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mimicofmodes · 3 years

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“The Ladies Waldegrave” by Joshua Reynolds, 1780 (NGS NG2171)

I’ve complained before about two very big pet peeves of mine - corset stuff and Regency women being dressed in 1770s-1780s clothes - but one that may dwarf them because of how frequently it comes up in historical and fantasy fiction is the oppression of embroidery.

That’s probably putting it a bit too strongly. It’s more like ... the annoyance of embroidery. Every character worth reading about knows instinctively that sewing is a) boring, b) difficult, c) mindless, and d) pointless. The author doesn’t have to say anything more than “Belinda threw down her needlework and looked out the window, sighing,” to signal that this is an independent woman whose values align with the modern reader, who’s probably not really understood by her mother or mother figure, and who probably will find an extraordinary man to “match” her rather than settling for someone ordinary. To look at an example from fantasy, GRRM uses embroidery in the very beginning of A Game of Thrones to show that the Stark sister who dislikes it is sympathetic and interesting, while the Stark sister who is competent at it is boring and conventional and obviously not deserving of a PoV (until later books, when her attention gets turned to higher matters); further into the book, of course, the pro-needlework sister proves to be weak-willed and naïve.

Rozsika Parker, in the groundbreaking 1996 work The Subversive Stitch, noted that “embroidery has become indelibly associated with stereotypes of femininity,” which is the core of the issue. "Instead embroidery and a stereotype of femininity have become collapsed into one another, characterised as mindless, decorative and delicate; like the icing on the cake, good to look at, adding taste and status, but devoid of significant content.”

Parker also points out that the stereotype isn’t just one that was invented in the present day by feminists who hated the idea of being forced to do a certain craft. “The association between women and embroidery, craft and femininity, has meant that writers concerned with the status of women have often turned their attention towards this tangled, puzzling relationship. Feminists who have scorned embroidery tend to blame it for whatever constraint on women's lives they are committed to combat. Thus, for example, eighteenth-century critical commentators held embroidery responsible for the ill health which was claimed as evidence of women's natural weakness and inferiority.”

There are two basic problems I have with the trope, beyond the issue of it being incredibly cliché:

First: needlework was not just busywork

A big part of what drives the stereotype is the impression that what women were embroidering was either a sampler:

sampler embroidered by Jane Wilson, 14, in 1791 (MMA 2010.47)

or a picture:

unfinished embroidery of David and Abigail, British, 1640s-50s (MMA 64.101.1325)

That is, something meant to hang on the wall for no real purpose.

These are forms of schoolwork, basically. Samplers were made by young girls up to their early teens, and needlework pictures were usually something done while at school or under a governess as a showpiece of what was being learned - not just the stitching itself, but also often watercolors (which could be worked into the design), artistic sensibility, and the literature, history, or art that might be alluded to. And many needlework pictures made in schools were also done as mourning pieces, sometimes blank, for future use, and sometimes to commemorate a recent death in the family. A lot of them are awkward, clearly just done to pass the class, but others are really artwork.

Many schools for middle- and upper-class girls taught the making of these objects (and other “ornamental” subjects) alongside a more rigorous curriculum - geography, Latin, chemistry, etc. At some, sewing was also always accompanied by serious reading and discussion. (And it would often be done while someone read aloud or made conversation later in life, too.)

Once done with their education, women generally didn’t bother with purely decorative work. Some things that fabric could be embroidered for included:

Jackets

Bed coverings and bedcurtains

Collars and undersleeves

Pelerines

Neck handkerchiefs and sleeve ruffles

Screens

Upholstery

Handkerchiefs

Purses, wallets, and reticules

Boxes

Book covers

Plus other articles of clothing like waistcoats, caps, slippers, gown hems, chemises, etc. Women’s magazines of the nineteenth century often gave patterns and alphabets for personal use.

(Not to mention late nineteenth century female artists who worked in embroidery, but that’s something else.)

You could purchase all of these pre-embroidered, but many, many women chose to do it themselves. There are a number of reasons why: maybe they wanted something to do, maybe they felt like they should be doing needlework for moral/gender reasons, maybe they couldn’t afford to buy anything - and maybe they enjoyed it or wanted to give something they made to a person they loved. That firescreen above was embroidered by Marie Antoinette, someone who had any number of other activities to choose from. It’s no different than people today who like to knit their own hats and gloves or bake their own bread, except that it was way more mainstream.

embroidery patterns from Ackermann’s Repository in 1827 - they could be used on dresses, collars, handkerchiefs, etc.

Second: needlework wasn’t the only “useless” thing women were expected to do

Ignoring the bulk of point one for now and the value of embroidery - I mentioned “ornamental subjects” above. As many people know, young women of the upper and middle classes were expected to be “accomplished” in order to be seen as marriageable. This could include skills like embroidery, drawing, painting, singing, playing the piano (as well as other instruments, like the harp or the mandolin), speaking French (if not also Italian and/or German), as well as broader knowledge and abilities like being well-versed in music, literature, and poetry, dancing and walking gracefully, writing good letters in an elegant hand, and being able to read out loud expressively and smoothly.

This wasn’t a checklist. As the famous discussion in Pride and Prejudice shows, individuals could have different views on what actually made a woman accomplished:

“How I long to see her again! I never met with anybody who delighted me so much. Such a countenance, such manners! And so extremely accomplished for her age! Her performance on the pianoforte is exquisite.”

“It is amazing to me,” said Bingley, “how young ladies can have patience to be so very accomplished as they all are.”

“All young ladies accomplished! My dear Charles, what do you mean?”

“Yes, all of them, I think. They all paint tables, cover screens, and net purses. I scarcely know anyone who cannot do all this, and I am sure I never heard a young lady spoken of for the first time, without being informed that she was very accomplished.”

“Your list of the common extent of accomplishments,” said Darcy, “has too much truth. The word is applied to many a woman who deserves it no otherwise than by netting a purse or covering a screen. But I am very far from agreeing with you in your estimation of ladies in general. I cannot boast of knowing more than half-a-dozen, in the whole range of my acquaintance, that are really accomplished.”

“Nor I, I am sure,” said Miss Bingley.

“Then,” observed Elizabeth, “you must comprehend a great deal in your idea of an accomplished woman.”

“Yes, I do comprehend a great deal in it.”

“Oh! certainly,” cried his faithful assistant, “no one can be really esteemed accomplished who does not greatly surpass what is usually met with. A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half-deserved.”

“All this she must possess,” added Darcy, “and to all this she must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading.”

Mr. Bingley feels that a woman is accomplished if she has the ability to do a number of different arts and crafts. Miss Bingley feels (or says she feels) that it goes beyond specific skills and into branches of artistic attainment, plus broader personal qualities that could be imparted by well-bred governesses or mothers. And Mr. Darcy, of course, agrees with that but adds an academic angle as well.

But what ties all of these accomplishments together is their lack of value on the labor market. A woman could earn a living with any one accomplishment, if she worked hard enough at it to become a professional, but young ladies weren’t supposed to be professional-level good because they by definition weren’t going to earn a living. All together, they trained a woman for the social and domestic role of a married woman of the upper middle or upper class, or, if she couldn’t get married, a governess or teacher who would share her accomplishments with the next generation.

(To be fair, almost none of the trappings of an upper-middle/upper class male education had anything to do with the kind of career training that college frequently is today, either. Men were educated to know the cultural touchpoints of their class and fit in with their peers.)

There are reasons that an individual person/character might specifically object to embroidery, but it was far from the only “useless” thing that an unconventional heroine would be required to do against her inclination by her conventional mother/grandmother/aunt/chaperone. Embroidery stands out to modern audiences because most of the other accomplishments are now valued as gender-neutral arts and skills.

“The Embroidery Frame”, by Mathilde Weil, ca. 1900 (LOC 98501309)

So, some thoughts for writers of historical fiction (or fantasy that’s supposed to be just like the 19th/18th/17th/etc century):

- If your heroine doesn’t like embroidery, she probably doesn’t like a number of other things she’s expected to do. Don’t pull out embroidery as either more expected or more onerous than them. Does she hate to sit still? I’d imagine she also dislikes drawing and practicing the piano. Would she prefer to do academic subjects? She probably also resents learning French instead of Latin, and music and dancing. Does she hate enforced femininity? Then she’d most likely have a problem with all of the accomplishments.

- If your heroine just and specifically doesn’t like embroidery, try to show in the narrative that that’s not because it’s objectively bad, and only able to be liked by the boring. Have another sympathetic character do it while talking to the heroine. Note that the hero carries a flame-stitched wallet that’s his sister’s work. Emphasize the heroine’s emotional connection to her deceased or absent mother through her affection for clothing or upholstery that her mother embroidered - or through a mourning picture commemorating her. There are all kinds of things you can do to show that it’s a personal preference rather than a stupid craft that doesn’t take talent and skill!

mourning picture for Daniel Goodman, probably embroidered by a Miss Goodman, 1803 (MMA 56.66)

#history #women's history #writing #embroidery #19th century #18th century #17th century #victorian #georgian #regency

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sera-cb · 3 years

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Artists of Tumblr:

Picarto has just added image galleries, and I think this is potentially where a lot of folks who’ve been left high and dry by Tumblr’s content restrictions and DeviantART’s UI overhaul are going to wind up.

The feature only launched a few hours ago, and the team is historically very receptive to feedback. While Picarto is traditionally an art streaming site, the Gallery update already has:

Image uploads with up to five variants per entry

Sub-galleries / folders with custom icons / thumbnails

Ability to restrict visibility & commentability to followers, subs, or even private. (Subs in particular makes this a semi-viable Patreon alternative / backup for most visual artists, or anyone who can upload images demonstrating their work really.)

Image search filtering by tags and content ratings (safe, “ecchi,” and NSFW, all with almost comically low but very clearly defined standards, not only for sexual content but different forms and levels of violence), as well as by user status and popular vs recent for discoverability, with selected images zoomed in and interactable in all normal ways (upvote, comment, reblog, follow) directly from the search results (!!!!)

Tumblr / Twitter-style reblogs, complete with Quote option if that’s your thing (which is cool not only for artists boosting each other but also for anyone who wants to spend the time creating a curated feed that can be followed in and of itself, which is a sight cooler for the artists than your usual Instagram reposts, for sure)

A chronological feed of the people you follow, as well as a personal feed of just your output on your bio, where on top of your artwork you can drop status updates with a character count suspiciously similar to Twitter’s.

Pretty damn nice new bio page, while we’re on the subject, including social links, a big ol’ header space and, for premium users, up to three separate custom banners that can link to whatever you want.

Picarto’s ToS is pretty devoid of legalese, and the only real restrictions on uploaded content amount to “no actual porn of real people, generally” and “no sexual depictions of minors.” That's pretty much it on no-goes as long as you mark you work properly.

As downsides go, there are, unfortunately, no real accommodations for written works at this time, even though there are stream categories for writers, which is a surprising game to play with those people since imo any author that can write in front of an audience is likely a powerful elder being who should not be scorned, but with design team tends to respond to demand, so if you want that let them know! (The Gallery exists at all because enough of us asked for it in the first place!) Presently, Galleries also seem to have a minimal to non-existent presence on the front page, though I imagine that, especially given the initial reception, that will be changing in due time.

(Also, I am uncertain if users blocked from your stream channels will be blocked from your galleries at this time, and would love to know if anyone can confirm if those bans carry over or not!)

As an added bonus for those of us who stream regularly, this means that our artwork and livestreams can coexist under one community! This pairs great with other recent additions like stream hosting to create the kind of place DeviantART swears it is but remains kind of the absolute worst-in-class at: an art site for the artists, where we can build each other up and create whole little networks and do our thing!

If this seems uncharacteristically positive for me, there’s good reason for that! I am very excited by this, and given the dev’s history of clearly caring about the project, I am equally excited to see where it goes!

If you want to follow me on Picarto, you can find me right here!

#picarto #art gallery #artists on tumblr

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blueyemxn · 5 years

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My Persephone (Pt. 2)

Addicted to a Memory

Spoiler Warning: Content below contains spoilers for the lvl 80 Shadowbringers MSQ, if you have not reached this point in the game and do not wish to be spoiled please refrain from reading. Otherwise enjoy my trash shipping at your own risk.

Relationship: Emet-SelchxWoL

Ao3 Story - Here Part One: Here Part Three: Here Part Four: Here Part Five: Here Part Six: Here

“Persephone…?” For a moment her face spelled utter confusion, blinking slowly and eyes wide, as if in awe at the choice of the name. But then she frowned and gave him that look as if she had just been insulted. “You know what that means don’t you? ‘Bringer of Death’! I’m not letting you call me that!” She waved her arms up dramatically, much to his amusement. “Why don’t you just call me by my actual name?”

“Because, frankly, my dear, it's rather boring. And being boring is a cardinal sin, you know.” He gave a dramatic sigh and shook his head. “Persephone, on the other hand, is graceful and rolls off the tongue; better than Kore anyhow.”

“Says you,” Kore, huffed as she curled up against the soil, underneath the few towering plants that were present in the garden; her garden. “It’s my life, I deserve to be called what I want to be called and no one can say otherwise.”

“Even your guardian?”

“My mother is not a problem.”

“So you’re fine with her calling you whatever she wants, yet it’s a problem when it comes to me? Oh Persephone, what have I done to earn such scorn?” Another sigh came from his lips before she found herself in his arms, sitting on his lap. “Tell me, so that I may pacify your anger!” He spoke with that dramatic flair, his voice almost echoing from his exaggerated tone.

She rolled her eyes and snorted, though it was just to hide her laugh at how extra he was being. “I’m not angry with you, you dramatine.”

“Then speak, my Persephone,” he said, leaning in, his voice a low rumble at the back of his throat that threatened to make her shudder. “Speak thy desires and I shall make it so…” his forehead rested upon hers, lips muttering against her own, on the verge of taking them right then and there. She could feel his soul, humming against her body. It glides around her, threatening to seep into her skin, into her bones to the core of her very being.

Her mouth trembled and quivered, her own soul yearning to do the same, to touch him, to seep into his being.

Her hands went to his chest and pressed against him. Her lips parted slightly, but instead of words, a laugh rang out. Giggles couldn’t contain themselves as her cheeks grew warm, darkening her already tanned skin. Kore pushed away from him. “H-Hades, stop that!” She said in between her small laughs.

“How can I when you haven’t told me what it is I must do.” He smirked at her as he went to the crook of her neck. “Guide me, my Persephone…” he trailed off as he lightly kissed at the nape, voice getting a bit thick from his growing arousal. He could feel her skin heating up, her heart pulsing against her chest. He attempted to close the gap between them, wrapping his arms around her small frame, letting his fingertips move against her skin. It had been so long since he last touched her. So agonizingly long.

For a moment he heard her breath hitch, but soon her hands felt around his face and gently moved it so they were looking at one another. Her forehead touched his while her rose pink eyes stared at him with that smile of hers.

“How about you show me that thing you’ve promised to show me? Your new fruit?” She asked, batting those lashes as if it were going to get her anywhere. She was exactly right.

Hades sighed. “If I must—”

Before he could finish she squealed lightly before kissing him and rolling off into the flower bed again. He rolled his eyes, but retained an amused smile. “Come now, Persephone, I can’t show you if you’re lazing about.”

“You’re really not gonna stop calling me that are you?” She asked from the top of his shoulder. For one who was only as tall as his waist, it amazed him she could climb him with ease.

“Perish the thought! Now come here or I’ll change my mind.” He said, before waiting for her response. It was her turn to sigh, but Kore knew better than to keep Hades waiting too long or he really WOULDN’T show her.

“Alright, alright.” She said as she climbed over his shoulder and rolled into his lap again, head cranking up, arms crossed and staring with that curious gaze. “So where is it?”

Hades gave her that all knowing smirk of his before he lifted a hand, pressed his middle finger and thumb together and made a quick snap. The air swelled with aether and above them the tree they had been under bloomed, an abundance of red flowers opening before her. Her eyes widened and sort of berated herself for not realizing she had been under a new tree she hadn’t seen before. “It’s so beautiful!”

While she gawked at the sight, Hades lifted an arm and plucked one of the red fruits from one of the branches before pulling it apart to reveal the red, juicy seeds inside; her eyes shone like stars seeing them.

“Ah, but you have yet to partake in consuming them, my dear.”

“That’s okay??” She looked up at him, a bit worried that maybe she was overstepping her boundaries. But such a thing was absurd, anything of his was hers.

“I mean if you don’t want it—”

“No I do!” Before he had the chance to take away the fruit, Kore was grabbing at it and managed to get a few seeds before it was out of her reach. Hades chuckled, but otherwise kept quiet as he waited for her reaction.

Kore inspected the seeds, taking some in between her fingers and flexing to test how squishy they were. When she seemed satisfied, she plopped one them into her mouth and chewed slowly. She hummed with satisfaction, eating five more before hugging him tightly. Feeling her arms around him caused him to sigh deeply in relief.

“They are to your tastes then?”

“Just the way I wanted them! Thank you so much Hades.” She said, though he could hear the slight melancholy in her voice as it quieted itself. “I’m sorry you have to do this for me. I should be able to do this on my own. I’m so…” she trailed off, trying to find the right word, but Hades refused to give her that opportunity.

“Tch, none of that now,” he clicked his tongue, lifting her head up so he could look her in the eyes. “Must we discuss the other cardinal sin of crying over nothing?”

“I’m not crying, I’m just unhappy that you have to make things for me,” she said, frowning. “It’s frustrating; not being able to create things like everyone else, to rely on others to do it for me.” Ah, this again; a plague that was always on her mind, gnawing at her thoughts, making her grow anxious. He hated seeing her so helpless and frustrated; she had so many wonderful ideas, but no way to bring them into being.

“Am I always going to be like this? Am I doomed to be talent-less?” She looked at him with almost pleading eyes, searching for some answer, some confirmation that all wasn’t for naught. But Hades couldn’t lie to her, he didn’t have the heart.

“Talentless? If I recall your drawings have always been an item of interest to the community.” He said, dodging the question. “People get excited when they hear you’ve posted another piece of art for them to enjoy. Really, it makes me jealous just thinking about it!” But such a statement gave him a doubting look from her face.

“You? Jealous? You are one of the Convocation of Fourteen, Emet-Selch, the Architect, among other things, what do you have to be jealous about??”

“A beautiful creature who can gather the eyes of others around her with naught else but her actions, her art.” He nuzzled her gently, causing her to blush and, finally, giggle. Ah, there it is, that beautiful voice. “You’re a hero, Persephone, a hero to those who lack creativity to create their own.”

“A hero?” She asked, shaking her head and putting it to his chest “Sounds like one of those silly concepts you’re so fond of.”

“Indeed I am. Would you like to hear about it, hero?” His fingers threaded through her short pixie cut hair, softly massaging her scalp. Kore smiled lightly, her eyes closing.

“I’d love that.”

#ffxiv #ffxiv shadowbringers #shadowbringers spoilers #5.0 spoilers #emet-selch #|| drabble

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artinmovingframes · 6 years

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The Bitter Irony of Commander Lawrence’s artworks in The Handmaid’s Tale

[CW: physical and psychological violence against women, violence against minors, murder, racism]

These are my thoughts regarding the relation between the art displayed in the set and the tv show The Handmaid’s Tale. Over-interpretation is part of the reflexion, but please let me know if anything I said may have hurt you or seemed to be completely misconstrued.

In the 12th episode of the second season of The Handmaid's Tale, we were introduced to a new character, Commander Lawrence, who "welcomes" Emily (Alexis Bledel) into his house. The whole setup is somewhat disorienting and the artworks displayed are an important part of it, so I would like to give you my train of thoughts when we were introduced to the house and its inhabitants.

Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) accompanies Emily and comments on how no-one wanted her, following her history of revolt. Of course we are intrigued as to whom would open their house to her, in the context of Gilead. And when the door opened for the first time on a one-eyed Martha, Cora, I had two very opposite insticts, which were then kept up during the episode:

first I thought the Commander would be a cruel cruel man, taking the women nobody wanted anymore to do whatever he wanted to them, a sadist even worse than the "norm" in Gilead.

then I hoped it'd be a kind and considerate man, trying his best to help the scorned, tortured women, (since Emily has also suffered inhumane mutilation).

We then enter the house, a cluttered house full of trinkets, books, paintings unlike the ones we've been accustomed to before (naked bodies, abstract and expressionist art etc.). Quick side-note: most of the art on display in Commanders' houses so far were Impressionnist works, Monet in Waterford's office, Pissarro in Emily's previous commander's bedroom.

Aunt Lydia is surprised, as we are. The maid freely "jokes"(?) and talks back to the Commander as though there wouldn't be any consequence, or maybe she doesn't care about the consequences.

In the staircase, two paintings:

"Julius Caesar on Gold", Jean-Michel-Basquiat, 1981, Sotheby’s "Dark tree trunks", Georgia O'Keeffe, 1946, Brooklyn Museum

Contemporary art in these households?

But then, Commander Lawrence appears. And of course we know Bradley Whitford from The West Wing, but the role which he's now associated with is that of Dean Armitage in Get Out (what, you haven't seen Get Out? Go watch it and come back thanks). In Get Out, his racism (and that of his family) is for the first part of the movie contained to a "fascination" towards black people, hypocrite statements and intrusive behaviour. And the same uneasiness transpires through his character in The Handmaid's Tale.

During this episode, we learn from his wife, seemingly mentally broken and abused, that he is the founder of the Colonies system. We also learn that she was an Art professor.

“Life didn’t turn out the way she wanted it to. She was an art professor. She wanted everything to be beautiful.”

And like Mrs. Waterford who's in charge of the decoration in her home and chose impressionnist paintings (we can assume stolen from museums) to reflect her love of watercolor, it might be an indication that she at least participated in the decoration of the place, maybe even collected these pieces before Gilead existed. However, like everything in this world, and an earlier scene of Commander Waterford supervising the hanging of a family portrait reminds us, men are in charge, and the art surrounding them reflects on the taste and character of these men.

According to me, the art in the Lawrence household is very loud, and talkative.

The Handmaid's Tale has handled very poorly its treatment of race relations (or lack thereof), even though the Colonies are a shameless parallel to slavery and plantations. Here, the casting choice of Bradley Whitford combined with the artworks is voluntary, even though no explicit commentary is made. The irony of a Basquiat representing a black Julius Caesar hanging in the home of what would clearly be described as a white supremacist is not lost on us. O'Keeffe's paintings are known for their erotic symbolism, but here, deprived of any woman agency, the dark trunks might be an echo of a (black?) woman's body, dehumanized. This point of view is reinforced when Commander Lawrence forces his wife back to (her or their) room, and you can see in the background a painting representing two naked women, akin to the orientalist harem paintings of the late 19th century.

This manipulation of art, described as "the elite absorbing the Rebellion" is also evident in the painting by Sidney Nolan featured in the dining room during their last talk.

“After Glenrowan Siege (Second Ned Kelly series)”, Sidney Nolan, 1955, MoMA

The artwork depitcs Ned Kelly, a bushranger, an ambiguous figure of Australia's history, a defender of worker's rights, also associated with the killing of policemen. As an ultra-conservative religious system based on strict order, we could hardly see them align with the politics of Kelly; but as a sectarian minority who imposed their law by force, they might see themselves as rebels (remember the right always complaining of being oppressed by people wanting to be treated equally and respectfully...)

Gauguin is featured as well, surrounded by sculpted women torsos. in my opinion joining the contradictions of this Commander. The painting is that of christian Britton women in a landscape. For the post-impressionnist, Britanny was already an elsewhere, a place of wonder, deep religious fervor even though he was anticlerical, but not enough. He then traveled to French Polynesia where his "fascination" for the autochtones led him to abuse women, minors. We remember the art as one lauding the simple state of nature, with bright colors, celebrating pleasure and harmony, even though that art emerges from his imperialistic and machist desires and abuses.

“Landscape with two Breton Women”, Paul Gauguin, 1889, Boston MFA

The invasive and creepy conversation imposed by Commander Lawrence on Emily is ambiguous at best. I have little hope that we are presented with a respectful, righteous man. Even though in his turns of phrases he seems to disregard the hypocrite politeness of Gilead, and even their beliefs, as he seems to recognize Emily as a woman married and with a child, and not a gender traitor. But his interest is that of a man who maybe enjoys the brutality itself, celebrates genius and intellect and thinks art strives only from pain. So he appropriates that struggle, that of the artists, their history and fights. He is as entitled as the rest. His wife, complicit to a point, may have understood too late, may have felt guilt over their actions (her panick is shown as an illness when she is a voice of reason). She participated in that art deal, because she felt she could make the world beautiful, evidently according to her vision of beauty, so she bought, decorated, put varnish on a system that stripped creators from their agency, perverted their voice, or hid away their true nature.

At one point, Emily, who, as a woman, is not allowed to read, leaned over an open copy of Art Spiegelman’s Maus. The graphic novel is (as best as I can remember), about the artist learning about his family's history, the Shoah. This, too me, is as perverse as the game gets for Lawrence. He purposefully let that book open, at a page where people are shown hanged. We can imagine in this world how "provocative" art could be burnt, destroyed; maybe Aunt Lydia thought so when she entered. Commander Lawrence knows how Gilead could be compared to Nazi Germany (interestingly enough, right wing conservatives who call everyone nazis for wanting gun control, abortion rights etc. always feel offended when Trumpism and their "free thinking is called out as fascist, but I digress). Lawrence shows the totality of his power, how he controls her no matter how free she thinks she can be (by reading). He controls the narrative.

There is something potent in art, especially when we consider who owns it. Because there we either see the limit of the works, or that of the owner's honesty. The apparent failure of a piece brings about that of the person who chose to select it. Therefore, the failure, the crackling varnish, is not only that of Lawrence, whose perversity filters through his presence onscreen and not just because of how the artworks mirror his ambiguity, but a failure of the show itself, either because I gave them too much credit where it is not due, or because this awareness reflects on its previous flaws. I really hope I am wrong about this character, that he is in fact charitable, that the art is there for the wife, and allowed because he’s such an important member of Gilead (think of the high ranking officials who kept artworks for themselves in Nazi Germany). However, I wanted not to give a diagnostic but merely to try and think of ways to interpret art as reimagined in their fictional surrounding. For more debate I invite you to check the Handmaid’s Tale subreddit (as I did... after writing all this down urgh) here here and there. Other mentioned artworks I seem to have missed include Cézanne, Klimt (another wink at Nazi spoils)...

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richincolor · 6 years

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Crystal’s 2017 Favorites

I am having a difficult time narrowing down my list. There were just so many fantastic books this year. Here are some that I would absolutely recommend over and over again. What earned a spot on your list of favorites for this year?

#NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women edited by Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale Annick Press || Review & Group Discussion

Summary: Whether looking back to a troubled past or welcoming a hopeful future, the powerful voices of Indigenous women across North America resound in this book. In the same style as the best-selling Dreaming in Indian, #NotYourPrincess presents an eclectic collection of poems, essays, interviews, and art that combine to express the experience of being a Native woman. Stories of abuse, humiliation, and stereotyping are countered by the voices of passionate women making themselves heard and demanding change. Sometimes angry, often reflective, but always strong, the women in this book will give teen readers insight into the lives of women who, for so long, have been virtually invisible.

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera HarperTeen

Summary: On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They’re going to die today. Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure and to live a lifetime in a single day.

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon Simon Pulse || Group Discussion

Summary: A laugh-out-loud, heartfelt YA romantic comedy, told in alternating perspectives, about two Indian-American teens whose parents have arranged for them to be married.

Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she’s more than ready for a break from her family, from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the “Ideal Indian Husband.” Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers…right?

Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him—wherein he’ll have to woo her—he’s totally on board. Because as silly as it sounds to most people in his life, Rishi wants to be arranged, believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself.

The Shahs and Patels didn’t mean to start turning the wheels on this “suggested arrangement” so early in their children’s lives, but when they noticed them both gravitate toward the same summer program, they figured, Why not?

Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.

Dear Martin by Nic Stone Crown Books for Young Readers

Summary: Raw, captivating, and undeniably real, Nic Stone joins industry giants Jason Reynolds and Walter Dean Myers as she boldly tackles American race relations in this stunning debut.

Justyce McAllister is top of his class and set for the Ivy League—but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. And despite leaving his rough neighborhood behind, he can’t escape the scorn of his former peers or the ridicule of his new classmates. Justyce looks to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for answers. But do they hold up anymore? He starts a journal to Dr. King to find out.

Then comes the day Justyce goes driving with his best friend, Manny, windows rolled down, music turned up—way up, sparking the fury of a white off-duty cop beside them. Words fly. Shots are fired. Justyce and Manny are caught in the crosshairs. In the media fallout, it’s Justyce who is under attack.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas Balzer + Bray || Group Discussion

Summary: Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend, Khalil, at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, Khalil’s death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Starr’s best friend at school suggests he may have had it coming. When it becomes clear the police have little interest in investigating the incident, protesters take to the streets and Starr’s neighborhood becomes a war zone. What everyone wants to know is: What really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does—or does not—say could destroy her community. It could also endanger her life.

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline Dancing Cat Books || Mini-Review

Summary: In a futuristic world ravaged by global warming, people have lost the ability to dream, and the dreamlessness has led to widespread madness. The only people still able to dream are North America’s Indigenous people, and it is their marrow that holds the cure for the rest of the world. But getting the marrow, and dreams, means death for the unwilling donors. Driven to flight, a fifteen-year-old and his companions struggle for survival, attempt to reunite with loved ones and take refuge from the “recruiters” who seek them out to bring them to the marrow-stealing “factories.”

Miles Morales by Jason Reynolds Marvel Press || Review

Summary: “Everyone gets mad at hustlers, especially if you’re on the victim side of the hustle. And Miles knew hustling was in his veins.”

Miles Morales is just your average teenager. Dinner every Sunday with his parents, chilling out playing old-school video games with his best friend, Ganke, crushing on brainy, beautiful poet Alicia. He’s even got a scholarship spot at the prestigious Brooklyn Visions Academy. Oh yeah, and he’s Spider Man.

But lately, Miles’s spidey-sense has been on the fritz. When a misunderstanding leads to his suspension from school, Miles begins to question his abilities. After all, his dad and uncle were Brooklyn jack-boys with criminal records. Maybe kids like Miles aren’t meant to be superheroes. Maybe Miles should take his dad’s advice and focus on saving himself.

As Miles tries to get his school life back on track, he can’t shake the vivid nightmares that continue to haunt him. Nor can he avoid the relentless buzz of his spidey-sense every day in history class, amidst his teacher’s lectures on the historical “benefits” of slavery and the importance of the modern-day prison system. But after his scholarship is threatened, Miles uncovers a chilling plot, one that puts his friends, his neighborhood, and himself at risk.

It’s time for Miles to suit up.

#2017 Favorites #Booklist #booklove

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worldsandcenturiesfunposting · 7 years

Photo

For a lot of games before they’re released, the devs would post a bunch of concept art of it. Even the ever secretive Scorn devs have posted a bunch. The reasons for this could vary. The game might still be early in development and the actual graphics aren’t polished enough to show or it could give people displays of what the game is like without spoiling anything.

Agony is a bit different. Most of the pictures of the game are in game screen shots and I’ve managed to find only four concept arts online, two of which are the thumbnails they used for trailers on Youtube.

1. The first displays the succubus in some sort of armor. So far we’ve never seen her wear anything in any pictures or trailers. On their kickstarter page, one of the updates mentions the succubus having “heavy armor” but the update is only viewable by backers of which I am not. This picture was found on Google images. In any case, the amount of armor is quite sparse.

2. This depicts what’s likely the entrance to Hell. It was used in the official Agony youtube account as the thumbnail for “Agony: Intro” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhMbT_hksGQ

You might be familiar with most of the video which plays at the start of the demo so many people have played and uploaded but at the very end of the video, it shows some additional footage which sure enough shows that exact bridge

Take note that I’ve adjusted the colors on this to make it more visible.

It’s also worth pointing out that this may be the same bridge seen in the Sacred Agony concept animations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSiZFWvVmGw

Both bridges lead into a massive wall and are suspended above sheer nothingness.

3. Third picture is a bit difficult to tell but it might be the area we saw in the demo.

4. Final picture is of the succubus. Most of it is similar to how she looks in the game but the patches of skin missing on her back I don’t think are present in her game appearance. The devs have given some interesting information about her in a devlog, it’s mentioned that her appearance is an illusion and she’s actually a burned monstrosity: https://nowloading.co/p/agony-succubus/4241953

It could be part of her disguise is failing. Even in the game itself, her arms are red and fucky.

#agony #agony game

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ramajmedia · 5 years

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Joker Movie Early Reviews Are Here! | Screen Rant

The Joker movie early reviews are in - see what the critics are saying about Todd Phillips' R-rated DC comics film starring Joaquin Phoenix. Over the last few years, Warner Bros. and DC Films have established a cinematic universe of superheroes with films like Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman and Aquaman, which has come to be known as the DC Extended Universe. However, the studios' next comic book adaptation is Phillips' Joker, which takes place in a separate universe. And instead of bringing back Jared Leto, who played the Clown Prince of Crime in Suicide Squad, the movie cast Phoenix as a different take on the Joker.

Being set outside the DCEU isn't the only difference in Joker, which Phillips has repeatedly said doesn't draw very much inspiration from the DC comics. It's also being positioned as a major awards contender, holding its world premiere screening at the Venice Film Festival this weekend. Phillips Joker movie is also rated R, another rarity in the realm of comic book superhero adaptations - though there have been exceptions like Deadpool and Logan. Now, following its screening in Venice, and after the Joker first reactions dropped earlier today, the early reviews for Phillips and Phoenix's movie are in.

Related: Film Festival 2019 Preview: 12 Biggest Movies With Oscar Chances

You can read through spoiler-free excerpts from the Joker movie early reviews below. For more, click on the corresponding links to check out the reviews in full.

David Rooney, THR

But this is Phoenix's film, and he inhabits it with an insanity by turns pitiful and fearsome in an out-there performance that's no laughing matter. Not to discredit the imaginative vision of the writer-director, his co-scripter and invaluable tech and design teams, but Phoenix is the prime force that makes Joker such a distinctively edgy entry in the Hollywood comics industrial complex.

Owen Gleiberman, Variety

Joaquin Phoenix is astonishing as a mentally ill geek who becomes the killer-clown Joker in Todd Phillips' neo-'Taxi Driver' knockout: the rare comic-book movie that expresses what's happening in the real world.

Stephanie Zacharek, TIME

The movie’s cracks — and it’s practically all cracks — are stuffed with phony philosophy. Joker is dark only in a stupidly adolescent way, but it wants us to think it’s imparting subtle political or cultural wisdom. ... Arthur inspires chaos and anarchy, but the movie makes it look like he’s starting a revolution, where the rich are taken down, the poor get everything they need and deserve, and the sad guys who can’t get a date become killer heroes. There’s a sick joke in there somewhere. Unfortunately, it’s on us.

Alonso Duralde, The Wrap

The politics of “Joker” are similarly wobbly; web pundits on all sides of the spectrum will no doubt fish out this idea or that line of dialogue to declaim what “Joker” is “really” about, which ultimately means it’s not really about much of anything at all. It will be tempting for some to declare this the first art film based on a DC or Marvel property, but while it certainly represents a bit of a departure and something of a risk, “Joker” is ultimately grim-and-gritty comic book nihilism jacked up to the nth degree, wrapped up in a convincing but ultimately hollow simulacra of better, smarter movies.

Jessica Kiang, The Playlist

In amongst “Joker’s” fire and blood and chaos and its blackest of blackhearted laughter, there is the sense of a grotesque, green-haired genie being let out of a bottle, and whether it wreaks havoc or not, we’re not going to be able to put it back in. At the press conference after the Venice press screening, Phillips asserted his belief that while movies mirror society, they do not mold it. While not usually ones to deny cinema one iota of its power, this time we just have to hope that he’s right because whatever monumentally unfunny funhouse we’re in, we’re barely hanging on in the world “Joker” reflects. I’m not sure we’d survive the one it would build.

David Ehrlich, IndieWire

Todd Phillips’ “Joker” is unquestionably the boldest reinvention of “superhero” cinema since “The Dark Knight”; a true original that’s sure to be remembered as one of the most transgressive studio blockbusters of the 21st Century. It’s also a toxic rallying cry for self-pitying incels, and a hyper-familiar origin story so indebted to “Taxi Driver” and “The King of Comedy” that Martin Scorsese probably deserves an executive producer credit.

Terri White, Empire

This could, particularly in the current climate, be viewed as a lament for outsiders and the ignored. That’s too simple and Joker does anything but deliver you easy answers. It’s a sad, chaotic, slow-burn study of someone who isn’t visible; who doesn’t even exist to the world around them. But your empathy, sympathy even, isn’t guaranteed, and it begins to dissolve as Arthur somehow moves even further to the edges.

Justin Chang, The L.A. Times

A dark realist thriller in comic-book drag — or to put it another way, a Hollywood entertainment willing to take its time as it builds tension and brims with ideas — is nothing to scoff at. Still, there are times when your admiration for the filmmaking may blur into the movie’s own obvious admiration for itself. The mounting violence is intensely unpleasant, shocking if not particularly surprising; in scene after scene, the buildup is so agonizingly drawn out that you’re unsure whether the movie is depicting or embracing its protagonist’s cruelty. Perhaps the distinction matters less than we like to think.

Jenna Busch, Vital Thrills

This standalone film was a brave choice by Warner Bros., and it’s very likely going to pay off. Again, this is a difficult film to watch, and it’s going to take time to process, but ultimately, I think this is going to be a definitive part of Joker canon.

Glen Kenny, Roger Ebert

As social commentary, “Joker” is pernicious garbage. But besides the wacky pleasures of Phoenix’s performance, it also displays some major movie studio core competencies, in a not dissimilar way to what “A Star Is Born” presented last year.

Jim Vejvoda, IGN

Featuring a riveting, fully realized, and Oscar-worthy performance by Joaquin Phoenix, Joker would work just as well as an engrossing character study without any of its DC Comics trappings; that it just so happens to be a brilliant Batman-universe movie is icing on the Batfan cake. You will likely leave Joker feeling like I did: unsettled and ready to debate the film for years to come.

Dorian Parks, Geeks of Color

I believe this is one of Warner Bros. most ambitious projects thus far when it comes to their comic book-based films. In saying this, I also believe Joker could be a potential game changer for the comic book genre in general. Other examples of this would be both Deadpool and Logan. Both of these films really took risks when it came to heavier material, darker themes, and really looking into the minds of its main characters.

Looking at the Joker early reviews, it's undeniable Phillips' movie has Oscar potential, especially in regards to Phoenix's performance as Arthur Fleck. The majority of reviewers seem to agree that Phoenix will have a shot at the Best Actor award, and may be a serious contender. However, these reviews also preview a divisiveness that's sure to arise from the movie, which has inspired both scorn and excitement since it was announced. It remains to be seen whether casual viewers will have similarly divisive views on Joker once it hits theaters, but that seems a likely outcome considering these early reviews.

Of course, if a movie is as divisive as Joker seems to be, it's unclear if the film will be as financially successful as Warner Bros. may be hoping. Certainly, Joker's R rating cuts down the potential audience, though Deadpool proved R-rated superhero movies can be major box office successes. And Joker being well-known as a Batman villain no doubt ensures the movie has some mainstream appeal. Still, it remains to be seen if general audiences will be as taken with Joker as many early reviewers have been. That said, the early hype for Joker is heartening for those looking forward to Phoenix's turn as the character, and could foretell an incredibly successful run for Phillips' film. Now fans just have to wait and see it for themselves when Joker is released in early October.

Next: Joker Final Trailer Breakdown: 13 Last Minute Story Reveals

Source: Various (see links above)

source https://screenrant.com/joker-movie-reviews-preview/

#screenrant

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renaroo · 7 years

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Wednesday Roundup 15/6/2017

So this is a day late but in my defense I had a ridiculous amount of comics to get through with no one to blame but myself here. And you know what? I genuinely enjoyed almost everything. But does that mean every comic was good this week? And even so what did I think was the best?

Honestly I don’t know how to write these intros for people who wouldn’t be here to read my opinion anyway so let’s just jump into it.

Marvel’s All-New Wolverine, Marvel’s Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows, DC’s Detective Comics, DC’s Gotham Academy: Second Semester, DC’s Justice League of America, Image’s Motor Crush, DC’s Superwoman, IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, DC’s Titans, IDW’s Transformers: Salvation, DC’s Wonder Woman

Marvel’s All-New Wolverine (2015-present) #21 Tom Taylor, Leonard Kirk, Cory Hamscher, Terry Pallot, Michael Garland

Okay I need this issue to reread a million times over because there are just so many things I love all at once. Like, oh my gosh. I was almost in tears multiple times because relationships! Healing! Supporting each other!

Wade and Gabby alone could just about make this issue perfect, but then you have Laura and Daken hugging and worried about each other, and Old Man Logan being likable for the first time in any of my readings of him. There’s so much I enjoy, though I find the cover rather deceiving. This is much more of a Howlett family reunion than anything else, though I did enjoy Riri’s parts in it.

I just eriously adore these characters and it meant a lot to see them all come together like they have here and that cliffhanger HURT so much more for it.

I will nitpick the art a bit because we’ve been doing so good about keeping Laura in the Wolverine costume which is much preferred to her X-23 wardrobes, for sure, but this issue it pretty much looked exactly like one of her old costumes without the midriffs and it was kinda weird. I know she took off a lot of her armor for skin contact but it’s... idk. It was weird.

The main thing I’m happy about though is that as we go on, I realize that literally all of the Marvel books I’ve kept are going out of their way to not involve themselves in Secret Wars and it’s kind of beautiful. Laura and Gabby are stuck on an island that’s quarantined (and I can pretend Wade’s there with them instead of whatever’s going on since I dropped Deadpool for the summer crossovers, thanks Tom Taylor!), Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur are literally off world, and the rest are non-616. So yay me!

Marvel’s Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows (2016-present) #8 Gerry Conway, Ryan Stegman, Jesus Aburtov

For those who don’t know, Mary Jane Watson is genuinely one of my favorite Marvel characters and is easily one of the reasons I ever stuck with the Spider-Man comics for as long as I did was because of my interest in her and wanting to see her and Peter.

I can also thank her for my genuine attraction to redheads probably.

But one of the main reasons that I’ve loved this book so much is because, as written by Gerry Conway, this is the Peter and MJ of my dreams. I love them so much, and the complications that comes from their relationship and from growing older, raising a daughter, and MJ’s desire to continuously be the glue to keep both Peter and Annie together logically causes her to seek out a way to continue being Spinerette without syphoning off Peter’s powers.

It’s almost like growing old, having a stable relationship, trying to keep things fresh while raising a kid, are all dramatic and worthy of good storytelling in their own right or something HMM.

Anyway, yes it’s completely on the nose where this is going and it’s a little curious how MJ’s not immediately aware of the connection between what’s going on with her right now and the horrible, arguably traumatizing experience she and Peter had, but who knows what’s canon anymore lol

Basically, I sideye a bit from a story point of view, but this series continues to make up for it with the real thing that matters to me: these characters and their development.

DC’s Detective Comics (2016-present) #958 James Tynion IV, Aluaro Martinez, Raul Fernandez, Brad Anderson

Honestly I really love the slower issues where Tynion takes more time to make moments for the relationships between the characters and give us interractions we didn’t know we wanted -- Kate going with Luke and Jean Paul to a basketball game, Cass and Clayface being adorable by reciting a play, Bruce at a poker game with a bunch of assholes in homage to Almost Got ‘im!? It was a lot of fun honestly.

...

Okay I take issue with Cass’ dialogue. I know she was repeating lines from a tape and such but it’s weird to see her make so much progress when just two issues ago she was almost monosyllabic. Like... I want to see Cass gradually learning, I want to feel her frustration with hitting walls, I want to see her struggle and achieve despite the struggle because that gradual progression was honestly something we weren’t delivered in the former canon. We have a great opportunity for it here.

But y’know. I’m particular with Cass and it’s hard to say where her baseline for reading and speech even is in this canon because her dyslexia may be in tact but her circumstances growing up are completely different. So I don’t know.

Now. I’m a sucker for Bruce and Zatanna team-ups because I’m a schmuck but I’m really excited for next issue. Had a lot of fun with this one. This feels like a decent pace for Tynion -- at least in my opinion.

DC’s Gotham Academy: Second Semester (2016-2017) #10 Brenden Fletcher, Becky Cloonan, Karl Kerschl, Adam Archer, Massyk, Sandra Hope

This comic is speeding toward an end and I’m not sure if I’m ready!

From the beginning, for me at least, the selling point for Gotham Academy has been just how much these kids felt like real teenagers and real friends with all their various relationships and connections, platonic or romantic or something in between. And it’s powerful to see that coming to play as an advantage to completing Olive’s arc, but also as a disadvantage since the consequences of many of her actions hurt that much more.

I’ll save a lot of my thoughts for a complete wrap up of the series but overall, very happy and very grateful for the continuously good read that is GA

DC’s Justice League of America (2016-present) Volume 1: Road to Rebirth Steve Orlando, Jody Houser, Ivan Reis, Andy MacDonald, Stephen Byrne, Jamal Campbell, Mirk Andolfo

WE GOTTA GET THE BAND BACK TOGETHER. WE’RE ON A MISSION FROM GAD.

In all seriousness, I’m a huge fan of Vixen and Ryan Choi as well as a big fan of Justice League International, as it was in its 80s glory. So my interests with this particular lineup were piqued from the beginning and I made myself wait for the first volume to dive in.

For the most part, this is a team gathering exercise. Characters that have lacked the spotlight in the last few years -- Vixen, Ray, Killer Frost, and the Atom -- were given whole issues to reintroduce them to this continuity. And honestly those issues were great. I really, really love the updated origins for them and feel that they’re a good blend of honoring the past of the characters as well as adapting them for a new world.

Lobo, Batman, and Black Canary took back seat, but considering that there were already tensions showing within the group, I think it’s safe to assume that giving the spotlight to the rest of the team won’t always last this long. Things are nothing if not explosive among these members.

I really did mean it when I said this is a team gathering exercise, because there’s no first case to unite everyone. There’s not any real antagonists or team-ups we see to speakof. It was just getting hte jLA together.

And for me it’s enough to get me intrigued, though I’d completely understand if people told me it was far from enough for them.

Now they just need to add Big Barda, Booster Gold, and Ted Kord and I’ll be satisfied.

Image’s Motor Crush (2016-present) Vol. 1 Brenden Fletcher, Cameron Stewart, Babs Tarr

I was not the biggest fan of this team’s Batgirl team though I appreciated the aesthetics and what not. There just never seemed to be a storyline that really interested me and I couldn’t be sold on the characterization for Barbara. So I kept hearing about Motor Crush for the last year and was really itnerested in it so I wanted until this volume came out and.

Well, quite simply, I’m in love.

Tell you what, those biker gangs that kept coming up really confusingly out of place in Batgirl make a hell of a lot more sense now that I can see this team’s actual passion project.

So I love Motor Crush a lot, I’m really invested in Domino, the mystery that is her origins and the powers of Crush itself. I love her relationship with her ex, Lola, I love her father -- I love just about everything and the cliffhanger really surprised me.

I will say that while I love having a world that speaks for itself rather than constant narration, it’s a little hard to follow this world entirely, I’d like a bit more explained than what has been, but at the end of the day I’m very excited to see more.

DC’s Superwoman (2016-present) #11 K. Perkins, José Luís, Ray McCarthy, HI-FI

You know, I have made it clear that I’ve been worried about this title for a while now, really just hoping it was going to find its direction and wow us with the great potential that is the Super Family outside of the main Kent triad. And I feel like that’s for good reason -- the end of Jimenez’s run let a lot of people feeling justifiably scorned, there was a mishandling of a lot of heavy and important subjects that were raised, and at least the initial stuff with Perkins taking over kind of left one wondering if they had a fully formed direction to go toward next.

But I am really glad that I stuck it out for this long because the family of John, Lana, Nat, and everyone else is so important and so fundamentally different from the dynamics found elsewhere in the new familial renaissance of the DCU that I needed it. And I hope it continues to emphasize these relationships and how important they are to each other.

I’m still unhappy with how anxiety and mental illness is being handled in the title and find it lacking since it was brought up to begin with and now being ignored. That subject alone is making me rethink my disinterest in Green Lantern books as a whole because I have loved and felt inspired so far by what I’ve seen of Jessica Cruz and their handling of anxiety, and it’s why I picked up Silk at the high recommendations of a close friend.

So I’d like for mental illness to be treated better in this title -- the least it can do after bringing it up and treating it the way it did at the end of Jimenez’s run, but there’s so much value in the non-nuclear family dynamic of the Irons household and of the uniqueness of Lana’s powers and her approach to fighting crime that it’s worth it. For me anyway.

IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2011-present) #70 Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz, Mateus Santolouco, Ronda Pattison

I knew the end of this storyline was going to be, at the very least, explosive but wow, WOW I had no idea how many twists and turns it was going to take in that time. That was a phenomenal ending to the Mutanimals storyline for the time being, and I just feel so bad for Slash, down to my core. I’m so worried about him, and whenever he will be allowed to recover.

At least I hope he’ll recover.

This series is seventy issues strong and i’m just so blown away by the way they still manage to keep me on the edge of my feet while so many different storylines and character developments are happening at the same time.

I mean, I even feel for Old Hobb here!

I do suppose a complaint I could hold here is that the titular turtles themselves have ultimately not been very front and center throughout this storyline, and that really showed in the conclusion, where for the most part they were lost to the colorfulness of the huge, colorful supporting cast that has been developed over the years.

For me, personally, I think that’s honestly okay. We can’t have the same story over and over again with only the main four characters driving the narrative, and it’s been a long standing tradition in TMNT for a good 30 years now to sort of embody the concept that our main guys don’t really look for situations to get involved with but sort of fall into them naturally.

Not to mention it’s probably a strength that 70 issues in, we haven’t once repeated plots or stories or put any of the characters on a loop of development to end up right back where they started. I don’t think the achievement of that can be understated, especially as we near that landmark #75!

DC’s Titans (2016-present) #12 Dan Abnett, Kenneth Rocafort, Dan Brown

Bleh. BLEH. I was holding out judgment on the twist of Wally and Donna and Roy ending up in some kind of love triangle because I wanted the context but honestly the context is kinda... bleh. It would be awesome if we lived in some world and time where Donna’s origins were not constantly retconned and thus the source of her characterization in every run of every thing she showed up in. Which is by no means a new problem but still.

And my opinion is... Wally and Donna are both going through a hard time and Wally is having to accept that his life is fundamentally different from the previous world he knew, that he can’t just badger people into returning things to the way they were -- especially Linda, who he loves but it’s a very one-sided relationship as a result of the parallel universe paradox and stuff. It makes sense to me that in a ploy to gain some sense of control over that, he and Donna both would try to take fate in an unexpected direction, into their own hands.

But making it a love triangle with Roy just kinda keeps my eyes firmly rolled into the back of my skull.

I overall like Lilith, Dick, Garth, and Karen’s development and characterization in this issue. I think they’re taking Lilith in interesting directions and I’m really curious about what her omen means for the future, since apparently there’s a traitor among them. And they set up plenty of reasons for various members to be that traitor in this issue but I can’t help but assume already that it’s going to end up being a twist. Good twist or not remains to be seen.

IDW’s Transformers: Salvation (2017) John Barber, Livid Ramondelli

I’m going to be completely “original” here and say that I’m not a fan of Ramondelli’s at for the various Transformers comics. i know! I know. Shocking, never said before, completely going against the general fandom consensus. I’m such a brave soul. I know.

Okay, joking aside though... I didn’t think the art was bad in this one-shot. Actually! I’d argue a lot of it was even good. He may not be my favorite artist and I’ll think that his colo gradients are butt ugly most of the time, but there was better handled action sequences than usual, the characters looked like they had weight, and we even got a range of expressiveness in the characters that is... well, frankly, not usual for Ramondelli.

So other than that shocking revelation, I thought Barber performed good once more on tying the TF universe together again, answering some prior plot points and nicely knotting off loose ends. Trypticon being a Titan is not the biggest revelation in the world, but the development of Sandstorm and the Dinobots was great, and I loved just how devious Starscream truly is under Barber’s pen even though I’ve fully been enjoying the characterization for him in Till All Are One.

But the most important thing of all: SPARKLINGS. SPARKLINGS. All I’ve wanted for years is baby transformers so I am HAPPY BEYOND BELIEF. THEY’RE NO LONGER A DYING SPECIES AND THESE PRECIOUS BABIES COULD BE BORN WITHOUT EVER KNOWING THE CIVIL WAR AHHHHHHHH

DC’s Wonder Woman (2016-present) #24 Greg Rucka, Bilquis Evely, Romulo Fajardo Jr.

WOW! I mean, just wow! What a resolution to everything. I have so many emotions for Diana, for Barbara Ann, for even Veronica Cale of all people. Etta and Steve were great, the art was amazing.

It’s just such a relief and such... honestly just an amazing feat that Greg Rucka is beginning to wrap up this just phenomenal run of Wonder Woman

I really enjoyed how everything turned out and it was so remarkable to see Diana’s resolution to save Veronica but also to not turn her back on her friends and loved ones as well as the torment it is for Barbara to not be able to get into Themyscira after all her life’s work.

And I liked Diana’s assessment of Veronica at the end, it was true and also blunt to the point of cruelty. But fitting also.

It’s amazing what a turn around I’ve personally felt when it comes to Veronica’s character because in all honesty I was not a fan of her most of the time in the preboot, but Rucka really has fleshed her out and done something unique with her perspective now. There is tragedy but there’s also less deniability for her fault in all of it.

I’m sad to be coming toward Rucka’s end on the run, but I’m also so happy to see the love and passion he’s put into everything culminating to what it is now.

This is a genuinely hard choice but I think if I go by what tugged on my heartstrings the most, what gave me the most joy overall and just feelings unrelenting from start to finish, I would have to say that my pick of the week is All-New Wolverine. I adore this series and I couldn’t be happier with this issue and how they’re keeping my precious Marvel girls faaaaaar away from Secret Empire. A close second would be Wonder Woman but really I would happily recommend my entire pull this week. It was a geat week for comics.

But that’s just my opinion! I’d love to know your thoughts. Agree? Disagree? Think I missed something I should’ve picked up this week? I’d love to hear from you!

#Rena Roundups #SPOILERS #Wednesday Spoilers #All New Wolverine (2015 )#Amazing Spiderman: Renew Your Vows (2016 )#Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2011 )#Detective Comics (2016 )#Gotham Academy: Second Semester #Justice League of America (2016 )#Superwoman (2016 )#Titans (2016 )#Wonder Woman (2016 )#Motor Crush #Transformers: Salvation

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scorndotexe · 1 year

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☕: Scorn?

oh you wanna hear me talk about scorn? i'll talk about scorn (mild spoiler warning)

scorn is a fucking incredible game. the visuals and art design are gorgeous and exactly my level of fucked up. absolutely astounding visuals. while i love indie games and don't think games need to have good graphics to be good games, it's certainly something to see such a disgusting (complimentary) world in such high quality. nearly everyone agrees on this and the ones who don't just call people freaks for liking it.

everyone blows the "combat issues" out of proportion. sure, i can see how it would be bad if you had to fight all the time, but the thing is you don't have to. it's discouraged. in my opinion, the first step is letting the creatures move out of the way while staying back a little. the second step, if the first one fails, is running away. the last resort is fighting, and often it fails. i briefly got pretty good at the combat before realizing i could just run away from most of the creatures.

but less than smooth combat is a staple of survival horror! while scorn may not be traditional survival horror, it does have some of those elements (just as it has some puzzle elements without being a full on puzzle game).

the puzzles were fine. i'm gonna be honest i looked up walkthroughs for most of them because i'm terrible at puzzles in games despite thinking the genre can be amazing but i didn't feel like it detracted from my experience. however, that doesn't mean that i would have preferred an absence of puzzles. i enjoyed their presence and didn't mind them, though in some cases they could have been better integrated into the world. but that's not a major complaint.

i do think the boss battle is definitely the weakest part of the whole thing. it was a little too long for my taste and the fact that i had to do it, albeit a shorter version, again was annoying. however, it made up for it quickly with some wonderful body horror and narrative. the last few moments of the game were some of the strongest.

speaking of the narrative, holy shit. scorn is so different to every other game you can find, and the way the narrative is presented is no different in that regard. i thoroughly enjoyed it. the wordless storytelling was such a breath of fresh air. too many games these days (and older ones too--thinking of you, alan wake) overexplain every single aspect. it was wonderful to have a game tell you nothing and show you everything you need to be shown. i don't think every game needs to be wordless, and despite my near-constant bitching about cinematic games (and fucking david cage), i don't have a major problem with cinematic games. i do think some just want to be films and don't do enough to be games except drag the story on further than you want them to, but cinematic games are. fine. games with words are also great, you can't just separate "games with words" into its own category. but there's something to be said about how scorn presents itself to you. there's something to be said about how it's on you to observe and interpret and figure things out. a lot of games don't want you to figure them out. they want you to follow the objective markers and watch the next cutscene. it gets tiring, and i don't even play that many games like that nowadays. scorn uses its medium to its advantage.

people have said it's a walking simulator. (bizarrely they've also said the combat was added to stop people calling it a walking simulator. cause that makes sense.) it is not a walking simulator. it has puzzles. it has combat. the story isn't happening at you, you're part of the story.

and personally i love the story. the dynamic between scornguy and the parasite is so compelling to me, and i do think the ending was perfect. the alternative would have felt much cheaper and unearned to me. and i do love tragedy.

lastly, i don't understand how people actually want a sequel or dlc. did you see that ending. did you understand the themes. what do you think they'll add?? a different ending if you pay 15.99? new guns for 9.99? the "loads of cut content" (there isn't that much--the artbook mostly shows concept art and there are two cut areas, only one of which was cut due to time and financial constraints) for 29.99, messing up the pacing entirely? because it's a well paced game, with a few exceptions.

it's not a perfect game, but which game is? and it's not my favorite game of all time or anything, but it's definitely a memorable experience. i wanna recommend it to people but also i know i shouldn't. please play scorn if you like weird fleshy games. pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease

#thank you for this #i've been wanting to talk about scorn #this is so long and not even that detailed #but i have a lot to say about scorn #scorn #asks

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scottlarouxwrites · 7 years

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Style in Bakemonogatari (Suruga Monkey)

Suruga Monkey sets itself apart from the rest of Bakemonogatari by its execution. Where Hitagi Crab is slim and slick, and Mayoi Snail is careful and cryptic, Suruga Monkey is simply bombastic. The arc expands Monogatari’s stylistic palette, while managing not to take any sharp tonal turns or compromise on the artistic cohesiveness of the series. This allows for Kanbaru’s character and the events of the arc to flourish in their own unique way without seeming out of place. Suruga Monkey feels like a natural extension of the series, yet also different from anything we’ve experienced so far.

I would argue Mayoi Snail deviates in a similar manner, though not to such an obvious degree. Hitagi Crab is characterized by a darker, almost urban fantasy feel, full of religious artifacts and sobriety. Mayoi Snail jumps beyond that, presenting the viewer with a brighter and more satirical world (generally speaking). For this essay, I’ll just focus on the specifics of Suruga Monkey, rather than make a mess out of talking about everything. However, Mayoi Snail does exemplify the first major factor in this stylistic shift: the arc-specific opening themes.

Mayoi Snail’s OP, with its electric pop and chant-able closing lines, does not fit the style or tone of Hitagi Crab whatsoever. It doesn’t even fit Mayoi Snail. The school life narrative told through the visuals is reminiscent of a middle school slice of life series, and even the lyrics are cute if you plead ignorance to the events of the arc. Of course, the visuals and lyrics convey a double meaning once we know Hachikuji is a ghost, but that’s a different matter. What’s important is that this OP primes us for a different world than what was established in the first arc. Mayoi Snail is sillier, more energetic, and probably closer to slice of life than urban fantasy (not that it’s strictly one or the other, or even either at all).

This trend repeats in Suruga Monkey’s OP, which starts with an upbeat guitar riff straight out of a Sonic game and a shot of a basketball hoop. Again, I won’t analyze every little detail here, but this sports anime theme continues for a bit before blending with rom-com visuals and music, as well as further action series signifiers (such as fast cuts, close-ups of eager eyes, etc.). Besides that, the Revolutionary Girl Utena—and other shoujo or yuri shows—influence becomes overwhelming at parts. Obviously this OP is distinct from Bakemonogatari’s first two, but it’s also distinct from the feel of either previous arc. Someone who has never seen Bakemonogatari will expect something based on Suruga Monkey’s OP that isn’t directly delivered upon anywhere in the series. But more on that soon.

Let’s actually backtrack a bit to examine some editing and form from the first couple of minutes of the arc’s first episode.

Here we see some clear examples of how Suruga Monkey bends or reshapes existing stylistic themes for the arc’s unique purpose. Right after the typical title card opener, the camera sweeps wildly in towards a railing. This is one of the few (if not only) legitimate camera movements in Bakemonogatari and immediately signals a more dynamic and action-focused experience. The next shot of Kanbaru sprinting and her feet slapping against the pavement continue to set the pace, so to speak. This same cut of Kanbaru sprinting is then interlaced throughout Araragi’s conversation with Hachikuji, constantly reminding us of that faster pace. Keep in mind that this kind of discontinuity/aspect editing is a staple of Monogatari, and thus preserves a sort of stylistic homeostasis even as we’re primed for action.

The shots and editing of the conversation itself work to further integrate the idea of dynamic action. As before, there’s nothing shockingly new, just old style repurposed for a new idea: action. Araragi and Senjougahara flip-flopped all over the screen in Mayoi Snail, but this sequence is more pointed than the park scene. Hachikuji and Araragi walk across a still background; then a moving background “walks” across them.

The walking shot is spread throughout the scene, and the pair make their way to the middle and then the end of the frame.

The cuts also are wilder, with still shots of Hachikuji transitioning to dynamic shots of Araragi falling. Even within still shots, there’s a step up in action in the form of railroad crossing lights flashing. Then, of course, are the shots of Araragi and Hachikuji slapboxing, which feature some of Bakemonogatari’s best (most fluid, at least) animation. Finally, Kanbaru herself comes flying into the scene. Even if I’m reading too much into some details, this opening scene is undoubtedly designed to allow this arc to transition to intense action scenes—such as Kanbaru and Araragi’s final fight—as smoothly as possible. If nothing else, it is no accident that so much effort was put into the slapboxing cuts. This arc needs movement, and we need to be ready for it.

I think of this as stylistic permeability—within the “body” of the art, different moods/tones or focal points can permeate out into observable territory with different degrees of ease. Monogatari has high permeability (dramatic soliloquys, bloody brawls, comedic conversations can all take center stage easily); something like Serial Experiment Lain has low permeability (even when characters make jokes, they still sound bleak or mysterious or otherwise unable to distinguish themselves from the overall dark mood). Permeability tends to be why we condemn certain tone shifts but not others. The formal elements that lead to permeability are too complex a topic for this essay, but the editing described above is one good example.

This permeability is insured throughout the arc via near-constant movement within the frame—whether that be moving cars or walking sequences like the one discussed above or even just a comedic camera pan. Action is likewise primed through Senjougahara’s eye-piercing aggression towards Araragi, which allows for a heightened state of excitement moving quickly into a sequence of Hanakawa standing in the middle of speeding traffic, and then finally the Rainy Devil’s attack on Araragi. True, Senjougahara was similarly violent in Hitagi Crab, but her aggression here still benefits the transition to intense action. The question isn’t whether these details are absolutely necessary to the transition or absolutely unique to this arc, but simply whether they increase permeability.

Perhaps most importantly, the source of the arc’s apparition is as emotionally intense as the action is physically. In Hitagi Crab and Mayoi Snail, apparitions cause trouble as a result of quiet emotions or even a relinquishment of emotion. Araragi simply doesn’t want to return home after an argument with his sisters (among other subtle discomforts), so he meets Hachikuji. Senjougahara tries to abandon her feelings towards her mother, so she meets a crab. Although Senjougahara reaches a melodramatic peak upon accepting her feelings, and Hachikuji (a wake-up call for Araragi) experiences the same upon arriving at home, neither the crab nor the snail exist as a medium for intense emotion. They aren’t inherently connected to a character’s fiery passions.

The Rainy Devil, however, becomes a problem precisely because of Kanbaru’s passions—her anger, jealousy, and hatred specifically. The Rainy Devil is the medium through which Kanbaru channels those emotions. The tool she uses, you could say. On a basic level, the crab and snail are not associated with intense emotions, but the Rainy Devil is. It couldn’t be associated with much of anything else! This small change in the context of the narrative is possibly the key for transitioning into Suruga Monkey while preserving cohesion. The formal/editing shifts explained above smooth out any bumps and sew it all together, but the actual cloth of the patchwork is this emotional/motivational adjustment.

The actions and qualities of apparitions clue us into the psychological states of characters, and this is reflected directly in what we see on screen. I mean this quite literally. In Hitagi Crab, the grim hues, bizarre social interactions, and religious imagery result precisely from Senjougahara’s trauma. In Mayoi Snail, the vast emptiness of the park and the streets result precisely from Araragi wanting to be alone in the world. And in Suruga Monkey, the violence, speed, and overwhelming colors result precisely from Kanbaru’s jealousy and hatred. The inner and outer layers of the story and characters are bound together such that they demand this cohesion.

With the most intense action and violence spawning from the Rainy Devil, and snappy editing and dynamic cuts portraying said action, Suruga Monkey manages to transform our low-key psychological drama into something new. At its core, this arc is still Monogatari, so it’d be wrong to lump it in with other action or thriller or horror shows, but it is certainly distinct from its preceding arcs. Unique yet unifying, Suruga Monkey is a slam dunk.

Afternote:

I apologize for such an awful joke, but let me make up for it with some unnecessary analysis of a minor detail in the first episode of the arc. When Araragi and Senjougahara are studying together, Senjougahara is just writing the Gettysburg Address in English over and over again. I suppose it’s a decent speech to study if you’re learning English (middle schoolers all over America are forced to memorize it, after all), but I still found it a strange choice. So I decided to rationalize it by overanalyzing everything.

The Gettysburg Address was delivered by Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War at the battlefield remains of Gettysburg. “Senjougahara” means battlefield, and we could consider the two halves of the Valhalla Combo like two halves of a nation. Senjougahara and Kanbaru split apart and one scorned the other, leading to something you might call a feud or fission. So: the battlefield of Gettysburg, the civil war of the Valhalla Combo…the Gettysburg Address?

I can’t imagine this being intentional, but if it is, then someone at SHAFT is as much of a madman as Isin himself.

Delayed by an impromptu drinking party and hangover, but here now (with a bonus!) Style in Bakemonogatari (Suruga Monkey) Suruga Monkey sets itself apart from the rest of Bakemonogatari by its execution.

#analysis #anime #araragi #bakemonogatari #hachikuji #kanbaru #senjougahara #suruga monkey

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arrietty-cadee-clock · 7 years

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Snakes Over Scarves / Kagerou Project Secret Santa Present

MERRY CHRISTMAS @melly-arts!

I’m your Secret Santa for @kagepro-secret-santa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Super sorry that this is so late; I’m a pretty slow writer ;_;

Also sorry if this ends up being a lot more than the things you originally prompted. I tried to write a bit more in depth than I usually do, so really super duper sorry if this turns out to actually be terrible.

That said, while still sorry for making you wait so long, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and just in general Happy Holidays! XD

Snakes Over Scarves

8477 words

Romantic KuroAya AU

Please enjoy!

From as far back as she could remember, Ayano had never really liked it when things changed.

And why would she? Change was such a pesky thing, introducing the unwanted unknown into otherwise ordinary daily lives; disrupting schedules, plans, and missions: pretty much inconveniencing everyone involved.

With the exceptions of the very few times when change had brought good things such as family in the form of three precious siblings or introduced her to new friends as the elementary, then middle, and the final high school bell rung... nope, she didn't like it all, even one bit.

Her tests, for example, never came back the exact same. Sometimes they'd come back printed with a somewhat hopeful 73%, or a barely passable 51% or, if she had been really unlucky on that test day, a bottom-of-the-barrel, drudge-like 35%.

It was disappointing to say the least. She always studied for them, that part never changed, and yet during the last few weeks before... all of this, they always went even lower than on her unlucky days.

Oh, what she would have given to be like a certain calm, stoic boy who she used to follow around everywhere. Ayano sighed and stretched in her chair, looking at the desk on her right where (had this been the real world) he would have been sitting as she reminisced about his perfect score of 100% which never ever changed.

A smile easily grew on her face just by remembering it (him) along with memories of other things and people from that long-past, happy, unchanging time.

Shintaro, Shuuya, Kousuke, Tsubomi, Takane, H-

Until suddenly-

*ccrrreeeaaakkk*

-her thoughts were completely interrupted by the sound of a door sliding open and the steps of someone coming into the otherwise empty classroom, save for her.

-aruka... great.

Just like that, the small wistful smile ghosting on her lips halted its steady growth, shrinking down, down, down with every step the person (demon, creature, THING) behind her took further into the room until it became a large lifeless frown.

Why is it becoming easier to frown than to smile with every new loop... Ayano thought in dismay even though she had already known the answer a long time ago. She stood up from her chair and quietly walked a few steps towards the window at her left, reaching it just as the other person in the room had reached her desk.

It (not he, she, they, IT) had come to visit her again.

How absolutely wonderful.

Ayano counted the number of footsteps it took for it to reach her side by the window. Refusing to look it's way, she lowered her head deeper into the red scarf wrapped thickly around her neck and steeled her gaze into the fake fire-coloured sky just outside the window instead. Sadly though, it didn't stop her from seeing the person beside her open its mouth out of the corner of her eye, ready to speak vile words that a slimy animal like itself didn't have the right to even know; ready to remind her once again that change was not only super annoying, it also brought much, much darker things.

Like instability.

"Looks like you've failed again, haven't you?"

("Mum and Dad shouldn't have driven past that mountain, they shouldn't have gone away at all.")

Danger.

"How utterly pathetic, although completely unsurprising for a foolish human, don't you think?"

("Takane, Haruka, what is he trying to do...?!")

Sometimes even death.

"Oh, come on now miss Hero, say something. I mean, was this not what you wanted? What you wished for? What your little heart desired?"

("Shuuya...")

A lot of the time it brought death.

"..."

Exhaling out, Ayano finally turned to face her 'companion' and smiled again, yet this time it was not tenderly solemn. No, this time it was brimming with as much cheer and as much unapologetic contempt as she could put into it. Because no matter how much everything else changed around her, there was one thing that never did.

"I hate you Snake of Clearing Eyes."

But of course, three measly words were never enough to make it go away. It probably only amused the snake demon if anything, enticing it to stay even longer and say more nasty things. Ayano could only imagine what would happen if she ever truly expressed just how much she despised the monster, if she were to ever scream out the thoughts of 'leave my family alone' and 'please die' or 'I'd kill you if the Heat Haze would let me' that always followed after the initial 'I hate you.'

It would probably be rolling on the floor laughing in delight. The idea alone was enough to make Ayano go sick to her stomach; she could barely tolerate the image of its disgustingly smug smirk in her brain for more than a few seconds without shuddering, so she never permitted herself to say anything else and favored ignoring it instead.

This, of course, did not mean in any way that she was afraid of the monster.

No, no, no. Not at all.

Whatever great terror that the evil creature had first instilled inside her had steadily vanished piece by piece each time it made the queen snake do a reset. As the clocks were forced to wind themselves backwards again and again, they also seemed to strip away the fear that the snake was originally shrouded in until there was nothing left to be seen but a petty, selfish, despicable beast whose only goal it seemed was to endlessly torment her.

It surely never grew tired of it at least; always changing (agh) its ways of inflicting suffering, never staying consistent when visiting her in the small little classroom.

During some loops, the snake would appear immediately.

The moment right after she had gone through with her ultimate plan and jumped off of the building and snapping her neck as a result then woke up inside the small classroom-sized pocket of the never-ending world without a scratch, it would already be leaning against the doorway, wearing the skin of her loving father who's only true fault had been that he had loved his wife and family too much for his own good.

Suffice to say, Ayano had been brought to her knees in tears without fail during the first few loops where she had killed herself and then be forced to listen to her own father scoff at her lack of intelligence and attempt of being a savior, promising to fully carry out its own diabolical plan before leaving the room in malicious laughter.

She couldn't even bring herself to say the "I hate you" until at least loop #68, but even then it was only tearfully whimpered out and she was still left trembling on the wooden floor wondering if the poor, kind man who had gently raised her was crying as well underneath the cruel, red-eyed control placed onto him without his knowledge.

Other loops the Snake would appear during the very middle of the timeline, just to remind her of how bad things were going in the real world without her.

Unlike when it would come right after her death, the Snake didn't stick to just one exclusive form during these visits. Instead, it would take on a whole myriad of different (agh) shapes and bodies.

There were times when it took the form of Shintaro, his bubbly younger sister, a small brown-haired boy she didn't know, a small black-haired girl she didn't know yet reminded her quite a bit of her mother, Takane turned blue and virtual, and even the sweet white-haired girl that housed the queen snake that she hadn't ever met, but knew that Kousuke loved very much.

Then there times when it took control one of her sibling's bodies and they were, without lie, the only times in her entire life (and death as well, she supposed) that she actually struggled to restrain herself from giving into a blind rage. It would do no one any good if she tried to grab one of the grieving flower pots that had been placed on all of the desks but her own to throw at the loathful monster who dared to harm her family.

She would probably just miss anyway, so a wrathful "I hate you" would have to be enough.

Finally, there were loops when the snake would appear just before the next one would start, always right after it had murdered the Dan.

It only ever took one form during these visits, just as it did with her father when it came straight away. "Konoha" was what Haruka had named the form when it had still been a simple video game avatar... and yet, Ayano knew without a doubt that she hated it most when the Snake took control of it, even more than when it took over her siblings.

After all, it was the one thing Haruka had wanted so badly, the only thing (besides seeing the girl he loved one more time) he had wanted even in death. It was his wish turned sickly, just like him. His desire to be strong and healthy and normal abused and treated like some weapon to kill those he and she both cared about.

It was just such a completely blatant scorn of her friend's last hope that whenever the snake came into the room with blood-splattered black hair on white skin, twirling the still smoking gun around a finger and mockingly calling itself 'Kuroha' instead of the original name that the body had been given, all Ayano could do was glare at the creature in stoic loathing.

No sadness. No anger. Just uncomplicated, tranquil, steadfast hate along the three magic words that corresponded to it.

"I hate you," she would whisper under her breath, not caring if the abhorrent creature even heard her. All it mattered was that she heard it, knew it, and believed it.

Ayano swore to herself - actually swore - that she would never stop saying them, ever, that she would never change.

She would not.

Until one time... she did.

In all honesty, Ayano herself didn't know the reason why.

Maybe it was because of boredom; there wasn't exactly too much to do when one was trapped inside an alternate dimension besides wait for the next loop while remembering your past life.

Or maybe it was because she missed the sound of own voice beyond saying the exact same three-word sentence for what would probably have been centuries already.

Or maybe it was just because she had finally (finally) grown fed up enough of listening to the bastard Snake's endlessly boastful taunts that she could no longer stand being quiet, lest she go completely insane.

Or... perhaps it was because Ayano just wanted to. Needed to.

Just one change, one little shift and that's it.

Sucking in a breath of sweltering heat, ignoring the uncountable voices in her head exploding for her to stop what she was planning right now, she forced her eyes away from the window and spoke for the second time.

"Don't you... don't you ever get tired of this?"

Upon hearing her hastily said question, The Snake of Clearing Eyes paused it's bragging, blinking at her in genuine confusion. "What?"

"You heard me," Ayano said again, trying on a harder voice. "Haven't you gotten tired of this by now?"

Again the monstrosity (who had appeared after the end of what she could only guess was loop #440, and thus chose to wear the very much despised black android form) only looked at her, seemingly still surprised that the puny human in front of it was finally responding back. If Ayano really squinted, she could admit that the Snake looked distressingly like Haruka when it wasn't sneering down its nose at her.

Enough to almost be... innocent-looking, she supposed.

"And by 'this' you mean...?"

"All of this! Resetting time, possessing my father, hurting my loved ones over and over and over." Ayano balled up fists by her sides, not wanting them to start flying out of control. "Why are you not completely exhausted by now? Why are you even doing this?"

Slowly but still quick enough to be infuriating, the Snake crossed its arms over its chest and let a smaller version of its signature condescending smirk grace its lips. "I already told you, didn't I? I simply want to make the wishes of you humans come true, and this is the only way to grant your father's wish."

"Liar, you're worse than Shuuya." Ayano narrowed her eyes, the wind blowing in from the window and scattering papers all around the classroom. "You were never planning on bringing my mother back. All you ever wanted was to keep the timeline from going on so you could keep on living, no matter how many innocents you have to kill."

The pale-skinned, coal-haired snake being chuckled darkly. "Well... I won't deny that the living forever part of having an unachievable wish is quite the perk. But still, this is just how I'm granting his wish and if it takes forever to do so, so be it. Besides, I granted your wish at least, right? You wanted to be a hero, and you were one. All the way into the ground."

The Clearing Eyes flashed a razor-sharp grin and took a step forward. Ayano refused to take a step back.

"Y-you're wrong! This was not what I wanted at all! I just wanted to protect my siblings and my friends," she gasped, her chest hurting as the wind further whipped through her hair, almost dislodging the clips she always wore because she hadn't been able to handle just how drastically her mother's death had sent everything down hill.

"Living forever isn't worth hurting others. It isn't worth killing people and bringing so much suffering. Can't you see? Why don't you understand?"

It was the Clearing Snake's turn to narrow its eyes. All the amused haughtiness in its expression was replaced by an unreadable icy chill and for the first time in a very long while, Ayano could feel some of the original fear she had felt when she had first read those old diaries and learned about a monster with snakes for hair.

"No, I don't see and I don't understand," it muttered, neon yellow eyes piercing into her solid brown ones. Ayano wondered if this was what snakes looked like when they were about to bite their prey. The fact that she couldn't actually be harmed in this world barely soothed her. "Tell me then, Ayano, why are you even asking me all of this since you seem to have my character completely figured out already?"

"Because! B-because..." Ayano began to stutter much to her horror but pushed on regardless; she would not let her nerves break right when they had just become strong. "Because I don't understand! I don't understand how you can not care when you destroy lives and take over people! How you can be a thinking, living being and still be okay with everything you do. How you can be so cruel. I just... I just don't understand you at all."

"..."

For once the Snake of Clearing Eyes was silent, bloodlust evaporating away completely. Ayano used the time to catch her breath and slow down her heartbeat even though it had already truly stopped a long time ago. She then stared at the Snake fiercely, searching for the glowing eyes that were now obscured by black bangs. She never found them.

"You... are right. You don't understand me," muttered the Clearing Eyes Snake eventually. Turning around, its dark shadow flickering on the red sunset-lit walls as it walked towards the doorway out.

"And why would you?" It called over its shoulder brusquely, as if trying to restore the normal biting sting to its words, still without so much as looking at Ayano. "You're just a human after all. What with your pitifully short lives, how would you even begin to understand the thoughts of a superior, long-lived being... you really are such a fool."

When the Snake had reached the door and seemed to be on the verge of saying one last mean-spirited remark before walking out, it brought a hand up to touch the plainly wooden doorframe and paused. After what seemed to be a moment of consideration on the monster's part, it twisted its head back just enough so that Ayano could see the glint of one of it's shiny, lime eyes.

"A fool who should consider herself lucky that she doesn't need to understand the fear of disappearing forever."

Saying nothing more, the towering black-colored android walked out of the room unperturbed, but definitely less obnoxiously casual as usual. Likewise, Ayano had nothing to say either as she somberly watched the door begin to crumble away and the walls begin to disintegrate. Time was just about to reset again, right on schedule.

Not knowing what to feel (not pain, not confusion, not even hate), all that she could do as her memories ebbed away and the entire world swirled into a single hazy red void around her was wonder whether not if her small little change really had been nothing but a mistake.

As fate would have it, things only kept changing and growing more different as loop upon loop passed by. But unlike before, this time Ayano didn't even have a list of possible reasons why she was changing alongside it.

She had no clue at all.

For one thing, the Snake now exclusively came just before a route ended and thus always in the 'Kuroha' body, so much that Ayano could no longer clearly remember the last time it had shown up as her father or one of the Dan. Although she still held an immense scorn for the usage of this particular form, she was pressed to admit that this new sort of consistency wasn't the worst. At least now she could easily predict the exact moment when it would show up rather than be on her toes guessing all of the time, which was spades better than before.

(Should I start referring to it as 'he'? The Snake hasn't taken over any of the girl Dan members in so long...)

Another much more bewildering thing: the two of them actually started talking to each other. Like, actually talk, wherein Ayano would respond and remark back words other than "I hate you," and while the incessant ridicule the Snake always had sitting on top of its tongue never stopped coming (she didn't think it was spiritually possible), it was definitely lessening with each passing timeline, to the point that she could honestly say that their conversations were no longer entirely antagonistic.

"How were all the members of the Dan doing before you killed them this time?" she would ask at least once per visit, their current loop #563 being no exception.

It- he would always answer honestly, even if it most of the time wasn't polite at all. "The nine brats including this one?" He gestured at his own lanky, black-clothed body. Thankfully his hands weren't blood-stained which meant he had simply shot the teenagers instead of strangling them to death this time. "They were fine I guess, nothing out of the ordinary. Although... it was actually the Focuser who jumped in front of the Captivator when I shot them. Usually it's the other way around, so does that count as different?"

"...sure."

The Snake, in between bouts of his daily mockery, would ask her questions as well sometimes during routes where he seemed to be in more relaxed, indulgent moods.

"Tell me, little clumsy Hero, what's with the red?"

Ayano tilted her head in surprise. "Ahh? Why do you ask-"

"Don't play the idiot. Or at least don't play it more than you already are. I spent years looking out of your old man's eyes and I can't remember a single one where you didn't wear that scarf," he barked out brusquely. "While there's no doubt that it's the most superior color, I don't get why a mere child would wear it so often. Why?"

"...well, my mother certainly liked the color a lot," she started, gliding her fingers over the two pieces of red plastic in her hair before folding her hands over her skirt thoughtfully.

"But I don't know, I guess... I guess I wore this scarf every day because it made my siblings happy. Made them feel better about themselves; that it was okay to have their own red. I'm sure you already know this-" she bit her tongue to keep her words from sounding too bitter, "-but for most of Tsubomi, Kousuke, and Shuuya's lives... red wasn't the best color out there."

She had expected the Clearing Eyes to laugh at her and to take pride in the misery his fellow snakes had caused three poor children, but instead of sneering the black android instead tilted his own head just as she had. "And did it work?" he asked, sounding the most sincere and curious than she had ever heard from him.

It was... kind of amazing, Ayano couldn't help but blink in astonishment.

"Yes, I think it did."

"Hn."

Once the loop (this one being #828 if she recalled correctly) had ended the pale-colored, lime-eyed Snake left the classroom silently, not a single disdain-filled final comment making it's way out of his mouth and attacking her ears.

Ayano smiled the tiniest bit as the world started to deteriorate around her but hid it behind the tell-tale red scarf, all the while still pretending to be clueless as to the reason why.

It wasn't until many, many, many resets later that Ayano fully realized that her companion was changing just as much as she was and perhaps even more astonishingly, that she could actually call him 'companion' completely unironically.

"Hey," she said during loop #1365 while folding an origami crane with the paper of her failed tests just as she had done when she was alive, "Snake Of Clearing- Kuroha, can you tell me something please?"

"Hn? Okay Hero, shoot," he mumbled without opening his eyes, lazily sprawled in the chair and desk next to her's even though it wasn't his- wasn't his at all, Ayano knew all too well but still let him sit there regardless (I hope Shintaro won't be upset.)

"What was your family like?"

Now he cracked an eye open at her. "Excuse me?"

"Well, it's just that I've already told a lot about myself and my family and friends, probably way more than I should have considering what you always end up doing to them," she explained calmly as she finished the final folds of the paper bird. "And yet you don't really ever tell me about yourself or your own family. I just thought, you know, that it'd be fair if you did."

Kuroha scoffed, "I think you've lost even more brain cells than normal during that last time reset. If you didn't know this obvious bit of information already, I'll gladly remind you: I don't have one."

"Yes, you do: Azami, her husband, Mary-chan's mother, the other nine snakes. Tell me about them; aren't they your family?"

"What? No!" Kuroha jumped up and out of his seat in utter bafflement. "They are not my 'family'! My master was nothing but a naive, desperate fool and that simpleton of a husband she had was equally weak-willed. Their stupid brat-daughter was just another whiny child. And my fellow snakes? While they're still better than you humans they are nothing but unthinking, low-level pawns to be used for my plans."

He rose up to his body's full height, "So to reiterate this again human hero, I have no family," and glared down at her menacingly.

"..."

Or at least he tried to. It only took one beat, two beats, three beats before Ayano could no longer hold it in.

"Pfffft."

"W-what is so funny that you are laughing human?!"

She had to bring a hand up to muffle her chuckles. "I-I'm sorry. It's just... you sounded so much like what people would expect from an angsty teenager going through a rebellious phase and trying to disown their relatives."

"What!" He cried out in shocked indignance. "That is not it at all!"

"It was, it was! Complete with the whole 'I have no family' line too, hehehe!" Ayano only laughed harder as the literal snake monster in front of her actually went red in the face and started sputtering out weightless death threats. She couldn't help it, she really couldn't because oh gosh he (the Snake of Clearing Eyes for goodness' sake) just looked so flustered! It was, in all honesty, kind of adorable.

"For the love of- agh!" Kuroha slammed a black boot onto the floor hard, fully snapping Ayano out of her laughter, sending the paper crane tumbling out of her hand and onto the floor. "Don't speak as if you understand! Just because you have the Snake of Favoring Eyes inside of you doesn't mean you know what it's like to be one of us, to be like me. You don't know at all."

He whipped around and stomped over to the sliding classroom door, looking to be fully intent on walking out and cutting the visit extremely short. It was reminiscent of a child angrily marching away just after having thrown a tantrum; Ayano definitely would have found it cute as well if she hadn't hastily shot up from her seat and walked after him. She must have really struck some sort of nerve; the last time he had acted like this was almost a thousand loops earlier right after that infamous first change.

"Wait! Wait please, I-I didn't mean to sound so insensitive. Sorry."

The black android stopped just as he had slid the door open, not saying anything with only his back facing her.

"Kuroha? I'm sorry okay? Believe me, I am," she repeated again, a hand slowly outreaching to touch his shoulder only to stop midway as his voice returned. Softly.

"You don't know what it's like to be disliked by your master from the moment you were created. To be the only ability she didn't use. To have to fight and act out for attention yet still be cast aside the moment she met that damn white-haired human. To only be listened to when she wanted something even though you were her only ability that could speak and think, and even then it was just because she wanted to be with her precious new family longer than naturally possible, not you or your fellow eye abilities; her old family. You..."

He took a step forward out of the room. "You don't know."

"Then, t-then tell me!" Ayano cried out, successfully grabbing onto his elbow before he could run away and go where she couldn't follow. "Tell me so I can understand; so I can talk to you about it and you can share things with me like I've been talking and sharing everything with you! Please, tell me what you feel so I can help."

"...why do you want to, though?" he whispered. Slowly, he turned around to finally look her in the eyes. Seeing his face, Ayano couldn't find a single hard line or curl of a sneer. Instead, all she found was simple pensiveness, melancholy, and dare she even think it, vulnerability.

"You hate me, do you not? That's all you used to say after all and even I wouldn't be able to blame you. I know the things I've done; I'm the one who did them." He let out a small sigh as if in bittersweet nostalgia. "There isn't a likely chance that I'll ever stop doing them too, so why? Even after all this... talking we've been doing, why would you go this far? Why does it matter to you, Tateyama Ayano?"

After taking a moment of silence to get over the shock of him calling her by her real name without merely a hint of derision, she replied back in full, utter honesty:

"...because you're all I have now. It's true that I can't stop you from doing all of these terrible things, and I'll never be able to forgive you. But if that really is and will always be the case, then what do I have to lose?"

She offered a small, but open smile unobscured by the red scarf. "I still remember that route so many loops ago when I first yelled at you. I didn't say this during then, but I will now: I want to understand you, to know you, maybe even learn from you, but only if you'll let me. So what do you say, Kuroha, Snake of Clearing Eyes? Will you?"

One beat, two beats, three beats; ten, a hundred, a thousand passed by with nothing but unsure yet steady staring between eyes of both blazing yellow and determined brown. It almost reached to a million before the pair of yellow ones finally broke, blinking and sighing.

"Okay. Okay, okay, okay you win Hero. I'll tell you what you want to know." He rubbed his temples in embarrassed agitation, then stuck out a stiff hand towards her. "But not in here; this room is way too stuffy for this kind of talk. I don't even now how you can handle it when yammering on about your precious 'Dan' so much already. No, we're going outside for this."

"Eh?" Ayano blinked dumbly, feeling perplexed just as she was beginning to beam and jump up in pleasant surprise. "But isn't the timeline about to reset again?"

"On the outside world maybe, but it doesn't restart in here until I say so. And I think I can keep it running for a while," he remarked with only a somewhat malicious wink.

"O-oh okay, but ah, that still won't work; I can't leave this room," she reminded him. "Didn't you tell me I'd turn to dust or something if I did during the first ever route?"

"I lied, obviously."

"HAH?! YOU REALLY ARE WORSE THAN SHUUYA, AREN'T YOU?"

The smug, robotic boy-wearing snake only chuckled a genuinely amused chuckle, his signature smirk finally back where it belonged. He stuck out his hand further towards her, albeit more confident and laid back. "So what do you say, Ayano, little human hero? Will you step out into the Neverending World? It's just as much your home as it is mine at this point."

She stared at his hand. Up until now, they had never actually touched skin to skin. He's a snake, Ayano knew, but the Konoha body used to be a full flesh and blood human.

In other words, would he be warm or cold?

Only one way to find out, she concluded and began to reach for his hand with a slightly bigger smile, once again ignoring the voices in her head telling her variations of ‘no don't do it’ and ‘this will make everything weird again!’ and ‘change is bad, remember?!’

It's just another little shift. Well, maybe a medium-sized shift. Still though, I doubt it will hurt anything.

...his hand was warm.

Ever since that medium-sized change at the end of that fateful route over a thousand timelines ago, there hadn't been another route afterward where the two of them didn't go out walking through the mystical haze. It was bigger than whatever Ayano could have imagined; twisting exact images of the city buildings she had grown up around as well as the trees of the very forest surrounding said city. There was no doubt in her mind that it had done the same with the rest of the real world as well.

The sweltering temperature was a constant everywhere they walked and while this lack of change probably would've pleased her say, five hundred routes prior, the only thing that would please her now would be to be wearing anything but her stuffy old middle-school uniform.

(Seriously, she couldn't fathom how Kuroha could stand it wearing his all-black outfit constantly. Bah, otherworldly snake beings were weird.)

So with the blistering never-ending sun high in the sky beating hard glints of light on her red clips and Kuroha's headphone-ear-things (she had asked about them during one of their first few walks. Even he didn't know how they worked) and the occasional god-sent breeze ruffling their clothes as they walked and talked, it became extremely clear quite early on just how empty the world really was. There was no one else on the streets, no moving cars on the road, no one else in the entire city besides the two of them.

"I thought lots of people came into this world. Thousands of people die every day and August 15th definitely isn't an exception. Why isn't there anyone else?"

"There is, idiotic Hero, you just can't see them. Everyone goes to their own version of the daze, your's being the classroom; the rest of the world is empty to them. The only other person they'd be able to interact with would be the person they died beside, but since you always insist on dying alone each and every time, well-"

"I see."

"Yeah. It's really only me and Master who can actually go and visit anyone we want, not that she ever has the will to do anything but mope for eternity. Have I told you that already?"

"Too many times... hey um?"

"What is it?"

"Do you ever go and visit anyone else besides me?"

"I used to. Usually only to check that things were going according to plan, that the ones who were leaving wished for the right things so as to get the proper snakes."

"Did you ever talk to them?"

"Sometimes, always just to laugh at them and bring out their despair, like with you before."

"..."

"...you were always the most fun to do it with, though, which is why I haven't visited anyone else in at least four-hundred-and-forty loops."

"Wow, thanks, hehe."

They talked and talked and talked about absolutely everything-

- Ayano's life before she even knew what a medusa was... Kuroha's life watching the world through Azami's eyes during the planet's earliest days... how honestly scared Ayano had been when she had first seen her sibling's powers, despite how much she had assured them she wasn't... how hard adapting to human life and modern day society had been for Kuroha in Kenjirou's body during the first thirty-eight or so loops... how much it truly hurt each time Ayano jumped and twisted her spine out of sisterly love... how much it actually did hurt whenever Kuroha took possession of someone, feeling all of their pain and sorrow and traumatic memories pass through as he forced himself to become them -

-they left nothing out at all, no piece of information kept secret, no part of themselves hidden away.

Huh. We're going to run out of things to talk about at this rate, Ayano thought and squeezed the large hand covering her much smaller one. Kuroha didn't squeeze back, but she could see the edge of his mouth quirk into a half smile underneath the spotted yellow dots up on his cheek.

For every single walk they took together at the end of a timeline, the steps they took side by side each other were always at the same pace, holding warm hands all the way.

Although... maybe walking in silence together like this wouldn't be the worst thing to do for eternity, she also thought. Soon enough her own half-smile was quirking onto her lips in return as they stepped through the heat daze's version of her old school, leisurely approaching the door of Ayano's classroom as the outside streets grew ever fuzzier from the impending reset.

It's almost nice enough to not want all of this to end...

Judging from everything that had happened and would probably continue to happen, that notorious first change was leaning on the possibility of not being a mistake more than ever before.

Their routinely outing for loop #2550 had been one of comfortable silence. Neither of them had found any reason to speak and disrupt the serenity from just being in the other's presence, despite Ayano noticing that the look in Kuroha's eyes seemed to be more hazed over and glassy than usual, as if he was looking for something in the distance but not finding it.

As if he was thinking very hard about something.

She had been planning to ask about it when they had reached the last stoplight that stood between them and the school building, but Kuroha beat her to the chase.

"What's it like to be real?" he suddenly blurted out as they waited for the traffic light to flash green (even though there were never any cars, Ayano always insisted on following the so-called rules of the road even though it always earned her a roll of the eyes from the snickering snake.)

She startled a little bit and looked at him quizzingly, not understanding the question. "Uh, what do you mean by 'real'?"

"Real as in real, Ayano. As in having a body from the moment of your creation and keeping it every time you're reborn," he explained, eyes cast into the hazy air in front of them. "What is it like to not have to force yourself into someone else; to just be you." He swung his eyes back down, locking into hers intently. "What is it like to be alive...?"

It took Ayano a good solid ten seconds to even begin to think of an answer. What is it like to be alive? How should I know, I'm dead after all. But, maybe I can remember if I try...

"It feels like... like you're normal I guess," she settled with, gently taking a hold of Kuroha's other hand so that she was holding both of them. "It's like you just know from the very start who you are, who you're meant to be. You go through daily life always as just one person; the same as everyone else around you going through their own lives. It feels like you're equal to them all, equal to the whole world."

"And- and that's what it's like to be human?" Kuroha asked in actual bright-eyed awe, clutching both her hands tightly.

"Yes-" she smiled tenderly up at him, "-that's exactly what it means. You're equal. You're weak. You're human."

"..."

"N-not that you would know or even want to know anything about that of course, hahaha," Ayano tried to tease a little, hoping to bring a blush or even a normal look of irritation onto his face.

She got neither.

Despite looking positively entranced by her words just a second ago Kuroha quickly resigned back into himself; eyes disappearing under bangs, his hands letting go of hers.

It was the first time they had ever let go of each other while walking.

"Kuro-"

"The light's red. Come on, let's go. Before time runs out."

Kuroha then cut ahead by himself and crossed the street without waiting for her, ("H-hey wait! Kuroha!") leaving Ayano scrambling to catch up behind him as they entered the school and navigated their way up the floors to the familiar old classroom, although she didn't know why he seemed to be in such a hurry. The world hadn't started to fade away into the new timeline yet, even though it really should have started by now.

Odd.

"Je- *wheeze* -jerk," she complained when they reached the well-worn out door, bent over with hands on her knees gasping for breath (gym hadn't exactly been her best subject in school, although she had still been much better than Shintaro at it, much to her secret delight) behind him. "I hope your gun jams when you kill everyone after the next route."

"It won't," he said matter-of-factly, not making any moves to slide open the door and let her in.

Odder.

"Hahaha, very funny all-mighty Kuroha. If don't mind now, I'm going to go inside so you can get started running the loop. Definitely be sure to tell me afterward how your gun definitely doesn't break~" She giggled and tried to walk past him to open the door herself, only to be stopped by his hand blocking her path. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"U-um, what are you doing? What's wrong?"

"..." Silence. Extremely odd.

"I take it back, this isn't funny anymore Kuroha. Why aren't you letting me in?"

"..." More silence. Okay, now this was just getting annoying.

"Kuroha, I said-" she began, ready to calmly but willfully ask to be let in. She didn't get to finish her demand, however, as Kuroha swung around to face her at a scarily swift speed. His eyes were ablaze with nothing but seriousness, shocking her almost as much as his next few words did.

"Do you want to be real again, Tateyama Ayano?"

It was her turn to be silent this time. "...what are you saying?"

"Exactly what I just said: do you want to be real again? Alive again? A normal, equal, weak human again?"

Before she could follow up with an even louder, more unbelieving "WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?" Kuroha suddenly turned around and slid open the door in one fluid motion.

What (no, who) Ayano saw inside stopped her right in her tracks, flitted the very words off her tongue and restarted her long-passed beatless heart.

It was Shintaro. Two Shintaros; one of them wore a black hoodie while the other one wore a familiar-looking bright red jersey.

Ayano's hands were positively shaking. "S-Sh-Shin..."

The one clad in an all-black hoodie looked extremely sickly like he hadn't felt the touch of the sun in two years, and seemed as if he were on the edge of a complete mental breakdown. The one dressed in red looked a lot better; less pale with fewer lines and bags of dark stress under his eyes. He looked much more alert and cautious, but also more stable.

...the jersey still suited him perfectly, just as she remembered.

"Shintaro!" she called out to the both of them. They didn't take notice or even react to her voice, meaning that they couldn't hear her and proving it very likely that they couldn't see her either, much less interact with her. Yet it was still painful for Ayano to stop her herself from outright running forward and crushing both of them into a hug.

They're both so much taller than me... what routes are they from... I can't believe this is happening... oh Shintaro!

"H-how?" was all she could hiccup out, still staring at the two versions of the same boy she had admired throughout all her school life.

"Well, it wasn't easy, believe me," Kuroha spoke softly behind her, not a single trace of ill intent or malevolence hidden away in his voice. She doubted that she would find any traces hidden in his features if she turned around either. "Had to do a whole lot of trial and error during the last six timelines... but I managed to finally get them both here on lucky number seven. That's what Dan number he is right? 7?"

Ayano nodded back, her legs now trembling as well but she couldn't tell if it was still from her sheer level of incredulity or from the ball of happiness growing at lightning speed inside her chest. Kuroha laughed, low and benevolent and melodic-like, sounding nothing like Konoha but almost sounding exactly like Haruka.

"Thought so. Now before you ask 'why', he said right at the exact moment she was literally about to ask why, why, oh god why did you do all of this for me, I'm so happy, "Let's just say... I remember that loop so many routes ago too; the one where you first yelled back at me... when you asked me if I was tired of all of this... tired of hurting others to get what I wanted... of lashing out at Master Azami because she chose to also love Tsukihiko and Shion instead of just us..."

He brought a hand to rub his neck awkwardly-

"Back then, I was so sure that I would never grow tired of it ever..."

-yet the smile he gave her was bright, toothy and kind.

"...but I think maybe I have now."

Still smiling warmly down at her, Kuroha motioned into the musty, sun-filled classroom where the two lost boys were waiting. "Go ahead, do whatever you like. Use one of them as a sacrifice to leave and be with your uh, family again or send either one of them off with a snake of their own. You'll either die for real or come back to life - I really don't know which is better at this point - but I can guarantee you that it'll be real."

The smiling Snake closed his eyes and sighed. Satisfied. Content. Tired. "Even if you don't do anything at all, if you still hate change as much as you've told me all of these rewinding routes, I want you to have the choice at least. The choice to stay the same... to ruin everything... to change. Whatever your final wish will be, I hope it makes you happy my small Hero."

Having heard him finish up his golden words, Ayano soon found that her entire body was quivering. She brought her hands up to cover her face, muffling away her overjoyed tears. Many beats passed, so many that they wouldn't fit properly in tens or hundreds or thousands. Eventually, Kuroha peeked open an eye.

"Hello? Earth to little red heroic Ayano? I said go ahead, didn't I? Listen, if you're worried about what might happen to me after this, it's okay. I'm not going to disappear without a fight and even I'm not sure what will happen exactly. So it's fine really, you can go and- huwah!?" he exclaimed as Ayano was suddenly moving again, unwrapping her red scarf and swinging it over the tall dark android's neck at a speed fast enough to break necks.

"Wh-what in the heat haze's name-"

She didn't give him even a second's time to finish asking what she was doing. With nothing but overwhelming gratitude in her restarted heart, she had practically already done it.

Thank you, thank you, thank you was all she thought as she pulled down the scarf ends entwined in her hands, pulling Kuroha's head closer to her as a result.

There weren't any voices in her head telling her to stop this time as she brought the ethereal snake being all the way down and pressed their lips together, turning on her eye power for the first time ever just so she knew he was feeling what she felt as well, not caring at all if this was probably the most devastatingly large change she could have done.

It was finally at this exact moment that Ayano knew that the first tiny, amazing one hadn't been a mistake at all.

Despite everything that had happened surprisingly, Ayano still wasn't too fond of change.

It was still a very pesky, unpredictable thing.

It had turned Tsubomi from sweet and proper to guarded and aloof, turned Takane from awfully moody to downright gleeful, and turned Shintaro into an even lonelier person in some of the really depressing timelines.

And yet it had also changed a murderous, unredeemable devil of a snake spirit into someone so wonderful that he had been able to claim the most precious place in her heart.

Change could make people lose their jobs, move away, drop out of school and even kill them, but it could also bring people together, make souls stronger, rebuild lives and help people to forgive.

Maybe it wasn't so bad as she had always forced herself to believe.

Whatever the case truly was, she would be deciding the fate of herself, her friends, the never-ending world itself in a very short amount of time. What would she do? Which copy of the boy with the perfect memory she had always envied would she be able to help? How could she change everyone's destiny for the better?

All these unanswered questions and thoughts swirled around in her mind, silent as time, and yet all Ayano could really do now was watch as her stubborn, flustered, beloved Snake gently slipped away from her as the all-powerful world without end around them went into limbo, even though she very much wanted to cling onto him like her life depended on it.

Whatever I choose now.

Whatever I end up fixing or ruining.

It's all because of you, Snake of Clearing Eyes.

Because you didn't leave me alone.

Because you changed.

And so had she.

Smiling the most joyous, radiantly happy smile she could present, red eyes of favoring emotions still intact and aglow, Ayano whispered her last true feelings before she went to go remake the world and change yet again.

"I love you Kuroha."

#MERRY CHRISTMAS!#Mekakucity Actors #Secret Santa #Kagepro Secret Santa #melly-arts #me #fanfiction #SORRY THIS IS SO LATE #KuroAya #This is actually really bad #why can't I write canon #or even AUs of canon #still #hope you like it :)#KageproSS16

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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PS5 vs. Xbox Series X: Which Console Has The Best 2021 Exclusive Games?

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The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S launched last year during strange times, but now that the 2021 release schedule is starting to shape up, we’re finally able to see which exclusive games next-gen console owners can start to look forward to.

That also means that it’s time to start the debate that has defined so many of the console wars so far: “Which console has the best exclusive games?”

As you’ve probably already guessed, that’s the question we’re going to try to answer today. Before we dive into our breakdown of the PS5 and Xbox Series X’s most notable upcoming exclusives in 2021, though, here are a few factors that you need to consider:

The definition of “exclusive games” is constantly evolving, so we’re embracing a more modern definition of the concept. A game is eligible for this list if it will be available for PS5 or Xbox Series X/S but not the other console. That means that PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S games that will also be available for PC or previous-gen consoles made by the same manufacturer are eligible for consideration.

There are very few “true” next-gen exclusives being released in 2021. By that, we mean games that will only be available for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S and no absolutely no other devices. We expect that to change in 2022 and beyond.

An exclusive game has to be currently scheduled for release in 2021 to be eligible for consideration. That includes games with exact 2021 release dates and 2021 release windows.

We will be updating these lists with new exclusives if and when they are revealed and as more release dates are confirmed.

2021 PlayStation 5 Exclusive Games

Deathloop

Death Stranding: Director’s Cut

Destruction All-Stars

Final Fantasy 7 Remake: Intergrade

Ghostwire Tokyo

Horizon Forbidden West

Jett The Far Shore

Kena: Bridge of Spirits

Oddworld Soulstorm

Ratchet And Clank: Rift Apart

Returnal

Solar Ash

Stray

The first thing you’re going to notice about this shortlist of PS5 exclusives is that it’s rather…short. Part of the reason that’s currently the case is that the PlayStation team really hasn’t had their “big” presentation for the year while the Xbox team pretty much showed their hand at E3 2021. We expect PlayStation to expand its 2021 exclusive lineup sometime in the near future (even if those updates only include smaller titles).

One of the most interesting things about this list is that we’ve actually already played two of the biggest exclusives on it: Returnal and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. Both of those games rank comfortably among the best games of 2021, and both are “true” PS5 exclusives. There’s a debate to be had about whether of those games are worth owning a PS5 for, but we’re reaching a point where we can start to judge the PS5 based on the strength of its overall exclusive library and not individual releases. So far as that goes, these are two exceptional additions to that library.

Beyond those titles, the only significant true PS5 exclusive on the horizon for 2021 is…well, Horizon Forbidden West. Everything we’ve seen of that game so far looks incredible, and we fully expect it to be both a worthy follow-up to the incredible original and perhaps the PS5’s best game so far.

From there, things get a little weird. For instance, Ghostwire Tokyo and Deathloop are actually being published by Bethesda. As you probably heard, Bethesda was recently acquired by Microsoft. Despite that acquisition, Bethesda has said that both of those games will still be timed PS5 console exclusives for a one-year period. Both titles look promising (especially Deathloop) and both could certainly prove to offer compelling reasons to buy a PS5 if you just can’t wait to play them on Xbox.

Then you have Death Stranding Director’s Cut and Final Fantasy 7 Remake: Intergrade: two upgraded ports of PS4 games. We don’t know much about Death Stranding‘s new content at this time, but Intergrade looks like a fantastic upgrade of the incredible original experience. In both cases, we expect these titles to be very appealing to those who missed these games the first time around and potentially appealing to those who are interested in buying them again for the upgrades.

Beyond, that you’ve got a mix of interesting smaller titles (Stray and Jett The Far Shore, for example) and games that already came out (Oddworld Soulstorm and Destruction All-Stars) and weren’t all that great. We’ll talk a little more about this in the next section, but at the moment, the PlayStation 5 lineup is lacking some smaller titles that could fill in the gap between the more significant releases. Timed exclusive Deatloop and Ghostwire Tokyo could help make the wait for Horizon Forbidden West a little more manageable, but the PS5 is certainly relying on its heavy hitters this year.

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2021 Xbox Series X/S Exclusive Games

Adios

CrossfireX

Dead Static Drive

Echo Generation

Exo One

ExoMecha

Forza Horizon 5

Halo Infinite

Lake

Microsoft Flight Simulator

Sable

Scorn

Shredders

The Anacrusis

The Artful Escape

The Ascent

The Big Con

The Gunk

The Wild at Heart

Tunic

Twelve Minutes

Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer’s Legacy

Warhammer 40K: Darktide

Unless something really surprising happens (whether it be a delay or a reveal), the Xbox team has seemingly shown us their 2021 exclusives hand. That makes it a lot easier to judge what they’re working with.

Honestly, there are only two real “heavy hitters” on this list: Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite. These are Xbox’s big new entries into established franchises, and thus the kind of games console manufacturers traditionally rely on to sell hardware. Well, after E3 2021, I can tell you that Forza Horizon 5 is stunning. How the game looks obviously doesn’t account for whether or not you care about this franchise, but if you have any interest in Forza or racing games, this could very well prove to be one of the year’s top titles.

As for Halo Infinite…well, the fact that Microsoft still can’t give us a definitive 2021 release date for the game certainly raises some alarms. Halo Infinite could very well be delayed to 2022, or Microsoft could decide to release part of it (likely the multiplayer part) this year and the rest of it next year. If the full package does release this year, the game should prove to be one of the year’s biggest titles. At the very least, Halo Infinite‘s free-to-play multiplayer mode could move a lot of Xbox Series X consoles this holiday season if it lives up to the hype.

You also have Microsoft Flight Simulator, which was obviously already released on PC, but seems to be getting enough of an upgrade in time for its Xbox Series X debut to make it a compelling exclusive for series fans who aren’t able to (or don’t want to) play the game on PC.

It’s actually when you look at some of the smaller games on this list that things start to get more interesting. Twelve Minutes, Sable, The Gunk, Scorn, and Shredders could all work their way into game-of-the-year conversations if for no other reason than the fact this is kind of a weird year for gaming. Microsoft is very interested in ensuring Xbox gamers have at least one notable title to look at each month, and they seem to be well on their way to accomplishing that goal by virtue of their support of these smaller titles.

That brings us to Game Pass. It’s hard to know what to do with Game Pass when you’re talking about exclusives. Game Pass will include day-one access to certain Xbox exclusives, but Game Pass itself is also something of an exclusive. That also means that you could argue the service enhances the value of titles like Hades, Psychonauts 2, and Back 4 Blood that may not technically be Xbox exclusives but will arguably be more accessible to Xbox users.

PlayStation 5 vs. Xbox Series X: Who Has the Better 2021 Exclusives?

This is an incredibly close call, but in the interest of naming a “winner” for the sake of conversation, I’m going with the PlayStation 5.

The thing is that I honestly think the Xbox Series X may end up having the better 2021 games lineup overall largely due to the number of indie titles the console is supporting and the value of Game Pass. In fact, we’re reaching a point where it’s hard to separate Game Pass from Xbox. If you’re a Game Pass subscriber, you’re about to be able to access more modern games (and a collection of classics) in 2021 than you may have ever had access to in your entire gaming life. It’s a great time to be an Xbox gamer.

If we’re just talking exclusives, though, then I can’t discount the fact that the only Triple-A Xbox exclusive that I’m confident is coming out this year is Forza Horizon 5 (not counting the PC exclusive Age of Empires 4). Even if Halo Infinite is released this year, serious questions remain regarding what kind of shape it’s in and how much of it we’ll get.

By comparison, PlayStation 5’s major exclusives for the year include Returnal, Rift Apart, Horizon Forbidden West, timed exclusives Deathloop and Ghostwire Tokyo, and notable remasters Final Fantasy 7 Remake: Intergrade and Death Stranding: Director’s Cut. I’m certainly worried about the PS5’s lack of games between those releases, but I’m more confident that each of those games is going to great (or very good) than I’m confident that some of those smaller Xbox titles are going to live up to what is certainly the high-end of their potential.

The post PS5 vs. Xbox Series X: Which Console Has The Best 2021 Exclusive Games? appeared first on Den of Geek.

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scottlarouxwrites · 7 years

Text

Style in Bakemonogatari (Suruga Monkey)

Let’s actually backtrack a bit to examine some editing and form from the first couple of minutes of the arc’s first episode.

The walking shot is spread throughout the scene, and the pair make their way to the middle and then the end of the frame.

Afternote:

I can’t imagine this being intentional, but if it is, then someone at SHAFT is as much of a madman as Isin himself.

#analysis #anime #araragi #bakemonogatari #hachikuji #kanbaru #senjougahara #suruga monkey

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