Artisshadow - Artis

Doctor who -  Wild Blue Yonder

The deaths of all the Finch kids are really so unbearably tragic. It really speaks to the quality of the writing and storytelling in ‘What Remains’. They’re written as so vivid and human and real, but also so many of them died so young. They were children, it’s so much harder for me to do the whole ‘well, let’s appreciate the life they did have’ thing when the majority of them didn’t even have a chance to become the people they could have become. And yet the image of who they could’ve been if they survived is so vivid in my mind. 

Edith had that line about how she always imagined Molly as a girl she could be good friends with. Obviously if she didn’t die back in 1947 they wouldn’t really be at the same age group, but she’d be one hell of a Cool Aunt. I can only imagine her Weird Girl tendencies would’ve only grown stronger and stronger with age. Considering her fascination with animals, maybe she would’ve gone to study Zoology or Biology when she grew older? And since she was dissecting a sea star just before her canon death…

Sadly, I’m not sure if Barbara would’ve been able to resurrect her acting career. But there’s some subtle hints in her room that in reality she was more willing to move past it compared to her fictionalized version in that horror comic (which can’t be easy when you live in a room your dad themed entirely around your child-star years THANKS SVEN). That ‘horror convention’ seems to be an invention of the comic, Barbara’s actual room has a flier for a ‘Witch’s Ball’ at Orcas Island High School and a dress ready for it. 

Barbara Finch didn’t actually spend her last day on earth hopelessly trying to revive her dead career, she was hoping to have a fun Halloween party like a regular teenager. Maybe the fact that it was hosted by the Orcas Island High School Drama Club implies she still had an interest in acting and theatre. Maybe she could’ve ended up as a classically trained actress with the child-stardom as just a fun quirk of her past? Or maybe she just wanted to take part in the Witches Ball because she likes Spooky Things? And she could have found her way back into the Horror Scene in a different way, like being a writer or costume designer or something?

Maybe Calvin could’ve become an Astronaut like he always wanted? But I think Calvin might’ve been more enthralled with the fantasy of science fiction than the reality of space travel. I’m thinking a lot about how Sam described Clavin in Gregory’s memoriam as ‘lost in his imagination’. Maybe he could’ve become a science fiction writer or something?

Walter didn’t technically die young, but he still certainly lost most of his years to the Curse. Like, a big thing about the tragedy of Walter to me is realizing his original childhood bedroom was themed after “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” and trains. 

Lil’ Walter did have an interest in adventure and travel, before his fears took it all away from him. If it wasn’t for the Curse, Walter could’ve actually something with it. Maybe he could’ve traveled around a bit and written about his experiences.

Lewis would’ve probably gone into game design. It’s not just how his fantasies manifest to us the players, but you can actually find books about game design and coding in his room. It seems that the problem was that his crappy job and his depression took away any opportunity he might have had to actually pursue this idea. Maybe if Milton never left, these three Finch siblings could’ve combined their creative skills together to make like, a very cool artsy game.

Speaking of which… man, Edith’s death stings the most because we got to know her far better than anyone else. And it’s not even the fact that she never got to share her all of her thoughts and creativity with the wider world that makes me the saddest. Getting to the end of the game and hearing just how much she was looking forwards to be with her son - even with all the hardships of being a teen mom, she was really looking forwards to it. To meet him, to share her stories with him. But instead, that worn old diary is the only connection between them…

And that’s like… part of what’s so great about WRoEF’s use of its own format. Like, the faux-interactive linearity of the Narrative Exploration/‘Walking Simulator’ is so perfect for selling this tragedy. The way each Death Flashback only moves forwards based on the actions of the Player, but it always moves on the same unchanging doomed path - really highlights both how stupidly preventable so many of these deaths feel and really make the Player wish there was a way to change them. After all, all they need is for Calvin to not swing so hard, for Gregory’s faucet to not turn back on, for Walter to not stand directly on those train tracks and everything would’ve been fine. But at the same time it’s so, so clear to the Player that this is an impossible wish. There is no other way these sequences can go - these deaths have already been written. The most you can you is linger, all you can do is delay the inevitable. 

But it hurts.

01010100 01100001 01110101 01100111 01101000 01110100

Fear

A thing covered

In the thing called society.

We have created this

This vile

This villain

This deep seated feeling

We have created it

And then we gave it power.

We give it power over our lives

Afraid of everything.

Afraid that if we aren’t a certain way

We will get killed.

Afraid of what others think

Because that is what we are taught.

We are afraid of getting left

Because we are taught

That being left can only equal

Being worthless.

That being left

Is because you weren’t good enough.

You weren’t good enough for them.

You weren’t able to keep up.

You were too different.

You were too unique.

You were too much You.

So they left.

And with them left your worth.

Society tells us,

That without worth,

We are without being.

Without being able to put a price

There is nothing

And then it was all pointless.

Because even the most priceless of things

Is still marked with a price tag.

The world taught us to be open

And to be afraid of the closed off.

That they had to have done something

Something bad

Something terrible

If they had nothing to say.

That if you weren’t open

Then you weren’t worthy of trust.

We say things we don’t want to,

Because silence has become a crime,

Because our safety and comfort

Is at the bottom of the barrel.

When we speak up

Nobody listens

They say we are crazy,

Because that is what history says.

Because that society taught it.

We are taught

That without a partner

Are we really human?

Without love

Without attraction

Without sexual activity

Wouldn’t we be robots?

Wouldn’t you have to be an alien?

And then when we express the attraction we have,

We are told that it is wrong,

And are instilled a fear

Of speaking about who we love

Just in case the person we talk to

Has a fear

And has a weapon

Even if that weapon

Is a word.

We are taught

That fear isn’t real

And that if we have one

We are weak.

When in reality

We are the strong ones

Because we live every single day

Having to know

That the fear is there

And the object could be around at any time.

For me, it is the dark

Because something could be there

And I am most vulnerable

When I cannot see.

For a friend, it is heights

Because you cannot catch yourself

When pushed off of a building.

For another, it is people

Because of what they might say

Or what they might do

And they have to have hope

That someone doesn’t snap

And decide that it was their time.

Fear is not a weakness

It is a strength

That we have been taught

As a necessity.

Getting so desperate for a gf may find one on this hell site

I wanna be her controversial young girlfriend.

Being a switch is wild because I wanna fuck a girl stupid but at the same time I wanna be fucked stupid.

I feel like Peter would read fanfics about himself if anything.

Completely random but have you ever read any fanfiction about yourself or the other ghostbusters? Sorry if you’ve answered this before.

Oh, absolutely.

It’s a trip.

Pain

A pain

Only so many would feel.

A world

Shut away to those

Who wished it to open.

To them,

The life in those pages

Seemed so perfect,

So colorful,

So romantic,

So fantastic,

So real,

That when the end came

They would mourn.

They mourned the deaths

Of a person who didn’t know them,

But they would still cry

For they knew the person

They knew all you could

Except for how the character

Would live on.

For this was the final page

And they had died

As was the fate chosen.

So, the people turned

To their minds

Their heart heavy.

A pain

So real

Yet so distant

A pain towards a world

They could never experience

Hence why they mourn.

Me when it’s time to make another 40+ yr old man a lesbian for the month