#i didn’t do a Strength one and yknow. yknow that was on purpose

[maldito-arbol]

I don’t think I posted these on tumblr but uhhh yeah. i am coping Very Well rn

[annikuh]

when I think abt the nepherits, I’m always like “wow I can’t believe they didn’t kill themselves” and I marvel at the strength they have to keep going and their ability to adapt and cope and improve.

the few left on the Dead Isle worked hard to find a safe place for themselves and a sense of community to support each other to keep themselves alive. their lives are hard but they’re constantly emotionally supporting each other so they don’t lose another nepherit, like big group therapies and a pseudo-suicide hotline type of thing for nepherits who are really getting to that point, and trying to add little things to make themselves happier.

Jax obviously goes thru it constantly. They had centuries of being all alone and screaming to god and being angry and even considering suicide (and they were gonna do it until they stumbled upon Syvis & suddenly life was worth something again), but they were so desperate to make friends and be liked that they ended up finding it. they are not the poster child of healthy coping by ANY means, but they found a purpose for themself, they made friends, and all things considered, they’re okay. They had a few centuries with syvis, her family, and her community that grew to love them, but even after the elves were all gone, they managed to get back up and be alright. like that’s so lovely to me.

but with Panathir, I’m REALLY like “how the fuuuuck did he not kill himself.” it took less than 60 seconds after his creation for the Necromancer to decide that He hated Panathir bc Panathir had the audacity to ask what was going on and flinch away from this stranger trying to hold him down and brand him. & the same thing happened when he met the other 10 nepherits, like 10 minutes later, when one of them kept trying to touch him and he pushed her hand away—and then that was it, another beating and an instant pariah. poor fuck was IMMEDIATELY hated and humiliated and beaten for the entire war era, and the only thing that changed after the war was that he wasn’t getting physically abused anymore.

but literally looking over his entire life, it was miserable. he never really got better like everyone else. he never had a single friend. he was paranoid and terrified of everyone and everything, to the point of living undergroundddd for an amt of time. when he lost Jax, he was alone and stayed alone for the [x],000 years, screaming out for them and hating them and crying over them every single day, until he found them again. he was just living on the hope that he’d find Jax again and beat them back into submission bc he was nothing if he didn’t have them. how fucking horrifyingly dismal is that.

but also…gotta say: what a fucking powerhouse. he’s a freak and he’s out of his fucking mind, but Christ Jesus the endurance he has is astounding. in its own way, it’s inspiring, perhaps. It’s not the same kind of pride that I feel for Jax, but yknow? I’m proud of him.

he is fueled by spite and being a hater, alone. may we all aspire…

[little-forget-me-not]

EFT self-reflection (Noticing strengths)

Realising this is important so I’m gonna save my POSTIVE REFLECTION of events that I shared with a friend here. Because she had this encouraging and accepting attitude of me that allowed me to challenge myself cuz I valued her insights and I trust her.

So yknow what you said about me noticing my strengths? I've been trying to be more deliberate about it and I think I have 3 big things to share

First. Jer

 I chatted with a classmate last night and it started out as a counselling role play session but we ended up just chatting. He was gonna go sleep at 10pm but he ended up staying till almost 1130pm lmao. And I've never actually chatted with him before. And in the conversation we had I learnt that he was more of a listener type and never really got to talk about himself so he's not very familiar or super comfortable with it. But I realised as we were talking, he was quite open and engaged. And he must have enjoyed the conversation and company cuz he chose to stay for so long. So I think I do have a strength whereby I am...accepting and warm and open enough that people feel able to be more candid around me. And I think I'm good at listening to people and making them feel heard and like I am interested in their person, their story.

That's amazing. It sounds like you find it hard to believe that this happened. But you know, I think this is what I see you as being good at. Like I said, your main priority is always listening to the other person and trying to understand their emotions, experiences and story. That makes the person who talks feel like it's a safe space. The other guy who opened up to you, is just like the many ppl in your past like the guys who crushed on you, Dawn, other online friends, who were all lonely and used to being overlooked or neglected, but who felt like you cared to hear what they have to say. I think that's your strength and you shouldn't undervalue or dismiss it, that you want to be there for ppl who are misunderstood, lonely, overlooked (what you didn't have), and that care comes through to the person

Second. W

The lecturer who invited me to take this EFT course purposely singled me out despite this course only being largely available to people who signed up for a separate course since it requires an in depth understanding of attachment theory. My lecturer shared that she was essentially so impressed with how well written my essay was that she was like "this one can", and then encouraged me to take the course. So like...clearly I am good at understanding the material and I do write comprehensive and good essays because it straight up led to such a rare opportunity and caught the attention of someone in the industry. Who btw is very...supportive of me and wants to keep in touch. (She also asked if she could hug me when saying bye ;;;)

Both of these made me really happy and kinda ... I mean I felt the urge to deflect. But I saw that it was true. The fact that I had this positive effect...and my efforts were acknowledged and got me places. So I do write good essays. And i can make a favorable impression just by being myself.

Third. A&M

Holy fuck this was extremely interesting but also anxiety inducing but also just kinda reaffirming. TLDR I unknowingly facilitated a freaking 2 hour couple therapy session with my classmate and his husband of 17 years ???? And guess what...it was actually helpful and eye-opening for the couple and they ended up making strategies to improve and reaffirm their relationship hy the end of it and thanked me?? One of them kept joking about sending me a cheque or like "So next Tuesday afternoon then ?" XD

...it was incredibly affirming... like ok first of all. Literally first time meeting my classmates husband. Like I said in the very first point above, I must have come off in an open or warm way or smth for them to both eventually start bickering in front of me.... The husband was like, "We don't usually do this in front of friends/people"

I wasn't intending to play therapist. I just wanted to listen to what they were both saying and I heard a lot of...I guess miscommunication so i kept trying to clarify (you're right I do ask thoughtful open ended questions, I'm capable and maybe good at clarifying what people are feeling/meaning/saying and I do pick up on emotions that are not articulated but implied).

And surprisingly I guess...even tho I feel very inexperienced in life stuff...I do actually have a lot more experience in understanding trauma and relationships which proved to be helpful in either relating to others, giving voice to their experiences or just kinda general .... relationship miscommunication stuff. My experience in relationship dynamics ended up lending insight to their dynamic and helping them meet each other better?? Like I think I'm able to hear what people are trying to say but not actually saying...? Like it took me a while but I slowly came to understand where both of them were coming from and I saw how different their views were but how there was an underlying sense of love (but not meeting each other ways that cater to either of them)

I totally see what you mean now about my reaction to the pet thing being like..weirdly defensive. Cuz I totally saw that in my classmate. Like he literally got so heated he was shouting (without realising it I think I was so tempted to be like...calm down...calm down but I didn't lmao cuz I know that pisses people off). But eventually kinda got to the root of the matter. 

Anyway it was kinda fascinating and we did that for 2 whole hours ??? They ended up thanking me a lot and both seemed to feel more heard and understood ... and his husband was like "You have a gift" and I'm like 😳😳😳

TLDR maybe I am more capable of therapy than i thought?? I wasn't really trying to do anything I was just trying to listen and to clarify my understanding and their understanding of each other. But it seems that alone is a decent foundation?

Also this is my most therapeutically inclined classmate...aces everything, a real go getter and currently working as a counsellor. He's super passionate. Also they are both easily 2 decades older than I am. One of them even majored I'm psychology when it was still new. So to know that...I'm still able to lend helpful insights to people like them who I see as experienced and kinda more capable than me...was quite humbling and eye opening. Like wah...my words and experiences still have value. Also another layer is that his husband is white. And you know I had an inferiority complex. But I didn't really experience that. I think the whole being with Dawn thing really helped normalise this issue of mine. I truly just see people as people now.

Also it was really helpful that my classmate is also a therapist cuz he would point out stuff that I was doing (like the game achievement thing!!!) And was like "that's a very good reframe" etc and I was like omg I was doing it unconsciously so I have it in me

And secondly, like I said, you ask good qns, thoughtful and open ended. Like I said you try to understand the other person's emotions. People aren't straightforward with emotions, so you need to probe, which you unconsciously do. You're very attuned to emotions. It's both your greatest strength and your witness. Strength as in you make sure you really heard the person correctly and understood their story. Not everyone will be so open to others emotions. Weakness as in sometimes lacking the focus on the facts (you worry about being gullible). So yes, I do think you pick up a lot on emotions not articulated but are implied. So you could see that they still care about each other even despite the 'noise' of the arguments and different opinions and miscommunication. You do it with me too. I think you come down too hard on yourself on life experience. If you can accept how your upbringing has given you a hidden set of strengths, like caring about the people who go unheard, caring about other's feelings, mindful about hurt and trauma, you'll see that you already have quite a lot with you, like you have strengths. The other things like adulting can be learned once you process your inferiority and fear. But your strengths can't be learned because they're unique to you and innate to you, and that's something precious

I can tell you still find it hard to believe, but I hope over time you can own your strengths and good parts and feel proud of who you are and what you bring to the world. It's really nice to hear you talk about experiencing positive feelings. So rare! You don't allow yourself to dwell on it so it's really nice to hear when you do.

Yeah, you do reframe a lot. Funnily enough, you might be really bleak when it comes to life coz of fear, shame and trauma, but you're very hopeful and positive when it comes to people, and you often point out the good in them. Thank you for sharing so openly. It's very nice to see you allow yourself good things and to hear about it

--

Ya after you said what you did about me being resistant to my strengths I became more mindful of it...and tried not to fight it. It made me feel pretty happy and good about myself. Hopeful. Feels a bit full in my chest. It's nice to see myself in a more competent and affirming light. A bit scary and uncomfortable too but. It's not a bad thing...this shift.

I think I hold on to the criticism as a buffer. If everything I do is bad then I can't let anyone or myself down cuz it's expected. But if I am capable of good and I fail that, then...idk, I guess it makes me feel worse somehow. And if I succeed then it's like...well good...didn't have it to lose to begin with. Being critical of myself and blaming everything on me protects me from shame, which is more overwhelming and painful for me to handle. The blame and criticism is a lot more familiar and comfortable in comparison.

Haven't sounded this aloud so this might be a bit rambly... but uhhh.. so I have this belief I'm not good at everything. So if I acknowledge I'm good at something, my mind is like "this means you cannot fail it or you'll let everyone down and you're a fraud and a fake and a loser..." (old schemas attack me) and that's...essentially shame isn't it? I feel so ashamed for failing or being bad at smth I'm "supposed to be good at". Like relationships mean a lot to me. I value them a lot and I value the people in my life. So if I learn that they actually felt unheard or taken for granted or hurt by me... I feel extremely intense shame that makes me feel like I'm worthless and better off dead. Like it's an extreme trigger. So it becomes easier to assume I'm not good at stuff and when I do succeed at things it's a surprising but pleasing accident that proves "I'm not all that bad. (But not good)". But it's definitely not helpful....it's been a self sabotaging thing. Like I make everything in my life extra difficult for no real reason xD like with school snd stuff. My classmate was saying that suffering can be optional and I was like....hmm.. cuz I guess whenever I succeed I end up linking my success to having suffered and struggled. Rather than my resourcefulness or hard work or intelligence.

“You feel shame for being a 'bad child' (or bad person?) when you fail or make mistakes, and the way that your child self decided to protect yourself from the abject shame, reject and loss of self worth, is by criticizing and blaming yourself first. If you reject you first, other ppl can't blame, reject or criticize you more, you make sure you're protecting yourself by being hypervigilant, you can be pleasantly surprised instead of crushingly ashamed or horrified at yourself. Am I getting you right?“

I think the EFT course also kinda helped cuz its emphasised that there are no model answers and that's not the focus. The focus is making the client feel their emotions and to validate their experiences. Which seems more doable for me

I can't believe the first therapy-like session I did was with a COUPLE wtfff. Actually I found it kinda interesting cuz I tend to need to think before I speak. Sometimes I think a lot. I'm individual therapy I worry the client will be uncomfortable with the silence and I get anxious to fill it so I say meaningless stuff. But with couples...they kinda fill in the silence themselves so I can think while they fight lmfao. Is a bit scary when it's heated but...it is fascinating. Very telling. Usually it's 2 people trying to say similar thing in very different ways and you have to reconcile it. I never thought I'd ever do a couple or...more than one therapy tho. Like I definitely think it's too much for me. But ....hey guess what xD I could handle it.

“You might surprise yourself with what you become good at in future! Therapy wise I mean“

Yeah...most people seem to believe that of me... like I'm good at it. So...surely has to come from somewhere. And I guess today I got to see more of it. I feel a bit more confident and cautiously optimistic about the future having had these experiences

I have to admit sharing the good stuff about myself was fun but now I'm uncomfortable again so I'll probably leave it here for now 😂😂😂

[bungoustraypups]

anonymouse asked: Are u planning to make/write more fankinds? If yes then who’s?! And also i don’t know if you ever mentioned it but who is your favorite fankid or one that you relate to most and why?

i am indeed planning to make/write more fankids! as far as bspverse goes, i just recently finished reading gaiden and i've made six bastards for kyogoku/ayatsuji/tsujimura's family, i have to finish picrewing them but once i do they'll be revealed officially with their picrews (note that ayatsuji is married to both kyogoku and tsujimura in this universe but they are not romantically involved w each other nor are they married to each other either, and their kids all share ayatsuji as a father but they don't have any kids. also ayatsuji is trans and gave birth to them so if they'd wanted a biological kid it would've had to be on purpose and they wouldn't want to anyway lmao) i also frequently make more fankids for other verses, but the verses aren't super well developed yet and most of them have no real solid storyline, whereas bspverse is. extensive lmao. bc it was the first and the one i think abt the most. so i talk less abt those verses bc for right now theyre like. babies. meanwhile bspverse is a whole young child now my favorite fankids are hard to properly say bc i love them all (them meaning like, the ones who contribute/will contribute to the story plotwise somehow, i do love all of them but some of them are def not my faves, not bc i hate em but bc they just kinda exist and dont do much due to being toddlers mostly lmao) so much in different ways and while i talk/think abt more of them than others that doesnt actually mean i dont love them, BUT for the other question that's a more solid answer the kid i relate to the most who has like, solid material you can go read in "the hateful eight", is [yoshiko kunikida](https://bungou-stray-pups.super.site/profiles-list/all-list-style-profiles/yoshiko-kunikida-kunikidakatai). and yoshiko i also relate to a lot in terms of personality and some ways in experience as well, like, her childhood is still way nicer in terms of how her parents treat her than mine was (hashtag abused child check) and she's def not abused by kunikida and katai, but she does have some of my disorders (OSDD, chronic fatigue syndrome with hypersomnia, ADHD, autism) and struggles with (later on) her physical appearance in ways similar to me. we're also built similarly body type wise and she, unlike most of her peers, is physically incapable of reaching the same levels of strength and activity as they are, which is relatable to me and always has been (i've never been able to do exercise the way most kids were, and now i can't do it at all due to pushing myself to do it as a kid bc everyone thought i was just lazy lmao. luckily that didn't happen to yoshiko but yknow, similar =/= the same) [Smile or comment on the answer here](https://retrospring.net/@bungoustraypups/a/112549549211832292)

[autisticandroids]

yknow those episodes where a character's whole personality gets split into 3-5 different distinct separate bodies? what bodies would cas have? I feel like it'd just be a mess tbh, imagine 5 different castiels all of them loving dean to a certain extent but showing it VASTLY differently. one cas would literally want to murder the others lmao

okay so i don’t actually think this trope would be an effective tool for analyzing cas? he’s not conflicted enough in himself. he’s too impulsive, too singleminded, too uninhibited. like, in the end, cas always ends up doing whatever he wants. there aren’t multiple discrete voices vying for control, really, or rather, if there are, one is always significantly stronger than the others. like in the end cas will always end up eating raw meat off the floor, you know? he’ll do what he wants. if i was going to do personality splitting i’d do it to someone intensely internally conflicted, like dean.

however, because i’m in an essay writing mood today, i’ll answer a question slightly to the left of the one you asked. cas may not be internally conflicted, but he is intensely changeable. these two things are related, actually; the same impulsivity and singlemindedness that mean he doesn’t have a ton of internal conflict at any given time mean that different ideas sound good to him at different times, because he isn’t really thinking about, say, what future-him will think of them. and he’s not really trying to maintain an image or identity. he’s just doing what feels right at the time, which is very different at different times and in different situations.

anyway, that in mind, i think a lot about ways to bring together many alternate versions of cas which sort of correspond to different times in the show.

i have a fic in my head about a bunch of cas-es pulled from alternate timelines by some kind of spell. so this would be set during the widower arc because the basic impulse here is to show dean a very bad time. just absolutely put him through hell. also, all the alternate timelines are different because different stuff happened, not because cas made different choices, because if we’re torturing dean it has to be like 5x04, the changes in cas can’t be cas’ fault. they have to be dean’s or just like, the universe’s (which makes them dean’s).

so dean is trying to bring cas back, and he finds some kind of spell that can bring someone “from another world.” and he tries it because hey. can’t hurt to try. anyway i’ve thought a long time about different versions of cas i would put in this and here is what i have. in order of when the timeline split off.

- a cas who never raised dean from hell. think 14x13 “lebanon.” this one i’m not too sure about, like, this could be fun, but i don’t know if it’s different enough from the next one. like this castiel would have lived through the averted apocalypse and subsequent general fuckery that happened as an angelic footsoldier, which would actually be pretty interesting now that i think about it, especially since all that stuff would have gone down soooooooo differently without cas specifically for your average angel footsoldier. like cas has PERSONALLY caused more upheaval in heaven in twelve years of spn than there seems to have been in millennia. so he would be the point of view of a normal footsoldier from a totally other world.

- a cas who died mid season four, and is pulled out of the empty in 2017 by this spell. i’m not sure when this cas died. my thoughts are (1) killed in on the head of a pin by alistair, (2) killed during his torture in the rapture, or (3) simply never resurrected after lucifer rising. (3) makes the most sense, but that cas has already thrown away everything for dean. i prefer the idea of a cas who loves dean, is already on the brink of disobedience for him, but has not yet taken the plunge. both on the head of a pin and the rapture are great places for this, and they both have strengths and weaknesses. if he died in the rapture, he was killed by heaven, which is fundamentally more fun, but he was also really very much over the edge already. if he died in on the head of a pin, he wasn’t killed by heaven, but he is perfectly teetering on the brink of falling for dean. regardless of when he died, the purpose of this cas is to be horrified at all the various and myriad ways he has destroyed and corrupted himself for dean in the other timelines.

- possibly endverse cas, who would have died in 2014, but like s4 cas, would have been pulled from the afterlife by the spell. i’m not so sure on this one. we as a society love endverse cas but i dunno what purpose he would serve. maybe endverse cas didn’t die in 2014, and instead was imprisoned by lucifer, because, you know. he’s the only brother lucifer has left. so he is very excited to see dean alive and well, since his dean is dead, and, not being an angel, cas can’t bring him back. the purpose of this cas would be to horrify dean that cas loves him and needs him so much, and to disgust the other cas-es with his neediness.

- a cas who was in some way on better terms with dean during s6. maybe dean and cas ride off into the sunset together after swan song instead of dean going to live with lisa, maybe dean prayed to cas while he was with lisa because he missed him, who knows. either way, cas has dean’s help with the angel revolution in season six from the start, and never goes to crowley. the plan cas and dean come up with to beat raphael includes breaking into the cage and stealing the grace of michael and lucifer, freeing sam and adam in the process. incidentally, it also involves cas possessing dean, because if cas is gonna eat archangel grace to become more powerful, he’s going to need a stronger vessel. so cas and dean have a whole like. midam situation happening. they’re a double archangel together, and godstiel never happened so none of the other terrible apocalypses that stemmed from that happened, and everything is pretty cool where they’re from, and also they’re obviously uhhhhhh SOME kind of together. the purpose of this cas is to upset dean because this cas shows how much better everything could have been and how much better his and cas’ relationship could have been if dean had simply been more considerate of cas in s6, and also freak dean out with how uh. close. this dean and cas are.

- a godstiel who managed to swallow purgatory without swallowing the leviathans and remained god. he’s probably soooomewhat less scary and murdery than canonverse godstiel because no leviathans, so you know, not as many angel purges or massacres on earth. and he probably went and fixed sam’s wall within about three days because cas is prideful but he does NOT like it when dean is mad at him. so they did kiss and make up, and so this cas would have had dean to act as his morality chain. but he’s still very scary and godstiel. and also he refers to dean as “The Beloved” you know. his purpose is to freak everyone out, because he’s scary, but also, for the past cas-es, because he is a terrifying abomination that they could never imagine becoming, for the future cas-es, because he is a reminder of their worst selves, and for dean, because he is a reminder of how dangerous cas is, but also because he uh. obviously has some feelings about his dean. unclear if they are consummated or not.

- a cas who naomi never rescued from purgatory, and who stayed there. hasn't spoken to another being in half a decade, has not recovered from his emotionally destroyed state in purgatory in s8. believes at first that the spell is his dean rescuing him, and is crushed when he realizes he was wrong. like endverse cas, his purpose is to show dean how much cas needs him and depends on him emotionally, and how he (dean) is capable of destroying cas, as well as his guilt for leaving him in purgatory and how lucky he is that his cas got out. this is especially noteworthy since the guilt for leaving cas in purgatory is part of the reason dean is trying to get cas back.

- a cas who stayed human after season nine, and has built himself a small human life over the next four years. he has a job and an apartment and friends outside the winchesters and yes, he still goes hunting after work sometimes, and he's still in contact with dean, but he is also independent in a way no other version of cas has ever been. he exists to freak out dean because dean has never seen cas independent of him. he is also fairly bitter at dean since dean did kind of stop spending time with him when he was no longer useful, and our dean feels guilty for that.

- a cas who showed up twenty minutes later in 10x03, finding sam dead and dean gone, and had to chase down demon dean, and has now spent three years following demon dean around as his tragically adoring stalker, because he hasn't found a way to resurrect sam yet and he doesn't want to put dean through the demon cure until he can save sam because he doesn't want dean to experience that guilt, but he also adores dean and wants to keep an eye on him and keep him safe and also keep him from doing anything too heinous, so he just covertly follows him around the country and watches from a distance as he commits various murders and fucks his way through every local bar scene. and occasionally cas finds dean something to kill, when the mark gets hungry, and drops it in his path. his purpose is to freak dean out with the lengths cas would go for him, and the depths cas would sink to.

anyway. lebanon cas and season four cas are horrified and perhaps disgusted (lebanon cas more than s4 cas) by ALL of the later cas-es, and how far they’re fallen, all of it for dean. godstiel and archangel cas being abominations, endverse cas and s9 cas being fallen, even purgatory cas and demon dean’s cas for their total dependence on dean.

purgatory cas and endverse cas are just happy to see a dean, even if it’s not their dean. demon dean’s cas, too, in a way. he’s happy to see a dean who is still human, who he can still have as a friend.

human cas is pissed to see that he was right, that dean would have stuck by him if he’d still had his powers, that this version of dean is doing spells to try and bring his cas, who is still an angel, back, whereas he and his dean only see each other once every couple months.

everyone is terrified and disgusted by godstiel, as i said before.

they’re mostly kind of thrown by archangel cas. a lot of them are jealous. godstiel is furious because how dare anyone, even an alternate version of himself, take dean as a vessel (even if dean likes it). godstiel isn’t really there, though, he resisted the summoning and just sort of popped his head through to see what was going on, and he goes back to his own reality pretty fast without murdering anyone.

also to be clear dean has not at this point examined or acknowledged any feelings he may have about his cas besides “friendship,” nor has he wondered what feelings his cas may have for him. given how many of the cas-es were clearly in some kind of relationship with their dean (endverse cas, archangel cas) or just openly in love with their dean (godstiel, purgatory cas, demon dean’s cas), dean is forced to reevaluate the nature of his and cas’ relationship.

[popurikat]

Trying to make sense of parts of Future (Mystery Skulls)

Since my last analysis went so well I thought I’d make this post as well, especially because Future really did confuse me and I know others might be lost as well; so lets discuss this together! It will be lengthy as I am basically spewing my thoughts out right on the videos immediate release date (there will be a read more option after my first thought to avoid long positng). Well first things first, I wanna address that I've been curious about what kind of spirit Arthur's arm could be (since I am not too well acquainted with any canon on its background part at least) and I think I have concluded that the closest thing to it could be is a Tenome; which is a Yochai that possesses a man's body and moves the eyes to the palms. "found lurking in cemeteries, hands outstretched, as if he has only recently lost his vision and is searching for something. Get close enough, and you’ll find out in quick succession that a) he’s not blind, but looking with eyes embedded in his hands, and b) what he’s looking for is a snack." (fyi, most of my mythos information is coming from Wiki just as a heads up)

And sure enough he found a great source for his hunger. Something he has been EYEING since the start. Which now leads me to my next points on the video...

At first watch I was convinced that each strand found on Mystery’s heart represented a singular soul bond, I thought that blue was for Vivi, Green was for the hand, pink for Lewis, purple for Shiro, Yellow for Lance, Orange for Arthur, and black and white were unknown. Which, didn’t settle right for me. SO I went in and re-watched the clip a couple more times and saw this:

Vivi’s (blue created after she got hurt) and Shiro’s (white created after she died) strands were connected to the strands located next to them. A start and an end. Mystery’s promise to Vivi to stay at her side for generations as he was spared upon prior defeat of Mushi. And then of course we have the promise of power and sustenance for Shrio as they held a symbiotic relationship for most of their lives that was only severed due to an interference. These double strands of fate are especially clearer in the scene with Shiro in Future. As the black strand gets clearer the more she gets injured or emotionally hurt, it eventually leads to the leak of the white strand on her death. Meaning; Black/white=Shiro; Purple/Pink=Lewis; Blue/Green: Vivi; and Orange/Yellow: Arthur. And why am I inclined to believe Lewis and Arthur are apart of Mystery’s heart? Well that's because those two were the only ones fully streaming before Vivi’s and Shiro’s appeared. We know that Arthur lost an arm to Mystery and discovered his identity (ergo losing most of his trust in him) insinuating both strands to arise early on of his color scheme, as well as with Lewis’ death occurring under the protection of Mystery when they were grouped and having his soul go restless/ in pain. It wouldn’t make sense to add family members or side characters not included in the mainline story to this grouping unless they would play an important role in the finale, which isn’t likely since we have only one more video left as Ben stated it was going to be a 5 video series. I am also inclined to believe each person has two strands because of Kitsune lore: “ Kitsune keep their promises and strive to repay any favor. Occasionally a kitsune attaches itself to a person or household. They follow their word of honor. They become self-destructive if they break a promise, and when someone else breaks a promise, they become deadly enemies.” Plus, It would make sense as to why in this short battle Mystery sprouted his last 3 tails when it came to Vivi and Shiro and how their connections affect his power. (more on this in a bit) But, furthermore; if anyone else notices, the Band-Aids on the heart are also remotely located on the sections of Vivi’s and Shiro’s strands specifically because for both, Mystery has vowed to protect them and has failed. 

Now then lets talk about a few things on Mystery’s ultimate form shall we? The final form of a Kitsune, its celestial form as shown here is called a Tenko. (yes I am aware of the Kumiho, but that is a fully evil, flesh eating, 9 tailed fox that specialize in illusions and well Mystery has never been portrayed as human). The Tenko makes even more sense when taken into consideration that Mystery’s third eye (typically a form of wisdom connected to overpowering the mortality of ones self) opens. So how was this done in such a short amount of time? “Kitsune do not accept aid from those who are not willing. they do not ask for help, and as such, most aid must come from another's initiative. Kitsune are emotional and very vengeful. Kitsune will lose their temper at the slightest provocation. Once someone has earned a kitsune's enmity, the kitsune will begin enacting revenge that can become quite extreme. On the other hand, those who have earned a kitsune's trust and loyalty will see a friendship that can last through many trials. Freedom is very important to the kitsune. They do not accept being forced into something they do not wish, and do not like being bound or trapped. Doing so weakens the kitsune.” Mystery as we know is very much controlled by his emotions, going head first into things constantly based on reaction and his inability to control his power under distress. His tails arose in the fight sequence every time he fulfilled his oath AND used 100% of his form/power. Therefore, his tails grew because he wasn’t holding back anymore, not his grievances, not his appearance, nor his hesitance in his evident distress of being bound to two entities that both required his aid.  My last note on these images comes from a tumblr user’s reverse audio clipping (https://nebulous-rain.tumblr.com/post/633555549749952512/ok-so-yknow-that-one-reversed-part-of-future). The rewind of the clip of Mystery’s transformation plays “When I’m With You”, which yes, cool a possible Easter egg to the next song! BUT what is this song about? Let me just bring up the first line of the song: “You got me hanging by a THREAD...I wish I could turn back time...I wish I could rewind life...” and before the chorus “I’m gonna make it right”. We know that this can refer to rectifying the wrongs of Lewis’ death, but more accurately to do so we need to defeat the evil inside this mutt that is pulling the strings of this whole fiasco. And this might just be the intro portion of the next mystery skulls mind you as we’ve also gotten many false starts with the previous two videos where hellbent used “every note” and future used “enemies” alongside the main song. BUT WE HAVE TWO YEARS ANYWAY, WHY BABBLE ON ABOUT THIS. LETS MOVE ON!

Hearts in this series have not been just for identifying the dead or for aesthetic purposes, they are the life force of each powerful legend. I am actually surprised to see Shiro have a heart as she started off as a creation from Mystery and therefore her lifeforce is just his blood and without it she is nothing. I am curious about her color pallet though, her heart is purple and pink. Lewis’ is gold/yellow with touches of orange. And Mystery’s is just red, but it has a mix of everyone’s essence within it to keep it tied and whole. Shiro’s could be colored this way in reference to Lewis’ aid to help find her creator; which would explain why Mystery surrounds himself by color as he required outside help and how Lewis’ heart is yellow in reference to how recently Arthur helped him remember his friends/hidden memories. One thing we have learned about hearts is that they can be broken repeatedly and can be ripped apart from the body, but they can be repaired too through resolution/hope. Lewis restored his heart in hellbent by using Vivi’s flower petals and finding hope that he will get revenge, only for his heart to be repaired again through Arthur’s touch. Shiro may have withered away, but her heart is essentially not broken, she’d need Mystery to restore it as it was flung into space (and that again relies on Mystery finding his sanity and finding it in himself to even bring her back). And as for Mystery himself, he’s gonna need the whole gang to reach out to him to extract the parasite within and restore balance. I really want to know more about the heart properties and how they give their users their powers as well Vivi is able to summon her strength through a material connection (bat) that function in its own way as the vessel a heart does since its connecting her to her ancestry.

NOW to finalize, I offer you two queries:

WHO IS ARTHURS HAND REACHING FOR!? I know it seems like Mystery, but that would be counter productive for the hand demon if he has Arthur interfering with his control. Is it still after Lewis as we’ve seen previous times where his arm acts up only in Lewis’ presence and when specifically other “magic” is at play? If so, is the goal to ward off Lewis and Vivi from defeating Mystery? Is Arthur gonna use the arm to find his own power as we’ve seen when he is able to momentarily cease control of it he kinda ruins anything electrical he touches and well, electricity is currently running rampant in there.

and lastly, I am really curious how touch sensitive hearts are, We know that even the smallest of brushes can detect memory/links to the person holding it (as seen with how Shiro managed to get soul flowers in hellbent), but the fact that Lewis was so in touch with the feeling of Arthur EVEN THOUGH ARTHUR GRABBED HIS HEART THROUGH HIS METAL HAND MIND YOU!, that he still managed to feel the disturbance instantly. So my question is, is the touch sensitivity reliant on how close someone is to someone? I would like to say yes cause when Shiro touched his heart he didn’t react instantly, he felt her rummaging his memories and was awoken, but he didn’t kick her butt by fully reforming until after she had long since stepped on his heart and then forced the memory of Mystery to arise. But yeah, its a nice little detail.

Either way, thanks for reading! Feel free to add on, comment, or even dm me about more Mystery Skulls information and theories! Love to hear them!

[propaganda-for-poets]

🩹 the meeks siblings

alr alr alr alr!! in case anyone isn't aware of priscilla meeks

little sister. her name is priscilla, she's abt 14??

yeah let's say 14 at the time of the movie, when meeks is 17

i haven't actually decided on an age for her but that's around where i see her

but we've been over her and you're all here for chaotic sibling content, i know, so let's get on with it

ok first of all, stephen already calls her cil because she doesn't like the name priscilla but kids at school also just call her meeks???

which can be very confusing-

"oh hi mrs sylvia is meeks home?"

",,,,,,,,,which one?"

one time she replied with "original flavor or new and improved?" and stephen just gasped and looked up from the couch where he was sitting

"SHE'S IMPROVED????"

"THIS IS FAVORITISM I'M LEAVING THIS HOUSE"

" 'improved' smh. improved from what, a pile of shit?" "well for starters she doesn't say shit in front of her mother." "look i know we're joking right now but i can name numerous times she's said shit in front of you. like, date and time and everything."

cil goes to henley hall becauseee yknow

no girls at welton

she briefly mentioned the play to neil like a few days before his mind processed 'open tryouts' and he went wait,,,

the boys really love her, keep joking about how they should trade charlie for her

"i mean, they're similar, right? but she's,,, better" "oh my god i am literally right here stop discussing kicking me out of the group for meeks' little sister"

meeks isn't usually that much of a Protective Older Sibling (TM) but he will go full on big brother mode when she's around the dps

like, when it's just them he'll casually barge into her room like "nolan can literally go suck a big dick i swear to fucking god this bitch gave me fuc king demerits again and i don't get to do shit, this is on purpose, it's totally on purpose he just hates me, he can go shove a fork up his ass" and then knox says "fuck" around her once and he's like "OH MY GOD KNOX DON'T SAY THE FUCK WORD IN FRONT OF MY LITTLE SISTER SHE'S LIKE EIGHT"

"i'm fourteen"

",,,,,,, she's, like eight, dude."

cameron is the only one who's genuinely concerned about how this child will grow up to be

"guys please,,"

they're actually pretty close and they mostly fight as a joke, but little siblings are little siblings so she can get annoying sometimes and a lot of those times meeks deadass ends up leaving the house

just fuckin walks out. goes to pitts, or goes to see some trees and regain all the mental strength he just lost or sum

and she totally just does it because she's bored and it's funny when he gets mad

despite that, they are Disaster Siblings

cover up for each other doing questionable stuff, pull random pranks at people, scheme against kids who annoyed either of them at school

meeks and pitts totally sneak her out of the house at like 2 am and they go on random drives in pitts' car

their moms know but they also know pitts is there and they trust him to not do anything stupid

probably more than they trust the two of them

so they let it slide and pretend they didn't hear anything

oh btw!! i've mentioned pitts has dyslexia, that's totally canon, right?

and meeks helps him study, that's actually canon

wow for once i say that something's canon and it really is, achievement

anyways, cil also has dyslexia and it's the 50s so schools don't get that, and he's been helping her study since she was little

which is why he's actually able to help pitts

i'm pretty sure that's all i had

idk i lost my notes, rest in peace

the end

[fisherrprince]

"I would also like to go off about titles in daybreak too. Lady, lord, master, foreteller…. All very made up in the moment, but if you give it to kids and say that’s how it is, they’re going to make it real"

PLEASE GO OFF

H-CCOUUUUGHH HACK HACK COUGH

OKAY SO THERE ARe there are two ways, this can go. One thing we know for sure is Ava, at least, was close with her kids, or at the very least Ephemer. He chats with her very casually. Another thing we know is the Foretellers are not consistently Around, they’re rather secluded and rare to just encounter on the street. They are also pretty much given mastery over their unions, and the kids do what they say. Lady, Master, and Foreteller mean the same thing. So, what this means is, either the titles they receive as apprentices to the Master of Masters are for all intents and purposes decorative, or they aren’t. How did I extrapolate from those two points come on a journey with me that will not explain how I got there

AUGH AND I LOST A WHOLE DRAFT HERE BUT I’LL TRY TO REPLICATE IT BEST I CAN. OKAY SO THERE ARE TWO SCENARIOS HERE and the two can mix it’s not mutually exclusive in here. Scenario 1. The titles are decorative. the foretellers know or know of basically every kid in their unions, they know their strengths and battle prowess and weaknesses and quirks. Ava is the leader, her name is Lady Ava, but it’s Lady Ava to distinguish her from Ava the 14 year old in Ursus. They lead in like… a camp counselor way. Advice, rallying, etcetcetc. Teachers. When Daybreak falls, Ephemer and the survivors build Scala out of the same basic structure. They see, though, the ruin that unions brought, so they change unions PLURAL to union SINGULAR, creating like… a monarchy, not a plutarchy. Ephemer leads the kids like Ava would. The aggregate citizens of Scala carry this on and extrapolate from it. Mastery is the highest rank, often accompanied by a title or an epithet to designate you master (think professors). So, Aqua could technically choose to be called Lady Aqua. However, Ephemer’s mastery lineage remains in power. Keyblade succession follows this rule, passed down from Master to apprentice if the Keyblade so chooses to persist. “Blueblood” is shorthand for… basically who Blaine’s keyblade has chosen to be next, avatar style.

scenario 2. The titles are given more weight. There are simply too many kids, Lord Ira cannot hope to know them all. They’re like the professors of those huge auditorium classes, or like enigmatic and mysterious leaders who give out tasks and promise rewards, increasingly against the other leaders’. Who knows where they are, or what they plan to do, but we know they’re powerful, and we know they know more than us, they’re called foretellers. My union leader taught me this — he taught me this. Thus, the kids learn to tie the titles and the masks and the knowledge and the mastery to each other in a bundle. They basically make knights’ oaths without even realizing that’s what theyre doing. When they make it to Scala, Ephemer is the only one in that spot, the only one who really truly knows everything — so whether he wants it or not, he’s getting a rank, and a title, and a statue. that’s just how they live, and Ephemer needs to give them SOME structure, or those poor kids will fall apart. It’s not bad, it’s gentle. He takes that responsibility, just like he already did once. Scala carries it on, and keeps going. In a divine souls sort of way, Lineage, not succession, is the way the ““monarch”” is chosen. Familial line becomes tied in with that whole bundle too, and the Keyblade stays in the family.

this is all. Very much heavier based on how the keyblade’s purpose is to maintain balance in the worlds. It’s such a weighty purpose. Wouldn’t it be easier to have someone shoulder that burden, and you just help then any way you can? Have one person, or a set of people, who can think about that for you? They, those who know, they have the right to direct. I think Scala started to go brrrooooo with that idea. Masters and Apprentices, yes — plenty of those. Teachers and students. All under… something. Some aggregate of things. Something tangible to be loyal to. Seekers are just masters who chose not to teach, to research instead (Scala Really is just dark academia), Masters are just professors, SOMEONE is in charge.

and thus the title system becomes a way to distinguish rank in the Literal way, not just the flippant way. Daybreak would function like we functioned playing it — missions are missions from Lord Gula. Dailies are dailies if you want to stay on top. Union rankings are important. They’re the same things, but with completely different vibes. Either the kids were going along with the war because what else would they do, or they were going along with it because what else would they do but follow yknow

if Scala extrapolates on this teaching, ostensibly made up by the Master and then carried on because they didn’t really know any other kind of societies, they can take it a more casual way or a more rigid way, basically. And I think they took it more rigidly. But Scala isnt important here actually Daybreak is as THEYRE the nexus of creating this odd new system where Everyone has this responsibility to the universe and a soul weapon and magic right. If I’m a kid promising a foreteller I will do anything to keep the light safe and collect Lux for you, Master Invi, whatever you ask of me, and she says good job, you’re a good student, there ought to be more keybearers as upright as you. What do you think that’ll do.

TO SAY NOTHING OF THE MORAL ABSOLUTISM THE FORETELLERS ARE SO FOND OF PREACHING and which MUST extend into dark road seeing as Eraqus is allowed to be Like That and Xehanort’s much more moderate take is kind of perceived as iffy. Even tho the narrative is like ( :/ hes got a point). If THEYRE right, and you my child can be wrong but if you follow you can be right too. tell me that doesn’t sound like a hotbed for the birth of paladins come on . mom wants some paladins. eraqus is just a case of deep rooted That.

anyways Um. pay me to write fake history and anthropology books about fake places but don’t actually because they will not have correct grammar

[tainbocuailnge]

i bitched a bunch about dragalia on stream but I want to talk about the One dude in dragalia where characters from other series want what he has instead of the other way around which is my man heinwald (cv: show hayami)

he’s an occult researcher with strong interest in the taboo, but rather than having any evil plans he’s looking to fulfil what he’s singularly focused on is obtaining the truth, so he really just wants to read the books and eat the mysteries and he gets annoyed when you call him a mere occult researcher instead of a seeker of truth. he makes absolutely no attempt to not be super shady about it so naturally he ended up getting in hot water with a church inquisitor, but fortunately for him said inquisitor happened to be this guy curran who is more concerned with the spirit of the doctrine than the letter and they found common ground as mystery solvers and became a detective duo. they also got married but the game won’t tell you that, but it DOES have the player character respond to hearing of how they met with “wow that’s a hell of a first date” so yknow

heinwald is smug about his own wealth of intellect and knowledge and will call an idiot when he sees them and take great delight in explaining exactly how they’re a fucking moron and he was on to them from the start, but he likewise will freely praise people for making astute observations. he’s usually blunt and sarcastic in dealing with others and doesn’t really explain himself unless he absolutely has to so he tends to be misunderstood and get followed around by various nasty rumors. curran in contrast is a much more straightforward and honest person so they tend to argue a lot, but always with mutual respect for each other’s strengths and it’s always curran who insists heinwald can’t have committed this crime because he’d have much more finesse about it.

heinwald is all but obsessed with solving mysteries and finding the truth, and the promise of a juicy mystery is usually the only thing that can lure him out of his study, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he wants to bring the truth to light, nor does he think there is one singular objective truth. although appearing not only super shady but also supremely disinterested in others, he has a strong sense of justice and responsibility and is very careful about when and to whom he reveals truths that could get people into serious trouble if exposed. he’s nobility and as a child his father was murdered for being a tyrant, and he knew his father’s death could only improve the living conditions of the population, but in his obsession with investigating the truth he outed his sister’s fiancee as the killer, getting the fiancee executed and driving his sister to suicide. while it did nothing to make him any less obsessed with finding the truth, it did make him a lot more careful about what he does with it. even if he does choose to expose a criminal, he takes personal responsibility for their reintegration into society and the financial security of the people that depended on their income and stuff like that.

he’s also a vessel for an eldritch god, but like, don’t even worry about it because he sure doesn’t

the events he appears in feature a bunch of eldritch bullshit, bullshit which he as seeker of truth naturally can’t keep his nose out of. there’s some shit with hastur but the big dude here is nyarlathotep, and the events also feature two of his vessels, namely lathna and akasha. both of them are effectively helpless before their assigned purpose. lathna straight up gets possessed when nyarl needs her to do some shit, and akasha was granted access to the infinite knowledge of the void and got so lost in the sauce of knowing that every single alternate timeline of her life all reach this same conclusion that she lost any sense of free will. along the course of her debut event she figures out heinwald also has the capacity to become a vessel, and in the epilogue scene she tries to bait him into awakening to his purpose and becoming like her.

heinwald smugly asks her where she got the idea that he wasn’t already awakened. 

my man has fucking nyarlathotep breathing down his neck and he doesn’t give a shit. some extradimensional motherfucker beyond human comprehension is beaming instructions directly into his brain and he just leaves them on read because he’s too busy solving mysteries and being gay married. heinwald obtains eldritch truths but instead of going insane he just adds them to the list. akasha tries to tempt him with the promise of infinite knowledge and he’s like knowledge isn’t the end goal it’s just a tool in obtaining the truth, idiot, you’d know that if you didn’t fucking suck. you try to get him lost in the sauce and he just gets up for another serving of spaghetti.

no matter how much he is hated or misunderstood his sense of self is so so strong, his sense of justice as a human being so absolute, that the eldritch gods looking to wear him like a finger puppet can’t manage to put a fucking scratch on his free will.

the stitched up zombie look is never explained, he just looks like that because he fucking rules

[marshmallowprotection]

I replayed Seven’s route and saw through the secret ending episodes (haven’t done that since 2019) and man is it me or is Rika kinda apathetic towards Saeran in the secret endings. In Ray’s route and especially his AE, she’s so fixated and obsessed with him and Saeyoung in hopes of this “happy family” and to feel needed. She was obsessive and possessive saying how much she loves Saeran like a mom loves her son. But in the Secret Ending when Saeran had a mental breakdown over him not getting the revenge Rika promised him. She got irritated and basically asked her believers to brainwash Saeran again and treated him like he was disposable, like Saeyoung can just take his place in “paradise”.

Like what happened, do you think the time between Another Story and Original Story was enough for her to lose her humanity along the way and play prophet full time. Like how Saeran’s demeanor in both those timelines are different bc he had to withstand Mint Eye’s treatment long enough to fixate on revenge completely and get a tattoo that solidified his devotion to what he didn’t know was a false cause.

Do you think Rika’s apathetic attitude is why Ray was “disposed” of in OS (I would say as an alter he was just dormant, covering his eyes and ears in a sense yknow?). Ray didn’t really play any part in OS so I thought Rika was done “playing mom” (since in the AE she said she missed Ray bc Ray was someone who needed her.) and wanted 100% focus on her plan

Sorry for rambling too much, this started off as a simple question but then my brain went “wait 🤔 what if 🤨”

-Moomi✨

So, a lot of this comes down to how you feel about connecting the two stories. A lot of people do not connect Another Story and Deep/Casual. So there are people that will say that it's just two different realities where possible circumstance can happen. I personally connect the two and I write with that in mind. Let me just say that there is a two-year time period between the two points that you can play in. That is a long time for things to happen and play out.

It's only been 6 months since he was taken in Another Story when Ray is there. Not a lot of time has passed and he is fresh in paranoia and in the manipulation that has been expended upon him. He is loyal to a T and very emotionally distraught. He is very lost and clinging to the last shred of hope that he has. There's a part of him that is cut throat and willing to destroy if that's what he has to do, but there's another part of him that's crying out when that happens.

Because he doesn't want to do those things but he has no choice.

She is the only person that's left in his life that hasn't abandoned him and he truly believes everything that she's told him. He's constantly trying to get her praise and attention because he doesn't want to be left behind. Suit Saeran said to himself that all of their vulnerable points of holding onto hope are inside of Ray. There is a reason why without the MC that Ray wouldn't be able to survive for very long. It's because Ray would never be getting positive influence. He would be a hurt more and more the longer that he was forced to lash out.

It would eventually destroy him. It would be too painful for him to exist because he would have nothing and it would be pointless. He would run himself ragged to give his savior what she wanted and he wouldn't be able to keep up with what she wanted. It would overload him. That is why Suit Saeran what eventually emerge at some point during that time period that would be after Ray combusted.

Suit Saeran isn't exactly stable either. He is built on anger and animosity, but he has just as many emotions as Ray has even though he tries to deny them. It's just instead of balling up everything inside of him, he's taking it out on everyone else because that's what he's been told his strength. He would work himself just as hard as Ray had, but there would be a part in the side of him that was just as twisted.

I personally do not see Suit Saeran and Unknown as the same person so that's important to note here. I imagine that at some point during that period after he gained control, something really bad would happen and it would cause a fracture inside of him. Unknown would be born if that split and eventually take control of the body. He is a lot more twisted. He's let go of the part of him that has hope, and the only thing that he's holding onto is devastation and destruction.

Everything is everyone else's fault and they need to pay for it. His sole purpose is completing their Revenge. He has a one-track mind and there's no doubt about that. He doesn't know what he's even going to do once he gets his revenge. He hasn't even planned that far. You can see that in a lot of the Bad Endings on Seven's Route. He is very emotionally vulnerable and on a hairpin trigger that could be easily broken. In a way he's like Ray. He and Ray have a lot more in common than he and Suit Saeran do with that.

Unknown has fully committed himself to this system. Whereas, with Ray and Suit Saeran, the both of them are able to express to the MC in the game, but they have doubts and that they know that she's not right but they have no other choice. Yes, they are committed to it in a sense but that doesn't mean that they are completely and wholeheartedly consumed by the Cult. There is still a part of them that is seeking that individuality and fighting against the pain and what sounds wrong.

Unknown has given himself to this. He sees no other point and he sees no other purpose. He's been tortured and pushed around his entire life, and it's been blamed on V and Saeyoung. This is the only thing that he's able to focus on and it's the only thing that he knows. It's the only thing grounding him. Rika is right behind him and whispering these lies and manipulation into his ear every single day. She treats him the way that she treats all of them, like a dog chasing food on the end of a string. She says pretty words and has great ideas, but if you follow her, you're never going to get the treat at the end.

And with Unknown, you know that he's been gaslit and manipulated to a degree much more lengthy than what Ray and Saeran went through; he's been stuck in this place by himself with nobody to hold on to. That just didn't stop because he started listening to what she wanted. That continued on. So did her constant denial of giving him praise. He's constantly trying to do things for her and that will make her praise him, and she always avoids doing it. He's always Chasing the Sun but he's never going to be able to touch it.

With Rika, you know that she's trying to cope by saying that she's a better mother. She's so lost in everything that she's been through and all of this anger that she's holding onto, that she's masking everything that she's doing and living her lie to the fullest. It's her way or the highway. She wants to get her revenge and she wants to prove that she was always right. She wants to be able to look at the crumbled remains of RFA as they seemingly all join her side one by one, and leave V in the dust.

She wants him to be a million things all at once. Her expectations for him are beyond what anyone could ever be. She says if you do this or that, she'll praise you and you'll be the best. But in reality, you're never going to be good enough in her eyes. That is the reality that he has to face. It's one that he tries to deny because she's made him truly believe that she's the only person that he has left. Yet, she treats him so horribly and only gives him enough so that he doesn't have enough doubts to make a fight.

She is apathetic. It's been so long and he's been failing her consistently in the secret ending. He wasn't able to get the MC. He wasn't able to get the party guests or the plans. He wasn't able to make good on any of the promises that he said that he was going to do. She's angry at him and she does what she's always done, blame him for being too emotional and punish him with more cleansing ceremony is so he can become the person that she wants them to be.

But like I said, the problem with that is that he's never going to be what she wants him to be.

She gets impatient. She stops putting on a pretty and friendly face for him. It's because he's not getting her the results that she wants fast enough. It's because he's not living up to what she wants him to be. It's because she's not happy and no matter how much she tries to use him to get what she wants to be happy, she's never going to be happy.

She's in a completely different place at this point in her life than she was in Another Story. She's had a hell of a lot more time to ruminate and get angry about how she's not getting results. At some point, she gets bored and tired of not getting what she wants. She's got a throne and she's got all of this power, but it's not making her happy. V is never giving her the response that she wants whenever they interact, and this just keeps feeding back into it. Her unchecked trauma and inability to accept responsibility for her crimes all play into this. The shame and the guilt...

I really do think that she lost whatever shred of humanity that she had. If you want to say that she had any of it. She's really had more time to get herself into place with the Savior position. She starts to think that she did the right thing by what she did to Mother Choi. She starts to think that she was right about doing what she did to the boys. What she did to V.

All of the people around her are constantly likening her to a saint and telling her that everything that she's doing is perfect and correct. She becomes more and more desensitized to the violence that she is committing. She is personally involved with many of the cleansing ceremonies. She is constantly there with all of this violence and trickery.

These are things that affect your psyche.

At some point, everyone around her is just useful for her goals. She doesn't really care what happens to Saeran because she has no more patience for him. He's constantly questioning her and fighting her. He doesn't listen like Ray listened. He makes a point of pushing back and at some point she just decides that it would be easier to get rid of him if she has to do it. In a lot of the Bad Endings, he does not know what the trigger to the bomb does. She literally just tells him that it's going to do something that will hurt his brother so much.

And he believes everything that she says. In those endings, she gives him the trip to the bomb because she wants to clear up the loose end. If she gets rid of him, she can easily manipulate his brother to do what she wants and turn him against V. She can use that opening to get whatever she wants. Seven would never know. She would just change her tactics and manipulate the other brother. Because at this point in her life, all she cares about is getting back at V. She blames him for everything and wants to destroy him for it. Nothing else matters at that point. She has a one-track mind at that point.

And what's more disheartening is the fact that she thinks that she wants that, but there's something inside of her that doesn't want that. She's just as conflicted as the rest of them are. I think it should be very telling to anyone about what's going on in her head space just by telling you to look at how willing she is to throw him away in the secret ending. She was ready to just throw him into the basement to have him used and abused again. Even if his brother tries to defend him and offer himself up, she's still pretty much ready to throw Saeran away.

She screams at him because he doesn't listen. That's why she says that she should have took his brother instead. She's tired of him fighting her and not obeying her every order and being her little puppet. She stops caring about him as a son when she realizes that a son isn't going to be her cute little puppet.

[vulpixsinistre]

H.I.V.E. Characters as Dragon Ball Z Characters

To start, you may be thinking, Otto is Goku, yes? Both our heroes. Both get stronger and learn new techniques as their series goes on. Both want to protect their friends and the people from Earth from certain doom and destruction and getting conquered. Goku craves a challenge - dare I say Otto is the same, at certain points?

Yes, Otto is Goku- BUT he is also Cell. He was created, not born. Meant to be more than human: meant to be perfect, all powerful, intelligent and capable of being the one to take over the world. The difference is that Cell wants to do these things; Otto just wants to be a person. Therefore while Otto was meant to be Cell, he chooses his own path and is a Goku.

Wing is Trunks. Here’s a mysterious young boy with incredible strength and loyalty. Who is his father, you ask? Well, they would like to keep that a secret at first. He wants to train, to protect. His mother is a genius scientist. (On second thought, maybe he’s Tien. Disciplined martial artist, loyal friend, has some good moves, still only mortal)

But Cypher is Dr. Gero, brilliant creator of androids. They seem to… decline over the years. We see how they’ve grown progressively more evil as time went on. Cause of much destruction. Will not hesitate to hurt a child. At least Cypher thinks he has good intentions, Gero is just kinda stewing over his defeats.

Pike is Dr. Briefs simply because scientist. Inventor. Often seen with a cat. Old but doesn’t seem to age, is always just old.

Overlord is Freiza, of course!! Our OG Big Bad!! Conqueror and lord of planets, nay, the whole universe!! Also keeps returning. How is he back again?? He doesn’t quit!!

Block and Tackle, our tough duo, would be either Raditz and Nappa, or Zarbon and Dodoria. R&N are basically just thugs, and definitely lower level than the other baddies. Z&D are more ruthless and are definitely henchmen. Block and Tackle are a mix of that “brute force over brains” and “organized order-followers.”

Francisco is Captain Ginyu!! Head of a fearsome squad of fighters that you do NOT want to mess with!! And yet, they are both silly at times. We get laughs out of them while knowing that this guy is strong and means business.

Franz I’m sorry, you’re Yamcha. You’re there and you help and you’re funny, but you’re not quite a main main character, and the rest of them are handling this all pretty well anyways. HOWEVER you are also Yajirobe!! We think you’re a silly side character, but when we really need help, you swoop in with a devastating blow to the bad guy!! Yay!!

Nigel is Chaozu, bald and nervous side character. Sidekick type. They do their best, and would sacrifice themselves for the greater good.

Nathaniel? Master Roshi. Old perv dude. Wise, the main characters need their advice, they’ve been in the game a long time… but yeah ppl immediately think of their gross lines. These two do have a purpose! And perhaps most of their relevance in the storyline was in a flashback/pre-canon sense, but they’re still here, doing their own thing.

Penny is Vegeta, but in reverse. She starts as having a family, surrounded by friends and loved ones and being a “good guy.” Then she ends up in enemy territory, alone.

HIVEmind is our King Kai!! He’s off in the distance. He’s not actually here but he’s helping. Sending out messages and giving advice. And we know he’s strong! But he’s supposed to be a helper, only.

The Contessa as Berry Blue, perhaps? Old. A right hand man in her organization, if you will. “Yeah I’m evil. Yeah I’m going to be mean to everyone, even if they’re on my side.” An evil advisor.

The Furans WISH they were King Cold, Cooler, and Freiza. They WISH they were an awesome terrifying dictator family. What’s that, you say? They are? Well they don’t have half the swag that the Colds do. Plus Elena doesn’t want to be a part of that. (Ok fine. Equal amounts of ruthlessness. Keep coming back after their ‘defeats.’ Will kill anyone. Command a large army of soldiers.)

Ms. Leon is Korin. White cat, very wise, a teacher type. Also maybe Captain Ginyu when he’s trapped in the body of a frog. When consciousness switching goes wrong…

The Bloodline antagonist is Broly, I will not elaborate due to spoilers. Trust me though.

Now the hard part. Laura and Shelby… who is Bulma, who is Chi Chi? Is Laura Bulma because they are both incredibly intelligent and work with computers/machines? Is she Chi Chi because she wants a life outside of fighting and conflicts? Which one is Shelby, they’re both tough and outspoken.

Is Shelby Launch?? Launch has two personalities, sweet/innocent and violent. Does this correspond to Book 1 Shel’s Valley Girl persona vs actual Shelby?

Is Raven actually Trunks, due to sword? They are faced with enemies deemed too hard to beat, and they still manage to take them down. I was originally having Raven as Piccolo: always by the MC’s side, skilled fighter, maybe Natalya/Raven can equal Kami/Piccolo? (They are the same person now. In ways, they didn’t used to be)

Yknow? Maybe Raven is Whis. Bodyguard and employee of a very high ranking authority, and everyone knows they are much much stronger than their boss. Don’t get them going, you can’t win.

[second-chance-stray]

(Split Ends) RP Log: Cravs, Riylli, and Rising revisit Baldur in Limsa Lominsa.

Cravendy Hound - After entrusting Baldur, the ill-fated boy, to the healers based in Limsa Lominsa, the trio decided to head back to the company...at Crav's insistence, really. Every extra second spent in the maritime city was a second too much. And so, after taking the aetheryte home, we find the three on the company lawn.

Riylli Aliapoh lets out a stretch as they arrive, a bit groggy from the teleporting. "It's a shame you missed it Cravs, Rising ran in while I was castin' one of my spells and I knocked her a clean 20 fulms in the air!" She said, grinning with a bit too much pride. She then seemed to remember Rising was still there. "...By the way, you okay?"

Rising Lotus was patched up after their encounter as well, her right arm was coating in bandages, along with some other patches along the exposed skin of her body. She winced with each step, the healers picking all the needles from her form and now leaving her body to do the rest of the healer. She merely grumbled as Riylli spoke to her, putting her weight on her spear to take some of it off her leg.

Cravendy Hound: "Magic and melee don't mix, Riylli. But, er, 'ow are ye 'oldin' up, Risin'? That injury ye got looked somethin' fierce."

Riylli Aliapoh rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly, taking that as a 'no'. She turned back to Cravs, deciding to ignore the issue like a mature adult. "So... Y'wanna tell us what that was all about? Why're you goin' so far to help this guy's kid?"

Rising Lotus: "...I'll be fine. Kinda a feel like layin' down." she glanced at Riylli, nodding afterwards "Aye. I'm curious 'bout that too."

Cravendy Hound: "I'm still confused 'ow a cactaur of all things made it to La Noscea. Could be a freak accident, but somethin' about it doesn't sit right with me." She sighs in thought, brow knitted and bothered. "....Ah. Uh. I guess I owe ye all an explanation."

Riylli Aliapoh plopped herself down on the step, ready for a story

Cravendy Hound: "Oi, get up! I-I'm not gonna bore ye with all the details," Cravs stammers. "Look. I made a promise to the kid's father. 'is dyin' wish was to see his son grow strong, with his own strength."

Riylli Aliapoh tilted her head. "...Y'know... It aint really his own strength if we had to step in to help... You sure you should be meddlin' like this? I mean, it was just a little cactus thing"

Rising Lotus "...Someone might not want that. I remember the merchant mentionin' somethin' 'bout some folk not carin' for him or his family or somethin'." she shrugs, wincing in pain afterwards "...also cactuar are from Thanalan, don't know how one would of gotten there."

Cravendy Hound nods to Riylli. "I agree, and originally, I just wanted to see if 'e was doin' okay. But this cactaur business...I think someone /else/ is meddlin' with 'im. And if we meddle to remove the meddler, then it'll cancel out, right?"

Riylli Aliapoh 's ears perked up in interest. "Y'mean someone left that cactus out there to take the kid out? Who exactly was this kid's sire? Why's he got so many enemies that would go so far as to try and kill his kid after he's already gone?"

Cravendy Hound shifts in place, heat under the collar. Unusually, she speaks slowly and thoughtfully, as if the wrong word could set off a mine. "Kid's father was a pirate captain, but one with...'onor, I suppose. Steal from the rich, give to the poor. Which lead 'im to rob from the same, powerful set of targets."

Cravendy Hound: "If ye got raided by Captain Thorne, ye didn't -just- lose yer shite. It was a kind of...a mark. A blow to yer pride, and that didn't sit well the rich."

Riylli Aliapoh thinks about this for a moment. "...So if we know who the targets are, why don't we just hop over an' kick their teeth in? Bet that'd gettem to stop messin' with the kid!"

Rising Lotus huffs, closing her eyes tightly for a few moments before glaring at Cravs. "...So what's gonna happen when these powerful targets  learn we're helpin' the kid? Last thing I need is to be marked like the boy, or if they learn we work for Heartwood an' create problems for the others."

Cravendy Hound: "That's step one. Gotta find who's still got it out for the kid, out of a handful of options." She then turns to Rising. "As long as we don't do anythin' illegal we should be alright. And we can threaten to expose 'ow they torment a kid to keep them from doin' anything to us."

Cravendy Hound: "Nothin' illegal, alright? That means even if they're an ass, we can't just kick their teeth in." Cravs lectures to Riylli.

Riylli Aliapoh frowned. "It aint illegal if they're a bad guy! And ain’t kickin' teeth in how pirates settle their differences anyroad?"

Rising Lotus tried to give Cravs a skeptical look, but just ended up grimacing from the shift of posture, then just looked exhausted. "That ain't how it work if you're rich. Can get away with anythin'."

Cravendy Hound: "That's not 'ow the law works! And while that may be 'ow we settle problems on water, on land...under the Admiral's stink eye, we'd probably cause more trouble doin' that."

Cravendy Hound: "The rich still 'ave their pride. I'm thinkin' if word got out that the bugger pesters a goddamn child for 'is late father's legacy, it'd be enough to twist their arm."

Riylli Aliapoh looked to Rising, then to Cravs, and then up to the sky as she let out an exasperated sigh. "...Y'see? This is exactly why we Miqo'te got our own rules..." She grumbled, before finally looking back down. "Fine! We'll do it your way! But if any of 'em tries to swing at me it's fair game, yeah?"

Rising Lotus grumbled, pretty much done with the day. "Well in the case it does go tits up, we can handle ourselves much better than that boy I 'spose."

Cravendy Hound nods. What an exhausting day. "...well. Ye look like ye could use two days worth of sleep, Risin'. That's all I 'ad to say."

Riylli Aliapoh hops to her feet and dusts off her pants. "Alright! Just gimme a shout whenever you get a lead or whatever. Always happy to lend my skills to a good cause!" She flashes Cravs a grin, and very pointedly tries not to look over to the wounded Rising

Rising Lotus "...Aye. You know how to reach us. Though we ought to expect somethin' worse than a cactuar next time." she sighed and started making her way toward the door.

(Cravendy Hound) seems a good place to timeskip to next scene? any last posts and then :P )) (Rising Lotus) I'm good!)) (Riylli Aliapoh) (Timeskip ready! (Cravendy Hound) AAAHH that outfit!!! )) (Cravendy Hound) the blade harness xD )) (Rising Lotus) Oh yeah I don't think you've seen her in it yet!)) (Riylli Aliapoh) (No fair, its so hard to get glams for Riylli ;-; (Cravendy Hound) it looks extremely good )) (Cravendy Hound) *timeskips in same outfit* xD )) (Cravendy Hound) HERE we can at least start in the company so it doesn't feel like, literally seconds after xD )) (Rising Lotus) Guess we'll have to have a fashion montage for Riylli at some point)) (Riylli Aliapoh) (Yknow what, its totally canon that RIylli only has one set of clothes (Cravendy Hound) ahahaha )) (Riylli Aliapoh) (Oh, I DO actually have a glamour change! (Rising Lotus) so pick out something new then we can figure out how she got it!)) (Riylli Aliapoh) (alakazam (Rising Lotus) mask (Cravendy Hound) fjkdslf just the gloves?! )) (Riylli Aliapoh) (Theyre bandages ^o^ Shes been practicing the fire spell! (Rising Lotus) Damn I thought you were just going to throw that mask on xD))

Cravendy Hound - A week later, Cravs has reached out to Riylli and Rising for company (or maybe help?) again. It's related to the business in Limsa Lominsa, and she's wearing her disguise dress again. Oh boy.

Rising Lotus was eyeing the bandages wrapped around Riylli's hands. "...How's that fire spell going?"

Riylli Aliapoh grins to Rising. "It's goin' well! I got the basic formula down, just gotta work on intensity and duration!" She beams proudly, giving Rising a bandaged thumbs up.

Cravendy Hound: "That...looks painful."

Riylli Aliapoh gives a mock bow. "You gotta suffer for art y'know"

Rising Lotus couldn't help but smirk at Riylli's enthusiasm. "...We'll get it down before you touch anythin' we fish up..or the lava." she turned her attention to Cravs, holding back a snicker at seeing her dolled up again. "You find out more 'bout the boy then?"

Cravendy Hound: "Seems ye got some more sufferin' to do then," Cravs notes in a bright tone.

Cravendy Hound: "Right, the Baldur business - I narrowed it down to a couple of names. But that's as far as I can go gatherin' information out 'ere. Thought it'd be more efficient to ask the kid 'imself. Which means." Cravs gestures to her outfit. "I'll need some escorts to talk for me once we're in Limsa again."

Riylli Aliapoh was clearly enjoying the attention, but quieted down to let Cravs speak. "Why not just talk to the kid as Cravs? If he's lost his sire, it... might be nice for him to know he's still got people close to him out there..."

Rising Lotus "Hmm...'spose maybe she doesn't want him to turn her in for the gil? If he really needs to be supportin' him an' his mom anyway." she shrugged. "Doesn't look like the type to sell out someone who's helpin' him though."

Cravendy Hound went as white as a sheet at the suggestion. "A-ah, that's...Uhh, we've got, um. A misunderstandin' between us. If 'e knew it was me, 'e'd flip out for sure. Trust me, it's easier this way." Cravs clears her throat and then hurries out before Riylli or Rising can ask further.

Cravendy Hound - The trip over is pretty awkward. If the subject was brought up again, Cravs would simply pick up the pace and pretend not to hear. And, once the trio were in Limsa, her lips were sealed, clarification frustratingly out of reach. That said, she was definitely walking somewhere with purpose.

Rising Lotus gave up askin' fairly quick, she knew she wouldn't get anywhere at the moment. She'd pry it out of her later though, one way or another. "So... you know what he'll be up to today? Or you jus' hopin' we run into him?"

Riylli Aliapoh wouldn't bring it up again, at the very least smart enough to see Cravs didn't want to talk about it. Instead, she would offer fun facts of things she had learned so far in her research. "...So, did you guys know that a forge runs hotter than lava?"

Cravendy Hound mimes holding something heavy and swinging it around. And to Riylli's fact, she gives the miqo'te a doubting look. Really?

Riylli Aliapoh nods. "Yeah! Turns out lava is only like... half as hot as your average blacksmith forge! It aint even hot enough to melt iron! Makes my job easier, but it's kinda disappointin' y'know?"

(Riylli Aliapoh) (Thank you for subscribing to Lava Facts)

Cravendy Hound desperately wants to ask if that's how Riylli has been testing her fire shield spell - by dunking her hands in a forge. Cravs moves her hands around as if dipping them in something.

Riylli Aliapoh tilts her head, unable to figure out the mimicry. "Can't you like... at least whisper or somethin' when were alone? Surely they don't got ears everywhere?"

Cravendy Hound looks around and finds it acceptably empty. "Did ye dunk yer 'ands in the forge to test yer spell?!" She whisper-yells.

Rising Lotus narrowed her eyes at Cravs "...So he's... carrying somethin'.. then puttin' it in the oven?" she seemed to be combining the conversations. Then Cravs actually spoke. "Oohh you're talkin' 'bout that. I hope you didn't do that, use a fire or somethin' first Riylli."

Riylli Aliapoh blinks at her. "What? You crazy? What if the spell failed?" She said, shaking her head. "Nah, I've been usin' a campfire! Got a problem with the magic runnin' out too fast though..." She muttered, rubbing her poor cooked hands

Cravendy Hound stifles back laughter, and pats Riylli on the back. There there.

Rising Lotus: "I can get ya some cream for that. Know a gobbie that makes some quality stuff. Don't worry it works too, used it after gettin' a nasty burn from some giant bug sparyin' me with gunk."

Riylli Aliapoh grumbles and glares up at Cravs at the treatment, but lets it slide since she couldn't tell if it was meant to be mocking or not. "...That'd be great, thanks. I don't gotta pay for it, right?"

Cravendy Hound: "Bug....gunk? Bug gunk...That sounds. Hm." Cravs raises a brow at Rising but doesn't say more.

Rising Lotus "Well I ought to considerin' how you made me a pin cushion on our last outin' together." she snickered a bit, the first time she cracked a joke about it. "But nah, he owes me one anyhow. Next time I'm up there I'll grab ya some." she gave Riylli a firm pat on the back.

Riylli Aliapoh grumbled again, but couldn't really argue back. "...Thanks." She muttered, not exactly enthused about all this back-patting she was receiving

Cravendy Hound had earlier given Rising a notepad with names written in it. One of them, hopefully, belonged to the person who was harassing the kid. Her heels clicking on the docks, Cravs would eventually lead the little crew to a dusty corner of Limsa where the kid (B) was presently practicing his form with the ax.

Cravendy Hound - The heavy ax is far too big for the kid. Every swing pulls him comically forward with the weapon. He stops his 'practice' and looks up at the approaching trio with a wide smile. "I remember you two! You helped me with that monster the other day."

(Cravendy Hound) more back pats )) (Cravendy Hound) i demand more )) (Rising Lotus) I feel like Riylli and Rising would have back pats that would eventually devolve into a hitting contest)) (Cravendy Hound) actually cravs and rising would have to squat down to pat Riylli's back ahah - otherwise it'd be a head pat )) (Riylli Aliapoh) (Cravs and Rising know it's too dangerous to headpat Riylli, they'd probably get bit (Cravendy Hound) sometimes my tall friends would use my head as an arm rest.....annoyed me, and yet I can see Cravs doing that to Riylli lmao )) (Rising Lotus) I've done that to my shorter friends before xD))

Riylli Aliapoh perked up as she got recognized by the kid, offering him a friendly wave. "Hey! How are you holdin' up after all them needles?"

Rising Lotus watches the boy fling himself with his strikes, smirking with every swing.  "Aye that was us." she eyed up his weapon for a few moments. "You ought to get somethin' a bit lighter by the way, gonna leave yourself open if you take too long liftin' your weapon."

Cravendy Hound - The kid bashfully itches the tip of his nose. "I'm doing fine, thanks to you all...Woke up on the softest bed I've ever been on in my life, healing expenses all covered." Baldur's eyes drift over to Cravs, and then back to Riylli and Rising. "Oh, I plan to! I'm just using this old thing because it was the only thing I could afford. Once I earn enough, I'll buy a better one...after everything else, haha."

Cravendy Hound turns away, avoiding eye contact. It's overkill given that she's wearing a mask.

Rising Lotus eyed Cravendy, she had to pay for the needle removal out of her pocket. "...well I'm sure them healers were excited for the chance to de-needle someone. Don't see many cactuar over here after all, bit strange." she nodded as he brought up upgrading his armor and weapon. "A good set of armor is jus' as important as a good weapon, smart thinkin'."

Riylli Aliapoh nudged Rising with her foot to try and bring her back to the task at hand, snatching the list out of her hands. "Hey, so... Were kinda lookin' into something, think you might be able to help us out? You know any of the names on this list?"

Cravendy Hound - Baldur nods enthusiastically, dreads bouncing on top of his head. Admiration for Rising and Riylli is practically gushing from every inch of the kid. "So that was a cactaur? I've never seen one before."

Cravendy Hound - Baldur snaps into attention. "Oh, right away! I'd be thrilled to help you two out. Let's see..." He takes the list and scans it. "Only this last one. Mindred Rot. She's who I go to if I need a loan."

Rising Lotus "Aye, I grew up 'round them, used to hit them with sticks then ru-" she glanced at Riylli as she bumped her and had the list snatched away.

(Cravendy Hound) dfsd hit them with sticks and run???? chaos child )) (Rising Lotus) She didn (Rising Lotus) didn't have toys or anything xD Played with bugs and lizards and cactuars))

Riylli Aliapoh raised her eyebrow at the name. "...'Mindred Rot'? Well that's a bad guy name if I've ever heard one." She said, nodding along until she remembered Cravs' full name. "Er... Right, anyroad, what's she like? If she lends you money she can't be that bad, right?"

(Riylli Aliapoh) (Poor riylli about to learn the horrors of capitalism)

Cravendy Hound - Baldur smiles as he hands the list back to Riylli. "Oh, yeah, her name's pretty rotten. But in some ways...she looks after me. No one else'll give my family loans."

Rising Lotus "You need to get out of the woods more..." she shook her head at Riylli's comment. She hummed at Baldur's words about the woman. "Hmm, how generous of her."

Riylli Aliapoh wrinkled her nose. "Honestly I'd rather get out of the woods less... How in the world do you lot handle that salt in the air?"

Cravendy Hound - Baldur's gaze wanders to Rising's axe, and then to Riylli's staff. "So, you two must be adventurers, huh? You think you could teach me a thing or two? Punch better, smarter, harder? Oh, and! I didn't mean to be rude." He turns to Cravs. "Who's your friend?"

Rising Lotus Grinned, giving him a nod. "Aye! Do a lot of guard an' merc work. Takin' me all over, mostly back an' forth between Idyllshire an' places though. This one is still gettin' her footin' for it though." she snickered a bit as she eyed Riylli. "Oh, an' that's Singin' Gull. She's uh...a great singer an' has to save her voice most the time. We're guardin' her on her...singing journey?"

Riylli Aliapoh puffed her chest out. "Yup! Name's Riylli, Warrior of Earth!" she declared proudly, possibly forgetting Cravs and Rising were in earshot. "I'm a master of earth magic, but I'm sure I could give you some tips! Oh, and this is..." She trails off, staring at Cravs as her mind blanks on what her alias was. Thankfully Rising was there to have her back, though the Roegadyn still earned herself a glare from her little comment

Cravendy Hound 's frown twitches slightly. Singing Gull the Singer. Really? But she goes along with it anyway.

Cravendy Hound - Baldur's mouth forms an 'o' in awe. "Idyllshire? Never even heard of the place. Sounds cool though...And magic? How would I even start?" He turns back for a second to rest his rusty axe against a crate, and then hops right back into the conversation. "Like, just think really hard and magic happens? Hrrrghhhh.."

Riylli Aliapoh shook her head at the kid. "Nah, it aint that simple. It's more like... Y'know how you can move your fingers with your mind? You basically do that, but you move your aether about instead, and get THAT aether to move the aether OUTSIDE of you, and... Honestly I might not remember all the lessons, it's kinda just a reflex at this point. But you shouldn't be wastin' your talents on magic anyroad! You're a highlander right? You're gonna have plenty of muscle when you grow up, you should use-

Riylli Aliapoh -that instead!"

Rising Lotus could talk for hours about Idyllshire, but she resisted and tried to steer the conversation back on topic, which of course meant giving Riylli a light smack to the arm to get her to focus up. "Anyway, you know were we could find this Rot lady? Gull here is lookin' for gil for her next performance an' were hopin' to find some donations."

Cravendy Hound - Baldur is trying so hard to follow Riylli's explanation, but it leaves the poor kid's brain all tangled. "Huh, what? Huh? Uhh, oh, you want to meet Miss Rot? She's usually really busy so I have to schedule in advance. But I can ask if she's free to meet you all next time."

Riylli Aliapoh sighs. "Y'mean we gotta come all the way out here again..? Fine, I guess... Not like we can just go kick the doors down and demand to talk to her after all..." She muttered, offering a small glare to Cravs out of the corner of her eye

Rising Lotus cleared her throat, glaring at Riylli as she glared at Cravs "We'd appreciate that, jus' say that..uh..an up an' comin' singer is lookin' for fundin'. " she gave Baldur a nod, hoping that selling Cravs like that would make her the perfect target for a loan shark.

Cravendy Hound looks similarly annoyed, but shakes her head no to Riylli. It's not like they could go in there with wild accusations anyway - seemed worth strategizing over first.

Cravendy Hound - With the night fast approaching, Cravs motions with her hand to signal her intention to head home. Without bothering to wave goodbye to Baldur, she walks on ahead.

Rising Lotus watches Crav hurry away. "Uh sorry..." she put her hand to her mouth to muffle her words "Sort of a diva that one. Good luck out there lad!" she gave him a thumbs up before hurrying after 'Singing Gull'.

Riylli Aliapoh sighed once for not being allowed to rampage mindlessly, then once more as Cravs walked away without saying bye to the kid. She offers Baldur a wave. "You keep practicin' okay? We'll come by and see you again later, and maybe I'll share some of my adventurin' secrets with you!"

Cravendy Hound is a good distance ahead. As she passes by a stranger, there's some kind of odd collision that ends up tripping Cravs. Her mask drops off and rolls a few ilms forward as the stranger awkwardly, but quickly, makes their escape without even a sorry.

Cravendy Hound scrambles to recover the headware and fasten it back on. By the time Riylli and Rising have caught up, she's still kneeled over on the floor, troubled.

Riylli Aliapoh pretty much has to run to keep up with Cravs' long-legged walking, blinking in confusion as she notices her state. "H-Hey, you alright?"

Rising Lotus hurries to catch up to Cravs, quickly stepping in front of her to shield her face as she glanced around. "Aye..did you know that man or somethin'?"

Cravendy Hound: "I'm fine. Rattled is all." She whispers as she wobbles back up and takes a deep breath. ".....no, I didn't recognize them."

Rising Lotus looked around at the few bystanders eyeing the scene. "Maybe it'd be best to get out of here...before there's a chance to cause more of a scene." she said the last part in a whisper. Last thing they needed was the yellow jackets upon them.

Riylli Aliapoh raises her arm up seemingly to try to comfort her, only to hesitate and lower it back down. "...Let's talk outside of the city, all this salt is starting to make me sick..." She says, awkwardly attempting to give Cravs an out

Cravendy Hound: "...Right. No point in worrying about it now. Let's just get out of 'ere." She mutters.

[callsignbaphomet]

*steeples fingers* So... tell me about Trevor. Like, what's he look like, what's his skills, what weapons does he use. Stuff like that n anything else you wanna throw in uwu. Just feel like lettin ya talk about someone yknow?

BB! 💕❣💕❣💕

Trevor is also on the tall side at 6'4. Long black hair in dreads. At this point I might as well just admit my male and male presenting OCs almost all have long hair. Pretty dark complexion like Jelani, Ginger, Abigail and Latoya and some of the others. His eyes are super dark and in most lights they just look like his pupils swallowed up his irises. He's fit, bit vain in that department but I wouldn't consider him a gym rat but he does go more than Jela and certainly more than Lo lol. His upper and lower canines are gold (to be brutally honest when I first saw Black Panther and saw Killmonger I was all like, "fuck yeah, I'm doing that on Trevor but modified because werewolf".) Some scars here and there from when he was human and a mess more from his initial bite from a werewolf. Those start at his left shoulder down to his left elbow. Both ears pierced along with a side lip piercing (right side), same one Angelus has because both went to get that same piercing together the same day. He has tattoos or at least I want him to have some but like with every OC that has tattoos I haven't ever drawn them because I haven't decided what to do with them so he's also on stand by for that. Someday ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

As a werewolf he turns into a werewolf though he's wearing that charm thingy that let's him control the transformation and makes it a teeny tiny itty bit less painful. He also has hightened senses as well as crazy amounts of strength. Like other werewolves in human form he can make his irises or entire eyes glow, in his case silver, which doesn't actually do anything in the way of harm but it serves for intimidation purposes. He can also extend his claws and teeth to use to defend himself or shoo away potential threats.

He is also like THE sniper and counter-sniper with the world record of longest confirmed kill. He's like the embodiment of One Shot, One Kill - No Luck, Pure Skill. The man can defend himself in any scenario but ya really don't want him aiming a sniper at you that's like lol his final form. He's kinda old school preferring bolt action to semi-auto even tho more modern semi-auto snipers are more stable now than they were before. He can also fly just about anything from small planes to helicopters and is pretty much the go to pilot.

Bit of an understatement but Trevor is freaked out by magic. But he's in a team full of people who to some capacity use magic? You could also argue werewolves are kinda sorta not really but yeah by products of magic? True and true. He still doesn't like it but he trusts his friends and teammates so he's sorta chill. Enemies or an unknown person or thing using it or a place is inherently embedded with magic and he's outta there or will be pretty hostile. He just doesn't trust it.

Oh! Trevor also knows ASL. His little brother was deaf and they kind of had their own sign language to talk to each other. Now, his little brother died of pneumonia which he caught while both were running away from some very bad people and given that they didn't have a home and were squatting in abandoned buildings the kid didn't make it. Then years later when he learned of ASL he felt a need to learn it and added Braille in for good measure.

He's super into cats. He likes all sorts of animals but as a pet he feels that cats are the best for him. He has two male Peterbalds named Ice Cream and Cheesecake. Did I mention he's got a serious sweet tooth? He totally does.

He's also an avid horror fan. Book, movies, shows, podcasts, video games--if it's horror he'll happily consume it. Because of his love of horror he named his son Damien. He's aromantic and pansexual as well. That's a quick and sorta short bit of Trevor :3

I still haven't exactly sketched him out yet bc I'm being a dumbass perfectionist but I'm hoping to get something down one of these days.

[luuxxart]

GIVE US THE NEW WARRIORS HEADCANONS UR REDESIGNS ARE AMAZINGJAKMAKWJDKSL💖💖💖

aaaa omG thank you!! :’D I’m actually strangely attached to these characters so I’ll try to do my best to explain the design choices I made and everything

ok so here we go.

SCREENTIME

* first off

* Not an entirely bad name??

* I would prefer Worm tho as a reference to the Morris Worm

* And I did make his design a little more wormy. Kinda Doc Ock-ish.

* So his tragic backstory... Well. Long long ago... when he was just a little kid... his dad fucked his mom.

* Jkjkjkjk. But it would be better than fucking “internet gas.”

* To take this in a darker route, I think it would be cool if his grandad had been experimenting with creating cyborgs and turned his dad into one. And then turned Screentime into one. So Screentime escaped sort of half-finished and is just trying to help others who might mirror his situation of abuse.

* I like to think his first superhero story was he was just like fucking buying bulk ramen and then hears a dude harassing a girl in the next aisle over and is like. huh. word. guess I can intimidate this guy by threatening to take his fucking social security and make it public knowledge.

* Bc he can hook up to the internet and updates his database frequently so he can just Mr. Robot people.

* He’s probably like 18 or 19. Never was schooled and college is kinda pointless when you have the whole internet in your brain.

* So he’s just living in a rundown apartment. Payin bills by doing odd jobs and doin bitcoin stocks.

* On the battlefield, he’d definitely be a mind games kind of guy, but he’d also use his worm limbs for dexterity and could probably discharge bursts of electricity at the cost of losing some information in his database.

* Also it’s probably really hard to tell, but Screentime is my favorite out of the original designs.

TRAILBLAZER

* again! Not a bad name at all!

* Made me think of fire though... and hiking... so

* We really don’t have much information on these characters so they were kinda fun to play around w and I think she was my favorite in terms of concepts.

* Also what the fuck are those red things on her head am I just fucking dumb???

* They look like devil horns. So I’m gonna run with it.

* Ok so she got a backpack from a god.

* Well that god was a god of Hell and also her godfather. Her actual father was another god of Hell. And idk how gods really work in the Marvel universe?? But I think there’s probably at least some high-ranking demons of Hell. I think Hell exists??? If I remember Doctor Strange correctly? (Maybe not Doctor Strange... bro everything is so hard to keep up with)

* Anyway, her dad was killed by some hero traveling through Hell at some point probably. And so she’s been preparing since to go avenge him.

* Then she gets to earth and is kinda like... well, avenging can wait.

* And the reason she can’t just get anything she wants out of the backpacks is because the backpacks are alive. But over time as she gains their trust, they start to become more and more useful. So, like magikarp to gyarados.

* her outfit was so fucking hard to redesign. like,,, I still don’t like it. The backpacks and stuff yes. Everything else no. But it’s better than the Neon Nightmare.

* Her powerset shouldn’t be limited to just her backpacks though. I saw a lot of people complain about that. Bc anyone could steal them from her and use them?

* So I think she should have superhuman strength. Also, her backpacks should only respond to her command. It’d be cute if they were also kinda cheeky about it. Bc yeah she’s a spoiled little brat. But she’s their spoiled little brat so they’re not opening up for anybody but her.

* She’s defo the youngest of the group

* Even if she is an immortal demon kid lol

S

bro I can’t even say it

I’m renaming them Shuriken. Effective immediately.

SHURIKEN

* So Shuriken is non-binary. Which I think is really cool! They’re not the first non-binary character that Marvel has,, bc Loki exists,, but while they’re not a good step forward... they’re a step forward nonetheless and I kinda commend them for at least trying.

* But goddamnit why did they have to go and name them S

* Sn

* please don’t make me say it

* So Shuriken has ice powers that are sort of threatening to take them over. Like if Iceman couldn’t control his powers ig. Their powers sort of came to them mysteriously in the middle of them already having a gender crisis and high school is happening and all that blah and now they’re just like,,, so ,, “superheroing seems to be a good venture right now. Maybe I’ll find myself in heroics and forget about everything else”

* And most of the heroic ideal is on their brother, ,,,, uh,,,, Quarterback,,, who idolizes the “classic” heroes like Cap, Iron Man, and Thor.

* Shuriken prefers reading news stories about Night Slasher and Punisher, Jessica Jones, and just generally, the other edgier heroes.

* But because their brother idolizes heroics so much, it makes it sort of a surprise when Shuriken takes up their mantle before Quarterback realizes anything is going on.

* And how does the ice stuff affect them? They’re sort of on the fence about finding a cure and whatnot. Most people speculate its like later-in-life mutation, but Shuriken isn’t satisfied with this answer.

*they sometimes chop off the spiky ice parts for convenience(they have no feeling in the frozen over parts of their body)

*(I’m toying with the idea of them having a crush on Ms. Marvel ngl)

QUARTERBACK

* not much to say about him? Other than goddamn that neon was terrible.

* Also I’ve seen jocks wear pink, so some youtube dudes complaining about that can fuck off. Maybe not that bright of a shade?

* But I figure with a defensive character, you would definitely want a bulkier frame. At least Power Man levels of a bulky frame? Like I’m not talking Hulk or Thing. Just.. yknow. At least a good Cap size dude.

* Also a blockier costume would make sense. Since he’s supposed to be. Uh. Safe. For people to like,, crowd behind. Like a safe

* Like a safe sp

* Like a

* safespace.

* I also like to think he was sort of a stereotypical jock and then here comes his little sibling (by like,, 7 minutes) who’s finally just like “yo fuck the gender spectrum” and so he finally opens up to his own interests that he’s been burying

* Like the color coral

* Which is definitely not pink my dudiest of dudes ;)

* He’s definitely more

* CHILL

* than Shuriken about the whole ice taking over his body thing. Like, at the end of the day, he’s still a jock even if he did turn out to be a mutant. Like , the world didn’t just end because he’s got some cool ice powers

* Also only being able to create a shield if it’s for others?? What a fucking joke man come on

* He can create platforms of ice and just mainly uses the ice as shields.

B-NEGATIVE

* OK THIS IS MY SON

* not the original he kinda just looked like he took one look at Welcome to the Black Parade and said “I can do that outfit. But crappier.”

* Listen,,,, I constructed a son

* It’s like that thing from that movie

* I was like

* “We can rebuild him...”

* is that fucking robocop

* At any rate, yeah yeah, Morbius stuff is still withstanding

* What if

* And hear me out

* His parents were sort of antivax sort of anti-mutant sort of folk. They get into some sort of car accident when he’s kinda young. He gets a blood transfusion against his parent’s wishes and in the end also gets adopted by this weirdass doctor who probably has some nefarious purpose, considering he used Morbius’ blood in the first place.

* This would explain how he could survive having vampirism since a doctor would probably have easier access to donated blood and stuff.

* Should the blood be going to people who actually need a transfusion? yes, however, this doctor is clearly ,, off his fucking rocker and corrupt as hell,, and what is his purpose?? The world may never know

* I don’t think B-Negative cares about anything. Like he just seems like that kind of character? Totally and inherently aloof and selfish because he’s just been fed blood on a silver spoon his whole life?

* Just does not care

* He does care about music though. Specifically rock(alternative, punk, hard, etc) and the history of it.

* me personally I really like Pink Floyd and I’m not going to,, shove my beliefs onto a character but

* I’m going to shove my beliefs onto a character and say his favorite song of all time is probably Welcome to the Machine

* And he probably will not shut up about how righteous of a song it is and how pertinent the message is

* Bc I think it fits,,, a lot of things about the stuff I’ve wrote with the backstories of these characters

* and yes

* he can perfectly mimic Great Gig in the Sky. the man!! has pipes!!!

* I also think it would be cool if he’s the oldest of them? Like, younger than 21 but he’s out of high school. Just trying to get a bachelors in music history at fuckin uh. NYU probably.

* he unironically likes twilight

[sunlightnmoonshine]

One of the greatest moments in arthdal (nunbyeol V daekhan)

I think this fight is worth a specific post. As I rewatched it I realised so many specific details they had dealt with and it was true poetic cinematography. Initially arthdal chronicles had a few Eps that seemed unnecessary but if you've been here from the start you'd know that nothing they've ever done has been pointless. Maybe viewed pointless and irritating (cough eunseom being beaten and captured repeatedly cough) but theyve never actually put in any unnecessary scenes and I think this fight between nunbyeol and the soldiers clearly depicts that.

At first I thought that Harim was merely a character added to compliment Chaeeun and Nunbyeol because we can't really have a story without a family yknow. His presence served so much purpose. From being the one that contributed to Asa hons death to that guilt making him adopt Nunbyeol, to blocking her abilities to teaching her sword fighting, to training Chaeeun to become a doctor, to being a representative figure of the lack of loyalty that surrounds arthdal. Only he was on the victim end concerning the last point.

He's more or less caused the existence of an all powerful neanthal and saving her more or less indicates that the neanthal line might continue for at least a short while.

What's specifically so stunning about this fight is just the filming and the way it's portrayed. The ep was more or less hinting that Mugwangs death was near but they'd actually suggested that it would be Nunbyeols doing many Eps earlier. When tanya initially said he'd die under the crescent moon it was merely a curse a powerful one at that, not a prophecy. The prophecy revealed itself that day when she was trying to escape and with Chaeeun and Nunbyeol and she had the prophecy when Nunbyeol was close (I cant believe it didn't occur to me that nunbyeol might be the one to kill him when it's been staring me in the face the whole time). What adds to this is nunbyeol already fought him once with her sword fighting but her repressed self couldn't handle it. It makes it all the more better when she unlocks her self and really shows them what a neanthal is capable of. The added explanation from that other soldier happening along the way of the ep perfects it because its an inherent forewarning. And bam we've the hiss and the blue eyes and blue veins and absolute perfection that was her fight. It opened with such glory legit cut a body perfectly in half but the pure gold of this moment was the look on the daekhan forces faces.

For the longest time they've viewed themselves as the strongest. They've been under the impression that Neanthals are long gone and they've been proud of it solely because they think they had a role to play in it. The fear that suddenly overtakes them in those few minutes was displayed so magnificently and it depicts just how weak the daekhan forces are. They've used brute strength and useless reason to take lives over and over again and they've been proud of it. One might view this as because they are part of "tagons" army and this delusional ideology they've got going that by following him they are somehow stronger and powerful and worthy of their actions. Regardless the way that all comes crashing down in a matter of minutes.

The choreography of her fight was astounding, you could see the rush of strength like a moment of ecstacy. Perfect swordsmanship, perfect expression. Prior to her unleashing it all the helplesness that echoed though. You could see and feel the pain, their screams, their cries and Nunbyeol in particular being dragged like a rag doll because she's relatively weaker only makes her rise so much more stunning.

I'll remember Mugwangs eyes of fear for a long time to come. I've been waiting for it no doubt but the way they handled it was so astounding, the poetic cinematography. He was an unapologetic piece of shit until the end although he had countless moments to make amends and thats what this show is about. It gives people the chance to make the right choices, gives them the chance to be good just like life does but then depicts just how arrogance and selfishness and all negative emotions get in the way of it. Mugwang has been a villain from inception, whatever conscience he had is long gone so it makes sense that he didn't beg for forgiveness only that every mistake he made was reflected in his eyes and that he was completely helpless about it. It still amazes me how he simply followed orders because he revers tagon and knows taealha is his trusted comrade. His reaction however would have been completely different had he known Tagon was an igutu and that's what's so perfect he dies just like that serving a master he actually knew almost nothing about. Makes his life seem even more worthless really.

Arthdal chronicles has been cruel from the start. The merciless killing of innocent Neanthal, the burning of children of Wahan the endless pain caused specifically by the the Daekhan forces all reflected back on its perpetrators in a matter of minutes. I don't know the name of the other soldier who survived that fight but he more or less is a representation of what the entire force is about to feel. That fear, all of it coming back to them. It was so gratifying watching them have a taste of their own medicine. Him fainting by the end of it adds to what the daekhan forces really are. They are wimps disguised in brute force and strength.

I'm curious to see what will set aside Mubaek and Yangcha. They've so much potential to do more with their lives, Mubaek in particular. If he'd just opt to be more of an action taker than a watcher. He's hesitating too much but that's perfectly fine given his character. He's stood by and watched as the neanthals were killed, while the wahan were killed and now I wonder what else he'll stand by and watch. Had he been more forward with his actions he might have been able to save two dear people to him. Asa hon and Mugwang. It's too late now and his characters potential is going to be tested.

Praise to Arthdal Chronicles for delivering such fine characters. There's so many memorable ones that each own their moments regardless of whether you root for them or not regardless of whether they are in the light or the dark or even the grey area - arthdal chronicles gives you a fine set of people that represent what our world is like to this day

[bunnythechopper]

Lust and Havoc Share A Body AU

Howdy! Me and one of my best friends started this off of a joke and then I fell into the rabbit hole and wound up making it a full fledged AU

The basic summary here is that after Lust’s death, Father puts her into Havoc’s body and they end up stuck together similarly to Greed and Ling. Lust’s characterization is also a mix between brotherhood and 03 (because duh yknow?) Also I have a few joke-y interactions as well that I wanna draw for this AU, but we’ll see! If I have the time I definitely will

I’ll also be splitting the post into parts here to make it easier to navigate through

The Beginning/The How:

Jean Havoc is a stubborn, skilled, strong-willed, soldier who Lust has spent months getting to know under the guise of being “Solaris” and whether she’d ever admit it or not, part of her is actually attached to him by the time she confronts Roy & Jean under Central

At some point, she’s convinced herself that he could be a potential valuable asset and useful to the grand plan in some way

Lust gets Havoc’s body to Father’s base of operations at some point inbetween Roy & Jean’s fight and the fight with Riza, Barry, and Alphonse. 

Admittedly details on this part are a little hazy, since the entrance way to Father’s base is behind Riza and the group, but I’m fairly certain there’s gotta be other like side entrances and stuff like how Bido comes across Greed and such.

And I figured maybe she recruited another homunculi to help her move the body like maybe Pride yknow since Lust is one of the higher ranking homunculi

When Father is brought Havoc’s unconscious, bleeding body, he’s kind of just like “What the fuck is this?” like Lust is a cat who brought him a dead rat as a gift. But Lust has never really given him reason not to trust her, so he figures he might as well wait until she gets back and hear her out on why the hell she brought him the body of a dying human before he inevitably destroys Havoc

Only Lust is killed by Roy and doesn’t come back and now Father just has some idiot soldier in his base of operations

Father recognizes Havoc as one of Roy’s unit, and figures “Well, we have this guy, might as well try and get some use out of him before he dies” and inserts a Philosopher’s Stone made from Lust into Havoc’s wounds

Havoc & Lust Reunite:

Havoc is too stubborn to relinquish control of his body so Lust frankly doesn’t get to just take over, but Havoc’s also too stubborn to die, so Lust still has a chance

Despite this, Havoc expresses to New Lust that he’s willing to let her borrow his body as long as it isn’t forever

He takes it as a chance to talk to her about the whole homunculi thing and also whether or not she was ever actually serious about their relationship. Not to mention he could probably gather some intel for Roy about the homunculi and Hughes’ death and stuff!

The entire conversation, Havoc is calling Lust “Solaris”

Lust is just like “Who the fuck is Solaris? Who the fuck are you? What are you talking about? This is my body now, thanks, please go away”

Ultimately though, Lust knows how unlikely it is she’ll get another chance to come back without Havoc, she’s useful to Father but not necessary. So she reluctantly agrees and agrees to share the body, but she intends to eventually completely take over

Father has Lust go undercover eventually to help prevent Roy’s team from continuing to get in the way of their plans

Lust isn’t too happy about having to pretend to be Havoc and paralyzed but she’s not going to disregard her orders

Havoc makes a good point (much to Lust’s surprise) that he can just front when they have to talk to anyone who knows him and Lust really hates to admit that it’s definitely smarter than having her take his place sometimes

Miscellaneous:

Havoc spends a lot of his time when he’s not in control talking to Lust, or trying to

He never calls he Lust, he completely insists on referring to her as Solaris

And most of his topics is just him going over dumb stories from hanging out with Team Mustang or from growing up or what random trivia he seems to know about things

He does however try talking to her about their dates a lot

Lust hates to admit it when her memories start coming back

She tries not to talk about it like Jean can’t see the memories himself when she gets them, she’d rather pretend she doesn’t remember him or their time together or anything that led to her actively choosing to save his life that night

Jean doesn’t confront her about it really, but he’s going to get answers out of her eventually

He never asks why she saved him, but he thinks he knows. He knows that she’s not as much as a monster as she’s been acting since they merged, he knows that somewhere in her she actually cares and she doesn’t hate humans as much as she says

He makes a lot of jokes as well of course, mostly bad puns or cheesy pickup lines. He claims it’s just his way of keeping himself from dying of boredom, but eventually Lust can’t help it and she laughs and he knows he’s broken through to her, even just a little crack

Havoc has no sense of style and Lust is not about to stand for that, when he’s released from the hospital and they’re living in his hometown, one of the first things she does it make him clean out all of his wardrobe and go buy new clothes

Lust pretends to turn a blind-eye to Havoc passing notes to Team Mustang and helping them

She can’t have failed to stop them if she never noticed

Jean pretends not to notice, but he’s not stupid, he knows damn well that she could stop him and ruin the communications if she wanted

Havoc’s also got a surprisingly tight knit family and Lust really doesn’t know how to handle that obstacle

The closest to a sense of family she’s ever had was Gluttony and maybe Envy, neither of which really prepared her for being involved with a real human family

She draws similarities between Gluttony and the Havoc family dog though, the comparison makes both herself and Jean laugh

Jean chalks that up to another breakthrough

He tries to use the window to get Lust to open up and talk about the other homunculi

Surprisingly she does, though it’s mostly just stories about Gluttony, she wonders idly about how he’s doing and whether he knows she’s back or not

Jean feels bad momentarily for planning to use what Lust told him about the other homunculi against them, but he tells himself that if Lust can be redeemed, then there’s no reason that they need to kill the others either

He doesn’t want to be responsible for killing Lust’s family

Spending so much time with humans, in a human body, and with Jean sharing space in her head, Lust is forced to reevaluate how she views humans

She still thinks they’re foolish and reckless, but she’s begun to admire them. It starts just as admiration for sticking to their principals and willingness to fight to the end if they thought it was worth it (even if she didn’t understand that or agree.)

But as time goes on, she finds it harder to hate them, whereas her entire purpose to being has been to serve Father and help him achieve his master plan, humans don’t have any one singular purpose, they do whatever they want for however they want, and even the ones who are supposed to follow orders, go out of their way not to if circumstances call for it to them

She unintentionally wakes Jean up one night in the middle of the night when she’s having a bit of a crisis when she realizes that helping Father might not be in her best interests

Without thinking she apologizes for waking him (woo more cracks) but he shrugs it off

Jean stays up with her, mostly just listening to her list off all of her thoughts and realizations and whatever else information she deems is relevant

She admits to being conflicted on whether to continue how she’s always gone, helping Father, or to turn around and do “something drastic” that he wouldn’t approve of

Jean’s just like “Listen, do whatever makes you happy, fuck your dad if he has a problem with it, yunno? It’s your life, not his”

Lust doesn’t mention how she’s literally part of Father and in turn doesn’t especially believe in the last bit of Jean’s advice

However the first bit sticks with her, do what makes her happy

A few days after their chat in the middle of the night, Lust tells Jean they need to see Mustang, that specifically she needs to talk to him

Jean’s a little unsure, but he decides to trust her. If he wants to prove to her that humans aren’t all bad and that she’s not all bad, then he needs to trust her

It’s a hassle and a half but eventually they find a chance to meet with Havoc privately, under the guise of making deliveries from his family store

Needless to say, Roy kind of freaks out when he learns that Lust, the homunculus he burned to death with a gash in his side has been living alongside one of his best friends for months

He’s incredibly reluctant to listen to what she says, but complies when Havoc insists he at least try to. It’s not like he has to use the information she gives him after all

Most of what Lust tells him is just the strengths and weaknesses of the other homunculi, which frankly most of that knowledge does little to help him, but it’s good information regardless

She also refuses to go into detail, but she tries to stress to Roy how important it is to stop Father before “the promised day” and how she’s not sure of the details of his plan, but that Roy is an important target and that the entire country is at risk from the plan

Roy takes it all with a grain of salt, but he thanks her for her help anyways, he asks why she’s suddenly “helping” them but she refuses to answer him, dodging the question and claiming that stopping Father helps her just as much as it helps him

Jean thinks he’s being slick and asks Roy to try not to completely up and off the other homunculi, more specifically Gluttony

Roy doesn’t tell him that he has no intention on sparing them if he’s faced against them, he just nods

After everything settles, since Havoc wasn’t in present in the battle itself on the promised day (and because I refuse to kill Lust I’m sorry I just cannot do it I refuse to make an entire AU only to kill her off in the end,) Lust winds up surviving, much to her shock

They go with Alphonse, Zampano, and Jerso to Xing and wherever else they travel to try and find a way to allow Lust to live outside of Havoc and have her own body again finally

For simplicity’s sake, Havoc and Lust finally get a singular name, courtesy of Zampano and Jerso; Larivoc (from Solaris, which is the name Lust was introduced from and has taken to using more than Lust after everything, and Havoc)

Lust admittedly thinks it’s a pointless endeavor, since they’re still 2 different people, but Jean appreciates the effort to give them a name and make it easier on the others