#so while he was initially captured by some researchers to be studied

[alkalamity]

Hear me out. Ratiorine AU where Aventurine is a mer captured by a group of researchers and Ratio is the scientist brought on board to teach him how to speak and access his intelligence levels.

[cre8inghavoc]

Can't help it...

pairing: inumaki x f!reader

summary: Transferring to a new school is tough, but having your three best friends there makes it easier. Things get even more interesting when you start falling for the mysterious boy who rides his motorcycle to school every day. What will happen next?

a/n: i should be studying but here i am thinking abt motorcycle Toge... also i hate how some ppl see him as a small and weak (physically?!) bitch boy like erm tf no!? he is far from that and he's sooooo fineee.

genre/warnings: [18+] Characters are aged up. Story contains cursing, new friends, alcohol, college!au, no curse!au, dark humour, SMAU and written parts, fluff, smut.

For years now, you and Inumaki have been very close friends, it started from the moment you transferred to a new college.

3 Years Ago...

He was always the quiet type, the one who preferred hanging at the back of the class, alone, away from others.

As you stepped into the classroom for the first time, you greeted your classmates with a friendly nod. When the teacher welcomed you and offered a choice of seats, you made your way to the back of the room, deliberately keeping a distance from the other person who is also sitting there. Though there were plenty of spots up front, you preferred the quiet and privacy that the back provided, especially since you were new and not keen on drawing attention to yourself. It just felt right to have your own space in the back of the class.

It soon became a familiar routine: every morning, you'd enter the classroom and gravitate towards the back, taking your seat next to Inumaki. At first, he appeared slightly irritated by the intrusion, but as weeks passed, that annoyance seemed to fade away. Perhaps he realized it wasn't entirely within his control, or maybe he simply grew accustomed to your presence. Either way, it didn't seem to bother him much anymore, and frankly, you didn't dwell on it either.

Whenever you found yourself with spare time in class—be it after finishing assignments early or completing a test ahead of schedule—you'd often turn to doodling in your notebook. It was a soothing pastime, allowing your mind to wander while your hand sketched away. Initially, your doodles revolved around animals and random objects, but soon you found yourself drawn to sketching things you actually liked: cars and motorcycles.

You had a particular interest in sports cars, especially Japanese models like the GT-R, GR86, and 350/370Z. The sleek lines and powerful engines captivated your imagination, and you poured your passion into every detail of your drawings. From envisioning custom modifications to simply making them look jaw-droppingly cool.

Then, unexpectedly, motorcycles entered the picture, quite literally. One day, as you made your way to class, a Yamaha R3 parked outside the school caught your attention. Despite never having been particularly interested in bikes before, something about this one intrigued you. It sparked a newfound curiosity that led you to delve into research, eager to learn more.

Every day for the past week, that Yamaha R3 parked outside the school became your muse. You would walk into class, take your seat and before your class even begins, you'd take a moment to sketch the bike, capturing its sleek contours and intricate features. With each passing day, you discovered new details to incorporate into your drawing, whether it was the curve of the exhaust pipes or the pattern on the seat. It became a daily routine.

SMAU

GUYS I FR WASNT GONNA MAKE THIS AN SMAU BUT THIS FRIEND GROUP IS ALWAYS TALKING TO EACH OTHER SO I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE FUN

also this is like 50% written and 50% smau (im gonna try to make the next few chapters AFTER chapter 5 more smau)

[littleplasticrat]

Behind the canvas: Painting 'Finally getting that drink'

This is a post about some of my thoughts while painting Rugan's pin-up for this month. Some technical ideas, rambling and mild nudity below the cut.

Inspo and references

The pin-ups of Gil Elvgren are on the left, and 'Elspeth Resplendent' by Anna Steinbauer is on the right.

Elvgren is one of my favourite artists and I spent some time looking through a book of his collected work to see what ideas I could take for this pin-up project. The things that jumped out at me were:

The women felt like 'subjects' rather than 'objects'. There's some implication of hobbies, an inner life. They're often in the middle of doing something when they're captured on the canvas.

The subjects know they're being looked at, and they are taking it as an opportunity to flirt (signalled through eye contact, coquettish facial expressions and body language). It feels like a conversation between viewer and viewed.

Parts of the body may be exposed, but the eye is drawn back and forth between the subject's face and more titillating parts of the image.

I knew that I wanted to show Rugan in a similar setup, then; in this case, he's halfway through dinner and then catches sight of the viewer. His eye contact and smirk are flirtatious and mirror what you see of him in Act 1.

I initially wanted the pose to mirror Elspeth's in this beautiful Magic the Gathering planeswalker art by Anna Steinbauer, whose work I am obsessed with. Since I started taking art seriously, it's been my goal to paint for MtG, so I often try to study from artists whose illustrations I admire.

However, I didn't want to copy her pose or the composition of the piece. Don't get me wrong, I'm not above doing this - but I felt it just didn't work with the subject. The horizon line (shown in red) is very low. This is a gnome-level view of Elspeth. And I didn't want to place the viewer at the eye level of Rugan's penis.

I kept the composition similar in some other aspects though - there's still a T shape (pale green) that draws the eye to the focal point (pink). I did some sketches where Rugan is leaning forwards/sideways in the same way as Elspeth is, but I feel that this final leaning-back pose demonstrates more dominant body language and allows me to paint the musculature of his torso in more detail. This acts almost as a 'ladder' that draws the viewer's eye up and down between the two focal points of the nude variant.

Painting

I've already said quite a lot on a post that was supposed to be short, so I'll keep it brief here and write more about the painting of Gortash and Raphael (February and March respectively).

It's been quite a while since I've tackled such a detailed painting, so I had to do some research/studies to remind myself of some helpful rendering rules:

Veins beneath pale skin might look blue, but they're actually just a desaturated version of the same colour. There are other parts of this image where the veins are particularly lovely. I'll leave that to your imagination.

2. Highlights on leather are not as saturated as you'd expect until you get to the most reflective part of the material. Also, a good texture brush can work wonders.

3. I try to use as few layers as possible when painting, but I remembered the importance of putting design detail on a separate Multiply layer. Multiply allows the layer to modify/darken the layers below, so you can more easily add detail that follows the shape of the object. For example, the body hair or the snake's head going over the chest. If I were painting traditionally, I'd have had to put in a lot more effort. With Multiply layers, it's one colour. Nice! I got a great tip from @dustdeepsea about the blue-ish tint that tattoos, particularly older ones, can get. I felt like this massive tat is not something that Rugan has had done recently, so I added a Gaussian blur as well.

Well, if you got this far, thanks for reading! This is a great way for me to reflect and record what I've learned from the painting. I want to paint sexy stuff, but I also want to keep improving as an artist!

Keep an eye out for updates on my next pin-up, who will be Lord Enver Gortash. Time to practice using my hair/fur brushes 🥵🥵

[duckapus]

Shroob Invasion AU

Somehow the Shroobs have returned and are out to take over the world and get revenge on the Mario Bros for their defeat in Partners in Time. And since the Crew is still recovering from Puzzlevision, the military is...themselves, and Peach is still a monster at the bottom of a demon flesh pit, the Mushroom Kingdom is wholly unprepared to fend them of when they first arrive.

...What, not everything needs some long-winded preamble.

Some important notes:

The Shroobs are studying the Creep Pit and using that research to improve their shroob mutant creation process (you know stuff like Yoob and the Tashroobas that one Wiggler boss? Yeah now imagine shroobified versions of meme and crossover characters. Now imagine them with demonic bonus features!!!)

Mario, SMG4, Meggy, Saiko, Shroomy and Boopkins were captured by the Shroobs during the initial attack. Shroomy, Boopkins and 4 were used in the Shroob-Creep hybrid experiments, with Shroomy and Boopkins getting fully Shroobified while 4 only got half-mutated and escaped.

Luigi is completely missing and only Mario knows where he is, which terrifies the Shoobs given how instrumental he was to their defeat last time. So they're torturing Mario for information in a dungeon but he's giving them absolutely nothing.

There's currently only one Princess Shroob, but Shroob Culture Stuff demands there always be two. Fortunately, they've found a solution that also doubles as psychological torture for Mario since physical obviously isn't working; slowly transform Meggy, via gradual mutation and brainwashing, into a second Princess Shroob.

Due to this arrangement Meggy's cell is more of a luxury suite that she can't leave, with Saiko forced to be her attendant via a shock collar that goes off if either of them steps out of line.

The Shroobs also managed to get their hands on Melony's Fierce Deity Mask, but it refuses to function for any of them so it's just sitting in a vault

(I do plan on having Meggy, Saiko and Mario escape eventually, with the mask playing a large part in that, but by then Meggy will already be half-Shroob, though thankfully even though the mutation's working as advertised she's got a strong enough will that she's still almost completely her usual self mentally)

Melony, Tari and Hal Monitor are all on the run together, trying to not get captured or killed and to find Luigi. And yes, Melony's stuck in her base form

A big chunk of the Kingdom's population, including the rest of the actually relevant characters, managed to escape into the Internet Graveyard and are using it as the headquarters of the anti-Shroob resistance. SMG3, Bowser and Toadsworth are the leaders of the resistance since they all have leadership experience, the Mushroom Kingdom citizens trust Toadsworth, the bulk of their forces are from the Koopa Troop, and they're operating out of 3's territory.

The resistance managed to capture half-mutated 4, who's extremely feral and violent, and are hoping they can study his condition to create a cure for him and anyone else who's been Shroobified

(I should note that, due to the alternate method used for Meggy's mutation, if they do manage to create a cure it might not work for her)

[warningsine]

For more than 20 years, researchers have known that areas of birds' brains dedicated to singing show neural patterns during sleep akin to the ones they use while awake and singing.

Since the "code" behind how this information gets processed is unknown, it hasn't been possible to map a pattern of nocturnal activity to song, until now.

Writing in the journal Chaos, a team of researchers from the University of Buenos Aires reports a method to translate the vocal muscle activity of birds during sleep into synthetic songs.

"Dreams are one of the most intimate and elusive parts of our existence," said author Gabriel Mindlin, who specializes in exploring the physical mechanisms of birdsong. "Knowing that we share this with such a distant species is very moving. And the possibility of entering the mind of a dreaming bird—listening to how that dream sounds—is a temptation impossible to resist."

A few years ago, Mindlin and colleagues discovered that these patterns of neuronal activity descend to the syringeal muscles—a bird's vocal apparatus. They can capture sleep birds' muscular activity data via recording electrodes, called electromyography (EMG), and then use a dynamical systems model to translate it into synthetic songs.

"During the past 20 years, I've worked on the physics of birdsong and how to translate muscular information into song," said Mindlin. "In this way, we can use the muscle activity patterns as time-dependent parameters of a model of birdsong production and synthesize the corresponding song."

Many bird species have complex musculature, so translating syringeal activity into song is a bit of a challenge.

"For this initial work, we chose the Great Kiskadee, a member of the flycatcher family and a species for which we'd recently discovered its physical mechanisms of singing, and presented some simplifications," said Mindlin. "In other words, we chose a species for which the first step in this program was viable."

Hearing the sounds emerge from the data of a bird dreaming about a territorial confrontation with a raised crest of feathers—a gesture that during the day is associated with a trill used in confrontations—was incredibly moving for Mindlin.

"I felt great empathy imagining that solitary bird recreating a territorial dispute in its dream," he said. "We have more in common with other species than we usually recognize."

The team's study presents biophysics as a new exploratory tool capable of opening the door for the quantitative study of dreams.

"We're interested in using these syntheses, which can be implemented in real-time, to interact with a bird while it dreams," said Mindlin. "And for species that learn, to address questions about the role of sleep during learning."

[altairtalisman]

Giselle's Bio

"If only Stella was alive to see how far we've progressed..."

More details about Giselle is under the cut

Name: Giselle Nimuba

Age: 824

Height: 156 cm

Birthday: 21 Vierum 1040 (Laintayra)

Orientation: Cisgender Omnisexual Female

Pronouns: She/Her

Species: Dullahan (formerly elf)

Title: The Fifth Dullahan

Country of Birth: Balwirk

Likes: Pastries, her daughter (as a parent), Stella (in a romantic sense)

Dislikes: Being openly vulnerable, her parents, tea, green (the colour)

Hobbies: Travelling, cloud watching, stargazing, reading (especially heartwarming books about family)

Personality: Usually standoffish especially to those she's not close to, isn't so good with dealing with emotions (especially romantic ones) and tends to repress them. Also possesses terrible communication skills which is made worse by her standoffish nature. Despite all these traits, she actually tries her best to be considerate and cares a lot for other beings' well-beings regardless of her familiarity (unless it's someone she absolutely hates)

Style: Wears loose clothing, with sleeves rolled above the elbow to allow more movement when casting spells. Also wears a thick sleeveless coat with a red to blue gradient to obscure her lower half which comprises of shadows

Status: Dead (DOD: 31 Dia'ae 1864)

Abilities: Shadow manipulation, proficient with lightning magic

Background: As the only child born into the noble Nimuba house, Giselle was expected to marry and raise children in order to continue the lineage. She resisted this for over a century, and eventually was disowned by her parents when she turned 115. During this period, whispers of a radical group of elven researchers who sought ways to preserve life even after their heads had been severed from the neck surfaced and it intensified as the years went by

Initially, Giselle wasn't worried and dismissed it as mere rumours. However, the number of elves that went missing multiplied, which concerned her. What truly sealed the deal was that three nobles from the Ilagorta, Gráste and Domanra houses went missing while investigating this matter, implying that the rumours were much more sinister and real than what Giselle had expected

As such, she made plans to leave Balwirk in Alstas 1163. However before she could leave, she was captured and knocked out. She woke up later on a dissection table, with blood staining the walls around her and the elven researcher that loomed over her. Smiling, she proceeded to carve a number onto the back of Giselle's left hand before being restrained and locked in a room of her own. She immediately deduced that she was the fifth survivor of the experiment and that there was most definitely four others before her

After an unknown length of time passed, a heavily chained Hugh was shoved into the room she was in. When she asked him why was he so heavily restrained, Hugh explained that he didn't know why but he could feel himself extremely drained of magic. Giselle proceeded to ask him what magic was he born with, with the latter responding that he could use teleportation magic. The Fifth Dullahan then understood that the restraints they had was to prevent them from using their magic, which meant that the researchers really didn't want them to escape and shut their experiment down

Soon, Hywel and Danielle were locked in the room with them. After sharing the numbers carved onto the back of their hands as well as their observations of the room outside theirs, Giselle learnt that she had been locked inside for longer than she had thought and that the experiment had an extremely low success rate. Shortly after, they were freed as Addyson had used her sound magic to kill some of the researchers, giving her time to free the other survivors

Apart from Gerald, Cain, and Fiona, the remaining 13 survivors killed the rest of the researchers and ended the experiment. Despite their distaste towards the entire act, they kept the notes and studied it. Aileen was able to identify the flaws in the research notes, which cultivated in the alarmingly high mortality rate. Together with Eva, Hywel as well as Ilias' existing research on arcane magic, the trio was able to create a ritual that tapped onto Ratein's ley lines which made it safer to turn someone into a dullahan. Afterwards, they destroyed the original notes such that no one could ever attempt the cruel methods used to create dullahans again

Brianna and Danielle then pointed out that the very notion of turning someone into a dullahan was unthinkable, and sought to get an unanimous consensus that under no circumstances should the 16 turn others into dullahans unless the individual in question was prepared to bear the curse of being one. Giselle agreed, wanting to leave Balwirk as early as possible. Even so, she maintained contact with Berine and Brianna, only because she wanted to keep up to date with Balwirk's affairs

While travelling, Brianna had informed her that the Nimubas were spreading rumours about Giselle, chiding her bad behaviour and her lack of respect towards her elders in an attempt to save face. Annoyed, she decided to ruin her parents' reputations and have a one night stand with Hywel, who was annoyed with Balwirk's elven society in general and had Bianca. Afterwards, she went back to Balwirk to announce that she had a child with an unknown elf, effectively ruining her parents' reputations

With her daughter, Giselle travelled across Steruleang and did her best to raise Bianca. However as her daughter grew older, Giselle was asked about why she didn't look like the typical elves that they meet. Eventually, she caved and answered honestly, which included an explanation of what dullahans were. Bianca then expressed interest in becoming one, insisting for her mother to turn her into one. Not wanting her daughter to be immortal as she didn't want her to live a life of loneliness as the beings in her life age and pass, she refused

This caused them to argue frequently, with Bianca cutting off all contact with Giselle after a particularly violent argument in Itis 1405. Saddened but deciding to respect her wishes, Giselle continued her travels alone and eventually settled in Relnivon. She wondered if she had made the right decision settling down in Relnivon after witnessing first hand how the Unois Purge wiped out almost all of the dragons, but decided to stay regardless. In 1677, Finbar had visited her to find out more about Charles' secretive nature which led to a particularly violent exchange. Even so, Finbar's words had stuck with her and wondered if she things with Bianca could've been different if she didn't resonate with Charles and Berine more

After the purge, Noah had caught her eye with the uncomfortable way he interacted with the Relnivans despite standing at over 200 cm, which led her to suspect that he was a dragon in hiding. Even with this revelation, she knew better than to out a dragon trying to survive in the ruthless empire and left him alone. In 1744, she had a chance encounter with Stella at a rebel's meeting at an undisclosed location of Relnivon and immediately fell for her willingness to challenge to status quo

Giselle then struck a friendship with the human, who shared with her about someone matching Noah's description passing by her family's bakery and desired to get to know him better. Deciding to make her wish a reality, she monitored Noah's daily schedule and eventually set them up in 1751 by blocking off Noah's usual route which forced him to use the one where Stella usually distributed bread to the needy. This encounter eventually led to Noah and Stella falling in love with each other, something which Giselle didn't regret as while she also loved Stella, she didn't wish to burden the human with a partner that lived almost forever

In the 14 years of knowing Stella, Giselle had noticed that the prince was stalking her and wanted to do something about it. Stella told her not to, for the rebels didn't need any additional attention on them and that what the prince had towards her was merely a crush that would eventually fade once it was clear that she would spend the rest of her life with Noah. Trusting Stella, the Fifth Dullahan decided to not stalk the prince and merely note any concerning events happening in his life. Stella had also shared with her that she had revealed that she was involved in planning a rebellion to Noah as well as of Giselle's existence, something which Giselle didn't mind as Noah reminded her of Berine, both of which would take any secrets they know to their graves

In Alstas 1758, Stella announced that she would be marrying Noah on 29 Dia'ae that same year, with Giselle giving them their blessings despite still harbouring a crush on her. After being invited to their wedding, Stella then shared that the prince knew of Noah's heritage and even shared this information with her. This worried Giselle as Stella had informed him that she felt sorry for dragons, which meant that he would be wary that Stella was a possible rebel no matter how little proof he had

Giselle then spied on the prince, discovering a day before the wedding that he planned to hire an assassin to kill Stella on the day of her wedding. As she didn't have time to warn either Stella or Noah, she decided to take things into her own hands and killed the hired assassin. What she didn't know was that the prince was already tipped off that Giselle was spying on him and as such, kept the actual assassination plans hidden by using only telepathy to communicate with the necessary parties. She only learnt about her mistake when she arrived at the wedding location to see Noah being surrounded by a battalion and Stella dead

Unable to face Noah or the Gavells, she killed the prince on his birthday that same year before going into hiding for six years. During this time, she encountered a merchant who shared with her that centuries ago, they had sold a necklace to a man who had lost his son in an avalanche and his wife to suicide. Giselle wasn't interested and listened out of politeness, but her tune changed when the merchant shared that according to the Hirdiellese, the wife looked almost similar to Giselle apart from the height and hair colour. The Fifth Dullahan pressed the merchant for more information, the latter unable to do so because that was all they knew about the wife

Wanting to confirm her suspicions, she went to Hirdielle in hopes of finding someone who knew about the suicide. In Primna 1764, she had finally learnt that the wife who had committed suicide was indeed her daughter, and proceeded to cry over her regret in respecting her wishes following the fateful argument. Giselle had also learnt that her son-in-law was still alive despite being human, though she was warned by everyone to not approach him out of fears that he was somehow cursed and that he would be too overcome by grief when he saw how similar she looked to his wife

Giselle decided to ignore the Hirdiellese locals' advice and sought Salvatore out. Fortunately for her, he was extremely drunk and saw her as the ghost of her daughter. He then proceeded to ramble about how much he missed her, and that he wished that he could've done more to help what truly mattered. After passing out, Giselle decided to pursue what truly mattered to Stella and returned to Balwirk for Emmet and Addyson. She then persuaded Emmet to spearhead more violent rebellions, something which took her and Addyson eight years to succeed given his reluctance of incurring heavy losses

Giselle then sought out Berine, partially because the former knew that the Sixth Dullahan's spying skills are unrivalled amongst them, and partially because she wanted to learn about Berine more intimately, something which she attributed to the violent exchange she had with the late Thirteenth Dullahan years ago. Much to her surprise, Berine agreed without much persuasion, even going as far as to agree to start an unlabelled monogamous relationship with the Fifth Dullahan. Due to Emmet's influence, the rebel group expanded at a fast rate and was able to remain relatively hidden thanks to Addyson, who was creating destructive chaos within Relnivon to distract the key figures from learning about the actual number of rebels. While visiting the Aocite Cemetery in 1838, she had a chance encounter with Ríonach, who was visiting Brianna's grave then

Ríonach then offered the orphanage to host rebel meetings in, something with threw Giselle off as she didn't expect such an offer. Accepting it, the rebels were able to plan in a relatively safe location. Over the years, the rebels were able to unite East Balwirk, Crex, Lindow and Nantrax together but weren't enough to go against the empire's military. The turning point came in Dia'ae 1863 when Noah suddenly returned to Relnivon in his true form and caused mass destruction within the country

Due to the sight of a free wyvern openly rebelling against the empire, the dragon captives followed suit, which started a domino effect that led to the Relnivians to openly rebel against the empire. West Balwirk had also seized this window of opportunity to launch another rebellion against the empire, forcing the Unois Empire to divide its resources against three fronts. In order to advance, Emmet, Giselle, and Addyson entered Relnivon to provide the Relnivians with support, which meant working alongside Noah

In 31 Dia'ae 1864, Giselle and Noah were leading the rebels against the military per Ríonach's suggestion, though Giselle found it strange that she kept crying and apologising about it. However, due to the crumbling infrastructure around them and loud explosions heard across the country, Noah failed to notice a group of imperialists planning to shoot him with bullets loaded with explosives. Giselle did, and magnetised her neck cage such that all the shots directed towards her instead before using what little time she had before the bullets exploded to fatally electrify the imperialists

Smiling as the bullets exploded instantly after coming into contact with her neck cage, she thought about seeing Bianca once more in the afterlife...

Former Appearance:

[margridarnauds]

So, would you mind telling me about Kitrye's backstory? I'd love to learn about her!

A chance to talk about my girl? Yes? Thank you!

(Tw for implied sexual assault in the first paragraph, because Happy Drow Family Times)

Kitrye was born in Menzoberranzan; her father was a captured Wood Elf, her mother was a member of the Symryvvin family, known for producing priestesses for Lolth. When he attempted to escape, months before Kitrye was born, he was ultimately sacrificed -- Kitrye never got to meet him. One of her biggest what-ifs is what would have happened if he'd waited six or seven more months, or if he hadn't tried to escape, whether he would have tried to take her or whether she'd have just been an unpleasant reminder of the worst period of his life. (Not surprisingly, the Emperor took the form of how she imagined her father to be -- which is the reason why she could never forgive him.) (Also not surprisingly, her relationship with Halsin is...interesting. Decidedly not sexual despite some initial interest from him, but interesting.)

As is customary for Drow children, she spent her early childhood in a shared room with the children of the extended Symryvvin family, who took one look at the Half-Elf girl and saw an easy mark. Kitrye developed into a quiet, cautious girl who learned to make careful use of her words, observing her bullies and turning their own weaknesses against them, sometimes exploiting the inherently frayed family dynamics of Drow culture to make them fight one another instead of her. This dynamic changed when Kitrye was about five years old, when her mother suddenly announced that she was to have a sister, and introduced her to a grungy street urchin that she had christened Mallathalra. Mallathalra was a Szarkai, one of the albino Drow believed to be a sign of Lolth's favor for their use in acting as infiltrators, and so, when Kitrye's mother came across the child in the streets, she took it as a sign from Lolth and adopted and renamed her. Malla would claim, as an adult, that she had decided that, by teaming up with Kitrye, she was insuring her own survival by siding with the Symryvvin child who was least likely to be an impediment to her rise to the top of the family hierarchy -- In reality, while Malla is nothing if not pragmatic, there was likely more to it. Perhaps it was out of a sense of empathy towards another outcast child, perhaps it was that Kitrye was the only one to treat her as neither an intruder to the family OR as a living weapon, but, regardless, they became a team, with Malla earning the scar across her eye that she sports during the events of the main game because she stepped in when the other children came very close to killing Kitrye. (The bullies came out much, much worse from that encounter.)

Kitrye had a close relationship with the House Wizard, who she studied alchemy under, developing a talent for it and, as she and Malla both grew older, would sometimes develop healing salves and poisons for her sister to use, while Malla continued to protect Kitrye. Due to the traditional isolation of House Symryvvin from the rest of Drow society, as well as some residual shame around Kitrye's birth, the girls were kept sheltered, save for special occasions, even though they did sometimes sneak off to dances and excursions to Lake Donigarten (one of own biggest What-Ifs is ~30-35 year old Kitrye, chafing against her family, meeting a Slightly Younger Raphael -- it would absolutely have ended badly, but would have been a glorious trainwreck. Malla still would have hated him). It was around this time that she first encountered Eilistraee, having become separated from Malla in a cave and encountering a silver moth, who guided her back to the mouth of the cave. She quietly began to research the goddess, sneaking into her mother's own personal archives to find whatever references she could find, and began the process of entering her service.

When she was forty, as per custom, Kitrye was entered into the Arach-Tinilith university, under the exacting eye of headmistress Triel Baenre. It was around this time that she began to fully lead a double life as a Secret Moondancer of Eilistraee, using her knowledge of the school and the city as a whole to aid in Eilistraee's aims, freeing potential ritual sacrifices, aiding in other Drows' defections to the surface world through a series of secret waypoints and stops throughout the city. The irony is that while she was helping other Drow to escape, she was doing very poorly on a personal level, through a combination of Triel's own tyranny, the toxic environment fostered by the academy, and her isolation from Malla, who underwent secret martial training instead of Arach-Tinilith. Even though Eilistraee did her best to soothe her, and her loyalty to her goddess remained firm, these years were marked by an increasing feeling of claustrophobia and hopelessness. When it came to be too much, she ended up daring an escape of her own, and, as she made it to the surface world for the first time, she pledged herself fully to Eilistraee as her paladin, swearing an Oath of the Ancients. (She missed the Drow Graduation Demon Orgy 😔 )

By the time we meet her in-game, there are still gaps in her knowledge regarding the surface world, especially in arcane matters, and she is still very much coming to terms with her relationship with both the surface world and Drow culture. Still, she's had over a century to acclimate, operating loosely out of the Eilistraeen conclave in Waterdeep but, in general, going wherever there's a need, especially now that, post-Sundering, Eilistraee has come back from the dead. The natural reserve from her childhood has left her somewhat antisocial, rarely interacting with Eilistraeen communities longterm and communicating her true feelings to very few people, instead putting on a very good front of being unbothered by any disasters to come about. The only people she might be more honest with, in Malla's absence, are other defectors from the Menzoberranzan aristocracy, like Liriel Baenre and Jhelnae Horlbar, but even then, she often puts on a front in favor of focusing on the mission...which all comes tumbling down by Act 3 of the game. (Part of the reason why she IS drawn to Raphael is that he is very, very good at reading her, which can be frustrating but also means that he often understands her better than her companions do.) But things are changing -- Kitrye's grandmother, the famed Matron Mother Hesken P'aj Symryvvin, has died, and Kitrye's mother has now taken over as Matron Mother of the house, sending a now-fully grown and lethal Mallathalra to retrieve her sister from the surface by any means necessary. (Malla knows about Kitrye's worship of Eilistraee, discovering it and keeping it a secret from their mother, who is firmly in denial that she could raise an apostate, especially since Kitrye IS her only biological daughter. Malla claims she kept it secret for leverage over her sister in the future. Malla is lying.)

And then...the Nautiloid happens.

[murasakibonnet]

Murphy’s Law

How did we get here?

Part One of my Liminal Space Au which I’ve linked the Masterpost of here. I’d recommend reading that post just to get some context on what’s to come in this little blurb. 

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Two years after the Kraang invasion, the boys and April have uncovered that the U.S. government is secretly kidnapping and experimenting on mutants. During one of their missions, they encounter a yokai with the ability to supposedly move both forward and backward in time, but only by a few days. They try helping this yokai only to learn that the Earth Protection Force (EPF) has fatally injected them with a rather lethal amount of modified Empyrean they harvested from sister Kraang when she was captured and studied.

They were only able to neutralize this yokai by using the Kraang technology that initially nullified their mystic powers like in the movie and while the yokai is able to move spatially through time and space, they aren’t exactly capable of changing the state of their own body so in essence without intervention they could have died of old age so to speak.   

With their last few breaths, the yokai transforms into a pocket watch that contains a rather alarming amount of mystic energy similar to how Karai was transformed into a sword to seal the Shredder. The watch is bestowed upon the boys for the time being as Draxum is in Japan meeting with some of his old colleagues. Donnie tasks himself to see whether or not he’ll be able to either harness the powers of the artifact/further study how the effects of empyrean could lead to such a state in the first place, (perhaps to even find a way to reverse it).

He spends a couple days troubleshooting theories here and there but by the end of each session he seals it up by manifesting a purple bubble around the object using his mystic powers. 

On one particular day, he steps outside his lab while studying the artifact to retrieve one of the packages he’s ordered from online, but not before sealing the pocket watch in a suspended purple orb, just in case. Shelldon accompanies him since the package he ordered was larger than he could handle.  

He’s away from his lab for exactly seven minutes. 

Leo and Mikey step into the room two minutes after, trying to scope out what Donnie’s been up to and whether or not he’s withholding some goodies. They do the obligatory search through his stuff calling dibs on doo-dads here and there, before they finally come across the Chekhov’s gun of this story, the pocket watch. Leo is more fascinated by the orb and how it suspended the item playing around with it carelessly. 

He throws it over to Mikey who catches it worriedly but Mikey proceeds to squish the orb noticing how it really does have a rubber bubble like texture before throwing it back to Leo. 

Raph, who’s big brother senses have been tingling, checks out the commotion coming from the lab because he knows Donnie stepped out just a moment ago. He’s about to reprimand them both for going through Donnie’s stuff without him present but almost instantly Leo hurls the orb at his face and Raph proceeds to block it out of instinct with his ninjutsu unknowingly causing the orb to react poorly and begin to bounce around the room carelessly knocking over much of Donnie’s lab equipment and research. 

The brothers do their best to avoid the projectile all the while the pocket watch begins to pulse from the rough treatment. Leo’s able to portal it within Mikey’s reach who in turn is able to use his mystic whip to grab it. However, the whip grips it a bit too harshly causing the purple bubble to pop and the pocket watch unceremoniously drops to the cement crackling in green power. 

Raph and Mikey automatically panic worrying about how Donnie’s going to retaliate in regards to them trespassing on his research. They approach the watch and scoop it up, placing it on the table it was originally set upon. 

Leo’s slightly more worried about how the pocket watch is behaving strangely but is distracted as Donnie runs into the room, having left his package with Shelldon, since he was able to hear the yelling from quite a bit away. 

Raph and Mikey immediately begin coming up with excuses for their presence turning away from the discarded watch. 

Big Mistake.

Donnie’s the only one paying attention to how the watch surges with green energy quickly pulling Leo close to him so that he can hastily manifest a small wall shielding them from it. When the light dims, Donnie notices how Raph and Mikey’s image glow aggressively green and practically start glitching out of reality. He can only watch on in horror as they panic at the circumstances until they just blip out of existence and he proceeds to run to their last position yelling out their names frantically. 

…

…

…

“Donnie?” 

Donatello’s eyes snap towards Leonardo and only then does he notice that his brother’s shoulder got nicked by the green energy and it’s quickly spreading to the rest of his body. 

“Leo,” he begins repeating desperately. He retreats back to his brother. 

“What’s happening?” Leo observes his hands glitching before looking up back at Donnie reaching out to him. 

They grasp hands but Leo is as good as gone within the next couple of moments. 

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This is pretty much where Cause and Effect diverge as mentioned. Cause following through with present Donnie’s POV and Effect following through with Leo, Mikey and Raph’s POV in the future. I do actually plan on making a small comic for this when I get the chance.

[queen-ofsunflowers]

Literal Theatre Kid Ren, Act 4: Our Winter

 As always, please note that times given in each game have been messed around with a little to make things work out. And because of where we ended last time, this act is going to start out pretty rough. As always, spoilers for Persona 5. And for A3!, too.

It is highly recommended to reread the end of Act 3, since that is where we’re picking up from.

Prologue Chapter:

Act 4 picks up almost immediately where we left off on Act 3, which means that Ren is still unconscious after being abused by the police following his capture. The public believes that the leader of the Phantom Thieves is dead. This was something that while initially planned, still has the entire company worried. Even those who had an idea of what Ren was doing are worried. So, when Ren finally comes around, it should be to no one’s surprise that the first thing that Morgana does is go and alert the others.

Now that Ren’s awake -- and after making sure that he didn’t have a concussion or worse -- it’s time to get some answers. While waiting for the other Phantom Thieves to arrive, Ren is glad to see that Taichi’s sticking around with the troupe, and Autumn is relieved that their brat is fine. (remember that Ren left right after it was revealed that Taichi was a spy for God Troupe? He never got to learn what happened after, so closure on that part.) 

The remaining members of the Phantom Thieves, along with Sae who needs an explanation too, arrive. Ren’s helped down the stairs from the attic and almost gets tackled by a few of the other troupe members. Notably, one of them almost breaks his already bruised ribs. After all that good stuff, it’s story time.

The Phantom Thieves never actually stole Sae’s Treasure. They used her Palace to deceive their own traitor that was working amongst them: Akechi. Akechi was the one in the black mask. Akechi was the one who had killed Haru’s father, he was the one who lead the police into the casino and he had tried to kill Ren. However, the Phantom Thieves were a step ahead of him this time. Outside of a Palace, the world is identical to reality. Ren’s capture and subsequent interrogation by Sae would allow a cognitive duplicate to take shape. Thanks to a bit of sleight of hand and Futaba’s hacking skills, they tricked Akechi into killing the cognitive double rather than the real Ren. (cue proud big bro kazu because of his sister’s hacking skills).

It’s also brought up that the Thieves knew of Akechi’s true nature -- or had an inkling of it -- all along. Back during the social studies trip, he let loose by accident that he had heard something that only Morgana mentioned. Normal people -- such as Masumi at the time -- aren’t able to hear Morgana speak. The only way to gain that ability is to hear Morgana talk in the Metaverse. It rewrites one’s cognition, so they’ll be able to hear him in reality. It’s why the Phantom Thieves can hear his voice while the Mankai Company can’t.

It’s also through Akechi’s slip-ups that the Phantom Thieves have learned who exactly is at the head of the conspiracy that’s plotted against them. It’s a politician by the name of Masayoshi Shido, who had some influence over the Metaverse thanks to having his hands on Futaba’s mother’s research. It was his underlings that were responsible for Haru’s father appearing on the Phan Site’s ranking poll in the first place. It was all a ploy to frame the Phantom Thieves for murder. His stance against them would boost his popularity and get him elected prime minister.

All of this has made him the Phantom Thieves’ next target. Despite some misgivings about them going after the guy who went after and nearly killed them, things would get a lot worse if Shido ended up prime minister. The older members of the Mankai Company end up promising to do what they can to protect the Thieves, but with how much power Shido has, it’s unsure how much they can do.

It’s during that conversation that Sakyo asks about what they’re going to do with the new members that are about to join the troupe, it’s here that Ren and the other Phantom Thieves go silent. Oh, crap.

They forgot all about the Winter Troupe.

The plan that the Thieves and the Company come up with is that for the time being, Ren’s going to pretend that he’s dead, with Izumi using him having to head back to his hometown briefly as an excuse for anyone who asks such as his school. For Winter Troupe auditions, they’ll have to go through with them primarily because the company is still in debt and needs to complete their final troupe to pay it off. That, and it would raise suspicions. They’re being careful about this though, with Futaba running background checks on any person that auditions and anyone with ties to Shido or the government overall will be turned away.

As for them learning about the Phantom Thieves’ IDs? ...yeah, Ren’s gonna figure that one out later.

Chapter 1: The Winter Troupe Auditions

It’s only a few days later that the Winter Troupe auditions take place. The Thieves have made very little to no progress in trying to guess Shido’s remaining keywords in order to actually access his Palace and take him down. With him being “dead” to the public, Ren has to stay behind at the dorms, much to his dismay. Haru, Ann, Futaba and Morgana volunteer to keep him company while the rest of the troupe deals with their usual daily tasks and Autumn Troupe accompanies Izumi to the Winter Troupe auditions.

Yusuke, Ryuji and Makoto go with Autumn Troupe and Izumi to audition Winter Troupe in Ren’s place. If he was caught, it would spell trouble and it’s a risk no one in willing to take despite how upset about it that Ren actually is. So, they’re there when only two people show up to auditions -- Azuma Yukishiro and Tsumugi Tsukioka. And lucky for them, neither of them work in the government.

And for those wondering about how the Thieves react to Azuma’s work? Makoto turns bright red, Ryuji had the misfortune of taking a swig from a water bottle at the time and promptly started choking, and Yusuke was honestly unfazed by the whole thing. Work is work, he ain’t gonna judge.

Chapter 2: The Challenge

As expected, the audition goes fairly well for both auditionees. And as expected by now, both Azuma and Tsumugi pass the audition. The company is running out of time, and they need all the help that they can get. However, there were only two people who auditioned. And Winter Troupe needs five members total.

Even though Izumi desperately wants to recruit the three Thieves that she brought with her, they have bigger matters to worry about for now. So they’re off the table, but she’s still not going to give up her efforts. They’re just... put on the backburner for now.

...though, what the troupes and the kids decide to do to get more actors does kind of help. Similar to what they did with the Spring Troupe, it’s time to hit the streets to see if they can find more actors that way.

Chapter 3: The Wandering Actor

The plan was to originally have Autumn Troupe pull off a street act with the two new Winter Troupe members in hope that it would draw in attention and potential recruits. However, Makoto, Yusuke and Ryuji get pulled in on the street act and Izumi notes that the three of them are better than expected. And that all three get really into it. Like... really get into it to the point where some of the passerby think that they aren’t acting.

Surprisingly though, it is what they’re doing (on top of Ryuji’s rather vulgar vocabulary) that draws in the third new recruit to Winter Troupe -- Homare Arisugawa, a poet that some of the group notes is about as eccentric as Yusuke.

It’s Taichi that gets the fourth member of Winter Troupe when he spots him in the crowd. Much to Mankai’s surprise, it’s Tasuku -- a now former member of God Troupe who had quit after finding out about what happened with Taichi. After quitting, he was blacklisted from every troupe in Veludo Way due to God Troupe’s influence. Well, almost every troupe. When it’s brought up that he could always join the Mankai Company, he accepts. Though, as Izumi and Makoto both note, the glare he gives Tsumugi makes them wonder if there’s something else going on between them that they don’t know about. Have they met before?

Izumi tries to figure out what to do about the tension between the two new members when Omi pulls her aside. During the past few conversations, he had been texting Ren and checking up on him. Ren needs them to come back to the dorms as soon as possible.

And Izumi panics when she reads about why.

Chapter 4: The Man with No Past

While everyone had been looking for Winter Troupe members, Ren was left behind at the dorms with Ann, Haru, Futaba and Morgana. With not much to do, the group chills out in the dorms’ common space while trying to figure out what Shido’s keywords could possibly be. No matter what they’ve tried so far, nothing has worked. Ren’s starting to think that maybe there’s something about the Metaverse that Shido knows but they don’t that’s keeping them from getting in. Not even TV is a useful distraction, as Akechi’s face is everywhere being praised for his actions against the Phantom Thieves.

None of them are sure that if what happens next is a good thing or a bad thing at all. With the election coming up, Shido’s been making campaign speeches around various neighborhoods, and today’s happens to be in the same one as the Mankai dorms. Hoping that they could get a clue about the keywords straight from the horse’s mouth, the girls and Morgana disguise Ren the best they can and head out.

However... that’s not exactly what they discover. Not only does Ren realize he’s heard Shido’s voice before, he’s met the man. Shido’s the man responsible for his arrest earlier that year. He was the one who sued him for assault and got him put on probation in the first place. It’s all his fault. And it kind of makes Ren spiral a little. Even the girls are shocked by this development.

Ren gets in contact with Sae about the situation, to try and figure out if there’s something that can be done about it if they bring down Shido. Even with proof of Ren’s innocence and a confession from Shido, it’ll be impossible to get his verdict overturned. And this is all something that Ren relays to Omi as the group is heading back to the dorms in defeat.

Ren’s in mid-text when he hears Futaba and Ann scream, the former jumping back and making him keysmash his latest message. Haru’s sharp gasp and Morgana racing ahead just as they get to the dorms has him concerned, and he soon sees why everyone’s suddenly on edge.

There’s a man passed out in front of the door.

It takes a lot for Ren to persuade them to help him bring the man inside because again, this might be a trick from the people who wanted him dead in the first place. Ren is quick to remind them that their enemies already think he’s dead, and they have no reason to go after Mankai. They bring the man inside and place him on the couch, and Ren contacts the rest of the troupe.

This is also how the Phantom Thieves accidentally found the fifth member of the Winter Troupe. Speaking of whom, they arrive with the rest of the Thieves, Izumi and Autumn Troupe not long after Ren told them about what happened.

The Winter Troupe gets immediately put on edge when they spot Ren and how beat up he is since his injuries haven’t exactly healed yet. And oh yeah, they don’t know about the Phantom Thief stuff and Ren’s not entirely sure if they can trust them with his secret yet, so Ren does use his probation and past experiences to explain away the situation as a hothead from school hearing rumors spawned by his criminal record and fighting him as a result.

The entire time Banri glares at Autumn Troupe’s Brat. Ren ignores it for the most part because there’s more important business to handle. Ren didn’t call them because of his injuries, but rather the unconscious man on the couch. Just as the group is contemplating whether or not to call an ambulance, the man wakes up briefly. Though it is difficult to get him to stay awake, they manage to get out some information from him. His name is Hisoka Mikage, and... actually, that’s about it. Hisoka can’t remember anything else besides that. He doesn’t even know why he wound up on Mankai’s front step in the first place. And there’s nothing on him that could help the others identify who he is.

When Hisoka refuses to have the police called, he gains Ren’s trust pretty quickly. After all, why would their enemy refuse to go to the police the way he did? Besides, Morgana seems to trust him plenty and that’s pretty much enough for everyone. And that’s also enough for Izumi to make one particular offer. Thus, Hisoka Mikage is allowed to stay at the dorms as the fifth and final member of Winter Troupe.

Chapter 5: A Surprise Connection

After letting the other Phantom Thieves know what Ren and the girls (plus Morgana) learned about Shido yesterday, the group heads over to the Diet Building where Shido’s Palace is located. One particular memory of Ren’s is what gives them the final keyword that they need to get in. And the palace itself? A large ship sailing through a flooded Japan.

With this twisted Palace now open to them, the mission to take down Shido and save all of Japan is a go. They have until election day to take care of this mess, which at this point is plenty of time for them to do things. With Izumi and a majority of the company knowing about their identities as Phantom Thieves, it will make working around Winter Troupe a whole lot easier than it was with the other troupes prior.

Or at least, it would be easy if the only path that they need to take to Shido’s Treasure wasn’t blocked. The only way to get through is to get letters from five cognitive beings that serve as Shido’s upper circle in the Metaverse. It’s too much for the group to tackle all at once, so knocking out as much as possible is definitely off the table.

As things settle into a new routine, the gang starts to gear up for the new Palace. And again, with Ren playing dead, there’s not much that he can really do. Haru and Makoto are on equipment duty, Ann and Ryuji can deal with stocking up on first aid and any other supplies they’ll need, and Futaba’s looking into the real-world counterparts of the people that they need to get the letters from in Shido’s Palace. That just leaves Ren, Yusuke and Morgana to... Actually, to help Winter Troupe move into the dorms. It’s not the most glamourous and Ren rather would be doing something else, but it needs to get done.

With all the members of Winter Troupe being adults, there’s no issue with them moving into the dorms other than having to do the work themselves. But again, Ren’s there the entire day to help out and Yusuke pitches in later when he gets home from school.

The only real problem that they run into at the dorms is who is going to be rooming with who. It’s not hard to make those choices, honestly. Hisoka has been staying there on his own and needs a roommate because of how easily he tends to fall asleep anywhere and everywhere -- a position that Homare is more than happy to fulfill.

Sensing the tension between Tasuku and Tsumugi, it’s finally addressed what the heck is going on between them. They do know each other. They were friends since they were kids. This gives Izumi the perfect excuse to put them in the same room together, leaving the last room to Azuma alone.

However, later on, Ren catches sight of Tasuku leaving his room under the excuse of not wanting to be around Tsumugi at all. Apparently, despite having grown up together, Tasuku can’t stand looking at him. Ren is kind of confused by Tasuku’s behavior towards Tsumugi. Every time he’s run into him before now, he had always been pretty decent towards him and his friend. So what made Tsumugi so different? Seriously, what the hell happened with the two of them?

Oh well... it can be a situation to deal with later or leave to Izumi for now. For now, Ren mostly has to keep an eye on the Winter Troupe from the background while the Phantom Thieves deal with Shido first and foremost. Then Ren can deal with Winter Troupe. After all, it’s not like Tasuku’s and Tsumugi’s situation is going to affect his own in the long run, right?

Chapter 6: Playing Shop

Winter Troupe starts their first rehearsal together that morning, and it’s also here that they learn that Ren is the assistant director for the company and not one of the actors as expected. A couple of them are surprised that they’re going to be working with a kid like this -- and they aren’t wrong, Ren is seventeen by this point. But he’s been working with the company since the previous troupes and according to Izumi, he’s irreplaceable. It’s not up for discussion. Especially after Ren starts off practice for them with the etudes.

He’s gotten better at acting in front of an audience since spring.

Long story short, it gives Izumi and Ren a good idea about where everyone’s standing at this point. Everyone shows promise and potential from where they stand, even if there are a few points that could use some brushing up on.

Chapter 7: A Half-Hearted Candidacy

Practice continues on until Ren has to head out for the day. The Thieves want to get the Palace done as soon as possible before any more shit can hit the fan, which means get as much done as they possibly can. But before he can go, there’s one more thing that needs to be taken care of and that’s who the leader for Winter Troupe will be.

To the group’s surprise, Ren nominates Tsumugi for the position. Though Tsumugi tries to deny at first, he ends up accepting the leader role.

He confides in Izumi before taking his leave that this was similar to how he himself had been nominated as the leader of the Phantom Thieves a few months ago. It really helped with his self-confidence, so maybe having Tsumugi as the leader for Winter Troupe could do the same.

It is also after this that Tasuku overhears a bit of the conversation between Ren and Izumi. Thankfully, it’s nothing about Ren being a Phantom Thief, but it’s instead when Izumi comments how similar Ren and Tsumugi are which confuses the both of them. She explains that Tsumugi acts pretty much the same way as Ren did when he first arrived at the dorms back in spring, and on top of that, his confidence in his acting skills is the same.

Though Ren’s cleared up on the matter, Tasuku is left confused. This is when he gets clued in on Ren’s stage fright and the cause for it. So, yeah. Tasuku gets the hint that there’s something going on with Tsumugi a bit earlier than he does in canon. What Tasuku decides to do with this information, Ren has no idea. He has to dash out with Yusuke to get into Shido’s Palace for the Thieves run-though that day.

Chapter 8: Hisoka’s New and Improved Digs

There’s still some tension in the air with Winter Troupe that the company doesn’t know what to do about and it’s been hanging around for a while now. It’s hard to break since Winter Troupe is made up of adults, which has a much different energy compared to the younger student members of the previous three troupes.

When Izumi overhears the troupe talking about how bare Hisoka’s room is though... she gets quite the idea for what could work for their bonding moment. The whole of Winter Troupe is gonna go out shopping for furniture and the like for Hisoka’s side of his dorm. 

Because Ren is currently playing dead and is dead tired from the Palace, it’s Yusuke who kind of gets kidnapped by Winter Troupe to go do the shopping thing. It’s not really kidnapping perse, more so that he just wants to go along to make his and Ren’s attic look better. that, and just like how i had plans for ren and autumn troupe, there are plans for yusuke and winter. Yusuke’s fine with a simple futon, but the attic is huge and almost bare despite supposedly having been a living quarters before. It’s kind of sad when you think about it.

So Yusuke goes with Winter Troupe. Have fun imaging that. He definitely got separated from the group at one point. He has fun with the outing, though. He never really got to decorate his room back at Madarame’s, so this is a first for him. Having everyone help keep him from going overboard is a plus, too.

But this also means that Yusuke is there when they stop at the beach on the way back at Hisoka’s insistence. Where he remembers that this was the beach that he washed up on, leading everyone to believe that he’s in Japan illegally. It’s hard to say at the moment because they won’t know for sure until Hisoka gets his memories back, but it is something that Yusuke brings up to Ren and Morgana when they get back.

All things considered, they’re not that surprised.

Chapter 9: Urban Legends Redux

Another day of skulking through the Palace (and a letter under their belt), and Ren, Yusuke and Morgana return home to dinner and a few of the Mankai members playing Mahjong together. After the chaotic day that they’ve had fighting Shadows, it’s a nice scene to come home to. Even Matsukawa is pleased to see it. The Mankai Company is starting to heal from past wounds and return to the way it was before.

A lot of Mankai’s history gets brought up (some of which the troupe is surprised that Ren already knows, and which Ren surprises himself by knowing). It’s here that Matsukawa decides to fuck around with Winter Troupe a bit and add Ren into the theater’s urban legends when those enter the conversation... just a little, even if one was already proven to be Misumi. 

There are few that have yet to be talked about: The Torment Doll, which is said to have trapped two quarreling troupe members in a time loop until they made up; the Locked Room, which is an unknown room that once locked in a troupe member who had to be let out, and finally the Loupe of Sincerity, which would allow someone to read a person’s thoughts if they looked through it. And then Matsukawa adds in a ghost that haunts the halls, beaten and bruised as he looks for the one responsible for it.

Ren just explains that last part away as such: “The closest thing we have to a ghost in the dorms nowadays is Morgana since he likes to wander around the building at night.”

It’s in this chapter that they learn the Winter Troupe’s stance on the Phantom Thieves when someone decides to bring them up as a way to defend the legends being real: Tasuku is firmly against the Phantom Thieves, especially with what they did to Okumura. He’s the only one who really is in this camp. Tsumugi and Azuma are part of the number that don’t think they killed anyone since until that point they’ve been helping people. Homare believes that they were an inspiration and Hisoka... isn’t sure, mostly due to his amnesia. (Though all can agree that since it was released that their leader was a teenager, that they didn’t deserve the fate that they got -- it’s a tragedy.)

Chapter 10: An Act-Off

So, Ren and the gang get their next letter a bit earlier than expected and therefore get out of the Palace earlier than expected. Sure, Ren and Yusuke are bit more banged up than they’d like to be, and if Morgana says one more thing about it when he doesn’t have to walk home, Ren’s gonna shake his bag but...

But they get caught by a friend. It’s Sumire, who had no idea that Ren was alright at all and nearly makes a scene. Actually, she does make a bit of a scene and catches the attention of God Troupe’s Haruto. He swears that he’s going to lose his mind on this guy because today really isn’t the day to do this (especially since Ren is playing dead and doesn’t want to attract any more unnecessary attention). Luckily for him, Winter Troupe was nearby doing street acts for rehearsal that day.

Now that they’re no longer working together, Tasuku is really able to lay into Haruto for the way he’s been treating these kids. To make things... more intense, let’s say, Sumire also brings up what happened during the closing night for The Roman Episode with Kamikizaka confronting and forcing Taichi to try and sabotage the show. She had been waiting in the wings and hoping to wish Autumn Troupe luck and caught the whole thing. This pisses off Ren immensely since he had no idea about that happening, even though Morgana had been there in the first place.

Izumi’s a bit worried that there might be a fight when Kamikizaka shows up to put an end to it... or possibly make it worse. Ren’s still trying to figure out what the hell this guy has against the Mankai Company in the first place. It makes no sense... and neither why he seems to recognize Tsumugi at all.

Ren and the rest of the troupe is thrown for a loop when Kamikizaka challenges the Winter Troupe to an Act Off on Christmas Eve -- a competition between two troupes perform for the same audience and have the audience vote on the better show. In this case, if Mankai wins, they’ll get all of God Troupe’s profits from the performance. But if they lose? They’ll have to disband. For good. He gives them a week to come up with their answer.

The whole group returns back to the dorm to let the rest of the company know what happened. Ren’s a bit upset about the whole thing because the Mankai Company’s become his home over the course of the past year. He can’t lose it. He just can’t. Not to mention, there are a few people who wouldn’t have anywhere to go if the dorms closed (Yusuke and Sakuya being the best two examples).

That being said, Yusuke’s incredibly nervous about it himself, though he’s doing a better job of hiding it and pretending that he’s fine. Much like with Ren, he’s found a place where he feels comfortable and can say with confidence that he belongs. This is now home to him. He doesn’t know what to do without it since he has nowhere else to go.

No one is sure whether or not to accept. If they lose, Mankai will have to shut down. But the profits from the show will be able to pay off their debt in full -- which if they don’t take care of soon, they’ll have to close down anyway.

Since they will be the ones performing this time around, the company leaves it up to Winter Troupe to decide whether or not to accept. It’s a heavy choice to make, especially for the new recruits. But they have a week to decide, and until then, Yusuke, Morgana and Ren have other things to worry about.

Chapter 11: Responsibility and Commitment

The next few days fly by as the Phantom Thieves dive into Shido’s Palace, getting the letters that they need to clear it one by one. And for those curious, yes. The other thieves do know about what’s happening with the troupe. Ren told them. They’re just as on edge. The way Tasuku has been so irritated and Tsumugi has been so anxious hasn’t been helping either. Winter Troupe’s doing a lot, but it’s not enough.

And the Phantom Thieves’ nerves get even worse when they realize that they weren’t as careful as they could’ve been. Taking the letters from the cognitions had an effect on Shido. And it’s one effect that Akechi noticed, putting two and two together and realizing that Ren is actually alive. Just as the Phantom Thieves get their hand on the last letter, he confronts them in the ship’s boiler room with his true nature now revealed.

Here’s the thing though. Ren doesn’t want a fight unless necessary, where Akechi clearly is looking for one. Akechi and Ren are the exact opposite of each other according to the detective, even if both regret that it had to come down to this. It’s also here that a rather huge bomb is dropped in the fact that the only reason Akechi agreed to work with Shido in the first place is because the man is his father.

“I had my Persona long before then, but the moment that I discovered the cognitive world was when I realized what I was truly capable of. Someone, be they a god or a demon, finally gave me a chance!”

Akechi sought revenge against Shido for abandoning him and driving his mother to her death. By becoming his hitman, he would be able to bring Shido right to the top... only to bring him to ruin and destroy everything he worked for by making him the puppet instead. At this point, any hope of avoiding a fight is lost. And so, the Phantom Thieves clash with Akechi in the boiler room.

During the fight, it is also revealed that besides the mental shutdowns, Akechi was behind the psychotic breakdowns as well. That was the true power of his Persona, driving the Shadows around the berserk with a looming shadow that doesn’t look like Robin Hood at all. It’s new, and it’s something else. But it’s still not enough. Akechi is driving himself mad trying to defeat Ren, but Ren is still calm and steady. He’s spent time with Akechi, and their fight in Act 3 has made Ren see that there’s more to him that what they’re currently seeing. They’re both against Shido. They’re both on the same side. So why doesn’t he act like it?

But it’s not an answer that the Thieves are ever going to get. Because as much as Ren begs and pleads, there’s an outlier that arrives and breaks up their fight. Shido’s cognitive version of Akechi shows up, ready to take out the real one. Shido had been planning to get rid of Akechi after the election. If anyone found out about the murders that he committed for him... well, Shido was ready. The cognition is ready to kill Akechi and the Phantom Thieves once and for all.

Shadows flood to the cognition’s side to almost an overwhelming extent. The cognition gives Akechi one last chance to prove himself by killing the Phantom Thieves. Akechi raises his gun and... misses. Instead, he hits the controls for the bulkhead’s door. It comes crashing down, separating Akechi, the Shadows and the cognition from the Phantom Thieves and confusing the Thieves as to what had just happened. Ren runs forward, banging on the door and trying to get it to open. They hear two gunshots, and then... silence. Akechi’s gone, just like that.

As much as Akechi was their enemy, Ren also spent a lot of time with him and become close in some strange way. There’s a relationship there, a relationship that received no closure, had holes and gaps where so much more could’ve been done and THAT’S what makes it hurt worse that Ren couldn’t stop him or save him.

The Phantom Thieves withdraw from the Palace for the day, in shock and still trying to make sense of what just happened. Ren is the worst among them. The train ride back to the Mankai dorm is done in silence. And though the troupe members realize something is wrong, all Ren really wants is to be left alone.

Ren and Yusuke run into Tsumugi as they make their way to their attic, the latter holding a stuffed doll in his arms. Ren does his best to keep on a brave face, to show that nothing is wrong since he has yet to know about the Phantom Thief secret. Ren quickly shuffles past Tsumugi, leaving Yusuke to try and come up with a solution to explain why they had gotten back so late. He heads up to the attic and collapses on his bed, too tired and too much done with the day to want to do anything else.

Deep down, a part of him hopes that this was all just one, terrible bad dream.

Chapter 12: Back to the Morning

When Ren opens his eyes again, it’s the same day as it was yesterday. He thinks that what happened in the engine room was really just a bad dream... until the day starts to play out almost exactly like his “dream”. Rehearsal is the exact same, the Palace is the exact same... the only ones who show as much confusion as him over it are Tasuku, Tsumugi and surprisingly Akechi to some degree. But it doesn’t matter in the end.

Because once again, the day plays out the same as before with the door slamming shut and Akechi being taken out by his own cognitive self. The only difference is that this time, Akechi uses his own power to drive himself briefly insane, resulting in another fight. But even with that change, he still ends up getting killed and spares the Phantom Thieves without any explanation why. And once again, Ren starts to break down.

Yes, the day that loops is the day that they fight Akechi in the engine room. So Ren has to watch Akechi die again and again the more that Tsumugi and Tasuku prolong this shit. We’re traumatizing Ren more than canon does.

Ren, Morgana and Yusuke trudge back to the dorms. Unlike the day before, Tsumugi is nowhere to be seen. Ren is still absolutely DONE, just wants to sleep and be left alone. He wants to just sleep until tomorrow and forget about everything.

The next morning isn’t the next morning. It’s the same day once again. Having this happen once was strange, but then only Ren thought that it was a dream. Having this happen twice is not a dream and is getting suspicious. Even more so when Ren gets pulled to the side by Misumi as he, Morgana and Yusuke go to leave for the Palace after morning rehearsal.

Ren tries to protest as Misumi drags him upstairs to Tasuku’s and Tsumugi’s room. It’s there that Misumi finds the cause of all their trouble  in Tsumugi’s hands -- the same plush that he had in Ren’s previous “dreams”. Apparently, the Torment Doll is living up to its name after all.

Chapter 13: Bridge-Mending Eternal Torment

It’s only once Ren hears the toy’s name does he remember the legend associated with it. He hasn’t been having the same dream over and over again. He’s been caught reliving the same day over and over again because of Tsumugi’s and Tasuku’s fighting. He suspects that the reason he’s conscious of the loop is due to his ability as a Wild Card, since the other Phantom Thieves haven’t been aware of what’s going on either. Misumi, though, Ren has no idea, but he’s grateful that the Summer Troupe member realizes that Ren was awake and brought him over to tell him what was going on.

Because while Misumi has only been losing the triangles he’s found over the course of the day, Ren’s been caught in eternal torment watching someone he considered a friend get killed over and over again.

And this is how Tasuku and Tsumugi become the first members of Winter Troupe to find out about the Phantom Thieves. Because Ren has to explain what’s been happening every day (for the most part, he leaves out the fact that Akechi keeps getting killed) and why he’s aware. They’re stunned for a moment but thinking back to what Ren looked like when they first met him, it kind of makes sense. So, those two are also the first members of Winter Troupe to find out about the Phantom Thieves’ identities. At least Ren’s for right now, the rest get revealed later.

The only way to fix this and end the loop is for the two members of Winter Troupe to make up and knock it off with their fight. If Tasuku and Tsumugi don’t get their shit together and Ren has to keep watching Akechi die, he’s going to punch them both in the throat. ...He’s not actually going to, Ren’s too much of a good person to do that, but he’s pretty damn close.

It’s also here that Ren learns of a possibility of why Misumi has been immune to the Torment Doll’s effects. The latter thinks it’s because of the fact that he’s one of the urban legends himself or it’s because of his Persona’s ability.

Yup! Misumi is a Persona User, wielding Myrddin (merlin) of the Aeon Arcana. The ability that Misumi is talking about is something that he’s been calling “Illusion Breaker”, which strips something of its falsehood and reveals the raw, real thing underneath. Misumi compares it to taking away the mask a person wears and making them face their own Shadow. It’s literally the ability to show someone’s true self or just the truth of something in general. 

From here on out, Misumi’s going to be helping the team and filling the gap that Akechi left behind. The Phantom Thieves are quite stunned about this, but there was always something a bit weird about Misumi since he could understand Morgana from the get-go, and now they have an answer for it that makes sense.

So, Misumi is taken into the Palace with them and becomes a Phantom Thief in his own right. (He’s kinda happy about it, getting to show off his skills and use his Persona again, as well as getting to keep an eye on their troublemaker. he thinks izumi would be proud of that one.) Which means, yes, Misumi is involved with the fight against Akechi in the boiler room.

Right up until Ren holds out his hand, inviting Akechi back so they can take down their common enemy together, everything has been playing out the same and Ren is shaking with what he knows is about to happen. But Misumi’s present this time. So when Akechi starts to have his own breakdown, things take a shift. With Myrddin’s Illusion Breaker, Misumi is able to reveal Akechi’s true self underneath Robin Hood’s mask and free what he’s been keeping bottled up.

And if we’re being honest, it’s not something that anyone was expecting. Because without something holding him back, Akechi fucking snaps. His princely attire starts to flicker, wrapping around with shadows and twisting into something else as he shows the Thieves who he really is. It’s at this point that the that their theory is confirmed and the Black Mask that they’ve been looking for and chasing has been Akechi the entire time. Akechi once again drives himself berserk, revealing his other Persona -- that looming shadow from the past loops -- Loki as the Black Mask rises to the surface.

But even then, it’s not enough for Akechi to be able to win. He’s taken down, and just like before, his cognition shows up to finish him off when the Thieves try to help. And just like before, the bulkhead door comes down. Akechi makes them promise to take down Shido in his stead and then... he’s killed. The group disperses, and Ren faceplants into his bed while Misumi takes care in explaining to the company what happened. Hopefully tomorrow will be easier...

That would be if it were actually tomorrow. The day loops back again, and Ren’s growing more and more frustrated. Misumi’s the only reason he doesn’t snap on Tasuku and Tsumugi when they talk after rehearsal that morning. The latter two are really bad at making up with each other. How hard can it be just to tell the other person what you’re really thinking?

That being said, Ren and Misumi go to catch up with Yusuke and Morgana so they can head out with the rest of the Phantom Thieves for the Palace. As Ren is rehearsing his explanation as to why Misumi is coming with in his head again, Misumi forces something into his hand. It’s a glove that Akechi had given him a few weeks ago, when they fought each other in Mementos. A reminder that they promised to have another duel again. He’s calling it a lucky charm.

Ren really hopes that this time, he’s right.

Chapter 14: Now and Then

Everything goes the same as it did in the last loop -- from the fight with Akechi, Akechi making himself go mad and reveal Loki and the Black Mask. Though Ren hesitated to let Misumi use Illusion Breaker, he knows that it’s probably for the best that Akechi loses his shit the way he did in the last loop. Keeping all those feelings bottled up... as much as they hurt to hear, they needed to get out. So, things start to play out the same way as they did in the last loop, though this time Akechi seems more defeated -- emotionally speaking. There’s remorse and pain that he’ll never be like Ren in the fact that Ren is surrounded by people who love and care about him. Even when the Mankai Company discovered they were the Phantom Thieves, they chose to support Ren and help him rather than turn him away. It’s that that Akechi wishes he had. Maybe things could’ve been different if he did.

Ren holds out his hand to Akechi again, promising that maybe he could, and for a second, he thinks that he’s going to take it. But then the cognition appears. And makes Akechi draw his gun. And... Akechi double-crossing his double by shooting it just as it shoots him in the side. With the cognition injured and stunned, Akechi shoots the bulkhead’s controls and brings the door down.

Remembering what had happened this morning and the glove in his pocket, Ren rushes forward to do one last thing as Akechi makes them swear to take down Shido.

“I promise... so you better deliver on your own, alright?! I’ll be holding onto your glove for you until you do!”

Akechi is... kind of surprised that Ren remembers this. He only laughs, and Ren is given no clear answer other than the sound of two gunshots, just like before. And then... silence. The Thieves, wanting to head out for the day, actually continue on under Ren’s direction. He remembers what he and Misumi had told Tsumugi and Tasuku that morning. Telling the other person what you’re really thinking... that’s what showed you were friends. That’s how you can fix a broken bond. And if they break their promise, Ren’s pretty sure Akechi might come back from the dead to make their lives hell.

And so, the route to Shido’s Treasure is secure. All that’s left is to send their calling card. And Misumi has the perfect idea in mind. All that they need is a little help from Yuki and maybe Taichi and Banri too, for an extra set of hands.

When the Mankai group gets back to the dorms, there really is no time to ask Yuki for his help with anything, as everyone is gathering in the common room for a meeting. Ren takes note that Tasuku and Tsumugi look more relaxed than they were that morning as Tsumugi tells the troupe what had happened in the past: how he had auditioned for God Troupe with Tasuku, how Kamikizaka told him that he had no talent, how he had run away from acting as a result... but this time, he’s not going to run away. Though he can’t promise that they’ll win, he wants to accept the challenge and do the Act Off.

Everyone agrees. They’re going to take down God Troupe, and the Phantom Thieves are going to bring down Shido. The pieces are finally starting to fall into place, and Ren is tired.

Chapter 15: An Old Maid Showdown

While the rest stay downstairs to talk about their upcoming show and how they’ll take down God Troupe, Ren is just tired from everything that happened that day. He excuses himself early to go upstairs and just sleep the rest of the day away. And possibly cry. Because even though everything was still out on the table and resolved, Ren still couldn’t save Akechi in the end.

Tsumugi goes to check on Ren because he recalled how Ren came back every day looking like the world collapsed around him. His heart breaks when he realizes what kept repeating for Ren. In an effort to make it up to him, he gets him out and downstairs to join everyone for their old maid tournament instead of having him lock himself away up in his room all night like he had been doing previously. He found out the hard way that bottling up everything isn’t good and can only drive away those that you care about.

if anyone remembers the confidant post, this is absolutely when tsumu’s gets established. ren now has all his confidants established and in play.

Ren does get dragged into playing as a representative for the Mankai’s crew members. He does a pretty good job, slipping into his Phantom Thief act a little bit to throw the others off, and being surrounded by the people he cares about does do something to make him feel better.

When he notices Hisoka is missing, though, he goes to look for him. Today was still a lot, and while he does feel better, he does still need some space to breathe. He finds Hisoka outside, halfway asleep and decides to be a brat and play a little prank by scaring him. It... doesn’t work out as planned, as the moment that Ren has his hand on Hisoka’s shoulder, Hisoka has his hands pinned behind his back.

So, Hisoka actually does hurt Ren a bit, even more than he would normally because Ren’s still recovering from his stint in the interrogation room. When Hisoka realizes who it is, he apologizes and lets him go. And though Ren brushes it off, he’s still left wondering...

...what the fuck was that?

Chapter 16: A Leader Meeting

The next morning is actually the next morning. There’s a sense of relief that washes over Ren when he realizes that the time loop has finally ended. Though there’s still the lingering pain over losing someone and being unable to do anything about it, talking to Tsumugi and being with everyone doesn’t make it hurt as much as it should. He’s going to solider on. He has a promise to keep, after all.

Later after rehearsal and Izumi calls Kamikizaka to let him know that they’ve accepted God Troupe’s challenge, she gathers the troupe leaders and Ren for a meeting. It’s also here that Ren reveals that he might’ve told Tasuku and Tsumugi about the whole Phantom Thief thing when he cracks a joke about him being present at the troupe leaders’ meeting because he’s the leader of the Phantom Thieves and not just because he’s the assistant director. ...that also reminds him that he should let the other Thieves know about Tasuku and Tsumugi, too...

Anyway, the theme that they’ve been given for the Act Off is “angels”. Their show has to surround this concept, and it’s one that God Troupe takes an advantage in since it’s different from what Mankai has done so far. Tsumugi’s slightly nervous about it all, especially since Winter Troupe isn’t a cohesive unit like the other troupes yet. He’s reassured that they were all like that at first, and Winter Troupe will come together soon enough.

Chapter 17: Pleasant Bickering

With the short amount of time that Mankai has to prepare for their latest show, it is something of a relief that Tsuzuru has already something written. He had been writing a couple of shows in his spare time just to keep himself from getting rusty with his writing skills. All he needs to do is make adjustments to have it fit with the “Angel” theme, as well as the Winter Troupe’s actors, and they’ll be good to go.

It’s with talking about the show to Winter Troupe that the troupe decides to differ from their past shows and do a tragedy this time, befitting how most stories with angels in media tend to go. A tragedy with a calm, mature feel to match the vibes of the Winter Troupe, seeing as they’re all adults.

we’re speedrunning the winter troupe here because i have an idea for the ending, kind of like what I did with act 3.

Not even a day later, Tsuzuru has their script done: a tragic love story that Winter Troupe is prepared to begin rehearsing.

Chapter 18: Roles that Click

Rehearsal gets started and Ren is still trying to process how different Tasuku and Tsumugi are acting with each other now that they’ve made up. It’s like someone flipped a switch, but hey. He’s not complaining.

Seeing the others act out the show for the first time, Ren nearly starts to cry at the end of it though at this point only tsumugi and morgana might be able to guess why. He reassures the others and Izumi that he’s fine, and that they should continue on with practice.

Instead of Tetsuro jumpscaring the group, it’s actually Yusuke who came to ask about the sets since remember, he’s the one helping to work on them. The whole thing makes Winter Troupe think that he was the ghost Matsukawa was talking about (even though that was actually Ren).

And Yusuke bringing up the sets reminds Ren... aside from asking Tsuzuru to write something out for the Phantom Thieves, he needs to borrow Yuki for a little commission that he has in mind. And that involves a trip down to the subway station.

Chapter 19: Holding the Fort

Ren is over the moon to learn that Yuki and Tsuzuru are willing to help out the Phantom Thieves for their hopefully final heist. They have to hurry, though, since elections are coming up and that’s their deadline to stop Shido. Yuki has to get taken into the Metaverse to get a decent look at the Phantom Thieves’ uniforms and masks to recreate them, so as of right now, he’s the only one outside of the team who is able to understand Morgana. First time he hears the cat speak, though, he screams.

While Yuki gets to work (and after he calms down about Morgana) Azuma’s begun to act a bit strange. He’s been going out after practices and getting home rather late. Azuma’s an adult, so Ren tries to brush it off as adult business, but that doesn’t mean that none of the troupe members aren’t worried or concerned.

Since they really can’t do anything else until Ren’s commission from Yuki is done, Ren and Yusuke decide to take a look and follow Azuma to see where he’s been going every day, with Tsumugi coming with to keep an eye on them. Eventually, the group tracks him down to a bar where he’s meeting with a woman... and then proceed to get caught. Yeah, not the kids’ best moment considering they’re Phantom Thieves. Azuma’s more perceptive than most Shadows.

Though Azuma is disappointed that Tsumugi went along on the whims of two teenagers, he does understand that they were worried about them... especially when Yusuke flats out states it. Azuma is quick to brush them off. And he doesn’t come back home that night.

Ren’s worried that he, Yusuke and Tsumugi might’ve overstepped a boundary so when Azuma comes back that morning, he’s quick to apologize to him, even though Azuma didn’t think much about it. In fact, it’s what helped him make the choice to go back to work and move out of the dorms. He assures him, Izumi and Winter Troupe that he’s still going to take part in the show, just that it would be better this way.

...will it, though?

Chapter 20: Morning Will Come

There’s not much that the others can do in order to persuade Azuma. He’s an adult. He’s allowed to make his own choices. A few of the troupe members lend their hand with packing Azuma’s things when the latter falls a bit behind on it. While the others start to get to work, Yusuke shows Azuma where the cardboard boxes are since he has a majority of the storage rooms’ layouts memorized from his set work at this point.

That is, he thought he did because there’s a door to a room that he hasn’t seen before. A bit curious, Yusuke decides to investigate without telling Azuma what’s going on. This leads to both of them getting trapped in the room when the door shutting on them and getting stuck.

Yeah... Instead of Izumi getting stuck in the Locked Room with Azuma, it’s Yusuke.

And they end up stuck in there for hours, waiting for someone to realize they’re missing. But time ticks on and the pair eventually fall asleep.

Chapter 21: An Inedible Dream

Morning eventually comes, and both Azuma and Yusuke are still locked in the room together. While Yusuke thinks it’s strange that no one has come looking for them yet, Azuma’s current sleeping state catches his attention quicker than that. He wakes him from his less-than-peaceful dream and being curious and lacking in social boundaries, asks what happened to cause it.

Azuma isn’t about to explain this to a child. Possibly the director if the need arises, but Yusuke’s not at the top of the list. A bit concerned, Yusuke continues the conversation while they wait for help to arrive since there’s nothing else to really do, and this is slowly starting to remind him about his time under Madarame’s care.

The fact that Madarame had one student left under his care was something that was brought into the public, but since Yusuke is still a minor, his identity was never revealed to the public. So Azuma is 

The two end up talking about their shared experiences: the loss of their parents, etc, etc. More importantly, Yusuke brings up how the Phantom Thieves changed him and made him feel less alone.

Yes, Azuma is the third to find out about the Phantom Thieves. When asked why Yusuke told him, he simply replies with that he and their leader trust him. And this is what leads into Azuma giving in and telling Yusuke about what caused his nightmare in the first place and that he can’t stand sleeping alone because of it.

To Azuma, no matter what he does, he will never be able to rid himself of that feeling of loneliness. Yusuke finds this strange, since -- as he voices out loud -- Azuma doesn’t seem like he is alone when he’s working on the play with the other members of Winter Troupe, or when he’s with them in general.

Before the conversation can continue any further, the two are rescued from the room by the troupe members plus both directors that had been looking for them. There’s not much time left before Azuma has to get all of his things out, so they’d better get a move on--

Except that Azuma has changed his mind. Thanks to his conversation with Yusuke, he’s decided to stay in the dorm. As Winter Troupe heads off to their morning rehearsal, Yusuke pulls Ren aside to let him know that he had told Azuma about the Phantom Thief secret. Ren wishes that Yusuke had talked to him about it before he decided to do it, but he’s fine with it either way since he did the same with Tasuku and Tsumugi.

However, when Yusuke does ask about the storeroom that he and Azuma were just locked in, he’s confused as to why Ren gives him a weird look, saying that there’s not a storeroom there. There wasn’t even supposed to be a door. When both boys look back, the door is gone. 

...they decide it’s best to keep this to themselves.

Later on, Azuma finds that Ren let Morgana into his room for the night when the cat’s curled up next to him in bed.

Chapter 22: On Love, Winter Edition

When it comes up that Winter Troupe goes out drinking in order to sort of bond the same way that the other Troupes have. Since the Phantom Thieves are underage, Ren is thankfully saved from getting teased by Winter Troupe like he had been with Autumn when they get to talking about their relationships. However, that doesn’t mean there’s not going to be teasing abound here.

Back at the Mankai Dorm, the target of the group’s teasing is going to be Tenma this time around. Mostly by Summer Troupe, with the younger members of the remaining troupes and Yusuke joining in. It turns to a conversation about previous relationships that the teenagers have had. Turns out, between all of them, there’s not that much experience.

This sort of turns to the group teasing Taichi and Tenma about crushes that they have (Taichi with Sumire and Tenma about someone that he’s determined to keep under wraps). It gets a bit out of hand and Sakyo has to come and get everyone to quiet down.

Chapter 23: Seamsters Union

With Yuki working on both the costumes for the Phantom Thieves and the Winter Troupe, his sewing machine has been going almost all night. Tenma has taken refuge in the attic with Ren and Yusuke to escape it.

When it comes time to put the final fittings together for Winter Troupe’s costumes, Ren feels a bit bad about the state that both Yuki and Taichi -- who had been assisting the former in his sewing binge -- are in. They’re both exhausted, and Ren’s not sure if it’s because of the time crunch they were on or because he had them also working on the secret project for the Phantom Thieves. Even with Ann and Makoto working to help them in the background when she could, the bags under their eyes aren’t going to go away for a while.

Speaking of which, while Winter Troupe tries on their own costumes, Taichi comes up to Ren with a few boxes. They’re the costumes that he had asked Yuki to make. With them ready, it shouldn’t be long before the Phantom Thieves can put their plan into action.

...all they need to do is borrow Kazunari’s expertise and Tsuzuru’s script and they’ll be set.

Chapter 24: Seeds

The Phantom Thieves have wrapped up filming a short video with Kazunari. After getting changed, they head out with the Troupes to advertise Sympathy for the Angel. Well, everyone but Ren and Morgana, since Ren is still technically in hiding and playing dead.

Passing out flyers went well according to what Ren had heard, so he doesn’t quite understand the heavy tension that’s in the air during rehearsals that evening. And Winter Troupe seemed to be starting to get along, too. That’s when it comes up that Winter Troupe members were approached by a few people who had overheard rumors about them. There were even a few going around about Hisoka being in Japan illegally, something that only the company should know.

Ren’s blood runs cold when Tasuku tells him that he overheard the assistant director’s criminal record brought up as well. Outside of the troupe, the only ones who know are students from Hanasaki. Even then, it was confined solely to the school and no one outside of the Phantom Thieves and the troupe members know about his involvement with the Mankai Company since he’s almost always backstage and unseen. 

Azuma immediately turns this around, calling out Tasuku for hanging around Haruto, who had most likely been the one to tell him (which isn’t wrong, Tasuku even says so himself but knowing how Ren and Haruto interact, he kept that part quiet). It turns into an accusation of Tasuku being a spy for God Troupe, and then an argument between Tasuku and Azuma since the former thinks that the latter might’ve let something slip while out working one night.

Things aren’t looking to be too good. Ren knows that Tasuku wouldn’t say anything about his criminal record, nor would Azuma. He trusts both of them, and both of them also know of his identity as a Phantom Thief. If they wanted to do some real damage as a spy, they could’ve easily leaked that and ruined Mankai because of the association.

...so what the hell happened? And is Winter Troupe’s fracture going to mend or break them apart entirely?

Chapter 25: Discord

While Kazunari goes about editing the video, Ren has to get back to rehearsals and it feels like it did when Winter Troupe first started. It’s worse now than it was back then, especially with the performance right around the corner. Azuma and Tasuku threaten to start arguing again when Homare decides to step in to put an end to it.

Homare is... incredibly blunt in what he says to try and get Azuma and Tasuku to calm down. And while he’s not entirely wrong and gets to the root of the problem, it’s not exactly something that should’ve been said out loud like that. This extends to Tsumugi, Hisoka and even Ren as well -- the latter of whom stepped in to try and let Homare know that maybe he should’ve kept his mouth shut about Azuma’s feelings concerning his job, Tasuku’s about his previous affiliations with God Troupe, Hisoka’s about his amnesia and Tsumugi’s about his failure at God Troupe’s audition. With Ren, it’s targeting his feelings over being labelled a criminal and how that has been affecting him.

So everyone gets quiet and kind of winds up pissed off at Homare for blurting out their innermost feelings like that. Everyone leaves, practice cut short. What Homare said might’ve been true, but sometimes there are just things you don’t say out loud. Once again, Homare has made a mistake.

...wait, again?

Chapter 26: A Broken Cyborg

Instead of Izumi having this discussion with Homare on her own, it’s Yusuke who joins them since I think Yusuke can also relate to Homare on this matter to some degree. He had come to get Izumi’s opinion on the set design when everyone had stormed out of the practice room, so he’s here now.

As Homare explains it, he’s something of a “broken cyborg”. He has difficulty understanding how others’ minds work. His own only thinks in logic and art. Not emotion. To him, if he had made the root of the problem obvious, that would fix everything.

Izumi and Yusuke try their best to help Homare with the issue he’s having. Communication and explaining your own thoughts is the key, but Homare is just afraid of hurting the other members of the Winter Troupe again.

Yusuke takes Homare to one of the storage rooms to help him clean out a few props, hoping that it would help him clear his head somewhat. And maybe he’ll be able to divulge some advice like he had with Azuma -- keeping the Phantom Thief secret this time of course. 

What happens instead is that Homare finds something rather interesting hidden away within the storage room that might just help him out -- one of the urban legends. The Loupe of Sincerity, a simple magnifying glass that can allow someone to read another person’s thoughts.

Chapter 27: The Loupe of Sincerity

Before rehearsal begins that day, Homare asks to call a short meeting. Ren’s a bit confused by the magnifying glass he’s holding up to them and worried that Homare’s vision might be going. He has no idea what’s going on, but Homare seems to be reading the room better today. He explains that he wants to understand the others, and he meant no ill will with what happened the day before.

Not only does the Loupe help him read and understand the thoughts of his fellow troupe members, but those of the director and the assistant director as well, using them to help smooth things over. It’s also because of this Homare learns of the Phantom Thieves’ identities by reading Ren’s thoughts, who is still thankful that it was his probation record that got leaked again this time around and not the fact that he got arrested as the leader of the Phantom Thieves.

After rehearsing, Homare catches Ren on his way back to the storeroom to return the Loupe where he found it. It’s here that he also confronts and explains to Ren what had happened. It doesn’t take long for Ren to figure out what’s going on.

Homare is... surprisingly calm about the whole Phantom Thief secret as Ren explains it to him, since he is a member of the company and has a right to know as three thieves are currently living under Mankai’s roof. Homare had an idea about something being kept secret from Winter Troupe, and no one has exactly been subtle about their preparations for helping the Phantom Thieves with their final calling card. He just hopes that they can continue to be an inspiration not only to him, but to those who need courage as well. He promises to keep their secret, as well as to let Izumi and the others know that Ren had told him about it so Ren doesn’t have to go through the trouble of stammering over another explanation... especially since he has to be the one to tell the Thieves.

So that’s everyone except Hisoka knowing the Thieves’ identities now. 

Speaking of which, Yuki’s put the finishing details on the commission that Ren gave him (with some help from Ann, Makoto, Taichi and Banri as well to help speed things along and work on the Winter Troupe’s costumes at the same time). With Kazunari and Omi lending their assistance, it’s time for the Phantom Thieves to make their calling card shine.

Chapter 28: Better and Better 

For the Phantom Thieves, it’s finally go time. They tell the Mankai Company to keep an eye on the news and set out, with Futaba leaving Kazunari a flashdrive containing the calling card that they made. All he has to do is follow what she tells him to do to send it out when she calls him before heading into the Palace with the others.

So, later that night when he gets the call during Winter Troupe’s dress rehearsal, he plugs it into her laptop and... well, let’s say that these siblings make quite the scene in downtown Tokyo as their little video acts as the calling card, projected over every single screen in the urban streets and hijacking the news’ airwaves. Even when they try to take them down, Kazunari is able to keep the video rolling until the very end with Futaba’s instructions.

The police are scrambling to understand what’s going on, as they had believed the leader of the Phantom Thieves to be dead. Meanwhile, the Phantom Thieves themselves duck into Shido’s Palace and make a beeline for that Treasure. They made a promise, and Ren’s sure as hell going to keep it. 

They are met with a grand stage for their battle, as well as the mastermind behind it all. The Phantom Thieves confront Shido’s Shadow, who reveals his plan to use the changes of heart that Akechi had done for him to basically manipulate the public into making him Prime Minister. He shows no remorse, regret or care for those who got hurt or lost their lives because of his actions. He sees it all as necessary for the one who was chosen by God -- himself -- to fulfill his plans. He offers the Phantom Thieves a chance to stand with him and join him.

And after all that he had done to them -- what he had done to Ren...? There is no way in hell that they would ever accept that offer. And so, the battle begins. It is a long and difficult fight, involving Ren completely losing his shit on Shido and nearly one-shotting him in his fury. It’s only when Misumi reminds him of something that Tsumugi told him that he calms down.

The Phantom Thieves barely have enough time to swipe Shido’s treasure when the Palace starts crumbling around them. It’s being destroyed, only explained as something happening to Shido in reality to cause it. He’s trying to take them out while they’re still in his Palace. They race out, barely able to make it out in time and causing Ryuji and Misumi to apparently sacrifice themselves in order to protect everyone else. It was luck that they make it out alive, getting yelled at and tackled by the others in relief that they’re okay. Misumi had activated Ryuji’s MetaNav before the ship exploded to get them out.

In the end, they’ve done it. They’ve changed Shido’s heart. All that’s left to do is to return home and wait.

Little do they realize that as they made their move, the police and Shido’s conspiracy made moves of their own against those connected to the Thieves, such as Sae and the Mankai Company itself. By the time Yusuke, Ren, Morgana and Misumi return, the place is in shambles and no one can be found. No one is answering their phones, either. Before they can start panicking, the entire company returns to their relief. Izumi is happy to see that they’re back safe and sound.

The company goes on to explain what had happened.  As soon as rehearsal wrapped up, there were police at the dormitory and at the theater to catch Izumi and the Winter Troupe. Since they had connections to multiple suspected Phantom Thieves (such as being classmates or directly related to them in Kazunari’s and Banri’s cases) and their leader himself, they were taken into custody and questioned heavily. Suddenly, they had been let go... right around the same time  It was luck that Yuki thought to store the costumes he made at the theater instead of in the dorm, otherwise they might have been in even worse trouble after the dorm had been searched so much.

Ren is just relieved that everyone is okay... even if they all have to clean the dorm from top to bottom now. Though, it comes as a second thought and is only brought up in the explanation but... While they thought Hisoka was clueless as to why they had been all taken like that, he flat out states without batting an eye “it’s because we had connections to the Phantom Thieves and their leader, right?”

So... yeah, Hisoka’s known this whole time. He can’t remember how or why he knew, but he’s known, claiming that the others weren’t very subtle about it. He didn’t have any strong opinions on the matter, so he kept it to himself. That... is something of a weight off of Ren’s shoulders. He wasn’t sure how to tell Hisoka at all.

But now, all that’s left to do is wait... 

Chapter 29: Debut Night

The next morning, despite being exhausted from all the work the night before, Ren is woken up to get back into his normal routine and to see if Shido’s change of heart had taken effect. Not only was it the day of the election, it was also opening night for Sympathy for the Angel. He’s already on edge with the election and the possibility that their change of heart might not have worked.

Luckily, Tsumugi is there to remind him that all their changes of heart have worked before. Though it hasn’t always ended in their favor, they have worked. He needs to relax and believe in himself and his friends. Ren swallows his fear, choosing to focus on the show that night instead.

With Yusuke and Morgana working backstage with him, Ren has little difficulty focusing on the show as Winter Troupe makes their debut performance. A wave of relief comes crashing down over Ren when their play is met with a resounding applause. It gives them and Ren some confidence that maybe they might win the Act Off that’s ahead of them towards the end of the week.

As they leave the stage, Yusuke has a video ready for Ren. It’s of Shido. Although he won the election in a landslide vote, he also made a speech where he confessed to everything that he had done.

Everyone -- be they Mankai member or Phantom Thief -- gathers at the dorm to celebrate their victory and a successful opening night. It feels like a dream to Ren. Something that’s almost too good to be true. The efforts one both of the fronts have paid off really well.

The celebration is brought to a halt when the adults -- Sakyo and Sae mostly -- remind everyone that Ren has to go back to school just in time for exams, which Sakyo tells him that he’d better not fail. Just because he might have just saved Japan from a sociopath doesn’t mean that he can fall behind in his studies.

Don’t worry. Sakuya (and a semi-reluctant Masumi) promise to help him catch up on what he had missed.

Chapter 30: Theatre Junkies

Ren feels like he’s on top of the world. Despite having been out for almost a month, he’s been finding his exams easy. Though, that might be due to Masumi’s and Sakuya’s studying sessions with him and the rest of the thieves each afternoon before Winter Troupe takes to the stage for their showings. Even with the high that he’s feeling, Ren still needs a break. That might be why Izumi sends him out with Tsumugi and Tasuku on a small shopping trip. Ren IS Mankai’s little gofer, and the fresh air could do him some good. That, and Izumi thinks the kid should be walking around the streets by himself until the whole mess with the Phantom Thieves is resolved since their enemies know his identity.

Ren finds it amusing that Tasuku’s and Tsumugi’s relationship has improved so much to the point where they seem to be back to what he guesses what they had before. It’s a strange in-sync that Ren finds comforting. ...though, they get so into their conversation at one point that they forget that Ren is even there.

While they’re out, Ren heads off on his own for a moment to go and get some personal things that he forgot to pick up at the last minute. He assures Tasuku and Tsumugi that he’ll be fine and heads off.

On his way back to Tsumugi and Tasuku, Ren has the misfortune of running into Reni Kamikizaka. Like before, Kamikizaka acts strange around Ren to the point where it kind of sends the feeling of spiders up Ren’s spine. It’s like Kamikizaka knows him, or more about him. He keeps asking Ren questions that makes him feel like he’s in the interrogation room all over again.

He basically says a lot of things that confuse the fuck out of Ren, delving in pretty deep into something that Ren had repressed and forgot about until Tsumugi shows up to kind of save him. It backfires, as Kamikizaka turns his attention onto berating Tsumugi for his acting ability, crushing the confidence that they had spent so long building back up. It’s only when Ren finally tells him to (in a polite way) fuck off does he leave.

Tsumugi is off when they return, and Ren doesn’t blame him. It gets a bit worse when Hisoka isn’t at the top of his game, either. Turns out, he accidentally fell asleep in the courtyard and is under the weather. Ren has an idea that might work -- even if it means diving into the first aid supplies that are strictly meant for the Metaverse. He wonders if it could do something to help with Hisoka’s cold so that he could go up on stage that night.

But before he has a chance to try them, Hisoka is nowhere to be found.

Chapter 31: Memento

Hisoka is missing. Even without being under the weather, this would be a bad thing. Everyone scrambles, searching the dorm from top to bottom to try and find the missing Winter Troupe member. Eventually, the search stretches beyond the dorms. Ren grows worried, lingering back in case Hisoka returns and to call in the rest of the Phantom Thieves for help. He also wants to try and find something that might be able to work on Hisoka and help him with his cold.

It’s pure luck that Morgana leads Ren right to one room that they haven’t tried before because it was locked. Ren silently thanks Morgana for teaching him how to lockpick before picking the lock and getting inside. And there is Hisoka, collapsed on the floor. Ren heads inside, not thinking twice before the door shuts behind him and locks him and Morgana in as well.

Not that they realize it. They’re too focused on Hisoka, trying to get some answer out of him about why the hell he’d do something like this when he’s under the weather and trying to get him to take the medicine that Ren’s offering. According to Hisoka, it was what he was taught to do. Though confused, Ren doesn’t question it for now. He attempts to call the others to tell him they found Hisoka, but his phone isn’t getting reception. And they can’t open the door.

It is only then that Ren and Morgana realize that they’re in the exact same room that Azuma and Yusuke got locked in a few weeks ago, much to Ren’s dismay. All they have left to do is wait.

Hisoka, in his feverish state, starts talking to Ren as Ren tries to get him to sleep off his illness and let the medicine he gave him take effect. It’s then that he says something... strange.

“...I remember... I remember what I did... How unforgiveable it was... What I did to August... ...I’m so sorry, June...”

 And then proceeds to pass out, calling Ren “June” rather than his actual name. Ren gets confused as hell over this, since he actually has no idea what Hisoka is talking about, but he guesses whoever “June” was must’ve looked like or acted him in some way.

Not long after, they’re found and saved by the other company members. Thanks to the medicine Ren gave him, Hisoka recovers remarkably quickly. Though when Ren asks him about what happened and what he said, Hisoka can’t remember what he’s talking about.

...Hisoka is definitely one of the more eccentric members of Winter Troupe, he’ll say that much.

Chapter 32: The Night Before Closing

The past few days for Ren have been... strange. What Kamikizaka had said to him and Tsumugi, what happened with Hisoka... it’s all been dwelling on his mind. At the afternoon show before closing night at the Mankai Theater, Ren happens to overhear some of the audience members critiquing the troupe’s performances.

He understands that there were bound to be some people who perferred Tasuku’s performances from when he was in God Troupe, but dragging Tsumugi’s acting through the dirt just to lift up Tasuku?

...he will not deny that he had to be held back from saying something he shouldn’t have. 

Chapter 33: Regret Bubbling Over

Apparently, Ren hadn’t been the only person who overheard what the public had to say about Tsumugi. During the closing performance at Mankai, Tsumugi changes his approach to his character while on stage. It’s different than how he was before, and it surprises Izumi, Ren and the rest of Winter Troupe. It’s not Tsumugi at all. It felt like he was trying to mimic Tasuku instead.

It... doesn’t exactly go over well with everyone. With the way Tsumugi just performed, there wasn’t any chance that they could win the Act Off like that. Tasuku... goes off on Tsumugi somewhat, trying to figure out what was going on with him, but Tsumugi is tight-lipped and leaves fairly quickly, believing that he might have been in the right.

It’s only later that Ren reveals what exactly Kamikizaka had said to Tsumugi in the first place to Tasuku and Izumi while everyone’s getting ready to head back to the dorms for the night. Suddenly, things make sense to them and Tasuku leaves to go and talk to Tsumugi and hopefully help him get through the funk that he’s currently in.

... things are starting to look up.

Chapter 34: Stand By Me

Morgana lets Ren know that Tsumugi and Tasuku talked things out and things might actually go well with the Act Off. And now with the Phantom Thieves on their winter break, the rest of the team can finally help out with the show and packing things up to take over to God Troupe’s theater for the Act Off.

Ren feels a little bit relieved to see both parts of his life meshing so well together. He feels comfortable. At peace with everything. As he’s cleaning up and making sure all the props are accounted for (not wanting a repeat of what happened with The Roman Episode), he’s approached by Tsumugi who was wondering what he was still doing here so late at night.

The two of them have another heart-to-heart moment where Ren is reassured that no matter what happens, he’ll always have a place to go. Tsumugi and the rest of the Winter Troupe promise to make this performance the best one yet to assure that it would happen.

However... When Ren feels good, things decide to take a turn for the worse. Yusuke calls out for Ren, saying that he and the rest of the Phantom Thieves need to speak to him about something important.

Despite his confession, the news talks about Shido’s inauguration as Prime Minister. It was like nothing that the Phantom Thieves did matter. The public is acting like they don’t even exist. They still believe in Shido, and Sae is having difficulty assembling a case against him because of all of this. Even after everything that they had gone through, the Phantom Thieves are still labelled as criminals by the public. There are some people even calling for them to be hunted down.

Needless to say, it’s bad. It’s worse than that.

Ren tries to calm down, but the group needs a plan to fix this. To him, it was like dealing with a hydra: even if they cut off one of the conspiracy’s heads, there was going to be another to take control of the main body... or even worse, two more would grow back in its place. At this rate, the crimes committed using the Metaverse will escalate. Not only are the Phantom Thieves themselves in danger, but so are the Mankai Company as they know the truth. Putting them in danger is the last thing that Ren or anyone of the Thieves wants to do.

So what can they do?

...It’s then that Morgana reminds them that Mementos still exists. It is technically the public’s Palace. It is the source of all cognitive distortion and a direct link to the collective unconsciousness. But it is still a Palace, which means that it has a Treasure. Stealing it would have an effect on the public... and might just be what they need... even if it means that it will lead to the collapse of the Metaverse, and the end of their actions as the Phantom Thieves. It’s risky, but it’s a risk that the Phantom Thieves have to take. And there isn’t a lot of time to do it.

Though Ren had made it a rule to not go into Palaces on show days, this time has to be an exception. During the day, they’ll dive into Mementos and carry out their mission... and be back in time for Winter Troupe’s closing performance.

It looks like tomorrow will be a day that they won’t soon forget.

Chapter 35: Refrain

It’s Christmas Eve. Ren explains everything to the Mankai Company, and while they understand the severity of the situation, they warn Ren to be careful. Izumi reminds him to be back in time for the show. He’s a member of the company, too, after all... they all are (Misumi quite literally). He should be there. Ren promises that he wouldn’t miss it for the world, and if he does, then Masumi has every right to kick his ass.

So... the Phantom Thieves dive into Mementos for one last heist. It is there in the depths that they discover something unsettling: the Shadows of the public locked away in cages on their own accord, including all those that they changed the hearts of sans Haru’s late father. They’ve allowed themselves to be imprisoned by the pressure society has placed on them. They think that it would be better to allow someone to control them rather then make decisions on their own. It’s sad and pathetic to see, but the Thieves need to do something about it. It isn’t right to sacrifice and eliminate one’s own free will like that.

And it doesn’t take them long to discover the cause behind it all. At the bottom of Mementos is the Holy Grail -- the true ruler of Mementos. It speaks to them, trying to get them to submit to its will. But these are the Phantom Thieves its talking to. There is no way that they would submit after all they’ve been through.

And it seems like they’ve done it. With one last blow with the screams of the masses to stop on their ears, the Phantom Thieves take down the Holy Grail. There’s a bright flash of light before they can watch it crumble and they’re ejected from Mementos. The MetaNav is gone from their phones. They believe that they did it. That they won. The battle wasn’t made difficult, but they’ve done it.

At least, they’re all certain of it. Morgana and Misumi aren’t entirely sure, but there’s little time to dwell on it. There’s one more thing that they need to do that night. 

The team makes it just in time to help set up Mankai for their performance, to the elation of everyone present. Even Sumire shows up to lend a hand, despite not officially being a member of the Phantom Thieves in this timeline. At first, the company thinks that they’re going to be sitting in the audience and watching but no. With how big the stage is, Ren’s going to need some help managing it from backstage. At this point, they’re basically Mankai’s stage crew. It’s time for them to start acting like it.

Besides, they do need to make up for making them worry so much. 

Chapter 36: Like Praying

They’ve come a long way, and now it’s time to shine. The Winter Troupe even pulls a surprise on Yusuke, pulling him onto the stage with them for a small, one-line role that one of the Winter Troupe members usually fulfilled from backstage. Even if they failed, the entire company puts everything they have into blooming on stage and making their performance count. Ren has to agree with Izumi when she says that this might be Winter Troupe’s best show yet.

By the time the curtain falls, everyone’s holding their breath. And then... an applause so loud that it makes the company’s cheers go deaf on Ren’s ears. And it shows no signs of slowing down when the Winter Troupe steps out on stage to take their bows, including bringing the stage crew with them. After what they did that day, they deserve a round of applause... for everything,

Chapter 37: The Votes Are In

Finally, the time has come. After the applause calmed down, the audience cast their votes. Both the God Troupe and the entire Mankai Company -- every troupe member, every Phantom Thief... all of them that had participated one way or another. They wait patiently and with high levels of anxiety as the votes are counted. Ren is among the most nervous. After all, he could lose his home if this fails. Sakuya, Misumi, Tenma, Banri and Tsumugi try to reassure him that there’s nothing to be worried about, but he isn’t the only one with a lot riding on this vote.

In the end, they were right.

Mankai manages to beat God Troupe by two more votes. The whole of Mankai’s team screams and cheers, revealing in their victory. And as promised, God Troupe hands over all their profits from the showing. It’s enough. It’s enough for the company to pay off their debt. They can continue performing. They get to continue blooming on stage. This could be the happiest night of their lives.

Except... for one thing. The audience has filed out of the theater, Mankai has packed up everything to store away for a possible revival performance. The whole company and their thieves are still elated after they leave the theater, planning their celebrations when they get back to the dorm. But as Ren’s learned by now, when you’re at your most comfortable and vulnerable, that is when your enemy will strike.

Remember when Misumi and Morgana felt that something was off? That their mission wasn’t done? They were right. As it turned out, they had been tricked by the Holy Grail into thinking that they had defeated it. In reality, it had been protected by the masses’ wishes. And now that the Thieves have let their guard down... it’s time to strike.

Mementos and the real world begin to fuse together, and since the Phantom Thieves are no longer in the public’s cognition anymore... they begin to fade to, right in front of the Mankai Company’s eyes. To the Holy Grail, they don’t have a place in the new world now. Ren fades into unconsciousness, hearing his friends and newfound family screaming his name and the names of the rest of the Thieves.

And then... he opens his eyes.

There is one thing that I have yet to bring up while outlining this crossover, and that would be the Velvet Room. During Ren’s journey, he has been aided by Igor, an old man that resides in the Velvet Room and allows assistance to Persona Users like Ren... those that are able to use more than one Persona. A Wild Card. The room takes the shape of the guest’s heart, and in Ren’s case, it’s a prison that he’s locked in with Igor serving as the warden. He has been assisted by two girls: Justine and Caroline. They helped him grow his power and fuse his Personas together to create new ones to help his journey. They said that they would help him face ruin and rehabilitate himself.

But when Ren opens his eyes and finds himself in his cell in the Velvet Room, he has no idea what is happening. Igor berates Ren for having failed in his mission, ignoring Ren’s shouts and pleads for where his teammates are and if they’re alright. He orders Caroline and Justine to execute Ren to punish him for his failures. Ren is forced to put up a fight, one that he can’t win.

Just before he can be killed, he’s able to use the one thing he has to his advantage. His words. He manages to get through to the two girls, making them realize that something is wrong. Their duty wasn’t to kill, but to rehabilitate. Memories of theirs come to the surface, and they reveal Igor to be an imposter who took over the Velvet Room and split the girls into two. With Ren’s help, they use the same mechanism that they used to fuse Personas to fuse with each other. Justine and Caroline are restored to their original self: a young girl named Lavenza.

Lavenza goes on to oust the Igor Imposter as the mastermind behind everything that had taken place that year, creating a game to decide the fate of humanity with Ren as one of the players. The other was Akechi. If Akechi had won, then the world would have been destroyed and rebuilt anew. If Ren had won, then it would have stayed as it was. However, the game had been rigged from the very start to prevent Ren’s victory.

The imposter offers Ren a choice. If he allows the imposter to control humanity, then Ren will be allowed to become his assistant. The world would be restored to normal, but people wouldn’t be allowed to think for themselves.

Ren looked the imposter dead in the eye and begins laughing. He must have been insane if he thought that Ren would ever accept something like that. There was no way that he ever would do that to the people he cared about, or to people in general. No one deserved to be oppressed and pushed around by a higher power. The imposter leaves, and the Real Igor is freed.

Lavenza guides Ren through the halls of the Velvet Room to free his friends and teammates, stoking the fires of rebellion in each of them and giving them hope that they still could win. Being in the Velvet Room allows Morgana to regain his own memories, too. He had been created by Igor using humanity’s hope. He was meant to find Ren from the beginning and guide him so he could stop the Holy Grail and the entity behind it. The Thieves promise to help Igor and Lavenza put an end to the Holy Grail’s plan and return to reality.

When they are returned to where they had been taken away, reality and the Metaverse’s fusion has rapidly progressed. Shadows are beginning to crawl out of the depths and devour people. Very few people are able to see them, so they fight as they rush to get to the Holy Grail. And along the way, they come across some familiar faces that are relieved to see them back and in action.

Thanks to Sumire’s Cendrillon, the Mankai Comapny were able to keep themselves safe... which has been difficult since Hisoka is struggling with something at the time. Misumi calls his Persona, and stays behind to help Sumire manage the Shadows while the Thieves tend to the bigger problem at hand. With reality and the Metaverse merging the way that it is, summoning their Personas now shouldn’t be much of a problem.

It’s also here that another bomb is dropped in the form of Hisoka calling upon a persona of his own -- Morpheus of the Death Arcana -- to assist Misumi and Sumire in crowd control. 

...that is something that they are going to deal with later, when reality isn’t trying to merge with the Metaverse. He tells the Thieves to go and make the wrongs right again. With one last nod, the Thieves rush off to take down the Holy Grail once and for all.

They battle the Grail once they find its hiding spot on top of a nearby building. And this time, they shatter its form to reveal its true self: the God of Control, Yaldabaoth. Yaldabaoth unleashes the power of the Seven Deadly Sins on the Thieves, but even that’s not enough to stop them. They’re determined to find their freedom and free society as they pledged to do.

But eventually, Yaldabaoth exploits their weaknesses and brings them down. They can’t do it alone, and Morgana does his best to stoke humanity’s memories and hope.

And then Ren hears a very familiar someone scream at the top of her lungs from the crowd down below. It’s Izumi. She’s crying and cheering for the Phantom Thieves, and that she believes in them. Soon, others join in... Sakuya, Sumire, Misumi, Sakyo, Tenma, Omi, Taichi, Banri, Juza, Tsumugi... One by one, the rest of the Mankai members join in, shouting and encouraging the Thieves to keep going. Their words and belief are just what was needed to stoke the general public’s belief and faith in them. And it’s the cheers and rallying cries of humanity that gives Ren the strength to stand again.

It gives him the strength to do more than that. He hears the echoes of his Persona on his ears and grabs the chains that bind Arsene to free him... and awaken his true form: Satanael, a fallen angel with the power to punish a god with the sins that has been forced upon him.

Quite literally, actually, as his Persona creates a bullet from them and shoots Yaldabaoth directly in the head to deal one final blow. All that’s left behind is the lifeless shell of the grail itself. With it in hand, reality begins to return to normal and for the Metaverse to collapse.

Chapter 38: Party Time!

Sadly, though, not all of the Phantom Thieves make it back. Morgana’s existence was heavily tied to the Metaverse, so when it went... he went with it. The Metaverse is gone, and reality is normal again. Strangely, those connected through Ren’s bonds are those who retain their memories, which includes the entire company since Mankai as a whole represents The Fool Confidant. Everyone else in reality seems to have woken up from a dream.

It’s hard to stay cheerful without Morgana there, but Ren and the rest know that Morgana wouldn’t want them to be upset, so they celebrate for him. They celebrate the Phantom Thieves’ win, as well as Mankai Theater being allowed to continue on with its productions. And maybe, as Ren is reminded, that he could join them soon.

And this time, Ren accepts. Unfortunately, though, Sae approaches Ren during the celebration and takes him off to the side to speak to him privately before she takes Makoto home.

At this point, in order to prosecute Shido, Ren would have to turn himself in as the leader of the Phantom Thieves. Without Akechi (the true culprit behind the mental shutdowns), it’s the only way to avoid the rest of the Thieves from facing arrest. In the process of turning himself in, Ren would be violating the rules of his probation. He would be sent to juvie.

But it’s the only way to ensure that their efforts weren’t a waste. That everyone would be safe. So Ren accepts, asking Sae to not tell anyone about it. Not right now. He wants them to be happy about what they’ve done today... He doesn’t want to ruin it.

Chapter 39: Again and Again

The next morning, Ren leaves a note and heads out early to meet with Sae and fulfill his end of the deal. When the rest of Phantom Thieves arrive to celebrate Christmas, they find that everyone’s spirits are gone. Izumi tells them about what Ren did for them. Without the Metaverse around, there isn’t a way for the Phantom Thieves to do anything.

...or is there?

Ann reminds them that Ren is their friend, a member of the “weird” family that they’ve created. If they can’t use the Metaverse, then they’ll find other means of getting Ren out of juvie. The only reason he’s in there was because of his probation. So if they could get that sentence overturned and prove his innocence, then there’s the chance that they could free him.

The Thieves are on board with the plan, but they’re not the only ones. The Mankai Company offers them their support in any way possible. In the words of Banri, “[they] aren’t about to let that self-righteous brat take the fall when all he was trying to do was help people.” Ann said it herself. Ren is one of them. He’s a member of their family. And like hell Izumi is going to let him fall behind when they were just getting started. The Mankai Company and the Phantom Thieves are going to bring Ren home, no matter what.

And that brings us to the end of the first year! It took me a LONG time to get to this point, and I apologize for such the long wait. But the story still isn’t over. After all, I have plans for Year 2, and Ren’s still in juvie. That’s not going to last for long...

Anyway, thank you for reading!

Act 1 | Act 2 | Act 3 | Masterlist 

[copperdaisy]

Finished the storyline for Teal Mask. Not going to talk about spoilers - aside from location mentions maybe - but I'm definitely curious to see how certain things will pan out in Indigo Disk.

Instead, I am going to ramble about random bits of the lore I've been building for Araceli and some of her Pokémon. It has been a bit of a puzzle figuring out Araceli's personality separate from the game storyline, but it has been fun as well. Getting closer to a point where I'm more comfortable translating save file events into fic/lore events.

tl;dr rambling contained below the read-more.

Araceli is Paldean born, but not Paldean raised. Between the ages of six months and fifteen years she and her parents lived abroad, first in Hoenn and then Kanto. Her father is a nature photographer while her mother is a research assistant who works for both Birch and Oak. In the summer following her fifteenth birthday she learns that both of her parents were going on research expeditions. Her father will be going to the Lental Region to help Professor Mirror's team study the Illumina phenomenon. Her mother is going to the Sevii Islands to follow up on rumors of Mythical and Legendary Pokémon there. It is ultimately decided that Araceli will be sent to stay with her maternal aunt in Cabo Poco, given the uncertain timeframes of both expeditions and potential dangers therein. She is decidedly NOT HAPPY about this but fails to come up with a convincing argument to change her parents' minds. Thus she finds herself shipped back to Paldea just a few weeks before the new term starts at Naranja Academy, where she gets dragged into the game's storyline.

Some random information about her:

She initially enrolls in the Arts track at Naranja but switches over to the Sciences track following the events in Area Zero.

She has nightmares about what happened in the Zero Lab; rather than talk about them to anyone, she uses them as fuel to further her ambition to help the Paradox Pokémon in her care. Something good has to come out of the whole ordeal (besides Arven's breakthrough).

She has trouble with test taking and in-class learning. One on one tutoring sessions with her teachers are the main things keeping her academically afloat, in addition to extra credit opportunities.

The events of the DLC will be part of her lore, but there will be a two year gap between the Zero Lab incident and her visit to Kitakami. She will be spending some time in Galar during that two year gap for a semester or two of student exchange.

Chase is the first shiny Araceli sees in the wild, but is not the first one she catches. He calls the ruins above Alfornada home. It is here that he and Araceli cross paths. She stumbles across him while on a field trip and attempts to capture him. He is too high level for her and ends up chasing her off instead. She finds him again a few months later. By that point she is a much better trainer. He, however, has been worn down by territorial disputes and is in rough shape. Distrustful of her at first after she battles and captures him, her efforts to nurse him back to health make him warm up to her. Now he is part of her main team and goes where she does. Anyone who dares touch a single hair on her head will find themselves on the wrong end of a Thunder Fang if he has anything to say about it.

Victory is Araceli's baby and no one can tell him otherwise. Not that there are many who would argue with a Charizard. Hatched from an egg sent to her by her mother, Araceli is the only parent he has ever known. Her work was cut out for her while raising him. He was a cute but bitey little Charmander and an overeager Charmeleon prone to unintentionally setting fires. Patience and dedication built a strong bond between trainer and Pokémon, however. By the time he evolved into a Charizard he was as well behaved as you please - so long as you are Araceli. Victory is a heavy hitting member of her main team and has helped her out of many tight spots in battle. He loves a good fight and thinks nothing of going up against the likes of Titans. He is also quite the fan of napping in sunbeams and pestering his trainer for chin and head scratches.

Quake is not one of her usual battling partners but is much beloved by her nonetheless. Araceli developed great fondness and sympathy for the Great Tusk while observing him in the Asado Desert. Though he was a Titan she found him to be more or less peaceful - so long as he was left alone. Despite getting close enough to him to nearly be trampled on several times he never attacked her. Battling him to get the Herba Mystica was the most difficult Titan battle simply because she felt so bad about provoking him. She captured him primarily so no one else could, fearing what might happen to him otherwise. (It caused a fight between her and Arven at the time, as he did not agree with her actions at all, saying that the Great Tusk was too dangerous. She firmly disagreed.) In the time since capturing him Araceli has put a lot of effort into making him comfortable and safer to interact with. He frequently spends time with Dida and Padma, Araceli's shiny Donphan and Copperajah, as part of their 'herd'.

Kevin is another Pokémon that Araceli rarely battles with but spends a good amount of time gentling. There is little known about Kevin's species - they aren't even mentioned much in literature beyond the name Walking Wake. They have to be some kind of Paradox Pokémon but Araceli has only ever encountered Kevin, and that was while she was in a Raid den, not Area Zero. Does this mean that more Paradox Pokémon have escaped into the wilds beyond the Great Crater? It is a troubling thought. Kevin, at least, seems to be quite fond of her, which is a bit of a problem in and of itself given just how big Kevin is. She's been putting in a lot of work to make Kevin safer to be around, but there is a long way still to go.

[seonewsguy]

How to Get a Professional Website on a Budget with Affordable Web Design

In the bustling streets of Singapore's Little India, Priya Lakshmi stood before her small spice shop, inhaling the rich aromas of cumin, cardamom, and cinnamon. For years, her family had built a loyal customer base through word-of-mouth and the enticing scents wafting from their storefront. But as she watched younger customers walk by, heads down, engrossed in their smartphones, Priya realized it was time for a change.

"We need a website," she announced to her skeptical father one evening. "But not just any website. We need something that looks professional, captures the essence of our shop, and doesn't cost a fortune."

And so began Priya's journey into the world of affordable web design, a journey that would teach her how to get a professional website on a budget. Let's follow Priya's story and learn from her experiences as she navigates the realm of cheap web design without compromising on quality.

The Research Phase: Understanding Affordable Web Design Options

Priya's first step was to research her options. She quickly discovered that "cheap website designer" didn't necessarily mean low quality. "I was surprised by the range of affordable web design solutions available," Priya recalls.

She identified several routes to consider:

DIY Website Builders

Freelance Web Designers

Small Web Design Agencies

Student or New Graduate Designers

According to a survey by Clutch, 26% of small businesses spend less than $500 on their website, proving that professional websites can indeed be created on a budget.

Defining Needs and Setting a Realistic Budget

Before diving into the world of cheap web design, Priya sat down to clearly define her needs. "I knew we needed an attractive homepage showcasing our spices, an about page telling our family's story, a product catalog, and a simple contact form," she explains.

She also set a budget of 800 Singapore dollars for the initial design, based on her research into affordable web design options in the local market.

A study by Web.com found that 54% of small businesses paid less than $500 for their website, while 24% paid between $500 and $1000, aligning well with Priya's budget.

Exploring DIY Website Builders: The First Attempt

Priya's first foray into cheap web design Singapore was with DIY website builders. Platforms like Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress.com offered templates that seemed professional at first glance.

"I thought this would be the easiest and cheapest option," Priya says. "But as I tried to customize the templates to reflect our unique brand, I realized it was more challenging than I expected."

While DIY builders can be a viable cheap website designer option for some, Priya found that achieving a truly professional look that captured the essence of her family's spice shop required more design skills than she possessed.

Finding a Balance: Professional Help on a Budget

Realizing she needed professional help, Priya began exploring freelance web designers and small agencies offering affordable web design services. She used platforms like Upwork and Fiverr to find designers within her budget.

"I was amazed to find talented designers offering their services at rates I could afford," Priya says. "Many were students or new graduates looking to build their portfolios, which aligned perfectly with my need for affordable yet professional web design."

The Design Process: Collaboration and Communication

After careful consideration, Priya chose a young designer named Zayn who had experience in creating websites for small local businesses. "Zayn understood our need for a professional-looking site on a budget," Priya explains. "He was willing to work within our constraints while still delivering a custom design."

Throughout the design process, Priya learned several valuable lessons about getting a professional website on a budget:

1. Clear Communication is Key

Priya made sure to clearly communicate her vision, needs, and constraints to Zayn. "I provided examples of websites I liked, explained our brand story, and was specific about the functionalities we needed," she says.

2. Prioritize Essential Features

To keep costs down, Priya and Zayn focused on essential features first. "We decided to start with a basic but professional design and add more complex features later as our online presence grew," Priya explains.

3. Leverage Open-Source Solutions

Zayn introduced Priya to open-source content management systems like WordPress, which offered professional functionality without the high costs of proprietary systems. According to W3Techs, WordPress powers 42.8% of all websites on the internet, making it a popular choice for affordable web design projects.

4. Optimize Images and Content

Priya took her own high-quality photos of their spices and wrote compelling copy for the website. "By providing these ourselves, we were able to cut down on design costs while ensuring the content truly represented our brand," she says.

5. Focus on Mobile Responsiveness

With more than half of web traffic coming from mobile devices, a mobile-responsive design was non-negotiable. "Zayn ensured our site looked great on all devices without inflating the cost," Priya notes. Statista reports that mobile devices accounted for 54.8% of global website traffic in the first quarter of 2021, emphasizing the importance of mobile-responsive design.

6. Implement Basic SEO

Zayn incorporated basic SEO practices into the site's design and taught Priya how to optimize her content for search engines. "I was surprised to learn how much we could do to improve our search rankings without additional cost," Priya says.

7. Plan for Future Growth

While keeping current costs low was important, Priya and Zayn also planned for future growth. They chose a flexible design that could easily accommodate new products and features as the business expanded.

The Result: A Professional Website on a Budget

Three weeks and 750 Singapore dollars later, Priya's spice shop had a professional, custom-designed website that beautifully showcased their products and told their family's story.

"I couldn't be happier with the result," Priya beams. "Our website looks professional and unique, and it was all achieved within our budget. It just goes to show that with the right approach, you can find a cheap website designer who delivers professional results."

The Impact: Growing the Business Online

Within months of launching the new website, Priya's family saw a significant impact on their business. Online orders started coming in, not just from Singapore but from spice enthusiasts across Southeast Asia. Their customer base expanded, and their revenue grew.

"Our website has opened up a whole new market for us," Priya says. "It's proof that investing in affordable web design can yield professional results and real business growth."

Conclusion: Professional doesn't have to mean Expensive

Priya's journey demonstrates that getting a professional website on a budget is not only possible but can be a game-changer for small businesses. By carefully selecting a cheap website designer, clearly communicating needs, focusing on essential features, and planning for the future, businesses can create a professional online presence without breaking the bank.

Remember, affordable web design doesn't mean sacrificing quality or professionalism. With the right approach and a willingness to be involved in the process, you can achieve a website that not only looks professional but effectively serves your business needs and helps you grow in the digital marketplace.

As Priya's story shows, the key to success lies in understanding your options, setting clear goals, and finding the right balance between cost and quality. Whether you're a small spice shop in Singapore or any other business around the world, a professional website is within your reach, even on a tight budget.

[jcmarchi]

Small solar sails could be the next ‘giant leap’ for interplanetary space exploration - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/small-solar-sails-could-be-the-next-giant-leap-for-interplanetary-space-exploration-technology-org/

Small solar sails could be the next ‘giant leap’ for interplanetary space exploration - Technology Org

Nearly 70 years after the launch of the first satellite, we still have more questions than answers about space. But a team of Berkeley researchers is on a mission to change this with a proposal to build a fleet of low-cost, autonomous spacecraft, each weighing only 10 grams and propelled by nothing more than the pressure of solar radiation. These miniaturized solar sails could potentially visit thousands of near-Earth asteroids and comets, capturing high-resolution images and collecting samples.

Schematic of components for the proposed femtoscale solar sail. The pressure of solar radiation against the sail will provide propulsion for the spacecraft, while cell phone-based and MEMS technologies will enable navigation, communication and image capture. Image credit: Alexander Alvara

Led by Kristofer Pister, professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences, the researchers seek to leverage advancements in micro-scale technology to make interplanetary space exploration more cost-effective and accessible — and to accelerate new discoveries about our inner solar system. They describe their work, the Berkeley Low-cost Interplanetary Solar Sail (BLISS) project, in a study published in the journal Acta Astronautica.

The BLISS project brings together researchers from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences and the Department of Mechanical Engineering, as well as the Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center and the Space Sciences Laboratory. Their work builds on other small spacecraft projects, including CubeSats, ChipSats and the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative, while seeking to improve solar sail maneuverability and further reduce fabrication costs by using low-mass consumer electronics.

In addition to Pister, the team includes lead author and mechanical engineering doctoral student Alexander Alvara and co-authors Lydia Lee, Emmanuel Sin, Nathan Lambert and Andrew Westphal.

In a recent conversation, Pister and Alvara shared their group’s vision for this project with Berkeley Engineering.

Your latest paper focuses on fleets of small solar sails. What advantages do solar sails have over other types of spacecraft? 

Alexander: Solar sails use a non-consumable propulsion force. They are propelled by sunlight, similar to how a sailboat is propelled by wind. So, unlike other spacecraft, solar sails can travel around the galaxy, or, more specifically, our solar system, without having to carry any fuel or worry about refueling.

Kris: The magic is that light, even though it doesn’t have mass, has momentum. When light bounces off a mirror, you get a force due to that change in momentum. And on a square meter sail, that force is tiny. It’s about the weight of a grain of sand, but you get it for free. And you get it for as long as you want, as long as you’re sitting in space with the sunlight striking you.

Could you tell us about the Berkeley Low-cost Interplanetary Solar Sail, or BLISS, project? What was the genesis of this project and what are its goals?

Kris: It started several years ago, when friends of mine were exchanging emails about an object, called Oumuamua, that was moving through our solar system. Some people were saying that maybe it’s an alien solar sail, and then [physicist] Dick Garwin sent around a paper that he had written in 1959 about solar sails. It said that you can use this light pressure to move out, away from the sun, which makes sense — the light pushes in that direction. But you can also use it to move in. It’s kind of like tacking against the wind in sailing. Light is much more like wind, and you can tack using solar radiation pressure.

So this lightbulb went off in my brain. All the work we do in my group is focused on miniaturizing things, and I thought we could miniaturize a solar sail spacecraft. Seeing that you can tack against light pressure made me realize that we could make spacecraft [weighing] 10 grams with almost all off-the-shelf technology. And our latest study provides evidence that this is feasible.

Our initial goal for the BLISS project was simple: capture images of all the near-Earth asteroids, starting with the biggest ones. Roughly a thousand near-Earth asteroids are bigger than a kilometer in diameter. And we have pictures, usually fuzzy pictures, of maybe 10 of them. We were excited by the idea that you could potentially take an iPhone camera, orbit around one of these things, take a thousand high-resolution color photographs from a very close distance and then beam that information down.

Speaking of miniaturizing things, why make the solar sails small in the first place?

Alexander: A smaller size allows the spacecraft to be more agile. We don’t have to worry about buckling of the sail, which is just one square meter. This is a huge issue with larger solar sails. Imagine taking a solar sail that is 50 square meters into space, then having unfolding components spreading out like origami. It’s still relatively small compared to other spacecraft, but the unfolding components add weight. And, as Kris mentioned, you’re getting the force of a grain of sand continuously on your sail, the light pressure, so you want to have a solar sail close to that mass. You don’t want something that’s huge, or it will take forever to move, and it’s going to be less easy to maneuver.

Kris: Cost is another advantage to going small. We’re proposing to start at about 10 grams for an interplanetary spacecraft. If we do everything right, the cost of the solar sails will be a thousand dollars or less. We could then put thousands of these tiny spacecraft in a little package, the size of a small satellite, and launch them into space.

Alexander: So, for the cost of a single launch, we could send out thousands of these solar sails and accomplish multiple missions.

These spacecraft will need to be highly functional yet also light. How will they not be weighed down by all of their components?

Kris: We’re leveraging all the technology, all the miniaturization and low power consumption that goes into the design of cell phones. But there are also many other instruments that MEMS [microelectromechanical systems] has managed to miniaturize.

The BLISS spacecraft uses a MEMS device called an inchworm motor. What is an inchworm motor and why is it important?

Alexander: You can think of an inchworm motor as something that takes electricity and turns into a moveable force. Almost like a piston. We use the inchworm motor to grab onto things, in this case, things that are much larger than itself, and move it back and forth.

Kris: Our little spacecraft has roughly a 1/2 meter diameter, super-lightweight mirror — maybe the size of a card table – that is connected to the body of the spacecraft by a few carbon fiber filaments. The inchworms inch their way along those filaments, pulling on the filaments and moving the sail relative to the center of mass of the spacecraft. It turns out that’s what you need to navigate — just like on a sailboat. You pull on the lines and change the attitude of the sail through the wind, and that affects direction.

How will these spacecraft navigate the inner solar system?

Alexander: The majority of the analysis is done using something called the Lost in Space [Identification] Algorithm. The idea is that you map the stars that you can see, then compare them to the pixels of the images that you can get from your on-board cell phone camera. So we can basically use smartphones to help navigate.

There are many hazards in space, including ionizing radiation and large floating particles. How do you design the tiny solar sails to withstand these potential dangers?

Alexander: A lot of work has already been done analyzing off-the-shelf parts that have endured space-like radiation. To mitigate such hazards, we can either build in redundancy and add multiple components that have the greatest likelihood of failure, or pair these BLISS spacecraft in what we call partner constellations, which basically adds redundancy for us.

Could you tell us about the concept missions that you’ve proposed for BLISS spacecraft? How long would it take to complete these missions?

Alexander: Kris had mentioned earlier sending the solar sails to explore near-Earth asteroids. One of the other main concept missions is cometary sample retrieval, so getting microdust from comet plumes. To date, there’s been only one real successful return of cometary material, and that was the Stardust mission in the early 2000s. It did a flyby of a comet called Wild 2 and collected material and brought it back to Earth. But unfortunately, the spacecraft was less maneuverable than they expected, and it caught the comet dust particles at high velocity, vaporizing any organic-rich components in the sample. Though the sample they retrieved was still vastly important, we currently have only about 300 micrograms of comet material on Earth. And by designing our tiny solar sails to be agile and highly maneuverable, we hope to capture cometary samples at low relative speeds to avoid damaging any organics.

Kris: As for the mission durations, they vary a lot. It will take us some number of months to get out of Earth’s orbit, it will take us months or years to get to the asteroid or comet that we’re interested in, and then the reverse of that coming back in. So, certainly months at the short end, and maybe a decade or so at the long end.

How far off are we from the first launch?

Alexander: We could feasibly do it in a few years. For example, CubeSat projects usually come out of high schools or community college or four-year institutions, from undergrads. And those go from zero to launch in about two years. So with grad students, post-docs or research scientists on the job, who’ve been doing this sort of thing for many years, we should be able to launch within that same timeline once we complete development.

Kris: So far, Alexander’s worked on some of the theories and some of the motors. But there are six other systems and all kinds of software still needed, so it would be an undertaking. But I’m hopeful that we can obtain funding for further research.

Source: UC Berkeley

You can offer your link to a page which is relevant to the topic of this post.

[ardn632-themanipulatedimage]

Artist Model Research

Alexander Neumann

Born and raised in Peru, Alexander Neumann had an artistic influence from his homeland and father whom was a painter and art collector, leaving a profound effect on his career as the influences became so natural to Nuewmann’s themes of colour and playful style that establishes the photographer today. Studying and developing the mixture of art, philosophy and communications as a background, he discovered his love for photography. 

Initially focusing on documentary and fine art photography, he sought creative challenges, thus moving to New York. Working with great influences along the way, his aesthetics and inspirations shifted closer to fashion and the vibrancy and elegance that his relaxed style and aura from his pieces create is a moulded reflection of his appreciation for all forms of art and honest authenticity. 

Shotview.com/artists/alexander-neumann

Chris Jordan

With a single image of compressed garbage pinned up on the wall of his studio, feeling such guilt and drive for a better tomorrow, Chris Jordan does his part of advocating a change, specifically in America’s prominent mass consumption of everything. 

Exposing shocking sights of mass consumption, the environmental photographer employs the aspects of near and far, hoping to “raise some questions about roles and responsibilities we each play as individuals in a collective that is increasingly enormous, incomprehensible and overwhelming.”

In one way or another, Jordan believes and reminds us through his eco-art and photo manipulation, that everyone is an activist in their own ways and feels that in order to change the world, radical change must happen, knowing that an artist can bring personal and emotional aspects to making an impact.

Each image he captures, tells of a statistical story that not only captivates viewers, but also holds shocking information that relates back to our treatment to the planet we’re living in.

I was quite moved and inspired by the words, “as an American consumer myself, I am in no position to finger wag; but I do know that when we reflect on a difficult question in the absence of an answer, our attention can turn inward, and in that space may exist the possibility of some evolution of thought or action. So my hope is that these photographs can serve as portals to a kind of cultural self-inquiry. It may not be the most comfortable terrain, but I have heard it said that in risking self-awareness, at least we know that we are awake.” Which makes me think about my image manipulations and how I also want to provoke audiences to see and do.

Dario Catellani

A self-taught photographer from Italy, Dario Catellani utilises his background in architecture and visual arts to dissect contemporary deliveries to images, which defines the unique visions of fashion photography. 

Expanding his portfolio to include fine art photography, portraiture and documentary photography, Catellani’s work typically features people in extraordinary scenes as his photographs depicts a foundational use of light and composition with his use of natural light that uses a dream-like aura in his images.

Juco

A lighting workshop at the San Francisco Art Institute is where Julia Galdo and Cody Cloud's Los Angeles-based company, JUCO, got its start. With their daring, colourful, character-driven work, they are now working hard to establish a reputation for themselves in the commercial and editorial worlds.

The two had a peculiar path to photography. While Cloud was introduced by a hobbyist family friend who would take him on picture trips on the weekends when he was in his late teens, Galdo was trained as a marine biologist and discovered she had a flair for the medium by accident after taking a few lessons for pleasure. He assisted fashion photographers after graduating, and she went on to work in advertising. Both of their experiences shaped the way they do business. Within the squad, "we each have our own strengths and weaknesses," they claim. "My background as an art director has taught me how to pitch and tell stories, whereas Cody is extremely technical and knows how to move around a set."

Their dynamic, character-driven approach is constantly turned up to the extreme and unmistakably influenced by Guy Bourdin's scorching colours, Tim Walker's surrealism edge, and a mash-up of individual inspirations from their background. We have a wide range of interests, including anything from roller rinks to cowboys to South Central [LA] airbrush culture to thrift shops. I learned a lot about the Latin ghetto-fabulous style growing up in South Beach. These exposures taken as a whole are crucial to our job. These ideas helped design eye-catching editorials for The New Yorker, Time, and Vogue that featured everyone from Tyler the Creator to Kim Kardashian.

[chris-mga2022mi5015]

How Artists design their characters.

The process of creating a character design is often full of hurdles. Although many of the well-known characters from cartoons, advertising and films look straightforward, in actual fact, a vast amount of effort and skill will have been exerted to make them so effective.

From Mickey Mouse's famous three-fingered hands (drawn to speed up production when he was first developed for animations in the 1920s), to the elegant simplicity of Homer Simpson, character design has always been about keeping it simple.

But what do you need to consider for your character design? Aside from clean lines and easily readable features, there's knowing what to exaggerate and what to minimize, how to give a hint of depth and background and what to do to develop personality.

Then, of course, there's the matter of the technicalities of how to draw your character design. If it's going to be used in motion or as part of a comic strip, you'll need to make sure it works from any angle.

Many tips come from this page.

01. Don't lose the magic

Many character designers will start their project with a sketch. And most agree designers agree this is often where the essence of the character is captured. So when you're working up your design, make sure you don't lose that magic.

"I try to stick to my original drawing style, because the instinct is to try and clean it up," says Laurie Rowan(opens in new tab). "I don't like to feel like I've created by characters; I like to feel like I've kind of just encountered them."

"When starting out on your character design, don’t get caught up in the details," says Pernille Ørum(opens in new tab). "Decide what you’re trying to communicate, then create loose sketches with movement, acting and flow. As soon as you start to tighten up the drawing, you’ll automatically lose some of the dynamic, so it’s important to have as much life in the early stages as possible. Movement is all but impossible to add later, so make sure it’s in the initial sketch."

02. Step away from the reference material

While inspiration needs to come from somewhere, the aim is to create something original. So Robert Wallace – known as Parallel Teeth(opens in new tab) – suggests not having the reference material right in front of you as you work. 

"If you look at something and then you try and hazily remember it in your mind, that's when you end up making something new, rather than a pastiche of something," he says. Above you can see Wallace's new take on well-known festive figures, created for a Hong Kong department store.

03. Research other characters

For guidance, it can be helpful to try and deconstruct why certain character designs work and why some don't. There's no shortage of research material to be found, with illustrated characters appearing everywhere: on TV commercials, cereal boxes, shop signs, stickers on fruit, animations on mobile phones, and more. Study these character designs and think about what makes some successful and what in particular you like about them.

"When you work with characters you need to be inspired," advises Ørum, "and you can do this through research. Your mind is a visual library that you can fill up. Try to notice people around you – how they walk, their gestures, how they dress – and use that in your design."

04. ... but also look elsewhere

It's also a good idea to look beyond character designs when hunting for inspiration. "I like birds' mating rituals a lot," laughs Rowan. The odd movements can spark unique character behaviour. 

"When I begin a project, I often start with the feeling I want to evoke," he adds. The process begins with the designer taking videos of himself as a reference, trying to capture something of the character idea's movement or posture. 

Other inspirations include ceramics – an organic texture and muted colour palette stop his work feeling too clinical – and folk costumes.

05. Don't lose sight of the original idea

It's easy to subconsciously let our favourite designs influence us. Cornelia Geppert, CEO of indie games studio Jo-Mei(opens in new tab), is a huge fan of The Last Guardian, with its unique aesthetic and great video game character designs.

At one point one of her team members had to say to her that their Sea of Solitude design was looking a little too similar to The Last Guardian. She looked back at her initial artworks, and it brought back the feeling she had when creating them. The project shifted back on track.

06. Exaggerate

Exaggerating the defining features of your character design will help it appear larger than life and exaggerated features will also help viewers to identify the character's key qualities. This is key in cartoon caricatures and helps emphasise certain personality traits. If your character is strong, don't just give it normal-sized bulging arms, soup them up so that they're five times as big as they should be.

The technique of exaggeration can be applied to characteristics, too. Anna Mantzaris(opens in new tab)' hilarious Enough film (above) shows everyday characters in mundane situations, doing the things we've all dreamed of doing on a bad day. "I think it's fun with animation that you can push things further, and people will still accept it as real," she says. "With live action it would look absurd. You can also push the emotion further."

07. Decide who your character design is aimed at

Think about your audience. Character designs aimed at young children, for example, are typically designed around basic shapes and bright colours. If you're working for a client, the character's target audience is usually predetermined, as Aussie artist Nathan Jurevicius(opens in new tab) explains.

"Commissioned character designs are usually more restrictive but no less creative. Clients have specific needs but also want me to do my 'thing'. Usually, I'll break down the core features and personality. For example, if the eyes are important then I'll focus the whole design around the face, making this the key feature that stands out."

08. Make your character distinctive

Whether you're creating a monkey, robot or monster, you can guarantee there are going to be a hundred other similar creations out there. Your character design needs to be strong and interesting in a visual sense to get people's attention.

When devising The Simpsons, Matt Groening knew he had to offer the viewers something different. He reckoned that when viewers were flicking through TV channels and came across the show, the characters' unusually bright yellow skin colour would grab their attention.

09. Create clear silhouettes

Another good way to make your character distinct and improve its pose, says Ørum, is to turn it into a silhouette. "Then you can see how the character ‘reads’ and if you need to make the gesture more clear. Do you understand the emotion of the character and see the line of action? Can things be simplified? Try not to overlap everything, and keep the limbs separate."

07. Develop a line of action

One key aspect to consider when creating a character design is the line of action. This is what defines the direction of your character, as well as being a useful narrative tool and bringing a feeling of movement. 

"Try to bring the line of action all the way out to the extremities," says Ørum. "A ballet dancer is a good example: they emphasise the line from the tips of their toes to the tips of their fingers. The line of action is also easier to see in creatures with fewer limbs, which is why mermaids are an ideal subject for developing a strong line of action."

08. Make it personal

Geppert's Sea of Solitude video game is an exploration of her experiences of loneliness. Intensely personal though it may be, the game hit a chord with audiences because it deals with an experience that is so universal yet still strangely taboo. 

"The best art is based on personal experiences. People can relate better if it's based on the truth," says Geppert. "It's not a made-up story, even though it's based in a fantastical setting."

09. Find the posture first

Félicie Haymoz(opens in new tab) has worked with Wes Anderson on both of his animated features: Fantastic Mr Fox and Isle of Dogs. When embarking on a new character design, Haymoz likes to start by finding the individual's posture. This element can start the ball rolling on the whole feel of the personality. "I try to capture the stance of the character. Are they hunched over, or are they sitting straight and proud?" She also notes the face is important to get right. 

Read more of Haymoz's film character tips here.

10. Consider line quality

The drawn lines of which your character design is composed can go some way to describing it. Thick, even, soft and round lines may suggest an approachable, cute character, whereas sharp, scratchy and uneven lines might point to an uneasy and erratic character.

Ørum recommends balancing straight and curved lines. "Straight lines and curves gives your character design a rhythm. A straight line (or a simple line) leads the eye quickly, while a curved (or detailed line) slows down the eye.'

It's also worth considering the balance between stretch and compression. "Even a neutral pose can lead the eye by applying these two approaches, resulting in an effective character design," says Ørum.

11. Use a joke structure

Rowan grew a name for himself by sharing humorous clips of his characters on Instagram, and went on to work on projects for Disney, the BBC and MTV, and earned himself a BAFTA award and nomination in the process. However, it was his less successful years doing standup comedy that provided inspiration for his trademark character animations. 

"It's through standup I learned brevity. It's kind of a joke structure," he explains. Knowing how to frame the clip comes from past failures and successes on stage: "You very quickly learn how to hit certain points," he laughs. 

12. Keep it simple

As well as knowing when to exaggerate, Ørum is also keen to highlight the importance of simplicity. "I always try to communicate the designs with the fewest lines possible. It doesn’t mean that work hasn’t been put into creating the volume, placement and design of the character, but I try to simplify as much as possible and only put down the lines and colours that conveys the necessary information."

13. Consider all the angles

Depending on what you have planned for your character design, you might need to work out what it will look like from all angles. A seemingly flat character can take on a whole new persona when seen from the side if, for example, it has a massive beer belly.

In the Character Design Crash Course workshop at Pictoplasma 2019, Jurevicius and Rilla Alexander asked attendees to sketch their character in poses held by other attendees, life drawing style. 

And if you're going to turn it into a comic strip, a la Luke Pearson's Hilda, it'll need to not only make sense from all angles, but look good too.

"How to draw Hilda from behind without her hair swallowing her silhouette", how to draw her beret from above; a long and drawn out battle with how her nose should look… these were all issues Pearson had to deal with when creating his character. The problems all ultimately led to design solutions. 

14. Build it in 3D

If your character is going to exist within a 3D world, as an animation or even as a toy, working out its height, weight and physical shape is all important. Alternatively, go one step further and create a model. 

"Even if you're not someone who works in 3D, you can learn a lot by converting your character into three dimensions," says Alexander. It's a key part of the process the students follow at the Pictoplasma Academy. See our best 3D modelling software guide to get started.

15. Choose colours carefully

Colours can help communicate a character's personality. Typically, dark colours such as black, purples and greys depict baddies with malevolent intentions. Light colours such as white, blues, pinks and yellows express innocence and purity. Comic-book reds, yellows and blues might go some way to giving hero qualities to a character design.

"To choose effective colours, it’s important to understand the basic rules of colour," explains Ørum. "Become familiar with the primary, secondary and tertiary colours, as well as monochromatic and complementary colours. One technique for generating an effective colour palette is to chose two complementary colours and work with them in a monochromatic colour scheme."

"You’ll create balance because complementary colours create dynamism, while monochrome colours invoke feelings of calm. You could also try a tertiary colour scheme, which adds a third colour (for example, violet, orange and green), and then work with monochromatic versions of those colours, but it demands more planning and skill for it to work well. If you’re new to colour, try and keep it simple."

To read more on this, see our post on colour theory.

16. Don't forget the hair

"Some years ago I went from hating drawing hair to loving it," Ørum. "Previously, I used to view working out all the details and directions of the hair as a tedious endeavour. Now I think of it more as a large, organic shape, which like a flag in the wind indicates and emphasises the movement of the character or its surroundings.

"Start by creating a large shape and divide it into shorter sections, while thinking about where the hair is parted and where the hairline is. Every line should help to define the volume, shape and direction of the hair."

17. Add accessories

Props and clothing can help to emphasise character traits and their background. For example, scruffy clothes can be used for poor characters, and lots of diamonds and bling for tasteless rich ones. Accessories can also be more literal extensions of your character's personality, such as a parrot on a pirate's shoulder or a maggot in a ghoul's skull.

18. Focus on facial expression

Expressions showing a character's range of emotions and depicting its ups and downs will further flesh out your character. Depending on its personality, a figure's emotions might be muted and wry or explosive and wildly exaggerated.

"When you know the basics of drawing a face, play with the expression of the character," says Ørum. "Use a mirror to read your own face and notice the subtle changes. Push and pull the eyebrows to show emotion. Avoid giving the face symmetry. The mouth will always favours a side and it gives life to the drawing. And give the head a tilt to add nuance."

Classic examples of exaggerated expressions can be found in the work of the legendary Tex Avery: the eyes of his Wild Wolf character often pop out of its head when it's excited. Another example of how expressions communicate motions is deadpan Droopy, who barely registers any sort of emotion at all.

19. Give your character goals

The driving force behind a character's personality is what it wants to achieve. This missing 'something' – be it riches, a girlfriend or solving a mystery – can help to create the dramatic thrust behind the stories and adventures your character gets up to. Often the incompleteness or flaws in a character design are what make it interesting.

20. Build up a back story

If you're planning for your character design to exist within comics and animations, then developing its back story is important. Where it comes from, how it came to exist and any life-changing events it has experienced are going to help back up the solidity of, and subsequent belief in, your character. Sometimes the telling of a character's back story can be more interesting than the character's present adventures.

"If you’re experiencing problems when attempting to nail the essence of a character, try thinking of them in a certain situation," Ørum advises. "Use the story to think about your character’s emotions before tackling the design, and add the details afterwards. Setting the scene is the best help when staring at a blank piece of paper, and it makes the process more fun, too!"

21. Remember it's not all about the face

Yukai Du(opens in new tab) is not what you'd call a typical character designer: none of her work features faces. Instead, her body part of choice is the hands. Having found she wasn't good at capturing specific emotions within a facial expression, she turned to a different body part: the hands. "Hands are very expressive. You can tell a lot of stories with hands, and do it in a very subtle way," she says. Hands became her way of telling stories. 

22. Make your character design flexible

Having decent software and materials to work with is useful, but not essential, when it comes to bringing your character to life. A lot of amazing characters were successfully designed years ago when no one had personal computers and Photoshop CC was just a dream.

If you character is really strong, you should be able to capture it with just a pen and paper. Or, as Sune Ehlers(opens in new tab) puts it: "The character should still be able to work with a stick dipped in mud and drawn on asphalt."

23. Get feedback from others

Show people your creations and ask them what they think. Don't just ask whether they like them or not. Instead, see if they can pick up the personalities and traits of your characters. Find who you think is the suitable or ideal audience for your work and get feedback specifically from them about it.

24. Make it honest

"A lot of my commercial project come out of my personal work. That's why I try to make my personal work so honest to what I like. I think it comes through to the viewer that I'm not just ticking boxes," says John Bond. The illustrator launched his debut picture book, NOT LOST, based on his Mini Rabbit character design.

25. Create the right environment

In the same way that you create a history for your character, you need to create an environment for it to help further cement believability in your creation. The world in which the character lives and interacts should in some way make sense to who the character is and what it gets up to.

26. Fine-tune your figure

Question each element of your creation, especially things such as its facial features. The slightest alteration can have a great effect on how your character is perceived.

Illustrator Neil McFarland(opens in new tab) advises: "Think about the meaning of the word 'character'. You're supposed to breathe life into these things, make them appealing and give them the magic that will allow people to imagine what they're like to meet and how they might move."

27. Don't be afraid to make changes

Hilda has changed over the years, from book to book, but Pearson explains that no one has pulled him up on it. "I like to think it means the design is strong enough to withstand being pulled in all these different directions," he says.

[mehoymalloy]

Tilda’s Art Gallery - Full Transcript Below the Cut

I spent some time getting back to this scene on a new save, so I figured I’d share it for anyone else’s research needs. Each "-" between lines is additional dialogue you can get by examining the artwork multiple times. 

Woman Reading a Letter, Vermeer, c. 1663 and Woman Reading Music, Han van Meegeren, 1935-1940

Tilda: My favorite pairing. On the left is “Woman reading a letter” by Vermeer, a true master. And on the right is a forgery: “Woman reading Music,” which fooled experts into believing it was a priceless original. Early in my career I became fascinated with such deceptions. Eventually, I developed scanning software that could detect fakes with unparalleled accuracy.

Aloy: Is that how you made enough money to buy your way onto the Odyssey?

Tilda: Oh, no. I made my real fortune later.

-

Aloy: Why do you keep the forgery?

Tilda: I've always enjoyed studying the two side by side. Both painters capture light, color, and perspective, but what makes one a masterpiece and the other simply an imitation?

Aloy: The forgery looks...sharper.

Tilda: Good eye. The details are crisp, the contrast bold. It tells us more, and yet we feel less.

-

Aloy: What's in the letter?

Tilda: Who can say? What does the painting tell you?

Aloy: She's… concerned. Whatever's written in the letter troubles her. A burden she can't put down.

Tilda: Fascinating.

-

Aloy: Why go through so much effort to make a fake masterpiece?

Tilda: The forger initially painted under his own name, but found little success. His work was considered unremarkable. But when he took on the guise of Vermeer, suddenly it was celebrated as extraordinary.

Aloy: But it was a lie, and he knew it.

Tilda: Sometimes we struggle to glean what is real and imagined even within ourselves.

-

Tilda: The irony of these two is that Vermeer died in obscurity. He had no idea his work would become some of the most precious, most copied, most preserved pieces in all history.

Selene and Endymion, Gerard de Lairesse, c. 1680

Tilda: Selene and Endymion. She’s the goddess of the moon, whereas he’s a simple shepherd. Beside her is the god of love, Cupid.

Aloy: So, she’s… sneaking up on him?

Tilda: More like visiting him in secret. The torch that Cupid bears represents Selene’s undying infatuation with him. Though the two must remain apart, her love will forever burn.

-

Aloy: And why can’t Selene and Endymion be together?

Tilda: Selene took a vow of chastity, promising to never take a lover. So when she fell in love with Endymion, she could only visit him at night while he slept.

Aloy: But then wouldn’t she be breaking that vow?

Tilda: Think of it as a forbidden love. Though circumstance keeps them apart, still they find a way to come together, however briefly.

-

Aloy: Aren’t Selene and Endymion cold?

Tilda: Perhaps we should move on to another piece.

-

Tilda: Shall we move on?

Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem, Rembrandt, 1630

Tilda: This is Rembrandt, painting Jeremiah - a man in mourning.

Aloy: Mourning what?

Tilda: His home, the ancient city of Jerusalem. He foresaw its impending doom but could do nothing to prevent it. So instead, he saved its treasures from destruction, just as I saved these works. You could say we’re kindred spirits.

-

Aloy: About Jeremiah. If he knew his home would be destroyed, why didn’t he save the people? Why save those relics?

Tilda: He tried, but no one would listen to his warnings - so he saved what he could.

Aloy: But how did he know?

Tilda: He was a prophet. He saw an army invade and destroy the city in a vision.

Aloy: So it’s more like he calculated which side would win a battle?

Tilda: What matters is that he was right in the end. If not for him, all those wonders would’ve been lost forever. At least this way some part of his world survived.

-

Tilda: You know what I like the most about this piece? Even though he’s the sole survivor, his home in ruins, left with only the remnants of his world… the light keeps the shadows at bay.

Aloy: There’s still hope.

Tilda: Precisely.

-

Tilda: Take as long as you like.

Titus as a Monk, Rembrandt, 1660

Tilda: A portrait of the painter Rembrandt’s son, Titus, depicted in the habit of a monk.

Aloy, sighs: I don’t get it. Why would someone like you, with infinite resources, care about this painting of (another sigh) a boy in a hood?

Tilda: It’s not the image itself, but the feeling it conveys. The face is bright and defined, but his eyes are downcast, heavy with misfortune. And the background seems to swallow all light. The painting is infused with a sense of loss.

Aloy: I guess I understand how the painter feels.

-

Tilda: Works of art such as these can often cause us to look inwards, at our own lives. I’m sorry about your friend. Had I been able to intervene, I would have. But the risk of losing you as well was too great.

Aloy, quietly: Everything went by in a blur. I couldn’t get to him.

Tilda: You know, long before holograms and Focus recordings, people relied on art to memorialize their loved ones. Because of works like this painting, their lives are immortalized.

-

Tilda: Rembrandt had four children by his wife - all but Titus died shortly after she gave birth to them. She passed not long after that. Titus became the only family Rembrandt had.

Aloy: Which is why he painted him this way?

Tilda: Indeed. Then tragedy struck again. Disease claimed Titus at twenty-six. It’s almost as if Rembrandt painted the future closing in on him.

-

Tilda: Rembrandt actually painted several portraits of Titus, but this one has always been my favorite. It’s…  honest.

Aloy: What do you mean?

Tilda: In others Titus was portrayed in brighter, livelier states. But here, Rembrandt allows himself to express his true feelings. Sorrow, fear, hope, love. Laid bare on canvas for all time.

-

Tilda: I see this one resonates deeply with you.

The Night Watch, Rembrandt, 1642

Tilda: Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch” - by far the most famous painting my homeland ever produced. It was commissioned to honor a militia made up of influential citizens.

Aloy: I guess you must have been an “influential citizen.”

Tilda: In my day. But not as influential as you’ve been, in this new world.

-

Aloy: The militia - they look disorganized.

Tilda: Where others painted such scenes in a stiff and stationary manner, Rembrandt chose to show them in action, preparing to march. He wanted them to feel alive. You can almost hear the commotion.

-

Aloy: Who’s the girl in the painting?

Tilda: She’s a strange one, isn’t she? Bathed in light, though no one is paying attention to her. Many believe she’s a symbol of the militia - a physical manifestation of their spirit, if you will.

Aloy: Wait, she’s not real? (subtitle does not say “wait,” but Burch does.)

Tilda: What’s real in a painting? She’s meant to represent the militia’s virtue and victory. But I like to think they underestimate her. She looks as if she’s seen something. What does she know? What secrets does she keep?

-

Tilda: There’s so much detail to take in, isn’t there?

The Gust, Willem van de Velde II, 1680

Tilda: “The Gust” by Willem van de Velde, the most famous of his many maritime paintings.

Aloy: A ship crossing into the unknown. I guess you’re familiar with that.

Tilda: Indeed. Which is why I appreciate this composition in particular. Though waves and wind threaten to destroy the ship, it perseveres, clinging to the light even as darkness closes in all around it.

-

Aloy: Where is the ship going?

Tilda: To a faraway land, most likely. My ancestors used ships like these to explore the world, sometimes at great cost.

Aloy: What were they looking for?

Tilda: Anything of value. They were traders - willing to face unknown dangers to make their fortunes. But no matter how far they went, they always turned their sails home.

-

Aloy: So this “van de Velde” only painted ships?

Tilda: It was his specialty, following in the footsteps of his father, Willem the Elder. The two had quite a journey of their own, taking them all the way to the court of a foreign kingdom.

Aloy: Did they ever come home?

Tilda: No. But eventually their life’s work did.

-

Tilda: Take your time.

Lidded ewer, Adam van Vianen (I), 1614

Tilda: Stunning, isn’t it? Paintings weren’t the only masterpieces of my people’s golden age. This is van Vianen’s lidded ewer, moldered from a single sheet of silver.

Aloy: What was it for?

Tilda: How like Elisabet you are - function over form. Its practical purpose was less important than its meaning. van Vianen created it in honor of his late brother, who himself was a famous silversmith.

Aloy: A memorial.

Tilda: Yes. Such beauty from sorrow.

-

Aloy: If this ewer was a memorial, how did you end up with it?

Tilda: As the Faro swarm closed in, my homeland’s greatest museum gave it to me, along with many other works… in the hope that I could preserve them. A masterpiece like this was too important to lose to history. I even considered bringing it with me off-world to ensure its safety.

Aloy: Why didn’t you?

Tilda: I took a calculated risk. This vault seemed more secure than the unknowns of space. Besides - I thought someday I might return. A long life, after all, has its advantages. Now, lo and behold, here I am.

-

Tilda: Exquisite, isn’t it?

Frenzy, Artus Quellinus (I) (attributed to), c. 1660

Aloy: She’s pulling out her own hair. Out of… madness? Out of grief? It’s hard to watch her suffer.

The Bacchant, Adriaen de Vries, 1626

Aloy: A lot of weight on his shoulders... I know the feeling.

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Anonymous asked: I loved your fantastic account of the battle of Waterloo and how each nation came to define the rest of the century for all the European countries in different ways. However what are your thoughts about the battle itself? Did Wellington win it or did Napoleon lose it? What were the turning points that you think determined the fate of the battle?

Thank you for reading and liking my previous post on Waterloo. I did heavily lean into studying ancient classical warfare when I was studying Classics but I only got into Napoleonic warfare because of a father who was (and still remains) big Napoleonic warfare military enthusiast. Through his keen eyes as a former serving military man, I also looked at the battle as a soldier might as well putting on my academic critical thinking cap. It’s a popular parlour game not just in Sandhurst but also in the officers’ mess (where those regiments actually fought at Waterloo) and around dinner tables - in my experience anyway.

I’ve always seen such speculative and counterfactual questions as an amusing diversion. I’ve never seriously looked at the detail until I came to France and unexpectedly interacted with Napoleonic scholars as well as soldiers (the cultured and historically well read ones at least) that forced me to think more about it. I’ve always been of the ‘if the Prussians hadn’t arrived in time to save Wellington’ school; and this was always enough to get me by in any conversation.

But my vanity was stung by interacting with one of my downstairs neighbours, a high decorated retired army general, with whom I played a weekly game of chess over a glass of wine during the Covid lockdown in Paris. He didn’t spare me as he knew so much detail about the battle. But a typical failing of French thinking is to pontificate around generalities rather than specific reasons. So for him it came down to pooh-poohing the generalship of Wellington (the rain saved him) and lauding the emperor (he had haemorrhoids and thus a bad day at the office). So rain and haemorrhoids were the decisive factors in determining the outcome of the battle of Waterloo.

It was clear I had to raise my game. So I’ve been reading more when I could.

I had recently finished reading a wonderful book ‘The Longest Afternoon: The 400 Men Who Decided the Battle of Waterloo’ by the Cambridge historian Brendan Simms. The book came out in 2015 but it’s been lying on my shelf for these past few years until I actually took this slim book to read on my one of my business trips.  

The idea behind this short book is so superbly useful. It places to one side the huge, cinematic panorama of history and instead concentrates on one particular farmhouse, on one particular day: 18 June 1815. History is vivified, lifts itself off the page and into the mind, when a historian of Brendan Simm’s immense stature zooms in on the details - and here the details are compelling.

For the course of one day, 400 soldiers, wet, cold, in some cases hungover, who had bivouacked for the night in an abandoned farmhouse at La Haye Sainte, near a crucially strategic crossroads, found themselves staring down the massed barrels of Napoleon’s vanguard – and held them off.  On June 18, 1815, Wellington established his position and sent one battalion and part of a second to the farmhouse under the command of Major Baring. Napoléon’s initial attack was a direct assault that surrounded the house and came near to breaking Wellington’s line; but it held, and the legendary charge of two British heavy cavalry brigades drove back the French.

This is a detailed account of the defence of La Haye Sainte, a walled stone farmhouse forward of Wellington’s centre. Its defenders were the King’s German Legion, which (despite the British army’s penchant for oddball names) was genuinely German. Britain harboured many German expatriates who detested Napoléon, a number augmented in 1803 when he occupied Hanover and disbanded its army. That very year two ambitious officers recruited the first members of the King’s German Legion, which grew into a corps of some 14,000 men and served with distinction at Copenhagen, Walcheren and in Spain before its apotheosis at Waterloo.

Ordered to capture the farmhouse, Marshal Michel Ney - commanding Napoléon’s left wing - obeyed but became preoccupied with his famously unsuccessful cavalry attack. Reminded of the order two hours later, he dispatched infantry that reached the house and set it on fire. The men inside controlled the blaze and continued to fight until Ney took personal charge of a furious assault that succeeded only when the defenders ran out of ammunition and withdrew, having held out for six hours. Had they not defended it so stoutly and if the farm had fallen any sooner then Napoleon would have been able to get at Wellington’s troops before his Prussian reinforcements arrived, and in all likelihood Waterloo would have been a French victory instead; it would now be the name of a train station in Paris rather than London.

I doubt there is a definitive answer to this question which is why certain people love arguing about it because it’s so open ended in terms of cause and effect. You can pick on any episodic event and hail that as the decisive turning point. It’s one reason why we are so fortunate to have so many well researched history books on the battle of Waterloo to replenish the issues for a newer generation to argue with past generations.

If I were to go beyond the ‘if the Prussians hadn’t arrived to save Wellington’ line then I would point to ten decisive turning points which in themselves might not have changed the outcome but taken together certainly influenced the final outcome of one of the most important and iconic battles in history.

Napoleon gives Marshal Davout a desk job

6 June 1815 – All commanders need a good chief of staff to ensure that their intentions are translated into clear orders. Unfortunately for Napoleon – as what is arguably one of the most decisive battles in European history loomed – his trusted chief of staff, Marshal Berthier, was no longer available. Berthier had sworn an oath of loyalty to Louis XVIII – and then fallen to his death from a window – so the job was given to Marshal Soult.

Soult was an experienced field commander but he was certainly no Berthier. Napoleon’s two main field commanders were also far from ideal. Emmanuel Grouchy had little experience of independent command. Michel Ney’s heroic command of the French rear-guard during the retreat from Moscow led Napoleon to dub him “the bravest of the brave”, but by 1815 he was clearly burnt out.

Worse still, when on 6 June Napoleon ordered his generals to assemble with their troops on the Belgian border he chose to leave behind Louis-Nicolas Davout, his ‘Iron Marshal’, as minister of war. The emperor needed someone loyal to oversee affairs at home but the decision not to take with him the ablest general at his disposal would deprive him of the one commander who might have made a difference.

Constant Rebecque ignores orders

15 June – In June 1815 Napoleon assembled 120,000 men on the Belgian border. Opposing him were 115,000 Prussians under  Field Marshal Blücher and an allied force of about 93,000 men under Wellington. Faced with such odds, Napoleon’s best chance of victory was to get his army between his two enemies and defeat one before turning on the other. On 15 June his army crossed the frontier at Charleroi and headed straight for the gap between the two allied armies.

Wellington was taken completely by surprise: “Napoleon has humbugged me” he said. Uncertain what Napoleon’s intentions were, he ordered his army to concentrate around Nivelles, over 12 miles away from the Prussian position at Ligny. This would have left the two allied armies dangerously separated but fortunately for Wellington, a staff officer in the Dutch army, Baron Constant Rebecque, understood what was actually needed. He disregarded Wellington’s order and instead sent a force to occupy the key crossroads of Quatre Bras, much nearer to the Prussians.

D’Erlon misses the show

16 June – Two battles were fought on 16 June. While Marshal Ney took on Wellington’s army as it hurriedly tried to concentrate around Quatre Bras, Napoleon led the main French force against the Prussians at Ligny. Blücher’s inexperienced Prussians were given a severe mauling but despite this they managed to fall back in relatively good order.

This was partly due to a disastrous mix-up on the part of the French. Confusion over orders saw General D’Erlon’s corps instructed to leave Ney’s army at Quatre Bras and join the fighting at Ligny only to be recalled as soon as they got there. The result was that 16,000 Frenchmen who could have intervened decisively actually took part in neither battle.

Blücher stays in touch

17 June – Wellington succeeded in beating back Ney at Quatre Bras but Blücher’s defeat left the British general with a large French army on his eastern flank. He was forced to fall back northwards towards Brussels. The Prussians were retreating as well. Normally a retreating army tries to withdraw along its lines of communication (ie the route back to its base). Had the Prussians done this they would have headed eastwards. The two allied armies would then have been even further apart and Wellington would have been overwhelmed. But instead of doing that, the Prussians retreated northwards towards Wavre. It was to be a crucial move. The two allied armies stayed in contact and on 17 June Wellington was able to fall back to the ridge at Mont St Jean, and prepare to make a stand there until Blücher’s Prussians could come to his aid.

The weather takes a hand

17 June – The night before the battle was marked by a thunderstorm of biblical proportions. Rain lashed down, turning roads into quagmires and trampled fields into seas of mud.

It was a night of tremendous rain and cloudbursts. Wellington said that even in the monsoons in India, he’d never known rain like it. To wake up cold and damp, wet and terrified, then you have this slaughter in a very small space. By evening there were over 200,000 men struggling to kill each other within four square miles.

Private Wheeler of the 51st Regiment later wrote: “The ground was too wet to lie down… the water ran in streams from the cuffs of our Jackets… We had one consolation, we knew that the enemy were in the same plight.” Wheeler was right of course – the rain would inconvenience all three armies, not least the Prussians as they struggled along narrow country lanes to link up with Wellington.

It’s often said that Napoleon delayed starting the battle in order to allow the ground to dry out but the chief cause of the delay was probably the need to allow his units, many of whom had bivouacked some distance away, to take up their allotted places. Napoleon enjoyed a considerable advantage in artillery at Waterloo but this was lessened by the fact that the mud made it difficult to move his guns around and that cannonballs, normally designed to bounce along until they hit something, or someone, often disappeared harmlessly into the soggy ground. Macdonnell closes the gates

11:30am, 18 June – On 18 June the two armies prepared to do battle. Most of Wellington’s troops were sheltered from enemy fire on the reverse slope of the Mont St Jean ridge. The position was protected by three important outposts: a group of farms to the left, the farm of La Haye Sainte in front and the farmhouse of Hougoumont to the right.

At about 11.30am the French launched their first attack – an assault on Hougoumont. This soon developed into a battle within a battle as the French threw in ever more men in a bid to capture the vital chateau. They nearly succeeded: led by a giant officer nicknamed ‘the Smasher’, a group of French soldiers worked their way round to the rear of the chateau, forced open its north gate and burst inside.

James Macdonnell, the garrison commander, acted quickly. He gathered a group of men and they heaved the gate shut again. The French inside the chateau were then hunted down and killed. Only a young drummer boy was spared. Hougoumont was to remain in allied hands all day and Wellington later commented that the entire result of the battle depended on the closing of those gates.

Ney loses his head after his cavalry founders

1.30pm – The infantry of D’Erlon’s corps finally saw action as they attacked the left wing of Wellington’s army. As they reached the crest of the ridge they were met by the infantry of Sir Thomas Picton’s division. Picton, a foul-mouthed Welshman who rode into battle in a civilian coat and round-brimmed hat, was shot dead but his men stopped the French, who were then driven back by Wellington’s cavalry.

The next major French attack was very different. Ney unleashed his cavalry in a mass frontal attack, and thousands of Napoleon’s famous cuirassiers – big men in steel breastplates riding big horses – thundered up the hill. But Wellington’s infantry stayed calm. Forming squares, they presented in all directions a hedge of bayonets that no horse could be made to charge.

Ney needed to call the cavalry off or support them with infantry but he lost his head and threw more horsemen into the fray. When he abandoned these fruitless attacks, Wellington’s line was still unbroken, two hours had been wasted, and the Prussians were arriving in force.

The Prussians arrive

4.30pm – Blücher had promised to come to Wellington’s aid, and kept his word. Napoleon had detached nearly a third of his army under Grouchy to prevent the Prussians joining up with Wellington but Grouchy failed to do this and, by mid-afternoon, the first Prussian units were in action on the battlefield.

At about 4.30pm they launched their first attack upon the key village of Plancenoit near the rear of Napoleon’s main position. This savage battle would rage for over three hours. Faced with this, Napoleon was forced to send many of his remaining reserves to shore up his position – leaving him with precious few troops to exploit any success his troops might enjoy against Wellington.

Napoleon says no, and von Zeithen turns back

6.30pm – At about 6.30pm the French captured La Haye Sainte. Posting artillery and skirmishers around the farm, they unleashed a storm of shot, shell and musketry into Wellington’s exposed centre. The regiments there suffered horrendous casualties, but Wellington’s line held – just.

Ney asked for reinforcements to press home his advantage but Napoleon refused. Instead he sent troops to recapture Plancenoit which had just fallen to the Prussians. Von Zeiten’s Prussian I Corps arrived on the scene. These much-needed reinforcements were set to join Wellington when a Prussian aide de camp rode up with an order from Blücher instructing them to head south and support his troops at Plancenoit. Von Zeiten obeyed. Realising that Von Zeiten’s troops were desperately needed on the ridge, Baron von Müffling, Wellington’s Prussian liaison officer, galloped after Von Zeiten and pleaded with him to ignore this new order and stick to the original plan. The Prussian general turned back and took his place on Wellington’s left, enabling the duke to shift troops over to reinforce his crumbling centre. The crisis had passed.

Napoleon’s last roll of the dice ends in panic

7.30pm – With Plancenoit back in French hands the stage was set for the final act in the drama. At about 7.30pm Napoleon unleashed his elite imperial guard in a last desperate bid for victory. But it was too late – they were hopelessly outnumbered and Wellington was ready for them. His own troops had been sheltering from the French fire by lying down but when the two large columns of French guardsmen reached the crest of the ridge Wellington ordered his own guards to stand up. One British guardsman describes the scene: “Whether it was (our) sudden appearance so near to them, or the tremendously heavy fire we threw into them but La Garde, who had never previously failed in an attack, suddenly stopped.”

Meanwhile Sir John Colborne of the 52nd Light Infantry wheeled his regiment round to attack the flank of the first French column while General Chasse ordered his Dutch and Belgian troops forward against the other. Soon both French columns had withered away under the deadly fire. Their defeat led to widespread panic in the French army: amid cries of “La Garde recule” (“the Guard is retreating”) it dissolved into a disorderly retreat mercilessly harried by the Prussians. “The nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life,” as Wellington described the battle, was over.

This isn’t an exhaustive list but it will do.

Waterloo was a watershed moment for Europe, and indeed the world. The end of the Napoleonic Wars heralded a peace in Europe which was not broken until the outbreak of World War One in 1914. In the century following the Battle of Waterloo an increased respect developed for the figure of the soldier. True the Battle became mythologised in the nineteenth century and is now embedded in our cultural memory as one of the great British success stories.

We still celebrate Waterloo because it was a great British victory - even if we had a little bit of help from the Prussians. It embodied the British bulldog spirit and marked the moment we finally overcame Napoleon and his empire after a decade of being at war.

The ramifications from Waterloo and the Napoleonic Wars are still felt today in contemporary European politics. I think because of this the battle continues to fascinate and to court intense discussion and disagreement.

No doubt my French neighbour the retired army general and I will continue to stubbornly argue our differing viewpoints until the wine bottle empties. But we both agree that we would enjoy having dinner with Napoleon and talk about his military campaigns. I admire Napoleon a little more having read more and for living in France. He’d be a very amusing and stimulating companion.

In many ways, he was also an enlightened and intelligent ruler. His Code Napoleon is an extremely enlightened law code. At the same time this is a man who had a very, very low threshold for boredom. I think he was addicted to war.

General Robert E. Lee, at Fredericksburg said, “It is well that war is so dreadful, otherwise we would grow too fond of it.”

Napoleon would never have agreed with that. War was his drug. There’s no evidence that Wellington enjoyed war. He said after Waterloo, and I believe him, “I pray to God that I have fought my last battle.” He spent much of the battle saying to the men, “If you survive, if you just stand there and repel the French, I’ll guarantee you a generation of peace.” He thought the point of war was peace. And he sure gave not just Britain but also an entire European continent some respite from the spilling of blood on a battlefield.

Thanks for your question.