#and least prone to violence when there are other options

[fantastic-mr-corvid]

ok shen is in a weird position because she is the sanest one and teh one with the most morals out of the authority but its a most not a the shes also completely abnormal in her own way but its weird cause i dont want her to be the woc with the braincellTM. but she is also the sanest.

so mad with grief because she gained an intrinsic connection to the world on top of her massive empathy just as it was dying :) this will have no long term consequences and wont lead to her and the group devolving into a mess.

[citrus-soju]

I already talked about it in this post, but I want to share all of my thoughts properly.

The Metal Masked Assassin (I'll refer to him as MMA) was an incredibly unlucky person when you think about it. His mother passed away right after he was born. It's assumed she either died of blood loss due to birth complications, or she might have even been murdered, due to her baby being born with albinism.

We don't know anything about his father's whereabouts, if he's alive or dead, if he would take his children in if he knew. Either way, he's not in the picture. But unluckily, MMA was "left a brother".

Logically, we can put together that MMA's brother was older than him. We don't know for sure how many years the two siblings were apart, though. Judging by the picture of them as teens, their age difference doesn't appear to be too great. Of course, MMA might simply be tall, even as a teenager, and looking older than he really is.

There's also a possibility that, while both of them are depicted as teenagers in this picture, Agent 216 was actually already an adult while MMA was still young. It would make more sense for authorities to leave an infant in the care of a relative who's over at least 16 years old than leaving two young children completely on their own.

We can only speculate about their childhood years, honestly, since there is not much known at all. They could have been adopted by a distant relative, placed in a foster family, given up for adoption... But one thing is for sure, just from looking at these pictures - Even as teenagers, they were already prone to violence, and already hiding their faces.

Perhaps they got by thanks to armed robberies, perhaps they were already training to be assassins at this age. Personally, I'm voting for the first option, just because their clothes appear to be in a bad condition, holes and all, which is not the case in the image depicting them as adults. Their weapon of choice is also quite different; the bat and axe being more commonly used for self protection or work, and the machete/knife looking much more professional.

But now to the part I've been wanting to talk about.

Let's start with what we know about Agent 216. According to General Crozier, he is a "trained killer". That means, someone, or some kind of organization, must have taken him under their wing and taught him the art of being an assassin at some point. At least as a teenager. It's never specified where the two assassins got their education from. But however and wherever they spent their youth; Agent 216 was most likely the more skilled assassin, considering he's the one the General confides in and claims to be "perfect".

Ah yes, General Crozier. At least as an adult, Agent 216 must have some sort of connection to the US Military, or at least General Crozier directly, since it's him who personally hires him, and then informs MMA about his death later. No other tribunal members are present, nor are they aware that he was hired to kill, not just to spy.

What I find really interesting is that Agent 216 has a tattoo of the FalconBack Project logo on his left arm. Whatever that means. It makes me wonder if he and Crozier have some kind of connection outside of the deal, and if the assassination attempt on Dethklok was more of a personal favor to the General instead of a one time deal. Whatever connection they have was apparently meaningful enough for Agent 216 to get involved in a top secret project led by Salacia himself - but not his younger brother.

This raises a whole bunch of questions, but that's for another day and another post.

So where is MMA in all this? Where was he in all this?

While MMA is a violent person and seemingly has a passion for murder, what stood out to me is that he is never actually seen involved in any assassination related jobs that don't directly involve avenging his dead brother in a way - besides that one time where he's introduced. The people he fixates on besides Dethklok themselves are Klokateers and Charles Ofdensen, in particular. Perhaps that can simply be blamed on MMA's lack of screen time, but I would leave it up to Brendon Small to consider any small detail.

MMA appears to be as goal driven and determined as he is violent, with only a single goal in mind throughout the entire series - avenging Agent 216, regardless of what it may cost. He's willing to dispose of anyone who gets in his way, including his allies (Magnus).

What I'm thinking is... what if he wasn't even a blade for hire before the death of his brother? What if the only reason why Crozier was able to "hire" him was because of his promise for revenge? What if Agent 216 was the "actual" assassin among them, while MMA was more or less a sick and dependent child who simply got caught up in the situation?

This sounds farfetched but hear me out.

Regardless of how they grew up, regardless of what led up to this point; MMA's older brother was clearly very dear to him. So dear, in fact, that avenging him consumed every bit of space on his mind. While MMA willingly recruited people to assist him in his cause, for the most part, he used people who felt wronged by Dethklok for his own gain. Instead of viewing them as likeminded individuals, he saw them as underlings. Even Magnus, who did most of the "negotiating" during DSR, treated Toki's wounds and fed him, was just a puppet to MMA in the end. Once Magnus didn't cooperate with him anymore (claiming that the death of Ishnifus "wasn't part of his plan"), MMA didn't hesitate to show who's the REAL mastermind behind it all ("this was never your plan").

Throughout the series, we definitely saw that MMA has a tendency to use people for his benefit, and discard them once they're no longer useful to him, without any consideration for their feelings, or even their lives. We also learn that he's not much of a "talker" and much rather a "do-er". He leaves all the talking to Magnus, who dramatically goes off to Toki and Abigail about his reasoning, while MMA is in the background only thinking about revenge and his brother.

He seems to do very poorly with things not going his way. He doesn't listen to instructions from Crozier. He refuses to let Magnus berate him. Like a child, he no longer wants to play the game if it's not by his rules.

This is acquired behavior. Which means, somebody taught him that this is the way to go through live. Most likely - his older brother.

While he clearly holds a lot of admiration for Agent 216, it makes me wonder. The contrast between how much he looks up to his brother and how much he looks down on other human beings is stark. It's almost like he looks up to his brother like he's some kind of God leading him on his path, even displaying his body during the torture of Toki and Abigail. He MIGHT just be a crazy dude with a lust for blood who saw an excuse to kill and torture. He MIGHT just be very obsessed with the only person he has a real connection with.

Or perhaps, his brother isn't the good person he views him as.

I believe Agent 216 might have always made MMA feel inferior to him, knowingly or not. Being labeled the "perfect" assassin, the older brother who was kind enough to raise an abandoned baby, the one fending for them. Plus, with MMA having some visible physical deformities, he most likely was the "better looking" one, too.

Perhaps the reason why MMA isn't seen assassinating anyone for other reasons than revenge is that his brother simply took the spotlight. In the best case, Agent 216 merely wanted to protect MMA from this kind of lifestyle, both because he's his little brother who he cared for, as well as considering Albinism comes with a long list of potential health issues, depending on the exact diagnosis. Examples are vision problems, ranging from nystagmus (rapid uncontrollable eye movements) to legal blindness, sensitivity to (sun)light in both eyes and skin, a weaker immune system, a higher risk of infections, premature aging, etc.

Or perhaps all these things were a lot of excuses for Agent 216 to treat his little brother harshly and cast him into the shadows.

Tidbits that made me put this together in my mind would be, for example, the fact that MMA is covered in scars, while Agent 216 is not. Strange, considering that his targets are mostly seen tied up, hanging from hooks or otherwise immobilized. And somehow, all these scars look the same. They all look as if they were inflicted by... a machete perhaps.

In early concept art, MMA is shown with what appears to be burn marks. They almost look as if they were deliberately inflicted on him. The spotting doesn't exactly appear like he got caught in a fire, much rather that they came from separate instances.

And one more thing, which might just be an observation I made that you might disagree with. But as someone who worked with both abused and disabled children in the past... I recognize some of his patterns and behaviors.

Looking up to the one person caring for him without even a second thought. Enduring great pain for their sake. HAPPILY doing so. Not being great at dealing with instructions. Not handling it well when someone disagrees with him or even scolds him. Letting the "adult Magnus" do the talking for him in difficult situations. Struggling to relate to people, perhaps even due to low emotional intelligence, or simply not understanding that people have feelings. Not CARING if they have feelings, possibly. Using people for his benefit, then discarding them like dolls he's done playing with once they're not useful anymore.

All acquired behaviors somebody taught him in his life.

Considering his condition, harsh upbringing and visible deformities, it wouldn't surprise me if he was a younger age mentally. His behavior is almost childlike in ways. The way he phrases things, too. Revengencers, instead of Revengers. The fact that he has these scars, yet his brother didn't have a single one on him.

This might be a reach. A big reach. But what if Agent 216 had him completely wrapped around his finger. All like "I had to endure so much for your sake, so I have a right to take my anger out on you", and perhaps followed up by an "I do this because I love you and because that's the only way you learn". I can see him making MMA feel inferior, for his appearance, for needing food, medication, comfort. Guilty for "killing" their mother. For being a burden. How dare he want love. Isn't it enough that he puts his life on the line for him every day? What is love? Baby don't hurt me

To me, he's a lost, disabled person stuck in a trauma bond with his brother until the end.

[princesssarisa]

A clarification about a triggering issue in "Jane Eyre"

I was just thinking back to Samantha Ellis's commentary in her book How to Be a Heroine about Jane Eyre.

In general, Ellis is an author I disagree with. Her feminist perspectives on classic literature are interesting and valuable, but I can't go along with her "Anne Brontë is the only good Brontë" view, or her blaming her former love of Wuthering Heights for the bad romantic relationships she had in her youth, or her dislike of Little Women, among other things. She also makes some inaccurate statements now and then, and that's what I want to address now.

Namely a remark she made about Jane Eyre.

She wrote that when Jane resolves to leave Rochester after the reveal of Bertha's existence, Rochester threatens to "crush her" and "tear her" if she tries to go.

Except he doesn't. The things he does say are bad enough, but he doesn't say that.

I just went back and reread the scene of their last meeting before Jane runs away. Near the beginning of the scene, when Rochester realizes Jane has resolved to leave him, he threatens to "try violence" if she won't listen to reason. Now, I'm not quite sure what he means by this. The annotations in the Penguin Classics edition interpret it as an outright threat to rape Jane. But I'm not sure if that's what he really means, or if he's "just" threatening to hit her, or (more generously, but harder to believe) if he just means violent emotion.

But whatever he means, that one sentence is the only real threat he makes to Jane.

The section Ellis is thinking of is later in the scene. Rochester goes off on a tangent, more to himself than to Jane – as he's prone to do – about how physically fragile Jane is. How easy to would be for him to "crush" and "tear" her, among other brutal imagery, and to "conquer" her body. Now again, I don't know exactly what Rochester means. I'm not sure if he means literal rape, or if he just means using abuse to coerce her into staying with him. (Of course there's arguably not much difference, because either way Jane would end up in his bed against her will.) But the important thing is that in this speech, he's not threatening to do it. The conclusion he comes to is that he won't do it, because it would do him no good. Even if he possessed Jane's body by force, her spirit would still be out of his reach, and it's her spirit he wants. The ultimate point of the speech is that he won't abuse or threaten her because he wants her to love him willingly.

Now, is it okay that he even contemplates the option of using violence to force Jane to be his? That it even crosses his mind, let alone that he says it out loud in brutal, visceral language? No! On a purely emotional level, for me at least, this is almost worse than the attempted bigamy.

But he talks about it – again, more to himself than to Jane – only to resolve not to do it. Apart from one brief, ambiguous line at the very beginning of the scene, he doesn't threaten to do it as Ellis claimed.

I don't know if this makes Rochester any more redeemable or the central romance any less problematic. But personally, I think Ellis painted him as more of a monster than he really is.

[adventuringblind]

Oscar Piastri Ghoulverse HC's

Oscar won the poll I put out, so now I am subjecting you to all the ideas that have been rolling around my head. I'll do a whole fic, eventually, but to give you an idea, I present you with this!

Specific scenarios are always welcome, and my inbox is open to questions!! If you want to make a request, it's an option on my request form, which you can find HERE!

I'm super excited to share this, and feedback is always appreciated! What do y'all want to see more of?

GORE, VIOLENCE, AND NSFW CONTENT BELOW THE CUT!!

IMAGES NOT MINE

Appearance

A trait amongst all ghouls is dark eyes. Docile, unhungry ghouls have iris' but they are hard to make out if you aren't staring at them from at least four inches away. Oscar's are golden, and you can't change my mind.

See images for horn and tail references

His tail, although it has sharp ends, is olldly soft to the touch. It's nice to cuddle with and be wrapped in. Soft tails are prone to getting matted, but Oscar hates anything to do with combs. It's a struggle to get him to his tail groomed.

Ghoul horns can range in neutral colors and shades. Oscar's are black. Some horns are scaley, where others are more bone like. Oscar's horns are bone material and shed away the out layers ever so often. Oscar's are ridged, but the flat surfaces are smooth.

Similar to Max's due to the Ao3 fic. I just haven't been able to picture him any other way.

All ghouls get pointed ears and sharp, elongated canines. Oscar has a wickedly sharp set of teeth that he takes pride in.

Abilities

Reminder that all ghouls have really strong senses and are incredibly strong.

Oscar's abilities lie in smell. He's in the select group of ghouls that can pick out individual scents and discover emotions with his nose.

It smells different for each ghoul.

Like sexual frustration smells like a he snorted a sour patch kid and sadness smells like bleach.

That being said, he reads people like an open book.

Heaven forbid you lie to this man... he will know.

The good thing is that he knows when someone you dislike is approaching and can warn you.

Mannerisms

His tail has a mind of its own and betrays his inner emotions that he doesn't show on his face.

Oscar will say he's fine and doesn't need affection, but his tail will refuse to let his partner go.

It you watch carefully enough, it will play charades to reveal what Oscar is truly thinking about.

He's doesn't like to hunt. He'd rather find food sources through morgues or ghouls that do hunt.

However, he's also not afraid of it if it's truly necessary. Especially if it's for his partner.

The tribe the drivers have created usually switches off on who is tasked with finding food. Some get it through trainers that are trying to help them, some have deals with hospitals and morgues, and other prefer to vigilante style that shit.

Oscar does all three. It usually depends on where they are and who he can get in touch with, if anyone. If he can't, then he'll opt to hunt. But that's a worst-case scenario.

He always goes for the throat and the chest. Something about eating a heart is alluring to him, and his tail makes it easy to get to them.

As a romantic partner

POSSESIVE

He is not afraid to admit that he likes people knowing that his partner is claimed.

Furthermore, it's a protective instinct. Oscar knows the dangers that are out there regardless of what species his mate is.

He'd prefer not to have a dead lover, thank you very much!

It doesn't help that ghouls are rather territorial of what's theirs. Oscar behaves, but you can FEEL him growling at people he doesn't want to get too close or he wants to get away.

To the outside world, he's perfectly smiley, and nobody would ever know. In private, he's attached. He just needs to he near you and smell that you are okay and he'll be fine.

Prefers to stay in with the tribe to do anything fun. It's easier when he gets to look like himself.

The most patient of people.

If his partner is a ghoul but hates the eating human dilemma, then he'll try to make it as normal as he can.

If they are fine eating but not gathering, say no more because Oscar will take care of it.

Because he can smell emotions, he is very attentive. He knows you're sick before you even do. He knows every emotion you're feeling and exactly how to respond.

He's a romantic at heart and wants his lover to feel safe and valued. He's willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen.

Sex!

Yes, sex with ghouls is it's own ordeal

They've got feral animalistic instincts.... tell me they aren't good at it

Humans are also naturally drawn to ghouls

Easily seduced

Which is good considering ghouls have these lovely phases where they get riled up with pent up energy and emotions from pretending to be human all the time.

It depends on the ghoul how often this happens.

Oscar's is, at the very least, going to explode twice a year.

He saves it all up and just loses it at some point.

That being said, he's had consistent sex but typically, it's set up by one of the older tribe members until he learns to do it himself.

Also, it should be noted that these phases are all sorts of intense emotions and not just sexual.

Oscar is doubly clingy and possessive and WILL NOT let his partner leave him if he can help it.

Good luck getting away until he's calmed down.

His tail makes a very good rope to hold a partner where he wants them.

If his partner is a ghoul, then you can expect intertwined tails all the time, including any kind of making love.

Biting... this is a thing for most ghouls, but I felt I should mention it. Oscar bites a lot. Especially a human mate because the amount of trust that would take is ridiculous. He'd never break that and wants to show that through his actions.

Plus... you taste like the most delicious god damn meal ever, and all he has to do is lick you to be satisfied.

If you try to feign arousal, he'll lose his shit. Don't lie to him about it because he'll spend hours figuring you out and leaving you a mess in the process.

Oscar is experimental, and let's be real here... the quiet and most unassuming of people are often the kinkiest beings.

He is open to everything as long as he's not actually eating you, and it's SANITARY. Maybe he'll draw blood from a human partner and bite down on the mating bite he's already put there, but he's not insane... he's not going to rip you open in any kind of dangerous fashion.

Unless his partner is a ghoul because that brings in new factors. If his partner likes hunting then they'd do it together and have probably fucked high on adrenaline and covered in blood. He will also pay special attention to a ghoul partners' horns since they are so sensitive. As in... he'll lick them. Maybe he'll use them as guides.

Giving him head? Best believe he's gripping his partners horns instead of their hair.

Depending on the mood, he will either growl or purr during sex. There is no in-between. Oscar is patent and always tame, but when his emotions do breakthrough, then it's an extreme. This is no different.

We're on the dom Oscar agenda for this blog, btw... (if you haven't noticed already).

He can and will man handle you if he's in a mood and you're not cooperating.

You can't really tease him because he'll just give it back worse later on when you're alone. You can certainly try, though! All you have to do is bite him on the clavicle (mating mark spot) and it'll drive him insane.

Why? Because he's possesive and love when the feeling is reciprocated.

[disruptivevoib]

Chonny Jash HMS Labyrinths AU Explanation & Art Dump: The Masterpost

Before we get into the thick of it. Here are the tags and links to all involved:

Purpose 1/2 Soul: @disruptivevoib (Me. Lol.)

Being 1/2 Soul: @calamarispider (Kai)

Pursuit 1/2 Heart: @agent-8449 (Agent)

Texel 1/2 Heart: @rosy-fox-art (Rosy)

Function 1/2 Mind: @jesterberries (Oswin)

Morality 1/2 Mind: @shxwrunner (Andy)

The Ever Impossible Whole: @kelpo-art (Francey)

Here's the premise, just before the cut for all your "I don't want to read this long ass post" needs:

The base concept for Labyrinths is: what if HMS' Psyche and loop was split into three phases? Each being some kind of maze? The first phase would be closest to the original Album loop, however, throughout it Heart, Mind, and Soul would split themselves into halves. Their splits would result from their own dissonance between the internal and external of themselves.

These halves would then move on to the second phase, where they must then attempt to become themselves again before being able to enter the third phase, the one which leads to the center, to the beacon, to Whole.

Elaborate, fary more in-depth explanation below the cut alongside designs and a lot of art:

The Loop, or Phases 1-3 In-depth

Phase 1 begins as the album does. Whole splits down into three, the concepts of his emotion, rationale, and self. When Mind is first shot, he splits between Morality and Function.

Morality is the "Internal Factor" of Mind, he is the conscience, what is deemed wrong and right by the standards of his assumption. He is perfectionism but in a manner which will not hurt someone else. He is where most of Mind's "emotion" goes. Though Function is entirely capable of bias, Morality is VERY prone to bias. He is belief. Function is the "External Factor" of Mind. He the pure, factual logic. The things you cannot refute. What is known, what must happen, how something works. He is immoral, he is uncaring, he is weighing his options in only what is most logical, most beneficial.

Phase 1 continues into the Pit, where Heart becomes Pursuit and Texel.

Texel is the "Prey". In concepting, Rosy named him after a type of sheep. He is the "Internal Factor" of Heart and a manifest of Heart's depression, fears. The flight to Pursuit's fight. He is still very much a wolf in sheep's clothing, being able to grasp onto others and pull them down with him as much as himself. He is the smothering and drowning part of emotion. Pursuit is the "Predator". He is the "External Factor" of Heart. He is the repression, the ignorance, the end of "Good Day". Pursuit also embodies the violence, however. The big energetic emotion opposing Texel's heavier, tired emotion. Pursuit is the Passion, the movement. Texel is stagnation. Both of them are very much capable of Heart's common self-victimization.

Finally, Soul cannot quite take this, and where Soul Eclectic would be, is his split into Being and Purpose.

Being is that personhood within Soul. The vying to be someone without needing to be Whole. He is the depression, the rage, the exhaustion, the human you're being!! There he is.. and he is very tired. Being is kind of just a guy, but he is also.. very much prone to the ideation of death as a source of escapism, especially from everyone else in the Psyche. Purpose is the tool. The need to be Whole, to fit in, to be normal, to be happy, to be safe. He is self-preservation, he is the knowledge that they have to be something more than what they are, they should be human and they cannot be as much like this. He embodies what it means to be the mask. To hide behind being a functional person.. and yet, without Being, is the least human of them all.

Phase 2 begins after this, with the middle most maze, where the six of them now must reconcile with themselves first. Most, however, regard their other half as the weaker one, or the evil one. The one that must be purged in order to continue.

And they can continue by killing them all, however, Whole won't ever be possible. The right way is to accept the truths on both sides. Their flaws and their importance.

Does that ever happen? It's hard to say. But if it does, Phase 3 happens.

The Innermost maze has a tower that is visible even from Phase 2. There, Whole sits and waits. He is a beacon of light, and a shell of someone, a black hole that projects all its light outward but has none for itself.

----

On to Designs.

Initially, as original creator of the AU, I had ideas for everyone except Mind. I knew his half/half face would be swapped, but I wasn't sure how else to differentiate the two.

As for Soul and Heart, I had concepts for both of them.

First, Purpose and Being.

Purpose embodies the mask, and thus became a little "Horror Movie Serial Killer" esque in vibe. After all, everything human within him has been taken and put into Being. He is neatly put together, hair slicked back. It is all curated, and it is all an effort to seem like somebody when he is nearly nobody.

Being has imperfections. His shirt is only half tucked in, his hair is not as slicked back, being able to fall more naturally. He also has the eyeliner I normally put only on Soul's left side. Far more.. guy looking!

Kai and I pretty much stuck to these designs! Following is Purpose's official colored ref, and Kai's art of Being.

The only BIg change was that Being has higher heels and also wears the noose, which is the part of Whole he very much exemplifies, as a belt.

Speaking of, the Trident belongs to Purpose here too! The trident is able to disrupt each halves special ability, as neither Soul is immortal or has high regenerative healing like Mind or Heart. The Souls are squishy. Purpose's trident is very helpful for putting his Ids in line!

Now on to Pursuit and Texel, who were originally just "Predator" and "Prey"

Originally, both Heart's had one half of Whole-Heart's wings and also had a sort of inky/shadowy manifestations of what they embodied. Prey had hands and the shadow of a slinking figure holding onto him, grasping at and pulling him down or grabbing at others. He also had the ball and chain which made him slower, made him trapped. Despite this, his clothing is comfier, wearing sweats, a hoodie and socks. His hair was longer too.

Both had the blindfold, as well.

Predator had the shadowy claws which wrapped around his lower arm like gloves and fizzled off in a billowing cloud-like way. His clothing is still comfortable but much less loose. He wears baggier pants, foot wraps, hand wraps (visible without the shadow) and a loose long-sleeves shirt. His hair is also shorter.

Agent and Rosy took these ideas and expanded upon or changed them up. Both Texel and Pursuit are very different from the original concepts. All art of Pursuit belongs to Agent, all art of Texel belongs to Rosy.

Pursuit retained his comfy but tighter clothing style, but lost the shadow hands, instead gaining an adaptivity ability. He is VERY cat coded, and he is very much the kind of cat that bites you and holds your hand so you do not move and stop giving it attention. He is a menace to society, I would not have him any other way. Lethal weapon motherfucker... scared cat..

Texel retained his shadows! But he gained hooves.. truly becoming the sheep. He also gained the ability to be entirely consumed by the shadows as self defense. Both giving into his fear and self-victimization but also projecting those horrors outward. Denial keeps you safe and hurts everyone else trying to help.

The Minds.. Like I said, I never sketched anything substantial for them, so we will go straight into Oswin and Andy's designs! Oswin drew everything for Function, Andy drew everything for Morality.

Morality is closer to a purple, which is indicative maybe, of how much he feels. As well, he has a white eye and his source is on the non void part of his face! His hair is down and more relaxed. Overall, actually, Morality's design portrays him as more casual. Morality is.. electric. He has a defensive mechanism of being electrical fencing wire and zapping anyone who touches him.

Function is the opposite, with a black eye and glowing teal pupil. His source is on the right. He wears a button up and his hair is higher, more put together and "formal". Function is capable of changing smaller parts of the maze at a time. From the wallpaper and flooring, to shifting walls around in order to escape the others or find them.

Whole had no concept design from me either, esp bc I did not initially include him in the au, however in development, he came to be! and thus... Francey drew the blackhole man himself :)

Other Drawings

Here are some more drawings of everyone! Most from Agent and Kai who went bonkers... I really REALLY love all this art. So much.

Here is Agent's art of everyone. The first one includes some titles for each of them Agent made :]

Here are also some 2/3rd or more like 2/6th Wholes Agent drew. I won't specify who is who. You can guess.

Aaand, Labyrinth Heart too :]c

Here is a drawing I did of 2/6th with Purpose and Function. He didn't get a name, I'm not cool and creative like Agent with that. Also next to it is my art of Labyrinths Soul.

Also my concept for the Six-Pronged trident.

Here is a bunch of art Kai did too. :]c

First up is everyone in Kai's style!

Next is Being in the maze :]

Also... Oswin's meme videos. Which are very important. But I can only upload one.. so have this one.

Volume Warning though!!

AND... And I think thats it! Actually.. There are a LOT more doodles but this post is long and I am terrified it won't save.

So! \o/ I am happy to answer any other questions about Labyrinths as well, I am sure the others would be too. But don't let me speak for them... Though maybe check the replies here for any notes from them. I know I've missed something.

[chireikiden]

Has Chireikiden changed your impression of Flandre? More/less sane, more/less violent, etc?

(Happy Flanday.)

Since 17.5 came out during CDS, it's hard to fully separate its influence from CDS's. So I won't.

My impression before was (in my opinion) mostly in line with EoSD and BAiJR, i.e. her only real appearances, where she's mostly a snarky and somewhat ominous brat. I believed, and guess I still do, that the fan idea of her violent nature was more or less entirely based on her EoSD profile, while her actual appearances made her seem a lot more level-headed. I vaguely enjoyed that depiction, but there wasn't too much to say about her, except to protest when fanon was mistaken for canon. I tended to have a negative kneejerk reaction to either doujins or discussions involving her simply due to overexposure/how tiresome much of that fanon was. On average, though, I considered newer Flan doujins a lot better than old ones.

CDS and 17.5 have made her swing a lot harder both ways. She's proven to be pretty prone to wanton explosions and violence after all, but neither in the "innocent baby who doesn't understand" way nor some omnicidal maniac way; she's fully aware of how strong she is, and enjoys getting excuses to fight and blow stuff up, but is fully in control of herself and doesn't just do it at random. She can be pretty eloquent or even suave, yet that doesn't stop her from doing something completely unhinged right after with the exact same smile. While I think she's "sane", she's also thoroughly unserious. Pretty fun archetype, honestly.

I can't help but think that unless I've completely missed something in the older works, either ZUN or the other people involved with CDS and 17.5 ended up adjusting Flan's characterization to be somewhat closer to the fan version. We know ZUN hadn't really thought about Flandre for a long time and kinda dug her back up recently. But I don't mind the end result. (If there's one bit I choose to ignore in my head, it's her casual cruelty towards Meiling, because Meiling being Flandre's "Sakuya" and favorite person is one of my favorite completely unfounded fan concepts involving them.)

Somehow manages to be chuunibyou even in the context of how strong she actually is. Guess it runs in the family.

Very sweet of her to at least explore the option of not destroying Marisa. Not enough to actually stop, though.

[first-talon]

Kyr Farwhisper - The Dark Urge

"Everyone has unseemly thoughts. Being able to quieten them is what sets us apart from the beasts."

Sharing some screenshots from my Dark Urge playthrough, which has just about hit 21 hours. BE WARNED. EVERYTHING BELOW THE READ-MORE LINE IS SPOILERS FOR THE DARK URGE PLAYTHROUGH. There is spoiler content, gore, and violence beyond! I tag with "#durge spoilers" if you want to block.

[Narrator: *You have nothing in your skull, besides your name and a headache. But you are in danger.*

Curse whoever did this to you.

Say your name aloud. You have a part of yourself.

Take a deep breath, shake your head, and start anew.]

The Dark Urge, in my opinion, is an origin that is preferable even to the custom ones that a player can make. Like the origins we get from the other PCs, such as Shadowheart or Astarion, there are custom cutscenes, content, and dialogue options specifically tailored to the Haunted past that you bring to the party. The Dark Urge isn't a play-through I would recommend if you want the feeling of a Noble, Righteous Hero. In some ways, it can be very stereotypically "edgelord"; you have little memory of your past, and are prone to violent and grotesque proclivities.

I suppose if you wanted to truly run an evil route and see how many dear companions you could kill along the way, you could play this route as Indulgent, or giving into the Dark Urge. I chose to play Kyr as a hopeless struggle; he is frightened by himself, and does his best to resist his dark temptations and try to do good. Resistance. It's made for a delightfully fulfilling roleplay experience, especially because I have chosen to romance Wyll on this play-through.

Even recruiting Astarion can be a little frightening.

The intro runs about the same, except when you wake up on the Nautiloid, you are bloodied, frightened, and have no memory of how you got there. In fact, there are no real signs that there is anything wrong with you, at least not in the dialogue you get until after the crash. Everyone's a little nervous, on edge, and then you have the chance to recruit Gale from his little portal. If you give into the Urge... it goes poorly. Fantasize about chopping his hand off?

I didn't make this canon for Kyr's run, but I was curious what would happen. I don't know what becomes of Gale, if you can recruit him later--if you can, how strange. You did just remove his hand for seemingly no reason. Astarion, too, has something to say about it immediately after.

This is your first sign that the Dark Urge run is going to be, well.. full of dark urges. Kyr seems to have a strange and compelling urge to commit harmful, violent acts--but doesn't seem to be aware he's doing it. I went back and he recruited Gale normally, resisting the weird desire to fantasize about chopping a man's hand off. Things were quiet--for a little bit.

Lots of dialogue choices specialized for the Dark Urge present in one of two, maybe three ways--commit this horrible act, or be shocked by your perversions and resist. Along with all of the usual options, such as based around your skill checks and your class. You have fewer culture rolls--you don't remember your past, after all (but you can imply to be Baldurian later on in Wyll's conversations, which I did). The lack of backstory and the amnesia is meant to heighten the strange horror of your situation, but I like building on what Kyr could be missing. A father, maybe, and a mother he never knew.

You can even tell Withers that you don't think your life is worth very much--something that he has a sage rebuke for. It's implied that he might know a little bit more about your circumstances than he's letting on, but if he does, he doesn't deem it fit to share with you.

Back at the camp, you do have options to speak with your party members--even so early--about your concerning affliction. Two new choices are available to you: concern about your memory loss, and concern about your violent urges. So early in the game, I decided I would start to bring up the memory loss. They are... quite flippant! And quick to dismiss your concerns on having to do with the mind-flayer tadpole.

It's late, and I'm getting sleepy, so that's all I'll add for this post. More is to come.

Part 1 | Part 2

[dyns33]

The Bond

I miss writing about Charlie Cox characters and so I made a real long Vulcan Owen stories

Things weren't always easy between Y/N and Owen.

This might seem normal, because things had never been easy between Humans and Vulcans. Although Vulcans had a reputation for being logical beings, they could be very cold, insensitive, rude, and mean.

Faced with Humans, emotional, illogical, easily offended and prone to violence, this did not make a very good mix.

Fortunately some humans were calm enough to appreciate the Vulcans' attitude, and some Vulcans were intelligent enough to adapt to the difference of Humans.

Between Y/N and Owen, that should have been the case. Everyone in Starfleet thought so when Captain Kirk announced that these two new recruits were going to work with his crew.

Owen was a Vulcan like almost all Vulcans. Y/N was not a human like all humans. Without having followed Surak's teachings, she loved science and reflection, and with her intelligence, she demonstrated great rigor and logic in her work.

Her colleagues had a hard time with her. They could see that she wasn't mean, maybe a little shy, not knowing how to deal with them. It was still rare for her to make friends.

“It will probably be easier with a Vulcan.” one of her instructors had said.

It was worse with the Vulcan.

The first problem encountered was Owen's inexplicable habit of pointing out all her errors and omissions. It wasn't often, but whenever it happened, he was there to say so, without ever congratulating or complimenting her when, on the contrary, she was doing a good job.

“Do you know the quality of your work ?”

"Indeed."

“So I don’t see why I need to tell you about it when there’s nothing to add.” he decided, keeping a neutral expression. “But when you clearly cannot see that the quality is not acceptable, it is necessary for you to be informed.”

Y/N bit the inside of her cheek to keep from answering him. Because it was pointless, and because she knew he wasn't wrong. She didn't want his compliments anyway, his opinion didn't matter.

She continued to take his criticism, letting Dr. McCoy and her other colleagues come to her defense when it became unbearable.

The second problem was that Y/N would have loved things to go well with Vulcans, and even more so with Owen. If she forgot the times when he opened his mouth to insult her work or her intelligence, he was much more interesting than most of the people on the ship.

Cultivated, clever, and very pleasant to look at.

They could have at least been friends if he had behaved differently, and she tried not to think that anything more than friends might have been an option either.

The last problem, the most important, occurred following an accident. This should never have happened.

If she could have, Y/N would have slapped Captain Kirk for his catastrophic management of crises, which he created himself most of the time, because of his need for adventure.

The ship had suffered a lot of damage from an attack, there had been a lot of injuries, including Owen, and Y/N hadn't thought when approaching him to help him.

As soon as she touched him, she knew she had made a mistake. One more.

Owen didn't tell her this time, watching her hand on his arm, which she quickly removed after an electric shock ran through her body, as well as a strange feeling in her head.

"We'll need a healer." he whispered.

"… The Medbay is full, but I can treat you here."

"No. I'm talking about our bond. It will need to be stabilized with a Vulcan healer."

"…Our bond ?" she asked, avoiding looking at him, not really wanting to hear what he was going to say, not wanting to understand.

"We are compatible. Your mind touched mine, and we are now bonded."

“And the healer can undo that ?”

"No. The bond seems strong, we are highly compatible. It would be risky. And after what happened to my planet, bonds are rare and precious."

The bond. Owen only spoke about this bond, and its importance, and never about her, about them, about feelings or that kind of thing that was obviously useless and illogical in his eyes. Nothing romantic, even though it seemed so strong.

Very strong according to the healer who examined them, stating that it was indeed a rare bond, formed without the help of a priest, and that it was impossible to undo.

This did not seem to bother Owen, who simply stated that he would use his shield as often as possible, to prevent their work from being disrupted by stray thoughts.

That's what she was in his mind, a parasite, who made mistakes, who risked compromising him with her base human instincts. He must have seen what she felt for him, this strange mixture of hatred and love, this desire to be closer to him.

Everyone congratulated them on their "marriage", which hurt her even more. So romantic. Y/N then discovered that a lot of people had noticed that she wasn't completely uninterested in Owen, which was worse than anything. A real humiliation.

She locked herself into work, preferring to stay alone the rest of the time. No one seemed to notice, her "husband" first, too busy with his own experiences.

Y/N told herself that she shouldn’t blame him. He hadn't asked for this bond, and he was acting the way his culture and species had always acted. She had inquired about it, she had discovered this shameful secret that was the pon farr. The only time he would come to touch her, if he didn't choose death through meditation.

At least, that was what she told herself until she saw Captain Kirk with Commander Spock in a corner of the ship.

They were kissing. The commander's cheeks were green, his eyes sparkling, as he whispered what sounded like tender words to the captain.

He was half human, but Spock had always acted according to Surak's principles. Vulcans were therefore capable of romance and proof of love. Owen just didn't like her. This had been obvious from the start. It was a real test to remain calm when he came to her to discuss a problem while checking her calculations, which seemed wrong, again.

"… These are not my calculations. They have been changed." she sighed as she read the report, staying as far away from him as possible and refusing to look at him.

"Really ? I'm going to ask to find out who made this mistake in this case. Can I see the original calculations ?"

"Here."

"Hmm. They are correct."

"Sorry you can't criticize me this time. Leave me now."

Except Owen didn't let her. He stood by her desk, staring at her with a weird look, and for a moment a strange feeling took over her body, something warm, almost comforting.

Then he approached, which made her step back, afraid when she saw that he had moved his hand in her direction.

"What are you doing ?"

"Ashayam… It appears you are troubled. Emotionally compromised. I can help you channel…"

"I don't want your help. I don't want anything from you, leave."

“Ashayam…” he repeated with an almost sad look, before greeting her and leaving the room.

This word was unknown to her. Ashayam. Another insult ? Y/N asked Uhura who seemed surprised by her interpretation, telling her that it was better that she asked Owen. She didn't, returning to her work.

On her desk, she found flowers. Odd. Probably a mistake, a prank, or her colleagues who saw that she wasn't doing well lately and who tried to cheer her up.

Then there were the chocolates. A ring. Science books. And finally a long parchment written in a language impossible to understand. In Vulcan.

Reading it, Commander Spock's cheeks turned green again, muttering that it was an old poem.

Y/N didn't know that Vulcans wrote poems, and she didn't understand why she had received one. It seemed absurd that Owen would offer her all this.

Her pride and curiosity being stronger than her fear, she finally decided to go see him, finding him in his room, reading. She placed the poem in front of him.

"Why ?"

"I do not understand your question." he said very honestly.

"Why all these gifts ? Why now ? You saw that this bond made me suffer and so what ? Are you pitying me ? I don't want your pity. I wanted to love you, really. I'm afraid that I love you a little to tell the truth, which is the worst mistake of my life, the stupidest thing I ever…"

"I love you too."

It was rare that Y/N didn’t know what to say. As a scientist and an intelligent woman, she always knew what she should say or do. But no one had taught her how to react to a Vulcan who told her that he loved her.

“I have loved you for a long time, without daring to declare myself.” he continued. "I didn't know if it would be reciprocated. Now I know that you love me too, I knew it when we touched, and our bond is an irrefutable proof. It was a great moment of joy. So intense that I needed a healer quickly to not lose my mind, then a lot of meditation to remain calm. I think of you all the time. So blinded that I did not perceive the rest, your unhappiness, the need for contact, of communication. You are psi-null, you did not perceive my feelings in return. If anyone made a mistake, it was me."

"… You criticize me all the time. You spend all your time showing me my mistakes !"

"It is important to see your mistakes in order to correct them and not do them again. Most of them are due to fatigue and overwork, not of lack of intelligence from your part. If I didn't know you were clever, I wouldn't even have try to show them to you. But my primary goal was for you to rest, in addition to having an excuse to see you. I… I must have expressed myself incorrectly. As with the rest. I am now trying to repair my faults, Ashayam, but I can't find the right method. It says here 'if you love them, let them go', but I don't understand the meaning of the sentence. What can I do to make you happy ?"

It wasn't a book for his work that he was holding. Like her, Owen was reading up on Terran culture in order to know how to properly court Y/N. He had also asked their colleagues for advice, which hadn't really helped him because they all said something different.

There was nothing logical about love, the poor guy was lost. He might have known what to do if he had thought less, but he seemed afraid of what he might do. He still wanted her happiness. He loved her.

He loved her.

"… A kiss would be a good start." Y/N whispered.

Owen looked at her, as if to determine if she was serious, before nodding, standing up to come towards her, and holding out two fingers. She looked at his hand with a frown.

"Uh… Yes ?"

“I'm initiating a kiss.”

“I see a lot of fingers and not a lot of lips.”

“Lips ?” he repeated, frowning as well. "Oh. A Terran kiss. My apologies, I didn't understand, Ashayam."

"What does that mean ?"

“Beloved.”

Without giving her time to process what he had just said, he pressed his mouth to hers, obviously unaware of how to act, but doing his best. As soon as their skin touched, the pleasant feeling returned, Y/N's body immediately relaxing and moving as close to Owen as possible, one hand on his neck, and the other on his cheek. He imitated her, letting himself be guided.

He was shaking a little, his breathing quickening as Y/N kissed him really hard, sucking on his lips, searching for his tongue, and letting her hands roam his back. Quickly, she found herself against a wall, Owen abandoned her mouth to nibble on her neck. One of her moans unfortunately seemed enough to stop him.

"… I need to meditate."

“It was a good start though.”

"I need to meditate. I have to conduct an experiment in a few hours."

“That gives us a lot of time."

“Ashayam, if I don’t meditate, we won’t leave this room for several days.”

Oh ? Oh.

Y/N was a little disappointed, but she was still a professional, bowing to the importance of sience over everything else. So she left him, even if she couldn't help but kiss him on the cheek before leaving while he was already in a meditation position, which made him groan.

In the corridor, she passed Commander Spock and Uhura, who showed a big smile.

"I see you've been talking to Owen."

“Indeed, why ?”

“You should zip up your collar.” Spock said simply, looking down.

In the reflection of a window, Y/N saw the small bite marks and hickeys that the Vulcan had left, which she hid with her hand while stammering, while Uhura chuckled gently, patting her shoulder.

"They can be bestial and possessive, like cats. Be careful, they are much more sensitive than they let on."

"Nonsense."

"Kirk tells me almost everything, Commander."

"… Please excuse me, I need to speak to the Captain."

“Speak, or speak like Owen with Y/N ?”

Commander Spock growled, which actually made Uhura laugh, giving Y/N a chance to run away before the linguist had time to ask her questions.

In the end, things were pretty simple between Y/N and Owen. They were two scientists with very poor social skills, in love, respecting each other's work and abilities, and living proof that it was perfectly possible to be intelligent and stupid.

[frostfall-matches]

[ matchmaking... ]

@anni-is-here : [ match report ready ]

your match is…

✦ Nanami Kento

You, coming off as intimidating with your RBF and cold exterior? Nanami is right there with you. As handsome as he is, he is so stony-faced, serious, and imposing that others are often hesitant to even approach him. However, he isn’t the type to become intimidated by someone’s cool exterior himself; especially when you’re his student or junior. He has no qualms interacting with you whatsoever. And, really, it’s not too terribly long before you begin to open up into someone warmer and more playful. Nanami quite enjoys seeing you open up to him bit by bit; it’s a pretty noticeable difference, so he’s glad when he sees that you’re comfortable enough with him to drop the distant front. Although, once you’re comfortable around him… he’s subjected to you goofing off and saying out-of-pocket things. He’ll roll his eyes and complain, but he’s secretly fond of it deep down.

When you playfully suggest violence as a solution, Nanami responds so seriously that it’s comical. Since he’s so deadpan with his humor, it’s almost hard to tell if he’s serious or not in his response (he’s smart enough to know that you’re just joking around… at least, you’re probably joking… but it all depends on the situation, right?). You’ll casually suggest to Megumi that he should just beat up the next person who bumps into him in the street and acts all rude and snooty about it; a nearby Nanami simply speaks up with a stern “absolutely not” before going into detail how much trouble Megumi (or you) would get into by doing such an act. Megumi’s rolling his eyes and internally complaining about the reprimand (he didn’t even ask for this!) but you’d probably just end up laughing because of how seriously Nanami responds to your quips, regardless if he’s joking or serious.

If you’re the type to enjoy deep, interesting conversations, Nanami is a great option. He’s smart, thoughtful, and has gotten a variety of experiences under his belt. He has definitely done some reflection on his past experiences, considering that he’s come up with his own personal philosophy about youth and adulthood - and really, he quite enjoys discussing deeper topics, as long as he enjoys his conversation partner, that is. The conversation doesn’t even have to be particularly philosophical, either. If he’s on good terms with you, he’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on just about anything. Nanami would also be open to debates, or tactical conversations centered around the best strategies for certain types of enemies and situations. The only other person who hovers around Nanami often is Gojo, and he is not going to bother talking with Gojo if he’s not in the mood. You’re absolutely a breath of fresh air for him - most of the time, at least, considering you’re prone to goofing off and exasperating him yourself!

He appreciates that you’re so willing to learn and grow as a person. Nanami has met plenty of people who don’t apply themselves, people who get complacent and ultimately stagnate. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it can be a frustrating and dangerous mindset to jujutsu sorcerers. So, he admires your initiative when it comes to asking him for tips and advice. That being said, he believes that experience is the best teacher. He’ll offer guidance when needed, step in when he thinks a mission is too dangerous, but he’ll let you make your own discoveries and mistakes. You won’t get anywhere by someone holding your hand the whole time, after all, and jujutsu sorcerers don’t lead easy lives. Not that you would let him coddle you, anyway - you’re determined to carve your own path and master your own abilities. It wouldn’t be the same if you didn’t put the effort in yourself.

Nanami is quite interested in your skill in martial arts. A significant portion of his fighting style includes hand-to-hand combat, so it’s not surprising that he becomes interested in your abilities and how you incorporate your training into your combat style on the field. In fact, the two of you could learn a lot from each other based on your fighting styles and previous training. Perhaps this is where you most often ask him for tips and guidance; a good sparring match here and there keeps both your and his skills sharp between missions. And perhaps it’s a way of bonding or flirting… On a different, yet similar topic, you have a long history in other athletics and willing to try out other active hobbies - he won’t press too much, but he’s intently listening to you as you ramble off all the different sports you’ve done or at least attempted.

Nanami is acutely aware of your habits and fidgeting, but it doesn’t bother him. Perhaps it’s because he’s gotten used to it, or perhaps it’s just because it’s you, but he genuinely doesn’t think much about how you often run your hands through your hair, mussing it up, or bouncing your leg while sitting. At first he might’ve considered it to be distracting, even mildly bothersome, but that ebbed away once he started becoming more fond of you. He might question if you’re feeling antsy or nervous, but if you insist that it isn’t nervous fidgeting then he’ll leave it be. Still, even as his eyes catch your figure as you perform those habitual tics, he simply just sees it as you being you. It means things are normal, you’re feeling fine, and things are as they should be.

He would totally vibe to the 80s and 90s rock you put on while chilling out at home. You have a way of making the space you’re relaxing in feel like you. It’s the way you get comfortable, how your band t-shirts reflect your music taste, how you enjoy getting comfortable in sweatpants and hoodies. Both you and Nanami struggle with taking yourselves too seriously at times, but it’s important to take some time to relax and not worry about expectations, how people perceive you, or the missions coming up in the near future. He’s a bit envious how quickly you can just get comfortable - but the more time he spends with you, in your own space, or in a space the two of you create together, he feels that relaxing becomes more and more natural. And it all starts with that 80s or 90s rock; he can’t help but bop his head right along to the beat.

Nanami graciously accepts whatever gifts you’ve gotten him, large or small. He is quick to pick up that gift giving is how you show your affection for him. And, while he’s not naturally the gift giving type, he does make a serious effort to reciprocate. If you’re giving him a gift, it’s only natural that he should return the favor, yes? And he does surprisingly well picking out thoughtful gifts. He tends to lean towards more practical objects, but sometimes he will pick something up on a whim that reminds him of you, or something that he feels would make you think of him when you look at it. Nanami’s main love language would be quality time, which isn’t surprising considering that he really tries to lock down on the time and effort he’s putting into work. Once you’re his partner, his resolve to avoid overtime only solidifies further - he has to dedicate time to spend with you, after all.

[colorfuldream]

It's crazy that even now people still are mitigated on Frye like they literally have her everything to be a fan favorite?? Girlie is an amalgam of the best traits of the previous idols but people got stuck on her forehead

Droopy but big eyes, nice body, fun and bubbly personality with the hints of a more feisty/harsh temper along with being cunning whenever she's being a bandit, kicks ass, overall loving person and very silly, cool boss fight... And she still has some sassy comebacks to round her up

The difference between her popularity and the others' is crazy, they gave her everything to win everyone over. Genuinely if they hadn't given her such a big forehead as they had planned, she'd be a fan favorite or a string contestant. Even her beta designs have a stronger feel than Shiver's who got a more mellow vibe (side note but it did fit her wanting to be edgy and cool along with her being into fashion! They haven't shown it yet but the early designs, particularly the punk-ish one, did. Her being able to create a desired image of herself through her style would have been a great detail!)

Another thing is how Frye's flaws are underplayed, a bit like Big Man's, and just played as her being silly, cute, and a bit feisty. Shiver's are obvious. She's greedy, jealous, petty, passive aggressive but still quick to anger, and prone to violence. Her personality is properly displayed at all times, though personally I think we should see more of it as Deep Cut are supposed to be villains and not as prim and proper as the other idols, and her flaws are a big part of it. The same goes for Big Man.

So even when Frye is the least obviously flawed of the three and the closest to a regular idol, she's the least popular. Her Splatfest options are often the "obvious" ones (either to her character or to the question).

The devs really, reaaaally tried to make her liked and they miserably failed. Yes, they can't force it but by trying so hard, they set her up for failure. You know why people love Shiver? Because she's flawed, bitchy at times, boasting when she wins, lying to make her team more popular. When she said who she would be without Deep Cuts in the dialogue instrument Splatfest, it was believable. Ofc same with Big Man. Yeah, with everything we know about them, I can believe that she would be a loner and getting into fights and that he would stay far away from the spotlight.

But with Frye? Nope. I don't buy that she'd hop from band to band, from project to project. The only thing that makes it work is that she's bubbly. We don't know enough about her to imagine how she could be and how she normally acts. At most, her look when she was in school hints that she was popular/outgoing but nothing more.

All Frye gets is hints. She hints that she also gets into fights herself and possibly with Shiver, though Shiver has a need to prove herself and do it alone, but she doesn't get caught. She was said to not have been good at stealing at first, which in itself hints that Shiver taught her and was good at a young age (worrying, she doesn't seem to have a good childhood!), but now she's hinted at being the better of the three. She can use the smoke bombs, she's actually threatening, she wants to fight and doesn't goof around (even if she gets distracted before the rematch but by then you aren't enemies). She's greedy, less than Shiver and possibly not because she wants money (Shiver is highly implied to want money for the sake of it and not (just?) because they donate it (and are constantly broke)), she's resentful and petty, she's quick to anger but hides it for a while. This last thing? Implied. We get hints that she puts on a persona, possibly amplifying certain traits, to be more idol-like. She slips up sometimes but nothing bad. One could theorize that she started it when she was young, putting on an innocent and sweet persona to cover her misdeeds and that it made her well-liked/not as isolated as the other two, but it has little to no proof to justify it. One could theorize she's not the most emotionally stable person but apart from Marina's statement in Side Order and how quickly she gets angry there isn't much to back it up.

Frye is thus flat. Information about her is too scarce and too vague to properly build her up as a character. Not to mention that her flip-flopping on things like her hatred of Inkopolis. It makes her inconsistent, which is a problem that applies to the entire group but not to this extent, instead of nuanced. She doesn't have to be as obvious as Shiver but my God just give us details and let her flaws shine through. Deep Cut barely having any development impacts her the most, in my opinion. At least it's obvious that Shiver's silliness doesn't show in the Anarchy Splatcast because it's a more controlled environment, she doesn't want to appear cool in the same way, and she's more natural (though still a try-hard) and it's obvious that Big Man's not just a softie but also a coward and doesn't think of warning/communicating with his friends and frequently goes behind their backs. We get to see just enough of them to have an idea of who they are while Frye is just... Silly hot-headed woman who's cute but gets into (dance) fights. Her biggest accomplishments are her picking fights with OTH with Shiver on her tail.

It isn't helped with the news dialogue: what do we learn about her? She likes food. She has a big family that she adores (which took a LONG time to be talked about, the dialogues were so dry at the beginning!) and, while this is realistic, it makes up for most of her lines. What about her friends? Pearl, for example, had a devastating line about having a best friend... While Marina thought she was her best friend, implying that Pearl is HER best friend but SHE isn't. That's such a nice tidbit of information! We get similar details about Shiver and Big Man: Shiver doesn't have any other friends, never has, and it's stated a few times; Big Man is open to other people but shy, and a bit afraid because Shiver is possessive and one could argue that so is Frye, but he sometimes tries to reach out and succeeds (yay Big Man and Mariana friendship!). But we don't get squat about Frye. Does she have a lot of friends? Acquaintances? Has she narrowed her circle to Deep Cut and family? Since she gets angry easily and they're all competitive but somehow not for Splatfests (except Shiver who gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss to victory), are her friends an exception or is she keeping it in? Can't we have a line along the lines of "you're lucky it's you" while the other two rag on her choice (or when one of them boasts about something) or something like "Splatfests are about having fun and partying!" to show that she doesn't care about results? We do have a small hint that she sees them as parties (and it makes sense with her being influenced by Indian culture and Splatfests in Splatsville having religious connotations). Just a little quip to get more information out. The Splatfest dialogue is so dry, I get that they don't care and there's no stakes for them but jeez, please come to another conclusion that "yay all three options are nice" and "let's do them all!"

Deep Cut has a lot of information about them repeated but not a lot of additions. With the end drawing near, I really hope the next few events drop some information about them before they inevitably get pushed aside for the new idols (or OTH again. Please Nintendo, give us a Deep Cut DLC. I don't care if it doesn't make sense for them not to be in the Splatslands, give us ANYTHING)

Side note, they keep switching which yellow Frye is even in things that use her 3D model. I get that the main 2D art is more orange-y/less bright because it was made before and then there's an orange hue on the concert image but why is the Anarchy Splatcast segment in the latest concert has her colors be different?? It's a lot more pleasant to the eyes. I get they (originally) meant for her to be on the same side of the color wheel as Marie and Marina but gosh they could have done something to make her less bright. Their refusal to use her canon colors just goes to show that it wasn't the best choice,,

[augment-duke]

Baseline information for Alex, MC of [Redacted] and an absolute treasure in my heart. Most of the setting is a explained in the 'general novel info'

-

Alexander Finch is the epitome of 'Wrong place, Wrong time'. His life has been a trial in itself (Mother deported due to the Phage Boarder Control Decrees when he was 14, Father a blight of a man who could never see Alex as 'man enough', he ended up choosing pretty shitty relationships over living with the man just to try and finish some kind of university - didn't end up finishing - got into drugs, started using and selling, and then eventually just started living on the streets until he and the group he was with here 'rescued' by men of one of the large corporations known as Yggdrasil, where surprise surprise! All that help was actually finding human testing that no one would miss.)

The first thing Alexander remembers after a six-month mental blackout, is waking up on an autopsy table being taken apart by doctors. Over and over and over again as his body endlessly regenerates, somehow moved from America to St.Cairn Canada, where he's now stuck legally speaking.

He's unable to die, and is the only one of the program to 'survive' (not that anyone was really aware of that fact till he escaped with the help of ??? Someone He didn't know??)

Now he's just trying to prove to the government that he's not a danger to the world, and that he belongs somewhere. Roped into working for BAEL, or the other option of 'die'.

At least he has a found family now!

Personality-wise, He's as lax as you can get, and doesn't seem to take much seriously as he's used to things just eventually fucking him over, or for things to go wrong, so he just doesn't get his hopes up. Very prone to comments of self-defeat or using himself as a joke/ 'Whoops, I'm an idiot' types of things. -- He's the ''happy to get along with'' kind of depressed, always putting other people before himself in an unhealthy self-sacrificial kind of way. He is honestly smarter than he thinks he is, and is actively a very good person, he's just so used to people taking advantage of those facts it's the common expectation.

He does make lots of jokes and laughs quite a bit! He's a fun guy to be around and likes to make other people smile -- the kind of 'live in the moment and forget your fears' kind of conversation.

Within his novel, most of these things are helped by the other characters, and he does get much better-coping mechanisms and mannerisms! Life does get better for him, despite the horror show of violence and Phages.

[yennefer-of-vengerbergs]

[Original version] Confession

Astarion reflects on his feelings towards Syanna, from when they first met, up to when he finally decides to confess everything to her.

Pairing: Astarion x f!durge

Other notes: This is my own spin on Astarion's thoughts on the relationship he and my durge character, Syanna have, finishing with his confession scene, where I took the liberty of expanding a bit on it, combining most of the dialogue options, as well as mixing in small parts from the Araj confession. I've also followed the order in which some things happened in my own Durge playthrough so far (I'm still in Act 2, haven't gotten to his confession yet, but I am using what I know from my regular Tav playthrough, while double checking other things online).

Read below or on Ao3

Astarion found himself thinking about her. 

What a walking contradiction she was.

On the one hand, she was prone to being a bleeding heart on occasion, wanting to help those she ran into.

Barely off a crashed Nautiloid and she was picking up other survivors from the ship, himself included. Even if he had thrown her to the ground, threatening her with a dagger. She’d taken it surprisingly well too, stating she probably would have done the same in his position.

Then she was agreeing to help out the tieflings from the Emerald Grove. 

And rescuing a child from being killed by the druid leader. 

And helping that bard, Alfira, with her song. 

On the other, she was also prone to bursts of violence and murder, dark urges which she could not always control or resist. 

She always felt guilty afterwards though. Especially so after she had brutally murdered Alfira. Barely a few hours after joining their camp, she was laying there, on the ground, in her own blood.

She had always been completely honest about how broken her mind was. She had asked for advice. She had asked everyone in camp for help. 

Nobody knew what to do or say to her. They just spun some version of ‘oh, we all have those thoughts sometimes’ and that ‘she should focus that on their enemies’. She felt as if nobody was taking her seriously, not realizing just how bad things were.

And once everyone else had seen that she had killed the bard? 

They were scared. They judged. They blamed her. They told her to keep her distance, that they would be watching her. That if she tried to hurt them, they would defend themselves.

She couldn't blame them, not really. 

***

Naturally, she had distanced herself from everyone. 

He noticed that she had taken her bedroll to the small ruin that was next to their camp and started staying there at night, away from everyone, her reasoning being that it was fine, really. Part of the roof was still intact, so she could at least be safe from the elements. If anything, it was an improvement over trancing in the dirt, next to the campfire. She could always use a spell to start a fire of her own to keep warm.

During the day, when they traveled, she would either wander ahead, or stay further back. After all, they had made it clear that they wanted her to keep her distance, so keep her distance she did. 

He’d told her at one point that he didn't blame or judge her for what she had done. 

She appreciated that. 

What she hadn't appreciated was how he then told her that the look of guilt she had on her face was priceless and that she could have been more subtle about it. 

Oh well.

***

One day, they had found a dog, Scratch, close to its dead owner. The dog was hostile at first, but soon calmed once she had talked to him, even sniffed her hand, remembering her scent.

She always seemed to have a potion on hand that would let her speak to animals. She liked animals, so she hoped the dog would follow her to camp.It did, eventually, always keeping her company afterwards.

On another day, they had found the so-called devil that Wyll was hunting, Karlach. Said devil was in fact a tiefling. Syanna had immediately sided with her when Wyll wanted to kill her, pointing out what they had all been shown by the tadpole connection, that Karlach was indeed telling the truth and was not in fact a danger to anyone. 

Astarion found himself approving of that. Hells, in time, there were other things she did that he approved of. Some were chaotically fun and hilarious to him. Others were on the practical side. Others yet were oddly heartwarming, even to him, like how she had taken in the owlbear cub from the goblin camp they had cleared. Most people would have refused to do that, seeing it as nothing more than another beast that could kill them, another monster to be afraid of. 

She didn't. She saw a young cub, scared of its surroundings, wounded, alone, his mother having been killed by the goblins that captured him for their own entertainment.

Most importantly however, she hadn't shunned or staked him when he tried to feed from her while she tried to rest. She had been surprisingly reasonable. Even offered him her blood afterwards. She’d taken his side when the others didn't seem particularly pleased about him being a vampire. She'd agreed with his idea of feeding off their enemies, seeing as he could start fighting with all his weapons, fangs included. But she had also offered to let him feed on her, if and when he needed to. An open invitation, as it were. 

It was a gift. One he would not forget.

***

She seemed better as time went on. The two animals they took in were always near her when in camp, keeping her company. 

She had gotten closer to him and Karlach. Not a surprise, seeing as they were the only ones who truly didn't judge her. 

Karlach had appreciated her help and trust when they met, as well as her bleeding heart, so in her eyes, Syanna was someone good overall, if a little tortured. She had also been honest with the tiefling about her urges and what had happened with the bard, but she had simply told her that if she had the guts to say it outloud, to feel regret, then she would be able to change. And if she was willing to resist those urges, as Syanna said she was, then surely she was on the right track. She had also given her the same line about focusing on their enemies if the urges became too much, but somehow, she felt that Karlach had been more supportive overall.

Later on, when the druid, Halsin had joined their camp, she got along with him as well, for similar reasons. He had even offered to help her with her broken mind once their tadpole problem was solved.

The others, she wasn't as close to. Things had gotten better, but it was obvious whose company she preferred. 

That would do nicely for his plan. All she had to do was fall for it. Easy.

So he had started flirting with her, something which came easily to him. He wanted her on his side, trusting him, never turning on him, helping him.

Seducing her was easy, truly. 

She reciprocated his attention. 

She already preferred his company.

She had accepted his advances when he propositioned her one night.

What he hadn't expected was to… enjoy the night they spent together. Not fully, as at one point his mind had gone somewhere far away (which she had noticed and pointed out the morning after), but at the same time…there were moments that he had enjoyed prior to that. 

She actually seemed interested in what he wanted that night as well, not willing to just be a passive participant. She wanted to reciprocate, to touch him, to show him how he made her feel and to bring him the same kind of pleasure. 

It was surprising to him. Unexpected even. 

He would also be lying if he said he didn't find her attractive. She was a beautiful woman, it was impossible not to. 

All in all, his plan was moving along splendidly.

So he carried on. 

He continued to flirt with her, honeyed words dripping from him each time. 

He invited her back to his bed frequently. Or back to that pretty clearing that he had found. He’d even stolen her away during the party the tieflings had organized once the goblin camp was defeated, their leaders killed. 

Even though several of their group had also propositioned her that night, she still went to him. Excellent. 

At some later point, she started spending her nights in his tent, seeking out his company. When it involved sex, she would simply stay the night, wrapped around him. Others, it was just being with each other. They would read and they would talk. Most surprisingly though, they would cuddle . 

He never had been a cuddler, but having her so close, holding on to him, it was nice. All those nights actually seemed to mean something to him too, a strange comfort starting to emerge whenever it was just the two of them. And when she didn't spend the night in his tent? He actually found himself wanting her there.

Shit.

***

She had done him kindness after kindness on multiple occasions, not expecting anything in return.

She had given him various things for his tent whenever they cropped up during their travels - a new bedroll, alongside a pillow and blanket; she pointed out books that she thought he might find interesting; she grabbed small pieces of decor and art she thought he might appreciate. His own little spot in camp was actually starting to look more comfortable. Tidier even. 

Meanwhile, she didn’t even have her own tent, just a bedroll.

She listened to him whenever he confided in her about something.

She had pointed out his scars and how they were written in Infernal. She drew them out for him to see, first on the ground where they stood, then on paper, so they could both research them more easily. She had promised to keep an eye out for any books, occult or otherwise, that might help him with information too.

it wasn't her problem, but she still wanted to help him.

She had acted as his mirror when she found him trying to look into one, telling him how she saw him. She then had the idea to cast a Mirror Image spell on him so he could actually see himself for the first time in centuries. Seeing that it worked, she then brought him any scrolls for the spell that she found on their travels so he could cast it himself whenever he needed to.

She was always willing to help him - she was already looking into finding out what the scars on his back were before they approached Raphael about them. She respected his wish to keep it between them and not to involve anyone else from camp. 

She then had helped him with his deal with Raphael (and that she did, Yurgir was dead, his end of the deal done, the mystery of his scars clearer, but turned into something even more muddled at the same time).

She even swore she would do everything she could to help him with dealing with Cazador and the ritual of profane ascension that he was meant to be a part of. 

She also stood up for him when they encountered that vile drow in Moonrise Towers, something that he was incredibly grateful for. 

He was grateful for everything she did.

Anyone would agree his nice, simple plan was a resounding success.

So why did he feel so awful?

Well, it just so happens that he had started to genuinely enjoy her company the more time had passed during their travels.

He found himself thinking of her more often. Looking out for her in combat, his arrows always aimed at those who were too close to her. 

He was distraught whenever she was downed by an attack, immediately on his way to help her, a revivify scroll and healing potion at the ready..

He was always first to help her when she slipped or had to climb somewhere, or when she became entangled in some twisting vines. 

He loved teasing her when that happened, tsk-ing and saying that he was starting to think she liked being restrained. She would always tease back, telling him to find out for himself later.

He even wanted to find her a tent she could use when she wasn't spending the night in his own one. 

***

At the same time, he was so concerned for her. She was frequently exhausted and in pain, rest, actual rest, almost always eluding her. Often, she preferred to skip going into a trance altogether, too worried about the nightmares that could return. Of the urge coming back. He could also see how she sometimes was shaking, or how she looked ready to faint. He could see how her urges were eating away at her, how she struggled with them. 

Sometimes, when she was finally too exhausted, she would actually fall asleep next to him, her face nuzzling his chest, an arm draped over him. Whenever that happened, he found that he would have much rather stayed there and let her sleep until late morning, not having the heart to move and risk waking her. 

He felt like such a fool.

***

One night, she woke him up, scared she would hurt him, scared she would kill him , not knowing what to do or how to stop it, asking him to get to safety, to stop her, anything . 

When she collapsed, unconscious, he moved, grabbed a length of rope and tied her up. 

Then, he waited. 

When she woke up, she wasn't herself. 

She threatened, she growled, she tried to bite him, she screamed at him, fighting against her bindings. 

But she also was trying so hard to resist, to break through, to regain control of herself. She tried to show him that she understood, that she was grateful, but it was so, so difficult.

More threats. More screams. 

She sobbed, begging him to just kill her, to make it stop.

It truly worried him, seeing her like that. He had been worried about himself at first, yes, but he was even more worried about her.

He wouldn't let that thing have her. He wouldn't let it win. 

He spent the night with her, trying to offer words of comfort and encouragement where he could. Keeping her safe. Shooing away the rest of their companions whenever they came to see what was happening. 

The night finally passed, bloodless. Syanna was laying on her side, still tied up. She looked defeated. Guilty. Remorseful, with tears in her eyes. She let out a sob. 

Astarion moved to untie her and helped her sit up. Her wrists were raw and bloody from how much she struggled against her bindings. 

He hated seeing her like that. 

He handed her a healing potion and listened to what had happened before she came to him.

He reassured her he would be there to make sure she would get through it all, that she wouldn't be alone, no matter how much she protested that it might happen again, and what if she hurt him then? 

She gave him something to care for and that was worth the peril. After all, they were in it together.

Did he really say that?

Yes, yes he did.

***

He also found himself wanting her approval. 

He wanted her to think of him as something more. 

He didn't want to lie or manipulate anymore.

He cared.

He wanted to tell her the truth, as frightening as it was to him.

Still…

What if she broke things off?

What if she hated him afterwards? 

He could just… not tell her, he could just let things continue between them, knowing that his plan had gone out the proverbial window long ago. That it was real for him. Why risk ruining it?

No. No, she deserved the truth. She deserved something real, something more. She didn't deserve his lies. She deserved to choose if she wanted to continue whatever was between them or not.

Making up his mind, he walked over to where she was sitting. Noticing him, she set aside her book, greeting him with a smile.

“Do you have a moment? I think we need to talk.” 

Gods, he sounded so concerned. Scared almost. 

Noticing this, her smile fell. She stood up.

“What's wrong? Are you alright?”

“Oh yes, I’m fine. I just…feel awful.”

She frowned. 

“That's not how I would define fine, Astarion. Please, talk to me?”

Gods, why was she being so nice to him?

“Look, I had a plan. A nice, simple plan - seduce you, sleep with you, manipulate your feelings so you’d never turn on me.” he laughed nervously.

She didn't say anything. She seemed too taken aback by the sudden confession to say anything.

He continued. He had to continue.

“It was easy - instinctive. Habits from two hundred years of charming people kicked in. All you had to do was fall for it.” 

He hated the way his voice started to crack as he kept going on. He hated how she had tears forming in her eyes because of him. 

This is it. Surely she would leave him. He would lose her.

Still, he carried on.

“And all I had to do was not fall for you…which is where my nice, simple plan fell apart.” He paused for a moment, gesturing towards her. “You…you're incredible. You did so much for me…you helped me, you…cared about what I wanted… you didn’t ask me to throw myself at that vile drow, didn’t trade me for a potion, what I wanted be damned.” he paused. “You deserve something real. I want us to be something real.”

He looked at her, with sad, scared, but hopeful eyes.

“So…the time we spent together meant nothing to you then? All those nights, all those moments, were they just lies?” 

“Of course they meant something - that's the problem! Or part of it.” He sighed. “Being close to someone - any kind of intimacy - was something I performed to lure people back for him . And even though I know things between us are different, being with someone still feels…tainted. Still brings up those feelings of disgust and loathing. I…don’t know how else to be with someone. No matter how much I’d like to.” 

He’d said what he had to say. He looked at her, vulnerability obvious in his expression, waiting for a reply. 

It terrified him.

“Astarion…” she swallowed. “I’m not naïve enough to think that things were something…more between us when they started, but…” she took a breath to calm herself, to keep her voice from breaking any more than it already was. “But they actually became real for me. I thought…I hoped it was mutual. I wanted it more than anything. I do care about you. Deeply. But this…this hurts.” 

Tears were rolling down her cheeks, but she was trying so hard to keep herself composed. 

He hated himself for causing her to feel that way. 

He didn't know what to say to her. 

Could he even say anything that would make things up to her, that would comfort her in any way? He didn't know.

“I’m…I’m sorry. I’d understand if you wanted to end things between us now.” 

It hurt him to say it, but he wouldn't hold it against her if that was what she wanted to do. Which is why what she did next took him by surprise.

She hugged him. 

He was so taken aback by it that he didn't know how to react or what to do at first. He couldn't even remember a time when he had been hugged.

Slowly, he wrapped his arms around her.

He didn’t want to let go of her. 

Her voice was a broken whisper, but he heard her. 

“That would hurt me even more.” 

She let go of him and stepped back. She cleared her throat. 

“I meant what I said. You mean a great deal to me. And I want this to be real too. More than anything.” 

Relief washed over him. But he was still….nervous.

“I…just don’t know what ‘real’ looks like. Not after two hundred years playing the rake. I…don’t even know what to do.” 

“Then…what do you want to do?” 

He paused, thinking about her question. “...I don’t know what I want. It’s been so long since I’ve had to decide what I wanted.”

She thought for a moment, unsure how to proceed. 

“Maybe…maybe we can start over then? We can be together. And to make it clear, we don’t have to have sex, for as long as you need.”

“Hah, why, that almost sounds like a challenge.” he was nervous again. He didn’t know how to react. What else could he even be good for, what else could he even offer her? 

“I mean it. I don’t want you to do anything that makes you uncomfortable. We can just…be and just… get reacquainted with one another.” 

He took her hand in his own, a small smile on his face. “Honestly, I have no idea what we’re doing. Or what comes next.” 

“Then we can just see where this takes us.” 

He placed his other hand on top of hers. 

“I do know one thing though. I know that this…this is nice.” 

As emotional as she was feeling, she couldn’t help but agree. It was nice to have that honesty between them now. To know they were both on the same page. That if they got through this, then things would be alright. 

[gamebird]

@rembrandtswife (I can't tag you for some reason)

But here are my current loves. They were hatched out just this spring. The rooster is inventively named "Dude" and his sisters don't have names. Although they do have fancy anklets so I can tell them apart from their mother, who didn't run outside for treats like these two did.

These are asils, which is a breed originally bred for naked heel fighting in southeast Asia and India (these particular ones being more of the Indian type, Rajah asil). They don't fight - at least not intentionally. Dude had four brothers but one day they all chose violence and on that day I was very glad I was home, as I separated them before they could do much damage. His brothers went to my father's house where they enjoy separate pens, and my father has sold two of them to other fanciers. They are a difficult breed to manage because of how early they decide to fight and how serious and to-the-death they are when that kicks in.

But they are gentle and charming with people, less prone to manfighting than other breeds, and they tend to live a long time. My last one, Sunny, had a respiratory disease from the day I got him at the age of 6 months and died of it finally 8 years later. I am hoping Little Dude makes it past 10 years.

My dad has a lot of strains of game chickens. He fought them when he was younger (and so did I, we're talking decades ago), but now that he's in his age he enjoys raising them and selling them to people. They're very pretty.

I currently have Dude, his three sisters, his mother, a roundhead hen named Legolas (or Leggy-lass, or optionally 'Butthole Woman' because she was very mean to the other chickens but now that the asils are older she is okay with them), and a buff orpington named Buffy, whom Dude has decided is too big and threatening and he has tried to kill her even though he was raised with her, so I have her in a separate pen and put one or two of the asil girls in with her from time to time as company.

Buffy is entirely innocent in this and has done nothing to deserve his aggression. She's going on four years, which for her breed is fairly old, so I'll just keep her until she passes rather than try to find a different situation for her. I have two pens, both with runs like you see in the background of the picture. So I keep Dude in one and her in the other.

Next month most likely the asil girls will go to my father's. That will be for the breeding season. Dude doesn't need to get it on with his sisters and mom. I will then just have Dude, Legolas, and Buffy, so maybe I'll pick up a hen or two. My dad has a couple of truly ancient asil hens I might take on if they can be safely integrated. He doesn't tend to keep them if he's not able to use them in breeding, but I have them entirely as pets so I don't care if they don't lay anymore.

I could go on and on about chickens but this is enough.

[hvndredbattles]

repost and rate your muse's traits out of 10 in each category !

RICHIE ARDEN.

COMPASSION. 4/10*. Richie's general capacity for empathy is relatively low. Compassion is something he still has to make a very conscious effort for, and he doesn't often know what to do for it. I think some of the clearest moments of compassion you'll see from him are things he will do for the dying.

He does have his own little ways of showing he cares, in his own way. Making sure his boys have eaten. Relative leniency on approving leave, where he can. Insisting on at least one inspection of injuries himself, even if they were seen to by someone else. (And I don't write him in a romantic relationship or choose to ship him by default, but he does learn other forms of compassion and connection and expressing care as the relationship deepens.)

BITTERNESS. 4/10. Less bitter and more a bleak realist. The bitterness kicks in after his Arc 2, when his government betrays him and he loses his team. But it's not pervasive in his life in the sense that it colors everything? Bitter about losing his boys, and bitter about being stabbed in the back, but that does not mean that he expects as much from everyone else now.

HAPPINESS. 5/10. Honestly just a very neutral guy. Neither prone to great joy nor great sorrow.

POLITENESS. 5/10. He is aware of when it would be wise to hold his tongue, and aware of social convention and manners. It's something of a tossup as to whether or not he'll actually acknowledge and act on said awareness. He's got enough sense not to talk back to a superior, but if there's no respect there, he will absolutely be brusque and intentionally ignore things like pleasantries.

I want to say there's an element of "doesn't care enough to pry" in some of what reads as his politeness. For instance, he won't ask about scars in part because that's Not Something You Do, and in part because it's not behavior he wants to encourage (doesn't want someone thinking that's something he'll tolerate directed his way), but also he just. Doesn't care enough about the "story" to ask? And then once he gets to know someone and develops a relationship of some form with them, there's a respect for privacy he won't broach.

MORALITY. 5/10. His work, by default, has him often operating in the grey. But even before that, he never felt particularly compelled by morality. It's more a set of rules he operates by because it is easier to do so. He has lines he won't cross because of his internal moral compass, of course. But I would not call him a particularly moral man.

PRIDE. 7/10. Prideful, but I would argue in some odd ways. Not easily humiliated, even when that is solely, specifically, viciously the goal. But also not a braggart. He knows he's good at what he does. He's confident in the knowledge that he's good at what he does. But you also won't hear him willy-nilly discussing his work or his successes.

He would maybe rather die than beg, given specifically those two options. It might depend on the day.

HONESTY. 6/10. Honest with an edge, sometimes. But also inclined toward the conversational redirect to avoid answering questions or addressing topics he'd rather not. More honest professionally than personally.

BRAVERY. 10/10. Occupational hazard, bravery. Being brave and running toward the injured and the violence and destruction tend to go hand-in-hand.

RECKLESSNESS. 5/10. You would think, perhaps, that bravery and recklessness go hand-in-hand? And yet. Has he made decisions against his better judgement? Gone headfirst back into a situation with terrible odds to finish a mission, or rescue one of his own? Yes. However, one does not get to a point of leading teams by lacking good judgment and the wisdom of when to say no to ill-advised courses of action.

AMBITION. 7/10. Less personal ambition and more professional ambition and drive. The ambition of Getting Shit Done.

LOYALTY. 10/10. Loyal to a fault. Loyal to people, first, but his loyalty to his country is nothing to scoff at either. The man has literally been tortured and held onto highly classified information. He would kill for, and die for, his loyalties.

LOVE. 3/10. Love is another one of those things Richie does not have much capacity for. Not that he would not say he loves people— he does love his family, and in rare circumstances, could even come to love a romantic partner. But it is not love in the way he hears other people describe. He simply doesn't connect with people on that level. It's part of why it's so easy for him to leave his old life behind at the end of his Arc 2, going into Arc 3. Almost an, out-of-sight, out-of-mind.

(And yet, I want it on record that the two ships he does have? Love on Richie looks a lot like obsession. Love becomes a "I am not leaving first. You will have to tell me you're done with me" thing.)

SENSE OF FAMILY. 4/10*. In line with his difficulty with emotional attachments (love and the like), his sense of family is not particularly strong. He has one, certainly, and they're on good terms. But he feels no obligation to them, and rarely feels a particular pull toward them that is distinguishable from any pull he feels toward anyone else he has more than a passing relationship with. That being said, his niece is, without a doubt, the exception to the rule. He showers her with gifts, has left much of his estate to her in his will, and would do anything for her.

ATTRACTIVENESS. 8/10. I'd call him ruggedly handsome. The scars are an allure for some, and a warning off for others.

AGILITY. 8/10. He has to be, for his occupation. It's something he puts a concentrated effort into maintaining. But a fighter's agility, not a dancer or acrobat's agility. Strikes fast strikes true, strikes hard.

SEX DRIVE. 7/10. Not something he acts on so regularly after he leaves his twenties, but still a higher-than-average sex drive. Higher when he has a regular sexual partner. Lower when the work wears him thin.

[phantasmagoriaoriginals]

Hmmm, what about the questions under people for Darcy?

👁️ EYE - what color are their eyes? do people notice their eyes? is there anything special about them (shows emotion easily, literally magical...)?

Angular and lime green. Her eyes are bright, alert, and fairly expressive, but there's not anything too unique about them.

🤥 LYING - are they good liars? do they have tells to show they're lying?

Darcy is a terrible liar. Her brain moves too fast for her to string together normal sentences, most of the time— and a habit of drastically overexplaining when she's saying something untrue makes it all too easy to catch her in the act. It makes her nervous to have to lie to people, so she avoids it whenever she can.

👻 GHOST - do they believe in ghosts? what are their "ghostly experiences", if any?

That kind of thing isn't entirely impossible. It's hard to believe that ghosts could exist, but Darcy isn't inherently in disbelief of them.

💥 COLLISON - what emotions do they have trouble dealing with?

Feeling hopeless or useless gets to Darcy badly. She does her best to deal with the situation she's in and be worth something to the people around her, so any sense of failure hits her hard. It's common for her to take way too much responsibility onto herself and blame herself for things that are far out of her control.

😭 CRYING - what makes them cry? do they cry easily?

She's a fairly easy crier, but not overly so. Anything that involves other people getting hurt doesn't sit well with her, so she's often found fighting back tears after a particularly intense battle.

👊 PUNCH - are they quick to violence?

Not at all. Darcy dislikes violence and seeing people in pain, so even though she's perfectly capable in combat with Oracles, she'll rarely resort to violence outside of those fights. The only way it might happen is if she's threatened and has no other option.

💢 ANGER - what are some habits they have that will take some getting used to?

The sheer speed at which Darcy functions makes her a little difficult to deal with. Her brain is always moving a mile a minute, meaning that she's always five steps ahead of any interaction she has. Many people find her nervous behavior, non-stop activity, and constant mental restlessness irritating to be around.

👪 FAMILY - what is their family like? what is your ocs relationship to them? does your oc have any siblings?

She's the oldest child in a large family, and all of her siblings are much younger than she is. She felt a lot of pressure to provide for everyone, which is what let to her joining the Diviners. However, she's had next to no contact with her family since doing so, and she only reaches out to them to send a portion of her paychecks. It's unclear exactly how she feels about any of them.

😨 FEARFUL - when scared, do they go into "flight" or "fight"?

Flight, usually. When she feels threatened, it's reflex for Darcy to keep moving. Thus, she's far more prone to fleeing a tense situation than staying to fight— or at least, not stopping until she can figure out what she's going to do to save herself.

💤 SLEEPING - do they fall asleep easily? what helps them sleep?

She tends to be much too restless and filled with mental energy to get enough sleep. It takes a complex calming-down routine to ensure a proper night's sleep, one she often has no time for.

[wolveria]

Inside Your Wires - Ch 35

Pairing: Human!Connor x Android!Reader

Series Warnings (18+ only): Eventual smut, slow burn, fantasy bigotry, violence, brief noncon elements, angst with a happy ending

Chapter Summary: With full-scale war about to spill into the streets, Connor's priorities revolve around one person.

AO3

November 10th, 2038

Wednesday 7:58PM

Looking at the dark, quiet street, one wouldn’t know this was the second night of war. Like the rest of city-based law enforcement, he’d been ordered to not interfere with the troops, letting them occupy the city as if they were an invading force and the citizens were the enemy.

Connor was more than fine staying out of the way. He was on a mission of his own now, and the surveillance footage he’d witnessed the night before had replayed in its mind, over and over, all day.

Connor couldn’t hear the distant pops of automatic gunfire until he opened the door and stepped from his Mustang. The cold air bit at his cheeks, and the falling snow melted as soon as it landed on his jacket warmed by the car heater.

He closed his door quietly, not wanting to break the stillness of the neighborhood, one which could afford to have soldiers stationed at the entrances to their community. There would be no deviants here.

Or so they believed. Connor knew different.

A short circular driveway led up to the house; it could still be classified as a mansion, but it was humble compared to the other behemoths in the neighborhood. It was especially modest considering the man who lived within.

Connor broke off from the driveway and descended into the thick bushes and trees lining the property. He waited. He’d been staking out the location all day, and after his target had slipped inside moments ago, he wouldn’t have to wait much longer.

And there she was, striding from the front door of the mansion as if she belonged there, which she did.

Connor didn’t bother sneaking; he stepped from the tree line and spoke her name, ringing clear in the night.

“Bellona Manfred?”

She stopped, her head turning to him in a calculated, unsurprised movement. One that was so familiar, as were the features of her face.

Connor’s chest ached, the sting so distracting that he didn’t notice the two deviants in the shadows until they were a few feet away, guns aimed at his face.

Connor slowly lifted his hands.

“I just want to talk.”

The deviant leader looked to them and nodded. Neither seemed happy about lowering their weapons, but that wasn’t surprising for a GV400 and FB200 model. It seemed even deviants were prone to their base natures.

The FB200 took his service pistol from its holster, and Connor didn’t even glance at him. He couldn’t drag his eyes away from her face.

“Walk with me, Detective Anderson,” she requested.

The deviant leader didn’t give him much choice. She turned toward the house, confident steps leading her forward, and Connor quickly followed. He didn’t think she would run, not when she had the advantage, but he was too desperate for answers to let her out of his sight.

When he caught up to her, Connor realized she was leading him through the back of the Manfred house. Cobblestone pavement was illuminated by low walking lights, the greenery of manicured horticulture too obscured in the dark to appreciate.

“You know who I am?”

“Of course.” She seemed amused by the question.

“Then you know why I’m here.”

“I know it’s not to kill me, even if that would be the most strategic option.”

She led him to a fountain, a stone mare rearing back, carved splashes of water kicked up by its hooves. The basin was turned off for the winter and emptied, the stature coated with white that felt more like dust than snow.

The YN200 waited, her two-tone eyes patient. At least those eyes weren’t familiar, and the difference helped Connor focus.

“Do you know where she is?”

A small flicker tugged at her lips.

“No. But I know where she’ll be.”

The dim flicker of hope brightened in Connor’s chest. The deviant leader looked over the dark garden, gaze unfocused as if she were seeing something else.

“In three hours, we march on the extermination camp on Woodward Avenue. The soldiers stationed there will be given a chance to surrender, so there will be a time of inaction. If I understand her, and I do, it is during that time she will try to kill me.”

She said it so clinically, as if the idea of her android descendant trying to assassinate her wasn’t a surprise. Maybe it wasn’t.

Connor’s heart fell.

“So… Yin isn’t a deviant.”

He’d thought… well, he’d hoped she was. The night previous, Conrad had showed him the surveillance footage of Yin saving the soldier, both from the exploding freighter and from the freezing waters, and Connor had clung to that desperate hope that she’d finally done it. She’d become a deviant.

And then she’d been ruthlessly gunned down by the troopers waiting on the pier, her only thanks for what she’d done. She wasn’t dead, Connor knew that, but he also knew something was lost each time her body was destroyed.

Something was lost from him, too.

“No,” Bellona said, confirming his fears. And then she added, “Not yet.”

Connor raised his head, the deviant leader’s eyes softening at his expression.

“There’s still hope, Detective. They don’t have as firm a hold of her as they would like to think.”

“They?”

The shadows of her face darkened, her lips pulling into an unfriendly line.

“CyberLife. They hinged this entire war on her. On her ability to locate and capture me. The army, the camps, even the DPD are simply a means to an end. Yin is their primary weapon, and nothing will dissuade her from her mission. Except for one thing.”

“What?”

“You.”

Her eyes sparkled at his open surprise.

“Why do you think I told you when and where I’m going to strike?”

Connor shook his head, honestly not having a clue why the deviant leader would trust him.

“Because I know where your loyalties lie, and it’s not with those who are killing my people.”

She turned to him, close enough that the edges of his billowing breath touched her face. Her own breath left no trace in the cold air.

“I’m a good judge of character, Detective.”

She reached up a hand and placed it over his heart.

“Yin is special. You know that. Don’t let her fall into their hands.” Her gaze drifted away, brows set into a grim slope. “Their control over her runs deep. I sincerely hope her love for you is enough.”

Her hand slipped off his jacket as she moved around him, Connor helpless as he watched her weave through the garden, disappearing into the shadows and leaving behind only light footprints in the snow.

By the time Connor returned to the front of the house, there was no sign of Bellona’s enforcers. The only remainder of their presence was his service pistol, left on the ground and illuminated in the circle of lamplight for him to find.

He scooped it up, confirmed it hadn’t been tampered with, and returned it to his shoulder holster.

Three hours. He had three hours to come up with a plan that would, hopefully, stop the most advanced android on the planet from killing the one hope androids had to win their freedom.

He had to focus, prepare for the impossible task of turning the tide in a war, but all Connor could think about were those four words.

Her love for you.

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