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ash-arts-a-thing · 27 days

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Chapter 6 event notes are finally here.

Sorry this took so long, it seems this was the chapter people were most excited for, but it’s finally finished. I didn’t have a beta reader this time so I hope they’re still okay.

[Character Notes] [Chapters 1-3] [Chapters 4&5]

Specter Carlo AU Chapter 6

• Upon entering Rosa Isabella Street in a lie playthrough Gemini will still have his regular dialogue, but there will also now be new dialogue with Carlo.

Carlo: “The Opera House, huh? My… friend, loved the Opera House. He was big into theatre.”

Gemini: “He was? Did you two ever go there together? What were the shows like?!”

Carlo: “We… We never got the chance to go.”

Gemini: “Oh. I’m sorry.”

Carlo: “Don’t worry about it. Please.”

• The White Lady will not be aware of Carlo.

• Upon the White Lady’s death Carlo will comment: “What a waste. She had such a beautiful voice when she was still able to sing.”

• Julien will not be aware of Carlo.

• Carlo will have different dialogue depending on whether Julien was lied to or not:

Truth: “Would it have killed you to show the guy a little compassion? Puppet or not, he seemed to really love his wife.”

Lie: “Do you think a human and a puppet can really have a relationship like that? Hmm… whatever makes them happy.”

• Carlo will be unable to comment while Pinocchio travels up the road toward the Opera House due to the over abundance of fire.

• Upon entering the Opera House, Carlo will be as active as he was at Krat Grand Central Station in the floors reflections, though the inconsistencies from Chapter 1 will be far more obvious rather than subtle

• The first thing Carlo will say, when he gets the chance to, is about the Mad Clown that Pinocchio had just defeated, “I don’t know what was going through their heads when they designed that because that is NOT child friendly.”

• Once Pinocchio is first inflicted with disrupt Carlo will comment: “Be more cautious with the puppets around here, a lot of them have ergo disrupting attacks. Getting hit with those feels… bad, to say the least.”

• After defeating the first opera spider Carlo will comment: “I think this might be my least favourite puppet design.” If it’s a truth playthrough he will add: “Hmmm… maybe my second least favourite.”

• Adelina is not aware of Carlo, her dialogue remains unchanged, thought he will comment on her both after talking to her the first time and if she is given the apple.

• After the first conversation Carlo will say “Isn’t… this who the White Lady was talking about? She thought Adelina…”

• If Adelina was given the apple Carlo will say, “Hope she enjoys that. I don’t think there’s another apple left in all of Krat at this point.”

• If Adelina is not given the apple Carlo will say, “I’m pretty sure you don’t eat so what on earth are you saving that for. Just give her the damn fruit.”

• Carlo will have new dialogue options before fighting Romeo

These dialogue options are:

“Would you ever go to a show here?”

Carlo: “If that’s what my friend wanted, and we had the money to, I would’ve gone with him without hesitation.”

“How can disruption hurt so much?”

Carlo: “Something to do with you ergo, I’m not the best when it comes to explaining this stuff. I just know that whatever was disrupting you could disrupt me too and it did not feel good.”

“Tell me about this boss.” (He will have multiple responses to this.)

1. [Truth] “Not sure what you expect me to tell you that you don’t already know because I don’t know jack about this thing.”

2. [Lies] “Your guess is as good as mine, so keep your guard up.”

3. [Truth] “It’s bigger than you, I’m sure.”

4. [Lies] “it’s probably going to try to throw you around like that giant cop puppet. Make sure your healed up before we go in.”

5. [Lies] “I wish this wasn’t the reason I was able to visit here for the first time.”

Battle dialogue for phase 1: King of Puppets:

1. “I didn’t like the look of that play. [Lies] It felt like a threat… or a warning.”

2. “That voice…”

3. “Wait- No I have to be hearing things.”

4. “No it can’t be him-!”

Battle dialogue for phase 2: Romeo:

• Note that Carlo will refuse to fight during phase 2, if Romeo targets him Carlo will only block.

1. “Romeo!”

2. “Please, you have to stop this- we’re not the enemy!”

3. “Don’t hurt him!” (Whether he’s talking to Romeo or P can be taken either way depending on the playthrough)

4. “Romeo you can’t keep this up, please I can’t lose you again!”

• Upon defeating Romeo a short in game cutscene will play, Romeo will drop to his knees and Carlo will rush to his side. They will then have the following dialogue:

Romeo: “You’re just as strong as I remember you being, my heart. A truly unstoppable force, you and your new puppet friend. I’m sorry it took me this long to come to my senses.”

Carlo: “Did you see yourself? You were quite literally on fire. (Carlo forces a laugh) Now let’s just… let’s get you back to the hotel. We can get you fixed up there.”

Romeo: “Oh Carlo, I don’t know if I can make it that far, you might have to- ugh- put me out of my misery.”

Carlo: “Don’t talk like that! As long as he helps us we’ll make it! He has to help us- I- please. He’s all I have left.”

• Pinocchio will now have the option to either spare or kill Romeo.

• This choice will have the most drastic consequences of the playthrough as it will cement the way Carlo views Pinocchio for the rest of the game.

• Depending on the choice a different cutscene will play out for both scenarios.

[Kill]

Pinocchio will approach the duo, blade at the ready to strike Romeo down. The tip of Pinocchio’s blade will be raised to rest upon the center of his chest, the light ‘tink’ of metal against metal could be heard for miles in the quiet of the room. Carlo will exclaim, “No! What’re you doing?! We can make it back to the Hotel, just help me get him there, please! Please!!!”

Carlo will then attempt to push Pinocchio’s blade away, but since he is the Specter his hand will harmlessly pass through the blade.

Romeo will place his hand on Carlo’s shoulder before calmly saying, “My heart, it’s okay, it’s better this way. I’ve already hurt both you and your friend, I don’t know what I’d do if I some how… killed you again.”

Carlo will then spit back, “Screw this puppet! If he kills you he’ll never be considered my ‘friend’! In fact, I’d go as far to call him a dead man!”

Romeo will get serious, his face stern as he firmly replies, “Do not hold it against him. You and I both know this is for the best.”

Carlo won’t reply, instead choosing to firmly press his lips to his boyfriends one last time. The kiss will hold for a few seconds before Romeo gasps, Pinocchio’s blade sinking into his chest far enough to pierce through his back.

Romeo will quickly go slack, sliding lifelessly off the blade before hitting the floor with a loud metallic thunk. Carlo will stare in stunned silence for a few seconds before a scream of ‘no’ will be ripped from him. If he were human, the scream would’ve caused enough strain on his vocals to draw blood. Rather than throwing himself on Romeo’s body before he vanishes, Carlo will snap to look up at Pinocchio, eyes red and waves of energy flaring off his body as he stands.

Carlo’s hands will be shaking at his sides as he hisses through clenched teeth, “You. I’ll KILL you!!”

As he lunges for Pinocchio, hands raised and aiming for the puppets neck, Carlo will vanish just as the tips of his fingers would make an attempt at contact at fair skin.

Pinocchio is then left alone as the scream of fury rings through theatre.

[Spare]

Pinocchio will approach the duo, blade at his side as he kneels in front of Romeo. His gaze will snap to Carlo as the Specter speaks, “Please. I don’t know if it will even mean anything to you, but I-,” Carlo will look to Romeo briefly before looking back, face certain and voice confident, “I love him more than life itself.”

At that Pinocchio will blink and tilt his head slightly before his gaze once again lands on Romeo. A beat will pass before he repositions his weapon in his hand, holding the majority of its handle out to Carlo. Carlo will look between him and blade before hesitantly taking it from Pinocchio’s hand.

Pinocchio will then position himself to help the other puppet up, using his legion arm to throw Romeo’s arm over his shoulders and positioning his human arm around the others waist to steady him.

Clenching his teeth and grunting in pain, Romeo will finally speak up, “Are you sure you can do this? I don’t want to slow you two down.”

Pinocchio will remain unfazed, having more than enough strength to flat out just carry Romeo. In response to the question he will nod.

Another hiss of pain, “Alright. Thank you.”

Carlo will release a shaky exhale, taking the lead in front of the two in order to fend off anything that might get in their way. Romeo will strain a laugh, saying, “I know he’ll say it later, but he’s very grateful, trust me. That’s the most emotion I’ve seen from in… quite some time.”

The scene will fade as they make their way out of the theatre doors.

From here notes will be more heavily separated between lie and truth playthroughs as the dialogue differences and interactions between Pinocchio and Carlo will be much more numerous.

[Truth]

• If Pinocchio has chosen to kill Romeo, the rest of the chapter will play out as normal. Carlo will not comment again until returning to the hotel.

• Dialogue from Gepetto, as well as everyone else in the Hotel, will remain unchanged.

• Carlo will have new, and much more hostile dialogue, when spoken to at the mirror.

These dialogue options are:

“Are you okay?“

Carlo: “Don’t you dare ask me if I’m okay. You’re lucky I can’t get my hands on you because if I could I would rip that heart right out of your chest and watch as the light leaves those glass eyes of yours.”

“I’m sorry.”

Carlo: “No. You arent. You’re programmed to think you are and even if you were actually sorry… it isn’t going to bring back the one thing that made my life worth living.”

“What are you thinking about?”

1. “Im thinking about how great it would be if you got the hell away from me.”

2. “Why do you care? Why don’t you go suck up to that bag of dust you call a ‘father’ instead of pestering me.”

3. “You’re going to get what’s coming to you. Just you wait.”

4. “I wanted it to rain again but… whatever. Leave me alone.”

[Lies]

[Optional]

•There is an optional moment where the player will play as Carlo, he will help lead Pinocchio and Romeo through Krat to reach the hotel.

• Pinocchio and Romeo will act as followers in this scenario and will have seperate walking animations depending on speed.

Walking: Romeo will walk while leaning against Pinocchio.

Jogging: Pinocchio will be stabilizing Romeo as he leans more heavily against P.

Sprinting: Pinocchio will have no choice but to just pick Romeo up and carry him to keep up.

• Since Carlo does not have a legion arm himself using the legion button will cause Pinocchio to use whatever arm he has equipped to help if needed.

• There will not be any mini bosses, but there will be more minor enemies than when passed through with Pinocchio

• Upong returning to the hotel, with Carlo and Romeo in Pinocchio’s company, the next time he talks to Gepetto will be more of a confrontation between him and Carlo

• The father and son will bicker back and forth while Romeo and Pinocchio watch

Gepetto: “Ah, my son, you’ve returned. I trust that… you…”

Carlo: “Hello, ‘father’.

Gepetto: “Carlo? How can you-“

Carlo: “The better question is: how can YOU? How can you go around calling that puppet your son? How can you suddenly act like you care even the SLIGHTEST bit about me OR him?!

Gepetto: “Just let me-“

Carlo: “No! I don’t want to hear it! All you’ve done is use him to do your dirty work and what’s worse, you tried to have him kill Romeo! You knew how much he meant to me and you STILL tried to have him killed and on top of that you… Look at what you did to him.”

Gepetto: “Destroying him would have been for the greater good-“

Carlo: “The greater good? My ass for the greater good! You only chose killing him over any other option because you knew how close we were.”

Gepetto: “You don’t know-“

Carlo: “I know enough. I’m out of here.”

Carlo will then storm off, the sound of him stomping down the hall and finishing with the sound of Pinoccchio’s bedroom door slamming shut.

• Carlo can be found in Pinocchio’s room until the next time P leaves Hotel Krat.

• Romeo will be taken to Eugénie where he will recieve repairs throughout the rest of game.

Talking to Carlo again before leaving will yield more dialogue options:

“Are you okay?”

Carlo: “… I’m fine. Don’t worry about me, I’ll get over it. Shrugging off my father has become second nature to me at this point.”

“Gepetto is your father?”

Carlo: “I should’ve told you sooner, but can you blame me? You were pretty much made to be my replacement or something. All those years I was left to rot in that hole… at least two good things came from it though. Something about Sophia is… off though.”

“Will Romeo be okay?”

Carlo: “Romeo is stronger than he looks. I bet by this time tomorrow he’ll be walking around like nothing happened, heheh… At least, I hope he is.”

“What are you thinking about?”

1. “It’s… really good to have Romeo back. I wasn’t expecting to ever see him again.”

2. “Sophia is going to be surprised to see Romeo and I again, it’ll be nice to talk to her.”

3. “I wonder if can play the piano with this body, maybe I can finally give you that show I promised.”

4. “I my favourite book is still downstairs. I never get tired of reading the story of Pinocchio, you should read it sometime.”

Most of the Hotel residents will also have something to say about Romeo and Carlo:

Antonia: “It’s been so long since I’ve seen those boys. It’s good to be able to see them again, even in the states they’re currently in.”

Eugénie: “Don’t worry, Romeo is in good hands with me and Venigni, we’ll make sure he gets patched up. His friend is welcome to come oversee his repairs anytime. Carlo was his name, right?”

Gepetto: “Please, leave me be, son. You have much more work to do in Krat.”

Venigni: “Ah, so good to see young Carlo and his ‘friend’ again. He deserved so much better than what happened to him, it’s good to see he’ll have a second chance.”

Polendena: “Master Carlo has changed in many ways since we’ve last met and yet, he’s stayed the same in some ways as well. I’m sure he and Romeo will fit in nicely at the Hotel.”

Sophia: “They’ve both changed so much, but I suppose I have too. It will be nice to have a chance to talk to them again, thank you for bringing them both back.”

• Even if Carlo isn’t spoken to before P leaves he can be recruited as a follower, a prompt will ask if P wants to bring him along.

• Carlo will head back to the hotel before his health can hit zero, once he heads back he’ll have to be recruited again.

• He will act pretty much the same as he does in boss fights, but he will only attack something that is actively trying to harm P rather than running off to fight whatever he sees.

• If P doesn’t see an item Carlo has a chance to point it out to him or he will ask to get it himself to which he will either stay with P or run off the grab it.

• Carlo will have his own weapon that will change every chapter like with regular boss fights, but if he is acting as a follower it’s possible to change it through P’s inventory.

#Specter Carlo AU #lies of p #carmeo #pinocchio #Carlo #Romeo #gepetto #lorenzini venigni #eugenie #Sophia #pulcinella #Polendina #Antonia

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bidonica · 3 months

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Hey! I see you're into fragile/higgs ship and caught myself quite like them too recently (tho i've been in DS fandom already for a year and mostly thought about them as a friends)

Just wondering why do you like them? Do you have any headcanons/interesting thoughts? I'm very curious 👀

Hi! First of all apologies for the wall of text you're about to get, but unfortunately you came knocking at my door after I spent nearly two months ruminating about this ship basically by myself sooo I'm dumping it all here

Well the short (lol) version is that in my first playthrough I mostly just absorbed the characters and storyline, but by the time I got to their final scene on the Beach I was like wait a minute... their whole shared storyline feels way too loaded for them to simply have been business associates, that shit is personal, even Higgs wanting to damage Fragile feels way too pointed to just be justified by "he was a turncloak with a secret agenda." Now, I'm not against a "they were simply close friends" interpretation, it works just as well to explain the emotional weight of their falling out, BUT I also cannot ignore the zest, the flavor, the spice of them actually having been involved romantically at some point. And honestly going into my second playthrough with the shipping goggles on I can't help thinking that Fragile speaks about Higgs like he was an ex that hurt her, and the way that she is suspiciously cagey about the specifics of their relationship makes my ears shoot up like a German shepherd.

On a Doylist level I also find it interesting that Kojima gave Higgs extra backstory that connects him to Fragile in the Director's Cut, and also how the behind the scenes for the DS2 mocap show Troy and Léa sharing a scene... I think Kojima is not done intertwining their story and we'll get more info in the sequel.

Now for the headcanons... I have enough that I might or might not be writing a long-ish fic about it, but I want to finish this Director's Cut playthrough before completing it (I could just look stuff up on the wiki but that's not fun). Also I have some art in the pipeline about it that I hope to post within the week. Anyway, the bite sized version of how I envision their relationship:

I hc Higgs as being immediately attracted to Fragile but not really acting on it, while she develops her attraction after getting to know him a little. Then she's down bad but she doesn't even realize it until it's so obvious it hits her in the face

A few people at their joint Fragile Express/whatever Higgs' operation was called co-op assume they are an item long before anything ever happens, because they just hang out together a lot. They have a similar penchant for corny jokes and puns and enjoy some light banter; Fragile finds Higgs' flair for theatrics endearing, while he is drawn to how gentle she is because he has known so little softness in his life (also he thinks she's insanely pretty, which duh. It's self evident because Léa Seydoux) (it's his first serious girl crush anyway; I hc him as bi and as having had mostly experiences with men before her)

They bond over their DOOMS condition and Higgs is fascinated by Fragile's powers, while she is less enthused by all the collateral effects. In my hc, at this point she has yet to become as skilled at traveling through dimensions as she is in the game, which makes her reluctant to agree to Higgs' requests to show him the Beach. This sows the seeds of his resentment towards her, because he feels she has a privilege she doesn't make use of and doesn't want to share.

They are both pretty touchy feely (canon!) so when their relationship goes from friendly to romantic it gets physical immediately and enthusiastically. Yes even accounting for the worldwide lowered sex drive. If there's one thing I never do is put characters in horny jail 🫡

I think Fragile got to know a version of Higgs that was quite different from what we see in the game, which you sort of can gauge from the more optimistic pages of his diary. Like there's a part of him who's starved for love and connection and a sense of belonging and gravitates towards people like Coffin (he never had a mother) and Fragile herself; ironically, the pull towards Amelie answers to the same need but in reality it feeds on his more nihilistic, call-of-the-void side. I'm not saying that Amelie brainwashed him or anything, but I think she saw what was already there – a deep seated resentment towards a hostile world and towards those he feels got handed a luckier deal than he did, that he countered by clinging to the notion of being special because of his DOOMS, but then there's someone like Fragile who's even more special and doesn't seem to be doing much with it. Amelie gave him a chance to fulfill what he felt was his potential and shared her power with him, but the tradeoff was severing the connections he had, "killing" the part of him that wanted to be loved to make space for what he perceived as a higher form of love ("I found someone who completes me" which he says to Fragile specifically like he wants to rub it in her face? Like she wasn’t enough to fulfill that role?)

That’s why I think it’s significant that he lost his hands with his power-up, because the (holding, welcoming) hands are strongly associated with Fragile; and to me it makes sense if he purposely ruins her body also because it’s a way to stifle his attraction to her. There’s also a lot of projection because HE is the one who’s felt like damaged goods all along, who grew up being crushed psychologically and physically. I also think that both of them coming close to annihilating the other but choosing not to – leaving them in a dicey situation but not entirely without escape – shows in some twisted way that their bond still exists, which makes me giggle and rub my hands like a nasty little goblin knowing we have another game coming.

So… That’s the gist of it. Sorry for rambling on but as I said, I don’t really get the chance to talk about this ship much – greetings from rarepair hell, etc.

#replies #death stranding #fragile x higgs #higgs x fragile #greetings from rarepair hell #embarrassing amounts of mental real estate have been allocated to this... The mental illness is in full display i fear #i dunno they just make so much sense. to me #and i just enjoy the inherent tragedy of it all because i love to make myself suffer

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velvetjune · 28 days

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All my thoughts on Alan Wake 2: The Final Draft below! Major Spoilers for the game (and Control 2019). This is a very long post, but this game has taken over my mind.

The Final Draft was good! I’ve never played NewGame+ versions of games before, so I don’t know if this is usually how it goes. The additional material and introduction/ending makes it all worth it, although I wish there was a way to speed up the case board process, since I completed almost all of it my first go.

My immediate concern is. What is ‘a master of many worlds’? What does that MEAN?? Surface level, he can already exert power over his world and the dark place, so that was the two he was initially referring to. Since Door said the Dark Place was a mirror that reflected other realities, is that why Alan now holds power of them? No matter what, he is Way too confident for someone who’s been an absolute mess. The power of being loved and reaching out to others is just that good.

I’ve vaguely known about this draft’s ending and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. Actually playing through again helped me lose that negativity, although I still prefer the first ending! Hearing Saga’s relief at Logan being alive and Alan rising from the dead was one amazing sequence. Visually beautiful and acted out.

The EXPRESSION you can see on Saga the second Logan picks up. I was so happy for her. Having Logan and Casey by her side. No matter what comes next, they succeeded in saving both of them. Now—are Saga, Casey, and Alan all in the dark place? In an overlap? Or Bright Falls?

The “love is strange” quote was a personal favorite. Sometimes you love someone so much, both of you ascend past your humanly self and become so intertwined in thought and memory that you’re always with each other. Love is strange.

Is anyone else ridiculously nervous about what’ll happen with Alan and Alice?? They both seem to be in states that are tied to each other and the dark place. I don’t know if they can technically leave. Read some theories on Alice being the bullet of light, but I took it as a sort of symbolic gesture, with her still being an agent moving in the dark place. Similar to Zane or Darling. Idk.

The ‘Spiral’ writer’s room video got to me even more than the ending! Bringing up how time is overlapping, which means Alan IS already at the end of the spiral, as an enlightened figure, potentially “playing a secret game” or “building something”. There’s an inevitability to Alan’s fate that stresses me out. Describing himself as a demiurge or demon too,, somehow he made everything 10x more unsettling. So thanks for that Alan. Love it for the horror, but also I just want Alice and Alan to reunite with Barry… it’s not looking so good.

I was already a fan of the cliffhanger-ish ending, but, even after seeing this one with more confirmations, I don’t understand comments I’ve seen about having to play the Final Draft to get the actual/true ending. The first ending was emotionally satisfying and left a bigger impression imo. It was the turning point of this entire cycle Alan was stuck in and is what makes the Final Draft’s ending feel earned. It didn’t need confirmation on Logan answering back or Alan ascending because Alice’s post-credit video implied that was what would eventually happen. I still like this final draft’s ending, but I don’t think it’s to the detriment of the original playthrough and won’t hurt if anyone doesn’t end up playing through it (Kinda how I view AWAN too—although I haven’t finished it)

Dr. Darling my beloved. My everything. Remedy took their chance at making the funniest crossover. Alan repeating text over and over, being what’s keeping the dark place formed in its current shape—reminded me of the final nursery rhyme. This could’ve been creepier, but Darling’s reaction of “let’s not think too much about that” for the voice was golden. And what is there even to say about Zane and Darling. They got to flirt, so good for them. The ramifications of this could be dire or stay as some gag.

My conclusion on the situation with Alan, Zane, and Scratch is “I don’t think we’ll ever really know.” All the same person, but also every iteration is their own person. Their existences are too muddled and changed and distorted to ever find an origin or who made who.

I do find it fun that generally Zane IS helping Alan/Scratch and wanted to collaborate with Alan, and Scratch also wanted to become one with Alan, be the heart, bring an enteral deerfest that celebrates Alan. They’re both dangerous and/or manipulative, but it doesn’t seem to be out of hate.

My game had a bug where I could never talk with Odin and Tor apart from the mandatory scenes to move the game, so I missed everything near her trailer AND whatever they were standing around for in the Final Draft 😔

The Lake House page is making me excited for the DLC with the same name! Big fan of Remedy’s love for mad scientists and their death-by-hubris. Another Darling name drop that further shows how annoyed some FBC employees are at Darling’s golden boy reputation and his smug confidence. Incredible.

The Night Springs intro video!! Literally lays out what happens. Alan succeeds, transcends, and becomes a master of these realities he was inspired from. Interested in what this means for the Night Springs DLC. Will it make characters experience one of these other realities or will it remain grounded in the real world of Alan Wake 2?

I’m in love with how Alan Wake 2 repeatedly tells the player what the story and themes are, and outright says reveals and the ending before it plays out. The Yötön Yö song about Scratch, the Zane film of the same name spoiling “It’s not a loop it’s a spiral” and Alice+Alan in the Final Draft, this Night Springs intro confirming his success, all the nursery rhymes predicting Saga’s life, etc. Telling out what will happen through different mediums of art. It’s a clever way of making everything fit together and imply that Door, Zane, Alice, etc. aren’t as affected by the loop’s cycles restarting.

There’s mysteries that haven’t gotten answered at all. Nothing for Tim’s future and underlying connection to Door (I know it’s related to Quantum Break, but haven’t played). The 103 door a guest at the lodge kept banging and screaming at, which I think had the square looped symbol at the Oceanview Motel in Control. The employees door at Oh Deer Diner was always closed off.

Glad to have officially played through Alan Wake 2! Need that DLC trailer to drop soon

#alan wake 2 #final draft spoilers #alan wake 2 spoilers #I needed to put my mess of thoughts somewhere #this gameeeee #I don’t talk much about it either but this game is wonderful with its approach to mental health too.#Saga’s dark place in her mind is emotional every time. and seeing alan and saga work together. it’s 🩷💖💘

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howdomaddie · 1 month

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on sora’s time in the sleeping worlds and coming to terms with other’s pain

so, i have recently been rewatching the kingdom hearts series through a youtube channel i follow that’s played through all the games, and i just finished dream drop distance in that rewatch. the player had quite a bit to say about the overall plot of that game, and that seems to fall in line with how i’ve seen a lot more people than i thought view DDD as well--that it’s not that great? i totally get being frustrated with the real organization shenanigans because the planned time travel was a bit much but…idk, i’ve never really been into KH for the villains and their schemes. DDD has always kind of been one of my favorites, so as i was rewatching this playthrough of it, i was thinking over why it gets the flack it does, and why i still think it’s good beyond that.

i’ve always loved riku’s arc, and i loved sora in DDD, but i was honestly “meh” on it until this current rewatch, when i was thinking over it all again, and remembering what had happened most recently to him. and now i think i’ve cracked it--i figured out a nice little piece for why sora’s arc works even if it’s subtle.

and…bear with me here…but it’s partially because of re:coded

STAY WITH ME, I PROMISE I HAVE A POINT!!! it’s below the cut since this will be long, but hear me out: sora in DDD is going through the same things that data sora did in re:coded, and proving that he will always come to the same conclusion about how to handle the pain the others in his heart have gone through (maybe someone’s discussed all of this before, so sorry if i’m just rehashing a well-known point, but…wanted to share my thoughts, haha)

okay. so, in order to really talk about this, let’s revisit what are probably the most important sections of re:coded, and what they do well on a story-telling level.

in the last quarter or so of re:coded, data sora is brought back to help mickey and co find the meaning of the second message that’s appeared in jiminy’s journal: “Their hurting will be mended when you return to end it.” data sora ends up arriving at an illusion of castle oblivion, and is goaded along by a data version of roxas to go deeper into the castle. this data roxas taunts him about how he’ll never remember the people data sora encounters in each part of the castle, poking and prodding him along through all the revisited worlds.

in one of the earliest rooms (destiny islands i think), data sora has a conversation with the data version of riku that has been helping us so far. data riku shows him a vision of riku and kairi from the events of KH1, with the warning that it’s something data riku wants data sora to see and feel. afterwards, data riku asks what data sora would have done if he’d known this. and data sora answers immediately:

[ ID: an image of data sora from kingdom hearts re:coded. he has a determined expression on his face, and his clenching his fist as a show of conviction. the subtitles read: I would’ve helped you, of course. Both of you! I’d’ve figured out how to undo the hurt. End ID. ]

data riku seems pleased with this outcome, and he eventually goes on to say: “Just follow your heart, and you can change the lives of not one, but many.” as data sora goes deeper into this version of castle oblivion, he only comes across more pain in his heart as he forgets the people he meets. he may forget the people themselves, but the doesn’t forget that he met someone as he goes through the castle.

[ ID: four images from kingdom hearts re:coded. data sora looks sad and pensive as he says this to data roxas, placing a hand over his heart: “It’s like you said; everyone I met I can’t remember. But still, I’m frustrated that I’ve forgotten them. I feel moments of loneliness. You said there would be no hurt feelings, but I AM hurting. When the memories are gone, they just leave a hole. And having that longing inside me hurts.” End ID. ]

data roxas eventually confronts data sora about what he’s come to terms with in the castle: that some of that pain he’s feeling is what helps him connect with others, to truly empathize with them. data roxas sees this as a sign that data sora passed his test, to see if he could come to terms with the pain in the hearts he’s most closely connected to.

data namine soon confirms that the real sora carries around a lot of pain that isn’t his own inside his heart--and that he’s found a way to face the suffering all of this disparate parts of himself had to endure. he’s already equipped to face it and help those he’s met that have been lost.

something that i think i’ve come to appreciate more is that as he’s gotten older, sora has ended up becoming really emotionally intelligent. he’s an extremely empathetic character, and kind of always has been. after all, he gave a piece of himself to someone to fix their broken heart when he was still an infant.

[ ID: an image from kingdom hearts birth by sleep. a four year old sora looks upset as he holds ventus’s heart in his hands and asks, “Are you sad?” ]

we all know that his empathy and ability to connect emotionally to others is kind of sora’s whole “thing”--his friends are his power! but it makes sense that sora’s able to face the pain and suffering characters like xion and ven went through because he is such an open and caring person.

anyway, there’s another thing from re:coded that struck me as i was thinking over what sora goes through in DDD, and i think it’s critical. it’s the instructions namine gives for how to handle the pain of others that sora is holding onto.

[ ID: three screenshots of data namine and data sora from kingdom hearts re:coded. data namine explains to data sora: “There’s only one way to deal with that [pain]; you face it head-on and then you accept it. And if it happens that the hurt is too great for you to bear it alone, well, then you turn to a friend close to your heart.” End ID. ]

this is less a “do this thing for the first time” to me--it’s data namine reinforcing something that data sora (and the real sora, obviously) already knows very well. there is strength to be found in the bonds you share, and that if you need it, you can always rely on the friends you’ve made. this was made apparently through the entire series but this serves as a reminder that yes, sora has been doing the best thing he can. he has remained true to his heart, and is willing to rely on those he cares about. we know that being alone and only relying on yourself is not the best thing to do in the series--it’s part of what drives riku to darkness in KH1--so that’s why this is a reassurance that sora already knows how to face this sort of pain.

so. WHAT on earth does this have to do with dream drop distance, you might be asking. well, part of that is inspired by this lets player i was rewatching (it’s dan form playframe, by the way, in case you’re wondering): he liked the general themes being played with at the end of re:coded, but was upset it was not happening to actual sora. and that stuck with me as i got to DDD in my rewatch, and that’s how i viewed sora’s stuff in that game.

anyway. let’s dive (ha) in, shall we?

at the end of re:coded, king mickey writes that letter in a bottle that gets to sora in the post credits of KH2 to explain what they discovered in the data version of jiminy’s journal. sora knows now that he’s the thread that will save people like roxas and xion and aqua, and he knows what data namine was wanting him to eventually face.

at the start of DDD, sora is aware that he needs to face the pain of others that is currently residing in his heart and find a way to save those that have been lost. he is primed with that knowledge, and likely wants to face it the way data sora did.

why do i think this? well…i think that the mark of mastery exam in DDD was really a chance for sora and riku to come to terms with what is still somewhat holding them back in their hearts, and do perform some true introspection.

we know how riku’s arc goes: he finally realizes that he does have the power to protect what matters to him, and that darkness in his heart is not something to fear. it does not make him any less worthy to wield a keyblade, nor does it keep him from being a keyblade master.

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of riku and sora. sora’s arm is slung over riku’s shoulder and he is beaming. riku doesn’t seem to believe what he’s saying: “Really? I’m a Keyblade Master?” ]

but what about sora? outside of Overall Series Plot happening to him in this game and the contrived reason he isn’t also named a master, what does sora come to realize? well, it’s what data namine wanted for him: to face the pain inside him head on, and to rely on those close to his heart when he couldn’t do it alone.

what do i mean by this? let’s go world by world to see.

starting with hunchback, since we visit traverse town twice:

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of sora, who is looking at the camera. he appears thoughtful as he says of quasimodo: “He can’t let his heart be a prison.” ]

sora realizes that quasimodo is putting up walls in his heart that keep him from being hurt--walls that, in turn, are becoming something of a “prison”. they’re what keep quasimodo safe, but also keep him disconnected from others and is an excuse for why he doesn’t leave notre dame cathedral.

at the end of sora’s time in this world, quasimodo has opened himself to others, and decides to not keep his fears from holding him back. as sora processes this information, of course, we have the villains telling him that his own heart is now a prison for someone else--ventus.

i don’t think this is true for sora and ven’s situation, and that the organization is just trying to make sora question himself. sora welcomed ven into his heart willingly to keep ven safe--it’s been a very long time, yes, and sora will eventually need to help ven return to his body, but sora’s heart isn’t exactly a prison. he just doesn’t really know that he still has ven with him, since he probably didn’t know what happened with ven when he was little.

so this is something sora still has to come to terms with: is his heart a prison for someone else? how does he set them free?

after hunchback, we have the grid and prankster’s paradise, and these should be easy enough to figure out.

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of sora and quorra. sora is holding quorra back from attacking, and quorra says to sora of rinzler (originally sora’s friend tron), “He’s a program, Sora. Programs don’t have hearts.” End ID. ]

the grid for sora is all about his relationship to tron and making rinzler remember who he truly is. quorra is pretty quick to throw in the towel on sora’s attempts to reach his friend’s heart, but sora keeps trying--and eventually, he does manage to have a breakthrough. he helps tron fight off his reprogramming, and remember their friendship. he’s able to touch tron’s heart and remind him of what’s important--he just has to give tron the time he needs, and eventually help reprogram him.

my, that sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts three of sora, xion, and axel. sora has his hand on xion’s keyblade, and is persuading her not to hurt her friend axel--trying to remind her of who she really is. ]

there’s one quote from the jeff bridges character that i feel is important to note here: “That’s the thing about programs. Mess with the code just a little, and their whole nature and memory can change.”

sora’s time in the grid helps him understand a bit more of what “copies” of him can be going through, and honestly is an important part of why he is able to help xion and roxas in 3 (at least to me). xion’s suffering is tied to how the organization used and abused her, and them tampering with her memories is why she starts off on their side in 3. but sora, good boy that he is, manages to break through to her with a little help from roxas--just like he needed the right thing to reprogram rinzler and help him remember that he was tron all along.

as for prankster’s paradise…

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of sora and xemnas confronting each other. sora looks determined as he exclaims, “But if Pinocchio could be given one (a heart)--shouldn’t you be able to have a heart inside you, too?” End ID. ]

the fact that nobodies do actually have hearts is confirmed towards the end of the game, but it’s clear sora has already figured it out on his own. i’ll touch on it a little more later on, but sora knows that roxas has his own heart, living on inside his own--it’s a reminder of how roxas still exists, and how much of his own person he is outside of sora.

xemnas is still putting on the show here that nobodies are beings without hearts, and sora knows that is blatantly untrue--why else would roxas feel the things he did if that was the case?

the other three worlds--traverse town, the country of musketeers, and the symphony of sorcery--do the same thing that data namine did in re:coded. they reinforce the things sora already knows about connecting with others, and relying on their strength when he can’t do things alone.

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of sora talking to neku in traverse town. when talking about neku denying that he said he needed shiki, sora says, “What? Why? You said you need her. That’s a good thing.” End ID. ]

sora says it directly to neku in the revisit to traverse town: it’s good that neku admitted to needing shiki around. sora has always trusted in people to rely on him and to return the favor, so he sees none of the shame that neku feels in admitting that he needs other people.

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of mickey and donald. mickey looks to the camera as he says, “Goofy’s right. As a team, we can do anything!” End ID. ]

the recurring musketeer motto of “All for one, and one for all!” when sora joins mickey, donald, and goofy in protecting princess minnie is another reminder of all this: sora knows the true value of teamwork with his party members, and how important donald and goofy are to him. they are his friends for life, and they’ll be at his side the way he’s at theirs. he reassures them the way they reassure him and always have.

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of sora, looking wistful as he talks about riku: “Don’t worry. I’ve got a friend out there who will help. He’s always picking up the slack for me.” End ID. ]

sora’s belief in riku is something that’s shown throughout the entire game, and the symphony of sorcery is just one example in truth--but sora has never doubted riku or even kairi and the others. even if he can’t see riku, even if his friends are a million miles away, sora knows that they have his back.

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of sora in traverse town, looking happy and patting his chest as he says of riku, “Don’t worry. He’s with me--even when it might seem like he’s not.” End ID. ]

for the Overall Series Plot happening in DDD, this is very good for sora to remember--riku becomes a dream eater to protect sora in this game, so it’s quite literal. (i think it’s also important to remember this when thinking about the ending of kh3, and where sora has found himself. he still has people who love and care for him, even if they’re a million worlds apart from each other.)

and so, now we come to the heart of the matter. has sora ended up in the same place as data sora? can he accept the pain the different pieces of him went through, and help them? as of kh3’s ending we know he’s helped them, but what about DDD?

[ ID: three screenshots from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of sora and xion. sora asks who xion is, but trails off before he finishes asking. in the final shot, sora sheds a tear over xion. End ID. ]

sora does come face to face with namine and xion, and while he doesn’t connect with them, really, he does seem to feel their pain.

the most apparent interaction that leaves its mark is, of course, when he faces roxas.

[ ID: screenshots from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of sora speaking to roxas, saying, “Roxas, you’re you. We’re not the same. I wanted to tell you that.” End ID. ]

because sora is fully aware that roxas has his own heart, sora can firmly insist that roxas is his own person. roxas respects this, and opens his heart to sora, to share the truly terrible things that happened to him. and sora faces it, the way he needs to.

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts dream drop distance of sora, where sora looks angry and upset about what happened to roxas. He clenches his fist, and asks, “Did they cause all this pain?” End ID. ]

sora has faced at least roxas’s pain and suffering, at least. and he’s ready to do the same for the others in his heart--or, at least, that’s what i believe.

when riku encounters ansem the wise in sora’s heart at the end of the game, what ansem says is something i think kind of ties everything together:

“That is a statement to the love in his heart for other people, and the bonds that tie them together. Perhaps…he has the power to bring back the hearts and existences of those connected to him--to recreate people we thought were lost to us forever. [ … ] Sora has a heart like that--uncorrupted, willing to see the good before the bad. When he sees the heart in something, it then becomes real. When a connection seems broken, he may have the power to mend it. [ … ] He has touched countless hearts, he has accepted them, and he has saved them. [ … ] All Sora needs to do is be himself and follow wherever it is that his heart takes him. It is the best and only way.”

after the opening section of kh3 in olympus colosseum, what’s the thing that sets sora off on his journey?

[ ID: a screenshot from kingdom hearts three of sora, donald, goofy, and jiminy cricket in the gummi ship cockpit. sora looks determined as he says, “The others are following Aqua’s heart, so I’ll follow Roxas’s heart!” End ID. ]

his desire for roxas to truly be his own person. so many people move mountains to make this a reality not just for roxas, but for xion and namine too--all because sora understood that roxas had his own heart, memories, and history. he saw roxas’s suffering and still pushed through to make sure his nobody got the life he deserved.

sora faced what he could, and did everything in his power to undo the suffering the people connected to him were feeling--and when he couldn’t do it himself, he let others help him. just the way namine (and her creation, data namine) wanted.

im sorry this is so long and kind of rambly--but i feel like i finally get sora in DDD outside of the organization’s plans for him, and that the off hand comment from this lets play i’m rewatching actually ended up being true. if you made it this far down in this silly post thanks for reading, hope you're having a good day ;u;

#kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts meta #sora kingdom hearts #THIS IS LONG IM SO SORRY #I ALSO HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO TAG IT...#dream drop distance #re:coded #kh ddd #kh 3d #kh recoded

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elvenbeard · 11 months

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🏳️‍🌈 Vince (& Kerry) at Night City Pride (2/10) 🏳️‍⚧️

"A merc in fuckin' sequins" 🤘

Firstly, I told myself, I'm not gonna get too carried away with modding before I finish my second playthrough. But also, I had this vision of Vince in a sparkly sequin rainbow coat, and my hand slipped... and yeah, here we are, the "pride clothing for fucking posers" collection is steadily growing xD Nothing released into the wild as of now, and I won't manage that until the month is over most likely - but not like you can't wear pretty rainbow things all year round!

Secondly, the quote above always kinda stuck with me... It's from the Jinguji side-job. At the end during the convo with MaxTac, V can decline their offer of joining them with "nah, I'd feel like a merc in fuckin' sequins".

The thing is... Vince literally is that, a merc in fuckin' sequins. Not just literally, like in the sparkly clothes I have for him, but also figuratively. He never wanted to be a merc in the first place, not able to picture himself in that gritty world, no matter how much Jackie tried to convince him that it was good, easy money (both of them were still in their late teens/early twenties at that point and trying to make ends meet somehow). He had no interest in stealing and killing for a living. He loved his tech, he thought about becoming a netrunner maybe, but everything that went down the more physical lane, fighting and so on, was never his thing. Still isn't. He's short, was always kind of scrawny... he's more the "I'm gonna shit-talk myself out of this dangerous situation somehow". Not quite to, say, Saul Goodman levels, but definitely more like that than anything else.

Then he was recruited for Arasaka. He'd only just begun to get a bit more daring with his clothing choices, his hair, tattoos, and the recuiters immediately told him to "tone it down". At the time, still not nearly as confident as he is now, he did. He wanted that job, almost out of spite, but also morbid curiosity... and he could actually see himself being good at the kind of work he was offered to do for the corporation.

His time at Arasaka changed him, equipped him with many new skills (and many new issues). But he was so much more braver, a hell lot more confident and comfortable in his body, trusted in his skills. But he had also learned one fundamental thing: he didn't want to even try and fit in anywhere anymore, because that's not who he is, deep down, and trying to conform to Arasaka's standards made him absolutely miserable.

Sure, making a resolution is one thing and actually sticking to it another, but as he then became a merc after all, after Jackie's death, his own death looming on the horizon... he more and more began to embrace being the "merc in sequins", the solo that didn't want to fit in with the rest. And he actually turned out to be rolling extremely succesful with it, with staying true to himself, standing out, and doing things his way.

Sure, he can be subtle if he wants to. "You can never get the corp outta the rat," as Jackie said. He'll still rather raise no alarms, tries the stealthy approach whenever possible, and if things go wrong would rather talk himself out of the situation than kill. But he also relishes being an extravagant motherfucker when he gets the chance to. Those who don't take the "merc in sequins" seriously, the weird little misfit that weasled himself to the top from the very bottom, will learn the meaning of regret soon enough.

#cyberpunk 2077 #cyberpunk vp #cyberpunk virtual photography #cp2077 #cp2077 vp #cyberpunk v #male v cyberpunk #cyberpride #male v monday #vincent ezaki #my vp #his happy little smile in the first pic is just so... aaahhh ;__;#I want his clothes #my goal in my freshly started 30s is to dress as weirdly as I can whenever #and just stop caring so much #vince unlocked that 'dont give a shit' attitude a little bit sooner and I love it for him

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sydmarch · 1 year

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@aaaaaaaaaatlas your tags on my last evrart analysis post got me thinking SO MUCH that rather than adding onto that thread i just had to make a whole new post to discuss my thoughts

because it's something i hadn't thought much about recently but you're SO RIGHT? my initial playthrough i like most others was afflicted with chronic "don't want to let kim down disease" so while i DID see evrart's storyline fully through because i was like "i don't want to miss out on things?? i need to get my gun???" i did so pretty reluctantly while not trusting him at all & that was pretty much because of kim. actually finishing the first playthrough & viewing evrart on a different lens because of that made me read him totally different on second and third go arounds though & having a few evrart posts circulating i've seen several tags along the lines of "didn't know any of this, i kept him at arms length because of kim/never finsihed any of his tasks bcus kim didn't like it" & it's SO interesting to dig into.

i think part of it has to do with how on a first playthrough where you aren't familiar with evrart & where his motivation really comes from, on top of him being clearly generally manipulative it's SO apparent that he's manipulating harry. & i feel like this is something that kim sees through just as much as us players. i think this manipulation shows through a lot in evrart's constant.. "favoritism" is the only way i can think to phrase it. towards harry. it comes out a lot in dialogue trees around the folder but several other times as well. a few moments that highlight what i mean wrt both manipulating harry specifically & evrart's general interactions with kim:

the impression i get around how evrart acts with kim is that he knows harry is more vulnerable due to his amnesia and thus an easier target, more useful to play the part he needs in his whole game. i mean he has this dead body on his hands, has already figured out how he's going to use this situation to his advantage to start a war with wild pines, and when the rcm officers come to investigate the murder one of them has literally no memories? what could be a better opportunity than that! it's also very telling how evrart immediately jumps to acting like he & harry are already such close friends, like to the point where on my first playthrough i was genuinely thinking for a bit "have we met this guy before the amnesia?". bearing that in mind it only makes sense that he would try to dismiss or ignore kim whenever possible to bring everything back around to harry. and again i feel kim very much picks up on this.

(kind of an aside but i thought it was interesting to note that if you search for all times "kitsuragi" is said by evrart, the only time he calls him "lieutenant kitsuragi" rather than "mr kitsuragi" (aside from the "you too lieutenant" above) seems to be when kim wasn't actually present:)

anyways on to flip side, how kim discusses evrart:

even before the initial meeting kim is already distrustful of him, which i mean makes sense considering evrart's reputation. kind of running out of brain juice to comment more insightfully on this side of things LOL so i'll just leave these here.

#this got longer than i thought it would and i ran out of steam by the time id gathered the kim screenshots lol!!!#disco elysium #de #evrart claire #kim kitsuragi #texticles

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perfectlovevn · 1 month

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i'm currently working on a document pointing out all script errors (typos, misspellings, grammatical errors, etc) so that those can be corrected for the update (i think the writing of the game itself is so so good, i've just got the language autism that turns me into an english teacher whenever there's a typo lol. technicalities you could say)

and just to get this in order for the doc... is the narration supposed to be in past or present tense? the script jumps between the two frequently, and i can't tell which direction to point out the tense inconsistencies. like i know the narration is supposed to be in second person since that's what's primarily used (there's a few perspective inconsistencies where some narration lines use first person instead), but i can't discern the same for past or present tense, so i figured i'd ask

Man you are an angel. One of the things that I kept trying to remind myself to do yet kept on flying over my head was to check for grammer and typos once I finished the game. When I did playtesting, I think I did fix some based off of the playtester's feedback, but I really should have went through better and put it through a spell checker. I also saw your documentation on looking through some of the easter eggs and I am both in awe and also I might use that for corrections for the update.

I think it's supposed to be in the present tense. Most of the internal thoughts should be in second person, except for in some of the easter eggs for names which can swap between first person and second person. Those ones I feel like don't matter nearly as much since unless you are specifically looking for easter eggs, you will likely never see them at all. But if you do wish to fix them, then by all means.

Anyways, thank you so much?? I think while I was skimming through some of the playthroughs of my game, one of the bigger issues is the amount of grammer/typos I had so if I could fix that, then it probably would make the game even more polished!

#perfectlovevn #male yandere #yandere boy #yandere #yandere vn #milo asks

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wildmelon · 5 months

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i finished verity's playthrough before going to a christmas party tn and i'm a little drunk and very tired rn but i have to get some thoughts off my chest. first of all, it was a little sad finishing her playthrough since i'm so attached to her now. second of all, i'm mad bc i feel like duke!wyllmancers get a rly unfair ending re. karlach. i have a whole rant on why i'm against a blade!wyll ending but i guess i'll save that and just focus on how pissed i am that there's no way to save karlach and actually end in a proper romance with wyll. all ur other companions u can have a final romance scene and romantic epilogue with AND save karlach bc blade!wyll goes with her, but if u romance wyll and u want him to be duke, the only way to save karlach is to go to avernus with her yourself, and then u don't get a final scene with wyll and in the epilogue it acts like u weren't a couple. idk what happens if u romance blade!wyll and he goes to avernus and u don't want to go. even if u romance wyll and both go to avernus to save karlach it still seems unfair to me like no other romances have to do that. but yeah i really don't like the way they did karlach's ending i dont necessarily think every narrative always has to end happily with a nice little bow but to me it's just too tragic when karlach dies and to have to sacrifice an adequate ending to my romance for her life is so unfair. and making her ending contingent on the pc or wyll like that feels railroady to me not like oh my actions have consequences. anyway im sure this is pretty rambly and incoherent but it's really bothering me. i'll probably clean up this rant and make it into actual good points another time.

#lush.talk #bg3 #bg3 critical

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maripr · 6 months

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After unlocking all achievements in pathologic 2 and 72 hours of playing (and that's JUST haruspex! Imagine what I will be like when (🥹) the other two campaigns come out), I have Thoughts about the game just like I did for Patho 1 that I find myself currently unable to explain but I will maybe try to find a short description for this game: a masterpiece of pain.

Also you must play imago at least once, because it's worth it. I don't know what but it is worth it. (And also once you've beaten that every other playthrough is gonna feel easier)

Just like fear and hunger 1 and 2, although I loved both games in both series, the thought of replaying the respective first one, despite my love of the ambiance and characters etc, fills me with DREAD. Replaying the second game? I'll do it. It'll be painful and annoying and maddening and I will have to be very careful it doesn't trigger my ocd obsessions about having to finish that section now and today because oh boy then I'm gonna lose 4 hours of my life in the fucking abbatoir but I will replay the game and in the end, I'll enjoy it.

Idk even with both second games not being fully completed yet, I find the experimentation you can pull in a playthrough incredibly interesting. While the respective first game is doomed to remain a somewhat unfinished beauty.

#pathologic #fear and hunger #pathologic classic hd #fear and hunger 2 termina #pathologic 2 #funger #fear and hunger termina #pathologic 1 #patho #so many tags and i hope i got all of them haha #Mari plays videogames #i love when horror games don't scare me #at least the scary part for me in both cases is the thought of having to replay particularly annoying sections #if i truly found these games scary I wouldn't be able to even play them and i would have missed out on then wondeful world they made me #experience #either that or im getting stronger at handling horror #ocd talk #personal #etc etc

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fiction-box · 2 years

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Okay I know you haven't finished my other request yet so I feel a little bad about sending in another one but I am having so many thoughts about my children dsfjagdhdh

I don't wanna monopolize your time so please don't feel rushed at all!! I'm just so glad that someone is making my silly little daydreams a reality <3

Anyway, I recently got to the white heron cup on my replay of 3H which gave me some more ideas 👀 this one is with Felix and Ferdinand:

The professor chose Felix to represent the Blue Lions in the White Heron Cup, despite his very vocal protests (I did this to him on my first playthrough bc I wanted him to have the sword evade skill lmao). Reader was chosen as his practice partner. Reader was never all that passionate about dance—it was just one of those skills they had to learn as a noble—but they're realizing now that maybe it's about the partner? Bc dancing with Felix always leaves their heart racing in the best way possible

Alternatively, reader was chosen to represent the Black Eagles and the one and only Ferdinand von Aegir was assigned as their tutor/partner. Although the professor saw reader's great potential, reader, as a commoner, had never been formally trained in the dances of the nobility. During these practice sessions, reader gets annoyed at Ferdinand for being so particular about everything and for going on about the history of various dance styles. Little do they know though, that this is Ferdie's way of saying "I love you, please spend more time with me."

Feel free to go wherever your inspiration takes you!! I can't wait to see what you write :D

Sorry this took me so long! My life suddenly became quite busy, so I was unable to find the time to write for everyone. Happy October to you and all the others reading this!

I think I did a fairly good job with following your request this time, my lovely! I felt railroaded in a way that still allowed me to provide my own ideas and experiment. Your specificity made things slightly easier on me, and this was such a wonderful idea to write for! I know I say something similar to that line each time, but it's true. These prompts help me indulge in my mind and my hobby without needing to commit too hard to forging a dream out of a few strung-along thoughts.

So, after what must have been a month, here is the fulfillment to your request. My inbox is open, so anyone that wants to send anything in is invited to do so. Until then, enjoy this work!

The stories will be continued under the cut.

Felix:

“Are you considering me as our representative for the White Heron Cup?”

You paused, your walk to your dorm from the library interrupted by what sounded like Felix and Professor Byleth conversing through the walls of the training grounds.

The professor’s voice was muted, but Felix’s reply was all you needed to hear to understand what was going to happen.

“I was joking. You really couldn’t find anyone else?”

So, your teacher had chosen Felix to dance for the White Heron Cup, then? Things could have been worse. She could have elected you, instead.

As you continued your trek back to your dorm, you let out a small sigh. What reason did Professor Byleth have for choosing Felix of all people to participate. Surely there were more eager, more experienced candidates. Annette and Sylvain came to mind.

Whatever her reasons, it really was none of your concern. So long as nothing bad came of it, you were certain she knew what she was doing.

You came to the entrance of your dorm on the second floor, setting down your things on your bed with a sigh (the desk was rather messy from personal notes). Maybe you ought to clean up a bit. It would not do for someone to come into your room, what with it in such a state.

But time got away from you while you tidied up, and soon it was time for lunch. You had no classes today, which was a blessing both because you needed a break and because you needed more time to study for your upcoming certification exam the next weekend.

The trek to the dining hall was much less eventful than this morning’s small commute to your dorm. Everyone else was probably interested in eating, too. Just as you thought, upon entering, the hall was filled with students and knights squeezing in a meal before getting back to work.

You walked up to the line, grabbing your own meal and heading to find somewhere to sit. Scanning the cafeteria, you noticed Annette and Mercedes sitting together in one area, and Sylvain, Dimitri, and Ingrid were sitting together in another. There were Adrestian nobles near them, and the Golden Deer were scattered around the knights.

Maybe it would be better if you just sat alone. Interrupting anyone’s conversation would be rude, after all.

A small table near the back of the room was open, so you took a seat and began to consume your meal. It wasn’t anything special today, just something made with vegetables you suspected your own professor had harvested. Good, but not worth the breath to say so.

Not that there was much else for you to think about.

Lifting your head up, you decided to pay more attention to the people in the dining hall. People watching had always been a small hobby of yours, but getting caught doing so tended to leave you embarrassed.

There was a group of knights sitting at the table across from yours laughing about something. You wondered what it could be. Nothing to do with their job, you hoped.

Marianne and some green-haired Alliance boy were discussing something fervently. Well, it was more like the boy was talking to her and she was just nodding along. The poor girl.

And then here, coming toward you now, was Professor Manuela with her own lunch.

“Hello, dear! What are you doing back here all by yourself? Surely your friends didn’t give you the cold shoulder, now, did they?”

“Oh, no, of course not,” you assured her, “I chose to sit here of my own volition. I have a free day, and I suppose I have been choosing to spend it alone.”

She gave a small sigh, moving to sit across from you, “I hear that. Some days, a girl just needs some alone time.”

You nodded, taking another bite of your meal.

“You know, if you aren’t too busy, would you mind if I asked you a small favor? I need someone to head to the greenhouse for me and grab a few herbs for the infirmary. I just so happen to have a list with me here,” she noted, pulling out such a list from…well, you didn’t want to think about that. “Why don’t you go take a trip to collect them, hm? It would be nice and therapeutic, and I’m in no rush to get them sorted. Take your time in there and enjoy yourself, dear. Just so long as they’re in the infirmary by the end of the day, I’ll be happy.”

As she handed it to you, you accepted the scrap of paper from her hands and scanned over it with your eyes. Nothing too stressful or complicated to grab. Some of these were quite common, and the list was not long in the slightest.

“I would be happy to help! What a wonderful idea.”

Wasn’t it? You would get some much needed relaxation, and once you had more peace of mind, you could focus better on your studies.

“Wonderful! Oh, and there’s no need to let me know when you’ve finished. I’ll be in tomorrow morning to double check everything you collect.”

You finished your food, cleaning everything off the table and preparing to leave, “You can count on me, Professor! I hope the rest of your day goes well.”

Leaving the dining hall, you headed back to your room to get some gloves. It would probably be best to have some form of protection on your hands before handling any of these herbs.

What you did not expect, however, was to run into Professor Byleth instructing Felix on his dancing.

Thankfully, it seemed they hadn’t noticed you yet. Felix was moving with practiced ease as the former mercenary tipped him off on the smallest of errors. He really was doing quite well for what looked like such a simple, boring dance.

Unfortunately, you must have been staring a moment too long. Flicking her eyes away from her student, the professor’s eyes met your own

“Ah, perfect timing! I was just thinking about having someone stand in as a partner!”

Stand-in?

Before you could process what she meant, your teacher had approached you and was leading you by the arm further into their practice area.

“Professor, what are you talking about? I’ve been watching for a moment or two already; Felix was doing just fine on his own! You’ve been working for this long, and I know he’s no stranger to dancing. What is having a partner going to change?”

Quick as ever, she responded, “A partner brings life and flow into a dance. Think of it as communication; we aren’t meant to do it alone. It’s unnatural.”

“Oh…wow, I…did not expect that from you,” you managed.

“It’s something you pick up on by your third festival.”

“Okay then, I guess I don’t really have an excuse…” you began. “If it’s for the house, I’d be happy to help.”

Felix scoffed, “Don’t I get a say in this?”

“Oh?” Professor Byleth challenged, “And what is it you have to say?”

“Maybe I’d rather not be seen doing any of this? I didn’t choose to be here, and I certainly don’t need an audience.”

“Better get over it, then,” she frowned, placing you in front of him, “you’ll be having a larger audience than two people when you actually perform.”

He muttered something you couldn’t quite make out.

“Not to interrupt, Professor, but I don’t exactly know the dance he’ll be working on.”

“Oh, that. It’s just an easy foxtrot, nothing too difficult. We’re just working from the ground up, so we’re refraining from implementing other steps until he gets this down.”

“You said I had it down. An hour ago.”

“Felix, I promise you we have not been out here for half that time.”

At the professor’s count, you both began. One of your hands rested on his shoulder while the other was supported by his own hand. You followed along with ease, only slipping up twice in the countless cycles you were made out to perform.

It was strange, though. You almost felt nervous about slipping up, which was different from the nonchalant waltzing you put on with your previous partners. No matter; it was probably just because the house was relying on you both to get this right.

That, and Professor Byleth had more scrutiny in her expression than you thought possible.

Even when you thought you were getting used to the feeling, though, the butterflies never quite went away. It was a simple four step, so what was the big deal?

Actually, what was the big deal? You both had been doing this a long time, and neither of you had received so much as a comment from the professor for at least a few minutes.

You turned to look at her, still remaining in the rhythm of the dance, “Um…Felix is really good at this, professor. He looked fine before and he’s doing well now?”

She gave a tense smile, “Just making sure it stays that way. Doing “well” isn’t going to impress any judges.”

Allowing yourself a small sigh, you turned back to Felix, whose face had turned a light shade of pink. It was surprising. You didn’t think Felix would be tired just by repeating the same four-step.

“Alright, fine. We’ll go with that,” she waved her hand in the air flippantly.

You both stopped, moving apart to stretch and give your legs a small break.

“Okay, now that you two have the base steps, it’s time to incorporate the other aspects of this dance.”

You were practically pushed back into one another, the Professor relentlessly rattling off instructions.

Both of you needed a natural sway. Then, you had to maintain that while spinning continuously throughout the four-step. Relax a bit more, move closer, let your arms look more fluid.

“Thank you for cooperating, so far. The last step is to incorporate the dip at the end of each four-step cycle.”

A…dip?

Felix raised his own brow, “What?”

“What do you mean, “what?” Go on.”

You chimed in, “Professor, I don’t know what a dip is…”

Felix gave a curt nod in agreement, and the two of you waited for an explanation from your instructor.

“You genuinely have no clue what I’m talking about?”

“Would you just get to the point?” Felix scowled. “I’ve wasted enough time out here like this.”

“Maybe it just isn’t part of any traditional Faerghus dances?” you offered. “I can honestly say I have never heard of it.”

It was your professor’s turn to sigh as she put her thumb and middle finger at her temples, “This is going to take longer than I thought.”

She lifted her head, walking toward you and offering her hand, “If I may?”

You took her hand, and with that, Byleth demonstrated the whole dance you both had learned so far to Felix. Then, the time came for whatever this “dip” was.

“You’re going to have to trust me to hold onto you for this to work, do you understand?”

Hold onto me? “I’m not so sure that I do, but I do trust you.”

“Wonderful.” She then turned her head to Felix, “Now, you’ll want to end up with a sort of complimentary stance. One of your feet should be somewhat between the two of hers. This is both for balance and flow; otherwise, this next part will be awkward and unstable.”

Felix allowed himself a moment to study both of your stances, but then your teacher faced you once more and said in a voice loud enough for both of you to hear, “As for you, you’re going to lean back on my hand as I lean forward into you. You’ll keep your feet on the floor and try to balance yourself slightly throughout, but your partner will be the one supporting you. It’s my job not to let you fall.”

You nodded, hoping you understood.

“Okay. Here we go.”

Your grip on the hand holding your own tightened in nervousness as your professor began to lean you back. The further you went, the less balance you seemed to have, you noted. Fortunately, Professor Byleth stopped lowering her arm the moment before you thought you would lose your ability to balance.

“Just remember to relax,” she smiled. “You don’t need to waste energy on holding unnecessary tension. Try easing your grip on my hands and loosening your arms.”

You did so, immediately feeling a sense of ease. It was much better to hold your balance like this.

Slowly, she lifted you back onto your feet, “So there. Hopefully you were watching closely enough to understand, Felix. Now, it’s your turn.”

“Honestly, couldn’t I do this on my own? How hard can it be to bend down and rise back up?”

“Funny. Those sound like the thoughts of a runner-up. Second place is only first for losers, Felix. From the top.”

His brow furrowed as he swapped places with her.

The dance was going wonderful as usual (but that wasn’t normally usual, was it? You remembered feeling bored with your partners at the last party you attended.) until the professor made you both pause. Professor Byleth instructed him as you went through the motions of relaxing and leaning back.

But somehow, this felt different than your dance with your teacher. You knew it wasn’t just because you were being watched, either. Felix was watching you earlier, and the butterflies didn’t appear then, did they?

Perhaps it was the tinge of pink returning to his face, but…

No. No no no. Don’t even go there. He’s just tired, like I must be! You two had been dancing for quite a long time, now. The sun had made considerable progress on its trek through the sky. Not to mention…

You were certain your own cheeks were dusted a similar color.

“Excellent!” your teacher’s voice permeated your thoughts with what must have been the nicest comment on your dancing she had given all day. “Just like that!”

“Again, I-I could have done this without a partner!”

The green-haired woman brought a hand to her chin, “No, no, you have a point.” She turned to you, “Do you think you could get out of that position without Felix moving? I want him to know what this exact pose would feel like if he were actually performing.”

That could prove difficult. The only exit was turning out of his arms, which would mean letting yourself fall to the ground. You weren’t afraid of a little fall from such a short distance above the grass, but Felix would still need to shift his hand to accommodate the movement of your body weight. Not to mention there would be movement required to let go of his hand.

“Sorry,” you answered after looking around for another solution, “I just don’t see how that would be possible.”

A bit of air came from her nose as her lips pursed ever so slightly, “I feared as much. Okay you two, why don’t you come up and we’ll have Felix dance alone one final time before we call it a day?”

“Finally,” Felix groaned, lifting you back up as you quickly recovered from a twinge of vertigo.

You moved a few paces away and turned back around to watch as the professor counted Felix off. He was much more skilled at the dance than he was when you originally observed him. That was saying something since he was already skilled when you first saw him. For the swordsman to perform even better? There would be no mistaking the winner for anyone but the Blue Lion House.

At the end of it all, you said your goodbyes to your teacher and classmate. The greenhouse was still owed a visit, so you scanned over the list once more on your way there.

Maybe Manuela was right. Studying for certification exams could wait. You had already done so much today, so committing to relaxation would be a nice break.

Needless to say, you spent a lot more time with the flowers that afternoon than you had in a long time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ferdinand:

“That wraps up our time for this morning’s class!” Professor Byleth announced. “I just have a few notes for you all, and then you’ll be free to go.”

The overall mood in the Black Eagles’ classroom seemed warm to you as the sun peeked through the windows. Sure, the seasons were meant to be getting warmer, but Garreg Mach’s central location resulted in only minute climate changes.

“Edelgard. As the leader of your house, you are expected to compel everyone to come to class. Please find a way to ensure Bernadetta arrives next time.”

“Of course,” the Adrestian heir nodded. “I will make a more compelling case in the future.”

A sigh escaped the professor, “It isn’t your fault. I would do something about it myself if Count Varley hadn't sent a notice to the Church about his…displeasure with a commoner's teaching.”

“The rest you already know. Lindhardt, don’t sleep during class…Caspar, don’t shout during class. Dorothea, remember that your seat is next to Ferdinand and not Lady Edelgard.”

As everyone packed their things to leave, Professor Byleth called you to speak with her privately.

“Good morning, Professor,” you greeted. “Was there something you needed?”

“Yes. Do you know anything about the White Heron Cup?”

“The White Heron Cup…? I think Dorothea was telling me a bit about it, earlier. Isn’t that the dance competition held before the Garreg Mach Ball each year?”

“That would be the one.”

“Good to know I’m right,” an amused look was shared between you two, “but I doubt it’s important enough to single me out and talk with me about it.”

“Correct again. For the dance, each House is to choose one representative to compete. I was just informed that I would need to pick someone last night, so I’ve done a bit of thinking.”

“A…representative? Surely you aren’t intending to choose me. I don’t even know how to dance. The most practice I have is from the festivals in my hometown, but even then I tended to sit out and watch.”

Professor Byleth began to ready her own things to leave, “I do intend to pick you. Don’t worry about that too much, though.

“No. I can’t. I refuse, actually, so you’ll just have to go and choose someone else. Have a wonderful day, Professor. Good luck find-”

You were interrupted by your teacher’s hand on your arm pulling you out of the classroom, “Glad to see you’re on board. Now, I’ve already spoken to Ferdinand about helping you learn the waltz. He agreed so quickly I almost thought I misheard him. You know him, though; always ready to do something elegant and noble. Like helping a lady learn to dance.”

“Ow! Wait, you can’t be serious-!”

As you approached the practice area Professor Byleth cleared for the two of you earlier, Ferdinand was already waiting.

“I expect you to know the dance well enough to perform by tomorrow. It’s rather simple, so I can’t see you having any trouble with it.”

“Tomorrow?”

“It will be no problem, Professor! She will practically be an expert by nightfall, I assure you!”

“Nightfall?”

She practically already took her leave, “Well then, I’ll leave you to it.”

“Shall we begin?” Ferdinand turned to you with a small bow, offering his hand.

It all happened so fast you almost thought you had dreamt up the whole encounter, “Begin? I…I’ve never danced before. Not in a way that counts.”

“There is no need to be nervous. We can start slow, and I will tell you everything you need to know!”

You took his hand, and the lesson commenced. He positioned you so that one of your arms rested on his shoulder while the other was held out to your side. Apparently, men led forward with the right foot, so it was your job to lead backwards with your left foot. Back, left, forward, right. A simple box.

But there were other things you needed to remember. The two of you always spun in a circle. Ferdinand always took the same stride, which you would have to match in length to avoid stepping on him.

It all felt like too much, in the moment. Your results were not poor, so long as you gave all your energy to your awareness of your body.

“You are a natural! Surely you have performed this waltz before?”

At the shake of your head, he continued, “Perhaps you are aware of its history, then? This dance was originally created…”

That wasn’t good. Back. Left. It took practically every nerve in your brain to manage shaking your head while staying in the waltz. Now he wanted to ramble about its history? You’d never be able to pay attention…Forward. Right…and learn well simultaneously. Why did he care how good you were at picking it up, anyway?

None of it mattered. There was no way you were going to stay here listening to him go on until nightfall. You would dance until he said you had it down, and then it would be time to leave.

However, with how caught up you were in your thoughts, you hadn’t realized how that affected your dancing.

“S-slow down! It is a dance, not a race!”

“Oh. Sorry,” you weren’t sure if you meant it. “I can’t really focus on what I’m doing when you’re giving me all this information.”

Hopefully, he could take a hint, you thought. But if Ferdinand von Aegir was anything, he was dense. He did not take hints, and throughout your time at the Officer’s Academy, you’ve constantly found yourself cursing him for it.

“That is alright. I am sure you will get it eventually,” the two of you finally managed to bring the tempo back to normal. “After all, this is quite a late age to be learning formal dance for the first time. In fact, I myself began my first lessons when I was…”

Wonderful. Honestly, did the noble do anything but talk? You were sure he heard you when you spoke, but he never actually listened to what you were saying.

Back. Left. Forward. Right. Always spin ever so slightly. Do not step on Ferdinand’s feet. Lead with your left unless you’re moving right. Your arms-

“...that is how the White Heron Ball came to be a Garreg Mach tradition! Interesting, is it not?”

“Wh-what?” just how long had you been dancing? You could have sworn he was just talking about his own history of dance.

“What is it? Is there something wrong?

Back. Ri- no…Left. Forward. “Ferdinand, I don’t know how to put this lightly, but it is really hard to focus with you talking about all of that. I can keep up a conversation, or I can dance. I can’t do both yet.”

“But as I have told you, it is easy! You simply need to count through the beats, match each step to a number, and then keep continual rules in mind.”

At this point, you had lost the rhythm of your waltz. The heel of your boot landed on the toe of Ferdinand’s own, and the two of you stumbled awkwardly until Ferdinand caught his balance. Unfortunately, you weren’t as lucky and fell backwards onto the ground.

“Not quite like that-”

“You don’t say?” you cut him off. At least he was kind enough to help you back to your feet.

He brought you back into your initial position, preparing to pick up again, “Remember to lead backwards with your left foot.”

“I was remembering. Until you distracted me, that is.”

“Distracted you? I have only been helping you this whole time, have I not?”

You took a breath. It would be so easy to blame him for this, but you knew nothing would be solved through an argument. The sooner you figured this out, the sooner you could leave. No reason to hurt one of your allies over it.

“You’re right. I’m sorry, I’m just a little frustrated.”

The Adrestian noble began again, prompting you to follow suit almost immediately, “You must adjust your steps to that of your partner’s.”

A frown painted itself on your lips, “Good thing I won’t ever have one.”

“What are you talking about?” he questioned, “This waltz is commonly played at various events. Surely this will not be the only time you will partake?”

You sighed, “Ferdinand, enough. I’m a commoner, remember? I don’t go to…events. We don’t even have dances like this.”

“All the more reason to learn! It would be helpful to incorporate this into the skills of the common people so as to create a more refined society as a whole. Then-”

“I said enough!” you snapped, pushing away from him.

The shock on his face was nothing compared to the anger you felt at his ignorance.

“E-excuse me?”

“Stop talking about commoners like they’re…beasts! We are not animals to be tamed, Ferdinand, we’re people. Real, actual people.”

“I was not trying to imply otherwise-”

“But you did. You do it all the time! Humanity is not found solely within tradition, noble or otherwise. We can be civilized without being formal, you know!”

He didn’t seem to know what to say anymore, it seemed. Good, then. Maybe he would choose to listen for once.

“Take this practice as an example. You’ve been doing this waltz with me for how long now? And I haven’t hurt you or acted without considering you this whole time.” You paused, your throat closing up, “Honestly, I’ve been pitying us both for this position we’ve been placed in. Is an uncivilized, unrefined society capable of pity, Lord Ferdinand von Aegir?”

Nothing. Again. Maybe this was too much? But it wasn’t as if you were going to let him keep talking like that.

You stepped back farther, “Sorry. Here I go ruining it. I talk about being civilized, but I can’t even keep myself in check to verbally defend the people I grew up knowing and loving. Let’s…we can be done, now. I’ll go find the professor and tell her I won’t be able to perform tomorrow.”

So much for relations between allies. Your mind wandered to what you were going to say to your professor. It would be a bad idea to blame it on Ferdinand; Professor Byleth might do some digging, and you didn’t trust him to keep his mouth shut.

‘W-wait!” you had only made it a few paces before the knight called after you.

As you turned to face him, you gave a tight lipped smile, “Don’t worry about it! Really, I’m sure it won’t be any trouble for her to find someone else. I can probably talk Dorothea into it if she isn’t already interested.”

“That is no excuse. Whether you are our representative or someone else is, that does not make up for the things I said,” regret filled his expression, and your own turn came to respond in silence.

He made his way toward where you were standing, his eyes never leaving yours, “I am deeply sorry. I truly did not mean to insinuate such terrible ideas. Perhaps you can help me to…be more aware of these things in the future?”

At last, he had listened to something you told him. Even if he didn’t pay much attention to anything else you said to him, you were glad he at least chose to react to this.

“Of course,” your smile went from tight lipped to full and genuine. “You could start by focusing on teaching me the dance rather than its significance.”

“But both are equally important!” he argued.

“Are they? I am going to have to know this dance for the competition, but I can’t imagine any future where I would need to know the history of it. Or that of any other waltzes, for that matter.”

As soon as the words came out of your mouth, something in his face seemed to fall.

“You…cannot? There is no future where you would see yourself dancing more waltzes?”

“Quite frankly, it doesn’t seem to matter what I imagine. Once my time here is through, I’ll be sent off to lead some noble army. Not much waltzing in that future, I’d guess.”

“I see…”

Why was he acting so weird?

“But,” you tried to cheer him up, “at least I’ll have this one. I can pretend for one night that I have the ability to choose my future. So long as I would be happy in it, I don’t see the problem in dreaming of a life where all I do is dance at formal events like this.”

“Really?”

“Sure!” you laughed, “Though I don’t think I’d be as comfortable dancing with anyone else. I might not be able to get used to a different rhythm, yet.”

That seemed to get his energy back, “Of course! I will be ready whenever you wish to dance, and we can go at whatever pace you wish.”

“Let’s make sure I can actually do the steps correctly, first?”

“Right,” he led you back to the practice area.

The two of you danced a few more times before you finally got the hang of the waltz. Sure, the ball was not for another several days, but you had a feeling Professor Byleth would be pleased with your progress.

Eventually, when the time came, you knew you would need to learn a new dance for your classmates.

But you were getting ahead of yourself. First, you needed to win the White Heron Cup.

69 notes · View notes

couldbebetterforsure · 9 months

Text

Okay folks I’m back from my vacation, so now I can go back to posting about my Jack Jeanne playthrough!!!! I finished the Fall Performance before my vacation but I didn’t have time to post my thoughts before I left, so let’s get to it then!

Man, Mary Jane as a play was so creepy and wild and enjoyable! I loved how it managed to be both fucked up and lighthearted at the same time??? Also it just may have my favorite play related CGs so far because WOW there were some fantastic CGs for this play!!! Mary Jane herself is such a fun and sad character in how lonely she is and how warped she is by that loneliness, and yet how kind she also is. Fumi yet again did a wonderful job in this role! All the ghosts managed to be funny and sweet characters. Suzu, Neji, Mitsuki, and Otori did wonderfully (while also having the funniest costumes I let out such a dumb laugh when I saw Suzu’s)! Otori I think you’re meant for the weird roles, just embrace your fate…And man were Figaro and Charles just sooooo delightfully unhinged! Kisa, my girl, she truly did a masterful job in her second Jack role and that maniacal laugh of hers was fucking incredible. But Sou…fucking Soshiro Yonaga…holy fucking shit!!!! More on him later….But anyways the pair were also pitiful in that along with their hatred of ghosts, it’s understandable that they were so angry at Mary specifically for (albeit unknowingly) using their friends’ corpses to make Jacob and man Figaro going absolutely batshit after Charles died because that’s his brother, his twin…What absolutely fun villains! Well at least they can be together as ghosts, right?

Some more A+ music from the play! A Friend Without a Name was such a lovely tune, reminded me in many ways of a music box. Fumi and Kai had some wonderful choreography for this song. Hallelujah Shout the name of God, My Friends was my favorite of the three for sure! I loved how it shifted so much and the way Kisa, Sou, and Fumi’s voices all came together! Ghost Party is a very close second, it’s so damn catchy!!! Like I wasn’t really feeling it when I heard the instrumental during the practice but when I got to hear the actual performance I was bouncing along so much I fucked up the rhythm game 😂😂😂 Still got the SS rank though ✌️ Then again, I am playing the rhythm games on normal mode, which is SUPER forgiving regarding how much you can fuck up and still get the best rank.

And good GRIEF the drama going on with Quartz throughout all of this! I mentioned this earlier but the sheer shock I felt when the cast list first came out and Sou didn’t get a named role. I truly didn’t expect that to happen! I figured there’s no way that doesn’t change, it doesn’t seem right, but I was getting worried there as we got closer and closer to performance day! The buildup to what happened with Sou for the Fall Performance had been building up slowly, like I’ve said before he’s shown he’s getting frustrated with his performance on stage. Especially when compared to how Kisa and Suzu, his two closest friends in Univeil, have been performing in the last two plays…I said before that what he needed was the chance to prove himself in a role that truly clicked for him. But then he wasn’t given a named role for Mary Jane…And geez you see how badly that destroys him despite him trying to stay his polite and soft spoken self, to the point of even ignoring Kisa and Suzu. Which all comes to a head when Suzu and Sou have their big fight, which leads to Sou being the loudest I’ve ever heard him at that point in the game. While I was so uncomfortable in that fight because “nooo boys please you’re friends don’t do this 😭😭😭”, I liked that I could get both sides of the argument. Because on Suzu’s end one of his closest friends has suddenly started ignoring him and won’t explain anything and it’s also clearly hurting another one of their mutual friends (Kisa), while on Sou’s end his insecurities and frustration at how his own efforts aren’t matching up to what he wants and how his friends are seemingly getting where they want to be so easily and seemingly aren’t as gutted by disappointment made him reach his breaking point.

Coupled with Sou’s drama is Suzu’s own drama. Suzu struggling to play a villain role so unlike who he is, a cunning guy. Gosh when I heard Suzu was gonna okay a villain I was sooooooooo hyped!!! He struggled but that’s the thing about Suzu, he struggles but he gets there eventually because he doesn’t stop trying. I was so ready to see him as the cunning and arrogant Jean Jose!!! But then…his injury…You know I remembered a while back a random Suzu event I saw had him mention a scar on his ankle if I remember right, and I was like 👀 at that info but then it was never brought up again so I thought it was just a random fun fact or something. But then as the weeks went on for the Fall Performance, Suzu was shown occasionally struggling with his foot. I actually thought maybe he sprained it in that early practice scene but then I remembered that scar thing and was like “👀👀👀👀👀 oh????? is it related?!?!?!?!??!?!!?!!” And then BAM!!! My poor sweet boy’s ankle couldn’t hold out anymore…Gosh that reveal that he had to give up kendo because of how bad the injury was…And how acting, specifically Univeil performances, gave him a reason to keep going again and a new dream…But now his ankle gave out and now there’s that chance acting could be taken from him too. I wonder if we’ll get more info on his injury, specifically what caused it. Because I admit I’m not too familiar with kendo but I’ve seen some pictures and stuff of it, and I can’t figure out what on earth happened to Suzu that injured him THAT badly. Based on a convo with Neji earlier, I can guess either he or the person he was sparring with wasn’t careful enough but I’d like more details. But yeah seeing how much of a brave face he was putting on, especially when he was cleared to come back but no longer had a role in the play. That scene between him and Kisa when he admits how scared he is murdered me…My poor sweetheart….

Also the way that before the fight was officially cleared up between Suzu and Sou the two of them were already friends again. Sou wanting to practice all the play lines to help Suzu and Kisa with rehearsals while Suzu told Neji to give the role to Sou if he couldn’t stand on stage himself. The way Suzu had no hard feelings towards Sou about being replaced. Sou at the end of the performance telling Suzu that HE is the one Sou doesn’t wanna lose to most 😭😭😭😭 I love all of Quartz so much but the first years are special to me because they really are the best friend trio.

And maaaan, Quartz really does have the best senpai in the world!!! Mitsuki, Fumi, and Kai all helping out Suzu, Kisa, and Sou respectively regarding the fight. Mitsuki and Fumi both standing up to Utsuri and Kakuto when they wanted to start shit with poor Kisa. The fact that Neji at the last moment added an entirely new character to the play just so that Suzu wouldn’t be left out! I mean when they changed the okay so that Sou would play Figaro and as Charles’ brother instead, Neji only needed to fix stuff related to that. But he also went and gave Suzu a new role that wouldn’t stress his ankle out because he knew that despite Suzu trying to be lighthearted about it he desperately wanted to stand on the stage too. For all that Neji thrives on chaos he’s much kinder than he lets on ☺️

Anyways, Sou’s acting in Mary Jane was nuts, absolutely bonkers. The way he kept such a calm tone for most of the play before starting to yell some lines once Figaro and Charles revealed their true purpose. And then…the masterpiece…Figaro’s screaming after Charles died….I truly thought Sou was gonna throw his voice out with how absolute batshit those screams were. How did his VA manage to NOT destroy his voice??? And the CG that accompanied that moment? Perfection. You know half of the audience went home and had nightmares after that. But yeah I was right, Sou got the role that clicked for him. He got to showcase what he’s made of and I can only hope he’ll improve from here! And he deserved that reward, I would’ve entered this game and fought all of Univeil if he didn’t get anything after that performance. Also I really loved Fumi finally getting a chance to be free and not be so tied down from being Quartz’s responsible senpai and getting to truly showcase his skill by competing with Kisa and Sou.

Final note, while I loved Mary Jane and think everything that went down in the Fall Performance arc was great, I’m sad we never got Jean Jose realized. I wanted to see my boy Suzu play a villain role 😞😞😞 Neji, babe, please come through for me and give me the gift of villain Suzu for the Winter Performance! Please do me this one solid, Neji 🙏

#story time with me #jack jeanne #jack jeanne spoilers #willow takes center stage at univeil #neji if nothing else I need you to do your thing and try villain suzu again #you were onto something with that idea please!!!#I know suzu could be a hot villain if given the chance #but yeah sou my boy…he was fantastic #RIP to his vocal cords though 🙏#next up is the winter performance I am soooo excited for this!!!!

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