#chimera prologue

[slutpoppers]

Bonolenov vs Fishface Chimera ant (HXH 2011)

Battle Cantabile: Prologue ->

[bobcat-pie]

Huh. I just realized grim and malleus have the same tail shape

like, there's differences, but both are definitely trident-y

i've always wondered what the evolutionary advantages of three-pronged tails are for mythical beasts... what could possibly be a good enough reason to make you grow 3 more spinal columns (beyond pure mistake, like what some irl regenerating lizards fall prey to)... unless it's a thagomizer situation?

[alltheyoungmoons]

La Chimera by starlingsilver

Chapters: 1/? - PROLOGUE Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Summary:

It’s 1983. Remus Lupin, unlike most of his best friends, isn’t a dead man. Though, might as well. He has no job prospects in the wizarding world, and very little to show for himself in the muggle world, so for the last couple of years, after managing to put himself back together just enough to function, he’s decided to do what he’s always done best: run away. Hide, if you will. Pour himself into research as to occupy his every waking thought. Fate, or what have you, brings him to rural central Italy, to the lands that thousands of years ago were home to the Etruscans and the Latins. It’s a land ripe with magic, where ancient currents of energy flow underground like massive undiscovered rivers. Here, Remus gets tangled in more than one prohibited affair...

--- Inspired by Alice Rohwacher's gorgeous 2023 film "La Chimera" which I highly recommend!

[oddberryshortcake]

SSR Grim - Platinum Jacket Voice Lines

When Summoned: Happy 100th Anniversary～! ...So, uh, what's a 100th Anniversary!?

Summon Line: Hey, they're doing some kinda 100th Anniversary celebration thingie at the art museum! But they can't get started without the star of the show there! Let's hurry～!

Groooovy!!: I'll still be going wild 100 years down the road! And you'd still be with me too, obviously! Nyahaha!

Home: Howzzat? Lookin' sharp, ain't I?

Home Idle 1: A painting of the Queen of Hearts... Oh yeah, the first statue we came across when we first started class was hers. Brings back memories, yanno.

Home Idle 2: The King of Beasts' mane is so cool! Actually, I'm workin' on growing my fur out so I can have a mane just as awesome!

Home Idle 3: If you could ask the Sea Witch to grant any wish, what'd it be? Me, I'd... I'd ask her to make me taller than you!

Home Idle - Login: Look at my getup! Me 'n Mickey match! We're gonna celebrate this 100th Anniversary with him!

Home Idle - Groovy: Hehen, what now, huh? Even Ace didn't have a sarcastic thing to say. He even complemented me, sayin' that I look good in this outfit!

Home Tap 1: Maan～ I'm so jealous of the Sorcerer of the Sands... His staff and hat are way too cool! I want something like 'em too～!

Home Tap 2: Don'tcha think my fur could give even the Fairest Queen a run for her money today? I made sure to give it a good brushin' in front of a mirror!

Home Tap 3: Woah, it's a painting of the Lord of the Underworld! I couldn't tell from the statue, but the flames on his head was blue, huh! We're two peas in a pod, nyahaha!

Home Tap 4: The Thorn Fairy when she transforms into a dragon is crazy awesome～! I wanna get as big as her someday...!

Home Tap 5: Malleus was sayin' that even to him, 100 years feels much longer than a year. He's really some guy!

Home Tap - Groovy: Me 'n Deuce were talking 'bout what we'd be doing 100 years down the road, but... Yeah, guess you wouldn't have any idea either, huh!

Duo: [GRIM]: Malleus! Follow me! [MALLEUS]: I shall allow you to take the lead here, Grim.

Requested by @butterflyremix.

[oddberryshortcake]

Twisted Wonderland - Blessings and Curses 

In Twst, it’s said repeatedly that blessings and curses are virtually the same thing, but are differentiated only by how they either positively or negatively affect the person who is spelled. 

This is interesting because of this, in some cases, spells meant to be blessings turn into curses, which a number of characters suffer from. Some curses can also be a blessing. 

There are now at least four characters who are canonically cursed in some form, with some being more explicitly stated as cursed, others implied, and some we don’t even know what’s truly going on, so I’ll be going over everything that we do know because this magic system is mysterious and I want to know more. 

Idia Shroud, the late original Ortho Shroud, STYX’s director (Idia’s father) and the late Aidne Shroud (Idia’s grandmother) have all been generationally cursed for hundreds of years since their ancestor was punished for trying to revolt against their rivals, the Jupiter Family. 

Their curse manifests itself as firey blue hair and the ability to incinerate blot at such a speed that overblot is impossible. 

The inability to overblot can be interpreted as a blessing, but if the Shrouds don’t produce blot/live in close proximity to blot, the curse will attack their magic force and destroy it, possibly harming their lives as well. 

Because of this, the curse makes the Shrouds uniquely qualified for blot research and protecting the rest of the world from the massive phantoms created by hundreds of overblotters across history. 

This curse prevents Idia from living a normal life and, as Idia has done research on himself and the family, concluded that it is the curse is unbreakable (as most curses appear to be) 

Idia also confirms that Grim is cursed, except Grim’s curse seems to be so old and complex that he can’t decipher what it is. Grim does have blot resistance, and its theorized that he’s a direbeast fused with some other kind of animal and possesses almost human-like intelligence. 

Idia is able to conclude that someone casted an ancient spell on Grim, but the person who did it and the purpose of the spell is unknown. 

This, paired with Grim’s insatiable desire to eat blot stones produced by overblotters, hasn’t been touched upon by the plot again as of right now, but the chimera creature that resembles Grim from the prologue is an indicator that we will find out what this curse is at some point. 

Next is Silver’s curse, which is different from everyone else because it was intended to be a blessing from the very start. 

And it was a blessing for around 400 years…Until he woke up and started experiencing negative effects from the spell, which made it a curse. 

This is more on the theorizing side since Silver’s sleeping problem is brought up only once in Book 7 and not touched on again. By the end of Book 7, his sleeping issue still isn’t talked about. Given the new guest room and chat voice lines that just dropped on JPN server, it’s implied that Silver is still struggling with his uncontrollable sleeping habit and he is not cured of his curse. 

But again, we won’t know if that’s actually the case until the story continues. 

People rightfully speculate that the reason behind his sleeping issue comes from his original blessing, which was to sleep until found by someone who loves him. He was in ageless sleep until he was found by Lilia, and then he started to age like a normal child but fell asleep suddenly with no explanation. 

It’s stated multiple times in vignettes and once in main story that Silver has been taken to doctors for his sleeping issue and no one was able to find anything, implying that curses are virtually undetectable outside of the STYX technology Idia has access to. 

The blessing met its criteria and him being awake proves that it has been broken, but the reason why he’s experiencing negative effects from something that saved his life is unknown and hopefully it’ll be explained later on. Lilia also theorizes that the spell may have fallen apart due to how unpredictably long he spent under it, but that was probably just him assuming he didn't meet the spell's criteria.

Given what we know, I theorize that, in some cases, excessive amounts of exposure to powerful magic can be harmful to people, especially humans who were spelled at such a young age. 

This is how a blessing can change into a curse, it’s now a part of him whether he wants it there or not. 

Maybe his body is just used to being asleep, he was like that for 400 years and has only been awake for 18 years. Maybe there’s something else at play, we don’t know. 

We have enough evidence to assume that he’s part of the cursed club (also he’s twisted from Aurora who is very famously cursed lol) 

But he’s in the same place as Grim where you know it’s there but you’re not entirely sure why. 

Lastly, Malleus has joined the cursed club as of the end of Book 7.

The Senate “blessed” him, and their intention truly was blessing. However, the effects of the blessings have become more of a curse to Malleus. 

Malleus himself even interprets himself as cursed. 

He was blessed to be so powerful that no one could do him any harm, however, because of his power he was harming everyone around him, including his loved ones, which is something that kept Malleus isolated and repressed.

Because the curse hindered his ability to express emotion, he was robbed of what he actually wanted, which was the ability to be happy, sad, and being able to hug someone without the fear of hurting them. 

Malleus is the best example of blessings and curses being virtually the same thing. What was a blessing in the eyes of the senate was a curse in Malleus’s perspective. 

Because of what happened, Malleus’s curse isn’t ‘broken’ per se, but he can no longer physically perform the kind of magic he was able to perform when both his horns were intact. 

I don’t know if there’s anything Idia, Grim and Silver can do to break the effects of their curses but we’ll have to see as the story goes on.

IN CONCLUSION, having consequences to powerful spells and an open interpretation of how magic can both save and harm someone simultaneously is a really interesting aspect of Twisted Wonderland that I hope gets expanded upon in the future. 

[inamindfarfaraway]

Hnnng dehumanisation in Spies are Forever. Curt's “not a man, [he's] property of the United States government". Tatiana wasn't a child, she was an “instrument of war”, a “killing machine". It’s particularly poignant that Barb calls Curt property of their government, a cog in the machine, because she knows that she’s in the same boat, and in fact socially inferior to him as both a woman and a support worker to his more prestigious career. She herself has always seen and valued him as a person and is constantly trying to make him reciprocate. But he initially views her as just a cool gadget dispenser. Technology appears to be her only means of asserting her worth and earning people’s attention, which might be why she’s working on a global information network, essentially the internet - the ultimate technological platform for human connection and collaboration. Cynthia is so committed to overcoming her human vulnerability in order to be the best tool her country could possibly ask for that she poisons herself every day to build up an immunity. One of the villains is a literal Nazi who uses a literal puppet, and is himself an “expendable puppet”. And the other is Owen.

Owen's evil vision is "turning everyone into a spy", aka property. Instruments for him to conduct. Creating a global surveillance network, because the internet has as much power to distance and isolate people as to unite them. The machine failed him when he was a cog in it, so he aims to replace it with a more efficient one and control it this time; he cannot comprehend of any ethical improvement to or dismantling of the machine itself. His problem with spies is that they contaminate the ruthless political mechanisms with messy, fallible humanity... and vice versa. Agent Mega messed up the mission because he was human; Curt left his boyfriend for dead because he was a spy. You can’t be both. Person or tool. So Owen chooses the one that can’t be hurt. He willingly becomes a tool of CHIMERA, a living weapon. He kills and tortures hundreds of people, considers himself an actor in a story and others expendable characters, does everything he can to detach himself from ideas of personhood. “Who needs spies when a box in a room can do your job in seconds?" Humanity is worthless. Obsolete.

Except no, it isn't. Curt and his allies proves it. After the prologue, Curt simultaneously makes Owen’s mistake of binary thinking. First he wants to be purely a man, and an absolute wreck of one; then he wants to be purely the greatest spy ever, with no sentimental weaknesses. But he can’t maintain that divide. He has to be both. His team wins with their skills, training and expertise and by being human - social, irrational animals, working together, loving each other for the sake of it, acting spontaneously. They aren’t tools that Owen can perfectly predict or manipulate. Curt surprises him. And Owen, for all his icy calculations and grand talk, cannot escape his humanity any more than he can destroy Curt’s, as his last scene makes painfully clear. He lowers his gun like a person. His voice breaks like one. He bleeds like one. Meanwhile, Barb is a genius engineer and Tatiana is a master assassin. You’d think that their climactic moment of triumph would demonstrate Barb’s amazing inventions or Tatiana’s combat skill, but instead the focus is on them simply talking to each other and even Mrs Mega. Human connection and collaboration. Human error that doesn’t negate their victory. “You can break a computer box, but you can’t break the will of a man.” That’s what Curt is. Not property. A man. He is a gay, unemployed man; Barb is a woman in STEM; Tatiana is a female ex-KGB Russian immigrant; all in the United States of America in the 1960s, a very bad time and place to be all of those things. Yet they will survive. They are not alone and they will endure. Spies are forever because they are people.

And the narrative consistently emphasises that everybody is a person! It mocks the Nazis, obviously, but even then Baron von Nazi isn’t a one-dimensional monster, he has emotions and cognitive biases and a backstory and fondness for cheeseburgers. Sergio isn’t just an interchangeable criminal, he’s a devoted family man awkwardly trying to lighten his work atmosphere. Richard Big isn’t just a crass parody, he has moral principles. We hear all kinds of characters’ thoughts and feelings: the Informant, Barb’s fellow scientists, the waiter at the casino, the guests at the gala. This affirmation that everyone has a inner life means that yes, anyone can be a spy.

[yuurei20]

(This was originally an ask received through Twitter)

"Hello! Can you please elaborate on the time loop theory in book 2 that you mentioned in the tweet where you talked about your favourite theories?"

I am wary about discussing this theory as there are many others who have put much more thought into it than I have, but I can certainly try with what I was able to find :>

(The information in this thread was combined from here, here, here, and here)

The basic theory is that everything we know is repeating in a loop in an attempt to either stop something from happening or to make something happen.

The game’s tagline of “I will show you a true happy ending” (EN: “Let us show you the real happily-ever-after”) could be insinuating that there have already been less than happy endings, and we may have already seen one: while some theorize that the events of the prologue are showing us what is going to happen in the future, others say that it is both that and something that has already happened.

The theory goes that the battle with the chimera (who may or may not be an overblotted Grim) was lost and everyone (or just the prefect) is sent back to try again, thus the opening lines of the game narrated in Crowley’s voice.

(Note: I would have translated this as “I—they—you—only have a little time left. Whatever you do, don’t let go”, but the situation is so vague that anything is possible.)

(Here is a short comic insinuating that this time loop is Crowley’s unique magic (warning: blood, death, a Yuu design))

This theory seems to be largely inspired by Mickey’s comment that he has seen the same dream three times but he also says “your voice gets clearer and clearer every time.”

Since Mickey also shows up in Books 2 and 3 but we were not able to speak with him, it is possible that this is not actually hinting at two earlier loops, just earlier events within the same timeline. This does not dismiss the time loop theory and might mean that this is Mickey’s first time interacting with the loop, but there have been far more than just two or three timelines.

(This account pretends that Book 7 does not exist yet, so that is about as specific as I can get.)

The theory gets kind of wild with references to STYX’s simulation system, supposed inconsistencies with Ace and Epel, Crowley’s potential connection to STYX, etc, but one thing that everyone seems to agree on is: Leona knows.

Leona is extremely powerful and extremely private.

He has had a number of contracts with Azul who is also a powerful mage, and according to Idia he seems like “the kind of guy who always knows he’s dreaming.”

Yana has confirmed that Idia has a part in Book 7 and, with both him and Leona halfway out of their coffins in promotional art, people are wondering if Leona will be stepping up as well.

We know that Riddle’s current personality is a 180 degree change from original plans and that this change was made pretty far into development, after everything had already been approved.

There are also rumors that Leona’s Book 2 was the original Book 6, looking at older promotional information (Book 2 was originally listed between Ignihyde and Diasomnia on the official website).

It is possible that—much like Riddle’s situation—Yana came up with a better idea than what had originally been decided, and it required shoehorning Leona’s drama into an earlier Book in order to make it work.

This would mean that Book 7 used to have significant space for Leona (there is a pattern of the previous Overblotter having a role in the next Book).

That space may have been rewritten for Idia, but it is also possible that Idia’s role was added separately and a role for Leona remains to some extent, which is why they went out of their way to say that Leona knows when he is in a dream.

Theories vary from “Leona is 100% aware of what is going on, broke free from the loop and he is the only one getting older as he tries to save the world” to “Leona knows something isn’t right but not exactly what.”

The proof that people usually point to is his comment where he is unsurprised by Grim “always” eating black stones (which he shouldn’t know anything about), but the phrasing is so vague that he could just be making the connection between the stones and a potential blot-risk.

Another scene that is often referenced in the “Leona knows” conversation is an interaction with Jamil where he accurately predicts Jamil’s attack on Kalim despite how rarely they interact before Book 6.

There are also the three white chess pieces on the chessboard in Leona’s bedroom that seem to correspond to the only three characters in the game with light cosmic magic: a white rook for Rook, a white knight for Silver and a white pawn for Kalim, whom Leona literally refers to as a pawn piece in chess during Tamashima-Mina (these three chess pieces are also displayed prominently in Leona's first Birthday groovy).

Leona also seems suspicious of Crowley, suspects what really happened in Book 5 and is able to literally sniff out magic, which we have seen no other character capable of doing.

Leona is very perceptive in general: he is suspicious of Lilia in Spectral Soiree, calls him an old man when no other character outside of Diasomnia knows his true age, is the first to figure out that Malleus is pretending to be possessed and is able to tell when someone becomes injured and is trying to hide it in both Book 6 and an event.

This is not proof that Leona knows what is happening, but it may be an argument for why it is likely that he knows more than he is willing to let on.

Some versions of the time loop theory say that the same prefect is being sent back over and over again to try and save everyone (which ties into the game’s opening), while other versions say that this is the prefect’s first time being summoned into a loop that has been going on for a long time without them, in an effort by someone (Crowley?) to change the ending of the story.

While not technically part of the game, the Twst novelization supports the first pattern while the manga series supports the second, with new prefects showing up after the previous prefect presumably fails.

Knowing Yana it is possible that the game is actually a third, entirely different pattern with the novel and manga exploring alternatives that were considered for the game but not used.

[hanafubukki]

MC/Yuu “Blessed/Cursed” by a Fae Theory

So you know how Lilia said that MC vision state is kind of similar to when Silver falls asleep/sleepy?

And we know, in part, the cause of Silver’s sleepiness is due to the blessing he got from the three fairies.

So that makes me wonder, did someone “bless” MC to have these visions?? Was it some fae?

And since we know the carriage brought MC to NRC and they were in a coffin, the closest fae that could have done it is Dire Crowley.

I don’t remember who pointed it out (@prince-kallisto?? @moonlightequin1?? <— the two Dire Crowley experts) but didn’t someone say that ravens/crows are symbols of prophecy?? And also symbols of death and rebirth?

MC is getting visions of OBs so in a sense prophecy, though it’s not far in advance or detailed enough for them to stop it from happening.

But book 5 we see them connect the dots with Vil and they go to check on him secretly and then! At the end of book 5, we see the chimera, which this time it a vision way more ahead in the future but a future to come.

So this symbolizes not only the ability of prophecy but of death if the prologue says anything. And if some time theories are true, we are trying to stop this death event from happening so in a sense, we get rebirth.

I don’t remember book 6 visions or maybe they didn’t stand out as much given the chaos that happened, though of note, we saw more MC development and their insecurities which we haven’t seen before.

But for sure, book 5 visions were different.

With book 7 visions in the beginning, we saw for the first time one of the Great Seven being mentioned by name.

The over arching plot and small details show that something is being cooked in the background, and we’ll probably see how it all comes together, especially with three dia members who have dream/memory related UM. We’ll probably see it come to fruition in book 8.

But I wanted to point out key points:

- book 5: MC being suspicious and connecting their dreams with Vil’s OB, something they just did for the first time. Then, they get a “future” vision of the chimera and what we know happens in the prologue.

-book 6: MC insecurities and helplessness is shown for the first time. You can see them try to include MC more in the interactions but you can also see the way they feel helpless.

-book 7: first time one of great seven is named in a vision. MC dreams/vision state are compared to Silver’s dream/sleepy state, which we know was due to a blessing given by fairies.

So either, Dire Crowley gave them this “blessing” or whoever that brought MC did (Levan? (If the two aren’t the same), another fae? Could it be Queen Maleficia? Someone who hasn’t shown up yet despite her grandson is in trouble).

Another thing to note, that yes while they are in a dream, MC hasn’t had any visions yet. Which is strange given their track record and how these visions tend to warn them of danger. MC has constantly been in danger, have they not?

Could it be so this magic doesn’t get recognized? But wouldn’t Lilia have recognized a blessing on them? Unless someone was able to hide said blessing.

All of this is rather fascinating 🫶🤔

(This is especially interesting when you take into consideration that they “randomly” chucked the fact about Silver and MC being similar in the beginning of book 7 at us and then never brought it up again 🧐)

[tinseltina]

ok so at FIRST i was like this seems like a good design for an overblot/possessed!yuuna (i'm still coming up with a fun blurb about what happened. but the gist of it, isn't actually from her accumulating blot, bc she doesn't actually have magic. it's entirely related to grim and the chimera from the prologue)

but THEN i wanted something a little less bright

so this is more in the direction i wanna go with.

[emyluwinter]

Yes, I understand that everyone is excited about Silver's new card, which blew out the fandom (special thanks, I'm very happy for Silver's fans) In addition, there is so much news that the fandom is on fire like never before. That's why I love this fandom, there's so much going on.

But can we talk for a moment about that….

IS MONDAY THE END OF CHAPTER 7?!? Two years later!!Hello??

ARE WE GOING TO WAIT FOR CHAPTER 8?? this intrigue is at the very end (as usual, they will throw us like a tank of dynamite, and then a canister of gasoline to finish us off and light the fuse)

Please give me some bread crumbs, what the hell are we waiting for.

Rehabilitating Malleus in the eyes of the entire college as the hero of the situation? The consequences of each overbloot suffered by all students?

Will they finally send a counselor to the college so that this doesn't happen again? Is Yu going to have a nervous breakdown with everything going on? Will they get seriously hurt for the first time in Chapter 7, trying to stop Grimm from eating the stone left over from Malleus?

No one can convince me that every Overblot is not imprinted so deeply on them that it has changed them, but they are still holding on for the sake of others with their last strength.

Chapter 8 is pandora's box, Schrodinger's box and Chekhov's gun at the same time.

There are probably two ways. Chapter 8, as I said earlier, will address the topic of loneliness, isolation, and the outsider. So either Crowley does something serious. (Otherwise, I do not know why we are being given teacher disclosure) Will he reveal himself as Malleus' father? Did he originally have some kind of villainous plan? Is he a phantom blot?!? Did he have Levan's twin and took his identity to get revenge?

He can send Yuu a poison apple, a reference to the trailer of the game, where there is a frame change. A bitten apple, spilled ink, a Grimm, and then Crowley's creepy face at the end.

Or! The one who was behind every Overblot in the game this school year comes on stage. And that someone is finally starting to act to achieve their goal. What if Crowley was just a puppet to distract his eyes from something TRULY threatening?

Although there is a theory among the fandom that Grimm will become that chimera from the prologue. But I'm wondering what the starting point will be. This will not happen immediately after O.B. Malleus, which would be logical given the information from Chapter 6. It will happen after some time.

But what exactly will be the main reason?

Oh, so many questions. I'm so curious to find out what they have in mind for this chapter!!

Do you think they will make it as big as chapters 7-6?

[shattered-matrix]

Masterpost | Ateez AU Series

Welcome to the emotional chaos, slow-burn pining, found family disasters, and the occasional criminal empire. Here’s where to find my major ongoing and completed works!

Disclaimer: my works are purely fictional and not in any way meant to represent those depicted within them

📁 K-pop Mafia AU wip | Yunho x Reader 🗡 Arranged marriage meets slow-burn romance in a world of power, loyalty, and very sharp tailoring. After discovering her late grandmother’s syndicate ties, the reader is offered protection through marriage to Jeong Yunho, head of the Jeong family. 💌 Themes: arranged marriage, emotional intimacy, forced proximity, genre typical violence with consequences, found family chaos, protective!Yunho

Note: this fic is rated ‘E’ on Ao3. Reader discretion is advised. 🔗 Read on AO3 | #silk and sidearms

Chapters: One, Part 1

Extras: tba

📁 Chimera AU wip | Yunho x Reader 🫖 What begins as a cautious friendship between a quiet human and a warm alpha becomes something deeper and beautifully unspoken. Set in a world where instinct meets intention. 💌 Themes: comfort, slow burn, strangers to friends to lovers, trauma recovery, soft alpha energy, gentle trust 🔗 Read on AO3 | #something like safe

Chapters: One | Two | Three | Four

📁 Soulmate Pirate AU wip | Hongjoong x Reader 🧭 You were raised to be obedient, beautiful, desirable—anything but free. The sea has always known better. Now you live by its side, charting maps for coin and pretending the tide doesn’t whisper your name. It all shifts when he arrives—a pirate captain with a soulmark like yours and a cursed ship that sings to your blood. You thought you’d escaped your fate. It was only ever waiting. 💌 Themes: soulmate marks, cursed ships, ocean magic, emotional tension, old gods, yearning, pirate crew shenanigans, mapmaker heroine who does not swoon on command 🔗 Read on AO3 | #tidebound au

Chapters: Prologue | One | Two | Three

📁 Pacific Rim au | platonic Yunho x OC (Ash Calder) 🛠 In a world where humanity’s last defense walks on steel legs, two pilots from opposite sides of the world must learn to Drift together. War trauma, found family, and the slow process of becoming something more than compatible. 💌 Themes: war prep, drift strain, haunted calm, broken systems, quiet loyalty, first blood, Jaeger pilots with issues™, complicated male friendships, Kaiju-slaying, drift-induced emotional crises, and soft moments in steel cockpits. 🔗 Read on Ao3 | #phase zero catalyst

Chapters: Prologue

Extras: Vigil Hammer

🚨 Coming Soon: Pacific Rim AU- Part 2

📁 Phase One: Ghost Protocol | Mingi x Reader ⚠️ After the fall of Icebound Saint and the sacrifice that followed, the world’s survival may rest on a prototype Jaeger and the pair reckless enough to pilot it. You’re no one’s first choice: a tech and Drift engineer. Mingi is too loud, too loyal, and too wounded to be anyone’s anchor. But the Drift doesn’t care about perception. It cares about resonance.

💌 Themes: second chances, broken soldiers, Drift intimacy, reluctant partnership to ride-or-die, survivor guilt, Jaeger tech mysteries, found family, slow burn with reckless loyalty and protective rage 🔜 Launching: TBD – post-Catalyst arc 💡 Teasers + WIPs tagged #phase one ghost protocol

📌 Tags to Follow:

#silk and sidearms #something like safe #tidebound au #phase zero catalyst #Jay writes fanfic #RoderickPrime #Jay writes lore (for story extras)

[chimerakingdom]

Chimera Kingdom Prologue, page 1

the story begins!

✧ next ->

[oddberryshortcake]

Remembering Lampwick/Candlewick's fate in the original Pinocchio story itself, makes me really REALLY worried about Grim in this event and future chapters.

Twst is often very upfront about foreshadowing. Something can be staring you right in the face and you don't even realize it until after that information finally comes out.

Lab gear Ortho foreshadows both 6 and 7 at the same time (at least I feel in my gut Ortho talking about irreversible damage is alluding to what happened to Silver in 7)

But there has been a consistent theme of 'something terrible is going to happen to Grim and there's nothing MC can do about it' almost everywhere in the game.

With him constantly eating overblot rocks, him talking about how he's going to become big multiple times-

and him dressed as Lampwick- not Pinocchio, Lampwick, the character most famously remembered for meeting a terrible fate through a horrifying transformation just really seals it in that Grim is an inherently tragic character

We see him as a monster in the prologue before we even properly meet him. Our first trial battle is impossible to win, we're against a chimera Grim inside of a destroyed hall of mirrors.

And the game doesn't let you forget thAT THIS IS THE FATE OF THE LITTLE CAT YOU BOND WITH OVER THE COURSE OF ALL THE CHAPTERS

Grim as Lampwick is yet another reminder that your cat is going to try to kill you and you might have to kill him and I'm losing my mind lol

That being said, I LOVE storytelling like this

[venture-through-the-mist]

The amount of people I’ve seen who are shocked/upset/annoyed about the Lotus Eaters being a short quest is, quite frankly, a little astonishing. We were told from the moment it was announced that it would be short, it has been compared to Apostasy Prologue and the Prelude to War (the Chimera Prologue specifically, I believe) multiple times. If you went into the quest thinking it was going to be longer than 5-ish minutes, that’s kinda on you at this point.

[yuurei20]

Hello! I wanted to ask, but do we have any visual descriptions of the blot monster that killed Ortho? Like even just if it was big or if it had claws anything like that lol

Also this is a bit of a darker question do feel free to not answer this part but is the it ever implied or said how exactly Ortho was killed? Like did the blot monster like.. bite or maybe squash him? (Ngl I'd normally ask it in a more graphic way but I don't wanna make you uncomfortable)

Anyways I hope you have a good night/day whenever you read this <3

Hello hello! ^^ Thank you for this question!

I do not believe we have any detailed description of exactly what it is that happened to human-Ortho and, interestingly, we do not really know what happened to Idia, either!

There is a loud sound of something striking against something else and Idia says, "Everything after that is a blank for me. By the time I woke up, Ortho was gone."

What was that sound we hear after the monster lunges for Ortho? Metal against metal? Someone or something hitting a wall, or floor? How did Idia fall unconscious, and what happened in between Ortho being attacked and Idia being knocked out?

"Everything after that is a blank" may be insinuating that something happened during that "everything after," but he either can't or does not want to remember what it was. Very curious!

And there may be more to this scene than meets the eye 👀

When Ortho reacts to the creature coming down the hall, he doesn't call it a phantom: he calls it a monster.

"Monster" is one of the various ways that the cast refer to Grim (re: Animal vs. Monster vs. Cat vs. Dire Beast vs. Tanuki (pt1) / Animal vs. Monster vs. Cat vs. Dire Beast vs. Tanuki (pt2) ).

STYX labels him a dire beast in Book 6, but at the same time we learn that Grim is under a powerful spell that STYX's supercomputer can't actually analyze!

Grim might not be a direbeast at all, and we have already heard of creatures that will blend in with direbeasts in order to hide: phantoms 👀

I first came across this theory via Vtuber Toro-san (shared with permission) who points out some interesting things we know about the creature:

1. It was subject ROS-3367A, which possibly means that the phantom originally came from the Queendom of Roses, and Grim is theorized to have been at least partially based on Dinah from Alice in Wonderland.

(In Book 6 we also hear about a SUS-332OB, theorized to be from Sunset Savanna.)

2. While the weaker phantoms frozen on the higher levels of Tartarus in Book 6 mostly growl, the stronger phantoms frozen deeper inside would sometimes speak, saying, "I'm hungry, feed me flesh," "Don't go, stay with me" and "I want to be friends, too."

This is not impossible to tie back to Grim, who recalls waking up "hungry and alone," saying "it was real cold."

He follows with, "What happened after that again? It's all so foggy..."

Grim is mysterious enough on his own, not knowing where NRC is located (which begs the question: how did he get there?) and having significant gaps in his memory, in addition to being so unfamiliar with basic information of what is (presumably?) his own world that other characters often express surprise. (re: Grim's Memory / Grim's Experiences)

3. The chimera in the prologue has long been theorized to be some form of overblotted Grim. Is that his true form as a potentially flesh-eating, unfrozen phantom under a curse and/or blessing that no one understands?

We do not know! :> To the original question: it is difficult to pinpoint how exactly it was that Ortho died, as we do not know exactly what it was that killed him. (If it was the chimera in the opening, though, we have an idea of what it is he may have looked like at the time!)

We know Ortho was killed by a monster who had just escaped from a place built expressly for the purpose of housing lonely, violent, and hungry creatures--but that is all!

Perhaps a mystery to be solved as the plot thickens 👀

[if-underourskins]

hello 👋 I have many questions! I don’t think this has been asked before, but what determines what animal a shifter shifts to? is it purely genetics? as in, “my ancestors were bear-shifters, so I’m one, too” kinda deal?

and related to that, how does it work when two different animal shifters have children? (in case of it being based on genetics) are there dominant/recessive animal genes, or is it simply a fifty-fifty coin toss between what animal the children will be?

......................are there chimeras in this universe?

also, also, can shifters be any animal species? I’m thinking including species that live exclusively in water, for example. the idea of whale-shifters sounds both so cool but also extremely painful lol.

I have more questions, but those might be too close to spoiler territory...... anyway, I’m excited to learn more about both this world and MC’s perilous journey!

thanks for the questions anon! disclaimer: my science knowledge is limited and i am in no way an expert so my explanations may not be scientifically sound. this is fictional science!!! (because half of this is bullshit taped together with googled science facts and what i remember from my bio exams.)

maybe spoilers? (answers under the cut)

what determines what animal a shifter shifts to?

As you know, there was a doctor that experimented on the people in the town (ref: prologue) and it is through him that the proteins and other DNA components that causes and allows the transformation are introduced into the bloodstream of shapeshifters. These proteins, taken from animals and spliced (shapeshifters are transgenic organisms basically) with human DNA, dictate what animal the shapeshifter will be, and is passed down from generation to generation. so yes, it's a genetics thing, so if you are a cat shifter, your relatives would (usually) all be cat shifters too.

2. how does it work when two different animal shifters have children?

This is where the science gets questionable so bear with me. When two different shifters have a kid, both their proteins will be passed down – the doctor made sure of that. There is an "activator" in the DNA however, since the shapeshifting genes are epistatic, and it basically depends on which proteins your activator works best with (like if you inherit one parent's activator, you'd more likely have their animal form). so yeah, kind of a fifty-fifty coin toss because it depends on what you inherit.

for chimeras, not right now but maybe in the future. again this is all based on the doctor's experiments, but he died (ref: prologue) and we all know how volatile genes can be. there could be weird mutations etc. that causes chimeras but right now, there are no known ones.

3. can shifters be any animal species?

technically yes. currently (prologue to chapter 3 ish) there is none mentioned (so far anyways) because the science and its impacts still confuse me but i'm still going back and forth about it.