#the angst potential of childe is so big istg

[hypostatic-oath]

So I found a draft of mine from when Fontaine was first released and Say Don't Go (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault) is stuck in my mind permanently. While I figure out a decent ending, here's a little bit from the beginning...

...

Childe had never once in his life assumed jail would be fun. He had no delusions in that regard. But he had to admit, his hopes were raised once he heard of the Pankration Ring in the Fortress of Meropide. A competition ring for those who had "extra energy" they wished to "burn out" through regular sparring matches? Sign him up!

His hopes were very quickly shattered once he was told that no, a Fatui Harbinger was not allowed to compete, because "no way anyone would sign up to fight him" and "even if he did fight with one hand behind his back, that would set the bar too high for the other matches, and the spectators would be bored." Damn it - so the ring wasn't truly for fight afficionados - it was a marketing ploy! The fight itself wasn't the focus, it was the fact that it had to look good for an audience...

Childe huffed as he sat in the bed he'd taken to occupying. Fontaine was getting on his nerves - it seemed as though everything was for show, and very little was actually real. Where were the Traveler or the Overseer when one needed them?! Oh, what he wouldn't do to fight against a decent opponent...

His boredom was made worse by the fact that the Overseer - damn them and their excuse of "immersion" - had decided to bench him until he was out of prison. So now he rusted away in the Fortress of Meropide, with no one to fight, no one to banter with...

He could try the Duke again, he figured. While at first things hadn't gone his way, after explaining his issue, Wriothesley had, once or twice, been amenable to a sparring match, and it was the one thing keeping Tartaglia remotely sane. But lately the warden had been more and more busy - and less and less inclined to indulge the restless Harbinger. Were it not for the fact that he already had an escape plan in the works, Childe was sure he would have lost his mind for real. He was getting rusty. Every day that he did not raise his weapon was one day he grew weaker, and that the competition grew stronger. And he knew he had competition, both among the Fatui - how he was the Eleventh of a group of nine still eluded him - and among the other vessels.

It *had* hurt, the knowledge that right after his banner would come that of the Iudex who'd promptly knocked him out and sent him to jail... and that he wasn't even there to fight him about it! He hadn't been aware of the sheer strength of Fontaine's Chief Justice, but now that he'd caught a glimpse, Childe had to admit he was intrigued. And by intrigued let it be absolutely clear that what he meant was "eager to fight him again". Hell, the judge had managed to knock him out while he was using Foul Legacy! What else was this Neuvillette guy capable of? And, more importantly... had you noticed?

It was a thought Ajax didn't like to have. One he'd been trying to drown out - hah! Drown! Now that his hydro Vision was gone, and Neuvillette was out there using hydro as he pleased - since he'd first been told he wouldn't be able to fight down here. And yet, now that the Fortress had quieted down for the night, there was no sound to overpower his own thoughts.

[alo-piss-trancy]

if you don't mind sharing, what are your opinions on the ud/g characters so far? id love to hear your thoughts on them :3

Yeah, I'd be happy to talk about my thoughts so far! :D Altho fyi I'm still on the 2nd chapter and I'm playing pretty slowly/taking my time with it, so I haven't met a ton of characters yet. I'm trying really hard to find all the collectables/win the arcade challenges and stuff so I'm going at a snail pace lol. It's been an absolute blast though!

BIG SPOILERS FOR U/LTRA D/ESPAIR G/IRLS (AND OTHER GAMES) BELOW!!!

K/omaru's kinda different than I expected her to be tbh but I do love what they did with her! I kind of had it in my head that she'd be more upbeat/heroic and like, stronger/more of a fighter than M/akoto, so to find out she's actually even quicker to give up/very defeatist was a bit of a shock lol. But I do really like it, both for development purposes as the game goes on and also bc she IS what a normal person in that world would be, depressed and scared shitless, panicky even with a weapon, relies a lot of T/ouko. Having the sister of the Ultimate Hope be... not Despair, but just a little less confident like that is very nice thematically. I love her banter with T/ouko a lot, they're funny af together. Not sure if I really ship them? They might be cute but also T/ouko is so 200% devoted to Master B/yakuya that even my multishipper butt has trouble separating them at all lmao. One-sided crush from K/omaru's side would be pretty sweet tho 💛

I don't trust M/onaca. Not even bc she's named M/onaca or bc of her creepy hollow gaze or overly uvu nice routine, but bc she has green hair. In my experience you NEVER trust an anime bitch with the cutesy green hair and golden/green eyes combo. They will be evil, or at least a bit unhinged every time istg. This bitch be plottin 🙃 That said, I'll admit her design is cute af, very aesthetic 💚 and I'm very interested in her development as a character. Her and the blue boi are cute although I'm positive she's going to betray his ass immediately when the moment comes. There is no love in her soulless little eyes and I fear for him

J/ataro (I think that's his name? The art mask boi) is my favourite Warrior of Hope!!! I mean, I'm like 80% sure his mask is made of human skin and I know he's committed many, MANY atrocities (that dancing puppet diorama of adult corpses was... something lmao), but ALSO... he's very polite, easily the nicest of the Delightful Children 2.0. He fixed their air conditioners and chairs and stuff and he's a good boi deep down kind of. Minus the murder I mean. And he has floppy sleeves and likes crafts and the fact that he literally wants ppl to hate him and doesn't think he's worthy of love slaughters my feelings 😭 He's like G/undham but EVEN SADDER and therefore he will be my favourite no matter what awful shit he's guaranteed to pull in the future akdkfk. I'm terrified bc I know in my gut I'll probably be responsible for his suffering if each boss battle is like the red-haired kid's and I'M NOT READY TO DO THAT TO HIM HHHH. I desperately want one of the other gremlin kids to be his friend (maybe the pink or blue one???) PLEASE JUST LET ONE BE NICE TO HIM. LET HIM BE HAPPY. I KNOW IT WON'T HAPPEN SO I MIGHT HAVE TO MAKE FLUFF AUS OR SMTH 💔

I... don't remember anyone else's names yet and I can't google bc spoiler potential RIP. So uhhh:

Pink girl: 20/10 design, kinda trash personality but she's also fun lol. Seems to like animals which is a plus. Is mean to craft boi, which is a minus. She's like if G/undham, S/onia, J/unko, and H/iyoko were blended into one evil little gremlin which I find pretty funny. I love that she's the fighter and I look forward to seeing what devastation she'll wreak 👿 She and M/onaca would be cute tbh (but again, I'm sure M/onaca will Ruin Her. Plz run pink child your devotion is going to be for naught c':)

Blue boy: He's a cute, composed boi and I feel bad for him lol. You just know he's going to absolutely snap towards the end. He seems like the smartest and most likely to succeed, which means he's gonna get screwed over big time. I like that he kind of babysits the other gremlins. RIP his crush on M/onaca, he's gonna get his heart broken. Also watching him talk shit to N/agito gives me such life y'all don't even know lmao. Those milkshakes were garbage and he should feel bad.

Red boy: Kinda annoying AF to me personally, but I do feel horrible for him. The scene where he's so desperate to stop his hand from shaking that he bashes it until he breaks it while K/omaru was begging and crying for him to stop was hard af to sit through, GOD. Everything about that scene was just hhhhh

I'm legit so scared to see these other kids break down after that, like goddamn... I don't wanna know what they've been through but also I do ajdjglk. Damn these game creators snipping my heartstrings, I just wanted to make robot bears dance dude 😭

Other chars:

S/hirokuma: predictably, Absolute Baby, 20/10, I will love and cherish him forever 💛💛💛 HE'S SO CUTE HHHH I ADORE HIM 😻 Even if he turns out to be evil or makes me mega sad ajdjgkhl I don't entirely trust him but I also don't NOT trust him???? Let's face it this game's gonna flip one over on me regardless of what I try to predict bc they love their plot twists and betrayals so I'm just chillin for the ride lmao

Y/uta: Not 100% convinced he's dead ngl but also... I wouldn't be that upset if he was tbh. Maybe bc I just like the angst of M/akoto getting his sister back and to have a potential wife in K/yoko in the end while A/oi lost her own wife and brother thru all of this hell 🙃 He seemed nice enough, the part where he mimicked writing names in hands bc u know he probs learned that from A/oi made me wanna cry 😭

ALSO I JUST MET WHO I THINK IS H/AGAKURE'S MOM AND HHHHH 😍😍😍 She's so pretty and her voice is 20/10 but I'm terrified she's either gonna turn out to betray me OR even worse she's gonna get killed bc I gave her the hit lists before I saved akdhkgl TOO LATE NOW THO AND I REFUSE TO LOOK IT UP SO I'M JUST GONNA HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT IF/WHEN IT COMES

That's all I can think of to say so far ajfkjk, hopefully it's coherent c': I'm thoroughly enjoying the game and it's variety of chars, tbh I think I actually might like it a little more than the 'main' ones :0c Mostly bc it touches on a lot of the stuff I liked about the novels/was implied in other games, it's nice to see the darker takes not be interrupted with as many running gags and such. The easter eggs are super fun too!