#daybreak arc

[it-came-autumnally]

Girl.... what do you mean ending.... only a few lines ago you just said you're only eleven years old :')

[goldensunset]

the indecision between ‘i love this character and i want them to be happy/i want to see more of them’ and ‘it would be most narratively compelling/intriguing if they died or otherwise were (mysteriously) never seen or heard from again’

[gaytwirights]

Thinking of the themes and symbolism of the Moonlit/Zvezda/Solntse/Twiright/Daybreak family like. Oh my god.

The ‘Moon’ being a reflection (mirror) of the ‘Sun.’ Adam mirroring Seth in how he hated him to the point of trying to kill him. An imperfect reflection, since he failed in his attempt, and several years later, he was killed by his own children, thus becoming a mirror of Seth’s mother, and of Ma when Nemesis (and Seth) killed her. Isn’t it fitting, then, that when Adam was killed by his children, it was after he had reinvented himself as ‘Daybreak’?

The ‘Stars’ being far-away ‘Suns.’ Eve and Seth being such a subtle-yet-strong parallel. Both yearning for a “love” that can never be truly happy, but isn’t it good for the “Flower of the Plateau” to be happy? For the sake of their own happiness, for the sake of their fairytale ending, why shouldn’t they hurt whoever they need to? Their shared fairytale themes -- a Snake and a Frog, a Princess and a Prince. The Venom Drug being created from Eve’s blood when she was a baby (unknowing) (unwilling), and Gift being stored in Margarita’s blood (knowing) (willing). The poison (Gift) being the means of Eve’s ‘resurrection.’ The deconstruction of that fairytale into something that simultaneously restores Eve’s agency and autonomy while stripping Margarita of her own. Was she ever brainwashed? Was she ever drugged? She was one of the two Sinners who weren’t somehow ‘ended’ by Grim The End. Of course, she was. Grim The End could never have ended Eve.

The ‘Moon’ as a representation of Adam’s own ambitions -- Adam (who grew up as a Solntse) wishing to reclaim his mother’s family name (Moonlit), alongside with her position as a royal. The ‘Moon’ is thus a symbol of the ideal (Adam Moonlit), with the ‘Sun’ being, in contrast, a symbol of the real (Adam Solntse). This connects with the Moon’s association with lunacy (delusion) (something false). Maria Moonlit then becomes a symbol of an impossible wish, be it in the Original Sin Arc, or at the World’s End. After all, she is the Queen of the Glass.

Eve and Maria, the ‘Stars’ and ‘Moon’ who are always equated to each other. Both of them being turned into symbols, the Queen of the Glass, and her daughter, the Mem Aleph. Eve who had control over lightning, and died by fire. Maria who was doomed by lightning, and (as Irina) had power over fire. Both of them dolls, decorative pieces without any real autonomy.

Seth and Maria being the ‘Sun’ and ‘Moon.’ Except, it’s not really in the way they are usually portrayed -- see, Maria is a light, the beacon of hope for Magic Kingdom Levianta. She is something kept far away, somewhere between the Gods and the humans. In a way, she is a reverse-Saint, an intercessor between the Divine and the Living, but one who petitions the people on the Gods’ behalf. Meanwhile, Seth is the ‘Moon,’ a reflection of humanity (at its worst), a source of lunacy (Malice), an ever-changing, ever-shifting mass of masks. He is the Serpent of Eden, but not really. He never offered forbidden knowledge, never created Evil -- it was just a repackaging of something that was already present -- and never tempted anyone into Original Sin. This mutual theme of reversal culminates in their names, with Maria (the ‘Sun’) being named after the ‘Moon,’ and Seth (the ‘Moon’) taking on the name of the ‘Sun.’

The division of ‘Day’ and ‘Night.’ Maria and her children remaining trapped in the Black Box (darkness) (‘Night’), while Seth Twiright (Solntse) (‘Day’) leaves them behind. Seth leaves the whole world behind, and the world is a mirror that reflects the moon. The Third Period thus functions as a parallel to the fucked up familial relationships of the survivors of the Second Period.

But don’t take this to mean that Seth moves forward while the rest move in cycles. At his core, he is someone who can never truly grow. Seth (the ‘Sun,’ but really ‘Moon’) goes through the same cycle around the earth, passes through the same phases, and never really becomes anything else. Seth will keep trying to live that fantasy, a so-called ‘love romance’ that is really more of a delusion. He is something that constantly changes, yes, but it’s really just a matter of lighting and perspective. At his core, he has always been a pathetic boy longing for affection that he will never get, and that will never change. That’s why he’s associated with the Graveyard End -- nothing but stagnation and rot.

[spindle-girl]

Daybreak 1.1

Let's get started

It was a second chance for humanity as a whole, and they’d gone and screwed it up from the start by coloring the city gold, of all colors. ... All put together, the light that bounced off of the city and reached skyward gave the clouds linings that were gold, not silver.

i wonder how much of this hate for gold is because of Scion's attacks or Khepri's portals. probably both. i do like the gold lining, seems like a fun visual.

Plaques were recessed into three of the four faces – the fourth had come free and fallen after the collision. Each plaque bore an etching of a face, a name, a date of birth, a date of death, a message. ... They were part of an initiative by an independent cape, a hero turned rogue, helping out.

with all the anti-cape stuff that's popped up so far and knowing it continues later on, i'm surprised projects like this aren't talked about more. a genuine moment where a cape is doing something nice with their powers. maybe this guy is an outlier or the other stuff the capes get up to weights more than it--which is fair since even the apartment stuff in Ashley's prologue is enough to get pissed off at--but with how much hate the Advance Guard gets in this section it seems forgotten that the whole reason the crowd is getting angry is over something a cape provided being destroyed by an accident anyone can do.

The crowd, too, seemed to realize that the situation had mostly de-escalated.

sigh

The summer heat was holding out through the start of September, making things just a little more uncomfortable, tempers a little shorter.

Ah! an estimated date. i want to try and keep track of all these to work out a proper Ward timeline since the one on the wiki is lacking.

We’d called him the second cape after Scion, but he might well have been the first, after all.

hello Vikare, congrats on getting mentioned in the first chapter instead of the first interlude. moving up in the world. if there's ever a parahumans 3 you might get a pov chapter. really tempted fate naming yourself after Icarus.

“Work,” I said.  “They wouldn’t fire me, especially if I explained.  I’d get in trouble, maybe, but I wouldn’t mind much.  Job is… a seven out of ten fit.”

i'm down right jealous rn. 7/10 seems great for a job

As in most things having to do with law or bureaucracy, it took longer than it should have, for a relatively simple process.  I hurried to the high school once they were done with me, and I arrived rather late.

Victoria is going from one bureaucracy to another lol

We had grass and fields, yes, but it was coarse and the ground beneath wasn’t usually landscaped. The area was large with large trees left untouched in the corners, chain link fence separating the field from the roads on two sides, the grade school formed the third boundary to the west, and the high school formed the fourth boundary to the north. The ground was uneven, more hilly than flat, and there were still large stones here and there, and a seemingly out of place play structure for the grade schoolers.

nothing much to note here, just that the paragraph made me remember some good memories.

Point_Me_@_The_Sky: If you stop by? I set up tarps by house. Make sure they still there & no water getting through? Lost cause maybe ~P.5 ... My destination wasn’t in the high school, but was across the street. It was an open building with a partial second floor. ... My office was the closest thing I had to a home, in this world. ... I’d rigged up tarps to keep the water off that corner of the house, but some of that moisture had been coming up from below.

okay. this is just sad. literally calls her office her house

I opened a notebook and began searching through it. I found the name before the internet succeeded in connecting.

this is about Victoria finding the cape who was building the pillars. i have no idea why there was a whole arc of the Undersiders sneaking into the PRT to steal their database. it seems like New Wave had access to it all if she can find random capes in her collection. should have just walked in and grabbed it while they were out heroing.

From: Deferent.I@Mail Subject: Re: Damaged Pillar I already heard.  Advance Guard were on the scene and let me know.  Will have it fixed tomorrow.  Thanks.

this just makes it seem like Deferent has access to much faster internet than Victoria does if they can check their emails and respond relatively quickly while going out and building as many pillars as described earlier. dunno, it's out of place with the descriptions from Victoria booting up her computer and the glowworm chapters. maybe he got better tech to be able to respond to stuff quicker?

She spent a lot of time palling around with a biotinker called Blasto. She kept going back to him to pair up. Might have been boyfriend-girlfriend, even. That ended when the Slaughterhouse Nine passed through Boston. We don’t know what happened to Blasto, but we can guess it wasn’t good.

rip Blasto. Defiant didn't care enough to note what happened to you

“She did her time,” I said.  “She made a mistake, she paid for it as much as she was able.  We don’t have enough good jails and so she’s free, and it looks like she’s trying to do good.  That’s pretty decent, really.  She’s not the enemy here.”

this will be interesting for later. i am surprised in general that Fume Hood is getting brought in this early. i vaguely know what happens to her so I guess it makes sense she gets some focus early on

End thoughts:

i'm like the story so far. while Victoria is obviously weary of there being a coming conflict between capes and non-capes, i think there are a few lines hinting at her feelings of separation from them. namely how she doesn't like the pillars, which seem to be for the civilians. tbf, it could be her not wanting reminders of Gold Morning or a reminder of the Leviathan fight where after there was a similar memorial that a quarter of her family was on. i could understand that.

nothing wrong with the story, but i really don't like the patrol group or Gilpatrick. reminds me of the rotc guys at college

[nonokoko13]

"Short on credits" "Need a job soon" "A drama queen" "Max slacker"...

Tag yourself I'm all of them

[kangaracha]

it's been six months since i posted a to do list

where the hell have you been, roo.

WHAT U GOTTA DO IN JANUARY

edit daybreak

queenmaker - post ch 24

queenmaker - writing

nevermore - ch 25

see no evil (railway fic)

cold summer (unfair fic)

birdcage (original) - final chapter

OTHER?? STUFF??

tgbyb - planned chapters

leave - part 2

FNF fic - 8/10 chapters

hymn of babylon (original)

all that is good/holy (original) - prologue

what the water brought (original)

she of the garden (original)

[marshroom580]

Actually will never be over saitama holding genos dead core like it's the most precious important thing in the world

[wildvetch]

Fingernails.  Fingernail.  I pulled my hand back, and undid the bandage.  I looked at the fingernail with the black of gathered blood beneath it. I gripped the railing with the one hand that had been partially degloved.  The hand with the fingernail that wasn’t supposed to be there, that marked a violation I had no clue about. Digging my fingernails into the wood of the railing-top, I pressed down until pain stabbed its way across my hand, transformed in shape and intensity, redoubling, as I pressed down more and more, with the nail that wasn’t supposed to be there. Until the nail cracked, broke, and tore at the bed.  I continued pressing down until the last of the nail gave, and my first knuckle scraped against ice-crusted wood, raw nail bed scraping against the flat of the wood, singing with pain. There wasn’t any exhilaration in it.  No relief in the dopamine hit.  It hurt in the fucking worst way, to the point tears came to my eyes. But I didn’t have that sign, that mark, that wrongness. My entire body trembled.  Blood dripped from fingertip to white snow. I floated up onto the railing, and I moved far enough away that all was clear. Thank you for helping me back there, I thought.  I activated the Wretch. The snow blew around me, gathering on the Wretch’s surface.  Tracing outlines, forming a shape. I could hear my mom talking to Crystal with a raised voice inside, muffled by the intervening door. The Wretch didn’t grasp, writhe, or swing blindly.  The faces it wore weren’t contorted or angry. I lifted my hand, and it moved nearby limbs.  I turned my hand over, and it mimed me. My hand trembled.  The Wretch’s invisible hand was as steady as a rock. Time to face the day, I thought.  At least you’re with me. It’s going to be a rough one.

it's really hard not to be fully on alert anytime we see anyone starting to really align w/ their shard--esp. after the whole last arc--but there's definitely a part of me cheering and yelling like fuck yeah, vicky/waste besties for life, name a more iconic duo

[pandorias-box]

I suppose this is the first time some of these Poipole within the hive have ever seen a camera considering most of them are still hatchlings. Either way, they are as inquisitive as when Hyperion was one. And equally as energetic.

Thankfully, they did not spray me or my comms device with their “gunk” as I expected them to.

[Photo ID: About four to five Poipole in a single frame, each of them with expressions of varying degrees of curiosity. One of them is extremely close to the camera and nearly takes up the whole picture. Its bioluminescent blue mouth is open widely in surprise.]

[pokeymonhearts]

[evilkitten3]

someone's been liking a lot of my old posts relating to my attempts to rewrite fairy tail.... which, and this may astound you, is not actually a cancelled project in spite of the fact that it's been nearly a decade since i first started trying to figure it out

[phantomguild]

Event References

Decided to trim it down to 4 characters (mostly because my back hurts too much to do Minerva's atm).

Intro post will be arriving soon.

[rinnysmuses]

This fucking game is MAKING ME CRY]

[spindle-girl]

Daybreak 1.x

Villains? Villains!

“Nice view,” Moose said, from the backseat.

wait, are these not the villain group that attacked Fume Hood? i am shit at predicting things lol. maybe next arc villains

Behind Moose and the truck was the gravel road that led up the hill, the gate checkpoint, and a ways below that, the simple settlement where most visitors would be made to feel unwelcome.  One to two thousand people would be living there at most. “They built this place and situated it on the very edge of civilization,” Linc said, to round off his earlier thought.

hey, the far off towns are here. cool! i wonder if we'll hear about dragon-town

“The house.  That’s what I’m gettin’ at.  The guy was as nefarious as they get.  He renovated the insides.  He wanted to make a whole business of holdin’ people that needed holdin’.  For ransom.  Said he’d deal with ’em and clean up the mess if ransoms weren’t paid.  Wanted to be a contractor for disposin’ of people in horrible ways.”

what a nice dream job

“More expensive too,” Velvet said.  She was looking at the blackboard posted by the door, with prices.  “Twenty dollars for a chicken sandwich?”

lol

also, i'm vaguely familiar with prancer and the others. in that i know they show up in ward and that's it. they feel like early arc villains tho

...She hangs around somewhere, and this dust collects, and she can telekinetically control stuff, more dust there is on it.  It’s how she gets that fucking truck going again, when it refuses to move.  She makes us sit there for five minutes and then gives it another try, and it works, and she’ll fiddle with it later and get it tuned up just enough it starts going.”

sweet of her passenger to help her out there. gotta keep the truck for roadtrip adventures

I get restless. The mover thing.

why does this guy know about power classifications?

“As yin-yang soulmate...

i can't wait for the line

“Just the way things were.  Somewhere along the line, you know, I’m twenty-seven, she’s twenty-six, and I’m still boning boys and girls from high school.  Still partying.” Moose’s eyes had widened. “Legal, mind you,” Prancer said.  “But… sketchy, in retrospect.”

oooooohhhhhh. okay. i know this guy now

At his arrival, people across the room started applauding, from Ripcord to the people at the counter, to the white haired girl and the woman with the mask.  Even the kitchen staff.  The man in armor laughed, the sound mingling with the general applause.

this is honestly baffling. completely different vibe from BB

end notes:

interesting chapter. i'm guessing this alliance of the b-listers is going to serve as an early Breakthrough big fight. seems pretty comic-booky, the little guys coming together while the big wigs are doing background stuff and it gives the protag a moderate level group to go against

honestly i would have loved to see a chapter like this in worm. the closest we got was the somer's rock and that had a completly different purpose and vibe. it would have gone a long way to bringing up the unwritten rules and cops and robbers stuff. i'm glad ward can expand on it some more

[yumeka-sxf]

The school vacation is over and the new term at Eden is starting...of course, Anya is less than pleased with this development 😅

Seriously, her groaning reminds me of my "anti-school" phase I had when I was around her age, lol.

This chapter was mainly focused on introducing Anya's new classmates. I'll admit that I feel SxF has enough side characters already for the type of series it is, but maybe they'll only be relevant for one story/arc (like Daybreak and Wheeler). Though having another female friend in Connie might be nice. She seems weird enough for Anya to have fun reading her mind 😂

Since recent chapters have dropped hints about Anya's past and the emphasis on mind-reading abilities/the occult via Melinda, plus we have the lingering mystery of Anya's affinity for classical languages, I feel like this new set up at Eden is going to play into that. Not only has Arnold returned, but we now have a supposed prince in the mix. It's been theorized that Anya's classical language skills are somehow tied to royalty in a foreign land...so maybe Tertius is connected to that somehow. I mean, you must be royally royal to have hair shaped like a crown 🤣

Then we have the as-of-yet unnamed kid who flicked a booger on Tertius. Curious what role he'll play if all this is indeed leading up to more Anya backstory reveal.

I should clear up some weird translation in the English version. In the below panel, it seems like Tertius is mentioning Jeeves, but the term he's using is 爺や ("jiiya") which I believe is an old term used to refer to an elderly male servant.

Now the word "jeeves" in English is a generic term used to refer to a butler or valet. If you've watched enough movies and/or TV series, you may have heard someone refer to their butler as "jeeves." So technically it's not an incorrect translation, but it's incredibly confusing because we already have an established character named Jeeves, who is Damian's butler. So this could make people think that Tertius knows Jeeves, which is likely not the case. They really should have come up with a different word to use, something like "pop" or "gramps."

Besides the new characters, we now have more potential for Anya and Damian to be alone, without influence from Emile, Ewen, and Becky. Hopefully it will lead to more talk about Anya's mind-reading and Desmond lore.

Guess that's all I have to say about this chapter as it mostly seems like setup for what's to come. I've probably mentioned before that the Eden-focused stories aren't exactly my favorites, especially when Anya isn't a key player. But hopefully whatever's going on with Tertius and the booger kid will be leading up to something significant in the end.

Interestingly, this is the first chapter since Loid's backstory that's being split into parts, as this chapter is called 112.1 (112 part 1 in the Japanese version). Similar to what he did for Loid's backstory chapters, Endo tweeted about this for chapter 112. Guess it's just gonna be two parts?

Also, on an unrelated note, we also got the cover reveal for volume 15 today! Features Martha, not surprised since it will include chapters from the Henry/Martha backstory arc.

[unhappy-sometimes]

i found it incredibly endearing that chapter 109 insinuated that twilight, at least at some point, was very interested in the existence of aliens.

before you guys start calling this most recent chapter weird or stupid, i’d like to remind you that this is the same show where:

twilight has a whole mission where his job is to hide the fact a politician wore a toupée

in fact, a man literally dies over that toupée

there is a shonen-style tournament arc where they play tennis against people who use gas powered tennis racquets

yor literally fights people called “sickle and chain barnaby” and “steel gut gullickson”

daybreak the spy exists

don’t get me started on the name of the inn patrons in the ski chapter

oh and anya is a telepath and bond can see the future

spy x family has always been weird and silly; it’s a comedy first and foremost. that’s what i love about it!