#Argos Panoptes

[theoihalioistuff]

The Murder Trial of Hermes

"Anticlides, following Xanthos the Lydian, describes the gods' response to the first murder performed by one of their number: "When Hermes had killed Argos, the guardian of Io, at Zeus' behest, he was brought to trial. He was arraigned by Hera and the other gods, because he was the first god ever to be stained with death. Now when the gods were holding this trial, they were afraid of Zeus, for Hermes had acted on his orders. They wanted both to remove this stain from their presence, and to acquit the god of murder: agitated as they were, they threw their voting pebbles at Hermes, so that a pile of stones grew at his feet." (FGH 765 F 29; 140 F 19; Eust. 1809.38-43. The sources note that passers-by are required to throw an additional stone on the pile). Both ancient and modern readers treat the incident as aetiological in design: it can elucidate the term Hermaios lophos, a cairn of stones dedicated to Hermes (Schol ad. Od. 16.471), or might supply a fanciful origin for the practice of voting with pebbles at trials." Stoning and Sight: A Structural Equivalence in Greek Mythology by Deborah T. Steiner

I wonder what Hera felt when she was tossing the stone (and if she was aiming at Hermes' head)

[shutterafterdark]

[spiralingzephyr]

monster jon concept

[aliciavance4228]

I just realized that calling Argus "Argus" instead of "Panoptes" or "Argus Panoptes" might be similar with calling Leonard Da Vinci "Da Vinci". Wrong, that is.

[tlmtwelve]

December 2024, Day 18: Argus Panoptes

Playlist:

[mghawkswood]

[birdbrain-npts]

The Beholding / Eye [TMA] ID Pack

Pt: The Beholding / Eye [TMA] ID Pack /end pt

Name: Alexandria, Arc, Archive, Argos, Argus, Basira, Behold, Beholder, Blackwood, Caecilius, Caecus, Cecille, Elias, Emma, Harvey, Iris, John, Jon, Jonah, Jonathan, Magnus, Martin, Oculus, Opsesthai, Panoptes, Prometheus, Thoth, Watcher

Pronouns: archive/archives, archivist/archivist, behold/beholder, behold/beholds, beholder/beholders, cease/ceases, eye/eyes, insti/institute, institute/institutes, judge/judges, know/knowledge, know/knows, knowledge/knowledges, mirr/mirror, mirror/mirrors, secret/secrets, si/sight, sight/sights, watch/watcher, watch/watchs, watcher/watchers, 👁️/👁️s, 🍺/🍺s, 🍻/🍻s, 📹/📹s, 🎥/🎥s, 🪞/🪞s, 📚/📚s, 🗃️/🗃️s, 🏷️/🏷️s, 🗂️/🗂️s, 📝/📝s

Titles: [the] avatar of the eye / beholding, prn who creates / records statements, prn who holds the mirror / rock eye / manual, prn who knows [secrets], prn who was cursed / blessed by the eye / beholding, prn who works in The Magnus Institute, the archivist / archival assistant, the beholder, the ceaseless watcher, the secret keeper, the watched, the watcher

Genders: Sillyeye, Omnisdoth, TMA0181206sweetartsgender, Ashsweeteyegender, Belieye, Requeye, Coineye, Archieye, Archivoccuterm, Dystgazegender, Eyebait, Archeyeic, Pyreyetin, Tmaeyehunter, Knociment, Spectoculic, Wikipediagender, Eyeangel, Eyefreak, Eyeloser, Eyeweirdo, Occunous

Other ids: Dissoeyeava, Avatar of the Eye Occuden, Eyepsese, Avatar of The Eye, The Eye Aligned, Archivist Occuden, Internet Archivist Occuden, MOGAI Archivist Occuden, Memorykeeper, Archive Emsoul, Dissconnoarchivist, Archivelexstelic, Archivistlexstelic

Text in bold is: Name, Pronouns, Titles, Genders, and Other ids respectively

All term names are links. More terms can be found here and here

Requested by Anon

Tagging @id-pack-archive and @radiomogai

[wayfind-er]

Hermes' Epithets & Myths

This list does not include every title of Hermes but provides a couple of his most commonly referred epithets and a summary of the myth behind them. 

Argeiphontes (Greek: Αργειφοντης), Slayer of Argos. (ref)

Zeus was having an affair with the beautiful nymph, Io. Hera, wife of Zeus and Goddess of Marriage and the Stars, was about to catch Zeus in the act when he transformed Io into a beautiful cow.

Hera, unimpressed and angry, demanded to receive the cow as a gift, which Zeus reluctantly agreed. She then appointed Argos Panoptes, the All-seeing Argos, to constantly watch over the transformed Io. Zeus sent Hermes to rescue his trapped lover, which Hermes did by lulling Argos Panoptes to sleep and slaying the giant. From this, Hermes was given the title Argeiphontes, and Hera memorialized Argos by placing his hundred eyes on the tail of her sacred bird, the peacock.

Psychopompos (Greek: ψυχοπομπός), Guide of Souls.

Hermes was often depicted as the only God besides Hades and Persephone who could freely enter and leave the Underworld. This is likely due to his status as God of Boundaries. In one story, Eurystheus tasked Heracles with descending into the Underworld to find Hades’ hound, Cerberus, up to Earth. Hermes acts as his guide and leads Heracles to the Underworld (ref).

Polutropos/Polytropos (Greek: πολῠ́τροπος ), Of Many Shifts

This is a less common epithet of Hermes; however, it describes him well. In the Hymn to Hermes, πολῠ́τροπος is translated as “of many shifts,” implying that Hermes is a God of many facets due to his resourcefulness, making him well-versed, well-traveled, and extremely multi-faceted. Hermes is introduced as:

“For then she bare a son, of many shifts, blandly cunning, a robber, a cattle driver, a bringer of dreams, a watcher by night, a thief at the gates, one who was soon to show forth wonderful deeds among the deathless gods.” (ref)

divider by @/firefly-graphics

[bugwolfsstuff]

Alright i've laid out the rules ive made up for son of god of sleep/dreams Hermes! Cecil

Feel free to give me suggestions :)

He can wander people's dreams freely.

Sleeping drugs dampen or stop his powers depending on the dosage (he only did this during and a while after the Titan War, Lou ellen helped him in getting them)

Since Hermes is referred to as bringer of dreams, he can make and give people dreams but once they're given he cannot alter or control the dreams.

However he can hide things in the dreams (think a delivery man hiding your package behind a plant pot or something) at any time

He can't make people fall asleep unless Hermes gave him a tool like a wand or something for that* but no one would ever trust him with something like that...right?

*Quotes that I got the wand idea from (it likely means the Herald's wand in myth but still) under the cut:

"There were sentries . . . but about these the courier Argeiphontes drifted sleep, on all [with his wand]." —Homer, Illiad

"And he [Hermes] took the rod that lulls men's eyes for him, at his pleasure, or awakens others when they slumber."

"[Hermes] held in his hand the golden rod that he uses to lull men's eyes asleep when he so wills, or again to wake others from their slumber." —both are Homer, Odyssey

"[Hermes] grasped in his fist the wand that charms to sleep, put on his magic cap, and thus arrayed . . . sprang from his father's citadel down to earth [to slay the monster Argos Panoptes]. There he removed his cap, laid by his wings; only his wand he kept . . . Cyllenius [Hermes] saw all Argus' eyelids closed [after soothing him with the music of a shepherd's-pipe] and every eye vanquished in sleep. He stopped and with his wand, his magic wand, soothed the tired resting eyes and sealed their slumber."

"[Hermes] saw that his wand, the wand he wields to bring and banish sleep, shone with a polish."

"Mercurius [Hermes] with his wand that soothes to slumber touched her [Khione] on the lips; touch-tranced she lay and suffered his assault [he lay with her]." —All 3 are *sigh* regretfully from Ovid, Metamorphoses 

[drconstellation]

Giving Wings to Peacocks

GOD: Do you know the rules of the heavens? Did you set the constellations in the sky? Can you send lightning bolts and get them to report back to you? Did you give wings to peacocks, Job, or teach the ostrich to run?

There was a post recently about Jimbriel's glorious ostrich feather coat that he dons to give himself up to the demons during the storming of the book shop, and how this links him to the line about the ostriches. Somebody made a tick list, and the only one left was the line about peacocks. I'm pretty sure that one is about Michael - it's just... it would be the only reference that is not in S2, but in S1. I dunno, perhaps if I explain it, someone else will find the S2 link.

How does Michael connect with peacocks? They are covered in eyes. Eyes everywhere. Eyes on their angel ring, eyes on their sleeves, eyes on their ear rings, eyes on their buttons, they run the surveillance network in Heaven. They are always watching.

The peacock's tail is also covered in "eyes." In Greek mythology Argus Panoptes (Argos the All-seeing) was a giant covered in a hundred eyes and never had to sleep. He could rest some of his eyes but the others would stay open. This made him an effective guard, and Hera set him to guard the nymph Io, who had been transformed into a white heifer to hide her from Zeus. Zeus sent clever Hermes to release Io. He either charmed Argus asleep or slew him, but either way Io escaped and Argus was slain and Io swam across the sea now named after her to the shores of Egypt. Distraught at the fate of her faithful servant, Hera put the eyes of Argus on the tail of her sacred bird, the peacock.

Obviously Michael can already fly - they are an angel, they have wings! So we should consider "getting their wings" in a more metaphorical sense, like getting experience in something, or a promotion, perhaps. And that would have happened in the Great War.

Oh, so how you going to prove that, op? What if I told you you'd already seen it? Back in S1, at Tadfield Manor where we are seeing a re-creation of the Great War in Heaven? Yep, there is an awful lot going on there, and it was an almost blink and miss it kind of moment.

Here's the first time I can definitely identify Michael, the red-headed lass who runs past the duo and asks "who's winning?"

And you know how I know it's Michael? Because she is one who brings down Lucifer/Norman. And traditionally Michael is the angel who throws down Lucifer.

(I can't do gifs at the moment, and no one seems to have made one of the exact moment I need, so I'll try to explain it.)

We've established that the rebelling angels are the yellow side, and Lucifer/Norman has just declared war on Gabriel/Nigel's red side, and donned his tie-halo. He runs out to attack and is struck down.

We are shown the face of manager Gabriel/Nigel first - but he's in shock. He didn't fire the bullet! The camera shot pans to the right and behind to show us !Michael, gun still raised, smiling at the success of their aim.

Lucifer/Norman !Falls to the ground. Is he dead? No, he has miraculously survived, of course.

Because this little "training initiative" was God's way of determining who would be the best new leaders, and there were now vacancies, I see this as !Michael getting promoted and "getting their wings."

And that, folks, is my theory on how Crowley gave wings to peacocks.

[autistic-sidestep]

pinned post

hello i'm aurrie (they/them). i do the fh art/shitposts/unhinged meta/codediving because [gestures at username]. i lurk on reddit as Affectionate-Mode-55 or aurrie in the cog forums (idk how the latter works and at this point i'm too afraid to ask).

i'm currently working on building the FHR wiki on miraheze!

i am always discovering new (old?) content and i'm in a hell of my own making

resources, mine

link to gdrive of publically available FHR stories and from malin's mainblog

organised and indexed official FHR blog asks/text posts because tumblr's search function Sucks <3 (direct link to gdrive) designed to work with bookish's search tool here

sidestep physical scar map/guide

charting rebirth/retri events timeline (yet to be transcribed)

other people's fh resources

choiceofgames codediving tutorial

savegame editor (steam/desktop only)

comprehensive retribution walkthrough/guide (seriously, kudos to oldsoul--newmachine)

assorted other fh guides

other stuff

codediving tag

general fh talkings

sidestep autism moments

meta

art tag / my artblog

tip jar if you like my stuff

cohost

pillowfort

my sidesteps

suranga fernando (main) / puppet: juno / villain name: argos / misc: panoptes syndicate / freddie purrcury the lint monster / suramortum (mortumstep) tag

kat becerra

[cigarettesandinevitablebetrayal]

OC Kiss Week - Day One

Alright, so, it's OC Kiss Week and I've decided to do a few little microfiction pieces, of my Sidesteps stealing kisses from other's Sidesteps. First victim is @autistic-sidestep and their lovely Suranga as menaced by my character Remus! This, ostensibly, take place in the Birds of a Feather AU.

“You work too much, you know.” It’s not a question, but Remus still looks at Argos for a response.

“The Panoptes don’t run themselves.” She sighs, blinking away the bleariness in her eyes as she looks up to see him hop onto the corner of her desk. “And what would you suggest?” It teases, as though it doesn’t know.

Remus leans forward so far it’s a wonder he doesn’t fall off the desk. He’s just inches from Argos’ face. “I can think of a few things.” He shifts, reaching for the arm of Argos’ chair and missing it. His eyes widen, smile falling, as he teeters before toppling into Argos face-first.

Swearing as Remus’ forehead collides hard with his, Argos only just manages to grab Remus to keep him from hitting the floor. Remus’ hands tighten around its lapels and he laughs as he steadies himself. “What would I do without you,” he says a little breathlessly. He leans up quickly, stealing a kiss.

“Make an utter fool out of yourself, probably,” she laughs. Before he can protest, they pull him in for another kiss, feeling him melt instantly into the touch. He can be so easy to distract sometimes.

[perroulisses]

my biggest flex is that i have a stenopeic camera with a drawing of Argos Panoptes on it

[aliciavance4228]

I initially thought I was experiencing the Mandela Effect because I always believed that Argus has one thousand eyes, whereas lots of sites reffer to him as the "hundred-eyed giant".

So I did a quick search on the Internet and... apparently even the ancient poets couldn't agree on how many eyes does this guy have.

Here there are mentioned only four eyes:

Hesiod or Cercops of Miletus, Aegimius Frag 5 : "And [Hera] set a watcher upon her [Io], great and strong Argos, who with four eyes looks every way. And the goddess stirred in him unwearying strength: sleep never fell upon his eyes; but he kept sure watch always."

Aeschylus didn't even bother to write a number and described him as "myriad-eyed":

Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 566 ff (trans. Weir Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) : "Io : Oh, oh! Aah! Aah! A gad-fly (oistros), phantom (eidôlon) of earth-born (gêgenês) Argos is stinging me again! Keep him away, O Earth! I am fearful when I behold that myriad-eyed herdsman. He travels onward with his crafty gaze upon me; not even in death does the earth conceal him, but passing from the shades he hounds me, the forlorn one, and drives me famished along the sands of the seashore."

Pseudo-Apollodorus simply said that he has eyes all over his body:

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2. 4 ff (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "The son of Ekbasos (Ecbasus) [son of Argos, son of Zeus and Niobe,] was Agenor, and his son was Argos surnamed Panoptes. This man had eyes all over his body. He was extremely powerful, and killed the bull that raged through Arkadia (Arcadia) whose hide he used as a cloak."

Finally, Ovid describes him as having one hundred eyes:

Ovid, Metamorphoses 1. 624 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "The goddess won her rival, but distrust lingered and still she feared her husband's tricks, till, for safe-keeping, she had given the cow to Arestorides (Son of Arestor)--Argus of the hundred eyes, all watching and on duty round his head, save two which took in turn their sleep and rest. 

Finally, according to Statius he has one thousand eyes:

Statius, Silvae 5.4.1 (trans. Mozley) (Roman elegy C1st A.D) : "The thousand eyes of sacred Argus, which he kept but in alternate watchfulness, nor even waked in all his frame at once."

[o5-the-daughter]

What sort of monster was he? Is that a specific thing that's covered in eyes?

Our primary guess is that he was a version of Argos Panoptes, but we didn't get to research that theory further.

[aurrieattorney]

it has been a While since I've remembered/interacted with any fallen hero stuff but I AM dying to know more abt suranga so pls. holds out hands.

(uhhhhh my brain is a little bit scrambled by exhaustion so please heed that there's some tough themes from the source material in this, but at least a cw for mention of suicide and eating disorders)

[inhale] ok SO 

Basically, i missed original suranga a lot given i made him when things were kind of going to shit in my life, and my very nebulous webcomic iteration wasn’t scratching the itch to have him back quite enough, and round about early feb i found out retri was coming out.

So i kinda did a redux of him, keeping some of the things i had and tossing out others while adding other stuff. Much of this i’ve already yelled at with joel and mort, but i’ve never actually sat down and put all those yellings together lol. He’s lebanese-sri lankan (not that he would know, just generally he’s some unplaceable kind of south/west asian and using that to his advantage for fake names) and his voiceclaim, both speaking and singing (suranga sings! both in arabic and english) is hamed sinno (though sameer gadhia also works). For faceclaims, basically the closest person i can get to faceclaim inspo is varada sethu, esp pre-transition with the nose and the skin-tone. He’s also a little bit taller at just under 5’5’’ rather than 5’1 cos I took mercy on him, but he still has to crane his neck to look at ricardo being the giant he is (though suranga Did used to be 5’6’’ before HB fucked his spine up, and becoming even shorter than ortega makes him very grumpy).

freddie purrcury the lint monster is still there, but suranga adopts him pre-hb (ie. sidestep days). It’s thanks to fred that suranga stays with the rangers after a near-miss with the media (which i’m writing a fic up about!), and helps him grow into himself by having to look after another being. After HB, ricardo takes him briefly while he figures out what to do with himself. He’d ultimately love to keep fred but knows he can’t do a very good job of it esp after he decides he can’t retire yet, so fred goes to elena’s (spoilers for retri ending, theres a path where you can visit her ranch!!). I’m still deciding when would be the best point for them to reunite but basically suranga very sad w/o his cat, someone help him :(

however! He’s a mob step (at least, that’s what i’ve tended to default to, i love the crime found family :3 anarchist is also a good fit tho, and i’ve read through the code for thief which could also be fitting, so i’m planning to do), i debated whether he’d want to let the gang in on his identity and the base and ultimately decided yes, it was worth it if he wanted their full trust. He also accidentally becomes a parental figure to nehal, the gang’s driver, which is unexpected for everyone, suranga especially dsakjlfdksj. nehal has spud the pomeranian now, who essentially acts as the gang’s mascot. I have a few ideas about writing fic about their misadventures b/c i am very soft about them and suranga having people who’ve got his back

i changed his suit and his villain name (Argos) to be peacock themed! (here’s some concept sketches i’ve been sitting on a while lol, it’s meant to be imposing but whether it’s actually that remains to be said lol, mysterious might fit better

I was inspired by my trip to a SL temple belonging to a god which has peacocks associated with him, as well as music and dance. Peacocks fit well with his high arrogance anyway (tho his arrogance/obscurity stat might fluctuate a bit depending on the scenario). Thus, his gang is called the panoptes. This also extends to the cyranga au with @/geek-o13’s cyrus, whose villain name is Helios, and whose namesake is also sometimes described with the panoptes epithet :D if i go into that au this post might double in length so i’ll save that for another one, but thinking about the dynamic between the two and bouncing ideas back and forth brings me so much serotonin :’) 

i know for sure suranga would have the speed mod, as it’s what i always pick, but it might make more sense strategy wise to flip from strength (which, ouch, poor rangers) to telepathy to play to what he does best, (yes to cape, cos he’s a theatre nerd in spite of the inner edna mode telling him not to lol, spent so much time designing the stupid armor and sitting in the library as yasmin poring over books for inspo.) 

i’ve also decided suranga’s got chronic pain/fatigue from the fall in HB, especially in his legs and lower back (like… that was a four storey fall. i’m doubting the farm would bother to fix sidestep’s body enough to given them full mobility/painlessness again if they’re using the MC for experiments, doesn’t seem like giving them back those things was high on the list :V), and therefore also uses a back brace and a custom-made telescopic cane he made himself that can be extended/collapsed as necessary. He also wears a leg holster over his clothes that he can slot the cane into when he doesn’t feel like carrying it. Or doesn’t want to draw attention to himself by having it fall over like thirty times after propping it against something lol. it’s also on the same leg he had the holster for his gun during his sidestep days (and the cane also can function as a self-defense weapon in a pinch). The cane very much becomes part of his physical body language, he’ll gesture/point with it, fidget by twirling it around (he’s dropped it a lot practicing, but he’s a real pro these days) knock on doors with it, or hook things with the handle, etc etc. fhr having a bunch of medical advancements in commonplace prosthesis makes a realy interesting thought experiment about what ableism would look like, esp when chen’s (and to some extent ortega’s) conversations bring up that mods aren’t all great and come with their own issues/challenges.

He’s still a tech/fighterstep, but he’s had to think more like a tactician since then cos he can’t rely so much on his body in fights, which is making me consider doing a tactician run to see if it fits. Anyway, the powersuit mortum makes is basically a mobility aid of sorts, but he has to be careful not to overdo it. He keeps pain meds on him/uses adaptive tools around his apartment (during rebirth, it’s a comfortable flat, and one of the lower ones of the complex in the off-chance the lift breaks down, before he moves into the flat above the tech shop being used as a front for the panoptes) ie. shower chair, a grabber so he doesnt have to bend too far down if he’s dropped something/otherwise would need to get onto a step-stool and potentially eat shit if he loses balance, generally having places to sit throughout the flat in reach, heat pads, etc. 

sometimes he has a habit of drinking (so a secondary vice to sweets) as a way of coping with the pain when it gets a lot, but he tries not to do it too much, and only in the privacy of his apartment. i noticed in the code diving that this vice develops because of telepathy being so energy-intensive, and that a sweets vice mc will also want food in general, not just sweets. Given one of ortega’s love languages is sharing food, they work really well with a sweets vice sidestep, romanced or friendship route :D suranga might have some kind of eating disorder alongside textural issues with food where some days he’s just not able to eat anything. He doesn’t generally do meat, because he likely never had it at the farm and is too expensive in the FEZ anyways, fish is usually ok, but pre-HB if he was having it at his flat, he had to make sure fred couldn’t eat it while he wasn’t looking lol

Basically i’m projecting some of my own crip problems onto suranga and no one can stop me lol. 

Anyway, that also means he really understands chen as a fellow physically disabled person when they start talking in retri (ortega has their own can of worms with the military-grade mods giving back their ability to walk after being paralyzed by the accident way back when they first meet chen), ie. understanding why he named his dog spoon. I’d like to hc that given how happy suranga was with fred, after hb, part of chen’s decision to adopt a dog was that he saw how helpful it was for him, even if he didn’t fully trust suranga, but! given Suranga’s a techstep, it’s canon that techstep mcs used to help chen manage his mods/do tune-up (which would require some degree of trust) and there’s even an option in retri when you meet him at HQ where you notice he’s having problems with his prosthetic limbs and suggest how to adjust it so it works better, which is a nice touch - tactician steps also played chess with him in their downtime!

He’s got yasmin to hop into if his own body gets laid up too bad, but he’s still got reservations about what he does with her body (flirting for information is alright, but no romantic relationships/sex). Her being (presumably) cis, at first it’s a little disconcerting having to perform being a woman again, but the more he gets used to being her, the more he realises feminine stuff isn’t so bad when it’s an opt in thing and begins to experiment with his own presentation sometime between rebirth and retri now he’s got a bit more freedom and confidence to try now he’s debuted as a villain.

He’s always had a fascination with how one can change how they’re perceived just in the way they carry themself, how they dress/behave etc (which then led to an interest in costumes/theatre/fashion, and i’m imagining if there were powerpoint nights at the rangers, suranga would come in with a 20 slide presentation on tearing into x villain of the week’s fit, much to themmy’s delight)

He also has an interest in sewing instead of knitting (although he still does that too, it’s just that sewing is his main thing now, which first started out as fixing holes in his clothes rather than just throw them out, then began teaching himself from books, and then on a trip to tia elena’s, asks about the broken sewing machine she never really used, and then fixes it. Elena teaches him a few of the basics, then he gets into making his own clothes, and makes a gift for elena as thanks (an embroidered shawl with sunflowers on it :3)

this then meshes really well with the puppetmaster scar (in retri, the suicidal scar from rebirth becomes a seperate tag and there’s options throughout the game to convert it to one of the other scars), which has funky implications esp when paired with fate motivation as a fourth-wall break/slightly self-aware kind of step, BUT ALSO THE AUTISM SCRIPT THING (the mc/sidestep is so autistic coded, which makes sense given the author is also autistic). If you’re a baby regene escapee that’s used to following scripts and orders, once you break out there’s only so much you can do before you have to do improv, something something how do you know what your real personality is when you’ve always had to perform? Puppetmaster being similar in flavour to the outsider scar (his original scar, iirc) with a few more bells and whistles, I think it’s p fitting, esp since it works with the strings/thread stuff featuring a lot more heavily in retri, ie. more opportunities to possess people/meet other telepaths/reflect on your relationship to your puppet (yasmin, tall latina gal in suranga’s case). I have no idea how much spoilers you’d want for retri but i’ve been code-diving big time, specifically cos retri is such a sprawling beast of code/divergent story paths.

Suranga is still a pining dumbass for ortega except from afar as the secret crush route, which hasn’t changed (although he’s a bit more clued in that ortega is up to something and has to keep his guard up somewhat). this is made DOUBLY hilarious when also paired with the chenmance (SPOON!!!!!!!!) wherein you find out chen also. has a crush on ricardo. You have to see chen instead of going to hoots with ortega to find that out tho (what a mess lol, everyone here assumes the others are straight.)

I’m angling for the poly route, since so far in retri you can only set up for it, as opposed to chargentstep where if you’re already dating ortega and you get the auction kiss with argent and mention that, you can say you want both of them and there’s no issue cos actually, ortega (julia AND ricardo) flirted with argent when she first joined, and she also likes them lol.

SPEAKING OF ARGENT suranga did enjoy fighting her (if with some degree of stress because ‘oh shit, you would be so mad if you knew i was in your head’ and being an unknown), such that he doesn’t use telepathy against her out of respect even though that’s the only thing mostly keeping them matched. On the bridge, he flirts with her to throw her off, accidentally leaning too much into his yasmin confidence, then gets confused by her actually being interested and then has to re-evaluate what exactly his gameplan is with her. He gets kissed (and bitten) at the auction when he takes his helmet off, and then when he turns up at the HQ has a very awkward conversation with her in the breakroom trying to figure out what the hell their relationship is (some kind of weird friends but the argentmance route is very cute too)

Herald/daniel is kept at arms length, suranga’s his coach and thinks he’s nice enough but a bit sensory overload with all his thoughts (he can’t really teach by sparring since he’s not up to par anymore, and it’s kind of half-true, outside of the suit he can only do so much, but he can offer pointers/maybe bring in nehal?) - maybe or maybe doesn’t pick up on the crush, idk

there's plenty more to add i likely forgot but that has been an Infodump abt suranga the current favourite oc, THANK YOU FOR INDULGING ME <3