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author-morgan · 4 years

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Kryptic ↟ Deimos

twenty-three - one day

masterlist

But the great leveler, Death: not even the gods can defend a man, not even one they love, that day when fate takes hold and lays him out at last.

Death submits to no one, not even Dread and Destruction.

They are both weapons of flesh and bone, of warm blood and beating hearts, and they cannot be controlled.

LESYA CRACKS HER knuckles before winding a piece of linen around her hands —Kassandra is doing the same. The Eagle Bearer is only a few hundred drachmae away from being able to pay Xenia for the information regarding her mother, but after taking so many contracts and doing menial tasks in the seas surrounding Keos a day’s break is well earned. Kass decides to press her luck and spar with Lesya, she needs to be kept on her toes and there is no better person to do so.

The match does not last long. “By the gods,” Kassandra pants, hunched forward with her hands on her knees —she thought it would be a fair fight if neither of them used their weapons. All her experience as a misthios could not compete with the severe and ruthless training Lesya had endured. She is a living weapon, whether the twin blades are in her grasp or not. “I’m glad we won’t face one another in battle.”

Kassandra and Barnabas take their leave of the beach, but before Lesya has a chance to unwrap the cloth around her hands' Tundareos sinks into a boxer’s stance. He smiles —having watched his sister and the misthios compete, but now he wishes to try his luck against her again. A rematch for how easily she bested him on the ship. He fairs just as poorly as Kassandra and comes away with a bruise blossoming on his shoulder and rubbing the stiffness away in his pectoral.

Tundareos tosses his sore arm around Lesya’s shoulders, both of them heading back to Koressia for the evening. Halfway to her brother’s small home, a glint of gold catches her attention. She slows to a stop, gaze following the hooded figure. Deimos. Waving Tundareos ahead, she falls back and slides into an alley between two burned storefronts. Even cloaked, she recognizes him —no one else holds their shoulders and head the way he does. Catching him, Lesya reaches out and jerks the dark hood back. “Why are you following us?”

Deimos spins on heel —there is a strange glint in his eyes, one Lesya cannot place but it fades when he steels his resolve and hardens his expression. “Orders,” he says, producing a small scroll of papyrus from his belt.

She takes the slip from him, quickly reading the messy script. Athens is at a tipping point. We cannot let the Eagle Bearer return to the city or our fallen champion. Stop them by any means. Orders mean nothing if they are not executed. “And I thought it was because you missed me,” she remarks, feigning hurt despite the kink in her lips. He rolls his eyes, closing the distance between them with a single stride.

“Lesya–” he shakes his head. The way he says her name is an unspoken plea. Don’t do this, don’t make this harder. Deimos lifts his hand, cupping her cheek —gentle assurance this is not a dream as she frequents his often. People fear him, but not Lesya. She hangs onto his touch as though it is a lifeline in a stormy sea. With a sigh, her laurel eyes slip shut.

“You’ve never been a good liar, Deimos,” Lesya reminds him —his touch falls into nothingness. Lying, like stealth, was her forte. When force would not work but sweet words would, she was always the one to claim their victories. It was only Elpenor’s hushed agreement that spared him after he stole Lesya away in the moonlight —paving the way for her freedom and his torment. He glances at their feet, hands turning into fists at his side.

A fleeting, bright smile crosses her lips when she tilts his chin up, thumb finding a scar hidden under the stubble of his beard —tawny-gold eyes boring into her own. Lesya searches his face, finding the same troubled glint as before. Something is wrong, though he will not speak of it. “Alexios,” she whispers, wanting him to hear the name and who he truly is. He is not Deimos anymore than she had been Enyo. It is all a lie in the end, though repeated falsehoods often take the appearance of truth.

Stepping back, Deimos turns and peers out to the docks from the narrow alley. “That’s not who I am.” He says as though he is trying to convince himself. Alexios died in the night on the slopes of Mount Taygetos and Deimos was born into the world —bloody and broken. A testament to how he would live life.

Lesya slips her hand into his, feeling the rough and raised scar across his palm against hers. A reminder of the blood he has shed to keep her safe. It does not matter if he is Deimos or Alexios, Lesya only knows she loves him. “You could be, though.” He looks back at her and spreads his fingers —folding them around her hand but says nothing. For you, he thinks I could be. “Stay with me,” she breathes, hopeful.

But Deimos knows it does not matter how much he wants to stay, he cannot. The Cult of Kosmos will forever haunt them should he leave, so he stays for her —to keep her safe, to keep them from finding her. Every monstrous thing he has done has been for her. And all he can manage to say is, “I can’t,” even if the melancholy in his dark eyes say otherwise.

“Then stay with me tonight,” Lesya amends. Deimos will not deny her the night —they each need a good night’s rest that comes with lying next to one another. She does not know where else to go on Keos, so she leads Deimos to Tundareos’ home and points up to the rooftop. They both scale the side of the stone house silently, falling back into pallet beneath moonrise. Absently, Lesya takes one of his arms, turning it over in her lap and begins to unlace the ties of his gilded vambrace.

He watches her, heart beating in his throat as she follows the scar on his forearm with her fingertips. Lesya flicks her eyes up, meeting his steady gaze. For her, it is easy to tell something is wrong. Deimos has never been one for words, but now he is strangely quiet, and his tawny-gold eyes hold more pain than ever. “What happened?” She asks, reaching for his other arm.

The gathering of the Cultists flashes at the forefront of his mind. Everything is a lie, he wants to say, but the words do not come. A weapon to be used until dulled then discarded he thinks, bitterly. Deimos shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter,” he answers, looking past the burned buildings to the sea, “the timing isn’t right.” He still must sail for Athens before Kleon suspects defiance. Lesya slides the second vambrace from his arm, laying it next to the first and says nothing.

Golden light from the setting sun turns Lesya’s copper hair to flame. Mesmerized, Deimos does not even notice she has unhooked the fading white pteruges at his shoulders and unclasped the black-and-gold cuirass until they both fall away. He swallows the lump in his throat when she crawls into his lap, her hands cupping his face. “I’ve missed this,” she whispers. Lesya does not miss the days of torment, but she misses the nights, his touch, falling asleep next to him.

Deimos’ smiles, briefly —arms wrapping around Lesya’s middle, and then she surges forward, kissing him, unable to bear it any longer. He reclines, drawing her back with him, lips never parting until she rolls to the side —propping her chin upon his chest. “One day,” Deimos rasps, a promise —one day we’ll be together. But one day seems so far away. Lesya smiles again, soft and warm, as she settles into his embrace, hand resting over the steady beat of his heart.

When morning comes, Lesya is not eager to let Deimos go, she holds onto the moment for a long as she can before helping him into his armor. He rises from the pallet and sighs, knowing he must travel with the tides. She pulls him back after he takes the first step, jumping up onto her toes. He leans into the kiss, fingers gliding through a waterfall of silken copper.

“Until our paths cross again,” Lesya murmurs, the words dancing across his cheek. Deimos presses his lips against hers again, committing the curve and cracks to memory —he never knows which kiss could be their last. Breaking away from the kiss, he slips from Lesya’s gentle embrace. Their paths will cross sooner than either anticipates.

In the east, the sun continues its march upward into the sky. She stands there for what feels like hours, having watched the Aerion sail from the docks and into the horizon. Silently, Tundareos joins her on the rooftop and engulfs her in his arms. Only then does she notice the dampness on her cheeks and the taste of salt on her lips. Her brother holds her tight, without question —he had seen Lesya and Deimos in the night.

“Kassandra has been searching for you,” he says when she steps from the embrace, wiping her eyes. He told the misthios he had not seen his sister since the previous evening whilst knowing she lay asleep on his roof. “Here–” Tundareos hands her a rolled flatbread filled with honey and mashed fig. Lesya takes the small meal with a smile as they both head toward the Adrestia to find Kass.

The Eagle Bearer has already met with Xenia —learning her mother was once a pirate sailing at the leader’s side under the moniker Phoenix but had parted ways some time ago. News of Myrrine is not all she has to offer. Herodotus has received word from Athens, bearing ill news from the city. Sickness has settled over the city and spurred mobs into riots. Athens is in danger of collapse, a tidal shift in the war. Though she wishes to search for her mother, Kassandra knows they must go to Athens.

Lesya only nods, knowing Deimos will be there and remembering the scroll written in Kleon’s hand. We cannot let the Eagle Bearer return to the city or our fallen champion. Her thoughts are broken when Tundareos claps his hand on her shoulder. “I’ll sail for Athens, too,” he announces —he may sail under Xenia’s colors, but the Ippalkimon is his ship to command. She looks up at her brother, grateful to the gods that they had led them to one another.

@wallsarecrumbling @novastale @fjor-ok-skadi @fucking-dip-shit

#Alexios #Deimos #Alexios x OC #Deimos x OC #Alexios Imagine #Deimos Imagine #Alexios Fanfiction #Deimos Fanfiction #Assassin's Creed Imagine #Assassin's Creed Fanfiction #Assassin's Creed Odyssey #story: Kryptic #my writing

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illustrious-rocket · 5 years

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Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution 2: Anemone (review)

Score: * (out of 4)

Summary: A creatively bankrupt film that represents a new low for a beloved yet beleaguered franchise, Anemone is an epic misfire that begs comparisons to, of all things, The Room.

Long review (spoilers):

The story of the Eureka Seven franchise has been a long, and unfortunately, often troubled one. I have a separate post in development documenting its history through my eyes as someone who got into the series long after its original airing, so many of the matters relating to that subject will not be in this post. What this post is, however, is a breakdown of what makes this one film a failure.

Strap in, this is going to be a ride.

After several years in dormancy following the ill-received Eureka Seven AO, a new film trilogy titled Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution was announced. Immediately, this news begged comparisons to other cinematic reboots to well known franchises, two examples being the recent Code Geass reboot series and, more notably, Rebuild of Evangelion. I know when Hi-Evolution was announced, I was apprehensive. I dropped AO halfway through, and the installment of the franchise prior to it (Pocketful of Rainbows/Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers) was an average at best alternate universe. I was curious to see what the Hi-Evolution trilogy would do, but I had little faith that Tomoki Kyoda and Bones would produce something to redeem the series after AO.

The first film would later be promoted as finally telling an untold part of the story: the First Summer of Love, an incident in which main protagonist Renton’s father Adrock gained hero status for saving the world during an incident involving the alien Scub Coral. Unfortunately, this proved to be a bait and switch. The new animation depicting the First Summer of Love - which came about as the result of the military’s Operation Necrosis, a mission to use a weapon called Silver Box to destroy the Scub Coral and liberate Earth - comprises only a fraction of the film. The rest is made up, somehow, of footage recycled from the 2005 series with new audio dubbed over it to tell an altered story. As a result, the first film was mostly a failure.

Then the second film was announced to focus on Anemone, an immensely popular supporting character from the original series. Not only that, it would portray an angle of the Eureka Seven universe never seen before: for the first time, the story would take place in the ‘real’ world, being set in Tokyo. This represented a greater ambition on the part of the production, but also was a concept that could easily go wrong. Prior to the release of the film, I was expecting it to be another sort-of-retelling, this time focusing on the psychadelic nightmare depicted in the infamous original series episode “Acperience 1.”

If only that was what this film actually was.

I admit, when I saw this film, I had already been spoiled on its plot. I am glad I was, because had I not been, I would have found the movie incomprehensible. Tomoki Kyoda’s attitudes going into producing it have also been troubling, particularly remarks about “auteurism” in one interview. When the words “A Tomoki Kyoda Film” appeared on the screen at the beginning of this film, I gulped. I knew I was in for something.

The film opens with a flashback sequence introducing Anemone as a character and explaining some of the context of the movie’s story. Two problems immediately become apparent. One, this sequence - and all flashbacks to similar moments throughout the film - is rendered in full 3D CGI that looks extremely cheap. The colors and shading create the image of dull, flat figures created by a 3D printer moving around on CGI backgrounds. Worse, the mouth movements in these 3D CGI scenes do not match the dialogue. Viewing this movie, you will see mouth flaps regularly desync from the audio.

Worse yet, this movie is titled “Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution: Anemone” and was promoted as being an Anemone film, but Anemone is not in it. The “Anemone” in this film is, in fact, a new character named Fuuka who looks like her and has the nickname Anemone. She isn’t Anemone, though, because her character is completely different. It couldn’t be any more unlike the original Anemone’s. She’s an exact polar opposite of who Anemone actually was. The fact that this film is an even bigger bait and switch than the first one was is bad enough. But even if you roll with the idea of Anemone being a totally different character, it introduces problems that undermine the film internally. Let’s put a pin in that for now.

Anyway, the movie establishes Fuuka/Anemone’s backstory as a military brat whose father, Ken, was killed during an operation to fight an “Eureka,” one of several phenomena that destroyed the planet over time, eventually annihilating many nations and killing nearly three billion people. She is an inoffensive character, but does not have much at all of the spark the original Anemone had, instead sacrificing it for more typical tropes. Once the flashback concludes, the film jumps forward to the present day. Here, the first thing we see is a long battle sequence in which military forces battle “Eureka Seven” (the seventh Eureka), which attacks with a manifestation of the Nirvash. This sequence is drawn out and poorly plotted, making the action difficult to follow. That’s a problem throughout the film, in fact - we see cuts to similar battle scenes many times, and they always feel like incoherent sequences where things just explode to fill space.

Once this incoherent battle sequence ends, the true plot begins to kick in. Anemone consults “Dominic,” an app installed on her phone by Ken during the earlier flashback, for advice during the battle, and Dominic’s advice leads the military to decide to send Anemone “diving” into Eureka Seven using a special device. This device greatly resembles a virtual reality setup, but when activated, it sends Anemone into flashbacks to the original series. Here is where the recycled 2005 footage comes back in, but this time, it is executed better thanks to the context of it being in an “alternate world.” Anemone is sent to a moment where Nirvash and theEND battled in the original series and manages to destroy Nirvash, catching a glimpse of Eureka holding Renton’s clothing before being ejected from the dive. This causes a portion of Eureka Seven to be destroyed in the real world, which is humanity’s first victory against the phenomena.

There are several things we need to unpack here. First, the Dominic app. This is a bizarre reinvention of the character Dominic Sorel from the original series, who was a military officer that usually served as Anemone’s handler, often found himself on the receiving end of her abuse, and ultimately became her love interest. He had a story arc alongside Anemone where he came to doubt his role in the military and had his views evolve over time until he changed sides to join the heroes. Here, he is nothing but an annoying app with no real characterization. Worse, the avatar of his face rendered on the phone is depicted with CGI even worse than the flashbacks. Many of his sentences will begin with Dominic’s mouth moving, only for him to stop moving his mouth halfway through and yet continue to talk. It is a jarring sight to see every time it happens.

While the use of 2005 footage is better contextualized this time, and there is even some new footage animated in original 4:3 style, other things happen that bring down anything good that could come of this. Because all the leaps take Anemone to various battles between Nirvash and theEND, a plot hole is created: if Fuuka is the real Anemone, how was theEND there battling Nirvash before she leaped into it using the dive device? Worse, still, because of how different Fuuka and original Anemone’s personalities are, there is abrupt shifting back and forth in her character within the same scenes. Fuuka is, to put it mildly, an average anime girl who hits the usually expected tropes. Original Anemone was an ill-tempered, mentally damaged person with a violent streak and an addiction to drugs given to her by series antagonist Dewey Novak, who abused her and took advantage of her depression and need for validation to benefit himself. The problem comes in the fact that some of the recycled footage from 2005 includes showing Anemone piloting theEND in battle. Because Fuuka and original Anemone are so different, she suddenly becomes much more bloodthirsty and violent and then reverts back depending on when the individual moment was animated. It’s not consistent and takes the viewer out of the film. Another inconsistency in this same place comes with Dominic, who manifests as Dominic Sorel while inside Eureka Seven. He is present inside theEND’s cockpit while Anemone pilots, but even while new footage is animated for these sequences, Dominic is not present for the Anemone combat shots. He appears and disappears between individual shots.

Moving on. This basic setup drives much of the film. Anemone makes more dives into the world within the Eureka Seven, each time returning back to a battle between Nirvash and theEND that ends with a portion of Eureka Seven in the real world being destroyed. Because she is responsible for humanity turning the tide in the battle against the Eurekas, Anemone is turned into an idol by the military for propaganda purposes. This element is severely underplayed and has little real signficance in the plot. Her primary motivation is to come to terms with Ken’s fate battling the Eurekas, and thanks to this and intelligence gathered during the missions, the military decides to bring Anemone to meet a familiar face: Dewey Novak. Unlike the rest of the characters in the film sans Eureka herself, Dewey is the real one, having been ejected from another world heavily implied to be the world depicted in the first Hi-Evolution film. He was captured by the military outside Eureka Seven and placed in restraints that cover his eyes, while his legs are trapped in the other world and fade away to nothing.

Dewey’s presence in this film accomplishes little other than give tastes of what it could have been and provide sequel bait for a future installment. Many of his scenes are merely him saying mysterious and vaguely threatening things, none of which really make sense in the context of this movie alone. Further, because he is the Hi-Evolution 1 Dewey and Anemone is Fuuka, the reunion of the two ends up having no emotional resonance at all. In the original series, Anemone suffered terrible physical and mental abuse at Dewey’s hands, through his administering drugs to enhance her performance in battle and dispensing praise and attention in measured amounts to ensure her compliance. The idea that Anemone would be reunited with Dewey, who is now (apparently) a ragged, powerless old man at the mercy of his captors, could have been an opportunity for great mental catharsis as Anemone finally obtains closure for what Dewey did to her. But because neither one of them knows the other, this ends up being a false start. They merely speak about the mission against the Eurekas and therefore the dialogue could be between any two people. It is not something only Anemone and Dewey together could do, and feels wasted.

As her mission continues on, Anemone eventually destroys enough of Eureka Seven to expose its core. The core has a design that was clearly intended to be frightening, but instead is laughable; it is covered with small eyes and has one big one whose expression makes it look tired and unhappy about having to show up. Suddenly, Anemone gets trapped in “PLAY BACK” during her dive, a phenomenon that rewinds time back through the events in the earlier dives. She ends up being brought to a time just prior to Ken’s death, where she is confronted by Eureka.

The film was not good until this point. At this exact moment, it completely falls apart.

Eureka is no longer the naive but well-meaning girl from the original series, or even the mother who would go to any lengths for her children from AO. In fact, those Eurekas never existed at all. The “true” Eureka is a psychopath who became this way after accidentally killing Renton when her powers were awakened by her exposure to Silver Box (thus implying the event took place in the Hi-Evolution 1 world.) Since then, she has been using Silver Box’s power to rewind time and try to create new worlds where she can have her happy ending with Renton, but they all go wrong, forcing her to “PLAY BACK” and start over again. These actions were responsible for creating every other part of the franchise - the original series, manga, light novels, Pocketful of Rainbows, AO, all of them were nothing but dreams made real through Eureka’s use of Silver Box’s power, in the process releasing the Eurekas in the real world and killing billions of people.

Needless to say, this twist is appalling and fails in more ways than one. First of all, it renders the entire plot of this movie and the trilogy dependant upon knowing the events from the previous installments. If you don’t know anything about what took place in the previous installments, this twist is meaningless to you. It only lands if you have an attachment to the events now revealed to be false worlds. But if you have this attachment, the movie then steps squarely into the same mistake AO made by revealing that what you liked in the past didn’t end up the way you thought it did and wasn’t real. Worse, though, it makes it hard to care about any form of the franchise anymore, because at this point, it becomes apparent that every character can be whatever the demands of the plot dictate. When no character has an actual consistent personality that won’t change on a dime depending on the whims of the plot, there is no reason to get invested in them. Eureka is now essentially Monika from Doki Doki Literature Club, killing innocents and erasing entire worlds out of an overwhelming selfishness to get her own happy ending. It’s a complete betrayal of the central character. This twist also disrupts the logic of the timeline even further - because Anemone was leaping into battles between Nirvash and theEND, theEND already had to be there, but since Anemone didn’t meet Eureka until this point, how could she have created a world where Anemone was her enemy prior to meeting her?

Eureka offers to create a world in which Ken survived, but Anemone refuses, and after Anemone leaves, this happens.

There is little to say about this image, as it is the downfall of this franchise encapsulated in a single picture. The scene itself is even worse, rendered in the CGI and as awful to look at in action as it is in a still image. Worse still, Eureka’s dialogue in this scene has her saying that she is willing to become “the devil itself” to get her happy ending, which just butchers her character even further.

When Eureka Seven is destroyed and Eureka falls into despair over being unable to reach Renton, a new monster appears and goes on a rampage. At this point, Dewey suddenly reveals he has superpowers by breaking out of his restraints, manifesting his legs and showing that his eyes at least temporarily turn black. He telekinetically escapes from the prison, displaying powers similar to those of Truth, the main antagonist of AO. I strongly suspect he will be treated as a Dewey/Truth amalgamation in the final film of this trilogy.

With nothing left she can do, Anemone calls out an unheard phrase Ken once told her to call when she needs him. This causes Dominic to reappear, and he summons a new form of theEND that resembles Gulliver, her pet badger, into the real world. Together, they resolve to enter the monster so Anemone can try to save Eureka, and engage it in battle. This sequence is the only truly good portion of the film, offering a stunning example of what an Eureka Seven movie could have been and finally truly recapturing its magic. Contrary to the previous battle sequences, this one is well choreographed, exciting, and is enhanced by the presence of Ballet Mechanique during it. Unfortunately, this dizzying high is fleeting. When she reaches the inside of the monster and dives into its world, Anemone finds Eureka at the apartment complex from Fuuka’s childhood. This means we’re back into the awful CGI again. Eureka confesses her actions and motivations to Anemone, but Anemone refuses to give up on her and honor her request to kill her now that she no longer can use Silver Box’s power to make more worlds. This being Fuuka instead of original Anemone, and the alterations to the timeline, end up leaving no relationship between Eureka and Anemone in the “real” timeline. Like the interactions between Dewey and Anemone, there is little emotional resonance. Anemone manages to convince Eureka to leave, but before they can escape, the most stupefying event yet begins.

Millions of giant Gullivers begin pouring out of the apartment building and eating the entire world, forcing Eureka and Anemone to escape from them. If this sounds like a dumb visual, it is. The Gullivers also have the voice of Larva Nirvash from Pocketful of Rainbows for some reason. Yet this scene is treated completely seriously, with heroic music and everything, creating an embarrassing sequence that is impossible not to cringe during.

Eureka and Anemone escape, destroying the monster and causing it to drop a giant egg. Everything that happens after this point feels like a post credits scene placed in the wrong point of the film. Somehow, the Gekkostate members, Dominic Sorel, a giant Gulliver, and Charles and Ray Beams all appear in the real world despite their worlds being false. Dewey, having gotten to the surface, says more mysterious comments to set up the sequel. Anemone and Eureka talk, and Anemone says she thinks Renton may still be alive after all. Suddenly, the egg cracks open to reveal a new Nirvash model, whose drive displays Eureka’s name inside of it. Eureka realizes someone is searching for her, and the final shot of the film reveals Renton on another planet, using his Compac Drive to call out to Eureka.

Now that the plot is fully picked apart, I feel like I have to finally sit and really address one of the major elephants in the room when it comes to this film. In both broad strokes and smaller, more specific instances that would not be notable if the context of the more blatant examples didn’t exist, this film heavily copies things from the various installations of the Evangelion franchise. I don’t mean this as a reference to mere inspiration from Evangelion, which is widespread. This film is blatant, Darling in the FRANXX Episode 19-levels of copying things from it.

One doesn’t even need to actually view a single second of the film to see this, either. The teaser poster sets a trend the rest of the movie follows by brazenly copying the imagery of the Evangelion 2.22 poster.

Needless to say, this image sets the stage for what you see within the film itself. Within just the first 10 minutes, it becomes immediately apparent that Anemone lifts stylistic choices and imagery wholesale from Evangelion. Throughout the film, but most plainly in the early scenes, the scenery and composition of camera shots are directly lifted; when I first watched it, it was mere minutes into the film that I stopped and said “oh my God, this is ripping off Eva.” Smash cuts into title cards and scene transitions abound at the beginning (the first thing that made me notice the copying) and the first battle sequence is not just ‘inspired’ but flat out stolen from the well known battle sequence featured at the beginning of Evangelion. It steals the imagery of tanks and battleships engaging the enemy wholesale, and the story’s lead character (Anemone/Shinji) is being driven through the battle to an important location by a female character in a position of authority (Mischa and her crew/Misato), where the main character is coerced into piloting a weapon (the dive system/Eva Unit-01) against the enemy (Nirvash & Eureka Seven/the Angel) that nobody else can defeat.

Things don’t really improve for this topic after getting through the first battle. The unit “ASSID” that Anemone enlists and serves in is more or less a copy of NERV, both being paramilitary units ostensibly under affiliation with the United Nations to battle the enemy creatures. This might not be a big deal on its own, but in the context of the more obvious copying elsewhere in the movie, it is an example of something that is made worse by the rest of the film. We reach another shamelessly stolen point a little while later, when Anemone goes to visit Dewey. First of all, Dewey is held in a complex whose design - from the vast open spaces to the elevator to Dewey’s cell deep underground - is blatantly ‘inspired’ by Terminal Dogma, a chamber of similar design concept deep underneath the NERV base where the Angel Lilith is restrained on a cross. Accordingly, Dewey’s personal state is seemingly copied from Lilith’s. For no reason, Dewey has his arms pulled back onto a cross-like structure on the back of his wheelchair, giving him the appearance of being crucified sitting down; meanwhile, his eyes are covered with a blindfold, in context seemingly mirroring Lilith’s mask. Most notably, however, is one of the oddest things about Dewey’s appearance in this film: his legs fading away into another world. Lilith’s legs are also significantly malformed, barely forming stumps before splitting into dozens of tiny human-like legs. Both having such a specific, unusual similarity is hard not to notice. He even regains his legs after an important event related to him - the defeat of Eureka Seven and emergence of the Eureka monster - takes place, much like how Lilith regrows her legs in the original Evangelion series after the Spear of Longinus is removed from her body.

Also notably, the way Nirvash is suspended in the real world as it fights the military forces clearly mirrors the way Evangelion units are transported by air, save for the blatant crucifixion imagery being removed. This is depicted on the poster for Anemone I posted above. There are other smaller, more nitpicky examples of the specific cribbing from Evangelion I am excluding from this review to more highlight the significant ones.

Next let’s move on to something you’ve likely been waiting to see if you’re reading this review: the comparison to The Room. I’m sure that will likely cause some controversy, but I feel it’s on solid footing. As I mentioned, Kyoda remarked about having reached a point of “auteurism” with this film. That comment implies a certain mentality on his part that he absolutely failed to live up to, and it is hard to not see shades of Tommy Wiseau and his fanatical belief in The Room in Kyoda’s belief in his film’s quality. There is one point where they diverge that is troubling, though - Tommy Wiseau, after releasing The Room and seeing its reception, realized how people saw it and decided to roll with the reputation The Room acquired even though it wasn’t what he intended. Kyoda, on the other hand, seems to believe that his movie is the masterpiece he thought it to be and everyone else is wrong about it. To me, this represents a self-fulfilling prophecy in which Kyoda doubles down on previous mistakes in each new installment because they were poorly received the first time, as if he believes doing so will eventually force people to “get” what he’s doing. You can see in Anemone a doubling down on three of the worst aspects of AO: time travel/dimension hopping, butchering Eureka/past characters, and the inclusion of boring and irrelevant “real world” politics. It is like if Tommy Wiseau, instead of becoming self-aware after The Room was treated as a joke, decided to teach the public why his filmmaking style was right by getting the rights to make an adaptation of War and Peace with his style in it.

The continual doubling down on mistakes is something that can be traced through the franchise all the way back to the very first followup, the 2009 film Pocketful of Rainbows. As someone who only got into the Eureka Seven franchise many years later, my relationship to that film is different from that of people who were fans during that era, so I sought out opinions from a friend who was an original-era Eureka Seven fan. As it turned out, topics I was already honing in one turned out to have been controversial or poorly received back then, too. While Pocketful of Rainbows was ostensibly set on real-world Earth, it continued to feature the fantasy political structure from the original series, so that problem was at least partially dodged. One big flaw of Pocketful of Rainbows we did agree upon was its extensive use of recycled footage, with my friend pointing out that it also had an ugly gray filter applied to it, giving the film a “darker” look. Comparisons to what was released in 2018 are almost painfully obvious, and arguably even uglier than the filtered footage in 2009 was because of the fact the recycled footage is now 4:3 in a 16:9 film. Pocketful of Rainbows also drastically changes its characters, turning Gekkostate into the villains, Anemone into an elderly priestess/prophet of the Scubs, Dominic into a bit character who appears briefly as Renton and Eureka’s mentor before dying ten minutes into the film and popping up again later very briefly, the Scubs themselves becoming the “robotic” “EIZO,” and most notoriously, derailing Eureka in a fashion to which I will simply quote my friend:

For example, Eureka was made into this tsundere childhood friend of Renton, which felt cliche and unnatural. Not only that, but Eureka was completely helpless for much of the film. She didn't do any fighting and was just a broken bird for Renton to save. Some people took it as an insult to her character, a huge step down from the capable girl she was in the original.It's a common theme in these other entries, really. Eureka is consistently disrespected and derailed as a character to just fit the narrative.

Another point about Pocketful of Rainbows that comes back in AO and Hi-Evolution is its use of alternate realities. While the original did establish such a concept existed, the followups have increasingly abused the idea of alternate universes to retcon previous installments, retcon themselves, and ultimately in Hi-Evolution 2, completely delete the entire franchise from existence.

As someone who came into the series late, I have always felt that Pocketful of Rainbows is an average, watchable film that fails to live up to its excellent predecessor, but I can easily understand why fans in the original era would not have liked it. It is not a good Eureka Seven film, but unlike AO and Hi-Evolution, it still feels like Eureka Seven. In my opinion, it includes enough of the spirit of the original in its fairytale-esque story (including the use of one, singular parallel universe) to still capture the whimsical tone that distinguishes the original series. That is where Tomoki Kyoda’s constant insistence on doubling down on the same mistakes over and over and over has destroyed the franchise since then, and the Hi-Evolution Anemone film is the pinnacle of that collapse. It tops all its predecessors in terms of alternate universe abuse, character derailment, and boring and irrelevant politics, choking out the soul of the franchise. As I said earlier, the Ballet Mechanique sequence is the only moment in this film that truly feels like Eureka Seven. That may be because at the core of Kyoda’s discernable vision, it would appear he wants Eureka Seven to be a darker story with a much more bittersweet ending. The problem comes with the fact that even if it was childishly naive, the unambiguously happy ending of the original series was a big part of its unique identity landing so effectively. I have mused before that what made Eureka Seven stand out was the fact that it combined a mecha anime with themes from 1960s counterculture, which effectively worked hand-in-hand with the fairytale tone of the story to create something unique. Even as childishly naive as it may have been, it was always at its heart about fighting for the right thing and for love, no matter what the odds or the forces opposing you. This wasn’t what Kyoda planned for it to be, it is what the series evolved into once other minds placed input into it. Now don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of respect to be had for a creator who sticks to their vision, but Kyoda has doubled down on the same ideas so many times now while remaining stubbornly closed-minded to the merits of the original’s evolution that any goodwill has burned away. Pocketful of Rainbows still felt like Eureka Seven because it still captured that idea of fighting for the right thing no matter what, but it did have a bittersweet ending. People criticized that movie, and Kyoda followed up by creating the grim, depressing Eureka Seven AO that retroactively inflicted damage on the original, as if it wanted to retcon what he was unhappy with. AO was rejected by fans, so he takes the same ideas and makes them even worse, flat out retconning the entire franchise out of existence with a film that barely has any identity of its own beyond undoing Kyoda’s dissatisfaction with his past work.

In the end, all these problems, in my opinion, come back to Tomoki Kyoda and his stubborn, singleminded obsession with executing a vision and forcing it to be liked. The first screening of this film in the United States, at the recent Anime Expo, was a very telling moment for it. As per my friend (original post at this link https://historyman101.tumblr.com/post/186188741243/so-i-was-talking-with-my-friend-pantsunugerumon), the Anemone screening was attended by only enough people to 1/3 fill the hall, and the film was met with silence for almost its entire runtime, the only moment eliciting cheers being the appearance of Gekkostate, Renton and Charles and Ray at the end. When the credits rolled, there was more silence followed by polite applause when the audience realized it was over. Kaori Nazuka, Eureka’s seiyuu, was in attendance and made a comment during the Q&A section of the presentation that also did an excellent job encapsulating the reason Kyoda’s approach brought the film and the franchise down. Accoring to Nazuka (voice clip provided by my friend via his friend who attended AX https://historyman101.tumblr.com/post/186190292840/kaori-nazuka-strikes-me-as-someone-who-is-just), Kyoda told her not to worry about Eureka being so different in this film because as long as she provides Eureka’s voice, it will always be Eureka. While it is true that a voice is an important part of an iconic character, it demonstrates a mentality that characterization, development and logical progression doesn’t matter. Those are key factors for any work, but especially for a character-centric story like Eureka Seven that lives and dies on getting you to care about the characters and what they experience. If characters become completely fluid and change on a dime to suit the director’s whims, the entire backbone of the story collapses.

I could go on for ages about this film, but I’ll finally wrap this review up. Since I reviewed a film that was ruined by its director’s obsession with executing a specific vision, next time, I will review a movie whose director was able to carry out their vision with exactly the creative control Tomoki Kyoda wanted himself.

#movie review #Eureka Seven #Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution: Anemone

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7deadlycinderellas · 5 years

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if the summer of our lives could just come again, ch8

Ao3 link

Gendry

Winterfell was not as he had remembered it. By the time he had made it before the long night, the castle had been sacked and burned and reclaimed. It was the dead of winter, and all of the structures had been at least dusted with snow, many of them buried in it.

It is much cooler in the north than Gendry would have been used to in summer, but the sun is shining brightly. The forests are green, and everything is in the peak of life. When they reach the gate and are eventually let in, there are people all through the place, going about their work.

Completely unaware of the winter that would come to pass.

Gendry’s stomach is in knots still, but the sight of Winterfell as it had been in its prime had eased it. It had even made him happy.

But it had paled to the joy that had erupted through him laying eyes on Arya again. When she had run at him, full speed as if she were a galloping stallion, his soul had sung out.

(Seven hells, she hadn’t been this little when they met before had she? He’s pretty sure he could never lift her with just one arm).

Even her outburst had overjoyed him. It was so very Arya that it made him double over as he had times before when they were young. He tries to imagine what she would have done had the kiss occurred while they were on the road to Harrenhall and his laughter only increases.

He’s still alight when the group was being led to another part of the Keep when he realizes Lord Stark is staring at him.

It doesn’t make him uncomfortable, not really. There isn’t any malice in his stare. It’s not like when angry patrons stare at him. There’s a similar lilt to his eye to the one that had been there that day so long ago when he came to see him in the streets of Flea Bottom.

Well, Davos had warned him about family resemblances. They would just have to deal with that when it came up.

He takes the time to get a look at the group that had greeted him. Sansa looks much as he remembers, a bit shorter with a softer face perhaps. She smiles brightly upon seeing him, brighter than he’d ever seen her smile before.

It takes him a moment to recognize Bran, who is even more shockingly small than Arya had been. The fact that he is standing, albeit supported by a heavy iron crutch, is also a surprise. But it is the interest, the animation, on his face that look Gendry most by surprise.

“Has your brother…” he whispers to Arya, who’s walking by his side, grasping one hand tightly, “is he normal again?”

“As normal as any of us ever were.”

Lady Stark is lovely, Gendry thinks. Immaculate and graceful, no wonder Arya often felt such an inferior specimen of femininity around her. He hadn’t exactly met a ton of fine ladies in his life, but he imagines they must all wish to be as Lady Stark.

(He remembers once, while wrapped around Arya in a post-coital glow, he’d kissed her on the head and called her beautiful. The laugh she had let out had nearly been a bark. “That’s how I know you must have it bad for me, you’ve gone completely blind’)

Robb too, is just the image that Arya had described to him all those years ago. Handsome and confident, Gendry would almost be intimidated if every time he looked at him, Robb hadn’t looked like he wanted to laugh.

There’s other faces too, ones he doesn’t have names for, but it trying to place.

“Quit staring at everyone, stupid, or they’ll think you dull,” Arya whispers at him hastily from his side.

Supper that night is a venison stew, richer than nearly anything Gendry’s ever eaten. Even when he’d come north before, rations were being stretched. He supposes northerners must need the food to keep warm. Thankfully, he doesn’t seem to be the only one wolfing it down.

He’s seated sandwiched between Sansa and Arya, with Davos having joined Lord and Lady Stark. Only Robb seems to be holding back on the food.

“Wherever you lot came from, you must have all starved. This bunch has been gorging themselves since the all turned up.”

Arya laughs, and prods him with an elbow.

“This one here wouldn’t even eat worms when we were sleeping in the dirt.”

“And if I ever get fat, I’d rather do it before winter comes,” Sansa says.

Robb watches them all somewhat warily, Gendry notes. He remembers the stories that made their way across Westeros, of what had happened at the Red Wedding, and with a pang, almost hopes they’ve told him nothing of his fate.

After the meal, Davos and him are lead to the guest chambers and told to take it easy, that any information they wish to share could wait until the morning. Gendry doesn’t really have anything to put away, so he just sits awkwardly on the end of the bed, and takes his surroundings in. When he’d been in Winterfell before, it had been full to the gills. There were people stuck everywhere, packed as tight as fish in a barrel. Now he seems surrounded on all sides by empty space.

He would be lying to say it wasn’t a nice change after King’s Landing and the ship.

He’s barely had a moment to contemplate sleep, before his door opens and Arya slips inside.

“Came by to say goodnight,” she tells him, sitting down on the end of his bed, “and to make sure no one shook you down while you were out of my sight.”

The tension that rises in his gut is alayed when he notices she’s left the door wide open.

He glances around at the open room, before scooting closer beside her.

“This all feels like too much.”

Arya laughs and shakes her head.

“It’s still summer, there’s lots of space. People don’t start coming into town to stay until the snow starts to fall heavily.”

She rests her head on his shoulder, and they just sit like that awhile.

“Sorry about the outburst earlier, Apparently this body is a little more willful than I remembered.”

Gendry chuckles.

“At least after that we’re unlikely to be accused of behaving improperly. Besides,” he reaches out to poke her on the cheek, “It might be nice to do things slowly this time around.”

“I suppose,” she responds, then asks him quietly, “Have you been sleeping poorly too?”

He nods.

Arya sighs deeply.

“All of us have, I’ve been sleeping with Sansa half the time. Some of the other nights, Lady takes pity on me. Summer won’t leave Bran’s side. But the nightmares still come.”

She stands on that note.

“You should try and sleep though. I can’t imagine tomorrow’s going to be fun. At least Davos is here now, he’s always been good at being the adult in the room.”

She walks to the door, sticking her head back in for one last comment.

“And you should have someone bring you a tub to take a bath before tomorrow. The shock might wear off by then, and you might find yourself getting prodded like a horse for auction. I imagine you’ll be getting bombarded with questions about your father as well. Might as well prepare.”

And with that, Gendry is alone again.

Davos

Davos had had his fill of serving kings. What had become of Stannis still felt like a betrayal, and he has no desire to pledge his genuine fealty to another. But speaking to Lord Stark, he begins to understand how the North commanded such from it’s people.

They have just been discussing, all of them, Lord Stark’s next steps in attempt to warn the Night’s Watch and protect the free folk.

“I’ve drafted the letters dozens of times, but I can’t seem to stop myself from sounding like a madman.”

“You should send letters to your bannermen to keep an eye out for ones who have already fled over the wall. Send instructions to capture them rather then execute, and have them brought here for questioning. Rumors, even the idea of them, can be very powerful, and if you gather more than a few of their stories, it will be easier to persuade the Lord Commander.”

Sansa nods at him approvingly.

“We should also begin preparing for winter. We’ve got about five years before it begins officially.”

“And since we’re not going to let the Bolton’s take over, the harvests and stockpiles should be able to go by uninterrupted.”

Ned nods. Davos briefly wonders what they’re planning to deal with the Boltons, but that will wait for another conversation.

“I managed to bring several crates of dragon glass to White Harbor. It’s being delivered with a shipment of other goods marked for Winterfell, within a week. I can help send for more to be ordered from Dragonstone. No one thinks anything of it as a material now, the costs will be negligible”

He reaches out and claps Gendry on the shoulder.

“This one helped equip our entire army when the walkers came before.”

“Will we need to send for others to work the material?” Catelyn asks, sizing Gendry up. He should be fully grown, but a life in Flea Bottom does not lend itself to good health, and though he is big for his age, he does look a bit weedy.

“You can work dragonglass without a forge,” Meera cuts in, “It takes more time, but arrow and spearheads can be made by chipping and scraping it against itself. I’ve made a spearhead of it before, I can help him if you don’t want to send for anyone else.”

“That might be a good task to ask of any of the wildlings who choose to settle peacefully,” Sansa comments, “Especially since most of them won’t be used to farming. We will come to arm the whole North that way.”

Catelyn has another question to ask of him.

“You say you serve Stannis. Do you believe you choosing to aid us may conflict with your loyalties?”

Davos takes a deep breath.

“Any of the duties required of House Seaworth can be handled by my older sons. And if history chooses to go the same route, then I would not be able to continue to serve him in good conscience.”

Ned raises an eyebrow.

“If the accusations against Cersei take any hold, Stannis would be the rightful next in line to the Iron Throne.”

Arya makes a noise as though she might be sick. Davos notes her gripping Gendry’s hand rather tightly underneath the table.

“Then we won’t let them take hold. No man who can convinced to burn his own daughter alive should be allowed to be king of anything.”

Ned

Arya’s words cut Ned deeply. Truly, he had never been fond of Stannis, but he respected him, and if Arya speaks truth, then he cannot argue with her conclusion.

“Lets not worry about that now, “ Sansa interrupts.

“True. When I left Dragonstone there was no sign of Melisandre, despite Stannis’s interest in the mystical.’

“Good,” Arya mutters.

“Though we should remember that Stannis was the only Lord who sent aid to the Night’s Watch when they asked. We may end up having to rely on that.”

The conversation continues, moving to fortifications, and trenches, and the little bits they knew of the wildlings (or the Free Folk, as Davos insists on calling them). Ned manages to follow mostly, but finds himself getting distracted.

He’d seen it the instant Arya had run to the boy. The Baratheon look was distinctive, and dominant. And he had always known Arya looked so much like his sister, even having her wolf spirit besides.

He wonders if they know.

When the talk completes, most of the group stand to leave. Ned holds back and motions for Davos to stay with him.

He stands and reaches to shake his hand again.

“It’s good to make your acquaintance, Ser Davos. I’m pleased that my children may have had someone like you to guide them, if I could not be.”

Davos shakes his hand firmly, but dismisses his praise.

“It is I who is grateful to have been able to serve your sons and daughters. I saw your elder daughter come into her own, I saw Jon Snow rise from the gutters of his birth. I even had the honor of speaking for Arya at her wedding.”

Ned smiles, a bit of humor back in his face.

“It wasn’t at swordpoint was it?”

“I assure you Lord Stark, any swords at the ceremony were your daughter’s own. If things hadn’t gone to shit after the war, she would have been remembered as a hero.”

It saddens Ned, that Arya hasn’t felt right to speak of these things, but it doesn’t exactly surprise him. While his daughter had spoken in her youth of wanting to command armies, to be lord of the holdfast, none of it ever seemed as though she desired glory. He hopes it’s that and not that she feels unworthy of it.

There’s another something poking at the edge of his mind.

“The boy introduced himself as a Waters. Does he know who he is?”

He doesn’t have to explain himself. Davos served Stannis for years, knew Robert and Renly, knew of the formers proclivities and the look all three of them shared.

“He does. Arya does as well.”

Ned shuts his eyes and rubs his temple. This would please Robert, even if in such a perverse manner. Catelyn had spent years fretting over Arya’s resemblance to Lyanna, both in looks and spirit. Ned knew that it had caused him to favor her a bit. But seeing her with the boy has dragged back all the fear that it had caused him as well.

“I wouldn’t give it too much thought. Neither of them hold King Robert in very high regards. And she told me once that Gendry didn’t seem to bristle at the bastard thing quite as much as he did when they were younger. Seems Jon gave him some hope that it didn’t have to mean as much as people had always made of it.”

Jon. It seems so many of the children’s stories come back to him.

This is still weighing on him when he leaves. He finds the boy- Gendry, he really should start calling him by name. He’s at the forge, helping Mikken finish something up. That’s going to be a problem. Too many around Winterfell are already beginning to talk, and there are some who may be in the need to know. For his credit, Mikken seems happy enough for the extra set of hands.

He bids Mikken greeting, then takes Gendry aside out the door.

“Anything you needed milord?” he asks him, eyes still downcast. It’s the same look many have, many like him. Smallfolk who feel like they have no place, or no consideration for their place. They become broken.

Ned touches the bottom of his chin. The resemblance really is uncanny.

“Not really the attitude I would expect from a man who claims to have tamed my wild daughter.”

There’s a spark in his eye after that comment.

“There was no taming involved. I like her as is.”

He had been trying to needle him a bit, true. He cannot see even years from now, a future where Arya would fall in love with someone who wanted to change her. And while they haven’t been especially demonstrative of it (yesterday’s incident notwithstanding), Ned’s eyes and the words of others have assured him that Arya must in fact, love him.

“How on earth did you even meet her?”

“Little less than a year from now, after you were executed, we both ended up on the road being dragged to join the Night’s Watch. She was disguised as a boy, and I stepped in when a couple of bigger boys tried to pick a fight with her. Guess that’s why she trusted me so quickly, she didn’t really trust anyone for a while. Knowing she loved me was great, but I think that part was more important”

“You knew her that long ago?”

Gendry appears nearly lost in thought.

“We were separated for a while there in the middle, but I found my way here eventually.”

“Here?”

“Arya asked me to come with her once, when we were young. She claimed I could be her family. I tried to tell her that there was no way her mother or brothers would even let us still be friends, that I was a bastard as well as a commoner. We were both a little right.”

Gendry pauses, thinking, and chuckles to himself. Ned finds himself thinking he was wrong. Despite the face, there is steel in his eyes.

“Guess she got her way in the end, being that I married her. Afraid that means you’re stuck with me.”

He then swans off and returns to his work.

Trusted me...that part was more important.

Gendry’s words linger behind in his head. They linger all through the evening meal. He watches the younger children, and Ser Davos as well, memories in his head of their stories of Jon. And then he looks at his wife, and Gendry saying the word ‘trust’ echoes through.

When everyone else moves to leave, Ned grabs Catelyn by the arm, a little more roughly than intended. She looks at him questioningly, only a little alarmed.

“Retire early with me, I have something I need to discuss with you.”

With a quick good night to the children, Catelyn agrees, and follows him.

Of course he does, Ned thinks bitterly, she trusts him.

By the end of the night, that may no longer be true.

Jojen

Jojen isn’t quite sure what to feel the morning his father leaves. He helps him pack the horse, and watches with the others, unsure of what to think

Howland Reed had spent most of the last evening with his son and daughter, holding Jojen back when Meera retires for the night.

“You can come back with me if you wish. I understand that you might not want to be involved.”

“How can I not be involved knowing what’s supposed to happen?”

Jojen feels the guilt eat at him. He’s useless as a fighter, and now he’s even robbed of much of the utility of his greensight.

“You can help me keep hold of the Neck. We are the last line of the North’s defenses, and there may be secrets in the swamps that we didn’t discover in the last life, secrets which might be of aid.”

Jojen breathes deeply, closing his eyes before responding.

“Thank you for the offer, but as much as I feel like I’m in over my head, I feel like I have to stay here. I’m so used to knowing what’s to come, that if I’m not here, I feel like I might as well be blind.”

His father hugs him tightly after, ruffles his hair and tells him,

“Listen to your sister, and stay close to her. I don’t think she could handle losing you again. I don’t think I could either.”

He watches the next morning as Lord Reed kisses his daughter on the head, and whispers something to her that makes her shake her head and laugh. She’s been in a better mood lately, and for that Jojen is glad. And then the gate opens, the drawbridge is lowered, and he is gone.

Jojen stands still, staring after, until he’s interrupted by Sansa touching him on the shoulder. She hands him a bundle wrapped in cloth. Arya, Meera and Gendry have left to get a head start on the dragonglass and Bran has headed to the rookery, so for now, it’s just the two of them.

“You seemed to like it at breakfast, figured I’d bring you some in case you wanted it later.”

The bundle is a lump of yellow, rather strong, cheese. There had been cut wedges of it that morning, with the eggs and porridge, and Jojen had eaten three.

“Thank you,” he says, brightening, and takes a bite.

“Have you eaten it before? Maester Luwin taught us people in the Neck don’t eat much dairy.”

Jojen shakes his head.

“We can’t keep goats or cows, or even sheep in the swamps, they get sick. And milk products spoil too quickly for the boatmen to trade for. I’ve never eaten much of it until the last few weeks.”

Sansa pulls herself up to sit beside him on the rail he’s resting on.

“At least there’s a good thing or two about having to leave your home.”

He has to nod to that.

She gives him a minute before starting to speak.

“I know how awful it is to feel helpless. I felt that way most of my adolescence back before.” Jojen nods at that. He’s seen the glint in her eye when she holds her bow.

“But if there’s anything we can do to try and make you feel safer or more at home here, you should tell us.”

Before he can thank her, they’re interrupted by Arya coming back to the courtyard.

“Have either of you seen Mother this morning?”

Jojen and Sansa both shake their heads. Lord Stark had seemed a bit stiff at breakfast, but his wife had been nowhere to be seen.

“I went back to get something from my trunk, and I went past her and Father’s chambers. I think I heard her crying.”

Jojen watches as Sansa goes stiff and pays him only a nod in farewell, and the two leave. With a sudden thought, he goes to the rookery to find Bran. When he tells him where his sister’s have gone, the other boy grabs his crutches and heads off in that direction, as though he knows exactly what has happened.

“Did you have a vision of this or something?” Jojen asks him.

“No,” Bran tells him grimly, “But my sister’s and I have been badgering Father to tell Mother about Jon. He may finally have.”

And so Bran limps off, leaving Jojen behind. After a moment, he decides to find his way to the forge. Might as well try to be useful.

#game of thrones #A Song of Ice and Fire #gendrya #time travel fix it #fic

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crookedlyfadingcreator-blog · 6 years

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clash of clans hack app

With the beginning of our "Best" Lists Campaign, we convey to you the Top Scary Games Of All Time..

For some of you, at one point in your life, subsequent to playing various amusements, from Halo 4 to FIFA 14, Clash Of Clans Hack there comes a diversion that drags you out so much that you're simply not ready to complete it, and you say 'Screw it' and backpedal to a classification you're alright with. Or on the other hand you by one means or another drive forward and do complete it, and afterward do your best to not consider it until the end of time. I'm one of the general population who, if conceivable, take an accomplice along for each mission/journey. A canine is stunningly better, as in Fable 2 (the diversion wasn't that terrifying, I simply don't care for being distant from everyone else in dull and detached territories). Here's a rundown of the best terrifying amusements (as I would like to think, since I haven't played each frightening diversion at any point made):

1. Amnesia: The Dark Descsent (PC)

Developer(s): Frictional Games

Publisher(s): Frictional Games

Stages: Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, Linux

The amusement is situated in London, in the year 1839. You play as Daniel, and when the diversion begins the player awakens in the Brennenburg Castle, with positively no memory of how he arrived, clash of clans hack app and doesn't recall that anything besides his name and where he lives, and the way that something hazardous is after him. To achieve your objective, you need to investigate the manor with only a lamp. No weapons, no forces. No real way to safeguard yourself from the revulsions that torment the manor, everything you can do is run, as quick and as innovatively as possible. You'll need to settle things so you can utilize them, and unravel a few riddles as well.

There's a wellbeing meter, and alongside that there's additionally a rational soundness meter, and you should watch clash of clans hack app out for both. The rational soundness meter is influenced when you're in the murkiness for a really long time, or see something ridiculously distubing or gaze at a portion of the 'detestations' specified above for a really long time. As the rational soundness meter decays, the mental trips begin, which lead the beasts ideal to you. Having some type of light with or around you will help keep up the rational soundness meter, yet just in the event that you don't approach any, utilization the tinderboxes to light any flame you see. On the off chance that you see a terrible, distorted and unearthy being-keep running as quick as possible, since it will pursue you until the point when you're beyond anyone's ability to see. Try not to try and endeavor to battle it since this isn't Skyrim. Or then again Supernatural. Along these lines, run and stow away and don't remain behind entryways on the grounds that they can dispose of entryways effectively.

2. Alan Wake

Developer(s): Remedy Entertainment

Publisher(s): Microsoft Game Studios

Stages: Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows

The hero of the amusement is Alan Wake (top of the line spine chiller writer), who is experiencing a mental obstacle which went poorly for some time. Alice, his life partner, and his specialist Barry clash of clans hack app propose a get-away, thus Alan and Alice go to Bright Falls, however they had no clue what was sitting tight for them. Alice is seized by an obscure power, and the player must beat different obstructions to recover her. Along these lines, you plunge into the heavenly world where fiction springs up, and it's not (more often than not) to support you. A world where a specific murkiness is gradually assuming control over those around Alan, and that incorporates people, creatures and even non-living things. You need to crush them with the consolidated utilization of light and guns.

You adversaries will have weapons of their own, and they'll come in various sizes and with various levels of quality and speed. They are secured by a layer of murkiness that encompasses them, and keeping in mind that it's there guns will have no impact on them. You need clash of clans hack app to dispose of the obscurity by utilizing the electric lamp or some other wellspring of light, and afterward utilize your trusty weapons to kick their rear ends. Ammo and batteries will be constrained, so make a point to gather them while you investigate the town. Greater wellsprings of light will wreck more rivals, and streetlights will produce your wellbeing speedier. There's additionally a discretionary goal, and it's entirely valuable: gather the scattered pages of Alan's most recent novel, Departure, and it'll contain data on occasions that presently can't seem to happen, and tips that'll enable you to advance.

3. F.E.A.R.

Developer(s): Monolith Studios, Day 1 Studios

Publisher(s): Vivendi Universal

Stages: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows

In this amusement, you're the Point Man-an individual from F.E.A.R., which is a restrictive special forces bunch that arrangements with extraordinary powers. The player is in this gathering fundamentally for his particular responsive reflexes. It's a first-individual shooter diversion, impacted extraordinarily by japanese loathsomeness. The general climate of the diversion is one of the fundamental reasons why it's among the best startling recreations. One of the interesting highlights of the diversion is reflex time-this backs off everything around (you move regularly) and enables the player to point and shoot easily. With respect to the weapons, you have your typical guns: rifles, guns, and so forth. The one thing that will likely crawl you out the most is Alma-the alarming young lady dressed in red. Be that as it may, at any rate your rivals are human, though clairvoyantly controlled ones with unprecedented capacities.

The mind flights are additionally something the player is subjected to more than once, infusing you with a solid dosage of dread and alert in the event that you get excessively arrogant on occasion. Parts of the amusement will upset your head a bit, and the sudden appearances will tire you out (rationally) sooner or later, so I'd propose taking short breaks in the middle of, if just to advise yourself that it's not in reality genuine.

4. Quiet Hill: Downpour

Developer(s): Vatra Games

Publisher(s): Konami Digital Entertainment

Stages: Xbox 360, PlayStaion 3

The primary hero of the amusement is Murphy, who's out for exact retribution, with one objective in his psyche: murdering a specific dreadful pedophile. On this way, he commits errors that cause issues down the road for him in the ass later on. The player investigates Silent Hill, experiencing creatures every step of the way. Guns are among the accessible weapons, yet they're horrendously restricted, as is the ammo. Your scuffle weapon ought to dependably be close by, however even that breaks in the long run. As the wellbeing meter decreases, it gets considered the character's appearance. You do get the chance to illuminate in excess of a couple of riddles, and other than that the primary concentration is battle, which will happen all the more every now and again while it's down-pouring on the grounds that beasts seem all the more regularly. Close by the principle mission, there are other minor destinations accessible that are identified with the townsfolk. The diversion's result will rely upon the decisions made by the player all through the amusement.

5. Dead Space

Developer(s): EA Redwood Shores

Publisher(s): Elecronic Arts

Stages: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows

Unquestionably one of the best alarming diversions. You play as Isaac Clarke who gets by, alongside two different accomplices, their ship's impact with the dock of the mining starship they were sent to examine. Alongside making certain revelations about the Ishimura(mining starship) and the planet they're on (Aegis VII), they at last acknowledge how much peril they're in, and the battle against the Necromorphs-that are very like zombies, I think. Conduct astute. They're simply restored bodies and a more astute form begins. It's murder or be slaughtered: and they need to execute with a specific end goal to get off the planet.

The menu, wellbeing bar and so forth are seen as holographic projections. in any case, shockingly it doesn't stop the diversion, and you can in any case get hurt while attempting to check how much ammo you have cleared out. Not at all like zombies in any case, Necromorphs are equipped for vital reasoning, and headshots don't do much harm so you need to cut their appendages off on the off chance that you need to stop them. Be that as it may, they have another aptitude: recovery. As in, they can grow new appendages, similar to a specific Namekian everybody cherishes. Going to the weapons, the just a single you'll perceive is the rifle-different weapons incorporate a hydrazine burn, a plasma shaper, a contact bar. As the amusement advances you'll encounter a feeling of vulnerability, treachery, hopelessness, and in the end, a really unforeseen end.

For some of you, at one point in your life, in the wake of playing various diversions, from Halo 4 to FIFA 14, there comes an amusement that wet blankets you out so much that you're simply not ready to complete it, and you say 'Screw it' and backpedal to a type you're alright with. Or then again you by one means or another endure and do complete it, and after that do your best to not consider it until kingdom come. I'm one of the general population who, if conceivable, take an accomplice along for each mission/journey. A pooch is far better, as in Fable 2 (the diversion wasn't that startling, I simply don't care for being separated from everyone else in dull and disengaged regions).

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