#also i am so so sorry this got lost in my drafts 😞 i am fantastic at losing things in there

[katsigian]

*boops your nose* send this to ten blogs you think are lovely and deserve a boop on the nose!! 🥰💖💖

Aww thank you so much! 🥹🩵 boops you back!!

[satsuha]

D V and Z for the ask game? :D

under the cut bc idk if this counts as ship hate and it got really long

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t.

hika ag... (not putting the eng ship name for search reasons) i already knew the devs were gonna push them the moment i saw the crossed paths illust released but ultimately it felt disappointing to me in the game orz i already don't like the feeling when a certain ship is being pushed if they aren't going to go the whole mile and make it canon but in a game like octopath where the protags have such minimal interaction i don't like that it feels like these two got special attention (they have the most banters together tied with thro/oche) and yet their interactions aren't.... interesting....! some of hikari's story banters with her literally feel like he could be talking to a random npc instead and the things hikari says in agnea's story ring very hollow to me 😞 given like the fact that they both lost their mothers, illusts show hikari dancing with her or playing the flute (even the lyre in a concept art draft), it's disappointing to me that their ingame banters don't touch on this at all... complained about their crossed paths story another time but honestly for all this complaining i don't hate them i just feel very disappointed and sort of like they wasted their interactions together ngrhg

V - Which character do you relate to most?

KINDA dungeon meshi spoilers... completely off topic from what i usually talk about but i like marcille's character arc and her goals arising from her fear of being left behind. i'm gonna keep things vague since dunmeshi just got an anime and is getting bigger and also since i don't want to go too deep into why i relate to her but stories about learning to value the time you have with friends while knowing it will end one day (frieren is another obvious one) are very close to me

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go!

sorry when you say ramble i think it will always be complaining-adjacent with me but after playing agnea ch3 with english voices i got so surprised at the difference between eng and jp giselle that i got compelled to make a comparison of it and it JUST... makes me so sad that certain chars will be more likely to be overlooked or overshadowed, even liked/disliked depending on localization efforts o<-< i know it's unrealistic to ask people to play in multiple languages bc that isn't feasible for everybody but honestly it's jarring sometimes how different certain characters or scenes can come off as... i struggle with interacting in fandom spaces bc i don't always agree with english localizing efforts (and i get it, it really is a difficult job and by no means do i think they did a BAD job at it most of the time) but because so many people who will interact with my posts have only been exposed to that version, i'll feel very... alienated?? by some interpretations that i see. but i mean ultimately interpretation is more subjective and i think localization only nudges you to one side or another, so i still just do the same as i would do otherwise and find people whose content i enjoy... that was a lot of rambling but did you know that in hikari's ch2 banter with castti the english changed his lines quite a bit ?? i've already talked about how i think eng hikari is more expressive in his voice acting but i think it's something that was present in the text first and i... AM VERY MIXED about it bc i do think it works Really nicely in certain scenes, but i still like how restrained jp hikari sounds because i think it suits him more... anyway this is just a small snippet of the kind of thing i think about when looking at localization like in the end it's just Different versions, i guess i do look at the original jp version as more accurate to the creators' intentions but i think having an "official" interpretation in english can be nice and valuable in its own right.. if i didn't think so i just wouldn't play these games in english at all lmao (by comparison i don't play korean games in english bc at least the ones i've gotten into don't have great localizations so i don't think it adds much merit)

crying the last one is so long but you asked me to ramble 😭 LMAO... but ty for leaving an ask!

alphabet asks

[katsigian]

27, 47 & 48 for Valen ☺️♥️

Thank you for the questions! <3 p.s. I am so so sorry these took forever to answer; they got lost within my 400+ drafts and completely slipped my mind 😞

27. Have they ever had run ins with the badges?

A small handful of times! But they're normally because he was being a creature on his own personal time rather than something work related. The company he works for has lawyers out the wazoo and could get him out of most problems if any were to come up (though he's a bit too professional and skilled at his work to be caught). The couple of times Valen has been caught by the police, it was because he got too wound up in a bar fight or decided to deal some 'find out' to someone who fucked around too hard. Those three times he's been arrested, he goes willingly because his one phone call is always to his handler at Ares Systems, Niko Mars, who will (very exasperatedly) handle it. "It's in your job title: handler = handle." < something Valen has said to him before (not in an asshole way, but in a 'I know you love me' way). Niko pulls some strings and Valen is walking out of the NCPD holding cell free as a bird within a couple hours. Valen gets yelled at by Niko, Valen buys Niko a coffee, and he arrives at work the next day for another contract. Valen knows he's valuable to Ares Systems and he also knows that being hauled in for disturbing the peace won't result in anything serious. He just hates jail cells and the NCPD doesn't need his fingerprints on file.

47. Share a headcanon about your character and their partner(s).

Nathan (belongs to @rindemption) paints Valen's nails when he's bored. It happened one day that Nathan painted his own nails and then hauled Valen over to paint his too because he wasn't done painting nails but he'd ran out of nails. Nathan picked black polish for him, of course, and Valen sat so very still, was so good, and was so patient while Nathan gave him a manicure. The only thing is that Valen didn't expect to end up liking the polish 😂 whenever Nathan decides to paint them, Valen takes pretty good care of the polish because he kinda likes the look of it. Plus he gets to sit quietly and adore Nathan for 15 minutes. Nathan gets this particular look on his face when he's really focused on something and Valen finds it adorable.

48. Share three songs you associate with your character and their partner(s).

Beside Myself - Hesta Prynn

Soul Mate - Flora Cash - this one makes me weepy

Feel For Me - Foy Vance

Handsome Man - Matt Alber + 1 more because this one never fails to make me tear up each time. I am right now. I think it's this part that's my favourite

[katsigian]

15, 21, 36, 68 😏

And to be a dork, 44 🤭

Thank you, peach 😚 p.s. I am so sorry these took forever to answer; they got lost within my 400+ drafts and slipped my mind 😞

15. What is their preferred vehicle or transportation of choice?

Valen owns a Herrera Outlaw GTS if we're talking in-game cars. It's solid black, slightly matte, and purrs. He loves that car, keeps it in very good condition. But if it were possible in some miraculous way for him to have a car from (sort of) our time period, it would be a 1969 Chevy Camaro Z28 Coupe in a shiny black.

21. Do they have any favorite spots around NC?

He likes Charter Hill; it's where he lives and spends a lot of his downtime. He knows the good coffee places and restaurants and clubs. Has a nice, high-rise apartment/penthouse there. But he also really likes Vista del Rey and Japantown. Vista feels like a second home because Vega, Noel, and Hart are there and he knows the cool, hidden gems. Same with Japantown - Vesper and Fawn are there and he knows plenty of small, delicious restaurants and cafes. Knows all of the markets and shopping areas. Plus he likes how colorful it is there. If he wants to go to a swanky club, he chooses Dark Matter over any others.

36. Who is their biggest enemy?

That's a tough one because Valen's quite careful about who he makes connections with, even adversarial or disagreeable ones. If he can avoid being attached in too many places, he will. According to him, even hate is an attachment. That being said, there's a few names on his Shit List. His dad is one of them; Callen was a terrible person and even more terrible father. Following his canon, Valen ends up killing him when Callen comes to find his son again after almost 10 years of no contact. Callen is nearly as big a threat as Valen, and Valen's about the only one that can end him.

He also continually has run-ins with gangs in the city - Maelstrom and 6th Street, mostly - and he gleefully takes the opportunity to rip them a new one whenever he's got the chance. Valen absolutely despises anyone who finds enjoyment in harming others, or worse yet, making money off senseless murder for spare parts. So whenever he's done leaving a trail of bodies and body parts, both organic and machine, he tends to feel a bit of satisfaction. And to clarify, he knows full well that killing a killer and enjoying it doesn't make him a saint, but he does it anyway because who else? Better that someone like him do it, he can handle having someone like Maelstrom be his enemy - he's not scared of them and it's not like they'll ever find him; he's far too good at what he does for that to ever happen.

44. Would your character ever get married?

Of course he does 🤭 He gets married to a gorgeous, bubbly, happy, sweet little ray of sunshine that knows all the ways to make him laugh and for whom he is the softest and sweetest thing.

68. In what outfit do they feel sexiest? how do they dress to impress?

It's a toss up between absolutely nothing at all and an outfit with leather. As in, a slinky, halfway unbuttoned shirt and some tight pants and some ankle boots. The shirt would be some kind of silk that clings and the pants would sit low. I'm having a hard time describing so here's a picture that's similar to what's in my head.