#this is speculatory but its FUN
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An Analysis of Alhaitham’s Story Quest In Its Relation To Kaveh & Queercoding In Pride and Prejudice
An inherently romantic connotation can be found in Alhaitham’s Story Quest, as the last quest of The Illusions of the Mob is entitled ‘Pride and Prejudice’. Firstly, the content of Alhaitham’s Story Quest and how it can be related to Kaveh will be explored in order to further identify the romantic connotations present here.
Within ‘The Illusions of The Mob’ similarities exist between Ilyas and Kaveh, not only in their views on conformity, but also in overcoming prejudices formed around Alhaitham’s character. As The Illusions of The Mob story quest deals with Alhaitham’s views on the individual as compared to the collective, just as expounded upon in his character stories. Considering this, it makes sense that Kaveh be of relevance within this story quest, since, as previously discussed, Kaveh and Alhaitham’s character stories are written in response to one another, particularly on their respective ideas on individual talent and the collective. Therefore, whilst these parallels between Alhaitham’s story quest and Kaveh are speculatory – lacking conclusive textual evidence that these links are deliberate – it is still relevant to discuss Ilyas’s character development within this quest, as it can be seen to closely align with that of the narrative push for Kaveh’s progression.
Ilyas is part of Siraj’s Hive Mind, in which he functions as an extension of Siraj and is therefore subject to Siraj’s thoughts and emotions. Ilyas consented to becoming part of the Hive Mind due to his longing to conform to a mass collective after reporting the fraud of a revered researcher, was labelled as a ‘hero’, and therefore was shunned by other scholars, ultimately misunderstood by those around him.
In an attempt to avoid being singled out as ‘other’, he sought the collective as a means of comfort, and thus rejected his own merits and individualism. This mirrors that of Kaveh’s longing to fit in which stems from his prioritisation of others above himself, and with this, his rejection of the title as a ‘genius’, due to this ostracising himself from others.
After the dismantlement of the Hive Mind, Ilyas reveals that where he initially wanted to conform in order to fit into the collective, he could not perpetually commit himself to do so, as his own differing opinions still set him apart. He realises that the collective is not “powerful” like he had previously thought, and this understanding encourages him to aspire to not care about conforming, “just like Alhaitham."
In this sense, it is of note that Alhaitham asserts that the Hive Mind’s downfall was ultimately down to people’s differing thoughts and opinions, and that they were reminded of their own individuality due to Alhaitham’s promptings: “A few words were enough. Believe in the power of words...”
Ilyas opting to reject the collective in favour of considering himself more mirrors that of Alhaitham’s desire for Kaveh to better prioritise himself in order to be free of expectations and obligations forced upon him by others (this is discussed more in detail here). It is how Ilyas is able to realise this which is of particular interest, as it is ultimately through Alhaitham’s words to him commenting on his own merits which led to downfall of the Hive Mind: “… What I said to Ilyas was the trigger for all of this."
Through Alhaitham, and through Alhaitham’s words, does Ilyas choose to prioritise himself. By drawing this parallel between Kaveh and Ilyas, a possibility can be surmised of what Kaveh could benefit from adopting this particular aspect of Alhaitham’s philosophy in the potential betterment of himself. However, this appears to only be possible through mutual understanding in expression (this is further explored here), as Alhaitham’s words and how he conveys his meaning can serve as the catalyst for Kaveh’s potential betterment, just as they serve Ilyas.
In terms of prejudices, there exists a link between the pride and prejudice propagated within Siraj’s Hive Mind and that of the relationship between Kaveh and Alhaitham. In this, Ilyas can be viewed as a narrative foil for Kaveh. Whereas Ilyas’ prejudices and his innate “loathing” of Alhaitham stemmed from the leader of the Hive Mind, Siraj, he recognises that these prejudices he holds against Alhaitham are, actually, unfounded, as he finds Alhaitham to not be someone he would dislike to such an extent.
Upon returning to the Hive, Ilyas’ personal perception of Alhaitham is introduced to the collective consciousness and thus contradicts the prejudices against Alhaitham that Siraj has propagated. This gives rise to “new conflict” as these two differing perceptions of Alhaitham struggle to co-exist. These juxtaposing impressions of Alhaitham act as the catalyst for the collapse of the Hive Mind.
This contradiction of perceptions is interesting in considering Kaveh’s dual versions of Alhaitham, in which he appears to recognise that there is a mutual regard between him and Alhaitham in that they are ultimately known only, through and through, by the other, all the while believing that Alhaitham holds “disdain” for him and his ideologies.
Ilyas’ prejudice against Alhaitham is founded on Siraj’s hatred of Alhaitham due to Alhaitham having once rejected Siraj’s research proposal. This caused Siraj to believe that Alhaitham saw himself as superior due to his perceived arrogance that comes from the title of being a ‘genius’.
However, Alhaitham states that, contrarily, he never looked down upon Siraj and instead exercised objectivity, which Siraj misinterpreted to his particular way of thinking, and ultimately his own arrogance due to his need to be correct, and therefore his dependence on other people’s opinions of him.
There are similarities present between the conception of Siraj’s prejudice against Alhaitham and that of Kaveh’s, both being formed from an assertion of their own ideals to be correct; that Alhaitham distancing himself from others is due to a perceived arrogance; and that Alhaitham’s rejection of their ideals is an assertion of this arrogance, and therefore a personal attack. Ilyas, then, harbouring Siraj’s hatred for Alhaitham is a prejudice, which Ilyas himself debunks once understanding why Alhaitham behaves in the way that he does, being that of objectivity rather than arrogance, and thus, this contradicts with Siraj’s impression of Alhaitham.
In this, Ilyas can be viewed as a narrative foil for Kaveh. Upon discovering that Siraj’s hatred of Alhaitham is unfounded, and that his prejudice is incorrect, Ilyas reinterprets Alhaitham through his own perspective, and decides, that he does not dislike Alhaitham, and ultimately, he admires that Alhaitham has no fear in not conforming to the collective in order to stay true to his ideologies.
With Kaveh holding dual versions of Alhaitham, his prejudices borne from a belief of Alhaitham’s arrogance must be surmounted in order to reinterpret Alhaitham, and with this, the meaning behind Alhaitham’s behaviour. Just as with Ilyas, as established, this has the potential to be achieved through communication, as with Alhaitham’s words does Ilyas understand why Alhaitham behaves the way he does. If communicated properly, it is possible that Kaveh can interpret Alhaitham’s comments on his detrimental philosophies as concern, rather than arrogance, and therefore forego the belief that Alhaitham holds “disdain” for him.
The parallels between Ilyas and Kaveh can further be drawn when the Traveler and Paimon are invited back to Alhaitham’s house, and Kaveh is introduced as Alhaitham’s roommate. Kaveh shows embarrassment over being discovered living with Alhaitham, due to his fronting as a successful architect, and begs the Traveler and Paimon not to disclose this information to others.
Alhaitham follows this by stating that he has books on “collectives” at home, referring to them being the reason he invited the Traveller and Paimon over. Kaveh’s desperation in avoiding his financial situation to be discovered by others, the collective that he seeks to conform to, is directly tied in with the nature of Alhaitham’s story quest, being that of focussing on the individual rather than the collective.
Returning to queercoding, romantic connotation can be located within a less speculatory aspect of The Illusions of The Mob and stems from its final quest title. The inherent nature of Alhaitham’s Story Quest pertaining to Kaveh and their miscommunication holds an explicit romantic connotation when considering the origin of the quest title ‘Pride and Prejudice’. This title serves as a reference to the novel of the same title by Jane Austen published in 1813.
To reference Pride and Prejudice within Alhaitham’s Story Quest is to make direct parallels between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy to Kaveh and Alhaitham, which are irrevocably romantic parallels. Elizabeth Bennet can be identified as the ‘Pride’ in the title, whereas Mr. Darcy is identified as ‘Prejudice’. Kaveh, then, can easily be assigned as ‘pride’ due to it being labelled as his shortcoming by Alhaitham in A Parade of Providence.
The role of Mr. Darcy can then be assigned to Alhaitham, who, although may not be blinded by prejudice, shares common attributes of Mr. Darcy’s character, in being socially adverse and blunt in his manner of speaking, despite having great awareness of social etiquette, thus allowing for others to easily form misconceptions of him.
Relating this to the analysis of The Illusions of the Mob, then, the parallels between Ilyas and Kaveh can be used to ascertain a potential future for Alhaitham and Kaveh. Kaveh overcoming his pride borne from the “correctness” of his ideals, in comparison to those that Alhaitham perceivably once asserted over him, goes hand in hand with the overturning of the prejudices formed against Alhaitham – just as Elizabeth Bennet must overcome the misconceptions formed of Mr. Darcy’s character in order to better to both understand herself and Mr. Darcy.
The romantic connotation here is conceived from the alignment of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett’s opposing viewpoints ultimately leading to matrimony. This future romantic attachment as a potentiality is generated upon the quest title of ‘Pride and Prejudice’, with Alhaitham and Kaveh being narratively assigned the roles of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet. Considering this, the purpose of identifying this queercoding is not to allude to a potential canonical confirmation of a romantic relationship between the two, but instead highlight the romantic speculation that can be garnered by the game's referencing this novel.
#haikaveh#kavetham#alhaitham#kaveh#haikaveh meta#genshin meta#i asked and you voted!!#this excerpt drove me crazy when i first wrote it because the more the dots kept lining up the more i was convinced i was seeing things#this is speculatory but its FUN#but the pride and prejudice thing is not speculatory pls#haikaveh are austen coded!!#ive written more about this in the essay!! that should be coming soon!! thank you for your patience hehehe
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STAY WITH ME — EREN JAEGER (0)
PROLOGUE —
series summary: Not too long ago, you met one of your biggest mistakes. You let Eren back in to help pick up the pieces, but you feel something—from the past, long scarred over—coming back to the surface.
chapter summary: Tensions between you and Jean tear another rift in the relationship, and it manages to make its way into one of the first conversations you've had with Eren in a long time.
length: 5.7k
contains: making out, heavy petting, allusions to substance use, angst, hurt/comfort, Jean being a dick (but that's what you're here for), Eren being stupid but he's trying (also what you're here for)
masterlist | next
It’s barely eleven o’clock in the morning when you feel him—the mistake you always crawl back to—moving in bed beside you, slowly waking you up. Light spills through your open window, April nighttime air escaping as the sun peeks through, making you squint your eyes closed as you grab your phone off the nightstand.
His arm pulls you back into bed to rest against his chest. “Jean,” you sigh, trying to move out of his grasp. Your chest is still bare, more exposed than you want to be, and your back is sore from last night.
He pulls you in tighter with his hands wrapped around your waist. “Stay for just a bit longer.” He places soft kisses against your shoulder.
“I have class at noon, you need to go.” You can feel him nuzzling into your neck, trying to convince you to stay.
You’ve known him—maybe of him is a better term, only recognizing him by name and face through mutual friends—since the latter half of your freshman year of college, but it’s been nearly two years since then, with only a handful of months since you first hooked up with him. Connie warned you that night after pulling you away from the crowd. Knowing Jean far better than you could ever foresee, saying something along the lines of, He’s just gonna use you, and Be careful, he advised you, hesitantly, against it. You, of course, blinded by alcohol and maybe one too many hits of someone’s joint, didn’t listen—where’s the fun in that? You only know now, hindsight clear, that maybe Connie was right.
How long is he going to keep doing this? Sleeping with you, staying the night, all for him to do the same with any other girl; he denies it when you ask, but you know it’s true. At least, you think it’s true, you have no reason to think it isn’t, and your friends have never fully approved of the arrangement. You’ve seen what can be nothing other than the remnants of old hickies, the miscellaneous hair ties in his apartment, the notifications in late night hours that he ignores without even a glance. But, nothing is conclusive. Just speculatory.
“Your roommate isn’t even here,” he whines into your shoulder, a hand running over the curve of your waist.
“Ymir’s at Historia’s place, and she’s coming back soon. I need to go, Jean.” You take his hand from your waist and leave a kiss, a last resort of comfort without going too far.
He breathes deeply, something akin to mischief assembling. “Hey, you wanna know something?”
You stop resisting for a moment. “What?”
You know he’s smiling behind you, relishing in the fact that you’ll always cave in for him. Connie told you that would happen, too. He has a knack for getting into people’s heads, he said, Which can be good sometimes, but he’ll drive you insane.
He shuffles then, turning your body so that you lay on your back. “I think about you a lot,” he whispers, leaning his head on one hand as the other traces light circles along your stomach.
“Mhm?” You shut your eyes, avoiding eye contact. “What about?” You can feel his gaze trailing down your face and body.
“I think about kissing you…” He traces his lips from your neck down to your shoulders. “And holding you…” He grabs your chin and kisses you slowly on the lips. “And having you in my bed.”
His hand moves to brush along your waist again, inching closer to your breasts as he glances from your lips to your eyes. Your head is spinning, soaking in that smell you’ve gotten so used to: a bit of citrus, a bit peppery, a bit of crisp, fresh linens. In your stomach, the butterflies return, and heat courses through your body all over again. He moves on top of you, placing his forearms beside your head, and you don’t stop him—less from a place of want than it is a place of compulsion, need.
“Yeah?” Your heart beats out of your chest as he leans closer, still holding eye contact. The butterflies etch more patterns into your stomach, arching your back into him while your hands tug at his biceps.
“I always think about you,” he whispers, his lips grazing yours.
He kisses your lips again, all slow how he knows you like it, and runs his hand down your waist, to your hip, where he grabs at the skin, pulling your body toward his as he pushes closer to you, where he needs you. That hand snakes down to your thigh, where he pulls it to wrap around his waist, feeling wanted and satiated and fuck, he could stay like this for hours, just touching you, feeling you, being needed by you. You wrap the other leg around him, bringing him closer, and he groans into your mouth as he grinds against you, sending you back into a daze with the frenzied butterflies.
He pulls back for a moment, leaving the two of you breathless, soaking in your swollen lips and lusty eyes. “Oh my God, you’re so fucking pretty,” he whispers, glancing over your face once more before taking one hand gently around your neck and peppering kisses to your jaw.
The praise goes straight between your legs, urging you to initiate the kiss, wrapping your arms around the back of his neck and pulling him back down, full of lust and neediness and no trace of regret when you pull another groan from his throat with a slight tug of his hair.
He kisses you faster now, rushed, just how he likes it, and he works his way down your jaw, your neck, then your collarbone with openmouthed kisses. You know he won’t even try leaving hickies, but you can’t deny that it would make you feel wanted, having his marks on you, as if it were a silent confession of his prolonged desire, a deeper need for you and you alone.
He trails his lips between your breasts, leaving feather-light kisses on his way down toward your navel, breaths chilling the skin in his wake. “You’re so pretty like this,” he says, pausing for a moment to look back up at you, “All worked up before I even touch you.” He leans over your face again and gives you another kiss, much slower, as if to keep you keening.
“Wait, Jean,” you put your hands on his chest, breathing heavily. “We should stop and pick this up later, yeah?” You kiss him gently again, and your brows furrow together, just slightly—hopeful, you think—as you gauge his reaction.
He sits up and away from your arms, out of reach, breaking the trance you were in. “Are you sure?” A hand cards through his hair, and you wish it were yours.
You scan over his face, searching for a glimpse of the Jean you felt just minutes ago—the one who wants you, the one who begs for you to stay in bed by giving you kisses and half-confessions. You slowly nod your head, sitting up after him and placing a hand on his thigh. “Yeah, I need to get ready for class, and Ymir’s probably coming soon. We can hang out later though…?”
The lust in his eyes dies out, sobering himself up, and he moves off of the bed while you sit on your heels. “Seriously?” He doesn’t wait for an answer. He grabs his clothes from the floor, quickly getting dressed, and throws you last night’s shirt. “You were never like this before, y’know, kicking me out for stupid reasons.”
“What? Jean, I have class—I’m not doing this for a stupid reason.” You stand up, putting your shirt on. “I told you that I’ve been skipping because of you, even though I pay to be here—” You pause, dressed now and letting frustration—the better part of your rationale—get the best of you for once.
“I also pay to be here, but you don’t see me getting all worked up about a stupid class—”
“Jean, it’s just not the same. Not everyone’s a trust fund baby who can let their grades tank and get picked back up with Daddy’s donations.”
He’s still shirtless, and his pants are still taught. “That’s what this is about? Money?” His hands are fidgeting again—an angry habit of his that you noticed weeks ago—and he starts to laugh, full of incredulity. “Are you seriously starting a fight over just a few grand that you might waste?”
“Just a few grand?—That’s not even my point—look, I’m here on scholarship and you know that, I—” You huff and sit back down, calming yourself in spite of the argument’s futility. “I haven’t been on top of my work recently—because of you—and finals are coming up. I need to at least go to a class here and there, or I risk my grades and a lot of money.”
He slips his shoes back on as you speak and pockets his phone, wallet, and keys. “So it is about money.” It’s his turn for a sigh, and he walks to the door to put distance between the two of you. “I get that you want to succeed and…I don’t know, whatever you call it to make it sound important. We all have our problems, right?”
You stare back at him, silent and leaning towards shocked. Teardrops form at the corner of your eyes with a stinging pain in your nose that you fight back to save face.
“Look, I get it. I’ll give you some space then.” He opens the door, still facing you as he leaves you with his final words. “Just gimme a call when you’re done with this mood you’re in.” He turns to find Ymir in the doorway, gives her a quick Nice to see you with what you can hear is a jolly ol’ smile, then walks away. You have nothing left in you to convince you to follow after him.
Ymir stands at the door with a look of sympathy written in her expression. Did she hear all of it? She walks into the dorm carefully, placing her bag on the desk after shutting the door. “You okay?”
Oh, what a complicated question. Should you have expected this? Yes. Did you get warnings about his duplicity, his charm, the ease with which he could make you swoon? Yes. Still, did knowing this much keep you safe from it? No—and in all that intelligence he praises you for in his softest moments, you can’t figure out why or what it is that keeps you going back.
You wish you could talk to Ymir, give her a dissertation on what it means to be trapped like this, ask her how she knew Historia was the one, how to let go of someone who just doesn’t get you no matter how hard you try to explain, but the thirty minutes you have before class starts is unforgiving. “Yeah, I’m good. I have class at noon, so...I’m gonna go shower.” You grab everything you need for the bathroom and move towards the door with your towel in hand.
“Wait,” Ymir stops you at the door, “Connie and I are having lunch somewhere nice today, wanna come with?”
“Uh, I don’t think so, I’m not feeling well.”
You close the door behind you before she can reply, holding back tears only a moment longer and walking into the bathroom. You let the steam surround your mind and muscles, lulling you into a confused state of agitation and relaxation. The water cascades down your body and falls onto the shower floor, down the drain with your tears.
Why are you even crying? You knew what it was you were getting into, even laughing about it a few times with Ymir before the first time your lips locked. Can you really stand here and convince yourself that you’ve been defenseless all along, that you haven’t been playing into his games, toeing the line between responsibility and the thrill? Maybe you’re crying because you actually have feelings for Jean, or maybe you just want him to want you, or maybe you know that he’ll just never be enough for you—that he can never fill that hole left within you after someone else.
Your phone buzzes. You pick it up, checking the time and the text message from Connie.
Connie 11:34am
Ymir told me about some fight?...you okay?
< 11:35am
Yeah! it wasn’t that big a deal :)
Connie 11:35am
Do you want me to say anything to him?
< 11:35am
No it’s fine
Connie 11:36am
Are you sure??
Ik he’s my friend but I also know he’s a dick
< 11:36am
Yes I’m sure!!!
I promise it wasn’t like that
Connie 11:37am
… fine …
I’m seeing you later right?
< 11:37am
Probably not, sorry
Connie 11:37am
Oh okay
You’ll text me if you need tho?
< 11:38am
yeah have fun w Ymir!
You turn your phone off and finish washing your body as fast as possible, knowing you have to be at class soon, sniffling and patting at your tear-ridden eyes all the while. Ymir’s nowhere to be found when you return, and you silently thank her for the solitude as a way to avoid the embarrassment of fighting with Jean yet again.
Naturally, you cannot concentrate during your lecture, for all that it’s worth (which is little more than an argument, you figure). For months, Jean has been all you’ve had. You didn’t hook up with anyone else (you told yourself you just didn’t have the time for anyone else, but that evidently isn’t true), you always let him stay over, you trekked over to his apartment at every beck and call, and you almost always texted first—unless, of course, it was late at night and he was high, or drunk, or just desperate to get his dick wet.
You two officially met at a New Year’s Eve party, despite knowing of one another for over a year before then—the host’s name unimportant to you and your drinking habits—and Connie kickstarted the introduction. Thanks to multiple shots of tequila, you hit it off effortlessly, due in part to Jean’s very obvious and very frequent flirting and partial pandering to some secluded desire to be wanted, listened to, and cared for. People got busy, he offered to get you out of there, and you know how the rest goes: heated kisses, hair pulling, soreness in your inner thighs the morning after, hungover recollections mixed with regrets.
Luckily—or, truthfully, unluckily—for you, your friends were so kind as to give him your number. I’m surprised you never got it before, they jested, What, with the way you two clicked. You met up with him a few times here and there, hanging out, going out to eat, then falling back into bed all over again. And it really did seem to click. Sure, nothing was ever declared official or exclusive, but who were you to complain, or ask questions? A click does not necessarily lend itself to a welding of souls.
And yet, he was your lifeline; your short break from the monotony of studying, and writing, and creating; a salvation of sorts from a past rockier than you’d hoped.
After everything, you’d never thought he would meet your concerns with such…nonchalance?—misguided apathy?—blatant ignorance, maybe?
Maybe, you don’t know him as well as you think you do.
“Hey, [Name], you okay?”
You lift your head up at the familiar voice. “Oh, hey Eren.” You check the time, and the lecture is already over. You know you’ll regret not paying attention, yet, like the usual situation as of late, it remains as the last thing on your mind.
“Is everything okay with you? Looks like you just got dumped.” He looks down at you with his bag slung over his shoulder, his hair in a messy bun and brows drawn together only slightly with concern.
You stand up from your seat and shove everything back in your bag. You check your phone again, hoping for a text from Jean. Nil. A sigh escapes you, though a little more upset than intended. “Something like that…? I don’t know—”
“Oh, shit, sorry I asked—” He blushes, clearly uncomfortable with your response, and a hand shoots to the nape of his neck.
You lend him a subtle smile as you head out of the lecture hall. “No, no, it’s fine. You probably would’ve heard about it eventually. Just, y’know, don’t tell anyone please?”
He smiles sheepishly at that, almost as if it were an accomplishment to know something about you that others don’t. “Safe with me,” he says, tucking his hands into his pockets.
When you walk out of the building, you’re met with the same breeze that passed through your window in the late morning; it cools your skin and seems to calm the jumpy nerves you can’t shake now that you’re talking to Eren—alone, for the first time in who knows how long (five months, but who’s counting?).
“How have you been? It’s been a while since we’ve hung out and really, I don’t know, talked?” he says, a nervous laugh tracing his words as he trails slightly behind you.
“Sorry, I’ve just been busy with my writing and research and everything.” You don’t even try to hide the way you’re glancing at him so often. He looks good like this, you realize, with a breeze flowing through his hair, his smile on display, that long-sleeve pushed up just perfectly to hug his forearms, jeans hanging low at his waist; you stifle that thought down quick. “Turns out trying to get two degrees is a bit more work than one. I haven’t meant to ignore you, if that’s what you’re worried about—” you stop yourself, feeling his gaze come down a bit too hard—“What?” you ask, knowing you did, in fact, just lie to him: you did mean to ignore him, after all, and you’ve spent months, now clearly in vain, trying to get it to stick.
“Nothing, nothing,” he says, waving you off. “It’s just, I’ll never understand how you’re so smart. All this time you’ve always been miles ahead.” He smiles. “Even in highschool you were always a nerd. Oh! Remember in Calculus, junior year, it was just you and me in the front—”
“Yes, Eren, I remember quite vividly.” You head in the direction of your dorm, the opposite direction from where you know he always parks, yet he follows anyway, a sucker for nostalgia.
“Right, you were there. And it was just us, because Armin and Mikasa were in the earlier period, and Walbrunn absolutely hated us—”
“He hated you, don’t try to pull me into that. He liked me because I got hundreds on half his papers and nineties on the rest.” You laugh to yourself as he huffs.
“I got straight A’s, too, you were just a teacher’s pet. He hated me because he wanted me to fail, but I never did.”
“Yeah, because I would teach you the material after you tried distracting me for the whole period. Even then, you were cutting it real close on the final.”
“Let’s just let bygones be bygones, yeah? What were we even talking about before? You got me off track.” A small frown curves his lips.
You turn another corner, and he has to know by now the destination.
“Oh, that’s right, I was asking you about you. Hey,” he stops walking and casts a hand, gently, to your elbow. You can’t remember the last time he touched you like this: casual, absentminded, reflexive. He stops to face you with his back toward the sun, keeping your eyes out of its light, and his hair stays mussed from the breeze. “Is now a good time for catching up? Or are you busy?”
“Is this you inviting yourself back into my dorm?” you ask, now that it’s nearly guaranteed that he’s blindly following you. “You missed your parking getaway a solid minute ago.”
He pauses for a moment. “Oh, well—” he turns, brings a hand to his browbone, and turns back around with a huff and that beautiful smile you can’t seem to forget—“Looks like I did. Got distracted by your company I guess.”
Without thinking, you smile at his teasing. “You can come with me to my dorm if you want, but I have to pack some stuff away to bring home.”
“Leaving so soon?” He continues following the path to your dorm as you turn and start walking again. “Still some weeks left.”
“Nothing like that, just dropping things off that I don’t really need anymore—books I haven’t touched, clothes I haven’t worn, nothing crazy, y’know?”
He only hums in response.
“What?” you ask, nervous that you’ve misspoken, or hit a nerve of his.
He hesitates. “It’s nothing, I just thought you’d be moving into your own place by now—not that I’m, like, judging you or anything for not taking that step, I just—I don’t know, we haven’t talked in a while, I kinda jumped to my own conclusions.”
A silence marked by footsteps on the pavement hangs between the two of you—one two, one two, one two, you count, body thrumming with questions. Has he been thinking about you? Has he been asking your friends about you? Why hasn’t he been hanging out with the group anymore?—Mikasa and Armin have kept mentioning him, and you know he’s around, yet he never appears to be around you. Why? Why is he avoiding you? Why couldn’t he have reached out? Why isn’t he your best friend anymore? Why did everything have to change? And somewhere, hidden and dispersed within the rest, lies the question: why couldn’t he have wanted you as deeply as you’d longed for him?
The reality is, you can't find nor spare the energy anymore, being mad at him, getting caught up on the little things. There comes a point when it hits you—that the benefit of the doubt has never fallen in your favor, that hopefulness is just naivety at its core.
You sigh, then—only after walking into your dorm building and unlocking the door to the stairwell—and you know he wins again this time around because of it. “I’ve been trying, sort of, to figure it out. It’s one of things I know I should be prioritizing, but it just keeps falling to the bottom of my list, y’know?” You shrug and give him a pity laugh.
He pads up the stairs behind you, one landing after another. “I get it. Took me a while to finally do it, and then once I did…I don’t know, it all just came together, and I never really thought about it again—until, y’know, paying the bills,” he laughs, runnings his hands through his terrible, stupid hair, and your heart stings, how you’ve missed this: a silent battle of maturity between the two of you, his subpar sympathy you know he’s trying so hard to improve, his inexperience when it comes to anything serious.
And the two of you giggle together as you always did months ago, letting banter flow between you, until you open your door, and you’re stuck thinking Holy shit, he’s here, he’s here and Jean was just here this morning, and he’s going to know, and then he’ll say something, and—
“Been a while since I’ve been here,” he says, taking off his shoes. “Looks pretty much the same, which is good.” Taking a seat on your unmade bed, he doesn’t notice Jean’s sweatshirt—which you could’ve sworn he’d taken with him this morning—among the disheveled sheets and pillows.
“Were you expecting it to look any different?”
“Hey,” he lifts his hands in defense, “I don’t know what to expect when it comes to you and Ymir.” He shuffles on the bed, uncomfortable, you think, until he stands up altogether, murmurs something along the lines of This much I expected and Why’s it so messy? with a chuckle, and before you know it and before you can protest, he’s making your bed for you—unruly, disorganized, almost-pseudo-anti-establishment Eren of all people, making your bed—and unearths that forbidden sweatshirt.
A pit opens in your gut before he even inspects the damn thing. And why wouldn’t it? There are a million reasons why it would be there, none of them particularly enticing to explain to Eren at the moment. Still, Jean was never an entirely clandestine lover to begin with; why try hiding it now?
Eren pinches it by the hood and holds it at an arm’s length, brow furrowed as he inspects the material. “This yours?” Accusation outlines his words. You stutter out an explanation—No, someone must have left it here?—as he eyes you warily, lifting it to his nose as quick as he pulls it away, wincing. “Jesus Christ—is this Jean’s?”
“How did you—you know Jean’s scent?” It’s only after the words slip off your tongue that you realize you’ve come off far too defensive to be innocent. Well, fuck. No backtracking now, you think; it would’ve come to this eventually.
He laughs at you, and you can’t decipher the origin of that pang in your chest and the stinging pain in your eyes, whether it’s the ridicule alone or the confrontation itself. “No,” he smiles, not an ounce of malice or disappointment laced in his voice. If you knew any better you might hear sympathy marking his features as he casts the hoodie back on your bed. “I just don’t know anyone who smokes that much. I mean, you know me, but damn. You let him leave that here?”
His giggling and offhanded comments end up muffled when they reach you. Frozen you stand, anxiety creeping its way up your spine—and for what? A little scare? A joke from Eren, someone you grew up with? Or, this wasn’t at all what you expected: not the part where Jean’s sweatshirt stayed behind from a lustless argument, nor the part where Eren found it and called you on it, nor the part where Eren didn’t even second guess why it might be in your dorm.
And before you can try to stop it, the tears fall, and you press them away with the hem of your sleeve, pressing and pressing and praying that they could just evaporate on command, because how much more embarrassed do you really need to be today? You turn your back to Eren, distracting yourself with the mess on your desk while he rambles on about something or other—some story about Armin getting stoned and greening out, you think, but it doesn’t matter by the time Eren grazes his fingertips by your shoulder and calls out your name.
He pushes you, gently, to get you turning back around, letting his hand linger on your shoulder. “Hey, what’s wrong—”
“Nothing, it’s nothing—” you push his hand away, and he takes a step back— “I don’t even know why—” you laugh, drying off those last few tears as you look up at him.
Brows furrowed together, hands hovering out to you, as if he can’t decide whether he can touch you—crazy to think that’s something up for debate—he tries to understand: “Was it—did I say something—?” He doesn’t let another sniffle come through you before he asks again, “Is it something with Jean?”
You’re pathetic, unable to answer; he knows you, though, and he knows that is the answer. He softens a bit, knowing the issue is out of his control and that there is little he can do.
“I knew…” he starts, sighing with a seat back on your bed, his hands loosely woven together between his knees. “I knew you guys were a thing for a while, ‘cause word spreads, but…but I didn’t know if it was serious or anything…”
“Well, it’s not, for starters.” You resign yourself to sitting next to him, and you think it might be the closest you’ve gone to touching him since everything fell apart. You can’t even spare him a glance, choosing instead to stare at the wall. “Or, it wasn’t—it’s kind of over, if it even started, and it’s stupid that I’m so upset about it.”
He seems to accept the no eye contact memo, staring across the room to Ymir’s bed with you. “He the reason you were so zoned out today?”
“Yep. Stupid, like I said.” You smile to yourself, and a few stray tears fall down from the stretch.
“It’s not stupid, everyone has someone they’re stuck on. Happens to the best of us.”
You snicker at that, “Well, given everything that’s happened, I’m definitely not the best of us—”
“Oh come on, don’t be like that,” he says, breaking that memo he silently pledged to, looking at you and your half-hearted smile pointed at twiddling thumbs. “As weird as it is to say, I am friends with Jean in a way.” He turns back to the wall. “I mean, he’s a good looking guy, and he could probably out-smoke me now that I think about it, even though that’s embarrassing to admit. And he’s really rich—fucking…fucking loaded, that prick—and he’s the type of guy you can always have some fun with, but the thing about that is you can get used to it, y’know?—”
“Eren?” you interrupt, bringing your head back up to stare at the wall again.
“Yes?” He snaps out of the fit of rambling he fell into and his gaze fixes itself to your side profile: the bat of your eyelashes, wet with tears; the smooth, soft curve of your lips; the almost-dimple on your cheek that he used to kiss with morning breath.
You turn to face him, caught off guard by unexpected eye contact. You break it, of course, looking instead to where his hands press dents into the mattress. “You’re not very good at the whole consoling thing,” you say, before glancing back up to his face, smiling as a manner of saying I’m okay.
He gives back that sweet, addicting laughter you’d gone so long without and drops his head until his chin meets his chest. He really has grown up, you think, into a man. No more is that naive, juvenile little boy you once knew, for in his smile you see something genuine, and maybe a little more. Maybe he’s changed these past few months, in which you knew only the periphery of his life and tried moving on in your own.
And maybe he’s found someone else, someone new, who will want only what he gives, and nothing more. Maybe they’ll take the twilight conversations under the covers, the sleepy kisses between stretches at dawn, the joints over breakfast while clad in barely enough clothing, and they’ll think better of it than to be swooned. And you’d applaud them for doing so, for being free-spirited and open and grateful, for that alone, and you’d be happy for Eren, for finding someone who fits that niche of his like you never could.
“Yeah, that seems to be the trend. Sorry, I suck at this kinda stuff.” He soaks in that sappy, tear-ridden smile on your face, and without thinking he reaches a hand to your cheek, so gentle it’s barely there until he wipes at yet another tear from the corner of your eye.
“It’s okay.” It’s okay now, you think, but what about those countless times before? What about when you needed him, needed him to say or give you something, and he couldn’t give much more than his silence?
He huffs, glancing at you more seriously than before. A thought churns in his mind, and you can tell he’s chewing on the words before spitting them out.
“You don’t have to say anything and be all sympathy-like.”
“I know,” he says, and for a moment you almost think he could mean it. “But you’re my friend, and you’re sad, so it’s kind of my job right now—” And in the midst of his kindness, his phone starts ringing in his back pocket. He glances at the caller ID, rolls his eyes while muttering This little shit, and looks to you before picking up.
“Hello?” he answers. Floch, he mouths. “Yeah, I—huh? Hold on.” He covers the mic on his phone, holds it to his shoulder.
You can read the look on his face before he speaks: furrowed brow, pout, regret in his eyes. “You’re leaving?”
He sighs. “He says someone in the lab fucked up, took our samples by accident. I don’t want to go—”
“It’s okay.” It’s not like you’ve never done this before.
He hesitates, but lifts the phone back to his ear. “Okay, yeah. I’ll be right there…” You watch his expression turn apologetic, to confused, to annoyed in the short moments Floch responds. “What? No—no, fuck off. I’m hanging up.” And he does exactly that, a little more irritated than expected.
“Everything okay?”
He sighs, standing up from your bed. “Yeah, he’s—he’s just—well, you know how he is.”
You lend him a smile as if to say, I understand. “I’ll leave you to it, then…”
Hovering by the door, boyish again, he wrings his hands. “This was nice, catching up.”
You were thinking the same, but you weren’t going to say it—is that even allowed at this stage? What stage is this, anyway? There’s a mess of the past and the present, of your life before and after Eren, of who you were in those times, but somehow all your thoughts turn into a tangled string of words and all you manage to say is, “Yeah,” with a sorry excuse for a smile twisted in its wake.
“I’ll see you later, then?” he asks, opening the door. He waits for another nod of your head—you couldn’t even speak a proper response—before leaving with a soft and abbreviated wave goodbye, a pitiful smile curving the very end of his lips. You can’t help but remember when you could taste them before falling asleep.
The last reminders of his presence: thud of the door, thumthumthum of steps down the hall, latch click of a stairwell opening. And, of course, that deep, looming pressure bubbling in your gut, and that fire burning in your chest coming back for more. Maybe they never went away to begin with.
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Why the Altmeri Commentary on Talos is Important to Lore Discussion (Even if It Isn't the Thalmor's End Goal)
Originally posted on r/teslore three years ago. To be clear, important in this context means if you're trying to guess where TES might go in the future. And as the years go by, and we now have an almost complete turn-over of developers at Bethesda, it may be less relevant. Still, the new developers will have all these old ideas to rummage through.
This begins with a split among fans, though I don't think it has to be a nasty split. There is a very strong opinion in /r/teslore that Out-of-Game texts are valid if you want them to be, if you find them interesting enough for your Tamriel. And there's another very strong opinion that only official lore is really valid for theorizing. To be completely honest, we all probably dabble in one or the other at different times. Sometimes we are more creative and speculatory about Tamriel, other times we are arguing out the Lowest Common Denominator of agreed-upon lore. (It's never actually agreed upon, but that's part of the fun.)
But there's a third possibility: examining Out of Game texts for the perspective they can give us on In-game lore. A really good example of how this works would be the document: On the Nords' Totem Religion. It was a design document for Skyrim which was not incorporated into the game directly. However, the document gives a lot of insight into the little we do see in Skyrim of the ancient Nord religion. It is useful in interpreting the game itself.
It's also useful for going forward. When ESO returned to Skyrim this year, we could bet that the devs would be taking a closer look at the local religion, as they had in Elsweyr last year. And we could also guess that they might turn to that unofficial Skyrim design document which best explained the original ideas for the Nord religion. As of a few weeks ago, much of the Totem Religion document's lore has been added to the official lore as in-game books in ESO.
The totem religion document is as uncontroversial example of this process as you can find. Most everyone in lore circles has regarded it as a very useful document. You won't find that agreement about all OOG unofficial writings. But I'd like to make the argument for why the Altmeri Commentary on Talos is worth knowing and discussing even if you don't end up thinking it's true.
So, I'll begin with quoting the whole thing. It's pretty short.
What appears to be an Altmeri commentary on Talos
To kill Man is to reach Heaven, from where we came before the Doom Drum's iniquity. When we accomplish this, we can escape the mockery and long shame of the Material Prison.
To achieve this goal, we must:
1) Erase the Upstart Talos from the mythic. His presence fortifies the Wheel of the Convention, and binds our souls to this plane.
2) Remove Man not just from the world, but from the Pattern of Possibility, so that the very idea of them can be forgotten and thereby never again repeated.
3) With Talos and the Sons of Talos removed, the Dragon will become ours to unbind. The world of mortals will be over. The Dragon will uncoil his hold on the stagnancy of linear time and move as Free Serpent again, moving through the Aether without measure or burden, spilling time along the innumerable roads we once travelled. And with that we will regain the mantle of the imperishable spirit.
What it doesn't say: Nowhere does it say it's a Thalmor document. Nowhere does it mention the Towers. Those two points are pretty well-known in lore circles, but they come up enough to make it worthwhile to point out.
Second thing to notice: its date.
Submitted by Lady N on Sun, 09/19/2010 - 19:53
Obscure texts
Author: Michael Kirkbride
Librarian Comment:
Many of these are in-character snippets taken from various forum posts.
It doesn't have an exact date; the old forums have been deleted. But we do see that it was re-posted on the Imperial Library on 09/19/2010, the year before Skyrim came out. This important detail is glossed over in a lot of the discussion of its relevance. It is not a document written after Skyrim trying to put a creative spin on some details in-game. It's a document published before Skyrim came out, and hence a window on the discussions that were going on in the development of Skyrim. We need to look at the stuff in Skyrim with the question: Does the Altmeri commentary shed any light on what's going on here?
Well, the fact that the Altmeri Commentary suggests that Talos needs to be erased from the mythic makes it very relevant. Maybe this is not the reason for the Thalmor's Talos ban in the game that eventually was released. But it's evidence that during the development of Skyrim, the reason was being kicked around by someone in discussions with the devs. It's that context that finally informs the two lines in-game that might refer back to the Commentary.
The first and most often quoted is Ancano's boast:
You think I can't destroy you? The power to unmake the world at my fingertips, and you think you can do anything about it?
It's pointed out that he can simply be boasting of his power there, without any reference to a supposed greater plan. And yes, that's true. But remember, we aren't interpreting that line in a vacuum. There was a development-related post that brought up a fanatical Altmer idea of unmaking the world before Skyrim, and it's just a coincidence that a fanatic Thalmor member boasts of having the power to do so in the game? These things have nothing to do with each other?
And then there is the other line from Esbern which I think is even more significant.
I don't suppose they want the world to end any more than we do. Or at least, they'd prefer it to end on their terms.
Esbern's statement does not confirm this is the Thalmor's plan. What it does is confirm that the idea this is the Thalmor's plan exists in-universe. And Esbern is not some random conspiracist; he's a lore-master. Dragons were his hobby but we also know from his dossier that the Thalmor consider him responsible for two of the most damaging operations on Dominion soil. He knows his stuff when it comes to the Thalmor. His opinion may be affected by paranoia, he may not even hold the opinion very strongly (suggested by how he corrects himself there), but he is not some random guy in the pub with a conspiracy theory about the Thalmor. If it's a conspiracy theory, it's an important one in-universe.
So, we have a timeline that suggests the Commentary is important, and two references in the game of Skyrim to the idea presented in the Commentary. The references are independent, coming from ideological enemies, Ancano and Esbern. I'd say that makes a very strong case for the Commentary's ideology existing within the universe.
If this concept exists within the universe, the Commentary is important even if it does not represent the Thalmor's ultimate goal accurately.
But where does one go with that? With Michael Kirkbride's historic and ongoing influence on the TES franchise, elements of the Commentary are quite likely to make it into future games. On the other hand, the Commentary may be a window on an idea in development that was tossed around and ultimately abandoned. Maybe it's not Thalmor belief, really. It could even be Blades propaganda. Maybe Ancano believes in it, but he's actually a fanatic who's out of step with the Thalmor in general. etc. etc. etc.
Acknowledging that an Out-of-Game source is relevant does not mean accepting it as the Truth Bound To Be Revealed by TES VI. TES fandom has had enough of that over-certainty already. I think we've all met someone who takes some random developer's post as The Gospel Truth that cannot be questioned. That's frustrating, for sure. But let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. It doesn't make sense to ignore it completely in discussions about the Thalmor's ultimate goal. There are enough sources to make it worth looking at, both inside and outside the universe.
This post was about the relevance of the Commentary, but if you're interested in how the Commentary's ideology could function within the Thalmor, I can never recommend enough this old /r/teslore post: Analyzing the Altmeri Commentary on Talos.
Additional reply in comments:
I thought I'd hedged enough on my statement. I won't claim Esbern as an expert on the Thalmor's ontological goals, although he definitely is more knowledgable about the Thalmor than the random guy at the pub. I do think, however, that his statement confirms that some people within the universe think this is the Thalmor's end goal. I see his statement there as he's not certain himself of it.
In the comments of the original post, a user who has since deleted their account posted a very interesting timeline of the development under discussion. I also recommend this discussion with Misticsan about the post and whether fans give the Commentary undue importance in contrast to other sources on the Thalmor.
This was only the beginning of a very involved journey into the weird fandom status of the Altmeri Commentary and the Towers Theory. It's a lengthy saga, and I've put off formatting it for tumblr but I do mean to eventually copy all the teslore posts over here.
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[Section 4,Part 2.2]..”As an aside”..continues from previous…
Toh ab iss model ke kuch salient features(below ):
caution:
[Bhai..I can go on n on abt d features of dis model..this wud perhaps run into thousands of pages..kuch hi share kar raha hoon yahan par..rest.. khud ke liye hi rakhta hoon.. personal entertainment ke liye.. I mean..Waise bhi yeh ..sirf aur sirf ..speculatory level pe hi rachi gayi cheez hai]
[kaafi speculation main indulge kiya hai maine..yeh toh main khud manne ko tayyar hoon bhai..
Joh main ab bolne walla hoon..wakai main aisa hi hota hai/hoga ..bhai..yeh koi zarrori nahi..Kyon ki na maine aankhon se dekha hai..aur na hi mere paas aisi sab cheezo ke practice kiye jaane ka koi proof hai..toh bhai usi spirit main lena sab kuch..theek?..]
Fictional/fiction kisam ka work keh sakte ho aap Isse.. toh bhai ..isiliye ab zyada lapetna bhi theek nahi hoga.. aap kahi sunte sunte uth kar chal na do.. achanak se..haha…waise bhi hum pehli baar mil rahe hai..aur phir bhi aapne hame itna time diya..yeh apne aap main hi bohot badi baat hai..
**Waise bhi kisi bhi samasya ko agar aap ko solve karna hai.. toh bahut zarrori ho jaata hai ki pehle usse theek se samjha jaye..to b able to properly understand a problem..n thereafter being able to properly define/articulate/document it..has to b a good initial step ..dat cud go a long way in trying to solve dat problem..ek generalised kisam ka model..ek visual representation jaisi cheez.. shall mostly go a long way in trying to solve a problem (cud b any)..it’s (dis has)been my experience..many a times…
*********
Toh bhai…here it is..this model(r object of focus/study/interest ..I mean)..(below)…:
With ear(s)to ground.. when I try to soak in/drink in/absorb..all those events( ie..mostly d ones belonging to/of political variety).. dat play out (day in ..dat out)..in d political space of a rt wing/far right/ authoritarian kind of a contry(any.. bear in mind am not talking abt one particular/specific country here)..wat I then happen to (surprisingly)find/discover is dat..dis kind of a model(as indicated below).. virtually draws/paints (begins to paint/draw) itself out..
Iske kuch salient features main outline kar raha hoon yahan par ab..
[Purely speculatory hi hai bhai..yeh sab.. . isliye ..fictional bhi keh sakte ho ise/fictional bhi kehlo..(Kyon ki mere pas koi proof nahi..iss kisam ke koi model ki existance ka)..still…tend to think..shall b good fun in trying to view/understand/examine all dat stuff..dat goes on/d goings-on? ..(in countries where such regimes rule)..in dis manner/light(ie..from d pov/context of a representative model at hand)..yes..am of belief..dis can prove to b helpful in lending a massive context..to a lot of things]
About dis famed model now…its aspects/features..(below)..
Aspect no 1:
Portability/adaptability
Dis model.. it has good portability/adaptability features(ie.. is portable/easily adaptable ..can say..has good portability/and adaptability)
Meaning it can not only b quite easily transplanted/implemented/mounted..on to a perfectly democratic country..(by a rt winger/far right/authoritarian regime ..currently in power ..in dat country)…but can also “very easily” b mounted ..across all such similarly ruled (perfectly)democratic set ups/countries ..ie in countries ..currently being ruled by regimes following dis/similar political ideology (all of dis gets done by making minimal changes(ie..if any ..required at all …to begin wid)/minimal adaptions ..to dis(base)model…dat is ..when trying to mount dis model from country to country)
What minimal changes u ask..?..
Ans..All such changes(ie ..if any required at all..dat is) get done..keeping in mind the prevalent/local tastes/flavours/sentiments of d citizenry of dat unfortunate country(otherwise keeping rest/most of d model intact)..where dis kind of a (parasitic/ hate/divisive/satanic..yes..these r d words am using here..coz these r d very words dat generally get used by d critics of this political ideology all across d globe…ie..no matter wat d country..can check dis bit..dis very/right dis moment ..on d internet..ie..to verify all dat ..dat am saying ..right now..wrt these regimes)model is about to b mounted..
[..ie..in countries/places where such regimes may b already/currently holding power.
Actually..instances galore..of such regimes beginning to subtly mount dis model ..even b4 they have managed to come to power in a country.
This obviously gets/is done ..(to begin wid)..to come to power…and once in power/there..dis very same model then..further enables/allows such regimes to (in d very least) keep dis power …dats already been acquired by dem…(for as long dis can b possible..dat is)
Dis just doesn’t end here btw..
Dis model(actually..it gives more)..thereafter..also aids/helps dis regime ..in d acquisition of/in its quest of wanting to acquire more n more of dis power..[ie..by allowing/helping it(dis regime)..to create…more n more of these(power acquisition)opportunities..(day in..day out )..]
***A regime may not b in power at a national level..but it can always start by mounting dis model in a state where its already in power/it already holds power(Dis too ..one has witnessed happening…in a few countries in d past)
**[As have already pointed out earlier..all dis model mounting gets done across different countries.. by making minuscule/minimal changes ..(ie..by keeping d essential building blocks of dis model intact..and making small changes here n there..in dis model/in d rest of dis model…ie/so r able to/in order to b able to adapt it for d country..where dis kind of a regime is about to mount dis model)..when porting dis model from one such regime ruled country to an other(read…from a country where such a models been already mounted.. and has already been tried n tested..ie ..has been accessed for its success..
Success?…Success as in being able to achieve its end goals..it’s intended purpose..
Dis end goal..have already mentioned it earlier on..ie..dat of enabling d regime to come to power..to begin wid/in d first place..n once in power..to (further)enable it/dis regime to acquire more n more of it..or in d very least..to b able to keep all dat power dats already been acquired by it)…ie..to an other …similarly ruled ..rt winger/far right/authoritarian/ dictatorial regime ruled (perfectly democratic?) country..(where such a/dis kind of a models about to b mounted)]..
Wat specific adaptions r (generally)undertaken when mounting from one country to an other..dis..a bit later..
*********
Aspect no 2:
Scalability:
Scalable it is.. dis famed model..meaning.. it can easily b scaled up as well as scaled down..(all dis gets done offcourse.. keeping in mind d prevalent/current political atmosphere in dat country ..ie..all dictated by d demands of d present/prevalent political atmosphere of dat country-for eg..when an opportunity presents itself..u may want to scale up dis model dats been already mounted in ur country..
If there happens to b some kind of a (general)unrest in d country..d citizenry may b in d state of heightened alertness..in dat case..u may want to tone down a bit(read..scale down dis model by a few degrees)..
Dis scaling up business.. it always happens.. bit by bit.. ie.. in small/minuscule increments ..not easily noticeable…(specially in all dat chaos/noise..dats bound to erupt from time to time..where such regimes rule..coz d general character/politics of these regimes happens to b such).. by d general citizenry/ populace of dat unfortunate country.. (ie..where such a models been/being mounted/where such a model begins to get mounted .. bit by bit)
[Read…d regime.. gets its citizenry to relinquish their fundamental rights..bit by bit/by degrees(all done off-course..by operating (in a clever kind of a manner)..within d contours of d democratic structures of dat country….ie..by cleverly circumventing a lot of these checks n balances(dat happen to b inherent/an integral part of these/such structures))by slowly gnawing at d pillars/institutions of democracy of dat unfortunate country/ by slowly undermining its constitution/by slowly weakening its democracy/democratic structures..
Like parasites they go about this business of gnawing at d democratic framework of dat unfortunate country..day in ..day out…and dis mounted model aids in dis shady business..(in an underhanded kinda way..it obviously operates)
How does all dis happen?.. how does a regime go about achieving dis?..dis too ..a bit later ..
********
Aspect no 3:
Localisation:
Can port/mount/transplant dis model anywhere..for eg.. across residential complexes/societies.. in d corporate sector(can mount it across boardrooms)..can mount it on religious/cult like organisations even..
Can also port/mount/transplant it ..on to a country..can mount it across different states of d same country even..
**********
Aspect no 4:
Models chief/all encompassing/overriding attribute:
Is essentially divisive in nature..dis hate model..dis “divisiveness” attribute of dis model ..being its biggest strength..it’s forte.. ..n Unity/love.. it’s biggest curse… it’s bane... (dats why I call it a satanic model..a devils model)..it thrives on chaos too..it looks at chaos as opportunities to further d model mounting regimes ambitions(read…designs)… also opportunities to further advance dis model/mount dis model..by a few more degrees.
[Here’s one inherent (kind of a)vulnerability in/of dis model … easy to spot dis one... can say .. is a kind of a vulnerability of dis model..dat staring right back at u…right now/at dis present/very moment..dats right..”Unity/love”… dis makes a model fall rite then n there..if people unite..stop hating..dis then has d potential of making dis model fall rite there n then.. haha..(for as long as such regimes rule.. they shall never allow dis to ever happen..coz they bloody well know..if dis was ever allowed to happen.. wat then cud potentially follow…]
*******
Aspect no 5:
Absolute Dependence on propaganda machinery:
Dis kind of a regime…it almost always relies on a vicious propaganda machinery/set up. One of d chief reasons why dis model is in vogue nowadays/has managed to make a grand comeback in these recent years (i.e., in dis last decade or so) is d advent of social media across d world. It has proved to be an almost indispensable tool in d propaganda machinery arsenal of such regimes and is being used to d hilt/is being maximally milked in these current times to further their ambitions. Since many in them/many such regimes (not all, btw, since it's never ever good to generalize) have often been known to not hesitate in centering their politics around a vicious propaganda campaign of misinformation/disinformation against their opponents (political or otherwise)…(clear indications of their dis kind of politics in d past too)…so, it’s li’l wonder then dat dis kind of a model (read right wing/far right/extreme right/authoritarian kinda politics) has caught on (in a big way)/has made a grand comeback these recent few years, with d advent of social media. Coz dis kind of technology kinda adds to their propaganda machinery arsenal in ways one is witnessing in d current times.
Bear in mind, d dependence of a right-winger regime on dis propaganda machinery (to keep power, or to acquire more n more of it) is so huge dat, in a scenario/in an eventuality where dis kind of propaganda machinery falls, d model mounting regime too may just fall…right there n then.
Events like, for eg, a World Cup win, d hype surrounding such victories, get encashed big time by these hyper-nationalist regimes, so are able to establish power/make a grand comeback to power… etc., etc.… (meaning, get used to win elections) in their respective native countries. Case in point: d recent victory of a far-righter in Argentina (following Argentina's victory in d football World Cup). This kind of a thing can actually be witnessed in quite a few countries. Coz such regimes centre their politics around hyper-nationalism too, in a big way, so any such victory gets milked to d maximum by such regimes (all of course aided by their vicious propaganda machinery set up).
D entry point of such regimes, i.e., how do they manage to come to power in d first place/how do they manage to make inroads into national politics (i.e., from being small timers, at one point in time), answers, most of d times, it all begins by setting up of a vicious propaganda machinery (and d first step in dis direction always has to be/it all has to begin by getting d mainstream media houses (and d journalists therein) to do their bidding, followed by probably adding a social media cell kinda component to this whole propaganda machinery, dat may be beginning to take shape now. (Setting up of an ecosystem is what I’m talking about here.) Of course, nothing's ever free, so in order to be able to do all dis requires truckloads of money (sources could be any). So money, a vital component, has to be poured into dis kind of an endeavor (i.e., to be able to firstly own/establish dis kind of a propaganda machinery set up/ecosystem, and thereafter also to be able to keep its engines running incessantly). So once dis setup happens, life then really becomes completely set for such regimes. A big-time vicious propaganda campaign (of misinformation and disinformation against their political opponents or others) then begins (all pretty strategically done, of course).
Wat follows next is a thumping/emphatic election victory for them (so this is how they (broadly) ascend to d throne for d very first time/taste power for d very first time. [And once in power, they, of course, now acquire state machinery/apparatus. Dis too now gets gleefully added to their ecosystem/by now already existing arsenal, all done with an explicit aim of being able to further their ambitions/agenda. (Agenda, to be able to acquire more n more power, or in d very least to be able to keep whatever power that’s been acquired already.]
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what parts of vnc has you most interested?
Basically, I don't care about the things that have made it popular. Lol.
For real though, my reading of manga tends to focus specifically on the text way more than the drawings, which means things like battle scenes are a pain to get through. That's on me, of course, and there have definitely been times where it's considerably detracted from my understanding/enjoyment of a scene (or even an entire series... The dense art style of Dorohedoro made it really hard for me to enjoy, since I couldn't tell what was going on at a glance). The amount I'm able to go "wow, cool" over a shounen manga doesn't really factor into my liking it.
Also, I don't care about the romance. I'm gay, I'm glad to see gay characters in media I like, and I do have a bias towards f/f and to a lesser extent m/m because of this, but ultimately, I don't care what happens. It doesn't affect my enjoyment of the story particularly and I don't read the romances in VnC through a shipping lens. I find the way a lot of people consume romances in media to be really alienating, and I try not to involve myself in it too much. Also, I think MochiJun personally is just kind of terrible at writing romance. What few legitimate attempts she's made just kind of suck, and tend to range from at best funny in their incompatibility, to extremely uncomfortable. Especially m/f, because she has some obvious hangups about that.
That being said, I do like relationships to represent a coherent thematic whole! If I'm right about the direction Vanitas is going with its romance writing (that is, it's ultimately a representation of a group of traumatized young adults who keep setting themselves up for failure in romance due to a lack of understanding of healthy relationships), I actually think that's pretty cool. I also care about relationships that provide greater context for individual characters. I think Mochizuki's greatest strength as a writer is in her characters, and a big part of how she does that is showing how characters interact with other people. I dislike VnJn intensely as a "ship," but I really like it as a set of character actions and way of exemplifying their individual characterizations.
The advantage of MochiJun's insistence upon a Retrace/Memoire format with PH and VnC is that it allowed her to extensively utilize a not-entirely-linear plot structure. Both PH and VnC justify their regular chapter+ long flashbacks in canon, and I think it works for MochiJun's character writing style. The strongest parts of her character writing usually comes from characters reminiscing over a particularly emotionally charged subject (see: RTXXXVIII, M31, M46). So I like seeing those ^_^.
Then, I'm interested in the sweeping thematic statements VnC has over any individual scene, though I find VnC to really be fun to read either way. That's why most of my talk about Astolfo has been 1. how funny it is that he's a parody of the fate/ character and 2. how oh my God, MochiJun isn't a chicken shit coward and realizes sometimes you do need to punch a racist!
That doesn't mean I disregard other parts- I've made a fair number of speculatory posts, as you've probably seen. These are just the parts I'm most invested in.
#logxx#logam#answers#anonymous#Tl;dr I don't care what cool powerups Noé or Vani or whoever get#And I don't care who they end up with#(itself)#I DO care about individual character writing#And overarching themes#Hope this helps
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Chuck came off as bad (& as annoying) as Metatron, to me. Very megalomaniac like & SO OOC. He's worried about Jack sneezing India away. But then he just overreacts (to D&S making the RIGHT CHOICE which he always liked before) & 'ends' the world he was so worried about?
But to be fair, this seems to be going on with a lot of people.
And generally comes from, atop canon confusion, Christian Culture Coding getting in the way of people’s lenses, even if they, themselves, are atheist or whatever, because we live in a society largely formulated by the dogma.
That said,
You’re confusing the God of Control with the God of Good. Point being, there was never a God of Good, just a God of Control. He humors, he lies, he misleads, and when it goes beyond his control, he punishes. He burns. He floods. He starts over. Or at least Gnostic. Hermetic has a different silver lining which I bang on elsewhere. The two overlap. We’ll see.
Christian dogma is understandably unkind to this, or the mainstream forms of it. Other belief systems that tap on judeochristian elements, like Gnosticism and Hermeticism – which were both very present in this season, admit to this from different angles.
Gnosticism is the pessimistic angle, wherein ironically Lucifer was the force of respective good who brought knowledge to man with his division from the divine, and brought free will. Hermeticism acknowledges the Great Good as god, but not as the god we know. Both forms have a god above the terrestrial god, above the fire and brimstone god, above both a masculine and a feminine aspect (Amara) as the one and the all - the shadow of god, as it were, the first thought that floated in the Empty Nothingness, the Ein Soph. As all things are this Shadow, we are all God, and all reflected in it, and it is our own Shadow as well, but no one of us is the one true god unto ourselves. Rather, climbing the tree of life is the ascent towards the divinity, away from the terrestrial and mundane worlds and into a state of cosmic consciousness – first in realms of angels and gods and then past it, to primal thought and to grasp what the Nothing Before Creation even means.
Gnosticism’s pessism gives aspect to this in addressing the concept of Abraxas as the true creator, with demiurges and false creators beneath them as fragments of the self. A two set: A god of both creation and control, and a god of knowledge and freedom. But there is also the divine masculine and the divine feminine, representing creation and destruction, neither of which are good or evil, just balances of the universe.
The god that breathed creation is more of the true satan in our understanding of the concept; that the Lucifer that was cast down did so at the cost of breaking past the walls of control to bring a different form of truth to man. Gnosticism frames Lucifer, ironically, as the benevolent force in this structure (which, in theory, in being the first to rebel against villainous Chuck and his control, would have made him the first hero of this story, as much as we are loath to admit it with Mark P – to whence he was caged, strangulated, abused, kicked out of heaven, and himself became a monster – is this sounding familiar with Jack’s path in sync to Team Free Will as his fathers?)
Even still, Chuck’s attempt to control – or, in the old narrative, save his creation – was giving the mark to Lucifer. Lucifer, driven by the destructive balance needed in the universe, then descended. Amara’s destruction and black smoke still entered the world as the demons and hell, and balance resumed, with Lucifer framed into the Ultimate Villain Of This Story, drive and motivation behind we only hear in S11, but didn’t want to sympathize with, especially with Chuck’s supposed parental lessons.
On the other hand, Chuck voluntarily wrote the draft for the ultimate biblical revelation. Everybody tore that up. In theory he kept writing. He kept “creating.” Only his creation was one misery porn after another. Other pseudo-gods tried to fill his place, even write like him, but without the same universal impact because they weren’t really in his seat. He was still writing. He was still writing all of it.
A thousand prayers he could have answered and he didn’t. He just kept writing. Kept making new dramas. There is the theoretical question of if Amara is a being of his own design to introduce the drama of it, but with the later gnostic and hermetic structure meeting the vein of it, that is unlikely. Rather, it is the divided god, The Archon, the Demiurge, the Unbegotten father theoretically above it, just like in full metal alchemist,
Speculatory? Sure, but not unparallel. It was the end of the road at the far nothing once journies were met, past poles of sacrifice and gain, of destruction and creation, of any concept of evil or good. It is the ultimate good, because its thoughts are what becomes and exists, but it is you, and me, and everyone, and it is our shadow that reflects us, as only its dream is, in a very lovecraftian concept wherein it just wants to sleep.
Anything like… ringin’ a bell here?
The shorthand explanation is that Chuck is the creator force of the universe(s) related to him, as part of the dream, and Amara is the destroyer force of the universe(s) related to her, but in essence they’re still dancing poles. When Chuck and Amara took their leave, they made a balanced caduceus towards the heavens, a legendary sign of balance that would later become relevant in all of the hermetic STUFF going on, especially in season 14.
God is a writer. The shadow – in theory, unless they swing way far left all of a sudden – is a dreamer past them, the thoughts of the nothing in which we all reside. People may consider this somehow underwhelming, “it was all a dream,” but it’s a great step beyond that and it’s reductio ad absurdum to apply that, unless you only consider your entire life a dream – because this is a philosophy turned over by some of the greatest minds our academia banters back and forth to our day, banters the specifics of, entire elaborate philosophies and theologies are written around. Abraxas (though buckleming wasted that name on the late demonology corruption, and it has many names and forms) is the origin of Abracadabra – I speak therefore I am; it is similar, and yet in opposition to the alternate take, “Only what I dream is real, I know nothing of reality beyond what I know.” – the opposition of the idea of a divine force compelling you, versus being the center of your own active dream you take into your control.
How far TPTB take this line of philosophy is hard to say, but they’re definitely popping some wheelies around with the idea right now.
God had fun with his control, his story, his entertainment, until the free will inserted into the universe beyond his control reached a pinnacle where they no longer followed his orders, or went without question; wherein they looked him in the face and tried to take him down. The story, then, ceases to be fun. It is no longer of value. Rather, his entertainment comes in the ways of old with each major rebellion: the fire and brimstone of the past, putting a new spin on the universe that is his sandbox, with or without Amara’s aid, who he may very well even be unified with despite not entirely being one with the Shadow of himself (and us.) After all, they caduceus spiraled their way out, who’s to say what became of them on that road trip, and what balance was met. Amara’s, what, playing craps out in Reno? Sure. But writers lie.
Team Free Will are the ouroboros that has broken its chain, becoming the brazen serpent that climbs the cross/tree it would have been crucified on in a journey towards the peak of existence and enlightenment, standing toe to toe with what seems to be the crown, and the skies grow dark until they can tackle, and own that. Until they take full, true, and total control of their experience to the godhood, and really, truly, and ultimately rip up not just the ending and the rules, but whatever forces are dictating, rewriting, finding new amusement in their sufferages, feeding draft after draft of possible deaths or rewrites even to Death trying to keep the cosmic order, who herself is growing tired of the shenanigans.
“In the end, I’ll reap god too.” - Death, S5.
Welcome to the end.
Enjoy some related posts of adjacent topics and issues including the primordials of SPN, the gnostic and hermetic structure, titles, applications, general theology and pass-around thoughts as they came up:
(x) (x) (x) (x)
Chuck didn’t answer prayers not due to lazy authorship. Chuck didn’t answer prayers even in the darkest days because he didn’t want to. The drama is all he can experience. The games. But now the game itself is fighting back, via one bullet from Sam Winchester willing to sacrifice himself to destroy the creator himself in a moment of that free will rebellion – a strange aptness considering his place in the universe against Lucifer.
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Canon: Zane Flynt fucks
Me: haha u know what this means ;))))
Me:
Me:
Me: merfolk glamour time
[[MORE]]
Alright but for real tho u wanna see how deep I am in this fucking universe? Lego
I don't even know where to begin with this universe (Zer0 is an alien! Hammerlock is a werewolf! Troy is psychic! Tannis is a skag! Wait, no, wrong shitpost...) so imma open the 140 page document and start from the beginning
Annnnd Clay! Junpai-7.
When Zane meets Clay for the first time he mentions they did a smuggling job together on Junpai-7, u know, the water planet, so obviously this is good news (This made me super happy because my discord channel's name had been the junpai-7 moon pool for a while so I was like 'holy shit it's canon now' :') )
Timeline wise this isn't the beginning, but I don't write in chronological order and I don't order anything in chronological order, either, so. Eh.
Speaking of chronological order, I once got a line where Zane was like exclaiming something and used the moon instead of idk a god or powerful figure or smth and I was like 'lmao that's canon now'
So the moon... Elpis fucking got yeeted halfway across the galaxy or smth, and, considering we've seen (more) ocean on Pandora in 3 instead of just, like, Liars Berg (getting to THAT) or Tretchers landing, I feel bad for the tides. But that's good news for everyone else. Unless you were on Elpis, I guess.
Also hoh boy the 'end' of the game where Troy Phaselocks the moon was fun to write (it actually wasn't, I lowkey hate writing Moonstruck phases because... It hurts and I can't do it well.) also can we talk about how in tps the psychos are called Moonstrucks in tvhm because this makes me so happy. I really hope they did that intentionally considering H2O is an Australian show because my two favorite things combined can and will kill me. Wait actually the Troy boss fight is gonna be hilarious to write mostly because of that one attack with the tidal waves lol oh no
Also, also, also, you guys it's only explained in a guide book and never actually in-game as to why Captain's ship is Like That (TM) so I took some liberties and uhhh blame the Crackening. I mean the crackening happened after dahl pulled out of Pandora/Elpis so it works. It sorta works. It mostly works. Fuck. It works okay? shut. That's why Liars Berg is all frozen ocean [shoves 3 page essay about climate change on Pandora into the trash] don't need that anymore.
I was gonna talk about smth else
Oh yeah
Mostly brain freeze and trick of the light. That one meme video I made of Tannis and the Flynt Brothers imposed over that one clip of H2O (so let me get this straight: you freeze things, you explode things, and you boil things) wasn't just for laughs, it was actually a warning.
Each Flynt has a thing and Zane's is ice, Baron's is explosions, and Captain's is fire. (Glorious cleansing fire) Because it fits. It fits so well. I will say right off the bat that Mako Mermaids isn't my canon. I lowkey want to write out Charlotte as well (lol) because I've seen the 2nd season so many times and tbh I much prefer them having 1 really strong power over having 3+ really weak powers. Also Charlotte did nothing wrong in the first half of that season. Cleo was just a bitch to her. And Mako Mermaids is just. Not great on the power side of things. You can TURN INVISIBLE. USE IT. Soooo. (also cam got destroyed in s1 and I'm so glad they ended up making him work in s2 and 3. Because he deserved better and Zac was a terrible friend to him and only got away with it because he's a main character). /rant sorry I have so many feelings about these shows. Grew up with them soooooo.
And if ur wondering why I brought up trick of the light it's cause the 13th year exists and that movie was bopping. U guys remember Jess? Good times... Tuba pool scene is iconic. U know the one. I would also bring up aquamarine but ngl that movie was weaksauce comparatively. They hid that bitch in a water tower and iunno talked to earrings. Meanwhile in the 13th year they bring Jess back from the fucking dead and climb on walls like Spiderman. Clearly one is superior.
"but cruddy Aurelia has ice powers too and she's not a mermaid" no she's a werewolf like her brother we already went over that. Did u think I was kidding? No! I'm never kidding unless I am and I fucking love werewolves so I'd never kid about that. I love werewolves and I love Hammerlock and it's perfect I just love the idea of this gentlemanly hunter being a werewolf because I want to see a giant hulking monster being all proper and shit. They're just really cool. Werewolves > vampires and ngl I'm sad skyrim screwed over werewolves with the dawnguard dlc. Anyway Aurelia's ice powers are nanobots as explained in-game and listen I already lore-scienced this okay? Let me say it's amazing the things science is capable of when it thinks it's trying to beat out a competitor and doesn't realize non-Siren magic exists. Even better now that we know Sirens are not Eridian and actually existed before Eridians. Makes me giddy to think about. The universe is tearing me APART Lisa.
Oh speaking of, can we talk about the witch's brew quest on eden-6 because holy shit I had been writing Hiromi and her fascination with discovering all the secret circles long before the game came out and then learning about the group of witches and The Pact (TM) made me lose my shit because 'oh my god it's actually canon now'. We're on the canon path nowwwww. Soon. I hope we get a water planet dlc. I wants it, GB, I wants it.
Also I was totally gonna write a clip in the main story of the game (because I write a lot of backstory stuff if you can't tell, I only have like 3 scenes that take place during the events of the game and like 4 that are speculatory from before the game came out (including a scene from before I realized Troy was Like That but I edited it so he's more in-line and also has Maya's powers now so that's... Hm. In line with the storyline somewhere, but not an actual scene in the games story. Because its not possible with how the game does things (seperating Vault Hunters) I suppose I could just insert a 5th Vault somewhere and say it's the 4th Vault connected to the Machine (with nekrotefeyo's being the 5th). Fuck it.) and then 9,000 are backstory) where Hiromi comes back after like decades of the two not seeing each other and she's been hired to assassinate Zane by one of the many corporations looking for his corpse for a multitude of reasons (And Emma and Nino are both d e a d a s f, you know, for context). And like Barnabas (ya old bastard) Zane is still joking around and just having a grand old time catching up with his black ops buddy meanwhile she had just tried to blow his brains out (she's a sniper) and got pretty damn close. She's not even amused because of her psychic powers so she's just like 'ok' every time he opens his mouth because she already knows what he's going to say she's mostly just frustrated that she missed because she thought she knew him well enough to go off instead of just listening to her intuition but alas people change after, like, 3 decades of not seeing them.
Oh since we're talking about Hiromi that reminds me why Zane wears the black suit. In my non-h2o universe it's because it looks cool and provides some protection from dots. In the H2Oniverse it is because it's waterproof. Okay wait hang on context so Hiromi doesn't like take off his suit or anything, she's extremely gay and not interested, because I realize now how that sounds me relating Hiromi to the clothes, they just get into an argument about how Sirens don't have to follow any arbitrary rules to hide their magic and how it's easier to hide magic without giant glowing tattoos (and mind you this is before Zane even knows Tannis exists though he does immediately know she's a Siren and that's a whole nother can of worms) and hr's like 'I wear a bodysuit for most of my waking hours, so I am pretty sure they can try wearing long sleeved shirts and makeup for a day. Just a suggestion' but like way more in character (and for the scene) because do I sound like I'm in character right now? I'm not. I'm me. And God what a terrible thing to be.
So context for the context: ~magic is real~. If you've got it then you can usually tell who else has it if you're looking. It's especially clear if they're 'similar' to you (if ur a werewolf and u meet another werewolf then you sorta just know they're a werewolf) or if you're psychic (like Hiromi) then you can make some informed guesses. Like. Same Hat? Same Hat!!! Sirens are basically such powerful magic users that they are in literally a whole nother ball park. They're leagues above everyone else. Kill you just by looking at you sort of deal. So sirens normally don't feel other magic because their own magic is so strong it just 'overwrites' the other signals. You know, to not only explain why Lilith isn't immediately like 'who the fuck are you' to Zane and also how Amara couldn't tell Tannis is a Siren. I had a whole thing with Troy (who is psychic) being able to tell Zane had magic despite being near 4 Sirens at once because Troy grew up with Tyreen always at his side so he's used to it and knows how to look through it. Meanwhile Hiromi is basically incapacitated when she's near a Siren because she gets overwhelmed because her powers make it easier for her to read other people's magic.
Oh, context, the black ops outfit worked with Atlas for a short time (the group being Zane, Hiromi, Emma, and Nino. Emma is the yeehaw captain. She's the leader) and ended up meeting Steele for a little bit. Hiromi was just dead the entire meeting, Zane was totally out of it, and Emma and Nino were too busy eyefucking to really care that there was a Siren in the room so. Just imagine one person lying face down on the floor and crying, another staring at the wall without blinking, two undressing each other with their eyes, and then Cmdt. Steele standing in the middle like 'how the fuck did I get here'.
So that was everyone's first experience with a Siren.
There are more but ehhhh I'm tired and I mostly wrote this because I wanted to talk about it with someone else but they haven't read the whole thing yet so now I can scream into the void about it and not feel like I'm bothering them.
Hooray!
#Borderlands#Me walking into the club like what up I'm about to make 0 sense#Who wants to hear about the au literally nobody else wanted??#Bl3#I realize this fandom is actually active on here so I'm slightly scared posting this#Since the last H2O au thing I posted was fucking RvB from God uhhh 3-4 years ago now? Fuck me#I put this in the queueueueue so I won't know when it goes up so I'm not anxious#Oh this is the context by the way#For that picture I posted#That I'm never going to bring up again
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Middle functions: An analysis of sorts...
SUBMITTED by Steve
I’ve always been more interested in how middle functions work together as opposed to Dominant/Inferior functions which are really black and white. What I’ve seen is…
EPs and IJs have their feeling and thinking functions stacked in the middle. What does that mean? It means they are usually more secure about who they are and how they relate to others. They can be heavily judgmental, of course, because that’s just human nature, but IJ and EP types can usually judge others harshly just as harshly as they judge themselves. They have this innate understanding of what people are made of and also what skills they can bring to the table. As of such, they have no problem poking fun at themselves as much as they do with others. No human behavior is taken too seriously for them unless it’s totally out of line. They usually have great understanding into the human psyche and how we are all strong and weak at the same time.
On the flip side however, their perception of things usually meets two ultimate ends of the spectrum. IJs are terribly afraid of chaos. They feel this inner need to control how their lives will work out at every turn and absolutely despise surprise twists that come out of nowhere. EPs on the other hand, actively shun control. They don’t want to be locked up and asked to do the same thing over and over again. Therefore, they have a tendency to flee responsibilities or anything that makes life mundane and stale. They see no virtue in sitting down and focusing on one particular thing.
EJs and IPs have their sensory and intuitive functions in the middle, which means they have a broader, more realistic view of what’s happening and what’s to come. They welcome the unknown with open arms, knowing they can tackle what is coming their way. They can make quick work of analyzing data as it presents itself and then adjusting accordingly. The immediate and speculatory realm for them meshes in together to provide some sort of safety heading into the unknown. They know how to balance that carefree life and responsible life together as one entity. They are sharp observers who can tell you both what is and what could be.
However, they struggle with their sense of identity in this world in one way or another. EJ types think that as long as they lead and remain a strong figures, then nothing can knock them off their pedestals. But this requires a ridiculous amount of energy to maintain and they will often ignore, at best, wonder what are their actual inner needs. If they tap into this, it may lead to shame because they figure they simply can’t act on their own accord if the rest of the world doesn’t approve of it, therefore better to remain a strong, albeit superficial, figure because that’s what others expect of them. IPs on the other hand are totally driven by their own sense of individuality. that is honorable of course, but comes with its downside.They essentially refuse to be “boxed in”, won’t be told what to do and essentially figure that being rebellious is the best way to go through life. But meanwhile, they are not fitting in or accomplishing any of their dreams. They can often be obsessed with proving a point but forgetting to move things along. They come off as slackers to others which just perpetuates a vicious cycle of “You can’t tell me what to do so I won’t actually do anything”.
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What’s your thoughts on all the Viz and Homestuckdotcom stuff
Mainly, I’m sad about the fine folks at WP who lost their jobs. I’m concerned about Hiveswap, too, but not the way most of the fandom seems to be.
Just to be clear, I don’t have any special insight or anything. Everything I’m about to say is wildly speculatory, but well, so is pretty much all of the doomsaying already out here. I don’t really think all is lost, so if I can provide any comfort, I may as well offer my perspective.
Let’s break this down, because a lot of facts are getting mixed in with people making assumptions. Here’s what happened yesterday:
1) Cohen and Shelby tweeted that they were looking for work. That’s not an official statement on anything, but combined with WP’s branding being removed from the Hiveswap website and Poinko and James leaving, things certainly look bad for WP.
2) On the same day, VIZ launched the new version of the Homestuck website, with a redesign meant to render the comic more accessible--particularly for mobile users--and start future proofing the parts of the comic made on technology that is soon being rendered obsolete and largely unusable, like Flash.
These two things don’t seem innately related. Viz hasn’t done anything except update/future proof the website, which I already expected from the partnership. They also released a news post alluding to new stuff being on the way, which sounds like an update on the epilogue Hussie said he was working on with them.
Even so, the overall look of the move has the fandom crying foul because they suspect VIZ is instigating some sort of corporate takeover. And while I think it’s good to be careful, I just don’t see the evidence for that yet.
I’m wary of corporate overlords, so I’ve sort of worried about VIZ along those lines before. And that is a risk I am continuing to look out for. But if I was worried about corporate censorship/manipulation of Homestuck, the only thing I’d immediately worry about is the LGBT stuff.And for a corporation, Viz’s track record on LGBT stuff is fairly solid.They’re in charge of re-dubbing the Sailor Moon anime, and have garnered positive press for NOT censoring the LGBT stuff the original dub did. They’ve published some LGBT manga. They’re not an LGBT corporation or anything, but their track record veers positive, is all I’m saying.
I can’t really think of what else they’d mess with. I’ve heard of them censoring religious imagery, and Homestuck does deal in some heavy spiritual/mythological themes, but I definitely wouldnt say anything in the comic is overtly religious.
More to the point, if they were going to mess with the actual comic, I don’t see why they wouldn’t have done so now, while they were doing the redesign. And while we’re at it, I should mention its questionable that VIZ actually has control over Homestuck’s actual IP.
The Homestuck website is copyrighted to Viz *and* Homestuck itself, which is the legal entity I’d expect holds all the actual creative rights. That probably wouldn’t matter if VIZ wanted to just strongarm Hussie with lawyers, though-- billion dollar corporations are dangerous that way.
I’m just saying, I don’t know that having partial control of the site at all implies Hussie just “handed off” creative control to VIZ. That seems like a wild assumption.
Also an assumption is the idea that VIZ “fired” WP so that they could develop the game themselves, which...I don’t really buy at all right now. Its not clear to me that VIZ has the expertise, manpower, or even interest in developing Hiveswap themselves.
Again, I am not claiming to have facts here. This is just an alternate line of fandom speculation. Please, for the love of fuck, don’t treat me like an expert. But here’s how things look from my perspective.
Because VIZ is largely a soulless corporation, the only motivation I can confidently ascribe to them is the one all companies have: making money.And Hiveswap doesn’t exactly seem like it sold gangbusters, honestly.
@sometipsygnostalgic has noted how lackluster the advertising for the game was, and its true they seemed to be relying on word of mouth and hype to get the game sold. That doesn’t seem to have happened.
I find it hard to believe VIZ would watch this commercial flop unfold, and come out of it thinking its best move is to invest MORE money in the endeavor. Corporations don’t typically respond to market failure by doubling down on their investments, just in general.
But more to the point, I don’t see that VIZ has a clear route to do so. The company only JUST involved itself in narrative driven indie games-- and it’s involved itself as a publisher, NOT a developer. It partnered with two developers that we currently know of: 1) Rose City Games, the devs of The World Next Door, and until now, 2) What Pumpkin.
Rose City Games looks a lot like WP, staff-wise--it seems to be a small indie team of about a dozen and a half people, working on their first game. They’ve done some organizational work and stuff like that, but nothing that suggests to me that they’d be prepared or willing to just...take on Hiveswap in WP’s stead.
And there IS NO IN-HOUSE GAME DEV STUDIO at Viz. It doesn’t exist. Making Hiveswap themselves would mean building one, just like WP had to, and I don’t see why they’d want to take the risk with the less than promising results of Act 1.
While it’s possible this is some kind of takeover situation, that is a big IF to me right now. VIZ would be making some legit hard business decisions in pursuing that maneuver, and it’s not clear they’re going to. I think its at least as possible that development on the game is simply canceled, or ideally, frozen until there's enough funds to actually pay people.
That last point is what I think fans should focus on. IF it’s a matter of simple lack of funs forcing What Pumpkin to close doors because there isn't, uh, the money to friggin pay people, then...there’s probably hope.
Like I said, VIZ did just allude to more news coming. IF whatever they’re working on with Hussie is good/interesting enough to, say, get new people reading Homestuck, then all of a sudden the comic would be drawing new interest while also advertising to incoming readers about...Hiveswap, which is now advertised for on the web-site through pop up ads.
Kind of invasive? Sure. But word of mouth didn’t get the game sold, so if some old-fashioned advertising does and Hiveswap/Homestuck collectively start collecting enough hype and profit that the staff of WP can be rehired, I won’t complain.
All in all, I’ll just say we’ll have a much better idea of what this partnership between Hussie and VIZ looks like--and what VIZ’s intent is--once we see some actual content they’ve produced together. I suggest the fandom wait it out to see what this Epilogue is, and what kind of content might be coming after.
With any luck, that wait will only last until 4/13.
#long post#homestuck#hiveswap#what pumpkin#VIZ media#thoughts#this is distressing to me#dont get me wrong#but the stakes are so high that it really doesnt make sense to panic#it'll only make things worse.#pencilkind-specibus
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You know, it's kind of interesting to speculate about all these different AUs and how they might combo off each other. I mean, so far Swap has been comboed off with Reverse/Diamond, Pink Twins, Homeswap Rifts, Demonic Guardians/Diamond Moms, Water Mom, Relativity Kids, Momswap Rises (kinda), and Anti Gravity/Permafusion. Granted, I'm still trying to figure out the specifics of how Swap combos with Homeswap Rifts and Momswap Rises, but the speculation has created some interesting AUs.
Yeah I honestly think combining the AUs is a lot of fun, just from a speculatory standpoint. I especially love combing Swap with the other AUs, since its my personal favorite of the bunch!
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This might be beyond the scope of a meta post considering its purely speculatory. But if the story of the survivors continues past V3, what kinds of things do you want to see? This would probably heavily depend on the format, but I'm just curious what you think this new potential plotline might involve and what it'll mean for the survivors. I think there's a fair amount of potential, but what are your thoughts?
I agree that the format would influence the range of possibilities, but I also think there’s a fair amount of potential! Ndrv3 ended on such a deliberately open note that just about any side stories or spin-offs we could get confirming the state of the outside world or providing us more information would make me happy, really.
Not only that, but all three survivors have so much potential to shine in a sequel, in my opinion. All three of them experienced character growth and development in ndrv3, but it’s not as if their arcs are finished; they still have plenty of room to mature and develop further, and I wouldn’t mind seeing if they manage to do so.
If we assume that Tsumugi was telling the truth about some of the things she told them, and that they really can’t go back to being the people they used to be before entering the killing game, then there would be lots of room for interesting conflict by exploring those “lost personas” and comparing them with the people they are now. Knowing that they can’t return to being like that, but also wanting to know more about what they were like, who their loved ones were, etc., is a natural reaction and would provide quite an interesting struggle for any of them, or all three of them.
After all, it’s one thing to claim they’re going to live strongly as themselves no matter how much they’re told that they’re “fictional” or that their experiences inside the killing game were “fake,” but it’s another thing entirely to be confronted with the disconnect between who you used to be as a person. If the sequel delved into more of what Saihara, Maki, and/or Himiko were like as people pre-game, I’d love it, honestly.
If we assume that Danganronpa really is over and that the franchise might be taken in an entirely different direction with a different name, plot, focus, etc., then I could also easily see an ndrv3 sequel being the start of that. After all, Saihara did confirm that even though DR is over, “fiction is still continuing,” “the story is still continuing,” over in the outside world. This suggests to me that the sequel itself might be about trying to find the new direction the world is going to take itself and might even give us a glimpse at what the franchise might call itself from now on.
I would love to see inner conflicts among the survivors brought a little more to light in a sequel, too. I want to see them remembering the people who are most important to them, of course (and they do all remember Kaede, Momota, and Tenko quite strongly throughout the Chapter 6 trial), but I also want to see them maybe working past some issues with one another, struggling to cooperate smoothly and really working as a team now they only have each other to rely on.
It’s entirely natural that they would care about each other after everything they went through together, but getting irritated or having one’s patience run out is only natural when you spend every waking moment with someone else. So seeing a living situation between the three of them explored realistically could be fun in its own way. It would even be fun if all three of them believed or didn’t believe what Tsumugi had told them to differing degrees, and if they all sort of had differing opinions about “truth” and “lies” which were explored in more detail.
Of course, these are just a few possibilities for where a sequel might go, but honestly I’d be fine with most things. I think a light novel series would work particularly well, since it would have very few time or budget constraints (and we’d still get some great official art out of it), but if Kodaka went ahead and made an entire sequel in video game format I definitely wouldn’t object to that either. It all depends, but there are some really great possibilities.
It’s still undecided whether there will even actually be a direct sequel per se or if the next project we get will be entirely unrelated to the characters and survivors, but I think that Kodaka is fond enough of them that he’ll probably come back to them in one way or another. As we know, he’s not above misleads or saying something will be unrelated to his other projects when it actually is (like Gaiden, for example), so I think anything is possible, really!
Thanks for asking! It’s really fun to consider where the franchise might go from here on out, and I hope the ndrv3 survivors do get a sequel of their own to be honest.
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