#also welcome to the BEST character throughout the series

[utterlyotterlyx]

A Ballad of Storm and Shadow

Azriel x F!Reader

Part One

Summary - Rhys had been content in taking the darkest secret of his family to the grave, but when the threat of Hybern increases, he has no choice but to send a message to another world and pray to the Mother that his call is answered.

Warnings - angst, mentions of war, tension, fluff, touch of sadness and longing

This is a crossover series, some aspects will differ from that in the books. Physical attributes are described in this fic, it is essential to the storyline of the character

Rain spattered against the ledge, the open window allowing the tears of the sky to coat the black glossed paint with their sadness. Azriel watched them inquisitively, noting how each droplet fell further into the room than the last, his shadows pecked along the ground to dry the dampened spots and it was a welcome distraction from the conversation encircling the room.

The storm raged on overhead, cracks of lightening slicing across the sky every few moments, the clouds rumbling their anger throughout the city. A harmony to the idea of war.

There was no avoiding it. The war, that is. It had consumed Azriel's every thought as he played out every possible scenario in his mind, ones where they all made it out alive, and the ones where they all perished alongside Prythian. It was those visions that kept him up at night, flashes of Cassian's bloodied face lifeless against the earth, wings torn and soul withered, were enough to make him desperate enough to the point that he'd give anything to avoid it.

Azriel ran his marred hands over the curve of his leathers, soothing down each muscle and drifting over every glowering siphon attached to his body, doing his best to pull himself from the images that plagued his waking moments and sleepless nights.

If Rhys were speaking then Azriel would have been listening, but, surprisingly, he wasn't. Rhys stared dead ahead, nails digging into his nails beds and jaw clenching along with the reeling thoughts plaguing his own mind, staring right ahead at the corner of the table placed in the centre of the seating area at the River House. Azriel wasn't the only one who noticed, Amren had halted her words to slice through his train his thought, "Are you going to say anything?"

Rhys' gaze pulled from its formerly trained spot at the table edge toward his second in command, and it was clear that there was something he wasn't sharing with his family. His eyes drifted about the room, landing on each one of them in turn before they landed on Feyre and wavered slightly. Azriel couldn't blame his brother for his fear, he had finally gotten everything he had ever wanted after all the horrors he had endured, and now that picture perfect life was being threatened.

But something still wasn't right. Rhys was too consumed in his mind to pay any real attention to what Amren was saying, what plans were being spoken of, and that wasn't like Rhys. It wasn't like Rhys at all to blatantly ignore words spoken that could aid them in their collective efforts against Hybern. Azriel couldn't exactly be too picky about it though, considering he too was ignoring the firedrake fumbling plans into fruition, also too consumed by his own demons.

"The High Lords will be convening in three days time," his words were tense, his eyes burning, "Give me one night to think. We can start on this tomorrow," Rhys ran his hand over his face and leaned back in his chair, inhaling deeply and pinching the bridge of his now.

"The future of this continent, your home, is threatened, and you wish to speak of this tomorrow?" Amren scoffed, her silver eyes dancing under the faelight in warning.

Rhys rose from his seat, having had enough of the incessant drawls of war and death and offered Feyre his hand, a hand that she took willingly and stood at his side, fingers wrapped around his forearm and body drifting beside him, "Yes, I do. I cannot think when this is all you're speaking of, Amren. I am High Lord, and I need to think about how to spare my family and my people from this."

Instead of retorting in a way only she could, Amren contained her fury and buried it deep within her core, "Fine." Amren almost spat at his feet, but he paid no mind to it, he didn’t have the energy to go head-to-head with Amren that night, not when there was a much more pressing matter to attend to.

So, Rhys took Feyre to bed, and made sure that she was sound asleep before removing himself from her embrace. He threw an onyx silken shirt over his body but didn’t bother strewing up any of the buttons, content in allowing the night air to glide across his skin, he wasn’t sure how long he was going to able to appreciate its touch.

The High Lord of Night paced through the River House swiftly, not wanting to disturb any member of his family or alert them to his movements, and as soon as he stood on an ornately stunning balcony, the same he had stood on with Feyre that night on Starfall, did he unfurl his glorious wings and take to the skies, determined to reach the place that he hadn’t visited in over 200 years. A pool of starlight lay within a small valley within the mountains, not too far from the cabin but recluse enough for no one to be able to find it unless they knew that it lay there.

It had been too long since he had been there, but the all too familiar aura curled around him like a lost hound and pulled him down to it. The pool twinkled in greeting, reflecting the endless wonder of the sky above, and Rhys then remembered just how small it was, and just how long it had been since he peered into it or drifted his fingers along its rippling surface.

None other than he knew of what it truly was - not even his mate- it was a thin veil between worlds, a veil he used to send messages through often in hope that they’d find the one intended for, and he would wait for hours at a time for a whisper of a response. One time he had waited an entire day, desperate to hear her voice on the wind, hauntingly mesmerising like a siren to a sea captain, replying to his message with her usual level of warmth and understanding.

Then one day he just stopped visiting the place, the weight of her void had become too much to bear, too much that he had made the selfish decision to try and move on, to live his life in anyway that he could. Part of Rhys thought that she would have commended him for it, that she would have understood and that she was somewhere and knew of his strength, pain, and success of finding his mate.

But it had been so long. Rhys wasn’t sure if the pool was being monitored from her end, and he was terrified that his plea would fall upon deaf ears. But she was the only one who could help them, the only one powerful enough to give them any real chance of surviving. That power was the reason she had been sent away in the first place.

Rhys fell to his knees at the bank of the water, the contact of his markings without their twin flames in the snow causing the pool to ripple and hum with eons old yearning, and the stars within it began to glow, eager and ready to pull his words from his lips and sail them through the veil. He lowered himself to the surface, his face reflecting in the water showing him just how exhausted he had appeared, and the pool knew it, it knew of his desperation and rippled in a way that Rhys was sure it would split open at any given moment.

But, the water settled and shuddered, the gate between him and the one he thought of often still firmly in place.

"I'm sorry that it's been so long," he began, not knowing what to say to soften the blow but wanting to believe that she wasn't angry at him for it, and hoping that she too was thriving wherever her feet carried her. "If it means anything, I have missed you, and not a day has passed where I haven't thought of you," he fiddled with his fingers, his breath sending gentle wisps of steam rising into the air, "I found my mate. You'd like her, I think. She's my High Lady now, things have certainly changed."

"We are going to war. The Cauldron is in the grasp of our enemy and it threatens to devour the continent as we know it, and I fear that none of us with survive the destruction. I suppose I just wanted to speak to you, to say that I'm sorry I haven't visited in so long, and to let you know that I love you despite our distance. I may not survive what's to come, but I just wanted you to know that, and if there's any way you could come and save my ass then that would be greatly appreciated," he spoke the last words with a soft chuckle.

Rhys often thought of what she looked like, she had been only a girl when she was sent away, thrust through a portal with no way of knowing how to get back if she wished it. The day he heard her whisper through the pool had been the best day of his life, and on some level, he knew it still was in a sense. In those days, Rhys knew that she was alive, she may have been struggling but at least her heart was still beating and soul was raining havoc.

He wasn't sure of what he was expecting, he knew the chances of a reply were slim to nothing, but his heart still sank when the pool rippled with intoxicating silence.

Rhys waited another hour at least, but when the stars within the pool began to dim, he knew that it was time to leave. He rose to his feet, his soul solemn and heavy, and he couldn't bring himself to glance backward at the water as he ascended to the skies.

It was a pity really, for if he had turned around for but a moment, he would have seen the pool sparkle to life.

Azriel was curious.

It wasn't often that he found Rhys to be hiding something from him, or any of them for that matter. It was the beauty of their shared family, they knew all of the worst things about one another, from actions to thoughts, and nothing was counted as being too ferocious to accept.

But Azriel knew that Rhys was hiding something, his High Lord had been on edge from the moment he had returned to the River House after sneaking out that night, under the impression that no one had known of his time away. But Azriel knew everything, every single move was accounted for thanks to his shadows and his own keen hearing.

The Shadowsinger had merely thought that Rhys needed a moment to himself to think, but as the time stretched on, it seemed that Rhys was on a mission of sorts, and Azriel's suspicions became clear when he saw his brother the next morning, hair askew and eyes occasionally flickering through the window to a certain spot against the mountain face.

Rhys had worn the same expression for three days, not even Feyre could get him to talk to her about what it was that had him so concerned. But Azriel couldn't miss the longing in his eyes each time he passed by the window, like he was expecting someone to float up to the glass pane and solve all of their problems.

The day had come to meet with the High Lords, and the location had been set at the Dawn Court Palace, Thesan had always been the perfect mediator, besides, Cassian had been banned from Summer which automatically ruled that location from the list.

To Azriel's understanding, Rhys hadn't uttered a single word to anyone all morning, not even a single scold toward Cassian and Mor for their incessant bickering. It was worrying Feyre, Azriel noticed, he saw the emotion sketched into her furrowed brow each time she would try and speak to her mate to only be ignored. It seemed as though only Azriel and Feyre, and perhaps Amren, had noticed it.

The silence continued all the way to the Dawn Court, and Rhys' brooding only lightened when Helion appeared after his lacklustre greeting to Kallias and Viviane, spurring Rhys to remember the reason why they were there, what they had to do in order to give Prythian a fighting chance against Hybern and the Cauldron.

Helion jerked his chin toward Feyre, asking, "Does Tamlin know what she is?"

Rhys, his sadness wavering for a moment as they stood before the doors to the meeting chamber, spoke, "If you mean beautiful and clever, then yes - I think he does."

Azriel watched Helion closely, taking a tentative step toward his High Lord and Lady as the High Lord of Day sent Rhys a unimpressed flat glare, "Does he know that she is your mate, and High Lady?"

Ignoring Viviane's squeal, Rhys answered, picking a loose thread from his jacket and allowing it to float to the ground, "If he arrives then I suppose we will find out."

"I always liked you, Rhysand," Helion said after a lethally dark chuckle, knowing just how powerful he was in comparison to Rhys' brothers; he rolled his shoulders and glanced to Nesta, his gaze lingering whilst he enquired of who she was.

"She is my sister," Azriel didn't miss the muffled flinch that sliced across Rhys' face, "She will tell her story when the others are here."

Skittering steps against the pale golden stone pulled the attention of the Inner Circle toward Thesan who was surrounded by his highly alert Peregryns, beings who seemed a little too on edge.

"I hate to interrupt," Thesan drawled with wary eyes before they landed on Rhys, "But there is a woman I have never seen before in the meeting chamber, she says that you sent for her."

No one could miss how Rhys' entire body language changed from lax to urgent, his posture straightening and eyes boring into the doors of the chamber as though he could see through them; his breathing quickened, and it became apparent that whoever the woman was had been the cause of his ire for the last three days.

Begrudgingly, Rhys followed Thesan's order to wait for the others, Tarquin seemed less than pleased to be stood before Rhys, and it wasn't long until Beron and Eris rounded the corner of the corridor, sneering and spitting their horrid words, sending warning glares to Cassian and Azriel in particular for the scuffle between the two courts over the now High Lady of the Night Court and Lucien Vanserra.

Opening the doors, the woman lounging in the chair facing their entrance was not the person Rhys had been longing to see, Azriel deduced that much from the instant droop of his shoulders before he fully even saw her face. She sat in one of the deep rooted chairs, legs strewn over the arm and a dagger pricking into each one of her fingers, not hard enough to break the skin.

She was glad in a green dress that extenuated her long legs and her utterly wild scent had enveloped the room, a scent of lemon verbena and crackling embers, her blonde hair was well tamed and pinned backward in a loose yet luxurious ensemble, and power poured off of her in searing waves.

"And who exactly are you?"

A grin formed on her lips at the defensive question directed her way by Helion, and she rolled her eyes incredulously in response, sliding her legs from the arm and propping her elbows upon them, "Is that any way to greet a guest?" The tip of her dagger scratched into the wood of her seat, a curved and lethal weapon not of Prythian, "They really don't have any manners," she spoke loudly, directing the comment elsewhere.

Large hands clasped around the back of her seat and a flash of white hair reflected against the dying sunlight, "She did tell us that they were going to be apprehensive of us, Fireheart." The woman hummed, seemingly unphased by who she was trapped in a room with, anyone else would have been quaking in their boots at the knowledge of it.

"I didn't think she was being serious-"

"You haven't answered the question. Tell us who you are and why you're here, or-"

"Or what?" The woman's gold ringed eyes glistened, hungry and bristling with a flame Rhys, nor any of them, had ever witnessed. She rose from the seat, "You'll hurt us? I'd like to see you try."

Azriel stuck to Feyre and Rhys, sizing up the male with the tattoos in an ancient language littered down the side of his face, and that only seemed to make the male smirk, "Don't think about it. You wouldn't last a minute."

Tension simmered in the chamber, the High Lords of Prythian bar one faced the two strangers who looked much like them but were different in every single way imaginable.

Only when a click of heels entered the room followed by an exasperated sigh, did the two strangers grin, their offensive stance dissipating before Rhys' very eyes as they turned to make room for another.

"You'll come to rather enjoy Aelin's wit," a voice as mesmerising as the crashing summer waves called into the simmering silence, a voice so perfect that it had Rhys almost whimpering in disbelief as he took a step forward. Another woman appeared adorning a playful smirk, "And the vein in Rowan's forehead."

Azriel studied her, even his shadows couldn't stop themselves from peeking over his shoulders at the sound of her melodic voice, one so calming that it had them dancing toward it. She was by far one of the most incredible creatures Azriel had ever seen, dressed in an impeccable midnight blue gown that exposed her taut legs, allowing Azriel to see the two markings delicately placed below her knees, the twins to Rhys' own. Her hair was as dark as the night and swaying with each step, eyes as violet as the summer horizon that were lovingly teasing her companions, and she moved with a grace Azriel had never encountered in all of his years. A crown composed of onyx stone flowers and jewels curled around her head and glittered in the slowly decaying light, it was delicate and rested just over her ears, keeping her skin free from the imprint of it.

But it wasn't the crown nor the dress that had really stolen Azriel's eye, no, it was the pristine pair of feathered wings that were tucked neatly behind her back, not wings of an Illyrian, but wings of some form of angel Azriel presumed. They resembled the night sky, black and speckled with silver, and the longer Azriel focused on them, the more he struggled to believe that they weren't enriched feathers of pure starlight.

Rhys loosened a breath of disbelief, and his bottom lip quaked softly as he took her in, eyes trailing up her form and resting on her face, not believing who was stood before him but thanking the Mother all the same, "You came."

With her dress swaying in the breeze infiltrating the room from the open arches of the chamber, she faced Rhys and smiled sadly, taking a moment to drink him in just as he had with her before she answered, "You called."

"I didn't think you heard me," he took another step toward the curve of the pool, slowly but surely closing the gap between them, "You've grown."

"I've always heard you," their features were so strikingly similar, and Azriel was grasping onto any memory or mention of the female before his eyes, "And, if I hadn't have grown in over 500 years I'd be quite concerned."

Rhys laughed, throwing his head back and lips stretching into a smile of pure bliss, he didn't stop his steps this time, no, he allowed his feet to carry him all the way to her and bundled her up in his embrace, inhaling the scent of her deeply into his lungs "Hello sister."

Sister.

The two strangers, Aelin and Rowan, took a step back, serene smiles on their faces as they watched, seemingly understanding what it meant for the Rhys and the female, "Hello you," she replied, wrapping her arms around him and holding him tightly, "Someone mentioned that you have a mate now?"

Rhys pulled backward and sent her a look of wonderment, "I do. Feyre, darling? Would you?" He extended an arm out to her and Feyre wasted no time in joining him, "This is y/n. My sister."

"Well, half-sister, but we don't take notice of the specifics," she grinned at Rhys and softly nudged him, "It's an honour to meet you, Feyre Cursebreaker."

"How do you-"

She waved her hand dismissively, "I know many things."

"It's true, it's extremely annoying," Aelin spoke flatly nestled under Rowan's arm, the fire in her eyes softening.

Glancing about, Azriel became completely aware of just how much the beauty of y/n had captured the attention of all within the room, from the hue of her skin to the glossy black of her hair, from the curve of her jaw to the strikingly vibrant eyes that had stolen Azriel's breath from the moment the light had hit them.

She was undeniably Rhys' sister, but Azriel was sure that Rhys had only ever had one, and she died years ago.

"I'm sorry, but how?" Cassian couldn't help but ask, drawing the attention of everyone to him, he glanced to Azriel who shrugged, confirming that he knew nothing of the female before their very eyes.

Y/N smiled softly, her eyes dimming slightly and promised, "My," she looked to Rhys for a moment, "Our story-" her gaze returned to Cassian, but not before gently floating over Azriel and widening slightly, "-is one for a different day. Prythian is in danger and you need help, I'm here to provide it."

"What about us?"

"One more word Aelin and I'll send you back home, I'm sure Aedion would love to take your place."

Aelin gasped, "You don't mean that."

"Try me. See where you land this time round."

Aelin grimaced, recounting the time y/n had shoved her through one of her fancy test portals to only land in the foulest smelling swamp she had ever experienced. She kept her lips sealed and moved to the seat where she had been sat minutes before with a forced smile, prompting the rest of the occupants of the chamber to do the same.

The Shadowsinger moved with the rest of the Inner Circle, finding his place beside his High Lord and Lady, which was just a stones throw away from y/n, and he found himself completely lost in the scent of a brewing storm, his shadows unwinding from his body as it flooded his lungs and fighting through invisible storm clouds in order to brush against her for even a moment, to taste her skin and shudder at the power laced within it.

Crossing her leg over the other, Azriel watched y/n recline into the comfort of the seat, doing his best to not make his awe so obvious whilst she took a moment to gaze upon every person in the room, her eye lingering on a certain Autumn heir with a level of intrigue before she spoke with a feline grin, "So, you're all on the verge of death. Tell me more."

Author's Note

Trying a different writing style with this one - let me know what you think x

[erenjaegerwifee]

The Selection

Prologue

Paring: Neteyam x Fem!Tawakmi!Reader

Warnings: none, some flirting.

Word Count: 2.7k

Disclaimer: All my characters are aged-up! If that bothers you feel free to scroll and do not interact with my account or any of my post.

~ This is the first part to my new series! I hope you all like the idea and enjoy reading! Suggestion are welcome I'd love to hear your ideas. in this series I should make you aware I will be including some human things, there will be some pretending when it comes to those things. the technology for instance will be something that is heavily in the series. human songs is also something that will be mentioned throughout, which will include some songs and lyrics (but Y/n is gonna write them so it wouldn't be considered human in this series)

Series M.List | Main M.List

“Neteyam the war is over, it is high time you choose a wife” Neytiri, his mother said to him while they were all having dinner. “Yea son, I know that for a long time it is all we thought about but you should get out there, get to know some people” his father, Jake pipped up. 

“Being married is great I promise, I didn’t think I'd like it this much man seriously” his brother Lo’ak said as he hugged his wife Korra against his side making her giggle. Neteyam smiles at his brother and new sister, they had such a strong relationship ever since they were young, the type of friends you knew one day they would mate and be as one. Neteyam has never had anyone like that, he has had friends and girls he was interested in but this war changed people, took people. He just isn’t really attracted to anyone in his clan right now.  

“I hear you; I know a bond is important to form, but honestly this war has taken so much out of all of us, there isn’t much people left in the clan and no one I can say I really feel for.” Neteyam sighed as he told his family as he passes his hand over the scar, he now has on his chest from getting shot all those years ago. His parents look at him sympathetically, they know what it feels like to be in love, they only want their children to feel the same one day, to feel that happiness. 

“Ok, I attended a meeting with the clan leaders from across the forest, they too have suffered much lose from this war and one of them pitched an idea I thought was interesting, I did not agree beforehand because I wasn’t sure you would agree” Jake sighed and glanced at his wife before continuing, “In the Kekunun clan, they have this tradition where men try through a series of competitions and challenges to win over the woman of their choosing, they pitched that if you were open too it, you can hold one of your own here, and which ever woman you choose will be your mate for life and join their clan with ours, so don’t suffer such a lose alone. You will rule both clans side by side.”  

His family looked at him while he contemplated his options, it was not the worse idea, maybe someone from the other clans might catch his attention. Maybe he might fall in love with someone, “How will we choose which girls will enter?” Neteyam asked his father.  

“Well, you can let the clans decide which girl they think is best fit or you can send someone you know to survey the crowds and choose a girl they think you’ll like, the point of this is to find you a match you are happy with, making the clan bigger is just a bonus” his father said. “We only want you to be happy son” his mother spoke up.  

Neteyam sighed again, “Ok, we will do it, but I want someone to survey the clans” his family waited for him to say who they will send and Neteyam didn’t have to give it much thought, at the end of the day only his family stood with him in the hard times, only his family held his hand throughout all of the injuries and loses, “Lo’ak, I trust his judgement, he’ll find me the right girls.”  

Lo’ak smiled at his brother, over the years they had depended on each other a lot, they grew much closer than their teenage years, they are not only brothers but good friends, they have kept each other safe countless times now, there really is no one Neteyam has more trust in to think of his best interest.  

Lo’ak has been to three clans so far with his wife, all three times he had chosen a woman he thinks his brother might like. He has been to the Tanrangi Clan by the eastern sea, the Olangi Clan that reside in the forest plains of Pandora and the Kekunun Clan that live in the Mountains. Visiting them has been a real experience for Lo’ak he was able to spend time with the people and get to know their customs before he chose a woman.  

It was easier than expected the women he chose just stood out to him, and his wife was much help in decided as well because Lo’ak came to realize, all the other forest clans have heirs that are women. Not a man besides their father was in the family, someone them were only children but some had sisters, none so far had brothers.  

Lo’ak must make one more stop, the furthest clan in the forest, a good three days travel away from the omatikaya clan, it was the Tawkami clan. Rumor has it you reside in one of the forest clans but Lo’ak has yet to see you. He just knows you would be perfect for his brother, but he can’t help but feel a bit selfish about wanting to choose you, yes, he has a wife and he loves her more than anything, he would never do anything to hurt her. But ever since Lo’ak heard the sound of your voice in his teens he’s been crushing hard, almost like a fantasy he knows he has no shot, he knows he doesn’t want it, he just likes you. He had this idea in his head about what you might be like and he always wondered what it would be like to meet you. 

Now Lo’ak is no stalker, he knows what you look like simply from pictures, but what na’vi on Pandora doesn’t know you? You are famous on Pandora, your voice people say was a gift from the great mother herself, they say your body was hand shaped by Eywa from how incredibly beautiful you are. They way your waves fall so lovely down your back, the silky curls bounce with every movement you make.  

Lo’ak has only seen videos and heard recordings but he has never gotten the chance to meet you. Why were you so out of reach to the public, he wasn’t even sure what clan you are from. He definitely thinks you are perfect though, but maybe his opinion on your is biased. Korra understands Lo’ak’s feelings towards you, she’d be lying if she said she didn’t also admire you, the way you moved when you danced in the videos she saw, it was so graceful and full of meaning.  

They talked about it the entire trip, every clan they would look for you and every clan they would be disappointed they didn’t find you; this is their last chance. They fly over the entrance of the Tawkami clan attracting the people below. This clan was beautiful, big space, Lo’ak knows they fought besides them in battle but they didn’t not return in the numbers they gave out. They are highly skilled and in tune with their land. 

Lo’ak jumped off his ikran and walked over to Korra to help her off her ikran. The pair walked hand in hand up to the crowd and greeted all of them. Everyone knows they are omatikaya, they know Lo’ak and who his father way, they also are very much aware of his skills as a warrior and is well respected at the clan.  

The clan’s Olo’eyktan with his three sons came forward, Lo’ak and Korra respectfully greeted them and they returned the gesture. “Lo’ak, son of Toruk Makto, what brings you so far from your clan?” Olo’eyktan spoke up. Tsahìk has joined them shortly after greeting them respectfully. “This is my wife, Korra. We are here to inform the clan that the Omatikaya have decided to hold a competition for the hand of Toruk Makto’s eldest, my brother Neteyam te Suli Tsyeyk’itan, the winner will join clans with ours and we will live as one. I was sent to choose the woman and request her presence to the clan to start the games in one weeks time”  

“Walk with me son” the Olo’eyktan invited Lo’ak, Korra walked alongside them as they spoke, “You are meant to choose clan leading children, right?” the man asked. Lo’ak nodded his head waiting for the man to continue speaking, “I am afraid I only have the one daughter; she is off age and if she is willing to participate in this competition you will have my blessing,”  

The Tsahik of the clan speed up her pace to stand in front of the three, “She has a beautiful connection to Eywa son, she must be taken care off if we allow her to come to your clan. How long will she be staying?” Korra spoke up before Lo’ak did, “the selection will take six months, between those six months some of the women who Neteyam is not interested in will be sent home.”  

Tsahik made eye contact with her husband speaking without words, almost as if Lo’ak read their mind, “Her place at the clan is welcome, she will be treated as one of our own, but we cannot guarantee she will be the one my brother chooses. If she is not, we will ensure her safe passage back. My brother is not only looking for a capable woman, he is looking for a loving wife, I am only here to see which one might be best suited, in the end it will be up to him.” Lo’ak’s eyes dart between them both before letting out a nervous sigh.  

It was never easy to explain to the clan leaders their children may not be Neteyam’s wife but they accepted anyways, many have respect for his brother, many women want to mate him, but not everyone has the same advantage in the games. “Let us introduce you and you can ask her yourself.” 

You sat on in a small clearing humming tunes of songs and sewing on some beads you gathered earlier in the day. You felt at peace in the forest, it was always something you loved to enjoy by yourself, the wind blew softly through your curls that fell over your eyes slights and down to the middle of your back. It was sort of uncommon for Na’vi women to have nags but you always thought they suited your face well, especially with your full curls, “Y/n!” you heard your mother shout. 

You heard turned to the voice before you stood up and ran in the direction of your mother. “Sa’nok? What is it?” you pull a big leaf down to walk in front of it being met with bother your parents, and a man and woman you did not recognize.  

The spark in their eyes when they saw you was something you would never get tired of, they are your fans, your mother brought fans to meet you? Thats a first. You brought your hand up to your forehead to greet them respectfully smiling sweetly, “I see you, y/n” they both said in sync copying your motion making you smile.  

You parents excused themselves mumbling to each other about how they hoped you said yes. You look at them confused before turning to the couple, “May I know your names?” you said sweetly. “I am Lo’ak, son of Toruk Makto, this is my mate, Korra” you smile at them both before silence took over as if they did not know what else to say. “It is nice to meet you both, may I ask why you journeyed so far from your clan?” your eyes dart between them.  

“We have come to choose women from the forest clans for my brother to mate, it is a competition to see who is best suited for him, in return the winning woman will join her clan with the Omatikayan and we will live as one. I know this is short notice but the games start in one week, we have chosen you if you will accept?” Lo’ak said, his grip on his wife’s hand was a bit hard but he was just so nervous on whether you would say yes. You are famous across the moon, everyone and their mother knows about your blessed voice, he just knew he would be doing right by his brother if you accepted. 

“Wow, this is quite a decision, how long will I be staying at your clan?” you bit your lip swinging from side to side as you contemplate, no one has ever asked you to compete for someone else’s hand, people compete for yours. “Six months, if it doesn’t work out between you two and he decides to go in a different direction, though I can’t imagine why, we will grant you safe passage home.” you giggle at him sly comment.  

And you nod your head, “the Omatikaya are 3 days travel away from here as you know, I will not be able to visit my family, it is a big decision to make. I do not want to shut you down but I have no idea what your brother looks like” you tilt your head to the side slightly. Lo’ak sighs assuming you are about to shut him down. “Tell you what, how about you stay for dinner and leave first thing in the morning, I shall give you my answer then” you smile at them.  

You try to ignore the way they both look at each other in a celebratory way and you lead them back to the clan while they ask you questions about how you write your songs and your music, if it is true, you are also a good dancer. Their excitement to talk to you makes you smile, you had secretly always loved the attention that came with being famous, the way people always treated you nicely and how they travel the moon looking for you just to hear you sing.  

After dinner you get tucked away thinking about the situation, your parents have been hounding you about getting a mate for the longest, it is a bit difficult though. You always loved the gifts Eywa blessed you will but men do not want you for a wife, they want you for a lay. You are one of the most beautiful women on the moon according to some, you are something people want to say they have had, like an object. Mates should not treat you like that so you never committed to being anyone’s wife. Maybe Lo’ak’s brother will be different, maybe he will love you for you and not what you have. You knew you had your iPad and you can call your mother whenever you needed but you’ve never really been away from your family before. What if this doesn’t work out, what if you fall in love with him and he doesn’t love you back. No relationship is formed without risk, right? 

The next morning breakfast was served to your guests they made themselves ready to take off to their home clan. They must be relieved to be going home now, they definitely didn’t forget you told them you would have an answer now.  

“So, what’s it gonna be princess? Have you decided whether or not my brother is worth your time?” Lo’ak asked. 

“Well, I’m not sure about that I don’t know him how can I know if he is worth my time?” you giggle at him. “But what is reward without risk? I will be there.” Lo’ak and Korra both smiled at your answer and gave you a hug goodbye. Bidding them safe travels, you watched them fly away.  

“Are you sure about this sis?” your brother Kian asked you, he was your first younger brother, second born in your family. “I am, what is the worst that can happen? I come back here?” you snort making him laugh. “No, I know, I just do not want you to get hurt by this.” you smile at him then glance down to your feet, “We cannot control the things that happen baby brother, we can only control how we react to them.” 

You yanked on his tail and ran away leaving him to chase you in circles around your parents, you will miss them dearly.  

~ I hope you all like it so far! I’m not sure how much chapters I’m writing but as I update I’ll put them here so look it or comment to be tagged!

~ Reblogs, Comments and Likes are always appreciated

Taglist

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[myladysapphire]

His Sapphire Princess (VIII)

After the night in the brothel Rhaenyra is married to Laenor Velayron to protect the birth of her child. who in the years to follow is the only one of Rhaenyra's children that is believed to be his, she is loved by all in the red keep, even queen Alicent adores the girl, so when Rhaenyra proposes a marriage between Aemond and Rhaenyra's daughter Visenya, Alicent happily agrees.

The children having been best friends in their youths are more than happy to be wed but when the incident at drift mark occurs things change, will it be for better or worse?

word count: 1,385

CW: angst

Fem!oc x Aemond Targeryen (can be read as x reader)

Masterlist | series masterlist | previous part | next part

disclaimer:  i do not own any of claim any of the A song of ice and  fire characters, all rights belong to GRR MARTIN, all characters are his except for my OC

a/n its been so long since i last wrote this, i had honeslty completey forgotton about all of my fics, i do hope the writting isnt too different and that you all enjoy! sorry its short!

Also the ages of the characters as i myself keep getting confused (and i've changed some of the ages a little): Visenya - 17, Aemond - 18, Jace - 14, Luke - 11, Aegon - 20 , Heleana - 19

Kingslanding

Visenya

With her mother being the heir, she had expected a much grander greeting. She pictured a courtyard full of eager lords and ladies, eager to see her mother after years away from court. And yet as her mother stepped out of the carriage the courtyard was barren; the few lords and ladies that were there seemed shocked and unaware of our arrival. It was clear the once welcoming feeling had gone with them when they had left for Dragonstone. 

Their greeting party solely consisted of lord Beesbury, seemingly the only council member still loyal to her mother, it even seemed that the keep itself was not what was for their return as shown by the replacement of Valyrian symbols with symbols of the seven. The home she, her brothers and parents knew was long gone, and the short years they had been away had changed the keep and people greatly.  The Hightowers had easily asserted themselves into power, and it was clear that they now ruled, perhaps in her grandsires stead. With the court laced with green gowns, and the higher necklines that Alicent seemed to adore, all influecne her mother had had been removed or hidden away. 

Not that it was surprising, as most who were loyal to her mother had too moved to dragonstone alongside them. It seemed Daemon was right about the red keep becoming a viper pit, full of hightower loyalsits. 

She had quickly left her family to go find Heleana, in hopes to see nothing had changed between them, though they exchanged letters, though less so since the birth of the twins, the letters she received now were filled with rhymes and poems in them, a part of her feared her dreams had become to strong and overtaken her. 

She knew all about Aeogns life, a little of their children, it appeared Aegon was the only one keen to keep her updated on anything in the keep and seemed eager to answer her letters, though they were mostly stained in wine and gods know what else. 

But it seemed that in her years away from kingslanding the halls had turned themselves into a labyrinth, the muscle memory of walking throughout the castel had vanished, and she was left a wandering mess. 

Though she had eventually heard the clashing of swords, orienting herself somewhat, as she realsied she was about to approach the training yard.

She first saw her brothers, watching the duel in awe, enough awe to capture her own attention and move her sights to said duel. 

Aemond.

He had grown into what she could only describe as a Valyrian god. With his long silver hair and sharp features, he was even more handsome than she imagined,  

and even more talented with a sword than she would have expected. 

He moved with such grace and finesse it was hard to predict his next move, nor his thinking behind them. Perhaps he was just used to ser criston having a sparring partner, but the way Aemond moved to defeat him could only be described, at least the Visenya was…hot.  His movements were a dance, as was the way his face light when we one, even more so when he saw her brothers. The smirk he wore could not be mistaken as welcoming if anything it was menacing, but also gleeful that her brothers, that lucerys the boy who took his eye, could see the man he had grown into.

she also smirked to herself, proud of him in some possessive way. Even more proud when his face went from gleeful spite to its own form of possession at the sight of her.

They had not seen each in years, ever since that fateful night of his thirteenth name day. 

And it was clear he had missed her, clear as he quickly stopped taunting her brothers with the offer to duel to move towards her, as if she was the very oxygen he needed to breathe.

And yet, she made no effort to move towards him. Despite the want and longing to see him again, the desire to be with him and now seeing him in his entirty, all she felt was hurt, abandonment and pain.

Visenya had never felt more alone than when she returned from Winterfell to Dragonstone. With only the letters form Cregan and Aegon as company. The only scrapes she would see of Aemonds life were Aegons complaints at him spending too much time with a sword or book, and when he was not with them he was with Vhagar.

Though she had had her family on dragonstone she always felt like an outsider. As if she was watching them love and be loved and she was simply an audience member, watching from the outside.

Hells her mother had treated her that way since Jace was born. 

But with Ameond he never made her feel like an outsider. And so too loose contact with the one person who made you feel truley seen, well it felt like she was dying. Drowning with no one to pull her back up to the surface.

And yet he looks at her and all of a sudden she is finally being pulled free and her life is hers again.

But she can’t help but still feel abandoned. Why did it take her coming to kings landing, for their wedding, to finally be seen once more.

“My bethrothed” He proclaimed, the smug expression once again returning to his face. “Have you come to see me defeat your brothers?” he questioned, sending Jace and Luke a taunting glare. 

Finally moving into the training yard, making sure to sway her skirts as she went, she proclaimed “I have not, bethrothed” she then smirked looking over to Jace “ i do not wish my bethrothed to be so humiliated as to befeated by his bride's baby brother” she sent him a glare. A glare she hoped was filled with  years of hurt and anger to him.

He laughed “oh Princess, i do not know if you understate me or seriously overestimate your dear brothers abilities”

she shrugged, a look of nonchalant crossing her face, “i do not care which, then again i do not care much to see the outcome of such a duel” 

She was sure she heard her brothers say something but neither her nor Aemond acknowledged it, their eyes and ears only focusing on one thing.

Eachother.

“Then why grace us with your presence if you do not wish bto be so thoroughly entertained?” he questioned, his smile remaining taunting.

“Am i not allowed to wonder where i please, in my own home?” she snapped.

“my my, back for a few hours and we are already calling it home, have you missed me so truly betrothed?” he questiond.

“what was there to miss? with no letters or name days gifts to remember you by, oh i could even argue i forgot you, especially with all the bids for my hand i have received since our bethrothal” she smirked

Aemonds eye turned visicous, his smile flattering. His eye too began to show the hurt that she hoped her eyes portrayed.

He stepped forward, his sword taken from him and placed on the rack. His full focus moved away from the tauting he thought to be fun and games, and now stood and looked almost worried, and all too serious.

“forgotten?” he whispered, “ I am truly that forgettable my dear Visneya?”  His voice was quieter, more hurt, and spoken so sofltley it was clear their conversation should be held under more private cirmunsatnces. 

“i-“ she  could not say it, not now, she frankly didn’t even want to think about it. To be so vulnerable, especially when she knew he wasn’t the same Aemond she had first been bethtothed to, that she had grown alongside. 

Luckily Jace inruptupted the two, eager to end what was begining. “Sister,” she said, grabbing her arm, “we should go to our chambers and settle in, should we not?” he spoke, his eyes begging to leave.

She turned to look at Luke, he looked on the verge of tears almost, worried that at any moment Aemond might snap and steal his eye in an act of revenge. 

She nodded, grabbing his arm, and sending one last look to Aemond.

next part

Taglist (bold means could not tag)

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[tiredandoptimistic]

TSC Fandom Survey Results

The time has finally come for me to share my data! For those unaware, I've spent the past week running a survey in which people ranked TSC books, characters, and ships. In the end, 50 people filled out my survey, which is way more than I expected! About 23% of the people who looked at the survey filled it out, and everyone who started finished it.

First off I'll post the simple rankings from each category, and below the cut I'll show the more complex results with explanations for why people voted the way they did.

Best series: 1. The Infernal Devices 2. The Mortal Instruments 3. The Dark Artifices 4. The Last Hours 5. The Eldest Curses 6. The Wicked Powers 7. The Secret Treasons

Best main girl: 1. Tessa Gray 2. Clary Fairchild 3. Emma Carstairs 4. Cordelia Carstairs 5. Dru Blackthorn

Best main couple: 1. Will/Tessa/Jem 2. Will/Tessa 3. Clary/Jace 4. Jem/Tessa 5. Julian/Emma 6. James/Cordelia 7. Dru/Ash

Best side couple: 1. Magnus/Alec 2. Simon/Isabelle 3. Thomas/Alastair 4. Kit/Ty 5. Kieran/Mark/Cristina 6. Charlotte/Henry 7. Sophie/Gideon 8. Gabriel/Cecily 9. Helen/Aline 10. Grace/Christopher 11. Gwyn/Diana 12. Lucie/Jesse 13. Ari/Anna

Best side character: 1. Raphael Santiago 2. Lily Chen 3. Maia Roberts 4. Ragnor Fell 5. George Lovelace 6. Catarina Loss 7. Livvy Blackthorn 8. Jessamine Lovelace 9. Luke Graymark 10. Jocelyn Fairchild 11. Maryse Lightwood 12. Eugenia Lightwood 13. Jordan Kyle 14. Robert Lightwood 15. Jaime Rosales 16. Michael Wayland 17. Amatis Graymark 18. Camille Belcourt 19. Nate Gray 20. Charles Fairchild

Best younger sibling/child: 1. Max Lightwood-Bane 2. Rafael Lightwood-Bane 3. Mina Carstairs 4. Max Lightwood 5. Tavvy Blackthorn 6. Alex Lightwood 7. Zachary Carstairs

Best villain: 1. Sebastian Morgenstern 2. Valentine Morgenstern 3. Annabel Blackthorn 4. Malcolm Fade 5. Axel Mortmain 6. Asmodeus 7. Shinyun Jung 8. Benedict Lightwood 9. Tatiana Blackthorn 10. Belial

Best side book: 1. Tales From the Shadowhunter Academy 2. Ghosts of the Shadow Market 3. The Bane Chronicles 4. Secrets of Blackthorn Hall 5. An Illustrated History of Notable Shadowhunters and Denizens of Downworld 6. The Shadowhunter's Codex 7. Better in Black 8. A Sea Change

Huzzah! Putting this all together has been so much fun for me, and I want to quickly thank everybody who participated! I also want to remind everyone that this was just for fun, and no reason to get mad at anybody. We're obviously never gonna agree on everything, we just need to respect each other's opinions.

If you want to know the nitty gritty of how every character was ranked, how the different series measured up against each other across categories, and why people like or dislike various books and characters, then keep reading below the cut! I made a spreadsheet, please come gaze upon my beautiful spreadsheet.

Here we go, time for the real shit!

Be warned, you will probably read mean things about characters you love and nice things about characters you hate. Angry rants about how you can't believe anyone would think that way belong in DMs to your friends, not the notes of my post. I do welcome discussion, just nothing that's targeted at other people. Also, I will be doing my best to explain people's opinions, that doesn't mean that I agree with them. I'm just trying to document. If I'm sharing my genuine personal opinion on anything, I'll make that clear.

You'll be seeing screenshots from my big spreadsheet throughout this thing. Here's your key: Columns represent characters/ships/series, rows represent a ranking. Each cell shows how many people assigned that rank to that character (for example, the intersection of 3 and Sizzy will be the number of people who voted Sizzy as their second favorite side ship). At the bottom there will be the average rank this character received, which was calculated by the program I used for the survey. I have all the columns color coordinated by which series each character/ship belongs to, and each column will have one box outlined which shows the rank that character received most often (as in, the intersection of Sizzy and 3 is outlined because Sizzy got more #3 votes than #1 #2 #4 or #5). Some columns have multiple boxes outlined, in the case of ties.

Make sense?

Alright, let's go!

First off, it's everyone's favorite series. As you can see, TID was significantly ahead of all the others. TMI and TDA were neck and neck, frequently switching back and forth for that #2 spot. TLH was a bit lower than the other three, and TEC, TWP, and TST all ranked dramatically lower.

To explain why they liked TID, people talked about finding the series nostalgic, enjoying how the characters are woven into the plot, the historical setting, and how it expands the worldbuilding of TSC while still working as a contained story. People also mentioned enjoying specific characters like Will, Jessamine, and Gabriel. By far the most common comment though was just that people love Herongraystairs. The only negative comments came from people who said that they didn't find the concept interesting, and were disappointed by the lack of their favorite modern characters.

Talking about TMI, the most common positive comments were that the series was fun, nostalgic, and had the best cast of characters (specifically Alec, Magnus, and Simon). People also enjoy the modern setting, the interpersonal relationships (especially Malec), and how the world is seen to develop from where it was in the historical era. TMI has the fewest haters, but some people said that they just didn't find it as captivating as later series, or that they were put off by the incest plotline. I also received the criticism that the characters are annoying, and that the story could have been compressed into fewer books.

For TDA, a lot of people mentioned finding the characters relatable, enjoying the plot, and liking the Blackthorn family dynamic. The characters and ships who got specific shout-outs were Blackstairs, Kierarktina, and Mark. People also like the modern setting, found it to be emotional, and think that it effectively juggles a large cast of characters. Plus, people appreciate getting autistic representation from Ty. It has a solid number of detractors too, who say that they don't like Blackstairs (especially Julian), Thule, the Cohort, or the focus on Faerie politics. They also say that it has too many plotlines, takes itself too seriously, and that the last book (Queen of Air and Darkness) made them drop the series.

While TLH was ranked last of the main series, I'd like to point out that it has the same number of #1 votes as TDA, signaling that it has a similar number of intense fans. The difference really comes in with the lack of #2 or #3 votes, showing that people don't tend to be casual fans of the series. By far the most popular thing brought up by TLH enjoyers is the characters, and how they build an interconnected web with lots of fun dynamics (including developed family dynamics). People also like the number of queer and POC characters, the cozy vibe, the historical setting, the drama, and the ships (especially Herondaisy). The most common critiques all come back to the plot; that the main story is weak or even incoherent, and the series is stretched too thin across a number of side plots. People also dislike the lack of communication, and think that the characters don't feel like friends. Another complaint is that the world doesn't feel like a natural extension of TID, especially because the characters are so invested in mundane social structures like balls and reputations.

TEC is our first truly controversial series, and the main divide seems to be between people who think it's unnecessary fan service, and fans who feel serviced. The reasons I was given to like the series are the additional page time for Malec and the TMI gang, and that it fleshed out the TMI timeline. On the negative side, people say that it feels like a cash grab and that LBOTW didn't live up to the expectations set by RSOM. Overall though, the biggest reason that people ranked it so low was just that they hadn't read it.

Here's where we get into the series that were doomed to fail in the rankings because none of us have even read them. While TWP has a solid number of prospective fans ranking it in their top three, most people left it at the bottom because it hasn't come out yet. The people who expect to enjoy the series are the ones who enjoyed Dru, Kit, and Ty in TDA, and the ones who expect to dislike it are the ones who didn't enjoy those three in TDA.

So, TST was probably not fair to include in this list because I got a solid number of respondents who hadn't even heard of it, but I'm convinced that if it were ever to come out it would be in my top two series overall, and I want to see what the people think. While it didn't get anybody voting it #1 based on potential like TWP did, there were still some people saying that they would be excited to read it because of Waywood, the Luke/Jocelyn/Valentine drama, and the morally gray characters. On the other hand, there's the people who just don't care about the Circle and don't want to read about them.

For main girls, Tessa, Clary, and Emma were all pretty close in the average rankings. Cordelia and Dru fell a bit behind, but also had their share of committed fans.

When talking about Tessa, people brought up her intelligence, maturity, and their nostalgia for her character. They also like that she's a book lover, has cool powers, isn't annoying, starts out messy before maturing, and is strong-willed. By far though, the most common comment was that they found her relatable. The downside to this relatability is that her detractors say she feels like an obvious reader insert, and is overshadowed by more interesting characters like Will, Jem, and Jessamine.

Clary had the most positive comments, and people love that she's funny, creative, blunt, fearless, iconic, and handles all the bullshit the world throws at her. (My personal favorite comment was the person who called her "my beautiful unhinged princess"). More than anything though, people love Clary for her development. She starts out as a relatable 15-year-old, but over the course of six TMI books and all her later appearances, she grows into a hero. She's also of course incredibly nostalgic, since most TSC fans were introduced to the world by either her or Tessa. On the downside, people say that she works better as a side character than a protagonist, and that she's overshadowed by the rest of TMI. They also think that she made bad choices throughout the series, and find her annoying.

What people love about Emma is that she's strong, funny, complex, badass, and a bit of an asshole. They like that she's allowed to have an attitude and still be treated as a cool and compelling woman by the narrative and the other characters. Plus, she comes across as having a clear voice that makes her feel like somebody they could be friends with in real life. Most of the people with specific complaints about her either didn't like TDA overall, or thought she was treated as an extension of Julian who never fulfilled her individual potential. Some people also found her badass bad bitch persona to be more exhausting than endearing.

Cordelia is probably the most controversial character in this category, with long lists of both positive and negative traits given by the fandom. On the bright side, she's fierce, badass, kind, and relatable. People also like to see a woman of color thriving in 1903 London, and how she embodies the concept of a warrior. Looking to the negative, people largely just don't find her particularly engaging. They say that she's inconsistant, flat, and had no development after Chain of Gold. They also complained about her making bad decisions and having a weak relationship with Lucie.

Everybody had the least to say about Dru, and most people said that they ranked her last just because they don't know enough about her to like her more than the established characters. What her fans do enjoy is that she's relatable, blunt, sassy, and a fat goth girl who's giving 2015 tumblr emo. The only real complaint people had was that they found her annoying in TDA, but everyone who left comments like that also acknowledged that she was 13 in TDA and will probably be more engaging once TWP gives her time in the spotlight.

Moving into the main couples, TID continues to sweep as Herongraystairs takes the top spot (and came incredibly close to taking the entirety of the top three). After that, the couples are spaced out pretty equally and follow the same pattern established by the previous two categories.

Now, Herongraystairs received arguably the most bonkers majority in this entire survey. Nearly half of respondents ranked it as their #1, and only a couple outliers put it in their bottom three. What everybody loves about this ship is the angst, how willing they were to sacrifice for each other, the raw emotions, how perfectly the three balance each other, and the ideas about fate. They also like how all three of them are compelling characters on their own, have unique relationships in pairs (Wessa, Jessa, Heronstairs), and work even better as a complete unit. Will and Jem already loved each other, but they could only fully develop once they had Tessa; creating this tragic yet beautiful cloud of possibility. People also like the polyamorous aspect, and wish that they were a canon three way relationship. More than anything else though, what was commented again and again was simply "they loved each other so much." What else can you say? Well, I can say why a couple of people dislike the ship. The only reasons I was given was that the person didn't like TID overall, and that they prefer Jem and Will with a purely platonic parabatai bond.

Moving on to Wessa, people like their banter, the crazy build up to their relationship, and how they bonded over books. They also love how gutwrenching the relationship is, especially once you get to the epilogue of Clockwork Princess. The only complaint anybody had was that they aren't Herongraystairs, and the relationship is incomplete without Jem.

People of course love Clace for the nostalgia factor and how it's the relationship that introduced them to TSC, but most importantly people like how the two of them are just so horribly down bad for each other. They're cute, fun, and have good chemistry; forming the heart of the TMI gang and of the Shadowhunters world. What people don't like is that they're basic, getting overshadowed by other couples in their own series. The upside is that they get better in their appearances that came after TMI. There are of course also the people who don't like the incest plotline and felt uncomfortable reading about that era of their relationship.

Jessa was solidly in third for most of this survey, but Clace pulled ahead of them in the last day. Though they came in behind the other TID ships, they're still beloved by the fandom. People like their dynamic and enjoy Jem as a character. The downside is that the ship makes them sad because of the tragedy of their situation, doesn't include Will, and gets overused in the modern series.

As for Blackstairs, people see their relationship as beautiful, a good example of friends to lovers/forbidden romance, and worked in well with the plot of TDA. People also like the soulmate aspect. Their haters sure had a lot to say to counterbalance that though, and complained about how the relationship is melodramatic, overly intense, toxic, and codependant. I also got a few respondants who said that they just dislike Emma and Julian as individuals, and that Julian's behavior towards Emma is alarming.

Herondaisy is continuing TLH's grand tradition of coming in near the end while still maintaining a dedicated team of fans. The good stuff is how much James loved Cordelia, and that he spent so long unable to say anything, but once he was free from the Gracelet he never let her forget his devotion. Their love was powerful enough to break a hellish enchantment, but still felt like a friendship built on a shared interests like books and stories. The most common complaint about this relationship was miscommunication, dislike of James or Cordelia as characters, and not understanding why the two like each other (other than mutual attraction). There's also people who just don't like TLH and generally aren't invested in their story. The other main complaint was that the James/Grace and Cordelia/Matthew subplots felt unnecessary and overly drawn out (which of course connects back to the miscommunication issue).

Morgenthorn suffers from the same issue as the other TWP representatives, and largely got low marks because their books aren't out yet. Some people think they're shaping up to be iconic though, while others still aren't sold on the premise.

The side ships are where things start to really heat up. Based on their average rank, the pairs form a couple distinct tiers. First, is Malec, Sizzy, Thomastair, and Kitty (the fan favorites), next is Kierarktina, Chenry, Sophideon, and Gabrily making up the middle of the pack, then we have the less popular Haline, Gracetopher, Gwynburn, and Ghostwriter, and in dead last with by far the lowest score there's Arianna. (Sorry to the u-haul lesbians). I think it's quite interesting how most of the ships are clumped together with other ships from the same series.

I'm guessing we all knew that Malec was gonna come in first. People love the nostalgia factor, of course, and they also love how the ship is queer, iconic, and just generally sweet. It's a case of opposites attract where the two of them help each other grow and reach for things they never thought possible. Both Alec and Magnus believed that they'd never be truly loved for who they were, and yet together they were able to create a life and family. Not a single person had a bad thing to say about these two.

Continuing the popularity of the TMI gang, Sizzy came shockingly close to beating Malec for first. They didn't get as many #1 votes as the other top ships, but they were still voted highly by more or less everyone. On the surface this couple is cute and funny, but what people really love is how perfectly they match each other. While they look like opposites at first, they're actually incredibly well-balanced. Everyone expected Isabelle to break Simon's heart, but he's able to stand up to her without being a dick and he sees her for who she really is under all her defensiveness. Plus, they're great individual characters and encourage each other to grow. They only negative comment they got was one person who finds them annoying.

Next up, Thomastair comes in to prove that there are at least some parts of TLH that are pretty universally adored. People like how Thomas saw the good in Alastair from the start, and watching his schoolboy crush develop into a mature romance. They like how Thomas helped Alastair accept love into his life, and Alastair encouraged Thomas to become confident in himself. The two of them were able to create their own world in Paris, which allowed them to escape the roles they felt trapped in. The characters are of course loved as individuals, and people got especially attached to Alastair and think that he deserves good things. People also like their communication skills, in contrast with other TLH couples. The only real complains people had with the ship was that it's connected to a series they dislike overall, and falls into the bully x victim trope.

Kitty is another ship that anybody who spends any length of time in the fandom will not be surprised to see in the top quarter of this list. They're beloved as characters, and even people who dislike TDA say that they were some of the best stuff in it. Fans enjoy how Kit understood Ty from the start and Ty felt truly comfortable with Kit. They also like how Kit can't make amends with Ty but still keeps his secret (shout-out to the person who described them as being in "doomed yaoi purgatory"). People also say that they have great chemistry and a lot of potential. What people dislike is really just that they haven't had time to fully develop, since TWP hasn't actually come out yet.

The next top ship is Kierarktina, which is where we exit the "pure adoration" tier of this list. People like the characters and all their different dynamics, and think that there's a lot of potential for growth with them. They also like the fact that they're a canonically polyamorous ship. The complaints I got were that the relationship feels rushed, and that Cristina seems to fetishize Kieran and Mark's relationship.

Getting into the TID ships all nicely chunked together in the middle of this list, people like Chenry for their arranged marriage setup, where both of them love each other but saw their feelings as unrequited for years. They also like Charlotte and Henry's combined autistic swag. What makes people hesitate is their lack of pagetime.

For Sophideon, people of course love the individual characters, and especially appreciate how Gideon adores everything about Sophie. The only downside is how little of them we get on the page.

Gabrily came in lower than Sophideon but did receive more #1 votes and fewer #13 votes, proving that they have a higher number of committed fans despite being less popular overall. Those fans like how the two of them loved each other for what they were and always had each other's backs. Nobody had any negative comments about them.

Haline is another mid-tier ship that didn't get many comments. What I did hear is that people like how their struggles were worth it because they had each other, and ranked them low because of their lack of page time.

Gracetopher is probably the most controversial ship on this list. If we were just going off of who received the most #1 votes, they would be fifth overall (that order would be Malec, Kitty, Thomastair, Sizzy, Gracetopher). Unfortunately for them though, we are also factoring in all the people who ranked them dead last. As this form received more and more submissions, I watched this couple gradually climb from second-to-last to the dizzying height of fourth-to-last in the overall rankings. First off, what people like is how they truly see each other. Christopher was overlooked by his friends for his intensity and Grace was only ever treated as a weapon and a seductress, but they genuinely respect each other and bond over their shared enthusiasm for science. Looking at the negatives though, most people saw their dynamic as underdeveloped and unnecessary. Lots of people dislike Grace and don't believe that she should have received any redemption, and even people who are sympathetic towards Grace still dislike that Christopher was so quick to forgive her after how she treated one of his best friends. A few people also said that they like Grace and Christopher's dynamic when it's platonic, but ranked it low as a romance. People were also upset by Christopher's death, and feel that it ruins the relationship for them.

For Gwynburn, the only positive comment I got was a couple people saying they're cute, and the only negative one came from somebody who didn't like Diana because they felt she was an irresponsible guardian to the Blackthorn kids. Most people ranked them higher than the other ships at the bottom of this list, but unfortunately they just didn't have enough extremely high votes to pull them ahead.

Ghostwriter didn't get any specific positive propaganda, though some people clearly do enjoy them. Most of the negative sentiments came from people who just found them uninteresting and generally didn't enjoy TLH. They also see the pairing as having wasted potential, and felt frustrated by the lack of consequences for Jesse's resurrection. They saw Lucie as boring and dislike Jesse for his mistreatment of Grace.

Despite being ranked last, Arianna fans still came in to share what they liked about the couple. They enjoy the characters and Anna's butch swag, and some people who don't like them together still enjoy the concept. What people largely dislike about the two is Anna as a character, and how she treated Ari and all the other women she had flings with. While not everyone was ready to give up on them because of Anna's flaws, they were frustrated by how she didn't resolve her issues or try to be better by the end of the trilogy. There were also people who thought that the ship didn't get enough page time, or who didn't connect with Ari as a character. People were also disappointed in how Ari was punished by the narrative and by Anna for not being ready to come out of the closet when she was seventeen and dependent on her bigoted parents.

Oh boy, time to dig into the biggest category (which still feels incredibly cut down, my original list was over 50 characters). Side characters are obviously a point of hot debate, since everybody has their favorite guy who the narrative forgot about. The most popular overall characters were all old favorites introduced in TMI, then there's George, Catarina, Livvy, and Jessamine (who all swapped around a fair bit), before we get into a large chunk of characters who either inspire mixed feelings or get forgotten entirely, and bringing up the rear is two of the most hated characters in TSC.

First up, we have what I think is the biggest sweep of the whole survey; Raphael Santiago. He got about a third of the #1 votes, which isn't quite as dramatic a majority as Herongraystairs in their bracket, but far more impressive when you consider the sheer number of characters competing against Raphael for the top spot in this section. People think he's funny, iconic, and relatable. They love his sarcastic and grumpy sense of humor and his begrudging responsibility for the people around him. They also like his relationship with Magnus, as explored in "Saving Raphael Santiago" in The Bane Chronicles. The most common comment I got though was that people appreciate him being canonically aroace, and they remember him as their first experience seeing an aspec character in media. He received no negative comments (and few people left him out of their top ten).

Our second place goes to Lily, who got points for her iconic sense of humor, haunting backstory, and compelling relationships with both Alec and Raphael. She received no negative comments.

People like Maia but apparently don't have much to say about her. The only comments I got were that she's hot and a bad bitch, plus she overcame her difficult past.

Ragnor is appreciated how grouchy and melodramatic he is, and how he fits into the warlock friend group with Magnus and Catarina. I'd also like to shout-out his friendship with Raphael, since I love seeing them bond over their haterism. He received no negative comments.

George also didn't get many comments, but people grew attached to him very quickly and felt strongly affected by the tragedy of his death in TFSA, except for the person who said he felt like he got killed off for shock value.

People like Catarina's relationships with the other warlocks. I also want to point out her incredible selflessness and how she's even committed to helping people who hate her. She received no negative comments.

Livvy got the second most #1 votes after Raphael, and yet she's only #7 overall (ranked choice voting strikes again), and it looks to me like people either love her or don't care about her. What they love about her is the tragedy of her death and her relatable sense of responsibility towards her siblings, plus the continuation of her story in TWP. The only negative comment I got about her was from someone who didn't feel sad when she died.

Jessamine is seen as a fascinating and tragic character with a lot of potential depth who deserves more love. She got some low marks from her lack of page time though, and from people who found her attitude annoying.

Moving into some TST characters, Luke is noticeably higher than all the rest of his high school/fascist cult buddies. People like him for his dad vibes, and dislike him for his holier than thou attitude towards other members of the Circle. (Shout-out to my IRL friend who called him a DILF this morning).

Jocelyn didn't get many comments, and none that were positive. I'll chip in to say that I like how fierce and strong-willed she was when she decided to betray her abusive husband and raise Clary alone in NYC, and appreciate that she always tried to do what she thought would protect her daughter (even if it often wasn't actually what Clary wanted or needed). The people of the survey think she's a bad person and don't think that Clary should have forgiven her so easily for the way she lied to her. She moved up pretty far in the last day of this survey, but that was mostly due to other characters dropping in the rankings.

Maryse was behind Robert for most of the time this survey was gathering data, but her fans came in at the end to bump up her score. They like her relationships with her children, especially Jace and Alec, and are curious about her life before TMI when she had to deal with a loveless marriage and losing her brother to the mundane world. The only negative comment I received for her was someone who disliked how she treated Jace while he was being unfairly accused of working with Valentine.

While Eugenia is generally liked by TLH fans because she's funny, feisty, badass, and has a compelling relationship with Thomas; she scored fairly low overall because most people don't feel super attached to her due to her lack of page time.

The only positive comment I received about Jordan was that it was funny when he spent time with Jace and Simon. Mostly, people think that he was a toxic boyfriend to Maia and an awful person overall. They especially disliked that he and Maia got back together, even though he'd previously assaulted her after their breakup. Despite that, he's managed to make his way up from the bottom five of this list.

Robert is more controversial than his ex-wife, receiving more negative and more positive votes than her. People like his relationship with Michael as explored in "The Evil We Love," and how his personal issues with queerness bled into his relationship with his son. They enjoy both the angst of his difficult relationship with Alec, and the hopefulness that comes from his ability to grow as a person and try to be better for the sake of his kids. Folks who are less compelled by the angst just flat dislike him for his bad parenting. His ranking dropped dramatically in the last twelve hours, since I guess the people who can't forgive shitty parenting all showed up at the end.

People who like Jaime enjoy his attitude and see him as complex, and all the negative comments were about the age gap between him and Dru.

Michael is a character who seems to suffer from being nobody's favorite. No one had anything negative to say about him, but the only positive comments were in regards to his relationship with Robert, and the highest anybody ranked him was #4.

Amatis is somebody else who I believe suffered from not having any real fans. The only comment I got about her was that they ranked her low because they don't know much about her. The highest anybody ranked her was #6, and only one other character on this list has a highest rank that's lower than that. Nobody got mad at her like they did with Jordan or Jaime or Camille, but no one loves her like they love those three, so she ended up lower than them overall.

Camille got a fair number of high votes from people who enjoy her dramatic diva energy, and a lot of low ones from people who think she's just an awful person.

And here we have the first of the two most hated characters in this list. While he was dead last for almost an entire week, Nate finally managed to claw his way up to 19th place. Nobody had anything nice to say about him, and nobody ranked him higher than #7. I'll say that I find him interesting as an extension of Tessa's character and arc. People didn't have particularly complicated complaints, they just think that he's selfish, mean, awful, a traitor, a liar, an asshole, and completely irredeemable. Oof.

Even though he ended up in last place, Charles is distinct from the rest of the characters ranked this low because he actually does have a handful of fans who put him at #2 or #3. They think that he's an interesting character to study, even if he's an awful person. They also find his relationships with Alastair and Matthew to be compelling (though unhealthy) and relate to his place as an older sibling burdened by high expectations. As for the negatives, there's a whole laundry list. People see him as gross, annoying, selfish, awful, and boring. They hate his predatory relationship with Alastair in-universe, and which he was handled better by the author out of universe. I got one comment that said he felt like he was written by a straight woman, and in general people don't like how his arc was written.

Now that we're through with two of the largest and most controversial categories, let's move onto the one nobody cares about. I will admit that I included the children in this survey purely out of an interest in hearing if anybody had reasoning for preferring one small child over another.

Also, since we have two Max Lightwoods, I differentiated them using their middle inititals; Max M for Max Michael Lightwood-Bane, and Max J for Max Joseph Lightwood.

Okay, so what I have in the positive column for every single kid on this list is more or less just their association with their parents. People like the Lightwood-Bane siblings because they like Malec, they like Mina because of Jessa, Tavvy because of the TDA Blackthorns, Max J because of the TMI Lightwoods, Alex because of Gabrily, and Zachary because of Cordelia and Thomastair. Negative comments were also often linked to parents, like ranking Mina low because they dislike Jessa, or disliking the Lightwood-Banes because their existence feels like fanservice and they don't believe Alec would be a good father at age 20. Rafe did get the positive comment that his story in GotSM made the respondant cry.

Positive comments for Tavvy focused on people feeling like they know him better than other kids on this list, and being excited to see more of him and his relationship with Dru in TWP.

Max J got comments talking about how much more character he has compared to the babies, and how the tragic end to his story strongly affeced people. People got attached to him from his love of manga, and appreciate how he symbolized the innocence that Alec, Isabelle, and Jace needed to fight for.

Alex and Zachary were ranked last by almost everyone, though they all made it clear that they bear no ill will towards these kids. Zachary did get one committed fan who loves the way he brings Alastair's arc to a close, and is excited to see more of him on Thomastair's BiB story. I think it's noteworthy that they have the same number of #1 votes, Zachary got more #2 and #3 votes, and Alex got more #4 and #5 votes; showing that once you discount the people placing them in the bottom two, Zachary is in fact more popular. (I'm assuming that most people who put them in the bottom two don't actually prefer one over the other).

The villain category was particulary interesting to me, because reading everyone's comments made it clear that many of us are working off of different definitions of what makes a good villain. The biggest question was whether a character being sympathetic made people see them as a great villain or a terrible one. The other cool thing about this category is you can see that almost all the villains from the same series stayed next to each other in the ranking.

For as high as Sebastian ranked, he got relatively few comments. What people do like about him is that he was more relatable and redeemable than other villains because of how Valentine raised him, and yet he still went on to do unjustifiable things. They also think he was funny. The main complaint he got from several people was that the demon blood storyline made him a boring and badly constructed villain, since he had no free will in his own evilness. Also, y'know, the incest thing.

Valentine may not be ranked as highly as his son, but he did get far more specific compliments from people. They love to hate how logical, strategic, and pure evil he could be; as well as the way the story built up to him by showing the impact he had on the world. He was a skilled manipulator who convinced people to sacrifice everything in the name of his twisted values, and worked as a chillingly accurate representation of fascism. He also served the greater themes of TMI by allowing the leads to deny the violence and hatred passed down by their parents. Some people also just enjoy the Circle era characters. The only bad thing anyone said about him was that he's generic, one of a million bigoted middle aged white men in fiction.

Annabel and Malcom switched back and forth in the rankings a couple times while data was being gathered, since most people voted for the two of them as a unit. People like how tragic their storyline was, and how they served as foiled to Blackstairs because they too were people who loved each other enough to burn down the world. Ultimately, it was their sympathetic anti-Clave motivation that got most people to love them. The two points people held against them was that they're too sympathetic and thus not really villains, and that Annabel's potential was wasted in Queen of Air and Darkness. The folks who dislike TDA also dislike them on account of their association with the series.

Mortmain is our solidly mid tier villain. People across the board saw him as a simple pure evil force that the heroes had to win against, and the main question was whether people loved him or hated him for that simplicity.

The only reason anybody gave for enjoying Asmodeus was his association with Alec. The few negative comments he got were all about either his lack of page time or how his motivation being centered on his inherent evil made him uninteresting.

Shinyun is a more complicated character, and her reception was complicated as well. People like that she's associated with Alec through TEC, and that she showed how evil she was by rejecting redemption when it was offered to her. There were also some mixed feelings expressed about her place as a cult survivor, since that's a very human trauma that was not given enough dignity by the narrative. Negative opinions all came down to her lack of page time, and people who either never read or actively disliked TEC.

Benedict Lightwood might be the lowest anything from TID scored in this entire survey. People who enjoy him mentioned how he created realistic angst for Gideon and Gabriel, as a manipulative father they needed to learn to rebel against. What people think makes him a bad villain is that he's not a villain at all, just a generic shitty dad. Also, multiple people commented "worm" with no explanation.

Sadly for the villains of TLH, this isn't the way they were supposed to be the worst of the worst. While some people enjoyed Tatiana for her chaos and irredeemability, especially the way she abused her own daughter for years, overall she was seen as a boring letdown who could have been interesting if the narrative didn't treat her as pure evil. Maybe she could have had potential if she was allowed to be the main villain or if the story acknowledged the ways in which she felt abanoned by the Clave, but that's not the story we got.

As for Belial, nobody had anything positive to say about him. They thought that his plan was stupid (especially for a Prince of Hell), and that he was boring, annoying, and just generally underwhelming. He also received the same complaints as Asmodeus about how demons are uniniteresting villains because their only motive is their own inherent evil.

And here was have our final category: the side books! It's no surprise to me that the short story collections came in first, and that the unreleased books don't have a lot of fans yet.

Our most popular pick was Tales From the Shadowhunter Academy, which people love because of how it followed up on TMI storylines while also expanding upon the world. It gave readers a look into characters they enjoy like Alec, Mark, and James, and of course the most popular comment I got was people gushing about getting time with Simon. They love the Sizzy moments too, as well as Simon's friendship with Clary and the rest of the TMI gang. It also got points for George's heartbreaking death, and for how much fun it was to read when it was serialized in 2015. The two stories people mentioned as their favorites were "The Evil We Love" and "Nothing But Shadows," showing how people enjoyed getting to look at points in the TSC timeline that aren't explored by other series. The only negative comment it got was from a person who finds Simon and Isabelle annoying.

Coming in at a close second, Ghosts of the Shadow Market is beloved mainly for its connection to Jem and Jessa. People enjoy that it served a purpose in the overall TSC plot, and showed how love can be born of tragedy. The stories people brought up were "Every Exquisite Thing," "The Land I Lost," and especially "Cast Long Shadows." It received no negative comments.

While The Bane Chronicles was the least favorite of the anthologies, it still clearly won the love of the people. They enjoy it mainly on account of Magnus, especially for his friendship with the other warlocks and his romance with Alec. They like how funny it is, and feel like it has the same charm as the early TMI books. The only negative comment I got about it was that it's boring.

Secrets of Blackthorn Hall got points for the wholesome and iconic vibes, and the interesting format of being published through tumblr. Someone also described it as a home renovation show in a haunted house, and people brought up being glad to see characters like Mark and Mina and ships like Kitty and Blackstairs. Some people just didn't find it interesting though, and others disliked it because it had so much Julian and Blackstairs.

An Illustrated History of Notable Shadowhunters and Denizens of Downworld probably got the fewest comments in this category. The people who love it appreciate the stunning art and interesting details about the characters, and all the low votes came from people who haven't read it.

The Shadowhunter's Codex is the oldest companion book on this list, and clearly didn't hit like the later additions to the canon. The only positive comments I got were from people who enjoyed Simon, Clary, and Jace's comments written into the margins. Generally people just didn't find it interesting, and saw it as a textbook that didn't even provide new information about the the world of Shadowhunters. There were also people who either didn't read it or couldn't finish it.

Better in Black of course hasn't been released, but people are excited to see their favorite couples back in action. In this survey, I got specific comments from people talking about Herondaisy and Thomastair. It still ranked pretty low overall, mainly because none of us have read it yet.

A Sea Change was most people's bottom pick, just because it isn't out yet. (My theory is that it ranked lower than BiB because BiB got everyone hyped through fandom engagement when we all debated which couples would be included, and that BiB appeals to fans of ten different ships while ASC only has fuel for Matthew fans). Predictably, the people who expect to love ASC are the ones excited to see the next chapter of Matthew's journey.

And with that, we're done! I'd like to once again thank everybody who participated, especially the folks who gave long or detailed comments. I had to simplify and summarize a lot in this post, but I truly enjoyed reading everything you all had to say.

I also want to take some time at the end here to address some questions I got about why stuff in this poll was set up the way it was. First, I got a lot of people saying that Kitty should have been considered a main couple, either in addition to Morgenthorn or instead of them. I get that we (so far) have a lot more Kitty material and that most of the fanbase is far more invested in them, but I'm counting the "main couple" as the one that includes the main girl. I also got some people confused by my choice to include unpublished works like TWP and Seasons of Shadowhunters, and while I understand that perspective I still stand by my decision. I know it's not fair to the series and that people can't accurately rate things they haven't read, but I wasn't trying for that kind of accuracy; I was curious about how much people love or hate things that aren't out yet. I'd love to see how TWP and SoS factor into these rankings once we've all read them, but for now I'm happy just hearing what people expect to think about them.

Also, everyone who left random silly comments or told me their favorite characters and scenes, y'all are the real ones. I did this whole project out of my love for this series and my interest in learning why people think the way they do, and I've been amazed by the positive response. This series and world is so incredibly expansive, and I love that all of us are able to find the different niches of TSC that make us happy.

If you actually read through all this, you're awesome and thanks for supporting my passion for turning emotions into numbers. If anybody has any additional questions, I am here to chat!

Taglist:

@edwinspaynes @helenofblackthorns @whaliensdream @iovelaces @darcyolsson @sankta-wraith @magnus-the-maqnificent @blue-silver-hammer @ineedmoremalec @kingslayerzzzz @thevagabondexpress @cara0765 @uncertified-shadowhunter-14 @elytrianemrald @thomasslightwood @starrieshq @blackthornobsessed @alastaircarstairsismybff @angeldaisies @dissapointmentsrus @bananacakepie

[hailturinturambar]

Thoughts on J.D and Patrick's interview (PART II)

The year can't end without one more analysis! By the way, I want to do more analysis of the show, but I haven't decided yet, so suggestions are always welcome! This interview is from August, but that's okay. After all, there are so many interviews that I'm almost lost!

Come on, one of the best things about the show, at least to me, is always the prologue. The prologue to the first season has a very well-structured foundation of the Elder Days and the beginning of Arda.

Morgoth's introduction as the First Enemy was brief but still impactful. However, nothing could have prepared me for the breathtaking prologue to season two.

We were all curious about the beginning of Sauron's journey. But the prologue was better than I could have hoped for.

I'm glad they changed it for season 2, I don't think it would have worked very well in season 1. Would they have introduced Sauron mid-season or would the scenes have been cut?

The second season is darker, so I think the dark prologue was ideal. We know a lot about Sauron's past in the books, but not in the adaptations. In the movies, for example, he's just Sauron, the Dark Lord, there's nothing more about him than that.

Well, I couldn't agree more. In episode eight of season one, just like Galadriel, we know that Sauron is the Enemy and that's it. But what do we know about Sauron before his encounter with Galadriel and his path of evil?

I really like that in TROP Sauron is not romanticized, but we are introduced to his past, to the events that shaped him and led him to do everything he did. Only when we know someone's past are we able to understand their actions.

I started rewatching TROP on December 23rd and I'm already at the end of the second season, and they're right. When we watch the first season again, after the prologue of the second season, everything seems different. No scene seems simple or out of place, no word seems meaningless.

We look at scenes in Númenor, for example, and we're like, "Yeah, that makes sense! That's why Halbrand/Sauron behaved like that." It's really interesting. Because I never thought the show would go that way in 2022.

We started and ended the first season with the question, "Who is Sauron?" In the second season, we finally know. Because we get to follow Sauron after Morgoth's defeat and how he tried to rise again. We see how he was betrayed by Adar and spent centuries recovering. And most importantly, we find out how Halbrand ended up on the cursed raft.

Tolkien left some great passages open, didn't he? These long passages of time without information are great for piquing our curiosity. And I don't know if Tolkien thought about them, after all, he had a very long story with many characters, maybe he left that blank period aside.

And I loved how this was worked into the series. Because in the books after Morgoth's defeat and Sauron's refusal to return to Valinor, we don't have much information. I always wondered how he ended up in Eregion or when this idea came to his mind.

I try my best to pay attention to the details in the show, there is always hidden information. And it is extremely satisfying to watch the passage of time in Sauron's transformation. We know from the books that Sauron can return, but we don't know how that process works.

So it's fascinating to watch time pass, the climate change, but Sauron's form also change. From a tangle of worms emerging from a pool of blood, to Sauron's mortal form as Halbrand.

I humbly believe that Sauron does feel pain. When Morgoth fought Fingolfin, Morgoth felt pain and his pain reverberated throughout Middle-earth. Morgoth felt pain because he had been in one form for too long, just as Sauron did. Sauron spent too much time assuming many forms, so why wouldn't he feel pain if a Valar was able to feel it?

In my opinion, the key point in any show or book is the "what if?" What if Sauron felt pain? What if Sauron is capable of having feelings? The what if is the big cherry on the cake that keeps our curiosity and makes us spend hours theorizing about a character.

I think Sauron is capable of feeling everything, whether it be emotions or pain. However, I believe that this feeling is not as we imagine it. It is, as has been said, an ambiguous feeling. We will never be able to understand the extent of Sauron's honesty about what he is demonstrating or pretending to feel.

Now that's a point that keeps me awake! In case you don't remember, I commented on my opinion about the sea monster in my analysis of Sauron and Galadriel.

The sea monster and Sauron is a never-ending question. Because as Payne said, Sauron may have seized the opportunity, or it escaped his reach. Could the Valar be trying to destroy Sauron? Maybe, it would make a lot of sense.

I'll go a little further. The Valar may have sent the monster to destroy Sauron before he could do any more damage. But Sauron is a dark master and knows all beasts, so he may have influenced the monster so that he wouldn't be killed in the shipwreck. So why would the monster attack the raft?

A second attempt by the Valar? Maybe. But I like to play with the idea that Sauron summoned the monster when he recognized Galadriel. That way the humans were eliminated and he had his path clear for deception. I guess we'll never know!

The problem of writing stories as tales of legends is that we miss a lot of things. I say this from experience. Because in my book that I wrote this year, the prologue is a story about more than 200 years about the old times in the history before the first chapter. And a lot of things happened in these 200 years of history. So, if I were to rewrite each passage, a lot of new information would emerge.

This is the big difference between the show and the movies. In the trilogy (or the Hobbit trilogy) the Third Age material is all written, it just needs to be adapted. But in the First and Second Ages, a lot of things are reported, but not detailed.

Giving the Ring to Círdan could involve infinite possibilities, but we don't know them. Personally, I loved the ring story created for the show. All the depth given to the scene and the giving of the rings was a spectacle.

Yes, all adaptations have their flaws and successes. But overall, I am extremely pleased with the adaptation of TROP and the changes or additions made by those involved. An adaptation is never exactly the same as the book, we know that. But what I love about TROP is that we are presented with scenes that make us think, "Oh yeah, that's something Tolkien would have written!"

[acesw]

Knowing our Arcanists 1: Sonetto

Welcome to the first entry of this new series: "Knowing our Arcanists"! This is a series in which I introduce and tell the stories of our fellow characters in Reverse: 1999, and of course we will start with the game's featured character: Sonetto!

Sonetto is one of the first characters that we meet in this game, and I really love her as a character. I found her origins to be one of the most vague and one that I really wish that it could be further explored in a future patch. However, we make do with what we know about her in the story and in the game. That aside, lets get started.

Sonetto is an arcanist with an Italian lineage. Her arcane skill is being able to visualize and materialize poetry, and she practices it by reading them and painting what she can see. Despite being reserved, she is an innately curious person, sometimes subtly deviating from her path to satiate her curiosity. She may be grateful for being raised under the Foundation's roof, but she hopes that she's able to continue exploring the world on her own.

Driven by her desires and passions as an arcanist, she strives for peace among mankind, and works hard to be able to help everyone around her. She serves as a model investigator in the St. Pavlov Foundation.

Being born without family, Sonetto was taken into the Foundation at a very young age. And during this time, she worked intensely to perform amazingly as a student, and has always been known to be one of the best amongst her peers. With SPDM's teachings, she was a model student and future investigator.

She was very well-loved by instructors and students alike in the school, and she kept working hard to upkeep her performance over the years. Most of her curiosity had been pushed down to adhere to her teachings, but is sometimes rooted out because of a fellow classmate of hers: Vertin. As they were deskmates, Vertin was known to have attempted to create closure with Sonetto by bringing the things that made the former (and the latter) curious, such as stones, frogs, and toffees.

However, due to Sonetto's attempts to repress such desires, she stopped Vertin from bringing her anything "not allowed in the school." It didn't stop the two of them being together, but it created an emotional rift despite them turning to each other for help.

In her later years in SPDM, Sonetto's status as a top student and dedication to the Foundation remained unchanged, continuing to work hard to be able to graduate. However, she continued to be attentive to her classmates and friends, simply wanting them to be safe and happy above all else. Even when faced with the choice of having to bring the breakaway students back into the shelter, with the choice of joining Vertin and them, she could only let them be. It was too much of a risk. Whether she did or never knew what happened to them and what became of Vertin (before the prologue) is up to interpretation.

She eventually graduated, and naturally rose the ranks within the Foundation and became a squad leader in an investigation team. After what happened in the prologue, she was promoted to work alongside the Timekeeper, and neither of them left each other's side since.

Sonetto's curiosity starts coming to light again as she starts finding her own interests, where she reads and answers newspapers during the mornings and scrapbooks articles that she found interesting. She takes guidance from other poets to further expand her knowledge and practice. Sonetto wishes to travel under the guise of missions and breaks, and hopes to be guided by her friends so she could learn about the world.

On multiple occasions, her kindness and straightforward words shine through, complimenting everyone around her and treating everyone fairly. This doesn't mean that Sonetto is picture perfect, though. At times, she's overcome by her passion and emotions, becoming easy to get a reaction from. Efficient and calculated, but also quick to turn aggressive.

Throughout the course of the story, we see Sonetto's repressed nature slowly turn on its head as she spends time with Vertin and their newfound friends. In Chapters 4-5, she continues to defend Vertin and the rest of Team Timekeeper, and even bring posthumous justice to Schneider after learning of her origins. She's fortunately guided by her goal to help everyone to be able to defend her friends continuously and strive to give justice to those she's lost.

As the story moves forward, we'll continuously see how her character develops, and hopefully we'll get to see a story of her own in the future. Feel free to ask any questions about her! :)

[thr0wnawayy]

Imo the League of Villains should have never existed from the main story of MHA. They were utterly unbalanced and were so flawed that no attempt of fixing could fix them.

I get where your coming from. I

I honestly believe the LOV really needed was time to grow away from the spotlight.

Think of the LOV as leftover pizza (I know, just stick with me for a minute)

Too long in the microwave/oven/pan and it tastes like hardback, too little and it becomes soggy muddled. There's a very specific way you need to do things and that's by not overthinking it.

Hori kept the microwave on too long and the LOV's potential evaporated.

From what I can tell, MHA worked best when it had a 'Villain of the week's type of thing going on.

This was most prominent and best set up with Stain, Stain's character/arc not only expanded the world of MHA but also brought up deeper questions about Hero society

What's most important here is that Stain didn't overstay his welcome. He rolled in, made every panel count and then went out like a champ. Affecting the protagonist and those around him.

He had an impact that's felt throughout the rest of the series (There is no Internship Arc in Ba Sing Se) not inspite of his short lived presence but because of it.

At some point, Hori lost this concept and the plot went with it.

I think the main problem with the LOV started after Kamino. Before this, every member has solid, or at least tangible ideals.

The Vanguard Action Squad was the LOV at it's most raw, not perfect but functional. They felt like people, when Spinner stops Magne from pursuing Midoriya, it feels real for the world.

Simply put the LOV (much like 1A) worked best as individuals, differing worldviews and all.

So when Hori robbed the LOV of their autonomy by practically wrangling them to Shigaraki, it in turn killed the LOV, because now nothing was individual about them.

If you want an example, how about Magne's death. Her last words are the very last time anyone in the LOV asserts any belief besides Shigaraki's own.

After this the LOV barely give any resistance to Shigaraki's plans no matter how short sighted or convoluted.

Kurogiri is outright sacrificed by the narrative so that Shigaraki finally has to step up.

Shigaraki's reaction to Toga's rage and grief follwing Magne's death can be amounted to: "Trust me bro, we're doing this for us bro, please believe me bro."

It's absurd.

As for being flawed, I'll assume you mean their motives.

What needs to be understood is that the LOV (Pre Kamino) and the PLF (Post Kamino) are not the same characters

Flanderisation is the phenomenon of a characters worst traits being exacerbated over a period of time until said character is unrecognizable from their original self.

This is what Hori did the LOV and he did this intentionally.

At some point he realized that the Villains actually had more of a point than the heroes, this likely occured after the MVA arc when fans began rooting for the LOV.

To counter this Hori sabotaged multiple characters and plots in a desperate attempt to justify his woolies and unfortunately for everyone who's isn't an abuser-stan (Enji and Bakuo). The rest of the cast and world suffered greatly.

What you ended up with are characters so detached from their origins that they might as well not even be the same characters at all.

There's an image somewhere that encapsulates this perfectly, it's a 4 panel comic with two stick figures (one black and one blue). If I ever find it or someone links it I'll be sure to upload it here

[intriq]

Daffodil

Part of my Hanahaki series

Character: Jason Todd

Theme: Angst

Daffodil: regard, unequalled love

‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎┏━•❃°•°❀°•°❃•━┓

You've known Jason for awhile. You've been friends for a few years at this point.

You've seen him change and grow. Grieved him when he died, welcomed him back when he returned. Supported him when he needed it, because truthfully? He did need it. Even if he was a stubborn asshole about it.

But you also loved him throughout those years. Through all those changes.

You loved him when he died, loved him when you visited his headstone, and you loved him even when he came back. You just always did.

But you also knew he never loved you back. He was never quite capable of seeing of just how head over heels you were for him, even though his family could. To him, you were always just his "best friend".

You thought you could be happy like that, you truly did. You thought you could be content loving him from the sidelines, even if it was suffocating knowing he would never love you back. You thought you'd be okay.

Until you coughed up those flower petals.

You remember the exact day you first discovered you had Hanahaki Disease, too.

It'd been a cloudless night, the first one in a few days. Maybe weeks. Either way, for once Gotham was not shrouded by storm clouds. It was at most, calm. Peaceful. But perhaps that in of itself should have been an omen.

Because Gotham was never peaceful.

You don't remember exactly what was said that night, but you just remember how you'd started coughing the moment Jason was distracted. Had you two been on a stakeout that night? You were almost sure that you were.

You remember so vividly clutching those flower petals in your hands, staring at them before crushing them in your palm, letting them drift in the wind when Jason asks you if you were alright.

And now here you were, months later. Over time Jason would give you suspicious looks when you'd tried to hide your coughing fits, would always double check if you were really okay. But you always said you were.

Until today.

You and Jason are doing the last of your stakeout mission, gathering the last tiniest bits of intel to feed to the others so that way they could take out this newly fledged gang from right under their nose. It's cold, but that's fine. Gotham is always cold, especially in the autumn months.

"How much longer are we supposed to be out here for?"

You pause to think for a minute as your eyes scan the outside of the warehouse the gang had turned into their main base of operations. Taking in every detail, hoping it’d help piece together some of their behavior.

“Not that much longe—“ Your words are cut off by that feeling in your throat, hand flying up reflexively as you scramble to remove your mask just in time to violently begin coughing into the palm of your hand.

You hunch into yourself as you cough, your free hand clutching your mask desperately so you could put it back on at a moments notice. Next to you, Jason is concerned. Behind the red helmet he wears his face is a mixture of concern.

It takes awhile for you to stop coughing. The raw creeping pain that fills your throat and makes your lungs burn is something you’ve grown used to.

You pull your hand away when you feel that same familiar feeling of blood in your hands, wet and hot as it pairs with your spit and the flowers. You try to hide it from Jason, you really do. You try to clench your fist and let it drop to your side.

But Jason is faster. He’s got your hand snagged by the wrist the moment it drops. And he pries your hand open while he remains quiet. And when he sees the flowers and blood in your hands he knows he should’ve done so sooner.

You’d been hiding behind the coughing fits for awhile. Pulling excuses out of the air for each one. Making up reasons for your dwindling strength and stamina, for how your skin got progressively more sickly and pale.

Excuses each and every time that Jason now regrets not looking deeper into.

“Fucking Hanahaki Disease? Seriously?” Jason doesn’t hesitate to say your name in that same tone. He’s angry, but he’s worried. An angry kind of concerned and worried, because for months you’ve probably been suffering alone. And to him, he doesn’t want his best friend to suffer alone. He’s had to do that already, he knows it’s shitty.

“Why didn’t you tell me? Who is it?”

“It’s not important, Red. Doesn’t matter—“

Jason stops you, the grip on your wrist tightening for a moment as he seems to be trying at least a little bit to regulate his emotions.

“Screw that. It’s Jason your talking to right now, not Red Hood.”

“Jason—“

“No! It does fucking matter, okay? Your.. Fuck, you’re my friend, okay? I care about what’s happening to you.”

Your heart aches at the word friend, makes the suffocating feeling in your throat grow tighter. Friend. Of course. That was all you’d ever be to him.

“It’s just a little one sided love, Jason.”

“Little? You call coughing up blood and flowers little? Your dying!”

Your face scrunches up as you begin sputtering again, coughing as more specks of blood fly past your lips.

“If it’s one sided, you need to get the surgery. It’s the only option.”

Immediately your shaking your head, trying to refuse, but Jason’s already picking you up. He’s already died once, brought back by chance because of the Lazarus Pit. He’s not gonna have you die, because you matter to him.

He ignores your protesting pleas as you eventually fall unconscious from the lack of air you are able to get into your lungs because of the flowers growing there.

And Jason brings you to Gotham General.

But when you awaken from that lifesaving surgery, preventing you from dying on the operating table as you were seconds from death, Jason noticed your different with him.

He can see just how different you look at him. You aren’t the same you that he remembers growing up with. The look in your eyes is different, as is your smile.

You aren’t quite as warm, not quite that same ball of sunshine with him as you used to be. At first he thinks it’s because your mad at him for bringing you to the hospital against your wishes, but..

Even when months pass and you still don’t get that same energy you used to back is when he understands. It hits him when your suddenly looking at someone else the way you used to look at him and it hits him hard, like a smack to the face.

Oh. He thinks. He was the one you loved.

And that regret hits Jason hard, especially when he coughs up flower petals of his own.

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[nigelights]

The History of Nigel

don't know who that voice is on that one voicemail? or who did the 'how many days' intro? i'm here to help! this is a chronological order of appearances made by nigel, links to performances, and things said by tyler about nigel.

Nigel, better known as the 'Skeleton Bones Remain' voice, has been with the band for nearly 14 years now, minus his sudden disappearance after 2020/2021. His first officially documented appearance is in the Regional At Best web series, episode 5. Since then, he's been a large and integral part of the band's live performances, especially during the 'Quiet Is Violent' tour, where we were given more of a backstory to him as a character. physically, nigel is a light that blinks behind tyler during this set, blinking as he speaks.

this next part is talking about a concert where tyler introduces nigel, but we are also given backstory into nigel as a character.

tyler introduces him as 'nigel', saying that in the beginning of the set, they were introduced to the bands host, saying that he lives in a lightbulb. the timeline of nigel as a character during this is quite interesting, its stated that he has been married for 437/133 years, but nigel himself tells us that the music "isnt entirely the music i grew up with back in the day" he then goes on to say that what he grew up with, was anything by DJ Khalid. which is interesting but moving on, tyler uses nigels responses to play bits and pieces of songs, like bugatti, all i do is win. nigel requests tyler to play a song, and tyler says he wrote it for nigel, its the song he said he danced to with his wife at their wedding. the song played was "drunk in love" by beyonce and jay z, transitioning into "cant help falling in love", then into house of gold. this bit was played throughout the tour, the only changing fact being the city name.

i mention this fact because out of all of the lore characters in all of twenty one pilots, minus clancy/blurryface, torchbearer/spookyjim, this is the only character that has a fleshed out backstory thats mentioned, and the only character that makes consistant appearances over four eras. we know more about nigel than we do about the neds.

After the 'Quiet Is Violent' tour, moving into 'Tour De Columbus' and 'Emotional Road Show', is really where his appearances start becoming incredibly consistent. he begins to introduce josh, "hello and welcome to the show", became his signature line. we see this all the way up to bandito tour. where he makes a similar intro but changes it up a bit, "look out baby, its joshua dun!"

halfway through the trench era, a pop-up shop was created for Ned's Bayou, and with it came a phone number, (614)-389-9196, where nigel gives information about the shop in the voicemail, no lore or significance there.

but its the second phone number that popped up in the level of concern ARG, 1-(877)-LVL-CNRN, where we find lore and meaning into his message. "Hello, if you are receiving this message, you are most likely are currently experiencing Levels of Concern. We thank you for your participation and interest. We have hidden codes all around the internet for you to unlock new levels. Each level contain elements that could possess a clue to proceed to the next level. That is, only if you are savvy enough. We guarantee that this game is certainly madness, happiness, paranoia and fun. Good luck. That concludes our session. Thank you, have a pleasant day. ---------- it's hidden in the static."

he is also in the stream that came with the ARG, saying things like "we can help you." and "anxiety, confusion, excitement." "wonderful to see, mesmerizing, there is light if you look caref---" and he speaks out the lyrics to level of concern.

this can be counted as the last official lore-related appearance of nigel, as his only other appearance is in the promo ad for the twenty one pilots burrito. but, many of us hope for his return!

i am more than happy to answer any questions, comments, or concerns with this!! nigel is by far my fav character throughout all of the lore. i hope you enjoyed :)

[winchesterwild78]

A New Sheriff in Town

Master List

Characters: Beau Arlen x Reader, Reader’s daughter Lily, other Big Sky characters

Warnings: Nothing too bad yet, just establishing the story with this chapter

A/N: This was an idea given to me by @cheekygirl2309. Just a short series featuring our favorite green eyes Sheriff. Reader is a single mom and Beau moves in. Things start to develop and the reader's daughter finds it hard to pull herself away from Beau. 

This does not follow the Big Sky timeline and is not in any way associated with the show. All work is my own, please don’t take it. 

Minors DNI 18+

You had always been a fiercely independent woman. Raising your three year old daughter, Lily, alone had been a challenge, but you’d managed with a stubborn streak and a whole lot of love. So when the new sheriff, Beau Arlen, arrived in town, you weren’t expecting much more than a friendly face at the local diner.

The day he drove into town you were working a double shift at the diner. Sarah, your friend, and Lily’s babysitter had brought Lily in for some ice cream. Jenny Hoyt had stopped by earlier in the day to let everyone know the new sheriff would be in later, so when she walked in with this tall, handsome man, you weren’t entirely surprised. 

Beau was everything you’d imagined a small-town sheriff to be: tall, strong, and with a kind smile that seemed to warm the entire room. He was also surprisingly gentle, especially around Lily. The little girl, who was notoriously shy with strangers, took to him immediately, clinging to his leg and babbling happily.

You were taken aback. Lily had never warmed up to anyone so quickly. You watched as Beau knelt down, his eyes twinkling with amusement, and gently stroked Lily's hair. The sight filled your heart with a warmth you hadn’t felt in a long time. He walked over to you and stuck his hand out, “Beau Arlen, nice to meet ya darlin’.” You knew he was from Texas and could definitely hear it when he spoke.

You extended your hand, “Hello, I’m Y/N, and this little firecracker is Lily, my daughter.” He knelt back down to Lily and shook her hand, “Hello, Lily, nice to meet you.” He looked up at you and smiled, “And your mama too.” You didn’t realize you were biting your lip until Sarah bumped you with her hip. She smirked at you and you rolled your eyes.

Beau made his way around the diner introducing himself to everyone and chatting with them. Some were apprehensive of the young new sheriff, but others welcomed him with open arms. Throughout his interactions you kept looking up at him and would occasionally catch him looking at you. Quickly looking away and blushing. 

You had no intention of striking up a relationship with anyone. You and Lily had been on your own for 2 years now. Your husband, Aaron, was a firefighter who died unexpectedly during a call. The two years since have been hard. You were thankful your husband had insisted on paying off the house early in your marriage, so at least you and Lily had a place to live. 

Never in your wildest dreams did you think you’d ever be a widow and a single mother at such a young age. Lily was your rock and kept you going. When Aaron died she was the only reason you got out of bed in the morning. The diner owner, April and her husband Jack were Lily’s godparents, so when Aaron died they offered you a job there. Jack and Aaron had been best friends since grade school. 

April saw how Lily interacted with Beau and was just as surprised as you, “Looks like Lily likes the new sheriff” she smiled. “Yeah, it’s great seeing her open up to new people.” You smiled and April looked at you, touching your arm and sighing. 

Before Beau left the diner, April gave him some coffee and a muffin to go, “Come back anytime Sheriff, coffee and muffins on the house for our first responders.” He smiled, tipped his hat and thanked her. 

Lily ran up to him and clung to his leg, “Daddy! No go!” Everyone’s eyes went wide and you gasped walking and picking up your daughter, “No, Lily, he’s not Daddy. This is Sheriff Arlen.” Her big blue eyes wide as she looked between you and Beau, “No! Daddy!” She started to cry and kick her legs wildly, trying to break free from your hold. 

Tears started to fall from your face as you clung to your daughter. Sarah stepped in and took Lily as you were ushered to the back with April. As Sarah carried Lily out, Beau’s heart broke. He looked at Jenny, “I’m so sorry. Is there something I can do to help?” Jenny put a hand on his shoulder, “No, Y/N will be okay. Her husband died a few years ago, so it’s just been her and Lily. It’s still raw for everyone. He was a firefighter and he died in the line of duty saving a family from a fire. He got them all out safely and then the house collapsed on him. Lily was about a year and a half, so she doesn’t have many memories of him. Y/N has been an amazing mother. She’s poured her heart and soul into raising Lily.” 

Beau nodded with understanding. His heart broke for you and Lily. He could still hear the toddler crying as Sarah buckled her in her carseat. Beau’s heart panged with guilt, so he walked over to Sarah’s car. 

Lily saw him and her arms went up, “Daddy!” Beau leaned into the car and hugged Lily, “It’s okay Lily, go with Miss Sarah. I’ll see you later.” He kissed the toddler on the head and she quieted down. Sarah looked at Beau, “How did you do that?” Beau smiled, “I have a daughter, her name is Emily. She’s not little anymore, but sometimes a hug and kiss on the head was all it took to calm her down. Please let Y/N know if she needs anything or any help with Lily to give me a call.” 

Sarah nodded and closed the door. Lily was sitting in her car seat giggling and kicking her legs playfully. 

Beau climbed in Jenny’s truck and they drove towards the station. Sarah had called you to let you know Lily was down for a nap and what happened at the car. “It was the craziest thing, Y/N. I’d never seen her calm down so quickly.” “Wow, I’m speechless.” “He told me to tell you if you needed anything or any help with Lily to let him know. He has a teenage daughter, so maybe that’s how he knows how to handle Lily.” “Yeah, maybe. Hey Sarah, can you stay a little later. I want to stop at the station and talk to Beau.” “Yeah, sure. Please tell him thank you again for me.” “I will, thanks again Sarah.”

You hung up and grabbed your stuff. April came from the back and hugged you before you left. “Here, take this to Sheriff Arlen. You can’t go empty handed.” She smiled at you and you nodded. 

Walking into the station you saw Pop sitting at the front desk, “Hey! How are you Y/N? How’s that sweet Lily doing?” “Hey Pop, we’re good. Is Sheriff Arlen around? I wanted to talk to him.” “Yeah, I think he was about to leave, but I’ll let him know you’re here.” You smiled and took a seat.

A few minutes later Beau came out of his office, “Ms Y/L/N, is everything okay?” “Yes, please call me Y/N. Can I talk to you for a minute?” Beau nodded and motioned to his office.

You walked in his office and noticed the picture of a girl on his desk, this must be his daughter you thought. “Oh before I forget, April asked me to bring you these. They are her famous cinnamon rolls. Great with coffee, heck great by themselves.” You laughed. “Well thank ya, darlin’.” You bit your lip hearing his accent. 

“Beau, I wanted to thank you for what you did for my Lily. I’m sure by now you know I lost my husband about two years ago. Lily was so young she doesn’t remember her father. I’ve never seen her take to someone as quickly as she did you. I’m sorry she called you ‘daddy’, she’s never done that. I really appreciate you taking time to help calm her down too. Sarah said she went down for her nap without any issue.”

Beau was leaning against his desk, feet crossed at the ankles as he listened to you. Your heart fluttered and a warmth filled your body. One you had long since thought was gone forever. Beau sat beside you and took your hands in his, “Y/N, anything either of you need I’ll be there. She reminds me of my Emily, so I’m happy to help.” 

You smiled softly at him and he smiled at you. His smile reached his eyes, and small crinkles formed around his eyes. He was breathtaking and his eyes were so kind. 

His touch was soft and gentle. Your heart beat wildly in your chest. It had been forever since you felt the gentle touch of a man, and a wave of anticipation and guilt flooded your body. 

You swallowed hard and your breath hitched, pulling your hands away, you stood. “I should be getting home to Lily. Thank you again, Beau.” You started to walk out the door, stopped and turned towards Beau. You offered him a soft smile. A smile you hope conveyed your appreciation. “Here, take my number, Y/N. In case you need anything for Lily.” 

You handed him your phone, he put in his number and sent himself a text. Taking back your phone, your fingers brushed against his and you felt your breath catch in your throat. “Good night, Beau.” “Good night, Y/N, drive safe.”

Walking to your car your head was spinning. Today did not turn out the way you had expected. The new sheriff was sweet, charming, and attractive. Since your husband died you hadn’t even looked at another man in that way. So feeling what you were feeling took you by surprise.

You would often ‘talk’ to Aaron on your way home and tonight was no different, however, the conversation tonight was one that was laced with guilt. Hey honey it’s me. I miss you, Lily misses you like crazy. You’ve been gone for over two years and sometimes it feels like yesterday. The new sheriff came to town today, which I’m sure you already knew. Lily instantly connected with him, calling him daddy too. You will always be her daddy, honey. I don’t know why she did, but she was absolutely taken by him. I don’t know what to do, I felt something today. I didn’t want to, but I did. I’m not sure what it means, maybe I’m just lonely, but I haven’t felt this since you. I need your advice now more than ever. I know we said if something happened to either one of us we would want the other one to move on, but I don’t know baby. I love you, Aaron. Come look in on us from time to time. 

You wiped the tears away as you pulled in your driveway and put the car in park. When you walked in the house Sarah was sitting on the couch and Lily was in bed. “Hey, Y/N, everything okay?” “Yeah, just had a talk with Aaron. Thanks again for staying a little later.” “Of course.” She hugged you and when she pulled away she said, “You know Aaron would want both of you to be happy. You deserve to be loved again, Y/N. It’s not a disservice to his memory and you wouldn’t be trying to replace him if you met someone and fell in love again.” You sighed and nodded, “I know, it’s just hard. When you think you’re going to spend the rest of your life with someone and they are gone.” She nodded, hugged you again and left for the night.

As you settled in on the couch after a quick shower you turned on the tv for background noise as you scrolled on your phone. You noticed on the town’s Facebook page they had posted a new post, it was one talking about Beau and a picture of him. 

The picture made your heart flutter. You couldn’t help but like the post and comment: Welcome to town, Sheriff. Glad you’re here. 😀. You put your phone down and you heard your phone chime. You picked it up and noticed a text message had come through.

Beau: Hey, Y/N. Hope you don’t mind me texting you. I just wanted to check on Lily.

You: Hey, no it’s fine you texted. Thank you for checking on her. She’s sleeping like a rock. When I got home she was already asleep. Thank you again for helping with her.

Beau: No problem. Oh and thanks for the cinnamon rolls. They were an amazing dinner. 😀

You: Please tell me you did not eat those for dinner?

Beau: Well I can’t lie, so maybe 😉

You: Oh goodness. You’re as bad as Lily thinking ice cream is a breakfast food.

Beau: Well she’s not wrong. Ice cream for breakfast is my favorite thing on birthdays and holidays.

You: 😂 you’re a grown toddler, aren’t you.

Beau: Yes, ma’am. I sure am.

The two of you talked for over an hour, sending texts back and forth. You realized it was late but you really didn’t want to stop talking to him. Your face hurt from smiling so much. It had been so long since you smiled that much. 

You: Well, Sheriff, I have an early shift and Lily is an early riser so I really should head to bed.

Beau: Of course. We can chat tomorrow some more if you want. 

You: I’d like that very much. Thank you for tonight. I enjoyed talking to you.

Beau: You’re welcome. I enjoyed it too. 

You: Good night, Beau. 

Beau: Good night, Y/N. Sleep well. 

You: You too. 

You placed your phone on your chest and took a deep breath and smiled. Crawling into bed you looked over at Aaron’s picture and smiled. “Good night honey, I love you, and I promise I’ll be open to whatever this is.” 

As you drifted off to sleep Beau’s smile and his interaction with Lily played over and over in your mind. For the first time in over two years you fell asleep with a smile on your face and a sense of calm in your heart. Could this be the start of something new, or would you just end up broken hearted? You hoped for yours and Lily’s sake it was the start of something new and wonderful.

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Tags: 

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[gren-arlio]

This is what the people wanted. You ask, I'll try my best to give. Welcome to Episode 15 of Waku Puyo Extras, Super Schezo Edition. I've been waiting for this.

(I saved this for this exact moment.)

Hey guys, Gren here, and welcome to Episode 15 of Waku Puyo Extras, this time a pinned edition for the time being. A post this long deserves some limelight, you know? This took me so, SO many months to write...

If you want the Google Doc version of this (Has more photos), you can find it here.

And here:

I've been doing this stuff for about a year now, and the poll from about...August of 2024... told me to do this exact thing, and thus, I'll do this exact thing: Schezo and his many, MANY friendships throughout the entire series. My apologies for such a long wait, not only is this post pretty long... I kinda began college as well, so I have less time on my hands than usual, but alas. I post like one to three times a month anyways. I should change that someday. This is far and away my longest project ever.

This entire thing will cover Schezo's friendships and encounters throughout the series, and I do want to mention his meaningful friendships, people who can properly interact with the guy and talk to, and actually have stuff to TALK about, while also mentioning some characters that have moments with him, while not exactly having a big dynamic. Imagine this as both looking back at history and me explaining what I think about it.

Oh, and don't treat my words as absolute. This is a guy merely mentioning stuff he knows about and whatnot. I'm not the Be All End All. As well, this stuff also has my personal opinion in it. If my opinion of a character clashes with yours, I'm sorry.

Also, and this'll become more apparent throughout the work itself, I CANNOT COVER EVERY GAME AND POSSIBLE INTERACTION. Not only will that absolutely execute me, but not every interaction is meaningful or has something funny to it. I'm sorry to the Puyo Puyo Chronicle fans that realize that their game isn't talked about as much as… let's say Puyo Puyo Tetris 2, but going through everything will be a herculean task I won't be able to do. My apologies. As well, there could be a mistake here and there, there’s so much to cover that I’m bound to flub something up. Human nature, after all.

This also covers Puzzle Pop, so major spoilers for that.

With that, I hope you enjoy. This is...a super long post. This is for sure gonna be pinned until I finish Arle's Route. Jesus Christ, this took...too many months. Blame college, finals, and a whooooooole lot of essay writing.

Dear God, why did I do this, he's like my 5th favorite character, lmao

---- So where do we begin with the guy?

Amazing question. Honestly, for those who ain't gonna read the entire thing, and I don't blame you, there's going to be so much stuff to read that you'd probably die from boredom, but here's some characters that'll be covered throughout this entire post:

This'll be broken down into sections, since there's going to be many, MANY characters covered (Much to my hands dismay of typing all of this), so I'm going to sorta make a table of contents for this stuff. I'll try to keep this clean. No promises though.

And I'll just mention here, I know I write a lot about Waku Puyo, but all of this post will be about the games as a whole, not JUST Waku Puyo, so...heads up on that.

Well, Here's a table of contents for people who want to see a specific dynamic (or what's in store) :

Compile Characters:

Arle & Carbuncle

Rulue (And Minotauros by proxy)

Satan (Woah, the ARS...)

Lagnus Bisashi

Witch

Draco

Serilly

The Kikimora's

Suketoudara

Honey Bee (Mostly a manga thing.)

Incubus/Succubus

Skeleton-T

Doppelganger Schezo (Waku Puyo spoilers but like... it's a 26 year old Japanese exclusive game.)

Runelord

SEGA Characters:

Ringo And Ecolo

Amitie

Klug and Sig

Lemres

Now...that's a lot of characters, isn't it? About 20 or so named ones that are relevant to this, not including miscellaneous stuff. Just letting you know once again, I CANNOT COVER EVERYTHING. There's way too much. As well, each entry will cover as many notable interactions they had throughout the series, and then at the end of each entry, covering any differences throughout, and I’ll explain what I think each dynamic is as a whole at the end, and what I personally think of their dynamic. There’s a lot to cover, but this thing is already going to be long enough. But I think a good place to start is the man himself.

Who IS Schezo Wegey?

(Ah. This guy.)

Schezo, someone who's written to be sometimes a joke, sometimes serious, whatever it is, it attracts people. What can I say about this guy that probably hasn't already been said? Probably not much, but I can sure as hell recant stuff.

The guy's a gifted person, no doubt about that. In most terms of the word, he's a prodigy at what he does, a talented mage who usually knows what he's doing with his magic. However, most people know him for his major slip ups in wording, his innuendos are basically his legacy at this point. From the simple eras of "I want you!" to whatever in the world he's saying to people in Puzzle Pop, it's what people know him for inside and outside the community. I mean, do we need to mention how we was in Puyo Puyo Tetris?

This was probably most of our introduction to the guy, and it for sure left a mark on most of us. Sure as hell did for me. Now look at me, writing this because people asked.

Besides that, he's quite the loner, preferring to be by himself rather than being with a group of people, though he's not against talking to people. How else would he have friends? He does strive to become stronger, though back then, he used to do it by just taking other people's magic and tries to take Arle's all the time, but alas, nowadays he just sorta trains, which I thinks alludes to the point that he's trying to make his own power for the most part.

He's usually blunt, being pretty serious about most things he talks about. I mean, most of the time people run into the guy, he's doing his own thing and asks what in the WORLD do they want from him now, which can lead into teasing from close friends. Though usually, he's not opposed to working with others if the cause is big enough. Think wanting to beat up Satan with Arle in Puyo 20th Anniversary, or working with Arle in Puyo Puyo Tetris 1 and 2. Or if you want to go even further back, when him, Arle, and Rulue team up against the Phantom God in Chaotic Final Exam. Granted that ended with him making a realm by himself and then him getting zapped by something, get called presumed dead, and then we're told he was just sent to the start of the dungeon with no memory of the current events...so I'd say the threat was pretty big, yeah.

I say usually because Madou Saturn continues to be the odd one out. He's lazy, doesn't want to help people, and is more of a legit pervert who sometimes messes up his words than... a man who messes up his words all the time, but has a totally well-mannered meaning...for the most part. He does get better at the last third of the game though, when he DOES properly join you.

Despite all this apparently aloofness and whatnot, I think he's by a good margin the most bullied and teased dude in the entire series, probably next to Satan. With everything mentioned + his pretty mixed wording when he gets excited, it becomes stupid easy to tease him. Arle and Rulue do it on an almost weekly basis, Witch follows in his steps in some games (and we're told to think she might be more serious about what she's saying than Schezo,) Satan and him insult each other all the time, list goes on. Despite the demeanor, the dude is very likely to get bullied. And do I even need to mention how ANYONE and EVERYONE can/will call him a pervert? He really can't catch a break no matter how hard he really tries.

But as we know, he's not just a blunt man who fumbles his wording every so often. As history has shown us, he loves cute animals as a whole. Tenori Zoh in Madou Monogatari: Tower of the Magician (TOTM), Onion Pixie and Dongurigaeru from SEGA Puyo are three examples. Even powerful people can't resist cute creatures.

Schezo is a character that’s best for getting beaten down, or somehow having the odds stacked against him, yet still persists through. Yeah, he’s seen as a joke to most of his friends and rivals, but there’s no joking matter when it comes to his skills and talents. He’s already strong on his own, yet even then, while trying to get others' powers to fuel his own, he’s already quite talented. It’s just that in Puyo, that… won’t exactly get you far.

Now with all of that info...Lets talk about his friendships and interactions with others. You may have noticed that I didn't bring up the games much, and that's due to all of that going into these entries. Trust me, it'll make sense later. Now, we start with...

Arle & Carbuncle:

(The benefits of this stuff being based off, what, 30 years of history? I can use many-a-photos from different eras.)

The protagonist of Compile, the main face of the series, what other things do I really need to describe Arle? Probably a whole lot more, but we don't have to worry about all of that, we're talking FRIENDSHIPS here, folks. Dynamics, if you will.

On Arle's end, she's an energetic gal who's always up for an adventure, but also just gets thrown into a lot of stuff just because said adventure is always going to end and be something wild. She always has that darn Carbuncle guy around her at all times, too. Witty, sarcastic at times, jokes around a bit, honestly I like her character. She's probably my favorite of the A girls, then it's probably Ringo. Despite what I've stated, yes, she does in fact have friends, and is a pretty kind person overall. She's willing to help someone if they really need it, but oftentimes she's seen as a more whimsical and carefree person than anything. Modern games tend to make her more of a straight-man to the cast than usual, often being the voice of reason compared to most of the lunatics in the series, Schezo being no different, but much less insane. Doesn't mean she herself isn't silly, far from it.

It's pretty clear from throughout the games that...it differs quite a bit, but there's underlying elements that stay the same. Stuff like Schezo wanting to take Arle's latent magical abilities, Arle teasing Schezo over his fumbles, that sorta stuff, that's been consistent for like 20 years at this point. However, the interactions they have throughout the series at least demonstrate that they're good friends. He cares for Arle, he just doesn't want to say it. However, modern games has Schezo just wanting some peace and quiet in his life, and Arle oftentimes just running into him by chance at this point. They're willing to work together too if the job demands it. Here, he proves that he's actually a pretty smart guy.

With Carbuncle... He's a very jolly fellow. As for being the original pet of Satan that's now gone to Arle, Carbuncle kinda just brings along some sorta hijinks due to the amount of random circumstances. And with Schezo hating Satan and trying to get Arle's magic... I mean, my point should stand, right?

COMPILE:

We can skip over Madou 2 for the most part, since there's not exactly much to cover besides it being the originator of Schezo being called a pervert, as well as his famous PC98 decapitation screen (Which is treated more like a gag than anything. PC98 was odd.)

However, he WAS still a villain in a way for Madou 2. I will say that. But we can instead talk about games that I DO have knowledge in, as well as how the dynamics are. Starting with...Madou Saturn.

Now, some of us know that Schezo's writing in the game ranges from genuinely great to some of the worst we've seen. IMO, he's alright, some parts don't make sense, but others work just fine. I enjoy the aspect of him being sorta a gray ground for most of the game, before turning to your side when there's absolutely no other choice, it's nice that he does that. And in this game, Arle does try to go to Schezo for help, since...you know, the world is kinda in the midst of danger because of course it is, and Schezo just kinda declines it all. He sees it all as a waste of time, something he shouldn't be concerning himself over for a majority of the game.

The acts of heroicness she sometimes sees him do, or giving tips/advice to Arle, isn't even Schezo himself doing it for the most part, if any part, but rather Lagnus taking control of his body for limited periods of time. Since he's a pure dark mage and Lagnus can only withstand his magic for so long. So his acts of goodness is from a completely different person who's controlling his body, but Arle still sees it as Schezo being odd for quite a good bit of the game.

(And even then, he still doesn't care as much as Arle, Rulue, and Lagnus does. Or at the very least, doesn't care/know much about how bad it can truly be.)

He only learns to give a damn after he realizes that maybe this Yoggus thing WILL end the world as he knows it, and maybe he should actually help Arle, Rulue, and Lagnus (Who we'll get to later). He's selfish, leaving problems to be solved by other people because simply put, why should he care? It doesn't concern him. It's not his problem. He only grows to care because he realizes that it COULD affect him, and then he finally decides to help. He doesn't care much, if at all about Arle, and Arle kinda just sees him as a jerk who's willing to help when it's needed, but is happy when he finally caves in. Though she WAS confused throughout due to Lagnus shenanigans, so there's that.

But that's just one real outing of the guy. He's not always going to be like this. Lets be real, there's many, MANY other games where he's notable or at least is vastly different compared to this game. In Puyo SUN, while they don't work together, they do have a common goal: Stop Satan's hooliganry with the sun because it's NOT going well for everyone else, have you seen the horrors that Draco had to go through? Sure, Arle and Schezo still fight, but at least they had a common goal. In Arle's Travel Log, he takes the role of the leader of the Shinsengumi, you can read up on it here. (Made by yours truly.) In Game Gear Madou, he keeps appearing more and more tired before he just falls down and collapses. He's willing to help when the time comes down to it like in Saturn/Chaotic Final Exam. So he's not ALL gloom and doom.

Here's Waku Puyo:

How about we look at the game I always talk about? Waku Waku Puyo Puyo Dungeon, a game that...well, if you follow me around, probably know. Arle and Schezo are there for different reasons; Arle to just play around and have fun, Schezo to regain his lost magic after the Space-Time Crystal took almost all of it to become Doppelganger Schezo. Their first interaction, before the game even starts, has Schezo wondering why she's even here, while Arle merely asks why he's going alone. They're there for different reasons, yet somehow met up in this amusement park. Schezo briefly mentions the fact that if you do all the attractions, you'll get a "Great Magical Item", before simply leaving Arle be and entering the park.

A majority of the time Schezo meets Arle, there's no real animosity with them, with more or less the banter we expect from them, what with Arle teasing him for small stuff, and Schezo getting upset at it because he finds it annoying. Or even just some silly stuff. A notable example is when Schezo sees Arle, and goes deep into thought about why he always has trouble with women, realizing why he has this trouble, says he's ready to take Arle's magic, and BAM. Carbuncle shoots him with a beam, shocking Arle. Stuff like that happens in this game.

When the Ultimate Tower is finally rises after collecting every orb (as well as doing every single route and completing the Satan boss fight...Yikes.), there's quite a good amount of dialog to go around with many of the Compile cast I plan to cover, but Arle's proves to be an interesting one. They run into each other once again, but Arle is still clueless about what exactly Schezo is looking for. He tries to explain but stops himself midway through, and Arle calls it out and asks why. Agitated, Schezo merely leaves, realizing he doesn't want to waste time.

But the second talk is much more interesting. Schezo asks Arle why she even WANTS the treasure, and she replies by saying: "I'm not here for the treasure, I'm just here to have fun." And this...really annoys Schezo, even more so when she jokingly says that maybe she'll search as well. He coldly tells her that he doesn't care for her anymore, and now ARLE is annoyed at Schezo, saying something's been off about him the entire time.

Schezo, annoyed as well, mentions that he's here to find his lost self (the magic), and doesn't need to be nagged by a girl who's merely here to have fun and play around. Both annoyed, she leaves, calling Schezo a massive jerk, before Schezo realizes that he came off as harsh. Alone, he apologies to Arle, trying to say something, but realizing it's fruitless. The end of the game, after PuyoPuyo Land literally BLOWS UP due to Doppelganger Schezo, Schezo seemingly is relived that Arle and the others are okay, and Arle says that he's not really a pervert. Just a...really, really weird guy who blew up the park that she wanted to play around in more. After Schezo calls Carbuncle annoying after arguing with Rulue AND Satan, all three of them chase the guy down after he says he has no time to deal with stuff like this, shouting what's going on in pure confusion.

Here, he doesn't hate Arle, merely finding her a little annoying at times. He has enough empathy to care about how she feels near the end of the game, at least after he yells at her for just being there to play. Arle on the other hand...is here to play, and gets annoyed when Schezo blows up the entire park. But she doesn't HATE him, rather just seeing him as odd. This is even reflected upon in Arle's route (Which as of writing this, I've yet to finish writing up.) where Arle merely sees Schezo as odd, wondering why he's even at Waku Waku Puyo Puyo Land, though jokes about the fact that he might be there to pick up women.

SEGA Era:

Now that we finally reached the SEGA era after...god knows how many paragraphs of info (And a whole lot more that I'm missing, Yon, BOX...I'm just trying to include stuff that has a lot to cover).

A good place to begin would be, well, 15th Anniversary, where they finally see each other again after god knows how long. I am skipping Minna because...it's just kinda Arle being a douche to Schezo. But 15th is just a reunion for the guys, since he was absent from the Fever games and she made it in. And truth be told, in Arle's route at least she's happy to see him, even IF it's Schezo. She even asks him to repeat his classic "I want you" line for old times sake. It's kinda just...nice.

Lets just say in Schezo's story, "Cafe Au Lait" really is a delicacy.

(I love how so many of the image quality range from pretty decent to abysmal. Welcome to Tumblr.)

Fast forward to 20th Anniversary, the dynamic is more or less back to what it was beforehand. No real animosity, just teasing on Arle end. much to Schezo's annoyance. They do sort of team up to figure out what Satan's up to in both their routes and in the final story, once again showing that level of trust towards each other underneath the bickering. This sorta stuff continues throughout most of the other games; Puyo Puyo Tetris 1 has them team up to help save Rulue, and even tells her that Satan isn't even the enemy this time. Sure, she doesn't believe him at first, but he's pretty confident in his assumption and is right on it too.

Schezo also appears again as an illusion during some training arc for the A Girls and Tetra crew, alongside Satan and Rulue as well. Here, Schezo says that they're basically rivals, and beats Satan and Rulue in Rock Paper Scissors, truly rocking their world. Just a fun little convo.

Puyo Tetris 2 does the same thing but adds so much more to the dynamic, it's very fun. Schezo meets Arle and realizes that Schezo himself is just... well, himself, rather than possessed like everyone else. With the classic banter and Schezo telling people he's legit trying to get better at wording, he accompanies Arle throughout a bit of the story. After saving Witch, he tells her that he did in fact meet Marle, and that she was strong, but he was stronger, yet felt like she held back. She probably did. He even continues to accompany her since Marle is doing something awful: Ruining his quiet time.

Even when encountering Rulue, he maintains an air of respect, which is insane. And when the entire team has to do some sorta challenges before meeting Squares, Schezo and Arle have to fight again for said challenge, with Schezo adamantly saying they're rivals and Arle... saying otherwise, much to his shock and sadness. Progress. Finally.

God, Tetris 2 was such a good step in the right direction...

Puzzle Pop also helps with their dynamic so much more. Arle runs into Schezo while everyone is in the Dream World created by Meena, and while talking, Schezo was able to deduce a good amount of the story: Someone for sure asked for some power by another person, but because of said power, nobody is really able to leave either, surprising Arle, as she forgot he can legit be really smart and catch onto things easily. He’s even doing better on catching HIMSELF from his innuendos. She also accuses him of being someone else, as per the plot of the game, but he’s the real deal, and decides to tag along with her since he can help.

While wondering who could be the culprit of this whole dream world nonsense, they have an idea of who it could be… Rulue. Kinda. Schezo devises the Rulue Finding Plan, and makes Arle say some embarrassing nonsense about Satan for her to appear instantly. The oldest tricks in the books never fail anyone.

After ALL of that, Schezo wonders something that Arle feared: What if Carbuncle himself is the culprit of all of this? Now it’s just a theory for Schezo, but it never hurts to wonder and ask. And Arle does the investigation herself into if Carby is guilty or not, and jury comes out… and he’s innocent.

They even run into Ecolo for this thing… but I’ll save that up for Ecolo himself. After some things I’ll mention in that part of this entire thing, Arle says he’s not the culprit, but he is in a way, and after everything, Schezo heads off on his own accord, mostly to get intel on his own and he doesn’t like groups. Which Arle is fine with, and even knows he’ll be OK.

Carbuncle Section:

As Arle is always seen with Carbuncle, while there's not too much to discuss, I do want to mention that Schezo sometimes takes curiosity in Carbuncle, or Carbuncle decides to act silly and goofy and completely ruin or question his day overall. What do I mean by this, I hear you ask?

Well this is the only time I'll really mention it, the Puyo SUN shorts had a funny little thing between them. Schezo falls asleep because he's just one tired guy, and when he wakes up, he can't exactly find his sword, and looks all over for it. Arle walks on by and wonders what Schezo is looking for, and he makes an excuse to run away. Arle looks at Carbuncle, and while she's brushing it off, she sees the Dark Sword shaped object inside of Carbuncle, and is understandably confused.

And another funny little instance is Carbuncle just casually shooting a laser at Schezo in Waku Puyo. In one interaction, Schezo wonders what's wrong with everything whenever he's around, and sees Arle minding her business, and comes to the conclusion... His problem is Women. But he's still gonna try and take her power because of course he is. And when he tries... well, Carbuncle blasts a laser at him, basically taking him out of commission. Arle tells Carby off for that, though 2nd guesses herself because... well, it's Schezo. I like that this creature ruins Schezo's day in two different occasions.

In 20th Anniversary and even Puzzle Pop, it's less Carbuncle being up to some silly nonsense and more... Schezo wondering why he and Arle aren't together. They're always together, so them being distant makes Schezo somewhat concerned for Arle's safety, though despite that, he tends to think Arle is alright because... It's Arle, she usually is.

So, what's the TLDR? Basically, they ARE good friends in Puyo, just more of a case of "Friends who show their friendship via insulting each other" sorta look. They'll never say they care for each other, but their actions do indeed prove it. In Madou, it's a mixed bag. Sometimes they're allies for the same cause (mostly if Schezo HAS to do something), or they just DESPISE each other just because. Nothing really in the middle unless it's something like Waku Puyo, SUN, Yon, that sorta deal.

The dynamic throughout the Compile changes so much yet stays similar at it's core that it's honestly impressive to see. Take Madou Saturn, where Arle doesn't really like Schezo and vice versa, but she still goes to him for help, even if it's because of Lagnus. But in Waku Puyo, she doesn't mind the guy because of a partial mutual respect for each other. Yet in both times, it's still very similar to most of their dynamics in general. I like it at times, and hate it others mostly because there's times where Schezo is just...really unreasonable or annoying for no good reason.

SEGA Puyo is a whole different can of worms and I love it for that. They're willing to go beyond the fact that they're friends, and are willing to help out if the time is needed, showing legit concern for their friends and helping them out if needed. He's sincere enough to accompany Arle throughout part of the story, and while there's a one-sided rivalry like usual, it's not the focal point, and GOD I love that. Hell, he cares for her a lot deep down, take the Drama CD where she begins to lose her memories, and Schezo is genuinely concerned. However, Puzzle Pop probably has my favorite dynamic of them in current time, as they can actually work together very well, and bounce off of each other’s personality pretty easily. It’s genuinely amazing how well they do together.

With Carbuncle? It’s mostly just that dude confusing the hell outta Schezo, and Schezo taking Carbuncle being alone as an ominous sign that Arle is absolutely somewhere else, or at the very least, close by. There’s not… that much for us to discuss between these two.

----

Rulue (And Minotauros IG):

(It never hit me how often this pose was used back then.)

As we finally wrap up Arle's stuff, (Fun fact! That took a month to write because of college) we walk right into another woman Schezo finds himself around quite often that has...a lot to cover. I'm truly living the dream here. The R of the ARS, she also has quite a good bit to cover considering she was also a protag for quite a while... until, ya know, she got sidelined pretty badly. But alas, what can we do?

Rulue herself is a headstrong person, confident in her own abilities, to the point of possible arrogance. She's always trying to one-up Arle, and be better than her because she REALLY loves Satan, who likes Arle in a nostalgic sense rather than a romantical sense. She's no slouch though, she's known as the Fighting Queen for a reason, and consistently holds her own against people like Arle and Schezo, and even then, she and Schezo train.

Lets start with the basics: They respect each other in terms of power, and are at times pretty friendly to each other, but man they argue a lot. And I mean a lot. Waku Puyo, they argue about any menial thing while Minotauros is there for the ride, Puyo SUN, Schezo gets mad at the insinuation of Rulue saying he likes men, 15th Anniversary they argue about Satan, Puyo Tetris 1 they argue about Satan, Madou Saturn, they argue about Schezo being super unhelpful and lazy about the situation, need I go on? Most of it IS Satan related, though. It's a duality of man moment, Schezo's been hating this dudes guts for God knows how long, and Rulue has been loving Satan for...well, God knows how long. Schezo doesn't understand the appeal of Satan (Neither do I) and Rulue thinks the exact opposite, remember the PPT1 cutscene where she just RAMBLES about him?

Good times. I remember seeing this cutscene for the very first time and it cemented my thought of the PPT Dub being STUPID good.

It's not always this, however. A good friendship may be signified about the dumb arguments you can get into, but the moments where you do in fact get along. They train with each other in the light novels, Schezo doesn't really have any ill will against Rulue besides the whole Satan thing, the whole reason why the scene even occurs is because Arle mentions that Rulue has been acting super odd and blames Satan, and Schezo basically goes "Well damn. Satan isn't the issue, but this woman sure is." and goes to help her out. There's an element of kindness in there hidden between the 10 Satan arguments. Trust me, I'll explain more in later sections.

I kind of went over Schezo's actions during the Arle section in Madou Saturn, and well, Rulue sorta feels the same way as Arle about the whole thing, just add on a few insults here and there and a lot of "Man he's annoying" into the mix, and boom, you have their dynamic during that entire game.

COMPILE:

This section itself will be fairly smaller compared to others because despite being the R and the S of the team, there's not too many moments of them working together or talking much in a relevant manner. Things like that matter, y'see. If I wanted to mention something like Madou Sugoroku (Do they even interact in that game?) they have to have at least a relevant or interesting conversation, which sadly isn't the case sometimes.

However, it's not all gloom and doom at the very least, because by then I talk a bit more about Madou Saturn, since Rulue actually plays a key part in the game, being one of the protags after all. To get into the cow meat and bones of this, she hates Schezo. REALLY hates Schezo in this game. Since he never wants to help people out, let alone the two girls who cause him the most annoy the absolute hell out of him, there's a good reason why he never wants to do anything with them in the game at least. However, when the Yogs start invading and people are getting possessed, this man DOES NOT care at all, and just finds everything to be annoying as all hell.

I'm happy to say he at least tries to turn over a new leaf near the tail end of the game. However, truth be told, he doesn't really want to help, but since it could result in their world going buh-bye, he kinda doesn't have much of a choice. And even THEN, Rulue doesn't like this guy at all. And neither does most of the community. The dynamic here... if I can call it one, is one of malice and hatred tbh, they don't really respect each other, and will take any opportunity to insult and bring each other down, and then Arle and Lagnus have to pick up the mess. Well, mostly the mess Schezo makes everywhere he goes.

And with that, we gotta mention ooooone other thing before we got into Waku Puyo. SUN. It's a fairly short thing to note but we may as well, since it's a little funny. In Schezo's storyline, they do run into each other when Rulue is sunbathing and Schezo is out to get Satan for his misdeeds. Rulue mentions why he's not into her, and Schezo states that he doesn't really care about that sorta things. This in turn, makes Rulue think he doesn't like women, but rather...something else, much to Schezo's anger and clearing up the misunderstanding. Just a funny little moment in the mainline series.

Waku Puyo :

You're gonna hear this game quite a lot because well...it's what I cover most of the time, really. My bad, bros. As of the time of writing this, I haven't gotten anywhere near Rulue's story (Yeah Arle's story...has been on hiatus for quite some time now, thanks college...) but we do have interactions with them during Schezo's story. And well, it's more or less the same.

Rulue is there to get the prize for being every attraction, Schezo is there to reclaim his lost powers. Once they see each other, it's almost on sight, as they start insulting each other, making Rulue call Minotauros to beat Schezo, and he retreats. This happens I believe two to three times. This is one of those games where they just HATE each other, seemingly, no ounce of respect in sight. Even near the end of the game, Rulue doesn't really pay much mind to the guy UNTIL the park gets blown up, and as such, gets mad at him for ruining her chances of getting magic to beat Arle.

Oh yea Mino too:

However, we CAN talk about what happens when Minotauros is around. In all seriousness, Schezo at the very start doesn't like him as much as he doesn't like Rulue, calling him all sorts of insults throughout his journey. However, late into the game, Schezo feels pity for the guy not because they get along, but because Minotauros is a victim of workplace abuse from Rulue. He still insults Mino, but he does indeed feel bad/pity for the dude. Shame they basically never interact again after this game. And I'd feel bad too if I had to be the worker of Rulue and she treated me like that. OSHA would have a field day with her.

Their dynamic can best be described as “Orders are orders and you’re insulting my boss”, sorta deal. Minotauros is just doing his job, and when Rulue tells him to attack, he attacks. It’s kinda as simple as that.

SEGA Era:

As Mino fades into dust during current times (We'll see him again, hopefully), Rulue and Schezo still very much bicker and argue as much as they used to. Thankfully, with an undertone of respect rather than just seemingly pure spite. As stated prior, they do interact in Rulue's story in 20th Anniversary, and while I think Schezo's isn't anything overly noteworthy, I do want to note Rulue's side of things.

This is where some of the respect comes from, besides 15th Anniversary where Schezo oddly wishes Rulue good luck on her Satan endeavors. Here, Schezo does note that in a world of magic, Rulue can absolutely hold her own with just martial arts, but he too would be scared as hell to deal with her the way Satan does. Sure, she gets livid at the statement, but he was trying to be at least a LITTLE respectful to her.

(Granted, this IS the DS translation and this is as high quality as it'll go [480p], but I just prefer the line so much more than the Wii one. And I just sorta prefer DS 20th compared to Wii 20th. The Wii one says "I, too, would be terrified to meddle with someone like that." btw.)

As we already mentioned PPT, PPT2 had them at least interact a little more in general, as the game actually had solid writing compared to the last two games. While it's not too much, Schezo does point out that Rulue might actually just be being herself for once, and explains off screen what the situation's about, adding on that Satan might know a thing or two (Spoiler: He does), and Rulue is already on board with the idea of getting him. Schezo, not even shocked that the word Satan triggered neurons in her brain, continues to help Arle track down Marle.

And in the side chapters, Schezo laments about training, as he felt like he could've been stronger before this entire ordeal. Rulue shares the sentiment, and they both spar just to get better. Schezo wins this spar because we're playing as him, and Rulue says she can do this all day, no Captain America, but Schezo says there's better things to do now at the moment and dips, leaving her a bit frustrated if anything.

Puzzle Pop sort of has them talking to each other once more, even if it’s because Arle and Schezo tag along in Arle’s story as mentioned prior. However, he also appears in Rulue’s storyline, where long story short, she’s trying to find her beloved Satan, while also somewhat trying to figure out what’s going on. Running into Schezo, she seriously sticks to the bit of loving Satan a lot, while also annoying Schezo to no end, and after asking what he wants in romance, he replies with “Considerable, muscular strength.” when he really means powerful people. He doesn’t care about romance, really. After Rulue says they can’t be compatible, Schezo just asks her for a battle, and loses. Rulue rubs it in, saying that beating him wouldn’t really lead to anything, and runs off, leaving Schezo not only with a loss, but realizing he lost to a girl who’s too into the bit.

What I do like about SEGA compared to Compile is their willingness to actually make advancements to the dynamic these two have. Magical vs Physical is a tale as old as time, and these two have been bickering for quite some time now, but it's honestly great to see that they do in fact get along. Tetris 2 and Puzzle Pop were major steps in the right direction, and it’s a pleasure to see, I like when my characters have more than one gimmick to their interactions. Coming from the guy who goes through Waku Puyo Dungeon a lot, it's very much the opposite there. So seeing them respect each other in THIS day and age? We love to see it.

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Satan:

(You know, this has been an amazing amalgamation of images throughout the series.)

The two biggest haters towards each other, you love to see it. Satan has always been a character I've had mixed feelings on, but never truly hated. I like the guy, so don't get it twisted at all. The mutual hatred between these two can't be understated, I think they've been opps longer than some of us (Myself included) have been alive, it's next level. I think there's been a whole four instances where they worked together.

Let's quickly talk about Satan himself. He's the biggest guyfail in the world to say the very least. He's powerful, probably the strongest character in the series, and always has ways to create things and places just because he can. PuyoPuyo Land, The dimension thing in PPT1, Moving the DAMN SUN, stuff like that he's able to do just because. However, instead of being a textbook evil guy, he just wants the attention of Arle and Carbuncle. And because of that, not only are they always at odds, but so is Schezo.

Both want something from Arle; Schezo wants her power to become stronger (at least back then), Satan wants her to be his fiancé back then, or take Carbuncle, or just doing it for the love of the game, there's several interpretations of it. But there's always one thing in common: They HATE each other.

COMPILE:

No, Waku Puyo won't get its own section.

The Compile stuff isn't exactly as deep as some people want it or make it out to be, sadly. This series was never about being super in depth and whatnot, but we still try anyways because we love the series that much. The beef has been generational, to say the least. Hating someone from the day you met them is a sort of talent I need in my life.

Now, why do they hate each other so much? Amazing question, it's because of Arle. They both want her for something and that goes against each others ideals, and boom, beef. Just add on that Satan is a cheeky bastard and Schezo hates the idea that Satan is a thing, and bam, you have generational hate right there.

Now, lets take Puyo SUN, I've mentioned this funny little game a few times already, more than I ever have in this entire blog alone. Fascinating, innit? Satan enlarges the sun and brings it closer, and while this SHOULD spell the end of humanity because of how gravity and space works, Puyo characters are simply better than that. But they still hate the heat, and I do as well. Lets cut straight to it, Satan gets a bald spot from Schezo.

I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemies. Being bald a gateway to the worst roasts you'll ever hear, next to being short. After the entire journey, this is what he does.

This sorta hatred towards each other is continued onto the other games, lets take Waku Puyo for example. In here, Satan makes his appearance more as a ominous voice, but Schezo doesn't take it seriously at all, straight up saying that the voice has to be one ugly dude if he can't show himself, which Satan takes pretty clear offense to. This sorta activity is basically their entire banter throughout the game, up until when Satan reveals himself and says he has NO idea what the Ultimate Tower (Basically the endgame) is, but in classic Satan fashion of "Yeah I know! It's...uh... well, just know that I know." Something interesting does happen though. Before Schezo enters the tower, Satan wishes him good luck and to not get overconfident, as that'll be his downfall. Schezo, understandably, is very confused about his talk, and mentions if he's gone mad. Satan denies the claim, just saying that he felt like saying that. Even when they hate each others guts, there's a small, VERY small air of respect for the guy.

SEGA Era:

For being two of the most popular male characters in the series, I can only really find a handful of moments where they interact in any meaningful manner. They don't really interact at all in 15th Anniversary or even Puyo 7, they finally talk to each other in 20th. And how does that happen? In both Arle and Schezo's stories (Since they're basically connected), they go after Satan. Why? For Arle, she feels like he's up to no good. For Schezo, he just wants to beat him up. Duality of man.

And well, they sorta do just that, with Schezo's story making him sense Ecolo, much to the blobs surprise. You guys think Schezo can sense energy like Dragon Ball people sense ki. They also interact in the final story, where it's mostly just Schezo not trusting a thing Satan is doing, and isn't having any sort of his nonsense, before telling Arle that he and possibly Ecolo might be up to something. One notable thing I like to mention about the final story in 20th is when Arle fights Satan, he uses her battle theme, but when Schezo steps up to the plate, it goes into Satan's theme instead. It's just a nice little thing to note.

One thing I like about this whole dynamic is how little it changes, besides some very few instances. These two straight up don't like each other much, if at all, and are not afraid to really mention it to each other. Spiteful haters, the lot of them. But damn it, they're really good at it.

Puyo Puyo Tetris 1 does change it a tiny bit, but nothing super noteworthy. During the whole "Three girls are possessed for some reason" Plotline, Arle once again blames Satan for the whole debacle, and Satan runs away crying. Schezo tells her later on that Satan for ONCE IN THEIR LIVES isn't the main culprit, but rather some unknown entity that they don't know. Arle is more surprised than anything, but at least Schezo knows that Satan isn't always at fault. He just usually is.

And because he’s seemingly always at fault, that’s mostly his story mode in Puzzle Pop. Ecolo just kinda tags along with him because why the hell not, and because Schezo notices that Satan and him are talking and near each other again, they HAVE to be up to no good. Satan is annoyed that nobody believes that he’s the culprit, and fight’s Schezo because of it, and wins because it’s his story.

And after all of that, he then says that he hopes Schezo has a nice time in the Puyo Underworld for a false allegation, which he… is more surprised that he was wrong rather than going to hell. I’m serious when I say Schezo seemingly didn’t even mind the fact that he had the high possibility of literally going to hell, he’s more surprised that he was wrong about his thoughts, since he was right at first, then somehow twisted it into being wrong again. And I just love the fact that he was more surprised at that, it’s actually peak comedy that he cares more about his accusation falling flat than literally anything else. But with the allegations cleared, Satan tells him to move aside, as he’s actually trying to figure out what is even going on, and is NOT the culprit of this entire thing.

I like that in here, while it’s kinda clear they still don’t really like each other, Schezo can actually admit when he’s wrong in something, and Satan can actually argue back against the guy. Most of the time it devolves into insults, and while the banter is still there in classic fashion, I enjoy the mixups.

So what did we gather? These two guys hate each other lol But really, their arguing and mutual dislike for each other is painfully apparent throughout the series, but at the very least, even Schezo has limits of how much he blames Satan for things, such as Puyo Puyo Tetris 1 and 2. Sometimes you can only blame the Prince of the Puyo Underworld so much before it falls flat at least once.

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Lagnus Bishasi:

(Come on, it's super fitting. Also Lagnus there is spelt Sungal. lol.)

Ah, Lagnus/Ragnus/Sungal, where do I begin with you? You're such an interesting character; A joke in Puyo, the real deal in Madou Saturn and whatever Kenji Oda was cooking back then with the novels. But alas, we're here to talk about the guy, and how he's a pretty interesting contrast to Schezo. This stuff will mostly just cover COMPILE, since they barely, if ever interact in SEGA Era stuff. And hey, some prefer it that way, others don't.

If we quickly go over Lagnus, he's a traditional hero in every sense of the word, only cranked up to 11 for the sake of comedy. Cares for justice, wants to stop evil, talks about level ups and exp, that entire thing. It's been like that since SUN. He's trying his best. However, if we move over to Madou Saturn for a second, he's still a traditional hero, but in a much more down-to-earth sense. He feels like a legit RPG character for once, and that's because he IS in one. However in every iteration, he's cursed by something to randomly convert into a 10 year old. (He's usually 17.)

Lagnus can easily be seen as the antithesis of Schezo in a plentitude of ways: Their armor, their types of spells, personality, sense of heroicness/justice, interactions with other people, the list does indeed go on for quite a good period of time. But unlike a few of my friends, I am NOT the biggest Lagnus fan in the world, I'm somewhere in the top 20 at least.

They do first interact in SUN, where Lagnus is just the butt of a joke like he's kinda supposed to in Puyo. He tries to attack Schezo, he dodges, Lagnus falls and turns into a kid. Quite simple.

But continuing with the antithesis claim, the series (at least back then) sorta set them up as such, but it's not really TOLD, per-se. It's just a connect-the-dots sorta thing, which is fine. Compared to Schezo's aloofness, Lagnus actually does actually talk to people, least in Madou Saturn, and holds great respect for people like Arle and Rulue during the events of the game. Lagnus is a Light Warrior who's immune to dark spells in his game, compared to Schezo being called the Dark Mage, Schezo cares about himself while Lagnus cares about justice and dishing it out in spades, stuff like that. And compared to Schezo in Saturn, Arle and Rulue actually like to talk to Lagnus compared to the bum Schezo.

And how can we talk about these two without mentioning that during the events of Saturn.

For those unaware, in the start of the game, Lagnus is put into a crystal by I believe Satan just to preserve his damn body, so Lagnus sorta wanders around as a spirit, and notably, possesses Schezo for periods of time. He can't do it all the time because of the darkness that comes with being Schezo, but whenever he's able to, he tries his best to help Arle and crew, and occasionally find clues about things himself. However, Schezo is none the wiser about the stuff Lagnus does, and when Lagnus is eventually kicked out, Schezo has little idea what even happened, 90% of the time being annoyed that he just ends up someplace else.

When Lagnus gets his body back and reverts to a kid due to the little power he has, when lore dumping the entirety of the game to the ARS, Schezo is just straight up annoyed that Lagnus even did the possession things to begin with, and I kinda understand to an extent. But it's clear as day he doesn't like Lagnus, and does resort to insulting him sometimes, but Lagnus actually has a backbone and is able to clap back with his own insults. And yet after everything, Schezo at least understands the danger at hand and FINALLY is willing to help Arle/Rulue/Lagnus out. And then doesn't join the final boss because you're only allowed 3 party members and Lagnus joins instead at full power. Because yeah, it actually DOES make sense. They really are polar opposites.

I'd also take this opportunity to talk about the Waku Puyo Manga, but they don't really interact much there. Lagnus tries to fight Schezo, he stumbles on a rock, gets pressed because dude, not a good idea, and gets insulted. Really, it's that simple.

Lagnus himself actually has a lot of moments in the manga, but it's not exactly pertained to him with Schezo, more inner conflicts and having a bad case of "3 people in 1" Syndrome, and it's interesting. Yeah the manga basically got canceled after he almost wrapped up his own story, but alas. We gotta ball anyways.

Despite being quite literally a joke in any Puyo game ever, it's kinda amazing that the one game that's not Puyo related is actually the one where he gets the most respect because he's in the genre he's actually supposed to be in. They're supposed to kinda be antithesis to one another, but once again, never said, just kinda shown without saying all to much. At least Arle respected both at some point.

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Witch:

(Well boys. We are back to where we started.)

Once again, we loop back to this girl who seemingly is the face of my entire blog, how fun. Wonder how boring it gets hearing the same info from me over and over again at times, but alas, we gotta do what we gotta do. (Also they're like 2 of my favorite characters in the series so it's kinda easy to yap.)

Lets talk about Witch. Confident in her skills, rival to a few characters, and a master of making potions that are completely worthless. She can make real ones just fine, but she just finds making them boring. She's one mischievous gal herself, often trying to become a better witch in general, as well as to get better at making potions. Not only that, compared to even most of the cast, she's a pretty hyperactive girl herself, always laughing and just being a bit too silly for our own good. Which makes sense to an extent, she's like 13-15 in most games.

Witch and Schezo's dynamic...really ranges for some reason, which is kinda funny since everyone we've covered has been a protagonist in a large scale game, or is the main (or major) antagonist in said games with Satan's case. Witch...is a side character. She's never really the big boss of anything, or the protag in anything major. I say major because I AM counting things like PuyOlympics and the Comet Summoner, but they're not...y'know. Waku Puyo or Saturn scale in terms of the game. But she's still a protag.

COMPILE:

The first place I want to start at is actually Tower of the Magician. Thank god I'm partially versed in that game due to other Extra Episodes. You can find the big write up here.

At first, Witch legit thought Schezo was an illusion created by her grandmother for the exam, before she realized he was the real deal and had his own motives to be there. In a way, the dynamic shifts to one where they bicker almost like siblings, what with them arguing, but Schezo still solving the puzzles inside of the tower so Witch can go on through just because he's there for HIS reason, and is helping her on accident.

When the game progresses, and Witch is slowly more and more concerned for her grandmother due to story events, Schezo does have the chance to brush her off like he always does, but instead, does try to help her out. He tries to calm her down, and near the final floor, they walk as a duo to make sure everything goes well. And when Witch sees Wish, she bolts, with Schezo being confused if anything.

When the game gets to the end, Wish (her grandma) is possessed by Dark Matter, and a defeated Witch gives Schezo HER magic to help him fight Dark Matter. Schezo takes it, wins against Dark Matter and a possessed Wish, saving her. Interestingly, he gives the magic back and asks if Wish is OK, and Witch says she's fine.

But he's there for HIS motive: To take her energy and become stronger. And he has the perfect chance to, Wish even allows him to if he wanted it that badly. Yet with all that, he doesn't do it because he wants to take it properly, AND because Dark Matter took so much from her to begin with. Fight her at full power, sorta deal. And then never does. (oh yea witch also fails the exam ig)

(He does say "I'm giving back your magic because I don't want to damage my own!!", least that's how I read it, since their types of magic are so different.) But seriously, this game is such an outlier for the dynamic, yet I love it so much. Schezo doesn't exactly care much for Witch herself, and neither does Witch to him, but when the ideals collide, they do team up, at least for a bit. I think the fact that Witch gave Schezo her magic to become stronger means at the very least, desperate times will call for desperate measures, but I love that Schezo gives the magic BACK to her. He had a clear choice to keep it, but because he didn't get it through the means he wants, he just...gives it back. While he does kinda give a BS excuse, it's a nice moment for the two.

...And then we get to every other game.

Where do I even begin with these two? We can start with Puyo SUN at the very least, where the whole thing saying "I want you!" and other innuendos kinda came from. With this, simple misunderstanding, she wants his clothes, nothing too serious about that in the world of Puyo, yeah? I wish I was right but I'm so fucking wrong.

If we fast forward allllll the way to Madou Saturn, she's basically just being herself until Kikimora mentions Schezo without naming him after Arle and Co. save Kiki from Yoggus Smoke. Witch takes an interest in the person she described, and Rulue says to not get her hopes up, since Schezo is a known perv. Yet this only fuels her curiosity. All to say when they finally meet if she can touch him. And I'm trying to save images, but imagine Schezo looking pissed the hell off that someone even said that.

PuyOlympics is the same dance to an extent. To save MORE images and time, just take a gander at the time I actually covered the game. But otherwise: Witch teases Schezo all about his clothing and robe, saying he looks like a perv with it on, so he takes it off to wear the proper uniform. Much to his surprise, Witch goes on about how he looks really nice, before just shouting that he's one handsome fellow, and he runs away while she chases him. Classic behavior.

However, there comes points that are a bit more interesting to note, one of them being from Serilly’s Happy Birthday, a Disc Station game that’s incredibly text heavy. Think about it like Princess Maker, if you will. I actually wrote about this game a while ago if you’re curious about that, even if it’s shorter than most of my stuff I tend to write about. One of the key things to point out is that Schezo is acting funky because of some curse, and saying “I want you” to… 100 girls, and doing so will remove the curse. Yeah, that’s his curse. Quite the horrific one, if I say so myself.

Because of this, Schezo asked her to make a charm to make any girl fall for him to get rid of the stupid thing, but she declines that offer and instead tries to make a potion with Serilly to help fix Schezo. This is mostly the start of Witch’s “Confidant” with Serilly, as her story is mostly about helping the guy out alongside other things that aren’t important to this thing, fun time though.

Witch isn’t all that impressed with Schezo in this one, calling him creepy because of this entire thing and getting upset that he was even saying this stuff to her and Serilly, but really, she’s thankful that he’s going back to normal at least sometime. See? She cares for him, sorta. I like that she even considered doing that, as more often than not, she’d probably just leave him be, but for once she intervened and helped not only Schezo, but also Serilly. It’s a nice sight to see. It’s something that we don’t see her do very often, and because we do see it for once, it’s a breath of fresh air, and even having her get development with Serilly of all people is incredibly interesting.

And now we get into the game that made my entire blog.

Wooo Waku Puyo yeaaaaa:

Even I get a little tired of talking about the same events over and over again and expecting different results, the guy from Far Cry 3 told me so, after all. But honestly just to recap some of the events that go down JUST to save time, energy, and my damn sanity:

We'll start with something I haven't exactly covered much, a small interaction between the two and Incubus inside the area where Kikimora works. Basically, they're there to teach you how to fuse items, and they kinda make it into a duo show of them playing along and just having a good time. While Schezo is confused by it, they do get their point across, it's cute. And here we go again with the stuff I've covered for a while now.

Witch's entire gig is to get this guys clothes. When they first meet, she's the boss of the Horror House, and he's confused about her wanting "It", up to the point of saying he's never really met someone who acts the way she does, up until Witch says it's the clothes, and she'll get them even if she has to rip them.

Nothing happens until the end of the game, where Schezo can check in with almost every character with lines. I will say that the interesting fact is that Witch appears where the major and main characters are, the front of the Ultimate Tower. So that's neat.

In the first situation, Witch says she wants to tag along with Schezo to get the magical item that the tower has, and Schezo declines, since he works solo, usually. But she insists and says she'll do her absolute best, to which Schezo tells her that she doesn't have to try at all, because she's NOT coming.

The second situation has her giggling to herself after Schezo asks her why she's so desperate for the clothing he has, and she just replies that she wants them. That's it. Nothing more to the story. Grindset tbh Schezo says that he has no good women near him at any times, and Witch just sorta laughs it off, saying that he'll take off his robes eventually. He then asks himself (or us depending on how you read the text), if she's more of a pervert than he's made out to be.

And a final interaction was about Schezo getting Witch's Meteor Grimoire, and she spots him with it, but gets to her usual business. Schezo says he's not stripping for the love of the game, and she says roughly: "I want the book but the clothes would also be a nice extra." They trade books, since she for some reason has Schezo's Areiado Grimoire, and bam. There we go.

Worlds scariest teenage year old girl for a white haired man to go through.

SEGA Puyo:

Now that we've basically covered what we've covered a thousand times in the past and probably future, we can discuss things I probably HAVEN'T talked about. These two have a handful of interactions throughout SEGA Puyo, but not as much as Compile did throughout the years. The most notable of the bunch mostly being from Witch's storyline in 20th Anniversary, as well as Puyo Tetris 2. I've covered the Tetris 2 one as a joke but alas.

20th Anniversary doesn't exactly have Schezo interact with Witch, more vise versa than anything. She's trying to make a potion, a one her grandmother made once (Wish canon bros truuuuust), and one of the ingredients she needs is a bit of hair from... well, lets just say Schezo of all people. After mostly taunting and having their classic back and fourth bickering from the classic duo of IDIOTS, a Puyo battle emerges and Witch wins, while also quickly taking a bit of his hair to boot. Curiously, I believe this is the only ingredient that doesn't have to be swapped out.

And Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 has mostly her being possessed by Marle and reawakening the Ghost of Compile Past, where now she's the one doing the crazy ass innuendos, as well as wanting to have "Fun" for basically eternally. Not only does Schezo show legit concern for her as well as clear up a misunderstanding for Arle, they do in fact save her and make sure that she's alright, and lines her story up with others who had a similar fate.

However, we do see what happened beforehand, and how it all went down. What with Witch helping Marle, and then her feeling some sort of restlessness after the fact. After seeing Schezo, he notes that he saw some sorta girl and she challenged her to a battle, and basically no diffed her. The word "Battle" runs through her mind like a simulation, and she asks Schezo for battle out of the blue.

After winning, she basically wants more battling, and doesn't want to leave Schezo alone now because she wants to keep battling him and having fun. Queue the whole "If you're not coming to me, I'll just come to you" line and a whole lot of "Thank God I have my headphones on right now..."

(Getting footage and rehearing this stuff is...quite the ride.) Oh, and during what's basically the filler arc of PPT2, the whole pageant thing goes down, shoutout to Maguro for making it fun and also keeping the situation under control Witch's nominates Schezo for the "Most Handsome" side of things, citing that his name means "The Gorgeous Adonis that Defies the Gods." HOW IN THE WORLD she knew that is anyone's guess, but it was funny nevertheless.

She even appears in Schezo’s story in Puzzle Pop as the first opponent he faces. Schezo is pretty much talking to himself about Meena and her powers, and realizes that if someone takes her powers, he’ll be much stronger than ever before. But before he can reach that thought, he’s stopped by Witch, who simply greets him, and he already sounds tired of her. When asking her about what’s going on and about Meena, Witch at first brushes it off, saying that even if this situation is as odd as it is, she’s still going to enjoy every minute of it.

However, she’s not all jokes and laughs, as she does mention that her spellbook does mention something about The Dream Guide (Meena), and when Schezo asks for more details, she holds the info hostage for a Puyo battle that she loses. According to her GRANDMOTHER (Wish is real and IN the house), The Dream Guide has the ability to see into someone’s heart and also their desires…and that’s all she mostly wrote. However, Witch suggests to try and find more old books about the topic, which Schezo thinks is a good idea…and runs into Klug for that. We’ll get there when we get there.

What is all jokes and laughs is her side story. It’s her being the world's worst seller of the worlds most “Wait these actually sound nice” potions that always goes wrong, and Schezo was the last of the buyers. He instantly shuts down the idea of him getting a potion from her, as she’s nothing but trouble and mischief, but suddenly changes his tone when Witch mentions an Anti-Misunderstanding potion that he takes. I mean it works, but Schezo is now meowing, and is pretty mad at Witch. After she wins and he returns to normal, she tries to sell another potion, but Schezo swings his sword, furious with her as she runs away, and HE chases HER instead. Oh, Compile Witch, you WISH that was you.

So what do these things mean? Well, while there's nothing of particular note for the 20th Anniversary thing that we haven't covered already, I do like that in the modern games, Schezo actually doesn't mind Witch's company all too much, and shows direct concern for her over getting possessed by Marle, and even though they still bicker...a lot, there's still that underlying amount of respect, concern, and overall bullying that we like to see from these two. I do find it kinda funny that in PPT2, it just feels like Compile but much better at times, and I absolutely love that. Teaser gets teased, vice versa happens, it’s peak comedy. And nowadays, I kinda enjoy that Schezo just sorta sees her as a “Week. RUINED.” sort of gal. While she can easily provide pretty nice info to help him, take Puzzle Pop for example. She also really likes to annoy him to death, such as 20th Anni and kinda sorta Puyo Tetris 2. And it’s still amazing, to be honest.

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Draco Centauros:

(Ignore that the name is Doraco. Old works be like that, thanks Disc Station.)

With a character that has a lot of work for them because they're always near the damn dude, we now have... someone who's kinda the opposite of that. Despite being in the same series and knowing each other (kinda sorta) for years at this point, we don't actually have many interactions with these two goofballs. Which to me, is kinda surprising, I thought there would be more than I thought. It's kinda unfortunate, but Draco just happens to be the unfortunate one.

Let me put this in simple terms by explaining her character. Draco is an idiot. A very big idiot. Ok but really, she's not the wisest person out there, oftentimes just being whimsical and carefree. Or just trying to find beauty pageants to go to because why not. She's not exactly a slouch when it comes to terms of combat itself, but we all know her infamous AI at this point and how she can't rotate. Fun, huh? Despite that, Draco usually means well. She's not exactly a jerk to anyone, she's just being herself and being the best she can be. Which lets be real, that's the best we can ask her to do. I'm very proud of her.

Truth be told, there's not much to cover with Draco besides three things. Which is sorta unfortunate, for how much these two have been in the same game together, they never really talk to each other… ever. For example: Madou Saturn doesn’t really have them interacting with each other at all, she talks to Jan of all characters more than Schezo, because they DON’T talk to each other. 

Waku Puyo:

Yes, I get to mention this game for the 1000th time. Shame on me for choosing this game as the game of my choice to comb over with a fine brush. Draco herself appears as a boss in the game, being one of the few bosses that we actually see throughout most of the series, which is very nice. Schezo needs tickets to get into Fire Mountain, the place where she "Works", and halts him from progressing any further. Schezo says that he does in fact have the tickets without really showing her, and she just...believes it. Yeah, I'm serious.

Then after that, she's the boss for the dungeon. Draco mentions how she's surprised Schezo got that far, and if he's ready for "It". This in turn surprises Schezo, since he never really hears this stuff and asks her what she means, only to hear her say "Well, a battle!", to Schezo's surprise... again. He calls himself stupid for thinking it was anything BUT that. Schezo can run into her again after beating the dungeon, and she's training for the next person who comes over, as well as Schezo if he ever comes back, which surprises Schezo, as he at least semi-respects the fact that she trains. Also, fun fact. She can drag Schezo into training because of side quests inside of the game itself. Fun little thing.

Like everyone so far in Waku Puyo, you can meet her in Endgame as well, mostly just more casual banter between the two. Schezo runs into her, and notes that he's always so moody and gloomy, and that he should have more pep in his step to woo women. Schezo says he doesn't care about that, and Draco assumes that he likes guys, which he adamantly denies. She then says he's "Girl-conscious", like an incubus would, confusing the hell out of Schezo, as he wonders what cruel things he did to be called one.

And with their final talk, Draco asks why Schezo returned, and wonders if it was because of her, which Schezo bluntly says no to. This hurts The Gao's feeling, and tells him straight up that he does have a pretty face and is popular with girls, but doesn't understand girls at all. All Schezo understood was that he's popular, confusing and shocking him.

Draco's an idiot, yes, she's a kindhearted idiot. Here, Schezo doesn't actually mind her much, mostly keeping it neutral with her, as well as just accepting that she's kinda stupid. Not only that, Draco's willing to ask Schezo silly questions just because she wants to, and does in fact feel like he COULD be a better person and would woo people... if he just wasn't an asshole to people at times. They don't even interact in Saturn.

SEGAAAAAAAA... Man... :

As we approach the SEGA Era stuff of things again, we run into a major problem. Draco and Schezo interact twice, and it's such a nothingburger for the most part. Here, the dynamic they have changes quite a lot, to the point where it's not Schezo just thinking she's stupid but doesn't mind her that much, he just straight up doesn't like Draco at this point.

A prime example is in Puyo 20th Anniversary in Draco’s story. Her story is all about trying to find some sorta clothing that’ll make her even prettier, and ruining everyone’s days in the meantime and making them incredibly mad at her. Schezo is one of those characters that gets their day ruined by… Ruining his supply of running water that he’s had for apparently a while, years even, and battles Draco over said water supply getting ruined.

After he loses, Draco somehow slips on the water and falls out of the cave, into a flower field. I can’t even make this up. It’s pure comedy and I’ll be there no matter what, but a real interaction wouldn’t hurt that much. I love these two, and I do want to see what else they can do together.

Even in Puyo Chronicles, yes, the game I've barely mentioned throughout this write up, has that as the dynamic. He doesn't like her, and she just doesn't mind much, if at all. It’s genuinely really unfortunate that it stays the exact same as it was in 20th Anniversary, though you can partially blame the writing of the game itself. It had a rough cycle, apparently there was no real writing director, so it was apparently pretty difficult to even make something happen. The games development as a whole seemed sorta rough, but we really dunno much about it as a whole, unfortunately. And the two don’t even interact in Puzzle Pop, which is kinda depressing. But at least they had some interactions.

Yeah...that's about it for SEGA stuff. Personally, I prefer what they were going for in Waku Puyo, mostly because there was actually a bit of stuff going on between the two rather than just Schezo hating the girl more than she usually does. It's... interesting, I guess, but sadly there's not a lot to cover between these two. Maybe in Quest, they talk more, but that’s a whole other can that’ll take forever to open.

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Serilly:

(I HAVE AN EXCUSE TO USE THESE)

If you told me about 3 years ago that these two even spoke in a legitimate manner, I wouldn't believe you at all, there's no way that they do...right? Well, she's here for a reason, and that reason is Waku Puyo, where a lot of interesting things happens between the two. And frankly, I'm for it, Serilly needs more people to talk to. Ironically, this is really the ONLY game they speak in, which is very...interesting.

So, what goes on in the game? And well, the manga too but it's a retelling of the event I'll be mentioning with some extra details here and there. Still will covering it though.

Serilly herself is quite the sad, pathetic creature, but I love her to bits anyways. Shy and afraid of almost anything, she's quite the crybaby and oftentimes avoid people because of a rumor going around that eating people like her can grant stuff like immortality and whatnot. So she has a REASON to basically be a soaking wet cat who cannot fight back. However, when she does make a friend or two, she's usually just happy that they don't really hate her or don't mind her company for the most part.

At least in the game, Schezo runs into her before entering Water Paradise, the dungeon she's the boss of. It's mostly just banter with Suketoudara, but they leave, with Schezo being mostly unamused.

When he gets to the final floor, they... don't even fight. Well, inn Schezo's story at least, she's the main boss of the place and you do fight her in Arle and Rulue's routes.

Instead, she seemingly thinks Schezo's there to bully her, and that he's put in quite a lot of effort into doing so, AKA going through the tower. Schezo, however, says that if she doesn't want to fight or stand in his way, why would he call her an enemy? Yet Serilly takes this as him wanting to be her friend, which he says no to at first, leaving her confused as to what he wants. The player is then given an option to be her friend or not.

It actually doesn't matter what you even say in this situation, there'll be slight differences in a few text boxes but the general thing stays the exact same.

Serilly continues to be hard on herself, to the point of crying a lot about it. Schezo, mostly annoyed that she's doing that, tells her to stop being so damn hard on herself for little reason. He mentions that there's two paths in life she can take: The one she's currently on, where she'll accomplish nothing besides moping around and being upset, or follow a path he's on, where despite many problems and adversities, he can still move on with his head high.

This surprises Serilly quite a good bit, and yet Schezo still continues with one more thing; If she can try to follow the path he's taking, he'll actually try to be her friend. Or well, at least he SAYS that, if he believes it is another ordeal...kinda. But Serilly agrees to it completely for the chance of a new friend, and thanks him.

For a character that hasn't spoken much, if at all to Schezo until this, it's a lot. Schezo somewhat being willing to be friends with someone to help her be a better person isn't something we saw, if ever saw, in the games. He even admits that she's not really an enemy or threat. Meanwhile, Serilly is going through her own moment of having someone not hate her, which is nice.

Now, like with a couple of characters (I think almost all) I've mentioned, the end of the game has some moments that I'd like to cover. Schezo runs back into Serilly, and she's really happy to see him again, asking if he's here for her, which he gets flustered with. Realizing the situation, and well... his rep, he asks if Serilly is afraid of him still, and she promptly says no, as they're friends. On the other hand, Schezo is having an internal crisis, wondering how much he's changed as a person since losing his powers at the start of the game.

Now, like with a couple of characters (I think almost all) I've mentioned, the end of the game has some moments that I'd like to cover. Schezo runs back into Serilly, and she's really happy to see him again, asking if he's here for her, which he gets flustered with. Realizing the situation, and well... his rep, he asks if Serilly is afraid of him still, and she promptly says no, as they're friends. On the other hand, Schezo is having an internal crisis, wondering how much he's changed as a person since losing his powers at the start of the game.

(He's basically saying "I've... changed since I lost my powers... Do I have to get even stronger to regain the me I've lost?" It looks odd because of my god awful editing skills, as well as Serilly hitting us with a "...?" as well.)

Serilly, understandably confused by the situation, tells him the advice he told her, and says that maybe he's thinking backwards, and that's not the Schezo she knows. This kinda surprises him, and she apologizes foe sounding harsh, yet Schezo admits that she's right, and thanks her.

And in their final talk, Serilly goes to Schezo to mention that he seems more distant than usual, like the person she knew is going away slowly as she begins to cry. Schezo reaffirms her, saying that he's right here, and that he won't be vanishing anytime soon, and tells her to stop crying, as it'll get her nowhere. A realization hits him, basically saying that he of all people, telling a girl to not cry? Something HAS truly changed about him.

That moment is why I love this game so much. The series before always shown Schezo to be kinda aloof, not really caring much about what others think of him, and saying what he wants to say. Yet here he is, concerned over a girl's emotions, and telling her to stop crying not from annoyance, but almost as a friend, and that shakes him to his core. Not only that, but him seemingly having a minor crisis about himself and Serilly being the one to get him to stop thinking about it, that's something we never see again. And Schezo doesn't go all tsundere either and say that he didn't need the help, no, he just straight up thanks her for everything.

Manga:

The Waku Puyo manga covers the same beats as the game, but is still different enough to talk about. Here, Serilly was brought to being the “boss” of the area mostly because she assumed Satan was her friend, and she was willing to do what a friend wanted her to do because… let's be real, she doesn't really have friends. And the scary part is, she was ready to stay there for as long as it took for Satan to do his stuff because she was under the assumption that they were friends. At least, that’s the background before she meets Schezo and Honey Bee.

Obviously, Schezo’s here to get the orb and Serilly is defending it, but even he can tell she’s not really hostile. Honey Bee thinks otherwise, and both ask for the blue orb, and with weapons in hand, they do ask her for her, but she gets terrified for obvious reasons. Bee tries to threaten her, and Schezo smacks Bee aside as well as giving her his sword to not scare off Serilly, and it works somehow, though of course, it doesn’t work COMPLETELY.

It’s here that Serilly mentions that Satan made her do this because they’re friends and everything I said above, but Schezo is calling her out on Satan not being a friend, because he believes friends shouldn’t do that at all. He thinks Satan is a fake friend, telling her to do this because of course he can. Serilly does mention that Satan is her only real friend (Ignoring the Suketoudara in the room), and genuinely feels hopeless that she’ll never have friends. 

That’s when Schezo does his thing of telling Serilly what a friend really is, and even Bee is agreeing with him, seemingly being as serious as she can be for once in her life. This leads to Serilly wondering if they want to be friends, which Schezo embarrassingly agrees to. Suketoudara walks in, sees this hooliganry, and that brings the page of Schezo saving Serilly after she saves him from getting drowned, doing the cliche look away when they see each other and Schezo carrying her like a princess, all that good stuff, and even gives Schezo the key to the blue orb because… well, he did a lot. The final scene has Serilly ask if Schezo will ever visit her again, to which he replies that he’ll think about it when what he’s doing is all done.

I like the manga. If you want more panels, look at when I covered this for the first time, if you want. What I love so much about their dynamic is how different it is compared to what we’re used to from Schezo himself. We’ve always seen him as an aloof guy who cares mostly about himself, and himself only, and Serilly in a way directly clashes with that ideology because she struggles so hard to even care about herself. She’s always worried about what might happen to her, how she might be unable to make real friends, list goes on. And in a moment of need for Serilly, Schezo is willing to lay down his often cold demeanor and even admit that she’s not really an enemy if she doesn’t want to fight him, and talk some genuine sense into her. And the best part, it actually WORKS. Serilly slowly but surely becomes more and more confident in herself, and when they meet again, the roles are swapped.

Now SCHEZO is the one having the doubts about himself (considering how much he’s changed throughout the story), and when talking to Serilly about him always going to be there for her, he realizes that he’s changed, and wonders if he’ll ever become the person he once was again. And with the info he gave Serilly, she spits it back in her own way, which hits Schezo pretty hard, and realizes that moping around and being concerned about who he is was never his style. It’s genuinely amazing, and I’d say it’s one of the best we’ve seen from the guy. It helps that he’s also genuine with Serilly, something we don’t always see from the guy.

And after that entire thing and how peak Waku Puyo writing can really be, we spiral back into Serilly's Happy Birthday, I noted in Witch's section that they do in fact interact, if only because Schezo is cursed. Here, Serilly is genuinely scared of the guy because in this version, they dunno each other and he's just randomly hitting on her, while Serilly herself is clueless to the entire curse thing until Witch steps in to help her. With these things, I do want to mention that they could've gone this route because it's Schezo, of course they'd go the comedic route. BUT THEY DIDN'T, THANK GOD.

------

The Kikimoras:

(I wonder who really cared about these two for the longest time. But hey, now I'm one of those... I dunno, ten Kikimora fans globally.)

And now we've reached the section that surprises me the most. The Kikimoras weren't ever really on my radar for such a long time before I even got into Waku Puyo, I used to think Black Kikimora was just a really bad card in Quest and nothing more until I began to look into this game. I combined their pages since not only does it save me time, but they both only have Waku Puyo to really talk about. Oh, and because they're both Kikimora's. That too... they had their own game, fun fact. I did a write up a looong time ago... It's not good nowadays but hey, it was a start.

The Kikimora's are characters... people don't really think about much. And I don't blame them, they're usually people that people look once at and leave it as such, a relic of old times. Her personality revolved around cleaning, whole lot of cleaning, and hating dirtiness and whatnot. Black Kikimora (Who I'll refer to as Biki) is supposed to be the antithesis of her, who makes things more or less dirty for the love of the game. One thing is for sure, Kikimora is stupid strong... and hates being called old. However in Waku Puyo (and Saturn for Kikimora), they have more personality then ever before, mostly Kiki. The original Kikimora is much more supportive, acting more or less as a guide for people, helping out whenever she can, which oftentimes isn't a lot. She's much more outgoing than Biki, who's much more reserved until provoked or insulted, where she starts yelling and insults people. However, if anything, Kikimora can be emotional as well... which I'll get into.

Waku Puyo: Kikimora

This is really the only game worth mentioning for the two being together, since Saturn is just her mentioning what Schezo looked like and telling Arle and crew where he went. Nothing more to it.

A majority of the talks between the two...or three really, comes from the Information Booth and the Horror House, since Biki is mostly there as a midboss. We'll start with Kikimora, since she has much more.

As stated earlier, Schezo runs into her in the Information Booth, a place that basically serves as the way to... well, get info about the game, it's mechanics, etc, as well as side quests and random character interactions that are a little charming. Schezo at the start asks Kikimora all sort of questions about PuyoPuyo Land, and while she tries her best to answer the questions, she notes that she can only do so much as a mere usher of the place, and apologizes for the fact that she's unable to answer everything. This in turn makes Schezo call her useless, which greatly... hurts her, as she legit feels upset that she wasn't able to help, and apologizes. Schezo then retracts his statement, saying he was talking about something else, and to chin up, as she forgives him. Schezo though, wonders why he's even apologizing, as he thinks he's in the right.

Throughout the course of the game, Schezo slowly but surely warms up to Kikimora as a person, though he's still harsh at the start. However, Kiki still comes to him for help, such as dealing with Succubus and her nonsensical fliers, and starts to cry as she's unable to answer Schezo's question of "You're the Usher. Shouldn't YOU know this stuff?" He tells her to stop crying at least, and that he'll help, but he does in fact want to see Succubus. As he does and beats her up, she's thankful Schezo took care of the issue, and gives him tickets while leaving. On the other side, Schezo doesn't recall doing something to help Kiki to warrant a thanks.

As the game progresses, they warm up to each other, even shooting a joke here and there, as well as Kikimora congratulating Schezo on specific occasions. Sure, she tells the info to others because that's her job, but she still at least doesn't mind Schezo's harshness and is very, very nice to him, and even he can give the feelings back. While it may be professional, at least they're on semi-good terms. Kiki is just somehow to make Schezo treat her with just a biiiit more respect than he usually does with everyone else. Kudos to her.

----

Waku Puyo: Black Kikimora

As we reach the other side of the Kikimoras, we get very different interactions compared to what we just talked about not even a paragraph ago. As stated prior, Biki is much more reserved than Kiki, never really initiating a convo, and if she's ever IN a convo, she tries to keep it brief, or speak just stays quiet until she gets prompted to talk. Of course, she's not always like that, she can talk properly just fine, but she prefers not to. However, compared to Kikimora, Biki is a lot more short tempered, and oddly has great hearing for absolutely no reason. When she hears someone insult them, she WILL yell back at them, shocking them to their core at times, notably Schezo.

Schezo and Biki can run into each other while doing tutorial stuff for the game itself. Here, Biki is shown as a willingly reserved person, but when its time to help Schezo, she barely does, shrugs it off, and leaves him to learn by himself. And when Schezo barely makes it out of there, she's somewhat surprised, but admits the tutorial for that is done and leaves it at that. Schezo, annoyed, decides to insult how she looks under his breath, saying she's kinda ugly compared to others, and in turn, gets smacked pretty hard with a broom as she yells right back at him, shocking Schezo that she even heard that.

Their next interactions aren't exactly the most dissectible or noteworthy, but it's the Kiki's, they need anything they could get from this. When Schezo tries to enter the Horror House, Biki could be there, just kinda looking around for no real reason, and as Schezo asks if he can, she doesn't really pay him any mind, and says that yeah, he could enter if he really wants. She doesn't care about this man at all. And finally, at the end of the game before the Ultimate Tower, they can have two talks with each other. One is Schezo being confused about Biki's... everything, and once again insulting her under his breath, to the same results. Apparently she has a nickname because of her good hearing, but I kinda sorta dunno what to call it. Back then it was "Hells Ears" but honestly, maybe she's just good at hearing. And then the final talk they have is... less of a talk and more of a "Who talks first" contest, which Schezo wins and Biki gets mad at. It's such a trivial thing, but I like that even Biki can have a small bit of fun despite the fact that she's mostly quiet until provoked.

While it's not exactly a lot compared to the others, I'm glad that they even get some sorta dynamic with Schezo. What with his aloofness and attitude problems clashing with their professionalism and Biki's temper problem, it's just a breath of fresh air because we never see these two really interact again. Though that's because we never really see much Kikimora related stuff after these games.

-----

Suketoudara:

(I think this might be the one time I'll like...properly talk about him.)

This is the one section I was kinda dreading as the months went by, not because I think this section was going to be tough to write... more because I'm just not exactly the biggest fan of Suketoudara myself, he's always just been a whatever character to me. Sorry Suke fans, I'll be trying to make this a bit more brief than most.

Lets begin with Suke's character, as we do with everyone else on this list. He's usually a carefree sort of person, mostly doing his own thing while everything else is going on. Once a side character, always a side character, I suppose. Though the main thing about Suke that we all know besides the way he plays Puyo... is his love for dancing. The guy loves to dance, and is very confident about it, and gets pretty upset when someone insults his form of dance... Schezo and Arle being the most vocal about it, at the very least. However, an aspect I'll touch on is his crush on Serilly, which is never really felt back. Trust me, it'll be important later.

COMPILE:

Despite the fact that these two have been in the same games for years on end at this point, they don't exactly have many, if any meaningful interactions. It's probably because there wasn't too many times we could even play as Schezo, or COMPILE always doing some crazy shit, but who knows?

The main one I'll be covering is Waku Puyo, because Schezo actually talks about the guy and we can make a Waku Puyo manga thing as well alongside it. It's not that much but it's something. Similar to Serilly, he's met at Water Paradise, where he serves mostly as a midboss than anything, but Schezo does in fact see him talking to Serilly beforehand, mostly trying to make her feel happier about herself, as Schezo questions what the hells going on and realizes he's allowed to enter the place. (Side note: I've called these places all sorts of names; Dungeons, Labyrinths, Palaces, Zones... I know they're called Dungeons but still)

The talk these two have is much more simple than almost anything I've covered so far. Suketoudara is dancing, and Schezo calls it stupid and pretty distracting. Suke asks Schezo to tell that again THREE MORE TIMES as he does so, until he's fed up and says "Alright can we just fight now!?" and then threatens to turn him into food. That's kinda it. The manga kinda goes into deeper detail, adding that Serilly isn't exactly known for being a dangerous person... or even a threat, so he tells Schezo that after defeat.

They do run into each other again near the end of the game, like almost every other character. It's once again Suke dancing and wanting to teach Schezo HOW to dance... but he just finds him annoying and leaves. And the second interaction, Suke gets mad at Schezo for knowing where Serilly is but not telling him, getting Suke mad and storms off to find her... leaving Schezo to ask what the hell did he do.

Here, it's just simple how much Schezo does not care for this guy at all. As Suke is more hyperactive than most and talks a whole lot more ALONGSIDE the dancing, Schezo just finds him... annoying at best. I don't think there's a single person who even respects Suke besides Serilly. It doesn't help that (At least in the manga), Serilly seems to like Schezo more. Quite comedic.

-----

SEGAAAAAAAA:

Ah, the beauty of SEGA right now is that they only talk like... once ever. And that's in 15th Anniversary, where now it's Schezo being the joke as he always has been. Not so fun when you're on the other side, huh? But yes, in 15th Anniversary, they do meet in Suke's story, and Suke is honestly quite surprised that Schezo's even here, but at least he recognizes someone. Suke actually teases Schezo at his inability to dance compared to him, and Schezo says he can dance, and will prove it with a Puyo battle... and that's it. No, seriously... that's like everything noteworthy. I genuinely wish I was kidding but there's really nothing else.

What I appreciate is that Suketoudara at least maintains his air of carefreeness about the entire situation. Sure, he may be in a different world, but he's going to at least have a good time here before anything else. And I guess bullying Schezo is something anyone can do, even the fish.

-----

Honey Bee:

(...Why is she plot relevant in the manga...)

As we begin to border near the more niche characters of COMPILE, we reach Honey Bee, a character I'm 95% certain nobody would give a damn about if it wasn't for the manga. And because of that, we'll cover her... little personality that we can go off of, and then explain the manga because that's the only time she's ever been relevant in her almost 25+ years of being in this series. Nobody is saying that she's their favorite character in the series unironically. This is also the section where documenting gets shorter and shorter because there's less and less to talk about. Sad, IK.

Honey Bee... is a character, alright. She's not the sharpest tool in the shed despite her two stingers, and uh... I'll be real there's like nothing to talk about with her.

I apologize to all Honey Bee fans, she could very much be your GOAT, the one you cheer for whenever she appears, have her cards in Quest, all that. I like her a lot, but there's not much to go with. She likes to sting people and watches samurai movies. That's basically her character. At least until we get into the manga.

While we have to admit it's not really canon and whatnot, it's really fun to talk about, and also gives some extra stuff to characters, notably Incubus, Lagnus, and the woman of this section... Honey Bee.

Schezo runs into her when he's trying to get some orb at a different dungeon compared to Arle and Rulue, and runs into... well, Honey Bee. At first, they straight up hate each other, before Honey Bee decides that he's actually quite pretty up close, and...tags along with him for the rest of the time. I don't really agree with her, but when the guy's etymology for his name literally says he's pretty, then I guess you can go ahead.

Truth be told, while she's there quite often, she doesn't exactly amount to that much at the end of the day. She's mostly comic relief for Schezo, who kinda needs it because he was supposed to go on a solo journey, and she also really doesn't like when girls (or incubus) talk to him. She's delusional enough to think they're in a relationship, so that's fun. This is more often shown when she's talking to Serilly, where Schezo has to knock her out several times just to talk to Serilly and calm her down, but she does comply with such things, such as taking Schezo's sword at his command to make Serilly ease up. So she's not all that worthless. She even tries to help Schezo bandage up a wound... to no success.

She does in fact do something when Schezo gets possessed by Incubus' magic, and tries to get help... but the manga never finishes up because it only had three volumes. Sad, but what can we really do about it? She REALLY hates Incubus though, since he's always up in her business. Speaking of Incubus...

---

Incubus (And Succubus too):

(You know, I was planning on using the WWPPD manga pages, but realized that I probably shouldn't risk Succubus' pages because I don't think it'd be... right. I'll put it on the Google Doc version.)

Ah, these two, those low level personas you get just because they're low leveled, but they help with the first boss so you can't hate on them too much. I'm not exactly a huge fan of either, but I can understand the appeal at the very least. I've just never been apart of it. This would be the case if this was Persona, but it's not.

Now to explain these two characters can be pretty simple compared to most I've covered already. There's a lot more than say... I dunno, Honey Bee, or The Kikimoras, but it'll pale compared to anyone who's really worthwhile in this long ass post. I wish I could get paid for this, but what can we do? Incubus and Succubus, as their name implies, are... an incubus and and succubus, people who allure others with their charm, only to (usually) take something from them, their stuff, their life, their soul, whatever the writers feel like doing in that set moment. However, since we really can't have that in Puyo, they're much more comedic compared to what I just mentioned. Incubus just wants to impress women with his charm (failing to do so many times).

Succubus wants to charm men, though we only really see this with Schezo and on an off-chance, Arle. They're still not really good people, but you can only do so much with such characters in such a series. You can only go so far, too.

Incubus:

To begin I feel like we should talk about the Tenori Zoh in the room: Tower of the Magician. Glad to bring up this game again, if only briefly. Incubus appears and is attempting to flirt with Witch and to give her Tenori Zoh as a gift to be with him, something that she's not on board with. Schezo comes by and Incubus takes it as Schezo trying HIS luck to do something, when he's just trying to scale the dang tower, and fights him over Witch. He loses and runs away, and for the spoils of his victory, Schezo claims Tenori Zoh for himself, which he seems quite proud of and also fond of. Here, Incubus doesn't really serve much of a purpose other than to be another Jobber for Schezo to beat, but he's trying his best.

For Waku Puyo, the extent of how much Incubus and Schezo interact mostly varies... on if you're reading a manga or if you decide to play the game. God, good luck with that. But really, both Waku Puyo in the manga and the games are vastly different, as Incubus can range from a guy Schezo can fight and talk to just because why not, or a major villain inside of the manga because we really needed all that Incubus stuff, totally. Same with Honey Bee.

Incubus in the game version of Waku Puyo isn't anything too special on his own, but he does do something neat with Witch. Synthesizing, or Fusion as I like to call it, is a pretty big element of the game, and it's really good for getting better gear for later on during the game. Incubus and Witch do in fact talk to Schezo (and I believe Arle and Rulue in their own routes) about said mechanic, and helps elaborate on it much more. They're basically a walking tutorial for the guy, but the main difference is how they act towards Schezo. In it, they put on a much more theatrical role... just because, and it makes Schezo wonder why they're even doing it. But it's helpful nevertheless.

The other interaction they can have is inside dungeons as a boss, however it's nothing all that special, as it's just Incubus being mad that Schezo is there for the orbs that are needed to get through the game, and Schezo wants them, so they fight. It's really boring. The REAL fun begins is during the Waku Puyo manga, where he's a pretty big antagonist for Schezo, constantly trying to "seduce" him (in reality, mind control the guy and take everything from him), and Schezo just fighting back and saying no every time because he doesn't really swing that way. However, the possession finally works, we see Schezo terrorize some people, Bee goes to get help... and then the manga never got finished. Here, Schezo hates him, like everything else on this planet. But I think it's one of the few times he and Bee can come to the agreement that this person is not only ANNOYING, but also sucks to be around. And hey, he's doing his job but that doesn't mean I can't hate him, because I DO hate him in this manga, and probably in general. But that's neither here or there.

Through every interaction in Waku Puyo, one thing is clear, least for the games. They hate each other. Like they really do not like each other at all. Not only because Schezo is a man, but Incubus is just a really petty person in general. He was also searching for the orbs, and Schezo has a majority of them, so Incubus just plans to hog one just because. You can’t really hate that hard on a man who’s willing to hate that much. In the manga… I mean he’s pretty calculating, but man, did Incubus really need that many pages for himself?

Succubus:

Succubus on the other hand... I still don't like much, but only a bit better than Incubus. She goes after Schezo more often than not in media that we've seen mostly because he's the main playable guy most of the time, and there's also the fact that her job is to literally seduce men. Y'know, that sorta stuff.

I think one of her most well known versions of her is the way she is in Madou Saturn, which I can't really say much for Incubus in terms of interactions with Schezo. Schezo, possessed by Lagnus during this time, is is getting whipped by Succubus for the usual, becoming a servant for her as she kidnapped the males in a village for said thing (and also because of a friendly competition with Incubus.), before Lagnus has to let go of the body, awakening Schezo. Man is in PAIN, screaming that this stuff hurts like hell, while Arle and Rulue wonder why Schezo went from somewhat heroic to a screaming baby. I also just want to add Harpy was brought along for this ride forcibly by Rulue. One of the few times I'll feel bad for her. But alas, because of Arle and crew's save, she fights them and tells them about Incubus as well. There's not exactly much to say but it's for sure something.

Waku Puyo on the other hand is much more comedic than anything. During Schezo's route, she puts up fliers about her services all across the amusement park because... well, how else is she going to do her job? Kikimora tells Schezo and he goes off to the races because he wants to meet Succubus, you can take a guess as to why. (Schezo never really thinks THAT ahead in this game to be fair). Meeting up with her, Succubus wonders if he's there to become her servant, which Schezo just kinda says no to because he doesn't serve anyone but himself, and she gets pretty upset at that since to her, he's a handsome man, she should have said handsome man because it's her moral right. Schezo isn't one to fight about who deserves what, because he deserves his magic to be back after getting stolen, and as such, he doesn't care.

They can run into each other again at the Battle Tower, where Succubus decides that she's not going to sell her business in a random amusement park, but to be an usher for the tower... I mean a career choice is always alright. Here, there's not much to discuss as she's more-or-less the blurb you're required to read to understand the Battle Tower, but she does ask why Schezo wanted to meet her again, to which he says that he's not here for her, he promises that much. Succubus then laughs and says he's easy to tease, which is true. He is the second most bullyable man in the series next to Satan for the cast.

It's sorta what you expect from a Succubus, them trying to seduce men and getting mad when the men resist. And Schezo apparently is really good at resisting them, but she can still find room to just troll the guy at least a little bit. Man, ANYONE can bully this guy.

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Skeleton-T:

(Once the coolest dude ever, forever the coolest dude ever.)

Skeleton-T, oh this goofy guy. He's been with us since the very start at this point, and has sadly faded away into someone that not as many people remember, despite the fact that he's a pretty funny skeleton. We had two skeletons take over Tumblr a few years back, so it isn't anything that special, though. But Skeleton-T really is a real one. I personally really like the guy despite the fairly minimal roles he's usually played throughout the series.

How do I explain THIS funny skeleton, I hear you ask. I'm glad the voices that don't exist have asked such a question, and I'll be very happy to answer... Skeleton-T is just a really chill skeleton who likes tea. He offers it to people often, and gets mad when they say no to it, which plays a key role in uh... every single thing he does ever. Other than that, he's pretty chill, even if he gets a grand total of one customer a day. And I like that about him. So what does he even do relating to Schezo? ...It's Waku Puyo, what'd you expect? Something NEW? If only.

Skeleton-T and Schezo... I mean Schezo doesn't actually hate the guy, really. He can find him annoying with the tea thing, but he's never really mad at the guy, all things considered. He's the first boss of the game, as expected with most of the encounters with Skeleton-T, where he asks Schezo if he wants a cup of tea. If Schezo declines, he does in fact get mad at you and the boss begins, though clicking yes I believe leads to a different result. After this fight, Skeleton-T can be seen just kinda wandering PuyoPuyo Land, having a fun time just doing what he wants... until he gets kicked outta some store because of Succubus.

Yeah, when Succubus begins posting her fliers all over the place, Skeleton-T kinda sorta got kicked outta the store he was working at, though I like to pretend that it was a Subway and his sandwich was just that ass, but besides the jokes, he does in fact tell Schezo that some woman (Succubus) kinda threw him out of his store, and Schezo wonders if Skeleton-T was just slacking off if anything, considering he doesn't seem like that sort of person. Either way, Schezo's not really mad at the guy, he was just wondering deep down if Skeleton-T is either a slacker or he legit got booted outta a store. Which he sadly did, that DAMN Succubus ruining a man's 9-5...

Schezo can run into Skeleton-T sometimes in the dungeon's he explores, and oftentimes heals your HP and MP if you sit down and actually drink his tea alongside him. One notable instance can be in the Horror House, where he mentions that for once, he had another customer, a blonde girl who laughed quite often, and Schezo realizes that his two biggest enemies (Arle and Rulue) do in fact, NOT have blonde hair, so he wonders who's the mystery person in this case. I wonder as well...

Schezo runs into him one more time when the Ultimate Tower emerges, where Skeleton-T is freaking out because not ONLY did a tower appear outta nowhere, but even his tea spilled... quite the sad fate, and one fate that leaves Schezo confused at where his priorities really land. And their last talk mostly has Skeleton-T mention that Schezo should sit down and relax a bit with some tea, to which Schezo jokes that the guys brain as well as tea gotta just be green at this point. Skeleton-T takes this as Schezo asking for green tea, which he stops for a bit and wonders for a bit, with Schezo internally saying "...I was joking."

The thing is when it comes to this funny little guy is that his interactions will always involve tea. Talks with Arle, Schezo, even Ringo when he appeared with two other random dudes in Puyo 7 involve tea, it's who he is. But what I like is that the guy here is just... kinda casual about it until someone says no. Granted, Schezo is neutral with the guy and is frankly wondering where the hell his priorities are, but he can sit down every so often and be his only customer, if only because you're playing as Schezo. Go support the local tea business, man.

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Doppelganger Schezo:

(I just really like these lines. And there's not many good Doppel Schezo images to begin because he's niche.)

Doppelganger Schezo, Doppelganger Arle, Lilith, what do these three even have in common? Besides the fact that they're the perfect characters to create headcanons with because they don't even do much, Doppelganger Schezo strikes to me as more interesting of the entire bunch, as there's actually something to him in this game, and I really like what they went with in Schezo's route, it's genuinely something that's really fun to discuss with a grand total of... what, four people? So I get to share this with the class, which is going to be very fun.

So who IS Doppelganger Schezo, where did he come from? It's a good place to start, considering that I'll discuss his personality later. To begin, he's what is called "The Space-Time Crystal", the actual "prize" of PuyoPuyo Land, he's what the entire crew is searching for the entire game, might I add. How he came to be was actually quite simple; Schezo was exploring a labyrinth that always changed its layout when he left the place, so every time would take longer and longer because he'd never know what the layout will be. After finally reaching the crystal, it begins to talk to him, and begins to sap him of all his energy, as Schezo himself before the game properly begins is actually impressively strong. Schezo runs out, conserving what little energy he has left, and is the reason why he starts off weak to begin with. He's THE reason Schezo goes to the place to begin with, to restore his lost powers.

Throughout the entire game, Doppelganger Schezo lurks in the shadows, as we never see his full design until the very end of the game after all three characters have beaten Satan... which is a very tall task in of itself. In this time, he constantly berates Schezo in a menacing and foreboding tone, but is surprised when Schezo does in fact continue on through the dungeons and getting stronger. He's even surprised when Schezo beats Satan.

Finally seeing his full design, Schezo realizes that the voice taunting him was none other than a clone of himself. And it's everything that Schezo was back at the start of the game: Arrogant, confident, a man who will mock you because he knows he's stronger than you. He's proud to take Schezo's magic, taunting him about that fact, stating he wonders who siphoned his magic with a cheeky smirk, before Schezo begins to think about how he knows that his powers got taken. The lines you see him saying are (at least how I interpret and write it):

"Really? The so called "Dark Mage" is going to "defeat" me, of all people? Are you going to go all out, or is that "Dark Mage" nothing but a bluff?"

He's every negative Schezo has. Yet how does that relate to Schezo himself? It's because he's the way to show how much Schezo has grown throughout the entire game. The Doppelganger we see is nothing more than someone trying to be Schezo's past self, and we know through the course of the game that Schezo has grown as a person, whether he likes to admit it or not. He's willing to talk more to people, help them out if he wants to, and even support people when they need some help. He grows to care at least a bit for Kikimora, telling her to not cry and apologizes for his mistakes, becomes friends with Serilly and eases to her greatly, adding on that he's willing to help her if she truly needs it. He takes the precautions Satan says seriously, he feels bad for yelling at Arle. These moments show that yes, Schezo himself has grown greatly as a person (even if he thinks he's going insane), not to mention becoming even stronger as a whole. And Doppelganger Schezo represents what he was before, and something he must finally overcome.

And he does so after a hard-fought battle. Doppelganger Schezo begins to collapse, his body being unable to maintain itself, the tower, all of PuyoPuyo Land. He admits that he's nothing but a clone, someone replicating Schezo, as Schezo himself realizes that the voice in that labyrinth he was at was none other than Doppel, and that he's the one who stole his powers. As Schezo says it's time to regain his old powers back, Doppelganger Schezo stops him, saying that there's no need for such limited power, as Schezo has shattered his own limits and has become even stronger, siphoning him wouldn't do any favors. As the amusement park begins to collapse, Doppel admits that everything will be gone, including him, and with one final sendoff and smirk, teleports everyone who was in the amusement park away, while he and the entire place explode.

As Schezo wakes up again, realizing everything is gone, he realizes that Doppelganger Schezo was more than just a clone, but his old self. The old self that he beat on his own, on his own merit and powers HE gained for himself. As Arle, Satan, and Rulue show up to ask if he's OK, Schezo is surprised at the fact that Doppelganger Schezo even did such a thing for everyone, yet can't help but feel an underlying respect for him.

I love these scenes, as we see everything the game was pushing for Schezo's route, his growth as a person and as a fighter. No matter what, Doppelganger Schezo was just that; A doppelganger who was able to steal someone's abilities, yet that person worked back up to the top to break their limits. He's such a fascinating character, and I'm surprised there's even this much to talk about. Do NOT ask how he's back in Puyo Puyo Box though, I cannot answer that question.

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Runelord:

(Wooo, yeah this guy...)

Runelord. GOD I do not like him at all, he's supposed to be important for Schezo's story and whatnot, but I swear it feels like the most nothing thing despite it being genuinely important. But alas, he's important and I have to talk about him, despite all my rage.

So who is this guy, anyways? Truth be told, there's like three versions of him because why not via the novels, so it's kinda conflicting. In the game he's in though, he's a 200 year old mage who was sealed away by a great hero. That hero is implied to be Lagnus, I believe, but don't take my word for that. He tries to find the next user of the Dark Sword, or better known as Schezo's Sword. Y'see where this is going?

He's ONLY in Madou S, and is the final boss of the route. Throughout the game, he tries to make a then 14 year old Schezo become the next Dark Mage, though Schezo keeps declining and resisting the urge to say yes. He's on a field trip after all. However, at the end of the game, Schezo succumbs to the temptation, and well. We know what he becomes throughout the series.

...That's kinda it for the guy. There's tons of other lore questions that we're bound to ask, but that involves going into True Madou Monogatari, which isn't... canon, at all. I remember when we all thought it was until we learned by the actual people who knew the series that no, it wasn't canon and was just a cool name. Yet that's why people think Lilith is super interesting, so there's that. But seriously, there's not too much to cover with him, besides the fact that he's the reason Schezo holds the sword he does.

It's IMPORTANT, no doubt, but he's a one-off enemy in a game, even Count makes more appearances compared to this guy. There's really not that much.

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Ringo and Ecolo:

(As of writing this section, it's February 13th. I began this on August 22nd.)

Ah, Ringo. Only the third A Girl that gets shafted more often than I like to imagine, second being Atari due to her little circumstance of being in a Japanese only game, and then Ally… who’s been shafted ever since her inception, she’s not even a real thing in Puyo Puyo Tetris 2, but rather just some side mission where she says she loves Marle and the himejoshi’s went wild. (As did most of the fanbase.) And Ecolo, that guy sure exists. Yeah.

But I’m getting off track, we’re talking about Ringo here… as well as Ecolo but alas, there brings a problem… there’s not exactly much TO mention, sadly. Schezo didn’t exist in SEGA Puyo until Puyo 7 decided to bring him back from the dead right after he went missing… and then nothing with him because he’s not really all too plot relevant. We're reaching the segments where some entries will be decently long, and then others (like these two) will become dreadfully short. These two will become dreadfully short.

So to describe these two folks, Ringo and Ecolo, those two people. Ringo herself is the most down-to-earth person in the main cast, as she's basically what we get when we throw in a teenage girl who's too into mathematics into the world of Puyo, and she does her job decently well. She's the one that plays almost everything straight... and Ecolo is the exact opposite of that. He's always the one randomly causing issues, or if there's a problem, he probably knows because... Deus-Ex Machina's idk. (It's in reality because he travels space a lot and can see a lot, but prefers to do chaotic nonsense for the love of the game.)

Ringo's interaction only really extends up to Puyo 7 and 20th Anni, where he's one of the first people she runs into during the third act, The World Wonders arc as I like to call it, where she has to travel across the world to find every wonder, which included Egypt. WHY Schezo was teleported to Egypt is my own guess, but we don't gotta worry about that, just know that his cape is top tier now. What matters is that he's hungry, very hungry for being stranded in the middle of Egypt out of literally nowhere, and asks for Ringo's apple, but phrases it as him wanting her, the classic blunder. Ringo, understandably concerned, fights him off, and he just leaves in anger because he couldn't get the apple. Little did he know though, that was all he was going to do the entire story. Quite fun.

Ringo also appears in Schezo's story, when he's trying to find Satan and kick his ass just because he's really upset at the guy. Ringo throws the pervert allegations directly at him without him saying anything crazy to her, so much so that both he and Arle herself have to mention that it's JUST the power Arle has, not even Arle herself. Ringo doesn't really care, as she finds the guy as a whole weird as hell, they fight, and she leaves, calling the guy a pervert again. Schezo then hates the fact that all he is considered to some is just that; Some random ass pervert.

There's not really a major dynamic to talk about with these two, it's mostly just Ringo seeing this guy as a massive freak, but also apparently one of Arle's friends by 20th anniversary, while also still thinking that he's just one big freak. Schezo doesn't really seem to like her much, either. Ecolo's section is even shorter. In 20th, he just senses Ecolo after the end of is story and Ecolo is impressed. However, during the final story, Schezo does appear to fight Satan, and then notify to both Arle and Ringo that he senses that something bad is going to happen considering that Satan and Ecolo are planning something together, which for our A Duo, spells big trouble.

In Puzzle Pop, there's more interactions at the very least. In Arle's story route, Arle and Schezo do run into Ecolo, who was also dragged into this entire dream world, and blame him for the whole dimension thing, because who wouldn't blame someone who can cross through spacetime easily? Ecolo does mention that he could try and leave, but it's not something he can casually do, and acts clueless about knowing about Meena, before Arle and Schezo fight him. After the fight, it turns out that (of course), Ecolo knows everything about who the culprit is, laughs it off, and tells the two to rendezvous with their friends.

Now why did I even focus on these people despite the fact they have next to nothing on them? Good question, it's because it really goes to show how little these Suzuran people get in terms of interaction with others not really named Ringo. I WISH they interacted more, but they tend to be much more comfortable making each era of games talk to only said era of games, and don't really expand beyond that. But Puzzle Pop changing that makes me at least a bit more content with that. But alas, we gotta make do with what we have.

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Amitie:

(I got two images left, I gotta make these count.)

Here is the other A Girl, the second one in line to the now FIVE we have, and Ally still forever gets shafted no matter how hard we try. It's just the rules of the land that Ally will never ever get anything remotely cool despite it always being so dang close. I like Amitie nowadays, though she took quite some time to get used to, but eventually I got used to the bundle of energy and stupidity that she is and can also be sometimes. But that's fine.

What do we really know about Amitie as a whole? Well, we've known her for well over 20 years at this point (the game came out in 2003, I wasn't even a concept when it dropped), but she's been pretty consistent throughout the series. She's incredibly energetic and upbeat, always having some sorta positive attitude about things as a whole, and aspires to be a great magician. She's been reminding us of that for said 20 years, by the way. Yeah she can be pretty clueless about some more deeper stuff, but her heart is always in the right place. Now how does this relate to Schezo Wegey, who's kinda the exact opposite of what I just mentioned? I'm glad I asked myself, because they interact about three times in the entire series. Which is more than Ringo, ain't that a bit unfortunate.

The first time they talk is in 15th Anni, where Schezo is actually the last fight of Amitie's story, so that's fun. AND he has a good theme to boot. But besides that, Amitie doesn't really recognize Schezo at all, and neither does he, since he's from a completely different place than her. However, something he does notice is Amitie's red Puyo cap, and mentions that it has some latent powers, and that she doesn't really see it, before asking for her (cap). Amitie, understandably, is freaked out by this, and calls him a weirdo, before he has to clarify that he meant the cap, not her, yet he's still called a weirdo. Such is the whims of fate. They then again talk in Puyo 7, where it's actually kinda more or less the same thing, where he talks about wanting Amitie's power (and hat), before she very obviously freaks out and calls him out. Not really much to discuss here to begin with, since it's kinda the same talk in two different games. Schezo is still pretty keen when it comes to latent powers and what can go on, but he still sucks at wording everything that he does or say, ergo, he's always going to fail. Amitie on the other hand, is concerned that some dude with a sword and white hair is asking for her (cap), which is understandable, I'd be scared as hell too.

The final time they really... interact is during the DLC chapter of Puyo Puyo Tetris, where she's in the way of Schezo, who's pursuing Sig for his hand, and attempts to fend off Schezo to the best of her ability. However, because he's the playable character and not her, she loses, and accidentally tells Schezo where Sig might be, while he heads off. A rookie mistake by her, if I say so myself.

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Sig and Klug:

(I'm REALLY running outta images, man. But hey, this has both of them, Schezo, AND Satan for the love of the game.)

These two are going to be talked about in a joint entry for a couple of reasons. The first one being that I can condense these sort of things a lot easier, as when characters have a bit less to talk about, I can simply combine some entries to make my writing shorter, more condense, the three miles. Learned that one in college...

The second and more important reason is because they're often paired together in terms of talking, and they do have some things in common with each other and Schezo as a whole, so I think it'd be fitting to at least discuss them together. At the very least, Klug has more interesting things than Sig in that aspect. And third of all... Puyo Puyo Tetris.

But ANYWHO, Sig and Klug. I like these guys, they're pretty decent to me, which is a fall off for Sig because when I first got into the series he was my favorite, then fell out when PPT1/2 dropped because it turns out that he felt a bit stale for me. Klug has always been someone I liked though, at least. But lets explain these folks.

Sig himself is a very... spacey sorta person. He seems aware of the things around him, but never tends to care much in general, or tends to never understand the gravity of it because he's off in his own little world doing his own thing, usually being collecting insects because he likes them so much. (Is there a lore reason why Sig collects bugs? Is he stupid?) He does things at his own pace, if you will. However, the main claim to fame besides this is his left arm, which is a very distinct red, seemingly corrupted by SOMETHING. Because of that, he has latent powers inside of them, something that's been explored quite a bit when it comes to how it works. If anything, it seems like more of a curse than anything, but he doesn't mind it at all for the most part. Sure that arm can lead into horrors beyond all comprehension, but it's fine, he'll survive.

However, his hand can indeed cause problems, such as... uh, the entirety of Puzzle Pop as a whole. Because Sig was willing to work with Meena mostly because they considered each other friends, the spirit of the hand got to him and he became much more cold and ruthless compared to what he usually is, which is...the exact opposite of that.

When it comes to Klug, there's actually quite a lot of similarities with him and Schezo. The constant need to get better at what they do, both being users of dark magic (kinda sorta), the fact they're annoyed by the titular A girl and have a massive rivalry with the R girl, them both being cursed in some way or form (Possessed Klug is rearing his stupid head), there's actually quite a good bit. Klug himself is pretty different compared to Schezo. A guy who is actually pretty mid by himself, the most average joe to ever average in the Puyo World. As such, he works himself to the bone to be the top of his class, and as such, uses the book he has to make himself stronger... even if the book is actually holding a spirit that can possess him and take over his body. But sometimes we gotta take calculated risks to get better, even if the results end up with you no longer having control of your body. Happens to the best of us.

(Mostly) Klug:

For Klug standalone, there is two interaction, Puzzle Pop as well as 20th Anniversary. In Schezo's story, Klug runs into the cave that Schezo resides in, mostly there for the crystals that apparently give more power to his magic, while Schezo tells him to leave his cave, and since Klug refuses, a battle happens that he loses and runs away from, making Schezo more annoyed than anything.

For Sig and Klug together, the main moment everyone points to is the DLC chapter for Schezo in Tetris 1, where Schezo chases around Sig for his hand and latent powers, and Sig... well, he finds him to be a freak, and runs away from the guy. Meanwhile with Klug, when Schezo runs into him, he's yelling at his book to shut up. Schezo, confused as one should be, tells him to move aside and asks why bro is yelling at a book, and Klug notes that ever since Sig ran by, his book has been chattering, before realizing that the voices are back (The spirit itself). He begins to yell at the book, telling it all the evil things he will do to it... such as leaving it in the bathroom, and creasing the pages on the upper-right corners. The sheer horrors of what Akuma will have to do for that book, and also that spirit itself.

After Schezo helps with the book, Klug asks why he even wants to approach Sig, since he's running from... well, Schezo. He replies with the classic "I just want to examine him all over!" line, and Klug glosses through that before realizing The Implications and runs off as well.

Their interaction in Puzzle Pop is slightly different, with Klug realizing that the book that he holds has a lot of latent power, and Schezo was looking for Klug BECAUSE of that book, and asks him to hand it over because he thinks it'll have knowledge about Meena. As expected, Klug is NOT gonna give the book, as he states that it's quite literally one with him, and fights Schezo to defend the book. After Klug's loss, when Schezo asks again for the book, Klug hits the classic "There's a UFO in the sky" and Schezo falls for the trick as he runs.

What do I gather from these talks? Despite the parallels that are given, Schezo is mostly annoyed by Klug if anything, and vise versa, the feeling is mutual. There's a slight comedy in figuring out that Schezo is beefing with a literal schoolboy over a book on TWO different occasion, and the other was because he was annoying Schezo's quiet time. Like I stated prior, the parallel's are kinda there, but we know deep down they won't do much with them. I like both, I really do, and I'm hoping for a little more between them another time.

Sig:

The main discussion point people want to talk about is Sig, and it's kinda obvious as to why, they're probably the two most popular characters in the Western fandom, and still pretty damn popular in Japan. The entire Chapter 9 story happens because of the fact that Schezo wants to examine Sig's hand and learn about it and gets it power. As such, Sig runs away from him for the entire chapter and Schezo goes by several people he knows and considers his friends (or for the case of Lemres, someone he just knows).At the end of the story, Schezo finally gets to Sig, and states that Sig's hand is now his and to give it to him, and a battle ensues. After Sig loses, we see him in the saddest state we've seen him be in ever, as he realizes that he has to leave all of his bug friends on his hand (Side note, imagine how awful that'd feel for so many people), and when Schezo realizes it, he calls off the entire search.

This entire thing was the basis of the story summed up into a single paragraph. If you're looking at this paper and expecting me to psychoanalyze Chapter 9 for what it holds when deep down it's a comedy chapter, you'd be half-right. For people like Klug, I do it because it's their ONLY interaction together. But Sig has another one in Puzzle Pop, which is more interesting.

Schezo in his own story spends the entire time chasing around Meena, this time to figure out what's going on and to take her powers, sound familiar? While doing so, he runs into many illusions of his friends for his desire to fight powerful opponents, but he finally catches up to Meena. Just as he's about to take her powers, Sig appears outta nowhere and tells Schezo to back off, which confuses him. The Sig he's hearing is much more aggressive and fierce than the one he knows, and this Sig doesn't want Schezo to interfere with anything that he and Meena are planning.

After fighting Schezo, Meena escapes and Sig laughs it off, saying he has no further business with Schezo, leaving as he does so. Schezo then deduces that what Lemres told him (I'll explain in the next entry) was true, and that Sig is most likely the culprit in this entire problem they're in, as well as seeming much stronger than he ever seemed, and realizes he has to dig deeper to truly get to understanding this entire thing.

What's so interesting about this is the fact that Schezo interacts with two completely different Sigs, the one that we see in Puyo Tetris that doesn't like him at all and runs away from him and doesn't like him at all, and the much more confrontational Sig that we see in Puzzle Pop. Schezo reacts in completely different ways too, from his confident self to realizing Sig is just kinda an innocent kid in Tetris, to being surprised that Sig would defend Meena and realize that he's most likely the culprit of the game, taking the situation more seriously than he ever has beforehand. I'm glad it's strayed away from wanting Sig's latent power and the normal wacky hijinks that always happens with these two into something that could be a lot more interesting to just look at, and I'm grateful that it's moving elsewhere.

-----

Lemres:

(Saving him for last because he's my personal fave. Schezo is...my 5th favorite.)

Lemres, this guy is pretty much my favorite character in the series despite my blog being all about old Compile nonsense as well as some Quest stuff here and there. Despite me being... well, the guy that mentions Waku Puyo a ton, I do hold a very soft spot for Fever and Suzuran, because I like a lotta things about Puyo, not just one era. And way to end it with a popular character, huh?

The guy has his fans, I'm one of them, and many insane fans, I am not one of them. But the appeal for the guy is very much there, he's a very chill person with a lot of mystery around him and surprising lore. Y'know, the stuff about him first being a dark mage, but since he didn't like it and his parents forced him to do be such things, he ran away from home and became a Comet Warlock. He's a prodigy in that aspect, and is insanely respected by Klug and Feli... to maybe concerning degrees. His magic runs on sweets, ergo, why he always has so many and is good at making them. There's quite a good bit we dunno about the guy, and that draws people in. And the parts we do know draw more people in. And that's why he's so beloved. Kinda funny that he shares a Voice Actor with Sig (Ben Diskin), who's also incredibly popular.

But enough about the guy. You've reached so far in this thing, I may as well give you one last hurrah with this stuff.

The first time these two ever meet is in Schezo's story of 15th Anniversary. Lemres was told to be the light by Feli, and Schezo must be an assassin of darkness...in his very first fight. When they meet, Schezo realizes that this is the fabled Lemres that she was talking about, and Lemres notes that he's a dark mage off a bit of sensing it as a Comet Warlock. As Schezo boasts that Feli fought admirably, Lemres tells him that he's not going to get any candy since he bullied Feli... which makes Schezo think that Lemres himself is a perv. Lemres takes this rather casually, saying he's never been called that before, and even says he doesn't swing that way to Schezo after he asked him to be his desire, before Schezo clarifies he meant Lemres's power, not Lemres himself. I really like how casual Lemres is about all of this, most people freak out or call Schezo a pervert, but he just shrugs it off and wonders about why he was called one for offering candy. Then again, if most people offer free candy, there might be a bit more to that deal.

Their next interactions is actually in Lemres's storyline in 20th Anniversary. Throughout the entire thing, Lemres has been out of energy because he hasn't been having enough sweets, and most things have not been working well at all. He passed out from salt, and almost passed out again from exhaustion, he was going through the wringer. He randomly stumbles into Schezo's cave and realizes that he SOMEHOW baked an entire cake for himself. Lemres, delusional, jumps Schezo because of that. After he wins, he comments that the cake was alright, but nowhere good as his, yet thanks him and leaves. Compared to the last interaction... I mean we're dealing with a Lemres with exhaustion, the interaction is much more deliberately comedic. That's not to say the 15th Anni talk wasn't, but in a way, it was more subdued, and even flipped the script a bit of Schezo asking Lemres the question instead, and him replying back pretty casually all things considered. I'm not really a big fan of the interaction personally, but I don't think it's bad.

What I DO think isn't a good interaction (IMO) is their talk in Puyo Puyo Tetris, least on Schezo's end. Once again, we run back to Chapter 9, where Schezo is running for Sig and runs into Lemres, who's "Just taking a stroll". They exchange names via their titles, and Schezo thinks Lemres is hiding something from him. On the other hand, Lemres offers him a lollipop just because he seems angry, and they fight due to Schezo's being a bit too angry and him needing some manners. (Oh and the insert whatever you like innuendo is there too ig.)

After the fight, Lemres casually admits that he hopes he delayed Schezo long enough, and that it'd be pretty bad if he and Sig crossed paths...even if it was in a dream. This confuses the hell outta Schezo, who wants answers, but Lemres strolls away, asking for another battle when he wakes up. Schezo just wonders what he meant by a dream, and that if it was the case, everyone else would also be asleep, including Lemres. And they're not sleeping together for sure.

Despite what I said about me not really liking this interaction much, again, it's only really for the Schezo side. He's just agitated and kinda out there to yell and throw out an innuendo, while Lemres just kinda stalls and asks him if he wants a lollipop, least for the first part. The second part does interest me a bit though, what with Lemres saying all that dream nonsense, refuses to elaborate, and just leaves after saying he'd like to battle again sometime. The guy is both confusing and a troll and I'm all for it.

After the fight, Schezo begrudgingly tells Lemres a theory he has: Sure it could very much be Satan or Ecolo up to no good again, but what if it's not them for once? He notes that this sort of power shouldn't be possible by just Meena, so she must've had help from someone. Noting the kid with the red hand (Sig), he finishes his theory and leaves after Lemres asks if he wants candy again. Connecting the dots, Lemres decides to seek out Sig.

What I like about this interaction so much is that Lemres constantly plays the straight man to Schezo's typical antics, though this time, they're both playing it straight. Schezo doesn't trust Lemres, who really just wants answers for what's going on, and they play the roles really damn well. Also helps that they're both smart in-lore, and Schezo continues to prove that Puzzle Pop is his best SEGA outing ever.

With Schezo's story, it's very different due to the fact that it's somewhat similar to Puyo Tetris 1's interaction. Lemres this time is stalling for Meena, mostly because if we want to go off of his story, Meena isn't actually all that dangerous, plus Schezo tends to get physical with people he tries to get. Sound familiar? Schezo takes this as Lemres working for Meena when in reality he just doesn't want Schezo to actually hurt Meena. However, something I do want to mention is Lemres mentioning the whole “Never run into Sig, even if it's a dream” thing. In Puzzle Pop, they kinda ARE in a dream, a collective one at the least. Now I doubt that SEGA was actually planning to make Puzzle Pop and then tie into that little interaction they had together, because that'd be some Aizen level foreshadowing. And as much as I love Puyo, I doubt it's one of those series with foreshadowing like THAT.

Yet as stated prior, the way these two act towards each other has people on their knees for more. The laid-back, almost suspicious and mysterious demeanor of Lemres compared to the usually more brash Schezo, they clash very well for being opposites of one another in terms of skill sets. They're both smart guys, they both understand the situations they're thrown in (save for 20th anni), and despite Schezo often seeing Lemres as some sorta roadblock that always seems to stand in his way, he still respects the guys talent and title, they do only call each other by their titles.  That’s kinda sick.

-----

Conclusion.

So, after all of that text, all that lore dumping, talking about dynamics, who each character is and how they interact with Schezo, what did we learn? Well, what I hope I taught you is that the dynamics of a character can shift so heavily within almost 30-ish years of being a thing. For a personality that's stay relatively the same since his inception, Schezo is a pretty layered character, and his interactions with everyone he meets can be so different, so unique. That by in part is also because the characters he interacts with are also incredibly interesting in their own right, and seeing each of them bounce off one another is really fun.

Schezo at his core is an aloof swordsman who's actually quite smart, even with a major tendency to flub his words and make people assume he's a perv. And look where that went. I covered many characters in this, and there's STILL some I'm probably missing that are either too short to cover or the like. (Characters such as Sasori Man come to mind, alongside others like maybe Feli.) Yet here we are, about 26K words into this, at the very end of this all. Even comedy can have layers, and Puyo is no different. At it's core it's a silly "Blob go pop" game, but there's actually quite a lot to uncover underneath that surface. From the genuinely nice talks he can have with Serilly, to the rivalry between Arle and Rulue, to the parallels like Lagnus and Klug, to flipping his role on his head with Lemres and Witch, there's was quite a lot to mention...and quite a bit I missed. After all, I can only do so much. I didn't even mention some games such as Chronicle or Quest much, that'd still be quite the herculean task. But I do genuinely hope this at least made you learn something new, and that's a win in my books.

And Thanks.

With that, I'm also here to say thanks. Thank you for reading all of this, or at the very least, skimming through some parts to what interested you, I do want to give my heartfelt thanks to everyone.

I also want to give my heartfelt thanks to my friends, the people who proofread this, who helped me get information I otherwise would've missed, the people who cheered me on despite the fact there were in fact a couple of times I just wanted to quit this because of the length... I have quite a list of people I want to thank for everything. Just on Tumblr, at least:

I want to thank specifically:

@kirstenonic05, basically my coworker and the person who helped me get so damn far to begin with.

@dremyink06, For helping me get some vital info for characters such as Lagnus.

@enfoe-afiend, @somegalnamedristet, @sbaily, @therealprincesalde, @redamity I'm listing them all at once because not only did they help with quite a lot of editing, but they also helped cheered me on when it was getting kinda tiring to write.

And...a whole lot more people who don't have Tumblr's or I'm unsure have them, but are still very much my friends nevertheless. There are quite a lot of you, y'know. Thank you all. This was in no way in hell a solo project, and you made this project a lot more enjoyable than it could've been. I may have missed a few things, or even messed up a detail, but I hope that this work can help people learn more about... my 5th favorite character in the series. My Tumblr followers and other voters really said "Make the long ass document about Schezo", and I sure as hell did. And it only took 1 and a half college semesters. Thanks for tuning in. Have a nice day. Adios for now.

[iambicpentameterhamster]

Every umbrella academy character ranked (seasons 1-4)

After that shitshow of a fourth season, i felt it necessary to redo this.

#36 -The Sparrows (Jayme, Alphonso, Fae etc.)

The show had no clue what to do with these characters. They sit around being evil for a little while only to promptly die within four episodes. Also one of them is a fucking cube?!? Whats up with that?

#35 - Sloane

How come she disappears in season 4 but not sparrow Ben? So much of this makes no sense.

#34 -Sparrow Ben

I hate this character with my whole being. He goes around calling people emo as if HE DOESNT WAKE UP EVERY MORNING WITH A SCOWL ON HIS STUPID FACE AND EMO HAIR ON HIS STUPID FOREHEAD. He's so rude and awful and i'm given no reason by the show to give a shit where he ends up.

#33 -Carl Cooper

This one speaks for itself.

#32 -Reggie's wife

The two of them annoyed me so much.

#31 -Viktor

Moochy emo sod. Elliott Page's acting got progressively worse throughout the series (and i like Elliott Page, but this wasnt his best work.)- season 1 Vanya was tolerable, beyond that i couldn't stand this character. All his jokes land flat and he has the charisma of a piece of cardboard.

#30 -Season 4 Five

For the sake of this ranking, i am treating seasons 1-3 Five and season 4 Five as seperate characters. Seems like the writers were doing the same. What the fuck, guys? How do you bulldoze a character this badly?

Season 4 Five was unfunny, selfish, cowardly, and most of all on a different plane of being from the Five we all knew and loved. Screw you, season 4 Five, you're not canon.

#29 -Season 4 Lila

I'm treating Lila the same way. Season 4 Lila was an injustice to seasons 2-3 Lila.

#28 -Harlan

Couldn't care less about him. He represents to me when the umbrella academy started going to shit in season 3.

#27 -Jennifer

Again, we are given no reason to care about her.

#26 -Pogo

He was just there for the exposition. They never explained why Reggie was doing experiments on monkeys??

#25 -Reggie

He was quite a good villain but i still hate him. Really goofy at times, too.

#24 -Jean and Gene

They were quite good actually. If season 4 wasn't a dumpster fire, i reckon they'd have been able to really shine.

#23 -Cha Cha

This is getting into better territory. I liked Cha Cha, she was badass, but not well developed.

#22 -Detective Patch

Again, i liked her, but she wasn't given much time to develop as a character.

#21 -The Swedes

They were funny, whimsical villains that were fun to watch on screen. Funny and whimsical are two adjectives that TUA used to embody.

#20 -Elliott

My guy just wanted to eat fish and be a conspiracy theorist 😔

#19 -Sissy

Welcome back, Sheldon's mum.

In all seriousness, she was well acted despite Viktor's actor giving her nothing to work with, so props to her.

#18 -Dave

WE GOT ZERO MENTIONS OF DAVE IN SEASONS 3-4?!? DESPITE HIM BEING A HUGE PART OF KLAUS'S CHARACTER?!?! WHEN I CATCH YOU WRITERS-

#17 -Destiny's children

I am in fact an active member

#16 -Luther

I have bumped Luther up my list because in seasons 3-4 he sort of embraces his goofiness, but in seasons 1-2 he is an insufferable, incestuous moron. He is up here for good character development and i wished he could have ended up with Sloane.

#15 -Agnes

She was really cute and sweet, i liked her a lot. RIP season 1, you were peak.

#14 -Herb and Dot

They were sweet and funny too, and i miss the whole idea of the time commission.

#13 -Kenny's mum

An honourable mention

#12 -Grace

Grace was super well performed and poignant. I have no issues with Grace.

#11 -Stan

Live, laugh, love Stan. I hate that the trauma of losing him was never mentioned in season 4 for Diego or Lila.

My top 10

#10 -Lenoard Peabody/ Harold Jenkins

I stand by him being one of the best-acted and most cleverly written villains of all time. He is not only a well-executed surprise villain, but a scarily accurate one, and the actor plays him to perfection. We even start to like him before the cracks show. Also he looks like a creepy version of Lin Manuel Miranda.

#9 -Ray

Season 4 did Ray DIRTY. It was completely out of character for him to just walk out. They could have at least have him die in a tragic accident or something. Season 2 Ray is the perfect, most charismatic, ideal man and i hold him in my heart forever and in my head Alison and Ray ended up together.

#8 -Hazel

He had one of the best arcs on the show, period. Continues to represent everything good about the first two seasons of TUA. He was flawed, he was human, he was loveable.

#7 -Umbrella Ben

He seemed like he could have been a brilliant character with more screen time. His sacrifice in season 2 was a genuinely moving moment. The backstreet boys moment is SO FUNNY and his and Klaus's dynamic is something i really miss.

#6 -The Handler

We don't appreciate The Handler enough. The show started rolling downhill as soon as The Handler was gone. She was the glue that held the show together, one of the best villains/antagonists in TV history.

#5 -Allison

Yes, season 3 Allison made some stupid choices and did some terrible things, but a lot of it came from grief and she redeemed herself in season 4 imo. Seasons 1-2 Allison was one of the most charismatic, endearing and empathetic characters on the show.

#4 -Seasons 1-2 Lila

I love you. I miss you. Come back to me.

#3 -Diego

Bumped up the list for being a CONSISTENTLY good character who is flawdd but still extremely loveable and hilarious.

#2 -Seasons 1-3 Five

Seasons 1-3 Five would shoot season 4 Five in the face. He is the daddy here, and season 4 Five is the creepy uncle.

Original Five is a masterfully crafted, hilarious, unique, intelligent character and i will not let season 4 ruin it for me.

#1 -Klaus

This needs no justification.

What do you think? How far do you agree?

[darkrooklobby]

🦜Apollo Justice trilogy (the rant/analysis)🎵✨

Welcome! Allow me to specify what this rant is about:

The game, Apollo Justice (2007 - 2008)

The characters (Apollo, Phoenix, and the Gavin brothers)

The wasted potential (i.e. the other games) (I'm most familiar with AA1-4 the others i've briefly looked at)

Just angry thoughts at 3am

[⚠️SPOILERS FOR APOLLO JUSTICE + TRILOGY!⚠️]

[also the ⚪bulleted points⚪ are facts, the rest is my subjective yapping]

Before I begin my rant, here's some basic information about the game's development:

It's the last game directed by Shu Takumi. The rest of the trilogy is directed by his assistant (Takeshi Yamazaki) meanwhile Shu was busy with the Professor Layton crossover + The great ace attorney.

Capcom literally demanded to insert Phoenix into the game. Shu was against putting Phoenix in, feeling that his story has already come to a natural conclusion, stating, "I felt that Phoenix's story had been told, and that the series should not continue. Knowing when to end a story is very important and I wanted to avoid dragging it out and having it become a shadow of its former self." (Takumi)

In the end, Shu was forced to put Phoenix in, and we got hobo Phoenix, or as I like to call him, Beanix.

Okay so, a brief pause. From what we already know, there is a conflict of interests during development. We have a small group of artists that did a small project called ✨Ace Attorney✨ and then the corporate realized they're sitting on a goldmine. Capcom did not want their mascot, their cash cow, Phoenix Wright, to go just yet. Shu (who wanted a fresh start, and creative freedom) was torn, his team was torn between letting Phoenix go and bringing him in, and you notice that in the game as it goes back and forth. It goes between Phoenix being a main character, interfering, or disappearing for long periods of time. It was on and off, just like their arguments - corporate vs. creative freedom, old vs. the new.

It creates an... odd atmosphere throughout the game. This indecision and forcefulness. Opinions vary 🙃

The corporate unfortunately won. We had Phenix back, not in his former glory, but as a character. (Result? Apollo feels less like a protagonist, suffering, feeling irrelevant in his own game. Not always, of course! But most of the time...)

Facts continue! Apollo Justice (AA4) is the last game with 2D sprites, with some rare 3D elements. (Like Cheeto Klavier🧡)

btw, here's some name puns and meanings:

Apollo is literally named after the god of truth.

"Klavier" means "Piano" in German 🎹 - his Japanese name, Kyoya, means, "to echo/resound".

Kristoph's Japanese name, Kirihito (霧人), when reversed (人斬り - hitokiri) literally translates to "the killer".

Trucy's name pun, Trucy Wright, is supposed to sound like "see-through" (tru-through cy-see)

Lamiror = mirror, Wocky Kitaki = Walkie-Talkie, Drew Misham = Draw-me-a-sham, etc.

Okay, so. About the 1️⃣first case1️⃣: It's a widely accepted opinion that the first trial is the best one, and it's hard to disagree. It's a completely new thing (almost as if Shu was planning on starting an entirely new trilogy without Phenix Wright! Can you imagine?!--) and because the first trial is so good, with a great twist and a fun conclusion, other trials pale in comparison. Let's see, we have a new quirky protagonist (he's fine) a gentleman for a mentor (a character with depth, as we will come to know) a fallen attorney with shady history (Mr. Phenix Wright) along a complex, yet understandable, mystery. What is lovely about the first case is that it makes you think just enough, the trial flows nicely for the sub-plot to come out, and the twist is perfect.

Of course, I imagine that Japanese players might have seen the twist coming a bit earlier, looking at Kristoph's name-pun, but all-in-all it's a great start! The question is - is it a great start for the new franchise that Shu wanted to make? Is it a great start for Apollo as an attorney and as a character? ...Or, is it a great start, for the old greedy company to push good old Phoenix back into spotlight and collect more money? 🤔🤔🤔

Here's some facts about the direction the game hoped to take:

The game delved into darker themes on purpose, like a "grown up" version of Ace attorney for the next generation. It was hoping to shift the tone from the previous three games more towards realism. (AA1 was a bit comedic, we cross-examined a parrot, the crimes were less complex compared to AA3. With AA4, the idea was to make AA3 but better.) It tried to set Apollo as a more independent lawyer, trusting no one, without any mentor (like Mia in previous games) coming back every other case.

With the first case, Apollo becomes independent in a sense, but... well.

Apollo basically third-wheeled in Phoenix/Kristoph divorce. That's basically what happened in that trial. Somehow, we managed to shift all the attention from Apollo's character growth into these two men. Apollo's independent now because he got left alone in the trash while the AA team tries to figure out what the fuck to do with Phoenix and how to shove the whole thing together.

The entire game was made with the idea of change, a fresh start & fresh blood in mind! We don't get much character growth from the main characters AT ALL because, at some point in development, there was a decision made: They thought they will make a sequel. AA games so far relied on story continuity, chronological events, time passing, characters evolving, events making an impact on the characters, etc.

Apollo Justice, a beginning game of a trilogy, was written specifically in a way to have a sequel. There were things left unanswered for a reason. They took things slow, and the idea of the sequel was planned to go more into the Gramarye troupe, Gavin brothers, and Apollo's family. (Shu even had an entire backstory written for the Gavin brothers, but it was scrapped by the new team) (I'll get into it later.) This was also the reason why the game had potential, but never went all the way. The plot was more complex, and was made specifically with a direct continuation in mind, which never came to pass. We instead got... an entire rework. (again, i'll get into it later 😂)

Some art facts, since i'm an artist: They were thinking over a few variants of the character designs before they settled on the current ones. They wanted to have a protagonist more energetic than Phoenix, more blunt, an idealist, less bluffing, like a new generation kid kinda-thing. Apollo has distinct spiky hair, is different, is less tall, has a wide forehead... did you know, the design team had a few designs with different forehead wide-nesses? Wild. Apollo's color scheme is Godot's inverted, and as far away from Phoenix's dark blue design as possible (gee I wonder why...)

(Also, the Gavin brothers originally had two mirrored pointy hair-swirls, resembling pharaoh head covers, and I think that's dope as hell)

Either way, you must admit that the designs for this game are more detailed, colorful, animated, and beautiful. Honestly!!! 💖 The art direction did splendidly, and I'm glad at least that aspect wasn't affected by the disagreements of the company vs. writers :)

Fun fact: The game sold well, actually. Back in the day, people were into original ideas, instead of everything getting a live-action remake nobody asked for, an animated reimagining, and an unnecessary second part. (...Can you tell I'm dissing Disney? You can.)

Now that I'm at a point where I can speak of continuations, let's see what happened: The game released as is. It had a story, sometimes a bit awkward because of the team vs. company disagreements being physically felt through the script. People bought it and the fandom was immediately split down the middle into various factions. (Again, I was young, but this point of contention is strong even today.)

People who liked the new ideas, characters, and plot, and liked Phoenix Wright being there.

People who liked the new ideas, characters, and plot, but disliked Phoenix Wright's presence. (my stance right now)

People who disliked the new things because they wanted the same old Phoenix Wright games. They wanted everything that has already concluded, to continue. (my stance 6 years ago - Since it wasn't believable that a guy like Phoenix Wright, with so many friends, would end up like this. It was so unrealistic to me, so odd, that I refused to see this game as canonical. Literal denial 🥲🥲🥲)

People who disliked the game despite being ready for new content, just because.

Next up, 7 YEARS PASS.

Yup. The disagreement, the dissatisfaction from the creators vs. company, split fan reactions, despite a fine profit, caused a change of direction, and a rift. Characters and story-lines forgotten. Literally.

The next entries after Apollo Justice don't mention the events of it -because of a company-enforced "no spoiler/connection" restrictions. Capcom created the restriction to appeal to new fans, while not spoiling previous games so they might be compelled to play them. (Again, corporate wins over… continuity, this time.) - Which means the bare minimum of character growth and history we could have seen IS NOW GONE and will never be brought into relevancy again. (unless I missed something from the 3D games, in which case let me know.)

And we get a complete overhaul, while going back to the classic AA, but this time we get a new cast to focus on and begin again and we pretend Apollo Justice doesn't exist! (Rant number 4, here we go 🥴)

My main rant so far would be about wasted potential and creative differences. Yes, they weren't strong enough to do a clean break from the past (Capcom forcing Phoenix back, not letting him "die" even though his story concluded) Yes, there's wasted potential because character growth of the protagonist is stunted by greed and confusion (Capcom demands? Fine. Phoenix must be here to appeal to all fans, for all the money. Ok. Cool. We can't be creative anymore and original ideas are shunned! 2008? Bah, nothing has changed in 2024!) and yes, the game's story suffers because of this, despite being very pleasing to look at (the sprites & animations don't hit quite the same anymore.)

I'm not even gonna go into how Apollo was forgotten and suddenly he has four backstories because he failed to establish himself solid in his introductory game without a planned sequel, and Capcom was like "Oh shit this guy exists, um, what do we do" - while also refusing to address and build upon plot points existing in the main game: Apollo had history in court. He had a character building event of incarcerating his mentor. Apollo already had family, which hasn't told him anything yet. He had Trucy. He had a courtroom rival, which he promised to rid of darkness. He gained a new mentor, a shady one, who he punched to the face! He saw the dark side of the law. He saw the "dark age of the law". He saw a better way to do things and fix the system with a jury, which was used once and forgotten about. He had a goal. He had potential... - but then he has been rebuilt and redesigned four times, given things he already had and replaced them and Capcom pulled a nonexistent best friend out of their ass out of nowhere just to give Apollo fake-depth and use (i had to look him up) CLAY TERRAN as A ONE-OFF PLOT POINT and I HATE BAD WRITING LIKE THAT, MAKING A CHARACTER that's just there for that one purpose and---🤬

I'm also not gonna go into the fact that a case-specific NPC gets more character growth than the main cast.

And I also won't rant about the 3D continuations of AA. All I'm gonna say is that, they shouldn't be under a name "Apollo Justice Trilogy" because, what the fuck happened to that guy. Who is he even? What? What game are you basing this on? Who?

The game was like a failed start to do something new... and not achieving it, stopping short of crossing the final line bravely.

This was 3 am. yapping, I hope to inspire discussion, roast my opinions I love to argue over nerdy shit 💖🥰💖

(sources: Ace Attorney Wiki, VGfacts, NezumiVA, AA_Facts on Twitter)

[felassan]

Journal entry on the official website. [source]

"Introducing The Veilguard Welcome back to Thedas"

--

"Hey everyone, It’s been too long since we last spoke! We’re happy to bring back our community blog series, where we can chat with you about our next adventure - Dragon Age: The Veilguard. If you’re joining us just now, earlier this week we released a blog detailing how we renamed the game to better represent what makes it special - it’s about you and your companions – not your enemies – that are at the heart of this new experience. Check that out alongside our Official Reveal Trailer which premiered at the Xbox Showcase on June 9th, where you first meet your seven companions. We’re also excited to open the official BioWare Discord server. You can expect news drops, giveaways, activities, and more planned between now and launch. This is our new dedicated home where we look forward to bringing this one-of-a-kind community together with a space to engage more frequently and celebrate your favorite stories and characters from Dragon Age: The Veilguard and others in the franchise. But that’s not all. We know what you value the most is seeing the game as it is, exactly how you’ll play it. So, we’re happy to provide you with a look from the opening moments of the game. Grab some snacks as we have 15+ minutes to explore Dragon Age: The Veilguard together."

--

"Are you the hero Thedas needs? This video from the first moments of the game is just the tip of the iceberg, and there’s so much more to discover on this epic journey. You’ll explore Thedas, uniting a cast of (yes, romanceable!) companions as you fight against ancient elven gods. In this crafted character-driven RPG, you’ll visit meticulously crafted biomes and beautiful regions, some that you’ve only heard whispers about in Dragon Age lore, including Rivain, Weisshaupt, Arlathan, Minrathous, and the Deep Roads - to name a few. We’ll have a lot more coming this summer as we fully detail what’s in store. You’ll begin by diving into the Character Creator. You’ll choose your class, lineage, gender, overall appearance and more. Choosing which faction Rook is part of will unlock different narrative, dialogue, and gameplay interactions. Combat is another area that has a lot of depth to it - both in how you choose to defeat your enemies and its progression throughout the game. The game will support various skill levels, but at its core, Dragon Age: The Veilguard has fluid moment-to-moment combat where you can choose between three classes - Warrior, Mage, or Rogue – each having their own advanced specializations. There's also a layer of tactical depth for those who want to dig in, which we really didn't get to cover in the video. Our new customizable ability wheel will help you turn the tide of battle at any time. It will allow you to pause the action, issue commands to your followers, use abilities, and unleash devastating combos. As you become more powerful, you can start to see the potential in how much fun (and hectic) things can get. We're also giving the option to use some of your abilities via a shortcut. Giving you these different kinds of options is something we thought a lot about and wanted to provide so you can find the playstyle that best fits you. Alright, that’s it for now as we’ll dive deeper into this and all things Dragon Age: The Veilguard through the Fall." Before we go, if you haven’t seen this yet, we wanted to provide an overview of what we have upcoming. As we’ve said earlier, we plan to continue revealing more about Dragon Age: The Veilguard and answer your burning questions. However, there’ll be some things we have to keep close to the chest as we get closer to launch. Remember to join the custom console giveaway before entries close on June 16th*, and set a reminder for our Developer Discord Q&A on June 14th at 10am PT. Submit your questions in the #ask-bioware channel on the server! Dragon Age: The Veilguard will be coming to PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5 in Fall 2024.  That’s all for now, talk soon! -- The Dragon Age Community Team *Sponsor: Trufan Inc. NO PURCHASE NEC. 18+ Ends June 17, 2024. For full details see  https://go.ea.com/DATVGiveaway"

[lanternouslobster]

Ough this took way too long. Alright, here goes

Alright, welcome to the first part of my reboot analysis series! I'll be doing a series of essays (likely varying in length) on each of the 16 contestants in the Total Drama Island reboot. Each essay will consist of a main portion comprised of canon analysis, followed by a much smaller section talking about my own headcanons for how they turned out as they have. I'm choosing each subject by random draw, and up first is Ripper. Without further ado, let's get started!

This is certainly an interesting place to start. When the first season was initially released, I know a lot of people disliked Ripper. And I mean a lot. I don’t really blame them— the whole farting aspect to his character is pretty prevalent in his first run, and it’s not exactly pleasant to watch. However, it’s not the only aspect to him. Somehow, the writers managed to build up a really interesting character underneath the surface. A shame that the farting deters a lot of people from seeing it.

Meet the Victims immediately gives us a solid sense of who Ripper is. He’s obsessed with being perceived as masculine, between ripping his shirt off & flexing to show off when he first gets to the dock and later calling himself an “alfalfa male”, presumably in an attempt to call himself an alpha. He holds an extremely stereotypical view of what masculinity is, most notably indicated in his audition tape when he claims that caring about others is a weakness. He wants to be seen as strong and dominant, attributes befitting what he thinks a man should be. However, right off the bat, it’s clear that we as an audience are supposed to see straight through Ripper’s façade. When he rips off his shirt to show off, Priya and Millie are far less than impressed. He’s unable to snap back when Wayne and Raj make fun of him. It takes a single glare from Axel for him to back down from wanting to put up a fight. He clearly isn’t everything he wants to be made out to be.

Throughout the show, Ripper is shown to be incredibly stubborn when not intimidated out of his actions. During the challenge in Meet the Victims, he outright ignores Millie’s directions in favor of going his own way, and he doesn’t show any sense of regret for doing so even as it’s clear he’s just making it more difficult for himself. In Pirates of the Cabbage’an, he fights with Axel over being the team’s captain despite her clearly being more qualified, and not even a kick to the face deters him from quarrelling with her after the challenge. When anyone tries to tell him anything even resembling logic, he just shuts them down by calling them a nerd. Throughout the entirety of the first season, he shows no inclination to change, and his stubbornness in his actions makes everyone incredibly annoyed at his presence for his entire run.

However, annoyance isn’t the full extent of the impact Ripper makes on the other contestants. While he’s written to be a joke of a character, he still inflicts harm on the people around him. The most notable instance is him using Priya as a human shield in Numbskull Island, though him abandoning Zee in Severe Eggs and Pains is also a fitting example. The damage he’s done to people, while played as a joke, is still something that should be taken into account.

Speaking of Severe Eggs and Pains, there are a few lines from Ripper that uh. Stick out from any others. The first being his line about his mom being right about babies ruining everything, which is… alarming at best. The next is his line talking about how his dad used to drop him and his three brothers all the time. Both of these lines indicate he may lack a stable familial life. Assuming his mother’s sentiment towards children is something she currently has rather than a phase from the past, she likely doesn’t show much warmth and may even feel vitriol towards her own kids, Ripper included. And while a single instance of his father dropping him or any of his brothers could simply be a case of clumsiness, an accident not stemming from any sort of malice or lack of consideration for their well-beings, the fact that it was a repeated event tells otherwise. Any parent who truly cared for the health and safety of their children would either be more careful moving forward to not cause them harm or would outright avoid situations in which harm could result. The fact that it continuously happened indicates a lack of care from Ripper’s father. This could very well be where Ripper derived all of his ideas of what masculinity is supposed to be, especially his views on caring for others being a weakness.

When looking at the entire scope of his season 1 run, it becomes rather clear to me what he represents: toxic masculinity and all the harm that it does. He desperately wants to be seen as hypermasculine, and in his eyes, he can’t show something as weak as compassion towards anybody around him. This leads to him often hurting others without a care in order to get what he wants. However, it’s not only those around him whom he hurts; he’s hurting himself as well. His hardheaded nature and belief that he’s supposed to be strong and dominant results in him ignoring the advice and instructions of others who are more knowledgeable and capable than him, which is always to his detriment. His behavior also drives away any possibility of stable social bonds. The only friends he really makes are Chase, who is far from good friend material, and debatably Zee, who’s friendly with everyone no matter what. Everyone else hates his guts and hardly wishes to be in his presence. From his actions in hurting Priya in Numbskull Island to his elimination in Wheel of Vomit, he gets by on pure circumstance rather than a desire from others to keep him. In Numbskull Island, he barely survives the elimination because Millie flips. In Jurassic Fart, Damien’s initial desire to be eliminated overrides the fact that Ripper likely would be voted out otherwise. In The Launchback of Notre Game, the Ferocious Trout win, so Ripper has immunity. In Severe Eggs and Pains, while many of the others are irritated at Ripper, Wayne and Raj get med evac-ed before they can vote. Finally, in Wheel of Vomit, they’re given a clear shot at taking Ripper out and take it. All that to say, Ripper got by so far purely as a fluke and would’ve been taken out far quicker if the universe didn’t seem to be on his side. Despite clearly attracting negative attention throughout the game, Ripper makes no attempt to change his ways due to how rooted he is in the idea of being a “man”. His obsession with traditional, toxic masculinity burns his bridges with the other contestants, making a detrimental impact on his social life that carries into the following season. As he’s eliminated from the game, he leaves with an interesting remark: that he’ll wait until he’s home to cry. That he’ll wait until he can finally let out all his emotions unseen. He’s capable of sadness, of regret, of feeling, but he can’t afford to show it to anyone else. Not if he wants to be a real man.

But then, going into the second season, there’s an interesting shift. Yes, he’s still as headstrong and sure of himself as ever, shown by his indignation at how he was picked last for a team. He still sees himself as capable and strong. However, his priorities seem to have shifted from his initial goals of showcasing masculinity. Instead, he now has a new focus: his infatuation with Axel.

The thing that makes Ripper’s crush on Axel interesting is that it isn’t performative, like how his attempt at flirting(?) on the dock in Meet the Victims was. No, his love for her is genuine. Something about her has wholly encapsulated him, and he wants to be with her for reasons far deeper than the fact that having a girlfriend is an attribute befitting the traditional man. It’s especially interesting considering how all of their previous interactions, particularly in Pirates of the Cabbage’an, have consisted purely of the two fighting each other. Perhaps having someone stand up to him— a woman, mind you— made his previous ideas on what he was supposed to be falter. It clearly wasn’t something that immediately made an impact, given how his behavior hardly changed through the first season, but it was likely something he thought about after the show. The fact that her strength clearly outmatched his gave him a lot of things to consider surrounding what he truly stood for. She was new, unfamiliar, and her existence outright challenged his. And so, he wished to be with her. She was an impressive monument of strength and capability, someone that he grew to appreciate rather than fight against. With these new emotions that he started the second season with came a new attribute to him, something that went against everything he once aimed to be: care. He cared about Axel. And that one attribute changed everything about him.

Throughout season 2, Ripper’s actions become far less self-serving and harmful towards others. There aren’t really any new events similar to him using Priya as a shield or abandoning Zee to fend against the cassowary. While he does work to help his team, he has no place in the Raynebow-MKulia rivalry that goes down. Instead, he’s mostly focused on impressing Axel in order to woo her. This causes a shift in his writing that, generally, the fandom seems to enjoy more than his first season writing.

At first, his attempts to attract Axel’s attention fall in line with his previous season 1 mindset. In Taking it to the Rim Reaper, he tries to show off to Axel with an attempt at using a. uh. unique strategy to win the challenge, which follows the still-present value he holds in appearing strong. However, this seems to be the last time he really shows this sort of train of thought. After all, in You Poor Saps, he seems to be more interested in being alone with Axel to talk to her than he is in impressing her. His actions shift to be about her rather than about how she sees him.

This is especially clear in Choosin’ for a Bruisin’. In the beginning of the episode, Axel rejects Ripper by saying he’s not her type— and it’s understandable why she would think that at this point in time. The Ripper she knows is the one from season 1. The Ripper who’s solely self-serving, headstrong to the point of self-sabotage, and generally more successful getting himself into trouble than solving problems. In other words, someone who clearly would be nothing short of infuriating to be in the vicinity of, let alone date. However, this episode is what shows for sure that he’s now completely different. When Axel admits in her would-you-rather tape that she enjoys poetry, Ripper sees it as an opportunity. If this had been in season 1, he absolutely would’ve laughed. Poetry is the exact type of hobby that he would’ve labeled Axel as a nerd for. He would have teased her to no end over it. But this is season 2, and Ripper doesn’t see Axel as any less of a person for her enjoying something he would have once seen as weak. In fact, he decides to fully embrace her interest. I severely doubt Ripper had any interest in poetry himself predating this episode, but he still steps out of his comfort zone to make something for Axel based on her interests. He even includes stuff relating to her obsession with the zombie apocalypse in his writing, going even further to show that she’s doing this for her, not just as some performative action to get a girlfriend just because he thinks he should. He genuinely cares about her, and not once does he worry that such feelings are making him appear weak. The cycle of toxic masculinity is losing its hold on him, because for the first time, he’s letting himself feel genuine love for someone.

I think that’s all I have to say in terms of canon analysis. Of course, he has more screentime after Choosin’ for a Bruisin’, but I dunno how much I can do to critically examine him repeatedly making out with Axel. A lot of that stuff (esp. in Fun Fight at the O’Cake Corral) I’m planning to go over when I cover Axel, anyways, so I’ll save it for her future essay.

Anyways, now onto family headcanons I have for Ripper that may explain why he is the way he is! I’ll keep it short, since this is already 2k+ words.

Ripper’s parents are divorced. They split pretty quickly after he was born. It was bound to happen whether they had a kid or not, since the two were extremely incompatible and fought all the time— however, Ripper’s existence gave his mom something to blame the falling-apart of the marriage on so she didn’t have to face any accountability for it herself. Ripper went to his dad, since his mom didn’t want him. His dad remarried pretty quickly, and it’s that marriage where Ripper’s three younger brothers come from.

Ripper never saw much love from his father. He was an emotionally distant man, someone who believed that showing warmth made him weak. He’s who Ripper derived all his ideals of what he’s supposed to be from. Because of these circumstances, Ripper’s never really had a constant source of love and care in his life. The closest he’s ever gotten is tidbits of approval from his father whenever he emulates his callous attitude, which made him lean even further into that. He’s been left to fend for himself emotionally, thus causing him to develop his rude and insufferable behavior towards others. Axel is his first experience in being genuinely loved. His first time breaking out of the shell he’s been raised to build. He’s finally allowing himself to feel like a human being.

And that's a wrap! This was fun to write. I'm definitely looking forward to writing more of these. Sorry if any of what I said here is inaccurate or if I missed anything, it was difficult finding Ripper scenepacks on YouTube and I didn't really wanna watch through the whole show again.

The wheel of names has decided that Nichelle will be next! I don't think her essay will be as long as this, since she has far less screentime to go off of. I already have a few ideas, though, so there'll at least be something to write.

With that, I'm signing off! See you for part 2!

[ddd-lost-lady-del]

What Yugioh deck would ISAT characters play?

Welcome to a series that was inspired by the existence of multiple posts that crossover between two of my interests: ISAT and Yugioh. What comes of this? Why a thought of what currently released Yugioh TCG decks (as of January 2025) would each ISAT main character play. I do want to put a disclaimer that I do not know every deck and how it plays and a Pendulum fan so there may be some bias.

Also quite obviously there will be full game spoilers for In Stars And Time so be warned when reading.

Part 1: Siffrin

Starting with our lovely protagonist I want to start with what I feel closely aligns with Siffrin on multiple axes: Performapal Odd-Eyes.

The first argument for this is that this is the deck used by Yuya Sakaki, the protagonist of Arc-V which I know is a poor argument on its own but hear me out folks.

A lot of Siffrin that we see throughout the game is a character that does their best to hide the sadness that their life holds and ultimately doing their best to make the other party members, their family happy. Yuya's whole character schtick is using duelling as a means to spread happiness and smiles. Even when we see him pushed to his limits for the most part Yuya pushes himself to be happy and spread smiles through his entertainment duelling style. Both characters are a little goofy in their way they go about things, Siffrin with his puns and Yuya with his dorky actions with using his monsters in his duelling style, using Performapal Whip Snake as a rope to swing across gaps, riding on Performapal Hip Hippo to escape attacks,or jumping off of Performapal Trampolynx for extra height being examples of Yuya using his monsters in his duelling style.

Moving away from how Siffrin is similar to Yuya because it's a flimsy argument to justify a deck I now want to discuss Siffrin's playstyle and how it connects to a Peformapal Odd-Eyes deck. Firstly, versatility. Siffrin has access to every to every kind of skill except one, debuffs. I'm not looking to assign each extra summoning type to a skill but I do want to take the idea of not having every skill available to you to be relevant. Performapal Odd-Eyes also lacks a single in archetype summoning type (we are not including Gemini they're effectively normal or basic effect monsters with extra steps) in not having an in-archetype link monster. Most of the different summoning types come from the Odd-Eyes part of the deck examples being Odd-Eyes Pendulumgraph Dragon for Ritual, Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon for Fusion, Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon for XYZ, and Odd-Eyes Meteorburst Dragon for Synchro. However, some of these cards are accessible through Performapal cards like Performapal Odd-eyes Dissolver and Perfomapal Odd-eyes Synchron (Yes they're also Odd-Eyes but you get the point).

One thing that strongly connects the Performapal section of the deck with Siffrin is that the names would be a major part of what would influence his choice. Performapals include Camelump, Changeraffe, Elephammer, Friendonkey, Secondonkey, Drummerilla, guitartle, Gongato, Kaleidoscorp, Lizardraw, Monkeyboard, Parrotrio, Partnaga, Rain Goat, Swincobra, Trampolynx, and Trumpanda. There are a fair few that don't follow this naming scheme like Ladyange, Gentrude, Coin Dragon, and Celestial Magician but a fair few of the Performapal cards are cards that are a portmanteau of two different words and we all know how Siffrin likes their puns.

Finally I want to discuss another major part of Performapal that connects to Siffrin's playstyle. A fair part of the Performapal strategy focuses on modulating attack stats for your benefit. Usually this is in the form of buffs to attack with cards like Perfomapal Silver Claw, Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer, Performapal Gold Fang, Performapal Fire Mufferlion, or Yuya's anchor and resident mediocre card Smile World however there are cards that benefit from these buffs such as Performapal Smile Sorcerer which draws cards for each monster you control with attack higher than its original. This connects to Siffrin's own playstyle with the buffs of Make Up The Time (speed) and Done Heal (attack). Boosting others attack to assist in destroying the enemy and providing advantage with higher rate of turns with speed (which we can look at as more cards).

One final point I will make for this deck is how many working eyes Siffrin has. One, an odd amount of eyes. I rest my case.

Now I understand that there are other decks that could fit in to Siffrin at different moments of the story or have minor connections to Siffrin as either funny little nods or otherwise so I wanted to give a small talk about some of these decks.

Abyss Actor: This deck would definitely work with Siffrin's theatre background however I feel he wouldn't turn to this deck until he begins to heavily fall into the theatre speech circa act 3-5 and becomes the main dialogue of his character. Each Abyss Actor monster fills a role like Abyss Actor Sassy Rookie, Abyss Actor Trendy Understudy, Abyss Actor Evil Heel, and Abyss Actor Comic Relief. Much like the monsters there's the existence of the Abyss Scripts which are the spell cards for the archetype. With Siffrin's fall into seeing the world as a play that he is having to repeatedly participate in, a deck like the Abyss Actors would be a strong characteristics choice.

Time Thief: This one is just a funny nod to Siffrin's situation. It's a thief/rogue class that is stuck looping through time and can technically force the loop. They're a Time Thief lol. The only other close connection would be Time Thief Redoer's effect when detaching a monster from it to "Banish this card until the End Phase).

So yeah, that's the first part of my personal analysis of what Yugioh deck that the ISAT characters. If you have any other decks that Siffrin would play I would be happy to hear as I know I don't know every archetype that exists in Yugioh and I'm likely to have missed something that would fit.

Ta ta

(sources: All Yugioh Cards were taken from https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Yugipedia

Images of Siffrin from https://instarsandtime.wiki.gg/wiki/Siffrin/Gallery

Yuya Sakaki Goggles GIF

https://tenor.com/en-GB/view/yuya-sakaki-goggle-yugioh-arc-v-yu-gi-oh-anime-boy-gif-18010633?utm_source=share-button&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=pinterest)