#constance scott

[apriljuice]

breaking my streak of not going crazy about npcs [id in alt!]

[taniahylian]

Matilda's memory loss

This is a theory I thought about the other day after finishing the 2.5 event, Showdown in Chinatown (so if you haven't finished that event, click out if you want to avoid spoilers), but before I fully explain it, I'll give you some context.

In the first stage of Chapter 3, we're introduced to SPDM with a teacher asking the kids about the war between humans and arcanists that happened in Constantinople. First, Sonetto gives an answer that pretty much puts all the blame of the war and the eventual result (the arcanists being defeated) on the arbitrary and violent nature of arcanists. Then Matilda interferes with information that was provided to her by her grandpa.

Matilda's version of the story is pretty much the opposite to Sonetto's; the humans ransaked Constantinople to gain access to the literature of arcanum, and then isolated and blamed arcanists, forcing them into hiding.

Although the truth is most likely somewhere in between, you can probably see that Matilda's version is more in line with Manus Vindictae's way of thinking; humans have been marginalizing arcanists for centuries and stripping them from any position of power (although of course the Manus use this as an excuse for revenge, which Matilda never suggests). More so, it hints at Matilda's family knowing something about the origin of the name "arcanists", which I wouldn't be surprised if it has something to do with Arcana herself.

Now, what happens next? The teacher inquires further to see what else Matilda can tell them about this version of the story and the song it came from, however, strangely enough, Matilda can't remember anything else.

She even goes as far as remarking how weird it is, since she had been humming it just the night before. And it's not like Matilda usually has bad memory; being the third best student in the school, she's bound to have above average memory, so it's even stranger that this is happening to her.

Now, my first assumption (and I most ppl's probably), was that the Foundation was brainwashing the kids and making them forget the outside world... but that's not the case; all of the kids Vertin asks later on remember at least something from their life before joining SPDM. More so, I always saw it as a plothole that the Foundation could erase memories, but then didn't do that to make the kids (or at the very least Vertin) forget about the disastrous parade ceremony, that even Constantine admits was a bad move on their part.

I even thought maybe the whole artificial sonambulism they put Vertin through might have been to, not only keep her in a coma, but also to erase whatever bad memories she had of the foundation and therefore make her more obedient. But as we see in the Tuesday's event, Vertin clearly hasn't forgotten about her friends or how they died.

So... what caused Matilda's memory loss then? Well, the answer is simple: her mom. Hear me out.

During the 2.5 event, we learn that Scott stole and sold 5 arcane items from the Foundation's archives, but her motivations and her methods seem very suspicious, so Black Ibis, a member of the Vigils, keeps her under surveillance after they're unable to learn anything by interrogating her. And this vigilance pays off; she is soon contacted by none other than Matilda's mom.

By the looks of it, Matilda's mom is able to hypnoptize other ppl at a distance (we don't even know where she is), and contact whoever she wants by the use of crystals. She can also lock memories of ppl to prevent any information she doesn't want to fall into someone else's hands from being retrieved. That's what she did to Scott... and to Matilda too, probably.

Listen, Matilda's mom is very suspicious. Black Ibis mentions that one of the items stolen could perhaps be used for "that ritual" (probably Arcana's resurrection), and so whoever stole it likely has that as a goal. However, it seems she's been pretending to be in the Foundation's side all this time, to the point she sent her daughter to SPDM and she herself was staying at a Foundation's safe house. But of course she's highly intelligent and talented, and so, to prevent any sensitive information from being found by the foundation, she locked some of Matilda's memories, just in case the Foundation would try to pry into Matilda's mind.

Matilda very likely even knows where her mother is, but that memory is locked. If her powers were more developed, however, she probably would be able to break this barriers and find her. At least that's how I interpret what her mother said to Scott.

But why lock the memories about the song Matilda's grandfather used to sing? Probably because the song, somehow, is associated with Manus Vindictae, Arcana, or some other group that the Foundation deems as dangerous. Remember that Matilda comes from a long line of pure blooded and extremely talented arcanists (as is explained in her first bond story); exactly the type of arcanists that would be most likely to be approached by the Manus.

In any case, I hope we'll find more about this in the future. Let me know what you think!

[absintheansfolly]

YAYYYY sketch illustration commission of the most failgirl ever for @jorgyjuice !!! hi. i love her. thank you

[fructosetolerant]

Showdown in Chinatown Review 🎥

I just finished R1999's 2.5 patch yesterday, I wrote a review of it on my privtwt but the character limit of Twitter is seriously unbearable so I'm taking my reviews to Tumblr (⁠ب⁠_⁠ب⁠)

⚠️ THIS IS ONLY THE EVENT STORY no character stories yet because I want to review them seperately also SPOILERS AHEAD!! ⚠️

Favourite Character: Liang Yue

She's the limited character of this patch so I will admit there is some bias, but it's very little since I also love Noire loads. I really loved her character in the story: how she has the heavy expectations from her parents, her love for films, and how she was able to distinguish fiction from reality.

Favourite Moment: Liang Yue's flashback to the first time she watched a C07 movie as the CG shows her child self sitting at the bench, then shows her current self sitting at the same bench as she has never forgotten Qi Xing's words from that interview.

Favourite OST: Originally it was the EP Rock Solid but I'm currently listening to The Truth Will Come as I'm writing this.

Favourite NPC: Poitier / Constance Scott (I CAN EXPLAIN MYSELF FOR SCOTT)

Let's first clear my name. Scott was someone who parallels Liang Yue in the sense that they have expectations placed onto them, it's just that Scott's one is in the negatives. (Now that I think about it Maltida makes sense too) She was raised in an environment where her mother didn't really acknowledge her and always looked down on her so when she meets Latham/Loggerhead she looks down upon her so that she can feel superior in something. She wasn't cold or calculating, she was lashing out. Go forth inferiority complex.

Liang Yue Family expectations: You must fulfill your duty as the Zhenzi of Qiangliang. Liang Yue feels this duty yet also feels like she doesn't live up to it. (Like how she sees Qiangliang responding to her call as a coincidence)

Maltida Bouanich Family expectations: Beryl Bouanich don't care 😭😭😭😭. Yet Maltida wants to be the best (fostered positively)

Constance Scott Family Expectations: You are nothing... Scott wants to prove herself (fostered negatively) (self fulfilling prophecy)

I get where Scott is coming from and yes I do very much hate her, yet I understand her. She shouldn't have treated Loggerhead like that. That was foul.

Main Themes

The main themes, from what I could gather are:

Diaspora (shown in the earlier chapters)

Liang Yue and Noire are both characters that show this (while they haven't moved there we see cultural clashes, familial expectations, and connections with the community in Chinatown). I do wish this was further explored seeing the strong start from the beginning but I do hope and think we'll get more patches with this theme in the future.

The roles people play / peeling off to appreciate one's individuality

Double entendre with the roles in a movie, the role of the Zhenzi, etc. As someone who has experienced some form of parasociality from my YT channel (I'd like to keep it a secret but it's pretty obvious), I think that this is conveyed well as Liang Yue peels back the layers with sense. Going in blindly will create problems for both sides and I'm glad that this was tackled so well as coming to embrace someone's individuality is beautiful, like Noire says.

How fiction affects reality

The line between C07 and Qi Xing was blurred for the actress. How C07 inspired conviction in Liang Yue. I love it as it reminds me of when I watched Youzitsu and felt so inspired I put my life together for a few months.

Identity (We're Reverse: 1999 guys of course we have identity)

This is a really bad transition but this is my blog we BALL!! But I need to write an apology letter to Noire because for the whole time I thought she was based of off Wong Kar Wai (I love In the Mood for Love it's the only film I've watched from him but well I made this blog for a reason it's time to consume media) because her name was Noire like Noir films. But she makes action films oh I'm stupid (⁠-̩̩̩⁠-̩̩̩⁠-̩̩̩⁠-̩̩̩⁠-̩̩̩⁠_⁠_⁠_⁠-̩̩̩⁠-̩̩̩⁠-̩̩̩⁠-̩̩̩⁠-̩̩̩⁠)

I really love how Noire is written: how she is passionately in pursuit of the better film, how she shows that deep down creators will always want to create, and especially how reckless she was in the past. I was like Noire in the past as well, reckless and selfish, and honestly a jerk but I've learnt from those mistakes. It takes a team to create something better as we are limited to our own brains when we think alone.

⭐ AFFLATUS TALK 🌱

Liang Yue: Star

The aspiration to be a hero that brings happy endings to everyone, the desire to prove herself. The star that she saw that day was in the Detective C07 films.

Noire: Plant

The care for her set (environment). I don't really see anything else other than that. I also think maybe it's because they wouldn't want to release too many star afflatus characters (including Barcarola from last patch as well) but I think that plant is very fitting for her. Like I see the vision y'know.

I'm out of things to yap about now but if you read this all thank you so much 🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️ I hope to remember to write the next review. I'm always open for discussion, thank you again!

[definesanity]

Deleted Scene from Showdown in Chinatown (Real) (/j)

The fluorescent light shone above overhead, and a glass panel separated the suspects from the ones watching them.

After a moment, Liang Yue cleared her throat, grey eyes scanning the five individuals, and them to the witness. "So, do you recognise any of these people, Ms. Latham?'

"Uh..." Loggerhead, bless her, scratched her chin nervously, smiling awkwardly. "I-I was in the bathroom at the time, so I didn't get a good look at them..."

Then, she gave a small jump. "B-But I did hear them! They were singing along to the music playing in the restaurant at the time."

Liang Yue's eyebrow went up, her gaze inquisitive. "Do you recall the song that they were singing along to?"

"I think it was that one from 199...9? 'I Want It That Way'?"

Liang Yue nodded sagely. "Backstreet Boys, I'm familiar."

Liang Yue then leaned over, and passed a button, and her voice echoed from beyond the glass. "Okay, Number One, could you please sing the opening lines to 'I Want It That Way' by Backstreet Boys?"

Number One, more commonly called 'Poitier', gave a blink of confusion. "Really, Rookie?" after a moment, she shrugged. "Okay... 'You are, my fi~re',"

Liang Yue pressed the button down again. "Number Two, keep it going."

Elden hesitated, before finally continuing, "'The one, desi~re,'?"

"Number Three?" Liang Yue leaned in more, as Loggerhead shook her head negatively again.

"'Believe, when I sa~y~'" Qi Xing was smiling nearly ear-to-ear.

"Number Four."

Noire smiled. "'I want it that way'~"

Liang Yue pressed the button down quickly. "'Tell me why?'"

"'Tell me why?'"

And Loggerhead watched as the five replied in song, "'Ain't nothing but a heartache~'"

"'Ain't nothing but a mistake~'"

"Now Number Five,"

Scott cleared her throat, and sang the best she could, "'I never want to hear you say:'"

And, finally, the five came together in harmony, "'I Want It That Way~'"

"Hm." Liang Yue gave a hum of approval. "Excellent harmony."

"It was Number Five," Loggerhead breathed, her lens 'wide' with shock. "S-Scott stole the film reel!"

Liang Yue's eyes went wide. "Oh. I forgot about that part."

[apriljuice]

[id in alt text] latham with no loop + redraw of this post

[apriljuice]

[id in alt text] GREAT SCOTT!!!