#it will be relevant later on

[hyuckonia]

deuce fucking dies dot jpg

bonus:

old man breaks back laughing at lame joke too hard 😂😂😂😔

[rottmnt-residuum]

Part 15 of Arc II (Part 41)

these boys be lyin' lmao

⇇ | ⇽ | index | ⇾

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Lan Wangji Goes To Lotus Pier AU: Part 5: Flip Slip.

(Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 4.5)

[dunmeshistash]

Dungeons

Dungeon Meshi Dungeons have unique characteristics and the Adventurer's Bible gives us a look on a few of the more important ones.

First, what makes a dungeon a dungeon? According to the Glossary section:

Dungeon There are two types of dungeon: manmade and natural. Manmade dungeons like the one on the Island are structures created when a door is linked to another dimension. Natural dungeons are environments that resemble manmade dungeons; they're created when a portal to another dimension forms on its own and mana seeps in. In natural dungeons, you can't be resurrected if you die. The cavern Falin took Marcille to when they were at magic school was a natural dungeon.

Continuing bellow the cut, Major Spoilers ahead

In ch87 we learn that man-made Dungeons were created by the ancient civilizations to contain the Demon's powers, and be able to better use it.

In ch 68 Thistle confirms something similar.

With this in mind, Dungeons also seem to have "Styles".

Like these examples from the cover of ch 48.

"The island", which is the name given to the Dungeon Linked to Melini Village's Graveyard, is a "Compound-Style Dungeon" while other dungeons seem to have specific styles linked to other ancient civilizations (Dwarf-Style, Gnome-Style, Elf-Style)

'The Island' in specific seem to be a Compound Style between dwarfish and elvish styles. As Thistle says, continuing in ch 68, it was an ancient Dwarf construction that was then used by Elves.

Maybe that's the reason the dwarfish inscriptions are only in the innermost levels of the dungeon. The Style then seems to indicate which ancient civilizations created the manmade Dungeon.

From how they speak about Dungeons in the story I also believe there isn't a way to create new manmade dungeons, and rather they must find them since they were buried by ancient civilizations once they realized it was impossible to control the Demon.

Besides that dungeons apparently also seem to have a life cycle, or "Maturity Levels", that ends with the collapse of the dungeon. Here's the cover for ch 54 illustrating it.

From the descriptions, Utaya seems to have reached lv 5 while others tend to be conquered and collapsed before. Some even seem to collapse on their own.

These are the main Dungeons pointed out in the adventurer's bible with their respective descriptions.

DUNGEONS

1 THE ISLAND

A new dungeon that was discovered just six years ago. It's rumored that the Golden Country that existed a thousand years ago still lies in its depths, imprisoned there by the Lunatic Magician.

2 BUDOU PIT

A dwarf-style dungeon. It was excavated straight down like a mine shaft and has already collapsed. Its atmosphere and location are bad, and even after it was discovered, not many adventurers visited it. As a result, it's believed to have collapsed naturally. Its depths may be connected to the ocean: If you listen carefully, some say you can hear the waves. People also claim that if you throw something into the pit, it will inevitably wash up in the port of Kahka Brud.

3 THE BRUD DUNGEON CLUSTER

A dwarf-style dungeon. It's made of the ruins of dungeons that riddled the ground beneath Kahka Brud. Now that its last lord has been defeated, the dungeon has been completely captured. It's become part of the town, and bits of it are used as storehouses, shops, and private homes.

4 THE TOWER OF NIGHT CRIES

A gnome-style dungeon. It's on the verge of collapsing and is currently sealed. Since it's still functioning, if barely, it's believed to have a lord somewhere. The dungeon is shaped like a tower. Its name comes from the wailing noise produced by the wind blowing through holes in its walls at night. Winged monsters have been sighted flying around the tower.

5 THE UTAYA DUNGEON

An elf-style dungeon. It changed lords frequently, and it's the dungeon that grew the largest after the ancient war. At present, it's sealed. Fifteen years ago, monsters flooded out and destroyed the nearby towns. Because it had expanded so much, it couldn't be blocked off completely, and the Canaries quelled the situation by casting a barrier over the dungeon and the entire surrounding area. Magic users are still permanently stationed there to maintain the barrier.

6 THE DRAGONS' LAIR

An elf-style dungeon. Currently collapsed. A rare case in which an entire region of interlacing canyons became a dungeon. Many dragons lived here once, and it was a notoriously secluded region. However, it was hard just to get to it, the rewards were small, and the dragons were tough. Almost no adventurers visited it, and it's thought to have collapsed naturally. When the population dwindled, mana stopped flowing through it, so the large dragons vanished. However, a few small dragons still live there.

7 THE CENTRAL WATCHTOWER

An elf-style dungeon near the capital of the Western Elves. Currently sealed. Since it hadn't had a lord for a long time, it was believed to be nearly collapsed. Mithrun was dispatched to investigate a nearby rash of disappearances and got taken in.

There's much more to talk about how the dungeons work, especially how it relates to Ancient Magic but I'll leave it for another post in the future. If you have any insights about the information here or if I've missed something important please share!

[prokopetz]

"You should describe how big a character is in terms of height" "You should describe how big a character is in terms of weight" I am going to describe how big a character is in terms of what fluid volume they would occupy if rendered down into goo.

[aroaceleovaldez]

I was reading a post about CoTG and I realized: Rick has seemingly started to write every character pairing with the exact same dynamic, and he's not good at writing that dynamic and it doesn't make sense for 90% of the characters he writes it for.

It's that very specific dynamic of one half of the pair who is almost aggressive to the other party - "teasing" them constantly/insulting them, affectionately punching/judo flipping/maiming/etc, seemingly almost always exasperated with the other - and said other party usually just accepts this treatment or blanketly views it fondly, and may generally be framed as more incompetent than their partner and a little bit of a doormat (particularly relating to being insulted/teased/etc by their partner).

We start seeing this dynamic in HoO with Percy and Annabeth, as a sort of semi-inconsistent twist on their rivals-to-friends-to-lovers dynamic from the first series. Then the dynamic pattern develops further with Leo and Calypso. Then Magnus and Alex. Then Nico and Will, particularly in TSATS. And now in CoTG, it's Percy and Annabeth again but even more in this direction.

I know people have talked about Nico and Will's relationship over the series rapidly being shoehorned into Percabeth Two™, and it's extremely apparent in TSATS that Rick's doing it on purpose (including directly quoting Percabeth scenes but minorly tweaking them to be Solangelo). But recognizing it as an overarching trend in Rick's later books honestly reminds me a lot of how Rick started trying to apply the "Percy Formula" so-to-speak to nearly every protagonist in HoO (and then try to replicate similar character archetypes with Magnus and Apollo's narrations - moreso Magnus in being jaded and sarcastic, very much trying to be first series Percy. He only sounds unique because Rick failed at making him Percy 2. Apollo is more akin to later-series Percy characterization of being goofy and incompetent. Apollo [and Zeus] even got retconned to give Apollo a more similar backstory to Percy's). Rick seems to have decided that he thinks the audience wants this specific dynamic but 10 times over, except he's not good at writing it the first time because it's a bastardization of the time he did a different thing okay.

And Rick also seems aware of that too! Because he retconned Calypso and Leo at the end of TOA, probably because he realized how absolutely awful it was reading when they were written with that dynamic of Calypso just functionally hating Leo and constantly being aggressive towards him! The only time Rick's actually made the dynamic even semi-successful was with Magnus and Alex, because it actually fits within their characters, their dynamics with each other, and their environment. Alex beheading Magnus on the regular works out fine because there are no repercussions to that in Valhalla, Magnus will be fine, so it does genuinely come off as humorous. And Alex has been effectively established to be abrasive at times but have her genuine feelings shine through regularly, and that meshes well with Magnus' jaded-and-aloof-but-quietly-very-empathetic character. And Magnus has been established to, yes, not be great at combat, particularly compared to Alex. They are the only time that flavor of dynamic in that form was effective and cohesive.

Percabeth is no longer rivals-to-friends-to-lovers badasses on equal levels with shaky pasts who finally found some form of permanence with one another. Now it's super smart doting and affectionately aggressive girlfriend and her silly goofy 50%-of-the-time incompetent boyfriend who she judo flips/pushes off cliffs/etc - but affectionately~! Solangelo is trying to riff off of the early series "Poseidon & Athena are enemies" dynamic that Percabeth had but with Apollo & Hades being "opposites" but learning to accept each other, except it ends up with Will just coming off as a huge asshole and Nico being retconned to a complete doormat about it - when prior to that those characterizations would be completely contrary to their established characters (even just from TOA!). Calypso in HoO gets retconned from her PJO characterization to being snooty and aggressive, and Leo's false persona gets merged into his just normal personality except he just also becomes a doormat but more goofy than Nico with occasional haha-dark/depression-humor! Which Nico also got. Which was also a bastardized Percy trait that got redistributed.

It's exhausting. Rick write more than one relationship dynamic you can do it I promise

[softcenteregg]

// nightmares + daydreams // . . . Hung up on Logan's massive issues when he hurts Wade in his sleep. (Wade is fine, btw. He makes double strong coffee that morning.)

[tangledinink]

i wonder where jeni learned that "lay on the floor" strategy

the gemini [ start ] [ prev ] [ next ]

[lunarmoves]

Can't stop thinking of the scenario where y/n leaves the Pizzaplex feeling like Sun honestly wanted them gone, and Sun becomes obsessed with finding them and also leads a robot apocalypse. What would happen if y/n caught wind that Sun is looking specifically for them and seeing all that has happened with the robots takes that as "Oh no, I thought he tolerated me but turns out he dislikes me so much he personally wants to get rid of me himself" so they try extra hard to go into hiding out of fear of what will happen if they're captured and taken to him?

ohhh my goddd nonnie u are so big brained!!!!!!! thank u for sending this in bc honestly i have also been thinking about this au for a while LMAO. if i was strong enough i would write a 50k fic spliced into two arcs (im thinking about it so hard u have no idea!!!!!!) for this but alas.... /stares at my incomplete wips/ i am not </3

(added in from future shay: what have u done nonnie this became so much longer than i'd intended, u basically get the whole fic outline here. cw for death and murder n stuff, typical fnaf. also spoilers for a fic i may or may not write?? like. this is me brainstorming and shoving all my ideas here lol. literally all of them)

okay so... let us set the stage a little bc i can't help myself. arc1 of this hypothetical fic would of course involve the pizzaplex where reader and sun get "closer" over the course of like a year. maybe more. well sun feels close to you. you, on the other hand, do not. why would you? this robot has been so passive aggressive with you and though it seems like he's nice enough to you (in comparison to the other humans), you really don't like how he treats you some days. what he says about humanity as a whole. you can't help it! yeah humanity sucks sometimes and robots were built to be everything that humans aren't, but he can't generalize in the way that he does at times and forget that these are people!! with feelings and ambitions and dreams! 'superiority complex' doesn't even begin to cover his issues, gahh!!

(the fact that he's been treated like absolute shit, working in the daycare does not help whatsoever. the mean parents, the kids who don't listen to him, the staff tht does the bare minimum on him in terms of maintenance because he's the daycare robot and not one of the glamrocks. it grinds his gears)

i imagine the reader in this fic believes that robots are indeed sentient, which is why you try to get sun to recognize and acknowledge his own emotions/feelings (which he vehemently denies, even tho there are literal riots happening worldwide regarding robot sentience. he's lying to you. you know he's lying to you. but you don't know why he denies it so much. ((maybe this is the point where he catches feels for reader and is denying the fact tht he's crushing on a human lol)). the government is not happy about these uprisings, of course, and every day the news shows more and more chaos unfolding as robots get tired of the conditions they are in). but eventually, things boil over and you end up leaving. that, and it's becoming more dangerous, living in this area, with everything going on. maybe your parents are trying to convince you to move elsewhere. maybe there are other external circumstances. in any case, you leave. there is nothing at the pizzaplex for you anymore, sun has made that clear.

(and moon... well, moon has been quiet lately. too quiet. you don't know what happened to him, he won't even look at you when you manage to get some time with him when the lights go out after your shift)

((i imagine this is maybe around when they get infected. that makes everything even more complicated. if you thought sun was obsessive before, then that's nothing compared to a glitched out sun unforch. it just amplifies the more questionable aspects of his entire personality. and like, he doesn't even have vanny/afton commanding him bc as soon as he gets the virus? he kills both of them))

(((also im imagining moon and sun don't really get along in this au bc they have differing ideals/views. like to balance out sun's unhingedness, moon is significantly quieter and softer and deffo does not believe in robot superiority lol. if anything, maybe he has an inferiority complex pfft poor guy. doesn't help when he gets glitchtrap'd and wakes up with blood on his hands)))

okay so you leave, right? and a few weeks later, you see the news on your phone--the pizzaplex has burned down. you don't know how to feel about it. sure you've been friendly to the glamrocks and stuff, but you find yourself thinking about sun and moon. there's a mention of one death--a blond woman, who died from her neck snapping before the flames could reach her. you don't want to think of the implications of that. there's no mention of the glamrocks--of sun or moon or the dj. you're not sure if the news anchors are just excluding robots, but either way, it makes your heart sink. you take a moment to mourn. bc at the end of the day.... you did know sun for over a year.

not even a few days after that, there is a robot uprising in your city. it's... bad. you're at home, watching the news with your apartment half in shambles from your plan on moving back home with your parents. in my head, since utah is home to fazco (a megacorporation with hands in the development of a LOT of the robots seen in society), it also means it's a hotspot for robot riots and the like. fazco vehemently denies robot sentience because it would mean a loss of money in acknowledging their workers are people yk how it is. as such, there are maany protests and riots and stuff, from both humans and robots. it's a shitshow.

ANYWAYS you're at home and it becomes evidently clear that you need to get out of dodge as soon as you can. they were killing people. the robots, built by human hands, were killing. it brings about absolute chaos. in prior riots/protests there were never deaths. injuries, maybe, but never deaths. people start evacuating like crazy.

you catch a glimpse on the news that the violent uprising in utah caused a chainlink reaction to extend all across the nation. maybe even the world. you're scrambling all over your apartment with the tv on the news, doing your best to pack up the essentials. there's live coverage on the tv from a helicopter somewhere not far from your apartment complex. and you're able to catch a glimpse of bright rays and a cheshire, white smile on the screen--leading what looks like an army of robots--before it cuts out.

you don't even know what to think. the image is seared into your eyes, the blood that painted yellow hands and a crescent face.

you get the hell out of your apartment and book it as far as you can. communications are down everywhere--the thing about robots? they know exactly where to hit humans to cause a catastrophe. as such, your phone is useless. they've hijacked the satellites and took down certain powergrids. having a phone on you would only be a detriment, so you ditch it. there's only you now. you must survive.

and then there's a bit of a time skip to start arc2. in this duration, you're long gone from that city in utah, living with a small survival group. if you've read my summer camp au fic, this is where i'll bring in "OCs" such as vincent (a play on 2015 vincent) and jeremy (fitzgerald or the VR guy tht used to work for fazco), maybe michael if i really wanna au fudge everything. you all live day by day, trying to run away from the robots.

at this point, a majority of humanity has either been killed or has gone into hiding. i think while the robots don't want to eradicate humanity completely (after all, there are certain tasks that need humans n such), they definitely want to make them a minority. they are a little more than halfway through their goal.

it's very difficult to evade robot surveillance. there are drones everywhere. all cameras are hijacked. i'm imagining a kind of cyberpunk type world. you have EMPs and tasers that you can use to disable electronics, but they're made from scraps you and your group scavenged. and upon immediately using one, all robots in the area are informed of your presence, so they can only be used in rare and desperate circumstances. they are all connected to the same network, which means they can have a hive mind, at times. life is scary, in this regard. big brother is watching.

you've heard rumors of a human base underground somewhere--a place safe from robots with the proper defenses. accepting to any and all. the only tough thing was finding the damn place, but you've seen the clues in graffiti and hidden messages designed to trick AI (think: captcha). you and your group just wants to get to that damn base and stop living in fear all the time, being out in the open or crawling as stealthily as you can through empty streets.

the one thing sun used to emphasize to you? the way robots are more efficient. and that they are. you see it in the way a new metropolis shines like a beacon on the horizon. they've already built their own kingdom of sorts. and their ruler? you grimace as you think about sharp rays and wide, white eyes. you haven't seen him in ages--not since that initial broadcast. but you hear the whispered rumors and news. how he has created a robot haven--the celestial city. how he scorns humans. you blame yourself sometimes. maybe if you had stayed and tried harder to convince sun that humans aren't all too bad, none of this would have happened.

(a memory comes to you--of your time back at the pizzaplex. of you sitting atop the security desk and kicking your feet lightly as you entertain sun's... uniqueness. ambitions--that you did not take as seriously as you should have.

"okay, i'll bite," you said in amusement. "what would a robot takeover look like for you?"

sun cocked his head, hands fidgeting with a plush. "hmm. well. i suppose it would be a very quick thing, for one. hit hard and fast." he squeezed the plush. "take down comms. strike power sources. go for those in power first, then the weaker ones." he gave you a shrug and an unreadable smile. "from then on, carnage."

and you--silly silly you--just rolled your damn eyes at him like he was joking around with you and asked him about more hypotheticals. picking his brain, in a way. it was exact with how it played out in real time. you thought about this often, at the dead of night.

it was all your fucking fault)

and then, one day, the scout/informant of your little group--jeremy probably--comes back with some news. the celestial ruler--sun--has been taking human hostages. it's been happening for a while now, apparently, almost nearly as long as the uprising. jeremy pulls out some hazy photographs he's gotten from some of the other humans he exchanges info with. you look at them, the hostages.

after a minute or two of staring, you realize something.

they all sort of resemble you.

there's a clear pattern actually. your hair or your face shape or your eyes or your smile. some combination of them. but never actually you. you ask jeremy what it all means, and he hesitatingly says that it looks like sun is looking for someone. it's clear to everyone who it is as they all stare at you.

and you? you're panicking.

he's looking specifically for you. just you. you've never heard of the robots taking hostages, and you have no idea what he's doing with them, but it can't be anything good. especially since he keeps taking more and more of your lookalikes hostage. you think back to your time at the pizzaplex--so distant, now, that it almost feels like a dream.

he wants to kill you himself. you're sure of it.

now you're trying even harder to get to that underground base. you go completely dark, doing your best to evade detection--and i imagine there are quite a few close calls, definitely a few instances where your face is captured on camera or you have to use an EMP. until finally, you and your group manage to integrate into the underground human base.

'base' doesn't even properly describe it. it's a whole city, actually, with unsteady houses made of wood and cloth. it's the perfect place to hide.

you spend a while down there, occasionally venturing up when you're allowed to by the guards (it's rare, very very rare). the city has strict rules that must be followed to ensure it's not found. the ones in charge are constantly looking for news on the actions of sun and the majority of robots. they don't really keep the citizens updated--it would cause too much chaos, you think. but you hear whispers now and then. (the robots have expanded territory. france is completely gone. australia's still holding out. most of china and india have been taken over and their factories have all been transformed to mass produce more robots)

for the first time in a while, you think you can find peace down here. it was only inevitable that this would be ruined one day.

you wake up to chaos.

the underground is under siege. the robots have found you.

you run out of your makeshift house and have to dodge crumbling stone. explosions rock through the air, sending dust and debris everywhere. you're scared for your life--your only instinct is to run run run get out it's not safe! you don't know where your friends are. you don't know if they're alive. for a moment, you hesitate. and then you're bolting to try to find them. they had their own little homes not too far from you. you can find them. no man left behind.

you can hear bullets and the hum of energy everywhere. people are screaming and crying all around you. you see people dying before your eyes, impaled by beams of light or stray bullets. it's all you can do to dodge and weave towards vincent's house.

but before you can get there, something tackles you from behind. you roll across dirt, and find yourself pinned under a robot--a staffbot from the pizzaplex, you realize. except it looks--different. more high tech.

it seems to scan your face. and just before it can finish, you manage to grab a stray metal rod laying on the ground next to you and stab it right through the eye.

you scramble, getting as far away as you can from the thing. but-- you run right into the path of a crumbling building. it buries you halfway under thick wood, and something sears its way through your leg. you're trapped. you're trapped and there's no one around to help you.

and just when you're on the brink of passing out, you see him. standing in front of you a ways away. those same star-patterned pants and dangling cap. but he's different somehow, he looks different. you can't place it, your vision blurring into red and purple.

moon looks at you as though you are the last thing he wants to see. and then you faint.

when you wake up, you're in a bedroom. your leg is in a cast and there are crutches near your bed.

it's... the nicest room you've seen in a while. the windows are covered by thick curtains that let in a sliver of light. you have to blink a bit to let your eyes adjust. and then you get up, noticing you aren't in the same ratty, dirty clothes you'd been wearing for forever.

you try the door first. it's locked. there's a sinking sensation in your gut that gets stronger and stronger the closer you get to the window. and when you pull open the curtains, you gasp at the towering buildings, bright green and blue light, and flying drones.

you are in the middle of the celestial city.

you panic hard. and then you notice the camera in the corner of the room, looking right at you. big brother is definitely watching. you give him the bird.

you wallow around in the bedroom for a bit. you are hungry, you cannot deny. and there is only a glass of water for you set on your nightstand.

but eventually, the door opens of its own accord. an automatic lock, you suppose. and it swings open into a dark hall. you do not have any other choice but to follow. it's clear you are being summoned.

there are no places for you to run or hide. you travel down a long hallway and end up in a wide room with someone tall standing at the far end by the window. it's a scene straight out of a movie. you are not impressed.

the figure turns around, and you do a double take. it's sun--yet it's not.

he looks different. taller, stronger. with clawed fingers and rays that look deadly to the touch. his smile is sharper, his torso has all sorts of compartments and attachments. he was modded to all hell, just like that staffbot you saw earlier. it had to have been self inflicted.

he only stares at you, really. white eyes rake up and down your form, taking you in. you don't say a word, only look back at him. and then you flinch slightly when someone emerges from the shadows next to sun.

it's... moon. looking just as modded as sun. you're confused. when did they become separate? but honestly, you think it makes sense. they never really liked each other. it makes sense that sun would want to be separated as soon as possible--and they had the resources to do so. you just wonder why they're still working together. comfort in the familiarity, maybe.

moon doesn't meet your eye. you notice his is different--the red tinged with purple. sun doesn't look away from you. it makes you uneasy.

you don't know why you're here, but one thing's clear: you are not getting out of here anytime soon.

i'm honestly not sure how to end things, but in my head there's a lot of reconciliation that needs to happen. obv sun is so incredibly down bad for you at this point (and moon), but there are many issues that need to be tackled first.

sun doesn't understand why you're so wary around him. moon keeps avoiding you at every turn. there's still an entire revolution and remaking of society happening. you are constantly being watched by cameras in the building. i can't picture things as returning to normal--post uprising--but i also don't know how to end things on a happy note LOL, though i do want to instead of killing off reader or sun/moon. maybe it'll be a bittersweet sort of end, maybe reader finally gets through to sun. maybe eclipse will make an appearance (jk, idk how i would even do that, this might be an eclipse-less fic).

in any case, the next bit would be a lot of sun and reader connecting better than they had in the pizzaplex, a lot of sun trying to understand humans better cuz he's trying to court you-- and has long come to accept his emotions tbh. tho he's still kind of mad at you for leaving, so there needs to be a conversation of sorts about why you left before sun can really begin to understand how he appears to you. idk!

i also feel like moon isnt nearly fleshed out as sun is?? i dunno, i might have to think some more about him. i just know he's terrified of hurting you, esp with him still having the virus (and sun, but he has better control of it). gonna be a lot of work on your part to get him to be comfortable around you again. also, he doesn't like the fact that society has come to this. he lowkey resents sun, but he doesn't have anyone else. what's a bot to do?

also there may be a scene where your survival group tries to save you lol, maybe with an army that tries to seize control of the celestial city. which may work. this would be a bad end, i think, cuz there's no way sun's getting out of that alive.

anyways yeah. i rambled enough LMAOO whoopsie! i rly just regurgitated all the thoughts in my head. no promises that this will be a fic, i've got enough on my plate as is LOL

[randomnameless]

I forgot to comment :(

I keep remembering Ingrid is dead 😭 And we forced Shamir to join us by threatening Catherine 😭

Keep remembering then, because those plot points will be, uh, totally relevant later on. I mean, as relevant as anything can be in a BE route.

Why, though? Edelgard just said in her support with Balthus she intends to conquer all of Fodlan. Does she see Claude as the least threatening? I’d like to know why Claude thinks it’s a good idea too.

No she’s just after Rhea!!!

Given how Claude accepted to side with her - instead of being folded - it seems like a good move on her part, but remember who we’re talking about, the lady only had one supply line :)

I’m having Shez be such an ass. He turned down sparing with Holst and made things awkward.

Holtz is a disappointment looks and character wise, so I don’t think Shez is being an ass here lol

Edelgard just called it an “invasion” too. So at least she’s honest.

But only because they took RhEa in bcs she’s BaD and the reason why the war started!!!

Surprisingly enough, this isn’t only parroted by die hard edelstans :(

I love how Hubert is spinning Dimitri wiping out the Western lords as some evil thing. But, like, those people organized a genocide.

When it comes from Hubert, it’s hilarious because Papa Vestra was killed off-screen for, uh, reasons we will never know, and we’re not supposed to care. I love how Hubert brings out the double standard in his routes (remember the Dimitri BaD in CF bcs he didn’t came to salute them before fighting to their deaths in Tailtean?) - but if he is the one supposed to play it straight, the game didn’t get the memo that, hey, it’s Hubert. He isn’t supposed to be the most, uh, neutral narrator out there!

Claude, Edelgard, Linhardt and just about everyone else is bemoaning all the people who are going to die in the war. for daring to … defend their lives But my girl Dorothea is the only one who seems to realize that her side is the cause of the bloodshed. Not the people who would never have to fight if Edelgard didn’t force them too.

Mhh. Did you get her support with her beloved leader?

“When people think someone is after what the possess, they respond with fear - even if the thought is all in their head.” - Ferdinand. Except, it’s not?

Ferdie and Caspar were really butchered to make sense in Nopes as characters who cannot defect, so now Ferdie acts like, say, someone making statements that are completely wrong about everything.

IIRC he has a line in the game where he mentions the Kingdom values CrEsTs more than the Empire, and that’s why there are more crested generals/peons in the Kingdom than in the Empire... Except that someone compiled the data for the npcs, and lo, the Empire still has more npcs/generals with crests than the Kingdom lol.

Edelgard openly wants to rule their lands with absolute authority. She’s already stolen everything from one of her enemies, why should the Kingdom believe they wouldn’t get the same treatment Rhea did?

I will not spoil, but... no, I won’t spoil!

I wish the game would make it clear what Edelgard would do to Dimitri and co if they did surrender. Because, like, does anyone really think Hubert would leave them alive? Or Edelgard for that matter? If she wants to rule the Kingdom, Dimitri and most of the Blue Lions would HAVE to die. Wouldn’t she throw Dimitri and his supporters out of their homes and replace them with Empire nobility at best? It’s not in their heads.

This made me think, in CF, Edel specifically asks for Dimitri’s death.

Hey, at least this is the first interesting thing that’s happened in SB since the prologue lamo. I hope it’s not just back to CF now except Claude is now Edelgard’s toady.

Mmh.

The ending is particulary awesome too, very shonen-esque.

Weird support. Ferdinand is getting respected and admired by a Black Eagle instead of being the butt monkey. Caspar is thinking and questioning having something in his life other than furthering his reputation via killing people. I like it.

Well... Given how Caspar was retconned to be the dumb bloodthirsty muscle, this support sort of works, even if I suppose it would also have worked in FE16, but with a different setting.

He wants to defend Edelgard because her promoting him changed his life.

Remember how he sort of chewed her out for starting her war in the C support? But now, Shez only looks after his own hide and thanks her for giving him a promotion. It’s way more down to earth and sort of materialistic, but Shez is Shez.

I’d like to hear your opinions about him when you’ll finish all routes!

Sorry, but this was boring af. Never thought I’d say that about a Hubert support.

Imagine if Hapi discovered Hubie was in cahoots with Cordelia, who experimented on her - oh wait, this is a BE route.

Instead of tackling the elephant in the room, let’s talk about coffee instead.

I honestly really don’t like CF!Caspar, but SB!Caspar seems even worse, like he’s just his dad’s little killing-happy puppet.

When you remember in FE16 his paralogue was all about him leeroy jenkins against the Death Knight, who captures and kills (?) young ladies - Caspar used to be the stupid shonen sidekick raving about justice (remember his catherine support?) but now he dgaf and wants to kill with daddy. Yay.

Have you done their paralogue? It’s very, uh, interesting meritocracy wise.

Randolph is still a little shit. He WANTS to invade the Alliance. IDK, I just cannot fathom wanting something like that of any country let alone an ally

Randy is a weird case, we hear all those things about how great and nice he is supposed to be, but when we see him, he wants to invade his allies, and disses on Edel’s army that is made up of commoners...

Lamo, Edelgard literally just said might makes right.

What can you expect from #Nemesisdidnothingwrong and #Nemesiswasachampionofhumanity ? Might makes right was his motto (completely with the hypocrisy of defeating a sleeping/comatose Sothis, but hey)

Hilda legit just asked Claude why he’s made a strategy that limits casualties. Are people from Faerghus the only ones who don’t love killing people? She is doubting the Empire at least. She really doesn’t like Edelgard, lol.

Eh, Hilda is a character that is... complicated, to say the least.

She is doubting the Empire, so that’s cookie points for her, but wondering why Claude is limiting casualties... is it because she doesn’t care about other people dying? I think it’s developed in one of her supports, but I’ll wait until you unlock them in GW!

Not seeing Ingrid with the others hurts. They’re really out here just trying to stop everyone else from trying to murder them

#toxicmasculinity #chivalrybad

They’re BaD for not accepting Adrestian rule!

See this is why Dimitri’s the best one - “The old ways must die - with that I agree. But shove that down the people’s throats, and you risk breaking the very land you’re trying to rule.”

To some people, this line means Dimitri doesn’t want to change the status quo thus is centrist, or some other thing.

But it takes an entire new meaning when we realise Dimitri might be talking about Lambert, he died because he tried to push reforms, and some people in Faerghus planned for a regicide, effectively breaking the land (until he came)...

Anyways, Faerghus BaD. Don’t forget it, it’ll be important later on in this route!

I’m guessing Jeralt gives Byleth his sword in every route

:)

Let’s say Good Ol’Jerry forgot to return Rhea’s sword when he bailed out some years ago.

I can’t imagine this is going to be anything but nauseating.

:(

Ohhh, wow, they really went there. Edelgard tells Monica to her face that she only rescued Monica because it suited her, didn’t plan on it, and would let Monica die if it helped her goals.

And of course, just like in CF, when she reveals she had been using people and planned on letting them die to reach her goals, she is met with opposition, distrust, anger and maybe people bailing out on her?

Learning this changes exactly nothing about Monica.

At this point idk if it’s a thing about Monica, or the games not being able to write a character being angry at Edel and having face the consequences or backlash of her own actions without Hubert acting as a proxy

In case you didn’t read my GW reaction, I was quite pleased to see Byleth actually pissed about someone almost hurt their dad given how little they ask Edelgard about her involvement in that in CF.

That’s why I was talking about with the “Hubert proxy”, Edel promises Billy to tell them more about the agarthans, but it’s Hubert who does, in his paralogue. Not Edel, never her, of course :)

The Byleth plot is very interesting, as you might see in other routes, because it opens another can of worms that was, sort of, retconned in FE Heroes!

I love how they go from celebrating the deaths of Faerghus to lamenting their own loses, without any acknowledgment that THEY are responsible for all of this or that the people they killed were just as “alive” as they are.

:)

:’)

Scarlet Blaze Ch 10

I don't remember if there's 13, 14, or 15 chapters per route in this game, but here we go with SB Ch 10.

STORY

I keep remembering Ingrid is dead 😭 And we forced Shamir to join us by threatening Catherine 😭

Oh, boy, Claude just became Edelgard's bitch boy. Can't say I didn't suspect this.

Why, though? Edelgard just said in her support with Balthus she intends to conquer all of Fodlan. Does she see Claude as the least threatening? I'd like to know why Claude thinks it's a good idea too.

So I take it this time Claude is getting shoe-horned into Edelgard's story rather than Byleth's? I wonder if we'll see this in AG and GW too. Or if it'll be a bit different.

I'm having Shez be such an ass. He turned down sparing with Holst and made things awkward.

Is Claude still king in this route?

"We'll be invading Fraldarius" no 😭😭.

Edelgard just called it an "invasion" too. So at least she's honest.

I love how Hubert is spinning Dimitri wiping out the Western lords as some evil thing. But, like, those people organized a genocide.

DOROTHEA, my beloved!!! THANK GOD.

Claude, Edelgard, Linhardt and just about everyone else is bemoaning all the people who are going to die in the war. for daring to . . . defend their lives But my girl Dorothea is the only one who seems to realize that her side is the cause of the bloodshed. Not the people who would never have to fight if Edelgard didn't force them too.

"Whatever our intent, we're the instigators here. We can't expect the enemy to do anything less than defend their land with tooth and claw." Dorothea is queen. A hypocrite, but at least the game realizes who's really at fault.

"When people think someone is after what the possess, they respond with fear - even if the thought is all in their head." - Ferdinand. Except, it's not?

Edelgard openly wants to rule their lands with absolute authority. She's already stolen everything from one of her enemies, why should the Kingdom believe they wouldn't get the same treatment Rhea did? I wish the game would make it clear what Edelgard would do to Dimitri and co if they did surrender. Because, like, does anyone really think Hubert would leave them alive? Or Edelgard for that matter? If she wants to rule the Kingdom, Dimitri and most of the Blue Lions would HAVE to die. Wouldn't she throw Dimitri and his supporters out of their homes and replace them with Empire nobility at best? It's not in their heads.

Hey, at least this is the first interesting thing that's happened in SB since the prologue lamo. I hope it's not just back to CF now except Claude is now Edelgard's toady.

CASPAR & FERDINAND A SUPPORT

Ok guys, for anyone who's curious, this is where I picked up after finishing FE Engage. Feels a lot less daunting knowing I'm already a good numbers of ch into every route.

Weird support. Ferdinand is getting respected and admired by a Black Eagle instead of being the butt monkey. Caspar is thinking and questioning having something in his life other than furthering his reputation via killing people. I like it.

Ferdie called himself a master of none and admired Caspar back.

LINHARDT & DOROTHEA A SUPPORT

Wasn't this B support the one where we learned Edelgard had a single sole supply line? Lamo.

Dorothea's not going to keep taking notes for Linhardt lol.

She got hurt, so Linhardt took notes for her. She's surprised, but pleased.

She told him he had his own charm, and he's like "please, no." I love him.

I don't think this support really showed a new side to the characters, though. It felt like an emptier version of their OG one.

SHEZ & EDELGARD B SUPPORT

Shez wants her to trust him. She says she does now.

He feels purposeless and wants to be her bodyguard.

Lamo, one of Shez's response options is "stand there slack-jawed." I forgot how much I liked Shez.

He wants to defend Edelgard because her promoting him changed his life.

HUBERT & HAPI A SUPPORT

Hapi is trying to make nice with Hubert.

They're bonding over coffee.

Now they're having coffee and talking about it. I'm more of a tea person, tbh.

Sorry, but this was boring af. Never thought I'd say that about a Hubert support.

CAMP + SIDE BATTLES

Dimitri took Cornelia down in this route too. Badass.

Ashe is so miserable, poor dude. Mercie isn't happy either.

I honestly really don't like CF!Caspar, but SB!Caspar seems even worse, like he's just his dad's little killing-happy puppet.

Randolph is still a little shit. He WANTS to invade the Alliance. IDK, I just cannot fathom wanting something like that of any country let alone an ally.

Lamo, Edelgard literally just said might makes right.

Shit, I just remembered that Ingrid's dead in this timeline.

Hilda legit just asked Claude why he's made a strategy that limits casualties. Are people from Faerghus the only ones who don't love killing people? She is doubting the Empire at least. She really doesn't like Edelgard, lol.

Not seeing Ingrid with the others hurts. They're really out here just trying to stop everyone else from trying to murder them.

See this is why Dimitri's the best one - "The old ways must die - with that I agree. But shove that down the people's throats, and you risk breaking the very land you're trying to rule." If Edelgard had her way, there'd be nothing left to rule except the Empire.

Yeah, the reason you can't work with the Empire, Dimitri, is that Edelgard wants to rule all of Fodlan. Her alliance with Claude has made it really clear that the Empire still intends a hostile take over of even their own allies. Which, honestly, I do appreciate SB for being a bit more honest than CF.

I really don't want to fight Rodrigue. I do think it's funny that your enemy always hires Jeralt though.

I'm guessing Jeralt gives Byleth his sword in every route.

SHEZ & BERNADETTA B SUPPORT

Starts with her screaming and shrieking about something.

Anna showed up! She's selling something to Bernadetta that will help her with her shyness. Also sells her something shifty. Or tries. Because Bernadetta assumes Anna's up to no good (probably true) and buys nothing.

Shez calls her judgmental lol. He's not wrong.

BERNADETTA & FERDINAND C SUPPORT

This is their only support. Kinda weird given their past history.

She's eating plants. Ferdinand is concerned she's eating bad stuff. Ferdinand wants to have a competition over who collects the most edible plants.

Poor Bernie. His "competition" really reminded me of those guys who are like "oh, prove it, name xxx!" when I say I like this sport or that fandom because I must be lying to impress them or some shit. (except I don't think Ferdie is being sexist here, just annoying af).

Bernie gets hurt and one of Ferdie's plants can help fix it.

Also, he lost.

EDELGARD & MONICA B SUPPORT

I can't imagine this is going to be anything but nauseating.

Haha, Edelgard just said in another world they may have lost Monica forever (to TWSITD).

Edelgard says she only saved Monica because it was the best move lol. And like, we know this is actually true because, well . . .

Ohhh, wow, they really went there. Edelgard tells Monica to her face that she only rescued Monica because it suited her, didn't plan on it, and would let Monica die if it helped her goals.

I know a lot of times people play off Edelgard's harshness as "oh, she's just insecure and saying that!" But here you can't really make that argument because it happens in Houses lamo.

She literally didn't rescue Monica because she needed TWSITD soldiers.

Learning this changes exactly nothing about Monica.

It added some stuff to Edelgard, but Monica is still horribly one-note.

FERDINAND & DOROTHEA B SUPPORT

I know a lot of people like their Houses support chain, but I kinda don't? It's drama over something really silly.

Edelgard is here. Ugh. I want Dorothea, not her.

Oh, good grief, it's going to be about the same annoying thing. Ferdinand is remembering seeing Dorothea and being stunned by her beauty.

(like, imagine getting pissed off that someone stares at you when you're butt-ass naked in public and dripping wet)

Dorothea's a lot more reasonable this time, getting flustered hearing this.

MAIN BATTLE

Every time I log back into this, I remember that Ingrid's dead :(

Oh, God, please tell me that I'm not killing Rodrigue and Felix now.

They go from "oh, bummer, we have to kill people to! Let's go Empire!!!" Bit of a whiplash, but Dorothea's the only one who seems to realize they're killing people and not NPCs lamo.

Same conversation between Shez and Arval. Guessing I'll get it in AG when it's time for recruiting Byleth too.

Ok, like with Golden Wildfire, I'll try to unlock Byleth. But unlike with GW where I reset and tried a few times, I'm only trying once. Because I really want to finish this and get to other games. AG is the only route where I'll put in real effort to get Byleth because I care more about those characters getting a fully happy ending than the rest.

I think I failed again lol. It changed from a side goal to the main goal to fight Byleth. I didn't move around the map fast enough.

God, I love Rodrigue.

Rodrigue died. I'm guessing if I recruit Byleth, that doesn't change? How many other Blue Lions does SB force me to kill?

Cut scene time. So who dies in SB?

LAMO, it's Randolph. OFC it's Randolph. This guy is just allergic to surviving.

Is it bad I'm more upset that Rodrigue died? He's a WAYYYYY better person than Randolph.

In case you didn't read my GW reaction, I was quite pleased to see Byleth actually pissed about someone almost hurt their dad given how little they ask Edelgard about her involvement in that in CF.

I like how they expect us to care about Randolph. Like, Judith, makes sense. She's close to Claude. She's cool. Randolph is really unlikable and has no special connection to anyone except Fleche.

Does this mean Fleche will cause a level where she goes crazy against Byleth?

This conversation falls so flat compared to the GW one. Because in GW, you were talking to Claude. Here, it's . . . Fleche. In GW it was actually an emotional moment (and made me feel a bit guilty). Here, not so much.

I do feel bad for Byleth and Alois though.

Ok, the Sothis-Byleth merging happening.

I love how they go from celebrating the deaths of Faerghus to lamenting their own loses, without any acknowledgment that THEY are responsible for all of this or that the people they killed were just as "alive" as they are.

Haha, even SB lets you recognize that Randolph means very little personally to you or any of the main cast.

xxxxx

[kingofthecotas]

postscript | ao3

future fic | ~1.5k words

love writing post-reconciliation with no idea how they got there

——

Marc gets in three and a half hours after he was supposed to.

Storms in Japan meant a delayed flight out of Tokyo, a missed connection in Doha, and landing in Rimini just after two in the morning. By the time he collects his bag, finds his car, and makes the drive home, he’s ready to sleep for the next twelve hours.

The house is mostly dark when he opens the front door, holding his breath as if that’s going to make him any quieter, and gently slides his keys onto the hall table. There’s a light on in the living room, though, and he slips down the hallway, leaving his suitcase by the door.

He hasn’t had enough time here yet, caught in the winds of a busy season, but there’s traces of him: Ducati cap slung on the coatrack; a pair of cycling shoes under the stairs, the decorative glass jar filled with the peppered colours of Aragón stones—they’d given it to him on the podium along with his trophy, said this place is yours, and he’d had to bite back tears.

He throws his coat over the banisters, over a BMW WRT jacket, and follows the warm light down the hall.

Valentino is sitting up on the sofa—well, propped up by his loosely balled hand against his cheek, knuckles pressed into his face. The throw blanket, the one he hates, is twisted around his thighs; Marc had snagged it from the household section of some English supermarket, and Valentino likes to complain that it shits fluff everywhere, it’s all over my sofa, it’s all over my jeans, Marc. His eyes are closed, shadowed in the lamplight.

Marc swallows a fond smile and kicks his shoes off, leaving them in the middle of the rug, before he slides himself onto the sofa beside Valentino and pulls the blanket over his legs.

Valentino blinks out of his doze, heavy eyelids and scrunched expression, but it all softens when he finds Marc next to him. “You’re back.”

“Shit journey,” Marc whispers. “You didn’t have to wait.” He always waits.

Valentino shakes his head. “I fell asleep watching the, ah, IMSA. Actually.”

“Of course.” The TV is dark, no laptop in sight, but Marc lets him have it. “Must have been exciting.”

“Mm.” Valentino yawns. “You must be tired. Very hard to be a MotoGP rider these days. All these first-class flights.”

“Terrible, yes. I’m comfortable here, unless your back cannot handle it.”

A smile cracks. Victory. “I am fine.”

“Good,” Marc says, and stretches up to kiss him.

The first time they’d done this again, pressed their lips together after nearly ten years apart, Valentino had shoved him against the wall too hard, overeager, and Marc had nearly headbutted him in the nose and they’d had to laugh at themselves—Marc thinks he would have cried otherwise, at how apart they’d grown, how they’d forgotten how to move together.

No such problems now; they aren’t starving for each other, trying to breathe it in after years of suffocating. It’s—and Marc never thought he would say this about Valentino—easy.

Marc usually runs hot, Valentino cooler, in a way that makes Valentino roll away in the heat of summer nights, grumbling get the fuck away from me, and curl around him as soon as the temperature drops again. His feet, under the blanket, find Marc’s legs.

“Vale,” Marc hisses, because he may as well have pressed an ice cube against his ankles. It’s late October, and Valentino’s core temperature appears to be the same as that of their fridge.

“We can go to bed.”

“You said you were fine.”

“I am fine.”

“Put some fucking socks on.”

Valentino just laughs into the top of Marc’s head. “Ah, you are tired. We should go to bed, yes? You must be stiff from the plane.”

Because he’s laughing, Marc acquiesces, downs blades. “Fine.” His arm is sore, and from the way Valentino is rubbing it, it must be obvious.

They might play at sword-fighting, feints and jabs that are incomprehensible to anyone else—Pecco had watched them bickering in Misano, forehead pinched, until Valentino accepted defeat with a delighted laugh—but in the quiet, between duels, it’s gentle.

“I can get the hot water bottle,” Valentino offers, “or I put the electric blanket on the bed while you were away. Is it bad?”

“Not bad,” Marc whispers. Just hard airport seats and the autumn-night chill. He’s got the rest of his life to get used to it.

“Come on,” Valentino says, soft now. “Ducati will not be happy if I am not taking care of their rider. Plenty of rest before the next race. You know how it is.”

“Oh, but I thought you were watching the endurance race?”

“Probably for the best, you know.” Valentino lets out an exaggerated sigh. “I might sign up to race in another championship if I am not careful.”

“Give you something to do, no?”

“Ah,” Valentino says, “but who would wait up for you with the light on?”

“Not you, you fell asleep.”

Another huff of laughter. Vale lets him get away with a lot these days, silent apologies Marc has already accepted for transgressions long since forgiven. Valentino’s eyes had been huge the first time, uncomprehending, what do you mean okay?

Forgiveness had always come easy to Marc, relatively speaking, even with Valentino. Especially with Valentino.

They peel themselves off the sofa, untangle the blanket—Vale picks a thread of fluff from his jogging bottoms with a sigh, then bends down to scoop up Marc’s abandoned trainers and a long-forgotten wine glass. Marc folds the blanket, places it over the sofa arm, waits for Valentino to head towards the hallway so he can follow. Glass on the hall table: they can wash it tomorrow. Shoes under the stairs. Suitcase left by the door.

“Who has your trophy?”

“Someone in the team.” Marc shrugs. “It will get home somehow.”

“Too many this year for you to keep track of, hm?”

“One hundred and eight,” Marc reminds him, sing-song, and almost relishes the flash in Valentino’s eyes. There’s no danger in it, not anymore.

“I will have to make Pecco work harder, then. We are training on Wednesday.”

“Promise I won’t run him off the track.”

“You are getting soft,” Valentino says with a smile that’s all teeth, but holds the door to their bedroom open and flicks the light switch.

“Like you?”

“Maybe.” And he says it like he doesn’t mind. “Brush your teeth, you smell like you have been on a plane for twelve hours.”

“I have no idea why that is.”

“Mm.”

When Marc is finished in the bathroom, quick shower, teeth brushed, shivering a little as he dries off, he crawls into bed and can’t hold back a sigh at the warmth beneath his skin.

Valentino watches him, so fucking smug—Marc used to hate that expression, used to grit his teeth and lift his chin against it, but now it’s closer to satisfaction, that he was right, that Marc needed something and he got to give it.

“This is the best thing we ever bought,” Marc says with conviction. “My favourite thing in the whole world, maybe.” Álex can laugh at him for having an electric blanket, my God, you’re old, but the heat of it against his arm is heavenly.

“Your favourite, hm?” Valentino smiles again, easy as breathing. “I will remember this.”

There’s no prodding, no you said it wasn’t bad, no see, I told you, wasn’t I right? No knife sliding through the chink in the armour.

“Eh, you are up there as well. Maybe third on the list.”

“So high?” Valentino stretches out his leg, lets Marc move closer. “There must be at least ten bikes you like more than me, yes?”

“It is close,” Marc murmurs, “but you have a lot going in your favour.” His hands find Valentino’s waist, his stomach—still toned, racing GT cars is no walk in the park—and he presses his cheek against Valentino’s outstretched upper arm.

“Yes?”

“Well, you put the blanket on the bed.”

“Ah, yes.” Valentino lets him shift, shift again until he’s comfortable, without complaint, and offers him a tired smile. It’s one of Marc’s favourite smiles, because it’s one just for him. “This is okay?”

Marc closes his eyes, sighing at the brush of fingers on the back of his neck. His arm will be stiff tomorrow, but this will help, and he has ridden through worse. “Okay.”

“Okay,” Vale repeats, and his fingers curl through Marc’s hair. “I bought eggs for breakfast also.”

“You are getting soft,” Marc tells him, grinning loose and easy where it might have been sharp, once.

Valentino only smiles back, and the part of Marc that still gears up for a fight, buried deep but there, stands down. Three years of this do not erase everything that came before, but every minute they spend like this is another coat of paint over the bloody stain. That’s fine; he has time.

He’s got the rest of his life to get used to this.

[yannig]

Okay so.

Since the Jin are actually the ones that killed the Xue, does that mean the sister only survived because Xiaobao found her first and his parents did not want to tell him they had ordered his best friend killed?

Because that's what it looks like to me. Saving her was definitely not a politically or strategically smart move.

So Xiaobao already has a history of keeping people alive just by the strength of his love for them, uh.

[shikai-the-storyteller]

I've been thinking a lot about Leonarda's not-death ever since it happened back in April.

("What death?" you might ask, to which I say: "EXACTLY!")

Back in mid-April, Vegetta and Leonarda were mining together in a one-block wide tunnel. A mob (a Petriman) got between the two of them, and Vegetta told Leonarda to step back while he took care of it. At this point, they'd spent enough time together that he trusted Leo to listen to him.

Instead, she was killed by the same sweeping edge bug that killed her siblings.

-

Vegetta's reaction here is what's really interesting to me. Unlike most other parents on the Island, there are no shouts or tears – only a very brief "Hmm" and then silence. He very quietly takes stock of the situation, saying "Vegetta, no" and wondering aloud why Leo didn't defend herself. In chat, Foolish says "It was a bug, right? LAG" to which Vegetta slowly responds "Yes, lag. Bug." (Despite this, Foolish still asks "WHAT HAPPENED" in chat, though Vegetta doesn't reply).

Instead, he creates a slightly wider space in the tunnel where Leo's body is. He continues quietly taking stock of the situation, wondering why Leo didn't defend herself (which is what necessitated his intervention). She'd been lagging a lot that day, and he figures that must be the cause, and eventually when Leo re-appears out of thin air in the middle of the cave and collects her stuff, she confirms that the lag got to her and that's why she didn't fight the mob.

Now here's where things get interesting:

Vegetta checks the tab list. Online, it's just him, Leonarda, Roier, and Foolish. He quietly tells Leonarda "The body has already disappeared, and without a body, there is no crime. Nothing is happening. Did you die?" Leo shakes her head, and Vegetta shakes his head too, and in the kind voice he uses sometimes with Leo, he says: "I believe you have not died. Where is the body? It isn't anywhere, no mija. If it was a mistake, it was a mistake."

Leo says: "I saw Diosito (God) pa, and I was scared. God, what am I doing here?" and Vegetta laughs, telling her it's alright. Leo says "No pasa nada (don't worry / nothing happened)" and Vegetta says: "And the people who are watching us have not seen it either." To Foolish and Roier, he messages: "Secreto."

And the funniest thing about this is it worked.

Not a single person spoke about it. I saw this entire event go down live and I didn't see a WHISPER of what transpired among fans. I can't even remember if the QSMP official accounts talked about it (they sure didn't mention it in Vegetta's recap of the day). We could discuss this in meta terms of course– Leo was having known lag issues that day, Vegetta's beloved by the admins so of course they're willing to turn a blind eye rather than slap a "?" over Leonarda's life on the Eggstatistics, but meta talk isn't what I'm interested in here.

I'm interested in q!Vegetta, the weird "god-adjacent" aura he's got, and the way the universe bends to his will.

Before he took a break from the server, Rubius seemed to be a caretaker for the Eggs who died (for example, he was present when Maxo, Quackity, and Mariana & Slime said their final goodbyes to Trumpet, Tilin, and JuanaFlippa). Because of his role as an "angel" and some of his dialogue during the early days of the server, it's not a stretch to say he probably came to collect any Egg who lost a life. I can imagine he did the same when he saw Leonarda die – that is, until Vegetta said "And the people who are watching us have not seen it either." Realistically, we know Vegetta was saying this to Chat (and possibly the admins as well), but again, we're looking at this from an "in-universe" perspective.

I wonder if Vegetta was aware of Rubius' role, and this was his way of telling Rubius "No. I won't allow that to happen." We know Rubius has a soft-spot for Vegetta (and we also know that Rubius was cast out of heaven several months later) so it makes me wonder if these two instances are connected.

Either way, this isn't the first time the laws of the QSMP universe have bent for Vegetta, and I certainly don't think it'll be the last.

Rubius or no, Leo didn't die that day.

Vegetta made sure of it.

[astrangetorpedo]

jb: “tell five thousand people i smell bad, go ahead”

ld: [giggles]

pb: “hey you smell fucking great all the time”

ld: [indistinctly] “you actually do smell good”

pb: “that is true”

ld: “yeah”

[ambiguous-andromeda]

my mood lately

[stagefoureddiediaz]

The sudden appearance of body cams got me 👀👀👀👀