straightforwardly (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
straightforwardly) wrote2017-07-04 01:31 pm
straightforwardly) wrote2017-07-04 01:31 pm
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142 | in which I read Stay Still, Stay Silent
► Soo… I read all of Stay Still, Stay Silent (that is, all that's currently posted), and it was really good? I don’t read webcomics very often, mainly because I am t e r r i b l e at keeping up with updates, but I’ve seen quite a few people talking about this one (including someone on my flist! *waves*), and I did really like the creator’s art…
So my mind is, understandably, pretty focused on the last thing that happened, but I’m going to go chronologically for organization’s sake.
First, I really liked the prologue characters! And while I’m pretty much in love with the current cast too and wouldn’t trade them away for anything, I did feel rather melancholy when the prologue ended and we had to leave them behind. I think the first group was probably my favorite, but that’s at least partially because I adored Aksel. He cared about his grandmother so much! ♥ The end of this page won my heart forever and ever.
I also rather liked Michael by the end of his section— his bursting into tears was what won me, and Signe’s reaction to it + them bonding over the cat was the cutest. I’m really happy that they ended up together. The other group I really loved was the family on the boat (sorry— can’t remember surnames at the moment), but less because of any individual character and more because of the overall group interactions. The three panels at the center of this page were golden. (I also really loved the survivalist aspect to the brother & sister-in-laws preparations, shhh. I’d honestly have happily read a whole comic about their apocalyptic adventures alone. Same for Aksel’s group.)
As for the main cast… Lalli. ♥_♥ I really, really love Lalli, omg. I started bookmarking pages that I had a strong reaction to ~200 pages in, and looking over the names I gave them, it’s clear that the vast majority of them are related to Lalli in some way, haha.
I also adore Emil! He won me over from the first second, and I’ve only grown to love him more as I read on. He was actually my initial favorite, and while Lalli overtook him at some point, it’s only because my love for Lalli grew that much, not because my love for Emil grew less. I adored it when he worried so much about making a bad first impression on his fellow team members— and then proceeded to make a bad first impression on every. single. one. (Well, except for maybe with the cat— he was her rescuer, in a sense— but that still could not have been a good memory for her either.)
I also love the way he reaches out to Lalli, despite the communication barrier (and love it even more after we saw how isolated Lalli had been feeling!) Perhaps unsurprisingly, I ship it like woah, from the instant Emil reached out and fixed Lalli’s hair for him. And then there were so many excellent moments on the train! Bonding over their dislike of the belts! Emil saying goodnight even when he knew Lalli couldn’t understand! And— basically everything else, haha.
After them— I love the rest of the cast in varying degrees of equalness? That sounds a bit weird… By that I mean, I love all of them, but which one of them I think of the most fondly depends on what part of the comic I’m thinking about. ...That sentence still looks as clear as swamp water to me, but OH WELL, moving on. I don’t really ship anything else other than Lalli/Emil in the main timeline, at least not seriously. I’ve found Sigrun/Mikkel cute since the whole mutineer list incident (and Sigrun admiring how much he could carry definitely helped with that). I did have an initial impulse to ship Tuuri/Sigrun based on how awed she was by Sigrun’s height & how cheerfully proud Sigrun was in response, but none of their other interactions really drew my attention (at least not on this first read-through), and… there’s, ah, clearly not going to be anything more for them now.
As for gen relationships, I do have plenty of those that I liked! The main one that comes to mind is Lalli and Onni, because their reunion was the cutest. Seriously, I named the bookmark for that “adorable Lalli and Lalli & Onni”. It’s just… the kind of understated display of emotion/caring that I eat up the most? I’m also very intrigued by Mikkel and Reynir’s relationship (see: Mikkel putting Reynir’s mask on for him), the relationship between Onni and Tuuri, and, uh, Lalli and Tuuri’s relationship too. The latter I only had vaguely positive feelings on for much of the comic, but after Tuuri was wounded, my feelings kind of went spiraling. The way he runs after her, ugh.
There’s one last thing, plot-wise, to talk about— but I think first I’ll go through the rest of the stuff I bookmarked so I can delete those links? Spoiler alert: most are Emil/Lalli related.
I suppose I should tackle Tuuri dying now, especially since quite a few of my last links danced around it. It was— well, sad, but not unexpected? I had a feeling something bad was going to happen to one of the non-immune characters for most of the comic, and figured it’d probably be Tuuri— mainly because Reynir had his whole “figuring out he’s a mage / how Icelandic magic works” thing, and it seemed like a plotline that would take up most of the comic, based on the pacing of it so far. In hindsight it also occurred to me that her being the main translator— and the only one who can fully communicate with everyone— particularly Lalli, who no one else could fully communicate with (though Emil is trying, the precious darling ♥)— made it likely as well. Honestly, the only mark I had against that idea was that she seemed to be Onni’s main motivation, and I wasn’t sure how his role would play out if she died— but I guess we’ll see now.
So, yes, I was vaguely sad, but not horribly depressed by it. And then. And then. The ending of this page happened, and I was struck by sudden and unexpected tears, and basically cried my way through the following couple of pages. God, Onni. Death makes me sad— but nothing is guaranteed to hit me harder than genuine mourning. His reaction killed me. And then that gorgeously drawn final page— Onni falling, and Lalli falling on his knees— guh. That hit hard.
I do feel bad that I focused more on how others reacted to what happened to her— Lalli’s depression leading up to her realizing she was definitely infected, and Onni’s (and, to a lesser extent, Lalli’s) reaction to learning of her death— but I think it’s more because she herself didn’t really react to it— when she had her little speech by the lake about how she didn’t really believe she was going to be infected, I went, oh. Because that really did ring true to me— God knows I would be deep in denial city if it were me— and it both explained why others (i.e., Lalli) were reacting more strongly than she was and made so much sense for her character.
(Also, as a side-note: I was listening to this music over and over again while reading, and my current playthrough of it ended just as I finished reading the final page, with Lalli on his knees by the lake. The melancholy music, and then the sudden silence— it worked really well for that moment. )
Finally… I didn’t look too much in the comments section while reading (mostly only when there was a spell or something not in English, to see if there was a translation), but I did look occasionally, and there was a pair of comments I loved and wanted to save somewhere, just in case. So:
There was also this Lalli analysis, which I really liked. To quote the relevant bits:
On a mostly-unrelated note, I do really love this language family tree. I’m kind of tempted to buy the poster— it’d fit really well with the “Atlas Of True Names” I have hanging over my desk, theme-wise. I’d also love love love it if this page were to become a print or a poster— it’s so gorgeous. I’d buy it in a heartbeat.
► And now I’m going to be terrible, because there are three different games I should probably talk about (for the curious, those games are: Crisis Core— at this point I might just post the notes I wrote and be done with it instead of doing a proper write-up— Stardew Valley, and Nameless ~The one thing you must recall~), but I’m not going to right now, mostly because I don’t want to sit on posting the above, but also don’t feel up to doing any of those write-ups right now— I don’t think I’d give them the justice they deserve if I did. So…. next time, maybe?
So my mind is, understandably, pretty focused on the last thing that happened, but I’m going to go chronologically for organization’s sake.
First, I really liked the prologue characters! And while I’m pretty much in love with the current cast too and wouldn’t trade them away for anything, I did feel rather melancholy when the prologue ended and we had to leave them behind. I think the first group was probably my favorite, but that’s at least partially because I adored Aksel. He cared about his grandmother so much! ♥ The end of this page won my heart forever and ever.
I also rather liked Michael by the end of his section— his bursting into tears was what won me, and Signe’s reaction to it + them bonding over the cat was the cutest. I’m really happy that they ended up together. The other group I really loved was the family on the boat (sorry— can’t remember surnames at the moment), but less because of any individual character and more because of the overall group interactions. The three panels at the center of this page were golden. (I also really loved the survivalist aspect to the brother & sister-in-laws preparations, shhh. I’d honestly have happily read a whole comic about their apocalyptic adventures alone. Same for Aksel’s group.)
As for the main cast… Lalli. ♥_♥ I really, really love Lalli, omg. I started bookmarking pages that I had a strong reaction to ~200 pages in, and looking over the names I gave them, it’s clear that the vast majority of them are related to Lalli in some way, haha.
I also adore Emil! He won me over from the first second, and I’ve only grown to love him more as I read on. He was actually my initial favorite, and while Lalli overtook him at some point, it’s only because my love for Lalli grew that much, not because my love for Emil grew less. I adored it when he worried so much about making a bad first impression on his fellow team members— and then proceeded to make a bad first impression on every. single. one. (Well, except for maybe with the cat— he was her rescuer, in a sense— but that still could not have been a good memory for her either.)
I also love the way he reaches out to Lalli, despite the communication barrier (and love it even more after we saw how isolated Lalli had been feeling!) Perhaps unsurprisingly, I ship it like woah, from the instant Emil reached out and fixed Lalli’s hair for him. And then there were so many excellent moments on the train! Bonding over their dislike of the belts! Emil saying goodnight even when he knew Lalli couldn’t understand! And— basically everything else, haha.
After them— I love the rest of the cast in varying degrees of equalness? That sounds a bit weird… By that I mean, I love all of them, but which one of them I think of the most fondly depends on what part of the comic I’m thinking about. ...That sentence still looks as clear as swamp water to me, but OH WELL, moving on. I don’t really ship anything else other than Lalli/Emil in the main timeline, at least not seriously. I’ve found Sigrun/Mikkel cute since the whole mutineer list incident (and Sigrun admiring how much he could carry definitely helped with that). I did have an initial impulse to ship Tuuri/Sigrun based on how awed she was by Sigrun’s height & how cheerfully proud Sigrun was in response, but none of their other interactions really drew my attention (at least not on this first read-through), and… there’s, ah, clearly not going to be anything more for them now.
As for gen relationships, I do have plenty of those that I liked! The main one that comes to mind is Lalli and Onni, because their reunion was the cutest. Seriously, I named the bookmark for that “adorable Lalli and Lalli & Onni”. It’s just… the kind of understated display of emotion/caring that I eat up the most? I’m also very intrigued by Mikkel and Reynir’s relationship (see: Mikkel putting Reynir’s mask on for him), the relationship between Onni and Tuuri, and, uh, Lalli and Tuuri’s relationship too. The latter I only had vaguely positive feelings on for much of the comic, but after Tuuri was wounded, my feelings kind of went spiraling. The way he runs after her, ugh.
There’s one last thing, plot-wise, to talk about— but I think first I’ll go through the rest of the stuff I bookmarked so I can delete those links? Spoiler alert: most are Emil/Lalli related.
- First, for a general round-up of pages I saved because of Emil/Lalli, but made no particular commentary on in my link names: this, this, this, this, and this.
- I kind of screamed inside at this moment, when Lalli implied (to Onni) that he thought of Emil as a friend. ♥
- Reynir was so cute at the end of this page, omg. SO CUTE. He helped! ♥
- This page was amazing, from start to finish— especially that final punch line!
- So my initial name for this page was “EmilLalli SO CUTE worrying is my bulletproof kink”, but then after the next couple of pages I went back and edited it (twice) so that it ended up being “EmilLalli SO CUTE worrying is my bulletproof kink wait it was a dream WAIT that's even CUTER”
Lalli wanted Emil to be hovering over him and worrying! ♥ ♥ ♥ Though that made what happened next hit so much harder. Though Emil did notice him after a bit! ...And Lalli shoved his food bowl into his face, hee. Definitely not the best way to deal with his feelings of isolation, but it was a very Lalli way to deal with it. ♥ And this little moment! And then everything about Emil’s conversation with Tuuri and his way of dealing with it! I loved the depiction of his slowly inching closer to Lalli over time. Emil, you are wonderful and adorable and great. I love him. - Reynir praying (or attempting to) is quite possibly the best. (Yes, I know I’ve called multiple things the “best”, thus defeating the purpose of the word. Shhhh.)
- I think the names of my next few links speak for themselves: “LALLI LEARNED SOME SWEDISH” and “BOTH LEARNING EACH OTHER’S AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH EmilLalli” And: “EmilLalli language stuff with Tuuri <3” (which I also shared with my mom, mostly because of Lalli’s excellent reaction to the globe / opinions on maps. IT’S MISLEADING AND SHOULD BE CHANGED. ♥)
- Lalli: ”I don’t hate everything here.” !!! ♥
- I named this one “ominous” and I was definitely right. :(
- These cat drawings are amazing, haha. I think I like Emil’s the best, though I find something strangely charming about Lalli’s hissing monstrosity and Sigrun's complete inability to draw.
- ...Again, I’m going to let my link names speak for themselves here. "Lalli being vulnerable :(" and "Lalli cuddling with a cat :(" and "other people worrying about Lalli".
- On a slightly more positive note, Lalli wanting to stick together with Emil? Also, that whole outburst on Lalli’s part was so good. Depressing, especially with the “I knew we were too different” part (more isolation is not what you need, Lalli!), but very well-done, and emotionally believable.
I suppose I should tackle Tuuri dying now, especially since quite a few of my last links danced around it. It was— well, sad, but not unexpected? I had a feeling something bad was going to happen to one of the non-immune characters for most of the comic, and figured it’d probably be Tuuri— mainly because Reynir had his whole “figuring out he’s a mage / how Icelandic magic works” thing, and it seemed like a plotline that would take up most of the comic, based on the pacing of it so far. In hindsight it also occurred to me that her being the main translator— and the only one who can fully communicate with everyone— particularly Lalli, who no one else could fully communicate with (though Emil is trying, the precious darling ♥)— made it likely as well. Honestly, the only mark I had against that idea was that she seemed to be Onni’s main motivation, and I wasn’t sure how his role would play out if she died— but I guess we’ll see now.
So, yes, I was vaguely sad, but not horribly depressed by it. And then. And then. The ending of this page happened, and I was struck by sudden and unexpected tears, and basically cried my way through the following couple of pages. God, Onni. Death makes me sad— but nothing is guaranteed to hit me harder than genuine mourning. His reaction killed me. And then that gorgeously drawn final page— Onni falling, and Lalli falling on his knees— guh. That hit hard.
I do feel bad that I focused more on how others reacted to what happened to her— Lalli’s depression leading up to her realizing she was definitely infected, and Onni’s (and, to a lesser extent, Lalli’s) reaction to learning of her death— but I think it’s more because she herself didn’t really react to it— when she had her little speech by the lake about how she didn’t really believe she was going to be infected, I went, oh. Because that really did ring true to me— God knows I would be deep in denial city if it were me— and it both explained why others (i.e., Lalli) were reacting more strongly than she was and made so much sense for her character.
(Also, as a side-note: I was listening to this music over and over again while reading, and my current playthrough of it ended just as I finished reading the final page, with Lalli on his knees by the lake. The melancholy music, and then the sudden silence— it worked really well for that moment. )
Finally… I didn’t look too much in the comments section while reading (mostly only when there was a spell or something not in English, to see if there was a translation), but I did look occasionally, and there was a pair of comments I loved and wanted to save somewhere, just in case. So:
"Onni reminds me of a cat. Not a graceful cat, but a rolly polly overly dignified one. "I meant to fall off the couch, thank you very much!""
“The Hotakainens all remind me of cats. Lalli is like the outdoor cat that only lets certain people pet them; Tuuri is the sweet friendly one that winds up training you; and Onni is as you say.”
— source
There was also this Lalli analysis, which I really liked. To quote the relevant bits:
“I mean, yes, the dream did show people praising him and recognizing his talents, but the part that seemed to affect him most was that he could UNDERSTAND them, that he didn't need a translator.
So really, I think it might have more to do with belonging. The whole everyone-not-noticing/caring-he's awake thing added to the fact that they're all having a conversation together, despite a few language barriars just reinforces the fact that he is not really apart of this group.
Additionally, I think maybe one of the things that appeals to Lalli about Emil is that he is always reaching to include him and noticing him. Just from our short time observing him, it is clear that he is used to being on his own, and possibly also overlooked or unnoticed. The dream makes me seriously wonder how much socialization he actually wants, and how much is just the language barrier.
Yes, he's quiet, stubborn, and seems to like his space, but as an introvert, I can confidently say that there is a very large difference between needing space and being isolated.”
On a mostly-unrelated note, I do really love this language family tree. I’m kind of tempted to buy the poster— it’d fit really well with the “Atlas Of True Names” I have hanging over my desk, theme-wise. I’d also love love love it if this page were to become a print or a poster— it’s so gorgeous. I’d buy it in a heartbeat.
► And now I’m going to be terrible, because there are three different games I should probably talk about (for the curious, those games are: Crisis Core— at this point I might just post the notes I wrote and be done with it instead of doing a proper write-up— Stardew Valley, and Nameless ~The one thing you must recall~), but I’m not going to right now, mostly because I don’t want to sit on posting the above, but also don’t feel up to doing any of those write-ups right now— I don’t think I’d give them the justice they deserve if I did. So…. next time, maybe?
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You chose a pretty good time to read/finish, considering one of the chapters just completed.
Let me know if you want fic recs or anything. Then again, the section for it on Ao3 is still small enough that you can probably find plenty that's relevant to your interests by filtering by characters/pairing and then just browsing through summaries.
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