#oh and that he liked ice cream

[mikakuna]

imagine being so insensitive that you would blame a child for their death and openly talk about how badly behaved they were right in front of their grave. oh and on said child's birthday-- the day he would've turned 18 years old. you spend your first official late child's 18th birthday calling him brash and impulsive, implying he got himself murdered, instead of mourning the fact that today is the day your dead son would've reached a major milestone in his life.

[mamawasatesttube]

the whole "jason rules crime alley and none of the other bats are allowed there!!1!" thing is so funny like. tim LITERALLY lives in the theater where bruce's parents died,

[critter-of-habit]

So I met Jessica Madsen (Bridgerton's Cressida Cowper) on the weekend and she is now one of my favourite people 🥹

Got her autograph, sat in on her panel, and thanks to encouragement from a new friend I also went along to a special lil event and got to chat with Jess over dinner for 2 hours 🫠 It was her, Sam Phillips (who plays Lord Debling and is also a joy of a human) me and 7 other lovely folk.

They were both really relaxed and chatted openly about the show - both love the change to Michaela and that there will be more queer rep. They asked which order of Bridgerton siblings we thought the show would be going with and seemed really amused at our guesses (I dont know if they even know what the order is themselves, they were playing very coy about it 😅).

A highlight of the night tho was early on I mentioned that I had to drive 2 hours to get home afterwards, and didn't think she even heard me. But then when she was leaving she touched my shoulder and told me "drive safe!" And I just 🫠 - so sweet she remembered 😭

Anyway, I am now forever a Cressida defender, my girl can do no wrong and deserves the world

[7roaches]

quick doodlies before bed

[jtl-fics]

Fluent Freshman - Part 18

PREVIOUS

Weirdly enough the only thing that FF can think of as they head down the stairs is the first Saw movie.

That one happened IN a bathroom right? He kind of watched all of them in a row to prepare himself for whatever Andrew might decide to do to him. But he’s near positive that one happened in a bathroom. It was derelict and he didn’t think it really had running water (or did it? Didn’t the guy wake up in a half-full tub? His memory is hazy in his bathroom related desperation and may be trying to protect him from thinking about water).

All leading to the main thought going through his head as he slowly headed down the narrow stairway to his death.

Would Andrew let him use the facilities before he’s handcuffed to a pipe?

The worst part about all of this is that he is not sure if he needs to take a dump or if he just needs to fart, he knows he has to take a piss. He’s read that when you die your body will relax and it’ll all just flow out of you and Nicky gave him these pants so he feels bad but he also does not want to face his death without pants. If he needs to take a shit then they’re definitely going to be absolutely ruined, if it’s a fart well…Andrew can’t kill him any further? He can mutilate his corpse a little but FF won’t be around to experience it.

No matter what he’s definitely going to piss himself. He had way too much water at Sweeties trying to consume the spicy ice cream.

You may be wondering why FF has not run away from his predicament and is walking down these steps without protest or comment or plea for his life.

First of all he is pretty sure that if he makes any sudden movements he will ruin these pants that Nicky bought for him. Second of all Andrew had already told him once that he wouldn’t accept any pleading for mercy he still remembers how he asked Andrew, “Please give me back my pen?” and Andrew had shot him a look that had his stomach cramp and his fingers itch for the bottle sweet pink relief in his backpack.

“I don’t like that word, don’t use it around me.” He said.

FF ever the pragmatic sort, “Which one?” He had asked because he had said a few, “I don’t want there to be a misunderstanding.” He followed up with when Andrew glowered at him only for the glare’s intensity to increase 10 fold.

“Don’t use the first word of your first statement or the last word of your second.” Andrew grit out and got up to leave without a word.

Message received loud and clear Andrew did NOT like words ‘Please’ or ‘Misunderstanding’.

So FF knows that any pleading for mercy would ABSOLUTELY result in Andrew not letting him take a bathroom break before him and Captain Neil make destroying him into a couple activity. The fact that Captain Neil is here is a bit of a shock but maybe Captain Neil has finally gotten the other Freshman Dealer up to snuff.

Maybe Kevin really did want to dissect him to figure out how Strikers keep passing straight to him?

They reach the door at the bottom of the stairs.

Ah, time to face the music.

At least he’d texted Gran that he was going to die when they had gotten into the club and the bathroom had not made itself readily apparent. Sure it was about his current ‘gotta piss / gotta shit’ situation but he’d been wise to keep his cause of death vague in that text.

The door opens and…

This is the NICEST torture chamber FF has EVER seen. (And after his desperation watch of all the Saw movies he has seen quite a FEW)

“Minyard, Josten, and Guest. Table 6 is yours.” A voice comes from the side and when he looks over there’s a man in quite a nice uniform standing behind a soft-lit bar polishing a glass looking every bit like a bar tender at those high-end places you see in movies. He looks around a bit more and there are some other people down here. It’s not quiet per se but it is a comfortable level of noise in comparison to the IQ dropping noise upstairs.

“C’mon Smith.” Andrew juts his chin towards a table in the back.

FF follows but continues to try and fit this nice little room into his world view.

Do these people watch other people get tortured to death for fun on a Friday night? Unlikely considering the upholstery on the booths and chairs looked like it’d stain if blood got on it. Was this perhaps a trafficking location where Andrew would sell off his organs to the highest bidder? He looked at the other patrons who seemed a bit higher class than the general club scene upstairs but not like they had the money to buy one of his kidneys. Maybe-

“Do not tell Nicky about this place, ever.” Andrew says as they slide into the booth. FF nods but can’t help but tilt his head slightly in an unspoken question, “He would absolutely tell any and everyone about it. Eden’s wants to keep this place a secret from the general public.” Andrew explains.

“Nicky currently thinks that there’s a straight swingers club down here.” Captain Neil says with a huff of laughter.

“Eden’s is cool, even though there’s some sick shit in the basement.” Floats through his head again.

What the fuck was a swinger?

His fingers itch for his phone but he’s currently talking with Andrew and Captain Neil so that’d be rude but they’re talking to him like he absolutely knows what a swinger is and he DOES NOT.

“It’s quieter down here. Figured you’d prefer it.” Andrew says as he gets up and heads towards the bar down here where the bartender was aggressively cutting ice chunks.

He and Captain Neil sit in silence for a few seconds before Captain Neil offers him a slight smile, “I know you’d rather be with your grandma and you and Andrew prefer not to say things out loud but we’ve really liked hanging out with you.” Captain Neil says.

????????????????????????????????????????????????

That’s such a nice thing to say to someone.

Especially someone like FF.

Especially especially when they’re planning on killing him?

He hopes his confusion stays off his face as he nods once. “It’s been fun.” It’s not even really a lie. Thanksgiving yesterday had been nice and loud and FF had missed the chaos of a Family Dinner more than he had ever realized. The car ride had been…a time but once he’d asked Andrew to either keep his eyes on the road or let him out Andrew’s hands had stayed at 10 and 2 and the ride had been smooth. Aaron and Nicky’s weight against him had been nice too, a warm memory before he developed a possible life long aversion to whipped cream. He’d gotten to go Black Friday shopping and Captain Neil even helped carry it home for him. Baking bad been nice even if the stress of doing it with his life on the line was less so. The subsequent nap and day spent doing normal college guy things had been…it’d all been nice.

It’s starting to feel like….

“Drink this.” Andrew puts a drink down in front of him.

No Andrew definitely wants his bladder to burst.

“What is it?” He asks instead looking at the creamy looking drink with suspicion.

Andrew rolls his eyes as he hands Neil a fruity looking drink as he sits with what is a few fingers of scotch. “It’s virgin.” Andrew says not answering the question at all and must pick up that FF won’t be drinking it until he gets the full answer because he continues after a moment, “It’s like a Pina Colada but with bananas instead.” Andrew answers.

It’s not that FF hates banana but why in the world would Andrew grab him this? Was it just one of the few virgins options on this place’s fancy menu or-

“Bananas will help get your stomach acid back down.” Andrew says, “Since you’re an idiot and ate that mango ice cream just because you wanted to impress that girl.” He rolls his eyes.

“Impress that girl?” There weren’t any girls at the table and how in the world would him eating that god-forsaken spicy ice cream impress anyone other than Betsy. Even Betsy would only be impressed by the depths he was willing to reach just to avoid what he perceives as an awkward social situation.

“The waitress.” Neil reminds him as if that cleared anything up.

“Yeah,” he says as if he has understood the conversation but he has not. “It was spicy mango.” He says because maybe if he keeps the conversation going he’ll get enough context clues to understand what might be his last conversation.

Andrew let out a huff of laughter and pushed FF’s drink closer to him, “Drink your fancy Banana smoothie Casanova.” He says.

No closer to understanding the conversation he accepts that it might be something that only becomes clear after he sheds his mortal coil and is no longer given a -10 INT debuff by his full bladder and revolting stomach.

He takes a sip.

Oh that’s actually pretty good.

It feels like he can feel it sizzling in his stomach and soothing the discomfort there. Maybe he should look into Banana smoothies as a replacement for what Abby has called a ‘concerning co-dependence’ in regards to Pepto Bismol. No one can put him on a medical watch if it’s just banana smoothies he’s chugging down like they’re going out of style.

“Thanks,” he says, “that was good.” He admits before reaching into his jacket and moving past the Megamind toy and grabbing his wallet. “What do I owe you for that?” He asks.

“We’re even.” Andrew waves away the money.

“You bought the stuff for breakfast, those brownies, and the pie tomorrow.” Neil says and FF blinks surprised to hear that they were talking about the pie he didn’t think he was going to get the chance to make.

“You don’t need to buy a spot with us.” Andrew says and FF leans back slightly at the intensity on Andrew’s face as he says it. “I invited you here because I wanted to. The brownies were good but if you don’t feel like making the pie tomorrow? It’s not like I’m going to drive you back to Palmetto and leave you on Abby’s doorstep.” He says.

FF feels gears start to turn in his head.

“It’s good pie.” He hears himself say.

“I didn’t even know about the pie when I invited you.” Andrew says and…

Andrew and FF sit in silence but honestly it’s not like Andrew’s sharpening his knives. The two of them mostly just do their own work or read. FF has been getting his German literacy up to snuff so that he can read the language when he goes there to visit Nicky’s fiance next year. He likes how serious Andrew is about learning it so that he doesn’t have to ask Captain Neil a thousand questions and it’d be nice if Andrew wasn’t obviously planning on murdering him.

Andrew brings dried apples and sends Captain Neil along with probiotic yogurts to their meetings. Both of those things tend to soothe his stomach and the yogurt that had been unflavored before was now vanilla which he liked a fair bit. It would have been a really nice gesture if it wasn’t for the fact that Andrew was making fun of his tummy troubles.

Andrew will put his foot down in practice sometimes when Kevin is getting too demanding wanting to know exactly how FF intercepted his passes to Neil. Kevin always backs off and Andrew will do the same when Jack starts to get a little too personal in his attacks at FF or when Sheena decides she’s going to be a bitch. It’d be nice if it wasn’t Andrew staking his claim that he was the one who was going to make FF’s life miserable.

Andrew drove FF around for an hour after Greg had shown up. He found out later from one of his friends that Andrew had threatened Greg after he had power walked away into the building. Andrew had driven him around and had only started heading towards the tower when FF had relaxed. It would have been nice if Andrew wasn’t trying to lure him into a false sense of security.

Andrew had invited him to his Family’s house over Thanksgiving when the bad storm had ruined his Thanksgiving plans. Andrew had threatened Jack to stop him from eating his Grandma’s pie and complaining about it. Andrew had stopped messing around with Captain Neil when FF had made it clear he was uncomfortable being in a car where the driver wasn’t paying attention to the road. Andrew had twice made him go to bed in the last couple hours.

It’d be nice if…

“We’ve really liked hanging out with you” Captain Neil had said.

Andrew was just trying to be nice.

Embarrassment rolls over him like a wave but FF has many years of pretending like he’s not going to die from embarrassment, “Thanks for inviting me. I’ll still probably make the pie tomorrow.” He offers.

Andrew’s eyes change slightly and FF is under the impression that he’s happy to hear that.

“Just enjoy your drink Smith.” Andrew says.

FF does go back to sipping his drink and letting more and more memories of things Andrew had done come to him and lets his embarrassment grow.

He finishes his drink and only then realizes that he is a code red in terms of bladder capacity. The new knowledge that this is not a torture chamber but in fact yet another overture of friendship from Andrew paired with his desperation finally loosens the question from his mouth, “Where’s the bathroom here?” He asks.

“There isn’t one downstairs but just head up stairs and hug the wall to the left.” Captain Neil answers.

“Bring your phone. If Frank doesn’t recognize you to let you back in.” Andrew reminds him.

FF nods and heads out of the club and up the stairs.

He might be doing a bit of a potty dance so he forces himself to become unnoticeable because he does not need cool people at a cool club to see him about to piss himself. Once he enters into a stealth mode that the United States Military would like to talk to him about he hugs the wall and nearly cries tears of relief when he sees a door labelled MEN.

He doesn’t think about the possibility of letting up on stealth mode because he is sure that he is about to make a face that he does NOT want any human being to see when he unzips his pants and starts to take the world’s most life-affirming piss on the planet.

As his bladder empties his brain is able to process the understanding that he had come to down in the basement he had thought would be his final resting place.

Andrew has been trying to be nice (and succeeding it was all so nice! He feels like an asshole! He is an asshole! Gran always told him that assuming makes an Ass out of U and Me. He had just thought it was funny grandma humor not valuable life advice!)

The night wasn’t going to end with Andrew’s knife in his stomach, it was probably just going to end with Nicky puking on his shoes (which is fine because these are the shoes Nicky was letting him borrow for the club anyways, they’re his shoes to puke onto.)

A secondary relief fills his system. His stomach, soothed by the Banana smoothie and now this, feels like it might actually let him live through the night.

While FF was distracted with a piss that would have made any number of cult leaders jealous with the number of divine revelations he was experiencing he failed to notice a second man enter the bathroom.

There was a reason that FF always ALWAYS became noticeable when he was at a urinal and the man who came to the urinal right next to him was showcasing that VERY reason.

He was trapped here for at least ten more seconds and he could hear the man grumbling distractedly but didn’t really pay it too much attention until…

“Fucking Wesninski Brat.” He grumbled under his breath.

Oh god dammit.

NEXT

MASTERPOST FOR ALL PARTS OF FLUENT FRESHMAN AU

Per your requests:

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[zoomclown]

i know it's late but HAPPY BIRTHDAY WARREN GODBY

[recny]

rolin jones showrunner of all time because he is Exactly the type of sicko who can understand and interpret anne rice's work correctly. he is carrying a well-loved copy of the vampire lestat everywhere he goes. he is the world's gayest straight man. he is actively encouraging the two leads of his show to have an extramarital affair on set. NO ONE is doing it like him

[bulbabutt]

My mental health hike did include me explaining the differing generational dynamics of the different ninja turtle shows to my mother so 👌

[lupins-hehim-pussy]

I think of so many stupid shenanigans between Wriothesley and his daughters in the Addison Lee verse. They tell Wriothesley crazy shit all the time, their daddy-daughter secrets, and it drives Neuvillette nuts that Wriothesley won't snitch.

Sigewinne, whispering into his ear: Today at school I punched a boy because he was being mean. I waited until it was recess, and made sure that no one was watching, and I punched him. Everyone knows he is a liar, so noooo one believed him when he cried about it. And Sigewinne is aaaalways a superstar so Mr Vautrin didn't suspect a thing !

Wriothesley, mildly concerned: Uh huh.

Sigewinne: Papa would say Sigewinne has to be nice to everyone, but, Sigewinne thinks bullies need to get punched sometimes, b'cos, b'cos otherwise, they think everyone is just gonna let them be mean

Wriothesley: Y'know what. That's fair

[goldfish-fhr]

@hypnostanatos I like how different their styles are and I wanted to doodle it after you showed me that collage of outfits—even though this outfit is far tamer then the edgy ones he probably wears 🫣

Two cool cats 🐈‍⬛ 🐈‍⬛

[moeblob]

You know, sometimes you just play an otome and go "that's my son" and then he's the mom of the group. It just happens like that sometimes.

[steakout-05]

been drawing a sorta reference thingy for Salesman Barry in the timeloop au i've been rotating around in my brain for a while recently :] it isn't as much a character design reference as it is more of a reference for how Barry's mental state begins to deteriorate as he starts having intense deja vu and nightmares every time his timeline gets reset upon death and he tries to piece together what is going on out of pure desperation and instincts (he is being experimented on and doesn't know it yet). i want to throw him at a wall (affectionate)

it is still a WIP as i haven't drawn all the details yet and i want to change the colours as they look too dull on my pc,,, also here is the original sketch :D

[xinyuehui]

˚ ♡‧₊ॱ˖ ✧˖ ࣪⊹ Guangyan likes stickers, sweet things, comics & cute dolls ࣪⊹ ִֶָ✧ॱ˖ ♡‧₊˚

[theredcuyo]

I imagine Mia seeing her student get every single piece of paper where Miles Edgeworth is, this guy with a terrible personality and dubious methods as she remembers, and then think to herself “I already knew you had bad taste, but i didn’t think it was this bad”

For the record, i do think she knew about Phoenix becoming a lawyer for the chance of seeing him again, but that doesn’t change the fact that she can’t understand this crush he has on the man

[gu6chan]

So What Was Yaha's Deal? Drakengard Things You Might Not Know

GOD okay so im finally rambling about him okay so

I've been thinking about Yaha lately and it's really dawning on me how a lot of people just do NOT know about Yaha's past and it makes sense!! Literally NONE of this is available in English and it's so :( but also it makes me sad both because it's SO good and also because when people shrug him off as just "Reason Drakengard 2 sucks: it has a gay stereotype" like oh you do NOT even know omg

anyways, just so we're on the same page: this is NOT a theory discussing what happened to Yaha, just the best collage of what's ACTUALLY considered "canon" that I've picked up from different side materials and interviews (Most notably, Memory of Blood and World Inside). If I ever find anything else I'll be sure to update it :3

I WILL dive into a bit of personal interpretation/rambling over his battle lines (i have them save lmao) a bit later, maybe even in a separate post, but BOY

So TW: Mentions of noncon, dubcon and CSA up ahead

So i think the first thing that's to be established about Yaha's character is that the Empire DID wipe out most the elf population in DOD1, and while he did survive this, he was more or less still a victim in the respect that his parents WERE killed in likely less-than-painless ways as the Empire sought to use the elves both to use their blood for magic-repellent armour (While it looks like it was only introduced the the third game, it's actually been plot point for a while!) and the children to open the seal.

Given he's 25 by the events of Drakengard 2, he'd have to be around 7 at oldest before he arrived at the orphanage where met Urick. (He's not even 10 and he's already been through it...... baby...........)

Fortunately or unfortunately enough, Yaha DID manage to find a way to "survive" in this world from a very young age, and that was due to the fact that even as a child, he wasn't just commonly mistaken for a girl, but an absolutely "captivating" one. As it reads in his glossary section in Memory of Blood:

"He grew up an orphan, and even though he was a male, he boasted such beauty that he was frequently mistaken for a woman from an early age [...] For this, he uses his beauty as a systemic tool for survival. He captivates everyone, both male and female, and gains both status and protection in exchange for his body, which he used to escape life in the orphanage." (Glossary section from Memory of Blood)

It should be noted before I go on that the director, Akira Yasui, DID hint in his world inside interview that he thinks there was "something" between Yaha and Urick during their days in the orphanage, but whether that means feelings or an actual relationship isn't really clear (Though judging by his tone, it seems to lean more towards the short-lived, childlike-fling interpretation than anything imo i could just be biased though lmao):

"...As for his relationship with Urick, Yaha had liked him since they were in the orphanage together. I think there was definitely “Something” between them before Yaha left the orphanage. The powers of his pact didn’t reach Urick because he already knew how to deal with it; Urick was also once mesmerised by Yaha’s charm." (Yasui interview from World Inside)

(That last line is included for those tragedy points from when we get to the ~Split~ and BOY)

As for the orphanage, Yaha was...... "Adopted" by a well-to-do man when he was 14 years old. As for why and how he got adopted, it's unfortunately stated right at the end of his glossary entry which isn't even the worst part when you take into consideration that he's already been doing this for a while.

At any rate, Yaha DOES decide "You know what? Fuck it, we splurge" and uses all adoptee's fuckass money to buy useless shit until he turned 16 and joined the Knights in search of a better standard of living (How can he get that if he's already pretty much rich? given what he's going through at that point, you do the math)

and you know what? he deserves nice things <3

(And to note, Urick was also taken in by Oror from the orphanage as an apprentice when he was 16 as well.)

Anyways, Yaha was back to survival mode after joining the Knights, and just as he did when he was in the orphanage, used his body to climb the ranks of the KotS in search of a better standing in life. It's just repeating what his glossary says, but Yaha WAS slandered for this and got a lot of shit and rumours spoken about him behind his back for it. And the list...... wondering why gismor isn't on that list.... is there something he's not telling us???

"He joined the Knights of the Seal in search of a better standard of life; his successful climbing of its ranks being more due to his "body" than his skill in battle. The only people of notable standing who had not had a relationship with him are Oror and the Hierarch Seere (It is rumoured that he may have also had a relationship with Verdelet). Behind his back, Yaha was labelled a nymphomaniac." (Glossary section from Memory of Blood)

While working on an excavation site during the creation of the different countries of Midgard into districts (It's own can of worms), Yaha comes across a beautiful jewel unlike anything he had seen before. SO beautiful as a matter of fact, that Yaha, who by merit made beauty his everything on the basis that it was all he had (aside from Urick), took personal offense to this and pointed his sword at it. However, from the jewel came a gnome who would go on to offer Yaha a pact, offering him irresistible charm so that he could get whoever he wanted. Yaha, seeing the opportunity to move up even further in the ranks of the Knights of the Seal (both due to his charm and his status as a Pact-Partner, as Gismor was looking for Pact-Partners specifically SO they could guard the Seal Keys and manage the districts) and also claim Urick's heart by doing it, accepted the pact in an instant. But as you all know, that came at a VERY high price. Of course, Yaha lost his ability to feel pleasure, resulting in whatever "barrier" from his mental scars he had whenever he tried to do the deed being removed. The act of sex, for Yaha, was filled with not just mental pain made lighter by the aspect of pleasure, but now was just sheer psychical pain as well. What a lot of people may not know, however, is how literally Urick meant it when he said "Don't look into his eyes, he'll trick you with his lies" and followed up with "It's the power given to him by his pact-beast. Or maybe it's the price he had to pay." Urick was not joking.

For those familiar with Junji Ito's Tomie, it was essentially just that: Yaha wasn't just in possession of extreme charm, but enough to bring people to lose all rational thought and reason when they were around him. And the way the glossary talks about this...

"[...]As a result, his beauty became even more ebullient, to the point it lead to people easily losing all sense of reason. However, his body was no longer able to feel the sensation of pleasure. This was the price of his pact. Although Yaha had come to immensely regret it, it was already too late. He now lives every day being swarmed by those who have lost all reason and is forced to engage in sexual acts filled with nothing but fear and pain."

Yaha............ :( SO this is what leads to the real final kicker: Yaha has gotten his position, has more beauty than anyone could ever imagine, but what he really wants is Urick, right? Of all the pain of sex both psychically and mentally, if he could at least be with Urick, the one person he saw differently, the one person that at least wouldn't be mentally scarring to sleep with, maybe it could all make sense. So Yaha confesses to Urick. But Urick turns him down - not because of any sound argument, but because all he sees is a self-absorbed narcissist in his friend's place, manipulating others and sleeping around carelessly just to up his own ranks in society. For two seconds, it would make sense - That's technically what it is. A honest flaw in Yaha's character is that he's genuinely greedy and materialistic. He uses goddamned slave labour, for Christ's sake. On the other hand, is he really looking for a higher place in society? Or is he looking for stability? A place to get away from his past and be the one in control for once? Of course, being perfectly aligned with Urick's own version of "self-absorption" (All the Lieutenants have it!), he completely failed to realise where all that stemmed from. He saw Yaha as just being greedy and narcissistic from the lens of him being inherently bad, didn't for a second take into account Yaha's origins which led to that behaviour. His own best friend. So, long story short: Urick thinks Yaha is a bastardisation of his best friend and, following in his cowardly character, takes that as personally as you can (as you see in all his scenes and lines relating to Yaha together, im going to slap that little cunt) - despite the fact Yaha SHOULD have had the upper hand via his Tomie-like powers, as I mentioned towards the start of the post, Urick was already charmed by Yaha - he had just grown used to it because of how close they already were.

Brief Personal Analysis:

Personally reading into it, Yaha doesn't really care so much about his position as, beyond just being about as high as you can get, and it wasn't what he really wanted. The underlying source that got him that position to START with was his beauty, which Yaha cherishes like a narcissist would. He's used to people changing their tune whenever they lay eyes upon them, which Urick specifically instructs not to do towards the beginning of the battle, and is the source of such lines as "If I die, my beautiful body and the holy crystal shall perish. You would let that happen?" At the same time, a player death results in a VERY different tune from Yaha, where he dejectedly says the line "My beauty... It is my sin." Possibly hinting towards his own conflicted feelings and sorrow towards it as again, he goes from "My body is perfect, is it not?" to "My beauty is my sin" as soon as Nowe or his crew is too dead to question it. The difference is VERY jarring between the two, and I also bring into question the tone he uses to speak about his gnomes on whether he intentionally sounds exhausted of them (It would make sense, given the hinted resentment he has towards his pact-beasts for doing him dirty like that) or if he... Just sounds like that. Granted, a LOT of Yaha's lines sound similar in their sultry, somewhat sorrowful and tired tone all around. Of course, there are also his lines directed towards Urick, which should be self-explanatory given the context, but a few other notes and trivia and whatnot before i wrap up:

Just to note and say the obvious a final time since I know how this fanbase can be: Yaha IS genuinely a narcissist, that being his leading character flaw, though of course it should go without saying that while his actions as a result of that (re: slave labour) are definitely not to be swept under the rug, it's just as important to note the context that led to that and the tragedy of his character because of it. As Urick says, "He was very different then."

Yaha is confirmed bisexual! It surprised me too, but...

"Similarly, when I designed Yaha, I designed him to be a typical narcissist — a character who would probably go and describe their own self as "Beautiful". But even though his character is supposed to be one who is attracted to both men and women in the story, people who are attracted to both genders in real life are usually not of this type. Like Gismor, he also largely captures the image of "Bewitching"." (Character Artist Fujisaka commenting on Yaha's design in Memory of Blood)

Just a fun little detail: During Yaha's battle against the Rock Gnome, when it lifts the jewel above it's head in order to throw it at you, you can throw out a magic attack at just the right time and it will drop the jewel on its head for massive damage! And of course, similarly you mainly attack the Rock Gnome by using jump attacks to bring your weapon down on its head. And if you look at Yaha's portrait during his death scene...

Similarly, Urick is strong against monsters, which encourages you to use him to bring the final death blow to Yaha. And given their lore together I'd be damned if this cruel little snippet wasn't done intentionally.

The drawing of Yaha's death with the gnomes is titled "End of Agony", and hopefully after reading this post, you now know why.

A bit more interpretation than theory, but I have an ongoing hunch that each of the layouts and/or "gimmicks" of the Lieutenant's fortresses are based off the personality and story of the Lieutenant itself. Hanch is based around walls, closed doors and of course, water, Urick's is a twisting maze based off of sacrifice with the themes of life and death, Gismor's is based in fighting your way up a tall tower to reflect his ego and overlying reach as an antagonist, and Yaha's, primarily, is based off of illusions. The more you get past them and through the fortress, the less "ebullient" and fancy it looks until you reach its end - a single, shabby room filled with sand and dirt with nothing but a few musty crates and a bunch of jail cells meant for holding sacrificed prisoners to the Seal Keys. If that doesn't reflect Yaha's whole character, I don't know what does.

Either way, that's about all I think I have for him! Hopefully you learned something new, and if you have any questions, do let me know~

[skunkes]

talon's been such a fun oc so far because he's essentially written himself.... thats probably Not Super Great in terms of originality but whatever no idea is original and its been fun to easily piece everything together while getting to know him better ^_^