#i love these two. I hope nothing horrible begins to develop and slowly corrupt their relationship as they grow older

[ask-eden]

WOE. KITTEN DOODLES BE UPON YE

[stevenuniversallyreviews]

Bismuth

Steven Universe is a show about solving problems with healthy communication instead of violence. It’s also a show so centered around fighting that our main characters have signature weapons that act as literal extensions of themselves. 

Not every episode has an action sequence, and not every action sequence is a fight, but this series is no stranger to glamorizing combat. For all its talk about how true strength means more than physical might, the use of physical might to hurt others isn’t always frowned upon, even by our peaceful hero. To compensate for this dissonance, fights that would normally leave fatal wounds instead end in a process so harmless that they called it “poofing.” 

Our ninety-eighth episode begins not with a title card, but a dramatic-looking scene that’s soon revealed to have no stakes, capped with Steven bemoaning that “dying a bunch in video games is emotionally exhausting.” The temporary nature of death is ingrained in his life—his very existence involved his mother not quite dying, but becoming half of him—and while the show at this point has acknowledged that violence can scar the body and soul, the only permanent consequences we’ve seen precede Steven’s existence. Shattering, the Cluster, and Corruption are ancient history, and were actions taken by the villains our heroes rebelled against. We’ve never had to deal with the moral implications of ending a life, and because this is a kid’s show there’s a chance we never would have, because the game isn’t quite as fun once permanent consequences are in play.

After a comedic foray into Lion’s mane, Steven pops a mysterious bubble we saw all the way back in Lion 3, flies back into his room, and shouts that he’s made a horrible mistake. And after the initial reaction from the other Crystal Gems, we linger in the room to get one last message from his television screen before he jumps back in:

Game Over.

“We are the Crystal Gems!”

I love everything about the title reveal of this episode. I love that we have to wait for it, so we’re forced to pay extra attention when it arrives. I love the not-quite-still shot of our two leads sizing each other up as the name of our episode and new character slowly fades in. And I love the chill but chilling music that sets the stage for the life-changing story ahead of our hero. 

Aivi and Surasshu give characters distinct instrumentation, Peter and the Wolf style, but folks like Rose, Greg, Connie, Lapis, Peridot, and even Lion also have distinct motifs (sometimes a few, in the case of Rose and Lapis) using these instruments. The four main Crystal Gems are unique in that they’re defined mainly by their sound: Garnet is the bass holding everything together, Amethyst is the drumkit keeping up the tempo, Pearl is the piano accompanying others, and Steven subs out a traditional main instrument for chiptunes (many people have pointed this out, but I think this video does the best job of exploring it). Garnet as a concept eventually gets a motif that largely appears when fusion is involved, but the principle of associating these four main characters primarily through instruments holds true throughout the series.

Bismuth is a Crystal Gem, too. And whether it’s intentional or not, I love that this is shown by her lack of a distinct theme song, leaving her represented by her instrument in the same way as our big four. And the instrument we get for a heavy metal stuck in the past is a reverse electric guitar.

On the subject of sound, we just started and I've already waited too long to talk about Uzo Aduba. Bismuth is beautifully animated and has a stunning design, and the extra large crew for this two-parter did wonders on her facial expressions and body language to breathe life into the character, but all of it would've fallen short without a magnificent voice actor tying it together. This is a complicated and ambiguous figure, who laughs hard and burns hot but knows how to keep quiet, and Aduba hits every emotional beat with ease. 

Aduba is especially talented in humanizing Bismuth’s rage, balancing loud shouts with twinges of sadness and jolly war stories with drops of venom. Her monologue in the Forge is one of many examples of Aduba’s greatness: after building up fervent momentum as she works with burning lava, she lowers her voice to a triumphant but menacing whisper when revealing that she chose to create weaponry. Aduba made a splash by finding a real person in a character reduced to the nickname “Crazy Eyes” on Orange is the New Black, and while Bismuth might not be as extreme of a role, she’s made great by an actress who refuses to dumb down angry women.

Bismuth is a zealot, but why wouldn’t she be? She faced the same oppression that drove the other Crystal Gems to rebel, and is mentally right in the thick of it while Garnet and Pearl have had thousands of years to move on. The leader that inspired and encouraged her to build weapons not only refused to use the Breaking Point, but fought her, bubbled her, and lied about it. We see it in Bismuth’s face the moment Rose is first mentioned around her, and even though this could be read as concern over her leader’s whereabouts, our knowledge that Rose’s version of events clashes with Bismuth’s hiding place sets off early warning bells. 

Bismuth’s wordplay here is perfect for a character who often means multiple things at once: “Rose really is something else” works as a commentary on how strange Rose was, as a reference to her physically becoming something else, and as another hint of Bismuth’s true feelings about her leader’s betrayal. Her clever use of language soon becomes ingrained as a character trait: we obviously get the triple pun on her name (not three puns, but the same pun three times), but I’m a bigger sucker for the phrase “upper crust” playing off her disdain of Gem elites with geological terminology. It’s great to see such cleverness when characters with massive frames and aggressive attitudes are so rarely graced with wit.

Bismuth is angry, but she’s more than her anger. It’s balanced by (and caused by) her huge heart. She gets along famously with Garnet and Pearl, and cares deeply for her fallen friends, but she’s just as warm with Amethyst and Steven. An underrated element of Bismuth is that it doesn’t forget that Amethyst is in the middle of a major arc: even though she’s not the focus of the episode, she’s still reeling from her fight with Jasper and is uncomfortable around another huge interloper in her life, this time someone whose existence furthers the notion that Amethyst isn’t a “proper” Crystal Gem. So Amethyst is awkward at first, then sows seeds of suspicion when Steven is entranced. It speaks well of Bismuth that she treats Amethyst as an equal worthy of respect without question, and Amethyst soon comes around when Bismuth praises and upgrades her whip. This giant-sized episode is the clear product of long-term planning and collaboration, but it still remembers to tell a quick Amethyst story to keep us invested in her ongoing development.

But it’s Bismuth’s relationship with Steven that makes up the bulk of the plot, and as dumb as it might sound, the character she reminds me of most is Tim Curry’s version of Long John Silver from legitimate classic film Muppet Treasure Island; yes, Long John Silver in general works for this analogy, but Tim Curry is the definitive version, fight me. Bismuth isn’t as treacherous as old Long John, but they share the tightrope act of being at odds with young protagonists that they earnestly like. There’s nothing fake about their moments of bonding and pseudo-parental advice, and while both are angling to convert a child hero to a questionable cause, it’s done in part to maintain a friendly relationship. Again, Silver is more of an outright villain—his lust for gold lacks the nuance of Bismuth’s well-intentioned justification of extreme violence—but these are gregarious antagonists that our heroes build meaningful connections with, and ultimately learn lasting lessons from. 

Steven is all in on Bismuth’s ardor at first, grinning with shared passion after she rallies the team to keep fighting Homeworld. He’s a little less on board upon seeing Amethyst’s weapon upgrade, and his unease grows during the sparring session, but for all her intensity, Bismuth is fine with him not wanting to fight. She welcomes his own “rituals” with glee, and even though our first look at this sees her spiking a birdie into the sand so hard that the beach explodes, the montage otherwise shows her fitting right in. Even the foreshadowing of Bismuth’s views on weapon lethality during Lonely Blade is lighthearted, with the bonus of showing us how far Pearl has come in regards to fiction since Steven the Sword Fighter.

It all comes together in a poignant discussion about Rose. This is the last time she’s ever spoken of in a purely positive light before the story of her shattering Pink Diamond comes out; not every conversation about her is negative after this reveal, it’s never quite the same. We focus on Rose as a champion of differences: this is the Rose who said a servile pearl could be a warrior, who accepted a new fusion when nobody else would, who told a runty amethyst she was perfect the way she was. Bismuth is telling us what we already know, but personalizes it, showing how inspired she was by it, and Steven reacts to this umpteenth version of the Rose Was Great speech by admitting his fears of not measuring up for the second episode in a row.

Bismuth’s response sums up the entire lesson of Steven’s original series arc, and it’s such a moving affirmation when paired with Change Your Mind:

“You are different. That’s what’s so exciting. You don’t have to be like Rose Quartz, you can be someone even better. You can be you.”

The tragedy is that this hopeful message is undercut by Bismuth’s idea that a “better” Steven is one who uses deadly force. And the speech as a whole is further marred by a subtle hint of Rose’s mendacity: Bismuth mentions that she was “just another quartz soldier, made right here in the dirt,” but even before the Pink Diamond reveal, we already know Rose is from Homeworld from earlier episodes like Rose’s Scabbard. Retrospect enhances the sensation, tinging the uplifting speech with the kind of gray that we’re going to see a lot more of in the future.

There’s an awful inevitability to the ensuing fight as our heroes descend into the Forge, coming right of the heels of Bismuth telling Steven they need an alternative to fighting fair. Steven repeats his progression of reactions towards Bismuth all at once: first confused, then super excited, then gradually realizing something isn’t sitting right. But this time we can’t end with a day at the beach.

(The mood is ruined a little by the adorable commercial transition, and the summarization of the scene upon cutting back from commercials in a way this eleven minute show has never dealt with, but fortunately the bulk of the scene goes uninterrupted.)

Steven obviously isn’t going to use the Breaking Point, and we get a prolonged shot of them standing at odds in mirrored positions from their title card encounter before Bismuth’s hand tightens into a fist. To her, this isn’t a fight with Steven, but a continuation of her fight with Rose, and her anger at her deception is fueled further by the not unreasonable assumption that Rose is still lying as Steven. In Bismuth’s mind she isn’t attacking a child, but a veteran warrior who for some reason took the form of a small human, so she goes all-out.

Steven has been called “Rose” plenty of times by Jasper, and this will continue in our very next episodes, but it’s gotta sting harder when the person doing it just told him that Steven was enough. And the fight itself is no joke, which is a relief after the brawl in Steven vs. Amethyst was all joke. The hits land just as hard, and we get the same awesome choreography showcasing Steven’s floaty powers and spiky bubble in action, but Bismuth isn’t kidding and Steven is on the ropes. His sandal melting away is as graphic as we’re gonna get, but it’s still a great sign of what will happen to him if he falls. His shoelessness also allows for a neat reversal of Bismuth closing her fist to begin the fight: after limping on the other foot to avoid the heat, the first we see of him after the second bubble of the episode pops is a close-up of his bare foot steaming on the ground. He’s forced to hurt both himself and Bismuth to end the fight.

We’re on the cusp of learning the “truth” about Pink Diamond, but the beginning of Rose’s souring portrayal is right here. If you squint hard enough, Rose’s actions in the past could have been justified by her not wanting to shatter anybody, and by Bismuth being an extremist who left her with no choice. But as she stands impaled by the sword she once forged, Bismuth’s rage can no longer hide her grief. Even if Rose was right, and that’s hardly a sure thing, it’s twisted and terrible that she never told the other Crystal Gems the truth. It doesn’t matter that we eventually learn that this was a lot more complicated than it seemed because Rose was Pink Diamond, because in the moment, the person who just tried to kill Steven is saying that Steven’s mother did an awful thing, and despite everything the show has told us until this moment, she’s making a good point. Steven has no time to dwell on it before the other shoe drops (hopefully not into more lava), but it’s telling that Bismuth only acknowledges Steven as himself again when he says he’ll be honest.

When Bismuth gave Steven his pep talk in the living room, the audience didn’t know her full story, but she did, so she still loved Rose despite everything. She was hurt by her, and was willing to fight her, but she looked up to her leader despite it all. So it’s a real turn when she uses same language that encouraged Steven moments ago to make a new point: he could be better than her because of his potential to be spectacular, but also because she set the bar low by doing horrible things. Bismuth is all about that wordplay.

I’ve got a lot to say about my problems with Bismuth’s story after Bismuth (or rather the lack of one) that I’m including in my giant-sized features section below, because a giant-sized episode merits giant-sized features. But within the episode itself, I think silence after the fight is the right choice. Steven has been in danger before, but this is the hardest a person has ever tried to kill him, and it was one of his friends. A new friend, but a friend.

Bismuth marks the beginning of the end of this era of the show, an era when Steven’s series-long arc to fulfill his mother’s legacy was relatively straightforward. In yet another example of Bismuth’s wordplay, his life story swivels around a Breaking Point. The core of Steven Universe may not change in the way it does in Bubble Buddies and��Mirror Gem and Catch and Release, but the core of Steven Universe is forever affected. His imminent guilt complex begins with stabbing Bismuth, and despite the hardships to come, he becomes a better person for surviving it.

But at least he doesn’t shatter her. That would really do a number on the guy. Can’t imagine how guilty he’d be if he one day did shatter an imposing zealot from the Gem War days with a history of confusing him for Rose Quartz...

Future Vision!

This is normally a section that lists small bits Fragments of foreshadowing, but because Bismuth is a double episode with tremendous impact on the shape of things to come in ways I already talked about in the review proper, I want to use this space to talk about the elegance of Steven Universe’s structure. I’ve referred to the fifty-odd episode chunks that make up the story on numerous occasions, but I think it’s about time I buck up and call them Acts. 

Act I of Steven Universe is the first season, Act II is the second and third season, and Act III is the fourth and fifth season (with the movie and Steven Universe Future as epilogues), and I think viewing the series through this lens really makes the structure shine. There are many examples of repeating themes and moments that this interpretation makes clear, and as an example, I want to talk about how a recurring phrase signifies a turning point towards the endgame of each act. 

In Act I, the slow-burning mystery of where the Gems came from begins at the midpoint, Mirror Gem, and escalates in Warp Tour with the introduction of Peridot. But we’re still doing regular episodes throughout, because Steven’s life is bigger than his past and there’s no pressing need to address his alien heritage when it isn’t directly affecting his life. It’s not until Marble Madness when this story ramps up, with Peridot's discovery of our heroes hurtling us towards a finale that sees Steven come into his own to defend his friends against old foes from beyond the stars who thought them long dead. The turning point is marked by Pearl taking a stand to proudly declare:

“We are the Crystal Gems! We're still alive, and we're still the guardians of this planet and all its living creatures!”

Jumping to Act III, the slow-burning mystery of what Rose did to Pink Diamond is actually solved with some time to spare. Things seem to be wrapping up at Garnet’s wedding in Reunited, especially because we’ve reached the same episode count of the other two acts. But then Blue and Yellow Diamond crash the party, bringing together the entire main cast in opposition. As in Act I, this shifts us onto the path towards the finale, this time one that sees Steven bringing the Diamonds together to heal the damage they did on Earth. This turning point was a bit less subtle:

“This is our home! Our planet! Our friends and family! We are the Crystal Gems!”

Act II is more stable than I or III, chronicling the period after Steven becomes a competent Crystal Gem but before everything is turned upside-down. He has adventures befitting his role and helps his friends and family as he grows more comfortable with his mother’s legacy, but unbeknownst to him, it’s the calm before the storm. Through it all, that legacy and that group are the bedrock of Steven’s life, and Bismuth begins to unravel his sense of security, leading to a finale that destroys our hero’s comfort zone. The turning point comes as Bismuth shatters not an elite Gem, but the fake image of one, and roars a battle cry that shows that there are some missing pages in the story of Steven’s happy family:

“Listen up, you Homeworld upper crusts...”

“We are the Crystal Gems!”

If every pork chop were perfect, we wouldn’t have inconsistencies…

Likewise, this is normally a section that lists plot elements that don’t add up, and I can’t imagine reviewing Bismuth with addressing Bismuth’s treatment as the show continues. There aren’t many other places to write about it until Made of Honor, as the most notable element of this discussion is her absence, but it’s a flaw beyond this episode itself, so it’s going here.

First, I understand from a storytelling perspective why Bismuth is bubbled again. She’s a major new element that couldn’t realistically be sent to the barn like Peridot and Lapis, and is so at odds with our heroes that it would mess with the direction of the series. In particular, the reveal that Rose shattered Pink Diamond would go from being a story about Steven coping to a story about Steven and Bismuth coping, because Rose shattering someone goes against the whole reason she fought Bismuth in the first place. The simplest solution to not having Bismuth dominate the upcoming story is putting her away until the plot demands. And we do eventually get some lip service to why she was bubbled again for so long: she did, after all, try to shatter Steven with the Breaking Point at the end of their fight. She seems cool with it, and it’s not as if she was suffering in there, popping back out as if no time had passed and integrating well with the team afterwards.

But it is baffling that there isn’t any conversation about trying to talk with her instead of keeping her locked away. We don’t need a proper trial, but the idea that this team wouldn’t allow Bismuth to make her case and wouldn’t try to help her work towards a mutual understanding is not only cruel, but cruel in a way that makes no sense for these characters. I’ve called the underuse of Malachite the show’s greatest blunder, and I stand by it because Bismuth’s treatment is much more than a “whoops.” Communication is everything to this series, and the idea that Bismuth was too dangerous to be reasoned with is, to me, Steven Universe’s greatest sin. 

Garnet and Pearl in particular never mention any alternatives, or even bring her up to a meaningful degree. This is supposed to be one of their best friends. And after we learn about Pink Diamond’s shattering, it’s bewildering that Steven doesn’t consider the Bismuth of it all outside of her factoring into his guilt complex in Mindful Education and a brief mention in Storm in the Room. On both an emotional and logical level there’s no reason to not include her more in Act III. Like, let’s say in the worst case scenario she’s freed and furiously attacks Steven: he already defended himself by himself against her, in a lava-filled arena where she had a huge advantage, so obviously with the other Gems he’d be safe. And let’s say Steven is traumatized by nearly getting killed. Understandable. Even if Pearl also nearly got him killed a few times, it was never with murderous intent. Except that if that’s the rationale, I feel like Bismuth deserves to have that explained by him at some point during her imprisonment. He could tell the Gems, he could confide in Connie, whatever, this is something that needs to be said out loud. If we’re going to have her locked away indefinitely, there needs to be more than stone cold silence about why the Crystal Gems came to such an extreme solution, seemingly without a second thought. There was more discussion about the ethics of bubbling Peridot than Bismuth, and Peridot was a full-blown opponent at the time. There was more discussion about the ethics of rehabilitating the Centipeetle, a being corrupted into what seemed to be an unthinking monster, than a fully sentient ally who did a bad thing.

I’m not gonna knock this episode down any pegs for this in my rankings, because it’s not really the fault of this episode. Yes, it could have included Steven’s conversation with the other Gems, but this story was already full to the gills and there was plenty of time in future episodes, particularly episodes after the shattering story comes to light, to address it. Bismuth works fine on its own, but demanded further stories that it never got. Made of Honor does a decent job of bringing Bismuth back, but that’s after over fifty episodes of a misguided but heroic and loyal friend being imprisoned without any attempt at mediation.

I get that it would’ve been a lot of work, and that the bubble method was more convenient. But making a character this great only to treat her this way is a disservice to both Bismuth and the Crystal Gems as a whole.

(Also, less importantly, this episode was marketed as 100 thanks to the inclusion of a few combined shorts as numbered episodes. But yeah this was totally episodes 98 and 99.)

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

I ended on a bummer note there, but like I said, Bismuth by itself shouldn’t be held culpable for not having a Too Short to Ride or Alone at Sea for Bismuth down the line. It still doesn’t make my top fifteen, but it does make my top twenty, which matters because the list is expanding next time to account for our actual hundredth episode.

Top Fifteen

Steven and the Stevens

Hit the Diamond

Mirror Gem

Lion 3: Straight to Video

Alone Together

The Return

Jailbreak

The Answer

Sworn to the Sword

Rose’s Scabbard

Mr. Greg

Coach Steven

Giant Woman

Beach City Drift

Winter Forecast

Love ‘em

Laser Light Cannon

Bubble Buddies

Tiger Millionaire

Lion 2: The Movie

Rose’s Room

An Indirect Kiss

Ocean Gem

Space Race

Garnet’s Universe

Warp Tour

The Test

Future Vision

On the Run

Maximum Capacity

Marble Madness

Political Power

Full Disclosure

Joy Ride

Keeping It Together

We Need to Talk

Chille Tid

Cry for Help

Keystone Motel

Catch and Release

When It Rains

Back to the Barn

Steven’s Birthday

It Could’ve Been Great

Message Received

Log Date 7 15 2

Same Old World

The New Lars

Monster Reunion

Alone at Sea

Crack the Whip

Bismuth

Like ‘em

Gem Glow

Frybo

Arcade Mania

So Many Birthdays

Lars and the Cool Kids

Onion Trade

Steven the Sword Fighter

Beach Party

Monster Buddies

Keep Beach City Weird

Watermelon Steven

The Message

Open Book

Story for Steven

Shirt Club

Love Letters

Reformed

Rising Tides, Crashing Tides

Onion Friend

Historical Friction

Friend Ship

Nightmare Hospital

Too Far

Barn Mates

Steven Floats

Drop Beat Dad

Too Short to Ride

Restaurant Wars

Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service

Greg the Babysitter

Gem Hunt

Steven vs. Amethyst

Enh

Cheeseburger Backpack

Together Breakfast

Cat Fingers

Serious Steven

Steven’s Lion

Joking Victim

Secret Team

Say Uncle

Super Watermelon Island

Gem Drill

No Thanks!

     5. Horror Club      4. Fusion Cuisine      3. House Guest      2. Sadie’s Song      1. Island Adventure

[thisisasupergoodidea]

alright, this took forever because i kept getting sidetracked, but here it is. the universe ive slowly been building up. it took so long to write. its so ridiculously lengthy. i almost want to apologize to you if you read it oh my god 
the main story in this universe is project four, in which four people meet Death and tag along on its quest to convince a space wyrm not to eat the world. the death figure, kymoyef, evades capture for nearly 1000 years following the event that takes place in the four cities, observing people and steadily learning about the world as it stores energy for the big confrontation. as an energy being in the form of an object, kymoyef struggles with applying the concept of personhood to itself, but the four people who insert themselves into its business help it understand who it wants to be
kymoyef’s companions love to ask questions and tell stories, one of which is an old folk tale about morality that they know as the four cities. in it, a godlike character asks kymoyef to visit four corrupt cities and raze them to the ground should their corruption be confirmed, so that the seeds of new civilization can be sown in their place. kymoyef goes to the first three places and, finding vanity, enmity, and apathy, destroys them without question. but upon reaching the fourth city and encountering suffering and hopelessness, kymoyef begins to question whether any of these people truly deserved erasure. it refuses to complete its task and instead goes into hiding to plot against the godlike character. kymoyef reveals that this tale is (generally) true 
then i began fussing over details and ended up developing a plot within Sorrowstone, the city of suffering and hopelessness, where i show up close just how depressing it is through the perspective of a newcomer named rin. he joins the camp (which has no name historically since no one remembers it really existed) to escape his past and soon realizes that his stay would be permanent. the endless labor, the bleak and isolated environment, the meager food and supplies, the rampant depression of every other person in the camp - all of this combined prevented anyone from being of sound mind enough to leave. rin sees one death and promptly decides he has a duty to write down everything he observed, whether anyone would ever see it or not. that is the sorrowstone account 
ok. back to the top. one of the four protagonists, caforleh, absolutely loves hearing stories and using them as inspiration for his own grand tales. i really wanted to feel justified in brainstorming for a completely separate project that had nothing to do with project four, so i clapped my hands together and declared that caforleh occasionally works on a piece of fiction that is my project inheritance, in which generation after generation of a particular lineage of siblings are all cursed to the same fate. in their lives, only and always two children will be born, quite often twins, and one will die by the actions of the other at some point. the most recent siblings are separated at a very young age after the murder of their mother, but years later one dies all too suddenly and the adults involved are sent into a panic trying to hide it from the other sibling. magic shit happens and basically you have the dead ones consciousness in the body of their sibling, not realizing theyre dead yet technically alive again, and the living ones consciousness is bound to a piece of paper in a wizard’s pocket. and everyone’s trying to run away from a cult faction that wants their leader back, but surprise, the living sibling was their leader. its a convoluted mess 
in the background of this mess i found a nice little home for the magic pendant, a story that is literally just my 11th grade spanish project. a guy has a cool magic pendant. some magic dude steals it. the guy and his friend get a magic knife from a magic squirrel and kick magic dudes ass. so magical. i took that and pumped in extra details that made me happy, and now its officially enough of a story to be included 
once more to the top. within the world of project four, one of the regions is plagued by a deep rift that scarred the land when scientist daiah’s experiment went horribly wrong. it swallowed several cities and poisoned the people and land around it. the survivors call that area daiah’s shame and send excommunicated criminals there to die as punishment. what they have yet to discover is that the rift is truthfully a tear upon their plane of existence, acting as an opening into an adjacent plane where pure energy resides. the land and people lost in the experiment fell into this other plane perfectly intact, but being that the two planes were never meant to interact in this way, were shortly infected with unknowable ailments. people slowly lost their sanity, their agency, anything that made them who they were. they either became husks or sought violence to distract themselves from their own pain. and the only freedom was to be killed, for time affected nothing in this plane. no one could grow old. the sky never moved. plants absorbed strange air and gnarled into bloated bastardizations 
this is the reality that the protagonists of project dark souls ripoff fell into. wayrain had been traveling with a known criminal through daiah’s shame in the hopes of reaching a region beyond it, and his friend cadmor was secretly a member of law enforcement tasked with making sure the criminal died there. when this was revealed, the three fought and all of them stumbled into the rift to be spat out in the desolate climate of the lost region. i was heavily inspired by dark souls in creating all of this, so honestly just imagine the opening scene of whichever dark souls game and you’ve got the idea of it. wayrain and cadmor have to navigate this sickly area that theyve hardly even heard stories of while also dealing with dangerous people, feeling betrayed by one another, and creeping afflictions. much like rin and caforleh, wayrain takes to learning as much as he possibly can about the surroundings and compiling it all into journals. he travels ceaselessly and does his best to uncover every last mystery, from lost libraries to unmarked graves. cadmor battles his imitation morality as he eases into another role of leadership. the two will clash several times but ultimately reconcile before kymoyef shows up to assess the condition of the rift 
and project fire girl is kinda out of place because it feels entirely standalone, but its actually the origin of most of this stuff, so im hoping i can find a way to squeeze it in somehow. its about a person who wakes up in a fire with no knowledge of how she got there and wanders around aimlessly dealing with the destructive repercussions of her mysterious fire powers, which she can barely control. i know. its sort of like frozen but with fire. but hey spoiler alert: she’s actually a wizard scientist (you can tell i really like my wizards and scientists) that, alongside her cousin, did awful experiments on people in the name of magic science, imbuing them with different forms of magic just to see what happens. and she gave herself fire powers because why the hell not. but the internal flame was so painful that the trauma of it elicited amnesia. she regains these memories in time by meeting the people plagued by the consequences of her actions. not knowing shes the one that did this to them, they work together with her and carry out a plan to expose the other wizard scientist. in the final confrontation, she admits that she regrets what shes done even if the academic community learned a lot from it, and allows herself to be imprisoned 
yeah. like i said, project fire girl was the first narrative in this universe, which came from a dream where she was taken in by an old couple and their adopted daughter and awoke in a bed of bright petals, only to realize that she accidentally set the house on fire in her sleep, killing the whole family. the imagery was so vivid that it stuck with me. project four originated from one of my old minecraft worlds that i unfortunately deleted by mistake and then tried to rebuild. but i couldnt remember what the old build was called so i called it arenos, and that became the first region. once i decided that fire girl was gonna be set in some mountains and that those mountains bordered arenos, i was officially on my way to creating what is now this world. and then more detail happened and kymoyef happened and the concept of the four cities being parallels to the four regions in the world sounded neat but i got carried away and wanted to try to recreate the four cities in minecraft, and only did sorrowstone, so i started to think of what depressing shit went on in that place and wrote a little bit about it 
the dark souls ripoff is, of course, a blatant ripoff of dark souls, but its also a combination of A) another neat dream i had that was just two people traveling on horseback through cold morning fog and being ambushed - one was killed and the other crawled to a nearby basement and hid for an eternity, until the landscape had entirely changed hundreds of years later - and B) a totally separate dream where two people were traveling on horseback through cold evening fog, trying to reach some uncertain destination after having to leave their entire lives behind because they were magic. i was like “i’ve just added two more regions to my world. what if this region has a big rift in it - oh, what if this person hid through the rift incident that sent them to an alternate plane - no wait, what if these other characters were traveling through the rift area and fell in?” 
project inheritance was first called dark souls ripoff 2 because it deals with souls being portable and consumable and the two siblings have to deal with increasing insatiability for souls to keep themselves alive after having their consciousnesses ripped from their bodies. but this story was originally gonna be a text adventure game with like seven hundred endings (im exaggerating a little) testing your ability to forgive and manage your bloodlust. i know. its like a bootleg undertale. i cant have an original thought even if that thought happened two years before the popular thing happened 
thats about it i guess. thats the beginners guide to my utterly incomplete creative endeavors. i have some other ideas that would be neat to pursue but they dont belong in this particular universe as of right now. i might find a way to make them fit. i might not

[aotimagines]

Hello! I heard you were taking requests?? Could you do a cute little kissing in the rain headcannon/scenario (up to you??) for Levi, Eren, Armin, Ymir, and Mikasa if that's too many people you can just choose the ones you want?? Thank you so much if you get around to this! -much love

Howdy, anon! We hope you don’t mind but we decided to split these and each take someone for a scenario. Mod spookzz will do Eren and mod Elle is doing Levi (can u tell who our bias are??? lmao). Enjoy!

Eren:You aren’t sure when you started feeling different about Eren–you’ve known him for too long to be certain anymore, but if you had to venture a wild guess, you might say you’ve always felt this way, at least if you were truly honest with yourself. Eren had never been just another friend; he was nothing like Jean or Armin, and even the title of best friend you had given him when the two of you were no older than eight years old could do your feelings any justice. Silence was comfortable with Eren in ways it just wouldn’t be with anyone else, and no matter how many times your pessimistic side tried to convince you that there was no way you and Eren would keep in touch for the rest of your lives, there was a stronger side of you–the better side–that fought for otherwise. No matter what way you tried to see it, you always pictured you and Eren ten, fifteen, twenty years from now, laughing together as you reminisced with old yearbooks and even older inside jokes.

You’re laughing now as you fall into stride next to Eren, the misty smell of rain permeating your senses and you both know its about to start pouring. Neither of you brought an umbrella and your fingers are icy as you shove them under your armpits in an effort to escape the dropping temperature. Eren is so much taller than you now and you wonder when he’d sprouted and where you’d been to completely miss it. The rest of him had followed suit–he was no longer the scrawny bean pole you’d teased him to be when you were teenagers, and you knew that, despite your best efforts to think otherwise, he had grown into an extremely attractive man. An extremely attractive man that, someday, would have an extremely attractive girlfriend. The thought caused your lips to involuntarily curl into a displeased frown, and the sudden action from laughing to practically scowling had Eren sending you a concerned look.

“Are you–?”

The words never get to finish escaping his lips as the first drop of rain slaps against his cheek, and then another on his eyebrow until finally its full-on raining just enough to soak your clothes through to the bone if you stand there long enough. Thankful for the interruption that allowed you to escape Eren’s prying question, you jerk your head toward your home, the place you’d been heading in the first place.

“Come on, we’re going to get soaked!” you called, trying to yell over the rain and taking a step back as you connect your gaze with Eren’s.

You register something solid against your back and you barely realize its a telephone pole before Eren is closing the distance between the two of you, slyly slipping his hand behind your back and carding his fingers through your semi-wet locks of hair. His teal eyes focus so intently on yours that they become all you can see, and suddenly the once deafening sound of the rain becomes silent.

You can feel his breath ghost across your lips and then involuntarily open, your own chest rising and falling while your heart tries desperately to jump from your chest. You aren’t sure what’s happening or why he’s so close, but all too suddenly you’re assaulted with a memory.

Last week in your intro to philosophy class a girl had asked how true love could possibly exist if no one could explain it. She always asked questions like that–questions she thought might earn her brownie points or kudos from the professor for “thinking outside the box”. It was intensely tiring and you were extremely sick of her attitude. Eren knew your feelings about the girl since he shared the same philosophy class with you, and you could feel his eyes on you as you finally decided to answer her directly. 

“Love is supposed to be unexplainable,” you’d tried, gritting your teeth in annoyance. “It’s supposed to be like…like a kiss in the rain! Impulsive, exciting, and no one can really explain why they feel so inclined to do it when they know it’s only going to get them soaked but they just do and no one minds it in the slightest.”

After class Eren had fallen into step beside you, unusually quiet when he was always so anxious to talk after his least favorite class. Finally he spoke, though it was quiet. “Have you ever kissed someone in the rain?”

You’d blushed, eyes glued to the floor, and only offered a simple shake of your head.

“Then how do you know what it feels like?” Eren had pressed, his eyes practically burning holes through you.

“I guess I don’t,” you finally responded, fingertips digging too tightly into your clutched textbook. “But I can dream, can’t I?”

Eren had merely shrugged, and the topic had been dropped as you entered your next lecture. Things had been normal between the two of you–like the small yet intimate conversation had never even taken place.

Until now.

You swallowed thickly as your back pressed further into the pole, Eren’s fingers finding purchase on the fabric of your jacket and the other hand still gripping tightly to your hair.

“Do you want to know what it feels like?” Eren whispered against your goose-bump covered skin, eyes searching yours.

You knew exactly what he was referring to and you immediately knew the answer, but you had no intention of admitting it aloud. You knew your eyes must have given your true feelings away because Eren’s softened with an unmistakable hunger, and then he was pressing his lips against yours while the rain continued falling around you. A few drops slip over your lips, between them and you weren’t sure if the rain drop had started on you or Eren.

He’d taken you by complete surprise but after the shock had worn off you were doing your best to kiss him back, your palms laying flat against his shoulders while he tilted his head to deepen the kiss. The moments fly by and extend forever, but when he finally pulls away you know you’re blushing as your eyes flutter open.

“There’s your kiss.” He’s matter-of-fact and confident, but you can still hear the small nervousness slip through his tone. “Was it everything you were expecting?” he asks just as quietly while your heart hammers away in your chest, your brain and the organ communicating just what meaning had been behind his impulsive, exciting behavior.

“Everything and more,” you whisper back, smiling encouragingly back at him and slipping your fingers between his. You find yourself immersed in happiness when he doesn’t pull away, and the two of you begin your final trek to your house, hearts in hand. 

Mod Elle here to deliver you an AU that no one asked for. The one time I have a chance to write fluff and it comes out bittersweet. I hope you enjoy, anon! 

Levi: 

The pungent odor of decay and rot wastemporarily muted by the frigid rain that fell from the angry skies,chilling you straight down to the bone. Against your back, theshotgun’s metal barrel felt like ice, your soaked-through clothingsticking to your skin, offering little to no protection against theelements and against them.

Theywere still there—any human who had been subjected to this nightmarerecognized the low, throaty moans of pain that echoed from theirfestering lips. Still, the rain slowed them down, or so you and yourpartner had observed one morning, which gave you ample time to putdistance between you and them.

A quiet string ofcurse words tugged you from your reverie, eyes sliding to the profileof your partner and the way his brow furrowed in concentration. Apile of boxes and other material blocking the intersection was yourcurrent obstacle and, from the way they were mounted on top of oneanother, there was no way that the car two of you had been drivingthus far would make it through.

“Fuckingfantastic,” you muttered underneath your breath and placed a handon your hip, studying the situation for a few more moments until youglanced over in his direction. “So what now, Levi?”

“Wewalk,” came his simplistic answer accompanied by the taciturnexpression that had taken you monthsto figure out.

Ifyou had the option to choose one person to be by your side when theworld was ending, Levi Ackerman wasn’t that horrible of a pick. Hewas fierce when faced with a horde and even moredeadly when it came to corrupt humans, so your chances of survivalincreased drastically the day you met him. Solemn and over timesguarded, Levi was an anomaly that you still hadn’t figured outcompletely despite the fact that you two had been traveling with oneanother for the better part of the year.

Despitehis blunt, abrasive words, the two of you somehow managed to comefull circle and develop a level of trust that extended far beyondwords. Whenever you felt like there was no pointin pressing on, Levi would be there to pick you up and knock somesense into your thick skull.

Slowly,that trust blossomed into something more; something that wasdangerous in this world, where death and loss came too quick and toosudden. The feeling whenever his cool gaze met your own scared youmore than anything—more than zombies and morethan anything else this messed up world could possibly offer you. Howcould you develop romantic feelings for someone who might not even bethere when the dawn broke through the next morning?

To the best ofyour abilities, you swallowed down your own feelings and simply didyour best to survive, which led to your current situation.

“Levi, it’sstorming and we’re freezing our asses off. We need that car.”

Slate-colored huesflickered from the blockade to where you were standing, ebony hairplastered against his forehead and neck until he eventually agreed,“Fine. We can’t take time to move all of that with the horde behindus, so we’ll have to blow it up.”

You blinked indisbelief. “Blow it up?” you questioned incredulously,making sure to keep your voice down. “Levi, that’s insane. We’llattract every damn zombie in a five-mile radius. No—no way.”

“Unless you haveany more bright ideas,” came Levi’s blasé response as he dugaround in the bag slung across his shoulder. Retrieving the bomb, hetook a moment and looked at the disdain painted across your features,yet it didn’t derail his actions. Instead, he judged the amount ofdebris blocking your way, a soft sigh falling from his lips. “I’llgo back for the car while you go ahead.”

“No way.” WhenLevi raised his eyebrow at your heated protest, you stalked closerand reached out, fingertips digging into the soaked material of hisjacket to get your point across as you protested, “If you eventhink that I’m going to stay here while you go back acrosstown where the horde is waiting for you, then you’re anidiot.”

Unfazed by yourreaction, Levi’s narrowed eyes sliced straight you. “I survived alot longer than you did without anyone by my side. Get to higherground and wait for me. If I’m not back in—”

“Levi,” yousharply interrupted, your grip on his forearms tightening, “I don’tgive a damn about what you want me to do. I am notstaying here while you risk your life!

In retaliation, heparted his lips to throw something back at you that would soundtoo convincing and logical, so you did the only thing you could thinkof to stop him from saying anything else.

You leaned forwardand pressed your lips against his own.

The cold chill ofthe rain fell down on the both of you, but the only thing you tooknotice of was the way Levi froze as soon as your lips made contactwith his own. You refused to let him break away and kissed himharder, allowing your desperation and every other emotion youcouldn’t properly express to flow through the moment. He shifteduntil his hands tangled in your wet hair and pulled you closer,paying no mind to the fact that you could catch your deaths out inthis weather.

Nothing matteredin the moment except for him and the way his fingers pulled throughyour hair and traveled down your neck, or the way his body shiftedcloser to your own. Levi was the first to pull back and rest hisforehead on your own, his hot breath fanning out across yourstill-tingling lips.

Neither of yousaid anything in that moment before you reached down for his hand,quietly threading your fingers through his own. It took him a moment,but Levi eventually squeezed back, murmuring, “We’ll get the carand drive it through. Let’s go.”

You didn’t knowwhat the future would hold or if you even had a future tobegin with, but having Levi by your side made you feel safe and thatwas all you could really ask for.

[thatothercosplayer]

Ikura tossed aside her helmet, taking a moment to untangle the bad case of helmet-hair. This only occurred when she took her helmet off during the transformation- changing back, it’d be fine. “Stupid tropes,” she muttered, looking around for her weapons. Stardust was the closest one; Starcrusher and the Neurevolver had been tossed quite a ways away. 

Looking over to Shikyuya, she heard the hiss as they removed their helmet. 

Almost deliberately, the manner they removed it hid their head; even the positioning of their arms. Finally, they dropped the helmet. Platinum blonde hair spilled out over their shoulders. Their skin was rather pale, but in an oddly beautiful way. As they raised their head, Ikura could see their face.

She gasped. (I recommend looping this particular track if you’re viewing this on desktop, dear reader.)

Shikyuya....Shikyuya was her. There was a black lightning bolt underneath her right eye (not unlike that of Succubus Hells from Dekaranger- it was weird). But the face shape, the hair color, styling, everything, that was her.

“You....you’re....!” Ikura stammered, at a loss for words. Her eyes were widened in horror; this...this thing- it couldn’t be human, it couldn’t- it had her face. 

“Yes. You.” In contrast, Shikyuya was enjoying this. A wide, unsettling grin was spread across her face, eyes widened with delight. Something was wrong. Almost as if....as if there was a bit of instability to her. “I said I knew you, after all. No one knows you better than yourself....right?” She asked, licking her lips and beginning to step forwards. Kicking her helmet aside, she began to advance. 

“What are you....?” Ikura asked. 

“I’m you. Isn’t that obvious?” Shikyuya responded, clearly enjoying the reaction she was getting. “I got bored. Ruling over what I’d carved out for myself.....it got tedious. Fighting off the futile attempts at killing me the government repeatedly made. Slapping down every hero who came my way.” Her voice was even the same- it explained the voice modulator, at least. 

Shikyuya was getting closer now; there was about twenty feet between the two. 

“What? What do you mean?” Ikura demanded. Her head was swimming with questions. For once, she couldn’t reach an obvious conclusion. With all her genre savviness she had, nothing could prepare her for this. For once....the Hakase was drawing a blank.

“You’re a hero, aren’t you? You always loved watching Sentai growing up. But the ones you admired the most....were the Metal Heroes. Am I wrong?” The doppelganger asked, now ten feet away. While she was walking the deliberate pace she had demonstrated multiple times today, there were stretches of silence in between questions. She was advancing at an even pace, and now....now she was only an arm’s length from Ikura.

Ikura nodded, albeit hesitantly. She was talking to herself. Literally. This...this was so...so bizarre. Even for her. “I mean...yes. It’s true. I always loved the Metal Heroes. The Space Sherriffs, the Special Rescue, all of them. But...that doesn’t explain--” 

“I’m getting to that!” Shikyuya interjected. “Shut up and let me talk, dammit,” she growled. “While you dreamed of being a hero, and using your talent for good....there was always that darkness, lurking below. That temptation. Why should you help people? You were cast out of your home once you came out. You may have been leaving anyways, but you haven’t talked to your family since, have you?” She asked, tilting her head some. 

“While you were roommates with Angela, working on your degree and experimenting with ideas to make your own combat suit....when your finally began testing....surely, even then, you had the inklings of a thought. ‘These people don’t deserve my help,’ a or perhaps... ‘I could use this....just for myself.’  Don’t lie to me. I know you did,” Shikyuya insisted. 

Ikura nodded again, stepping back some. Even with the rest of the Kyusha combat armor on her, she didn’t feel safe. This....something knew her. Intimately. 

“That’s what I thought....” A low chuckle escaped from Shikyuya’s lips. “Of course you did! You’re a human. An incredibly flawed one at that. Selfish. Egotistical. Those whispers in your ear....you thought about them. I’m sure you gave pause, to even consider it....and while you may have shook your head and insisted you wouldn’t go down that road? I relished it.” 

She slowly stepped forwards again. “I graduated and returned home...and set to work. Oh, yes. I was working at your stupid cafe just the same. With that inept, lecherous woman that you....or should I say, we, called our boss.” 

Ikura frowned. “You shut your damn mouth,” she glowered. “Hiroyo worked hard to create the cafe.”

“Oh, she did! But she abandoned you. Just like Kozue did. Just like your family did, too. You’re a nobody. You’ve been running away from it, but you know it. I know it.”

Ikura’s fists clenched. “Shut up,” she repeated. 

Shikyuya laughed again, this time slightly louder. She stepped forwards once more, staring directly into Ikura’s eyes. “We didn’t like it. You hated it...you rebelled against Hatte Saburo time and time again. And I did too. But while you only did it when he was pushing you around, after the first time....” Her grin widened, bearing her teeth. Perfect white, contrasting with her pale complexion. “....I killed him. And as I stood there, blood on my hands...” 

She lowered her head, shadows hanging over her face. “...I liked it. The warm feeling of it coating my skin....the smell....so I returned to my family. Claiming I’d had a realization, and that I liked men. They welcomed me back in....and I think you know what happened next.” 

Ikura’s pupils shrunk a bit. “....you killed them, didn’t you?” She asked, shaking her head some. 

Shikyuya just nodded. “Oh, yes. They deserved it. So much for the loving family that raised us. Throwing us out like yesterday’s trash. Now I had a taste for it. A desire. When Hiroyo left? I killed her, too. Oh, how delightful that labcoat looked, its pure white stained by crimson. Corrupted by the tinges of red.” 

Stepping close again, Shikyuya raised her head, tilting it again. Her long hair moved with it, bangs covering her gaze slightly. “At first, I got away with it. No one was ever the wiser. But....eventually....” She feigned hurt, briefly pouting. “...poor, innocent Kozue, discovered my sins. She hated me. Just like how she hates you!” 

Ikura finally lashed out at Shikyuya, smashing her fist into her counterpart’s jaw. Shikyuya didn’t resist, hitting the ground on her side. Catching herself with her arms, she took a moment, to wipe away the blood from the corner of her mouth. Her hair was hanging over, shrouding her face. 

She looked up, grinning. “Oh? Did I touch a nerve?” 

Standing up, Shikyuya briefly tossed her hair so it would be behind her shoulders. “You know I’m right,” she cooed. “She hated you. She wasn’t good enough for you, so why should she forgive you? You constantly looked at other women. Lusting over fictional characters. Having sexual fantasies of them....it’s no surprise she left you.....you’re a terrible person.” 

Ikura swung again, this time with her left fist. Shikyuya took it this time, turning her cheek against the force of the fist even after it had impacted. “....so, naturally....I had to return the favor. One more name on my list wouldn’t change a thing....by then, I’d already finished developing this. ‘Kyusha’, huh? Don’t make me laugh!” 

Shikyuya reached up, grabbing Ikura’s wrist. She began squeezing it, eyes bearing daggers into her other self. Ikura grit her teeth, doing her best to swallow the pain and not cry out. 

“You disgust me. You could have had all the power you wanted....but instead you waste it protecting the sheep around you. What a waste,” Shikyuya hissed, venom dripping from her every word. “While you had admired all those heroes....my eyes were on the villains. I wanted that power. I wanted to be feared. Every person who ever wronged me would know. From the bullies in school, the two-faced ‘friends’ who turned against us, anyone.....I wanted to destroy them all.”

“So you did,” Ikura choked out. 

“Very good!” Shikyuya said, grin returning. It was disturbing- it was like she enjoyed suffering. “You’re such a smart little girl. Oh, I did. I destroyed everything. There was practically nothing left of Akihabara. The streets were torn up, the signs smashed....all that was left, underneath the smoldering wreckage of every car, body, and billboard....was the hollow buildings, empty....just like all the promises that I was given. Everyone wanted to take advantage of me! Everyone! I was just a tool. Well I showed them. I showed them good! Ahahaha.....ahahahaha....” She threw her head back, cackling. 

While this was happening, Ikura was trying to pull her wrist free. Shikyuya stopped mid-laugh, her other hand shooting up towards Ikura’s throat. She began squeezing it, hoping to crush it. 

“You and I....we’re not so different,” Shikyuya said, taking a moment to pause and listen to Ikura gasping for breath. She let out a delighted giggle, licking her lips again. “You’re just one kill away from being like me.....you could kill them all. Your lousy, sniveling kiss-up staff.....the liar that claims to love you.....why, I bet you could even find that neglectful drunkard that had the nerve to call herself ‘Hakase’. You could kill them all. Who would stop you?” 

Ikura reached up, frantically trying to peel Shikyuya’s hand away from her throat. But she couldn’t- it was grasped firmly around it. 

“But you’re too good for that, aren’t you? How boring. Helping others....” Shikuyuya spat in Ikura’s face, before tossing her to the ground. She strode over, waiting for Ikura to sit up. 

Then she stomped on her chest. Hard. 

“What am I, you ask?” She hissed, staring down. 

Ikura was staring back up at her in horror, disgust, whatever- she couldn’t stand it....it felt sickening to think that those horrible things “she’ had described had occurred. 

“I am you. You from another timeline. Or, as you would call it.... ‘Dark’ Ikura.”  Shikyuya dug her heel into Ikura’s chest. “And I’ll be back. Oooh, yes....I will be back. Just you wait...” She hung her head again, the slightest inklings of a deranged laugh escaping. The longer it went on, the louder it got; she tossed her head back, looking back down at Ikura.

“The best part is? I won’t send you...or them warnings next time.” 

Ikura shook her head. “I...I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she lied. 

“SILENCE!” Shiyukya declared. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. And they do too!” She looked away. “Oh, yes....every single one of you. With your feeble minds, unable to even decode my hints. I wanted you to figure it out. But you’re sheep....just like the rest of the world. And me...? I’m the wolf, coming to tear into each and every one of you.....there was only one who figured it out. Oh, yes. You know exactly who you are. Such a smart, smart girl....too dense to figure it out without being poked and prodded, but smart enough to follow a trail when it’s left out for her.” She cackled again. “I might come for you first...” 

Shikyuya held up a hand, which was beginning to crackle with green energy. “That’s enough playing for now, I believe.....I’ll see you again, ‘Hakase’,” she gave, bringing the hand to her chest. “And when I do....only one of us will walk away.” 

With that, Shikyuya slammed the hand into her chest, a blast of green energy exploding outwards in a brilliant flash.

Then....silence.

Shikyuya was gone. 

Ikura lie on the ground, staring up at the sky. Every single word Shikyuya had uttered....they were eating at her. Gnawing away at her subconscious. The nagging feeling of doubt was creeping up on her. 

“......fuck.”