pop culture of my heart

Maybe I'm grasping at things; maybe there are hints or talks from the devs about it that show it has nothing to do with him, but I've been thinking about the paintings in the prison and what could that relate to him.

Since I related Mary's clothes being together with sewing-related accessories/instruments as meaning she was a seamstress, I thought maybe James had a passion hinted in the game.

And that's why he understands her passion for music (I'm assuming here it is a passion beyond some random hobby), not just because he was in love with Mary but because he is not Very good at his own secret passion, either - maybe he could have gotten better if he had allowed himself to explore it further.

I know it might sound so different from anything he thinks and does in Silent Hill, but if you think about it...He's on a single-minded mission to find an illusion of certainty; anything ordinary is not an acceptable aim for his attentions...unless it reminds him of Mary...

(Although!

Why does he care about "gossip" magazines talking about murders and mysterious disappearances at sea?

I know diaries are just too deliciously mysterious tbh x)

Maybe his first and fleeting (because he didn't allow it to take form in his head) inclination when he was in high school was to do cinema ("are you taping again?"), but then as he got older and more domestic with Mary, he got a real like to carpentry, toy-making sort of, especially (his movements are so careful and measured and minimalist in the game).

Maybe he really likes mystery novels...We know he is a very curious person, so maybe he really does like mystery novels, too! But not to the point of writing, just reading, tho.)

~

And he actually liked it very much in secret.

Idea:

And maybe he didn't even realize he liked art-handicraft that much before Mary took art therapy to deal with her illness' expectations...So he started making her company by going and painting with her, to show support...

James mostly only paints with Mary, as if using her company as an excuse to let himself go a bit.

But it all goes to hell as her disease gets her more debilitated to hold a pencil or a brush.

TL/DR: James having a "secret" interest on handcrafting/art.

At first, it was only cinema/being sort of part in journalistic projects in hs. But he gives it up, turning into a sort of secret hobby while "doing the masculine" professional journey.

Only to find a more subtle and relaxing "hobby": making small memorabilia and when he is settled with Mary, he starts daydreaming about making toys for his future child.

Mary loves the idea, of course. He doesn't really tell her at first, but he ends confessing as she finds him doing something.

~

While James is the sort...I just can see him like the guy that tries to avoid the subject altogether - especially because few people will just have the saint patience of Mary to talk him through it - but he will turn around, after an awkward attempt at a conversation and be like

I just...think it's funny!...lol

Not out of the batch of course, but he would get more and more agitated as time passed and the problem kept festering in his insides...

And then he sort of awkwardly explodes and will potential awkwardly backpeddles because idk how many people will just be patient and sweet after this.

~

None of them realize easily that the other is jealous.

They will eventually get worried, James more desperately so, not completely out on the face, but the energy of despair is trumming under his skin.

But Henry will be harder to confess. He will downplay things, even though he cannot downplay his feelings.

But it seems...the general direction people are on is that criticism is not acceptable, because fanwork is fanwork and it is not for pay.

I mean, sure, it is not and some people can choose to not interact with their followers/readers etc like that...

But some people, like myself, would prefer honesty and support in the form, also, of constructive criticism.

In the lines: if you care enough about my writing, my art...if you think there is talent and something worth in my writing and ideas to the point you want to take time of your life to write me, sure write me, my man!!

Ps.: Back in the day (like 20 years ago or more), people could be very...disrespectful to writers. They would comment just to shit on the fic or to point out ONE thing they didn't like or understand, without mentioning no positive aspect. So the shift was expected, but it went very far, imo.

Suggestion: when I critize something, and I feel like the better way to do it (I would prefer this approach to me), I do it pointing out the good parts, too.

“Henry, go, please go…!”

Henry shook his head, not saying anything as he did. No, he would not go.

“Not without you,” he said quietly. 

The man was about to jump on Henry, the younger man barely registering the approaching shadow from the corner of his eye, before James jumped on Gilbert's back.

Henry’s breath caught in his throat, his lips parting in startle before he felt them grazing past his arm.

“Runnnn!” James shouted as he threw all his weight over whom James had called Gilbert, tipping him to the ground.