#Please don't take this too seriously

[angelshizuka]

Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) - Kate Bush

[danshive]

The idea that someone stops being bi if they're currently in a man-woman relationship suggests that sexuality is dependent upon who you are currently with, and not who you are attracted to.

This further suggests that, when single, a person enters a null state of sexuality I shall henceforth refer to as "Schrödinger s sexuality", being of no sexuality until a mate is found.

Further study is required to determine the threshold needed to be satisfied to exit the state of Schrödinger s sexuality.

While possible the relationship might need to be committed, the actual requirement could be something as non-committed as friends with benefits, or as frivolous as holding hands.

The duration of one's sexuality also has yet to be determined.

While it is assumed that a committed relationship will passively refill one's sexuality, how often does experiencing "friends with benefits" do this? Is it for a time after the shared experience as good buddies no really it's nothing serious, or does it end immediately after?

Does holding hands provide an active boost for several hours? Days? Is it only for the duration of hand holding?

In pursuit of my doctorate, I hope to find answers to these questions and more. All I require now is proper funding. With your help...

[zettaireido-emotion]

Camus character analysis: games VS anime

If you finished the Uta no Prince-sama anime and your opinion of this man is "wow, he's kinda terrible," I don't blame you. in fact I've seen a lot of people say this

In this post, I want to talk about his characterization in the games and give my two cents on what the anime was trying to do with him, especially in his single focus episode Saintly Territory (S3E6).

Disclaimer: I wrote this on a whim because I'm sick and stuck at home so if anyone reads this, sorry I might go all over the place

Spoilers for all of the games!

The "be my slave" thing

Starting with Anime Camus's most egregious crime: treating Haruka like a servant/slave (however you want to translate it)

Basically in his focus episode, Haruka is tasked with writing a song for Camus. She wants to learn more about him in order to write it, but Camus will only let her follow him if she acts as his servant. She accepts without complaining, Cecil is rightfully angry, Haruka continues anyway and the song gets completed.

Now, am I about to say that Game Camus would never do this? No because he literally does lmao.

The anime doesn't pull this "servant" plotline out of nowhere, here's the context in his route:

Haruka accidentally overhears Camus talking about a plot to assassinate Saotome on the phone. When he notices that she heard everything, he basically tells her that he has to kill her now. But if she served him, he'd be able to keep an eye on her, make sure she doesn't leak anything, so she could escape death.

Okay uh "work under me or DIE" isn't exactly better, nor is it a good start to a love story, but I'm not finished!!

(A side note: I have to add that the anime made him look like an even bigger asshole and borderline dumb when it came to the things he made her do. Like he expected her to know that snapping your fingers means you want coffee without prior explanation. bro

^This might have been for comedic effect but I promise he can be actually funny and endearing.)

What the anime couldn't cover

The Camus episode wraps up with Haruka pulling through and writing a song that makes Camus "sincere," he says it's cool at the very end and that's the episode. I think the problem is that we technically didn't see him being sincere or what that even means to him, besides when he was singing (banger song btw)

It's a shame because in a 20-minute episode you really can't show the game experience of slowly piecing together what this man's problem is.

First of all, in Debut and AS you'll be quick to notice that he always has homeland and duty on the mind, constantly reminding himself that he's in Shining Agency/Japan for a reason, and it's NOT to have fun or make friends

The truth is, he slowly starts to appreciate the banter with his colleagues, music, and working there in general.

But because of his initial mindset, he has to rationalize & justify every connection he forms, like "it's just for work" or worse: "actually it was ALL A LIE and I NEVER ENJOYED A SECOND OF THE TIME WE SPENT TOGETHER, I'm such a great actor haha"

He uses that to fool himself and to push the other person away so it doesn't happen again. This scene is probably the best example:

(I'll be using google lens because it's faster but I checked that the tls were okay)

He also does this in the Non-Fiction drama, which may or may not have actually happened, but I think it's still a pretty good reflection of what could happen in reality because he tells Ranmaru their bond was a lie, then mopes around in his guilt thinking about the good times and wondering why he's sad, and THEN later doubles down on the "it was a lie, I don't care about you" because he just can't let himself get attached to anything.

Basically, he's terrified at the thought of forming actual bonds because he genuinely thinks he's nothing if he stops being a cold weapon:

At one point he does admit he sucks (as a love interest)-

-which is pretty huge by utapri standards. I love these games, but the amount of times where a male lead does something icky, and everyone, including Haruka, acts like it's normal or like it's Haruka's fault is ehhh but I digress

Upbringing

Of course he's very proud of his homeland and status, but sometimes it's to the point of thinking he can't be anything other than his title. So why is he like this?

We got to hear about his childhood from Camus himself a few times, and it often ended with Haruka thinking "wait? that's kinda messed up?" and Camus insisting it's nothing/it's normal so yeah that's something...

His parents were in an unhappy arranged marriage, and his mother was forced to birth an heir which traumatized her so much that she can't see Camus without falling ill. Overall it's a pretty tragic situation since what happened to her was horrible, though not Camus's fault either. Even now she refuses to see him, and I wouldn't say that makes him sad because he never really met her, but simply knowing of her sacrifice probably adds a lot of pressure. As in, he only exists for this one purpose (inheriting his father's title and serving the country), so if he doesn't play his part correctly, it would have all been for nothing.

He was raised by his father not as a child or son but as the heir, always treated and judged as an adult (even during physical training apparently, make of that what you will)

When Haruka asks about childhood memories he has a very hard time finding something that doesn't have to do with his duties or the nation. And then admits he didn't truly have a "childhood" since he was never treated like a child

As for the queen, I think his love for her is sincere: she taught him a lot of things growing up, and according to him, she's also a victim trapped by her duties so he wants to ease the burden.

So hypothetically, if he found things or people that made him happy in Japan, he would feel obligated to lock them away because that happiness is incompatible with his life: he'll have to leave when his mission ends, he shouldn't be spending time on things that aren't "useful" as he doesn't have the free will to pursue them

In his mind he's completely tied down by the fact that he was born and raised for a single reason, and the fact that he does want to serve the queen.

(This is Saotome describing him btw)

Also it might sound ridiculous to bring his self-worth into question because of how pretentious he is, but I've counted a few situations where he seemed to have complete disregard for his own life, only worrying about Haruka and Cecil's safety in scenes when they were present. And he thinks wanting to be loved unconditionally is a childish thought he shouldn't have.

"Double Face" was a lie. There's like at least 10 layers

On the surface he does have two personas, his perfect polite butler act for the media, and his cold bitchy attitude off camera. But honestly, even when he's not acting as a butler, he's often putting up a front to hide any form of vulnerability (from himself as well)

His main struggle is finding who he is outside of what he's being told to do. Before, he never actually stopped to think about what he WANTS because it just never occurs to him, or if it does he ignores it.

That's why realizing that he has his own desires is essential to his character development, and him staying with Quartet Night (and Haruka in his routes) is so important. It's why Reiji feels the need to reach out and when he does, Camus either freezes up or tears up;

This all makes him the opposite of Ranmaru (being true to yourself and sincere), and similar to Ai (gradually learning to view the world in a less cold and logical way), but I kind of want to save that for another post lmao

He is especially hard on Cecil because Cecil says & does whatever he wants, and everything still works out for him, which is a way of life that Camus can't imagine for himself at all (despite maybe wanting it?)

That he can realize this and eventually admit out loud, despite all his pride, is also one of my favorite things about him

Season 2 does hint at something, so that's pretty cool!

Side note, I really love that his theme in the new Oracle series is "Change," the melting of ice.

So what was the anime supposed to do??

Of course there's no way to show all this in a single episode or even during the runtime of the anime, and I never expected them to because the story is very surface-level (that goes for all characters).

It's just unfortunate since the anime is the most accessible and well-known utapri media in the western fandom, and the character's main episode is bound to leave the biggest impression.

I understand the choice of being laser-focused on the servant plotline, it's supposed to be funny (?) and waters him down to a trope that's easy to understand at first glance (the step-on-me guy I guess)

Still, I can't help but compare it to Ranmaru's episode, who was also hard to work with in the games but was chill in S3E7 and got to pet cats. Anime onlys will never know how much Camus loves to dote on his dog smh.....

[taranzas-biggest-fan]

meta knight's revenge or something idk i never played the game

[wizardyandcheesesammich]

Taking into account the new announcements

[sosadraws]

Behold! The character has has been living in my head rent-free since january/february, but just recently I sat down to draw.

…idk, this is deeply inspired by my own characterization of MYNAH units, where they're the kind of replika that avoid confrontation at all costs, never act/present themselves in a way that could be considered "threatening," even at the cost of their own comfort, and avoid acknowledging negative emotions, leaving it as an "it is what it is" kind of thing. This is combined with the usual eusan replika mindset of having a back-and-white way of thinking, never questioning what's going on in their surroundings, and just doing what they're told to do.

So I think it would be interesting to have this mynah (originally named MNHR-S2307 “Eisen”) stumble upon this pair of gestalts who have also been on Leng. They slowly warm up to her and share their own experiences there that (as well as the typical persona degradation stuff) clash with her own world views, recontextualize her old memories, and slowly erode all her layers of denial. She finally comes to terms with her gestalt identity, how often she got taken advantage of at S-23, and how terrible the Nation can actually be. While discovering the truth takes a big toll on her, she decides to use her newfound freedom and wisdom to build herself a new life under the name of “Sasha” and do her best to bring happiness to the two people who genuinely view her as family.

[starcurtain]

Every once in a while a character comes along who evokes such a strong maternal response in me that I can barely engage in their fandom.

Saw a single thirst trap of Ororon and bout took my slipper off to smack some manners into the OP.

MY BOY is too pure for this world, TOO SWEET--!!

[galedekarios]

ever since the announcement that gale's canon age will be revealed soon-ish, i'm now very attached to my gale is at least one century old headcanon and he just never corrected anyone in their assumption that he's only around ~40yo bc a) it never came up and b) it honestly didn't occur to him to mention it.

1300yo elminster still calls him m'boy.

and, most importantly, he's still tara's little love.

[amayradraws]

I didn't know this was MegaWOKE

[platadesangre]

continuing the 2000 mary / judas discourse

[robotichedgehog]

I'm so sorry that you have to see this

Forgot to post yesterday sigh

got distracted by roblox

[zuko-always-lies]

AITA, Reddit?

So I (60M) grew up the crown prince of this country bent on world conquest. I figured I might as well as get involved in the family business, so I joined in and spent a few decades conquering places. This had the added benefit of making my divine monarch father (95 M but he's dead) happy, plus I knew from a dream I had when I was seven that I had a divinely blessed destiny to conquer Ba Sing Se, which is like the biggest city ever.

Anyways, this whole "conquering things" and burning them down went on for a while, and I even got my wonderful son (20M but also dead unfortunately) involved too. All the while my younger brother(45M) was jealous and would often throw temper tantrums about my success. He would complain that our dad favored me over him, what was absolutely not true at all. I loved my brother to death though but he just never seemed to really grow up. I think it's my fault maybe for not guiding him properly.

Anyways, eventually my brother married my sister in law(35F). They seemed like a great match and were having kids in no time. They had two kids, my nephew (17M) who I took a liking to even when he was a baby and a girl (15F) who always seemed fussy and unfeminine.

Anyways, when my nephew was like 8 myself and my son took off with a huge army to besiege Ba Sing Se for like 600 days. It was bloody affair but you can't go carrying out world conquest and fulfilling destinies without breaking a few hundred thousand eggs. I even got my nephew a gift I looted from an enemy general, a knife with a really cool inscription. I sent the girl a gift too because I had to, a doll or something similar that I looted; I hoped it would make her more proper girly and less of a tomboy.

We were winning the siege and about to conquer the city but then unfortunately my beloved son was killed by an enemy soldier. I was overcome by grief and immediately ordered the army to withdraw. I then left it in the middle of combat and personally left. I know it sounds bad but you have to understand that my son dying was the worst thing ever to happen to anyone and totally justifies it. I went on a bit of a walkabout around and realized this whole "world conquest," "conquering," and "ruling the world" thing just wasn't for me anymore. I really just felt like retiring but of course I was the crown prince so I really couldn't.

Fortunately, when I got back home, I found that my brother had murdered my father and sister in law and stolen the throne. I know it sounds bad but boys will be boys and I didn't want it anymore so I didn't really care. My brother was even really chill about me being back home again and invited me to all his war meetings. I think he was showing off his power or something; it was really adorable. Anyways I kind of felt the whole war thing wasn't very morally good at this point but I still did my best to give valuable advice at the war meetings.

So everything was working out surprisingly well but there was one massive problem. The girl was just completely taking the limelight away from my nephew. She was really smart and good at fighting and fiercely competitive and everything, everything a girl shouldn't be. She played with fire, not dolls. I expected her father to smack her down and put her in her place, but instead he lavished attention on her and neglected his son instead. He began disparaging my nephew and comparing him negatively to the girl, which was very wrong since she was someone who should be focused on having babies and getting married while my nephew was the first born son and the crown prince and deserved accolades for that alone. But to be clear, this was all the girl's fault, not my brother's fault. He never was the best at controlling himself and retaining a clear mind and she took advantage of that by trying to impress her father rather than quieting her competitive spirit and letting her brother maintain his proper place. Plus she criticized my decision to abandon the whole siege thing, which is not how you're supposed to treat a respected elder.

Anyways, all of this made me feel wrong. I really wanted to discipline the girl but she had her father bewitched and there is zero chance he'd allow that, but I figured I could at least give my nephew some positive attention for a change. I got to know him better and he reminded me both of my brother when he was younger and my own son, and I realized I had kind of found two second chances (or maybe even three) in one with him, so I really made a real effort to support him. My nephew could be mean and disrespectful and violent and impulsive, but I always knew he had pure heart behind it all.

Anyways, things were going OK for a while but then they suddenly got much worse. My brother had unjustly banned my 13 year old nephew from a war meeting(probably the girl's fault somehow), so I let him in. Then my nephew, with his big, pure heart, verbally attacked a general for a callous plan, so my brother challenged my nephew to a duel and burned him when he didn't fight back. I just kind of watched (but I'm pretty sure my niece was smirking about the whole thing).

Anyways, I felt kind of guilty about the whole thing, so when my brother banished my nephew to look for the Avatar(a demigod who hadn't been seen for 100 years), I went with my nephew even though what I really wanted to do was stay retired and drink tea all day. This search went on for three whole years as my nephew threw tantrums and randomly attacked people in his search, but boys will be boys and I knew he had a pure heart. I tried to encourage good qualities in him by giving him proverbs but I'm not sure if he got any (but I like my proverbs too much to stop using them). I tried to teach him better firebending but he never really had the patience for it. I guess I tried to get my nephew to stop and smell the roses but that was never going to work.

Eventually the actual Avatar(12 M) showed up (I wasn't expecting that!). The chase went on for another few months. I helped my nephew when I could and encouraged him to keep up the chase, but ultimately we ended at the Northern Water Tribe, where I helped a crazy Admiral named Zhao (45 M) as he tried to conquer the NWT but it was all only to cover for my nephew trying to catch the Avatar. Zhao gave off a lot of self-destructive conquest vibes(I should know-conquest was me at some point) but I still helped him. Anyways, Zhao tried to destroy the moon, I had to try to stop him, it kind of worked, and my nephew and I were forced to flee south on a raft.

We spent some time in a resort, but then the crazy girl showed up and claimed my brother wanted us back. I knew that was sus as hell, it turned out my brother wanted to imprison us (but I'm sure the girl was putting him up to it but unfortunately he never changes his mind once he's made it) for our actions at the NWT, the girl tried to capture myself and my nephew but failed at it, my nephew tried to put the girl in her place, which was a good idea, but he wasn't strong enough, which made it a bad idea, I ended up kicking the girl off a ship, and we escaped. I was sure she was right behind us, so we decided to hide as refugees in the Earth Kingdom.

We spent some time fleeing and hiding in that, I had a brief falling out with my nephew since he was a bit too handsy with other people's things, we reconciled, we hooked up with a couple of members of an old secret fraternal organization of mine, and we headed to Ba Sing Se to hide as refugees. Along the way, my beloved nephew tried to put his crazy sister in her place a couple times, but he wasn't strong enough and it was a bit of bad idea, so I tried to teach him better firebending so he'd have better luck next time. I'll be honest, his attitude was a bit frustrating. I almost forgot to mention this but also at a certain point Zuko and I teamed up with the Avatar to try to put Azula in her place and we trapped her but she got away and I got burned for my trouble. And apparently Zuko and the Avatar couldn't play nice with each other since by the time I woke up they were separated. What can I say?

To get back on track, we headed to Ba Sing Se as refugees, hooked up with another refugee boy who stole food from the captain of our ferry for us. It was surprisingly fun to visit as a tourist the city I had spent so many years trying to conquer and reduce to ashes. I know this sounds bad, but trust me it's not. After being exposed to the abomination which was the local tea, Zuko and I got jobs as tea shop attendants making superior Fire Nation tea, although Zuko didn't like it much even though I told him to accept this was now his destiny. The other refugee boy accused us of being Firebenders but fortunately got taken away by the secret police and we ended up becoming owners of a tea shop, the Jasmine Dragon. It felt like a perfect way to fulfil our destinies and spend my retirement, but Zuko still wanted to capture the Avatar. It was a pain in the ass but boys will be boys, I suppose. I had to rescue him from a secret police compound to prevent him from doing anything really stupid. After that, Zuko finally started to accept his destiny and be happy!

Just when everything was going perfectly, the girl showed and ruined everything. She captured Zuko as part of her coup to seize control of the Earth Kingdom, and I had to team up with the Avatar to try to get him back. It was at that moment I knew Zuko's true destiny was to join up with the Avatar and restore balance to the world! It made perfect sense for once. Zuko was the only one pure enough and true hearted enough and with the right blood to do this; I certainly never could. I just needed to ask Zuko to look into his heart and he'd do it! But again that bitch ruined everything. She manipulated Zuko, that poor boy who didn't know better, into siding with her and her father and betraying me. Into fighting against the Avatar and helping her conquer Ba Sing Se, conquer my city to conquer. She almost killed the Avatar and I had to sacrifice myself to allow him and his little girlfriend to escape. Sometimes your kids will get killed.

I was captured but not powerless now. As I began plot my escape, I also thought about how to influence Zuko into becoming the perfect pure prince I knew he could be, into becoming the friend of the Avatar I knew was his true destiny, into breaking him out of the influence of his evil sister and his father who never quite treated him right. It was easier then I thought. A couple fake cold shoulders (although that hurt a bit for me) and some careful revelations about how he had good blood through his grandfather the Avatar and Zuko was back on the right track, on the track of being the perfect Firelord I could never be. I knew he would stop the Fire Nation, overthrow his father, end the war, and redeem our country, all without needing my help! You might think I should have tried to help him more, but trust me, it works out in the end.

With Zuko's destiny taken care of, it was time to focus on my own. I don't like to toot my own horn, but I also knew I was special and destined for something incredible and I just needed to figure it out. My boyhood dream gave me the right inspiration. All along it was to conquer Ba Sing Se, but for the Earth Kingdom and not the Fire Nation. Everything just clicked into placed. Finally all those deaths I had caused had meaning.

I escaped, and set about fulfilling my fate. I wanted to stage the liberation on the Day of Sozin's Comet, since all firebenders would be more powerful that day. The most important day of my life, the day I finally accomplished the destiny I saw all those years ago, deserved to be at the time I was the most powerful. I gathered up all my friends and prepared for my attempt.

However, just before I could make my attempt, my son and his friends showed up and asked for my help. Zuko begged for my forgiveness. I was so happy to see him like that and I of course forgive him and hugged him. My "replacement son" was now as close to my heart as my actually son had been. He asked me to be the next Firelord, but I knew his heart was a million times purer than mine (and I'd be happier running a tea shop in retirement), so I refused. He wanted me to fight his father the Firelord and defeat him, but that was that 12 year old the Avatar's job and not mine, and it would have looked really bad for a brother to fight a brother to seize power, like really really bad, so I refused. Then I told him his destiny to was to fight his sister and put her in her place so that he could finally become Firelord. Of course, even my perfect nephew, as pure and perfect as he is, didn't have a chance against that girl in a fair fight, so I sent along a waterbender(14F) to help finish the issue.

There was also this issue of my brother, poor deluded creature he was, trying to use a giant airship fleet to burn down the whole Earth Kingdom, but I let the three remaining kids handle it so that my buddies and I could focus on the more important mission of conquering Ba Sing Se on the day of destiny. I know this sounds kind of bad when I write it out like that, but trust me, I knew the kids had everything in the bag.

So, with everything arranged right, we could accomplish our fates. We liberated Ba Sing Se with only a bit of collateral damage(it was the greatest feeling of life) , the kids stopped the airship fleet, the Avatar beat my brother and only took his bending and not his life (which I'm glad for, I always loved my little bro) and my wonderful nephew and the waterbender beat the little terror. Apparently she went really insane during the fight; I'm not surprised, she always was a crazy bitch.

Zuko got coronated and I'm sure that he'll be the most perfect Firelord ever that will restore honor and order to the Fire Nation and fix the last 100 years of mistakes. He's the only one with the blood for it, the only one with true honor, after all. Azula that crazy girl was placed in an asylum like she belongs and my poor little brother was locked away true (that's my only real regret, other than not saving Lu Ten. I wish things could have ended better for sweat little Ozai).

I meanwhile didn't attend Zuko's coronation, so I could focus on setting my retirement as a tea shop owner in Ba Sing Se. Finally I could have a life where I could relax, indulge myself, and serve others wonderful Fire Nation tea. It took a surprising amount of bureaucratic wrangling, but I got my tea shop. I was so sure that the people of Ba Sing Se would find it a blessing to be the presence of their savior and liberator!

However, then Zuko's girlfriend got mad at me. Apparently I had "given Zuko an incredibly difficult and dangerous responsibility and then abandoned him." And then my sister in law showed up alive too (I'm still not sure how she survived Ozai killing her) and she got mad me for "abandoning her daughter and turning Zuko against the girl." And now there are people protesting and rioting outside my tea shop all the time because apparently they can't let go of the time I besieged Ba Sing Se for 600 days.

I don't get any of this. Everyone is hating on me for seemingly no reason. So tell me, Reddit, am I the asshole?

[evilhomestuckposter]

I'm going to say it. There's no reason for trolls to have breasts. I'm so tired of seeing y'all only drawing female trolls with massive fuckin' knockers. Either none of them have tits or they ALL have tits.

If I don't see Gamzee big naturals soon I'm killing myself

[haphazardlyannotated]

How in Hylia's name does Gerudo DNA work?

I've been playing a lot of Tears of the Kingdom lately, and as I am wont to do when I like a piece of media, I started overthinking.

So, we all know Gerudo have to find Hylian(?) (I've never seen a Gerudo with a non Hylian partner) men to have children with, on account of being an almost exclusively female species.

But... how does this work?

If a Gerudo vai has a daughter with a Hylian voe, that child should be half Gerudo, right? And if that daughter has a child with a Hylian partner, that child should be one quarter Gerudo, and so forth.

Even if we assume that the once a century Gerudo male is immediately escorted to a sperm bank, and the Gerudo phenotype is extremely dominant, they should have acquired a massive pool of recessive genes from Hylian fathers that ought to show up sometimes.

So why don't they?

Theory 1:

Gerudo actually reproduce via cloning and their hunt for husbands is purely recreational. If the husband actually has a biological purpose, he's either an extra caretaker or a placebo. Variations like Riju's height are caused by unusual influences during the pregnancy or the child's youth.

Theory 2:

Everything that makes a Gerudo look like a Gerudo is saved in mitochondrial DNA. Mitochondrial DNA is only inherited from the egg cell, so if the unique Gerudo genes are passed on this way, the species continuity would work out.

But how do either of these theories mesh with the centennial Gerudo male?

If Theory 2 is true, that would imply that a paternal Y chromosome can very rarely get through the dominant mitochondrial genes. Unlikely assortment of factors, or something.

But why would that happen every 100 years exactly? That seems very regular for a random combination of factors.

I think Theory 1 holds a better explanation:

Gerudo gender has nothing to do with chromosomes at all.

Here's my theory: I think Gerudo gender is determined by some undiscovered natural or unnatural phenomenon (considering the setting, it's probably magic) that acts like gender swapping royal jelly. Every Gerudo embryo has the potential to be male or female. They're female by default, but exposure to this mystery phenomenon can turn on the male genes instead.

Why that would be advantageous is a complete mystery to me, but considering I've never heard of a non Ganondorf Gerudo male it's entirely possible that his purpose is to give the other Gerudo a chance to practice their fighting skills.

In summation: The Gerudo are a clone army and Ganondorf is essentially a cross of a queen bee and a training dummy. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

[phxntomhives]

Twst theory: the events are all canon, they just fit in a weird timeline for each character

WARNING: Spoilers for Book 7

This is because the events are happening in the dreams created by Malleus' unique magic.

This is just for fun but it always bugged me how much canon the events are. They are not mentioned in the main storyline and the main storyline doesn't really mention them.

Yesterday night I couldn't sleep so I started to thinking about the cards and remembered the groovy animation: there are the thorns covering the card. And there is the black fog (also used when Silver and the others are being trapped in the blot) when the character speaks their line. Then the thorns retract, "freeing" the character and you have the groovy.

An example of a groovy here in case you forgot/don't remember (but litteraly any card is fine): https://youtu.be/vp68GOQnE6w

It would be interesting if this was an hint that the events are just the wishes/desires of someone that became true in the reality that Malleus created. Thanks to Idia we have seen that the dream can reset itself and in general everything goes as intended by Malleus' idea of Happy Ending. It could be that the events happen when the owner is waking up/realizing something is wrong so Malleus uses a panick button and make a nice event for them in order to distract them. Or the person dreaming is just feeling silly and wants to do something different and Malleus just goes "I got you". Plus, if I am not wrong, most, if not all, event are just overall nice, there isn't too much trauma in them (but it is true I am EXTREMELY behind in reading them, I am lazy).

"But the player/us can make decision" my brother in christ, Yuu does barely anything, we are cheerleaders at best. ESPECIALLY in the events. I understand why, on a gameplay level, it is not possible for us to make decision that actively effect the story, but we at most get a line that is slightly different as a reaction. If Malleus can recreate a whole fake universe in a dream I don't see why he can't add a fake version of us to the events, he HAS created a fake Ortho for Idia, Baul and Maleanor for Lilia. He just uses the memories and/or the hopes of the dreamer to create the situation. So maybe the Yuu in the events is just how Malleus and the dreamer sees Yuu. Remember, in this theory everything is working as he intended, even "us". Yuu (player) can't affect the story because Yuu (player) is not living it, it's Malleus' version of Yuu, how HE sees Yuu. Most likely also influences by the dreamer's view. Probably more the dreamer's view of Yuu that Malleus' honestly.

I also like the idea that Malleus just add Yuu since Yuu is basically his favourite human (after Silver/right with Silver) so I can see him going "Yuu brings happyness, let's add them to the dream, it makes sense, they will help make the dream happier."

The I started to wonder: but then why doesn't he add himself to every event? Doesn't he want to be more present in everyone's life? Be invited to stuff and spend time with them? What better opportunity than this, since he is adding himself already to the entrance ceremony? My polite guess is that he knew it would become too weird for the dreamer if he suddently appeared everywhere when he was barely seen until that moment, so he decided to cast himself aside for most events to be less suspicious. Idia realizes almost immediately something is wrong thanks to the insane gatcha luck so imagine if he suddenly found Malleus everywhere? "Why are you here, you aren't supposed to be here????" it would immediately raise suspicious from everyone.

This being said, the theory is likely wrong but I had way too much fun trying to guess who would be the owner of each dream-event. So I tried to think about it and here is my results, feel free to share if you think it different! (Under the cut because it would become kilometric)

Part 1 because it has become SO MUCH LONGER than expected

Happy Beans Day - Seize the Golden Harp!

SSR Azul, SR Jade + Jack, R Cater.

Dreamer - I feel like this is easy: Azul's team won and he is free from the pain of P.E. (felt). So I feel it's pretty safe to assume it's his dream. I do believe this challange could happens also in the main story since it's a yearly tradition, but it would be fun if Azul dreamed of it and maybe changed the outcome. In the happy dream, his team won while in reality he is still stuck with the lessons (I feel your pain Azul).

Why the others are present - I wouldn't be surprised if this is just how the teams were in the main story, and Azul just changed the finale. I don't remember if the first event had the Malleus VS Lilia fight but I like to think that is the real Malleus and he was just training a little to see how much he can affects the dreams and just have a nice sparring session.

Fairy Gala ~Festival of the Spring-Calling Fairies~

SSR Leona, SR Jamil + Kalim, R Ruggie

Dreamer - This was already harder, because no I don't think being the SSR automatically means you are the dreamer. It's too easy and with event with multiple SSR it would be more complicated (plus, this game would become boring quickly). So I reread it quickly and since "Leona and Kalim were tasked by Crowley to infiltrate the Fairy Gala" I believe Kalim would be a nice fit. He is there, dancing, spending time with Jamil and getting to know Leona and Ruggie better, which I don't think he would mind!

Why the others are present - he goes everywhere with Jamil and deeply cares about him, so I can see him trying to add Jamil to the dream in any way possible to enjoy more things together. I feel he could see Leona and Ruggie as a "do not separate" situation so, of course they would come together in the dream too. The reason for "why Leona?", it's because of the "Exotic" (tho I deeply disagree with the term ofc) theme. Vil and Divus are there because they can easily be considered the best for the costumes and training in any situation.

Ghost Marriage ~Proposal of Destiny~

SSR Ace, SR Riddle + Epel, R Rook

Dreamer - well, I think we can all agree it is definitely not Idia lol. As my biggest kin, I can promise you that if I were to dream of being kidnapped I would also be also the one saving myself and I would not want to have a squad of people to come to dig my grave deeper help me. We can also all agree that, most likely, all the slapped boys are definitely not the one dreaming. I don't think Ortho would dream can he dream? of his brother being kidnapped. Sam also doesn't feel quite right. I think it is pretty safe to assume again one of the guys that got the card is the one dreaming (yes I don't feel safe assuming that this is true for all events). But then who? Riddle is off the chart because the rulesTM were almost broken and he was desperate to fix it. I guess he would dream something more peaceful that either follows the rules or completely ignore them. Rook is also off the chart, he can see beauty in everything so he would not make Eliza reject everyone if anything I see him going more for an harem ending. Also he would not let Vil's face be ruined by a slap, I think. Ace or Epel that is the question. My heart is screaming Epel just because he can let go of his frustration by fighting, and he could finally hit Vil (Eliza did it, but it would be his dream soooo). Buut my mind reminds me that Ace has dropped that he had a girlfriend that left him. Seems like a pretty big lore to drop if Epel is the one dreaming. I can't find a reason for Epel to dream about Ace telling of his romantic past. Plus if I am not wrong he is the one that in the end plays the major role of making Eliza realize her feelings. So, for as much as I would like to say Epel, I think the dreamer is Ace.

Why the others are present - for chaos. And the Drama.

[salvadorbonaparte]

Reasons I wanna get a PhD

Dr is a gender neutral title and very sexy

To prove the people wrong who thought I'd never even graduate high school

To prove the people wrong who think that working class people, queer people and disabled people have no place in academia

3-5 more years of institutional access to papers and software

I get to write a super long essay about something I'm passionate about? Hello???

I really don't want to work in the industry right now, man

I already survived writing my undergrad thesis during covid while stuck at home with my family so it can't get more stressful than this

I am emotionally attached to my postgrad supervisors