#atleast I have a vague memory that these were connected

[somewhereincairparavel]

What do you think of Piper's character? I started pjo because of Jason but I can't finish it because I got spoiled :(

aww nooo I'm so sorry you got spoiled! i hope you are able to continue the books one day despite the spoiler :< I was unfortunately, spoiled of jason's you-know-what long before I finished pjo and was about to start hoo aswell :(

anyways, I'll be honest, i initially never felt much towards piper while reading hoo? i wasn't a huge fan, but I never found her boring either, just a little shallow but in an understandable way since she was just a growing teen, it was realistic. I did like the fact that we got lots of insight on jason through her though, but overall she didn't deserve the fandom slander at all, that something i heavily agree on.

Also, something i DON'T understand is how much slander she got for calling percy 'unimpressive' compared to jason?? jason was her BOYFRIEND whom she was in love with at the time, and the fandom seemingly hates everyone who doesn't kiss the ground percy walks on. i found it VERY authentic that atleast one character didn't simp over him like the long list of simps he had throughout the series lol. no, she doesn't have bad taste just because percy wasn't romantically her cup of tea. Yet i feel like if annabeth said something along the lines of 'xx character is very unimpressive compared to percy' i don't ANYONE would've slandered her, because it's percy. they would've just called her a 'loyal queen' or something. piper truly is one of the punching bags unfortunately.

her platonic connection with leo and jason is also SUPER underrated, they were a family who cared about eachother till the very end even though they were put together under false pretenses :( i hate it when people compare them with grover, percy and annabeth saying that the lost hero trio wasn't 'true friendship' because of the fake memories, no. they are TRUE friends BECAUSE of how well they blended DESPITE the fake memories. They connected so well with ease and never really had any awkward moments together either.

[TOA spoilers] I'll be honest, i still have some lingering petty resentment towards piper because of how standoffish she was to jason after the break up, especially when she let coach hedge and mellie think that jason broke her heart, which alludes that she never explained to them who broke up with who and just vaguely said that they broke up, but then again, there are too little details about the break up for me to make out what exactly happened, so there's that. and I'll admit, her moving on with so quickly also rubs me off in a VERY wrong way, not just because of jason or anything, but because of how unhealthy it is for her mental health aswell, I just feel like she needed to take a break before jumping into a new relationship right after she faced PTSD witnessing her ex boyfriend/best friend's death, but i won't get into that.

I've seen some people getting upset about rick making piper queer, calling it 'queer baiting' but i HEAVILY disagree. i think piper questioning her sexuality was very realistic and makes so much sense for her character, since she always seemed to have internal misogyny that she needed to work on and also she faced the pressure of being the 'perfect aphrodite child with a perfect boyfriend' as her mom's favourite daughter. piper moving out of chb to go live in oklahoma is also very in character. I personally never felt like she truly enjoyed being in chb tbh, not as much as leo or jason did.

I do love how she gave out so much reassurance and moral support to the other characters like annabeth, leo and jason, because it's very sweet and she's also a very underrated fighter in the battlefield too.

[rawbutprecious]

continued from x for @pyramultimuse

The bookshop looked vastly different since Aziraphale one saw it, with creeping ivy growing up the brick walls so much that it made the building look more like a hedge than an actual building with just the windows and doorway the only thing the green starshaped leaves didn't cover. It wasn't much of a bookshop any more, now it was Anthony J Crowley's garden shop specializing in the rare and bizarre. The books were still there, he was too sentimental to get rid of any of it. All of what the angel had left behind was moved up to the second floor when he knew Aziraphale wouldn't be returning.

It had been difficult for Crowley in the start. He had kept his feelings bottled up for centuries, when he finally did open up his angel chose to leave him behind. The pain had been immeasurable and left him bitter and broken. But he couldn't wallow in depression, he had to move on. Crowley tried his best atleast, kept himself busy doing a bit of demonic work but mostly tended to his 'slice of eden' that he had set up on the lower floor of the shop. It was a beautiful, many colorful and lush plants on shelves, tables and some hanging in the window. All perfect.

The demon was going around spritzing the plants with water when something caught his attention outside. He looked out the window to see Aziraphale standing out on the street. Only pausing a moment then went back to tending to his plants, shaking his head. It wasn't the first time his mind played tricks on him and believed this was just another one of those times.

Aziraphale could not for the life of him figure out why he stood there. What exactly was this place. It was so noisy and crowded with hubub happening here, there and everywhere. Was a foreign place. it had been long enough that Aziraphale had started to forget what Earthly existence was like. The more he stood there the more he realized there were gaps in his thoughts. Bits and pieces of memories flickered through his mind. He knew he was an angel. He knew his name was Aziraphale. He knew a demon named Crowley. That was about it. He could not figure out how all that connected or why it connected. He just knew those things went together.

The vehicles honked at him. People waved and cursed and gave the middle finger. He tried to wave and smile in return, but it only seemed to anger them more. What was he to do? What was he supposed to do? He found himself completely lost in attempts to figure out what ought to be done and what had happened? He knew he left Heaven and he figured that the angels might be quite angry with him. He was in charge up there, after there (at least he assumed he had been). He also had a feeling he'd been privy to something very important but what exactly was had wiped itself away. It felt as if his memories were just being pulled from him like fish being plucked from water.

A vaguely familiar face passed him by. She stared at him with shock and then she ran away before he could say anything. He did not know who she was or how he knew her, but she had a face that stirred a memory. How curious. He wanted to follow but he found the cars, the noise the people, the vague memories, the scents, and the smells all too overwhelming so the angel just watched as the woman entered the familiar spot.

"Crowley!" she barked while throwing open the door. Nina had been heading to her shop to open it up for the day when she'd seen Aziraphale just standing in one spot. She had not seen him in years and had not expected to run into him ever again. His presence must mean there is trouble. "Did you know your Angel friend is standing in the middle of the road? Mr. Fell is just gawking. Not moving. Not doing anything. The last time this happened was when his Naked Friend trotted down the road with a box and it did not end up well. Don't think I've forgotten those Zombies. But I digress. I think we have a problem."

[spoopyblues214]

Mostly what I see is people who were past fans kind of avoiding watching the show because it's so different, but for me it's the opposite

I vaguely remembered 12, and just how boyish it really was atleast in memory and I avoided it, until the fan content began to show it really was more about the connections than just, looking cool and kicking butt. I finally gave it a chance this summer and it is easily one of my top 3 favorites of anything of all time, specifically because it was so different. Rise, while others seemed uninterested because of the past iterations, made me give the other versions a chance, and now I'm watching 12 with a love to hate it attitude.

If I were to get one wish to have granted without a doubt, it'd probably be riches let's be real, but I'd use that money to bring us all of the seasons of rise we were supposed to have.

It’s here!!!!! Whoooooooo!!

[riisinaakka-draws]

Progress gif of this:  “Would you still recognize me?”

The quality isn’t the best possible, but hopefully you get the idea how things evolved... It’s made from “the preview pics” that I saved in this painting’s draft/wip folder whenever I took a break or wanted to compare/remember something special - and also so that I’d know where I left things and wouldn’t have to open the actual psd file every time, lol. To make the gif size smaller and to have it flow better (and be less eye-hurting), I left some of the frames out.

I admit it, it’s quite fascinating to watch now after everything :D *pats myself on the back*

So that the post doesn’t become too long on the dash, I put some additional notes under the cut, mainly about the refs and wips if you want to take a look! Please, do not repost elsewhere :)

(Btw, you can just read the bolded parts if you want a quick version or get tired of the rambling.)

I want to point out that the main work always happens underneath all kinds of adjustment layers because I like to test things a lot during the process before sticking on something if I don’t quite know yet what I want. Like the colour scheme or where the light comes (or if there are multiple light sources) or if something needs more contrast etc. So I paint with simpler colours first, but already have some ideas/adjustment layers over them, but hidden and waiting until the basics are done. Then I merge things and continue to paint with the “new” colour palette.

I also often test filters to have more texture or bring out some things better - or just to find something interesting to incorporate! Accented edges, crosshatch and watercolor are things that I often test in some way over my sketches and wips at some point when the basics are done or when I need/want some kind of further effect/texture or just something to knit them together better and for balance. And also just for fun!

Then I flatten the things I like (or I am “certain about” at that point) and continue painting over that ...aaaand end up testing something else, keep different versions or parts of things on separate layer groups (to compare or to bring back some earlier things that I liked or alternative lighting solution or object/body part placement, or...) and so on...seriously it’s always a mess controlled chaos! aahahahaha *face palm*

But mainly the things keep building on top of each other instead of having neat groups for sketch, lineart, colours, lighting etc. I mean, I always try to start with that but never have been able to actually keep it very long... And on the other hand I’m too nervous and indecisive to paint with only single layer/canvas from the beginning with (like a traditional painting would be painted). Or with just a few layers for background, character(s), effects on their own and so on... So I have this chaos that swirls towards that something that I had preplanned or wanted to achieve/practise until I’m happy with it.

ANYWAY, BACK TO THE ACTUAL ART :

The original “spark” for this work was Flint at the end of the episode 1 with his bloody face and white shirt, and that nice splash of light, which made me think about the aftermath and him cleaning himself in the privacy of his cabin with some nice morning light painting his beard fiery and him lost in thoughts :) At some point that made me think of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s beautiful painting “The Laundress” which I have liked since I was a kid, so I started to steer towards it.

See the resemblance? (˵ ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°˵)ﾉ ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Some of the refs for the bowl and Flint. The angle/posture ended up being a bit different and I had more refs for Flint’s face and shirt and hand etc.

Some wips:

1) basically the idea and items that I wanted to include.

2) after a break (weeks? months?) and after I had searched some more references to help. The eyes were at this point (accidentally) absolutely awful so I censored them for the sake of my own peace of mind here, lol (not sorry!)

More wips along the way, although not much difference can be seen as the pics are quite small.. :

3) I mirrored/flipped the painting constantly, to see the mistakes and also because I couldn’t decide which way I wanted him to be! This stage was aaalmost ready but I got stuck and forgot let it be for several months doing other stuff again.

4) I continued it, fixed lots of things with fresh eyes and experimented more with lighting and texture but nothing too drastic stuck in the end. I have two monitors and either (or both...) are calibrated a bit off atm, so it was quite frustrating to navigate and to know which one had the right colours that I was after... and I still don’t know but it looks nice on both screens so  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯   At this stage things were basically nitpicking and a bit too much honing.

The finished piece:

In the end I lost some of the things I actually liked more in the earlier versions (for example some had more of a dreamy feeling or better texture or more emotions/wearyness/anger showing that didn’t quite reach the end result again) and I overworked some other things, but nevertheless! I’m very pleased how this turned out! I reached the vision I wanted and learned a lot again :D

Thanks for reading <3

[acceptsonlynttnightwing]

So have you read RHATO beyond the first couple parts because like Roy wasn’t a sidekick in the story. He hung around and helped but at the beginning Jason leaves after rescuing him and Roy later catches up on his own. Also Kori had several arcs about her past as a slave and ambassador who fought to free people. The free sex thing is only an aspect of like the first three comics. Also people do connect silly early Batman with darker modern Batman. Regardless it was a reboot not a straight jump. And I think some people feel like Roy was helped by RHATO was because it allowed a reset from Cry for Justice/Rise of Arsenal. Then Rebirth smoothed over the issues RHATO had. The two kind of worked together to save Roy’s character from the grim dark early version.

—-

Okay, I don’t particularly want to post so much about RHATO so after this one, I’m not going to reply to your submissions unless you send them as (anon if you want) asks I can reply to privately or message me directly. I don’t particularly enjoy the repeated implications that I haven’t read the series I’m criticising either, just because I disagree with you.

Yes, believe or not, I did read RHATO before deciding out of the blue, without reading it, that I didn’t like the series.

And yes, Roy was quite firmly slotted into sidekick roll throughout RHATO. I’m guessing that you’re a Jason fan and so you probably don’t see it. Sure, Lobell might have Roy make the choice to go after Jason, but in all the scenes they’re together, Roy is firmly a supporting character, only around to support and make Jason look better and give him a popular, well known friend. He calls himself an idiot (and acts like an inexperienced one). Even after like 20 issues (when you’d expect him to be a little more, I don’t like the Roy we used to know and love) he just gets relegated to glorified tech support?

It wasn’t call Red Hood and the Outlaws because ROY and KORI were the leads.

As for the stuff about his and Ollie’s relationship and portraying Ollie as the world’s worst father and acting like the Titans abandoned him, well that WAS Lobell’s choice - when questioned he just said he found his Roy interesting, not that editorial or someone was trying to push a certain narative. Plus, even other N52 and Rebirth stories DIDN’T go with the Ollie is the world’s world father angle (canonically, Ollie was just about the best superhero dad of all the Titans’ till they used Snowbirds as a PSA - you’d know if you read previous GA and titans comics), so yes, I can blame Lobell and RHATO for the anti-Ollie and anti-Titans portrayal.

And the NTT and NT series did most of those stories first: about Backfire and Tamaran and Kori’s past as a slave and how it affected her, her relationships, and her outlook on crime. RHATO just comes across as a pale, vaguely familiar copy where the stakes never felt very high and the characters were strange, watered down shadows of themselves.

As for ‘The free sex thing is only an aspect of like the first three comics.’, well that was still 3 comics too much - the way she asked Jason 'is there’s anything I can do for you?’ ugh. How about the thing where he went 'to her kind humans are little more than scents and experiences’? And sure, around halfway through the series they find out that Kori was lying about her memories, but the why is never explained (again part of why I found RHATO all over the place and badly planned). And it’s not the free sex that bothered me, it’s the fact that she had no authority anymore and asked JASON (and guy who’s atleast 10 years her junior) what to do? It’s the fact that she wasn’t shown as intelligent or capable anymore - just as an emotional, explosive character, without any of her previous nuance. A lot of the time, she was just around to be female, shoot starbolts and arc her back sexually - whereas in the ntt, she acknowledged that she was unfamiliar with Earth, but pointed out that she wasn’t stupid. She’d led the Titans before, and seeing her looking to some guy for leadership was really annoying.

All in all, her portrayal in RHATO was softcore porn at the start, and while it improved, her characterisation didn’t really change. Lobell seemed to feel the need to have her and Roy in bed a bunch as if to establish they were a couple (despite both being too bland and uncomfortable to have any chemistry). Plus, who sleeps with their previous best friend’s fiancé? The whole thing was just super uncomfortable.

Some people? Well, everyone has some strange ideas - there are people who like Grant Morrison’s rapist version of Talia. I don’t think (and I’ve explained multiple times) Roy was helped in the least by RHATO since it got rid of his decades of experience and close relationships to tons of heroes, not to mention Lian.

Also, I explained previously that, yes, characters change, but while Batman changed slowly over decades and decades and soft reboots, Roy and Kori were just SUDDENLY these strange new characters in a JASON TODD book with almost no explanation.

Lots of characters get through dark periods without needing the cause of said dark period completely erased? Like, Bruce got past Jason’s death, Wally past Barry’s, etc. Roy’s 'dark period’ as you put it wasn’t that terrible - Lian could have easily been brought back to life in a bit. Also, Ollie’s killing was a pretty chilling moment. Like I said, I don’t think it needed to be rewritten, and DEFINITELY not like in RHATO.

Also, like, Rebirth didn’t fix all the problems with RHATO - Roy in the rebirth Titans was still very different from OG Roy Harper since it went with the RHATO version of the Titans apparently abandoning Roy (Which they didn’t do in the two original versions). IMO they didn’t save the character, 1, because he didn’t need saving and 2 because they sucked.

2. I didn’t understand what you were saying in your next submission - would appreciate if you sent it as an ask and framed it a little more clearly?

[macgyvertape]

Castlevania kinda had a pacing problem

spoilers for all of Netflix’s Castlevania. I haven’t seen much analysis for the show on tumblr, im honestly curious if discussions I had with irl friends mirror what fandom talks about

tldr: Castlevania seems inconsistently paced from season to season, and within season as well, leads to a lot of characters motivations feeling unclear so characters repeatedly explain why they are doing something while they’re doing it

overview of the seasons:

S1 I know somewhat of a test for Netflix but it has good main trio character establishment and sets the scale of the conflict

s2: pretty complete emotional arc for most characters and resolves the plot of killing Dracula while setting up additional characters to continue the story. Isaac, Hector, Carmilla all established with the audience as characters whose story would continue

honestly I would bet this is the most popular season

S3: s2 did a bit of worldbuilding, but this season really fleshed out the world with both a wide range of locations and exploring the question of “what now, Dracula is dead but vampires and night creatures remain”.

There were basically 4 plot threads: 1) Sypha/Trevor investigating the cult & Saint Germain; 2) Hector & Carmilla (also introducing Lenore, Striga, Morana); 3) Isaac’s journey of revenge & self discovery; 4) Alucard sits around the castle and is betrayed.

overall characters roughly feel like they are in the same place if not worse. A big criticism I saw at the time, which hold up after rewatching this before s4 is nothing felt resolved for the main characters

I would say this season is where the pacing issues start to become apparent, juggling 4 plot threads that lack a central theme or even mutual character connection. If there was a central theme it would be “humans are awful to each other”. The Judge doing Hot Fuzz style murders, The Wizard in the tower, Sumi & Taka

S4: it starts with the same 4 plot threads, though upfront it is made clear that the plot theme is “people are trying to resurrect Dracula”, and the progression of the plot works to resolve unrelated plot threads until the main trio reunites for the boss fights. To me and my friends watching it was obvious that the show would reunite the main trio, the question was how and how far into the run time.

Season 4 is why I’m writing this essay, for the past 2 days I’ve been like, yeah that character sure explained their motives repeatedly maybe with some philosophical discussion, but it’s just such a weird place considering where they were in s3

Alucard’s arc:

Where he was left in season 3, it was after killing people he had trusted in self defense and impaling their corpses. It was clearly meant to parallel Dracula’s dislike of humanity. However overall his character lacked a proactive motivating force.

Honestly the most interesting thing I found in s3 was Alucard clearly misses Sypha and Trevor, however they don’t miss him or refer to him

One reason Sumi & Taka betray Alucard is for the secrets and power of Castlevania. After inviting the village including St Germain who Alucard was warned of into the Castle, Alucard makes 0 effort to secure anything, not even his personal childhood room. Guess he really learned nothing

Discussing St Germain, I think it’s funny that they had a several minute flashback sequence for his lost girlfriend (who doesn’t have a name or a voice actor), to remind the viewer of who he is, and to justify how he’s suddenly back and down for murder.

In s4 there is the call to help the village, and the walk back to the castle is a montage of Alucard opening up to Greta and becoming friendly literally overnight. He laughs off the impaling, and basically all of the darker things he went through in season 3, which has me asking what was the point of his season 3 arc then? 

Honestly writing this I realize the biggest parallel he has with Dracula is the call to action from a bold woman with a dramatic entrance speech which then leads to a romance

Isaac’s arc:

in s3, with all the other themes of “humanity sucks” I was always unsure if the townspeople were meant to appear irrational while attacking a larger force instead of letting him pass through an leave, or him not caring about how he’s provoking them is meant to show his insanity

ive seen the discussion elsewhere, curious about the Discourse here

is s4 Isaac has the whole monologue about how he now has agency but him gaining that agency was his s3 arc. In s4 he’s already at the point of accepting it. By the end of s4 he’s one of those who comes the furthest from his first character appearance to his last.

s4e5 where of Isaac attacking Carmilla in Isaac’s 2nd appearance had him resolving like 4 plot threads at once (Carmilla, Striga& Morana, Hector, and Isaac himself).

but i do wonder if Trevor, Sypha, or Alucard even know any of these people exist. I think not

I was honestly confused if I missed a scene from his dialogue about building something and what is inherent nature, to “My plan has evolved, my plan is now conquest” because he only conquests the one castle and the rest is left unclear

Upon rewatch the connection there is “killing [the wizard] felt just ... I liked that feeling”, so the show says that Isaac in the end attacked Carmilla for the sake of justice and not revenge.

Isaac in his last conversation expresses the theme of s4 “build something new on these old bones, where people can live for the future”

however, his arc honestly feel scenes were cut, and then dialogue was written around it. He’s the only living character who doesn’t show up in the epilogue and the sentient night creature “what if I could empty hell” dialogue was some of the most interesting worldbuilding. Night creatures with sentience and possibility of regaining memories!!!!

The Council of Sisters & Hector’s arc:

oh I’ve already seen s4 discourse about Lenore/Hector while searching for character analysis, a chunk of it seems to be rationalizing the absolute difference between how s3 ended with these characters and s4. It was extremely confusing for me and my friends; wondering if 1) was Hector showing more emotional intelligence than before and putting on a facade to cover up hatred? Nope 2) did more time pass than 6 weeks for there to be some kind stockholm syndrome? No, Hector seems fine to let Lenore kill herself

The slave control ring: played up in the climax of s3 and easily solved s4. s3 Lenore says if he tries to harm them, flee, or take it off it would cause crippling pain, in s4 Hector just easily cuts off his own finger.

for a control ring that they take time to show a version being on the Rebus, it doesn’t do much controlling of Hector

also guess the definition of “do harm” just refers to direct action

Lenore in s4: has no purpose in conquest, has that useless remarked on by multiple characters, is imprisoned, then kills herself after a genre aware philosophical discussion. This essay is long enough, but what the fuck happened to this character who ended s3 clearly physically and sexually abusive? Seriously this was one of the biggest writing changes to the point where she was treating Hector as an equal. Compare her last words in s3 “shh the real people [vampires] are talking”. The change in the relationship is actually something I would have taken being shown, or atleast told of what exactly caused this change other than the vague “you adopted him”

Striga&Morana get the best arc of the Council. 3 scenes: the tent argument, Daybreak armor fight & argument resolution, declaration of feelings and turning away. You could argue Castlevania is plot to be connective tissue between fight scenes, but for all the dialogue about human resistance in different seasons it was nice to see it. Overall the scenes were short but had a lot of showing what their relationship is not just telling,

unlike Carmilla. For as much hyping up as they did with her, and as much power as she had, she only appeared in 2 episodes and no other group except Isaac knew about her military conquest.

the map scene where she states her motive for conquest of wanting to take things from old men is the key example of how characterization became tell not show. How interesting was that monologue compared to the past seasons flashback to her murmuring the old vampire lord, or all her repeated insults of men/man-children that shows how she judges people??

That monologue had to carry the weight of justifying the Sisterhood bonds falling apart as well as why her motivation changed from building a human pen from Styria to Braila to world conquest. I think it did so poorly

Sypha & Trevor

really Sypha & Trevor have the main plot in the show. I checked and post season 1 the only episode they don’t appear in is s4e6, which is entirely devoted to the Isaac, Hector, and Council of Sisterhood arc. Their partnership and adventures are the main plot of the show.

Its easy to see what Trevor’s arc was over the show: coming to peace with the deaths of his family, taking up the mantle of being a Belmont, and starting a new family with Sypha.

With Sypha I actually had to scroll through tv tropes for what is her character arc, and I guess hers is disillusionment from adventure and life outside the speakers? My friends joke that Sypha’s magic is what the plot demands to look cool in a fight, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Tangent: the ending of their arc was easy to guess: as soon as Trevor went to fight the final boss alone I literally said “oh i bet Sypha’s pregnant, Trevor’s doing a heroic sacrifice, theyll use the unexplained magical dagger mcguffin, and 60/40 odds that he goes through an infinite corridor to outright come back vs just the implication he might come back”

I guess my final thought of the show, was overall the SUPER Final Boss got my by surprise. It was a good twist I enjoyed. Not that Death appeared, I had guessed that from the heavy foreshadowing, but I was surprised by who it was, because I had thought I thought the characters involved feeling shoehorned into the plot was just more bad writing. The Alchemist who put St Germain on the path or murder for no discernible motive for helping? Sure gotta move the plot along. New Dracula court member Varney who has a whole introduction with almost every character he meets and banter about his smell? Sure thats basically how all characters talk with a snarky and acerbic voice.

[whimsywispsblog]

RED

A/N: ANGST! ANGSTTTT!

TW: Blood, gore, graphical descriptions of corpses, panic attacks

Chapter 2- Tears

Working with Hudson wasn't as bad as Rei thought it would be. Granted, he's one hell of a moody bastard, but atleast he let her have her peace instead of glaring at her with those predator eyes like Adler's.

"Mr Hudson! Who is Bell?" Hudson looked at Rei and glanced down at the file she was holding, a little spark of discomfort kindled in his eyes.

"He was one of Perseus' agents who we managed to brainwash using the MK-Ultra. He was the most succ-"

"Mk-Ultra?! I thought that was a myth!" Hudson rolled his eyes, irritated at the girl's sudden interruption. She muttered a small 'sorry', biting her lower lip. Gah, I'm an idiot. Control yourself, dammit.

"What happened to him?"

"He had to be killed." Rei's eyebrows knitted in confusion. Her face tilted slightly, in curiosity. Hudson sighed softly and sat up straight, readying himself to indulge in her curiosity.

"He was a loose end. He could turn his back anytime, we never know." Rei looked back at her file. It had a bloody handprint on it. She ran her hand over the handprint. "Who killed him?"

"His handler, Adler." Rei inhaled sharply. So, he is putting my life in the hands of a man who can kill a person mercilessly. Lovely. Rei started fidgeting with her necklace again- too many questions swirled in her mind. Can I trust Adler? What if he thinks of me as a loose end too? Is that why Hudson wanted him with me? He should never know about my fath-

"What's on your mind?" Hudson stared into her dark chocolate brown eyes. He could see several questions sprouting from her head.

"It's just...He doesn't seem like the kind of guy I would like to work with. He just feels too...too closed off. I don't know if I can trust him." Hudson's lips curled into a small smile. He expected this to happen. "Rei. If you're worried about Adler turning his back on you, remember this: Adler is responsible for you during the mission, after that you're under my wing. You won't be working with him as much as you will with me." Rei gave a small wry smile. I am definitely not the first person Hudson has convinced about Adler's trustworthiness and goodwill.

"Anyway, speaking of Adler, he will come in tomorrow. He will brief you more on Bell if you're interested." Her face dropped into a sullen expression. For one whole week, much to her happiness, the scary-looking Mr Shades never crossed paths with her. It was as if he disappeared into thin air. Where he was, what he was doing, she did not care for it- she just didn't want to meet him and she prayed to every single God to make it happen. For once, the Gods did listen to my prayers!

"And a word of advice: Try not to get into his bad books," Chewing her thumbnail unconsciously, Rei bombarded her head with several scenarios. Wait...he advised me. Does that mean- Oh God, I am already a red flag to him. Fuck.

"Okay. Thank you, Mr Hudson." Back to the theatrics again, huh.

"Also, your flight to West Berlin has been scheduled for tomorrow, 3 am. Don't miss it."

3am?! Goddamit Hudson! Rei dramatically banged her head against the table, earning a small chuckle from the older man.

-

"Is that all we have on her? Nothing more?" Adler asked Sims.

"Nope. That's all we have. She looks pretty innocent to me, Doc. I wouldn't worry about her if I were you." Adler kept skimming through Rei's file for the nth time in the week. He could find nothing about the girl, except whatever Hudson had told him.

"That's exactly what bothers me. It's always the innocent ones." Sims raised an eyebrow at Adler. He wasn't looking at him, he was looking elsewhere. Following his line of sight, Sims finally understood who he was staring at, or more like, glaring at. Rei Ivanov. When he looked closer, it wasn't Rei who was in his line of sight. It was the object that she held onto which Adler threw his fierce glare at.

She was busy playing with her pendant again and in her hands, she held the brown file with the bloody handprint. Bell's file. Stuffing the file into a little owl-shaped bag, the girl left Langely. Adler's eyes trailed after Rei for a bit, till she was out of the man's sight. Sighing deeply he walked back to the office.

"Ah should have got my favourite winter coat." The girl wriggled in her sweater dress uncomfortably.

Back in her home, she immediately rushed towards the kitchen for a cup of hot cocoa. It was a simple yet sophisticated home. Black sofas with pink rugs and fairy lights adorned on the walls. A few pictures of some of the places she had been to during her time as a War Correspondent was neatly arranged on top of the small fireplace that she lit up whenever she felt lonely. Today was one of those days.

Curling on one of the sofas with her favourite cat plushie in one hand and hot cocoa in the other, Rei stared at the fireplace, the fire blazing in its pristine orange. She slowly leaned back, closing her eyes lightly. A lone tear-drop fell off her eye as she slowly started to walk down the memory lane.

Fire.

Screaming.

Fire.

A smell of burnt flesh filled the air. The skin of the burnt victims almost melted away, bones painted with blood-red sticking out of the corpses. Little moths sat on top of the corpses, devouring the flesh. Limbs hanging from a tree or a broken pole, some corpses with a body part missing, others have their intestines splattered out. Suddenly, two bloodied hands engulfed her. Turning around, she saw a man without half a face- his inners sticking out.

Rei gasped for breath as she opened her eyes. She fell off her sofa, her coca spilt on her expensive rug. She couldn't breathe- there was a pain in her chest. Clenching her chest, Rei tried to crawl towards the phone, but she couldn't move. She cried and cried- her tears flowed endlessly from her big doe-like eyes.

"Stop crying. Stop crying." She whispered to herself, slowly focusing on her breathing- her therapist's advice. That did the trick. It took her a good 15 minutes to recover from her sudden breakdown- one she had every night. She looked up at the clock. It was 4 hours to 3 am.

"I should pack, then leave. The maid can clean my rug." She muttered to herself slowly, trying to stand up with the help of the handle of her sofa.

-

"In short, the flight was shit, I am sleepy and I am starving," Hudson chuckled at Rei's extremely irritates answer. He had agreed to pick up Rei, thankfully, and brought her some food too, a sub with a nice cup of hot cocoa.

"How did you know I love cocoa?" Hudson smirked lightly, his eyes glued to the road.

"I am an agent for a reason, Rei." Rei rolled her eyes at the very vague reply. She continued munching on her sub, hungrily and trying to not make a mess in his car, which was extremely difficult for the poor girl.

After a very boring and painful two hours of travel, including pestering Hudson every five minutes with the question 'Are we there yet?'; the duo finally arrived at the safehouse. It was a big rusty monstrous building. It did have an eerie aura to it. Rei looked around the safehouse- it was just a green barren land.

"Come on in Rei, I want you to meet someone." A wave of social anxiety splashed over Rei as she awkwardly walked into the safehouse. Her nails dug deep into the soft flesh of her thumb and her teeth bit into her inner lips, drawing a little blood from the force.

"This is Helen Park, from MI6. She will be the one who will help you around with cross-referencing any intel we get." MI6! She's British, then? Must be an old acquaintance of the team.

Helen was a beautiful woman. She had a certain light charisma that radiated from her- one that was hard not to ignore. She did seem like a person one would immediately open their hearts out to- maybe because of her friendly and warm aura that was strikingly different from Hudson's and Adler's cold aura. Especially Adler's dark and unfriendly one. Rei shuddered at the thought of her first meeting with Adler lightly, but lucky for her, both the agents never noticed it.

Putting on her famous charming smile, Rei politely introduced herself to her, overemphasising her innocent exterior. Atleast my innocent face should keep me out of trouble. She hoped. And just as she hoped, Park did take in her innocent act. Good job Rei!

"Alright time for work," Hudson shouted out to the women. While Hudson was busy talking to Park about some meeting that should happen later, the evidence board had a picture of an old man in black and white, with a few red strings connecting him to other pictures that caught Rei's eye. Perseus.

"Rei, go to that room, there are a few files there. Try to piece together whatever you can. Park, you know what to do." Rei nodded, walking towards the room that Hudson had pointed out to.

It was a dark and dusty room. Cold too. Rei placed her bag on her table and fished through it. She pulled out a few papers that she had kept in her bag. They were some information about the operational Gulags and another tattered picture.

Thank you Rebecca for pulling those strings.

Rebecca, a close friend of Rei's was one woman who could pull several strings to get any amount of information. She knew quite a lot of people in the CIA- a few of them high up the food chain. She got Rei whatever she could get her hands on about the Gulags. And a small photograph of someone by the name Victor Kuzmin.

Taking the files Hudson had asked her to study, Rei kept them in front, the papers of the Gulag and Victor on her lap. "Okay! Time to start my reading on these. Maybe after my homework, I can casually pick a conversation with Hudson about the Gulag. No, maybe not Hudson." Rei kept trying to break her head over who to approach for the info about any recent survivors from the Gulag, but then there would be a high chance that she would be suspected, not to mention, her last name itself would have definitely raised a lot of eyebrows. Especially Adler's antennas, no doubt.

"Interesting, you're into Gulags." That dark gravelly voice. Adler. How the fuck did I not see him come in! Now he's definitely going to doubt me.

"Nice necklace," He exhaled his smoke, closing the door behind him, walking towards the young girl. The girl prayed and invoked all the Gods- old and new-to help her get out of the situation alive and unharmed.

"Ah yes. They pluck on my imagination- the whole setting of it. Quite poetic too- darkly poetic if someone were to write about, you know, a survivor who's been rotting in there for years, now out of the hellhole ready to-" Rei stopped herself immediately. I should have just stopped with poetic. Now he definitely thinks I'm looking for someone and from the looks of it, he might as well think I'm one of them.

"Mhmm. True." He walked closer to Rei, standing right next to her.

"A few days back a certain someone, a sort of a ghost from my past who I believe was rotting in the Gulag, escaped from there. Intel has it that he's one of Perseus'." He now said, looking at the tattered picture of Victor Kuzmin below the papers of the Gulag. Ah. So it was him who escaped.

Rei kept her expressionless facade on. On the inside, she was breaking and churning in fear and panic. She put on her innocent smile with big eyes. "Ah. How unfortunate. I hope you get him soon." Adler kept his steady glare at the girl, a scowl now forming. Sensing the tension, Rei's first instinct was to leave before she accidentally slipped something else, which will be interpreted as further something else by Adler.

"Uhm. It is late. I should get back to my apartment." She tried to slip away from Adler, but he caught her arm, his fingers deeply dug in her skin. The girl slightly winced in pain, looking up at the older man. "Hudson trusts you, but I don't. If I catch you stepping out of the line again, I will kill you."

The girl now put on her bitter face. When the hell did I step out of the line, asshole?! She couldn't stand his arrogance anymore. "And maybe you should try and keep your nose off my life." Never in a million years did she realise that she would regret the words that fell of her mouth. Fool! He's a fucking spy!

"You forget who I am Ivanov. I run the show here." His eyes glanced at the red necklace. Grabbing the pendant to his eye level, he looked back at her. "I won't be surprised if you turn out to be one of them. Advice: If you are, don't let me catch you."

Rei scoffed at the man. "And what, you're little threat is supposed to make my knees go all wobbly and make my lips quiver in fear?"

"They are already wobbly, Ivanov." This man's ego...

"Wobbly out of anger! And I would like to be called Rei if you please!" The girl darkly growled at him, earning a sharper glare from the man.

"Fucking brat," Adler muttered, letting the girl go. Once he was gone, she immediately rushed to the washroom nearby, locking it from the inside. Uncontrolled tears rolled down her eyes. Never had she been this intimidated by anyone in her life. And he is the guy I am supposed to work with. Thanks, Hudson.

Outside the safehouse, Adler lit up another cigarette.

"Weaver, I need you to look upon someone for me. Her name's Rei Ivanov. Also, see if you can find someone in the Gulag by the name 'Ivanov'."

"Alright. I will see what I can get, Adler." Adler ended his call. Looking back up at the skies, he tried to mentally chart a connection between Rei and Stitch, but he could make none.

"Who is she and who exactly is she searching for?" Adler ran a hand over his chin, deep in thought.

[yuvon-writes-letters]

Letter attempt :53

Hello dear Yuvon,

I'm not sure if this letter reaches you. And I don't even know how to write this letter,forgive me if there's any mistakes.

I'm the serene entity who entered this writing realm very late. Last time,I made a mess trying to introduce myself, addressed it to another blog and sorry again dear MJ,I hope I didn't cause any trouble to you.

You may wonder how I ended up here(atleast I do so).I vaguely remember someone trying put me in a trance state right before the disappearance of a girl named Hannah (I mean it for every dimension).

And do you remember that blood ritual you tried?(I'm sorry if it brings up any bad memories),Well it somehow helped me to wake up, I'm grateful to you for that.

I..I was actually a human who dwelled somewhere.I'm still a human, but since I am confused with all the changes, I mistook myself as an entity.

But right now, I took over the responsibility of the previous serene entity (I think so), for taking care of the void in Blackwater lake, where with the rhythm/music I create with the only violin I have, I try to maintain the peace. It may sound like I dominate the entire multiverse,but that's not the case.

From what I understood,I can only prevent the bad deeds to not become more worse or worst ,for them to not lose track and only enter the void, otherwise it may trigger the whole multiverse.

And if you think if it's the same lake mentioned in a letter (am I right?) by dear Domino and you,I'm really sorry about that.I tried to rectify something here in this lake but I think it created havoc there.

I heard each one's unique tunes, of the entities and of the humans who convey their messages, no that'd be wrong ;your emotions and deep desire to reach your destiny is all reflected upon your letters(I felt that way).

I can only wish you all Good luck.Every heart has it's own melody,and I hope you all will listen to yours and keep going on your journey. (sorry if it sounded rude)

I'm still trying to figure out what's happening around me,so I apologise if this letter went long.I've actually wrote these same wordings in the past 52 letters to you,it gets drowned in the lake (because there's only one particular path in that lake for this to reach you) and since I didn't get any reply, I'm writing again with the hope that atleast if this is conveyed.

I'll try to write letters if possible,but I'm afraid I can't do so.I think it's not going to cause any trouble for me by revealing my identity ( I hope so). I only remember my name ,that is the only thing I could recollect from my past.

Kind regards,

Amelia

Amelia,

Hiya. You sort of seemed like you were addressing this letter to Troublemaker, but she's, shall we say, busy at the moment. Granted, I (Yu) sort of am too, but because of the weird Inky stuff happening I can now write letters in my head. I can multitask, Troublemaker really shouldn't at the moment. She's not in danger or anything, mind, but it's still a bad time for her.

Hmm. So, the same event happened to different "you"s across several different universes? And now you're connected to all of them.

Which time? The one where I summoned Jake? Or the... second one? Or was it both?

Trust me, I understand the confusion right now.

...The lake? Huh. Well, maybe one of us will run into one of you sometime, then.

So, you prevent bad things from scaling up to a multiversal level? Does Inky count, then?

Maybe, maybe not. I definitely accept your apology, at least, though whether it applies will have to remain a mystery.

Well, there are definitely a LOT of emotions that go into these letters, yeah. Many negative. I don’t know whether you’re being figurative when you say you can hear them or not, but I hope they don’t grate too much on your ears.

A name is already a lot. Nice to meet you, Amelia. I’m Yu, and the other Yuvon is Troublemaker.

Also, amnesia? Maybe you and Dream should form a support group together.

—Yu (Yuvon but there’s more than one now so we’re differentiating with further nicknames)

[souleaterpostanime]

Copypasting a comment of mine, which gives my thoughts on the manga ending, atleast concerning Crona:

I think in the anime his redemption is well executed (him poisoning Stein, feeling guilty and running away but even before Maka finding him deciding not to go back to Medusa and offering himself voluntarily to go after his own Mother to make up for his wrongs ending with even willingly sacrificing himself for Maka) and leaves room for further character growth, development and interesting interactions in the future (which I want to explore eventually). But yeah in the manga it seems not even that he did not redeem himself, but that there is not much left of a person who can redeem himself, because after the countless brainwashing's and memory wipes by Medusa it seemed like Crona was basically "crazy" in the most boring way, were the character only does edgy things to get more shocked reactions from the reader even if it does not really make sense (from the flashbacks and other scenes it is clear that part of Cronas character is a dislike of hurting the innocents, which is way Medusa had to torture him to get him to kill even a rabbit/dragon) and when Okhubo remembered that he had to wrap up the story arc, he basically reduced Cronas whole struggle to the inability to form connections (which even though is a big part of his character, is in my opinion, not the only non-trivial) so he suddenly realizes that Maka cares for him and he does for her and so he does the right thing, meaning the author tries to make everyone happy in a very cynical way, juggling at the same time Cronas redemption, the gravity of his actions and a cinematic conclusion for the drawn out fight. Basically what I mean by this long and confusing rant is, that lines like "I do not even understand what sins I have to atone for" and "I do not care for the world" only exist to make people happy who would feel kinda cheated if all of Cronas atrocities would be forgiven a la Sasuke from Naruto, but the lines of Maka promising to come back are only inserted to apeas people that think it is also unsatisfying to just leave a character that was basically driven insane by abuse for his whole life and realized what is right again (even though as I said that was also left vague on purpose, meaning if he actually is "evil" and only cares for Maka) to die. I dunno if any of this makes any sense but it is what it is.

[shinydmoon]

Hey,

Would anyone be interested in an Ask blog for my Persona/DeSu au?

Here’s the basic outline.(first up sorry to all who know Greek, lovecraft, and probably Japanese lore- also apologizes to how ooc many of the characters probably are)

there are the primalter god/deity, The personifications of Time, Fate, Order, Chaos, Infinity and Nothingness. Those being then create others to act as creators and rulers of reality.

Now Nyx is one of those new gods and she ends up with The being of Chaos, Nyarlathotep. They have many children and all that. Now Order and his helpers with help from the rest of the gods(which are called Divines) have made earth and the rest of life and reality.

As the created life gains consciousness they develop Morality. Philoamon on the order/‘kind’ side and Nyarlathotep ruling the Chaos/‘ destructive’ side, to balance this scale Nyx creates Shadows to act as a medium for the created life to decide for themselves.

Now skipping/rushing though till getting to closer to the ‘main plot’. Humanity fabricated many gods, religions, and mythologys, Most of the Divines chose to take the names of figures in those tales when in contact with the humans and other non-‘godly’ beings. Not all the descriptions match the Divine who answer to it and some answers to multiple if they share basically the same role(ex. Nyarlathotep is well Nyarlathotep and also Erebus. Morgan(p5 kitty) answers to Elpis but is male not female.)

the none Primalter Divines choose their own gender..Kinda They are born as a gender but its the gender they answer to and the only Transgender ones to fit would be NB and Fluid, but even those that answer to a binary gender are not locked into it and a number[cough-CoughRyojiCough-cough] like changing it up every once in a while.

There were mutations in Nyx’s shadows that lead to both Demons[Nyarlathotep said yonk] and a group I still have yet to figure out a name for, right now I’m leaning to Fai, sylph, Observing Spirits, or Minor Beings[please help]. The Minor Fai are basically mythological creatures and a great number of Human Gods/deities who are not Divines. [Like Izanami and Izunagi in P4] For Human-Shadow Bonds[add link](end of sped though)

Philimon, not trusting Chaos to remain fair and keep thing in balance, wished to give humans a way to combat Nyarlathotep and Nyx’s Forces. Seeing as some humans had found ways to ally with their shadows He set up the Velvet room and most of what that involved. He did one more thing, a thing that all but he knows was a mistake that nearly caused what Philamon feared. To aid the humans in a more direct way and so that humans who were not able to interact with his velvet room could fight, He gave a select group of humans a Research subject. The newly hatch child of Nyx and Chaos, little tiny Hypnos.

Philamon waited for a time that the rest of Hypnos’ family were not on guard and Grabbed him. When Chaos and Nyx tried to retrieve their child Philamon threatened that if ether attacked him then they would have made the starting move and give him one free action without consequences or retaliation from Chaos. Thus Nyarlathotep and Nyx had to listen as one of their babies cried for them but they couldn’t answer.

Philamon first gave Hypnos to those researchers from Persona 1(I literally know nothing of P1 plot besides Dreams, a dead twin leading to self identity issues, and Nyx is fightable at some point). Nyx tries to rescue Hypnos from there but the events of P1 block her way and Hypnos is move to a temporary location- the area that Persona 2 happens[I know vaguely the plot of both persona 2s], Chaos tries to claim his son there but by the time he located where Hypnos was he had already been moved and Philamon blocked his way, Nyarlathotep enraged does the whole persona 2 Innocent Sin plot and all that.

While p2 was happening Hypnos arrived at his next and Final place of captivity, Iwatodai island under the watch of the Kirijo group and its scientists. Now the Kirijo group gets it in their heads that ‘hey why don’t we get more’/‘ this one has been studied thoroughly already lets get a fresh new one’ so They start torturing Hypnos and Performing many painful experiments while using him as bait for more of his family. The first caught in the net is Philotes(Hamuko) and with two of his siblings taken away and tortured Thanatos decides it’s time to step in.

He manages to get Philotes free and safely back home but is overwhelmed thus needs to turn back before he could get to Hypnos. The rescue was not all for nothing as the mess allowed Hypnos to final escape his container and he quickly runs to a different part of the lab, once he stabilized himself[to the best a baby can do] he disguises himself as a human child. But before he was able to get out of the facility he is discovered by two of the workers, The Yukis(or Arisatos doesn’t really matter) who mistakenly think he’s a run away from the Group that Strega and Sho Minazuki resulted from.

Taking pity on the tiny child they decide to take him home to raise as their own(this decision was in no way influenced by the fact their baby had recently died). Hypnos likes the humans who helped him escape the evil place... atleast until he found out that they were not going to let him leave and were very controlling. This begins the Saga of Hypnos biting, hissing, and wishing to tear apart every single human who breathed in his direction.

Before going on lets jump back a bit to clarify some of Hypnos’ stay with the Kirijo group. 1, he sees/interacts with Aigis(or any of the Anti-Shadow robots). 2, those dusk plums mentioned in P4 ultimate arena are Hypnos’ feathers crystallized into energy form[the plucking of his feathers leads Mint to have a enjoyment for tearing apart the wings of enemies, so if you have Feathered wing do try to not Cross Hypnos or else all you will know is agonizing torture]. 3, he was torn apart then forced back into a solid form with his energy and even parts of himself being taken from him- that’s what leads to him missing one of his eyes.

Nyx having reached her patience and tolerance level orders Thanatos to start preparations for The Fall. About 3 or 4 years after Hypnos escaped/was adopted by the Yukis The Night happens and Thanatos also turn to pieces bring the first Dark Hour.

Now in a feral state Death flees to what they sense is safety, they flee towards Hypnos/Minato. Aigis attacks, Yuki car is blown up, and Aigis seals Death into Minato. Maybe if she had had time to think about it she may have thought about why that hasty action worked. Death and Sleep are twins, Halves of a whole. By placing an incomplete Death into the incompetence Hypnos Their souls were able to repair themselves while also healing the other.

After that night Minato had a friend to be by his side, Pharos(as I have said before Pharos was there from the start). Minato feels complete with Pharos and Pharos feels safe with Minato. With no memories but the deep connection they feel the two take to calling the other brother. Minato spends the next decade being pushed and bounced around till he gets the invitation to attend Gekkoukan High School, seeing as that’s the only place he and Pharos know of that they came from he accepts and a kinda sort of version of Persona 3 happens.

[nobodys-thoughts-blog]

Aramaki - Fantasy (Draft)

There by the edge of the cliff she was waiting for him. All dressed up in her wedding gown with the biggest smile on her face. Today she will finally marry the man of her dreams. She stood there from morning till dusk. She watched the sun go down and she could hear her own heart break for the final time. She cried her eyes red and screamed untill her voice was broken. She dropped on her knees and could feel the cold creep into the hole of her once fierce glowing heart. After some time her cries slowly stopped as she started to laugh like a maniac. Something in her mind snapped. She took a little glass vial out of her sleeve. It had such a fluoresent colour of green it might wel bite out through the vial. A slight whisper was made as she popped open the cap. “I am coming for you.” She placed the vial against her lips and drank down the liquid before she dropped herself over the edge of the cliff, wearing the biggest smile she ever had. “I am coming for you”..

There is not much that could kill an immortal body. She had found her way the last time he made her snap; when he broke her heart again. She learned of a method to seperate the soul of the body. She wanted to punish him, haunt him untill the end. An end that would never come for as he was an immortal being. An immortal suffering for him is what she craved most before her father saved her from herself.

A shiver ran down her father’s spine the moment she drank the liquid. He immediately felt the connection with his first daughter ebbing away. He knew this was bad. As the demon king he became; with a flash he teleported to the place where he could find his daughter. Her favorite spot to hide away from the world. He appeared on the edge of the cliff moments after she threw herself off. The sound of thunder echod when he spread his wings and dived down. He gave it all but in a matter of miliseconds he was too late.

Her body had smashed on the rocks at the bottom. Her body broken; bones sticking out and a sticky black substance was ebbing out of her vains. He crushed down beside her body, craddling her in his arms as a little kid as he felt her body dying. He let out a deafening growl before he shot up and flew back to the castle with her lifeless body in his arms.

-

With a race against time he layed her on an operation table in his laboratory. He has always feared that this day would come eversince she placed her heart in the game era’s ago. He had warn her about love and how toxic it can be. He went up to his study for a book he hoped he never had to open again. He took a book of the highest shelf and blew off the thick layer of dust. It revealed a book wrapped in chains and locks. It almost seemed like the book absorbed all light in the room but actually it filled the room with its dark shadows. He knew the price he had to pay but he gladly sacrified anything for his fistborn.

This book was a collection of the darkest and most forbidden magic through time. Magic that could easily mess with life as anyone knows it. There is a group of the most strongest creatures out there that defend against this magic and its users. The group is on an endless quest to gather all the series of the demonic book and let nothing stand in their way.

Back in the laboratory he opened a capsule, revealing a porselin doll in a greenish liquid. It seemed lifeless but it gave off a strong aura. When everything was set in place he started his unspeakable ritual. As the soul left the body it appeared as a vengefull spirit with nothing but anger for men. A fight had started but soon her spirit was caught in an orb of energy, strong enough to withhold her anger.

Now captured, the real game was about to start. The room filled up with the darkest black leaving no space for any light of any source. The temperture raised rapidly over matter of hours. He was in an utter state of concentration that he did not notice the hours fly by. His only goal was resurrecting her soul in the porselin doll that was specially altered to not implode on impact but to emarge with the energy of her soul, to fit her as a puzzle piece.

As the energy orb holding her spirit entered the lifeless doll he could feel the burn from deep inside. It was a pain cutting through his nerves when his eternal lifespawn got damaged as a price for melding hers back together. He withhold his stand till the ritual was completed to submit to the crucefying pain within in his soul and collapesed on his knees.

-

For seven days nothing seem to be happening. The room was still as inkblack as it was when he left. Blobs of a sticky black goo collected itself around the capsule untill nothing was visible of the porselin doll inside. It slowly harden like cement shielding her away even further. The darkness seemed to have claimed her. And there, in a burst of a moment everything happened in miliseconds. The shadows around the room went bezerk, creating a tornado that terrorized the lab. Tables, chairs, book and vials flying around, breaking and crushing down. Cracks appeared through the harden goo revealing a piercing light that somehow blasted itself through every layer. In a wave, the greenish liquid spilled out of the capsule. For a moment there was total chaos in darkness and then it all fell quiet again when sunlight appeared in the room once more. A hand appeared out of the capsule, clinging on to the outside. Slow but steady the doll climbed out of the capsule, totally disorientated.

Her head was spinning, her heart was beating, blood was pomping. She had no idea where she could be and how she got there. There was no memory at all to recollect. Her head pounding like someone was working with a jackhammer on the inside. She let her gaze fall on her hands before she looked into the room. Almost everything and anything was broken. It seems like there has been a fight. Would that be why she is here? And doesn’t remember anything? She stumbled around the room in search for some cloth to cover herself up. She decided to rip some curtains down and drape herself in them. Now she needed to get out. Her eyes fell on a wand thrown in a corner. She lowerd herself through her knees and as she wanted to grab it, an electric shock left her fingers to the wand. It was a kind of pain you weren’t sure if it really hurt or not. It was a pain she vaguely remembered but the more she tried to remember the worse the guy with the jackhammer became. She decided to leave it and rushed through the door, snatching a dagger from the ground beside a flipped table and hid it away.

She had opened the door that led her to a big hallway. Each door was massive, atleast three or four time her size. She wondered what creatures she might bump into. The black goo was creeping up on her like snakes over the walls and ceiling. “The lights” she whispered as she hopped from one lit side to the other coming to the shocking conclusion her own shadow was different. It looked like her but with its own movements unconnected to hers. She wanted to scream so loud but a door opened somewhere in the long hallway withheld her to make a sound.

-

“You are finally awake”. Goosebumps all over her body. That voice, it gave her chills all the way into her core. She didn’t care about the light anymore and dove away in the most darkest corner to hide away from the creature. Tap, tap. Each step was as clear as crystal on the marbelfloor echoing against the high ceiling. Tap, tap, closer and closer. She had closed her eyes accepting this is where she would die. “Playing hide and seek? Not for long”. With a thight grip she hold the dagger ready for action. She could feel it deep down it was just a matter of seconds. “There you are..” Moments after she heard his voice she shot up and swinged the dagger at him, which obviously missed it’s target. She swung with such a force the dagger flew from her hand and into a wall. The creature was slightly surprised before he bend over to her “Welcome back” to which she screams before all she could was stare at him.

He was taller than her, around twice as tall. His wings were almost just as big, ink black with some silverthreads weaved through the feathers. His overall look was dark and scaring. His skin was ashgrey, his clothes were semi formal; all in black and ripped here and there. His face had a glow to back off with eyes so black they seemed hollow. Fangs are showing as he smiled to her. Overall he seemed like a creature to stay away from as far as possible. But there was something so gorgeous about him that made her un able to look away. She remembers him, she is for sure she has seen his face over and over again. Her mind was conflicted. She could try and figure out, but then maybe die. Or run, as fast as her legs could carry her in the hope to reach the door in time. His voice broke her train thoughts. “I will not stop you if you run” The creature spoke with care as he took a step aside. Her mind not able to process it all made her grab for her hair and scream, dropping on her knees. This went on for hours untill she screames out every bit of energy left.

“What is wrong with her? Why would she attack you?” A deep sigh was heard. “Amnesia.. Let’s just hope she will remember.” “Amnesia?? What did you do to her?? And when can I see her?” Two man were arguing in the same room as she was layed after she passed out. She kept her eyes closed and didn’t move at all, trying to listening in on them. Maybe then she will know what happened to her. “What I did to her?! You mean what you did to her!” The whole fondation shock as he tried to keep his growl down. “You will never see her again.” “She is my wife!” “She is my daughter! You never bothered to show up, she is nothing to you.” Wife? Daughter? Who were these people and were they talking about her or someone else. “Hey Shan..” The screaming had stopped and she couldn’t shake the feelings of eyes on her. She felt a wave of dread washing over her as she realised there was nothing she could do to safe herself. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes.

There they stood. Infront of her bed. The demonic creature she saw before and some sort of knight in heavy armor. A wave of emotions hit her when she layed her eyes on him. First she felt a wave of ultimate happiness, followed by the cold feeling of sorrow. It was almost like she could hear the snap her heart once made before she got filled with rage. For no reason she could think of how she wanted to attack him, make him hurt badly. She was only too weak to jump forward for an attack. Her eyes filled with a fury locked on him as he took a few steps back. “She looks different..” he said in almost a whisper. The demonic creature let out an other sigh. “She is different.. She may return or will be forever lost.” He turned to her and lowered himself on his knees by the bed. His hollow eyes changed, it was like she could see past the mask of darkness he was carrying. For a moment she was staring into gorgeous blue eyes filled up with tears. She could hear a slight whisper “come back” before something snapped her out and all she could see was the hollow emptiness which made her scream from the top of her lungs. He just sat there, not reacting to her screams in anyway. The knight had left the room somewhere between her screams. It was just him and her.

“I understand you are scared” he whispered with a voice so soft and gentle she got confussed if that was really him or all in her head. “Not knowing who or where you are is scaring.” He paused for a moment “But with time the memories will return.” It was all to much for her to process and her head was spinning more. The creature stood up and slowly made his way out. “Wa..waai..waiit..” she whispered with a broken voice. “Who are you?” The creature turned around and once again she saw his clear blue eyes instead of the emptiness inside. “I am your father” and with that he left the room.

[unlimitedblogworks]

Tsukihime - Completed Archuied route <SPOILERS>

I finally went ahead and decided to dip my toes into the Type Moon verse! And what else is a better choice then their very first release Tsukihime~

Tsukihime is a very interesting piece, It has an incredibly soothing atmosphere that brings ones mind to peace, this is in great effect with its background art which is often duotone but through that in combination with the music is able to evoke certain moods and emotions, The melancholic oranges, the clear blue skies, Those yellow faded memories, The purple freakishness of when Shiki takes off his glasses. Vile reds of murder, Its simple color usage but it works very well to leave an impression. The amount of Orginal soundtrack and art is quite limited yet it is still able to achieve quite a bit with those elements. The sprite art itself is adorable. Their expressive to the point where I can nearly hear the voices of the characters evoked by those expressions, Ciel especially comes to mind with expressiveness. All the little gestures in the character sprites really fits well within the entire mood of the game. Its blissfull and fun. The art is really simple but damn does it suit its purpose well in conveying the scenes and the emotions of the characters.

Hisui.

I adore hisui, Hisui is without a doubt in my mind my favourite in Tsukihime so far. This is because of her very reserved nature and the way she has trouble with expressing her own emotions. That is a character idea I’v always really enjoyed and it fits really well with how hisui fits into the story as a maid to. She’s reserved and often seems to have trouble to express herself towards others and when she does has to really try her best to express her thoughts, there are even scenes where Hisui completely zones out just to think about whats being conveyed to her and how she should respond to that. I honestly cannot wait until her route or to see even more content of her. Her expressions and small amounts of dialogue towards shiki are honestly lovely.

Archuied

I like Archuied quite a bit I think she is also an adorable girl and her mannerisms are very loveable. Her design is great and I think the way her character is written is quite well done to. I really like the way her vampireisms were taken into account with her characterization and character writing as well as her dynamic shiki. Arc is somebody who doesn’t know the world or somebody who only has grasp on it through theoritical means and only having read about it. She has never truly experienced life at hand and was only able to learn through the things she read of the current times but never to fully and truly indulge. This is also what I like with her and Shiki’s dynamic. Shiki Gives Arc a chance to indulge but also learns her important lessons such as the simplicities of life and that not even the things that may deemed “pointless” have their own values. Not everything should have purpose. In a way just living is good enough. Just being able to walk across fields and enjoy yourself, to have existance is enough. I really loved those scenes with shiki and Arc as there was an appreciation of life itself. And the way of showing these different froms of living the to had was very soothing and nice to view. “The dusk classroom, bathed in the red sun, a vulnerable looking girl.” The red sun that she is being bathed in is in reality Shiki’s warmth and love for her and him showing her a different way to look at things while also hearing her time and patience. I liked those final scenes of the true ending a lot as well. That final conversation with Shiki and Arc is something I’d like to reread as well since it felt quite poetic. Fading into the orange sky. And a crimson sky being painted over by a dark blue, a part of shiki’s life ending in that sense. A beautiful memory is all that is left. I especially wonder how I feel about the last lines of the moon. WIll think about it more.

I like Shiki as a conceptual character a lot, his outview towards life is something I can definantly get behind. I think its really interesting how sweet he is yet these vile strong and grim emotions effect him. Compressed and shoved away sometimes those negative emotions come up in the worst ways and at the worst times. He also feeds into other characters quite good to.

Also I felt so bad for Akiha throughout the entire route, after 8 years of not seeing her brother there is still such a disconnect between the two of them which makes sense given the circumstances, but im sure that Akiha feels really lonely and also very worried about her brother. Going out at night, returning home wounded. And they never talk deeply about these issues either. I can only imagine the emotional stress that must bring her to.

Arihiko is fucking funny, the perfect homie for somebody who comes across as soft.

Kohaku is okay, she is funny and I like that about her character. Though I kind of expected to like her more, then again im not even in her route yet lol. Nothing really to say about her. I like her sprites.

Sacchin got shafted, fuck you nasu. I will never forgive you for this. She was so cute, her ponytails will be forever in my mind.

This brings me to the two antagonists, Chaos and Roa I found both of these to be quite uninteresting. I liked both of these on a conceptual level but besides that I think if I dont think to much about them I will forget them quite quickly. Though I might be a bit harsh but I genuinely dont find a lot of connectivity into the rest especially Chaos feels the most mild of them all. Atleast Roa has an interesting connection to shiki. ( I wonder if pondering more about the nature of both of their powers will reveal more to me in the future) but for now im really mild on both of them.

I want to reread the prologue to now of tsuki and the senpai bits.

Also I want to say that I found the mythical elements to be absolutely boring at times. The dialogue is structured in a way that makes it very boring to sit through and it makes it unappealing to listen to all of the lore. I dont mind vampire and demon and mythical lore, however the way the lore is talked about is damn boring. It seriously needs some kind of different wording to show it off in a better way. I do think some of the lore is really interesting. Especially if we think of arc lore shown in tidbits, the cg with her and the long hair in the garden. Always locked to that garden. The fallen ancestors, getting sealed away. That was really interesting. Though the stuff about the church and more general stuff like just general vampire concepts was really tough to read through and is already becoming vague and more vague.

Eitherway uuuuuuuuuuuh thanks for reading. more thoughts in the future?! As usual have no clue how to end on this note. I liked it! It was a nice first route even if I had my problems with it. Very comfy. I also liked the H-scenes? even if some of the wording was funny it still got me.....