#Which…I have seen before but it has been many aeons

[xavigav]

The Reddit Blackout, #196, And Being New to Tumblr

okay i've seen a lot of people in the past ~24 hours or so confused by everything going on with Reddit & Tumblr from both sides - people new to tumblr who don't know how to use it, and tumblr users who don't know what's going on with reddit and why many of its users have joined up here i know this isn't really related to my blog but fun fact about me: i was up until recently a very active reddit user and even mod a subreddit, but I've also been on tumblr for about 3 years now on different accounts, so I think I can see pretty well from both sides of this and explain what's going on this post will be split in 2 sections: what happened with reddit (and what #196 means), and a guide for new users

1. What The Hell Is Going On With Reddit?

The thing that's caused all this ruckus is a major change to Reddit's API, which is what Reddit provides to people so they can pull directly from Reddit to make third-party apps or tools.

The change is that Reddit is changing its previously free API to be paid. Which on its own kinda sucks for developers, but it's not unexpected. They need to make money somehow, right?

The problem is that the API pricing is WAY TOO FUCKING EXPENSIVE. The developer of the most popular 3rd party Reddit app, Apollo, says it will cost him $20 million a year to continue running the app as normal.

Essentially, this pricing forces almost everything third-party to shut down, which causes 3 major problems:

Third-party apps cannot keep running, which sucks for normal users because Reddit's official app is awful. It's slow, its video player is a thing of nightmares, it doesn't have many useful features third-party developers have made.

It sucks even more for visually impaired users because they can't use the official Reddit app at all. Reddit's official app does not work with iOS's native text-to-speech function. Third party apps, on the other hand, often do. So Reddit is forcing blind users away.

Third-party moderator tools cannot keep running, which sucks for moderators because many rely on these tools to properly moderate their subreddits. And moderators are often necessary, because without them subreddits get banned and hate speech and even CSA can often run rampant.

So you see why this change is bad.

Reddit users were PISSED.

So over the past week and a half or so, they have been working on organizing a site-wide blackout. The majority of the most active subreddits have now gone private. Some are only doing it for 48 hours, others (such as r/196) are doing it indefinitely.

That's why you can't access most of Reddit right now, and that's why many users have come here.

You're probably still wondering, though - what is this #196?

Well, as you may guess, it's connected to that subreddit r/196 I just mentioned. r/196 is a subreddit which only has one rule: every time you visit, you must post before you leave.

That's it, that's the subreddit.

The thing about r/196 that set it apart from most other subreddits - and what lends the subreddit's users perfectly to Tumblr - is that it was dominated by queer and leftist users.

So now they've come here and set up shop in #196 and r/196 so they can continue their merry little shitposting.

There's a ton of lore related to r/196, actually, but this is already a long tumblr post and quite frankly I cannot be bothered to write about it at the moment.

2. I'm Here From Reddit, What Now?

Hello there, random new user. As a double-citizen of Reddit and Tumblr, let me show you around this place.

First off, there are some other people who are better at explaining that I am who have made some really helpful things. Watch this Strange Aeons video as a guide to Tumblr culture and functionality and read this post which directly compares Reddit and Tumblr.

Assuming you've done that, here's some additional advice of my own:

Do you miss sorting subreddits by top of all time/the year/the month? Well, you can do something very similar with tags! If you go to a tag at the top of the screen you can select top, and then at the dropdown that says "all time" you can select different time periods! Even 6 months, which Reddit hasn't ever had.

Tumblr has a lot of cool customization features! Even outside your icon/banner/bio, you can change you blog colors and on desktop you can have an html theme (which has its own thriving community here). That customization is part of what sets Tumblr apart from everywhere else - I think you'll enjoy playing with it.

Notes will probably confuse you at first. Unlike the different numbers for upvotes and comments, notes combines the total number of likes, reblogs, and replies into the same number.

Outside of organizing your own blog, when making your own posts tags are what help other people find your post. Use them! But don't abuse them, because then people will just block you.

There are three ways of people finding your post: if someone follows you, if someone follows the tag(s) assigned to your post, and if someone is just scrolling through the tag(s) assigned to your post (and also the secret 4th way no one uses, which is finding it on the trending page, but even if people did use it no one will find your post initially that way)

tumblr is no longer The Discourse Website. And unlike what Reddit wants you to believe for some reason, it is very much alive still. Most of the people seeking fights have moved to Twitter (though some have also moved back here again). You will not get any brownie points for being a dipshit like you do on some subreddits.

So there, welcome to the hellsite (affectionate), you'll pick up on all the in-jokes eventually, for now just try not to be a nuisance and soon enough this'll be your new internet home.

[zhongrin]

zhongrin © 2024 ❥ do not repost, plagiarize, translate, or feed into ai.

involves... ❥ self-indulgent content, gn!reader (jing yuan, blade), chubby!reader (blade), reader wears dresses + has long hair + implied body insecurity (jing yuan), comfort (jing yuan), soft jing yuan, reader wears skirts (blade), touches the topic of weight gain (but reader isn't too bothered about it while blade internally freaks out bc he's falling in love head over heels all over again), suggestive (blade), downbad!blade

when he spots you wearing a dress he's never seen before, i'd like to think that jing yuan just. doubles back. and watches. watches, like a cat who just saw a squirrel jump out from the bushes, golden eyes slightly narrowing as he observes you moving about - before he finally decides to make a beeline to hug you from behind, nuzzling and swaying you lightly.

"new dress? it looks lovely on you. will you be wearing it tonight to dinner?" he asks, though his smile falters into a flatter line when you answer with a shake of your head and stating that you're retiring it to use it as your home-wear... despite him not remembering you ever wearing it outside. and perhaps it's caused by the hundreds of years of being together, but when he saw the half-sheepish-half-guilty grin on your face, he catches on to the underlying insecurity behind your action almost immediately.

he is torn between lamenting over the loss of the honor to walk beside your bewitching form clad in the fluttery garment around luofu, and the joy blooming like the first few fresh spring flowers when he realizes that you're comfortable enough with him to wear said outfit - which, now he realizes, is a vulnerability to you, a sign of trust despite the self-doubts you've imposed upon yourself - as you flit about within your shared haven.

with a wisp of a sigh, a patient smile, and eyes bespoke of utmost adoration, your husband presses a kiss upon the locks of your hair; a sliver of the knight that everyone seems to have forgotten he used to be (and still is, really) before he rose onto the general's throne, "i see. but dearest, do remember that you are always breathtaking in my eyes, no matter what fabric you choose to adorn yourself. and if you ever wish to wear this dress out, rest assured that i will always readily be the best accessory to compliment your radiance."

you're gaining weight, he notices.

and your absolutely whipped husband couldn't help himself from letting his blood-red eyes follow you, like a panther spotting an unsuspecting prey frolicking in the plains.

there's just something about seeing your upper arms squish as you hug your pillow and scroll through your phone, the softness of your tummy against him when he nuzzles them in the morning under the blanket, when your cheeks fill out like the softest pork bun, tempting him for a bite (or two. or three...) that makes him feel just a little... guilty, shall he say.

blade does not realize it himself, but the amount of millisecond it took for his eyes to dilate, so inhumanely fast as if he's been possessed by a perverse heliobus of some kind, whenever you decide to wear that one skirt he absolutely lovesathes and dreamt of for so many times, the short material swishing around your thighs, inviting him? aeons. it's no secret how he loves to mark your skin, so can you blame him for wanting to go on his knees to put more purples and reds on the skin of your inner thighs, courtesy by his fangs? to mark and worship, when your presence is paramount to a deity's in his eyes?

you do not realize it yourself, but you make him feel like he's in his teen years again ー so young, so unfettered, so driven by his desires. and yet, afraid of your disgust upon discovering the sinful things running rampant in his head, he wears his usual mask of stoicism, again and again, bottling up his feelings, until the glass shatters once more by the snap of your fingers. only then, like a dog allowed by its master to finally devour the sweet treat they were offering, he delves in gratituously.

blade may despise abundance and all that was associated with it, but this one specific aspect of yours is a sin to not overindulge in.

[lookforsomeoneelse]

sahsrau and the ways in which the game’s story changes pt. 1: Sigonia-IV

aventurine’s story made me sad. maybe this is my way of coping. got aventurine’s sister’s name from someone who talked about her on this app. also i’m making a lot of assumptions about how it went down, but there were roughly 10,000 avgins that were involved. also apparently the avgins are based on romani culture and I have no idea about that either soooooooooo cw for blood and severed limbs. and maybe gore. and definitely mentions of death. and probably my ignorance too.

Ecclesiastes 4:1-3

Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed-- and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors-- and they have no comforter. And I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive. But better than both is he who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.

Kezia knew she was going to die. It wasn’t the greatest way to go down at the hands of the bloodthirsty Katicans, but what was honorable about it was that she would meet her end in the rain.

“Kakavasha must have escaped by now,” she thought to herself, “and he will survive.” Kezia held faith in her brother and in the Mother Goddess, Gaiathra Triclops, the one whom she served.

It was now time for the festival- and so she tossed her Knot into the bonfire as a sort of goodbye to this cruel life she had lived in, and lamented on her brother’s fate- he will go through many hardships and sufferings, but she knows that the blessing of Fenge Biyos will remain with him all throughout his journey.

It was a shame she’ll never get to see him again.

She regrets not saying more before their departure.

She had heard that some of the other bastard clans had made a deal with the Interastral Peace Corporation- the people who had promised to protect them on this very day- to make sure that they were all wiped out.

She held her makeshift club in her shaky hands. She didn’t want to die. Not like this. She had wanted to get married and have a family of her own.

And, for the first time in her life, her faith cracked like a shattered mirror.

The Mother Goddess had always let her down-

When Dad fell into the quicksand,

When Mother was caught and slaughtered like an animal,

And now, while she was facing down death.

She remembers one of the workers that came during that first day- praising the Aeon of Guidance and all their works-

And so, under her breath, unsure of how to do it, she prayed for her safety, she prayed for her survival, and most of all, she prayed for the opportunity to see her dearest brother once again.

As the sky wept for the fate of her people, the Katicans arrived, howling laughter emerging from within the storm.

do not worry child

Finding the sudden strength within her, she let out a roar.

i shall be forever with you

Her club slammed into the skull of a Katican, pulverizing it into a bloody mess.

i shall give you strength

Another near her tried to avenge his fallen comrade, and she cratered their face, producing a sickening squelch.

and when you are trapped in the darkness

She didn’t count. How many had fallen at her hands? 100? 500? 1,000? 5,000? All she knew was that the sky wept blood.

i shall bring you into the light

All around her there were the corpses of Katicans, Not a drop of her blood was shed, and nothing to threaten her in her vicinity. She looked down at her hands. Red. Her hands were red, stained with the crimson of those who had tried to end her life.

Kezia wept tears of joy.

“The Avgin always return back their blood debts,” she had remembered saying to her little brother.

It looks like they had a new debt to pay.

(A/N: I have no idea what the hell I just made. I have no beta reader, so there’s that I guess. I don’t have a structure either. I just made stuff up and used the wiki for reference.)

[everparanoid]

For you, I'd steal the stars w/ Wriothesley

Modern Teyvat Au! Wriothesley x f! reader

cw: fluff, minor hint at soulmates.

word count: 3.5k

𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠...

╭────────────────────────╮

Wriothesley couldn’t recall how he found himself standing on an unimportant cyan Tuesday afternoon in Autumn, staring at a painting in the Fontaine National Art Gallery not too far away from his office. The painting, Wriothesley reckoned, couldn’t be any larger than two sheets of parchment and yet it hung alone in the centre of a white room. A masterpiece of simplicity. Above him, a giant white ball spun in slowed motion as plain as the rest of the room, a compliment to the art. The canvas however was a deep navy blue, the same shade as the night. Covering this deep blue were speckles of white, spontaneous in their positions. Some gathered in clustered constellations unknown to man. Others, singular. In the middle a golden speck shone, overwhelming the image the longer he stared. He stared and stared until it appeared to be shooting out of the blues and whites and filling his vision. He couldn’t for the life of him understand why such a simple concept had moved him. Why an image alone in a room far away from all the other extravagant displays of artistic prowess had managed to give him such peace; for in the time that he had been staring at the image—lost to time and the world—he had experienced a thousand lifetimes. He’d been everything; from a small sapling to an ancient oak tree; from a huge wolf to a small squirrel; from a primordial narwhal to a tiny transparent fish swimming in the bottom of the darkest blue seas. He’d experienced nations crumbling and rising again and loves that transcended time and space. All beautiful. All but a millisecond in the eyes of the vast universe.

“To you in every universe,” an unknown voice said.

“Huh?” Wriothesley responded, his attention stolen. His reality returned to the same bleak normality which he had just escaped.

You nodded to the painting, “That’s its name.”

He stared at you with an uncertainty reserved for strangers. He hadn’t heard your footsteps as you entered the room nor had he seen you stop beside him, and yet here you were. A stranger. A golden fleck in his blue world.

“Are you interested in it?” You spoke using a soft tone that Wriothesley particularly liked. He hadn’t heard a voice like yours before. He hadn’t heard much past the same blue tones of business tycoons and wannabe entrepreneurs who wished to fill his and their pockets with mounds of green. Being a successful CEO of a Fortune 100 made one lose the many colours of life to shades of blue and green. At the end of a long day, he often found himself wondering what the sun might look like beyond the aeons of blue.

“In what, sorry?” he responded, confused.

“The painting.”

He noticed your name card pinned to your collar announcing you as a member of staff from the gallery.

“Oh, yes. I am,” he said almost sheepishly; his interest was still new to him. Wriothesley always prided himself on his curiosity though he’d never thought himself to be one interested in art. Yet on that random Tuesday when his assistant had got his meal wrong, he’d found himself wandering into the art gallery as if compelled by some supernatural force. “I’ve never seen this before.”

Wriothesley was sure that if he had known such a masterpiece was here, he would have come to see it.

“It’s new,” you said.

“Ah, I see.”

He felt your eyes linger on him for a second before you continued. “Most people are disappointed when they pay the five thousand mora to get past the security only to see this.”

He supposed objectively that he could understand why. If one was hoping for a room of mirrors or a light show they were bound to be disappointed. Then again five thousand mora did buy a meal deal at the local supermarket. But what was five thousand mora to him?

“How long has it been here?” he asked.

“As of right now?” you appeared to be looking up as if calculating, “Three weeks.”

“And how are the numbers?”

“At first people came for the exclusivity and the curiosity. But because the artist is anonymous, they didn’t advertise their art. It’s their thing, I guess. A sort of authorless art. I think it lets people project more. You know? Imagine themselves as the artist…”

Wriothesley did know. Even as a successful man, more than half of the projects happening in Fontaine were due to his discreet puppeteering. He did not like the limelight. He’d make appearances here and there but the people who needed to know him knew him, and those who didn’t could read the credits. It was his philosophy that one didn’t need their face everywhere to do their job.

 “But now… I guess we are lucky if we get twenty people in a week. There is other interesting stuff to look at in the gallery so…” your speech faded off.

Wriothesley hummed in acknowledgement.

“Honestly, there aren’t many people that show true interest in this piece,” you continued.

He could feel the excitement seep from your pores like solar flares, and he almost found himself stepping closer to absorb its heat.

“Do you want to know about it?” you asked suddenly.

Buzz Buzz.

“No,” he hesitated, glancing down at his phone. “Thank you.”

Your shoulders dropped but your smile remained.

“It’s okay.”

“Perhaps another time?” He found himself saying. He hadn’t known why he had proposed that. He had no intentions of coming back. He didn’t have the time to come back. To see; to stop; to experience, but he would. He knew that he would. Even if he had to make the time. He’d return in hopes of experiencing that feeling once more.

#

On a random cerulean Tuesday in Winter, he returned. It had been two months since he first witnessed the painting. Once again, he had wandered into the art gallery during a lunch break. And once again, he stood in the empty room. Alone. Lost in a dream within a dream. This time, as he stared into the painting that had once again entranced him, he became a blade of grass growing next to a beautiful flower. Watching it; admiring it; loving it. He couldn’t understand why in every instance you seemed to seep in. He didn’t know you, and yet it felt like he’d seen you in everything since that day.

‘A moment where time stops, worries fade, and everything feels right. That is the feeling we are chasing. That is the feeling we must never stop searching for. In those moments, I will recognise you in every lifetime. Across every state of being. My heart will seek out yours like eyes do at night, in search of a northern star. I will seek you in every beautiful thing. To you in every universe—’

Wriothesley leaned back, perplexed. The plaques lining the walls of the white room and under the ball held no information about the artist. What had it meant? He couldn’t fathom the thought of something so abstract.

“It’s you,” that same voice from before said from behind, tearing Wriothesley from his thoughts. He didn’t need to turn to know that the owner of the voice was you. Your silent presence had a magnetic quality, pulling him in without him realising it, and suddenly there you were, standing beside him.

“Hello,” he said, though the greeting felt insufficient when he laid eyes upon you. He couldn’t decide whether you had grown more beautiful, or his memory hadn’t held up the splendour that took his breath away when you stood with that genuine smile on your face, and your hands tucked into the pockets of the blazer you wore. You looked like a painting yourself, like something that had just stepped out of a Constable landscape and wandered into the gallery. An angelic apparition. You had a gentle sway to you like you couldn’t stand completely still. Wriothesley wondered if a gust of wind were to blow through the white room, would it blow you away too, like a leaf flees a tree in a breezy morning?

“Did you experience something different this time?” you asked.

Wriothesley’s features darkened. You couldn’t possibly see into his mind, and he wasn’t one to wear his emotions on his face. He’d learnt not to.

“Have I been standing here for a while?”

You shook your head. “No more than ten minutes.”

He blinked.

“It felt like longer, right?” you asked, cheerily.

“A lifetime,” he admitted, his voice softening.

“It does that.”

“Should I leave? Am I holding up the line?”

“No, you’re good,” you said. “No one comes here anymore anyway.”

You turned to the painting. It hadn’t changed, and yet for Wriothesley, the beauty of it seemed to spill out of the edges and illuminate you. Golden. Flickering. He found himself stealing glances at you, an intriguing stranger who had effortlessly piqued his interest. An intriguing stranger, who he only knew the name of and nothing else. Unconsciously, he leaned toward you, and you did too, as if pulled into each other’s gravitational field.

“Why is it alone?” he asked.

You stepped back and looked up at the giant white ball above, spinning in slow circles, and then to the plain white walls in the otherwise stark room.

“It’s not alone.”

“But it is,” he snapped, growing quite annoyed with his inability to understand your abstractness.

Wriothesley liked answers. Puzzles were fun, and they had their place in his world, but answers were like keys to locked doors.

“What makes you think that just because there is a singular piece in a room the whole place is not art?”

His brows furrowed.

Your smile widened as you turned to the painting. “If this room was filled with paintings, would you have noticed it?”

“No.”

“Why?”

He didn’t have time for this, but he couldn’t seem to tear himself away from you and your questions.

You took another step back, and Wriothesley watched you as you stopped directly under the giant white ball this time. With an open hand outstretched to him, he gathered that you wanted him to join you in the centre of the room. Eventually, he took one long step, and then another till he stood closer to you but not beside.

You lowered your hand.

“Let me put this another way for you, when you sit in your—” you looked him over, “meetings, and you attend your fancy work dinners, do you notice all the art around you? The furniture, the architecture, the choices made by your colleagues to look expensive. Do you stop to take it all in or does it become lost in singular shades of monotony?”

Wriothesley pictured the blues and greens of his life but dismissed the idea of you understanding his thoughts. “You don’t make millions by not noticing.”

You shrugged. “But you do become numb to it.”

“Correct me if I am wrong, but you’re saying that the whole room is art?”

Wriothesley couldn’t say that he was fond of modern art, but he did appreciate that it had a time and place.

“This room, stark and colourless, is as much a part of the painting as the painting itself. Without the painting, the room remains devoid of colour, but with it, the room comes to life. It’s as if the artist intended the painting to be a guide in an otherwise monochrome world. By which, you who see it realise that the painting was never confined to the canvas. But can see the beauty of the entire world, in all lifetimes, across universes. Or maybe it is something completely different, art is subjective after all.”

“To you, the world must be a beautiful place,” he mused aloud.

“And yours is not?”

He chuckled, “I can assure you it’s not as vibrant as yours.”

“What makes you think that mine is vibrant? What if mine is like this room? Bland and empty.”

He wouldn’t believe it, but then again, he wouldn’t not believe it either. It was always the people with the brightest souls who hurt the most.

“I’ll do you one better. What if it’s mine?” he asked.

“Are you seeing your golden star right now then, mister?”

“It’s Wriothesley, and maybe.”

Wriothesley noticed your eyes widen briefly before you suppressed a small smile and took a step back. ��Well Wriothesley, I’ll have to agree. It is yours. It’s your mind, your world. The painting is your universe. At least that’s how I think the artist intended it.”

“There is no artist,” he said.

You tilted your head to the side slightly and clasped your hands behind your back.

“There always is,” you said and glanced back at him before returning to the painting. “If you have the time to hear about them, I will gladly tell you.”

In his pocket, his phone rang, filling the silent room. His time was up once again.

“Next time,” he said.

A sadness flashed across your eyes before you smiled.

“Sure,” you said.

#

A month passed, and the sad lingering look in your eyes haunted Wriothesley through his blue days. Green still rained from the sky, but every time he caught a glimmer of gold passing his office or on the street, he’d imagine it was you.

On a random Wednesday in Winter, one that felt more azure than usual, Wriothesley came again to the gallery. But this time, the white room was filled with modern paintings. Gone was the white ball and the night sky painting, and you. Gone was the security guard who would grumble every time Wriothesley dropped a small wad of mora in the man’s hand to let him into the paid exhibit. In its place, people heaved; phone cameras flashed and made snapping noises as they posed before the art, hoping to add it to their social media feed. Wriothesley didn’t enter the room; he couldn’t. He didn’t like crowded places, and none of the art was of interest to him. And none of them were you.

Wriothesley cleared his throat and straightened his tie as he approached the help desk by the entrance of the gallery. Behind it sat an older man, staring down at his mobile phone, humming along to a Vocaloid song that played in his earbuds. Beside him, a younger man, barely eighteen, who looked excited at the possibility of not staring into space any longer, waved Wriothesley over.

“Can I help you, sir?” the young man said. His name card, Timmie, glimmered under the artificial light.

“Yes, I think you can,” Wriothesley began. “There was an exhibit here about a month ago. One with a singular painting in it—no artist.” He wanted to ask about you but thought better than to do that.

“No artist?” Timmie asked.

“Yes, no artist.”

Timmie rubbed the back of his neck as if he couldn’t comprehend the idea of an exhibition without an artist.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“I am.”

After apologising quickly, he began typing aggressively at his keyboard. Typing and then deleting and typing again. Presumably, he was bringing up the list of art that had been exhibited over the last year. Wriothesley waited, tapping his foot, and watching people pass, nodding at the occasional person who stared.

“I’m sorry, Sir, I can’t seem to find the exhibit you are talking about.”

Wriothesley frowned.

“Oh? But it was here last month?”

“It’s not showing up on my files without an artist’s name unless you remember the name of the piece?”

“To you in every universe,” Wriothesley said, remembering only the colour of your eyes and the gold aura that seemed to follow you. He was sure he’d remember that name until all the stars left the sky.

Timmie typed it out, and for a second, Wriothesley had hope. Until Timmie looked up and said, “Oh, that. It’s moved temporarily to the International Modern Art Gallery in Inazuma.”

“Inazuma?”

Timmie nodded.

“As has the artist,” His eyes widened. “Who would have thought? She’s one of our own.”

Wriothesley perked up at the information.

“Did you happen to have her name by any chance so I might look her up?” Wriothesley asked, trying to mask his desperation with cool indifference.

“I mean if you want,” Timmie said.

#

In the art shop attached to the gallery on an emerald Friday, more than a year later in Spring, Wriothesley found you assisting an elderly woman, wrapping a print of a painting. He paused, captivated by the sight of you. You were even more stunning despite the time passed and in comparison to the modelesque women he saw in his everyday life. Your beauty, accentuated by the soft lighting of the shop, and your radiant smile, seemed to light him up inside. He lingered amongst the shelves waiting for you to finish up with the elder woman, who was eagerly telling you about her seventh great-grandchild, to which you seemed to listen with just as much interest. He found himself mirroring your joy as he admired you until he stumbled upon a postcard of the piece he had spent months searching for. The one that had moved to Inazuma, then to Mondstadt, then to Snezhnaya, Sumeru, and Natlan, till he bought it at an auction, white room, giant spinning ball, blue painting, plaques, and all. In this picture, the last plaque was too small to be noticed, just as it had been when he’d stared at it both times in person. But he knew it was there, the final part of the collection of plaques. And the full name of the exhibition.

When the elderly woman left, he approached you, his eyes locked on you who had become his universe.

You looked up and smiled, “It’s a beautiful piece,” you said, gesturing to the postcard in his hand.

“It is,” Wriothesley replied, his gaze fixed on you rather than the inferior postcard print. Nothing could compare to the real thing. “But the exhibition has gone.”

“It has,” you confirmed. He was sure you knew that it was him who bought it. It wasn’t hard to figure out, he was obvious despite his outward coolness.

“Are you leaving too?” he asked, a hint of concern in his voice. He had thought you were a dream. You’d been gone for so long that he feared he would have to wait a lifetime.

“Why?”

“You weren’t here,” he said, trying to keep his voice casual.

 “I was volunteering at a cat shelter,” you lied. “Did you miss me?”

“Mildly,” he responded, though he too was lying.

“Only mildly?”

He laughed, “Okay, maybe a bit more—”

“Just a bit?” you interrupted, your eyes sparkling.

“I missed your commentary,” he admitted.

“My commentary? Wow,” you said, feigning surprise.

“Oh? Not enough for you?”

You shook your head, your eyes dancing with mirth. He pretended to think, but in truth, he was searching for a simple way to express such complex emotions.

“I missed your sunny presence,” he finally said.

“My sunny presence?” you echoed.

“Are you going to keep repeating everything I say?” he asked, unable to suppress his smile.

“Maybe,” You leaned forward on the counter, your intelligent eyes tearing down his icy walls. “What have you been up to? Aside from missing me, of course.”

“I just abandoned a meeting to chase after a shooting star,” Wriothesley confessed, for once wearing his heart on his sleeve.

“And? Did you catch it?”

“Half of it,” he affirmed. “When does your shift end?”

“I’m just finishing. Why?” you asked, curiosity piqued.

“I was wondering if you’d like to grab a coffee with me?” he proposed, hoping he wasn’t too late. He’d already blocked off the rest of the night. He’d block off the rest of the year if he knew he’d get to spend it with you.

“I don’t like to drink coffee this late.”

“Tea, then? With dinner? I would love to hear about the artist of that piece. What was its full name again? For the painting and the room.”

“To you in every universe—” you began.

“For you, I’d steal the stars,” he finished. “Very sneaky of you by the way.”

Your lips parted as you took in a breath.

Wriothesley could feel every nerve in his body fighting to touch you, to be closer to you. You who brought gold into his monotonous world. You who he’d steal all the stars in the universe to be closer to.

“You know I never believed in coincidences,” Wriothesley said.

“Neither have I,” you said.

“I learned a long time ago that if you want something you have to fight for it. So, no pressure of course, but does tea and dinner sound good?”

Your grin was a small act that set his night sky ablaze with more glimmers of gold. To him, the shop couldn’t be filled with any more colours than they were then. Gone were the shades of green and blue, washed away by a spectrum of magnificence; where suddenly he was him and you were you, existing in the same universe.

“It sounds perfect,” you said.

╰────────────────────────╯

KO-FI MASTERLIST

[thelampisaflashlight]

The ghouls, but I revamped my headcanons about them, because why not? Let's go.

-Aether, Dewdrop, and Mountain were brought into the church around the same time, but Dew arrived first, making him the "eldest" of the three ghouls... while also, coincidentally, being just slightly older than both Aether and Mountain in actual age as well.

Of the three of them, Mountain is the peacekeeper, Aether, much to the shock of many, is the troublemaker (he enjoys picking fights with people who are being jerks), and Dew is the thinker.

-Cumulus and Cirrus were summoned around the same time Swiss was brought into the pack. Having been raised on the surface by his mortal father, Swiss didn't really have much of a connection to his demonic side until he found the church, but even then, he had a lot of trouble adapting to life there.

Thankfully, both of the ghoulettes were more than happy to take him under their wing and teach him all the fun parts of being a ghoul.

He looks up to them in the same way one might look up to an older sibling, and he treats them both with respect as both his mentors and his friends.

-Rain was summoned during a rare thunder snowstorm towards the end of winter, which resulted in him developing an odd ability to control electricity. Usually, lightning is seen as a fire/air based element and can only really be harnessed by multi-elemental ghouls, like Swiss or Aurora, but Rain is, in so far as he knows, pure water.

He mostly uses this ability to hunt fish in the lake, charge his phone or laptop, or as the occasional self defense mechanism, because why would he throw a punch when he can effectively taser someone with his fingers?

-Dew, like Swiss, was born and raised on the surface, and grew up leading a normal, human existence until he fell to his death while lost in the woods surrounding the abbey during a thunderstorm.

His death lead to him landing himself in Limbo, where he was given a second chance at life (at a cost, of course) and learned of his demonic inheritance.

Unlike Swiss, who found comfort in discovering his ghoul side, Dew felt deeply conflicted by it and did not immediately join the church, though he was allowed to stay largely because Terzo saw promise in his abilities (musically and magically) and encouraged him to stay.

-Aeon goes by both Phantom and Aeon, but it depends on who he's talking to/who is addressing him, kind of like how you might go by your middle name with friends, but your parents call you by your first name.

For things like ministry paperwork and meetings with important figures, he's called Aeon, but amongst the pack, he's largely called Phantom or Tom-Tom as a nickname.

However, the name Aeon is also used by ghouls that are considered his "seniors", such as Aether and Omega who held his station before him, and Dew, because he refuses to call him Tom-Tom (and because he's old, but don't let anyone hear you say that).

-Cumulus is one of the only ghouls that maintains a home away from the abbey during the off season, and, as of right now, none of the other ghouls have been invited to stay there. It's nothing against any of them personally, Cumulus just likes having her own space that's truly hers, and she spends so much time around the others normally that she needs a break from them sometimes.

-Similarly, Dew has a habit of "wandering off", though he's usually just off on vacation, and, when in doubt, can typically be found simply by asking where he is.

Usually, he's not far from the abbey, as he tends to keep to his "territory" like a cat left to roam, but on the rare occasion he's broken containment (left the country entirely) he's like a ghost.

And lastly;

-Cirrus has been known to hang out in one of the many cemetery plots on the abbey's grounds, and has befriended an alarming number of spirits, who often tell her secrets and information about people who currently live on the grounds or passed there in some form or another.

Because of this, Cirrus knows things that could be devastating if revealed, so she has to be careful about not letting slip information that wasn't given to her by either the individual themselves and/or is already "common knowledge".

She's on incredibly bad terms with some of the abbey's residents as a result of letting slip personal details about their lives, even if she meant to use it as a means of defending them, and it has made it difficult for her to make friends outside of her packmates, which in turn results in her befriending more inhuman entities and ghosts.

[undercityrezident]

So, did anyone else notice during Memory 4 that the Dueling Peaks is a complete and single mountain?

So that means, at some point between when Zelda arrived and the present day, according to Shay at the Lakeside Stable (in Breath of the Wild), "...legends say that a dragon god split the mountain in half to forge a way through, and that's how how it went from one to two."

It's worth mentioning that he talked about this while also mentioning "the presence of the shadow of a large creature on the surface of Lake Floria," which largely connects this dialogue to Farosh, the dragon often seen diving into the waterfalls near the peak of Mount Floria (in Breath of the Wild). The fact all this information comes from the same source may be the game's way of telling us that Farosh was responsible for the state of the Dueling Peaks.

However, I have a hypothesis to offer (which contains intensive TotK story spoilers, hence the readmore):

The way the camera pans in the memory to show the Dueling Peaks (or peak, rather, in this era), feels somewhat purposeful to me. And knowing that Zelda becomes a dragon in order to help restore the Master Sword over the aeons, I can't help but wonder if she might've been the reason why it happens.

Not that I blame her of course. She's a newly minted dragon, likely bursting with emotion and pain she doesn't understand or know how to cope with as she's just lost her sense of self. She could've gone mad for a time, flying erratically and ploughing through a mountain in her time of grief before settling into her new draconic existence.

Does this disprove that Farosh, or any of the other three dragons could've been responsible?

No, it doesn't. But I propose the idea that the other three dragons have existed much longer than her. By the nature of their names, they're connected to the three goddesses, Nayru, Farore, and Din, and have likely been around since the world's origin (or very close to it). Further, the Zonai have many carvings and depictions of dragons, meaning that dragons existed during and likely prior to this era, given their longevity.

Why is this important? We can look to how the three main dragons behave: they have regular patterns of flight, likely formed out of habit or preference, and do not go out of their way to harm people or impact the landscape in any significant way. For the most part, they're high in the sky where little can reach them, save for a hero with a paraglider.

Grant you, their paths have changed since TotK debuted, but the landscape itself has changed, as has the state of the world in general. The depths are now readily accessible, and perhaps there's an obligation on their part to survey it or maintain order wherever they can venture.

But my main point is that the dragons, given time, tend to settle and keep to their own habits and paths. If the three dragons already existed long before Zelda transformed, it's unlikely one of the other three dragons would find reason to deviate from their normal behaviour and plough through a mountain to split it in two.

But the new Light Dragon hasn't settled yet. She's wracked with emotion, grief, and new power she doesn't know how to control. She could almost be considered a newborn in that sense, and what might a newborn with nearly god-like powers do?

Split a mountain in half because it was in her way...

Also, keep in mind the former Temple of Time where Zelda transformed is not all too distant from that once unified Dueling Peak. As well, Zelda's own draconic trailblazing hasn't been consistent either in the present. At the beginning of TotK, she's seen flying in circles near the Great Sky Island before she boldly plunges through the cloud layer to open up Hyrule to Link once he's finished his trials there. As far as dragons go, Zelda doesn't have the same temperament as the other three.

It's true that there could be another dragon, or being that approximates one, that is responsible for the splitting of the Dueling Peaks. Maybe it was a more nefarious dragon sharing heritage with the likes of Volvagia, Argorok, or some progenitor of the Gleeoks.

Still, I think that it would be interesting to believe that the once gentle Zelda's sacrifice may have had a bigger hand in shaping the future of Hyrule than only her dutiful task of revitalizing the Master Sword. It would further contrast the change between the woman she was and the dragon she became, and emphasize the tragic nature of what she had to do in order for us to finally defeat Ganondorf.

[hawkinasock]

I feel like luocha would revive yanqing bc Yaoshi sees his (yanqing's) potential as a weapon for THEM, so THEY would send luocha to revive the boy and take him to the xianzhou to develop his skills so that THEY can control him in the future

Interesting. Ngl it makes me wonder if an event like that is what catalyzed Luocha's estrangement from the Abundance, assuming he is/was an emanator. It also makes me wonder how Yaoshi actually feels about the Xianzhou alliance. We know that The Hunt's entire purpose is to eradicate the Abundance, but is it ever clear if the feeling is mutual on Yaoshi's end? They seem so impassive and mellow from what little we've seen and heard of them, and they only take on the image of one particularly malevolent through the way in which the Xianzhou describes them, and the Xianzhou aren't exactly an unbiased source of information. Yaoshi creating what is essentially a sleeper agent is an interesting idea, but what if Yaoshi is genuine? What if Yanqing's entire existence is the thesis for their love?

Not to sound like some disciple lmao, but I think the idea of Yaoshi believing their power and ideology is as much a force for good as any other aeon is the kind of nuance I'd want the lore to lean into, and the potential irony put forth with the implication that Jing Yuan himself is using Yanqing as some kind of weapon can turn the tables in a super interesting way. Where the Abundance is the one committing the sin, in actuality, it's The Hunt.

Maybe I'm just a sucker for "the ones we thought were good aren't so innocent" pipeline. I've been having this sort of vibe ever since 2.4, during a very specific line from Huaiyan to Jing Yuan, where he made a firm stance in his belief that Jing Yuan's loyalty to the Xianzhou has "never wavered", to which Jing Yuan just... doesn't respond.

His expression only changes slightly, a faint furrow in his brows, then the camera just sits on him for a good couple seconds before Dan Heng speaks, and afterwards, Jing Yuan himself takes no part in the conversation for the next few lines. When he does, it's irrelevant to Huaiyan's original comment.

Idk it could be nothing, but with Jing Yuan already being incredibly suspicious in many ways, namely his guardianship over Yanqing, it makes me wonder if the entire Wardance arc was, to an extend, a red herring; a false sense of security. Now that hsr has explicitly brought up the possibility of an Arbiter General being disloyal and making two plot points out of it, the first being Feixiao's inner turmoil with the borisins and the second being TB defending Jing Yuan's innocence, I can't help but be even more suspicious of him.

I lost the plot a bit there... my bad. But to reconvene, I think it would be both plausible and in character for Yaoshi to revive one specific child, but I'm on the fence about their motivations being inherently malicious. Their power may be the cause of much pain and suffering, but as far as I can tell, they themselves don't see it that way. As biased as I admit I am about Yaoshi, I think that they would revive Yanqing simply because they love him.

I still think your theory, as cracked as it is, holds water. I'm fond of it, personally, if you can't already tell lmfao. Sorry this was a bit long btw. I just love to yap about my stupid little blorbos. Pls hit up my ask box again if you have more to say.

[iamthecomet]

Thots on the new Ghouls first impact scene?

What if he saw Mountain putting Rain back in his place over his knee in the middle of the common room after he had been real bratty all day. To start the new ghoul was shocked and worried that seemingly sweet, gentle Mountain would do such a thing to his mate but when Mountain asked Rain for a colour after a particuarly hard hit started the tears flowing, he put two and two together from the gentler, sensation and teasing based scenes he has been part of so far. Watching Rain endure his 'punishment' has his brain shorting out and he decides right then, he absoloutly wants a piece of that.

Which ghoul does he go to about it, does he bring up the subject and ask nicely for what he wants or does he just try bratting like Rain and Dew on for size, to see where it gets him? how does the scene itself go down? I have so many questions i am gnawing the bars of my enclosure!

Thoughts below the cut. Not quite a ficlet and not quite headcanons, just nearly 1,000 words of unhinged ramblings.

Two things happen when he watches Mountain spank Rain. The first, is that he realizes he really likes to watch. He likes the way Rain shudders, the way he yelps. Loves the way his body jolts with each solid hit. He feels the sound in his bones.

There is something about the way Mountain asks for a color that makes Aeon feel insane. The care evident in his voice. The way he pushes Rain's sweaty hair out of his face when he asks. The desperate nod to Rain's head when he says he's green. 'm green, Mount don't stop.

The second is that he realizes he needs this. Needs to feel that sharp sting. Needs someone to talk to him like this. Needs the vitriol mixed with the love like his life depends on it.

And you might think Aeon tries to broach the subject with Mountain or Aether. Maybe even one of the ghoulettes. He definitely doesn't try to just brat himself into it. He's seen enough to know that there's negotiation involved. And it would be smart to ask one of the bigger ghouls. The level headed ones.

But he doesn't want Mountain to hit him. He thinks he does, when he's watching the scene unfold. But then Dew strides into the room, looks at the scene and barks out a laugh and Aeon knows exactly who he wants.

Dew makes a comment about Mountain not hitting Rain hard enough and suddenly Aeon needs to know what those bony hands feel like on his ass. He's staring before he realizes it--and worse, Dew's staring back. Mouth quirking up into a sly smile that makes Aeon's stomach do a disastrous flip.

Dew leaves the room without a word.

Aeon tries to think of ways to ask Dew for this without embarrassing himself. He really likes Dew. Wants to impress him. He rolls possible ways to get it to happen around in his head for two days. He watches Dew during practice, during dinner.

He knows he's making a mistake. That Dew isn't going to treat him nicely like Mountain treats Rain, and Aeon's ok with that. He doesn't particularly want nice. He wants Dew.

He doesn't end up having to ask. Dew corners him in the hallway on the way back to their rooms from dinner. Comes up behind him, twists one arm behind his back and shoves him, chest first, into the nearest wall.

Strong despite his size, and Aeon can't think of anything except being bent over his knee. The smell of Dew invades his senses. He's hard already, dick grinding against the stone wall as Dew pins him.

"You want me to hurt you, don't you?" Dew asks, and Aeon nods, he whispers please against the wall and he can feel Dew's grin on the back of his neck.

Aeon half expects Dew to get right to it. To force him to undress, to drag him over his knee and just start. But Dew makes him talk about it first. Sets ground rules. Explains the color system. Tells Aeon that he isn't allowed to force himself through this if it's too much.

That conversation alone is almost too much. Dew's as serious as Aeon's ever seen him. Arms crossed, eyes focused on Aeon's as he talks and forces Aeon to answer.

By the time they're ready and Dew orders him to strip, he's shaking. He's hard, embarrassingly so. His cock already dripping. And Dew takes one look and huffs out a harsh bark of laughter.

He drags Aeon over, bends him over his knee, and tells him that if he makes a mess on Dew's jeans--he's going to have to clean it up.

Dew makes him keep count. The words stuttering out of his mouth after every sharp hit. Dew starts off easy. Sharp hits that sting but don't ache. Aeon lurches with each one. Gasping as Dew's hands land on alternating cheeks. Purring as he kneads at them between strikes. Melting deeper and deeper into Dew's lap. His face pressed into Dew's sheets--they smell like him.

Aeon grinds his dick against Dew's thigh and mewls.

The first hard strike takes him off guard. He yelps. He feels the sting of it deep. Feels the impact in his legs.

Dew tells him he's going to make sure Aeon thinks about him every time he sits down for the next week and Aeon suddenly believes him. Knows that by the end of this his ass will be a myriad of colors.

He can't wait to see.

The yelps turn into moans after a while. Dew fists his free hand in Aeon's hair and drags his glassy gaze up so he can really look at him.

"Fucking pain slut," Dew accuses and Aeon can't deny it. He just nods, and when Dew asks him for a color, Aeon tells him green.

And then he asks for Dew to hit him harder.

Aeon only makes it two more of those hard hits before he's cumming all over Dew's jeans. Sobbing with it. Tears soaking into Dew's bedspread.

Dew scoffs. Calls him pathetic. Tells him to clean up his mess. Aeon slips off Dew’s lap and kneels between his legs and dragging his tongue over the rough denim while Dew keeps a firm hand in his hair to guide him. Dew drags his mouth over his cock. Tells him if he really wants to be his good boy—he’ll suck his cock.

Aeon is more than happy to oblige.

[terra-feminarum]

I have complex feelings about the US. On November 5th it was night here and I saw nightmares, and woke up several times to check how the election is going.

I live on the other side of the Atlantic, in a completely different culture, different climate. Your language is completely unlike my native tongue, yet I write it and I think in it, even though I can hardly pronounce the words right.

When I was a little girl, I knew what US American fire hydrants and mailboxes looked like, and I tried to write songs in English. For my generation, our native tongue was embarrassing, and not many dared to admit they listened to music with Finnish lyrics, rather than English.

More and more of my words have been replaced by English, and the youth of today have replaced so much of our original vocabulary it seems like they can't really express themselves fully in Finnish anymore. We are ashamed of who we are, and we'd love to be American, or rather, we'd love to be the kind of Americans we see in the media. Obviously Americans didn't instill this shame in us, our sense of self was crushed before you came along. But there was this cultural void and the America flowed in to fill the emptiness.

In my young adulthood, I adopted the US American way of thinking about politics and social justice, and so did many others. I can't still put it into words well, but it has become clear we just took ideas straight from another context and forgot where we are and what happens here. My friends claim to be afraid of the police which is absurd, and they tell not to call the police to avoid violence, which just doesn't happen. We talk about whether having dreadlocks is ok while Finnish Roma have been ostracized for 500 years and it's considered more or less normal. We took the idea that white people are an oppressive monolith and forgot we ourselves had been under the rule of foreign people for so long we forgot our own culture and became severely alcoholic, we forgot we have been on this land for aeons and adopted the idea we're the invaders (we are, when it comes to Sápmi - but otherwise we know this land). Of course we adopted your ideas of sex and gender, too, while our language doesn't even have separate words for these concepts. We put English pronouns in our social media bios even though the idea of gendered pronouns doesn't make any sense.

We took your polarized politics and now some find their ideas from your right, and some from your left, considering it normal to not being able to have a conversation with a person you disagree with. We don't have a two-party system but now young people almost act like we do.

Most of my life, I've been watching American movies and series, while having only seen a couple of Swedish films, and zero to none Russian or Estonian movies. I can't speak the languages of my neighbors, and I don't have nuanced understanding of our complex shared histories.

A while back I met a person from the United States, and it was uncanny. She really spoke in the soft buzzing sounds I've heard on podcasts, and which to me, is the language of politics and the language of entertainment. And of course, she expected us to speak to her in her language. In a way, US is an abstract concept to me, a world laid on top of my real world. Things happen in relation to the US.

Yesterday I pondered what it would be like to stop following anything that happens in the US, and focus on what happens locally. I have empathy for you there, but why are you on a such a pedestal when there are Russians living under Putin right next to me? I don't mean you don't matter, but I wonder why do you matter so much more than every other nation? When I wondered should I quit following US Americans on social media, a friend laughed at me like I was an idiot and asked me why I'm not following the squirrels in the forest next to us.

[my-name-is-bunnyfoxy]

Why 2012 Raph's development is realistic and more human like

I wanted to talk about this about 2012 Raph. When you look more into Raph's character and why it's one of the best character developments ever and a realistic one. And I'ma just get to the point... ANGER can NOT all of a sudden disappear. Anger, by definition, is a strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility. Something we have seen a lot with Raph. He is the hot-head of the team. Raph has been shown thru out the series to be easily annoyed by his brothers and that is mainly because he is always teased and picked on by them, mainly Mikey who always messes with him. And Raph's response is always to hit or yell at them. Something I myself have done several times because I ab taken by rage that my first reaction is to yell at someone and even become aggressive. That is what Raph is feeling. He doesn't think twice because he is over taken by anger and usually a person will not think twice when they get angry or upset. Remember the episode called ''Riddle of the Ancient Aeons''? Raph immediately goes into a fit of rage in one scene when Leo says he has always been jealous of him and Raph yells that Leo has always been Splinter's favorite and his first reaction was to attack Leo. But then after Leo hugs him, he feels guilty and horrible. That wasn't the only time he has felt guilty for hurting someone as well. Raph clearly does not want to hurt anyone at all but because he isn't able to think twice because of his anger, he ends up doing something terrible and people will often point their fingers at the one who is angry and see them as the bad guy. Raph represents how people will usually first react when they are angry or in rage or even just annoyed by someone. Which I have done even myself before. And the fact that Raph doesn't immediately learn his lesson or immediately feel guilty or horrible about himself is also really nice. Mainly because well,... People who are angry have a harder time and take a lot of time to realize how much they have messed up and end up regretting their actions. And they eventually start to blame themselves for acting that way and even feel ashamed for feeling angry. And Raph clearly has tried to control his anger and it could have been because he felt ashamed and felt like he would be at fault for hurting one of his brothers. Now let's actually get to why Raph's development is realistic that of a person who deals with anger and that is that well- Anger isn't something that can all of a sudden disappear. It's a human emotion. Something that will always be apart of someone. Raph can't make his anger disappear, but he can learn to control it. However though, he is shown to struggle with holding in that anger and will often throw an emotional tantrum and or outburst. There will always come a time where something annoys you so much to the point you just give into the anger. Which is the same case with Raph. The point of Raph's development isn't him trying to stop being angry but to learn to control his emotions and anger is one of them. He wants to control his emotions and when you really think about it, he is the most emotional out of all of them. Raph wants to control his emotions so he doesn't hurt his family and friends. He wants to become a better person because he doesn't wanna hurt his loved ones. I already said this and I will repeat it once more, Raph CAN'T make his anger disappear and will always stick with him because anger is an emotion nobody can escape or make it disappear from them. But Raph can indeed learn to control them. In conclusion: Raph having his development be restarted in many episodes is so understandable and realistic. Raph has shown to thru out the entire series want to control his anger and not let it get the better of him. By the end of the series he was finally able to control it and learn from it fully.

[lairofdragonagelore]

The Claws of Dumat and the Tevinter Bird/Dragon

The Claw of Dumat was introduced to us for the first time, visually, in DA2, and it was not until DAI that we got information about it via a note. However, it was not alone; a second artefact that lacks of any information appeared beside it: a metallic sculpture of a bird or a dragon that I called along this blog the Tevinter bird.

[This post belongs to the series “Analysis and speculation of Statues”]

[Index page of Dragon Age Lore]

The Claws of Dumat

Where does this artefact appear? We have seen it four times already: In the Valdasine Thaig in DA2, in different places within the Fade of DAI, in Fairel's tomb in the Hissing Wastes of DAI, and in the DLC The Descent, inside a chamber of the Heidrun Thaig.

In DA2 game

The claws of Dumat appear for the first time in DA2, in the Primeval Thaig's entrance, at the sides of the main corridor that will lead us to the Thaig filled with Red Lyrium. This implies that this Thaig, which has no typical Dwarven decoration of Paragons and the writing on its walls was not traditional Dwarvish, was deeply related to Tevinter. The Thaig was located below the Deep Roads and was built before the First Blight [exact same characteristics than the Heidrun Thaig] .

We learn later that the Dwarves than inhabit this Thaig had strong trade relationships with Tevinter [they gave them lyrium, according to the codex Valdasine], and it is not clear if they were involved in the construction of Emerius [former name of Kirkwall]. The configuration of the Thaig makes us suspect that Tevinter made experiments here. There is a constant pattern along these rooms: blue lyrium, Claws of Dumat, and red lyrium, that makes us speculate that these three elements are related one another: immense source of lyrium that must have been used to feed the Claws of Dumat until the magisters used slave blood, which in the end, corrupted the lyrium and turned it into red one.

As we continue exploring the Thaig we find an interesting and mysterious codex: The profane. We interpreted it in details in the post Primeval Thaig and Red Lyrium : we assumed that these profane may have been dwarven or humans who were abandoned in this Thaig when it was closed, and hungry, started to eat lyrium, the "blood of the gods", becoming through the aeons into the "profane" creatures, that only endure hunger. Hence, they brought the attention of Hunger demons in a place where the Veil was already thin due to the experiments performed with Claws of Dumat. These profane creatures don't look similar to the abominations of the Red Templars, so we could assume that they only consumed blue lyrium and the corruption of it into red lyrium happened later.

As we continue exploring the Thaig, Varric recognises the last chamber as a Dwarven “Vault”, filled with many Claws of Dumat from which the red lyrium grows.  Here, we find a staff called Valdasine, which codex says that before the First Blight,  the Dwarven House called Valdasine provided lyrium to all the Empire. However, one day, they closed the doors of their Thaig and blocked communication with everyone. When the doors opened after a time, it was empty, no bodies were found, and there were no clues of what happened. From a design point of view, clearly the profane and this event must be connected: This thaig is the Valdasine’s Thaig, and the profane are all those families that were trapped here and forced to eat Lyrium. The age seems to coincide roughly: both events happened before the darkspawn existed. It's also worth noting that the presence of a staff implies that this Thaig had mages, since dwarven were unable to use magic. This reinforces the idea that Tevinter had a deep relationship with this Thaig in particular, and Tevinter mages were present here with some purpose [most likely, an experiment that required big amounts of Lyrium]. We have to remember that dwarves and Tevinter mages had shown another similar situation where Tevinter Mages experimented within dwarven Thaigs in Golems of Amgarrak. In it, a Tevinter mage was trying to recreate a fleshy alternative to Caridin's golems, crafting the mysterious Harvester.

In DAI game: The Fade

The second time we see the Claws are in the Fade of DAI. They appear at different times and contexts: In The Raw Fade - Part 1 among statues of the Free Marches eagle, implying a strong relationship of this artefact with Kirkwall. This may reinforce the idea we explored in DA2 in Kirkwall history and design and in particular with the Enigma of Kirkwall : It is likely that Kirkwall was where the breach to the Fade was done centuries ago, through blood sacrifice. This is also reinforced by the codex Claw of Dumat, where we learn that Corypheus trusted that this artefact would allow him to bring back Tevinter to its former glory.

In the section of the Fade that I called "The Tevinter Path" in The Raw Fade - Part 2 we find more Claws, implying that they were used in the process of reaching the gods that had gone silent. This event can be interpreted as the Magisters breaking into the Black City in the Fade physically.

In Flemeth’s Fade – Part 1 , we find another Claw in an intersection, where a statue of the Free Marches is shown in front of some Avvar Keepers of Fear. Again, this seems to represent the tumultuous history of the region of Kirkwall: Tevinter invaded natives of this place to build Emerius with a hidden purpose beyond the mere extraction of stones for the construction of the Imperial Highway [more details in Kirkwall history and design]

In DAI game: Fairel’s tomb

In the Hissing Wastes: Fairel tomb we find a Claw in one of the tombs, implying that the whole story of Fairel may have been related to Tevinter and its magisters as well. This makes sense if we remember that the Fairel were a clan specialised on Runecraft, and this art was used in the construction of Kirkwall. There is also a mention of runes/sigils that can only be seen from the Fade in the Heidrun Thaig in The Descent – The Sacrificial Gates of Segrummar.

The tomb where the claw appears displays a specific fragment of the story of Fairel:

Fairel, Paragon, fled from the strife his brilliance created, the strife that destroyed thaigs, sundered houses, from weapons that clan used against clan. His own clan and his two sons followed Fairel to the pitiless surface, the surface where they would hide from the war that took their home.

As we see, it is related to the exodus of Fairel and its causes: a weapon he developed, which provoked strife and destroyed clans. During this quest in DAI, we learn that this secret weapon is a kind of rune, but the game doesn't give it more importance later [it feels more because the rush of ending the game, than something lore-related]. This is the main reason why I think Fairel’s house, as runecrafters, may have helped magisters to develop Emerius [which is built following glyphs and runes patterns, for more details check Kirkwall history and design]. As a clan alone on the surface, during a time when most dwarves were underground, they may have relied on Tevinter or accepted any deal in order to survive.

There is clearly a link between the Fairel ruins and Corypheus: Corypheus knew about these forgotten ruins when nobody knew they were there, thus he commanded the Venatori to dig them and look for Fairel's particular weapon: a rune.

Also, the presence of Tevinter elements in this tomb must have been brought in the past, during the times of Corypheus when he was a human magister, since these ruins where not known by anyone until now: it was Corypheus who informed the Venatori about them. The Shaperate, the only other institution that may have had this knowledge, never knew about them since they “recorded Fairel as dead” as soon as he left the underground. So I think it’s reasonable to keep supporting the idea that this clan and these ruins were involved with the ancient Tevinters quite deeply.

In DAI game: DLC, the Descent

In The Descent – The Deep Roads we start the exploration of this region with a big Claw in the main room. It is flanked by two elven rounded trees in the dwarven style. This is already telling us that this Thaig, which predates the Blights, had Tevinter presence not only for trade: their blood ritual instruments had been incorporated to the decoration of the chambers of the Thaig Heidrun, built on a lyrium mine and then destroyed by and earthquake caused by unknown reasons [the stir of a woken-up Titan by an unknown event].  .

In front of the claw, there is a table with a game and a Dwarven stone-paintings that belongs to these strange paintings we found in Hissing Wastes: Fairel tomb, where we speculated that maybe represented Kirkwall, or another city Kirkwall-like.

Later, we find more Claws in another room where they are exposed in a way that implies worship. Since it's in here where the Tevinter bird appears, i will talk about this room later, in the Tevinter Bird section down below.

What do we know about the Claws of Dumat?

In the DAI Fade [ The Raw Fade - Part 1] we find an extremely juicy codex explaining about this artefact. The codex is written by Corpyheus’ slave who was sacrificed later. What we learn here is:

It implies that Corypheus has been developing different altars to “bring Tevinter to Glory” [Would that mean that the Tevinter bird is a prototype?].

We are informed that the Old Gods have been silent for a while and that has caused the loss of followers. This has been a source of fear in Corypheus. [This info is confirmed by Corypheus as well during Orlais: Shrine of Dumat]

This slave knows that Corypheus has been meeting with other “priests” to try to find a solution to the decline of the cult to the Old Gods. 

Corypheus took his name around the time the Tevinter Magisters entered the Golden City. So we can assume this is a narration very close to the time in which the Sidereal Magisters stepped into the Fade physically.

Corypheus knew that the old elves were tied to the Fade, and the mortal elves have something of that power in their blood, hence he wanted to use their blood for the ritual of entering the Fade.

The Claw of Dumat supports the victim on its top, with shackles, and seems to drip blood along the statue to a pool with runes. [Could these runes be a creation of Fairel?]

It is implied that Corypheus used little blood magic before the silence of the Old Gods. The loss of god's voice made him fall in despair.

These words were written and reflected/preserved in the Fade at the base of one of these Claws of Dumat we find just after we pass by some Free Marches eagles. Again, the presence of the Free Marches eagles around the Claws of Dumat may be a representation of Kirkwall, but it could also represent another thing, maybe related to the Tevinter bird.

The Tevinter Bird/Dragon

It is a metal statue of something that looks like a bird or a dragon. It could be the “Tevinter” style of the usual Kirkwall eagle, or something else that escapes me completely. If one is careless, these draconic-bird-like statues can be mistakes for Claws of Dumat, but they are not. They share the same style than the Claws: they are Tevinter, made of dark metal, in an angular and pointy shape.

When we compare it with the statue of Mythal dragon shape, we can see some similitude, as if it were the same one but in the pointy “Tevinter” style. Of course, if this were the case, this metallic representation of Mythal lacks of its iconic spike. 

In DA2 game

The first time we see this statue is in DA2, in the Primeval Thaig [read Primeval Thaig and Red Lyrium ], in a Chamber that Varric refers to as a Dwarven Vault but its key claims it to be a crypt. There are veins of red lyrium around these statues and around the Claws of Dumat.

In DAI game: Crestwood Caves

The next appearance is in Crestwood: Flooded Caves, at the entrance of a chamber of a Dwarven ruin.

This place seemed to be important, since it is decorated in this fashion. This entrance even has an illustration in the Book of Inquisition [image above], showing that these statues are placed at the side of the entrance completely on purpose. The position seems to be similar to Mythal statues we find in the elvhenan ruins or Temples.

In that illustration, however, we also see a big mask-face over them, reminding us those faces we saw in dwarven Thaigs in DAO, or in the Avril of Void. These faces always gave me the impression of being unconcious representations of the Titans within the dwarven culture.

Later on, I found a plaque close to this place, in a locked room, that seemed to imply this whole dwarven ruin was a route that connected Aeducan Thaig with Gundaar Thaig [another famous Thaig, and one of the first in falling under the darkspawn threat]. It’s interesting that the name Gundaar appears here, since it’s one of the three Thaigs that the lore considered lost and have been hiding curious developments [the other two are Kal-Sharok and Hormak, for more details read Orzammar, Witch Hunt, and The Horror of Hormak ].

In DAI game: Heidrun Thaig

The last appearance of the Tevinter bird was in DLC: The Descent – The Deep Roads where, despite the lack of information in a codex, we find a curious chamber in the Heidrun Thaig that may provide some insight.

The chamber in question seems to honour four statues: two Claws of Dumat and two Tevinter birds. This could have been a chamber of summoning or enhancing magic, since we know the Claws of Dumat were used with blood sacrifices to empower magic. So even though we don’t know what the Tevinter bird’s function could have been, the presence of the claws makes us infer that it may have been related to blood sacrifices and the process of breaching the Fade.

Another detail that supports this hypothesis is that, in this Thaig, blood magic has been performed long time ago: we meet an Arcane Horror in The Uncharted Abbys, Bastion of the Pure, who still performs blood magic with animal bodies [we find some dead animals that are still warm]. The curious detail is that this chamber has a lot of elvhenan objects: several inukshuk, an eluvian with the same frame that Merril's, and a statue of Humanoid Mythal. In the same chamber we also find one of the Tevinter sacrificial altars, which makes us suspect that Tevinter and Elvhenan knowledge have been fused in this place. That these elements appear in this part of the underground may be related to the fact that the Bastion of the Pure it's where we find the densest amount of lyrium [important component to cast powerful magic].

However, I'm not sure if we can assume this Arcane Horror is an ancient magister of that time. I’m more inclined to think that it is the father of the builder of The Sacrificial Gates of Segrummar, who needed to be in the Fade in order to see the sigil that is present in all this Thaig, apparently. 

Speculations about the Tevinter bird/dragon

The information we have collected in here is rather scarce. We can have a good understanding of the Claws of Dumat, but it's hard to extrapolate all that to the Tevinter bird. So, I developed several hypothesis:

It's a prototype of a Claw of Dumat

According to the codex of the Claws of Dumat, Corypheus had been working on different prototypes, so we can assume this Tevinter bird may have been one of those: a mere prototype. However, if it was so, why would it be present in Valdasine's Thaig? You don't use failed prototypes. Unless its presence, in combination with the Claws, is what makes the claws work.

It's something related to Emerius

Kirkwall always had an iconic metallic statue of an eagle [1, 2]. We can even say that the geometrical symbol of Kirkwall [7] looks like an eagle extending its wings [7] even though the origin of that symbol has a strong resemblance with the original symbol of Emerius: a raising dragon [7].

In the Viscount's Keep, we see different other representations of the eagle [2, 3, 5, 6]. The origin of [3] seems to be [4] which is a symbol closer to the Emerius style than the current, geometrical one, so this design detail tells me that this symbol may have belonged to the time of Emerius. The fact that the claws of Dumat appear in the Fade close to the [1] eagle statues may represent something. Maybe the original rising dragon represented in the Emerius symbol was hidden later in a bird-like figure?

Since the dark metallic eagle represents Kirkwall [or Emerius if we are talking about old times], this draconic/bird statue may be the representation of another city with similar characteristics than Emerius, maybe less important during the time of the Tevinter Empire glory.

This idea is also suggested when we find a Claw of Dumat in the first chamber of DLC: The Descent – The Deep Roads , where we see one of those Dwarven stone-paintings, which is neither the usual painting we saw along DAO, nor the usual one representing Kirkwall in DA2.

There is also a weird "bird" statue that we only see in DA2, that I talked about it in Xenon and his Black Emporium, depicted as a humanoid bird with chains that holds a mask on it. I can't bring a decent, non-conspiracy relationship between them, but it's the only bird-like statue I can think of through all the games. This weird statue appears in many houses of Kirkwall in DA2 [specially noticeable in Danarius house].

It's a Forgotten One which, as a dragon, was taken by the Tevinter interpretation as Dumat [or any other Old God]

In the way it is presented in the Vault of DA2, and considering it has a draconic shape to it, we can even speculate that this statue is a small representation of Dumat himself.

Hence, this statue is attached to big chunks of metal and close to the Claws of Dumat in that Vault as a mere decoration.

I like to play with the thought that it may be Myhtal [as I did in the beginning of this Tevinter Bird section]: I already talked about the speculation of Mythal being of double nature [Evanuris and Forgotten One, that the unreliable oral tradition of the Dalish lore twisted to give it to Fen'Harel, details in Speculations about the Vinyl Art or Dragon Age Iconic Patterns: The Sun], and the Forgotten Ones being dragons that were worshipped by the Elvhenan until they claimed their divinity [read more in Attempt to rebuild Ancient Elvhenan History]. In that moment on, they may have erased the ancient gods turning them into the forgotten ones, who escaped to the Abyss [which is related to the underground, where we know many dragons hibernate]. Therefore, there is a possibility that these forgotten dragons were taken later by the newly arrived humans [the Neomerians] who developed the cult of the Dragons, aka The Old Gods, being completely oblivious of the relationship that these creatures had with the Elvhenan, a civilisation they hated and despised. So that, they took the image of Mythal and considered it Dumat, and for that reason, they used this statue as a decoration to place around the Claws of Dumat.

The con of this interpretation is that it's not clear what kind of Dragon was the real Dumat-Archdemon which desolated the lands during the First Blight: was it truly Mythal? Another fragment of her? or was another Dragon? We already made a lot of speculations about the true Mythal being trapped in the Black City in the post Speculations about the Vinyl Art that makes this current speculation to falter.

Considering this horrible counter-argument, we could assume that maybe this is another Forgotten One that we have no name at all, but again, why would you put it close to the Claws of "Dumat" then?

Conclusion

It's clear that all speculations are pretty weak and lack of consistency to be considered seriously. For the moment, we know this statue exists, and may have some relationship with Tevinter, the Dwarves, and Emerius, even though we can't detail how that relationship is. Let's hope that future games, if they are not meant to destroy the DA lore, may give us some enlightenment on this matter.

[sapphire-weapon]

Not to rattle the cages, but for all of their so called, "sexual tension", Leon and Ada have a startling lack of intimacy. Everything they find out about each other most likely is learned from reading sterile, impersonal dossiers and not from any meaningful conversation.

And the only quality time they did have with each other took place completely off-screen and it's not even entirely clear what happened because it was only referenced in a single blink-and-you'll-miss-it throwaway line of dialogue in Damnation. (I'm willing to concede that it's likely they banged, but it's also just as likely that Ada blueballed him and ran off, because her follow-up question of "You're angry with me, aren't you?" doesn't make sense if he actually came LMAO But that's beside the point.)

But... at the same time... I don't think it's that simple. There's more to it than that.

God, I'm really about to make a case for Aeon, aren't I? Damn my dedication to this series's canon. Let's think of this post as the Aeon haters' guide to understanding Aeon, because it's fucking canon whether we like it or not. Goddamn it.

To start off, there's a difference between knowing someone well and being intimate with them. I've talked in the past about how intimate Luis's death scene was in RE4make, and Leon and Luis knew barely anything about each other at the time of his death. But that doesn't take away from the intimacy of the scene.

I feel like a similar principle applies to Leon and Ada.

Ada was with Leon throughout the majority of what was objectively the worst night of his life. Nothing else comes close to Raccoon City in terms of what it did to Leon -- no matter how much greater of a threat he faces logistically, it's still not as bad as what happened to him in Raccoon City. So, Ada knows Leon in ways that no one else in the series does.

Claire got a glimpse of the old Leon -- arguably, the "real" Leon -- but that's all it was. A glimpse. They weren't together long enough for her to really get to see what made him tick or to understand the perspective he was bringing into the city with him -- but Ada got to see all of that. And there's an intimacy to that all on its own -- especially when you consider that, after RE2, Leon starts building walls around himself made of machismo and bad one-liners that eventually wash away beneath a sea of liquor, which then dampens and darkens everything around it.

But no matter how fast he tries to run from himself, or how many walls he tries to put up, or how hard he tries to become someone else, there's still one person in his life who has seen and remembers who Leon S. Kennedy really is, and her name is Ada Wong.

He's allowed himself to be weak in front of her, to fail in front of her, to get frustrated and angry and overwhelmed around her -- and there is a real intimacy in that kind of vulnerability. And not once has she ever judged him for it or held it over his head or tried to harp on him about how he's changed -- because, to her, he hasn't changed. She can see through all of those new defense mechanisms he's put in place and knows that the core of who he still is is still intact. So, she silently allows him to work through whatever it is that he needs to work through while still trusting that he'll always be who he's always been -- and that's pretty fucking powerful, honestly.

And that's why he feels like he can't let her go -- because he's afraid that, if he does, he'll be letting go of the very last piece of himself that's still alive and holding on from before all the trauma set in.

The sad reality of the ship, though, is that that's not true. If Leon were to let Ada go, he wouldn't be letting go of his old self. Because, while Ada has seen the old Leon -- has met and known and spoken with him -- she is not what's keeping the memory of the old Leon alive; she is not the actual bearer of his legacy. Sherry is.

Even though Sherry wasn't around Leon nearly as much as Ada was and didn't get to know him the same way, that doesn't matter. What Leon doesn't see is that he didn't give up who he was because of Ada. He gave up who he was because of Sherry. He did it for her sake -- to save and protect and take care of her.

That's why he almost breaks down and cries when he sees her for the first time in RE6, when he's never done that when reuniting with Ada. It's because Sherry is carrying with her so many of the pieces of Leon that he left behind in order to properly fill the role of a federal agent. Doing what he did for her makes him more of a father to her than William Birkin ever was, and Sherry knows this. That's why she didn't think twice about following in his footsteps and jumping at the opportunity to become an agent herself -- and, to do that, she trusts Derek goddamn Simmons when she really shouldn't have, but she does it because she's still carrying the old Leon's optimism and trustfulness and faith in humanity. Again: she's following in Leon's footsteps, and the old Leon is the only Leon she ever really knew. Even if she didn't know him nearly as well as Ada did.

I think, on some unconscious level buried deep within his psyche, Leon knows this -- but it's a reality that's too painful to face, so he doesn't. Instead, he projects all of that shit onto Ada, because it's easier that way. Besides, he's been doing it for so long already, so why stop now? There's comfort in the familiar, and Ada is nothing if not familiar.

But, to go back to what I was saying earlier about Ada trusting that Leon will always be who he's always been -- that's also why he believes in her in RE6 when no one else does. Part of it is his projections about his past self and all that bullshit, but there's also an element of... "she would do the same for me." Because she has. She's been doing it for years.

And in that specific regard, there is a real maturity to their relationship that doesn't really get enough attention or praise from the fanbase. The whole "sexual tension" thing is stupid, and you're right to point it out in your ask as being stupid, because Leon and Ada's relationship isn't about sex -- and it shouldn't be! And that's why that line in Damnation is so fucking pointless and stupid AND I HATE IT lmao Leon and Ada's relationship is about two people who accept and trust each other without judgement, even when they really shouldn't.

NOW.

WITH ALL THAT BEING SAID.

EVERYTHING I JUST WROTE OUT IN THAT HUGE WALL OF TEXT IS ONLY APPLICABLE TO THE OG STORYLINE. THE REMAKES DO SOMETHING VERY, VERY DIFFERENT WITH LEON AND ADA. And honestly, the massive changes to their relationship are really the #1 major reason why I believe the remakes are a completely different timeline of events -- because so much of what I just said is not fucking true for the remake versions of Leon and Ada. It's just straight up not true.

Remake Leon does not accept Remake Ada for who she is (he literally asks her to fucking change, for god's sake!! LMAO), and he definitely does not fucking trust her. RE4make basically erased the canonicity of Leon/Ada as a romantic relationship. It's not there anymore; it's no longer a canon romance; it's gone. If it's anything still at all, it's one-sided unrequited Ada having fallen for Leon, and him not being able to get away from her fast enough.

But that doesn't mean that their relationship is lacking in intimacy.

We've talked before about how Remake Leon is touch-starved as fuck -- and touch seems to be his love language. And while Leon is greedy and sneaky with the touches he steals from Ashley in RE4make, none of those little touches that the two of them pass back and forth come anywhere close to Ada's touches in RE2make.

The scene between them on the shuttle is very intimate -- and not just because she kisses him. It's the way she sits so close to him, the way she leans into him, the way she keeps a hand on his knee and gently caresses it with her thumb. It's the way they both speak in more hushed tones, the way she tries to be soothing with the tone of her voice. It's how she kisses him -- close-lipped and gentle, meant only to ease his anxiety and quiet his mind (and also get him to shut the fuck up for two goddamn seconds. god I respect her so much for this LMAO).

And not just that scene, but it's also present in the way she patches him up after he gets shot. We don't get to see it, but if you look again at Leon's bandages? She had to strip him the fuck down in order to do that LMAO home girl was sitting there unbuttoning his shirt and going "this sucks he's unconscious this isn't even fun. pain in the ass." And when he wakes up? Sure, she's gone, but he definitely knows that she had to have been all up in his business in order to do what she did -- and she left her coat behind with him as a fucking blanket and I'm sorry but that's so cute. IT'S CUTE. I'LL ADMIT IT. But it was probably a moment for him of "Wow. She really cares." -- because, again, touch is his love language. AND BOY DID SHE DO THAT A WHOLE FUCKIN LOT.

So, basically.

What I'm trying to say is.

Leon and Ada's relationship is poorly written and poorly executed and I hate it for a myriad of reasons, most of which involve the fact that it limits Ada's character and waters her down to a really unnecessary degree, but... I can't bring myself to say that there's no there there. Are they the hot and sexy spy vs spy ship that the director of Damnation desperately wanted us to believe they are? Absolutely fucking not. Is the ship predicated on only semi-resolved sexual tension? Also fucking no.

Does any of that actually matter...? Again... No. It doesn't matter. There is something to it. Even if they are still mostly strangers to each other, knowing facts about each other isn't what's important about their relationship. It's knowing who the other is at their core that's important.

At least, in OG.

In Remake, Leon can't fucking stand her by the time of RE4. And if anyone tries to say otherwise, they're fucking delusional.

Though I honestly believe that if either version of Ada learned more about who Leon was in the day-to-day, she'd probably like him a whole lot less. Leon, shave your face and stop drinking and why are the fucking Beastie Boys playing in your car when you're driving to work and holy shit are you really watching Casino for the third time this week oh my god

[cosmos-daughter]

A detailed psychological analysis of Leon Kennedy and Aeon: the agent's endless struggle with guilt and dysfunctional romance with Ada Wong.

The reason why I decided to write this is because I have seen some complaints about Leon apparently "flirting" with someone in the DI movie (not sure who or if he even does, since it's not out yet as I write this) and accusing him of being out of character because of that. I was confused of why were people suddenly acting as if Leon being flirty with women was something new, surprising or unexpected, since that's a character trait of his ever since 2004.

Then, I finally got the ✨context✨ and apparently, the reason why they are upset over this is actually because of the beautiful spy in red, Ada Wong.

It seems the cause of people's frustration is that they expected Leon's flirty behaviour with other women to be gone on the events that are set after Resident Evil 6 in the timeline, since his feelings for Ada were finally adressed in that game. And naturally, many assumed they'd be in a relationship in a recent timeline, and therefore are treating this as a case of infidelity.

Seeing that made me realize that some people, usually fans that are rather new to the franchise and joined the fandom after the remakes, don't quite understand what Leon and Ada actually have going on or what they mean to each other. It is much, much more complicated and deep than it actually seems, and I want to talk about it in detail here while also providing some canon information to prove the points I make.

CW: mentions of alcoholism, depression and suicidal ideation.

─

Leon and Ada’s dynamic is a funny little thing. Talk about an dysfunctional, unstable relationship. It is definitely not the healthiest. What they have going on is messy and complicated, sure, but that's what makes it entertaining for us, viewers, and what makes Aeon a appealing ship that many love, even if watching them can also be quite frustrating at times. They are the true meaning of star-crossed lovers -- two people who love each other but aren’t able to be together, a love that’s doomed from the start -- and that's why their relationship has always been presented and described as complicated.

Take a look at this file from Resident Evil 6:

Following their escape, their paths would cross from time to time, Leon as a U.S. government operative and Ada as a spy. Ada makes no qualms about using Leon when it suits her needs, but Leon is loath to bring himself to be done with her. They don't consider each other enemies, but it's hard to tell how they feel for each other. Complicated is the word that aptly summarizes their relationship. (Leon and Ada)

That makes two things clear: Leon has feelings for Ada, and he’s also a hopeless romantic. He knows when she’s using him, he’s not stupid, but he can’t and doesn’t want to let go of her. Anyone can see that, each time they interact you can sense Leon’s hesitancy through the screen, he always seems conflicted, wary, as if going through a dilemma of “which one is more important: love or duty?", because even if she’s the woman he loves, that doesn’t change the fact that she’s shady and has worked for the opposite side before -- for the people that produce bioweapons -- and Leon's determination to keep fighting despite of how exhausted he is comes precisely from his hatred of people who make use of bioweapons and his desire to end this for good. Loving her or not, as long as he's not sure of what her true intentions are, he can't fully trust her. He won’t risk getting innocent people hurt, after all, that’s what he fights for: to protect them. He'd do anything to stop something like Raccoon City from ever happening again. It's the only thing he has. The only part of his old self -- of the Leon that was lost after the outbreak -- that still lives is his urge to protect. Serve and protect.

Krauser: What is it that you fight for, comrade? Leon: My past, I suppose. (Optional dialogue from original RE4)

In RE6, he protects Ada from Chris and Helena when they try to kill her, but he’s not sure himself if she’s innocent or not. His uncertainty becomes even clearer during the final scene before they part ways again, when he asks her: “What are you? Why are you helping us?”. Again, he’s not sure of what she wants, whose side she’s on, why she's doing what she does, what he means to her, or anything at all. But even if confused and probably curious, he doesn’t go after her for answers when Helena tells him to. And since RE6 takes place after Damnation (both are in 2012, but the events of RE6 starts in december), I’d say that’s enough evidence that they are not in a relationship at that time, even if they got intimate at some point (also the fact that he shamelessly flirts with Helena at the beginning of the game and he would never if he was in a relationship, since loyalty is a big thing of Leon's character too).

What I make up of their relationship from the content they give us and what they’ve been hinting since their first appearance in 1998 is that they’re less than lovers, but definitely more than friends, if you could even call them that. I imagine they have that kind of relationship that sometimes, Ada shows up at Leon’s doorsteps at night after a long time of not hearing from each other and they both missed each other a lot and are also undeniably attracted to each other, so maybe they do sleep together and might even share a very romantic, vulnerable moment (that they never really speak of later) and when Leon wakes up in the morning, her side of the bed is already empty. I think they have the physical, but not emotional intimacy, and if they both know how they feel about that deep down, it doesn't matter -- neither of them have the luxury of doing feelings. They don’t belong to each other and are free to do as they please, but none of them plan on moving on from each other. It’s just two screwed up humans afraid of commitment loving each other messily.

Poetically tragic, quite Shakespeare-esque.

It's also important to mention the reason why I believe Leon accepts to be in a "relationship" like this one even if he knows it's not good for him and yearns for more (even if he doesn't admit it -- he's a big softie: emotional, romantic, loves people and company, of course he wants more than that). I'd say the reason it’s not only because he loves her -- even if that's great part of it -- but also because he doesn't think himself worthy of having a loving, stable relationship. Leon is an alcoholic who suffers from depression, traumatized, barely has any free time to rest and also happens to work in the most dangerous job in the world that could get him killed anytime. So... he's not very boyfriend material. He would most likely spent the entire time thinking the other person deserves better, deserves someone present in their life and who can give them the love and attention they deserve. And with Ada, he’s able to fulfill his emotional and physical needs without having the responsibility of having an actual relationship, and without hurting anyone's feelings, because Ada doesn’t expect more from him too. They both know they can't go there. A romantic relationship is probably something he no longer knows how to deal with, ever since his life has changed so drastically. Hell, he can barely take care of himself. So he's fine with the little that Ada gives him (or at least he pretends), he'll accept whichever parts of her she'll allows him to have. He knows that she’ll never be his, so he has to be fine with having her only for a night. It's no news that Leon Scott Kennedy is the master of self-sabotage, no one is more cruel to him than himself. After all, everything in his life is a mess, his love life would hardly be any different.

Now here comes my favorite part to talk about and the main point: Leon's insecurity regarding of being unworthy of love and peace, originates from his survivor's guilt issues -- his trauma. I always talk about how cruel and visceral Leon’s case of survivor's guilt is, because it's part the character's essence, you can't have Leon without it. That thing is tied to him. It's a stain on his soul. It will always be with him, even if he manages to heal himself one day. Since that night in Raccoon City happened, he lives with an immeasurable amount of guilt regarding every single person that he "failed" to save and protect, knowing they're gone while he’s still alive and breathing is too much for him and that results in a worrisome self-destructive behaviour where he thinks he doesn’t deserve to be happy or a normal life, a break from the horrors. No, he needs to live the rest of his life miserably, fighting incessantly against bioweapons until his last breath, because this is the very least he can do to ‘make amends’ to everyone he ‘failed’ to save. He holds into his failure like it's a hand. A workaholic fueled by guilt and grief.

(EDIT: Leon's voice actor, Matthew Mercer, pretty much confirmed this by saying that Leon holds himself accountable for every death that happens on his watch even if it's out of his control in a interview for the Death Island movie. I'm aware he's the voice actor and not the writer, but he understands his character perfectly, so I find that worthy of mentioning).

Then we have Resident Evil: Damnation only further proving his crystal clear guilt issues. When Leon stops Alexander from shooting himself, these are his words to the man:

“The option of taking our own lives no longer belongs to us. Once we start using these, we owe it to the people who died alongside us, we have to continue living.”

This whole interaction, Leon stopping a man from killing himself and his words hits different when you remember that in the original RE2 Leon actually considered doing the same, and the only reason he didn’t was because to protect Sherry and make sure she was safe (this part doesn’t make too much sense in the remake since Leon doesn’t meet her until the last minutes of the game, but we’re referring to the original events here). The reason why Leon accepted to work for the government was also to ensure they would keep Sherry safe, allow her to live a normal life and not experiment on her (a promise they clearly did not keep but anyway...), even if we all know he didn't have a choice. He still did it all of that for a girl he barely knew. Self sacrifice is a vice of his just as much as alcohol.

"To tell you the truth, I even thought about ending it -- several times, actually -- with just a quick bullet to the head. But I didn't give up. Sherry needed me. She was a 10-year-old girl thrown into a hellish environment with monsters after her, so I had to pull myself together for her sake. She was our reason for not giving up - especially for Claire.” (Leon and the Raccon City Incident)

He feels obligated to continue this loop of constantly sacrificing his own mental health and safety in this miserable and dangerous life of fighting against bioweapons for that is what he owes to his fallen comrades and innocent victims of bioterrorism. Consequently, he also gives away his chances of having a normal relationship, living like a normal person and also the possibility of having a family in the future. He’s seen drinking a lot in Damnation -- including during the day, alone in his room, I think that’s pretty self explanatory.

Then we have Vendetta -- the peak of Leon's depression -- where we watch as he drowns himself in alcohol even more during a mental breakdown after losing his whole team being the only survivor, again. More people dead at his commands, following his words, more people dead because he can't be the super-hero he wishes he was, all that while he still breathes and gets to see another day. Leon doesn't have a lot of stability in his life, he's loses people important to him all the time, yet he does not get any used to it.

He questions if living is really worth it in the movie:

“I keep fighting... and fighting and fighting, and instead of seeing an end to this shit, it just keep getting worse. Is this what my life is supposed to be? Fighting the living dead and bastards that make them? What's the point of it all?”

He’s clearly reached his limit and is beyond exhausted, he knows it’s not fair to him and he shouldn’t have to live like this, he’s desperate for a little bit of normalcy, yet he still goes back to fight. He can't run away from duty, and he sure as hell can’t turn a blind eye to bioterrorism, no matter how tired he is. Vendetta is set after RE6, so it’s clear that his relationship hasn’t evolved since then, and it seems that it's been a while since they last saw each other, maybe even years, and maybe that also adds on the reasons why Leon snapped, since Ada is the closest to a constant he's had in his life, the only thing he can always count to come back to him, even if he doesn't knows when.

It’s not hard to believe a man like that would avoid a serious relationship at any costs. But doing that is not easy for him, after all, Leon is very emotional and so fucking lonely and touch-starved, he wants the love, even if he doesn’t think he deserves it. While I have no canon evidence about this, I can see him being the type who gets one-night stands once in a while when he’s feeling too alone and in need for a distraction and relief, I imagine that he feels a little needed and loved when he’s touching and being touched by another person, even if it’s only for the night. But he refuses to emotionally connect with the person, because his heart belongs to another and because he doesn't want to risk anyone falling for him; because something else we know about him is that he has emotional responsability and maturity, he thinks of people's feelings, considers them, and takes it very seriously.

I see Leon’s womanizer behaviour as a coping mechanism for his loneliness and his own way to lighten the mood and make those women not panic during the situation of absolute chaos and danger they're usually in with him. It's also simply because he likes women, of course, I'm not denying that, but his flirting never bothered me because of how respectful he is -- he never takes it too far or make them uncomfortable by being innapropriate (I mean, there's a reason why all the women he flirts with like Helena and Hunnigan adore him, even if not in that way, they all like him a lot as a friend). And we can tell he's not planning on making them fall in love with him by the way he only flirts hardcore with the strong-type of women whom he knows won't fall for him easily like that, and with the softer-type who might actually have a crush on him (like Ashley or Manuela) he's much more careful, mostly friendly -- ocasionally teasing and a little light flirting too, of course, but that's just his way of being playful and nice. Leon is a very charismatic and charmful man by nature, what can he do about it?

So, considering all of this, we can see why having a relationship is not on Leon's to-do-list. No person in their right mind would subject themselves to be in a relationship in which your partner is completely secretive about their work life and having to live with the anxiety of going to sleep at night not knowing if he’s still alive when he leaves for his missions; people want a relationship for security, stability, reassurance, comfort and peace, not to be tormented. And with Ada, he doesn’t need to worry about any of that. She isn’t going to ask him questions about his work nor is she going to stay up at night worrying if he’s going to come back home, because they don’t have that kind of relationship. And it's not that Leon would hate having that kind of relationship -- especially with her -- it's the opposite. He secretly craves it. I think there's nothing he'd love more than laying with the person he loves on his arms at the end of a long day, and seeing their face lit by the sunlight in the morning, or simply doing the typical clingy couple things, the casual affection; but he has a job to do and he knows he can't have both.

I don’t agree with the usage of the word ‘toxic’ to define his relationship with Ada, because that makes her seem like a horrible person when it’s not the case; none of them is forcing the other into this relationship, they both just fall in with it because they know that this is the closest to a romantic relationship that people like them can afford to have. And because this relationship isn't entirely bad for them, we don't know much about Ada, unfortunately, but we know enough about Leon to have a guess that what he has with her is enough to provide him at least a little bit of comfort, and God knows he needs it.

Even if we don't have enough content of her, her feelings, traumas and motivations to write a fully detailed essay, we know that even if she doesn't show it like he does, she loves Leon too. The difference is that she doesn't wear her heart on her sleeve like he does. And yes -- she uses him to reach her own goals during her missions, always plays little games with him, but I believe the latter is part of a façade (I'll get into this later), and she never did anything to hurt him or put him in danger. She’s a focused, calculative woman who will play dirty to get what she wants, yet she often goes out of her way to help Leon every time he’s in trouble instead of considering it a nuisance. Coming from someone like her, that means a lot. She’s the one who throws him the rocket launcher in RE2 during the fight against Nemesis, she’s the one who stops Krauser from killing him in RE4 (original, in the remake it is Luis' doing), she also goes against Wesker’s orders to keep him safe, and helps him many times in RE6 and Damnation too. Ada is always watching him from the shadows and would never let anyone harm him, no matter what. Not to mention, the way she trusts Leon becomes evident with how she always lowers her guard around him in a way you never see her doing with anyone else -- like in that choking scene from the original RE4, no other person would be able to catch her off guard like that. She's completely at ease around him.

Something else I noticed is how Ada only acts cool when in front of him. In the original RE4 you can see how she puts that unbothered, cool and mysterious woman show on when face-to-face with him, but as soon as he isn't watching her, the façade drops and she looks at him as if he's the most amazing person in the world, she has the biggest heart eyes for him, even if she doesn't let him see it. I believe the only scene she showed it to him is when he saves her from Saddler and asks her if she's okay, to which she replies with a weak "I've been better", and gives him the softest smile ever. There is so much tenderness in that look she gave him. Also, the way she talks about him: in the original Separate Ways she compliments his skills and intelligence and refers to him as "practically a genius"; she admires and respects him immensely, even if she'd never say that to his face.

My point with this is that the reason why she does that, the reason why Ada doesn’t give too much for Leon, is because she knows it’s just going to make things more difficult for both of them. After all, leaving would be much harder after hearing a “I love you”, after making promises. They both know how they feel, too, so there is no need for words. As I said before, their love isn’t exactly the healthiest and probably is something that hurts them both, but as long as they can see each other again, they can endure the pain that comes with the separation -- because like Leon said himself in RE4, “she’s like a part of me that I can’t let go”

But no matter how much they love each other, in the end, Leon and Ada are always meant to go to their separate ways.

[desultory-novice]

hello! i've been meaning to ask you this for a while, but i keep forgetting! i'll lead by saying that i'm sorry for being so annoying in your askbox about this stuff... i just really want to know your opinion!

i've been seeing a lot of "galacta knight is canonically dead" takes lately, and i was wondering what you thought about that? i've always been a little annoyed at the concept since star allies (and the star allies art books!) seems to make a big deal out of morpho knight being a fusion of gk and the butterfly, and while katfl seems to disprove this (?) it's also important to note that we never saw gk's soul leave morpho knight, only forgo's. i just feel like there's a lot more evidence for morpho knight to be a fusion than the other way around? i can't really talk to people about this bc it always makes me look like a fangirl that's upset her favorite is dead... :/ your killing game post kind of reminded me about that jajaj

Annoying? Noooo! Not in the slightest!

"Canon."

Oh boy. I mean, yes, I use "canon" myself but at the same time, I hear the phrase "canonically dead" paired with Galacta Knight and I can't help but laugh. (And sigh, because I really do think fandom can get caught up in policing people based on what's presumed(!!!) canon and that just seems like a big way to suck the fun out of things!)

But seriously, Galacta Knight is just one of the funniest characters to argue about this because before now, people were arguing he wasn't even canon at all! Can we just enjoy the character, people?! XD

That said, I did some looking through my copy of the SA art book and Galacta and Morpho's pause screen lore for this ask and...

The art book is pretty clear about Morpho Knight being a fusion of the butterfly and Galacta. That said, the pause lore also seems to imply that Morpho is their own thing, and that while they might be fused in this form, it's not to say that Morpho can only take that form because they absorbed Galacta/that it was borrowed from Gala.

Galacta definitely has an effect on Morpho, physically, as Morpho EX is explicitly stated to be a change brought on as Morpho finishes the process of absorbing Galacta's power and has learned to make it entirely their own. (Interesting how that turns them dark, not unlike the Aeon Hero unlocking his own "true" power and turning quite...malevolent looking.)

That Morpho needed Gala's power (in fact, Morpho is described as being "drawn  to" Gala so I don't think there's anything wrong with imagining fate plays a bit into their meeting) could be why Morpho becomes Morpho Knight to be but doesn't turn into, say , Forgo Knight after absorbing Fecto Forgo. (Although Fecto isn't a complete soul, missing Elfilin.) Morpho Knight probably couldn't have taken that same form in FL had they not fused with Gala but...

...because Gala wasn't shown leaving Morpho, does that suddenly mean Gala's dead? ...Personally, I don't think so. Especially if you are one of those "EX Modes are Non-Canon" people, in which case, we can take the pause screen text to mean that regular Morpho hasn't even "finished" absorbing Gala's soul! IE: It's still around.

But here's the real reason it's so odd to me to suggest that Gala is dead after their encounter with Morpho in Star Allies:

Galacta Knight is a character who pretty clearly has multiple selves from multiple timelines existing at any/many given points in the timeline! So the SA Gala was absorbed! What does that say for the other dozen Galactas flying around out there? There many be THOUSANDS of Crystal Prisons containing thousands of Galacta Knights floating through the mess that is Another Dimension! We saw that SA Gala getting absorbed had no effect on the Galacta Knight fight existing as per normal in RtDL DX.

Even if you wanted to go all River Song and say that getting absorbed by Morpho is Gala's end fate, that regardless of where we catch them in the timeline, that would be a fixed moment, we haven't seen Gala's beginning! (Even Aeon Hero would seem to represent something like Gala's "career highlight" phase.) It's simply too soon/we have too little evidence to say Galacta is "canonically dead."

It's just very silly to me to insist on/badger people about that. Which is why I tend to think that at least a portion of the people saying that are saying it as a joke. This humorous idea that "Man Galacta never even got to be canon (:Dess groaning in the background:) and the first time he does get to be canon, he dies! lolololol"

It's overplayed as a joke to me, but if that's the way they enjoy the series, I try to let them be and focus on the parts of the fandom/the discussions that are most meaningful and constructive to me!

(Lastly, I hope you don't feel like there's anything negative about being seriously concerned about the fate of your favorite or that it's anything to be ashamed about! Ask and talk away, please! I want note that if evidence ever came out that Marx was most likely dead, I would be rushing to complain about it/try to reassure myself that there was evidence to the contrary in every ask box that would listen! XD It's natural and very sane to get emotionally invested in the state of your fav in a series you're still currently invested in! Something something kill the part of you that cringes~)

[yezielmoore]

8. (Make-up day) Morsel

Sooo. Inspiration has been thin on the ground. Then i got an idea so I reread Himeko's sparce wiki entry to get a better grasp on her timeline and bro. As is appropiate for a character in these kind of games, Himeko was a teenage genius that got into Uni at 15, finished her phD at 18, suffered greatly from a tragedy that drove her into giving up her dreams and signing up to the shady secret force fighting the deadly secret alien plague. Then she, a woman with no honkai compatibility, did all the training required and joined her squad at 19. Dear god fam.

And if you're into HSR, then it suddenly makes a lot more sense that her counterpart repaired the Mystery Space Train created by an Aeon (god) all by herself and probably with only her guts and a scredriver. I love this woman.

*.*.*

Himeko’s second week in this new world brought about as many surprises as the first one, if not more. Maybe she should stop thinking in terms of surprises when literally every single thing was a surprise in one way or another. At least her first days here had been spent aboard an isolated merchant ship and her only contact with the wider world had been with the crew.

Now, however, they had docked in a small town named Aleport which, by its nature as a port town, saw a lot of traffic from merchants and travelers of all kinds. Here, Himeko finally got the chance to experience how… colorful and diverse the people of this world were. The crew had been a mix of what she learned were hyur, miqo’te and roegadyn, plus whatever race she was. 

(There had been no mirrors on the ship, but Himeko had seen her reflection in a bassinet full of water, morbidly curious about her own appearance. Seeing a reflection of herself, but with leonine characteristics, had been a shock. In a way, she suspected it’d have been less strange if her body had been drastically changed; instead, she looked almost identical while not looking like herself at all. It was eerie).

Aleport, on the other hand, welcomed even more races, from the pint sized hobbit-like people, to literal elves; from rabbit people, to tall men and petite women that had scales, horns and tails. She had even seen a male of her own species (she assumed) pass by while she stood in the plaza with the floating crystal, gawking like a bumbling tourist who had never set foot into a city before. 

She was trying to not think about the floating crystal.

Or the magic.

She was failing on all accounts, but it was the thought that counted, right? 

Himeko had so many questions. All the questions. And no way to ask them without coming off as a crazy hermit that had lived under a rock her whole life at best, or the worst infiltrator to ever exist. When she took into consideration that these people seemed to be in conflict with some “beast tribe” and “those fucking garleans” (epithet courtesy of her erstwhile crewmembers), and that being seen as a spy may wind up with her taking a long walk off a plank, then it became obvious that discretion was the way to go.

Unfortunately, being discrete wasn’t exactly compatible with being expedient, and, for someone who had wrapped up her phD at 18 years old, the forced ignorance grated like nails on a chalkboard.

Integration would be a lot easier if Himeko could read the local language. Because oh yeah, that was also a thing. Despite having no trouble verbally communicating with everyone she met, Himeko could not, for the life of her, read the local script that had, as far as she could guess, some passing similarity to a few of the romance languages she studied, but only in appearance. Even then, the similarities were few. 

Truth be told, Himeko had no idea why she could understand everyone and be understood in turn, but she wasn’t fool enough to look a gifted horse in the mouth. She just hoped this wouldn’t end up being a monkey’s paw situation. That would suck even more than trying to pick up morsels of valuable information from conversations she just happened to overhear. 

Himeko sighed as she watched the sun finally rise over the horizon, painting the sky a fiery orange. She climbed to her feet and stretched in order to work out the kinks in her back, then holstered the old but serviceable ax that Swift River had gifted her as thank you for saving his life.

Yesterday, Himeko had spent the day familiarizing herself with the town and the people that lived in it. She observed their routines and exchanged words with bored dock workers and idling guards, as well as haughty scholars and enthusiastic children. 

All information was valuable information at this point in time, but one of the most valuable things she learned during her little information gathering the day before was about the existence of adventurers: people that traveled around and did odd jobs in exchange for money. The best thing? Anyone could be an adventurer, even dimensional travelers with no papers. 

Sure, apparently there was an Adventurer’s Guild, but while signing up was recommended, according to those yellowjacket guys, it wasn’t mandatory. That was good news, since the Guild was in the capital and currently Himeko was a penniless, nameless nobody as far as this world was concerned.

Well, hopefully her experience swinging around a greatsword would translate to swinging around a war ax. She could use the exercise. And the stress relief.

[express-archives]

utc is ambrose & artemis' backstory... in an infodump format! this post is written as if i was speaking to another person, and that's because i was when i wrote this HAHAH this was all copied and pasted from a dm with a friend of mine, but i felt compelled to share it here too because... oc lore!!

so. ambrose and artemis. teehee

both of them started off as normal, short-lived humans. the planet they lived on, which was nameless at the time they were born on it (though it was later fondly named 'arcadia'), was rather archaic in its technolgy, completely uncontacted by the IPC or other interstellar organizations, and terribly riddled with war and death. it had been this way since before they were born, and presumably, would be that way for long after they died… of course, it didn't end that way. long before their births, phantylia stumbled across the planet by chance and decided to sew chaos and destruction there; she has been known to enjoy watching humans destroy themselves senselessly, and what kind of lord ravager would she be if she passed up such a delightful opportunity? this chaos and war went on for years, utterly obliterating the planet's resources and slowly but surely making its inevitable death draw nearer and nearer. ambrose and artemis were born a few hundred years into the mess that phantylia created.

ambrose grew up to be a gentle and kind healer, a farmer, and—occasionally—a battle strategist. though harming people was not in their nature, they had no choice if they wanted to protect their people and their family. they also frequently took care of children, since many did not have parents to raise them. artemis grew up to be a powerful and respected soldier, though she would often come home injured and ambrose would tenderly treat her wounds and remind her to be more careful. it became like a little routine for them. neither of their parents remained in the picture (except for ambrose's sickly mother), having long since been killed in the crossfire. they really only had each other to rely on, so they grew quite close over the years.

naturally, being so close, artemis noticed when her elder cousin grew a little more withdrawn in their preteen years. she noticed when they spent more time researching old, historic books. she noticed how odd it was for them.

somewhere along the line, ambrose discovered legends telling stories of (some of) the aeons. ambrose was not the religious type, but watching their people kill one another was destroying them on the inside and this was all they could try to do to stop it. from the ages of 12-ish to 23-ish, ambrose dutifully prayed. they weren't really sure who or what they were directing it towards; really, they were just throwing their thoughts out into the universe in the hopes that something might hear them.

the first time yaoshi's gaze ever shifted in their direction was when they were 19. ambrose recognized that something had seen them, if the overwhelming sense of dread and unease was not enough to indicate it, though they were not certain who or what. but they could do nothing about it except grit their teeth and keep on, regardless of how unsettling it was to be noticed by something no doubt far greater than them.

they did tell artemis about this. how could they not? she was virtually their best friend. artemis had known about ambrose's prayers ever since they started, but she truly did not believe ambrose's experience, though it was more of a knee-jerk reaction than anything.

anyways, the feeling of being seen never quite went away for the next 4 years, and ambrose eventually got very used to it, to the point where if they were not being gazed upon, it was uncomfortable.

the night of their 23rd birthday, yaoshi made themselves properly known to ambrose for the first time via a dream after having carefully observed them for the past four years (though, to an aeon, four years would pass in the blink of an eye, so it seemed like barely any time at all to yaoshi, i would imagine). an old snippet i wrote about that encounter:

They wanted to say something, they really did, but the words only stuck to the sides of their dry throat. Anything they tried to say only got caught and ultimately could not escape. Whatever stood before them was undeniably something far greater than they would ever be. For something so intimidating… their hands were gentle, gingerly stroking whatever skin was exposed in what seemed to be an attempt to get Ambrose to relax. "Be not afraid, little one. I will not bring you any harm," they murmured kindly, lips brushing against one corner of Ambrose's mouth. When had the deity gotten so close? Gods, they couldn't breathe. "You desire to save your home, yes?" "I—" they choked, "Yes, I do, I…" The god's lips pulled into a smile, eyes so soft with pity and sympathy that the mortal couldn't help but wonder what degree of eldritch deity they had managed to get the attention of. Only something so impossibly nonmortal and unearthly would gaze at them like that. A benignant kiss was placed at the corner of Ambrose's lips. "With such a fragile body, helpless to the cruelty of war and violence, you will never manage it." "I know." "I will lend you the strength you need. I will free you from the constraints of mortality, if you will only allow me to do so." "Please," they whispered tearfully, suddenly feeling very pitiable and fragile under their gaze, "I can't… I can't live like this anymore." The god's smile only seemed to widen ever so slightly. Ambrose had difficulty reading their expression; they could not tell what the deity was thinking. Then, a searing pain shot up their leg, and they sucked in a sharp breath. Ambrose was awake in an instant, hand clamped over their mouth to muffle the shriek that threatened to breach their throat so as to not disturb the other members of their household. Their freehand frantically reached down to their leg, and there— There was a swelling welt on their calf, feverish and sore to the touch. A hushed sob reverberated in their chest. It was almost akin to the sting of a scorpion.

following this encounter, ambrose's body rapidly changed to accomodate immortality, and it was with this aeon-given ability that they were able to put an end to the slaughter of their world. stepping onto the barren land, flowers would bloom in their wake, and the world began to heal, thriving on the abundance's power channeled through ambrose like some kind of prophetic vessel. arcadia, as ambrose named their homeworld, has something like the xianzhou alliance's ambrosial arbor, from which others of their home could attain immortality. some did; others did not. artemis did, for one, making her an abomination of abundance.

artemis was very on edge for a long time, and it never quite went away. there was always something nagging at the back of her mind that this just… wasn't quite right. though, she WAS grateful that the war had been ended.

a few hundred years passed without incident, and the world was thriving better than ever. ambrose disappears one day (not without a word, however; they had spoken to artemis about this and ultimately left to explore the vastness of the universe with yaoshi as their guide, until they could "walk on their own" so to speak. until they could navigate on their own and handle themselves. essentially yaoshi was like "haha. this pathetic little human child is mine now ♡")

people do eventually start "dying" to mara, but the reactions from the people were mostly very mild.

there was never any public outcry or widespread concern. but artemis was EXTREMELY unsettled by this. she had long since ceased crying—it did no good for her, a valued soldier on the front lines, to cry—but she did when the people she loved began to die, and she couldn't help but feel the sting of betrayal. did ambrose know about this? furthermore, did yaoshi know about this and just… not tell anyone?

breaking down in such a manner triggered her mara, and though she did not die, she had her first encounter with an aeon.

it was lan. drawn in by how thoroughly similar she was to ambrose (who had an unfortunate first encounter with lan at one point and earned a very nasty scar from the aeon, barely having escaped with their immortal life), the hunt initially intended to shoot her down and move on. but i think lan formed a weird connection with artemis that day—it's known that the abundance destroyed their homeworld, so i think perhaps they may have been human before ascending. something something ummm brief flickers of humanity in what once was human, but has since been mutilated by eldritch power. yeah. anyways. that was the day that artemis became a pathstrider of the hunt. and later, she became an emanator of the hunt, though her access to the path is quite restricted… perhaps lan does not fully trust artemis. who knows? it's impossible to tell what such a powerful deity is thinking at any given moment.

it was following ambrose's encounter with lan that yaoshi granted them full emanatorship, though they had been an emanator before then, simply less powerful. by that point, i like to think that yaoshi had grown quite attached to the little one they picked up, and the simple truth is that the hunt is relentless and yaoshi might not be able to save ambrose's life in time… so what better way to solve that problem than to give them the power to protect themselves (more or less HAHAH)? 🤭🫶

as emanators, they are quite different people.

artemis sees herself as an individual who lan has shared their power with. ambrose sees themselves as but an extension of yaoshi, a vessel through which their will is exercised.