ARCANE 1.06  “When These Walls Come Tumbling Down”

Another commission I got from the lovely Ham! This one is to go with chapter 9 of Hook, Line, Sinker. My soul needed healing after S2, and Ham's art always provides🥹 She threw in a bonus tiny Jinx, too!

How things have changed in fandom spaces is lowkey hilarious because back in 2014 you had elsanna SOMEHOW being a popular pairing (if not the most popular pairing in its context) all bc they were kinda awkward with each other during the coronation yet in 2024 people wouldn't touch Vijinx with a 10 ft pole even though it is... what it is.

Ford and Dippy getting drunk and touchy

Enjoy some of my Thoughts about Him :)

ViJinx Week | Day 5 + 7: date + home

They snuck in to The Last Drop after hours for a little date 🤭

Bonus: Jinx-ified polaroid version under the cut

happy belated 1 y anniversary to the best show ever

Hear me out... Alcoholic pitfighter vi accidentally time traveling back and meeting powder while absolutely wasted, and powder gives her these puppy eyes?

decay 3A first playthrough retrospective ˚₊·

go to the sister post after this one, the "decay 3A predictions retrospective", for more specific thoughts on the endings overall. i had to split the post into two because of the image-count of THIS one, so check it out!

this post will be less full-analysis of this game and what it all means and such (maybe), and more-so me chronologically showing screenshots of character graphics and moments i have thoughts about while going through my first play-through of the game.

i took notes and screenshots of moments that interested me while playing this through, and i'll be going chronologically by whatever ending i hit first naturally with my own choices. enjoy <3

join me as i traverse through the mental decay of andrew graves!

BEFORE WE START. i chose a decay save with BULLETS and i chose "ANDREW" at the decision, and i did NOT pick up the wedding ring.

the way leyley has brought up this kinda shit since they were KIDS. also notable took a screenshot of this particular screen because its the first time a blush sprite was used in the new chapter. ended up being very common, CUTE ADDITION DEVS!!! :3

however, most of the early memories are fucking MISERY to sit through, not because its poorly written or it sucks, but because I FUCKING HATE THAT HAGG I WANT HER FUCKING DEAD. I FUCKING HATE THAT FUCKING BITCH. (shes already dead and she didn't even die brutally OR in pain. what a shame.)

seriously though the way andy was abused as a kid MUST be from some generational bullshit, the way renee was barely 15 when she had her first kid (and seemingly, just so she could have her perfect little chess pieces of "see mom! fuck you, my husband are SO well off and MY kids are SMART!". they were really just born just to prove a fucking Point. no wonder she disposed of them so easily.) and how renee passes down this ideal that the oldest sibling basically is THE parent of the other siblings, might show renees childhood and some generational trauma, but i don't care enough about her to give a shit SORRY.

all i wrote in my notes at this point was, sarcastically: "guys i think andrew had a troubling childhood im not sure though". by the way the little intro before they wake up was fucking BAD ASS. i love the new music holy fuck.

this whole sequence of ashleys amputated body and his reactions to it are so fucking interesting. i do love seeing him fall apart mentally, teehee! (the way the puzzle was like, about digging up his "beloved" out the grave and pieces her back together, does he think he destroyed her? and will attempt to put her back together? i wonder if this was an actual vision or if it was just something something vaguely symbolic puzzlestuff.)

also, we now get andrew's POV for the bunny plushies descriptions.

oddly repulsive, interesting :3

SPEAKING of item descriptions, when he obtains ashley's head...

though... the fact ashley is a big eye demon in this realm is INCREDIBLY interesting, not sure if it was meant to be a "shes all encompassing on andrews part" or if she ACTUALLY looks like that in demonic form. VERY interesting..

things are GETTING BAD! she shackles him to a radiator in a random cultists apartment after andrew lets all the souls in the demon realm escape (on accident, maybe) and he is literally STUCK with ashley with all his items gone and he CANT leave, so he becomes a fucking alcoholic.

even though she hates it so much. shes so SCARED.

after he calls julia begs her to let him free and NEARLY runs off to start a new life, gets doused in a cold bucket of liquid reality and he sulks on a bench by himself. until his old friend shows up, and has a small moment of "maybe i want ashley back :("

he comes home, with groceries, a bag of excuses and ashley promptly FLIPS her fucking shit as andrew desperately tries to calm her and tell her that he just wants to be with her forever. honestly if ashley stopped being a shivering rat with no trust capabilities right here, maybe a Genuinely good ending couldve occured. SHOCKER! she doesn't though.

he tries to get ashley to feel better by smoking with h- wait what the fuck.

oh they're making out on the couch now, splendid.

now ashley is trying to be the perfect little Wife for andrew, while andrew descents further into his alcoholism, and while ashley proceeds to piss him off over minor things that cause very Bad things to happen.

the title music playing while he beats The SHIT out of ashley is kinda fun and shows how fucking manic he is. in a way i cant describe. boo.

and they uh. Work it Out.

ok but seriously this scene here is horrifically interesting because... i still don't even know what to make of it. its like. ashley pushes andrew to fucking her while drunk, he's always Wanted to and he ADMITTED to wanting to fuck her the night before also while drunk. though ashley mainly fucks him to keep him around (her inner narration rats it out), it seems to be her last ditch effort to prevent him from killing her/killing himself by resorting to sexual favors? since she views this whole thing so transactionally due to her deep rooted insecurities regarding anyone GENUINELY caring about her as a person at all. its EXTREMELY FUCKED UP.

though, despite everything, i find it hard to consider it outright rape in my opinion (i am not a SA victim so i am being cautious with the word here), though it definitely was not safe OR sane OR normal in ANY fucking capacity, dubious at ABSOLUTE best (since ashley is disinterested in sex, which is something i understand the feeling of. not in a "asexual way", which is what a LOT of people feel it is.) but i REALLY think that if either of them didn't want it, they would've started fucking killing eachother and probably just thrown themselves out the balcony at That moment.

then again, the dialogue BEFORE the fade to black is something to be picked apart. i feel i am not qualified enough to get into it without romanticizing it or potentially getting it WRONG. TL;DR, THEY FUCK BUT IT IS NOT SAFE OR SANE OR EVEN REALLY CONSENSUAL AND hes not even hard and shes not even wet. ALSO THEY'RE SIBLINGS. everybody knows shits FUCKED.

oh, also.

this set of lines was so GODDAMN DIABOLICAL i had to rewind to the previous save i had and go back because HUH.

but anyway.

true shit. ashley taking advantage of the "women cant rape" because she Does.

anyway, after this point the route ends with them literally fucking KILLING themselves, andrew romanticizes the shit out of it after pointing a gun to her head for her Making Him Do That and they jump from the 7th story floor, to go SPLAT in front of a whole bunch of kids.

what an ending guys!

. . .

dudes what the FUCK did i just endure.

💚 I think about this image a lot. I see those long ass sleeves Andrew. I see how they are pulled up across your hands Andrew. I see how we never see you in short sleeves after childhood Andrew. I know what you are Andrew. 💚

💚 I’m so curious about why the boys at school believe Andrew to be a “sissy”. Is it because he’s always seen around his sister? Because he always bends to her whims? Or is it just asshole high school boys calling him any bad name they can? Or is it something else? Nemlei I’m so curious about Chapter 3. 💚

“You may be as different as the sun and the moon, but the same blood flows through both your hearts. You need her, as she needs you.”