#so they bond over what it’s like it be self taught vs formally

[vicontheinternet]

Ok but it would’ve made so much more sense if paige was patty’s first born and the girls older sister they never knew abt. It would've changed patty's motivation do much like I don't know why they didn't just say that she was the oldest that patty wasn't ready for. She was worried for her child whose half white-lighter because she didnt know what the elders were going to do her or anyone involved if the found out. Sam was reassigned or alternately gotten turned mortal for how ever many years as punishment after being because the elders found out that he and patty had a relationship she was given up for her safety and not to save the charmed ones. Also I think Paige should’ve already known she was a witch before she meet the sister and possibly been adopted by magical beings. Also also since they knew shannon was leaving they should’ve introduced paige in s3 as a friend who they later find out is their sister. Like imagine piper and phoebe finding paige, finding out that prue was just that powerful because she was because paige was actually the firstborn and more powerful.

[the-voltage-diaries]

tbh I think eisuke is better than Taki because he has more of a character development, wouldn't you agree?

Hey there, anon! Lmao that’s a kind of a controversial question you’ve asked me haha

Disclaimer: What’s written below is my own humble opinion, it’s not meant to hate on, or disregard, or disrespect anyone intentionally.

I’m going to have to say I disagree. And by saying I disagree, I am not, in the least bit, trying to state the counter: that Taki is better than Eisuke. If someone said that, I’d disagree then too. And that’s because of one simple reason, that Taki and Eisuke are two separate individuals with very, very different personalities and it’s wrong to compare them on the basis of character development, according to me. 

Here’s why:

1. Statue vs Rust Now, here’s a way to look at it. Eisuke’s character development is like making a statue, whereas Taki’s is like removing the rust. When it comes to Eisuke, his character development starts at a point where he doesn’t even know half the human emotions that exist, like love, care, affection, et cetera. He doesn’t invest his time in them because he’s never felt much of them, and the MC, over a period of time, has to make him understand what those emotions mean and how important they are. He gets introduced to a world he never knew, in a sense. That’s precisely why Eisuke has so much scope for development, too. In a metaphorical sense, it’s like the KBTBB MC meets a stone Eisuke and over a period of time, and after putting in tonnes of affection, hard work, and care, sculpts him into a beautiful statue. She slowly works on the intricate details and makes him into who he is now. Now, if you look at Taki, the scope for his character development is limited in this sense (I’ll elaborate on that in a bit). With him, it’s like polishing the rust off of something. When it comes to his story line, he is very different in terms of knowing emotions as compared to Eisuke because he has already felt emotions like love, care, affection, et cetera. In his teenage years, he was a very charming and kind individual who knew those feelings well. But, due to the misunderstanding with MC and the debt situation, he felt like those emotions aren’t meant to be felt, that they are a hindrance. He purposefully chose to mask over what he felt because he knew the price of letting them out. Here, MC’s task was to remove that facade, and she made him realise it’s okay to feel those feelings. It was like removing a thick layer of rust to allow his inner self to shine through. In simpler terms, it’s like letting something which was already there come up to the surface, instead of shaping it from scratch, like what happens with Eisuke.

Even if you look at their MS’, you’ll notice that Eisuke, by the end of his MS is still pretty bland whereas Taki has more of a feel to him. He smiles more, he’s more honest, and it’s like bringing a teenage Taki back.

2. Varying Scopes Eisuke’s stories are more about him coming to terms with his emotions and realizing he feels things which he didn’t even know he felt. More like, Eisuke’s story line’s central theme, in most cases, is working on his character development from an emotional point of view. It focuses on how Eisuke feels, and grows that into something more. Whereas with Taki, his stories aren’t about his character development with respect to feeling new emotions and dealing with them. His character development is linked to coming to terms with his past and allowing himself to feel what he denied feeling for so many years. That’s one reason why you won’t find a lot with Taki in terms of his emotional development with respect to feeling new things.

3. History does repeat itself With Eisuke and MC, it’s important to note that they didn’t know each other at all prior to that fateful meeting at the hotel lobby. They probably hadn’t even talked much and their relationship started from square one. So it’s kind of understandable why Eisuke would still keep his walls up for a LONG time. It takes a while for Eisuke and MC to work through obstacles and establish a degree of trust between them with respect to each other. Whereas with Taki, MC and him already share a history. They were high school sweethearts and Taki and MC both know what the other person was like, and can decipher from a mere few moments that neither of them has changed much over the years, except for having a higher wall around them, owing to their experiences with life in the past. Once Taki and MC realise who the other is, it’s a little bit of awkwardness before they both allow themselves to settle in and be comfortable around each other (even banter a lot lol), because they essentially do know the other person well. Because of that, there’s already a certain degree of trust established between Taki and MC right from the middle of his MS Season 1. That, in turn, leaves less of character development in terms of his relationship with MC when it comes to Taki.

4. Family Backgrounds It’s also important to look at how different their backgrounds are. Eisuke hails from a reputable family, and was adopted into a super rich family as a kid too. He has always dealt with two-faced people and has always had a much more luxurious life from the start. What I’m trying to say is, Eisuke’s not bothered to concern himself with emotions from the very beginning because that’s what’s been ingrained into him from his childhood. Also, because he’s been ultra rich from the start, the MC has more work to do when it comes to making him realise money ain’t everything, my guy. Now with Taki, he has very humble origins. He came from a very normal family, and knows what it’s like to live with just enough money (not being ultra rich, I mean). He was a very normal guy in high school with a very warm group of friends, an incredible girlfriend who he was in love with and a very humble life. His attachment to money came with the debt, when he realised as long as you have money, you have power and as long as you have power, you have everything. MC’s task here was to take him back to his teenage days and make him understand that sometimes, it’s the less expensive things which give you more happiness. 

5. Old Habits Die Hard Now, let’s look at their interactions with the MC. If you’ve noticed, Eisuke is very... hm, how should I put it... non-slangy + formal in the way he speaks. To make more sense of this, Eisuke is very proper when he speaks, and he doesn’t use a lot of phrases like “Man, you’re...” or “God, that was....”. And that’s because it’s been ingrained into him. Eisuke’s vocabulary is very prim and proper and non-slangy because that’s what he’s been taught since childhood. It makes him seem more like a robot, in a sense in the very beginning, in my opinion. Gives him a less relatable vibe, basically (and I mean no hate). Whereas if you look at Taki’s stories, he often uses a lot of phrases like, “God, you’re cute.” or “Man, that was something.” and that’s mainly just his high school, boy next door self showing its form. It makes him more relatable and human in my opinion, and those slangs are what show the reader that yes, the Teenage Taki still exists in there.

6. Won’t Lose You As stated previously, Eisuke hadn’t even known the MC exists till they met in the hotel lobby in the prologue. So when Eisuke and MC start dating, it’s with a perspective of “Okay, now she is my girlfriend.”, which doesn’t allow Eisuke to be very open about his feelings from the start. In case you’re confused, hang in there and let me explain Taki’s side to help you understand better. Now, Taki is MC’s ex. Someone who was very in love with her. Still is. He knows what it’s like to lose the MC, for he had already lost her once, and would do anything and everything to NOT lose her again. Thus, he is relatively more open with his emotions. He let’s her know how much he loves her, values her, cares for her, because he doesn’t want to let her go again, ever.

7. Okay, Let’s Be Direct Eisuke is a very “actions speak louder than words” person. He isn’t very open with his emotions, heck he doesn’t even say “i love you” till MC demands it out of him lmao. He is very indirect in terms of expressing what he feels for the MC, even in his later stories, and it takes time for him to come to terms with the word “love”, in general. If you look at Taki, he has been very direct from the start. Even in high school when he confessed to MC he went “I like you.” and in his MS when MC asked him why he kissed her, he said “Because I love you.” right on her face. He has always been direct with expressing himself, so that leaves a much smaller scope when it comes to him coming to terms with feelings like love and care, et cetera.

8. Different Premises Now, this might be the last point I touch upon. The thing is, both KBTBB and KoP are set in VERY different themes. In KBTBB, the MC is a normal person with a fulfilling life, she gets sold in the auctions, meets the auction managers and her journey starts from there. In KBTBB, MC has to mainly deal with the stress that comes with throwing herself into the dangerous life Eisuke and the other lead, and apart from that her life doesn’t really have much of an angst. In the sense, that none of the action managers have to actually deal with the MC and her emotions, per say. In KoP, the MC goes through a divorce which basically leaves her mentally shattered. She self-doubts and and constantly keeps worrying about what did she do wrong which made things end up the way they did. Here, while the KoP guy and and MC fall in love, it’s also about helping MC realise what happened was not her fault entirely. It’s about connecting deeper, much deeper, on an emotional level with the MC, which gives Taki a sort of a head start when it comes to character development in terms of bonding with the MC. ... I hope that made sense lol

That was a LONG response, not gonna lie, and I’m so sorry for being late with this! But, I hope I was successful in showing you my side of things on this debate. 

Thanks a lot for the ask! <3

[5godsofphantomlord]

[An abridged timeline of the Five Gods]

Odin gained the ability to use magic before they even started travelling between timelines. He was taught how to use Spirit Spear Lullaby by a hooded figure who also gave him (as well as Zeus and Amaterasu) the ability to travel between timelines.

The first timeline they visited was the RWBY (JPDE) timeline. They 'landed' in Atlas and soon enrolled at Atlas Academy. Despite Odin struggling to use aura, they managed to graduate two whole years early, and begun training as Atlas military Special Operatives directly under Winter Schnee. This is where the three of them where given their codenames, and they where originally called the 'Snow-Owl Unit'.

During this time, Odin keeps Lullaby in its Dualist form, and refrains from using magic in public, even Winter doesn't know.

Their first official mission was to deal with the assassin Marcus Black. The mission was a success, but Zeus didn't get her Semblance back.

After the drop in performance from Zeus, Winter gave them the opportunity to apply for a experimental 'Dust Encancement Treatment' which Zeus applied for almost immediately.

Once they got used to their new abilities, they where tasked with going undercover at Beacon Academy to investigate a threat they had been told was going to arrive there soon.

Kogane was partnered with Kerry in the entrance exam, and James with Adrian.

Kogane kept her faunus heritage a secret for a while, but eventually she told Zeus.

Zeus then told her (in confidence) that the three of them where working with the Atlas military, Kogane was not best pleased.

Eventually she realised that her team weren't like what she'd head (and seen) of the Atlas military.

Kogane eventually developed feelings for Zeus.

The confession was adorable, but Kerry doesn't handle emotions well, so she just froze.

They are absolutely dating.

Meanwhile, Odin developed a close friendship with the members of team JPDE, and soon after teams RWBY and JNPR

Fast forward to the Vytal festival, the team bolted for the Beacon air-docks when they saw Winter's Bullhead.

Adorable interactions insue, with Winter trying to be formal and suppress her Maternal instincts.

Odin finding out that Weiss is 'one of those Schnees' is a sight to behold.

"Wait, you're Miss Winter's sister! That's AWESOME!!"

Fast-forwarding a little more, Jacqueline B. Ivory VS Kerry Clerk is on-par with Winter vs Qrow to the normal citizens, but a sight to behold for anyone who fully understands how crazy being kicked to the arena floor from the ceiling in under a second really is.

Kerry managed to win, but fully admitted that it was a coin toss and she got lucky.

Odin healed them before the medics came.

PvP still happens, Odin fucking bawls, he'd gotten really close to Penny.

During the fall of Beacon, Odin uses his full power without caring who sees

Odin (when he hears about Pyrrha) flies at top speed to the tower, and manages to get her out of the way of Cinder's arrow.

Odin then fights Cinder while Pyrrha tried to find a way down. He gives it everything he has, including summoning Death's Blossom for the first time, but it isn't enough. Cinder (using significantly more of her power than she did in the main show) shoots an arrow with two heads (one at the end, and one further back) at Odin.

The first head goes straight through and hits Pyrrha, the second stays in him. He and Pyrrha suffer the same fate.

After the dust settles and news of Pyrrha and Odin breaks, the whole team is distraught.

The hooded figure appears once again to them, and tells them that there is a timeline in which lies the means to bring him back from the dead. He then passes them a box telling them that it contains his soul, and that it will be needed for what is to come.

Zeus drops by the arena before they leave, picking something up...none of the others know about this.

They then end up in the Fairy Tail Timeline (they'll be back here again at some point).

They spend multiple years searching for a powerful necromancer capable of doing the deed. Eventually they find one by the name of 'Zethar Irolen' who asks for only freedom in return.

He brings Odin back to life, but Odin isn't quite the same. He's still the same person, but he doesn't smile anywhere near as much, and his jokes are much more self deprecating.

The hooded figure then appears to them again, welcoming Odin back to the world of the living, and telling them to gain power by going to yet another timeline.

This time, Odin isn't as focused on the spell that let's them travel between timelines, so they end up separated (but all in the same timeline).

Odin begins looking for them in every town he goes through, eventually finding his way to a quaint little pub called the Boar Hat.

He gets himself dragged into the adventure to find the Seven Deadly Sins, with Meliodas promising that he would help him look for his friends.

Odin developes a strong bond with King, who eventually let's it slip that Odin is a Fairy like him, as that's the only way he'd be able to use a Spirit Spear

Odin connects the dots and is a little upset that he wasn't told that fact, but has no qualms with being a Fairy.

King teaches James how to better utilise his magic power, and eventually teaches him Status: Promotion as well.

Fast forward to the battle against teh Ten Commandments at the Second Vysal Fight Festival, and Odin refused to let himself be captured, and aids Meliodas in the fight (having reached a Power level of approximately 28,500).

It's then that the Ten Commandments, or more specifically Greyroad , release their secret weapon (more to show off than anything). This happens to be a cloaked figure welding two axes and some intense fire-magic.

Odin eventually pulls down the hood on this figure, only to find that it's Amaterasu. Adrian's face holds a twisted smile, but his eyes are filled with sorrow and fear.

After a heart-wrenching 'I know you're in there somewhere' fight, Adrian manages to fight the magic afflicting him for long enough that he can throw his body into Meliodas' Full Counter, freeing him from Greyroad's curse.

They aren't able to save Meliodas from Esterosa.

Eventually, a group of Celestial warriors fly down to the surface, lead by none other than Zeus, who was offered the opportunity to become a celestial by their king after saving them from an attack by the Six Knights of Black.

She ends up taking Escanor's place fighting Esterosa, being able to resist his Commandment because she doesn't feel any haters towards him.

"I don't hate you, but I'm afraid I have a duty to uphold. You are a threat to my friends - to my family, and for that reason I'm afraid you have to die."

She's thrown off by his full counter at first, but once Esterosa explains it she avoids it by only attacking him in melee from behind.

We also see her Sacred Treasure for the first time in this fight, Bolt's release (the cosmic storm being summoned) does some serious damage to Esterosa, functioning as the Cruel Sun that Zeldris tried to save him from.

Meanwhile Odin is able to avoid the affects of Greyroad's Commandment when destroying the Demon eggs thanks to Status: Demotion.

Amatarasu is outside slaughtering low-level demons like he was born to, getting out some of his rage in the process.

Maui joins the battle mid-way through, also with her newly acquired Sacred Treasure, but we don't see its release yet.

Eventually the team has to head to another timeline to further power up, they intend to head back to Zethar's timeline but they instead end up 'somewhen else'. Odin once again (unintentionally) separates them.

Odin joins the Phantom Lord guild, hoping that its connections to the Magic Council will aid in his search for his teammates.

He gets quite close to the Guildmaster, Starla Jullianos.

He ends up locating a cave with a Dragon's skeleton and a blue crystal at the bottom, he did have to fight some monsters to get to them, but it wasn't much trouble for him.

He finds out soon after that it is a Dragonslayer lacrima, and spends the majority of his time looking for someone to implant it

"I mean, if I make enough noise, they'll find me, right?"

It's after the operation that we see him in a room in the Phantom Lord Guild Hall late at night. Starla peeks in to check in him and sees him curled upin the corner of his room. Back against the wall, knees to his chest. He has markings on his face that glow, changing from blue, to red, to purple, to yellow, to white, over and over again. Faint sobbing can be heard between the mumblings of "Not again." and "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"

Starla confronts him about this, then and there, and after a few minutes of trying to deny it and replace his facade, he finally admits that since his resurrection he has been suffering from what is most likely to be Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He never admitted it to his team because he didn't want to worry them, but he got flashbacks of his death almost every night.

Eventually the team is reassembled once again, and (although hesitantly) James tells his team about his PTSD.

Many hugs follow, especially from his Sister. But many from everyone.

After thanking Starla for helping him through, the rest of the team decide to join Phantom Lord as well.

Kogane and Chester make quick friends when Kogane reveals her faunus heritage.

Kerry and Landon get along quite well, Landon is certainly impressed by her Lightning Godslayer magic (and does point her in the direction of the Imprisoned).

Amaterasu decides that Landon is a rival.

Landon isn't really into it, but he plays along because he finds it interesting, and because it's not doing anyone any harm.

Adrian also becomes fast friends with Rex, partially because they're both Devilslayers, and partially because pancakes.

Zeus befriends Shinako Quite quickly, and they both have long debates about books, something they both enjoy.

Odin is very wary of Shomaru, this is because (as we find out) he's afraid of dogs.

However, he warms up to the Demon doggo, and in doing so makes good friends with Priscilla too.

Also, you can bet that Odin spends as much time as he can trying to befriend the 'Quince' guy that the Guildmaster is so obsessed with.

Side note: Kogane totally let's Priscilla give her ear scritches because she loves it because Priscilla is young and as pure-hearted as they come. This is something only Kerry would be able to get away with otherwise.

Amaterasu also totally teaches Priscilla how to use an axe when he finds out about her War-God Mode.

Soon though, another party joins the Guild. These are: Tetsu No Jûnin (another iron devilslayer), Brandur 'The Drunk' (a potion-brewer), Arciere Incazzato (an Archer), 'Firefox' (a fire dragonslayer), the elaboratly named Fred Jr (a Takeover Mage), and a much younger looking Zethar Irolen (claiming to be a Venomancer).

Eventually, after doing many jobs for the Guild, the 'Four Gods' find out that Zethar is attempting to become a Litch, and that he wants to eradicate slayer-mages because a slayer-Mage of unknown type killed his family.

There is a long battle against a full-Litch Zethar which (with the help of Wilhelm's crew, and Tetsu's) ends with him being sealed in a farmiliar looking cavern.

There is most definitely a collective 'Oh shit.'

Realising that they would absolutely not be able to take him down by themselves, they head back to their home timeline. Kerry says that she needs to speak to someone there anyway, and that catching up with old friends and family is a good idea.

They end up arriving a year later than they intended to.

Kerry and James' nan was worried sick, they all cry when they are reunited.

Adrian meets up with his (highly religious) family, and (unable to hide if from them in good conscience) tells them that he is now a demon.

That doesn't go down very well.

His mother, father, and younger sister all disown him on the spot. His mum even tries to douse him with holy-water.

His older brother leaves with him, he'd been having doubts about the family's beliefs anyway and decided that disowning their own flesh and blood twice was the last straw. He takes Adrian to meet the oldest of the siblings, his older sister, who'd left as soon as she could.

They talk for a long time, it's the first time Adrian has felt no pressure from his biological family.

Meanwhile, Odin, Zeus, and their nan go to meet Harrison, an old friend of theirs who'd apparently gone on to work at the MBDA.

That's when they found out he'd been missing for a month.

Later (after a lot of investigation) they where watching TV at home (something they hadn't done in years) and they see a Breaking News Headline about a virus known as the 'Mercer' virus that had been released on the streets of New York for the Third time in under a year.

They then saw the supposed perpetrator, Alex Mercer, rip a steel door ten times his size off of its hinges like it was nothing, and the camera he was holding (this was footage he'd sent to teh media) then zoomed in on a farmiliar looking young man.

There was an instant and unanamous decision to go to New York.

Family was left at home, for their safety.

Kogane was picked up along the way, she'd been investigating their home town.

When they get to New York, they realise that if they touch anything with the virus, chances are they'll be infected.

Zeus solves this issue by dealing with the infected 'zombies' via Lullaby.

Death's Blossom makes a return.

They then race to find Mercer

When they find him, he's teaching Harrison how to use his new powers

Many questions insue, Mercer explains that after the explosion (the first Prototype's ending) multiple pieces of his body regenerated into multiple Mercer's. One is currently working underground to destroy Blackwatch once and for all, one was killed by James Heller for causing the second outbreak, and then there's him. (For anyone wondering, this is to explain the complete change in Mercer's character in the second game, as well as to make a 'Devil May Cry Dante' Alex Mercer).

Harrison is found out to be struggling with amnesia, but over the course of the conversation he starts remembering his friends.

Many hugs ensue.

The team work with Mercer and Harrison to take down Blackwatch, as they are the ones behind the outbreak of the Blacklight virus (as it is actually named).

Eventually Blackwatch is exposed, many employees hand themselves in to police when they find out what their company has been doing.

The higher-ups are all arrested by force.

It is found out that Harrison cannot be cured, as the process would kill him, he accepts this, and swears on his life that he won't spread the virus to a single soul.

He returns to work at the MBDA, and Zeus pulls some strings to get him extra funding for... Something... She doesn't tell the others what this something is, or about the funding, and she asks Harrison to do the same.

While they have down-time, Kerry introduces Kogane to her nan

Her nan is a little confused about how two girls can date each other, but says that she won't fight against her granddaughter's happiness.

Eventually, the group is invited to their local MBDA shelter, Adrian is distracted by the bombs and missiles.

They are given a full tour, which ends with the new 'artificial intelligence department'. Zeus isn't supprised by this, everyone else is.

They are greeted by Dr H. Williams

The H stands for Harrison.

Zeus isn't supprised by this either.

The rest of the group give a collective "Wtf, explain."

Their only reply is: "Turn around"

Then they hear a familiar voice greeting them.

"Sal-u-tations, friends! It certainly has been quite a while since we last spoke, has it not"

Many hugs and ensue

Odin fucking bawls again

Kerry then explains that she'd gone back to the arena after Beacon to see if there was something of Penny she could salvage. She ended up taking her whole head, hoping there was something there that could be used to rebuild her.

It turns out her hard drive was in her head, so was the computer that controled her ability to learn and her personality.

Harrison got a promotion when his superiors saw how he was rebuilding Penny, and how complex her A.I is. He became the Head of the Artificial intelligence department.

Penny explained to the group that she wanted to help them however possible in return for giving her another chance at life.

With a fully geared up, Penny, and a Harrison willing to learn, the group said their goodbyes and headed for the 'Guild timeline'

A slight miscalculatiom occurs, welcome to superhero world.

The team decide to enroll at UA Academy to get Harrisom some training.

They end up in class 1B

They don't really talk to many of their other classmates, except for Kendo because Big Sister Energy

No-one can figure out James' 'Quirk'

James tells no one.

The group decide that Harrison should be the only one of the group to actually try in the sports festival, as a way of seeing how far he's come.

He gets into the combat rounds

Harrison vs Momo is an awesome fight (doesn't shaft Momo like the anime did)

Harrison vs Kirishima is next, the fight is shorter, but more intense, ending with a ring-out

Harrison vs Bakugou is next, the Armour form makes it's debut in this fight, but Harrison still loses to Bakugo's howitser.

Eventually Shinsou gets into 1B

Zeus (relating to that level of tired, after dealing with the Chaotic Dumbass that is Adrian for a few years now) makes fast friends with him

Adrian is wary if Shinsou at first because of his Quirk (He's not got fond memories of mind control) but eventually warms up to him.

The group eventually warm up to Monoma, but recognise him as 'the asshole friend'.

Eventually they head off to the 'Guild timeline'

Penny soon became known as 'Artemis of the Five Gods of Phantom Lord'

Harrison took the name Heracles, as he was in training, so he felt naming himself after a demigod was more apt.

Penny learns archive magic, as well as some telekinesis.

It also turns out that she's naturally more powerful than she was at Beacon.

Heracles undergoes a lot of training, but struggles with making friends at the Guild.

Enter Wilhelm Grimm, who refuses to let people be sad.

Hera is most definitely offered some of Wilhelm's weed.

Wilhelm also introduces him to Maki

The two shy bean get along amazingly when one of them finally breaks the ice.

It was Maki

Eventually they head to a few hours after Zethar was released, and face off against him, just the six of them.

That's where Zeus gets her scar.

They do eventually win, but they realise that they need him alive for one last thing

This leads to them giving him an ultimatum: "If you ceace your path of destruction, we'll take you to a place where your worst nightmare is nothing more than a dream."

He accepts and they take him to the RWBY timeline.

Penny insists that they find the rest of team JPDE, while Zeus thinks they should go to Atlas first to inform the General.

Odin ends up intentionally sending them to different places, Penny to Vacuo (as that's where Adrian had said they'd gone), and Zeus to Atlas.

An unforseen side-effect of this is that Adrian ends up in Vale while Odin is sent to Argus in the kingdom of Mistral. Maui ends up in Minagiere.

Odin spends many weeks trying to convince the Special Operative in charge of the Argus base (one Caroline Cordovin) to let him through, but she refuses.

Eventually team JNR see him at the gate and try to help

Emphasis on try

Eventually team RWBY catches up

Odin gets very pissed at Cordovin for her racist comment towards Blake

The Oscar stuff goes as normal, except James is with Oscar.

They pass the statue of Pyrrha while they're out.

Odin tries to hold it in, but ends up having a full on breakdown, feeling responsible for Pyrrha's death, and getting flashbacks of his own that are worse than any he'd had previously (and that's really saying something).

To put it into perspective, his semblance goes awal when he gets flashbacks, changing dust types every instant.

And the force of the gravity Dust, for the few moments it's there, manages to rip the statue out of the ground and float it a good 30ft in the air.

It's a bad one, trust me.

Jaune sees the flying statue and runs to investigate, Ren and Nora at his sides. They didn't see what the statue was of.

They get there to see Odin on the ground in tears, and a leaning statue of their dead friend.

Many tears

Many hugs

Jaune apologies

Odin apologies

It's very sad and wholesome.

Eventually the team get back to the house

"thE CASAROLE!"

The plan to steal an airship is still a go

It still goes wrong

Odin doesn't feel like fighting a mech, so he channels power from Spirit Spear Lullaby, and we see the debut of 'Fourth Power: Flash Freeze'

Think Todoroki vs Sero

Cordovin is salty

Odin is salty that she's salty, so we also see the debut of 'Second Power: Decisive Strike'

The mech is halved

Cordovin is still salty

Ruby (now having time) tries to get to Yang and Blake,

By the time she gets there, the fight is already over

Kevin 2 shows up

Kevin 2 gets Fire Devil's Sabered in half by an overexcited (mach 30) Amaterasu

Amaterasu (after cooling down) goes with the group in the airship. Odin is outside the airship because "Fuck motion-sickness"

They get arrested for stealing as soon as they get to Atlas

Adrian gets bored so he breaks everyone out

The gaurd is to scared of the guy who just melted a steel door thicker than he is (by breathing on it no less) to try and stop them.

Two S.O's are assigned to stop the perps from escaping.

Those two are Zeus and Winter, so it goes about as much in the General's favour as you expect

Especially when Winter finds out her sister was one of the prizoners

Winter is not happy about that.

Ironwood is confronted by the group, and apologies when he sees who it is.

"Sorry. Fucking 'SORRY'. WE WHERE FUCKIN' JAILED YOU ARSEHOLE!"

Amaterasu was not amused.

Odin then has a panic attack because he can sense a farmiliar magic signature.

Desks and lamps start floating.

Then the room starts floating.

Then they realise that Cinder is nearby.

Odin makes a portal as a reflex the squad (except Penny, who wasn't there) is teleported to a random timeline.

They're greated with Alduin

Not a fun time

When they escape, a mountain shouts out for Kogane.

That's weird.

Some guys from a nearby farm credit the Grey beards with that, and tell the group that they have to climb the Seven thousand steps to High Hrothgar.

Amaterasu gets lost on the mountain.

Odin just flies up.

Kogane walks up the mountain with Zeus, they get some time alone.

Hera is a little behind them, because he's reading the tablets.

He catches up to them and mentions the tablets, as well as the 'Talos' guy who is mentioned on many of them.

Kogane mentions in passing that the name sounds farmiliar.

Eventually everyone meets up at the Greybeard's stronghold

Then everyone is told that Talos (one of the Aedra) is Kogane's grandfather, and that Kogane is Dragonborn thanks to this.

Adrian flips his shit

"HAX, I CALL HAX!"

Kerry silently thinks its kinda hot that her girlfriend is the granddaughter of a god.

Kogane is confused

Odin floats up top to think

He then promptly screams at the sight of Pathurnax

They end up having a nice chat when Odin calms his shit.

Kogane eventually learns a couple of Dragonshouts, i.e. Whirlwind Sprint, Unrelenting Force

They also learn some of Nurn's magic while there.

Kogane finds out that she'd been using magic that didn't exist to her her whole life

Except it did

Talos ends up talking to her telepathically, and explains that he wanted to see what other timelines would hold. In one such timeline, he fell in love with a Faunus woman, who would soon be Kogane's grandmother.

He did, however, return soon after, stating that he had to maintain balance on Nurn.

Meanwhile, Adrian comes back to the stronghold with a pair of black and red axes.

"Where did you get those?" "I was... Given them... Y-yeah! Some red guys gave them to me!"

Daedra then attack the stronghold.

Generally not a fun time

Many daedric corpses later, they realise that they did something that was probably pretty bad so they head back to Atlas.

Odin had prepared himself mentally for Cinder's presence this time, and instead of getting flashbacks, he just starts floating in a direction

This happens to be in Cinder's direction.

"How are you alive!" "Don't worry about it, you won't be long enough for it to matter."

Odin then uses all of his power to fucking annihilate Cinder.

He then summons a bound bow, shoots her in the heel to stop her from running, and then loads a farmiliar arrow, the same arrow that killed him.

"Tell me Cinder, do you still believe in destiny."

Cinder gets very, very dead

Odin has a breakdown again, because he just killed someone, but it was Cinder, but it was still murder, but he avenged Pyrrha and himself.

Boi is very confused, and had been running on adrenaline and hate through the entire fight.

Penny gets back to the group, and says that she's thankful for their help, but she wishes to return to her team.

The Five are cool with this, but wonder who the new fith member will be.

"I think the fith position is in very safe hands." [part 1/2]

[darkspellmaster]

The Role of the Gentleman or Lady Thief and their Detective/Cop/Agent and how it relates to Carmen Sandiego Part 2

Okay now we can get into the Carmen, Chase, Julie, Zack and Ivy, and a bit of the chief (although for her I would rather discuss Acme and the Chief in their own post). 

As I said in part one seen here the part of the Thief and the Detective is a lot of game playing and challenges. Both have their own code and work inside that code to lead their best life in their own pursuit of justice. Meaning in this case both the Thief and the Detective are trying to do the right thing, it’s just in a weird way. 

There are a few things that stay static with Carmen through all her depictions: 

1. She does this for the fun and challenge and not for any personal gains, though her team in some cases does. 

2. She’s got a conscious and tends to only take things that she sees as valuable and won’t hurt others in the pursuit of it. 

3. She was formally involved with law enforcement at some point. 

4. Those that intend to catch her also are conflicted upon it because most of the time they see good in her and that she was their former ally/friend, so it makes this harder. 

5. If there is someone worse than her doing bad, she will team up with the Agent to stop the other person from causing serious harm to the world. 

So regarding this idea, let’s take a look at the old Carmen and her relationship with the Agent from the earlier games. 

Back when Carmen first showed up in games, the player was the Agent sent to track her and her minions from Vile down. Her goals were simple back then, take things that traditionally couldn’t be taken and you, as the player or Acme Agent, were sent on a quest to find her ally and then catch her. Carmen and her team always seemed to leave some sort of trail, by game design as a means to challenge the Agent. Over the years she’s gone from a former Spy/intelligence agent from Morocco to being a former Acme Detective who decided there was more of a challenge in stealing than being the one to catch the baddies. 

So as the player, our Agent may or may not know Carmen, but she always leaves them clues as to what she’s going to take and why. The Agent is then tasked with catching up with her and getting the item back and in the game it’s the holy grail to actually find her and bring her to justice for her thefts. Something that is not easily done. In earlier games she was formally a fellow Agent though not directly a partner, so the banter between her and the player could sometimes be a teasing thing as she would know how they would go about trying to solve the case, being a former fellow employee of Acme. 

The games always gave a sense that Carmen was one up on the Agent, but never so far ahead that she would leave them in the dust, and always using a minion to give that Detective a push in trying to catch her. Her mouse to the Detective’s cat was more used by the publisher to get kids to think about things and understand different locations in the world, bringing about a better understanding of geography and culture. In some cases Carmen’s clues would actually give a lesson about the region or area that she was taking something from or something about the significance of it. This lead into how the shows would play her. Namely Where on Earth’s TV series, and Where in the World’s game show on PBS. 

Looking at Carmen for the Game show  Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? we get an interesting character in her vs. her computer game counterpart. Where as in the games Carmen is seen as someone playing a game, this version is more serious, and a bit more sarcastic. She leaves clues via messages and other means to the Agents (game players) who are being trained by the Special/Senior Detective, Greg Lee, who acts as a go between between the younger agents and the chief in finding her. Carmen herself only shows up near the end of the game, most of the time is spent working with her minions but it’s important to note that she, at times, get’s exasperated with those working under her, going as far as to call them dolts at points, or nearly sound like she’s about to roll her eyes at their weirdness. 

What’s also interesting is that in the game show world we learn a bit more about her willingness to work with some rather unusual suspects when it comes to her crimes, and a majority of these became her rogue gallery. While there are only a limited amount of people involved, including an alien (yeah that’s real), Carmen seems to treat them with respect to a point, and is willing to work with them even after they fail her. 

Her relationship with Greg and the Chief seems to be more playful, as the indication is that she sends them info about the case and knows she’s being tapped. However that doesn’t mean that she intends to be caught as the ending is having the player run around a map trying to locate where she is on different countries and continents. Her cohorts never directly talk to Greg, but ask him to allow them to speak to the Agent that’s the head of the case, and typically they want Carmen to be caught with them. Greg treats her like she’s someone who is amazing in her own way, but he never pushes the idea of her being “good” rather she’s just really capable and smart. It’s never explained if she worked for Acme or not, so the relationship to Greg and the chief is honestly unknown. 

On the other hand you have her situation with our two leads Zack and Ivy in Where on earth is Carmen Sandiego? which is very different than what we see in the game show. 

When examining Carmen and the two detectives in this show you have to consider the fact that the show is actually someone playing a game. At the very start of the first episode for the 1994 series, we see Player interact with Carmen who has stolen an item from the Louvre, and a taunt to catch her is issued. This leads to Player accessing the Crimenet where he gets Chief (a giant floating head in this show) to pull up Ivy, a detective for Acme, and her partner, her younger brother Zack. 

Ivy is very much gung-ho about going after Carmen, specializing in various fighting styles and has a past with Carmen that we don’t know about. Given that she’s shown to be younger than Carmen, it’s likely that Carmen at some point may have been a mentor of her’s or, that Carmen made her screw up early on in her career with Acme. It’s not stated exactly what went down between them but Ivy is willing to create a fake villain in order to get close to Carmen to capture her. 

It’s clear that Carmen has a lot of respect for Ivy wanting her to become the best that she can be and it shows. Not only does Carmen pick on Ivy directly in her taunts at times, but it’s also clear in later episodes that Carmen views Ivy as nearly equal to her in skills, though not in smarts, that she gives to Zack. Even when working with the two the conflict between Ivy and Carmen crops up in tensions, while Zack is less likely to be against the help that Carmen brings to the table when dealing with a far more dangerous character in Maelstrom

On the other hand you have Zack, who is the brains to Ivy’s brawn. Unlike his sister, who has a grudge with Carmen, Zack has no direct ill will for the Lady in Red. On the contrary, he finds chasing after her interesting and a great way to bond with Ivy. One thing that is key about Zack, other than his linguistic skills as he speaks a number of languages, he’s also got a  photographic memory, which Carmen uses when she creates her clues that target his skills. 

To Carmen while Ivy is someone that is staunch in her desire to bring Carmen in, she knows that Zack is a bit more understanding of a situation. At one point, if I remember correctly, the two siblings split to chase Carmen on their own, and both struggled without the other. Interestingly, Carmen was the one that brought them together in that case, allowing them to see that together they were a team that could take her down effectively, and it was something she treasures. 

Carmen in Where on Earth plays a lot with the duo, and tends to pick and chose who helps her. She is cunning but not cruel in her quests and her back story is one that seems to line up with lots of later incarnations where she once worked for ACME and got board with saving the day, finding the criminals rather dumb. This is why she is so invested in getting Ivy and Zack to chase her because they are the only two that can, along with the Player, keep up with her and her thrill of the chase. 

This brings us to the new versions of Zack and Ivy and their role in the story. 

In this case Carmen is friends with them and met them by chance while in South Boston while staking out a donut shop which was a front for V.I.L.E. Some how both Zack and his sister Ivy got wrapped up in her actions to stop V.I.L.E. and bring them down. 

In this reality is’t interesting to see how Zack’s past self, and the present version, mix in with that of Carmen’s Gentleman thief role in the story. As I said above Zack was sort of the Watson to Ivy’s more brute force Holmes, and acted accordingly in order to stop or capture Carmen. However here he’s more of the Get away driver for Carmen and her accomplice. Much like Impy Barbicane in the game Code: Realize, Zack acts as the one that helps Carmen escape her capture, being able to drive like a stunt driver helps a lot. He’s also, for his part, good at learning roles and can play them off even in tense situations and apparently good at thefts, though it seems more likely that Carmen taught him that. 

Zack also seems to be the gadget guy in some cases, as when he was able to help deal with the situation in the tunnels in the Australian caper. Zack’s also shown to be close to Carmen, as she willingly bought him the car from one of his favorite movies, showing that she knows him well enough to purchase things out of friendship with him. It’s unknown how exactly Zack feels towards her, other than friends, but it’s clear that he treats her like a friend and ally willingly putting himself in dangerous situations to help Carmen and his sister out. 

So here we see that Zack’s part has been shifted slightly but also retains that same respect he had for Carmen from the original show. 

Ivy on the other hand has changed drastically. This version of Ivy is not the strong guy, as her moves have been given to Carmen it seems, but she did take Zack’s skills as a linguist and retained her disguise skills. Ivy, as with her original, is still stubborn and always teasing Zack, showing that they still retain a close relationship.  She still is willing to put herself on the line for her friend, diving head first in trying to stop a rocket from launching, but they again switched her with Zack having her be less of the risk taker than him. I think they kept her fear of heights from the previous show though.

With Carmen though her role is slightly different. Where as in the original show, Ivy here is more a willing friend to Carmen and looks up to her. There is no issues between the two and it’s clear that Carmen cares deeply for her two buddies. As I said with Zack, Ivy is now her helper, being Carmen’s double and plant in a situation where Carmen needs someone to play a part for her. It’s clear that they want to give Ivy a role that is more associated with a closeness to Carmen and show that there’s a softer side to this sort of trio of thieves. As shown with the Rocket, she’s willing to do whatever she can to finish the task that Carmen has out for them, even risking her own life for it. It’s interesting to see that they’re showing that Ivy can have a close friendship with Carmen as it’s very different from the relationship that the detective Ivy had with Carmen in the older series. 

As accomplices, both Zack and Ivy play a part in the thefts, but it’s clear that most of these are set up by Carmen and that she is the brains behind all this and the other two are in it for the ride. They want to help her, but I don’t know how much they truly know about their friend as neither knew about Crackle, nor did they know about Player and who he was. This brings up a question of if Carmen is actually training them for continuing the mission should she fail it. 

Then we have Player. 

Player in the original series was played by three different actors/actresses, over the course of Carmen’s first series. The Player character typically played the part of trying to capture Carmen via the real world and worked with ACME to discover the truth behind Carmen’s theft and the two traded banter a lot via messages on the computer. 

Player was, to Zack and Ivy, not only a boss in a way, but also a friend and ally. In the 1994 show, the duo always knew that Player had their back and was willing to help them get where they needed to go using the C4 system (in the game you could use that to hop around the map for fast travel in later Carmen games), or pick up information for them and give them a report about things. Even when things were at their worst, Player is always there to lend Ivy and Zack a hand, showing a great deal of determination even in the face of Carmen’s tougher challenges. Player also is shown to care for the two detectives, as when they lost communication with them, during a trip in time for the duo, Player was legitimately worried about their safety. 

To Carmen, Player is her Holmes. Player is always on the case and won’t stop till she’s caught and she adores the Player for it. Because Player is the only one that seems to get the fun that Carmen is having with all of this. Player isn’t one person though, and Carmen notes this in her comments to them. The two quip a lot against one another, even when Carmen loses, there is only respect shown for Player from her. It’s an interesting dynamic that seems to have transitioned over to the 2019 version of the two of them.

Player’s role in the new series though is quiet different. An ally to Carmen, he is a boy of about 16 or slightly older. We’re not sure where he’s at, but there are moments when it seems like he’s in their world and yet not. we have no name for him, but we do have a face, unlike the originals. We know that he’s a white hacker who is willing to dig up info for Carmen in order to stop V.I.L.E. and help save the day. One thing of importance here is that Carmen and Player have a close friendship, and are almost like siblings in how they communicate with one another. It’s clear that Carmen regards Player as her best friend, which is very different from the dynamic from the other series where Carmen was much older than Player and more world wise than this one is. 

Player helps drive Carmen’s moral compass, and also helps her to have hope when things seem lost for her. For the two of them, Carmen is his eyes and ears to the world outside as it appears that Player likes to stay in his home, and he’s willing to trust her in regard to her plans and ideas, as he’s quick to trust her when they first meet, even if he’s not sure about things. 

It seems more than likely that Player is going to be the Oracle of the team. Being the eye in the sky and helping out with the intell for Carmen, Ivy and Zack. His part in as far as the Thief’s role is actually the in between and probably will eventually end up helping out not only Carmen but ACME, being the one that can prove to the Chief that Carmen is more of a Ally than an Enemy for them. 

Guess now it’s on to Julia and Chase...I’m saving him for last though. 

Julia’s part in the story of Carmen is a tricky one to talk about. She comes from the Games originally, and was once a partner of Carmen’s back when she was working for ACME. Julie Argent considers Carmen to be the best detective in the world, and still does even when she switched sides. One of the key factors about her character in the game is her use of a journal and the intuition that she has about other people, something that seems to have transferred over to the new show. 

It’s important to note that Julia has a bit of a complex relationship with Carmen, stemming from the fact that Carmen left while being her partner and that she feels that “Everyone” at ACME blames her for Carmen leaving. This is not true but her own guilt in losing her friend and partner to the “dark side” is a lot to bear and it’s something that weighs on her as a person. While she considers Carmen a friend, there is more to their relationship as Carmen sees Julia as “Opinionated” and she felt that she was a bit difficult to work with, showing that there was, at least on Carmen’s side, some animosity going on there. 

In the games Julia is paired with the slightly Arrogant Agent Shadow Hawkins. A young man that believes that gadgets are everything, and that he’s going to catch Carmen. (You can see similar dynamics here in Chase regarding some of his behavior towards her in the 2019 series.)  Shadow believes that Carmen can’t be redeemed while Julia argues that there is still good in her. During the game Julia begs Carmen to come back and tries to apologize for her past actions which, she thinks, made Carmen go bad. What’s worse is that during the story Carmen leaves mementos of their past cases at crime scenes for Julia to discover, either as a means of showing she still cares about her old friend or to hurt her (as Shadow thinks). Later game has Julia working with new agent Cole Gannon who seems more likely to want to catch Carmen for personal reasons. 

Julia’s role in the 2019 version of the show is interesting as it keeps somewhat true to her game counterpart. We see early on that Julia is a very smart and capable officer of Interpol and working hard with the more arrogant Chase (who seems to be mixing Shadow and the original together) to catch Carmen. It’s clear that there is a slight back story here between them and Carmen, though we don’t know it yet. However, Julia’s willingness to observe and make good intuitive speculations on Carmen keeps true to her game counter part and shows that she’s the one that, until the last episode, believed that everything Carmen does is for a good reason. 

Julia also is seen writing in a Journal and, unlike Chase, actually puts things together in a more proper way. She is, more or less, the wise assistant to the bumbling detective at this point in the story. However, it seems that they’re going to shake her up some with the whole situation with Chase being hurt. We see that that, in regard to Carmen, Julia is someone that could become an ally to help get ACME to work with Carmen since she can tell that Carmen is not your typical thief. Her patients with her partner is boundless to a point it seems, yet, Chase is willing to at least yell at himself for his bad behavior to Julia, showing that he does care about her and is clearly jealous of her superior skills as an investigator. 

The issue right now with Julia and Carmen, other than their short meeting, is that they really don’t have a huge connection. Though Carmen seems to see in Julia what 1994 Carmen saw in Ivy and Zack, someone worthy of chasing her down. I feel like over time Julia is going to become more of a player in Carmen’s capers in taking down VILE, and probably working with Carmen’s older Mentor along with the Chief. Friendship, I’m sure, is on the line here for these two as they seem on the same wave length. 

Chase on the other hand...is our main story focus right now. 

So who was Chase  Devineaux? Again originally from the games, Chase was Carmen’s partner and ACME’s top agent. The two solved a number of cases together, and like Julia, Chase felt guilty when Carmen left. So much so that he quit ACME to try to bring her back. He eventually returned to the service of ACME after Ann Tickwitee, Agent 12 and the partner of the player’s Agent 13, goes missing. During the story line, Chase acts as a mentor as well as a intelligence partner to Agent 13 and we learn he’s been trying to track down Carmen himself. After the fall of the new Tower and Agent 13′s rescue of Ann, Chase goes after Carmen himself with a Jet Pack, intent on catching her. 

In the games Chase talks fondly of Carmen, noting their close friendship and respect for one another. To him Carmen is his equal in intellect and everything else, this was why he was heart broken when she left ACME and that’s why he’s trying to bring her back to the good guy side. He’s willing to do whatever it takes, even lock her up, to stop whatever she’s planning and there are hints in Math and Think Logic that there may have been feelings on his end for her. Like Julia he does have a moment where he tries to convince her to change her ways, but this leads to no where as she takes off with Chase giving, er, Chase. Chase here is far more of a competent person, giving you info as you go along, and trying to help you out of scrapes when he can. It’s clear that he intends to keep you safe from Carmen as well, since he’s ready and willing to throw down with her henchmen to stop her. He’s also a bit sarcastic and quips from time to time with the player as they go about their missions, giving encouragement and a friendly reminder that he’s proud of them for doing such a good job for such a serious situation.  Also of note Chase is totally fine with sleeping outdoors if he has to, and really doesn’t complain unless you really start to screw up. 

Chase Devineaux in the 2019 version of the show however...is more a Mix of himself and Shadow Hawkins. 

This version of Chase is clearly meant to be a Zenigata type. From his outfit to his Interpol status, Chase here clearly has a connection to Carmen on a personal level, but he is no  equal to her. He’s not that smart, more like Richard from Case Closed, or Zenigata from Lupin, not realizing that Carmen is at least 10 steps ahead of him. And like Zenigata he’s obsessed with catching her for a reason, even to the point that he doesn’t realize that she’s not the enemy, much like the early anime Zenigata before he started to realize that Lupin can be an ally at times. 

Where as Chase in the game clearly has a deeper feeling for Carmen, and wants to basically save and bring her back. We don’t know how Chase feels for the woman he’s dubbed “Le Femme Rouge” though it’s clear that he’s enjoying chasing after her and has some weird level of respect for her as a person. Outright talking to her before he tries to capture her, and I think recognizing her even out of her traditional gear. It’s clear that something happened between them that made Chase feel that he has to catch her, but we’ve yet to see this. 

What’s interesting here in their relationship is how much of a dynamic they already have in just one season. The playful banter between them shows that Carmen enjoys screwing around with Chase and only grows annoyed when he’s in her way about something serious. However we can also see that there’s some sort of tension there between them as he’s unwavering in his reasoning, going as far as to yell at his own partner over her. It’s an interesting moment when you see him confront her while she’s wearing a dress as we see from the quirk in his face that he’s sort of impressed by her outfit, where he’s used to seeing her in her normal gear. 

Chase though is also just as tough as Carmen, going through what has to be a terrible experience with VILE when he’s captive. We’ve seen Carmen deal with pain, and we know that Chase can match her for the stubborn award. Dude downright starts singing louder at the threat of permanent brain damage and is still able to function enough to use his pen to get help. Given that he probably wasn’t 100% out of it his and Julia’s roles may switch next season, as he may start seeing what Julia saw in Carmen due to her wanting to help and protect him. 

What’s interesting about this whole situation with the two is that it does build on the whole Arsene and Sherlock relationship. Carmen is the thing that can outwit Chase, even though we know he’s not that smart, but it’s clear that he probably has had success in catching other criminals before. You don’t get to be on Interpol without having a sharp brain. And, for the most part, he does go about doing things that can be seen as really smart. His tailing of Mime bomb, his chasing down Carmen in his car (even if he leaves Julia behind), his actually catching up with Ivy and also figuring out that something was up with the Dinner party that he was at. There’s clues all over that, if Chase was a bit more like his Game counter part he would be a match for Carmen. Which is probably why they avoided that in this case as it would be too much like the game and, well then Julia wouldn’t have a part to play in their Brains and Brawn duo. 

It honestly wouldn’t surprise me if eventually we saw Chase and Carmen becoming friends and working together with Chase intending to eventually capture Carmen in a hope of making her a “Lawful” person. Another part of me thinks that there is a slight, given that it’s a kids show, possibility that Chase may have something of a crush on Carmen given that he’s got nicknames for her already. 

Their pairing as the Detective and the Thief plays a huge role in how they play off each other. Carmen’s wit and willingness to play along with Chase shows that she, like Lupin, wants Chase to actually understand what she’s doing and probably be an ally in her cause. She uses him too, as a means of catching Graham and then later to help stop Tigress and the others in various ways. Chase for his part sees her as someone who is sharp and intelligent and he feels that he’s the only one that gets her, even though it’s clear that he doesn’t. But I think that, as I said before, we’re going to see more about their dynamic as a duo working to stop worse crimes while still playing their cat and mouse game. 

In the end Carmen/Ivy/Zack and Chase/Julia, all play a role in continuing the idea of the tense suspense of a gentleman thief and their detective. All five characters are able to use their relationships as of right now to build up the mystery around the two groups and show that there is still a way to update the idea of the cat and mouse game. And personally I’m loving it.  

[lunaciies-archived]

❝ for what could equal the value of a human soul? ﹙v : FMA﹚

( Disclaimer : The most active muses participating in this verse by default will be Anton and Luna. Lucca until further notice, or if otherwise specifically requested, will not have much of a presence in this verse because he will still be focused on reclaiming the power he lost by consuming human souls and naturally be aggressive towards any muse that he does not already know. Plotting beforehand is welcome for anyone who would like to work around that, but for now - you have been warned. )

About A Boy and His Demon

          Born in the capital city of Britannia, an island nation far to the west of Amestris, Anton was raised under the noble crest of House Larklyn and expected as first-born son and heir to one day inherit his father’s title, predominantly heading his family’s empire in a long line of producing weapons and arms, and constructing naval vessels in devoted service to their country. Though Anton already knows that will not live long enough to see his father’s wish fulfilled, as he has written his soul off willingly to a demon of incredible power in exchange for saving his own mother from a sudden and terrible illness when was just a boy.

          No ones knows the truth about his condition, save for a chosen few he has come to trust, and now the demon Luna continues to watch over him throughout his daily life, remaining loyally by his side and protecting the soul she has claimed as her very own until his allotted time left in this world runs out. During this time however, she has disguised herself as a human and claimed temporary guardianship over her master (with the necessary permissions from his father), both as his teacher and the family steward as together they travel abroad for the sake of furthering his education. Luna is in charge of redirecting the focus of his education to military politics and weapons engineering, in regards to what might one day serve him if he took over as the head of his house, and as such her search to broaden her master’s studies eventually leads them to the country of Amestris, a well-known and highly respected military power throughout the greater continent.

About the Science of Alchemy vs. Ancient Magics

          Anton knows very little about the science of alchemy, as it isn’t a socially respectable or distinguished practice in his home country of Britannia. Though he does know how to wield a sword to protect himself and about the existence of magic, both from his long-lost mother and the demon serving as his teacher. In fact, he was taught by Luna  that alchemy once traced its origins back to what was now considered ‘the dark arts’, as evidenced by the standard shape of a transmutation circle plotting out five points in order to create a pentagram. There are many other such examples that connect the two fields, but today’s alchemy has advanced far beyond what the philosophers of old had intended for its use, i.e. changing the course of a natural disaster or summoning otherworldly spirits to do their bidding, that alchemy in its present form has very little effect on the supernatural.

          Neither does Anton consider himself to be an aspiring sorcerer or devout practitioner of magic by any means, but he does know a series of incantations that allow him to command his demon at will. He and Luna have a stronger bond between them than do most humans who chose to coincide and conspire with demons, and as such their power together is infinitely greater than when they are apart. Facing Luna on her master’s behalf would be a fool’s errand and damn near suicidal, as alchemy alone would not be enough to stop her dead in her tracks. One has to know exactly what they’re doing and what weaknesses they need to exploit when fending off a demon (ex: holy water, blessed iron stakes, devil’s traps, warding insignias, etc...), otherwise their soul will be forfeit and the meat suit left behind will end up as a chew toy for her hounds.

About the Homunculi

          Anton and Luna have both been made aware of the existence of homunculi in Amestris, with Luna having formed a close bond and partnership with the woman formally known as Lust ( @exoptabilis ). Luna has been told about her other siblings, each one named and representative of the seven deadly sins, as well as their Father who created them to purge himself of all human weakness and who strives to become the sole thing he calls ‘God’.

          Personally, Luna has no interest in involving herself with his plans, or even trying to put a stop to them for that matter. So far, she hasn’t taken any contracts within their borders, and there are more than enough human souls throughout the world to fill her quota and keep her plenty busy for centuries to come. More over, she’s actually rather fascinated by the existence of homunculi and considers them a marvel of human ingenuity, even though she knows that most of her fellow demons likely would not share her sentiments. With each homunculus carrying a philosopher’s stone - filled with hundreds of thousands of human souls all neatly compact into one singular vessel - Lust or any one of her seven siblings would be highly sought after by demons hungry for their next meal. Luckily, Luna has more self-restraint than to simply hunt down whatever fleets her fancy. She would like to meet the rest of the siblings however, should the opportunity arise.

[brawla]

What was his childhood like with his brothers and a single mother, and how did he come out to them? Was he well received? How does it affect all his relationships in life, given the time period?

GH okay i can talk in depth about this so its going under a cut. warnin for talk abt dysphoria, blasphemy (only kind of vaguely referred to), vague implications of nonphysical abuse and potential misgendering/transphobia/etc

so like… he was born a fraternal twin which wasnt so shocking to the family dynamic bc there was already a pair of twins But after having a total of 9 kids and One of them being born biologically female you kinda fixate on that yknow? so. elliot was most definitely Pegged to be the odd one out from the start but he kinda never really was. he played in the same way that his brothers played and loved getting dirty and being a general nuisance and he was, in essence, already One Of The Boys by like age 4. i should note also his oldest brother is 10 years older and most of them have like a ½ y age difference

inserting this bit right here to clarify the dog incident happened when he was 6 and four of them were playing in a dry canal n there were wild dogs hiding in the underpass (and up until then hed only known dogs as nice creatures) so he goes to pet em yadda yadda arms and legs get fucked up real bad. forearms are still wicked sensitive and scarred up but his knees recovered merely because he ran. they didnt have money for hospital bills so he was kinda useless for a while though

so anyway. despite her child obviously being a “““tomboy”““ she still attempted to force him into frilly dresses and do his hair all nice and when he was Really young he didnt super care but eventually noticed the difference in how his mom allowed his brothers to behave vs how she allowed him to behave and it upset him??? and granted this was more when he was like 8 or 9 and it was less “elli go play” and more “elli help me with dinner” even though she often didnt include anybody else in that request. so he starts cutting his own hair and disobeying openly and gets kinda mean because of it (thus his inclusion in being a Town Terror with the other brothers) uhh

they fought a Lot as kids bc margaret wasnt the Best at keeping them in line especially when shed get more concerned with sleeping with other men/going out for the nice bc once chase (oldest) was old enough to technically be in charge shed just kinda Leave sometimes an pray they didnt set the house on fire. because of that it was “im trapped in a house with all my brothers lets wrestle and scream until the neighbors call the cops on us because somebody might be dying” but at the end of the day they still had that Sibling Bond that rose above anything else

moving back onto the Trans Narrative: he realizes somethings up mid/end of middle school and hes not sure how to put it into words but he doesnt Feel Good anymore. doesnt like hearing his deadname or being the singular “girl” of the family. his twin, owen, is like, his first Go To for comfort and owen doesnt know either but he doesnt really Care. one time he tries to tell his mom but she waves him off and tells him never to bring it up again and… he Doesnt. goes through his first couple years of high school horrifically depressed and just barely passing year to year if Even passing until the very beginning of junior year he just Stops going. owen and some of the more fraternal of his brothers, when older, are kinda the only thing that keeps him grounded and ultimately he feels Useless ages 16 to 18

spy is his first contact bc he knows his mom who kinda just laments about how useless this kid who used to be so excited to play baseball with his brothers and run around and race freely is all of the sudden, please make him stop. and spys reluctant but also Guilty and has him flown out to nm for various hit and run jobs and elliot doesnt really realize what hes been thrust into at first but it gets to a point where doing Anything (even Crime) feels so good he doesnt care. inducted officially into the team when hes 19 or 20 and also has his name legally changed within that time period (jeremy is his “formal” name his mom insisted upon when he informed her this was a thing that was happening and she couldnt do anything about it, but if addressed by his actual name hed much rather hear elliot except in Official or as previously stated, formal, settings). voila The Scout is born

he technically comes out to the family when hes like 18/19 and already living out of home and he comes back to visit for a gathering where a lot of people are there includin some of his brothers’ dads. and nobody really knows what to do (mom im trans and also stronger than you so dont try any shit) bc most of them are religious and all of the boys were raised christian even if they were just going to church for the sake of going to church. and like… over time they adapt… margaret pulls the whole “this is all my fault my babys going to hell” thing for a while and makes it about her and some of his brothers do the same (william, the second oldest and michael, one of the other twins are the only two who are like “absolutely not youre disowned never speak to me again” and disallow their kids from seeing him EVEN THOUGH his nieces and nephews love him the Most) but eventually they kinda Get It. and dont Agree with it but cant bear to just leave their baby brother behind. so. its like. they fuck up the pronouns a lot but still Vaguely try. he doesnt talk to them a lot and wishes honestly hed never said anything and just moved out and lived stealth (hes stealth in tfi). he sends money home bc despite all his mom did and said to him bc deep down he still cares but. yknow. he avoids them if he can

SORRY THAT GOT LONG onto other tidbits

he never did baseball in school but played recreationally with the boys every time he got the opportunity to but he did run track when he got to eighth grade/high school and was really fantastic at it. hed run and began exercising initially as a way to beat his brothers but his mom makes some off-handed comment about how its good hes finally doing that, he could bear to lose somea that chub, nobody likes a fat girl (hes 12!) and is like Ah. and hes less self conscious about his weight now bc hes accepted the fact most of his weight is muscle and hes naturally curvy partly bc hes pretty and partly bc hes a runner. hes very very secure in himself and his identity even if he cant just tell people hes trans

he probably wouldve continued religiously if he hadnt been told by multiple sources that the “behaviors” he engaged in would upset god and get him banished to hell for life so he stopped going to church when he moved. of course, god only confirming he was his gift to the earth made him (silently) rub it in his familys face and he stopped uhh. believing in what was taught at churches simply bc he was convinced hed met god and proved all of them wrong? anyway

at the age and place he is he tends not to make lasting relationships with many people, at least romantically, because hes positive one of these days hell move to a place people dont know him and hell have had surgery and suddenly fit in with the cis and be able to settle down then. god knows he has the money for it; but for where hes at he tends not to care, not to tell anybody, n probably hasnt uhhh yknow Bonked for several years which is whatever he lives. He Lives. i think thats all i have to say on this IM SO SORRY but. this ask is very important to me