#also like temenos is still a cleric

[asha-mage]

Okay but like. AU where Temenos IS raised as a Blacksnake alongside Throne but before the Blacksnakes can all start killing each other, he gets caught by the handsome newly anointed Sanctum Knight Crick...

[fulgurbugs]

OT 1 & 2 headcanons? Doesn't have to be about the main parties, whatever goes.

ok ok here we go, gonna use yours as the OT2 HC ask bestie

gonna throw up here an OT2 spoilers warning cuz of endgame stuff

First some throné ones because i have throné on the brain.

first off i think after her story is over she never wears a necklace like basically ever again. she does love dressing up, feeling cute, but no matter how well a necklace would go with her outfit she won’t add one. it’s just part of her newfound freedom that she can choose never to have anything around her neck like that ever again. all other jewelry tho… she’s got a lot of options to pick from for earrings, bracelets, and rings etc (that she’s most certainly not paid for)

also, i feel like Hikari and Throné, after everything with vide coming to the conclusion that they are actually distantly related to each other, have some kind of exchange where it’s like. “ok wait so im your like great great how many greats aunt or something” uhhh like a couple times removed or whatever. and at first its like weird to think about but they both have such like. idk. throne found out that her family was actually huge and extensive, and all of them were killing each other. her biological father is a monster. she was born to be a monster herself. her relationship with the concept of “family” is extremely strange; the man she considered closest to her actual father was a horribly abusive person but despite all that she was the closest thing he had, and he was her half-brother. Hikari’s family has a curse upon it directly related to being descended from D’arquest, and it’s been nothing but pain for him as well, causing him to lose control of himself, constantly worried he’ll hurt the people he cares about. his brother was a monster in a whole different way, and his dad, while appointing him rightful successor, spent most of his life as a warmonger as well. His mother is dead. his brother and father are dead. he’s lost ritsu, who at one point was like a brother to him. his own relationship with the idea of his family is not… good, in any case. i think they come to find some sort of solace in each other in that, after realizing they’re actually related. they’ve already come to travel with each other and trust each other… i like to think they decide they should just hand wave all the technicalities of how distantly they’re related and how weird the family tree would look and just go with a catch all “we’re cousins” or something.

Castti, while getting her memories back about what happened immediately prior to the events of the game, still struggles with remembering most of her life. it’s not something she really fully recovers from. she never remembers the faces of her parents, or if she had any siblings, her childhood, things like that. sometimes when she gets a flash of something, a glimmer of a skill she had no idea she was well-practiced in, or a remembered fact she can’t recall where she read it, she still finds herself troubled. she basically has to re-invent herself. still, she gets by with a quiet determination to always do right, with the knowledge that she at the very least, knows who she is now, in the present.

ok sillay ones….

Post game partitio starts picking up the guitar. i like to think once he gets good enough he records a song with agnea for the gramophone :P. also, temenos used to play the piano, but he’s out of practice (that one cleric in flamechurch is much better and actually wants to play it much more). he could pick it up again tho with a little practice

oh also ochette is a chronic unpeeled fruit mucher. she’ll just straight up bite into an orange and be like. “i see why some people don’t like the crust but i don’t mind it.” castti and osvald tails gets trolled face

[starkittnd93]

I know this is such a weird crossover but imagine if Temenos and Mirabelle met

I don’t think they’d really get along at first. As a devout maiden of the House of Change, Temenos being a cleric yet having such a distrust of the church would be kinda. confusing? Mirabelle understands that different people practice religion in many different ways, yet … the way Temenos talks about his church is definitely not something she’d expect. Why would someone meant to represent the church doubt his own god?

The thing is, Temenos believes in the gods. It’s just that he doesn’t trust the church. While there’s nothing wrong with the religion or the gods themself, the church is still capable of hurting people, as it’s led by flawed people — flawed people who have the potential to be corrupt and do bad things while bending the rules and teachings of the religion to benefit themselves.

While the House of Change is NOWHERE near Octopath levels of corruption (not even close lmao) the way the change belief is upheld is still capable of hurting people. Mirabelle herself is a prime example of this, considering how she genuinely believed that her being aroace was a moral failing, and proceeded to try. to fix herself?

She eventually gets to the point of realizing that while being a follower of Change ultimately is a good thing for her, the way it’s practiced should be up for criticism, as it has the potential to make people feel like it’s wrong to be comfortable with themselves as they are.

Mirabelle talks about bringing this up with the Head Housemaiden (Again, the environment there is way nicer than the octopath churches-) and Temenos just smiles like. Yeesssss she learned to doubt!! (But in the healthy way lol)

tldr:

Temenos 🤝Mirabelle

Being religious, yet also having their own problems with the church

[viridiave]

Spoiler-heavy thoughts about Crick and how the Game Mechanics treat Temenos’s story

So. yeah if you press ‘Keep Reading’ I should probably let you guys know that these thoughts are just a tiny bit unhinged. And again - spoiler alert! You’ve been warned!!

GAME MECHANICS AND UI

- Gonna preface THIS section by asserting that yes, not EVERY mechanic needs to be taken apart under a microscope and re-contextualized into the greater lore of the game. Not EVERYTHING has to mean something to everybody. Some of my classes in game design disagree though and honestly for the genre that Octopath Traveler is, that being a story-heavy role-playing game where the narrative is half the game, I'd say that integrating lore into the mechanics and vice-versa wouldn't hurt - in fact it ENHANCES the experience. The second game does this pretty handily through the EX Skills (the first of the skills being Divine Blessings, and the second being earned at the end of the story.) and the Latent Powers.

Okay the Latent Powers? Honestly that part's mostly for Hikari. Shadow's Hold/Light's Radiance is STILL one of the best examples of Gameplay and Story Integration that this game has

No I swear I don't have a bias for 'other selves'/'deep parts of yourself made manifest' what are you talking about -

I swear I can write an entire separate post JUST about the EX Skills. Mostly for Osvald, Castti, and mOTHERFUCKING TEMENOS AGAIN

aND THIS IS WHY I GO FUCKING BONKERS WHEN I THINK ABOUT THE DEMO VERSION OF THE GAME LIKE WHAT THE FU-

- Literally the fucking emblem for Temenos's story is a staff and a sword over the Sacred Flame like - they REALLY want you to know how important Crick is to this tale

- tHE FACT THAT CRICK IS THE ONE WHO HAS COVER. NOT EVEN HIKARI OR THE WARRIOR CLASS. IT'S CRICK - DOES THIS COUNT AS FORESHADOWING???

I'll like - write here what I should have written in the bath - and that's me being like 'oh it's because he's recklessly protective. OH SHIT IT'S BECAUSE HE'S RECKLESSLY PROTECTIVE'

I fully acknowledge that it doesn't have to be that deep. MAYBE I'm pulling stuff out of my ass. But allow me to go bonkers over Crick and his for-some-reason-worryingly-appropriate moveset

Man I wonder how bonkers I'd go over Malaya if she was allowed to throw hands. I want her to complement Castti's moveset so bad

- Also the fact that both of their kits complement each other. Crick's bulkier build was made specifically with supporting Temenos in mind.

My guy's Sacred Sword reduces the enemy's elemental defense. Wonder if that implies that the Sanctum Knights normally work with magic and/or magicians

aGAIN HE HAS FUCKING COVER which is PERFECT because early-game Temenos can and will faint if a monster blinks at him too hard

Then there's his OTHER skill Godsblade's Shield which RAISES his physical defense to SO HE CAN COVER FOR TEMENOS BETTER LIKE. AT SOME POINT I SHOULD JUST ASK WHY THEY TRIED SO HARD FOR HIM SPECIFICALLY

And I mean. It makes SENSE but I don't think any of the other helper characters really had this level of chemistry in their mechanics as these two do

Emerald and Gus both have healing moves for better survivability considering how squishy Osvald and Agnea are

And it makes sense, Temenos already has access to a healing move because he's a cleric

The thing that separates Crick from them is that neither Emerald nor Gus really have moves to further support their leads on the level that Crick does. Emerald is fast and he breaks well and Gus is clearly meant to be the DPS of Agnea's Chapter 1, but again - Crick has moves tailor-made for Temenos to go off and do his thing

You lose Pirro and Scaracci/ Rai Mei and Ritsu after the intro and none of them really complement the Throné and Hikari and vice versa as much as Crick and Temenos do with each other

The difference with them too is that they have established relationships with their lead characters prior to the story, sometimes even encountered as antagonistic forces

Pirro, Rai Mei, and Ritsu are all bosses that were once considered close comrades of Throné and Hikari

Scaracci displays mutinous traits throughout Throne's Chapter 1

Emerald subverts this by acting mutinous - which, his conflict with Osvald amounted more to a sacrifice of goodwill

He knows Osvald and how he acts even prior to the beginning of Chapter 1, so he's in this category of having an established relationship

Gus averts this completely by just being a genuinely supportive part of Agnea's life

Mechanically, you never have anything to do with these characters again past Chapter 1 - save for Rai Mei and Ritsu being bosses. Hikari's companions also play an integral narrative role in his final chapter, with Ritsu being encountered as a boss again for the final time

Crick is a subversion of all of them in that he doesn't have any direct relationship with Temenos prior to Chapter 1, and though we never use him as a helper character ever again he consistently shows up as an integral part of Temenos's story up until his death in Chapter 3: Stormhail

Weirdly Crick is also the only one out of all of them where the use of Path Actions is required more than once - Osvald has to Scrutinize Emerald at one point

AND GODDAMNIT OF COURSE THE FIRST AND LAST TANGIBLE INTERACTION WE HAVE WITH CRICK IS TO FUCKING GUIDE HIM I'M SO MAD ABOUT THIS BOOKEND IT'S SO MEAN AKSJKAS

And this in itself makes complete sense given that he has larger roles to play outside of Chapter 1 - just not in the same vein as Ritsu or Rai Mei, but the fact is that Temenos's story is VERY good at establishing and building up chemistry between its characters

bUT FOR MECHANICS WE NEVER HAVE TO USE AGAIN AFTER CHAPTER 1?? THEY WENT SO HARD AND I WANT TO KNOW WHY

- It's not as big of a deal as it looks but I also find it funny just how much fun the devs seemed to have with Crick's introduction and entry into the party - using the Path Action to fucking TROLL with him.

- ON THAT NOTE, LET ME FREAK OUT OVER GUIDE AS A PATH ACTION A LITTLE MORE

I saw a post on Reddit earlier about the 'summoning townspeople' Path Actions and it kind of shook my world a little, so I'll just put my response to it here

For a guy who makes it a point to tell people not to follow anything blindly it's INCREDIBLY hilarious to me that Temenos's Path Action is getting people to follow him blindly.

MECHANICALLY, it's because he's the designated cleric. Temenos has Guide, because Ophilia has Guide. But thematically it's interesting to think about just how antithetical it is to his central creed of doubting, and how this specifically applies to Crick.

I did go back and check and yeah - Crick's one of three individual people I was able to find over the course of the stories that has a required Path Action used on them more than once.

Malaya is one other example with Inquire, and she even one-ups him with one use of Soothe. And I'll get to HER when I get to Castti's essay - I mean infodump - because it's like. Somehow even MORE heartbreaking than this instance of Guide

While I'm here I'll also mention Roque, who also has two instances of a Path Action used on him, namely Purchase and Hire in Partitio's Chapter 5

But back to the dramatic aspect of it it's like. I really want to shake the devs because it's so mean of them to have Temenos's relationship with him begin by guiding him towards not only the cathedral but to a healthier way of thinking, and to end with Crick's fucking GHOST leading Temenos to the crucial truth that he's lost so many people to find, including Crick himself

- I won't scrutinize everything about the cleric class itself but I WILL talk about the EX Skills, because to me it's ironic just how mean they are. I'm glad that the irony isn't lost on the fanfic writers like I see you guys use these as fanfic titles - bless you all

First - Prayer for Plenty, the sequel's answer to how absolutely fucking broken Saving Grace was as a passive in the first game. Limiting it to JUST Temenos's natural moveset feels like it should be sending a message honestly - it's a way to prolong the lives of his comrades and he couldn't do that for the ones he held dear in his own story. Can't help but feel like the fact that this is the one he gets from AELFRIC'S SHRINE rubs salt in the wound - no pun intended -

Secondly is Heavenly Shine and it's like. It's a holy nuke filled with divine power that drains Temenos's magic reserves completely. He invokes Aelfric's name when he uses it to and to this day I think the reason it feels cathartic to use is because it feels like a manifestation of Temenos's wrath

Unlike Osvald's own magic kamehamehadouken nuke where he learned it out of a need to protect Elena, Temenos learns this AFTER his story - and maybe it's just my concern speaking but man I really want this to represent his sheer need to go absolutely fucking apeshit like my man is NOT in a good place after his story is done

- This is the part where I go into the tinier, 'definitely stretching this past the realm of MATTERING' details that actually have something to do with the game mechanics

Some of Temenos's class lines are reminiscent of Crick's own. We've drawn the comparison with Temenos's Sweeping Cleave line already and it's adorable

Temenos Sweeping Cleave [insert handshake emoji] Crick Sacred Slash: I'll cleave you in twain!

Reaching even further here. His lines for Lux Congerere and Sacred Effulgence also somewhat invoke Crick's declaration of 'cleaving the shadows from this world', but it's not exact and I'm just indulging

Lux Congerere: Banish the shadows from this world!

Sacred Effulgence: Aelfric, banish the shadows from this world!

I'd also be extremely remiss to NOT mention the recruitment of Ort in postgame and it physically hurts me to summon him because of the way he says 'I will avenge you, Crick!' like DUDE. Oh well at least he's grieving healthily

Sacred Slash brothers let's gooo

There's like. No way that I'll be able to fit all of this in my other thoughts about Crick that are dedicated mostly to his and Temenos's arcs so. It's like not even in a ship sense anymore even if I do think they're fruity as hell

Honestly I'm just glad to get this all out of my system EXCEPT THERE'S MORE, because Temenos's story loves to torture my brain and its themes resonate with me a bit TOO much

[auncyen]

5, 6, and/or 18 for the fanfic writing ask?

5. fic idea I've had but will never write--

this is going back to Persona 5 fandom, it's basically an au that got so involved that I was like 'if I ever do this I'm starting by filing the serial numbers off and making it original fiction':

Basically if two of the PT, Ryuji and Makoto, were stepsiblings by Papa Niijima (who comes off as a widower since the mom is never mentioned) remarrying Mama Sakamoto. At first this just started as like what if Ryuji and Makoto had a bit more of an antagonistic/hostile relationship and then you find out that like. technically. they're family

but my brain got too stuck on "but I think Makoto would have wanted to do something about Kamoshida had she known more concretely what he was doing" so basically the au started focusing more and more on Ryuji's freshman year, tension in the household because Papa Niijima still died in that truck accident that might not have been an accident and so like the two Sakamotos and the Niijima sisters are all living in the same household but there's kind of an assumption that it's just for convenience's sake, that Sae is going to leave as soon as Makoto can support herself and Makoto will be doing her own thing and Mama Sakamoto will have to support the costs on her own--which she can't, in that area, and Ryuji never exactly adjusted to the new family and just doesn't like how stressed his mom is now so it's like. No one's actually trying to be antagonistic, no one actually hates anyone else, but there's a lot of tension and miscommunication and little snaps going on because they only had a very brief time to even start adjusting to being a family before losing Papa Niijima. And then with all that going on, Makoto realizing that Ryuji is getting hurt by someone and trying to cover it up and becoming increasingly sure it's Kamoshida and trying to figure out what she can do about the situation once she realizes that Ryuji is trying to keep his head down to get a running scholarship to help support his mom. SO YEAH THAT'S WAY TOO INVOLVED FOR AN AU FANFIC FOR ME, THAT'S JUST STRAIGHT UP GOING TO BE ADAPTED TO ORIGINAL SETTINGS IF I EVER WRITE IT

6. In ISAT I've reread "Bloom" a lot. Also I'm terrible about remembering fic titles sometimes so I don't remember this one off the bat but there's a fic where Siffrin basically zones out so much and acts so weirdly in front of Isabeau at the Favor Tree that Isabeau gets extremely concerned. Eventually there's a long hug. I reread that one a lot lol

18. one of my favorite lines from a fic, in this case a chapter I haven't published yet:

“Aelfric’s chosen?” Temenos echoes with contempt.  “Aelfric’s chosen?  I am Aelfric’s last resort.  There were better clerics, but they’re dead!”

[sevarix-blogs]

ok now for a review of my teams for the final boss. what i ended up with was this:

team1: agnea (scholar, extremely high magic) temenos (also scholar for elemental barrage + latent power break) partitio (apothecary) throne (conjuror)

team2: castti (warrior) ochette (merchant) hikari (armsmaster) osvald (cleric. had a item that let him do double for his aoe spells)

everyone had a moment to shine, it was great. angea's magic was so high that when combined with the conjuror stuff, she could dagger dance and then do high elemental damage to everything. her being a scholar also helped with breaking some of the hands. we were breaking the hands at the beginning so fast that they barely had a chance to attack us. (well at least for a while lol then we got overwhelmed)

once the boss was broken for phase 1, we unleashed a ton of damage from hired help and followers. agnea had the Young Man as a follower with his merciless blade and he didn't disappoint. hired help at full bp is insane, esp with the assassins. we had over 1mill leaves saved up so it was no problem. still had 800k left at the end even lol

for phase 1.5 and phase 2 osvald did a fantastic job healing (since it was boosted from his accessory) but also his double one true magic hits were essential for breaking. the assassins from hired help also restore HP and SP so that kept us alive and well too.

for the 'no resurrecting' phase only 2 travelers were down. this is where i totally lost every single time on my first playthrough. i'd have everyone die except for like 1 and then i was doomed. but THIS TIME we were extra prepared and it worked out. hikari's latent aoe attack was fantastic for taking out the revived hands

and THEN once the boss went up to 15 shield points temenos really shined, since he used his latent power plus elemental barrage to take out like 8 shield points in one attack. then it was a repeat from before, pull out the followers and hired help for massive damage. i was in awe when i actually won lol... after my like 20 attempts for my first playthrough it was very satisfying to do it in like 2 attempts this time.

the ending was nice! i also checked out the extra battles which were fun but like. too hard LOL i would need to be better prepared if i wanted to seriously try and win those.

[catholic-character-tournament]

Round 1 - Resurrect Bracket (Losers Bracket) Side A

ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to [make it to the finals]

Propaganda below ⬇️

Temenos

so his whole thing is he's an inquisitor who is just fundamentally bad at being a priest on account of he does things like forgetting scripture and not being able to help but doubt the institution which gets everyone hes ever cared about killed. he's gay. he says shit like "careful, i bite". he's in yuri with a holy knight. he's one of my favorite characters and i want to beat him over the head with a cast iron skillet

fucked up gay little cleric who was supposed to grapple with the fact that the institution he serves is corrupt except he has been in doubt from the very beginning and very clearly doesnt put much stock in the scripture hes made it his lifes work to preach. hes kinda a freak with it. every line he speaks is said with the cadence of a gay guy checking under his nails while ignoring you as he talks. i have to hit him with mallets and shatter him into pieces.

This man is the world's worst clergyman. He's a high ranking member of the holy inquisition, but nobody respects him and he mostly just uses his position to investigate random murders for fun. He regularly forgets how the bible goes and little kids have to correct him on how the plot goes of the jrpg equivalent of jesus's resurrection. He has a holy knight for a boyfriend. He tortures people for information any other character can just ask for. His best friend out of the rest of the main 8 is an assassin and gang member. He tries to get people to commit crimes with him. His story is about uprooting the corruption in his church and killing high ranking church members and also Literal Fucking Jrpg satan. He regularly blasphemes and everyone around him looks in horror as he shouts at god and encourages people to become atheists. His catchphrase is "doubt is what I do." He is still somehow the most devout character in the entire game despite being a total fuck up of a cleric who does not deserve to be here whatsoever. Pls let him win it'd be SO FUNNY

Hes genuinely just the funniest guy. Very little about his story has to do with the faith but like. He routinely roasts the entire pantheon of in-universe gods. He beats people up (metaphorically of course) as one of his main game mechanics. He got stamped as the resident gayboy SO fast. His starliner definitely has higher intelligence than wisdom even though clerics use wisdom. Every chapter he appears in he solves a mystery by zoning out so hard his god blesses him with extremely vivid hallucinations. He's so deeply fucking traumatized. One of his battle skills is fully just beating his enemies up with his staff. He ends up defunding the police. He can very casually become a thermonuclear bomb but in a very holy way. His best friend is a 23-year-old assassin that exclusively calls him "Detective". Is he Catholic (ish)? Yeah, but he certainly doesn't always act like it.

He constantly commits heresy and doubts the gods but is still the not-Pope's right hand man

Listen, imagine you'd go to church and your priest gets roasted by kids for forgetting how the bible goes. That's him, canonically even. He's like if a redditor who wants to be a detective was cosplaying as a holy man. He's someone whose whole thing is doubting the gods and the church, to the point where he makes another person question his faith too, even though he is technically The holy man. He's absolutely unhinged and gay. He's 30 years old and absolutely does not look like it. He's traumatized, and cannot be sincere and honest about his feelings even once. He should go to therapy actually. Like desperately. For his sake and everyone around him.

he is from the faith but he doubts everything around him to find the truth through it........ also i'd like to see him torment the crotchety priest i had to do a face-to-face confession with in high school. it'd be funny.

FATHER BROWN BUT MAKE HIM GAY AND PLAGUED BY TRUST ISSUES. This man will forget his own sermons, beat people up for infos and, at the same time, gets to be the fantasy equivalent of a youth pastor. He somehow manages to be the most unhinged person in a party that includes a vengeful math professor who can and WILL mug people. He might not be the most devout Catholic of them all, but he is definitely the *funniest* one. Give it up for the world's shittiest priest!

i’m gonna be honest temenos is a TERRIBLE catholic but he’s funny and i love him. he also has a weird gay thing going on with a paladin it’s great.

Link

Well, maybe not specifically catholic. But behold, OFFICIAL ART: https://cdn.wikimg.net/en/zeldawiki/images/a/ab/LinkPraying.png

in the original legend of zelda game there’s a bible (localized to the book of magic due to nintendo of america’s guidelines), a cross in the adventure of link, and in a link to the past, there’s art of him kneeling in front of a crucifix. hyrule has its own religions but there are undeniable christian roots.

[bespokeminutiae]

It's Pride Month. Have some Temenos Headcanons!

Disclaimer: I have not finished the game. I've only played through the Crackridge part of Temenos's chapter 3.

Please do not put spoilers on my post!!

So as of Temenos' Chapter 3 part 1 here's my impression of him:

He's autistic

He has a special interest in people, especially in social interaction.

This is not the same thing as having good social skills.

He's a fairly private person, instead having several different masks that he puts on based on the social situation he's in.

He has "kindly parish priest" for the kiddos, "scary inquisitor" for adults who he expects to respect his authority, "customer service smile of please die" for adults who have power over him (except the pontiff), and "snarky asshole" for people he trusts with it. (you can kinda see this in the game dialogue imo!)

Pre-travelling, he doesn't have a lot of friends. He has a lot of colleagues, but not a lot of friends.

50/50 odds for each individual friendship as to whether Temenos likes the other person less than the other person likes him or whether the other person likes Temenos less than Temenos likes the other person.

Crick definitely likes Temenos more than Temenos likes Crick, but Crick keeps spending time with him and isn't just putting up with his presence, so Temenos is growing to like him more and more.

He has to concede that the other travelers are his friends after months of traveling with them, but he definitely gets on best with Osvald, Throné, and Cassti.

He has a soft spot for Agnea and Ochette, but has trouble seeing them as adults instead of as basically equivalent to the parish children who come watch his paper plays.

He's Transmasc

His gender and presentation are designed to do two things, in order of priority: Minimize dysphoria, and manage other people's expectations.

Like literally the cleric profession has a shapeless robe as the uniform for both genders. Nothing says "Please stop hitting on me" and "I do not wish to think about my body" quite like a shapeless robe. Tell me I'm wrong. You can't.

Definitely entered the church fairly young to avoid getting hit on/having to think about his gender

when he did get hit on as a young teen, it was less because he was attractive and more because he was low-hanging fruit.

Gondor has no binder. Gondor needs no binder.

Gondor has no ass. Gondor needs no ass.

To this day, he's a stick and absolutely uses the robes/cloak to be bigger/more intimidating.

Investigating his gender/sexuality came fairly easy to him Both because "Doubt is what I do" and also because this man is pretty autistic and sometimes social norms/gender expectations are stupid.

If he used modern American language to describe himself, he'd probably be a Triple A (Autistic, Agender, Asexual)

In-setting, what I think he settled on is that being a man (short hair, male pronouns) provides him with the most comfortable experience in his society--it gets him the respect he wants (for the most part) when he needs it and it shields him from harassment/danger (for the most part) that would come with being a woman, and anything further is a private matter.

It's not obvious what the structure of the church is and whether there's sexism involved in who does what job, but Octopath still does have some sexism baked into the setting as a whole in ways that make me feel like Temenos would find it advantageous to choose to be a man (so to speak) in this society, even if his personal feelings are somewhat more complicated.

They're not that much more complicated. He mostly doesn't think about it. It's not relevant to the investigation.

[beantothemax]

Ok so the au is based on the update. The Osterran travelers were possessed by Vide and because Hikari knows how possession feels (the shadow) then he works really hard to save the Osterrans. He saves Ophilia first, and now the gang is traveling Solistia to find the rest of them. Also along with Ophikari, there's also a teensy bit of Temenos x Partitio. It takes place post canon. Also there's Alfion later on

They sat in a circle at the foot of a bed, using it as a surface to play cards on. For the last several rounds, Hikari had been losing. He had hardly heard a word anyone said since he entered the room.

"Your turn," Temenos repeated.

"Right, sorry," Hikari muttered, laying a card down.

"Are ya' alright, Hikari?" Partitio asked.

"Ophilia said she likes me," he murmured.

In that moment, the game came to a screeching halt and they all looked at him.

"I was right! Told you Hikari wouldn't confess first!" Temenos sneered.

Hikari paused, "What do you mean?"

"We kinda already knew ya' liked each other, Temenos n' I have been talkin' 'bout who'd fess up first," Partitio chuckled.

Gods, was he that obvious!?

Hikari's cheeks turned a bright red as he fell silent. Osvald, who had been silent, cleared his throat.

"Hikari, I don't mean to be as rude as Partitio and Temenos, ("Hey!" they both said) but you're a fool for staying here. Go talk to her, she probably thinks you're not interested in her," he said.

"... Fine," Hikari said as he laid down another card.

"I mean right now. You're losing anyway."

Hikari put his cards down and slipped on his jacket, "I preferred you when you wouldn't talk to us."

"Even back then, I would've broken my silence if you made a mistake this bad," Osvald smiled.

Hikari merely sighed before heading off to the girls' room. Before he even opened the door, he heard chatter and giggling. It was... not helping.

But he knocked on the door. Every last noise he heard died the instant he twisted the doorknob. They all looked at him and-

"Where's Castti?" he asked.Throné spoke, "She's visiting the castle."

"Right," Hikari murmured, "Sorry, that's not what I came here for at all. Um- Ophilia, could I talk to you?"

The cleric that had been all but hiding finally stood, though she did not look up once as she approached the door. Hikari took her hand and pulled her outside.

"I'm sorry, I panicked earlier and didn't know what to say. I do like you," he muttered.

"Oh..." was all Ophilia could say.

She looked down, noting that he still tightly held her hand.

"Should we go on a walk?" she asked.

They left the inn, still hand in hand, walking nowhere in particular. Timberain, though the sun had begun to set, glowed when candles and lights were lit.

It was only after five or so streets that Hikari remembered Ophilia was not from Solistia, and that meant...

"Gods, you haven't been here before!" he exclaimed, "I need to show you something."

"What is it?" she asked.

"You'll have to trust me, it's best if it's a surprise."

She took him at his word, letting herself be lead to wherever he wanted to take her. Her eyes wandered around everywhere, at all the beautiful houses with their flowers in the windows and delicately painted signs, saying the house number and family name. And though she wanted to see everything, her gaze always returned to the man beside her.

He was looking up at the stars as they started to appear on the sky. But suddenly, he looked ahead. They had reached the edge of town.

"Just a little further!" he smiled.

He held her hand tighter, walking faster off the beaten path into tall grass. Glancing behind him, Ophilia was fine. She laughed and laughed as they ran and trees surrounded them. Hardly any moonlight filtered through the leaves, but there was just enough to admire her beauty. Gods, she was gorgeous. She-

Hikari did not see what it was before something struck him and all the air left his lungs.

"Oh dear, are you okay?" Ophilia hurriedly asked.

"Y-y-yes, I just ran into a tree," he coughed.

She offered her hand and pulled him to his feet.

"But we're here," he smiled, pulling her just beyond the trees.

In this little clearing was an inky black lake that glittered in the moonlight. Trees hung over the edge of the water, obscuring most of the shore. But most importantly was the little island.

It was tiny, hardly big enough for even ten people to stand on it, but right in the center was an old gazebo. He led her down to the water, to a small skiff resting on the shore.

Ripples formed in the water, disturbing the still lake when they sat in. The water was so shallow, Hikari could not row. The oar pushed against the watery dirt, hoisting them to the little gazebo island.

All was still but the light splashes of the oar and the bugs that chirped, eager to enjoy the cool spring night. Ophilia did not move a muscle as the skiff rocked. If that moment had lasted forever, she would not have minded.

With a soft bump, the skiff hit the island. Hikari stood first, tossing the oar aside before giving Ophilia his hand. She nearly fell off the unstable skiff, just barely managing to hop to shore. They both laughed. It was lovely.

In the gazebo was a little bench where they sat. Hikari could not think of a thing to say, nothing seemed right when the still night was so perfect. All he did was reach out for her hand, intertwining his fingers with hers.

Ophilia, on the other hand, had at least a million questions all about Timberain. Others knew more of the city. She could ask Castti or Agnea and receive much more accurate and detailed answers, but she wanted to hear it in his words, with his voice.

"How do you even find a place like this?" she asked.

"There's this guard who is close friends with Castti. The first time we were here, he brought her out here when she was overwhelmed. He said it was some secret spot a childhood friend showed him, and he doesn't know who showed that friend," Hikari explained, "I suppose I don't really know how one would find this place."

"Sounds like even it's origins are a mystery," Ophilia chuckled.

"They are, but I'm fine with not knowing. It's pretty."

"It is."

They stared each other in the eyes, without the slightest idea of what to do next. Hikari found Ophilia was harder to talk to when he was finally able to be honest about his feelings. Now, it seemed there was a lot more on the line. What if he was too bold? Or made her uncomfortable? What if he-

"Hikari, could I kiss you?" she asked, so very quietly.

"I- um- of course!" he answered.

She tilted her head before bursting out laughing, "We're both so nervous over nothing. We like each other, but you're still my friend. It doesn't make sense that either of us is so scared of speaking!"

And Hikari laughed as well. They both laughed for a good long while. When it fizzled out, they looked at each other.

Hikari placed his hand on hers. He leaned forwards. Everything seemed to muffle, his heart pounding in his chest being the only thing he could hear. Ophilia shut her eyes. He felt-

"Ophilia!"

A voice louder than a wolf's howl cut through the still night like a knife and in an instant they had parted, looking to the source. Across the water stood a man with old, worn clothes and matted hair no one had touched for months. He held a hatchet like his life depended on it.

"Alfyn," Ophilia breathed.

It was as though Vide had returned to her. She stood and approached him without word or hesitation. Hikari grabbed her hand, and only then did she seem herself again.

"I'll disarm him, you figure out something to say or do to him so he'll come back, okay?" he asked, but saw the dispair in her eyes, how the haze flickered before her and he paused, "Ophilia, if anything goes wrong, I'm right here. If Vide takes you back, I'll save you again. I'd do it a thousand times over for you."

She looked him in the eyes. Her face softened, she breathed. With a nod, she stepped back and watched Hikari go down to the water.

"Isn't your name Alfyn?" he asked.

But the apothecary did not respond and Hikari expected that. Ophilia said she could not hear most of what people said when she was possessed, it was unlikely Alfyn could.

Hikari stepped on the skiff, slowly making his way across the water. Before he made it, though, Alfyn stepped in the water and trudged towards him inhumanly fast.

"You're hurting Ophilia!" he cried with a swing of his axe.

The warrior ducked just in time, now using the opportunity to swipe at Alfyn's leg with the oar.

He lost his balance, stumbling into the water with a splash, but it was only a moment before he stood, taking another shot at Hikari. When the warrior stepped back, he hit the skiff. In that slight moment of hesitation, Alfyn landed a hit on his side.

He grunted in pain while he tried so very hard to run in the knee deep water, but whatever strength Vide gave Alfyn made him far top fast to flee from.

"Hikari!" Ophilia cried.

She ran to the water. With a flick of her wrist, a great ball of light appeared and blinded the others. She closed her eyes just in time. When she opened them again, Alfyn was all but blind as he tried in vain to strike Hikari who had finally gotten away.

"Ophilia! Where are you? Are you hurt!?" he called out.

"I'm right here, Alfyn, I'm right here. I'll help you, I promise," she said.

She reached out a hand to him. He blinked several times and nearly took it. But something made him twitch and he raised his axe.

"You've betrayed us," he murmured.

"No, I only want to help you!" she cried.

"Help me..." Alfyn whispered, but he swung his axe.

At the very last moment, Hikari lunged at him. He landed in the water on his back, and then it was silent.

He did not stand up, did not try to fight back.

"Alfyn!" Ophilia shrieked.

Water splashed everywhere when she tore him from where lay and all but tossed him to the ground. She kept roughly patting his back in hopes that he would not drown. She begged him to wake up. And then the water came pouring out.

With hoarse, painful coughs he opened his eyes. They looked sick, but there was no haze.

"Oh, Alfyn, I thought you'd die!" Ophilia wept.

She cradled her half dead friend though he still coughed wildly.

Hikari weakly made it to the shore and collapsed beside them.

"You're bleeding, I completely forgot!" Ophilia said.

She lay Alfyn down once more and tended to Hikari's wound. Without equipment, what she could do was very limited.

"Let's get back to the inn as soon as possible," she said.

The three of them walked back, arm in arm. Alfyn would have sustained at least a dozen head injuries if they had not been there to catch him each time he fell.

Hikari knocked on the door several times before Temenos answered. He was silent for several moments, staring at the three soaking wet people (one was a stranger!) before he let them all in.

"Who's this?" he asked.

"It's Alfyn, he's my friend from Osterra," Ophilia beamed.

She begun tending to his wounds while Temenos helped Hikari.

Hikari was in a daze. What was supposed to be a cute date ended up... strange. It was beyond amazing that they had saved Alfyn, but he did want to kiss Ophilia. What a way to get cockblocked.

No one said much of anything. There were hundreds of questions to be asked an even a celebration to be had, but they would have to wait until morning.

When Ophilia finished patching up Alfyn, she hugged him and Hikari one final time, said goodnight and went to bed in the girls' room where she fell asleep the instant her head hit the pillow.

"Where should I sleep?" Alfyn asked.

"You can take my bed, I know Partitio won't mind if I squeeze in with him," Temenos chuckled.

He weaseled his way into a bed that wasn't his, but it didn't matter. Partitio, though he was asleep, wrapped his arms around him and muttered sweet words.

And finally, Alfyn and Hikari climbed into bed. It was silent for a long time before one spoke.

"So, uh... You're datin' Ophilia?" Alfyn whispered.

Gods, what a horrible thing to hear as one drifted off.

intruiging…

[princehatterene]

Then hmm... a question about your octopath ocs! Do you have ideas on what their chapters would be about? :0

yeah i have the broad strokes of their stories! i still have a lot to work on but here’s what i have so far! under the cut cuz i talk a lot

ori’s story (heh that rhymed) is about her getting run out of her town after the nobles figured out she was overcharging them for wares. they also knew she was using that extra money to give back to the commonfolk, and they were not happy about it. so she’s now basically a fugitive, but that won’t stop her from fucking with the rich in other places! her story climaxes with stopping an assassination plot against the pinelands’ royal family (that she has to stop herself from joining; murder isn’t the answer to corruption—change is).

camil’s is pretty simple—she’s been cursed and she’s trying to find a way to break it. and she figures if she can’t, she might as well see the world while she still has time. she learns the curse wasn’t just an accident she stumbled upon…someone placed it for her to find deliberately. who was it? that’s for me to know and you to hopefully find out someday~

tybalt is going through an identity crisis while investigating strange weather patterns on the cloudlands archipelago. he feels sad to leave behind the knight life he once trained for, but he’s beginning to come into his own in medicine; both jobs fulfill his desire to help people. the arcas adventurer’s guild supports his job shift into apothecary, but he’s still dealing with friends who wanna drag him back into knighthood. all the while, the cloudlands are deteriorating at an alarming rate, under an oppressive fog.

oliver is a dancer who recently made the tough decision to leave his thespian group and try to make it on his own. onstage, he can light up a room with his many artistic talents, but offstage he’s insecure and struggles with trust and abandonment issues. in his youth, he had a group of friends he loved with all his heart, who abandoned him for no apparent reason. he comes to learn they’re still out there somewhere, but he never would have expected where they’d end up…

penelope is part of a tribe of elves who live in the north (or rather they were pushed to the north by the humans). she’s sick of being sequestered and longs to rejoin humanity and regain their settlements all across the continent. so she’s off to convince the three biggest kingdoms of the continent to let her tribe live amongst the humans. however, she learns that the humans had a very specific reason to distance themselves from the elves, and she vows to be the one to break that cycle.

andreas is a member of a group of nomads who have lived in lands all over the continent (so like, the opposite of penelope now that i think about it). these nomads follow a great eagle-like wind spirit called the storm’s eye. wherever the storm’s eye flies, that’s where the nomads travel to next. but one day, the spirit vanished into thin air, and it’s up to our hunter to track it down! unfortunately, once the spirit is finally found, it’s in a very sad state. now his priority shifts from finding the spirit to cleansing it of its dark influence.

twyla is a cleric in the church of the sacred flame. she’s also kinda like an inquisitor à la temenos in octopath 2? though she’s more of a lawyer than a detective. her best friend and current head of the flame knights has been accused of heresy and is set to be executed. twyla believes he can’t possibly be guilty of such a horrible crime, and vows to clear his name. sadly, the case is far from being that simple, and she has to come to terms with a lot about the world and the church itself.

and last but not least, hawkin is our thief and heir apparent to a notorious desert crime family. he’s been tasked with stealing an ancient artifact locked within a temple lost to time. that already seems impossible, but it’s also been stated plainly that if he fails, he won’t just be excommunicated from the family…he’ll be killed by his father’s own hand. turns out, that artifact is Not something you wanna mess with, not that daddy dearest cares about the world getting destroyed.

all the travelers also face dark versions of themselves near the end of their stories, all trying to pull them toward the still-nameless dark god. they’ve all been touched by darkness in some way…

orietta by her upbringing shaping her own gray morals…

camil by the curse and her missing mother…

tybalt by exposure to the cloudlands’ evil fog…

oliver by the true reason for his friends’ disappearances…

penelope by the revelation of her tribe’s true purpose…

andreas by the corruption of his people’s guardian spirit…

twyla by her friend’s betrayal and shaken faith in the gods…

and hawkin by the nature of his profession and his family’s lust for power…

[satsuha]

you are SO RIGHT!! agnene is sooo cute and you’ve really opened my eyes to the extent of how much it works. the parallels you drew between them and temehika also make a lot of sense.

similarly, now that you mention it, i definitely understand what you mean about the crossed path story.. i haven’t played since the game released (i plan on replaying when the anniversary arrives) so i my memory wasn’t the clearest. i’d completely forgotten about yomi ooops.. and you’re right that they really should have touched more on agnea’s past, especially since both she and hikari have lost their mothers. it could have been so sweet to see them exchanging stories about them. i do wish that had happened :(

this is somewhat unrelated but i’m vehemently against the temenos/throné ship because i kind of see them as siblings? (SPOILERS BTW) idk i saw a really good theory about temenos also being one of Mr “So i inpregnated countless women” Guy’s children (was his name claude? i’m blanking suddenly) and while i’m not usually one to go all in on believing fan theories, the theory was so compelling that every time i see them shipped it makes me just a bit uncomfortable lmao. that’s just how my brain works i guess

argh in conclusion there were so many links that could have been drawn between certain characters that the game didn’t want to touch on and it’s such a shame. i get that they didn’t want to make any protags More Prominent than the others and that’s hard to pull off but my imagination definitely runs wild with all the possibilities (i will never see that end-game “why was temenos doing all the heavy lifting” scene the same way after what you did with it hehe)

hehe my agnene agenda... i unfortunately don't have enough hands to draw them as much as i'd like to but yeah they're so cute to me 😭 and yeah i understand! i'm also going through my second playthrough (albeit slowly lol i started in may and am still on it) but i do check videos online pretty often when i want to talk about something so i'm more or less refreshed on the events of the game

and ooogh... that theory... okay well for some context i only came across it when someone told me it was canon that temenos was claude's son and i was so horrified that i'd missed something but it turns out people had just misinterpreted arcanette's line directed at throne o<-< i think the theory is... fine but it doesn't really affect any part of temenos' character for me since the only real thing claude's children have in common is that they were forced into the blacksnakes' bloodbath but temenos wasn't a part of that so... i also think it suits him better that he's just some ordinary guy because his story seems to push the fact that he's in a role he was never destined for (in an "ideal" world, it would've been roi who was the chosen cleric for the story but temenos was forced to take up the mantle)

UHHH but yeah regardless of temenos' parentage i got pretty strong sibling/platonic vibes from his and throne's interactions anyway... i like their dynamic the most amongst the crossed paths pairs because temenos is just constantly telling throne off for her bad behaviour like a child and i find it amusing lol

i'm always stuck between wanting more of a certain kind of interaction (because i think some banters were lacklustre) and being fine with it because it means i can be delusional and just fill in the gaps myself lmao... THAT scene still boggles my mind i can't think of a single reason why temenos would be the one carrying the water JKFGHJKA but temehika going off as a pair regardless of what they are doing will always make me happy.... 🥰

[taoofshigeru]

A Cure for Joy but Not for Silence (Castti x Malaya)

A take on Castti/Ochette's crossed path where a confluence of magic brings back a familiar face. Trauma is still around, but so is love and comfort. Temenos and Osvald are also there. (2000 words)

-----

As Ochette called upon a bevy of trees, frogs, and axe-wielding tree frogs to beat back the shadow, a cleric and a scholar watched from a safe distance.

The purple light surrounding the ominous, writhing tentacle seemed familiar to the inquisitor. It took him a few moments for the hunch to turn into a connection.

Just when Castti and Ochette were starting to venture deeper into the woods, he took their colossal scholar by the arm. "Osvald, a word, if I may…"

Watching Castti treat the wounds on the duorduor turned that connection into a near-certainty. He grimaced. Then he thought of something. "Castti, you still have several phials of that cure mixed up."

She blinked. "Yes, why?"

He nodded towards the depths of the woods. "I very much doubt this is the last beast in these woods we'll see that's in need of treatment. May I borrow one?"

She nodded, and handed him the phial, which he tucked into his tunic.

They hastened on ahead into the woods. It should have been daylight, but it was dimmer than dusk.

A few steps further ahead, they were all engulfed in darkness.

…

As the scholar wandered further into the woods, he found himself hearing a voice that sounded like deep, raspy dusk. "Poor, pitiful Osvald. Lost your wife, you could never protect her."

"Why?" Osvald replied flatly. "Rita's death was Harvey's fault. I did everything I could, and now Elena is safe."

"Ah, but you're failing your daughter. Not there for her in this fragile recovery period. If only you had more power…" The voice trailed off.

"Why?" He didn't seem the least bit bothered. "Temenos is a high-ranking church official, and he was there when Harvey confessed to his crimes. Very likely I'll be exonerated within the year."

"…" The voice paused for just a moment. "Doesn't it ever make you curious, what it was that Harvey found at the end of his research? The true seventh source?"

"Why?" The scholar continued walking. He didn't even miss a step. "Whatever it was was clearly of an inferior grade to my own love for my adorable daughter."

"…" The pause was slightly longer this time. "Think of the possibilities of untapped sources of magic. Knowledge, wealth, half of the world, it could all be yours!"

"Why," His scruffy beard concealed the faintest hint of a smirk. "I don't really see what you're getting at."

…

"Couldn't protect them. Couldn't protect Jörg, or Roi, not even Crick." The voice in the darkness spoke to the cleric, mocking him. "You slept in bed as your wayward lamb walked his way to the slaughter."

Temenos grimaced. For all his outward confidence, this particular subject was not something he enjoyed being reminded of. "And I made examples of those responsible." That didn't mean he didn't have a retort ready. "And I aim to do the same to you."

"To me?" The voice boomed with laughter. "Why, you misunderstand me. I'm here to help you. To help give you power for your revenge."

"Revenge against who, exactly?" Temenos fixed on a point in the darkness that seemed to glow brighter than all the rest. Then he started walking. "This isn't the same puerile ploy you pulled on Kaldena, I hope? Inflicting tragedy and offering the power to get revenge against the enemy of her true enemy?"

"Kaldena was a fool." The darkness scoffed back at him. "You're clearly much too wise to fall for the petty ruse that worked on her."

"Oh, so that was you?" He responded with a dry wit. "I was going off a hunch. So, in a sense, I do appreciate the courtesy in your confirming my suspicions."

The darkness went silent, for a moment. Then, "How did you know?"

"I doubt. It's what I do." He winked at the point, which was growing brighter by the moment, then broke into a full sprint. "And you made it easy."

"YOU-!!" Humor was gone from the voice now, replaced by inhuman, primal rage.

"SACRED EFFULGENCE!!" He heaved his staff into the point of dark purple light, and the illusion shattered.

…

The cleric and the scholar found themselves standing on an endless lake of grey. Osvald was the first to notice Ochette and Castti were there next to him, facing off against what looked like dozens of the same writhing purple fragments of darkness Ochette had beaten back earlier.

Temenos was a hair slower, on account of the plum he had shoved down his throat. But the glow of his light magic hit one of the writhing curses incarnate just before it could strike at Ochette from behind.

Together, the four travelers made quick work of the gruesome attacker. Soon, the tendrils were in full retreat, but one lingered for just a moment.

That was long enough for Ochette. "Oh no you don't! RAWR!!" She bit into the darkness itself, and her fangs sunk deep.

That was as much time as they needed. "Now, Osvald!" He grabbed the phial of cure out from his tunic and tossed it in the scholar's direction.

A gruff, solemn chant had began even before the thin cylinder of glass was tumbling through the air. "This is! THE ANSWER!!" Osvald blasted the phial with the One True Magic (II), and the beam shot out towards the tentacle. Ochette jumped away just in time. So hasty was her jump that she did not, for once, land gracefully.

In the time it took for that attack to land, the rest of the tentacles, and the darkness itself, retreated. Ochette, Temenos, and Osvald were left standing beside Castti, slumped over with emotional and physical fatigue. And one other person, who had appeared exactly where the tentacle had been before Osvald had blasted it with pure, radiant spirit.

…

Castti looked up, and saw a ghost. This one wasn't wearing a wry smile, and the emaciated look was a far cry from the healthy state in which she had last seen her. But there was no mistaking those eyes. "…malaya?" It was a face she had resigned herself to never seeing again.

"It's okay, Malaya. I remember everything now, you can rest." She fumbled forward, not really understanding what was happening. "Haha, I must really be under the weather to be seeing things again." She put a hand to her forehead, laughing to hold back the tears. She felt so silly.

Ochette looked at the other woman, confused. "Mama Castti, who's this?"

A jolt of pure, stinging understanding shot through the apothecary. "You can see her?" Her head whipped around to Osvald. "Can you see her?"

He nodded. "There's a woman on the ground next to you. Dark skin, long hair. Signs of malnutrition. She's conscious."

Temenos stepped between them. "Now, wait a moment Castti, we need to be c-"

He was physically thrown off the ground as Castti dived forward like a woman possessed. She embraced the woman in a hug heavy enough to knock the wind clean out of her.

"MalayaMalayaMalayamalayamalayaOhit'syouit'sreallyyouyoudon'tknowhowmuchIhopedandprayedandafterIrememberedandeverythingandyoudidsomuchformeandIcouldn'tdoanythingforyouandIohgodsyou'realiveandhereandIcanfeelyouandIloveyousomuchandInevergottotellyoubefore*sob*, OhMalayaMalayamydearMalaya-" She didn't know where she was anymore, and she could not care. Tears and snot were spilling freely down her cheeks. Even after Temenos got up, Ochette stood, feet planted and arms out, making it very clear that he wasn't going to break up that moment.

It ended up being Malaya who pushed the apothecary away. "_,_." She opened her mouth as if to say something, but no words came out.

Osvald nodded in understanding. "You love her too, but you're hungry?"

"She's what?!" Castti's head jerked up.

Malaya winced and rubbed her stomach. "_,_!" She shook her head, smiling weakly at Castti.

"'You hugged the wind out of me, you damn mother hen.'" He gave a wry smile. "And my name is Osvald. I'm traveling together with your friend? Wife?"

"Wife!" The apothecary was the one to answer this question. "My wife is alive, I," She took another look at Malaya and her eyes widened with belated shock. "Oh gods, look at you, you're skin and bones, we need to get you some food."

"Alright, that's settled!" Ochette whipped out five sticks of jerky from her pack and handed them to Malaya, who wolfed them down and took five more before the beastling lifted her off the ground and the group began to walk back to town. Osvald, who had been the least disturbed in the confrontation with the shadow, lent Malaya his coat for warmth and let Castti lean on him for support.

"Hey Osvald, how did you know what she was saying? I couldn't even hear, and my ears are the best among us, I think?" Ochette's companion Mahina chimed in.

His gaze grew a little harder. "I learned how to read lips on Frigit Isle. It was useful for gathering information."

"Oh, I see." Ochette turned over to Malaya, who had grabbed a fistful of grapes from her pack and was downing them in groups of three. "You really are light, ma'am. Eat as much as you like."

"Wow, Ochette sharing her food. This is a special day, yes indeed." Mahina hooted jovially.

Temenos cut in between the two, voice so low that neither Castti or Malaya seemed to be able to hear. "I would like to preach caution. Whoever that woman is, she came from the shadow. And it spoke to me in there. I'm almost certain it's connected to what we've been investigating."

"Osvald, can you grab him by the cloak? With one fist? My hands're kinda full."

"M'kay." The scholar obliged, yanking the cleric down for the hunter to glare at.

Ochette hissed back, "Now listen here, you. You weren't with us when Castti went back to Healeaks for the first time. I've seen that woman rip a real live antlion in two, but that village had her shaking in a way I've never seen. And the name I kept hearing her say while we were there? 'Malaya.'" She indicated the woman held in her arms, "You can keep an eye on things, sure. But if you mess up this moment for her I'm gonna put my footprint into your rib cage."

His smile never fell the whole time she was talking. "I understand. I can leave the two of them to you, then?"

"So long as we're clear, Temmy." She bared her fangs at him.

By the time they had arrived back at the inn, it was still light outside. The sunlight seemed to give Malaya a physical boost, and Castti a mental one. The two of them sat outside on a bench, with Ochette standing nearby. She held a pouch that was seemingly still full of food and drinks, and this time Castti indulged herself in some spicy jerky. They sat there for a little while.

Castti asked the question that had been on her mind. "Do you remember me?"

Malaya nodded her head. Yes, yes I do.

"Oh, can you still not speak?" She leaned over, concerned.

She shook her head no.

"So you can't speak?"

Malaya shook her head no again.

"You don't want to speak?"

A nod, yes.

"I'm sorry, I just." Castti stopped. "There's a lot I wanted to ask. But I don't need to ask it now." She stared into those eyes, those lovely brownish-black eyes which, now that she looked closer, seemed to be carrying new, silent scars in them. "We can wait. But I do have one request." She supposed hers did too. They really would have a lot to talk about.

Malaya nodded her head.

"C, can I hold your hand?" She stumbled with that on her way out of the gate. Even so, "It's only, I just, gods! I spent this whole time imagining a version of you to help myself get through all that trauma, and I almost went and accepted you were gone." Castti fixed her eyes on those deep, familiar eyes again and "I need to feel that you're real, and next to me. Is that okay?"

Before nodding, Malaya reached out with her own hand, the one that wasn't still dismantling a pomegranate and shoving it in her face, and wrapped her fingers through Castti's own. Then she nodded. Of course, chief.

~End~

[fulgurbugs]

Rank the travelers and their stories.

you know what i’ll throw in a final boss difficulty ranking for you too

anyways traveler ranking time: (tentative and i didn’t dislike anyone so)

1. partitio

2. castti

3. temenos

4. throne

5. osvald

6. hikari

7. ochette

8. agnea

first of all lemme say i don’t even know how i feel about this list i kept moving people for like 20 min. this is all subject to change at the drop of a hat, and i haven’t played the crossed paths yet. so idk lolll and every story has stronger and weaker chapters that have been making me move people up or down a lot idk.

what i can rank more definitively is the chapter final bosses which would be from hardest to easiest for me

hikari (because there’s like 4 fights in this chapter, and it’s harder to spam dancer divine skill +rehab without cleric doublecast)

agnea (boss gimmick is pretty difficult in phase 2)

castti (may be similar to an ot1 boss but it was difficult then too)

ochette (also my favorite final boss design of the game)

temenos (p sure this one has an insta kill which is always super annoying but i felt like i did this fight fairly quickly)

throne (interesting boss gimmick, still wasn’t even knocking my guys out tho)

osvald (maybe this is because i used hired help a little more than i was in other ones because beastling spam is extremely useful and i was loaded but i feel like i also ended this one pretty quick)

partitio (idk why but i felt like this boss was just not doing threatening amounts of damage to me)

[maareyas]

octopath 2 updates! a lot has happened

- i finished everyone's 3rd chapters (finally)! Throné's and Temenos' routes :''''''D

- I started actually using the secondary jobs mechanic. Castti with a cleric sub-job is so 💙💙💙

- I wish there was a way to toggle between job outfits though. As much as I like Armsmaster Hikari, the roman armor just looks so dumb 😭 I unequip secondary jobs during story bosses because of this fhhdhsh

- Ochette's thief outfit looks cute though 💙 and I love that Temenos' scholar outfit makes him look more detective-ish ✨

- I've gathered an army of rats and birds with Ochette. love AOE attacks that also gives your team buffs/enemies debuffs. in hindsight I'm grateful that I chose her as my starter since she's very versatile!!

- I tried fighting the boss in Ivory Ravine, not really as a serious attempt at first because I was exactly the recommended level, and I usually face bosses overleved to make up for my lack of a solid strategy aside from "breaking the enemy as soon as possible"

- it did in fact, become serious and I WON BUT ONLY BARELY. like the boss would recover from breaking next turn and unleash 7th Calamity 😭😭 I just went all out do-or-die. thank god Armsmaster Hikari and Ochette's draefendi's bow was able to kill it at the last turn 💀

spoilery thoughts under the cut:

- Throné's chapter 3 was wild from start to finish 💀 one hell of a love drama. rip to Father, also he is way thinner/gangly that i expected from his overworld sprite lmao

- Mother's boss fight was pretty easy since I was very overleveled and my team comp was apparently pretty good at countering her. I technically K.O'd her before her desperation attack/scripted dialogue hdjsjs I ended up properly beating her with an hp thief lmao

- Wellow's manor is scary :'''D

- THEY KILLED MY BOY CRICK,,,.....,.,.., i'm going to miss him 😭 newly anointed yet gone so soon................his VA did a fantastic job

- i really love Temenos and Hikari's VA's work too btw

- I was 9 or 10 levels beyond the suggested when I did the Cubaryi boss fight and I STILL had so much trouble, my god 💀 the consecutive turns, debuff shield, AND high shield points....absolutely irredeemable. Her sprite is sick as hell though.

- also the battle reprise of Temenos' theme that plays just before you fight her? i love it 👌

- I finished Castti's 3rd chapter last AND I KNEW ITTT I KNEW IT WAS TROSSEAU. THAT WHITE-HAIRED BITCH (<- tends to gravitate towards white haired characters) not quite as exciting as Throné's or Temenos' 3rd chapters, but it's still quite a Punch

- idek if I mentioned it before but I love love love the worldbuilding in this game. both in lore and actual gameplay!! I'm grinding equally for story reasons and so I can explore new location without being on the verge of death every time lmao. Wellow's manor. Im so scared of going there-

- once again Agnea's story is..........eh.......... I really want to care about it but it just feels so weak. I wish it felt deeper, I guess? Agnea's personality has felt one dimensional, which would be fine if her plot thus far hasn't also felt that way fhhsjsj "I want to be a star and make people happy" good for her but I need more substance than that. pls. i need a plot about that bright sincerity vs. the soul-sucking nature of the entertainment industry vs. the highs and lows of being a creative/arts person vs. how arts (specifically dance) bring happiness and life to people-

[felikatze]

why is ochette just so insanely good. in octo1 i never really interacted with the supplementary combat systems (i.e haanit's beasts, the lead ability, alfyn's concotions) AT ALL but the octo2 prologue chapters make a much better effort of introducing these as actually useful by forcing you to use them in tutorial combat encounters

i went to a lv20 area early and caught a frog which does 2 instances of aoe bow damage and it's so fucking good. keeping a good stock of monsters basically allows you to have Every Damage Type on Ochette, so you're never struggling for breaks. Additionally, her latent potential abilities are also just insane, allowing you to do quadruple digit damage with some setup insanely early

castti is also really goddamn good because her latent potential ability lets her concoct without using up ingredients, so you can do wack shit like do aoe of every magic type, or give every character 4 bp and stat boosts, all without spending a time

hikari's ability is also a huge boon to the warrior class and encourages use of the duel path action even without the niche benefit of entering houses without npcs in them. comparatively the various lead abilites are way less useful than all of these, but still have a lot of utility since calling on a follower only consumes one action, with the follower performing an additional action for like, what, five turns?

latent potential is all around an AMAZING addition to the combat system. they generally compliment well to the specific character's style, like osvald's synergyzing specifically with the aoe damage of scholars, giving him a single target attack for increased damage, which is hugely useful for bosses. temenos' ability to reduce shield points regardless of damage type is obviously intended to work for the interrogation mechanic, which relies on breaks, but is still insanely good to whittle down bosses about to go beast mode on your ass if you dont break them in two turns. agnea's ability lets her convert any spell action to aoe, which not only is amazing for the dancer's inherent buffs but also gives her aoe access to subclass magic attacks at a reduced sp costs.

ochette and hikari are brothers in arms of Big Number Physical Damage, but still have different flavors. Hikari can do big damage of various weapon types whereas Ochette's damage is physical neutral, but she also has access to an aoe debuff instead.

Partitio being able to refill his bp with a snap of the fingers is fucking insane even if it provides no other benefit. he gets 5 bp but only 3 can be consumed in a single turn, so he still gets to keep another 2 bp for another action. combined with the merchant's ability to refill sp at no cost, you can get so funky with this. i am going to make the subclass scholar partitio a god.

if you've taken anything away from this it is that while i still love the original octopath combat, i think the twist octo2 added to it improved it by leaps and bounds, and opens up so many more avenues to get silly with it. from a warrior temenos build that can raze any shield point to insane castti concoction setups to cleric agnea full party damage reduction- the new system is amazing at differentiating every character beyond their base job's abilities.

better tutorial design encourages the player to make full use of supplementary optional battle systems in a way octo1 fails to really do for the casual player uninterested in bashing their head against a brick wall (i.e. the secret boss)

also can i mention THANK GOD for the new system of temporary party members. starting with more support oriented characters like primrose or ophelia in octo1 was utterly grueling due to the sheer difficulty of beating the boss solo. almost cried in relief when i started with temenos and the game gave me a temporary physical damage dealer who wont keel over if someone breathes on him. playing a support character with another character to actually support made the entire experience wholly more pleasant. on the other hand, characters who could hold their own didn't get temporary party members, like ochette. with her, the chapter 1 boss was extremely doable with only one failed attempt because i was geniuenly playing like a fucking moron.

tldr. octo2 improvement 👍

[auncyen]

I'm still working on part two of "Journal Page #16" (which, yes, should have been given a better title; still don't have one) but I wanna share this first bit because I like it.

Temenos’ dreams dimmed to match the waking world almost as soon as the unnatural night started, but as the travelers cross the Sundering Sea, his dreams darken even further.  Awake, he can call on Aelfric for holy light; in his dreams, on his own, he sees nothing, grasping with sound and feeling and fear.  He is asleep in his home.  Roi is pounding on the door, calling in that urgent, fearful tone, though the words are garbled to meaninglessness.  Temenos could rise from the bed and find his way to the door by sound and feel and memory, but he does not try, because it’s the middle of the night and he, having slept, is not dressed to run as Roi is.  If he dresses before opening the door, Roi will be gone.  If he lets Roi in first, he’s transfixed by his friend’s fearful tone as he describes finding a cursed weapon and losing trust in the church, and Roi is gone by the time Temenos realizes he needs at least shoes if he is to follow, never mind Roi’s instructions.  Temenos knows how this goes.  He already knows.

The dream changes to something he is less familiar with.  Now he is Roi, cold and afraid, panting for breath as he runs with the bow.  Petrichor laughs behind him, sounding much like Deputy Cubaryi, another woman blindly devoted to a wicked one.  He runs and runs, but it is the darkest night.  The gods are also fond of sleeping when they are needed.  There is no light to guide Roi, and he inevitably trips over a rock he had no way of seeing and falls on the ground.  Cubaryi-Petrichor’s laugh grows wilder, louder, and as he fumbles to get up, a blade pierces his side from behind and he cries out with the little air left in him–

And he’s just Temenos, again, tangled in a rough, disgustingly sweat-soaked blanket, with a single line from Ori’s damned journal impressed on his mind:

“Sometimes, I hunted people too, like the time I came to possess the Darkblood Bow.”

He already knew Roi was most likely killed that night, or soon after, since he never returned.  It’s that word.  ‘Hunted.’  As if he was just another beast.

*

It takes a week longer than usual to make the sea crossing with both visibility and navigation hampered.  It doesn’t help that at least part of the crew has been afflicted by the same dullness of mind found on land, speaking as though the night is normal.  It doesn’t seem to have affected their ability to work, but they’re directed to very few duties to make sure they don’t get themselves or anyone else into trouble should their minds be prone to other errors not yet discovered.  The travelers keep busy working alongside the sailors who are still sane, including Temenos.  He does some physical work.  He also makes light in the most mundane application of Aelfric’s sacred power.  And very often, he puts on his best cleric behavior and inquires about how each crew member is doing, gives counsel as Pontiff Jörg would have and reassures them, feeling as though he is lying through his teeth.  He intends to bring back the dawn; the lie is in having to mask every doubt and worry, to have to appear as the paragon of faith others need in this trial.  He never did understand how the Pontiff and Roi could be so solid in their own reassurance.

The end of their sea journey nears: they find the eastern continent’s coast and realize they’re nearly a hundred miles off from the anchorage despite their best attempts at hindered navigation, but they are at least in sight of familiar land, which is enough to have sailors praising various deities among the eight, depending on who they think is most responsible for guiding a safe sea passage in total darkness.  (Temenos hears the most thanks for Aelfric and Aeber, the one most strongly associated with sacred flame and the one most acquainted with darkness.  There are a few thanking Bifelgan and Alephan, a patron of trade and a patron of the wisdom needed to navigate when conventional methods flounder.  He hears one sailor thank Dohter, and wonders at that until he thinks of Dohter’s chosen being set adrift at sea only to be safely found by a boat.  Perhaps in the end, they all rely on charity.)  They should be ashore in hours.  Temenos checks on the tucked away, folded journal scrap in the midst of one last bout of worry–should he show Throné, ask her to confide in him should she feel unwell?  Show everyone, and make sure no one is caught off guard?  Throw the scrap in the sea for the fish?--when his hand freezes.  His fingers brush the edges of the folded paper.

It’s been flipped over.

He scans the room with a summoned holy light: nothing of value is missing, immediately ruling out the idea that any of the sailors decided to take up thievery.  He takes the paper out, unfolds it, examines it.  It’s the same paper.  The passage he’s nearly memorized by heart reads the same, no evidence of alteration apparent.  He folds it back up and puts it back down the same way, considering the direction the edges are pointed in.  It’s not how he laid it down before.

…But surely it is?  He can’t see who–Throné herself is the strongest candidate for rifling through another’s room, and if she found the paper, it would have either been taken or placed back exactly as she found it.  Ochette is the next most likely to ransack someone’s room out of sheer curiosity, but the room as a whole would be more disorganized.  Hikari and Partitio are so principled about others’ belongings that Temenos has a hard time imagining either would search his room, let alone closely enough to find the paper, and if they’d read it they’d have either confronted him about hiding it or simply told the group.  Similarly Agnea, even if she is the one easiest to imagine making a clumsy mistake in putting the paper back while keeping the scene otherwise orderly.  Osvald is too attentive to detail.  Also, he would have just taken the paper, not put it back.  Castti…Castti, maybe?

It’s been nearly three weeks at sea in the dark.  Roughly two months total of darkness.  Temenos considers he may just be losing his mind, because humans were not made for this.

Only one more week of travel to Flamechurch.