#i love ayu so much

[hotwaterandmilk]

Ultra Maniac by Yoshizumi Wataru (Vol. 1, VIZ Media 2005)

[yume-fanfare]

awww watching the fine live choreography is so fun because you can Tell tori is kinda worse than the rest hsljkdfhlskfds (even taking into account that he stands out a lot since hes so short and wears a p different outfit LOL)

[erigold13261]

I WANNA HEAR ABOUT THE ARACHNIKIDS ALWAYS BEING WITH SAYU CREW AU THAT YOU JUST TALKED ABOUT (sorry if this sounds too demanding but I’m so intrigued!!!!)

lol, you're good! I was able to tell this was more intrigue than being demanding!

[Adding this after I wrote everything. This came out a LOT longer than I intended. I said I wasn't gonna get into the history or that this would become a fully fleshed out AU (I still don't think it is honestly) but I did write a lot more than I intended. I probably forgot some stuff or went off on tangents and didn't connect back, but your ask made me start thinking a lot so have fun reading all of this! Especially if you were really excited about this AU, I hope I did it justice lol]

I will say, this probably isn't going to be a super fleshed out AU (not like most of mine are half the time lol), so instead of some complicated backstory as to why the Arachnikids and Crew ended up as a group, it will be more simple (so I'm not going back into super past history during like the border war or something to justify the group forming). [[I say this and then I kinda go into a justification as to how this group came to be later on down the line lol]]

I also don't have exactly much for this AU at the moment. I did see your ask you sent about your ideas for the AU, I forgot what it was at this moment since I just skimmed it since I want to give a version I think would happen before possibly altering it with other people's ideas (plus I might want to doodle something with your ask if I get time). So I'll give what I think this AU would hold.

So firstly, I honestly don't think that ALL the Arachnikids would be in the group. Well I guess that depends on who you consider an Arachnikid actually. If you see Hobie as one, I don't see it really being in the group, same with Noir or Porker.

I do see Pav, Miles, and Gwen as definitely being in the group. By extension I can also Gaya since Pav would be in it. For Margo and Peni, it can a toss-up honestly where they could be or could not be.

This actually does call into question how Nueva York would be affected by this without Miles. Looks like Hobie, Noir, and Porker aren't getting out all that soon unless they complete the programs. But anyway, let's just ignore that can of worms for right now and just get onto the mermaid part lol.

Also, so I'm not constantly using Sayu Crew and Arachnikids, I'm just gonna say like the team so I don't have to keep using both titles.

Anyway! I think the team would still start with Tila and Remi interacting at first (Tila stealing Remi's art for one of her songs/covers then apologizing after realizing what she did). Then instead of bringing on Dodo and Sofa, it is Gaya and Pav who join next because of Remi and Pav's relation to Eve.

I can see Pav and Remi being friends after meeting as kids when Eve took Remi to see her side of the family at some point (Eve being so much older she was hanging out more with older members of the family while Remi gravitated to Pav and that age group of the family).

Once Remi and Tila kinda teamed up I can see Remi telling Pav this (either in person on a visit or online) in a very excited manner and then it turns into Pav and Gaya wanting to join in and have fun.

It's mainly just animatics and drawings with some voice acting, sometimes a short full animation would come out, but it got quite a few people interested online. That would be where I can see Gwen getting really into these mermaids online since they expressed a kind of teenage femininity that she wanted to be, which then led into Miles getting into these mermaids to try and have something to talk about with Gwen (and later becoming a pretty big fan himself).

Once the team so far saw how popular they were getting, Remi and Tila recruited Sofa and Dodo respectively since they were already friends and knew those two had skills that could help them out, which only helped the quality of their project to keep getting better.

Miles and Gwen being really big fans of the project probably made their usernames known to the team. Especially if Miles and Gwen made fanart and tried making some music , which made them really popular in this little fandom that started to be made online.

Overtime I honestly see Miles and Gwen virtually becoming part of the team (like how Pav and Gaya were mostly virtual compared to the Crew was still physically close to each other).

Miles and Remi would work as designers for the mermaids. Gwen would help make music (Miles would help with lyrics) but also became another voice for a third mermaid (before it was just 2 with Tila and Gaya. Before it used to be one with Gaya the talking voice and Tila the singing voice, but that changed as they got more popular, some fans still get confused why Sayu's voice changed lol).

Pav also helped out with inspiration and stuff, making cool looking realms, landscapes, designs and more with his powers (kinda looking like AI art from the early days, before it started becoming like photo realistic and junk like that) and having Gaya take pictures to send to the team to work on.

I can also see Pav doing cool stunts that Gaya would record and send in to the rest of the team. Things that Dodo just wouldn't be able to capture with mo-cap either because he lacked those skills, the environment wasn't right, or it went beyond what mo-cap could actually capture at the time.

All of this was going well and good, except that Sofa was basically doing all the editing and putting the whole project together by themself, and were starting to get very overworked since almost none of the others could really help them out in this area. I think Miles definitely would have started learning more editing skills to try and help Sofa out at this point (maybe Ganke taught him or Ganke might come in at this point, I don't know what Ganke's lore is and if he has a tech background).

However, what I see happening is the team kinda asking for help with their project, like if any of their fans would want to help them out in this area or knew someone who could be hired (these are still teens who aren't part of NSR yet, so it's not like they are completely rich or rolling in money).

But the team is in luck! One of their more recent fans is really good at tech stuff, especially things like 3D animation or rigging up avatars! This would be when Margo ends up joining the team. She and Sofa work on the editing and software of the mermaids, with maybe Remi and Miles helping with video editing at times.

Now, at this point, I would say that the mermaids (Sayu, Aoi, and Yua are definitely made at this point, or at least versions of them are) have been around for maybe like 2 years. I can see the team is still about a year away from actually being signed onto NSR. I do think it took the OG Sayu Crew a long time to get enough skill and recognition to be at the Megastar level we see them at (not to mention having to get hologram tech at some point because I doubt Sayu was on the screen when first performing at a Light Up audition).

So right now, the Sayu project, or Mermaid project (whatever it would be called because I doubt it would be called the Doki Doki Mermaid Club in this AU, as that was a spin-off game that was made after Sayu was NSR in my version of things), has Remi, Miles, Tila, Gaya, Gwen, Pav, Dodo, Sofa, and Margo.

The mermaids I'll just use the names I gave them, but honestly with this AU they might change drastically because of the added people in the creation process. Sayu is voiced by Tila, Aoi is voiced by Gaya, and Yua is voiced by Gwen. I can actually see Gwen at some point during the time working on the project probably came out socially to her friends as trans and so when Yua was being made a decision with the team was made to one day make her transition (which happens before joining NSR) so that Gwen could grow with the role as time goes on and she does more voice training. As of now though, Yua is probably like a merman or a mermaid but the backstory hasn't been fully revealed yet and so just has a slightly deeper voice (as Gwen at this point hasn't done any voice training at all).

Miles, Pav, and Remi are all working on visual art for the project. Gwen, Miles, Tila, and Remi are working on songs. Dodo, Pav, and Gwen are working on the motions/mo-cap. And Margo and Sofa (with some help from Miles and Remi at times) are working on the editing and software of the project.

All of this is well and good, but like I mentioned earlier, they are gonna have to figure out a way to get Sayu into the physical world in order to ever be able to try out for a Lights Up audition. In the OG version, I can see Eve actually helping Remi get connections, but in this AU I can actually see Peni being the person they go to.

I like the idea that Peni's family is very tech savvy (most of them probably are technomancers) so she would have the resources to help them. This is probably before she accidentally killed her father with her powers messing up his medical equipment at the hospital.

Honestly, I think it would be really nice if being a fan of the Sayu project could have helped her with her technomancy. Like I can see her making mini robot figurines and stuff because she was inspired by seeing the mermaids and thought their designs were cool and just naturally honed her work through a hyperfixation. So yeah! In this AU kits father is probably still alive! How cool is that! :D

Anyway, I can see Peni making some cool hologram or something of Sayu, something still pretty wonky and not perfect, and posting it online in the fandom/community space. Which absolutely catches the attention of the whole team as it was something so cool, done by someone so young (I see her as the youngest of the Arachnikids).

There would definitely be a line of communication that opened up about how cool kits work was and all that. Peni would be so happy to have been recognized for kits work and show kits parents happily! Something something, I don't really know how this part would happen, but I can see Peni joining the team.

Maybe her dad travels a lot and (considering I see him as a technomancer) probably has connections to robotic works in other areas (like Vandelay or J-1), which would allow Peni to go visit the main part of the team (the OG Sayu Crew) and talk about making an actual working, life-sized hologram of the mermaids.

Either that, or I can see Peni being able to visit Miles and Gwen (as they are closer than Pav and Gaya or the OG Crew), and there they make "live action" videos of the Mermaids. It would required a lot of editing and really good internet, but I can definitely see the team working together to make this video happen (it definitely would not be a livestream for a while as they sort out all the bugs or find a way to get everyone into one area).

Actually, this could be how Ganke gets roped into the situation! He could have been the videographer for any life action stunts as well as like a boom operator with his silencing powers. The team never had to worry about weather conditions thanks to Ganke's powers!

This skill would later help the team when they were working on shot compositions and stuff. Making sure all the mermaids were framed correctly at all times. This would be one less thing Margo and Sofa would have to focus on which allowed special effects (especially in livestreams) to become so much better since both editors could work at the same time without having to focus on 3 mermaids.

This new addition of a different media like this would really push the mermaids' popularity skywards. Especially considering people are now asking if they could meet these mermaids in person. Fans started comparing them to robot stars like 1010 or other robotic artists, which was just a huge boost in confidence for the team.

Honestly, I can even see a new mermaid being put into the mix. The only ones left are Haru and Renho, and I can kinda seeing Peni's voice and personality fitting Haru a lot. That kinda leaves Renho out of the mix, which I am sad about.

The only way I can really see all 5 being in the mix is if Margo ends up also being a voice actor (the team probably wanted to keep mostly feminine voices with an exception for Yua who would later get a more feminine voice as Gwen voice trained).

I can see Margo actually taking up a voice acting role, but that would shift the roles around a bit, but if Ganke is also on the team, as well as Margo and Peni learning how to use their powers more, this is definitely something that can happen!

So in this case, to have all 5 mermaids present before they ever end up at NSR (which I think would kinda be a goal at this point for the team, but they also just want to have an established group of mermaids) the roles would kinda look like this:

-Voices: Tila (Sayu), Gaya (Aoi), Gwen (Yua), Margo (Renho or Haru), and Peni (Haru or Renho).

-Mo-cap/movement: Dodo (Sayu), Pav (Aoi), and Gwen (Yua). Margo would learn to use her powers (astral projection) in a way to be more tech savvy thanks to Peni and would be able to control both Renho and Haru without actually having to do mo-cap (Peni can communicate with Margo through the computer, I can explain this more in another post if I remember lol).

-Live Editor: Sofa and Ganke mainly for live edits (Margo used to do this before being the main mover for Renho and Haru).

-Post Editor (not live): Sofa, Ganke, Margo, and Peni. Miles and Remi help with video editing.

-Hologram/robotic engineer: Peni. She is also the connector between the holograms and the mo-cappers. Without kit the mermaids literally cannot be holograms (this problem gets fixed after the team becomes Megastars as they have the money and resources to make a mechanical connector for IRL holograms to work).

-Animator/Artists: Remi, Miles, and Pav for the most part. 3D animations or anything with models is a group effort honestly but that would fall more into the post editors' hands (2D animation and comics are solely Remi and Miles job though, with Pav helping them get their ideas out physically with his powers)

-Music (lyrics): Tila, Gaya, and Miles are the main lyricists. I can see Dodo helping in this regard as well as Pav.

-Music (non-lyrics): Remi, Gwen, and Dodo. Miles is learning to make music. Sofa and Margo help with editing the music (Sofa more than Margo as they were brought up in a musical city and has more experience with EDM music than she does).

Uh, I think that's all the roles for now that I can think of. I tried to make it realistic in what they would do in terms of work load and skills they have/could have. Honestly looking at this, Tila and Gaya have the least work it seems lol. However, they are probably the ones making the bulk of the lyrics for the music and probably the dialogue/script for any animations (especially if the two get in character and end up making a lot of funny banter).

Anyway, once all of this was settled and all 5 mermaids were introduced, I can see the group trying to get a Lights Up audition. It definitely took some parents more convincing than others (like Gwen's and Miles) but with all the progress that the team has made, I can definitely see them having enough evidence for all their parents to let them go and try out for NSR.

I bet almost all the parents didn't believe they would actually be successful. Thinking that most likely these kids would be turned down and they would have to try again when they were older. So it came as a HUGE shock that the mermaids actually made it and were accepted with basically a fully acceptance from the standing Megastars at the time and from Tatiana.

Which basically meant that the team literally just skipped over a ton of work of having to prove themselves and work their way up to being Megastars. They were literally right at the cusp and a few months of work would grant them the title of Akusuka's charters!

That is to say, it would IF their parents actually let that happen. We know that the OG Crew's family does end up letting this happen (one way or another, I didn't even think about the Crew's emancipation from their families so that had to have happened at some point during all of this). But the other parent's might not be as willing to let their kids go off to a new country and be superstars.

Pav's family is definitely letting him go. He has family in the area and with Eve being a Megastar already, she could help him control his powers (which he is already really well in control of, I will try to talk a bit about the powers more at the end of this, I hope I remember).

Gaya's might be on the fence. On the one hand, this is something she put years into and it has shown she is very talented and could potentially become very rich, famous, and happy. On the other hand, she if still very young and they don't want her to go alone or to move the whole family (I can see her father willing to go with her, giving up his job where they live and trying to find another one if this is truly what Gaya wants, but the rest of their family might not approve).

Peni's family is probably not found of the idea in all honesty, but her parents would definitely be willing to move to Vinyl City if the dad could also get a contract specifically with J-1 or any other tech company in the area (which he would get and be willing to move Peni and the family there, plus they probably have better cybercare there than anything Vandelay could offer which is another plus).

Margo's family, depending on how you see them, would be either pushing her to go or trying to keep her there with them. She says in the movie her home life isn't great, and there is a lot of yelling (and probably neglect as she can just sit on her VR headset all the time in their minds), so she might just be able to promise to send money to them and they would allow her to leave.

Okay, so now Ganke, Miles, and Gwen's families. I do not see them at all being on bored with this decision. They all want what is best for their kids and this does not seem like it would be a good fit. Not with them all being so young and Vinyl City being so far away.

It also would cut in deeply to their education which I see all three of those families taking very seriously. Peni is probably gonna be homeschooled for a bit, Margo would take online classes, the Crew basically drop out, Gaya and Pav would enroll in a Vinyl City school probably. But Miles, Gwen, and Ganke are already in very good schools of their own (and Miles' family need a scholarship for that school I'm pretty sure), so even if the world runs on music, this change from a good schooling to just playing music probably doesn't seem like a good idea for their parents.

I can see Ganke's parents eventually giving in and letting Ganke go work for NSR as long as he get into a good school in Vinyl City and keeps his grades up (they would try to find a way to move to Vinyl City in the meantime as they can't fully uproot their lives right at that moment and this deal is a very limited time offer).

Miles' parents are probably extremely against the idea. Think this is not something that will be a forever career, or that it will become unstable (especially if the blackouts of Vinyl City are well known, which Miles would fight against and saying this could help the city and the world if they could produce enough power with their music). It would just be a very big back and forth but eventually they would see how much this truly means to Miles and let him go. I can see his mom going with him but his dad has to stay behind so he can try to transfer jobs or tie up loose ends.

Actually, depending on when this is, Aaron might still be alive (in this case, instead of meeting Gwen in a support group, they just met online in the mermaid fandom). So instead of Miles fighting alone in why he should be able to go to Vinyl City, Aaron would be there right with him and is the one to convince Jeff and Rio to let Miles go (Aaron probably went with Miles instead of the parents since it would have been hard for them to leave while Aaron could easily accompany Miles to a new life).

The main problem now is Gwen. Since Aaron is alive, Peter probably is too, at least in this AU (because I am now just realizing this, I don't know how to really put Peter into the story, so let's just say he was always helping support Gwen but couldn't really care about the mermaids themselves and so never got into helping with the project himself). Gwen is also still pre-transition and definitely not out to her dad. Or at least she wasn't before the auditions happened.

See, in my head, Gwen did get voice training thanks to the team helping her, but she never used her feminine voice around her dad at all. So when her dad heard her voice, he didn't even realize it was Gwen. Only after he looked up more about the mermaids (as I can see Gwen keeping a lot of this secret or super vague) did George realize Gwen was voicing the transgender mermaid with a very feminine voice. He looked through a lot of the old videos and could hear the voice transition over the years and kinda realized Gwen is probably trans and just never told him.

Instead of waiting for her to come home to talk, he called her up while she was still in Vinyl City or on the plane and tried to confront her. If she was on the plane, I can see her running away to Peter's once she landed and trying to hide from her father. There she would do her best to find a way back to Vinyl City, especially after she realized that she was the last one of the team that needed to get some kind of permission or give and okay. So she just has Ganke, Peter, and Miles help her get to Vinyl City without her dad knowing (probably using Remi and Pav's connection to Eve to do this).

If she was still in Vinyl City, she would have not gone back home and tried to stay with the Crew or with Eve if Remi explained what was happening and Eve offered her own place.

At this point in both options, there would definitely be some corruption and abuse of power on Eve's part to make sure that Gwen would be allowed to stay in Vinyl City and work against her father's wishes even though she is a minor. To Eve, this is helping Gwen get out of a potentially bad situation, but to George it feels like kidnapping or some horrible shit going down and he is losing his daughter. He'd do his best to get her back and would quit his job and move to Vinyl City to try and make things right.

Since he had time after his phone call with Gwen (they probably didn't talk on the phone about this) he never freaked out for a moment and said something to push Gwen away. No, instead this whole issue happened because Gwen was terrified of the potential that her dad would not like hearing she was trans. So instead of a reactive runaway scenario, it was a preemptive runaway scenario.

Anyway, that could probably be a small plot for the Revolution (imagine George and Kliff teaming up to try and take down NSR for their own reasons! ooooh!).

So yeah, once all of that had been squared away, the team is all set to work as the mermaids! They would spend the first few months getting used to everything as smaller Akusuka artists, and work their way up quickly to charters! From here it would be relatively the same as canon NSR for the most part except with 5 mermaids instead of just one of them (I'll think of fight mechanics later because I have to think of how the mermaids would be different now).

Oh! Right! I was gonna talk a tiny bit about Nueva York!

See, the whole thing with this AU hinges on the idea that the arachnikids do not get put into Nueva York really early. Pretty sure I said that Hobie was one of the longer instituted residents at 3 years at the time of the Power revolution.

So that would mean that... uh, pretty sure his one year mark at being at Nueva York that is when the Rock Revolution happened. And I see OG Sayu as having worked at NSR for like... 3 years I think it was?

That means 3 years of mermaid development, 2-3 years of NSR work, and then like 2 years of a timeskip before the Power Revolution (close to 3 kinda? sometimes, idk, still working on that for the OG NSpiR AU honestly lol).

At that time of the Power Revolution, Miles is about 14-15........ That would mean the mermaids were first developed when Miles was 6-7 years old by this logic... It would also mean that Remi was about 7-8 years old when he and Tila started the project....

Okay, so that doesn't work. At all. Specifically because I think that means Peni would have been 4 at the start of the project (and like 6 when kit joined the project). Which obviously doesn't work as joining a project like that is different from like being a prodigy and joining an organization with the help of your parents (looking at you Yinu).

I think I can fix this though. Maybe? I think if I just move the timeline over a bit, so that the mermaid team was brought on when they were older instead of younger (Also I think I'm gonna stick to the 2 years of work instead of 3 years because it messes things up later on I think). So like, instead of Remi being 14 and Miles being 13 at the time of the ROCK revolution (because 3 years of development and 2 years of work), instead I could change the order of the bosses and ages a bit because of timeline reasons.

So for me, I like the idea that the bosses in reverse order is how they got to NSR. That means that instead of Sayu being brought on before DJSS, instead DJSS was brought on BEFORE the team.... Wait no, because Nova had to have been fired from his professor job to get to NSR in the first place.

Okay! New plan! Nova get put in at the same time he originally was, BUT the mermaid team waited until they were super ready for NSR. Meaning that in this AU, there was an entirely different charter for Akusuka that would later be replaced by the team as they traveled up the ranks once they were actually brought on.

So, here's the idea I have. 5 years is the total time it takes from mermaid development until the Rock Revolution (I'm just ignoring the timeskip because I just needed it for ages at the moment and I'll be using 2 years of NSR work, not 3).

[This also means that the Revolution technically takes place later because I am moving the timeline up a little. Maybe something happened and B2J didn't get an audition for an extra year or two].

-At the beginning of development it is just Remi and Tila

-Quickly Pav and Gaya join

-Before the half year or 3/4 year mark Sofa and Dodo join

-At about the 1 year mark is when Gwen and Miles join

-1.5-2 year mark is when Margo joins (they start getting serious)

-At 2 or a bit after Peni joins along with Ganke quickly after

-Then a year of final development before joining NSR

-2 years of work and then it's revolution time!

I put this up here to kinda help me with ages. Since Peni is the youngest I am gonna work with her to help me figure out the ages. Peni is 14 when the timeskip happens, so that means she is 12 when the Rock Revolution happens, 10 when she joined NSR, and 9 when she joined the mermaid project.

I can see that as something happening, especially if Peni's parents are pretty lenient which I can see them as that (especially with someone like Yinu who is working at 9 in OG version lol, meaning she joined NSR even younger). So by the time of the revolution the approximate ages would be:

-Peni (14), Gwen (15), Miles (15), Ganke (15), Pav (15), Gaya (15), Remi (17), Margo (17), Tila (18), Sofa (18), and Dodo (19).

Because of these ages, I think this means that this AUs Rock Revolution happens 3 years after the OG Rock Revolution would happen. That is because Remi is 17 and I have him in my notes as 14 (I used to have him at 15 but for some reason I had to keep checking my notes because I kept saying 14 in my head, so I just changed it to 14 a bit ago since that is what my brain thought was better. So the rest of the Crew got bumped down at that time as well by one year).

Anyway, this means the ages of the other characters also ended up getting changed:

-Mayday (24), Zuke (30), DJSS (44), Yinu (12 going on 13), Mama (43), Neon J (60), 1010 (28), Eve (30), Tatiana (51), Kliff (48), and DK West (34).

Don't know what happened in that 3 year time span that made B2J not start a revolution, but something had happened to delay them.

Oh my fuck... I just realized I went on that whole rant of ages because I was supposed to talk about Nueva York but I went into NSR ages instead! Okay! Nueva York time!

The whole reason I was going to talk about ages was because at this point in the OG NSpidR AU, something would have happened to each of the Arachnikids during the mermaids development time that would have sent them away to Nueva York.

However! Because they had the mermaid project to occupy them and help them find creative solutions with their powers, they never had that outburst moment that got them sent to Nueva York. They learned how to use their powers through positive affirmation and community instead of through fear and repression.

The sucky thing about this is that some people get stuck in Nueva York. Hobie, Noir, Porker are all there without the help of Miles (or the rest of the Arachnikids) so there is very little chance that a Power Revolution will end up happening.

Well, actually, I guess since NSR doesn't get attacked as soon, Ex-Jay would actually have more time to look for Hobie since they aren't being contacted by NSR for at least another 3 years (so I think that would mean Hobie has been in Nueva York for 4-5 years at this point which would be enough for Ex-Jay to just try and get Hobie out themselves since it was put in there very unfairly).

Honestly, it would be cool in this AU that the revolutions were reversed! Like the Power Revolution happened since there was less resources put into Nueva York (since the Rock Revolution couldn't have been used as propaganda) and so that had elements of rock to it thanks to Hobie and Ex-Jay which would be a small inspiration for B2J once they got rejected by NSR during their auditions.

There was an abuse of power in Nueva York, and now there is an abuse in power in NSR. Which would actually tie in nicely with George and Gwen's story plot as this could be propaganda that helps push B2J to take down NSR. Especially if it came out that Eve helped Gwen get away from her father using her power and privilege, it would keep George around after the mermaid fight enough push B2J to get to Eve and then Tatiana (where Kliff's intentions become fully known to the group).

So yeah! I know I said I didn't have much to say, but uh... Well I lied lol! I apparently had a lot to say about this haha! Hope you liked reading my ramblings! :3

[geegers22]

My girls🩷

It’s fitting that they are my two favorite characters considering they each fit into my two favorite archetypes which are:

Anxious and weak with an inferiority complex who makes up for their weakness with attentiveness

And

Pragmatic cold beauty who has done questionable things and doesn’t know how to love

Sound familiar?

Of course they’re both so much more than that, as are the rest of the characters I love who fit into those same roles, but I’m historically drawn to these types of characters because of how uncannily I see myself in them.

[empty-movement]

GOGAI, GOGAI!!! COME GET UTENA KIBBLES

It's September 3rd. It's 1997. Princess Diana just died, and that's very important to lots of people. You, however, are chewing your nails to nubs waiting for the climax of Revolutionary Girl Utena's Black Rose Saga. It's going to air today.

But like any good fan, you're already one step ahead, because you've spent the last couple days thumbing through Animedia's September issue supplemental, the 100 page Duelist Bible. Strangely, it appears to be in English??? Wow! Thanks Nagumo for translating, Ayu Ohseki for Japanese editing, teasot for proofreading, and ME, FUCKIN' VANNA, for scanning and scanlating this massive booklet!

We've got duel summaries! We've got character design sheets! We've got a school directory! We've got THE DUEL RULES. We've got cast interviews! WE'VE GOT THAT CHU-CHU DOLL CRAFT GUIDE. Check it ALL out here, in the Something Eternal Bibliothèque! You can flip through it page by page here, or you'll also find on the page a link to a PDF version for your at home viewing/archiving needs!!

This gargantuan tome really gets it across that in 1997, you didn't have a fandom wiki or on demand viewing. If you didn't catch and record the episodes, a booklet like this becomes a critical tool for keeping track of everything that's happened up to now, and is also a way for the series creators to tap fans on the shoulder and draw attention to details they want seen but not explained in the show directly. For example, this drops at the close of the BRS, but points out Touga's sword isn't the same in Keiko's duel and in the opening sequence. A thing we don't see cashed in until MUCH later!

This has been a true and absurd labor of love on my part. I even rescanned the booklet from my originals because their quality (decades old lmao) was not worth scanlating. This took a ludicrous amount of time, and has been a main project of mine for over a year now!! I'm so happy to have gotten it done in time for the Something Eternal Watch-Along thread, and I really really hope everyone finds something cool and interesting about it! The really cool thing is this now completes the set of magazine supplementals by the big three magazines made for Utena during its run. We now have fully scanlated this, as well as Animage's June Utena Dossier, and Newtype's November Utena? (Oh My!) UTENA! Take a stroll through memory lane, be they yours or someone else's!

As always, if you like this kind of content, consider supporting us on Patreon! Especially right now, a holy grail acquisition is in the works that I will bleed to share with y'all. More on that later, lmao.

Revolutionize the World! Love, Vanna

[kulai]

was looking up my drafts and found this little thing! pls don't mind the grammatical errors and just look at the pretty drawings !!!!!!

im actually really happy i have this. my phone got stolen last year so i dont have the drawing file for this design anymore ^_^ now i have this little reference for when step 3 releases yipee

if u wanna know more ill be dumping some info just cus! after the line break lol

A little context: I'm Filipino. so the oc lore is very much filipino-based culturally.

Ayu calls her mom "Nay", short for nanay.

She can understand her mother tongue. She can speak a little, but she can hear it has an accent and is frustrated about it.

They came from the city, where nobody really cared about anyone else's business. As long as you kept to yourself, you'd fit right in. Which is why Ayu is reserved at first, and very people-pleasing.

Although nay is open-minded and loving, Ayu still struggles to connect to her mother in the same intimate way she did when she was younger.

Her journey of identity is a struggle, and all signs lead to: Lesbian.

Unfortunately, she thinks its cause she wants to know her birth father.

A very caring person, mirroring her mother. She's confident in how to show her love, but not on how to receive it from others.

She's comfortable in masc clothing and still does make-up (just the occasional kohl under her eyes for her first year.)

Qiu and Ayu bond in their identity crises

Tamarack and Ayu bond over teasing and physical touch

etc... if i think of more

[kanjeng-azfx]

𓇼𓏲*ੈ‧₊˚ OC INFORMATION 𓇼𓏲*ੈ‧₊˚

❝ I live my day as if it was the last, live my day as if there was no past! ❞

In the depths of the ocean's wide, profound abbys, a being dwells, in who essence is both depth and grace. Soft as the waves' whisper, yet the ocean's fierce power dwells within her. Ever-present, ever-changing, she ebbs and floes with the pulse of time, carrying the eternal history of the boundless spirit of the blue sea within her.

HER NAME IS...

Ardhiona (A firm and responsible spirit) Zhī (Wisdom and healing) Fúxiǎo (Daybreak approach of dawn)

Ardhiona (Zhī Fúxiăo)—the daughter of Nyi Roro Kidul or Goddess Kadita, the Queen of South Seas in Jawa Mythology—is a spirited young girl who seems to have a knack for getting into trouble, often for reasons that seem inexplicable. Even though she has a carefree demeanor and a tendency to lazy around, she posesses remarkable leadership skills that bubble to the surface when needed.

Despite her laid-back behavior, she takes her job as an idol seriously, thanks to the insistence of her mother. She got the charming personality, the stunning appearance, and most importantly, the beautiful, silky, raven hair that always caught everyone's eyes. That makes her the perfect candidate to do the job just right!

"WHO IS NYI RORO KIDUL?"

Nyi Roro Kidul (Goddess Kadita) is a supernatural being in Indonesian folklore, the Queen of the Southern Sea in Sundanese and Javanese mythology. Her position as the Phantom Queen of Java is a popular motif in folklore and mythology, as well as being associated with the beauty of Sundanese princesses. The queen could change shapes and appearance, as a beautiful young woman usually during a full moon, and appear as an old woman at other times. However, her true form is often illustrated as a mermaid. For further information!

RELATIONSHIPS!!

NYI RORO KIDUL—The Respected Mother

"Ayu (sweetie), the strongest things in life come from your heart, not your brain. The things we feel deep down in our hearts are often more important than what we think with our minds. Your emotions and your values are what guide you and shape who you are. You may not understand why you feel a certain way sometimes, but those feelings come from deep within your heart."

YOU ARE ENOUGH BY SLEEPING AT LAST STARTED PLAYING

Growing up, Ardhi's relationship with her mother was complicated. Her mother had been her everything as a child, but as she grew older, every small disagreement escalated into yelling matches, and Ardhi struggled to break the cycle. Especially when her mother was a highly respected figure, a queen in her own right. No one had explicitly told her to be exactly like her mother, but Ardhi could not shake the feeling that the expectations were there nonetheless. The invisible pressure weighed heavily on her shoulders, making her feel like she could never measure up to her mother's legacy. Secretly, Goddess Kadita recognized the struggles that came with growing up in the shadow of her legacy. She realized that Ardhi needed space to find her own path, free from expectations and societal pressures. So, she made the difficult decision to send Ardhi away from the kingdom, hoping that distance would allow her daughter to find her own identity and happiness. The separation broke her heart, but as a mother, she was determined to do whatever it took to make her daughter happy, even if it meant sacrificing her own desires... at least for a while.

SOUTHERN SEA'S CITIZEN—The Beloved Ones

"Sugeng Rawuh, Sekar Kedhaton." (Welcome home, Sekar Kedhaton)

WOULD THAT I BY HOZIER STARTED PLAYING

They love Ardhi very much—knowing her to be a kind, nice, and widely lovable person since she often serves as a valued and respected ruler, second only to her mother. However despite her positive reputation, they often find themselves hesitant or reluctant to approach or interact with her, likely due to her tense relationship with her mother—the people's queen. Goddess Kadita often grown tired of Ardhi, and the people know to keep their distance in order to avoid the queen's wrath. Still, the love and respect the people have for Ardhi remain strong, as they are aware of her good heart and dedication to her duties.

MK—The Childhood Friend

"Thanks, Dione! Maaannn... I don't know what I'll do without you."

BANG BANG BY K'NAAN & ADAM LEVINE STARTED PLAYING

MK; Her partner in crime, her loyal companion in all endeavors, her impulsive and carefree counterpart to her mischief, her Clyde to her Bonnie. However, he is also the steadfast support she can always rely on. Their friendship dates back to their childhood days, and the bond between them has only strengthened over time, pushing each other to new heights while keeping each other in check. Even when life gets busy and hectic, they always find time for each other, making sure to support and encourage each other through thick and thin. Truly, they are epitome of unpredictability and chaotic energy, nothing can stand in their way.

P.S. He is totally her weakness.

MEI—The Gossip Girl

"Ari. Ari! ARI! Have you seen this news?! It is ridiculous!"

BOOM CLAP BY CHARLI XCX STARTED PLAYING

To put it simply, she is Ardhi's gossip girl, her forever best friend, her ride-or-die in any situation, the person who knows all Ardhi's secrets and doesn't hesitate to share her own. She is also the only person who truly understands Ardhi's experiences as a public figure, as she herself has firsthand knowledge of the overwhelming demands and constant public scrutiny that comes with being in the limelight. Whether the two of them gossiping about the latest celebrity news or tackling the pressures of fame and fortune, she can always count on Mei to offer a listening ear and a shoulder to lean on, making her an irreplaceable part of her life.

RED SON—The Fire

"What are you doing here, Aqua?!"

I LOVE IT BY ICONA POP & CHARLI XCX STARTED PLAYING

He have a unique bond with her that is built on a foundation of intense competition and rivalry. Determined to prove that they are the best at everything, they constantly bicker and send threats back and forth—starting off on a rocky note. They may clash and butt heads all the time, however despite their differences (literally fire and water), they are able to put aside that problem and work as a team when it comes to strategizing and planning.

MONKIE KIDS TEAM—The Chosen Family

"Phft-!! You ready to ride, Splashy?"

RIBS BY LORDE STARTED PLAYING

This group of friends share a strong bond that is built on a foundation of trust, respect, and mutual support—a strong bond of friendship that makes everyone feel like family. They all share a lot of laughs, inside jokes, and memories that no one else would understand. Their gatherings even filled with laughter and warmth. No one would want to leave once they felt that kind of feeling. Even if they're different in personality, interests, and experiences, they have managed to come together to form genuine connections with one another. They create a space where everyone feels seen, heard, and valued, and where they can all be themselves without fear of judgment. Honestly, they genuinely care and concern for each other, even often prioritize each other's well-being above all else.

By the way, they refer to her as 'Splashy' because she has a tendency to get splashed by marine creatures during their visits to the zoo.

MACAQUE & MONKEY KING—The Celestial Simians

"Woah! It's just me, Breezy." "It's been awhile, Bree. How's the kid doing?"

PUNK TACTICS BY JOEY VALENCE & BRAE STARTED PLAYING

The two monkeys initially considered Ardhi to be an insignificant figure, perhaps just a pawn in MK's journey of character development. But as time went on, they began to realized that Ardhi was no ordinary person. They knew she held a hidden importance that they had not yet fully understood even if she does not fit into the traditional Chinese legendary characters they were familiar with. Ardhiona was an anomaly, someone who defied categorization and held secrets yet to be revealed. That is why Macaque and Monkey King couldn't help but feel a sense of slight intimidation when it comes to Ardhi. Her origins and who she was remained a mystery to them, but one thing was clear : She was a powerful figure whose presence of strength could be felt from miles away. Their lack of knowledge about her only made their uneasiness grow.

POWERS AND ABILITIES

While Goddess Kadita has the power to control the vast oceans and even manipulate weather patterns, Ardhiona's abilities are more travel-friendly. Unlike her mother, who is tied to the sea, she takes her powers with her wherever she goes. Her abilities are designed for nimbleness and adaptability, rather than grandiosity.

Rough Waves

The power to conjure formidable oceanic waves. This ability is not limited to generating a single wave for targeted direction. She can actually manipulate the very fabric of water itself, unleashing a tidal surge that erupts from the ground with such force it can ripple outwards in all directions.

Marine Whisperer

The uncanny ability to communicate with all forms of marine life—effortlessly understand their needs, emotions, and behaviors. Unfortunately, whenever she attempts to communicate with multiple sea creatures at once, the mental strain can be overwhelming. The sheer number and intensity of their thoughts and emotions can create a sensory overload, making it nearly impossible for her to maintain focus and clarity of thought. This sensory overload can not only cause headaches and fatigue, but can also lead to debilitating migraines, dizziness, and even temporary loss of consciousness. That's why she have to limit the number of creatures she communicates with simultaneously to prevent overexertion.

Hydrophilic Lungs

Simple! The capability to breathe comfortably underwater, free from the limitations of traditional breathing apparatus.

Heart of the Sea

The unique ability to harness water's natural healing properties. By manipulating the liquid's molecular structure (she could control over liquid forms, including blood), she can infuse it with rejuvenating energy, creating a potent healing force to specific area where rejuvenation is required—repairing tissues, bones, organs, and even neutralizing toxins or poisons within the circulatory system. The point is, she have the power to restore and revitalize, radiating a soothing energy that instills a sense of tranquility.

Ocean Ode

The power to summon and control water to form a surfboard-like structure that glides effortlessly across land or water. She can command this aquatic board to carry her at great speeds, allowing her to traverse vast distances swiftly and efficiently. Unfortunately, she would need a high level of balance and coordination to ride it. Riding it requires precise control and fluid movements, as even the slightest imbalance can disrupt its delicate equilibrium. Without it, she may risk falling off or losing control of it, which could lead to accidents or injuries. In order to master this power, Ardhi must hone her balancing abilities and learn to navigate it with graceful precision, seamlessly maneuvering it at high speeds without losing her composure or control.

Strategic Positioning

Her skills in martial arts are diverse and extensive, encompassing a range of techniques and styles, especially in Pencak Silat (an Indonesian martial art known for its practicality and effectiveness in self-defense). She also possesses impressive acrobatics skills, enabling her to move with fluid-like flexibility since she frequently enhanced her movements with her water-power and allowing her to effortlessly transition between offensive and defensive maneuvers. Additionally, she has a natural affinity for wielding blades, particularly the Keris, a traditional Indonesian dagger that holds personal significance to her.

❝ Sarvesam nusantarajananam krte... ❞

𓇼 ⋆.˚ 𓆉 𓆝 𓆡⋆.˚ 𓇼

THE GUARDIAN FROM NUSANTARA IS HERE

𓇼 ⋆.˚ 𓆉 𓆝 𓆡⋆.˚ 𓇼

[liesmyth]

Do you have any Coronabeth Worsetwin thoughts about Abigail's reaction to finding out Ianthe become a Lyctor in HtN ("Blast. It should have been Coronabeth. Ianthe never was quite the thing")? I love Abigail but ngl I am also a Corona Worsetwin truther in part because I would find it much more satisfying for one of the series' designated Rational Moral Adults to be categorically wrong about Corona.

OH I love this! I hadn't really thought out it until now, but my first reaction is that it might have been just the general "Ugh, yuck, Ianthe?" vibe that she seems to evoke, since she's very much unpleasant on main. But when thinking about it more in-depth, I think Abigail's perception of WHY Corona would be more suited to Lyctorhood depends on which qualities Abigail thinks a Lyctor should possess that Ianthe lacks.

One thing about Abigail in HtN is that she is as much of an atheist as you can get in TLT, but also she seems to have a sort of romanticised view of John (calling him "the Kindly Emperor", "I've longed my whole life to give him my findings") and I wonder if this extends to her conception of Lyctorhood as a sort of state of idyllic quest for knowledge — "the beauty of necromantic mysteries" as Harrow puts it. She's also the leader of a House known for its diplomacy, influence, and not-so-subtle expansionistic ambitions.

So, is she thinking about Corona's diplomatic skills? Her political knowledge? Or — because at this point she still believes Coronabeth is also a necromancer — is she thinking that Corona was the better necromancer than Ianthe, as it was widely speculated?

Going wildly off into headcanon land, we know Abigail has anti-Cohort sympathies (as per Judith's files) and I wonder if that plays a part. We know that Corona regards the Houses's expansionistic strategy as inefficient, but I don't think it's something Abigail would know. Maybe she just thinks Corona would be able to assert authority over the Cohort better? (One of my pet speculations is that there's some antagonism between the Cohort and the Lyctors, and if that's actually a thing Abigail could be aware of it.)

I think it's a combination of Corona's people skill, her personal experience with both twins, and the fact that Ianthe actively puts off everyone she meets.

(If anyone has any opinions about Abigail here PLS feel free to add, I too love her but she's one of the hardest characters to figure out for me)

Personally, a solid 40% of why I am a Corona Worsetwin truther is because I think it's hot. The rest is her everything in NtN / AYU from the threatening suicide to statecraft scheming, with a smattering of that one Taz interview <3 I'm excited to see her wreck havoc in AtN.

[zhivaoverdrive]

Used to be huge, pt10

This Metabol-x, it's... your body is going to keep nearly all of the calories we put into it. They didn't design it for greedy girls who've been stretching their belly out for weeks with mentos, did they? - Ayu ---

"Oh my god, I've never been this hungry before!" exclaimed Hitomi, the second she placed her final plate back on the table.

She had just finished polishing off what would have been a giant breakfast for anyone else. Even by her own lofty standards of late, that was a lot of food. Not only the multiple breakfasts that Ayu had brought, but the delivery too...

Ayu watched from across the table, feeling the familiar blend of excitement and trepidation that seemed to strike her on a big day.

"Impressive.. how do you feel?" she asked, eyes glued to Hitomi's rapidly expanding midsection.

"Famished! Didn't make a dent. Feels like I could keep going all day! This stuff is AMAZING" beamed Hitomi. And she wasn't joking. It may have only been her second day on the Metabol-x, but the intense pangs of hunger had done nothing but increase so far. For Hitomi, this was heaven.

However, Ayu wasn't so sure. She'd read the poorly translated usage guidelines of the Metabol-x, but Hitomi seemed to be an exceptional case. Hitomi had received a double dose, they didnt mess around at the IEC after all...

"That will have to do for now Hitomi... we have to take this slowly, remember?" Ayu said carefully, her eyes still on the protruding sphere of fat that was her patient's belly.

"But-" Hitomi began.

"I've already told you, and then let you order anyway! You're going to get me in so much trouble" said Ayu, cutting her off. "This Metabol-x, it's serious stuff. I'm supposed to be counting every calorie that goes in!" Ayu continued under her breath.

"And? I love a high score" replied Hitomi.

"I can't count them if you keep cheating! This breakfast I brought you was half a day's requirement, 1800 calories" said Ayu. "Plus whatever was in your order. Not to speak of the calorie drip!".

"But it barely feels like anything!" sulked Hitomi, who at this very moment wanted nothing more than to start the whole stuffing again, from the top. "I just want to keep pushing and grow into my tits! I don't want to slow down now! And It's not like the drip was my idea anyway. Doesn't even work" she pouted.

"Hitomi... it... definitely works. Look at yourself! "I want to push as much as you, but besides me getting in trouble, this is serious shit! This Metabol-x, it's... your body is going to keep nearly all of the calories we put into it. They didn't design it for greedy girls who've been stretching their belly out for weeks with mentos, did they? We just need to start a bit slower, ok?" replied Ayu carefully. While she had meant every bit of it, the concern she felt turned into excitement the moment she heard own words.

"Can I at least have some of my Cola and candy?" groaned Hitomi, putting on her cutest face. "Just to tide me over until lunch. Pleaseeeeee? I NEED to feel full!"

Ayu walked over and removed some of the BOX of Cola that Hitomi had brought in her luggage. Looking closer at the nutrition sticker, the excitement had now completely eclipsed the concern.

"These things are full of sugar Hitomi! It's still calories. Shitloads of them. "You can have... one bottle. Maybe two. Just until lunch." Ayu said.

"Pass my handbag, candies are in there" winked Hitomi.

Soon as the bag was in her hands, Hitomi pulled out 4 rolls of Mentos and began haphazardly throwing them in her mouth.

"Hitomi... is that a lot-" Ayu protested, knowing she was going along with it anyway.

"Nope. Not for a greedy girl who's been stretching her belly out" Hitomi laughed. She'd had a tiny bit more than this before. On an empty stomach. "But this greedy girl is all tired out, and the 2l bottles are heavy..." "Will you feed it to me Ayu?"

[ainnur]

Answer me this. How much trauma and angst did Bai He gain after the Lady Bone Demon situation? Did she gain any nightmares? Who are her parents? Where are her parents? What was her relationship with her parents? Do even love her or care about her? Does she even live with them anymore? How the people in the city and the kids and teachers at school teach her? Does she have and friends? Bullies? Is there anyone in her life to help or comfort her? P.S: Sorry for asking so many questions.

Alright let's break this down!

How much trauma did LBD give Bai He? A lot. LBD always have a way to mess with people head, wouldn't be suprise if she did the same with Bai He. Bai He not only have a nightmare about her and often wake up in middle of night on bed cover with ice, she see LBD everywhere! No matter where she is she feel like LBD always there. And it doesn't help that she look like LBD.

School? Bullies? Well in my What Still Frozen au Bai He didn't go to school anymore. She 22 years old. But when she was in school she never got bully with anyone. She just don't. She always bland in with background making her invisibile. Even she crave close friend she just keep everyone in arm length. She have "friend" just not close.

Her parents? Well I still thinking about them. But for now let's just say she have nice relationship with her parents. Maybe they not perfect but they always try their best to raise her. They never push Bai He in anything except for maybe academic but that because they have to. They can be distant at time but Bai He always know they love her and show it in many way.

Is she still live with her parents? No she didn't. In this au Bai He is 22. She move to Megapolis to live there and work. Bai He work many job and change it a lot. It's because she just can't work or because the work place got destroy when demon attacking the city. Her parents always call her to make sure she okay...But after LBD attack, she lost her mother as she died of extreme coldness. Bai He dad still call her but she sometimes couldn't bring herself to talk to him and as time went they got distant. He still call just not often as Bai He still ignoring his call. She never visit her mother grave yet and don't think she physicaly can.

Is there anyone who help and comfort her? Yes. There Monkey King. Bai He actually went to him because she know Wukong understand her as they share the same trauma of being possessed by LBD and also for her escape plan of freedom. Other than that it will be her cousin, Ayu. Ayu may not understand what Bai He went through as Bai He never really tell her but Ayu is closes thing Bai He to call close friend.

And pls don't feel bad. I don't mind the question. In fact I love them! Never thought people like my au 🤭

[gatoraid]

I think Ouyang and Ayushiridara are such fascinating parallels when it comes to characters who are simultaneously gay and homophobic. Both of them are so repressed it’s bordering on self-harm, but it wasn’t until I read an essay* about how gay men’s yearning for masculinity and internalized homophobia are linked, that I realized how some their behaviors and the objects of their attraction contrast and mirror each other.

*Ruumiin ylittävä ääni by Tuomas Aitonurmi (sorry, there’s no english version)

The essayist talks about how some gay men view straight men as inherently more masculine than gay men, and fantasize about or pursue straight men because of it. And he argues that for many of these men, the fantasy of being with a straight, masculine man becomes a form of looking down on the perceived femininity of yourself as a gay man (and other gay men who are deemed as less masculine and thus less desirable).

The pattern of desiring a masculine, presumably straight man as a means of looking down on yourself is very clearly present in Ouyang’s yearning for Esen. Ouyang, who hates any trace of femininity both in himself and others to the point of misogyny, might love Esen for who he is, but he also yearns for that masculinity Esen has. 

That is also why desiring Esen is so hurtful for Ouyang. Wanting to be like and wanting to have the ”purely masculine” Esen will always remind him of the shame of desiring another man, as well as the shame of always being incomplete in comparison to him.

Esen’s manliness and perceived heterosexuality are exactly what make him seem so unattainable yet desirable to Ouyang. The idea that in order to be masculine you also have to be heterosexual is also the reason why Ouyang can never truly admit his feelings towards Esen, let alone act on them, because that would emasculate both Esen and himself. Because masculinity and desire for other men, masculinity and tenderness between two men simply cannot coexist on Ouyang’s mind. 

Then, as a twisted funhouse mirror for Ouyang, we have Ayushiridara, whose internalized homophobia and self-hatred can be seen in the way he treats Baoxiang.

Ayushiridara is very deep in the closet, and tries to act as masculine as possible so others wouldn’t view him as queer or effeminate. He is simultaneously repulsed by and attracted to Baoxiang, who represents everything Ayushiridara wants to suppress in himself. 

In public, he makes a show to mock Baoxiang in order to distance himself from any resemblance to him. Even in private, he verbally and physically tries to keep up that distance to make it clear that he is not like Baoxiang. He literally leaves Baoxiang bruised when they have sex in a desperate attempt to display his manliness. It’s an act of punishing Baoxiang for daring to be effeminate and openly admitting his desire for men. 

But him treating Baoxiang this way also reads as an act of Ayushiridara hating and punishing himself for being similar to Baoxiang and desiring him. Every time he says something hateful to Baoxiang, it feels like he is also talking about how much he hates himself, but cannot really even admit having those qualities that Baoxiang openly displays.

Soo tl;dr: Ouyang is a toxic masc4masc bc he hates himself, while Ayu seeks out twinks to berate them because he hates himself? Thanks for coming to my ted talk etc

(ps I’m not a gay man nor a gender studies scholar so please let me know your takes on this and feel free to expand on this topic!!)

[wa-royal-tea]

Previous | Beginning | Next

(Transcript under the cut - Click Pics for HQ Version!)

Amore Couture, Worcester (6:16pm)

*door opens and closes*

Ginny (text message): Done w/ work. Omw home ❤

Rainier (text message): Alright. Drive safely. I’m making dinner rn.

Ayu: Going back already?

Ginny: Oh! Hey, Ayu. Yeah, I don’t want to get caught up in traffic. Do you need anything?

Ayu: Nah~ I just want to check in on you. Got any plans for tonight?

Ginny: Yeah. It’s date night.

Ayu: Ooh~ You guys going out?

Ginny: Hmm nope! Rainier wanted to watch movies from home. He’s worried that I might be too tired to go out.

Ayu: Aww~ How sweet of him. Well, tell him I said hi when you get home! I’ll see you next Monday.

Ginny: Alright. Be careful on your way home!

Luxe Apartments (7:30pm)

Ginny: I’m home~

Rainier: I’m in the kitchen!

Ginny: That smells good. You need help?

Rainier: Nope. I’m done. I just need to set up the plate and then we can eat.

Ginny: Okay then, I’m gonna shower first and then I’ll come down and join you.

Rainier: Mhm. I’ll wait for you.

Ginny: Thanks for dinner tonight, sayang~ I love it.

Rainier: I knew you would. I’m glad you liked it.

Ginny: Of course I liked it. My boyfriend is a good cook!

Rainier: *chuckles* You flatter me.

Rainier: Go pick a movie you want to watch tonight. I have something to get in my office.

Ginny: Is there anything you want to watch?

Rainier: I don’t mind anything. As long as it’s not a Zombie apocalypse movie.

Ginny: Okay~

*door opens and closes*

Rainier: *exhales deeply* You can do this.

Ginny: Oh, hey. I found—

Ginny: What are you…?

Ginny: *gasps* Wait, is this really happening?

Rainier: Mhm.

Ginny: Oh my god…

Rainier: I was planning to get you a ring but then I remembered how much your late mum’s ring meant to you. So I got you a bracelet instead. Is that okay with you?

Ginny: You didn’t have to get me anything for this. Really.

Rainier: Yeah, but I want to.

Rainier: I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time. These past several years have been amazing and I never thought that the girl who knocked me over at that summer market would end up being the love of my life.

Ginny: *laughs* Please don’t remind me of that moment, it was embarrassing.

Rainier: It was not. I think it’s cute. But then you completely forgot about me. I was hurt, y’know?

Ginny: I’m sorry…You know how bad my memory is.

Rainier: *chuckles* I’m joking~

Rainier: Ginny, I love you. And I want to be with you until we’re both old and grey.

Ginny: And watch the grandkids play around?

Rainier: Mhm. So what do you say? Will you marry me?

Ginny: I’d be delighted.

Ginny: Also, we can get my ring modified to follow your family’s tradition. As long as the original diamonds are still used, I won’t mind a little change here and there.

Rainier: Of course, anything you want, my dear.

[erigold13261]

So after reading your response to my idea and I thought about it a bit more and here's what I came up:

Garden of Thorns would definitely help out with dealing with Yinu if they're fighting alongside bands like Ex-Jay, your oc band, etc.

Instead of actually fighting Yinu and her mother get therapy to work out their problems since Sylvie works as a family therapist whenever she's not playing her keytar. So cue Sylvie working with Yinu and her mother to help understand each other and also give advice while the rest of the band fixes up Yinu's piano and restore it to it's former glory. After they're finished the band dips and splits off to help some of the other bands fight the other Megastars such as 1010, Eve, and Tatiana.

If Garden of Thorns were to fight Sayu then it would pretty much be the same thing with Sylvie giving therapy to the Sayu Crew, and Percy being also a trans man giving advice to Remi that he will always have the support of his friends and other trans people in the community. Since Maxie is the manager and the father figure of the band, he could take Dodo especially under his wing and treat him like he was his own son, and also adopt him and the rest of the Sayu crew. Maxie could remove Dodo's cybernetics if Dodo wanted him to since Maxie also used to work as a engineer for cybernetics so he understands how they work and the safest way to remove them without causing any injury. Bonus if he defends the Sayu crew from their parents if they try anything and gives them the look that makes one feel ashamed if they did something wrong.

Also if any of the other bands need help fighting 1010, Eve, or Tatiana then some of the Garden of Thorns members could accompany them and provide backup. For example Maxie and Sodapop have experience working with machines and could help Ex-Jay take down 1010 and neutralize them since Maxie has a metal right arm that's pretty hefty in fighting against 1010, and he could use it to destroy them completely but Maxie doesn't do violence and spares 1010 after he does a bit of damage to them, and could also help Neon J repair them after the fight. Sodapop on the other hand has an arsenal of instruments that she plays asides from her bass guitar, so if needed she could switch to a giant cello, a flute, or even a kazoo to help fight 1010. Sylvie also shows up after the fight and gives therapy to Neon J and the 1010 bots because at this point no one can outrun a keytarist playing therapist-

Percy and Singel help DK West fight against Eve with Percy providing some very emotional vocals to throw Eve off while Singel's very flexible arms and legs could stretch out and neutralize Eve by wrapping around her. She does let go of Eve once she starts to calm down and Sylvie comes once again and gives Eve the therapy she needs. Bonus if Sylvie also helps DK West and Zuke reconcile with each other and helps them talk things out.

Finally Olive helps whoever is fighting Tatiana and provides her healing powers to those who get injured during the fight. Although this puts Tatiana at a bit of an unfair disadvantage since the ones she's fighting against is literally getting healed by Olive every time she lands a hit on them so I don't know if she'll keep fighting the ones attacking her or try to go after Olive since she's the one healing the ones attacking of their injuries during the battle. After the fight is over though Olive heals Tatiana of her injuries and Sylvie comes once again to provide free therapy to Tatiana and help work out her problems.

Idk what Artemis would be doing the whole time but she would probably find Kliff and ask for his help since he has intel on the NSR Megastars and Tatiana to which she could rely that information to the musicians fighting in the Re-Revolution.

Sorry if this was a bit lengthy I may have gotten a bit carried away in writing all this- I hope you like this idea I expanded on :3

Oh I love all of this so much! And don't apologize for showing me your ideas! It means a lot that I my own AU is able to make you think of all these cool things!

Also read more since both ask and my thoughts make this WAY too long lol

I can see Garden of Thorns fighting with Yinu and Mama at first until Yinu starts freaking out and yelling at Mama, letting out all her anger and frustration. Unlike at the end of the OG fight where Yinu plays rapidly, this would lead to a moment of peace for Garden of Thorns to figure out what to do.

But only a moment before Mama takes over Yinu's position saying this is for her own good and either playing the piano herself to attack Garden of Thorns, or playing a harp that was close by (probably the harp). Either way it would now be Mama vs Garden of Thorns. Though I can see Yinu escaping from Mama's grasp or from wherever she was put and working with Sylvie by playing her keytar against her own mother while Sylvie helps the two talk it out. This would allow the healing process to start and the two to stop fighting, both each other and Garden of Thorns.

I still don't like the idea of Yinu's piano getting fixed because, unless it is the music magic, the piano will never be exactly the same. Which would only make Yinu hate playing a "fake" in her eyes. But having a therapist help break down the walls between Yinu and Mama so that they can move into the healing phase will be enough for their part of the story to end.

And OMG the Sayu part sounds amazing! I can see Sayu having extra security like anti-virus protection that is used to fight Garden of Thorns so that Sayu herself is not the one being violent (and possibly get the public to hate her) but it is such a frustrating scenario that Tila lets slip some insecurities (or the voice of the other crew members bleeds into Tila's mic) which is how Garden of Thorns realizes something much deeper is going on with these teens.

They would still need to fully fight and disable Sayu, but once that happens then Garden of Thorns would do the thing May and Zuke did and end up in front of the Crew in person. At this point the public can't see anything else going on. This allows Garden of Thorns to have a more heartfelt moment with the Crew.

I can see at first the Crew tries to physically fight the band, but they are teens who never fought a day in their lives except in video games, so they are quickly restrained and told to knock it off (in a nice way) only for them to all freak out and start babbling and crying about being fired and how their families will treat them after this second defeat.

They are scared and just end up saying way too much, more than they should, which ends up bringing up Dodo's medical history, Remi's transness, some issues with Tila and Sofa's families. Allowing for Garden of Thorns to go with your route of supporting the Crew and helping them either fix their family connections or help them get emancipated from their families.

I don't think Dodo can have his cybernetics fully removed, because (at least in the way I see cybernetics) the cybernetic is a replacement for whatever it is being used for, not just a thing added on. So Dodo literally wouldn't be able to survive if it was just removed, but I can see Dodo getting support and no longer being forced to talk allowing his anxiety to lessen a bit. He would probably use a text to speech app at first but then later learn how to sign along with the rest of the Crew.

I DOUBT Ex-Jay would need help fighting 1010, if anything 1010 would need Garden of Thorns to stop Ex-Jay from going too far. Ex-Jay, especially Cyril, would be blinded by hate and going all out to try and destroy 1010, who can't even PROPERLY fight back anymore because of the removal of their weapons. It would be more Neon and security bots fighting on behalf of 1010 (security bots are not as hated because it is literally their job to be security, so they are not AI and the people are assured their code is standardize and visual for any coder to look through).

If one of 1010 gets destroyed, or at least badly injured enough, I see the truth about Purple coming out somehow. The truth about why 1010 lost a member, which before the public was always told it was either too expensive or done because of low views for Purple. But now, with the help of Garden of Thorns stopping Ex-Jay to listen, Neon or one of 1010 explains what truly happened, showing that 1010 is sentient and regretful of their actions and all they want to do is quit NSR but can't.

I don't know if this would change public opinions on robots, but it would boost the hate for NSR/Tatiana along with make Ex-Jay finally at peace with 1010 (maybe also even with B2J and West who see how much 1010 was pushed into a corner over the years).

The therapy from Sylvie along with mechanical help from Maxie and Sodapop would be a very helpful thing for both Neon and 1010 in the end. Since Neon is the ONLY one he allows to work on 1010 since he doesn't trust NSR, but getting enough help from Sylvie would allow him to trust Maxie and Sodapop enough for them to help upgrade 1010 and possibly fix his own cybernetics that have been deteriorating over time from lack of maintenance.

I don't think Eve would calm down when being held, she would freak out more and her powers would become more destructive and unstable, especially if West and Percy have thrown her off. There would be no rhythm to her music, no patterns to help fight against her. It is just an amalgamation of horrors and fears, insecurities and hate spilling out, with moments of sadness and a want to belong with someone flickering here and there.

I don't see Sylvie being able to reach out to Eve, but I do see Sylvie having the idea of bringing Zuke into the fight. West and Garden of Thorns protect Zuke from any attacks that Eve might throw at him (which she does unintentionally). And those two finally have their talk with each other that they needed.

It is different from in game, but similar enough that it gets the same message across to Eve. Allowing her to finally break down and stop trying to actively hurt people around her. From here, I can see her getting help from Sylvie, or at least getting a recommended therapist from her.

With West and Zuke, I do think they already reconciled before the second Revolution was even getting started. But if they hadn't, I can see West about to take Ex-Jay to 1010, but before going Zuke is having second thoughts causing a fight between Zuke and West (along with Ex-Jay) which Sylvie helps the two talk it out. Zuke's fears of losing friends and families to 1010 and West's anger at himself for not being there for Zuke come out. Ex-Jay end up going alone to fight 1010 (at least the start of the battle which goes as planned above) while Sylvie helps Zuke and West reconcile fully and finally.

Oh you KNOW Tatiana would immediately go after Olive if she figured out Olive was healing the others. Tatiana is not like gamers who see a healer and ignores them. No, she will cut that lifeline out as quickly as she can. I don't know if Olive or the others will be prepared enough to actually fight back or protect Olive, especially with how quick and strong Tatiana is.

I do see Garden of Thorn not actually being able to fully defeat Tatiana by themselves. Which is where Artemis and Kliff probably come in. Also, if Sylvie met Kliff beforehand, I feel like she could sense/use her therapist skills to see that Kliff was/is up to something. She might be able to get the Kul Fyra thing out of Kliff and how he feels before the fight, which would be better as he wouldn't make the fight about him and Tatiana, but if she can't then I kinda see Kliff trying to take the spotlight off of Rock/the Re-revolution and putting it onto his and Tatiana's past relationship.

Honestly, I also like the idea of past Gooling members coming back to talk with Tatiana. So Kliff and Artemis could have been doing that. Tracking the old members down and would bring them in at the end of the fight (along with B2J so those two could get closure) and making all these people talk to each other.

Tatiana might reconsider her actions, seeing her old bandmates along with just how hurt B2J really are and what she just did to Garden of Thorns. Not to mention hearing her other artists talk with Sylvie (she probably has a way to have heard what happened with the Sayu Crew), she would come to the realization that her forced order and hate of rock is only going to destroy the city, not help it.

She'd need more time to figure things out. Taking a temporary leave of absence for maybe a month or two while Mystery Man takes her position for a bit. The city starts to make changes and improvements. Getting more charters, allowing more genres to be played, creating healthy work environments. Tatiana would get help, either through Sylvie or another kind of therapist, and in the end things would be okay.

Not amazing like they are in the OG universe, but better than what they were before. There would still be lots of trauma and consequences that would have to be dealt with, but at least now there is a starting point.

Also, it's funny how DJ was not mentioned lol. I guess they must have finally got fired XD

Lol, but no. I get why you didn't mention him. I don't have much ideas for DJ because I just don't see him putting up anymore of a fight than he would have to. So my OC band was probably the one to take him down fairly easy. Heck I could see DJ just getting so mad at all of this happening again, and his head getting attacked/damaged some more, that he just literally swats my OC band away physically and quits.

DJ is so sick of everything. Sick of dealing with stupid people and their stupid ideas that he knows won't work but no one will listen to him so why even bother trying to even reason with all these lowly people around him!?

Also you know, I just realized that the satellite is still around because of this AU lol. So DJ already had his goal reached and so he probably doesn't have much plans afterward. Makes me think of that Plankton "I don't know, I didn't think I'd get this far" meme. Like he is trying to find a new way to be fulfilled, which is probably why he started talking to Neon, along with the fact that he knows what it is like to have people be mean just because of what they are (DJ being half space creature thing, Neon being a cyborg, and 1010 being robots have all had similar experiences with assholes).

So hearing Neon talk about quitting all the time would start to sound really good to DJ, who finally just ups and does it during this fight. I doubt Tatiana at the moment would care about him quitting against the terms in his contract. She was looking for an excuse to fire him because of his attitude and declining quality of music. So him quitting (before all the other stuff in the Re-revolution happens) is something Tatiana just lets happen, and she voids his contract.

Now DJ can work full time on Neon's contract to try and get him and 1010 out of NSR, since Tatiana sees them as more important she won't just let Neon and 1010 leave like DJ. At least she wouldn't have if the the Re-Revolution failed/never happened. Afterwards, hearing everything from all the Megastars and also getting push back from robotic sympathizers, Tatiana would allow Neon and 1010 to freely leave NSR (which they take in a heartbeat).

[neviayue]

난 볼 거야 평생, 친구 (refined) | By Nevi Ayu E.

My Unfamiliar Family's bestest friends, Chanpal and Eunhee running machine edition, lol. I wanted to make this one I made a few years back to loop better, but now they look like they're on a running machine! Anyways, I'm still going to put one of my favourite dialogue of these two here too. So if you haven't watched this show, you know what? I loved it a lot lot!

“I, I hate myself so much.”

“What can you do about it? You can’t change it. Just try living with it. You have my support.”

Dialogue from k-drama My Unfamiliar Family (2020) episode 10, written by Kim Eunjung.

Oooh and this cute one from episode 11 and also Chanhyuk's response.

너한테 고백 할게 있어. 너랑 그저 친구 라면서, 몰래 슬쩍슬쩍 훔쳐보고, 네가 멋지게 웃는 모습 찰캌 마음에 찍어두고, 잠들기 전에 꺼내보고 그랬다

I have a confession to make. I said we were friends, but I secretly stole glances at you, captured your nice smiles in my head and looked at them before going to bed.

나도 한번 해보려고. 친구라고 하면서 너 슬쩍슬쩍 훔쳐보고 웃는 얼굴 마음에 찍어뒀다가 잠들기 전에 꺼내보려고

[illarian-rambling]

Lore Drop: The Illarian Gods

“Wait a minute,” Izjik interrupted, “Not to be that foreigner, but you did kidnap me, so I don’t really give a shit. What’s the Illarian church?”

“Really?” To Izjik’s surprise, it was Djek who answered. “I’m agnostic and even I know that. Who is it you think Twenari prays to every time she gets out that mess of crystals and incense?”

“You’re a human! Isn’t it a human religion? Don’t act like you’re smarter than me for knowing your own people’s religion,” Izjik snapped.

Daedryn sighed heavily. It seemed the greatest enemy to her faith wasn’t quite what she’d expected.

“The temple you were at, that was an Illarian temple, dedicated to one of the thirty-four gods in our pantheon,” the knight explained, “Illarianism is the state religion of the Republic, Nabafyr, and Skysheer, though it is still the most dominant in its birthplace—the Janazi archipelago.”

“Got it. Understood. Please carry on.” Izjik gestured for Daedryn to continue the best she could with her hand tied.

The knight nodded politely, giving her a patient smile, before remembering who she was smiling at and falling back into a stern frown.

“The gods of the Illarian pantheon have charged us, their thirty-four favored Chosen, with eradicating any End presences we find on this world. As such, I will take you to the All-Temple and you will be consecrated—your tainted soul and its unholy link destroyed entirely. That will hopefully free this man from the enchantment you have enthralled him with.”

Daedryn gave a slight, grim sort of smile, as if satisfied with her good work. “In a way, you have done me a great service. My name will be echoed through the ages—Daedryn Whitenight, Chosen of Loqang and slayer of End-Made-Flesh.”

Long post, so I'll put the rest under the cut ;)

So, to start, let's clarify some etymology. Most of the 'in world' words from my setting come from the Janazi language unless otherwise specified, as it is the most widely spoken language on Illaros. One common prefix you might notice is Illa. It means horizon, roughly, which is a very important concept to the humans who originally spoke Janazi. From it, you get words like Illaros (world of horizons), Illankas (city on the horizon), and Illarian (Gods from the horizon). This can be a bit confusing, as Illarian refers to the gods and Illari refers to people from Illaros.

As Lady Daedryn said, there are 34 Illarian gods. As per their creation myth, the Creator was the first thing in the universe - the God of gods. It wished to fulfill its purpose by, well, creating, so it made the sun, moon, and stars, then the earth and water. However, its creations were empty without life, but as a non-living being, the Creator was stumped on how to create that.

After some consideration, it broke off two, lesser pieces of itself and infused them with energy of the new world it had made. These pieces were named Tsa and Ayu - Mind and Body, respectively. As they were born of the earth and water as much as they Creator, they were able to forge life, breaking off pieces of themselves to make people much as the Creator had broken off pieces of itself to make them. Due to this, all people have a spark of the divine within them - a lasting imprint from Tsa and Ayu.

However, these new people grew lonely. The world was still foggy and dark, the sun dim in its infancy. The people began telling tales of great beings who would protect them and keep them company. Because of their divine souls, these people had enough leftover energy from pure creation to form gods to fill these rolls. Four hosts of eight were born, one for each primal element, 32 in total.

These gods, being born from human minds, kept some very human characteristics. They squabble and fight, even with siblings of the same host. They love and lust. Some are cowards. Some are heros.

Each Illarian god has two domains, one physical and one mental. Worshippers seeking to emulate or protect against those domains will pray to certain gods either out of desire or fear.

Generally, there is no 'good' or 'evil' in Illarian theology. If you emulate a certain god as best you can, you'll end up in that god's heaven. If you piss one off a whole lot, you'll end up in that god's hell. Given how many Illarian gods are diametrically opposed, this leads to lots of arguments over which souls go to who.

The gods don't appear directly to most folk, however, each has one Chosen. These are their hands in the mortal realm. A Chosen can perform miracles using divine magic borrowed from their god, including healing and much else. Generally, gods and their Chosen are quite close, as a Chosen is specifically the mortal which most closely emulates their god.

The Chosen were established thousands of years ago, during an event which has mostly been lost to legend. As the priests tell it, a great beast came down from the sky to devour the world. The gods banded together, however, the demon could sense their divine power from far away and was able to hide any time they drew near. In order to circumvent this, the gods chose one mortal each to wield a small sliver of their power - too small to be sensed by the demon. Together, with the Chosen to sneak in and pin the beast, holding it for the gods to kill, they were able to win the fight. Later, this demon would come to be called the Stareater, and from then on, all Chosen were housed in the All-Temple, the heart of the Illarian religion located on the Janazi island of Illadir.

There are many more stories to be told about the Illarian (AWOL gods, massacred pantheons, the murdered god of wonder) but this post is already long as is. To finish off, here's a list of the Illarian gods.

Those Above The Creator, God of gods Tsa, maker of the body Ayu, maker of the mind

First Host-Gods of Sky Timaz, father of storms and patron of the greedy Sen, lightning maker and patron of the intelligent Nes, thunder smith and patron of the brave Tefhiri, wanderer on the winds and patron of the free Qular, rain bringer and patron of the calm Beshha, spinner of clouds and patron of the merciful, death guide for good souls Kembri, the snowy death and patron of duality Nameless

Second Host-Gods of the Water Kes, sea warden and patron of the mysterious Loqang, keeper of rivers and patron of the loyal, death guide for souls who fell in service Shesh, reaper of the lakes and patron of the lazy Dramesunji, He who lurks in the aquifer and patron of the cunning Kama, the misery of ice and patron of the cruel Danta, mistress of fish and patron of the charitable Qespir, the heart of all leviathans and patron of the enraged Sham, the tsunami dancer and patron of fools

Third Host-Gods of the Land Busar, He who carves the stone and patron of the strong Festa, She who breathes life into soil and patron of the humble Sambur, teacher of crops and patron of the determined Maza, listener in the forest and patron of the wise Umail, beast mother and patron of those who survive Doshu, lurker in caves and patron of the treacherous, death guide for evil souls Setsa, protector of darkness and patron of women Poutza, maker of medicine and patron of the caring

Fourth Host-Gods of Flame Samira, the hearth mother and patron of families Vaane, She who screams the wildfire and patron of the hungry Astes, protector of light and patron of men Wentsu, ash-streaked and patron of despair Ibara, the star sailor and patron of those who wander, death guide for lost souls Erani, volcano maker and patron of the ambitious Nantavi, He who heats the skin and heart, patron of passion Aetru, They who see with the sun and moon, patron of joy and the androgynous

Lmk if you have any questions and I hope you have a bitchin day!

Whoops almost forgot I have a tag list for a reason!

@amandacanwrite @elsie-writes @riveriafalll @kosmic-kore @kaylinalexanderbooks @bard-coded @carrotsinnovember @patternwelded-quill @somethingclevermahogony @whatwewrotepodcast @goldxdarkness @the-angriest-author @mk-writes-stuff @frostedlemonwriter @vyuntspakhkite-l-darling @thebejeweledwatercat

[kanjeng-azfx]

ART TRADE W/@ainnur‼️💙

I had so much fun drawing Ayu, literally. I was too excited, I instantly drew her... oops. Anywayy, it honestly gives me the opportunity to draw other characters other than my OCs, so it is quite a challenge for me to draw her. I hope you all love it, especially Ayu's creatorr!!