#dice’s it comes down to betting it ALL for his posse and he’s said this in song iirc and in drama track

[akkivee]

somewhere on this blog i pointed out that dice and kuukou have both said they’d die for their team (even if the vibe on their statements varied lol) and i think saburo’s equivalent of that would be requiem actually?? so now i’m once again wondering about the themes of self sacrifice between dice and kuukou lmao

[hiccanna-tidbits]

The RotBTD+ Gang Plays DnD! (Feat. my ships, sorry not sorry XD)

So highkey I’ve actually been wanting to do a “The Gang Plays DnD” type post for AGES now, but then I saw @hobie-brown and @ohlooksheswriting-wips do DnD AU posts for RotBTD, and then I was like “Ah shit, I really should finish mine, eh?” So thank you to both of you for inspiring me to get off my ass and actually write the post!!!

Hiccup DMs. He comes up with this super complex plot revolving around dragons (because of course) where the party has to dismantle this society ruled by evil knights who want to genocide all of the dragons. Imagine his chagrin when the party wants to do nothing but fuck around in towns and aggravate NPCs 90% of the time.

They usually end up playing at Jack’s apartment, mainly because Hiccup’s dad doesn’t really want a bunch of loud nerds yelling about 20-sided dice in his household while he’s trying to work, if he can at all help it. Jack’s sister regularly barges into their living room and roasts the fuck out of Jack and his friends for being such damn nerds and eats all of their DnD snacks they’ve set out. If they’re in the middle of a combat session, she always gleefully proclaims that they’re all going to die. While Jack is annoyed by this, the rest of the party finds it deeply hilarious.

Jack Overland plays the absolute mayhem warlock Jack Frost, who got his powers through making a deal with the archfey Prince of Frost and has absolutely no qualms about being an evil god’s mortal Sower of Chaos. He spends the vast majority of the campaign doing such useful things as creating ice slicks under annoying NPCs and freezing people’s drinks. He also plays a Tiefling because absolutely no one can talk this boy out of playing the creepy demon race.

Rapunzel plays a woodland nymph druid who is also the party healer (because of course she is). Her name is probably Sunlily or something else suitably hippie-esque. Whenever there’s downtime (or whenever the rest of the party is also dicking around, and she can get away with it), Rapunzel likes to go into the nearest forest and pick the best berries and nuts for the rest of the party. She also loves baking fruit pies and cooking the best nymph food for her companions when given the chance. Definitely the party Cinnamon Roll (every party has one!). She often will turn into cute animals to distract the guards while the party infiltrates a building.

Merida’s character is the party archer and general ranged weapon master, as well as a raging lesbian. Hiccup learns very quickly that any male NPC who tries to flirt with her will very quickly get impaled with an arrow. She can’t ever decide if she wants to be a ranger or a rogue, so she multiclasses in both for flare. She also plays a Tiefling, and continually insists that her character is both scarier and sexier than Jack’s. In combat, she either Leeroy Jenkins her way in with a sword and just starts slashing every which way, or just shoots 90% of the enemies with arrows before the fight even starts. There’s really no in between. She can get away with this because she’s highkey one of the party tanks, and consistently deals a shitton of damage.

Anna plays a human bard, basically having read over the class options and going “Wait, in this one I get to make stylish medieval music??? And wear dramatic and garish outfits and a dumb hat??? And cast wacky illusion spells??? And do silly little magic tricks??? And INSPIRE EVERYONE??? Hell yeah, I’m in!!!” She mostly uses magic attacks in combat (definitely favors Tasha’s Hideous Laughter), but occasionally when she’s out of spell slots she’ll just take to slamming enemies in the face with her lute. She also has WAY too much fun with Vicious Mockery, let’s be real.

Elsa, upon hearing Jack’s character concept, rolls her eyes so far up in her head she can see her damn brain, and vows to play his concept, but serious–solely out of spite. She rolls up a super OP elf Chaos Sorcerer, filled with lots of brooding angst about how uncontrollable her winter powers can get if she isn’t careful. She combines it a bit with Storm Sorcerer so she can create literal blizzards, and Hiccup ends up allowing it just because he thinks it’s cool. Although Elsa’s character is undoubtedly aggravated by the rest of the party’s antics, she starts becoming grudgingly protective of these idiots and can deal some pretty crazy damage when her companions are threatened. She also contains one of the party’s only brain cells.

Eugene of course plays dashing rogue master thief Flynn Rider. Although his high deception and lockpicking skills certainly come in handy, he’s the most chaotic neutral fucker you’ve ever met and will take any excuse to rob NPCs blind or cheat them out of every cent they have in a tavern card game. It’s nigh impossible to get him to cooperate with the rest of the party much of the time, and often Elsa’s character has to either bribe him with some of her family’s gold or threaten to freeze him to stop him backstabbing one or more party members. Eugene’s character forces Hiccup to add in many more heist plotlines than he originally intended. This delights Eugene immensely, and sometimes he goes a bit crazy planning elaborate heists.

Moana plays a sorcerer water genasi. She can control any body of water, but she has a special affinity for controlling saltwater (i.e. the ocean lol). She also requests an animal handling bonus, but only with marine animals, solely because she thought it would be funny. She’s also an ex-pirate who robbed a lot of wealthy merchant ships and freed their slaves back in the day, which Merida thinks is incredibly badass. Moana tends to get bored and unengaged when there are no bodies of water to play around with, so Hiccup ends up having to add a lot more lakes, rivers, and oceans to the campaign than he originally planned on. Moana also takes a sailing skill, and thus the party often ends up traveling by boat. Typically Eugene and Rapunzel will infiltrate and hijack it, and Moana will sail it. Moana probably contains the party’s only other brain cell.

Astrid plays a gigantic berserker orc barbarian who is never without his trusty axe. Astrid is hands down the party’s top tank, and unquestionably deals the most damage every combat session. Much like Merida’s character, Astrid’s character is absolutely a shameless power fantasy. Hiccup pretty easily picks up on this, but is too polite to say anything about it. Jack also picks up on this, but is hardly as courteous as their DM, and teases Astrid mercilessly. Astrid is not amused.

Rapunzel requests that her weapon of choice be a frying pan, her justification being that her character found a discarded one at the edge of a human village outside her woods and mistaked it for a highly-dangerous human weapon. Hiccup is like “…you know what? Fuck it” and rolls up stats for a goddamn frying pan. Jack has nigh-endless admiration for Rapunzel for choosing such a goddamn memey, absurd, yet oddly effective weapon and it definitely makes the poor boy even more smitten with her than he already is.

Eugene and Merida have a bet going on who can sleep with more sexy barmaids. Merida is currently winning, much to Eugene’s chagrin. She’s not even inherently better at seducing NPCs, she and Eugene have the same charisma stat–she just consistently rolls better than Eugene. Eugene is incredibly salty about this.

Anna and Elsa want to be sisters in-game as well, but neither want to change their race–so Anna decides her character was adopted. Hiccup and the rest of the party go along with it, mainly because there’s something deeply hilarious about a regular human bard being adopted and raised by a family of high-powered elf ice mages.

Astrid is absolutely the sort of player who tends to get bored and restless outside of fights, and tends to fidget and twiddle her thumbs waiting for the next combat session. Jack picks up on this, and purposely does more roleplay for longer just to piss her off. He’s also just a very dramatic fucker and highkey loves roleplay.

When she’s not causing mayhem around the town or sleeping with hot women, Merida tries to entertain Astrid between combat sessions by offering to spar with her. Unfortunately, this does not usually end well for poor Merida, as even the most hardcore and badass of tieflings is prone to getting dumpstered by an 8-foot-tall barbarian orc with an axe. Astrid is, nonetheless, grateful to have someone to fight.

Rapunzel, Elsa, and Moana will humor Hiccup and attempt to actually play the main plot. Meanwhile, Jack, Merida, and Eugene are a DM’s worst nightmare. They constantly derail the damn campaign to fuck around, cause mayhem, and do inane shenanigans in every. Damn. Town. They go to. Anna is kind of a wildcard–she’ll typically go with whatever group looks like they’re going to be doing something more interesting. Astrid will go along with whichever group is more likely to get into a fight–which, often as not, is Jack and his posse of terrible Chaotic Neutrals (who have definitely pissed off a number of NPCs into attacking them).

As the campaign goes on, Elsa and Eugene become the beleaguered Party Mom and Dad. Both are quite aggravated by this–especially poor Eugene, who just wanted to play a morally-gray charming rogue who stole everything and got away with it and then accidentally ended up caring about these idiots he got stuck with.

Anna initially joins the campaign because she has a planet-size crush on Hiccup, and inevitably is the one who dragged Elsa into it too. Being the hopeless romantic that she is, Anna writes a love interest into her backstory. Hiccup eventually has the party run into said love interest, and Anna is overjoyed. He starts flirting with her as the love interest, and it’s easily the best 30 minutes of Anna’s life.

Moana and Elsa also give Hiccup pretty detailed backstories, and he works in little subplots for them. Moana gets to bring water back to a dying part of the jungle in the middle of a draught, while Elsa gets to go on a whole sidequest to explore her family history and how they came to be sorcerers.

Jack, Merida, and Eugene also give Hiccup fairly elaborate backstories, but Jack’s and Merida’s are like 99% memes and Dumb Shit. Hiccup tries to give all of them backstory-related plot hooks, but inevitably any hooks he provides are either stabbed, robbed, or frozen. Honestly any plot hook offered to these 3 will be all but spat in the face of and tossed off a cliff.

The one relevant part of Eugene’s backstory is that he and Rapunzel decide they used to be partners in crime before the campaign started. Rapunzel would infiltrate and scout out places he wanted to rob as small, unobtrusive animals (her preferred Wild Shape is a chameleon) and later distract the guards as a bunny or kitten while he went in and took every gold coin in sight. In return, Flynn Rider would bribe builders to not develop into Sunlily’s forest. Rapunzel and Eugene partly came up with this For Funsies, but also it was Rapunzel’s sneaky way of tricking Eugene into having prior connections in the party so he’d be less likely to betray them. It works pretty well–although the entire party is protective of Cinnamon Roll Sunlily, Flynn is certainly especially protective of her.

Astrid does the absolute bare minimum as far as backstories go. She is literally just here to smash stuff, slice people, and beat some fuckers up.

Rapunzel has a backstory, but she’s typically so invested in the main plot and the other party members that Hiccup rarely needs to bring it in to keep her engaged. She’s highkey the party emotional rock, and probably the only one keeping them all together.

On that note, Rapunzel’s character is the ONLY one who can get Jack’s character to take the plot even REMOTELY seriously. Like he’ll be dicking around in the nearest tavern challenging the nearest orc to a drinking game, and Rapunzel will come in and ask him to help them on a Main Plot Quest. And he’ll be like “come onnnnn I’m having funnn” and she’ll be like “Jack pleeeeeease?” and you just. Can’t resist Sunlily’s puppy dog eyes. At all. Also, whenever Sunlily is genuinely threatened, any silliness immediately goes out the window and Jack Frost is OUT FOR BLOOD.

For better or for worse, Rapunzel is not immune to being looped into Jack’s shenanigans. Occasionally if either Merida or Eugene have a particularly hare-brained scheme she’ll go along with it, but by and large Jack is the most successful in convincing her to temporarily abandon the plot and cause mild mischief with him. They once wasted half a session creating an elaborate “ice theme park” for some squirrels in the forest.

Hiccup tries to get Merida to play the main plot by eventually having there be no more sexy female NPCs to seduce in the towns they go to. Unfortunately, this backfires–Merida just hooks up with Moana’s character instead. When asked to roll for how good the lay is, Merida gets a nat 20–and thus her character and Moana’s character end up hooking up regularly throughout the rest of the campaign.

Hiccup introduces a few Wise Old Mentor-type NPCs to guide the party throughout the campaign. While Rapunzel, Elsa, Moana, and Anna actually try to listen to them and take their advice, Merida, Jack, and Eugene absolutely refuse to take them seriously and mercilessly play pranks on them.

At one point, Hiccup gives the party the option to attempt to tame a group of wild dragons and use them as mounts. They all have to make animal handling checks. Anna, Rapunzel, Elsa, and Moana pass. The rest of the party fails, with Jack and Eugene crit-failing. Hilarity ensues.

Hiccup ends up bringing back Anna’s backstory love interest as an NPC regular. Anna thinks he’s just being a good friend and a good DM and trying to incorporate her backstory as much as he can, but really, he just wants an excuse to regularly flirt with her. He hardly has the balls to out-of-game.

Merida comes out as gay toward the end of the campaign. Everyone in the group is extremely supportive, of course, but everyone is also like “Merida…with the amount of barmaids you’ve banged…and the amount of times you and Moana’s character hooked up…this isn’t exactly surprising.”

Hiccup actually finds a way to use Jack and Elsa’s same-concept-opposite-execution characters to the plot’s advantage. He decides one of the main villains will have a prophecy saying he’ll be taken down by a powerful ice mage. The party manages to fool this guy into thinking this ice mage is Jack, and sends Jack to fight him. As soon as the villain sees Jack, he’s like “WHAT??? THIS clown???” (word has absolutely spread throughout the land of Jack not using his ice powers for anything besides mildly annoying trolling). Naturally, the bad guy lets his guard down after thinking he’s going to fight this literal joke, and then Elsa crashes in from the side and absolutely dumpsters him.

Jack tries to defeat the final boss by just annoying him so much that he leaves. Unfortunately, he just annoys him so much that he attacks Rapunzel’s character. Jack’s just like “oh HELL no” and attacks with absolutely nothing held back. Turns out he’s pretty terrifying when he’s not using his magic for Dumb Antics.

During the final boss of the campaign, the Big Bad tries to one-shot Moana’s character, and Merida’s character super theatrically jumps in front of her to take the blow instead. Rapunzel just barely manages to heal Merida’s character, but it’s a really close call. During all this, Merida is like “ah shit...maybe I’m NOT just in this to get fantasy-laid.” After the fight’s over, her and Moana’s characters have a big dramatic love confession and share a Big Damn Kiss in front of everyone. It’s pretty epic.

After the final session of the campaign, Merida drags Moana outside Jack’s apartment and sputters and trips over her words for a solid minute before she finally gets out that through all this nonsense...well...maybe it’s not just in the game that she thinks Moana is hot. Moana just gets this HUGE grin on her face and says “c’mere, Leeroy Jenkins” and just pulls Merida in and kisses her. Cue the rest of the party barging in on them. Merida and Moana freeze, and there’s a moment of terrified silence...and then the entire party starts cheering them on like “took you long enough!”

The entire rest of the party could detect the sexual tension. Literally all of them.

But Eugene is like “HA, THIS MEANS IF WE DO A SEQUEL CAMPAIGN I’M WINNING THAT BET! BECAUSE YOU’RE GONNA BE DATING MO’S CHAR AND THUS NOT ABLE TO SLEEP WITH ANY MORE BARMAIDS!”

By the epilogue session, Jack and Rapunzel are dating. Merida and Moana are also dating. Hiccup and Anna STILL haven’t figured out why they’re so prone to spending half the session flirting when Anna’s love interest shows up, and Hiccup STILL hasn’t figured out why he likes to have Anna’s love interest show up so often. Bless their souls. Maybe they’ll figure it out next campaign...?

Damn I actually really like this...maybe if people like it I’ll do some incorrect quotes or a drabble or something??? Or maybe some HCs from next campaign???

[tigerintokyo]

Stella by Fling Posse (En, romaji, kanji)

English translation, romaji, and Japanese after the cut.

English translation:

(Gentaro) Somewhere, a star shoots across the sky As though being pulled, it traced the edge of the night A king of the planet of the burned sword, A thief from the planet of crystal on the right and sand on the left, And a scientist from the star that lost its light in the far off corner of the universe… By chance, they looked up at the same shooting star A ship loaded with fragments of their story Took off in the blink of an eye

(Dice) The rest of the countries are destroyed, a gate to the undone rule of might I left but I’m still surrounded by smoke and the leftover scent of defeat The tragically ignorant people said they believed in something like a miracle A fugitive chased from the planet while burning in remorse and regrets A monochrome window to a distant throne Is sticking to ideals a fatal poison? If that’s the way it is, then it’s like playing to a crowd The lifeboat is set down, headed towards an unfamiliar planet Venez m'aider (come and help) [1] Meditate the meaning of why I was left alive, and dream of the day I can rebuild

A played back verse I reached out to the shooting star The universe that extends to the beginning Connects to the future with the ending in mind That one unwavering star, deep inside, And repeat again and again Step out into orbit Eternal reincarnation A true shooting star Dancing across space “Stella by Starlight” Its distorted path is luminous

(Gentaro) Strangely, it seems a visitor crashed here, tonight He’s fallen here, but it’s like the moon has also fallen A former king? You don’t know anything, but know that a thief has to live as a thief I can’t have my head dancing around in space The world is a jigsaw puzzle created by sadistic priests, wherein Without reason, history has been hypnotized to look like people live and die with their social status (i.e. social class based on wealth) [2] Ah, because I want to kill this boredom that is creeping up my throat Take me with you, Messiah

A played back verse I reached out to the shooting star The universe that extends to the beginning Connects to the future with the ending in mind That one unwavering star, deep inside, And repeat again and again Step out into orbit Eternal reincarnation A true shooting star Dancing across space “Stella by Starlight” Its distorted path is luminous

(Ramuda) It’s quite a story of a lot of hardships from far away This place is covered with ice, and I’m the only thing living To attend to my research, I separated myself from a moral life (way of people) [3] Like paper scraps of a love letter, but the recipient is forgotten Like material left at the end of a labyrinth Like a white camellia that blooms forever [4] In the face of truth, things like ethics weigh you down In my pursuit, I stopped aging For a fragment of the life that I desired, but it was all a daydream I lament in a nocturne that I am already too late

Noise from between the stars Steal the night sky Like a ephemeral collage, starlight starlight

Ramuda: Why do you bother with me? Dice: You seem to be similar to us. Gentaro: Something like “birds of a feather”? [5] Dice: Maybe. Ramuda: It doesn’t matter. [6] Dice: You’re a slave to a wish. Ramuda: How can you tell? Gentaro: You can tell by looking. It’s like you lost something Gentaro, Dice: Like a glass bead. Ramuda: If I could, someday I would want to see my homeland. Dice: Then it’s decided. Ramuda: I don’t know if it’s even there. Gentaro: If you stay in this place, nothing will change. Dice: Then, about where this empty ship will end up… Dice, Gentaro: Why don’t we place a bet?

The universe is blocked off Shut in darkness The feint light of a falling star Lights up this strange connection Only the will to try again is firmly expressed Adding heat to the fire Emerging from the cocoon

Keep your feet facing forward Don’t make a mistake even if you pause on your next step Keep your feet facing forward With only a single focus, let’s cherish the mistakes we make sometimes Step out as far as possible So that your own shadow can’t catch you when you look back Keep your feet facing forward Asking at the end of dawn This is a story of stumbling as a means to fly

A played back verse I reached out to the shooting star The universe that extends to the beginning Connects to the future with the ending in mind That one unwavering star, deep inside, And repeat again and again Step out into orbit Eternal reincarnation A true shooting star Dancing across space “Stella by Starlight” Its distorted path is luminous

-

Romaji:

(Gentaro) Dokoka de hoshi ga nagareta Sore wa tagurare you ni yoru no fuchi o nazotta Yakeochi ta tsurugi no hoshi de ousama ga Migi gawa ga suishou, hidari gawa ga suna no hoshi de sanzoku ga Hikari kata o wasureta sumikko no hoshi de kagakusha ga Futo onaji ryuusei o aoida Monogatari no kirehashi o noseta fune wa Mabataki no sukima no nutte tobisatta

(Dice) Yo no kuni wa horobita, hokorobi ta hadou e no tobira Tachinoku mi wo naomo torimaku shouen to haisen no nokorika Kiseki no tourai nado wo shinji ta higeki no moumai to tami wa iita Jiseki to koukai ni yakare nagara hoshi o owareru toubousha Monokuro na mado no mukou toonoku ouza Shi ni itaru moudoku to wa risou no shuchou ka Naraba koso, hito wo toku you da Koukashi dasu kyuumei tei mishiranu hoshi ni mukeru Venez m'aider Ikasareta imi o meditate, saiken no hi wo yumemite

Saisei no Verse Ryuusei ni te wo nobasu Hajimari ga tsuranaru universe Tsunai de iku mirai with the ending in mind Yuruginai hitotsu no hoshi ga deep inside Nan do datte kurikaesu Kidou ni sotte fumidasu Itsu made mo reincarnation Utsuwari no nai shooting star Chuu ni mau “Stella by Starlight” Kiseki wa ibitsu na hou ga Luminous

(Gentaro) Myou ni shareta nari no kyakujin da na konya wa Ochita saki ga koko jya tsuki mo ochi ta you da na Moto ousama ka nanka shiranga touzoku ni wa touzoku no ryuugi ga aru to shire Kubi ga chuu ni mau to ike nee Sekai wa sadisuto na Priest tachi ga egaku jigsaw puzzle Riyuu mo naku hinpu no sa de shinu you na Hypnotize sareta Histoire Naa nodo moto o haizuru kono taikutsu wo koroshitain da Ore mo ubaisatte kure messiah

Saisei no Verse Ryuusei ni te wo nobasu Hajimari ga tsuranaru universe Tsunai de iku mirai with the ending in mind Yuruginai hitotsu no hoshi ga deep inside Nan do datte kurikaesu Kidou ni sotte fumidasu Itsu made mo reincarnation Utsuwari no nai shooting star Chuu ni mau “Stella by Starlight” Kiseki wa ibitsu na hou ga Luminous

(Ramuda) Harubaru gokurou na koto taisou na hanashi da ne Kouri ni oowareta koko de seimei wa watashi dake Kenkyuu wa ki ga tsuke ba hito no michi wo hazureta Dare ga tame ka mo wasure ta kamikuzu no you na love letter Meikyuu no hate ni aru material Eikyuu no kate ni saku shiroi camellia Shinri no mae ni wa rinri no sakebi nado kase ni naru Oi moto metakute oi wo tometa Koi kogareta inochi no kakera, subete wa haku chuumu Mou osoin dayo to doukoku suru Nocturne

Hoshi no aima kara Noise Yozora o sarai Utsusemi no collage mitai na starlight starlight

Naze watashi ni kamaun da Niteiru ki ga shitan da Onaji ana no muji natte ka Sate na Kudaranai Negai ni torawareteiru Naze wakaru? Me de wakaru sa. Nani ka o ushinatte glass dama no you da

Kanau nara itsuka furusato ga mitai na Nara kimarida Aru no ka mo wakaranai Kono ni ite mo kawaranai Dewa utsuro na kono fune ga doko e yuku no ka Kakete minai ka

Sora wa fusagari Tojikomotta kuragai Hoshi ga otosu usu akari Terashi dasu fushigi na tsunagari Futatabi wo nagau kokoro dake ga jitto tsutawari Netsu wo kuberu kagari Uka shite iku sanagi

Tsuma saki wa mae ni mukete oku Tachi domatta tsugi no ippo me demo machigaenai you ni Tsuma saki wa mae ni mukete oku Tada ichizuna me de itsuka ayamachi sura me de you Tsuma saki wa dekiru kagiri tooku fumikomu Furi kaeru toki jibun no kage ga oitsuke nai you ni Tsuma saki wa mae ni mukete oku Akatsui no hate ni tou Kore wa tsumazuki wo kate ni tobu story

Saisei no Verse Ryuusei ni te wo nobasu Hajimari ga tsuranaru universe Tsunai de iku mirai with the ending in mind Yuruginai hitotsu no hoshi ga deep inside Nan do datte kurikaesu Kidou ni sotte fumidasu Itsu made mo reincarnation Utsuwari no nai shooting star Chuu ni mau “Stella by Starlight” Kiseki wa ibitsu na hou ga Luminous

-

Japanese (kanji):

どこかで星が流れた それは手繰られるように夜の縁をなぞった 焼け落ちた剣の星で王様が 右側が水晶、左側が砂の星で山賊が 光り方���忘れた隅っこの星で科学者が ふと同じ流星を仰いだ 物語の切れ端を乗せた船は 瞬きの隙間を縫って飛び去った

余の国は滅びた　綻びた覇道への扉 立ち退く身を尚も取り巻く硝煙と敗戦の残り香 奇跡の到来などを信じた悲劇の蒙昧と民は云った 自責と後悔に灼かれながら星を追われる逃亡者 モノクロな窓の向こう遠のく王座 死に至る猛毒とは理想の主張か なればこそ人を説くようだ 降下し出す救命艇　見知らぬ星に向ける Venez m’aider 生かされた意味を meditate　再建の日を夢見て

再生の Verse 流星に手を伸ばす 始まりが連なるユニバース 繋いでいく未来 with the ending in mind 揺るぎない一つの星が deep inside 何度だって繰り返す 軌道に沿って踏み出す いつまでも reincarnation 偽りの無い shooting star 宙に舞う“Stella by Starlight” 軌跡は歪な方が Luminous

妙に洒落たナリの客人だな今夜は 堕ちた先がここじゃツキも落ちたようだな 元王様か何か知らんが盗賊には盗賊の流儀があると知れ 首が宙に舞うといけねえ 世界はサディストな Priest 達が描くジグソーパズル 理由も無く貧富の差で死ぬような Hypnotize された Histoire なぁ喉元を這いずるこの退屈を殺したいんだ 俺も奪い去ってくれメサイア

再生の Verse 流星に手を伸ばす 始まりが連なるユニバース 繋いでいく未来 with the ending in mind 揺るぎない一つの星が deep inside 何度だって繰り返す 軌道に沿って踏み出す いつまでも reincarnation 偽りの無い shooting star 宙に舞う“Stella by Starlight” 軌跡は歪な方が Luminous

Ramuda 遥々ご苦労なこと大層な話だね 氷に覆われたここで生命は私だけ 研究は気が付けば人の道を外れた 誰が為かも忘れた紙屑のようなラブレター 迷宮の果てにあるマテリアル 永久を糧に咲く白いカメリア 真理の前には倫理の叫びなど枷(かせ)になる 追い求めたくて老いを止めた 恋い焦がれた命の欠片　全ては白昼夢 もう遅いんだよと慟哭する Nocturne

星の合間からノイズ 夜空を攫(さら)い 空蝉のコラージュみたいな starlight starlight

「何故私に構うんだ。」 「似ている気がしたんだ。」 「同じ穴のムジナってか。」 「さてな。」 「くだらない。」 「願いに囚われている。」 「何故わかる？」 「���でわかるさ。何かを失ってガラス玉のようだ。」

「叶うならいつか故郷が見たいな。」 「なら決まりだ。」 「あるのかもわからない。」 「此処にいても変わらない。」 「では虚ろなこの船が何処へ着(ゆ)くのか賭けてみないか。」

宇宙は塞がり 閉じ篭った暗がり 星が落とす薄明かり 照らし出す不思議な繋がり 再びを願う心だけがじっと伝わり 熱をくべる篝 羽化していく蛹

爪先は前に向けておく 立ち止まった次の一歩目でも間違えないように 爪先は前に向けておく ただ一途な目でいつか過ちすら愛でよう 爪先はできる限り遠く踏み込む 振り返る時自分の影が追い付けないように 爪先は前に向けておく 暁の果てに問う これは躓きを糧に飛ぶ story

再生の Verse 流星に手を伸ばす 始まりが連なるユニバース 繋いでいく未来 with the ending in mind 揺るぎない一つの星が deep inside 何度だって繰り返す 軌道に沿って踏み出す いつまでも reincarnation 偽りの無い shooting star 宙に舞う“Stella by Starlight” 軌跡は歪な方が Luminous

—

T/N:

“Venez m'aider” is French for “come and help,” but also the distress signal “mayday” is a shortening of this phrase.

The nuance is that people are stuck in their financial or social status, more lit. “and die with the difference in wealth”.

Lit. “way of people,” but the meaning is meant to be a life led by morals.

I interpreted these three examples as related to Ramuda’s “pursuit” as metaphors. (paper scraps -> have to be gathered, but recipient is forgotten; material in labyrinth -> as in a game, you have to journey to find it; a white camelia that blooms forever -> a certain kind of “scientific” pursuit, parallels that Ramuda “stopped aging”).

Lit. “Badgers from the same hole,” an idiom for same type of people, usually applied to “bad guys,” but since Gentaro is saying it about himself, he’s using it in a self-deprecating way.

More lit. “How worthless,” but based on his character in this song, it seems Ramuda would find anything outside of his personal pursuit worthless.

The song often uses the structure “you ni” which is a common structure used at the end of making a wish (to a star, at a shrine, etc.). I like how the lyrics use this structure continuously throughout the song as well as the similar structure “you da.” 

–> The bridge part with it’s “you ni” is kind of playing on this structure as well, but with “keep your feet forward” as a way to make the wish come true.

There are a lot of interesting lines in which homonyms are used though they have different meaning, so I think it’s interesting to see the pronunciation and the kanji as well.

—

Extra analysis (subjective, updating):

French lyrics point to two references with French sources –>

A Trip to the Moon (silent film) by Georges Méliès: a science fiction film about finding new horizons. Also, Dice’s line *monochrome window* as this film is in black in white as well as the film rollng sound at the beginning of the song. (Note: in Gentaro’s verse, “moon” is actually written in katagana, and by nature left open to interpretation.)

The Little Prince, a picture book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: the planet hopping as well how the planets are described in general, as well as finding “ridiculousness” at each planet. The prince also longs to return home. (Additionally, a flower, in this case a camellia, at does not age, i.e. does not die –> In The Little Prince, the prince wants to protect a rose he has fallen in love with. I think there are more meta connections in general to the Little Prince/Saint-Exupéry, but I’m going to stop here.)

Other references

Peter Pan: Ramuda’s “stopped aging” as well as stepping far enough out so that your shadow can’t catch you.

“Stella by Starlight” most famously known as a jazz standard by Victor Young (Lyrics by Ned Washington) and featured in the film The Uninvited (1944), a horror film, but I think the reference is more to the standard itself which was revived in the 1960′s, performed by many famous jazz musicians, and sung by many famous singers. The lyrics are about a woman who is the object of affection of the songwriter. More recently, “Stella by Starlight” was also referenced in Hozier’s song “Almost (Sweet Music)” earlier this year.

Stella by Starlight: 

The song a robin sings Through years of endless springs The murmur of a brook at evening tides That ripples through a nook where two lovers hide That great symphonic theme That’s Stella by starlight And not a dream My heart and I agree She’s everything on this earth to me That great symphonic theme That’s Stella by starlight And not a dream My heart and I agree She’s everything on this earth to me

(Please do not use copy and paste my song translations. Do not use them in ways in which you can gain monetary value. Thank you.)

[eng-hypnosismic]

[TL] Interview w/ Saito Souma :The Lying Phantom

This article originally comes from Animage Magazine 482. Please buy it to support them.

Are the spinning words true or false? Continuing from before words become weapons Gentaro’s mysterious world

Fling Posse carries the stylish and brightly-coloured Shibuya Division on its back. Amongst them is the novelist, Yumeno Gentaro, who loves to lie. According to Fling Posse’s leader Amemura Ramuda’s survey, Yumeno Gentaro tell tales to his severely ill friend in order to cheer him up, but that seems to be a made up story, too.

Before joining the team, Gentaro showed Ramuda and Arisugawa Dice the line (as mentioned in the column) “There's a person whom I want to make him smile no matter what it takes” which seems to refer to said friend of his. He seems to be disgusted by reality; so much so he thinks about changing the world. While holding such thought, Gentaro tells solitary lies and, by spinning tales, he has intertwined reality with it. Isn’t that a very lonely task? Even after some time had passed since the team’s formation, Gentaro finds it difficult to express and open up his feelings to his teammates. However, it seems like he enjoys spending time with them. If Fling Posse’s relationship gets closer after experiencing the battle against Shinjuku Division’s Matenrou, it may bring something different to the loneliness in Gentaro’s heart. Maybe one day, Gentaro will not be alone and spin lyrics together with his teammates, waiting for the day that he will be able to make his important person smile.

Novel

“Let’s make the world interesting,” Ramuda invites Gentaro to the team, and commented that Gentaro’s book “seems to be a cheerful story, but there is a feeling of loneliness”  and pointed out that it shows how Gentaro thinks the world is boring.

Voice

During conversations, Gentaro sometimes plays other characters. In order to do that, he changes his tone of voice. By using this character changing skill, maybe you can hear him change his voice as he tells stories.

Clothing

Gentaro is always wearing clothes like a scholar of the olden times. Since there are a lot different dressing styles in the Shibuya Division, it’s surprisingly fitting. It seems like he has an obsession over this style of clothing.

First Person Pronouns

Gentaro uses a lot of first person pronouns. Such as “shousei,” “ore,” “boku,” and sometimes “maro”. It’s unknown as to when he uses which, but the voice tones also change depending on which one he uses. Could it possibly be an indication of when Gentaro is lying or not?

An Irreplaceable Existence

“Say do you know how to let somebody dream when they've forgotten how to laugh? If you do please tell me

There's a person whom I want to make smile no matter what it takes

I'm fed up - a pencil to pierce through this reality

Funny story, sometimes I’m fine with passing by someone else’s story

If I could change the world, wouldn’t it be nice to have a rap that transcends lies and reality”

These were the lyrics Gentaro presented before joining the team. In his solo “Scenario Liar,” he depicts the days he spent with his “irreplaceable friend,”  and I wonder if that is the same friend he mentions in “I want to make him smile no matter what it takes”. If either or both are real, Gentaro’s lies might be really necessary for his important person.

Amemura Ramuda

Popular with the ladies thanks to his devilish charm and adorable appearance, this natural gigolo’s occupation is a fashion designer. The legendary team. Former member of The Dirty Dawg and now Fling Posse’s leader. Despite his flashy, outrageous behaviours, he investigated Gentaro before asking him to join his posse and read Gentaro’s heart just from his novel. Ramuda has wit and always pays attention. How much does the intellectual Gentaro know about Ramuda?

Arisugawa Dice

He’s a gambler who’d put even his own life on the betting table. He was born with luck and manages to survive because of it, but sometimes Lady Luck is fickle, so he also gets his equal share of complete losses. Gentaro does nothing but tease Dice, but I think that straightforwardness is a good part of him. After Dice gets overjoyed by something Gentaro said, he’d then tell Dice that it was a lie and Dice would get disappointed. Such exchange has become a routine for the both of them.

Regarding Fling Posse

Amongst all the teams, Fling Posse is the no.1 team in which you can’t read what’s on their mind. Somehow, it feels that even the battles are just for fun to them. Our team has the most pop and youthful feeling to it. Within the team, Gentaro, in a sense, has the most frivolity. Personality-wise, I think thats what makes him a ‘pop’ person. Basically, Gentaro is his MC name (Phantom), a character who shrouds others in smoke. So I never thought of making him having a certain Shibuya feeling. However, when all three members of Fling Posse converse, that kind of ambience itself does give off a Shibuya vibe, and I’m glad for that.

Regarding Impressions of his Teammates

Ramuda looks cute, but he is the most mysterious person. In the Battle CD drama part, you can catch a glimpse of it……..? Well, Ramuda IS the center of Fling Posse. Dice somewhat feels like, how to put it... everyone’s little brother? Even though he’s a gambler, he’s the most direct. Teasing him on that is fun. Anyways, it’s brilliant when the 3 of them bargains with each other. The characters’ personalities are shown more in the drama part of this Battle CD rather than the 1st CD. In the 1st CD, Gentaro was told to keep the ad-lib on the down low but this time I was allowed to deliver the best.

Regarding Impressions of Matenrou

I had an impression that our opponent Matenrou is “in anyways strong”. The characters and the team as a whole are strong too. They showed us Gentaro crossing swords with Doppo, but personally I enjoyed his involvement with Hifumi. Other than Shibuya Division, I am also interested in Doppo. I’d love to get involved with him more. However,  since Gentaro is that kind of character, I feel like he can stir up something interesting with whomever. I’d like to talk more to Ichiro, too.

Regarding the New Song

The battle song recorded on the Battle CD sounds kind of heavy, both of the teams battle tooth and nail. But, Gentaro is….. (laughs). I’d love to hear personal opinions from all of you. The team’s song is definitely a chill and stylish song, it’s an amazing song that gives the three a strong sense of unity.

Regarding Gentaro’s Solo Song “Scenario Liar”

It’s a song recorded on the 1st CD. A poetry-reading like this has never been used in character songs so far. I didn’t have the experience either, so it was difficult yet fun. But when I first listen to the solo’s demo, I thought, “this guy is definitely going to say he lied.” After listening to the whole song, I thought “As expected from Gentaro! I can do it!” (laughs). Actually, when I sung it, I went off feeling the vibes instead of just reciting as is. It was very difficult to put it into the song. I mean, Gentaro always has a considerably harder flow amongst the 12 rappers. As expected of the Phantom, he has a tricky yet fun impression.

To the Women of Shibuya

I wonder what will happen if I said that after Dice lost big time in gambling, we went on a hunt for treasure sleeping in the underground labyrinth of Shibuya. As a result, Ramuda followed us thinking it was interesting and appointed Dice to be his model for his new line. Then we bought the best piece of land in Shibuya and lived a life free from worldly cares….

Well, that’s Yumeno Gentaro-sensei’s next book, “Phantom Pain Syndrome”. Please look forward to it.

Eh? You’re saying that I’m lying? Uh huh, you guessed it. Well, all of it was a lie.

[ethereal-galaxies]

@magical-lollipops

"Hahaha! Nice, Dice!!! I won! Gentaro~! You gotta jump!" he giggled. He smiled and blew out yet another flaming marshmallow after he'd said this. "If your hair and clothes aren't soaked when you come back, we'll know you didn't do it~!" Would they hear the splash from here? Perhaps? Either way, this camping trip was turning out to be quite fun! He was glad they got to play together like this. Though, would that all come to an end soon..? ..He didn't want it to. And yet, he knew he was probably going to die when they returned. The women would kill him for refusing to turn his posse over to them. He pushed the thoughts away and stuffed the scorched sweet into his mouth.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to any of them, a shadow lurked down at the lake below...

Gentaro pushed himself up onto his feet. “Fine, but this is the last bet I’m subjecting myself to, alright?” 

He crossed his arms and left his jacket behind, plopping it down where he sat before grabbing a flashlight and heading down over to the lake. The weather wasn’t too cold, but there definitely was a cooler breeze the further he walked down.  Of course, the rest of the Posse had assumedly decided to stay behind while he fulfilled his end of the deal. Once at the edge of the water, he stopped. This was when further realization hit. He really had to jump into this water, at night, and no one else was around. He kicked off his shoes and looked for a higher place to leap into the water. He climbed up onto a small ledge made of Earth and trekked a bit further. 

Here goes nothing. If he was going to do this, he was going to get it over with quickly and not linger. He muttered to himself quietly, “Alright...”

Before he knew it, he had already leaped into the air and crashed into the deeper part of the lake below, the icy coolness of the water almost shocking the writer to a point of momentary thoughtlessness. He floated underneath for some time, only seeing rays of moonlight that had snuck past the trees and into the water. Once he had realized this delay though, he kicked himself up to the surface. The rush pushed him to get out of the water. He swam toward the light of his flashlight where he had left near his shoes. Once he reached to push himself up out of the freezing water, still trembling, Gentaro  spoke words of regret to himself. “Why did I set myself up for this...?”

[icharchivist]

Okay this got very long bc it’s a lot of trying to drive conclusion only for me, but under the cut a lot of ramblings about Gentaro’s use of pronoums after relistening to his main appearances in the drama tracks up to Me Against the World

TL;DR i’m starting to find some patern in Gentaro’s pronoum use:

-In general he tries to avoid using a pronoum by using “Sore” instead - “explains an object near the listener”. Generally trying to avoid talking about himself, this is what his sentences are generally shaping as.

-he uses Shousei everytime he refers to the reasons he is lying - his character song, talking specifically about his friend in context, and even once when he tries to justify to Ramuda that he is “a lowlife who’s always lying and therefore not trustworthy”. Shousei is the reason of his lies. There is ONE entry of “Shousei” that doesn’t fit the theory though and it is bothering me, there are ways to reach about it. He also uses “Shousei” everytime in a context of writting - since he started writting for his friend as an extension of his lies, this still holds up. He DOES use the plural form of Shousei in Battlex3 thoughwhen talking about the Posse, which is... interesting.

-He seems to use Boku when he’s caught in his lies. He also seems to use it as a more neutral identity, this is the one he seems to let slip when he’s not exactly thinking carefully about what he’s doing. It’s the one he settles on during his freakout as a mean to calm down. 

-He uses Watashi when he’s vulnerable. He uses it after Ramuda threatens him and once he tries to calm Dice down after Dice gets worked out for him, then when they prepare to fight Hifumi and Doppo. He used “Watashi” once to play the psychic though

-He used “Warewa” multiple times in the context of him as a team with Dice specifically - which is interesting since this is the first pronoum (as warewa) he switch to during his freak out. It is also the “warewa” they use as a team in SMT, refering to FP.

-I am completely unsure if he says “Ware” or “Waro” when he has the Princess/Dice’s soulmate persona - both works, “Ware” as a pronoum and “Waro” as the verb to know. I think it’s Waro, but still mentioning it because of the “ware(wa)” he uses during his freakout.

-He used “Maro” in the “old man wanting to feast with Dice” persona - this is the second persona he goes through during his identity crisis. 

-”Soregashi” is one of the only identity from his freak out i can find no trace of elsewhere and it is worrying me. 

-Meanwhile Gentaro used “Ore” once to have Ramuda take him seriously, asking him to judge his rap.  It is also the pronoum he uses for the Theif persona in Stella.  It seems to be his “rought around the edges” one, the one in which he orders people around. It’s very rare. 

So from what i’m getting his freakout still has him go through two personas he identifies with Dice, then he gets this one persona i find no trace of elsewhere, then “boku” that is the consistant background pronoum. Then “Watashi” which he always uses when he’s vulnerable. He would tend in general to try not to use his pronoums and use a forumlation in “sore” to avoid it, else he seems to use boku, except when he talks about writting/his reasons for lying where it’s Shousei, almost constantly. He used “Ore” twice, once to order Ramuda around out of playing any persona, and his Stella persona, and else use “warewa” when it comes to his teamup especially with Dice.

and yes I relistened to about 1 hour of content just to make sure I could catch them and i still am amazed to find a logic there. But frankly concerned by how much Gentaro distach himself from it. There are clear behaviors he associates with each pronoums so it’s kinda concerning to some extend.

That does put his freakout into perspective though.

Under the cut was my rambling as i was coming to conclusion so it’s a mess but it’s more detailled.

That fucks me up, i probably don’t know Japanese enough to understand it but i seriously feel like Gentaro uses “Sore” as a pronoum the most, but all i find about “Sore” is “それ (sore) explains an object near to the listener”.

So he could be generally always repurposing the sentence but this is still very odd that he is being this non-personal. like instead of saying “i am bothered” it would be “it bothers me” or something y’know? which shift the sentence away from his sense of self.

Even his “soregashi” is “ Literally "So-and-so", a nameless expression. Similar to sessha.”

what!! the fuck!! I know Gentaro has a distachement to his sense of self but that sounds super extreme?? It especially feel too extreme for people not to mention it this is why it’s bothering me??

He uses “Shousei” in Scenario Liar which means more  “ Used among academic colleagues. Lit. "your pupil"” according to wiki, but that would make sense for his “older self”, unless i mishear it??? ........ So fun fact when Ramuda meets him,  he first uses “Sore” when he’s lying about his identity (so distached). the moment Ramuda caught him in his lie, he switches to “Boku”. Then when he laughs that “Most words coming out of my mouth are lies you know?” he uses “Shousei”. 

When he meets again with Ramuda and asks him to judge his rap he uses “Ore” and this is a new pronoum what the hell. However in his rap, the moment he raps about his friend, he uses “Shousei” again. Why did he shift to Ore, perhaps to be more “ordering” Ramuda to take him seriously? it’s a more imposing pronoum after all. That’s the pronoums he uses as a theif in Stella so i’m willing to bet this is the “roughter arund the edges” persona. It doesn’t show much.

I am... almost certain “Shousei” refers to him in context of why he lies then. That would make sense. All of “Shousei” is always regarding the reason of his lies to start with, his friend. 

Oh this is fucking me up, in the second drama track when Gentaro says “What the heck do you want at this hour? I’m not that free, you know.” he uses “Shousei” again.  He doesn’t generally use Shousei so i’m assuming there it means he was planning on seeing his childhood friend holy hell. 

“The legendary group fallen from glory reunites out of pure coincidence…if this were a novel, it’d be an awesome scene, though I’d rather not encounter it in real life.” Shousei again, in the context of writting, knowing again he writes for his childhood friend, linked again for why he lies. 

Shit he uses Shousei @ Dice there “*sighs* I’m only going to buy your things.” and the only justification i find for that is that he might extend Dice to his world but?? gah this is putting my whole theory in jeopardy.

Else again when he talks about writting Dice into a book, “shousei” again.

Shouseitachi in Battlex3 though - “We’re living high on dopamine in the next era”, during his duet with Dice, second time it’s associated to Dice outside of the clear liar persona- unless he felt the need to get into said persona while fighting especially after Hifumi attacked him.

But i am almost certain he uses “sore” most of the time.... he does seem to use “Boku” in the second drama track when he really need to talk about himself, but else he seems to deviate the subject away from him with “sore”

Back to the freak out when Dice starts to worry about him: He shift to “Ware(wa)”, I am unsure if he uses “Ware” or “Waro” when he talks about the princess, the former being a pronoum the later being the verb “to know” which still fits. However he does use “warewa” when he mentions working as a team with Dice in Know your enemy and when he tells Dice to come with him in Me Against the World. It’s also the “warewa” they use as a team in SMT.

 then “Maro”, the old (noble?) man who wanted to share a meal with Dice, it’s also the one who mentions he “has forgotten” about them being treated as idol, he uses “maro” then again, then “Soregashi” “so and so”, back to being extremely not personal, from a Samurai’s period.

Then he shift to “Boku” which is more neutral. “ Used by males of all ages; very often used by boys. Perceived as humble, but can also carry an undertone of "feeling young" when used by males of older age (so i have no idea what it means for Gentaro who’s 24). Also used when casually giving deference; "servant" uses the same kanji (僕 shimobe). Can also be used as a second-person pronoun toward male children (English equivalent – "kid" or "squirt").”

-> Servant? He goes from pronoums associated to nobility to an humble pronoum associated with “giving deference”? Which is extremely bold since then i remind he will go on as picturing Dice as a King in later songs, a King he gets devoted to. 

Gentaro seems to use “Boku” when caught out of a lie... he does seem to use it casually sometimes but not that much. Which would really mean he’s always “living a lie” as long as he’s avoiding using “Boku”. It’s a very “normal” pronoum, perhaps a “neutral identity” for him? one he has set no personality onto? Which would mean the moment he settles for “Boku” to calm down he would be shutting down rather than settling for an identity. Seems perhaps like a “transitional” identity when he doesn’t know which identity to take up? 

The fact he uses it in the second drama track is what bothers my conclusion there but it’s also the track we once discussed with a friend where Gentaro starts to mimick Dice’s gambling habits a bit (and even leaps into the Nyan persona Dice usually has). So it doesn’t even contradict this possibility that it is “Gentaro looking for a persona”

Then once he tries to calm down Dice, it’s “Watashi”. Which is not a pronoum he seems to usually use. “In formal or polite contexts, this is gender neutral; in casual speech, it is typically only used by women. Use by men in casual context may be perceived as either stiff or feminine.”

I still see it used by male characters a lot so i don’t trust wikipedia there for the “only used by women” but it’s still definitly not the way Gentaro refers to himself so i’m super confused. 

This is the sentence he uses Watashi in “Dice. I do appreciate you standing up on my behalf, but it’s your turn to calm down, now.”

It’s a super vulnerable stance to go with “Watashi” there? Considering the context of the pronoum? far more polite than it should be.  Which, considering the context could be Gentaro allowing himself to be vulnerable and have a sense of self around Dice (since if he fucking use “sore” he sure doesn’t express his sense of self)

he keeps “Watashi” when they prepare to fight Hifumi and Doppo too.... He remains on Watashi.

... listening back to Know Your Enemy FPvM, Gentaro uses “Watashi” after Ramuda threatens him, “ As long as I can complete my mission, these things don’t matter.“. I’m betting on “Watashi is when he’s feeling vulnerable”

When he confronts Ramuda again about the incident, “Then it’s fine. I’ve no intention of waking the beast” he uses Boku again. Else he uses “Sore wa” again, especially when he replies to Ramuda “loving him”. Some sort of distance with his persona again...

He DID use “Watashi” once when he’s playing the psychic but that barely counts.

It’s opening a whole new realm of discussion about Gentaro’s sense of self and it is confusing me so much?

*bangs head on the table* thanks for the overthinking Gentaro.