your experience was priceless, and yet you put a price on it, and a fairly humble one at that.

And on top of that, you helped Charlie with all kinds shit, and all that redemption shit.

But the most important part, you actually helped people.

You helped him more thn once.

With his hangovers, or withdrawal. You'd gotten Vaggie off his back more times than he could count, and gotten him out of trouble plenty of more times.

You helped him, the spider opening up to you, and even with all the shit, you still stuck around.

So, he supposed you were his friend. Friendship being a strange sensation to the spider.

The two of you spoke some more, joking and babbling about this or that until the waitress brought you your food.

And too Angel's credit, it was an amazing burger.

It was big and juicy, and you could practically feel your arteries clogging with each bite.

Good times.

You were about halfway through your meal, Angel having just finished a hilarious story, and as was appropriate when listening to a hilarious story, you burst into laughter.

The two of you slowly settled down, but as you did a figure came up besides you.

You turned, expecting to apologise or tell the waitress you didn't need anything, only to freeze.

Angel quickly noticed your frozen gaze, and matching your gaze, he came face to face with a towering Hound looking demon.

Now, while most would likely have to do a double take to realise the Demon before them, was in fact, female.

Years of sex work had ensure Angel could tell a demons gender by a glance.

She stood before you, large chest heaving. "B-Babe!" You glanced at him, before turning back. "Babe this isn't what-"

Before you could finish however, she spoke. "What. Are You Doing. Here?" Her voice was calm, but held a dangerous edge, the tone instantly making Him think of when Val was angry with him.

You were almost shaking now, in a voice uncharacteristically frail, you told her. "We just wanted to get out of the Hotel. Thought we'd have some lunch." You told her, looking down.

Your girlfriend just snorted, before coldly telling you. "Your supposed to inform me of when you do something like that. We have rules."

"I know we do Babe, I just though-" you tried to explain to her, but she just slammed her hand onto the table the force and shock of which caused you to clamp up.

"I DONT GIVE A SHIT WHAT YOU THOUGHT!" She snarled, "You broke the fucking rules."

She grabbed you, pulling you to your feet. "Your coming with me. NOW!"

Angel stood up, intent on telling her off, when you turned to him and told him firmly, even through your shaking voice.

"Stay out of this, Angel."

Your girlfriend dragged you out of the dinner, you barely getting on your feet as she pulled you along.

And just as you were stepping out the door, you glanced at him, looking up with an expression that almost said, "Its alright. I understand."

And that just made him feel even worse.

He wanted to follow after, Lord knows he wanted to, but he just couldn't.

He didn't know what to do.

He was scared. And he hated that.

He sat there for, he didn't know for how fucking long, this deep pit of dread bubbling in his stomach.

Eventually he stood up, storming out of the restaurant as he ignored everything.

Getting back to the hotel was a blurr. He marched right up to the bar, Husk began asking him something, but before he could, Angel pushed him out of the way. Snatching up a bottle of something and taking a violent swig, Slumping against the counter.

Flashes of memory ran through his mind like some kinda fucked up picture show.

Images of Valentino dragging him away, abusing and having his way with him. He took another violent swig, desperate for forget, the drink just burning his throat.

The worst parts of the memories, though, were the fuckers that just watched.

Those that stood on the sidelines, watching as he was abused and violated.

And you know the worst part? The very worst fucking part, was knowing he was now one of them.

One of the watchers that just stood there and didn't do shit when someone needed help.

He felt rotten. Feeling worse then he'd ever felt before.

He ignored Husk, desperate to get away, running away to his room.

He slammed the door behind him, collapsing against it before bursting into tears.

He just sat there, feeling like shit, hating himself, a single thought running through his mind over and over.

"I should have done something."

It had been a few days since you'd been taken by your girlfriend, and Angel had become a mess.

He felt like shit. He missed you and the bottle just didn't help.

Didn't stop him from trying though.

He stared down at his phone, slumped against the bar.

He'd tried calling you, tried texting you. But he got nothing in return.

He knew what had likely happened. She'd taken the phone from you, either breaking it, bit more then likely looking through and listening in on your calls and messages.

He knew because that's what Valentino always did.

So he made sure to keep his messages light and vague, asking how you was going, wondering if youd like to invite your GF to see the hotel, making sure his messages were as innocent as possible.

He sat there for a while longer, staring at his phone.

"H-hey Angel. How are you doing?" The surprisingly sombre voice of Charlie asked from his side.

Looking over he gave a snifle, resting his head on one of his arms. "How am I?" He asked. Looking away, he gave a deep sigh, telling her. "I ain't doing well, to be honest."

Charlie sat beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Its alright, Angel. I miss him too. And I'm sure we'll hear from him soon." She finished, clearly trying to chear herself up as much as cheer him up.

Angel was probably gonna say something to sour the mood, but didn't get the chance.

The sound of the Hotels front door swinging open quickly got there attention.

Spinning around, they found you walking in. It was hard to tell it was you, wearing a hoodie, the hood up and covering most of your face.

Angel instantly perked up, jumping to his feet as he approached.

Reaching you halfway, he went to speak.

But just as he went to speak. You just...

Walked past him.

He was stunned silent, unable to do anything as you just walked past, avoiding eye contact.

He stood there for several seconds before his mind did a full reboot, allowing him to act again.

Spinning around, he found you gone, Charlie looking just as shocked and confused as he felt.

With a frown he stormed past her, knowing where you'd be.

His guess turned out to be accurate, as Angel found you right where he expected.

In your room. Packing.

He found you stuffing your things into a backpack you'd set on your bed. "Where have you been?" He asked softly, hoping you'd actually answer.

You just kept packing. That made the spider angry.

Storming into your room, he pinned your bag shut, stopping you from packing anything else. "Nothing?! Your just gonna say nothing?!" He snapped.

There was several moments of silence before you reached for your bag, trying to yank it out from his grip.

Angel put a stop to that quickly, scowl flaring acrossing his features. "So that's it. No 'Hi'. No 'sorry I disappeared'. No 'sorry for ignoring your calls'. Nothing?"

You didn't look at him.

He couldn't even tell what you were thinking, your expression hidden by your hood.

You went to grab your bag again only for him to pull it away, holding it behind him. Your breathing was getting agitated, fists balling

Seeing this Angel's face softened. "(Y/N), please, I know what your going through. Let me help you."

Getting no answer, Angel slowly raised a hand, intending to cup your cheek. Hoping you'd allow him ot remove your hood, allowing your connectionto be reconnected.

But just before he touched you, you smacked his hand away, snarling at him. "I don't need Help, especially from a whore like you!" You scowled, angry eyes peaking out from the hood.

You went to walk past him, Angel managing to snap out of his shock, and just managing to spin around and grabbing your hood.

It pulled off, pulling you back with it as you left, whipping around he got to see you as you stumbled back, landing against a cabinet.

Angel instantly froze.

The left side of your face had a giant bruise across it, right eye straining to open.

Realising he'd seen your face you instantly scrambled, running out the door.

Angel quickly chased after.

You may have been quick, but Angel had longer legs, and caught up with you fast.

You were mid lobby.

You'd barrelled past Charlie, the Princess being comforted by her S/O.

Youd made it halfway across the lobby before Angel caught up, tackling you to the floor.

You began fighting, desperately trying to squirm out of his grasp. But with him having four arms, bringing out his extra pair, it was virtually impossible.

When it was clear you weren't escaping, you began begging.

"Please Angel, just let me go. She's right outside! She's expecting me back!" You practically wailed, desperation increasing by the second.

Pinning you too the floor, Angel growled out. "No! No... I'm not letting you go back to her."

Through frustrated tears, you growled out. "Whats it to you?! Why do you even care?!"

You squirmed even harder, trying one last desperate attempt at escape.

Once that failed, you became furious, hot tears building in your eyes. "What right do you have you bastard!" You growled at him. "You, the whore that runs back to Valentino every chance he gets!"

You glared up at him, Angel stared right back, and suddenly... he just got up, letting you fall back.

This is when Charlie and Vaggie stepped forwards, Charlie crouching besides you.

You were unable to meet there gaze, laid there on the floor. Sitting there, a swarm of emotions razing your insides.

Charlie crouched down, asking you softly. "Are you alright (Y/N)?"

It was an innocent question, but that didn't stop your scowl. And I certainly didn't stop you from spitting out, "No. I'm not. I just want to go back to her."

You just sat there, looking away from her. Looking away from all of them, unable to meet there gazes.

Determined to refuse their pitty.

"That's not happening." Vaggies voice suddenly cut in.

Looking up at her, you found the girl wearing that serious look she always wore when she was set on something.

"Damn straight." Angel added, you looking up at him. You looked back at the ground, "What the Hell do you even care?" You growled out.

Vaggie just cocked a hip, telling you. "You just compared your girlfriend to Valentino, one of the most notoriously abusive demons in Hell. I can't in good conscience, let you go back to her. Especially with the state your face is in."

"And I'm guessing thats her handy work too." She told you dryly, signalling to the left side of your face.

You just sat there for a moment, before looking up at Charlie, then Angel. "I'm guessing your with her?" You asked dryly.

When you only got nods from the pair you looked away, staring back at the ground.

After another few moments, you scrambled to your feet, bolting for the door.

Of course, you didn't make it, reaching the door only to find Alastor standing there, the radio demon just shaking his head, single hand raised.

You stumbled back, breathing steadily getting heavier.

Suddenly you were surrounded, the members of the hotel all standing around you. You suddenly feeling like you were being smothered.

"Its alright (Y/N), were trying to help." Charlie began, sound far too understanding for your liking.

"We just want to help (Y/N). You can trust us." vaggie added, her voice far too genuine.

Why were they so kind. So gentle.

Why did they have to be so fucking good!

You began turning around erratically, desperately looking for a way out, but there was none. You couldn't escape them.

So you stopped.

Looking up, You found Angel just staring down at you. A calm look across his face.

You held back tears, your breathing picking up, staring at him until you slumped to the floor, letting out a strangles sob.

"Please..." you you begged, your voice whinny, desperate. "You don't know what she'll do to me."

Silence hung in the air like smog.

You sat there drawing in fear and sorrow, when suddenly, you felt a hand on your shoulder.

Looking up, You found the spider looking akin to an Angel.

"Its alright (Y/N). I'm here. I got you." He told you softly, pulling you to his chest.

Feeling his warmth, his arms wrapped around you. Knowing that he actually cared about you.

You didn't even care how his arms pressed against your stinging bruises.

Just having him hold you, his warmth, his care. It broke something in you. You burst into tears.

You clung to the spider, releasing deep guttural sobs, face buried into his fluffy chest.

Charlie quickly jumped into the group hug, squeezing you into a hug.

Vaggie joined next, mostly hugging her S/O, but still trying her best to comfort you.

Alastor just stood on the sideline, sombre at the sight of you in such pain.

Alastor was by no means a good man, and typically revealed in the misery of others.

But you were a good fellow, and he wasn't fond of seeing such a beloved acquaintance suffer so.

You cried an ugly cried for a long time. And slowly, but surely, you began settling down.

After a while you pulled back, wiping your nose.

You felt tired, so, so very tired.

You hadn't slept much in the past few days, stress and fear keeping you up, and when you did sleep. It wasn't very well.

You apologised, to all of them. Apologising for being such a prick.

Angel just shook his head, just pulling you against his chest, telling you it was fine.

You just sat like that for a long while, Angel holding you close, gently comforting you.

He'd stopped rubbing your back upon the first flinch, the spider understood you'd likely been beaten.

Charlie clung tight, the girl really wanting you to know she was there for you. The same went for Vaggie, although the girl had pulled back, keeping a hand on her girlfriends back.

Your little moment of tranquillity was shattered when the door was suddenly smahed off its hinges.

"I gave you 5 Fucking minutes, and you couldn't even do that!" She yelled. "You just can't do anything right can you, you dumbass!"

Hearing this, you froze up. Clamping up and practically shaking.

Without even looking, Alastor summoned his cane, slamming it at against the floor.

A tendril spilled out of a portal, shooting out and grasping your girlfriend.

Angel could tell you wanted to do something, likely feeling you needed to defend her.

Angel put a stop to that right quick, pressing you into his chest.

Alastor spun around, and in a haunting voice told her, "Sssh... cant you see were having a private moment." His voice steadily becoming more filled with radio static.

"Haven't you done enough." He asked, symbols manifesting through the air.

Angel covered your eyes as Alastor gruesomely squeezed the life out of your girlfriend, covering your ears with his lower arms as your GFs bones began to snap and pop out of there sockets.

And suddenly, she disappeared.

Gone without a trace, Alastor just standing there calm and happy.

Angel lowered his arms, letting you pull back after a few moments.

Wiping your nose, you softly asked, "What's next?"

Charlie pulled back, wiping her own eyes, she spoke up. "You stay with us. Your family (Y/N), and we're gonna take care of you."

You looked at her, giving her a little smile before you looked up at Angel, the spider telling you, "Well, I was thinking a shower, maybe a check up... but I like her plan as well."

You smiled, letting out a little chuckle. "Yeah, uh, I'd like that." You finished with a little chuckle, the sound of your laughter instantly lightening the mood.

"Come on then, let's get you cleaned up." He told you, getting up and helping you to your feet.

He gently led you our of the lobby, and just as you reached your room, you turned to him. "Angel?" You asked.

"What's up?" He replied, looking down at you.

After a moment of hesitation, you leaned up and kissed his cheek. "Thank you." You told him softly, a dusting of red across your cheeks.

Angel blushed in turn, before he kept moving, quickly bringing you to his room. Raising a brow, Angel told you, "You need a proper shower, I'll get you some clothes."

You smiled, rolling your eyes, but you still stepped in, turning and telling once more. "Thank you Angel."

Hey Hey, Sorry it's so long, I couldn't put a read more because it was just so damn amazing.

Hope you like it and thanks for checking my work out.

#headcanon #x reader #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel headcanon #hazbin hotel x reader #kind of Angel x reader #angels been through some shit #to my followers #charlie morningstar

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mizuseyebrows · 2 months

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Blue Eye Samurai characters as ATLA non/benders part 2

🏜️; Ringo —Sandbender

every pic in this post is from pinterest, I just did the collages

He’s a little more difficult to place in a single element. I even thought he might be a non-bender, but that came more from internalized ableist thinking, and I feel horrible for that. Ringo would definitely be a bender, but I'm starting to wonder which one to put him in.

He has the versatility and adaptability of a waterbender, my baby can function in any scenario and I love him for that. He also has the spirituality, lightness and fluidity of an airbender, he can be anyone's spiritual guide, because of his enormous sense of hindsight and optimism. Have I told you that I love him? At the same time, he also has the resilience, strength, patience, and ability to listen and wait for the right moment of an earthbender. I also consider that he has the liveliness and burning spirit of a firebender... perhaps Ringo can be the avatar?

It would be interesting to see an all-powerful avatar who managed to overcome his disability. In ATLK we had Ming Hua, she not only had no hands, she had no arms, and yet she is one of the most powerful waterbenders we have seen so far in the avatar universe. What can stop Ringo from achieving something similar? nothing, just himself. But we already have a character who does not allow his "limitations" to be an impediment to achieving what he wants.

However, I don't want to name anyone an avatar in my theories. I feel it is not necessary to emphasize how powerful benders they could be. So, I was thinking about some element or sub-art that could compact all the characteristics of Ringo's personality.

And that's when I got to sandbending. It is an elemental art that caught my attention ever since I saw the episode of Appa's kidnapping. It is a sub-art that has a little bit of everything. It has the fluidity and speed/agility of airbending. The bending techniques are very similar to those we see in waterbending, plus it is a branch derived from earthbending. I think it would be the perfect element for Ringo.

While I'm sure Ringo would be a competent earthbender, I feel like this sub-art fits who he is much better. A unique elemental art for a unique character. Yes, give me three.

Furthermore, after having the most powerful god and owner of my insides, Gaara of the Desert, we can have an idea of how potent and advantageous it could be to have control of an element as changeable, light and potentially dangerous as sand.

And if we continue with my theory of Mizu being a waterbending prodigy, this duo would become a real threat to everyone. Just imagine Mizu teaching all the water techniques to Ringo so that he can improve his sand control, homie will be unstoppable.

Sidenote, if Ringo were a non-bender, he would be a descendant of the air nomads, which would explain his enormous connection to the spirit world. Additionally, he could have the recessive airbending gene. It would also be interesting if his story was based on Ringo trying to learn the history of his ancestors.

Ringo's potential backstory in the world of ATLA during the hundred years’ war

A diamond in the rough that just needs a little polishing

I don't think his story will change that much. His father's restaurant could be in one of those isolated desert villages. That idiot may not even know that his son is a bender, his little head can’t conceive that someone without hands could achieve anything in life.

Maybe Ringo learned a little from watching the desert bandits who stop by from time to time for a nice bowl of soba. He could look forward to the sandstorms, so he could measure how much his control has improved.

One day he met a strange traveler, with a strong and stubborn spirit, with exceptional control of water. Ringo knew that his story to greatness began that same day and decided to follow that strange man so he could learn from him.

Although at first the relationship was cold and a little uncomfortable, over time everything improved and they became an unstoppable duo.

Ringo was filled with Mizu's physical wisdom, and Mizu was filled with Ringo's spiritual wisdom. You could say that they were meant to come together and complete each other, creating a good balance between them.

here's Mizu

#blue eye samurai #ringo blue eye samurai #ringo #ringo bes #bes #sandbending #sandbender #avatar the last airbender #atla

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dutchdread · 1 month

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Rebirth Update 8

Well, that's it, I declare the LTD over. Well, not really I suppose, if evidence and reason would be enough to end the LTD then it would have ended a long time ago. Seriously though, I just got past the reactor scene in Gongaga and my god.....I don't think I've ever seen a clearer case of two people loving each other IN MY LIFE, it's honestly shocked me how blatant the story is about this, to the point where I'm finding it hard to remember the other stuff I still needed to talk about. First things first though, I finished the Aerith date quest in Costa Del sol since I discovered one of the Tifa quests was hidden behind it. And my god, did that date go awful, if those interactions aren't changed based on affinity score or something then this by itself would bury the whole "Cloud and Aerith have better chemistry" debate, especially in light of the flirting done by Tifa and Cloud afterwards during her quest. The Jules sidequest was even more painful than in remake, due to the use of the L2 and R2 buttons, which have a different response than the L1 and R1 buttons, which means the entire rhythm doesn't work, that was horrible to go through. But there was something else there that I don't think many have realized. The girl who took Tifa as her muscle coach said Tifa kicked the assess of the other gym members with the pull-up. But the game can't know that, that was a mini-game and we haven't transferred save games from remake. This means that despite that technically being "optional", it was still just assumed that you did it. And this leaves us with an interesting thought for Rebirth. Will part 3 transfer data from part 2? Because if not, if, like with Remake to Rebirth it is a clean slate, then that means that part 3 has to continue under the assumption that every route in part 2 has essentially happened, it must fit all routes. Or more importantly, it must fit the "optimal routes" with the highest affinity scores. So anyone who tries telling you that "The Tifa route" is optional, will be lying to themselves. It is HIGHLY likely that part 3 will continue in a way that makes sense if the high affection Tifa route (and Aerith route) have happened. With Aerith that's not really a problem. But in case of Tifa, that's another clear LTD ender. Gongago is now my favorite area btw, it's just so full of life it just makes you feel full, very befitting of the themes of the story, and the music is so magical. In general the thing that impresses me most of the game is probably how the themes are felt in every scene, place, and song of the game. The scene with Zacks parent had me crying, that just really hit hard. And once again, assuming that Aeriths words aren't subject to affinity changes, it's extremely clear that she's not over him. The scene also very clearly showed Tifa and Aerith helping each other with their respective partners. If after this, and ESPECIALLY after the scene in the reactor and the sub-sequent scene in the bedroom, Aerith tries to genuinely seduce Cloud....she's a trash human being, I can't make it nicer than what it is.

#ffvii rebirth

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the-modern-typewriter · 1 year

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I'd like to request your thoughts on what is considered 'cowardly'. In most of the books i've read (usually YA) characters who are shown begging for their life are 'cowards', which always seemed odd to me. Moreover, cowardice isn't considered a 'heroic' enough flaw for protagonists to struggle with most of the time, which i think is a shame. (1/2)

I remember reading a Portal fanfic called 'Blue Sky'(which is really excellent btw, its written better than many novels imo) one of the two protagonists has a choice between freedom or going back to help the other protagonist,and maybe dying. Reading that internal struggle as he first tries to rationalize his decision to leave her behind, making excuses for why he 'deserves' freedom in his head, only to realize that no, he HAS to go back was just so gripping to me. Cowardice is underrated. (2/2)

So a few things to unpick for my thoughts on this. Sorry for the length! For context, this is discussing the Cowardice Callout trope.

1 - Usually YA.

YA as a genre/marketing label has certain rules, or at least strong guidelines. One is that a YA book tends to have (in film equivalent terms) a rating of 12/15. So it can get scary and do some non-gory violence and have some sex and obscenity, but it's not like an 18 for the most part. The violence/horror is unlikely to be super graphic. This isn't a criticism of YA or to suggest that YA doesn't deal with tough things, because it absolutely does, but it does so in a different way and some content just isn't generally considered suitable for YA publication. Books with teenagers can certainly go darker. But a book with a teenager in is not the same as a YA book. Anyway.

Another is that YA tends to have a 'Happy for Now' ending. It doesn't have to be Disney happy. But...generally there's optimism. Our YA protagonist might be hurt along the way, but ultimately they succeed.

The result of this is that in most YA novels you're probably not going to dig too deep into the terror of letting something awful happen out of fear, not because YA doesn't deal with fear (it does, all the time! the fear of growing up, of missing out, of not being loved for who you are, never mind actual physical threat) but because YA thematically is more likely to focus on being brave. On overcoming the fear. If the protagonist succumbs to their flaw of fear then that's a negative character arc, and, while interesting, not a happy or happy for now ending.

There are plenty of books and media that deal with cowardice in a nuanced way. It's just much less likely to be YA. See, the Loveable Coward or Cowardly Lion trope and their examples which illustrate when cowardice is a flaw, even in heroes/protagonist's.

2 - Story stakes, begging for your life and likeable characters oh my

Characters who are shown begging for their lives and who are presented as being cowards (in the insult sense of 'coward!' rather than a character who is simply scared) are done so in the context of story stakes.

They're not cowards because they want to live, which is perfectly understandable, but because of who or what they are willing to screw over for the sake of that survival. See the Dirty Coward trope. It's normally people they love or people who are weaker than them who suffer for the cowardice. That's why they're called out. They're not being judged for being scared. Everyone gets scared. They're being judged for the way they allow that fear to overrule everything else, to the point of cruelty or unkindness. Cowardice isn't a standalone quality. It ties into other behaviours.

In terms of story structure, we want our protagonists to change over the course of the narrative for the most part. If a character is a coward at the start and then they just continue being a coward without change or consequence then that's not an interesting story. There's no tension there.

In the example you gave, the interesting bit is the tension between being scared and ultimately going back.

Would it be the worse story choice if they had given into their fear? Not necessarily. Both have juicy options, and a sacrifice to provide plot tension. But it would be a different story and we would be unlikely to like the protagonist as much, unless this took place near the beginning or middle of the story and they ultimately overcame their flaw later.

We live in a world where a lot of people want to like characters, and judge characters based on whether they liked them or not. The backlash that morally dubious characters get when they dare to be morally dubious in a slightly less palatable way proves that!

Again, writing is an industry. People pick what books get published. People are more likely to pick the book with the likeable protagonist, because it is an easier sell.

I'm not saying it's right, but I think we live in a time where there is a focus on easily marketable high-concept stories with characters who are easy to love and root for. Cowardice is a trait a lot of people don't root for, because none of us like to be reminded of the very real and very awful things we might all do when scared. It's disquieting. History is full of people who have looked the other way out of fear and the consequences were damning. We view those people as the villains. We understand fear as a motivation for terrible things. Our stories are often there to inspire us to do better than that, hence, bravery.

3 - Final notes

Lots of stories deal with fear. The reluctant hero is often scared to set out on their journey, the internal conflict a protagonist has is often rooted in their own self-doubt and fear of the consequences. But they set out.

Cowardice takes this fear to another level, making it a defining character trait. On a simple story level, if your protagonist is a coward it is harder to get the story going because if you're scared and you don't overcome that fear in some way then plot doesn't happen. People who are scared don't go out of their way to go into dangerous exciting situations. They sit at home and wait for someone braver to deal with the problem. They don't rock the boat.

Is this a perfectly natural response to have? Sure. Does it make for an interesting story? Not so much.

#on writing #writing talk #cowardice #idk #rambling thoughts going to bed #fear is a key theme in the god key lol

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ardnin · 2 years

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My thoughts on Splatoon 3′s Hero Mode

Since I haven’t really talked about it too much I started wrting down my thoughts on the story of the new Hero Mode and oops it got quite long lol

So click keep reading if you’re interested in my thoughts!

In many aspects the Hero Mode was really great and I absolutely loved most things like the actual levels, the music and especially Alterna as a setting and the lore around it. The detailed lore on humanity's downfall and construction of Alterna blew me away and they didn’t lie when they said we’d get to know where Inklings came from because they described the cause for the evolution of these species in surprising detail. I always especially love lore about humanity in Splatoon, so to have this much about it and also stuff like actual “human music” with the background music on the Alterna sites was easily my favorite part of it. However, lore and story are different things, and while the lore was great the story was really disappointing.

I think the main story just feels really flawed, which is frustrating since it might steer the lore into an uninteresting direction, at least for my taste, but it also leaves behind plot holes and kinda ruins how sensible Splatoon lore has been up until this point. The entire Mr Grizz plot is just extremely bad and it’s not even the fact that he’s a bear. I know this is the thing people are memeing about lore fans malding because he’s a bear but that’s not even the problem. I think having a sentient bear that was once on the humans Ark Polaris and then came crashing down to earth to grow mad at the lack of mammals is a premise that could work, since we have a similar deal with how the Judds also are mammals from human times that possess human level intelligence, probably through human experimentation. I can even excuse the lame justification for the insane plans of Mr Grizz since he may have just grown mad over time.

My problem is the amount of unnecessary plot points and unthoughtful explanations for Mr Grizz and Grizzco. What is this nonsense with Grizz needing Cuttlefish’s “brain”? Is it the crystals inside that he needs to make the ooze? But at that point Grizz should already be done with producing all of it right? All this talk about “needing a representative for earth” and then Grizz just launches the Rocket without any explanations.

I do have some ideas why he might’ve needed Cuttlefish, but with the rest of this story I don’t have high hopes there will be any sensible official explanation for this. To me it just feels like they did it only to create a fake dramatic moment and they wanted to “kill” Cuttlefish without knowing a better way to do it.

It just doesn’t feel fleshed out and you also notice this with stuff like ORCA and its test chambers. They don’t even explain why ORCA has these Inkling weapon optimized tests for the player character when the computer was meant to provide testing for humans in these facilities. In the Octo Expansion, there was a clear reason why Agent 8 was going through these tests, because Tartar actually was looking for people from the current societies in Splatoon, that’s why these test chambers existed. But here there is no clear reason for it. It just feels like “oh people liked Octo Expansion so let’s do the same thing again” without putting the effort into the reasoning behind these tests ORCA does.

The biggest problem for me though is the connection between Mr Grizz and Grizzco. Because the connection is absolutely unnecessary. They destroyed all the depth Grizzco had as a company by saying that Mr Grizz founded the company. How would this work? They said power eggs are an important energy source for the Inkling world, but now the whole company is just a vehicle for Grizz to produce Fuzzy Ooze? Where the game itself doesn’t explain why he even needs the eggs? Does Grizzco not contribute to the world's energy needs after all? The entire plot of Return of the Mammalians could’ve worked without Grizzco’s involvement and the power eggs at all, they lifted the mystery behind Grizzco in the most boring way possible. I was hoping for Grizzco to be this dubious company led by actual people in the Inkling world with an interest in money and power by being an important pillar in the security of the cities as well by fending off Salmonids, entangled in many shady networks the company would have real ambitions for power within the Inkling world, and not be a hollow plot vehicle only existing for Grizz to realize his plan. And this could’ve been easily avoided if they said that Mr Grizz only took over an existing company and basically ordered the eggs from them, while the actual people running the company still had their own interests. But they had to do it in the most mundane and boring way possible by saying he “made” the company, without giving any thought about maintaining this sense of depth Grizzco had if it had actual people from the Inkling world running it with their own shady ambitions. And the worst part is that after the Hero Mode, it is implied Lil Judd is now “running” the company. Why can’t they just let Grizzco be an actual interesting company ran by shady people? Why do they set up another dumb mammal related thing with Lil Judd? My biggest fear is they double down on the evil mammal plot and make another similar thing with Lil Judd. I was hoping the thing with him being “evil” was just a joke plot and not relevant to the main lore and story of the game, but now this is a real possibility. It would just be the exact direction I was hoping the game’s story would not take.

But please don’t take this criticism too heavily. Overall this is still the most impressive Hero Mode they ever made and I appreciate the ambition they had with it. The criticism is purely about the story and not the entire experience.

Here’s some additional bonus-thoughts I had that I cut from the main write up since it’s more like smaller disappointments than anything else since it’s partly things that would’ve been unrealistic to expect anyways:

“Another thing that slightly disappointed me was that the Crater segment was seemingly building up something huge - they literally mocked the previous game’s Hero Modes with it - only to send us to Alterna and use the exact same formula as the older Hero Modes. The Octavio bossfight was so fucking cool and I was really hoping that after that, Octavio and Cuttlefish would accompany us together, and there would be some more interactions between the two with some actual story segments that would happen as the game went along. Instead they just made the two vanish and saving Cuttlefish became the ultimate goal for 90% of the story and it was basically the same as ever with no story content during the middle of the game aside from the Deep Cut encounters. And Octavio literally only shows up at the very finale out of nowhere and there is absolutely no character development for him or Octavio. He doesn’t even show up at the camp in the end and the only mention of Cuttlefish about all this is “Who would’ve thought Octavio isn’t that bad”.

In parts it feels like to me the devs bit off more they could chew with this because there definitely is a lot of ambition since there’s even more cutscenes than in Octo Expansion, but with moments like the revival of Cuttlefish that feel like it was supposed to be an emotional moment, the timing and pacing of the scene was so bad and everything happened so fast it felt funny and silly more than anything else, which is sad because this could’ve been a nice emotional moment. But even that isn’t that bad since it’s their first time doing cutscenes at this scope and they will probably improve in the future.”

#splatoon 3 #splatoon 3 spoilers

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