"And the winner of the theme song contest goes to... Roll!"
"Thank you! Thank you all for voting for me! I appreciate everyone's support!"
"Great job, sis! I knew you would win!"
"Congratulations, Roll! You won the poll! We're so proud of you!"
"Another victory for Roll!"
"Poyo! Poyo!!"
"Congratulations, Roll! You are-a numbah one! Hoo-Hoo!"
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?!?!?!?!?!? ARE YOU KIDDING MEEEEE?!??!?!?!?!?!?! SHE CHEATED!!!!!!!! CHEATED!!!!!!!!! DISQUALIFY HER!!!!! WE DESERVE THE WIN!!!! NOT HER!!!!!!!! REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
dazai making up a whole language with fyodor that no one else can understand is amazing but imagine him using codes that, very objectively speaking, you could crack, it's just that no normal person would ever make the insane leaps in logic that it requires. except for someone familiar with dazai's weird thinking patterns, that is.
i just love the idea of dazai's unhinged antics being dialed up to an eleven when he was in the port mafia, and oda being the only one who simply wouldn't bat an eye at it but chuuya was the only one who would actually get it.
like imagine ango at the end of the jailbreak, his boss saying he should allow himself to sigh and lean back and maybe indulge himself, pat him on the shoulder, tell him what he pulled off reading heart rates wasn't easy and he should be proud for being able to keep up with such a plan
but ango i-drank-with-teenage-dazai-and-also-had-the-records-for-every-soukoku-mission sakaguchi can only remember the time dazai was like using greek sign language through his breathing patterns to communicate from a submarine from beneath the pacific ocean or something, and chuuya could not fathom how no one else could understand him.
and that was the day mori signed off on skk being exclusive partners because every subordinate in the room was crying tears of blood by the time chuuya finished explaining which blood pressure level was warning them about a bomb, which blinking sequence was him conveying the vault password and which series of inhales was just him calling mori a bitch.
(ango also pointedly did not want to think about how smug dazai had looked after the mission when mori confirmed skk would only be each others' partners for efficiency and to maintain everyone else's sanity
or about how when he called chuuya to tell him about dazai's prison break scheme he could only get like 3 out of 276 steps into the plan before chuuya rolled his eyes, said "got it" then hung up and pulled the whole thing off without a hitch.)
M!A everyone's now watching the current Nintendo Direct!
"Hey guys, look! They're making a new Mario & Luigi!"
"Wow! That's-a-amazing!! I bet our @hxroic-wxlls-rxborn counterparts will be happy about this! The Mario & Luigi series will continue to live on forever!~ Woo-hoo!"
"We are-a so BACK, baby!"
"And it looks like I'll be back fighting with one of the greatest super heroes in the galaxy."
"Good to see ya, Ryu! It's been a while!"
"2024 truly is an amazing year for all of us, huh?"
She doesn't look like this right away, but a few years down the line, after she's had a chance to heal.
Companion piece to this
I knew going in that I wanted the green and the absurdly long ponytail. The most important thing was to make it easy to move in - so the train is open and flowy, and the restrictive metal from the earlier design is removed. Her crown is largely unchanged, but the purple chains have been replaced with black pearls. There is no mask (or even the hint of one. Pretend there's a mask in the other design 😭) because she doesn't feel the need to hide her emotions or discard her own needs anymore.
The looser design shows how much freer and happier Daphne is. She's found a way to come to terms with what happened to her and she bears the scars proudly. I like double meanings, so the lack of a tight skirt means this is better suited for combat as well. I'd imagine Daphne to be very aware of the reality that there's nothing stopping further horrors from finding her and hers.
Originally I tried to make the whole thing a loose gown, but bearing in mind her character development, I thought pants would suit her better. It had the effect of making this look more like her Sirenix, which wasn't intentional, but I can call it a happy accident. It is still very much Nymphix though.
Since she's no longer burdened by the Dragon Flame, she instead wears her personal symbol of a teardrop. I think it suits her, not only because she has a water association, but also because she's gone through a massive tragedy. With the loss of the Flame, she instead uses the unique dream magic that earned her her Nymph status!
wanting to talk about having a different Millennial Teen experience than the former "popular kids" who make all the nostalgia tiktoks, but not wanting to sound NLOG-y about it because you're 30 and you realize that Different doesn't mean Better