#possibly. tagging as spoilers just in case because the tags reveal something that can probably be easily guessed if you follow the actors.

[averyhollow]

Ouizzy Can Bring Me Back (or Rizzy, or better yet, both)

Staying away from OFMD for the time being. My problems with the show’s approach to its premise, how it has chosen to depict pirate society in contrast with That Man (at least as of S1), how it handles explicit racism and whose story is served by it, and comments from DJ that reinforced my sense that there’s a certain carelessness with how some things were approached and a flippant dismissiveness towards that carelessness, are too much for me to ignore at the moment. That so much of the fandom seems to give it praise for things I think it not only fails at but doesn’t even try to do, is another factor that has made it more grating than fun.

However, the canonization of Ouizzy (and/or Rizzy) would shine so brightly that it’d dissipate the shadows that have been cast over the show for me. (FrenchiEd might bring me back, assuming I could ever find someone who would fall for That Man good enough for Frenchie.) Ouizzy would rekindle my passion for, and soothe my soul’s discontent with, the show. Canon Ouizzy would be my moon and my stars. My sun and my sky. Canon Rizzy would be a warm sweater on a cold day. The feeling of taking off my shoes when the work day is done.

Ouizzy+Rizzy+Froach+RoomPeople would be cotton candy enjoyed during a walk along the beach. A rainy day without lightning enjoyed from a screened-in porch, with hot chocolate, a good book, and a comfy chair. The second bite of a phenomenal grilled cheese sandwich.

All these things and more, would Ouizzy and/or Rizzy be to me. They’d take my issues from grievances to mild annoyances. They’d moisturize my scalp, cause my hair to retwist itself, and strengthen my edges. They’d put pep in my step and a smile on my face.

They make sense. You’ll just have to trust me on that one. I know these things. I know many things. Once you know Ouizzy (and/or Rizzy) are right, you too can come to know anything.*

*Note use of the word “can”. Anything I (apparently) don’t know, is because I choose not to know it or deliberately give an incorrect answer for my own enlightened and arcane purposes.

[parvulous-writings]

I have several questions about your BG3 oc Tiro again! I'm still curious!

What are Tiro's sexualities/sexual presences?How are their families & friends like?

Romantic partners if he had any or is he dating anyone?

Fears/Phobias?

Best traits?

Worst traits?

Secrets whether it's something they would never admit or only if they truly trust someone enough to tell? Thanks! - Fluff anon

Notes: We're slowly leaning into his... Darker side... Be warned.

Warnings: Spoilers for the Dark urge, mentions of gore, reader discretion advised. (Placing answers under the cut as there are spoilers in the first question!)

Tiro doesn't really... Have any preferences, when it comes to romantic partners! Whomever takes his fancy, takes his fancy, for better or for worse! Though, that being said, he does quite like people smaller than him - which isn't entirely difficult anyway. He doesn't have much family - not that he remembers, anyway. He has his 'slaughter-sister', Orin, and of course his father is an ever present part of his life, but he isn't physically there. The closest thing he has to an actual family member is his butler, but Tiro never really treated him as such. For most of his adventure, he doesn't remember his family - which isn't entirely a bad thing, as he and Orin never truly got along, seeing one another as competition and less worthy than the other. He didn't really have friends either - only allies, and he used the term in the loosest sense possible. Deep down, in a bid to try and appease his murder-bent father, Tiro was very lonely.

2. Tiro has had a few flings in the past - sometimes there's just a longing in him, a need to be sated that he simply cannot ignore. These never last long though, and never had a lasting impact on him anyhow. Since losing his memories, he has not yet found someone who takes his fancy!

3. He never really had any phobias per-se; Tiro got up some some absolutely horrid stuff pre-tadpole - serial killings, lots of them, and with great care taken in them, alongside more taboo activities that I will probably delve into if/when I give Tiro his own book, because I am not sure Tumblr will like it. The only thing that could come close to a fear is the potential of disappointing his father in some way, and the punishment that may come alongside that.

4. Tiro can be very... Particular. If he wants something done, he will usually try and do it himself to ensure it is done 'right'. To this extent, he could also be seen as very efficient! So long as you overlook the fact that most of the tasks he has a drive to complete are slaughtering an array of victims. Other than this... There isn't overly a way to twist his traits positively, I don't think.

5. Tiro is incredibly impulsive - and not in a fun or silly way. Thoughts from his Urge pop into his head all the time, and depending on how good or bad a day he's had will then determine how likely it is that he'll be able to resist or shove it down. It can be something as small as snapping a bone, or as big as turning someone inside out. He doesn't filter his thoughts. If he thinks you are weak, or prime prey, he will tell you - unless he is specifically planning to kill you next. In which case he will work to earn your trust, so you'll never see his betrayal coming.

6. Outside of earning someone's trust, there is almost nothing he will not tell of himself - his heritage as a bhaalspawn, his countless murders and the like. But if he is trying to earn someone's trust, and make an ally of them, these pieces of information will either wait till much further down the road, or will never be revealed until his chosen's last dying breaths, so he can revel in the fear in their eyes during those final moments.

// Tiro Tag list

@rey-is-not-a-skywalker

[bnomiko]

Spoiler-free Nocturne ramblings

(Guess everyone's all worked up about Castlevania again because "Under the Milky Way" gained like 28 kudos and 1000 hits in 5 days, yay : D )

Just finished watching Nocturne. I have thoughts, but in the interest of keeping things SPOILER-FREE (because yes I got spoiled on things because people can't bother using a spoiler tag, thanks a lot you wankers), I'll keep this as vague as possible.

Olrox: far and away the best character thus far. I can see why everyone's hot and heavy for the guy already, and the smut fics are apparently already rolling in. I would not be mad if they simply shifted this to Castlevania: Olrox and sent everyone else home. More, please! How about some merch too? I'd buy the shit out of it, dude is straight up hot.

This is not my Richter. I expected this:

... and got this:

(Yes that's Joseph Joestar, not Richter. The point is, sexy brunet hot-headed asshole vs. plain white bread. Richter needs more asshole points, less nutritional void.)

Since Richter is 19, that'd make Maria 12, going by the Rondo of Blood timeline (apparently she's 16 in Nocturne but she doesn't look it). For those who get why I brought that up, marinate on that, y'all. A very long marinade, maybe another 5, 6 years...

I... actually don't mind Annette. I didn't know how I'd react to her, but I have no complaints.

I rather like Edouard.

I noticed Mizrak right off the bat. Thought to myself, now there's a cutie. I'm not the only one who noticed ^_~

Um, trying to figure out how to word this without doing a reveal ^^;... Thanks for throwing us a bone, sorta, on what's probably the most well-known Castlevania threeway relationship prior to the animations? Is that vague enough?

Uh.... honestly don't have much opinion on anyone else. I predicted a much higher body count by this point and people I thought would be dead aren't, and vice versa, but I'm sure the numbers will start climbing next season.

Things I wish would've happened:

A little closer compliance to game lore, as Richter has a good amount of game lore to reference. If they skip the entirety of the SotN storyline I think that'd be a mistake since it's obviously the best-known game of the franchise.

I'm not necessarily mad at the throwing away of the Vampire Killer's special clause (that only direct line male descendants can use it) as it's patriarchal and outdated but I would've liked to seen mention of that not being the case, first, before it got flung out the window.

A LOT less crying. I know Alucard was a faucet in the original animation, but the crying jags in this are ridiculous. I'm pretty sure even the horses were crying. Tera running off sobbing like an anime girl, complete with hands over her face? Ugh. Everyone just standing around and watching Annette cry her heart out, without even a hand on the shoulder in sympathy? Uggggh. No those aren't spoilers, as everyone cries at least twice, if not more.

Original animation vs Nocturne, and the lack of camaraderie and banter:

I guess what I miss most in this series so far vs the original animation series, is the lack of teamwork and camaraderie. Trevor, Sypha and Alucard were yes, forced by circumstance, to stick together, rely on one another, and build up a rapport (they spent the majority of S2 locked in the Hold together), to the point that they could work as a team without having to verbally communicate. There was something really refreshing about that, ya know?

The protagonists of Nocturne thus far... mostly do whatever they want? There's so little interpersonal dialogue. The only character relationship thus far that feels organic at all is the one that started as straight up sex - there's an honesty to that, at least.

Also I miss the banter, a lot more than I thought I would. Even with a serious storyline I like a bit of humor in my shows / stories. How else would we have learned that Sypha has icy cold feet, Trevor can't fucking read, or Alucard is triggered by the word "the"? I came away with zero new trivia factoids about Richter, Maria, and Annette.

[p5x-theories]

Re: third palace ruler. i personally think it might arise because the ruler is being blackmailed/forced to be a Phantom (maybe?) to prevent tragedy (maybe from reaching ppl she cares about) but also something i feel like might happen - the perception of the self is not affected, but rather, it's the perception of the world around them that has corrupted into the dam. (also - theories re: ruler's second set of portraits?)

Yeah, that's a fair point! That's sort of along the lines of what I was thinking in this post when I suggested "dams can also hold back a sort of impending disaster [...] It could be that the Palace ruler sees themselves as the only thing preventing some “flood”/disaster like that?", although you bringing up that Palaces don't inherently have a warped perception of self involved in them definitely adds to that, and the Phantom aspect seems to fit right into all this. Assuming it is a dam, that might be my top guess for her Palace theme right now.

I'm not totally sure if I'm thinking of the right thing you're referring to with "ruler's second set of portraits", but I'll put what I think you might be asking about under a cut, since it'd reveal who the Palace ruler is, and I'm not tagging this post as spoilers, heh.

I think you're asking about either the Cyler Eats portrait, or the character who looks a lot like Katayama but has a different name? Probably the second one, but I kind of wanted to talk about Cyler Eats in relation to this theory too, heh.

For the former, I think Cyler Eats would directly connect to your theory that she might be being forced to be a Phantom, given Cyler Eats hasn't attacked anyone since the start of the game despite appearing in two other cutscenes now (one as Wonder and Cattle leave Ashouken, and then the one with Polter). It'd actually explain her behavior more than basically any reasonable alternative I can think of! Granted, Palace rulers do usually have a nice facade that the public knows them for, so it's possible Katayama's just hiding some nastiness (and I'm sure we'll see at least a bit of that in her Palace regardless), but her having a distortion related to being blackmailed into acting as a Phantom would explain why she hasn't taken any other opportunity to be violent since then.

For the latter, those portraits might be a relative of hers, or maybe (depending on how weird "time and space" gets) like a younger version of her, or something? Yui's real world self does at least prove that sometimes even the same character's files won't be named the same, though I'm not sure how far that extends, given Yui seems to be an exception due to being a video game avatar. But I could potentially imagine the case of time/universe travel being on-par with that, haha, or even just a flashback, since it it seems like Shun's known her in the past. I suppose, alternatively, maybe her appearance changes after her change of heart, especially if she stays relevant in the story? The one thing I'm pretty sure of is that it's not her Shadow, given the files aren't labeled as her Shadow self, she doesn't have golden eyes, and, also, they should still have the same name if they were her Shadow.

Feel free to reply/send another ask if neither of these were what you were talking about with the portraits, though!

[asoulofatlantis]

Before we talk about our next adventure, let me get this out of my system first:

Something is off with Kai I tell you. With the lack of a gameplay-Trailer and the fact that the last two CVs were only scenes from the Opening with voiceover lines that might not even belong to that scene I am kind of worried. Its not just that. This is Falcom, not Square Enix we are talking about. So how high are the chances that we get the Agnes-Grendel-Thingy revealed and that actually truly is something that happens at the end of the Game? Elaine got impaled in one of the later Trailers for Kuro 2 too and this ended up being right at the beginning of the game and just started a series of... events. So what if SOMETHING Major happens, relatively early on in the game that might involve Agnes-Grendel and whatever happens afterwards is somehow so much of a spoiler, that they can not show us any more scenes from the game, because than we could guess whats going on because of... the environment? Or a change in cast? Or... something like this? I just feel like something is off. The overall advertisement for Kai was the worst we ever had. I even saw people from the Japanese side of the fandom complain about the lack of a gameplay-, story- or character-introduction-Trailer. I mean... its less than 4 weeks at this point and I feel like we barely know anything mayor about this game. The biggest surprise was the Agnes-Grendel-thing and that could very well be a red herring. So what the hell is going on? I was worried at first that they might not make it to the release date, but they still advertise the pre-order-bonuses with the release date written all over it... so I guess that is not the case?

Than there is the Sky the first Remake beeing revealed and I am happy about it. I think its a great chance for new people to find their way into the fandom. Heck, I've heard a famous YouTuber who just recently said: "I don't play Anime-Games. I am over 30." (Which honestly made me dislike him a lot, while I did like him before....) is supposedly saying he might consider playing this game. Which is great. The Trails-Fandom could get A LOT bigger with this Remake. BUT there are some thing that bug me a bit. First of all: Switch only for now? WTF?! I do love my Switch, but I do not like it for JRPGs. For games like this I prefer other platforms with... uh... a better performance and uh... the ability to play it on my PC, either directly or via PSRemote. And while I am probably one of the few people using PSRemote, I do know most people prefer their RPGs on a different console or PC too. The next is the voice cast. I am a bit worried about too many changes do to the fact that some of the voice actors might be retired by now or are way too expensive for a game that likely (and hopefully) has a few more voiced lines than the original. Speaking of voiced lines, since Falcom DOESN'T EVEN KNOW who will handle the western release, there is a hight chance that we will not have English voices at all. Which would make A LOT of people reconsider playing this game. This game could be a breaking point for Falcom and the Trails-Fandom and I feel like they are taking way too many risques. Not to mention that they just said that there will only be a Remake for the second Sky game if the first sells well, which is on one hand understandable from an economic standpoint BUT we do know the ending of the game. How can they leave possible new fands hanging with this ending? Most won't find it good enough to get the old Sky SC just to get Joshua and Estelle back together. So... yeah... I really don't know what to think about all that.

And between Kai and Sky and being back to work, I am in a really weird state right now ^^'

We will start Trails in the Sky SC today. But I am not sure how long I will last...

Anyway, since I felt uncomfortable with the "tits" - tag, I will not go back to this tag and chose " Sky2 Mona Version " as the tag this time as well.

Lets see if I get through this game...

[kinosternon]

I posted 71 times in 2022

That's 56 more posts than 2021!

20 posts created (28%)

51 posts reblogged (72%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@kinosternon

@bluejayblueskies

@natsume-ss

@dduane

@tanoraqui

I tagged 70 of my posts in 2022

Only 1% of my posts had no tags

#haruka nanase - 8 posts

#free! spoilers - 6 posts

#for my own reference - 5 posts

#writing advice - 5 posts

#free! the final stroke second part - 5 posts

#albert volandel - 4 posts

#ikuya kirishima - 4 posts

#rin matsuoka - 4 posts

#free! the final stroke - 4 posts

#about the writer - 4 posts

Longest Tag: 135 characters

#itll be /better/ with a single sentence saying 'and then time passed' than a long drawn out scene that fought you every step of the way

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Okay, I'm doing it.

I'm writing a summary for the last Free! movie.

12 notes - Posted April 30, 2022

#4

@demigardess

Hello, I was your secret santa for @natsume-ss this year! I really enjoyed your prompts, so I hope you can enjoy this fic as well ✨

Title: Peace of Mind Relationship: Gen, Natsume Takashi & Tanuma Kaname Prompts used: Gen fic, any kind of reveal fic

Summary:

He felt frozen, caught between two answers. The first, the easiest, was also one he could never say: It's fine. I'm already taking care of it. The second answer was the one that pertained to what they were really asking, he knew. And the answer was: I have no idea what to do for him right now.

read on AO3

13 notes - Posted December 27, 2022

#3

NaNo 2022: not writing exposition or dialogue but a secret third thing (epistolary novel)

14 notes - Posted November 1, 2022

#2

Official online Nabari Kuji!

Kamatani Yuhki announced recently on their Twitter that a new company is holding an online kuji (lottery) for official Nabari goods! It's rare to see something like this come out so long after a series ends, and I want as many people as possible to get the chance to participate. (According to the site's Q&A, you can register through a third-party company to have prizes shipped internationally, though I haven't tried this myself.)

All the prizes are random, and use official manga/promotional art—prints, badges, magnets, and so on—focusing on a variety of characters.

The kuji runs from today (August 19th, Japan time) through September 30th, 2022. You see what you've won right away after purchasing, but the items themselves won't be shipped till late December, and international shipping will probably cause further delays.

Link coming in reblog because I'd like this to show up in the tag.

17 notes - Posted August 19, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Walthrough: Reposting your old FFNet fics to Ao3

In light of recent rumors that FanFiction.Net might be receiving little/no ongoing support, and could suddenly disappear one day with very little warning, I wanted to offer a resource that might help preserve another fic or two. Just in case.

I'm already keeping a private collection of favorite fics from FFN that I can't bear to lose, but this tutorial isn't for saving other folks' fic. Instead, this tutorial is for people who might want to republish their own fic to Ao3 in a streamlined, relatively painless way.

Using these steps, I was able to upload an entire 16-chapter fic, with all the correct original formatting and without doing any fussy HTML editing, in about an hour. (And that was while making up the steps as I went along!)

What you'll need:

A link to your old FFNet account URL OR the those of the fics you want to save (no login necessary)

Access to a working Ao3 account

A web browser, permission to download zipped HTML files, and an unzipper (most computers have these by default)

How to save your fic for posterity:

Copy the link to the first chapter of the fic on FFN that you want to save. (Right-clicking the title of the fic on your profile and choosing "Copy Link" will do this.)

Go to https://fichub.net/ and paste in the URL. Press Export, then click "Download as zipped HTML." This saves your entire fic at once, no matter how many chapters, with formatting intact. Everyone thank the team who made this tool, because it's amazing.

Navigate to your downloads (or click on the pop-up that'll probably appear) and open the zipped HTML file. It will probably open in your default browser on its own, but you might need to tell it to open by right-clicking the unzipped file and choosing the desired browser. The resulting file should have all the chapters of the fic laid out one after another, with clear breaks between each chapter and the original HTML formatting (including section breaks).

Post a "New Work" in Ao3. (Can't import with FFNet, sadly, which is why this tutorial exists.) Add the title, relevant tags, and summary. (I used my FFNet summary with a note that the fic is crossposted.) Backdate the fic if desired by choosing a publishing date from around the time the fic was written.

Here's the magic part: Switch to Rich Text Mode in the "Work Text" field, then copy-paste the text from your first chapter into the Rich Text Mode window. (Note: You may see the stray space appear around italicized/bolded text, and an extra line break tends to appear between section breaks. Otherwise, though, the formatting is generally very well preserved.)

Optional detail: Hit "Preview," then "Save Draft," then "Add Chapter" to avoid posting any of your chapters till you have them all set up and ready to go.

Side note 1: Don't put an endnote on the end of your Chapter 1. Or if you do, go add a chapter 2 first, and then go back to add a chapter 1 endnote. Otherwise it'll end up at the end of your fic instead. It's a fixable outcome, but an annoying one.

Side note 2: If you use a pseud to post, you'll need to be careful to select the correct pseud for each chapter you upload, or you'll end up being listed as the author twice, once under each pseud you selected. If you notice this happening, it's because you've missed switching one in one or more chapters. This is fixable by checking the author listed under each chapter heading using the "Entire Work" button and keyword searching the username you're trying to get rid of.

While I didn't find a way to post all chapters at once, you can do it pretty quickly in the right order, without skipping, by doing the following steps in a loop:

Press "Entire work" at the top of the page.

Use your browser's "Find in page" function for the text "post chapter".

Hitting the "Post Chapter" button that appears.

Just continue the loop until there's no more "Post Chapter" buttons.

Once your chapters are all uploaded, you're done! Congratulations.

A final note

I know that this latest rumor might be blowing certain hints of FFNet's siterunners' inactivity out of proportion. I know that Ao3 isn't everyone's favorite (though I don't agree with most of those people). And I know, most of all, that some folks would rather some of their older fics not see the light of day anymore, for whatever reason.

But look. I'm a trans guy who used to be a teenage girl who (enthusiastically) wrote Twilight/Doctor Who crossover fanfic. I get it, and yet I'm still managing to stun the part of me that cringes long enough to preserve my stuff, because I think that fic should survive whenever possible.

There are options to help make the cringe factor more manageable. Use a pseud for your older stuff (like me), or to minimize any connection to your current account, you can use the Anonymous collection or the Orphan Work function as soon as you're done posting. Do whatever you need to feel comfortable.

But remember that every creative work is a victory just for existing. Please, if you can, find it in your heart (and your schedule) to preserve your work. Past!you worked hard on it, after all. And besides, you never know who might stumble across it someday exactly when they need it.

(PS: Please let me know about any other FFN preservation efforts, by the way! Hopefully this is all blown out of proportion, but you really can never be too careful.)

376 notes - Posted September 21, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[samrriegel]

As creators, it’s important that we strive to create a positive relationship between our content and community while still retaining our rights. With this in mind, we’d like to share our new content policy covering how you can use our IP.

(you can click the link embedded above or click the readmore. there is a lot of text!)

Everyone at Critical Role is extremely honored and humbled by the interest our incredible community has shown in the stories that we tell, the shows that we produce, and our company in general. We think it’s pretty amazing that our fans want to create artwork, websites, and other works (“Projects”) based on our intellectual property (“IP”). Our IP includes any unique material our team creates — things like the names of our campaigns (for example, Vox Machina and Mighty Nein), our characters (for example, Grog Strongjaw or Beauregard Lionett), story locations (like Whitestone or Nicodranas), company slogans (such as How Do You Want to Do This?), as well as written content and all related artwork, music, etc. We are generally cool with Projects that follow the rules outlined below, but we reserve the right to remove Projects that, in our view, misrepresent these rules or use our IP inappropriately. We want our fans to continue celebrating our world and sharing their talents with the community, but for Critical Role (“CR”) to exist as a company, our legal advisors have suggested we establish some ground rules for how our IP can be used!

1. What can I develop with Critical Role’s intellectual property (“IP”)?

Free stuff for the community to view, with some exceptions. Critical Role allows you to use, display and create derivative works based upon Critical Role’s IP, strictly for noncommercial (except as specifically provided below) community use. CR reserves the right to use our sole discretion to deny anyone the use of our IP at any time, for any reason or no reason. If we deny you the right to use our IP, you must stop developing, publishing, or distributing your Project immediately.

In all cases, the use of our IP with your Projects must be appropriate for our Critter Community. Projects cannot be defamatory, offensive (including but not limited to anything transphobic, sexist, homophobic, racist, ableist, ageist), or harmful to others (as determined solely by CR).

2. Can I create a project that is commercial in nature?

You may not create commercial Projects, including any Project that (without a written license agreement from us):

i) crowdsources any portion of its funding; ii) involves a business or legal entity; iii) gates the content with a paywall (e.g., Patreon, YouTube Premium, etc.), unless it is also legitimately available elsewhere for free; or iv) involves the sale of merchandise utilizing CR IP

We prohibit the use of our IP in interactive games, apps, and downloads. Please do not take any part of our IP (e.g., character appearance, character abilities, maps, icons, items, etc.) and use it in a game or app for other than your own private, noncommercial use. We do not allow any Projects utilizing our IP to appear in any app stores, including the Apple Store or Google Play, unless they have a written license agreement from us.

No monetized novels, theatricals or the like. You are not permitted to write, produce or create any novels, theatrical productions or other adaptations that include CR’s intellectual property without our express written permission.

Fan fiction is generally permitted (and enjoyed!) by CR, as long as the content is not monetized and otherwise follows the guidelines of this policy.

You are not permitted to manufacture, promote, or distribute (for free or otherwise) any merchandise (such as apparel, game pieces, accessories, etc.) that bear any CR IP without a separate, express written agreement between you and Critical Role.

Critical Role, on occasion, collaborates with and licenses third parties for the creation and distribution of Official CR Merchandise. These agreements are separate from this CR Fan Content Policy.

3. What about passive ad revenue?

This is one of those exceptions we mentioned earlier. We permit fans to promote their Projects on websites, streams, or videos and passively generate revenue through appropriate advertisements, including pre-roll ads, ad breaks, and sponsor ad overlays. No inappropriate direct ads or sponsorships—we alone decide what qualifies as inappropriate, but if you won’t see it on Critical Role, it is probably not appropriate.

We permit individual fans to solicit personal donations or offer subscription-based content while livestreaming, so long as non-subscribers can still watch the live stream concurrently. In other words, you may have your Project behind a paywall, so long as the Project is legitimately also available for free in some other way.

Your use of CR Content must be transformative in nature. You cannot simply re-upload our content. Examples of potential transformative works include:

Animatics

Compilation videos

Remix edits

Added commentary

Music/ music videos

Cosplay content

Art / draw alongs

GIFs / memes

React videos

For longform CR content: Originally 2 hours or more in length (e.g., Critical Role, Exandria Unlimited, and One-Shots)

CR allows your passive monetization of under 10 minutes of content usage per episode

CR may claim monetization or execute an automatic takedown for over 10 minutes of content usage per episode

For medium-length CR content: Originally between 1-2 hours in length (e.g., Between the Sheets, Narrative Telephone)

CR allows your passive monetization for under 5 minutes of content usage per episode

CR may claim monetization or execute an automatic takedown for over 5 minutes of content usage per episode

For short CR content: Under 60 minutes (e.g., Handbooker Helper, All Work No Play)

CR may claim monetization or execute an automatic takedown, which includes any “clips” or “memes”

4. Can my Project make reference to Critical Role?

We’d love that! Just make sure that your Project follows the other guidelines in this policy and clearly let people know it is a fan Project and not an official CR Project. That is, you are not permitted to state or imply that your Projects are affiliated with, sponsored, or approved by Critical Role. You may not create a Project in a manner that could cause other Critters to believe that it is an official CR work. If you share your Project with others, please conspicuously include the following disclaimer (e.g., on your Project’s website):

Portions of the materials used may contain trademarks and/or copyrighted works of Critical Role. This material is not official, is provided for free, noncommercial entertainment purposes only, and is not endorsed by Critical Role.

5. Can I create CR-related video content before the content is available on Critical Role’s YouTube channel?

No. Please be considerate. So it’s clear, any posting or other unauthorized disclosure of CR-created content prior to its official release on YouTube (or an authorized media-sharing platform) is strictly prohibited. In regards to spoilers, even after an episode’s release, spoilers can ruin a fan’s experience and we always aim to avoid them. Please be respectful of others and do not deliberately push plot reveals on people who are actively avoiding learning about them. If you are releasing fan content after its official release on the CR YouTube channels, we ask that you please offer spoiler disclaimers (or appropriate hashtags) as a courtesy.

6. What about CR fan art that’s shared publicly during or after a livestreamed RPG broadcast and before the VOD is available on YouTube?

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[along-came-atsushi]

The way Dazai protects Atsushi

When we imagine someone who is protective, mostly it is a person who bursts into a fit of rage or someone who heroically and willingly throws away their own life if it means to protect others. A good example for this would be Kunikida’s actions on several occasions. Dazai is less a person to obviously show rage or to heroically throw himself in front of someone.

Which doesn’t mean that he doesn’t care at all, it’s quite the contrary. And it’s sometimes very subtle and tricky, because he always has plans within plans and tries to achieve several goals with a single plan.

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I will only focus here on Dazai’s actions that solely have to do with Atsushi. I’m not going to bring up every single hidden agenda or goal Dazai is also trying to achieve.

In addition, this post has been tagged as #Dazatsu just to be safe. But of course it can be read from a platonic POV.

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Beware: Spoilers starting from chapter 83 and for 55 Minutes!

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How Dazai gets Atsushi into the ADA

Dazai practically tricked and then it may seem like he pressured Atsushi into joining the ADA, even after Atsushi already said that he doesn’t want to join:

The reason for Atsushi’s refusal was not that he didn’t want to join, because he just simply didn’t want to join. But because he lacks the self-confidence in taking a task like this. He doesn’t believe in himself and his abilities and thinks he isn’t fit for the job. This lack of self-confidence together with the fact that Atsushi constantly gets pushed by either people around him or his circumstances to keep relying on himself rather than others runs like a red string through his story.

Dazai on the other hand sees a great potential in Atsushi. In the moment where Atsushi saved him from drowning, he already planned to team him up with Akutagawa. Not only because of their abilities and their compatibility in battle. But because Atsushi would be the person to “teach Akutagawa how to put that sword away”. In other words: to value life. Which is something that Dazai wasn’t able to teach Akutagawa (I covered this in another meta and won’t explain it here any further).

Another reason is that the things Dazai states above are simply the truth: If Atsushi doesn’t join, then there is nothing the ADA can do to help him (or it would be much harder and complicated for them). He needs to do everything a normal adult in society has to do, which is harder for Atsushi than other people, since he has been abruptly kicked out of his orphanage without any further help or assistance. Not to mention that he is perceived as a monster and not in control of his own ability, and therefore a wanted criminal and dangerous ability user. This could lead Atsushi in either getting killed or falling into the hands of other shady organizations who have far worse intentions for him. Saying the above is less Dazai trying to manipulate Atsushi and more him just telling what would happen and to be realistic.

Having Atsushi join the ADA for Dazai does not only help Atsushi to live a safer life and make it easier for Dazai to keep an eye out for him, but also to give Atsushi the chance to safe other people in the progress.

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The Entrance Exam

Since Atsushi refused there was no way for Dazai to have him join the ADA the easy way and then only later testing if he really was worthy of being a true member. Just like it has been the case with Dazai’s entrance exam (Dazai freely joined the ADA after being recommended and was perceived as a new member immediately. Only during his first case with Kunikida was he secretly being tested of being worthy, which he succeeded). Therefore, a plan under a pretext was needed in order to test Atsushi and convince him to join.

During the ADA’s meeting for planning Atsushi’s entrance exam (which is told in the first part of the ‘Untold Story of the ADA’ novel) Dazai anticipated that Atsushi would either convince the bomber (played by Tanizaki) or somehow defuse the bomb himself. Neither of his predictions happened, instead Atsushi was willing to sacrifice himself so that he could protect others. This selfless action honestly surprised Dazai, which not many people are able to achieve, because he always predicts their actions:

Since it’s been hinted by Dazai that he already lost other people close to him in his life, even before Ango’s betrayal and Odasaku’s death, Atsushi’s action probably could’ve served as a trigger for him. He had to realize that there is a possibility that Atsushi would sacrifice himself to protect others. Especially since he doesn’t deem his own life as worthy and has been told many times to be useless and to “just die in a ditch somewhere.”

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“Stalking” Higuchi

Dazai immediately recognized Higuchi to be a PM member and that she’s contacting the ADA under disguise for ulterior motives. The scene with Higuchi is a good example that Dazai does many things which either annoys other people (flirting with her) or are seen as him just being lazy and/or fooling around (listening to music and singing), while in reality he is already following a hidden plan.

Flirting with Higuchi distracts her and everyone else from Dazai slipping a wiretap in her jacket. It helps him to let everyone just act naturally without the possibility of revealing anything by accident. Furthermore, it makes people underestimate Dazai, because for everyone else he was just fooling around.

Due to the reason that the PM contacted the ADA under disguise as soon as Atsushi was their new member could have been already suspicious for Dazai, suspecting that it has something to do with Atsushi and was not just a regular attack on the ADA. Later on, this gets confirmed when it’s been stated that The Guild set a bounty on Atsushi for some reason.

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Is Dazai following Atsushi around?

When Atsushi accompanies Ranpo on his murder case Dazai surprisingly shows up:

This meeting could be just a coincidence, of course. After all it’s just Dazai fooling around again (or in this case, trying to commit suicide again). But since the case with Higuchi has shown that Dazai loves to pretend to do something else, when he in reality is following a hidden agenda, it might be that he showed up there on purpose. Maybe just to see how Atsushi was faring and to eventually intervene if something serious would happen (like he did when Atsushi and Akutagawa were fighting for the first time). Especially with the PM on Atsushi’s tail now.

In chapter 84 it has been revealed that Dazai indeed does have an eye on Atsushi. When he can’t do that himself anymore, he makes sure to ask Akutagawa to keep an eye on him instead:

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Going far for Atsushi’s sake

After getting to know about the bounty, Dazai lets himself get captured by the PM on purpose, without informing any other ADA members, and stays inside the prison until seemingly a right time draws near. He is willing to do this, even though he knows full well that he is perceived as a traitor and that certain people will not welcome him with open arms.

When Chuuya mentions that he suspects that Dazai must be here for a certain reason, Dazai then states that he does all of this mostly for Atsushi. He even goes so far as to provoke a second punch in the face from Akutagawa, by belittling him in saying that Atsushi is a better subordinate than him, after Akutagawa threatens to kill Atsushi.

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Probably the most visible scene where Dazai openly shows anger and shock towards someone hurting Atsushi (or hurting someone he cares about in general) is during the incident with Q:

He doesn’t act like this again the second time when Atsushi brings him the doll to nullify Q’s ability, even though the whole city is in chaos. He’s also less concerned about Naomi and Haruno in that moment and more focused on Atsushi during this. Which doesn’t mean that he doesn’t care at all for others, knowing that Naomi and Haruno are able to handle their situation (which is confirmed by them later). But it also shows that Atsushi is his main priority.

Throughout the story Atsushi slowly notices this himself. At first he is hesitant to believe that he is Dazai’s “most trusted subordinate” and worries that Dazai might be mad with him should he go overboard with something (e.g. during 55 Minutes when he was able to surprise Dazai who was hiding in the trash can).

He only ever claims to have Dazai’s trust, if it means to provoke Akutagawa (which he does for a different reason, but I’m not going to expand on this here). Later, he even wonders how Dazai would react/look if Akutagawa came back with the news of him having died: 

Which means that Atsushi’s former mentality of people not caring should he die gets replaced by having someone actually be mad/sad about this.

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Hiding his “dark side”

It may not be that visible in the anime, since some scenes are either left out or interpreted for the sake of jokes. But the manga makes it clear that Dazai struggles with guilt because of his own past (e.g. when Atsushi asks the other ADA members what they’ve done before joining the ADA, aside from everyone else Dazai looks away. This suggests that this question and the closely related memories of it are uncomfortable for him. Another example is his reaction when he asks Kyouka how many people she has killed).

Dazai is well aware that he can’t hide his past from Atsushi forever and that he sooner or later will find out. This is then almost immediately revealed to him by Akutagawa.

However Dazai still tries to hide his “dark side” from Atsushi. Apparently, he doesn’t want him to see that he’s capable of being cruel or that Atsushi may become too aware of anything that could reveal more of Dazai’s past and the things he has done. During certain situations Dazai purposefully doesn’t let Atsushi go or stay with him:

1.) When he pushed Atsushi out of the room to “interrogate” Kouyou:

2.) When he pretended to need to use the bathroom, because he knew they were being followed:

3.) When he meets Ango:

(Even Kouyou comments on how Dazai lets Atsushi out of certain business.)

The reasons for this may be that he’s afraid to reveal this “dark side” of him to Atsushi and that he doesn’t want to drag him into the business of the underworld. It could also be that he’s afraid that Atsushi might see him in a different light and that he’ll turn deprecating towards him. As of now Atsushi doesn’t know the full extent of Dazai’s past and actions. But due the fact that he’s aware that Dazai was a former PM member (an executive even), he must also be aware that some answers will be frightening. Furthermore, he must also already have some ideas about Dazai’s past.

Throughout the story Atsushi has been shown to be sympathetic with different characters, trying to understand their actions or the reason that drives them. Even when these characters fought against or tried to kill him in the past (Kyouka, Lucy, Akutagawa, Fitzgerald, Sigma). Therefore, I doubt that Atsushi will see Dazai in a different/negative light, should his past be fully revealed. But this is something Dazai may not anticipate, since he doesn’t see himself as a good person and as someone worthy of redemption.

 .

Dazai believes in Atsushi

Dazai has an overwhelming believe in Atsushi and his abilities. He reassures and compliments him from the very beginning:

“Nice, Atsushi. You’re like a real detective already! It’s such a joy to see you grow up so fast!” [After being send back in time] “Ha-ha-ha! I never thought you’d be able to scare me like that! You’ve grown Atsushi!” – 55 Minutes

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“Oooh!” Dazai squealed in excitement. “Look at you, Atsushi! Impressive!” – 55 Minutes

Contrary to Atsushi, who struggles to acknowledge his own self-worth and has little to no faith in his own abilities.

This is the reason why Dazai sometimes pushes Atsushi (not only literally but also figuratively) to do things on his own, whenever he realizes that Atsushi is hesitating. He’s throwing him in at the deep, in order for Atsushi to learn more self-confidence:

He sends him on several missions alone (e.g. sneaking into the Moby Dick) or with other people (e.g. Akutagawa), because he knows that Atsushi is able to do this, even without him:

“[…] It’s up to you to prove the detective agency’s innocence and set us free. You can do it, right?” Atsushi knew – Dazai only asked people if they could do it when he was certain they could. – 55 Minutes

Atsushi’s actions get firmly planned into Dazai’s predictions, knowing that he will choose the right decision:

This great believe in Atsushi gets also noticed by other people (e.g. Mark Twain and Akutagawa):

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In return

Dazai’s positive influence on Atsushi also has a positive effect on his psyche: The headmaster’s voice and image inside his mind – the person who always drags him down, tells him to be useless and that he will “not make it” – slowly gets replaced by Dazai’s voice and image – the person who cheers him up and tells him to believe in himself:

It’s no doubt that Dazai was the person who helped Atsushi to live a better life and he is perceived as “the man who saved me” by Atsushi himself. For this reason and his self-confidence Atsushi admires Dazai and is grateful to him.

But on the other hand, Atsushi was also willing to save Dazai despite his dire situation. Not only does Atsushi put Dazai on a pedestal, it is also Dazai who puts Atsushi on a pedestal and who sees him as the person able to help, protect and maybe even change others.

[mfpeace]

@justbeingedgy @weird-colombian-gurl You asked me to elaborate on the "Ches already has a kid" theory in the notes of that one mf analysis post (which I really liked, go check it out!!), so that's why I'm making this one, cuz notes are a bit too restricting for what I want to talk about!

Though next time think twice before asking me to talk about something I'm interested in, because you never know when you're gonna wake up lovecraftian horrors!! :DDD you'll see what i mean when you press read more :))

So, I'll say it right now - this post is largely inspired by the second story highlight of this Instagram user (sorry, I don't know their name, only that their Instagram handle is dee_girl_metalfamilyfan), it's in Russian though, so keep that in mind

Alright, so I'll break this theory into two parts: the first one will be all about Ches, and the second will be about his potential child (spoiler: you might've seen her!)

Without any further ado, let's get to the Ches part:

1. The creators said that they're gonna explore Ches' character in the second season. Obviously, it doesn't mean anything on it's own, but just wait.

Dima: Let's talk about the second season a little. Of course, the seconds season will show development of the old characters, as well as new ones. That's in short. As you see, Ches looks a bit different here.

Alina: Yeah, we'll show a bit more about Ches at the ages of 18 to 20. His past. We'll reveal a bit more about his complex character, as much as it's possible.

(The source of the translation) Also I think they also said at one point that adult Ches will get some character development too? But that's probably a given, considering that we wouldn't see his youth if it wouldn't have affected him in the present, flashbacks without any relevance to the overall story don't sound so good

2. Not sure about this one (we don't know how much in character it was) but I can't not mention it.

Alina: Actually there was this one fanfic that I really liked. I don’t remember what it was called, but it was about Ches having a daughter, which is a cool topic. It was relatively in character and truly interesting. It’s great when people focus not just on sexual relationships of the characters, but also try to look at their development. That was a really interesting one. That’s it.

(UnityCon '19)

3. This one's a pretty big one, in my opinion. So, this is what they said on ArtWave '19:

Dima: Ches also has flaws.

Alina: [to Dima] Don’t spoil stuff.

Dima: His flaw is that he's very... irresponsible, let’s say.

So, maybe, just maybe, Ches does have a child but he, you know... left them? As the Instagram highlight from the beginning say: "he might be irresponsible enough to leave his child, and he's probably irresponsible enough not to use any contraception" (rephrased, not the exact quote)

4. Alright, so, the only mention of this one I can think of right now is the aforementioned Instagram highlight. The Metalfamilyfan says:

I contacted Korg/Корж, (admin of @ metal_yama [and I believe one of the organizers of the Metal Family Meetup in Moscow]) and she asked Alina on one of the meetups: "if Ches were to be a father, what kind of father would he be?"

And she said: "The kind of that would say "kid, look at that birdie over there!" an then he would run away"

Someone's words are not the perfect source, but they did tag Metal Yama and from what I know they didn't disagree with what the author of the page said. if anyone has anything to say about this (disprove or definitely prove what I said) feel free to do so in a reblog, notes, DMs, send me an anonymous ask, or in any other way you feel comfortable with

5. Ches has literally been through the same thing, and we know how important the theme of the cycle of abuse is in Metal Family (or, in this case, the cycle of neglect? Abandonment? Idk)

You managed to hide your PREGNANCY from me! AND you've been hiding the child from me for a whole year!

YES, because you would've insisted on aborting him!

AND NOW I'M INSISTING ON PUTTING HIM UP FOR ADOPTION! OR I'LL LEAVE RIGHT NOW!

6. Here we can see Ches with a blonde girl. Nothing too special, probably just a one time hook up. He doesn't seem to be interested in her, and she seems to be annoyed with him.

But wait...

What is this?

Like, it doesn't even matter if there's actually a punk/rock/whatever band named MOM or not, I just think it's pretty weird to put it in this particular drawing of Ches and this random woman who is implied to have slept with him. It's not integral to Ches' character as, for example, Korol i Shut is. It's just... there. For some reason.

------------

Alright, now, finally let's get to the second part of the theory: who is, exactly, his child?

The short answer is, according to this theory, her:

First, let me list every single instance of her appearing in canon (and by canon I mean everything made by the creators. Even with this definition of canon it's not much, I promise): The screenshot you can see above on the left (it's a screenshot from the second season and it appeared here), an instagram story posted by Alina (above, right), and two drawing with a lot of characters where you can spot the girl which I'm gonna call her PinkHair or PH for short, I'll mention them later I feel like I should mention this, comparing the sources of the images and the dates when they were posted, it's safe to assume that the screenshot in the classroom has the latest and final version of her design. The red hair most likely doesn't mean anything

1. Alright. So. we've seen Dee and PinkHair in a classroom together, so they're most likely related in some way, or at least they know each other. Their exact relationship doesn't matter here, because all that matters here is that they're related story-wise

Let's look at the first image. This is the banner of the main Metal Family channel. Ches is near Heavy (they get along quite well and I'm sure Heavy aspires to be like Ches in many ways), Dee (we can see his classmates/friends near him, they're all about his age), and we can see people related to Glam on the left side of the image (including Ches!), and Vicky's - on the right side (notice how the hell sign is also there)

Now, I'm not absolutely sure about this one, but it's still kind of weird - look at the image on the right (it's from ArtWave 2021 btw) - wouldn't it make more sense to put PinkHair near Dee? Also, Curiously enough, not only is she not close to Dee on this image, but she's also standing next to Ches.

Though this whole thing could be explained by art theory (too many small things in one corner of your drawing isn't great composition wise lol sorry PH) but I still can't quite skip this point

2. Remember the "MOM" lady? Fun fact, she has the exact same pearl earring that PinkHair has on the screenshot.

3. I'll put all similarities with her supposed parents in this point: Mother: * She's also pretty uh.. glam? for the lack of a better word? Or feminine in a traditional sense, yeah I think that's a better way to put it. Like colors they prefer to wear for example, and jewelry. Characters like that aren't common in Metal Family * She's gotta be a blonde. I can't imagine her being anything but blonde. If she manages to maintain that hair color as a brunette I'm just straight up assuming her character arc is gonna be killing God because these kind of people are capable of anything. I fear them with every fiber of my being. * I can't say for sure because of the shading, but it seems like they both have gray eyes, and she also has darker skin compared to most MF characters. Though, it's likely that Mom just applied a lot of fake tan Ches: * We know that Ches for sure has darker skin * AND grey eyes * There's also some possible personality similarities but I'm not sure if you can compare a child to a parent they've never really known in this way

That's about it, I suppose, I hope there isn't that many grammar mistakes and logically unfinished parts and whatnot in this post I forgot to edit lol x) I'm not sure how to end this post other than to remind you guys that almost all the points in this posts are inspired by the "тупая теория" highlight on the dee_girl_metalfamilyfan's Instagram page, so go check them out and subscribe, they post Dee x The Quest Girl fanart and and always credit the artists. Without them this post would be much, much shorter.

Thanks for reading this post, please feel free to let me know your thoughts on this post <3

[iaintyourbro]

The Unknown Journey Continues

Part 1

I know it's been a while... but I've been going down a rabbit hole with @starlight-samurai regarding time loops, Jenova, Minerva, and more fun. So I figured I'd try to put it into one post to get the insanity out of my head. Everything in here is based on things we've found by either going through more obscure Ultimanias, learning more about Dirge of Cerberus and trying to decipher what the hell Jenova is by putting together various sources - including other Square Enix games - and how they handled freakishly similar scenarios.

Did you know there is a companion mobile game for it that was out on the good old flip phones? Did you know there was an online mode in Dirge of Cerberus only available in Japan, but had story elements that were not in the main game?

The sad part is, there's still so much to go through...

(I've also had various discussions with @ourfinalheaven, Manu, who doesn't have Tumblr, so here is her Twitter. and Somebody's Nightmare (here is her Twitter). So I wanted to tag them here, as it's much more fun to discuss these ideas as a group, since it'll only help you build on and strengthen your own ideas.)

Please be aware, there will be Spoilers for FFVII - Almost all Compilation titles, Xenogears, and NieR Automata throughout this.

So let's go on a journey where we explore what actually already exists in the compilation - including the idea of the whispers and timeloops - how Minerva may play into everything, and what exactly Jenova is capable of doing.

I asked Sesi if he'd ever played any of the NieR games, because he'd said something that made me wonder if they were going to take a similar approach. As a very, very quick high level summary: NieR Automata deals with a time loop type of idea. The androids will be rebooted and repeat the same things over and over again. This is broken when 2B is killed by A2 because she becomes infected with a virus. That being said, you have the option after Ending E to either erase all of your data and end the cycle OR you can try again. The Pods have a discussion, and one asks, "But won't they just do the same thing again?" and the other replies with "Maybe. But it could also be different this time."

Here's Sesi's message back to me when I asked him about this (cleaned up a bit since we were having a casual conversation over Discord):

Maybe I could just guess based comparatively on the Dirge storyline, because that was sort of SE's first flirtation with “robots and androids” since they’re all programmed and locked behind like task managers and shit that can shut them down. The story of the online mode for DoC that came out in Japan, we never got to see it, you’re basically an Android OC and you have to get to “the end of the level” and then essentially die, and a new one takes its place. This keeps happening until Weiss is essentially freed from being able to be task managed by the guys who are suppose to be able to control them and I know from tons of years with Square games that they’re verrrrry bad at differentiating their narratives they tend to just keep “ripping themselves off” so is it anything close to that?

Cuz if so I think I kinda know what you’re saying and yeah, I agree, I think with CC bringing in its poetic symbolism and LOVELESS, and DoC bringing back the cyclic nature of the lore, whispers, premonitions and future visions, proto-Materia and the perversion of this next cycle since the planet can no longer cleanse and protect itself and its will is weakening lesser and lesser to the point where it’s fate is “in a true sense of jeopardy This time essentially it’s all tied in together and sort of played as though it's a fated track; a cycle of events and something has hitched it, thus the whispers manifesting and Sephiroth's higher implied control over his destiny. Of course, even all that is just their new red herring game, but it’s definitely a part of the lore they want to play with, in order to go back and reMAKE the OG with the comp inserted from inception. Also gut punch a lot.

Time Loops

I was somewhat surprised to find out that this concept is NOT new to FFVII's universe. It's discussed in Dirge of Cerberus... probably one of the least played and least understood of the compilation. (Trying to sell a third person shooter with terrible controls to a market of mostly people used to turn-based combat wasn't going to go well.)

On top of it, we didn't even get all of it, since online mode was never released outside of Japan, and the Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode was on Amp'd Mobile and Verizon flip phones back in 2006. Were you around for the cell phones in 2006? I had the ones on the list, and how somebody could play a game on those blows my mind.

Square has a tendency to reuse themes from their other titles. Probably one of the most blatant is the similarities between Xenogears and Final Fantasy VII. They were both being developed at the same time and a lot of ideas that didn't make it into FFVII ended up in Xenogears.

NieR

So how does this work? In NieR (both Replicant and Automata), you play the same path multiple times. Each time, it's slightly different depending on what side quests you did your first and second playthrough, but there's also other subtle differences throughout the story. In Automata, you get to play as 2B your first playthrough and 9S for your second. They follow the same path, but you get it from his perspective the second time and it reveals a bit more of what is going on. However, even with some slight differences, the main plot points stay the same and the ending result it also the same.

Then on your third playthrough, you wake up in the Bunker, and you're getting ready to go on a new mission. This time, though, 2B is killed and shit hits the fan. Things get crazy, you play as a new character: A2. In the end, pretty much everyone "dies", but you can choose to "reboot" and try again. You also can say you are done and let them all rest and delete your save data (the game gives you the option for both Automata and Replicant, and with Replicant, it actually leads to a new ending).

The striking thing for me is... There are certain events that will always happen, no matter what.

Fixed Points in Time

It's been years since I've watched Doctor Who, but there was something that stuck with me, and that was the fixed points in time. You can read about all of them here, but here's the basics:

Now, of course Doctor Who goes into this with much more detail and it's a recurring theme. However, as you read through that page, you'll probably find many aspects that have been used in various JRPGs that you've played. And Doctor Who most likely pulled some of the idea from classic Science Fiction novels. Each story puts its own spin on it.

How does this relate to FFVII Remake? Well, when they say that the major plot points will stay the same, it reminds me of this. No matter what, Cloud must fall into the Sector 5 Church, the Sector 7 Plate must be dropped, Aerith and Zack both must die, and Meteor has to be summoned, to name a few. So, with a time loop, those things would still have to take place in order to prevent a complete collapse of reality (at least in how Doctor Who uses it).

Therefore, the Whispers are ensuring that the Will of the Planet is followed.

One of the major themes in FFVII is that of loss. People die and they do not come back. Yes, other FF games do allow this to happen (FFX, FFXIII, FFXV), but VII is not those games. It was written with that idea in mind, that once a person dies, they, just like in real life, are dead and cannot be brought back.

I've previously written that I think they'll make us believe we are able to change fate, but we will eventually be slammed with the reality that we can't. That is because the planet has determined that certain events are fixed points.

Xenogears

Xenogears takes a bit of a different approach to the loop idea. Instead of repeating the same time period over and over, it has the characters reincarnated, and the same outcome happens each time: Elly dies. However, each time it's different. After all, they're in various time periods, in some cases thousands of years apart.

In all of the lives of Fei (who will have a different name in each time period) and Elly (who is always Elly/Elhaym), Elly will end up dying trying to protect Fei and the others. In one life, she is a religious figure at a totally not Catholic church, in another she's the wife of a scientist who was working to create children from nanomachines due to mass infertility issues. But she is ALWAYS with Fei, even if his name changes.

In her Mother Elhaym time, this is when Lacan (Fei) finally snaps. Though he's not fully aware of his past lives, he becomes aware, the anger consumes him, and he becomes Grahf. Fei is then reborn into the time period you play the game in.

There's a lot to unpack with this, so I won't go into it. Grahf wants to destroy God (Deus) because he thinks if he does, then it'll stop the suffering (his suffering).

If you do want to read more about Grahf, you can do so here, but it probably won't make much sense unless you've played Xenogears up to that point... Since it's much later in the game that this is all explained.

Lacan's desire was to stop the cycle of Elly always sacrificing herself for his sake. Though Grahf is not a perfect existence - he's not fully "The Contact", he sacrifices himself in order to let Fei move forward, and hopefully stop the cycle, by destroying the Deus system. (Elly also tries to sacrifice herself here, but Fei goes after her and stops her.)

Now, some people may think I'm saying that Cloud or somebody is going to do this in order to save Aerith or Zack (or his village or mom), but in FFVII if they do the loop method, I don't think Cloud, Tifa, Barret, and the others are aware of it. Most likely, it's only 'Sephiroth' and Aerith who are aware of it.

How this Could Be used for Final Fantasy VII

I'm stressing could because there's so many different possibilities on how they use this (if they are using this), so please, don't take this as fact. This is based on speculation based on what we know.

A time loop is a great way to explain away the differences in the story that we've seen: Biggs being alive, Wedge living for longer than he should have, etc. Since these are not major plot changes, they can simply say that this time it'll be slightly different... but your fixed points (major plot points) will remain the same.

It's a way to pull in some of the more obscure themes from Dirge of Cerberus and also play with the LOVELESS lore.

It could all simply be a big red herring and it's really just a remake of OG, but with the compilation tied together nicely... since it works much better when it's combined and not in 50 different games, books, movies, etc.

I don't think it's a "sequel" per say, not in the way I generally perceive a sequel. It's more of a loop of the same thing. The question is, when is the loop started and what will cause it to end? When will the planet (if it even is the planet) determine that it's good enough to begin moving forward?

JENOVA, Sephiroth, Genesis, and Minerva - Oh My!

Let's be real... Genesis isn't exactly the most popular character in the FFVII Compilation... but what if they make him one of the most important to the story? //Ducks as various fruits and vegetable are thrown in my direction//

I think what Genesis is probably most known for is his love of LOVELESS. He has the entire thing memorized and randomly says lines from it throughout Crisis Core. LOVELESS lore is still something I'm trying to grasp, so I am not going to comment much on it. Once I understand it more, I'll update this.

...And then this happens. The secret ending for Dirge of Cerberus, where Genesis picks up Weiss. Weiss, who has now been introduced along with Nero in FFVII INTERmission and is an optional ridiculously hard boss in the Shinra battle simulator in chapter 17 of the main story. There is some lore associated with the battle sim - so if you don't plan on beating it or you just can't, you can look up the pre-battle and post-battle cut scenes on YouTube. They're very short, but interesting. (I beat this asshole last night - it's a hell of a fight.)

....To Be Continued because apparently Tumblr won't allow more than 10 images per post now.... Next will be more on JENOVA and Sephiroth along with Minerva.

[looniecartooni]

Analyzing Alador Blight (Sorry no pictures...)

Warning: This theory may be clunky and contain spoilers for The Owl House. I also do not have a psychology degree so whatever I analyze is mostly off of limited research, analysis, and personal experience. If something is inaccurate or offensive, I apologize deeply- that is not my intention. If you have any words of criticism or agreement, please kindly share them. 

When Alador Blight first appeared onscreen, people were weary and suspicious of him. When he made his official appearance, most people instantly fell in love with his goofy personality and completely opposite nature to his wife Karen Odalia. However, people are still weary of him and not very happy that he helps enforce his wife’s insane treatment towards their daughter Amity. And many people are confused on why he seems so different from his first debut or why he doesn’t divorce Odalia and take the kids with him. But- I think I have the answers to tie up all these loose ends.

Let’s start of with the basic suspicion most people have... Alador Blight is very likely on a neurodivergent spectrum. He has special interests that take most of his attention away from the world around him such making abomitrons and chasing butterflies. While he tends to remain mostly silent and seemingly in his own little world, he does speak to Luz directly when she asks what it is Blight Industries does.

For the sake of this theory, I’m going to go ahead and say that Mr. Blight might be on the Autism Spectrum. It is possible given his attention span that he may have ADHD, but my knowledge on that is limited so I’m going to go off with what I know. Some variation of autism also might be the more likely candidate given that not only does Alador have special interests and deep focus on those interests, he also doesn’t quite react (and I apologize if I offend anyone with this statement) to emotional situations in ways more neurotypical people might. This in Autism can often be interpreted as a lack of empathy.

Alador does have empathy as we’ve seen him looked shocked and sad when a butterfly he chased was crushed by the hand of his wife. He has also shown somewhat a bit of empathy towards Luz at the demonstration where he warns her that Blight Industries focuses mostly on weaponry and that she “might want to duck” from an incoming projectile. And when Luz asked for the demonstration to stop, he was the first one to pipe up and say, “She has a point, Odalia.” That of course did nothing to stop Odalia or the abomitron which raises the question again of why does he put up with Odalia.

In my own personal experience (contributing to the Autistic theory), I was always told people on the Autism Spectrum tend to be “rule oriented”. For the sake of this analysis, let’s assume that statement is somewhat true and apply it to Alador Blight. Why? Because this key to his character...

The times Alador does act serious seemingly without his wife’s manipulation, he always mentions the Blight family as a whole. For example, in Understanding Willow, he says, “Blights only associate with the strongest of witchlings.” When he confronts his wife with her own “A Blight always upholds their end of the deal” he mentions the family name again. This to me suggests these were things his parents or other Blight relatives told him (assuming that Odalia married into the name Blight while Alador always was a Blight). He’s enforcing the rules of his family. If that’s the case, it might also explain why he follows Odalia’s crazy regime of tiger mom Karen. Perhaps he’s used to being told what to do and/or her attitude to how her daughter should behave is similar to the Blight standards he grew up with. In his mind, the standards of being a Blight must not be broken.

Whether or not that “Blight Rule” following is a sign of his own abuse from family or simply being a rule follower shall remain ambiguous for now and whether or not he is on the Autism spectrum and if it contributes to his enforcement will be left up to you or remain obscure until further is revealed. (sorry for that run on sentence) But this “Blight Rule” probably explains why he wasn’t too troubled on getting Gus, Willow, and Luz expelled from Hexside via his wife’s request. Blights only associating with a ”select few” as Amity puts it while clearly Odalia being a female dog and controlling/ manipulating her daughter, he probably thinks he’s contributing to helping his daughter succeed by only associating with the best.

As far as we can tell though, Alador does still exercise his own form of control over his wife’s craziness. During the Blight sale, he did see his daughter stand up to Odalia and his unstoppable creation and seemed quite fond about how strong she has become (which he mentions when confronting Odalia) (he probably also knows about Lumity too and supports it- but that’s for another time). He isn’t afraid to confront Odalia on her own contradicting lies and even somewhat even perhaps has his own way of manipulating his wife as he puts the notion in her head that Amity might become a coven head someday. Given that it appears that the Blights seem to only like being “the best” (or in Amity and possibly Alador’s case feel pressured to be the best) (not sure about Edric and Emira- they seem to like to just have fun), Alador could be speaking the truth. However, given that his eyes were on another flying creature while talking to her and immediately he goes chasing after it, he may have been trying to ham her up so that she kept up her end of the deal and perhaps realize Amity is stronger before going after things that matter to him.

I’m sure Amity does matter to him and is probably one of the main reasons why he goes along with Odalia too. But he does also seem to really like tiny creatures that move too (Edric might be the same way given the bat situation at the Knee). Speaking of Alador and Amity, Amity seems to have picked up the habit of enforcing the “Blight Rule” too often saying “We Blights” when describing her behavior like who she associates with and what she does.

Is Alador a completely evil parent for letting his wife use Amity the way she does? Is Amity a reflection of his own upbringing and values? Does he associate with Odalia because of these values? Will we see him change? Well we’ll have to await for more information in further episodes but hopefully, we will have our answers soon. If you have any questions or theories, please share them or tag me in them. I’d love to hear and discuss. And I apologize again if I got any neurodivergent facts wrong or offended anyone by my observation. Hope I helped you understand Alador and thank you for reading my theory.

[mari-beau]

PARTNERS - A Rogue One Fanfiction

Written for Cassian Appreciation Week 2021 Day 4: Alliance Intelligence

(I know I missed Cassian Appreciation Week entirely with this one, but it got a little more out of hand than the quick scene tags and etc. Actually, tumblr posting etiquette question: At what point is a fanfic considered too long to post directly and should be hosted elsewhere and linked to? Or is inserting a ‘keep reading’ break enough?)

Title: Partners

Characters: Cassian Andor POV; Jyn Erso, Draven

Pairing: Cassian/Jyn

Words: 2633

Setting: Post-Rogue One, Canon-divergent (in that Cassian & Jyn live)

Summary: Cassian receives his first assignment for Alliance Intelligence after recovering from his Scarif injuries, but something is amiss with Jyn Erso. And something is gnawing at him as well...

Spoilers: Rogue One

Warnings: Our heroes have a little bit of PTSD/Separation Anxiety; Also it’s in a layered/nonlinear narrative format, which hopefully is clear/works.

“Where?” she asked. Was there a desperate edge to Jyn’s voice? Or did he just want there to be?

“You know I can’t tell you where.”

Cassian thought she would at least roll her eyes, if not spout sardonic criticism of Alliance Intelligence not even trusting their own people, not trusting those rebels who’d sacrificed everything for the Cause. But she surprisingly remained silent, pursing her lips and giving a little shake of her head.

“Are you allowed to tell me how long you’ll-” She swallowed, uncharacteristically vulnerable. “You’ll be gone?”

“I’m not sure.” Cassian wanted to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder, but he’d never seen her look so fragile, and he was afraid a single touch might shatter her.

“Okay.” Her response was clipped, even for her, and she just nodded her head, refusing to meet his eyes.

“I’ll be back, Jyn,” he said. And maybe he’d never actually said it outright, but maybe she needed to hear it. “I’ll never leave you behind.”

Again, she only nodded her head, repeating “Okay.”

He gave into the urge, placed a hand on her biceps and stroked her arm through the layers of her thick thermal jumpsuit.

“Are you-” he tried to ask her whether she was feeling okay, but she shrugged his hand off and bolted, leaving him to watch her fleeing back as she disappeared down an icy corridor, blinking in surprise.

…

Earlier…

“Medical informs me you’re cleared for active duty, Captain Andor.” Draven managed to make it both a statement and a question. Of course he was the head of Intelligence, a spy to his very core, working in vagaries. Except when he issued orders. Those were always clear.

“Yes, sir.” Cassian tried to stand at full attention, but the stance honestly put a little too much pressure on his bad leg. If it was just the artificial hip, he’d probably be sprier than he’d been before. But the deep tissue damage was going to take awhile, if he ever did regain the full musculature in his leg, the tendons and ligaments would never be the same. The fractures in his vertebrae and ribs had thankfully knitted back up and neither bothered him too badly. Even with the unrelenting cold of Hoth.

“I have your next assignment.”

Cassian nodded, accepting the datapad with mission specifics. He gave it a cursory glance.

Deep cover.

“Is this a solo mission?” he asked, but pretended to continue to study the information rather than risk revealing his insecurities to his commanding officer. “Or am I going to need a team?”

Maybe just a partner?

“It has to be you,” Draven said. “And only you. They’re your connections. Well, one of your alias’ connections.”

The older man hesitated, not dismissing Cassian, not continuing with the briefing, just standing, waiting. Cassian mustered the best impassive face he could before meeting his commanding officer’s gaze.

“You’re still one of the best agents we have, Andor.”

Cassian nodded his head in silent acceptance of the reassurance.

“When do you need me to leave?” he asked.

“Whenever you’re comfortable enough with the mission brief. But the sooner, the better.” Draven was still studying him intently, with more scrutiny than Cassian had even faced as an undercover spy. “You know where to find me if you have any follow up questions.”

“Yes, sir,” Cassian said, recognizing his dismissal.

Something twisted deep in his chest as he walked away.

He needed to find Jyn and tell her he’d be leaving.

…

That Day on the Beach of Scarif…

“Look.”

It sounded like Jyn’s voice. Was there an afterlife, then? And could Cassian have somehow been lucky enough to be with her there?

No. No, that couldn’t be the case. There was too much pain. If he no longer had a body, then why did it hurt in the way physical flesh only could?

“Cassian!” Jyn’s voice was more urgent and she was squirming in his arms, her hands tugging on the sleeves of his shirt. “What is that?”

He forced his eyes open. It was bright. So bright. Why was she confused? It was Death.

No. No, it wasn’t?

He squinted, blinking his eyes as he looked off toward the ocean, well, where the ocean had been, where the wall of destruction had… stopped?

Jyn looked at him in wide-eyed amazement. “Is that a-”

“Shield,” Cassian gasped, in utter shock himself. “The Empire must have installed an emergency shield to protect the facility.”

“How long?” Jyn was breathing hard, already scrambling to her feet.

“Against that blastwave? Not long,” Cassian said. “Maybe it has dispersed some of the explosive force already but…”

“Come on.” Jyn was standing, leaning down to tug at his arms. He felt like he was ten times the weight he’d ever been on any planet.

“There’s not a lot of time,” he said, hoping she’d understand.

“Which is why you need to move your ass.” Jyn squatted in front of him instead, shoving her arms under his armpits and basically hugging him, she tried hauling him to his feet, but he was dead weight. He hissed with overwhelming pain that was practically blinding, his legs refusing to function. They collapsed back to the sand in a heap.

Jyn got back up, wincing and holding her injured shoulder before she renewed her attempts to get Cassian onto his feet.

It was a herculean effort for his weary body, but he managed to grab her arm.

“Listen to me, Jyn.” She locked eyes with him, and the desperation and pain he found there stabbed him in the chest, hurting worse than his aching ribs. “You have to go. You have to leave me behind. There’s got to be others still alive out there. Find them, get off Scarif. Leave me here. It’s okay. I want you to leave me. Do you understand?”

“No,” she said. There was a ferocious passion in the depths of her eyes, the green gone all steel grey. Any argument he could possibly make, any plea for her to save herself would not be tolerated.

“You listen to me, Cassian Andor.” Her hands captured his face. Her fierceness took away what little breath he had. “We live together. Or we die together.”

This time when she grabbed him, somehow her small body managed to haul him up, maybe she’d somehow given him some of her strength, some of her unrelenting determination, because his legs held... mostly.

…

Present

Cassian found Jyn hiding in a storage room, sitting on a crate with her hands on her knees, doubled over, breathing in big, sobbing gulps of air. He could only stand there and stare in complete shock. Not even on the beach that day had he ever seen Jyn Erso so… such an emotional mess. Angry. Passionate. Vulnerable. Yes. All those things he had seen in her eyes. But this sort of tangible, physical reaction? It was jarring to witness.

And he hesitated. Never hesitate. It could cost lives, the lives of others, your own.

Rushing to her side, he dropped to his knees beside her, the hard ice floor’s impact mitigated by his thick thermal pants.

“Jyn, what is it? What’s wrong? Should I find a medic?”

He placed a hand on her leg, tried to get her to look at him, but she turned away, her breathing still disturbingly uneven, like she wasn’t getting enough oxygen.

“N-no,” she choked out. “Just- Just give me a m-minute.”

“Okay,” he said. “But I’m right here. If you need anything, I’m here.”

A sob escaped her, and then she gasped, continuing to struggle to breath, hyperventilating. Cassian just remained there, kneeling beside her, a previously unfamiliar agony tearing at him, watching Jyn suffer whatever it was she was enduring and unable to help her. But he’d stay there, by her side, forever, if she needed him to.

Her breathing gradually grew placid until she was taking deep, regulated draughts of air. And then those determined breaths evened out as well until she was finally breathing normally. And still he waited.

Jyn swore, wiping at her face before she turned to him, and oh, force, her cheeks were raw-looking with tear tracks staining her skin. There were dark circles under her eyes. She looked exhausted. As if she’d been awake, hunted, for a week. How did that happen in just half an hour or so?

“Can you tell me what’s going on?” Cassian asked. He wanted to know, needed to know, so, “Maybe I can help.”

She nodded but her eyes were bright, welling up with tears. This was Jyn Erso. It took a lot to make the woman cry.

“What is responsible for this? Did someone hurt you?” Cassian could hear his own accent thickening but didn’t care, becoming too agitated to focus on proper Basic pronunciations.

Jyn shook her head but said, “No. Yes… I… fuck. This is so embarrassing.”

“What is it, querida?” He took her hand and when she didn’t pull away, squeezed it, caressed her bare palm with his thumb, noting that her skin was getting cold and he should get her back closer to the core of the base where the temperature was more bearable. “You can tell me anything. You know that, right?”

She nodded. And again, Cassian was struck by how vulnerable the woman was. She always had a deeply hurt portion of her soul, but she seemed incapable of letting it show, even to him. It wasn’t deluding himself, or an over-exaggeration. Cassian knew that her friendship with him was different than any other she’d had in her life. It was the same for him. They finally had someone they could trust wholeheartedly.

But he still held his breath, waiting for her to bestow that trust once again.

She looked down at her hands in his, then to his face, her weary eyes holding his gaze, searching for something.

“You haven’t realized it, yet, have you?” she asked. Cassian’s heart beat faster. Realized what? “Until your Intelligence briefing this morning, we hadn’t been more than an arm’s length apart since Scarif. And force, I’m having a fucking panic attack just at the thought of being separated from you. How ridiculous is that?”

Cassian’s mouth had gone dry. He swallowed and wet his lips before he could even contemplate speaking.

“It’s not ridiculous, Jyn.” Maybe he hadn’t realized why, but that uneasy feeling had been twisting his insides since he’d first left for his briefing. And now, now he couldn’t deny its cause.

Because Jyn was right. She’d basically dragged him bodily out of that massacre, off that cursed planet, held him as he drifted in and out of consciousness until he’d blacked out entirely, to wake up in the infirmary on Yavin 4 with Jyn sitting at his bedside, arms folded on the edge of his cot, supporting her head as she slept. And from there, she had been with him his entire recovery. She refused to leave the room when medical staff or droids checked on him, only turning her back to give him privacy. He hadn’t complained. He hadn’t objected. Even when she set up a bedroll in the corner of his quarters when he’d been released from the infirmary. Even when she wordlessly climbed into his bed to soothe his fitful, painful sleep, even when she helped him dress. And shower. And limp down the corridors to exercise his injured leg. And after he was basically as recovered as he was going to get, she stayed. Always by his side.

The memory that would always forever be seared into his existence slapped him in the face.

“We live together. Or we die together,” he whispered.

Jyn’s pupils dilated, her eyes fixed unwaveringly on his.

“I meant it,” she said quietly. “But I didn’t think…”

Her hand reflexively clutched at the front of her thermal jumpsuit, seeking the only possession she cared about, the only thing she had left of her mother, her father, the only thing she had that was her own, special. But hadn’t she realized?

She had him.

Cassian took a risk, slid his fingertips over her cheek, which was soft and smooth and warm against his doubtless chilled fingers. But she didn’t flinch from his cool touch. Rather, she leaned into his palm as he cupped her face.

“I know,” he said. And he did know, could see the knowledge of it in her eyes, as well. He didn’t much believe in the Force, and despite the kyber crystal perpetually around Jyn’s neck, she had had a hard life, was a survivor, with a practicality that ran so deep it had taken him, a heartless assassin to make her believe in hope again.

Sometimes, though… Okay, often, he felt like that blastwave had swept them away, disintegrated them on the submolecular level. And then somehow they’d reformed. But their atoms had been mixed up, and he was as much composed of her stardust as his own, and she of his.

It was fanciful. And completely unlike Cassian. The Before Cassian. But now, it was absolutely the way he felt. It was foolish to deny it. And from the way Jyn was looking at him...

He leaned in, his nose brushing hers, his lips feathering over hers as he hesitated, waited for any signal from her, acceptance, invitation, or rejection.

It was an exquisite, agonizing eternity.

But then Jyn sucked in a sharp breath, one of her small yet strong hands grabbing the front of his coat, the other the nape of his neck, fingers curling in his hair. She pulled him into her, her mouth crashing against, hard and hot, and needy. Aggressive and tender at the same time. An inextricable mess. It was how they were. It was who they were.

It was perfect.

…

A little bit later...

“You have concerns regarding the mission, Captain Andor?”

Cassian had managed to catch General Draven in the rare moment where the man was actually in his office, sitting at his desk, reviewing… who knew what… intelligence, battle plans… food reserves…

“I do, sir.”

Draven looked up. Cassian had never questioned an assignment before. He’d always been such a good little soldier-spy. Even though it had been costing him his very soul.

Still, even with the feeling of Jyn’s kisses freshly on his lips, the presence of her burned into his entire being, questioning orders made him nervous. Almost as nervous as allowing himself to have wants, a sense of self beyond what the Alliance had given him.

“Well, what is it, captain?”

“I need a partner.”

Draven frowned in thought. “If I recall… the assignment is best suited for a single operative.”

Cassian swallowed but looked his commanding officer straight in the eye. “Then I won’t be taking this assignment. Or any others for Alliance Intelligence. Not unless I can work with a partner.”

Draven stood, did a quick pace behind his desk before he fixed Cassian with a hard stare. “You would desert the Alliance over Jyn Erso?”

Cassian wet his lips. Revealing such personal, emotional aspects to himself was… entirely against his nature. Jyn did not count. She was simply an extension of himself.

“I would choose her.” Cassian held the man’s war-weary, hardened gaze that still somehow seemed to have an iota of softness about the edges. “I have chosen her.”

We live together. Or we die together.

“She’s my partner.”

Draven sighed, but inclined his head.

“I’ll update the rosters. Make whatever alterations to the mission outline you view fit.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“I don’t know if you should be thanking me, Andor,” Draven said, but an elusive smirk flitted across his face.

Cassian did not hide his smile as he left, to find Jyn, and to tell her she was the newest member of the Alliance Intelligence unit.

[ahtsumu]

HEAVEN (IS A PLACE ON EARTH WITH YOU)

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 120

pairing: nanami kento x gn!reader

tags: angst, fluff, chicken soup for the soul ; wc: 2k

synopsis: he lives.

Nanami Kento wakes up with the taste of ash in his mouth.

His fingers twitch first–– the ones on his right hand tighten their grip on the handle of his sword when they recognise the familiar object. The ones on his left feel the bumpy ridges on the floor. Tenji blocks. What?

And then his eyes open, blinking rapidly as the fluorescent-lit world comes into focus. Only when they set on the severed arm next to his head does Nanami remember where he is. Why he’s holding his sword. What he was doing before everything went dark.

Meiji-Jingumae Station.

Instantly, the blond sits up–– feeling his spine pop as he does–– and scans the empty subway station for a patchwork doll-looking spirit. The sound of his neck cracking as his razor-sharp gaze rotates left and right echoes through the station. Oddly enough, the popping joints don’t feel like byproducts of time and age. For the first time, his stiff bones feel like evidence of unuse.

Nanami Kento feels like a pair of ballet shoes that need to be broken-in before being worn. New.

He hasn’t felt like this in years.

Mahito isn’t here. Excluding the maimed bodies of ex-humans that surround Nanami’s sitting figure, the subway station is completely empty. Is it over? A sinking feeling unfolds in Nanami’s stomach as he runs through the possible outcomes of the fight. The worst case scenario is that everyone is dead, he thinks as he brushes the dust off his clothes and stands up, still on alert for any unwelcome surprises. Nanami pauses as he considers what the best case would be, then.

It’s so foolishly optimistic he’s afraid to put it in words.

But miracles happen. The fact that he’s alive is proof of that. Well… Nanami hovers a hand over his wrist and pauses. Does he really want to know? This must be how Orpheus felt bringing Eurydice back from the underworld, he muses, letting his hand drop back to his side. Afraid to have been cheated of resurrection, yet even more afraid to check.

A thought, wrapped in hazard red and flashing all over, suddenly pushes itself to the front of Nanami’s whirring mind. It’s not necessarily a question; in fact, he doesn’t even know what he needs to know about you right now.

The whole thought is just two words and it’s your name.

A second thought puts a calming hand on the first one’s shoulder. It’s alright. You’re at home. You’re probably curled up in bed right now, a book in one hand and a steaming mug of chamomile tea in another. Nanami smiles softly and imagines crawling into bed beside you, falling asleep with you in his arms. That’d be nice.

He’s done enough, hasn’t he?

It’s time to go home.

ii.

“Nanami Kento.”

His head jerks up at the sound of his name, but he fails to pinpoint where it’s coming from. Even if he could, it’s not like he’d be able to see who said it.

Everything is black.

“Am I dead?” he rasps. His voice echoes through the space, each morpheme layering over another like an endless canon.

“Yes. But you don’t have to be.”

Regardless of the events that had occurred in Shibuya, it’s still jarring to see the heart of Tokyo–– or at least, one of the hearts of Tokyo–– at a standstill, looking like a ghost town. Nanami’s sharp blue eyes dart around the intersection, noting how much worse the destruction the city has been dealt looks under daylight.

Daylight. He freezes. It was nighttime when he arrived at the station. The fight’s probably over now. How long has he been out? Frantically, Nanami feels for his phone in his trousers' pockets, muttering a string of curses when he realises that the device isn’t in any of them.

Deep in his left pocket, however, his fingers brush against a 10,000 yen note and a thin red card with the words “Pleasure Doing Business with You” engraved in gold.

Nanami hails a taxi back.

iii.

The thing about souls is that they exist before the body does.

So they also die after the body does.

And that means a soul can live without a body. (For how long is another discussion.) But the fact of the matter is that after the human body’s death, the soul remains living for a period of time. And in that time, humans are most connected to the Universe.

Some can even speak to it.

Fewer can bargain with it.

“A binding vow with the Universe itself.”

Nanami nods. “I have…” an image of your face flickers behind his eyes “…unfinished business on Earth.”

“The hero cheats death for love.”

“I’m not a hero,” he replies firmly, “I’m just a regular guy with some irregular abilities. And I’m not cheating death.” He wonders how to phrase his next words without coming off as an ingrate. “The fact that I’m here right now means you planned this all along.”

It’s 8:27 AM on November 1st. That’s the date on your phone. Nanami found it sandwiched in the crack between the sofa cushions after looking around the first floor for your familiar figure. You also have around a hundred missed calls and even more unread texts. “I’m so sorry for your loss”s and “are you okay?”s clutter the screen, all from names he recognises. As he scrolls through the notifications, it becomes clear why you’d left your phone in the sofa.

At some point, the “sorry”s become oppressive.

So you know he’s dead. Or, he quickly corrects, you think he’s still dead. Thankfully, he was only gone for a few hours. Maybe that’ll make his unexpected appearance easier to process. Nanami sets your phone down on the coffee table and silently walks up the stairs, making a beeline for the bedroom. Slowly, he pushes the half-closed door open.

The curtains are shut and messily so, like you’d just yanked the fabric once on each side towards the middle before moving on. The thinnest streams of light peek through the cracks you’d left in your haste, each seeming to stop and pool at the figure curled up on the queen-sized bed in the middle of the room.

Nanami feels something cold reach for his heart and squeeze.

You’re asleep, curled into a ball wearing one of his old sweatshirts, your face buried into a pillow with discoloured streaks everywhere, likely the doing of your tears. Letting out a guilt-laden breath, Nanami treads carefully to your side and places a hand on your shoulder. He gently shakes you.

And your eyes, puffy from crying, flutter open.

They meet a familiar pair of thin blue ones.

For a moment, you just stare at the man in front of you. The sunlight coming through the curtains ricochets off Nanami’s golden hair, forming a soft halo around his head. A small–– slightly apologetic–– smile plays at the corner of his lips as he shoves his hands in his pockets.

“Ken?” you breathe, sitting up instantly.

“Hi, sweetheart.”

That can’t be him, you think as you stare up at Nanami with wide eyes and a hanging jaw.

“But Ieiri said you were burned everywhere. And your eye––” you touch your own, you don’t dare touch his “–– she said it was gone.” Ieiri had also said that there’d been a hole burnt through his chest. That Itadori saw him disintegrate with his own eyes. That he was gone forever. This can’t be Nanami.

“Yeah. I, uh, died,” the blond says, looking down at the ground. “But then I made a binding vow with the Universe and… I came back to life.”

A moment of silence passes.

“If I touch you––”

“I won’t disappear.”

“Promise?”

Nanami feels the red card in his pocket. This, he thinks, must be the reassurance Orpheus needed but never had.

“I promise.”

Your arms around his waist are a little firmer than usual but Nanami doesn’t mind. He’s just glad to be in bed beside you with the curtains drawn (properly this time), holding you closer than close, feeling your steady breath on his neck.

When your hands briefly tighten around his side as if to check that he’s still there for the tenth time that hour, Nanami grins and finally asks, “What?”

“I just… can’t believe that you’re alive,” you murmur into his chest. It’s firm–– always has been–– but the feeling of the muscle and bones pressing back against your face brings you a certain peace you never thought you’d crave. “A binding vow with the Universe… is that even possible?”

Nanami laces your fingers together. You admire how his skin buzzes against yours, each pulse of the blood pumping through his veins a reminder of his still-beating heart.

“I think it’s similar to how reality is composed of layers that show themselves depending on the viewer,” Nanami says slowly, looking up at the ceiling. “For example, humans can’t see cursed spirits. That layer only shows itself to sorcerers.”

You hum in agreement.

“And so whatever it was I made that binding vow with… I think, in that moment, it let me see through another layer of reality.”

His words hang in the air as the two of you dissect them.

“What was the deal you struck?” you ask, peering up Nanami’s face.

The weight of the red card makes itself known in his pocket. “If I tell you,” he says, shifting so that you’re at eye-level, “you can’t give me shit about it.”

You nod.

Quickly, he reveals his end of the bargain. Anticipating your disapproval right afterwards, he shifts so that his chin rests at the top of your head.

“Kento––”

“You can’t give me shit about it.”

“… Fine,” you huff with a roll of your eyes. But you’re not pleased–– and Nanami knows–– and the conversation lulls to a stop.

(Your bodies stay intertwined.)

He waits for you to speak again–– because you always do–– so he’s not surprised when, minutes later in a quiet voice, you ask, “Did you see heaven?”

Nanami pauses. Did he?

“I think I did.”

“What did it look like?”

His eyes flick down at your face before looking back up at the ceiling. And he smiles.

“Like this.”

i.

Mahito’s hand on his charred chest. Haibara. Itadori. Haibara. Itadori. Flowery words that wilt into curses. “You got it from here.” Feeling his body crumble away into dust. Blackness.

All his memories swim past his eyes. He sees his parents talking at the dinner table, his childhood friends crawling over playground equipment, the Jujutsu Tech second-years grinning as he bows in front of them, the first cursed spirit he ever exorcised, the dull-faced employees at Sachs, Itadori’s optimistic grin…

And then, you.

You with that look of concentration on your face as you sit in silence across from each other in the living room, feet propped up on the coffee table and noses buried in your respective reading materials.

You with flushed cheeks and reddened lips as he pulls away from the kiss to quip how it’s completely inappropriate for you to be interrupting him while he’s working, even if it is from home with a small smirk–– despite how he tugged you onto his lap in the first place.

You, sun-drenched and beautiful, laughing your head off in the passenger seat as he drives down the Shuto Expressway with both hands on the steering wheel, complaining again about your shit taste in music and begging you to throw on some Beatles tunes but still humming under his breath when you play another Britney song.

He’ll miss you.

Death is inevitable–– this much he and all sorcerers know–– so dying has never been a big deal to Nanami. And he’s never had a specific idea about how he’d die.

But as each moment flashes by and disappears in the periphery of his mind, Nanami realises that if death is inevitable, then dying like this, with you as the last thing he sees, is the best way to go.

Not everyone gets to die with heaven already in sight.

[pseudofaux]

Why did Ranamun enter the harem? It was stated that he probably wasn't going to unless his father forced him bc of his pride but it turns out that he actually entered the harem on his own free will. why do you think he had a change of heart?

Oooh, thank you for asking, that’s flattering! Ranamun is a character that we get a lot of information about from other people in the story. I think it’s important to keep in mind that Ranamun himself doesn’t say a ton. Still waters can run very deep! These are just my takes and theories. I’ve only read the freely available episodes on the Webtoon app, so while I am tagging this as spoilers (just in case I’m right! 😳), this post is NOT me revealing what I know to be coming, only what I think from what I’ve seen in the story so far.

My take was that Latil’s retainer thought Ranamun would not want to enter the harem because he’s known to be reclusive/not very social. Duke Atraxil thinks to himself that the institution of a harem must be damaging to Ranamun’s pride (because some people viewed Ranamun as the likeliest husband for Latil), but Ranamun himself doesn’t say anything like that, that I remember. He was not obviously interested in Latil when his father introduced them once the Atraxils backed her claim to the throne. He doesn’t even have to be asked to join the harem, though, he says he wants to (like you said), and then he yanks the harem application paperwork out of his father’s hands and signs! those! damn! documents!

Ranamun does seem quietly, uh, NOT THRILLED that there will be a harem. But there are a lot of ways to interpret those panels! I don’t remember any thoughts or dialogue from Ranamun about how he felt about likely being a consort before the harem was announced.

>> There is (was 💀) definitely SOMETHING going on with Ranamun’s family and Latrasil’s half-brother Thula (and likely his mother Anatchka). When Duchess Atraxil was urging Duke Atraxil to back Latrasil, she made a face when she mentioned but trailed off something about Thula, and MY THEORY is there was bad blood between Thula and Ranamun— I think a conflict with Thula might have been the reason Ranamun was such a reclusive person when we first hear about and meet him. And if that’s true, I think Ranamun could be some silent combination of furious at and grateful to Latrasil for having Thula executed. Maybe this was the point at which he went from passive grump to interested contender.

>> I don’t know if this is super meaningful yet/at all, but when Latil’s courtiers are kicking up a fuss about her wanting a harem, she points out that it was Duke Atraxil who suggested her father take consorts (in part “to keep the empress in check”)… which I’m sure Latil did not fail to notice was how they got Anatchka in the first place.

If Ranamun’s pride was damaged, then I think he entered to prove he was the damn best even in a contest of other people the Emperor approved for the harem. He tells his father he wants to be a consort. He only asks for the books on sex and so on AFTER he decides to apply to join the harem. He declares that the emperor WILL name him the royal consort within a year. Though he be but bookish, he is dick proud… gotta wonder if Guesta is the same way, not so deep down?!?? Maybe he wants to establish himself as royal consort and be so good at pleasing the Emperor so he can work to make sure there are no more Anatchkas/Thulas? Get the empire away from harems altogether.

More, possibly related theory! This is totally conjecture, though: I think Ranamun’s mom, who seems to have a brain, might have been a big supporter of the Empress (Latrasil’s mother, who is at a temple or something like that— it’s implied this is because Anatchka was making the empress’ life difficult? Man, FUCK Anatchka), and Ranamun values and aligns with his mother’s position more than his father’s. Originally Duke Atraxil wanted to wait and not support Latil, but his wife very openly and directly encouraged him to back her.

[dearmayura]

I didn't mind Nathalie until Chat Blanc but knowing that she was the main cause for his akumatization made me hate her so much. How do you still like her? 😭

(EDIT: This got way too long, I’m so sorry. I also have no idea if you’ve been watching S4 so I’m gonna tag this as #ml spoilers just in case.)

(EDIT 2: If this sounds a little aggressive, please keep in mind that the Chat Blanc episode triggers the 'fight' in my 'fight or flight' so my ~potentially~ aggressive tone is fully targeted at the writers and their inconsistent characterization, none is targeted at anon. 😭)

Because Nathalie wasn’t the one who caused Chat Blanc? If Nathalie was the problem, Bunnix would have warned her about what Gabriel's reaction would've looked like by showing her the future instead of Ladybug. I highly doubt Bunnix would be scared to approach her.

Personally, I interpreted Chat Blanc as a vague warning to Marinette to not blur the lines between her civilian life and her superhero life.

(Honestly, the episode was completely out of character for me, from Adrien's 'confession' (which I found so bizarre) to Gabriel's general character. It was just a huge mess but I guess that was the point.)

By the end of the episode, Ladybug basically concluded that revealing her identity to Chat Noir would result in chaos, which we know is false but it makes sense considering Bunnix threw her straight into a battle with Chat Blanc and she didn't get nearly as much context as we did.

Season 4 has been horrible to Chat Noir, nobody can argue with that. He feels abandoned, frustrated and his emotions are only building up, and yet his current negative emotions have nothing to do with the negative emotions he had to deal with in Chat Blanc. Marinette has not just broken up with him in the current timeline, Gabriel hasn't used Adrienette's relationship to his advantage in the current timeline, Chat Noir just feels left out by Ladybug (and by Gabriel but what's new?).

The line between Ladynoir & Adrienette hasn't been blurred however the line between Ladybug and Marinette has. Marinette's began to feel more at ease ever since she revealed her identity to Alya in episode 3 (which was the right thing to do, no Alya slander here).

( I love them <3)

Having to balance her civilian life, being Ladybug and the freshly appointed Guardian of the Miraculous was just too much for her and she needed the extra support that Alya was happy to provide her with. Letting Rena Rouge help out with the akumatizations was also not the problem. The problem is that Ladybug's not telling Chat Noir anything. We know Chat Noir and Alya work well together, we know he understands that Ladybug has been under an immense amount of pressure, we know he wants to help in any way he can, we know that if Ladybug told him something along the lines of:

LB: I just couldn't handle it anymore, I broke down and revealed my identity to a friend of mine. But I know she would never betray me blah blah blah. Could I possibly include her in more of our plans if I can’t find a way to reach you?

The only potential negative reaction that Chat Noir could have to that would be:

CN: Well if that's the case, why can't you reveal your identity to me? I thought we trusted each other.

To which she could confess about the nightmares she's been having regarding Chat Blanc and we wouldn't have to deal with the cursed miscommunication trope.

We saw in Hack-San that Chat Noir wasn't angry with Ladybug, he was just scared something happened to her and he didn't know.

One of his biggest fears is losing Ladybug, in more ways than one (as proven in Sandboy). So if Ladybug was to share her own fears, they’d probably be able to figure out a way for both of their concerns to be heard and handled.

However, Marinette's been getting a little too comfortable with having Alya on both sides and has become far too dependent on her in S4B which was evident in Rocketear, when she told Alya that she would have to start lying to Nino in order to keep their identities safe (which in turn backfired on both of them and is sure to backfire again).

Nathalie and Gabriel haven't played a large role in Chat Noir's frustration but they've certainly played a big part in Ladybug's which has only led her to be more paranoid of who she entrusts with the miraculous (RIP my man Nino, who’s even more clueless than Chat Noir).

If we ever do get a Chat Blanc episode in the current timeline, Chat Noir’s akumatization wouldn’t follow the plot of the original Chat Blanc episode, because the events from that timeline don’t match with the current one whatsoever.

I try not to think too much about the Chat Blanc episode because it’s literally an anomaly that Ladybug herself erased. Nobody was in character, it was just a whole lot of drama. I don’t think Gabriel would sabotage Adrien and Marinette's relationship (I know he was trying to upset her on purpose but he could’ve just told her Adrien didn’t want to talk to her anymore or something), I don’t think Nathalie would rat out Adrien like that and I definitely don’t think Gabriel would use his pain like that and enjoy it (he was smiling way too much in that episode).

As for why do I like Nathalie.... she's a pretty, blue-haired, partially evil, complex MILF. Come on now...

[gamergirlshelby]

"Can we talk about the BNHA OC Comeback timeline? I've been dying to talk about my theories for the BNHA OC Comeback timeline all day!"

-Me to anyone willing to listen.

Here are the ramblings of me, someone who has no restraint when it comes to coming up with crazy theories about their interests, rambling about their theories on how the BNHA OC Comeback timeline could work.

Note: this is all speculation, and if the people in charge of the AU deem it to not be canon it is not. This was just something I did for fun because I wanted to do some writing. That is why I said could happen and not should happen, because this is all just fun speculation, and none of the other fandoms I am a part of have been able to scratch that itch for me lately.

Also, I will be talking about spoilers for a majority of the anime, but mostly stuff revealed in seasons 3-5, with a little bit of stuff from seasons 1 and 2, since those are the seasons with a lot of the important details that I will be attempting to write work arounds for. I will also be using the Wiki's names for story arcs (a list of which can be found here) when referring to specific plot events.

My ramblings about my theories are under the read more:

Also, to start this off, this speculation was pretty much brought upon by this post from the official BNHA OC Comeback blog, but what is important here is the tags.

I think the idea of Class 1-A and Class 1-B being third years would be a good starting point for what I want to be diving into.

First point should be a little obvious but in this timeline, Deku still inherits One for All from All Might. This is mainly because if he didn't, if someone where to write or draw an interaction between this version of class 1-A with, lets say class 1-X for this example, Deku would likely not be there, due to not having a quirk, causing the question of "who is the 20th student in class 1-A?" One for All would likely be passed down to someone else (most likely Mirio because Nighteye was going to recommend him to All Might in the first place, and if Deku is not going to inherit it, I doubt there would be anything in the way of Mirio getting One for All)

Second point I want to point out is the battle between All Might and All for One that had happened before the events of the show. I think All Might will still suffer from his injuries from the fight, and continue being the symbol of peace, even if it is killing him. BUT I think it would be best if All for One gets defeated and gets put into hiding, not initiating any of his plans or finding Tomura Shigaraki. Tomura never getting taken in by One for All would also cause the League of Villains to never form (at least not in the way we are familiar with) so we.

Third Point is, although this is speculation, and I do not know where Nomus come from, I do think, even without the league of villains, there would be some sort of lab somewhere where Nomus are being created, likely as one of the last things All for One was able to set into motion before going into hiding in the AU. (I mostly went with this because I think Nomus as a concept are really cool, and I think it would be great to have some sort of generic enemy for the 1-X and 1-Y students to have to face without the need of creating a new organization)

Fourth Point is because All for One is in hiding, so All for One can not force All Might to reveal his "injured form" (I dunno what else to call it), but I do think when All Might and Sato get engaged, he will maybe (and this is a big maybe) reveal it to the public on his own, as more of a "I'm retiring and settling down now" then a "You must keep fighting because I can not" thing, causing crime to not sky rocket, but still rise because there is no more symbol of peace, since there is still the possibility (at least in the publics mind) that All Might could come out of retirement and go back to saving people.

Alright now I begin with some of the actual stuff that actively happened in the show that Class 1-A and Class 1-B had experienced.

Alright so everything at the beginning of the anime is the same, going up until the USJ arc. This is because, as stated previously, there is no League of Villains to attack the USJ. The only thing I can think of that could possibly stay the same is the All Might vs Nomu fight, because I think Nomus as a concept are cool and that was an awesome fight. The only way for the fight to happen though is that the Nomu is let loose somewhere else, like a highly populated area, because it makes no sense for it to be at USJ without the League.

Next is the sports festival, and this would also go the same. But after that is probably the most interesting arc I leave mostly unchanged, being the Hero Killer Arc. This is because, even without a League of Villain's, there would still be people following Stain's ideologies after he is detained, so I think maybe there could be some sort of small unorganized group of people following Stain's beliefs that there are no more "true" heroes. The group of stain followers would likely be the characters that had joined the League of Villains after the Hero Killer Arc (like Dabi, Himiko Toga, and Twice). It is also unchanged in the sense that the students are interning with Pro Heroes, and that Nomus are running around, being a cool concept (can you tell I like Nomus? I just think they are neat.).

Next is the Final exams Arc, which would go unchanged, but the next arc, the Forrest Camp Training arc, would also not have a League attack (because there is no league), and Class 1-A and Class 1-B have a normal experience at the training camp, causing there to be no Hideout Raid arc, because there is no hideout to raid.

Next, the Provisional License Exams are the same results, so no change here, except Camie Utsushimi would be there instead of Toga's impersonation of her, and still ending up to need to take the Remedial Course.

After that is the Shie Hassaikai Arc and then Remedial Course Arc. The Shie Hassaikai Arc would actually largely go unchanged because it is mainly just another internship for the Hero Course students, with the only change to the arc being the League involvement being removed, even though this would leave some plot holes, which I will fill by saying the small unorganized Stain followers would take the place of the league (since Toga and Twice are apart of the Stain followers group, so they would still end up working for them, filling the same rolls they had in the original Arc). Also Overhaul doesn't lose his arms because there would be no reason for him to get them ripped off (because there is no League of Villains). ALSO this means Eri would be canon to the BNHA OC Comeback, which I wanted to mention since from my knowledge she is a fan favorite. After that, the Remedial Course would go unchanged.

I'm also going to say that Mirio will have already gotten his quirk back during the main events of the AU, since Nighteye had predicted that he would get it back before Nighteye had died. How he gets it back will likely go unanswered, since I have not read ahead to the most recent chapter of the manga, only watching the anime, so we should leave the answer to how he got it back to be unclear just in case he gets it back in a spoiler-y way.

Then, lastly as of right now, the rest of the arcs would go unchanged up untill the latest arc where Todoroki, Midoriya, and Bakugo are interning with Endeavor, excluding the parts of the arc going into the Meta Liberation War, which can not properly go through thanks to their being no League of Villains, but especially because there is no Tomura.

Alright now we get to the stuff some of you are here for, being the new info and timeline stuff that occurs during the year Class 1-X and 1-Y are first years. First off, Class 1-A and Class 1-B would now be third years, which was a concept brought up in the original post that cause my brain to go into theory mode.

I would also like to pose the idea of a new "Big Three", replacing Mirio Togata, Tamaki Amajiki, and Nejire Hado (and also the nameless "Big Three" from when 1-A/1-B had been second years in this AU) since 1-A and 1-B are now all third years. This new "Big Three" would be made up of Katsuki Bakugo, Shoto Todoroki, and Izuku Midoriya, seeing as out of Class 1-A and Class 1-B, those three have shown to be the most consistent heavy hitters (and also being the most relevant to the original plot).

Aside from that, Class 1-A and 1-B would not be doing that much in the AU aside from the new "Big Three" occasionally helping out the first year Hero Course students with their studies.

Anyway if you read this far I really appreciate it. I have some more ramblings about stuff in the tags, but its more side stuff that doesn't really effect this AU within another AU.