#Adam would. However she Does perform in her own way it’s just that performance is itself a kind of authentic thing

[cabeswaterdrowned]

The thing about Blue is that compromising her wants and identity as a concept is antithetical to who she is, like she will do it in some areas because she has to as a girl in this world but it’s very against her nature to do it when there aren’t other external barriers.

[helluvapoison]

Could I get Adam, Lute and Lucifer and how they 'court' the reader? Like how birds with court each other, little gifts, wing 'dances', nesting, etc...

Also, could I be your 🐌 anon? <3<3<3

Birds of a Feather

Adam, Lute and Lucifer courting you

ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ

˚✧₊⁎ Adam ⁎⁺˳✧༚

• Peacocking has nothing on The First Man

• His personality is amped up to the highest level when he sees you walk in a room

• (Overcompensation for how fucking nervous you make him)

• Adam gets cocky when he knows he has your attention

• Tossing grapes high in the air and catching them in his mouth, bragging louder than usual about something or the other

• Heaven forbid you laugh at any of his antics, (His smirk is dangerous, “Oh you like that?”) he’ll start singling you out in front of everyone, calling your name before he acts up

• Performances include inviting you to watch his band play and miraculously getting more energy

• Casually tosses guitar picks in your direction— and when he finds out you kept one!? He’s over the moon

• He won’t go out of his way to get you food but he’ll order you something if he goes somewhere

• Adam hates nesting. He doesn’t like being stressed in general and nesting is really fucking stressful!

• The very fact seeing you pricks the urge in him to nest drives him insane

• (AKA, he likes you a lot more than he thought he did!)

• Seeing you in his space does something he doesn’t particularly hate though

• “It’s whatever if you don’t like it.” Adam shrugs

• “No, I think it looks nice! Very you. Tell me about these pictures?”

• He’s fucking done for

˚✧₊⁎ Lute ⁎⁺˳✧༚

• Like they have a mind of their own, her wings stretch out and audibly fluff up when she makes eye contact with you

• Mortifying is an understatement

• She picks out trinkets to give to you at first, something small that could be waved off as insignificant

• Later, when Lute realizes her affections are returned, she brings useful offerings or something you offhandedly mentioned needing

• She wishes she could tell you about the exterminations solely to brag

• See how fierce she is, how skilled she is, how good of a protector she could be for you

• Lute will ask you to arm wrestle as a compromise. She gets to hold you hand and show off her strength!

• Nesting was fine, it was the judgment part that drove her up a wall

• Watching your eyes roam over her apartment, deciding whether or not it was good enough for you? Gah!

• “What, uh—“ Lute clears her throat, she’ll hate herself for even asking later, “What do you think?”

• You smile knowingly, something else that makes her absolutely mad, “It’s perfect.”

• Lute beams with pride like she’s won a great victory

˚✧₊⁎ Lucifer ⁎⁺˳✧༚

• Never before has he felt the need to actually flaunt.. anything?

• With you it hits him like a fucking train and it’s even harder to supress it

• He’s Lucifer! That’s supposed to be self explanatory, that’s supposed to be enough

• Suddenly he’s checking every mirror on his way to you, making sure he looks better than he feels

• He tries to find other ways to steal your attention or show that he would be a worthy partner

• …But showing off his wings couldn’t hurt, right? He has six after all. If you needed to get to the other side of town he’d be more than happy to fly you over!

• Nothings too good for you! If Lucifer thinks you’ll want or like something, he’s buying it!

• Did you notice he can make things too? He’ll make you something— or fix something for you!

• Quick, break that so he can show you he can fix it!

• Lucifer pulls all the stops trying to prove himself, nesting is no exception… he’s just not great at it

• He starts! However a little after beginning he realizes just how big his mansion is and gets overwhelmed so he closes all the doors and focuses his energy on the only room that matters; his

• “I mainly stay in here,” Lucifer explains while squishing a duck in his fist, watching you explore his room, “I cleaned it up for you! N-Not for you, not for that— I mean not that I’m opposed! I just meant so that you could, uh, see?”

• “I see why you like it, I’d never wanna leave.”

• You’re gonna kill him saying shit like that

~

╰(*´︶`*)╯♡ 🐌 CAN I GIVE YOU A KITH BECAUSE THIS WAS SO FUN!!!!!

[i-hear-a-sound]

Drakengard/NieR: Twin Theory, Part 1

The post ahead is… long. Insanely fucking long, and I’m certain half of it is incoherent. Oh well. It’s a Tuesday.

So, to preface:

This is all just theory.

Spoilers for NieR and Drakengard.

Homework:

(post regarding copied & cathedral city)

(post comparing adam, eve, and a secret third thing)

Good luck down here.

NieR Automata: Ending D. 

It’s the ending you get if you choose to play as 9S in the final boss. 9S kills A2 and incidentally gets himself killed when he falls on her sword. Dumb hoe.

However, when his memory data starts performing an emergency evacuation, he, and we, find ourselves fading into…

an “Ark.”

He first sees the red girl, N2, who explains to him the vague purpose of this ark. 

To take the memories of the “foolish machine life forms” and send them to another world, after they’d seen the androids and contemplated their own existence as machines. 

9S also sees Adam and Eve there, the ladder asleep and the former holding him. Adam asks 9S a simple question,

“Will you come with us?”

And If you choose to go onto the Ark, it’s assumed 9S’s memory & consciousness data become “part” of the Ark, traveling off to whatever… “world” they may be heading to. 

And if you stay. 

9S does not get on the Ark. the Ark flies off, without him.

And we actually get a follow-up to this ending. “Farewell” is a script that takes place sometime after Ending D, in which 2B wakes up but 9S does not. 

Though she tries everything she can to find a way to revive him, she eventually just… shuts down on her own, due to grief. 

(Except for in the final reading of this script, where the ending was changed and 9S wakes up— but you know what? Fuck you. I’m not making this any more complicated than it’s immediately about to get in like, 5 sentences.)

(Edit: we then got a follow up to that script that follows this scenario.         talk to your parents about it)

So… the Ark. About everything I just told you is about all we have on the Ark itself. 

The most we know is this: The Ark was created by Machines. It carries memory data that it will take to a different world. It

Memory data. 

…Memory data. 

Sorry. It’s just that… typing this all out right now, it’s starting to ring a bell. But I don’t know where that bell is, why it’s ringing. 

Holding memories. 

Storing memories. 

Machines storing memories This sounds familiar. 

But where else could I have heard this from?

I remember now. 

The Seeds.

In YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse, the NieR:Automata Final Fantasy 14 raid, something returned after over a decade and a half that totally took me off guard: the Seeds of Destruction. 

Introduced in the first Drakengard, they were “tools of the gods” that would appear when all seals were broken. While they were believed by humans to be holy items that would bring all living creatures, man or monster, to them in times of great peril, to guide them down a path of salvation— in reality, they just kinda did this

Creating extremely powerful monsters capable of carrying out the god’s one motive: the destruction of humanity. 

But back to the raid. In this collaboration the Seeds returned, and not only that, but they… well. 

In the 3rd raid, N2, the red girl I was talking about earlier and the “ego of the machine network”, goes up into a seed that’s inside of a portal, and becomes this… False Idol. 

Clearly meant to be derivative of the designs of The Queen Beast/Mother Angel & the Intoners. Always these gray bitches. 

Anyways. After you fight her, she makes this weird… light thing? which goes up into the sky, into the portal I mentioned earlier, and then… 

HM

We are dropped into a copied Tokyo, straight out of Drakengard 1.  

But…

Question. How?

How did we get here. Is it really just a copied Tokyo? How did it get copied? 

And if not, did we like… Time Travel? Did we…

Oh, I got sidetracked. My bad. We were talking about the seeds.

So at first, we see the seeds transform someone, this time a non-human. Nothing new, although I do find it strange how differently it changed N2 in comparison to how Furiae became… that. 

Perhaps it works differently for machines? …Put a pin in that for now. 

Anyways. I didn’t swerve this car just to talk to you about how stuff we already fucking knew was just used AGAIN. 

No, the very reason I brought up this whole raid at all, and got so sidetracked I nearly transitioned into a different topic, was because of this singular excerpt.  

Maybe I’m reading this wrong. Maybe I’m not. And if I’m not, then

these seeds are storing people’s memories. Hundreds of them. 

(Edit: I wasn’t reading this wrong :) )

Isn’t that just like what I described with the Ark? The Ark stores memory data, the seeds hold memories…

I mean, the description of what the Seeds were believed to be by humanity, along with Drakengard’s usage of various themes regarding religion, has always reminded me of one specific thing: Noah’s Ark. 

Noah’s. Ark. 

Ark. Seed. Seed. Ark. 

Perhaps, they are one and the same.

Perhaps… The Ark is a Seed. 

Surely not though, right? I mean… yeah, this is solid evidence, but it’s really the only evidence I can give you guys. There’s not much we know about the Seeds in all honesty, and there’s even less regarding the Ark, so it’s nearly impossible to find any other lead in 

?

Wait. 

Let’s go back for a second.

“Let the light in?” What light? 

What the hell is this referring to? The whole raid finished like, two years ago, and for that same amount of time I’ve genuinely had no idea what this “light” is. 

I mean, she does conjure up this sort of light that goes into the portal, and… then we go to Tokyo. Maybe that’s what it’s referring to? 

Let the light in… 

Light… 

Light.

Do not bring back the light. Do not bring back the vessel. Do not bring back the future. Do not bring it back.

Every beam of light is an invitation to death.

I’ve heard this before.

These two excerpts are from the World of Recycled Vessel DLC, in the diary of Nier/The Protagonist’s deceased mother. 

These are the last two lines in the diary. Both referencing this “light” with a… negative connotation?

Why. 

 And… wait, why am I going off on this? When I was talking about the Ark and The Seeds and whatnot I never once mentioned their connection to any sort of light. 

Because I never thought there was. Because I looked over it. 

I lie collapsed in a space of blinding white. The pain is... gone. The light envelops me. It's so warm.

My damage worsens. I start to lose my memories. The space fills up with pure white light. It's like being buried in snow.

These two excerpts are from 9S’ dialogue during Ending D— you know, the one where the Ark makes its “appearance.”

.

“A space of blinding white”, “the light envelops me”, “the space fills up with pure white light”.

…

Hm. 

I’m beginning to wonder if this “light” is, in some way… connected to memories? And a “space of pure white light”… that feels familiar. Really familiar. 

Real fucking familiar.

After being encroached upon, the light overflowed. Poured into, we overflowed, the connection has AWAKENED.

This is from decoded text in Automata, taking place after Ending A/B. I think it’s meant to describe Eve briefly connecting to 9S’ consciousness in some way? (Given there is a mention of a brother who “learned a lot from books.” Fact-check me though.)

The Pods decide to abandon the body after the personality data has been completely restored, and to destroy any machine life forms in the surrounding area. And at the very bottom of this story… 

<Vessel>

Do not bring back the vessel. 

The infection spreads through 2B's consciousness. She prays. Before death's footsteps reach her, she screams. Even if nobody hears me. 9S saved me. Within a crumbling memory, she bids farewell to 9S's consciousness data. I did feel a little bit lonely but now my h eart is filled with such wa rm li ght

Then there’s this. It’s the final line of “Voices from the Verge”, a short story from a Nier Fan-Festival in 2022. 

I think it’s meant to take place in the copied city— no, not the one we see in game, at least I don’t think— a different one. A different memory. 

A place to celebrate life and send off the deceased. A place of prayer. The city's records can be gleaned from within the tranquil light. A record of humanity's end. A history of machines copying a city. And also... the hesitance they felt. This city is a replica. A city built by machine lifeforms based on the siblings' memories of where they lived. And even the very siblings themselves were nothing but imitations born from memories.

“The city’s records can be gleaned from within the tranquil light”… “a city built by machine life forms based on the siblings’ memories of where they lived.”

“A history of machines copying a city. And also… the hesitance they felt.”

…um. How? 

If you’re thinking the “siblings” being referred to in this script are Adam and Eve… no. This city is meant to be a replica of Nier and Yonah’s memories. Hell, they themselves in this script are replicas made out of their own memories. 

God this shit’s fucking stupid to type

But… thing is. Again! How? How did the machines know what this city looked like? Sure, maybe it’s in one of their “records”, but even then. 

…Well. If we go back to the screenshot I showed you all earlier from the Dark Apocalypse raid, it mentions how the data in these Seeds are stored by “machines bearing the names of gods.”

These machines are possibly using the seeds to store people’s memories. 

And— hey. I mentioned earlier how the seeds can transform whatever enters it, but do you know what I neglected to add? 

They also

Copy.

Maybe this “light” can be connected to the seeds and the Ark as well. But what that means I… don’t really know right now.

So we have one connection. And now, possibly two. Are there any more connections I should know about?! 

In NieR: Replicant ver 1.22, Ending E, the— if I’m correct— “canon” ending, was finally added after only being contained in the guidebook “Grimoire Nier.”

And this is the achievement you receive at the very start of it.

It’s in hexadecimal. And thankfully, it’s already been translated. 

“Memory server”

“I can see the light”

Memory… server. 

I can see the light.

Memory. Server. I can see the light. 

The light. Memory server.

Light. Memories. Memories. Light. 

Light…

Light…

Light…

Light

A SPACE OF BLINDING WHITE. 

Fucking… finally. I get to talk about Drakengard 1. Most of the talk regarding this game is being saved for the part 2 of this post I’ll get to… eventually, but what I want to focus on here is this game’s ending D, and “The Great Time.” 

In this ending, Seere breaks his pact, unleashing the Queen Beast’s time(?) and enveloping the world with this… light. The great time. From it, a black tower also emerges. A tower. A… I’m gonna stop. Nope. Back on topic. 

But it wasn’t until the novella, “Magnitude Negative”, was fully translated that we finally got a better understanding of what this “time” is. 

It is everything. 

Every living creature. Every structure. Everything, everywhere, past, present, future.

And every 

single 

ending.

“He could see the shadows of crowds, coming and going. It was loud, all indifferent to all around them, and full of different interests. There were tall buildings whose likes he had never seen before, and vehicular machines that ran faster than horses. … Caim is crying, clinging to the dragon. ‘I have never seen you weep before.’ … The dragon states its name. ‘Angelus. My name is Angelus.’… Caim and the dragon are going to kill each other. ‘Caim. Our pact ends here.’ … ‘Miracles cannot be asked for.’ The Goddess, revived with the Seed of Resurrection, is destroying humanity. … Seere rests within a giant womb. In a strange place, but rather familiar all the same, the dragon fights against a song.”

“A strange place, but rather familiar all the same”…? That’s for part 2. 

But case is, everything is the Great Time. 

And it is

light. 

EDIT: FUCKING HELL I TOOK SO LONG TO FINISH THIS THAT REINCARNATION GOT ANOTHER UPDATE. AND I CAN ADD THIS SHIT. 

10H states that “The Cage”, which IIRC is where “all” of NieR: Reincarnation takes place, is inside of that… egg. It’s supposed to hold the “data” (memories asshole!!!!) of humanity until the time comes for them to… you know. Reincarnate. But it’s not meant to be there, it’s supposed to be on the Moon, why is it now on Earth. And

I FUCKING KNEW IT. I called it. I never verbalized it but I CALLED THIS BULLSHIT DAY… um….  While ago. Source: trust. 😁

Time is light. Light is memories. Memory server. Memories are recorded in the seeds. Memories are recorded in the ark. The ark is light. The seeds are light. The ark is a seed.

Hang on.

Who records the memories in the ark again? Machines… “Machines with the names of gods.” 

I don’t recall us ever meeting a machine of that kind of name? The closest would be Adam and Eve, of course, but one 1. They died and 2. Neither’s name derivations were gods. Adam and Eve were not gods.

And, hell, how the fuck did machines get their hands on the Seeds anyways? Even looking past the theory part, them being what is messing with the seeds is canon.

And— hang on! New question coming through, how the fuck did the Seeds get here?! 

This is thousands of years after Drakengard 1. Not only that, but these are TWO SEPARATE FUCKING UNIVERSES. Two timelines! 

The seeds are intrinsically tied to the watchers. Hell, watchers gradually transform into them over time in one of the novellas. 

How are the machines putting memories into the seeds? How did the seeds get here in the first place? With all this time talk, where does Ac

The aliens. 

I need to talk about the aliens.

The aliens of Automata are… fucking weird. 

Sit down, and listen. Look here look listen. Basically, in a franchise where giant scary gray babies exist, one’s that devour scary bitches and wreck havoc and shit, it’s not them that fully take out humanity— well, they likely do in their universe, but in NIER’S? It’s…

It’s fucking FETUS SHAPED ALIENS 

Aliens who time, and time, and TIME AGAIN we are told FUCKING SUCK!! They are traaaashh!!!

Their heads look like an asscrack. They look like if you fucked up a perfectly good turtle. And in all seriousness, they created machines so much smarter than them that they essentially doomed themselves by creating their own exterminators. Sure, they got control over the Kingdom of Night/North and South America, said control which only grew larger and larger as they began rapidly producing machines, but… that was honestly their only W. These fuckers suck. Clutch or kick. 

And Adam, the machine who, along with his brother, killed off the rest of the aliens, describes them as being… “infantile.”

And I paused. 

Infantile? 

Out of everything… that’s such a specific word. Infantile.

Infantile. Infant…ile. 

Infant. 

Like a baby. 

A 

baby. 

A

Wait. What did I say they looked like? 

Fetuses. The aliens… they look like fetuses. 

But not natural fetuses, no… no. Like if you took an infant and forced it to revert back into what it looked like in the womb. Gross, I know, but… just look at them.

Just. 

Look.

At. 

Them.  

Look at their skin. It’s… bumpy. Scaly. 

Scaly. 

I’m not trying to imply that they’re dragons. At least… not exactly.

No, what I am trying to imply, is that the answer as to what these things are has been staring me in the face the whole fucking time.

When the flower descended at the beginning of this story, dragons were not the only things that came down with it. 

Infantile, you say? 

This idea is, out of everything in “Twin Theory”, the one I’ve held onto the longest. It’s stupid, yeah— but just like with the Ark and the Seeds, and a certain third theory that still waits after this section— I started scripting, and evidence manifested*. 

*I looked shit up and fact-checked myself🦅🦅🚬

Anyways. Do I think the aliens are the watchers? NO. No, no, no. One fucker is a  tentacle ass bitch and the other belongs in a crib at the tenth circle of hell. But i do absolutely believe that a connection can be made. 

First of all, I want to look at the aliens’ ship. Look at it good and hard. Does it remind you of anything?

Maybe… A FUCKING FLOWER? 

Because that’s exactly what this looks like. Hell, the big ball in the middle would obviously remind one of a Seed itself… but that’s a little too silly for me. (Edit: You will soon see that I should’ve never doubted my gut.) Then again, the first time we see the seeds in the final fantasy collab is in the aliens’ ship and I… am going to stop myself from having a hernia :3. (Edit: You will soon see that I should’ve never doubted my gut)

Second. I want to look at Drakengard 1.3, specifically its ending. The whole novella is kinda… well, weird, and not in a good way weird most of the time, but its ending has always struck me as being particularly interesting. 

The dragons, who I will again mention are connected to the watchers— like— genetically, devour humanity. Their size increases in number and over time they begin to change shape. First slowly taking on the forms of “lumps of meat”, then the forms of babies, then a whole bunch of them fuse together to become… a seed. 

(This moment isn’t the only time we’ve seen entities fuse together to create a seed-like object, but… I’ll hold that thought off for now.) 

Anyways. What does any of this have to do with the Aliens?

Well. 

Take into consideration that the dragons only transformed because they were devouring humans. They had shit to eat. And given the fact that these dragons transformed into Watchers, I doubt it would be too much of a stretch to ponder whether or not Watchers themselves have this similar capability. 

But what about in Automata? A part in the timeline where… there are no humans left. There’s nothing to feed off of. Most of all, there’s no Queen. 

The Watchers’ entire “goal” in the first game was to break the seals and free the Queen Beast. There’s no humans left. What would they do now? 

…Start a pointless war between the next best thing? Build machines they can control with ease. Forge a logic virus that will perpetuate this war for as long as it can, with a notable trait of it being: red eyes. And create a manifestation of the machine’s own egos in the form of a little girl, so akin to the girl they made their high priestess so long ago. 

Edit: I continued to take too long to finish this theory and the nier concert happened. While the full script isn’t out yet, I was able to read an (I think) fairly decent summary that one part of caught my eye. 

2B and 9S discover a place known as “Eden”………. hehehehehheheheheeeeee… and it’s basically just a huge alien ship, iirc. Inside they find a transporter that opens into a white city, and after walking through it a lil bit they find a copied YoRHa bunker. 

Continuing their disastrous walkalong they find a bunch of dead machines in a… church…

ok….

(l was real!)

And also there, is a circle of Android corpses, surrounding a black orb.

It’s said that they formed this place as a “place of worship in their final moments”, and that the black orb likely comes from the aliens ship. 

And we know this.

Black orb! Never doubt your gut ever!

But given what I’ve already said about the aliens… hm. The thing powering their ship being in a place of worship in one’s final moments… 

speak not the watchers, write not the watchers…

Just a little idea. 

I may have explained all this “evidence” poorly, so sorry for that. But anyways.

If the aliens were connected to the watchers (and the dragons?), so many weird connections in Automata could possibly be explained.

The cult of the watchers’ emblem appearing on either of the twins’ tattoos? Connection. 

N2 resembling Manah? Connection. 

Logic virus being derivative of the Red Eye Disease? Connection. 

The Seeds of Destruction being in the NieR universe, specifically at the time of Automata, at all? C word. Connection. 

It could even explain why no other aliens ever… you know, showed up. These aliens were the only ones, because no more could be formed with the Queen dead, the dragons gone, and a lack of food. 

“The aliens look like if you took an infant and forced it to revert back into what it looked like in the womb.” And gave it… tentacles and scales.                   😁

But even with all that, this is still a theory that I’m going to continue working out the kinks in. Could the Aliens have ties to the Watchers? Maybe, but I still need a lot more evidence to fully make that conclusion. 

But for right now, it’s moreso food for thought. 

I wish I could say the same for the final theory I’m going to be discussing today. 

So we’ve talked about the Ark. Its existence is shrouded in mystery, but the conclusion I came to is that it is, in some form, a Seed of Destruction, used by machines to record memories and travel worlds. Both seem to be connected with this… “Light”, which I concluded is connected to “the Great Time”. 

Hell… just typing this out, I forgot another physical example of this light in action— 

This whole large group of machines merge to form a “seed”, and as light begins to build up inside of it, Adam is created. 

Does this light… create, as well? Put a pin in that… maybe. I don’t know. 

(Edit: I think it do..)

Anyways. Then, we discussed the Aliens. I theorized that they could have some connection to the Watchers of Drakengard, looking at all the strange ties the two species have with each other— from how the aliens’ ship suspiciously resembles a flower, to how the watchers’ most likely have the ability to change forms over time when strong enough. The conclusion I came to is that the possibility of the Aliens being the weakened remains of the Watchers after the extinction of both their Queen and humanity as a whole, is… well. It’s there. 

But there’s one thing we haven’t talked about yet, and I’m sure you all have an idea of what exactly that is. 

We’ve discussed two very perplexing entities in the Drakenier universe today, but there’s one last character I chose to leave as my final topic. One that, funnily enough, also has an A name. And is more mysterious than the two topics I’ve already gone over combined.

Accord. 

Accord is by far the most “mysterious” character in the entire Drakenier franchise, despite being one of the only characters to be mentioned by name in multiple games. 

It’s why it’s so hard to theorize about her. But there’s enough we do know about her that tells us she might as well be the most important character in the series. 

Accord is a recorder android, one who… well… records. Riveting script writing ☝️

She records singularities, entities with the capability of creating branches by altering timelines. Normally she doesn’t intervene and just records the singularity once the branch has been made. Her goal in this endeavor is to prevent a “Fall-Down”, the collapse of all timelines.

She can time travel, as while we first see her in the beginning of the timeline, Drakengard 3, she was actually created during the time of NieR: Automata, around 6230 or so, in the Kingdom of Night. She also has multiple clones of herself, all of which hold the same goal as the one we follow in D3. 

She also works a weapons shop and presumably even writes the weapons’ stories. She collects minerals from the old world(?) which she came from, and wields a large suitcase and phone. 

In Automata, it’s mentioned she supplied weapons to the resistance; in Replicant, it was added that Yonah actually met Accord; in the Automata anime, hidden(?) text is likely from Accord, aaaaaand…

That’s it. That’s all we know about this girl.

Yes, it sounds like a lot but it’s really… not. 

Specifically, two key things are unknown to us. Them being: 

•How does Accord time travel? 

•Who created Accord? 

And for so long, these two questions just kinda sat there in my mind. I had ideas but… nothing that big. 

I just assumed that, maybe, we haven’t seen how Accord time travels yet. And that Accord could just be a product of the Army of Humanity, connecting her back to YoRHa. 

But then… in a NieR: Reincarnation update… 

10 years after we last, physically saw her…

We got this: 

These three images are what prompted me to finally, finally, put this theory in its entirety into words. 

Because it got me thinking. 

Puppet? Why puppet? 

Yeah, stuff like “puppets” and “dolls” have been used in reference to androids, machines whatevs in this series before, but for some reason… reading it made me recall a very small detail. Something I’d always overlooked. 

The final fantasy collab… puppet… puppets’… What was the title of the 2nd raid again?

Ah. The Puppets’ Bunker. 

Now, why am I making such a big deal over Accord simply being referred to as “puppet” in this small section of a game? Why am I focused more on that than the fact that this is most likely teasing her return at all? 

Well… it’s the same reason I bring up the collab again. 

2P. 

She & the other P units are the primary antagonists of this specific raid. She’s a machine copy of 2B, with an inverted palette. 

And I’ve always been curious as to what the P in her name meant. Of course, it initially just meant “Second Player”— but Yoko Taro himself has since stated that there’s a double meaning to it. 

And after a while of thinking and thinking, someone suggested the P to mean… 

Puppet.

And shit blew my mind. It totally works! So I went with it, and then… 

It made me remember another thing. Back to Accord. 

Do you remember the post I made on Adam and Eve? Yes, the post where I dropped the maybe-possible-bombshell that Eve (and his brother, likely) could possibly have some sort of connection to Mikhail of Drakengard 3, at least visually— but do you know what I mentioned in kind of a side comment? 

Adam distinctly looks like Accord. And that was that. For a while, the only question I had regarding that was: “Why does Adam look like Accord?”

But what I realized after lots and lots of thinking… is that I should’ve been asking a different question. 

“How does Adam look like Accord?”!

Adam’s a machine. He was created by machines, created by aliens. If Accord was with the Army of Humanity, why does this machine share so much resemblance to her? 

I mean, fuck— if the Copied City he creates really does have ties to the Cathedral City in Drakengard 3,

why is Accord at the fucking Mercurius Gate?

You know, the place where all the world’s “knowledge” is stored, as well as… oh I don’t know, the fucking Flower. 

“Receptionist?” Strangely, that isn’t even the weirdest thing Accord’s been referred to. 

Just think back to that Reincarnation update. Accord is called a “puppet.” 

Why? 

I already just talked about “puppet” being possibly the double meaning of the P in “2P”, connecting the term to the mock androids/machines, but I didn’t even mention the usage of the word in Drakengard 3.

In one of the novellas, the dragons, specifically Michael, fought entities described as “Puppets”. This novella is one I’ve seen occasionally brought up in discussions regarding the Kingdom of Night, due to the existence of “dragon-like machines.” 

Hell JUST LOOK AT THEM SIDE BY SIDE. 

The first is the mechanical interior(?) of a YoRHa android, 2nd is… of course, what we see of Accord’s. Look at the rib area. For a while I assumed it looked like that because her arm had been blown off but… no. Shit’s clean and smooth. It was built that way.  It also seems as though Accord’s body is connected via… ball joints? 

Why is an Android from the future so… I don’t know. Old-fashioned? Mechanic?

Especially when compared to YoRHa androids. They bleed, she doesn’t. 

But. But but but. 

She’s… confirmed to be made DURING the period between Replicant and Automata, during the machine war. It’s one of the only things confirmed about her backstory, and yet every little thing about her would make you think otherwise. 

She’s built like a legitimate doll, not an Android. As such, she gets called a puppet. There are multiple identical copies of her and from what I’ve read it isn’t because she’s a line of… idk, Accords. Take a shot every time I say her name btw

She can time travel seemingly with as much ease as the universe allows her, and yet has to self engage special abilities like… run fast mode. 

Stuff that other Androids of her time period are shown to do naturally. 

But… that’s the only case for her. The only answer we have of who exactly created the first Accord is in YoRHa, the Army of Humanity. 

But. 

I. 

Don’t. 

Know. 

None of this makes sense, right? None of it. Nothing that I’ve just discussed should logically make sense if she was made by the Army of Humanity. 

But that’s the only option for her, right? That we know of? Right? 

Why is she closer to a machine than she is to any of the androids? 

Who? Is? Accord?

Then it hit me. A realization. 

Didn’t I… wait. What was the estimated year of Accord’s creation? 

…6230? 

Okay. And we know she was created in the Kingdom of Night… 

But. 

What? 

Hang on. Kingdom of Night… do we know anything about the kingdom of night? 

I mean… we know what it is. It’s North and South America, cast in an eternal state of Night. It’s the reason why in every NieR game, the sun never sets— it’s always set in the Kingdom of Day. 

We’ve never seen the Kingdom of Night. All we know is that Accord was made there… dragon machines fought against the machines inside there, and… oh… oh. 

Oh.

The Kingdom of Night.

North and South America?

…where the first machines were being mass produced. The first machines were made in the Kingdom of Night, in 5100.

The Army of Humanity never managed to gain control over that kingdom. In fact, in 7645 the aliens’ control over the kingdom of night had increased to 80%.

And Accord was created in 6230. 

In the kingdom of night.

In the kingdom of night

WHICH THE ALIENS HAD TOTAL OCCUPATION OVER, AND WERE USING TO BEGIN PRODUCING THEIR FIRST MACHINE LIFEFORMS. 

Accord isn’t a product of the Army of Humanity. Isn’t a product of humanity at all.

Accord didn’t come from YoRHa. 

Accord is a product of the aliens. 

She’s a machine!

I want to go back to the tower. Don’t worry, no more talk about time and seeds and light and arks and useless crap like that

At least, not for the next… I don’t fucking know. 1,000 words. Lol.     Lol😬

Do you remember what was inside the tower, aside from the ark itself? Aside from the countless copiesof B/E models? 

The library. 

An exact replica of Popola’s library, all the way back from Replicant. 

And I always saw this moment at its face value. Oh, it’s THE library. The library that holds all the records for the machines is a copy of the one from the other game. Cool.

Same thing with when Popola’s office appeared in both the game and the anime, though they both served mildly different purposes. 

But when I looked at these moments as I was writing this theory I thought… hm. Why here? 

So I did what every normal fan does and 

I read the Drakengard 3 complete guide. 

4/5ths of it. 

Long day. Thank you Accord’s Library.

But among the things I took note of, this page caught my eye: 

A page that’s Basically an outline of the timelines in Drakengard 1, 2 (told you it’s technically canon, bitch), and the first NieR. Done by accord. 

Let’s zoom in on NieR’s, actually. 

Atta boy. First of all, fucking banger of an image. Second of all, so… did…

Did an Accord meet Devola & Popola? Because if so… 

… it makes a lot more sense as to why the machines’ archives are stored in an identical copy of their library. 

What I’m getting at is that I think Accord had some involvement with the data recorded in the tower, or at least… the tower itself. 

Second of all. Let’s go back to the complete guide, and narrow our focus on its documentation of the games’ events— specifically, the branching phenomena. 

Something interesting that I noticed is that everything regarding either 

Accord 

Or

Branch activity at all

Is labeled as “Top Secret.”

And yeah, this is probably just for some cool flare or whatnot, but I really want to narrow down the Accord stuff in this. 

From what I was able to get translated off this page, I actually found some very interesting things.

To start, it’s described that the fact Accord is an android/machine/whatever the fuck at all is… prohibited information. That she was a “machine made from an advanced civilization in the Old World. Specifically… prohibited to be published.” It’s also described as being “an embarrassing secret.”

The “embarrassing secret” thing could honestly just be in Accord’s own words, but I don’t think the “prohibited” part is.

After all, it was also prohibited for Accord to intervene like she did in Ending D. 

So she’s prohibited from interfering with events in a timeline, as well as ever disclosing her identity as an Android/machine…which she also considers an “embarrassing secret.”

And we should also talk about the… the fucking… NieR Desktop PCs that have lore on them. I fucking hate this franchise. 

4198 AD Humanity's extinction is confirmed. All records relating to humans are moved to maximum-pirority folders, and backups are sent to regional quantum servers for safekeeping.

5012 AD An Attack by aliens from outer space is recorded. Numerous buildings and androids are destroyed, and some quantum servers are catastrophically damaged.

5155 AD Machine lifeforms created by these unidentified alien visitors launch an ark into space, resulting in a new divergence. An attempt is then made to sync up with servers from the past.

2021 AD Synchronization with past server is successful. As the original network was small and designed for personal use, expansion will be required. - Accord

First of all, quantum servers. Server. COUGH COUGH. Memory server. 

(Also, it’s mentioned that there is a quantum server in the Forest of Myth in another one of these… most likely being, Sleeping Beauty itself. Obvious.)

Anyways. 

Second of all… the ark launching causes a “divergence.” 

Not a branch, a divergence. There’s a difference between the two. 

It’s kind of hard to explain in words, but thankfully— the Complete Guide has a trusty visual aid. 

So the ark did breach off into separate timelines… and Accord doesn’t at all sound concerned.

In fact, she sounds like she fucking contributed to it. 

I might be totally tripping as I’m sure I’ve been this entire post but this all makes it sound like she herself was the one, or one of the ones, who recorded & stored all the records we see in Automata into the Ark. 

especially when you read what the other PC had to say.

2021 AD A certain manufacturer releases a high-spec personal computer. This model of PC, designed to receive perpetual updates via the network, is soon adopted across the globe.

2025 AD These PCs, now spread the world over, begin to link up and share data as part of a neural-networking experiment conducted by the manufacturer without the knowledge of its users.

2032 AD Large-scale data breaches and acts of cyberterrorism are carried out over the network, during which time information regarding Replicant technology is leaked. The experiment is soon halted, and the computers stop receiving updates.

3021 AD A thousand years after the experiment, consciousness data from these computers is detected on the network. The Collection and merging of this data is performed by the quantum server located in the Forest of Myth.

Hey, look. The times match up. 2021 AD, 2021 AD. 

But if we carry over the fact that this is all coming from Accord…

“These PCs, now spread the world over, begin to link up and share data as part of a neural-networking experiment conducted by the manufacturer without the knowledge of its users.”

Hm. 

Go back to Reincarnation. What did it say Accord’s purpose was?

This puppet’s goal

is to observe how humans live their lives. 

Maybe it’s just me. That’s a new one. 

One of the few things we’ve known about Accord, for sure, is her goal of recording singularities, branches, etc., all in order to prevent the collapse of all timelines. 

I don’t think we ever got “study human lives” in the equation. 

And so I thought. Maybe we did. Maybe I just looked over that answer, too. Maybe…

.

It was her original purpose? 

Okay. 

I’m sure one thing has been lingering in your head as you’ve read all this.

I’m gonna lead up to a big reveal that Accord is secretly a big bad evil, who is recording the world and beyond for the machines,and that we should watch out for her or some shit. 

I think the complete opposite.

Because while I said that she’s prohibited from ever interfering with events in a branch… which she is. 

Here’s the kicker.

She does it anyway. 

In ending D, Accord breaks that “rule” and runs in at the last second, ensuring that the flower would be sealed off in that branch. 

Why did she do this? Is she stupid? 

And the best answer we’re given is… firstly, Zero. 

Whatever feelings Zero made Accord feel while recording the events of Drakengard 3 were so strong that she went against that prohibition just to help her, even if it meant getting herself killed. 

And do you remember the “embarrassing secret” comment I brought up when discussing the information in the Complete Guide? How I concluded that that phrasing was likely coming from Accord’s own perspective? 

Perhaps she considers her identity as a “puppet from the old world” an “embarrassing secret”… because Accord isn’t affiliated with the machines anymore.

She’s been working against them. 

The most recent Reincarnation update as of this script revealed a shit ton of really, really important lore. 

The Cage is inside of a Seed. Humanity is planning on Reincarnating. 

But out of everything there’s one thing that I… genuinely did not see coming. It was probably the most obvious reveal out of everything, but still. 

After the Ark leaves, the machines who left on it begin assimilating everything. 

They start collecting data to an almost catastrophic degree, eradicating androids. Building a kingdom, taking over earth.

Not just earth— If I read it right, their goal is to completely dominate all timelines, all earths. That is, until a civil war between machines breaks out. 

And what occurs sometime after this is, presumably, NieR:Reincarnation. Inside of The Cage, a repurposed Seed of Destruction perhaps taken from the machines & used now to store the data of humanity so that they may one day resurrect. 

But here’s the real kicker. A seed taken from the machines? 

Yes. If I’m correct, the machines have access to the seeds. It could just be what is giving them the power to assimilate on such a catastrophic scale. 

And they’re bringing them across timelines… ah! You know what that sounds like? 

Exactly what I fucking said about the Ark. Shit’s clicking. I think. I could totally be wrong about this and if I am my bad. 

But let’s go back, back to Accord. Samurai Jaccord. Or something idk

When I brought up the two biggest questions regarding her mere existence, I skipped over one. 

“How does she time travel?” 

And the question always kind of nagged at me. It felt like an obvious answer but it just… wasn’t. 

Until I asked a different question. How does she copy herself? 

It’s brought up time and time again that there is no given answer as to how Accord just has so many… identical copies of herself. 

And while it would lead me to just believe she’s a line of machines, I… no. Because that’s not what it sounds like at all. 

It always just reads as though the original Accord found a way to copy herself on her own.

Copying herself… copy, copy… wait. We’ve seen something that copies. We’ve seen something capable of storing data. We’ve seen something capable of traveling across worlds. 

And just like that, I found my answer. She uses the Seeds to time travel and copy herself.

And how might she have initially gotten her hands on one of these seeds?

Well… perhaps, the machines. Whom she was very likely affiliated with, before this war.

She collected the data from humanity and stored it in the ark. Surely it wouldn’t be so hard for Accord to snatch it all back and put it into the Cage, right? 

After all… she’s said to come from the old world. Perhaps whatever was the first iteration of the Ark breaching… is the “Old World.” It’s said the machines built a kingdom. 

And at the end of this update, we see Pod fly towards a city in white. 

And do you know what this city fucking looks like? Guess. Just. Fucking. Guess. 

IT’S FUCKING CATHEDRAL CITY. 

It’s a time loop. It’s a time loop, and it’s not a new time loop— it’s been a time loop. And who the hell knows how long this shit has been going on. 

The Complete Guide mentioned that one specific entity was causing altercations to the “flow of time”— Accord! And no, that’s not a theory— the book legitimately states that Accord is causing changes in time itself.

Hell, if we’re going with the possibility that Accord uses the Seeds in some way to traverse time and space, perhaps she copies herself for every time she does it. For every jump in time, she’s replicated. 

And given the ending of Drakengard 3… Girl’s been going at it for a while.

A couple more things I’d like to bring up before we reach the “conclusive statement” of this post. 

I say Accord is a machine… what do I mean by that? Earlier I compared her appearance to Adam, does this mean I think Accord is moreso akin to him & Eve? 

No. Because like I also pointed out earlier, Accord isn’t organic like we see they are. She doesn’t bleed. Not even when Zero drives that sword straight through her abdomen in order to kill One. One bleeds, a fucking lot, nothing from Accord. I’m gonna quit talking about fictional characters bleeding. Anyways. 

No, I think it’s more likely that she’s closer to something like 2P and the P(uppet) units I mentioned earlier, or just… any regular machine. 

Secondly, let’s go back to Utahime Five. She’s only in it for like, what, a panel? But I feel as though this singular panel says a lot.

First of all, the Mercurius Gate is what “holds the knowledge of the world” in Drakengard 3. Accord is its “receptionist”, as we see, and she noticeably looks “younger” here. As young as, you know, a machine CAN be.

And if we take into consideration the Copied City’s connection to the Cathedral City, and perhaps now the Ark’s connection to the Mercurius Gate, it would make sense as to why Accord here is its receptionist. 

Perhaps this was her original function. A puppet who observes how humans live their lives, storing that data & then serving as its receptionist. Which would give her such an easy out to snatch some of that data back when the time came. 

But there’s another thing. How come she looks so much younger here? She’s a machine, I don’t think machines age like… people do? Unless there’s like… Robots 2005 logic you can apply here… 

which I doubt. I don’t know the answer to this one. And I don’t wanna just spew more bullshit I’ll probably be pulling out of my asshole. Continuing. 

Thirdly. What about in Automata? If Accord’s… you know… giving out weapons to the Resistance, as told to us in this line:

“Oh, the lady who owns the place sends ‘em over every once in a while. Her name’s Accord, and she’s the proprietor of this here business. I just tend to customers and keep all the repair devices humming. I only see her every few years, to be honest. She mostly just uses delivery drones to drop things off. I don’t know where she gets this stuff, but most if it’s in pretty good condition! Say, if you ever happen to run into her, say hello for me, all right?”

how could she be affiliated with the machines? 

Well. Like I said, the most likely answer to the time loop is that we aren’t seeing its first go-through. It’s been happening, and there are already a possible infinite amount of Accords in the… whatever zone. 

I wanna focus on two lines here. 

“I only see her every few years, to be honest. She mostly just uses delivery drones to drop things off.”

Her using delivery drones is… interesting. It makes sense. I imagine that in timelines that are, at least in certain ways, “going strong” she wants to minimize her interactions with the world to as limited as possible. 

Meanwhile in Drakengard 3, as shit was going to shit, Accord was just outright toying with Zero until eventually intervening during the fight with One. 

(Why she then was then showing things in her bag to Yonah I… don’t really know.)

Fourthly. 

Group B. 

From Sinoalice:

August 2 The origins of Group B is still largely unknown. It is believed they come from an undiscovered branch. I suspect the reason why they remained unnoticed for so long is because they have set up Recorders near Singularities to keep us away from them.

March 12 The last time there was a Cataclysm, it gave rise to a large number of Group B. They even have weaponry capable of countering our aerial weapons… things are getting out of hand. We’ve managed to keep them at bay so far, but if this situation continues, we will be completely overpowered.

June 5 It seems that we Recorder models, will need to adapt. The development of replaceable armament parts is progressing, but more investment is needed. Weapons distribution needs to be increased to facilitate memory recollection. There is lot of work to do.

August 8 The previous Recorder was destroyed by Group B. Since there is a possibility that it was captured, I’ll have to request assistance from the Association.

This Group B is something I didn’t really touch on ever due to having literally no fucking clue what it could be, but recently it was brought up again in the anime, so I’m bringing it up now. Because I think I might have an idea. 

The first bolded line. “I suspect the reason why they remained unnoticed for so long is because they have set up Recorders near Singularities to keep us away from them.” 

I think that Group B, in some way or another… is Accord. At least, variants of her that are more malicious.

Variants of her that are… still affiliated with the machines? Time is most likely all happening at once, in separate universes/timelines, and therefore while one group of accords are on our side, the other still is with the machines, from the “past.” I sound like a fucking flatlining heart rate monitor I’m so sorry. 

Anyways… shit. You know what just clicked? Everything in this makes sense. 

Do you remember Michael’s novella, when he and the other dragons were battling “puppets”/“insects”? 

That was Group B. It had to have been, given that we know there is some weird kind of connection between the dragons of Drakengard and the Dragons from the “Kingdom of Night”, and that these dragons in the kingdom were deployed to fight against machines and aliens inside the kingdom. 

And wanna know something? It’s parroted information, but the first of the Dragon machines and Accord were created around the same time, same area. But no matter how hard I try and convince myself otherwise, everything points to these two entities having not been originally created by the same entity.

And guess the fuck what? I’m not even theorizing about Accord being both group A and B, I’m just rewording actual canon. 

In Sinoalice, there are two characters, these two:

That Accord is said to be the “ancestor” of. Fucking.   They’re puppets. They are puppets with red eyes. And they’re fucked up little assholes.

And not only, but these two characters are also “mutated variants” of, what? Group B. Two characters are descendants of Accord & simultaneously variants of Group B, what conclusion does that leave? Accord and Group B are connected. Accord is Group A, the Accords still with the machines are Group B, Group A and Group B are both Accords. Circle A on your SpongeBob SquarePants punnet square worksheet and meet me after class

Going off of this, it’s said that Group B also has the capability to change forms based off parts they assimilate from other entities. And… hm. Hm!

If we apply that this same power hasn’t changed for Group A, then we just answered two questions regarding Accord. 

First thing. How I mentioned that she looks younger in Utahime Five compared to her appearances in everything else. If she has the ability to change forms due to whatever she “assimilates”, then that explains why she looks slightly older now.

(Could also possibly explain the existence of male accords too, like in the stage play? I don’t know bro…….. I’m deep but not that deep)

Secondly. Ancestors… ancestor… hm…

Could she be. Um. 

Could Accord have been the first “android-like” machine? And it’s because of this that she’s not as “advanced” as the ones we see, like Adam and Eve who are all but virtually organic beings? 

Perhaps that’s why Adam resembles her so fiercely. And fuck, I just realized— it’s not just Adam. It’s N2. 

And this time I promise I’m not just talking about black hair and pronouns. 

I’m talking about narrative framing. 

They’re basically inverses of each other. One’s trying to resurrect humanity while the other is actively pushing for its decimation on a dimensional scale. 

Actively pushing back against one another. Constantly observing. Constantly… watching. And both possibly created by entities who once did the same.

Fifthly. And at last, finally. 

What does Accord have to do with the Cage? 

Well. It’s something very, very interesting. 

The Cage, formerly situated on the moon before… for some reason… being found on Earth, is what’s keeping humanity alive. 

At least, their data. Their data from all timelines, if I recall. And from cameos we are given little breadcrumbs that tell us Accord is very likely its creator.

And this Cage, inside of a seed, is revealed to be what is intended to bring humanity back— to resurrect them. 

If this seed, this Cage, is destroyed— everything is destroyed. Humanity dies.

I fully believe that this event, the destruction of the cage— if it happens, this will be the Fall-Down. The destruction of all timelines. The destruction of humanity. 

And think about all the characters we see from the games in Reincarnation. 2B, A2, 9S. Nier, Kaine, Emil. Even fucking Zero herself.

It’s all their data. It’s not them, per se— just their data. Why’s Joker Persona 5 there? Ummmmmm shhhhhhhhhh 🤫 🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫

And you know what? I think I just solved another question I’ve had for ages. 

We know who took Angelus’ body. 

During the legion war, Angelus’ body is stolen from where it’s being kept and we just… genuinely do not know where the fuck it went. At all. Not a fucking clue. 

But do you know what I’m wondering now? Maybe Accord took it, and she’s in the cage. Because look at THIS. FUCKING. SCENE. 

While Yuzuki and Hina are going through this weird “gallery” of paintings (WHY IS IT ALWAYS FUCKING PAINTINGS BY THE WAY. maybe accord & adam were in the same art class), a FUCKING DRAGON FLIES OUT OF NOWHERE, GOES INTO THE PAINTING, AND DIES. Obviously it’s just a reference to the only thing in Drakengard 1 that ever gets referenced— but we’re already so fucking deep I can’t see shit. I’m going with it. 

And finally… finally, finally… I think I have everything. And if I’ve just confused the fuck out of you all for the last 7000+ words, allow me to attempt to amend that with my concluding…. bullet points

•The Ark the machines use to traverse time & space is a Seed of Destruction, in some shape or form, which we’ve seen them possess before. Seeds can also be used to store memories & “data”.

•The “light” frequently referenced throughout the series is most likely in reference to The Great Time. 

•The Aliens of Automata are most likely connected to the Watchers of Drakengard in some genetic way. 

•Accord is a machine, who stole data from humanity without their knowledge for the machines’ server.

•She later rebelled when their assimilation began and created the Cage.

•Accord uses the Seed(s) to copy herself & possibly time travel as well. 

•The humans of Midgard were always right; there is an Egg of Resurrection. 

And. That’s. EVERYTHING. 

Shit. Sorry if this all kind of fell apart near the end, this took waaaay too long to finish up and every time I got close new shit got revealed that I could add. YAY.

But anyways. Hope you guys liked my nonsense, and until next time,

Hold on.

I just realized something. 

…I think I was wrong. 

Like, completely wrong, about something. One thing. Completely wrong about one, small thing. 

Accord… isn’t the only character we see in these games that can travel across time and space.

…So does Caim.

At the end of Drakengard 1, ending E, he and Angelus send themselves and the Mother Angel (Queen Beast) across time into modern day Tokyo. This event is what would cause the NieR timeline to kickstart at all, bringing the origin of MASO as well as…

.

This event is what… caused NieR to occur. 

This… event… caused… NieR. 

This event caused NieR Replicant, which caused NieR Automata, in which the Ark was formed, in which the first Accord was created, in which assimilation began and kickstarted the time loop. 

And the real kicker? Remember when I brought up “Singularities”? Entities with the capabilities to cause branches and alter timelines. The ones that we know of include Zero, Two, and recently, Kaine— 

but with information given by Drakengard 3’s Complete Guide, we were given three more. These being, 

Nier, 

Nowe,

And CAIM. 

It’s confirmed. Thank fuck, by the way— one of the biggest portions of the original twin theory was me trying to prove that he was a Singularity at all, but little did I know the truth was right under my nose. Waiting. For ten years. I’m the smartest bitch on planet earth 

But there’s something… off, I feel. 

In every instance of a singularity taking effect that we’ve gotten to see they always stay on the same… I guess, “Earth.” The branch changes, I guess, but the earth really doesn’t.

I’m saying this, because

Caim branches into an entirely different world, and he brings the two beings that shall end yet another humanity with it.

I’d bet the Gods were sure happy about that. More humans to…

?

I’d bet the Gods were sure happy about that. 

What? Hang on. 

Look at that. 

These birds show up right before the Queen Beast falls into Tokyo. Birds have always been common imagery in these games, usually for symbolic purposes. 

But every time Drakengard 1 uses this kind of imagery it’s… weird. The birds are weird.

Especially inverse of this, the very beginning of the game:

It’s in the opening cutscene of Drakengard 1. Furiae says, “It begins.” 

(What begins? What does she already know…?)

And after a fade to white, we cut to a bird circling in the sky over the battlefield Caim is currently in. The very same one where he will be fatally wounded, forcing him to forge a pact with Angelus, the beginning of the end. 

It always struck me as odd as to why this shot was included. Why include such seemingly meaningless imagery as… you know, a bird flying. Like a bird can do. 

Well, that’s the thing with Drakengard 1. It’s by far the entry in this series with the heaviest religious imagery and theming.

And thus, with that in mind…

I looked it up. 

What is the significance of a bird circling in the sky?

Oh. 

So… It’s an Omen. 

It’s an Omen. 

A bird circling in the sky is considered an omen in certain religions.

A bird circling in the sky is considered an omen that God is either sending a message from beyond, or is watching over you. 

God is watching over you.

God is watching you. 

(watching me, watching you)

Hm. Hm! In the context of this series, that’s kind of…

interesting.

[spinningbuster98]

Metroid Other M Part 7: You're authorized to go to Hell, Adam

The gravity section before Nightmare is actually pretty cool. It’s actually a much more appropriate use of the Gravity Suit than simply limiting it to underwater usage. However this further proves what I said a long time ago about the authorization mechanic just straight up not being in synch with the story: Adam is no longer present, Samus takes the opportunity to reactivate her Space Jump and Screw Attack...but not the Gravity Suit. Even though she needs it and, again, Adam’s no longer around to be a dick to her. See? The devs thought about building a cool gameplay setpiece without bothering to think about its story consequences. Now Samus looks like a moron, again

Speaking of morons...

Yeah it’s the Adam shoots Samus scene. What you all came to see. Whoo. Much hype. Very yikes

Let’s start with Adam

The game has a very nasty and unfortunate tendency to, unintentionally, create a contrast between how Samus describes Adam VS how he actually acts. Throughout the game Samus does nothing but shower Adam with praise of all kinds, commenting on not only his military genius but also on how compassionate and “fatherly” he was towards her. Yet the guy that we actually see on-screen is the complete opposite: he’s a spiteful control freak obsessed with protocol, who doesn’t know how to manage having such a useful asset as Samus on his team and who, by his own admission in this very scene, incapacitated Samus while she was in the presence of a Metroid he wasn’t completely sure could be frozen. He literally says that, he gambled Samus’ life on a guess for no good reason.

If I wanted to be charitable I’d say that the plot was trying to purposefully present him as a prick in order to create an air of mystique: why does Samus revere this bastard so much? And I guess that this scene was meant to be the one that was going to pull the rug from under our feet, after all this is the closest that Adam ever gets to showing any kind of affection and “trust”...but it’s in the context of him shooting her in the back and leaving her at the mercy of a monster. There’s such an incredible disparity between the Adam that Samus prattles on about and the one that we see that it genuinely makes Samus look like your stereotypical abused girlfriend trying to rationalize why her boyfriend hits her.

But why does Adam shoot Samus? Many people seem to think there’s no reason for him to do that.

But actually...there is

It’s actually a bit of a trope in some works of fiction to have one character attack and or incapacitate another one that they’re supposed to be friends with in order to perform a risky thing on their own. It’s supposed to showcase the character’s levels of selflessness and the lengths they will go to in order to protect their loved one, even if it means hurting them in a way

In theory I would not mind Adam shooting Samus for these reasons: as seen in Fusion, Samus can be pretty stubborn and set in her ways when it comes to the idea of having to sacrifice herself for the greater good, so, in a better story, I wouldn’t necessarily mind Adam needing to exercise some force in order to prevent Samus from throwing her life away. The first issue with this is that the reasoning that the game gives is pretty flimsy to start with: Sector Zero will detatch from the rest of the station and self destruct as soon as she tries anything. Because it’s not like Samus has ever escaped from a self destructing location before right? It’s not like Fusion didn’t have this exact scenario with the Secret Metroid Laboratory, with Samus escaping unscathed, because Other M has its lips locked onto Fusion’s dick harder than a cheap prostitute.

But the biggest, surrounding issue is the general tone.

The story may communicate that Adam is doing this to save Samus’ life selflessly and Adam may say that Samus is inexpendable due to being a galactic heroine unlike him, but the other, underlying reason as to why Adam needs to shoot Samus in order to stop her from entering Sector Zero...

...is because Samus is an immature child that cannot be trusted to act logically

Because if there’s a message that the game just loves hammering into your skull literally since the beginning is this. From the intro when we see Samus as a child curled up in a fetal position because muh symbolism, to her acting subserviant to Adam either because she feels guilty about disobeying her father figure in the past or because she wants to be a spiteful brat, depending on your interpretation, to when she had to be saved by Anthony from Ridley, to her now repeating almost word for word what she told Adam when Ian died, there’s this permeating, consistent idea that Samus, deep down, is just an insecure little girl who isn’t anywhere close to being as confident and capable as she appears. The reason why Adam shoots her is because she’d be too immature and emotional to accept his sacrifice logically, so he needs to use force and take the choice from her. And, as usual, the story proves him right by how Samus reacts afterwards. The scene REEKS of condescension

And I know that some might argue that this is just a result of her trauma of the Baby’s death but....when does she recover from this exactly? After Adam dies she says she gained some “clarity of mind”, but did that just magically fix the trauma? Did that just magically fix her insecurity? The game acts like this act made Samus a stronger character,which I guess it did since she largely stops angsting after this, but when you look at the facts she magages to accomplish shit after this: Ridley gets killed off screen and Anthony will ultimately be the one to save the day.

What is Samus’ arc in this game? What lesson did she learn in the end? That she had been fooling herself all this time? That she’s still that capricious teen from her army days? Ok nice, what was the point of that? What exactly is the point of devoting an entire plot to just telling me that a character that had always been known for being highly skilled and practical is actually just an insecure mess? For depth? To humanize her? Because I’m sorry but if the final take away of a story is “yeah you kinda suck and you shoulda listened more to that abusive prick you called a father figure because you only mess up on your own” then something has gone wrong along the way, unless you’re writing a story that’s being cynical on purpose, or one about a morally reprehensible person getting broken down, which isn’t either case with this game, as the story wants me to believe that Samus ends up being a better person by the end even though she really has no reason to be. And all of this to say nothing of the myriad of sexist implications at play, which I’m not going to touch on since I am by no means knowledgeable on the subject matter

This is also the reason why I refuse the notion that the Samus that we see here is supposed to be a purposefully nerfed take on her due to the Baby’s death: she may be depressed, but a big selling point of this game was that we were gonna see the “real Samus” underneath the helmet, and this is the Samus that we pretty much see from start to finish, so I’m left with the conclusion that, according to this story, this IS Samus, full stop.

And quite frankly? Even if it made logical sense it still would not have been a good idea. I could, theoretically, write a story where I put a character like Superman through a billion different traumas, just so I can write him as a depressed and mysanthropic asshole. Even if it technically made sense writing wise, it still would not be a good decision, unless it’s a what if story of some kind, because there’s very little value in destroying a characrer just for the sake of it or just to say “hey see? He’s falliable just like any person!”

Humanization can be a good thing that can make characters feel more real and even more relatable. However not all characters are meant to feel completely real. Some characters are meant to feel like symbols or concepts or ideas. Distillations of human traits even. It’s only in the world of fiction that we can have characters that are technically impossible or very hard to come by in real life in terms of their character. I do believe that Samus falls into this category for the most part. She’s an iron willed badass, fearless in the face of untold alien dangers and capable of widespread destruction and carnage, yet still possesses a heart of gold and a selfless spirit that allows her to do the right thing because she thinks it’s the right thing to do, no matter what others may think. She suffered a traumatic tragedy, yet is not a Batman-like figure darkly seeking vengeance. I think that this is what Samus is at her core.

You might argue that this is very bland and boring. Maybe you’re right, plenty of people think the same about Superman. But I’d say that the kind of character that Other M Samus is is also a dime a dozen, so for my money I’d rather go with the former, who’s entertaining and even a little inspiring if viewed a certain way, rather than with the latter, who’s got a truckload of writing issues and unfortunate implications.

[crooked-wasteland]

Hazbin Hotel LiveBlog: Scrambled Eggs

So I’m watching Hazbin with my partner who has already seen the entire series. It took us 5 minutes just to get this episode to play from the beginning because it would just skip to episode 4 while the credits where playing before i could pause or rewind. That has nothing to do with the show, it just made me unbelievably enraged, so we ain’t going into this episode happy.

What is with the cat?

It’s been a week since the last episode and every ounce of progress Sir Pentious made last episode is just thrown out as an excuse to introduce yet another character in Carmella. Was there not another way to do this? Like I get Sir Pentious wouldn’t be reformed, but just having him be suddenly paranoid with no reason isn’t founded. Even just a background detail of Angel Dust watching him from a doorway would have been enough to found that suspicion. Especially when Pentious wasn’t shown to be paranoid as a trait. I get this is narrative utilitarianism, but it’s just weak and changing one character’s personality to establish a new one is poor writing.

Sir Pentious to his eggs just feels like fandom

“That’s a lot less hot” That feels out of character

So Trust exercises to tone down the sudden change in Sir Pentious’ character and also to give Vaggie a leading role. Got it. Very utilitarian, very disjointed from the previous episode.

Sidebar, I googled who wrote this episode and it wasn’t Vivienne, however I never would have known because the last episode was equally full of contradictions that it also felt like someone else wrote it. Now maybe that was because Adam had a hand in thing, but The fact I have to google this stuff to know for sure is a joke kin its own right.

I am so conflicted about Niffty. She feels less childlike here and I like find her demented fun, but last episode she was literally written as being child-like so the pain fetish going on is repulsive, despite it not being this writer’s fault. If I want to enjoy anything about this show, I really have to just see every episode as one singular complete entity without calling back on previous ones, however this is a series and thus needs to expand itself through subsequent episodes. To not do so is a failure of concept because this series is very serialized. So in a bubble I really enjoy Niffty. In the series she is a very uncomfortable character to give violent fetishes to and make them so overt. Vivienne ruined that for you all, don’t blame me. Someone should have said how this should have been scrapped before we got this far.

Zestial is suggesting that Alastor may have died at Heaven’s hand. Alastor looks away while laughing. So there is a connection between Heaven and Alastor.

Egg Bois are cute.

Carmella has a bad case of Character Design does not match vocal performance.

Velvette, please never speak again.

Velvette is now 5 inches tall

The yellow blood looks like piss

Can someone tell Lilli Cooper that a lot of British singers don’t have such strong accents when singing. Just please, it’s a great time top drop that bad accent.

James, hi, your singing voice lost the character

The kink shaming be real.

Even Charlie infantalizes Niffty. Geez

This scene in the Turf war was peak Angel Dust. I laughed.

I have to ask, was the music written before or after the singing, because for one, Carmella sounds like she is trying to be heard over it, and second the beat of the music is either lacking or there was an issue with the audio mixing because it just sounds wrong. Like there are melodies and harmonies to a score and one of those is missing. OR, the music is just out of sync entirely with the performer.

Again, just don’t have Vaggie sing. You directed the actor to perform out of her vocal range for her modal voice. Don’t do this to her.

They are not at all harmonized, this is the worst duet I ever heard. Don’t you usually have singers record duets together so they can harmonize their voices? Why didn’t that happen here.

So this big conflict for Vaggie was never a conflict. Best resolution ever.

I like Carmella’s concept. Her character design is kinda trash and the songs were terrible. There was a good idea somewhere in this episode, but from beginning to end every aspect was contrived to just make the story work for the greater plot, the dynamics between the characters be damned. There is a sense of someone wanting to have fun with it while Medrano’s stood behind them with a chokehold on the narrative. It’s disappointing and I feel the writing suffers from Medrano’s obsessive and frantic need for control. This writing feels so insecure and I can only imagine that comes from having a very narrow box to fill.

2/10

I’m taking a break.

[cupids-diner]

It's great to hear that i am ur first requester ^^

Okay soo ummm, i think i prefer a oneshot and the words is up to you. YESSS YOU CAN MAKE YOUR CREATIVITY MOODBOARD 😍😍

Maybe the plot is in D3, the reader is like Linda (a ballerina) but opposite from her in love life. The reader likes adam banks but he does not. So, when the reader talks to him, he ofc gives her a cold ahoulder and play hard to get. So after that, adam kinda shouts at her and she leaves him alone, realises that he loves you too when you're not like usual. Maybe at the final hockey game the incident. When you have ballerina performance, you want adam to come however he says that Linda or Connie force him too (but they weren't 😆), and then he pecks you on the cheek and say congrats 🙂‍↕️

The Final Play - Adam Banks

Adam banks x Ballerina!Reader

Warnings: none

Rating: angst/fluff?

Eden Hall Academy buzzed with the excitement of a typical school day, but for You, today was anything but typical. As a dedicated ballerina, you had spent weeks preparing for your big performance that evening. The studio, with its grand mirrors and polished floors, had been your sanctuary, but today your thoughts were elsewhere—on Adam Banks.

Adam was the school's star hockey player, and although they moved in different circles, you found yourself drawn to him. You admired his skill on the ice, his confidence, and the effortless way he commanded attention. your feelings had remained unspoken, yet you hoped for a spark, a sign that he might return your interest.

You had made several attempts to talk to Adam, but he always seemed distant. His cold shoulder was like an impenetrable barrier. He would nod politely but never really engage. Recently, he’d been particularly aloof, playing hard to get in a way that left her confused and disheartened.

During his final hockey game of the season, you watched from the stands, hoping that your presence might make a difference. As you stood amidst a sea of cheering fans, you could see Adam skating with intense focus, his game face on. You felt a pang of sadness when, in a rare moment of confrontation, he shouted at her from the ice, his voice cutting through the cheers and chants.

“Why do you keep showing up here? Just stay away!” he had called out, his frustration evident. The words were harsh, and your heart sank. You had been trying to support him, hoping to find a way to connect, but his reaction was a bitter blow.

Stung, you left the arena, tears brimming in your eyes. The night of the performance loomed ahead, and you couldn't shake the feeling that your efforts were in vain. The disappointment hung heavy as you prepared for the ballet, practicing your routines with a heavy heart.

Despite the turmoil, the performance was a success. The auditorium was packed, and as the lights dimmed, your focus shifted to your dance. You poured your heart into every pirouette and leap, your emotions channeling into the graceful movements. The audience's applause was a distant echo to her own internal triumph.

After the show, you stood backstage, the weight of the evening finally lifting. You were greeted by friends and family, but her gaze wandered to the audience, searching for familiar faces. To your surprise, Adam was there. His presence was unexpected, especially given his earlier reaction.

“Hey, Adam,” you greeted him as he approached. His expression was softer now, though still tinged with an awkward edge.

“Hey, Y/n,” he replied, rubbing the back of his neck. “Uh, Connie kind of… forced me to come.” There was a hint of reluctance in his tone, but you could tell it wasn’t entirely true. His gaze lingered on you, a mix of admiration and something more.

You tried to keep your composure. “I hope you enjoyed the performance.”

“It was really good,” Adam said, his voice more genuine now. He stepped closer and, to your surprise, leaned in to peck her lightly on the cheek. “You did great.”

Your cheeks flushed at the unexpected gesture. “Thank you, Adam,” you said softly, your heart fluttering with a blend of hope and disbelief.

Adam looked at you, his usual bravado replaced with a genuine warmth. “I guess I should’ve paid more attention before. I, um, I really liked the performance.”

As you looked into his eyes, you saw the change—a realization that maybe, just maybe, his feelings had shifted. There was an honesty in his gaze that spoke volumes. You smiled, and for the first time, Adam’s presence felt like a promise of something new.

“Thanks for coming,” you said. “It means a lot.”

“Anytime,” Adam replied, his voice holding a sincerity he hadn’t shown before. “And, uh, sorry about earlier. I didn’t mean to be so harsh.”

Your smile widened. “It’s okay. I’m glad you came.”

As they stood there, the night’s events slowly weaving their own new narrative, it was clear that both you and Adam were standing at the edge of something different—a beginning shaped by unexpected turns and newfound feelings.

A/n: I hope this was good! I do accept any criticism! I am just starting out and I haven’t written in a while because of babysitting and family and friends birthdays and such. I hope you enjoy this!

Moodboard links!

Ballerina!Reader

Adam banks

[palmviolet]

true detective s1 rewatch extravaganza: episode 3 edition

— theriot as a point of comparison/foil to rust has been discussed at length by others already, but boy oh boy is it apparent. rust is his own kind of preacher, not only in his philosophical monologues but also in his interrogations, offering his suspects catharsis via the 'language virus' of faith and recognition. (this distance of the 'virus' is questioned as the show goes on, however, as we see in 2002 with charmaine boudreaux and his personal vindictiveness there.) it emphasises the seductive power of rhetoric, and thereby comments on TD's form, as the series continues to be bookended by rust's own seductive monologues and both his and marty's interviews in 2012, which are shown increasingly to be unreliable. rust's rhetoric of pessimism is so captivatingly expressed — and a supposed counterpoint to the religious fervour we see in this episode, which a cosmopolitan audience is less disposed to connect with — as to draw you in, infect you.

— theriot's fervour — and therefore rust's as well — is aligned with the cult of the yellow king. ‘this world is a veil and the face you wear is not your own,' theriot preaches, just as rust describes death as the final liberation from the 'dream' that is selfhood. of course, this echoes the final 'take off your mask', which is a direct reference to the chambers work and has been unpacked wonderfully in a post somewhere on here that i unfortunately can't find right now. but the upshot is: in the end, rust steps out of the circle and does not become the 'little priest', does not turn himself into a prophet for the yellow king. this is a renunciation of institutional corruption as well: the cult is embedded in louisiana governance, education, and law enforcement, but religious institutions independent of it, like theriot's church, echo its rhetoric, and rust trots it out in interrogations, others' and also his own.

— rust makes this connection between religious optimism and the institution explicit: “the ontological fallacy of expecting the light at the end of the tunnel, that’s what the preacher sells. same as the shrink.” i'm considering writing a longer post about TD's treatment of psychiatry but even this has so much to unpack. for rust, psychiatric help is a faulty belief in betterment, betterment that is not possible, that does not exist. this connects to his conversation with maggie after he's mowed the lawn: she (a healthcare professional) is adamant that things get better, that you move forward and change because it's just what you do. rust, meanwhile, considers himself to be better already, as better as he's ever going to get, and he only humours her with wry talk of nurses and good drugs.

— by rust's connecting the shrink and the preacher, the psychiatric institution is demarcated as another bastion of corrupt belief — and rust likely sees it that way, with northshore having been just another instance of lost autonomy that did nothing to help him, only served a superficial and performative benefit for the corrupt institution that employs and controls him. ("psych pension — jackpot, right?") i'm unsure how far the series' anti-psychiatry sentiment goes but we're certainly not meant to look at rust and think 'therapy would fix him' — and this is partly why it's so important that when he and maggie finally have sex, as is foreshadowed in this episode with marty's jealousy and rust's "we know what we want and we don't mind being alone" on the phone, it's framed as detrimental and utterly destructive to the fragile existence rust has carved out for himself here. her intervention (as a healthcare professional — their dynamic is very much framed around her wanting to heal him, to 'make him better', as the kitchen conversation in ep3 makes evident, and she goes about this by encouraging him to open himself up sexually and romantically) only damages him further.

— maggie's role as 'healer' and 'caretaker' actually tends to fail in general. in this episode, marty gives her the sob story about racing towards 40 and diving off a cliff, and it seems to convince her: she tells him yeah, he is fucked up, and embraces him. they have sex and for the moment, as we see at the longhorn, their marriage is 'healed'. but of course this doesn't last, and as we'll see in ep4, the site of their major upcoming conflict is the hospital where she works. she and her colleagues are powerless to remove him — it's rust who has to come along to steer him away. this episode — and this series — tells us that the medical institution is at best powerless in the face of other institutions' corruption or else is corrupt itself.

[geospiral]

Your alnst oc is so cool!!! can we hear more 0.o

Thank you for the ask!! The thing is, I don’t really know what to say about her, to be honest. That intro post was most of the things I had in mind for her in advance since she was originally just a small idea I had in the back of my head for a couple months. The only reason I actually made anything for her is because everyone else was making ALNST OCs, and I thought it would be fun to join.

However, I never really shared her worldviews when it comes to the competition itself, so I guess that's something I could talk about!

So Moran was selected by her Guardian to be the tragic sacrifice for Adam’s story because she sees Moran as expendable, and Moran has basically accepted the fact that she is going to die during her season in ALNST; neither has any faith that she can win, and honestly, she isn’t sure if she would even want to win if she had the chance. Moran knows that if you win ALNST, it is more than likely you are going to be thrown right back into the competition over and over again until you finally get snuffed out, and this is especially true in her case since she isn’t expected to succeed and most of her Guardian’s investments are in Adam and not in her. And Moran doesn’t want to be stuck in a cycle of damnation if she were to win but she is afraid of dying and a big part of her internal struggle is that of the nature of sacrifice and whether or not she should do it.

If Moran is going to be used as a plot device to elevate Adam’s story with the false narrative that she wanted to train and signed up for ALNST to gain his attention and love, then she at least wants the opportunity to die for someone she actually cares about while shes there or at the very least someone she knew on some level. This is basically a fantasy for her; she craves the idea of taking her hopeless situation and making something meaningful with it by making dying her own choice in a sense AND to have that person know that her dying for them was an act that she performed of her own volition.

The problem comes with the fact that Moran is a thinker and tends to philosophize about…almost everything if she can and this fantasy is no exception. 

So Moran questions herself: when it comes to something like ALNST, is it more moral to do her best so that she can keep experiencing this kind of hell continuously so that someone else doesn’t? To put someone else out of their misery instead of her own if she has the power too? Or is it actually better to go through with sacrificing herself because there might be the tiniest chance that the person can be saved (is that even possible? Who does the rebellion pick and choose? Will they even show up? Maybe the person's Guardian will have the heart to not sign them up again)? Moran likes to think that sacrificing herself would be the lesser of two evils, but she knows that she would still be committing an evil in a way if she did so. If she were to win the whole competition, then there wouldn't be a chance that anyone else would have to be a toy unable to stop dancing. But to reject her own humanity like that…With blood on her hands that she maybe could have prevented... She can’t do that. 

Moran has no idea what she's supposed to do when she gets on that stage, but what she does know is that she’s scared.

[whatwouldvalerydo]

The theory of blow magic - We tell no one - 4/9

Character mentioned here belongs to: @that-scouse-wizard

Warning: minor sexual references (nothing major)

Before leaving on a business trip I leave you with the last part for the HPHL kids. We shall continue this adventure with the HPHM cast next.

Reuben had always known Leila to be every bit as stubborn as he was at times, however he had never seen her mischievous side blow out of proportions. Certain things were reserved for him, but he apparently managed to make her so mad that she decided the best way to handle things was to prank the entire school.

He should have been studying yet he found himself unable to concentrate. Not until he managed to properly speak to her, but every time he managed to catch a glimpse of her light colored hair, she would avoid being caught, taunting him with every chance she got.

He kept telling himself that he would eventually catch her at breakfast, but she had a partner in crime to deliver her food without her having to join the students, unless him and his team were off to an early morning practice run. And every time he asked about her, everyone told him he just missed her. He was adamant then that she was playing with him.

To make matters worse every time he heard the term “blow magic” he would feel his body temperature rise. But when he heard the outlandish things people believed it actually was and saw some of the pages with his own two eyes, he knew she was downright livid.

He needed to find her and find her fast before there was actually a book out there dedicated to him.

Stopping in his tracks, Reuben blinked a few times “Merlin’s beard please tell me she didn’t actually write a book.”

After what felt like an eternity later, he finally spotted her in the courtyard, talking to some students, holding a piece of paper in her hand as she rambled on about a curse and how she might never get to leave the school if she does not assemble the entirety of “The theory of blow magic”. The students in front of her, although taller in comparison to her small frame, despite them not even being in year seven, looked positively terrified of hearing about this new unknown curse.

“Shouldn’t the professors call upon a curse breaker?”

“And do what exactly?” Leila waved around the paper “This is magic far older than the useless wand waving we perform here.”

Crossing his hands in front of his chest, Reuben cocked a brow as he stepped behind her “I would like to hear more about this older magic.”

He could have sworn she chuckled before turning to him, a mischievous glint playing in her eyes “Very old indeed and rare. I heard someone cursed the pages by using blood magic.”

Giving the students behind her a stern look, he gently pulled Leila further away from earshot “A word? Now.” This time he was certain she chuckled as she let him take her on a walk across the terrain “You did not curse some pages by using blood magic, did you Lei?”

“And if I did?” she asked stopping abruptly.

“I told you I’m sorry, I panicked in the moment.”

Flipping her hair over her shoulders, she scoffed “An understatement.” Pointing a sharp fingernail towards his chest, her pointy teeth showed as she spoke looking up at him “I was locked in the equipment wardrobe for two hours while you were doing a poor job at lying, trying to come up with the new Blow Technique. A very stinky equipment wardrobe.” 

Sighing, Reuben visibly winced. He knew that sneaking Leila in the Ravenclaw Quidditch tent was always a risk but ever since he became captain of the team so many hours were spent in there that at one point it felt almost as the most natural place to sit and make out. However, they weren’t even doing that when they almost got caught, if only. That way they might have not gotten in the mess they were in since they would have been somewhat more silent.

They were actually talking about Leila’s powers, specifically blood magic when they were overheard and he panicked, pushing her in the wardrobe, locking her inside. Thankfully the team mate that followed just around the corner understood “blow magic” which resulted in a false strategy after some not very convincing words from Reuben that he misunderstood and he never used the word magic. Furthermore, apparently he now talked to himself in different voices when trying to come up with a new play.

“Did you really use your magic to curse some pages?”

“Yes, and believe me they will continue to appear every year for all the seven year students. Who knows how long the magic will last.” She innocently added although she clearly knew exactly how much.

“Blow magic?”

“Yes, the best kind of magic there is, one you will not partake in until I am done being mad.”

Reuben blinked, the gears in his mind turning, his eyes following her suggestive ones “Oh! OH!”

“Have fun studying.” Passing him, she smirked, leaving her boyfriend all alone with his fantasies.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

What if Bella was essentially Micheal Scott in the body of a 17 year old girl? How would everyone in Twilight receive and react to such a beautiful person?

I mean, she's not that far off, actually. They share a few similar personality traits and underlying difficulties.

Bella, too, feels desperately inadequate, friendless, and never living up to anyone or her own standards. She too had a lonely and troubled childhood and a difficult relationship with her parents. The difference is in how they express these traits.

Michael overcompensates through bragging, a pathologic need to be the center of attention, and desperately goes out of his way to be his coworkers' friend in whatever manner he can. Michael wants to be viewed as funny, a friend to all, successful, and the guy everyone looks up to and wants to be. This, however, all backfires as it means he talks about taking his fight to the streets and thinking it's okay to perform Chris Rock routines as a white man in the office because Chris Rock is a very funny man.

Bella just wallows in misery and quietly judges all of us as well as herself and ends up doing things like being in a relationship with a vampire.

How Does Twilight Go?

As you can guess, Bella's going to get eaten, but we'll get to why shortly.

First, while the motivation to move is in part Renee, it's also to enter a new school and try to be friends with everybody. Bella is overwhelmed and delighted upon entering Forks in the middle of the year when she realizes that everyone is paying attention to her and wants to be her friend.

"This is my moment," Bella says on the first day.

And immediately fucks it up at lunch by reenacting an Adam Sandler comic routine, not realizing a) that's a lot of "fucks" in one sentence b) Adam Sandler is only remotely funny sometimes because he's a guy making jokes that are guy-ish in nature.

"I'm funny, tell me I'm funny," Bella says to her captive lunch table audience.

Mike is trying to decide whether she's hot enough to let this slide. He decides yes because he's a seventeen year old guy. Bella is hot enough to let anything slide.

"I'm amazing," Bella says to herself in awe, this is going better than she'd ever prepared for. She's determined to repeat her performance forever and have even better material next time.

Bella's so busy being the center of attention, that the Cullens are neither noticed nor remarked upon.

As a result, at lunch, Edward concludes she's a fucking clown.

Bella gets to Biology.

Edward's acting funny and hostile.

However, due to Bella's pathological need to be liked she feels an immediate bolt of panic and need to win him over. She starts passing him notes of penis jokes because penis jokes are funny.

We'll say Edward, miraculously, makes it through Biology but he manages it because he gets Bella to agree to meet him after school through their note passing.

"Oh my god, I'm getting a date," Bella says to herself, this is the best day ever, she's going to have to work on her material even harder.

Bella goes to meet him outside of school with no hesitation. Edward, too annoyed and enraged by all of this to think clearly, meets her and doesn't flee to Alaska.

Bella Swan dies in the woods with her corpse buried many miles away. The Cullens end up leaving Forks themselves not too long after.

[mermaidsirennikita]

Speaking of Ferrari what did you think of the film?

I thought it was quite good! Not perfect by any means. It has pacing issues, and Shailene was *HORRIBLE* in it. Like, I think there's a good chance that if they'd cast someone else in that role, the movie would be faring better in the awards season (though it's also a surprisingly competitive season). Shailene was Sofia Coppola in The Godfather Part III level bad.

And like. Here's the thing. I would never say Adam does a fabulous Italian accent. However, I would say that very few actors who aren't Italian do a very strong Italian accent, and I would also say that... Some Italian actors can only do their own accent lol. Because obviously, someone from like, Napoli, doesn't sound the same as someone from Firenze, etc. If you're doing an Italian accent in an English-language movie, you're doing a broad, probs more Centro-leaning accent, right?

He definitely worked on it between Gucci and this. It felt more consistent, he slipped less. Still slipped! Still wasn't perfect! But I could tell he'd worked on it, and his performance was otherwise great. Penelope... I didn't really think she did that much accent work tbh, but Penelope's natural accent is also very strong and I kinda think there was a "it is mostly going to be native English speakers watching this, they will not tell the difference between Penelope's natural accent and an Italian accent" attitude. Which? Not great, but. I have heard Penelope trying for an Italian accent before in Versace, and to be fair it still mostly sounded like Penelope doing a (solid) Donatella voice, but whatever. She didn't try as much here.

NEITHER OF THOSE THINGS. Took away from their great performances. Because they were great. Adam is just a very strong actor, and though I don't think this was his BEST performance EVER, it was still something where, if this was a different field, he'd probably get nominated for it. (He should ABSOLUTELY get nominated over Bradley Cooper.) The emotions were there, the coldness of Ferrari, the scenes with Penelope were FIRE. And might I add, Penelope, someone I am ambivalent towards, was great. I personally think Penelope is one of those actors who is usually strong in her native language, less so out of it (though I do love her in Nine, an otherwise bad movie). Here? She was amazing. Totally off her rocker, totally wild, unhinged grief combined with anger. Amazing chemistry with Adam, which is great because to me the emotional core of the movie absolutely hinged on their scenes together. The scene where she asks him to give her the gun back and he smiles and then they go at it on the table? Gold. And in a very different way, that knockdown dragout fight about how he failed to keep their son alive? Also gold.

Shailene just couldn't stand up to them, and she didn't even try with the accent, and it was just. So bad dude. So bad. So bad. I have no idea why she was cast. There is... a story there. She doesn't even look right for the role, it's not even a case where they cast someone based on appearance and then the performance bombed. Just. Why.

Anyway, otherwise I thought the car crash scenes were wild, the total lack of reaction from Enzo was like a slap in the face every time. It spoke to his total disconnect from emotion and the fact that these were human lives he was messing with. And I went into this movie pretty uninformed about the events that would occur, so--having it happen towards the very end of the movie, without the great comeback we're primed for with these types of films, was... a lot, dude. I don't know if I've been that shocked by a movie scene in a long time. Just so intense. I figured there would be a crash, but not like THAT.

So yes. Not a perfect movie, but definitely worth watching, and if you want a "mother!!!" type performance, that is Penelope Cruz in Ferrari.

[resetting37]

Why Lilith Looks Dead and Adam Bleeds Red

Lilith and Adam are subjects of the ELLOCAST project, and given the rush of getting the first trial “out of the way”, Adam and Lilith have weakened organs and are prone to “malfunctioning”. Despite being neglected by the scientists, they were at least monitored from time to time.

When they were about thirteen, however, they were sold to an out-of-town organization in order for the ELLOCAST project to keep their budget and get rid of their more “nuanced” subjects. Despite having a hard time seeing them as real people this organization valued them and protected them (they were expensive, after all ! But what an asset to have)

Lilith runs away from this organization, as she would want to be alone on an island with a small village. Adam stayed behind, making connections and eventually applying what he learned from the scientists into his work with pirates and the likes.

So what does this have to do with “looking dead and bleeding red” ?

Well, without the security of the ELLOCAST project to monitor their wellbeing, Lilith and Adam are sort of left on their own. Lilith, literally alone, kind of has to live with her “rotting organs”, including her skin.

I don’t know I used to figure that Lilith just looked like that ~just because~ but let’s be honest, she stands out immensely amongst the rest of the cast, every one looks like a regular human (with the exception of some having mutated eyes, but that’s about it)

So why doesn’t Adam look like that ? He learned a lot from ELLOCAST scientists when it comes to anatomical related experiments, so he learned how to transplants organs and blood.. including his own. So he replaced his own blood essentially.. which is why his blood is red.

The rest of the ELLOCAST project subjects have clear blood (including trials 2 and 3) so Adam is the weird one for having “normal” blood. When it comes to transplanting blood, he would have his right hand man, Seth, do that for him. Adam can’t perform surgery on himself lol

Seth was also a subject in the ELLOCAST project, but he’s in a later trial and he doesn’t have the same conditions as Adam or Lilith.

Also I think it’d be funny if Adam was the one who took Morgan’s kidney.

[fussyspace]

Those not finished, part 1

At this stage of the competition, we're just meant to read 10-30% of a book and vote yes or no on whether we want to continue/the book should advance. The team's votes are then added together to find the top 10-12, which we then read in full and score.

These are the books I gave a no vote to and didn't finish reading. There are some I finished reading and still voted no to (usually when they were short enough that it wouldn't take long to get to the end).

A no vote doesn't necessarily mean a book is bad. Please also remember that these views are my own and may not reflect the rest of the team.

Star Language, Charon Dunn

Word count: ~59,000

Cover: It's, uh... it's a vibe. I'm not sure if it's purposefully leaning into the MS Paint/Word Art aesthetic, but it's definitely there. I certainly wouldn't want to pick it up based on the cover – even improving the typography and leaving the rest alone would do wonders. It does have a certain charm to it, in the same way that the Star Wars Holiday Special does.

Blurb: 'Melina is super unlucky when it comes to mothers; hers is an abusive greedy drugged-up nightmare who sells her to traffickers. She’s a lot luckier when it comes to boyfriends – her big strong alien bae makes everyone thirst. The one department where her luck is absolutely on point has to do with her talent – a flair for learning languages that makes her the only one capable of performing translation duty once the aliens reach Earth. Trigger warning: SA, ultraviolence, 18+, explicit badness.'

I didn't really know what to make of this, beyond cringing at 'big strong alien bae' and figuring that plus the trigger warnings must mean it was erotica. It wasn't (and I admit to be a little disappointed even though that's not my thing). I'm still not sure if 'explicit badness' is meant to mean badassery or something else.

Content: I wasn’t thrilled when the book opened with the main character’s entire life story. It was, admittedly, a fairly interesting life, and I could see it was leading up to her translating for the aliens when they arrived, but there was nothing sci-fi to it for a massive whack of book. My main issue was the writing style, however, which never varied from being very simplistic and telling rather than showing. It was good that it stuck quite clearly to the narrator’s voice, but I still found it made everything feel bland and reported. It only really started getting a little more varied and interesting by the 30% mark.

When the aliens eventually arrived, they were quite uninteresting – just grey humans with a culture that’s meant to be slightly different but fundamentally isn’t, and they somehow have dinosaurs. The main character also said she loved one of the aliens at one point, but felt nothing when she was reassigned to a different alien. This might make sense on account of her backstory, but it seemed weird to me, and I was sort of interested to see what happened next but also very bored of it. I stopped reading for this reason. Given it's short, I still might read the rest of it later.

Vote to continue at 30%: No

The Rat's Nest, Adam Crookston

Word count: ~46,300

Cover: I appreciate the stylised battery diagram here. I think it's pretty neat, and works well with the text. I don't think it gives me much idea what the book's about, though, and I'm not sure I need to know that it's the first edition.

Blurb: 'In the Year 3022, the people of earth have migrated planets over 82 times, saving ones that provide useful resources and storage. After a woman goes missing on the infamous planet 28. It's up to a gifted soldier to return her to safety. A story about Self Belief, Belonging, and pushing through the worst.Will Tom survive the trails and tribulations, or will Cain take over the minds of everyone.

'Tom - An Electrician Solider with the ability to manipulate minds to his liking through the 82 government protocol. He follows the rules and still gets the bad end of the stick, but with every fight he keeps going.

'Cain - The mysterious figure with an ability to control millions through manipulation and control, his mass army of millions takes over cities on planet 28 to his liking. An ability to control desires.

'Alma - A warrior on the planet 28, she's made a world that is her own, geared with anything to be prepared for a fight. a fighter for the 82 until she was exposed to the realities of who they are.'

This is a blurb of decent enough length to get what might be inside, unlike a few others that were quite short. Unfortunately this is also where I got a glimpse of the overall quality, with sentences fragmented at random, incorrect punctuation and haphazard capitalisation. If I were looking for a book to read and read this blurb, I would give it a hard pass. It's a shame, as it sounded like it could otherwise be interesting.

Content: As hinted by the blurb, the writing quality was poor – much worse than the blurb, in fact. Full of sentence fragments, inconsistent tenses and incorrect word choices, I couldn't read more than a few pages before I had to put it down.

Vote to continue: No

Escalation, Itzhak Begerano

Word count: ~90,300

Cover: It has the feeling of some text slapped over a stock image, and it's not a stock image that tells me anything about what's inside. The author actually submitted some cartoons for the cover contest, and I believe this was adapted from an animated piece, so it would have been nice to see some of that instead.

Blurb: 'Bizarre politicians are dragging the world into a hallucinatory war.

'Two conflicted presidents, each driven by delusion and greed, dream of ruling the globe. To meet their goals, they resort to fraud, bribery, and corruption. Alexander Monroe - the president of the Democratic Organization, and Suleiman Assad - the president of the Free Islamic Forces, find themselves dragged into an inevitable war. Barney Chaplin the entertainer, the nerdy minister of education who opposes the idiotic war. He became Monroe's deputy and was sent to the front lines in the Fata Morgana desert to entertain his troops while risking his own life. The performance of President Monroe and the members of his government are examined by the government psychiatrist Professor Cheers, and everyone understands that it is better that someone supervises her as well… During the illusory war, well-known Hollywood actors who have passed their time are forced to function as deadly commandos and go beyond enemy lines.

'story possibilities

'·     '

Yes, the YouTube link is included in the blurb. The rest of the blurb is all one chunk of text that starts out pretty interesting, but then keeps dropping names and keeps getting weirder. By the end I'm not really sure what direction the book's trying to take. I'm afraid I also didn't (and still don't) understand enough about the political situations mentioned to comment, and given this a political satire, that's a fairly crucial aspect for me to lack.

Content: The first few pages of this book were completely nonsensical and a real struggle to read. Absolutely cluttered with adjectives, I couldn't tell what was going on and couldn't bring myself to read any more.

Vote to continue: No

[pjsk-writin]

(HEY!2x)

I love your youngest sibling request cause it’s so cute and wholesome. Can you do it again, but make it male twin prompt with Emu, Mafuyu, Mizuki, and An? p.s I’m the youngest, so I can relate but I’ve always wondered what it’s like to have another younger sibling.

HII!! and im glad to hear it!! but oo okok, and FAIR im personally the oldest so... but I hope you like this!! <3

♡ TWIN - Emu Otori, Mafuyu Asahina, Mizuki Akiyama and An Shiraishi x Reader

Emu:

I think there's nothing funnier than imagining Emu's twin being either the opposite or the same as her, so let me go over both-

If you're very similar to Emu, then congrats! The Otori twins are infamous for being loud-

Tsukasa and Nene will get headaches, they'll be absolutely reeling from the thought that there is not just Emu, but a twin that looks and acts exactly like her-

You two are just an absolute force of chaos, and you two always seem to understand things that nobody else does

Now, on the other hand, if you're opposites? It's also just as hilarious to witness-

Imagine a very bubbly and happy girl bouncing around with her very chill/calm twin just standing there

She will try to drag you into her silly plans, which usually turns into complete and utter chaos whether you're involved or not-

Mafuyu:

Mafuyu’s twin would probably have an...Interesting life, to say the least

She's a golden child through and through, so it's likely that all of the expectations that she has are put on your shoulders as well

The two of you compete in that field, but there's no malice behind it. You both are just trying to survive in that aspect

Whether or not your childhood impacts you the same way it does with Mafuyu, you still have the same childhood. She seeks refuge in you because of it

You're one of the few people who are allowed to see her with her guards down. She knows you've seen her true self, so she doesn't bother hiding from you

If you end up pursuing a certain passion, she'll watch you with interest. She does think that you deserve to have passions, she just wishes she had some of her own

You're also one of the few people who have seen her genuine smile. It's a nice privilege!

Mizuki:

Being Mizuki’s twin is...Also very interesting

You two grow up together just fine, if anything the two of you get along really well! They tease and joke with you all the time

But then middle school hits. And suddenly Mizuki is not the same

They're very reserved all of a sudden, refusing to tell you what's going on whenever they lock themselves in their room

It took a while for them to come to you, but you've never seen them be so relieved when you tell them that you support them no matter what <3

They start to become more and more confident in themself, and eventually, they evolve into the Mizuki you know and love today!

They definitely trust you a lot, and have made you model for them multiple times. They like to give you gifts in appreciation <3

An:

Being both An's twin and Ken's son, you are surrounded by musicians!

However, neither of them will force you into music, or even working at the WEEKEND GARAGE! An in particular is very adamant that you explore your own passions

She's a very friendly person, so if you're someone who doesn't like to socialize, chances are that she'll do all the talking for you-

She's always happy to have someone else around, and will constantly hang out with you whenever she can!

The two of you definitely learn each other’s favorite foods/drinks, and you have mini competitions to see who can make the nicest dish/drink for the other

An will go to you and ask for your help on a lot of things. She finds that you're a nice person to practice singing in front of!

She's just very sweet overall, she definitely invites you to all of VBS' performances!

[kime11e]

Let me preface this that in no way shape or form do I demean Michael and Anna, their life, their experiences in this reblog. They are real people, with real feelings. This is just a personal reflection of the year that was 2019 for Michael Sheen. Yeah, that year was pretty heavy in the sense he took on a lot more than he bargained for. Firstly I don’t know where information about his PR person quitting is found. I’d love to see sources of how the public became privy to this information. But it can be supported by his tweet way back when he became public with Anna. The fact that he personally had to do damage control about his image on social media speaks to the possibility that there may have been a gap where he was without a PR person so had to take matters in his own hands.

It also became apparent; based on the tone of this tweet that he was genuinely struggling to keep his life together.  Secondly, Michael has been notoriously known to have a stance on not having anymore children after having Lily with Kate Beckinsale. I recently read a 2023 ARTICLE FROM INSIGHT where they did a Throwback Thursday to Michael and Rachel McAdam’s relationship. The article in question is quoted: “Rachel wants to settle down and is dreaming of having a family. Michael always seemed content with their relationship. Since he already has a daughter, he feels no need to have more children,” a source told People at the time. “He wants to focus on his career.” Learning that Anna become pregnant would have hit him hard. Going from being heavily adamant about being a parent to one child, Lily. Then learning he has to parent another with someone he became newly involved with. It’s a far cry from what he expected his life would turn out to be. Now when I say “has” to parent another child, I’m saying that Michael probably didn’t want to be the absent father as he was with Lily. He has always been career oriented, and when Lily was born he was off for lengthy periods of time performing on stage and often going to the UK to commit to acting gigs while his ex partner Kate was often on her own in the US doing 2 full time jobs. Mothering and acting. I came across a source long ago where Kate said that she was left by herself rearing their child often. (I have just spent an hour trying to find this source, you’re just going to have to put faith in me that it exists). In saying this, it’s probably one of the strongest reasons why he didn’t want more kids because he didn’t want to repeat being the absent father. However then in 2019 he knew he had to make some serious life changes and decisions on what kind of father he had to be. Anna had made THIS post during her pregnancy:

“The universe has led me to where I am right now (with a bunch of active choices on me and my partner's behalf, too, obviously)” Michael was obviously not going to chuck an Owen Wilson and sire a child and never care for it. a) That would paint him as a dick. b) He couldn’t live with himself knowing he has children and not care for them, and support the mother of 2 of his children too. Contrary to many sources where he is reported saying he is “thrilled” and “excited” I wonder if he was putting on a facade which in itself is emotionally exhausting. Especially when you are a celebrity and your every action and word is being looked at under a microscope. (Then again he’s an actor and putting on a facade is second nature to him - he does it for a living). Thirdly The Homeless World Cup which was set to be held in Wales, his home. The event itself had lost all the money that was meant to facilitate it happening, and what exacerbated the situation was that this occurred only 10 weeks or so out from the start of HWC. https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/michael-sheen-port-talbot-homeless-22370362 Michael took it upon himself to ensure the event would still happen and fund it himself, because people’s livelihoods, mental health, community was at stake. He had to sell his houses and remortgage the one in the UK. He even spoke about talking to Robert Downey Jr about the event whilst filming the movie ‘Dr Dolittle’ and RDJ put money towards it. This was the time where Michael Sheen was notably on a lot of panel shows. ‘There’s Something About Movies’, ‘The Chase’, ‘Pointless Celebrities’ In my opinion this was his opportunity to earn money fast for the HWC.  To have gone through the urgency of all this, and with a pregnant live-in partner in tow. (Mind you, he probably still felt like he barely knew Anna... cue many pap images where they don’t seem to show body language that shows familiarity - my observation) 

Anna seems to be walking behind him here

Another image where she appears to be walking behind him.

This image is post HWC and Birth, but another image where she appears to be walking behind him.  Overall Michael got through this time mostly unscathed but maybe a little emotionally scarred. The way in which Michael talks about the Good Omens fandom and his fans in general getting him through the year that was 2019 seems to get him choked up. As can be seen below in the video he did with Misha Collins at 43:20 he starts to address the fans. You can tell he really struggled that year.

I see MS (and members of the fandom) refer to some personal difficulties he went through in about 2019. Do we know what this is? Do you have any guesses? Is it the breakup with SS?

Well yeah, he was caught out cheating with and knocking up APAT, he gave up all his money for the HWC, he was suddenly a sex symbol with a crazy fandom. I'd say 2019 was just the beginning of crazytimes for him, and a lot of it was detailed on this blog back then...