being me is like having a 500 horsepower supercar all gassed up, keys in the ignition, engine purring - but locked in a garage, in an isolated outpost, and the door cracked just enough to keep me from dying of carbon monoxide poisoning ... but only just. oh and the gearshift is stuck idling on neutral.
not even a shipper but i am heavily sleep deprived, me brain got hit by the sillies, and conjured up the thought of mid hand stroke Hyoga regains consciousness and wakes up to basically this
Not to be a nerd about literally my own headcanons, but the theme "The Cycle", being the reverse of the game's entire motif "Pictures of the Past" is just so good in the context of Saint being SOS.
I interpret the "Pictures of the Past" as a theme representing helplessness- the very thing that connects the gods with the smallest and most insignificant of creatures in the world.
The struggle of a creature losing it's way, of a god trying to fight through his own incurable illness, of trying to stay alive.
With Survivor and Monk it's sad and small.
With Pebbles it's loud and angry.
With Moon it's resigned and tired.
But in the end it's the same motif! They are all connected.
So then "The Cycle", which is more or less Saint's theme, is in reverse not only to show him clawing his way back up through what should have been the point of no return, but also taking his fate in his own hands. Of Sliver refusing to let her story actually end- ever. The only iterator to save herself from the cycle, trapping herself in her own personal hell to save the others. It's like fighting the very rules of this world! So it's in reverse.
Excuse me for a moment it seems my room became subject to an utter infestation of onion cutting ninjas and I need to go deal with that.
(Massive Downpour/Saint campaign spoilers below. I struggled and clawed my way for dozens and dozens of hours to get to this point and I would never want to deprive that odyssey from someone else. I mean it.)
CAMOUFLAGE OF THE GREAT RENOWN FANFICTION SAVE ME. I NEED TO INHALE THE ZOTE NOSK. DAD NOSK WHERE ARE YOU, ZOTE'S MOM THE SUPERIOR *insert alpha scary uwu nosk name* I NEED YOU IN MY VEINS. YES ZOTE KEEP RAMBLING, I WILL WHOLEHEARTEDLY LISTEN TO YOUR SAD STORY OF YOU TOTALLY NOT BEING A STINKY SMOL NOSK BUT A SWAG KNIGHT OF RENOWN. I WILL NOT ONLY LISTEN BUT I WILL INHALE AND SMELL YOUR PRECEPTS
**Spoilers: The Hourglass Throne (+ the series thus far)**
So with Lord Tower gone and his seat vacant, there's a bit of a void in power. Can you imagine if his son, Dalton, comes back to try to fill it. If he has Arcana heir potential? He's not going to let his father's business and assets just sit there either, is he?
Did he care about his father? How is he as a person, now? He probably has a grudge against Rune and Brand. Especially Brand, who beat tf out of him and permanently damaged his face. Is he going to have an opinion about his father "going soft" or something in recent years? That the Tower admitted to feeling like a father to Rune and Brand? And to feeling that their [Sun Court adopted] kids were his grandchildren? He was making macaroni noodle art with Corbie, even.
Dalton's father, Arcana Lord Tower of the Dagger Throne, the ruthless interrogator and magnate? Macaroni art?
KD Edwards mentioned that Dalton was going to be a part of the series in the future. And I can see him as a potential problem.
Oh, the possible painful delicious conflict to come~
OK hold on, I've always kind of let Keith David take a back seat in my hc because it felt wrong doing much with a real person. But I think I could open up a lot of possibilities developing him as an OC instead(thank you Teddy for that idea). Given he seems to want power for himself, and looking at the fact the Boss is shown less and less respect in the later games (don't get me started on that btw), what if he's the biggest contributor to that?
Have his background similar to Keith's, having been a famous actor within SR-verse but considerably more washed-up. He's still famous, but he really needs this. He's thrown into the Saints as the "famous face" but actually he's the one who questions if it was merely fame that's got them government roles.
Subtly undermining Casey at every turn, and even he doesn't know to what extent he's doing it on purpose and to what extent he really thinks she's incapable. She's half his age and he doesn't really understand how she got into power other than just general media frenzy. She jokes around a lot and he's pretty serious. If he were to take a lot of what she says at face value she would actually seem pretty ridiculous.
Casey's always had the duck paddling frantically underwater thing going for her; if things are being done yet she seems remarkably calm, it's reasonable to say he would assume she's having everyone else do the work for her. It would be a slow thing, too. Pointing things out that make them all wonder. She used to jump in and get involved when it was gang fights. What's she doing now?
All contributing to this idea of a leader who works hard and is for the most part, well-liked, but not truly respected anymore. It comes up a lot that Casey is underestimated in one way or another. It would hurt so much more to have the people who did truly believe in you questioning your capabilities just because your role has changed by necessity.
hey by the way, I apologize for the insane amount of mtl and general unrelated posts to what I normally do. I know it’s not a big deal AT ALL, but it’s just what I’m currently into atm, there’ll be over stuff soon enough though! I just know that it’s probably getting a little old lol or not what you follow me for, so thanks for putting up with it. I appreciate you guys 🫂