#??? i'm not sure tho it's more abstractive

[suddenly-frankenstein]

overflowing

[kouzih]

You're fucked.

Nam-gyu ( Player 124 ) x gn!reader .ᐟ

warnings : smut is all i'm gonna say . . ( cockwarming, unprotected sex, semi-public sex )

tags,, @gongyoosgf @cybrasigilism @paulilvsremus

requested by anon! idk what the word count is..

( sighs..why did this take so long to finish..no proofread tho.. )

ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 .ᐟ The images on the big screen and some people pleading to release them said it all. You were wondering how people could be so stupid and still manage to get this far. As if seeing their pathetic and whiny ass wasn't enough, the person you were trying so hard not to see was here too. Even from his repulsive voice, you knew he was here. Technically he didn’t speak, it was just that his presence here made you uncomfortable the moment you heard him chuckling at the others.

You could tell by the way he looked around with his hair tucked behind his ear and how he enjoyed watching people embarrass themselves. Because that's how it was when you first started dating. He hadn't changed at all. The way he looks at people..how he puts his hands over his mouth..and that expression on his face when he sees someone familiar. You weren't sure if he saw you or not, your view was already limited and the number of people in front of you must have prevented you from being seen as well. After looking in your direction for a good minute, he crossed his arms and brought his eyes back to the big screen.

Oh, how you hated those looks of his. Realizing with your own eyes that he was here made your blood boil even more. You sighed, your situation here was about to become even more unbearable.

Some people had already split into groups before the games started, and you went to mingle with the crowd while praying you wouldn't see him. As you stare at people with your arms crossed, your eyes go to the sound of someone clicking their mouth. Your eyebrows furrow as you look indifferently at the person the voice is coming from. Nam-gyu, who was looking down at you with his head raised, had his hands lazily stuffed into his pockets and tilted his head slightly to the left, causing some of his hair to fall from his face. The tips of his lips curve upwards and lean slightly to the side. "Are you desperate enough to end up here?" "It's funny to think that you have the right to speak out because you're in the same situation." You throw the words back in his face without even letting him finish. He raises an eyebrow at you, giving you a judgmental look. But none of that applies to you; you already know what the fuck he is.

"Our little abstract's ego has never diminished, I see."

"This is coming from someone whose ego is bigger than his dick? Hah. Don't make me laugh."

"Shut the fuck up." You realized he was clenching his hand in anger, but you honestly didn't care. Talking to the being in front of you not only got on your nerves but also gave you a headache. You didn’t miss his voice one bit. As you search your eyes for people who seems at least better than others, you realize he's taking a stubborn breath. "What? Didn't you asked me nicely to shut up?" You could have sworn he rolled his eyes on impulse. That thing he always did when he was so done.

The tension in the atmosphere was starting to bother you, so you took a step forward, passing Nam-gyu and the other people. You were so unlucky because everyone you tried to talk to was either a complete moron or a snob. As the games started, they were pulling everyone to a different area. An area where there was a giant doll and everything else was completely..empty, the top was open and a scorching heat was hitting your face. A man who you hadn't noticed before stepped forward and shouted something about the danger of the game and how you would be eliminated. Even though you couldn't hear what he was saying very well, you chose to stay in the middle rows. The front and back could be dangerous.

When the giant doll standing at the end of the platform turned her head and started talking, you understood what the game was at that moment. The man who spoke earlier, player 456, is trying to guide the others in the front and that catches your attention, and you listen to him even though you would do your own thing. You knew that when the it was red light, you had to stay still. You stood a little to the side, making sure there was no one in front of you or behind you. Suddenly you heard a screaming coming from the front and the sound of a body hitting the ground. You witnessed people around you screaming and trying to run towards the back, even though it made you flinch, you didn't move an inch. You see everyone lining up as the man shoutsz, deciding that it's something you can't handle on your own, you join them.

You freeze when a familiar touch caresses your back.

"We met again, huh.."

"Are you thirsty for death?"

"I could eliminate you right here, right now, if I wanted to."

Your voice stopped when Nam-gyu said that. He chuckled as if he heard you swallow. As soon as you reached the end of the line, he pushed you away. He ran after you, causing the sand splashing on you. He nearly made you fall to the ground but you managed to keep your balance. You snapped at him loudly. "Hey! What was this for??" "Dunno, being a spoiled brat?" What did he imply by saying this? You guys already broke up and he was still deciding what you could and could not do..You noticed his fingertips tracing the corner of his lip, he didn't say anything else as he looked at you sideways. You'd like to talk about it, but not until you see the time is up.

As they lead everyone back into the room you were in before, your eyes searched his body. You weren’t going to forget what he did right away, he should have realized that what he did was childish but it was also something that put your life at risk. You took a step towards him when you noticed where he was,but it seemed like he had already found someone to hang out with before he went inside. You chose to let it go so as not to be stubborn any longer. "Ugh..man."

Ohh, great. As if it wasn't enough to make a lot of people suffer, now they make you to vote too.. To stay or leave here. If possible, you would prefer to stay here. It seemed more logical to you to leave with a larger sum of money. Until your ex appeared in front of you. The person you assumed was his friend behind him left to talk to others, while Nam-gyu clears his throat. You bite your cheek and glance at him, not really understanding why he came. He started talking to you, His voice was monotonous yet threatening. "You're gonna vote 'O', alright?" "Excuse me?" He approached you while sucking his teeth, supporting his waist with one hand. "You're gonna press 'O', otherwise.." He waited for you to confront him as his eyes took on a darker look. But you chose not to answer him, you knew he would only get angrier that way. "You're fucked." His voice was quieter, but you knew exactly why he spoke like that. He was trying to make you feel small underneath him.

When it was time to vote, you were actually both nervous and excited. Even if he hadn't come and threatened you, you would have still chosen to stay, but you had a strange feeling inside you. When you see that the path in front of you is empty and everyone is waiting for you to walk, you gulp unnoticed and walk towards the buttons. As your hand moves towards the tip of the buttons, your head slowly turns towards where your ex is.

You notice him making a circular motion with his hand as he smiles at you with his eyes. As Nam-gyu signals for you to press the button, your head turns back to the lights in front of you and you let out a breath you didn’t even realize you were holding.

No. It doesn't feel right to press 'O'.

Especially after he came.

Your hand suddenly presses the button with the red light, and after waiting for the pink soldiers, you move to your side. Your eyes involuntarily turn to him. The moment your eyes met, it made you flinch. You frowned and shook your head slightly, trying to get your hair out of your face. You knew this wouldn't end well, but you weren't about to just do what he said. You were sure that they would be the side that won the vote. Why would people who are so greedy for money choose to go? And just as you thought, they were the winners. You followed your own path as you watched everyone take their places, but the sound of footsteps getting faster and louder stopped you in the middle of the room. With a curse under his breath, you were pushed roughly against the nearest bed rail, Nam-gyu practically hissing at you as he narrowed his eyes at you. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" His hands around your neck made it hard to breathe, and when you try to move your head, he causes you to hit the metal behind you again. He looks down on you, dragging you under him. "You better talk before I fuck your brains out."

You had nothing to say to him, it was your decision anyway. When he sees a few people gathering around you, he takes his grip off you. "Fucking brat.." His voice was a whisper loud enough for you to hear it. You started to caress your neck, brushing your hair back with one hand as you cleared your throat. Before you can stand up and start walking, you hear a few people asking you if you're okay. "Yeah, I'm fine." You walked slowly to your bed as you followed his path to his own bed. You have to wait until everyone is asleep or when people are too busy to care about what you're doing.

And finally you get an environment where everyone is quiet. You slowly get up from your bed and tiptoe towards Nam-gyu's bed. The lights in the middle of the room were gently hitting your face, making your presence known, but when you looked from afar, he didn't look awake. You slowly got up onto his bed and covered your mouth with one hand, pressing one knee to the edge of the bed and started to climb onto him without making a sound.

Nam-gyu threw his head to the side, mouth slightly open and he let his hair fall onto the pillow. You weren't quite sure what to do exactly, but your eyes wandered to his bare neck. You swallowed, slowly bringing your hand closer to his face. You held on tightly to avoid making a sound when his lips suddenly curled upwards and grabbed your wrist, covering your mouth. 'Cause of his grip, your face fell towards his chest, your knees touching his waist. When you try to lift your head you feel his hands holding the back of your hair, pulling your head tightly he forces you to look at him. His voice was a heavy whisper. "And what were you exactly planning to do, huh?" All you could see in the darkness was his toothy grin and his eyes that looked like they were going to eat you alive. You tried to say something with your muffled voice, but his grip almost covered your nose too. You placed your hand on the sheets to balance yourself, your neck was in a very uncomfortable position and Nam-gyu wasn’t about to release you.

Seeing your helpless state, Nam-gyu's smile widens, a small giggle is heard from him. He lets go of your wrist until he's in a sitting position on the bed, not taking his eyes off you as he sucks on his teeth. "What? Did you suddenly become so shy?" You forget that his hand is still over your mouth as you shake your head to the side, and he grunts as if he’s thinking as he silently watches the sounds you make against his hand. He uses his free hand to pat his lap, your eyes darting to the side to make sure no one is watching but he suddenly pulls you into his lap. "You were always this stubborn..You don't know how to obey when someone tells you to do something." He throws his head to the side and speaks hoarsely, watching your hands fall to your sides as he adjusts your position.

You could pretty much guess how this was going to end.

You remained silent for a while, waiting for him to pull his hand away. He slowly pulls his hand away, smirking with his eyes. You let out a warm breath as Nam-gyu pulls his hand away, he watches you swallow as he wipes his went hand over your clothes. "..I knew I shouldn't have come." "Is that so?" His hands slid down to your hips, his grip tightening with each second. "Yeah." It was clear from your voice how you felt about him. He pulled you closer to him as your hands followed his fingers. "You are so damn annoying." "So are you?" "At least I'm not a spoiled brat." He could tell by your face that you were nervous, but sitting on his lap was making your body warmer.

"I fucking hate you." You hissed at him, letting out a shaky breath. Moving might not be a good idea, you were making enough contact with the tent beneath you. "Our feelings are mutual." He presses you tighter against him, making a moan escape your lips. "But your body seems to love me." His eyes met yours for a second. His ego was way too high right now. "Still." His thumbs lift your cardigan up, revealing your bare skin. He stops at the hem of your sweatpants, dragging his nails over your skin. You feel yourself squirm under his touch, his hands stopping you as you find yourself lifting yourself up. "You always care about your own pleasure, bitch." He pushes you towards his legs, making his own position more comfortable. He opens his legs slightly, revealing the wet spot created by his tent. He taps his leg against you while gesturing with his eyes for you to take off your sweatpants. Before you could open your mouth to refuse, his hands grab your sides and lower them. You squeal at the sudden hit of cold air on your skin, he grabs your back and pulls you closer to him. "I'll be the only one enjoying this night, not you." You could see the precum on the tip of his cock as he used his leg to lift you up a little and lower his down.

Before you can prepare yourself, his hands are on your waist and he lifts you up, placing you on the tip of his cock. "Wait-" "Shush." "But-" "Fucking hell." His voice was loud enough to shut you up. You had already taken him in without even realizing it. As your hands reach out to grab him, he stops you by grabbing your wrists with one hand, keeping you in place with the other hand by holding your wrists in the air. You begin to feel your body shaking, his hand moving from your waist down to your belly as you resist moving yourself. You bite your lip as his thumb presses against your belly. You shouldn't make a sound. As you digs his nail more into your skin, you tilt your head down, causing your hair to fall out. A few purring moans escape your mouth as your hands tremble in the air. You could feel his cock throbbing inside you, and it was obvious he was enjoying it. His eyes don't leave your body as a few breathless moans leaves his lips.

All he did was hold you in place as you cursed at him under your breath so you could move. "What, you didn't like your punishment?" When you heard the word punishment, your body involuntarily began to squeeze him even tighter. He whistled lowly and brought his face closer, feeling his breath next to your ear causing you to lift your head slightly.

"Your voice is so fucking annoying..god, wish I could make you lose your voice."

His voice was muffled and sounded like he was holding himself back. When he doesn’t get an answer from you, he throws your wrists aside and forces you to look at his face with his grip. "Cat got your tongue? Or are you embarrassed that the person you hate is fucking you?" "S-shut..up.." You want to speak to him through your teeth, but his grip prevents you from doing so. When you feel his hips start to move, you quickly bring both of your hands towards your mouth. You wouldn't want anyone to see this, do you? He releases his grip on you and moves one hand to the sheets next to him, so as not to lose his position. When he starts to move, tears start to flow from your eyes, and because you weren't prepared, the pain overwhelms the pleasure. You feel your body shaking as your face falls slightly towards his shoulder. You realize that your body is trying to follow his rhythm, even if it's unintentional. As his rhythm quickens, the sound of your skin hitting each other starts to get louder, and even though the feeling of embarrassment didn’t make your body any hotter, doing it with him made you angry at yourself.

Tears were now starting to flow down your cheeks, Nam-gyu noticing that his shoulder was starting to get wet, placed his hand behind your head again to pull your head up. "I'm not your boyfriend whose shoulder you can cry on anymore." You find yourself suffocating as you swallow, your eyes refusing to stay open and you’d have already lost your balance if it wasn't for his grip.

As the press continued to roll, his insults at you continued, about what a whore you were and how you didn’t even deserve his dick. "No one deserves your body, you fucking know that?" You couldn't decide if what he said was jealousy or anger, your only concern was not passing out. He didn't slow down at all, even though your face was covered in sweat and you couldn't fix your breath. You could feel him finishing inside you but he didn't seem to stop. His grip was moving down to your neck as you were trying to pull yourself together. "If I had lost my temper so easily, you wouldn't be here right now." Your eyes are tightly closed and your mouth is half open as you follow his rhythm while your legs try to support you. "T-that's enough..ah- didn't you finish already..?" "Not enough to satisfy myself." You swallowed hard after feeling another orgasm inside you, you tried to lift yourself up thinking he would stop, you opened your eyes slightly, trying to look at his face. He was biting the corner of his lip lightly while his hair was stuck to his face and cheeks. He paused for a moment and slightly opened the front of his cardigan. When he looked at you with that smirknon his face, you wanted to cry with anger.

"You're not going anywhere unless I'm fucking satisfied."

"..Fuck you."

"You'll have to save that for next time."

[transgenderer]

Been thinking a lot lately about the ethics of stealing. It's a bit weird as commonly seen as unethical acts go in that it's sort of naturally zero-sum rather than negative sum. Like if you steal it benefits you about as much as it harms the other person. I think the strongest arguments are about loss to security. Like, a world where people steal more is one where more resources are spent as security and other than that there's the same resource distribution as before. But of course that's a crude approximation. You can argue stealing is equalizing tho, the haves spend on security and the have mots don't. Or it's anti equalizing, Maybe in a higher stealing world the poor are constantly getting stolen from cuz they can't afford security

I shoplift sometimes. This feels like a sort of obviously ethically neutral act, who is it hurting, if it's from like, Walmart. But maybe the harm is just very diffuse, spread over a lot of people. And I'm certainly creating a world where more money goes to anti-shoplifting security, which feels like a waste. And I'm vegetarian, which if it has benefits must be very diffuse benefits. There does seem to be a sort of symmetry between eating meat and stealing.

I got my bike stolen a couple days ago. It was a rental and I had the key so it only cost me 60 euros, so I'm not that mad. If anything the real victim here is the rental company, presumably the bikes cost them more than 120 euros. I felt sad about it but I didn't feel angry (I only really get angry when I feel helpless. Helplessness makes me so angry). I'm not sure if I feel the person who stole it did something wrong. I mean, they are my enemy, in a practical sense, they harmed me. But i think someone can be your enemy without being unethical. This is possibly strange of me, I don't see people often saying this. But I think it's pretty common! When I pirate an article instead of paying for a subscription, I am the publishers enemy. And when they paywall it, they are my enemy. But neither of us are doing something wrong, we just have competing needs. I think stealing is best understood in these terms. Stealing makes you an enemy of the person you're stealing from, an "op", but it's not bad in the abstract.

[g4l4xy-qu33n]

This is a little brain munch but how would jax react to be flirted by someone who wasn't his s/o

Like a new person came in and took a liking to jax and was all flirty with him. Would he be uncomfy or flirt back to mess with his s/o. like to think Jax's loyal, but he'd be a ass about, tho. to either person. s/o or new Flirty perosn

Me personally idk what to do if this happened I think I would just kinda stand there wondering why it's happiness in the first place lol

oooh my first headcanon ask!! Tysm :D

Jax's reaction to being flirted with by someone that isn't his S/O

I definitely feel like Jax would be uncomfortable being flirted with if it's not his S/O. (and also a bit confused, because there's two people that find him attractive???? What?? He's hated by everyone else, and suddenly there's two people that like him?????)

If him and his S/O weren't officially together, then he'd probably play-flirt back to the person, but it would be forced, and he'd be obviously annoyed and half-arsing it, trying to get the person to screw off.

But if him and his S/O were 100% dating (or more) he'd try to ignore it at first, then start getting more and more pissed if they don't leave him alone, eventually resorting to actual violence

(Actual violence includes but is not limited to: throwing a bowling ball at them, drowning them in the digital lake, throwing them in front of a rollercoaster at the digital carnival, etc.)

If the person doesn't stop even after that, Jax will make sure to stick by your side at all times, because they're really stupid if they flirt with him while you're right there, right?

He'll also make sure that you know he loves you and only you, by making sure to be extra affectionate and loving. Especially in the bedroom ;)

And if the person still flirts with him, after everything he's put them through, he'd personally go up to Caine and tell him to banish them, whether it's into the void or the pit full of abstracted characters, he doesn't care. He would just want them out permanently.

Hope you like this, anon <3

And I'm sorry this took a little bit, it's the middle of exam season for me in Australian Uni :(

[the-cat-sorcerer]

I got some clay recently so that means I was finally able to make a clay caine figure! I also made improvements to the others, I have made a post about them before but no way am I scrolling to find it again so have both the before and after pictures (before is the first one after is the second)

I've made their heights and colours more accurate (don't let the angles fool you gangle is taller than caine and pomni and barely taller than ragatha) I actually didn't touch gangle because she is good as is (I still have her mask it's just not in the photo).

(Also tagging @justtheclippy because they said that they wanted to be tagged in ragatha art (I think) and I'm pretty sure this counts lol)

I might make bubble but probably not, I do want to make the abstracted characters tho

[venomspecs]

Anyone know any good reference for the clothing/general depictions of indigenous Apulian tribes? Especially the ones farther from the Hellenic area of influence. Specifically interested in the Daunians, since their art is really abstract (very lovely tho) and we have some idea of what the other two Iapygian tribes would've worn (dancer fresco for the Peucetian women, for example)

Closest thing I have been able to find are these Greek vases depicting what the MET describes as Oscans, which were present in a large area of the South of Italy including northern Puglia, aka Daunia, so I assume the Daunians (particularly the men, the women in these vases are not identified as Oscans and might just be Messapians/ Apulian Greeks) may have worn something similar.

The second image is particularly interesting to me because the headdresses they're wearing are reminiscent of the ones featured on some Daunian stelae, so I wonder if that's what they're meant to depict and thus if this was assimilated by the Daunians from Oscan culture (though if I'm remembering correctly the stelae with this headress have all been identified as female (don't quote me on that lol), while the vases show this headress on male figures only). These vases are however from the 4th century BC, while the stelae date from the 8th to the 6th, so I'm not sure they can be trusted as accurate representations of Oscan clothing in the 8th and 6th centuries, much less for Daunian clothing, since the connection between the Oscans in these vases and the Daunians is merely speculation

Then of course we have the tattooed arms of Daunian women (really interesting subject btw), both from the stelae and this tomb fresco in Arpi, which also gives a tiny and fragmentary glimpse at the clothing:

As well as this really frequent hairstyle from the stelae, which has been interpreted by some as a long braid with a dried poppy plant tied to it, given the abundance of poppy imagery in Daunian art.

As far as clothing goes though, the actually Daunian-made representations are either really abstract like in the stelae or pottery, or fragmentary like the Arpi fresco, so any details on the shape, color, material and so on are really hard to interpret, so if you know any other, more complete depiction, or alternatively a paper on the subject feel free to drop it in the comments/reblogs/whatever you see fit lol

[cococaffeinated]

I have a headcanon that Jax doesn't like being alone- for himself or anyone else- and that's why he suggested Caine create an adventure for Pomni, and later, that they go find something to eat, since those activities would likely keep people together. It could also be why he made sure Gangle and Kinger would stick together, and hid with them after Kaufmo abstracted.

I have a few more reasons for this hc, but I'm not good with words and this already feels clunky to me, so I'm leaving it off here.

(ps I keep reading your name to the tune of 'go go power rangers'. It's not relevant at all but I thought you should know.)

Oh, I enjoy this! I can totally see Jax trying really hard to pull strings as subtly as possible to make sure people aren't alone.

I bet Zooble is always the hardest to convince to be amongst the others, it's probably why Jax was in no hurry to "save them" from the gloinks to cos those humanoid hashbrowns are from Caine's homebrew adventures, so they should be relatively harmless and a cause for mild inconvenience (which would mean Zooble'll be too busy to be in existential dread even if they were alone).

---

Also, I think it's neat that Pomni got sandwiched between Ragatha and Jax's two opposing attitudes during their breif walk to Kaufmo's room.

Ragatha likes to see the bright side of things or say positive remarks just to avoid the darker side of a conversation. While Jax, on the other hand, just teases Pomni for thinking her situation is still just a dream. It's like a healthy dose of "Technically, this might be shit for you if you're this shocked, kinda funny tho." and "You'll be okay... Probably, Certainly." (I didn't even realize my name had the same syllables as 'go go power rangers, I can't unhear it thank you for this blessed infernal knowlegde)

[amerricanartwork]

I want to say I love reading your headcanons, especially your Iterator ones. Do you have a unique headcanons for Pebbles, since you haven't talked about him much?

Ohhh, I'm so glad to hear that!! I love creating and typing down these headcanons, but sometimes I worry whether anyone actually wants to read these long posts about it, so it's always so nice to hear people appreciate them!

I would love to talk more about Five Pebbles! I actually have quite a few headcanons for him specifically since I tend to ponder him a lot. In fact, of all the canon characters, when it comes to headcanons that aren't purely working out their general personality and backstory I think I currently have more outside headcanons for him than anyone else.

But nonetheless, assuming you mean "unique" as "interesting and relatively uncommon/unheard of in the fandom", here's one of mine that might seem odd or specific, but I really like it!

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

I’ve headcanoned for at least a few months now that Five Pebbles is very much an auditory learner. He’s more receptive to spoken and auditory information than just written text, and as such he tends to talk a lot, which is how he best formulates his ideas. 

Now, when I call him an auditory learner (or maybe just an audio-oriented person in general would be a better way to describe it), I also mean he generally cares a lot about how things “sound” to him. Five Pebbles pays close attention to how certain sounds “feel” in a sense, not just with regular abstract sounds, but spoken words, phrases, and ideas too. He likes it when sentences flow smoothly, convey the proper emotion or idea, and sound intellectual and well-thought-out, and dislikes when phrases sound clunky, confusing, or otherwise unprofessional and improper. In situations where he wants to appear smart and sophisticated, especially in a competitive sense, he loves flexing his extremely large vocabulary by throwing in long and obscure words and technical jargon too. To reference my last headcanon ask, this trait is another quality making him dislike NSH, who doesn’t care as much about grammar or syntax and thus tends to speak in casual ways Pebbles finds “improper”.

Usually, when he has a decent amount of uninterrupted personal time, Pebbles will spend several hours on end just talking to himself in his chamber to work out his ideas and plan any essays or speeches he’s preparing to give. He loves making sure that every sentence sounds pleasing, proper, and is grammatically correct, yet still explains his ideas thoroughly and accurately. However, despite being an introvert who values his alone time, he sometimes talks about his ideas to other iterators, especially when he wants feedback and criticism. In fact, having long discussions and debates, particularly about scientific, artistic, and philosophical matters, is perhaps one of the only things he actively enjoys doing with other people.

In this latter regard, this habit was actually one of the only reasons he occasionally, yet still actively sought out the presence of Unparalleled Innocence, someone whom I headcanon he never had much of a relationship at all with, positive or negative (at least pre-AU, that is). But nonetheless, Innocence is a very good listener and never declined an invitation to talk with him, though more often than not it turned more into him just rambling about something and her quietly listening and encouraging him to continue on (which she did for… other reasons besides her fascination with the subjects of his speeches, but I will get to those some other day…)

Another facet to this headcanon is that Pebbles has a strong appreciation for music. He finds it helps him calm down and work through his emotions very well, alongside one other habit I’ll address in a more official headcanon post. Thus, he’s got various music pearls with his favorite tunes that he’ll listen to while working or when he needs to relax. The purple one in Rivulet’s campaign is only one of many, though that was also the only one he could obtain at the time his chamber was broken into by the rot. 

His love of music has always been another little “worldly pleasure” that he took for granted, not realizing just how much he enjoyed it until after mass-ascension. And even then, he stuffed it deep inside him and kept trying to downplay its value to him all the way until his rot condition was almost at its climax. This emotional turmoil I imagine him having is a particular element of his character arc I find very interesting even in regular Downpour canon, but once again I will elaborate on it more later…

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Anyway, there's the headcanon! Seeing as I'm planning to explain major character info in official headcanon posts, I tried to choose one that wasn't too essential for narrative comprehension, but is still unique and hopefully decently entertaining in-and-of itself. I also tried to use this to test a new format of doing more sketches for these headcanon posts, so it's not as much pure text.

Anyway, I hope you like it! And if you (or anyone else reading this, for that matter) ever want more headcanons, or can add to this one, don't be afraid to send another ask!

[aachria]

i was rereading sssbmty and I realised smth, well not realised but yeah. as I was rereading I noticed somthing. Ed was bitch. not like 'omfg Ed ur such a bitch' but like 'wtf Ed? ur such a fucking bitch! jesus...' and then I got to alabasta.

ur a genius, I've read other fics like this for example divergence and another one I cant remember the name of (going to read this bites soon... maybe). but what really puts your fic at the tippity top is giving Ed character development, not a whole fucking arc to them obvi but giving them actual character development. Ive read so many what if I was in... but I rarely see authors giving the oc development because they don't think about it or they don't think they do.

but in alabasta, Ed was saying how no one listens to them and saying how they're always right (kind giving ranpo from bsd) but then the straw hats tell them that they don't say anything with conviction.

they basically tell them (incoming poetry made by mwah) that we cant hear you screaming if youre the one keeping your mouth shut.

yeah you can use that for future reference I'm an amazing poet fr fr but its really an eye opener for ed, so far Ed was making theories with no support or little evidence and everyone went along with it. so it doesn't really make any sense to Ed why no one is listening to them. because they haven't realised that even tho they're right about where to go, its vivi's country. vivi isn't their friend because she doesn't like Ed which further dampens ed's theories on where to go because it ties into vivi and hope. there's an analysis on YouTube by MelonTree (I reccomend her entire chanel) which gets deeper into this. but the straw hats trust vivi and want what's best for her. so when Ed is screaming about where to go, they don't say WHY. they don't further in on how vivi's destination is wrong or how there's other possibilities. instead, Ed tells vivi that's its stupid, we're wasting time, I know where to go, why wont you listen.

they aren't listening to Ed because Ed isn't even listening either. Ed was making bets on vivi's country which is a funny gag, is INCREDIBLE dark to her. she has spent years invading buroque works and when she encounters this strange pirate crew they want to help. but this one crew mate isn't serious and theyre laughing and screaming at her because she's wrong. that is the pov of vivi towards Ed.

so Ed and vivi talk it out and here comes Ed, they realize that even tho I'm on the crew, that doesn't mean I'm likable. its seen through the fic that they start to work on themself and provide more evidence to theyre theories.

another thing, the title was familiar, idk why so why when I ask chatgpt what the title is: it doesn't talk about the fic but a fucking poem from the 1920's!?

"Surely some star binds me to you" is a line from the poem "Tea at the Palaz of Hoon" by Wallace Stevens. This poem, found in his collection "Harmonium" (published in 1923), explores themes of self-identity, imagination, and perception.

The line suggests a mystical or cosmic connection between the speaker and the addressee, implying that their bond is predestined or influenced by the stars. It evokes a sense of fate and the interconnectivity of all things, typical of Stevens' abstract and introspective style.

In this context, the "star" symbolizes an inescapable connection, potentially representing destiny, love, or an elemental link between individuals.' WHAT THE FUCK? anyway I'm burnt out and finished rereading the fic so imma go have ice cream like the dumbass I am ;p

Oh this is a fucking mammoth. For your dash's sake I'm putting this under a break lmaoooo

Ed having ✨issues✨ they had to work through was important to me. Hell Ed still having ✨issues✨ they're working through is still important to me. You know when people do those comparisons of a character at the start of a season and the end and they're just so much sadder and fucked up? The goal was to make that Ed. We'll see how that goes. I'm gonna 'to be loved is to be changed' this bitch if it's the last thing I do.

Ed has that kid in your math class that only writes the answer because showing your work is for cowards inside them. Ed fights that kid inside them like they want his lunch money.

I've watched a couple of MelonTree's videos, they are very good.

Idk what the hell ChatGPT is on but like... that is not correct? I went and read the poem, it's quite nice, but there isn't a single use of the word star in it and the line definitely isn't from it. THIS IS WHY I DON'T TRUST AI AIGHT????

I've mentioned it a couple times before, but the title comes from Persius's Satire 5, it's in Latin and there's a couple translations here and here (neither of which have the line as I have written lmao) and I'm sure plenty of others. The line is about his teacher and is very beautiful ok I like it a lot. I went and did a bunch of digging into it a while ago (because of course my stupid ass didn't do more than preliminary research on it before I NAMED MY FIC AFTER IT) and like... y'all....

(I'm paraphrasing because I'm tired and can't be assed to do more than reread the wiki page this shit) Persius's satires critique societal morals (he also gets upset people like other people's poems more than his but that might be ironic idk these things are DENSE and HARD TO READ), discuss themes of what you can ask of the gods, why you should have goals, why you have to know yourself, MOST IMPORTANTY and in the satire the line comes from; Stoicism and freedom (Stoics believe all men are slaves except Stoics, who are free), and how you should use money. Also very interesting, there's a lot of scholars who believe his satires (mostly the first one, I think??) have anti-Neronian sentiments — which is really fucking funny to me specifically because do y'all (if you're caught up) remember Iva talks about the 20 founding members of the WG and about Nerona Imu? And how empty throne Imu could totes be him if he had the eternal youth surgery thingy??? Idk if Nerona actually has anything to do with the emperor Nero (because of translation diffs and any subtleties in the original Japanese I'm too English speaking to understand) or if they just sound similar in English, but it's a hilarious coincidence to me either way.

OK RANT OVER GANG I'M SORRY.

[ca-suffit]

I have a kind of dumb disorganized question. Do you think we’ll revisit the reasoning for the San Francisco memory alteration in season 3? I might be just missing something but I don’t think there’s actually an established reason for Armand altering Louis memory? I tend to think we’re all in alignment that Armand made the edit for both Louis and Daniel, (again showcasing how the power dynamics in Loumand are kind of deceptive - Armand is just much more powerful than Louis both socially in the world and as a vampire) but I’m just not sure what the reasoning is?

I saw a kind of interesting post out in the wild proposing that Louis actually did ask Armand to alter that memory and while I think that’s interesting in the abstract, I can’t divorce the race/power dynamics angles that would call into question (delegitimizating what Louis has been through). Which brings me back to, for a number of reasons I do think the intended read is Armand erased the memory from Louis’ mind without his knowledge. But I’m back to the question of why? It kind of seems like Loumand is in the same spot before and after the mind wipe to me, is there another layer here I missed?

I think we'll learn more about it somewhere in the show as it progresses, yes, cuz it's too big of a mystery to leave unanswered.

this is sort of an aside before I get into it, but I keep thinking of the extent of these powers. we don't know a lot about it still. armand seems aware that recollection is possible, bcuz he's not ttly surprised when he sees that daniel and louis have remembered stuff. so I think it's interesting why he chose that moment and not others and I'm still piecing together thoughts about it as a whole.

anyway tho. this is potentially a headcanon as my answer, so remember that bcuz I'm def not trying to say this is "the" answer. I have no idea fr.

armand's "explanation" in 2x6 could be a whole post itself but that's sort of ot so I'm just going with what the "truth" was otherwise for so long. let's look at the phrasing of it.

armand doesn't forget that louis thought daniel was "fascinating." he also didn't forget what louis said it meant for their relationship that he stay alive. if we consider that armand has awareness that memories might partially or fully return, placing himself as responsible for seeing the "fascinating" qualities in daniel first and "saving" him from louis makes him look better than what rly happened. without the actual audio from that time period, neither of them prbly would have remembered the rly "bad" parts. I'm gonna guess armand knows this too as he's shown unwinding tapes (I know they're not *the* tapes but still, the visual is there for a reason....alongside editing claudia's diaries too) and obviously this part of the interview was *not* kept to the og version anyone had access to that he was aware of.

assad said in an interview (sry I forget which one rn) that armand is thrown off when he speaks to louis about turning madeleine. when louis kisses him and then walks away, like he could walk away at any moment from the whole relationship and be fine without it. armand in the show says he'd be "nothing" without louis. I'm not sure when it starts exactly but there is a point where armand puts himself in the position of always knowing what's "best" for louis. it's a subtle manipulation and not what louis was used to from lestat. it gives the illusion of being cared for by someone who loves u instead of being controlled. armand knows that louis thinks he's boring so he has to do something to create a world where he isn't....or at least where louis thinks highly of him for *something.*

I always saw a lot of daniel paralleling jonah in this. both of them live to old age even tho their existence is painful to some of the most powerful vampires who could have killed them in a second. killing either of them would drive the wedge between them (lestat and armand) and louis even further tho, and they both know that. it also won't fix the issue. ya ok so jonah *did* have more of a history with louis before that moment than daniel did but it's still the same thing of "why do u feel this for someone else and not me? what is wrong with *me* that we don't have this?" especially cuz both points of interest are humans compared to vampire partners. lestat prbly kept tabs on jonah his whole life too.

so that's as much as I've had thoughts on this anyway. idk if it helps.

oh also ia and I don't think louis would ask to erase anything either. this is a man who keeps pebbles in his ankles to remember claudia's death. louis is so full of catholic guilt that there's no way that man would ask to forget *anything* that hurts him.

[leftneb]

☔️ for the fic ask game! 🧡 :D

☔️ Is there a fic concept you have that you'd like to just explain and share because you're not sure you'll ever write it? If so, what is it? from this ask game

okay this is a bit of a tricky one because I generally have many -- if not too many -- ideas just at all times. the main ones on the backburner atm are:

putting Ghost and Soap (from the Hit War Simulator Franchise Call of Duty: Modern Warfare) into F1 cars and making them go through the Horrors. partly because circumstance and Sr. Riley's A+ Parenting but mostly because of each other. I hate them. I miss them so bad. I have SO much angst planned for this AU and the prospects of getting characters from an entirely different (but still somehow kinda similar?) genre and like, translating their backstories to fit into a racing setting is SO interesting to me.

the big issue is that a) I wrote the plot draft when I was basically just getting into F1, I'd really want to work it over step by step now that I have more setting-specific knowledge and b) it would probably end up really fucking long and I'm not brave enough to start on it :(

the 2nd idea just collecting dust atm is a lot more. abstract atm? the main concept is to take Lando and Oscar and slap them into a world I came up with (and got so attached to) for an OC comic I want(ed) to make. it would be a sorta sci-fi post-apocalyptic setting, with a lot of Nerding Out about biology and the concept of bioluminescence (PLEASE look it up if you've never heard that word) and just like hand-wavey science slash magic things (not in the classical magic sense tho. more like a body horror sense.)

main issue is: I already HAVE a story I'd like to write for that universe, with the characters and their plotlines like intertwining with the setting and that's. a lot of (uneccesary?) effort to translate to other people/characters with different fandom-established motifs and personalites etc etc etc. but it would be a good excuse for me to write something in that universe again because MAN do I miss it. and the stories of my characters is... somewhat translateable to Landoscar. but in a lot of ways Really Not. happens when the plot is character driven innit 👍 big ol' maybe to this idea

[bonefall]

a field guide specifically about the creation of the clans and stories about the early clans would have been SO COOL but no we spend an arc with clear sky

on that note tho are there any cool legends the clans share about the beginning of the clans in BB?

If the writers go 5 minutes without saying Clear Sky smells nice they will die

COOL LEGENDS BB!CATS HAVE ABOUT THE DAWN ERA:

Generally, stories from this time are heavily mythologized. It is the era of legends and high fantasy, with its founders being remembered as abstractions more than real cats.

So ideally I'd love to tell arcs where every appearance of the founders in StarClan is like seeing angels. Monstrous, powerful beings that are more elemental than feline. Then, suddenly, you get to go back and see them before their appearances were twisted by generations of fantasy.

The Red Squirrels and the Gray Squirrels (Pishkaf om Chakchak) A ThunderClan myth, especially popular after the exile of SkyClan. The story goes that the wretched gray squirrels once decided to persecute the humble red squirrels. So the red squirrels appealed to Thunderstar to save them, but Skystar decreed that might makes right, and refused to manage the gray squirrels in his territory. It's treated as a kitten story, a parable about the importance of managing one's territory and defending things with low threat level.

Bumble Mumble and the Rogue of Rot The Clan cat version of a tower of babel story. It's the story of an unnamed rogue who steals the kittens of Turtle Heart and Bumble Mumble, killing Turtle Heart in the process. In response, Bumble lets out a mournful wail that strips the Rogue's words away and scrambles language forever.

Sun Shadow Steals the Sun The story of One Eye's defeat, slowly morphed into a cute tale about why you can't stare at the sun. The legend goes that One Eye was unbeatable, wearing a pelt that could not be scratched, even as all the founders united to defeat him. Sun Shadow realized that the only thing that could defeat him was the power within him, and so he challenged him to "show all of his might." Through this, his flesh was burned, but he gained a power above all. He guards this now as the sun itself, but would have to give it up to the next person who defeats him in a staring contest. So don't look!

Snake Claw's Serpents Newest one I'm still working on; but once upon a time, in his hatred of serpents, Snake Claw slew all of them from the deadliest adder down to the most defenseless slowworm. But without snakes to fear coming into their burrows, all the prey hid there, and all the cats of the Clans went hungry. He begged StarClan to return the serpents, and they agreed-- but he would need to craft them again, from memory. He spun his hate into love, but each one still came out endearingly wonky. It's why a grass snake has no venom, a slowworm's tail can fall off, and some adders are green. And most importantly, it is why "Snakes" (serpent in Clanmew, "Sis") have scales despite being "Worms." He forgor.

That last one's still changing though, I think it's very cute but I also want to make sure to put Snake as a character rework before the fun legend I want him to have, lmao.

[sillyj3sterl0ver]

I JUST GOT AN AMAZING IDEA, RIGHT?

🎪Tadc theory for future episodes-

--------------

What if at the start of each episode, each different character has a dream about the cellar and getting abstracted and rejected.

Lemme explain that better...

Episode 2-Pomni has a dream at the start of the episode, about being sent to the cellar and getting abstracted. What if it happens with other characters in each episode, adding more character lore? Gooseworx did say the show is gonna focus on character lore and story more. So these dreams could lead to us learning about each character more in some way, shape or form. This could mean, at the start of each episode we get dream sequences from each character.

I'm making myself hyped for no reason-

Here's a list:

Episode 2-Pomni has a dream

Episode 3-Zooble has a drean

Episode 4-Gangle has a dream

Episode 5-Ragatha has a dream

Episode 6-Jax has a dream

Episode 7-Kinger has a dream

Episode 8-Caine could have a dream about losing the other circus members

Episode 9-Pomni dreams about the previous abstracted circus members

**Or maybe switch around episode 8 and 9's, I'm not sure tho**

It something like that.....

(If that makes any sense🥲)

SCREW IT!! I'm doing posters for this, no one can stop me or will beat me!!

(Let me have my moment, I'm writing this at 3am)

[rikeijo]

Hi! I've heard somewhere that some lines of Yuuri's speech at the press con in episode 5 were mistranslated and that because of this, the speech comes across as if Yuuri doesn't know what exactly he is feeling for Viktor. I can't tell if it's really mistranslated, but I always found the subs in this scene a bit confusing. So, I'd love to know: how would you translate his speech?

Hi! Thank you for the ask!

I must admit that I've never properly watched Eng sub or dub version, and even though I bought the US edition to someday discuss some translation choices (that's imo super fun thing to do ✨) my only laptop that had a built-in DVD player broke down >.<

Sooo, I searched online for his speech in subtitles, but I'm not sure if the subtitles I've found are official...

"My theme in this year's Grand Prix series is "love". I've been helped by many people in my competitive skating career thus far, but I've never thought about "love" until now. Though I was blessed with support, I couldn't take full advantage of it. I always felt like I was fighting alone. But since Victor has showed up to be my coach, I've seen something totally different. My "love" isn't something clear-cut like romantic love, but the more abstract feeling of my relationships with Victor, family and hometown... I was finally able to realize that something like love exists all around me. Victor is the first person I've ever wanted to hold on to. I don't really have a name for that emotion, but I've decided to call it love. Now that I know what love is and am stronger for it, I'll prove it myself with a Grand Prix Final gold medal!"

If this is the official translation, then well, the overall message is close, I'd say, but at the same time, hmm... If you wanted to base a ""deep"" character analysis on it, it could probably lead you in a wrong direction... Especially the end is just mistranslated.

今年のグランプリシリーズで僕がテーマにするのは〝愛〞です。My theme for this year's Grand Prix series is "love".

今までのスケート人生いろんな人に助けられながらやってきましたが、愛について考えたことは一度もありませんでした。In my life as a figure skater until now, I've come to the place, where I'm now, while being helped by a lot of different people, but I haven't even once thought/pondered about "love".

恵まれた環境にいながらそれを生かしきれず、１人で戦っているような気持ちでずっといました。けど、ヴィクトルコーチが現れて、僕の見ていた景色は一変しました。I've always been in a very favorable ["for me to be a figure skater" in this context] environment, but I wasn't able to make a full use of it and I always felt as if I had been fighting alone. But, Coach Victor appeared and the scenery I see [that is: the way I see the world around me] changed completely.

僕の愛。それは分かりやすい愛や恋ではなくて、ヴィクトルとの絆や家族や地元に対する微妙な気持ち。My love. It's not [general] love or romantic love that is easy to understand, but my bond with Victor, and the lukewarm way I feel about my family and my local community. [This sentence, imo, is often mistranslated, but you can also argue about how it should be interpreted in Jp. However, to do that you have to be able to notice nuance just from the intonation of the sentence... For example, imo, because of where the VA makes a pause in the sentence, it should be "general love or romantic love that is easy to understand" and not "general love that is easy to understand or romantic love", but grammatically both option are possible. "微妙", when you look for the definition in a dictionary, is often translated as "subtle" or something similar ("abstract" is just a mistranslation, tho), but, imo, from the context, it should be the more modern meaning of the world, which basically means nowadays "not bad, I guess, but I don't really know". That's why Yuuko was offended by Yuuri's word choice. Also, based on the intonation and grammar (no need to have two "や"s in one sentence when giving examples) "bond with Victor" and "feelings towards family and local community" are two separate issues.]

ようやく自分の周りにある愛のようなものに気づくことができました。At last I was able to notice the love-like thing that is around me.

初めて自分からつなぎ止めたいと思った人、それがヴィクトルです。The first person that I myself [the vector of the action starts from Yuuri, it's an allusion to what the Nishigoris talk about with Victor in ep. 2] wanted to tie to me [and don't let them go] is Victor.

その感情に名前はないけど、あえて愛と呼ぶことにしました。This feeling doesn't have a name, but I decided to dare to call it "love".

愛を知って強くなった僕をグランプリファイナルの��メダルで証明しますっ！ I'll prove myself, who got to know what love is and because of that became stronger by [winning] a gold medal in the Grand Prix Final. [The way it's worded suggests that Yuuri wants to prove his own "worth", not necessarily that what he says is true - it's not "I want to prove that...", but "I want to prove myself, who...".]

Oh, and by the way, if you read the speech carefully, Yuuri talks about "two loves" here - first, he explains that his theme is "love" and what that word "love" means to him - so "something like love, that is around him", and only then he starts talking about one more feeling - the feeling that doesn't have a name, but he decided to "dare to call love" - and that is what he feels for Victor. Because the word "あえて" is there, and it means "dare to", do something "daringly", to me it always felt as a variation/reference to the famous quote from Oscar Wilde's lover, Lord Alfred Douglas' poem "The love that dare not speak its name", but maybe that's just me ✨

[kathjack]

The circus is hell, or purgatory or something like that, not literally but a personal one for sure

You know

With Pomni saying "he wants me to suffer" and not sounding like she was talking about Caine, the fact that they refer to that place as hell in a more personal way than just the fact that that is the name of the room they're in and Kinger's sanity getting back from the dark but ALSO the recording of the guy saying he killed his own wife

It all just makes me believe more in the "the characters deserve to be there as a personal hell" theory

In this essay I will-

Something something Jax deserves to be in the circus the most ask answer something

If I remember correctly, the characters didn't just straight up forget everything about the real world, they just forget their names and likely, most of their lives (Like Zooble who doesn't remember their gender), which is weird because why would they remember references to movies such as Augustus Gloop but not remember something as basic as their own names? What even is that system?

Going back, the moment Pomni and Kinger get dragged to "hell" is when Pomni starts to lose her mind and breaks

Tbf I'm also losing my mind i'm running on 3 hours of sleep

I think we all catched up that the "he wants me to suffer" felt too personal to be about Caine, mainly because she's referring to herself and not the rest of the cast even tho she knows by this point that Kinger isn't having a good time either. The thing is that she knows HE wants her to suffer but she doesn't know WHY, she knows she is in hell but has no idea what she did to deserve any of this

And I believe is worse to punish someone and never tell them why, than to tell someone why they're being punished, not knowing what they did to deserve it will only contribute to the mental torment

Yeah, we can easily guess why Jax is in the circus, but how about the rest of them?

We don't know much of the characters, but assuming they're straight up horrible people like Jax is pretty boring This is where the other theory of "Every member of the cast, abstracted and not abstracted, worked for the company at some point, or was somehow affiliated"

We know what the show is based of: I have no mouth and I must scream, we could assume that it's not deserved as in "they did the unspeakable and are going to get tortured because of it" but more like "they got involved into things they shouldn't, and are now paying the high price for it"

Lets move the subject to Caine for a bit

We all now this, Caine is the name of the first sinner, Cain's punishment is to be inmortal and forever walk in earth among humans and can not be killed And also, Caine is probably NOT in control of the circus, apparently, there's someone above him, whether that someone is a human or an AI like AM, is unknown

The circus still depends of him tho

The moment he starts to question what is he good at if not keeping people sane the world crumbles

Caine is, in a way, some sort of opposite to AM

He likes humans but doesn't understands them, he tries to keep them from losing sanity and TRIES (and fails) to treat them good and decently, he also is sentient and doesn't seems to have a problem with it While AM keeps the humans alive to torture them, Caine has no control on their lives but tries to keep them safe

It connects back to the original idea, the cast is in hell, but while AM actively tortures them in the most gruesome ways you can harm a human, the circus destroys them from the inside

His job is to keep them there, you're no allowed to die and instead become an abomination with primal instincts that can't be easily calmed down for probably eternity, the alternative is to surrender to the madness and go into adventures that, most of the time, just end up very wrong and traumatize the cast

Caine is UNVOLUNTARELY torturing the last remaining humans that were put in that world, stretching it and getting confident, I would even say the last humans that worked in the company

Jax deserves to be there the most, this could just be a joke about how much of a dick he is, but it can also be literal and he was a horrible human being It is unknown if the rest of the performers might've done crappy thing voluntarily or willingly, so we can just assume that working for C&A is already bad enough to deserve to be put into a colorful hell as the circus

"He" could be anything, the boss of the company trying to get rid of his employees in the same way many people disappeared after using their products, employees that think everyone deserves to be punished for supporting the company, even a bigger AI that became sentient and realized what they were doing

This also just concludes another thing: They can't escape, they will never be able to because the circus is made to be an eternal punishment, you can't get out of hell (well, technically you can but that's not the point) so you can't get out of the circus either

The characters are being mentally tortured and punished and they can't even remember what they did or what they should be repenting. The headset is MADE to not allow you to remember yourself, but the life's of the other around you

So basically: The cast worked for C&A, they were punished by getting them stuck in the circus and they don't know that so they have no idea that they're being punished and why for

[atlas-of-galaxies]

I'm not sure if you're still doing anything with this but, if you are, could you please tell us about your TMA/YTTD AU? The art was really good and I love the media involved!

ohhh thank you so much! that crossover is still so near and dear to my heart, I'm so glad people enjoyed my self-indulgence.

I've talked about my reasoning in the past, as well as discussion of what other characters might fit what in my tma entities tag, so definitely take a look at that if you haven't already!

I'm seeing now that i never talked about my reasoning for Kanna, Q-taro, and Mishima, so if I may indulge myself further ...

Kanna as the Lonely

a bit of an obvious one - she's defined from the moment we meet her by her loss and the absence of her sister. her position in the group as a whole is also weakened by her isolation with Shin - even if it seems from the outside he's manipulating her, that separation makes it a little hard for Sara to trust her at times ...

she's absolutely someone who's strengthened by her bond with others tho, as we see in 3-1 when she actually gets to work with everyone. it's just up to us whether she gets there or not.

Q-taro as the Buried

ohhh I'm so sorry but I'm so proud of this one. first of all - he literally dies in a coffin. what I really enjoy about this assignment is the whole idea of being trapped tho.

Q-taro constantly feels trapped in his life, and takes big risks to get himself out of those situations - he felt trapped in the hospital, and he was so desperate to get out of the Death Game that he stabs everyone else in the back to do it.

Mishima as the Eye

this is definitely moreso related to his AI (haha. get it.), considering he gets more of an omniscient view of the Death Game proceedings.

he's also a bit of a narrative sacrifice, allowing the other participants to learn about the inner workings of the Death Game ... idk. this one's a bit abstract but I think it fits, especially considering that his death only happens because of a lack of prior knowledge.

and uhhh how about dummies for a bonus round!

Ranmaru as the Corruption - he's sooo toxic it's not even funny. maybe I'll still draw this someday, I have a fun composition in mind.

Mai as the Hunt - she's the one who's most forward about the game Midori puts them all up to. she actually betrays Q-taro for her own survival, though he's far too kind to let that be the end for her.

Hinako as the Stranger - do I have to explain her. do I have to

Hayasaka as the Buried - guy's stuck in a dead-end job doing morally questionable work for an all-powerful company ... guy's as buried as it gets.

Kurumada - I used to have him as the Flesh for kinda superficial reasons but since his minisode I feel like he may also be Hunt tbh ... it's all about the "strong eat weak" mindset, after all.

Anzu - honestlyyy I have the weakest vision for her. I'm not really. a fan. of her minisode so I'm not taking much inspiration from it. I enjoy the Vast tho for her just cuz that's always a fun idea with performers and such. you could always go Stranger for clowns but I feel like that doesn't fit her personality much