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  • Locked thread
Like Clockwork
Feb 17, 2012

It's only the Final Battle once all the players are ready.

She’s headed off to cut, isn’t she? Dammit, Monika. :(

I didn’t expect to be forced to see Yuri’s scene, but it’s hard to call it surprising compared to Natsuki’s sudden bout of amnesia.

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McNally
Sep 13, 2007

Ask me about Proposition 305


Do you like muskets?
They look a little too purple to be crimson to me.

ultrafilter
Aug 23, 2007

It's okay if you have any questions.


Well, uh, let's go with Natsuki here.

Snorb
Nov 19, 2010
Yeah, let's go with Natsuki.

Annointed
Mar 2, 2013

Natsuki. I don’t want to get shanked.

Andyzero
May 22, 2009

I used to spoil, I'm sorry.
......is this gonna turn into a "YOU are the heartless monster who just play the game with no real choices while pretending there are, mwahaha!" thing?

Spec Ops the Line, The Stanley Parable, etc.

Zardoz had that too, but also had boobies and Sean Connery in a diaper.

Because my choice is to not buy those.

Quinn2win
Nov 9, 2011

Foolish child of man...
After reading all this,
do you still not understand?

Andyzero posted:

......is this gonna turn into a "YOU are the heartless monster who just play the game with no real choices while pretending there are, mwahaha!" thing?

Spec Ops the Line, The Stanley Parable,

This is a pretty out-there interpretation of The Stanley Parable.

fucking love Fiona Apple
Jun 19, 2013

samus comfy so what

Andyzero posted:

......is this gonna turn into a "YOU are the heartless monster who just play the game with no real choices while pretending there are, mwahaha!" thing?

Spec Ops the Line, The Stanley Parable, etc.

Zardoz had that too, but also had boobies and Sean Connery in a diaper.

Because my choice is to not buy those.

It's not like that so don't worry.

BaDandy
Apr 3, 2013

"This taste...

is the taste of a liar!"

:thunk:

So anyway, it's Natsuki Time

Seraphic Neoman
Jul 19, 2011


Yeah here we go. Monica is doing her best to ostracize Yuri now that we're favoring Natsuki.

Hypocrisy
Oct 4, 2006
Lord of Sarcasm

Monika.

Sally
Jan 9, 2007


Don't post Small Dash!

you know: the penis is bad, the gun is good--that sort of thing

Beefeater1980
Sep 12, 2008

My God, it's full of Horatios!






This is deeply weird and utterly fascinating. I've known quite a few seriously depressed people and used to have a problem with depression myself at secondary school / university, and the picture this paints is absolutely spot on.

Can't wait to follow this all the way down the rabbit hole.

Cuntellectual
Aug 6, 2010

McNally posted:

They look a little too purple to be crimson to me.

You DID keep watching, right? :v:

EagerSleeper
Feb 3, 2010

by R. Guyovich
Good loving god, I just binge read this entire thread, and my heart knew terror once more. Ghosts and demons don't scare me, but this poo poo? Horrifying.

Before the sudden reveal of Sayori being dead, I thought that maybe the story was setting up a rock-bottom intervention with her. It wouldn't have been the best narrative approach to depression, but it would have been within the normal framework of your typical anime. But once Sayori let out that primal scream, that was the sign of the story knowing how real and terrifying depression and despair really is. I knew it wasn't going to gently caress around with a sappy romance-cures-all-ills approach.

HerpicleOmnicron5
May 31, 2013

How did this smug dummkopf ever make general?


Andyzero posted:

......is this gonna turn into a "YOU are the heartless monster who just play the game with no real choices while pretending there are, mwahaha!" thing?

Spec Ops the Line, The Stanley Parable, etc.

Zardoz had that too, but also had boobies and Sean Connery in a diaper.

Because my choice is to not buy those.

Wow, you missed the point harder than a rookie in XCOM with a 95% chance to hit.

Phimose Knight
Mar 5, 2013

HerpicleOmnicron5 posted:

Wow, you missed the point harder than a rookie in XCOM with a 95% chance to hit.
It's bound to happen at least once. :xcom:

Roar
Jul 7, 2007

I got 30 points!

I GOT 30 POINTS!

Blind Sally posted:

you know: the penis is bad, the gun is good--that sort of thing

I’m not entirely sure I want to understand this reference

BaDandy
Apr 3, 2013

"This taste...

is the taste of a liar!"

Roar posted:

I’m not entirely sure I want to understand this reference

Zardoz! [jazz hands]

TurkeyFried
Oct 9, 2012

:thunk:
This game is not Doki Doki at all!

Sayuri's rant when she hit rock bottom freaked me out because a few days ago I had a very similar one, in some parts word for word.

The writing in this game is top notch and I can't wait to see what comes next

inflatablefish
Oct 24, 2010

EagerSleeper posted:

Good loving god, I just binge read this entire thread, and my heart knew terror once more. Ghosts and demons don't scare me, but this poo poo? Horrifying.

I dunno, this game is kinda irritating me now. It started off with a hard-hitting depiction of a very serious real-world problem, which was very powerfully written and moving, but now we've just dived down the rabbit hole of Weird Unearthly Bullshit. It feels as though it cheapens the impact of the whole depression thing.

Tenebrais
Sep 2, 2011

inflatablefish posted:

I dunno, this game is kinda irritating me now. It started off with a hard-hitting depiction of a very serious real-world problem, which was very powerfully written and moving, but now we've just dived down the rabbit hole of Weird Unearthly Bullshit. It feels as though it cheapens the impact of the whole depression thing.

I'm not ruling out that this whole second run isn't some kind of psychotic breakdown on Mitayo's part. Largely because I don't think the quality writing in both the characters and the poetry is going to be completely ignored for meta-videogamey horror.

Rith
Oct 10, 2012

YOU'VE GOT THAT WRONG!
I'm enjoying what this game's turned into, but Sayori's death was definitely a lot more terrifying than anything that's come since. I suppose the fact that Mitayo doesn't notice any of the weirdness is a factor. Mitayo reacted to Sayori's death. He's not reacting to anything that's going on at the moment, so it feels less real.

TurkeyFried posted:

Sayuri's rant when she hit rock bottom freaked me out because a few days ago I had a very similar one, in some parts word for word.

I'm a little concerned to hear that! I hope you're doing okay.

Avalerion
Oct 19, 2012

Well he wouldn't be seing what are supposed to be glitches in the game, that's for our benefit.

Rith
Oct 10, 2012

YOU'VE GOT THAT WRONG!
Which makes sense! I just personally find it less scary when games target the player than I do when the characters in the game are the ones suffering, maybe because I can feel bad for the characters but I know the game can't actually harm the player (unless it, say, deletes important files, at which point it ceases to be a game and becomes malware).

Undertale spoilers: Although, come to think of it, I was absolutely terrified when Flowey crashed my game in Undertale, so it's entirely possible I'm talking nonsense.

EagerSleeper
Feb 3, 2010

by R. Guyovich

inflatablefish posted:

I dunno, this game is kinda irritating me now. It started off with a hard-hitting depiction of a very serious real-world problem, which was very powerfully written and moving, but now we've just dived down the rabbit hole of Weird Unearthly Bullshit. It feels as though it cheapens the impact of the whole depression thing.

You know, I actually feel both ways. I got impatient with the suspense that's going on so I downloaded the game myself. Upon rereading the text, I've been wondering now how much of what Sayori says is her honest heart-wrenching despair from an unfortunate mental illness, and how much is because of (if my suspicions are correct) Monika targeting her for taking her out of the game. Maybe the game can have it's cake and eat it too if it turns out that Sayori really was talking straight about her own issues in the first go of the game, then followed by things getting meta, but to me it seems like the game started off meta. Or at least Monika is completely meta.

So many things to notice upon reread. For example,

quote:



It seems that Sayori doesn't have any future plans scheduled on her calendar.

And here I was in the very beginning of the LP about to groan about how the character designs included thigh gaps....

EagerSleeper fucked around with this message at 20:47 on Oct 25, 2017

Andyzero
May 22, 2009

I used to spoil, I'm sorry.

ProfessorProf posted:

This is a pretty out-there interpretation of The Stanley Parable.

Okay, that was more "lol, you were expecting freedom of choice in a video game"

SoftNum
Mar 31, 2011

TBF that whole "Here you have to be a terrible monster to progress the game. Hey look what a terrible monster you were" is really lovely.

Seraphic Neoman
Jul 19, 2011


SoftNum posted:

TBF that whole "Here you have to be a terrible monster to progress the game. Hey look what a terrible monster you were" is really lovely.

This. I got what the dude was trying to say and I hate this trope tbh. When you force the player to make terrible choices to progress, you lose the moral high ground to criticize them for making those choices. It's the reason I give Spec Ops the stink eye. I'm glad the game exists and I like what it tries to do, but gently caress sake's, when you don't give player agency your criticism of their actions sounds preachy as gently caress.

Honestly I though what this game would do was punish the players who followed VN mechanics. Like where you focus exclusively on one girl for relationship/sex as a reward and ignore everything else because it doesn't help you toward this goal. Which is pretty manipulative and sociopathic.

Cuntellectual
Aug 6, 2010

EagerSleeper posted:

You know, I actually feel both ways. I got impatient with the suspense that's going on so I downloaded the game myself. Upon rereading the text, I've been wondering now how much of what Sayori says is her honest heart-wrenching despair from an unfortunate mental illness, and how much is because of (if my suspicions are correct) Monika targeting her for taking her out of the game. Maybe the game can have it's cake and eat it too if it turns out that Sayori really was talking straight about her own issues in the first go of the game, then followed by things getting meta, but to me it seems like the game started off meta. Or at least Monika is completely meta.

So many things to notice upon reread. For example,


It seems that Sayori doesn't have any future plans scheduled on her calendar.

And here I was in the very beginning of the LP about to groan about how the character designs included thigh gaps....

My quibble with your theory about Monika targeting her for removal is that if she could, what would the point of implicating herself by directly talking to Sayori about it (as far as we can tell, at least)?

Also thigh gaps? You mean in their uniforms? Because that's a real thing in Japanese school uniforms. Incidentally, some Japanese schools have that in their winter uniforms.

SoftNum posted:

TBF that whole "Here you have to be a terrible monster to progress the game. Hey look what a terrible monster you were" is really lovely.


Supposedly Spec Ops was more about glorification of violence as opposed to specifically saying you're a bad person for playing the game, but different members of that dev team said different things (almost as if they had their own views! :v:).

SSNeoman posted:

This. I got what the dude was trying to say and I hate this trope tbh. When you force the player to make terrible choices to progress, you lose the moral high ground to criticize them for making those choices. It's the reason I give Spec Ops the stink eye. I'm glad the game exists and I like what it tries to do, but gently caress sake's, when you don't give player agency your criticism of their actions sounds preachy as gently caress.

Honestly I though what this game would do was punish the players who followed VN mechanics. Like where you focus exclusively on one girl for relationship/sex as a reward and ignore everything else because it doesn't help you toward this goal. Which is pretty manipulative and sociopathic.


On that note, I've always found Persona 4 to be probably unintentionally pretty messed up. You befriend a bunch of people for a tangible benefit, then completely ignore them once they've given you all they have to give. It's kinda too bad the main character didn't have a shadow, because that certainly seems like a good cause for one!

Cuntellectual fucked around with this message at 22:18 on Oct 25, 2017

Dr. Snark
Oct 15, 2012

I'M SORRY, OK!? I admit I've made some mistakes, and Jones has clearly paid for them.
...
But ma'am! Jones' only crime was looking at the wrong files!
...
I beg of you, don't ship away Jones, he has a wife and kids!

-United Nations Intelligence Service

SSNeoman posted:

This. I got what the dude was trying to say and I hate this trope tbh. When you force the player to make terrible choices to progress, you lose the moral high ground to criticize them for making those choices. It's the reason I give Spec Ops the stink eye. I'm glad the game exists and I like what it tries to do, but gently caress sake's, when you don't give player agency your criticism of their actions sounds preachy as gently caress.

Honestly I though what this game would do was punish the players who followed VN mechanics. Like where you focus exclusively on one girl for relationship/sex as a reward and ignore everything else because it doesn't help you toward this goal. Which is pretty manipulative and sociopathic.

It's interesting that you bring up the lack of agency here, because I feel like a key part of the horror taking place so far is the deliberate lack of it the player has. That moment when you are literally incapable of intervening in the argument between Yuri and Natsuki and Natsuki's glitched-out denial of said argument or the moment when the game glitches from a conversation with Yuri straight into the poem-writing thing make it very clear that you're really no longer in control of what's happening by any stretch.

Instead of calling you a jerk for not doing anything, the game becomes much more...psychologically claustrophobic after that, for lack of a better phrase. You're able to see what's happening, but it's very clear that you're not really in control anymore and that feeling that your control is being taken away from you is incredibly unnerving. And that makes the horror hit surprisingly hard, even if the broad strokes of it have been done before to some extent.

pumpinglemma
Apr 28, 2009

DD: Fondly regard abomination.

SSNeoman posted:

This. I got what the dude was trying to say and I hate this trope tbh. When you force the player to make terrible choices to progress, you lose the moral high ground to criticize them for making those choices. It's the reason I give Spec Ops the stink eye. I'm glad the game exists and I like what it tries to do, but gently caress sake's, when you don't give player agency your criticism of their actions sounds preachy as gently caress.

Honestly I though what this game would do was punish the players who followed VN mechanics. Like where you focus exclusively on one girl for relationship/sex as a reward and ignore everything else because it doesn't help you toward this goal. Which is pretty manipulative and sociopathic.
This is actually something I think Undertale did very well. If you start playing the evil path, where you kill everything, suddenly the game stops being remotely fun. All the fights are trivial, and you have to grind them for hours to stay on the path. The tone of the game goes from being mostly funny and charming with the occasional horrible lurking darkness to being uniformly grim and heartwrenching. The catchy music is slowed down and distorted. The only source of actual difficulty comes from two boss fights, both of which are controller-throwing exercises in frustration. It actively tries to get you to turn back in every way it can. So when you finally get to the end and the game calls you out in two remarkably specific ways, then permanently changes the good ending so you can never forget what you did, it actually hits home.

pumpinglemma fucked around with this message at 22:33 on Oct 25, 2017

BaDandy
Apr 3, 2013

"This taste...

is the taste of a liar!"

Cuntellectual posted:

On that note, I've always found Persona 4 to be probably unintentionally pretty messed up. You befriend a bunch of people for a tangible benefit, then completely ignore them once they've given you all they have to give. It's kinda too bad the main character didn't have a shadow, because that certainly seems like a good cause for one!

I feel like that's going to happen when you turn relationships into a game mechanic with a reward system. It becomes doing it for a reward and I've seen the comparison between doing that and "Nice Guys" doing that irl and thinking if you put in enough friendship coins, you get The Sex and it's honestly not a bad comparison.

Dr. Snark posted:

It's interesting that you bring up the lack of agency here, because I feel like a key part of the horror taking place so far is the deliberate lack of it the player has. That moment when you are literally incapable of intervening in the argument between Yuri and Natsuki and Natsuki's glitched-out denial of said argument or the moment when the game glitches from a conversation with Yuri straight into the poem-writing thing make it very clear that you're really no longer in control of what's happening by any stretch.

Instead of calling you a jerk for not doing anything, the game becomes much more...psychologically claustrophobic after that, for lack of a better phrase. You're able to see what's happening, but it's very clear that you're not really in control anymore and that feeling that your control is being taken away from you is incredibly unnerving. And that makes the horror hit surprisingly hard, even if the broad strokes of it have been done before to some extent.

This. I really loved the tension (not at the time but thinking about how it was executed I mean). Not being able to intervene in that argument not only emphasized how things were going to such poo poo without Sayori around, but the clicks not working while the music was going out of control was really effective. It's a much better way of unfolding than saying "How dare you be playing a lovely anime dating sim you monster." Good horror's all about taking the seemingly innocent and slowly making things more weird and off-putting, after all.

BaDandy fucked around with this message at 22:47 on Oct 25, 2017

ManlyGrunting
May 29, 2014

TurkeyFried posted:

This game is not Doki Doki at all!

Sayuri's rant when she hit rock bottom freaked me out because a few days ago I had a very similar one, in some parts word for word.

The writing in this game is top notch and I can't wait to see what comes next

I've had that happen too, right around the time I almost flunked out of school and had episodes of anxiety so bad I wouldn't sleep for more than three hours a night for weeks on end. Please, please tell me you've got a decent support network and psychiatric help, Sayori's rant was something she said when she was at the end of her rope for a drat reason.

TheObserver
Nov 7, 2012
Monika, you fool,
you won’t get the plot you want,
with these test subjects.

EagerSleeper
Feb 3, 2010

by R. Guyovich

Cuntellectual posted:

My quibble with your theory about Monika targeting her for removal is that if she could, what would the point of implicating herself by directly talking to Sayori about it (as far as we can tell, at least)?

Also thigh gaps? You mean in their uniforms? Because that's a real thing in Japanese school uniforms. Incidentally, some Japanese schools have that in their winter uniforms.

Well, I'm assuming Monika only had her 'epiphany' recently, so maybe she's going by a need-based approach to wacking off her fellow co-stars. If 'talking it out' with Sayori didn't work fast enough for Monika, then just plain erasing her might.

As for the thigh gap, I'm referring to the physical anatomy thigh gap. I mostly remember them being a meme a while back, but in lots of anime there were the female characters being drawn with them. I always thought it was pretty gross and unnecessary, but thankfully it's much less common now days.

A Bystander
Oct 10, 2012
I don't know how to word it without coming across as a chump, but to me, Spec Ops is more Walker's story than anything else, you're just kind of there to see how much of a gently caress-up he is because of all the bad decisions he makes.

As for where we are right now, well... I miss Sayori.

BaDandy
Apr 3, 2013

"This taste...

is the taste of a liar!"

A Bystander posted:

As for where we are right now, well... I miss Sayori.

We all do. :ohdear:

Roar
Jul 7, 2007

I got 30 points!

I GOT 30 POINTS!
16.

BGM: Okay, Everyone!



: “Well, it's not terrible. But it's pretty disappointing after your last one. Then again, if this one was as good as your last one, I would be completely pissed."

I'm not entirely sure why Natsuki doesn't openly care for our poem here. I'm assuming it's because we got our time commandeered by Yuri, but we still wrote a super cutsey poem. :(

: “Well, I guess I wanted to try something a little different this time."

: “Fair enough. You're still new to this, so I wouldn't expect you to find your style right away. I mean, everyone in the club writes really differently from each other...maybe you'll find a little influence from all of us."

: “For instance..."



: “Not that I care who you spend your time with. After all, I was taught never to expect anything from anybody. So it's not like I was waiting for you, or anything."

Careful, Natsuki, your tsundere is showing.

: “Still, you should at least look over my poem...you'll probably be able to learn something from it."

BGM: Okay, Everyone! (Natsuki)



quote:

T3BlbiBZb3VyIFRoaXJkIEV5ZQ

SSBjYW4gZmVlbCB0aGUgdGVuZGVybmVz
cyBvZiBoZXIgc2tpbiB0aHJvdWdoIHRo
ZSBrbmlmZSwgYXMgaWYgaXQgd2VyZSBh
biBleHRlbnNpb24gb2YgbXkgc2Vuc2Ug
b2YgdG91Y2guIE15IGJvZHkgbmVhcmx5
IGNvbnZ1bHNlcy4gVGhlcmUncyBzb21l
dGhpbmcgaW5jcmVkaWJseSBmYWludCwg
ZGVlcCBkb3duLCB0aGF0IHNjcmVhbXMg
dG8gcmVzaXN0IHRoaXMgdW5jb250cm9s
bGFibGUgcGxlYXN1cmUuIEJ1dCBJIGNh
biBhbHJlYWR5IHRlbGwgdGhhdCBJJ20g
YmVpbmcgcHVzaGVkIG92ZXIgdGhlIGVk
Z2UuIEkgY2FuJ3QuLi5JIGNhbid0IHN0
b3AgbXlzZWxmLg

Poem impressions: Uh, Natsuki, did you write this with your face or something? This is the text equivelent of a static-filled televison.

The following is, uh, a little bit of a rant. Excuse the screenshot overload but it’s necessary this time.








BGM: The music gets a bit off-pitch and there’s a weird metronome sound playing.












BGM: Music ends abruptly.































EVERYTHING'S FINE. MOVING ON.

BGM: Okay, Everyone!



: “How's the writing going?"

: “Alright, I guess..."

: “I'll take that. As long as it's not going bad! I'm happy that you're applying yourself. Maybe soon you'll come up with a masterpiece!"

: “Ahaha, I wouldn't count on that..."

: “You never know! Want to share what you wrote for today?"

: “Sure... Here you go."

I give my poem to Monika.

: “...Alright!"



: “I was going 'Ooh' in my head while reading it. It's really metaphorical! I'm not sure why, but I didn't expect you to go for something so deep. I guess I underestimated you!"

For some reason, Monika assumes that I was using Yuri's word group.

: “It's easiest for me to keep everyone's expectations low. That way, it always counts when I put in some effort."

: “Ahaha! That's not very fair! Well, I guess it worked, anyway. You know that Yuri likes this kind of writing, right? Writing that's full of imagery and symbolism."

This is the same thing she told us last time, back when we were pining for Yuri.

That feels like a million years ago now.


: “Sometimes I feel like Yuri's mind is just totally detached from reality. I don't mean that like it's a bad thing, though."



Things, however, branch off a bit this time around.

: “She spends so much time in her own head that it's probably a much more interesting place for her...but that's why she gets so happy when you treat her with a lot of kindness. I don't think she's used to being indulged like that."



: “Like earlier...I think if she gets too stimulated, she ends up withdrawing and looking for alone time."

Suddenly, the door opens.

: “Yuri!"



: “Did I miss anything?"

: “Not really...well, we all started sharing our poems with each other."

: “Eh? Already? I-I'm sorry for being late..."

: “No need to apologize! We still have plenty of time, so I'm more glad that you took all the time you needed."

"Most people don't drink four gallons of water at a time, though.

That's why you took so long, right?

Drinkin' a lot of watttttter?"


: “Alright...thanks, Monika. I suppose I should go get my poem now."



: “You want to read my poem now?"

: “I like the way this one turned out, so I hope you do too~"

BGM: Okay, Everyone! (Monika)





quote:

Save Me

The colors, they won't
Bright, bea t ful c l rs
Flash ng, exp nd ng, piercing
Red, green, blue
An ndless
CACOPHANY
Of meaningless
noise


The noise, it won't STOP.
Viol nt, grating w vef rms
Sq e king, screech ng, piercing
SINE, COSINE, TANGENT
Like play ng a ch lkboard on a t rntable
Like playing a KNIFE on a BREATHING RIBCAGE
n ndl ss
p m
Of m n ngl ss






Delete Her

Poem impressions: Monika's original second poem was also named Save Me. This poem, however, is showing similar signs of degridation as everything else in this timeline. Apparently Monika, who up until this point has shown relatively few signs of glitching, isn't immune to the code issues.

BGM: Music fades out.



BGM: Okay, Everyone!

...case in point.

: “Sorry, I know it's kind of abstract. I'm just trying to...um..."

: “Well, never mind."



: “Anyway...here's Monika's Writing Tip of the Day! Sometimes you'll find yourself facing a difficult decision...when that happens, don't forget to save your game! You never know when...um..."



: “Can you hear me?"

: “Tell me you can hear me."

: “Anything."



:raise: :staredog: :raise:

: “...That's my advice for today!"



Curiouser and curiouser.

Speaking of which...




: “Let's see what you've written for today."

: “..."

Yuri smiles and takes a deep breath.



Oh good lord.

Could we please not make this weird?


: “...?"

: “Ah, I mean--the poem turned out good! It's, ah...well, there are some things that you could work on...but that doesn't really matter. It feels like anything written by you is a treasure."

You know, when we were actively pursuing you, you seemed a little...aloof.

I feel like there's some middle ground that we shot WAY, WAY past.


: “Ahaha...that came out a little awkward...l-let's move on...here's the poem I wrote. You don't have to like it or anything..."

BGM: Music fades out.




quote:

Wheel

A rotating wheel. Turning an axle. Grinding. Bolthead. Linear gearbox. Falling sky. Seven holy stakes. A docked ship. A portal to another world. A thin rope tied to a thick rope. A torn harness. Parabolic gearbox. Expanding universe. Time controlled by slipping cogwheels. Existence of God. Swimming with open water in all directions. Drowning. A prayer written in blood. A prayer written in time-devouring snakes with human eyes. A thread connecting all living human eyes. A kaleidoscope of holy stakes. Exponential gearbox. A sky of exploding stars. God disproving the existence of God. A wheel rotating in six dimensions. Forty gears and a ticking clock. A clock that ticks one second for every rotation of the planet. A clock that ticks forty times every time it ticks every second time. A bolthead of holy stakes tied to the existence of a docked ship to another world. A kaleidoscope of blood written in clocks. A time-devouring prayer connecting a sky of forty gears and open human eyes in all directions. Breathing gearbox. Breathing bolthead. Breathing ship. Breathing portal. Breathing snakes. Breathing God. Breathing blood. Breathing holy stakes. Breathing human eyes. Breathing time. Breathing prayer. Breathing sky. Breathing wheel.

Poem impressions: There's definately something wrong with Yuri, and I'm not just talking about her weird, kind-of spooky poem. Her handwriting's changed, too.



: “It doesn't really matter what it's about. My mind has been a little hyperactive lately, so I had to take it out on your pen."

: “Ah--"

: “That is...a-a pen fell out of your backpack yesterday, so I took it home for safekeeping and..."

: “I, um...I just...really like...the way...that it writes."

: “So I wrote this...poem...with it."

: “And now you're touching it..."

: “Ahaha. I-I'm okay!!"

:staredog: You've made it weird.

Signs that you are not okay: all of the things Yuri just said.




: “...Can we pretend this conversation never happened? You can keep the poem, though..."

I would love to forget it. I don't think forgetting anything about the Literature Club will ever be an option for me, unfortunately.












BGM: Okay, Everyone!



Oh great, DDLC is channeling CoD now.

: “We're all done reading each other's poems, right? We have something we need to go over today, so if everyone could come sit at the front of the room..."

This glitch is making it very hard to read the text.

: “Is this about the festival?"

: “Well, sort of~"

: “Ugh. Do we really have to do something for the festival? It's not like we can put together anything good in just a few days. We'll just end up embarrassing ourselves instead of getting any new members."



I, uh, guess we're done here?



Oh, clicking fixed it. That's a relief.

: “Don't worry so much! We're going to keep it simple, okay?"

: “Look...I know everyone's been a little more...lively...ever since Mitayo joined and we've started with some club activities. But this isn't the time for us to become complacent. We still only have four members...and the festival is our only real chance to find more, you know?"

: “What's so great about getting new members, anyway? We already have enough to be considered an official club. More members will just mean everything gets noisier and more difficult to manage."

Four people isn't a club, Natsuki. It's some people hanging out sharing poetry.

: “Natsuki...I don't think you're looking at it the right way at all. Don't you want to share your passion with as many people as you can? To inspire them to find the same feelings that brought you here in the first place? The Literature Club should be a place where people can express themselves like they can't do anywhere else."

All three of you produced absolute drivel today. Natsuki's wasn't even real words.

: “It should be a place so intimate that you never want to leave. I know you feel that way, too. I know we all do! So that's why we should work hard and put something together for the festival...even if it's something small! Right, Mitayo?"

: “Ah..."

: “Oh, come on! You can't take advantage of Mitayo to agree with you just because he doesn't know how to say no to anything."

: “Look, Monika. Do you really think any of us here joined the club with other people in mind? Yuri never even talked until Mitayo joined. As for me, I just like it better here than I do at home. And Mitayo isn't even passionate about literature in the first place. And that's everyone."

I mean...it’s not EVERYONE :(

: “Sorry, but you're really the only one who's so interested in finding new members."

: “The rest of us are fine like this. I know you're President and all, but you should really consider our opinions for once."

: “..."

Monika is clearly taken aback by Natsuki's words.

BGM: My Feelings

: “That's...not true at all. I'm sure Yuri and Mitayo want to get more members too...right?"

Not really. Nothing has gone well for any of us in the cursed club. I wouldn't wish our fate on anyone else.

: “..."

: “..."

I don't know about Yuri, but I'm kind of indifferent. If I showed as much enthusiasm as Monika wanted, then I would probably be lying. Still, if it's up to me to rescue this situation...

: “Um--"

: “No."



: “This club...it's nothing more than a place for a few people to hang out. Why did I think that everyone here saw it the same way as I did?"

: “But that doesn't mean that we're against getting new members or anything..."

: “Mitayo, why did you even join this club? What were you hoping to get out of it?"

It started out with cupcakes. How did it end up like this?

Have I made that The Killers reference already? I honestly can't remember.


: “Well--"

That's not really something I can be honest about, is it?

: “In fact...if I remember, you weren't even given a choice not to join."

Monika sits down and stares at her desk.

: “What's the point of all this, anyway? What if starting this club was a mistake?"

This is probably the most raw emotion we've seen out of Monika...ever.

: “..."



: “What, me? I just spoke my mind...is it a crime to be honest?"

: “It's not about being honest. It's about word choice. Besides, you have no right to speak for everyone else in the club like that..."

: “You don't understand at all! I just...I just want a place that feels nice to hang out with a few friends. Is there a problem with the club being that for me? There aren't...there aren't many other places like that for me...and now Monika wants to take it away from me!"

: “She's not taking anything away--"

: “No, Mitayo. It's not the same. It won't be the same with the direction she wants to take it. If I wanted that, then I could have just joined any other stupid club."

...you know, I've literally never thought about it until this moment, but why in the world wouldn't Natsuki have joined the anime club? SHE HAS A MANGA COLLECTION. She spends the entire club time reading it!

: “But this one...I mean...at least for a little bit of time..."



Natsuki starts packing up her things.

: “I'm going home. I feel like...I don't belong here right now."

: “Natsuki..."

Natsuki ignores Yuri and walks right out of the classroom.



: “…I don't know what to do..."

: “Well...do you have an opinion on the festival?"

: “I-I don't know...I'm kind of indifferent, I guess..."



Uh...!



: “And I'm just...happy with you here...but still! I'm the Vice President...it's not right for me to ignore my responsibilities like that..."





MIXED SIGNALS.



: “But what about you, Mitayo? What do you want to get out of this club?"

Yuri repeats the same question as Monika. I decide giving an indirect answer is better than nothing.

: “...I think the most important thing is for everyone to get along...and for the club to provide something that you can't get anywhere else. I don't think it's about how many members, but rather the quality of each member. That's what will end up making the Literature Club a special place."

I can absolutely not be assed to make yet another gif for this update, but Yuri’s eye bleeds intermittently throughout this section.

: “I see...I really agree with you. Each member contributes their own qualities in a special way. With each change in members, the identity of the club as a whole will change, too. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Stepping out of your comfort zone once in a while..."



: “Alright. Well, maybe we can all talk to Natsuki tomorrow..."

Yuri nods.



: “Eh?"

: “Um, I know things were a little awkward yesterday...but I feel like you deserve to know that I still think you're a wonderful vice president. And also, a wonderful friend."

: “M-Monika..."

: “I want to do everything I can to make this the best club ever. Okay?"

: “...Me too."

Best friends forever! <3

: “Yeah...let's all go home for today. We'll talk about the festival tomorrow."

: “Okay. I look forward to it."



: “Um--please don't take this the wrong way, but...I'm going to chat a little bit with Mitayo before we leave. Just to see what he thinks of his time here and all that..."



: “..."

Yuri looks a little troubled, but she doesn't protest.

: “Okay. I trust your judgment, Monika. In that case, I'll see the two of you tomorrow."

: “See you tomorrow~"

Monika waves as Yuri exits the classroom.



: “Things have been a bit hectic lately, haven't they? Mitayo, I just wanted to make sure you're enjoying your time at this club. I would really hate to see you unhappy. I feel kind of like I'm responsible for that, as President..."

BGM: Music stops abruptly.

: “And I really do care about you...you know? I don't like seeing the other girls give you a hard time. With how mean Natsuki is and everything...And Yuri being a little bit...you know. Ahaha...sometimes it feels like you and I are the only real people here. You know what I mean?"

: “But it's weird, because in all the time you've been here, we've hardly gotten to spend any time together."

: “Ah...I mean..."



: “Sorry, I didn't mean to say something weird! There are just some things I've been hoping to talk about with you...things I know only you could understand."








Last normal-ish poem vote. For real this time.


quote:

GROUP A
Happiness, sadness, death, tragedy, alone, love, adventure, sweet, excitement, fireworks, romance, tears, depression, heart, marriage, passion, childhood, fun, color, hope, friends, family, party, vacation, lazy, daydream, pain, holiday, bed, feather, shame, fear, warm, flower, comfort, dance, sing, cry, laugh, dark, sunny, raincloud, calm, silly, flying, wonderful, unrequited, rose, together, promise, charm, beauty, cheer, smile, broken, precious, prayer, clumsy, forgive, nature, ocean, dazzle, special, music, lucky, misfortune, loud, peaceful, joy, sunset, fireflies, rainbow, hurt, play, sparkle, scars, empty, amazing, grief, embrace, extraordinary, awesome, defeat, hopeless, misery, treasure, bliss, memories

GROUP B
Cute, fluffy, pure, candy, shopping, puppy, kitty, clouds, lipstick, parfait, strawberry, pink, chocolate, heartbeat, kiss, melody, ribbon, jumpy, doki-doki, kawaii, skirt, cheeks, email, sticky, bouncy, shiny, nibble, fantasy, sugar, giggle, marshmallow, hop, skipping, peace, spinning, twirl, lollipop, poof, bubbles, whisper, summer, waterfall, swimsuit, vanilla, headphones, games, socks, hair, playground, nightgown, blanket, milk, pout, anger, papa, valentine, mouse, whistle, boop, bunny, anime, jump

GROUP C
Determination, suicide, imagination, secretive, vitality, existence, effulgent, crimson, whirlwind, afterimage, vertigo, disoriented, essence, ambient, starscape, disarray, contamination, intellectual, analysis, entropy, vivacious, uncanny, incongruent, wrath, heavensent, massacre, philosophy, fickle, tenacious, aura, unstable, inferno, incapable, destiny, infallible, agonizing, variance, uncontrollable, extreme, flee, dream, disaster, vivid, vibrant, question, fester, judgment, cage, explode, pleasure, lust, sensation, climax, electricity, disown, despise, infinite, eternity, time, universe, unending, raindrops, covet, unrestrained, landscape, portrait, journey, meager, anxiety, frightening, horror, melancholy, insight, atone, breathe, captive, desire, graveyard

Raw Video Link: http://www.polsy.org.uk/play/yt/?vurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DLV2gtUUQnJY%26feature%3Dyoutu.be&autoplay=1

Roar fucked around with this message at 01:08 on Oct 26, 2017

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Lotus Aura
Aug 16, 2009

KNEEL BEFORE THE WICKED KING!

Roar posted:




Poem impressions: Uh, Natsuki, did you write this with your face or something? This is the text equivelent of a static-filled televison.

It's just in Base64, is all. It can be converted back to English for a real thing, if you want.

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