#but specifically pre lu

[skyward-floored]

The Lost Woods aren’t so bad.

Not after traversing them more times then Link can count, at least. Sure the paths shift, and monsters occasionally slip their way inside to hide in the bushes and trees, but Link knows the way to the clearing where he needs to go.

The forest only needs to let him.

His boots cut through soft grass, an occasional crunch belaying a leaf. The song of the woods is on the wind, and Link follows its winding tune, the pipes of water, strings and drums of leaves and branches. Quiet giggles make his ears twitch, but Link knows to ignore them.

He plays the game of the Woods, walking its paths, watching poes with a careful eye to see where they lead. The song dances by, high and low, loud and soft, and the flute that sometimes joins it makes his heart ache.

Time stretches strangely under the canopy of trees and fog— Link feels like he’s been here for hours now, but the glimpses of sunshine that peek through the branches are no different from how it was when he arrived. Link passes through another clearing, doubt beginning to nip at his heels. They’re not called the Lost Woods for no reason after all, and he’s starting to wonder if he hasn’t passed their test this time.

Is it because of what I’ve done since last I’ve been here?

But then something in the air, in him, clicks, eases, Link doesn’t know the word. But it’s like a fog lifts from his vision, and the path he needs to take is suddenly obvious. Link follows the pull past flowers and stones, over a barely-there path. It guides him through the yawning mouth of a log, and birds softly chirp as he emerges into a familiar clearing.

Fog drifts past his boots as he looks around, and a single shaft of sunlight breaks past the trees, drawing his vision to sparkling blue.

Link exhales, and steps forward, squirrels and other small creatures darting away into the bushes. He steps up onto the small stone platform, and doesn’t move for a long moment, looking at where the Master Sword sits with wisps of fog and sunlight dancing around her. Waiting for him.

“Hey old girl,” Link says softly, and for some reason his throat aches as he rests a hand on her hilt. “Been a while.”

The metal under his skin is both hot and cold, warmed by the sun’s light, and cooled by the stone it rests in. Despite years exposed to the elements, the Master Sword isn’t covered in greenery like it was the first time Link found her. Nor is her shine diminished in the slightest. Her blade is dimmed only because she rests, her power waiting for the next hero who needs her.

Who just happens to be Link again.

A shaking sigh escapes him, and Link puts both of his hands around her hilt, the electrifying hot-and-cold sharp-and-soft thrill of her power zipping through him as he pulls.

The Master Sword slips loose just like it did when he pulled her the first time, and Link raises her to the sky, the fog parting and fading away. The sunlight brightens somehow, making her sparkle and glow, and Link’s throat tightens again.

He hadn’t realized until now how badly he’d missed her.

Link lowers the blade again, running a hand over her cool steel as he studies her, looking over her finer points to familiarize himself with the weapon once again. Something is different, he realizes after a minute or two. And when it finally dawns on him what it is, he holds the Master Sword tighter, almost hugging her.

“I’ve grown,” he says quietly.

The blade fits his size now.

Instead of the still-pudgy hands of a child grasping at her hilt, there’s the worn hands of an adventurer ghosting along the metal, scars catching in her grooves. There’s blood staining his hands now that wasn’t there before, yet she still allowed him to pull her.

“You fit better, now,” he continues, voice shaking a little. “Hopefully this’ll... make things easier.”

His breath hitches, and Link swallows it back, clasping the sacred blade in his arms like one would an old friend.

He squeezes his eyes closed.

“I guess I thought I wouldn’t be doing this again,” Link whispers, ghosting his fingers along the gem in her hilt. “Not... not after the last one.”

Not after what I did.

The metal seems to warm just a hair, like the sunshine got pulled into it, and Link rests his head against the Master Sword, allowing a single drop of saltwater to trail down his cheek.

“Thanks,” he croaks, and the softest, faintest of chimes echoes in his heart.

It’s enough to pull him from the grief that was threatening to swallow him up again, and Link sets aside the weight of an island, and focuses instead on the weight of the sword, and his kingdom.

He’s needed. He can’t get lost in grief.

Link breathes out, running his hand along the steel one more time, and then he gently sheathes her, stepping down from the platform.

“Here we go again old girl,” he says as he steps outside of the clearing, weary with grief, but determined to stop the evil returning yet again.

He closes his eyes.

“One more time.”

A single pure note chimes in his chest, and Link feels something other than grief wrap itself around him, urging him forward to take another step, to press on despite the weight.

It feels a little bit like hope.

[anadorablekiwi]

Twilight Princess Zelink

summary: Link gets sick while out, and asks Epona to take him home

words: 962

[housederiva]

I was looking at pictures from that veilguard leak last year and this picture specifically caught my eye. At the time, we assumed the person in the doorframe was Rook but that's Lucanis' armor so maybe this is pre-mulet Lu and the 2nd companion on companion specific missions will do more than just chill in the background?

[lu-is-not-ok]

Oh goodness, wonder if there's a parallel to be found between the Sinners' contracts (binding them all by chains to Dante, in a way that was by all respects done without anyone - minus Faust and probably pre clock Dante - involved having a proper say in the matter) and the idea of Family. Especially with how both Bloodfiends and Sweepers having family like bonds that can never map onto what we'd usually call a family by their very nature.

Oh I wouldn't be shocked. All signs point to PM taking a very fascinating perspective on the idea of Found Family - a kind of Family that Can in fact completely replace one's actual one, yet never be exactly the same.

The Bloodfiends are already written in such a way that they subtly force the reader into wondering what does and doesn't count as a Family to them. Is simply using Familial Terms enough? Does it have to be actually structured as a Family to count? What about having explicit hierarchies with clear lines of authority? Is love and care a requirement? What about Bloodfiend Families makes one say they are in fact a Family, and what makes one say they're not?

It's also notable how Some Form Of Family is a constant and recurring motif through all of the Sinners' stories. We have literal Families of course, such as Gregor's mother and sister, Sinclair's dead family, Hong Lu's awful family, Ryoshu's presumed daughter, Meursault's mother, and Outis's family as well. We also have a lot of groups that could be seen as adjacent to Found Families, such as Rodya's neighbourhood, Yi Sang's compatriots in the League of Nine, Ishmael's fellow crewmates on the Pequod, Don Quixote's Bloodfiend Family, and Faust's connections to both the Gesellschaft and Limbus Company.

I think PM are very much building up to a similar question to pose towards the player regarding the Sinners, more specifically one of can a bunch of strangers who don't even necessarily care for each other right now eventually become a family? As well as one of will that connection be enough to sever their ties with their previous allegiances?

[muninnhuginn]

also throwing out a few wild thoughts here after watching the new ep:

why is everyone so weird when hearing cwm's name? as we've seen cwm's thing here seems to be that he 'wants to do better by these kids' (let's ignore the safeguarding issues about saying he wants to be their friends when a teacher a sec). so, speculation: cwm deliberately takes the fall for the actual arsonist who'll likely be either xia fei or wang qing?

and yeah as everyone has picked up on cxs knows way too much to survive this loop - not sure how they're gonna play his death or if they'll specifically tie it up to s2 finale but only a week to go now

lu guang is the subtlest wdym. 'yeah like if we high five we can probably share powers' bestie what. (on a related note, his bit about 'powers are just like traits' vibed really mob psycho to me. I wonder if it's what past cxs 'taught' him about his powers after he'd grown up thinking of them in a less positive way)

said this already in another post but "what's the point in waiting if there's no hope?" is definitely a thematic string to pull on

cheng xiaoshi gets the speech/verbal understanding language module of whoever he possesses but not the written understanding. this is pure trivia, but still interesting to know. we know from his later interaction with vein that he sure doesn't retain the language knowledge after the fact

lu guang and cheng xiaoshi losing connection again during the dive. the show always make a point of highlighting when this happens. was trying to figure out if any other powers could be interfering here as happened with the twins, but touch-wise at least, it seems... unlikely? (though can't rule out other power interference entirely) but if anything, the way lu guang was sweating when we got the focus back to him after the connection rejoined makes it seem like this was an issue on his end (one which ig resulted in cxs having to improvise and therefore get caught from a show perspective). lu guang being ill affecting his powers tracks with what he said pre-twins dive in s2 though. even though the connection itself was likely lost due to the twins, he was still struggling to see everything that happened in the photo before that. I wonder if we'll return to this as a plot point at any point, the idea that lu guang being ill or injured can mess with his powers - there was a post the other day (I think by @ sunslants) about it being neat if lu guang fainted in yingdu because his whole body is giving out under this power, and whilst idk how *likely* that is in canon, it'd definitely add a new deadline to things, if lu guang has to resolve everything before his whole body just gives out

oh yeah seems like vein knows whatever it is that xia fei also knows about the arson. not super surprising but potential motive forming ig?

cheng xiaoshi getting out his feelings to his dad in the form of wang qing was very good but the whole time lu guang was like "yeah sorry I didn't give you a heads up" I was there head in hands like "lu guang. please. this is your MO at this point"

still no answer about cxs' mum and why she followed after cwm then *also* vanished (tbh even the fact cwm up and went full no contact with cxs has me like ??? but I can't tell if we're meant to just let that be or question it further). it feels like there's way more to this, but hard to see how that plus everything else is getting resolved in the one episode we have left

"You're a total control freak" "That's because of you." Lu Guang....

Basketball halo'd Lu Guang when he asked Cheng Xiaoshi to do ibuprofen together....

Cheng Xiaoshi wanting to get revenge on the bullies and Lu Guang instantly responding along the lines of "well, hey, they're all gonna die soon" cracked me up. Was probably meant to be more of an "oof" but. I laughed.

[akitossohma]

heyy i love love love your post about lg’s morals you truly read the tea leaves with that one!!! i do disagree with what you said about lg being amoral tho i feel amoral suggests he isn’t aware of morals but he definitely is, and u did point that out in your post! no hate at all btw

hi!! thank you for your kind words :3. i believe you are referring to this post

this got very long and accidentally turned into a whole meta on lu guang and vein lmaoo. answer under the cut:

yeah honestly in retrospect i do feel that my use of the word "amoral" was a bit clumsy lol. this post is nearly a year old so it's hard to recall specifics but i think at the time i failed to consider the full definition of the word, which is not only a disregard for morals but also a lack of moral sense to begin with. and like you said, my own posts contradict that, as lg is shown to be well aware of the moral code. i also was trying to use it as like, a middle ground i guess? between moral and immoral. like my "at best" addition was me trying to be generous, but upon reflection that's sort of a false dichotomy.

for some context, the post you are referencing got posted to twitter (something i didn't know until ppl told me) and was lowkey a hit tweet (a bit scary ngl), and while most people agreed, a small handful Did Not Like it haha

interestingly, a couple of the tweets disagreeing did focus heavily on both the "amoral" thing and me saying lg wasn't a morally grey anti hero. bc i don't want to debate on twitter, i'm gonna take advantage of this ask to explain myself further hehe

DISCLAIMER: what follows is my current perspective and analysis based on available information. i understand everything i have said already and will continue to say going forward could be proven wrong in future seasons.

the main criticism i saw (again this was only like, three people, but still) was that i "disagreed with him being a morally grey anti hero but then proceeded to describe just that". i do understand why this was some people's take away bc the terms "morally grey" and "antihero" have kind of been blurred over the years. since i am by no means the final word on how these terms are to be used, all i can do is provide my understanding of the terms:

morally grey = a character whose actions are morally ambiguous

antihero = a character whose actions/traits are often questionable, but who, at the end of the day, can still be classified as a hero rather than a villain

based on my understanding of the terms (which does seem to coincide with formal definitions), lu guang would not be morally grey as i feel his actions are explicitly immoral (immoral = when the character's actions are definitively wrong and violate a pre-established moral code - i touch on this more in this post) and he would not be an antihero as i feel he cannot be classified as heroic in the grand scheme of things. yes he is complex, yes he is sympathetic, yes he has a capacity for kindness/selflessness and is largely motivated by love, but none of those things make him an antihero. if that were the case, any well written villain would be a antihero haha.

there's a whole other added layer of complexity here because lg is a) not the antagonist and b) not the story villain. for the sake of this argument, the "story villain" is defined as the individual who is the villain only in framing, whereas the "real villain" is defined as the individual who is unequivocally in the wrong by real-world moral standards. the same differentiator can be applied to heroes. so when i say lg cannot be considered heroic, that is what i am referring to. furthermore, vein and liu xiao, who appear to be working together, are currently both the antagonists and the story villains, but that is mostly due to us being anchored in lg's perspective. we don't know much about their motives/goals other than a) they want to maintain the timeline ("make the uncertain, certain") and b) they want csx dead. we of course root against them because csx is the hero & protagonist of our story, and bc they have proven to have very questionable morals themselves. however, based on the information currently available, i’d argue that it's possible to interpret them as very morally grey antiheroes in the grand scheme of things. we already know that they are working against lg because lg has disrupted the timeline and compromised the "certainty" liu xiao mentions. they will (most likely) always be the antagonists, but it would not take much reframing for them to no longer be strictly villains, if that makes any sense. ProWritingAid puts this distinction very succinctly: "A story's villain is always an antagonist, but not every antagonist needs to be a villain." imo the only "hero" this story has is csx, and i have a feeling he will remain that way, though like all things i've said, this could change.

and that leads me to my final point. i am well aware that the show initially frames lg as a hero and hasn’t fully positioned him as a villain yet. however, in my opinion, the ending of bridon arc marked a shift in how he is being framed within the narrative. i want to make it clear my posts have been less about the show's current framing and more about analyzing the ethics of lu guang's actions through an objective, real-world lens. and playing around with some reframing hypotheticals of course. this is something that unfortunately got lost along the way.

anyways, i don't mind it if people disagree or have additional perspectives, but some of the critiques felt like they were missing the point in one way or another. and some of them were straight up rude. sorry for this whole essay, i hope you don't mind!

[chiangyorange]

Do you have any LoZ/LU fic recs?

i have many! they wont be organized in any particular way tho

i started just hucking links at this until i realized, oh this is gettin really long actually, so im going to shove everything under the cut with the link to the fic itself and some personal notes from me to hopefully get you to read them!!

for Linked Universe;

Two Moon Pearls and the Master Sword by serbii

the chain get sent to the dark world and literally everyone but four, sky, and legend get to turn into animals about it. also baby legend is there <3 this also has an in progress sequel!!! its so fucking good!!!!!!

Absence by Anonymous

wild forgets he has to TELL PEOPLE that he has amnesia. this has consequences. i love wild and warriors dynamic so much theyre such a duo. if i believe in my heart other people can see the vision too.... sobs. WAILS EVEN.

Dearly, Departed by boo_boo_thefool

a series of post-lu oneshots revolving around each of the heroes!! hasnt reached all 9 of the chain yet but still a damn good read. if i think too hard about this one i can and will cry. on command even.

The Missing Link by SparklingWonderQueen

ongoing fic about if the chain met wild riiiiight at the beginning of totk when hes still missing!

willow bark and chamomile by schrodingers__cat

a REALLY fucking good read. like oh my god i just got SUCKED into this from start to finish. if ur a legend fan yes the fuck you are. get in there. go.

Dawn of the Fourth by LazuliQuetzal

also a damn good read!!! time gets de-aged and wind goes "haha im the big brother now. ... OH NO IM THE BIG BROTHER NOW!!!!!!" fucking hilarious. absolutely heart wrenching. these things are both true at the same time

ageless quest by fandomsandshit

OOOOOOOH YOU WANNA READ ABOUT THE CHAIN SEEING THE LIGHT DRAGON AND CONTEMPLATING THEIR OWN ADVENTURES SO BAD OOOOOHHH (theres three installments so far and if i think about THIS ONE i will ALSO cry on command about it. man i fucking love totk zelda so much why did they do that to her poor girl)

To Share, to Speak, and to Hear by NajikaSun

i cannot explain to you how much i love the knights trio. i have many feelings about them and they will sit riiiight here. its about the weight of legacy its about the weight of trying to fulfill your duties. you get it.

darning the threads as they fray by Ammo_Writes

this ones not done but bow howdy does it get my brain CHUGGING!! the tone... the haunting feeling.... augh... AUGH !!!! WHERES MY BOY I MISS HIM SO MUCH.

sorrow, immortality, and hope by virtualpng

READING THIS MADE ME WANT TO TEAR MY FURNITURE APART WITH MY TEETH!!! OHHHH MY GODDDDDDDDDDDD ITS SO GOOOOOOOOOODDDDDD this author's other fics within the series also fucking slap. hard. god. the chain (who havent met wild yet) meet a stranger in ordon

Applejuice Stains on the Past by MjsKindaHere

HEY REMEMBER WHAT I SAID ABOUT THE KNIGHTS TRIO??> sky gets de-aged and wild is NOT normal about it. legacies and expectations and burdens etce etc. you get it

Young volcanoes by jelly_dragons

wild is incredibly fussy about how he was forced to wear the big clunky ass flamebreaker set in his journey meanwhile sky just gets some fancy shmancy earrings about it. the duo go into a volcano. hilarity ensues.

The Ruin They've Made Me by CluelessMoose

botw link's last battle did NOT go well with calamity ganon and leaves him possessed by the damn thing. and then the chain pop in. (owwwww OWWWWWWWWWWW)

Twin Quasar by StrixEye

written before totk released and its still unfinished but MAN AM I A SUCKER FOR GOOD COMPELLING TIMETRAVEL.

hold on, reaper by virtualpng

the chain before they ever meet wild but they pop into his hyrule anyway while hes in the shrine of resurrection. wind meets a ghost at fort hateno. god i fucking lost ghost stories.

steady going under by rebornofstars

the boys.... theyre sleepy.... specifically on top of twilight...

I'm A Riddle In Nine Syllables by SilverheartSP

GOD i fucking love ghost stories. pre-lu in botw where wild meets the chain as ghosts first, and THEN actually meets them

The Legacies You Leave Behind by Eureka5215

flora-centric study about her interactions with the chain. because she cant ever escape the overwhelming weight of a legacy like me too girl so real. yes this is part of my fixation on the knight trio. their haunted sadwoman air surrounding all four of them have captivated me mind and soul

Untarnished by Tashacee

MAN I FUCKING LOVE GHOST STORIES!!!! lovelovelove tash's hero's aspect au obvs the 2nd piece of fanart i did for this fandom was FOR heros aspect but man... MANNNNNNN UNTARNISHED HITS ME DIFFERENT!!!!! first..... ily king <3<3<3

In Flux by zippe

FUUUUUCKCKCKCKKCKC I LOVE FUCKY ASS TIME TRAVEL it can be to heartwrenching and this one is exactly thattttttt augh. AUGH!!!!!! i lose it ever time remembering this one

~~~

LOZ in general, but mainly botw/totk(and some aoc);

For The People by myfairstarlight

hey girl where did the divine beasts go. sidon is NOT having a good time about it hes EMOTIONALLY ATTACHED to that thing!!!!

That Brilliant Blue (A Bittersweet Goodbye) by myfairstarlight

hey. what do you mean sidon and mipha are doomed siblings. ill cry.

VIRTUE IS DROWNED, WITH HOLY HANDS, BY SORROW by lizandre

totk zelda in her time in the past. she is. not doing well!!!!

Again by Drich (drich147)

botw timeloop fic. yeah. theres this one scene where its revealed that guardians have a fuckign partymode???? thats hilarious.

so i'll never die when i'm dead by arashi_the_pancake

OW. FUCK. au where after turning into the light dragon zelda keeps her consciousness about it. shes not doing well!!!

[calitsnow]

Summary of all mentions of members of Hong Lu's family in the game + comparison with the original book

Summary:

Mention of his “family” in general in the game

Mention of the family elders in the game + comparison with the original work

Mention of his grandmother in the game + comparison with the original work

Mention of his grandfather in the game + comparison with the original work

Mention of his father in the game + comparison with the original work

Mention of his siblings in the game + comparison with the original work

Mention of his brother (Jia Huan) in the game

I wanted to recap all the times Hong Lu talks about his family or a particular member of his family while at the same time comparing them to their version of the original novel by giving some info on the latter (assuming that Hong Lu = Jia Baoyu ). I excluded from this list the uncles and aunts by marriage as well as Baoyu's cousins ​​ for various reasons (too long otherwise, not mentioned...) but I will perhaps do a part 2 to talk about them.

Was also excluded, the entire branch which stems from Jia Yan (the brother of Jia Yuan (the father of Jia Daishan, the husband of Grandmother Jia)), a branch which remains important since it is this one who leads to the actual Head of the Ningguo Mansion (Jia Zhen) when the story takes place. But since, they are distant relatives/cousins ​​of Jia Baoyu, that was taking me too far and so I had to remove them from this list. But I still wanted to mention it since it is an important branch of the family

The Jia family is mainly composed of 4 great families: the Jia Family, the Xue Family, the Wang Family and the Shi family in other words those who were born with the name Jia and those who joined the family by marriage / alliance / by being the brother / sister of one of the grooms… (born Xue or Wang or Shi).

There are also other families like the Xing or Lin family joining the Jia family but whose name appears (very) less often and which are also not considered as one of the great families of the novel.

This list of family members is made in relation to the place they occupy in relation to Jia Baoyu.

I/Mention of his “family” in general in the game

LCB sinner, chatter#3

Abn. logs, Pink shoes: lacking data

Abn. Logs, Sign of Roses: level 1

Abn. Logs, Sign of Roses: level 3

Liu Association South Section 5, story

Liu Association South Section 5, story

K Corp. Class 3 excision staff, post-uptie chat 2

W Corp. L2 Cleanup agent, Idle

Main story, Canto II, episode: 3

Detour Tales, Chapter 5.5, Miracle in district 20, episode: 13

Main story, Canto V, episode: 2

Hong Lu’s promo pre-limbus company release (Hong Lu also mentions the family’s chef’s side dishes but I didn’t include it because it was not about his family specifically)

II/Mention of the family elders in the game + comparison with the original work

W Corp. L2 Cleanup agent, story

W Corp. L2 Cleanup agent, story

Main story, Canto IV, episode: 27

To tell the truth, I don't really know what the term "elders" is supposed to encompass in this context in the sense that, I don't know whether or not parents and/or uncles/aunts should be included in addition to the grandparents.

In my opinion the term "elders" refers to all the generations who are above the one who uses this term (in this case Hong Lu / Jia Baoyu) so I would tend to want to count the parents and uncles / aunts but I cannot say this with certainty.

I will therefore base myself on my interpretation so that it will allow me to talk about more characters of the novel but do not hesitate to let me know what this term encompasses!

1st generation:

Grand parents:

Jia Daishan:

Son of Jia Yuan

first Duke of Rong

husband of Grandmother Jia

father of Jia She, Jia Min and Jia Zheng

grandfather of the three first Spring Ladies (Jia Yuanchun, Jia Tanchun and Jia Yingchun), Jia Zhu, Baoyu, Daiyu, Jia Huan, Jia Lian

died before the beginning of the novel, reason why we don’t know much about him

Grandma Jia (the Dowager):

Daughter of the Marquis Shi of Jinling

Wife of Jia Daishan

Grandmother Jia is a generation above the oldest member of the Rongguo Mansion (Jia Jing)

Thus, members of the Jia family all defer to her

For further information, refer to the paragraph dedicated to her below

Great uncle(s):

Dowager’s brother:

We don't know much about the Dowager's brother

He is Grandmother Jia’s brother

He is the father of Shi Ding and Shi Xiangyun's Father

He is Shi Xiangyun’s grandfather

died before the beginning of the novel, reason why we don’t know much about him

2nd generation:

Parents:

Jia Zheng:

Jia Zheng is the second and youngest son of Jia Daishan and Grandmother Jia.

He has a wife, Lady Wang, and two concubines: Zhao (with whom he had two children) and Zhou

For further information, refer to the paragraph dedicated to him below

Lady Wang:

Daughter of one of the four most prominent families of Jinling (Wang)

Primary wife of Jia Zheng

Mother of Baoyu and Yuanchun

Because of her purported ill-health, she hands over the running of the household to her niece, Wang Xifeng

In the eyes of her servants, she appears as a statue of a lifeless Buddha.

Although generous, she is described as without will or conviction.

Lady Wang seems kind and caring but can be cruel and ruthless when her authority is questioned.

She shows excessive concern about her son Baoyu's romantic relationships and closely monitors his maids.

Lady Wang plays a role in the death of Baoyu's maid, Qingwen, due to her suspicion and cruelty toward maids she perceives as threats to her son's virtue.

Uncles:

Jia She:

Elder son of the Dowager

Big brother of Jia Zheng and Jia Min

Husband of Xing furen

He has 2 concubines: Yingchun’s mother and Jia Cong's mother

Father of Jia Lian, Jia Yingchun and Jia Cong

He inherited the title of Marquis Rong

He is treacherous and greedy, as well as seductive/woomanizer.

He feels jealous towards his younger brother, favored by their mother.

He was later stripped of his title and banished by the government.

Father of Wang Ren and Wang Xifeng:

Lady Wang’s brother

Also brother of Wang Ziteng and Wang Zisheng

Father of Wang Ren and Wang Xifeng:

Wang Ziteng:

Lady Wang’s brother

Also brother of Wang Xifeng’s father and Wang Zisheng

Wang Zisheng:

Lady Wang’s brother

Also brother of Wang Xifeng’s father and Wang Ziteng

Aunts:

Jia Min:

Daughter of Jia Daishan and Grandmother Jia

Sister of Jia She and Jia Zheng

Wife of Lin Ruhai

Mother of Lin Daiyu

Xue Yima also known as Aunt Xue:

Sister of Lady Wang

Sister of Wang Ziteng, Wang Zisheng and Wang Xifeng’s father

Mother to Xue Pan and Xue Baochai

She is generally kind and affable.

However, she struggles to control her rambunctious son.

III/ Mention of his grandmother in the game + comparison with the original work

K Corp. Class 3 excision staff, story

K Corp. Class 3 excision staff, story

K Corp. Class 3 excision staff, story

K Corp. Class 3 excision staff, story

W Corp. L2 Cleanup agent, chatter #1

K Corp. Class 3 excision staff, post-uptie chat 1

Detour Tales, Chapter 5.5, S.E.A, episode: 4

If Hong Lu is indeed the equivalent of Jia Baoyu in the world of limbus company, Hong Lu's grandmother should be the one known as Grandmother Jia, née Shi:

Grandmother Jia:

Also called Dowager Shi or simply the Dowager

She is the daughter of the Marquis Shi of Jinling

Grandmother Jia is a generation above the oldest member of the Rongguo Mansion (Jia Jing)

Main elder of the great family, she is the oldest and most respected authority of the Jia Clan

Of an enjoyable temperament, she does not intervene in the private lives of her children provided that they do not disturb her, even if they have become debauched or high rollers.

It was she who arranged for Daiyu, her only "outside" (i.e., maternal) grandchild, to come to the Rongguo Mansion

She spoils her grandson Baoyu whom she carries in adoration

Despite this, she does not approve of his love for Daiyu

She is the one who supports the marriage arranged by Sister Pheonix (Wang Xifeng) between Baoyu and Baochai

She will die at the ripe old age of 83

Maybe it's just me, but she seems to be one of the people if not the person who pays the most attention to Jia Baoyu's jade, reminding him to take care of it, asking him if he knows where it is his jade when he is not wearing it, paying attention to the stone...

IV/ Mention of his grandfather in the game + comparison with the original work

Detour Tales, Chapter 5.5, Yield my flesh to claim their bones, episode: 4

Abn. Logs, Pink shoes: lacking data

Hong Lu’s promo pre-limbus company release (yéyé" (爷爷) meaning "grandfather" or “grandpa”. It is an affectionate term used to refer to one's grandfather in Mandarin.)

So we don’t really know which of his two grandfathers Hong Lu is referring to but knowing that in the novel only his paternal grandfather is mentioned and died before the novel begins, I think the "grandfather" Hong is talking about is Jia Daishan (and that he probably died in the world of Limbus Company too)

Jia Daishan:

Son of Jia Yuan

first Duke of Rong

husband of Grandmother Jia

father of Jia She, Jia Min and Jia Zheng

grandfather of the three first Spring Ladies (Jia Yuanchun, Jia Tanchun and Jia Yingchun), Jia Zhu, Baoyu, Daiyu, Jia Huan, Jia Lian

died before the beginning of the novel, reason why we don't know much about him

V/ Mention of his father in the game + comparison with the original work

LCB sinner, chatter#1

If Hong Lu is indeed the equivalent of Jia Baoyu in the world of limbus company, Hong Lu's father should be Jia Zheng:

Jia Zheng:

He is the second and youngest son of Jia Daishan and Grandmother Jia.

He has a wife, Lady Wang, and two concubines: Zhao (with whom he had two children) and Zhou

Father of Jia Zhu (deceased), Jia Yuanchun, Jia Baoyu, Jia Tanchun and Jia Huan

Confucianism had a great influence on him: he is a Confucian scholar who tries to be an upright and decent person, he fulfills his duties of filial piety towards the Dowager, and wants to educate his children strictly

Afraid his one surviving heir will turn bad, he imposes strict rules on his son (Jia Baoyu), and uses occasional corporal punishment.

Jia Baoyu is afraid of him

He has the ambition to become a good civil servant

But he lacks experience and is easily deceived by others, which earns him a bad reputation.

VI/ Mention of his siblings in the game + comparison with the original work

Main story, Canto III, episode: 2

Detour Tales, Chapter 5.5, episode: 13

Abn. Logs, Pink shoes: lacking data

If Hong Lu is indeed supposed to be the Jia Baoyu of the world of Limbus Company, then, if we refer to the novel The Dream of the Red Room, Hong Lu should, like Baoyu, have 4 siblings:

Jia Zhu:

First son of Jia Zheng and Lady Wang

Big brother of Jia Baoyu and Jia Yuanchun and half-brother of Jia Tanchun and Jia Huan since they share the same father.

In the original novel, Jia Zhu is already dead prior to the action of the novel, so we know very little about him.

He had a son (Jia Lan) with Li Wan

Jia Yuanchun:

First female family member of the quartet of "Springs", first daughter of Jia Zheng and Lady Wang

Big sister of Jia Baoyu and Jia Yuanchun and half-sister of Jia Tanchun and Jia Huan since they share the same father.

She is about 10 years older than Baoyu.

She was raised by her grandmother

As an older sister, she taught Baoyu to read and write when he was liitle like his mother would have done.

Originally one of the ladies-in-waiting in the imperial palace, Yuanchun is later promoted to the highest ranking of imperial concubine "Xiande”, having impressed the Emperor with her virtue and intellect.

Despite her prestigious position, Yuanchun feels imprisoned within the four walls of the imperial palace.

She died at the age of forty, following an illness, in total isolation.

Jia Tanchun:

Third female family member of the quartet of "Springs", second daughter of Jia Zheng and his concubine, concubine Zhao

Big sister of Jia Huan and younger half-sister of Jia Zhu, Jia Yuanchun and Jia Baoyu since they share the same father.

The fact that she is the daughter of a concubine is still such a burden that she often claims Lady Wang, Baoyu's mother, as her own

Tanchun is a very clever and capable person, as much as Sister Phoenix for comparison

But, as the proverb says, "he who comes last will have fewer opportunities than the others", and this is what happened to her, because when her family declined she had not done much and she was sent to a distant region following an arranged marriage

Jia Huan:

Third son of Jia Zheng and his concubine, concubine Zhao

Little brother of Jia Tanchun and younger half-brother of Jia Zhu, Jia Yuanchun and Jia Baoyu since they share the same father.

More info just below

VII/ Mention of his brother (Jia Huan) in the game

Main story, Canto I, episode: 30

Main story, Canto V, episode: 18 (there we don’t know if he is talking about Jia Huan or not but there are not many other options and from what we can deduce from Jia Huan’s behaviour (in game and in the book too) it’s not very out off character)

Jia Huan:

Third male family member of the generation of the Jia household, son of Jia Zheng and his concubine, concubine Zhao

Little brother of Jia Tanchun and half-brother of Jia Zhu, Jia Yuanchun and Jia Baoyu since they share the same father.

He is described as ugly and clumsy

He and his mother are both reviled by the family, and he carries himself like a kicked dog.

He is very cunning but mediocre, he shows his malignant nature by spilling candle wax, intending to blind his half-brother Baoyu

That’s all! If I have forgotten any moments where Hong Lu talks about his family, don't hesitate to tell me and I will add it! Also, I tried to verify and proof-read all the info and everything should be correct but if I made a mistake feel free to point it out to me :)

[moosemann404]

Random bullshit headcanons for LU pre-GLaDOS I illustrated instead of talking to my family for Christmas

Look in shock and awe as I draw them completely differently each time

Now close ups and yapping abound

I’m actually horrible at drawing clothes and being time accurate at the same time uh oh. Doug seems like the kind of guy to have like 5 or 6 outfits and that’s it. At least 2 of those outfits are just what he wears to work. Also likes collars and buttons. The way he goes from work to casual is just taking off the coat and slipping on the vest. Hes got a suit jacket somewhere but that’s for when he needs to not be at work but also be dressed up.

I’m also horrible at facial hair so just… be nice to the man on the end he looks like shit.

Wheatley is a little more time period specific but also EXTREMELY outdated. His ass is NOT keeping up with trends. He’s a man who enjoys layers. I stole the upper half for his work clothes from @underhell69 because it was better than anything I could come up with.

This one down below was the first one I drew and you can tell I wasn’t exactly confident in drawing them just yet lmao

It’s always one of the default smart people things to have them be good at chess, or if the story is really going for lazy shorthand, they can solve a Rubix cube. So no, they’re both terrible at it. Wheatley suggested using house rules, but Doug was pretty sure that would break the game further. They prefer mancala.

Doug has insomnia. That is all. Wheatley usually puts a blanket over him if he finds him, or tries to use something as a pillow.

Not always in a bad mood but like 4/5 times, he’s angry or upset and he just wants to feel like a dancing queen. Wheatley is a big pop girlie, I will not elaborate. Man fucking loves his Eurovision.

Yes, that’s gen 1 Star Scream he’s holding. Despite Doug being primarily a programmer, he was pretty much forced to learn how to handle the hardware. Things Wheatley has asked Doug to build, despite this knowledge: lightsabers, a Dalek (no Doug, if you make it really small it’ll only exterminate bugs), many variety of Time Machine (he WONT break anything, stop saying that), transformers as seen above, a proton pack despite not believing in ghosts, a hover board.

Things Doug has actually built: A gundam from a kit (he has never watched gundam, he found it in a clearance bin), a number of small trinkets solely for Wheatley to fidget with, the outer casing of a lightsaber (the laser bits real hard)

Yes this is a Kafka Metamorphosis reference

I finally figured out how to draw them isn’t that neat. I stared at @beanzabear ‘s art until shapes made sense (sorry if this mention is annoying but you deserve credit for that and for getting me to use a softer color as my background :P). Is this kind of a spoiler if it’s something that happened in the past? Yeah, at some point they moved in together. Yes. They were roommates.

I could draw so much more but it’s getting to be a real problem, I think about them so much, my friend seven-gill had to tell me to go to sleep. I gave myself brain worms, no one else.

[zarvasace]

It’s “appreciate yourself” hours! Pick five pieces of writing/art that you’ve done that you love and talk about them! ❤️❤️❤️

Ahhhh okay, thank you!! 💜🌻 I finally have a free moment (aka work is slow) so I'm going to work on drafting this out :) I have far too much art I'm proud of—I'm at a stage in my progress right now where I think my art looks pretty awesome. So this list will be stuff from my Greatest Hits collection on AO3. In order of oldest to newest, I think:

incandescently happy

An LU post-adventure work, one of the first longer fics I posted. I released one chapter a day over the summer of 2022, so a lot of the notes have something about my day in them. It's about 30k all told.

I absolutely adored expanding on what the boys might do after the whole LU adventure happens (though I did forget about the fact that I think Time and Malon have a kid during this time!) This work features some proto-Shatterproof stuff, like Wind having a prosthetic leg and Four starting to specialize in crafting prosthetics/disability aids. I gave Hyrule longer hair and a job making maps for the royal family. Legend got another adventure but also started a magic garden/orchard, which pulls in more business than Ravio's stuff. Four and his grandpa adopted a single mother and her two kids. Man I went off with some of these headcanons. I've always considered writing more in this world, but I think it stands very well on its own. Maybe someday I might revisit and rewrite it with some of my new skills. :)

Rise and Shine and Fall

Whumptober 2022, focused entirely on LU! Guys this thing is almost 78k. I realize now that most people pre-plan or pre-write for things like Whumptober, but I wrote these one by one every day, which was extra-hard because I had both college classes and a day job at the time. I came up with some fun AUs, learned a lot about writing (especially whump), and proved to myself that I can do hard things like this!! I've adored doing daily challenges since, though I haven't done it in a while. I look forward to this year's whumptober though!

I really like the table of contents in the first chapter—it makes things easy to find. I know individual works are probably more accessible, but I was still getting to know AO3, and those big numbers are fun. XD I have a hard time picking favorites, because I really went off on these, but I'd say a couple of them are:

Chp 3, "Right Here" about Sky

Chp 7, "Proof of Life" about Four and Shadow

Chp 18, "I'm onwy a babey :(" about Wind

Chp 21, "6:13" about Hyrule and Time

Chp 26, "Silence is Golden" about Wild

Chp 31-32, "The Worst Thing About Earth" about Legend, but kind of more specifically the rewrite/expansion I did last year... haha...

The Marvelous Misadventures of Wind and His Merry Band or Maybe-Human Heroes

It's been a while since I updated this story (56k, 6/8 chapters), but it's constantly on my mind. I've started chapter 7 twice, and I know what I want to happen, but I am easily distracted by the siren call of some other whump fics. XD

I freaking love this story, though. I really want to finish it. It's kind of an... experiment? I guess? I want to get published someday, and I picture myself writing middle-grade novels. This story is sort of my attempt to hit that tone. Also I just love Wind so so so much. Let him be cool!!

Blood-Sucker's Guide to High School

56k Four Swords completed story! I wrote this in a frenzy of like two or three weeks, then took another two to edit. It takes plot points from a vampire novel I enjoyed and twists and applies them to a story about Shadow and the Four Swords manga boys. I'm very proud of what I accomplished here, and that it's a complete story! I think it worked out really well. I learned a lot about plotting and handling larger stories, and it helped that I had the half-remembered structure of an existing novel to use as training wheels.

I love the worldbuilding in this story! The premise is that Shadow is an evil soulless vampire from a (rather abusive, not that he sees it) family of the same, but then he gets the ability to walk in the sunshine. He's assigned to go to high school for a while to get a feast for the vampire gala, but meanwhile he's developing a conscience and getting very attached to these human boys. I think I did a good job. I love rereading this, every scene is just so fun! :)

Counterbalance

55k exactly of a stupid LU darks AU. This started life as a series of oneshots and then the plot progressively got more and more convoluted and I love these stupid boys so much. The plot is very much not tight, in contrast to Blood-Sucker's Guide, but I learned a lot about how I write and how I like to plan with this one, too.

The characters are stupid and the plot is just kinda silly and there is both a bathhouse scene AND a spa scene. Legend blows up multiple things, my lovely nasty little Dark Links need smacks and therapy, and Prince has a legitimately emotional moment at the end. I love how it turned out, it's like an ugly little stuffed animal I made and hug until the eyes pop out.

That's five but I would be extremely remiss if I did not also mention something from Shatterproof:

The Incredible Shrinking Chain

About 10k, this is entry 31/68 in my series Shatterproof, which is a close-canon AU in which each of the boys has a different physical disability. This series also plays into my publishing ambitions, because whatever I publish will very likely have some disability representation. I'm rather passionate about it, actually! Shatterproof is close to my heart, and I'm so honored that so many people seem to love it too. :) I need to work on the next entry again!!

This entry in particular is so much fun. In it, the whole Chain sans Four is stuck mouse-sized, and Four has to travel out to Twilight's castle with them to get Dusk to help break the curse. They all have to figure out how to navigate while tiny, and Four pulls some very silly stunts. I love them.

Anyway, there's my list!! I've written a lot over the last like two and a half years, and I'm so so glad that I get to be here and part of this community. The LU fandom as a whole (or at least the parts I've seen!) is so welcoming and positive and I try to give back where I can! I'm going to suggest looking through my bookmarks and ultimate rec list collection to find some new favorites from some very talented authors! :) (oof I need to update the collection soon!! I've been seeing some awesome stuff!)

[sumerianlanguage]

Silim!!

I was thinking about bees (don't we all), and was wondering if you may know/ have sources that may know about beekeeping in Sumer? I know hives have been recorded in Egypt, but wasn't sure what the words and practices were like for Mesopotamia

🐝

Silim! Turns out this answer took more research than I expected, since bees weren't prominent in Mesopotamia as they are today.

Wild bee honey has been harvested across the greater Near East and North Africa for many millennia, dating back at least to the last ice age. Bees were first domesticated and kept in manmade hives around the third millennium BCE in Egypt. They were used for pollination of crops as well as honey production, and honey was both a significant economic product in Egypt (people sometimes paid their taxes in honey!) and a major export from there.

However, beekeeping didn't arrive in Mesopotamia until after the Sumerian period. The earliest references to beekeeping in cuneiform literature come from after 1000 BCE, long after Sumerian was no longer the major spoken language of the region, and bees appear rarely or never in pre-1000 BCE Mesopotamian art.

There are a number of references to honey in Mesopotamian literature; usually it is used as a metaphor for opulence, rarity or sensual pleasure. For example, multiple balbale to Inanna make reference to honey: In Shu-Suen B, it says lale dangega / e kinua lal hab duggaba "let me bring you honey / in the bedchamber dripping sweetly with thick honey" while the Song of the Lettuce has a whole long section about the lu lale "honey-man" shuni lale merini lale "with honey hands, with honey feet". (This "honey-man" is intended to be alluring and praiseworthy, not sticky and gross.) But words like lal "honey" could also mean "date syrup" or other sugary foods, so it's not always clear if specifically bee honey is meant. (I've previously answered about the Sumerian words for "honey" and "beeswax" here.)

In contrast to honey, I can't find a single reference to bees themselves in the entirety of the ETCSL, nor in any of the dictionaries I have access to. They may have had a word for the bee, but given the lack of beekeeping or use of bees in text this word hasn't been passed down to us. The Sumerians' successor, the Akkadians, did have several words for bee, most notably ḫabūbītu, also source of bēt ḫabūbāti "beehive", and nūbtu "honeybee", source of pār nūbti "beeswax".

If anybody has more Mesopotamian bee references, please let me know!

[therealslimshakespeare]

I just wrote a tiny little scene with an interaction between them!!! It’s very Jack Brady centric and it’s before Sanchez’s trust has been won over or before Cleven offered her the job or her being trusted with info Pre-Miscarriage but it’s still like 🥹 because it’s them

AHHHHH I LOVE THEM

Sneak peak? It’s a rough draft but…

They stayed in the hall for as long as they dared, up until the shadowy silhouette of a camp guard showed behind the glass of the main doors and they both hit the floor like scared children, plastered to the wood in hopes he’d think it empty.

“We can share my bunk.” Lu whispered to him from the floor once the guard had passed.

She actually took his hand when he stood up, leading him like he was some scared child being put back to bed. He felt himself sob, it wasn't a noise but a jerk of his chest and a stinging in the nose; he was disciplined enough not to betray it wholly, had learned the right way to shove it down in flight school and then perfected it in the bunks of Thorpe Abbotts with his men beside him and a sleepless Bucky Egan opposite.

The one they called Sanchez, the fighter pilot, was the only one still sat up at the table when they entered the bunk room and she gave them a look like a mother catching violators of bedtime. Brady shook Lu’s kind hand out from his own.

“All well?” she asked Smith with a decidedly sardonic lilt to her voice.

Lu Smith was a terrible liar but she nodded her tear stained cheeks vigorously and gave a chirping, “oh yes, fine, all fine.” before ducking into her bunk and pulling off her boots, placing them with Ida Brady Approved regulatory tidiness under her bunk. “Jack needs a blanket.” her wobbly voiced explanation only sealed the aura of falsity surrounding his reason for being here. Yet retreating back into the hall, risking a guard coming to investigate, that was out of the question. And if Jack could be quiet enough, like he’d trained himself, Lu would be a safe one to feel him falling apart if he did.

“Shit luck.” Sanchez commented in commiseration that was about as fake as the fictional loss of his ratty blanket.

Brady bounded into Smith’s bunk, filed by rage and grief, taking up a stubborn position facing the wall; he didn’t want to punch a Mexican fighter pilot, she was his ally and she was a lady and she was always gruff and was always being shut out of crucial insider knowledge because they didn’t know if they could trust her. She was vinegary because she was rebuffed, and he was angry at Adolf Hitler. The two did not combine and should not be mixed. He faced the wall and he seethed. Raged specifically at whichever of those SS fucks thought his sister wasn’t the purest, most giving, most infuriatingly strong woman they’d ever meet, or that they’d know that and that they’d do this, they’d try this, burden her with this.

Try to break her like that.

Cause her to die like this.

And they expected him to go to sleep.

[ilovereadingandstuff]

People!! people...

Do we...do we remember episode 7 from season 1 when Dou Dou was kidnapped...

in this scene specifically, we know that CXS was possesing Dou Dou while ALSO appearing right in front of Qiao Ling.

By this train of thought, and as also is confirmed later at end of season, some of CXS moves were already predestined to happened the way they do to the timeline to work...right? that's kinda de conclution i ended up making, but after rewatching the show WITH the knowledge from season 2...couldn't this be solely a work of Lu Guang by molding reality to his convenience for keeping CXS alive?!?!?!

what if this pre-established event (just as many others later), that seems to need-to-happen-this-way for the timeline to be as consistent as it is, is what LU GUANG WROTE on stone himself?!?!

Just like these times from season 2:

Episode 8

In Dub at least, Cheng Xiaoshi says "so I've already used the photo?" to make the point that it's supposed to happen this way of him travelling to the past and arranging all the event to keep the timeloop of him diving back in time (similar to what happened with Shanshan's serial killer situation, that cxs had already talk with the killer to arrange a meeting at the studio)...

Episode 9 'Lu Guang' not being discovered by the guards

The guy conveniently not turning around.

So, my not here is...What if all this convenient events are the work of Lu Guang?!?!?! He "carved in the rock" what he needed to in order to solidify in this timeline that cxs must live?!?!

Really.

The possibilities are endless with that new info season 2 gave us...

Lu Guang, you freak, I love you so fucking much.

Note: also, i'm aware this interpretation of mine has a BIG PROBABILITY OF BEING WRONG because in the show, there are scenes where Lu Guang seems surprised, seeming as he is oblivious of that info just like cxs at the moment, so not everything on this timeline could be the work of him if he seems surprised of what's happening. if he planned it all, then he would react differently.

[spilledstars1234]

First post! To start this blog off, i'd like to vomit a random Link Click theory that I thought of recently after finishing Season 2 a couple of weeks ago

You know, the whole “Lu Guang taking the photo in his hospital room” scene’s been on my mind a lot. Because that part was a liiiiitle strange. ‘Cause, I don’t think LG even left his phone there for CXS to find. And why? Because he doesn’t even know that CXS knows his phone passcode. My evidence? When Qiao Ling asks Cheng Xiaoshi how he knew LG’s passcode, he replies with “I just happened to see him put it in.” MEANING: LG didn’t tell it to him. Which is kind of odd, because if he left the phone specifically for CXS to find and dive into, wouldn’t he have told him his phone password beforehand in order to have gotten the plan to work smoothly? 

SO! What if he left the phone for HIMSELF to find, and dove into it after CXS’ death and after CXS transferred his ability to him, so he’d have like a backup plan-ish sort of thing just in case CXS might've died that night???

And bonus! So if that WAS him, then the whole thing with the boat would make sense! ‘Cause when it first shows the whole “Lu Guang leaping on top of CXS” scene (back when we didn’t know CXS dives into the photo), it shows LG having zoomed his way there to the docks on some random boat. So this brings me to the conclusion that this had all been pre-planned (aka LG from the future going back and saving CXS), because like, where’d he get the boat? Did he just hijack one or something? Or… did he have one prepared in advance? (see where i’m going with this??)

 And when we see CXS as Lu Guang, notice how HE didn’t take a boat there, and just ran all the way to the docks? (while risking the small matter of LG’s intestines spilling out… buuut cartoon logic!) So this brings me to thinking that the Lu Guang we saw the first time was actually Lu Guang! And that was him from another timeline and not CXS like we all thought.

And therefore, the “LG & CXS lying on top of each other scene” could’ve actually happened (so CXS wasn’t being narcissistic there, lol!), since that could have been Lu Guang the first time around (and Lu’s little smirk and the whole “Fortunately I caught up to you” thing could’ve been y’know, actually from him and not CXS just saying that to himself).

But then… there’s a loophole in this. Because the Lu Guang that is shown first starts busting out all these moves… and we all know CXS is the one who’s more adept at fighting, and we can kinda guess Lu Guang probably doesn’t get off the couch (he isn’t called an old man for nothing y’know). So, maybe that was actually CXS to begin with…

In conclusion? I genuinely don’t know! But I like to be delusional so I like to think that it was LG in another timeline (c’mon studio lan, you can’t just give us that scene and pass it off as it actually being CXS because of censorship pls). Or maybe I’m dumb and this theory’s super wrong because I completely missed something, I dunno.

(edit: HANG ON, i totally forgot about the scene where cxs gets shot and LG immediately went to beat the crap out of qian jin. So maybe all it takes for LG to fight is when he sees CXS in danger~)

[huh-1260]

You know what. Fuck it. I don't have enough patience to fully type out all the roles and archetypes I will be using for my LU yugioh lore au, because there is a fuck ton of cards and lore and I will only be using like half of it plus some minor tearlaments lore for a possible what if timeline, if I choose to not make it Canon to my au. So I fucked up Wild's original lore I had planned out so I present Pre-Calamity wild aka, before the plot which the first War which Wild's first death happened. (Tbh I'm not sure if I should ramble about the au/lore with the art I made of this to explain but please let me know)

So, to explain pre main plot wild. Wild is a member of the Ice Barrier tribe, which outside of this au is one of the many members of the residents of Duel Terminal. Wild is based off of (for now) Georgius, swordsman of the Ice Barrier along with the mystic tunic. The ice barrier tribe live in a ice land (some can consider it to be a frozen waste land) guarding their ultimateweapons the three dragons of the Ice Barrier. (To be honest I was going to to post Sky first but Wild is like super easy to do because I don't really have to work as hair to find a color scheme but Sky is slowly going to be finish!) The ice Barrier tribe for this au will have alot of members because a lot of people die and Im not really sure how much ice barrier members die. Changing the original idea of this au to this, i was prepared to murder every character. (Sorry y'all, it's just how it works in Yugioh card lore, everyone dies or it's super cute and its a toxic meta deck). Now I'm not sure of Georgius's original lore purpose was (pretty sure he's apart of the new Ice Barrier support due to the art style change with the original ice barrier cards and I'm too lazy to look it up and something in my house is making the internet freak the fuck out and it didn't affect Ao3 so I was just mostly chilling all day reading ao3 while my Tumblr was freaking the fuck out along with my Google.) But I decided that because I choose Wild to formerly be Georgius, swordsman of the Ice Barrier, I choose the uh, more interesting route for Wild. Wild was connected to one of the Ice Barrier dragons, more specifically Trisula (which shall be hinted my me, to be a named character guess who), and during the War against, uh man I fucking forgot, FUCK! Okay so while I figure it out, it's before Cia's awakening. Which I shall explain once I get to Warriors because he is a big fuckinf tie in for speeding up the original lore aka waking her up. So one by one, the Ice Barrier tribe released its dragons, kept in their ice barrier prisons. Two main families that run the Ice Barrier tribe, were arguing in releasing the final third Ice Barrier dragon. Because in lore Trisula, dragon of the Ice Barrier was the most hateful mother fucker ever (yes this is some what of a joke but Trisula was the most violent out of the three ice barrier dragons.) And from this two families were childhood friends who didn't want Trisula to run the world in ruin, so they tried a Ritual that shall bring up another monster as an alternative to releasing Trisula, the Calamity. The two friends were Aurora and Hyrule. And with the failure of the Ritual, Aurora died, and Hyrule's mind was left plagued with the the Evilswarm (Calamity) that escaped from the earth. Now how does that relate to Wild? So Wild was in the splash zone of Cia's awakening, and Wild was injured by the explosion, and died to his wounds in First's (gem knight Crystal's) arms. Which his sword became the sword First use to fuse (yes Gem knights are the better Gems from Steven universe fight me bitches- I'm joking on the fighting part but Gem knight are the peace keepers of Duel Terminal, noble knight of Duel Terminal that protect the weak, which honestly better than Pre era three of the gems in SU) to become Gem knight Master diamond, which Wild's sword would become the goddess sword. Which after First dies the sword gets passed on to Sky/Gem knight lazuli to become the Master Sword of this au. Now how does Wild's death affect Trisula(in this au)? Well Trisula is fucking pissed because her favorite human (I will eventually reveal Trisula idenity and her reasons) died before he could see her be released. So trisula goes on a rampage and the other two ice barrier dragons join. So basically Wild's role as Georgius was to die and eventually become a puppet/Shaddoll like creature reborn Cia as his soul is trapped in a shell that barely mimics his old body to watch the outlier of the War, the one who doesn't belong to this space and time.

Warriors.

Wow dramatic am I right? Okay so here's the unfiltered version nd the original reference card art. But, Konami has a hard time remembering to credit artists, and I would have to stalk the entire internet to try and find the original artist for all of thr cards I will be using for this au, and honestly? As much as I would rather credit the original artist and hope they have a Tumblr I don't think this series of art works would get done if I start scrambling for the original artist for every single card I will be using/referencing for lore on every single platform that exist. But if I stumbled across them in the future, the master post of this au will have the credit go to them for their original work

[muninnhuginn]

Some updated thoughts after mulling over yingdu ep 1 and seeing other people's thoughts/discussing around a bit:

I do think that Lu Guang's photo when he dove to meet Cheng Xiaoshi at the basketball court just being a picture of the sky lends more credence to the existing pile of evidence that Lu Guang is the one who originally intended to go back during the boat-loop arc in s2. In both cases, it was a single photo hidden where it couldn't be easily accessed by anyone other than Lu Guang (because it was in that specific book vs locked behind his phone passcode respectively), and it wasn't even a picture *of* anything (but the sky). It was literally a photo taken and saved for the sake of having taken a photo.

Gonna keep an eye out on rewatch for golden-eyed Cheng Xiaoshi during the Vivian escape because I entirely missed that myself, but the show has only previously had false negatives with the eye colours and never false positives. Aka, if the golden eyes are there then there *is* a dive taking place (and the dive could have started earlier than when we're actually shown the golden eyes as they're specifically an audience cue). Whether it's CXS diving back into himself or LG diving back to course correct (or Xia Fei with a steel chair) remains to be seen though. Cheng Xiaoshi feels the more obvious option (especially as we know LG is currently stuck past 12 hours) but we're still lacking info (aka, would CXS have died originally during the Vivian pseudo-dive, does Lu Guang retain CXS' powers even after he's trapped?). It also raises the question of what photo was used to conduct the dive. My only thought in terms of this at present has me thinking the video recording could be relevant in that case, though again, even if it was the video recording it still doesn't tell us which of them would have dived. If this one is somehow animation error--

Going to semi copy-paste my thoughts on this next one, but! In terms of if Lu Guang can use his powers to see 12 hours from when the photo is taken (and see the 'future' essentially), I'm now back to my original thoughts pre-Yingdu (aka, he can only see up to the present of a photo taken under 12 hours ago). So, Lu Guang gave an explanation when Cheng Xiaoshi asked him how he knew he was about to be hit by the kidnappers (yingdu ep 1) where he said if a photo was over 12 hours old he could look into it and see what happened twelve hours after. I took that as confirming the photo had to be over 12 hours old which confused me because then how would it answer CXS' question? Anyway, if the photo is *under* 12 hours, I think this means he can only see up to the present. This also aligns with how he saw the hospital cctv network in ep 2 or so of s2 as well as how he was only able to warn CXS *as* the guy took the swing at his head. (Both his shock during that part and the way he kept trying to yell Cheng Xiaoshi's name through the phone to me imply he didn't have any extra knowledge. Also, I'm going to laugh if after yelling after Cheng Xiaoshi he was then like "fuck it let's dive and find out").